YOUTH

VOLUME 1 NUMBER 3

1902
MAY

An ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY JOURNAL for BOYS & GIRLS

The Penn Publishing Company Philadelphia

CONTENTS FOR MAY

YOUTH

An Illustrated Monthly Journal for Boys and Girls
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WASHINGTON AND THE COMMITTEE OF CONGRESS AT VALLEY FORGE.

YOUTH

VOL. I May 1902 No. 3

WITH WASHINGTON AT VALLEY FORGE

By W. Bert Foster

CHAPTER VII
A Friend on the Enemy’s Side

SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS

The story opens in the year of 1777, during one of the most critical periods of the Revolution. Hadley Morris, our hero, is in the employ of Jonas Benson, the host of the Three Oaks, a well-known inn on the road between Philadelphia and New York. Like most of his neighbors, Hadley is an ardent sympathizer with the patriot cause. When, therefore, a dispatch bearer is captured on the way to Philadelphia, he gives Hadley the all-important packet to be forwarded to General Washington. The boy immediately escapes with it, and, after many perilous experiences, finally makes his way across the river to the Pennsylvania side. On the road, Hadley, failing to give the countersign, is stopped by a foraging party of Americans; but by his honest bearing he wins the attention of John Cadwalader, a personal friend of Washington, just then journeying to the American headquarters. Under his protection, our hero speedily arrives at his destination, and there, in an interview with General Washington himself, he tells his story and delivers the dispatches, which, because of the impending crisis, are received eagerly by the head of the patriot cause.

THE collie rattled his chain at the corner of the sheep pen, and from a low growl changed his welcome to a bark of delight and frisked about Hadley’s legs as the boy stopped to pat him. The house door across the paved yard opened and the innkeeper’s voice cried: “Be still, Bose! Who’s out there?”

Hadley went nearer and laughed. “What’s the matter, Master Benson?” he asked. “Are the dragoons still about the place?”

At once the innkeeper plunged down the steps, and, reaching the boy, seized him tightly in his arms. “Had! Had!” he cried, “why did you come back to the Three Oaks? We thought you’d join the army for sure this time.”

“Is the colonel still here?” asked Hadley, in haste, and drawing back from the inn.

“Yes, he’s here,” grunted Jonas, “but he can’t do anything to you. The dragoons are no longer at the Mills. Malcolm’s troop started for York this morning. There’s something going to happen ’fore long, for the British are stirring, and they say Lord Howe has sailed with his fleet.”

“I know,” said the boy, with some pride. “There’s going to be a big battle, or something. Those papers I ran away with told all about Lord Howe’s plans, and now our generals will be able to meet him.”

“Who told you?” Jonas asked, open-mouthed in astonishment.

“I heard General Washington himself say so,” declared the boy, and then, having entered the wide inn kitchen, and, finding it empty, he had to sit down and relate the particulars of his ride to Germantown, and his brief interview with the Commander-in-Chief of the American forces.

“I’ve heard of that Colonel Cadwalader,” Jonas said, drawing a long breath, “and you were certainly lucky to make such a powerful friend, Hadley. Why didn’t you join the army? You’d make a good soldier, and perhaps get to be a captain, or something. Men rise quick from the ranks now-a-days.”

“You know very well why I cannot enlist,” Hadley replied, gravely. “If Uncle Ephraim should tell me I could go, I might feel as though I would not be breaking my word by enlisting. But unless he says so, I don’t see how I can do it, much as I would like.”

The innkeeper shook his head. “Ah, boy, there’s plenty of time yet for you, after all, it’s likely. The struggle is bound to be a long one. The king is sending over more troops, they say, and there’s a big force marching from Canada. We’ll never give up till we’re free; but most of us may be dead before freedom comes.”

Mistress Benson came in a minute later, and her delight at seeing Hadley safe and sound again was sincere, although, as Jonas had admitted to the boy’s private ear, she was none too sympathetic with the patriot cause. She set before the boy a bountiful repast and made him eat his fill. Then he retired to his usual couch in the loft of the great barn and slept undisturbed until morning.

He was currying down Black Molly in the open door of the stable before breakfast when Colonel Knowles chanced to stroll into the inn yard. The Englishman stopped and stared at the stableboy with a lowering brow. Hadley kept at work, whistling cheerfully, but a little amused at the colonel’s evident surprise, and not at all sure what the outcome of the meeting might be.

“Well, young man!” exclaimed the guest; “you certainly are a youth of mettle to dare come back here after what occurred the other day. Do you know who I am?”

“You are a guest of Master Benson’s, sir,” Hadley said, quietly.

“I am an officer in His Majesty’s army, sir.”

“But you are in the enemy’s country just now, Colonel Knowles,” the boy said, softly. “The dragoons are no longer within call, and although there are some Tories in the neighborhood, there are more men who hold to the cause of the Colonies. I think I am safer to come back here than you are to remain.”

“Humph!” grunted the colonel; but the words evidently impressed him. After a moment of sullen silence he said: “They tell me your name is Morris; is that so?”

“It is, sir.”

“Do you know a person named Ephraim Morris living in this part of the country?”

“That is my uncle’s name,” declared the boy, and his interest grew, for he remembered his conversation two days before with Mistress Lillian.

“How old a man is he?” demanded Colonel Knowles, with some eagerness.

“Rising sixty, sir. He is a farmer and lives not more than four miles from here.”

“Well,” said the Englishman, turning finally on his heel, “you’re a worthy nephew of such an uncle, I don’t doubt.”

“I’m afraid Uncle Ephraim would not agree with you,” Hadley called after the gentleman. “He is a Tory.”

But Colonel Knowles paid no further attention to him, and the boy went on with his work. But his mind ran continually on the interest the colonel and his daughter evidently had in old Ephraim Morris. Mistress Lillian herself appeared after breakfast, and while Hadley was clearing up the entrance to the inn yard. Jonas Benson prided himself on having everything about the inn as neatly kept as did his wife inside the house.

“Hadley Morris!” the colonel’s daughter exclaimed, leaning over the railing of the inn porch and looking at the youth with sparkling eyes. “Has my father seen you? Mistress Benson told me you had come back and that she was afraid father would be angry when he saw you. Aren’t you afraid?”

“I’ve seen the colonel,” Hadley replied, smiling up at her. He remembered the anxiety in her countenance when he had last seen her looking from the inn window as he ran with the dispatches to escape the dragoons, and he was not so much afraid of her as he had been earlier in their acquaintance. “He wasn’t very pleasant, but the dragoons aren’t in the neighborhood now and I guess he won’t try to do anything to me. You see, m’am, most of the farmers are on my side.”

“You are a terrible rebel!” declared the girl, but she still smiled down upon him. “Did you carry those dispatches ’way to—to that Mr. Washington whom your people call ‘general’?”

“I went all the way with them and saw General Washington himself,” declared the boy, proudly. “He is a mighty fine gentleman, and the place where he stops was full of officers. All the American army are not ragamuffins,” and his eyes twinkled as he thus reminded her of her criticism of the American soldiery on a previous occasion. “Some of the colonists know how to fight as well as hired soldiers.”

“And some of them know how to run,” Lillian cried.

“True. Would you have had me stand here and face that whole mob of dragoons—to say nothing of your father?”

“Oh, I didn’t mean you. I think you were very smart to get away on that horse with the dispatches. And I’ll tell you what father said about it,” she added, lowering her voice and glancing about her. “He said that ‘if the rebel youth can fight so well and are such strategists, it is no wonder that my Lord Howe and the other generals have so little luck in bringing the uprising to a swift close.’ Now, aren’t you proud?”

