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diff --git a/20471.txt b/20471.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8acdf4f --- /dev/null +++ b/20471.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6480 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Grace Harlowe's Golden Summer, by Jessie Graham Flower + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Grace Harlowe's Golden Summer + +Author: Jessie Graham Flower + +Release Date: January 28, 2007 [EBook #20471] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRACE HARLOWE'S GOLDEN SUMMER *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + Grace Harlowe's Golden Summer + + By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A. M. + +Author of The Grace Harlowe High School Girls Series, The Grace Harlowe +College Girls Series, etc. + + + + +PHILADELPHIA +HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY +Copyright, 1917 + + + + +[Illustration: Grace's Embroidery Dropped From Her Hands.] + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I. A Song of Golden Summer + + II. The House Behind the World + + III. For Auld Lang Syne + + IV. "To Thine Own Self Be True" + + V. Flying in the Face of Superstition + + VI. The Shadow + + VII. The Veiled Prophetess of Destiny + + VIII. Unveiling the Prophetess + + IX. The Meaning of Semper Fidelis + + X. The Shadow Deepens + + XI. Postponing Happiness + + XII. The Better Part + + XIII. An Innocent Meddler + + XIV. The Beginning of the End + + XV. Merely a Looker-On + + XVI. J. Elfreda's Master Stroke + + XVII. Fate + + XVIII. A Gleam of Hope + + XIX. The Letter + + XX. The Last Chance + + XXI. The Call of the Elf's Horn + + XXII. Out of the Valley + + XXIII. The Strange Story + + XXIV. The Noon of Golden Summer + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Grace's Embroidery Dropped From Her Hands. + +Devoted Love Shone in Her Clear Gray Eyes. + +"Here You Are, Weary Wanderer," She Said Gayly. + +"When You Have Found Tom, Give Him This Letter." + + + + +Grace Harlowe's Golden Summer + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A SONG OF GOLDEN SUMMER + + +"Now, David, you know that I know that you don't know what I know. +Therefore, if I know that you don't know what I _know_ you don't know, +it's very plain to be seen that either you or I know very little. Now, +which of us is a know-nothing? Don't be afraid to confess. Remember, we +are your friends." Hippy Wingate beamed benevolently upon his victim, +bland expectation written on his plump face. + +"No real friend of mine would ever take such cowardly advantage of the +English language," was David Nesbit's scathing retort. "I'll leave it to +Grace if I'm not right." + +"There, Grace. At last you have an opportunity to strike for the right. +I believe in striking a valiant blow for the right----" + +"So do I," cut in Reddy Brooks decisively. "There is no time like the +present. There couldn't be a better place. Away out here in this +sequestered spot no one will hear your frenzied yells for help." Reddy +rose determinedly from the steps of the old Omnibus House and made a +nimble spring toward the loquacious prattler. + +"Never touched me," was wafted defiantly back, as Hippy Wingate +skilfully eluded Reddy's avenging hand and disappeared around the +protecting corner of the one-time hostelry. The old Omnibus House had +ever been his refuge when put to flight by his long-suffering +companions. + +"You might have known it," shrugged Nora Wingate with an indifference +which marked long association with the verbose refugee. "In about three +minutes you'll hear a frantic voice calling on me for protection. Don't +say a word, any of you, but just listen." + +A sudden silence, broken only by a soft chuckle from the abused David, +descended on the seven young people occupying the worn stone steps. + +"No-ra!" From the rear of the old house a plaintive voice sent up this +anguished plea for succor. + +"What did I tell you?" Nora's elaborate air of indifference vanished in +a dimpling smile that was reflected on the faces of the group. No one +said a word; neither did Nora rise to the noble duty of rescuer. + + "All alone, all alone! + By the wayside she has left me, + And no other's love I'll be; + For to-night I am deserted; + Nora has forgotten me!" + +intoned a mournful voice, flagrantly off the key. + +"For to-night you are a nuisance, you mean," was Reddy Brooks' shouted +correction. "I'll rescue you." + +"Oh, my!" came Hippy's horrified accents, as Reddy Brooks leaped to his +feet and dived toward the sheltering shadow that concealed the self-made +outcast. + +"Isn't it a lovely evening, David? Have you noticed it?" A fat, beaming +face was cautiously thrust forth round a corner opposite to that from +which the call for help had so recently emanated. A plump body still +more cautiously followed the face. It was evident that Hippy considered +David the lesser of two evils. "May I sit by you, Anne? I have always +had a great deal of faith in you." Hippy became ingratiating. "I'm sorry +I can't say as much for certain other persons whose names I courteously +refrain from bringing into the discussion." Without waiting for the +requested permission, Hippy crowded himself onto the small space which +Anne, seated at one end of the top step, obligingly made for him, and +calmly awaited the return of his pursuer. + +"Oh, what's the use!" jibed the disgruntled avenger, when, strolling +back to the steps, he beheld the nimble object of his pursuit waiting +for him with a wide grin. + +"Thus one is always brought to recognize the futility of revenge," +murmured Hippy with sad gentleness. "Let us agree to forget the bitter +past, Reddy, and turn our faces toward the glorious future. I might also +add that it doesn't pay to take up another's grievances. After all I +didn't actually accuse David of being a know-nothing. I merely asked him +about it. However, I take it all back. David may know a great deal more +than appears on the surface." + +"I decline to rise to the bait," laughed David. "I came out here to +enjoy myself; not to squabble. It's our last evening together until we +all gather home again to see Grace and Tom take the highway of +matrimony. Let's make the most of it." + +Those who have faithfully followed Grace Harlowe through the eventful +phases of her high school and college life are equally well acquainted +with the other seven members of the Eight Originals. In "Grace +Harlowe's Plebe Year at High School," "Grace Harlowe's +Sophomore Year at High School," "Grace Harlowe's Junior Year at +High School," and "Grace Harlowe's Senior Year at High +School," were recorded the countless interesting sayings and doings +of these eight highly congenial friends. Later, when Grace had been +graduated from Oakdale High School to continue her education at Overton +College, accompanied by her friends, Anne Pierson and Miriam Nesbit, the +devoted little band had remained unswerving in their allegiance to one +another. + +Once she had become a freshman at Overton College, Grace's equable +disposition and love of fair play had attracted equally loyal allegiance +to her standard. In "Grace Harlowe's First Year at Overton +College," "Grace Harlowe's Second Year at Overton +College," "Grace Harlowe's Third Year at Overton College," +"Grace Harlowe's Fourth Year At Overton College," "Grace +Harlowe's Return To Overton Campus" and "Grace Harlowe's +Problem," will be found a minute record of the principal happenings +which made her college years memorable. + +Absorbed in what she had firmly believed to be her destined work, Grace +had long and obstinately shut love from her life, only to find at last +that even her beloved work could not forever crowd it out. Seeing +clearly, after months of doubt, she had cheerfully resigned her position +as manager of Harlowe House to prepare for the more important position +in life which early September was to bring her. + +"It doesn't seem possible that we've had the blessed chance to be +together for two whole weeks." Grace's eyes had grown dreamy. "I can't +really believe that I've been back in Oakdale that long. It seems not +more than two evenings ago that we held a reunion at our Fairy +Godmother's and--" She paused, a little flush rising to her cheeks. + +"And you and Tom told us the good news," supplemented Nora +mischievously. + +"I hadn't intended to say _that_, but never mind," laughed Grace. "It +ceased to be a secret on that night. While I am on the subject I might +as well add that until yesterday we couldn't make up our minds regarding +our wedding day. But it's all settled now. Every one of you must be sure +to be with us on the evening of September tenth." + +"'Must' is the word," broke in Tom Gray, his eyes resting fondly on the +slender, radiant-faced girl beside him. "We can't start on the great +adventure without the blessing of this happy band." + +"Rest assured, Thomas, we'll be there," averred Hippy. "Having comported +myself with dignity at my own and several other weddings, I shall hail +yours with the greatest of joy." + +"Which means that I shall be obliged to keep a watchful eye on you every +moment," translated Nora, her blue eyes twinkling. + +"I'll help you, Nora," volunteered Reddy. "I haven't yet forgiven your +wayward husband for the unkind remarks he made about my hair on _my_ +wedding day." + +"I don't remember them," retorted Hippy, unabashed. "I've made so many +remarks at so many different times about those same flaming, crimson +locks that it would take a long while to sort out the dates. But there's +nothing like trying. Let me see. The first occasion on which I chanced +to note----" + +"Now see what you've done." David Nesbit fixed the unfortunate Reddy +with a severe eye. + +"I see," was Reddy's grim comment. Picking up the idle mandolin that he +had hastily deposited on Jessica's lap when he made his vengeful dash +upon Hippy, he strummed it lightly. "Why lug a mandolin along if no one +intends to sing?" he asked pointedly, ignoring Hippy's disrespectful +reminiscences. + +"Oh, very well." Promptly foregoing the will to gather data concerning +Reddy's too-oft maligned Titian locks, Hippy began a lively warbling +which had nothing in common with the tinkling melody of the mandolin. As +a result the patient instrument immediately ceased its complaining +tinkle. Hippy, however, lilted on, undisturbed, for a matter of five +seconds, when a chorus of threatening protests warned him to cease. + +"Do be good," admonished Nora, laughing in spite of herself. "Either +sing prettily or don't try to sing at all." + +"Madam, it is not necessary for me to _try_ to sing. Song and I are one. +Let me give you an illustration. Name a ditty best suited to my voice +and I will prove myself." + +"I can't recall one," discouraged Nora. + +"Silent singing would suit _you_ best," grumbled Reddy. "You could make +your lips do the deed without damaging any one else's ear drums." + +"I'll try it," amiably agreed the noisy soloist. "Just watch me." He +proceeded to indulge in a series of labial contortions that a dumb man +would have envied, and which had a most hilarious effect upon those whom +he had lately persecuted with raucous sound. Rudely requested to desist +from even this newly discovered pastime, he subsided with a frantic +signalling to the effect that he had actually been stricken dumb. + +"It's too good to be true," exclaimed the relieved Reddy, laying fresh +hold on the mandolin. "While we have peace, sing for us, Nora. We ought +to make the most of this unexpected opportunity." + +"Give us that song you used to sing about Golden Summer," begged +Jessica. "Don't you remember, that was one of the first pieces Reddy +learned to play on the mandolin? I haven't heard it in ages. I'd love to +hear Nora sing it again." + +"Yes, sing it, Nora." Grace added her plea. "I don't believe I've ever +heard it. It will be very appropriate to the occasion." + +"Wait a minute until I think how it goes." Reddy began a reflective +strumming, bringing back, bit by bit, a plaintive little air that +carried a subdued heart throb. "I've got it," he nodded. "Go ahead, +Nora." + +Her hands loosely clasped, Nora's clear, high voice, which Grace always +declared "had tears in it," took up the song of Jessica's fancy to the +subdued accompaniment of the mandolin. + + "Golden Summer's in the land! + Hark! Her call soars high and sweet. + Hedge-rows flow'r at her command; + Roses spring beneath her feet. + Skies grow azure; life beats strong; + Nature listens to adore; + Thrilling at the siren's song, + Yields her wond'rous treasured store. + Precious fabrics of her loom + Clothe her darling of the year; + Wealth of sunshine; breath of bloom; + Cloudless days, so fair, so dear. + + "Golden Summer's voice is stilled-- + Autumn chants a requiem low. + Gone the days with rapture filled. + Life's a-throbbing, sad and slow. + Skies grow hazy; sunshine wanes, + Vivid green fast turns to brown; + Here and there along the lanes, + Flames the sumac's lonely crown. + Sings the voice of Mem'ry now, + 'Cleave to Love--lest it depart; + Bind remembrance on thy brow, + Cherish Summer in thy heart.'" + +"I don't like that song at all." As the last haunting cadence died away, +the dumb man came into energetic speech. + +"Why not, Hippy? I think it is beautiful." Grace turned surprised eyes +on the stout protestant. + +"It gives me the creeps," he declared shortly and with unmistakable +earnestness. "The first verse is all very nice. Summer is a golden time, +etc. But why remind us that fall is coming?" He had now resumed his old, +bantering tone. "I prefer to have summer three hundred and sixty-five +days in the year. I don't like murky skies, worn-out grass, skeleton +hedge-rows, muddy lanes, lonesome sumacs and cold winds. As for winter, +lead me away from it. I absolutely refuse to carry summer about in so +useful an organ as my heart, when it's ten below zero and the water +pipes are all frozen up." + +"That is because you have no sentiment," challenged Reddy. Whereupon the +divine power of song was at once swallowed up in a fresh burst of +argument as futile as it was laughable. It was ended by tactful Anne, +who was always supremely useful when called upon to arbitrate such +important matters. The relative merits of "Golden Summer" having been +successfully decided and laid to rest, Nora again lifted up her voice in +a selection infinitely more to her liege lord's liking. Then followed an +old-fashioned song in which every one took part, filling the quiet +moonlit night with sweetest harmony. + +"It's half-past ten, children," reminded David, as striking a match he +consulted his watch. "Anne, Jessica, Reddy, and I are due to catch early +trains to-morrow morning. Anne and I mustn't miss ours. We promised +Miriam we'd surely be with her to-morrow night." + +"Anne, don't forget to tell Miriam not to dare do any shopping until +Mother and I arrive in New York," reminded Grace. "She promised to wait +for me, so that we could do our shopping together. I've written her +about it, but I wish you'd emphasize the fact for me." + +"I will," promised Anne. "I know she will wait for you, though. She told +me she intended to." + +With knowledge of the coming parting so near, the little company grew a +trifle less merry as they strolled home across the familiar fields in +the moonlight. Though Hippy had been the only one to confess it, the +plaintive melody of Nora's song of Golden Summer haunted them. With +summer at high tide in each heart, it was, as Hippy had remarked, not +quite pleasant to be reminded even tunefully that life holds the +inevitable autumn. + +"I really believe Hippy meant what he said about that song," Tom +remarked meditatively to Grace. + +"Were you thinking of that, too?" A faint, almost melancholy smile +flickered about Grace's lips as she asked the question. "It seemed to me +he was in earnest." + +"I almost wish Nora hadn't sung it," returned Tom with unexpected +bluntness. "I went through such a long, dreary winter before _my_ Golden +Summer came. Now I wish it to stay with me forever. I'd like our lives +from this moment on always to be one long, continued Golden Summer like +the last two weeks. I can't bear to think that it might ever be +otherwise." + +"'Perfect love casteth out fear,'" quoted Grace softly. "It's the only +true safeguard against the ills of life. After all, there's a note of +triumph in the ending of that song. With love to light us on our way, it +can't help but be always Golden Summer in our hearts." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE HOUSE BEHIND THE WORLD + + +"How many letters for me, Bridget?" trilled Grace Harlowe as she raced +across the lawn to the front steps with the reckless enthusiasm of a +small boy. A glimpse of the postman's retreating back had brought her +scurrying from the garden to collect her own. + +"Sure and it's a deal of mail ye be always gettin', Miss Grace," +commented Bridget proudly, as she handed the eager-faced questioner a +small stack of letters that brought a sparkle of pleasant anticipation +to Grace's gray eyes. + +"More than I deserve, I am sorry to say. I'm by no means a perfect +correspondent. Thank you, Bridget." With a bright little nod, Grace +skipped joyfully up the steps and made harbor in the big porch swing. +"I'll read them as they come," she decided, "then each one will be a +fresh surprise. Hello! Here's Miriam first of all. That means Anne +delivered my message." Hastily tearing open the envelope, Grace drew +forth a single sheet of thick white paper and read: + + "DEAR GRACE: + + "How I wish I could suddenly drop in on you this morning for a long + talk. There is so much I should like to tell you which I haven't + time to write. Anne, the faithful, delivered your message. Don't + worry about my not waiting for you. I won't buy even a paper of + pins without your august sanction and approval. I am anxiously + looking forward to seeing you. So are Kathleen, Anne, Arline and + Mabel Ashe. + + "Elfreda is with me. She is a never-failing joy, and to quote her + pet phrase, 'I can see' that there will be a vast amount of + celebrating done when you arrive. Please forgive me for not writing + much this time. I am expecting Everett and his sister at any + moment. We are going to motor down to their home on Long Island for + the day. I have decided to put in the time usefully until they have + arrived. Hence this fragmentary epistle. Kindly note my laudable + promptness as a correspondent and fall in line. With much love, + + "As always, + + "MIRIAM." + +"I'll reply this very morning," nobly resolved Grace. "Oh!" She gave a +gleeful chuckle as she recognized a dear, familiar script. "It's from +Emma, good old friend." The chuckle continued as she perused the flowery +salutation: + + "MOST GRACIOUS AND ESTIMABLE GRACE: + + "Having made a triumphal return to the humble habitation of the + Deans, of whom I am which, I now derive a most excruciating + pleasure in taking up my sadly neglected pen to inform you that I + am well and hope you are the same. By this time you are no doubt + mourning me as hopelessly lost in the wilds of darkest Deanery. + Such is not the case. Though I have wandered disconsolately about + my childhood haunts and camped out despondently under the fruitful + pear-tree in our back yard, which, so far as I can remember, has + never boasted of a single solitary pear, I am by no means lost. In + fact, I am really beginning to feel quite at home. But how I miss + you! Living in a 'Graceless' world is a cross even to a person of + my excellent and amiable qualities. + + "There's a grain of comfort in store, thank goodness. Before many + weeks the Sempers will congregate together somewhere for a glorious + reunion. Elfreda has written me that you are soon to be in New York + City. I suppose the momentous question of 'Where shall we reunite?' + will be decided then." + +Grace read on through page after page of the long letter, written in +Emma's most humorous vein. Finishing it at last, she gathered the +closely written sheets together with a happy little sigh. Good-natured, +fun-loving