Janice

“ Janice, clutching quickly at her blouse over the packet of banknotes, knew her money was safe. She only saw the back of the boy to whom Madam referred.
"Why!" Janice Day murmured. "He isn't a bit bigger than Marty. Do—do you really think he tried to rob me, Madam?"
"Sure of it!" announced her companion with emphasis. "Ach, yes! We know so little about those we meet in a crowd, my dear." ”

“ Janice told him, with a sigh. "But I felt as though I should quite go all to pieces if I had to sit still and just wait. I had to do something. I can't tell you how thankful I am to you for your trouble in bringing me down here."
"Trouble?" cried Nelson Haley. "You know it is a pleasure, Janice," and just then they reached the railroad station and found the operator at his telegraph key again.
"I was just going to hunt you up, Miss Day," he cried, beckoning her into the office. "Do you know, young lady, that you have suddenly become a person of considerable importance?" and he laughed again. ”

“ Carringford was greatly comforted. When she left, Janice whispered to her father: "I'm awfully proud of you, Daddy. You do have such a way with you!"
But helping other people out of their troubles was not helping the Days out of their particular Slough of Despond. So many difficulties seemed reaching out to clutch at Janice and Daddy! The girl thought it was like walking through a briar-patch. Every step they took, trouble retarded them.
First and foremost the disappearance of that strange Olga Cedarstrom, and the loss of the box of heirlooms, was continually in Janice's mind. ”

“ The scholars' backs were toward her and Janice could look her fill without being observed.
There was a small class reciting before the teacher's desk—droning away in a sleepy fashion. The older scholars, sitting in the rear of the room, were mainly busy about their own private affairs; few seemed to be conning their lessons.
Several girls were busily braiding the plaits of the girls in front of them. Two, with very red faces and sparkling eyes, were undeniably quarreling, and whispering bitter denunciations of each other, to the amusement of their immediate neighbors. ”

“ Janice cried. "Oh, Nelson! don't you know that the people who are waking up in this town need your help?"
"My goodness me! how serious you are about it," he returned, teasingly. "Of course, if you insist, I'll risk my job with the committee and come out flat-footed for the new schoolhouse and reform."
"I don't wish you to do anything at all for me," returned Janice, rather tartly. "If your own conscience doesn't tell you what course to pursue, pray remain neutral—as you are. But I am disappointed in you."
"There is feminine logic for you!" laughed the young man. ”

“ Janice suspected that her aunt had her heart fixed upon a similar adornment, and when she picked her up again at one of Middletown’s biggest stores, after driving to the seminary and seeing the principal, Aunt ’Mira had a long pasteboard box clasped against her breast, her round, fat face was hot and perspiring, but she was smiling broadly.
“I got one, Janice!” she whispered, hoarsely, as she wedged herself into the car. “It cost me a sight of money. Don’t tell your Uncle Jason; he’d have a fit.” ”

“ Janice was rather glad it was a moonless evening as she walked side by side with her cousin down Hillside Avenue. It was one of the first warm evenings of the Spring and the neighbors were on their porches, or gossiping at the gates and boundary fences.
What about? Ah! too well did Janice Day know the general subject of conversation this night in Polktown.
"Come on, Janice," grumbled Marty. "Don't let any of those old cats stop you. They've all got their claws sharpened up." ”

“ She acts like she ain’t got right good sense, from all I hear tell.”
“You mustn’t say that, Marty,” Janice admonished him.
“Huh! why not? It’s true enough. I bet Frank wishes she had half your sense. For a girl, Janice, you are pretty nice,” added this candid youth. “There! if that ain’t her now—an’ all dressed up like a hoss in a circus parade.”
The car had swung into High Street and was descending the hill. The Lake View Inn with its pleasant piazzas was in sight. Janice saw the bird of brilliant plumage in a prominent position overlooking the street. ”

