Letty and the Twins Page 4

  CHAPTER IV

  GREEN APPLES

  “I have a piece of good news,” announced grandfather one afternoon a fewdays later, as he came up on the front veranda. He had driven into thevillage directly after the noon-day dinner and had just returned. “Whereis your grandmother?”

  Then he stopped short and eyed the children keenly. They were eachsitting in a big chair, in attitudes too much doubled up for mere cozycomfort, and they were neither of them talking—a fact sufficient initself to make one suspect that everything was not just as it should be.They sprang up with assumed spryness at sound of grandfather’s voice.

  “What’s the news? Tell us!” cried Christopher.

  “Yes, do, please,” echoed Jane.

  Grandfather thought they looked pale.

  “Where is your grandmother?” he repeated.

  “She is sitting with Mrs. Hartwell-Jones. Mrs. Hartwell-Jones has aheadache.”

  “Hum. And what have you two been doing, without any one to look afteryou?”

  “Playing, sir.”

  “Playing where?”

  A spasm crossed Jane’s face. She swallowed hard and began to talk veryfast.

  “We’ve just been playing out in the orchard with my dolls—where I playmost every afternoon, grandfather. Juno brings her pups out there and——”She swallowed hard again.

  Christopher collapsed suddenly into the nearest chair and bent doublewith a howl of pain. Jane began to cry.

  “Playing in the orchard,” repeated grandfather gravely, looking at themeach in turn. “Oh, why didn’t I have Perk stay in from the fields tolook after you! Kit, how many green apples did you eat?”

  “I don’t exactly know, sir,” came a small voice from the depths of a bigchair. “I lost count after the eighth but it wasn’t many more.”

  “More than eight!”

  It was grandfather’s turn to drop into a chair. The chair was not verynear so that he almost dropped on to the floor. But the twins were toomiserable to laugh.

  “They weren’t very big,” moaned Christopher.

  “That made them all the greener,” replied his grandfather grimly.

  “I only ate six, grandfather,” put in Jane consolingly. “I felt as ifI’d had enough after three, but I couldn’t stop there, you know.”

  In spite of his anxiety grandfather laughed. Then he got up to go insearch of grandmother. She appeared in the doorway just then, lookingvery comfortable and cool in a fresh white dress.

  “Mrs. Hartwell-Jones’s head is better, children, and she would like tosee you up in her——” she began and stopped short.

  “What is the matter with the children?” she cried, looking at them ingreat alarm.

  “Jane ate six green apples and Kit lost count after the eighth. Is thereanybody handy to send for the doctor?”

  Grandmother looked dismayed, but faced the situation bravely.

  “A drink of hot peppermint water will fix them, I think,” she said. “Andif that doesn’t castor oil will. Dr. Greene has been called to Westsideto take charge of a typhoid fever case and won’t be back to-night.”

  After the children had been put to bed with warm, soothing drinks, andhad had hot milk toast for supper, sitting up in bed with their wrapperson to eat it, Christopher suddenly bethought himself of grandfather’sgood news.

  “He never told us what it was!” he wailed to Jane.

  “I wonder how he guessed about the apples so soon?” speculated Jane inreply. “I’ve played in the orchard ’most every day. I guess it wasbecause you were playing with me.”

  “Mean-y! Trying to put the blame on me! It was because you looked soqueer and yellow, like biscuit dough.”

  “I didn’t look any yellower than you. And I didn’t double up and howl,so there,” retorted Jane, indignantly.

  Christopher was silenced for a moment by this home-thrust. Then hecalled triumphantly:

  “I had a right to look yellower than you, ’cause I ate more apples. AndI think I know what the good news is. The circus is comin’ day afterto-morrow. I heard grandfather tell Mrs. Hartwell-Jones so.”

  “Oh, Kit, how fine! Wouldn’t you just love to go?”

  “We are going. Grandfather said we might when I first asked him.”

  “Yes, I know, but perhaps he’ll change his mind now and not let us go,to punish us for being naughty about the apples.”

  “But he promised! He’ll have to keep his word.”

  “He didn’t really promise. He just said he’d see.”

  “Well, that means the same. He meant yes.”

  “Then I wonder what he will do to punish us?”

  “Nothing. He’ll forgive us. Grandfathers are different from fathersabout that.”

  “But we’ve been naughty and deserve to be punished.”

  “Well, isn’t it punishment enough, I’d like to know, to be put to bed inbroad daylight?” demanded Christopher, tossing impatiently.

  Just then Huldah came up for the milk toast bowls. She stood in thedoorway between the children’s rooms and shook her head slowly as shelooked from one bed to the other.

  “I’m disapp’inted in you,” she said coldly.

  “Oh, come now, Huldah, don’t rub it in,” pleaded Christopher.

