e 8) tn RES) a TioLIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA FROM THE BOOKS OF C. WINN CANFIELD4 { ] : ] a ;oe 4 a as rsa Bed at eet c‘ a aeae aS oe amexaswcansensennivoerslbbbebehatonscne Mig jatar Ap Ib | } § : ‘ : ie . 4 “3 : ~ oe cee pene ms peepee “DPM SO GLAD YOU’RE NOT ALIKE” Liigusasromoe rat ae] ae nbs eR OA AA ALAN patent AGT ‘ SF : ¢ othe SOOT iast Ba Su Lea beehaD BOE ORR oleh cle Sas he GE tate i } } H | ‘ i : H ; a 3 | F 7 4 ‘ | .nam ced ES eS b E & ies iFELICIAS FRIENDS Dy ELIZABETH LINCOLN GOULD AUTHOR OF FELICIA, “SFELIGIA VISITS," PEE CES ROR KS aG. ILLUSTRATED BY JOSEPHINE BRUGE THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY PHILADELPHIA 1923ee ee p it ne fa pus 5Introduction A PREVIOUS book, “ Felicia,” toldthe story of little Felicia Lane, whose father was a minister, and whose mother was out in Colorado, trying to get well. In her mother’s absence Felicia is the one to go to Black- berry Hill, as housekeeper for her father. Things do not all run smoothly for the little girl, but she finds great comfort in her first “intimate friend,” Winifred Harlow, and discovers there are many kind hearts in the village. She and her father win the love and re- spect of their neighbors, and at the end of the story learn that it is to be their home for a long time to come. Something more about Felicia and her friends will be found in “ Felicia Visits” and “ Felicia’s Folks,”Se Oe ey eee ere tee eek eh ee ‘ ea re en 4 Saat z€HAPTER i: II. III. IV. Vv. Vie VI. VITl. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XN XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. ImporTANT News . THe New TEAcHER THE First Day at ScHOOL INVITATIONS FOR A PARTY A HaALiowe®’ENnN FRo.LIc Mr. Fospick’s FRIEND PLANS FOR ‘THANKSGIVING Contents THe Oup Corey PLace . LirTLe BEN HAs A VISITOR An Excitinc HoLipay Mrs. Cope Gives A DINNER Miss SHAW’s PRESENT THE First REHEARSAL THE New PIAno STRANGERS AT BLACKBERRY HILL Mrs. TorpHam’s GUEST THe Toy SyMPHONY LETTERS AND TELEGRAMS Carina LotTTi CHRISTMAS CHEER . PAGE 19 29 36 44, 54 71 79 97 106 114 123 130 138 147 157 165 17Hi 5: aii ges iIllustrations PAGE “Pm so Grab You’reE Nor ALIKE” Frontispiece He REAPPEARED WITH A TRAY : : 51 “ How’s My Frienp?” ° ; ‘ : 84 “TI Can SEE THE PIANo” é ‘ ‘ 127 “Have I Not Guessep RicgHT?” , ‘ 170 Felicia’s FriendsaT TEE Seen T a eee ar en ne as oe Tiss ri +) bt Eee rg eee Neha reFelicia’s Friends CHAPTER I IMPORTANT NEWS THE lamps that glimmered, few and rather dim, on the main road of the village had been left behind, but as Felicia, dancing ahead of her father, turned the corner of the road that led to Blackberry Hill station, she saw a bright gleam, shining out from the window of the little sitting-room. “See, father,” she said, “ Mrs. Harlow and Winifred have begun to play checkers ; the express has gone by, and after that Winifred says her mother settles down to take real comfort. Won’t they be surprised to see us for an evening call? And what do you suppose Mrs. Harlow will say to your plan, father?” “T hope she will approve of it,” said the minister ; ‘she is such a sensible woman that I value her opin- ion.” “Mrs. Cope says she ‘does well according to her lights,” quoted Felicia, “and that’s quite a compli- ment from Mrs. Cope.” “Indeed it is,” and Mr. Lane smiled with understand- 9era Tertsiiera rr anikecensete rash eeeaaanane haa sees SaA Pana a mE Pi par os ts vaca ene 2) 3 2 AS a Sa eich apy es tm nhay me ee na % i a pepedie ke ietace Sees eee ee ee Sete eL rae 10 Felicia’s Friends ing. ‘Here we are, Felicia. Would you like to give your special knock ? ” “Yes,” whispered Felicia, as they stood close to the door of what Winifred Harlow called “the home side” of the little station. “Listen, father! Wini- fred is beating.” “ Well, there now! I never saw that man o’ yours stealing upon me, unawares!” laughed Mrs. Harlow, her cheerful voice carrying out to the autumn stillness. “You just wait till this next game, and see if I don’t get even with you. Why, there’s somebody knock- ing.” “That’s Felicia’s knock!” cried Winifred, and she flew to open the door. “ Why, Felicia, aren’t you grand, making evening calls with your father! How d’you do, Mr. Lane? Please come right in.” “This is a real pleasure,” and Mrs. Harlow per- suaded the minister to take the big rocking-chair when she had shaken hands with much cordiality. “T didn’t know as you'd have time to get down here for weeks, long as I haven’t rheumatism or pneumonia or anything the matter with me, and so many folks are laid up, and suffering. They don’t dress warm enough for the first cold weather, that’s what takes hold of them.” “Is it something particular ?” Winifred was ask- ing Felicia, whom she had drawn over to their favorite seat in the corner. “ Have you come for some special reason, Felicia? I know you have, by the way youI mportant News hI look. Is it about a Hallowe’en party? No, it couldn’t be that, to bring your father. Do tell me, quick! Did you know it this morning when I saw you?” Felicia shook her head, and laid her finger on her lips. “Listen to father,” she said; “ you’ll find out right away.” ‘““Have you heard about the change in teachers ? ” asked Mr. Lane, and Mrs. Harlow bent forward eagerly. “There! that’s what Mr. Wadleigh meant when he stopped to speak as the train waited this afternoon,” she said. ‘He told me he understood from a party on the train that they were after our Mr. Shaw to fill the place of that teacher who had to give up at the academy over in Willowby; and that Mr. Shaw had said his sister, just out of college, would like the ex- perience of coming up here for a year or so.” “That is the case,” said Mr. Lane. ‘“ Mr. Topham and the rest of the school committee have been at the parsonage this afternoon. They say there is no doubt the young lady is well equipped for the work, and eager to undertake it. There has never been such a good opportunity for Mr. Shaw before, and they have decided to release him from his contract, and try the experiment of having a woman in our school. And now——” Mr. Lane paused, looking at the station- mistress, but before she could speak, Winifred,Ree NT rr TO ren : Nahe ” Pe my . whe fee Serer 12 Felicia’s Friends dragging Felicia by the hand, flung herself on her mother. “ Oh, Mother Harlow, say it’s the time of all times for me to go to school!” she begged. “ Do please ! Why, Felicia and I could learn so fast, and have such splendid times! And a lady teacher, Mother Harlow, just think of that! She’d teach us all kinds of things, probably, beside lessons. And we'd bea gentle influence over the boys, at least Felicia would, for that’s what Mr. Gregg said, mother, you know he did!” “ Well, there,” said Mrs. Harlow, laughing, as Wini- fred paused for breath ; “I don’t see as there’s much left for me to say but ‘yes,’ is there, Mr. Lane?” “Oh, goody! goody!” and Winifred threw her arms around her mother’s neck and then shook the minis- ter’s hand up and down till he begged for mercy. “Now it’s all settled, let’s talk about where we'll meet to go together the first day, next Monday,” said Felicia as Winifred turned to her at last. “ That's only three days off.” “You've been to school before, so you aren’t as ex- cited as] am,” said Winifred. ‘ Probably I shall be at the foot of every class I’m in, for a while at any rate. I shall be so—flustered! And I never can learn to spell.” “Oh, yes, youcan,” said Felicia confidently, “Pll help you; it’s only the hard words that trouble you—gen- erally,” added the little girl, at the remembrance of a re iahaeey ae yasImportant News 13 recent note in which Winifred had written “I mene to be at your house erly.” “Pm good at geography,” said Winifred brighten- ing; “that’s one thing to be thankful for ; a map is just like home to me.” “It’s like a—a wandering wilderness to me,” said Felicia ; “ you’ll have to help me with geography, Wini- fred.” “We just fit in right with each other,” and Winifred looked affectionately at her friend. “What one doesn’t know the other does, at least as far as we’ve gone.” ‘““We haven’t gone so very far,” said Felicia, and they laughed, and talked on, making their plans to meet at the corner of Hillcrest Road, which led to the schoolhouse. “Of course we shall see each other before that,” said Winifred, “ but it’s nice to decide about it.” “‘ Miss Shaw is to board with Mrs. Cope,” the minis- ter said to Mrs. Harlow, “ and I thought perhaps you would be glad to have her see Winifred before Mon- day. It occurred to me that the two little girls might like to make a call at Mrs. Cope’s to-morrow after- noon, and then perhaps you would allow Winifred to stay for an early supper with Felicia, and I could bring her home when I get back from Green Corners before nine o’clock. I have to be there Saturdays for some hours now.” , “T know, to help out with that class of mill-hands,”rs rate 7 lamer er Tenenre ere oa eee Spent et tr en ee eee haar bate ane aes Mae eee ce ka oe a a 14 Felicia’s Friends said Mrs. Harlow; “it’s a good work, and I’m glad old Dr. Cobbett has you to help him; none of our other ministers have ever had time.” “Not even Dr. Jarvis?” questioned Felicia de- murely, and then they all laughed. “No, not even Dr. Jarvis,” said Mrs. Harlow. “That’s one of the things even Lydia Cope couldn’t say of him. Well, about to-morrow, I don’t see why Winifred can’t go, well as not. In fact, I’d be pleased to have her. J’ll try and get something clean and whole on her, just before she starts, so she’ll look proper. You won’t dress up much, Felicia, I suppose.” “Oh, no,” said Felicia; “wouldn’t you wear the dresses we’ll wear to school, Monday, Mrs. Harlow, so she’ll see exactly what we’re like, and feel better ac- quainted ?” “That’s an excellent plan,” said the station-mis- tress warmly. “The best thing for Winifred will be her blue and green check; she can spill a good many different things on that, even ink, before it’ll show much.” “ And I'll wear my red and black one,” said Felicia ; “ then we shall look just about the same.” “Yes, so we shall,” assented Winifred, and they went on with their plans, while Mrs. Harlow and the minister discussed affairs in the parish and the village news until the sound of the nine o’clock bell brought the minister to his feet. “Dear me, this is such a cozy place, Felicia and IImportant News 15 never know when to go home,” he said, and Mrs. Harlow looked gratified. “Pm glad it seems that way to you,” she said as she stood in the doorway, holding a lantern so that its rays would light her guests along the dark road. “I should hate to live and bring up a child in a place that wasn’t homey. Comeagain, Mr. Lane, when you have time ; I count it a real honor to have you. Good-night, Felicia,” and she kissed the little girl. “You and Wini- fred will have great times, I expect, going to school to- gether; but you’ll have to come down to the station all the oftener, so Pll have two little girls to help make up for the way I shall miss Winifred, mornings.” “How about me?” asked Mr. Lane, smiling. “Don’t you suppose I shall miss my little girl ? ” “So you will,” said Mrs. Harlow. “Well, we fathers and mothers have to step to one side when it comes to education. Good-night.” “ Good-night,” called the minister and Felicia, as they turned the corner, for Mrs. Harlow’s last words had been spoken when they were at the end of the station road. Felicia slipped her hand into her father’s and they walked up the hill together, the little girl talking on happily, till they reached the parsonage. “T suppose it is too late to tell Mrs. Cope to-night,” said the minister doubtfully. “There’s a bright light in the kitchen, father,” said Felicia ; “ you know she said she’d wait on Mrs. Har.Ser iare itr ontario nate ci eae cinee aS eA csaa an all Seg, fete kn me ds ae ‘ mpd aratgonytes a Pao ae , Rel ne eee Cree Cee eet ie SE orennos aren pee oe be Bde be) ae ra a a a Tei LDA eh tas eB ly ng a a wh 16 Felicia’s Friends low’s decision. Don’t you believe ’d better run over and just tap on the door?” “Very well,” said Mr. Lane, and Felicia flew across the little path that led to their neighbor’s door. Before she had time to knock, Mrs. Cope appearea, lamp in hand. “So you’ve got back,” she said eagerly. “ I heard you coming.” “Oh, I'm afraid I was whistling,” said Felicia. “And you don’t approve of girls whistling, Mrs. Cope.” “Not as a rule, for steady work,” said Mrs. Cope, but her keen eyes were soft as she looked down on her little neighbor, “but your whistle has a kind of a happy sound; I don’t mind it, some way. What did Mrs. Harlow say, Felicia? I suppose you can’t stop to come in, late as ’tis.” “No, I mustn’t,” said Felicia. “She is glad to have Winifred go, Mrs. Cope, and we are coming to-morrow afternoon to call on the new teacher, in our school dresses, Winifred’s blue and green check because it won’t show spots, Mrs. Harlow said, and my red and black one. Isn’t that a good idea? And Winifred is to take supper with me afterward, all by ourselves, while father is over at Green Corners.” “Now look here,” said Mrs. Cope, “ why can’t you and Winifred stay here to tea? Miss Shaw’s coming on the morning train, and she’ll have time to get her trunk unpacked, and feel a little at home, and I should call it just the finishing touch to have you two childrenImportant News 17 for supper ; it will make four at table ; and if you felt disposed, Felicia, you could make a batch of those famous peanut cookies of yours, and bring some over. I warrant Miss Shaw would like them.” “Why, it would be perfectly splendid! ” cried Felicia. “Thank you and thank you for asking us! And, Mrs. Cope, couldn’t we put a bouquet in her room from your garden and mine, because we’ve worked together through sun and storm, you said ; couldn’t we? Some of my zinnias that I’ve covered with newspapers every cold night are lovely now.” “The very thing,” said Mrs. Cope. “I don’t see but you'll have to come over first thing in the morn- ing to help me get the room ready for her, Felicia. Now you must run home, or the minister will have a right to complain. Good-night.” “ Good-night,” said Felicia, and ran across the path to the parsonage. “ Father,” she cried breathlessly as she flew in at the door, “ Mrs. Cope has asked Winifred and me for supper to-morrow night, withthenewteacher. Thinkof that!” “It is certainly very kind of her,” said Mr. Lane from his chair by the fire which he had stirred to a little blaze. “Blackberry Hill people have been-kind to us always, haven’t they, Felicia, and thoughtful ? ” “Tm so glad this was your first call after you changed from business into a minister,” said Felicia with a happy sigh, as she seated herself on the arm of his chair. “Everything has turned out right, andRCRD Tress sere ere erg ea A a R HY IVP Tp tse teen tep Riat a bash ha jinifeiine eaten nL : : cane te ee ae eos wee eee oer o - i " ae ao) pow a C abic ma Ards Mes ered pie G ¢ Sea Sak ea BP) ot as ohana Der 4 dednyie 04 : 18 Felicia’s Friends mother’s getting well out in Colorado, and this is out home for five years anyway, and perhaps forever. And now Winifred and I are going to school. And Martin is just as much of a favorite as any parrot in all the world, I do believe, father.” “ What’s all this?’ came a hoarse voice from the next room. “ Martin is a gentleman.” “Yes, you are,” said Felicia as she ran to the kitchen and took up the parrot’s cage. “ We went off and forgot to take you into your parlor and cover you up, and you’ve not scolded one bit. You cer- sainly are a very good-tempered bird, Martin.” “ Very well,” said the parrot. “ Now it’s time for bed. Good-night.” “Goodnight,” said Felicia, and returned to her father’s chair. “Do you suppose there’s any other district schoo] where there are seventeen boys and only two girls, father ?” she asked sleepily, after watching the fire for a few minutes. “Tm sure I don’t know,” said the minister. “ But there’s one thing I do know, Felicia ; that is that a little girl who has so many plans for to-morrow, and means to have her father’s breakfast at the usual Blackberry Hill time-——” He paused and looked sig- nificantly at the old clock, slowly ticking its way toward the hour of ten. “ Ought to be in bed and asleep,” finished the little girl, “and I will be, in ten minutes, father.”CHAPTER II THE NEW TEACHER WHILE Felicia was making her peanut cookies, next morning, the Topham wagon drove past the parsonage and up to Mrs. Cope’s door. “There she comes! Martin, there she comes!” cried Felicia to the parrot who was on the table near her, taking a sun-bath. “That’s Miss Shaw, our teacher, Winifred’s and mine! Mr. Topham just brought her from Willowby ; she got off the train there to see her brother.” “Very well,” said Martin, as Felicia stood on tip- toe to reach over the table and look out of the window. “ Very well.” “I can’t quite see,” said Felicia, “but I think I saw a light dress, Martin. If she had come to the back door I could have seen beautifully. Oh, Martin, her room looks lovely! There is a cushion with ‘Welcome’ worked on it in blue, and blue flowers in a wreath; and there’s an hour-glass table, Martin, white muslin over blue; and there’s a pretty -blue catch-all on the wall, and the muslin curtains tied with blue ribbons, and a handsome cardboard motto, framed over the bed, ‘ Work while you work. Play while you play’; and one of Mrs. Cope’s very best dimity bedspreads with a valance, Martin! A 1920 Felicia’s Friends valance is a deep flounce, and we hope she won’t muss it right off, for it certainly is hard to do up, Miss Loreena Parks says. And we have gold and white zinnias and white chrysanthemums (for we had no blue flowers) in two vases.” “Thank you,” said Martin, politely, as Felicia paused and looked to him for sympathy. “ What is all this ?” “We put one vase of them on the hour-glass table, and one on the bureau,” Felicia went on, while Martin