Polly and Eleanor Part 21

"No, no! Don't bother father. I'll take care of Jeb. You just see that he keeps quiet, to-night, wherever he goes to smoke his pipe."

Innocent Polly then sought for Eleanor, who had been called to the kitchen by Sary. Polly found her giving a plaid ribbon and a corsage nosegay to Sary. But it developed that the maid had higher aspirations than ribbon and flowers.

"Miss Nolla, Ah see'd a figgered dress a-hangin' from the hook in yur room, one day. No one never wears it, an' Ah wuz wonderin' ef it was yur's, er Miss Bob's, er Miss Anne's?"

"Oh, that is a striped dimity that mother must have packed by mistake.

It happens to be one of _hers_, so we hung it back in the corner till we go home again."

"Ah s'pose yur Maw woulden mind much ef she lent it to me fer to-night--eh?" hinted Sary.

"I don't suppose mother will ever think of it again, as it is last year's style, anyway. I'll take the risk of _giving_ it to you, Sary, if you promise never to let Bob know where it went."

"Oh, Ah sh.o.r.e will promise, Miss Nolla! And Ah kin tell you-all Ah'll be the happiest gal in the West, to-night!" Sary said, giggling like a veritable school-girl.

Polly watched her depart with the coveted dress over her arm, then she turned to Eleanor. "All the help are going crazy, it seems to me!"

About half an hour later, Sary was seen stealing from the kitchen door, and tip-toeing over the brick pathway towards the "Second-best" hammock that always swung behind the lilac bushes. It was a nice little retreat for any one wishing to take a nap on a sultry afternoon, but Polly had never known Sary to have a weakness for swinging.

"Do you know, Nolla, if I didn't have to watch for Jeb, I'd just love to follow after Sary and see what she is up to," said Polly to Eleanor, as both girls sat alone on the porch steps.

"Jeb! Why, I saw him come from the barn all dressed up in his church clothes. He turned down the Shrubbery Walk," replied Eleanor.

"Did he have his pipe?" asked Polly, anxiously.

"No, he looked around at every step as if to make sure no one was following him."

"Dear me! I promised John I'd keep my eye on him!" cried Polly, distressed beyond words.

"What's the matter? I can show you where he went," said Eleanor, comfortingly.

So she led Polly to the place where Jeb had left the road and turned down to the shrubbery walk. The two girls walked over the soft sod that gave forth no sound, and quite suddenly came upon a scene that caused Eleanor to crush her handkerchief into her mouth to choke her laughter, while Polly stood speechless.

Sary sat in the hammock, one foot used to propel herself gently back and forth. The newly-acquired striped dress was such a tight fit for her rubicund form, that it cracked ominously every time the wearer took a deep breath. But the short-coming of the two fronts over her ample bosom was camouflaged with the plaid ribbon and many pins. The corsage bouquet was tucked high under her chin where it would show most.

It was not very dark as yet, so the girls could see how dreadfully white Sary seemed to be, and her lips were startlingly crimson. Suddenly Eleanor guessed the truth.

"She's gone and used Bob's powder and rouge! Oh, how funny!"

Then, before either one of the accidental eaves-droppers could say another word, Sary perked her head sideways, like a hen does when it hears a strange sound. She quickly frizzed up her hair by ruffing it backwards, and patted the ribbon on her waist-front, then gently used her foot again to propel the hammock back and forth.

Gradually it dawned upon Polly and Eleanor what all this meant! They could see Jeb coming from behind the lilac bushes, some ten feet away from the swinger. He seemed ill at ease, and loosened his stiff collar, pulled down his vest, and cleared his throat several times.

"Oh, Poll! He's going to propose to the 'widder'!" whispered Eleanor, burying her face in Polly's back to stop the spasm of laughter.

Polly was too hypnotized to reply, or move, and Jeb soon was heard to say: "Sary, Ah c.u.m 'cuz you-all invited me to be compny t'night."

"So Ah did, Jeb. Won't you-all sit in th' hammick beside me?" came from Sary, coyly.

"It broke thru, last season, Sary, an Ah mended it. But Ah ain't sh.o.r.e it'll hol' enny more'n you." However, Jeb moved two or three feet nearer the hammock.

"It's a fine evenin', Jeb," suggested Sary, as seriously as if the weather was the subject uppermost in her mind, just then.

