Читать книгу Betty Gordon and the Lost Pearls - Eunice W. Creager - Страница 3

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“Good-by, Uncle Dick! Oh, how I wish you could go with us!”

Betty Gordon gave her only living relative a loving embrace, turned her back on the Union Station at Washington, D. C., and sped towards the gates.

“Come on, Norma and Alice! We have only two minutes to make the train! Mercy! We’ll have to hurry!”

The Guerin girls followed close at Betty’s heels. The warm sunshine lighted their eager, upturned faces.

“Oh, Betty!” panted the soft-voiced Alice, “I fear we shall never make it!”

“We must!” Betty’s voice was determined.

“Lead on, Betty!” ordered the irrepressible Norma. “We’re with you.”

“Step lively, girls,” exclaimed the genial gatekeeper. “Tickets! Orchard Cove? Off to a summer resort, eh? Well, have a good time.”

The girls passed through the gates and sped on. The engine clanged a warning signal.

Betty could not resist a backward glance at her bachelor uncle and flung him a wave of the hand.

Richard Gordon raised his hat with a courtly gesture and smiled his cheery, whimsical smile. A distinguished figure in any crowd, thought Betty fondly.

The girls were not the only late arrivals. A large, showily dressed woman, accompanied by a frail, sweet-faced little lady in black, was just boarding the train. A small black bag dangled from a cord thrown over the arm of the larger woman.

The overdressed woman had just stepped from the little yellow footstool the colored porter had provided to the first step of the Pullman coach.

The porter, in a kindly effort to adjust the stool to the shorter step of the little lady who followed, brought the wrath of the overdressed one down upon his unfortunate head.

The large woman’s foot slipped on the first step. Her feet made an unsuccessful effort to find the stool, then slid with some violence to the ground. She turned a flushed and angry face to the crestfallen negro.

“Porter! How dare you trip me? I——”

“Fo’ goodness sake, ma’am! Pa’don’ me, ma’am! I sho’ didn’t mean to, ma’am.”

“Don’t argue with me! I am Mrs. Pryde Calott. I shall report you for neglect of duty.”

“Why, he didn’t trip you!” exclaimed Betty indignantly. “You slipped!”

Upon the ample bosom of Mrs. Pryde Calott reposed a showy diamond pin, from which dangled a long chain and monocle.

With a pompous gesture of indescribable insolence, she raised the monocle to one eye and stared at Betty and her friends.

After she had coolly inspected them from head to feet, she turned haughtily and mounted the steps.

“I shall report your negligence, porter!” she threw back over her shoulder. “I am Mrs. Pryde Calott.”

The little woman in black was visibly embarrassed.

“I am sure you were in no way to blame,” Betty heard her say kindly to the unfortunate man, and saw the gleam of silver pass from the lady’s hand to his.

The porter revived, somewhat.

“Thank yo’, ma’am! Thank yo’, ma’am! De young ladies must hop on or yo’ sho’ gwine to git lef’.” He revealed a gleaming set of faultless teeth in a wide grin.

Betty and the two Guerin sisters scrambled up the steps, and the train was under way.

The little lady in black turned at the entrance to the car, looked over her shoulder and smiled straight into Betty’s eyes.

Betty, sore of heart, had been thinking:

“Now I have made an enemy, unnecessarily. When shall I be able to bridle my tongue and curb my temper?”

But the look in the little lady’s eyes calmed the girl and restored her self-respect.

Norma followed close at Betty’s heels. She was giggling at every step.

“Betty to the rescue,

Of darkeys in distress,”

she chanted in a whisper.

“I don’t care!” replied Betty in a low voice, as they found their seats in the parlor car. “I detest to see any one try to blame another when they are in fault themselves.”

“Yes,” said Alice softly, “the porter did not trip her; she slipped after she had safely reached the step. I cannot imagine why she should wish to blame the poor man.”

“Why,” laughed Norma, “it is because ‘I am Mrs. Pryde Calott.’ I cannot do anything wrong. I——”

“Hush, Norma! They are not far behind us. She will hear you.”

“Well, I will, Alice, if you’ll only tell me what that one-eyed thing is that she raised to give us the cold and deadly stare?”

“You know well enough that’s a monocle. Its use is affected by the English, somewhat, but very few are used in America.”

“Well, I don’t care for one-eyed specks, myself,” declared the frank Norma, in disgust.

Many admiring glances followed the three girls as they established themselves comfortably in the chair car. They lingered longer on the vivid face of Betty Gordon. Betty had removed her stylish little sport hat, and her glowing face, framed in masses of dark hair, was one to attract attention anywhere.

“Here are some chocolates Uncle Dick bought for us,” said Betty presently. She dived into her trim traveling bag.

Norma gave a little squeal of delight.

“How lovely!” exclaimed Alice. “You are fortunate to have such a dear Uncle Dick, Betty.”

“Yes, indeed! Oh, how I wish he could have come, too!”

Somehow, Betty could not forget the gallant figure of her uncle as she last saw it, standing alone in the crowd, his eyes following her until she disappeared from sight. What a lonely life he must lead most of the time!