Emma Dean occupied a foremost place in her affections. Grace +wondered sometimes if the bond between them did not stretch as tightly +even as that between herself and Anne. Emma had been and always would be +the perfect comrade. + +"You're next, Mabel," she murmured as she scanned the third envelope on +the scarcely depleted pile. "I suppose you are going to tell me +that----" + +The loud purr of an automobile stopping before the house left Mabel's +message still unread. Depositing her wealth of correspondence on the +seat of the swing, Grace tripped down the steps and on down the walk. + +"Good morning, dear Fairy Godmother," she greeted hospitably. "Good +morning, Tom. Something nice is going to happen. I can read it in your +faces." + +"That depends on whatever your conception of 'nice' may be," returned +Tom mysteriously. Slipping from the driver's seat, he caught her +outstretched hand in both his own, his gray eyes alive with the light of +a joyful anticipation which Grace had been quick to catch. + +"Good morning, my dear," called Mrs. Gray from the car. "Run in the +house and get your hat. We are bound on a most mysterious mission. You +are the third person needed to carry it out." + +"I'll be with you in a moment." Turning, Grace hastened up the walk to +the house, wondering mightily what lay in store for her. "Mrs. Gray and +Tom are waiting outside for me in the automobile, Mother," she +announced, appearing suddenly on the shady back porch, where her mother +sat quietly hemstitching a table cloth for Grace's Hope Chest. "Come out +and see them." + +Smiling to herself, Mrs. Harlowe laid aside her labor of love and +followed her daughter's impetuous lead. Catching up her broad-brimmed +Panama hat from the hall rack, Grace placed it on her head without +stopping to consult the hall mirror. Linking her arm in her mother's, +she towed her gently along toward the automobile to meet the unexpected +arrivals. + +"Won't you come with us, Mrs. Harlowe?" invited Mrs. Gray. The two women +exchanged not only greetings but significant smiles as well. + +"Thank you; not this morning. I prefer to leave Grace to you and Tom." +Again her eyes met those of the older woman with the same enigmatic +smile. + +"There is mystery in the very air," declared Grace gayly. "I can tell by +the way you two are exchanging eye-signals. Whatever the great secret +is, Mother knows it. Now don't you?" she challenged, her affectionate +gaze resting on Mrs. Harlowe. + +"I'll answer that question when you come back," parried her mother. + +"I'll hold you to your word," came the retort. Dropping a soft kiss on +her mother's pink cheek, Grace accepted Tom's hand and stepped into the +tonneau of the waiting automobile. + +"Whither away, good prince?" she called mischievously to Tom as the +machine glided down the street. + +"That's a secret, curious princess. Wait and you will see," flung back +Tom teasingly. + +"Of course I'm curious," calmly admitted Grace, as she settled back in +her seat. "Who wouldn't be? I wouldn't have let you tell me, though, if +you had tried. I am quite ready to wait and see what happens." + +Nevertheless, as they spun along the smooth road in the summer sunshine, +Grace cast more than one speculative glance about her, trying to glean +some faint hint of their destination. Although conversation went on +briskly between herself and her Fairy Godmother, her keen eyes lost no +detail that might possibly furnish her with a clue. + +"We'll have to leave the car here and walk a little way," announced Tom, +when half an hour later, after traveling the highway that skirted Upton +Wood, he slowed down in a shady spot on the other side of the short +stretch of forest. + +"Very well," came Mrs. Gray's placid voice from the tonneau. "I shall +not leave the car, Tom. You may do the honors." + +"Come on, Grace." Leaving the driver's seat, Tom opened the door of the +tonneau and stretched forth an inviting hand. + +"I know where we are going," she cried triumphantly, as she accepted the +proffered assistance. "We are going to take a look at Upton Heights. How +nice! I haven't seen the quaint old place since I came home from +college. You know I've always loved it and wished I owned it. It's such +a wonderful forest retreat. When I was a little girl, I used to love to +play that the world ended there. I always called it the House Behind the +World." + +Further mysterious and affectionate eye-signals were flashed between +Mrs. Gray and Tom as Grace made this fervent speech. "Come and look at +it again," said Tom briefly. There was a touch of exultation in his even +tones. + +Hand in hand, like two children, the youthful pair swung gayly along the +narrow path that led from the highway to picturesque Upton Heights. +Nearing it, they became suddenly silent in the face of its undeniable +claim to beauty. Dazzlingly white against the magnificent trees which +surrounded it, it stood in the middle of a grassy plateau that rolled +gently down to the woodland path in long sloping green terraces. + +"How beautiful it looks!" Grace gazed almost reverently at the rambling +old house with its wide, high-pillared verandas. It was like some +gracious, stately person whose very watchword was hospitality, she +thought. Built more than a century before, by a long-since departed +Upton, it had not been used as a residence by his descendants. Due to a +clause of command in the original owner's will, it had ever afterward +been sedulously kept in repair. To her beauty-loving soul, it now seemed +to have taken on a new lease of life. The house itself rejoiced in a +fresh white luster and the grounds showed recent care. + +"It was nice in you to bring me here, Tom," she again said. "You knew I +loved this old place, didn't you?" + +"Yes. Suppose we go closer to it," suggested Tom, drawing her gently +forward. + +Her hand still in his, Grace allowed him to conduct her to the flight of +white stone steps set in the terrace. They led upward to the wide +flagstone walk which in turn stretched levelly up to meet the spacious +veranda. + +"Shut your eyes," directed Tom, when they had mounted the steps to the +veranda floor. His terse direction contained a touch of repressed +excitement which informed Grace that the surprise was at hand. But what +it might be she had not the remotest suspicion. + +Obediently her long lashes swept her cheeks in compliance with love's +command. + +Dropping her hand, Tom approached the massive front door. There was a +curious clicking sound, like the turn of a key in a lock, then Tom was +back at her side. His hand again caught one of her own. Again he drew +her forward. There was a slight tremor in his voice as he said: + +"Open your eyes, Princess, and enter your castle." + +Her veiling eye-lids lifting, Grace found herself on the threshold of +Upton Heights, peering wonderingly into the dim reception hall with its +huge fireplace, beam ceiling and curving Colonial staircase. + +"It's a splendid surprise, Tom!" she exclaimed warmly. "I've always +wished to see the inside of this wonderful place. How in the world did +you ever manage to get the key to it?" + +Tom smiled very tenderly into the eager face so near his own. "You've +missed the biggest part of the surprise, Grace," he answered. "Don't you +understand yet why we came out here? Do you think I would invite a royal +princess to enter her castle if it weren't really her very own?" + +"You don't mean--you can't mean--Oh, Tom!" Grace drew a quick, ecstatic +breath that was half sob. A vagrant breeze set the leaves of the +sentinel trees to sighing their approval as they looked down on the +little tableau of human happiness. + +"It is your very own House Behind the World, dear," Tom assured her. +"Our future home. It is the gift of our Fairy Godmother to both of us. +She purchased it of Robert Upton the day after we came from Overton. She +had spoken of it to Mr. Upton long ago and was only waiting for the good +news of our engagement. She knew how much you had always cared about +it." + +"We must go straight down to the automobile and make her come back with +us," was Grace's happy cry. "I am so anxious to explore our marvelous +new possession. But we must have our Fairy Godmother with us. I can't +really believe yet that anything so glorious has happened to ordinary +me. It's more than a surprise. It's a positive miracle. My own beautiful +House Behind the World! But I know an even better name for it. It's not +one I thought of myself. That glory belongs to Kathleen West. You know, +Tom, she once wrote an allegorical play. We produced it when I was in my +senior year at Overton. I played the part of Loyalheart who leaves Haven +Home to go into the Land of College. When first it began to dawn upon me +that you meant this wonder to be my very own, it came to me like a flash +that it was more than the House Behind the World. Don't you see, Tom? +It's really and truly, Haven Home!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +FOR AULD LANG SYNE + + +"And so, having ended her pilgrimage through the Land of College, +Loyalheart is going back to Haven Home," said Kathleen West softly. + +"You're a very lucky Loyalheart," was J. Elfreda Briggs' brisk comment. +"Not every one who goes adventuring into strange lands finds the home of +her chee-ildhood an interesting place to settle down in. Now take +Fairview, for instance. I wouldn't go trotting back there on a cut-rate +excursion, let alone making a pilgrimage to the sacred, I mean scared, +spot. That's the way it looks, you know; as though it had once tried to +grow and then been frightened out of it. I never was so glad in all my +life as when Pa said we'd kiss that town good-bye. I could see that I'd +never make my everlasting fortune there as a lawyer." + +"You mean lawyeress, according to the Dean vocabulary," reminded Arline +Thayer with a giggle. + +"What is life without Emma Dean?" smiled Anne Nesbit. "I wish she were +here to-night." + +"I wrote her, asking her to pay me a visit while you girls were here," +stated Arline, "but she wrote back voluminous and ridiculous thanks and +said the reunion was about as much as she could manage." + +"That reminds me," broke in Elfreda, in business-like tones, "where are +we going to hold the reunion this year and at what time? Not much of +July is left us. August will scud by like a flash and then--Well, Grace +can tell you why September won't be a strictly popular time for a +reunion. Sara and Julia Emerson want us to have it at their camp in the +Adirondacks. That's rather a long distance for Emma to come. You know +she lives farther away than the rest of us. Why can't you come down to +Wildwood again? I am nothing if not hospitable." + +"But it's my turn, now, J. Elfreda," protested Arline. "Why can't you +come here?" + +"What's the use in taking turns?" propounded Elfreda sturdily. "I am an +extremely selfish person who never bothers about such little things as +mere 'taking turns.' Now that four of you girls have your faces set +toward wedding rings, it's high time something was done to console me. +There! Resist that argument if you can. Am I a credit to my profession, +or am I not?" + +"You are," chorused five laughing voices. + +Several days had elapsed since Grace Harlowe had accompanied Tom Gray +and his aunt on the mysterious mission that had brought her Haven Home. +Following that memorable morning, the delightful events of which had +offered such signal proof of the adoration of her dear ones, Grace had +moved about as one lost in a maze of quiet happiness. Every now and then +her mind would halt suddenly in the perusal of the blessings that were +hers to wonder almost wistfully if it were not all too beautiful, too +dear, to last. + +Sometimes she marveled that, after so long and persistently keeping love +out of her busy life, she should have at length come into its purest +realization. Once the very thought of it had irked and distressed her. +Now she experienced a sense of deep surprise that she had been so blind. +Her Golden Summer had indeed descended upon her in all its radiant +glory. She rejoiced in the long peaceful mornings spent with her mother +on the vine-clad veranda, or in the clematis-wreathed summer house at +the end of the garden. They were busy mornings, too, filled with the joy +of preparing the countless dainty odds and ends, so necessary to her +trousseau. Their hands never idle, they talked long and earnestly of the +things which lay nearest their hearts, and a strange peace, which +Grace's naturally restless temperament had never before known, enveloped +her like a mantle. + +Though anxious to meet her friends again in New York City, Grace had +sighed with genuine regret at leaving this new-found peace and departing +from Oakdale on the most momentous shopping tour she had ever before set +out to make. She and her mother had gone directly to the home of the +Nesbits, where a most cordial welcome awaited them. Two days had passed +since their arrival. It was now the evening of the second day and the +five girls whose fortunes had been so firmly linked together at Overton +College, by a series of happenings grave and gay, were paying a brief, +overnight visit to Arline Thayer at her home in East Orange. + +"Thank you." Elfreda bowed at the unanimous response. "As an esteemed +representative of the law and a forlorn bachelor girl, I really think my +plea deserves some small consideration. I might also add that I could +see you were all anxious to come to Wildwood. I appreciate your delicate +opposition." Elfreda grinned boyishly. "Now that we've decided where, +we'd better decide when the reunion is to be." + +"We didn't decide where, did we?" tantalized Miriam. "We only decided +that you were a distinguished lawyeress." + +"Having once admired me, can you refuse my humble request?" retorted +Elfreda, with a sentimental rolling of her round blue eyes. + +"Let's put her out of her misery," proposed Miriam. "Wildwood for me, +Elfreda, provided the rest are pleased. How about you, Arline? As an +almost-wed are you willing to sacrifice your reunion claim to Elfreda?" + +"Of course." Arline made genial response. A peculiar look shot into her +pretty eyes, however, as she nervously began to turn the jeweled pledge +of engagement that decked her ring finger. She seemed about to break +into further speech, then set her red lips with decision and remained +silent. + +Seated beside her on a willow settee, which they had occupied together +since repairing to the veranda after dinner, Grace alone noticed +Arline's sharply drawn brows and the sudden ominous tightening of her +baby mouth. She wondered vaguely what it might mean. Surely Arline was +not angry because Elfreda had begged for the privilege of holding the +reunion at Wildwood. She was of too sunny a disposition to become thus +disturbed by such trifles. She had always been far more ready to give +than take. Grace now recalled that even in the midst of Arline's joy at +seeing her, there had been a hauntingly wistful look in the dainty +little girl's blue eyes. + +Under cover of Kathleen West's lively account of a big story which she +had run to earth after a week's assiduous pursuit, Grace's kindly hand +found Arline's. + +"What is the matter, Daffydowndilly?" she asked just above a whisper. +"You don't appear to be quite your usual cheerful self." + +"You noticed, then?" counter-questioned Arline in an equally guarded +tone. "I'm glad you did. Still, I was going to tell you, anyway. Wait +until later. I have arranged for you to room with me to-night. Then I'll +tell you all. But not now. No one else must know." + +With a soft pressure that betokened loyal sympathy, Grace released +Arline's little hand and turned her attention to Kathleen, who was +holding her small audience spellbound by a recital of the very audacity +of her deeds as a star reporter. + +"Won't you miss all that when winter comes and you cease to be Kathleen +West?" questioned Anne, a trifle anxiously. She too had had to decide +between publicity and love. "You've lived in a whirl of exciting +happenings so long that settling down for good will seem rather tame." + +"I shall love it." Kathleen's sharp black eyes glowed with intensity. +"Trailing news is all right for a few years, but I'd hate to go on with +it forever. There are so many things I'd like to do that I've never had +the time to dream of doing. I'm going to keep on writing, just the same +as ever. Neither Gerald nor I care to begin making a home just yet. We +shall board and write in the evenings together. You see he is the +literary editor of _Crawford's Magazine_ now. That means that we can +spend our evenings together. We are going to collaborate on a play and, +oh, we have planned to do lots of things. I imagine we shall carry out +some of our plans in time. We have already collaborated on several +magazine stories and worked them out beautifully. You see, neither of us +is jealous of the other's work. If we were, then I'd prefer to stay +Kathleen West." + +"You are fortunate," remarked Arline almost bitterly. Again a shadow +crossed her face which Grace alone noted. + +"I decline to share my successes with any mere man," asserted Elfreda +grandly. "Not that I have been what you might call entirely slighted. +Wait until I tell you the sad story of my one love affair." + +"_This_ is vastly interesting," mused Miriam. + +"Tell us about it this minute." Arline brightened visibly. Elfreda's +promised tale of tragedy was sure to turn out comedy. + +"Let me see," began Elfreda with a fine air of reminiscence. "We met +last year in a corridor of the law school, I was making a wild rush down +and he was making an equally wild rush up. Result, we collided. Just +like that," Elfreda brought her hands smartly together to illustrate the +force of that momentous collision. "I wasn't overcome with joy at this +slam-bang introduction. I had seen him often from afar and never admired +him. He was at least three inches shorter than yours truly, had a snub +nose and freckles. All of which was not romantic. + +"That was the beginning; but not the ending. The next time I met him, he +claimed beaming acquaintance. After that he pursued me madly. He was +always bobbing up in the most unexpected places. It gave me a feeling of +being haunted. At first I bore it like a martyr. I hated to hurt his +feelings. After a while it began to get on my nerves. About that time he +began to make sentimental remarks. I carefully explained that I did not +believe in love. That only made matters worse. He rolled his eyes and +vowed that he would convince me. Then he began sending me letters and +love lyrics. The lyrics were so original they were positively weird. + +"But in my darkest hour of oppression I stumbled upon a remedy. I +happened to remember a girl who was an art student. I also remembered +that she was terribly sentimental. So I dragged my pursuer along with me +to a water-color exhibition that I knew she expected to attend. They +met. I perpetrated the introduction. It turned out even better than I +had dared to hope. The funny part of it was that both of them were +afraid I'd be angry. The deeper they fell in love, the harder they tried +to keep it from me. After a while Charles, that was my perfidious idol's +name, came to me with a long face and confessed. I suppose his +conscience troubled him. He told me that he had made a terrible mistake +in thinking himself in love with me. I humbly agreed with him that he +had. He assured me that he now knew that he could never have been happy +with me. Before he got through explaining, it struck me as being so +funny that I laughed in his face. Now he doesn't speak to me. Neither +does the girl. She evidently believes that she snatched away my last +chance." + +The cheerful smile Elfreda turned on her amused listeners as she ended +her recital was hardly an indication of deep sorrow for her double loss. + +"That reminds me of Emma Dean's one romance," smiled Grace. "I shan't +tell you about it. Wait until we have the reunion and I'll ask her to +dig up her sentimental past for your benefit." + +"I hope I can arrange my vacation so that I can