The Turn of the Tide: The Story of How Margaret Solved Her ProblemPorter, Eleanor H. (Eleanor Hodgman)
General
The Turn of the Tide: The Story of How Margaret Solved Her Problem
Porter, Eleanor H. (Eleanor Hodgman)
Fiction
"Yes, she is kind o' peaked," volunteered Patty. "Miss Murdock says as
how her food don't 'similate. Ye see she ain't over strong, anyhow, on
account o' dem," pointing to the little twisted feet and legs. "Mebbe
Maggie told ye, ma'am, how Arabella wa'n't finished up right, an' how
her legs didn't go straight like ours," added Patty, giving her usual
explanation of her sister's misfortune.
"Yes," choked Mrs. Kendall, hurriedly. "She told me that the little girl
was lame. Now, my dears, we--we'll go home." Mrs. Kendall hesitated and
looked about her. "You--you haven't any bags or--or anything?" she asked
them.
"Gee!" cried Tom, turning sharply toward the track where had stood a
moment before the train that brought them. "An' if 'tain't gone so
soon!"
"Gone--the bag?" chorused five shrill voices.
"Sure!" nodded Tom. Then, with a resigned air, he thrust both hands into
his trousers pockets. "Gone she is, bag and baggage."
"Oh, I'm so sorry," murmured Mrs. Kendall.
"Pooh! 'tain't a mite o' matter," assured Patty, quickly. "Ye see, dar
wa'n't nothin' in it, anyhow, only a extry ribb'n fur Arabella's hair."
Then, at Mrs. Kendall's blank look of amazement, she explained: "We only
took it 'cause Katy Sovrensky said folks allers took 'em when they went
trav'lin'. So we fished dis out o' de ash barrel an' fixed it up wid
strings an' tacks. We didn't have nothin' ter put in it, 'course. All
our clo's is on us."
"We didn't need nothin' else, anyhow," piped up Arabella, "for all our
things is span clean. We went ter bed 'most all day yisterday so's Patty
could wash 'em."
"Yes, yes, of course, certainly," agreed Mrs. Kendall, faintly, as she
turned and led the way to the big four-seated carryall waiting for them.
"Then we'll go home right away."
To Tom, Peter, Mary, Patty, Arabella, and Clarabella, it was all so
wonderful that they fairly pinched themselves to make sure they were
awake. The drive through the elm-bordered streets with everywhere
flowers, vine-covered houses, and velvety lawns--it was all quite
unbelievable.
"It's more like Mont-Lawn than anythin' I ever see," murmured Arabella.
"Seems 'most as though 'twas heaven." And Mrs. Kendall, who heard the
words, reproached herself because for four long weeks she had stood
jealous guard over this "heaven" and refused to "divvy up" its
enjoyment. The next moment she shuddered and unconsciously drew Margaret
close to her side. Patty had said:
"Gee whiz, Mag, ain't you lucky? Wis't I was a lost an' founded!"
The house with its great stone lions was hailed with an awed "oh-h!" of
delight, as were the wide lawns and brilliant flower-beds. Inside the
house the children blinked in amazement at the lace-hung windows, and
gold-framed pictures; and Clarabella, balancing herself on her toes,
looked fearfully at the woven pinks and roses at her feet and demanded:
"Don't walkin' on 'em hurt 'em?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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