CHAPTER XVII--POLLY AND ELEANOR LEAVE FOR EUROPE
"I do declare! here it is the first of May, and it seems as if it werebut yesterday that we came back to New York to study," exclaimedEleanor, as Polly and she were returning from art class one evening.
"And we are no more decided about what we shall do this Summer, than wewere last Fall. If only Dad would consent to our joining the Ashbys andMr. Fabian on the European trip, in June," returned Polly.
"I'm glad father says _I_ may go if your father consents. Of course weshall have to go, some time or other, Polly, before we could settle downas experienced decorators; but this is a fine opportunity--to be membersof a party of appreciative people such as is seldom offered to youngbeginners as we are."
"Eleanor, have you thought of what we shall do, next year of school, ifAnne marries John? You know, Mrs. Stewart says she is going back toDenver to keep house for Paul, as he will graduate with the other boys,next month."
"Uh-huh! John and Tom will settle down at Pebbly Pit to superintend themine and jewel cliffs, and Paul will join the survey crew in Denver. Isuppose my brother Pete will be hanging about them, somewhere, doing oddjobs, now and then."
Eleanor spoke in a half-humorous tone, but Polly was in earnest.
"Well, then, if Anne is John's wife, and Mrs. Stewart in Denver, wheredo we fit in?"
"I've thought it all out, Polly--never fear! You see Mr. Fabian expectsto bring his wife and daughter back to America this year, as Nancy hasfinished her art studies abroad. If we make ourselves agreeable to them,and then hint gently, on the trip back home, that we have no place tolive in, the coming winter, they'll take us right in with them. How'dyou like that!"
"Oh, it would be great, Nolla, but would it be quite the proper thingfor us to do--to throw ourselves upon their hospitality?"
"Polly, they ought to be thankful to have two such nice girls with them!To say nothing of our eventually becoming the greatest interiordecorators of the present day," exclaimed Eleanor, her well-shapedlittle head rearing itself in conscious pride.
Polly laughed. "Well, Nolla, we will never suffer for lack ofself-esteem. Even if others declare we know nothing, you will be able tokeep the family pride up to high-water mark. If we knew but one-third ofall you _think_ we do, we could take Mr. Ashby in partnership with us,now."
"There's another thing, Polly, that is a golden opportunity for us. Theidea of having a successful decorator like Mr. Ashby plan to take us inhis business when we are through school, is enough to turn anyone'shead. But not ours, Polly--we are too sensible!"
Again Polly laughed at her friend's meekness--so-called. "Mr. Ashby maychange his mind before we are ready to accept his offer. We have twoyears still in which to study, you know."
"That will fly like these past two years have. Why here we are onlysixteen and just see all we know!"
"Yes, and just see all we have yet to know!" retorted Polly.
"I tell you what, those Saturday mornings we spent in Mr. Ashby'ssales-rooms were a wonderful help, eh?"
"Yes; I really believe, Nolla, that I learned as much of textiles, andfabrics, by simply handling and selling the materials, as if I had givendays to the study of them."
"It was not only a brilliant idea of Mr. Fabian's, to suggest to Mr.Ashby that Ruth and we two girls be permitted to act as clerks in hisrooms, but it was as kind and generous of Mr. Ashby to take us. The wayhe taught us all about different factories and their best and weakestpoints in manufacture; the time he took to demonstrate differences inlace and silk curtains, the best style of linen for covers anddraperies, the tapestries and carpets of modern factories--why, I cantell at a glance now, just whose goods I am handling."
"Yes," admitted Polly. "How many decorators' assistants know the styleof upholstery buttons that ought to be used on a French divan? Or whatshaped button ought to go on a Turkish chair? I never dreamed that therewas any difference, according to art, between a tufted wing-chair andone that was smoothly upholstered. I bet the majority of people selectone or the other because they like the looks, but very few know thatcertain lines in a fireside chair demand tufted upholstery, and anotherperiod must never have buttons or fringe."
"Exactly! That is what I mean, Polly, when I say I am sure we two knowan awful lot about decorating, already. It is so."
"Dear old Fabian says, this is our critical year--if we can manage topass through the period between second and third years of study withoutdiscovering that we know it all, we may eventually hope to becomeaverage decorators," Polly laughed.
"Pooh! We both know Mr. Fabian is a dotard about us. If anyone dares tohint that we are not as advanced as he says we are, he glares like ajealous cat over her kittens."
Polly and Eleanor reached the Studio by this time and found Anne readinga long letter from John. She was smiling happily as she read, andEleanor grinned charitably at her.
Polly sat down to wait till the letter was read. Then Anne glanced overat the girls.
"Well, dears, John has definitely settled everything. Tom Latimer and heare coming on to New York directly their college commencement is over.Polly's father and mother _may_ decide to come, but that is not yetcertain. As soon as you two girls are off, we will all go back home andstay."
"'And they lived happily ever after,'" quoth Eleanor, teasingly.
Anne smiled. Polly seemed dissatisfied.
"What do you mean 'as soon as you girls are off?'"