attend the reunion, +too," sighed Kathleen. "As Patience Eliot and I have been invited to be +the Sempers' guests of honor, naturally I don't care to miss it." + +"Can you get away from the paper at any time during August?" asked Anne +thoughtfully. + +"Yes; but only for a week," Kathleen spoke regretfully. + +"Then let us decide upon the time now," proposed Miriam. "I am sorry to +be a kill-joy, but one week will have to be my limit this year. I wish I +could spare two, but it's impossible." + +"I intended to speak of that," nodded Elfreda. "I'd love to have you +girls with me longer but I know that most of you are cramped for time. +So I'll be magnanimous and say, 'thank you for small favors.'" + +The subject of the reunion thus renewed, it was decided to hold it +during the second week in August, and the six friends began an avid +planning for it. From that the conversation drifted back to Overton +College, always a fruitful topic for discussion. It was truly a +heart-to-heart talk. Because of the perfect fellowship that existed +among them, they could look back and speak frankly not only of their +lighter hours, but also of the graver moments when the struggle to reach +their aims had seemed well-nigh impossible. + +Half-past eleven o'clock found them still lingering on the veranda, the +incessant murmur of their busy voices proclaiming their mutual +satisfaction in being together once more. When at last a voluble +procession wended its way upstairs to bed, the usual amount of visiting +between rooms was carried on with the old-time fervor of college days. + +"It's exactly like old times," declared Elfreda to Miriam. "Here we are, +you and I, rooming together again just as we did at Overton. Sometimes +when I stop to think that those days are gone for good and all, it gives +me the blues. I can't realize that you, Miriam Nesbit, and Grace +Harlowe, too, are actually grown-up and getting ready to be married. Why +it seems only yesterday since I was the verdant freshman who invited +herself to room with you and kept you in hot water for a whole year +because she didn't know enough to behave like a human being." + +"What about the Elfreda Briggs who proved herself the most loyal friend +and roommate one could ever hope to have?" demanded Miriam, laying a +friendly hand on Elfreda's shoulder. + +"Oh, I had to get in line," returned Elfreda with a flashing +affectionate glance that belied her brusque words. "I could see that the +way I had started out wouldn't take me far. You and Grace made me over." + +"Yet, if it hadn't been for Grace I would have stayed a hateful, +conceited snob all my days," returned Miriam soberly. "There isn't one +of us who doesn't owe her a debt of gratitude that we can never hope to +repay. If happiness is the certain reward of good works, then Grace +Harlowe ought never to know an unhappy moment." + +Miriam spoke with a certainty born of her deep regard for Grace. To her +it seemed that naught save the brightest of futures could come to her +friend. Yet happiness is at best a fragile, evanescent thing. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +"TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE" + + +"Well, Daffydowndilly, what is on your mind?" began Grace when the last +gay good-night had sounded and Arline had closed the door of her dainty +blue and white room. + +"Let's get comfy first. I can talk a great deal better." Arline began a +listless unfastening of her fluffy lingerie frock, her eyes fixed +moodily on Grace. + +"All right." Grace had already divested herself of her gown of soft +white China silk and was now seated before the dressing table +energetically brushing her wealth of golden brown hair. + +Nothing more was said until, with a little fluttering sigh, Arline had +curled up like a kitten at Grace's feet, her golden head resting against +her friend's knee. Smiling tenderly down on her, Grace could not help +noting how utterly like a tired child she looked in her baby-blue +negligee. "Now is the time for all good Sempers and true to come to the +aid of their comrades," she encouraged with a smile. + +"Grace," Arline lifted solemn blue eyes, "have you ever for one minute +been sorry that you gave up your work for--for--the sake of--love?" + +"No." Grace shook a decided head. Inwardly she wondered a little at the +question. "It took me a long time to come to a decision, though," she +added frankly. + +"Would you mind telling me about it?" Arline flushed as she made the +request. "Please don't think me prying, but--" She hesitated. "Well, I +have a strong reason for asking. It would help me, I think, if you cared +to give me your confidence." + +For a moment Grace made no response. Aside from her most intimate +Oakdale friends and Emma Dean she had never divulged to any one else the +story of that last year of struggle against love which had ended in her +unconditional surrender to it. To her it was as something bitter-sweet, +to be locked in her memory for all time. Yet the wistfulness of Arline's +appeal touched her deeply. + +"I am willing to tell you about it," she said slowly. "You know, of +course, that Tom Gray and I had known each other almost from childhood. +We grew up together as good comrades. We were always together during +vacations with our six other friends. His aunt, Mrs. Gray, whom you +know, was fond of having us with her. It never entered my head that Tom +cared for me in more than a friendly way, until I came home from Overton +at the end of my junior year. When I began to understand that he really +loved me, I didn't like it at all. As I grew older I liked the idea +still less. I wanted to work; not marry Tom. He asked me to marry him +the next winter, but I said 'no,' After that I kept on saying 'no,' and +last winter we threshed the matter out soon after Anne's wedding. + +"I felt very well pleased with myself for a while. Then things went +wrong at Overton and Tom joined a naturalist on an expedition to South +America. Right then it came to me that I had suddenly met with a +dreadful loss. I tried to make myself believe that I didn't care. While +I was at home during the Easter vacation I woke up. But it was too late. +I went back to Overton, but I wasn't happy. He had often told me that +there would come a time when not even my work could crowd out love. I +knew that the time had come. I had had some trouble with Miss Wharton, +the dean, and expecting to be asked to resign my position at Harlowe +House. I resigned of my own accord. It was Kathleen West who +straightened out that tangle for me. She sent for Miss Wilder, who +happened to be coming home just at that time. My resignation wasn't +accepted, and I would perhaps have gone on for another year at Overton, +but--" Grace paused, her fine face grew tender. "Tom came back," she +continued, a faint tremor in her even tones, "and so I gladly gave up my +work for love. That's the whole story. I never expected to tell it to +any one. Somehow it has always been sacred to me. I couldn't bear to +talk of it, even to Mother." + +"It's a wonderful story. When I asked you about giving up work for love, +I never dreamed that you had gone through with any such struggle. I feel +as though I've intruded on very private property. But just knowing about +it _has_ comforted me." Arline raised her head from Grace's knee with +sudden energy. "It's this way, Grace. I have almost decided to break my +engagement." + +"Why, Arline Thayer!" Amazement was written on Grace's features. "I am +sorry to hear that. Until to-night I had thought of you as being +absolutely happy." + +"I'm not. I'm dreadfully unhappy." Arline drew a quick, almost sobbing +breath. "You've never met Stanley Forde, my fiance, so you don't know +how handsome he is and how nice he can be--if he chooses. But he's +turning out a--a--well, a kind of tyrant. He doesn't like me to do +settlement work. I've always thought he wasn't very highly pleased over +it, but he never said a word until the other night. Even then he didn't +say much. But, as Elfreda says, 'I can see' that if I marry him he's +going to say more about it afterward. Then we'll quarrel and that would +be dreadful. I could never endure it. You know how I hate quarrels. At +college I never had anything to say to or do with the girls who were +trouble-makers. What am I to do, Grace? Break my engagement while there +is still time or--or--" Arline subsided with a little sob. + +"Poor Daffydowndilly." Bending, Grace wound her arms about the dainty, +child-like figure. "It's a hard problem--hard because I suppose you must +care a great deal for him." + +"I think I must love him, or I wouldn't wish to marry him," came the +muffled reply. "Still I won't give up my work. Those poor settlement +children need me. He can't understand that. He knows nothing of what it +means to be terribly poor. He doesn't like the idea of my coming into +such close contact with them. It doesn't hurt me and it helps them," +ended Arline piteously. + +"One who knows you well should understand that you are doing worthy +work," returned Grace gravely. "Still if I were you I would not act too +hastily. It seems to me that you ought to come to a frank understanding +of the matter with your fiance at once." + +"And if he refuses to allow me--" broke in Arline quickly. + +"Then you must decide within yourself whether he is worth the +sacrifice," Grace answered with deep positiveness. Privately she did not +consider that a young man, who took it upon himself to interfere with an +enterprise which benefited many and harmed none, was quite worthy of her +generous little comrade. "It's like this, Arline. You must be true to +yourself, no matter what it may cost you. Even your fiance's love won't +make up for having failed some one else in order to keep it. What does +your father think of it?" + +"Oh, he doesn't know," came the quick response. "He is very fond of +Stanley. He is pleased with our engagement. Still he has always been +interested in my work. But I'd rather fight it out alone. If I were some +day to go to him and say, 'I have broken my engagement,' he would be +dreadfully disappointed, but not angry. That's just the trouble. I've +always done exactly as I pleased. It's hard now to think of doing what +some one else dictates. Sometimes I feel that I love Stanley a great +deal; then again I feel differently about it. I'm really in a terrible +muddle. I wish I were just Daffydowndilly back at good old Overton +again." + +"I wouldn't stay in a muddle then," advised practical Grace. "I'd settle +matters once and for all, and whichever way I might decide, I'd make +myself believe that it was for the best. But first of all I'd be very +sure that love was love." She had reached the wise conclusion that true +love and Arline were as yet strangers. + +"I can't say anything to Stanley just now. He's in Oregon and won't be +back until the last of August. I don't care to write him. I must wait +until I see him. But I shall think over all you've said and try very +hard to be true to myself." Arline rose and standing beside Grace slid a +loving arm about her neck. "I knew you could help me," she said. "I feel +ever so much better. Now I mustn't keep you any longer. Thank you, +Loyalheart. You've been very sweet to poor, muddled Daffydowndilly." + +"You are a dear child and deserve the best that life can give you." +Grace returned the gentle embrace with a tenderness that bespoke +unutterable regard. It hurt her to know that gay, light-hearted Arline +Thayer who had always appeared to slip through life so smoothly, should +have run against an ugly snag. + +Long after they had said good-night, Grace lay looking out at the calm +moonlight and pondering over the great changes that less than a year had +brought her. Her own happiness so complete, she longed for the whole +world to be happy with her. Her ever-ready sympathy went out to all +those in it whose difficult love-problems tended toward renunciation. +She wished whole-heartedly that she might waken to the sunlight of a day +when she could say joyfully and with supreme truth: "All's right with +the world." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +FLYING IN THE FACE OF SUPERSTITION + + +"Oh, mother, isn't it nice to be home again?" Grace Harlowe dropped into +her favorite chair and surveyed the familiar living-room with the same +glad appreciation she would have bestowed upon a long-lost friend. "I've +loved being with the girls; but, after all, home is best. I'm fortunate +in that I am going to live so near to you. If Tom goes back to the +Forestry Department this winter, I'm afraid I shall leave Haven Home +more than once to take care of itself and come trotting back to you. It +will be dreadfully lonely there with Tom away. Not that it isn't the +most beautiful place in the world, but then, you are you, and I can't do +without you." + +"I have been obliged to give you up the greater part of the last six +years. I suppose I ought to feel resigned to it by this time." Mrs. +Harlowe's smile hinted at wistfulness. "I am glad to be home again, too. +I hope we haven't forgotten to buy every single thing you need. I +imagine your wedding gown will come to-day. Let me see. It was to have +been finished the day we left New York. We've been home two days. Yes, I +think we may expect it to-day, or not later than to-morrow. There's the +doorbell ringing now. Perhaps it's the expressman." + +Springing to her feet, Grace hurried to the door. "Here's your +expressman," she laughed, as she reappeared, her arm linked in that of +Nora Wingate. + +"Good morning, Nora," greeted Mrs. Harlowe. Rising, she advanced to +Nora, kissing her with evident affection. "We were wondering what had +become of you. We haven't seen you since we came home." + +"Hippy and I went away for the week end. We returned only this morning. +I was anxious to see you both, also Grace's wedding finery, so I came +over bright and early." + +"We brought it all back with us, except my wedding gown, Nora. I'm +expecting that at almost any moment. I'm anxious to try on the whole +outfit. Then I'll know how I'm going to look as a bride." + +"Oh, you mustn't do that!" exclaimed Nora in horrified tones. "It's +dreadfully unlucky. Didn't you know it?" + +"I am not superstitious," laughed Grace. "I fail to see why trying on +one's wedding gown beforehand should bring bad luck. I am surely going +to do it when it comes, just to prove the fallacy of the superstition." + +"I wish you wouldn't." Nora's dark brows met in a troubled frown. +"Perhaps it _is_ foolish in me to feel like that about it. But I do. I +suppose it's because I'm Irish. The daughters of Erin have always been a +superstitious lot. Don't ever tell Hippy that I admitted even that much. +He would tease me for a week about it." + +"It shall remain a dark secret," gayly assured Grace. "As it is, I may +continue to consider myself as lucky till the gown puts in an +appearance. After that, look out for trouble. You'd better stay to +luncheon to-day, Nora, so as to be here when the great trying-on moment +dawns." + +"Thank you. I will." Nora's lately-clouded face brightened. "I'll leave +Hippy to lunch in solitary state. I'll telephone him to that effect. It +will teach him to appreciate his blessings." Nora dimpled roguishly as +she tripped to the hall to acquaint Hippy with the fell prospect in +store for him. She returned to the living-room with the mirthful +information: "He says he resigns himself to his fate, but that he will +prepare for my triumphal home-coming this evening. That means he will do +something ridiculous. The last time I left him to his own folly, he +decorated the dining-room with all sorts of absurd signs--'What is home +without the Irish?' 'In memory of my late lamented guardian,' and 'Not +gone for good, but merely gadding.'" Nora giggled as she recounted these +pleasant tokens of welcome. + +"You and Hippy will never grow up," Mrs. Harlowe declared indulgently. +"You play at keeping house like two children." + +"I think it's lovely," nodded Grace. "When I start on my pilgrimage I'm +not going to think that I shall ever grow into a staid, stately married +person. I'm going to keep the spirit of youth alive until I'm old and +gray-headed. Did I dream it, Nora, or did I see you lay your work bag on +the hall settee? I hope it's a reality. These are busy times, you know. +I'm a hard-working individual. So is Mother. If I see someone else +blissfully idle it has a bad effect upon me." + +"Don't worry, I brought my work. I am still in the throes of that lunch +cloth I'm embroidering for Miriam. I've a lot to do to it yet before +it's finished, so I can't afford to be idle, either." + +Repairing to the summer house, the three women fell to work with +commendable energy on their self-imposed tasks. It was a glorious +midsummer morning and the picturesque pagoda at the foot of the garden +proved an ideal retreat. Despite her sturdy declaration that she could +not afford to be idle, more than once Grace's embroidery dropped from +her hands as her gray eyes dreamily drank in the beauty of the +riotously-blooming garden of old-fashioned flowers, the close-clipped, +tree-decked lawn and the thousand and one details that made her +childhood's home seem daily dearer now that she was so soon to leave it. + +"Wake up, Grace," playfully admonished her mother, her eyes chancing to +rest on her daughter's rapt face. "If my ears do not deceive me, I think +I heard the doorbell. Perhaps it is the expressman." + +"I hope it is." Hastily dropping her embroidery to the rustic bench on +which she was seated, Grace rose and set off in a hurry toward the +not-far-distant house. It was several minutes before she returned, her +radiant face registered the news that the long-looked-for express +package had materialized. + +"At last!" was her jubilant cry when half way across the lawn. "No more +work for me until after luncheon. Come up to the house, both of you. The +grand try-on is about to begin. We'll just have time for it before +luncheon. Kindly go to the living-room and obtain front seats for the +performance." Having delivered this merry injunction, Grace turned and +went back to the house. + +Laying aside their work in obedience to the prospective bride's command, +Mrs. Harlowe and Nora proceeded in leisurely fashion to the house, there +to await Grace's pleasure. + +"Go on into the living-room, Nora," said Mrs. Harlowe as they stepped +into the hall. "I must see Bridget about luncheon. I'll return +directly." + +Left to herself, Nora went over to the piano. Her fingers wandering +lightly over the keys, almost unconsciously she dropped into the +plaintive prelude of Tosti's "Good-bye." Why that particularly pathetic +farewell to summer and love should have occurred to her at such a time +she did not know. Whether it had been superinduced by her rooted +superstition against Grace's determination to try on her wedding gown +beforehand, or whether her emotional temperament had sensed the stirring +of far-off things, Nora could not explain. + +Very softly she sang the mournful words of the first verse. She was +about to go on with the second when, Mrs. Harlowe appearing in the +living-room, Nora swung about on the piano stool. + +"Finish your song, Nora," begged Mrs. Harlowe. "I am very fond of the +'Good-bye.' It is distinctly melancholy, but beautiful. To me, all +Tosti's songs are wonderful. The 'Venetian Song' and the 'Serenata' are +both exquisite. It seems a pity that the more modern composers have +given us so little that is really worth while." + +"I know it. Still we have Chaminade and Nevin and De Bussy. Some of De +Bussy's tone poems are marvels. I love '_La Lettre_' and '_La Muette_.'" + +"I don't think I have ever heard either of them," returned Mrs. Harlowe. +"I know very little of the modern music of the French school." + +"I'll sing '_La Lettre_' for you." Nora faced the piano to render the +exquisite inspiration of the noted French composer. "Before I sing it," +she added, turning her head toward Mrs. Harlowe, "I had better try to +tell you something about it. It is about a letter somebody writes to a +loved one, late in the night