A Little Maid of Old Maine Part 5

"I wasn't punished," Anna responded meekly.

"I was. I was sent to bed without my supper for three nights; and I had to learn two tables of figures," declared Melvina triumphantly. "But I didn't care. For I have a splendid plan----" But before Melvina could say another word the kitchen door opened and Mrs. Lyon entered.

At first she did not recognize Anna, and smiled pleasantly at the neat, quiet little girl in the pretty dress and sunbonnet. "And who is this little maid?" she asked.

"I am Anna Western," Anna replied quickly, making a clumsy curtsy.

Mrs. Lyon's smile vanished. She thought to herself that Anna had taken advantage of her absence to steal into the house, perhaps to entice Melvina for some rough game out-of-doors.

"I came to call," Anna continued bravely, her voice faltering a little.

"I wanted to say I was sorry for being mischievous."

Mrs. Lyon's face softened, and she noticed approvingly that Anna's short curly locks were covered by the sunbonnet, and that she was dressed in her best; but she was still a little doubtful.

"Well, Anna, I am glad indeed that you are so right-minded. It is most proper that you should be sorry. I doubt not that your good parents punished you severely for your fault," said Mrs. Lyon. But she did not ask Anna to sit down, or to remove her sunbonnet. Melvina looked from Anna to her mother, not knowing what to say.

"I think I must go now," said Anna, almost ready to cry. "Good-bye, Melvina; good-afternoon, Mrs. Lyon," and making another awkward curtsy Anna turned toward the door.

"Oh, Danna! Don't go," called Melvina, running toward her; but Mrs.

Lyon's firm hand held her back.

"Good-afternoon, Anna! I hope you will grow into a good and obedient girl," she said kindly.

Anna's tears now came thick and fast. She could hardly see the path as she stumbled along. But if she could have heard Melvina's words as her mother held her back from the kitchen door, she would have felt that her visit had been worth while. For Melvina had exclaimed, greatly to Mrs.

Lyon's dismay: "Oh, Mother! Ask her to come again. For I want to be exactly like Danna, and do all the things she does."

Luretta Foster, coming down the path, stopped short and stared at Anna in amazement. It was surprising enough to see Anna dressed as if ready for church, but to see her in tears was almost unbelievable.

"What is the matter, Danna?" she asked, coming close to her little friend's side, and endeavoring to peer under the sunbonnet. "Would not your father let you go with him to the forest?"

Anna made no answer, and when Luretta put a friendly arm about her shoulders, she drew a little away.

"Do not cry, Dan. My brother Paul has gone to the forest with your father, and he promised to bring me home a rabbit to tame for a pet. I will give it to you, Dan," said Luretta.

For a moment Anna forgot her troubles. "Will you, truly, Luretta?" and she pushed back her sunbonnet that she might see her friend more clearly.

"Yes, I will. And I will give you a nice box with slats across the top, and a little door at the end that Paul made yesterday for the rabbit to live in," Luretta promised generously. "I do not suppose Melvina Lyon would know a rabbit from a wolf," she continued laughingly, quite sure that Anna would suggest asking Melvina to come and see their tame wolf.

But Anna did nothing of the sort.

"Melvina knows more than any girl in this settlement," Anna replied quickly. "She can do sums in fractions, and she can embroider, and make cakes. And she is brave, too."

"Why, Dan Weston! And only last week you made fun of her, and said that all those things were of no account," exclaimed Luretta.

For a moment the two little friends walked on in silence, and then Anna spoke.

"Luretta, I'll tell you something. I am going to try to be exactly like Melvina Lyon. Everybody praises her, and your mother and mine are always saying that she is well-behaved. And I am going to let my hair grow long and be well-behaved. But don't tell anyone," Anna added quickly, "for I want Mrs. Lyon to find it out first of all."

"Oh, Dan! And won't you make funny rhymes any more? Or play on the timber-rafts--or--or--anything?" asked Luretta.

"I don't believe there is any harm in making rhymes. It's something you can't help," responded Anna thoughtfully. "And Parson Lyon has written a book," she added quickly, as if that in some way justified her jingles.

