CHAPTER XIII
A BAD DAY FOR JOHN GILPIN
What had happened!
Those who were sliding down that icy incline could not stop to see,and those who were on the ground below covered their eyes that theymight not. Yet opened them again to stare helplessly at the danglingfigure of a girl outside that terrible slide. For in a moment, whenthe clutching fingers must unclose, the poor child must drop todestruction. That was inevitable.
Then they saw it was Dorothy, who hung thus, suspended between lifeand death. Dorothy in her white and pink, the daintiest darling ofthem all, who had so enjoyed her first--and last!--day at this sport.
Fresh shudders ran through the onlookers as they realized this and theLady Principal sank down in a faint. Then another groan escapedthem--the merest possibility of hope.
Behold! The girl did not fall! Another's small hand reached over thelow side of the toboggan and clutched the blanket-covered shoulder ofthe imperiled child. Another hand! the other shoulder, and hope grewstronger. Someone had caught the falling Dorothy--she and herwould-be-rescuer were now moving--moving--slowly downward along thevery edge--one swaying perilously with the motion, the other whollyunseen save for those outstretched hands, with their death-fast gripupon the snowy wool.
Down--down! And faster now! Till the hands of the tallest watcherscould reach and clasp the feet, then the whole precious little body of"Miss Dixie," their favorite from the Southland.
But even then, as strong arms drew her into their safe shelter, thesmall hands which had supported her to safety clung still so tightthat only the Bishop's could loose their clasp.
"Gwendolyn! You brave, sweet girl! Let go--let go. It's all rightnow--Dorothy did not fall--You saved her life. Look up, my daughter.Don't faint now when all is over. Look up, you noble child, and hearme tell you: Dorothy is safe and it is you who saved her life. At therisk of your own you saved her life."
Clasped close in his fatherly arms, Gwendolyn shuddered but obeyed andlooked up into the Bishop's face.
"Say that again. Please. Say that again--very slow--if it's the--thetruth."
"SOMEONE HAD CAUGHT THE FALLING GIRL." _Dorothy at Oak Knowe._]
"Gwendolyn, I tell you now, in the presence of God and thesewitnesses, it has been your precious privilege to save a human life,by your swift thought and determined action you have saved the life ofDorothy Calvert, and God bless you for it."
"Then we are quits!"
For another moment after she had said those words she still restedquietly where she was, then slowly rose and looked about her.
Dorothy had been in the greater peril of the two, yet more unconsciousof it. She had not seen how high above the ground she hung, nor howdirectly beneath was the lake with the thinly frozen spots whence thethicker ice had been cut for the ice-houses; nor how there were heapedup rocks bordering the water, left as nature had designed to beautifythe scene.
She was the quickest to recover her great fright and she was whollyunhurt. Her really greater wonder was that poor Miss Muriel shouldhappen to faint away just then.
"I'm glad she did, though, if it won't make her ill, 'cause then shedidn't see me dangling, like I must have, and get scared for that.Likely she stayed out doors too long. She isn't very strong and it'smighty cold, I think."
So they hurried her indoors, Gwendolyn with her, yet neither of themallowed to discuss the affair until they were both warmly dressed inordinary clothes and set down to a cute little lunch table, "all foryour two selves," Nora explained: "And to eat all these warm thingsand drink hot coffee--as much of it as you like. It was Miss Murielherself who said that!"
This was a treat indeed. Coffee at any meal was kept for a specialtreat, but to have unlimited portions of it was what Dolly called "astep beyond."
Curious glances, but smiling and tender, came often their way, fromother tables in the room, yet the sport, and happily ended hazard ofthe morning had given to every girl a fine appetite, so that, foronce, knives and forks were more busily employed than tongues.
Neither did the two heroines of the recent tragic episode feel muchlike speech. Now that it was all over and they could think about itmore clearly their hearts were filled with the solemnity of what hadhappened; and Gwendolyn said all that was needed for both, when oncelaying her hand on Dorothy's she whispered:
"You saved my life--the Bishop says that I saved yours. After thatwe're even and we must love each other all our lives."
"Oh! we must, we must! And I do, I shall!" returned Dorothy, withtears rising.
Then this festive little lunch dispatched, they were captured by theirschoolmates and led triumphantly into the cheerful library, the sceneof all their confabs, and Winifred demanded:
"Now, in the name of all the Oak Knowe girls, I demand a detailedhistory of what happened. Begin at the beginning and don't either ofyou dare to skip a single moment of the time from where you starteddown the old toboggan alongside of John Gilpin and that boy. I fancyif the tale were properly told his ride would outdo that of hisnamesake of old times. Dorothy Calvert, begin."
