Rings, three brooches,
a locket, three chains and a watch all went on--anyway and anyhow.
A wonderful sight it was to see Aunt Olivia bedizened like that!
"I would never wear them before--but I'll put them all on now to show
him I'm sorry," she gasped, with trembling lips.
When the three of us crowded into the buggy, Aunt Olivia grasped
the whip before we could prevent her and, leaning out, gave poor
Dick such a lash as he had never felt in his life before.
He went tearing down the steep, stony, fast-darkening road in a fashion
which made Peggy and me cry out in alarm. Aunt Olivia was usually
the most timid of women, but now she didn't seem to know what fear was.
She kept whipping and urging poor Dick the whole way to the station,
quite oblivious to our assurances that there was plenty of time.
The people who met us that night must have thought we were quite mad.
I held on the reins, Peggy gripped the swaying side of the buggy,
and Aunt Olivia bent forward, hat and hair blowing back from her
set face with its strangely crimson cheeks, and plied the whip.
In such a guise did we whirl through the village and over the
two-mile station road.
When we drove up to the station, where the train was shunting
amid the shadows, Aunt Olivia made a flying leap from the buggy
and ran along the platform, with her cape streaming behind
her and all her brooches and chains glittering in the lights.
Pages:
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210