At Boarding School with the Tucker Twins Page 21

  CHAPTER XXI.

  THE DESPERATION OF DUM.

  Back at Gresham and trying to get into harness! Some of us kicked overthe traces, feeling our oats, as it were; and Dum got the bit betweenher teeth and came very near running all the way home before we couldstop her.

  It was hard to get into what Mr. Mantilini calls "the demnition grind"after three weeks of untrammeled freedom. The whole school seemedrestive and the teachers were not much better than the pupils. MissPeyton had to drive her coach very carefully. Her infinite tact showeditself constantly. A word of warning here, a slight tightening of thereins there, just a little tap to the ones who seemed inclined tolaziness, and soon we were trotting along the road of knowledge just asthough we had not been kicking up our heels in the green pastures. Allbut Dum, she could not get back to work.

  "If the year were only half over, but it's only the middle of Januarynow! We've got months and months to wait before we see Zebedee again.When we once get into February, I can stand it better. I can't and won'tstudy, and as for demerits--let 'em give me all they want to. Let 'emput me in bounds. I don't want to go off of the old place. What fun isit to walk down into that dinky little village keeping step likeconvicts? I'd rather have striped clothes like convicts than these oldstupid blue things. There is some variety in stripes but this eternal,and everlasting dark blue--ugh! I hate it!"

  "But, Dum," I expostulated, "if you get so many demerits you will notonly be in bounds but you'll have to write pages and pages ofdictionary."

  "I'll see 'em make me. 'You can lead a horse to water but you cannotmake him drink.' They can tell me to write the dictionary all they wantto, but I've yet to see the man, woman, or child who can make me writeanything. I just won't and that's an end of it."

  "But what will your Father think?" I asked, hoping to get on her betterside by appealing to her love for her adored Zebedee.

  "Think? 'He can think like young niggers think: buckeyes is biscuit.'"

  This made me roar, as it was a saying I had told the twins that MammySusan had taught me when I was a child. There was no persuading theheadstrong Dum. She had the bit between her teeth and she was rushingstraight to destruction. She got zero in her classes during the day, andthat night in study hall she spent the time making cunning littlebrownies out of the colored clay she had brought in her pocket. She didnot open a book except for the purpose of propping it up on her desk toconceal the little lifelike figures she was so busy modeling.

  Dee gazed at her with an agonized expression on her face and I gave hermany an appealing glance, but she merely made a face at me and went onwith her sculpture. Where was it to end? Zero for that day's lessons andmany preceding days; and not a single one prepared for next day. Sheseemed perfectly careless of the teacher who was keeping study hall, asthough she invited reproval; but it so happened that Miss Sears, who wason duty that night, did not seem to notice Dum's behavior. When thestudy hall was over, the reckless girl picked up all her brownies andcarried them carefully on her open book up to her room, right under MissSears's nose.

  "She must be crazy," whispered Dee to me, "and Miss Sears must be inlove or blind or something. She didn't see how Dum was cutting up."

  "Well, Dum was certainly reckless. I thought every minute she was goingto be called down. You've got to be either good or careful, and Dum wascertainly neither."

  Miss Sears beckoned to me and I fell back, and the Tuckers went on to117.

  "Page," said Miss Sears, "Miss Peyton is rather worried over VirginiaTucker. Of course I saw how she was conducting herself during studyhall, but Miss Peyton has decided the best way to get hold of Dum is tolet her alone for a while. The rest of the school is back in workingorder, but she is as wild as a deer. Miss Peyton asked me to take youinto our confidence and see if you can help us some. Will you keep apretty sharp eye on Dum?"

  "You mean tell on her if she gets into scrapes?" I asked, flushingpainfully.

  "My dear girl, no. You would not be the kind we would go to if we wantedan informer. We want you to try to influence Dum to quiet down, and lether realize that she must get to work. Demerits seem to have no effecton her. I verily believe she enjoys getting as many as she can. You havelots of influence with those girls, and I believe a talk from you woulddo her more good than being brought up before the faculty," and MissSears looked at me very kindly.

  "Well, I'll do my best but I can't promise that Dum will listen to me."I did not like to say that I had already done what I could, but Idetermined to try, try again.

  Dum had her brownies ranged in a line on the bureau and under each shehad tucked one of her visiting cards, on which she had writtensomething. Dee looked sad and Dum defiant.

