"Why, I feel jes" as well as ever, an" all rested like," and Dil sat up, smiling. "We walked so much to-day, but to-morrow I"ll be all right."
She seemed quite right the next morning. When Mrs. Brian"s "man" had gone, she came in and helped Dil with the breakfast things. Mrs. Cairns _would_ leave her baby for the half-day, and Nelly came. Mrs. Wilson looked in upon her, with a bit of sewing in her hand. Dil did not try to do anything besides entertain the little ones. How sweet and naturally she did it!
But she was so tired she lay on the lounge a long while in the afternoon. Nelly played about, and talked in her pretty broken fashion.
Dil dreamed of the vision she had seen.
About five Mrs. Wilson came in, her thin face lighted with eagerness.
"I must tell you something quite delightful," she began. "I sew for several ladies; and one of them, a Miss Lawrence, came in about an hour ago. She"s interested in several charities, and I asked her about the places where they sent poor tired children to recruit. My dear, she is on the committee of a society; and they have a beautiful large country-house, where they can take in from twenty to thirty children.
There"s a housekeeper and nurses, and different young ladies go up to stay a week or two at a time. They read to the children, and take them out in the woods, and help them at playing games; and there are music and singing, and great shady trees to sit under, and a barn full of new-mown hay, where they can play and tumble. Why, it made me wish I was a little girl!"
Mrs. Wilson put her hand on her side, for she had talked herself out of breath.
Dil"s eyes shone with delight. She could see it all in a vivid manner.
"Miss Lawrence couldn"t stay to-day; but she is coming to-morrow morning, and wants to see you. She was so interested in the way all you children are living here. She"s a lovely woman; and if there were more like her, who were willing to pay fair prices for work, the poor would be much the gainer."
"You"re so good to me! Everybody is now," said the child gratefully.
Dil thought she hadn"t done much of anything that day, but she was really afraid to tell Patsey how tired she felt. He _would_ wash up the dishes.
"That"ll be jes" the daisy, Dil!" he said, when he heard about Miss Lawrence. "You want some country air, an"-an" reel fresh country milk.
An" don"t you worry. We"ll git along. You jes" go an" hev a good time."
Oh, could she go to such a blessed place-like Central Park all the time?
She was quite shy and embarra.s.sed when Miss Lawrence called. A large, pleasant-looking woman, with indications of wealth and refinement that Dil felt at once, and she seemed so much farther away than Mrs. Wilson.
But she questioned Dil very gently, and drew her out with a rare art.
The pale face and evident weakness appealed to her,-seemed, indeed, to call for immediate attention.
"I shall put you on our next week"s list," Miss Lawrence said with gracious interest. "If any one ever earned a rest, I think you have. And I will come in to-morrow evening and talk it over with your brother and the boys."
The "boys" made themselves scarce, except Patsey and Owen, although Shorty went and sat on Mrs. Brian"s stoop. But Miss Lawrence had seen boys before, and even ventured on a dainty bit of slang that won Patsey at once. He was eager for Dil to go and get some red cheeks like Owen.
It didn"t seem as if the two could be brother and sister.
If Miss Lawrence had seen the sleeping accommodations she would have been more than shocked; and yet there were hundreds in the city not as well housed, and few of the real poor as tidily kept.
"It would be jes" lovely to go," admitted Dil, with curious reluctance.
"But a whole week!"
"Two weeks!" almost shouted Patsey. "An" youse"ll come home so fat wid de new milk an" all, yer clo"es won"t fit yer. We"ll jes" hev to make an auction an" sell em" second-hand."
"An" take half the money an buy her some new ones," said Owen with a laugh. "T"other half we"ll put in the bank."
Shorty had come sneaking back, and joined in the merriment.
""N" I kin cook purty good, "n" wash dishes," began Patsey, when Dil interrupted,-
"Oh, you will be careful of thim, won"t you?"
"Careful! I"ll treat "em as if they was aiggs. An" I"ll make the boys stan" roun", so"s to keep the house-well-decent!" and he made a funny, meaning face. "Je-ru-sa-lem! what a hole we had when youse come! An" now it"s like a pallis."
Not like the palace Dil remembered in the book that had been such a treat to her and Bess.
Everybody made it easy for Dil. Mrs. Brian would see to the boys, and Mrs. Wilson offered to keep Nelly until her return. Still, it was Friday before Dil could really make up her mind.
On Sat.u.r.day Dil took Nelly and went up to Madison Square. The policeman kept out of her way; he could not bear to face her look of disappointment. But just at the last she took him inadvertently.
"You see, I"m sure he"ll come soon," she said with a confidence that seemed like a presentiment. ""Cause he"ll be thinkin" "bout the Sat"day he made the picture of Bess an" me. An" I want him to know where I"ve gone; so I"ve writ it out. I"ve been studyin" writin"."
"She looks like a ghost," the man said to himself as his eyes followed her. "She"s that changed in a year no one would know her except for her eyes. If he don"t come soon, he won"t see her at all, to my thinking.
Hillo! what a scheme! I"ll hunt him up. Why didn"t I think of it before!
John Travis! Seems to me I"ve heard something about John Travis."
Sunday was a soft, cloudy day, with a touch of rain. Every boy stayed at home-you couldn"t have driven them away. They promised to give Mrs.
Brian the rent every night, so as to be provided for next Monday. They sang some of their prettiest songs for her; they didn"t know many hymns, but they had a spirit of tenderest devotion in their hearts.
The boys said good-by to her the next morning in a rather sober fashion.
Patsey and Owen were going to take her to the ferry. Mrs. Brian brought down her satchel, and Dil put in her white dress, some ap.r.o.ns, and various small matters. She was to wear her best pink gingham. Mrs.
Wilson was full of hope, Mrs. Brian extremely jolly, and was sure Barnum would want her for a "fat girl" when she came back.
Dil"s similitudes were very limited, but Cinderella and the fairy G.o.dmother _did_ come into her mind.
Miss Lawrence was in the waiting-room with half a dozen girls. She came and greeted Dil cordially, and told her she looked better already. The child"s eyes brightened with a sunny light.
Owen said good-by in a boy"s awkward fashion, and gave her the bag.
Patsey was reluctant, and he turned slowly away.
Then he came back.
"Good-by, Dil, dear," he said again with deep tenderness as he stooped to kiss her. He was so much taller, though only a few months older. And always Patsey Muldoon was glad he came back for that kiss.
Then Miss Lawrence bought tickets and ushered her small procession, nine of them now, through the narrow way and out on the boat. They huddled together at first like a flock of sheep. Dil noticed one little hump-backed girl, who had large, light eyes and golden hair in ringlets.
She was not like Bess, and yet she moved Dil"s sympathetic heart. Had a drunken father "hurted her"?
She felt shy of the others, they all seemed in such spirits. As they were going off the boat, she drew nearer the unfortunate child and longed to speak.
An impudent leer crossed the other face.
"Who yer lookin" at? Mind yer own biz. I"m jes" as good as youse!" was the unexpected salutation.
"Yes," answered Dil meekly, her enthusiastic pity quenched.
Dil"s seat was in the window end, and her companion a stolid little German with two flaxen tails down her back. So she sat quite still. The morning had been so full of excitement she could hardly think. She had been just whirled about, pushed into the adventure.
But the "little mothers" interested her. Did they like babies, she wondered? Did their arms ache, and were their backs strained and tired carrying them about? Most of them were thin and weary looking, yet they were in gay spirits, making little jokes and giving quick, slangy answers, ready to laugh at anything.
Dil seemed quite apart from them. They pa.s.sed through a tunnel, and there were little shrieks and giggles. The German girl caught Dil"s arm.