"what do you think we've decided to do?" cried bob, the instant he got inside the patty-pans door.
"break the umbrella stand," guessed happie, springing forward to catch it as it staggered under too violent impact with bob's foot.
"not a bit of it; that was the inspiration of the moment," he retorted. "we decided on the way up to have a birthday party in the tea room—a washington's birthday party. it's going to be great. we shall have it in the afternoon so all the children can come to it, down to penny. we think it's more suitable to include the young ones, because it occurred to me that george washington was very young when he was born."
"bob, you foolish boy, come back here and tell me about it!" happie called after her brother as he started down the hall.
"can't stop, have to hunt for a clean collar in my bureau under mother's bed, now aunt keren has my other bureau," bob shouted back. "margery'll tell you."
it was bob's delight to pretend to suffer from the invasion of aunt keren, and never to be able to find anything that [194]he wanted because he had bundled his possessions into boxes and slid them under his mother's bed—the latter part of the statement being true. however, bob said that he didn't mind "making his room a burnt offering. aunt keren had done more than that for him," he added, "before she was fired." aunt keren enjoyed bob's fooling. the scollards saw her shoulders shake while she regarded the boy severely through her glasses. it was the cheerful nonsense of the patty-pans crowd that was warding off nervous prostration, mrs. scollard decided.
"margery, what does he mean?" happie demanded, turning to her sister. "perhaps you'd better tell me at dinner, though, for it's all ready, and quite capable of burning itself up while i listen."
"yes, let us get our hats and coats off," said mrs. scollard, who had come home with what happie called "the tea party," that night. so happie ran back to her little kitchen, deferring for a time the satisfaction of her curiosity.
"will you help me off with my coat, auntie keren? and ask mamma to let me keep on my dancing slippers, they're so lovely," sighed penny, who never hesitated to make everybody within her orbit useful. miss keren laughed as she complied with the first part of the request. happie, coming in with a steaming dishful of spaghetti, beautifully white striping its groundwork of tomato sauce, thought that aunt keren did not look cas[195]t-down by the call of the afternoon, nor saddened by her confidence. she looked brighter and better. aunt keren was one of those persons to whom arousing of any sort is beneficial.
"now tell me about the party," happie implored as they gathered around the table.
"i'm afraid i have to confess to its being part of a plot," said margery. "i want to ask young people of all ages and sizes to a washington's birthday party in the tea room—so much bob told in his first——"
"inbursting outburst," bob said for her, as she hesitated.
"thanks, little robin redbreast," said margery sweetly. "i thought we'd play games, make candy—or you would, happie,—on our gas stove there, and have a genuine childish frolic. the feature of the afternoon is to be cutting down the cherry tree. i want a little tree set up in a box—not a real tree, but an artificial one—and everybody is to be blindfolded and given a little hatchet. then they are to be swung around three times, and left to march up to the tree and cut it—or cut at it—once. the hatchet must be left just where it strikes till the person taking charge of the woodmen pins a numbered bit of cloth on the spot. there are to be prizes for the cut nearest a certain mark on the tree, and consolation prizes for the furthest from it—you see it is just the old game of pinning the tail on the donkey, only made what magazine editors call 'a timely article.' do you suppose it will be any [196]fun?"
"of course!" cried happie. "anything is fun when there are enough of the right sort to play it. whom would you ask?"
"your e's," began margery. "i don't know that i'll ask any of the older girls, my friends, but still we might ask one or two. anyone you like——"
"mr. gaston? he's too old," said happie hastily.
"oh, as to too old, i thought we'd ask auntie cam to come down with edith, and aunt keren and mother are asked this moment," said margery blushing. "mr. gaston is fond of simple, jolly times. i suppose we'd better ask him. but—oh, happie, do pay attention, and don't tease! i have a deep—not a dark, but a deep—plot in planning this party. i want little serena to come, and i want her to fancy ralph and snigs. now how can we manage that?"
