Mary Ware's Promised LandJohnston, Annie F. (Annie Fellows)
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Mary Ware's Promised Land
Johnston, Annie F. (Annie Fellows)
Young women -- Juvenile fiction
Each time he recalled the letter he puzzled over the familiar appearance
of the address, until suddenly, as he was filling a jug at the spigot of
a molasses barrel, he remembered. He had seen the same handwriting
under a photograph on the mantel at Mrs. Ware's: "Philip Tremont,
Necaxa, Mexico." And on the back was pencilled, "For Aunt Emily, from
her 'other boy.'" Mary had called upon Pink to admire the picture which
had arrived that same day, and had referred to Phil several times since
as "The Best Man."
Pink almost let the molasses jug overflow, while thinking about it and
wondering why she had given him such a nickname. He resolved to ask her
why if he could ever screw his courage up to such a point.
Mary, hurrying home with the letters from Joyce and Phil, eager to hear
what was in them, never gave Pink another thought till after supper,
when she remembered his invitation and began a search for Joyce's old
riding-skirt. It was not in any of the trunks or closets in the house,
but remembering several boxes which had been stored in the loft above
the woodshed, she made Jack climb up the ladder with her to open them,
while she held the lantern. At the bottom of the last box they found
what she was searching for, not only the khaki skirt, but the little
Norfolk jacket which completed the outfit. Thanks to Joyce's orderly
habits they had been packed away clean and whole, and needed only the
magic touch of a hot iron to make them presentable.
There was something else in the box which Mary pounced upon and carried
down the ladder. It was a bag containing odds and ends of zephyrs and
yarns, left from various afghans and pieces of fancy work. Opened under
the sitting-room lamp it disclosed, among other things, several skeins
of wool as red as the flash of a cardinal's wing. "Enough to make a
whole Tam-O'-Shanter!" exclaimed Mary jubilantly, "and a fluffy pompon
on top! I can have it ready by day after to-morrow. I've been wondering
what I could wear on my head. I simply can't keep a hat on when I ride
fast! Here, Norman, be a dear duck of a brother and hold this skein
while I wind, won't you?"
Norman made a wry face and held out his arms with pretended
unwillingness, but she slipped the skein over his hands, saying, "Item
for Uncle Jerry's Column. 'A young gentleman should always spring nimbly
to the service of a lady, and offer his assistance with alacrity.'"
"Say," he interrupted in the tone of one having a real grievance.
"You've got to quit making a catspaw of me when you want to teach Pink
Upham manners. You know well enough that I always pick up your
handkerchief and stand until mamma is seated, and things like that, so
you needn't hint about 'em to me when he's here. You're just trying to
slap at Pink over my shoulders."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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