CHAPTER VII
FLORETTA'S RETURN
AT a far corner of the piazza sat Dorothy, her eyes terrified, and her cheeks pale. Nancy, close beside her, wound her arms about her, and sought, in every way, to comfort her.
"They'll find her soon, Dorothy, so don't you be frightened," she whispered. "They'll surely find her soon."
Dear little Nancy knew, better than any of Dorothy's other friends could have known, how ready was her sympathy, how kind and loving was her heart.
She had not loved Floretta, but with Dorothy, that did not count. It was the dreadful fear that something had happened to a little girl, who, so recently had been at play with them,—ah, that was what grieved sweet Dorothy.
She was thinking of what Mrs. Dainty had said to Aunt Charlotte when the mountain trip was first talked of.
"I think the long tramp is a rougher form of amusement than I can well endure. I should be so weary long before it was time to return, that I should derive but little pleasure from the trip. There is another thought in connection with the picnic," she continued, "and that is an element of danger. Not great danger perhaps, but such that I would not join the party, nor would I permit Dorothy, or Nancy to do so. One gentleman who was talking of the mountain path that they have chosen, spoke of the great danger to the climbers from small, rolling stones, and from places where the earth seems to crumble near the edge of the narrow foot-path. A careless step might lead to a fall that would mean, I hardly dare to say what!"
Dorothy and Nancy had been wishing to join the party, but upon hearing this, they lost all interest in it, and had cheerfully taken the drive behind gentle Romeo, instead. Now, as Dorothy sat with Nancy's arms about her, she was glad that they had not been permitted to go, and she heartily wished that Floretta had remained at the Cleverton.
"Had she rolled from the path, and fallen, fallen,—"
Dorothy covered her eyes with her hands, as if she almost saw the little girl falling, down, down to the ravine so far below the path, and was trying to shut out the picture. Nancy, still striving to quiet her fear, heard some one telling what the scribbled note had said.
"Oh, Dorothy!" she whispered, eagerly, "Floretta is just where they know how to find her, and they've promised to hurry, and bring her back."
"Are you sure?" Dorothy asked.
"Yes, sure!" said Nancy.
Then Nancy climbed into the big chair beside her, and the two little girls sat, each tightly clasping the other's hands, while they waited and watched for the first glimpse of the men who should return, bringing Floretta with them.
Mrs. Dainty and Aunt Charlotte remained with Mrs. Paxton, who seemed to have lost all control of herself.
One moment she would cry as if her heart would break, and then she would spring up, threatening to follow the direction that the men had taken, and try to reach the woods, thus to sooner see her little girl.
At last, after what seemed endless waiting, but was actually only an hour, some one espied the men in the distance, and cried out:
"They're coming! They're coming!"
"Have they got Floretta? Oh, have they found her?" shrieked Mrs. Paxton.
"We can't see from here," said the one who had spoken, and the mother rushed forward, shading her eyes with her hand, and straining to catch the first glimpse of her child.
She would have rushed down the road to meet them, but Mrs. Dainty held her back. She had seen that they were carrying Floretta, and she thought, in case the child were injured, the mother would far better save her strength.
Two of the men had clasped their hands to form an "arm-chair," and thus they brought to the piazza, a very limp, tired Floretta, whose vivacity was all gone, and whose face bore the trace of desperate weeping, while her arms and hands were covered with cuts and bruises, and her little frock was torn and tattered by her struggle with the tough and tightly knotted vines.
She lay back against the shoulder of one man who supported her, and looked as if her strength were spent.
She changed on the instant that they set her on her feet.
Rushing to her mother, she permitted her to clasp her for a moment to her breast, then turning to the group that gathered around her, she cried fiercely:
"Look! See my hands! See my arms! See the scratches, where I tried to get away, and it was Sidney Cumston who tied me! He did it, but the other boys let him. Not one tried to hinder him except Jack Tiverton, the littlest one of them all. He tried to make them let me go, but they wouldn't. Oh, somebody punish all but Jack! He tried, but he couldn't help me."
