第43章 "THE PRINCESS AND THE PAUPER"(2)

"Well,to begin with,the old aunt died.The girl was sixteen then.It was in the winter that this happened,and the girl was far away at school.She came to the funeral,however,but the boy did not see her,save in the distance;and then he hardly knew her,so strange did she look in her black dress and hat.She was there only two days,and though he gazed wistfully up at the gray tower,he knew well enough that of course she could not wave to him at such a time as that.Yet he had hoped--almost believed that she would wave two waves that last day,and let him go over to see her."

"But she didn't wave,and he didn't go over.She went away.And then the town learned a wonderful thing.The old lady,her aunt,who had been considered just fairly rich,turned out to be the possessor of almost fabulous wealth,owing to her great holdings of stock in a Western gold mine which had suddenly struck it rich.And to the girl she willed it all.It was then,of course,that the girl became the Princess,but the boy did not realize that--just then.To him she was still 'the girl."

"For three years he did not see her.She was at school,or traveling abroad,he heard.He,too,had been away to school,and was,indeed,just ready to enter college.Then,that summer,he heard that she was coming to the old home,and his heart sang within him.Remember,to him she was still the girl.He knew,of course,that she was not the LITTLE girl who had promised to marry him.But he was sure she was the merry comrade,the true-hearted young girl who used to smile frankly into his eyes,and whom he was now to win for his wife.You see he had forgotten--quite forgotten about the Princess and the money.Such a foolish,foolish boy as he was!"

"So he got out his flags gleefully,and one day,when his mother wasn't in the kitchen,he ironed out the wrinkles and smoothed them all ready to be raised on the pole.He would be ready when the girl waved--for of course she would wave;he would show her that he had not forgotten.He could see just how the sparkle would come to her eyes,and just how the little fine lines of mischief would crinkle around her nose when she was ready to give that first wave.He could imagine that she would like to find him napping;that she would like to take him by surprise,and make him scurry around for his flags to answer her."

"But he would show her!As if she,a girl,were to beat him at their old game!He wondered which it would be:'I'm coming over,'or,'You are to come over here.'Whichever it was,he would answer,of course,with the red 'All right.'Still,it WOULD be a joke to run up the blue 'Got to work,'and then slip across to see her,just as she,so long ago,had played the joke on him!On the whole,however,he thought the red flag would be better.And it was that one which he laid uppermost ready to his hand,when he arranged them."

"At last she came.He heard of it at once.It was already past four o'clock,but he could not forbear,even then,to look toward the tower.It would be like her,after all,to wave then,that very night,just so as to catch him napping,he thought.She did not wave,however.The boy was sure of that,for he watched the tower till dark."

"In the morning,long before eight o'clock,the boy was ready.He debated for some time whether to stand out of doors on the piazza,or to hide behind the screened window,where he could still watch the tower.He decided at last that it would be better not to let her see him when she looked toward the house;then his triumph would be all the more complete when he dashed out to run up his answer."

"Eight o'clock came and passed.The boy waited until nine,but there was no sign of life from the tower.The boy was angry then,at himself.He called himself,indeed,a fool,to hide as he did."

Of course she wouldn't wave when he was nowhere in sight--when he had apparently forgotten!And here was a whole precious day wasted!

"The next morning,long before eight,the boy stood in plain sight on the piazza.As before he waited until nine;and as before there was no sign of life at the tower window.The next morning he was there again,and the next,and the next.It took just five days,indeed,to convince the boy--as he was convinced at last--that the girl did not intend to wave at all.""But how unkind of her!"exclaimed David.

"She couldn't have been nice one bit!"decided Jill.

"You forget,"said Mr.Jack."She was the Princess.""Huh!"grunted Jill and David in unison.