Part 27 (1/2)
”To Nathalie, my faithful little nurse and helper.
”Lucille.”
”O dear!” said the girl with a shamed glance into the faces surrounding her, ”I will never again say that Lucille is cross-oh, she is a duck of a dear! It is the very thing I want, too. Now I shall not be the only Pioneer without a uniform. I must run and tell Helen!” In another moment she was racing with mad speed across the lawn, the uniform bulging out of the half-opened box in her arms.
In a short s.p.a.ce she came speeding back, crying, ”Oh, Mother, where is Lucille? I must go and thank her this very minute!”
”Up in her room, I think,” spoke up d.i.c.k, but Nathalie was already half-way up the stairs.
”Lucille, it was just too lovely of you to think of me this way!” cried the girl rapturously; and then before Lucille realized what was going to happen, she was receiving a hug that threatened to demolish her entirely. ”There, Nathalie Page,” she cried, ”that's more than enough; please leave just a wee bit of me, I'll take your thanks for granted.”
”No, you won't!” persisted Nathalie with another hug. ”I'm here to give them to you in person.” She loosened her hold so her cousin could breathe and then began to kiss her softly on the cheek. ”Oh, but, Lucille, it was lovely of you to think of it,” she ended as she finally freed her cousin, who ruefully began to twist up a few stray locks that had been pulled down in the hugging process.
”Oh, pshaw, I don't want any thanks,” Lucille responded as she finished tucking up her hair. ”As long as you are pleased, it's all right.”
”But I'm serious, Lucille, for you have heaped coals of fire on my head, I'll have to 'fess that I was not a bit pleasant about waiting on you, because, you see, I had so much to see to with the Pioneer Stunts, the work, and everything, and then-”
”And then,” mimicked Lucille with a mischievous glint in her eyes, ”I'm an awful cross patient; is that it? But it's all right, Nat, turn about is fair play, and if you had felt as badly as I did those few days, to miss it all, the antic.i.p.ated good times at Bessie's, well, you would have been cross, too.”
”Oh, I know it, and I was worse than you were, for I should have possessed my soul in patience, but it was perfectly dear of you to give me the uniform, and then to be so nice about it.”
”Well, I'm glad I'm nice,” teased her cousin, ”but run along, child, for I have about forty-seven letters to get off by this mail.”
And Nathalie, with a heart brimful of joy at the many surprises of the day, was very glad to hurry away and talk matters over with her mother.
”What shall I talk to Nita about?” she lamented the next morning as she flew hither and thither, getting her work done in a jiffy so that she could reach the gray house by ten-thirty, the hour set for the talk with the princess, as Nathalie delighted to call her.
”Mother, can't you suggest something?” she asked dolefully as she stooped to kiss her mother good-by. ”I do feel that it will not be right for me to take money for just chattering nonsense, and Nita won't let me tell her stories.”
”Well, it does seem as if it was undue extravagance, but still, if Mrs.
Van Vorst thinks you are worth paying in order to help make her child's life more enjoyable, it seems to me I should not worry about it.”
”Yes, I know, but if I could only tell her stories,” rejoined the girl, ”perhaps I could help her more, for I could make my stories instructive, about nature, history, or-”
”That is true,” was the answer. And then, as if reminded by the word history, she said, ”Why not tell her stories about the Pioneer women?
You say she is so interested in the Girl Pioneers. In that way you could teach her American history.”
”Oh, Mumsie, you are a dear,” cried elated Nathalie. ”That is just the thing, how stupid I was not to think of it! I will stop at the library on my way home this afternoon. What a help it will be to me, too, for we are going to have a f.a.got party, sort of a good-by to Louise Gaynor.
Gloriana! I won't have any reading to do for that, for I'll be posted from my talks with Nita.” Then she was off down the walk on her ”way to business,” as she laughingly told her mother.
”Oh, tell me all about the Pioneer Stunts!” exclaimed the princess as Nathalie settled herself for a cozy chat after her cheery greeting to her new pupil. Nita's eyes were sparkling expectantly, and the antic.i.p.ated chat with her new friend had brought a tinge of color to her usually pale face.
”We have not had that as yet; it is to take place to-morrow night-oh, I'll tell you all about it,” was the reply. And then, as Mrs. Van Vorst entered the room with a pleasant good morning, Nathalie demanded, ”Do you not want me to tell stories to Nita?”
”That is for Nita to decide,” was the careless rejoinder. ”I have asked you here to please my daughter, and if she wants you here just to talk, why, talk away.”
”But I feel as if I ought to instruct her in some way,” demurred Nathalie.
”Do not worry,” returned Mrs. Van Vorst. ”You will be worth all you earn if you only succeed in making Nita happy for two hours, and give her something to look forward to when you are not here. Of course, if you could get something informative in once in a while, it would do good, no doubt.”