Country homes -- Fiction; Orphans -- Fiction; Siblings -- Fiction
"Sally Lunn!" Josephine exclaimed, a few hours later. "What have you been
doing to yourself? You never looked so well. Behold her, Jarvis! But
don't dare take off your blue goggles. Her radiance is fairly dazzling,
and is liable to blind you."
"It's partly sunburn," confessed Sally. "I go deliberately out and let
the sun smite me, first on the right cheek and then on the left. For
awhile I burned my nose at the same time, which was not picturesque. But
now I put a thick coating of talcum powder on my nose, and burn myself
only where it is artistic."
"There's an honest confession for you," and Jarvis shook hands so
heartily that Sally's fingers ached for a minute afterward. "I can see
some of the rouge through my glasses."
"I must look purple to you, then. Red and blue make purple, on cheeks as
well as palettes, don't they? Joey, what made you put on a white dress? I
planned to take you all blackberrying over in the pasture."
"Lovely! Lend me an apron, and I'll risk the dress. This is a beautiful
time of day to pick blackberries."
The three set off. As they passed the garden on the farther side of the
hedge they were hailed by Donald Ferry. "May I go, too?" called the young
man, and he leaped lightly over the hedge.
Jarvis Burnside went forward and held out his hand. "I heard you speak,
this noon," he said, in a low tone.
Ferry returned the pressure heartily. "I saw you," he answered.
"You did? I was away back by the door."
"My eyes are pretty good. And it's easy to see a friend, you know."
"I'll be glad to have you call me that," said Jarvis.
"I've wanted to since I saw you first," replied Ferry, with the
simplicity of manner which won him confidence and warm liking
wherever he went.
He was in a holiday mood. He insisted on carrying all the pails, and
juggled with them, producing a clash of sound which echoed through the
meadows. In his gray flannels and flowing blue tie, he looked much more
like a college boy than a member of the most dignified of professions.
"How strong and healthy he looks!" observed Jarvis to Sally, as they led
the way toward the blackberry pasture. "He couldn't have got his
education without spending more or less time in-doors, but he must have
put in every spare minute in the open air. The sight of him makes me feel
more than ever that I was a fool to dig away as I did, ruining my eyes
for the sake of doing two years' work in one. Gained a lot, didn't I? Do
you realize it's more than a year since I took my degree? And not a
blessed thing since but idle around, waiting for these eyes to get back
into shape."
"It must have seemed a long year," agreed Sally, sympathetically. "But
haven't you made things worse by using your eyes every now and then
against orders?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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