Part 26 (2/2)
”I _can't_ wait,” declared Janice, with pallid face and trembling lip, but her hazel eyes dry and hard. ”I tell you I must know _more_.”
”I can't take ye to Middletown, Janice. Not till the roads is broke,”
Walky said, firmly, shaking his head.
”Hi! here comes somebody else up the road,” shouted Marty, from outside.
Janice ran, hoping to see a team. It was only a single figure struggling through the snow.
”By jinks!” exclaimed Marty. ”It's the teacher.”
”It is Mr. Haley,” murmured Janice.
The young collegian, well dressed for winter weather, waved his hand when he saw them, and struggled on. He carried a long parcel and when he went through the more than waist-high drifts he held this high above his head.
”Hi, there!” yelled Marty, waving his mittened hands. ”Ain't you lost over here, Mr. Haley?”
”I see somebody has been before me,” laughed Nelson Haley, following Walky Dexter's tracks over the fence and up to the cleared porch. ”How do you do, Miss Janice? A very happy Christmas to you!”
”Thank you for your good wish, Mr. Haley,” she replied, soberly. ”But it is not going to be a very glad Christmas for me, I fear. Oh! is it for _me_?” for he had thrust the long pasteboard box into her arms.
”If you will accept them, Miss Janice,” returned the young man, with a bow.
”Open it, Janice!” exclaimed Marty. ”Let's see.”
”I--I----”
”Lemme do it for you,” cried Marty, the curious. He broke the string, yanked off the paper, and Janice herself lifted the cover. A great breath of spicy odor rushed out at her from the box.
”Oh! Mr. Haley! Cut flowers! _Hothouse flowers_! Wherever did you get them?” cried Janice, drawing aside the tissue paper and burying her face in the fragrant, dewy blossoms.
”Aw--flowers! Huh!” grunted Marty, in disappointment.
”I am glad you like them so,” said Nelson Haley. ”Marty, I didn't bring them to _you_. But here is something that will please you better, I know,” and he put into the boy's hand a combination pocketknife that would have delighted any out-of-door youth. ”Only you must give me a penny for it. I don't believe in giving sharp-edged presents to friends. It cuts friends.h.i.+p, they say,” and the collegian laughed.
”Golly! that's a dandy!” acknowledged Marty. ”Here's your cent.
Thanks! See what Mr. Haley gimme, Maw!” and he rushed into the house to display his treasure.
Haley and Janice were left alone in a sheltered corner of the porch.
”Oh, Mr. Haley,” the girl repeated. ”How lovely they are! And how kind of you to get them for me! How did you ever secure such fresh cut flowers 'way up here? n.o.body has a hothouse in Poketown.”
”They come from Colonel Van Dyne's place at the Landing.”
”'Way down there!” exclaimed Janice, in wonder. ”Why, it's farther than Middletown. That's where I took the boat to get here?”
”I guess so, Miss Janice.”
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