CHAPTER XVII
STRANGER STILL
"You kin mend furst rate, Betsy," complimented old Sam Dixon, as Taviaplied her needle in the little ticket office, "and do you know, I'vetaken quite a shine to you? You might be my niece if you liked. I havea penny or two, and there ain't no pockets in shrouds."
Tavia looked up in surprise! After all, might there be "a fortune"somewhere for her or for her family? The thought seemed too absurd.
"Why, Uncle Sam, what do you mean?" she asked.
"Even Sam Dixon can't live forever, sis, and you know it's sort oflonely to think, that, when he goes, there won't be no one to think ofhim, like he thinks of them. That's why I want your name and address.But there comes the train from the city. Would you mind attendin' tothe window while I run out with the mail bag?"
"Certainly I will--I know where the tickets are, and can ask you theprice if any one wants to buy one." Wasn't it queer to sell tickets?
But that was the train to the city!
"Oh, Uncle Sam!" called Tavia. "Isn't that the train I should go on?"
"Without giving me your address?" and he was running down the platformwith the mail bag. "Couldn't you wait till the next?"
There seemed nothing else to do! But to stay longer away from camp?
Well, she might as well be content now. It was too late to get aticket, too late to say good-bye to Sam, too late to do anything butattend to the people who came in the station after the train pulledout.
"Have you seen the carriage from the sanitarium?"
The speaker, who had just alighted from the train, addressed Tavia,but the latter was so surprised that she caught her finger in theticket stamper. Before the little window stood a young woman in thegarb of a nurse--and she wanted the carriage from the sanitarium.
"If you will wait a minute or two the agent will be back," said Taviain her very nicest voice. "He is just putting the mail on the train."
"Dear me!" and the nurse turned away. Then she returned. "Are you hisdaughter?"
"No, his--his niece," quibbled Tavia. What else could she do justthen? And didn't Sam say he would adopt her?
"Well, since you are going to be around here we may as well getacquainted--I shall probably have plenty of calls at the station. Isee you are the whole service outfit. The telephone, telegraph, and, Isuppose, the--Press Bureau."
"Oh, yes," replied Tavia, not grasping the sarcasm of the "Press"remark. "Uncle Sam has a great deal to attend to."
The nurse laughed to show her pretty teeth, Tavia thought. She waspretty, and her immaculate white linen was immensely becoming.
"My name is--Bell--Mary Bell," she said, "and yours is----"
"Betsy Dixon," replied Tavia. (Oh, what a tangled web we weave!)
"What a charming name--Betsy Dixon! Quite like a--bullet from MollyPitcher's gun," said the nurse. Tavia smiled but failed to catch thesignificance of that remark. Betsy was a good old name. Why like a warbullet?
"Here is the station agent," said Tavia, as Sam limped back. "UncleSam, have you seen the carriage from the sanitarium?"
Tavia could not overlook the joy in that name--Uncle Sam. It was sosimple, and so mouth-fitting.
"Here it comes," replied Sam, also noting how nicely Tavia fell intoher role. "But is this the new nurse? I have an important message forMiss Bennet. That's her--in the carriage."
"Miss Bennet! Why, she's my classmate! I never expected to find her,out here in the hills," spoke the stranger.
The carriage drew up to the little platform. Miss Bennet alighted andMiss Bell hurried out to meet her.
"Oh, you dear thing!"--this was very extravagant for trained andgraduated nurses--"to think I should meet you here! Isn't it just toonice!" It was Miss Bell who said that.
"Why, Mary Bell!" replied Miss Bennet. "How glad I am to see you! Andwhat a surprise! You are the new nurse! And I never knew it. I'm juststarting out on such an interesting case! A young girl, the dearestlittle thing, has escaped from the sanitarium, and I came out with thecarriage to hunt her up. We had word last night that an oldfarmer--named Hobbs--had caught her. It may not be true, but I amgoing out there to see. It's a lovely ride. Can you come?"
The girl who escaped! Tavia remembered Sarah's story.
"Miss Bennet, I have a message for you," said Sam, very slowly. "Itcame in over the wire a half hour ago." And he handed her the yellowslip of paper.
Miss Bennet looked at it.
"Oh, my!" she gasped. "My mother!" and she dropped upon a nearbybench. "She--is--dying!"
Her face turned as white as the linen she wore. Instinctively Taviaran for the water at the corner of the room. Miss Bell snatched up apaper and started to fan her.
"There, dear, don't faint," said the new nurse. "Of course, you mustgo to her."
"But! I must go after the escaped girl!" gasped Miss Bennet, and sheagain almost swooned. "Oh, my darling mother! All I have in the whole,wide world!"
"You go to her. Take my coat and hat, and I will take your case.Agent, what time does a train leave for Mountainview?" She had thetelegram in her hand.
"In just two minutes. There's the bell now."
"Come Laura, get into this coat and take my hat. You will reach homebefore anything serious happens, and perhaps, when your dear mothersees you----. We must hope for the best."
Laura Bennet slipped into her friend's coat and took the little Panamahat that Miss Bell handed to her. "Then you will go after the girl andreturn her to the sanitarium? It will be your first case. Can youmanage it?"
"Certainly I will. You run along for the train. Have you a ticket?Mountainview," she called to Tavia.
Tavia stamped the ticket. Sam was inside, but she had it ready beforehe had made his way to the window.
"And how shall I know the girl?" asked Miss Bell.
"Know her? Oh, yes! Why, you can't mistake her. She's the prettiestlittle thing, with yellow hair and blue eyes--there is not anotherlike her. Oh, how frightened I am! It is so good of you, Mary!"
And she was on the train.
Miss Bell got into the wagon with the driver from the sanitarium.Tavia was wishing that the drive had been in the other direction, forthen she could have gone in the carriage perhaps, and have caught atrain at the switch station. That she was staying so long away fromcamp now began to worry her. What would Dorothy think!
"Uncle Sam, couldn't I get a train earlier by going over to thestation I heard you telephone to?" she asked. "I don't mind a goodwalk."
"Why, yes, that's so," replied Sam. "Of course I'd like to keep you,Betsy. You make a first-class assistant agent. But I know how youfeel, and I wouldn't have you stay longer than you wanted to. There'llbe a train here soon for the Junction, and if you are sure you canmake the other--you'll have to flag it with your handkerchief--then,if you get left, there will be no train either way. I don't know asyou ought to risk it."
"Oh, I can manage very well," she assured him. "I'll take the train,and get the other from the Junction, all right. I am so much obligedto you. I would love to stay longer, if I could, but perhaps I may beable to come up again while I'm at camp." She tried to fix up alittle, it was so miserable to have had one's clothes on all night.
"Well, there's the train," and he pulled open the switch, which wasoperated by a lever in the ticket office. "Good-bye, Betsy, and Iwon't forget you."
"Nor will I forget you, Uncle Sam," said Tavia with something likereal sentiment in her voice. "I am glad I got lost just to have foundyou."
"Now, don't mix up the instructions," Sam Dixon warned her. "Thereain't no agent around the Junction--in fact, there ain't nothin'around there but wild animals."
"Oh, really, wild animals?" she asked in surprise.
"Used to be a great place fer huntin', but beasts don't like therailroad, so you don't need to be afraid of them. Good-bye, Betsy;good-bye!"
And Tavia started for camp.