the next day saw noahdiah with a stage full of passengers and such a pile of luggage as he declared he “didn’t know as he’d ever be able to h’ist on.” however the boys helped with strong arms as well as with suggestions and finally the whole twelve persons were safely stowed away with their trunks roped on at the back, piled on top or serving as seats. the corners left the train at sebago that they might make the promised visit to cousin maria, while the others went on to boston, the gordon boys to continue their journey to virginia, hartley and effie, with daniella, to return to their home, while jo turned off to go to her aunt’s where she would stay till she should be ready to start for college.
the corners felt that they must hurry for there were the bridesmaid dresses to be made and the wedding presents to be bought for miss dolores, so they did not tarry anywhere till new york was reached. “i can scarcely wait to see miss dolores,” said mary lee when they[342] had reached their hotel. “i’m going to call her up first thing.”
“do wait till you have washed your face,” replied nan. “it is all over cinders; you would have the car window open.”
“oh, i had to; the cars were so hot and stuffy after living in the open air all these weeks.”
“but you don’t have to call her up the instant you get in.”
mary lee concluded she could take time to remove the cinders, but she did not delay long after that, and when she returned from the telephone she was as excited as it was in the power of mary lee to be. “what do you think, nan?” she exclaimed. “mercedes is coming to-morrow and miss dolores wants us to come up to dinner, stay all night and go with them first thing in the morning to meet the steamer. they think it will be in by half-past eight or nine, so we shall have to make an early start. won’t it be fun?”
“it will be fine,” nan responded heartily. “does she want all of us to come?”
“oh, no, only our two selves who know mercedes. i’ll go ask mother, then i’m to telephone miss dolores. she is so glad we reached here in time.” she went off, presently returning to say that mrs. corner had no objection[343] to the arrangement. “please hurry, nan, while i go to the telephone,” said mary lee.
“but why hurry? the steamer isn’t coming in to-night.” nan liked to tease mary lee. “there is plenty of time before dinner.”
“oh, but, nan, don’t you want to see miss dolores and her trousseau, and mr. st. nick?”
nan laughed. “first best, miss dolores, second best, her clothes, third best, dear old mr. st. nick. i think i put him first, myself, and of course i am dying to see the trousseau.”
“and not miss dolores? you’re very peculiar, i must say.” mary lee was up in arms.
“of course i want to see her. you must be stupid to think i don’t, but mr. st. nick is a little bit dearer and the clothes are more of a novelty, so there you are.”
mary lee walked off with her nose in the air. “very well,” she remarked as she went out, “i shall go the minute i am ready, and if you prefer to come later, i shall not object.”
nan laughed provokingly, but went on with brisk preparations as soon as the door closed after mary lee. she wanted to go early quite as much as her sister, but mary lee was always such a precise and unhurried person it[344] was but seldom that one had a chance to tease her and the opportunity was too good to lose. she made such haste and mary lee was so long at the telephone that when she came back nan was all ready. “oh,” exclaimed the latter, “i was just about to go. i thought perhaps you had changed your mind. suppose i start on since you’ll not be dressed for at least half an hour.”
“nan corner, if you go without me i’ll never forgive you. i think you are just horrid.”
“but you were going without me all right, all right.”
“that’s quite another thing.”
“can’t seem to see it, but rather than ruffle your feathers any more i’ll go to mother and aunt helen and you can stop by for me when you’ve done prinking.”
so saying she left mary lee to herself and it is needless to say that if it were within mary lee to hurry she did it on this occasion. in consequence in considerably less than half an hour the two were leaving the hotel for mr. pinckney’s home. they had been in new york often enough to know the way fairly well.
mr. pinckney was watching at the window for them and came bustling out in his hearty way, crying, “here you are! bless your hearts,[345] i am glad to see you. come right in. well, well, isn’t this great? we must have you right here with us till after the wedding. where are you staying? i’ll telephone them to send up your baggage. where is dolores? fisher, tell miss dolores the young ladies have come.”
