CHAPTER V
Wherein Elnora Receives a Warning, and Billy Appears on the Scene
It would be difficult to describe just how happy Elnora was that morning as she hurried through her work, bathed and put on the neat, dainty gingham dress, and the tan shoes. She had a struggle with her hair. It crinkled, billowed, and shone, and she could not avoid seeing the becoming frame it made around her face. But in deference to her mother's feelings the girl set her teeth, and bound her hair close to her head with a shoestring. "Not to be changed at the case," she told herself.
That her mother was watching she was unaware. Just as she picked up the beautiful brown ribbon Mrs. Comstock spoke.
"You had better let me tie that. You can't reach behind yourself and do it right."
Elnora gave a little gasp. Her mother never before had proposed to do anything for the girl that by any possibility she could do herself. Her heart quaked at the thought of how her mother would arrange that bow, but Elnora dared not refuse. The offer was too precious. It might never be made again.
"Oh, thank you!" said the girl, and sitting down she held out the ribbon.
Her mother stood back and looked at her critically.
"You haven't got that like Mag Sinton had it last night," she announced. "You little idiot! You've tried to plaster it down to suit me, and you missed it. I liked it away better as Mag fixed it, after I saw it. You didn't look so peeled."
"Oh, mother, mother!" laughed Elnora, with a half sob in her voice.
"Hold still, will you?" cried Mrs. Comstock. "You'll be late, and I haven't packed your dinner yet."
She untied the string and shook out the hair. It rose with electricity and clung to her fingers and hands. Mrs. Comstock jumped back as if bitten. She knew that touch. Her face grew white, and her eyes angry.
"Tie it yourself," she said shortly, "and then I'll put on the ribbon. But roll it back loose like Mag did. It looked so pretty that way."
Almost fainting, Elnora stood before the glass, divided off the front parts of her hair, and rolled them as Mrs. Sinton had done; tied it at the nape of her neck, then sat while her mother arranged the ribbon.
"If I pull it down till it comes tight in these creases where she had it, it will be just right won't it?" queried Mrs. Comstock, and the amazed Elnora stammered "Yes."
When she looked in the glass the bow was perfectly tied, and how the gold tone of the brown did match the lustre of the shining hair! "That's awful pretty," commented Mrs. Comstock's soul, but her stiff lips had said all that could be forced from them for once. Just then Wesley Sinton came to the door.
"Good morning," he cried heartily. "Elnora, you look a picture! My, but you're sweet! If any of them city boys get sassy you tell your Uncle Wesley, and he'll horsewhip them. Here's your Christmas present from me." He handed Elnora the leather lunch box, with her name carved across the strap in artistic lettering.
"Oh, Uncle Wesley!" and that was all Elnora could say.
"Your Aunt Maggie filled it for me for a starter," he said. "Now, if you are ready, I'm going to drive past your way and you can ride almost to Onabasha with me, and save the new shoes that much."
Elnora was staring at the box. "Oh, I hope it isn't impolite to open it before you," she said. "I just feel as if I must see inside."
"Don't you stand on no formality with the neighbors," laughed Sinton. "Look at your box if you want to!"
Elnora slipped the strap and turned back the lid.
This disclosed the knife, fork, napkin, and spoon, the milk flask, and the interior packed with dainty sandwiches wrapped in tissue paper, and the little compartments for meat, salad, and the custard cup.
"Oh, mother!" cried Elnora. "Oh, mother. Isn't it fine? What made you think of It, Uncle Wesley? How will I ever thank you? No one will have a finer lunch box than I. Oh, I do thank you! That's the nicest gift I ever had. How I love Christmas in September!"
"It's a mighty handy thing," assented Mrs. Comstock, taking in every detail with sharp eyes. "I guess you are glad now you went and helped Mag and Wesley when you could, Elnora?"
"Deedy, yes," laughed Elnora, "and I'm going again first time they have a big day if I stay out of school to do it."
