CHAPTER SEVENTEEN A DEFIANT TEACHER
When Dixie entered the pleasant living-room of the little log cabin nearthe inn, she clasped her hands, and her eyes glowed with appreciation asshe looked about.
"Oh, teacher, Miss Bayley," she breathed rapturously, "you've got books,haven't you? I never did see so many books all in one room. Oh, please,may I touch them?"
Then it was that the young teacher remembered that the little girl hadsaid that "Oliver Twist" and "Pilgrim's Progress" were the only booksthat she had, and an almanac.
"Poor little story-hungry girl," she thought, as she removed her hat andturned toward the child. "Of course you may touch them, dear. I'm goingto make us some hot chocolate to drink, and you may browse around allthat you wish. Choose any book that you like and I will help you readit. One of my reasons for asking you here to-day, Dixie, was to suggestthat once or twice a week you come with me and let me tutor you inadvanced reading. Then you can take the book home and give the sameinstruction to your brother, Ken. There is no reason why you twochildren, who are so unusually gifted, should be held back by one oflittle natural intelligence."
Then Miss Bayley entered the lean-to which was also her kitchen, andhumming to herself to endeavor to erase from her memory the unpleasantconflict with Jessica Archer, she filled the tiny teakettle, lighted theoil-stove, and prepared a few dainty sandwiches.
When she re-entered the living-room, her small guest sat on thewindow-seat, one long, spidery leg curled under her, and she held twobooks. The gold-brown eyes seemed to have sunshine in their depths asthey looked up.
"Oh, teacher, Miss Bayley," she piped, "it was so hard to choose. It'slike when the spring flowers are in blossom and the valley-meadow is allblue and gold with them. There are so many, and they are all so lovelyit's hard to tell which ones to pick. I guess, though, that these twowould be nice. This one says 'Little Women' on the cover, but thatwouldn't interest Ken so much, it being all about girls, but this onewould, for, in the picture, there is a boat wrecked and animals swimmingto the shore. I'm sure boys would like it."
Miss Bayley nodded, beaming her pleasure. "You will like that one, too.My brother, Tim, and I read 'Swiss Family Robinson' through seven timeswhen we were your age and Ken's."
Skipping over to the long, home-made bookshelf, the child replaced"Little Women," and held lovingly the volume of her choice.
Then a cheerful humming in the kitchen announced that the teakettle wasbeginning to boil, and Miss Bayley went thither to complete preparationsfor the lunch.
While they were eating it, the young woman, who was little more than agirl herself, having graduated from a normal school when she was hardlytwenty years of age,--and this was her first school,--smiled across ather small guest as she said: "Dearie, at recess you wanted to tell mesomething. What was it?"
__Dixie's thin, freckled face became suddenly serious. "I'm going totell you all about us, Miss Bayley," she began, "then I guess you'llbetter understand."
And so the little mother of the Martins told to a most sympathetic andinterested listener the drama which had recently been enacted in theirlog-cabin home.
"And, oh, teacher, Miss Bayley," the child said, "I never, never couldhave come to school again if my little sister had stayed away. She's allthe sister I've got to love. I couldn't give up Ken or Baby Jim either,but--but I guess a girl needs another girl in a special way that boyscan't understand, don't you, teacher?"
The young woman nodded emphatically, and there were tears close to hereyes. What a cruel, hard experience these children had been goingthrough, and all alone.
"I do, indeed, Dixie," she said. "There are so many tasks and pleasuresand little confidences that only girls can share with each other, but Iam glad that everything happened just as it did, for now Carol knowsthat her own home is best and she will be more content."
But Dixie looked a bit troubled, and the young woman asked: "Dear, whatis it? Was there something else that you wished to say?"
"Yes, teacher, Miss Bayley, it's this. Next month is Carol's birthday,and, oh, if only I could give her a blue silk dress I'd be the happiest!She loves pretty things and she's never had anything silk." Theneagerly, anxiously, "Miss Bayley, could I get a silk dress for twodollars and thirty cents?"
The young teacher hesitated not at all. "Of course you can, dear girl.That is, you can get the blue silk by the yard and then you can make thedress."
The freckled face that at first had brightened, looked doleful again.The child shook her head as she said: "I couldn't, teacher. I don't knowanything about how to put on patterns. Grandma Piggins did, and she madeus the gingham dresses, but she made them button in front, and Carolwants buttons in the back."
"And so she shall have them, dear. Of course you can't use a patternyet, but I will show you how." Then, before the small girl could expressher gratitude, the young teacher exclaimed: "I'll tell you what we'lldo, little Miss Martin. To-morrow will be Saturday, and you and I willgo to Genoa on the nine-o'clock stage, shall we? Then you may choose thesilk and a pattern. I have some lace in my trunk that will do nicely fortrimming. How would you like that?"
"Oh, teacher, Miss Bayley, I'd love it! I've never been to Genoa butonce." Sudden tears in the child's eyes assured Miss Bayley that theonce had been a sad occasion, as indeed it had been, for with her fathershe and Ken had gone to select a coffin for their beautiful mother.
Desiring to change the thought of her little guest, Miss Bayley asked,"What color do you like best, Dixie?"
"I like the first green that comes on the trees down by the creek inspring. It's like a fairy color with silver on it," the little girlsaid.
Miss Bayley nodded. "That would make a pretty silk dress," she remarked,"but I'd like you to have a cashmere dress, the same gold-brown as youreyes."
"Me? Oh, I don't need a new dress, Miss Bayley. I don't mind buttonsdown the front the way Carol does."
The young teacher laughed, saying, as she rose to clear the table, "Weshall see what we shall see."
Dixie was about to assist when the sound of wheels attracted herattention. "Oh, teacher, Miss Bayley,"--the child seemed actuallyfrightened,--"something dreadful must have happened. Here come all theArchers."
There was a sudden firmness about Josephine Bayley's pretty mouth, andan expression in her eyes that seemed to say, "Let them come."