CHAPTER XXI
SUMMER DAYS
Before the Carews came, Pollyanna had told Jimmy that she wasdepending on him to help her entertain them. Jimmy had not expressedhimself then as being overwhelmingly desirous to serve her in thisway; but before the Carews had been in town a fortnight, he had shownhimself as not only willing but anxious,--judging by the frequency andlength of his calls, and the lavishness of his offers of the Pendletonhorses and motor cars.
Between him and Mrs. Carew there sprang up at once a warm friendshipbased on what seemed to be a peculiarly strong attraction for eachother. They walked and talked together, and even made sundry plans forthe Home for Working Girls, to be carried out the following winterwhen Jimmy should be in Boston. Jamie, too, came in for a good measureof attention, nor was Sadie Dean forgotten. Sadie, as Mrs. Carewplainly showed, was to be regarded as if she were quite one of thefamily; and Mrs. Carew was careful to see that she had full share inany plans for merrymaking.
Nor did Jimmy always come alone with his offers for entertainment.More and more frequently John Pendleton appeared with him. Rides anddrives and picnics were planned and carried out, and long delightfulafternoons were spent over books and fancy-work on the Harringtonveranda.
Pollyanna was delighted. Not only were her paying guests being keptfrom any possibilities of ennui and homesickness, but her goodfriends, the Carews, were becoming delightfully acquainted with herother good friends, the Pendletons. So, like a mother hen with a broodof chickens, she hovered over the veranda meetings, and did everythingin her power to keep the group together and happy.
Neither the Carews nor the Pendletons, however, were at all satisfiedto have Pollyanna merely an onlooker in their pastimes, and verystrenuously they urged her to join them. They would not take no for ananswer, indeed, and Pollyanna very frequently found the way opened forher.
"Just as if we were going to have you poked up in this hot kitchenfrosting cake!" Jamie scolded one day, after he had penetrated thefastnesses of her domain. "It is a perfectly glorious morning, andwe're all going over to the Gorge and take our luncheon. And YOU aregoing with us."
"But, Jamie, I can't--indeed I can't," refused Pollyanna.
"Why not? You won't have dinner to get for us, for we sha'n't be hereto eat it."
"But there's the--the luncheon."
"Wrong again. We'll have the luncheon with us, so you CAN'T stay hometo get that. Now what's to hinder your going along WITH the luncheon,eh?"
"Why, Jamie, I--I can't. There's the cake to frost--"
"Don't want it frosted."
"And the dusting--"
"Don't want it dusted."
"And the ordering to do for to-morrow."
"Give us crackers and milk. We'd lots rather have you and crackers andmilk than a turkey dinner and not you."
"But I can't begin to tell you the things I've got to do to-day."
"Don't want you to begin to tell me," retorted Jamie, cheerfully. "Iwant you to stop telling me. Come, put on your bonnet. I saw Betty inthe dining room, and she says she'll put our luncheon up. Now hurry."
"Why, Jamie, you ridiculous boy, I can't go," laughed Pollyanna,holding feebly back, as he tugged at her dress-sleeve. "I can't go tothat picnic with you!"
But she went. She went not only then, but again and again. She couldnot help going, indeed, for she found arrayed against her not onlyJamie, but Jimmy and Mr. Pendleton, to say nothing of Mrs. Carew andSadie Dean, and even Aunt Polly herself.
"And of course I AM glad to go," she would sigh happily, when somedreary bit of work was taken out of her hands in spite of allprotesting. "But, surely, never before were there any boarders likemine--teasing for crackers-and-milk and cold things; and never beforewas there a boarding mistress like me--running around the countryafter this fashion!"
The climax came when one day John Pendleton (and Aunt Polly neverceased to exclaim because it WAS John Pendleton)--suggested that theyall go on a two weeks' camping trip to a little lake up among themountains forty miles from Beldingsville.
The idea was received with enthusiastic approbation by everybodyexcept Aunt Polly. Aunt Polly said, privately, to Pollyanna, that itwas all very good and well and desirable that John Pendleton shouldhave gotten out of the sour, morose aloofness that had been his statefor so many years, but that it did not necessarily follow that it wasequally desirable that he should be trying to turn himself into atwenty-year-old boy again; and that was what, in her opinion, heseemed to be doing now! Publicly she contented herself with sayingcoldly that SHE certainly should not go on any insane camping trip tosleep on damp ground and eat bugs and spiders, under the guise of"fun," nor did she think it a sensible thing for anybody over forty todo.
If John Pendleton felt any wound from this shaft, he made no sign.Certainly there was no diminution of apparent interest and enthusiasmon his part, and the plans for the camping expedition came on apace,for it was unanimously decided that, even if Aunt Polly would not go,that was no reason why the rest should not.
"And Mrs. Carew will be all the chaperon we need, anyhow," Jimmy haddeclared airily.
For a week, therefore, little was talked of but tents, food supplies,cameras, and fishing tackle, and little was done that was not apreparation in some way for the trip.
"And let's make it the real thing," proposed Jimmy, eagerly, "--yes,even to Mrs. Chilton's bugs and spiders," he added, with a merry smilestraight into that lady's severely disapproving eyes. "None of yourlog-cabin-central-dining-room idea for us! We want real camp-fireswith potatoes baked in the ashes, and we want to sit around and tellstories and roast corn on a stick."
