Chicken Little did not take this kindly office in the spirit in which it was intended. She hated to sew and she had been toiling all morning on a little bronze leather case to hold needles, b.u.t.tons, and pins--a parting gift to Ernest.

"Katy Halford, I told you not to! I think you are real mean to do it when I'm having such a hard time. I'll thank you not to any more, if I do say it."

"You don't need to go and get mad! You told me to."

"Yes, and I just now told you not to!"

"I guess you'd say King's excuse every time if I'd let you. A lot of good it's going to do, if you sneak out of it whenever you want to."

"I don't sneak out of it--this is the very first time, and you know it!"

"I don't know any such thing, but I don't think it's very good manners to be telling your guests they're saying something that isn't so! The day before they're going home, too!" Katy forgot the dignity of her fifteen years.

"Well, I think it's quite as good manners as to tell your friends they're sneaks!" Jane's tone was icy.

Gertie came between the belligerents. "Please don't quarrel, girls. It'd be dreadful the very last day, after we have had such a beautiful summer. I never did have such a good time in all my life. I most wish I could live on a ranch always."

"I shouldn't like to live on a ranch, but we have had a jolly time, Chicken Little," Katy recovered herself enough to say graciously.

Chicken Little was not to be outdone. "I suppose I was ugly, Katy. It always makes me cross to sew. I wish n.o.body had ever invented needles. O dear, I shall be as lonesome as pie when you are gone. It isn't much fun being the only girl on the ranch, I tell you. Sometimes, I don't even see another girl for weeks."

"But your school begins soon, doesn't it?"

"Yes, and I'll have Sherm. I just don't believe I could bear to have Ernest go if Sherm wasn't going to stay."

"I'm awful glad Mr. Lenox put off coming for another day so we can go on the same train with Ernest." Katy had been exulting over this for the past twenty-four hours.

"Ernest will be on the train for three days. I feel as if he would be as far away as if he were going to China."

Their conversation was interrupted by Mrs. Morton's entrance.

"Would you rather have chocolate or cocoanut cake for your lunch, girls?

Annie has killed three chickens, and I thought you could take a basket of those big yellow peaches; I only wish I could send some to your mother. And I'll put in cheese and cold-boiled ham and a gla.s.s of current jelly. Mr. Lenox may want to get a meal or two at the stations, but you are so hurried at these--and it's always well to have plenty of lunch in traveling. Dr. Morton told Ernest that he'd better get all his breakfasts at the eating houses to have something hot. And by the third day his lunch will be too stale--even if there is any left."

Ernest was creepy with excitement between joy at going and his haunting fear that he might disgrace the family by failing to pa.s.s the examinations.

"Buck up, old chap," Frank admonished, "you've got facts enough in your head if you can only get them out at the right time. My advice is to forget all about exams and enjoy your trip. One doesn't go to Washington and Baltimore every day. You ought to have several hours in St. Louis if your train is on time. Be sure to eat three square meals every day and keep yourself as fresh as you can and I'll back you to pa.s.s any fair test."

"If you have time in St. Louis I want you to be sure to go and see Shaw's Gardens. They used to be wonderful and they must have been greatly improved since I saw them," said Mrs. Morton.

Each individual member of the Morton family, except Jilly and Huz and Buz, took Ernest aside for a parting chat with advice and remembrances.

Jilly and the dogs secured their share by getting in the way as often as possible.

Chicken Little had her turn first. She tendered the needle case doubtfully.

"Mother said you would have to sew on your own b.u.t.tons at the Academy and that you'd find this mighty handy, but I'd loathe to have anybody give me such a present. And, Ernest, here's the five dollars I got last birthday. You take it and buy something you really want."

Ernest demurred about accepting the money, but Jane insisted.

"Little Sis, you're sure a dear----" Ernest found himself choking up most unaccountably. He gave her a good old-fashioned hug in conclusion to save himself the embarra.s.sment of words.

Dr. Morton took his son into the parlor and closed the door immediately after dinner. They stayed an hour, during which time the Doctor gave Ernest much practical advice about his conduct and sundry warnings not to be extravagant or careless in handling his money. No sooner had they emerged, Ernest looking important and rather dazed, when his mother laid her hand upon his arm, saying: "My son, I also wish to have a little talk with you. We shall be hurried in the morning so perhaps we would better have it now."

