Carolyn Wells

“ Dorinda Fayre, I think you’re the most awful girl I ever saw! I believe you want to go to your horrid old Buffalo, and have a girl with a shirtwaist on, for your intimate friend, and a band around her forehead!”
“Oh, hush up, Dotty! I didn’t mean that, and you know it! But I’m beside myself, I don’t know what I’m saying!”
And then the two girls gave way to such desperate and uncontrollable sobbing, that Trudy heard them and came to their room.
“Dolly! Dolly!” she exclaimed. “Oh, you poor little girl! Don’t cry so, darling. Try to stop,—you’ll make yourself ill. Dotty, be quiet, dear.” ”

“ Dotty, tearless, with no inclination to cry, became more and more ruffled with anger at Dolly, and a vague half-recognised jealousy of Bernice; as well as a sort of remorse at her own unkindness to her chum.
But what could be done? Girls who are “mad at” each other can not violate the age-old canons of not speaking, and to speak first was the deepest humiliation. ”

“ Now, I love it.”
“Isn’t it funny how you get used to things,” said Dolly, musingly. “But you can’t always. I’m trying to get used to Bernice Forbes, and yet somehow, I can’t like her, and I don’t know why.”
“Of course you can’t, Dolly. She isn’t our sort.” And Dotty shook her head as if she had settled the question for all time.
“Oh, pshaw! Our sort! What is our sort, I’d like to know. She’s just as good as we are, just as rich, just as fashionable—”
“Oh, I don’t mean those things. She’s richer than any of our set, and fashionabler, too. But that doesn’t make her our sort.” ”

“ Bert spoke so earnestly, that Bernice involuntarily glanced at her shoulder.
“Yes, it’s there,” said Bert gravely. “You see, Bernie, you think the world owes you a living, and the world is not sure that it does. So you’ve got to earn that living.”
“Earn my own living! Why, my father—”
“Oh, can’t you understand parables? I mean, you think Berwick owes you a liking, then, and really, you’ve got to make Berwick like you. Berwick, in this case, meaning the dozen or so boys and girls of our set.” ”

“ Please tell me.”
“Well, then, Bernie, I’m not popular because I’m not willing to forget myself. To be honest, I’m a man of decided opinions,—among others, a pretty good opinion of myself,—and that sort of a nature doesn’t command admiration from the crowd.”
“Don’t you care, Father?”
“Not much. I feel sometimes as if I’d like to be more chummy with my men friends; then I’m apt to say something to provoke them, and they rather evade me.”
“Dad, that’s just my case. But I do want to be popular. In school I mean,—and with the boys and girls. I’ve never been a favourite.” ”

“ Tad and Tod Brown were willing this time to consent to the request of the Two D’s to vote for Bernice as Carnival Queen.
“She’s a bang-up skater,” said Tad; “the best in Berwick, I think. And, another thing, Bernie is a heap nicer than she used to be. She’s come down off her high horse, and almost never rubs in her wealth and grandeur.”
“She is nicer,” agreed Tod. “She doesn’t snap a fellow up, everything he says, and she smiles more, somehow.”
All this was as balm to Dolly’s soul. She rejoiced to hear the boys speak thus of Bernice. ”

“ I said to Bernie, ‘If you’re doing it, why not do it up brown?’ But she said—”
“She said, ‘This is brown,’ ” said Dolly, laughing. “And it is, Mr. Forbes. You know yourself, Bernie is too young for a real live ball, and that’s what it would be, if she had it much more grand than this. How beautiful your house is,” and Dolly looked around admiringly.
“Glad you think so. Hasn’t been re-decorated or fixed up since my wife died. Guess I’ll have to furbish it up a little if Bernie is going to be in gay society.”
“She surely is. You can’t keep such a pretty girl all to yourself always, Mr. Forbes.” ”

“ Say, Dolly, if we go skating, have we got to lug the Bernice person along?”
“Bob, I’m ashamed of you! Just when I think I’ve got you well trained, you act up like that! Why, of course we have. She’s my chum; and what you do for her, you do for me.”
“Oh, jiminetty! I do hate outsiders. You and Dot and Bert and Yours Truly make such a jolly four. Why drag in others?”
“Got to be done. Now, don’t whine over it, just make up your mind to it. Let’s make a skating party for to-morrow afternoon, of about eight, and then afterward go back to Treasure House and make fudge or something like that.” ”

“ Bernice can make her father do anything in the world she wants to. I know that. So she can get him to change his mind about my father, if I can persuade her to do it. I mean, if I can persuade her to persuade her father.”
“It’s a fine scheme, Dollops, but I can’t seem to see it succeeding. Bernice can make her father do anything she wants for herself, but this is different. Why should she bother her father for your father’s sake?”
“I don’t know,” and Dolly looked uncertain; “but I’m going to try to make her do it, and sumpum tells me I shall conquer in the fight!” ”

