Kitabı oku: «Polly and Her Friends Abroad», sayfa 6

CHAPTER VI – POLLY TAKES A HAND TO CURE JIMMY

Quite unabashed, and giggling at the incident, Ruth took a back seat with Polly and Dodo. But Polly felt jealous of Jimmy’s demands on Eleanor’s time. She felt that her chum and dear friend should divide her thoughts and attentions with others, and not sit in front listening to a boy’s foolishness, all day long!

The road from Dublin, northwards, was rutty, and with wild vines over-growing the steep banks on both sides. But the blossoms seemed paler than those in England, and their perfume much less sweet. Even in size, they appeared poorly-nourished, when compared to their large robust English brethren.

The cottages they passed on this ride bore all the marks of neglect, poverty and dirt. Pigs were as much at home inside the house, as were the tenants, while troops of dirty children rolled around in front of the houses, mingling with the chickens, dogs, pigs and other domestic live-stock, in cases where the owner could afford them.

“Oh, let’s get away from this part of Ireland,” cried Angela, with disgust.

“It seems a waste of valuable time to have come here at all,” declared Polly, holding a handkerchief to her nose as they passed a dreadful hovel where unkempt children played and fought.

The roads were so bad, however, that the cars could not speed very fast, so they had to stop at Belfast, that night, and resume the journey in the morning. The second day in Ireland they managed to travel as far as Port Rush, merely going aside before reaching that place, in order to see the “Giant’s Causeway” and its rugged cliffs along the coast-line.

Another night was spent in Port Rush, as the boat for Scotland had left before the tourists reached the port. Jimmy had gone headlong into the new affair with Eleanor, and apparently had continued his love-making where he had suddenly terminated it with Ruth. There were no romantic beginnings for Eleanor, in his approaches to a declaration. So that when they were crossing from Ireland to Androssan, in Scotland, the infatuated lover managed to get Eleanor away from the others and hide her in a steamer-chair, found in a nook, where he could give full expression to his gift of romance.

The others in the party saw the Giant’s Causeway and the famous cliffs, from the sea, as they passed by in the steamer, but Eleanor never saw the least bit of them, because of Jimmy’s screening form and his refusal to permit her to leave him.

Angela was delighted to find her brother had finally appreciated the recklessness of his attachment to Ruth, when there were far richer girls in the party. She would have selected Dodo or Polly, had he asked her to decide for him, but Eleanor was better than Ruth. So she seconded all her brother’s attempts to kidnap Eleanor whenever the entire party wished to go anywhere or do a thing.

“It’s a wonder your brother did not fall in love with these four pretty girls at one time – and save trouble,” said Nancy Fabian, laughingly to Angela.

“Now, Nancy, don’t show your jealousy,” returned Angela.

“Me – jealous! Why, Angie, you know I refused Jimmy three or four times before these girls ever put in an appearance. To accuse me of jealousy when I hail the deliverance from his attentions is ridiculous of you.”

Polly overheard these remarks and determined that she would spare her friend any further annoyances from Jimmy. “Here Nolla was losing all the wonderful sights they came expressly to Europe to see, and a foolish boy was using that time for a flirtation.” Polly mentioned this to Eleanor the first time she got her away from Jimmy.

“Oh, but he heaps such good candies on one, Poll,” laughed Eleanor, apologetically. “Let his love die a natural death, and then there will be no danger of its ghost ever bobbing up to frighten me.”

“But you’re giving this precious time to a bally fool, and missing Mr. Fabian’s rare lessons on information you’ll need to know,” declared Polly, angrily.

“I can’t help it, Poll. You’ll see how it is when your turn comes with Jimmy,” laughed Eleanor, teasingly.

Polly’s eyes snapped fire. Then she threatened something that had been alluded to before, between Eleanor and herself. “I plan to write letters home tonight when we stop at Glasgow. I’m going to tell Paul Stewart what a dreadful flirt you have turned out to be!”

