CHAPTER XX
The cement floor had been down a week and was as hard as a rock, whenone day two or three wagon-loads of things arrived with a note fromGraham to Mrs. Hollister to say that he would be glad if these might bestored in one corner of the basement floor, where they would be out ofher way and not take up too much room.
Harley and George went down to look them over that evening.
"He said something about some things being taken from the officebuilding," said Harley, kicking a pile of iron pipes with his toe.
"These don't look like any old things that have been used," said Georgethoughtfully. "They look perfectly new." Then he studied them a fewminutes more from another angle, and shut his lips judiciously. Hebelonged to the boy species that has learned to "shut up and saw wood,"whatever that expression may mean. If anything was to come out of thatpile of iron in the future, he did not mean to break confidence withanybody's secrets. He walked away whistling and said nothing furtherabout them.
The next day Mrs. Graham came down upon the Hollisters in herlimousine, and an exquisite toilet of organdie and ribbons. She wasattended by Elizabeth, wild with delight over getting home again. Shebegged Mrs. Hollister very charmingly and sincerely to take care ofElizabeth for three or four weeks, while she and her husband were away,and to take her entire family down to the shore and occupy theircottage, which had been closed all summer and needed opening andairing. She said that nothing would please Elizabeth so much as tohave them all her guests during September. The maids were there, withnothing to do but look after them, and would just love to serve them;it really would be a great favor to her if she could know thatElizabeth was getting a little salt air under such favorableconditions. She was so genuine in her request and suggested soearnestly that Shirley and George needed the change during theirvacation, and could just as well come down every night and go up everymorning for a week or two more after the vacations were over, that Mrs.Hollister actually promised to consider it and talk it over withShirley when she came home. Elizabeth and Carol nearly went intospasms of joy over the thought of all they could do down at the shoretogether.
When Shirley came home she found the whole family quite upsetdiscussing the matter. Carol had brought out all the family wardrobeand was showing how she could wash this, and dye that, and turn thisskirt upside down, and put a piece from the old waist in there to makethe lower part flare; and Harley was telling how he could get the mannext door to look after the hens and pigeons, and there was nothingneeding much attention in the garden now, for the corn was about overexcept the last picking, which wasn't ripe yet.
Mrs. Hollister was saying that they ought really to stay at home andlook up another place to live during the winter, and Carol was pleadingthat another place would be easier found when the weather was cooleranyway, and that Shirley was just awfully tired and needed a change.
Shirley's cheeks grew pink in spite of the headache which she had beenfighting all day, when she heard of the invitation, and sat down tothink it out. Was this, then, another of the kind schemes of her kindfriend to make the way easier for her? What right had she to take allthis? Why was he doing it? Why were the rest of the family? Did theyreally need some one to take care of Elizabeth? But of course it was awonderful opportunity, and one that her mother at least should not letslip by. And Doris! Think of Doris playing in the sand at the seaside!
Supper was flung onto the table that night any way it happened, forthey were all too excited to know what they were about. Carol gotbutter twice and forgot to cut the bread, and Harley poured milk intothe already filled water-pitcher. They were even too excited to eat.
Graham arrived with Elizabeth early in the evening to add his pleadingto his mother's, and before he left he had about succeeded in gettingMrs. Hollister's promise that she would go.
Shirley's vacation began the first of September, and George had askedfor his at the same time so that they could enjoy it together. Eachhad two weeks. Graham said that the cost of going back and forth tothe city for the two would be very little. By the next morning theyhad begun to say what they would take along, and to plan what theywould do with the dog. It was very exciting. There was only a week toget ready, and Carol wanted to make bathing-suits for everybody.
Graham came again that night with more suggestions. There were plentyof bathing-suits down at the cottage, of all sizes and kinds. No needto make bathing-suits. The dog, of course, was to go along. He neededthe change as much as anybody, and they needed him there. That breedof dog was a great swimmer. He would take care of the children whenthey went in bathing. How would Mrs. Hollister like to have one of theold Graham servants come over to sleep at the barn and look afterthings while they were gone? The man had really nothing to do at homewhile everybody was away, as the whole corps of servants would bethere, and this one would enjoy coming out to the country. He had abrother living on a place about a mile away. As for the trip downthere, Graham would love to take them all in the big touring-car withElizabeth. He had been intending to take her down that way, and therewas no reason in the world why they should not all go along. Theywould start Saturday afternoon as soon as Shirley and George were free,and be down before bedtime. It would be cool and delightful journeyingat that hour, and a great deal pleasanter than the train.
