Poppet

“ Poppet put her head under the clothes and sobbed hysterically; the little, narrow bed with its spring mattress was shaking.
“Oh!” said Nellie,—“oh dear, this is tiresome! Poppet, do you want anything? Would you like a drink?—oh, I’m in such a hurry,—what is it, Poppet? What’s the use of being silly, now? When a dream’s gone, it’s gone. Stop crying at once, or I shall be very angry, and go and leave you in the dark!”
The bed shook even more violently.
“M-M-Meg!” was the word that came with a choking sound from under the counterpane,—“oh, M-M-Meg!” ”

“ He will have a pack full of such pretty toys as maidens love,—broidered veils, pomanders, perfumed gloves, girdles—nothing costly enough to tempt robbers—and these wooden poppets of ours. We cannot trust the tiring-women in times like these, but he may be able to give the letters into the hands of the Queens themselves. No one, surely, will suspect a poppet. ”

“ And it was Poppet who made hay, and crept along the passage in her little nightgown to the room where Bunty was sitting with his head on his arms and misery in his eyes.
And it was Poppet who, after torrents of abuse and vituperation from the unhappy lad, succeeded in extracting a promise that he should own up everything bravely in the morning, and not shirk his punishment whatever it was.
CHAPTER IV.
A SUMMER'S DAY.
"Happy in this, she is not yet so old
But she may learn; happier than this,
She is not bred so dull but she can learn." ”

“ She was always very quick in perceiving who liked her and who didn't; so this disapproval she returned with interest. She would creep along the floor dragging the fender until she could get hold of Miss G.'s foot, when she would scold at her in the angriest manner, her eyes glowing with indignation; and when loose, try to get at her with great fierceness.
On one occasion Poppet chased Miss G. up-stairs into her room, and then perched herself on a large wardrobe close to the door, evidently waiting for her to come out. ”

“ Giles Headley the younger was a fine tall youth, but clumsy and untrained in the use of his limbs, and he rode a large, powerful brown horse, which brooked no companionship, lashing out with its shaggy hoofs at any of its kind that approached it, more especially at poor, plump, mottled Poppet. ”

“ Poppet's face had fallen again.
"Do you know of any boats that go to America?" she said in a forlorn tone. "Oh, do please try and think if you know of any."
Martha explained rapidly, sotto voce: "The young lady's brother had run away, and was on that boat; she was fretting her little heart out to get a letter to him; couldn't he pacify her some way? she herself knew it was impossible."
The sailor looked kindly at the little sweet face under its broad-brimmed hat. ”

“ So Poppet undertook him. She was a faithful little soul, and in some strange way just fitted into him, despite his awkward angles.
Sometimes he would tell her things, and go to a great deal of trouble to do something she particularly wanted; but then again he would bully her unmercifully, and make her life not worth living.
"Why don't you play cricket, or do something, John?" Meg said, snipping off an end of cotton very energetically. "I hate to see a great boy like you sprawling on a sofa doing nothing." ”

“ Turning to the excited crowd about the pit, he addressed them in the language of the city, telling them exactly what our hero had said.
This seemed to satisfy them, and the next moment the entire crowd were gazing at the plucky American boy with admiring eyes.
"Well," observed Poppet, at length, turning to our friends, "I am the master of all executions that take place, and overseer of prisoners as well. For the present I will have this man locked up, and to-night the city officers will decide upon what is to be done with him. It may be that they will approve of what you say ”

“ I expect that when boys glance at the title they will immediately decide that this story cannot possibly be interesting to them. They will miss some good entertainment if they make that mistake. Maria Poppet was no ordinary, coddled baby-girl doll, but a young person who saw more interesting sights in a short time than falls to the lot of one boy in a thousand. ”

“ You shall be my pet, and my poppet, and my dearest little duck all the days of your life." ”

“ As to latoun, see note to C. 350, and cf. A. 699, B. 2067, &c.
3254. popelote, darling, poppet. Not connected with papillon, but with F. poupée and E. puppet. Halliwell gives: 'Poplet, a term of endearment, generally applied to a young girl: poppet is still in common use.' Cotgrave has: 'Popelin, masc. a little finicall darling.' Godefroy gives: 'poupelet, m. petit poupon.'
3256. Wright says: 'The gold noble of this period was a very beautiful coin ”

