Peggy in Her Blue Frock

E >> Eliza Orne White >> Peggy in Her Blue Frock

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

[Illustration: They took their snow-shovels and tried to make a path to
the hen-house (page 136)]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

PEGGY IN HER BLUE FROCK

BY ELIZA ORNE WHITE

ILLUSTRATED BY ALICE B PRESTON

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN CO.

BOSTON & NEW YORK

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY ELIZA ORNE WHITE

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO REPRODUCE
THIS BOOK OR PARTS THEREOF IN ANY FORM

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

TO MY YOUNG COUSINS

CORNELIA AND CAROL

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

CONTENTS

I. THE MOVING 1
II. A CAT IN A STRANGE GARRET 7
III. WHY PEGGY WORE BLUE FROCKS 15
IV. PEGGY GOES FOR A YEAST-CAKE 25
V. AT CLARA'S HOUSE 38
VI. DIANA 46
VII. THE CANARY-BIRD 53
VIII. THE REWARD 62
IX. CHOOSING A KITTEN 67
X. THE WILD GARDEN 76
XI. THE GEOGRAPHY GAME 85
XII. HOW PEGGY SPENT HER MONEY 95
XIII. MRS. OWEN'S SURPRISE PARTY 104
XIV. A CHRISTMAS EGG 118
XV. THE GREAT STORM 126
XVI. GRANDMOTHER OWEN'S VISIT 141

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

PEGGY IN HER BLUE FROCK

CHAPTER I

THE MOVING

Peggy, with flying yellow hair, was climbing the high stepladder in the
library, getting down books for her mother to pack. She skipped up the
stepladder as joyously as a kitten climbs a tree. Everything about Peggy
seemed alive, from her gray eyes that met one's glance so fearlessly, to
her small feet that danced about the room between her trips up and down
the stepladder. Her skirts were very short, and her legs were very long
and thin, so that she reminded one of a young colt kinking up its heels
for a scamper about the pasture.

"Peggy, you will break your neck if you are not careful," said her
grandmother. "And don't throw the books down in that way; see how
carefully Alice puts them down."

Alice smiled at the compliment and showed her dimples. She was a pretty
little thing with brown hair and big brown eyes. She was two years
younger than her sister Peggy, and was as small for her age as Peggy was
large for hers. She was taking the books from the lowest shelf, as she
was afraid to climb the stepladder.

"I'll risk Peggy's neck," said her mother, as Peggy once more skipped up
the stepladder.

This time she put the books down more carefully.

The family were moving from the large, old-fashioned house where the
children had been born to a very small one, more than a mile farther
from the village. Peggy and Alice were greatly interested in the moving.
Their father's mother had come all the way from New York to help about
it.

Their father had been a country doctor with a large practice and he had
gone into the war to save the lives of others; but the hospital where he
was at work had been shelled, and he had lost his own life. This had
happened almost at the end of the war. It seemed to the children a long
time since the war was over, and a very long time since their father had
gone overseas.

Peggy and Alice had been very much overcome when they heard of their
father's death, but now the world was very pleasant again. Another
doctor was coming to town, to move into their roomy old house and take
the practice which had been their father's.

Peggy looked out of the window at the garden. It looked its worst on
this March day, for it was all patches of white and brown. There was not
enough of the white snow for winter sports, nor was the brown earth
ready for planting seeds. Peggy was glad there were children in the
doctor's family because they would be sure to enjoy the croquet ground
and the apple trees. How she should miss the apple trees! There was only
one apple tree where they were going, but there was a cherry tree.
Peggy's face brightened when she thought of the cherry tree. And they
were to have a garden full of vegetables.

"Mary," said the children's grandmother to their mother, "I'll give you
a year to try your experiment; and remember, if you don't succeed, my
offer holds good. I'll always have a room in my small apartment for one
of the children; and Peggy is old enough to get a great deal of good
from a New York school."

Peggy looked as if nothing would induce her to leave her mother. Not
that she disliked her grandmother. Peggy liked people of all ages. She
did not like old ladies so well as people of her mother's age, because
the younger ones were so much more active; and she liked children better
still, for the same reason; and boys even better than girls, because
they never expected you to play dolls with them. Peggy did not care for
dolls as Alice did. When the world was so full of live things that
scampered and frisked, or flew or crawled, why tie one's self down to
make-believe people that could neither speak nor move? Pussy was much
more interesting than any doll.

