Those Dale Girls Part 33

"What!" exclaimed the bewildered Hester.

"We are all going down in 'The Hustle' together, Hester," explained Dr.

Ware, while she was made to sit down, Kenneth tucking a cushion under her feet and Julie perching on the arm of her chair. "Julie did not know about 'The Hustle'-that was my surprise for her-but she did know that we meant to go West by the way of Tampa-we settled that last night after you heard from Kenneth-and have you and him go along with us so that we could all see the last of him. Kenneth and the people at Wavertree Hall knew about it. I had to let Kenneth into my secret so he could send his things aboard. Bridget packed your trunks while you were at luncheon and got them off without your knowing it and here we all are, as snug as possible, with Bridget and Peter Snooks to keep us in order."

"Kenneth," said Hester with br.i.m.m.i.n.g eyes but in the old bantering tone which always made them laugh, "how dare you have secrets from your wife?

How dare you! It's a perfectly scandalous beginning!"

"Please, you were not my wife then, and I won't any more," he said penitently. "Will you forgive me, please?"

"I don't understand how you did it," said Julie to her husband, who leaned over the back of the chair on the arm of which she was perching, his head on a level with hers.

"It was not difficult, dear. I had been on the track of 'The Hustle' for some time. I always intended to capture you all sometime and take you off for a vacation in her. That was one of my dreams, but I never mentioned it to certain little girls I knew for fear it would never come true. Early this spring I learned that the car had been relegated to a car shed on a Western road-it was not considered modern enough for use.

So I ordered it on to Radnor, had it overhauled and thought it would be an ideal place for a honeymoon, eh, little wife?"

"Oh! yes," she said shyly.

"And Hester," slipping his hand down over the chair and resting it on her shoulder, "it is your honeymoon, too, dear. I am so glad. And 'The Hustle' is yours as much as it is Julie's. Will you always remember that? Kenneth, old man," with a change of tone, "will you come with me and see that everything is aboard? I hear the train, which means that we shall be picked up and taken on in a few minutes."

Left to themselves, the girls, half-dazed by these astonishing events, wandered slowly about the dear old familiar car, which had suffered scarcely an alteration. Julie felt it was Dr. Ware's exquisite forethought which had kept the interior so nearly as they had left it.

There was the piano at which she had so often played and sang for Daddy and the great leather chair drawn up close in which he had spent many a restful hour listening to her. Over the piano in its old place hung a portrait of her mother and at one end of the car, looking down benignly, hung their favorite picture of their father-the Major in full uniform with that spirited look of action which so distinguished him. Over the picture were crossed two swords, his and the Doctor's; over these higher up was draped Old Glory hanging in splendid folds.

"Miss Nannie and Mr. Renshawe and Jack, they come over this mornin' an'

fixed the flag an' all the flowers you see around everywheres. Jack said to tell you he done the swords. Didn't he get 'em up fine? They had a great time over here all unbeknownst to yez," explained Bridget.

The girls stood hand in hand before the picture. "Oh! Daddy," they whispered, "dear Daddy, help us to be worthy of all this!"

CHAPTER XXIV

They made the run to Tampa in two days. The transports were being loaded with ammunition, provisions and all the paraphernalia of war as they arrived and Kenneth went on board with the last detachment of Rough Riders.

Hester bore up like the brave little soldier she was. There was never a tear, though she clung at the last to Kenneth as if she could not let him go. That was for but a moment. The next she stood erect and smiling on the rear platform of "The Hustle" waving him off. The picture Kenneth carried away with him cheered all the hours of all the days to come. He had only to close his eyes to see a slender girlish figure with head thrown back and radiant, unflinching eyes smiling and smiling into his very heart. And all through the desperate fight before San Juan when the bullets hissed and all was deafening, blinding chaos, rang her last words, "Fight for your country and me-be as brave an officer as Daddy."

At the hotel at San Francisco, when our party reached there, was found an acc.u.mulation of mail forwarded from Radnor for the Doctor. A letter from his sister was read and handed to Julie with a smile.

"My Dear Philip," it began:-"Your letter telling me of your engagement and probable speedy marriage to Julie Dale was no surprise to me. I had always known you were in love with her or you would never have been so idiotically approving of all the crazy things she did. I will say, though, that if you intended to marry you might have done worse. I understand from Mrs. Davis and Jessie, whom I saw last week in London (they have just been presented at Court) that the girls were recognized pretty generally by our set before they went away. Mrs. Lennox must have done some campaigning!

However, people quickly forget things, and all that vulgar cooking may be regarded merely as the freakishness of two headstrong girls.

I hope you will remember that she is headstrong and keep a tight rein over her. As your wife, of course her position in Radnor will be unimpeachable.

"Now that you are to have a housekeeper I shall avail myself of invitations from English friends and remain here into the winter when I shall probably join Lord and Lady Wynne in a trip into Egypt.

I may decide to make England my home. I prefer it to the States and should not under any circ.u.mstances think of returning while that tiresome war is going on.

"The housekeeping keys are in my top bureau drawer, left hand end.

Tell Julie I am most particular that the linen, especially that not in constant use, should be frequently aired, and the blankets must go down on the line in the yard once a week. There are other things which a flighty young person should know and which I shall write her at length later. I hope that dog is not to be allowed the freedom of the house. I shudder to think of it!

"Affectionately, Mary."

Julie laughed gayly when she had finished.

"Poor Miss Ware!" she said, "she still regards us as monsters of iniquity. Am I a headstrong young thing?"

