CHAPTER X
A MIDNIGHT FEAST
"My gracious, Bess, see what you have done!" cried Nan.
"You certainly hit the bull's eye that time," was Rhoda's comment.
"Oh!" was the only word Bess could utter, and she stood there in theroadway, her arm still poised high in the air as when she had thrown thesnowball.
"Hi, you! Wot yer mean by heavin' snowballs at me?" screamed the man, ashe wiped the snow from his face. "You let me alone! I ain't done noharm, I ain't."
He waved his hands wildly in the air. The girls now noticed that he wasin tatters and had a very red nose, doubtless made redder than ever bythe snowball.
"Come, move on now," said a voice from the smithy, and a tall manwearing a leather apron appeared. "I told you before I'd not have youhanging around here. Git!"
"I ain't gonner be snowballed!" cried the tramp, for such he was."Tain't fair. I'm an honest man, I am. You lemme alone."
"I'll do worse than snowball you if you don't clear out, and that mightyquick," cried the blacksmith. "I know what you came in this placefor--you came to steal horseshoes and then sell 'em over to Beavertown."
"I didn't--I came in to git warm," sniveled the tramp. But then, as theblacksmith reached for a whip, he fairly ran down the snowy road and outof sight.
"Wasn't I lucky?" said Bess, when the girls had explained matters to theblacksmith and moved on once more in the direction of the hall. "Only atramp, and it might have been the blacksmith himself!"
"Well, we admit your aim was good," answered Nan drily.
As they made their way back to the school the girls talked over thematter of Mrs. Bragley's property. They came across Grace in the hall,and, bearing her off to Nan's room, told her the story of Sunny Slopes.
"Why!" exclaimed Grace, as a thought suddenly struck her, "I'll have dadlook that up while we're down at Palm Beach. You know he's a lawyer.Maybe Sunny Slopes isn't far from where we'll be staying. I'll get himto see what he can do."
"That will be perfectly darling!" exclaimed Nan enthusiastically, andthe others heartily agreed with her.
The next day, while returning from town where they had been stocking upfor the feast they had promised themselves, they again met Walter Mason.
"Hello, girls," he called, as he came up to them.
"Hello, Palm Beach," returned Laura.
"So you've heard about it, have you?" Walter responded, with a laugh.
"Have we?" replied Nan. "We haven't heard or talked or thought ofanything else since Grace told us."
"Of course you're going along?" said Bess questioningly.
"Of course," Walter answered. "But, to tell the truth, I'm not a biteager to go. I'd rather stay right here."
They chatted a few minutes longer, and then Walter left them and thegirls resumed their walk toward the school.
"Why do you suppose Walter would rather stay here than go to PalmBeach?" Laura asked innocently of no one in particular.
"That isn't hard to guess," replied Bess, with a mischievous glance atNan. "What do you think about it, Nan?"
"I haven't any opinion," answered Nan demurely. "What I do know, though,is that we'll have to hurry if we get back to the school before dark."
That night had been set for the "spread," and the girls went early totheir rooms to get their lessons for the next day out of the way. A mostunusual and unnatural silence reigned in Nan's room for nearly twohours. It was broken by a book snapping shut as Bess sprang to her feet,exclaiming with satisfaction:
"There, that's done! And it's the last, thank fortune."
"Same here," answered Nan happily, as she gathered books and papertogether and tossed them into a far corner of the room.
"Why, Nan!" exclaimed Bess in surprise, glancing at the clock, "where doyou suppose the girls are? They were to be on hand at ten o'clock, andit's now five minutes after."
"Lessons," replied Nan laconically. "They'll be here any second now."
As she spoke the door opened softly, and Laura slipped in with a bundleof things in her arms. Placing them on the table, she went back andsoftly closed the door.
"Do you know, girls," she said in a low tone, "I met Linda Riggs as Iwas coming through the hall, and her eyes were two big bundles ofcuriosity when she saw the things in my arms. I shouldn't besurprised----"
Suddenly, without waiting to finish the sentence, she went back to thedoor, opened it quickly and stepped out into the hall to see Linda,looking red and confused, walking hurriedly away.
Laura called after her.
"Was there anything you wanted, Linda?" she inquired sweetly.
"No, thank you," came the pert rejoinder. "Not now. Later, perhaps."
Laura returned.
"Of all the mean, sneaking----" she began, but Nan laughinglyinterrupted.
"There, there, Laura, what's the use? Don't give her a second thought."
"She isn't worth it, that's a fact," Laura contented herself withsaying, and the next minute the entrance of the other girls laden withparcels put anything else out of her mind.
Rhoda's box, much to the girl's uneasiness, had been delayed, but hadcome that night just before dinner. Now she deposited it unopened on achair.
"I thought it would be fun to open it here and see what blessings it hadin store for us," she explained, as she proceeded to open and unpack it.
"Blessings!" echoed Nan. "Well, I should say they were," she added, as,one after another, a big layer cake, a small fruit cake, some cakesprettily iced, bottles of choice olives, salted almonds and peanuts,jars of jelly and marmalade, fruit, and a big package of fresh assortedbonbons were drawn from the box.
"Oh, for pity's sake, girls, let's hurry and get at them," cried Laura."My mouth's fairly watering for them."
As she spoke, she drew Nan's spirit lamp from its shelf and soon had thewater for cocoa boiling in a small saucepan.
"Why in the world," said Grace as she set the plates and cups andsaucers on the table, "did we go and buy all these things? If we'd onlyknown what that box was going to hold we wouldn't have needed half ofthem."
"No matter, the sandwiches and ice cream will come in well," said Laura."That is," she added, "if there's anything of the ice cream left. I putit outside the minute we got it here, but it's had a long time to wait."
"It won't have to wait much longer," exulted Bess, as the girls gatheredaround the table and the feast began.
"Hey! don't let Grace cut that fruit cake yet," said Nan, her mouth fullof cream cheese sandwich. "There won't be a raisin left for the rest ofus."
"If you eat many more sandwiches," laughed Grace, "you won't have roomleft for even a raisin." And she calmly proceeded not only to cut thecake, but to help herself to a very generous slice.
"Um-um--this is good," she said. "Fruit cake is my special weakness."
"Yes, and it's our duty to help you conquer that weakness," remarkedLaura virtuously, as she drew the fruit cake over to her side of thetable.
"Now where did I put that sugar bowl?" asked Bess, as she finishedpouring her third cup of cocoa.
"Here it is," replied Rhoda, as she accommodatingly handed over a smallglass bowl from which Bess helped herself to a generous double spoonful.One swallow of her cocoa, and she began to sputter and gasp, and finallymade a frantic grab for a tumbler of water.
"What on earth is the matter with the child?" asked Laura.
"Salt," Bess managed to articulate. "You gave me the salt, Rhoda,instead of the sugar. Oh, what a dose!"
The girls wanted to shout with laughter, but caution made them smotherit as much as possible. And just at this juncture, the door opened partway without even one little warning squeak, and a severe voice said:
"Young ladies, report to me at my office at noon to-morrow."