Beulah Marie Dix

“ Around each farmhouse grew trees, beeches and elms and nut-trees. But the road itself was shadeless, running straight as a builder’s line between the green and pungent-smelling fields of onions.
“My, but it’s hot!” panted Jacqueline.
“You just wait till winter,” boasted Nellie. “The wind comes just a-whooping down from the north, and the snow is that high. Last winter I got in a drift up to my waist, going to school. Ralph, he hauls me on my sled but——”
“Tell Caroline about the blizzard later,” Aunt Martha interrupted. “Here we are now, and she’s got other things to think about.” ”

“ Caroline gave a little squeak, and clutched the side of the door.
“Don’t be scared, goose!” bade Jacqueline, stepping forward. “It’s only me.”
Caroline’s pale little hands fluttered to her throat as if she wanted to push off something that choked her.
“Y-yes,” she stammered. “H-hello, Jackie.”
That was all Caroline said. She didn’t help Jacqueline one bit, though she must have known that Jacqueline hadn’t come there simply to say: “Hello!” She just clung to the side of the door and stared like somebody who expects to be hit.
“I’m not a ghost,” said Jacqueline, impatiently. ”

“ The weather, like the Little Bear’s porridge, was neither too hot nor too cold, but just right. A little breeze made the flowers in the garden curtsy like so many tall belles, arrayed in bright hues for a merrymaking at the court of the fairies. That was what Caroline told Aunt Eunice. She found it easy to tell Aunt Eunice all sorts of things.
Aunt Eunice sat in a cushioned wicker armchair, which Frank had brought out for her, and Caroline sat in a low rocker. Mildred sat on the bench at their elbow, lightly clad in a lace-edged camisole and snowy French drawers. ”

“ Caroline dropped Gertrude, so violently that it was well she was not made of anything more breakable than painted cloth and cotton. She caught up Mildred in a frantic clasp.
“You mind the babies, Nellie!” she bade. “I won’t come back till she’s gone, not even if she stays here ten thousand years!”
She scuttled out at the rear of the barn, just as the stately limousine came to rest alongside the kitchen door. She ran round to the south side of the barn, where there was a pile of old lumber, and a disused hen-house. ”

“ The big shabby much-traveled suitcase that was Caroline’s, and the smart black leather case that was Jacqueline’s, alike held fresh changes of clothes. In these the little girls dressed themselves from the skin out. Caroline gasped a little at the silk socks, the delicate undergarments, the knickers and the frock of henna-colored crêpe in which she rather guiltily encased herself. Jacqueline tumbled gleefully into cotton socks, much-mended plain cotton underwear, and a fresh frock of brown and white gingham, with a big patch in the back breadth.
“I’m bigger than you,” she chuckled. ”

“ She too, had a “crick in her back.”
Through the open door into the bedroom she glimpsed the green and gold of the chintz curtains, the dressing-table, with its lady pin-cushion and its dainty china boxes, the comfortable, low rocker beside the well-filled bookshelves. So that was Caroline’s room—the room that rightfully was hers!
Smiling somewhat ruefully, Jacqueline tiptoed across the threshold and, planted on the oyster white rug, stood gazing about her. This might all have been hers—this soon would be hers. She would sleep in that cozy, soft bed, with no fretful children to disturb her. ”

“ When the people at the farm got all those gifts, she rather guessed they’d change their minds about her. Perhaps they’d be sorry then that they hadn’t been more considerate. How they would regret her—and admire her! Maybe she’d go out there once more—just once more—in her wine-colored jumper dress that she liked, and take a big box of sweets to the children. She fairly swelled out her chest, in her dusty Peggy Janes, as she pictured herself playing Lady Bountiful. But when she thought of Grandma, her chest flattened again, just like a toy balloon when you prick it and the air runs out. ”

“ For Jackie had promised that she should stay there undisturbed at The Chimnies, until Aunt Edie came at the end of summer.
How kind Jackie was, and how good, and how brave! She wasn’t afraid of cows, or Cousin Penelope, or boys, or the dark. Caroline, for instance, would have been frightened to death to go the three miles in the black night down into the Meadows. But Jackie had just whistled and walked away, as unconcerned as anything. No, there was no one in the world so good or so brave as Jackie. ”

“ Caroline drew a quivering breath.
“This is a bigger room than at Cousin Delia’s,” she said. “Nellie and I will have it together, Aunt Martha told me. I haven’t seen Nellie, but the babies are real cunning. I know I shall love them. Aunt Martha’s going to make me a winter coat out of an ulster of hers, and dye it blue. It’s cold here winters—and there’ll be lots of chances to slide—and there’s a pond where Ralph will teach me to skate. Aunt Martha’s awful good.”
“I’ll say she is,” assented Jacqueline, as she thrust herself into the slip-over. “Crazy elephants! I’ve gone and grown this summer.” ”

