"She said she wanted to be alone," said Nyoda thoughtfully. "She always does, you know, when she has a headache. I don"t believe I"d go after her. She"ll go right to bed and be all right in the morning."
With many expressions of regret at Veronica"s indisposition the boys and girls resumed their frolic.
Slim and the Captain, still in their roles of mammy and pickaninny, walked home with the Winnebagos when the party finally broke up, the pickaninny trundling his own one-wheeled chariot, which was so full of presents there was no room for him.
Nyoda broke the news to them of their appointment as executioners of Kaiser Bill and they accepted the commission gravely. ""Horatius," quoth the consul, "as thou sayst, so let it be,"" quoted Slim with a dramatic flourish. "We"ll execute your orders and the goat at the same time. But does it take two to speed the fatal ball? Why am I honored thus when here beside me stands the world"s champion crack shot, even the great Cicero St. John?"
The Captain suddenly flushed and glared at Slim, but said nothing.
""Herminius beat his bosom, but never a word he spake,"" quoted Slim, grinning. "You see," he continued, turning to the girls, "the Captain and I were practising shooting at a target once, out in the country, and the Captain came so near the bull"s eye that he shot the perch out from under a parrot in a cage fifty feet away. O Mother dear, Jerusalem! You never saw such a surprised bird in all your life!" Slim was overcome by the remembrance, and the Captain grinned feebly at the laughter which the tale invoked.
"Don"t you worry, I guess I can shoot a goat all right," said the Captain with some asperity.
"Uttered like a man, Captain," grinned Slim. ""Then out spoke brave Horatius, the Captain of the gate--""
His flow of nonsense was interrupted by an exclamation of surprise from Nyoda as they reached the front gate. A messenger boy was running up the steps of Carver House just ahead of them.
CHAPTER XIV
NEWS FROM THE FRONT
"Does Mrs. Andrew Sheridan live here?" asked the boy, looking from one to the other.
"Here," replied Nyoda, holding out her hand for the envelope.
"Who can be telegraphing at this time of night?" asked Hinpoha, shot through with a sudden fear that something had happened to her aunt and they were telegraphing to Nyoda about it.
Nyoda stepped into the hall, switched on the light and tore open the envelope. Then she gasped suddenly and sat down on the stair steps with a frightened "Oh-h-h!"
"What is it, Nyoda?" asked the girls, crowding around her in alarm.
She held out the telegram and Gladys took it from her hands and held it up where all could see:
MRS. ANDREW SHERIDAN,
Oakwood, Pa.
Your husband on board _Antares_ when she sank in collision off Nova Scotia August first. Now in Good Samaritan Hospital, St. Margaret"s, Nova Scotia, probably fatally injured.
Come.
The signature was that of some official of the government.
"Oh-h-h!" cried the Winnebagos in horror, staring, fascinated, at the fatal sheet of paper in their hands. Migwan ran to Nyoda and put her arms around her in silent sympathy; the rest stood still, with shocked, frightened faces.
After a moment of stunned surprise Nyoda rallied herself. "Come," she said, in her usual calm, brisk tones, "I have to make haste. I must go on that early morning train. It goes through here about four. Help me pack, girls."
Recalled to themselves by the quietness of Nyoda"s manner the Winnebagos set about helping in their usual efficient way. Hinpoha and Gladys sped to the kitchen to make coffee and sandwiches; Sahwah sped downstairs into the laundry to bring up the freshly ironed clothes; Slim and the Captain went up into the attic to bring down the suitcase and make themselves generally useful; Migwan went to Nyoda"s room with her to help her make ready for the journey.
Sahwah was coming up the cellar stairs with a basket of clothes in her hand. Just as she pa.s.sed the side entry door she heard someone fumbling with the k.n.o.b on the outside. The k.n.o.b turned and the door began to open softly. "Who"s there?" called Sahwah sharply, switching on the light in the entry and throwing wide the door. There stood Veronica, with her violin under her arm and her hat and coat on. She started back when she saw Sahwah and the two stood looking into each other"s eyes. "She hasn"t been home, she"s still got her violin," was the thought that went through Sahwah"s mind.
"I thought you went home with a sick headache from the party," she said in astonishment.
"So did the rest of them," replied Veronica imperturbably.
Their eyes met and held for a second, and it seemed to Sahwah that Veronica looked haggard and haunted.
"Is everybody home?" asked Veronica presently.