Eleanor gasped, but was brave. “Oh yes, and also tell him what a wonderful girl his old playmate, Dodo Alexander, is, and how, with all her money, he can easily win her and live in ease the rest of his life!”

Eleanor turned away shortly after that, and Polly felt like crying. This was the first time, in years, that Eleanor and she had had words, and that horrid little fop was the cause of it!

But Polly’s threat, although vain, served to startle Eleanor in her passive acceptance of Jimmy’s attentions. She sat in the same seat on the road to Edinburgh, it is true, but she was a dull companion and never as much as glanced at her admirer.

Polly and she had not spoken to each other since the words they had had, but both girls revenged themselves on Jimmy – the cause of their quarrel. And he, unaware of what had caused the sudden change in Eleanor’s feelings for him, tried all the more to win her back to that former sweet companionship with him.

At Edinburgh, Mr. Fabian conducted his party through the fifteen famous castles and numerous other places of interest to lovers of the antique, and Eleanor was a member of the group in every instance. In order to be near his heart’s desire, Jimmy had to trail along, too, sighing in anguish and rolling his eyes in desperation, when Eleanor ignored him completely.

“He acts and looks like a comedian in the Movies,” said Nancy, impatiently.

Angela smiled wisely and tossed her head when she heard the remark. Nancy cared naught for that, but turned her attention to Polly who was flushing and fuming to herself.

“What’s the matter, Poll dear?” asked Nancy, softly.

“Oh, he makes me so mad! I could just slap his face for him! There’s your father giving us all this wonderful information on architecture and antiques, and poor Nolla not hearing a word of it, because of that fortune-hunting fool!”

“S-sh! Not so loud, dear! I feel as you do about him, but I have learned that it is best not to interfere in the matter. Let Jimmy and his sister ‘have rope enough.’ You know the rest.”

“Why, Nancy! I thought you were devoted to Angela?” gasped Polly.

“I was – once, dear, but don’t speak of it to anyone else. I thought Angie the most wonderful girl in the world until these past few days when I found that her entire heart and mind is set on getting wealth by some means or other. Her art, her friends, and her very self-respect, are being sacrificed to that one ambition. Hence I have had to crucify my friendship, too, and try to feel indifferent to the past.”

“Dear Nancy!” condoled Polly. “I know just how I would feel if Nolla proved to be unworthy of my love and friendship.”

“But she won’t – she is a true American, Polly, and that makes a difference. Much depends on the way you have been trained to think, and poor Angie thinks society and wealth mean heaven.”

Having visited the principal points of interest in Edinburgh, Mr. Fabian took his party to Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott. Here the collection of wonderful objects and the interest created in them by the names of the donors to the famous novelist, gave the tourists much pleasure.

Polly saw that Jimmy still tormented Eleanor and kept her from enjoying the visit to Abbotsford as she should have done. So she waylaid the young man, as he followed Eleanor from the place.

“James Osgood! What do you suppose Nolla Maynard came to Europe for? To amuse you with silly-mush, or to study art and try to become experienced against the time we go into business?” fumed Polly, striding in front of Jimmy and facing him so that he had to stop short.

Eleanor was surprised at first, then she began to enjoy the encounter. Jimmy was too amazed to answer, but he stared at Polly and her blazing eyes, as if she were an apparition.

“Well, I’ll tell you something that ought to do you good!” continued Polly, cracking her fingers under Jimmy’s nose. “There isn’t a man outside of Colorado, who can ever touch Eleanor Maynard’s heart, because she left it out there long ago! And what’s more – there isn’t a man like you, that can get one cent of American money from any girl who has sense to know what you’re after! Now take yourself and your love-making off, to a girl who doesn’t know better!”

The cutting scorn and fire with which Polly drove home her speech, caused Jimmy to shrink momentarily, but he also saw the glorious beauty of the girl with the flushed face, blazing eyes, and quivering form, and his impressionable heart took fire.

