Captain Jones, who was putting the little umbrella into the carriage, laughed, and said he wished he had known that before.
"Good-bye," said he, kissing his hand to her. "I shall miss you very much, for _I don"t_ like to travel alone!"
Then Flaxie drove off with her uncle in the nice easy carriage, and found Aunt Charlotte and all her cousins delighted to see her, as she had known they would be. She had told the captain they were "elegant cousins;" but when Johnny exclaimed, "Hullo! Miss Frizzle, you look like a pickled lime," she blushed a sort of pinkish-green blush, and thought he had grown very disagreeable.
"Well, I didn"t mean anything. I"ve seen folks look worse"n you do--a good deal," added the little fellow, and thought it a handsome apology.
"I"ll tell you who looks worse," he broke in again, as they were all seated at supper; "it"s our teacher, Miss Pike. She isn"t the same color by a long shot, but she"s awful homely."
"Is she? Well, I guess I shan"t go to school."
"Johnny ought not to speak in that way of his dear teacher," said Aunt Charlotte gravely; "it is not her fault that she is not pretty; and everybody loves her, for she has a beautiful soul."
"Oh, yes, everybody loves her," said Master Freddy; "but didn"t Jemmy Glover send her a mean valentine last winter?
"Old Miss Pike, she"s ninety-nine, Her hair"s the color of a ball of twine.""
"If she looks so bad, why don"t she let the doctor take care of her?"
asked Flaxie, thoughtfully. "Dr. Papa gives me medicine three times a day, and I"m going to be real white."
"Oh, Miss Pike isn"t sick; she was born so, and medicine wouldn"t help her any," said Johnny, trying hard not to laugh at his simple little cousin. "I"ll take you to see her to-morrow."
Flaxie set her teeth firmly into a cookie, resolving that she would not see such a monster of ugliness, much less go to school to her, not if Johnny should drag her to the schoolhouse by a rope.
After tea she sat on the front doorsteps awhile in Milly"s lap. The little friends had a way of sitting in each other"s lap, and it was a droll sight, as they were just of a size.
"Where"s Lucy, that I made the mittens for?" asked Flaxie.
"Oh, she"s at home, but her sister Hatty goes to school."
"Well, I shan"t have to make mittens or anything this time, "cause you"re at home, Milly. I like to be with my twin cousin in a twin house," said Flaxie, twisting her neck to look at Mrs. Hunter"s door-stone. It was just like Aunt Charlotte"s, only there were flower-pots on it.
"Guess what I dreamed last night," returned Milly. "I dreamed you were my sister; and then I woke up and thought how queer it is that G.o.d always sends brothers to this house, and not any sisters."
"Why so he does; for Johnny and Freddy are _both_ boys, and so is Ken,"
said Flaxie, struck with a new idea. "It"s real-too-bad!"
"But now you"ve come, and we"ll go to school together, and it"s just as well," said Milly, kissing her pea-green friend in rapture.
"Oh, I didn"t say I"d go to school, Milly Allen.--Why, who"s that coming?"
"Hush! that"s my teacher and her sister."
"Which is the sister?"
"The big one."
"Well, she"s got the dropsies."
"Oh, no, she hasn"t; she teaches the singing in our school."
"But she _has_ got the dropsies, Milly Allen, for a fat woman has "em where I live, and my papa takes care of her; so don"t I know?"
Milly said no more, for _her_ papa was not a doctor; so what right had she to give an opinion concerning diseases?
The two ladies nodded and smiled in pa.s.sing. "Oh, how homely!" whispered Flaxie, in amazement; "I mean the other one, not the sister."
There was no doubt about it. I really suppose Miss Pike was one of the ugliest women in the whole state. Her eyes were small and half shut; her mouth was large and half open; her nose was enormous, and turned up at the end,--and, to crown the whole, it was red!
Milly, who had always known her, did not mind her looks. Indeed, so little can children judge of the beauty of those they love, that I dare say she might have thought her dear teacher quite handsome if she had not heard everybody speak of her as "that homely Miss Pike."
"We don"t have such looking folks keep school where I live," said Flaxie, in scorn.
"I can"t help it if you don"t," returned Milly, slipping her cousin off her lap with much indignation. "G.o.d made her so, and my mamma says you mustn"t notice how anybody looks when they have a beautiful soul."
"Well, you won"t get _me_ to go to school, not if you give me five million thousand dollars, Milly Allen!" said Flaxie; and their loving chat on the doorstep was over for the evening.
Flaxie kept her word, and Milly went off next morning half crying; but little Freddy confided to his mother that _he_ was "glad Flaxie wouldn"t go to school, for the scholars would laugh at her, true as you live."
It was rather dull, all alone with Aunt Charlotte and little Ken, who was cutting his teeth and cried a great deal; but Flaxie held out for a whole week. This was fortunate, as it gave time for the greenish color to fade out of her face, and her own natural pink and white to come back again as beautiful as ever.
"I guess I _will_ go to school with you, Milly, if you want me to so much," said she at last one morning, when her cousins had all stopped teasing her. "I just despise Miss Pike, but I like the one that has the dropsies, and I want to hear her sing."
Such a hugging and kissing followed this remark that Flaxie felt as if she had said a very fine thing, and started off with Milly, carrying her head very high.
The schoolhouse was white, with green blinds, and stood on the bank of the river, shaded by trees. Burdocks, milkweed, rushes, dandelions, and b.u.t.tercups, were sprinkled around, while close down by the river was a narrow strip of clay bank, very nice to cut into with penknives,--as you would think if you had seen the pretty images some of the children made and spread out on boards in the sun.
Inside the schoolhouse it was nice and cool, with a large entry and recitation-room, and flowers on the desks and tables. The teacher, "that homely Miss Pike," moved about softly, and spoke in low, sweet tones, smiling, and showing even white teeth.
"I s"pose her soul will fly right out of her when she dies,--and _that_ won"t have a red nose," thought Flaxie, gazing at her with curiosity mingled with awe.
Somehow there was a happy feeling all over the schoolroom because Miss Pike was in it, and Flaxie"s thoughts grew pleasant, she could not have told why. But one thing she did know, she wanted to be a good girl,--not pretty good, but the very best in the world,--that that sweet woman might love her.
CHAPTER VI.
THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT.
"Well, darling," said Aunt Charlotte at noon, "you said you went to hear the singing, and you look as if you had enjoyed it."
"Oh, the singing isn"t as good as Miss Pike; she"s just the best woman.
Only," added Flaxie regretfully, "I _wish_ I could see her soul, auntie!"
Mrs. Allen smiled.