anna raced back along the path to the bluff as fast as she could go; but the strong wind swept against her, and at times nearly blew her over. the rain came down in torrents; and, as it had grown dark with the approaching storm, she could no longer see her way clearly, and stubbed her toes against roots and stones until her feet were hurt and bleeding.
but she could not stop to think of this: she could think only of melvina, cowering, wet and afraid, under the juniper bushes.
“perhaps she will be blown down the slope into the river,” thought anna, “and it will be my fault. perhaps i have killed melvina, by trying to make myself out as cleverer than she. oh! if she is only safe i’ll never try to be clever again,” she vowed, as she fought her way on against wind and rain.
as she reached the top of the bluff there was46 a moment’s lull in the storm, and anna could clearly see the wide branched juniper bushes where she had left melvina.
“melly! melly!” she called, scrambling down the slope. but there was no answer; and in a moment anna realized that melvina was not under the trees.
the storm began again with even greater violence, and anna was obliged to cling closely to the rough branches to keep from being swept down the slope. she could hear the dash of the waves on the shore, and she trembled at the thought that melvina might have been swept down into the angry waters.
after a little anna, on her hands and knees, crawled up the slope, clinging to bits of grass here and there, and not venturing to stand upright until she had reached the top.
she knew what she must do now, and she did not hesitate. she must go straight to mr. lyon’s house and tell him the story from the moment that she had told melvina that pine trees were alders. for a moment she wondered what would become of her afterward; but only for a moment did she think of herself.
it seemed to the little girl that she would never47 reach the minister’s house. for a moment she rested in the shelter of the church, and then dragged herself on. her feet hurt so badly now that it was all she could do to walk.
there were lights to be seen, up-stairs and down, at the parsonage; but anna did not wonder at this. she managed to reach the front door and to lift the knocker.
in a moment london opened the door, holding a candle above his head.
“well, boy, who be ye?” he questioned sharply, seeing only anna’s curly brown head.
“if you please, i am anna weston,” faltered the little girl. “i—i—must see the minister. it’s about melvina.”
a smile showed on the black face, and london nodded his head.
“missy melvina am safe in bed,” he whispered, then in a louder tone, “step in, if ye please, missy anna.”
anna dragged herself up the high step, and mr. lyon just then opened a door leading into his study.
“what is it, london?” he questioned, and seeing anna, lifted his hands in amazement.
anna stumbled toward him.48
“i am to blame about melvina!” she exclaimed, and, speaking as quickly as she could, she told the whole story. she told it exactly as it had happened, excepting luretta’s part of the mischief, and melvina’s willingness to wade in the creeping tide.
mr. lyon had taken her by the hand and led her into the candle-lit room. a little fire blazed on the brick hearth, and as anna came near it a little mist of steam rose from her wet clothes.
the minister listened, keeping anna’s cold little hand fast in his friendly clasp. his face was very grave, and when she finished with: “is melvina safe? london said she was. but, oh, mr. lyon, all her fine clothes are swept away, and it is my fault,” he smiled down at her troubled face.
“be in no further alarm, my child. but come with me, for your feet are cut and bruised, and mrs. lyon will give you dry clothing. melvina does not blame you in her story of this mischievous prank. but i doubt not you are both blameworthy. but ’twill be your parents’ duty to see to thy punishment.” as the minister spoke he drew her toward a door at the far end of the room and opened it, calling for mrs. lyon, who49 rose from her seat near a low table in front of the big kitchen fireplace.
all anna’s courage had vanished. she hung her head, not daring to look at mrs. lyon, saying:
“i must go home. i must not stay.”
“london is at your father’s house ere this, and will tell him that you are to spend the night here. they will not be anxious about you,” said mrs. lyon; “and now slip out of those wet garments. i have warm water to bathe your feet,” and almost before anna realized what was happening she found herself in a warm flannel wrapper, her bruised feet bathed and wrapped in comforting bandages, and a bowl of hot milk and corn bread on the little table beside her. when this was finished mrs. lyon led the little girl to a tiny chamber at the head of the stairs. a big bedstead seemed nearly to fill the room.
“say your prayers, anna,” said mrs. lyon, and without another word she left the little girl alone. anna was so thoroughly tired out that even the strange dark room did not prevent her from going to sleep, and when she awoke the tiny room was full of sunshine; she could hear robins singing in the maples near the house, and people50 moving about down-stairs. then she sat up in bed with a little shiver of apprehension.
what would the minister and mrs. lyon and melvina say to her? perhaps none of them would even speak to her. she had never been so unhappy in her life as she was at that moment. she slipped out of bed; but the moment her feet touched the floor she cried out with pain. for they were bruised and sore.
there was a quick rap at the door, and mrs. lyon entered. “good-morning, anna. here are your clothes. i have pressed them. and i suppose these are your shoes and stockings!” and she set down the stout shoes and the knit stockings that anna had supposed had been swept out to sea.