Ernest returned to the parlor with his mother. Chicken Little lay in wait outside in the hall. She and Katy had a beautiful plan for a last boat ride that afternoon. She knew Ernest would be going over to say good-bye to the Captain anyway.

Chicken Little waited and yawned and waited and squirmed for a solid hour and a quarter. The steady hum of her mother's voice was interrupted occasionally by brief replies from Ernest. At last, Chicken Little heard a movement and roused herself joyously. But her mother began to speak again--this time with reverent solemnity. Chicken Little forgot herself and listened a moment.

"Umn, I guess she's praying--they must be most through. Golly, I bet Ernest's tired!"

When the door opened a moment later there were tears on Mrs. Morton's lashes and Ernest looked sober. He held a handsome Oxford bible in his hand. Mrs. Morton glanced at Jane suspiciously, but pa.s.sed on into the sitting room.

Chicken Little surveyed her brother wickedly.

"Did Mother give you a new bible?"

"Yep."

"I thought you had one."

"Got two--Mother forgot, I s'pose."

"Bet you'd rather have had a new satchel--that bible must have cost a lot."

"Yes, I would, but don't you dare let on to Mother. I wouldn't hurt her feelings for a farm! She's awful good, but she doesn't understand how a fellow feels about things. I'd rather be licked any day than prayed over. I guess if I attended all the 'means of grace' she wants me to, I wouldn't have any time left for lessons. I'm going to try all-fired hard not to do anything to hurt Mother or make her ashamed of me, but I'm not calculating to wear out the pews at prayer meetings--not so you'd notice it." Ernest grinned at Chicken Little defiantly.

Jane replied soberly:

"A prayer meeting's a real treat to Mother. She hasn't had a chance to go to one for so long she is just pining for the privilege, but I bet she didn't feel that way when she was young! But she thinks she did, so there's no use fussing."

Marian's admonition to Ernest was brief and to the point. She stood him up against the wall and looked him so squarely in the eyes that she could see her own reflection in the pupils. Ernest's six feet of vigorous youth was good to look at. His hazel eyes gazed back at her steadfastly. Marian smiled up at him.

"Ernest Morton, I'm downright proud to be your sister, and if you can look me in the eye as fearlessly and unashamed when you come home, I shall be still prouder. I want to tell you something I overheard in a store the other day about Father. Some men were evidently discussing him in connection with a business deal, and one remarked emphatically: 'Old man Morton may have his weaknesses like the rest of us humans, but his word's as good as his bond any day, and there's precious few men you can say that of.' It's worth while to have that sort of a father, Ernest, but it makes the Morton name somewhat of a responsibility to live up to, doesn't it?"

Marian gave him a pat and pulled his head down to kiss him.

Katy and Gertie had been busy all day with their own preparations for departure. Marian was helping them with their packing, because Mrs.

Morton had her hands full with the lunch and Ernest's clothes and trunk.

Chicken Little vibrated between the two centers of interest. Jilly also a.s.sisted, contributing articles of her own when she caught the spirit of packing. Her mother rescued a cake of soap and one of her shoes, but after Katy and Gertie arrived at home, they discovered one of Jilly's nighties reposing on top of their Sunday hats and her rag doll neatly wedged in a corner of their trunk. Ernest was not overlooked either.

When he unpacked at Annapolis, his recently acquired New York roommate was decidedly amazed to see him draw forth a small, pink stocking from the upper tray and a little later, a soiled woolly sheep along with his shirts. Ernest found his explanations about a baby niece received rather incredulously until a choice packet containing half a doughnut, a much-mutilated peach, two green apples, and a mud pie appeared. Jilly had evidently prepared a lunch for her uncle. They both went off into rumbles of mirth over this remarkable exhibit and began a friendship which was destined to be enduring.

Jane's boat ride scheme found favor, but Mrs. Morton declared they must put it off till after supper. They drove over and found the Captain smoking contentedly on the veranda.

"I was hoping you young people would come to-night," he said, "though I intended going to the train to see you off in any event. I shall miss these young ladies sadly, and Ernest seems to belong to me a little, now that he has decided to be a sailor, too."

"If I get in, I shall owe it to you, for I should never have thought of Annapolis if you hadn't suggested it," Ernest replied.

"Well, I trust I have not influenced you to a decision you will some day regret. You seem to me to have many of the qualifications for a naval officer."

"Do you think he is sufficiently qualified to row the _Chicken Little_, Captain Clarke?" asked Jane suggestively.