Amy Ella Blanchard

“ Loomis had said, Miss Hallett’s proposition settled the question of lessons for Jessie, and so when Adele appeared the next morning, bright and early, Jessie had the great piece of news to tell her, and Adele responded in her usual tempestuous way by giving Jessie a tremendous hug, and by rushing to Mrs. Loomis to embrace her, too. “It will be perfectly lovely,” she cried. “You will come to my house every morning and we’ll have lessons in the playroom; it will have to be a workroom then, and in the afternoon we can play by the brook.” ”

“ He opened the gate and came out to meet her. “Why, little girl!” he exclaimed, “what are you doing on this road? ’Tain’t your way from home. Why, your face is cut and you’re all mussed up. Tumble down?”
“Oh, Ezra! Ezra!” cried Jessie, seizing his hand, “the pony cart upset us over the bank there by the cut, and Adele has hurt her arm. The pony is all right. He is standing just as still, but the cart-wheel is off so we can’t get home, at least I don’t know how to get Adele and the pony home.” ”

“ There could not be the least danger, thought Jessie. She saw that the flagman had his back to her and was standing looking up the track. She made haste to cross before he could see her, and, in her hurry, she tripped over the rail and her books were scattered in every direction. She picked herself up and was about to gather her books together when she heard the shrill whistle of an approaching train, while from up the track she saw the express rapidly advancing upon her. ”

“ Jessie carried the tin pan to the enclosure where the young chickens were making a great fuss, poking their heads between the slats and peeping anxiously. But their peeping soon stopped as Jessie scattered little dabs of the food on the ground. “Don’t gather the eggs till I come,” she called to Minerva whom she saw searching the nests.
“Obliged to,” returned Minerva, “or there’ll be no time to look up the turkeys. It gets dark so much sooner these days, you know.” ”

“ Jessie looked at her quickly. It seemed as if Adele’s quick eyes and ears would discover all her secrets. “You won’t tell?” she asked after a minute’s pause. “Cross your heart you won’t? It’s a secret, you see. Playmate Polly is a secret, too. Not even mother or Minerva know about her.”
[53] “I promise,” said Adele readily. “Who is Minerva?”
“Our girl. She is as nice as she can be. I’m awfully fond of her.” ”

“ Adele looked at her fixedly for a moment, then to Jessie’s great discomfiture she burst into tears. “She isn’t! She isn’t! She isn’t!” she repeated. “She is just like other people and she is dear and good and lovely. You shan’t say she is not.”
Jessie was bewildered. “I didn’t mean—I didn’t mean——” she began helplessly.
“It was I who was horrid,” Adele went on. “It was all my doing. I got mad and screamed and fought Angeline and wouldn’t eat my supper because I couldn’t have coffee and lots, lots, lots of sugar in it, and so Aunt Betty said I shouldn’t go to see you till she said I might. ”

“ Adele nodded. “Hm, hm, I did, because I thought she might have hidden the doll to tease me and because she didn’t want me to have a Peter Pan.”
“But she has proved that she does want you to have one by asking her mother to replace the one that is lost, and besides, you told me that you were the last one that had the doll.”
Adele rushed at Jessie and flung her arms around her. “Wasn’t I horrid?” she said. “I’ll believe every word you say after this. I suppose you will say,” she whispered, “that Polly always has believed you.”
“Yes,” Jessie nodded, “she certainly does.” ”

“ Jessie was silent. She hardly knew whether to go or stay.
Presently Adele turned around with the sweetest of smiles. “Let’s play,” she said. [69] “I’ll show you all my dolls. Why didn’t you bring Charity or Peter Pan with you?”
“I will next time,” said Jessie, relieved at the turn of affairs, but wondering what kind of girl Adele really was.
“Come,” cried Adele, grasping Jessie’s hand. “The dolls are all up in the playroom. I was making medicine for them just now. They have ague, every blessed one of them, and they are shaking their heads off, at least one of them is,” she added with a laugh. ”

“ It is so silly to go up and down, up and down, this stupid road and nowhere else.”
“Oh, but it wouldn’t be right, whether she sees us or not,” protested Jessie.
“There isn’t a bit of harm in it,” Adele insisted. “We go every day, and just because we are not with them it doesn’t matter. I am going further whether any one likes it or not.” She gave a little jerk to the reins and Dapple Gray started off on a trot. The excitement of a faster gait stirred Adele to further desire for a rapid drive. “I am tired to death of this old road,” she declared. “I want to go somewhere new. ”

“ I long for it,” cried Adele clasping her hands.
“It is nice,” said Jessie. “I like to slide on the ice, too, even when it isn’t snowy. We can often go out on the little pond when the ice is thick. It is rather fun to be out in the cold at any time, for you feel so good when you come in.”
“I shall get Miss Eloise to let me walk home with you sometimes,” said Adele, “because you will have to come by yourself in the morning, and it wouldn’t be fair for you to walk both ways alone. Does the brook freeze over?” ”

“ Loomis. “Some persons like to teach, I admit, but there are many who have to learn to like teaching just as much as you will have to learn to like studying. So don’t imagine it will be all fun for Miss Laurent. From what I can learn Miss Eloise consented to be your teacher because she is a loyal friend, and as your Aunt Betty, Adele, dreaded the thought of having a stranger in the house, Miss Eloise consented to come. ”

“ If she insisted upon getting out and going home she would leave Adele all alone, and that would be worse than staying to help her out of any difficulty into which she might fall. “Perhaps I’d better drive,” she ventured after a while when Adele had recklessly driven over a big stone and had almost bumped into a stump by the way.
“No, you shall not,” returned Adele. “The only way to learn to do a thing is to keep on doing it, no matter if you do it wrong sometimes. Papa always says so.”
Jessie had nothing to reply to this, but she watched Adele carefully. They were coming to a hill. ”

“ I know Sam well enough for that. He often brings me things, and I have an idea this is something alive.”
The two children were not long in reaching the barn, the big door of which was open. It was a big, roomy place smelling of hay. Three horses stood in their stalls, and as the little girls entered, a brown hen flew cackling from one of the empty mangers. “I’ll have Sam get that egg for us,” remarked Jessie. “I wonder where he is. Sam! Sam!” she called.
A voice answered from the harness room and Jessie led the way thither. Sam was sitting on a box mending harness. “Here we are,” said Jessie. ”

“ In a very short time Ebon had become quite tame, and followed the little girls as if he were a dog. He constantly amused them by his funny ways. Although he had not yet learned to talk, Sam declared that he would in time, and meanwhile Adele went with Jessie to see Effie’s kittens, and was promised a black one. So from having no companions at all, Jessie felt that she would be very well supplied that winter. “There will be you and your kitten, me and my kitten, Polly and Eb,” she said to Adele. “That will be a great many of us to play together.” ”