CHAPTER XII.
AN UNEXPECTED HELPER.
PERHAPS you do not see how the pond lilies, lovely as they were,arranged on that salver, helped Jerry and Nettie in their plans forNorm and his friends. But there is another part to that story.
After the salver had been filled with sand, and covered with moss, andsoaked until it would absorb no more water, and the lilies had beenlaid in so thickly that they looked like a great white bank of bloom,the whole was lovely, as I said, but heavy. The walk to the churchwas long, and Nettie, thinking of it, surveyed her finished work witha grave face. How was it ever to be gotten to the church? She triedto lift one end of it, and shook her head. There was no hope that shecould even _help_ carry it for so long a distance. Mrs. Smith saw thetrouble in her eyes, and guessed at its cause. "It is an awful heavything, that's a fact," she said, "hefting" it in her strong arms; "Idon't know how you are going to manage it; Sarah Jane would help in aminute, but there's her back; she ain't got no back to speak of, SarahJane hasn't. And there's Job, he ain't at home; he went this morningbefore it was light, away over the other side of the clip hill with aload, and the last words he says to me was: 'Don't you be scairt if Idon't get round very early; them roads over there is dreadful heavy,and I shall have to rest the team in the heat of the day,' and likeenough he won't get back till nigh ten o'clock."
Certainly no help could be expected from the Smith family. "We shallhave to take some of the sand out," said Nettie, surveying the moundregretfully; "I'm real sorry; it does look so pretty heaped up! butJerry can never carry it away down there alone."
Then came Jerry's bright idea. "I'll get Norman to help me."
"Norm!" said Nettie, stopping astonished in the very act of picking outsome of the lilies. It had not once occurred to her that Norm could beasked to go to the church on an errand. She couldn't have told why,but Norm and the church seemed too far apart to have anything in common.
"Yes," said Jerry, positively. "Why not? I know he'll help; and he andI can carry it like a daisy. Don't take out one of them, Nettie. I knowyou will spoil it if you touch it again; it is just perfect. Halloo,Norm, come this way."
Sure enough at that moment Norm appeared from the attic where heslept; he had washed his face and combed his hair, and made himself asdecent looking as he could, and was starting for somewhere; and Nettieremembered with a sinking heart that it was Saturday night; Norm'sworst night except Sunday.
He stopped at Jerry's call, and stood waiting.
"You are just the individual I wanted to see at this moment," saidJerry with a confident air. "This meadow here has got to be dug up andcarried bodily down to the church; and it is as heavy as though itsroots were struck deep in the soil. Will you shoulder an end with me?"
"To the church!" repeated Norm with an incredulous stare. "What do theywant of that thing at the church?"
"They are our flowers," said Sate with a positive little nod of herhead. "We promised to bring them, and they are so big and heavy wecan't. Will you help?"
Now Norm had really a very warm feeling in his heart for this smallsister; Susie he considered a nuisance, and a vixen, but Sate with herslow sweet voice, and shy ways, had several times slipped behind hischair to escape a slap from her angry father, thus appealing to hisprotection, and once when he lifted her over the fence, she kissedhim; he was rather willing to please Sate. Then there was Jerry whowas a good fellow as ever lived, and Nettie who was a prime girl; whyshouldn't he help tote the thing down to the church if that was whatthey wanted? To be sure he wanted to go in the other direction, andthe fellows would be waiting, he supposed; but he could go there,afterwards, let them wait until he came.
"Well," he said at last, "come on, I'll help; though what they want ofall this rubbish at the church is more than I can imagine." And Nettieand the little girls stood with satisfied faces watching the two moveoff under their heavy burden. It was something to have Norm go tochurch if it was only to carry flowers.
Arrived at the door, Norm was seized with a fit of shyness; the doorswere thrown wide open, and ladies and children were flitting about, andmany tongues were going, and flowers and vines were being festoonedaround the gas lights, and the pillars, and wherever there was a spotfor them.
"Hold on," said Norm, jerking back, thus putting the great salver ineminent peril, "I ain't going in there; all the village is there; youbetter pitch this rubbish out, they've got flowers enough."
"There isn't a lily among them," said Jerry. "And besides they haveto go in, anyhow, we can't afford to disappoint Sate. Come on, Norm,I can't carry the thing alone, any more than I could the stove; it isunaccountably heavy."