"You'll do no such thing!" said the delighted Sinton. "Come now, if you're going!"
"If I ride, can you spare me time to run into the swamp to my box just a minute?" asked Elnora.
The light she had seen the previous night troubled her.
"Sure," said Wesley largely. He was having such a good time nothing could hurry him. So they drove away and left a white-faced woman watching them from the door, her heart just a little sorer than usual.
"I'd give a pretty to hear what he'll say to her!" she said bitterly. "Always sticking in, always doing things I can't ever afford. Where on earth did he get that thing and what did it cost?"
Then she entered the cabin and began the day's work, but mingled with the brooding bitterness of her soul was the vision of a sweet young face, glad with a gladness never before seen on it, and over and over she repeated, "I wonder what he'll say to her!"
What he said was that she looked as fresh and sweet as a posy, and to be careful not to step in the mud or scratch her shoe when she went to the case.
Elnora found her key and opened the door. Not where she had placed it, but conspicuously in front lay her little heap of bills, and a crude scrawl of writing beside it. Elnora picked up the note in astonishment.
the lord amighty is hiding you all right done you ever dout itthis money of yourn was took for some time las nite but it is returned with intresfor god sake done every come to the swamp at nite or late evnin or mornin or far in any timesompin worse an you know could git you
Elnora began to tremble. She hastily glanced about. The damp earth before the case had been trodden by large, roughly shod feet. She caught up the money and the note, thrust them into her guimpe, locked the case, and ran for the road.
She was so breathless and her face so white Sinton noticed it.
"What in the world's the matter, Elnora?" he asked as he helped her into the carriage.
"I am half afraid!" she panted.
"Tut, tut, child!" said Wesley Sinton. "Nothing in the world to be afraid of. What happeneed?"
"Uncle Wesley," said Elnora, "I had more money than I brought home last night, and I put it in my case. Some one has been there. The ground is all trampled, and they left this note."
"And took your money, I'll wager, " said Sinton angrily.
"No," answered Elnora. "Read the note and, oh. Uncle Wesley, tell me what it means!"
Sinton's face was a study. "I don't know what it means," he said. "Only one thing is clear. It means some beast who doesn't really want to harm you has got his eye on you, and he is telling you, plain as he can, not to give him a chance. You got to keep along the roads, in the open, and not let the biggest moth that ever flew toll you out of hearing of us, or your mother. It means that, plain and distinct."
"Just when I can sell them! Just when everything is so lovely on account of them! I can't! I can't stay away from the swamp. The Limberlost is going to buy the books, the clothes, pay the tuition, and even start a college fund. I just can't!"
"You've got to," said Sinton. "This is plain enough. You go far in the swamp at your own risk, even in daytime."
"Uncle Wesley," said the girl in a whisper, "last night before I went to bed I was so happy I tried to pray, and I thanked God for hiding me 'under the shadow of His wing.' But how in the world could any one know it?"
Wesley Sinton's heart gave one great leap in his breast. His face was whiter than the girl's now.
"Was you praying out loud, honey?" he almost whispered.
"I might have said words," answered Elnora. "I know I do sometimes. I've never had any one to talk to, and I've played with and talked to myself all my life. You've caught me at it often, but it always makes mother angry when she does. She says it's silly. I forget and do it, when I'm alone. But, Uncle Wesley, if I said anything last night, you know it was the merest whisper, because I'd have been so afraid of waking mother. Don't you see? I sat up late, and did two lessons."
Sinton was steadying himself. "I'll stop and examine the case as I come back," he said. "Maybe I can find some clue. That other—that was just accidental. It's a common expression. All the preachers use it. If I was going to pray, that would be the very first thing I'd say."
The colour came back to Elnora's face.
"Did you tell your mother about this money, Elnora?" he asked.
