Suppose they should give her a new complexion? Make her quite well again? Wouldnt that be worth while?
Dot held the really dreadful looking doll away from her and gazed with loving eyes upon the wreck of her former pink and white beauty.
She is just as as dear to me as ever she was, she sighed. But I spose her complexion is muddy and her nose is flattened a little and her lips arent red any more-and her eyes are washed out. But but are you sure they wont hurt her?
Well have to find a hospital where they agree not to hurt, said Neale seriously.
Now youve got yourself in a mess, Neale O Neil, whispered Agnes. Shell never let you rest.
But the boy only grinned at her. Tess came back. Ruth brought the hats of Agnes and herself and their outer wraps. Everything that they could possibly need for the days outing was gathered together and taken out to the big, shiny, seven-passenger touring car that stood gloriously in the morning sunshine before the Willow Street door of the old Corner House.
Tom Jonah, the old Newfoundland dog, and the guardian of the premises, evidently desired to accompany the merry party; but Ruth vetoed that, although he might have ridden in the front seat with Neale.
And Im going to ride there myself, declared Agnes, firmly. Ive got to learn to run this car right away. If Neale could learn, and get a license, I can. By the way, Neale, where is your license?
Oh, Ive got it with me, returned the boy. D you want me to have it pasted on the back of my coat?
Tom Jonah must stay at home and the kittens, too, said Tess, looking at the troop of cats and kittens lingering about the side porch, waiting for their morning meal.
And Billy Bumps, added Dot, referring to the solemn old goat grazing on the drying green.
Uncle Rufus, the black factotum of the Corner House, came up from the garden, grinning widely at them.
Don yo chillun run down nothin nor run up nothin wile yo is gone. I dunno bout dat contraption. Ah hopes yo git back widout moren a dozen laigs broke.
Goodness, Uncle Rufus! cried Agnes. What do you think we are centipedes?
Dunno nottin bout dem er, declared the old colored man, chuckling. Dont hab center-pigs in Virginny, whar I done come from. Dey uses razorbacks fo de mos part in makin pok.
The car started amid a gale of laughter at this. Mrs. MacCall waved her cap from an open second story window. Some of the neighbors took a deep interest in their departure, too. It was certainly a fact that the Corner House girls had suddenly become of much importance since it was known that they had a car.
Ruth and the others looked up at Aunt Sarah Maltbys windows at the front of the house as the car jounced delightfully across the tracks on Main Street. But the old lady kept her curtains drawn. She would not even look out at them.
They sped along so easily, the strong springs and shock-absorbers taking the jar at the crossings, that even Ruth sighed ecstatically. Agnes murmured:
This is life. Oh, Neale! its the most delightful way to travel.
Is it better than riding horses in a circus, Neale? demanded Tess, from the tonneau.
Neale laughed. He had been circus born and bred, and the little girls still believed that such a life must be one round of pleasure and excitement. They never could understand why Neale had run away from Twomley & Sorbers Herculean Circus and Menagerie.
Suddenly Agnes, the volatile, thought of another thing. Oh, me! Oh, my! she cried. What ever should we do?
Goodness! whats the matter with you now? demanded her older sister.
Suppose our auto should be stolen like Mr. Collingers!
Dont say that, Aggie! wailed Tess.
They couldnt steal our auto, declared Dot, with emphasis.
Why not? asked Neale, curiously.
Cause Tom Jonah wouldnt let em, said the smallest girl.
Then we should have brought Tom Jonah with us, Agnes said. Well have to let him watch the car all the time.
Mr. Collingers car was taken right away from the front of the County Court House. Those thieves were bold, said Ruth. I heard Mr. Howbridge say that there was something behind that affair. He doubts if the car was stolen by any common thieves.
Common or uncommon, cried Agnes, we dont want ours stolen!
Better set a watch at the garage door at night, chuckled Neale.
They were out in the country now and had entered a smooth, but woodsy, road that passed through a rather thick forest. The road was very narrow in places and there were only a few houses along the track for some miles.
Suddenly they sighted just ahead a basket phaeton and a brown, fat pony hitched to it. Neale slowed down quickly, for the turnout was standing still. The driver was a middle-aged woman with a good many fussy looking ribbons in her bonnet and otherwise dressed quite gaily. The fat brown pony was standing still, flicking flies with his tail and wagging his ears comfortably. He was in the very middle of the road and by no possibility could the car be steered around the turnout.
The woman looked around at the car and its passengers and her face displayed a most exasperated expression.
I dont know what youll do! she cried, in a rather shrill voice. I cant make him budge. Hes been standing here this way for fifteen minutes, and sometimes he balks for hours!
CHAPTER II WHAT MRS. HEARD HEARD
Cant you back, Neale? asked Ruth Kenway, doubtfully. We really dont want to stay here all day.