"Yes," replied Sahwah, "and, O Veronica--" and she told her the news.
"Oh, poor, poor Nyoda!" cried Veronica, and throwing off her hat and coat she thrust them with her violin into the closet under the stairs and then sped upstairs.
"She didn"t have a headache at all, she didn"t go home, she went somewhere else," throbbed Sahwah"s weary brain. "And whatever she"s done, she"s scared to death about it," it throbbed on. "Why did she come stealing in the back door that way?"
Worried and perplexed, but still loyal to her promise to say nothing to the others about Veronica, Sahwah went on sorting and carrying up the ironed clothes.
Upstairs Migwan was helping Nyoda get dressed for her journey. Nyoda was still in her George Washington suit, which she had concealed under a long cloak on the way home, and Migwan"s hands trembled so with excitement she could hardly take out the endless pins that they had put in with so much fun and laughter a few hours before.
"How did Sherry, happen to be on the ocean?" Nyoda asked wonderingly.
"He was in France the last time I heard from him. Why would he be coming to America now?"
Migwan could not answer the question, she could only press her beloved Guardian"s hand tight in hers by way of sympathy and then fly back at the pins, which all seemed to be allied against them, for they buried their heads out of sight and thrust their points where Migwan"s shaking fingers caught and tore themselves upon them. The suit was off at last and Migwan tucked Nyoda into bed for an hour of rest while she pressed her dark blue silk traveling dress and sewed fresh collars and cuffs into her jacket.
In the next room Veronica was swiftly packing the suitcase. The whole house was filled with confusion and haste. The old portraits on the walls looked down in astonishment at this unwonted turning of night into day, at the lights burning all over the house, from attic to bas.e.m.e.nt, and at the girls running up and downstairs, b.u.mping into each other in their haste and getting more flurried all the time. A smell of coffee pervaded the whole place, and this was soon superseded by the odor of burning toast. In the midst of the confusion the telephone rang and everybody thought someone else was answering it, with the result that n.o.body answered it and it rang a second time, long and insistently.
Sahwah rushed up from the bas.e.m.e.nt; Veronica sped swiftly down from upstairs, followed in a moment by Migwan; Hinpoha hastily s.n.a.t.c.hed the coffee pot off the fire and ran in from the kitchen; Gladys hastened from the pantry; the two boys jumped in from the porch, and at the same moment Nyoda called over the banister and asked if someone would answer the telephone.
Sahwah got there first and s.n.a.t.c.hed down the receiver with a trembling hand while the rest stood expectantly around, fearful of what this midnight message might be. And then after all the call was not for the house at all; the operator had made a wrong connection!
Hinpoha flew back to her toast; Sahwah returned to the bas.e.m.e.nt, limping as she went, having struck her shin against the steps in the hurried trip up. Migwan had p.r.i.c.ked her finger when the bell rang, it had startled her so, and a great drop of blood fell on the clean collar, so that she had to rip it out and find another one and sew that in. Then she discovered a b.u.t.ton missing and hunted endlessly to find another one to match.
Everything was fixed at last and Migwan ran downstairs to see what was to be done there. Everything was being taken care of, and so, turning off the lights which were blazing unnecessarily in the long parlor, she sank down in a chair to rest a moment. Already the party seemed days in the past--could it be that this was still the same night? A shade flapped in the window, irritating her strained nerves, and she rose hastily and pulled it up. Her hand came in contact with something soft and silky. It was the service flag in the window--the flag that stood for Sherry. Reverently she straightened it out and stood stroking it with shaking fingers. The dark blue star stood out dimly in the light that shone through the window from the outside and the thought came into her mind that soon it might be replaced by a gold star. Tears came into her eyes; she forced them resolutely back and hastened upstairs to tell Nyoda that her hour was up and she must get up and begin to dress. Nyoda was already up and dressed when she went into the room; she was standing in front of the mirror combing her hair. Migwan hastened forward to a.s.sist her, reproaching herself that she hadn"t come up sooner.
The blue dress was soon on and adjusted and Migwan pinned the collar while Veronica adjusted the cuffs.
Nyoda was checking off on her fingers the things she must take.
"Handkerchiefs--did you get them in?" Veronica nodded.
"Towels, soap case, hairpins, b.u.t.tonhook?"
"Everything," replied Veronica.
"Slippers, bathrobe--"
"I forgot the slippers!" exclaimed Veronica, and sped after them.