Adventure Books

16 - The Box Car Children - Gertrude Warner

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Duration:: 10m
Broadcast on:: 14 Nov 2024
Audio Format:: other

Filling under the weather, family dollar has you covered! Battle every sneeze and sniffle this coffin cold season with great deals on over-the-counter cold, flu, and allergy remedies for the whole family. Family Dollar, helping you do more! At I-Fly indoor skydiving, everything's better when you fly together. This holiday season, share the dream of flight and make your celebrations unforgettable. For a very limited time, get 10 flights for over 50% off with I-Fly's Black Friday Friends and Family Package. Elevate your holiday festivities with magical memories for all ages. Go to IFLYWorld.com to grab your Black Friday Friends and Family Deal. That's IFLYWorld.com. Chapter 16, A United Family Mr. Cordes had been planning this day for more than a week. He had sent his most trusted foreman to his own beautiful home to superintendematters there. The house was being remodeled entirely after Mr. Cordes' own plans, and everywhere were carpenters, painters, and decorators. On the very day that Mr. Cordes received word that it was finished, he suggested the drive. "Do you live all alone, grandfather?" asked Benny. "All alone," answered Mr. Cordes. No company at all. At first, Benny did not consider this the exact truth. He considered a cook company, and also a butler, and a housekeeper. And when he saw the array of maids, he kept perfectly quiet. The house was enormous, certainly. It was at least a quarter of a mile from its own front gate, and everywhere were gardens. "Do you live here?" said Henry, thunderstruck, as they rolled quietly along the beautiful drive. "You do too, if you like it," observed his grandfather, watching his face. The inside of the house was more wonderful than even the older children had ever dreamed. The velvet rugs were so thick and soft that no footfall could be heard. Everywhere were flowers. The great stairway with steps of marble rose from the center of the big hallway. But it was upstairs that the children felt most at home. Here the rooms were not quite so large. They were sunny and home-like. "This is Violet's room!" cried Benny. It was unmistakable. There were violets on the wallpaper. The bed was snow-white with a thick quilt of violet silk. On the little table were English violets, pouring their fragrance into the room. "What a beautiful room!" sighed Violet, sinking down into one of the soft-cushioned chairs. But all the children shouted when they saw Benny's room. The wallpaper was blue, covered with large figures of cats and dogs, the three bears, and Peter Rabbit. There was a swinging rocking horse, nearly as tall as a real horse, a blackboard, a tulle chest, and low tables and chairs, exactly the right size for Benny. There was an electric train with cars nearly as large as the boy himself. "Can I rent the cars all day?" asked Benny. "Oh no," replied Henry quickly, "you're going to school as soon as it begins." This was the first that his grandfather had heard about school, but he agreed with Henry and chuckled to himself. "The finest schools in the country," he said. This came true. For all the children finally went to the public schools, and are they not the finest schools in the country? In Jess's room Benny discovered a bed for watch. It was, in fact, a regular dog's straw hamper, but it was lined with heavy quilted silk and padded with wool. Watch got in at once, sniffed in every corner, turned around three times, and lay down. Just then a distant doorbell rang. It had such a low musical chime that the children listened delightedly, never once giving a thought as to who it might be, but almost at once a soft-footed servant appeared, saying that a man wanted to see Mr. Cordes about the dog. The moment Jess heard that word "dog," she was frightened. She had never thought watch a common runaway dog, and it always made her uncomfortable to see passers-by gaze curiously at him as he ran by her side. "They won't take watch away," she whispered to Henry, her breath almost gone. "Indeed they will not," declared Henry, "will never, never give him up." However, Henry followed his grandfather and Jess with great anxiety. It was indeed about watch that the man wanted to talk, and Jess's heart sank again when she saw the dog jump delightedly upon the man, and return his caresses with short barks. "He's a runaway, sir, from my kennels, out in Townsend," the man explained to Mr. Cordes. "I have two hundred air-dales out there, and this one was sold the day before he ran away, so you see I have to turn him over to the lady I sold him to. Oh, no, you don't," returned Mr. Cordes quickly, "I will give you three times what the dog is worth." The man glanced around uneasily. "I couldn't do that, sir," he explained, "you see, it isn't a question of money, it's a question of my promised word to the lady." Mr. Cordes failed to see. She can find another dog, among two hundred air-dales, I guess, he returned. "And besides, you don't know positively that this is the right dog." "Excuse me," replied the man, very much embarrassed. "He's the dog, all right. He knows me, as you see, and his name is rough, number three. He has a black spot inside his ear." It was too true. Indeed, at the mere mention of his name, the dog cocked an ear and wagged his tail. But he had seated himself as close to Jess as possible, and licked her hand when she patted him. But it appeared that Henry could understand the man's position, even if Mr. Cordes could not. He now put in a timid word of his own. "If the lady would agree to let the dog go, would you be willing?" "Sure," said the man, shooting a glance at Henry. "I almost know anyone would let us keep watch, Grandfather," said Henry earnestly. "If they knew how much he had done for us?" "I'm sure of it, my boy," returned Mr. Cordes kindly. The fact that Henry had been the first to make headway with the dog fancier had not escaped him. But it was clear that Jess would not be able to sleep until the matter had been settled. So the moment the man was gone, the children set out from their beautiful new home to the address of the lady who had bought watch. The big car purred along from Greenfield to Townsend in no time, and the whole family, including watch himself, trooped up the veranda steps to interview the lady who held it in her power to break their hearts or to make them very happy. She was not terrible to look at. In fact, she was quite young, quite lively and very, very pretty. She asked them all to sit down, which they did gravely, for even Benny was worried about losing watchy his favorite pillow. He could not wait for his grandfather to begin. He struggled down from his chair and dashed over to the young lady, saying, in one breath, "You'll let us keep watchy, please, won't you? Because we want him so bad, and just didn't know he was your dog." By degrees the lady understood just what dog it was. "We have had him so long," explained Henry eagerly. It would be almost like letting Benny go away. Watch never leaves us even for a minute, ever since Jess took the briar out of his foot. "So you are the children who lived in the freight car," observed a lively young lady. "I've heard all about that. How did you like it?" "All right," replied Henry with an effort. "But we never could have done it without watch. He stayed and looked after the girls while I was away, and he just thinks everything of Jess." "Well," said the young lady, laughing, "I can see you're worrying terribly about that dog. Now listen, I wouldn't take that dog away from you any more than I'd take Benny. In fact, not so much. I think maybe I'd like to keep Benny instead." Benny was apparently quite willing that she should. He climbed into her lap before anyone could stop him, and gave her one of his best barehugs. And from that moment they were firm friends. But the children always spoke of her as the "Lady who owns watch," although Mr. Cordis paid for the dog in less time than you can imagine. It made no difference to the children that watch was a very valuable dog. They had loved him when he had not been worth a cent, and now they loved him more simply because they had so nearly lost him. It was a happy and reunited family which gathered around the Cordis dining table that evening. The maids smiled in the kitchen to hear the children laugh, and the children laughed because watch actually sat up at the table in the seat of honor beside Jess, and was weighted upon by a butler. End of chapter 16 Feeling under the weather, family dollar has you covered. 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