Carroll Watson Rankin

“ Jean, stooping suddenly, kissed the upturned lips.
"Why!" exclaimed Jean, genuinely surprised, "I didn't know I was going to do that."
"She gets around everybody," said Mrs. Slater, "and the worst of it is she's so good and so naughty that you'll never know whether you like her or not."
"Why, Grannie!" exclaimed Henrietta, "don't you know?"
"I know that I like you," said the old lady, smiling fondly at pretty, whimsical Henrietta, "but you know very well that I also regard you with strong disapproval. ”

“ In a very few seconds, the hasty Janitor had opened the lower door of the chute and, with the firemen standing by, was calmly hauling her out by her feet—Oh! She could never tell that part of it.
And then, as if that were not bad enough, that inconsiderate Janitor seized her by the elbow and hurried her right into the coal bin, forced her to march over eighty tons of black, dusty, sliding coal and finally compelled her to crawl—yes, crawl—out of a small basement window on the safest side of the building. ”

“ A Crowded Day MABEL rose very early indeed on Christmas morning to explore her bulging stocking and to open her packages; but Mr. Black and Mrs. Crane were even earlier, and they were delighted to find that the weather had remained mild. Putting on their outside wraps and warm overshoes, the worthy couple went with good-natured Martin and Maggie, the nimble nursery maid, to the garden as soon as it was light. They strung the tall tree from top to bottom with tinsel and glittering Christmas-tree ornaments, the finest that money could buy. ”

“ Crane, noticing that the girls were dressed for mild weather, detained them while she hunted up a silk handkerchief to wrap about Marjory's throat, a veil to tie over Bettie's ears and some warmer gloves for Jean. Henrietta and Mabel refused to be bundled up.
The outside air was many degrees colder than it had been two hours earlier, and was full of flying snow. The wind came in gusts, yet there was something bracing and stimulating about the stirring atmosphere, particularly to Henrietta.
"Oh!" cried she, "this is fine! Why can't we take a long walk? It's a shame to hurry home. ”

“ No tall, dark man wandered about the yard. No neighbor came from the tumbling houses across the street to explain the woman's puzzling absence.
It proved a most tiresome day. Mabel was not only mentally weary from trying to solve the mystery, but physically tired also from dragging Rosa Marie up and down the hill between Dandelion Cottage and the child's deserted home. The girls went with her once, but, having satisfied their curiosity as to Rosa Marie's abiding-place, turned their attention to pleasanter tasks. Walking with Rosa Marie was too much like traveling with a snail. ”

“ This is my bedroom, this next one is my dressing-room and this is my bath."
"Ugh!" shuddered Mabel, "do you take shower baths?"
"Every morning," laughed Henrietta.
"What a lovely dressing table!" exclaimed Bettie, peering into the oval mirror and smiling into her own dark eyes. "I never saw such pretty things, even in a catalogue."
"It's French," said Henrietta, "but all those little jeweled boxes came from Calcutta—Father just loves to buy little boxes with inlaid tops. Oh, here's Greta, with things to eat." ”

“ She saw only the babyish roundness of Rosa Marie's body, the cunning dimples in her elbows and the affectionate gleam that sometimes showed in the small black eyes. But then, it was always Mabel who found beauty in the stray dogs and cats that no one else would have on the premises. During these trying days the Cottagers almost quarreled.
"That child is all cheeks," complained Marjory, petulantly. "They positively hang down. Do you suppose we're giving her too much milk? She's disgustingly fat, and she hasn't any figure."
"She has altogether too much figure," declared Jean, almost crossly. ”

“ You and Jean have always been as thick as thieves. Don't you let this pretty Henrietta steal your Jean away from you."
Bettie, dear little unselfish soul, had hitherto been conscious of no such fear, but now her big brown eyes were troubled. This new possibility was alarming.
"We'd like to see Rosa Marie," said Marjory. "Is she well?"
"She has a bad cold," returned Mrs. Crane, shaking her head, sorrowfully. "I've just been looking through my books, and in the very first one I found more than twenty-five fatal diseases that begin with a bad cold."
"Didn't you find any that folks ever get over?" ”

“ I just love this. Isn't there somebody we can go to see? Hasn't anybody an errand?"
"Ye-es," said Mabel, doubtfully. "We could go down to Mrs. Malony's. Mother told me this morning to get her bill, and I forgot all about it."
"Mabel always has a few forgotten errands [209] laid away," teased Marjory. "She can show you, too, where she found Rosa Marie—it's down that way."
"I hope," said Henrietta, making a comical grimace, "that there's no danger of finding any more like her. But let's go. It's a shame to miss any of this." ”

“ But only one stayed delivered, for the other three immediately ran around the block to meet at Jean's always popular home. You see, they had to talk it all over without the restraint of their host's presence.
"I think," said Mabel, ecstatically, "that Mr. Black is just too dear for words. Some folks are too stingy to live, with their automobiles and horses and never think of giving anybody a ride."
"He's certainly very generous," agreed Jean.
"Of course," ventured Marjory, meditatively, "he has plenty of money or he couldn't do nice things."
"He would anyway," declared Bettie. ”