Peggy looked at the furniture, standing forlornly about in strange
places. Her own mahogany bureau was downstairs. "It looks for all the
world," said Peggy, "like a cat in a strange garret." She had read this
phrase in a book the day before, and it took her fancy. And then she
wondered how their own cat would feel in her new home. And there was not
any garret in the tiny house where they were going.

The cat walked in just then, but seeing the confusion she fled upstairs.
She was a gray pussy, with darker gray stripes, and a pronounced purr
that was almost as cozy as the sound of a tea-kettle. She had a pleasant
habit of having young families of kittens, two or three times a year.
The only drawback was, the kittens had to be given away just as they got
to the most interesting age. There were no kittens now, only pussy,
whose whole name was Lady Jane Grey.

Their grandmother was making a list of the books, for some of the boxes
were to go to her in New York, others to the Town Library, while many of
them they were to keep themselves. All the medical books were to be left
in their father's office for the new doctor to dispose of as he thought
best.

"Do you know, mother, how many children the doctor has, and whether they
are boys or girls?" Peggy asked.

"No, he just said 'children' in his letter."

"I hope there will be a girl, and that she will like to play with
dolls," said Alice.

"But you've Clara, I don't see what more you want," said Peggy.

"But Clara is never here in the winter," said Alice.

That night, after the children had gone to bed, they began to talk about
the doctor's family. It was the last night they were to spend in the old
house, and they felt a little sad as they climbed into the mahogany
four-poster bedstead, for the room looked desolate. The curtains had
been packed, and all the furniture was gone except the bed.

"Anyway, we'll be sleeping on it to-morrow night," said Peggy. "We'll
have Roxanna Bedpost with us just the same."

She looked at the lower bedpost at her right that she had christened by
this name when she was a tiny child, because her mother had hung Peggy's
blue sunbonnet on it.

"Shut up your eyes, Peggy, and see things," said Alice. "Perhaps you can
see the children who are going to live here."

Peggy had a delightful way of seeing things that Alice could not see.
She shut her eyes up and thought hard and then she opened them and
looked at the opposite wall.

It seemed quite simple, but whenever Alice tried it she could see
nothing. "Do you really see things, Peggy?" she once asked.

"I see them in my mind's eye," said Peggy.

"What do you see to-night, Peggy?" said Alice.

"I see two children, a boy and a girl; and they are picking red apples
in our orchard."

"In March?"

"It's not March in my mind's eye. They are beautiful, big, red apples.
The girl is a little bigger than you and a little smaller than me, so
she's just right for both of us to play with, and her name is Matilda
Ann."

"I don't think that is at all a pretty name."

"I did not say it was a pretty name; I just said her name was Matilda
Ann."

"I hope it isn't."

"Well, what do you guess it is?"

"Oh, I don't know."

"You must guess something."

"Oh, well, Fanny."

"Fanny! That's a very stupid sort of name," said Peggy.

They were still talking about the possible names of the possible girl
and boy when their mother came in to see if they were tucked up for the
night.

"Are you still awake?" she asked. "I wonder what you do find to talk
about when you see each other all day long."

CHAPTER II

A CAT IN A STRANGE GARRET

There were others who felt as if they were in a strange garret, after
the moving, besides the cat. The children's mother was very homesick,
for she was tired out; and she felt sad and lonely in the small house
where her husband had never lived. The children did not mind so much,
but it was strange, when they waked in the morning, to see the
unfamiliar stretch of pasture from their window instead of the garden
and the next house.

But Pussy minded it so much that she slipped out while the others were
having their breakfast. They were all so busy that no one missed her
until dinnertime, and then Peggy and Alice looked everywhere in the
small house and they called "Lady Jane" many times, but no little furry,
gray pussy answered.

Their grandmother had gone back to New York and their mother was too
busy getting settled to hunt for the cat.

"She'll come back when she gets hungry," she said. "I want you children
to help me unpack. See these nice drawers for the linen."

"I don't think they are half so nice as the linen closet in the other
house," said Alice.

"Now, children," said their mother, "no one ever said this house was so
nice as the large one where you were born, and we can't pretend life is
so pleasant as if we had your father here with us; but we have a great
deal to be thankful for. If we haven't much money, we have health and
strength and each other. Your father said to me when he went away:
'Mary, if I don't come back, I don't want you and the children ever to
forget me, but I want you to remember all the happy times we have had
together, and to think how glad I'd be of all the happy times you'd have
by yourselves.'"

