Mrs. Hart stroked the brown head in silence for a few minutes; then she said:
"Dear child, I don"t really think we need be afraid of that--of your losing Sue permanently. You are likely to have an uncomfortable summer; that, I fear, we must expect. But Sue is too good and loving at bottom to be seriously moved by this new-comer; and a tie like that between you and her, Mary, is too strong to be easily loosed. Sue is dazzled by the glitter and the novelty, and all the quicksilver part of her is alive and excited. It is like some of your stories coming true, or it seems so to her, I have no doubt. Remember that you are very different, you two, and that while you are steady-going and content with every-day life, she is always dreaming, and longing for something new and wonderful. She would not be so dear to you if you were more alike, nor you to her. But by and by the other part of her, the sensible part, will wake up again, and she will see what is foolish in this new friendship, and what is real and abiding in the old. Then, too, Mary, you must remember that you are excited as well as Sue, and perhaps not quite just. You have only seen this girl once--"
"It would be just the same, Mammy, if I had seen her a hundred times; I know it would!"
"No, love; you cannot know that. Some people show their worst side on first acquaintance, and improve as we know them better. You certainly must show some attention to Clarice Packard. Your father has met Mr.
Packard, and says he seems a sensible man, though not a person of much education. Suppose you invite the girl here and let me see her? We might ask her to tea some evening this week."
"No, Mammy; Papa would not endure it; I know he would not. There!
look, Mammy! There they go, she and Sue. Look and see for yourself!"
Mrs. Hart looked, and saw the two girls pacing along the opposite sidewalk, arm in arm. Clarice was bending over Sue with an exaggerated air of confidence; her eyes languished, and she shook her head and shrugged her shoulders with an air of ineffable consequence.
"You are right, dear," said Mrs. Hart; "not to tea, certainly. What shall we do, then? Let me see! You might have a picnic, you three girls; that is an excellent way of improving acquaintance. You may find it quite a different thing, meeting in an informal way. The first interview would, of course, be the trying one."
Mary brightened. "That would be just the thing!" she said. "And I will try, Mammy, I surely will try to like Clarice, if I possibly can; and of course I can be nice to her, anyhow, and I will. Oh, here comes Sue back again, and I"ll ask her!"
Sue came flying back along the street at a very different pace from the mincing steps to which she had been trying to suit her own. Mary rapped on the window. Sue flashed an answering smile, whirled across the street and in at the door, hugged Mary, kissed Mrs. Hart, and dropped on a ha.s.sock, all in one unbroken movement.
"Oh, Mrs. Hart," she cried, "did you see her? Did you see Clarice?
Isn"t she too perfectly lovely? Did you ever see such hair and eyes?
Did you ever see any one walk so?"
"No, dear; I don"t know that I ever did!" said Mrs. Hart. "But I could hardly see your friend"s face, you know. You are very much pleased with her, are you, Sue dear?"
"Oh!" cried Sue, throwing her head back with a favorite ecstatic movement of hers. "Mrs. Hart, she is simply the most lovely creature I ever saw in my life. Her ways--why, you never imagined anything so--so gracious, and--and queenly, and--and--oh, I don"t know what to call it. And she is going to stay all summer; and we are to be three together, she and Mary and I. You dear!" She stopped to hug Mary and take breath. "You dear old Sobriety, you haven"t got a bit used to Clarice yet; I"m only just beginning to get used to her myself, she"s so different from us. She comes from New York, Mrs. Hart; just think of that! She walks down Broadway every day when she is at home. And she has told me all about the elevated railroad; she isn"t a bit afraid to go on it, and I don"t believe I should be. And--and--oh, Mrs. Hart, isn"t it wonderful?"
Mrs. Hart smiled down into the beaming face; it was impossible not to respond to such heartfelt joy.
"Dear Sue!" she said affectionately. "You must bring your new friend to see me soon."
"Oh, of course I shall!" cried Sue.
"And Mary and I were just wondering whether it would be pleasant for you three to have a picnic some day soon."
"Oh, Mrs. Hart, how perfectly delightful! When can we go? To-day? I"ll run after Clarice and tell her."
"No, no, Quicksilver!" said Mary, catching Sue"s skirt as she sprang up, and pulling her down to her seat again. "We can"t go to-day, possibly. Perhaps to-morrow--what do you say, Mammy? or would Friday be better?"
