CHAPTER XXVIII.
AN UNUSUAL AMOUNT OF INTRODUCTION.
The front door of Dr. Brandegee's library had hardly closed behind thatearliest flock of his autumn birds, before the door by which he hadentered swung open, and a fine-looking, middle-aged matron stood in it,remarking,--
"My dear, there are more than a dozen waiting in the parlor. Have younot spent a great deal of time on those four?"
"They're worth it, Mary. There's enough in every one of them to make aman of, and they've all started fairly well."
"I fear that is more than you will be able to say of all these others."
"Of course it will. Their fathers and mothers have had a great deal todo with that."
They were all "examined," however, in due season, some in one way andsome in another; and during all that time Dab Kinzer and his friendswere inwardly wondering, whether they said so or not, precisely whatimpression they had made upon the doctor.
It was just as well, every way, that they did not know.
It was a curious fact, that with one accord they accompanied Dick on hisreturn to their boarding-house; and, while he disappeared through thedoor at the end of the hall with Miss Almira, some invisibleleading-string dragged them up stairs. Not that they really had anystudying to do; but it was dinner-time before they had finished turningover the leaves of their text-books, and estimating the amount of hardwork it would cost to prepare for an "examination" on them.
There was no good reason for complaint of that dinner any more than oftheir breakfast; and it wound up with a very excellent Indian-mealpudding, concerning which Dabney went so far as to say he would like tosend the recipe home to his mother.
"I'm so glad you like it," said Mrs. Myers. "Almira, just remember that.They can have it as often as they please."
She asked them, too, how they proposed to spend their afternoon, andsmilingly explained, as to Dick Lee, that,--
"Saturday is one of my busy days, and he will have to stay at home andhelp. Errands to run, and I want him to learn how. He's a bright, activelittle fellow."
That was all "according to contract;" but Dick did not come in for hisdinner until the rest had eaten theirs; and then he barely had time tosay to Dab Kinzer,--
"Did you ebber shell corn?"
"Course I have. Why?"
"'Cause dar's a bigger heap ob corn out in de barn dan you ebber see."
"Bigger'n Ham's?"
"Well, no, not so big as his'n, mebbe; but dar's more ob it. I's got itto shell."
Dab went off with the other two, vaguely beginning to ask himself ifshelling corn came fairly into the proper meaning of the word "chores."
All that sort of thing was quickly forgotten, however; for there were adozen groups of boys scattered here and there over the broad expanse ofthe "green," and Ford Foster at once exclaimed,--
"Boys, let's examine that crowd. It'll take all the afternoon to findwhat they know."
Getting acquainted is apt to be a slow process in cases of that sort,unless it is taken hold of with vigor; and Ford was the very fellow tohurry it up. Before the afternoon was over, every boy on that green knewwho he was, and where he came from; and a good share of them had triedtheir hands at "chaffing" him and his friends. Of these latter it maysafely be said that not a single one could afterwards remember that hehad seemed to himself to get the best of it.
"First day" at school is pretty safe to be a peace-day also; and none ofthe wordy collisions went too far, although it was plain that thenew-comers had not yet attained any high degree of popularity.
After supper Dick Lee set off for Dr. Brandegee's, and his friendsattended him nearly to the gate.
They would have been glad to have had a report of his visit from him, onhis return; but he had his "chores" to do then, and any amount ofcareful instruction concerning them to receive from Mrs. Myers andAlmira.
The other three were more thoroughly tired out than they had at allexpected, and were all quite ready to agree with Frank Harley,--
"We'd better get to bed, boys. I want to see if this is a good house tosleep in."
"Sleep?" said Ford. "I could go to sleep in an omnibus."
Early to bed meant early to rise, necessarily; and they were all up anddressed the next morning, when Dick Lee slipped in on them. Before theyhad time to ask him a question, he exclaimed,--
"I say, Cap'n Dab, is you goin' to church dis mornin'?"
"Of course. We're all going."
"So I heerd Mrs. Myers tell Miss Almiry. She's goin' to take you alongwid her when she goes."
"Richard," said Ford, "are you going?"
"Habn't heerd a word about dat."
"Don't you go back on your friends, Richard. Be all ready in time,sure's you live, and go with us, or I'll complain to Dr. Brandegee."
Dick's grin was a wide one; but he responded,--
"I'll be ready. See 'f I ain't."
The voice of Almira, calling his name at the foot of the stairs,prevented any further conversation just then; and Dick found,afterwards, that he had undertaken a task of some difficulty. He hardlyknew when or where he squeezed out the time for the proper polishing ofhis shoes, or the due arrangement of his magnificent red necktie; butboth feats were accomplished most faithfully.
