Skippy Bedelle: His Sentimental Progress From the Urchin to the Complete Man of the WorldJohnson, Owen
General
Skippy Bedelle: His Sentimental Progress From the Urchin to the Complete Man of the World
Johnson, Owen
Lawrenceville School -- Fiction; Schools -- Fiction
His first emotion was one of horror; had they been up to the room, and
was his duplicity forever at the mercy of a sister's gibes? Klondike
reassured him. He bounded upstairs, made a hasty survey, found
everything in order, and hastily departed for the Lodge, after a quick
plunge into the glorious buckskin vest, a struggle into a clean collar
and a hurried dusting off of his shoes against the window seat. He
reached the parlors of the Lodge on the heels of Snorky Green, who,
being as thoroughly bored by the prospect as he, forgot the week's feud
in a common misery.
"Gee! Aren't sisters the limit?"
"Well, we're in for it."
"Let's hope they clear out before dinner."
The next moment Skippy was perfunctorily pecking at the cheek of Miss
Clara Bedelle and pretending to be overjoyed at the prospect of parading
before the assembled school with six young ladies in tow. Then he looked
up and something like a cataleptic fit went through his body.
Directly in front of him, evidently waiting for the introduction, was
unmistakably Miss Mimi Lafontaine! He looked at Snorky and saw the same
expression of horror over his pudgy features, as he came up, knees
shaking, to be introduced in turn.
Then to Snorky's distressed soul came the welcome sound:
"Jack, dear, I want you to meet Mimi--Miss Lafontaine."
To the amazement of sisters and friends, said Snorky, advancing with
outstretched hand:
"Hello, you old Skippy!"
Skippy clung to it as to a spar in midstream.
"Snorky, old dear--it's all right."
"It is?"
"You bet it is!"
"What are you idiotic boys doing?" said Sister Green.
"Shall we tell?" asked Snorky roguishly.
"Women have no sense of humor," said Skippy, grinning with a great
easement of the soul.
At this moment they rose above the vexations of the female intrusion.
They looked at each other and each comprehended the other. They were
equals, equal in imagination, in audacity and expedient. This mutual
revelation cleared away all past misunderstanding and jealousies. The
sense of humor was triumphant. They loved each other.
A half-hour later, having, to the utter amazement of sister No. 1 and
sister No. 2, rolled hilariously, arms locked, across the campus, they
lay on opposite beds, struggling weakly to master the pangs of laughter
which smote them like the colic.
"Are we going to tell our real names?" said Skippy at last.
"Let's."
"You know, Bo, you certainly had me going--you certainly did. And all
these months, too! Snorky, I bow before you."
"Allow me," said Snorky admiringly.
"Say! You're all right, but honest now," said Skippy, pointing to
Snorky's bureau and the feminine galaxy, "honest, who are they?"
"Well, of course one's my sister," said Snorky, grinning. "I swiped
these three and I bought the other with the frame. Say, I'm not worried
about how you got yours, but what I'd like to know is, who in tarnation
belongs to that boudoir cap?"
"My grandmother, and she's a corker, too!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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