“ Janice told him the exact truth, as far as the racing of the automobile along the Upper Road went, but she was too excited to make dear all about the Trimmins and the sick baby.
“Mebbe you’d ought to have stopped when they told you to, Janice,” said Aunt ’Mira timidly.
[169] “She hadn’t nothing of the kind!” declared her angry husband. “You be still, Almiry. I glory in the gal’s spunk. If she’d stopped, they’d mebbe had her in jail till this time. The Elder’s got one of his mean fits on and he’s gotter have satisfaction. But I’ll give him satisfaction.” ”

“ He exploded another laugh in approval of his own wit and rattled on down to the dock. There was little self-consciousness in the manner of the schoolmaster and Janice. They looked at each other understandingly again and smiled.
Why seek to hide an obvious fact? Every person in Polktown who had arrived at the age of understanding and was not yet senile knew that Nelson Haley and Janice Day had "made a match of it." Only the girl's youth and the necessity for the young man to become established in his calling precluded the thought of matrimony for the present. ”

“ Narnay," sobbed Janice, "you have more than repaid me—over and over again you have repaid me! Do stay here with your wife and the children. I am going to send Mr. Middler right down. Let's drive on, Nelson."
The teacher started the car. "And to think," he said softly when the Kremlin had climbed the hill and struck smoother going, "that I have been opposed to your doing anything for these Narnays all the time, Janice. Yet because you were kind, I am saved! It—it is wonderful!" ”

“ Walky's broad, wind-blown countenance was a-grin and his eyes twinkled as he broke into speech:
"Jefers-pelters! d'you know what I caught myself a-doin' when I seen you two folks goin' down hill ahead of me?"
"I couldn't guess, Walky. What?" asked Janice.
"Whistlin' that there 'Bridle March' they play on the church organ when there's a weddin'—haw! haw! haw!" ”

“ I calculate those that wait at home suffer more than those that actually see battle, murder, [Pg 98] and sudden death. But your father, Janice, may be already on his way home. You can't tell. You got to have patience."
"But I ought to go to him, Elder Concannon," she said.
"Not to be thought of! Not to be thought of!" he repeated. "What? A gal like you going clear down there to Mexico? Preposterous!"
That is what Uncle Jason said later, when his niece broached the subject to him. Indeed, Janice found nobody would listen to her or agree to such a project. ”

“ Aunt ’Mira decided to accompany Janice to Middletown on this trip of arrangement.
“Even if I don’t spend a penny, I do just love to look into the Middletown shop-winders,” declared the fashion-hungry lady. “Them wax figgers with the latest style robes onto ’em look jest like the pictures in the Household Love Letter of the lords and ladies that live in castles in England, or in Europe, and have such wonderful times. You never read them stories, Janice—an’ I s’pose you air too young to ’preciate ’em—but they’re a gre’t comfort to me. ”

“ Why, Nelson! there is nobody down there with any special interest in daddy. The men who are engaged in the mining enterprise with him are all in the North here."
"Yes, yes," Nelson cried. "But what can be done? What can I do? What can any of us do, my dear Janice?"
"I don't know that anybody can do anything—up here. But I mean to go down there—yes, I do! I am going to find my father, Nelson."
She began to sob hysterically and the schoolmaster patted her hand with soothing intent. "Of course you can't do that, Janice. A girl like you could do nothing down there in Mexico." ”

“ And she had scarcely spoken to a soul save the Days and Walky Dexter since her arrival in Poketown. Friday noon came, and at dinner Janice desperately broached the subject of 'Rill Scattergood's school again.
"I'd love to visit it," she said. "Maybe I'd get acquainted with some of the girls. I might even attend for the remainder of the term."
"Huh!" scoffed Marty. "That old maid can't teach ye nothin'."
"But it would be something to do," exclaimed Janice, with vigor.
"My goodness me, child!" drawled Aunt Almira. "Can't you be content to jest let things go along easy?" ”

“ You got to be mighty smart to keep Janice from finding out every little thing. You know that. And she's always looking for something to happen to Uncle Brocky."
"We can do it. We must do it," responded the schoolmaster.
Marty was round-eyed and unbelieving. "Say! you don't know Janice yet," he repeated with assurance. "She's a mighty smart girl—the smartest girl in the whole of Polktown. Aw—well, you ought to know."
"I don't know how we are to do it—yet," the schoolmaster agreed. "We'll just have to. When people have to do a thing, Marty, they do it nine times out of ten!" ”