then in a moment miss dolores came running down-stairs to be hugged and kissed and to tell them all her news.
having decided that the two girls were to remain in the house till after the wedding mr. pinckney could not rest till he had the matter settled. he would fain have had the other two, but mrs. corner compromised by promising they should come on the wedding day to remain till miss dolores returned from her bridal trip, jack herself telling him that he would need them more then and that it should be her business to see that he was not lonely.
the old gentleman was in high good humor after this. he confessed to nan in confidence that no one knew how he had dreaded the two weeks during which his granddaughter should be away. “but it is all right now,” he said. “i shan’t mind it, not at all.”
“you’d better not,” nan threatened. “if we four corners aren’t enough for you i must say you are hard to please.”
[346]“conceited little minx,” said mr. pinckney, but he rubbed his hands and chuckled every time he looked at the two.
there was a delightful hour after dinner when mr. pinckney was smoking his cigar and miss dolores took them up-stairs to see her wedding finery; the dainty morning frocks, the more elaborate gowns for evening wear, and finally the white satin wedding gown which mr. pinckney had insisted upon, though it was to be but a simple ceremony performed at home.
“mercedes is bringing my wedding veil,” miss dolores told the girls, “spanish lace that cousin teresa is sending. the dear child has been longing so to come and i am so glad they consented to it. we shall keep her for a good long visit, i hope. she can speak some english now and it will be an excellent opportunity for her to improve herself in the language.”
“is she coming all alone?” asked mary lee.
“no, she comes with some friends of the family who sailed from havre. other friends took her as far as paris where the dos santos met her. i hope the child has not been very sick on the journey. the steamer was expected this evening, but is a little late. however,[347] there is not much doubt but that she will dock in the morning.”
“i am almost glad she didn’t come before,” said nan, “for we might not have reached here in time, and it is stringing along the excitements more gradually to have her come in the morning.”
“oh, me, but it is exciting,” said mary lee giving miss dolores a squeeze. “we stopped to see about the bridesmaid frocks before we even went to the hotel and they are promised faithfully by wednesday evening, so we shall surely have them for thursday.”
“i had mercedes send her measurements and i think hers will not need to be altered. would you like to see it?” wouldn’t they? and the pretty girlish gown of white silk mull was displayed. mercedes was to be maid of honor and the four corners the bridesmaids. nan and mary lee were to wear soft buff; the twins were to be dressed in delicate green.
“and you are going to have chrysanthemums, of course, for decorations,” said mary lee. “what flowers do we carry?”
“roses to remind us of italy, where we were so happy when the roses were climbing everywhere. i shall carry white ones, you and nan those deep saffron-colored ones shading to pink, and the twins will have pink. mercedes will[348] have creamy colored ones,” miss dolores told them.
“lovely,” declared the girls.
“and mr. st. nick is quite satisfied to have you married,” said mary lee.
“yes, i am sure he is. once he made up his mind to accept the fact he has been goodness itself, and i really think he would be disappointed now if we were to put it off. he told me a few days ago that if he were called from this world he should feel very content that he had left me in the keeping of a good man, and that it was a great comfort to him.”
then mr. kirk was announced and the girls went down to greet him and then to entertain mr. st. nick in the library, leaving the lovers to themselves.
they were all up betimes the next morning and were down on the dock to see the great steamer come slowly up the harbor. mercedes caught sight of the little group, and then mary lee distinguished her, and they began signaling and waving handkerchiefs until down the gangplank came the little spanish girl to throw herself into the arms of her friends, half laughing, half crying in her excitement.
the affair of luggage did not detain them long and soon they were whirling through[349] the streets in the carriage, mercedes exclaiming first in broken english, then in spanish. “how is wondherful the large high build,” she said. “ah, mucha gente! mucha gente! is very many person, yes?”
“did you have a good voyage?” nan asked her.