"Why, dear, I don't know what to say, except that, as you say, westarted. My lovely toboggan went beautifully, as it had all the time,but theirs didn't act right. I believe that the old man was scared sothat he couldn't do a thing except meddle with Robin, who doesn't knowmuch more about sliding than I do, or did. He--"
"I saw he was getting on the wrong side, right behind you two, as weshot past on ours," interrupted Serena Huntington, "and we both calledout: 'steer! steer right!' but I suppose they didn't hear orunderstand. We were so far down then that I don't know."
"Gwen, dear, you tell the rest," begged Dorothy, cuddling up to thegirl she now so dearly loved.
It wasn't often that Gwendolyn was called to the front like this, butshe found it very pleasant; so readily took up the tale where Dorothyleft it, "at the very beginning" as "Dixie" laughingly declared.
"It seems as if there was nothing to tell--it was all so quick--itjust happened! Half way down, it must have been, the farmer's sled hitours. That scared me, too, and I called, just as Serena had, and aseverybody on the slide was doing as they passed: 'Steer right!' Iguess that only confused the poor old man, for he kept bobbing into usand that hindered our getting away from him ourselves.
"Next I knew, Dolly was off the sled and over the edge of the slide,clinging to it for her life. I knew she couldn't hold on long and so Irolled off and grabbed her. Then we began to slide and I knew somebodywas trying to help by pushing us downward toward the bottom. I don'tknow who that was. I don't know anything clearly. It was all like aflash--I guessed we would be killed--I shut my eyes and--that's all."
To break the too suggestive silence which followed with its hint of adifferent, sorrowful ending, Florita Sheraton exclaimed:
"I know who did that pushing! It was our little Robin Adair, orwhatever his name is. Fact. That home-made toboggan of his came togrief. The old man has told me. He's out in the kitchen now warming uphis bruises. You see, there wasn't anything to hang on by, on thesides. He had scorned Robin's advice to nail something on and henearly ground his fingers off holding on by the flat bottom. It wentso swift--his fingers ached so--he yanked them out from under--Robinscreeched--they ran into you--they both tumbled off--Robin lodgedagainst you but John Gilpin rode to the bottom--thus wise!"
Florita illustrated by rolling one hand over and under the other; andthus, in fact, had John Gilpin taken his first toboggan slide.
Laughter showed that the tension of excitement which had held theseschoolgirls all that day had yielded to ordinary feelings, and nowmost of them went away for study or practicing, leaving Dorothy andGwendolyn alone. After a moment, they also left the library, boundkitchenwards, to visit old John and see if Robin were stillthereabouts.
"I wish there were something I could do for that boy," said Gwen. "Ifeel so grateful to him for helping us and he looked so poor. Do yousuppose, Dolly, if Mamma offered him money for that new coat he jestedabout, th
at he would be offended."
"Of course, Gwen, I don't know about _him_. You never can tell aboutother folks, but Uncle Seth thinks it's a mighty safe rule 'to putyourself in his place'; and if I were in Robin's I'd be 'mad as ahatter' to have money offered me for doing a little thing like that.Wouldn't you?"
"Why, yes, Dorothy, of course I would. The idea! But I'm rich, or mypeople are, which is the same thing. But he's poor. His feelings maynot, cannot, be the same as our sort have."
"Why can't they? I don't like to have you think that way. You oughtnot. Gwen you must not. For that will make us break friendship squareoff. I'm not poor Dawkins's niece, though I might be much worse offthan that, but once I was 'poor' like Robin. I was a deserted baby,adopted by a poor letter carrier. Now, what do you think of that?Can't I have nice feelings same as you? And am I a bit better--inmyself--because in reality I belonged to a rich old family, than I waswhen I washed dishes in Mother Martha's kitchen? Tell me that, beforewe go one step further."
Dorothy had stopped short in the hall and faced about, anxiouslystudying the face of this "Peer," who had now become so dear to her.
Gwendolyn's face was a puzzle; as, for a time, the old opinions andthe new struggled within her. But the struggle was brief. Her pride,her justice, and now her love, won the victory.
"No, you darling, brave little thing, you are not. Whatever you areyou were born such, and I love you, I love you. If I'd only been bornin the States I'd have had no silly notions."
"Don't you believe that, Gwen. Aunt Betty says that human nature isthe same all the world over. You'd have been just as much of a snob ifyou'd been 'raised in ol' Ferginny' as you are here. Oh! my! I didn'tmean that. I meant--You must understand what I mean!"
A flush of mortification at her too plain speaking made Dorothy hideher face, but her hands were swiftly pulled down and a kiss left intheir place.
"Don't you fret, Queenie! It's taken lots of Mamma's plain speaking tokeep me half-way decent to others less rich than I, and I'm afraidit'll take lots of yours, too, to put the finishing touches to thatlesson. Come on. We love each other now, and love puts everythingright. Come on. Let's find that Robin and see what we can do for himwithout hurting his feelings."