listened, his head on one side, and looked most in- telligent. ‘Martin, will you promise never to tell if I tell you something? I know you won't. The only thing I’d like to change is the mirror; it’s wavy, Martin, and it makes a person look so queer ! But I didn’t tell Mrs. Cope, of course.” “Martin is a gentleman,” announced the parrot, as much as to say he approved of Felicia’s suppression of the truth about the mirror, and would have done as much for Mrs. Cope’s feelings himself. “You and Mrs. Cope are such good friends now, ever since I sprained my ankle and stayed there,” said Felicia; “but you do like Winifred best of all, I think, don’t you, Martin ?” “Winifred! Winifred!” called the parrot in his most agreeable tone. “She’s coming this afternoon,” said Felicia, “and then you can talk to her all you like, and she'll answer.”The New Teacher 21 The minister went off to Green Corners at four oclock, and a few minutes later Winifred clicked the parsonage gate and, walking sedately up the path to the door, rang the bell. “Why, Winifred Harlow, what in the world are you doing at the front door, when you always come around to the kitchen ?” cried Felicia. Winifred’s round face was drawn down as primly as possible. “Tf we are going to make a call,” she said de- murely, “I thought I’d begin to get in the spirit of it, as Mother Harlow says. I have a pair of gloves in this bag.” “Gloves!” echoed Felicia. ‘“ What should we do with gloves?” “Put them on, I suppose,” said Winifred; then she threw her arms around Felicia; “didn’t you know I was only pretending to be grand and grown up ?” she asked. “‘ Ye-es, I believe I did,” admitted Felicia; “ but I wasn’t sure but you might want to play that way when we go over to Mrs. Cope’s, and I’ve only just my Sunday gloves.” “Look!” commanded Winifred, and from her small bag she drew out a pair of thick black kid gloves, of an unusually large size, and with the top of each finger worn through. “ These are the ones I brought. They are an old pair of Mr. Wadleigh’s, and he lent them to me to build castles and dig moatsinkit nesihin een paaniernnanetatainndeneteneieteimieceenatn geen tte eres S hay poy a oor pa het : rare J F : We peat ee er ee eee eet at Se eee eee Looe Dery oh bt eee ee ce ee a eo rer iano oe 22 Felicia’s Friends and things, because I do grime the dirt so into the palms of my hands, that mother is nearly discour- aged.” “Oh,” laughed Felicia, “ Pm not afraid you'll be too- dressed up for me in that kind of gloves, Winifred. Just wait till I tell you my news about our invita- tion.” Winifred was as much pleased and surprised as Felicia had hoped. “Tt’s grand,” she said, “though of course T shall have to be on my very best behavior, Felicia. Mrs. Cope likes me better than she used to before you came, but my best isn’t any too good to please her. She still thinks I’m ‘ forth-putting ’ once in a while.” “She thinks you’re just as bright as bright can bes said Felicia,avoiding thisdangerous point. “ Winifred, what do you think we’d better say first to Miss Shaw? Mrs. Cope said that as soon as she’d made us acquainted she should leave us to entertain each other till supper-time.” “Dear me,” said Winifred. ‘“ She’s from the city, go we can’t talk to her about country things, and it wouldn’t be polite to begin about school the first minute, I suppose.” “We might talk about the weather and what sort of a trip she had,” suggested Felicia. “Of course if it wasn’t a real call we could speak about Martin, and our Dinah Doorstops and all sorts of things. I don’t believe she’s very grown up, Winifred ; but it will beThe New Teacher 23 nicer when the call part is over and we're eating supper. I think eating always makes people more friendly and not so stiff, don’t you ?” “Yes, indeed,” assented Winifred. “As soon as Pve talked to Martin, I suppose we'd better go, Feli- cia, don’t you? It’s after half-past four now, and Mrs. Cope will have supper by six, won’t she ?” “At half-past five, to get the sunset from the din- Ing-room window, she told me,” said Felicia. “It sets just to the left of Old Baldy now, and when there’s an afterglow the mountain is the most beautiful purplish pink, Winifred. I hope it will be that way to-night for Miss Shaw. Don’t you believe she’ll love Black- berry Hill before she’s been here long ?” “Of course she will,” said Winifred decidedly ; “she couldn’t help it. Felicia, do you suppose she’s tall enough to make those biggest boys behave? That Nate Horner is ’most six feet tall, Bobby says, and he acts like everything.” “T don’t know,” said Felicia, “but probably she’s very tall and large, or they wouldn’t have thought she was fitted, would they ?” “Probably Mr. Shaw had her picture, so that was how they knew,” said Winifred. “At any rate we’ll know pretty soon.” Ten minutes later Martin reluctantly unhooked his claw from the finger of his special friend and admirer, and the two little girls walked sedately out of the parsonage, down the gravel path between the brownPEI. ase tery ty ne aaa eoreag eee Cer eet te ie i Pars) Ses oh cal eh eo bo Seer A SYD PER ERTS Toes See omen tate et CPSP Rak eye Se 24 Felicia’s Friends stalks of Felicia’s garden, through the little clicking gate and up the road to Mrs. Cope’s house. Felicia had her hand on the old knocker, when she heard a most surprising sound. Mrs. Cope’s laugh joined with another, a charming girlish sound that made the two little callers glance delightedly at each other. “Pm not a bit afraid of anybody who laughs like that,” whispered Felicia, and lifting the knocker she let it fall with a good “clang.” There were hurrying footsteps, and when the door was opened there stood not only Mrs. Cope, but a pretty dark-eyed girl, smiling a welcome to the visit- ors. “J couldn’t wait,” she said, holding out a hand to each of them, as Mrs. Cope spoke their names. “ You look just as Mrs. Cope said, and I am so glad to have two little girls, beside all those boys. Why, I’m al- most frightened to hear how big some of them are!” By this time they were all in the parlor, Miss Shaw and the children, still holding each other by the hand, seated on the long sofa, with Mrs. Cope beaming at them from her favorite chair. “They’re ever so much bigger than you, for you're not big at all,” said Winifred, from her seat beside Miss Shaw. “But you don’t look as if you’d be afraid, not really,” said Felicia’s soft voice from the other side, and again the charming laugh rippled out.The New Teacher 25 “You both talk just the way Mrs. Cope said you would ; I should have known which was which with my eyes tight shut!” said the new veacher. “I’m so glad you’re not alike.” ‘“‘ But we like the same things, almost always,” and Winifred leaned forward to smile at her friend. “ Almost always,” said Felicia, smiling back at her. “Except in studies, Miss Shaw ; Winifred likes geogra- phy a great deal better than I do, and I like spelling better than she does, except some words that it seems as if I never could remember. Please don’t ask me how to spell accommodate, right off the first day, Miss Shaw, for it sounds just as well and looks just as well whatever way I spell it, and it’s a very impor- tant word.” “It certainly is,’ but the new teacher smiled ina reassuring way, and Mrs. Cope put in her word, as she rose from her chair. “They are both good, every-day children, and ready to learn,” she said decidedly, “and now as you seem to be getting acquainted without any trouble, I’ll go and attend to my supper.” Miss Shaw took Winifred’s left hand and Felicia’s right and brought them together in her lap, with her own soft hands over them. “ At my aunt’s, where I’ve spent all my spare time while I was in college, near her home,” said Miss Shaw, “I have two little cousins; one has dark hair like yours, Felicia, and one is fair like you, Winifred ;SOE ean cutee TT ae ad Ppl ag de Bar eg a ho Ck DS mk Lb ob cE a et eee 26 Felicta’s Friends they are twins, and their names are Catherine and Caroline.” “ T should think their mother’s tongue would get all twisted if she tried to call them both, in a hurry,” remarked Winifred, and Miss Shaw nodded. “Tt does, sometimes,” she said. “One of them is as quick as lightning.” “Like you, Winifred,” said Felicia. “And the other is slower, but very gentle and sure,” Miss Shaw ended. “And that’s just like you, Felicia,” said Winifred affectionately. ‘Shall we keep you from missing them, Miss Shaw ?” “TJ think you will, as much as any one could,” said the new teacher. “They are like little sisters to me. I’ve never had any of my own; and perhaps you know my father and mother died when I was only a baby ; so there are just my brother and myself.” “Felicia is the best off that way,” said Winifred ; “she has a grandmother and an aunt and both parents and baby John. I call that a great deal!” ‘Mother and baby John are both a good way off,” said Felicia. “You have them, just the same,” said Winifred, “and you know maybe your Aunt Mary will bring baby John for a week’s visit some time. I have my dear Mother Harlow that adopted me, and then I con- sider Mr. Wadleigh a sort of relative, he said I might ; he said he would be an uncle once removed.”ihe New Teacher 27 “That was kind of him, I’m sure,” and Miss Shaw looked as serious as possible. “I think we are all very fortunate.” “So do I,” said Felicia; “and beside her relatives, Winifred has a beautiful lady in the city who sends! her all sorts of presents, Dinah Doorstop and lots of others; and Winifred has visited her in her summer home, Sweetbriar Lodge. Isn’t that a lovely name ?” “Yes, indeed,” said Miss Shaw; “Catherine and Caroline and I went to walk only a week ago to-day and picked some long branches of sweetbriar with red hips hanging where the roses had been.” Felicia and Winifred leaned forward, and looked at each other. “We thought you’d lived right in the city,” began Winifred ; “ we didn’t know you liked country things.” “Oh, will you go to walk with us sometimes,” Felicia pleaded, “one of us on each side? and we’ll show you all the places we know. It’s beautiful when the snow comes, too, Winifred says. V’m just waiting for it, because this will be my first winter in real coun- try.” “We will have all sorts of good times,” said Miss Shaw; “and once in a while we’ll ask the boys to join us. The college is not right in the city ; J am used to being out of doors a great deal, and ie “Supper’s ready,” announced Mrs. Cope in the doorway. “One, or both, of you offer an arm to Miss Shaw and escort her out,” and Mrs. Cope turned to-ne ar ane Ch Td A i : raed 4 2 nar ers ml gas Bt BORN Om woo) em pe A oh aro Ma ok BEC ian ta i Pg a Boa bon a erent cere eo 28 Felicia’s Friends ward the kitchen, her face perfectly pleasant but Felicia thought a little grave. “You escort Miss Shaw this time, Winifred,” she said quickly, and before Mrs. Cope had crossed the hall the little flying feet had overtaken her. “May I escort you, please, Mrs. Cope?” asked Felicia, and the face of her hostess broke into a smile. “Youre a comforting little piece,” she said, as she tucked her arm into Felicia’s. “ Yousee if I haven’t put your peanut cookies where they’ll show off well. I call ’em one of the chief ornaments of this tea-party. And, Felicia, when you’ve tasted those raised tea- muffins, if you think they’re all right, you give a little cough; it’ll ease my mind, for I mistrust I may have left them in a minute too long.” “T might just as well cough now, Mrs. Cope,” whispered Felicia as she looked at the plate of mufiins, before the other guests had reached the door. “I know they are just perfect!” “Sho now,” said Mrs. Cope, flushing with pride, as Miss Shaw and Winifred entered the room. “ Be seated all, and know I’m pleased to have you here.”CHAPTER III THE FIRST DAY AT SCHOOL Monpay morning at quarter before nine, Felicia stood waiting at the corner of Hillcrest Road. First she looked along the road to the schoolhouse; she could count the seventeen boys in front of it, talking in groups ; then she looked down the hill. “Tt’s time Winifred came,” she said, and sure enough at that moment her friend came in sight, swinging a luncheon basket, and hurrying up the hill. “Oh, Felicia,” she panted, as she reached the corner where Felicia stood, “ this dress doesn’t show spots, but it can get wet just like anything else, and it takes forever to dry it; and when I was helping mother, emptying out the water from the copper boiler into one of the tubs, I turned most of it right over my skirt. Mother says no mortal skirt that ever was made could help shrinking ; she’s ironed it out, but it’s gone up in the back, hasn’t it, Felicia ? ” “I’m afraid it has, a little,” admitted Felicia reluc- tantly. “Never mind, Winifred, boys never notice anything, and you can explain to Miss Shaw. Let’s hurry now.” “Tt’s no use crying over spilt milk,” said Winifred, beginning to laugh, as they hurried on, “ but I do wish it hadn’t happened the first day.” 29are * oy Paar Ore arn en mantel abi tip ow Salt 4 Depp ce tended Sen ah es 30 Felicia’s Friends When they reached the schoolhouse, the boys formed in two lines, one at each side of the path, and after a solemn chorus of “ Good-morning !” they stood with their hats off while the two little girls, trying not to laugh, walked between their ranks to the door-step. The schoolhouse was a low, comfortable building, with a covered porch and doors at the right and left. The door at the left, planned for the girls’ entrance when the old schoolhouse was built, had not been open for many years. “Ladies to the left,” announced the voice of Nate Horner, and the little girls, who had hesitated for a moment, opened the left hand door and went in. The schoolroom was a cheerful, sunny place, and as Miss Shaw turned from the blackboard with a smile and “Good-morning,” Felicia and Winifred felt a thrill of pleasure that gave an added brightness to their eyes and a glow to their cheeks. “Tm so glad you have come in first,” said Miss Shaw. “Dve been wondering where you little girls would like to sit.” “Together, somewhere,” said Winifred decidedly, but Miss Shaw did not agree to that. “No,” she said, “I think not together. You and Felicia spend a great deal of time with each other,” she explained quickly to the disappointed friends, “and I think it will be a good thing for the boys to have you divided between them, in school. I should like to put Felicia in the first seat of this row withLhe First Day at School 31 Nate Horner behind her, and that delicate little Kingman boy at her right, and I should like to put you here, Winifred, in front of Donald French, with Ned Hilliard at your right; I shall not have the rear seats used unless for some special reason.’ The little girls hesitated, looked at each other, and then at Miss Shaw. Then they spoke together. “We will,” said Felicia and Winifred, and Miss Shaw understood. “Thank you,” she said, and shook hands with them heartily. “Now I suppose it is time for me to ring the first bell.” When the boys trooped in, treading on each other’s heels, Miss Shaw stood by the desk, and the little girls were in their appointed seats. The straggling line, headed by Nate Horner, stopped so suddenly that one of the Hilliards trod heavily on the toes of the boy behind him, and a loud “ Ouch!” resounded through the schoolroom. Miss Shaw bit her lip, looked at the boys, and then the corners of her mouth gave way. She laughed, the pretty rippling laugh that had set her little callers of Saturday at their ease, and the boys all joined in. “There,” said Miss Shaw, when they had subsided, crimson and still inclined to chuckle, “that hasn’t hurt any of us. You see I’ve made a little change, boys; I know you are all so glad to have two nice girls in the school after all these years without any, you'll wish to make them welcome, and as there are32 Felicia’s Friends (nT Or en ar caetne 2 Sa SET eed t - dem % recy J we only two of them, and so many of you, I’ve arranged the seats as best I could.” “Yes, ma’am,” came the chorus, as the new teacher paused, evidently expecting some answer. “There is the change of moving you down one seat,” said Miss Shaw to the leader of the procession, “ but ’m sure you are too friendly to Felicia to mind that, and of course she could not have seen over your head, you are so tall.” Big Nate Horner shuffled his feet, but grinned in response to the winning smile bestowed on him. “ Don’t trouble me any,” he said, making his gruff voice as agreeable as he could. “Thank you,” said Miss Shaw, and she went on to explain to the other boys the changes she had made, assigning their new seats as quickly as possible. In less than ten minutes they were all settled, each boy with his own books, and nobody seemed at all dis- turbed. ‘Now there is one thing I want to say before we begin work,” said Miss Shaw when her bell had brought them all to attention; “you don’t know anything about me except that I’m Mr. Shaw’s sister, just out of college, do you? “No, ma’am,” came in chorus. “And I know nothing about any of you except that you have been my brother’s pupils for two years,” said Miss Shaw. “Not one word about you,” she added emphatically, seeing the glances Se eereay . peer eer Eo semtngegeselage pete tec ga nate te Sab bese Bape dv he od a Selita i ta Sr yperepeee rt ttre eenese stamensThe First Day at School 33 of surprise and doubt that passed between the boys. “If some of you have been troublesome and some helpful, if there are dull ones and bright ones, I don’t know which they are. I wouldn’t let my brother tell me, for I wanted to start fair.” “Good for you!” came heartily from three voices, and looking down at their crimson faces and the hands hastily clapped over their mouths, Miss Shaw knew that the three biggest boys in her school en- dorsed her beginning. “Thank you,” she said prettily; “and now I must call the roll, for although Mrs. Cope introduced us all after church yesterday, I don’t yet know, surely, about most of your names.” When the six Hilliard boys, the two French’s, Nate Horner, the little Kingman boy and the other seven, had been enrolled on the new list, Miss Shaw spent the morning in finding out, as nearly as possible, how far her different classes had progressed in the studies they had taken up, and in placing Winifred and Felicia in such classes as best fitted their needs. In a district school where the pupils range from six to sixteen years of age, the teacher has an opportunity to use all the wisdom at her command. At recess Miss Shaw ate her luncheon with the two little girls, and by two o’clock, when the school day was over, the new teacher felt quite content with her work. “T think it is going to be perfectly lovely,” said Winifred, as she stood with Felicia a moment at the24 Felicia’s Friends parsonage gate, swinging her empty luncheon basket. “JT suppose I shan’t see you again to-day, for well each have so much to tell our families it will take till bedtime. Shall we meet at the same place ?” “ Oh, yes,” said Felicia. ‘They say education does so much for people, Winifred, just look what it does for Blackberry Hill! Why, when school comes into a family, as Mrs. Cope says, even your meals have to be changed! Think of having almost a dinner at night, Winifred, instead of at regular Blackberry Hill time! I’m so glad Miss Loreena Parks is able to get father his hot dinner at noon, for a minister needs heartening in the middle of the day more than most people, Mrs. Cope says.” “ There’s Miss Loreena Parks hanging out a mat on the stone wall, and looking at us,” said Winifred. “She’s waited, Felicia, to hear you tell about school. Good-bye.” “ Good-bye,” called Felicia, for Winifred was al- ready on her way down the hill. “ Wait a minute, Miss Parks, and I’ll be there and tell you all about everything. Where’s father ?” “ He’s in his study,” said Miss Parks as with Felicia’s arm around her waist she was borne over the dry grass, into the kitchen, “and supposed to be writing sermons; but I’d wager one o’ my rubber buttons you won't have to speak twice to get his notice. Suppos- ing you try it now, and when yow’re in there just leave the door open a crack, and I can hear every Se eee eee rc eee ee atone f Speen tess oe: ol po toh me | fo ee bpd AUST STEER E TTT Tyree tem ee a ett es Pea oy taeLhe First Day at School 35 word if you’ll speak up clear: my ears are acting real well this week. You hurry now, and begin; your father remarked to me he thought the days had grown a good deal longer in the morning—since last week !”