“ A scarf of the same material enveloped her head and neck, and trailed its long ends behind her. She wore white silk gloves, but her hands were hidden in the swirl of the misty material. She was a veritable ghost, and deep in the shadows of her swathing headgear, her face was concealed by a little white satin mask. Of course her hair was completely hidden, and she moved with slow, sinuous movements, waving her draped arms in true spectre fashion.
“Come in, Ghost,” said Mrs. Rawlins, as Dolly stepped into the reception room. “Well, you are a spirit, indeed! ”

“ Dotty danced around the table as she talked, and catching Dolly in her arms, the two executed a sort of triumphal hoppity-skip that expressed their joy and relieved their feelings.
“And now,” sighed Dolly, suddenly looking thoughtful, “I’ve got to go right straight, smack home and do my Geometry for to-morrow.”
“Oh, my goodness! me too!” exclaimed Dotty. “Dear! how I wish Treasure House was done, and I could go there to study. It’s an awful long time to wait.”
“But we can make things every chance we get. Oh, Dotty, I’m going to make a birch-bark scrapbasket. ”

“ Genie looked so comical, as she shook her fat little forefinger at Dotty, that they all laughed.
“Cry, that’s the bestest way,” Genie went on. “If you cry hard enough, you’re sure to get it.”
“That’s all right for little kiddies like you, Gene, but big girls don’t cry. They just say what they want, and then if their parents are nice, loving, affectionate, good-hearted people, I should think they would get their wishes.”
“Well put, Dottikins,” cried her father. “I guess, Mother, the little girl will have to have her new furbelows. Of course, you’ll get something suitable. ”

“ Dolly made a leisurely toilette, as she always did. She rarely moved quickly, but on the other hand, she was not often late. She put on a pretty little voile frock, of bluet blue, with white pipings. A big white ribbon bow tied her hair back, and then it fell in a long braid, with curly ends. She threw a big cloak round her, one of Trudy’s discarded party-cloaks, and ran across to Treasure House.
Of course, Dotty was already there. She had on a dress of bright Scotch plaid, which suited her type. Scarlet ribbons on her hair, and a necklace of bright red beads made her look quite festive. ”

“ And Bernice was. When the girls told her that Molly was Class President, she turned on Dolly like a little termagant. “I knew you couldn’t run that thing, Dolly Fayre! You think yourself so smart, bossing everybody around, but you couldn’t do just that one little thing!”
“Don’t you talk like that, Bernice,” said Dotty, herself quite as angry. “Dolly worked like everything, and so did I. If you aren’t the most popular girl in the class, we can’t help it!” ”

“ Won’t you? Aunt Clara, you beg her to, won’t you? Won’t you, Aunt Clara?”
“Good gracious, child, stop teasing,” and Mr. Rose glowered at Dotty so very fiercely, that she knew he was not in earnest.
“Stop teasing, Dotty,” said Genie, her little sister. “You know very well that teasing won’t get what you want.” ”

“ Gently Dotty put her hand under the old cloth coat, carefully Maisie passed her hand again under the grey hair.
“Now!” said Dotty, and as they lifted, the grey hair came off in Maisie’s hand, and—the head of the woman rolled away from the body! All three girls shrieked, and then Dotty began to scream with laughter.
“Oh!” she cried. “Oh, that naughty little thing! Oh, how could she! Girls, girls, it isn’t a woman, it’s a dummy thing that horrid little Genie fixed up to tease us! She ought to be punished for this! ”

“ Bernice was supremely happy. Only a girl who has been a wall-flower frequently, can appreciate the pleasure she felt in being besought for dances.
Dolly was satisfied with the behaviour of her colleagues. Not only the boys were doing their part nobly, but the girls were now and then chatting cordially with Bernice, and acting as if she were one of them.
“All serene, Dolly?” asked Bob, as he came up to claim one of his dances with her.
“Yes, indeed,” and Dolly’s eyes shone. “You’re a trump, Bob! I thank you a thousand bushels.”
“Oh, it isn’t so hard. Bernie has improved a lot since last we met. ”

“ They went in, and Dotty made a judicious selection of two oranges and a bunch of white grapes, as they were not sure Miss Partland cared for grapefruit.
“And if any one doesn’t like it,” said Dotty, making a wry face, “they don’t like it all over! I can’t abide it!”
“I love it,” returned Dolly, “but as you say, Dot, if people don’t like it they don’t. Grapes are much safer. Now, come on to the flower shop.”
A half dozen carnations of an exquisite shade were available for the money Dolly had, and it was with great satisfaction she saw them put in a box and sent off at once to Miss Partland. ”