Richard Gordon was a promoter of various industrial enterprises that compelled him to travel much of the time. For this reason, during the school term, he established Betty, his niece, at Shadyside School, and Bob Henderson, his ward, at Salsette Military Academy for boys. The two schools were located near the town of Shadyside and were separated from each other by a lake. The Guerin girls also attended Shadyside School.

“Your uncle will probably get down for the week-end,” Alice comforted. “And in a few days, Bob will be on hand with the Tucker twins. You say the Littell girls have promised to come down as soon as they get back to Fairfields from New York. Your uncle and Bob will not let you out of sight long, since your terrible experiences in Mexico.”

After Betty and Bob’s harrowing experiences as told in “Betty Gordon in Mexican Wilds,” Richard Gordon had planned a week or more of rest at Orchard Cove for the young people. The Cove was a smart summer resort on the Atlantic coast.

Here, Betty, Bob, and their friends were to stay until the fall term at Shadyside School and Salsette Military Academy opened.

“Yes, Mexico was an unpleasant experience, but we have Orchard Cove ahead to make up for it,” Betty declared, dimpling.

At that moment the conductor entered the coach and the girls turned their attention to their tickets. As the conductor passed on, Alice whispered:

“That Mrs. Calott has been nagging that poor little woman in black ever since they sat down. I don’t know what the trouble is. I believe the little woman in black must be a widow. She has a sad, sweet face.”

Suddenly, the rasping voice of Mrs. Pryde Calott was heard.

“I am sure I gave you the tickets. How could you be so careless as to lose them?”

“You are mistaken,” the girls heard the little woman say, in deep distress. “I have never had them. Look in your black bag. They may be in your purse.”

Fussing and fuming, Mrs. Pryde Calott grudgingly complied. The tickets were in her purse.

Furious, because she was caught in fault, the woman began berating the company, the conductor, the service and everything connected with the railroad.

Norma was astounded.

“Did you ever hear of such a disagreeable woman, Betty?”

But presently, Mrs. Pryde Calott and her unpleasantness were forgotten in the enjoyment of the view.

“My, those chocolates make me thirsty!” exclaimed Betty a little later. “I’m going to get a drink.”

At the water cooler, she was joined by the little lady in black. In a few moments they were chatting pleasantly.

Presently, they returned to their seats. The little lady had kindly taken a glass of water to Mrs. Pryde Calott.

“Her name is Mrs. Hiller,” whispered Betty to Norma and Alice. “She has lost her husband and all her money and is acting as a companion and a sort of maid to Mrs. Calott. Oh, I am so sorry for Mrs. Hiller! That Mrs. Calott must lead her a dog’s life. Mrs. Hiller is so sad!”

The girls could not resist a backward glance at Mrs. Hiller. She was courteously offering the glass of water to Mrs. Calott.

Suddenly the voice of Mrs. Pryde Calott sounded through the coach.

“There! You have spilled water on my dress. It spots, too! How very annoying!”

Mrs. Hiller murmured a quick apology. Her pale cheeks turned crimson.

“Why, the old pill!” exclaimed Norma, in surprise. “She knocked the glass with her book and spilled the water herself! I saw her do it!”

Alice turned to her sister and frowned.

“Norma, be more respectful! ‘Pill’!”

“Pill is a mild word for her,” declared Betty indignantly. “I am afraid I shall slay that woman before she leaves the coach!”

Norma began to giggle. It always amused her when Betty went on the warpath.

“Now I shall get water myself, since you seem incompetent to get it for me,” continued the rasping voice of Mrs. Calott. “And remember this, when you travel with me, you are not to take up with strange people on trains.”

Mrs. Calott rose from her chair with a pompous air. The ever-present bag was dangling from her arm. As a parting shot, she continued:

“A woman in my position cannot afford to. They may be impostors or even”—her voice sank to a whisper that carried, nevertheless, through the entire car—“thieves!”

She sailed majestically down the aisle to the water cooler.

Betty was confusedly conscious of the smiling occupants of the car. But gentle Mrs. Hiller was not smiling. She had sunk into her chair as though overcome by the weight of her embarrassment.

“That woman is simply impossible!” exclaimed Alice. “Come, Betty, forget her! Where did the chocolates go?”

Betty hunted for a few moments in vain.

“I declare,” she exclaimed, “if that box hasn’t fallen on the floor!”

“Oh, save the chocolates!” shrilled Norma.

Betty stooped to get the box.

“All safe, Norma,” she reported gleefully.

Unnoticed by Betty, Mrs. Pryde Calott was returning down the aisle. Betty took a backward step and slightly brushed against the woman.

“Will you kindly allow me to pass?” demanded the woman haughtily.

“Oh, I beg your pardon!”

Suddenly the train gave a lurch. There was a jarring and grinding of brakes, a swaying of the coach. Betty was thrown violently against the big woman.

To Betty’s horror and dismay, Mrs. Pryde Calott lost her balance, clutched wildly at Betty for support, and collapsed to the floor of the coach, dragging Betty with her!