"Nancy! Oh, Nancy!"
Nancy remembered, then, remorsefully, that not once that day had she run in to see poor little Aunt Milly. With her treasures in her arms she went straight to her. In the smile that greeted her from the couch by the window, there was not one sign to indicate that Aunt Milly had been waiting the whole long morning for her to come.
"I"ve been so busy," explained Nancy, dropping her load. "I have a mind to tell you, Aunt Milly. I meant it to be a secret, only Jonathan knows, because he had to help me. And I"d like _you_ to know, too.
Anyway, a secret"s more fun when more of us know it! You see, I"d gotten as far as Jacob in my lessons on Leavitts, and then Aunt Sabrina couldn"t remember whether it was he or his brother that was killed in the war of 1812, and B"lindy rudely interrupted just because she had no corn starch! Oh, Aunt Milly, I"m dreadful, but I couldn"t have stood it another _minute_--I could have hugged B"lindy and her pudding! Why, I"ve sat for three days straight in a horrible stiff chair listening to musty, dusty tales, and I wanted to scream! So I said _I"d_ find Jonathan and I bolted--and I _stayed_ away! And out in the orchard, right close to the bank, the grandest idea came to me. To fix a nest!
And Jonathan helped me. We made a little box, all waterproof, and nailed it to the tree to keep my things in--these," indicating the pile at her feet. "And I"m going to hide there--and work! And that"s another secret. I"m writing a play! I wrote two in college and the English professor said they were unusual and the Senior cla.s.s gave one.
And I have a _real_ one, almost done. _Now_ you know the secret."
"Oh, _Nancy_!" said Aunt Milly softly, two bright spots of color on her cheeks.
"You see I can steal out there and sit on that comfy branch and think I"m all alone in the world. Such beautiful thoughts will come to me!
It"ll be like a bird"s nest."
"Oh, Nancy," Aunt Milly said again, with a tragic look in her eyes that the youthful Nancy could not read. "I wish I could see you there--just once! Are the trees big, dear? And is the gra.s.s real green?" There was a little tremble in the sweet voice. "Seems to me it used to be ploughed up "round the apple trees."
Over Nancy rushed the heartbreaking thought that poor Miss Milly had not seen the orchard for years and years. She threw both arms about the frail form. With a torrent of words she pictured the raspberry patch, old Jonathan"s lettuce and radishes and beets and beans and slender cornstalks working up through the soft earth, and the giant apple trees beyond, the lake "just like diamonds sprinkled over sapphire blue velvet" and the purple hills in the background. And all the while she talked, Nancy felt little quivers pa.s.sing through the form she held.
"It--isn"t--_fair_!" she ended, enigmatically. She sat still for a moment, staring at Miss Milly. With her bright color Aunt Milly didn"t look at all like a helpless invalid. "Maybe----" began Nancy, then stopped short. She rose abruptly to her feet. "I"ve got an idea that beats my bird"s-nest all to pieces! I can"t tell you now because you"d be frightened to death, but it"s going to be wonderful! Let me hide this truck under your couch and now be very, very good until I come back. I must find B"lindy at once."
Nancy, fired by her sudden purpose, interrupted B"lindy in the last of her "drying up" and demanded to know where she could find Mr. Webb.
When B"lindy ""lowed she wa"n"t his keeper, but he"s most al"las hangin" "round the smithy or Eaton"s or the post-office or the hotel, "cept when you wanted him, and then he wa"n"t hangin" "round nowhere,"
Nancy started off down the path, bareheaded.
Fortune favored her, for Mr. Webb was "hangin" round the smithy and very delighted to see Miss Anne!" He had been wondering a lot about the coming of the girl to Happy House. "Somethin" sure to come of it,"
he had reflected again and again.
Of course, he a.s.sured Nancy, he"d do anything he could for her. And Nancy was sure they might find all that they needed right there in the smithy.
"It must be very comfortable and have some springs--and be safe, too.
And if you can find some wheels with rubber tires--off an old baby carriage, they"ll run more smoothly. And the seat must be big enough for a lady--but she"s a _small_ lady!"
Jonathan thought he "caught her idee. Old Mrs. King, over at North Hero, couldn"t walk a step "count of rheumatism, and she had a rig-up such as Nancy was describing." Yes, Timothy Hopkins at the smithy had most every kind of a thing about and he"d see what he could do, and Miss Anne could run down in the morning, early, before the stage started for North Hero.
"And, Webb," Nancy levelled her sweetest smile, "don"t even _try_ to think whom it"s for--it"s a secret."
CHAPTER VI
IN THE ORCHARD
Until Webb could finish the task that Nancy had a.s.signed to him, Nancy curbing her impatience, had to return to the study of "Joshua, Jacob and John."
"It was John that was killed in the war of 1812, and now we have progressed to the next generation of Samuel and Ezekiel," she wrote to Claire. "But let me tell you that just as soon as Webb finishes the "rig-up" (that is what he calls my perfectly beautiful idea) I"m not going to have a minute to spend on any of the old ancestors. Won"t it be wonderful to see Aunt Milly"s face when she knows about it? _Think_ of it, Claire--how we love to frolic all around this good old earth, and how awful it would be to be tied to a couch all your days--and in _such_ a room!"
