Rosemary

J >> Josephine Lawrence >> Rosemary

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"Thank you ma'am," Winnie replied. "Now Rosemary, if you want to
help, you answer the telephone. I can't abide to be called away from
my baking and sweeping to tell folks where the doctor is, or why he
isn't here. I don't always get messages straight, so you take 'em
and when you're not home, let Sarah do it."

"I like to answer the telephone," beamed Rosemary.

Winnie, orderly soul, proceeded to clinch the remaining two offers
of assistance.

"Sarah, there's no one can beat you making beds, when you put your
mind to it," she announced diplomatically. "You make the beds
mornings, when Rosemary is doing her practising and I won't ask you
to do another thing."

"But me?" urged Shirley. "What can I do, Winnie?"

"Bless your little heart, you run to the store for Winnie, and help
her make cookies," cried Winnie, "that's enough for one little girl,
dearie."

"I don't think any of us has much to do," observed Rosemary. "I can
do lots more to help, Winnie. And so can Sarah."

"If you'll do just one thing and do it every day, I won't be
complaining," Winnie returned. "You'll find it's easy to get tired
and it's then you'll want to skip a day."

The girls were sure that nothing would induce them to "skip" a day,
and Winnie went back to her kitchen well-pleased with her bestowal
of commissions.

The house seemed strangely empty without the gentle little mother
and at first time hung heavy on the three pairs of young hands.
Doctor Hugh was very busy adjusting his work to run smoothly and
his hours were irregular so that he did not see much of his sisters.
Then, as the mother's absence became an established fact, gradually
old interests and friends absorbed their attention and normal life
was resumed with the difference that a great gap was always present
and unfilled. Aunt Trudy was kindness itself and overflowing with
affection for her nieces, but her attitude toward them was that of a
placid outsider, gently watching them from a little distance. Aunt
Trudy did their mending exquisitely, because she liked to sew, but
she would not leave the mending and come down stairs to meet Nina
Edmonds, a new-comer to the neighborhood, though Rosemary was
anxious to have every social courtesy shown the rather critical
young person who seemed older than her thirteen years.

"I don't want to drop my work now, dearie," said Aunt Trudy in
response to her niece's appeal. "I always lose my needle when I get
up; I'll meet your little friend some other time. Ask her to dinner
to-night if you wish--Winnie is going to have veal loaf and egg
salad."

Rosemary acted on this suggestion, and Doctor Hugh, coming in late,
was surprised to find a fourth girl at the table, a freckle-faced
little girl with light bobbed hair and incredibly thin arms and
hands. Nina Edmonds talked incessantly and, after a few ineffectual
attempts to carry on a conversation with his aunt, the young doctor
devoted himself to his dinner, keeping, however, an observant eye on
the guest and on Rosemary who listened in evident fascination to the
steady stream of words. He had a call to make, immediately after
dinner and was surprised and distinctly annoyed when he returned at
half-past ten to find Nina and Rosemary still talking animatedly,
their arms around each other, in the window seat. Aunt Trudy was
placidly reading, and the younger girls had gone to bed.

"Is it late?" Rosemary started up as her brother came in.

"Half-past ten," he answered briefly. "I'll take you home, Miss
Edmonds, if you'll tell me where you live. I'm afraid your mother
will be worried about you."

"Oh, my mother never worries--she knows I'll come home all right,"
said Nina. "I didn't wear a coat, it was so warm--will I be cold in
the car?"

"The car is in the garage," said the doctor grimly, holding open the
door for her. "We'll have to walk. Go to bed, Rosemary please," he
flung over his shoulder. "Don't wait up for me."

There was a soft rush and a quick sigh, and Rosemary's arms went
about his neck.

"Kiss me good night, Hugh," she whispered, "I'm sorry."

He held her close for a moment, then the screen door shut with a
click, and they were gone.

