Part 47 (1/2)

”And you won't be disturbing me in the least, Sue,” Blue Bonnet said, ”for I'm with you both. I want to have a little 'heart-to-heart' session with Mr. Emerson in the morning on his compensation article. I believe that I can do it justice now that the tea is over.”

”But I must get my clock, Annabel. If it should go off at daylight, and Wee found me missing, there'd be trouble.”

”All right, trot along, Sue; but come back instantly.”

Is it necessary to add that, after talking until the wee small hours of morning, daylight found three girls peacefully slumbering, utterly oblivious to the faithful alarm which trilled forth its summons to unheeding ears?

It was Blue Bonnet who first opened her eyes to the broad sunlight, and sat up with a start. It took her a full minute to get her bearings: then she rushed to Annabel's bed and shook that young person roundly.

”Annabel! Annabel! Sue! For goodness' sake, get up! It's seven-thirty this minute. I hear the girls now, going to breakfast. How am I ever to get into my own room for my clothes? Oh, I never should have stayed here last night--I knew that I shouldn't all the time.”

But Sue, sitting up in Ruth's bed, rubbed her eyes vigorously and poured oil on the troubled waters.

”Don't get so excited, Blue Bonnet. It's no killing matter to be late to breakfast. You'll only get a mark in the 'Doomsday Book;' and thank your lucky stars the girls _are_ going down to breakfast. When they're all gone you can slip out easily.”

”Yes--but oh, my Emerson!”

”Emerson isn't a patching to a Latin exam!”

”And the two couldn't match up with a Physics test!” Annabel groaned, putting on her clothes with eager haste. ”I have a vision of the mark I'll get!”

She went to the door and took a sweeping glance down the hall.

”Coast's clear,” she announced. ”Shoo--both of you.”

CHAPTER XVI

ANTIc.i.p.aTIONS

Spring had come at last. In Woodford, up among the hills, the We Are Sevens--or ”Sixes,” in the absence of Blue Bonnet--were celebrating its advent with a riding party.

It was Sat.u.r.day afternoon, as might be suspected from the leisurely way the girls rode through the woods, stopping often to admire the maples and elms and the beautiful chestnuts, just beginning to feel the thrill of life after their long winter nap.

”Seems to me those leaves grow greener while you wait,” Kitty Clark said, reining her horse beside a chuckling brook and pointing to a near-by birch grove. ”I feel just like this water. I want to run as fast as I can, calling, 'Spring is here! Spring is here!' Don't you perfectly love this odor of growing things? Listen to that phbe! Doesn't it sound as if he were saying, 'Spring's come! Spring's come!'”

She was off her horse before the other girls had time to answer, climbing the steep sides of the glen in search of the first hepaticas.

”Here they are!” she called back joyfully a moment later. Under the lichen-plastered rocks, among the damp leaves, the delicate blossoms peeped forth shyly. Kitty fell upon her knees and buried her nose in the delicious fragrance.

”Oh, the darlings!” Debby exclaimed, close behind. ”Girls! Let's gather as many as we can find, and send a box of them to Blue Bonnet. Remember how she raved over them last year? She said they were almost as lovely as the blue bonnets that bloom in Texas about this time.”

The suggestion met with instant approval, and for the next half hour six girls worked busily.

”Seems to me they're awfully early this year,” Amanda said, searching under the mahogany colored leaves for the little furred heads. ”I never knew them to come before April.”

”Oh, you forget from year to year, Amanda,” Kitty reminded. ”Anyway, it's almost April. A week from to-day is the first. That's the day Blue Bonnet gets here. And, by the way, I have a letter from Blue Bonnet. It came just as I was leaving the house and I waited until we were all together to read it. Suppose we go up on the hill a little farther and get in a patch of suns.h.i.+ne. It's a trifle chilly in the shade, even if Mr. Phbe does keep insisting that 'Spring's come!'”

”Humph! Short and sweet,” Kitty commented, as she drew forth the letter.