CHAPTER VIII
TO-MORROW
"To-morrow I will begin," thought Katy, as she dropped asleep thatnight. How often we all do so! And what a pity it is that when morningcomes and to-morrow is to-day, we so frequently wake up feeling quitedifferently; careless or impatient, and not a bit inclined to do thefine things we planned overnight.
Sometimes it seems as if there must be wicked little imps in the world,who are kept tied up so long as the sun shines, but who creep into ourbed-rooms when we are asleep, to tease us and ruffle our tempers. Else,why, when we go to rest good-natured and pleasant, should we wake up socross? Now there was Katy. Her last sleepy thought was an intention tobe an angel from that time on, and as much like Cousin Helen as shecould; and when she opened her eyes she was all out of sorts, and asfractious as a bear! Old Mary said that she got out of bed on the wrongside. I wonder, by the way, if anybody will ever be wise enough to tellus which side that is, so that we may always choose the other? Howcomfortable it would be if they could!
You know how, if we begin the day in a cross mood, all sorts ofunfortunate accidents seem to occur to add to our vexations. The veryfirst thing Katy did this morning was to break her precious vase--theone Cousin Helen had given her.
It was standing on the bureau with a little cluster of blush-roses init. The bureau had a swing-glass. While Katy was brushing her hair, theglass tipped a little so that she could not see. At a good-humoredmoment, this accident wouldn't have troubled her much. But being out oftemper to begin with, it made her angry. She gave the glass a violentpush. The lower part swung forward, there was a smash, and the firstthing Katy knew, the blush-roses lay scattered all over the floor, andCousin Helen's pretty present was ruined.
Katy just sat down on the carpet and cried as hard as if she had beenPhil himself. Aunt Izzie heard her lamenting, and came in.
"I'm very sorry," she said, picking up the broken glass, "but it's nomore than I expected, you're so careless, Katy. Now don't sit there inthat foolish way! Get up and dress yourself. You'll be late tobreakfast."
"What's the matter?" asked Papa, noticing Katy's red eyes as she tookher seat at the table.
"I've broken my vase," said Katy, dolefully.
"It was extremely careless of you to put it in such a dangerous place,"said her aunt. "You might have known that the glass would swing andknock it off." Then, seeing a big tear fall in the middle of Katy'splate, she added: "Really, Katy, you're too big to behave like a baby.Why Dorry would be ashamed to do so. Pray control yourself!"
This snub did not improve Katy's temper. She went on with her breakfastin sulky silence.
"What are you all going to do to-day?" asked Dr. Carr, hoping to givethings a more cheerful turn.
"Swing!" cried John and Dorry both together. "Alexander's put us up asplendid one in the wood-shed."
"No you're not," said Aunt Izzie in a positive tone, "the swing is notto be used till to-morrow. Remember that, children. Not till to-morrow.And not then, unless I give you leave."
This was unwise of Aunt Izzie. She would better have explained farther.The truth was, that Alexander, in putting up the swing, had cracked oneof the staples which fastened it to the roof. He meant to get a new onein the course of the day, and, meantime, he had cautioned Miss Carr tolet no one use the swing, because it really was not safe. If she hadtold this to the children, all would have been right; but Aunt Izzie'stheory was, that young people must obey their elders withoutexplanation.
John, and Elsie, and Dorry, all pouted when they heard this order. Elsierecovered her good-humor first.
"I don't care," she said, "'cause I'm going to be very busy; I've got towrite a letter to Cousin Helen about somefing." (Elsie never could quitepronounce the _th_.)
"What?" asked Clover.
"Oh, somefing," answered Elsie, wagging her head mysteriously. "None ofthe rest of you must know, Cousin Helen said so, it's a secret she andme has got."
"I don't believe Cousin Helen said so at all," said Katy, crossly. "Shewouldn't tell secrets to a silly little girl like you."
"Yes she would too," retorted Elsie angrily. "She said I was just asgood to trust as if I was ever so big. And she said I was her pet. Sothere! Katy Carr!"
"Stop disputing," said Aunt Izzie. "Katy your top-drawer is all out oforder. I never saw anything look so badly. Go up stairs at once andstraighten it, before you do anything else. Children, you must keep inthe shade this morning. It's too hot for you to be running about in thesun. Elsie, go into the kitchen and tell Debby I want to speak to her."
"Yes," said Elsie, in an important tone, "And afterwards I'm coming backto write my letter to Cousin Helen."