  "I was just telling Dum," began Dee.

  "Never mind what you were telling Dum," interrupted the outrageous girl."It's none of your business nor is it Page Allison's if I get intoscrapes. I reckon I'm old enough to take care of myself without theassistance of persons no older nor wiser than I am."

  "So you are, but you owe a penny for interrupting Dee; that'stwenty-five cents since the holidays," I said sternly.

  "I don't care if I do. I don't intend to pay it. I need my money forother things besides this foolishness."

  I looked at Dum in amazement. She and Dee often were rude to each otherbut in the three months that I had known them, neither one of them hadbeen anything but scrupulously polite to me. I realized that silencewould be the better part of valor in this encounter, so I prepared forbed without saying a word. I gave a warning glance at Dee, and she, evertactful, held her peace. Dum was evidently disappointed, as she wassimply "sp'iling for a fight."

  We got to bed as lights out bell rang and in a moment everything wasperfectly quiet. I did not go to sleep immediately but pondered overwhat Miss Sears had said. "How can I best help Dum?" I asked myself. Imust keep an eye on her and still not let her know it. It was hard totake her rudeness without giving her as good as she sent, but I feltthat a real loss of temper on my part would mean an equal loss ofinfluence. I dropped off to sleep with Dum on my mind.

  It must have been a little after midnight when I awakened, and somethingprompted me to glance at Dum's bed. It was a bright night, the moon notfull, but big enough to make everything in the room visible. A lightsnow was on the ground, which aided the lighting powers of the moon byreflection.

  Dum's bed was empty. Her nightgown was on the floor and her clotheswhich I had seen her throw on the chair near her bed were gone. I got upin an excitement that made my heart go like a trip hammer and found herhat and jacket gone, too. "Dee, Dee," I said in as quiet a voice as Icould command, "Dum is gone!"

  "Gone! Gone where?" said poor sleepy Dee.

  "I don't know, but it is up to us to find out. Get into your clothes asfast as you can. I don't believe she has been gone long, her bed is sowarm."

  I had felt it as soon as I jumped out of mine. Dee shuddered at thisannouncement of mine. She said afterward it sounded like the report of acoroner's inquest.

  Fire engine horses could not have sprung into their harness quicker thanDee and I did into our clothes. In a twinkling we were wrapped in ourwarm sweaters and had donned hats and rubbers, the last not only becauseof the snow but to deaden our footsteps down the long corridors. I gotready a moment sooner than Dee and I struck a match and read one of thecards Dum had stuck under the little clay brownies: "To Miss Peyton as aparting token of appreciation of her discipline." I gasped withastonishment. Dum was crazy surely, perfectly daft.

  "What is on the card?" asked Dee anxiously.

  "Oh, just some of Dum's nonsense! Hurry!" I did not think I had bettertell Dee. It sounded like a last farewell.

  We found the front door unlocked. She had certainly gone out recently,as the watchman made his rounds every hour and it was then 12:20 by thebig clock in the hall. I know the wisest thing for us to have done wouldhave been to warn the watchman and let Miss Peyton know, but somehow Ifelt that we could cope with Dum by ourselves; and I also knew that theoffens
e that Dum was guilty of was a very serious one and might meanthat she would be expelled from Gresham.

  "The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow, Gave a luster of midday to objects below."

  So, thank goodness, the prints of Dum's tennis shoes were quite plain tous. I was relieved to see that they went toward the village. I had had anameless fear of the lake. On we sped! Once we saw where poor Dum hadevidently paused and then turned back for a few yards. That encouragedme more than anything we had found out yet. She was softening andrelenting.

  "What do you suppose she means to do, Page?" panted Dee.

  "She is trying to make that 12:40 train to Richmond. There she is!"

  We had turned a sharp corner and there about a hundred yards ahead of uswas Dum. She had almost reached the crossing where Captain Leahy had hisunique abode. One minute more would land her at the station, and alreadywe could hear the far-off whizzing of the approaching express. There wasa light in the little gatehouse and just at that moment the dear old manemerged and began to let down his gate.

  "Well, Saints preserve us! And what maid travels so late? Why, if sheisn't one of the sponsors of Oliver." Dum stopped stockstill in theroad.