Hadley flushed as she spoke. “I thought he was very angry with me this morning.”

“Well, I think he is angry enough; but he seemed to admire your ability to beat the dragoons and get across the river as you did. I heard him and the officer in command of the troopers talking about it, and they both wondered how you escaped them on the road to the ferry. Father said he had almost caught you—he could tell by the sound of your horse’s feet—when the sound suddenly stopped and you disappeared as though the earth had opened and swallowed you. How did you do it?”

“You are an enemy,” the boy returned, with amusement. “I couldn’t tell you that, you know. Anything else—”

“Tell me what sort of a man that uncle of yours, Ephraim Morris, is?” she broke in, suddenly. “I spoke to father about him and he said he must be the man he has come here to see.”

“Uncle Ephraim is an old man. He came from England years ago. He isn’t liked very well. He’s a king’s man, you know—a Tory.”

“Oh! that’s something in his favor,” she declared.

“So I thought you’d say,” he replied, shouldering his rake and broom and preparing to return to the stableyard. “I didn’t want you to have too bad an opinion of Uncle Ephraim.”

“If he is the person my father is looking for I have a very bad opinion of him, indeed, and his being for the king will make little difference one way or another.”

Her words disturbed Hadley when he thought them over. Mistress Lillian had seemed well disposed towards him personally, but she was also bitter against his uncle, and Hadley believed Uncle Ephraim should have warning of the colonel’s visit. So, immediately after his duties at the Three Oaks were performed, Hadley set out to his uncle’s house.

The Morris pastures were the nearest to the Three Oaks Inn, and crossing the road where he had so fortunately escaped the dragoons by the aid of Lafe Holdness, Hadley struck into the open plain on which his uncle’s cattle grazed.

The big pasture was dotted with clumps of trees, and while yet Hadley was some distance from the farmhouse and its neighboring buildings, he saw a band of young stock stampeding wildly from the vicinity of a grove of dwarfed oaks not far away. The cattle, heads down and tails in the air, plunged across the plain at a mad pace, and Hadley was positive that they were not running without cause. The drove passed him like a whirlwind, and in their wake came a loudly-yelping cur and a person whom he very well knew, urging the dog on.

“Hold on there! what are you about?” cried Hadley, running forward. “What are you chasing the cattle for? That brute of yours will kill some of the stock.”

It was Lon Alwood, and it was quite evident by Lon’s expression of countenance that Hadley was the last person he had expected to meet just then. “Wh—why, I thought you had gone to join the army!” he gasped.

“I’m right here to tell you to stop chasing my uncle’s cattle,” returned Hadley, in disgust.

“Oh, you are, hey?” cried the other boy, with bravado. Then, to the cur who had halted like his master at the appearance of Hadley: “Sic ’em, boy—sic ’em!”

Hadley grabbed a clod, and as the dog started after the fleeing steers he hurled the lump of earth with considerable force and it bounded resoundingly from the canine’s ribs. The brute gave a yelp and took refuge behind its master, its interest for the moment lost in the inoffensive cattle. There it crouched and growled at Hadley, while Lon fairly danced up and down in his rage.

“What you need, Had Morris, is a sound thrashing, and I’m going to give it to you right now!” declared the young Tory.

“I wouldn’t try any thrashing, if I were you, Lon. You know you tried it once, a long time ago, and I haven’t forgotten how to wrestle since then.”

Hadley tried to pass on as he spoke, but young Alwood sprang before him and barred his way. “You’re going to get thrashed right here and now, Had Morris!” declared he, resentfully. “You haven’t got any gun or pistol to help you out, and I’m not afraid of you. So look out for yourself!”

Hadley saw no way of avoiding the struggle unless he took to his heels, and he could not bring himself to do that. So he met his antagonist’s charge to the best of his ability, and in a moment they were locked together in a close, but far from loving, embrace, while the dog ran around and around them, barking its approval of its master’s conduct.

CHAPTER VIII
UNCLE EPHRAIM DISPLAYS GREAT INTEREST

THE boys had scarcely gripped each other when Lon realized that he was now no better able to cope with his rival in a wrestling bout than he was at their last encounter, months previous. The stableboy of the Three Oaks Inn had been in perfect training every day of his active life. Lon was lazy, and had to be fairly driven to work by his father. He would much rather roam the woods with a gun and dog, or go fishing, than do those tasks which fell to the share of the other lads of the neighborhood, and leaping and running, and frolicking with his friends in their off-hours, had not hardened his muscles as Hadley’s toil hardened his.

The latter obtained a good hold on his enemy and, with a sudden squeeze, almost drove the breath out of Lon’s lungs. The Tory youth gasped as he felt this sudden strength. “Oh! oh!” he groaned. And then, kicking frantically and endeavoring to beat his antagonist in the face with his fists, cried aloud to the excited dog: “Sic ’im, sir! Go at ’im!”

The mongrel, as cruel as its master, plunged into the fray and grabbed at Hadley’s leg. Fortunately, the stableboy wore high riding boots, and instead of seizing the calf of his leg, the brute sunk its teeth in the leather. The attack, however, brought Hadley to the ground, with the dog chewing at the bootleg and snarling, and Lon Alwood on top. But the under boy still hugged his human antagonist tightly to him, and for the moment his brute enemy did little harm.

All the time Lon was encouraging the dog in his attack, but Hadley would not strike him. “Call off the beast and fight fair, Alwood!” he said. “Call him off and try it over again. This is no fair game.”

Lon’s only answer was a more desperate attempt to get his arms free and so strike his enemy with more precision. But the unequal contest was exhausting Hadley’s strength, and he knew he could not keep his advantage for long. So, putting forth all his remaining energy, he suddenly rolled Lon over and came uppermost himself. The dog yelped loudly and let go the boot, for Hadley had managed to give him a well-placed kick at the same moment, and while the brute was recovering from this the boy broke away from Lon and sprang to his feet.

The dog seeing its master on the ground, growled savagely and leaped for Hadley again—this time for his throat. But the boy was ready for the attack, and the toe of his riding boot caught the animal under the jaw and sent it backward with terrific force. Lon had secured his footing, too, and seeing his canine friend so badly treated, came at Hadley with redoubled fury. The latter caught him at arms’ length and before Lon could secure any hold, threw him forcibly to the ground.

The dog happened to be in the way and his master fell flat upon him and with sufficient force to break the animal’s spine. The dog’s almost humanlike cry of agony shocked Hadley, and his anger was gone in an instant. “Oh, the poor creature!” he cried, and as Lon got up, bleeding at the nose and much bruised, Hadley knelt down beside the beast to see how badly it was hurt. But with a few spasmodic jerks of its limbs the dog lay still; its master’s fall had killed it.

Alwood, however, little interested in the death of the faithful creature, was searching about the pasture, and suddenly finding a smooth cobble, hurled it with all his might at the kneeling boy. Fortunately, Hadley turned in time to see the action and dodge the stone. He leaped up, and Lon turned tail and ran to escape merited punishment for this cowardly act.

“That fellow hasn’t a spark of honor,” thought the victor of this rather sanguinary encounter. “He can’t fight fair. I’m sorry I killed his dog; but I don’t believe Lon thought of the poor brute at all. He was just mad at me and cared nothing about it. I’ll have to watch out for Lon Alwood, for he’ll seek to injure me without giving fair warning, I know.”

