CHAPTER XIV
AN OUTING AND AN ACCIDENT
The heat wave had not broken in the morning. At eight o’clock South Ridgefield sweltered beneath a rising temperature with no promise of relief.
“The poor babies!” thought Virginia. “It is hotter than ever; but the picnic will help them.” She remembered how warm it had been at the hospital on the previous day and fell to thinking of Joe Curtis, and her eyes grew soft and dreamy as she wished that he was going on the river trip.
The high temperature had caused Obadiah to spend a restless night and he was peevish and irritable when Virginia told him of the plans for the day. “You should not have mixed up in such matters without consulting me,” he snapped. “It is indiscreet and may lead to your embarrassment. That hole up the river used to have a most unsavory reputation.” He paused as if seeking for other objections, and then went on. “You might get a sun stroke.”
In a moment she had her arms about his neck and kissed him. “There it is, Daddy. Thinking of me as usual.”
“How can I help–,” he grumbled.
She gave a joyous laugh and interrupted him. “I knew that you would want to help, too, Daddy. You may–allow Mr. Jones and Mr. Kelly to come to the picnic. It will be an outing which they will enjoy.”
Obadiah drew away from her caresses. “Don’t interfere with my office,” he snarled. “I was greatly embarrassed when I returned on the afternoon of the concert and found no one there. I spoke to them both about it.”
Virginia flushed with feeling. “Did they tell you that I asked them to come?” she demanded, and when his face admitted it, she continued, “Regardless of the permission you gave me in this very room to ask any one I wished to the concert, you criticised me, Daddy, to your employees. If you objected to my actions, why didn’t you come to me?”
The unwonted stand of his daughter made Obadiah ill at ease. He flushed angrily and then regained control of himself. “There, there, don’t get excited. I didn’t say much–a mere nothing.” He drew her towards him but she held her head stiffly, looking straight ahead. He kissed her cheek and whispered, “Don’t be cross, dear. Of course Kelly and Jones may go to your picnic, if you want them.”