"Why, off on the European trip. The Ashbys were here to-night and it isall settled. Mr. Brewster wrote a fine letter and thanked them for theirwonderful offer to chaperone you girls."
"Oh, oh!" shouted Eleanor, springing up and throwing her arms aboutPolly's neck.
Anne and her mother laughed as the impulsive girl whirled Polly aroundand around, until both, exhausted, fell upon the divan. Then Polly askedthe question Eleanor had choked in her throat.
"What about John, Anne? Are you going to Denver or to Pebbly Pit?"
"I expect to go to Pebbly Pit, dear," said Anne, blushing.
"No need to feel embarrassed over it, Anne," laughed Eleanor. "It isn'tas if we had never heard of your plan. Besides we are all in the family,now--or at least we will be."
"Where does your relationship come in, Nolla?" asked Mrs. Stewart,quizzically.
"Why, didn't you know, Mother Stewart? I propose to become Paul's bride,some day, but he doesn't know it, either!" and the irrepressible girllaughed madly as she ran upstairs to her room.
Her friends in the living-room laughed also, but Polly doubted that itwas said in fun. She rather suspected Eleanor of receiving many niceletters from Paul Stewart, during her second year in New York. ButEleanor kept her own secret.
As June entered and schools were all beginning their examinations, Mrs.Stewart began to clear up the rooms in the home they had occupied fortwo years. Anne's and her own personal property were to be packed andsent to Denver. Polly and Eleanor's had to be sorted and packed andstored; the winter clothing in strong moth-proof chests, and the thingsthey proposed taking abroad with them, in small steamer trunks.
Mr. Fabian had spoken for the lease on the Studio when Mrs. Stewart'stime expired, and until then, most of the furniture could remain as itwas. Polly and Eleanor were to have the two small rooms and live withthe Fabians, and Mrs. Fabian had written that she would buy back thethings as they stood, thus saving everyone trouble and time.
As the days of June passed, Anne had another letter from John, beggingher to come to the graduation in Chicago. But Polly and Eleanor neededher in New York, as everything was in a panic preparing for the oceanvoyage, and working so hard at school, too.
Before the girls knew it, therefore, the westerners were with them inNew York. Mr. and Mrs. Brewster expected to see Polly off on thesteamer, and John said he had unexpectedly planned to have Anne marryhim before Polly sailed.
"Oh, that will be great! A wedding and a farewell party all in one,"cried Eleanor.
But John took Polly aside and whispered
: "Polly, I want my only sisterto witness my marriage to the best girl living, so you will have topersuade Anne to look at it as I do."
"All right, John," laughingly replied Polly. "I'll do my best to makeher steal my only brother from me."
Tom Latimer joined them at this moment, and said to Polly: "You havegrown so tall and look such a fine young lady, that I wonder how Annecan steal any man from you. Now if I were John, I should never _want_ tobe stolen from you."
"Oh, Tom!" laughed Polly, greatly amused at his words. "You talk exactlylike Winnie Trevors. He's the society pet that expects to marryElizabeth Dalken. But you should see him--and hear him talk!"
"Tom Latimer would never thank you for that left-handed compliment,Polly, if he could but see the slim little dude you compared to him,"said Eleanor, joining the group.
"I believe I do know him, Polly--If he is the silver-haired lap-dog Iwent to grammar-school with."
"Yes--he _has_ got whitish hair, Tom!" laughed Eleanor.
Polly smiled but said nothing. Then Tom said, "Will you take all thatback, Poll, or must I punish you severely, some day?"
"I never take back a word I once have said--unless I can see where I canbenefit myself. You see, Tom, I have changed woefully, since living inNew York. I am exactly like other citizens here--I am supremely selfish,these days."
Tom smiled. "I can offer you a bite of attractive bait. Will youapologise for calling me 'exactly like Winnie' if I tell you a profoundsecret?"
"That depends! What do you call 'profound,' and will I be concerned inhearing it?" teased Polly.
Eleanor had never known Polly to behave so coquettishly before, and toher astonishment, she beheld her little model of virtue flirtdistractingly with Tom. Or Eleanor _thought_ Polly was flirting, whenshe sent a dazzling look at him from her wonderful eyes.
"It is the secret about the Valentine Roses. At last I have managed tolearn who really sent them to you."
Eleanor perked up. Here was a delightful situation. Polly had never beenable to find out who had sent the roses, and Tom was ready to confess.
"Oh, really!" exclaimed Polly, eagerly inquisitive.
Tom laughed. "Are you concerned? Is it a profound secret?"
"Yes, oh, yes, Tom!" cried Eleanor, excitedly. "Do tell us what youknow."
"But Polly has to show her interest, too. If she says she is sorry forlikening me to Winfield, I will tell her who sent the roses."
"Is he nice, Tom?" asked Polly, anxiously.
"I have heard people _say_ he is, and _I_ think him great!"
Eleanor chuckled. This was a scene after her own heart.
"Is he old--or ugly, Tom?" added Polly.