"No, I didn't," said Elnora. "It's dreadful not to, but I was afraid. You see they are clearing the swamp so fast. Every year it grows harder to find things, and Indian stuff gets scarcer. I want to graduate, and that's four years unless I can double on the course. That means twenty dollars tuition each year, and new books, and clothes. There won't ever be so much at one time again, that I know. I just got to hang to my money. I was afraid to tell her, for fear she would want it for taxes, and she really must sell a tree or some cattle for that, musn't she. Uncle Wesley?"
"On your life, she must!" said Wesley. "You put your little wad in the bank all safe, and never mention it to a living soul. It don't seem right, but your case is peculiar. Every word you say is a true word. Each year you will get less from the swamp, and things everywhere will be scarcer. If you ever get a few dollars ahead, that can start your college fund. You know you are going to college, Elnora!"
"Of course I am," said Elnora. "I settled that as soon as I knew what a college was. I will put all my money in the bank, except what I owe you. I'll pay that now."
"If your arrows are heavy," said Wesley, "I'll drive on to Onabasha with you."
"But they are not. Half of them were nicked, and this little box held all the good ones. It's so surprising how many are spoiled when you wash them."
"What does he pay?"
"Ten cents for any common perfect one, fifty for revolvers, a dollar for obsidian, and whatever is right for enormous big ones."
"Well, that sounds fair," said Sinton. "It's more than I would want to give for the things. You can come down Saturday and wash up the stuff at our house, and I'll take it in when we go marketing in the afternoon."
Elnora jumped from the carriage. She soon found that with her books, her lunch box, and the points she had a heavy load. She was almost to the bridge crossing the culvert when she heard the distressed screams of a child. Across an orchard of the suburbs came a small boy, after him a big dog, urged by a man in the background. Elnora's heart was with the small flying figure in any event whatever. She dropped her load on the bridge, and with practised hand caught up a stone and flung it at the dog. The beast curled double with a howl. The boy reached the fence, and Elnora was there to help him over. As he touched the top she swung him to the ground, but he clung to her, clasping her tightly, sobbing and shivering with fear. Elnora carried him to the bridge, and sat with him in her arms. For a time his replies to her questions were indistinct, but at last he became quieter and she could understand.
He was a mite of a boy, nothing but skin-covered bones, his burned, freckled face in a mortar of tears and dust, his clothing unspeakably dirty, one great toe in a festering mass from a broken nail, and sores all over the visible portions of the small body.
"You won't let the mean old thing make his dog get me!" he wailed.
"Indeed no," said Elnora, hugging him closely.
"You wouldn't set a dog on a boy for just taking a few old apples when you fed 'em to pigs with a shovel every day, would you?"
"No, I would not," said Elnora hotly.
"You'd give a boy all the apples he wanted, if he hadn't any breakfast, and was so hungry he was all twisty inside, wouldn't you?"
"Yes, I would," said Elnora.
"If you had anything to eat you would give me something right now, wouldn't you?"
"Yes," said Elnora. "There's nothing but just stones in the package. But my dinner is in that case. I'll gladly divide."
She opened the box. The famished child gave a little cry and reached both hands. Elnora caught them back.
"Did you have any supper?"
"No."
"Any dinner yesterday?"
"An apple and some grapes I stole."
"Whose boy are you?"
"Old Tom Billings's."
"Why don't your father get you something to eat?"
"He does most days, but he's drunk now."
"Hush, you must not!" said Elnora. "He's your father!"
"He's spent all the money to get drunk, too," said the boy, "and Jimmy and Belle are both crying for breakfast. I'd a got out all right with an apple for myself, but I tried to get some for them, and the dog got too close. Say, you can just throw, can't you?"
"Yes," admitted Elnora. She poured half the milk into the cup. "Drink this," she said, holding it to him.
The boy gulped the milk and swore joyously, gripping the cup with shaking fingers.
"Hush!" cried Elnora. "That's dreadful!"
"What's dreadful?"
"To say such awful words."
"Huh! pa says worser 'an that every breath he draws."
Elnora stared into the quaint little face, and saw that the child was older than she had thought. He might have been forty by his hard, unchildish expression.