‘ ied eT ne a CHAPTER IV INVITATIONS FOR A PARTY See aL rent ee teen el ete eel onal As the days went on Felicia and Winifred grew more and more interested in school, and all the things connected with it. “ Just think, Winifred,” said Felicia one morning in late October, “we thought last summer and in Sep- tember, before we began to go to school, that our time was full to completion, as Mrs. Cope says—and look at us now! Aren’t you earlier than usual ? I had to start ahead of time to do an errand at Mr. Fosdick’s and I expected I’d have to wait for you quite a while.” “Yes, I am early,” said Winifred with a mysterious air. Then, looking very important, she loosened the string of a small cloth bag which Felicia recognized as one Mrs. Harlow always carried, and brought out a square white envelope. “Took at that,” she said, and Felicia saw that it was directed, in Mrs. Harlow’s handwriting, to “ Miss Mary Frances Shaw.” “That isn’t the only one,” said Winifred, as they began to walk toward the schoolhouse ; “this bag is just full of them ; there are nineteen more beside that.” “What are they? Do tell me quick,” said Felicia eagerly. “Is it a party?” 36 Sey 7 6h cee See bs koh bs Clic) SAGASGPS RAGES EPRI SCS cr TaD VALS ESe Te PeeSInvitations for a Party 37 “It’s a Hallowe’en party, and it’s all mother’s plan,” said Winifred. “She made these little envelopes out of sheets of paper, and she’s been writing the invita- tions for two or three days; she never told me the first thing about it till last night. I want to put one on each desk before school. Would you like to see yours ?” “Oh, I would!” cried Felicia, and Winifred, stop- ping, dived into the bag again, and brought out a handful of notes from which she selected one ad- dressed to “ Miss Felicia Lane.” It was sealed with red wax, stamped with crossed hands, for Mr. Harlow had belonged to a society which used that symbol, and as his widow said to Winifred, “it gave a real cordial-looking finish to the invitations.” Felicia opened her little envelope carefully with her knife, and read the words on the tiny sheet of paper. “You are invited to a Hallowe’en party at Black- berry Hill station, at eight o’clock sharp. All are expected without fail. “Mrs. Martua Hariow.” “There, isn’t that fun?” asked Winifred. ‘ Miss Shaw is invited, beside all the scholars, and Mrs. Cope, because Miss Shaw’s boarding there. That makes twenty invitations, and mother said she wished she could ask your father and the Tophams, and Mr. Fosdick and the Markhams and everybody, butSerer trots crrerii et eresrirart Eoecsan ana au SAMARAS arate aaa ey ape tt ao dahehetalabpede de beteticateietace ss eet eee = SSeS es es Petree cere ene eee er ea 38 Felicia’s Friends there’s only just about so much room, and she’d got to stop somewhere. But she said she hoped all would understand. ‘There’s just one more invitation ; that’s for Bobby ; but mother kept that to give him, because she knew he’d be down at the station for an express box that came for Mr. Topham last night.” “Tm so glad Bobby’s asked,” said Felicia. “T hate to have him left out of good times. Ido wish he could afford to go to school the winter term, Winifred.” “So do I,” said Winifred. ‘“S’h, don’t let the boys see this bag! you keep close to me. Good-morning all,’ and with a nod closely patterned after her mother’s, Winifred passed the group of boys and hur- ried into the schoolhouse, Felicia at her side. “Eyen Miss Shaw isn’t here yet,” said Winifred ; “isn’t that fine? Here, Felicia, you put some of them on the desks,” and she handed half the envelopes to her friend, “and we’ll be looking at the maps when Miss Shaw comes in.” They were standing with their backs to the room, apparently absorbed in tracing a railroad route through Mexico, when Miss Shaw came in. They did not even turn until she said “Good-morning,” and then their faces were eager and smiling. But Miss Shaw did not stop to look at her desk. “I meant to have been early,” she whispered to the little girls as she passed them on her way to the black- board, “but I had ripped a place in the braid that binds my skirt, and this morning I caught my foot inInvitations for a Party 39 it, so I had to stop and mend it then. I don’t like to sew.” “Oh, don’t you?” whispered Winifred. “I don’t either. Felicia is a beautiful sewer, and she doesn’t begin to tear her clothes the way Ido! Mother Har- low says people’s qualities often seem to be misfits, i that way, but in the long run you generally see the wisdom of nature.” , The freedom with which both Winifred and Felicia quoted from their elders was often almost too much for Miss Shaw’s gravity. Now she was thankful they could not see her face as she copied some problems on the blackboard from a book held open in her left hand. “There,” she said, brushing the chalk from her hands, “I hadn’t a minute to spare,” and she hurried back to her desk and rang the bell, apparently without noticing the little white envelopes sprinkled so freely about the room, until as she put down the bell, her hand touched the square addressed to her. Then she looked about the room and smiled. “‘T think,” she said, when all the class were seated and the roll had been called, “that we should like to see what isin these envelopes before we begin lessons.” “Yes, ma’am,” came the chorus, and seventeen pairs of hands tore open the envelopes while Miss Shaw used her ivory paper cutter, and the two girls looked on delightedly. “ How nice this is, and what a good time we shallcepeincnonunbarsdebbdeibdabebebereinterennentine Sis 5 sia, i : fs reared etree ae oe acer. Se ees A a ; * mn renee gcse cen meee age pete rate teite aban Ln Satatndin taint nce oe ySqi04 wheal Siete 40 Felicia’s Friends have,” said Miss Shaw when she had read her invita- tion, and every boy shouted a hearty “Yes, ma’am !” again. Then Nate Horner put up his hand, and being asked to speak, he rose. “T suppose we ought to send her an answer,” he said, “and couldn’t you write it for all of us, Miss Shaw ? Is there any boy that can’t go?” he inquired, and without regard to school etiquette the hearty chorus responded, “ No siree!” “What would you like me to say, Nate?” asked Miss Shaw, and her tall pupil shuffled uneasily for a moment. “Why couldn’t you just say, ‘ We are much obliged and are all coming,’ and sign, ‘ Miss Shaw and scholars’ where she put her name?” he inquired. “ Would that do?” “Dm sure it would do very well indeed,” said Miss Shaw, “but I think Mrs. Harlow would be still better pleased if I write our acceptance ona good sized sheet of paper and you all sign your names below mine.” That idea evidently pleased the boys very much and when school was over, Nate Horner’s name was the first to go down, below Miss Shaw’s. “You have three names and I only have two,” he said as he rose from Miss Shaw’s desk at which he had inscribed his signature, “but Nathaniel is such a plaguy long one, it takes up as much room as Mary and Frances put together.”Invitations for a Party 41 “T think it’s a fine name,” said Miss Shaw, “and when you remember what a brilliant man has borne it, you might feel quite proud; I mean Nathaniel Haw- thorne,” she added; “ the famous author, you know.” “TI never thought about that,” said big Nate. “I only thought ’twas kind of homely, and my cousins used to do a singsong about it and me and it made me mad. They always said: ‘* “Nate, Nate, overweight, Size and name, ’bout the same.’ ’”’ Miss Shaw smiled up at her big pupil, while the next boy wrote his name. “T suppose they thought that was very funny,” she said. “I’ve heard things that were a good deal funnier ; but I hope you laughed when they said it.” “No, I didn’t,’ and big Nate looked sullen. “?Tisn’t very funny when you’re twice as big as any- body else, and have the longest legs and arms any of your relations from the city ever saw.” “ Dear me,” said Miss Shaw, shaking her head, “ how very little they must have seen. But, Nate, you just remember after this, if you laugh with people they soon give up laughing at you; you try it next frmier) “ All right, I will,” said Nate, as he stumbled off the platform. ‘“They’re coming up for Thanksgiving, and I’ll just try it.” “Don’t you know the least bit what your mother is going to do for the party ?” coaxed Felicia as she andfae NrCrarT sere sree nen ante : 5 : rate | shmyetngge balete pated rele tute ala tind patmtntntog immer Ses4 cig yhanle gal eet en ree ere ee en ee ee er et at oh td 42 Felicia’s Friends Winifred walked home together ; but Winifred shook her head violently. “TI haven’t—one—single—idea,” she said with em- phasis, “ but I suspect one thing, Felicia, just suspect, out of my own head. Do you want to know what Ibas ?”? Felicia hesitated for a minute. ‘Oh, I do want to know, awfully,” she said, “ but I think it would please your mother better if you didn’t tell me even your suspectings, Winifred, because they might be true, and then it wouldn’t be a surprise, whatever it is, the way your mother wants it to be. Oh, Winifred, ’'m glad that little Ben Kingman is going to a party ; he looks so scared, and as if he never had a good time.” “The boys say he is a coward,” said Winifred, “and they’ve threatened to give him a scare, some time, Bobby says.” “T think it would be mean!” cried Felicia, with scarlet cheeks. ‘Miss Loreena Parks says he’s never been very strong, and she says his aunt that’s bringing him up is enough to scare the life out of anybody. Miss Loreena says she’s been there to wash once or twice and glad enough she was to get home with her head on her shoulders, such is Miss Kingman’s tongue !” “But a boy ought not to be afraid of anything,” insisted Winifred, “and they say he’s scared when he goes by the old Corey place, the one they call ‘haunted ’; any sensible person knows there isn’t suchInvitations for a Party 43 a thing as a ‘haunted house,’ ” added Winifred scorn- fully. “No, of course there isn’t,” said Felicia; but she walked slowly up the path when Winifred had gone. “T know what it is to be afraid,” said Felicia to her- self, “and Winifred doesn’t. I’m going to talk to that little Kingman boy the very first good chance I have. Maybe he’d like to talk to somebody that’s been afraid and got almost over it, the way I have. Maybe very brave people make him feel discouraged about himself.”andntaneerietohebehehesenabareete triers 4 i eof we Zo) . ed CHAPTER V A HALLOWE’EN FROLIC HALLOWE'EN came on Friday, and at twenty minutes before eight on that eventful evening Felicia sat with her face pressed against the kitchen window, looking over toward Mrs. Cope’s. The door into Mar- tin’s parlor was open, and Felicia occasionally spoke to the parrot. “T wish they would come, Martin,” she said at last. “Mrs. Cope can’t run down the hill, and all the boys have gone, and they are probably marching up and down on the platform, and having fun.” Martin looked along the path of light thrown into his room by the kitchen lamp, and saw the little eager face. “ Felicia,” he said amiably, “ Martin is a gentleman. Very well.” “It’s all right,” cried Felicia; “here they come, Martin! Good-bye.” “ Good-bye,” said Martin, and Felicia ran to the study door. As she opened it the cheerful blaze of the fire leaped up to greet her, and it was a warm and homelike scene at which she smiled. Three big chairs were drawn up before the fire, and 44A Hallowe en Frolic 45 in the middle one sat the minister, with Mr. Fosdick on one side and Mr. Gregg on the other. A corn- popper full of corn was waiting by the hearth, and there was a big plate of candy on the table. “Are you all right?” asked Felicia. “I’m just go- ing, father. I hope you’ll have a nice time at your party, but I wish you were all to be at Mrs. Harlow’s.” “Well, there now, that’s as good as going,” said Mr. Fosdick, and Mr. Gregg nodded and smiled at his little friend. “Why, I hear somebody clicking the front gate,” said Felicia, “and Mrs. Cope and Miss Shaw have come the other way.” As she spoke there was a brisk ring at the door-bell, and running to the door, Felicia was wrapped in Mrs. Topham’s motherly arms. “There, dearle,” she said, “ you run right out and jump into the wagon. Bobby’s waiting to take you down with Mrs. Cope and the teacher. Mr. Topham and I are going to visit here till you come home. I thought maybe these poor helpless men-folks would like a little steaming hot coffee, come to get later on in the evening, and I could make it for ’em.” “Oh, aren’t you good!” and Felicia gave her first Blackberry Hill friend a hearty squeeze and ran out of the door, to find Mr. Topham carefully tucking the robe around Mrs. Cope and Miss Shaw on the back seat. “ Here’s our minister’s little girl,” said Mr. Topham2 die . * “f iJ Sapna Settee a we ere re er ereern rere rey Secret rts) ene eee aa) obintntntin ale ditebinde 2 abet epegapete tne aE ee eet oe rs 46 Felicia’s Friends affectionately. ‘Going to ride in front with Bobby, and see that he doesn’t let the horse run away? A good time to you all.” “Oh, Bobby, aren’t you excited ?” asked Felicia, as they started down the hill. “T guess I am,” said Bobby seriously. “I’m just about as excited as I can be.” “ What’s bouncing around under my feet, Bobby ?” asked Felicia a minute later. “It’s something hard and big.” “T guess I’d better not talk much going down this hill, Felicia,” said Bobby. “If a strap should break or anything you know I ought to be all prepared.” “Don’t you distract his mind by asking questions, Felicia,” said Mrs. Cope from the back seat. “You know I never feel any too safe riding in the night, even if ’tis moonlight. You just let Bobby ’tend to his driving.” “Yes’m,” said Felicia so meekly that they all laughed. “Hear the boys!” she cried a moment later, as the chorus of “The Red, White, and Blue” came ringing on the frosty air. “Well I declare, that sounds pretty,” said Mrs. Cope, and as they turned the corner and came in sight of the line of dark figures marching back and forth on the station platform, Bobby’s party gave generous ap- plause. ‘““Now see here,” said Mrs. Cope, as half a dozen boys ran to the wagon, “you find out how near it isA Hallowe en Frolic 47 to eight o’clock, for I’m weil out of my teens, and I propose to stay where I’m comfortable rather ’n get out and freeze. There, the door’s opening this minute. How d’ you do, Mrs. Harlow ?” “Tm first-rate,’ came in the cheery voice of the station-mistress. ‘“ You can hop right out, Lydia, with your young folks.” . “TI guess I shan’t do much hopping, at my age,” said Mrs. Cope as she unwound herself from the heavy robe, and put out a cautious foot. ‘ Here, Bobby, you hold that horse still till I get on firm ground. There! now the rest of you can hop all you like. Here, Nate Horner, you give me your arm, and beau me in to a seat and be thankful you haven’t got the rheumatism.” Everybody laughed, for Mrs. Cope purposely hob- bled as if she were an old, old woman; but she was the first to enter the Harlow sitting-room, where Winifred stood, eager to welcome the guests. “Well, if this isn’t complete!” cried Mrs. Cope, as she saw the room, and there was a chorus of “ Ohs” and “ Ahs ” from the others. In each corner of the room there was a good-sized Jack-o’-lantern, brightly lighted and grinning broadly at the guests. Over the windows were festooned strings of small apples, and bunches of red and golden ears of corn were suspended from the walls here and there. On the big table were two bowls filled with water, a great dish of butternuts, a pile of plates and‘ rey J ST RTT er er te er en nn na een bn va wate AAR 48 Felicia’s Friends an old pewter mug in which were the two dozen solid silver spoons which had been one of Mrs. Harlow’s wedding gitts. “Crickey! look at those spoons,” whispered Ned Hilliard to Felicia. “I know they mean something good.” Just as it had begun to seem as if the little sitting- room were rather overcrowded, the seldom used door between that room and the regular station waiting- room was thrown open, and Mrs. Harlow stood curt- seying in the doorway. “JT wrote to the superintendent of the road,” she announced gaily, “and I told him I wanted to give a party for once in my life, and explained the occasion, and I asked him if I might use the business part of this station, so my company would have room to turn around. I told him there’d be no train to stop, only the express rushing by, and I told him a little mite about Winifred, and my circumstances and all, and—lI want you should hear what he wrote.” There was a breathless silence as Mrs. Harlow ad- vanced to the centre of the room, the open letter in her hand, for to the people of Blackberry Hull the superintendent of their branch road was a great and important man. “Mrs. Harlow, dear Madam:’” read the station- mistress, “* You have my full permission to use the waiting-room of Blackberry Hill station for the even- ing of October thirty-first as specified in your letter.A Hallowe’ en Frolic 49 I have not been to a Hallowe’en party for twenty-five years, but I wish I might attend yours. As that is impossible, permit me to send asubstitute. With best wishes for the success of your evening, I am ““¢ Yours very truly, “* James H. LEDYARD.’ ” “ Well, that’s as friendly a letter as anybody need wish to receive,” said Mrs. Cope decidedly. “You ought to be a good judge,” she said, turning to Miss Shaw ; “don’t it strike you that way?” “T think it’s perfectly splendid,” said Miss Shaw with enthusiasm. “But did he send somebody fora substitute, Mrs. Harlow ?” ‘Not somebody,” said Mrs. Harlow, “but some- thing; Bobby,” turning to speak over her shoulder, ‘you take the lid off, and set it right where the lantern ’ll shine on it, and we'll all troop in.” There was a fire in the stove in the waiting-room, and standing guard at the door which led outdoors, and was locked for that evening, was a short, stout figure, suggesting a pillow body, draped ina heavy shawl and then buttoned into a rough coat ; its head was the biggest Jack-o’-lantern any of the company had ever seen. . “Yd know that pumpkin was raised on Topham farm wherever I saw it,” said Mrs. Harlow, survey- ing it with admiration. “ Bobby brought that over and set it on firm for me whilst you were taking off your things.”hetenngetetetrneivhoheheheememtewene Te TET IT Tee pig ' ‘ ory J Serer een ter er 50 Felicia’s Friends “That’s what kept bumping my feet,” said Felicia, and Bobby nodded. “Step nearer and see what Jacky is guarding,” said Mrs. Harlow; “that’s the substitute.” Then indeed there was a chorus of exclamations ; for on a table, close to the queer figure, was a square wooden box and in it were four paper boxes. “Lift off the covers, Bobby,” said Mrs. Harlow, and Bobby did it. First he took off a cover with pink carnations on a white ground, and displayed squares of Turkish paste—pink and green and yellow and white; then he took off a cover of white chrysanthemums on @ pur- ple ground, and there were chocolate candies of every shape; next, beneath the cover of yellow roses on a bronze ground were almond shaped candies of all colors, and caramels wrapped in oiled paper ; last of all he took off a cover of four-leaved clovers on a gold ground, and there were candies that looked like strawberries, chestnuts, acorns, green peas, violets, rose-leaves—all sorts of pretty things. “Oh! Oh! Oh!” cried Felicia and Miss Shaw, and Winifred was really dancing with delight. “Isn’t he splendid?” she cried. “Isn’t he the very best that ever was? He’s nice enough to belong right here in Blackberry Hill!” “ Why can’t we give three cheers for him?” asked one of the boys, and there was a chorus from the others. “Yes, let’s give him three cheers.” ~2D aeres ce boy cea ont here Oe eras tote bL S Porton ry Tere ore ; ‘ 3 4 | : 1 ' } hi i a ’ a HE REAPPEARED WITH A TRAY Be ne tl eeeetiae mers Rayne meet eeff i a E bi | ryA Hallowe en Frolic 51 “You wait till the evening’s over,” said Mrs. Harlow, “and then you shall cheer as much as you like. There’s a little more room outdoors than in here, you know, boys.” They all assented, for every body liked Mrs. Harlow. Then the party began. There were charades, with one room for the actors and the other for the audi- ence. There were all sorts of guessing games, and Mrs. Cope proved herself the cleverest of all at play- ing them. Mrs. Harlow melted lead in the little Franklin stove and then the boys and girls dropped it in the bowls of water, and it cooled in many queer shapes. It was almost ten o’clock when Winifred, looking very important, took the pile of plates from the table and carried them out into the little kitchen shed. Her mother had gone out a moment before, and Winifred nodded to Felicia as she left the room. “You come, please, Felicia,” she said, and her friend quickly followed. In about five minutes Bobby was summoned, and then, while Winifred held the door open, he reap- peared bearing a great japanned tray on which were ten plates; on each plate was a little square of ice about an inch and a half thick. A hollow had been made in it with a hot spoon, and maple syrup, boiling hot, had been poured in. “ Now you must be quick,” said Winifred excitedly, as Bobby passed the tray first to Mrs. Cope. “ Pleaserete A ata J (Sere PNEN rer ener Me a ee ee ent ae ek bs a oa Sone en ob Ore eee ener at eer ent eee eer aerate 52 Felicia’s Friends take a spoon and put in some of the butternuts, Mrs. Cope, and stir them in, while it hardens. Everybody do the same! ‘There, isn’t that fun? I learned how to do that when I was away visiting.” “ Well,” said Mrs. Cope half an hour later, as she handed her plate to Winifred, “Tve eaten enough sweet stuff to finish me, I expect, but I’m not antici- pating any trouble, and at any rate if I’m laid up I shall have something pleasant to look back to. Do you really want me to take one o’ those strawberry candies home, Martha? I must say I'd like my cousin-in-law to see it when I next go over there.” “Certainly I do,” said Mrs. Harlow. “I want every one of you to take a kind of a show piece home, beside eating another all round. You haven’t made much of any impression on those boxes as ’tis. How much should you say there was in them, Miss Shaw ?” “ That size wooden box holds ten pounds,” said Miss Shaw. “I know, because we’ve ordered it for our so- ciety fairs, where the candy table always makes the most money.” “Dear me,” said Mrs. Harlow, “I hope he didn’t spend more’n he was able, just out of kindness. It’s a good deal to accept,” and she began to look a little troubled. “Now see here,” said Mrs. Cope, “ you serve the road well, and he knows it; and the salaries such as he gets would buy out the most o’ Blackberry Hill andA Hallowe en Frolic 53 leave some over to put inthe bank. Don’t you worry. He wanted to do it, or he wouldn’t have done it.” “T suppose maybe that’s so,” said Mrs. Harlow. “T shall write him to-morrow and thank him and tell him about the party. Mr. Wadleigh says he’s country born and bred, till he was sixteen.” “Of all the Hallowe’en parties I ever went to, this has been the very nicest,” said Miss Shaw as she shook hands with her hostess at parting. “And so ’tis that we ever have, isn’t it, boys?” de- manded Nate Horner. “Here, let’s get outside and give our cheers.” “Three cheers for Mrs. Harlow,” came the first order, and it met with a lusty response. That was followed by “ Three cheers for Mr. Ledyard,” and then Ned Hilliard called for still more. “ Let’s give three cheers for Blackberry Hill and everybody in it!” he cried. “Hurrah ! Hurrah! Hurrah!” cried the boys. As the wagon with Mrs. Cope and Miss Shaw tucked carefully in behind, and Felicia on the front seat with Bobby, started up the hill, the boys raced ahead, still cheering. And some early sleepers turned on their pillows, half-waking, and thought they dreamt of fairy voices calling “ Hurrah! Hurrah ! Hurrah! for Blackberry Hill!”nemoboiarsnarbatrrriaheheteterahatateene ttt Eyer a 4 tye u we rar J CHAPTER VI MR. FOSDICK’S FRIEND «“ WINIFRED, have you noticed anything queer about little Ben Kingman lately ?” asked Felicia one day, a week after the Hallowe’en party. “ Why, he’s looked more scared than usual, I think,” said Winifred carelessly ; “ Miss Shaw says he’s won- derful about history and most other studies for a boy of his age, and I guess he reads all the time and that is what’s making his eyes pop out so. Felicia, have you thought about Thanksgiving ?” “ Not yet,” said Felicia soberly. “ But, Winifred, I mean, have you noticed that at recess and coming to school and going home, Ben is always alone? The other boys don’t have anything to do with him.” “ Well, I can’t help it,” said Winifred impatiently ; “Dye always told you, Felicia, that the boys say he’s a coward. And Nate Horner was down at the station yesterday for some express, and he said Ben had been given a chance to show that he wasn’t a coward, and he wouldn’t! So I don’t see why you bother about him.” “ He looks so white,” said Felicia, “ I keep thinking about him. Supposing he was my brother.”Mr. Fosdick’s Friend 55 “Well, he isn’t,” said Winifred, almost crossly. “If you want to be sorry for somebody, Felicia, why can’t you take me, when I’ve got to go over to Green Corners to-morrow, our only holiday, and have a tooth filled, and it will probably hurt like everything.” “Tam sorry, just as sorry as I can be,” said Felicia penitently, “and I’ll be down at your house with something—you couldn’t guess what—for you to eat when you come home.” “T could, too—peanut cookies,” said Winifred promptly. “Ill think how good they’ll taste all the time the dentist is hammering and digging in my mouth.” That night Felicia went to the post-office with her father. It was bright starlight, and the minister was teaching his little girl to know the constellations, and many of the important stars. She twisted her head this way and that, as they walked, trying to locate her starry acquaintances. Suddenly there was a wonderful flash of gold and scarlet, and across the sky and down behind old Baldy shot a gleaming something that made Felicia catch her breath. : “ Oh, father!” she gasped. ‘“ What was that?” “That was a meteor, dear,” said Mr. Lane. “I’m so glad we were out under the sky to see it, instead of being in the house.” “Oh, soamI!” said Felicia. ‘“ When we get home,Fer ar ener ea Ts eae e Or castes Ld aan eT Ee ee rary J eet etr terrier “0 56 Felicia’s Friends father, will you please explain to me exactly about meteors ? ” “Well now, I’d like to be present at that telling,” came in Mr. Fosdick’s voice from the steps of his store, which they had just reached. “And so would this little man, I reckon,” and he brought into sight a small figure which had been cowering beside him in the darkness. ‘He don’t feel drawn to meteors yet, from not being accustomed to them, I judge. They are kind of scary looking.” “ How do you do, Ben?” said Felicia, putting out a cordial little hand to the boy after it had been well shaken by Mr. Fosdick. “ Why, I’ve never seen you at the post-office before.” “No,” said the boy in his high childish voice, “I don’t like to come; it’s so far, and our road is 80 lonely ; but my aunt said I must come to-night. She thought there might be a paper for her.” “She didn’t think anything o’ the sort,” said Mr. Fosdick to the minister while the boy listened to Felicia. “I know that Kingman woman; she’s got wind o’ the talk about Ben’s being timid, and she’s go- ing to try it out of him, one way and another. I believe I used to think that road down by the Hollow was kind of lonesome,” he said in a louder tone; “when you go back, Ben, I’m going to stretch my legs a mite and see if it looks as it used to when I was about your age, and the boys stumped me to spend a night in the old Corey place.”Mr. Fosdick’s Friend 57 “Was it haunted then? I mean did they say it was?” asked the boy, turning a startled face up to the storekeeper. “Why, yes,” said Mr. Fosdick, “that was the talk. You see it’s a good thirty years since the Coreys left it, left it sudden, and nobody ever knew why— moved in the night; they were queer folks; owed everybody right and left, which was why they went away so quietly, I reckon, though there’s all kinds of stories afloat. But they owned the house, and it was all leaky and out o’ repair when they left it. No- body’s ever lived there since. It’s just tumbled to pieces more and more every year.” “What happened when you stayed there ?” asked Ben, his little, sharp-featured face still upturned to the storekeeper. “Did you hear any strange noises ? ” “Lots of ’em,” said Mr. Fosdick cheerfully. “’Most any noise sounds strange in the dead o’ the night to a boy that’s used to sleeping a good nine hours at a stretch. There was the wind in the trees and bushes, and rats in the walls, and swallows in the chimney, and a bat or two up-attic, blundering round ; you’ve got to expect all such sounds in an old house—but there wasn’t a haunted sound among ’em, Ben, not one.” Just then there was a rattling of wheels, and the mail and express wagon came up the last rise of the hill at a brisk pace. Express packages for thosechute Soe: \heesbennhiitehet nneedmenmnbetaaadegebetnlytnletehehesanekenme tn TIPE” “Uw « nu | Rte ree lata abn secs uahede alate din iatatice es or, hk a me et eeene eee ee 58 Felicia’s Frienas who lived in the centre village were deposited at the post-office, while the Tophams and others who lived on outlying farms called for their express at the station when notified. “There goes Lyddy Cope’s box o’ city groceries,” said Mr. Fosdick. ‘ll have to hitch up to-morrow morning and carry it down to her, while that boy of mine tends store a spell. He’s the fourth one I’ve had in a year; poor tools, all of ’em. He said to me yesterday ‘Down to Nashua where I worked before I came here, if a woman sent off to the city for a lot of groceries, the man I worked for wouldn’t have her for a customer no more.’ “¢Ts that so?’ I said. ‘ Well, I’m not the man you worked for down to Nashua; Pm the man you aren’t overworking yourself for, in Blackberry Hill!’ I have to sit right down on that boy about once in so often.” ‘““Mrs. Cope is a real good customer, most times, isn’t she?” asked Felicia. “She always says you have the best in your line, Mr. Fosdick.” “Certain she is,” said the storekeeper heartily. “She came in with a list a week ago and read it out to me, little extrys she wanted, part for Thanksgiving and part on account of the teacher. We checked the list off, one by one. “‘Have you got sugared figs?’ she asked me. ‘Never heard of em, marm,’ I said. ‘How about pre- served ginger? and English walnut meats?’ she in-Mr. Fosdick’s Friend 59 quired. ‘Look here, Lyddy,’ said I, ‘you’ve copied those things out o’ that city catalogue they sent you last month ; you know I haven’t got oneof’em. You just send for anything you want and there won’t be any hard feelings ; I’ll sell you molasses and vinegar and all the solids same as ever, and if you want to get any fancy crackers, don’t you hesitate a minute.’ ” “TI don’t believe there are any nicer crackers in the world than your animal ones,” said Felicia loy- ally. “They are prime, that’s a fact,” said Mr. Fosdick. “T can say it, as I don’t make ’em. Now, Ben, I reckon the mail must be about distributed ; suppos- ing you step in and see if that paper’s come for your aunt. I suspect they’ve stumped him to sleep in that old Corey place the night before Thanksgiving,” said Mr. Fosdick hastily when the boy had stepped inside the post-office as he was bidden. “ I’m going to find out as we walk along. What do you think, Felicia ? ” “Pm afraid that is it,’ said the little girl. “ How can they be so unkind? And they’ll all have fun Thanksgiving, and he says his aunt doesn’t make any difference for holidays.” “They don’t see how he can be scared, that’s all,” said Mr. Fosdick. ‘Look out, here he comes back. Anything for your aunt, Ben ¢ Me “No, sir,” said the boy soberly. “ But here’s your paper, Mr. Fosdick, and one for the minister and aaii ae = y : ater] ae SO ee nn en on Mimens a rn cni me na SARE aa rw Reuer ery anrrener er rre tate tect ert het ee ma ot eh el SP hk be oa ot 2 pee 7 - See eee eee eee a PERI ErR Aue SPEER Te tere yetesetegeins ae 60 Felicia’s Friends letter for Felicia. They handed them all out to me, because they saw I was with you.” “Thank you,” said Mr. Lane,as he took his paper, and Felicia hugged her letter with a little cry of delight. “Tt’s from mother,” she said. ‘“O father, let’s hurry home and read it.” “Ben and I must be stepping along, too,” said Mr. Fosdick, “for we have quite a piece to go, and then I have to come back, and read what the nations o’ the earth are up to before I can sleep easy. So good- night.” The minister and his little girl started down the hill, hand in hand, and Mr. Fosdick turned to Ben. ‘“What’s the reason you and I couldn’t take hold o’ hands ?” he inquired, smiling down at the boy through the darkness. ‘ Want to try it, and see how it feels ?” “Yes, sir,” piped little Ben. “I’d like to, first-rate.” “Here goes then,” said the storekeeper, and Ben’s hand was taken in a warm grasp, as Mr. Fosdick turned, and with a long, swinging stride, started to- ward the boy’s home, down the lonely Hollow Road. As they neared the old Corey place, Mr. Fosdick felt Ben’s thin fingers tighten their clasp on his hand. His feet lagged, and at last he stopped. “Lonesome kind of a place, isn’t it?” he said thoughtfully. “ Let’s go up a little nearer.” He kept a tight clasp of Ben’s hand as they went up the slope to the old door-stone. There were no bushes near the house; one old tree which had beenMr. Fosdick’s Friend 61 struck and torn by many fierce winds guarded it half- way up the slope; save for that sentinel, it stood alone with sagging blinds and broken windows. “ Nothing to see inside,” said Mr. Fosdick, “so let’s turn our backs on it and see what’s over there, village way. Why, look here, Ben, doesn’t it appear to you that’s the post-office ?” “ Yes, sir, tis,” said the boy. ‘“ That’s the post-office lamp. You can’t see it from down on the road.” “Why, it looks real cheerful,” said Mr. Fosdick, “now, don’t it, Ben? And if you can see the post- office, why you could see my lamp that I light up- stairs in my sitting-room, plain as day, now couldn’t you?” ““T s’pose you could,” said Ben. “Yes, sir, course you could.” “*T would be real company for anybody that lived here, sort of removed from the village, to see that light o’ mine, now wouldn’t it?” said Mr. Fosdick. “Or if any boy was to be stumped to spend the night here, same as I was, ’twould be company for him. But I s’pose the boys have all taken their turn at it long before this.” “ All but me,” said Ben, and Mr. Fosdick knew that he was trying hard to make his voice sound brave. “I think—lI think I shall do it the night be- fore Thanksgiving, Mr. Fosdick. My aunt thinks I'd better.” “ Does she?” said Mr. Fosdick dryly. ‘ Well then,er ay cat pene bE nad ee eh ok Seb Be a LUD me Peano Orit 62 Felicia’s Friends Ben, I guess it’s settled. I'll tell you what: DPve got a lot of accounts to straighten up the night before Thanksgiving, and I shall ’most likely sit up till near daylight. I’ve done it before now. And if you’re here, you take a couple o’ good long candles such as I’ve got in stock, and we’ll signal back and forth to each other once in a while, just for company. Unless you get too sleepy, and if you do, never mind me, just drop off. What do you say ?” “OQ my! I’d like it the best of anything, Mr. Fos- dick!” cried Ben. “That's settled, then, too,” said Mr. Fosdick, “and no need to tell folks and set tongues wagging, so far as I see.” “No, sir,’ said Ben, ‘except -’ he hesitated “except I’d just as lief Felicia Lane would know, be- cause she wouldn’t make fun.” “So she wouldn’t,” assented the storekeeper warmly. ‘“She’s a proper sweet little girl, Felicia is. And now we'd better be walking on; wr maybe I won’t go any farther.” “Pll run the rest of the way,” said ken, “and thank you very much, Mr. Fosdick.” “No cause for gratitude between friends such as you and I are getting to be,” said the storekeeper. “You show me how fast you can run.” And Ben showed him, while Mr. Fosdick watched till the little figure vanished around a bend in the road.Mr. Fosdick’s Friend 63 “ He'll be there in a minute,” said the storekeeper, as he turned to walk slowly back to the village. “ And he’s going to have a Thanksgiving this year, or my name isn’t Henry Fosdick !”> cereereer ree Titre wt tty Wye eer Tt St ee a oe rat Rp ecko he oa Re > a ca Ba esha ee DD : ee sbrierethehaeaeieeetaeeqianns Srisiviotserreveearerete a CHAPTER VII PLANS FOR THANKSGIVING THE next morning Felicia woke to find that a light snow had fallen while she slept, and the flakes were still in the air, wandering aimlessly about, lodging here and there, on door-sill or window ledge. “Look out, Martin, and see how lovely and white the world is,” said Felicia as she washed the breakfast dishes, with the parrot close at hand. “It won’t last long, for the sun is coming out bright, but isn’t it beautiful ? ” Martin was absorbed in smoothing his feathers, but the second time Felicia spoke he obligingly answered. “What is all this?” he inquired. ‘ Good-morning. What is all this ?” “Oh, Martin, you aren’t a very satisfying one to talk _ to about weather,” laughed Felicia, standing on tiptoe to look far along the road, over the big cage; “ but you do the best youcan. There’s Mrs. Cope ringing her bell! She must want something very particularly, Martin.” She flew to the door and opening it, waved a square ef turkey red cotton over her head. Mrs. Cope, stand- 64Plans for Thanksgiving 65 ing in her kitchen doorway, gave her bell a final shrill tinkle, and went into the house. “That’s my signal for saying, ‘I’m busy, but Dll be over in just a few minutes,’ you know, Martin,” said Felicia. “I don’t remember whether I’ve told you before; we only arranged it last week when Mrs. Cope said she felt in her bones that the cold weather would soon be upon us, and then she’d have to stay housed most of the time and let me do the running.” “Very well,” said Martin cheerfully. “The best of luck. Very well.” When Felicia ran with rosy cheeks into Mrs. Cope’s spotless kitchen she found her neighbor busily plying a hammer, to pry open the big express box which had arrived the night before. ‘“‘Good-morning, Felicia,” she said briskly. “ Will you take that list on the table, and the pencil beside it, and check off the packages as I take them out of the box? If anything has been left out I shall want to send word at once.” “ Yes’m,” said Felicia, “ I’d love to. How nice the names are; seems as if they almost smelled and tasted, they sound so good.” “I can’t go so far as that,” said Mrs. Cope, “ for I was never blessed with as much imagination as some. Here’s one thing that does smell,” and she held a package close to Felicia’s little nose. “That's a kind of ginger that has to be used in an old Thanksgiving66 Felicia’s Friends recipe; it’s yellower than the common sort, and stronger flavor.” “Tt’s perfectly de-licious,” said Felicia, and she was urged to smell various other packages, all more or less tantalizing, as the box was unpacked. “Pm not going to have the sort of Thanksgiving I expected,” said Mrs. Cope, when the list was finished and it was found that nothing had been omitted. “I expected to have my cousin and her husband, so I couldn’t ask other company, for my cousin is one that has to be very quiet. But I got a letter last night saying she isn’t able to come. And Miss Shaw got a letter from her brother saying he had been invited to go to New York for the week with the principal of the academy, and she wants him to take the op- portunity ; and she had another letter from her aunt’s folks saying one of the twins has a kind of a trouble- some cough, and they’re going south, all hands, next week to stay till after Christmas.” “Then she'll be here with you,” said Felicia joy- fully. “And ——” she hesitated. “And I want you and your father to come right over here, and make up the party,” continued Mrs. Cope. “I know your father’s plan—he spoke of it to me—to find who was left out (if any) and have them come to the parsonage with you, and Loreena Parks to help you out. But Loreena’ll be welcome here, and near as I can make out everybody else is pro- vided for excepting Henry Fosdick, and I passed thePlans for Thanksgiving 67 invitation on to him when he brought the express this morning—and he accepted—and he’s going to bring a friend, what’s more.” “He is!” cried Felicia. “ Anybody I know, Mrs. Cope ?” “Yes, you know him, better than most,” said her neighbor. “I’m not much acquainted with him, my- self, yet. It’s little Ben Kingman. S’h! He isn’t to know a word about it till Thanksgiving Day.” “Oh, Oh!” and Felicia clasped her hands around Mrs. Cope’s arm. “ Will his aunt let him come?” “Let him come? I reckon she will,” and Mrs. Cope set her lips firmly. “ As long as she gives out word that she isn’t going to make a mite of difference for the day, she can’t raise any objections to the plan Henry Fosdick’s laid out. He’s intending to hire Ben of her, for the day. She’ll do most anything, short of work that would clap her into jail, for money. There won’t be a mite of trouble that way.” “ Oh, I do think it is perfectly splendid,” said Felicia, “and father will, too. Won’t we have the very best time ?” “We will,” said Mrs. Cope, “and I don’t believe but what Mrs. Harlow and Winifred can come up in the evening; that new expressman’s real accom- modating, taking charge when train time’s past. He can answer a telegram well as anybody, take it down, I mean ; and as Mrs. Harlow tells me there have beenati J Ree err et er nan art Cate Leech Sane ne a _ Perret teeter cetera ee een cea a Per’ om " : ; ernie 7 Tee otnlstemtetetnieelegadin beheld bi Rale Md Sabie Serio heditanaletnce owe -stesse 68 Felicia’s Friends only five telegrams sent in the evening in ten years, he won’t be driven! Says he likes to sit in their sitting-room and read his paper. So I’m pretty sure the Harlows will be free to come. I sounded the expressman once and I guess the truth of it is, it gets pretty noisy in that little house where he boards, what with four small children, come night, when they’re all full of pranks. Mrs. Harlow has no need to feel beholden.” There were some plans to be talked over, and three or four recipes were read to Felicia, the one for the Thanksgiving ginger cake among them, and the little girl was so interested that only the old clock, solemnly striking ten, brought her back to every-day affairs. Then she ran home, flushed and happy, to make an apple pie with crimped edges for her father. and tell Martin the good news. Mrs. Cope had said that not even Winifred must be told of the treat in store for little Ben, for Mr. Fosdick had wished it to be kept a secret from all save Felicia and her father. It seemed as if it were lying close behind Felicia’s lips all the time; she was so afraid it might slip out some day. “But I haven’t told anybody, not even Winifred— not one word, Martin,” said Felicia to the parrot at last ; “and to-morrow is the day before Thanksgiving, and then I’ll be safe. You have been a great comfort to me, Martin, because I could talk to you about it every day.”Plans for Thanksgiving 69 “Very well,” said Martin, as Felicia gave him her finger to peck. “Martin is a gentleman. Very well.” That night little Ben Kingman tossed in his sleep, and dreamed strange dreams; but the next morning, as Felicia and Winifred turned into the school path, little Ben was standing, white but determined, in the centre of the group of bigger boys. “T wanted to tell you,” the high, childish voice was saying, “that I’m going to stay in the old Corey place to-night. Then after that you won’t be able to say I’m a coward, will you?” and he looked up at big Nate Horner. “Good for you,” said Nate carelessly. “Is your aunt making you do it, or have you got over being afraid, bubby ? ” “She wanted me to do it, but I’m doing it all my- self,” said Ben. ‘ Will they call mea coward any more, Nate?” “No, they won’t,” said Nate shortly. “Did you want to speak to me, Winifred?” for Winifred had lagged behind Felicia and was now beckoning to him from the doorway. “Yes, I did,” said Winifred, and she whispered fiercely in Nate’s ear, brought on a level with her lips by her position on the steps. “ What?” asked Nate, as the boys filed past, nudg- ing each other, and he and Winifred were left alone. “Your hair tickled me, so I didn’t half hear.”PTET T rrr oer alent A i ve 70 Felicia’s Friends “JT said,” whispered Winifred, brushing away the troublesome lock of hair, “ that Felicia’s worrying about Ben Kingman because he’s the smallest one in school, though he isn’t the youngest, and his aunt isn’t kind to him, and he isn’t very strong. And I don’t care much about it, but on Felicia’s account, if you let him get scared in that old Corey place, Nate Horner, ’ll never speak to one of you boys again! So there!” and pushing him away with the last word, Winifred turned and marched into the schoolhouse. “So you find some way to prevent it,” she called over her shoulder, as she entered the left-hand door, and closed it sharply behind her. “Well,” said big Nate. “Well, if girls aren’t the queerest of anything, then I don’t know what is!”CHAPTER VIII THE OLD COREY PLACE THAT afternoon the old Corey place had more vis- itors than had ever crossed its threshold since the day of its desertion. It was strange, too, that each visitor came alone and with an air of secrecy, and hurried away with all speed. Last of all, after dusk, came big Nate Horner, with a bundle under hisarm. He opened the old door, fastened now by a rusty hook on the out- side, thrust his bundle in the house, hooked the door again, and went whistling back to the village, his hands in his pockets. The wind rose and slammed the blinds and rattled the windows, but there was no more sound of foot- steps until the nine o’clock bell rang out solemnly over the village from the church tower; then two figures approached the old Corey place, coming from opposite directions, and meeting at the foot of the slope which led up to the house. One was tall, thin and erect, and the other was that of a small, breathless boy. “ Well, I declare, Ben, if this isn’t a good meeting,” said Mr. Fosdick. ‘It came over me to-night how I stayed here once, as I’ve told you, and thoug’ I didn’t 71Beep re ee er ee es het Rint bees mpeipepeien eerie: PERE Peni ee 72 Felicia’s Friends know just what time you'd get along, I thought I'd come and have a look at the old place, and pass a howdy to you in case you hadn’t gone in.” “ Oh, thank you,” said little Ben, “ but—but you mustn’t stay, please, Mr. Fosdick, for you know it wouldn’t count then. I told the boys I’d stay alone.” “Land, I hadn’t any notion of staying,” said Mr. Fosdick easily. ‘ You wouldn’t have any use for me, brave as you're feeling to-night. Got your candles with you?” “Yes, sir,” said Ben, “and a tin cup to put them in, for my aunt said she wasn’t—she said she didn’t want me to take my pewter candlestick.” “ Pewter is worth more than it used to be, they tell me,” said Mr. Fosdick gravely. “ Well, when it begins to seem kind of dark to you, you light up with one oy those safety matches I gave you, and I may happen to be looking out and signal to you, same as we spoke of doing. Now I'll unhook the door, and you go in and slip that old button on the inside, and then come to that airiest pane o’ glass, and we'll say good-night. There’s an old chair right near the window, I happen to know.” A moment later Ben spoke to his friend through the broken window. “There’s a big blanket on this chair,” he said excitedly, “and a paper pinned to it. When I light up first time, Mr. Fosdick, I shall read it. And I think there are some other things that some- body’s put here, for my foot hit a bundle, and I canThe Old Corey Place 73 just see another one. It isn’t so very dark in here, Mr. Fosdick.” “Good,” said his friend ; “ that’s the way for a boy to talk. You bear in mind, Ben, that it isn’t just staying in this old house where nothing can hurt you that’s the point; it’s the doing something that you feel kind of—of uneasy, we’ll say, about, and sticking it out—that’s the point, same as I’ve told you before. Now good-night to you.” “ Good-night,” said little Ben cheerfully. “ And— and don’t you sit up on my account, Mr. Fosdick,” he added, to which the storekeeper made no reply save by waving his hat, as he turned away, walked down the slope and along the road till he disappeared from the view of the small watcher at the broken window- pane. “There!” said Ben, “he’s gone! My! how big my voice sounds in this house. Ill pull the chair up close to the window and look out, I guess. The stars are pretty good company, and there’s the post-office lamp winking across the meadows. This isn’t the lone- somest place that ever was. I s’pose there are lots of lonesomer places.” He drew the chair close to the window, wrapped himself in the warm blanket, carefully ynpinning the paper, and seated himself to look out across the mead- ows and up to the friendly stars. It was fifteen min- utes or more before the light appeared in Mr. Fosdick’s window, for he had not hurried home.74 Felicia’s Friends “T’ll light one of the candles by and by, and see what’s written on this paper, and what else there 1s here,” said little Ben to himself. “ My! that floor creaks just as if somebody was walking on it! But that’s what Mr. Fosdick said it would do. And that queer shrieking noise, that’s the wind caught in a corner somewhere. Pooh! there isn’t anything to be afraid of! Mr. Fosdick said to buckle my imagina- tion right down, and say the multiplication table if I felt the old place was getting the best of me.” He sat with his sharp little chin resting on his hollowed hands, and looked steadily out of doors, with never a glance behind him, even when a rat scurrying across the ceiling dislodged some loose plastering which came rattling down to the floor. “ Pooh! that’s nothing!” said little Ben, “ only rats, same as anywhere.” The blanket was thick and warm, and he drew it closer to feel its comfort. After a while his head swayed drowsily; the next scurrying rat failed to rouse him; still leaning on the crumbling old window sill, his chin propped in his hands and his feet tucked on the round of the chair, little Ben went sound asleep. He was wakened by a strange noise, quite unlike anything he had ever heard before or which Mr. Fosdick had described to him. It seemed to come from the road, but the boy, straining his eyes through the darkness, could see nothing unusual. “It sounds like somebody groaning,” said Ben,The Old Corey Place 75 “but I ean’t see anybody or anything. Oh, what's that queer light coming through the trees? The groaning is out there in the road; it’s pretty near here, and it’s getting louder! There, I believe I'll light up.” He had put one of the candles in the tin cup on the window sill, and now, unwrapping himself from the blanket, he drew the box of safety matches from his pocket and lighted the candle. As he did so his eye fell first on the piece of paper which had been pinned to the wrapper, and which he had carefully smoothed out, and put under the cup. “You please put this on, so you won't catch cold,” he read. “‘ And when it’s morning you'll be glad, same as I was in the thunder-storm, and you won’t ever be so scared again. “¢ Yours truly, “a tn eke oats os na 120 Felicia’s Friends jacket when the rehearsal was over, “ did you know youd got the kind of a father that makes a boy feel good-natured, and as if he wasn’t the very clumsiest ever made?” “ Yes,” said Felicia—* it’s because he likes boys so much. He thinks you have the making of a fine man in you, Nate. Mrs. Cope told me he said so.” “Pd like to have heard what she said,” and Nate grinned at the thought, while Felicia’s lips twitched. “She’s a lot pleasanter than she used to be, but I heard her tell my mother one day last week, that ‘it did seem most a pity for a boy to be so big he could go into a room and tip over a footstool and a hanging lamp at the same minute. That’s what I did when I went there on an errand; but anyway her lamp wasn’t strung up as high as usual, and her ceilings are lower than some.” “Yes, they are,” said Felicia comfortingly. “I’m glad Mrs. Cope wasn’t here when father told about toeing in,” she whispered. “ She’s a very good friend of ours, but I don’t believe she’d think it was Just right for a minister to toe in, when he was singing. I’m going to ask father to bewery particular to stand behind the pulpit when he sings, so his feet won't show.” “ She’d think anything your father does would be all right,” said Nate. ‘“ Mother says she hasn’t heard Mrs. Cope speak of old Dr. Jarvis for more than a month.”The First Rehearsal 121 “The next rehearsal will be at Mrs. Cope’s house on Saturday night at seven,’ Mr. Lane announced as the carolers went out of the church, and he locked the door. “Yes, sir,” shouted the boys, and then they sepa- rated, hurrying off to their respective homes. Every one was humming, more or less correctly, some one of the tunes. The words were to be committed to memory as soon as possible. “Listen,” said Mr. Lane when they had reached the parsonage gate, and he and Miss Shaw and Felicia stood for a moment. Three or four boys’ voices were singing, on the road to little Ben Kingman’s home. The night was so still the words came clearly ; it was the last carol they had practiced and so freshest in their minds : ‘ God rest you merry, gentlemen, Let nothing you dismay.”’ “They’re singing that while Ben runs on ahead, the Hilliard boys are,” said Felicia. ‘“They’re just beyond the corner where their house 19:7 The song died away, and then there came the sound of a faint “ Halloo!” answered by a shrill whistle. “ That’s little Ted Hilliard answering Ben,” said Felicia; “they’re great friends since Ben’s adventure in the old Corey place—and anybody that little Ted likes, the rest of the Hilliards take right into their nearts, Mrs. Topham says.”ee nee eae ae “eg 122 Felicia’s Friends “Listen again,” said Mr. Lane. “Bobby is just starting from the Markhams’, down the hill with Winifred. “ Hear his sleigh-bells, and they are both singing.” “* While shepherds watch’d their flocks by night,’ ” sang Bobby, joyfully, his fresh, beautiful voice rising above the sound of the sleigh-bells. “That's a great gift—a voice like that—for a young country lad,” said Mr. Lane. “A great gift.” Felicia was listening with parted lips. “Oh, yes,” she said, “it’s beautiful, father. But I was listening to Winifred, too. She got the alto al- most exactly right, father.”CHAPTER XIV THE NEW PIANO THE next day at recess all her pupils gathered around Miss Shaw, asking questions about the Toy Symphony, and the parts they were to play. “There is only one instrument we cannot have,” said Miss Shaw, “that is the violin. It adds a great deal to the music, but as nobody here has ever heard the Symphony before, the violin will not be missed. And with Miss Markham to play the piano—(for Pm sure she’d enjoy it) and all the trumpets and clappers and horns and bells and other things, we shall make plenty of sound at any rate.” “There’s a little girl, not much older than I am, who’s playing the violin at concerts in the city,” said Felicia eagerly. ‘“Father’s read about her in the paper. Maybe she’d like to come and play with us if she knew about it—just for fun. She’s Italian.” “Tm afraid not, dear,” said Miss Shaw, smiling at Felicia. “A little girl like Carina Lotti, of whom you speak, earns a great deal of money when she plays, and her manager would not allow her to come up into the country to play for nothing but fun.” “Oh,” said Felicia blankly, “I didn’t know it was 123124 Felicia’s Friends like that. Don’t you suppose she ever plays just for in 27 “Not often,” and Miss Shaw shook her head. “She is a hard-working little professional, from what I hear of her.” “Oh,” said Felicia again. “I wonder what she'll do Christmas, poor little thing. Her picture in the paper looked beautiful, though, and she had a long, long necklace on, over a real party dress. Where do you suppose her father and mother are?” “Her father died, and her mother has married again, I read,” said Miss Shaw. “Her manager is some distant relative, I believe.” When recess was over, and lessons had begun again, Felicia’s mind was still on the little girl who played the violin so wonderfully. When Miss Shaw asked her, in the geography lesson, to name the capital of France, Felicia said dreamily, “Carina Lotti.” “You must not let the Toy Symphony interfere with lessons, any of you,” said Miss Shaw when the school had stopped laughing at Felicia’s answer, “or the school committee will find fault with me.” “Pd like to see them!” shouted N ate, regardless of discipline, and all the others applauded his sentiment, after which quiet was restored and the lessons of the day went on. Just before it was time for school to close, Bobby Simpson came to the door, and delivered a yellow slip into Miss Shaw’s hands. Every one knew what thatThe New Piano 125 meant—it was the freight agent’s notification that the piano had arrived. Bobby nodded gravely to his friends as Miss Shaw read the notice. “Mr. Topham’s at the parsonage,” said Bobby, “and he told me to tell you if you could come down to the station when school’s out, and bring some of the boys, we could all help hoist that piano on to our wagon, and get it into Mrs. Cope’s parlor, if you’d superintend.” Miss Shaw looked at the little watch she wore on her wrist in a leather band. “ School will close in ten minutes,” she said. “ Will you please tell Mr. Topham I’ll go directly to the station, and thank him very much. Thank you, too, Bobby.” “ You’re welcome as can be,” said Bobby. “I wish I was sitting at one o’ those desks,” he said, his clear eyes resting on Ned Hilliard’s round face with a wist- ful expression. “T wish you were, too,” said Miss Shaw. “ But you’ll make up for lost time when you begin, I’m sure.” “Tl try,” said Bobby, as he turned away. “T think we will have some mental arithmetic for the last few minutes, so you may close your desks and give attention,” said Miss Shaw, who could see plainly that there was little use in expecting her pupils to study with excitement so close at hand. ‘“ Four, mul- tiply by nine, divide by six, add two, multiply by three, subtract three, divide by seven, add two, multi ply by four, divide by five~ what is the answer ?”Se ene ae ees oy reer eee eee Sarre Sod ooh oO Peretti nee 126 Felicia’s Friends “Four,” called half a dozen voices, Winifred’s loudest ofall. This was an exercise in which even the youngest pupil could join, when Miss Shaw spoke slowly ; to- day she had been too brisk for the younger mathema- ticlans as well as Felicia, who was way back at “di- vide by six” when the request for an answer came. “T’ll be a little slower this time,” said Miss Shaw and in consequence she had a more general response, although Felicia, with very pink cheeks, was again left behind. “Never you mind, Felicia,” said Winifred when, the mental gymnastics over, school was dismissed ; “you just think of those rye drop cakes you made this morn- ing and let me taste for luncheon. They’re better than any arithmetic that was ever written ! ” “Tt’s lovely of you to say so,” Felicia told her. “Some way, when anybody says ‘four multiply by three,’ or even ‘five add six,’ it’s just as if ’'d never heard of such a thing in all my life before! ” It was a merry procession that hurried down the main road of Blackberry Hill and around the corner to the station; not an orderly procession, for the smaller children ran and danced ahead of Miss Shaw and her body-guard, Nate Horner, Donald French and Ned Hilliard. Ben Kingman, with two of the little Hilliards, was not to be kept back, even by the thought that he might have a scolding when he reached home. “For I’ve never seen a real piano,” said Ben, “ ’cause [’ve never been in Mrs. Markham’s house.”iV aac Jo SePrHine BRUCE EI (CANN MIT, INSUF, JPLINO” reapers WY es eoSeeaee Seer Ey eee ree wre ron iH iH 5 i 7 b 2 5 H i! if i f ee eee tr re acre eee ee: aThe New Piano 127 “ Don’t you fret, young man,” said Mr. Fosdick, who had joined the procession in a casual way, “ I’ve got to take a walk along the road when this business is concluded, to kind of calm my nerves, and I'll step down with you and pay my respects to your aunt.” Miss Shaw flashed a smile at him over her shoulder ; it was well understood by this time that Mr. Fosdick had constituted himself guardian of little Ben, who was having a much easier and pleasanter life in consequence. When they reached the station Mrs. Harlow stepped out from her door with a word of greeting. “There’s quite a company gathered here already,” she said gaily. “I’ve done more visiting in the last half-hour than any time before in a year. See, there’s the box out at the end of the platform. Quite a sight, I call it.” The tall, long box was almost hidden by the people who pressed about it, examining the boards, and gaz- ing at the great black letters, painted on its side. “Now we'll back up close as we can, Miss Shaw,” said Mr. Topham, “and let down the tail-board and then all hoist together. Let’s see, how many of usare there, that can lift on it? Ten. Well, we ought to be able to manage that without much trouble.” — “T can see the piano through a crack,” whispered Ben to Felicia. “See, it’s black and shiny. Look, Winifred.” The little girls applied their eyes to the crack, and nodded solemnly.Cee ne week wnt AR ae pete ig) ree eee ea Par nere ene Preece ree ot ohms deme pe pepe yrqrepete t= tiger ees pyre ee et 128 Felicia’s Friends “Black and shiny,” Winifred repeated. “ Mother, may I go back up to Mrs. Cope’s and see them unpack it?” “No, you mayn’t,” said Mrs. Harlow cheerfully. “Poor Mrs. Cope won’t want a dozen or so children tracking into her house to-day; you can wait till to- morrow night. Watch now, and see them lift it.” There was a “ One—two—three—steady now!” from Mr. Topham, and almost as if it had been a feather- weight, the big case was lifted from the platform and slid carefully into the Topham wagon, while three small boys stood at the head of the sober old horse, who scarcely moved his ears as the box was set in place. “Now we'll drive slow,” said Mr. Topham, “and those that are prepared to help lift it out will have plenty of time to walk up the hill to Mrs. Cope’s.” “Qh, dear, you’ll see it all before I do, Felicia,” said Winifred regretfully. “I suppose you'll probably go in to-night and hear Miss Shaw play.” Felicia hesitated; she had thought of this possibil- ity herself, but the sight of Winifred’s disappointment changed her mind. “No, I won’t,” she said quickly. ‘ll wait for you, Winifred, so we'll see it together the first time, to- morrow night; truly I will, because you’re my inti- mate friend, and I’d rather.” So it happened that when Felicia, walking up the hill with Miss Shaw, reached the parsonage gate, she stopped.The New Piano 129 “Come right over with me, Felicia,” said Miss Shaw. “You know Mrs. Cope never minds you. What, don’t you want to see the piano come out of its case ?” Felicia shook her head, though her eyes were wist- ful. “Pd rather wait till to-morrow night, so Winifred and I can see it together,” she said, flushing under Miss Shaw’s puzzled gaze. “You see—you see, it’s a great thing for Winifred, Miss Shaw.” “I understand,” and the young teacher took Felicia’s chin in her hand and kissed the eager little face. “It will be all the better to-morrow night. You and Winifred might come a few minutes earlier than the others, if you like.” “Oh, we will!” cried Felicia. “Good-bye, Miss Shaw, and thank you ever and ever so much!”Fe ae ah kanes F . re I CHAPTER XV STRANGERS AT BLACKBERRY HILL Amone the people who had been at Blackberry Fill station there were several who stayed for a little visit with Mrs. Harlow after the piano had been car- ried off; one of them was Mrs. Topham. “T knew this enterprise would take some time,” she said to her hostess when every one else had departed, “and as I said to James Topham, ‘I will have a nice talk with Mrs. Harlow, such as I haven’t enjoyed for a good long while.’ ”’ “Tm pleased enough to have you here,” said Mrs. Harlow cordially. ‘ We'll make ourselves comfortable and have a real good visit, soon as the down train has gone by. I’ve a package to give Mr. Wadleigh, and there’s a little express I promised the agent Id see to; he accommodates me, and I try to do the same by him. There’s the whistle now. You stir up the fire a bit whilst I’m gone, if it needs it.” Mrs. Topham gave a hurried glance at the fire, and then stepped to the window. Her life on the farm was so quiet that the station seemed a most exciting place to her. “ There’s Mr. Wadleigh getting off,” she said to her- self, pressing close to the window, “and—why, my 130Strangers at Blackberry Hill 121 stars! he’s carrying a woman—looks as if she’d fainted! and there’s a man, too, looks scared to death! Mis’ Harlow’s going to bring ’em in here, I do believe. Yes. Here, let me get out my ammonia bottle, and fix the couch.” With quick, capable hands she arranged the pillows on the old couch, and unfolded the afghan which lay across the foot; when the little group entered the room, it was she who put the poor fainting traveler in the best position, for Mrs. Topham was a born nurse. “You hold this to her nose,” she said quietly, hand- ing Winifred the little bottle of aromatic ammonia she had drawn from the belt bag in which she always carried it; “there, I’ve loosened her clothes a mite, and she isn’t going to faint quite away. Don’t you try to say a thing,” she told the woman in a soothing tone; “ you’re among friends and it’s all right. See, there’s your husband close byee The black eyes stared up from the white face, to which a hint of color had come back ; the woman’s lips murmured something, but Mrs. Topham could not understand it. “She no spik Eenglish,” said the man, looking anx- lously at Mrs. Topham. “TI no spik her ver’ good.” “Well, never you mind,” said Mrs. Topham, smiling at him with that friendliness which always won in- stant trust. “Folks don’t need much language when they’re sick and faint.” “Good,” said the man gratefully ; “ you ver’ good.”oh arnt be ber pe mes nme — rn etter tt od cal nae fF Selena eee ere eer eee erer erent 132 Felicia’s Friends “No such a thing,” said Mrs. Topham. « Just what anybody would do. You sit down over in that chair, and get your breath; you don’t need to be scared any more; she’s coming around all right, and here’s Mis’ Harlow back, to tell you you’re welcome.” The man, who had a small, thin face with a shock of dark hair and bright blue eyes, evidently did not understand all that was said to him, but he took the chair Mrs. Topham indicated, and looked anxiously at Mrs. Harlow who had just come back from a hur- vied talk with Mr. Wadleigh before the train started on. “Fe says he doesn’t know who they are,” she said in a low tone to Mrs. Topham. “Says they got on the train up at Craytonville ; a man landed ’em from his sleigh ; said he’d picked ’em up walking from some- where, he couldn’t make out where; the man didn’t know who they were, but he gathered they lived on a farm—one o’ those abandoned places the foreigners have bought—and somebody’d sent ’em tickets to go to the city to see or hear something—he couldn’t make out what, and their horse had got sick, so they'd left him with a neighbor, and walked. And Mr. Wad- leigh said they looked about perished when they got in the car; and as they warmed up, the poor woman got whiter and whiter—and then he saw she was faint- ing away. So he told the man he’d give ’em a stop- over, and he fetched ’em right out to me. Seemed to be the only thing to do.”Strangers at Blackberry Hill 133 The man who had put a worn bag down on the floor beside him, sat twirling his soft hat; in his eyes there was such a look of entreaty that Mrs. Topham left her patient for a moment and stepped close to him. “Now don’t you worry one mite,” she said, taking one of the thin, work-hardened hands and shaking it heartily. “My man, Mr. James Topham, is coming back soon, and we'll take you right along home with us and rest you up for to-day, and you can start on to-morrow. Won’t that be all right for you? See— you stay—with—husband and me—to-night—in warm house—good things to eat—start to-morrow,” she said slowly, emphasizing each word. “Now you tell me if you understand.” “We thank,” said the man brokenly, when after many repetitions and much gesturing he understood. “You ver’ good—ver’ mooch kind.” He went close to his wife and talked rapidly for some time, she occasionally asking a question in a soft, tired voice. At last she turned her big, liquid eyes, full of gratitude, to Mrs. Topham, and tried to sit up ; but with the exertion, her faint color fled again, and Winifred hastily pressed the little bottle close to her nose. “You lie right back,” commanded the two women, and Mrs. Topham added the force of a kindly hand. “It?ll be half an hour before we start,” she said. “But Carina!” cried the man suddenly, and at that134 Felicia’s Friends the woman sat up, and poured forth a flood of excited words of which none of the listeners save her husband could understand one. Winifred, however, had caught the name spoken by the man. “He said ‘Carina, ” she whispered to her mother. «“ That’s the name of the girl that plays the violin ; the little girl who isn’t much older than Felicia and I, the one Felicia wished would come and play with us in the Toy Symphony. Her name’s Carina Lotti.” The last of the breathless words had reached the ears of both the strangers. The woman looked eagerly at Winifred, and the man turned to her, his face alight with joy. “ Mais, you know Carina?” he questioned. “This her mother,” he pointed to the woman on the old couch ; “she make marriage with me; we come meet in Can’da; she Italy, I French. Carina with one oncle ; she send—we go hear play in concert. Now she scare, we do not come; she scare ver’ mooch; you telegraph ?”’ he clutched Winifred’s hand. Here was excitement truly! Winifred endeavored to answer in his own style, thinking it would be more clear to him. “Never see Carina,” she said, “but mother tele- graph. You got address give me? Ad-dress! ad- dress—place where she live? Where you write ? ” “ Oui, oui,” stammered the man, and from his pocket he drew a much-worn pocketbook, from one compart-strangers at Blackberry Hill 135 ment of which he took out a slip of paper and handed it to Winifred. “Care Sig-sig-sig-naw G-a-l-a-t-i,) however you pronounce that,” said Winifred. ‘‘ Music Hall Build- ing ’—that must be her uncle.” “Oncle, oui,” said the man. “But maybe she wouldn’t be there, or her uncle either,” said Mrs. Harlow. “If she was expecting them she might be on her way to the station by this time. What are we going todo? Of course there’s the telephone up at the post-office that could be used, I Suppose, though nobody ever has talked so far, since ‘twas put in. Seems kinds of uncanny to me.” “Oh, mother,” cried Winifred, “let me go! let me go to the parsonage and get Mr. Lane. He’s tele- phoned ’most over the world, I think; at any rate, way, way off! And if he couldn’t think just what to say, Felicia and I could help him.” “ll warrant you could,” said Mrs. Harlow, “or at least you’d think you could. What do you say, Mrs. Topham ?” “Tt really seems as if ’twould be the quickest way,” said Mrs. Topham, and almost before the words were off her tongue, Winifred had flung on coat and hat and was away, still clasping the slip of paper, and her mother and Mrs. Topham were left to explain, as well as they could, the state of affairs to the bewildered foreigners. In less than ten minutes Winifred, panting, dashedaha sete oeksdenehtbenbieabeciranemebsiincadenehettinntahnine keg eRe EOT TET 5 ere 136 Felicia’s Friends in at the kitchen door of the parsonage without even a preliminary knock. Felicia was making biscuit for supper, with Martin on the shelf close at hand. “Oh, hasn’t your father come back from Mrs. Cope’s ?” gasped Winifred. “Isn’t that piano in yet? and there they are, poor things, just about distracted, and he’s the only one who can do it.” “Winifred!” and Felicia laid a floury hand on her friend’s arm. ‘What is the matter? Please tell me, quick !” With many gasps Winifred told her, and just as she finished the door opened and in came the minister. “ The piano is in place, and it is a beautiful little in strument,” he said, before he noticed the guest—then, “Why, Winifred, what’s the trouble ?” he asked quickly, and together the two children told the story. “ We'll go at once,” said Mr. Lane. “ Yes, you too, Felicia,” he added at the sight of the wistful face. “ Of course you must come and hear the first long-dis- tance telephone from Blackberry Hill. We may have to wait some time, but it’s no matter for once.” “On a real occasion like this, father,” said Felicia, as they hurried up the hill, one small hand in each of the minister’s, and a small hopping figure on each side of the tall one, “on an occasion like this, it’s no mat- ter whether we have supper at real Blackberry Hill time, or not. Mrs. Cope, even, would say so, [know !” But Martin, to whom his special admirer Winifred had, in her excitement, forgotten even to proffer aStrangers at Blackberry Hill 137 friendly finger, sat sulkily in the darkened kitchen, and expressed his mind at intervals to the stove and other dimly discerned objects. “What’s all this?” he grumbled. “ Pretty doings! What’s all this ?”RE ee tere ere ee ene cae nl , ae CHAPTER XVI MRS. TOPHAM’S GUESTS “Iv beat all, the way they got that message through, didn’t it?” Mr. Fosdick asked Mr. Gregg the next morning as they were having a friendly talk over vil- lage affairs. Mr. Gregg still kept what Mrs. Topham called “his lonely ways,” but he was seen in the village more frequently as time went on, and to quote Mrs. Topham again, “his hand was always ready to go to his pocket ” in case of need. “JT wish I had been here,” said the old man, who had been listening to a spirited account of the sending of the telephone message from Mr. Fosdick. “ Did you say they all three talked at once?” “ Well, I don’t know as all three voices got into the instrument, really,” said the storekeeper, “ but from a remark that came out so loud from the other end that all present heard it, I judged the sig-i-naw, whatever his name was, felt there was more being said than he could gather in at once. He spoke out pretty ha’sh; I shouldn’t want to say he used profane language, for Pm not what you'd call familiar with furrin tongues, but he was real tried—you could tell that with half an ear. “T'was when Winifred Harlow began that he broke loose from his moorin’s; Felicia ’d been mostly 138Mrs. Topham’ s Guests 133 whispering in her father’s ear, and he saying ‘ What ?’ but Winifred spoke right out in meeting, same as usu’l.” “What did they make out, finally?” asked a by- stander who had missed the excitement. “They made out that twas last night the little girl was going to play,” said Mr. Fosdick, and the sig-i-naw thought, long as they couldn’t get there to hear her, they’d better stay a day or two and make sure of the mother being fit to travel, and go sightseeing and so on when she arrived. Seems he spoke pretty large about paying board for ’em, but I guess when he gets James Topham and wife to take board-money for those two folks he’ll have had more’n one birthday. He doesn’t know Blackberry Hill, living in the city where it’s all pay or get nothing. Besides, Bobby Simpson’s been in here this morning, and seems they’ve got a plan all cooked up for keeping those two right with ’em all winter and maybe longer.” “Indeed,” said Mr. Gregg; “that sounds just like the Tophams.” “So it does,” and Mr. Fosdick nodded briskly as he tied up packages with his long, deft fingers. “ Well, it’s like this. The man’s handy as he can be, Bobby says; set to and tinkered up the old clock last night, and got her to ticking even, which she hasn’t for I don’t know how long; and he has ideas about a good many things in the way o’ farm work, Bobby says— real sensible ones. And his own farm that he’s hired140 Felicia’s Friends is a poor place, and a cousin o’ his would take it on with his own, that lies next to it.” “They were able to understand each other, then,” said Mr. Gregg. ‘I’m rather surprised at that.” “ Well, ’twa’n’t as easy as it sounds, I guess,” said Mr. Fosdick, chuckling. ‘ Bobby says they worked their hands and eyes about as hard as their tongues, and got pretty well het up and wore out, but last off they come to an understanding. And that Eyetalian woman, the man’s wife—(I haven’t got the hang of his name yet—it’s something like Demushy, but that’s not precisely what ’tis) why Bobby says that when she saw Mrs. Topham cooking the rice for supper, which they always have hearty, she kind of swooped down on the pot ’twas cooking in, and stirred it round and poured off an’ poured on, talking some sort of lingo and smiling real pleasant at Mrs. Topham, and they do say it eat tasty beyond any rice they ever put in their mouths.” ‘They say some o’ those furriners have a real gift with food,” said a bystander. “She has, at any rate,” said Mr. Fosdick. “ Bobby said she begged leave—with her eyes and hands—to cook a dish of sliced bacon and potato with a dash of onion this morning, and—well, he allowed it went ahead of anything he’d ever tasted. And he says she and Mrs. Topham have taken a real shine to each other; and Mrs. Topham’s planning to have her give Felicia a few lessons in these dishes 0’ hers ; you knowMrs. Topham’s Guests 141 Felicia ketches right on to anything o’ the kind, they say, just give her half a hint.” “Well, well, the population of Blackberry Hill seems to be growing steadily,” said Mr. Gregg as he took the basket which the storekeeper had filled with neat packages, the old man’s supply for the next few days. “And there’s a new piano in town, too, I hear.” “ Why, yes, that was what filled all our minds till these strangers came,” said Mr. Fosdick. “ First rehearsal with the new instrument at Lydia Cope’s this evening, with Ellen Markham to play it if able, if not Miss Shaw officiates. I’m not really in the secret of what this grand entertainment is to be, two nights running, but I know there have been two tin horns and a trumpet and a drum taken off my hands, that I expected to have with me long as I lived. There’s more musical talent in this village than ever | suspected. I’m going to hang around Lydia Cope’s premises to-night, and I don’t calculate to have the party all to myself, either.” “These are certainly stirring times for Blackberry Hill,” said Mr. Gregg as he started off. “He seems considerable more like folks than he used to,” said the next customer, but Mr. Fosdick looked at him coolly. “Youre kind of new to the place,” said the store- keeper ; “you haven’t been here but ten years, and you don’t know about the troubles he had that drove himpeerePeett eer rst otro ee ee oe eee Sener = 142 Felicia’s Friends to that way of living, off by himself. But since Mr Lane and Felicia were settled over the church he’s chirked up a good deal. Ever since she went to see him and took a posy, Felicia did, he’s had a warm spot for her, and she goes there every now and then and keeps him posted with what’s going on.” “YT understand he lends books to Bobby Simpson and others,” said the man. “Certainly he does, and good ones. He has a fine library,” asserted Mr. Fosdick. “Folks say they wish’t he’d deed it to the town. Well now, Felicia, how are you this morning? Low on peanuts? I’ve got a new batch all ready to be eaten soon as I can find customers.” “T’ve come for a cake of chocolate and to invite you to supper, Mr. Fosdick,” said Felicia when she had shaken hands warmly, over the counter. “ And father and Mrs. Cope and Miss Shaw all want you to attend the rehearsal to-night.” “Look here,” said Mr. Fosdick solemnly, “ haven’t you got me mixed up with somebody else? Did you ever hear me sing ?” Felicia pe aaat with Aaeed lips and dancing eyes. “Then what in the world does it all mean?” asked the storekeeper. “Tt isn’t for the carol part,” said Felicia, “it’s for something else that Mrs. Cope has told us you can do better than anybody else she ever heard.” “ Now, I'll wager they’ve got a plan to make meMrs. Topham’ s Guests 143 work the clappers,” said Mr. Fosdick, and again Felicia nodded. “ Well, now, maybe I’ve lost the knack,” and he looked at his fingers with suspicion and worked them back and forth while Felicia langhed delightedly ; “no, I guess I haven’t, after all. Dm in the hands of those that are getting up this show, whatever ’tis. How much chocolate did you say ?” Saturday nights Miss Loreena Parks always went early to her own little house, to set it in order for Sunday, and Felicia was sole mistress of the parson- age kitchen, and always planned with her father to have some guest for the supper of baked beans and brown bread. Often it was Mr. Fosdick, whose meals at his own rooms over the store were not what Felicia considered inviting. “T see what that chocolate was used for,” said the guest that evening when his little hostess brought to the table a plate heaped with frosted cake. “ You are a born cook, no mistake about it.” “Thank you,” and Felicia showed her dimples. “ You know I love to cook. And oh, Mr. Fosdick, the lady over at the Tophams’, that they hope maybe will stay, is a wonderful cook, Bobby Simpson told us this morning.” “So he told me, too,” said Mr. Fosdick. “That bacon and potato seems to have gone to Bobby’s head some way. Well, she’d be good company for Mrs. Topham when they get snowed in, if they’ve got so they can understand each other already without144 Felicia’s Friends speaking a word both of ’em know, as it appears they have. But if that little girl’s earning so much money, how’s it happen her folks don’t get some of the benefit ?” “Oh, Bobby said the man, her stepfather, tried to explain about that, this morning,” said Felicia. ‘“ The little girl plays beautifully now, but she must go abroad and study and practice; study and practice with some wonderful teacher, and it will cost a great deal. Then, she will come back to this country again, and her mother can have carriages and wear gold dresses if she likes, the man said. Oh, I’d like to see that little girl, and hear her play !”’ “Well, perhaps,” Mr. Fosdick began, and then he thought better of it and changed his sentence. “ There was a telegram for those Demushy folks this after- noon,” he said. ‘Jed mentioned it when I was in the post-office—said he sent it over to the farm by a boy ; of course I didn’t inquire what the message was—the secrecy of these official matters has to be kept strict, according to law.” “Yees,” said Felicia, bubbling over with laughter ; “but sometimes ——” “ Now, that’s enough, isn't it, Mr. Lane?” said the storekeeper, hastily. ‘ You let me have another piece of that cake, and wait till Bobby comes to the re- hearsal to-night for your news. “Mr. Gregg was up this morning,” said Mr. Fosdick in a low tone to his host, while Felicia sang over the washing and putting away of her dishes, with an occa-Mrs. Topham’s Guests 14g sional word to Martin. “He says that little matter will be attended to, sure, by the day before Christmas. You don’t think Felicia’s got wind of it, anyhow ? Though I don’t see how she could, with nobody but us three and Miss Shaw knowing it.” “She hasn’t the faintest suspicion,” said Mr. Lane. “TI really don’t know what she will say or do; the child will be so completely taken by surprise, and so delighted.” “ She’ll say and do what’ll please the old gentleman, Pll warrant,” said Mr. Fosdick, loyal as ever to his little friend. “S-sh! Now what is your opinion, Mr. Lane, of the—the market-price of eggs, speaking of prices ? ” “The market-price of eggs?” echoed Mr. Lane, as Felicia came into the study and seated herself on the arm of his chair. “That’s what I said,” and Mr. Fosdick gazed at him severely. “I don’t hold that because a man has the gift of preaching he ought to fall behind the times other ways. Didn’t you know they were the highest on record, or thereabouts? What are you laughing at, Felicia ? ” The little girl rocked back and forth on the arm of her father’s chair, and her eyes gleamed with mischief. “You weren’t talking about the price of eggs to poor dear father a minute ago,” she said demurely. “You mustn’t say ‘S-s-sh’ so loud unless you want Martin to say it over after you.”146 Felicia’s Friends “ What hour does that rehearsal begin, young lady ?” asked Mr. Fosdick hastily. “1 think myself it’s high time we started. Isn’t that Winifred Harlow’s voice I hear addressing that bird of yours? Where’d you put my overshoes ?”CHAPTER XVII THE TOY SYMPHONY Mr. Lane, Mr. Fosdick and the two little girls were first of all to arrive at Mrs. Cope’s, and they were ushered into the parlor by the hostess and Miss Shaw, with a good deal of ceremony. There was a bright fire in the little grate, which Mrs. Cope had polished until its nickel trimmings shone like silver, and her best and second-best lamps were glowing on the tables, while a third, ready to light, stood on a bracket-shelf near the piano. ‘I want you to notice the way the light shines on that wood, and makes it appear like a looking-glass, almost,” said Mrs. Cope with the air of a showman, when the beautiful little piano, a “baby grand,” had been admired in breathless silence for a moment, save for one long “Oh!” from Felicia. “Isn’t it a darling ?” the little girl said softly, and although she had a tight hold on Winifred’s hand, her eyes turned to her father for sympathy. “Tt is indeed,” said Mr. Lane, “and it makes your room prettier than ever,” he added, turning to Mrs. Cope with a smile. “That’s what I mentioned to Miss Shaw, first thing 147148 Felicia’s Friends this morning,” said Mrs. Cope; “not in just those words; but I said to her that it seemed to set off everything else; I don’t think that spindle-legged table ever looked so well before, and you notice how it seems to bring out the colors of that oil-painting that hangs over it? I call it a real addition to the furniture. And as for sound! Could you perform that short piece you played whilst I was putting sup- per on the table ?” she asked Miss Shaw. The young teacher seated herself on the stool which had come with the piano, and ran her fingers over the shining keys. “ Could I ever learn to do that ?” demanded Wini- fred, edging closer to the keyboard. “My! that must be fun! Just like playing tag with your hands.” “ Youd better listen than talk,” said Mrs. Cope with a touch of reproof in her voice which made Winifred