So one by one the obstructions and hindrances were removed from theirpath, and it was decided that the Hollisters were to go to the seashore.
At last the day came.
Shirley and George went off in the morning shouting last directionsabout things. They were always having to go to their work whatever washappening. It was sometimes hard on them, particularly this day wheneverything was so delightfully exciting.
The old Graham servant arrived about three o'clock in the afternoon,and proved himself invaluable in doing the little last things withoutbeing told. Mrs. Hollister had her first gleam of an idea of what itmust be to have plenty of perfectly trained servants about toanticipate one's needs. He entered the barn as if barns were hisnative heath, and moved about with the ease and unobtrusiveness thatmarks a perfect servant, but with none of the hauteur and disdain thatmany of those individuals entertain toward all whom they consider pooror beneath them in any way. He had a kindly face, and seemed tounderstand just exactly what was to be done. Things somehow moved moresmoothly after he arrived.
At four o'clock came Graham with the car and a load of long linendust-cloaks and veils. The Hollisters donned them and bestowedthemselves where they were told. The servant stowed away the wraps andsuitcases; Star mounted the seat beside Harley, and they were ready.
They turned to look back at the barn as the car started. The oldservant was having a little trouble with the big door, trying to shutit. "That door is a nuisance," said Graham as they swept away from thecurb. "It must be fixed. It is no fit door for a barn anyway." Thenthey curved up around Allister Avenue and left the barn far out ofsight.
They were going across country to the Graham home to pick up Elizabeth.It was a wonderful experience for them, that beautiful ride in the lateafternoon; and when they swept into the great gates, and up the broaddrive to the Graham mansion, and stopped under the porte-cochere, Mrs.Hollister was quite overcome with the idea of being beholden to peoplewho lived in such grandeur as this. To think she had actually invitedtheir son to dine in a barn with her!
Elizabeth came rushing out eagerly, all ready to start, and climbed inbeside Carol. Even George, who was usually silent when she was about,gave her a grin of welcome. The father and mother came out to saygood-by, gave them good wishes, and declared they were perfectly happyto leave their daughter in such good hands. Then the car curved aboutthe great house, among tennis courts, green-houses, garage, stable, andwhat not, and back to the pike again, leaping out upon the perfect roadas if it were as excited as the children.
Two more stops to pick up George, who was getting off early, andShirley, who was through at five o'clock, and then they threaded t
heirway out of the city, across the ferry, through another city, and outinto the open country, dotted all along the way with clean, prettylittle towns.
They reached a lovely grove at sundown and stopped by the way to havesupper. Graham got down and made George help him get out the bighamper.
There was a most delectable lunch; sandwiches of delicate and unknowncondiments, salad as bewildering, soup that had been kept hot in athermos bottle, served in tiny white cups, iced tea and ice-creammeringues from another thermos compartment, and plenty of deliciouslittle cakes, olives, nuts, bonbons, and fruit. It seemed a wonderfulsupper to them all, eaten out there under the trees, with the birdsbeginning their vesper songs and the stars peeping out slyly. Thenthey packed up their dishes and hurried on their beautiful way, asilver thread of a moon coming out to make the scene more lovely.
Doris was almost asleep when at last they began to hear the booming ofthe sea and smell the salt breeze as it swept back inland; but sheroused up and opened wide, mysterious eyes, peering into the newdarkness, and murmuring softly: "I yant to see ze osun! I yant to seethe gate bid watter!"
Stiff, bewildered, filled with ecstasy, they finally unloaded in frontof a big white building that looked like a hotel. They tried to seeinto the deep, mysterious darkness across the road, where boomed agreat voice that called them, and where dashing spray loomed high likea waving phantom hand to beckon them now and again, and far-movinglights told of ships and a world beyond the one they knew,--a wide,limitless thing like eternity, universe, chaos.
