Dorothy Dales Queer Holidays | Page 7

archly.
"Well, if you like, I'll take the boys too. Don't care if I do." And Tavia
stood before the oval mirror inspecting herself in Dorothy's blue and
white empire gown with the long sash at the side.
"What a pretty new dress you have!" remarked Dorothy as she picked
up the one that Tavia had so carelessly discarded.
"Like it? I suppose it's all rumples and crumples after the cart. But
really, Doro, if I had had only some one to talk to, I believe I should

have enjoyed it. It was too funny! The man had a mouth without any
backstop in it--"
"Palate?"
"Maybe that was it. Anyhow, when he spoke the words seemed to
evaporate, and you had to guess what he meant. Likely there's a trail of
frozen words all the way from here to--Mars."
"Hurry a little," urged Dorothy. "I am sure they are all impatient to talk
to you. And the boys are just dying to hear about your adventure."
"All right, Doro, I'm ready. But say!" and Tavia stood still for a
moment "You look--like--a picture in that princess. I do wish I could
wear a 'clinger,' but I'm too fat. You have gotten--ahem--prettier in the
short time since I saw you at school. But I don't wonder. Oh, that
abominable old school!"
"Aunt Winnie had this gown made for me last week," replied Dorothy,
ignoring all of Tavia's criticism save that which referred to the blended
gold and white princess. "Isn't it sweet?"
"Matches you as if you had been made for it," replied Tavia, in her way
of saying things backwards. "Your hair seems all of a piece."
"Come on down," called Roger at the foot of the stairs, "It will soon be
bedtime, and we want to hear all about it."
"All right, honey," replied Tavia. "We're coming."
Mrs. White had Tavia's dinner brought into the dining-room, so it was
there, between mouthfuls, that the tardy one tried to tell of her mishap
on the train, and the strange adventure that followed it.
CHAPTER III
A LIGHT IN THE WINDOW

"I was worried thinking something had happened to you," said Dorothy
as she poured Tavia's tea.
"And that was the very time that your worry was properly placed," said
Tavia, "for something did happen to me. In the first place, I knew I
would have bad luck, for I dropped my comb while I was dressing."
"Break it?" asked Ned slyly.
"Yep," replied Tavia; "and it was a nice one, too--dark, didn't show--"
"Tavia!" exclaimed Dorothy warningly, for Tavia usually kept Dorothy
busy correcting her possibly impolite speeches.
"All right, Doro. It simply was 'a nice one,' and when I dropped it I
knew perfectly well that I would 'bust' something."
"Did you?" asked Roger, not noticing Tavia's slang.
"Well, I don't know about the cart, but certainly I nearly strangled
yelling at the man with the reins."
Dorothy looked annoyed. She did not mind Tavia's usual queer sayings,
but she knew perfectly well that her aunt would not like such vulgar
expressions. The boys might smile, but even they knew a girl should
not forget to be ladylike in an attempt to be funny.
Dorothy hastened to relieve the tension.
"But when you got out to Gransville, was it dark?" she asked.
"Almost," continued Tavia. "The blackness seemed to be coming down
in chunks. Well, I finally reached the old shack and bribed the man into
hitching up the cart. Of course, it was awfully cold, and he didn't relish
the drive."
"Don't blame him," put in Nat.
"What?" asked Ned. "Not even with Tavia?"

A sofa cushion flew in Ned's direction at that, but Tavia continued:
"The strange part of it was we had to pass a haunted house."
"Haunted house!" repeated Joe, all eager for the sensational part of
Tavia's recital.
"So the man declared. At least, I think he declared, or tried very hard to
do so. You see, I could scarcely tell when he was guessing, declaring or
swearing--"
"What a time you must have had," remarked Mrs. White, with some
show of anxiety.
"Well, I suppose I am exaggerating," said Tavia apologetically, "but I
am so accustomed to tell things as big as I can make them. Brother
Johnnie won't listen to any tame stories."
"But the haunted house?" questioned Joe.
"We are almost there," said Tavia as the dinner things were cleared
away. "Did you ever see an old castle off toward Ferndale?"
"The Mayberry mansion?" suggested Ned.
"Perhaps," replied Tavia. "It is set in a deep woods or some sort of
jungle."
"Why, that's Tanglewood Park," declared Nat. "How in the world did
you get over that way?"
"Took a short cut through a lane," replied Tavia, "and when we got
right in the