“ah, but yes, i think good. i am at a time a sickness not to go the table, but i am soon recover. how i have the pleasure of see you.” she laid a hand affectionately on an arm of each girl friend. “when my mother say me, mercedes i permit the to go, i am make a scream of joy. i spik eenglis, yes?”
“oh, you have learned much,” mary lee told her.
“we have this year an eenglis mees who is tich us. my sisther and i have progress, she say. i say my sisther when i am return i spik more better as before and i tich her.”
“you will learn very fast here, for you will hear only english, and it is the best way to be among those who speak a language if one would learn,” nan told her.
“ah, yes, but is very diffikewlt ondtherstandth what is say. i wish you spik me very slow. when is rapide i cannot.”
“we will try to speak very slowly, for we know how hard it is to understand a strange[350] language unless it is spoken slowly,” said nan. “i hope you will like new york.”
“how large and fine is. paris is also fine. i like paris much, as also i will like much new york to see how gay. a marriage it will be gay also. my cousin, i bring the lace for you to wear.”
“and there is such a pretty frock waiting for you,” mary lee told her. “your mother is well and all our friends?”
“all well. and those of you?”
“are well. you will see them to-day. my sisters are very eager to meet you, mercedes.”
“i am pleasing meet them.”
“and how is the little asinello, neddy?” mary lee asked.
“very fine, very good, very well. oh, i have much to say you, to inquire also.”
the saying and questioning was carried on at a chattering rate from this time out. mercedes was no sooner established in the room next that occupied by nan and mary lee than she must see her bridesmaid frock; next, her cousin’s pretty wedding clothes. mr. pinckney never did anything by halves and once he had accepted the fact of his granddaughter’s marriage there was nothing too much for him to do for her, and he had himself carried her off on various shopping expeditions when he would[351] order gowns, wraps, hats to his taste and without listening to her protests. moreover he had taken the greatest interest in having a suite of rooms decorated and refurnished for her, making them truly beautiful with fine rugs, choice pictures, artistic hangings and upholstery.
“we call it the bride’s bower,” mary lee told mercedes as they led her to the apartments. “we think they are the very prettiest rooms in the house.”
mercedes had never seen such elegance, though the charm of the old and picturesque made her own home delightful. still, there only simple furnishings were in order and it seemed to her young eyes a bare place in contrast to all this luxury, but she said nothing about this, being a proud young person who voiced a judicious, rather than extravagant, admiration.
mr. pinckney would fain have whirled them all off to a play or the opera that first evening, but miss dolores reminded him that mercedes was probably tired and that the excitement of arriving in a new country was in itself exhausting, so he gave up graciously and contented himself with ordering large boxes of candy for each girl, with flowers at their places at dinner.
the remainder of the corner family arrived in time for luncheon the next day and then[352] there was a great bustle and much chatter with five girls in the house. wedding presents were arriving every day, and to mary lee was given the extreme privilege of opening them, announcing the giver and making a proper list. in this she had an occupation dear to her heart.
the wedding was to be a small affair, only a few friends and relatives being invited. mr. pinckney’s daughter and her husband would arrive from california a few days beforehand. one or two cousins, the next nearest relatives, would also be there, and mr. kirk’s family, his brother who was to be best man, and his mother. charlotte loring and jo keyes were also down on the list, but the whole number did not exceed twenty-five.
of course there was much speculation about the best man and the various “in-laws” but there was so much to occupy every minute of the time remaining before the great day, that there was little opportunity for any outside matters. jack and jean did find a chance to go to see little christine klein, a protégée of theirs and the pinckneys’. they found the child in the same comfortable apartment where she and her grandfather had been established two or three years before. her lameness was now scarcely perceptible while good food and comfort had changed the wan little invalid into[353] a much sturdier child. she was going to school and learning rapidly. her german accent had nearly disappeared and altogether there was a great change in christine.
it was a wonderful time for mercedes, who was not allowed to get homesick, and whose struggles with english were constant. she daily came to one of her friends with some problem. “you say me, ‘sit up,’ you say me, ‘sit down’ and it is the same,” she said one day to mary lee.
mary lee laughed. “they don’t mean the same exactly, for when you sit down you don’t always sit up, though when you sit up you must be sitting down.”
mercedes lifted her hands with an expressive gesture. “how it is diffikewlt. i no ondtherstandth.”
