Kristy"s Rainy Day Picnic.
by Olive Thorne Miller.
CHAPTER I
THE RAINY DAY
"I think it"s just horrid!" said Kristy, standing before the window, peering out into a world of drizzling rain. "Every single thing is ready and every girl promised to come, and now it has to go and rain; "n" I believe it"ll rain a week, anyway!" she added as a stronger gust dashed the drops against the gla.s.s.
Kristy"s mother, who was sitting at her sewing-table at work, did not speak at once, and Kristy burst out again:--
"I wish it would never rain another drop; it"s always spoiling things!"
"Kristy," said her mother quietly, "you remind me of a girl I knew when I was young."
"What about her?" asked Kristy rather sulkily.
"Why, she had a disappointment something like yours, only it wasn"t the weather, but her own carelessness, that caused it. She cried and made a great fuss about it, but before night she was very glad it had happened."
"She must have been a very queer girl," said Kristy.
"She was much such a girl as you, Kristy; and the reason she was glad was because her loss was the cause of her having a far greater pleasure."
"Tell me about it," said Kristy, interested at once, and leaving the window.
"Well, she was dressed for a party at the house of one of her friends, and as she ran down the walk to join the girls in the hay-wagon that was to take them all there, her dress caught on something and tore a great rent clear across the front breadth."
"Well; couldn"t she put on another?" asked Kristy.
"Girls didn"t have many dresses in those days, and that was a new one made on purpose for the occasion. She had no other that she would wear."
[Ill.u.s.tration: Kristy stood, peering into a world of drizzling Rain.]
"What did she do?" asked Kristy.
"She turned and ran back into the house, held up her ruined dress for her mother to see, and then flung herself on the lounge with a burst of tears. Her mother had to go out and tell the girls that Bessie could not go."
"That was horrid!" said Kristy earnestly; "but why was she glad, for you said she was?"
"She was, indeed; for an hour later her father drove up to the door and said that he was obliged to go to the city on business, and if Bessie could be ready in fifteen minutes, he would take her and let her spend a few days with her cousin Helen, who had been urging her to visit her. This was a great treat, for Bessie had never been to a large city, and there was nothing she wanted so much to do. You see, if she had been away at the party, she would have missed this pleasure, for her father could not wait longer. She forgot her disappointment in a moment, and hurried to get ready, while her mother packed a satchel with things she would need."
By this time Kristy was seated close by her mother, eagerly interested in the story.
Mrs. Crawford paused.
"Do go on, mamma," said Kristy; "tell me more about her. Did she have a nice time in the city?"
"She did," went on Mrs. Crawford; "so nice that her father was persuaded to leave her there, and she stayed more than a week. There was one sc.r.a.pe, however, that the girls got into that was not so very nice."
"Tell me about it," said Kristy eagerly.
"Well," said her mother, "this is the way it happened."
CHAPTER II
PLAYING DOCTOR; AND WHAT CAME OF IT
One rainy Sat.u.r.day afternoon when they were not allowed to go out, Bessie and Helen were playing with their dolls in the nursery.
Helen had a large family of dolls of many kinds: stiff kid-bodied dolls with heads made of some sort of composition that broke very easily, and legs and feet from the knees down of wood, with slippers of pink or blue painted on; others all wood, with jointed legs and arms, that could sit down; whole families of paper dolls cut from cardboard, with large wardrobes of garments of gilt and colored paper which the girls made themselves. Then there was a grand wax doll with real hair which hung in curls, and lips slightly open showing four tiny white teeth. This lovely creature was dressed in pink gauze, and was far too fine for every day. It lived in the lower bureau drawer in Helen"s room, and was brought out only on special occasions.
Dearest of all was a doll her mother made for her, of white cloth with a face painted on it, and head of hair made of what used to be called a "false front." This delightful doll was quite a wonder in those days. It had a wardrobe as well made as Helen"s own, including stockings and shoes, and could be dressed and undressed and combed and brushed to her heart"s content.
Well, one morning,--a rainy Sat.u.r.day, as I said,--the two girls were very busy with the big family of dolls. They were playing that the wax doll was sick and they were Doctor and Nurse. Many tiny beads--called pills--and several drops from a bottle out of the family medicine case had been thrust between the teeth of this unlucky creature, when the thought struck Helen that a living patient would be more fun than a doll. So she hunted up a half-grown kitten that belonged to her little brother Robbie.
The kitten was dressed for her part in a white towel pinned around her and a pointed cap of paper on her head. Very droll she looked, but she was not so easy to manage as the doll. Beads she refused to swallow, but thrust them out on her small pink tongue, and she struggled violently when a drop of the medicine was given to her. In fact, her struggles made Helen"s arm joggle, and sent more down her throat than she meant to give her.
Finally, the kitten struggled and fought so violently that they let her go, when she ran quickly down the stairs, and hid where they could not find her.
The next morning the kitten was missing, to Robbie"s great grief. The house was searched in vain, and the two girls began to fear that medicine was not good for her.
Feeling very guilty, they hunted everywhere on the place, and at last found the poor little dead body behind a box in the cellar, where she had crept to die.
The girls were horrified to think their play had killed her. They felt like murderers, and stole out into the arbor to think and plan what they should do. They dared not confess; they feared some sort of punishment for their crime, and they knew it would make Robbie very unhappy.
After much talk, they decided to dispose of the body secretly and not tell any one of their part in the sad business. But how to do it was the question that troubled them. They dared not bury it, for fresh digging in that small city yard would arouse suspicion at once. Bessie suggested that they should carry it far off in the night and throw it away. This plan seemed the best they could think of, till Helen said they would not be allowed to go out in the city after dark.
"I"ll tell you," said Bessie at last. "I can do up a nice package,--Uncle Tom taught me,--and I"ll do it up, and we can take it away in the daytime; no one will know what it is, and then we can lose it somewhere."
This plan was adopted. Helen got paper and string, and when everybody had gone to church that evening, they brought up the poor kitten, and Bessie made a very neat package which no one could suspect. This they hid away till they could get it out of the house.
After school the next day they got leave to visit a schoolmate who lived far up town, and Helen"s mother gave them money to ride in the omnibus--or stage, as they called it--which would take them there.
There were no street cars then.
Hiding the small bundle under her cape, Bessie slipped out at the door, feeling now not only like a murderer, but like a thief besides.
They took the stage and rode up town, the package lying openly on Helen"s lap. When the stage reached Nineteenth Street it stopped, and to Helen"s horror one of her schoolmates came in. She was delighted to see the girls, and seated herself beside Helen.
"Where you going?" she asked.
"We"re going to see Lottie Hart," answered Helen.