"I hope Hugh didn't hurt Nina's feelings," worried Rosemary as she
and Aunt Trudy went upstairs. "She doesn't have to go to bed at nine
o'clock and she thinks it is queer that I do. I'm afraid she will
call Hugh cross."

"Oh, I don't believe she will," said Aunt Trudy comfortably. "She
seemed to me a nice little girl and you need plenty of young
friends, darling."

Her new friend had made a great impression on Rosemary and Sarah was
forced to listen the next day to glowing accounts that rather bored
her. Sarah's present interests were confined to one sick rabbit and
one well rabbit who lived in a hutch in the roomy side yard.

"I'm sick of hearing about Nina Edmonds," declared Sarah as they sat
down to dinner the following evening. "I don't call her anything
wonderful."

Doctor Hugh had not come in, and Rosemary had volunteered to serve
in his place. Aunt Trudy frankly disliked either carving or serving.

"I think she is lovely," maintained Rosemary, "and I'm going to have
my hair bobbed like hers."

It was a warm night and under the glow of the electrolier Rosemary's
magnificent hair curled and shone like polished bronze. Even Aunt
Trudy stared at her, surprised, and the practical Sarah was moved
to protest.

"I think your hair is nice the way it is," she said. "I'd leave it
alone if I were you."

Winnie paused, on her way to the kitchen.

"Don't let Doctor Hugh hear you say any such nonsense," she scolded.
"The idea! Bobbing a head of hair like that--it's going directly
against the generosity of the Lord!"

"What is?" demanded a pleasant voice, and Doctor Hugh came into the
room.

He had changed to a fresh linen suit at the Jordan office, as the
town had designated it to distinguish it from his home office, and
he looked so wholesome and clean and strong and smiling that the
four faces brightened at once.

"You have to bring 'em up when I'm not around, don't you, Winnie?"
he said humorously, slipping into the chair vacated by Rosemary.
"What mischief are they into now?"

Winnie vanished into the kitchen, murmuring something about a salad,
and Rosemary answered for her. Rosemary's blue eyes were unclouded.

"Winnie is mad because I am going to have my hair bobbed like Nina
Edmonds'," she informed her brother. "I think bobbed hair is as
pretty as it can be, don't you, Hugh?"

"It seems a pity when she has such nice hair," murmured Aunt Trudy
weakly.

"Bob your hair!" thundered Doctor Hugh. "Of all the foolish notions,
that is the worst. This comes from talking foolish clatter with that
empty-headed silly little chit last night. The babbling brook must
have been named for her."

"Yes, isn't she silly?" said Sarah scornfully. "Shirley doesn't like
her, either."

"Nina Edmonds is my friend," began Rosemary, scarlet-cheeked.
"You--"

"I beg your pardon, Rosemary," said the doctor instantly. "I
honestly do. I had no right to speak like that. But you mustn't
think of bobbing your curly mop, dear."

"Sarah's hair is bobbed," Rosemary pointed out.

"It was cut to make it grow," answered the doctor. "Mother told me.
You certainly don't need to treat your hair to make it grow,
Rosemary."

"Write and ask Mother," suggested Sarah.

"No, Mother isn't to be asked a single question for a year," Doctor
Hugh announced firmly. "We'll settle our problems without bothering
her. Rosemary is not to meddle with her hair--that's flat."

"Oh, Hugh, I want to bob it!" insisted Rosemary. "Ever so many of
the girls do--not just Nina Edmonds, but half the girls in school. I
don't see why you are so cross about it. Can't I get it cut
to-morrow? Please?"

Doctor Hugh's dark eyes behind their glasses rested on the pretty,
willful face.

"I said NO!" he repeated. "Once and for all, Rosemary, I positively
forbid you to have your hair cut. Do you understand me?"

CHAPTER VI

ROSEMARY HAS HER WAY

"Sarah, Oh, Sarah! Sally Waters, I'm calling you!"

Sarah glanced up at the merry face regarding her over the fence and
frowned.

