"Oh, oh," cried the stricken three, "what shall we do. All winter--and we can"t have any fun--if Anne isn"t here, nor you, Judy, and we had planned so many things."
"Will you really miss _me_?" Judy asked a little wistfully, and at that Nannie"s hand was laid on hers, as the little girl murmured, "We shall miss you awfly, Judy," while Amelia sighed a great, gusty sigh, as she said, "Oh, dear, now everything"s spoiled!"
"Do you want me to come to your birthday dinner, too?" asked Tommy, anxiously, when the first shock of the coming separation was over, "or ain"t you goin" to have any boys."
"Yes, I want you and Launcelot," said Judy, who had debated the question of being friendly with Tommy, for he hadn"t seemed worth it, but Anne had pleaded for him. "He really means well, Judy," she had protested, "and I think he is going to turn over a new leaf."
"Well, I hope he will," said Judy, and forgave him.
When the big gate was reached, Nannie and Amelia and Tommy went on, and as Judy and Anne went into the old garden, they found the Judge and the Captain, both still semi-invalids, sitting there, amid a riot of late summer blossoms.
As he greeted them, Captain Jameson"s eyes went from the rosy, fair face of little Anne to the pale but happy one of his daughter. "Father is right," he thought, "Anne does her good."
"Isn"t it lovely here," said Judy, dropping her great golden bunch with a sigh as she sat down on the bench under the lilac bush. "It"s so cool."
"What a lot of goldenrod," said the Judge. "Aren"t you tired?"
"A little," said Judy, as she took off her hat.
"Launcelot couldn"t go," Anne started to explain, when Terry, who had been investigating the hedge, barked.
"What"s the matter with him?" asked Judy, as the small dog growled in what might be called a perfunctory fashion, for he was so good natured that he was in a chronic state of being at peace with the world.
She went to the gate and looked over.
"Why, it"s a cow," she cried, "a beautiful little brown-eyed cow."
Terry barked again, and then a voice outside the hedge said: "Yes, and I"ve just bought her."
"Launcelot," screamed both of the girls, delightedly, and opened the gate wide.
CHAPTER XXVI
JUDY PLAYS LADY BOUNTIFUL
"Down, Terry," commanded the Captain, as the little dog went for the mild-eyed cow, but the mild-eyed cow seemed perfectly able to take care of herself, and as she lowered her horns, Terry retired discreetly to a safe place between the Captain"s knees, where he wagged an ingratiating tail.
Launcelot and the cow stood framed in the rose-covered gateway.
"Yes, I"ve bought a cow," explained the big boy, who was dusty but cheerful, "and we are going to have our own b.u.t.ter and milk, and if there is any over, I"ll sell it."
"You have my order now," said the Judge, handsomely.
"Thank you, sir," said Launcelot, and Anne cried:
"Oh, Launcelot, make it in little pats stamped with a violet, and label it, "From the Violet Farm.""
"That"s not a bad idea," commended the Captain, "novelties like that take, and if the b.u.t.ter is good, you may get a market for more than you can make."
"Then I will get another cow and enlarge my hothouse, and between the b.u.t.ter and the violets I guess I can bring up my college fund," and Launcelot looked so hopeful that they all smiled in sympathy.
"Where did you get her?" asked Judy, as she patted the pretty creature on the head.
"I bought her a mile or so out in the country, and I tell you I hated to take her after I had paid the money."
"Why?" asked Anne.
"Oh, they were so poor, and the cow was the only thing they had. There is a widow, named McSwiggins, with six children, and I guess they have had a pretty hard time, and now their taxes are due and the interest and two of them have had the typhoid fever, and are just skin and bone, and they had to sell the cow, and they cried, and I felt like a thief when I carried her off."
"Oh, poor things," cried Judy, when Launcelot finished his breathless recital, "poor things."
"I didn"t want to take her, after I found out, but Mrs. McSwiggins said that they needed the money awfully, and that I was doing them a favor--only it was hard, and then she cried and the children all cried, too."
"Why haven"t they told some one before this?" asked the Judge, wiping his eyes.
"I guess the mother is too proud. They are from the South and they haven"t been in this neighborhood long, and she don"t know any one."
"What"s the cow"s name?" asked Anne, whose eyes were like dewy forget-me-nots.
"Sweetheart. The biggest girl named her, and when I went out of the gate she just sat down on the step and looked after us, and her eyes hurt me, they were so sad."
The little cow moved restlessly. "I guess I"ll have to go," sighed Launcelot, standing like a Peri outside the gates of Paradise, and contrasting the coolness and quiet of the old garden with the heat and dust of the long white road. "I guess I"ll have to take Sweetheart on."
But just then down the path came Perkins, dignified in white linen, and in his hand he bore a tray on which a gla.s.s pitcher, misty with coolness and showing ravishing glimpses of lemon peel and ice, promised delicious refreshment.
"You come and have some lemonade, Mr. Launcelot," said Perkins, as he set the tray on the table, "I"ll hold the cow."
And, as they all insisted, Launcelot came in, and Perkins went without the gate.
But, alas, Sweetheart was a cow of many moods, and as the gay little party in the garden sipped the cooling drink in the shade of the trees, the little cow, growing restive out there in the sun with the flies worrying her, suddenly ducked her head and ran.
And after her, still holding the rope, went the immaculate Perkins, to be dragged hither and thither by her erratic movements, while he shouted desperately, "Whoa."
And after Perkins went the excited Terry-dog, and after Terry went Launcelot, and after Launcelot went Judy, and then Anne, and then far in the rear, the Judge, while Captain Jameson, too weak to run, stood at the gate and watched.
It was a brave race. Perkins had grit and he would not let go of the rope, and Sweetheart wanted to go home and she would not stop running, and so the procession went up the dusty road and down a dusty hill, and then up another dusty hill, and down a cool green bank, where seeing ahead of her a murmuring limpid stream, Sweetheart dashed into it, stood still, and placidly drank in long sighing gulps.
Perkins went in after her, and was rescued by Launcelot, while Judy and Anne stood on the bank and laughed until the tears ran down their cheeks.
Perkins laughed, too, as he emerged wet and dripping, but beaming.
"I didn"t let her go," he chuckled, a little proud of his agility in his old age, and Launcelot said admiringly, "I didn"t think you had it in you, Perkins," and at that Perkins chuckled more than ever.
They went back in a triumphal procession, and then Lancelot took Sweetheart away with him, and the little girls went up-stairs to dress.
The Captain and the Judge were left alone, and presently the former said: