Now Aunt Judith was interested in him, Captain Atherton believed in him, and oh, pleasant promise, the kindly captain would prove his faith by employing him!
"Folks in Avondale will have to think I"m something more decent than a gypsy!" he said.
The days were growing longer, the warm sun had chased away the last bit of ice, and now the fields were green, and the trees and shrubs were showing fine foliage.
In the gardens the early blossoms made soft color that told how soon the summer would appear.
Princess Polly sat waiting for Rose, and Sprite.
The soft breeze stirred the leaves, making them rustle as if they were whispering to each other the great news that summer would soon reach Avondale.
Polly turned to look toward the avenue. They were not in sight.
"I might walk over to call for them," she thought.
Then she remembered that she had promised to wait at a spot where they had often met, and from which they were now to set out for a walk.
"Why don"t they come?" she said aloud.
A long time she sat waiting for her playmates to appear. At last a shout made her turn.
"Did you think we were never coming?" cried Rose.
"Oh, she must have thought just that," said Sprite, "so tell her what it was that kept us."
"Polly has been waiting so long, we"ll start for our walk, and I"ll tell the news as we go along," said Rose.
"Then let"s hurry," said Polly, "because I"m wild to know what it was."
The three little friends tramped along the path that was always their favorite for a walk, and when they had reached a spot where a brook was spanned by a tiny bridge, they sat down to rest. It was then that Rose turned toward Polly.
"I"m not going to ask you to guess who was at our house, or why I could not meet you at two, as I promised, because you never could guess that, so I"ll tell you. It was,--Great Aunt Rose!"
"Oh, Rose, why _did_ she come?" Polly gasped. "_Not_ to take you back with her!"
"That"s just what I said, when I heard that she was in the parlor,"
said Sprite.
"Well, when I saw her carriage coming up the avenue," Rose said, "the shivers went up and down my back, but Uncle John, when he got up to go in to see her, stooped and whispered in my ear: "Don"t be frightened, little girl, for remember that you now belong to me, and I shall not easily give you up. Now, come in with me, dear. You know I can not refuse to let her see you."
"So he took my hand, and we went in together.
"Great Aunt Rose sat stiff and prim in the center of the sofa.
""How do you do, Aunt Rose?" I said, but she kept looking at me without speaking.
""Doesn"t Rose look as if the air at Avondale had done her a world of good?" Uncle John asked.
""Really, John, I"m not sure," Aunt Rose said, looking at me through her gla.s.ses, just as if I were a queer bug, or b.u.t.terfly such as she"d never seen before. Uncle John looked vexed.
""You certainly see that her cheeks are rosy, and she is rounder than when she first came to me," he said.
"That"s what I was thinking of," she said, "and when she was at our home, she was more delicate in her appearance. More slender, and pale, as an Atherton should be.
""No "Rose Atherton" ever was what country people call "buxom"! I"m _not_ countrified!" I said, half expecting to be scolded, but Uncle John put his arm around me, and drew me closer as he said:
""Indeed you are not, unless fresh color, and dimples, mean countrified, when I should think the term a compliment." Then he turned to Great Aunt Rose.
""I have endeavored, ever since I have had little Rose under my care, to keep her much in the open air, and she has gained strength from sunshine and breeze," he said.
""I knew it! I knew it!" she said, springing from the sofa, and looking dreadfully excited, "and that is the reason for my call. You"ll have her tanned with the sun, and her complexion ruined by the wind, and she"ll look like anything but an Atherton by the time she"s a young lady!
""You must let her return to the old Atherton house with me, and in its quiet, refining influence she will regain the delicate appearance that was so charming.
""Rose, will you come with me?"
"She put out her hand as if she meant to take me, whether I wanted to go with her or not, and for the moment I forgot that Uncle John was big enough, and brave enough, to keep me with him.
"I screamed, and ran from the room, and oh, I know it was rude, and I"m afraid unkind, but I didn"t stop to think, and just kept on running until I found Sprite waiting for me at the gate."
"And she clasped my hand," said Sprite, continuing the story, "and she never told me a word of all this, but, instead, she said: "Come quick!
Oh, come quick!" and together we raced along until we met you, Polly.
"Wasn"t it funny? Rose knew why we were running, but I didn"t. I ran because she told me to, and I had to, to keep up with her!"
Princess Polly looked thoughtful. "You don"t really believe she could make you live with her again, do you?" she asked.
"Oh, Rose, you haven"t but just begun to live at Avondale!"
"Uncle John said she"d not easily get me away from him," Rose said, "and it may be that I needn"t have been so frightened, but I feel better out here, and I"ll stay out until I know that she must have gone home. Come! We won"t let it spoil our fun. We"ll have a fine long walk, and when I get back, Great Aunt Rose will have surely gone."
One part of the road over which they walked was bordered on either side by white birches. Yet a bit farther willows took the place of birches, and there they left the road to cross the meadows, coming out into the bright sunlight.
The three little playmates had walked rapidly, and now began to slacken their pace, and when they reached a clump of trees, they sat down to enjoy the cool shade, and to talk for a while.
"You"ll be happier, Rose, if we talk of something else," said Polly, "so I"ll tell you that Sir Mortimer is strutting around our garden this morning with a new collar that I bought for him, and the big pink satin bow upon it is very becoming."
"And _I"ll_ tell a bit of news. I sent my prize right straight to the "Mermaid"s Cave,"" said Sprite, "and pa put it in the Cliffmore bank for me."
"Why, Sprite Seaford!" cried Rose. "How did you dare to send fifty dollars in gold?"
"Because," said Sprite, "I didn"t send it by mail. I gave it to one of the very best men in this world, and that is Uncle John, to take it to pa for me, and he did. He rode over to Cliffmore last Sat.u.r.day.
That"s a week ago, and don"t you know it was a stormy day? Well, that"s why we didn"t go with him."
Sprite nodded her head wisely as she spoke, and the sunbeams danced on her rippling hair.
"And I"ll tell you something I"ve thought of," she said. "It was Friday after school that I asked him about sending it, and he said we"d all take the trip to Cliffmore. And when Sat.u.r.day came it was so stormy we couldn"t go. I didn"t say a thing, but I must have looked disappointed, for he said: "Cheer up, little Sprite, for your prize shall reach Cliffmore to-day. I"m going over there, and I"ll take it with me."