“i will show you.” mary lee took a hunched-up position on a chair, letting her shoulders drop forward. “now i am sitting down but i am not sitting up. this is sitting up.” she took an erect attitude.
“i see, i see,” cried mercedes. “that is goodth. what says the conductor when he wish me hurry? i do not know the bordth. i cannot find in the dictionario.”
“what do you think he says? what does it sound like?” asked mary lee.
[354]“i think he say ‘ullabore,’ but i cannot find the bordth.”
“you mustn’t say bordth, mercedes; it is word.” this was one of the most difficult things for her to pronounce. “the conductor says, ‘all aboard,’ but he speaks very rapidly.”
“and what does he mean by this allabor? i cannot ondtherstandth.”
“he means that every one must hurry to get on the car. you have the word abordo.”
“ah, now i know. i say you many questions.”
“you ask me many questions.”
“ah, mio!” sighed mercedes. “never shall i learn.”
“oh, but you are doing beautifully. you can understand us much better than you could at first and you learn some new words every day.”
“when you no speak fast i can tell, but many thing make a puzzling when i wish speak.”
“what else?”
“i like know what is fowl.”
“oh, it is different kinds of birds that are eaten, like chickens and turkeys.”
“and poultry?”
“let me see. i don’t know that there is any difference, yet there must be. oh, yes, we hear[355] of fowls of the air so i suppose any kind of bird may be a fowl while poultry are the kinds we raise to eat. let us get the dictionaries and see.” each brought her dictionary and turned over the pages. “here we have it,” mary lee announced, “a fowl is an ave, and poultry means aves caseras, house fowls. i am glad we hunted that up for now i know two more spanish words, myself.”
“what are you two doing?” asked nan, coming in upon them.
“improving our minds,” replied mary lee.
“as if there were time for that; you’d better be like the busy bee and improve the shining hour. mr. pinckney is prancing about like a lunatic because there is no one to go with him to meet the roberts. he has just had a telegram. i have simply got to keep an engagement with charlotte to see about my room or i may miss getting it. miss dolores is in the hands of the dressmaker, and so it goes.”
“oh, i’d love to go with him,” mary lee hastened to say. “are you ready to start right away, nan? just stop on your way out and tell him i will be down in two seconds. come on, mercedes. we can ride down with him and if there isn’t room coming back we can take a car or a hansom or something.”
so they rushed off and nan proceeded on[356] her errand. it was the first moment she had had alone since her arrival in new york and it was fortunate, she told herself, that it was so. the past summer was like a dream, now that the rush of the present was upon her. jo and charlotte were both in town, the former already hard at the tutoring which she had secured, and the latter on hand for the wedding. she was the niece of mr. pinckney’s son-in-law, and therefore was considered a relative. naturally the wedding was the all-absorbing topic with all the girls, though college came a close second. nan would be at the pinckneys’ for a couple of weeks, and take her time about settling in her new quarters. she had decided upon a room to herself and it was about this she was now about to consult charlotte. as she turned up morningside drive an automobile whizzed past, but not before she caught a glimpse of marcus wells and miss romaine. it was all like a flash, and for a moment the old feelings were strong within her. here they were in the same city. by a simple word she could see him. she had only to send her card and he would call. how strange it was that she might not even do that after their days of comradeship at camp. she had already written from maine a short note of thanks for his mementoes, but she gave no address, and her[357] note was of the most formally polite character. she had shown it to her mother who had approved of what she wrote. she might run across him here in new york almost any time and for a moment she regretted her choice of a college, but it was only for a moment for she realized that her life would be very full. already the dreams were bereft of their vividness. with a little wistful smile she pursued her way and was soon lost in the reality of her present plans as she and her friends discussed college and its many interests.