The children got very much interested in arranging the linen in the
drawers.

"Oh, Peggy, you are no housekeeper; the pillowcases don't go in that
drawer," said her mother. "See how carefully Alice puts the towels in."

Alice smiled and showed her dimples, and Peggy stopped and gave Alice a
hug.

"Things seem just to slide out of my hands," said Peggy; "and I can't
remember which drawer the things go in."

There was a cupboard where Alice's dolls were to live, and it interested
her greatly to get this apartment ready for them. So they all again
forgot about Lady Jane Grey until supper-time. Their mother put bowls of
milk on the table for the children, with plenty of bread and jam; and
there was a big saucer of milk for Lady Jane, warmed just the way she
liked it. Again they called her, but she did not come. Peggy made a
trip down cellar, thinking she might have hidden there, and she hunted
the house from top to bottom, but there was no dainty Lady Jane to be
seen.

"She'll come back sometime," said their mother; but the children were
not so sure of this.

It seemed sad to go to bed without knowing what fate had befallen Lady
Jane; but their mother was sure she would come back that night.

In the morning Peggy ran downstairs eagerly before she was dressed.

"Has she come, mother?" she asked.

"Has who come?" said her mother, whose mind was on starting the kitchen
fire.

"Lady Jane."

"No, she hasn't come."

"And it is so wet," said Peggy, as she looked at the falling rain;
"she'll get drenched without any rubbers or raincoat."

"You can be sure she is under shelter somewhere. A cat can always look
out for herself."

"But, mother, I'm worried about her."

"I think," said Mrs. Owen, as she put the oatmeal into the
double-boiler, "that she has gone back to her old home."

"But, mother dear, she couldn't like strange people better than she
likes us!"

"Cats are strange creatures," said Mrs. Owen. "Run along and get
dressed. After breakfast if the rain holds up you and Alice can run over
to the Hortons' house and telephone to the Carters', to see if she is
there. I shall be glad when we get our telephone in."

The rain did not stop, but the children were so persistent that after
breakfast Mrs. Owen let them put on their rubbers and raincoats and run
over to the Hortons' house. The house was up a long avenue of trees. On
this March day there were no leaves on the trees, and the bare branches
looked black against the gray sky as they were tossed about by the wind.
There were patches of snow by the side of the road. It all looked very
dismal, for the house was closed, as the family did not come back until
June, and only the care-takers were living in the back part of the
house. It was where Clara lived in the summer. She was the children's
most intimate friend. She was a little more than a year younger than
Peggy and about a year older than Alice. The children went around to the
back door and asked if they could come in and telephone.

"It is something very important or we would not have come," said Peggy.

"I hope your mother isn't sick," said Mrs. Jones.

"No, it is about the cat."

"And you came out in all this rain about a cat?"

"She's as dear to us as if she was our child," said Alice.

"Well, I never!" said Mrs. Jones, as she led the way to the telephone
room.

Peggy called up their old number. It made her a little homesick as she
did so.

"Is Mrs. Carter there?" she asked as a shrill voice said "Hullo."

"It's a boy's voice," said Peggy. "There's one boy in the family. I'm
glad of that."

She heard the boy call "Mother," and presently Mrs. Carter came to the
telephone.

"Hullo," said Mrs. Carter, in a warm voice that Peggy liked.

"I'm Peggy Owen. Mother said I might come over and telephone you about
the cat. She's lost--I mean the cat. We thought she might be at your
house. She doesn't seem to like ours. Have you seen anything of a gray
pussy with dark gray stripes?"

"I really don't know whether that one has been around or not. I'll ask
them in the kitchen. We've been feeding a lot of stray cats."

"You didn't say enough about the way she looks. She may get her mixed
with the gray tramp cat," said Alice, taking the telephone from Peggy.

"She's two shades of gray," she said to Mrs. Carter. "Such lovely dark
stripes and then light ones; and there are thirteen stripes on her
tail--first a dark and then a light, and so on; and her eyes are the
shiniest things--most as bright as lights, only they are a kind of
green; and she has a purr you can hear all across the room. Her name is
Lady Jane, and she'll come for it."

Mrs. Carter came back to the telephone presently. "There has been a gray
cat around," she said, "but she isn't here now. If she comes back I'll
send one of the boys up with her."

