"Ah,I too have known love,"sobbed Miss Amelia."Once I made a wedding dress,and expected to be a happy bride.""Well,wasn't you?"I asked,and knew at once it was a silly question,for of course she would not be a miss,if she had not missed marrying.
"He died!"sobbed Miss Amelia.
If he could have seen her then,I believe he'd have been glad of it;but maybe he looked as bony and dejected as she did before he went;and he may have turned to stone afterward,as sometimes happens.Right then I heard Sally coming,so I grabbed Miss Amelia and dragged her under the fourposter,where I always hid when caught doing something I shouldn't.But Sally had so much stuff she couldn't keep all of it on the bed,and when she stooped and lifted the ruffle to shove a box under,she pushed it right against us,and knelt to look,and there we were.
"Well upon my soul!"she cried,and sat flat on the floor,holding the ruffle,peering in."Miss Amelia!And in tears!
Whatever is the trouble?"
Miss Amelia's face was redder than any crying ever made it,and Isaw she wanted to kill me for getting her into such a fix,and if she became too angry probably she'd take it out on me in school the next day,so I thought I'd better keep her at work shedding tears.
"`HE DIED!'"I told Sally as pathetically as ever I could.
Sally dropped the ruffle instantly,but I saw her knees shake against the floor.After a while she lifted the curtain and offered Miss Amelia her hand.
"I was leaving my dress to show you before putting it away,"she said.
I didn't believe it;but that was what she said.Maybe it was an impulse.Mother always said Sally was a creature of impulse.
When she took off her flannel petticoat and gave it to poor little half-frozen Annie Hasty,that was a good impulse,but it sent Sally to bed for a week.And when she threw a shovel of coals on Bill Ramsdell's dog,because Bill was a shiftless lout,and the dog was so starved it all the time came over and sucked our eggs,that was a bad impulse,because it didn't do Bill a particle of good,and it hurt the dog,which would have been glad to suck eggs at home,no doubt,if Bill hadn't been too worthless to keep hens.
That was a good impulse she had then,for she asked Miss Amelia to help her straighten the room,and of course that meant to fold and put away wedding things.Any woman would have been wild to do that.Then she told Miss Amelia that she was going to ask father to dismiss school for half a day,and allow her to see the wedding,and she asked her if she would help serve the breakfast.
Miss Amelia wiped her eyes,and soon laughed and was just beaming.I would have been willing to bet my three cents for lead pencils the next time the huckster came,that Sally never thought of wanting her until that minute;and then she arranged for her to wait on table to keep her from trying to eat with the wedding party,because Miss Amelia had no pretty clothes for one thing,and for another,you shouldn't act as if you were hungry out in company,and she ate every meal as if she were breaking a forty days'fast.I wondered what her folks cooked at home.
After supper Peter came,and the instant I saw him I thought of something,and it was such a teasing thought I followed around and watched him harder every minute .At last he noticed me,and put his arms around me.
"Well,what is it,Little Sister?"he asked.
I did wish he would quit that.No one really had a right to call me that,except Laddie.Maybe I had to put up with Peter doing it when I was his sister by law,but before,the old name the preacher baptized on me was good enough for Peter.I was thinking about that so hard,I didn't answer,and he asked again.
"I have seen Sally's wedding dress,"I told him.
"But that's no reason why you should stare at me.""That's just exactly the reason,"I answered."I was trying to see what in the world there is about you to be worth a dress like that."Peter laughed and laughed.At last he said that he was not really worth even a calico dress;and he was so little worthy of Sally that he would button her shoes,if she would let him.He got that mixed.The buttons were on her slippers:her shoes laced.But it showed a humble spirit in Peter.Not that I care for humble spirits.I am sure the Crusaders didn't have them.I don't believe Laddie would lace even the Princess'shoes,at least not to make a steady business of it.But maybe Peter and Sally had an agreement to help each other.She was always fixing his tie,and straightening his hair.Maybe that was an impulse,though,and mother said Sally would get over being so impulsive when she cut her eye teeth.