when everything is absolutely silent in the +house. Roughly translated it begins, 'I write to you, and the lamp +listens.' Both the words and the music make one feel as though the bond +between the two persons was so strong that they could almost communicate +one with the other by thought. That is really the idea De Bussy has +tried to convey in his music and one can't help but understand it. He +brings it out strongly in the last part of the song where the writer of +the letter says: 'Half dreaming, I wonder: Is it I who write to thee, or +thou to me?' Then it ends with a distant clock striking the hour. Listen +and you'll hear it." + +Listener and singer both intent on the song, neither heard the +bride-to-be descending the stairs. Not wishing to interrupt them, Grace +paused behind the portieres that draped the wide doorway into the +living-room until Nora should finish. With her, "_La Lettre_" had always +been a favorite song. Long afterward, when the shadow of the unexpected +hung darkly over her, she recalled that significant moment of waiting. + +"It is undeniably perfect," was Mrs. Harlowe's appreciative comment when +the last note, representing the striking of the distant clock, had died +away. "I had no idea----" + +"Oh, Grace!" Nora's glance had suddenly strayed to the slender, +white-robed figure that was making a sedate advance into the +living-room. Whirling mischievously she played a few bars of +"Mendelsohn's Wedding March," then sprang from the piano stool and ran +forward with outstretched hands. "You are truly magnificent!" she +breathed impulsively. + +Mrs. Harlowe had also risen. Was this radiant young woman in lustrous +white satin, whose changeful face looked out so sweetly from the softly +flowing bridal veil, the same little Grace Harlowe who had not so very +long ago romped her tom-boyish way through childhood? A mist rose to her +eyes, soft with brooding mother love, as she walked forward and took +Grace gently in her arms. + +For an instant the three women remained wrapped in a kind of triangular +embrace. Then Mrs. Harlowe released her daughter with a fond, "Walk +across the room, Grace, so that we can get the full effect of your +grandeur." + +"It's a darling gown," praised Nora. "I like it ever so much better than +Jessica's, Anne's or mine. I can't blame you for wanting to dress up in +it beforehand. I take back all my croaking. Here's hoping good luck will +roost permanently on your doorstep." + +"It ought to," was Grace's fervent response, "with everyone so perfectly +sweet to me and with all the trouble that Mother is taking to give me +pleasure. I feel as though----" + +The reverberating peal of the door bell cut Grace's words short. "Don't +answer it until I am out of sight!" she exclaimed, scurrying nimbly +toward the hall. A flash of white on the stairs and she was gone. + +"Good morning, Mother mine. Is Grace here?" Tom Gray's impetuous inquiry +betokened strong excitement. + +"Good morning, Tom. Come in. Grace has just vanished up the stairs. I'll +let her tell you why she left us in such a hurry." Mrs. Harlowe +smilingly ushered Tom into the living-room. "Nora, you can play hostess. +I will go and tell Grace that Tom is here." + +"Thank you." Tom cast a grateful look after Mrs. Harlowe's retreating +back. Following Nora into the living-room he seated himself nervously on +the davenport, his eyes fixed on the doorway. + +Nora eyed him in sober speculation. She would have liked to inquire into +the nature of his excitement. Courtesy forbidding her to do so, she +indulged only in commonplaces to which Tom replied almost absently. It +was evident that something remarkable must have happened to thus upset +Tom's equanimity. The sound of Grace's light feet on the stairs was a +matter of relief to her. Excusing herself to the impatient lover, she +left the room, wondering if, after all, there could be a remote +possibility that her prediction of ill luck was about to be fulfilled. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE SHADOW + + +"But why must _you_ go, Tom?" Grace's tones rang with nervous dread. +"Can't some one else adjust matters satisfactorily?" + +"No." Tom's reply was freighted with gloom. "I understand those men up +there and can get along better with them than a new superintendent +could. It wouldn't be worth while hiring one. Mr. Mackenzie isn't +dangerously ill. He'll be about again in two or three weeks. But it +needs some one who understands Aunt Rose's affairs to look after them +properly, even for that short period of time. If it weren't almost +tragic, it would be funny. Here I am bound heart and soul to the work of +preserving forests. Now duty calls me to handle a crowd of men whose +business it is to cut down forests. It isn't very pleasant to +contemplate. To me trees are almost as much alive as human beings. Worse +still, I hate to leave you, Grace. It's not so very long until the tenth +of September, either, and we've so many plans to carry out yet at Haven +Home." + +"I know it." Grace's admission contained resignation. With duty thus +obstinately confronting Tom, she felt that she had no right to +discourage the performance of it. "I don't wish you to go," she +faltered, "but I can't help knowing that you are right. You owe it to +your aunt. She comes first. She's been both father and mother to you, +and I'm glad you are the one to help her now." + +"Aunt Rose doesn't want me to go," returned Tom quickly. "She's afraid +something dreadful may happen to me. I don't anticipate any such thing. +I'm too good a woodsman to feel concerned about myself. After that +strenuous expedition to South America, this will be child's play. It's +leaving you that I don't like." + +Grace did not reply for a moment. Secretly she, too, was echoing Mrs. +Gray's fears. With the day of their marriage so near, she could not bear +even to dwell on the dire possibility of any occurrence which might +wreck her Golden Summer. Bravely thrusting aside such a contingency she +said with grave sweetness: "I should be a pretty poor sort of comrade if +I were to fly in the face of your duty. It's hard, of course, Tom, but I +can say truthfully that I wish you to go. I shall try not to be sad over +it, or worry. After all, it's only for two or three weeks. One week of +that time I shall be at Elfreda's attending the Semper's reunion. As for +Haven Home, you attended to the really important things to be done there +while I was in New York City. Most of the furniture is there now. Ever +so many of the smaller things yet to be done, I can do or have done. My +trousseau is attended to, so I'll have time to make daily pilgrimages to +our forest retreat." + +"I've thought of all that, too. I knew you'd wish to finish the work at +Haven Home. The touring car or my roadster are always at your service to +take you there. You know you love to drive the roadster. It's already as +much yours as mine. You can always take one of your girl friends with +you. It's bully in you to be so brave about it. It helps me more than I +can say." Tom caught Grace's hands in a loving, steadfast clasp. + +For an hour or more they sat side by side on the davenport, each +sturdily trying to conceal the blow which the unlooked-for swing in Mrs. +Gray's business affairs had dealt them. Tom's chief cause for sorrow was +in the fact that he must leave the girl he adored, even for so brief an +interval of time. Grace's sadness, which she sternly concealed from him, +lay far deeper. Though Tom was scarcely concerned for his own welfare, +she was filled with a thousand vague alarms as to the disasters which +might perhaps overtake him. Not so long since, in speaking of the vast +lumber region in a northern state where his aunt possessed important +holdings, he had told her of the troubles that frequently ensued by +reason of lawless timber thieves. Then, too, the camp for which he was +bound was large and comprised a rough element of men. From Tom himself +she had learned that the Scotch superintendent, Alec Mackenzie, was +obliged to rule them with an iron hand. During his enforced absence from +them, discipline was sure to grow lax. She wondered whether even +resolute Tom Gray could ably contend with the difficult situation. + +Yet she kept all this to herself. It was her place to encourage, not +discourage. If unbounded faith in Tom could help work the wonder of +carrying him safely through his mission and home again to her, then she +would bestow that faith ungrudgingly. Hers was too fine and steadfast a +nature to quail at the first obstacle that rose to impede her highway of +happiness. "Loyalheart" she had been christened and "Loyalheart" she +would remain to the end of her days. + +"When must you go, Tom?" she questioned at last. Both had thus far been +sedulously side-stepping direct reference to their moment of parting. + +"I ought to go this afternoon." Tom's voice registered his hearty regret +as he made this response. "I can wait until to-morrow if _you_ say so, +Grace. I'd rather you'd decide it. Of course, you know I'd prefer to put +over going until to-morrow. It's only----" + +"I understand," came faintly from Grace. "You'd better go to-day. Tom. +It will be even harder for both of us to wait another day before saying +good-bye. Besides," she added, making a valiant effort to be cheerful, +"the sooner you go, the sooner you will return. You may find that you +won't have to stay there as long as you imagine." + +"You're a true comrade, Loyalheart." Since the day when Grace had named +their future residence Haven Home, at the same time telling Tom of the +college play in which she had taken part, he had fallen into the habit +of calling her Loyalheart. "That Miss West had the right idea about +you," had been his tender criticism. "There isn't another name in the +whole world that could possibly suit you so well." + +"I hope always to be a good comrade," returned Grace, a faint color +stealing into her lately-paling cheeks. "It's a pretty hard contract +always to live up to, though. While everything is lovely, it's not hard. +When things go wrong, it is. It reminds me of a poem I once read that +began, 'It's easy enough to be pleasant when life flows by like a song.' +I can't remember any more of it, except that it conveyed the thought +that the only persons who are really worth while are the ones who can +keep on being pleasant even when everything in their lives goes wrong. +So we ought to try to smile over this little hardship and look at it as +being just one of the vicissitudes that life is bound to bring us." + +"But I don't like to see hardship and vicissitudes creeping into our +Golden Summer," protested Tom, not quite satisfied to adjust himself to +Grace's more optimistic view of the situation. "I'm selfish about it, +I'm afraid. When, after a long dark winter, a man is suddenly turned +loose in the sunshine, he is naturally anxious to stay there. Just +because I'm saying that, I don't mean that I would dream of failing Aunt +Rose. I'd go even if it meant we'd have to put off our marriage a few +weeks longer." + +"And I would wish you to go," agreed Grace earnestly. "I am glad you +said that. If, when you get to the camp, you find that you will have to +stay quite a while, we can put off our wedding until the last of +September. Only a few of our closest friends know that we have set the +date for the tenth of September, so we needn't feel in the least +embarrassed if we find it necessary to change it." + +"Oh, I'll be back before the last of August," was Tom's confident +prediction. "That will give us plenty of time to make all our +arrangements. And now I must go, Grace. I have a good deal to do before +train time. I'll leave Oakdale on that 4.30 express. I'll drive over +here for you in the roadster. I'd like just you to see me off on my +journey. Aunt Rose will understand when I tell her. Then if you will, +you can drive the roadster back to our garage." + +[Illustration: Devoted Love Shone in Her Clear Gray Eyes.] + +"I will," acquiesced Grace briefly. A swift rush of unbidden emotion +brought her very near to tears. Accompanying Tom to the door, she +watched him wistfully down the walk. She was forcibly reminded of a day, +belonging to the past, when she had seen him go down that same walk, +and, as she then believed, out of her life. On that dark rainy afternoon +of the long ago she had felt only pity as she gazed after his retreating +form. She had gone into the house and cried bitterly, out of sheer +sorrow of the hurt which she had inflicted upon her childhood's friend. +Now all was changed. Devoted love shone through the windows of the clear +gray eyes that followed Tom Gray's tall, broad-shouldered figure, as he +swung through the gate and down the street. And, as she stood there in +the doorway, the triumphant knowledge that she loved and was loved in +return swept away her inclination to tears. Even the shadow of +separation could not dim the glory of the summer that lived in her +heart. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE VEILED PROPHETESS OF DESTINY + + +"But is Emma really coming, Elfreda?" questioned Sara Emerson anxiously. +"She wrote us that she would surely be here." + +Seven eager faces reflected the anxiety in Sara's tones as she made this +inquiry. The first day of the Semper Fidelis week of reunion was well on +its way toward sunset. Of the original members, six had descended upon +the Briggs' spacious cottage to keep Elfreda company. With them had come +Kathleen West and Patience Eliot, the guests of honor. Five members were +still among the missing. Marian Cummings, Gertrude Wells, Elsie Wilton +and Ruth Denton had been unable to grace the occasion with their +presence. Ruth's inability to attend lay in the fact that she was with +her father in Nevada. This had been a great cross to her chum, Arline +Thayer. The others had also mourned the distance that separated her from +them. But even the absence of these four paled almost into +insignificance beside the disappointing knowledge that the fifth missing +member, jovial Emma Dean, had not yet appeared. + +"She will be here," announced Elfreda positively. "I know she will. +Don't worry about it. She will no doubt come to the surface when you +least expect it. She wouldn't miss the reunion for a good deal." + +"But she'll miss having dinner on the lawn this evening and seeing that +wonderful gypsy fortune teller you have hunted up for the occasion," was +Julia Emerson's regretful cry. "Where did you find her, Elfreda? Can she +really tell fortunes?" + +"She can," Elfreda asserted with solemn positiveness. "Wait and see. +Where I found her is a secret for to-night. Perhaps if you are good, +I'll tell you all about her to-morrow." + +"But to-morrow never comes," reminded Patience Eliot. "You'd better tell +us now." + +"Can't do it." Elfreda beamed mysteriously on the Emerson twins. "Curb +your curiosity, twins. Wait patiently and the future shall unfold itself +to you as an open book. I wouldn't make a bad fortune teller myself," +she added humorously. "That's the way they usually talk." + +"I am so disappointed at not seeing Emma here, too," sighed Grace +Harlowe. "It seems ages since we said good-bye to each other at Overton. +You don't suppose anything has happened to her, do you, Elfreda?" + +"Of course not. Take my word for it, she'll be here before we are a day +older. There, that finishes the decorations." Elfreda triumphantly +fastened into place the last of a quantity of Chinese lanterns that she +and her friends had been stringing about the grounds, viewing the work +with a sigh of satisfaction. "These won't give much light, but they'll +look pretty. The electric light will have to do the real illuminating +act. The table looks sweet, doesn't it?" + +Several voices sent up laudatory affirmations. Though the Sempers had +arrived only that morning they had entered heart and soul soul into +Elfreda's plan for a dinner on the lawn that evening, with the added +treat of communing with a real fortune-teller afterward. In order to +give the mysterious sooth-sayer a proper setting, a veritable grotto had +been arranged for her inside a small summer house at one end of the +lawn, on which the light would shine only faintly, thereby according her +the eerie environment so necessary to one whose business it is to +foretell the future. + +Luncheon over, the Sempers had wandered in and out of one another's +rooms, exchanging confidences and reminiscences, while a wholesale +unpacking of their effects went on. Later Elfreda had marshalled them to +the lawn, where their tongues continued to wag busily as they strung the +many-colored lanterns on every available bush, or between such trees as +could be easily put into use. + +"We'd better be thinking about getting dressed for the evening," +reminded Miriam Nesbit, consulting her wrist watch. "It is after six +o'clock." + +"I hope it gets dark early," commented Elfreda, with a reflective squint +at the sky. "It will be more fun to have dinner then. Still I don't care +to let the august Sempers starve while we are waiting for night to +come." + +"Oh, have dinner late," chorused several voices. "It will be ever so +much more fun." + +"I think so, too," nodded Grace. "We'll be good and hungry then and +enjoy it even better for the waiting." + +"You hear the counsel of honorable Semper Harlowe," stated Elfreda +automatically. "Those in favor please respond in the usual manner by +saying 'aye.' Contrary 'no.' I am delighted to find you of one mind," +she added, with a beaming smile, as no dissenting voice arose. "You +shall be amply rewarded for such noble self-sacrifice." + +"Elfreda has something special on her mind," remarked Miriam Nesbit to +Anne, as they strolled toward the house to don evening gowns. "She's +planning some sort of ridiculous surprise. I can see it in her eye. I +wonder--" Miriam stopped short and laughed. + +"What?" asked Anne quickly. "I hadn't noticed anything specially +mysterious in her manner. She always did love to be mystifying." + +"I won't say what I think is going to happen. If it happens, though, +I'll tell you if I guessed right." Miriam continued to smile to herself. +Encountering Elfreda on the veranda, her black eyes flashed the stout +girl a mischievous message which the latter immediately caught. + +"I can see that you know a few things," challenged Elfreda, drawing her +aside. "On your honor as my benefactor and roommate, keep them to +yourself," she charged, just above a whisper. + +"I am a safe receptacle for dark secrets," Miriam laughingly assured her +in equally guarded fashion. + +"I'm afraid I made a serious mistake in rooming with you so long. You +know altogether too much about me," retorted Elfreda waggishly. "I might +have known you'd guess. Never mind. Some others won't." + +Owing to the fact that the sun had obligingly finished his daily +pilgrimage behind a flock of gray clouds that banked themselves in the +west, a fairly early twilight descended. A timid new moon, that was +scheduled in the almanac to rise early, also covered itself with glory +by not appearing at all, thereby signally helping along Elfreda's cause. +When at eight o'clock the nine representatives of Semper Fidelis seated +themselves at the tastefully decorated festal board, which occupied a +position of central importance on the grassy lawn, they had no reason to +complain of too much natural light. Through the dense summer darkness +that had now closed in about them, softly-glowing lanterns winked their +many-colored eyes. The main illumination, however, was due to two +good-sized electric lights, each suspended from its own particular post +at opposite sides of the grounds. These Elfreda had thoughtfully swathed +in thin flowered silk, which modifying their glare, gave them the same +Oriental effect as that of the lanterns. + +The nine young women made a pretty picture as they gathered about the +table, the delicate hues of their evening frocks lending additional +beauty to the scene. From out each young face shone the joy of reunion. +Whatever the future might ordain for them in the way of trials, for one +week at least they had laid strong hold on happiness. + +Having nobly postponed dinner for purely artistic reasons, they were now +decidedly hungry. They, therefore, devoted themselves whole-heartedly to +the substantial meal, comprising several delectable courses which were +deftly served to them by two maids who had long been fixtures in the +Briggs' household, and whose smiling faces indicated their pleasure in +ministering to Elfreda's guests. It was a signally merry repast, eaten +to an accompaniment of gay badinage and rippling laughter. Their college +days now but a memory, it partook of the nature of a rollicking spread, +rather than of that of a formal dinner party, and they reveled in thus +being able to call forth once more a fleeting repetition of their former +jollifications. + +"You are a truly hospitable lawyeress, J. Elfreda," lauded Kathleen +West, as, dessert removed, they lingered at the table over their coffee, +served in quaint Japanese cups that were the pride of J. Elfreda's +heart. "I can see that you haven't lost the will to garner things +Japanese. These cups are exquisite." + +"I am inordinately proud of them," returned Elfreda, looking gratified. +"Laura Atkins' father presented me with a real Japanese tea-set that he +bought especially for me the last time he was in Japan. They are old +enough to have a history, too. I couldn't resist parading them to-night +in honor of the Sempers." + +"Tell us about them, Elfreda," begged Patience Eliot. "I love to +hear----" + +Patience never finished stating what she loved to hear. A sharp little +exclamation of "Look!" from Arline Thayer set all eyes gazing in the +direction of her indexing finger. Out of the darkness and into the +swaying gleam of the lanterns a black-robed figure, bent double with the +weight of years, hobbled its weird way toward the diners. From a +voluminous sable sleeve, a long thin hand projected itself, the wiry +fingers clutching a tall staff. The shifting glow of the lanterns played +fantastically upon the apparition's veiled head as, step by step, it +drew slowly nearer. An audible sigh of amazement, mingled with dread of +the unknown, swept the little company. Added to the unexpected +materialization of the seeress was the surprise of her costume. Fancy +had pictured her to them as the usual gypsy, garbed in a rainbow of +lively colors. This sinister vision, the cast of whose features a long +black veil entirely concealed, seemed to be a creation of the very +darkness itself. If pure uncanniness indicated occult power, then this +veiled prophetess of destiny must surely be an adept in her art. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +UNVEILING THE PROPHETESS + + +"'Tis the Veiled Prophetess of Destiny," declaimed Elfreda with dramatic +intensity. "Excuse me, girls. I must conduct her to her grotto. If she +is not received with respectful ceremony, she is likely to hobble off to +other fields and leave us in the lurch. After all the pains I've taken +to insure her presence, I should hate to disappoint you at the last +minute." + +"Where on earth did J. Elfreda manage to find her?" questioned Julia +Emerson. Distinct awe pervaded her tones. + +Their gaze fixed upon the distinguished seeress, whom Elfreda was +solicitously piloting across the lawn to the grotto, no one answered +Julia's question. In fact, only one of their number was prepared to +reply to the query. Having taken the vow of silence, Miriam Nesbit's +tranquilly-composed features offered no sign of the significant +knowledge that lay behind them. + +"Who will be the first to consult Amarna, the Seeress of the Seven +Veils?" intoned the now-returning Elfreda in solemn, sing-song accents. +Very practically she added: "I just now took the trouble to find out her +name." + +"Can she tell the past?" quizzed Sara Emerson skeptically. + +"She can. To Amarna the past is a freshly written page. From her occult +vision nothing lies hidden. Let me lead you to her." Elfreda crooked an +inviting arm. + +With a joyful giggle Sara rose. Accepting the proffered guidance to the +seat of the all-wise Amarna, she proceeded to hustle her amiable +conductor over the grass toward the grotto at a most indecorous rate of +speed, born of her ardent determination to test the mettle of the +Seeress of the Seven Veils. + +"Go ahead." Releasing Sara's arm, Elfreda gave her a gentle shove toward +the grotto and retired into a discreet patch of darkness to chuckle +unobserved. + +"Stand where you are. I am Amarna," piped a thin, reedy voice. Sara +obediently came to a halt in the opening to the grotto and faced a +black-draped dais on which the illustrious prophetess reposed. In the +chastened yellow glow, cast by an enormous lantern hung directly over +where she now paused, Sara was plainly visible to the uncanny figure on +its perch. On the contrary, as Amarna sat well in the shadow, her face +still hidden behind her veil, she greatly resembled a huge black blot. +"You are not the only child in your father's house," continued the high +voice. "You have a sister who is your very counterpart. Both saw the +light on the same day, March the seventh." + +The seeress went on with a detailed narration of various past events in +Sara's life which caused her eyes to grow round with wonder. The +subsequent prediction of a most remarkable future, in which fate had +apparently decreed that she should never marry but end her days as a +successful conductor of an art needle-work emporium, sent her scurrying +back to her friends divided between wonder of the mysterious being's +power to depict the past and disgust at the prospect of such a hum-drum +future. + +"Do let me interview her next," pleaded Julia Emerson. "But first I +shall run up to my room and get my scarf. If Amarna can swathe her +distinguished features, so can I. Then she won't know I'm a twin. I must +say she seems better at reading the past than predicting the future. I +don't see how she could tell a single thing about you, Sara, when you +just stood still there. Fortune-tellers generally ask to look at one's +palm." Having delivered herself of this wise opinion, Julia flitted off +to the house to secure the disguising scarf. + +"I defy you to pick me out as a twin," was her merry challenge, when +returning to the group on the lawn she wound her long chiffon scarf +twice about her head. "Thank goodness, Sarah and I never dress alike. +You'll have to lead me, J. Elfreda Briggs. I can see, of course; but +rather dimly." + +Elfreda again performed the kindly office of conductor, leaving Julia in +precisely the same spot where Sara had lately stood. + +"The eyes of Amarna cannot be deceived," calmly reproved the black shape +on the dais. "They see behind the flimsy veil and deep into your +thoughts. Your face is as the face of her who so lately sought me. The +bond of sisterhood stretches between you. That which is invisible to the +naked eye is visible to me. The road of the past winds clear and white +before me. Now I perceive that you----" + +The result of Amarna's mystic meanderings down the road of the past were +never revealed. Tardily gifted with a most remarkable power of second +sight, Julia suddenly swooped down upon the weird Seeress of the Seven +Veils, emitting a gleeful shout. "You villain!" she chuckled, as she +caught the unfortunate sooth-sayer by the shoulders and administered a +playful shaking. Still firmly clutching her victim, she raised her voice +in a clear call of, "Girls, come here this instant!" + +Having heard Julia's first wild shout, an investigating committee of +curious girls was already bearing down upon the grotto. + +"Here's your Seeress!" laughed Julia. With a triumphant sweep of the +arm, she pulled aside the swathing black veil, to disclose the mirthful +features of Emma Dean, minus her glasses. + +"Emma Dean!" went up the lusty cry from at least six surprised Sempers. +Elfreda and Miriam, however, had guessed the import of Julia's shrill +summons before running to the scene with the others. + +"You ridiculous fraud!" exclaimed Sara Emerson, hugging Emma with +bearish enthusiasm. "No wonder you knew so much about my past and so +little of my future. And I never even suspected you." + +"I'm next," declared Grace as she wrapped fond arms about the recently +age-bent figure which had miraculously recovered youth within a space of +three minutes. Emma was lovingly embraced by each girl in turn amid much +voluble greeting and accompanying laughter. + +"The way of the seeress is hard," she commented humorously as she +finished the removal of her veil, which the astute Julia had begun. "No +more gloomy, ghostly grottos for Emily Elizabeth. Let the past and the +future take care care of itself. Hurrah for the glorious present! I hope +you giddy, gorgeous creatures can appreciate my noble, self-sacrificing +spirit. While you have been engaged in wearing your costliest raiment +and eating up a delectable dinner, I've been obliged to lurk like a +criminal in J. Elfreda's room, attired in somber, sable weeds." + +"But when did you arrive, Emma?" asked Arline. "Of course we know now +that you and Elfreda perpetrated this dark but delightful plot. How you +managed to slip into the cottage without any of us seeing you is a +greater mystery than the Seeress of the Seven Veils could ever hope to +be." + +"Oh, it was all planned beforehand," explained Emma cheerfully. "While +you loyal Sempers were out on the lawn this afternoon, stringing +lanterns, I was shut up in a third-story room peering owlishly down at +you through the shutters. I arrived here this morning, about an hour +before the rest of you. Kind and hospitable hostess that she seems to +be, I grieve to relate that I had hardly paid my respects to Mrs. Briggs +when J. Elfreda shut me up in that same third-story chamber with my +breakfast and left me to pine while she went gayly gallivanting down to +the train to meet you. When I have a little time I shall write a book +and entitle it, 'Locked Up for the Day; or All in the Name of +Friendship.'" + +Emma beamed languishingly upon her listeners in order better to impress +them with her unfaltering loyalty to their interests. "In order to clear +my jailer of any unjust aspersions which unkind persons may cast upon +her, I might also add that she brought me some luncheon. As for my +dinner, I had finished it before you began yours. So you see, she at +least kept me in a well-nourished condition." + +"Now we can be perfectly happy!" exulted Grace. "You are the last touch +needed to complete the reunion." + +"I am always a blessing," returned Emma modestly. "To-night I happened +to be one in disguise. But I yearn to cast aside my sable robes of +prophesy and emerge from my room in gala garments. Lead me to my trunk, +J. Elfreda. The night is yet young and I'm anxious to make the most of +it." + +"I never once thought of Emma Dean in connection with Elfreda's +fortune-teller," confessed Kathleen West ruefully. "I am afraid I'm +losing my nose for news." + +"Neither did I," admitted Anne. "But you guessed it, didn't you, +Miriam?" Recalling the latter's inspiration of that afternoon, Anne +turned to her sister-in-law. + +"Yes. It flashed across me all of a sudden. You know Elfreda said Emma +might descend upon us when we least expected her. That's what set me to +thinking." + +"I ought to have guessed," mourned Sara Emerson. "All the glory of the +discovery goes to my twin sister. How did you find her out, Julia?" + +"It was what she said. You know how funny Emma is. When we were at +Overton she was forever saying 'Now I perceive.' The minute I heard it +to-night I began to perceive, too." + +When presently Emma joined her friends on the lawn, all traces of the +fabled Seeress of the Seven Veils had vanished. In a simple white +evening frock, eye-glasses firmly astride her nose, she was her usual +jolly self. Although Grace Harlowe was undoubtedly the best-loved member +of Semper Fidelis, Emma held an individual place in their hearts. +Wherever she walked, fun and laughter followed at her heels. Grace was +their inspiration to noble deeds; Emma their spirit of good cheer. One +and all they gathered about her and marshalled her to the veranda where +a hilarious hour ensued, followed by a concerted invasion on the +living-room, where they proceeded to entertain Mr. and Mrs. Briggs, who +had tactfully declined to intrude upon the dinner party, with an evening +of the old, familiar stunts with which they had so often lightened their +student days at Overton College. + +It was well after midnight when, by common consent, the will to retire +for the night claimed them. Knowing the deep regard that existed between +Grace and Emma, Elfreda had arranged matters so that they might room +together. Although Anne was Grace's oldest friend, she had cheerfully +resigned her claim on Grace to Emma for the week. + +"Well, Gracious, how is everything?" were Emma's first words when at +last they had shut themselves in their room for the night. "I can't +begin to tell you how dreadfully I've missed you. It gives me the blues +every time I think of Overton next year without you. But I know you are +happy, and that's at least one consolation." + +"It's a mutual miss, Emma," assured Grace. "I have thought of you a +great deal and wished you were with me at home. Aside from not being +able to have my dearest friends with me all the time, my happiness has +been so complete this summer that I feel as though I ought to walk very +softly, for fear of losing some part of it." + +"I understand. It's always so. One wonders if it's even wise to mention +it for fear of breaking the spell," mused Emma. "I suppose the best way +to do is to plod steadily along and not think much about anything but +the day's events. By the way, are you very sleepy?" + +Grace shook her head. "Not a bit. On the contrary, I'm wide awake." + +"Then let's doff our festival garb, clothe our magnificent selves in +kimonos and have a talking-bee," proposed Emma joyfully. "I'll give you +a faithful account of affairs in darkest Deanery, if you will agree to +furnish me with an equally detailed account of Harloweville doings. Is +it a go?" + +"It is," acceded Grace with equal heartiness. + +A little later, seated Turk fashion on Grace's bed, the two tried +comrades indulged in one of the protracted talks that had invariably +ended their day's work when together at Harlowe House. It was an +extremely confidential session, yet there was one bit of information +which Grace could not find it in her heart to divulge. Though it had +been over a week since she had said good-bye to Tom Gray, aside from a +brief letter written to her on the train just before his arrival at a +little town some miles from the lumber camp, she had received no further +communication from him. Within herself she argued that she had really no +cause for alarm. No doubt Tom had been too busy to write. Perhaps he had +written her, but, due to the isolation of the camp, had encountered +difficulty in mailing a letter to her. She would have liked to put the +situation before Emma, yet loyalty to love forbade her to speak of it +even to this trusted friend. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE MEANING OF SEMPER FIDELIS + + +Father Time has an unfortunate habit of scudding along at a tremendously +rapid pace over the delightful roads of life. It is only when the ways +are rough and stony that he is prone to lag and linger. To the +reunionists the prospect of a week spent together had offered limitless +possibilities. Once that coveted period of time had become theirs, it +proceeded to vanish in an alarming fashion. On Monday they had +congratulated themselves and one another that six glorious days were +still theirs. By Wednesday they had begun to mourn that only four were +left them. + +Life at the Briggs' cottage offered a ceaseless succession of wholesome +pleasures. Early morning invariably found the reunionists strengthening +their acquaintance with the ocean. Breakfast over, a bathing suit +procession to the nearby beach became the usual order of things. They +spent long sunny hours playing about in the surf, or stretched at ease +on the white sand, exchanging an apparently exhaustless flow of +light-hearted conversation relating to almost everything under the sun. +Imbued with tireless energy, their afternoons brought them fresh +entertainment in the way of long automobile rides to various points of +interest, followed by jolly little teas or dinners along the way. The +annual excursion to Picnic Hollow, which claimed the greater part of a +whole day, was also a memorable occasion. Evening, however, usually +overtook them at the cottage. By common consent they tabooed the more +formal social entertainment which the various hostelries at Wildwood +offered. Only on one occasion did they diverge from their clannish +programme in order to attend an informal hop given by Elfreda's friend, +Madge Morton, at her father's cottage. + +During their stay at the Briggs' cottage the previous summer, they had +been given the opportunity of meeting this charming young girl. Shortly +after their arrival she had come over from the Morton cottage to pay +them a friendly call. Greatly attracted to her, on first meeting they +had greeted her warmly and invited her to share their good times. + +Madge and Grace had a bond in common in that while Grace was preparing +to be married to Tom Gray, Madge was trying to decide whether or not she +should pledge herself to marry Tom Curtis. Before the week ended she had +confided her problem to Grace and the two girls discussed the subject +long and earnestly. Yet despite such friendly counsel as Grace felt +privileged to give, Madge could come to no definite decision. + +Though five days of smiling sunshine had added immeasurably to the +welfare of the devoted company, Saturday morning dawned gray and +threatening. Before breakfast was over the ominous prediction of storm +was fulfilled. Amid reverberating peals of thunder, heavy raindrops +began to fall. They were merely the prelude to a furious downpour which +descended in silvery sheets, and fairly overflowed the discouraged +landscape. A strong wind rose, lashing the leaden expanse of sea into a +white-capped fury quite foreign to its hitherto deceitfully dimpled +aspect. + +"It's a horrible day," conceded Elfreda Briggs gloomily. "We can't do +any of the things we've planned. No bathing, no motor trip, either, +unless this deluge stops, which doesn't seem likely." + +"Oh, it may clear up," comforted Emma Dean. "I've seen worse days than +this suddenly brace up and smile. Let's possess our souls in patience. +Incidental to the process we might restore the shattered faith of some +of our deluded correspondents. During the past six days it has pained me +to observe the postman arrive, full-handed, to turn away, alas, +empty-handed. I ask you as man to man--why this thusness? Now that we +are about to depart, it might be well to apprise our neglected families +of the fact." + +"Emma, you are a noble woman," declared Miriam with deep conviction. "I +may not have noticed it before, but better late than never. I move that +we organize a writing school in the living-room for the purpose of +squaring ourselves with our too-trusting families and friends." + +"What's the use in writing home now?" demanded Julia Emerson. "Sara and +I would get there almost as soon as our letters. We have to go +to-morrow, you know." + +"I know." Emma held her handkerchief ostentatiously to her eyes. "Never +mind. You may write to _me_. You know I have always admired your nice +vertical handwriting. It takes me back to my first-reader days." + +"Sorry I can't oblige you," giggled Julia, "but I'm not in the mood for +letter writing. I'm going to pack my trunk and send it to the station +before Sara has a chance to stuff half of her belongings into it." + +"Such sisterly devotion," murmured Emma. + +"Oh, I don't mind," was Sara's cheerful comment. "I've already packed my +sweater and two dresses in Julia's trunk. You'd better leave them there, +Julia, I haven't an inch of room left in my trunk to squeeze them into. +It is already jammed so full that you'll