"After to-day my letters will be just sc.r.a.ps and you can picture your Nancy working madly in her tree-top!
"So far all is safe, and I"m really beginning to feel as though I was a real Leavitt and not walking around in Anne"s shoes, especially when I am with Aunt Milly. But it"s terribly hard not to talk about Dad and you and Anne, and I have to hold my lips together lots of times to keep from bursting out with something. I suppose it"s good training for me--Miss Sykes used to tell me my impulsiveness would be my ruin some day.
"I have seen the hired man! Yesterday, when I went out to my nest, I deliberately walked around the edge of the orchard. I saw a lot of tumble-down sheds and things over on a rise of ground that I supposed was Judson"s, and of course the lot in between was the ten-acre strip that Webb told me about. I couldn"t _see_ that it was any better than any other part of the country around here. And while I was staring, suddenly something moved, and there was that creature with a hoe standing at the other end of the lot. And he waved his hand! Says I, "Nancy Leavitt, this is your chance," and I tossed my head so hard that my neck truly cracked, and I stalked off back to the orchard. It was good enough for him.
"Oh, oh, oh, Webb has come! He"s taken the rig-up around the lilac side (for strategic reasons, I have divided the grounds of Happy House) and out to the carriage barn. Now I shall tackle B"lindy and make ready for the blessed hour of rest.
"Adieu, dearest Claire, pray for your old pal."
The winning of B"lindy to her plan was not as easy as Webb had been.
It had been a "bad" morning for B"lindy; the fire would not draw well, she had forgotten to "set" her bread, and Judson"s cat had gotten into the cream. Nancy"s arguments fell on deaf ears.
"I guess what"s well enough"s well enough," at last she threw over her shoulder. "Milly Leavitt"s laid on that couch twenty years and it ain"t likely she"ll lay there many more, and there ain"t no use meddlin" with what"s what!"
"But, B"lindy, no one has ever tried this! It"s so easy. Wait until you see how nice and safe Webb has made the chair. It"s wonderful! It would be wicked to keep her shut up there when we could take her out!
Think of it, B"lindy, all _we_ have and poor little Aunt Milly! Why, it might make her well! I really know of such a case. It was a woman who had tried every medicine she knew of and it was just happiness she needed! If Aunt Milly could get out there in the sunshine and--and see things, _she_ might get well, too. Anyway, she could laugh!"
B"lindy laid down her egg-beater. It was a sign of yielding.
"I guess n.o.body"s _tried_ happiness on Milly Leavitt!"
"We"ll take her together, B"lindy. You may go with me to her room and see her face when she knows!"
"I told Miss Sabriny that there was no tellin" _what"d_ happen in Happy House if she brought a young thing like you here," was B"lindy"s way of a.s.sent. With an uplifted arm she warded off what threatened to be a hug.
"Go "way, Anne Leavitt, or there won"t be no dinner! And this is _your_ doin"s, remember."
True to her promise, Nancy waited until the last dinner dish was dried; then she and B"lindy, very like culprits, tip-toed to Miss Milly"s room. Aunt Milly wore a look of expectancy, which changed to wonder when she saw B"lindy. And one glance at Nancy"s eager face told her that something very, very different was about to happen!
In a whisper Nancy commanded her to peep out and "just see what you"ll see." And Miss Milly, in a flutter, _did_ peep out, and saw Jonathan below, with a curiously contrived chair on wheels.
"It"s for you--Webb made it," declared Nancy. "And you"re not to get excited, because that might spoil everything. We"re going to take you to the orchard!"
"Oh, _Nancy_!" Something caught in poor Miss Milly"s throat.
"You must do just what I tell you. Take this shawl, though it"s warmer out there than it is in here. I"m very strong and I shall carry you right down in my arms, and you must cling tight to my neck."
Poor Miss Milly commenced to tremble violently. "Nancy--I"m afraid!
I--I--It"s so long--maybe I"d better--maybe it isn"t--_right_!"
"Oh, Aunt Milly, darling, how could it be wrong to be happy! Just _try_ it! Think of the sunshine and the birds and the nice smells and all Jonathan"s growing things! And B"lindy is going along, too, to help. _Try_ it, Aunt Milly!"
Aunt Milly"s eyes filled with tears, then she commenced to laugh softly. "Maybe it"ll be the only time! I"d love--once more----" She let Nancy lift her slowly. "I"m too heavy, dear," she protested.
"_Heavy_----" thought Nancy. The pitifully frail form was as nothing in her clasp. "I haven"t played forward on our basket-ball team for four years for nothing, Aunt Milly! March on, B"lindy. Now--very still."
It was a strange procession that moved off through the garden toward the orchard. Jonathan led the way, B"lindy wheeled the chair and Nancy frisked along, first one side, then the other, picking posies here and there until Aunt Milly"s lap was quite full. And Miss Milly sat very still with her hands clasped tight together and a look of ecstasy in her eyes, as though she was beholding a new and beautiful world! Every step forward brought an added wonder. She had forgotten the world was like this.
"_Oh-h!_" she whispered rapturously when a robin trilled from a nearby tree. "_Oh-h!_" she cried again when she caught a glimpse of the lake.
But when they reached the cliff it was Nancy"s turn to exclaim. For there in her tree had been built the cosiest of rustic seats.