CHAPTER XXX
SLEEPY-HEAD
Really Caroline deserved none of the hard things that Jacqueline thoughtof her. She of course hadn't had the least suspicion that her suddendeparture to unknown places would be a tragedy for Jacqueline. Just thesame she would have sent Jacqueline some word about this change in thesummer's plans, if only she had had the chance. But when you rememberthat Cousin Penelope had made up her mind to protect her darling fromthat pushing horrid little girl from the Meadows, (and when you rememberCousin Penelope!) you will realize that Caroline had about as muchchance to send a message to Jacqueline as a nice little round snowballto survive in the middle of a red-hot furnace.
They were going away next morning, Cousin Penelope had announced oneevening at dinner. They were going to the beach, because Cousin MarciaVintner wasn't using her cottage, and Aunt Eunice needed change of air(Aunt Eunice had never looked better in her life!) and Jacqueline, soCousin Penelope had decided, was dying to paddle in the waves and run onthe sands.
Privately Jacqueline's little understudy was very well pleased where shewas, but she would have been less than a human child, if she hadn'tthrilled at the thought of a journey, especially in that smooth rolling,softly upholstered limousine, which still seemed to her a palace onwheels.
She spent a busy evening in helping Cousin Penelope select and pack in alittle leather trunk the things that she would need at the beach. Fullyhalf of Jacqueline's pretty wardrobe was to be left at The Chimnies andsome of the most valuable of her trinkets.
"I'll put these pins and chains in the library safe," said CousinPenelope. "The house will be closed, you know, while we are away, andthough we've never had such a thing as a burglar in Longmeadow, it'sbetter to be safe than sorry."
Caroline agreed. She was ready to agree to anything. She went to bed,full of happy thoughts of the journey before her, and then for the firsttime she remembered Jacqueline, and grew uneasy. Was it fair to stay inJacqueline's place, even at Jacqueline's bidding, and enjoy this trip tothe beach that Jacqueline had not foreseen? But she couldn't give awaythe secret that was one-half Jacqueline's and that Jacqueline hadordered her to keep, until she had consulted with Jacqueline.
And how was she to get at Jacqueline? She couldn't go herself to theMeadows, even if she had had the time to do so, and she couldn'ttelephone. She fairly quaked in her cozy bed as she thought of thestern, accusing face that Cousin Penelope would turn upon her, shouldshe catch her actually telephoning to the house in the Meadows thatsheltered the child she had denounced as rude and pushing. She wouldrather die than attempt to telephone Jacqueline from The Chimnies--butthere were other telephones in Longmeadow!
What a ninny she had been not to think of that before! First thing inthe morning she would run over to the Trowbridges'. She could ventureit, for she and Eleanor were now quite intimate friends. She wouldtelephone Jacqueline, and let her know that they were going away to thebeach. Not that it would make any difference to Jackie, but she wouldfeel better herself to have done what she felt was the fair thing to do.
Wasn't it strange that when so much depended on her waking early,Caroline should oversleep? Actually she waked only when Cousin Penelope,in her lavender dressing-gown, stood laughing over her.
"Hurry, little Sleepy-head!" cried Cousin Penelope. "I let you rest tillthe last minute, but breakfast will be on the table now before you cansay Jack Robinson, and we must start right after breakfast, or we'llhave to travel in the heat of the day."
You know yourself how it is when you rise late and dress in a hurry.Stubborn snarls in the brown locks that just wouldn't comeout--button-holes in the freshly laundered garments that closed theirmean lips and wouldn't admit the buttons--a hair-ribbon that peevishlyhad lost itself--finally a weakened clasp on the chain of tiny goldbeads that she meant to wear, which let the whole string go slippingcoldly down within her undergarments.
Caroline had just recovered the beads, when she heard the soft notes ofthe Chinese gongs that made always such a pleasant prelude to meals atThe Chimnies. She dared not trust the shallow pockets of hermouse-colored smock, so she left the beads upon the dressing-table.Later she would put them into her little vanity bag (Jacqueline's vanitybag!) when she came back to her room for her hat and her coat andMildred, who was all dressed and waiting. But she couldn't stop now, noteven to open the vanity bag. One must never be late to meals.