She was hysterical, and sank to the floor of the piazza, sobbing, and crying, before her mother could catch her.
She scrambled to her feet, and was clasped in her mother's arms.
Old Mr. Cunningham surprised every one by speaking most kindly to her. She had so often tormented him that it seemed generous that he should offer a bit of comfort.
"I don't think we shall let those young rascals escape without a sharp reprimand, and if I was to venture a guess about it, I should say that little Jack, after all, managed to help you, Floretta," he said.
She turned in surprise to look at the old face, that now looked so kindly at her.
"Come out here, Jack," said the old gentleman, "didn't you write the note that sent us searching for this little girl?"
"Yes, sir," said Jack, "and I wrote it 'cause I thought the other big fellows were mean, but if they find out I told, they'll—"
"No, they won't," said Mr. Cunningham. "You're no 'tell-tale.' You did just right, and the men here will stand by you. Those big boys were the cowards to torment a little girl. You're the best boy up here in the mountains."
"Three cheers for young Tiverton!" shouted some one, and in the midst of the excitement, Mrs. Paxton, with her little daughter, slipped away to their room, after having thanked little Jack for his valuable assistance.
Meanwhile old Mr. Cunningham had been searching in this pocket and that for something which he seemed most anxious to find.
"Ah, I knew I had it! Come here, Jack!"
Blushing and diffident, Jack walked over to the big rocker.
"'Tisn't much, boy, but I think you ought to have a medal. Here's a silver dollar I've been keeping for a pocket piece. I'll give it to you for a medal, for being brave enough to tell what you knew ought to be told. That's not tale-bearing, and as you were afraid to tell, for fear of those big bullies, it was a brave act. You're a lad that knows what to do, when to do, and then does it!"
"Hurrah for Jack Tiverton!" some one cried again, and this time they were given with a will.
Mrs. Tiverton, returning from a long drive, wondered what all the excitement meant, and why they were cheering her little son.
Jack, with his silver dollar tightly clasped, hung his head, and looked as if overpowered by his conspicuous position.
Dorothy, now bright and happy, since Floretta was safe, saw that Jack hesitated.
"Oh, Mrs. Tiverton," she said, "Jack has been truly the best boy in the world, but he can't speak just now. When he tells you what he's done, you won't wonder why they cheered him!"
Mrs. Barnet and Flossie, with Uncle Harry and his wife, now arrived in their big automobile from a three-days' trip that they had been enjoying.
Of course Dorothy and Nancy tried to tell Flossie all about Floretta and Jack, and they were both so excited that Flossie got a very twisted idea of the affair.
Uncle Harry, not dreaming that the matter was at all serious, turned, after greeting the children, to enter the house.
"Oh, Uncle Harry!" cried Flossie, "you ought to hear about it. There were ever so many big boys, and only one little girl, and they tied her so she couldn't get away, and Jack wrote a note, and when they found her,—"
"Now, Flossie, dear, I'm perfectly willing to be scared half out of my wits, but I must know what I'm being scared about. You're getting me so mixed up that I've not the least idea what this is all about. Have you?" he asked.
"Oh, no," said Flossie, "I don't half understand it, but it does sound so frightful, that I'm so scared, I need to have you be scared, too."
"Well, then," Uncle Harry replied, "if it will help you to know it, I'll admit that my teeth are chattering, and shivers are running up and down my spine!
"I thought at first that it was the draft across this piazza, but perhaps, after all, it was caused by what you were telling me."
When, at last, he had heard the story, he was full of disgust that any boy, and his friends, should have been guilty of such a contemptible act, and his sympathy for the little girl was deep and sincere.
"She will need rest and quiet to-morrow," he said, "and you three little friends will be kind, I think, if you stay rather closely here, and help, in some quiet way, to amuse her."
"We will," said Dorothy, "I'll let her read my new fairy book if she'd like to. She could lie in the hammock, and do that."
