that evening polly was told the whole story and was properly contrite. she felt a little aggrieved that she had not been one of the party to go to elton woods, but she realized that it was her own fault, and offered at once to "make up" with molly and mary. so all was serene again, and the three children sat side by side all evening before the open fire, listening to a fascinating story uncle dick read aloud to them, and at last the three fell asleep all in a heap, molly's head in polly's lap, and the other two resting against miss ada's knees. when they all stumbled upstairs to bed, they were not too sleepy, however, to kiss one another good-night, and indeed were so bent upon showing no partiality that they all tumbled into the same bed, which happened to be mary's, where they went to sleep, hugging each other tight.
the brightness of the restored pin seemed to be reflected upon them all after this. uncle dick was so tremendously funny at breakfast that polly fell from her chair with laughter, and luella giggled so that she held a plate of griddle cakes at such an angle that the whole pile slid off on the floor; then every one laughed more than ever and molly said that her jaws fairly ached and that she would have to spend the day with cap'n dave's old white horse, for he had such a solemn face it made you want to sigh all the time. of course this started the children off again and they left the table in high spirits.
yet before the day was over they had occasion to look serious without the society of old bill horse, for about ten o'clock ellis appeared, trouble puckering his pleasant face into worried lines. he had forgotten all about the finding of the pin in a more personal interest, for the cares of life had been suddenly thrust upon him. his brother parker the day before had sailed away to the grand banks for sword-fishing. he had left his young wife and little baby in ellis's charge. now leona had fallen ill, "and," said ellis, "it's up to me to take care of the baby."
"is there no one else?" asked miss ada, as ellis told his doleful tale.
"ora hart is taking care of leona," ellis answered; "but she has as much as she can do to look after her own children. she's leona's cousin and she's awful good to come in at all. you see most everybody's got folks of their own to see to, and they can't spare much time, although they're all willin' enough to do what they can. i ain't much used to babies myself. i got nellie brown to look after her while i come up here. i knew you'd wonder why i didn't bring them clams i promised, and so i come to tell you why. i hope it won't put you out, miss ada."
"we can have something else just as well," she told him. "we are rather used to not getting just what we plan for," she went on, smiling, for be it known one could never tell, at the point, just how an order might turn out. if one expected lamb chops like as not "hen roberts hadn't fetched over no lamb," or if mackerel had been ordered like as not the fish delivered would be cod, and the excuse would be that some one came along and carried off the entire supply of mackerel before the last orders were filled; therefore it was no new experience for miss ada to have to alter her bill of fare.
"i'm awful sorry about havin' to stay home just now," said ellis disconsolately, "for this is when i expected to get in some time with the boat. i promised two or three parties to take 'em out, and now i'll have to get some one else to take my place, but i'll have to let 'em go shares. park's let me have the leona whilst he's away, but, if i could run her myself, i could make twice as much."
the three little girls listened attentively, and presently polly twitched her aunt ada's sleeve. "couldn't we take care of the baby?" she whispered.
miss ada looked down at her with a smile, but shook her head.
"oh, why not?" said polly in ft louder whisper. "i'd love to."
"so would i," came from molly on the other side.
miss ada beholding the eager faces said: "wait a moment, ellis. i want to talk over something with these girls of mine." she led the way indoors, leaving ellis on the porch. "now, lassies," she said when they were all in the living-room, "what is it you want to do?"
"we want to take care of ellis's baby," chanted the two, and mary coming in as a third repeated the words.
"but do you realize what it would mean? you would have to give up much of your playtime, and could not go off sailing or rowing or picnicking."
"we could go picnicking," insisted polly, "because we could take the baby with us."
"very well, we will leave out the picnic. i might get luella to stay afternoons sometimes, but you know she goes home to help her mother, for mrs. barnes has more laundry work than she can do, and luella has to help her when she can; those were the only terms upon which she would consent to come to me; so you see we can't count on luella."
"it may not be for very long," said polly, hopefully. "leona may soon get well."
"if it is typhoid, as they suspect, she is likely to be ill a long time."
"well, i don't care; i'll give up my afternoons," decided polly.
"and i'll give up my mornings," said molly, not to be outdone. "and then the baby does sleep some, so we can play while she is asleep. oh, polly, we could have lovely times playing with something alive like that."
"wouldn't it be jolly to have a real live baby for a doll," put in mary.