“ Poppet took it from the postman and carried it up to him, but she was too busy with a scheme of Bunty’s to notice how white he turned, and how his hand trembled.
It was painfully short and to the point:—
“What’s the use of writing poetery to me when all’s up and done with? ”

“ But he had seen the look of horror in her eyes.
"D'ye think I'm going to be pummelled just as that brute likes?" he demanded angrily. "He's always bullying the fellows in our form, and it'll do him good to get a taste of what he gives us. Mr. Burnham said he hated a bully, and he just walked him up to the schoolroom and gave him six."
Still Poppet was silent; her face was flushed a little, and she was pulling up long pieces of grass with feverish diligence. In her quick little way she saw it all, and felt acutely just how the boys would look upon Bunty's behaviour. ”

“ For more than a week they sailed up the pretty river, but at last, one afternoon at sunset, they reached home. Quietly they stole up to the cottage and peeped in at the window.
There was Mrs. Poppelty-Poppett cooking supper, while Sniffy and Snuffy were peeling potatoes, and Gobble was eating an apple behind the door. ”

“ If the man was both dead and sleeping, he would hardly object to having her for a companion. But as she sent one parting peep round the corner of William Pitt or Dick Turpin, after her friends, ere [Pg 61] she forsook them to lie down with the dead, one of the attendants caught sight of her, and advanced to expel the dangerous intruder. Poppie turned and fled, sprang into the recess, crept under the cover, like a hunted mouse, and lay still, the bed-fellow of no less illustrious a personage than the Duke of Wellington, and cold as he must have been, Poppie found him warmer than her own legs. ”

“ But it was through her interest in Poppea that Miss Emmy knew that time was passing, and yet the same interest kept middle age from laying hold upon her, either physically or mentally; Poppea, whom Miss Felton had from the beginning called Julia as a matter of principle, the second name having too theatrical a flavor to suit her. At first it had been the little child of five, coming to take her lesson in needlework on squares of dainty patchwork, one white, the alternate sprigged with blue forget-me-nots. The tiny silver thimble and work-box as a reward when the doll's bed-quilt was completed. ”

“ When Poppy woke up, there hung the spoilt shoes over the mantel-piece; and, as soon as she was dressed, papa came in with a long cord, one end of which he tied round Poppy's waist, and the other to the arm of the sofa.
"I'm very sorry to have to tie you up, like a little dog; but I must, or you will forget, and run away again, and make mamma ill."
Then he went away without his morning kiss, and Poppy was so very unhappy she could hardly eat her breakfast. She felt better by and by, and tried to play; but the cord kept pulling her back. She couldn't get to the window ”

“ But Poppy must keep quiet, and let Nelly wait on her for a few days."
"Are fits bad, mamma? and does it hurt much to die?" asked Poppy thoughtfully.
"If people are good while they live, it is not hard to die, dear," said mamma, with a kiss; and Poppy hugged her, saying softly,—
"Then I'll be very good; so I won't mind, if the jaw-lock does come."
And Poppy was good,—oh, dreadfully good! for a week. Quite an angel was Poppy; so meek and gentle, so generous and obedient, you really wouldn't have known her. ”

“ Hence disappointment for old Ivory Dome, and possibly, as you say, for the other guy, too.”
“You didn’t get a look at him?”
“No. I was within a few feet of him once, but he gave me the slip. I think he lit out for New Zion.”
“Anyway,” says I, “you wouldn’t have known who he was if you had seen his face. For the people around here are all strangers to you.”
“I could have described him to Mrs. Doane.”
Having dried Poppy’s clothes beside the kitchen fire, we went to bed, at one o’clock, and slept until breakfast time. ”

“ And you can’t touch a ghost.
More footfalls! And louder ones this time. Some one else had come into the barn. Oh, if Poppy would only flash the light! What was the matter with that kid, anyway?
The man with the drug-store smell wasn’t on the barrel now. He had slid down. And suddenly the barn was filled from top to bottom with the awfullest scream you can imagine. The scared-to-death kind of a scream. Boy, did my hair ever stand on end. Then I heard something else—a dull thump on the barn floor.
“Jerry!” yipped Poppy out of his bed in the moon. “Yank the rope—quick! The flashlight won’t work.” ”

“ In a priceless vase near the open window they held their heads in high disdain—those four red poppies who had gleefully chuckled and chatted together on the yesterday; but the fifth and silent poppy drooped upon her breast. I turned to go; she did not stay me; I stole to the door. "Take us away with you," cried those four garrulous poppies; "we are willing to die, and at once if need be, but not here in her hateful presence. Take us away." But the poppy on her breast only drooped and drooped the more and said not a word. ”

“ But Poppy is like a rubber ball: the harder he gets bowled over the higher he bounds on the come-back. Good old Poppy!
To-day the stilt factory that we started is a growing business. Mr. Ott runs it. And so spruce and businesslike is he that at sight of him it’s hard to believe that only a short time ago he was a shiftless, no-account tramp. In the book, POPPY OTT AND THE STUTTERING PARROT, I told in detail how Poppy made his father settle down and get a job. So you see my chum deserves credit for that good piece of work, too. Oh, you’ve got to hand it to Poppy, all right. ”

“ Up to the door he went, gave a great pull at the bell, and, when the servant came, he demanded why every one was laughing at his house. One of the young men came and told him, and asked him to come in and see the fun. Poppy didn't see grandpa go in, for she hid, and when she looked out he was gone: so she boldly began the dancing; but, in the midst of a lively caper, dolly went bounce into the garden below, for the string fell from Poppy's hand when she suddenly saw grandpa at the window opposite, laughing as heartily as any one at her prank. ”

“ Shandy, Philip Angus's erstwhile nurse, had been obliged to leave him at fifteen altogether in the hands of a tutor, she had gladly, for the sake of being near the boy whom she almost worshipped, slipped into Satira's shoes as general caretaker at the post-office house, for Poppea's earnings, with her voice and as Gilbert's assistant, made such a helper possible.
No one in the village ever thought it strange that Poppea should fill a position hitherto occupied by a man. ”

“ Then Satira Potts (who was Pegrim, and having once taught Poppea what she called her manners never forgot it) , grasping the situation, rose so suddenly from the table that she scattered the crumbs that she had in her apron, and said, "Poppy couldn't go with you noway, nohow, Mister—I don't think you've mentioned your name. Our Newfield County girls don't take up with strangers, and besides, even if they did, Miss Gilbert, holding what might be called a public place, has got to draw the line even shorter!" ”

“ Miss Emmy Felton had protested and begged to be allowed to keep the child in dainty nainsook and dimities, ribbons, and flowery hats, but Gilbert had stood firm that in clothing at least she must be like the neighborhood children, as he expressed it. Thus Poppea began life at Harley's Mills without pretence, having for guardian Mack, who was fast developing into a brown-and-white hound of medium size, a trace of setter blood showing in the grain of his hair, and having the forethought and human intelligence that is more often found in dogs of unknown parentage than in pampered thoroughbreds. ”

“ To see so many of his little friends shut up in a glass case annoyed and grieved Popopo, who had no idea they had purposely been placed upon the hats by the milliner. So he slid back one of the doors of the case, gave the little chirruping whistle of the knooks that all birds know well, and called:
“Come, friends; the door is open—fly out!”
Popopo did not know the birds were stuffed; but, stuffed or not, every bird is bound to obey a knook’s whistle and a knook’s call. So they left the hats, flew out of the case and began fluttering about the room. ”

“ Thus, after the first week, Poppea's exercise was limited to the correct walk for girls of her age, up or down Fifth Avenue to Washington Square, or with Nora for attendant, dressed in the neat garb of a city maid, down Twenty-third Street and eastward to Gramercy Park, a key to which exclusive enclosure had been given to the Misses Felton by one of their many friends in the surrounding houses. She often looked longingly at the girls of her own age who walked in groups of twos and threes, chatting vivaciously, the maid following far enough away to be out of sight if not out of mind. ”