CHAPTER XVI
The days flew by as days will fly whether they are bright with diamondsor veiled in gray. Granny became rested, Joan was spoiled, and evenRebecca Mary began to feel the effect of too much attention. There hadbeen a time when Rebecca Mary had thought that it would be perfect blissto have just one man devoted to her, but now that she had four she foundthat she never had a minute to herself. Whether she wanted to or not shehad to play tennis with Wallie Marshall, walk with George Barton, ridethe farmhorses with Peter Simmons, recite French verbs to FrederickBefort or play accompaniments for Major Martingale, who still liked tohear the young people sing the old war songs. And you know how it isyourself if you have just had a generous portion of plum pudding youdon't care to see another plum pudding no matter how holly wreathed itis. In spite of all the admiration and attention which were falling onRebecca Mary like an April shower she was not satisfied; she wasconscious of a vague longing for something, she didn't know what, forshe did not analyze the faint discontent which annoyed her. She onlyknew that she wanted something which she did not have and she toldherself that she was an ungrateful beast to ask more of her talismanwhen already the clover leaf had given her so much.
It was the same way with Granny, who had looked on Riverside when shearrived as a haven of rest, but she soon was as surfeited with rest asRebecca Mary was with admiration. Granny had so little to occupy hermind that she just had to think of old Peter Simmons, to wonder uneasilywhat he was doing, to ask herself if he were thinking of her instead ofhis factory, if he had received her letter, and a thousand other thingsall of which had old Peter Simmons for their subject. Twice MajorMartingale found her with her hand on the door of the room which he usedas an office and which held the only telephone at Riverside and to whichhe alone had the key.
"Do you wish to leave any message with me?" he asked each time.
"If I said what I wanted to say I expect the message would be left withyou," Granny said sadly. "You never would send it on. How much longerwill it be before we may leave, Major Martingale?"
"You know as much about it as I do." Major Martingale was discouragedjust then and was sadly in need of a word of encouragement.
But Granny hadn't enough encouragement for herself; she couldn't spare aword for any man. "The twenty-second is a week from yesterday," she saidsignificantly. "I told you, you know, that we wouldn't stay a minuteafter the twentieth," she added in case he had missed the significance.
"I hope none of us will have to stay later than the twentieth, but youshould have thought of that before you came."
"Came!" Granny was indignant. "I didn't come!"
"Well, I didn't bring you!" He was too exasperated to remember thecourtesy which is ever due a lady.
"A perfect bear, my dear," Granny told Rebecca Mary five minutes later."If he has his way we'll be here for Thanksgiving," she prophesiedgloomily.
Rebecca Mary sat up on the _chaise longue_ where she had hidden herselffor a quiet half hour and stared at her. "Thanksgiving! We can't staythat long. Why, school begins the first of September!" The beginning ofschool was an event so large in the life of Rebecca Mary that everythingshould give away to it. Everything always had.
"Major Martingale wouldn't care for that. It isn't our wishes nor ourconvenience he is thinking of. If we could do anything to help him Ishouldn't say a word. If we even knew anything about this wonderfulexperiment it would be different, but we might as well be in New York orBombay for all we know of what is going on in that shop. We couldn'ttell anything intelligent enough for even a German to understand. I'mbeginning to feel that the whole thing is nonsense, Rebecca Mary, and soI don't think that we have to stay. And I'm worried for fear Edith won'torder things the way I want them for my golden wedding. I never meant tostay away so long. I'm sorry we ever started for Seven Pines. But we cango back. We'll run away from here."
"But how can we run away from Riverside?" It didn't sound as easy toRebecca Mary as it had to Granny.
"I'll find a way." Granny was not to be daunted. "I'll have to. I'm tiredbeing a prisoner."
"So am I." Joan dropped her doll and came to tell them that she, too,was ready to leave Riverside. "I'd like to go somewhere else."
"I'm sorry now," went on Granny, "that I didn't stay at home and letold Peter Simmons ask his tormenting question and take theconsequences."
"I'm not!" Indeed, Rebecca Mary wasn't. She had made far too manypayments on her memory insurance policy ever to regret the past fewweeks. "You see, we've helped here," she explained when Granny and Joanhad cried, "You're not!" "The boys say we've been an inspiration tothem, that they have worked a lot better because we were here to cheerthem up."
"They would have worked a lot faster if we hadn't been here." There wasa dry tone to Granny's soft voice which sent the ready color intoRebecca Mary's cheeks. "I've no doubt Joan and I have furnished lots ofinspiration. It is pleasant to think so, isn't it, Joan?"
Joan looked doubtful. "Is it the same as being a nuisance? Mrs. Ericksonsaid we were all nuisances, but I was the biggest. But she never said wewere inspirations."
"Let her complain to Major Martingale. Is that only two o'clock?" as theold clock called to them from the hall. "How many hours are there leftuntil bedtime?" There was no doubt that Granny was losing patience.
It was a warm sultry day, the sort of a July day which tries thedisposition in normal conditions, and by evening every one was more orless on edge. It showed in the increased politeness with which theyspoke and in the silence which fell over them as they sat on the terraceunder the stars and tried to think that there was a breeze blowing upfrom the river. Joan had gone to bed most reluctantly, and her fatherwas sitting beside Rebecca Mary on the broad balustrade. Peter sat onthe other side so that they made a sandwich of her. And in front of herlounged Wallie in a steamer chair reciting nonsense rhymes to which shescarcely listened, and not a yard from Wallie was George Barton singingsentimental verses under his breath as he touched the strings of aukelele.
Not so many days had passed since Rebecca Mary would have thought thatit would be heaven for a girl to sit on the terrace balustrade of abeautiful old country place with a Luxembourg count on one side of herand a _croix de guerre_ man on the other while two very likable youngmen were in front of her, but now she was only vaguely conscious thatthey were not what she wanted at all. She didn't want any more plumpudding. She wished irritably that they wouldn't sit so close to her.She wanted all the air she could get. And her wandering thoughts ledher back to where she would be if she were not at Riverside and thatbrought her to Cousin Susan and the mysterious talisman and to--RichardCabot. When her thoughts reached Richard they loitered there with astrange little feeling of satisfaction. She knew that Richard wouldnever have let her remain so uncomfortable on a hot July night. Richardwould have taken her for a swift ride in his big car to some cool placewhere ice tinkled in tall glasses. Rebecca Mary was not exactly fair forit was not the fault of Peter nor Wallie nor George nor even FrederickBefort that she was not flying over the country road with them. ButRebecca Mary did not want to be fair. She just wished that Richard werethere--she wished----
She startled Peter and Frederick Befort and offended Wallie and Georgeby jumping to her feet in the middle of Wallie's funniest poem and themost sentimental of George's songs. But before she could utter a word ofexplanation or apology there came the sound of voices and another sound,sharp and clear like a trumpet. It woke Granny, who was half asleep inher chair.
"God bless my soul!" she exclaimed, and she sat up with a bewildered,almost a frightened, expression on her face. "No one blows his noselike that but old Peter Simmons. He must have come for me. Run, Peter!"She was in a panic. "And tell him to stay in the road. Major Martingalewill lock him up if he comes in."