Dorothy's Travels Part 12

"I am so sorry Son isn't here to do the honors of this little picnic. I don't see where he can have gone. His dinner on sh.o.r.e is always such a pleasure to him and besides--I wanted him to meet you all in a private fashion, not as a bugler aboard-ship."

"Maybe--maybe he is--_is_ doing the honors!" said Molly, half choking over the strange remark. "Maybe he's--he can see--he's rather shy, isn't he? The sailor said they called him the 'Bashful Bugler.' But he--he bugles beautifully, especially first calls to meals which a seasick girl can't eat. I--"

Then she stopped abruptly. Mrs. Cook was looking at her with much the same expression Dorothy's mobile face had worn; and again from overhead came that ominous crackle of breaking twigs. Also, a few crushed leaves fluttered to the ground and caused Dorothy to exclaim:

"Must be a pretty big cat to tear things like that. Did you see it? Do you suppose it's a wildcat? Don't they have all sorts of creatures in the Nova Scotia woods? Do you suppose it's wild--"

"It certainly is. It's about the wildest thing I ever met--of its size.

Isn't this pudding delicious? If I was a hungry, a sea-starved cat how angry I should be to be kept out of my share of it just by a couple of girls. Girls are cats' natural enemies. Sometimes girls eat cats--if they're nice, purry, p.u.s.s.y-cats! Some cats have blue eyes, and some--Why, Papa! Are you ready? Going so soon?"

"Yes, dear. I can't wait any longer. I am greatly disappointed in not seeing Melvin again; but possibly he may run up to the station before the train starts. I'll try to be there early. As early as I can, though I have some little affairs here still to attend to. Good-by, Mrs. Cook.

I think the plan we have discussed is the best all round. It will be a test, so to speak. There is nothing like life in the woods together to break down all barriers of shyness or reserve.

"Thank you, cordially, for your hospitality. I haven't enjoyed a dinner so much in many a day. I will see you again, if we return this way, and I will keep you informed of my address if our plan falls through and we have to try some other."

Deeply moved, the little mother began to utter her own profuse thanks; for what the listening girls did not know. But these were promptly suppressed by the Judge's manner of saying:

"Don't do that, yet, my dear lady. Wait and prove Ephraim's words are true. And now good-by again. I had hoped to have you and my sister meet, but our unexpected departure has prevented that until some more fortunate future day."

He raised his hat, bowed profoundly, and walked away; the girls making their adieus and expressing their own thanks for hospitality received in a manner which did credit to Miss Rhinelander's training. Only Molly's cheek burned with an unusual blush, and she did not lift her eyes to Mrs. Cook's as readily and affectionately as Dorothy did.

The latter, indeed, was to receive a rare tribute; for the lady followed her to the street and slipping inside the front door broke from her beautiful Gloxinias a handful of blossoms and gave them to the girl, saying:

"My dear, I'm sure you will appreciate these; and I'm equally sure you and I have much in common. Good-by. May all good things attend you."

Then she kissed the red lips which had impulsively kissed her and watched them all out of sight.

But she did not kiss Molly; and though that young person would not have expected such a caress, she was for an instant jealous of that bestowed upon Dorothy.

The Judge waited for them to join him and taking a hand of each, in his fatherly fashion, remarked:

"I find that sailor's widow a very charming woman and a perfect hostess.

No apologies for what she had to offer, though in her heart a slight regret that it was not of some sort more expensive. A pity Melvin didn't appear. I would have liked to study him in his mother's presence. One can always tell what a boy is by the way he treats his mother; and I wasn't pleased that he so disregarded her call to dinner, because she said he had been there when I knocked and after we had entered the garden itself."

A sudden comprehension of the state of things flashed through Dorothy's mind, and she turned her eyes inquiringly toward Molly, who flushed, hesitated, and finally burst forth:

"He couldn't come, Papa dear, because--because I wouldn't let him! He got caught in the trap of his own horrid bashfulness."

Somehow Molly was no longer giggling, as she had been at intervals ever since they reached the cottage. Things didn't look as "funny" as they had a few minutes before; nor was she pleased to have the Judge stop short on the path and demand:

"Explain yourself, daughter."

"Why it's easy enough. When that Melvin boy, that bugler, saw us coming to that porch he was scared stiff. He just looked at us a second, then scrambled up that lattice-work to the top of that arbor or whatever it is, and--course he had to stay there. That's why I sat down on those steps. Why I wanted my dinner out there. Oh! it was the funniest thing!

A great big boy like him to stay up on such an uncomfortable place just because two girls whom he'll never see again had sat down beneath him.

Of course, he'd have to pa.s.s us to answer his mother's call to dinner; and he'd rather go without that than do it. Oh! it was too funny for words! And when the leaves fell Dolly thought it was the 'cat.' She wondered if it was a 'wildcat,' and I said 'yes, it was wild!' Oh! dear!

I was so amused!"

Dorothy laughed. To her the affair had also its "too funny" side, now that she understood it. But the Judge did not laugh. If he felt any secret amus.e.m.e.nt at the girlish prank he did not betray it in his expression, which was the sternest his daughter had ever seen when bent upon her idolized self.