"One of the boys," said Peggy to Alice, "so there must be two anyhow."

The day passed and nothing was heard of the cat, and once more the
little girls had to go to bed with anxious hearts. It was still raining
when the children waked up the next morning, and no pussy had yet
appeared. They wanted to go back and hunt for her themselves, but it was
too wet for so long a tramp, and, besides, Mrs. Owen was sure Mrs.
Carter was too busy getting settled in her new house to want visitors.

"You don't seem a bit worried about Lady Jane, mother," said Peggy.

"I have a few other things to think about, and I am sure she is all
right."

It was a three days' storm, and it was so wet on Sunday that they did
not go to church or Sunday School. The day seemed very long. They helped
their mother get dinner and they washed and wiped the inside dishes for
her. They both liked to wash better than to wipe--it was such fun to
splash the mop about in the soapy water.

"It is my turn to wash to-day," Alice reminded Peggy.

"But you are so slow," said Peggy. "I can do it a lot faster. However,
it is your turn," she said, handing the mop to Alice with a little sigh.

It was toward the end of the afternoon and they were beginning to get
tired of reading when the door bell rang.

"It is our first caller; go to the door, Peggy," said Mrs. Owen.

Alice followed Peggy as she ran to the door. As Peggy opened it, a sweep
of wind and a swirl of rain came in. The wind was so strong it almost
blew the door to. A freckled-faced boy with a pleasant smile and honest
blue eyes was standing on the doorstep. Oh, joy! He had a basket in his
hand.

"It's some rain," said the boy.

"Oh, have you got our cat in that basket?" Peggy asked.

"Now, what do you know about that!" said the boy. "Why should I know
anything about your cat? Maybe I have cabbages in this basket."

"Cabbages wouldn't mew," said Peggy, as the occupant of the basket gave
a long wail.

"It's our cat, I know her voice!" cried Alice in delight.

"Won't you come in and see mother?" Peggy asked, as the boy stepped
inside the small entry and put his basket down.

"Can't stop." He had pulled his cap off politely when he came into the
house, and Peggy saw that his hair was as yellow as her own. She wished
hers might have been cropped as short.

"Oh, dear! what fun boys had! They could go out on the rainiest days."

The boy touched his cap and went quickly down the walk. Peggy's glance
followed him regretfully. He was a big boy; he must be two years older
than she was, just a nice size to play with.

"And we never asked him his name or if he had brothers and sisters,"
Alice said.

It was a lost opportunity and the children both regretted it, but they
had been too much taken up with the return of Lady Jane to think of
anything else at the moment. They had opened the basket and Lady Jane
was purring about the place.

"You darling!" Alice cried as she stroked her gray striped coat. "You do
like us best, don't you, after all?"

There was an odd expression in Lady Jane's green eyes. If she could have
spoken, she would have said, "I like old friends, but I do like old
places better still." And the very next morning she disappeared again.

CHAPTER III

WHY PEGGY WORE BLUE FROCKS

Early in April there came a very hot day, and this reminded Mrs. Owen
that she must be looking over the children's summer dresses to see what
new ones they would need, for it would take some time to make them, with
all the other work she had to do. She went up into the large
store-closet, which was all they had in the way of an attic, and she
unpacked the trunk that held the dresses. There were only four of
Peggy's, for she was very hard on her clothes, and she had stained or
torn several of them. There were six of Alice's in excellent condition.
They were a little short for her, but there were tucks that could be let
down. Peggy had two white dresses, a pink one, and a plaid dress. She
tried on one of the white dresses first and pranced about the room with
it. Her legs looked longer than ever, for the skirt was several inches
above her knees.

"You look just like a mushroom, Peggy," said Alice.

"Oh, dear! I didn't know I'd grown such a lot," said Peggy ruefully,
"but you can let down the tucks, mother," she added hopefully.

"But there aren't any tucks. I let those down last summer."

"I guess I'll have to have that dress," said Alice joyously.

She was so fond of her sister that she liked Peggy's clothes better than
her own.

"Oh, dear!" said Peggy. "I like it so much because it's smocked. But I
hope I can wear the dotted muslin. That's my favorite dress."

But, alas, the dotted muslin was only half an inch longer than the
cotton rep, and there were no tucks in that either.