"i see you are not to be put off," said miss ada, laughing, "so i will allow you to undertake the charge for a week, and at the end of that time if i think it is too much for you, i shall have to insist that you give it up."
"oh, we'll never think it is too much," declared polly with conviction, and the others echoed her.
so they all trooped out to ellis. "we have the loveliest plan," molly began eagerly.
"you can have all your time," put in polly.
"i am so very pleased to be able to do something for you when you were so kind to me," said mary earnestly.
ellis looked bewildered.
"the girls propose to take care of your brother's little baby for a week, ellis," miss ada explained.
"oh, i can't let 'em do that," said ellis bashfully.
"oh, but we are just wild to," polly assured him.
"yes, we truly are," molly insisted. "we adore babies. when can you bring her over, ellis? shall we keep her day and night, aunt ada, and may she sleep with me?"
"oh, ora's sister says she can take her at night," ellis hastened to say. "she can't leave home very well, and she is too busy during the day to look out for her, for she has a lot of children, but none of them are little small babies; the youngest is three, and she says she doesn't mind having the baby at night."
"then we'll arrange for the day only," said miss ada with decision; "that is when she would require your time, ellis, and we are glad to help you out so you can take out the boat when you have the opportunity."
"i'm sure i'm much obliged," said ellis awkwardly. like most of the "pointers" he was unused to showing his gratitude. to his mind any display of appreciation was poor-spirited. he was too proud to let any one see that he felt under obligations and to say even as much as he did was an effort. nevertheless, he trotted off feeling a great weight removed, and in half an hour was back again with the little four-months-old baby.
for that day, at least, the small miss myrtle dixon was overwhelmed with attentions. polly sat by when she slept, ready to pounce upon her and take her up at the slightest movement. molly was on hand to urge a bottle of milk upon her if she so much as whimpered. mary dangled be-ribboned trinkets before her the minute she opened her eyes, and they were all in danger of hurting her with overkindness.
the second day she was less of a novelty, though sufficiently entertaining for each of her three nurses to clamor for her.
"she is too dear for anything," said molly ecstatically. "see her laugh, mary, and flutter her little hands. she is to be my baby this morning. let's go around the side of the house, where it is shady, and play. you can have the place under the porch for your house, polly, and mary can have the wood-shed. i'll take the cellar."
"oh, but that will be too cold and damp for the baby," said mary. "you take the wood-shed and i'll take the cellar," she added generously.
molly agreed and presently baby was established in a crib made of the clothes-basket where she lay contentedly sucking her thumb. mary, hugely enjoying herself, kept house in the cellar. she sat at the door in a rocking-chair which she rocked back and forth with a blissful expression on her face. if there was any american comfort which mary did appreciate it was a rocking-chair. she had never seen one till she came to the united states, neither had she ever before made the acquaintance of chewing-gum. this was a luxury seldom allowed the little girls. "it is a disgusting habit," miss ada declared, "and i don't want you children to acquire it. your mother, mary, would be shocked if she saw you use it." but once in a while uncle dick slyly furnished each with a package and miss ada allowed them to have it, though protesting all the time to her brother. this special morning uncle dick had hidden a package under each of their breakfast plates, and it is needless to say that three pairs of jaws were working vigorously as they played house.
"i'm agoing to ask aunt ada if we may go barefoot," announced molly; "it is plenty warm enough to-day."
mary jumped up, tipping over her rocking-chair as she did so. "oh, does she allow you to do that?" she cried. "i've always secretly longed to, but miss sharp is perfectly horrified when we ask her."
the other two looked at each other with a little smile, for it was not such a great while before this that mary herself had been horrified at the suggestion.
"aunt ada doesn't care, if it is warm enough," molly informed her. "i always go barefoot up here, if i feel like it and it isn't too cold. i'll go ask her now. watch the baby for me, girls."
they promised to be faithful nurses while molly went on her errand. she was gone some time and when she returned she was carefully bearing a plate of fresh doughnuts. "which would you rather have, polly," she cried, "doughnuts or chewing-gum? you can't have both, aunt ada says."
"doughnuts," decided polly without hesitation taking the chewing-gum from her mouth and slapping it securely against a stone in the foundation of the porch. "don't they look good? so brown and sugary. i do think luella makes the best doughnuts," and she helped herself to a specially fat, appetizing one.