With half-reluctant feet they turned away from the mysterious unseenlure and let themselves be led across an unbelievably wide veranda intothe bright light of a hall, where everything was clean and shining, anda great fireplace filled with friendly flames gave cheer and welcome.The children stood bewildered in the brightness while two strangeserving-maids unfastened their wraps and dust-cloaks and helped themtake off their hats. Then they all sat around the fire, for Graham hadcome in by this time, and the maids brought trays of some deliciousdrink with little cakes and crackers, and tinkling ice, and straws todrink with. Doris almost fell asleep again, and was carried up-stairsby Shirley and put to bed in a pretty white crib she was too sleepy tolook at, while Carol, Elizabeth, George, and Harley went with Grahamacross the road to look at the black, yawning cavern they called ocean,and to have the shore light-houses pointed out to them and named one byone.
They were all asleep at last, a little before midnight, in spite of theexcitement over the spacious rooms, and who should have which. Thinkof it! Thirty rooms in the house, and every one as pretty as everyother one! What luxury! And nobody to occupy them but themselves!Carol could hardly get to sleep. She felt as if she had dropped into anovel and was living it.
When Graham came out of his room the next morning the salt breeze sweptinvitingly through the hall and showed him the big front door of theupper piazza open and some one standing in the sunlight, with light,glowing garments, gazing at the sea in rapt enjoyment. Coming outsoftly, he saw that it was Shirley dressed in white, with a ribbon ofblue at her waist and a soft pink color in her cheeks, looking off tosea.
He stood for a moment to enjoy the picture, and said in his heart thatsometime, if he got his wish, he would have her painted so by somegreat artist, with just that little simple white dress and blue ribbon,her round white arm lifted, her small hand shading her eyes, thesunlight burnishing her brown hair into gold. He could scarcelyrefrain from going to her and telling her how beautiful she was. Butwhen he stepped quietly up beside her only his eyes spoke, and broughtthe color deeper into her cheeks; and so they stood for some minutes,looking together and drawing in the wonder of God's sea.
"This is the first time I've ever seen it, you know," spoke Shirley atlast, "and I'm so glad it was on Sunday morning. It will always makethe day seem more holy and the sea more wonderful to think about. Ilike best things to happen on Sunday, don't you, because that is thebest day of all?"
Graham looked at the sparkling sea all azure and pearls, realized theSabbath quiet, and marvelled at the beauty of the soul of the girl,even as her feeling about it all seemed to enter into and become a partof himself.
"Yes, I do," said he. "I never did before, but I do now,--and alwaysshall," he added under his breath.
That was almost as wonderful a Sabbath as the one they had spent in thewoods a couple of weeks before. They walked and talked by the sea, andthey went to a little Episcopal chapel, where the windows stood openfor the chanting of the waves and the salt of the breeze to come infreely, and then they went out and walked by the sea again. Whereverthey went, whether resting in some of the many big rockers on the broadverandas or walking on the hard smooth sand, or sitting in some cozynook by the waves, they felt the same deep sympathy, the sameconviction that their thoughts were one, the same wonderful thrill ofthe day and each other's nearness.
Somehow in the new environment Shirley forgot for a little that thisyoung man was not of her world, that he was probably going back soon tothe city to enter into a whirl of the winter's season in society, thatother girls would claim his smiles and attentions, and she would likelybe forgotten. She lost the sense of it entirely and companioned withhim as joyously as if there had never been anything to separate them.Her mother, looking on, sighed, feared, smiled, and sighed again.
They walked together in the sweet darkness beside the waves thatevening, and he told her how when he was a little boy he wanted toclimb up to the stars and find God, but later how he thought the starsand God were myths like Santa Claus, and that the stars were onlyelectric lights put up by men and lighted from a great switch everynight, and when they didn't shine somebody had forgotten to light them.He told her many things about himself that he had never told to any onebefore, and she opened her shy heart to him, too.
Then they planned what they would do next week when he came back. Hetold her he must go back to the city in the morning to see his fatherand mother off and attend to a few matters of business at the office.It might be two or three days before he could return, but after that hewas coming down to take a little vacation himself if she didn't mind,and they would do a lot of delightful things together: row, fish, gocrabbing, and he would teach her to swim and show her all the walks andfavorite places where he used to go as a boy. Reluctantly they wentin, his fingers lingering about hers for just a second at the door,vibrating those mysterious heart-strings of hers again, sweepingdearest music from them, and frightening her with joy that took herhalf the night to put down.