"Oh! yes, come, let's hurry! But first to the Lady Principal. Maybe wecan help them both. Won't that be fine?"
But they were not to help Robin just then. A groan from the servants'parlor, a pleasant room opening from the kitchen, arrested theirattention and made them pause to listen. Punctuated by other sounds,a querulous voice was complaining:
"Seems if there warn't a hull spot left on my old body that ain'tbruised sore as a bile. Why, sir, when I fell off that blamed sledwe'd tinkered up"--groan--"I didn't know anything. Just slid--an'slid--an' rolled over and over, never realizin' which side of me wastopmost till I fetched up--kerwhack! to the very bottom. Seemed as ifI'd fell out o' the sky into the bottomless pit. Oh! dear!"
Dawkins's voice it was that answered him, both pitying and teasing himin the same breath:
"I'm sure it's sorry I am, Mr. Gilpin, for what's befell; but for aman that's lived in a tobogganing country ever since he was born, youbegun rather late in life to learn the sport. Why--"
"Ain't no older'n the Bishop! Can't one man do same's t'other, I'dlike to know, Mis' Dawkins?"
"Seems not;" laughed the maid. "But, here, take this cup of hotspearmint tea. 'Twill warm your old bones and help 'em to mend; an'next time you start playin' children's game--why don't! And forgoodness' sake, John, quit groanin'! Takin' on like that don't helpany and I tell you fair and square I've had about all the strain puton my nerves, to-day, 't I can bear. What was your bit of a roll downthat smooth ice compared to what our girls went through?"
"Has you got any nuts in your pockets? Has you?" broke inMillikins-Pillikins, who had been a patient listener to the confabbetween the farmer and the nurse till she could wait no longer. Neverhad the old man come to Oak Knowe without some dainty for the littlegirl and she expected such now.
"No, sissy, I haven't. I dunno as I've got a pocket left. I dunnonothing, except--except--What'll SHE say when I go home all lamed uplike this! Oh! hum! Seems if I was possessed to ha' done it, and soshe thought. But 'twas Robin's fault. If Robin hadn't beset me so I'dnever thought of it. Leastwise, not to go the length I did. IfI'd--But there! What's the use? But one thing's sure. I'll get shut ofthat boy, see if I don't. He's well now an' why should I go toharboring _reptiles_ in my buzzum? Tell me that if ye can! _Reptiles._That's what he was, a-teasin' an' misleadin' a poor old man intodestruction. Huh! I'll make it warm for him--trust John Gilpin forthat!"
Dawkins had long since departed, unable to bear the old man'slamentations, and leaving the cup, or pot, of hot tea on the tablebeside him. But little Grace couldn't tear herself away. She lingered,first hoping for the nuts she craved, and later in wonder about the"_reptile_" he said was in his bosom. There were big books full ofpictures in the library, that Auntie Prin sometimes let her see. Sheloved to have them opened on the rug and lie down beside them to studythem. She knew what "reptiles" were. That was the very one of all theNatural History books with the blue bindings that she liked best, itwas so delightfully crawly and sent such funny little thrills allthrough her. If a picture could do that what might not the real thingdo!
"Show it to me, please, Mr. Gilpin. I never saw a reptile in all mywhole life long! Never!"
The farmer had paid scant attention to her chatter; indeed, hescarcely heard it, his mind being wholly engrossed now withwhat his dame would say to him, on his return home; and in hisabsent-mindedness he reached out for the drink good Dawkins hadleft him and put the pot to his lips taking a great draught.
An instant later the pot flew out of his hand and he sprang to hisfeet, clutching frantically at his bosom and yelling as if he werestung. For the contents of the pot were boiling hot and he had scaldedhis throat most painfully.
But wide-eyed little Grace did not understand his wild action, as,still clutching his shirt front, he hurled the pot far from him. Ofcourse, the "reptile" was biting! That must be why he screeched so,and now all her desire for a personal acquaintance with such acreature vanished. She must get as far away from it as possible beforeit appeared on the surface of his smock and, darting doorward, wasjust in time to receive the pot and what was left in it upon her curlyhead. Down she dropped as if she had been shot, and Dorothy enteringwas just in time to see her fall. The scene apparently explaineditself. The angry face of the old man, his arm still rigid, in thegesture of hurling, the fallen child and the broken pot--who couldguess that it was horror at his uncalculated deed which kept him inthat pose?
Not Dorothy, who caught up little Grace and turned a furious face uponpoor John, crying out in fierce contempt:
"Oh! you horrible old man! First you tried to kill me and now you havekilled her!"