"First couple forward and back!" shouted Hazel, and away went Rose dragging her chair after her to meet March and his chair--thumpity-thump--thumpity-thump.
They were in dead earnest, and the chairs were made to behave in a most human way.
All went well until they came to the Grand Right and Left; then there arose such a medley of shrieks of laughter, wild wails from the violin, thumps from sixteen chair-legs, and stampings from eight human ones as was never heard before. In a few minutes all was inextricable confusion, and the noise might have been best compared to a Medicine Dance among the Sioux Indians.
Upon this scene Mr. Blossom and Chi, on their return from the wood, looked with amazement.
"They seem to be havin' a regular pow-wow," Chi remarked dryly, as the exhausted dancers and musician sat down, panting for breath, on their wooden partners. "Rose-pose is about as young as any of 'em--but it beats all, how she's shootin' up into womanhood."
"She 's no longer my little Rosebud Blossom," said her father, rather sadly. "I dread the time when the birds begin to fly from the nest, and I see it coming with March and Rose."
Just then Rose caught sight of her father, and ran to him linking her arm in his. "We 've had such fun, father! We 're learning to dance; you must be my partner sometime, for Hazel's going to teach us the schottische next."
Rose never forgot the look of love her father gave her, nor the feel of his hand as he laid it on her hooded head: "Be my little Rose-pose, as long as you can, dear; you 're growing up too fast."
She recalled afterwards that this first dance in the barn marked the last time that she abandoned herself to the children's fun with a girl's careless heart.
The winter twilight was fast closing about the Mountain and the children just returning to the house, when Chi went out to milk. Leaving his lantern, stool, and pails in the first stall, he entered the third one to tie one of the cows to a shorter stanchion. Before he had finished he heard Budd's voice, and, looking over the partition, saw him standing with Hazel in the circle of light about the lantern. In another minute he began to feel like an eavesdropper.
"What did you want me to come here for, Budd?" said Hazel, dancing on the barn floor to warm her feet.
"I want to tell you something," said Budd, blowing on his cold fingers.
"Well, hurry up and tell; it's simply freezing here. Is it a secret?"
"Kinder," replied Budd, blowing harder; then, suddenly ceasing the bellows movement, he drew a step nearer to Hazel, and, putting the tips of his pudgy fingers together to make a triangle, he puckered his mouth solemnly and said, looking up at her with earnest eyes:--
"I 'm very fond of you."
Hazel laughed merrily. "Why, of course you are, you funny boy; you 've always been fond of me, have n't you? I 'm sure I 've always been fond of you. Is _that_ what you kept me out here in the cold to say?"
"Not all;" Budd nodded seriously. "I 'm very fond of you, an'--an' if you 'll take me with all my perfections--I think that's the way it goes--if I have n't got the ring yet, it will be just the same, you know." He paused, and in the circle of light Chi could see the entire earnestness of his attitude.
"Goodness me, Budd! What do you mean about rings and things?"
"I want to marry you when I 'm big--an' I thought I 'd speak 'fore anyone else did to get ahead of 'em." Budd hastened to explain, as Hazel showed signs of impatience.
"Oh, is that all!" Hazel breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought something was the matter with you. Why, of course you 're fond of me, Budd; but I could n't marry you, for I 'm older than you, you know."
"I never thought of that," said Budd, beginning to blink rather suspiciously, "I thought--"
"Now, look here, Budd," said Hazel, in a business-like way; "I think everything of you, too, and I 'll tell you what you can be--"
"What?" interrupted Budd, eagerly, balancing himself on the tips of his toes.
"My knight!" said Hazel, triumphantly, "and wear my colors. I 'll give you a bow of crimson ribbon--I 'm Harvard, you know--and you must wear it till you die. And I have a white kid party glove I 'll give you, too, and that will mean I 'm your lady-love, and it will be just like the days of chivalry, you know we were reading about them the other day."
"And you won't mind about the ring?" queried Budd, rather wistfully.