"Well, what do you want?" she asked ungraciously. "Don't you dare
call me Sally, Jack Welles!"

"I'll call you Sadie, then," said the boy obligingly. "Where's
Rosemary?"

He was a short, stocky lad, between fifteen and sixteen years old,
with a freckled snub nose, engaging brown eyes and a chin that
promised well for future force of character.

"Where's Rosemary?" he asked again.

"I don't know--I haven't seen her since lunch," answered Sarah.
"Don't you think Elinor looks better to-day, Jack?"

Elinor was the sick rabbit and Sarah waited Jack's decision
anxiously.

"Sure, leave her alone and she'll come out all right," he said
heartlessly. "You're always fussing with animals, aren't you, Sarah?
I believe you like 'em better when they're sick because it gives you
an excuse to pet them more."

Sarah's brown, stolid little face kindled suddenly with passionate
earnestness.

"Nobody cares!" she cried. "Nobody! Winnie wouldn't let me keep the
sick kittens in the kitchen and they died and Elinor would have
died, too, if it hadn't been for me. When I grow up, I'm going to
have a big house and there isn't going to be a single person in it.
Just animals--so there!"

"I suppose you'll have a trained cow to do the cooking, and a dog to
wash dishes," teased Jack. "Never mind, Sarah, there'll always be
plenty of animals needing a friend like you. Maybe Hugh will doctor
them for you, and I'll come take your patients out for airings in my
best and newest airplane!"

"Hello, what's all this confabbing?" called Doctor Hugh, coming
across the grass toward the fence. "Rabbits improving, Sarah?
Where's Rosemary?"

"Hello, Hugh," Jack greeted him with a cheerful grin. "All the
patients cured this early in the day? Sarah is going to follow in
your footsteps, but she won't give her services to people, only to
mistreated animals."

"I've been late for dinner two nights running and I thought I'd
surprise the family by a punctual appearance this time," explained
the doctor. "My chief difficulty now is to find some one to
surprise. Aunt Trudy has gone to the library, Winnie says, Shirley
is playing with some neighbor's child on the porch and no one seems
to know where Rosemary is. I saw you and Sarah from upstairs, or I
should have added her to the list of the missing, too."

"I wanted to show Rosemary my new fishing rod," Jack explained.
"It's a beauty and my uncle sent it to me from Canada."

Sarah stood up and shook a lapful of dirt from her frock.

"I think you are cruel to catch fish," she said indignantly.

"Why you eat fish, don't you?" retorted Jack. "Someone has to catch
them, you know."

Poor Sarah had no answer for this argument and she turned and
retreated to the house without another word.

"Queer little dick, isn't she?" smiled Jack to the doctor. "Crazy
about animals and always fussing over 'em. Well, I have to go dig
worms for bait--great day ahead to-morrow with nothing to do but
fish and try out the new rod."

"Good luck to you," called Doctor Hugh, going back to his office to
indulge in the rare luxury of a half hour's reading.

Vaguely he heard Aunt Trudy come in, speak to the two little girls
on the porch, and go on upstairs. He knew when Sarah came down
because she played "chop sticks" on the piano till Winnie came and
called her to go after a loaf of bread. The doctor wondered lazily
if the bread were a real need or a handy invention of Winnie's to
break up the musical program; she was quite capable of the latter.
After the piano was silenced, he lost himself again in his book to
be recalled by an undecided knock on the door. He waited, not sure
that it _was_ a knock. The timid tap came again and he called, "Come
in." The door opened, closed, and Rosemary stood facing him, her
back against it. In her hands she held a brown paper parcel.

Doctor Hugh stared at her in genuine amazement. She was breathing
quickly, as though she had been running, and the lovely color
flooded her face. Her eyes were almost black with excitement and a
touch of fear. But it was her hair that held her brother's
attention. Gone was the rippling glory, the gold-red mane that had
reached to the girl's waist. In its place was a soft aureole of
hair, standing out fluffily on the small head and curling under at
the ends.