His encounter with the Tory youth had detained him, until now it was growing dusk along the edges of the wood which bordered the pasture. He hurried on and soon arrived at the outbuildings and barns belonging to his uncle. The cattle had come up to the barnyard and the cows were being milked by the hired hands, while Ephraim overlooked the feeding. If the old gentleman deprived himself of everything but the bare necessities of life, he was careful that his stock was well fed.

The men were mostly lads from neighboring farms, who went home at night, working for their monthly wage for Master Morris because there was not enough to do to keep them busy at home. They cordially greeted the miser’s nephew, for though they were nearly all from Tory families, Hadley was popular with them. Ephraim Morris, however, had but a cold welcome for the stableboy.

“Well,” he said, in an unpleasant voice, “what have you got to say for yourself, Hadley?”

“About what, uncle?” demanded the boy.

“Oh, I’ve heard all about it. I let you work for that innkeeper and this is what it comes to, hey? I thought so—I thought so! Hanging around a place like that would spoil anybody’s morals. I’m surprised at you, Hadley—and your mother was a good woman. And for you, who were born a British subject on English soil yourself, to help these crazy colonists along—”

“But I believe they are right, uncle, just as you believe the king and the king’s men are right.”

“Pah! pah!” exclaimed the old man, savagely. “What does a boy like you know of such matters? You have hung about that Jonas Benson, and his inn, which is a hotbed of rebellion, so long that you talk like a lawyer. It is ruining you, and I won’t have a nephew of mine—”

“But Master Benson pays you my wages regularly, doesn’t he?” demanded Hadley, before the old man could say anything rash.

“Hem—well, I can say he does,” admitted Uncle Ephraim, and subsided for a moment. Soon, however, he started on a new tack. “Who is this English officer who is a guest at the inn, nephew?” he asked. “It is said that he is a great man from York way. And to think that you should oppose a gentleman and an officer of His Majesty’s army!”

“I don’t know how great a man he is,” Hadley returned. “He calls himself Colonel Creston Knowles—”

The old man started and leaned forward so that his wrinkled face came within the candlelight. Wonder, and an expression which seemed like fear, slowly grew upon his countenance. “Who did you say he was?” he demanded, his lean fingers clutching the edge of the table.

“Colonel Creston Knowles, uncle. His daughter, Mistress Lillian, is with him. They have come into Jersey to find a family by our name, I understand. Both of them have asked me about you, sir.” While he said this, Hadley scrutinized Uncle Ephraim closely. The old man was much disturbed, for he sat silent for several minutes and his face showed plainly that he was the man Colonel Knowles was so anxious to see. “Who is Colonel Knowles?” the boy asked, at length. “What does he want to see you for? Is he—is he related to us in any way?”

“No, no!” snarled the miser. “He’s nothing to either you or me. I—I don’t know him—I don’t know him, I tell you! Now, go to bed, and don’t disturb me with your questions.”

Hadley cleared up the untidy kitchen as best he could, and then lit a tallow dip at the single candle on the table, and obeyed his uncle’s behest by mounting the stairs to the loft over the room. He went to bed at once, for he was tired enough, but he could not sleep for thinking of his uncle’s strange manner and words. There was some mysterious connection between Colonel Knowles and the Morrises; but Uncle Ephraim did not intend to admit it.

Hadley fell into a doze at last, but only for a short time. The squeak of a door below aroused him, and after listening a moment and fancying all sort of noises, as one will in the night when the house is still, he crept out of bed, slipped on his outer clothes again, and tiptoed to the head of the stairs to see if his uncle had himself gone to bed. There was a faint light below, and the boy was confident that the candle must be burning, for Uncle Ephraim would never leave a fire on the hearth at this time of the year.

Carefully going down several steps in perfect silence, he managed to get a view of the whole kitchen, including the fireplace, and what was his astonishment to see Ephraim Morris standing upon a chair before an old brick oven built high in the chimney, and which Hadley never remembered seeing opened before. It was open now, however, and the old gentleman had his head and shoulders thrust inside, as though reaching for something concealed at the extreme back of the oven.

CHAPTER IX
A MIDNIGHT BURYING

TO play the rôle of eavesdropper, or “Peeping Tom,” was not exactly as Hadley Morris would have wished. He hated a sneak; but his curiosity regarding his uncle’s manœuvres was for the time too strong for his ideas of what was really honorable, and instead of retreating up the stairs to the loft again, he remained where he was and watched the old gentleman with wide-open eyes.

Like most substantially built houses of that day, the Morris homestead had a great stone and brick fireplace built into the end wall. To the right of the fireplace was one of those ovens in which the pioneer housewives did all their baking. The oven was like a safe built into the side of the chimney, and had a smooth clay floor. Uncle Ephraim had always kept the oven door fastened with an old-fashioned brass padlock.

The padlock now lay on the floor, and as Hadley continued to peer into the wide kitchen from around the corner of the door-frame, he saw Master Morris draw back from the mouth of the oven, holding a bag in each hand. The bags were not large, but by the way his uncle carried them the boy knew they were heavy, and when the old man stepped down from the chair and laid them on the table, the listener heard a faint chink as though of metal. “It’s gold!” whispered the boy to himself, and his eyes opened even more widely at the thought.

Then for the first time Hadley saw that Master Morris wore his waistcoat and coat, as though he were ready to go out of doors. He put on his hat at once, stuck the half-burned candle in a lantern, and with the latter swung over his arm and one of the heavy bags in each hand, he left the house.

Hadley hesitated only a moment; then, curiosity still spurring him, he ran lightly down the remaining steps into the kitchen and followed his uncle out of doors without stopping for his own hat. The night was mild and not at all dark, but the boy might have found some difficulty in following the old man had it not been for the flickering lantern which swung from his arm. This dancing will-o’-the-wisp led the boy down behind the barns and cribs and directly into the orchard where the branches of the gnarled old apple trees met and, with their fruit and foliage, shut out most of the star-light.

Hadley crept near, cautiously, when he saw that Uncle Ephraim had halted and set the light upon the ground. Soon he discovered that the old man had been here before since he went to bed, for there was a shovel and a heap of earth in plain view. He watched his uncle and saw him drop the two bags into what appeared to be a rather deep hole, then place a flat stone on top of them, and afterward fill in the hole with the soil and stamp it all down with care. There was considerable soil left then, and the old man carried this away, shovelful by shovelful, and threw it into a ditch at the far edge of the orchard. Afterward he replaced the sod which he had earlier removed, patting it all down evenly with the flat of his shovel. The burying was completed, and marking the spot well for future reference, Hadley ran back to the house and climbed to the loft, and was nicely in bed again before the old man returned to the kitchen.

But the strangeness of the whole matter kept the boy awake long after he was sure his uncle had sought his own couch. He was unable to compose his mind to sleep, and was glad when at length the cocks crew to announce the gray light in the east. He rose and went back to the Three Oaks without again seeing Uncle Ephraim, and tried to forget the incident of the night in his work about the inn. But when he saw Colonel Creston Knowles ride off with William toward the Morris farm soon after breakfast, Hadley wished he had remained longer with his uncle, and so been present at the interview which was about to take place between the old man and the British officer.

Lillian avoided him that day, seemingly, and Hadley went about his duties with much trouble at his heart. It was after noon when Colonel Knowles and his henchman returned, and a glance at the officer’s face told Hadley that the gentleman was in a towering rage. Evidently his visit had afforded him little satisfaction.

