CHAPTER VII
NELLIE
"Shall I take my cart over to meet Nellie and Mrs. Manily, mother?"Dorothy asked Mrs. Minturn, that afternoon, when the city train wasabout due.
"Why, yes, daughter, I think that would be very nice," replied themother. "I intended to send the depot wagon, but the cart would bevery enjoyable."
Bert had the donkeys hitched up and at the door for Nan and Dorothy ina very few minutes, and within a half-hour from that time Nan wasgreeting Nellie at the station, and making her acquainted withDorothy.
If Dorothy had expected to find in the little cash girl a poor,sickly, ill child, she must have been disappointed, for the girl thatcame with Mrs. Manily had none of these failings. She was tall andgraceful, very pale, but nicely dressed, thanks to Mrs. Manily'sattention after she reached the city on the morning train. With agift from Mrs. Bobbsey, Nellie was "fitted up from head to foot," andnow looked quite as refined a little girl as might be met anywhere.
"You were so kind to invite me!" Nellie said to Dorothy, as she tookher seat in the cart. "This is such a lovely place!" and she noddedtoward the wonderful ocean, without giving a hint that she had neverbefore seen it.
"Yes, you are sure the air is so strong you must swallow strength allthe time," and Nellie knew from the remark that Dorothy was a jollygirl, and would not talk sickness, like the people who visit poorchildren at hospital tents.
Even Mrs. Manily, who knew Nellie to be a capable girl, was surprisedat the way she "fell in" with Nan and Dorothy, and Mrs. Manily wasquite charmed with her quiet, reserved manner. The fact was thatNellie had met so many strangers in the big department store, she wasentirely at ease and accustomed to the little polite sayings of peoplein the fashionable world.
When Nellie unpacked her bag she brought out something for Freddie.It was a little milk wagon, with real cans, which Freddie could fillup with "milk" and deliver to customers.
"That is to make you think of Meadow Brook," said Nellie, when shegave him the little wagon.
"Yes, and when there's a fire," answered Freddie, "I can fill the canswith water and dump it on the fire like they do in Meadow Brook, too."Freddie always insisted on being a fireman and had a great idea ofputting fires out and climbing ladders.
There was still an hour to spare before dinner, and Nan proposed thatthey take a walk down to the beach. Nellie went along, of course, butwhen they got to the great stretch of white sand, near the waves, thegirls noticed Nellie was about to cry.
"Maybe she is too tired," Nan whispered to Dorothy, as they made someexcuse to go back home again. All along the way Nellie was veryquiet, almost in tears, and the other girls were disappointed, forthey had expected her to enjoy the ocean so much. As soon as theyreached home Nellie went to her room, and Nan and Dorothy toldMrs. Minturn about their friend's sudden sadness. Mrs. Minturn ofcourse, went up to see if she could do anything for Nellie.
There she found the little stranger crying as if her heart wouldbreak.
"Oh, I can't help it, Mrs. Minturn!" she sobbed. "It was the ocean.Father must be somewhere in that big, wild sea!" and again she criedalmost hysterically.
"Tell me about it, dear," said Mrs. Minturn, with her arm around thechild. "Was your father drowned at sea?"
"Oh no; that is, we hope he wasn't." said Nellie, through her tears,"but sometimes we feel he must be dead or he would write to poormother."
"Now dry your tears, dear, or you will have a headache," saidMrs. Minturn, and Nellie soon recovered her composure.
"You see," she began, "we had such a nice home and father was alwaysso good. But a man came and asked him to go to sea. The man saidthey would make lots of money in a short time. This man was a greatfriend of father and he said he needed someone he could trust on thisvoyage. First father said no, but when he talked it over with mother,they, thought it would be best to go, if they could get so much moneyin a short time, so he went."
Here Nellie stopped again and her dark eyes tried hard to keep backthe tears.
"When was that?" Mrs. Minturn asked.
