CHAPTER IX
ONE ON BOB
AS soon as the men finished eating they rose silently and shuffled out.Any diffidence Betty might have felt about facing any one at the tableafter her dramatic exit of the night before was speedily dispelled; noone paid the slightest attention to her. Mrs. Peabody had risen andbegun to wash the dishes at the sink before Betty had finished.
"I want to ride over to Glenside with Bob," said the girl a trifleuncertainly as she pushed back her chair. "You don't care, do you, Mrs.Peabody? And can I do any errands for you?"
"No, I dunno as I want anything," said the woman dully. "You go alongand try to enjoy yourself. Bob's got to get back by eleven to whitewashthe pig house."
"Come, drive over with us this morning," urged Betty kindly. "I'll helpyou with the work when we get back. The air will do you good. You lookas though you had a headache."
"Oh, I have a headache 'most all the time," admitted Mrs. Peabody,apparently not thinking it worth discussion. "And I couldn't go totown, child, I haven't a straw hat. I don't know when I've been toGlenside. Joe fusses so about the collection, I gave up going to churchtwo years ago."
Betty heard the sound of wheels and ran out to join Bob, an ache in herthroat.
"I think it's a burning shame!" she announced hotly to that youth, ashe put out a helpful hand to pull her up to the seat. "I pity Mrs.Peabody from the bottom of my heart. Why can't she have a straw hat?Doesn't she take care of the poultry and the butter and do all the workin the house? If she can't have a hat, I'd like to know why not!"
"Regular pepper-pot, aren't you?" commented Bob admiringly. "Gee, Iwanted to laugh when you lit into old Peabody last night. Didn't dare,though--he'd have up and pasted me one."
It was a beautiful summer morning, and in spite of injustice andunlovely human traits housed under the roof they had left, in spite ofthe sight of the poor animal before them suffering pain at every step,the two young people managed to enjoy themselves. Betty had a hundredquestions to ask about Bramble Farm, and Bob was in the seventh heavenof delight to have this friendly, cheerful companion to talk to insteadof only his own thoughts for company.
"I've got the letter to Uncle Dick here in my pocket," Betty wassaying as they came in sight of the blacksmith's shop on the outskirtsof Glenside. "I suppose I'll have to be patient about waiting for ananswer. It may take a week. I don't know just where he is, but I'vewritten to the address he gave me, and marked it 'Please forward.'"
The blacksmith came out and took the horse, Bob helping him unharnessand Betty improving the opportunity to see the inside of a smithy.
"I guess you'll want to look around town a bit?" suggested Bob, comingup to her when the sorrel was tied in place awaiting his turn to beshod. Two other horses were before him. "I'll wait here for you."
Betty looked at him in surprise.
"Why, Bob Henderson!" she ejaculated, keeping her voice low so that thetwo or three loungers about the door could not hear. "Are you willingto let me go around by myself in a perfectly strange town? I don't evenknow my way to the post-office. Don't you want to go with me?"
Bob was evidently embarrassed.
"I--I--I don't look fit!" he blurted out. "The collar's torn offthis shirt, and I get only one clean pair of overalls a week--Mondaymorning. I don't look good enough to go round with you."
"Don't be silly!" said Betty severely. "You look all right for a workday. Come on, or we won't be back by the time the shoe is on."
Between the shop and the town there was a rather deserted strip ofland, very conspicuous as to concrete walks and building lots markedoff, but rather lacking in actual houses. Betty seized her opportunityto do a little tactful financiering. She knew that Bob had no money ofhis own--indeed it was doubtful if the lad had ever handled even smallchange that he was not accountable for.
"Uncle Dick gave me some money to spend," remarked Betty, ratherhurriedly, for she did not know how Bob was going to take what shemeant to say. "And before you show me the different stores, I want youto take me to the drug store. I'm going to buy Mrs. Peabody the largestbottle of violet toilet water I can find. It will do her headache heapsof good. If I give you the money, you'll buy it for me, won't you Bob?"
"Sure I will," agreed the unsuspecting Bob, and he pocketed the fivedollar bill she gave him readily enough.
The wily Betty hoped that the drug store would be modern, for she had aplan tucked up her white sleeve.
