Cindy Jones by Margaret Pearce Page A

her red eyes and tear-stained face. Cindy rinsed the professor’s check handkerchief in the water, wiped Prunella’s face clean, and gently dabbed under her puffy red eyes. The water felt cool and refreshing. Cindy trailed her hand back in it.
    â€œMust be beaut to stay here and forget all your troubles,” she said.
    â€œSeaview is a good place for forgetting,” Miss Hopkins agreed. She raised her voice. “Isn’t it, Tom?”
    The old fisherman in the boat behind them didn’t answer. Miss Hopkins stared through blank round glasses at the two girls sitting together.
    â€œForgetting troubles doesn’t solve them, though.” She raised her voice again, and it had an undertone of mockery. “Does it, Tom?”
    The old man reached the shore ahead of them, dragged his dinghy up on the sand and trudged away in silence.
    Cindy and Prunella helped drag the other dinghy past the high-tide mark, thanked Miss Hopkins, and walked back towards the post office.
    â€œWe’re a bit late,” Cindy said as she looked at the post office clock. “Hope Gretta hasn’t been waiting long.”
    â€œWasn’t that old fisherman rude?” Prunella said. “Do you think he was deaf?”
    Cindy shrugged. He didn’t seem hard of hearing when he was talking to them. She thought Miss Hopkins was odd to keep talking to an old man who didn’t listen.
    â€œWipe your face again so Gretta won’t know you’ve been bawling,” she advised.

 
    Chapter Fifteen
    Â 
    Cindy looked at the three dresses spread out on her bed.
    There was a mauve pink in crumpled cotton with a wider and even more crumpled ruffle around the skirt and drooping shoulders; a bright blue nylon, patterned with bright pink butterflies; and a silky cotton in soft patterned gray. This was really the most passable of the three dresses, except it was spoiled by an ugly gathered neckline.
    Cindy’s resentment grew. She was going to have to wear one of the dresses if she wanted to go to the dinner-dance. Her father, already dressed and waiting for her, had steadily refused to do anything about a new dress for her.
    â€œMrs. Barry said you wouldn’t go shopping with them, so you can wear one of the dresses Prunella kindly loaned you,” he had said.
    Cindy sighed and pulled the pink and blue nylon dress over her head. Apart from the bows around the neck and the over-full gathered sleeves, it fit better than the others. She glared down at her brightly polished black lace-up shoes and went out to be inspected.
    â€œI look like something to scare the birds with,” she grumbled.
    â€œNonsense,” her father said. “You look very nice in a dress. Are you ready?”
    â€œI’ll leave some food out in case the cats return. Horace must be at Miss Hopkins’s place, but Pearl is missing as well.”
    â€œThere’s no need to worry about them, Cindy. I dropped them into the kennel yesterday.” The professor checked his bow tie was straight.
    â€œDropped them into the kennel?”
    â€œI can’t have them upsetting Guinevere.”
    â€œMrs. Barry will have to get used to them anyway. Why put them into a cattery?”
    The professor brushed at a dusty patch on his sleeve. The silence lengthened. A dreadful thought struck Cindy.
    â€œYou’ve had our beautiful cats destroyed?”
    â€œDon’t be silly, Cindy. The kennel assured me they would find them a good home.”
    â€œThey’ve already got a good home,” Cindy retorted. “Like I had before you decided to get married! What a pity you can’t find a good home for me instead of having to pay out for boarding school.”
    â€œIt’s all for the best, Cindy.”
    â€œWhose best? How dare you muck up our lives by being so stupid?” The professor went red. “You ought to have more sense at your age,” Cindy kept on recklessly. “Marrying that two-faced