The Key Note. Burnham Clara Louise

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ there's a Mr. to her."

      "Yes, and he's coming before the summer is over. The worst of it is she seems to like him."

      "Children, children," said Miss Burridge, and she winked toward the back of Genevieve's head. Well she knew the alertness of the ears that were holding back those tight braids of hair.

      "Yes, my accompanist, Barney, is a broth of a boy, but I shall tell him, Veronica, that ten o'clock is the limit, the very extreme limit."

      The girl flushed and laughed. "You mind your business now, Mr. Barrison, and I'll attend to mine. I'm perfectly capable of it."

      "Very well. I'll simply keep Puppa's address on my desk, and I won't use it unless I really have to," said Phil, in a conscientious tone which nearly caused Veronica to throw a cup at him.

      "Go along now if you must, Philip," said Miss Priscilla. "And I do thank you, dear boy. We shall miss you every minute. Give my love to your grandmother. I wish she could get up as far as this. You tell her so."

      "All right, I will. Do you know where Miss Wilbur is?"

      "Aha!" said Veronica softly.

      "I don't want to go without saying good-bye to her."

      "I should hope not," jeered Veronica. "I suppose you won't see her again all summer."

      "Oh, yes, I shall, unless Barney Kelly cuts me out."

      "Sure, it's Oirish he is, thin?"

      "Faith, and he is, and a bit chipped off the original blarney stone at that. Trust him not, Veronica."

      "I only hope I'll get the chance, but if you're going to set him on the goddess, what sort of a look-in will I have? I've got five on my nose already."

      "Five what, woman?"

      "Freckles. Can't you see them from there? It will be fulsome flattery if you say you can't."

      Philip squinted up his eyes and came nearer to examine.

      "You remember what I said. Tell Barney they're beauty spots – 'golden kisses of the sun.'"

      "Oh, ain't that pretty!" shouted Genevieve. "I'm speckled with 'em jest like a turkey egg, but I don't mind 'em the way Veronica does. I've got some powder at home and I powder over 'em."

      "At your age, Genevieve!" exclaimed Philip sternly. "What shall I do with the extravagance and artificiality of this generation! Don't you know, Genevieve, that the money you spend for powder should go into the missionary box? You poor, lost, little soul!"

      Genevieve giggled delightedly, and Miss Burridge, at the window, exclaimed:

      "There's Miss Wilbur now, Phil, looking at the garden bed."

      "If I were she," said Veronica, "I wouldn't have a word to say to you after the way you wasted last evening."

      "If only she thought so, too!" groaned Philip. "But I'm not in it with her astronomy map for June. She is a hundred times more interested to know where Jupiter and Venus are than where I am – natural, I suppose – all in the family." He threw open the kitchen door and, standing on the step, threw kisses toward the group within.

      "Good-bye, summer!" he sang. "Good-bye, good-bye."

      The beauty of his voice had its usual effect on Diana, who stood by the strip of green, growing things, looking in his direction, her lips slightly parted over her pretty teeth.

      "You see I'm good-bye-ing," he said, approaching her.

      "Are you leaving us?" she returned, allowing her clasped hands to fall apart. "See how well the sweet peas are doing."

      "Yes, I'm leaving you all in good shape. Do you think you can go on behaving yourselves without my watchful guardianship and Christian example?"

      "I think we shall miss you. Mr. Gayne is not a fair exchange."

      "Thank you. Mrs. Lowell was talking to me about that outfit last evening. She is quite stirred up about the boy."

      "Yes," rejoined Diana. "I think she is a wonderful woman. She has taken him down to the beach with her again this morning. She believes that Mr. Gayne is his nephew's enemy rather than his guardian. She believes he has some reason for desiring to blight any buddings of intelligence in the boy, and uses an outrageous method of suppression over him all the time. It would be so much easier to let it go, and most of us would, I'm sure, rather than spend vacation hours in such insipid company, or have any dealings with that – that impossible uncle; but Mrs. Lowell will not relinquish her efforts."

      "Yes, she is a brilliant, fearless sort of woman," said Philip. "I shouldn't wonder if she gave Gayne a disagreeable quarter of an hour before she gets through with him."

      "One has to exercise care, however," returned Diana, "lest the man become angered and visit his ill-humor on the boy. I am often obliged to constrain myself to civility when I yearn to hurl – " she hesitated.

      "Plates? Oh, do say you long to throw a plate at him!"

      Diana gave her remote moonbeam smile.

      "I must admit that 'invective' was in my mind. A rather strong word for girls to use."

      "A splendid word. A good long one, too. You might try hurling polysyllables at him some day and see him blink."

      Diana shook her head. "That sort of man is a pachyderm. He would never flinch at verbal missiles. Since you must go, I wish some other agreeable man would join our group and converse with him at table."

      Philip smiled. "Surely you have noticed that Miss Emerson is not averse to assuming all responsibility?"

      "Mr. Barrison," said Diana gravely, "I hope when I am – am elderly and unmarried, that I shall not seek to attract men."

      "Miss Wilbur," returned Philip, with a solemnity fitting hers, and regarding the symmetry and grace of her lovely head, "don't spend any time worrying about that; for some inner voice assures me that you will never be elderly and unmarried."

      "The future is on the knees of the gods," she returned serenely.

      "Then I don't need to lose any sleep on account of your posing for one of Mr. Gayne's wonderful sketches?"

      Diana brought the brown velvet of her eyes to bear fully upon him. It even seemed hopeful that a spark would glow in them.

      "I loathe the man," she said slowly.

      "Forgive me, divine one. Well, I must go now. Why won't you take me home? I should like you to meet my grandmother, and think of the pitfalls and mantraps of the island road if I risk myself alone: Bill Lindsay's Ford! Marley Hughes's bicycle! Lou Buell's gray mare taking him to mend somebody's broken pipe! Matt Blake's express wagon! Come and keep my courage up."

      "You have a grandmother on this island?"

      "I'll prove it if you'll come with me."

      Diana smiled and moved along beside him. "It doesn't seem a real, mundane, earthly place to me yet," she said. "It must be wonderful to have a solid pied-à-terre here. They tell me there are many summer cottages, but they are far from our Inn and I haven't realized them yet. I am hoping my parents will consent to purchasing some ground here СКАЧАТЬ