Wishing well

“ The group of girls hesitated, scarcely knowing what to do or say. As the silence became noticeable, Penny tried to make conversation by remarking that she and her friends had been especially interested in the old wishing well.
[16]
“Is it true that wishes made there have come true?” Rhoda Wiegand interposed eagerly.
“Yes and no,” the old lady smiled. “Hundreds of wishes have been made at the well over the years. A surprising number of the worthwhile ones have been granted, so folks say. Tell me, did you say your name is Rhoda?” ”

“ Hesitating, she gazed at the other girls who were eyeing her in a none too friendly way.
Penny gave Louise Sidell a little pinch. Her chum, understanding what was expected, said with as much warmth as she could: “Yes, do come, Rhoda. We plan to sketch the old wishing well.”
“I have enough drawing material for both of us,” Penny added persuasively.
“If you really want me, of course I’ll come!” Rhoda accepted, her voice rather tremulous. “I’ve heard about the Marborough homestead, and always longed to see it.” ”

“ THE MARBOROUGH PEARLS
In frightened voices Penny and Louise acknowledged their presence in the dark room. Greatly relieved that the intruders were girls, Mrs. Marborough struck a match and lighted three half-burned candles which were set in a huge glass candelabra.
“Oh, so it’s you!” she exclaimed as the flickering light fell upon their faces. “May I ask why you have broken into my house?”
“We’re thoroughly ashamed of ourselves, Mrs. Marborough,” Penny said apologetically.
“Indeed we are,” added Louise. “When we started to investigate the wishing well we didn’t intend to enter the house.” ”

“ Marborough,” Louise responded politely.
After the door had closed behind the old lady, the girls did not immediately leave the vicinity of the wishing well.
“She means to be kind,” Louise commented, drawing figures in the dirt with her shoe. “But isn’t it funny she never invites us into the house?”
“It’s downright mysterious,” Penny added. “You notice Jay Franklin didn’t get in there either!”
“Why does she act that way?” Rhoda asked in perplexity.
“Penny thinks she’s trying to keep folks from discovering something,” explained Louise. “The old lady is queer in other ways, too.” ”

“ Coaten is so eager to adopt you and Ted.”
“Tell me what you have in mind.”
“It’s like this, Rhoda! If we could induce Mr. Coaten and his friend to come to Rose Acres on the night of the costume ball, I know how they might be made to talk!”
“Strong arm methods?” Rhoda asked, slightly amused.
“Indeed not! The old wishing well will turn the trick.”
“You certainly have me puzzled, Penny.”
“Getting those men here will be the most difficult,” Penny went on, thinking aloud. “But I can sell them a ticket to the ball. Failing that, I’ll give them one free.” ”

“ Louise speculated. “Ted is at the critical point of his life now. He could develop into a very fine person or just the opposite.”
“It’s charity, of course. But who put the judge up to it?”
“Mrs. Marborough heard Rhoda express her wish.”
“Yes, she did,” Penny agreed, “but I don’t think she paid much attention. She was too angry at Jay Franklin. Besides, Mrs. Marborough doesn’t have a reputation for doing kind deeds.”
“If you rule her out, there’s nothing left but the old wishing well,” Louise laughed. ”

“ Penny said, speaking for the others. “Of course we never dreamed that the house was occupied or we wouldn’t have peeped through the window. We came because we wanted to sketch the old wishing well and your lovely home.”
Mrs. Marborough came down the steps toward the girls.
“I quite understand,” she said in a far milder tone than she had used in speaking to the stonecutter. “You may look around as much as you wish. ”

“ Marborough’s and we ought to find out about it.”
“You just love to investigate things,” Louise accused. “You know as well as I do that there’s not likely to be anything amiss.”
“Someone may be prowling about the grounds! At any rate, my feet are cramped from sitting so long in the boat. We need exercise.”
Finding a trail, the girls climbed it until they were within a hundred yards of the Marborough mansion. Emerging from behind a clump of lilac bushes they suddenly obtained an unobstructed view of the yard.
“There’s the light!” Penny whispered. “See! By the wishing well!” ”