"Well, Molly, you certainly have distinguished yourself. The joke which might have been harmless under some circ.u.mstances was an abominable rudeness under these. I am ashamed of you. I shall expect you to write a note of apology to Mrs. Cook, before you leave Yarmouth. And as for never seeing Melvin again, let me set you right. I have invited the lad to join us for our entire summer vacation. Understand?"

Alas! She understood but too well. Yet if a bomb had exploded at her feet she could hardly have been more astonished.

CHAPTER VIII

DOROTHY AND THE BASHFUL BUGLER

The main street of pretty Digby runs close to the water. The bluff is crowned by a gra.s.sy sward and a row of well-grown trees, with a driveway between these and the buildings on the further side.

"Oh! how lovely and how different from our own seaside places, with their hot sands, board walks, and cityfied shops. I hope no board walk will ever spoil this charming boulevard!" exclaimed a lady, who stood at a hotel window overlooking Annapolis Basin, on whose sh.o.r.e nestles the little town.

"Yes, Mamma! Aren't you glad you came?" asked Monty Stark, entering the room and joining her at the window.

"I hope I shall be, dear. I'm a little anxious about your friends. I should greatly object, myself, to having people force themselves upon a touring party I had organized. But you must understand, Montmorency, that if I discover the slightest sign of objection to us, I shall go on my own way and you will have to go with me. I--I am not accustomed to being patronized or--no matter. I came to please you, my precious boy, and I hope it will be all right. Let me see if you are quite correct. I suppose the guests wear evening dress for dinner as in other civilized places. Though--it looks more like a country village yonder, than a real watering place."

"But, Mamma, it is a country village. Nothing else, the Judge says. And somehow I feel rather silly in this rig. I saw the Judge a moment ago and he wasn't in evening clothes, but he's a 'brick' all right!"

"Montmorency! How can you use such dreadful expressions?"

"Easy as preaching, _chere Maman_!"

"I'm afraid your a.s.sociates at Brentnor are not all of them as refined and exclusive as I had supposed. I've observed other phrases that I do not like. One of them was, I think, 'Shucks!'"

"Yes, I reckon you did. I didn't catch that from a Brentnor, though, but from Jim Barlow."

"Who is he, pray?"

"Blest if I can tell or he either. He hails from a poorhouse. He was 'bound out' to a woman truck farmer. He's been 'taken up' by Mrs. Cecil Somerset-Calvert, of Baltimore, and lots of other places. A lady that's so rich she has homes in ever so many different parts of the country.

But better than that he's a 'trump,' a life-saver, a scholar, and--a gentleman! One of 'Nature's' you know. Would like to have you meet him because he's my present chum; that is, he would be if--if we lived in the same house and could be. But unfortunately, he has agreed to do 'ch.o.r.es' for a parson in payment for his instruction in Greek and all the 'ologies.' He's off on a tramp now, 'hoofing it,' as he elegantly expresses it, for a vacation. He's taken the parson and a couple of dogs along for company. The parson's a trotting tramper, too. Maybe you've read some of his delightful articles in the magazines. Eh? What? Too much for you, Mamma? Well, never mind. I'll quit now, for there goes the last bell for dinner. Allow me?"

Bowing and offering his arm Monty conducted his richly clad mother toward the dining-room, whither a crowd of tourists were hastening.

These were garbed in any sort of comfortable traveling clothes, the women mostly in white shirt-waists such as Mrs. Stark would have disdained even for morning wear at home. The men looked as if they had just come from a dusty train, a too-fragrant fishing boat, or a rough camp in the woods; and at the foot of the stairs the fashionable Mrs.

Stark paused in a sort of dismay.

For an instant, too, she had an odd feeling as if it were she who had made a mistake, not those groups of merry, hungry holiday-makers, who elbowed one another good naturedly, in order to find a seat at the crowded tables. Mrs. Stark wasn't used to elbowing or being elbowed, and she gathered her silken train in her hand to preserve it from contact with the oil-cloth covered floor of the lobby, while her face gathered an expression of real alarm.

"Why, my dear son! We can't stay here, you know! It is simply impossible to hobn.o.b with such--such queer persons. We must seek another hotel at once. I'll step into that room yonder which is the 'parlor' probably, and you summon the proprietor. I--I am not accustomed to this want of courtesy and--indeed, dear, I am greatly displeased with you. You painted the trip in such glowing colors I--"

"But, Mamma, don't the colors glow? Did you ever see anything in your life lovelier than this glimpse of the Annapolis Basin, with the moonlight on it, the great peaks and cliffs beyond? I'm sorry if you're disappointed but you didn't seem to be up in your room, looking out. As for changing hotels we'd simply 'hop out of the frying pan into the fire,' since this is the best one in the town. Else Judge Breckenridge wouldn't have come here."

"Monty, dear! Such phrases again! Is that another lesson learned from the poorhouse boy?"

"No, indeedy! I caught that from Alfaretta Babc.o.c.k. She of the _retrousse_ nose and simple speech. A royal sort of girl, too, is Alfy; first of the alphabetical Babc.o.c.k sisters. The second is--But come, Mamma. We're in for it and I don't want to go to bed hungry, even if you do. I'm afraid, Mother mine, that there's been too much 'de luxe' in your life and I shall have to reconstruct you."

His mirthful face provoked her to laughter despite her real vexation and fortunately, at that moment, Mrs. Hungerford entered the room and advanced to Mrs. Stark with extended hand and the warmest of greetings.