"Somebody made a good deal of noise down in the corridor," said Mother Fisher, "and your father went out to see what was the matter, and then he came back and told me what to do, and he took Phronsie and went for old Mr. King. But he had sent a porter to warn them in 165, and they would tell the Hendersons in the next room, before he ran upstairs to me." It was a long speech for Mother Fisher.
"Mamsie," asked Polly, suddenly, after she had leaned across her mother and beamed at the little doctor, which so delighted him that his big spectacles nearly fell off in his plate, "how _did_ you know where the fire-escape was?"
"Oh, that was your father"s doings, too," said Mother Fisher. She couldn"t help but show her pride. "He told me all about it the first day we got to the hotel. He always does; he says it"s better to know these things."
"Wife--wife," begged the little doctor, imploringly.
"I"m going to tell, Adoniram," said Mother Fisher, proudly, "the whole story; they ought to know."
"Indeed we had; and so you shall," commanded Mr. King, from the head of the table.
"I can"t help it! I really must!" exclaimed Polly, hopping out of her chair,--there were no other people in the breakfast room beside their party, so really it wasn"t so very dreadful after all,--and she ran back of her mother"s chair, and threw her arms around the little doctor"s neck. "Oh, Papa Fisher," she cried, setting ever so many kisses on his cheeks under the big spectacles, "you"ve saved all our lives."
"There--there, Polly," cried the little doctor, quite overcome.
"And ours, too," said little Mrs. Gray, in a shaking voice.
XI
THE TWO BIRTHDAYS IN OLD HOLLAND
And Polly never knew about a certain shelf in Grandpapa"s closet, nor how full it was getting, when Jasper ran every now and then to add the gifts as fast as the different members of the party picked up pretty things in the shops for the coming birthday--now very near. And she actually forgot all about the birthday itself; all her mind being set on the Henderson box, so soon to sail off over the sea.
And Mother Fisher would look over at her absorbed face, and smile, to watch her in the shops, picking out things for the Henderson boys; and old Mr. King would send many a keen glance at her, and Jasper had hard work not to exclaim, "Oh, Polly, father has got you a--" And then he"d pull himself up, and rush off into some great plan to buy Peletiah Henderson something that a Badgertown boy ought to have. And Phronsie was carefully guarded on all sides these days, lest she should let out the great secret, for, of course, she ought to be in the very centre of all these preparations to celebrate Polly"s birthday in Old Amsterdam, so she knew everything just as soon as it was planned. But sometimes, with all this care, the whole thing nearly popped out.
"Mr. King!" It was Mother Fisher who called after him, and her voice didn"t sound like hers, for it had an excited little ring. "Oh, are you going out?" for she didn"t see that he held his hat in his hand till he turned in the corridor.
"I can wait just as well if it"s anything you want, Mrs. Fisher," he said gladly, controlling his surprise at her unusual manner. "I was only about to run down to the Kalver-straat for a little matter I just thought of for the birthday. Can I do anything for you?" he begged.
"Yes, it"s just that," said Mrs. Fisher, hurriedly; "it"s about the birthday--I must speak quickly--I"ve just found out,--" she glanced up and down the corridor as if fully expecting to see Polly dash around a corner,--"that Adela Gray"s birthday is to-morrow--"
"The d.i.c.kens! You don"t say so!" exploded Mr. King. "Well, now, I call that very clever on your part to have found it out. Very clever indeed, Mrs. Fisher," he repeated, beaming at her. "And just in time, for it would have been a dreadful thing, indeed, to have had that poor little girl left out, and her birthday too! Dear me!"
"It would, indeed," said Mrs. Fisher, heartily, with a shiver at the mere thought.
"And we might as well have had no celebration in such a case, for Polly wouldn"t have enjoyed a single bit of it--not an atom!" declared old Mr. King, bringing his walking stick heavily down on the floor.
"What is it--oh, Grandpapa, what is it?" and Polly came hurrying along the corridor, and Jasper after her.
"Here she comes!" exclaimed Grandpapa, in a fright. "Glad you told me--Hush--O dear me--I"ll take care of the gifts."
"And I"m to do the rest--just the same--Doctor Fisher and I. Remember!"
It was all Mrs. Fisher had time to utter. Even then, Polly caught the last words in the flurry.
"Oh, what is it, Mamsie--Is anything the matter with Papa-Doctor?" And her brown eyes filled with alarm at her mother"s unusual manner.
"Polly," Mrs. Fisher looked into the brown eyes with a steady glance, and all the hurry was gone out of her voice, "your father is all right.
