Polly"s eyes widened in astonishment. Mrs. Dudley smiled understandingly.
"I gave the conductor my watch for security," the boy went on. "I told him how "twas, and he let me ride,--I guess out of his own pocket. He was a good one! You see, I spent all my money in a jiffy for the first part of the way and something to eat. I didn"t s"pose tickets cost so much."
"You dear child!" murmured Mrs. Dudley, her eyes soft with sympathy.
Then she caught him in her arms, as if he had been a baby.
"Have you had any supper?"
A weary little negative sent her into the pantry, and soon the hungry lad was eating bread and b.u.t.ter and cheese and cookies, and feasting his eyes upon Polly at the same time.
"Say, where in the world were you when I came away from your house?"
was the sudden inquiry.
"Out in the garage," Harold answered promptly.
"But didn"t you hear us call?"
He nodded, his lips puckered into a half-smile.
"Why didn"t you answer, then?" Polly was plainly puzzled.
"Because," he blurted out defiantly, "I wasn"t coming to say good-bye for anybody!"
"Perhaps you thought, with d.i.c.kens," interposed Mrs. Dudley considerately, "that it is easier to act good-bye than to say it."
"It is!" declared Harold, wagging his head. "I guess he knew!"
Over the wires, after the children were asleep, went messages to school and home that banished anxiety, and then the Doctor and his wife talked long into the night. It had been a disturbing day.
At breakfast Harold announced his intention of remaining in Fair Harbor and going to school with Polly, but an early telegram from his father ended his happy planning. He scowled as he read the yellow slip.
"Return to school at once, and behave yourself."
"Botheration!" he grumbled, "I s"pose I"ll have to! Pop always means what he says."
Yet the lad enjoyed his breakfast, judging by the number of bananas and m.u.f.fins that disappeared from his plate, until Polly, thinking of yesterday"s overheard talk, wondered what they should have done if her cousin had followed out his desire. Bananas cost; she was not so sure about m.u.f.fins. In consequence of which she restricted her own appet.i.te to the latter, and made her mother question if she were quite well, to pa.s.s by her favorite fruit.
Equipped with tickets for the journey and sufficient money to redeem his watch, besides a generous luncheon, Harold was put aboard the ten o"clock train. Notwithstanding his longing heart, he carried himself pluckily, consoled by Mrs. Dudley"s invitation to spend a week of his summer"s vacation in Fair Harbor. Yet she saw him suspiciously sweep his eyes with the back of his hand as the train whirled him off, and she sighed in sympathy, thinking, "Poor little fellow! he needs a mother!"
CHAPTER XVI
ROSES AND THORNS
David pulled a rose from the little bush by the house corner, and began to chew its petals.
"Don"t do that!" begged Polly. "It doesn"t want to be eaten up."
The boy laughed, looking ruefully down at the jagged edges of the flower.
"It isn"t sweet anyway," he argued. "If I were a rose I"d be sweet, and I wouldn"t have thorns. But then," he went on thoughtfully, "people are a good deal like roses. Some are sweet, and some aren"t; but "most everybody has thorns somewhere."
"I guess one of mine"s laziness," sighed Polly, "and it"s been p.r.i.c.king the teachers all this week. I hate to study in such warm weather! I want to stay outdoors instead of being shut up in a stuffy room."
"It is horrid," agreed Patricia, "but I don"t dare be lazy. I have to get good reports to send back to Nevada. If I didn"t stand high, papa"d have a conniption."
"I"m going to study better next week," decided Polly, "so I"ll be a thornless rose, like you."
"Dear me, I have thorns enough!" Patricia laughed. "Mamma says I"m selfish and careless and, oh, I don"t know what! So, you see, they scratch her. What"s your thorn, David?"
"Jealousy," he replied promptly.
Patricia looked surprised.
"Who are you jealous of?" she queried curiously.
"n.o.body just this minute." He threw a furtive glance in Polly"s direction, over the rose he was nipping again; but she was occupied with the tendrils of a vine that were wandering from their support.
"I wish we had some Lady Gay roses to cover our old bare piazza," he broke out abruptly. "Yours are fine." He looked admiringly towards the little cottage next door, now beautiful in its bloom and greenery.
"Hasn"t anybody bought your house yet, has there?" asked Patricia.
"No," Polly answered, "not that we"ve heard of. Father says the price is too high."
"Lucky for you," remarked David. "And lucky for us, too," he laughed.
"I don"t know but Uncle David would want to sell out if you folks should leave."
"Why don"t you have some roses?" questioned Polly, coming back to the flowers. She gazed up at the stately columns, free of living adornment, and decided the matter quickly.
"They"d make it lovely!" she beamed. "Silver Moons would be splendid all over these pillars, and Lady Gays on the side piazza. Mrs. Jocelyn has an elegant Silver Moon, roses as big as that,"--curving her fingers into as wide a circle as they could compa.s.s,--"just single white, with great yellow anthers--oh, they"re beautiful! I wish your uncle would get some. Why don"t you ask him, David?"
"You may," he evaded.
"I believe you don"t dare," Polly cried. "David Collins, are you afraid of him yet? Why, I don"t see how you can be, he is so nice."
The lad laughed. "I suppose I can"t quite get over those years I stood in such awe of him," he confessed. "But," he added, "he"s fine; n.o.body could be finer."
"Polly was telling me the other day," put in Patricia, "about the time she and Colonel Gresham chased after Dr. Dudley for you. I wish I could have seen Lone Star go."
"There! I haven"t had a glimpse of Lone Star for a week!" Polly broke out. "Is he in the stable, David? Let"s go and see him!"
Away they raced, to visit the famous trotter, and to feed him with bread and b.u.t.ter and sugar which David begged from the cook. They were still petting the affectionate animal when Colonel Gresham walked in.
"Ah, I"ve caught you!" he growled. "Now I know what makes my horse have indigestion!"
Patricia, looking a bit scared, stopped short in her feeding; but Lone Star nosed down to the piece of bread in her hand.