look rebellious for a moment, but as soon as Miss Shaw began really to play, her grievance was forgotten in admiration and delight. “You were right, Mrs. Cope,” she announced when the last note of the gay little tripping “ Gigue” had been struck. “It is better to listen than talk.” “You'll generally find folks that are your elders have learned a few things,” said Mrs. Cope, and then she relented, giving Winifred’s hair bow a slight twitch into better position and letting her hand linger for a moment on the little girl’s shoulder. “ Yes’m,” said Winifred, laughing up at her, andThe Toy Symphony 149 they were friends again with no resentment on either side. Miss Shaw played another piece, a lovely, rippling melody, and just as she finished it there came a loud rap from the big knocker and the sound of voices. “You take off your overshoes here in the hall,” commanded Mrs. Cope as she welcomed the guests, “and put ’em in arow on that strip of oilcloth I’ve laid alongside of the wall; it washes off easy and I’m going to have it there every rehearsal night. Soon as you’ve done that and put your things on the lounge or one of the chairs, step right across into the parlor. Here, Nate Horner, you hang your coat and hat on this nail, or there won’t be room for anything else; and look out you don’t take a piece off the top o’ your head going into the parlor. Well, there, I’m glad to see you, one and all.” “Did you see Bobby, Mrs. Cope?” asked Ned Hil- liard, drawing his friend into view. “ He’s going to spend the night with me; the Tophams can spare him once in a while now that Frenchman is there; Mr. Topham told Bobby to come right along.” ‘‘T’m pleased to see you,” and Mrs. Cope held out her hand, a little stiffly to be sure, but with the will to be cordial, and Bobby shook it conscientiously. When the piano had been fully examined and ad- mired and Miss Shaw had played once more, the little red books were opened and the rehearsal began. After all, Miss Markham had decided to “favor her cold”150 Felicia’s Friends for a day or two longer, so Miss Shaw kept her seat at the piano. The young people were grouped around it, Mr. Lane in their midst, while Mrs. Cope and Mr. Fos- dick sat on the old sofa, and acted as audience. “They sing real well, | must say,” Mrs. Cope re- marked to her neighbor when the second carol was in progress and she could speak under cover of the music. “For a boy that’s come up from nothing, as you might say, Bobby Simpson appears to have quite a gift.” Mr. Fosdick looked at her with a whimsical smile on his shrewd face. “T reckon we all come from nothing if you search hist’ry far enough back,” he said, “and mostly we all have our chance to show what stuff the Lord’s put in us. I never feel sure but what He says to Himself now an’ again, ‘There’s a man and woman that don’t seem to be of much account. I'll give them such a good child that folks will know there was something fine in them, after all, if it hadn’t got switched off on the wrong track.’ But of course that’s only my idea.” “There may be something in that,” admitted his hostess with heightened color, “ though I don’t recaud ever hearing it spoken of in the pulpit.” “Old Dr. Jarvis never said it,” and Mr. Fosdick smiled at her genially, “but maybe he would now, if he could come back and givea few talks. There, that’s a prime tune they’re singing—let’s listen.” When the carols had all been practiced and pro- nounced “much better than last time,” by Mr. Lane,The Toy Symphony 151 the little red books were piled on the piano, and a big box was brought in from the hall by Nate Horner, at Miss Shaw’s request. “Youd better all take seats now,” said Mrs. Cope hospitably. “I think there’s enough for the whole company, and one or two to spare. Mr. Lane, I un- derstand you don’t take part in this entertainment. May I have a few words with you on the sofa whilst these young folks, including Mr. Fosdick, get their in- struments in order ?”’ The boys crowded close to Miss Shaw as she opened the box which had been set on a high stool, and dis- played its contents. There were several horns and trumpets, two drums, a long wooden whistle and a short metal one; a big watchman’s rattle; bells of glass, and a long string of sleigh-bells; a triangle; two small boxes with metal strips marked with the let- ters of the scale, to be struck with alittle padded ham- mer; there was a cuckoo, a round music-box which played a tiny tune, and last of all, a pair of clappers. ‘“‘H’m,” said Mr. Fosdick, as these last were handed to him, “ those are all well enough, I dare say, but if you’ve no objection I guess Il] hold to my old friends ;” and drawing a pair of “bones” polished by age and use from his pocket, Mr. Fosdick placed them in posi- tion and gave a brief illustration of his skill, which brought a round of applause from his audience. Mr. Fosdick pushed his spectacles well down on his nose and looked over them, as he loved to do.152 Felicia’s Friends “Pretty spry for my age?” he inquired, and then pushed his spectacles back in place. “Mrs. Cope, how do you think it would be if we stepped across into the kitchen ? ” suggested Mr. Lane, who thought his hostess had begun to look as if she did not fully enjoy the noise. “There are one or two matters I should like to talk over with you, and why shouldn’t you and I have a surprise the night of the concert as well as the other guests ?” “Why, I don’t know but ’twould be a good plan,” and Mrs. Cope looked much relieved. “ Miss Shaw can play lady of the house all right. Truth is,” she said as the kitchen door closed behind her and the minister, “I felt my head beginning to give way, for I’m not used to so much hullabaloo. You understand I don’t mean Felicia,” she added quickly, mindful of the dignity of her guest. Mr. Lane laughed and shook his head. “Pm afraid Felicia can’t be excepted this time,” he said. ‘She whispered to me as I left the room that she did hope a trumpet might fall to her lot, for she ‘loved to blow.’ ” Felicia did not have a trumpet, however, but one of the small boxes with the metal keys and the padded hammer, while the other was assigned to Winifred. They required more skill and practice than most of the other instruments and Miss Shaw knew she would have more opportunities to drill the two little girls than the boys.The Toy Symphony 153 Nate Horner at his earnest request was given the string of sleigh-bells. “T guess I could stop shaking easier than I could stop blowing,” he said when the use of the different toys had been explained ; “and if I kept on a minute too long or began a minute too soon, ’twouldn’t be so bad as if I got to going with all my breath on one of those horns.” Miss Shaw laughed, and granted his request, for there were plenty of applicants for the horns and trumpets; they were most popular. Bobby Simpson and Ned Hilliard were given drums, and the two whistles were gladly accepted by little Ted and his friend Ben Kingman, while Donald French joyfully seized and swung the watchman’s rattle. When all the instruments had been assigned, Miss Shaw first laughingly clapped her hands over her ears and then rapped for order. “Dear me, what a din that was!” she said to Mr. Fosdick over the heads of some of the players as she opened the score of the Toy Symphony and laid it on the piano. “Twas considerable of a racket,” admitted the store- keeper, “but we aren’t any of us young but once, and some of us hardly get round to it then; ” he lifted his eyebrows and glanced toward Ben who was clasping his whistle with both hands as if it were a rare and priceless treasure. Miss Shaw’s bright face grew very gentle.154 Felicia’s Friends “Ben,” she said, “you and Ted come and stand by me while I explain about the music; your whistles come in almost the very first thing.” “Do they?” cried the two little boys joyously, and they went as close as possible, holding their precious whistles. “Now I will tell you the story, a piece at a time,” said Miss Shaw, “and then I will play on the piano as much as I have told you, and show you how your in- struments take their parts. After to-night we hope Miss Markham will play the piano, and then I can beat the time for you and tell each one when his turn comes.” “Shall we tell our families what the story is, that night, just before the entertainment, or how will they know it?” asked Winifred. “ The story is printed here,” and Miss Shaw showeil them a large sheet of paper, two pages of which were closely printed, “and I shall ask Mr. Lane to read what takes place in each movement of the Symphony just before we play it.” “Does movement mean that we don’t have to keep still?” asked Winifred hopefully, and she seemed a little disappointed when Miss Shaw explained that a movement in a Symphony was like a chapter in a story. ‘But you can sing all over in the carols, just as well as not,” Felicia comforted her as they put on their coats together when at last the rehearsal was over.The Toy Symphony 155 “We'll be outdoors where nobody can see you ; and [’ll hop right up and down with you, holding hands, if you'd like to do it that way.” “Felicia,” said Winifred solemnly, “I consider you the very best friend that any girl could possibly have.” “Do you really ?” and Felicia’s cheeks were pink with pleasure. “Oh, Winifred, do you suppose that poor little Carina Lotti has an intimate friend ?” “No, I don’t,” said Winifred. “I suppose she plays and plays and plays on the violin till her fingers ’most drop off, and all she has is her uncle.” “Winifred,” said Felicia, “if my father and your mother are willing, let’s write a letter and invite her to come here for Christmas, if she doesn’t have to play anywhere, and not bring her violin at all—just come for fan. “Do you want her?” asked Winifred. She stood very still and looked anxiously at Felicia. “Do you want somebody beside me ?” Felicia’s eyes widened. Then suddenly she leaned forward and locking her hands behind Winifred’s head, rocked back and forth on heel and toe. “T want her for us—for you and me, so-we can make her have a good time, together, if she can come —and give her mother a Christmas surprise,” she said, giving Winifred a little shake with every few words. “ All right,” said Winifred, “we'll get her if we can. Let’s both write to-morrow afternoon whileBeen ery Ot ee re a aaa is pepe ene ee eaerryee we rete dowege pe ge ee PERT eojeeepnnteennntegeqetnysdate teeta abets 156 Felicia’s Friends your father and my mother are resting, and show each other what we’ve written at recess Monday if we don’t have time before school. Shan’t you tell Mrs. Top- bam ?” “Yes, I believe we'd better,” said Felicia, ‘“‘ after church to-morrow—and maybe » She hesitated. “T guess I know,” laughed Winifred, under her breath. ‘Of course you'll have to tell Mrs. Cope, or else she’d feel hurt, but that’s all, Felicia, till we know.” “Yes,” said Felicia, “that’s all. I think it will be a lovely secret, and I believe she’ll come!”CHAPTER XVIII LETTERS AND TELEGRAMS WHEN Mrs. Topham was waylaid after church next day by two eager little girls, she smiled aifectionately on them both. “Does me good to see you two sitting so cozy side by side,” she said; “now is there anything special you wanted to say ? for I expect Mr. Topham won’t wish to keep the horse standing such cold weather, and be- side you know I have company at my house now. ’Tisn’t any use for them to come to church, even if she was able, which she isn’t, yet. It’ll take one spell to get her thawed out, poor thing. By what we make out from the few words he can say, they’ve been cold for a month; stoves didn’t work well, and so on. Well now, dears, what is it with you 2?” “You tell, Felicia,” said Winifred, ‘ because ’twas your plan.” “T thought,” Felicia clutched Mrs. Topham’s sleeve and held it as she talked, “ we both thought what fun it would be to invite that little Carina Lotti to come here the day before Christmas and stay till the day after, and surprise her mother; and father said I might if you thought best, and have her stay with us because we know your family will be with you, but you’ve invited us for dinner and she could go, and 157158 Felicia’s Friends then she’d hear the Christmas Eve carols, and you said you’d bring them over to hear, and—oh, I’m afraid that’s all mixed up, but do you understand ? ” “Qertain I do, every word,” and Mrs. Topham patted the little hand clutching her sleeve so tightly. “ And if she can come I think ’twould be beautiful,— but don’t set your hearts on it too much, for fear she can’t. But that uncle senta telegram to the Desmazes last night, or late in the afternoon ‘twas, saying he wished somebody’d write to-day and tell just how the mother is, for the little girl was worried, and though she had a bad cold and he didn’t like to let her travel he should fetch her right up here unless somebody could say all was going on well. ’Twas the longest telegram that ever I heard of. I saw Jed on our way to church this morning and he said 'twas evident ex- pense was no consideration to that man. There were upwards of thirty words in it. But I presume he can’t spell our language, and as Jed said, he could dic- tate a telegram, and throw the responsibility of spell- ing right on to the operator.” “Then you think it would be all right?” asked Felicia. “We thought we’d both compose our letters this afternoon, and send them in one envelope, after we've read them to each other, on Monday.” “So do,” said Mrs. Topham, and she kissed them both. “You just give my scarf an extra twist around my ears, Felicia. There! And I’m going to write the siginaw and Carina this afternoon ; there’ll beLetters and Telegrams 159 considerable mail coming to them, about Tuesday morning, or maybe Monday night even. Good-bye to you both, and good luck to your enterprise.” The children had no time to exchange letters before school next morning, but at recess while Miss Shaw was showing the boys some photographs which Felicia and Winifred had seen before, the two letters were read and approved. “Dear Carina Lotti,’ wrote Felicia, “you don't know us, but Winifred Harlow and I live in Black- berry Hill where your mother is now, not so very far from Topham farm where she’s staying (and her hus- band) with the very best people in the world. And the Tophams do hope they’ll stay there all winter, for though their languages are different they can under- stand each other some, already. And we know you play the violin and practice a great deal, so we thought maybe you’d like a Christmas holiday, and if your uncle could spare you and you didn’t have to play, you could come up in the morning the day be- fore Christmas and stay till the day after, anyway, or longer if you could; and surprise your family, and hear our Christmas carols, and the Toy Symphony. We aren’t real musicians, except Miss Shaw, who’s our teacher, but it is great fun. Won’t you please say you'll come? and my father, who is the minister, would be most happy to have you, and you could sleep in the square room, right next to mine. I have a parrot, and perhaps you’d enjoy seeing him. His name is Martin. Oh, I do hope you will come! “Yours respectfully, “FELICIA LANE.”SNC ee eae eee laee| orev eres ere pees terre re store peer renee ee 160 Felicia’s Friends “That is splendid,” said Winifred as she finished reading; “mine isn’t as good or as long. Here itis,” and she thrust it into her friend’s hand. «“ ‘ Dear Carina Lotti,’ ” read Felicia, “ ‘I know what my intermit friend Felicia Lane has written you, and you'd better come if posible, for you'll have a splendid time. Her father isn’t like most minnisters, but quite diferent, and he makes you feel fine. You must be tired to peaces playing all the time, but I’d like to hear you. We shall just wate and waite till we get your letter ! “¢ Yours and so fourth, ““¢ WINIFRED HARLOW.’ “Why, that is just as nice as it can be,” said Felicia as she finished reading. ‘The spelling isn’t,” said Winifred bluntly, “ but as [ told mother, if I had to stop to spell, I should never get it done; and beside my thoughts just stick right in my head and won’t come out when I begin to think aboct spelling. And very likely she doesn’t know one single thing about it, herself.” “Maybe she doesn’t,” said Felicia, “and anyway it sounds lovely, your letter, read out loud. Now let’s put them both in this envelope father directed and stamped for us, and then on our way home from school we’ll post it.” Both sets of little mittened fingers had hold of the letter when it was pushed through the post-ollice slitLetters and Lelegrams 161 that afternoon, and each of the writers gave it a squeeze “for luck” as it left their hands. “And now we shall have to be patient till day after to-morrow at the very soonest, father says,” Felicia sighed as they turned away from the post-office. “That seems a good while, but I guess between school and rehearsals it will go pretty fast, after all.” The time did go fast, even to such eager waiters. There was practicing to be done when school hours were over; not only must the tunes of the carols be learned perfectly, but all the words must be firmly fixed in the minds of the singers. “For of course we shouldn’t want to carry our red books that night,” Felicia said to her father, who had been listening to her recitation of the verses, “ that would not be like the children in England who have sung those same carols for generations, would it, father ?” “No, indeed,” said Mr. Lane, who never failed to understand his daughter’s meaning, no matter how complicated her sentences might be. “We mustn’t have any books that night; we must be able to clap our mittened hands together to warm them.” “ a a fj jabehenn asad tatodatiobed Piteededesodckvbatotetat6 meaner aaron: eee eer eee ee ee eee TT nee eee Cnet ere ae FY ¢ £ t | ba a * ee ere Mee tea oe Ce bee a{ | BI 1 i / | | i 1 4 bf / i 1 : } 2 i ‘ Bae Oy ves. eee ee Ba ee Pee PE ee eye ot ere Le IT TiS er re