“ You mustn’t be wasting time on an old man like me.”
Dolly smiled at him, and then went over to the group already forming around Bernice.
But she had a new bee in her bonnet. Nothing more nor less than to make friends with Mr. Forbes himself, and if need be, plead with him for her father’s stay in Berwick. Dolly’s was a single-minded nature. She had set her heart and mind to this plan of hers and she bent everything toward her aim. Buoyed up with hope, she came laughingly toward the young people.
“Ah, there, Dolly Fayre,” sang out Tad Brown, “thought you had deserted us.” ”

“ Rawlins, gaily. “One nice clean blank paper for each of you. Who’ll go first? You, Dolly?”
“No; Bernice, you try it.”
So taking the paper carefully in the tongs, Bernice held it to the blaze of the logs.
“Spirit of the Fire,” said Mr. Rawlins, in a dramatic voice, “tell us, pray, whose is this Fortune I have here, folded in my hand.”
And then appeared on the paper, the name of Maisie May.
“Ah, our Maisie,” and Mr. Rawlins read:
“Ere you are so very old,
You will marry wealth untold. ”

“ Hey, fellows?”
“Two it is!” sung out Tod, and the rest voiced agreement. “Now can we go, mum?” begged Tad.
“Yes,” said Dolly, “you’re good boys, and you may run and play.”
“What are you up to, Dolly?” asked Grace, as the boys ran off, laughing and jumping about.
“Gracie, you know how much I want to make Bernice more popular. Well, this is my chance, and I want all you girls to help me. If we take her up and are nice to her, the boys will do as we tell them, and the other girls will fall in line, and it will be all right. But if we fall down on it, the whole plan will drop through. ”

“ You will, Bernice, won’t you?”
“Yes, I will. But I don’t know how.”
“Yes, you do know how, only you find it hard. All you have to do to make people like you and want to be with you, is to like them and be nice to them. You can’t just sit around accepting,—you must give.”
“Give what?”
“Smiles, kindliness, gaiety, fun, nonsense, real true understanding, and all the things that go to make a tiptop girl.”
“Like Dolly?”
“Yes, like my sister, and Dot Rose and Maisie May, and the Rawlins girls—”
“Everybody except me!” ”

“ Dotty jumped up, glad of a chance to step on her sleeping foot, and seizing the poker, jammed Dolly’s log into place so fiercely that it fell down between the andirons.
“I’ll ’tend to the fire,” said Dolly, coldly, for a speech of this sort was entirely permissible.
“You think you know all about fire-making, don’t you? Well, that big log will never burn without a stick of kindling-wood.”
“It would, if you’d let it alone. You always poke a fire till you put it out!” ”

“ Just half is the living-room, and the other half is two-thirds dining-room and one-third kitchen. The kitchen includes kitchenette and pantry.”
“What is a kitchenette, exactly?” asked Dolly.
“Only what its name implies,” returned Mr. Rose, smiling. “Just a little kitchen. There will be a gas stove,—no, I think it would be better for you to have it all electric. Then you can have an electric oven and toaster and chafing-dish, and any such contraptions you want. How’s that?”
“Too good to be true!” and Dolly sighed in deep contentment. “How long will it take to build it?” ”

“ Why, of course she is! She doesn’t breathe or move at all. Of course she’s dead, Dolly. We’ve got to go and get somebody. Suppose we all go. It’s awful to leave her here alone, but what can we do?”
“Oh, we oughtn’t all to leave her. Maybe she’ll come to.”
“She can’t if she’s dead, can she?”
“Well, wait a minute. You always fly off so quick, Dotty. Let me think. Let’s all sit down here and think a minute.”
Dolly pulled the two girls down beside her on a window-seat. They looked at the silent, motionless form. The woman lay on her side, her hands under her. ”

“ I was sure she was going to faint.”
“Yes, Dolly was in earnest,” said Dotty. “If we did any harm, Doll can’t be included. When she said that to Miss Partland, it was true. When we said it, it wasn’t.”
“Oh, I’m not sticking myself up,” began Dolly. “And I’m not blaming the rest of you. I think it was a mean joke, but never mind that now. What I’m thinking of is what we ought to do. Seems if we ought to set matters right somehow.”
“I don’t think so,” said Celia. “It’s always better to let well enough alone, my mother says. ”

“ There were jack-o’-lanterns, too, made of yellow or of green pumpkins, and also of crook-neck squashes, whose candles within lit up their strange grotesque faces.
The boys had already arrived, and round the room stood seven silent figures. They were dressed as Robin Hood, Peter Pan, or merely as spooks and goblins. Apparently the boys had been quite willing to “dress up,” and their costumes were as picturesque as the girls’.
Uncle Jim greeted the incoming crowd.
“Wal, wal, what a visitation! My, but ye’re a lot of perty spooks! Look at this white ghost now!” as Dolly swept him a long, low bow. ”