Carney's House Party and Winona's Pony Cart by Maud Hart Lovelace

Author:Maud Hart Lovelace
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 1949-08-19T04:00:00+00:00

15

Orono

CARNEY COULDN’T SLEEP that night. It was too hot for anyone to sleep, she thought, even on a sleeping porch, without a top sheet. But Betsy and Bonnie were sleeping. Lifting herself on one elbow, she could see them plainly in the moonlight. Betsy’s hair was done up in Magic Wavers, of course; Bonnie had pinned her yellow locks on top of her head for coolness.

Isobel was sleeping, too, although her loosened hair was scattered over the pillow. It made a wavy pattern. Heat caused Isobel’s hair to curl even more endearingly than usual. Although it had been very hot when she and Sam returned last night, she had looked deliciously pretty. Her hair was twining into curls and curlicues about a flushed face. There had been a brightness lighting her from within. She had looked the way a girl ought to look when she got engaged.

“But I won’t look like that if I get engaged to Larry tomorrow. I won’t be that happy,” Carney thought.

She wondered whether Isobel had become engaged to Sam. The idea seemed ridiculous because of Howard Sedgwick, but she couldn’t be sure. Isobel was so mysterious. You couldn’t figure out what she would or wouldn’t do as you could with ordinary girls.

Carney felt a surge of resentment against her. She wished she hadn’t invited her to come to Minnesota.

“But she’s made a wonderful guest,” she thought, trying to choke down this unworthy feeling. “Everyone likes her. I do myself.”

She got up and went to the railing.

“I’m in a bad mood because of that picnic tomorrow. But I ought to be glad it’s coming off. I usually hate things hanging fire.”

The moon sailed in the sky above the hills in golden indifference. It outlined the turret on the barn and threw large soft shadows of trees on the lawn. The shadows were motionless for there wasn’t a breath stirring. It was stiflingly hot.

Carney longed for a cold bath but she was afraid the sound of running water would waken someone. Her parents and the boys had their bedroom doors open, seeking a nonexistent draft. She decided to get a drink instead, and tiptoeing down to the kitchen, she poured a glass of cold water from the earthen jug which Olga always kept in the icebox. The kitchen was stuffy.

“What weather for a picnic!” Carney groaned, wandering into the dark parlors. Even the ground floor windows were open but there wasn’t a breeze. “I can’t look pretty in weather like this. We can’t make a fire. There has been plenty of nice cool weather. Why did he have to wait so long?”

And yet, she admitted, climbing the stairs again, there had been a reason for waiting.

“Even as it is, we don’t really know each other. Of course he’s only been here two weeks.”

But she had known Sam only a week when they had had that talk about Matthew Lang.

Disgruntled, she returned to her bed. She was still disgruntled in the morning, and the girls annoyed her at breakfast.

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