Part 33 (1/2)
”I don't know but I could. At least, I could try. Of course it's late in the season for them.”
The lean finger continued to follow the flowered design of the bedcovering.
”There used to be some late ones up at the top of Pine Ridge,” remarked the invalid casually. ”That would be quite a walk though, an' likely further than you'd care to go.”
”No, indeed it wouldn't!”
There was fervor in the protest. Already visions of a morning in the blue and gold world were shaping themselves in the girl's mind. No doubt Jane Howe would go with her; probably Martin would be too busy to leave his work; but if he were not, what a bit of Paradise they could have together!
Ellen, who read her niece's thoughts almost as readily as if they had been openly expressed, smiled a malevolent smile.
”It's a good four miles to the Ridge,” she remarked. ”Goin', comin', an'
pickin' would take you the whole mornin', I reckon.”
”I'm afraid it would,” agreed Lucy. ”Could you spare me as long as that?”
”Yes. I don't need nothin'; an' if I do, Melviny can get it. I'd rather have you go than not. If you could get me enough berries for a shortcake it would be worth it.”
The note of suppressed eagerness in the words caused Lucy to regard her aunt with quick, indefinable suspicion.
But Ellen met the glance unflinchingly, and with a baffled sense of being mistaken the girl hurried from the room. When she returned shortly afterward and paused in the doorway, she presented a winning picture.
She had donned a short khaki skirt and a pair of riding leggings such as she had been accustomed to wear in the West, and the broad sombrero crowning her golden hair outlined it like a halo. A simple blouse turned away to give freedom to the firm white throat completed the costume.
Dimpling with antic.i.p.ation, she held up her tin pail.
”I'm off, Aunt Ellen,” she called. ”You shall have your shortcake if there is a berry within five miles.”
The woman listened to the fall of the light step on the stairs and the fragment of a song that came from the girl's lips until the last note of the music died away; then she called Melvina.
”Melviny!”
”Yes, marm.”
”I want you should find Tony and tell him to harness up. There's somethin' I need done in the village.”
”All right, Miss Webster.”
”Bring me a sheet of paper an' a pencil before you go.”
The nurse entered with the desired articles.
”I'm sendin' to town for Lawyer Benton,” announced the patient with elaborate carelessness.
Neither Melvina's voice nor her face expressed the slightest curiosity.
”There's some business I must see to right away, an' I reckon I may's well get it fixed up this mornin'.”
”Yes, marm.”
”Give Tony this note for Mr. Benton and tell him to fetch him back soon's he can.”