"Now get busy in earnest," she said to the half-piqued lad, whose face wore an expression of "do or die" as he again mounted his steed.
"You can just bet your last nickel I"m going to! Great Scott, do you think I"m going to let _this_ beat me out, or that yelling mob out yonder see me put out of commission? Now fire away. Show me how to keep my legs clamped and to sit in the saddle instead of on this beast"s left ear."
As Peggy was a skilled teacher and Jean an apt pupil the combination worked to perfection, and when in a half-hour"s time they joined the main body of the cavalcade, Jean had at least learned where a saddle rests and had trained his legs to "clamp" successfully.
Meanwhile, back on Severndale"s broad piazza Peggy was the subject of a livelier discussion than she would have believed possible, and the upshot of it was a decision which carried Neil Stewart, Mrs. Harold, herself, and Polly off to Washington early the following morning to visit a school of which Mrs. Harold knew. Mrs. Stewart was very courteously asked to accompany the party of four, which was to spend three or four days in the Capital, but Mrs. Stewart was distinctly chagrined at her failure to carry successfully to a finish the scheme which she felt she had so carefully thought out. Alas, she could not understand that she sorely lacked the most essential qualities for its success--unselfishness, disinterestedness, the finer feeling of the older woman for the younger, and all that goes to make womanhood and maternal instinct what they should be. She felt that her reign at Severndale was ended and nothing remained but to make as graceful a retreat as possible. So she declined the invitation, stating that she was very anxious to visit some friends in Baltimore and would take this opportunity to do so, going by a later train.
Neil Stewart did not press his invitation. He wanted Mrs. Harold and the girls to himself for a time and knowing that it would be his last opportunity to see them for many months, resolved to make the most of it. Not by word or act had he expressed disapproval of Mrs. Stewart"s rather extraordinary line of conduct since her arrival at Severndale, though evidences of it were to be seen at every turn, and both Harrison"s and Mammy"s tongues were fairly quivering to describe in detail the experiences of the past month.
Harrison was wise enough not to criticise, but she lost no opportunity for asking if she were to carry out this, that, or some other order of Mrs. Stewart"s, until poor Neil lost his temper and finally rumbled out:
"Look here, Martha Harrison, how long have you been at Severndale?"
"Nigh on to twenty years, sir, and full fifteen years with that blessed child"s mother before she ever heard tell of this place. I took care of her, as right well you know, long before she was as old as Miss Peggy."
"And have I ever ordered any changes made in her rules?"
"None to my knowledge, sir. They was pretty sensible ones and there didn"t seem any reason to change them."
"Well, you"re pretty long-headed, and until you _do_ see reason to change "em let "em stand and quit pestering _me_. You"re the Exec. on this ship until I see fit to appoint a new one and when I think of doing that I"ll give you due notice."
But Mammy would have exploded had she not expressed her views. Harrison had chosen the moment when Captain Stewart had gone to his room just before supper that eventful Sunday evening, but Mammy spoke when she carried up to him the little jug of mulled cider for which Severndale was famous and which, when cider was to be had, she had never failed to carry to "her boy," as Neil Stewart, in spite of his forty-six years, still seemed to old Mammy.
Tapping at the door of his sitting-room, she entered at his "Come in."
She found him standing before a large silver-framed photograph of Peggy"s mother. It had been taken shortly before her death and when such a tragic ending to their ideal life had least been dreamed possible. A fancy-dress ball had been given by the young officers stationed at the Academy and Mrs. Stewart had attended it gowned as "Marie Stuart,"
wearing a superb black velvet gown and the widely-known "Marie Stuart coif and ruff" of exquisite Point de Venice lace. She had never looked lovelier, or more stately in her life, and that night Neil Stewart was the proudest man on the ballroom floor. Then he had insisted upon a famous Washington photographer taking this beautiful picture and--well, it was the last ever taken of the wife he adored, for within another month she had dropped asleep forever.
Good old Mammy"s eyes were very tender as she looked at her boy, and instead of saying what she had come to say: "ter jist nach.e.l.ly an"
pintedly "spress her min"," she went close to his side and looking at the lovely face smiling at her, said:
"Dar weren"t never, an" dar ain" never gwine ter be no sich lady as dat a-one, Ma.s.sa Neil, lessen it gwine be Miss Peggy. She favor her ma mo"
an" mo" every day she livin", an" I wisht ter Gawd her ma was right hyer dis minit fer ter _see_ it, dat I do."
"Amen! Mammy," was Captain Stewart"s reply. "Peggy needs more than we can give her just now, no matter how hard we try. The trouble is she seems to have grown up all in a minute apparently while we have been thinking she was a child."
Neil Stewart placed the photograph back upon the top of the bookshelf and sighed.
"No, sir, _dat_ ain"t it. Deed tain"t. She been a-growin" up dis long time, but we"s been dozin" like, an" ain"t had our eyes open wide "nough. An" now we"s all got shook wide awake by _somebody else_."
Mammy paused significantly. Neil Stewart frowned.
"Just as well maybe. But don"t light into me. I"m all frazzled out now.
Harrison"s hints are like eight inch sh.e.l.ls; Dr. Llewellyn"s like a highly charged electric battery; Jerome fires a blunderbuss every ten minutes and even Shelby and Jess use pop-guns. Good Lord, are you going to let drive with a gatling? Clear out and let me drink my cider in peace, and quit stewing, for I tell you right now the fire-brand which has kept the kettles boiling is going to be removed."