The subject of church-going came up again, incidentally, at thebreakfast-table; and the remarks of her young boarders met the emphaticapproval of Mrs. Myers and her daughter. Perhaps because neither of themhad been near enough, after Dick dodged out of their room at the end ofhis early call, to hear Dabney Kinzer remark,--
"Ford, don't you think we can find our way across the green without anyhelp from the ladies?"
"I am pondering that matter. What do you say, Frank?"
"We must get out of it if we can politely. I don't just see how we'll doit."
"Do it? Why, we'll all wait for Dick Lee."
Mrs. Myers took a little too much for granted; and when the hour camefor starting, there came a slight disturbance in the smooth current ofher calculations.
"Mr. Foster," she called out, in her best voice, from half way up thestairs, "the first bell is ringing. Are you and your friends ready?"
"Ringing?" responded Ford. "So it is! I regret to say we are not yetready to go."
At the same moment Dab was whispering,--
"We mustn't start until it's nearly done tolling."
"What's that?" asked Frank.
"Don't you know? It's always so in the country. First they ring thebell, as it's ringing now. That's to set people a-going. Then they tollit. You'll hear in a few minutes. That means, the time's up."
Ford Foster's city training had not taught him as much as that, but hewas glad to know it.
Mrs. Myers once more urged upon them the necessity of making haste.
"It won't do to be late," she said. "I never allow myself to be a minutebehind time."
The last clause sounded a very, very little impatient; but Ford oncemore politely expressed his sorrow, and abstained from putting on hiscoat. At that moment, too, Dick Lee came tiptoeing in from his cheerlessgarret, and looking astonishingly spruce. The "shine" on his shoes was abrilliancy to be remembered; and so was the shine on his face, and thesunset glow of his necktie.
"Sh! Dick," said Dab. "Hold still a minute. The bell's beginning totoll."
"I fear Almira and I will be compelled to start," said Mrs. Myersregretfully. "Perhaps you can overtake us if you hurry."
"Perhaps we could," replied Ford, "but I beg you will not let yourselfbe late on our account. We're coming."
He began to put his coat on as she and Almira went through the gate. Insuch a village as that, no one was afraid to leave a house alone for anhour or two. Not only was the door-lock "on the latch" as usual, butDick Lee had been vaguely expected to stay at home. There, again, Mrs.Myers had taken too much for granted; and she had not said a word to himabout it.
Just as she heard the bell give its last few rapid and warning strokes,and disappeared through the church-door
, she might have seen, had sheturned back and looked once more towards her own front gate, fourwell-dressed youngsters hurrying from it across the street as if a greatdeal depended on their reaching church before service could begin.
"It's very kind of Mrs. Myers to invite us," remarked Ford, "but shenever thought how bashful we'd be about it."
They were quickly within the ample porch of the roomy and not at allovercrowded edifice, and were greeted by two or three benevolent-lookingelderly gentlemen, with a degree of prompt cordiality which left littleto be asked for.
The deacons were awake to their duty relating to newscholars,--"students" they called them; and every attention was paidthese four who had begun so well their first Sunday.
So it would be at every church on that green; and it would really beabout the middle of the term before stray "academy boys" would be leftto find their own way to well-whittled benches in the galleries.
One of the best pews in the house, well forward in the middle aisle, andthey had it all to themselves. There was not another pew in church thatmorning which seemed to attract so large a share of the attention of thecongregation. Mrs. Myers and Almira were several pews behind, and on theother side of the house; and there had been no opportunity to captureher four boarders, or any of them, while they were marching in.
"Almira! If they haven't brought Dick with them."
"Yes, mother; but how very well they look! Mr. Kinzer is really quitehandsome."
That was hardly Dab's opinion of himself, and nobody had ever takenpains to tell him so; but the four of them, standing up together, andall singing, made quite a picture. Dick Lee was between Dab Kinzer andFrank Harley, and seemed to feel in honor bound to sing his best. Thatwas very well too.
If Glorianna could but have had a look at her boy that morning, there isno such thing as telling how proud she would have felt about him. It wastoo bad she could not have done so, especially as Dick was most loyallythinking of her, and wishing that she could.
There was no fault to be found by Mrs. Myers, or anybody else, with thestrict decorum of her boarders, and their profound attention to theservice and sermon; but she felt that she had a duty to perform, and sheonly waited the proper time for its performance.
The last hymn had been duly sung, and the boys were drifting along withthe tide in the aisle towards the door, when Dabney nudged Ford with hiselbow.
"We're nabbed, Ford."
"No escape this time, that's a fact. Don't let's try. She means it allfor politeness."
