Hildegarde's Neighbors Read online

  CHAPTER VII.

  IN GOOD GREEN WOOD.

  They were in the Roseholme woods, all four girls,--Hildegarde,Bell, Gertrude and little Kitty. Kitty was only eight years old,but she liked good times as well as if she were sixteen, and whenthe sisters said "Come along, Kitty," she had dropped her doll andflown like a bird to join them. Willy shouted after her, havingdesigns on her in regard to tin soldiers; but for once Kitty wasdeaf to her Willy's voice. Now she was as happy as a child couldbe, sitting in a nest of warm pine needles, playing at "partridgemother."

  The other girls sat near her, making oak wreaths and talkingbusily. Bell was telling of some college experiences.

  "So we found we had not nearly green enough to trim the hall, andI volunteered to get some more, while the rest of the committeemade the garlands. I had not far to go, only to the grove, about amile beyond the campus; but it was growing dark, so I hurried asmuch as I could. I ran across Professor Thunder's yard, as thatcut off nearly half the distance, and there my fate found me. Oh,dear! Hildegarde, you will never guess what I did."

  "Nothing, I am sure," said Hildegarde, gravely, "that was notconsistent with dignity and decorum. The college maiden is anawful person, I have always understood."

  "You shall judge!" said Bell. "Remember that I was alone, withnone to help me carry the boughs; that I was late, it being thensix o'clock, and the dance beginning at eight. I had to get thegreens, help put them up, get my supper, dress, and be there ateight to receive the juniors. And there--there, in the clearafternoon light on the lawn, stood the professor's wheelbarrow,saying as plainly as a wheelbarrow can, 'You'd better take mealong to bring the things home in.' Could I resist that muteappeal? I could not. I saw, I took, I trundled! The thing went ofits own accord, I believe; certainly I never before made such goodtime to the grove. Once there, it was a matter of only a fewminutes to strip the boughs and fill the friendly barrow. But, oh!I filled it not wisely, but too well. It was all so green andpleasant, and the smell of the trees was so delightful, that I didnot know when to stop. Soon the barrow was heaped high with allmanner of pleasantness, and I started to return. Well, my dear,then the trouble began. In the first place, full barrows aredifferent from empty ones. It was very heavy, and the boughs keptslipping this way, and sliding that way, and tumbling down everythird second. I got cross--oh, so cross! and presently I passedthe janitor's son, lounging along homeward, and he grinned, beingan oaf, and said, 'Better let me help ye, hadn't ye?' Oh, no! hedidn't mean to be rude, he really meant to help; but my blood wasup, and my hair was down, and I was very short with him, I fear,and trundled off alone with my dignity. Then a branch fell out andgot tangled in the wheel, and while I was getting it out a twigsnapped into my eyes; and there was a stone in my shoe, andaltogether,--well, it was only a mile to the grove, but it wastwenty miles back, I can tell you. Before I reached the campus myarms were so sore, and my foot so lame, and my eye so painful,that my pride ran out at the heels of my boots, like thegunpowder. I was going pretty slowly, so as to keep the boughsfrom tumbling out more than was absolutely necessary,--and I heardthe boy lumbering up behind me again. So, without turning round, Isaid, 'You SHALL help me now, if you please!' and--and--oh,Hildegarde! a deep voice answered, 'I shall be charmed to do so!'and I looked up and saw Professor Thunder!"

  "Oh, Bell! oh, poor thing!" cried Hildegarde. "What did you do?"

  "Do?" replied Bell. "I didn't do anything. He took the handlesfrom me,--his own handles, mind you, of his own barrow,--andtrundled it solemnly along. I was struggling with hysterics. I amnot in the least hysterical by nature, but the combination--theprofessor taken for a lout and commanded to trundle his ownbarrow, stolen by a sophomore, the twig in my eye and the stone inmy foot--was too much for me. Besides, there seemed nothing inparticular to say. I could not begin 'Please, sir, I thought youwere the janitor's boy!' nor did 'Please Professor Thunder, thisis your wheelbarrow, which I have stolen,' seem exactly a happyopening for a conversation. So we went on in silence, and when thebranches tumbled off, I picked them up without a word. How could Ibe such a dumb idiot? Don't ask me! If it had been any otherprofessor I might have found courage to speak; but Jupiter Tonanswas my terror and my hero; I sat at his feet, and the roll of hisdeep voice was music to my sophomoric ears. I had never spoken tohim out of class, but only that morning he had praised mytranslation, he who seldom praised anything,--and now to come tothis!

  "At last, after about three hours of dreadful silence, he openedhis lips and spoke: 'The greens are for decorational purposes, Ipresume, Miss Merryweather?' Oh, and I had hoped he would notremember who I was.

