it was with difficulty that ellen refrained from pouring forth the next morning the eager question, are we going? and that she might not yield to the temptation she jabbered away while she was helping with breakfast, and gave a detailed account of the doings of the night before. once in a while miss rindy gave her a quizzical look, but made no reference to the matter of such great interest to both of them.
they had just risen from the table when in rushed mabel. “i couldn’t wait another minute,” she cried breathlessly. then dropping on her knees at miss rindy’s feet and clasping her hands pleadingly, she exclaimed, “please, dear, good lady, don’t keep me in suspense any longer. tell me that you’re not going to turn me down, but that you are going.”
“going? where?” answered miss rindy teasingly with the same quizzical smile she had given ellen.
“to beatty’s island.”
“oh, that’s the name of the place you were talking about yesterday, is it?”
“didn’t i tell you?” mabel was still on her knees. “i sha’n’t get up till you say you are going,” she continued.
“it would be too bad to allow you to endure such a penance, so——” miss rindy paused and continued to smile down on the supplicant.
“so—so——” mabel waited a moment expectantly. “you are going, aren’t you?” she said at last.
and miss rindy answered, “i are, you are, we are.”
up sprang mabel to give her a violent hug. “you dear, dear thing!” she exclaimed.
“here, here, look out,” cried miss rindy. “i don’t allow such demonstrations.”
“i must do something to express my joy,” said mabel. “‘my heart with rapture thrills, and dances with the daffodils.’ be a daffodil, ellen.” she caught ellen around the waist and the two went off in a wild dance, scaring wipers out of his wits, and causing miss rindy to cry out, “if this is the way you two are going to behave, i’ll take back what i said and will stay at home.”
“i’ll be good, indeed i will,” promised mabel, dropping into a chair and folding her hands meekly.
“then let’s talk business,” returned miss rindy, herself taking a seat. “you spoke of taking a cook along. would it be possible to engage one of your grandmother’s servants? if her house is to be closed, it might be a good idea.”
mabel shook her head. “wouldn’t do at all. they are all so high and mighty that any one of them would leave on the first boat. they would scorn a simple way of living, and would require all sorts of things that beatty’s island doesn’t furnish. no, no, we must have a different sort.”
“why not beulah?” ellen spoke up. “she is a nice comfortable kind, used to our ways, and i believe she would be willing to go.”
“where is she? where is she?” asked mabel eagerly.
“she’ll be along after a while; she is not one given to undue haste, but she gets there in course of time. slow and steady wins the race, you know. she is no sylph, and large bodies move slowly.”
“i don’t care how big she is, so she does our work, is a good cook, and is clean and honest.”
“she is all that. her chief fault is an overgrown idea of her own importance, but cousin rindy knows how to manage her, and it would be all right if we could induce her to go.”
“and stay,” put in miss rindy grimly.
the upshot of the matter was that beulah consented to go, though not without some demur. “it terrible fur off, ain’t it?” she protested. “are it crost dem waters where you went to tend de sojers, miss rindy?”
“o dear, no,” miss rindy reassured her. “i was days in crossing, and here we shall leave one afternoon and get there the next day at noon, miss wickham tells us.”
“where we stays at night?”
“on the train if we go by rail; on the boat if we go by water.”
beulah considered this, and mabel struck in with the conciliatory question, “which way would you rather go, beulah?”
“she will go the way we do unless she prefers to go up alone, in which case she can choose her own route,” said miss rindy severely.
beulah’s feathers drooped at once. “’deed, miss rindy, i skeered to go all dat long ways by mahse’f; i goes when yuh does, an’ trabbles de same. dat is,” she continued, her dignity again rising, “if so be i does go.”
“you know you’re going, beulah,” said miss rindy decidedly. “you wouldn’t throw away such a good chance as this. of course you’re going.”
