Read Ebook: Dorothy Dainty's Gay Times by Brooks Amy

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Ebook has 935 lines and 32628 words, and 19 pages

CHAPTER

Down the path came a lovely little girl swinging a skipping-rope

She was reaching down as if to get something

"There! that's another fountain"

"I'll go if you'll promise to bring me back"

Nancy clasped her hands together and gasped, "Oh-o-o!"

THE FIRST DAY AT SCHOOL

The great gateway stood wide open, and through it one could see the fine stone house with its vine-covered balconies, its rare flowers and stately trees.

A light breeze swayed the roses, sending out their perfume in little gusts of sweetness, while across the path the merry sunbeams flickered, like little dancing elves.

Down the path came a lovely little girl, swinging a skipping-rope, and dancing over and under it in perfect time with the song which she was singing.

The sunlight touched her bright curls, making her look like a fairy, and now she skipped backward, and forward, around the circular garden, and back again, only pausing to rest when another little girl ran across the lawn to meet her. She was Dorothy Dainty, the lovely little daughter of the house, and the sprightly, dark-eyed child who now joined her was Nancy Ferris, her dearest playmate.

"Perhaps Arabella will go over to the public school," said Dorothy; "she doesn't have to enter Aunt Charlotte's private class."

It was cool and shady near the wall, and they sat down upon a low seat where the soft breeze fanned their flushed cheeks.

"Indeed I didn't," said Nancy, "and I guess the others will be surprised. You haven't told them yet, have you?"

"I only knew it this morning myself, but I'm eager to tell them," said Dorothy.

"Here's Mollie Merton and Flossie Barnet now," cried Nancy, and, turning, Dorothy saw the two playmates running up the driveway. "Mollie was over at my house," said Flossie, "and we saw you and Nancy just as you ran around the house, and we thought we'd come over."

"And he must begin to go to school this year, and he says he likes girls ever so much better than boys, so he asked if he might go to our school," Dorothy said.

She intended to give a kindly welcome to the new pupil, and she hoped that the others would be friendly.

"How does Jeanette know?" asked Mollie, bluntly.

"Arabella Corryville is to be in our class," said Flossie, "and when I told Uncle Harry he laughed, and asked me if her Aunt Matilda was coming to school with her."

Of course they laughed, and it was Mollie who first spoke.

"Your Uncle Harry is always joking," she said, "and sometimes I can't tell whether he is in earnest, or only saying things just for fun."

"I asked him what he meant," said Flossie, who looked completely puzzled, "and he said that sometimes a man's wits needed sharpening, and that Aunt Matilda would be a regular file. Papa laughed, but mamma said: 'Harry, Harry, you really mustn't,' and he ran up to the music-room whistling 'O dear, what can the matter be?' I can't help laughing even when I don't understand his teasing jokes, he says things in such a funny way, while his eyes just dance."

"He looked very handsome the day he wore his uniform, with the gold lace on it," said Dorothy; "don't you remember, Flossie? Your aunt was on the piazza, and she stooped and pinned a rose in his buttonhole. Do you think he knew how fine he looked, when he sprang into the saddle, and rode away?"

"I don't know," Flossie said, her blue eyes very thoughtful, "he never seems to think about it, and one thing I don't at all understand, he's big, and brave, and manly, yet he plays with me so gently, and he's as full of fun as a boy."

"That's why we all like him," said Nancy, "and he never acts as if we were just little girls, and so not worth noticing."

"Do you remember the day that the tramp came into our kitchen, and frightened the cook? Uncle Harry was just strolling along the driveway. He walked into the kitchen, took the dirty tramp by the collar and marched him right out to the street," and Flossie's cheeks glowed with pride for her dear Uncle Harry.

"Yes, and a moment after, he saw little Reginald fall off his bicycle, and you ought to have seen how tenderly he picked him up, and brushed off the dust, and he was quite as gentle as mamma would have been."

"Well, it's just a few days now before school begins, and what fun we'll have," said Flossie, "and perhaps Arabella will invite her aunt to one of our entertainments; if she does, I'm just sure Uncle Harry would go."