"Not a bit--a glove is much nicer than a ring, and--"
"Moo--oo--oo--" came from the next stall.
"Oh, goodness gracious! How that made me jump. I 'm not going to stay out here another minute; so come along if you 're coming"--and the knight meekly followed his lady-love into the house.
XIX
A YEAR AND A DAY
"It seems queer to settle down the way we have, ever since Christmas.
We had such fun up to that time." Hazel heaved a long sigh as she wrestled with her Latin and the Third Conjugation.
Rose looked up from her Cicero and smiled at the bored expression on Hazel's face. "I know, Latin is awfully dull at first, but when you can read it, you 'll like it. If only you could hear Cicero give this horrid Catiline--the old traitor--'Hail Columbia' as March says, you could n't help liking Latin. Then, too, if we had n't settled down, where would my French have been?"
But Hazel still pouted a little. "I wish papa had n't wanted me to study at all this winter--I don't see why, when Doctor Heath is always talking about its 'effect on my health--'"
She was interrupted by a merry laugh. Rose threw down her Cicero, caught away the grammar from Hazel, and, seizing her by the hand, drew her into the little bedroom. Then, taking her by the shoulders, she whirled her about until she faced the small looking-glass.
"There!" she exclaimed, still laughing, "look at that face before you talk about any 'effect on your health.'"
Hazel looked at the reflection in the mirror, and smiled in spite of herself. What a contrast to what she was a year ago! For to-morrow would be St. Valentine's day. There were real American Beauty roses on her cheeks; the dark eyes were full of sparkling life; the chestnut-brown hair fell in heavy curls upon her shoulders. She had grown tall, too, but rounded in the process, and the healthful, bodily exercise had given her grace of carriage--she was straight as an arrow, and as lithe as a willow wand.
"Perhaps I shall feel more interest when Miss Alton is here, for she is a regular teacher. When is she coming, Rose?"
"The very last of the month, when the spring term opens. It's our turn to have the district-school teacher board with us, and I 've never liked it before. But now I can't wait for Miss Alton to come. I think she 's lovely."
"She is n't half as lovely as you are, Rose," said Hazel, turning suddenly from the glass, in which she had been scrutinizing her reflection, and giving Rose an unexpected squeeze and a hearty kiss. "I think you are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen, I heard Doctor Heath say so; and--I told Jack so on Christmas night."
"I 'll warrant he did n't agree with you," said Rose, with a pleased smile. "You forget Miss Seaton."
"I know." Hazel shook her head dubiously. "He did n't say a word to me about you--I don't care if he did n't, Rose-pose, you 're worth all the Maude Seatons in the world, and I 'd give anything to have you for my real cousin instead of her, if only Jack--"
"I don't know what you are talking about, Hazel," said Rose, interrupting her shortly and sharply.
"And I don't know why you are speaking to me in that tone, Rose Blossom," retorted Hazel, both angry and hurt. "I 've said nothing I 'm ashamed of, and I shall say it whenever I choose and to whomever I please, so now." She flung out of the room, but not before Rose had laid a firm hand upon her shoulder.
"Hazel Clyde, if ever you speak of that again to anyone, I 'll break friendship with you, see if I don't."
"Break then," Hazel twitched her shoulder from under the detaining hand.
"I 'll speak whenever I choose. I only said I thought you were the most beautiful girl I had ever seen, and I wished that you were going to be my real cousin, instead of Miss Seaton, and you need n't get mad just because Jack does n't happen to think as I do--"
"Hazel Clyde!" Rose stamped her foot, "don't you speak another word to me; I 'll not hear it." Rose stuffed both fingers into her ears, and beat an ignominious retreat to her own room, where she shut herself in, and was invisible until tea-time.
The family were late in sitting down to the table, for Mrs. Blossom wanted to wait for Chi, who had driven down to Barton's River to take Mr. Blossom to the train, and had arranged to bring March home with him.