"Do you want to be like your father?"
"No, I want to be like you. Couldn't a angel be prettier 'an you. Can I have more milk?"
Elnora emptied the flask. The boy drained the cup. He drew a breath of satisfaction as he gazed into her face.
"You wouldn't go off and leave your little boy, would you?" he asked.
"Did some one go away and leave you?" questioned Elnora in return.
"Yes, my mother went off and left me, and left Jimmy and Belle, too," said the boy. "You wouldn't leave your little boy, would you?"
"No."
The boy looked eagerly at the box. Elnora lifted a sandwich and uncovered the fried chicken. The boy gasped with delight.
"Say, I could eat the stuff in the glass, and the other box and carry the bread and the chicken to Jimmy and Belle," he offered.
Elnora silently uncovered the custard with preserved cherries on top and handed it and the spoon to the child. Never did food disappear faster. The salad went next, and a sandwich and half a chicken breast followed.
"I better leave the rest for Jimmy and Belle," he said, "they're 'ist fightin' hungry."
Elnora gave him the remainder of the carefully prepared lunch. The boy clutched it and ran with a side-wise hop like a wild thing.
Elnora covered the dishes and cup, polished the spoon, replaced it, and closed the beautiful case. She caught her breath in a tremulous laugh.
"If Aunt Margaret knew that, she'd never forgive me," she said. "It seems as if secrecy is literally forced upon me, and I hate it. What will I do for lunch? I'll have to go sell my arrows and keep enough money for a restaurant sandwich."
So she walked hurriedly into town, sold her points at a good price, deposited her funds, and went away with a neat little bank book and the note from the Limberlost carefully folded inside. Elnora passed down the great hall that morning, and no one paid the slightest attention to her. The truth was she looked so like every one else that she was perfectly inconspicuous. But in the coat room there were members of her class. Surely no one intended it, but the whisper was too loud.
"Look at the girl from the Limberlost in the clothes that woman gave her!"
Elnora turned on them. "I beg your pardon," she said unsteadily, "I couldn't help hearing that! No one gave me these clothes. I paid for them myself."
Some one muttered, "Pardon me," but incredulous faces greeted her.
Elnora felt driven. "Aunt Margaret selected them, and she meant to give them to me," she explained, "but I wouldn't take them. I paid for them myself." There was a dead silence.
"Don't you believe me?" panted Elnora.
"Really, it is none of our affair," said another girl. "Come on, let's go."
Elnora stepped before the girl who had spoken. "You have made this your affair," she said, "because you told a thing which was not true. No one gave me what I am wearing. I paid for my clothes myself with money I earned selling moths to the Bird Woman. I just came from the bank where I deposited what I did not use. Here is my credit." Elnora drew out and offered the little red book. "Surely you will believe that," she said.
"Why, of course," said the girl who first had spoken. "We met such a lovely woman in Brownlee's store, and she said she wanted our help to buy some things for a girl, and that's how we came to know."
"Dear Aunt Margaret," said Elnora, "it was like her to ask you. Isn't she splendid?"
"She is indeed," chorused the girls. Elnora set down her lunch box and books, unpinned her hat, hanging it beside the others, and taking up the books she reached to set the box in its place and dropped it. With a little cry she snatched at it and caught the strap on top. That pulled from the fastening, the cover unrolled, the box fell away as far as it could, two porcelain lids rattled on the floor, and the one sandwich rolled like a cartwheel across the room. Elnora lifted a ghastly face. For once no one laughed. She stood an instant staring.
"It seems to be my luck to be crucified at every point of the compass," she said at last. "First two days you thought I was a pauper, now you will think I'm a fraud. All of you will believe I bought an expensive box, and then was too poor to put anything but a restaurant sandwich in it. You must stop till I prove to you that I'm not."
Elnora gathered up the lids, and kicked the sandwich into a corner.
