Part 2 (1/2)
She broke off abruptly as Bogus came to a stop in front of the tents, and, standing up, she proceeded to dangle the snake carefully over the wheel, till it was lowered in safety to the ground. Ordinarily she would have lingered at the ranch until the occupant of every tent had strolled out to admire her trophy, and afterward might have accepted Hazel Lee's invitation to stay to dinner. It was a common occurrence for them to spend their Sat.u.r.days together. But to-day not even the promise of strawberry shortcake and a ride home afterward, when it was cooler, could tempt her to stay.
The yellow road stretched hot and glaring across the treeless desert.
The snake was too heavy to carry on a pole over her shoulder. She would have to drag it through the sun and sand if she went now. But her curiosity was too strong to allow her to wait. She must find out what was in that letter to Joyce. If it were from Jack, there would be something in it about their plans for the summer; maybe a kodak picture of the shack in the pine woods near the mines, where they were to board.
If it were from Holland, there would be another interesting chapter of his experiences on board the training-s.h.i.+p.
Once as she trudged along the road, it occurred to her that the letter might be from her cousin Kate, the ”witch with a wand,” who had so often played fairy G.o.dmother to the family. She might be writing to say that she had sent another box. Straightway Mary's active imagination fell to picturing its contents so blissfully that she forgot the heat of the sun-baked road over which she was going. Her face was beaded with perspiration and her eyes squinted nearly shut under the broad brim of the Mexican sombrero, but, revelling in the picture her mind called up of cool white dresses and dainty thin-soled slippers, she walked faster and faster, oblivious to the heat and the glaring light. Her sunburned cheeks were flaming red when she finally reached the Wigwam, and the locks of hair straggling down her forehead hung in limp wet strings.
Lifting the snake carefully across the bridge which spanned the irrigating ca.n.a.l, she trailed it into the yard and toward the umbrella-tree which shaded the rustic front porch. Under this sheltering umbrella-tree, which spread its dense arch like a roof, sat Joyce and her mother. The heap of muslin goods piled up around them showed that they had spent a busy morning sewing. But they were idle now. One glance showed Mary that the letter, whosever it was, had brought unusual news.
Joyce sat on the door-step with it in her lap and her hands clasped over her knees. Mrs. Ware, leaning back in her sewing-chair, was opening and shutting a pair of scissors in an absent-minded manner, as if her thoughts were a thousand miles away.
”Well, it's good news, anyway,” was Mary's first thought, as she glanced at her sister's radiant face. ”She wouldn't look so pretty if it wasn't.
It's a pity she can't be hearing good news all the time. When her eyes s.h.i.+ne like that, she's almost beautiful. Now me, all the good news in the world wouldn't make _me_ look beautiful, freckled and fat and sunburned as I am, and my hair so fine and thin and straight--”
She paused in her musings to look up each sleeve for her handkerchief, and not finding it in either, caught up the hem of her short pink skirt to wipe her perspiring face.
”Oh, _what_ did the postman bring?” she demanded, seating herself on the edge of the hammock swung under the umbrella-tree. ”I've almost walked myself into a sunstroke, hurrying to get here and find out. Is it from Jack or Holland or Cousin Kate?”
”It is from The Locusts,” answered Joyce, leaning forward to see what was tied to the other end of the rope which Mary still held. Seeing that it was only a snake, something which Mary and Holland were always dragging home, to add to their collection of skins and sh.e.l.ls, she went on:
”The Little Colonel is to have a second house-party. The same girls that were at the first one are invited for the month of June, and Eugenia is to be married there instead of in New York. Think what a wedding it will be, in that beautiful old Southern home! A thousand times nicer than it would have been in New York.”
She stopped to enjoy the effect her news had produced. Mary's face was glowing with unselfish pleasure in her sister's good fortune.
”And we're to wear pale pink chiffon dresses, just the color of wild roses. Eugenia got the material in Paris when she ordered her wedding-gown, and they're to be made in Louisville after we get there.”
The light in Mary's face was deepening.
”And Phil Tremont is to be there the entire month of June. He is to be best man, you know, since Eugenia is to marry his brother.”
”Oh, Joyce!” gasped Mary. ”What a heavenly time you are going to have!
Just The Locusts by itself would be good enough, but to be there at a house-party, and have Phil there and to see a wedding! I've always wanted to go to a wedding. I never saw one in my life.”
”Tell her the rest, daughter,” prompted Mrs. Ware, gently. ”Don't keep her in the dark any longer.”
”Well, then,” said Joyce, smiling broadly. ”Let me break it to you by degrees, so the shock won't give you apoplexy or heart-failure. The rest of it is, that _you_--Mary Ware, are invited also. _You_ are invited to go with me to the house-party at The Locusts! And _you'll_ see the wedding, for Mr. Sherman is going to send tickets for both of us, and mamma and I have made all the plans. Now that she is so well, she won't need either of us while she's up at the camp with Jack, and the money it would have taken to pay your board will buy the new clothes you need.”
All the color faded out of the hot little face as Mary listened, growing pale with excitement.
”Oh, mamma, is it _true_?” she asked, imploringly. ”I don't see how it can be. But Joyce wouldn't fool me about anything as big as this, would she?”
She asked the question in such a quiver of eagerness that the tears sprang to her eyes. Joyce had expected her to spin around on her toes and squeal one delighted little squeal after another, as she usually did when particularly happy. She did not know what to expect next, when all of a sudden Mary threw herself across her mother's lap and began to sob and laugh at the same time.
”Oh, mamma, the old Vicar was right. It's been awfully hard sometimes to k-keep inflexible. Sometimes I thought it would nearly k-kill me! But we did it! We did it! And now fortune _has_ changed in our favor, and everything is all right!”
A rattle of wheels made her look up and hastily wipe the hem of her pink skirt across her face again. A wagon was stopping at the gate, and the man who was to stay in one of the tents and take care of the bees in their absence was getting out to discuss the details of the arrangement. Joyce tossed the letter into Mary's lap and rose to follow her mother out to the hives. There were several matters of business to arrange with him, and Mary knew it would be some time before they could resume the exciting conversation he had interrupted. She read the letter through, hardly believing the magnitude of her good fortune. But, as the truth of it began to dawn upon her, she felt that she could not possibly keep such news to herself another instant. It might be an hour before Joyce and her mother had finished discussing business with the man and Norman was away fis.h.i.+ng somewhere up the ca.n.a.l.
So, settling her hat on her head, she started back over the hot road, so absorbed in the thought of all she had to tell Hazel that she was wholly unconscious of the fact that she was still holding tightly to the rope tied around the rattler's neck. Five feet of snake twitched along behind her as she started on a run toward the ranch.