  “And we are as sorry as we can be,” added Jane.

  “Well, you’ll lose some good apple pies by it,” remarked Huldahseverely, picking up her tray. “Your grandfather was planning to have apicnic on circus day, an’ I was makin’ out to bake some apple pies forit—pies with lots of cinnamon—but apples’ll be scarce now, and we’llhave to be savin’ of ’em.”

  “Oh, Huldah, we didn’t eat as many as that!” cried Jane, her pain comingback at the very idea.

  “You must have eat ’most half a bushel between you.”

  “My! Well, can’t you begin to be saving of them a little later in thesummer, when there’s other things to make pie out of?” wheedledChristopher.

  But Huldah shook her head and went away to her kitchen.

  Jane lay thinking, soberly. She still felt weak and shaken after thesharp pain she had suffered, and found her bed very comfortable.Therefore she could not regard being put to bed so early as apunishment. Neither did she think it right that naughty children shouldgo without punishment of some kind. It was not natural. It had neverhappened in any of her story-books, nor had it occurred in her own smallexperience, notwithstanding Christopher’s ideas about forgivinggrandfathers. It stood to reason then that she and Christopher, havingbeen naughty, must be punished. The most obvious punishment would be tokeep them home from the circus. Grandfather had not actually promised totake them—nothing so solemn as “honest Injun” or “Cross my heart.” Soperhaps he would not think he was breaking his word by keeping them athome.

  Perhaps, if she and Christopher did something to show how sorry theywere, deprived themselves of something, grandfather would think that waspunishment enough. Soon the idea came to her.

  “Kit,” she called, sitting up in bed, “are you asleep?”

  “No, what you want?”

  “Why, I think we ought—it seems to me—Huldah said we ate ’most half abushel of apples, Kit. That’s an awful lot.”

  “It’s not so many when you think of all there are left on the trees.It’s rubbish about Huldah’s having to save ’em. I know better ’n that.She just said that to make us uncomfortable, the mean thing.”

  “Well, it was a lot, anyhow, and I think we ought to give ’em back.”

  “Give ’em back! How could we? What do you mean?”

  Christopher tumbled out of bed, his curiosity roused and coming in,huddled himself up on the foot of Jane’s cot.

  “Why, don’t you think that your ’lowance an’ mine together ’d buy half abushel of apples?” asked Jane eagerly, quite carried away by her heroicresolve.

  “But I want my ’lowance to buy lemonade and peanuts with at the circus.”

  “But maybe we can’t go to the circus.”

  �
��Yes, we can. Grandfather promised.”

  “No, he didn’t promise. He said ‘I’ll see.’ And now I guess he’ll keepus home, ’less we do something to show him we’re sorry. If we buy half abushel of apples and give ’em to him in place of all those we ate, why,don’t you see? Maybe he’ll think that, and the stomach ache we’ve had,’ll be punishment enough, without giving up the circus.”

  “The stomach ache was enough punishment for me. I promised him I’d nevereat any more green apples, and I won’t. But I want money to spend forlemonade at the circus.”

  “I guess I like lemonade as well as you do, greedy, but I’d rather go tothe circus without having it, than to miss the whole thing.”

  “Well, so would I, silly. But do you honestly think grandfather would beso mean?”

  “It wouldn’t be mean. It would be only fair,” declared Jane stoutly.

  “Well, we’ll see about it in the morning,” answered Christopher,scuttling back to bed.

  And that was all that Jane could get out of him, so that she went tosleep with her conscience only half clear. Because of course her fifteencents would not do any good without Christopher’s. She knew enough aboutthe prices of things to be sure of that.

  Grandfather and grandmother were so cold and formal at breakfast thenext morning, and avoided all mention of the circus so carefully thatChristopher was forced to decide that for once Jane was right and theywould better buy the half bushel of apples to show their repentance.They longed to consult Mrs. Hartwell-Jones, but that would mean tellingthe whole story, which they did not wish to do. Of course they did notknow that “the lady who wrote books” had already heard the story fromgrandmother and had laughed over it until she cried.

  After breakfast they held a hurried counsel and then ran out to the barnto find out who was going to the village that day. It turned out thatJoshua himself was going, to have one of the horses shod. At first herefused to take the twins with him, saying that they were in disgraceand must remain quietly at home. It was only after they had explainedtheir errand (under the most binding promises of secrecy) that heconsented.

  The ride into the village was interesting at all times, and now thewhole countryside, ablaze with red and yellow circus posters, madedriving between the decorated rail-fences most entertaining and lively.Joshua stopped in front of each pictorial long enough for the childrento spell out the account of the wonders foretold and admire the gorgeouspictures, and then took away most of the charm by saying regretfully,each time they drove on:

  “Just to think, you young ’uns might have seen all them things—if youhadn’t stole an’ eat up your gran’pa’s apples.”