Soon, however, something occurred which succeeded in driving this mystery into the background of the boy’s mind. News from Philadelphia had been scarce since his return from the Pennsylvania side of the river; but after supper that evening a man rode up to the inn on a fagged-out horse, and told them that the army under Washington was on the move, and was marching toward Philadelphia, as it was believed Lord Howe’s fleet would land troops to attack the city, where Congress was then in session. The man obtained a fresh mount and rode on into the east, having secret business in that direction.

That night, while Jonas Benson and Hadley sat together in the chimney place of the inn kitchen, talking over the possibilities of the battle which must occur before long, the heralding squeak of Lafe Holdness’ wagon axles reached their ears, the outer door being ajar.

“Run and open the gate for him, Had!” exclaimed Benson. “Mistress, put down something to eat for a hungry man, and I warrant you Lafe will do justice to it.”

His wife grumblingly expressed herself that a cold supper was good enough for a man like Lafe Holdness; but she, nevertheless, obeyed her husband’s request.

“Stan’ round ther, you!” From the yard the teamster’s voice could be heard addressing the horses. “Ef ye want suthin’ ter eat, why don’t ye stan’ still so’t I kin unbuckle this strap? Hello, Had Morris! is that air yeou? I didn’t ’spect to see yeou ag’in this side o’ the river till the war was over,” and the Yankee chuckled mightily and dug the boy good-naturedly in the ribs.

“We heard to-night the army was on the move, Lafe,” Jonas said, coming to the porch, and speaking low.

Lafe dropped for the moment his bantering tone and spoke seriously. “There’s going to be something done purty soon, friends—somethin’ big! There’s sure to be a battle. Howe’s fleet is comin’ up Chesapeake Bay and General Washington will meet the troops he lands somewhere south of Philadelphia; but we ain’t got much more’n ten thousand men all told.”

“How many sailed from York?” queried the innkeeper.

“Nobody knows!” returned Lafe, ruefully. “Them dispatches Had took over ter Germantown didn’t give the exact figgers. But I’m out this way sendin’ in all the scatterin’ men that hev’ got guns. There won’t much happen hereabout until the two armies meet. And, speakin’ about Had,” added Lafe, suddenly, “I’m wantin’ ter use him, Jonas.”

“Well,” remarked the innkeeper, with twinkling eyes, “he’s a pretty valuable boy to me. I have to pay his uncle for him, too.”

“You’d oughter be called Judas Benson!” declared the Yankee. “You’re a great feller ter haggle over the price of a ’prentice boy. I’m goin’ ter send him to the army—it’s at Philadelphia now.”

“And that means I’ll likely lose a good horse as well as the boy,” grumbled Jonas.

“Don’t you think I’ve got anything to say about it myself?” demanded Hadley of the Yankee.

“Not much. I’ve got orders for you,” he declared, nodding his head. “See here.” He drew a battered wallet from his pocket, and in the light of the innkeeper’s lantern selected a slip of paper from one of the compartments. This he displayed before the wondering eyes of both Jonas and Hadley. On the paper was written, in a rather cramped and formal hand:

“Send back the boy from the Three Oaks Inn with any message.

“Cadwalader.”

“Why!” exclaimed the round-eyed innkeeper, “that’s the man who saved you from the soldiers, Had--Colonel Cadwalader.”

“I reckon ye’ must ha’ got purty thick with Master Cadwalader, Had,” said Lafe, tearing the paper into small pieces. “Let me tell yeou he is in the General’s confidence as much as old Knox, or Colonel Pickering. I got suthin’ important for yeou to take to headquarters, an’ if yeou’ve had your supper yeou’d better saddle a hoss an’ git away with it purty soon. The quicker ye start the sooner ye’ll ketch the army, for it’s on the move.”

While he was speaking, Jonas Benson was already leading Black Molly out of her stall, showing at once that his objections to the boy’s departure had been but momentary. “He’s had his supper, and he can git out right now!” he declared.

But Hadley waited long enough to go into the loft and put on the best suit of homespun which he possessed, and encased his legs in long riding boots with a pair of tiny spurs screwed into the heels. There were no papers to take this time, for Lafe Holdness whispered the message he had to send into the boy’s attentive ear. “An’ now good luck to ye!” exclaimed the scout as the youth mounted into the saddle and Jonas opened the stable door. “Nobody can take nothin’ from ye this time, but mebbe it’s just as well if yeou dodge all armed men of airy complection till ye pass Germantown.”

Black Molly trotted quietly down the inn yard toward the gate. Just as she was going through this and her rider was about to give her the rein, he was startled by a soft “S-s-st!” beside him. He turned his head quickly and drew Molly down to a walk. A shadowy figure stood at the end of the porch. In an instant Hadley recognized Lillian Knowles, with a light shawl flung over her head and shoulders, and her hand outstretched to him.

A FIGURE STOOD AT THE END OF THE PORCH

“Hadley Morris!” she whispered, “if you are carrying anything—anything you don’t want other folks to see—look out! There are others beside me who know you are riding toward the ferry to-night.” And then, before he could reply or express his astonishment at her warning, she disappeared within the shadow of the porch. He heard the door close softly behind her, and, after a moment’s hesitation, he started Molly on again and turned her head toward the distant ferry, wondering if he ought to take the girl’s words seriously and turn back for reinforcements.

[TO BE CONTINUED]

THE “DANDY FIFTH’S” LAST TRIUMPH

A MEMORIAL DAY STORY

By LAURA ALTON PAYNE

“We called them the kid-gloved Dandy Fifth

When we passed them on parade.”

A sharp, imperative rat-a-tat-tat on the class-room door almost at her back startled the speaker, Sidney Dallas. She turned for an instant, but that instant was enough to scatter her wits like chaff before the wind. She paused—stammered—paused again, then repeated vaguely:

“We called—we called them the kid-gloved Dandy Fifth

When we passed them on parade.

We called—we called—”

But the words would not be coaxed back. Her mind was a perfect blank. She was so confused that she did not see that the visitor who was being ushered in by Bess Martin, and whose sharp knock had so disconcerted her, was her own mother.

A hot flush of shame scorched her face, the crowd of attentive faces before her began to waver, her knees grew weak, her feet cowardly, but she made one more brave effort:

“We called—we called”—she repeated weakly and hurriedly, then stopped short.

“But it would not come,” murmured mischievous Ted Scott, lugubriously. Ted had been crowded to the front seat, which he shared with two other boys. The boys snickered, and Sidney’s misery was complete. Never before had she failed in a speech, or realized the humiliation.

All a-tremble she stepped off the platform, and with scarlet face and tearful eyes passed down the aisle between the double row of visitors, whose looks of sympathy her distorted imagination turned into looks of derision at her distress. But the tears should not fall, and she would not lower her head. As she reached her seat she caught a look of amusement on the face of Myrtle Emmons, who sat at the desk immediately behind her own. It was that that gave her the bit over her runaway self-possession. Myrtle was somewhat noted for making fun of people. She would show Myrtle how little she cared.

Disregarding Myrtle’s nudge, she concentrated her attention upon the beautifully decorated school-room. It had been transformed into a veritable bower, not with boughs of pine and cedar as in the Eastern States, but with fragrant branches of catalpa with their great clusters of snowy blossoms and with immense sprays of feathery asparagus. The platform, as well as the teacher’s desk at the back of it, was banked with potted ferns and palms and flowering plants. The beribboned waste-basket formed a huge bouquet of feathery greenery, amidst which tall, graceful sunflowers bowed their golden heads. That artistic touch was her own, and she gazed at it with pride. Sunflowers and asparagus adorned the pictures and caught up the folds of the large flag draped gracefully over the front blackboard, and of the bright bunting festooned around the walls.

