CHAPTER XXI
CAUGHT
Nettie Meyers was there--Joe Badger's buxom friend. She stared hard at'Phemie and her sister, and then tossed her head. But Mr. Badger came overparticularly to speak to the girls.
Sairy Pritchett was very much in evidence. She sat with half a dozenother young women and by their looks and laughter they were evidentlycommenting unfavorably upon the Bray girls' appearance and character.
Lyddy bowed pleasantly to Mr. Badger and the other young men who spoketo her; but she gave her main attention to Harris. But 'Phemie noted allthe sidelong glances, the secret whispering, the bold and harsh words.She was very sorry they had come.
Alone, 'Phemie could have given these girls "as good as they sent." Youngas she was, her experience among common-minded girls like these hadprepared her to hold her own with them. There had been many unpleasanthappenings in the millinery shop where she had worked, of which shehad told Lyddy nothing.
Mr. Somers came down from the desk to speak to the party from Hillcrestbefore the meeting opened. But everybody turned around to stare when hedid so, and the teacher grew red to his very ears and remained but amoment under fire.
"Hul-_lo_!" exclaimed Harris Colesworth, under his breath, and 'Phemieknew that he immediately realized the situation. The whole membership--atleast, the female portion of it--was hostile to the party from Hillcrest.
While the entertainment was proceeding, however, the Bray girls and theirescorts were left in peace. Sairy Pritchett sat where she could stare atLyddy and 'Phemie, and they were conscious of her antagonistic gaze allthe time.
But Lucas was quite undisturbed by his sister's ogling and when there camea break in the program he leaned over and demanded of her in a perfectlyaudible voice:
"I say, Sairy! You keep on starin' like that and you'll git suthin' wuss'na squint--you'll git cross-eyed, and it'll stay fixed! Anything about _me_you don't like the look of? Is my necktie crooked?"
Some of the others laughed--and at Sairy. It made the spinster furious.
"You're a perfect fool, Lucas Pritchett!" she snapped. "If you ever _did_have any brains, you've addled 'em now over certain folks that I mightmention."
"Go it, old gal!" said the slangy Lucas. "Ev'ry knock's a boost--don'tforgit that!"
"Hush!" commanded 'Phemie, in a whisper.
"Huh! that cat's goin' to do somethin' mean. I can see it," growled Lucas.
"She is your sister," admonished 'Phemie.
"That's how I come to know her so well," returned Lucas, calmly. "If she'donly been a boy I'd licked her aout o' this afore naow!"
"About _what_?" asked the troubled 'Phemie.
"Oh, just over her 'tarnal meanness. And maw's so foolish, too; _she_could stop her."
"I'm sorry we came here to-night, Lucas," 'Phemie whispered.
And at the same moment Lyddy was saying exactly the same thing to HarrisColesworth.
"Pshaw!" said the young chemist, in return, "don't give 'em thesatisfaction of seeing we're disturbed. They know no better. I can'tunderstand why they should be so nasty to us."
"It's Lucas's sister," sighed Lyddy. "She thinks she has reason for beingoffended with me. But I _did_ hope that feeling had died out by this time."
"You say the word and we'll get out of here, Miss Lydia," urged Harris.
"Sh! No," she whispered, for somebody was painfully playing a march onthe tin-panny old piano, and Mr. Somers was scowling directly down uponthe Hillcrest party to obtain silence.
"Say! what's the matter with that Somers chap, too?" muttered Harris.
But Lyddy feared that the teacher felt he had cause for offence, and shecertainly _was_ uncomfortable.
The recess--or intermission--between the two halves of the literary andmusical program, was announced. This was a time always given to socialintercourse. The company broke up into groups and chattered and laughedin a friendly--if somewhat boisterous--way.
Newcomers and visitors were made welcome at this time. Nobody now camenear the Bray girls--not even Mr. Somers. Whether this was intentionalneglect on his part or not they did not know, for the teacher seemed busyat the desk with first one and then another.
Sairy Pritchett and the club historian had their heads together, and thelatter, Mayme Lowry, was evidently adding several items to her "ClubChronicles," which amused the two immensely. And there was a deal ofnudging and tittering over this among the other girls who gathered aboutthe arch-plotters.