have to sit on the lid when I +get ready to lock it." + +"Stung!" was Julia's inelegant comment. "This is what comes of being a +twin. I think I'd better hurry and gobble up the small trunk space that +is left me; otherwise I may have to carry a large part of my wardrobe +home in a bundle." Dread of such a contingency sent her fleeing up the +stairs in hot pursuit of her own welfare, oblivious to the pleasantries +which Emma and Sara called after her as she ran. + +Seated around the long library table in the living-room, the +correspondence party made an attractive picture as, with earnest faces, +they bent themselves to the arduous task of letter-writing. With the +exception of Grace, all present were soon hard at work. One hand resting +lightly on a sheet of the monogrammed paper which Elfreda had provided +in profusion, with her other hand Grace nervously gripped her fountain +pen. Should she or should she not write to Tom? Although she owed the +usual amount of letters to various correspondents, she now thought only +of writing to the man for whose strange silence she could not account. +It was Tom's place to write her. She had answered his first letter. Yet +she could not believe that carelessness was responsible for his silence. +Something must have happened to him. But what? She knitted her brows in +an agony of indecision, then giving her pen an energetic shake that +betokened definite purpose, she began: + + "DEAR TOM: + + "It is now over a week since last I heard from you. What----" + +The loud ring of the doorbell caused her to break off abruptly the +sentence she had begun. With that curious intuition which sometimes +manifests itself unbidden, she was seized with the startled conviction +that the bell had conveyed the news of an arrival important to herself. +Listening with an anxiety she could not yet understand, she heard a +man's deep tones raised in inquiry. Then came the lighter voice of the +maid who had answered the door. Then---- + +"Miss Harlowe," the maid had entered the living-room and addressed her, +"there's a special delivery letter come for you. Will you please sign +for it?" + +"Thank you, Alice." Grace sprang to her feet and hurried into the hall. +The messenger handed her a letter and shoved his book toward her, +indicating the place for her signature. Hastily signing and returning +the book, Grace dismissed the man, and sank to the oak settee in the +hall, her heart thumping wildly. She had already recognized the +handwriting on the envelope, not as Tom's familiar flowing hand, but as +the spidery, wavering script of Mrs. Gray. With trembling fingers she +tore open the envelope and read: + + "DEAR GRACE: + + "Have you heard from Tom? I am dreadfully worried. I have only + received the one letter from him of which you already know. It is + not in the least like him to thus put off writing me. He knew + before he went that I should be uneasy about him, and promised + faithfully to write me every other day. For the sake of your + anxious and bewildered Fairy Godmother, will you come to me as soon + as possible, if you have not heard from him? If so, then telegraph + me to that effect and I shall rest easier. I have put off writing + you from day to day, in the hope that I might receive news of my + boy, and also because I could not bear to spoil your pleasure. But + as it is now Friday and you will receive this on Saturday, I know + that if you have received no word from him, you will not mind + coming home a day earlier than you had planned. Once we are + together again, we can decide on some method of action. Thus far I + have done nothing. Believe me, my dear, only my great anxiety + compels me to ask you to make this sacrifice. + + "Yours lovingly, + + "ROSE GRAY." + +The letter sliding from her nerveless fingers, Grace saw her +surroundings through a swirling mist. For a moment or two she yielded to +the terror that clutched at her heart. Her sturdy nature reasserting +itself, she rose, recovered the letter and walked slowly into the +living-room. + +"Girls," she said, her voice a trifle unsteady, "I must leave you at +once. I--Mrs. Gray needs me and has sent for me. I am sorry I can't tell +you the reason. I am sure you will understand that I am giving you as +much of my confidence as I can." She paused, her gray eyes looking utter +affection on the startled group about the table. "I want you to promise +to finish the reunion just as happily as though I were with you. Later, +perhaps I can tell you what I mayn't tell you now. It is not yet eleven +o'clock, so I am sure I can catch the noon express." + +Grace's remarkable announcement drove the business of letter-writing to +the winds. A bevy of sympathetic girls gathered about her, sending up a +concerted lament. Yet none ventured to inquire into the cause of her +departure, or to ask her to reconsider her decision to depart at once. +Loyal to the core, her wish was their law. Each eagerly offered her +services in behalf of the love they bore her. Torn though she was by the +shock of this new sorrow, Grace could not help thinking as she stood +there, how gloriously worthy were these staunch comrades to bear the +name Semper Fidelis. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE SHADOW DEEPENS + + +"Oh, Fairy Godmother, what does it mean?" The tall, slender girl, who +had been obsequiously ushered into Mrs. Gray's stately, old-fashioned +house on Chapel Hill, darted down the hall and straight into a pair of +arms outstretched to receive her. + +"I--don't--know--my dear. I wish I--" Mrs. Gray's broken utterance ended +in a sob, as she laid her silvery head on Grace's breast. Until that +moment she had remained calm. The sight of one who was equally enveloped +in the shadow that had dropped down upon her, proved too much for her. +Clinging to Grace, she sobbed heart-brokenly. + +"There, there, dear Fairy Godmother. You mustn't cry so!" Grace's own +voice was husky with emotion. "You have me with you now to comfort you. +Cheer up. I am sure that everything will turn out all right. +It's--dreadful--of course--not--to hear from Tom," Grace faltered +briefly, "but I--we must keep thinking he is safe and well and that we +may receive a letter from him at any minute. I didn't wait to go home. I +knew you needed me, so I came straight from the train here. Mother +doesn't even know yet that I am in town. Come into the library and sit +down in your own favorite chair." Bravely stifling her own heavy +anxiety, Grace wrapped an affectionate arm about the dainty little old +lady and drew her into the long room which had been the scene of so many +of their confidential talks. + +"There you are!" she nodded, striving to smile. "Just a moment until I +get rid of my hat and coat and I'll curl up on the floor at your feet. +Then we can talk things over and find out what's to be done." + +"You are a dear good child," quavered Mrs. Gray. Under the white glow of +the electric lamp, her Dresden-shepherdess face looked pinched and wan. +Fear and uncertainty had robbed her small features of that look of +perennial youth which so individualized her. "It was thoughtful in you +to telegraph me that you were coming. I knew then that you hadn't heard +from Tom, but I knew, too, that you would soon be here." + +"I hated to telegraph you, knowing you'd worry even more. Still it +seemed best." Now ensconced at Mrs. Gray's feet, Grace possessed herself +of the older woman's hand. "Please feel that whatever you may ask of me, +I will cheerfully try to perform it." + +"I don't know which way to turn," was the distracted answer. "I had so +hoped that you would be able to tell me that Tom was safe in camp. It's +a rather delicate matter, my child. Coming as it does so near your +wedding day, it is very necessary that Tom should be located at once. +I've already written Mr. Mackenzie about Tom, but as yet he has not +answered my letter. Something dreadful has happened to my poor boy. I +feel it." + +Grace privately agreed with her, yet she would not say so. She knew as +well as did Mrs. Gray that only actual mishap would have caused Tom to +fail in his duty to his aunt and to herself. "I think we had better +telegraph Mr. Mackenzie," she suggested, her voice ringing with new-born +purpose. "Then--if he knows nothing of Tom's whereabouts we had better +organize a search. First of all we must know if he reached the camp. If +not--" Grace stopped, overmastered for an instant by a silent spasm of +dread that cut lines of pain in her fine face. + +"I don't like to send a telegram from Oakdale," demurred Mrs. Gray. +"These small town operators are not always to be trusted. If the story +were to creep about that Tom Gray had disappeared, so shortly before his +wedding day, it would be very painful for both you and me. I could, of +course, consult a private investigator in New York, yet I shrink from +doing so until I know definitely that Tom has disappeared. It is such an +intimate, personal matter. I don't fancy turning it over even to my +lawyer. You can understand that." + +"Yes." Grace had grown very pale at the possibility of the tender +romance of her Golden Summer being held up even to the little world of +Oakdale as a subject for gossip and possibly harsh criticism. Seized +with a blessed thought she said: "There is one person at least whom I +think we ought to take into our confidence. That person is David Nesbit. +He and Tom have always been like brothers. He will help us. I'll write +him now, before I go home, and ask _him_ to telegraph Mr. Mackenzie. A +telegram sent from New York will never give cause for gossip here." + +Rising to seek her traveling bag which she had deposited in the hall, +she hastily rummaged in it for her fountain pen. The sight of Mrs. +Gray's pitiful face had completely aroused her to the need for prompt +action. Re-entering the library she approached the massive writing table +with the quick assured step, so characteristic of the brave spirit with +which she had always faced adversity. From a drawer of the table she +selected note paper and an envelope to match and seating herself, +prepared to plunge intrepidly into the writing of the most difficult +letter she had ever been called upon to pen. + +"Dear David:" she wrote, then groped about in her mind for the words +which would best convey to Tom's chum the sorry message she was fated to +deliver. It was not a long letter, yet she knew that the recipient would +read between the lines and fully comprehend the serious situation which +confronted herself and Mrs. Gray. When she had finished writing it and +signed her name, she next devoted her attention to the wording of a +telegram to Mr. Mackenzie, setting it down on a separate sheet of paper. + +"Please read them, Fairy Godmother," she requested, tendering the fruits +of her painful effort to Mrs. Gray. + +"You are right in believing David to be the best possible confidant," +sighed the old lady as she returned the letter and telegraphic message +to Grace. "We can rely on him absolutely." + +"I must go now. It is after nine o'clock. I will hurry to the nearest +drug store for a special delivery stamp and mail the letter at once. I +wish I might stay with you longer, but I feel as though I ought to go +home. You don't mind if I tell Mother and Father? It is within their +right to know." + +"Of course it is," readily agreed Mrs. Gray. "I only deferred telling +them until I had talked with you, Grace. I can't begin to tell you how +much having you here has comforted me. I feel a trifle more cheerful +already. Perhaps, after all, we have been running out to meet calamity. +To-morrow may bring us word that Tom is safe and well." Rising from her +chair, Mrs. Gray embraced Grace tenderly. + +"I hope so." Forcing herself to smile encouragingly down at the wan +little figure beside her, Grace bent and kissed the old lady's cheek. +For a moment the two clung together, their mutual devotion deepened by +their common sorrow. Gently disengaging herself from Mrs. Gray's arms, +Grace donned her hat and coat and, with a last fond word of cheer, +soberly sought the door and stepped out into the starlit night. + +Alone with her sorrow, her late attempt at cheerfulness fell away from +her like a cloak. Deep dejection settled down upon her as she walked +down Chapel Hill toward home. The very beauty of the fragrant, starry +night hurt her. She wondered if those some far-off stars, twinkling so +remotely aloft, held the knowledge of Tom Gray for which she mournfully +yearned. Why had this dreadful uncertainty intruded itself into the very +heart of her Golden Summer? Had she boasted of her happiness only to see +it snatched rudely from her life? Suppose Tom were never to return? +Suppose even the knowledge of his fate were to be denied her? Over and +over again she had read in the newspapers of the strange disappearances +of persons, the mystery of which defied solution. The horror of her +gloomy apprehensions sent a chill to her heart that caused it for an +instant to stand still, or so it seemed to her. + +"I mustn't think of such frightful things," she breathed. "Tom is all +right. I must make myself believe it. Now is the time to be brave; to go +on steadily without faltering. Tom will come back to me. Wherever he is +or whatever has happened to him, he will come back. I know it." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +POSTPONING HAPPINESS + + +But Tom Gray did not come back. Neither by word nor sign did those who +feverishly awaited news of him receive even the faintest intimation of +his whereabouts. Added to the heavy strain that Mrs. Gray and Grace were +laboring under, they were destined to grapple with the question: Why had +David Nesbit not responded to their plea for assistance? After three +weary days of waiting, Grace wrote to Miriam Nesbit asking if David were +in New York City. Miriam's prompt reply stated that business had called +David to Chicago. She expected that he would return to New York that +very day. The information brought the comforting assurance that once the +letter had come into his possession David would not fail them. + +On the evening following the receipt of Miriam's letter, an anxious-eyed +young man swung off the eight o'clock train into Oakdale, and hailing a +taxicab was whirled away from the station toward the Harlowe's home. + +"David!" was all Grace could find words for, when, entering the +living-room, her girlhood friend sprang forward to meet her with +outstretched hand of sympathy. + +"I'm more sorry than I can say, Grace," David burst forth, as, motioning +him to a chair, Grace sat down opposite him. "I was delayed in Chicago +and didn't reach New York until this morning. My mail wasn't forwarded +to me, so I didn't get your letter until then. I sent your telegram to +Mr. Mackenzie, then caught the first train for Oakdale. Did you get my +wire?" + +"Yes. I've been anxiously watching for you. It's dreadful--David." +Grace's voice trailed away into a stifled sob. Brave as she had tried to +be, David's belated presence was almost too much for her composure. + +"I should say it was." David looked utter concern over the sad errand +that had brought him to Grace. "Tell me everything, Grace. I must know +the facts if I am to be of real service to you." + +Fighting for self-control, Grace narrated briefly the little she knew +concerning Tom's strange disappearance. "Mrs. Gray had written Mr. +Mackenzie about Tom before I wrote you. I explained to you in my letter +that he was ill. That was Tom's reason for going away up there to that +dreadful camp. Mr. Mackenzie writes that Tom never arrived. He was very +much upset over it as he had been depending upon Tom to look after +things until he was well again. Poor Aunt Rose is nearly distracted. She +has put the matter in the hands of a private investigator. He hasn't had +time to reach the camp yet so, of course, we haven't heard from him. +Fairy Godmother has forbidden him to telegraph her at Oakdale. She is +afraid some one may find out about Tom and gossip." The sickness of hope +deferred lay in Grace's eyes as she finished speaking. + +"I'm going up to that camp, Grace," announced David with strong +determination. "I'll catch the next train for New York and arrange my +business to-morrow morning. By afternoon I'll be on the way to Tom. If +he is to be found, I shall find him. Who is the man Mrs. Gray has +engaged to clear up the mystery?" + +Grace named a man whose professional standing in his particular field +ranked high. + +"A very clever man," commented David. "He ought to do something toward +straightening out this snarl." + +"We can only hope that he will," was Grace's sad response. "Excuse me, +David, until I call Mother. She is so anxious to see you. Then we had +better go to Aunt Rose. You will find her greatly changed. This trouble +has aged her. She looks 'years old,' rather than 'years young.' That +wonderful spirit of youth has deserted her. It could hardly be +otherwise." + +"Poor little Fairy Godmother!" sympathized David. "It's a shame that +trouble like this had to come when all three of you were so happy. I +can't make myself believe that it is good old Tom who's among the +missing. A sturdy, fearless fellow like him can usually be trusted to +take care of himself anywhere. Why, he's tramped all over this country +and never met with any accident that I can remember. You and I know that +something serious has happened this time, though. Tom would never +neglect those he cares for, even in the most trifling matters." + +"I am sure of that. Still it's good to hear you say what I know to be +true. Nothing could shake my faith in Tom. It is absolute." Grace spoke +with the frank simplicity of perfect love and trust. + +During the short walk that lay between the Harlowe's residence and that +of Mrs. Gray, David cast more than one covert but admiring glance at the +tall, slender girl at his side who bore her difficulties with such +signal sweetness and courage. "What a splendid girl Grace is," was his +thought. Looking back on their earlier days of comradeship, he recalled +gratefully what a power for good she had always been. She had valiantly +steered Anne through the breakers that more than once had threatened +engulfment. Through Grace, his own sister, Miriam had been shown the way +to sincerity and well-doing. Mabel Allison, Ruth Denton, Eleanor Savelli +and countless other girls owed the greatest joys that had come to them +to this high-principled, impulsive, kindly girl who had lavishly +scattered the flowers of generosity and good-will along the pathway of +life. Now, at last, there was something which he could do for Grace. +David vowed within himself to leave no stone unturned which might be the +means of restoring to her the happiness which she so richly merited. + +The visit to Mrs. Gray proved a severe trial to both young people. Her +usual optimistic viewpoint had long since deserted her, leaving her a +wan little ghost of the vivacious Fairy Godmother who had once entered +so merrily into the doings of her Christmas children. A fixed air of +melancholy had dropped down on her which even David's hearty assurances +that Tom would soon be found failed to lift. + +"If any one can find Tom it will be you, David," was the nearest +approach toward hopefulness which she could muster. + +"I'll find him, never fear," predicted David with an air of cheerful +certainty that brought faint smiles to both women's somber faces. "I +must leave you soon, though, in order to make that late train for New +York. Before I go, I'll devise a secret code so that I can telegraph you +here at Oakdale if anything good comes to pass." + +Grace supplying him with pencil and paper, David jotted down several +sentences which he was most likely to need in sending messages, then +substituted different words to be used in place of the originals. This +bit of thoughtfulness on his part was eminently cheering, and when soon +afterward he took hasty leave of Grace and Mrs. Gray the latter appeared +to be in a less lugubrious frame of mind. + +After he had gone, Grace followed Mrs. Gray into the library, the old +lady's favorite room in the big