"MabelCHawley-FourLittleBlossomsOnAppleTreeIsland" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hawley Mabel C)

Father Blossom stopped the car on the other side of the road from a pretty
cottage where a sign on the gate offered "Guaranteed, Analyzed Spring Water for
Sale," and he and Mr. Harley disappeared with the bottles through the odd,
rustic gate.
"Now he'll tell the poor man," sighed Mother Blossom. "Whatever they do or say
when they come back, children, I don't want you to say a word unless you're
spoken to. Can you remember?"
"Yes'm," promised the four little Blossoms, four little hearts warm with
sympathy for poor Mr. Harley.
"Where do you suppose he was all the time he wasn't there?" whispered Meg.
"I don't know," answered her mother. "He may have been ill. He may not even know
how long it has been since he has been home. Anyway, darlings, the kindest thing
we can do is not to bother him with talk or questions."
Father Blossom and Mr. Harley were gone for what seemed a long time to the
children, but in reality was not more than twenty minutes. The four little
Blossoms saw them coming, Father Blossom in the lead. Such a change had come
over Mr. Harley! His shoulders sagged, he scuffed his feet and his eyes were
heavy and dull.
"I suppose you know?" he said wearily to Mother Blossom, as he climbed into the
car and Father Blossom took the wheel. "If I only knew where she went! But she
quarreled with her people when she married me, and I never rightly knew where
they lived, or who they were."
"You'll probably find her," Mrs. Blossom tried thus to encourage him. "It isn't
easy for a woman with two children to drop out of sight, you know. Some one will
be able to give you a clue."
Mr. Harley shook his head despondently.
"It's been two years, your husband tells me," he replied. "And I've been missing
for four. Like as not she doesn't want to see me. I was out o' my mind for three
years, Ma'am, and when I came to I was in a hospital on the California coast. It
took me a year to work my way East. I kept writing and writing and wondering why
Lou didn't send me a line. She was never one to bear a grudge."
"But what will you do?" asked Mrs. Blossom, her kind eyes filling with tears as
she pictured the ruined little shack on the island. "Don't go back there and try
to live, Mr. HarleyЧit will only make you ill again. You know Mrs. Harley isn't
there, and I can not bear to think of you there alone."
"I'll stay to-night in Pomona," said Mr. Harley slowly. "Then I'll go on to
Sunset Lake and put up a while with Chris Smith; he owns a boathouse and I can
earn my keep taking folks about the lake. I'll be on the spot then if she should
come back or if any one comes with news of her. And if your sister knows where
she wentЧ"
"We'll ask her to-night and tell you as soon as we reach Sunset Lake," promised
Mother Blossom heartily.
The rest of the drive was accomplished almost in silence, Mr. Harley busy with
his own brooding thoughts and the Blossoms anxious not to annoy him. When they
reached the town of Pomona, they left him at the post-office, where he said Joe
Gates was always to be found. Another five miles brought the Blossoms to
Brookside Farm.
"There's Foots!" shouted Twaddles, standing up on the seat and waving to Aunt
Polly, who came flying down the drive.
"And Linda!" cried Meg.