Polly had left him speechless, and Eleanor had hurried away to the other girls, lest she burst out laughing in sheer enjoyment of the bout between the two. But Jimmy stood lost in thought. He had never in his life, had anyone speak so to him, and never had he seen such marvellous beauty as that which Polly scintillated as she fired her sparks of fury at him.

Then he suddenly recovered and shot ahead to reach his car. He waited at the side, where one who would sit beside him, had to enter. He waved Nancy, Ruth, and Eleanor on to the back, and bowed low when Polly came up.

“Humph!” was all she granted him, and flounced along to the other seats. Thus it happened that Angela had to sit beside her brother that day, much to the annoyance of both of them.

“What’s the matter with Nolla?” whispered she, as the car started.

“Nothing. She’s nice enough, but I’m going to get Polly Brewster if I have to kidnap her!” he hissed through his teeth. Meantime he made the car tear along at such a rate that the girls could hardly breathe.

“D-o – n’t kill – us – in – the – me-an – time!” gasped Angela.

“Better all dead, than let her get away!”

“I al-wa-ys kn-ew you – had co-ot-tton wh-ere br-rains ought – to – be-e – ” Angela managed to jerk forth.

Jimmy made no reply to this stigma but tore along the road until a constable arrested him. That calmed him somewhat, for he had to pay a fine, and it took all the money Mrs. Alexander had recently given him.

When the second car caught up with Jimmy’s, Mr. Alexander shouted gleefully: “That was some race, Jimmy, old boy! I used to eat up the road that way, in Colorado, but they won’t stand for it over here, will they?”

As Jimmy had just transferred his little roll of bills from his pocket, to the constable’s hand, he grunted and started on slowly.

Mr. Fabian called out, however: “You rushed past all the towns I had planned to stop at and explore. Now shall we go back!”

“No, never mind, Prof! let’s get back to London and end this awful trip!” shouted Polly, anxiously.

Her friends laughed, but the tourists in the second car could not understand why the drive was so awful to Polly.

At Penrith the travellers stopped, as they planned to go cross country to visit some fine old places located at Ripon. And they also wished to visit York, which was a few miles from Penrith.

That night, the moment Jimmy was washed and brushed, he took up his post at the foot of the stairs where the girls would have to come down. One after another of the party descended but Polly failed to appear. Eleanor smiled and took his arm to lure him away, but he shook off her hand just as a petulant child might.

Still smiling, Eleanor walked away and joined her friends in the parlor. Soon after that, they went to the dining-room for dinner, leaving Jimmy still on guard waiting for Polly.

It was a merry party that enjoyed dinner that evening, but Jimmy took no interest in it, as he still watched for the coming of his lady – as he called her to himself. During a lull in the conversation in the dining-room, Jimmy distinctly heard a voice telling of exploits in the Rocky Mountains, when Eleanor spent the Summer at Pebbly Pit.

Jimmy started! It was Polly’s own voice! But how did she get down while he stood watching so carefully?

He hurried to the door of the room and looked in. There she sat, entertaining the whole assembly, with her stories – and he had been left out in the hall all that time! He could have wept!

When he took a seat at the table, everyone expressed the deepest concern for him. “Was he ill?” “Did he feel badly about the fine for speeding?” and many other questions to which he gave no reply.

When they left the room, Jimmy jumped up also, and just as Polly was leaving, he caught her hand.

“Won’t you let me see you alone this evening – please?”

Polly lifted her head a bit higher – if that were possible – and deigned to glance at him. “What for?” snapped she.

“I – I want to tell you – oh, just give me a moment!”

“Very well – one moment right here! Let the others leave.”

“No – no, not in this public room. Somewhere where I can speak – ” begged Jimmy.

“Here or nowhere!”

“Oh, Polly, Polly! Why are you so cruel?” began Jimmy, as he forced a look of agony into his eyes.

“Come now – that will do from you, little boy! If that is what you have to say, then just keep it. I’ve no time to throw away,” said Polly, in a voice like steel, and then she drew aside her dress and walked away.

Jimmy stood disconsolate, wishing he dared commit suicide before her eyes, and make her repent those unkind words. But he was awfully hungry, and he thought better of suicide so he went back to finish his late dinner.