“ Life at the farm in those days was strenuous, you may well believe. Jacqueline hadn’t dreamed that any one could take in a day as many steps as she now took in Caroline’s old sneakers, nor could be so tired at night. But she went about her tasks uncomplaining, with a subdued manner which all the young folk shared. For Grandma, dear little spry Grandma, who had worked so hard, as Jacqueline realized, now that Grandma’s chores in part were hers, might never step-step it round the kitchen again. The doctor came twice a day, and Aunt Martha’s face had not even a twisted smile. ”

“ Penelope had on the lavender dressing-gown that Caroline loved her in. Her face was quite pale, and her eyes looked big, but rather starlike. She came and stood at the foot of the big mahogany bed, with its four pillars, and facing Aunt Eunice, spoke breathlessly:
“Mother, I wouldn’t for the world stand in the way of what would give you happiness. After all, this little Caroline comes of good honest Longmeadow blood on her father’s side, and her mother seems to have been more than all right. And the child is gifted—no doubt about that. You should hear Woleski rave over her. ”

“ Caroline cried at sight of her. “Did Aunt Martha tell you?”
“Sure,” answered Jacqueline, and sat down in her dusty Peggy Janes, upon the edge of the bed.
“She’s awful good,” said Caroline, in a wavering voice. “She said not to worry about the cows—the boys look after them. And she wanted me to eat some supper but I couldn’t. She didn’t scold, not one bit. Oh, Jackie, I’m afraid Cousin Penelope will scold you—dreadfully.” ”

“ And put Caroline’s box to one side. It’s hers and must go to her, whether she’s here or at the Gildersleeves.”
But what was a box of chocolates to Caroline in that hour? The limousine had rolled up to the porch, down which she had stumbled in heart-broken flight, not a week before. She stood again in the dim spacious hall, with its gleam of gilt-framed mirrors and its tall, flaming gladioli in dull green jars. She had gone up the stairs into the room with the pale gray furniture, the fairy-tale pictures, the canary shapes that glittered amid the green. ”

“ When they came into the kitchen, where a dim lamp burned, Jacqueline saw by the hands of the steeple-roofed kitchen clock that it was going on eleven—a desperate hour for the Conway farm! They had come in softly, but Grandma must have been lying awake and listening for she called instantly from her dark bedroom:
“That you, Martha? Did you find her safe?”
“All right, Mother Conway,” Aunt Martha spoke guardedly, so as not to waken Annie. Then she whispered to Jacqueline! “Go in and say goodnight to Grandma. It’ll be a load off her mind to see you’re all right.” ”

“ When Caroline looked at them, for all that they were only mildly feeding, she held Mildred tighter, and wished that she dared to whisper her not to be afraid, for maybe the cows at half-aunt Martha’s farm were kind cows.
And maybe the Conway cousins weren’t like the fearsome boys they passed on the road: middle-sized boys with air rifles and fishing rods, intent on killing harmless things; big boys, clattering in home-made automobiles; little boys banging on drums and blowing tin trumpets with a racket that split the ears. ”

“ One must never be late to meals.
Such a hurried breakfast, thrilled with the pleasant sense of a journey to follow! Cousin Penelope was already hatted, with her veil of palest mauve pushed back from her eager face. Sallie, as she waited at table, was all smiles and good cheer. She, too, was happy at the thought of a long holiday. Aunt Eunice’s old cheeks were delicately flushed. Perhaps after all she really needed sea air, as Cousin Penelope so generously had suggested.
“You must eat more than a humming-bird, Jacqueline,” Aunt Eunice urged. “It will be a long time to luncheon time.” ”

“ Why should any living child continue to wear clumsy, hateful Peggy Janes, with patches, too, when she could have a beautiful muslin, with yellow roses? No, Jacqueline surely would never go on with the deception, now that she saw with her own eyes the glories of which she had deprived herself!
But to Jacqueline the encounter that to Caroline was tragic seemed downright funny. To think of her, standing there in Caroline’s Peggy Janes, and Caroline in her muslin, and that prim-looking Cousin Penelope (whom Jacqueline disliked at sight!) innocently lavishing attention on the wrong child. ”