Flags and sunflowers, sunflowers and flags—a combination so popular that she should always associate the golden emblem-flower of her State with the glorious emblem of her country. They had devoted more time than usual to their decorations, for, the following Monday being Memorial Day, they had turned their “last day” exercises into a memorial service. Owing to the naval victory of scarce a month previous, patriotism was at a white heat, and patriotic selections of spirit shared the honors with tributes to the dead—both the Blue and the Gray, sectionalism being forgotten in the new union of the North and the South.

But it did not require recent victory to stir Sidney’s enthusiasm; she was at all times intensely patriotic. As a small child, a mere babe, she had listened enthralled to her father’s tales of the Civil War, through many of whose terrible battles he had passed. She invariably chose patriotic selections to speak. Such a deed as described in the “Dandy Fifth” made her forget herself. And now, of all times, to fail to-day! The school were singing softly:

“Cover them over—yes, cover them over—

Parent and husband, and brother, and lover:

Crown in your hearts those dead heroes of ours.

And cover them over with beautiful flowers.”

How she would love to lay a tribute of flowers upon the graves of the Dandy Fifth’s many dead heroes! And, oh, shame! she had failed to give them even the tribute of honor due them—failed miserably!

“Lying so silent by night and by day,

Sleeping the years of their manhood away.”

That meant the most of the Dandy Fifth. She could see the gaunt, silent forms, fallen at their posts in that awful hour that “tried men’s souls.” But theirs stood the test—stood it grandly.

“Swiftly they rushed to the help of the right,

Firmly they stood in the shock of the fight.”

Stood firm—firm? Did they not? Why, they made a glorious stand—none braver in all the war, none more deserving of honor!—and she had left them with their courage unproven, with the scorn of their comrades upon them, before they had been given a chance to make their derisive epithet a name to be proud of for all time. Oh, she could not bear it! she could not bear it! She must save the honor of the Dandy Fifth.

The thought was electric. It shocked into full life the resolve already half formed in her mind. Hastening up to Miss Mason she whispered a request, which was smilingly granted. With a bright face Sidney hurried from the room just as the next number was called. She meant to go home, find the poem, then come back and redeem herself. She had but three blocks to go, and that distance was covered with flying feet. To her dismay she found the door locked. Of course, her mother meant to attend the exercises. No doubt she was in the room all the time, and had witnessed her failure. But—she must get in. She looked for the key in its customary hiding-place when all the family were expected to be absent at once; it was not there. Recent petty thieving in the neighborhood had probably induced Mrs. Dallas to take the key with her.

Sidney was dismayed. She rushed from door to door, and from window to window. All were securely fastened. She sat down on the porch to think a moment. Perhaps she could get in through an upper window; she had left her own window, which, fortunately, was over the kitchen, lowered slightly and the screen unlatched. She could reach the spring through the opening, lower it still more, then crawl through. Desperation lent her strength to drag the long, heavy ladder from the barn and to raise it to the low kitchen roof. A moment later she pattered over the flat tin roof to the window—only to find further evidence of her mother’s caution. It was closed and latched.

Then, in spite of her courageous soul and her fifteen years, Sidney gave up to a tearful despair for a few minutes. Down upon the tin roof she sat, huddled close up in the corner, and, bowing her head upon her knees, wept silent tears of mortification. The thought that she would have to leave the Dandy Fifth unhonored brought forth the bitterest drops of all.

But—they did not give up. Neither would she. Something must be done. She would go back to the school-house and get the key, come back and get the book, then return and save the day for the Dandy Fifth if possible.

It was a very tired, hot-faced girl that labored up the second flight of stairs at the school-house. As she paused for breath a moment in the upper hall she heard Rob Ellison stentoriously depicting “Sheridan’s Ride.” In the room across the hall the “Fifth Graders” were singing “Sherman’s March to the Sea,” and farther on the “Sixths” were sending out a vigorous chorus of the “Star-Spangled Banner.” Passing into the library, a small room just across the hall, she sat down to cool off, and at the same time to work up sufficient courage to face the crowded room in search of her mother. She didn’t want to disconcert another speaker by knocking on the door in order to call her mother out. She glanced around the room. Right there in that corner was where she stood when she rehearsed the “Dandy Fifth” to the elocution teacher.

Mechanically Sidney placed herself in the accustomed position, and half unconsciously began to recite the poem in a low tone. To her amazement and delight she went through it without a break. Whether it was the effect of association, or whether her recreant memory had suddenly chosen to return, she neither questioned nor cared, she was so overjoyed. She tried it again, then a third time, all unconscious of an interested listener beyond the closed door—Prof. Marlow, who stood there smiling to himself as the speaker’s voice rose higher and higher with returning confidence.

As Sidney finished with a triumphant flourish, he clapped his hands softly, then opened the door to remark smilingly. “Well done, Miss Sidney. Now, rally to the charge again, and march on to victory.”

Sidney blushed: she knew he had witnessed her failure. She felt that explanations were in order.

Prof. Marlow held up a warning finger. “At the eleventh hour, Miss Sidney,” he said, with a smile.

“It’s the twelfth hour that tells,” she retorted merrily, and passed into the school-room. Prof. Marlow followed her. He was curious to see how such a plucky effort would turn out.

Sidney was met with many swift glances as she entered, but her radiant face showed no trace of her recent failure. A few moments later she again faced the many expectant eyes, now no longer dreaded. No sudden rat-a-tat-tat could scatter her wits again—no, not even a cannon’s roar, for the Dandy Fifth’s honor was at stake. The audience greeted her enthusiastically. It is human nature to admire courage even in small things. Self was forgotten; every thought and feeling was centred on the subject in hand—that famous regiment of young aristocrats, men who knew not toil, who had never suffered want or endured hardship, whose fastidiousness fastened upon them the scornful epithet, “The Dandy Fifth.”

Her listeners saw it all: the old fort “somewhere down on the Rapidan” that the Dandy Fifth was ordered to hold; the fierce onslaught of the enemy along the whole line; the raging of battle day after day; how gloriously the old fort, the “key of the whole line,” on which hung the fate of the whole army, was held by the Dandy Fifth against all odds—a brave, determined foe without and starvation within. The water gave out; they fought on. Another day, and their rations were gone; they fought on. One by one, they sank to “rest where they wearied and lie where they fell.” A third day of fierce siege—a fourth, then reinforcements fought their way through, inch by inch, to the beleaguered men. And what a sight met their gaze!—a few gaunt-eyed men behind the guns, and many, many more lying as they fell, in the stupor of famine or ghastly and rigid in death. But the old flag floated still!—and the “kid-gloved Dandy Fifth” had proved that white hands are not incompatible with brave hearts. How their old comrades cheered!—and cheered! And how proud they were to clasp those brave, emaciated white hands!

Sidney’s little head might well have been turned by praise had it been that kind of a head, she received so many words of commendation. Ted Scott led the applause, and it was his hands that gave the final appreciative clap. Even Myrtle Emmons congratulated her. “It was grand, Sid,” she said, earnestly. “But how could you ever do it after breaking down once? I never could, and I always break down. I was awfully sorry for you, for, you see, I know how it goes. But, say, Sid! I thought I couldn’t help laughing as you came down the aisle; old Mrs. Perkins stalked along right behind you, her battered bonnet over one ear as usual, and that ancient, solitary, stiff, bedraggled, black feather sticking straight up. I always have to laugh when I see it, though, of course, I oughtn’t.”

“So do I,” returned Sidney, with sudden cordiality. So she had misjudged Myrtle, after all.