“yas’m, i ’specs i is,” replied beulah meekly.
so that matter was settled, though beulah changed her mind more than once before june. “she teeters up and down like a seesaw,” declared miss rindy. “i don’t believe she has a notion of not going; it is only that she wants to impress us with her importance. i’ll fix her.”
and fix her she did, for one morning when beulah was declaring that she didn’t know after all that she would go,—it was so far,—miss rindy turned upon her. “now, look here, beulah,” she said, “i’ve had enough of this will and won’t. you’ve got to make up your mind this very minute or i’ll write to miss wickham and tell her to put an advertisement for a cook in the baltimore papers. no fear that she won’t get plenty of answers. no more nonsense, you understand. now, which is it, go or stay?” miss rindy fixed her with a glittering eye.
beulah fumbled with the edge of her apron, turning her head this way and that. “yuh so up an’ down, miss rindy,” she made complaint. “i nuver see anybody with such millingtary ways. i ’specs yuh learns ’em whilst yuh was follerin’ eroun’ dem sojers. it’s jes’ lak yuh stands me up aginst a wall an’ says, ‘shoot!’”
“shoot!” cried miss rindy so suddenly that beulah gave an elephantine jump.
“law, miss rindy,” she cried, “yuh skeers me outen a year’s growth.”
“maybe that would be a good thing to do, if it affected your girth,” returned miss rindy laughing. “now, look here, beulah, you know that you’re nothing but a poor worm; that hymn you were singing this morning says so, and the way you crawl anybody would know it was true. we’re willing to take you with us, worm though you be, but if you don’t want to go, just say so at once without any more shilly-shallying, but i shall have my opinion of you, and it won’t be only a worm that i shall call you to your class leader. you gave me your word that you were going, and you know what happens to those that don’t speak the truth; if you don’t know, just look in revelation, twenty-first chapter, twenty-seventh verse.”
“law, miss rindy, yuh sho does skeer me; yuh wuss’n de preacher.”
“i’m glad of it; you need some one to be.”
beulah stood, still fingering her apron. presently she asked, “which a-way yuh is goin’, miss rindy?”
“the quickest way, i think. we can take the hell gate route and reach portland early in the morning.” miss rindy’s lips twitched as she said this.
“den i stays. i don’t go no such way. no, ma’am, it’s too dangersome. i don’t keer what the preacher say. i doesn’t trus’ mah body near no hell gate.”
miss rindy laughed. “you are a silly creature, beulah; that’s only the name of what used to be a dangerous spot in the east river. it is perfectly safe. you’ll be on the train, and won’t know when you get there.”
however it required a deal of explanation to convince beulah, but finally she gave in, and later in the day was inspired to sing with great earnestness, “the gospel train are comin’; i hears it close to han’.”
in the meantime ellen had made known to her various friends that she was to be mabel wickham’s guest for the summer.
“it will be perfectly lovely for you, but very sorrowful for me,” sighed caro. however, she did not delay in spreading the news, specially delighting in giving the information to florence ives.
“ain’t it a shame she didn’t stay long enough for me to give her a tea?” said florence. “then she might have invited me, too. i suppose it’s to bar harbor they go. i wisht we could take a cottage there, but papa says it’s too highbrow for him.”
caro did not enlighten her further, though later on frank did, and when she learned the location of mabel’s cottage her desire toward maine was considerably lessened. “no wonder she was willing to invite ellen to a stupid little place like that,” she scoffed. “i know i wouldn’t want to go, and i’m glad i’m not invited.”
“you needn’t be afraid that you’d have a chance to turn down any invitation of miss wickham’s,” returned frank scornfully. “she doesn’t run with girls of your type.”
“pff!” ejaculated florence loftily. “i reckon i’m good enough to go wherever you go, and anyway it is a nice way you have of speaking of your sister.”