"I'll keep the hammock swinging," said Nancy.
"And I'll give her my new box of candy I just brought home," said Flossie.
"That's right," said Uncle Harry, "and for your sweet promises of kindness toward the child who has suffered so much to-day I'll remind you that on day after to-morrow I shall give myself the pleasure of taking you all to the fair. I promise you a fine time."
He turned to look over his shoulder, and laugh at their wild little cries of delight.
He was anticipating the pleasure quite as much as they.
Dorothy, Nancy, and Flossie kept the promise that they had made, and Floretta fully enjoyed their kindness. She seemed unusually gentle, and Mrs. Paxton thanked them for so sweetly helping to amuse her, and thus make her willing to spend the day quietly.
The day set for the visit to the village fair dawned bright and sunny, a light breeze making it just cool enough to be delightful.
The barge was waiting for its gay little passengers.
The children stood with impatient feet on the piazza, waiting for their host, merry, handsome Uncle Harry.
At last a firm tread caused them to turn, and there he was, looking gayer than ever, a picture of health, strength, and kindliness, and clad in a most becoming outing suit of light gray serge.
The blue of his tie was not bluer than his fine eyes, and no one could have glanced at him without knowing that he possessed a generous, loving nature, a kind and merry heart.
"Come, little friends!" he cried. "Is every young lady that I invited here?" he added, looking anxiously lest some child be late, and thus by chance, be left behind.
"Every one is here!" said Flossie. "I know because I've counted."
"Then we'll start at once, unless some one would rather wait 'til to-morrow?" he said, his eyes twinkling.
"Oh, no! No!" they cried. "We just couldn't wait!"
"In that case we'll go now!" he said, with a droll expression, as if he started at once, merely as an accommodation.
"Why, Uncle Harry! You're only joking," cried Flossie. "You wouldn't be willing to wait until to-morrow. I heard you tell Aunt Vera to hurry and find your tie, because you were in such a rush to start!"
"To think that my own little niece would tell tales like that, and thus let out the secret. What chance have I now, of making them think that I was really very shy about riding with such a large party of girls?"
Shouts of laughter greeted this speech, and Uncle Harry waited until it had subsided, then he said:
"Oh, well, if no one believes that I am shy or diffident, it's waste of time to try to appear so, so I shall not try. Instead, I shall be very bold. Come, dears, let me help you in!"
And amid shouts of laughter from the children, he lifted each high in air, and placed her in the barge, thus saving her the trouble of mounting the steps.
Then taking his seat in the middle of the laughing, chattering little party, he called to the driver to start.
The long whip cracked, Jack Tiverton, from the piazza, blew loudly on a tin trumpet, and they were off over the road, the happiest party that ever filled a barge.
Uncle Harry told some amusing stories, then, led by his fine voice, they sang some gay little songs, and before they dreamed that they had arrived at the fair, the driver shouted:
"Here we are!" and sure enough, they had reached the fair grounds.
"Why, I didn't suppose we were more than half-way here," said Dorothy, "and the reason is that the ride has been so jolly."
"That's just it," agreed Nancy.
"The reason I enjoyed the ride," said Uncle Harry, "is because I was so charmed with my little guests."
"And the reason why we had such a fine ride," said Flossie, "is because we had the best man in the world taking care of us."
Uncle Harry bowed low.
"This must be a wedding party, if I'm the 'best man,'" he said with a laugh, "so we'll not fuss because there's no musician to play a march for us, but we'll play you are all bridesmaids, and we'll hurry right along. The entrance is this way, I think, and under that evergreen arch."
A large tent had been pitched for the display of the various wares and numerous attractions; a smaller tent near it serving as fortune teller's booth.
"We'll coax Uncle Harry to have his fortune told," whispered Flossie to Dorothy, when, to their great surprise, he said:
"Oh, Flossie, you little witch! Uncle Harry heard what you said, and not only is he going to have his fortune told, but he's going to make every one of you little girls have yours told, also!"