  “Suppose it should be Letty’s circus!” exclaimed Jane. “See, Kit, inthat picture over there there are Shetland ponies. Oh, Kit, just supposeit should be!”

  “Well, you needn’t count on it,” replied Christopher practically. “Thereare lots of trained Shetland ponies in the world beside Punch and Judy,and we don’t know if Letty is with the circus that have Punch and Judy,anyway. She may be jumping and tumbling again, like she was doing thefirst time we saw her.”

  The village reached at length, Joshua bundled the twins outunceremoniously in front of the chief provision shop and bade them waitthere for his return. Christopher was disappointed. He had hoped for thetreat of watching the blacksmith at work. But Joshua had given himplainly to understand from the first that this expedition was one ofbusiness and not of pleasure, and he dared not complain.

  The provision man was new in the village and did not know the twins. Hedid not think such small children worth much attention and went onarranging his baskets.

  “Please, sir, how much are apples?” asked Christopher politely.

  The man turned around, surprised by such a practical question andanswered:

  “Forty cents a basket.”

  “Oh,” cried Jane and Christopher together, “that’s too much!”

  “It’s the market price,” said the man crossly.

  “Oh, sir, we mean it’s too much for us to pay,” explained Janehurriedly.

  “I dare say it is,” replied the man coolly and turned away to wait onanother customer.

  The children stood listlessly at the corner, waiting for Joshua. Theirhearts were heavy with disappointment at the failure of their plan. Eventhe thought that he would now have his money for peanuts at the circusfailed to console Christopher, who had screwed himself up to the heroicpoint of self-denial.

  Jane watched the people buying at the provision shop. They got all sortsof things: some bought several kinds of vegetables and meat, which theycarried away in a basket; others bought small quantities, wrapped inpaper bags. Presently a woman bought a small bag of apples whichsuggested to Jane that they might be able to do the same thing.

  “Kit,” she said, “I think by a basket the man meant one of those greatbig baskets. Surely they hold more than half a bushel?”

  “Don’t know how much half a bushel is,” replied Christopher, toeing thepath with his boot.

  “Well, I’m sure we didn’t eat as many as one of those basketfuls,anyhow. Just look at the size of it.”

  “We stuffed a lot of ’em.”

  “Well, anyway, let’s get as many as our money’ll buy,” proposed Jane.“We can buy any number ’cause I just saw a woman get some in a paperbag. It’ll show grandfather we are sorry and want to pay back, andperhaps Huldah was wrong about the half bushel.”

  “Well, you’ll have to do the asking then,” said Christopher ungallantly.“That man is horrid. He thinks we’re nothing but kids.”

  They approached the provision man again, who happened at that moment notto be occupied.

  “How much—I mean, how many apples will thirty cents buy, please, sir?”asked Jane.

  “Half a bushel.”

  The twins looked at each other in delight.

  “We’ll take ’em,” they cried together, and Christopher drew the thirtycents—two ten and two five cent pieces—from his trousers pocket.

  They were very proud and excited all the way home. They hardly glancedat the circus posters, so eager were they to reach Sunnycrest andcomplete their sacrifice, and they kept urging Joshua to drive faster.They took turns sitting on the basket of fruit, they were so afraid thatan apple might jostle out and be lost.

  Grandfather, grandmother and Mrs. Hartwell-Jones were all sitting on theveranda. Mrs. Hartwell-Jones was able to limp downstairs once a day, bythe aid of one of grandfather’s canes. Jane and Christopher carried thebasket between them, up to the top of the steps. Christopher feltsuddenly sheepish and hung his head, but Jane, brave in theconsciousness of having done right, spoke up boldly:

  “Grandfather, Huldah said we must have eaten ’most half a bushel ofapples yesterday, and she couldn’t make so many apple pies as she couldif we hadn’t eaten them, and we thought we ought to be punished fortaking the apples without leave, didn’t we, Kit, and we didn’t want tobe kept home from the circus, so we went to town with Josh and buyed—Imean bought, these to make up.”

  “And it took all of both our ’lowances,” added Christopher virtuously.

  How the grown-ups laughed! But there were tears in grandmother’s eyes asshe thanked the twins and called Huldah to come and take the basket.

  Later in the day, grandmother called Jane and Christopher into her ownroom and gave them each fifteen cents.

  “I want you to understand that I am not doing it because I think you didnot deserve the punishment of losing it,” she said seriously, “for itwas wrong to have eaten the apples, both because it endangered yourhealth to eat unripe fruit and because it is always a sin to take whatdoes not belong to one without asking. But I wish to reward, and soencourage, the spirit you have both shown today of desiring to makeatonement for wrong. God bless you, my dears.”