Or wait upon the pleasure of a ridiculous beast like that, snapped Agnes, more than a little exasperated herself.
The woman looked around again. She had a pleasant face, and Tess smiled at her. Tess knew that the lady must feel a good deal worse than they did about it.
You dont know how ridiculous he is, said the woman, hopelessly. He may start any minute; then again he may stay here until he gets hungry. And hes only just eaten his breakfast.
He looks as if hed live as long without eating as a camel can go without drinking, chuckled Neale ONeil.
Its no laughing matter, protested Agnes. We want to get somewhere.
You cant want to get somewhere worse than I do, my dear, said the woman, with a sigh. And only think! I have sat behind this pony hours and hours during the past ten years.
Cant cant he be cured? asked Tess, doubtfully.
Hes a real pretty pony, I think, said Dot.
Handsome is as handsome does, Mrs. Mac would say, Ruth declared. Is there no way of turning, Neale? she repeated.
I dont see how. We dont want to scratch the car all up in those bushes and on those stumps. And if we back to where the road is wider well have to back for half a mile.
A trolley car is lots better than an auto, then, declared Dot, with conviction.
Why, Dottie! how can you say that? cried Tess, in utter disapproval.
Cause if it gets stuck the motorman can go to the back end and run it just as well as at the front end, said the smallest Corner House girl, promptly.
Some kid that! murmured Neale, while the others laughed. Have you tried the whip, maam? he asked of the woman in the basket phaeton.
Ive broken it on him, confessed the woman, shaking her head. He doesnt even feel it. The flies bother him more than a whip. He is just the most tantalizing brute of a horse that ever was. Jonas! Get up!
Jonas stood still. He merely flicked flies and wagged his ears. He was really the most peaceful animate object visible in the whole landscape.
The Corner House girls, since coming to Milton to live in the old dwelling that Uncle Peter Stower had left them at his death, had enjoyed many adventures, but few more ridiculous than this. Here they sat in their new, high-powered car, ready and anxious to spin over the country roads to their goal a famous picnicking grounds fifty miles from Milton and a little old fat brown pony, with a stubborn disposition and a cropped mane, held them up as certainly as though he had been a highway robber!
The four young Kenways Ruth, Agnes, Tess and Dot with Aunt Sarah Maltby (who really was only an adopted aunt) had been very poor indeed before Uncle Peter Stower had died and left the girls the bulk of his estate and a small legacy to Aunt Sarah.
Mr. Howbridge, the administrator of the estate and the girls guardian, had come to the Kenways poor tenement in the city where they lived, and had taken them to the old Corner House quite an old mansion overlooking the Parade Ground in Milton, and supposed by some of the neighbors to be haunted.
How the girls laid the garret ghost and how they proved their right and title to Uncle Peters estate against the claims of a certain Mrs. Treble (known as Mrs. Trouble to the rather pert Agnes) and her little girl, Double-Trouble, is told in the first volume of this series, entitled The Corner House Girls.
Afterward the little Adamless Eden on the corner of Willow and Main Streets is trespassed upon by a boy who has run away from a circus to get an education Neale ONeil. He proves to be a thoroughly likable boy, and even Ruth and Tess, who do not much approve of the opposite sex, are prone to like Neale.
In The Corner House Girls at School Neale becomes a fixture in the neighborhood, living with Mr. Con Murphy, the little old cobbler on the street back of the Stower place, and doing chores for the Corner House girls and other neighbors to help support himself while he attends school.
The girls extend their acquaintance widely during this first school year at Milton, and when summer comes they visit Pleasant Cove, where they befriend Rosa and June Wildwood, two Southern girls, and meanwhile have adventures galore along the shore. Indeed, The Corner House Girls Under Canvas introduces many new friends to both the girls themselves and to the reader, notable among whom is Tom Jonah, who, although only a dog, is a thorough gentleman.
The girls friendliness to all living creatures gathers about them, as is natural, a galaxy of pets, including a rapidly growing menagerie of cats, the dog in question, a goat, and (this is Agnes inclusion) Sammy Pinkney, the little boy who is determined to be a pirate when he grows up.
The fall following this summer vacation just mentioned, sees all the Corner House girls taking part in a play produced by the combined effort of the town schools. Their failures and successes in producing The Carnation Countess is interwoven with a mystery surrounding the punishment of Agnes and some of her fellow-classmates for an infraction of the rules a punishment that promises at one time to spoil the play entirely. The Corner House Girls in a Play is interesting and it turns out happily in the end. One of the best things about it is the fact that three thousand dollars is raised by means of the play for the Womens and Childrens Hospital, and Mrs. Eland, the matron, is able to retain her position in that institution.