“ Aunt Martha smiled, as if in spite of herself. “If you aren’t the most persistent young one!” she said.
“Can’t I?” begged Jacqueline.
Aunt Martha hesitated.
“You’ve worked real faithful,” she said at last. “I guess if it’s any treat to go to Longmeadow, you ought to have it.”
“Oh goody, Aunt Martha!”
“Don’t crack my ribs, Jackie! You hug like a young bear.”
“I’ll start right after dinner——”
“No, you won’t, child. Ralph’s got to drive up to the north end of town. You can ride up with him ’bout two o’clock. He’ll pick you up at the Post Office long ’bout five. The library’s open to-day. ”

“ It was a radiant little face, under the brown and orange hat, that Jacqueline showed to Aunt Eunice, as she waved farewell to The Chimnies and to Longmeadow, and it was with a little half-smile that Aunt Eunice, on the broad porch, turned to Cousin Penelope.
“I’m glad she’s gone off happy,” said Aunt Eunice. “She’s a bright little thing, and you must admit it was plucky of her to stick it out at the farm, and let the other child have a happy summer here. Fine of her, too, with every one condemning, to take the whole blame on herself. ”

“ Jacqueline’s spirit fairly chittered within her. But Freddie kept on crying—and he was just a baby. She couldn’t let him suffer there alone in the storm.
“Be a sport!” she told herself, through chattering teeth, and: “Nellie, you shut up!” she said aloud, in a harsh, snappy voice.
Out of the bed she got, and she set her teeth tight, and she made herself run straight into the next room. By a flash of lightning she could see poor Freddie, with his face dark and convulsed, as he sat screaming in his crib, and she could see Aunt Martha’s bed, with the coverings turned back, and Aunt Martha—gone. ”

“ Every time she drew near a culvert, she ran as fast as she could upon her tired legs, through the heavy dust, until the danger point was passed. Even if there weren’t any Indians, there were Polish field-hands. Good, honest men, most of them, Aunt Martha maintained. But some of them were worthless and drunken. There was a half-witted Kaplinsky boy, too, who sometimes chased younger children, with horrid, half-articulate threats.
Jacqueline sheered into the middle of the dark gray road to avoid the patch of inky shadow that a solitary elm tree threw halfway across it. ”

“ Caroline sat down in a low chair, which Aunt Eunice recommended to her, and wished that she had Mildred in her arms. She began to feel very much alone, with these people who were really not her people, and a little bit frightened. Older folk than Caroline have felt that way, in a strange place, among strange faces, with the day ending, and no way of knowing what the next day may bring. ”

“ Uncle Jimmie had a Locomobile, and Aunt Edie swore by her Marmon.
Rather spasmodically, as they got up speed, they rolled across the worn asphalt of the station park and into the one wide street of Baring Junction. Along the street were two-story buildings of brick, fruit shops and hardware shops and drygoods shops, as the wares that overflowed on the sidewalk bore witness, and drug shops. At sight of the large advertisements that shouted the joys of sundaes and cool drinks, Jacqueline remembered that she was thirsty. She remembered also the fifty cents in Caroline’s shabby red purse. ”

“ She turned as red as fire as she said the words. She had never felt so awful in her life, and after drinking the milk that these women had been kind enough to give her. But she thought of Grandma, without her cup! and Caroline, without her beads! What was her own pride or even decency by comparison? She just had to get some money.
“Well, of all the nerve!” Hannah broke the silence that seemed to Jacqueline to have lasted an hour. “I’ll pay you ten cents to go—and you can pay me ten cents for the milk you’ve drunk.”
Jacqueline quailed. Grown-up people somehow always had one at a disadvantage. ”

“ Now when Cousin Penelope looked at Great-aunt Joanna she positively choked over her soft roll, and had to leave the table.
Aunt Eunice saw that every one had plenty of coffee and waffles and scrambled eggs and crisp bacon. But she scarcely ate at all herself. As for Aunt Edie, she was worried for fear she had mislaid her trunk-key, and for fear that Jacqueline had hopelessly upset everybody, and she was more fluttery and helpless than ever. But Uncle Jimmie was calm and good-humored. ”

“ Nellie interrupted, with shining eyes.
“A red silk gown with long-tailed birds on it!” Grandma shook with laughter. “I’ll look like the Queen of Sheba. Lord bless the child! At my time o’ life!”
She peered into her box of sweets, and chose herself a plump sugary gum-drop.
“I’m going to let you take ’em, just the same,” said Aunt Martha, with decision. “There’s no sense in standing on your pride to the hurt of other folks’ feelings when it’s kindly meant and the things a real Godsend. ”