“we may be nouveau riche, but i hope i’m neither a grafter nor a toady,” replied frank, a remark which made no impression whatever upon florence, but which in the future gave frank some hours of indecision in his effort to stand up for his principles.
most of ellen’s friends rejoiced with her, however, chief among them being jeremy todd and dr. rowe. “it will do you a world of good, both you and rindy,” said the latter. “i couldn’t have recommended a better plan.”
and so when the time came ellen started off with a light heart. by this time miss rindy was able to get around with the use of only a cane, and was able to take her usual dominant place in the household. the neighbors promised to look after wipers, and everything seemed to be in readiness the morning of the start. but where was beulah?
“now isn’t that just like her?” exclaimed miss rindy, who had been fuming and fretting for the past hour. “i suppose she thinks the train will wait for her, she’s that important.”
“there’s plenty of time yet,” ellen tried to soothe her.
“there may be, but one can never tell what delays may crop up. i’d rather be half an hour too early than one minute too late.”
they were standing on the porch, the door locked and the key in ellen’s hand, ready to be delivered into jeremy todd’s keeping, when they saw beulah lumbering up the street and laden down with various equipments for the journey. her fellow-travellers hurried down to the gate to meet her. “i don’t know why i didn’t tell her to meet us at the railway station,” complained miss rindy; “it would have saved time. hurry up, beulah,” she called out.
“’deed, miss rindy, i comin’ fas’ as i kin,” responded beulah breathlessly. “i so borned down with all dese yere bun’les an’ bags.”
miss rindy looked aghast as she saw what beulah carried: a dilapidated suit-case, bursting at corners and tied up with various assortments of string, a discarded cover of a sofa pillow, tied around the top to make a bag, various heterogeneous newspaper bundles of different shapes and sizes kept together by strips of muslin, the string having given out, and, last, a paper bag containing, supposedly, a hat which was secured to beulah’s sleeve by a large safety-pin.
“my fathers, beulah!” exclaimed miss rindy. “you can’t travel all the way to maine with that collection. why didn’t you put them all in one bag or trunk?”
“didn’t have nothin’ but dis yere suit-case, an’ dey wasn’t no papers big enough to pack uverthing in.”
“well, why didn’t you send some of the stuff by parcel post?”
“i don’ trus’ my bes’ clothes to no mail bag. i sees how dey flings ’em eroun’.”
“you might have worn the hat, at least.”
“w’ar mah bes’ hat in dem dirty cyars? um-um! why, miss rindy, it trim’ with pink roses an’ white gauzy ribbon, an’ yuh knows what it look lak when we gets dere. i pays two ninety-eight fo’ dat hat, an’ i ain’t spile it for nobody.”
miss rindy hastily consulted her wrist watch. “well, all is i am not going to have us all disgraced when we meet miss wickham in new york. open the door, ellen. no, i’ll go. you come with me, beulah. there is an old steamer trunk in the attic, and into that these things must go, train or no train. run on ahead, ellen, and see if you can get mike reilly to come after the trunk. don’t lose a minute; we may be able to make the train yet.”
ellen started off at a run, and did not stop when she heard some one behind her shouting her name, but she came to a halt when an automobile drew up to the sidewalk and barry dove-hale jumped out.
“i see you are in a hurry,” he said. “hop in and i’ll take you anywhere you want to go.”
ellen scrambled into the car and explained the situation. immediately barry turned his car around. “no use hunting up mike,” he declared. “he is an uncertain quantity unless you order him the day before you want him. we’ll go back, pick up the trunk, and i’ll take the whole outfit down to the station. if the trunk is ready, we can make it. is it a big one?”
“no, only a small steamer trunk.”
“then i can easily manage it.”