“ Marborough. “I want it returned!” Thoroughly incensed, she wheeled her chair directly into Carl Addison, seizing him by the coat.
“Madam, I know nothing about your pearls,” the man blustered, shaking loose from her grasp. “We came to this party only because we were given free tickets.”
[193]
“Let’s get out of here,” Mr. Coaten said gruffly, starting away.
“It’s no use,” Penny interposed, blocking the path. “We have learned everything. You see, a microphone was installed at the wishing well and it carried your entire conversation into the ballroom for everyone to hear.” ”

“ It was really May night, by the weather as well as the calendar—the kind of night that [Pg 6] Norah's fairies meant should come on the first of May: warm, with a tiny chill creeping into the air as the dark came, a pleasant, shivery chill, as if there might really be fairies or ghosts about. It was still and clear. One star, that had just come up above the horse-chestnut tree, looked very small and bright and close, as if it had climbed up into the sky out of the dark, clustering leaves of the tree.
This was the star that Judith usually wished on, but she could wish on the moon to-night ”

“ Louise gazed speculatively at her chum, realizing that Penny had some plan in mind. She waited expectantly, and then as the other did not speak, inquired:
“Just what scheme are you hatching now?”
“You gave me the idea yourself,” Penny chuckled. “The logical place to search is deep down inside the well. I’m sure the water can’t be more than a few feet deep.” ”

“ When we see them once, we have only one wish, and that is to see them again, again, again. I am well paid for the little I have done for you, since I have that pleasure. Yes, yes, yes. We are only too happy for what we can do for a charming little face like yours, and when we have obliged it, we say thank you! ”

“ I don't want to be a princess. I don't want to be lonesome. I hate the Everards."
"Well, there's many to say that now, and there'll be more to say it soon." Norah muttered this darkly, into her yellow bowl of apples, but Judith heard: "Here, eat this apple, child. You musn't hate anybody."
"I do. I hate the Everards."
Queer things came into your head to say when you were talking with Norah, who had an aunt with the second sight, and told beautiful fairy tales herself, and even believed in fairies; Judith did not. ”

“ Everything sweet in the world was sweeter to-night. [Pg 76]
At the edge of the lawn Judith paused. Ahead of her three marble steps, flanked by urns filled with ivy, glaring things in the daytime but glimmering shadowy white and alluring now, led up the terrace to the rose garden; a fairy place, far from the world, so hedged in and shadowed by trees that it was dark even by moonlight, entered through an old-fashioned trellised arbour, that was so mysterious and dark, she liked it almost as well now when the rambler roses were not in flower. ”

“ I shouldn’t expect too much.”
“Do make your wish, Rhoda,” urged Penny, “but don’t anticipate quick action. I’m still waiting for mine to come true.”
Rhoda drew a bucket of water from the well, and filling the dipper which always hung on a nail of the wooden roof, drank deeply.
“I wish,” she said soberly, “I wish that Ted might find a job. If he could get work, maybe it wouldn’t be necessary to accept charity from Mr. Coaten or anyone!”
Rhoda’s wish, so earnestly spoken, slightly embarrassed the others, for it served to remind them of the girl’s poverty. ”

“ I remember reading of a man, in a fairy tale, who had a wishing-cap; and when he put this cap on, and wished for any thing, he had it immediately: but I thought there were no such [11] things really as wishing-caps, except in fairy tales."
"Well, well," said the lady, "we shall see what kind of wishing-cap I can make: but I must tell you, my wishing-cap is not so good a one as the man's in the fairy tale; it will only produce such things as may be easily had, it will not bring wonders to pass." ”

“ There'll be no change, Millie. Things will go on just the way they are. I've lived the best years of my life believing that it was best they should, and if I'm wrong, I'm too old to change my mind. I've said somebody had to own the town, and it might as well be Everard. I've said the Burrs and Kents and Randalls, and old Joe Grant's young wife with their parties and drinks and silly little love affairs, were playing too hard, but doing no real harm, planting their cheap, fake smart set here in Green River where it don't belong. Now poor Theodore Burr's dead. That don't look like play. ”

