"Don"t tell her that!" commanded Neale. "She is proud enough already.
And she has a deadly crush on you, Miss Hastings."
"On me?" Miss Hastings smiled; then, as her upper lip began to lift she grew suddenly sober again. "And-and I can"t talk to her-or to any one!"
she groaned.
"But you are talking all right," said Neale, amazed.
"But you made me. And I have to pick my wordth. Oh! Don"t you thee!"
wailed the girl from the Back Bay. "My-my-oh, dear me, my teeth--"
"Lost "em?" asked Neale, with quick sympathy. "But you can get more."
Then he grinned suddenly. "Mr. Howbridge has an extra set; maybe he would lend them."
"Oh!" gasped Miss Hastings. Then she actually laughed, and in laughing she showed a little red gap in her upper front teeth.
"Don"t-don"t!" she begged. "I know you are funny. You have thuch good timeth with that Mith Kenway. But pleathe don"t make me laugh. I had a dreadful acthident latht fall. Wath thrown from my horthe in the Fenway.
The dental thurgeon promithed to have the plate ready before the _Horridole_ thailed. But it didn"t come to the dock. Now I have thent a wireleth meththage--Oh! Ithn"t it terrible?"
"It"s a shame," agreed Neale, but with dancing eyes. "And can"t you have a concert because of that?"
"Well, I thertainly can"t take part in one," she said rather tartly.
"You"d bring down the house if you did," giggled Neale O"Neil. "But never mind. I"ll help you. Have you talked with the other members of the committee?"
"Not very much," admitted Miss Hastings. "I-I"ve had to talk with my handkerthief in front of my mouth and I am not thure that they know what I have thaid. Maybe they think I"ve got the flu," and she began to laugh, herself, now.
"That"s right! Cheer up," said Neale, who would be friendly with the most self-conscious or bashful person in existence, and found that Miss Hastings was pretty human after all.
He told her about his "Caruso" and the dancing team from the stokehole.
Nalbro Hastings seized upon the originality of the idea which Ruth Kenway had expressed.
"And there are two little girlth-Here they come now," said Miss Hastings. "I heard them thinging-the cuteth little thingth."
"Why, that"s Tess and Dot Kenway," declared Neale, in surprise.
"Call them over, pleath," commanded the Back Bay girl. "Athk them to thing that thong about "Dooley.""
"That"s a new one on me," Neale declared, beckoning to Tess and Dot.
"What"s all this about the new song you"ve learned?" he asked the sisters, when they came near. "This is Miss Hastings, Tess and Dot. You want to know her. She"s a nice girl, only she"s made a vow that she won"t speak till she gets to St. Sergius and the parcel post catches up to us."
"Oh, Mithter O"Neil!" murmured the Back Bay girl.
"She speaks some," said Tess curiously.
"Let"s hear the song-and where did you learn it?" Neale said.
"Our friend, Mr. Billie Bowling, learned it us," said Dot, referring to the deckhand before mentioned. "Do you really want to hear it?"
"Sure," said Neale. "Is it good enough to sing at a concert?"
"Of course," said Tess scornfully. "I"d sing it at a Sunday school concert."
But after Neale heard it, and had recovered from his paroxysm of laughter, he said breathlessly:
"Don"t let Ruth hear of your singing that in Sunday school. But it will be a knockout at this cabin concert, Miss Hastings."
"It will! It will," agreed the Back Bay girl. "You muthtn"t tell anybody about it, children. You can rehearthe in my thtateroom. Oh! You tell them, Mr. O"Neil."
And Neale did that.
What made Agnes mad-and she admitted it to any of the party who would listen-was the bold way in which Neale did it! To think of his walking right up to Nalbro Hastings and talking to her as though she was-was-well! Just common folks!
"She is," growled Neale, at last getting rather tired of Agnes"
complainings. "She doesn"t claim to be any different from other people."
"I"d like to know!" was his friend"s scornful remark. "And with her nose stuck up the way it is?"
"Nature did that; she"s not to blame," declared Neale soberly.
"Indeed!"
"Come along, Aggie, and I"ll introduce you," chuckled Neale. "Although she did tell me she didn"t want to meet anybody aboard ship."
"The stuck-up thing!" For Agnes was as angry now as the other girls who considered Nalbro Hastings sn.o.bbish. "She never would have spoken to you if you weren"t a very good-looking boy, Neale O"Neil. And you fell right down before her and adored."
"Oh! I never!" gasped the boy, hotly.
"Don"t you deny it. Her money, and everything--"
That settled it with Neale. He tramped away in the heat of anger. And because of what Agnes said, he took delight in keeping the secret of Nalbro Hastings" retirement to himself.
However, because it was her duty, Miss Hastings met with the members of the concert committee-the "patronesses," and arranged the program.
Ruth"s suggestion, relayed through Neale O"Neil, governed Miss Hastings in choosing the talent. Sailors, stokers, engine-room men, and stewards were examined for talent.
Nor did Miss Hastings forget Tess and Dot Kenway. As Neale O"Neil said in his most vigorous language, their song was bound to be "a knockout."
CHAPTER X
THE CONCERT
Of course, Neale O"Neil and Agnes Kenway could not be "mad at" each other for long. But they did frequently have spats, for both were hot-tempered and willful.
The boy, however, was usually so good-natured that he overlooked a lot that Agnes said to him when she was ruffled. On this occasion, however, he enjoyed keeping certain facts secret and letting Agnes fuss and fume.
And as Neale continued to be Miss Hastings" right-hand man in the preparations for the concert, Agnes existed in a state of suppressed fury.