"How jolly!" exclaimed Patty. "Of course you"ll go, Caddy. You"ll have a chance to wear that lovely organdie of yours at last."
"It was sweet of Chris to invite me," said Carry. "I really didn"t expect it."
"Well, I did. Wasn"t she your most intimate friend when she lived in Enderby?"
"Oh, yes, but it is four years since she left, and some people might forget in four years. But I might have known Chris wouldn"t. Of course I"ll go."
"And you"ll make up your organdie?"
"I shall have to," laughed Carry, forgetting all her troubles for a moment, and feeling young and joyous over the prospect of a festivity.
"I haven"t another thing that would do to wear to a wedding. If I hadn"t that blessed organdie I couldn"t go, that"s all."
"But you have it, and it will look lovely made up with a tucked skirt.
Tucks are so fashionable now. And there"s that lace of mine you can have for a bertha. I want you to look just right, you see. Enfield is a big place, and there will be lots of grandees at the wedding. Let"s get the last fashion sheet and pick out a design right away. Here"s one on the very first page that would be nice. You could wear it to perfection, Caddy you"re so tall and slender. It wouldn"t suit a plump and podgy person like myself at all."
Carry liked the pattern, and they had an animated discussion over it.
But, in the end, Carry sighed, and pushed the sheet away from her, with all the brightness gone out of face.
"It"s no use, Patty. I"d forgotten for a few minutes, but it"s all come back now. I can"t think of weddings and new dresses, when the thought of that interest crowds everything else out. It"s due next month--fifty dollars--and I"ve only ten saved up. I can"t make forty dollars in a month, even if I had any amount of sewing, and you know hardly anyone wants sewing done just now. I don"t know what we shall do. Oh, I suppose we can rent a couple of rooms in the village and _exist_ in them. But it breaks my heart to think of leaving our old home."
"Perhaps Mr. Kerr will let us have more time," suggested Patty, not very hopefully. The sparkle had gone out of her face too. Patty loved their little home as much as Carry did.
"You know he won"t. He has been only too anxious for an excuse to foreclose, this long time. He wants the land the house is on. Oh, if I only hadn"t been sick so long in the summer--just when everybody had sewing to do. I"ve tried so hard to catch up, but I couldn"t." Carry"s voice broke in a sob.
Patty leaned over the table and patted her sister"s glossy dark hair gently.
"You"ve worked too hard, dearie. You"ve just gone to skin and bone.
Oh, I know how hard it is! I can"t bear to think of leaving this dear old spot either. If we could only induce Mr. Kerr to give us a year"s grace! I"d be teaching then, and we could easily pay the interest and some of the princ.i.p.al too. Perhaps he will if we both go to him and coax very hard. Anyway, don"t worry over it till after the wedding. I want you to go and have a good time. You never have good times, Carry."
"Neither do you," said Carry rebelliously. "You never have anything that other girls have, Patty--not even pretty clothes."
"Deed, and I"ve lots of things to be thankful for," said Patty cheerily. "Don"t you fret about me. I"m vain enough to think I"ve got some brains anyway, and I"m a-meaning to do something with them too.
Now I think I"ll go upstairs and study this evening. It will be warm enough there tonight, and the noise of the machine rather bothers me."
Patty whisked out, and Carry knew she should go to her sewing. But she sat a long while at the table in dismal thought. She was so tired, and so hopeless. It had been such a hard struggle, and it seemed now as if it would all come to naught. For five years, ever since her mother"s death, Carry had supported herself and Patty by dressmaking. They had been a hard five years of pinching and economizing and going without, for Enderby was only a small place, and there were two other dressmakers. Then there was always the mortgage to devour everything.
Carry had kept it at bay till now, but at last she was conquered. She had had typhoid fever in the spring and had not been able to work for a long time. Indeed, she had gone to work before she should. The doctor"s bill was yet unpaid, but Dr. Hamilton had told her to take her time. Carry knew she would not be pressed for that, and next year Patty would be able to help her. But next year would be too late. The dear little home would be lost then.
When Carry roused herself from her sad reflections, she saw a crumpled note lying on the floor. She picked it up and absently smoothed it out. Seeing Patty"s name at the top she was about to lay it aside without reading it, but the lines were few, and the sense of them flashed into Carry"s brain. The note was an invitation to Clare Forbes"s party! The Lea girls had known that the Forbes girls were going to give a party, but they had not expected that Patty would be invited. Of course, Clare Forbes was in Patty"s cla.s.s at school and was always very nice and friendly with her. But then the Forbes set was not the Lea set.
Carry ran upstairs to Patty"s room. "Patty, you dropped this on the floor. I couldn"t help seeing what it was. Why didn"t you tell me Clare had invited you?"
"Because I knew I couldn"t go, and I thought you would feel badly over that. Caddy, I wish you hadn"t seen it."
"Oh, Patty, I _do_ wish you could go to the party. It was so sweet of Clare to invite you, and perhaps she will be offended if you don"t go--she won"t understand. Clare Forbes isn"t a girl whose friendship is to be lightly thrown away when it is offered."