Anger flamed in Doctor Hugh's face, then receded, leaving him white.
Before he could speak Rosemary's eyes filled with tears.

"Oh, Hugh!" she sobbed. "I want my hair! And it's gone!"

For answer her brother opened his arms and she fled into them. She
clung to him frantically while she wept out her remorse and grief.

"I didn't know it was going to be like this," she wailed, sobs
shaking the slender shoulders. "The barber didn't want to cut it,
but I made him. And then, as soon as I saw it on the floor, I began
to cry. Oh, Hugh, I'm so sorry--I don't want short hair at all! And
what can I do?"

The doctor said nothing for a little while, only smoothed the
cropped head with a gentle touch. Presently when Rosemary sat up and
wiped her eyes, he motioned toward the parcel still in her hands.

"It's--it's my hair," stammered Rosemary. "The barber tied it up for
me--he said I might want a switch some time."

"Well you won't!" declared Doctor Hugh with decision. "Leave it here
with me, dear, and I'll see that a lock is saved for Mother. You
mustn't feel so badly, Rosemary. The hair will grow again, you know.
And it is very pretty, still."

"Hugh," said Rosemary solemnly, "why do I have to find things out
for myself? I didn't know that I hated bobbed hair till I had mine
cut--why am I like that?"

"Oh, my dear," the doctor smiled a little sadly, "why do we all want
our own way at any cost? You wouldn't believe that I knew better in
this instance, would you?"

Rosemary blushed and looked ashamed.

"I'm glad to have this opportunity to speak to you alone, dear," the
doctor went on. "You've had your hair cut because I forbade it and
now you are sorry, but what about the next time? It's silly to think
you can go through life and always have your own way, child. No one
can. Each one of us must acknowledge some authority. I'm a good many
years older than you girls and I've had more experience and
discipline and at present I am taking Mother's place; you'll have to
accept my decisions for the time being. If I exact obedience,
Rosemary, it isn't because I am a tyrant--I've put in a good many
years obeying orders myself and I know that obedience is a valuable
lesson."

"Have you a temper, Hugh?" asked Rosemary, shyly. "Have you the
Willis will?"

Doctor Hugh's mouth twitched.

"Guilty on both counts," he admitted. "I'm a cross, cranky old
brother with a gun-powder temper that sometimes gets the best of me.
As for the Willis will--what do you think about that, Rosemary?"

"Winnie is always talking about it," said Rosemary. "She says I have
it and so have Sarah and Shirley. I suppose it is very wrong."

"Don't you believe it!" announced the doctor. "Not a bit of it. A
good, strong will is a virtue, child, and please remember that. But,
of course, you want to train it--flying in the face of orders isn't
a proof of will power; more often it is foolish obstinacy. A stiff
will keeps us from being persuaded to do wrong, from tumbling into
pitfalls. It is the weak-willed person who yields to temptation. You
and I, and Shirley and Sarah, have constantly to remember that we
have the Willis will and are proud of it; and then resolve not to
yield easily to the little devils of temper and disobedience and
false pride. Which is the end of my sermon and long enough it's
been!"

The big swivel chair accommodated them comfortably and Rosemary
remained in her brother's lap quietly, her eyes downcast. He watched
her silently. At last she raised her face bravely.

"Are you going to punish me?" she asked clearly.

He shook his head.

"I know you are sorry," he replied. "Punishments are only to help us
remember, and you are not going to forget, are you? But I tell you
what I am going to do--ask you to give up Nina Edmonds as a chum."

Rosemary was silent.

"You do not have to be unkind or discourteous," continued the
doctor's even voice. "Just do not go over to her house so often and
by and by she will not come to see you. Play more with Shirley and
Sarah, dear--they look up to you and love you so."

"Don't you like Nina--but I know you don't," Rosemary answered her
own question.