This was true, but Jerry was very glad that it was. He had his reasonsfor wanting to get Norm down the aisle to the front of the pulpit. Withvery reluctant feet Norm followed, bearing his share of the burden,his face flushing over the exclamations with which they were at lastgreeted.
"Oh, oh! pond lilies! I did not know there were any this year. Wheredid you get them? Girls, look! Did you ever see anything more lovely?"And a group of faces were gathered about the tray, and one brown headwent down among the lilies and caressed them.
"Where did you get them?" she repeated; "I asked my cousin if therewere any about here, and she said she thought not; and last night whenI was out on the pond I looked and could not find any."
"They hide," said Jerry. "The only place on the pond where they can befound is down behind the old mill; and most people don't go there atall, because the channel is so narrow, and the water so shallow."
"Well, we are so glad you brought them! Girls, aren't they too lovelyfor anything? Who arranged them?"
"My sister," said Norm, to whom Jerry promptly turned with an air whichsaid as plainly as words could have done: "You are the one to answer;she belongs to you."
"And who is that?" asked the owner of the pretty brown head, as shemade way for them to pass to the table with their burden. "I am sureI would like to know her; for she certainly knows how to put flowersinto lovely shapes."
Then came from behind the desk a man whom Jerry knew and whom he hadseen while he stood at the door. "Good evening, Jerry," he said,holding out his hand in a cordial way. "What a wonderful bank of beautyyou have brought! Introduce me to your helper, please."
"Mr. Sherrill, Mr. Norman Decker," said Jerry, exactly as though hehad been used to introducing people all his life; and Norm, his facevery red, knew that he was shaking hands with the new minister. A verycordial hand-shake, certainly, and then the minister turning to herof the brown head, said, "Eva, come here; let me introduce you to Mr.Norman Decker. My sister, Mr. Decker."
Norm, hardly knowing what he was about, contrived another bow, and thenMiss Eva said, "Decker, why, that is the name of my two little darlingsabout whom I have been telling you for two Sabbaths. Are they yourlittle sisters, Mr. Decker? Little Sate and Susie?" And as Norm managedto nod an answer, she continued: "They have stolen my heart utterly;that little Sate is the dearest little thing. By the way, I wonder ifthese are her flowers? She promised me she would certainly get some;she said they had none in their garden, but God would make some growfor her somewhere she guessed."
"Yes'm," said Jerry, seeing that Norm would not speak, "they are herflowers, hers and Susie's, they coaxed us to go for them."
"Decker," said the minister, suddenly, "you are pretty tall, I wonderif you are not just the one to help me get this wreath fastened backof the pulpit? I have been working at it for some time, and failed forthe want of an arm long enough and strong enough to help me." And thetwo disappeared behind the desk up the pulpit stairs to the immensesatisfaction of Jerry. The ladies went on with their work; Miss Evacalling to him to help her move the table, and then to help arrange thesalver on it, and then to bring more vines from the lecture room tocover the base of the floral cross; and indeed, before they knew it,both Jerry and Norm were in the thick of the engagement; Jerry flittinghither and thither at the call of the girls, and Norm followingthe minister from point
to point, and using his long limbs to goodadvantage.
"Well," he said, wiping his face with his coat sleeve, as, more thanan hour after their entrance, he and Jerry made their way down thechurchyard walk, "that is the greatest snarl I ever got into. How thatfellow can work! But he would never have got them things up in theworld, if I had not been there to help him."
"No," said Jerry "I don't believe he would. How glad they were to getthe lilies! They do look prettier than anything there. I did not knowwho that lady was who taught the little folks. She has only been therea few weeks. She is pretty, isn't she?"
"I s'pose so," said Norm, "her voice is, anyhow. They say she's asinger. I heard the fellows down at the corner talking about her onenight; Dick Welsh says she can mimic a bird so you couldn't tell whichwas which. I wouldn't mind hearing her sing. I like good singing."
"I suppose they will have her sing in the church," said Jerry in asignificant tone. But to this, Norm made no reply.
"What was it Mr. Sherrill wanted of you just as we were coming out?"asked Jerry, after reflecting whether he had better ask the question ornot.
"Wanted me to come and see how the things looked in the daytime," saidNorm with an awkward laugh that ended in a half sneer; "I'll be likelyto I think!"
"Going up home, I s'pose?" said Jerry, trying to speak indifferently,and slipping his hand through Norm's arm as they reached the corner,and Norm half halted.