Jeb gazed up and around as if to verify Sary's statement, then admitted, slowly: "Yeh, it 'pears to be fine."

Silence reigned for several moments, then Sary said very sweetly (Eleanor whispered to Polly that she must have had a mouthful of honey), "Ah sh.o.r.e am glad to see you, Jeb. Won't you-all sit down on this stool?"

The girls then saw that Sary had provided the three-legged milk-stool for her visitor. But it was too close to Sary for Jeb's peace of mind.

He reached out very warily and caught hold of one leg of the stool, and pulled it towards him. Then he sat gingerly on the edge of it.

But Sary was determined to carry off a captive that night, or waste all of her ammunition in the attempt.

"Ah jes' loves to swing, but Ah cain't tech the ground easy when Ah'm sittin' back. Would you-all mind swingin' me, Jeb?"

Jeb got up slowly from his stool and took hold of the upper end strands of the hammock. He pulled it back and forth a few times, while Sary smiled alluringly up at him. Then he cleared his throat and began to speak.

"This world was made fur love. Oh, what woul' arth be widdout de flowers of love to parfume our way?" Jeb coughed.

Now this was just the sort of romance Sary had always _dreamed_ of but never heard before, and she sighed heavily as her visitor coughed. If Jeb needed encouragement, she was not the one to disappoint him!

He gave the hammock a strong tug as he began another line. Sary had to catch hold of the edges to prevent herself from being thrown backward.

"Man wuz not made to live alone. Th' Good Book says so. What so glorious ez a sweet bride waitin' t' welcome a man after a hard day's labor? What man is thar what woulden give his wealth of all Crows-see-us fer love?"

Jeb p.r.o.nounced the unfamiliar word very carefully, but Sary had never heard of Croesus, so it mattered not how Jeb said it. But Polly and Eleanor were clasping each other tightly now, to keep from making a sound that would ruin the entertainment.

Again Jeb cleared his throat with difficulty and pulled at the hammock as if he was trying to drag a whale from the deep sea. Sary uttered no complaint, however, even though her neck almost snapped at each sudden jerk. She was wise enough to realize that the momentous time had come for Jeb. He might never again summon courage, if he failed to-night!

Without further warning, then, Jeb began his memorized lines, and as he progressed with the "love sonnet" he unconsciously swung the hammock higher and higher.

"Ef Ah wuzn't sh.o.r.e we-all w'ar made fur each other Ah wooden be ha'r beggin' fur yur heart an' hand."

A long and mighty pull on the hammock almost landed Sary out in the gra.s.s, but she clung like a vise to the hempen ropes.

"Enny one kin see we-all w'ar made fur each other, oh darlin' of mah heart! Soul of mah soul!" Jeb coughed violently as he remembered he was two paragraphs ahead in his speech. Now he couldn't remember what went just before that "soul of my soul!" but he knew the tragic part to perfection, so he skipped all that went before and ended with:

"Ef you-all refuse me, Ah shall end this wretched existence in life widdout love! Oh, beauchus maiden" (strangling as he realized he should have said "widder" and now utterly confounded, he said): "Oh, Sary! be mah widder widdout mah love--NO, Sary, be mah wife widdout my widder.

Oh, Sary, Ah don't know what Ah----"

In his frenzy, Jeb yanked on the hammock so manfully that the mended strands suddenly sundered and Sary was unexpectedly thrown into her suitor's arms.

Such an unforeseen accident, however, found Sary ready with presence of mind to meet the emergency. She flung her powerful arms about Jeb's slender form and smacked him heartily on the lips. The dramatic lover then trembled and gasped for breath. How to get away safely was all he could think of. But Sary, as tenacious in her hold as "ivy on the st.u.r.dy oak," managed to calm her lover's fears.

"Oh, Jeb! _What_ a wooer you-all do make! Ah never dreamed a man could talk so wonderful!" Sary sighed and placed her head down upon Jeb's shoulder.

Now had Jeb accepted this sweet praise and been satisfied therewith, his wooing need not have ended so abruptly, but manlike, he wanted to hear added words of flattery about himself, so he sat down on the three-legged stool, and drew the over-willing Sary upon his knee.

"Ah forgot to say half what is in mah soul, Sary," he began, as his lines came back to him. "Oh, Ah must tell you-all what joy you fill me wid, when you consent to listen to mah cause----"