  "'Yes, sir,' I said. 'For the sophomore reception this evening.'

  "'Ah!' he said, 'in that case, it will be well for us to hasten.'

  "Silence again, while we quickened our pace, making the branchesfall off more than ever. Then--'The wheelbarrow,' said theprofessor, 'amazes us by its combined simplicity and perfection.The conception of a man of universal genius and vast erudition,--Iallude to Leonardo da Vinci, the marvellous Florentine,--it hasfor upwards of three hundred years served mankind as a humble butvalued ally. In every rank of life it finds its place. Thisbarrow, for example--'

  "My heart came into my mouth. 'Professor Thunder,' I said, 'thisis your wheelbarrow. I came across your lawn, and saw it standingthere, and--I took it.'

  "'Yes, my child,' he said, 'I saw you take it.'"

  "Oh, oh!" moaned the two girls. "Poor Bell! oh, poor Bell!"

  "Then I broke down and cried, and told him all about it, and how Ihad taken him for the janitor's boy, and all. Girls, he wasperfectly angelic! He made me sit down on the bank to rest, andtalked to me, oh, so kindly! and was glad I had taken the barrow,and all. And--it is too dreadful to tell, but--I had dropped myhandkerchief, and he gave me his, about three square yards offinest cambric,--I shall never smell orris again without thinkingof that moment,--and said--you won't think me vain to repeat this,Hildegarde?--said that he could not have his best pupil spoil hereyes, as it would interfere with her Greek. And then we came tothe campus, and the girls standing in the door of the Gym sawProfessor Thunder wheeling the wheelbarrow fall of greens, and mewalking meekly by his side. I shall never forget their faces; onemoment, and then they turned and fled. It was base, but I couldnot blame them; the sight was not one to induce composure, as theProfessor himself would say. So I thanked him as well as I couldfor the dumbness and heat that were on me; and he took off his hatand made a grand bow, and then he shook hands--oh, so cordially!and begged to present me with the freedom of the wheelbarrow; andthen he went away. There, Hildegarde! You wanted a college story,and you have had one."

  The girls laughed heartily at Bell's adventures, and Hildegardedeclared that she should never fear a college girl again, as itwas evident that they were girls of like passions, getting intoscrapes like their sisters.

  While talking, the girls had been busily plaiting garlands of oakleaves, and now they proceeded to crown each other, and hang longwreaths on neck and arm.

  "Hildegarde shall be the fairy queen," said Gertrude "and we herattendant fays. Hail, Queen!"

  "Oh yes, that is all very well for you!" said Bell; "you don'tweigh one hundred and thirty pounds. A fine sylph I should make!Hilda is perfect for the queen, however."

  Certainly Hilda did look very lovely, with the green chapletcrowning her fair locks, and the afternoon sunlight siftingthrough the leaves, checkering her white dress with light andshade. Roger Merryweather, coming through the wood in his quietway, with his tin plant-box slung over his shoulder, thought hehad never seen a fairer sight, and paused to enjoy it beforeannouncing his presence to the girls. As he stood there,motionless, and screened by the broad leaves of a great chestnut-tree, a frightful scream was heard, a ferocious yell, which madethe whole wood vibrate with horrid sound. The girls sprang totheir feet in terror; little Kitty ran to Bell and hid in hergown, while the older girls with one accord turned at bay, readyto face they knew not what peril. Even Roger was startle
d for themoment, and was about to step hastily forward, when a secondshriek rang out. He recognized the voice, and stood still,unwilling to spoil sport. And now from the thicket burst two wildforms, blanketed and feathered, uttering hideous yells, andbrandishing glittering weapons over their heads. Kitty shrieked,but after one moment Bell burst into laughter.

  "You imps!" she cried. "You wicked, wicked little wretches, tofrighten us so! Kitty darling, it is the boys. Look up, darling!Don't you see? It is our naughty, naughty boys, playing Indian.After them, Toots! after them, Hilda! We'll give them a lessonthey shall not forget."

  "Huh! huh!" shouted the Indians. "Big Chief Hop-toad! bigMedicine-man Put-Squills-In-His-Tea! gobble up the white squawsfor supper! Huh! huh!"

  And now the quiet spectator saw a merry sight. The girls flew inpursuit, the boys fled before them. In and out of the trees,laughing, shrieking, they doubled and twisted. Hildegarde ranwell, and Bell had not had two years of basket-ball for nothing.As for Gertrude, she was lithe and long-limbed as a younggreyhound; but even so, they could not catch their tormentors.

  The long gray legs twinkled like lightning over the ground. Philpaused from time to time to shout his warhoop, and Gerald, when hecould find breath, chanted wild scraps of song, accompanied byfrantic gestures: