第2章 Little Sister(2)

"Not quite,"said Laddie."It's possible that the Fairy Queen may have set the Princess spinning silk for the caterpillars to weave their little houses with this winter;and if she has,she may have left a letter there to tell me.If there is one,put it in your pocket,hold it close every step of the way,and you'll be safe coming home as you were going.But you mustn't let a soul see it;you must slip it into my pocket when I'm not looking.If you let any one see,then the Magic will be spoiled,and the Fairy won't come again.""No one shall see,"I promised.

"I knew you could be trusted,"said Laddie,kissing and hugging me hard."Now go!If anything gets after you that such a big girl as you really wouldn't be ashamed to be afraid of,climb on a fence and call.I'll be listening,and I'll come flying.Now I must hurry.Father will think it's going to take me the remainder of the day to find the bolts he wants."We went down the front walk between the rows of hollyhocks and tasselled lady-slippers,out the gate,and followed the road.

Laddie held one of my hands tight,and in the other I gripped the letter in my pocket.So long as Laddie could see me,and the lane lay between open fields,I wasn't afraid.I was thinking so deeply about our woods being Enchanted,and a tiny Fairy growing big as our Sally,because she was in them,that I stepped out bravely.

Every few days I followed the lane as far back as the Big Gate.

This stood where four fields cornered,and opened into the road leading to the woods.Beyond it,I had walked on Sunday afternoons with father while he taught me all the flowers,vines,and bushes he knew,only he didn't know some of the prettiest ones;I had to have books for them,and I was studying to learn enough that I could find out.Or I had ridden on the wagon with Laddie and Leon when they went to bring wood for the cookstove,outoven,and big fireplace.But to walk!To go all alone!Not that I didn't walk by myself over every other foot of the acres and acres of beautiful land my father owned;but plowed fields,grassy meadows,wood pasture,and the orchard were different.I played in them without a thought of fear.

The only things to be careful about were a little,shiny,slender snake,with a head as bright as mother's copper kettle,and a big thick one with patterns on its back like those in Laddie's geometry books,and a whole rattle box on its tail;not to eat any berry or fruit I didn't know without first asking father;and always to be sure to measure how deep the water was before I waded in alone.

But our Big Woods!Leon said the wildcats would get me there.I sat in our catalpa and watched the Gypsies drive past every summer.Mother hated them as hard as ever she could hate any one,because once they had stolen some fine shirts,with linen bosoms,that she had made by hand for father,and was bleaching on the grass.If Gypsies should be in our west woods to-day and steal me,she would hate them worse than ever;because my mother loved me now,even if she didn't want me when I was born.

But you could excuse her for that.She had already bathed,spanked,sewed for,and reared eleven babies so big and strong not one of them ever even threatened to die.When you thought of that,you could see she wouldn't be likely to implore the Almighty to send her another,just to make her family even numbers.I never felt much hurt at her,but some of the others Inever have forgiven and maybe I never will.As long as there had been eleven babies,they should have been so accustomed to children that they needn't all of them have objected to me,all except Laddie,of course.That was the reason I loved him so and tried to do every single thing he wanted me to,just the way he liked it done.That was why I was facing the only spot on our land where I was in the slightest afraid;because he asked me to.

If he had told me to dance a jig on the ridgepole of our barn,I would have tried it.

So I clasped the note,set my teeth,and climbed over the gate.

I walked fast and kept my eyes straight before me.If I looked on either side,sure as life I would see something I never had before,and be down digging up a strange flower,chasing a butterfly,or watching a bird.Besides,if I didn't look in the fence corners that I passed,maybe I wouldn't see anything to scare me.I was going along finely,and feeling better every minute as I went down the bank of an old creek that had gone dry,and started up the other side toward the sugar camp not far from the Big Woods.The bed was full of weeds and as I passed through,away!went Something among them.

Beside the camp shed there was corded wood,and the first thing I knew,I was on top of it.The next,my hand was on the note in my pocket.My heart jumped until I could see my apron move,and my throat went all stiff and dry.I gripped the note and waited.

Father believed God would take care of him.I was only a little girl and needed help much more than a man;maybe God would take care of me.There was nothing wrong in carrying a letter to the Fairy Princess.I thought perhaps it would help if I should kneel on the top of the woodpile and ask God to not let anything get me.