"No--he is young, and not _very_ bad-looking."
Polly thought seriously, then said: "Does he live in New York?"
"I won't answer any more such questions, Polly, it isn't fair unless youdo your part," laughed Tom.
"Oh, well, then, please excuse me for ever mentioning you in the same_breath_ with Winnie," giggled Polly. "Now tell me who sent thoseroses."
"I will, Polly, but not to-day. I did not promise to tell you, atonce--so I will wait until after John's wedding."
Polly stamped her foot as Tom hurried away, and Eleanor laughed merrilyat the hoax. But there was too much going on all about them, to bother,now, about roses that were almost two years old.
Mr. Maynard arrived from Chicago in time for the quiet little wedding at"The Church around the Corner," and then everyone went to the Studio fora reception. John and his bride left for a very short honeymoon, andlater, all thoughts centered on Polly and Eleanor. It would be theirturn to say good-by in a few days.
Tom Latimer outdid himself during the days intervening between John'swedding and Polly's sailing. Jim and Ken were back from college, butsomehow the two girls who had been such fine young pals out in theRockies, and on that Coney Island trip, now seemed several years olderthan these boys. They couldn't understand it.
Mr. Fabian could have explained the change. It was mostly psychological,due to the advanced mental training his girls had received in theirstudy of a chosen high profession. They truly were far superior, now, toeither of the two boys at Yale, although they were not aware of it atthe time.
The day for the sailing of the steamer arrived, and a gay party stood onthe pier just before the good-bys had to be said. Mrs. Brewster gavePolly many warnings and advices, and Mr. Maynard begged Eleanor not tobankrupt him during her stay in Paris.
Books, flowers, fruit and candy, had been piled up in the arms of RuthAshby, Polly and Eleanor, until they could not shake the extended handsof their friends when the time came to really say good-by.
"Never mind your hands, we'll kiss your faces!" laughed Mr. Maynard, andstraightway began kissing the pretty struggling girls.
As everyone in the group was an old friend, each one took toll of thegirls' cheeks, and just as Jim Latimer, the last in the line, caught aswift brush of Ruth's ear, Tom Latimer strolled up.
"Hello, Tom! Where have you been?" called his father.
"Better get your kiss, Tom, or you'll be left," added Jim.
So Tom managed to get his "good-by" from Ruth and from Eleanor, butPolly blushed furiously, and reared her head.
"If another silly man kisses me, I'll--I'll--slap him!"
Of course everyone laughed uproariously at this, but the guard suddenlyshouted, "All aboard." And the sailing party rushed up the gang-plank.
Once on deck, however, Polly remembered something she had meant to askTom Latimer. She leaned over the rail and called back:
"Oh, Tom! you never told me who sent the roses!"
"You'll find out about it when you reach your stateroom," shouted Tom,making a megaphone of his hands. "I met him there, talking to thesteward, and you will know as soon as you go down."
Eleanor giggled. "That's where Tom was when Mr. Dalken dared anyone totake one of his girls away from him."
"But who could Tom have met in our stateroom, Nolla? I thought everyonewas on the pier with us?"
The steamer had already swung down-stream, and the friends on the pierwere mere dots, so the curious girls hurried down to see who had sentPolly the Valentine roses. Ruth accompanied them, as she felt she shouldhave been the third in this girl relationship--like triplets, she said,one day, to her father.
Then the door was opened, and sweet fragrance greeted the girls. Therein a corner of the stateroom stood a dozen American Beauty roses, eachwith a stem almost four feet long. And about the stems a golden cord wastied, and upon this cord hung a card.
The three girls stood admiring the great crimson beauties and then Ruthsaid: "See who they are from--and who for?"
"Why, they're Polly's, of course. The same 'old valentine' sent them!"laughed Eleanor.
Polly's fingers trembled as she bent forward and read what was writtenon the card: "Your Valentine that was, and is, and always will be, inthis world, and in the next, and forever, Tom."
"Oh, no! No! No! No! I won't have you so, Tom!" cried Polly, throwingherself in the chair and covering her face with her hands. Eleanor andRuth stood perfectly still, not knowing what to do or say.
Then Polly lifted her face. She was trying to smile. "Dear old Tom onlydid that to tease me. Isn't he an old plague?"
"I should say he was!" exclaimed Ruth, innocently.
Eleanor with the worldly wisdom learned from her mother, addedguilefully: "He sure is. But you tricked him, Polly."
"How?" eagerly inquired Polly.
"He was the only one in the party who didn't get a kiss from you!"laughed Eleanor.
"That's so!" admitted Polly, but Eleanor was not sure whether her friendwas sorry or satisfied at the result.
Then, as the days passed, Eleanor noticed that Polly never mentioned theroses again, but they were kept as fresh as possible, and weeks later,Eleanor found one of them carefully pressed with the card still tied toit.
But this discovery, and all that happened during that Summer in Europe,while visitin
g famous places and viewing rare objects of antiquity, aretold in another volume called "Polly and Eleanor Abroad."
THE END