Little Prudy's Dotty Dimple Read online

  CHAPTER II.

  THE BONE MAN.

  In spite of all Mr. Parlin had said against it, his little daughter wascalled by various pet names,--such as Midge, and Ladybird, andForget-me-not. Very few were the people who seemed to remember that hername was Alice.

  She had a pair of busy dimples, which were a constant delight to hersisters.

  "They twinkle, twinkle like little stars, only they don't shine," criedPrudy.

  "Why," said Susy, "it's just as if her cheeks were made of water, andwe were skipping pebbles in 'em."

  And because of these tiny whirl pools, the child was usually calledDotty Dimple. From the time she could stand on her own little feet, shewas a queen of a baby, and carried her small head very high. If shechanced to fall over a chair she seldom shed a tear, but thought thechair had treated her shamefully, and ought to be shut up in the closet.She never liked to have any one kiss her little bruises and pity her. Itgave great offence if any one said, "Poor Alice!" She seemed to growhalf a head taller in a minute, and looked as if she would say, "Needn'tmake a baby o' _me_!"

  Not that she really said so. Talking was a thing she did not oftenattempt, though she sang a great deal, with a voice as clear as a flute.Prudy mourned because her tongue "did not grow fast enough." But wherewas the need of speech? If she fancied she would like to be tossed tothe "sky of the room," she had only to pat her father's arm, and pointupward, and the next minute she was flying to the ceiling, in high glee,and catching her breath. If she wished to go walking, it was enough topoint to the door, and then to her hat. Her little forefinger was asgood as most people's tongues, and served as a tolerably goodguide-post, for it pointed the way she meant to go herself, and the wayshe wished others to go.

  One day, while Mrs. Parlin was making currant jelly, she allowed Prudyto stay in the kitchen, and see her strain the beautiful crimson juice.But as for Alice, she had been found pounding eggs in a mortar, and mustbe taken away. She was placed in care of Susy, who led her out upon thepiazza, where she could watch the people passing by. "_Pedadder!_" criedAlice, showing her dimples. "Yes, _piazza_; so it is," said carelessSusy, beginning to read a fairy story, and soon forgetting her quietlittle charge.

  Looking up at last, there was nothing to be seen of Alice. She could nothave entered the house, for the front-door knob was above her reach.

  Susy ran out upon the pavement, and looked up and down the street.Which way to go she could not tell, but started down street at fullspeed. "O, I'm sure I ought to be going _up street_," gasped she; "andif I was, I shouldn't think _that_ was right either. Wish I knew whichway I should _expect_ Dotty to go, and then I'd know she'd gone just theother way."

  After flitting hither and thither for some time, Susy ran home to givethe alarm. Without stopping to remove the jelly from the stove, Mrs.Parlin, Norah, and Prudy ran out of doors, and taking differentdirections, started in search of the missing child.

  On High Street Prudy met a soap-man, just reentering his wagon at someone's door.

  "O, have you seen my little sister?" cried Prudy, pressing her handagainst her heart.

  "Your little sister? And who may that be?" said the soap-man, in a deepwhisper; for he had such a severe cold on his lungs that for six monthshe had not spoken a loud word.

  "O, her name is Alice Wheelbarrow Parlin, sir," whispered Prudy, inreply; "and she had on a pink dress, and her hair curls down her neck,and she has the brightest eyes, and two years and a half of age, sir. O,where _do_ you s'pose she's gone to?"

  In her concern for Dotty, Prudy had forgotten her usual fear ofstrangers.

  "I'm sorry you've lost your sister," whispered the soap-man; "but as youseem to be pretty well tired out, suppose you jump into my cart andride with me."

  Prudy wondered why the man still kept whispering, but presumed there wassome reason why the loss of Dotty aught to be kept secret. She looked atthe long lumber-wagon, partly filled with barrels, and was on the pointof replying, "No, thank you, sir," when a bright idea occurred to her.

  "Do you s'pose, sir, I can get to my sister any quicker if I ride?"

  "Well, can't say as to that, my dear," whispered the soap-man, shoving abarrel to one side, "seeing as I don't know where your sister's to befound; but there's one thing certain--you'll get over the ground a gooddeal quicker riding than you would on your feet. I'm going to PearlStreet before I stop."