"Since we are talking confidentially," said Doctor Hugh and Rosemary
felt a thrill of pleasure at his tone, "I'll tell you my real
reasons for objecting to Nina as a friend for you. She is too
old--that's all. What is she--thirteen?--well, she has all the ideas
and manners of a girl of eighteen. And you're still a little girl,
Rosemary, thank fortune. I don't want you to grow up too fast and it
would break Mother's heart to come home and find a grown up daughter
in the place of the little girl she left. Be twelve years old while
you can, honey, for the minute you are thirteen you leave that happy
year forever. I'm a serious old codger this afternoon, am I not? But
we understand each other better, don't we?"

"Oh, yes!" Rosemary threw her arms around his neck. "I love you most
to pieces!" she confided.

From that moment Rosemary began to worship her brother with all the
depth and power of her warm and affectionate nature. She did not
immediately become a model of obedience and she often disputed his
edicts and decisions. There were misunderstandings and tears and
many hard lessons to be learned still ahead. But Hugh would never
again be a stranger with her respect and love yet to be won. She
could admire his strength of will and purpose whole heartedly and as
she contrasted them with Aunt Trudy's characteristics, Rosemary
insensibly found her aunt wanting.

She said something of this to Jack Welles the day after the
memorable hair cutting. Rosemary had endured the comments and
questions of the household at dinner that night with fair composure,
but she had flared up in wrath at Jack's laughter when he first met
her the following afternoon.

"My mother says it is extremely ill-bred to indulge in comments on a
person's personal appearance," declared Rosemary heatedly. "My hair
is a part of my personal appearance."

"What a dub you were to have it cut," said Jack, sobering. "But it
might look worse, Rosemary, honestly it might. I think it is rather
becoming with those ends curling under like that."

Rosemary permitted herself to be calmed.

"It's fun to brush it," she laughed. "And my head feels as light as
a feather."

"What did Hugh say?" asked Jack curiously. "Or didn't you ask him?
And Aunt Trudy makes such a fuss about your hair--wasn't she
horrified?"

Rosemary's expressive face shadowed.

"Hugh was just dear to me!" she said enigmatically, "but Aunt Trudy
was so silly. She cried and cried and said what would my mother say
and wasn't I ever going to have any respect for her wishes--she is
so tiresome, she really is, Jack."

"Then you must have been told not to have it bobbed and went ahead
like your usual perverse small self," declared Jack shrewdly. "I'll
bet Hugh didn't weep though--he looks to me as though he could talk
to you like a Dutch uncle."

"Well I don't care if he did!" said Rosemary. "I'd rather be scolded
or punished than cried over. And Aunt Trudy doesn't cry because she
is sorry--she does it to get her own way. That's the way she makes
us mind--she cries and says we don't love her and that makes us feel
mean.

"But I don't think it is fair one bit and afterward I'm so mad I
could throw a sofa cushion at her. You needn't look at me like that,
Jack Welles! Your aunt doesn't cry over _you_."

CHAPTER VII

THE RUNAWAY

June slipped quietly into July and with the long, hot sunny days
came the inclination to slight regular tasks as Winnie had
predicted. Sarah tried to beg off from making the beds morning after
morning and Shirley began to grumble when called from her play to go
to the store. Aunt Trudy declared that the heat always affected her
and demanded an electric fan in her room and drove Winnie frantic
with repeated requests for ice-water. Rosemary alone remained
faithful to her duties, feeling the responsibility of an oldest
daughter. She answered the many calls on the telephone, kept the
messages straight and even wrote out the cards for the office file.
Doctor Hugh declared he did not know what he should do without her.
When Sarah left her work undone, it was Rosemary who finished it for
her, Rosemary who listened sympathetically to Aunt Trudy's
complaints about the weather, Rosemary who coaxed Shirley into
clean frocks and amiability each afternoon and tried to soothe
Winnie when Sarah's side-yard menagerie insisted on invading the
house.