Katy went slowly up stairs, dragging one foot after the other. It was awarm, languid day. Her head ached a little, and her eyes smarted andfelt heavy from crying so much. Everything seemed dull and hateful. Shesaid to herself, that Aunt Izzie was very unkind to make her work invacation, and she pulled the top-drawer open with a disgusted groan.
It must be confessed that Miss Izzie was right. A bureau-drawer couldhardly look worse than this one did. It reminded one of the WhiteKnight's recipe for a pudding, which began with blotting-paper, andended with sealing-wax and gunpowder. All sorts of things were mixedtogether, as if somebody had put in a long stick and stirred themwell up. There were books and paint-boxes and bits of scribbledpaper, and lead-pencils and brushes. Stocking-legs had come unrolled,and twisted themselves about pocket-handkerchiefs, and ends ofribbon, and linen collars.
Ruffles, all crushed out of shape, stuck up from under the heavierthings, and sundry little paper boxes lay empty on top, the treasuresthey once held having sifted down to the bottom of the drawer, anddisappeared beneath the general mass.
It took much time and patience to bring order out of this confusion. ButKaty knew that Aunt Izzie would be up by and by, and she dared not stoptill all was done. By the time it was finished, she was very tired.Going down stairs, she met Elsie coming up with a slate in her hand,which, as soon as she saw Katy, she put behind her.
"You mustn't look," she said, "it's my letter to Cousin Helen. Nobodybut me knows the secret. It's all written, and I'm going to send it tothe office. See--there's a stamp on it;" and she exhibited a corner ofthe slate. Sure enough, there was a stamp stuck on the frame.
"You little goose!" said Katy, impatiently, "you can't send _that_ tothe post-office. Here, give me the slate. I'll copy what you've writtenon paper, and Papa'll give you an envelope."
"No, no," cried Elsie, struggling, "you mustn't! You'll see what I'vesaid and Cousin Helen said I wasn't to tell. It's a secret. Let go of myslate, I say! I'll tell Cousin Helen what a mean girl you are, and thenshe won't love you a bit."
"There, then, take your old slate!" said Katy, giving her a vindictivepush. Elsie slipped, screamed, caught at the banisters, missed them, androlling over and over, fell with a thump on the hall floor.
It wasn't much of a fall, only half-a-dozen steps, but the bump was ahard one, and Elsie roared as if she had been half killed. Aunt Izzieand Mary came rushing to the spot.
"Katy--pushed--me," sobbed Elsie. "She wanted me to tell her my secret,and I wouldn't. She's a bad, naughty girl!"
"Well, Katy Carr, I _should_ think you'd be ashamed of yourself," saidAunt Izzie, "wreaking your temper on your poor little sister! I thinkyour Cousin Helen will be surprised when she hears this. There, there,Elsie! Don't cry any more, dear. Come up stairs with me. I'll put onsome arnica, and Katy sha'n't hurt you again."
So they went up stairs. Katy, left below, felt very miserable:repentant, defiant, discontented, and sulky all at once. She knew inher heart that she had not meant to hurt Elsie, but was thoroughlyashamed of that push; but Aunt Izzie's hint about telling Cousin Helen,had made her too angry to allow of her confessing this to herself oranybody else.
"I don't care!" she murmured, choking back her tears. "Elsie is a realcry-baby, anyway. And Aunt Izzie always takes her part. Just because Itold the little silly not to go and sen
d a great heavy slate to thepost-office!"
She went out by the side-door into the yard. As she passed the shed, thenew swing caught her eye.
"How exactly like Aunt Izzie," she thought, "ordering the children notto swing till she gives them leave. I suppose she thinks it's too hot,or something. _I_ sha'n't mind her, anyhow."
She seated herself in the swing. It was a first-rate one, with a broad,comfortable seat, and thick new ropes. The seat hung just the rightdistance from the floor. Alexander was a capital hand at putting upswings, and the wood-shed the nicest possible spot in which to have one.
It was a big place, with a very high roof. There was not much wood leftin it just now, and the little there was, was piled neatly about thesides of the shed, so as to leave plenty of room. The place felt cooland dark, and the motion of the swing seemed to set the breeze blowing.It waved Katy's hair like a great fan, and made her dreamy and quiet.All sorts of sleepy ideas began to flit through her brain. Swinging toand fro like the pendulum of a great clock, she gradually rose higherand higher, driving herself along by the motion of her body, andstriking the floor smartly with her foot, at every sweep. Now she was atthe top of the high arched door. Then she could almost touch thecross-beam above it, and through the small square window could seepigeons sitting and pluming themselves on the eaves of the barn, andwhite clouds blowing over the blue sky. She had never swung so highbefore. It was like flying, she thought, and she bent and curved morestrongly in the seat, trying to send herself yet higher, and graze theroof with her toes.
