The Little Washington's Relatives

Then, just as the two children found the old-fashioned costumes (while being shut in the attic for punishment for ruining the hedge at that momentous battle) and Jim crept out of the attic window and found himself on the ground, the story ended. But it starts again in this book with the Parke children watching for their cousins’ arrival.

John Graham, the next-door neighbor of the Parke children, had not been heard from or seen that morning, but Jim, the only child of mammy, the cook in the Parkes’ household, was on hand to welcome the expected visitors; then, just as the machine turned in at the stone gateway to roll up the driveway, John Graham rushed breathlessly up from the side lawn.

“Aren’t they here yet?” called John eagerly.

“Just comin’!” cried George, never taking his eyes from the fast-approaching automobile.

“Heigh – hello there!” shouted a boy’s voice, as a smiling face showed beaming over the side of the limousine.

“Hello, Jack! We’re glad to see you!” cried George, jumping down the steps to reach the terrace where the car stopped.

Martha followed after her brother, but Jim and John stood in the background, watching and wondering at the two strangers. The four cousins found they were not shy at all, and in fact, as they still retained the looks of former times, they soon felt very much at home with one another. Jack was a year the senior of George, and Anne was about a year older than Martha.

The Philadelphia children had lost none of their fun-loving dispositions, although Mrs. Parke had hoped they had developed into models of perfection. So this visit promised to be of great importance to the “Little Washingtons” in many ways. Hence the warm welcome bestowed by George and Martha, and later by John Graham and the factotum, Jim.

Mrs. Davis greeted her little niece and nephew affectionately, then she followed Mrs. Parke up the veranda steps and into the house.

“Have you got to change your clothes before we do anything?” asked George, who wore his second-best suit and clean blouse-shirt.

“Oh, I guess not. We’re all dusty from travelling anyway, so a little more dust won’t hurt any,” laughed Jack.

“And mother said my dress had to go straight in the tub, ’cause I upset a glass of choklate soda all down the front,” added Anne, spreading out the dimity ruffled dress to show her companions.

“Come on then and see the place. Jim’s got a rabbit hutch at the barns, and John’s going to lend us his pony when we want to use it in our play,” explained George, leading the group over the lawn by walking backward in front of them.

Martha skipped on one side of the two new arrivals, and John Graham on the other side, while Jim, the dark shadow, followed closely at their heels.

“Say, you’ve got a dandy place for fun, haven’t you?” admired Jack, gazing around at the wide expanse of lawns and gardens at the rear of the estate.

“Yes, but they always find us out just when we’re having the finest time!” sighed John dolefully.

Jack laughed. “I’m sure they wouldn’t find me if I lived here! But Anne and I only have a yard in a city block. The front steps from the door go right down to the sidewalk, and there’s a little patch of grass in front of the basement windows, with an area-way going to the back kitchen. We have only as much open space on each side of our house as from here to there.” As he explained, Jack showed a distance of five feet in front of him.

“But you have the loveliest park only a few blocks away – and the museums, and zoo, and lots of things we haven’t!” said George enviously.

“You can’t have fun in the zoo or a museum as you can in the open like this place; but we’ll make up here for not having the place in Philadelphia, won’t we, Anne?” laughed Jack.

“Yes, if George and Martha won’t have to spend all the time at lessons,” said Anne anxiously.

“Oh, no, we were going to have a private teacher at home because the only school is so far away from us in winter, but the house-teacher mother engaged was taken sick and couldn’t come as soon as expected, so mother has been hearing our lessons and reading history to us. Now that your mother is visiting here, mother won’t have as much time to hear our lessons, see?” explained Martha eagerly.

“And we can have all the more time for fun,” added George.

“How about you, John?” asked Jack, turning to the little neighbor boy.

“Oh, I was going to join George and Martha at their house for lessons this year – my mother and their mother arranged it, you see, ’cause we are distantly related, too, but now I don’t have to study, either!” said John with satisfaction.

“Then we’re all free for a fine time! You see, it just happened that the same week our school opened, the measles broke out so bad that they had to close again for a short time; and as every one we knew got the measles, mother hurried us off for a visit until the thing is over again,” laughed Jack, feeling very happy over the consequences of the epidemic.

“Fine!” declared George, turning to lead the way to the last scene of battle – the broken-down hedge between the Grahams’ and Parkes’ country estates.

CHAPTER II – THE CUSTIS WEDDING PARTY

“Now that we’ve been all over the place, come up to the attic and let us show you the old trunk full of costumes,” urged Martha, as the five children returned from the inspection of the grounds.

“Maybe the folks’ll be looking for us to change our clothes,” ventured Anne, looking carefully at the windows of the house, as they came into view from the path where the children skipped or ran.

“How long will it take you?” questioned Martha.

“Oh, we’ll have to take a bath, and my curls will have to be done over fresh, and a clean dress put on – dear me, we can’t have a speck of fun all starched up, you know!” complained Anne.

“Let’s get in without any one seeing us!” whispered George.

“How?” chorused the others.

“Mother and Aunt Ally will be on the front piazza or in the library. We’ll climb up on the balcony under the dining-room windows and get through that room to the pantry. There’s a back stairs in the butler’s pantry for the help to use. We can get to the third floor that way without being seen or having to go to the front at all,” explained George.

“Good! You scout about first while we wait under the lilac bushes,” whispered John, pushing George into the open.

Soon the anxious watchers saw George scramble over the railing of the low balcony and carefully open the outside shutters that were generally kept closed when the dining-room was unoccupied. Then he disappeared through the open window, and shortly after reappeared to beckon his friends to follow him.

One at a time, Indian fashion, they rushed over the grass and climbed the balcony. When all but Jim were inside the room, they breathed easier, but Jim’s bowed legs could not scramble up and over the rail as agilely as the others had and they had to venture out again to haul him up and over by his arms.

Once safely sheltered by the darkened dining-room, they tiptoed toward the pantry. The swing door was hardly still upon the five figures that passed through, when ladies’ voices were heard as Mrs. Parke and Mrs. Davis came from the library to go out on the veranda and see where the children were.

In the pantry, on the table, stood a plate filled with iced cookies for afternoon tea. Chopped walnuts were thickly sprinkled on the icing and most tempting did the cakes smell. Naturally the children could not pass by without a sniff and that was their undoing.

“My, but I’m hungry after that trip from Washington!” sighed Jack, eying the cakes.

“We all are, I reckon! May as well carry these cookies with us as to wait to eat them later,” suggested George, looking to Martha for approval of the plan.

“May as well! Carry dish and all to the attic – it will save Mary the work of washing extra plates,” came from thoughtful Martha, but had Mary been present she would have scorned the helpful suggestion.

Quick as a flash, therefore, George and the dish disappeared up the back stairway followed by his four devoted friends.

Safely harbored in the large attic room, the hungry children sat and ate the delicious cakes, till but two – the very smallest and scorched ones – remained on the plate for the two ladies.

“They’ll want some with their tea,” suggested Martha generously, picking a large piece of walnut from the one she determined for her mother.

“But they are not fond of sweets like we are,” hinted Anne, wistfully smacking her lips.

“We’ve each had four – all but Jim; he had that broken half and three!” declared John manfully.

“And we must not overeat cakes – there will be bread and jam with tea, you know,” cautioned George.

“Set the dish outside the door and that will end the thing!” said Anne sensibly, as she picked up the plate and did as she suggested.

The door was closed and locked to insure safety to the two cakes, in case any one of the five friends felt like venturing forth and taking a look at them.