Eleanor saw him, later, as he left the dining-room and, with the imp of mischief uppermost in her mind, waylaid him and spent the evening talking of nothing but Polly – her beauty, her accomplishments, and her tremendous wealth that no one as yet, had been able to compute.

Had Jimmy any doubt of who his soul-mate was, before, that talk settled it. He was now determined to have Polly, even if he had to steal her and keep her locked up until she consented to his offer of marriage.

The farce now amused everyone but Angela and Mrs. Alexander. Jimmy was so openly wild about Polly that he acted like a possessed idiot rather than a young man with a grain of sense. If Polly had fawned upon him, he might have wearied of her company, but because she scorned him so heartily and showed it plainly, he felt all the more attracted to her.

Mrs. Alexander snubbed Polly whenever she scorned Jimmy; and Angela made much of the lady because she showed her partisanship for the young man, so openly. Thus the two, Angela and Mrs. Alexander came closer together because of the common bond – Jimmy.

When Mr. Fabian suggested that all go to see the Minster of York, Angela and Mrs. Alexander refused. Jimmy saw the look Polly cast at him, and murmured something about drowning his sorrow. But he failed to say whether it would be in the river or in home-brew.

They viewed the ancient place and Mr. Fabian remarked: “It was here that the greatest disaster that ever befell man occurred in 306 A.D.”

“Why, I never heard of it – what was it?” asked Mr. Ashby.

“Perhaps you, like many others, never thought of it as a disaster,” replied Mr. Fabian. “Because I speak of the proclamation issued here by the Romans, that made Constantine an Emperor in 306. This emperor, understanding the tremendous advantages of a political nature, if he could gain full power and control of the religion that was gaining such an ascendancy with the people – the Christ Truth that healed the sick, cured sin, and raised the very dead, as it did until three hundred years after Jesus ascended – bribed a few of the disloyal Christians to act in concord with him.

“For the reward of place and power conceded to them, the unscrupulous Christians sold out their faith and brethren to this Emperor. He, wily and crafty in diplomacy and politics, sent out word, far and wide, that Christianity would thenceforth be protected by him.

“In this place, that proclamation was hailed with a great celebration, and Christianity became the ruling religion here. But the power of the Spirit, as used by Christ Jesus, vanished when pomp and politics supplanted it, and soon the gift of healing was lost until recent years.”

“That is very interesting, Fabian,” said Mr. Ashby, while the girls listened to this unusual information, eagerly. “I have sometimes wondered why it was that the power demonstrated by Christ Jesus could not have been used by his followers.”

“It was, you see, until Constantine misused the gift. All such who use it for place or power will lose it,” said Mr. Fabian, earnestly.

“How did you ever learn about it, Prof?” asked Eleanor eagerly.

“The records of the entire transaction and the courageous though fearful stand the Early Christians took to defend their religion, can be read in the books called ‘The Anti-Nicean Fathers.’ There one can learn how wonderful were the cures and the over-coming of death for all who accepted Christianity, up to the time when it became defiled by greed and avarice and earthly taint.

“But, to me, the saddest part of all that sad event, is the fact that mankind, today, believes it has the Truth as taught and practised by Christ Jesus. Whereas they only have the form and farce of it, as it was changed from the pure spiritual power to that counterfeit endorsed by Constantine. And for this subterfuge, the world honors that unscrupulous politician!”

Mr. Fabian was so incensed at the thought of all the act meant to the world, that he stalked out of the Minster and went on silently, followed almost as silently by the others. They were all thinking earnestly of what he had said, and everyone pondered on what might have been had Constantine never interfered with the Truth.

After leaving York, the cars went through Selby, and stopped at Doncast long enough to give the tourists time to visit the gargoyled church. Then they sped on to Sheffield where Mr. Fabian showed the girls how the famous Sheffield Plate was made.