Sue"s face fell. "Friday!" she said. "Why, Mary, Friday is ever and ever so far off! I don"t see how we _can_ wait till Friday!"
"To-morrow will do very well," said Mrs. Hart. "I have a small chicken-pie that will be the very thing; and there are doughnuts and cookies. How is your mother feeling, Sue? Will she or Katy be able to get up something for you, do you think?"
"Oh, yes, indeed, Mrs. Hart! I"ll make an angel-cake; and there is jam, and--well, Katy was going to show me how to make croquettes some time, and perhaps I"ll learn how to-morrow, and then they will be all ready, you see; and oh, we"ll have all kinds of things. Let"s go and see about them now, Mary! Oh, and we"ll ask the boys. Don"t you think they will come, Mary? Clarice wants to know them. Isn"t that sweet of her?"
"Indeed!" said Mrs. Hart and Mary, in one breath. "Has she seen them?"
"No; but she asked if there were any nice boys here, and of course I said yes, the nicest boys in the world--Tom and Teddy; and she asked me to introduce them to her; and--and so, you see!"
"I see!" said Mrs. Hart, with a quiet smile. "There are the boys now, back from fishing. Why don"t you all go and have a good game of "I spy" in the orchard?"
"Oh, good!" cried both girls.
They ran to the door just in time to meet two jolly, freckled boys who came rolling in, both talking at once. Sue stumbled and fell over one of them, knocking his cap off, and his basket out of his hand.
"Now, then, Quicksilver," said Tom, "where are you a-coming to?
Thermometer smashed, and mercury running all over the lot, eh?"
"Oh, I beg your pardon, Tom--I do indeed! But I saved you the trouble of taking off your hat, anyhow. Come along and play "I spy" in the orchard."
"Hurrah!" cried the boys. "Where"s Mammy? Oh, Mammy, pickereels! five fine fat festive pickereels! Fried for supper, please, Mammy! Coming, Quicksilver! All right, Ballast!" (Ballast was Mary"s nickname, as the opposite of Quicksilver.) "Who"ll count out?"
"I!" "Me!" "You!"
They tumbled out of the back door together, and the last sound Mrs.
Hart heard was:
"Wonozol, zoo-ozol, zigozol, zan, Bobtail, vinegar, t.i.ttle-tol, tan; Harum-scarum, virgin marum, Hy, zon, tus!"
CHAPTER IV
EARLY IN THE MORNING
At six o"clock on Thursday morning Sue was up and scanning the clouds.
There were not many clouds to scan; the sun was rising bright and glorious in a wonderful blue sky.
"It"s going to be a perfectly splendid day!" said Sue. "I must call Mary. I don"t believe she is awake. Oh, I"ll send a pigeon; that"s just what I"ll do. It will be lovely to be waked up by a pigeon this glorious morning; and I have to feed them, anyhow, because I said I would. I am never going to forget the pigeons again--never! The next time I do, I shall go without food for two days, and see how _I_ like it."
Sue dashed into her dress, b.u.t.toned it half-way up, and rushed headlong down the stairs and through the kitchen. Katy, the maid of all work, was crossing the floor with a br.i.m.m.i.n.g pan of milk. Crash!
Sue ran directly into her. The pan fell with a mighty splash; the milk flew over both Katy and Sue, wetting them from head to feet.
"Indade, then, Miss Sue, "tis too bad of yez entirely!" cried Katy.
"And laughin", too, after sp"ilin" me gown and desthroyin" me clane flure, let alone all the milk in the house gone."
"Oh, but, Katy, if you knew how funny you look, with the white milk all over your red face! I can"t help laughing; I truly can"t. And my dress is spoiled too, you see, so it"s all right. I can"t stop now; I"m in the most terrible hurry!"
She flew on, but popped her head back through the door to say:
"But I am sorry, Katy; I truly am! And if you"ll just leave the milk there, I"ll pick it up--I mean wipe it up--just as soon as I get back from the picnic."
Her smile was so irresistible that Katy"s angry face softened in spite of herself.
"Sure it"s merely a child she is," the good woman said. "Miss Lily"s twice the sinse of her, but yet "tis her takes the heart of one!"