“But how could you do it?” persisted Myrtle.

Then out came the whole story, even to the tears, and they had a merry time over it.

“And to think that I was the cause of it,” laughed Mrs. Dallas. “But I am glad my little girl was brave enough to turn defeat into victory.”

“I don’t think it was really I, mamma,” said Sidney, slowly and thoughtfully. “It was the Dandy Fifth.”

TO MAY

Though many suns have risen and set

Since thou, blithe May, wert born,

And bards, who hail’d thee, may forget

Thy gifts, thy beauty scorn;

There are who to a birthday strain

Confine not harp and voice,

But evermore throughout thy reign

Are grateful and rejoice!

Delicious odors! music sweet,

Too sweet to pass away!

O, for a deathless song to meet

The soul’s desire,—a lay

That, when a thousand years are told,

Should praise thee, genial Power!

Through summer heat, autumnal cold,

And Winter’s dreariest hour.

Season of fancy and of hope,

Permit not for one hour

A blossom from thy crown to drop,

Nor add to it a flower!

Keep, lovely May, as if by touch

Of self-restraining art,

This modest charm of not too much,

Part seen, imagined part.

—Wordsworth.

LITTLE POLLY PRENTISS

BY ELIZABETH LINCOLN GOULD

CHAPTER VI
A TRYING AFTERNOON

SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS

Polly Prentiss is an orphan who, for the greater part of her life, has lived with a distant relative, Mrs. Manser, the mistress of Manser Farm. Miss Hetty Pomeroy, a maiden lady of middle age, has, ever since the death of her favorite niece, been on the lookout for a little girl whom she might adopt. She is attracted by Polly’s appearance and quaint manners, and finally decides to take her home and keep her for a month’s trial. In the foregoing chapters, Polly has arrived at her new home, and the great difference between the way of living at Pomeroy Oaks and her past life affords her much food for wonderment.

“SO you like your new friends, my dear,” said Miss Hetty. “They must be banished to the shed now for their dinner while you and I eat ours. Do you hear Arctura’s signal to us?”

There came a sound unlike anything Polly had ever heard; it was not exactly a bell; she couldn’t imagine what it was. Miss Hetty held out her hand with a smile, and Polly, still with Snip and Snap on her shoulders, was led out of the library, across the porch hall to a big, sunny dining-room. On the table, at Miss Hetty’s place, stood a strange thing with three bronze cups upside down, a little one highest up, one somewhat larger under it, and one still larger at the bottom; at least that was the way it looked to Polly.

Arctura stood close to it with a little stick in her hand; she struck the bronze cups as Polly looked at her, and again the musical sound was heard.

“There, I reckoned you’d never heard anything like that!” said Arctura as she beamed on Polly, and then took the kittens from the little girl’s shoulders. “That’s a heathen invention, called a gong, brought to Miss Pomeroy by her Uncle Pete. I hope you’ll relish your food; I’ve got no time to sit down now,” said Arctura, and bearing Snip and Snap in her arms she marched out of a doorway through which there was a glimpse of the kitchen.

Arctura Green had never sat at the table with Miss Pomeroy in all the years of her faithful service, but it was understood to be purely a matter of choice on her part, and a few words were spoken now and then to make this state of affairs clear to any chance visitor.

Polly ate her steak and potato and fresh bread and butter, sitting opposite Miss Pomeroy, and only speaking in answer to questions. She looked at the spotless white table-cloth with its rose and fern pattern, at the shining glass tumblers, and the big glass water bottle, at the fat silver tea-pot and sugar-bowl, and the slender spoons and forks, at the knives, with mother-of-pearl handles, at the white plates with dull blue figures that matched those on the platter, and at the big bread plate with its gold rim. Then she looked at the buffet on which there were all sorts of shining things.

“It is because everything is so wonderful in the house that they like to stay here better than out-doors,” thought Polly, but in spite of everything her eyes turned wistfully to the window. The sunshine flickered and danced among the branches of the Pomeroy oaks, and Polly gave a half sigh as she looked at it.

“Don’t you like your pudding, my dear?” asked Miss Hetty, and the little girl turned quickly to her dinner again.

After dinner she followed Miss Pomeroy up the broad, shallow front stairs to the pretty room which had been prepared for her. It had a white bed, a white bureau, a white wash-stand, two little straight-backed white chairs, and a white rocking-chair. A pink stripe ran through the white near the edges of all these pieces of furniture, and Polly thought it was the most beautiful bed-room that could possibly be imagined.

“And here is your closet,” said Miss Hetty, as she opened a door, and showed what seemed to Polly like a good-sized room, with shelves and hooks. On the lowest shelf sat the big black enamel cloth bag, looking old and forlorn.

“Now, you’d better take out your things and put them away in the closet and the bureau, Mary,” said Miss Hetty, “and perhaps you’d like to lie down and rest awhile; I am going to take my nap now. When you wish to go downstairs you may, but I wouldn’t run out to-day, for the ground is so damp. I dare say you’ll find plenty to amuse you in the house, and you are free to go anywhere. I’m sure I can trust such a careful, quiet little girl as you are.”

When the door that led into Miss Pomeroy’s room across the hall was fairly shut, Polly executed a silent dance on the soft gray and pink carpet.

“I guess Mrs. Manser’d think I was doing pretty well,” said Polly, thrilling with pride. “I never was called ‘quiet’ or ‘careful’ before. She’d hardly believe it. I must be growing like Eleanor pretty fast. As soon as I’ve put away my things I shall lie right down on that bed. I wonder how long I ought to stay on it. I suppose most probably Eleanor would stay till she heard her aunt getting up; that’s what I’ll do. Mrs. Manser said most likely Miss Pomeroy would give me tests. I shall lie on that bed till I hear Miss Pomeroy if its—two hours,” said Polly, firmly, mentioning the longest space of time which she could conceive might be spent in sleeping by daylight.

Then Polly took the big bag out of the closet and proceeded to unpack it. There was her other new gingham frock on top of everything else; it had blue and white stripes, and was very pretty, Polly thought, as she laid it carefully away in the lowest of the four bureau drawers. Then came her little brown cashmere frock, made over from one which had done service for six years as Mrs. Manser’s Sunday gown; it was Polly’s Sunday best now, very brave with a little red piping around the neck and sleeves, and at the head of the ruffle. This Polly hung in the closet.

In the closet, too, went a very old and much-mended red frock which was always nearly hidden by long-sleeved and high-necked aprons. There were four of these, and two more new ones without sleeves. Polly was so small that there had been plenty of room in the big bag for all these things and for the little store of underclothes which went into the third drawer. The aprons had the second drawer to themselves, and in the top drawer there were Polly’s small handkerchiefs and one pair of little white cotton gloves, freshly washed.

Polly took the bag back to the closet after removing the very last thing, her work basket, which she put on the bureau, beside the fat pincushion. Looking at this cushion reminded her of hidden treasures, and diving into her petticoat pocket she brought forth Aunty Peebles’s gift, and then the knife; these Polly placed on a table, which stood near one of the two windows. Then, after looking about the room for a moment with an air of much satisfaction, Polly slipped off her little shoes, and folding her shawl about her shoulders after the manner of Mrs. Ramsdell when ready for a nap, she turned back the white quilt, and climbing sedately up on the bed, laid her head on the pillow and clasped her little hands.