"A year ago," Nellie replied, "and he was only to be away six monthsat the most."
"And that was why you had to leave school, wasn't it?" Mrs. Minturnquestioned further.
"Yes, we had not much money saved, and mother got sick from worrying,so I did not mind going to work. I'm going back to the store again assoon as the doctor says I can," and the little girl showed how anxiousshe was to help her mother.
"But your father may come back," said Mrs. Minturn; "sailors are oftenout drifting about for months, and come in finally. I would not bediscouraged--you cannot tell what day your father may come back withall the money, and even more than he expected."
"Oh, I know," said Nellie. "I won't feel like that again. It wasonly because it was the first time I saw the ocean. I'm neverhomesick or blue. I don't believe in making people pity you all thetime." And the brave little girl jumped up, dried her eyes, andlooked as if she would never cry again as long as she lived--like onewho had cried it out and done with it.
"Yes, you must have a good time with the girls," said Mrs. Minturn."I guess you need fun more than any medicine."
That evening at dinner Nellie was her bright happy self again, and thethree girls chatted merrily about all the good times they would haveat the seashore.
There was a ride to the depot after dinner, for Mrs. Manily insistedthat she had to leave for the city that evening, and after a game ofball on the lawn, in which everybody, even Flossie and Freddie, had ahand, the children prepared to retire. There was to be a shell huntvery early in the morning (that was a long walk on the beach, lookingfor choice shells), so the girls wanted to go to bed an hour beforethe usual time.
"Wait till the clock strikes, Nellie," sang Dorothy, as they wentupstairs, and, of course, no one but Nan knew what she meant.
Two hours after this the house was all quiet, when suddenly, there wasthe buzz of an alarm clock.
"What was that?" asked Mrs. Minturn, coming out in the hall.
"An alarm clock," called Nellie, in whose room the disturbance was."I found it under my pillow," she added innocently, never suspectingthat Dorothy had put it there purposely.
By and by everything was quiet again, when another gong went off.
"Well, I declare!" said Mrs. Minturn. "I do believe Dorothy has beenup to some pranks."
_"Ding--a-ling--a-long--a-ling!"_ went the clock, and Nellie waslaughing outright, as she searched about the room for the newestalarm. She had a good hunt, too, for the clock was in the shoe box inthe farthest corner of the room.
After that there was quite an intermission, as Dorothy expressed it.Even Nellie had stopped laughing and felt very sleepy, when anotherclock started.
This was the big gong that belonged in Susan's room, and at the soundof it Freddie rushed out in the hall, yelling.
"That's a fire bell! Fire! fire! fire!" he shouted, while everybodyelse came out this time to investigate the disturbance.
"Now, Dorothy!" said Mrs. Minturn, "I know you have done this. Wheredid you put those clocks?"
Dorothy only laughed in reply, for the big bell was ringing furiouslyall the time. Nellie had her dressing robe on, and opened the door tothose outside her room.
"I guess it's ghosts," she laughed. "They are all over."
"A serenade," called Bert, from his door.
"What ails dem der clocks?" shouted Dinah. "'Pears like as if dey hada fit, suah. Nebber heard such clockin' since we was in de country,"and Susan, who had discovered the loss of her clock, laughed heartily,knowing very well who had taken the alarm away.
When the fifteen minutes were up that clock stopped, and anotherstarted. Then there was a regularly cannonading, Bert said, for therewas scarcely a moment's quiet until every one of the six clocks hadgone off "bing, bang, biff," as Freddie said.
There was no use trying to locate them, for they went off so rapidlythat Nellie knew they would go until they were "al
l done," so she justsat down and waited.
"Think you'll wake up in time?" asked Dorothy, full of mischief as shecame into the clock corner.
"I guess so," Nellie answered, laughing. "We surely were alarmedto-night." Then aside to Nan, Nellie whispered: "Wait, we'll get evenwith her, won't we?" And Nan nodded with a sparkle in her eyes.