Nan Sherwood's Summer Holidays Part 5

Bess giggled and Nan blushed till even the tips of her ears were pink.

Old Pat went on fingering his way through the mail, "Dr. Prescott, Professor Krenner, Lakeview Hall, Dr. Prescott again. Sure and she's a fine lady. And another and another for her." He looked up regretfully at the girls. "There's none for you today," he shook his head sadly, for Pat did love a romance. "Sure and you'd better tell him where he is headin' in," he shook an admonis.h.i.+ng finger at Nan as he started on.

"But Pat," Nan and Bess stopped him again, "are you sure there's nothing there for us from Tillbury?" Pat sighed and looked through again.

"So you'll not give up," he chuckled. "Well, let's see. Till--Tillbury,"

he almost spelled out as he looked at the postmarks. Nan put out her hand.

"But it's not for you, girlie. Not today. Nothing for either of you," he added and walked on, leaving two very crestfallen and somewhat worried girls behind him.

At first neither spoke, and Bess swallowed a hard lump in her throat.

Nan put an arm around her shoulder. "Never mind, honey," she consoled.

"We'll probably hear tomorrow."

"But there was something there from Tillbury, I saw it."

"Oh, you probably made a mistake," Nan said, though she too felt sure that she had seen a Tillbury postmark. "You're not such an expert at reading upside down. Moreover, those postmarks weren't stamped very plainly, and it would be easy to misread them."

"Nan, you might be able to convince yourself that everything is as it should be, but you can't convince me." Bess stamped her foot. "Do you know that something has happened and are you keeping it from me?" she half accused Nan.

"Elizabeth Harley, what are you saying?" Nan was genuinely indignant.

"Here, I've been thinking all week that you were keeping something from me, you've been acting so strangely, but I've said nothing about it. Now you go and jump on me."

This brought Bess to her senses as nothing else could have. She laughed and with remarkable control for her, carried the situation off and allayed Nan's suspicions. "Oh, Nan, have you?" she burst out. "If I've been acting more strangely than usual it's because I have been worried about not hearing from mother. It's two weeks now, you know." And she seemed so utterly sincere about it, for she was in part, that as they pushed open the big doors of the cla.s.s building they were in and walked across the quadrangle to the Hall, Nan believed her entirely.

That night, Bess was alone for a second with Rhoda. "Do you know," she confided, "I'll be so glad when this party is over that I'll be willing to kiss Mrs. Cupp--well, almost," she qualified, as a picture of that lady came to her mind.

Rhoda laughed. "I want to be there when you do it," she said. "But tell me, why are you so anxious to have the party over and done with? I thought you loved to plan parties."

"I do, generally, but I'm so afraid that I'm going to have a fight with Nan before this one is over that I don't know which way to turn. We've never had a fight as long as we have known one another. Wouldn't it be just my luck to have one over something nice I was trying to do for her!"

"Don't worry, you won't have a fight. Nan won't let that happen. Anyway, the party is tomorrow afternoon, so there is only one more day to wait."

Rhoda's face was alight, for she, too, found it hard to wait.

"Have you been able to find out," she continued, "what it is that Laura's committee has bought for a present?"

"No, not yet," Bess answered. "I've asked, but they vow they won't tell unless they know what the refreshments are going to be."

"And I won't tell that," Rhoda confirmed a previous stand. "Besides, I think it's more fun, if the committees do keep their decisions secret.

It's like Christmas when every cupboard and closet in the house is br.i.m.m.i.n.g over with surprises."

"Yes, isn't it. Do you know, I'll bet I won't sleep a wink tonight,"

Bess admitted. "I'm so excited about the whole thing."

"Sleep tonight!" Rhoda exclaimed. "Why, I haven't slept for a week!"

"I wouldn't have either, if I had had your job," Bess admitted. "I think it is the hardest one of them all."

"I liked it," Rhoda smiled. "How did your end of it work out?"