house, and, drawing a chair opposite to +that of her near-aunt, began rather hesitatingly, "Now that David has +left us, there are several things, dear Fairy Godmother, that I must say +to you. They are mainly about--our wedding day. Only the Eight Originals +and a few of the 'Sempers' know that the time was actually set for the +tenth of September. They are all intimate friends, tried and true. I +think it is only right that I should explain matters to them. Not one of +them would break a confidence. + +"If I am not married to Tom on the tenth, naturally they will wonder. It +would be dreadful for me to have to say to any one of them, 'I can't +explain why the wedding must be postponed.' They love me and I love +them. We've always shared our joys and sorrows. It doesn't seem fair to +leave them in the dark. Naturally it will hurt me a great deal to +explain, but it will hurt me far more not to. I have talked with Mother +and Father about it. They both feel that the decision must rest with +you. It's too bad to bother you with this new perplexity, but I must +know one way or the other. I can't endure the suspense." + +At the beginning of Grace's earnest plea that her closest friends be put +into possession of the knowledge that Tom Gray was among the missing, +his aunt's delicate face showed unmistakable signs of disapproval. Swept +along by the girl's fervent earnest words, Mrs. Gray felt her brief +abhorrence of the idea vanish in an overwhelming flood of admiration for +the dauntless spirit in which Grace bore the torturing dread that had +been thrust upon her. + +"You make me feel ashamed of myself, Grace," she faltered. "While I've +been nursing my own selfish grief you have been putting aside your +sorrow to think of others. After all, you have more at stake than I. My +life has been practically lived, while yours is only at its dawn. I have +known the bitterness of losing those I loved. It should have taught me +to face the future more courageously. When you spoke just now of letting +others know of our trouble, it seemed for a moment as though I could +never consent to it. But I have changed my mind. It would not be fair +either to you or my poor boy, wherever he may be, to place you in a +false position. I have only one stipulation. Wait a little longer before +telling your friends of this dreadful disruption of our plans. If within +the next three days we have not heard from Mr. Blaisdell, the +investigator, then write to your friends and let them know the exact +circumstances." + +"It breaks my heart to hear you say such things of yourself," was +Grace's passionate cry. Springing to her feet she knelt before the older +woman and wrapped two shielding arms about her. "You've always thought +of others. I won't let you say that you are selfish, or that your life +has been almost lived. You've been as brave as a lion ever since this +terrible trouble came to us. You have just as much at stake as I. We +must stand together, even more firmly than before, waiting and hoping +that all will be well. Before Tom went away he often said that he hoped +our life together would always be one long Golden Summer. I'm not going +to let winter overtake me now when my Golden Summer's hardly begun. This +is just a brief cloud that hides the sun. It will pass and we'll all be +happy together again. Just because our plans have all gone awry is no +sign that they always will. Postponing our wedding day doesn't mean +saying good-bye to happiness. It's only a brief postponement of +happiness, too." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE BETTER PART + + +Although Grace had so sturdily asserted her claim on happiness, +nevertheless she quailed secretly before the ordeal of writing to her +friends regarding the change in her plans. Long she pondered before +committing the gloomy information to paper. More than one anguished tear +fell from her eyes as she relentlessly pursued her difficult task. Not +so very long ago she had fondly dreamed of the time when she should +happily send to those she loved the summons to come to her on her +wedding day. But the pile of envelopes which eventually found their way +to the nearest mail-box contained news of a vastly different character. + +True to her promise she had conscientiously waited for the word from Mr. +Blaisdell which Mrs. Gray had anticipated. At the end of three days of +suspense she had sought her Fairy Godmother only to meet with a letter +from the investigator which sent hope to the winds. In it he stated that +aside from the station master at the lonely little railway station, he +had encountered no one who recalled seeing a young man of the +description of Tom Gray. He had learned from the former that Tom had +halted him to inquire the way to the camp and to ascertain if he could +obtain any means of conveyance on that day. As it was then four o'clock +in the afternoon and no one from the camp had met the train, the station +master had warned him that a storm was coming and advised him to wait +over until the following morning, offering Tom the hospitality of his +own home. The young man had politely declined his offer, saying that he +must reach the camp that night and would walk. He had said good-bye and +swung off toward the dense growth of forest that rose behind the +straggling hamlet, and nothing further had been seen or heard of him. + +Further inquiry at the camp, which Mr. Blaisdell had experienced +considerable difficulty in reaching, had developed the alarming news +that no such person as Tom Gray had been seen in that vicinity. He had +gleaned, however, that the station master's prediction of bad weather +had been verified and that a particularly heavy windstorm had swept that +region early in the evening of the day on which he had talked with the +young man. Torrents of rain had fallen and trees had been broken down +and uprooted. It was possible that Tom had lost his way and been killed +by a falling tree. Blaisdell did not believe this, however, as neither a +dead nor injured man had been found by the various search parties of +lumber men who had been sent out to cover the surrounding territory. So +far as possible the search had been conducted with the utmost secrecy. +He had not divulged Tom's name. As the camp was in an out of the way +place, peopled by a taciturn set of men who asked few questions, it was +not likely that any news would travel farther than its limits. + +The day following the receipt of this letter brought a telegraphic +notification from David Nesbit to the effect that he had reached the +lumber camp and was about to start on his search for his chum. With this +small consolation, the patient, tortured souls who awaited news of their +lost one were forced to be content. + +Hard as it had been to write to her trusty comrades, it was infinitely +harder for Grace to receive the messages of sympathy and love which +poured in upon her. Yet on the heels of her distress came one letter +which, despite the gravity of her present situation, moved Grace to +half-hearted laughter. On opening an envelope addressed to herself in +Arline Thayer's unmistakable script, Grace was mildly astonished to +read: + + "DEAR STANLEY: + + "After our talk last evening I am quite certain that I could never + be happy as your wife. It has shown me clearly that our aims and + viewpoints are so entirely different that it would be useless even + to dream of spending the remainder of our lives together. It is + hard to write this, but I feel that no matter what it may cost me I + must be true to myself. I am therefore returning your ring and + letters by express. You may do as you think best in regard to + returning the letters I have written you. + + "With a sincere wish for your future happiness, + + "Yours sincerely, + + "ARLINE THAYER." + +Tardily realizing that she had unwittingly perused a communication not +intended for her eyes, Grace lost no time in writing an apologetic +letter to Arline in which she enclosed the fateful missive of rejection. +How Arline had come to mail it to her was a matter for speculation. + +But she had only set eyes on the beginning of a drama as she was soon +destined to learn. Late the next afternoon, while seated on the front +veranda with her mother, she viewed with mingled emotions a taxicab +which had come to a full stop before the house. Out of it stepped a +small, golden-haired young woman whose smart pongee traveling coat and +bulging leather bag proclaimed that she had come from afar. + +"Arline Thayer!" cried Grace, running down the steps to meet the +newcomer as she passed through the gateway. "Why, Daffydowndilly! This +_is_ a surprise! You are the last person I had dreamed of seeing." Grace +caught the dainty little girl in a warm embrace. + +"I know I should have telegraphed you," apologized Arline, "but--well--I +didn't. I made up my mind all in an instant to come to you, and here I +am. Ever since I received your letter you've been constantly in my +thoughts. I replied at once. Of course you received it?" + +"Let me take your luggage, Daffydowndilly." Grace evaded Arline's +implied interrogation for the moment. "Come and pay your respects to +Mother, then we'll go upstairs to your room and you can rest a little +before dinner. You must be very tired after your long ride. Then, too, +we can exchange confidences. I have something to say to you about the +letter you just mentioned." Grace could not refrain from smiling a +little. She suspected that Arline had made a mistake, the precise result +of which was yet to be revealed. + +"What is the matter, Grace?" was Arline's quick question. She had +instantly detected the unusual in her friend's enigmatic smile and +evasive speech. + +Their progress to the veranda, where Mrs. Harlowe waited to greet the +unexpected but heartily-welcome arrival, prevented Grace's reply. It was +not until Arline had been ushered into one of the large, airy upper +chambers which Grace took so much pleasure in reserving for the use of +her frequent guests, that the former again repeated her question in +tones of deepening anxiety. + +"I will tell you when you have made yourself comfortable," stipulated +Grace. Assisting Arline in removing her hat and coat, she applied +herself assiduously to the comfort of her friend. + +"You are a truly ideal hostess, Grace," was Arline's tribute as she +finally settled herself in a deep willow chair. "Now I am ready to hear +what you have been keeping from me." + +"You asked me if I had received your letter," began Grace as she dropped +into a nearby chair. "Yesterday morning I _did_ receive a letter you +wrote, but it was not for me. The envelope was addressed to me, but the +letter--I read it before I realized that I hadn't that right--was +written to Mr. Stanley Forde. I wrote you an apology, enclosed the other +letter with it and mailed them to you." + +"Oh!" Arline gave a horrified gasp. "How perfectly dreadful! How in the +world did I happen to make such a mistake! This is awful!" + +"Then you wrote to me at the same time and confused the two letters? I +was afraid of that. But it doesn't matter to me if it doesn't to you." +Grace tried to put on an air of kindly unconcern. Secretly it saddened +her a trifle to know that a stranger had received even an inkling of her +private affairs. Undoubtedly Arline's letter to herself had contained an +expression of sympathy which could not fail to put Mr. Stanley Forde in +possession of certain painful facts relating to her own trouble. + +"But it matters a great deal!" exclaimed Arline, flushing deeply. "In +that letter to you I said that I could never be thankful enough that I +had had such a wonderful talk with you. I said, too, that you had made +me see things in a different light and that I knew now that what I had +believed was love wasn't love at all. Worse still, I said that if it had +not been for you I would never have had the courage to break my +engagement, but would have failed to be true to myself. Now, Stanley has +that letter!" Arline made a despairing gesture. "I don't care what he +thinks about _me_, but what will he think about _you_?" + +Grace was not prepared to answer this pertinent question from the jilted +Stanley's viewpoint. Personally she had a disagreeably clear idea of +what he was quite likely to think. Yet she was too sturdily honest by +nature to regret the advice she had given Arline in good faith. "I am +sorry this has happened," she returned slowly, "but I am not sorry for +what I said to you. I meant it. I would have said as much to Mr. Forde +had an occasion risen which demanded plain speaking." + +"You are Loyalheart, through and through," came impulsively from Arline. +"You would stand by your colors to the death. I couldn't blame you if +you were terribly angry with me for mixing you up so miserably in my +affairs. I should have been more careful, but I was dreadfully upset +when I wrote those letters. You see, Stanley came to my home on the +evening of the day he returned from Oregon. As you know, I had decided +to have a plain talk with him. It began pleasantly enough, but before it +ended we were both very angry. He declared point-blank that after we +were married I would positively _have_ to give up my settlement work. He +said a great many hateful, sneering things about the poor people I've +been trying to help. I was going to give him back his ring then, but I +remembered what you advised about not being too hasty. So I told him I +wouldn't discuss the subject with him any more that evening. + +"After that he was very pleasant. I suppose he thought he had won me +over to his point of view. When he had gone I sat for a long time on the +veranda thinking hard. Then I went upstairs to my room and wrote him, +breaking our engagement. Of course I cried a little. I was so unhappy. +Then I thought of you and felt like writing you about it. After I had +written both letters, I read them over; first the one to him, then +yours. It was after midnight and I was so tired. I suppose that is how I +happened to make the mistake of putting your address on his letter and +vice versa. He will be simply furious. I only hope that he doesn't write +you a hateful letter. If he writes to me, I'll send the letter back +unopened. You'd better do the same." + +"No; I couldn't do that. It is perfectly proper for you to do so, but it +would appear cowardly on my part. Let us hope he doesn't bother to write +me. Does he know my surname and where I live?" + +"Yes; I've told him of you a great many times. I wish now that I hadn't. +I am sure he will write you. It's a shame. I came to Oakdale to comfort +you and be comforted. Now I've landed both of us in a nice muddle." +Arline lifted a pair of mournful blue eyes to Grace. + +In the presence of impending tragedy a sudden sense of the ridiculous +swept the two girls. Their eyes meeting, they began to laugh. It was the +first genuine mirth that had stirred Grace Harlowe since the day on +which she had left the Briggs' cottage to return to Oakdale. + +"One ought not laugh over such a serious matter," apologized Arline, +with a half hysterical chuckle. "But I can't help thinking how surprised +you must have been to receive that letter to Stanley, and how wrathful +he must be by this time." + +"I'd rather laugh over it than cry," smiled Grace. "Don't worry, +Daffydowndilly. I'm not afraid of any letter that Mr. Stanley Forde may +choose to send me. You had better write him another letter at once, +though, and explain matters. You owe him that, at least." + +"I will," sighed Arline. "There's just one thing more I have to say. I +shall _never, never_ fall in love again. It's fatal to one's peace of +mind. Now that I've fallen out of love, I feel about a hundred years +younger. I'm going to be a nice, kind, spinster and found a home for +poor children." + +Grace smiled at this naive announcement. She was unselfishly glad that +Arline could thus lightly cast her burden from her dainty shoulders. +Perhaps she, too, would have known greater content, had love not entered +her heart. Yet in the same instant she put away the thought as unworthy +of herself. Come what might she was intensely sure that she had chosen +the better part. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +AN INNOCENT MEDDLER + + +Arline Thayer had entered Grace's home life at a moment when the latter +most needed the inspiring companionship of an intimate friend. Quickly +recovering from her own woes, it was borne upon Arline that she must +exert herself to the utmost to cheer up the girl who had never failed +her. The blithsome joy of living which, formerly, Grace had seemed to +radiate had entirely disappeared. Although she went about the house, +feigning desperately to maintain a cheerful attitude, a subdued air of +wistfulness clung to her that filled Arline with a fierce resentment +against the circumstances that had risen so unexpectedly to rob Grace of +her happiness. She frequently wondered how it was possible for Grace to +keep up so bravely in the face of such crushing adversity. Given the +same sinister conditions, Arline admitted inwardly that she could never +have maintained the remarkable composure which Grace daily exhibited. + +She was thinking of this when, on the afternoon of her third day's +sojourn with the Harlowes, the two young women had just left Haven Home +behind them, Grace having asked Arline to accompany her on one of her +frequent pilgrimages to her beautiful House Behind the World. Usually it +was Nora Wingate who went with her. Occasionally Mrs. Harlowe bore her +daughter company. + +Grace never visited Haven Home empty-handed. Always she carried some new +treasure designed by herself or her friends to adorn the stately +habitation in which she felt sure that some day would indeed mean Haven +Home to herself and Tom. Before he had left her to make the journey that +had resulted in his complete disappearance, she had promised him that +the finishing labors at Haven Home should go steadily forward. Those who +knew her most intimately could readily testify that she was +unfalteringly keeping her word. In moments of darkest depression she +wondered from whence came the strength that enabled her to go on with +these visits, each in itself a separate agony. She had been plunged for +a moment in one of these painful reveries when Arline asked with an +inflection of wonderment, "How can you be so brave, Grace?" + +"I'm not very brave," she answered, her eyes wistful. "Not so brave as I +wish I were. I have to struggle continually to make myself believe that +whatever happens must be for the best. I often feel bitter and resentful +and wonder why this sorrow should have been visited upon me rather than +on some one else. Of course, that is wrong. No one ought to wish their +troubles shifted to other folks' shoulders. Thousands of persons have +greater griefs than I. Take Aunt Rose, for instance, who lost her +husband and daughter so many years ago. Tom was the light of her life; +her greatest pride. Think what she is suffering! We had such high hopes +that David Nesbit would find Tom. Yet, thus far, he hasn't met with even +a clue. Poor little Fairy Godmother says she has only one thing for +which to be thankful. No one in Oakdale knows about Tom, barring a few +trusted friends. She had been in constant fear lest the newspaper +reporters should get hold of it. Of course it would be a severe shock to +her to pick up some day a paper and read, 'Mysterious Disappearance of +Tom Gray,' or 'Young Man Mysteriously Disappears on the Eve of His +Wedding Day,' or some cruel scarehead of the kind. I don't quite know +how I should feel about it." + +"But suppose he never came back," cut in Arline, her usual tact +deserting her. "Forgive me, Grace," she added penitently. "I should not +have said that." + +"Why not?" Only the sudden tightening of her lips betrayed that Arline's +thoughtless inquiry had struck home. "I faced that long ago. If we +continue to be without news of him, sooner or later his disappearance +_must_ become known. But Aunt Rose prefers to keep it secret as long as +possible. Her constant prayer is that he will return before any such +thing comes to