“you simply will save our lives,” ellen said fervently. “it came to a question whether we should miss the train or miss taking beulah. we simply couldn’t stand appearing in new york with beulah’s impedimenta.”
mr. hale laughed. “i don’t blame you. just leave the whole business to me and i’ll promise to see you through. i’m used to doing things on short order, as you would find out if you lived at our house.”
he dashed up the stairs, ellen after him, as soon as they reached the house. miss rindy was just locking the trunk, which mr. hale promptly shouldered, and in a few minutes they were at the station, beulah still clinging to the bag which contained her rose-wreathed hat, for this she refused to relinquish. the train was in sight when they reached the platform, so there was little time for good-bys. caro was there to give ellen a parting embrace, frank came to the fore with magazines and a box of candy, to jeremy promptly was handed over the key. with the use of her cane miss rindy nimbly mounted the steps of the car, beulah was boosted after her, and ellen, waving farewells, stood in the doorway as the train moved off. it was fortunate she was there, for at the very last moment mr. hale ran alongside to thrust the check for the trunk into her hand. “just did make it,” he cried, then stood back to make a farewell gesture and they were off.
ellen sank into the seat by her cousin’s side. “what a relief,” she sighed. “it was a close shave, wasn’t it?”
“couldn’t have been much closer. it’s just as i always say, ellen; it is safer to be half an hour too early than one minute too late. if we had not been prompt ourselves, there’s no telling what might have happened. it’s lucky we checked our own trunks yesterday.”
beulah, in serene possession of her hat, sat complacently looking out of the window. from time to time she produced from some obscure pocket some article of food of which she partook with evident enjoyment. first it was a banana, then a ginger snap, next some bread and cheese, an apple, a strip of pink and white candy, then peanuts. to enliven the journey, once in a while she waddled to the water cooler. when the train boy came through she supplied herself with various other comestibles and began all over again. to eat was to live, in beulah’s opinion.
“she’ll probably acquire a larger appetite up in that bracing climate,” ellen whispered to her cousin.
“then let us be thankful that it is miss wickham and not we who will pay the store bills,” replied miss rindy.
they were joined by miss wickham in new york, and by noon the next day were aboard a small steamer which wound its way through a many-islanded bay to a quiet cove, and presently beatty’s island was reached. a tall, stalwart old man with weather-beaten face, shrewd blue eyes, and white chin-whiskers was on the lookout for them. “cap’n belah, cap’n belah,” mabel called, “were you looking for us?”
he strode up to her. “wal, here you be,” he greeted her by saying. “cal’lated you’d get here on this bo-at. got any traps?”
“we have trunks and these hand-bags.”
“i d’know as i can lug the hull passel of you,” he said as he surveyed beulah’s proportions. “i ain’t got any insurance on my kerridge, and i ain’t bought myself an aut’mobile yet.” his eyes twinkled as he said this. “i’ll get sim to fetch up your trunks, and them as is good walkers can go on to the cawtage while i look after the lame and lazy.”
“we’ll walk, miss north and i, for i remember it isn’t far. how are your family, cap’n belah?”
“they’re pretty spry. my woman hove her ankle out a while ago, but she’s getting on pretty good. she done it up in hot molasses and salt and she says it don’t hurt a mite. wal, who’s going to git in first?”
“miss crump,” mabel said promptly. “miss crump, this is cap’n belah simpson, who is going to help us out of all our difficulties.”
cap’n belah grinned and jerked his head toward beulah. “is she one of ’em?” he asked in a stage whisper, but he helped her into the carriage and stowed away the hand luggage while ellen and mabel started up a long flight of stairs, past blossoming lilacs and apple trees, although it was mid-june. a little farther away the road turned and they caught sight of a wide expanse of blue sea, embraced on one side by a curving line of shore, but on the other side stretching out into what seemed limitless space.
“there’s the house!” cried mabel, quickening her steps as two or three gray roofs appeared over the brow of the hill.
“which? which?” questioned ellen eagerly.
“the one nearest the shore to your left.”
they broke into a run and reached the house before cap’n belah and his “kerridge” arrived.
“we have the key to the back door,” announced mabel; “we’ll go in that way.” this they did, and at once entered a small passage which led on one side into the kitchen and on the other to the maid’s room. mabel surveyed the two rooms speculatively. “i pray they may be big enough for beulah,” she remarked. then there came a pounding at the front door, and they went on through the living-room to admit cap’n belah’s load.