"Want to go to the drug store first or to the post-office?" asked Bob.
"Oh, the post-office!" Betty was suddenly anxious to know that herletter was actually on the way.
"Don't forget--get a big bottle," said Betty warningly, as she and Bobentered the drug store.
Her dancing dark eyes discovered what she had hoped for the momentthey were inside the screen door--a large soda fountain with awhite-jacketed clerk behind it.
Bob led the way to the perfume counter, and though the clerk, whoevidently knew him, seemed surprised at his order, he very civilly setout several bottles of toilet water for their inspection. Betty chose ahandsome large bottle, and when it was wrapped, and with it some soap,for Betty did not fancy the thin wafer of yellow kitchen soap she hadfound in her soapdish, Bob paid for the package and received the changequite as though he were accustomed to such proceedings. Indeed he stoodstraighter, and Betty knew she was right in her conclusions that he hadsensitiveness and pride.
The time had come to put her plan into action.
"Oh, Bob!" She pulled his coat sleeve as they were passing the fountainon their way out. "Let's have a sundae!"
The clerk had heard her, and he came forward at once, pushing towardthem a printed card with the names of the drinks served. Bob openedhis mouth, then closed it. He sat down on one of the high stools andBetty on another.
"I'll have a chocolate marshmallow nut sundae," ordered Bettycomposedly, having selected the most expensive and fanciful concoctionlisted with the fervent hope that it would be plentiful and good.
"I'll have the same," mumbled Bob, just as Betty had trusted he would.
While the clerk was mixing the delectable dainty, Betty stole a look atBob. His mouth was set grimly. Then he turned and caught her eye. Anunwilling grin flickered across his face and he capitulated as Bettybroke into a delighted giggle.
"Well, I'll be jiggered!" admitted Bob, "you've certainly put it overon me."
They laughed and chattered over the sundaes, and Betty, when they weregone, would not listen to reason, but insisted they must have another.She did not want a second one, but she knew Bob's longing for sweetsmust have gone ungratified a long time, and she was too young to worryabout the ultimate effect on his surprised organs of digestion. Bobwas fairly caught, and could not object without putting himself in anunfavorable light with the impressive young clerk, so two more sundaeswere ordered and disposed of. Then Bob paid for them from the change inhis pocket and he and Betty found themselves on the sunny sidewalk.
"That's the first sundae I ever had," confessed Bob shyly. "Of coursewe had ice-cream at the poorhouse sometimes for a treat--Christmas andsometimes Fourth of July. But I never ate a sundae. Do you want yourchange back now?"
"No, keep it," said Betty. "I want to go to a grocery store now. Andwhere do they keep mosquito netting?"
"Same place--Liscom's general store," answered Bob.
The general store was well-named. Betty, who had never been in aplace of this kind, was fascinated by the shelves and the wonderfulassortment of goods they contained. Everything, she privately decided,from a pink chiffon veil to a keg of nails could be bought here, andher deductions were very near the truth.
"I can't stand being chewed by the mosquitoes another night," shewhispered to Bob. "So I'm going to get some netting and tack it on thewindow casings. I'd buy a lamp if I was going to stay."
After the netting was measured off, Betty, to Bob's astonishment, beganto buy groceries. She chose cans of sardines and tuna fish, severalpackages of fancy crackers, a bott
le or two of olives, a pound of driedapricots, a box of dates and one or two other articles. These were allwrapped together in a neat bundle.
"Do they make sandwiches here?" asked Betty, watching a machine shavingoff a pink slice of cold boiled ham and a layer of cheese and thestorekeeper's assistant butter two slabs of bread with sweet-lookingbutter at the order of a teamster who stood waiting.
"Sure we do, Miss," the proprietor assured her. "Nice, fresh sandwichesmade while you wait, and wrapped in waxed paper."
"I'll have two ham and two cheese, please," responded Betty, adding inan aside to Bob: "We can eat 'em going home."
She was afraid that perhaps she had spent more money than she had leftfrom the five dollar bill. But Bob had enough to pay for her purchases,it seemed, and they left the store with their bundles, well pleasedwith the morning's work.