"Well, I suppose I might as well," Norm said, allowing himself to bedrawn on by never so slight a pressure from Jerry's arm. "I was goingdown street, and the boys were to wait for me; but they have neverwaited all this while; it must be considerable after nine o'clock."
"Yes," said Jerry, "it is." And they went home.
Nettie, sitting on the doorstep, waiting, will never forget that night,nor the sinking of heart with which she waited. Her father had beenkept at home, first by his employer who came to give directions aboutwork to be attended to the first thing on Monday morning, and thenby Job Smith getting home before he was expected and asking a littlefriendly help with the load he brought; and he had at last decidedthat it was too late to go out again, and had gone to bed. Mrs. Deckerin her kitchen, hovered between the door and the window, peering outinto the lovely night, saying nothing, but her heart throbbing so withanxiety about her boy that she could not lay her tired body away. Mrs.Job Smith in her kitchen, looked from her door and then her window,many misgivings in her heart; if that bad boy Norm should lead her goodboy Jerry into mischief what should she say to his father? How couldshe ever forgive herself for having encouraged the intimacy between himand the Deckers?
Presently, far down the quiet street came the sound of cheerywhistling; Nettie knew the voice: nothing so very bad could havehappened when Jerry was whistling like that; or was he perhaps doingit to keep his courage up? The whistle turned the corner, and in thedim starlight she could distinguish two figures; they came on briskly,Jerry and Norm. "A nice job you set us at," began Jerry, gayly, "wehave just this minute got through; and here it is toward morningsomewhere, isn't it?" Then all that happy company went to their beds.
After dinner the next day, Nettie studied if there were not ways inwhich she might coax Norm to go to church that evening. Jerry had toldher of the minister's invitation. Norm had slept later than usual thatmorning, and lounged at home until after dinner; now he was preparingto go out. How could she keep him? How could she coax him to go withher?
Before she could decide what to do to try to hold him, Susie tookmatters into her own hands by pitching head foremost out of the kitchenwindow, hitting her head on the stones. Then there was hurry andconfusion in the Decker kitchen! Then did Mrs. Smith, and Job Smith,and Sarah Jane fly to the rescue. Though after all, Norm was the onewho stooped over poor silent Susie and brought her limp and apparentlylifeless into the kitchen. Jerry ran with all speed for the doctor. Itwas hours before they settled down again, having discovered that Susiewas not dead, but had fainted; was not even badly hurt, save for a bumpor two. But it took the little lady only a short time, after recoveringfrom her fright, to discover that she was a person of importance, andto like the situation.
It happened that Norm had, by the doctor's directions, carried her fromher mother's bed to the cooler atmosphere of the front room. Susie hadenjoyed the ride, and now announced with the air of a conqueror, "Iwant Norm to carry me." So Norm, frightened into love and tenderness,lifted the little girl in his strong arms, laid the pretty head onhis shoulder, and willingly tramped up and down the room. Was Susie awitch, or a selfish little girl? Certain it was that during that walkshe took an unaccountable and ever increasing fancy for Norm. He mustwet the brown paper on her head as often is the vinegar with which itwas saturated dried away; he must hold the cup while she took a drinkof water; he must push the marvel of a barrel chair in which she fora time sat in state, closer to the window; he must carry her from thechair to the table when supper was finally ready, and carry her backagain when it was eaten. Nettie looked on amused and puzzled. CertainlySusie had kept Norm at home all the afternoon; but was she also likelyto accomplish it for the evening? For Norm, to her great surprise,seemed to like the new order of things.
He blushed awkwardly when Susie gently pushed her mother aside anddemanded Norm, but he came at once, with a good-natured laugh, and heldher in his arms with as much gentleness and more strength than themother could have given; and seemed to like the touch of the curly headon his shoulder.
But while Nettie was putting away the dishes and puzzling over all thestrange events of the afternoon, Susie was undressed, partly by Norm,according to her decree, and fell asleep in his arms and was laid onher mother's bed, and Norm slipped away!
Poor Nettie! She ran to the door to try to call him, but he was out ofsight. "I tried to think of something to keep him till you came in,"explained the disappointed mother, "but I couldn't do it; he laid Susiedown as quick as he could, and shot away as though he was afraid youwould get hold of him."
So Nettie, her face sad, prepared to go with Jerry and the Smiths downto evening meeting, and told Jerry on the way, that it did seem strangeto her, so long as Susie had kept Norm busy all the afternoon, thatthey must let him slip away from them at last.