"Rosemary, this is the second time Shirley has stayed away from
lunch," declared Aunt Trudy one noon. "Don't you think I should
speak to your brother about it?"

"Oh, no, Aunt Trudy, not right away," protested Rosemary, her
troubled eyes wandering to the little sister's vacant place. "I
don't believe she really means to run away. I'll get her to promise
not to go out of the yard and she will be all right. Shirley never
broke her promise yet."

"Sarah ought to play with her more, instead of fussing with those
silly rabbits," said Aunt Trudy severely.

"I do play with her," retorted Sarah irritably. "I play with her
lots. But she likes Rosemary. I can't help it if she gets mad at me
and goes to play with those Bailey children, can I? Rosemary is
always practising."

This was not quite fair on Sarah's part, for Rosemary though devoted
to her music and already an advanced pupil, seldom practised more
than an hour in the morning and another in the afternoon. The fact
was that six year old Shirley was developing the running-away habit
at an alarming rate.

She came home late that afternoon, tired and cross, and to
Rosemary's questions returned the briefest answers. Yes, she had
been playing with the Bailey children. No, not in their yard. No,
they had not gone with her when she went further on. She had gone by
herself. Yes, she had had some lunch, a pound of sweet crackers.

"Where did you get them?" asked Rosemary, who was brushing the sunny
hair.

"At the grocery," admitted Shirley.

"But you didn't have any money, dear, did you?" said Rosemary in
surprise.

"I charged 'em--Mr. Holmes said it would be all right," announced
Shirley complacently.

"Shirley Willis! And you know Mother positively never allows us to
charge a thing unless she orders it," cried Rosemary. "What do you
suppose Hugh would say? Did you eat a whole pound?"

No, Shirley confessed, she had had crackers to give away. She had
given some to a strange dog and some to a little boy and girl she
met.

"What little boy and girl?" demanded Rosemary, beginning to feel
that this youngest sister was too much for her. "Where did you
meet them?"

"At the dump lot," said Shirley sweetly.

Rosemary stared at her. The "dump lot" was on the other side of the
town and furnished an annual topic of discussion for the Eastshore
Woman's Club. To it the town refuse and garbage was carted and it
was regularly hauled over and searched by bands of men, women and
children intent on salvage.

"What shall I do with you?" groaned poor Rosemary. "After this,
you'll have to stay in the yard, Shirley. You know Hugh would scold
if he heard you were playing in the dump lot. Promise Sister you
won't go away from the house to-morrow morning."

Shirley, looking more than ever like an adorable cherub in freshly
ironed pink chambray, shook her head naughtily.

"I might want to go," she argued.

"But you mustn't!" Rosemary's voice was earnest. "You can't run all
over town like this, darling. You'll be run over by an automobile,
or something dreadful will happen to you. Promise to stay in your
own yard like a good girl."

Shirley would not promise. The worried Rosemary went to Winnie.

"I don't want to tell Hugh," she explained, "he's busy and when he's
home Shirley is so cunning and funny I don't believe he thinks she
can be naughty. Besides Mother told me to look after the
children--what can I do, Winnie?" and Rosemary, a child herself
waited Winnie's reply anxiously.

"Running away is something most children go through," pronounced
Winnie. "You never had the trick, Rosemary, but Hugh did and so did
Sarah. Your father spanked Hugh and cured him and your mother and I
together cured Sarah. We tied her to a tree with a rope and she was
so ashamed to have the other children see her that she promised not
to leave the yard without permission."

"But Shirley won't promise," said Rosemary. "She keeps saying she
might want to go. Aunt Trudy thinks we should tell Hugh about her."

"Well I think myself he might be able to break her of the trick,"
admitted Winnie. "Shirley thinks a heap of him and yet she's a
little afraid of him too. But I'm like you, Rosemary--I hate to
bother him just now. He's worried about that hospital case and last
night he was called out twice."

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