“I don’t feel sleepy,” said Polly, “but that doesn’t make any difference. I’ve got plenty of things to think of. Perhaps Eleanor didn’t always go to sleep. There are all those leaks in Manser farm—they’ll get mended if I’m adopted. And this is a beautiful place, and I’m not going to be lonesome, a great girl like me, if ’tis pretty still here. I wonder what Miss Arctura Green is doing: and those kitties, I wonder where they are.”

An hour or so later Miss Hetty held a consultation with Arctura in the kitchen.

“I came down the back way so I should not wake that child,” said Miss Pomeroy. “She hasn’t stirred since she lay down, I verily believe. Do you think it’s natural for a little girl of her age to sleep nearly two hours at this time of day?”

“Why, you see we don’t either of us know much about children,” said Arctura, meditatively. “She looks pretty strong, but I notice her appetite’s nothing extra, and probably she’s all excited up and tired out. Seems to me, though, if she don’t stir by the end of another half hour I should kind of make a noise in my room if I was in your place, and wake her up gradual.”

At the end of another half-hour Miss Pomeroy opened and shut a window in her room with vigor, and when she stepped across the hall to Polly’s room, the little girl was putting on her shoes.

“Well, well,” said Miss Pomeroy, “you’ve had a nice, long nap. You shall take one every day, my dear, if you like; I’ve no doubt it will do you good.”

“Yes’m,” said Polly meekly, with a faint little smile.

“I don’t know as I shall let you sleep quite so long, always,” said Miss Hetty, briskly, “for fear you won’t rest so well at night: but we’ll see.”

“Yes’m,” said Polly again; and Miss Pomeroy never suspected that those two hours on the bed had seemed like weeks to her little guest.

CHAPTER VII
THE FIRST MORNING

POLLY slept soundly that night in her little white bed, and woke to see the sun peeping in at her between the snowy curtains of her east window.

“Dear me!” cried Polly. “I ought to be downstairs helping Mrs. Manser this very minute!” Then she clapped her little hands over her mouth and lay very still, remembering where she was, and that Mrs. Manser and all her old friends were nearly seven miles away, on Maple Hill.

“I believe I’d better not think about them just now,” said Polly, winking fast, as she got out of bed. “Someway it makes me feel as if I wanted to swallow every minute. Maybe I can do something for Miss Arctura Green if I hurry and get dressed.”

But when she stole softly downstairs, wearing the old red frock covered with one of her new white aprons, Polly stopped for a minute to look up at the tall clock. Near the clock was a high-backed chair, and as Polly heard Arctura’s voice and a strange one, she sat down in the chair to wait until Miss Green’s visitor departed. She was sitting there when Miss Pomeroy’s door opened, and down she came over the stairs.

“So you’re up before me, Mary,” said the mistress of the house as she held out her hand to the little girl. Polly took the kind hand and shook it vigorously up and down as she had seen grown people do. “For she doesn’t want to kiss me, of course,” thought Polly, wistfully, remembering Mrs. Ramsdell and dear Grandma Manser. “I expect grand people like her don’t kiss little girls much.”

“I thought,” said Polly, when the ceremony was over, “that maybe I could help Miss Arctura set the table for breakfast, but I heard her talking to somebody at the porch door, so I sat down here to wait.”

Just then the door into the hall from the library burst open and Arctura appeared with a much vexed expression on her flushed face.

“Morning, both,” she said, abruptly. “There, I knew you’d be down and waiting! ’Twas old Jane Hackett kep’ me; she’s come spying out the land already. I didn’t let her into the hall for fear she’d abide with us all day.”

“S—h, Arctura!” said Miss Pomeroy, gravely, though her lips seemed inclined to twitch a little. “How is Mrs. Hackett’s rheumatism to-day?”

“Thinks there’s a spell coming on, I believe,” said Arctura, looking rather crestfallen. “Breakfast’s ready, all but the griddle-cakes; I can’t sit down with you, for I’ve got them to fry.”

After breakfast, Miss Pomeroy sent Polly out on the broad piazza that ran across the front of the house and the west side, to play with the kittens.

“I have some plans to talk over with Arctura,” said she, “and then I want a little talk with you before I start my letter-writing. Don’t step off the piazza, for the grass is very wet. It rained in the night, and I don’t wish my guest to take cold,” said Miss Pomeroy, with her pleasant smile.

“I presume,” said Polly to Snip and Snap, as she dangled a string alluringly just above their reach, and watched their wild jumps into the air, “Miss Pomeroy is going to speak to me about my top apron button not being buttoned; but I didn’t forget it till she came down. I was going to ask Miss Arctura Green to fasten it for me. Probably Eleanor had long arms that could reach; I expect she did. Don’t you catch the bottom of this dress, mister,” said Polly, uplifting a warning finger at Snap, whose attitude certainly justified firm, quick measures, “for it’s just as tender!”

Meanwhile Miss Pomeroy and Arctura were having another consultation in the kitchen.

“I don’t know just what to plan about little Mary,” said Miss Hetty, doubtfully. “You see, I want to find out what she likes best to do, so that I can tell what kind of a child she is. I want her to act her own nature, but, of course, I must suggest things and ask some questions, for she’s very shy.”

“M—m,” said Arctura, thoughtfully, “she handles her knife and fork real pretty. I noticed it as I was in and out the two meals, yesterday and to-day. You’d know she come of good folks, and I must say that Manser woman’s brought her up well, though she’s a hatchet-faced piece, if ever I saw one, and given to nagging, if I’m any judge. Supposing you should ride off to the village without Mary this morning and let me visit with her a little mite. She’s full as used to kitchens as she is to parlors, I expect.”

“I believe that would be an excellent idea,” said Miss Pomeroy. “Arctura, you are a very sensible woman.”

“Sho!” said Arctura but she turned quickly to the sink to hide a smile of gratification.

“Now, Mary, you and I will have our little talk,” said Miss Pomeroy, a few minutes later, and then to Polly’s great amazement, she sat down in one of the big piazza chairs, and drew the child into her lap.

“I didn’t mean to forget that top-button,” said Polly, bravely, “but you came downstairs sooner than I expected, and I can’t quite reach it, so I was going to ask Miss Arctura to fasten it for me. I’m sorry I was an untidy girl; ’tisn’t Mrs. Manser’s fault; she spoke to me and spoke to me about my careless habits.”

“I’ve no doubt she did,” said Miss Hetty, dryly; “I presume she’d speak to me about my placket-hook that’s generally undone.” As she said this she buttoned Polly’s apron and gave her a pat which warmed the little girl’s heart; and then Miss Hetty held her in such a way that Polly could not see the kind, grave face.

“Now, my dear,” she said, slowly, “I suppose Mrs. Manser may have told you that I had a little niece of whom you remind me.” Polly nodded her head, and scarcely breathed. “I asked Mrs. Manser to let me have you for at least a month,” said Miss Pomeroy, unsteadily, “to see—to see if perhaps we might decide to be together as long as I live, my dear. If you are as like my little Eleanor as I think you may be, in many ways,” said Miss Hetty, after a pause during which Polly sat very still, “I shall not be able to let you go, I am sure. I’m growing old, Mary, and I need somebody to help me forget it. Eleanor would have done it, I know, though I had not seen her often enough for her to care a great deal about me, I’m—”

Polly turned quickly around as the voice faltered and stopped. She laid her soft cheek against Miss Pomeroy’s with a little cry of sympathy.

“I will be just as like Eleanor as ever I can,” said Polly, earnestly, “and I will love you every minute, and try to do everything you want.”

“I want you to have a good time,” said Miss Pomeroy, patting the brown curls. “We are old-fashioned people here, and you may find it very dull and quiet, my dear.”

