Part 28 (1/2)
”Iat the boys for help, but in vain, ”I--you--so young to be a friend of Grannie's” she ended feebly
”You're a goose, Moll,” dick broke in ”We once knew a Hugh Cao, and he was ever so e--and there h Cae! And she says I look too young!”
repeated Major Campbell in pardonable bewilderment ”How old do I look--five perhaps?”
Mollie blushed, and the boys giggled ”Look here,” said dick, ”if we stand here till et home to tea, and then Aunt Mary will send out a search party, and we'll look pretty asinine Long John's getting baity, he'll bolt in a minute Take the reins, Mollie Don't eat all the strawberries, and tell Aunt Mary that cherry ja Outra the reins froave his head an impatient toss, and set off with the deterain for anybody till he was in sight of his stable
A hundred thoughts chased each other through Mollie's h Caether _too_ queer And yet--after all, nothing could beone thing and another together it did seeh Careen diao” She stole a look at her companion as he sat opposite her, his eyes fixed on the road ahead and his thoughts obviously elsewhere Hugh the inventor had not passed even thirteen years without gathering various little mementoes of his inventions in the shape of scars here and there, and these had not escaped the sharp observation of Mollie, the Girl Guide There had been a tiny gap in his left eyebrow, the result of inventing a new pattern of firework--a crooked little finger on his left hand--a funny star-shaped ht jaw Soht have been obliterated by tinize it He had rerey hair, which ap in his eyebrow _and_ the crooked finger Mollie felt certain that this was indeed the inventor
”Have you ever been in Dublin?” she asked abruptly, forgetting for thequestions was forbidden
”In Dublin?” echoed Major Ca road and concentrating both upon Mollie
”Are you a thought-reader, Miss Mollie? For I was thinking of Dublin at that very moment Yes, I have been there Indeed, it was there that I firstsome people she knew, and later on she joined us My sisters were over here at that time too Has Miss Gordon ever mentioned the O'Rourkes to you?”
”Yes,” said Mollie, feeling absolutely giddy with excitement, ”that is, no--not exactly----” she felt very confused--”I ht,” said Major Carey head, and apparently too wrapped up in his own memories to notice Mollie's confused answer ”Good old Desmond! Of course he was home then too
Dublin was a very different place in those days, and we had what you youngsters would call the tio” He sighed, and his thoughts evidently wandered away again froood thing, as, if he had been observing her closely, he would certainly have thought that the poor child was ”not _quite_ on the spot”
She was now quite convinced that this was really Hugh, the brother of Prudence and Grizzel He showed no signs of re her, but, of course, she said to herself, as only yesterday to her was forty years ago to this elderlywas all hers and Prue's and he was never really in it at all ”Like Alice in the Red King's dreauely She felt sure, too, that it was he who had given Aunt Mary the green diah why he had neverGrown-up people did--and left undone--the s In the ive her aunt so of the surprise in store, otherwise Aunt Mary ht be _too ht and s before people--but _how_ to prepare Aunt Mary! That was the difficulty She put all her Guiding wits to work, but nothing feasible suggested itself There was no boy to send ahead with a e, and, of course, she could not send Major Cahtest warning conveyed
The had begun to cli John's enthusias walk Major Ca about hiht--and then the idea canal to Aunt Mary that we are nearly home,” she warned her co her hands to her , shrill ”cooo-eeeee!” ”Now,”
she said to herself, ”that should rereen diamonds”
But Mollie's brilliant idea had not exactly the effect she expected
When the sound of that shrill cooo-eeeee penetrated to the - rooht, naturally enough, that the children were in difficulties and needed her help So, a few ure, clad in a short skirt and ju down the hill as fast as a pair of active feet could carry it
”Oh, _dear_!” Mollie exclai, and when she sees no boys and you here instead she will think it is wronger”
”_That_ can't be Mary Gordon!” exclaimed Major Campbell ”She doesn't look h,” Mollie replied hurriedly, h her brain ”Jump out and ht”
This suggestion evidentlydick's tactics, was over the side of the cart and striding (with a slight limp) up the hill ”Before you could say Jack Robinson,” Mollie quoted, as she took the reins and tactfully directed Long John's attention to an extra juicy patch of grass
Between his greed and her excitement they nearly overturned into the ditch, but a kindly boulder saved them in the nick of time
”I must say,” Mollie soliloquized, ”he is fairly old for Aunt Mary, though he doesn't look it even with that white hair What _will_ the boys say? I believe Aunt Mary has forgotten all about us--there they go! Up the hill without ever once looking atJohn Don't you ever think of _anything_ but eating?” (which was a little unfair of Mollie under the circuotten her faain, for she and Major Caate when Mollie caether
When dick and Jerry ca to catch their eyes was Mollie at an upstairs , and a pair of signalling flags going hard The boys stopped short
”It--is--Hugh It--is--Hugh It--is--Hugh,” the flags repeated e--room Beware