Going back, Laurie, walking beside Polly, said with a relieved sigh: “Gee, I was glad to get away without having her ask questions, Polly! I thought every minute she’d want to know where everything came from and how we had paid for it!”
“I know,” said Polly thoughtfully. “It’s sort of queer she didn’t, too. Because she must know that white-enameled sinks and pumps and awnings and such things don’t just happen.”
“Well, I suppose she just doesn’t stop to think,” mused Laurie. “And I hope she won’t. It would be fierce if she got insulted and went to the poor-farm after all!”
“Oh, she wouldn’t do that!” declared Polly in horror. After a moment she added: “I’ll just bet you anything, Laurie, that she did notice and that she means to ask! She’s just waiting until she can speak to you alone, I believe.”
Laurie groaned. “Then she’s never going to get the chance,” he muttered. Polly looked doubtful.
CHAPTER XIX
LAURIE IS CORNERED
The following afternoon saw the boys, minus Kewpie, escorting Polly and Mae to the Pequot Queen. Mrs. Deane had begged off. One mustn’t expect all April days to be fine, and this particular day proved it. It had showered off and on during the forenoon, and now, at half-past three, the rain was coming down hard and fast. The girls wore rain-coats over their Sunday gowns, and Ned and Laurie were draped in colorful yellow oilskins. Bob, in an old Mackinaw jacket, huddled under the dripping eaves of one of the two umbrellas. It seemed a particularly long way to the Pequot Queen under these circumstances, and it was a rather bedraggled quintet that at last filed into the cabin. Once there, however, discomforts were forgotten. A fire in the stove defied the dampness of the outside world; a kettle sang cozily; the white light that entered the open windows flashed on polished surfaces; and the bowl of flowers on the table added a cheerful note of color. And then there was the little hostess, all smiles of welcome and concerned murmurs over dripping coats and wet skirts.
The coats were laid aside quickly, and the visitors found seats, Polly and Mae occupying the same arm-chair, since there were but five chairs in the cabin and not even Laurie would have thought of sitting on Miss Comfort’s immaculate blue and white spread! The lack of a sixth chair troubled Miss Comfort considerably. Bob pointed out that even had she possessed such a thing there wouldn’t have been room for it and some one would have had to sit out on deck! And Polly and Mae assured in chorus that they didn’t mind sitting together, not one bit.
Miss Comfort was brimming over with pride and happiness. Everything was too wonderful for words! And sleep— She held up her hands in something almost like consternation. Why, she hadn’t slept the way she had slept last night for years and years! She had had her supper late because she had been so busy fixing things up, and then she had sat at the window there for a long time watching the lights on the water and on the further shore; and suddenly she couldn’t keep her eyes open a minute longer, it had seemed, and she had gone to bed and fallen right to sleep and slept and slept!