"ralph is so good to children, and all the little ones like him so much that it would be easy enough, if he didn't know it was serena. but i don't think either of those boys would notice her much if they knew who she was. they'd be afraid of being misunderstood," happie replied promptly.
"that's what i think," sighed margery. "well, all we can do is to try to bring the cousins together. serena is such a lovely little creature that ralph would lose his heart to her in a minute if he didn't keep his hand on it, so to speak."
[197]
"like a pocketbook in the brooklyn bridge crush," suggested bob. "your party's all right, margery, my dear, but your reuniting families and healing feuds isn't going to work."
"i suppose not," agreed margery with another sigh, "but i'd like to set the ball rolling. maybe something would come of it later."
"i think i'll compose something for the party," murmured laura.
"it's a praiseworthy attempt, at least, margery," said aunt keren as they arose from dinner. "happie, just a moment, please."
happie followed miss keren into the hall, wondering. "i didn't want to speak of it before your mother, because she would strain every nerve to do what i desired, or feel grieved if she could not do it," began miss keren. "i am thinking of going up to crestville for a little while. i feel that there is strength for me up there in those mountains, in the bright winter air. do you think they could get on here, if i took you with me?"
"you want me to answer, 'honest true, black and blue,' like the children, aunt keren?" happie asked. "then i'm afraid i can't say yes. because if i were away it would take gretta out of the tea room to look after the patty-pans, and margery could not get on alone down there."
"and laura could not be depended upon?" suggested miss keren.
[198]
"oh, aunt keren, you know laura!" said happie regretfully. "she is so musically undependable! i'm afraid depending on laura would be a good deal like taking the sign of the treble clef and the sign of the bass clef and putting them under one's arms for crutches hoping to walk with them. i wish i could say that i thought they could spare me, for i'd love to go—for the sake of both the keren-happuchs!"
"never mind the elder one, and the younger will have a long summer up there," said miss keren. "i think that i shall go in a few days. rosie gruber is quite able to look after me. run along, child. don't look regretful. i shall be perfectly safe, and shall quite enjoy solitude up there. you know i never had a chance to be in my country house alone, while it was mine. gretta is calling you."
happie ran down the hall, and soon she and gretta were whisking dish cloth and dish towels, happie doing her part in comparative silence while the once reticent gretta gave her the history of the day in the tea room.
margery did not appear. they caught a glimpse of her in another gown, all soft pearl-gray and white, as she went singing into the parlor, and they heard her moving chairs about and giving small touches of added arrangement to the orderly room, which symptoms made happie groan forebodingly.
"yes, there he is!" she exclaimed as the bell rang. "i don't see why he calls here so often. you would suppose that he would think her family might want margery to themselv[199]es occasionally!"
"oh, come, happie! mr. gaston isn't here quite so often as that seems to mean. we do have margery to ourselves a good many nights," said gretta fairly. "i think he's very nice not to mind all of us. up home when a young man calls on a girl the family let her have the room—i mean the parlor"—gretta joined in happie's laughter over this slip of hers into the crestville name for the one significant best room in the farmhouses. "well, up there if a girl has a friend he doesn't expect to call on any one but her. mr. gaston sees almost as much of you and bob and laura as he does of margery. i think he's very nice not to mind, and you ought not to grudge him his small fraction of her—for he likes her very much, miss happie!"
"of course he does. i'm not blind, and i'd shake him if he didn't, though i want to pound him because he does!" said inconsistent happie.
"happie," called margery, as happie tried to slip into her own room unheard, "do come here for a moment and let mr. gaston tell you something delightful!"
"i wonder if he is going away!" thought happie. she was a little bit ashamed, later, to remember her ungraciousness. it was not pleasant to feel one's mind going backward and forward like a shuttlecock between the conviction that for the first time in her life she was unjust and the pang that made justice impossible when she rea[200]lized afresh that this fine young baltimorean would steal away her sister.