"I don't want you to be different, Dan!" declared Luretta.

Anna stopped and looked at her friend reproachfully. "Well, Luretta Foster, I am surprised!" she said, and then clasping Luretta's hand she started to run down the path, saying: "Let's hurry, so I can take off this dress; then we will walk a little way toward the forest to see if Father and Paul are coming. Will you truly; give me the rabbit if Paul captures one?"

"Yes, I will," promised Luretta; but she began to wish that she had not suggested such a thing. If Danna was going to be exactly like Melvina Lyon, thought Luretta, a rabbit would not receive much attention.

Rebecca was sitting on the front step busy with her knitting as the two little girls came up the path. It was her birthday, but so far no one had seemed to remember it. The _Polly_ had not reached port, so the fine present she had been promised could not be expected. But Rebecca was surprised and disappointed that everyone had seemed to forget that she was fourteen on the tenth of May. But as she looked up and saw Anna dressed in her best, and Luretta beside her, coming up the path, Rebby's face brightened. "I do believe Mother has planned a surprise for me,"

she thought happily. "Oh, there comes Lucia! Now I am sure that Mother has asked her to come, and perhaps some of the other girls," and Rebecca put down her knitting and stood up, smiling at the girls expectantly, for she was quite sure that their first words would be a birthday greeting.

At that moment Mrs. Weston, busy in her kitchen, remembered suddenly that it was September tenth. "My Rebby's birthday! And, with my mind full of all the worry about being shut off from the world by British cruisers, and provisions growing so scarce, I had forgotten," and Mrs.

Weston left her work and reached the front door just as Rebecca rose to her feet to greet her friends.

"Fourteen to-day, Rebby dear," said Mrs. Weston, putting her arm about her tall daughter and kissing Rebecca.

At the same moment, hearing her mother's words, Anna ran forward calling out: "Rebby is fourteen to-day."

Luretta and Lucia were close behind her, and Rebecca found herself the centre of a smiling happy group, and for the moment quite forgot that she must do without the present from Boston that her father had promised her.

CHAPTER VI

LUCIA HAS A PLAN

"I have brought you a birthday gift, Rebby," said Lucia, who had been looking forward all day to the moment when she could give her friend the small package that she now handed her.

Rebecca received it smilingly, and quickly unwound the white tissue paper in which it was wrapped, showing a flat white box. Inside this box lay a pair of white silk mitts.

Rebecca looked at them admiringly, and even Mrs. Weston declared that very few girls could hope for a daintier gift; while Anna and Luretta urged Rebecca to try them on at once, which she was quite ready to do.

They fitted exactly, and Lucia was as proud and happy as Rebecca herself that her gift was so praised and appreciated.

"They came from France," she said. "Look on the box, Rebby, and you will see 'Paris, France.' My father bought them of a Boston merchant, and I have a pair for myself."

"Are any more girls coming, Mother?" Rebecca asked as Mrs. Weston led the way to the living-room.

"No, my dear. And I only----" Mrs. Weston hesitated. She had started to say that she had only remembered Rebecca's birthday a few moments earlier; but she stopped in time, knowing it would cloud the afternoon's pleasure; and Rebecca, smiling and delighted with Lucia's gift, and sure that her mother had some treat ready for them, exclaimed:

"I do not mind now so much that the _Polly_ has not arrived; for I could have no gift finer than a pair of silk mitts."

Anna had taken off her sunbonnet and was sitting on one of the low rush-bottomed chairs near a window. She was very quiet, reproaching herself in her thoughts that she had no gift for her sister. What could she give her? For little girls in revolutionary times, especially those in remote villages, had very few possessions of their own, and Anna had no valued treasure that might make a present. If she had remembered in time, she thought, she would have asked her mother to help her make a needle-book.

Suddenly she jumped up and ran across the room and kissed her sister, first on one cheek and then on the other, saying:

"If I had golden beads in strings, I'd give you these, and other things.

But Rebby, dear, I've only this To give to-day: a birthday kiss."