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Read Ebook: Dorothy Dainty's Gay Times by Brooks Amy
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Ebook has 935 lines and 32628 words, and 19 pages
"I thought you said your cousin was coming," whispered Mollie, but Aunt Charlotte had opened her Testament, and was commencing to read, so Nina only shook her head, and Mollie saw that she must wait until recess to know what Nina would say.
"'Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God,'" read Aunt Charlotte, and every girl looked towards Flossie Barnet, who was always trying to say a pleasant word of an absent friend, or to coax two playmates, who had become estranged, to be fast friends again. Often they had heard her Uncle Harry say: "Flossie, you're a peacemaker." Her hands were clasped, and her blue eyes were full of interest in the verse which Aunt Charlotte was reading. Her red lips moved.
"'They shall be called the children of God,'" she whispered, and in her gentle little heart she determined to be, if possible, more kind and loving than ever before, toward her playmates.
Little Reginald had failed to understand the verse, and sat staring at Aunt Charlotte with round eyes. He was a handsome little fellow, with soft flaxen curls, and a smart, sturdy figure, and as he looked up into Aunt Charlotte's face, he seemed like a pudgy cupid whom some one had dressed in a sailor suit.
Singing followed the reading, and all through the two merry songs which they sang, Reginald watched Aunt Charlotte, and wondered over the verse which she had read. When the arithmetic lesson was over, Aunt Charlotte asked if any one had a question to ask.
Katie Dean wished to hear an example explained, and when it had been made clear to her, Reginald held up his hand.
"What is your question?"
"What's 'peacemakers'?" he asked.
Aunt Charlotte explained the verse, and Reginald listened, but it was easy to see that he was disappointed.
"Do you understand now what the peacemakers are?" Aunt Charlotte asked.
"Yes'm," said Reginald, "but I wish I didn't."
"And why?" questioned Aunt Charlotte.
Aunt Charlotte was the only one who did not laugh, but the small boy was not at all vexed.
ARABELLA AT SCHOOL
When recess time came Mollie had forgotten to ask Nina if her cousin was to be a pupil, and it happened that neither of the others questioned her.
They were in the midst of a game of hide-and-seek, when Mollie, who, with Nina, was hiding behind a large rosebush, looked up just in time to see the garden gate open.
"Look!" she whispered.
"Why, that's Arabella!" said Nina, "but why has she brought her Aunt Matilda with her?"
Nina stifled a laugh, and they saw the two go along the walk, and enter the cottage.
Flossie, who had been "it," ran quite around the house, and the others "ran in," Reginald loudly shouting, "All in, all in!"
Flossie returned, laughing gaily to think that they had all got in free. Then they commenced to talk of the new pupil, and quite forgot their game.
The schoolroom windows were open, and Aunt Matilda's shrill, piping voice could be plainly heard, but the children were not near enough to know what she was saying.
They saw her turn to go, and then, when she reached the door, she drew something from her bag, and placed it in Arabella's hand.
Dorothy was full of fun, and ready for merriment at any time, but she saw nothing amusing in laughing at a playmate, or friend, and she had asked them all to be kind to Arabella.
Aunt Charlotte turned to the window, and set the little silver bell tinkling, and the pupils at once filed into the schoolroom.
They found Arabella Corryville sitting primly in her place. Her small, thin hands were clasped upon her desk, and she looked at the pupils as they filed in, peeping first over her glasses, and then through them, as if she were hunting for little faults which she really hoped to find.
Aunt Charlotte had told her that on this, her first day of school, she might listen to the recitations, and on the next day come with her lessons prepared, and then recite with the class.
She sat very still, only moving her round eyes to watch the pupils, and as she did not smile, one could not guess if she were pleased with the school or not.
The little girls busied themselves with their books, but Reginald kept his blue eyes fixed upon Arabella, as if he could think of nothing else.
At first she seemed not to notice him, but after a time she moved restlessly on her seat, and wriggled about in a way that delighted the small boy.
Arabella was not used to being stared at. She always stared boldly at other people, but here was some one who looked at her without so much as blinking. She glanced at the clock, and then, as if just remembering something, took a small bottle from her pocket, shook some pills into her hand, swallowed them, and turned to see if Reginald were looking. He was, and Arabella was provoked.
"What you staring at?" she whispered rudely.
"You!" he whispered, not a bit abashed.
"Why?" she asked.
"'Cause you're funny," Reginald said. It was not strange that Arabella was angry. Would any girl be pleased to have a small boy watching her, and declaring that she was "funny?"
And now Aunt Charlotte was calling the youngest class in reading, and Reginald hastily snatched his book, and began to hunt for the lesson.
"The third page, Reginald," said Aunt Charlotte; "you may read the first paragraph."
He found the place, and read the lines without a mistake. It was his first term at school, but his mother had found pleasure in teaching him, and he read quite as well as some of the younger pupils.
"Read the next paragraph, Reginald," said Aunt Charlotte.
"'When the king rode over the highway, the sun glistened upon his,--on his,--'"
It was a word which Reginald had never seen, and he frowned until an odd little pucker appeared on his forehead.
"'When the king rode over the highway, the sun glistened upon his,'"--again he paused. The word looked no easier this time than when he had first read the lines.
"Read the lines again, and when you come to the word that puzzles you, pronounce it as you think it should be," said Aunt Charlotte.
Even Aunt Charlotte smiled at the droll error, but Arabella laughed long and loud.
"Order, order!" said Aunt Charlotte.
The others read in turn, until they had finished the charming story, and each of the girls wondered why Arabella was not reproved for rudeness. The arithmetic lesson completed the morning's work, and as they walked home, they talked of the new pupil.
"I don't see why Aunt Charlotte didn't speak to Arabella," said Nina Earl, "she was horridly rude."
She disliked Arabella, but she never could bear to hear any one spoken of unkindly.
Dorothy and Nancy had heard what they were saying, and they thought that it was not at all nice of the girls to speak as if Aunt Charlotte had allowed Arabella to be rude.
"Perhaps Aunt Charlotte thought she wouldn't correct her the very first day," Nancy said, and Nina and Mollie wished that what they had said had not been heard.
Little Reginald seemed, for once, to have nothing to say.
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