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But she had not dreamed that they would go without her, and when she saw Anne climb in and the carriage start off, she ran forward wildly. "Wait," she called, "wait for me." But the carriage whirled on in a cloud of dust, and her voice echoed on the empty air. By the time Judy reached the house Mrs. Batcheller had gone in, and so the little girl ran down the road unseen.
Before they went home they all assembled again in the great dining-room from which the chairs had been taken, and on the polished floor every one, old and young, danced the Virginia Reel, the Judge leading with Miss Mary, and Mrs. Batcheller bringing up at the end of the line with Jimmie Jones. "It was a success, wasn't it," said Launcelot, when the children had trooped away, and Anne and Mrs.
But this was not all. For during the evening, rumors, started by the wily Launcelot, leaked out, that never in the history of Fairfax had there been such a party as the one to be given by Judge Jameson in honor of his grand-daughter, Judith, and her friend, Anne Batcheller. "For it is as much Anne's party as Judy's," Launcelot stated, as one having authority.
She said it with the air of a young princess who is in the habit of having her wishes gratified. The Judge laughed again. "How is it, Mrs. Batcheller?" he asked. "May Anne go?" The little grandmother shook her head. "I don't often let her leave me," she said. "But I want her," said Judy, sharply, and at her tone the little grandmother's back stiffened.
"Tick, tock," proclaimed the old school clock, as the hands crept slowly to one, to two, to three. "In five minutes I can go," thought poor little Anne wildly, and just then the school-room door opened, and on the threshold appeared a self-contained young lady in pale violet gingham, and the young lady was asking for Anne Batcheller!
And after that they filed out to the old garden, the Judge and Mrs. Batcheller, and the Captain and Judy, Launcelot with his fair little friend Anne, and behind them the smaller fry, and Perkins the wonderful Perkins at the end, with the coffee.
"Oh, am I really going to live with Judy?" she shrieked joyfully, "and you and Becky and Belinda oh, it's too good to be true." "We really are," said Mrs. Batcheller. "The Judge and I had a long talk together, the day he came down, and he wants you to go away to school with Judy, and have me come and help Aunt Patterson to manage his house.
"That's a secret between Judy and me," he said, "and I can't tell it," and over her head he smiled at Mrs. Batcheller, who knew the story, and had often laughed with Judy's grandmother over it. Judy came in, finally, rosy and breathless. "Oh, invite your Miss Mary if you want to," she panted, as she kissed the tear-streaked face. "But don't expect me to act too saint-like.
None of the girls in Fairfax or the country around had ever worn their hair puffed over their ears or tied with broad black ribbon. There would be a little flutter, and during church time the girls would look at nothing else, and it would be delightful to feel that for once she, little plain Anne Batcheller, was the center of attraction. She dropped her book.
Batcheller, when the Judge tried tactfully to suggest that he be allowed to send Anne's order with Judy's. "No, they won't," the Judge had insisted, bluntly, "Judy's old home at The Breakers is somewhat isolated, but there will be trips that the girls will take together, and friends will call, and I can't have little Anne unhappy because she hasn't a pretty gown to wear." "Oh, well," sighed Mrs.
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