"I know that. But, Caddy dear, it is impossible. I don"t think that I have any foolish pride about clothes, but you know it is out of the question to think of going to Clare Forbes"s party in my last winter"s plaid dress, which is a good two inches too short and skimpy in proportion. Putting my own feelings aside, it would be an insult to Clare. There, don"t think any more about it."
But Carry did think about it. She lay awake half the night wondering if there might not be some way for Patty to go to that party. She knew it was impossible, unless Patty had a new dress, and how could a new dress be had? Yet she did so want Patty to go. Patty never had any good times, and she was studying so hard. Then, all at once, Carry thought of a way by which Patty might have a new dress. She had been tossing restlessly, but now she lay very still, staring with wide-open eyes at the moonlit window, with the big willow boughs branching darkly across it. Yes, it was a way, but could she? _Could_ she? Yes, she could, and she would. Carry buried her face in her pillow with a sob and a gulp. But she had decided what must be done, and how it must be done.
"Are you going to begin on your organdie today?" asked Patty in the morning, before she started for school.
"I must finish Mrs. Pidgeon"s suit first," Carry answered. "Next week will be time enough to think about my wedding garments."
She tried to laugh and failed. Patty thought with a pang that Carry looked horribly pale and tired--probably she had worried most of the night over the interest. "I"m so glad she"s going to Chris"s wedding,"
thought Patty, as she hurried down the street. "It will take her out of herself and give her something nice to think of for ever so long."
Nothing more was said that week about the organdie, or the wedding, or the Forbes"s party. Carry sewed fiercely, and sat at her machine for hours after Patty had gone to bed. The night before the party she said to Patty, "Braid your hair tonight, Patty. You"ll want it nice and wavy to go to the Forbes"s tomorrow night."
Patty thought that Carry was actually trying to perpetrate a weak joke, and endeavoured to laugh. But it was a rather dreary laugh.
Patty, after a hard evening"s study, felt tired and discouraged, and she was really dreadfully disappointed about the party, although she wouldn"t have let Carry suspect it for the world.
"You"re going, you know," said Carry, as serious as a judge, although there was a little twinkle in her eyes.
"In a faded plaid two inches too short?" Patty smiled as brightly as possible.
"Oh, no. I have a dress all ready for you." Carry opened the wardrobe door and took out--the loveliest girlish dress of creamy organdie, with pale pink roses scattered over it, made with the daintiest of ruffles and tucks, with a bertha of soft creamy lace, and a girdle of white silk. "This is for you," said Carry.
Patty gazed at the dress with horror-stricken eyes. "Caroline Lea, _that is your organdie!_ And you"ve gone and made it up for _me_!
Carry Lea, what are you going to wear to the wedding?"
"Nothing. I"m not going."
"You are--you must--you shall. I won"t take the organdie."
"You"ll have to now, because it"s made to fit you. Come, Patty dear, I"ve set my heart on your going to that party. You mustn"t disappoint me--you _can"t_, for what good would it do? I can never wear the dress now."
Patty realized that. She knew she might as well go to the party, but she did not feel much pleasure in the prospect. Nevertheless, when she was ready for it the next evening, she couldn"t help a little thrill of delight. The dress was so pretty, and dainty, and becoming.
"You look sweet," exclaimed Carry admiringly. "There, I hear the Browns" carriage. Patty, I want you to promise me this--that you"ll not let any thought of me, or my not going to the wedding, spoil your enjoyment this evening. I gave you the dress that you might have a good time, so don"t make my gift of no effect."
"I"ll try," promised Patty, flying downstairs, where her next-door neighbours were waiting for her.
At two o"clock that night Carry was awakened to see Patty bending over her, flushed and radiant. Carry sat sleepily up. "I hope you had a good time," she said.
"I had--oh, I had--but I didn"t waken you out of your hard-earned slumbers at this wee sma" hour to tell you that. Carry, I"ve thought of a way for you to go to the wedding. It just came to me at supper.
Mrs. Forbes was sitting opposite to me, and her dress suggested it.
You must make over Aunt Caroline"s silk dress."
"Nonsense," said Carry, a little crossly; even sweet-tempered people are sometimes cross when they are wakened up for--as it seemed--nothing.
"It"s good plain sense. Of course, you must make it over and--"
"Patty Lea, you"re crazy. I wouldn"t dream of wearing that hideous thing. Bright green silk, with huge yellow brocade flowers as big as cabbages all over it! I think I see myself in it."
"Caddy, listen to me. You know there"s enough of that black lace of mother"s for the waist, and the big black lace shawl of Grandmother Lea"s will do for the skirt. Make it over--"
"A plain slip of the silk," gasped Carry, her quick brain seizing on all the possibilities of the plan. "Why didn"t I think of it before?
It will be just the thing, the greens and yellow will be toned down to a nice shimmer under the black lace. And I"ll make cuffs of black velvet with double puffs above--and just cut out a wee bit at the throat with a frill of lace and a band of black velvet ribbon around my neck. Patty Lea, it"s an inspiration."