"Oh Alexia!" exclaimed Polly in dismay, with her heart full at the thought of Mamsie"s distress, and that of dear Grandpapa and Jasper.
Phronsie would be abed anyway by the time the early train was in, so she couldn"t worry. But all the others--"Oh dear me!" she gasped.
"Don"t look so, Polly," said Alexia, "we"ll start pretty soon, I guess."
The governess, Miss Baker, came over from the opposite seat to stand in the aisle. "I think we"ll start soon," she said. But her eyes looked worried.
"What is it--oh, Miss Baker, what is the reason we"re stopping?" cried two or three of the girls.
"I don"t know," said the governess.
A man coming in from outside, where a lot of gentlemen were pouring out of the cars to investigate, furnished the information.
"Driving wheel broken," he said, being sparing of words.
"Oh, can"t we go out to see?" cried Alexia, hopping out of her seat.
"Come on," and she was prancing down the aisle.
"No, indeed," said Miss Baker in displeasure, "and do you come directly back," she commanded.
"Oh dear me!" grumbled Alexia to Sally, who had tumbled out after her, "she"s worse than Miss Anstice--stiff, precise old thing!" She came slowly back.
"That a young lady under my care," said Miss Baker, lifting her black gloves in amazement, "should so far forget herself as to want to run out on that track with a lot of men! I _am_ astonished."
"There"s a girl out there," said Alexia, sinking into her seat crossly, and peering over Polly Pepper"s head.
"And there"s another," proclaimed Sally triumphantly.
"Well, if they"ve forgotten themselves so far as to go out there under such circ.u.mstances, I shall not let any young lady in my care do it,"
said Miss Baker emphatically.
So, swallowing their disappointment at not being allowed to see all that presented itself, the girls settled back and made themselves as comfortable as possible. Meantime almost everybody else poured out of their car. But it seemed to Polly Pepper as if she never could keep still in all this world. And she clasped her hands tightly together and hoped n.o.body would speak to her just yet.
"Polly,"--Alexia gave a little push, as she leaned over,--"isn"t it perfectly dreadful to be mewed up here in this way? Say, Polly, do talk."
"Go right away, Alexia." Polly gave a little flounce, and sat quite straight.
"Oh dear me!" exclaimed Alexia in astonishment, and falling back.
"And I wish you would let me alone," cried Polly, quite aghast at herself, but unable to stop.
"Oh dear me!" Alexia kept saying quite faintly, and rolling her eyes.
"Well, I"m glad Polly has made you behave for once," said Clem, who never could forgive Alexia for getting Polly so much to herself.
Alexia stopped saying, "Oh dear me!" and sat quite still. Just then Polly turned and saw her face.
"Oh Alexia!" she cried, flying at her, when an awful b.u.mp, and then another much worse, and then a grinding noise, perfectly terrible,--and everybody who was left in the car, went tumbling out of their seats.
"Oh, we"re run into!" screamed half a dozen of the girls. Miss Baker, who had been standing in the aisle, was down in a heap on the floor.
"Oh, oh!" Polly had her arms around Alexia and was hugging her tightly.
"Are you hurt?" as they wriggled out of the bunch of girls into which they had been precipitated, up to their feet.
"N--no," Alexia, tried to say. Instead, she wobbled over, and laid her head on Polly"s arm.
"Girls--girls--Miss Baker!" called Polly, not seeing that lady, in the confusion of the other pa.s.sengers, staggering along the aisle, her bonnet knocked over her eyes, and a girl on either hand to help her along. "Clem--oh, somebody help me! Alexia is hurt." But n.o.body heard in the general tumult.
"Oh dear! Alexia, do open your eyes," begged Polly, quite gone now with distress. "And to think I was so cross to her!" And she turned quite white.
"Dear, dear Alexia," she cried; and because there was nothing else to do, she leaned over and dropped a kiss on Alexia"s long face, and two tears dropped down as well.
Alexia opened her eyes. "That"s very nice, Polly," she said, "do so some more."
"Aren"t you ashamed!" cried Polly, the rosy color coming back to her cheek. And then, remembering, she hugged Alexia tightly. "Oh, I"m so glad you"re not hurt, Alexia, so very glad!" she cried gratefully.
"Ow!" exclaimed Alexia, shrinking back.
"Oh, now you are hurt," cried Polly. "Oh Alexia!" And she turned very white again. "Tell me where it is." And just then some of the girls rushed up with the news, corroborated by the other pa.s.sengers, that the down express had run into them,--been signalled, but couldn"t stop in time, etc., etc.,--till Polly thought she should go wild before the babel could be stopped. "Don"t crowd around so," she cried hoa.r.s.ely.
"Alexia is hurt."
"Alexia?" The noise, as far as Miss Salisbury"s girls were concerned, stopped at once; and at last the other pa.s.sengers were made to understand how it was. And Alexia, quite faint now, but having sense enough to hang to Polly Pepper"s hand, was laid across an improvised bed made of two seats, and a doctor who happened to be on the train, one of the party going in to the theatre, came up, and looked her over professionally.
"It"s my arm," said Alexia, opening her eyes again; "it was doubled up someway under me. Oh dear me! I"m so silly to faint."
"You"re not silly at all," cried Polly warmly, and holding her well hand, while her eyes searched the doctor"s face anxiously. "Oh, is it broken?" they asked, as plainly as possible.
"Not a bit of it," said the doctor cheerfully, feeling it all over again to make quite sure, while Alexia set her teeth together, trying not to show how very much it hurt. "It"s badly strained,--the ligaments are;--but fortunately no bones are broken."
"Oh dear!" groaned Alexia. "Now why can"t it be broken?"
"Oh Alexia!" cried Polly. And now the tears that had been kept back, were rolling down her cheeks. "I"m so happy, I can"t help it," she said.
"And the very idea, Alexia Rhys," exclaimed Clem, "to wish your arm had been broken!" and she gave a little shiver.
"It hurts just as much," said Alexia, trying to sit up straight, and making an awful face, "so it might as well be. And I"ve never been in a railroad accident. But a sprained arm isn"t anything to show; any baby can have that--oh dear me!"
"Well, you better lie still," counselled Miss Baker tartly. "Dear me! I little thought when I took charge of you young ladies that any such thing would occur."
"She acts as if she thought we did it on purpose," said Alexia, turning her face over to hide it on Polly"s arm again, and wishing her own needn"t ache so dreadfully. "Oh dear! such a time as we"ve had, Polly Pepper, with those dreadful Briggses,--I mean Mrs. Briggs,--and now to be all banged up, and this cross old thing to see us home! And now I never"ll be able to get through the term, "cause I"ll have to stay at home with this old arm, and aunt will scold." She was quite out of breath with all her woes.
"Oh, yes, you will," cried Polly rea.s.suringly, "I"ll run over every day, and study with you, Alexia. And you"ll soon be all well again. Don"t try to talk now, dear," and she patted the poor cheeks, and smoothed her hair. All the while she was trying to keep down the worry over the home-circle who would be thrown into the greatest distress, she knew, if news of the accident should reach their ears.
"Can"t somebody telephone them?" she cried; "Oh, Miss Baker"--the doctor had rushed off to other possible sufferers--"and tell them no one is hurt;--I mean seriously?"
"There is," said the governess, quite calmly; "a man has been killed."
"Oh dear!"