A Dear Little Girl's Summer Holidays

by Amy Ella Blanchard

"There is salt on the shelf over the sink," Miss Eloise told her. "The bread is in the bread-box, and the pie is on the kitchen table covered with a tin lid. It gets soggy if you put it in the refrigerator. [91]The knives are in the table drawer, and I think there are forks there, too."

Edna returned to the kitchen to get these things. There was quite a large section of blueberry pie, and there were some slices of bread already cut. The pie looked very good and she was pleased to think that a whole pie had been too much for the two Newmans and Amelia. "I am going to eat the tomato and some bread and butter first," she told her friend; "then I will eat some bread and milk and the stewed apples, and keep the pie till the last. I am very glad it was such a big pie that you could not eat it all."

"I am glad, too," said Miss Eloise smiling, "and I am glad you could find something else you liked."

Edna ate her meal with a good appetite, and then carried the empty dishes out into the kitchen. "Shall I wash them?" she asked.

"Oh, no, I wouldn't try," said Miss Eloise. "You might set them in the dish pan and run some water over them so they won't get dry or attract the flies."

Edna did as she was told and then returned to watch for Miss Newman. She had not long to wait before she saw her coming across the field which separated the Duncan's house from the little bungalow. "Here she comes," cried Edna trying to get to the door in such haste that she forgot to hold up the blue kimono and came near to sprawling at full length. However, she did get to the door in [92]time to open it before Miss Newman should turn the knob, and to be ready to ask, "Did you find out anything about Louis?"

"Well, I did and I didn't," Miss Newman told her. "Let me get off this waterproof and I will tell you." She slipped off the garment and hung it over the back of a chair, then she removed her rubbers and came over to the fire to dry the edge of her skirt. "We called up Mrs. Ramsey first of all and told her where you were, then we called up the hotel. I let Rudolph do the asking, so Mrs. Morrison would think it was someone at the Duncan's who wanted to know about Louis. He was not with his mother, and she said she had not seen him since he went out after breakfast to see Edna. 'He is probably at Mrs. Ramsey's,' she told Rudolph."

"Oh, dear, where can he be?" sighed Edna, anxiety written on her usually happy face.

"Then I told Rudolph the circumstance of the boat. 'Oh, I know whose boat that is,' he said, 'it belongs to Dick Fenton. He is a fisherman. I can get hold of him easily.' So now Rudolph has gone to hunt up Dick and he has promised to come around this way and let us know. So now, my dear, all we can do is to wait till Rudolph returns. Did you get something to eat?"

"Yes, indeed, I did, and the pie was delicious. I am so very fond of blueberry pie. Thank you so much, Miss Newman for leaving me such a nice big piece."