  "Captain Leahy, I'm going to take that midnight train to Richmond. Willyou flag it for me?"

  "And sure I'll do anything to please the ladies, but aren't ye youngand tinder to be after taking such a thrip at this toime o' night?"

  "But I have to go. I could never go back to Gresham now, and it would bebest for me to go straight to my Father."

  Dee and I had advanced silently, thanks to our rubber shoes, and we nowcame up behind the old Irishman and Dum.

  "Come on, Dum, you can get back to Gresham before the watchman makes hisone o'clock rounds if you hurry."

  Dum looked at me aghast. "Page, you here, and Dee!"

  "Where should I be but with my twin? We have never spent a night apartyet, Dumplingdeedledums." Dee's tact had won the day. That was Mr.Tucker's pet name for Dum, and Dee using it at such a time brought Dumto her senses. "What would Zebedee think and say of this escapade?" waswhat came to Dum's mind.

  "Good-night, Captain, I reckon I won't go to Richmond to-night. We'llhave to hurry to get in before one. That's the 12:40 now whistling forthe crossing." And before the old man could get his breath, we hadscurried away over the light fall of snow like so many rabbits.

  It was uphill most of the way back to Gresham, but we made short work ofit. If I had not been so desperately afraid the watchman would discoverthat the front door was unlocked before we got back and perhaps raise analarm, I would have enjoyed our run immensely. The moon went behind agreat black cloud, but we knew our way well enough not to be dependenton her light. Not one word did we speak, but saved our breath for thisreal fox-trot.

  At the school at last! I tried the great door, almost afraid to breathe.It yielded to my push and we were in the dark hall. I had just senseenough left to lock the door, and then we flew up the steps and weresafe in our room without having encountered the watchman.

  "Quick work!" I gasped, falling on my bed. "Down to the station and backin forty minutes!"

  But safety was not ours yet. We heard a door open down the corridor andlight-slippered steps approaching 117.

  "In bed with you, quick!" exclaimed Dum; and without the formality ofnight dresses, we jumped into bed, only taking the precaution to removeour hats. Diving under the covers with only our noses sticking out, wewere to all appearances as lost to the world as the seven sleepers.

  It was a teacher who had evidently heard a suspicious noise and had comeout to investigate. She stopped a minute in front of our door and thengently turned the knob. "All quiet along the Potomac!" She stood aminute listening to Dum's "gently taken breath" and Dee's lifelikesnore, and then quietly retired on tiptoe; and in a moment we heard herdoor close at the end of the corridor. If we got dressed like enginehorses going to a fire, we got undressed like boys seeing who can getinto the swimming hole first.

  Dum kissed us both good-night, or rather good-morning, but said never aword about what her intentions had been nor the reasons for herflitting. We were asleep in a minute and the next morning I had to pinchmyself to see if it had not been a dream. Our damp skirts and overshoesand each girl's hat under her bed was all that made me realize that wehad been on that mad chase at midnight after the irrepressible Dum.

  "Girls, you are both bricks!" exclaimed Dum, rubbing her eyes as therelentless rising bell tolled out. "Just think! If you had not come forme, I would have been in Richmond by this time and poor old Zebedeedisgraced for life. There is nothing I can do to make it up to you----"

  "Yes, there is," chorused Dee and me, "get to work again."

  "I wasn't quite through what I was saying, but I am not going to imposethe fine that you owe for interrupting, and I am going to pay my finethat amounts to a quarter now. I was awfully ashamed of not paying itlast night, but you see I just did have enough money to get me toRichmond if I traveled on a day coach, so I had to let my debts of honorslide. I have been a bad, rude, unreasonable girl and I am just as sorryas I can be. I deserve to be expelled. I don't know what has been thematter with me but I believe I have been getting ready to go to the homefor the criminally insane. I hated the school; I hated the teachers; Ihated lessons and rules; I just wanted Zebedee. He was the only person Iwanted and I wanted him so bad I was just going to have him." Dum gotout one of the gentlemen's handkerchiefs that she and Dee used and weptcopiously. "Do you reckon we'll be found out?"