Peggy skipped about the room again, and she tried to persuade her mother
that it would be possible for her to wear the dress.

"I don't mind if it is rather short, mother," she said.

"I can't have you going around with skirts like a ballet dancer."

"But you could let the hem down, or put in insertion, or something,"
said Peggy.

"But the waist is too small for you, and the dress will be just right
for Alice."

The pink dress and the plaid one were too small for Peggy, too, so Alice
became the proud possessor of Peggy's frocks, which would fit her very
well after tucks had been taken in them.

"I've three pink dresses now and four white ones and two plaids and a
yellow," said Alice.

"And I've nothing at all," said Peggy.

"It's too bad," said Alice, "but yours will all be new."

The first chance Mrs. Owen had to go to the village she said she would
buy the materials for Peggy's summer frocks.

"I've got to get something for working dresses for myself, too," she
said.

She took the children with her, and they had a joyous time, for it was
one of those sunshiny afternoons when everything was so gay and cheerful
that it seemed to Peggy as if the whole world were smiling. The sun
seemed positively to laugh, and the blue sky and the white clouds seemed
almost as glad as he. Alice walked quietly along, taking hold of her
mother's hand; but Peggy had to run along ahead of them every now and
then. She wanted to dance and shout with the joy of it all.

"Oh, Mother, there's Mrs. Butler and her canary-bird," said Peggy, as
they passed a small gray house. "Let's stop and make her a call."

"Not to-day," said Mrs. Owen. "We'll never get our shopping done if we
stop to call on all the neighbors."

When they came to the smoothly finished stone wall in front of the
Thorntons' large place, Peggy climbed up so she could have the pleasure
of walking across it.

"Come, Alice," she said, helping her small sister up.

"Oh, children," said their mother in despair, "we shall never get
downtown."

But they did get there at last, although they met several of their
neighbors on the road, and Peggy stopped to caress a black pussy-cat and
make friends with a yellow collie dog. The shop seemed very dark after
the brightness of the spring sunshine outdoors. The saleswomen seemed
sleepy and not at all interested in what they were selling. Peggy
thought they probably did not live so far from the village; they could
not have had such a joyous walk as they had had, or met so many friends.

"Oh, that beautiful collie dog! How lucky the Thorntons were to have
him! And the black pussy was a darling, not half so beautiful, of
course, as Lady Jane, but still, a darling." She sighed when she thought
of Lady Jane.

She had slipped away again to her old home, and a few days later the
same boy had brought her back in the same basket. The children had not
seen him, for they were at school when he came, and their mother did not
ask him how many children there were in the family. She had discovered,
however, that his name was Christopher. They had kept Pussy in the house
since then, hoping in this way to get her used to the place. But she
seemed very anxious to get out, and in this April weather Peggy did not
feel it quite kind to keep her indoors. She would not like it herself,
and one should do as one would be done by.

Peggy's mother went to the back of the store, where there was a man
behind the counter who seemed more alive than the girls. Peggy followed
her mother, but Alice's attention had been caught by some doll
carriages.

"I want you to show me something strong and serviceable for frocks for
my little girl, who is very hard on her clothes," said Mrs. Owen.

Peggy hung her head. She wished her mother had not said that. The man
did not look as if he ever could have been hard on his clothes, even
when he was a small boy.

"This plaid is a great favorite," he said.

Mrs. Owen asked the price, and it was too high. "Why, it is double what
it was before the war," she said.

Everything was either too expensive or too frail. Mrs. Owen bought some
white materials for best dresses for Peggy, but there seemed to be
nothing in the shop that would do for common.

"I am afraid I shall have to wait until later in the season," said Mrs.
Owen. "I suppose you'll have new things in?"

"The new goods will be more expensive still."

Mrs. Owen sighed. There were drawbacks about having so little money. She
had turned to leave the store when the man called after her:

"Mrs. Owen, I have something on the top shelf I think may suit you. It's
strong as nails, and it's cheap. It's almost as strong as the stuff
butcher's frocks are made of."

Peggy gave a little cry of pleasure when she saw it, for it was such a
delicious color. It made her think of the sky when it was a deep blue.
Mrs. Owen was attracted to it because it was dark enough not to soil
easily. But Peggy did not think of this; she just thought what a
pleasure it would be to be dressed in something so pretty. It was so
cheap that Mrs. Owen could hardly believe her ears when the man told her
the price.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8