“when you are dressed come to the kitchen and your breakfast will be ready,” said mrs. lyon, and left the room before anna had courage to speak. anna dressed quickly; but in spite of her endeavors she could not get on her shoes. her feet hurt her too badly to take off the bandages; she drew her stockings on with some difficulty, and shoes in hand went slowly down the steep stairs.
when she was nearly down she heard mrs.51 lyon’s voice: “she is a mischievous child, and her parents encourage her. she looks like a boy, and i do not want melvina to have aught to do with her.”
anna drew a quick breath. she would not go into the kitchen and face people who thought so unkindly of her. “i will go home,” she thought, ready to cry with the pain from her feet, and her unhappy thoughts. the front door was wide open. there was no trace of the storm of the previous night, and anna made her way softly across the entry and down the steps. every step hurt, but she hurried along and had reached the church when she gave a little cry of delight, for her father was coming up the path.
“well, here’s my danna safe and sound,” he exclaimed, picking her up in his arms. “and what has happened to her little feet?” he asked, as he carried her on toward home.
and then anna told all her sad story again, even to the words she had overheard mrs. lyon say.
“don’t worry, danna! i’d rather have my dan than a dozen of their melvinas,” said mr. weston quickly.
when london had come the previous night52 with the brief message from the minister that anna was safe at his house and would stay the night there, the westons had been vexed and troubled, and mrs. weston had declared that anna should be punished for running off in such a tempest to the minister’s house. but as mr. weston listened to his little daughter’s story, and looked at her troubled and tear-stained face, he decided that anna had had a lesson that she would remember, and needed comforting more than punishment; and a few whispered words to mrs. weston, as he set anna down in the big wooden rocker, made anna’s mother put her arms tenderly about her little daughter and say kindly:
“mother’s glad enough to have her danna home again. and now let’s look at those feet.”
rebby came running with a bowl of hot porridge, and the little girl was made as comfortable as possible. but all that morning she sat in the big chair with her feet on a cushion in a smaller chair, and she told her mother and rebby all the story of her adventures; and when rebby laughed at melvina’s not knowing an alder from a pine danna smiled a little. but mrs. weston was very sober, although she said no word of53 blame. if melvina lyon’s things had been lost it would be but right that anna’s parents should replace them to the best of their ability, and this would be a serious expense for the little household.
after dinner rebby went to the fosters’, and came home with the story of melvina’s return home. it seemed that the moment anna left her she became frightened and had followed her up the slope; and then, while mr. lyon and london were searching for her, she had made her way home, told her story, and had been put to bed. luretta had carried melvina’s things and anna’s shoes and stockings well up the shore, and had put them under the curving roots of the oak tree; so, although they were well soaked, they were not blown away, and early that morning luretta had hastened to carry the things to the parsonage.
“you were brave, dan, to go through all that storm last night to tell the minister,” said rebby, as she drew a footstool near her sister’s chair and sat down. rebby was not so troubled to-day; for her father had postponed his trip to the forest after the liberty tree, and rebby hoped that perhaps it would not be necessary that one should be set up in machias. so she was ready to keep54 her little sister company, and try to make her forget the troubles of her adventures.
“of course i had to go, rebby,” anna responded seriously, “but none of it, not even my feet, hurt so bad as what mrs. lyon said about me. for i do not think i am what she said,” and anna began to cry.
“father says you are the bravest child in the settlement; and mother is proud that you went straight there and took all the blame. and i am sure that no other girl is so dear as my danna,” declared rebby loyally. “after all, what harm did you do?”
but anna was not so easily comforted. “i tried to make fun of melly for not knowing anything. i tried to show off,” she said, “and now probably she will never want to see me again; and oh, rebby! the worst of it all is that melvina is just as brave as she can be, and i like her!” and anna’s brown eyes brightened at the remembrance of melvina’s enjoyment of their sport together.
“don’t you worry, danna; father will make it all right,” rebecca assured her; for rebecca thought that her father could smooth out all the difficult places.55
anna did not speak of the excursion to the forest; she did not even think of it until that evening, when her father came home with a roll of fine birch-bark, soft and smooth as paper, on whose smooth surface she and rebecca with bits of charcoal could trace crude pictures of trees and indians, of birds and mice, and sometimes write letters to lucia horton or luretta foster.
“you must take good care of your feet, dan, for i must start after the liberty tree in a few days,” said mr. weston, “and i want your company.”
anna’s face brightened, but rebecca looked troubled.
“why must we have a liberty pole, father?” she asked fretfully.
“we have good reasons, daughter. and to-day tidings have come that the brave men of lexington and concord, in massachusetts, drove the british back to boston on the nineteenth of april. ’tis great news for all the colonies. i wish some british craft would give machias men a chance to show their mettle,” said mr. weston, his face flushing at the thought of the patriotic action of the men of massachusetts.
rebecca sighed. she, too, wished that her56 home town might do its part to win a victory for america; but, remembering what lucia horton had told her, the very mention of a liberty pole made her tremble.
when anna hobbled up-stairs that night she was in a much happier frame of mind.
“my father is the best father in all the world, and my mother is the best mother, and my sister is the best sister,” she announced to the little group as she said good-night. but the shadow of mrs. lyon’s disapproval was not forgotten; anna wondered to herself if there was not some way by which she could win the approval of mr. and mrs. lyon, and so be allowed to become melvina’s friend.
“mrs. lyon doesn’t like me because my hair is short, for one reason,” thought anna. “i’ll let it grow; but ’twill take years and years,” and with this discouraging thought her eyes closed, and she forgot her troubles in sleep.
