Read Online Treasures from Grandma's Attic by Arleta Richardson - Free Book Online Page A

just look out for your own dress?”
    “I’m just trying to help you. I’m a naturally tidy person, but you’re inclined to have an accident every chance you get.”
    I glared at her, but before I could reply, Mrs. Brooke saw us. “Oh, hello, girls. I’m so glad you could come. Have you been over to get refreshments?” She led us over to the table with an invitation to help ourselves.
    We were so interested in the activity around us that we didn’t notice when the sky turned black and a wind came up.
    Mrs. Brooke called for everyone to go into the house, and the young men carried the table and chairs to the porch. No sooner had we taken shelter than the skies opened up and the rain came down in torrents.
    “It’s raining so hard that it shouldn’t last long,” Mr. Brooke predicted. But he was wrong. The storm showed no sign of letting up.
    “We’ll need a boat to get home in this,” I said as Sarah Jane and I stood by the window and watched the storm. “We can’t stay here much longer, or—” We looked at each other. We both had the same picture of her pa going to my house to get her and my pa going to her house to get me. When they found out we weren’t at either place, there would definitely be trouble.
    “Shall we make a run for it?” Sarah Jane asked.
    “In our good shoes? If you think we’d be any better off by going home soaked to the bone, you’re mistaken. They’d want to know why we didn’t wait where we were until someone came for us.”
    Sarah Jane sighed and looked back out the window.
    “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive,” she quoted.
    “This is a fine time to think of that,” I said. “If you’re going to recite something, make it Scripture.”
    “Do you think God is angry at us for going to a party on a Sunday when we knew our folks wouldn’t want us to?” Sarah Jane wondered.
    “I don’t think so,” I replied. “The Bible says He causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike, so it must not be a punishment. We brought this one on ourselves.”
    “You’re probably right,” Sarah Jane agreed. “And that means we have to take the consequences ourselves too.”
    Mrs. Brooke came over to where we were standing. “Is someone coming after you girls?” she asked.
    “No, ma’am,” I answered. “I don’t think so.”
    “No one even knows where we are,” Sarah Jane blurted.
    “Oh, dear. You mean your folks don’t know you’re here?”
    We nodded.
    “We’ll have to see that you get home,” Mrs. Brooke said. “I’m sure the Carters will drop you off.”
    They were glad to, and we were soon on the way home. I was the first to be let out, and when I ran into the kitchen, I saw at once that what we feared had happened. Mr. Clark was sitting at our table, and Pa was nowhere to be seen.
    “Mabel!” Ma cried. “Where have you been? And where is Sarah Jane?”
    “She’s on her way home, Ma. The Carters brought us.”
    “What were you doing at the Carters’?” Mr. Clark asked me. “We thought Sarah Jane was here.”
    “We weren’t exactly at the Carters’,” I replied.
    “And where exactly were you?” Ma wanted to know.
    “We went to the birthday party at Mrs. Brooke’s.” I looked down at the floor, and the silence in the kitchen seemed to get louder. I wished Ma would say something.
    Finally Mr. Clark cleared his throat. “Well, I’d better be getting on home. I’m glad you’re back safely.”
    Ma saw him to the door. Then she turned and said, “You’d better get your clothes off, Mabel. They’re damp.”
    “Aren’t you going to punish me?”
    “We’ll talk about it when Pa gets back. Go along now.”
    Pa was drying himself off by the time I got back to the kitchen.
    “I’m sorry, Pa. I know I did wrong.”
    “Do you know why we’d rather you didn’t go to a party on a Sunday?” he asked me.
    “Yes, it’s the Lord’s Day.”
    Pa nodded. “And we believe that Sunday is set apart for