"You'll see for yourself, tomorrow," Bess looked mysterious, too. "I'll just say this, Dr. Beulah is the most charming person I've ever come across. She wrote the sweetest note thanking us for the invitation! And she offered to help us in any way she could. In fact, do you know what she's done?"

Rhoda shook her head.

"She's solved the problem of what to do with Nan until everything is ready. She asked her if she would mind going down to the village tomorrow morning on an errand that will take her all day. Then she asked her to call Mrs. Bagley and bring her up here for Sunday afternoon tea.

And did Nan ever fall for it? It did my heart good. She's going to be the most surprised person in this county tomorrow!" Bess rubbed her hands gleefully. It was fun putting something over on Nan!

Sunday was a grand day, bright and clear and fresh as only an early spring day can be. The crisp ruffles of the curtains in Nan and Bess's room waved slightly in the breeze. Nan dressed herself in a fresh looking dark silk print as she breathed deeply of the soft, warm air.

"Oh, it's good to be alive!" she exclaimed, "and this is one of those days when you feel sure there is nothing but good in store for you."

"Maybe so," Bess responded as unenthusiastically as she could, for she was afraid to let Nan even guess at her own excitement. "My only hope is that there is a good breakfast waiting downstairs in the dining hall.

This being Sunday, I would like orange juice and pancakes and sausage and some good hot cocoa with whipped cream swimming around on top."

"Ugh!" Nan made a wry face. "You and Laura Polk and your whipped cream.

I don't see how you can bear to have it for breakfast."

"Don't let it trouble you, darling," Bess was in an extraordinarily pleasant mood, "we won't get it. You'll never catch Mrs. Cupp feeding us whipped cream at any time. Says it's not good for our school-girl complexions." With this, she went off to bathe and dress.

"You don't mind," Nan called after her, "do you, if I don't wait for you this morning. I want to go to early chapel so that I can go down to the village on the bus."

"Run along, and forget me," Bess urged her. "I'm going to take my own lazy time about dressing this morning. I'm going to late breakfast and late chapel and late everything. I've got spring fever with a bang."

So Nan went off and left a houseful of schemers behind her.

CHAPTER V

SURPRISE FOR EVERYONE!

At long last came four o'clock. Dr. Prescott walked down the big, winding stairway of the castle-like structure that she had transformed from a run-down neglected dwelling into a boarding school for girls. She was proud of the school, proud of the work she had done there. She looked up. Why, she was proud of every big beam that supported the high ceilings!

As she entered the long reception room with its lovely bouquets of fresh spring flowers and was greeted by Rhoda Hammond, she had a momentary twinge of regret. "The girls were getting so much older!

Today," and she smiled a little to herself as the thought crossed her mind, "they were acting especially grown-up." She looked down at the lovely corsage of sweet-smelling violets on her gray dress and touched them tenderly. They were a gift, a thoughtful one, from the girls who had planned the party. Now, as she circulated among them all and felt the excitement that there was in the room, she was glad that she had a secret too. She looked across the room and caught Professor Krenner's eye. He smiled and nodded. How nice everything seemed!

Meanwhile Bess and Rhoda and Laura were conferring near a big silver tea tray. There were piles of dainty sandwiches on it, olives and pickles and salted nuts, a plate of lemon slices with whole cloves in the center of each, a bowl of sugar cubes with lovely silver tongs projecting from it, a graceful silver pitcher filled with cream, and, off to one side, pretty cups and saucers were stacked, waiting to be used.

"Oh, I wish Nan would come," Bess exclaimed.

"She'll be here any minute now," Rhoda answered, "and when she comes--"

But the sentence was never finished, for just at that moment Nan, accompanied by Mrs. Bagley, appeared in the doorway, and with one accord everyone called, "Surprise!"

It was a moment such as Nan had never experienced before. She seemed stunned, unable entirely to comprehend what was happening. Then, as all her friends came forward, smiled and shook her hand and Dr. Beulah leaned over and kissed her, she seemed to regain her composure. But she admitted later in private to Bess that she hardly knew all afternoon what she said or what had been said to her.

There were one or two things, however, that did stand out clearly in her mind.