"I had milk in that bottle, see! And custard in the cup. There was salad in the little box, fried chicken in the large one, and nut sandwiches in the tray. You can see the crumbs of all of them. A man set a dog on a child who was so starved he was stealing apples. I talked with him, and I thought I could bear hunger better, he was such a little boy, so I gave him my lunch, and got the sandwich at the restaurant."
Elnora held out the box. The girls were laughing by that time. "You goose," said one, "why didn't you give him the money, and save your lunch?"
"He was such a little fellow, and he really was hungry," said Elnora. "I often go without anything to eat at noon in the fields and woods, and never think of it."
She closed the box and set it beside the lunches of other country pupils. While her back was turned, into the room came the girl of her encounter on the first day, walked to the rack, and with an exclamation of approval took down Elnora's hat.
"Just the thing I have been wanting!" she said. "I never saw such beautiful quills in all my life. They match my new broadcloth to perfection. I've got to have that kind of quills for my hat. I never saw the like! Whose is it, and where did it come from?"
No one said a word, for Elnora's question, the reply, and her answer, had gone the rounds of the high school. Every one knew that the Limberlost girl had come out ahead and Sadie Reed had not felt amiable, when the little flourish had been added to Elnora's name in the algebra class. Elnora's swift glance was pathetic, but no one helped her. Sadie Reed glanced from the hat to the faces around her and wondered.
"Why, this is the Freshman section, whose hat is it?" she asked again, this time impatiently.
"That's the tassel of the cornstock," said Elnora with a forced laugh.
The response was genuine. Everyone shouted. Sadie Reed blushed, but she laughed also.
"Well, it's beautiful," she said, "especially the quills. They are exactly what I want. I know I don't deserve any kindness from you, but I do wish you would tell me at whose store you got those quills."
"Gladly!" said Elnora. "You can't get quills like those at a store. They are from a living bird. Phœbe Simms gathers them in her orchard as her peacocks shed them. They are wing quills from the males."
Then there was a perfect silence. How was Elnora to know that not a girl there would have told that?
"I haven't a doubt but I can get you some," she offered "She gave Aunt Margaret a great bunch, and those are part of them. I am quite sure she has more, and would spare some."
Sadie Reed laughed shortly. "You needn't trouble," she said, "I was fooled. I thought they were expensive quills. I wanted them for a twenty-dollar velvet toque to match my new suit. If they are picked off the ground, really, I couldn't use them."
"Only in spots!" said Elnora. "They don't just cover the earth. Phœbe Simms's peacocks are the only ones within miles of Onabasha, and they moult but once a year. If your hat only cost twenty dollars, it's hardly good enough for those quills. You see, the Almighty made and coloured those Himself; and He puts the same kind on Phoebe Simms's peacocks that He put on the head of the family in the forests of Ceylon, away back in the beginning. Any old manufactured quill from New York or Chicago will do for your little twenty-dollar hat. You ought to have something infinitely better than that to be worthy of quills that are made by the Creator."
How those girls did laugh! One of them walked by Elnora to the auditorium, sat with her during exercises, and tried to talk whenever she dared, to keep Elnora from seeing the curious and admiring looks bent upon her. For the brown-eyed boy whistled, and there was pantomime of all sorts going on behind Elnora's back that day. Happy with her books, no one knew how much she saw, and from her absorption in her studies it was evident she cared too little to notice. It soon developed that to be inconspicuous and to work was all Elnora craved.
After school she went again to the home of the Bird Woman, and together they visited the swamp and took away more specimens. This time Elnora asked the Bird Woman to keep the money until noon of the next day, when she would call for it and have it added to her bank account. She slowly walked home, for the visit to the swamp had brought back full force the experience of the morning. Again and again she examined the crude little note, for she did not know what it meant, yet it bred vague fear. The only thing on earth of which Elnora knew herself afraid was her mother; when with wild eyes and ears deaf to childish pleading, she sometimes lost control of herself in the night and visited the pool where her husband had sunk before her, calling his name in unearthly tones and begging of the swamp to give back its dead.