“ I’ve been waiting for a chance to use that ladder, and here it is!”
“Penny! You actually have the courage to climb down into a well?”
“Why not?” Penny laughed. “But it must be tonight while my enthusiasm is bubbling. Meet me at nine o’clock and bring a good flashlight.”
Louise could only stare. “You’re actually serious!”
“Indeed I am,” Penny replied gaily. “Everything is settled. Now let’s slip away from here before Mrs. Marborough sees us.” ”

“ Who does not desire to join that happy, heavenly throng and wave those palms and wear those white robes and sing those sweet songs over beyond the shadowy vale of death? I seem to hear many voices saying, "I hope to be among that blood-washed throng." Let me tell you in all tenderness and love, but very plainly, that the realization of your hope depends entirely upon how you live while here in this world. Oh, how much in that great and awful future is depending upon our manner of life in this time-world! Let us learn to live well, to be our best every day. ”

“ That may explain why she works at night and on very dark, gloomy days such as today. She doesn’t wish to be seen.”
“Mrs. Marborough searches in such obvious places,” Louise said after a moment. “If anything really is hidden it might be deep down in the well. She never will find it in that case.”
“We might help her,” Penny suggested impulsively. ”

“ Louise questioned, gazing sideways at Penny.
“Yes, one came early in the evening. Then this morning when Mrs. Breen opened the door, she found still another. You don’t suppose any of the members of the Palette Club did it, do you? We shouldn’t like to accept charity—”
“I’ll ask the girls if you want me to,” Penny offered hastily. “If any of them did, nothing was said about it to me.”
“Maybe the old well granted your wish, Rhoda,” Louise added. “You know, folks say it has a reputation for doing good deeds.” ”

“ To wish you well, he wishes you in heaven. ”

“ Now you see, I am sure, how important wishes are for evil; but they are equally strong for good. For, if you wish well to any one, you have opened the first door to doing him a kindness. And if you heartily wish to be good, you have opened the first gate on the road of becoming so. Of course, wishes will not do every thing; but they do a great deal.
And there is another thing. They never fall to the ground unnoticed. Though you and I cannot look into each other's hearts, or hear the wishes breathed there, there is One who hears them all. ”

“ We desire unfeignedly that all the thoughts and designs of our minds, all the affections and tempers of our hearts, and all the actions of our life, may be pure, holy, and unreproveable in thy sight.
Search us, O Lord, and prove us; try out our reins and our heart. Look well if there be any way of wickedness in us, and lead us in the way everlasting. Let thy favour be better to us than life itself; that so in all things we may approve our hearts before thee, and feel the sense of thy acceptance of us, giving us a joy which the world cannot give. ”

“ I’m quite as good as he is, and bigger and stronger. Who is he to ride while I have to walk in the dust and heat? Ah, I wish—but what’s the use of wishing, I should like to know? I’m always wishing for something or other, and I never get what I wish for. ”

“ That he should condescend to reveal his will to us—to open a plan of life, of restoration to his favour, and to holiness, and happiness, is admirable grace, is such a display of compassion as may well excite within us, every grateful sentiment. ”

“ Louise teased, taking Penny by the arm. “Come along. Let’s get a drink at the well.”
While the girls were lowering the bucket into the bricked cavern, Mrs. Marborough joined them, a woolen shawl thrown over her head and shoulders.
[55]
“I’ve not had time to get much work done yet,” she apologized. “I really must hire a man to clean up the grounds.”
“Then you have decided to make your home here?” Louise inquired eagerly.
“For the present, I may. Much depends upon how a certain project turns out.” ”

“ A thousand good wishes, which may all be summed up in one,—health for you and yours, and all those you love; in this wish lies the continuance of your happiness, in this lies your enjoyment of it, in this lies all that is good, all that I can possibly desire for you, and no human being could possibly wish or desire anything better for any man? ”

“ I, who am sovereign lord of this world, promise to grant in full the first three wishes which it will please thee to utter, whatever these may be. Consider well what things can bring thee joy and prosperity, and as thy happiness is at stake, be not over-hasty, but revolve the matter in thy mind. ”