  "Then I'll ride, sir, if you'll please lift me in," whispered poorPrudy, trembling with fear of the uncouth wagon and strange man, yetresolved to risk anything for Dotty's sake.

  There was no seat in the wagon, and Prudy was obliged to stand up.

  "Hold on to me, sissy," said the kind-hearted soap-boiler. "I reckon youain't used to riding in this kind of shape. Why, lawful sakes, your faceis as white as a pond-lily!"

  "It's my heart," whispered Prudy, faintly; "it _whisks_ just like theeggs Norah beats in a bowl. But it's no matter, sir; I don't think I'mafraid,--or only a little speck," added she, in a lower whisper; for,though anxious to be polite, she did not mean to tell anything but the"white truth."

  The little girl's gentle ways won the soap-boiler's heart at once."What's your fathers name, little dear?" inquired he, as they wentclattering through the streets.

  "His name is Mr. Edward Parlin.--But O, I don't see a single thing ofDotty!"

  "Dotty! Why, who is Dotty?" asked the man, turning about, and gazing athis little passenger with a look of curiosity.

  "Why, Mr.--, why, _sir_, don't you know?" replied the child, struck witha sudden fear that her strange companion was a crazy man. "O, my stars!don't you know what you took me up for? Didn't you hear? My littlesister ran off the piazza." Then Prudy repeated the words aloud, slowlyand on a high key, anxious this time to make her meaning very clear."She--ran--off--the--piazza, with a pink dress on, sir, and not aspeck--of--a--hat. And I was stirring jelly on the stove, and never knewit till she was lost and gone. And we're all hunting,--me, and--mother,and--all. I thought you knew, sir; but if you didn't I guess I'd betterget out!"

  The good-natured soap-man shook with laughter. "Excuse me, little miss,"said he, "but the fact is, I understood you to say your sister's namewas Alice Wheelbarrow Parlin, and that's why I was puzzled to know whoyou meant by Dotty.--But here we are at Pearl Street. Here, in thishouse, lives one of my best customers. Now, if you like, I'll lift youout, and you can go with me and inquire for your little sister. Then youcan ride again, for I'm going as far as Munjoy."

  So saying, the man took Prudy out in his arms. She knew it was ratherodd for a little girl like her to be going around to people's back doorswith a stranger in a blue blouse; but it was all for Dotty's sake.

  The man knocked with the handle of his whip, and a neat-looking servantgirl appeared.

  "Have you seen anything of a stray child?" was his first question.

  "My little sister," cried Prudy, in breathless haste. "She had on a pinkdress, and curls bareheaded."

  "We have seen no such child pass this way," replied the girl, civilly.Prudy's eager face fell.

  "I supposed likely as not you hadn't," said the soap-man; "so now we'llproceed to business. You see I'm here with my wagon and barrels, and Isuppose you perceive that I've come for your bones!"

  These whispered words fell on Prudy's ears with terrible force. A vagueterror seized her. "_I've come for your bones!_" What could he mean? Washe an ogre, right out of a fairy-book? What did he want of that poorwoman's bones?

  Without stopping to think twice, Prudy ran off with trembling haste, andby the time the astonished soap-boiler missed her she had reachedCongress Street, and was still running.

  The first thing she saw, as she entered her own door, was the flutteringof Dotty's pink dress. The runaway was safe and sound. She had onlytoddled off after a man with a basket of images, calling out, "baa,baa," "moo, moo," "bow-wow." The end of it was, that the image man hadgiven her a toy lamb, for which she had said, "How do," instead of thankyou; and Florence Eastman had led her home.
/>   Susy was heartily ashamed of her heedlessness.

  "Now, mother," said she, "do you think, if I should be kept on bread andwater for a whole day, I should learn to remember? You'll never trustDotty with me again."

  "Ah," said Mrs. Parlin, with a meaning smile; "the trouble is, Susy,you've made up your mind that your memory is good for nothing: you_expect_ to forget! I _shall_ trust you again, and you must fullyresolve to do better."

  Dotty was very proud of her "baa, baa," and insisted upon putting it inher bathing tub every morning, and scrubbing it with her own hands.

  Everybody laughed at Prudy's wild story of the soap-boiler.

  "We were tired, my feet and I," said she, between laughing and crying;"but I never'd have rode with that whispering man if I'd known he was a_bone man_!"