Suddenly, at the very highest point of the sweep, there was a sharpnoise of cracking. The swing gave a violent twist, spun half round, andtossed Katy into the air. She clutched the rope,--felt it dragged fromher grasp,--then, down,--down--down--she fell. All grew dark, and sheknew no more.
When she opened her eyes she was lying on the sofa in the dining-room.Clover was kneeling beside her with a pale, scared face, and Aunt Izziewas dropping something cold and wet on her forehead.
"What's the matter?" said Katy, faintly.
"Oh, she's alive--she's alive!" and Clover put her arms round Katy'sneck and sobbed.
"Hush, dear!" Aunt Izzie's voice sounded unusually gentle. "You've had abad tumble, Katy. Don't you recollect?"
"A tumble? Oh, yes--out of the swing," said Katy, as it all cameslowly back to her. "Did the rope break, Aunt Izzie? I can't rememberabout it."
"No, Katy, not the rope. The staple drew out of the roof. It was acracked one, and not safe. Don't you recollect my telling you not toswing to-day? Did you forget?"
"No, Aunt Izzie--I didn't forget. I--" but here Katy broke down. Sheclosed her eyes, and big tears rolled from under the lids.
"Don't cry," whispered Clover, crying herself, "please don't. Aunt Izzieisn't going to scold you." But Katy was too weak and shaken not to cry.
"I think I'd like to go up stairs and lie on the bed," she said. Butwhen she tried to get off the sofa, everything swam before her, and shefell back again on the pillow.
"Why, I can't stand up!" she gasped, looking very much frightened.
"I'm afraid you've given yourself a sprain somewhere," said Aunt Izzie,who looked rather frightened herself. "You'd better lie still a while,dear, before you try to move. Ah, here's the doctor! well, I am glad."And she went forward to meet him. It wasn't Papa, but Dr. Alsop, wholived quite near them.
"I am so relieved that you could come," Aunt Izzie said. "My brother isgone out of town not to return till to-morrow, and one of the littlegirls has had a bad fall."
Dr. Alsop sat down beside the sofa and counted Katy's pulse. Then hebegan feeling all over her.
"Can you move this leg?" he asked.
Katy gave a feeble kick.
"And this?"
The kick was a good deal more feeble.
"Did that hurt you?" asked Dr. Alsop, seeing a look of pain on her face.
"Yes, a little," replied Katy, trying hard not to cry.
"In your back, eh? Was the pain high up or low down?" And the doctorpunched Katy's spine for some minutes, making her squirm uneasily.
"I'm afraid she's done some mischief," he said at last, "but it'simpossible to tell yet exactly what. It may be only a twist, or a slightsprain," he added, seeing the look of terror on Katy's face. "You'dbetter get her up stairs and undress her as soon as you can, Miss Carr.I'll leave a prescription to rub her with." And Dr. Alsop took out a bitof paper and began to write.
"Oh, must I go to bed?" said Katy. "How long will I have to staythere, doctor?"
"That depends on how fast you get well," replied the doctor; "not long,I hope. Perhaps only a few days.
"A few days!" repeated Katy, in a despairing tone.
After the doctor was gone, Aunt Izzie and Debby lifted Katy, and carriedher slowly up stairs. It was not easy, for every motion hurt her, andthe sense of being helpless hurt most of all. She couldn't help cryingafter she was undressed and put into bed. It all seemed so dreadful andstrange. If only Papa was here, she thought. But Dr. Carr had gone intothe country to see somebody who was very sick, and couldn't possibly beback till to-morrow.
Such a long, long afternoon as that was! Aunt Izzie sent up some dinner,but Katy couldn't eat. Her lips were parched and her head achedviolently. The sun began to pour in, the room grew warm. Flies buzzed inthe window, and tormented her by lighting on her face. Little pricklesof pain ran up and down her back. She lay with her eyes shut, because ithurt to keep them open, and all sorts of uneasy thoughts went rushingthrough her mind.
"Perhaps, if my back is really sprained, I shall have to lie here asmuch as a week," she said to herself. "Oh dear, dear! I _can't_. Thevacation is only eight weeks, and I was going to do such lovely things!How can people be as patient as Cousin Helen when they have to liestill? Won't she be sorry when she hears! Was it really yesterday thatshe went away? It seems a year. If only I hadn't got into that nasty oldswing!" And then Katy began to imagine how it would have been if she_hadn't_, and how she and Clover had meant to go to Paradise thatafternoon. They might have been there under the cool trees now. As thesethoughts ran through her mind, her head grew hotter and her position inthe bed more uncomfortable.