“ Aunt Martha clicked her tongue against her teeth. Black smudges of weariness showed beneath her unsmiling eyes.
“It’s that way, half the time,” she told Jacqueline. “Sick folks get notions. I’ll see if I can coax her to take it.”
But when Aunt Martha came out of the parlor, Jacqueline knew, by the worried look she wore, that she hadn’t been successful.
Jacqueline ran to her—she couldn’t help it!—and threw her arms about her.
“Oh, Aunt Martha!” she whimpered. “It’s all my fault. She wants her green-dragon cup—and I broke it. I’ve just got to go to the village to-morrow and get her another.” ”

“ Or perhaps, better still, Aunt Eunice and Cousin Penelope had gone out to pay calls. If only they had gone out, and left Caroline at home!
Buoyed up with this hope, Jacqueline scurried along the neat path through the gay-colored, sweet-scented garden, threaded the shrubbery, crossed the lawn, and ran lightly up the steps of the cool, wide porch. The white paneled door, with its ancient fan-light, was firmly closed. She grasped the big shining brass knocker, and without waiting for her courage to ooze, rapped loudly. ”

“ Caroline wore a frock (Jacqueline’s frock!) the color of creamy honeysuckle, hand-made and hem-stitched, with two rosettes of narrow black velvet ribbon and gold tissue at the high waist line. Her guests fluttered crisply in lavender and pale blue, shell pink and lemon yellow. It was as if the posy bed had come alive and found sweet, shrill voices in which to talk and laugh and call across the scented spaces.
They hunted peanuts, and they played at grace-hoops and ring-toss on the lawn, where the shadows grew longer with the passing hours. Everybody won a prize at something. ”

“ She had never had a party in her life, nor expected to have one. How good Cousin Penelope was to her, and Jacqueline, too, who was going to keep on with this precious play! The world was beautiful once more, as beautiful as it had been when she went into Miss Crevey’s shop. All the way home she chattered again, almost volubly, with kind Cousin Penelope.
While Caroline was rolling homeward to The Chimnies in the limousine, Jacqueline was trudging along the same road on foot. She and Neil had made their purchases. ”

“ That was what it would be to take Caroline’s party away from her. Let her have her old party! But drat Caroline—and double-drat Prince Edward, whose silly story had let her in for this! Trouble! He didn’t know the name of trouble!
Jacqueline drew a deep breath, which was rather like a sniffle.
“Aw shucks!” she said disgustedly. “Cut out the sob-stuff, Carol. One day is as good as another, far as I’m concerned. You can have your party.”
Caroline, all moist and crumpled, fell upon her in the dusk.
“Oh, Jackie! You mean it—really? You are the dearest——”
“Oh, dumb-bells!” scoffed Jacqueline. ”

“ Wasn’t she suddenly called upon to face a problem beyond Eleanor’s grasping—a problem such as she had never expected to be called upon to face?
Out in Longmeadow Street, which was all a pleasant checker-board of light and shadow, Jacqueline lagged slowly toward the Post Office. What should she do, she asked herself, over and over again? She must get some money. But she couldn’t reach Caroline, not for weeks and weeks. She would have to write directly to Judge Blair, and ask him to address the answer to her as Caroline Tait, and she would have to tell him why. Not that! ”

“ At Buena Vista she had heard her Aunt Edith and her friends sing the praises of one of their number, who had adopted a little French orphan. To give a child a home was a serious undertaking, even for a lady who, like Aunt Edith’s friend, had a great house and servants and cars and lovely gowns and jewels. But here was Aunt Martha, who had no car but a Ford, and wore tacky old clothes that Aunt Edith’s chambermaid would have scorned, who scrimped on the price of an ice-cream cone and thought a dollar a pound for chocolates (Jacqueline’s really had cost a dollar-fifty!) ”

“ Penelope spoke loftily, as she occasionally did speak to her mother.
“Now, Mother dearest, just for the sake of your democratic theories we can’t let Jack’s daughter associate with every common child that pushes itself forward. Blood will tell, you know.”
“Yes,” said Aunt Eunice, with mild persistence, “but what’s wrong with the Conway blood, Penelope? Conways and Gildersleeves and Holdens and Taits and Trowbridges, they all came here together in the old days—God-fearing farmer-folk, the lot of them, and not much to choose among them, though some have prospered lately more than others.” ”

“ The moment Miss Fisher’s rumpled blue linen skirt had vanished from the car, Jacqueline laid hold of Caroline’s suitcase and, like a valorous small ant with a huge crumb, tugged it into the drawing-room. Caroline snatched up her hat and her sweater, and with Mildred in her arms followed after protesting.
“You come along,” Jacqueline over-rode her protests. “We can sprawl all we want to in here, and people won’t stop to stare at Mildred, and ask us our names, and do we like to travel. ”