Part 17 (2/2)

Bertha shrieked. There was an answering shriek from above, and Gertrude, followed by all the other girls, came flying down the stairs.

”What has happened? What--where is Peggy?”

”In the tank!” cried Bertha. ”Oh! dear me, what shall we do? Peggy, are you much hurt?”

”No; I--think not!” spluttered Peggy. ”I came down on my nose, that's all. Feels as if it was broken, but I don't know--no! It doesn't crack when I wiggle it. It's bleeding a good deal, though. Perhaps I'd better stay in till it stops.”

Bertha tried to climb up to the perch which Peggy had so suddenly left vacant, but in vain; her legs were far too short. Gertrude, however, came with a flying leap, and scrambled cat-like up the side of the tank.

Looking down, with the kindest heart in the world, and a world of sympathy to fill it, she still could not help bursting into a peal of laughter. Peggy, sitting in the tank, crowned with gold and scarlet leaves, and dripping like Undine, was certainly a funny spectacle.

”Oh, do forgive me for laughing, Peggy dear!” cried Gertrude. ”You--you do look funny, but I'm dreadfully sorry.”

”Well, I'm laughing myself,” said Peggy, ”I don't see why you shouldn't.

But did you ever hear of a water-nymph with a nosebleed? If I could only get at my pocket--”

”Here, take mine,” and Gertrude dropped her handkerchief, which Peggy caught adroitly.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ”'HERE! TAKE MY HAND AND SCRAMBLE OUT.'”]

”My dear,” Gertrude went on, ”it seems so strange to have some one besides me falling about and dropping herself. I used to be the one, always. They called me 'Dropsy' at home; and I fell in here last year, Peggy, and I know exactly how it feels. Here! take my hand and scramble out.”

Peggy, still sitting in the water, which covered her to the waist, looked about her thoughtfully. ”It seems a pity, now I _am_ here, not to have some good of it,” she said, philosophically.

”If it were only a foot deeper, or I weren't bothered with all these petticoats, I might have a good swim. However, I suppose I may as well get out--if I can. Take care, Snowy--oh! take care!”

Alas! for the Snowy Owl! After all, she was still Gertrude Merryweather.

The marble was wet--she bent down to take Peggy's hand--here was another tremendous splash, and two Undines sat in the tank, gazing speechless on each other. This was too much for the composure of any one. Both Peggy and Gertrude sat helpless, shaking with laughter, and absolutely unable to move. Bertha, outside, fairly went into hysterics, and laughed and screamed in one breath; while the other girls raised such a clamour of mingled mirth and terror that Emily Cortlandt, who had just come in to take a look at the decorations, came running down-stairs, dreading she knew not what.

One look over the edge of the tank, and Miss Cortlandt was not so very much better than the rest of them; but she recovered herself sooner.

Wiping her eyes, she proceeded at once to the business of rescuing the two involuntary divers. It proved impossible for them to climb up, the sides being too slippery, and the flying leap being out of the question in two feet of water. She brought a short ladder, and in another moment first one nymph and then the other came up from their fountain, and dripped little rivers on the floor.

”Is either of you hurt?” asked Miss Cortlandt.

”Not I!” said Gertrude, ruefully. ”I fell on top of poor Peggy, and she makes a perfect cus.h.i.+on. How are you, Peggy? Did I half kill you?”

”Not a bit! I think perhaps I've sprained my wrist a little, but that was when I went in myself. No, I'm all right; truly I am, Miss Cortlandt. I'll just go and change my clothes, and then come back and finish.”

Emily Cortlandt did not come of amphibious stock. ”You will do nothing of the kind!” she said. ”You _ought_ to go to bed, Peggy, and Gertrude, too; but I suppose you would think that a terrible piece of injustice.”

”Yes, Miss Cortlandt, we should!” replied both girls, in a breath.

”And I know that you have both been brought up more or less like whales; so I'll let you off with camphor pills and peppermint drops. Those you _must_ have. Run along and change everything--everything, mind!--and I'll come around in five minutes and dose you. Run, now; make it a race, and I'll add hot lemonade to the stakes,--first prize and b.o.o.by prize!”

”Yes, Miss Cortlandt,” cried the two Undines; and off they set in a shower of spray, with the other girls at their heels.

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