  "Not a bit of it," I reassured her. "The blessed snow that was in thatblack cloud hiding the moon last night has covered up all our rabbittracks, and when we take our walk this afternoon I am going to slip outof line long enough to warn Captain Leahy not to tell on us. Now, Dum,you get back to bed and stay there all day. I am going to tell MissPeyton you don't feel quite up to snuff, which is certainly so. You jumpin and study all your back lessons that you have missed and catch upwith your classes. It will take a day of diligent work to do it becauseyou have loafed ever since we got back to school, and by to-morrowmorning you will feel reconciled to life and take your place again."

  "Well, that would be kind of pleasant, but bring me up enough breakfast,'cause I am not too ill to eat; and before you go down, hand me thosebrownies I made last night," and Dum reduced the inoffensive littleworks of art to Limbo with one squeeze of her hand. "I was leaving oneof them for each teacher. I wanted to make them into devils but thoughtmaybe that would be a little too sassy. I don't feel a bit that way now.I may model some angels to-day if I can get time after I have masteredall my back work."

  Miss Peyton was easily persuaded by me that a day in bed would restoreDum to health and reason. She said she had hoped I could do somethingwith the refractory twin and she was going to trust to me, since I was adoctor's daughter and no doubt had inherited some skill as a healer.

  That afternoon, when we took our walk, Dee and I got permission from theteacher in charge to stop a moment at the crossing, presumably to callon Oliver and see how much he had grown.

  "Captain Leahy," I cried, "you won't tell anyone about our being downhere last night, will you?"

  "And phwat do ye take me for?" he asked. "Didn't I see that ye wereafter saving the little twinlet and that she was crazy withhomesickness? I mind too well the time many years ago when I got off ofthat very express just as Miss Peyton, then a wee slip of a maid, wasafter boarding it; and I took her by the hand and led her back toGresham, she weeping bitterly all the toime. She was half mad for thesight of her folks and had run away from school."

  "Miss Peyton!" we exclaimed in one breath. "Not Miss Peyton, theprincipal?"

  "The same," he answered; "and this is the first toime, so help me, thatI have mintioned it to a livin' sowl."

  "Well, we'll never tell, Captain," I said, grasping his hand.

  "And don't I know that? Would I be divulging the loiks to ye if I didnot know the stoof ye are made of? I just tell ye so ye can know t
hatI'll keep the little twinlet's secret as long as I have Miss Peyton's.If I iver tell it, it will be when she cannot be hurt by it, and someother poor little lamb can be oop-lifted."

  "You want us to tell Dum, don't you?" asked Dee.

  "For sure! And all of you come have tea with me soon and bring MissPeyton."

  We joined the line of blue-coated girls after a sharp run and then hadto make up things to say about Oliver, because we had forgot even to askabout him.

  Miss Cox spoke to me on the way to supper that evening. She lookedworried and her face was crookeder than ever, but her eyes had a verykind light in them.

  "Did I wake you last night, Page, when I opened your door?"

  "Oh, was that you?" I involuntarily exclaimed.

  "I had an idea some of you were awake," and the kindly woman smiled atmy ingenuous acknowledgment. "I was afraid to knock, hoping you wereasleep, so I tried the door and peeped in. I did not mean to be spying,but I have been very uneasy about Dum lately. I was afraid she neededsome friendly advice. I had been writing late and had not been able toget to sleep, and I was almost certain I heard the front door open andshut. I simply could not rest without making sure that you three girlswere safe in your downies. I had thought I heard something some fortyminutes before but tried to make myself think I was just a foolish,nervous old maid."

  I felt very foolish during this talk and could hardly look kind Miss Coxin the eye, but I did not consider it to be my secret and I saidnothing. Mammy Susan always said: "The saftest thing in fly time is terkeep yo' mouf shet," and I felt that this was fly time for me.

  "I have written to Mr. Tucker," Miss Cox continued. "I don't want thetwins to know it, but I felt it was my duty as an old friend of boththeir parents to let him know how miserable Dum is."

  "Oh, I have written, too!" I cried. "I wish I could stop my letter now,but it is too late. Poor Mr. Tucker will think things are in a terribleway with Dum. I believe she is herself again now after a day in bed, butI just felt I must let him know that an early visit from him would beadvisable. I wouldn't let Tweedles find out for a million that I havedone it."

  "Well, you keep my secret and I'll keep yours. I am glad the Tuckers,father and daughters, have such a wholesome friend as you," and Miss Coxpressed my hand warmly.