And now, run away, you and Jasper." She looked over Polly"s shoulder at him as she spoke. "No, not another word, child." And away Mrs. Fisher hurried, while old Mr. King slipped off in the opposite direction.
"How funnily they act," said Polly, looking first after one and then another, with a puzzled face. "What can it be, Jasper?"
"Oh, well, I suppose they are in a hurry," said Jasper, as carelessly as he could. "Never mind, Polly, everything is all right. Oh, I say, let"s fix our stamp books."
"But I was going to ask Grandpapa to go out with us, and now he"s gone by himself," and Polly"s face grew more puzzled than ever.
"Polly," said Jasper, desperately, "I really think we ought to fix our stamp books. I really do," and he took her hand. "My stamps are all in heaps in the envelopes, and in a mess generally. Come, let"s begin now--do." And he led her back down the corridor.
"I suppose so," said Polly, with a reluctant little sigh, as they went off.
And that afternoon, there was another narrow escape, when it seemed as if the secret really must pop out. Polly, rushing along to the reading room opposite the big dining room, saw Mother Fisher in consultation with the head waiter, and he was saying "cake," and then he stopped suddenly, and Mrs. Fisher turned and saw her. And Mamsie came across the hall, and into the reading room, and sat there a bit, while Polly tossed off a letter to Alexia Rhys, that had been worrying her for days. And there was a funny little smile tucked away in the corners of Mother Fisher"s mouth, and Polly thought that things were getting queerer than ever.
"I am glad you are writing that letter," said Mrs. Fisher, with an approving smile that chased the funny little one all around the strongly curved mouth, "for Alexia will feel badly not to hear often from you, Polly."
"I know it," said Polly, wrinkling her brows, "and I didn"t mean to let this wait so long," scribbling away as fast as she could.
"Take care, Polly," warned her mother; "a carelessly written letter is no compliment, and it gets you in a bad way. Don"t hurry so, child," as Polly"s pen went scratching across the paper at a fearful rate.
"But there are so many letters to write to all the girls," said Polly, stopping a minute to look at her mother, "and I"ve only just got all the letters in my steamer mail-bag answered. I _must_ write to Cathie and Philena, and Amy Garrett too, to-day, Mamsie," she added, in distress.
"Polly," said Mother Fisher, looking into the flushed face, "I tell you what would be the best way for you to do. All the letters in your mail-bag are answered, you said?"
"Yes, indeed," declared Polly. "Oh, Mamsie, you didn"t think I could put those off?" she asked reproachfully.
"No, Polly, I really didn"t," Mrs. Fisher made haste to a.s.sure her.
"Well, now, mother will tell you what will be the best way for you to do. Write as good a letter as you can to Alexia, and tell her to send it around to all the girls, for a kind of a bulletin, and--"
"Oh, Mamsie Fisher," cried Polly, not stopping to hear the rest, but deserting the writing table to run and throw her arms around her mother"s neck, "you"re the bestest, dearest mother in all this world--oh--oh! Now I sha"n"t have but one letter to write! How fine!"
"And you must write that one letter very nicely, Polly, and take ever so much pains with it," said Mother Fisher, her black eyes shining at the happy solution; "and that is much better than to hurry off a good many slovenly ones. Besides, it is not well to take your time and strength for too much letter writing, for there are the boys, and Mrs.
Whitney and--"
"Grandma Bascom and dear Mrs. Beebe," finished Polly. "Oh, I couldn"t ever forget them, Mamsie, in all this world." She stopped cuddling Mother Fisher"s neck, to peer into the black eyes.
"No, you mustn"t ever forget them," repeated Mrs. Fisher, emphatically, "in all this world, Polly. Well, get to work now over your one letter that"s to be a bulletin!"
"I shall tear this one up," declared Polly, running back to get into her chair again. "O dear me, what a horrible old scrawl," she cried, with a very red face. "I didn"t know it did look so bad" And she tore it clear across the page, and then snipped it into very little bits.
"That"s the result of hurry," observed Mother Fisher, wisely, "and I would begin all over again, Polly."
So Polly took a fresh sheet and set to work; and Mrs. Fisher, seeing her so busily occupied, soon stole out. And there was the head waiter waiting for her in the dining room, and Polly never heard a word they said, although "cake" was mentioned a great many times, and several other things too.
But the next morning Polly Pepper woke up to the fact that it was her birthday. For there was Mamsie leaning over her pillow, the first thing she saw the minute her eyes were opened. And Phronsie was sitting on the end of the bed with her hands folded in her lap.
When she saw Polly"s eyes open, she gave a little crow and darted forward. "Oh, I thought you never would wake up, Polly," she said, throwing her arms around Polly"s neck.