"good-evening, andromeda," said robert gaston, rising to greet her by his nickname for her that recalled the dragon-office boy from whom he had rescued her. "faithful little andromeda! housekeeping and nursing all alone these many days! i hope your patient is better?"
"yes, thank you," said happie. "she is going up to the ark for a little while. margery, you didn't know aunt keren told me after dinner that she meant to go up to crestville in a few days to stay there, with rosie to look after her. she thinks she will gain strength, even though it is winter."
"oh, dear me!" shivered margery. then she added: "i'm sure it will do her good. i wish we could all go for a few days. think of those mountains snowclad, and think of sleighing in that bracing air! oh, i wonder—— you don't suppose we could have a party over sunday in the ark while she is there? all of us—and mr. gaston—and close the tea room for a day or two? oh, if we could!"
"it would be good fun," admitted happie. "aunt keren will never think of it, and we couldn't suggest it. i shall be able to help down there again, if aunt keren goes to the country."
"ah, but you haven't heard my plan for a little jollification!" said robert. "andromeda, will you countenance a theatre party? i want to ask mrs. charleford and e[201]dith, your mother, her two elder daughters, bob, the elder of the gordon boys, and—who else? oh, robert gaston,—to see the midsummer night's dream. i want to take two boxes, and get mrs. charleford and mrs. scollard each to chaperon one half our party, and have as good a time as we can. why, let me see—mrs. charleford, edith, two; your mother, you two girls, three; bob, ralph, and myself—eight. why, we can easily take laura and snigs gordon. dear me, i forgot gretta, though she is one of my first thoughts, because in the matter of play-going age counts before musical talent, so gretta has prior claim over laura. but even with her we can ask laura and snigs, for that is only eleven altogether, and we boys can stand up at the back. i want the two lower boxes on the left, if i can get them—but you haven't said whether or not you approve," robert interrupted himself, amusedly watching the rapture in happie's dimpling, tell-tale face which needed no speech to reveal her mind.
"it's a perfectly blissful plan!" she cried. "i never sat in a box in my life, and i always wanted to dreadfully. and i've been crazy to see the midsummer night's dream; i know lots of it by heart. i love that play and the tempest so very much. and we haven't had time—because of the tea room and all, to take gretta about as i meant to. it is a beautiful plan. i'm ever and ever so grateful for my part of it. you really[202] are very kind, mr. gaston."
robert gaston smiled, well pleased. not being in the least dull he had read plainly happie's mental attitude towards him, and he was sincerely sorry for her, thinking that he should not have liked an interloper to come to steal margery away had he been happie, and fully compassionating her foreboding pangs—which showed that margery was not wrong in believing him fine and tender beyond the ordinary.
"it is not kind to be good to oneself, miss andromeda-happie," he said. "will you ask your mother about it? or ask her to let me ask her?"
"yes, i'll tell her that you want to see her," said happie, slipping away. gretta's suggestion that robert gaston might want to read and talk to margery alone oppressed her, in spite of her pleasure in the box party.
when robert gaston left the patty-pans that night he left "three perfected plans promising pleasure," bob said as he shook hands. the tea room party for washington's birthday was decided upon. this came first, as the holiday fell in the ensuing week. then the party for the midsummer night's dream early in the following week! robert confessed that his own birthday followed washington's in four days, and that he should like to keep it by having his party on the 26th, which was tuesday, if he could. as far as the scollards were concerned there was no objection to any date, unless it[203] were to be a distant one, for which laura would have been wholly unable to survive her impatience, and happie was not less eager.
the third party was the crowning joy of that planful evening. whether aunt keren had heard what margery had said about the house party in the ark there was no way of knowing—in patty-pans anything is more likely to be heard than not—but she came into the little parlor in her odd abrupt way just as robert gaston arose to go, saying: "good-evening, mr. gaston. sit down again and help me conspire."
"certainly, with pleasure," said robert amiably. "against whom? i am ready to help you with bomb, plain dynamite, deadly potion, or powder and shot. whomever you want removed, whatever your conspiracy may be, i'm your man, miss bradbury."