“I shall like it very, very much,” said Polly, stoutly, and to herself she said, “There! you can help Miss Pomeroy as well as the poor-farm folks, Polly Prentiss, and if you didn’t do it, you’d be as selfish as old Redtop!” Redtop was a rooster, resident at Manser farm, whose greed and ugliness were by-words in the place of his abode.

“Now I must go to my letter-writing,” said Miss Pomeroy, briskly, after a few moments’ silence. She had stroked Polly’s curls, with a far-away expression, and then had given her a sudden kiss and set her down on the piazza floor. “I’m obliged to do a good many errands to-day, and I think perhaps I’d better not take you, though I should, generally. Suppose you run out to the kitchen and see if you can help Arctura in any way.”

CHAPTER VIII
A LITTLE COOK

HALF an hour later, anyone who looked in at the windows of the Pomeroy kitchen would have seen a pretty sight. Polly, mounted on a stool, was beating a golden mixture in a white bowl, and Arctura, at the opposite end of the long table, was stirring whites of eggs carefully into a white batter in a yellow bowl.

POLLY WAS BEATING A GOLDEN MIXTURE IN A BIG WHITE BOWL

“This is what I call solid comfort,” said Arctura, gayly. “I don’t know when I’ve had such a helper as you are! Miss Hetty’s without the gift when it comes to cooking. You wouldn’t believe it, but she’d be just as likely to put the eggs right in after the butter, without beating ’em separate, as any other way. Ain’t it singular?”

“I expect she writes beautiful letters, Miss Arctura,” said Polly, loyally evading the discussion of Miss Pomeroy’s weak point.

“My, I guess she does!” said Arctura, heartily. “That’s it; we’ve all got different talents. Hiram says he’d full as soon see me with a pistol pointed at him as with a pen in my hand. The only way I ever wrote a letter was by main strength, and I’d rather take a whipping any time.”

“I guess it would be pretty hard work for anybody to whip you,” said Polly, shrewdly, and Arctura laughed with much relish.

“’Twould now-a-days,” she said, as she gave the final stir to her batter, “but I’ve been whipped in my time. I didn’t get my growth all at once, you see. Is your cake ready for the pans? You wait till I show you the cunning little brush I’m going to butter the tins with. I’ll let you do yours next time, after I’ve once showed you how. You can’t slight the edges or any spot, if you want the cakes to slip out right.”

When the heat of the oven had been tested and the little round tins had been put in and the oven doors shut on them, Arctura selected a stout testing straw from a pile on a high shelf above the kitchen sink and seated herself, holding the straw erect in her hand like a tiny weapon.

“I always take this time for a breathing spell,” she announced, motioning Polly to another chair, “for if I start in on a fresh job, those cakes more’n likely’ll get burned; it only takes twenty-five minutes to bake ’em to the queen’s taste.”

“Yes’m,” said Polly; then she looked eagerly over at Arctura. “Did you ever see little Eleanor?” she asked, breathlessly.

“No, never,” said Arctura, and Polly felt a throb of disappointment. “You see, Square Pomeroy didn’t depart this life till a year ago last December, and he was kind of queer,” Arctura tapped her forehead significantly, “the last few years, and ’twasn’t a cheerful place to bring a child. And he’d hardly let his daughter out of his sight. About once in six months I’d send her off to Shelby to see the twins for two or three days, but I was always put to it to keep the Square satisfied till she got back.”

“Was he cross?” asked Polly.

“Not to say cross,” replied Arctura, slowly, “but terrible decided and unreasonable. Miss Hetty’s had her trials, and so’ve I; money isn’t all.”

“No’m,” said Polly, soberly, “but it does a great many things, Miss Arctura. Did you know how poor this town is? Manser farm leaks in places, and the paint is all gone, and the ceilings drop sometimes, pieces of them, I mean. But the town is too poor to help fix any of those things. Uncle Sam Blodgett and Father Manser would shingle the roof quick enough, though they aren’t as spry as once they were, if only they could set eyes on the shingles,” said Polly, quoting freely from her old friends.

“It’s a stingy town, I’m afraid,” said Arctura, shaking her head. “The Square was the most liberal man in it, and Miss Hetty follows right on, but most of the purse strings are drawn pretty close. Sometime I’ll tell you a little story about the Square and me when I was your age; you remind me to relate it to you. We haven’t got time now,” she said, glancing at the clock, “for those cakes have got to come out in a minute, and then I’ll have to fly around; dinner time always gains on me, someway.”

“Do you know anything special I could do to please Miss Pomeroy?” asked Polly, wistfully. “She’s being so good to me.”

“Let’s see,” said Arctura, meditatively. “Why, of course, she wants you to enjoy yourself. I expect she’d be pleased to see you take notice of things like the old shells and so on, and there’s the books; Bobby admired to read, and she always said Eleanor was quite a hand for stories, too. And you could go to walk with her, pleasant days, same as Bobby did last winter. And she’d be glad to see you relish your food.”

“Oh, I do, Miss Arctura,” cried Polly. “I do, every single bite I take!”

“Well now, that’s good news,” said Miss Green, comfortably. “I can’t think of anything else; you do all right so far as I know. I wouldn’t worry, but just do my best every day as things come along. Now we’ll take a look at those cakes.”

“She didn’t say a word about playing or running round,” thought Polly, as Arctura rose to open the oven doors; “of course, she thinks I’m too big now for those things, just as Mrs. Manser said. There’s a girl in the village that’s most twelve, and she plays with a dolly, for I’ve seen her. But she belonged to somebody, and that’s different, I guess, from when you’re going to be adopted.”

Polly’s lips seemed inclined to quiver for a moment, but then her cakes—the dozen golden brown cakes—were lifted from the oven and set on the table, and in the rush of delight, at seeing the delicate tops puffed up above the edges of the tins, the quiver changed to a smile.

“Arctura says you are a born cook,” said Miss Pomeroy at dinner time, “and she has requested the pleasure of your company tomorrow morning when she makes the pies.”

Polly dimpled with pleasure; she was eating steadily, just as much as she could. Miss Pomeroy noticed her increased appetite with agreeable surprise.

“Miss Arctura was very, very kind to me,” said the little girl, sedately, “and I had a beautiful time, and Miss Arctura said if the minister—the supply minister, that’s nothing more or less than a bashful boy, according to her ideas—came to dinner Sunday, she should set four of my cakes along with four of hers on the table for dessert with the pudding.”

Miss Pomeroy suppressed an inclination to laugh, and told Polly she had understood from Arctura that the cakes were a great success.

“But the minister is not a boy, my dear,” she added; “you must not always take what Arctura says word for word. She used to call me her little girl until I was more than thirty years old.”

Then Miss Pomeroy and Polly had a laugh together, though Polly could not help feeling that Arctura was very brave indeed ever to have called the tall mistress of Pomeroy Oaks her little girl.

After dinner came the two naps, or at least Miss Pomeroy’s nap and Polly’s hour on the bed. Yesterday’s experience had taught Polly that an hour’s nap would be considered enough for her, so at the end of that time she got off the bed softly, and after making herself tidy for the rest of the day, she stole softly downstairs. It was a mild afternoon, and the big front door had been half opened so that the spring air might blow through the screen.

“Of course, if she asks me if I’ve been asleep, I shall have to say no,” said Polly, looking a little bit troubled as she stood at the door, “but I don’t believe she will ask me. Of course, big girls that want to be adopted can learn to go to sleep in the day-time, just as grand grown-up folks do, and I shall learn as soon as ever I can.”