"Oh, come here this minute, every one of you," called a cheery voice, and Nina Earl stepped through an opening in the hedge.

"Why, how surprised you look! I've been over to the stone cottage to call for you, Nancy, and Aunt Charlotte said that you were with Dorothy, so I ran across the lawn. I could hear you all talking, and I was wild to tell you something."

"Oh, tell it, tell it, Nina!" cried Mollie.

Nina looked back through the opening in the hedge.

"She's just saying 'good-morning' to Aunt Charlotte," she said, "and let me tell you something; she's been all over the stone cottage, looking into this thing and peeping into that, till I'd think Aunt Charlotte would be wild. It's Arabella's aunt, and she says she came to learn if the house was a healthy one to be in, and to see if the plumbing was all right."

Dorothy's sweet eyes suddenly flashed.

"Doesn't she think my papa would keep Aunt Charlotte's house as comfortable as ours?" she said.

"Oh, 'tisn't that!" laughed Nina, "she said she felt obliged to find out if the cottage was a healthy place for a private school to be in, before she could say that Arabella might belong to the class! Did you ever hear anything like that?"

"Well, what makes her let Arabella come to our school?" queried blunt little Mollie; "she could go to the public school. I guess we wouldn't mind."

The others felt, as Mollie did, that the class would be quite as pleasant if Arabella attended the public school, but they did not like to say so.

The few days of waiting were past, and now the first day of school had come. The door of the pretty stone cottage stood wide open, as if assuring a welcome to the little pupils who would soon arrive, while the sunlight streamed in across the hall, giving a cheery greeting.

On the rug sat Pompey, the cat, his fine coat sleek and glossy, and his white bosom as pure as much washing could make it. His paws were snugly tucked in, and he purred softly to himself as if he knew that it was nearly time for the pupils to arrive, and remembered that the little girls had been very fond of him.

In the cheery sitting-room, which was used as a schoolroom, sat Aunt Charlotte Grayson, looking over some books which lay upon the table.

Her soft gray gown and broad lace collar were most becoming, and she looked every inch the gentlewoman that she really was. She had once been Mrs. Dainty's governess, and now, as mistress of a thriving private school, she was independent and happy. The class was not a large one, but the little pupils belonged to families who were well able to pay generously for fine instruction, and her home at the stone cottage was a loving gift from Mr. and Mrs. Dainty. Mrs. Grayson had permitted Dorothy and Nancy to call her "Aunt Charlotte," and now it had become the loving title by which all her pupils addressed her.

She was eager to have her little class assemble, and, wondering if they were late, she looked at her watch.

"Quarter of nine," she said, and as if he understood what she had said, Pompey blinked up at the tall clock, yawned, and looked at the door.

The sound of merry voices made him prick up his ears. A moment more, and Dorothy and Nancy, Mollie and Flossie, Nina and Jeanette Earl ran up the steps and in at the open door. Pompey received his usual number of love-pats, and then the girls, having hung their hats and coats in the hall, walked quietly in to greet Aunt Charlotte. It was a fixed rule at the private school that there should never be any haste in reaching places in the schoolroom.

"It matters not that you are little girls, or that you are at school," Mrs. Grayson would say; "let me always have the pleasure of seeing you enter the class-room in as gentle a manner as you would enter a drawing-room," and her pupils took pleasure in doing as she wished.

The broad window-seats were banked with flowering plants, and as the children took their places they thought it the brightest, cheeriest schoolroom in the world.

As if to show that he also had a place in Aunt Charlotte's class, Pompey ran across the floor and sprang up into a space on one window-seat between two large flowerpots, where he could enjoy a sun-bath.

Katie Dean, with her little Cousin Reginald, now entered, just in time to avoid being late.

"I thought you said your cousin was coming," whispered Mollie, but Aunt Charlotte had opened her Testament, and was commencing to read, so Nina only shook her head, and Mollie saw that she must wait until recess to know what Nina would say.

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