The Camp Fire Girls at School; Or, The Wohelo WeaversFrey, Hildegard G.
General
The Camp Fire Girls at School; Or, The Wohelo Weavers
Frey, Hildegard G.
Camp Fire Girls -- Juvenile fiction; Schools -- Fiction
"No," said Hinpoha firmly, "I want him myself. I'll tell you what I'll
do. I'll put the cage up in the attic and she'll never know I have him.
I can slip up and feed him. It would be better for him up there, anyway.
It's too warm for him downstairs. He's used to a cold climate." So
"Snowy," as they had christened him, was established by a window under
the eaves on the third floor, where he could look out at the trees for
which he would be pining. Aunt Phoebe always took a nap after lunch, and
this gave Hinpoha a chance to run up and look at her patient. She fed
him on chicken feed and mice when there were any. Never did he show the
slightest sign of friendliness or recognition when she hovered over him;
but continued to stare sorrowfully at her with an unblinking eye. If he
liked his new lodging under the cozy eaves he made no mention of it, and
if he pined for his winter palace in the Canadian forest he was equally
uncommunicative. Hinpoha longed to poke him in order to make him give
some expression of feeling. But at all events, he did not struggle
against his captivity, and Hinpoha reflected judicially that after all
it was a good thing that he had such a stolid personality, for a calm
frame of mind aids the recovery of the patient and he would not be
likely to keep his wing from healing by dashing it against the side of
the cage. It seemed almost as though he knew his presence in the house
was a secret, and was in league with Hinpoha not to betray himself. So
Aunt Phoebe lived downstairs in blissful ignorance of the feathered
boarder in the attic.
She was suffering from a cold that week and was more than usually
exacting. She finally took to her bed in an air-tight room with a
mustard plaster and an electric heating pad, expressing her intention of
staying there until her cold was cured. "But you ought to have some
fresh air," protested Hinpoha, "you'll smother in there with all that
heat."
"You leave that window shut," said Aunt Phoebe crossly. "All this
foolishness about open windows makes me tired. It's a pity if a young
girl has to tell her elders what's best for them. Now bring the History
of the Presbyterian Church, and read that seventh chapter over again; my
mind was preoccupied last night and I did not hear it distinctly." This
was Aunt Phoebe's excuse for having fallen asleep during the reading. So
poor Hinpoha had to sit in that stifling room and read until she thought
she would faint. Aunt Phoebe fell asleep presently, however, to her
great relief, and she stole out softly, leaving the door open behind her
so that some air could get in from the hall.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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