"which do you choose, mary?" asked molly.
mary continued her rocking and chewing. "i'll keep the gum, thank you."
molly laughed. "that is what aunt ada said you would do. and girls, we may take off our shoes and stockings. how's the baby, polly?"
"sound asleep."
"good! then i reckon we can leave her for a while, i do want to get my bare toes on the grass, don't you? come on, polly, and let's hunt for snakes."
"snakes!" mary jumped to her feet in horror. "are there snakes here? fancy!" she gathered her skirts about her and looked ready to fly.
"why, yes. do you mind them?" returned molly calmly. "polly and i love the little green grass snakes; they are perfectly harmless and are so pretty."
"pretty? i could never imagine anything pretty about a snake," replied mary, recoiling.
"my word! molly, just fancy your talking so of a horrid snake."
molly laughed at her horror. "they aren't poisonous, mary."
"but the very idea of them is so loathsome."
"it isn't unless you make it so," put in polly. "i like all kinds of little creatures so long as they don't bite or sting, and some of those, like bees, for example, i like, though i don't want them to get too near me. of course when it comes to rattlesnakes or copperheads, or such, i am afraid of them, but these little grass snakes are different."
but mary could not be persuaded to give up her prejudices and would none of the snakes, so they decided to gather buttercups, and wandered off among the soft grasses on the hilltop. but it was only when they saw luella wildly waving the dish-cloth to attract their attention that they remembered the baby. then they started toward the cottage post-haste, arriving there to find miss ada walking the floor with the baby and trying to still its cries.
"what is the matter with her?" cried molly rushing in. "we thought she was sound asleep."
"babies don't sleep forever," remarked luella sarcastically. "here, miss ada, i'm used to 'em. let me see if there's a pin stickin' her anywhere; there's no knowin' what foolin' with her clothes these children have been doin'."
the children dared not protest against this charge while miss ada said: "oh, i have looked and she seems all right," but she relinquished the baby into luella's capable hands.
that young woman turned the screaming infant over, felt for an offending pin, turned her back again, and finally laid her across her knees and began to pat her on the back. "i guess she's got colic," she decided. "molly, you just step up to mis' chris fisher's and see if she's got a handful of catnip. she mostly does keep it, seein' she always has got a baby on hand. there, there, there," she tried to soothe the child on her knees. "miss ada, you'll either have to take her or see to them pies in the oven; i can't do both."
"oh, i'll see to the pies," responded miss ada escaping to the kitchen.
molly was already on her way to mrs. chris fisher's. polly vainly tried to attract the baby's attention by every means within her power. mary stood by suggesting alternately mustard poultices and ginger tea, which suggestions luella contemptuously put aside.
"i don't see what's the matter with her unless it is colic," she remarked. "she may be subject to it; i ain't heard say. i'll ask ora next time i go out. when was she fed last?"
"why, i don't know." the two little girls looked at each other. "did you give her the bottle, mary?" asked polly.
"no," was the reply.
"maybe molly did. i reckon it was molly; she was playing she was mother this morning, you know." luella said nothing but continued the rocking movement of her knees till molly came in, breathless, with the bunch of dried catnip.
"i suppose she's been fed regular," said luella addressing molly, "and you've took care to give her the milk warm."
"oh, dear!" molly stood still. "i forgot she had to be fed oftener than we are, and oh, luella, i am afraid the last milk she took wasn't real warm."
"then no wonder she's yellin' like mad," said luella disgustedly. "you're a nice set to take care of a young un. here, some of you hold her whilst i get her milk and give it to her right. if she ain't got colic from cold milk she's starvin'."
molly meekly took charge of the screaming child who did not cease its crying till luella, returning with the bottle of milk, thrust the rubber nipple into its mouth; then suddenly all was quiet. "just what i thought; half starved," said luella. "it looks as if i'd got to see to the youngster, if she stays here. miss ada's not much better than the rest of you. what does she know about babies? i guess ellis can beat the best of you, after all, when it comes to 'tendin' babies."
the little girls felt properly abashed. only the second day of the baby's stay and she had gone hungry for an hour, while the day before she had been overfed. it did not look as if their benevolent plan worked very well, and indeed, by the end of the week, miss ada decided that miss myrtle must return to her own. this was made easier by her grandmother's arrival upon the scene, and there were helpers enough to relieve ellis for at least half the day. however the interest in parker dixon's family did not end at once.