"I'm glad they've got something besides us to giggle about," Lyddyconfided to her sister.
But 'Phemie was not sure that the ill-natured girls were not hatching upsome scheme to offend the Hillcrest party.
"I believe I'd like to go home," ventured 'Phemie.
"Aw! don't let 'em chase you away," exclaimed the young farmer.
"Oh, I know: 'Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will neverhurt me!' But being called names--or, even having names _looked_ atone--isn't pleasant."
Lyddy heard her and said quickly, her expression very decided indeed:
"We're not going--yet. Let us stay until the finish."
"Yes, by jove!" muttered Harris. "I'd just like to see what these Rubeswould dare do!"
But girls are not like boys--at least, some girls are not. They won'tfight fair.
The Hillcrest party need not have expected an attack in any way that couldbe openly answered--no, indeed. But they did not escape.
Mr. Somers rang his desk bell at last and called the company to order.After a song from the school song-book, in which everybody joined, the"Club Chronicles" were announced.
This "history"--being mainly hits on what had happened in the communitysince the last meeting of the Temperance Club--was very popular. MaymeLowry was a more than ordinarily bright girl, and had a gift forcomposition. It was whispered that she wrote the "Pounder's Brook Items"for the Bridleburg _Weekly Clarion_.
Miss Lowry rose and unfolded her manuscript. It was written in a somewhatirreverent imitation of the scriptural "Chronicles;" but that seemed toplease the young folks here gathered all the more. She began:
"And it came to pass in the reign of King Westerville Somers, who waslikewise a seer and a prophet, and in the fourth month of the second yearof his reign over the Pounder's School District, that a certain youthwhose name rhymes with 'hitch it,' hitched himself to the apron-stringsof a maid, who was at that time sojourning at the top of the hill--andwas hitched so tight that you couldn't have pried the two apart with acrowbar!"
"Oh, by cracky!" gasped the suddenly ruddy-faced Lucas. "What a wallop!"
The paragraph was punctuated with a general titter from the girls all overthe room, while some of the boys hooted at Lucas in vast joy.
Lyddy turned pale; 'Phemie's countenance for once rivalled Lucas's ownin hue. But Miss Lowry went on to the next paragraph, which was quite assevere a slap at somebody else.
"Don't get mad with _me_, Miss 'Phemie," begged Lucas, in a whisper.
"Oh, you can't help it, Lucas," she said. "But I'll never come to thisplace with you again. Don't expect it!"
The amusing but sometimes merely foolish paragraphs were reeled off, oneafter the other. Sometimes the crowd shouted with laughter; sometimesthere was almost dead silence as Miss Lowry delivered a particularly hardhit, or one that was not entirely understood at first.
"And it came to pass in those days that certain damsels of the Pounder'sBrook Temperance Club gathered themselves together in one place, andsaith, the one to the other:
"Is it not so that the young men of Pounder's Brook are no longerattracted by our girls? They no longer care to listen to our songs, orwhen we play upon the harp or psaltery. They pass us by with unseeingvision. Verily an Easter bonnet no longer catcheth the eye of the waywardyouth, and holdeth his attention. Selah.
"Therefore spake one damsel to the others gathered together, and sayeth:'Surely we are not wise. The young men of our tribe goeth after strangegods. Therefore, let us awake, and go forth, and show the
wisdom ofserpents and--each and every one of us--start a boarding house!'"
The young men, who had begun to look exceedingly foolish during thisharangue, suddenly broke into a chorus of laughter. Even Lucas and HarrisColesworth could not hide a grin, and the school teacher hid his facefrom the company.
The whole room was a-roar. Lyddy and 'Phemie suffered under theindignity--and yet 'Phemie could scarcely forbear a grin. It was acoarse joke, but laughter is contagious--even when the joke is againstoneself.
Miss Lowry gave them no time to recover from this _bon mot_. She went onwith:
"And it was said of a certain young man, as he rode on the way toBridleburg, that he was met by another youth, who halted and asked aquestion of the traveler. But the traveler was strangely smitten atthat moment, and all he could do was to _bray_."
There were no more shots at the Hillcrest folk after that--at least, ifthere were, the Bray girls did not hear them. The "Chronicles" came toan end at last. Somehow the sisters got away from the hateful place withtheir escorts.
