“Well, she needn’t get out her bandboxes yet.I’m not a fashionable party and don’t mean to be,but I do like harmless larks now and then, don’t you?”
“Yes, nobody minds them, so lark away,but don’t get wild, will you?Or there will be an end of all our good times.”
“I’ll be a double distilled saint.”
“I can’t bear saints. Just be a simple, honest,respectable boy, and we’ll never desert you.I don’t know what I should do if you acted like Mr.King’s son. He had plenty of money,but didn’t know how to spend it,and got tipsy and gambled, and ran away,and forged his father’s name, I believe,and was altogether horrid.”
“You think I’m likely to do the same?Much obliged.”
“No, I don’t—oh, dear, no!—but I hear people talking about money being such a temptation,and I sometimes wish you were poor.I shouldn’t worry then.”
“Do you worry about me, Jo?”
“A little, when you look moody and discontented,as you sometimes do, for you’ve got such a strong will,if you once get started wrong,I’m afraid it would be hard to stop you.”
Laurie walked in silence a few minutes,and Jo watched him, wishing she had held her tongue,for his eyes looked angry,though his lips smiled as if at her warnings.
“Are you going to deliver lectures all the way home?” he asked presently.
“Of course not. Why?”
“Because if you are, I’ll take a bus. If you’re not,I’d like to walk with you and tell you something very interesting. ”
“I won’t preach any more,and I’d like to hear the news immensely.”
“Very well, then, come on. It’s a secret,and if I tell you, you must tell me yours.”
“I haven’t got any,” began Jo, but stopped suddenly,remembering that she had.
“You know you have—you can’t hide anything,so up and ’fess, or I won’t tell,” cried Laurie.
“Is your secret a nice one?”
“Oh, isn’t it!All about people you know, and such fun!You ought to hear it,and I’ve been aching to tell it this long time. Come, you begin.”
“You’ll not say anything about it at home, will you?”
“Not a word.”
“And you won’t tease me in private?”
“I never tease.”
“Yes, you do. You get everything you want out of people.I don’t know how you do it,but you are a born wheedler.”
“Thank you. Fire away.”
“Well, I’ve left two stories with a newspaperman,and he’s to give his answer next week,” whispered Jo,in her confidant’s ear.
“Hurrah for Miss March,the celebrated American authoress!” cried Laurie, throwing up his hat and catching it again,to the great delight of two ducks, four cats,five hens, and half a dozen Irish children,for they were out of the city now.
“Hush!It won’t come to anything, I dare say,but I couldn’t rest till I had tried,and I said nothing about it because I didn’t want anyone else to be disappointed.”
“It won’t fail. Why, Jo,your stories are works of Shakespeare compared to half the rubbish that is published every day. Won’t it be fun to see them in print, and shan’t we feel proud of our authoress?”
Jo’s eyes sparkled, for it is always pleasant to be believed in,and a friend’s praise is always sweeter than a dozen newspaper puffs.
“Where’s your secret?Play fair, Teddy, or I’ll never believe you again,” she said, trying to extinguish the brilliant hopes that blazed up at a word of encouragement.
“I may get into a scrape for telling,but I didn’t promise not to, so I will,for I never feel easy in my mind till I’ve told you any plummy bit of news I get. I know where Meg’s glove is.”
“Is that all?” said Jo, looking disappointed,as Laurie nodded and twinkled with a face full of mysterious intelligence.
“It’s quite enough for the present,as you’ll agree when I tell you where it is.”
“Tell, then.”
Laurie bent, and whispered three words in Jo’s ear,which produced a comical change.She stood and stared at him for a minute,looking both surprised and displeased, then walked on,saying sharply, “How do you know?”
“Saw it.”
“Where?”
“Pocket.”
“All this time?”
“Yes, isn’t that romantic?”
“No, it’s horrid.”
“Don’t you like it?”
“Of course I don’t. It’s ridiculous,it won’t be allowed. My patience!What would Meg say?”
“You are not to tell anyone. Mind that.”
“I didn’t promise.”
“That was understood, and I trusted you.”
“Well, I won’t for the present, anyway,but I’m disgusted, and wish you hadn’t told me.”
“I thought you’d be pleased.”
“At the idea of anybody coming to take Meg away?No, thank you.”
“You’ll feel better about it when somebody comes to take you away. ”
“I’d like to see anyone try it,” cried Jo fiercely.
“So should I!” and Laurie chuckled at the idea.
“I don’t think secrets agree with me,I feel rumpled up in my mind since you told me that,” said Jo rather ungratefully.
“Race down this hill with me, and you’ll be all right, ” suggested Laurie.
No one was in sight,the smooth road sloped invitingly before her,and finding the temptation irresistible,Jo darted away, soon leaving hat and comb behind her and scattering hairpins as she ran. Laurie reached the goal first and was quite satisfied with the success of his treatment, for his Atlanta came panting up with flying hair, bright eyes, ruddy cheeks, and no signs of dissatisfaction in her face.
“I wish I was a horse,then I could run for miles in this splendid air,and not lose my breath. It was capital,but see what a guy it’s made me. Go, pick up my things,like a cherub, as you are,” said Jo,dropping down under a maple tree,which was carpeting the bank with crimson leaves.
Laurie leisurely departed to recover the lost property,and Jo bundled up her braids,hoping no one would pass by till she was tidy again.But someone did pass, and who should it be but Meg,looking particularly ladylike in her state and festival suit,for she had been making calls.
“What in the world are you doing here?” she asked, regarding her disheveled sister with well-bred surprise.
“Getting leaves,” meekly answered Jo,sorting the rosy handful she had just swept up.
“And hairpins,” added Laurie,throwing half a dozen into Jo’s lap.“They grow on this road, Meg,so do combs and brown straw hats.”
“You have been running, Jo. How could you?When will you stop such romping ways?” said Meg reprovingly,as she settled her cuffs and smoothed her hair,with which the wind had taken liberties.
“Never till I’m stiff and old and have to use a crutch.Don’t try to make me grow up before my time, Meg.It’s hard enough to have you change all of a sudden.Let me be a little girl as long as I can.”
As she spoke, Jo bent over the leaves to hide the trembling of her lips,for lately she had felt that Margaret was fast getting to be a woman,and Laurie’s secret made her dread the separation which must surely come some time and now seemed very near. He saw the trouble in her face and drew Meg’s attention from it by asking quickly, “Where have you been calling, all so fine?”
“At the Gardiners’, and Sallie has been telling me all about Belle Moffat’s wedding. It was very splendid, and they have gone to spend the winter in Paris. Just think how delightful that must be!”
“Do you envy her, Meg?” said Laurie.
“I’m afraid I do.”
“I’m glad of it!” muttered Jo, tying on her hat with a jerk.
“Why?” asked Meg, looking surprised.
“Because if you care much about riches,you will never go and marry a poor man,” said Jo,frowning at Laurie,who was mutely warning her to mind what she said.
“I shall never ‘_go_ and marry’ anyone,” observed Meg,walking on with great dignity while the others followed,laughing, whispering, skipping stones,and ‘behaving like children’, as Meg said to herself,though she might have been tempted to join them if she had not had her best dress on.