“ Virginia had had some schooling, it was plain. Janice frequently caught the wild little mob playing school, and the black-haired girl was always the teacher. Janice tried to interest her in a meeting that had been planned for on a Saturday afternoon in the old vestry of the Union Church.
[150] “You will like it, Virginia,” she said to the scowling, doubtful young Arab. “It’s just a society for girls of your age—nobody there to boss you, or make you do anything you don’t like. And after the society is organized, the girls are going to have lots of good times.” ”

“ Janice gravely replied. "She remained all night with me."
"Huh, I don't approve of sech didoes. My young'uns was allus in the house by dark—and stayed in till mornin'. 'Rill came traipsin' over here after eight o'clock to see if I'd seen her."
"Lottie was all right," said Janice. "I sent Marty over to tell 'Rill not to worry."
"The young'un ain't more'n ha'f witted. I allus have said so."
"She is just as bright as any other child of her age—brighter than some," affirmed Janice warmly. "She is more sensitive than most. Therefore we should be careful what we say to her." ”

“ When the school teacher, in his delirium, had seemed to ask for Annette, Janice was smitten to the quick. She could fight the other girl no further. If Nelson’s mind turned to the city girl in its beclouded state, he must be very fond of her indeed. ”

“ With her new interests at school, Janice had not forgotten her desire to help and interest the younger girls; and out of this desire had grown the society with which she was endeavoring to net the black-haired Trimmins girl. Janice had interested Mr. and Mrs. Middler, and they were enthusiastic for the plan. The good minister knew that something should be done to counteract the influence of Annette Bowman and the people whom she had enthralled. The little girls should be taught to be happy and sensible at the same time. ”

“ Their younger sisters were given the opportunity to enjoy themselves in an innocent yet lively way under Janice’s management and Mrs. Middler’s care.
Janice had been unable to get Virginia Trimmins and the two sisters nearest her age to the Guild. The black-haired girl repulsed every attempt Janice made to lead her.
Not that she wouldn’t stop to talk to Janice now. Indeed, almost every day that the Kremlin car bore Janice through the wood, Jinny exchanged a few words with her. Almost always the black-haired [159] girl bore the sickly baby, wrapped in a ragged blanket, in her arms. ”

“ Janice said with a rueful glance at the schoolmaster.
"Then, to quote my slangiest pupil again—good-night!" and Nelson went away cheerfully to greet several of the young men of the town grouped on the other side of the wharf.
"Well, well, Janice Day!" chirped the little old woman with a birdlike tilt of her head when the girl welcomed her. "You be a pleasant sight to see when a body comes home. And I be glad to get home. I tell my son's wife I can't make many more of these trips to Skunk's Holler. It's too fatiguing, and at my age I like my own bed and my own fireside. I s'pose Rill's well?" ”

“ Janice could have wished that the spinster would give more of her attention to her cats and Ambrose, the parrot, and less to neighborhood affairs. For the child knew that not even a peddler came to the door that the sharp-visaged woman behind her bowed blinds did watch to see what Janice did.
"She watches every move I make, Daddy," complained the girl one day. "I don't see why she cares who comes to see me. ”

“ Janice thought he was a very polite man.
"And I hope he is always kind to Pietro," she said, when the foreigner and his strange pet were gone. "But, Daddy! Don't we have the greatest happenings in our house?"
"Right you are, my dear. An aristocratic lady has left us flat; the neighborhood censor has washed her hands of us; and we have entertained a highly educated bear, all in a single day. As you might say, all these astonishing happenings are 'all in the Days' work.' The Days certainly do entertain the most astonishing adventures." ”

“ The men folk sat before the base-burner in the sitting-room and talked about other severe storms while Janice and her aunt cleared the table and washed the supper dishes. By and by there was a great stamping and blowing on the porch.
“Marty,” said his father, taking the pipe from his mouth, “that’s either a whale come aboard, or Walky Dexter. Go give him a hand with the broom. Your mother won’t want all that fresh snow on her clean kitchen floor.” ”