They would have been quite willing to have been allowed to get out andgo home unnoticed; but there in the porch awaiting them were Mrs. Myersand Almira, and there was no possibility of an escape. It would havebeen unkind to try in the face of so much smiling. Besides, they didboard with her; and she had her rights of property, one of which was toshow them off, and introduce them. She proceeded to exercise it at once;and it was to the credit of the three white boys that they came promptlyto her assistance, and added any little matter she might happen to missin the hurry of the moment.
"Deacon Short, this is Mr. Dabney Kinzer, of Long Island; this is Mr.Frank Harley, of Rangoon, son of Rev. Dr. Harley, our well-knownmissionary; this is Mr. Ford Foster, son of the eminent New-Yorklawyer."
"Delighted"--began the deacon, rapidly grasping and shaking hand afterhand, with a peculiar lift of his elbow, that placed most of what mightbe called the "action" at the point of it; but Ford was thinking of thething Mrs. Myers had omitted, and he promptly added,--
"Glad to meet you, Deacon Short; and this is my friend Mr. Richard Lee,of Long Island."
To do the good deacon justice, his grasp of Dick's hand was every bit ascordial as any other of his grasps; and he beamed on the smiling blackboy in a way that gave him back, after the manner of a reflection, agreat glow of the best and broadest "beaming."
Mrs. Myers did not stop a moment in the repetition of her formula, andthere was sharp work before her; but Dab's tongue was also loose now,and Elder Potter had hardly time to hear who he was before Deacon Shorthad to let go of Dick, and hear Dab say,--
"How d'ye do, Elder Potter? and this is my near neighbor and friend, Mr.Richard Lee."
"Mrs. Sunderland," began Mrs. Myers, to a lady whose face and dressdeclared her a social magnate, "my new boarder, Mr. Frank Harley:" andthe rest of her introduction speech followed; and stately Mrs.Sunderland had just time to utter a few words of gracious inquiry aboutthe "precious health" of Frank's father and mother, when he, too, tookup the "omission," and Dick Lee's introduction stepped into the place ofany other answer for a moment.
It was a good thing for Dick, as Mrs. Sunderland was a member of asociety for promoting emigration to Liberia, and was seized at once witha dim idea that a part of her "mission" was standing before her in verybrilliant shoes and a new red necktie. She did not know how utterly sheand the other good people and those three boys were demolishing acurious vision of Almira's and her mother's, of some social advantagethey might derive, thenceforward, from having "a colored servant" intheir employ. Dick's own chance was coming right down upon him, a littlebefore he was quite ready for it; for the minister and his wife came outa few moments later, and Mrs. Sunderland took upon herself the duty ofpresenting Richard Lee to them, very much if as she would have said,--
"My dear Mr. Fallow,--my dear Mrs. Fallow,--see what I've found! Is henot remarkable?"
The words she really uttered were somewhat more formal; but the good,quiet-looking little minister and very quiet-looking little wife werestill shaking hands with Dick, that is, with his right hand, when heturned almost eagerly, and caught hold of Dab Kinzer with his left.
"Yes, sir, an' dis is Cap'n Dab--I mean, this is my friend Mr. DabneyKinzer, of Long Island,--de bes'--"
"How do you do, Mr. Kinzer? Glad to make your acquaintance," said Mr.Fallow; and Dick's success was complete, except that he was saying tohimself,--
"I jes' can't trus' my tongue wid de oder boys. Dey's got to take darchances."
"Now, Mr. Kinzer," said Miss Almira, at that moment, "it's time we weregoing home."
"Yes, Frank," said her mother patronizingly, "I think we had better begoing."
If such an exercise as "introduction" could earn it, they were bothentitled to good appetites; and, after all, it had been quite a nicelittle affair.
Dabney was quite as tall as Miss Almira; but as they walked across thegreen, side by side, he could not avoid a side-glance that gave him avery clear idea of the difference between his present company and AnnieFoster. It was at that very moment that it occurred to Frank that he hadlast walked home from church under the protecting wing of the portly andmatronly Mrs. Kinzer; and he could but draw some kind of a comparisonbetween her and Mrs. Myers.
"They're both widows," he thought; "but there isn't any otherresemblance."
Ford and Dick brought up the rear; and for some reason, or there mayhave been more than one, they were both in capital good spirits.
"Tell you wot," exclaimed Dick: "if goin' to de 'cad'my is all like disyer--I am very glad indeed that I ever came."
"Oh! you're all right," said Ford; "but there's more good people in thisvillage than I'd any idea of. I'm glad we came to church."
"Dick," said Mrs. Myers a little sharply, when they reached the gate, "Iwant some wood and a pail of water. You'd better hurry up stairs, andput on your every-day clothes."