I watched the team carefully;I had to if I didn't want my neck broken;but I also kept an eye on that veranda.You could see at a glance that those were stylish women.Now my mother liked to be in fashion as well as any one could;so I knew she'd be mightily pleased if I could tell her a new place to set her comb,a different way to fasten her collar,or about an unusual pattern for a frock.
I got my drink at the spring,father offered to stop at the riffle,but I was enjoying the ride so much,and I could always wade at home,although our creek was not so beautiful as Enyard's,but for common wading it would do;we went through the narrows,like two shakes of a sheep's tail,then we settled down to a slow trot,and were having the loveliest visit possible,when in the bundle on my lap,I saw the end of something that interested me.Mr.Agnew always made our mail into a roll with the Advocate and the Agriculturist on the outside,and because every one was so anxious about their letters,and some of them meant so much,I felt grown and important while holding the package.
I was gripping it tight when I noticed the end of one letter much wider and fatter than any I ever had seen,so when father was not looking I began pushing it a little at one end,and pulling it at the other,to work it up,until I could read the address.I got it out so far I thought every minute he'd notice,and tell me not to do that,but I could only see Stanton.All of us were Stanton,so it might be for me,for that matter.Jerry might be sending me pictures,or a book,he did sometimes,but there was an exciting thing about it.Besides being fatter than it looked right at the end,it was plastered with stamps--lots of them,enough to have brought it clear around the world.I pushed that end back,pulled out the other,and took one good look.I almost fell from the carriage.I grabbed father's arm and cried:
"Stop!Stop this team quick.Stop them and see if I can read.""Are you crazy,child?"asked father,but he checked the horses.
"No,but you are going to be in a minute,"I said."Look at that!"I yanked the letter from the bundle,and held it over.I THOUGHTI could read,but I was too scared to be sure.I thought it said in big,strong,upstanding letters,Miss Shelley Stanton,Groveville,Indiana.And in the upper corner,Blackburn,Yeats and PAGET,Counsellors of Law,37to 39State St.,Chicago.I put my finger on the Paget,and looked into father's face.I was no fool after all.He was not a bit surer that HE could read than I was,from the dazed way he stared.
"You see!"I said.
"It says Paget!"he said,like he would come nearer believing;it if he heard himself pronounce the word.
"I THOUGHT it said `Paget,'"I gasped,"but I wanted to know if you thought so too.""Yes,it's Paget plain enough,"said father,but he acted like there was every possibility that it might change to Jones any minute."It says `Paget,'plain as print.""Father!"I cried,clutching his arm,"father,see how fat it is!
There must be pages and pages!Father,it wouldn't take all that to tell her he didn't like her,and he never wanted to see her again.Would it,father?""It doesn't seem probable,"said father.
"Father don't you think it means there's been some big mistake,and it takes so much to tell how it can be fixed?""It seems reasonable."
I gripped him tighter,and maybe shook him a little.
"Father!"I cried."Father,doesn't it just look HURRY,all over?Can't you speed up a little?They have all day to cool off.Oh father,won't you speed a little?""That I will!"said father."Get a tight hold,and pray God it is good word we carry.""But I prayed the one big prayer to get this,"I said."It wouldn't be sent if it wasn't good.The thing to do now is to thank the Lord for `all his loving kindnesses,'like mother said.
Drive father!Make them go!"
At first he only touched them up;I couldn't see that we were getting home so fast;but in a minute a cornfield passed like a streak,a piece of woods flew by a dark blur,a bridge never had time to rattle,and we began to rock from side to side a little.
Then I gripped the top supports with one hand,the mail with the other,and hung on for dear life.I took one good look at father.
His feet were on the brace,his face was clear,even white,his eyes steely,and he never moved a muscle.When Jo thought it was funny,that he was loose in the pasture,and kicked up a little behind,father gave him a sharp cut with the whip and said:
"Steady boy!Get along there!"
Sometimes he said,"Aye,aye!Easy!"but he never stopped a mite.We whizzed past the church and cemetery,and scarcely touched the Big Hill.People ran to their doors,even to the yards,and I was sure they thought we were having a runaway,but we were not.Father began to stop at the lane gate,he pulled all the way past the garden,and it was as much as he could do to get them slowed down so that I could jump out by the time we reached the hitching rack.He tied them,and followed me into the house instead of going to the barn.I ran ahead calling:
"Shelley!Where is Shelley?"
"What in this world has happened,child?"asked mother,catching my arm.
"Her letter has come!Her Paget letter!The one you looked for until you gave up.It's come at last!Oh,where is she?""Be calmer,child,you'll frighten her,"said mother.
May snatched the letter from my fingers and began to read all that was on it aloud.I burst out crying.
"Make her give that back!"I sobbed to father."It's mine!I found it.Father,make her let me take it!"
"Give it to her!"said father."I rather feel that it is her right to deliver it."May passed it back,but she looked so disappointed,that by how she felt I knew how much I wanted to take it myself;so I reached my hand to her and said:"You can come along!We'll both take it!Oh where is she?""She went down in the orchard,"said mother."I think probably she's gone back where she was the other day."Gee,but we ran!And there she was!As we came up,she heard us and turned.