"And we want to swim and row and fish," chimed in Pollyanna. "And--"She stopped suddenly, her eyes on Jamie's face. "That is, of course,"she corrected quickly, "we wouldn't want to--to do those things allthe time. There'd be a lot of QUIET things we'd want to do, too--readand talk, you know."
Jamie's eyes darkened. His face grew a little white. His lips parted,but before any words came, Sadie Dean was speaking.
"Oh, but on camping trips and picnics, you know, we EXPECT to dooutdoor stunts," she interposed feverishly; "and I'm sure we WANT to.Last summer we were down in Maine, and you should have seen the fishMr. Carew caught. It was--You tell it," she begged, turning to Jamie.
Jamie laughed and shook his head.
"They'd never believe it," he objected; "--a fish story like that!"
"Try us," challenged Pollyanna.
Jamie still shook his head--but the color had come back to his face,and his eyes were no longer somber as if with pain. Pollyanna,glancing at Sadie Dean, vaguely wondered why she suddenly settled backin her seat with so very evident an air of relief.
At last the appointed day came, and the start was made in JohnPendleton's big new touring car with Jimmy at the wheel. A whir, athrobbing rumble, a chorus of good-bys, and they were off, with onelong shriek of the siren under Jimmy's mischievous fingers.
In after days Pollyanna often went back in her thoughts to that firstnight in camp. The experience was so new and so wonderful in so manyways.
It was four o'clock when their forty-mile automobile journey came toan end. Since half-past three their big car had been ponderouslypicking its way over an old logging-road not designed for six-cylinderautomobiles. For the car itself, and for the hand at the wheel, thispart of the trip was a most wearing one; but for the merry passengers,who had no responsibility concerning hidden holes and muddy curves, itwas nothing but a delight growing more poignant with every new vistathrough the green arches, and with every echoing laugh that dodged thelow-hanging branches.
The site for the camp was one known to John Pendleton years before,and he greeted it now with a satisfied delight that was not unmingledwith relief.
"Oh, how perfectly lovely!" chorused the others.
"Glad you like it! I thought it would be about right," nodded JohnPendleton. "Still, I was a little anxious, after all, for these placesdo change, you know, most remarkably sometimes. And o
f course this hasgrown up to bushes a little--but not so but what we can easily clearit."
Everybody fell to work then, clearing the ground, putting up the twolittle tents, unloading the automobile, building the camp fire, andarranging the "kitchen and pantry."
It was then that Pollyanna began especially to notice Jamie, and tofear for him. She realized suddenly that the hummocks and hollows andpine-littered knolls were not like a carpeted floor for a pair ofcrutches, and she saw that Jamie was realizing it, too. She saw, also,that in spite of his infirmity, he was trying to take his share in thework; and the sight troubled her. Twice she hurried forward andintercepted him, taking from his arms the box he was trying to carry.
"Here, let me take that," she begged. "You've done enough." And thesecond time she added: "Do go and sit down somewhere to rest, Jamie.You look so tired!"
If she had been watching closely she would have seen the quick colorsweep to his forehead. But she was not watching, so she did not seeit. She did see, however, to her intense surprise, Sadie Dean hurryforward a moment later, her arms full of boxes, and heard her cry:
"Oh, Mr. Carew, please, if you WOULD give me a lift with these!"
The next moment, Jamie, once more struggling with the problem ofmanaging a bundle of boxes and two crutches, was hastening toward thetents.
With a quick word of protest on her tongue, Pollyanna turned to SadieDean. But the protest died unspoken, for Sadie, her finger to herlips, was hurrying straight toward her.
"I know you didn't think," she stammered in a low voice, as shereached Pollyanna's side. "But, don't you see?--it HURTS him--to haveyou think he can't do things like other folks. There, look! See howhappy he is now."
Pollyanna looked, and she saw. She saw Jamie, his whole self alert,deftly balance his weight on one crutch and swing his burden to theground. She saw the happy light on his face, and she heard him saynonchalantly:
"Here's another contribution from Miss Dean. She asked me to bringthis over."
"Why, yes, I see," breathed Pollyanna, turning to Sadie Dean. ButSadie Dean had gone.
Pollyanna watched Jamie a good deal after that, though she was carefulnot to let him, or any one else, see that she was watching him. And asshe watched, her heart ached. Twice she saw him essay a task and fail:once with a box too heavy for him to lift; once with a folding-tabletoo unwieldy for him to carry with his crutches. And each time she sawhis quick glance about him to see if others noticed. She saw, too,that unmistakably he was getting very tired, and that his face, inspite of its gay smile, was looking white and drawn, as if he were inpain.
"I should think we might have known more," stormed Pollyanna hotly toherself, her eyes blinded with tears. "I should think we might haveknown more than to have let him come to a place like this. Camping,indeed!--and with a pair of crutches! Why couldn't we have rememberedbefore we started?"
An hour later, around the camp fire after supper, Pollyanna had heranswer to this question; for, with the glowing fire before her, andthe soft, fragrant dark all about her, she once more fell under thespell of the witchery that fell from Jamie's lips; and she once moreforgot--Jamie's crutches.