"nice boy! i dislike hesitation above most things," said miss bradbury approvingly. "a ready ruffian is such a comfort! i want the entire scollard family removed, also gretta and the gordon boys, and you, too. i have selected steam as the instrument."
"appropriate to flat-dwellers, who are so accustomed to the pounding steam in the radiators that it must have lost much of its terrors," robert replied. "please command me, miss bradbury, and elucidate."
"i am going up to crestville to recuperate—also to sleigh ride—this week. saturday i have decided to go. that will give rosie a chance to clean the house from top to bottom. it would be downright cruelty to deprive rosi[204]e of an excuse to clean. i shall stay till i am tired of solitude and feel stronger. by that time my friends here will be ready to welcome me again. i'm afraid happie will get tired of me, if i don't run away, and it would be like losing our hyphen to have one of the keren-happuchs weary of the other! now, i want a party while i am there. i have talked to the owner of the ark, miss gretta, and she is rather more than willing to let me have my way. the tea room is to be closed from thursday night until tuesday morning. i am sure it will not bankrupt the six maidens, nor divert the business. you are all to go up to crestville on the eight o'clock train on friday morning, march first, and you are to come down again on monday afternoon, on the 1:47. we are to sleigh, skate, build wood fires on our hearth, sing, tell stories, crack nuts, and be generally jolly. we are going to see whether or not gretta is right when she says her country is more beautiful in winter than in summer. and we are going to offer libations to jack frost to send us crackling cold weather, without much wind—even gretta admits the wind up there is formidable—and with plenty of snow. contrary minded?"
miss keren paused for an expression of opinion as to her proposal, and it came without a sign of there being a contrary-minded mind among her hearers.
margery's face lighted up with delight, although she already looked as happy as a girl can be. "auntie keren! you verit[205]able fairy godmother! just what i was saying a while ago that i wished we might do!" she cried.
miss keren checked a tiny smile, and happie looked at her suspiciously. she was quicker than margery to catch clues, and she remembered the excellent acoustics of their little connected rooms.
"sometimes i wonder if fairies aren't just particularly quick people?" she said suggestively. "there's no fear of any one here voting against your proposal, auntie keren, dear."
"no, indeed, miss keren! i never had such a birthday present. i can't say how glad i am to get this invitation," cried robert, with such evident sincerity that margery's bright color deepened. "you'll show me your brook, and don dolor, and your rosie and mahlon, your mountains, your little all-sorts store, everything, won't you, miss margery?"
"how much she has told him and how well he remembers!" thought happie, as margery nodded smilingly. "there's a valley of eden up there, not too far to go to. shall i show you that also?" she asked.
robert had once more arisen to go. he stood looking down at pretty margery smiling up at him. "you do that in spite of yourself," he said.
"auntie keren, you really are a duck!" said happie, putting her arm around the elder keren-happuch's tall, thin figure and conducting her down the hall. "let me take you [206]safely to your room, fairy godmother. you are much too valuable a fairy godmother to go down this long passage alone."
"i am not going to my room, happie," said miss keren as happie paused at what had been bob's door. "i want to talk with your mother in the dining-room a half hour. she is giving laura mathematics, or trying to. mathematics and the artistic temperament seem to have no affinity. it is wonderful that child can count time! you run back to margery and gretta, i don't want you."
"frankness, miss keren-happuch, is admirable, but horrible. i suppose i can't be offended with a fairy godmother, though! only think of going to bed with three, a whole three, good times to dream over! how deliriously happy we are going to be!" happie recklessly squeezed miss keren as she pulled away her arm and faced right about on her summary dismissal. her last vestige of awe of miss keren had vanished. she realized the squeeze herself only when she had almost reached her own door. "it's the fourteenth of february—why, so it is!" happie thought, stopping short at the discovery. "we've been getting valentines. winter must be breaking up, for there's not a trace of ice between aunt keren and me now."