The next stopping place was Haddon Hall, the home and burial spot of Dorothy Vernon. The country in this part of England is wild and ruggedly beautiful, with good roads for automobiles. So the cars sped smoothly along to Derby, where the collectors had dreams of old Crown Derby ware, but found nothing to materialize those visions.

Jimmy had been so annoying with his attentions to Polly, with his hang-dog expression, as he followed her everywhere, that the others began to feel impatient about it, instead of laughing as at a good joke as they had done. Finally Mr. Fabian spoke to him severely.

“See here, James, I can make allowances for a young man of your type, naturally, but when you make a beastly nuisance of yourself, I must interfere. Now leave Polly alone, and don’t annoy her further with your transitory love. Throw it away on some girl who wants it.”

But Mrs. Fabian felt that a better cure might have been applied. “If Polly would only hang on his arm and tell him how she loves him, he will drop her like an old shoe.”

“I don’t believe it! He has a double-edged axe to grind, and there’s no use getting Polly in wrong, in case he wanted to get her and what she owns,” returned Mr. Fabian, wisely.

Jimmy had not the character that would give perseverance and persistence for any problem, so he finally lost interest in the affair he had created for himself with Polly. Mrs. Alexander felt greatly elated when she saw him casting eyes at Dodo, oftener than he had in the past. And to show her appreciation of this, she quietly urged another roll of bills into his willing palm.

Perhaps it was the understanding that Polly and Dodo had had with each other that had caught Jimmy’s attention. To spare Polly any further annoyance, Dodo had offered to divert the silly affair to herself, if possible. So she dressed in her finest, and flirted with Jimmy, and tried in every way to attract his eyes to herself. And it was not difficult to do, either.

Before they started for London, having done the points of interest at Coventry, Kenilworth, and so on to Warwick and Stratford-on-Avon, Jimmy was recovering from his desire to die, and was taking notice of Dodo. By the time they reached Stratford he was able to act any lover’s part in the Shakespearian plays, provided Dodo was the lady-love in the scene.

His companions, excepting Angela and Dodo’s mother, were out of all patience with him. He was such a weak-hearted lover who had no idea of the first principles of the game, that they had very little to say to him the last days of the trip.

Dodo bravely endured his soft speeches and smilingly accepted the bon-bons and blossoms her mother’s money enabled him to shower upon her, but when they reached London, and the time came when the association could be severed, she ruthlessly did so.

The Americans stopped at one of the best hotels, while Angela and Jimmy drove to their home to get the directions left there for them by Sir James.

Shortly after everyone had decided to rest at the hotel after the long ride that day, Jimmy came rushing in to see the men.

“We found these letters at the house, so Angela made me come right in with them. Of course, you will all accept!”

There was a special invitation for each family, inviting them down to Sir James’ country place for a week or two. When Mr. Alexander read and passed the letter on to his wife, she was so pleased that she could hardly wait to hear what the others would say.

“Very sorry, Jimmy, but I am booked for business interviews from now on until I sail for the States, again,” explained Mr. Ashby, answering for his family as well as for himself.

“And we plan to leave London very shortly, Jimmy, to tour the Continent, as you know,” added Mr. Fabian.

“But we will go down with you, Jimmy, and thank your dear father, again and again,” exclaimed Mrs. Alexander, sweetly.

“How do you know we will?” demanded Mr. Alexander; “I don’t want to be bothered with style and society when I can have a nice time in my car touring over Europe.”

“We’ll have to go for a week, at least,” said Mrs. Alexander, positively. “There are many reasons why.” Then turning to Jimmy she added: “So tell your dear parents that we will be pleased to accept, Jimmy.”

Dodo hurried from the parlor where this meeting took place, and Jimmy could not find her when he tried to have a few words with her, alone.

“Never mind, now, Jimmy,” whispered Mrs. Alexander as she followed him from the room. “You will have Dodo all to yourself when we get down to Osgood Hall.”

Rolling his eyes dramatically and sighing with joy as he shook the plump bejewelled hands of his expectant mother-in-law, Jimmy hurried away to rejoin his sister Angela in the car.