“ It was not, however, the oldest, but four of the youngest citizens that rejoiced most in this unusual prolonging of summer; for the continued warm weather made it possible for those devoted friends, Jean Mapes, Marjory Vale, Mabel Bennett and little Bettie Tucker, to spend many a delightful hour in [2] their precious Dandelion Cottage, the real, tumble-down house that was now, after so many narrow escapes, safely their very own. Some day, to be sure, it would be torn down to make room for a habitable dwelling, but that unhappy day was still too remote to cause any uneasiness. ”

“ I feel as if she were just playing with me."
"She seems more than fourteen," murmured Jean, dreamily.
"That's because she's traveled so much," explained Bettie.
"She's like the big opal in Mother's ring," mused imaginative Jean. "One moment all warm and sparkly, the next, all cold and quiet."
[182]
"And you never know," supplemented Marjory, "which way it's going to be."
"I like folks that are downright bad or good," said Mabel, crossly. "Burglars ought to be burglars and ministers ought to be ministers and they all ought to be marked so you can tell 'em apart; else, how are you going to?" ”

“ Mabel was still working on a shoe-bag for her father but, owing to some misadventure, one of the two compartments was several sizes larger than the other. Mabel regarded this difference with disapproval until comforting Jean came to the rescue.
"Perhaps," suggested Jean, "there's a difference in the size of your father's feet."
"Oh, there is," cried Mabel, gleefully. "His right shoe is always tighter than the left."
"But," objected quick-witted Marjory, "it isn't his feet that are going into that bag. It's his shoes, and they're the same size." ”

“ Perhaps Henrietta's once-dreaded home was the most popular place, though in that fascinating abode they could not accomplish a great deal in the sewing line because Henrietta invariably produced such a bewildering array of unusual belongings to show them that their eyes kept busier than their fingers. ”

“ I simply adored that baby."
"Never mind," soothed Bettie, generously. "We've any number of real babies at our house and three of them are small [203] enough to cuddle. And even the littlest one is big enough to be played with."
"What an accommodating family," said Henrietta, wiping her eyes. "I guess they'll make up for this remarkable infant."
"Rosa Marie certainly isn't looking her best to-day," admitted Jean, "but you'll really find her very interesting when you know her better. But she never does appeal to strangers—we've found that out." ”

“ The Fugitive Soldier THE Cottage door closed behind the three excited parents and Aunty Jane. The four Cottagers, all decidedly pale and subdued, looked at one another in silence. It is one thing to confess a fault; it is quite another to be ignominiously found out. Jean and Bettie and Marjory were feeling this very keenly; but Mabel was far more troubled at the prospect of losing Rosa Marie.
"The orphan asylum!" breathed Bettie, at length.
"It's wicked," blazed Mabel, "to make an orphan of a person that isn't." ”

“ Mabel begged half a lemon pie from the cook; Marjory concocted a wonderful bowl of orange jelly with candied cherries on top, Mrs. Crane made a steaming pitcherful of chicken soup and Mr. Black sent in a great basket of the finest fruit that the Lakeville market afforded.
But when all these successive and well-meaning visitors presented themselves and their unstinted offerings at the Rectory door, Dr. Tucker received them sadly.
"Bettie is down with a fever," said he. "She can't eat anything." ”

“ Improvement folks use you to dust the sidewalks?"
"What's the matter with that child's complexion?" demanded Marjory. "Is she tanned?"
"Coming home took long enough for us both to get tanned," returned Mabel, crossly, "but Rosa Marie's French, I guess."
"French! French nothing!" exclaimed Marjory. "She's nothing but a little wild Indian. Look at her hair. Look at her small black eyes. Look at her high cheekbones. Where in the world did you get her?"
Mabel explained. For once, the girls listened with the most flattering attention. ”

“ The windows were gay with wreaths of holly and glittering strings of Christmas-tree ornaments. Clerks were busy and smiling. Customers, alert for bargains, crowded about the counters and parted cheerfully from their cash. Persons in the streets, laden with parcels of every shape, size and color, pushed eagerly through the doors or hurried along the busy thoroughfares. All wore an air of eager expectancy, for two weeks of December were gone and Christmas was fairly scrambling into sight.
The five girls had money to spend. Very little of it, to be sure, belonged to the Cottagers ”

“ Yet, there were days when she teased them almost to the limit of their endurance, times when they could not quite approve her and moments when she fairly roused them to anger; but, in spite of her faults, they could not help loving her, because, with all her impishness and her distressing lack of repose, she was warm-hearted, loyal and thoroughly true. And, although she possessed dozens of advantages that the other girls lacked, although she was beautifully gowned, splendidly housed and bountifully supplied with spending money, never did she show, in any way, the faintest scrap of false pride. ”