Such a hurried breakfast, thrilled with the pleasant sense of a journeyto follow! Cousin Penelope was already hatted, with her veil of palestmauve pushed back from her eager face. Sallie, as she waited at table,was all smiles and good cheer. She, too, was happy at the thought of along holiday. Aunt Eunice's old cheeks were delicately flushed. Perhapsafter all she really needed sea air, as Cousin Penelope so generouslyhad suggested.
"You must eat more than a humming-bird, Jacqueline," Aunt Eunice urged."It will be a long time to luncheon time."
"We'll lunch in Boston," said Cousin Penelope, in her masterful manner."I wrote Dr. Stoddard for an appointment. He'll put in another hour onJacqueline's teeth."
"Oh, misery!" thought Caroline.
"And we must get Jacqueline a bathing suit," added Cousin Penelope.
"And some sand toys," supplemented Aunt Eunice. "You and Mildred aren'ttoo old to make me some sand pies, are you, dear?"
Caroline smiled, and do you know, though her smile came less frequentlythan Jacqueline's, it was just as sweet?
"Come, Jacqueline!" Cousin Penelope was calling next moment from downthe hall. Such an energetic Cousin Penelope as she was that earlymorning! "We must select some music to take along."
"Oh!" cried Caroline, swooping after her. "Will there be a piano?"
"Did you think we could live without one? I'm urging Madame Woleski tospend at least a week with us."
A week under the same roof with Madame Woleski! Carried away with theprospect of such happiness, Caroline forgot everything but the musicthat she sorted--music that she might some time play for MadameWoleski's criticism. She actually forgot that Jacqueline existed, untilshe heard the cushioned wheels of the great limousine roll singinglyacross the gravel of the drive.
"Oh!" cried Caroline, in dismay. "And I've got to say good-by to EleanorTrowbridge!"
"There's no time now, dear," warned Cousin Penelope.
"But I must," cried Caroline desperately. "I must--show her Mildred--inher sailor suit."
She flew up the stairs to her room. She snatched up the doll and fairlyflew down again. She rushed out of the house and tore across the garden.To her joy she saw Eleanor Trowbridge there at the other side of thehedge and the rose tangle, in the swing that hung from a branch of thebig elm.
"Cooey!" cried Caroline.
Eleanor came hurrying on her sturdy legs, and when Eleanor stood beforeher, a very solid person, Caroline lost her courage. She couldn't sayright out plump: "Let me into your house to use your telephone, quick!"as she had meant to say. She stammered and hesitated and talked aboutthe journey. She was leading the subject round to the telephone.Presently she would get there! Oh, how her heart was beating, andEleanor, the solid and stolid, didn't give her a bit of help.
"You can play in our summer house while I'm gone," said Caroline, andshe meant to add, "if you'll let me use your telephone now," but shenever said the words, for just then Cousin Penelope came tripping acrossthe garden.
"Last call for the Boston train!" Cousin Penelope cried gayly. "Hurry,Jacqueline! We've got to stop in the village for gas and oil, and we'rehalf an hour behind schedule already."
So Caroline, quite helpless, was hurried away to the car, beneath theenvious eyes of Eleanor Trowbridge. Already the luggage was strapped onthe carrier, and Aunt Eunice was cozily seated in the car. Beside herwere the little vanity bag, the straw hat, with its flame-colored band,and the little leaf brown cape coat that Caroline should wear upon thejourney.
"Sallie fetched down your things," smiled Aunt Eunice. "Jump i
n, mydear, and off we go!"
So Caroline jumped in. What else could she do? And in the joy andexcitement of setting out on a delightful journey, she almost forgotthat she had thought it of prime importance, only last night, totelephone Jacqueline, and she quite forgot the string of beads(Jacqueline's beads!) that she had left upon the dressing-table.
It was Sallie who found those beads later, when she went to "do" theroom that was Caroline's. Being neat and methodical, Sallie took thebeads and dropped them into the Dresden china trinket box upon thedressing-table, and then in the excitement of hurrying off on her ownholiday, she too forgot them--but not forever!