"Praise de Lawd fo" _dat_ blessin" den. It was jist gwine ter make some of dem pots bile over if it had a-kep" on, yo" hyer me? Good-night, Ma.s.sa Neil, drink yo" cider an" thank de Lawd fo" yo" mercies."
"Good-night, Mammy. You"re all right even if I do feel like smacking your head off once in a while. Used to do it when I was a kid, you know, and can"t drop the habit."
The following morning the party of four set off for Washington, Polly sorely divided in her mind regarding her own wishes. To have Peggy elsewhere than at Severndale was a possibility which had never entered into her calculations. How would it seem to have no Severndale to run out to? No Peggy to pop into Middie"s Haven? No boon companion to ride, walk, drive, skate with, or lead the old life which they had both so loved? Polly did some serious thinking on the way to the big city, and wore such a sober face as they drew near the end of their journey that Captain Stewart asked, as he tweaked a stray lock which had escaped bonds:
"What"s going on inside this red pate? You look as solemn as an ostracized owl."
"I"m trying to think how it is going to seem without Peggy this winter and I don"t like the picture even a little bit," and Polly wagged the "red pate" dubiously.
"Better make up your mind to come along with your running-mate. By Jove, that"s a brain throb, Peggy! How about it? Can"t you persuade this girl of ours to give up the co-ed plan back yonder in Annapolis,--she knows all the seamanship and nav. that"s good for her already,--and you"ll need a room-mate up here at Columbia Heights School if we settle upon it," and Captain Stewart looked at Polly half longingly, half teasingly.
Polly had grown very dear to the bluff, sincere man during her companionship with Peggy, and had crept into a corner of his heart he had never felt it possible for anyone but Peggy herself to fill.
Somehow, latterly when thinking and planning for Peggy"s well-being or pleasure, visions of Polly"s tawny head invariably rose before him, and Polly"s happy, sunny face was always beside the one he loved best of all. The two young girls had become inseparable in his thoughts as well as in reality.
"Oh, Polly, will you? Will you?" begged Peggy, instantly fired with the wildest desire to have Polly enter the school which it had been decided she should enter if at closer inspection it proved to be all the catalogues, letters and dozens of pamphlets sent to Mrs. Harold represented it to be.
"If I go to the Columbia Heights School what will Ralph say? And all the others, too? They"ll say I"ve backed down on my co-ed plan and will run me half to death. Besides, Ralph needs me right there to let him know I"m keeping a lookout."
"He doesn"t need you half as much as this girl of mine needs you. You just let Ralph do a little navigating for himself and learn that it"s up to him to make good on his own account. He"s man enough to; all he needs now is to find it out. Will you let him do so by coming down here with Peggy?"
CHAPTER VII
COLUMBIA HEIGHTS SCHOOL
As Captain Stewart asked the question which ended the last chapter the W. B. & A. electric car came to a standstill in the heart of Washington and as he a.s.sisted his charges to descend the steps, Polly was the last.
As she placed her hand in his she looked straight into his kind eyes and said:
"I"m just ready to fly all to bits. I love Peggy and want to be with her; I love Aunt Janet and old Crabtown and everything connected with it; I"ve always kept neck-and-neck with Ralph in his work and I hate the thought of dropping out of it, but, oh, I do want to be with Peggy."
"Come along out to the school and see what you think of it before you decide one way or the other; then talk it all over with your aunt and you won"t go far amiss if you follow _her_ advice, little girl."
"I"ll do it," answered Polly, with an emphatic wag of her head, and Peggy who overheard her words nearly pranced with joy.
Hailing a taxicab Captain Stewart directed the chauffeur to drive them to an address in the outskirts of the city and away they sped. It was only a short run in that whirring machine over Washington"s beautiful streets and when the school was reached both Peggy and Polly exclaimed over the beauty of its situation, for Columbia Heights School was in the midst of s.p.a.cious grounds, the buildings were substantial and attractive, giving the impression of ample s.p.a.ce, all the fresh air needed by vigorous, rapidly developing bodies, and the sunshine upon which they thrive. Beautiful walks and drives led in every direction and not far off lovely Stony Brook Park lay in all the beauty of its golden October glow.
Mrs. Harold and Captain Stewart were graciously welcomed by its charming princ.i.p.al who promptly led the way to her study, a great room giving upon a broad piazza, where green wicker furniture, potted plants and palms suggesting a tropical garden. When Polly"s eyes fell upon it she forgot all else, and cried impulsively:
"Oh, how lovely! Can"t we go right out there?" And then colored crimson.
Mrs. Vincent smiled as she slipped an arm across Polly"s shoulder and asked:
"Are you to be my newest girl? If so, I think we would find something in common."
Polly raised her big eyes to the sweet, strong face smiling upon her and answered:
"I hadn"t even thought of coming until an hour ago. It was all planned for Peggy, but, oh, dear, if I _only_ could be twins! How am I ever to be a co-ed in Annapolis and a pupil here at the same time? Yet I want dreadfully to be both, I"m so fond of Peggy."
"I fear we cannot solve that problem even in Columbia Heights School, though we try pretty hard to solve a good many knotty ones. Suppose I talk it over with the grown-ups and meantime arrange for your entertainment by two or three of the girls. We think they are rather nice girls too," and Mrs. Vincent pressed an electric b.u.t.ton which promptly brought a neat maid to the door.
"Hilda, ask Miss Natalie and Miss Marjorie to step to my study."