“ Crane?"
"No, Rosa Marie. You see, we don't know exactly how old she is—Mabel didn't think to ask—but she seems big enough to be lots smarter than she is. We're rather disappointed in her."
"I'm not," protested Mabel, loyally. "She's just slow because she hasn't any little brothers and sisters. She's a dear child."
"Cheer up, Mabel," soothed Henrietta. "As long as she's beautiful she doesn't need to be bright."
At this, Marjory looked at Jean, then at Bettie, and smiled an odd, significant smile. Here was a chance to get even with Henrietta; and, unconsciously, Mabel helped. ”

“ If Mabel stood her in the corner she stayed there. If she were tucked into bed, there she remained until some one dragged her out. She spent her days rolling contentedly about the Cottage floor, her nights in deep, calm slumber. Never was there a youngster with fewer wants. Teaching Rosa Marie to talk furnished the Cottagers with great amusement. ”

“ That was rather a bad time [Mabel sighed at the recollection] for Mrs. Dixon found the Cottage locked up for the night and poor little Mollie crying under the bed."
"Mabel! And you want to borrow my precious Percival!"
"But it couldn't happen again," protested Mabel, earnestly. "Bettie says that I'm just like lightning; I never strike twice in the same place. That's the reason I get into so many different kinds of scrapes. I'll be ever so careful, though, if you'll let me borrow Percival just this one time."
Mrs. Mercer, however, refused to part with Percival. ”

“ Are the cards safe, Bettie? My! I hope you haven't lost them."
"In my pocket in an envelope," assured Bettie.
"Can you see any white?" queried Jean, nervously. "I think my top petticoat has broken loose."
"It seems all right," said Marjory, stooping [166] to test it with little sharp jerks. "Firm as the Rock of Gibraltar."
"It won't be if you pull like that," objected Jean.
"Somebody open the gate," requested Mabel. "I can't touch things."
"Everybody stand up straight," commanded Marjory. "We must look our best when we go up the walk." ”

“ Crane. After the first few bashful moments, the four girls chattered so merrily that all the guests at other tables caught themselves listening and smiling sympathetically.
"I never ate a really truly hotel dinner before," confided Bettie, happily.
"And to think," sighed Jean, contentedly, "of doing it without knowing you were going to! That always makes things nicer."
"And I never expected to ride in a navy-blue automobile," murmured Marjory.
"Or to have four kinds of potatoes," breathed Mabel, who sat half surrounded by empty dishes—"little birds' bath-tubs," she called them. ”

“ The money for Miss Bonner's birthday present is in my desk. It's—it's a horrible lot of money to lose. I ought never to have left it there. Dear me! Do you think——"
"Phew!" cried Jean, paying no heed to Mabel. "Look at that!"
"That" was a terrifying flash of red that suddenly illumined six of the big upper windows.
"The High School room," groaned Bettie. "It's—it's flames!"
[104]
"Hang it!" growled an indignant tax-payer. "Why doesn't somebody do something? That building cost fifty thousand dollars." ”

“ Then, hurriedly pushing up a sliding door at the safest end of the hall and murmuring "Quicker this way," the Janitor unceremoniously lifted Mabel and dropped her down the big dust-chute.
What a place for a heroine! In spite of [113] her surprise, Mabel felt deeply mortified. It was humiliating enough for a would-be rescuer to be rescued; but to be dropped down a horrid, stuffy dust-chute and to land with a queer, springy thud on a pile of sliding stuff—the contents of a dozen or more waste-baskets and the results of innumerable sweepings—was worse. ”

“ So the boy, setting his pails down, obligingly lifted Rosa Marie's solid little person, Mabel clasped the barrel-shaped body closely, and, after a word of thanks to the kind boy, proceeded homeward. But even now her troubles were not ended. By silently refusing to cuddle, Rosa Marie converted herself into a most uncomfortable burden. Her entire body was a silent protest against leaving her home.
"Do make yourself soft and bunchy," pleaded Mabel, giving Rosa Marie sundry pokes, calculated to make her double up like a jack-knife. "Here, bend this way. Haven't you any joints anywhere? ”

“ She's always the last one up."
"Mercy me!" cried Bettie, who had been peeking into the different rooms to see if Marjory were inside. "Come here, Jean. Just look at this!"
[36]
"This" was brown little Rosa Marie sitting up in the middle of the pink and white spare-room bed, like, as Bettie put it, a brown bee in the heart of a rose. Her small dark countenance was absolutely expressionless, so there was no way of discovering what she thought about it all.
"My sakes!" exclaimed Jean, with indignation, "that lazy Mabel never took her home, after all! Why! ”

“ Black, breaking a long silence, "that you've thought of a few things to put on the tree for those girls?"
"Yes," admitted Mrs. Crane, guardedly, "I've gathered up some little fixings that I thought they'd fancy."
"It might be a good idea," said Mr. Black, rising to ring for Martin, "for us to compare notes. Two heads are better than one, you know; and after what they did for us, we owe those little folks a splendid Christmas." ”