"Humph!" said the Old Doctor. "I expected of course that she"d think me changed a good deal. I"ve grown stout. "Healthy" she called it.--She thought I looked "very healthy"!" The Old Doctor shifted his feet. He twitched at a newspaper on the table. "That Austrian gentlemen with her isn"t her Husband," he said. "She"s a--she"s a widow now.--It"s her Husband"s brother."
"Really?" said my Father.
"Oh _Thunder_!" said the Old Doctor. "I guess perhaps I spoke a little bit hastily when I was here before--about their ruining the Village!--I"ve been talking a bit with Annie and--" His face turned quite red suddenly. He laughed a little. "There won"t be any changes made at present in the old Dun Vorlees place--I imagine.--Not at present anyhow."
He looked over at us. We scrunched our eyes perfectly tight.
"Asleep," he said. He picked up our Book. He tucked it under his arm. He looked at my Father and Mother. "It"s quite time," he said, "that you started a Bank Account for these children"s college education.--It costs a great deal to send children to college nowadays. Carol will surely want a lot of baseball bats.--And girls I know are forever needing bonnets!" He took two Big Gold Pieces from his pocket and put them down on the table where our Book had been. They looked very shining.
My Father gave a little gasp. He jumped up! He started to argue!
My Mother hushed him with her hand. "S--sh----not to-night!" she whispered. "Not to-night!"
She looked at the Old Doctor. She looked at our Book all hugged up tight under his arm. Her eyes looked as though they were going to cry. But her mouth looked as though it was going to laugh.
"Oh of course--if it"s in the Cause of Science," she said. "If it"s in the Cause of Science."
THE LITTLE DOG WHO COULDN"T SLEEP
It was our Uncle Peter who sent us the little piece of paper.
It was a piece of paper torn out of that part of a newspaper where people tell what they want if they"ve got money enough to pay for it.
This is what it said:
"WANTED a little dog who can"t sleep to be night companion for a little boy who can"t sleep. Will pay fifty dollars."
Our Uncle Peter sent it to my Father and told him to give it to us.
"Your children know so many dogs," he said.
"Not--fifty dollars" worth," said my Father. He said it with points in his eyes.
"Oh--I"m not so sure," said my Mother. She said it with just a little smile in her voice.
It was my Mother who gave us the big sheet of brown paper to make our sign. My brother Carol mixed the paint. I mixed the letters. It was a nice sign. We nailed it on the barn where everybody who went by could see it. It said:
"Carol and Ruthy.
Dealers in Dogs who Can"t Sleep."
n.o.body dealt with us. We were pretty discouraged.
We asked the Grocer if he had a little dog who couldn"t sleep. We asked the Postman. We asked the Butcher. They hadn"t.
We asked the old whiskery man who came every Spring to buy old bottles and papers. HE HAD!
He brought the dog on a dungeon chain. He said if we"d give him fifty cents for the dungeon chain we could have the dog for nothing.
It seemed like a very good bargain.
Our Father lent us the fifty cents.
He was a nice dog. We named him Tiger Lily. His hair was red and smooth as Sunday all except his paws and ears. His paws and ears were sort of rumpled. His eyes were gold and very sweet like keepsakes you must never spend. He had a sad tail. He was a setter dog. He was meant to hunt. But he couldn"t hunt because he was so shy. It was guns that he was so shy about.
Our Mother invited us to wash him. He washed very nicely.
We wrote our triumph to our Uncle Peter and asked him to send us the fifty dollars.
Our Uncle Peter came instead in an automobile and took Tiger Lily and Carol and me to the city.
"Of course he isn"t exactly a "little dog,"" we admitted. "But at least he"s a dog! And at least he "can"t sleep"!"
"Well--I wonder," said our Uncle Peter. He seemed very pleased to wonder about it. He twisted his head on one side and looked at Tiger Lily.
"What do you mean,--"doesn"t sleep"?" he said.
Because my brother Carol is dumb and never talks I always have to do the explaining. It was easy to explain about Tiger Lily.
"Why when you"re in bed and fast asleep," I explained, "he comes and puts his nose in your neck! It feels wet! It"s full of sighs and a cool breeze! It makes you jump and want your Mother!--All the rest of the time at night he"s roaming! And prowling! And s"ploring!--Up the front stairs and down the back--and up the front and down the back!--Every window he comes to he stops and listens! And listens!--His toe-nails have never been cut!--It sounds lonely!"
"What does he seem to be listening for?" said our Uncle Peter.
"Listening for gun-bangs," I explained.
"O--h," said our Uncle Peter.
The city was full of noises like gun-bangs. It made Tiger Lily very nervous. He tried to get under everything. It took us most all the afternoon to get him out.
The little boy"s name was d.i.c.ky. He wasn"t at home. "Come again," said the man at the door. We came again about eight o"clock at night. It seemed as late as Christmas Eve and sort of lonely without our Parents or any other presents. We had to climb a lot of stairs. It made Tiger Lily puff a little and look very glad. It made our Uncle Peter puff some too. It made the little boy"s Mother puff a good deal. There wasn"t any Father. The Mother was all in black about it. Her clothes looked very sorrowful. But her face was just sort of surprised. She had white hands.
She carried them all curved up like pond-lilies. She was pretty. Even if you"d never seen her but once in a train window you"d always have remembered.
The little boy"s room was very large and full of lights. There were tinkly gla.s.s things hanging everywhere. There was a music-box playing.
There was a tin railroad train running round and round the room all by itself making a bangy noise. There was a wound-up bird in a toy cage crying "Hi! Hi!" There was a crackling fire. Everything was tinkling or playing or singing or banging or crackling. It sounded busy. You had to talk very loud to make any one hear you.
The little boy sat on top of a table in a big bay window looking out at the night. His knees were all cuddled up into the curve of his arms. He had on a little red wrapper and bare legs and fur slippers. He was lots littler than us. He looked cunning.
We stamped our feet on the rug.
"Here"s your dog!" I said.
When the little boy saw Tiger Lilly he jumped right down from the table and screamed. It was with joy that he screamed. He threw his arms right around Tiger Lily"s neck and screamed all over again. Tiger Lily liked it very much.
"What makes his paws so fluffy?" he screamed. "How soft his face is!
He"s got sweet eyes! He"s got a sad tail! What"s his name? Where did you get him? Is he for me? Do I have to pay money for him? What does he eat?
Will he drink coffee?" Just as though he was mad about something he began suddenly to jump up and down and cry tears. "Why doesn"t somebody answer me?" he screamed. "Why doesn"t somebody tell me?"