Suddenly she became conscious that the glaring light from the window wasshaded, and that the wind seemed to be blowing freshly over her. Sheopened her heavy eyes. The blinds were shut, and there beside the bedsat little Elsie, fanning her with a palm-leaf fan.
"Did I wake you up, Katy?" she asked in a timid voice.
Katy looked at her with startled, amazed eyes.
"Don't be frightened," said Elsie, "I won't disturb you. Johnnie and meare so sorry you're sick," and her little lips trembled. "But we mean tokeep real quiet, and never bang the nursery door, or make noises on thestairs, till you're well again. And I've brought you somefing real nice.Some of it's from John, and some from me. It's because you got tumbledout of the swing. See--" and Elsie pointed triumphantly to a chair,which she had pulled up close to the bed, and on which were solemnly setforth: 1st. A pewter tea-set; 2d. A box with a glass lid, on whichflowers were painted; 3d. A jointed doll; 4th. A transparent slate; andlastly, two new lead pencils!
"They're all yours--yours to keep," said generous little Elsie. "Youcan have Pikery, too, if you want. Only he's pretty big, and I'mafraid he'd be lonely without me. Don't you like the fings, Katy?They're real pretty!"
It seemed to Katy as if the hottest sort of a coal of fire was burninginto the top of her head as she looked at the treasures on the chair,and then at Elsie's face all lighted up with affectionateself-sacrifice. She tried to speak, but began to cry instead, whichfrightened Elsie very much.
"Does it hurt you so bad?" she asked, crying, too, from sympathy.
"Oh, no! it isn't that," sobbed Katy, "but I was so cross to you thismorning, Elsie, and pushed you. Oh, please forgive me, please do!"
"Why, it's got well!" said Elsie, surprised. "Aunt Izzie put a fing outof a bottle on it, and the bump all went away. Shall I go and ask her toput
some on you too--I will." And she ran toward the door.
"Oh, no!" cried Katy, "don't go away, Elsie. Come here and kissme, instead."
Elsie turned as if doubtful whether this invitation could be meant forher. Katy held out her arms. Elsie ran right into them, and the bigsister and the little, exchanged an embrace which seemed to bring theirhearts closer together than they had ever been before.
"You're the most _precious_ little darling," murmured Katy, claspingElsie tight. "I've been real horrid to you, Elsie. But I'll never beagain. You shall play with me and Clover, and Cecy, just as much as youlike, and write notes in all the post-offices, and everything else."
"Oh, goody! goody!" cried Elsie, executing little skips of transport."How sweet you are, Katy! I mean to love you next best to Cousin Helenand Papa! And"--racking her brains for some way of repaying thiswonderful kindness--"I'll tell you the secret, if you want me to _very_much. I guess Cousin Helen would let me."
"No!" said Katy; "never mind about the secret. I don't want you to tellit to me. Sit down by the bed, and fan me some more instead."
"No!" persisted Elsie, who, now that she had made up her mind to partwith the treasured secret, could not bear to be stopped. "Cousin Helengave me a half-dollar, and told me to give it to Debby, and tell her shewas much obliged to her for making her such nice things to eat. And Idid. And Debby was real pleased. And I wrote Cousin Helen a letter, andtold her that Debby liked the half-dollar. That's the secret! Isn't it anice one? Only you mustn't tell anybody about it, ever--just as long asyou live."
"No!" said Katy, smiling faintly, "I won't."
All the rest of the afternoon Elsie sat beside the bed with herpalm-leaf fan, keeping off the flies, and "shue"-ing away the otherchildren when they peeped in at the door. "Do you really like to have mehere?" she asked, more than once, and smiled, oh, _so_ triumphantly!when Katy said "Yes!" But though Katy said yes, I am afraid it was onlyhalf the truth, for the sight of the dear little forgiving girl, whomshe had treated unkindly, gave her more pain than pleasure.
"I'll be _so_ good to her when I get well," she thought to herself,tossing uneasily to and fro.
Aunt Izzie slept in her room that night. Katy was feverish. When morningcame, and Dr. Carr returned, he found her in a good deal of pain, hotand restless, with wide-open, anxious eyes.
"Papa!" she cried the first thing, "must I lie here as much as a week?"
"My darling, I'm afraid you must," replied her father, who lookedworried, and very grave.
"Dear, dear!" sobbed Katy, "how can I bear it?"