"But don't ever ask me to go to that schoolhouse again," said Lyddy,who was infrequently angry and so, when she displayed wrath, was themore impressive. "I think, Lucas, the people around here are the mostill-mannered and brutal folk who ever lived. They are in the stone age.They should be living in caves in the hillside and be wearing skins ofwild animals instead of civilized clothing."
"Yes, ma'am," replied Lucas, gently. "I reckon it looks so to you. Butthey have all got used to Mayme Lowry's shots--it's give an' take withmost of 'em."
"There is no excuse--there _can_ be no excuse for such cruelty,"reiterated Lyddy. "And we never have done a single thing knowingly tohurt them."
Harris Colesworth was silent, but 'Phemie saw that his eyes danced. Heonly said, soothingly:
"They are a different class from your own, Miss Lydia. They look on lifedifferently. You cannot understand them any more than they can understandyou. Forget it!"
But that was more easily said than done. Forget it, indeed! Lydia declaredwhen she went to bed with 'Phemie that she still "burned all over" at therecollection of the impudence of that Lowry girl!
Of course, common sense should have come to the aid of the Bray sistersand aided them to scorn the matter. "Overlook it" was the wise thingto do. But a tiny thorn in the thumb may irritate more than a much moreserious injury.
Lyddy considered Mr. Somers quite as much at fault for what had happenedat the meeting as anybody else. He was nominally in charge of thetemperance meeting. On the other hand 'Phemie decided that she would notbe seen so much in Lucas's company--although Lucas was a loyal friend.
The morrow was the first Sunday of the month of May, and its dawn promisedas perfect a day as the month ever produced. Now the girls' flowergardens were made, the vines 'Phemie had planted were growing, theold lawns about the big farmhouse were a vernal green and the gardendisplayed many promising rows of spring vegetables.
The girls were up early and swept the great porch all the way around thehouse, and set several comfortable old chairs out where they would catchthe morning sun for the early risers.
The earliest of the boarders to appear was Harris Colesworth, wrapped ina long raincoat and carrying a couple of bath towels over his arm.
"I found a fine swimming hole up yonder in the brook where it comesthrough the back of the farm," he declared to the sisters. "It's going tobe pretty cold, I know; but nothing like a beginning. I hope to get aplunge in that brook every morning that I am up here."
And he went away cheerfully whistling. A moment later 'Phemie sawProfessor Spink dart out of the side door and peer after the departingHarris, around a corner of the house. The professor did not know thathe was observed. He shook his head, scowled, stamped his foot, andfinally ran in for his hat and followed upon Harris's track.
"He's suspicious of everybody who goes up there to the rocks," thought'Phemie. "What under the sun is it Spink's got up there?"
Later in the day--it was an hour or more before their usual Sunday dinnertime--something else happened which quite chased the professor's oddactions out of 'Phemie's mind--and it gave the rest of the householdplenty to talk about, too.
The procession of carriages going to Cornell Chapel had passed some timesince when another vehicle was spied far down the road toward Bridleburg.A faint throbbing in the air soon assured the watchers on Hillcrest thatthis was an automobile.
Not many autos climbed this stiff hill to Adams; there was a longerand better road which did not touch Bridleburg and the Pounder's BrookDistrict at all. But this big touring car came pluckily up the hill,and it did not slow down until it reached the bottom of the Hillcrest lane.
There were several people in the car, and one, a lithe and active youth,leaped out and ran up the lane. Plainly he came to ask a question, forhe dashed across the front yard toward where the family party were sittingon the porch.
"Oh, I say," he began, doffing his cap to the girls, "can you tell afellow----"
His gaze had wandered, and now his speech trailed off into silence and hiseyes grew as large as saucers. He was staring at the placidly-knittingMrs. Castle, who sat listening to the Professor's booming voice.
"Grandma! Great--jumping--horse--chestnuts!" the youth yelled.
Mrs. Castle dropped her ball of yarn, and it went rolling down the stepsinto the grass. She laid down her knitting, took off the spectacles andwiped them, and them put them on again the better to see the amazed youthbelow her.
"Well," she said, at length, "I guess I'm caught."
The Girls of Hillcrest Farm; Or, The Secret of the Rocks Page 21