"Of course," quizzically. "Don't you feel the tight rein I hold over you?" taking her face in his hands.

For answer she kissed him, to the embarra.s.sment of Bridget who had knocked unheard and entered the room at that moment.

Julie devoted herself to Hester these days and succeeded in keeping her busy and diverted. Hester's great wish had been to follow Kenneth to Cuba, but she allowed herself to be convinced both by him and the others that it would be an unwise thing to do. She knew no Spanish and nothing of nursing beyond the limited experience she had gained in caring for her father, and it was the season of yellow fever, to which, her vitality having been greatly exhausted by the strain of the previous winter, she would be dangerously susceptible. But the old wish to become a Red Cross nurse was more than ever strong within her and this desire they all encouraged and approved, feeling that if Kenneth were to be long in the field Hester's happiness would lie in being near him and administering to the sick and wounded men. So she plunged into Spanish with an excellent teacher in San Francisco while Dr. Ware brought her books on nursing, gave her practical talks on surgery and promised to get her into a training school for nurses as soon as they returned to Radnor at the end of July.

The newspapers were her solace and despair-they said so little and so much! With heads together she and Julie devoured them, reading every word. The newsboys' cry, "Extra, Extra!" filled her with apprehension.

She had had but one letter from Kenneth, written as they were about to land with General Shafter at Baiquiri. Before there was time to hear again, the papers blazed with the news of the desperate attack on San Juan, and the Rough Riders became the heroes of the nation.

Hester, scanning the paper with wide eyes, searched for the list of dead and wounded. With beating heart her finger went down the line and stopped.

"Landor, Kenneth, Second Lieutenant, Troop-, Roosevelt's Rough Riders, wounded in the thigh."

She lived through the next ten days of suspense like a person in a dream. Her impulse had been to start immediately for Cuba, and Mr.

Landor wrote that he was going down and would take her with them. But Dr. Ware, the far-seeing, advised them both to wait. News would soon come direct from Kenneth and it was probable that he would be sent home on sick leave before they could get down to him. Seeing the wisdom of this, Mr. Landor wired Dr. Ware that he should wait. And Hester waited.

Julie never left her. She buoyed her up night and day with the belief that Kenneth would not die.

The papers in their later and more detailed accounts of the attack and capture of San Juan, spoke in high praise of the daring bravery of Lieutenant Landor who had incited his men to the highest pitch of enthusiasm by his unflinching spirit, which carried everything before him. Later in the official report from General Shafter, Kenneth Landor, wounded before San Juan, was given honorable mention.

Then one day came to Hester a letter in an unknown hand. It was written from the field hospital and told Mrs. Landor that her husband was recovering; that the operation upon his thigh had been successful; that Mr. Landor's cable to send the Lieutenant home had been received and that already at headquarters arrangements were being made to get the wounded who could be moved aboard a transport off by the end of the week. That Landor himself knew nothing of all this, for he was too weak to be consulted, but he, the surgeon, a.s.sured her there was no cause for alarm and he hoped when Mr. Landor was safely home again she would get him well and return him speedily-the troop could not afford to spare for long so gallant an officer.

Hester read this precious doc.u.ment until it was worn to shreds. And Julie and her husband took her back to Radnor as soon as the paper informed them that the transport had started.

Dr. Ware and Hester went together to the dock to meet him. Mr. Landor was too unnerved to leave the house and Julie remained with him, helping him through the tedious hours that intervened between the time when a clerk had telephoned from the office to the house that the transport was sighted down the harbor and the moment when the carriage stopped at the door.

They brought him into his father's house on a stretcher, Hester walking by his side, her hand in his. Weak and wan he was, but smiling, turning from one to the other with a hungry devouring gaze that made his father choke and leave the room.

What a home-coming that was! Very still, lest the invalid be excited, but very impressive, and always to be remembered by those who witnessed it; for hearts spoke through eyes what tongues dared not utter and a suppressed sense of exaltation mingled in their love.

It is a very beautiful thing to have a hero in one's family. So at least thought the Dale girls, even though it was a very refractory hero, who sometimes mutinied and always disavowed any claim to distinction whatever.

Under Dr. Ware's guidance, Hester and Bridget took care of him. He was home on a two-months' sick leave and hoped at the end of that time to rejoin his troop wherever they then might be; but Dr. Ware, though he said nothing, thought it extremely improbable that Kenneth would be sufficiently recovered to go into the field before October. By that time the war might be over. Who could tell?

Mr. Landor sat for hours at a time in the sick room listening quietly while Hester, close to the bed, read the papers to her soldier husband, who never took his eyes off her. And the father did much thinking at that time. His stern repellent nature was softening under the warmth of Hester's sunny presence and more than once she had looked up suddenly to find him gazing at them with misty eyes.

Jack came, too, satisfied to be permitted merely to gaze at his hero.

Now and then, as a mark of high favor, Peter Snooks was allowed to lie on Kenneth's bed. The little rascal seemed to appreciate the privilege and kept very still, sometimes licking Kenneth's hand, as much as to say he knew how to behave in a sick room-had he not spent hours at a time with Major Dale?

Julie was in and out many times a day, doing a thousand little things for the comfort and happiness of the invalid. She and Hester were near neighbors, for the Landor mansion was but two doors down from Dr. Ware's on the water side of Crana Street.

And here in Radnor where they had fought and won so great a victory, "those Dale girls" began a new life.