pass. Sometimes I think it would be better if it were +generally known. I hate secrecy." + +During the drive to Mrs. Gray's, both girls were unusually silent. After +leaving the roadster in the Gray garage, they went up to the house to +spend an hour with the lonely old lady, whose pitiful efforts to be +cheerfully hospitable cut them both to the heart. Promising to come +again on the following day they left her, the forlorn little chatelaine +of a big house, grown oppresively empty since robbed of Tom's genial +presence. + +As they neared Grace's home, both glimpsed in the same instant a taxicab +standing in the street directly opposite to the house. + +"That taxicab is from the station!" exclaimed Grace. "Hurry, Arline, it +may be--" She broke off short, her heart thumping madly. She dared not +voice the hope that perhaps her weary waiting was over. + +Arriving on the veranda, Grace made a hasty entrance through the open +hall door. Pausing in the hall, deep masculine tones, issuing from the +drawing room, caused her to speed toward the sound, Arline at her heels. +The voice was not Tom's, yet her first wild conjecture as she viewed the +stranger seated in a chair near the door, was that he might be Mr. +Blaisdell, the investigator, with news of Tom. + +A faint cry of, "Stanley Forde!" from Arline sent over her a sickening +wave of disappointment. As they entered, the young man rose, looking the +reverse of amiable as he stepped forward, grim purpose in every feature. +Ignoring Grace he addressed himself to Arline with the stiff rebuke: + +"I have been waiting for you for some time." + +"I did not expect you." Arline's blue eyes flashed forth her +displeasure. Merely touching the hand he offered her, she said, "Mr. +Forde, this is my _friend_, Grace Harlowe." + +The young man acknowledged the introduction with an ironical smile in +which Grace read trouble ahead for herself. She met him with a frank, +kindly courtesy that betrayed nothing of her inner mind. Personally, she +was not impressed in his favor. + +"You will pardon my leaving you, Mr. Forde?" Mrs. Harlowe had also +risen. She now addressed the young man with a distant politeness which +Grace recognized as disapproval. From Arline she had learned of the +broken engagement. It seemed evident that she also had not been +favorably impressed with her guest's ex-fiance. + +"Certainly. Very pleased to have met you," bowed the unwelcome caller. +Again Grace caught faint sarcasm in the speech. + +Hardly had Mrs. Harlowe disappeared when he turned to Grace, his heavy +brows meeting in a decided frown. "I believe I am indebted to you, Miss +Harlowe, for a great disappointment which has recently come to me. Your +unkind interference has caused Arline to reconsider her promise to +become my wife. It is fortunate that she made the mistake of sending the +letter she wrote you to me. It has put me in complete possession of the +facts of the case. I----" + +"You have no right to come here uninvited and insult Grace Harlowe in +her own house," cut in Arline in a low, furious voice. "You shall not +accuse her of interfering. I won't allow it. It is----" + +"Please allow Mr. Forde to say whatever he wishes, Arline." Grace's +interruption came with gentle dignity. Her gaze resting untroubled on +the angry man, she said: "I had no wish to interfere in your affairs, +Mr. Forde." + +"Then why did you do it?" came the bitter retort. "What grudge could you +possibly have against a man you had never even met?" + +"None whatever," was the soft answer. + +"But you interfered. This letter proves as much." Triumphantly he jerked +the misdirected letter from a coat pocket. + +Grace was silent. She did not wish to say that Arline had appealed to +her for advice, neither was she anxious to remain in the room as a third +party. + +"I'll tell you the reason," volunteered Arline sharply. "I asked Grace's +advice." Her pretty face pale with resentment, Arline poured forth a +rapid outline of her talk with Grace. "That's the reason," she ended. +"If you had met me fairly when I tried to talk to you about my work this +would never have happened. I am glad now that it has. I don't love you +and never have truly loved you. I am glad to be free. I shall never +marry any one. All men are hateful! Now I wish you to go away, and +never, never speak to me again as long as you live!" + +But the unpleasant interview continued for another ten minutes despite +Arline's pointed dismissal. Mr. Stanley Forde could not forgive Grace +for what he rudely termed her "meddling." The idolized son of a +too-adoring, snobbish mother, he had nothing in common with Grace's high +ideals. Though she explained to him gently that she had only advised +Arline to choose whichever course seemed wisest, remembering only that +nothing counted so much as being true to herself, her lofty precepts +merely tended further to infuriate him. + +"You are one of those empty-headed idealists who go about creating +disturbances for sensible persons," was the scathing criticism he +delivered the moment she ceased speaking. "You will regret this +interference in my affairs. Now that you know my opinion of you, will +you kindly leave us? I wish to talk privately with Arline." + +"I don't wish to talk to you at all," flared Arline hotly. "Please don't +leave me, Grace. Whatever Mr. Forde has to say he must say in your +presence." + +"I am sorry, Arline, but I must ask you to excuse me from remaining +longer in the room. Mr. Forde has come a long way to see you. I think +you should grant his request for a private talk with you. Good +afternoon, Mr. Forde. I regret that you should have so entirely +misunderstood my motives." The finality of her words robbed the +disagreeable caller of a ready reply. Before he could rally a further +relay of rude sarcasm to his aid, Grace had left the room. + +If it is indeed true that actions speak louder than words, the +distinctly belligerent manner in which, ten minutes later, Mr. Stanley +Forde stormed down the walk to the waiting taxicab, gave glaring proof +of the dire result of his untimely call. From the garden, where Grace +had fled to recover from the irritation of having been so grossly +misunderstood, she saw the boorish young man depart. Privately she +marveled that Arline should have so deceived herself in regard to her +feelings for him. He was undoubtedly handsome, yet his regular features +indicated a certain lack of strength and nobility which she thought +totally marred his claim to good looks. His large black eyes had a trick +of narrowing unpleasantly, and the set of his mouth betokened tyranny. + +Her sympathy going out to Arline, she passed slowly among the winding +garden paths, lined with colorful summer flowers, and entered the house. +The sight of a pathetic little figure crumpled in a disconsolate heap on +a broad settee aroused her pity afresh. + +"Don't cry, Daffydowndilly," she soothed, sitting down beside her. "He +isn't worth it. You were wise in breaking your engagement. Some day real +love will come knocking at your door. You were never intended to be a +sedate spinster and live out your days in single blessedness. I'm sorry +for Mr. Forde. He loves you, I think. But not in the unselfish way you +deserve to be adored." + +Grace paused, her hand straying gently over the curly head against her +shoulder. All of a sudden she felt very aged and very tired. The +unpleasant scene with Arline's disgruntled suitor had shaken her +severely. She was living out the Golden Summer, that had promised so +much, in a fashion far different from the glorious realization of it for +which she and Tom had hoped and planned. Yet she had been mercifully +spared the pain of beholding a cherished ideal shatter itself at her +feet. God had granted her the priceless boon of a true man's true love. +Though she and Tom had but briefly glimpsed their Golden Summer, the +remembrance of his unselfish devotion would keep it alive forever. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE BEGINNING OF THE END + + +Two days elapsed, following the call of the belligerent Stanley Forde, +before Arline ended her visit to Grace. Once she had departed, Grace +missed her sorely. Her coming had been a timely break in the now sad +routine which Grace daily pursued. Many of her Oakdale acquaintances and +friends were still vacationing at the seashore or in the mountains. Had +they been at home, she would not have sought them for companionship. +Aside from the many hours she spent with Mrs. Gray, she clung +desperately to Nora and Hippy Wingate. Even jovial Hippy was +considerably less lively than of yore. His affection for Tom Gray was +only second to his devoted friendship for Reddy Brooks, who had been his +childhood's chum. Among the four young men, Tom, David, Hippy and Reddy, +an ideal comradeship had ever existed, unfaltering and unchangeable. +Tom's sudden and still unexplained removal had cast a pall over the +remaining trio that was likely to linger indefinitely. + +On the afternoon of the next day after Arline's departure, a +highly-excited young man, whose plump, genial face wore an expression of +angry concern, hurried up the walk to the Harlowe's veranda. + +"Why, Hippy Wingate, what are you doing here so early?" demanded Nora, +from the porch swing. "You can't have your dinner yet. It's only four +o'clock. When you're invited to six o'clock dinner you mustn't arrive +two hours beforehand. Didn't you know that?" This wifely counsel was +accompanied by a teasing smile that belied its harshness. + +"Don't pay any attention to her, Hippy," called Grace mischievously. +"Come up on the veranda where it's nice and cool. I give you permission +to sit in the porch swing beside the haughty Mrs. Wingate. Better still, +I'll bring you some fruit lemonade and a whole plate of those fat little +chocolate cakes you like so much." + +"Now I hope you understand at last how much other people appreciate me," +rebuked Hippy, as he plumped himself down in the swing with an energy +that set it swaying wildly. "I shan't give you a single cake." + +"I don't want any. I've had four already. I hope _you_ understand that +you've made me prick my finger," retorted Nora, dropping her embroidery +to hold up the injured member for inspection. + +"Too bad," mourned Hippy, applying the familiar remedy of the devoted. +"Did you really lacerate your itty bitty finger? I don't see any signs +of it." + +"Only the blind can't see," flung back Nora. "All joking aside, what +brought you here so early?" + +Hippy cast an uneasy glance toward the doorway through which Grace had +just vanished. "This," he returned soberly. Unfolding a New York City +newspaper, he pointed to a black headline which read, "Young Man +Mysteriously Disappears." + +Nora drew a sharp breath of dismay as her startled glance traveled down +the column. "Where--how--" she stammered. + +"I don't know." Hippy glared savagely at the offending newspaper. "I've +got to show it to Grace," he deplored. "I'd rather be shot. Some one +broke a confidence. It's outrageous in who ever broke it." + +"I should say so," agreed Nora. "You'd better--Here she comes now." + +Grace stepped into view, carrying a quaint Japanese tray laden with +delectable cheer. In her crisp dotted swiss gown of white, her sensitive +face a trifle thinner than of yore, she looked hardly older than in her +freshman days at high school. "Here you are, weary wanderer," she said +gayly. "Eat, drink and be merry." + +[Illustration: "Here You Are, Weary Wanderer," She Said Gayly.] + +Hippy groaned inwardly as he sprang from the swing to relieve her of the +tray. "Grace," he began with grave affection, "I have something not in +the least pleasant to tell you. I don't----" + +"About Tom?" Grace's question rang out sharply on the drowsy air. + +"It's not bad news of him," Hippy hastily assured, "but it's about him." + +"Then tell me quickly." Grace braced herself for the shock, her gray +eyes riveted on Hippy. + +"Here it is." Hippy handed her the fateful newspaper. "I wanted to be +the first to let you know it," he added in sympathetic apology. "I am +afraid some one has played you false." + +Grace focused her gaze on the flaring headline. Sinking into the nearest +porch chair she read on, apparently lost to her surroundings. Raising +her eyes at last from the printed sheet she astonished both Hippy and +Nora with a quiet, "I am glad of this." + +"Glad?" rose the inquiring chorus. + +"Yes; glad. During the last two weeks I've felt very queer about keeping +Tom's disappearance a secret. At first I dreaded to have any one know, +on account of Fairy Godmother's horror of gossip and on my own account, +too. She was afraid that some malicious person might start the story +that he had purposely dropped out of sight. We know that could not be +so, yet others might not share our belief in him. But lately I've been +seeing matters differently. So long as the affair is kept a secret, he +will never be found. With the news of his disappearance spread abroad by +the newspapers, some one may come to light who has seen him or heard of +him in some way. I am going to try to regard the public as friends who +would like to help us all they can." + +"I think you are right about that," emphasized Hippy. "You are true +blue, Grace. You have carried yourself through this nightmare summer +like a soldier and a gentleman. That's the highest praise I can offer. +No wonder you annexed the name 'Loyalheart' at college." + +"Grace, have you any idea who furnished the copy for this?" Nora pointed +a disapproving finger at the newspaper. "Do you--that is--do you suppose +one of the girls--I thought--perhaps----" + +"No, Kathleen West would never break her word." Grace smiled +whimsically. "You were thinking of her?" + +"Yes; I knew she was connected with a newspaper," admitted Nora, +coloring. + +"None of the girls to whom I wrote about Tom had anything to do with +this. I trust them as fully as I trust you. This information found its +way into the newspapers through a different channel." + +"Then you know who--" began Nora. + +"Yes, I know," Across Grace's brain flashed the vision of an angry face, +lighted by two narrowing black eyes. She mentally heard a threatening +voice predict vindictively, "You will regret this interference in my +affairs." The misdirected letter had again created trouble. She recalled +having feared this when Arline had explained her blunder in confusing +the two letters. Undoubtedly in writing to Grace, Daffydowndilly had +mentioned Tom Gray's name and, in expressing her sympathy, had +practically gone over the information contained in Grace's letter to her +regarding the postponement of her marriage. + +"I should like to tell you, children," she continued, "but I can't, +because the telling would involve a certain person whose confidence I +hold. I will say this much. It was petty spite which prompted the deed." +Grace's lips curved in faint scorn. Stanley Forde was truly a person of +small soul and less honor. Such despicable retaliation against a woman +was the last touch needed to prove his unfitness to protect the welfare +of loyal little Daffydowndilly. + +"Oh, don't think of us," hastily assured Hippy. "We wouldn't listen to +you if you tried to tell us. We understand. All the more credit to you +for behaving like a clam. That's a compliment. Perhaps I had better +explain. You notice I didn't say you _looked_ like a clam." Hippy tried +to infuse a little humor into the situation. + +Grace flashed him an amused smile. "'I thank the gods for a saving sense +of humor,'" she quoted. Her face instantly sobering she said: "We ought +to see Aunt Rose at once about this newspaper affair. Perhaps the three +of us ought to go up to her house before dinner. We shall have time." + +"Are you sure you would rather not go alone?" Nora put the question in +her usual direct fashion. + +"No; I wish you and Hippy to go with me. But first, Hippy, you must eat +your cakes and drink your lemonade." Grace picked up the well-filled +tray which Hippy had temporarily set aside and held it out to him. +"Don't let this queer new turn in my affairs drive away your desire for +cakes." + +"You are the eighth wonder, Grace. If the universe were to turn upside +down I believe you'd forget your own jolts and fly to the rescue of the +other human nine-pins." Hippy looked his admiration of Grace's sturdy +stand under the buffets of misfortune. "I will eat every last one of +these alluring tidbits and drink two glasses of lemonade just to show +you that I know hospitality when I meet it on a veranda." + +"See that you do. Now excuse me. I must show this newspaper to Mother. +When I come back we'd better go to see Fairy Godmother." + +The confidential session between mother and daughter lasted not more +than ten minutes, yet before it ended Grace crept silently into the +shelter of her mother's arms to shed a few tears on her all-comforting +shoulder. It was not the printed article relating to Tom which prompted +them. It was poignant sorrow for his long unexplained absence from her +that brought brief faltering. + +When she returned to the veranda, where Hippy was busy with the last of +the cakes and his second glass of lemonade, her sensitive features bore +no sign of her moment of weakness. + +"I have kept my vow." Hippy pointed significantly to the empty plate. +"Nothing remains but a few discouraged crumbs." Suddenly changing his +light tone, he raised his glass of lemonade and said with solemn +intensity: "Here's to Tom Gray; a speedy and safe return. I can't help +feeling that it will be so." + +"Thank you, Hippy." The faint color in Grace's cheeks deepened. A gleam +of new hope kindled in her eyes. "You said a while ago that you wondered +at my being so calm about Tom. I can't be anything else, because I never +allow myself to think that he won't come back. If I did, I'd be utterly +miserable. You thought this article in the newspaper might hurt me. Two +weeks ago it would have done so. But now! Somehow it seems to me to be +the first definite link in the chain that stretches between him and me. +It's the beginning of the end, and just as surely as I stand here I +believe something good will come of it." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +MERELY A LOOKER-ON + + +The three bearers of the news, which they had reason to believe would +prove so disturbing to Mrs. Gray, were doomed to disappointment. They +reached her home on Chapel Hill only to find that she had been summoned +early that afternoon to the bedside of an old friend who was very ill, +and would not return until late in the evening. + +Grace was relieved at being thus able to postpone the detailing of the +disagreeable news. She was in a quandary regarding loyalty to Arline and +loyalty to her Fairy Godmother. She was of the opinion, however, that it +was the latter's right to know all, even at the expense of breaking the +confidence Arline had reposed in her. She had little doubt that Arline +would not object to such an action on her part, yet such was her nature +that she found it difficult to accept this view of the subject. + +After Hippy and Nora had gone home that evening she wrote a long letter +to Arline, setting the matter frankly before her. She knew that before +the letter reached her friend, she would have already told all to Mrs. +Gray. Still she reflected that she had at least behaved fairly. + +But the following morning brought with it the knowledge that Arline had +already taken the initiative. Special delivery was responsible for a +letter from an incensed Daffydowndilly, which fairly sputtered with +indignation. Grace was obliged to smile as seeking its contents she saw: + + "DEAREST GRACE: + + "That horrible, hateful old Stanley Forde is the most despicable + person in the whole world. I was simply furious when I read that + article about your fiance, Tom Gray. I called Stanley on the + telephone and accused him of giving the story to the newspapers. Of + course I knew in a minute it was he. I remembered all I had said in + that letter to you which I sent him by mistake. He actually laughed + and said that he did it to pay you for meddling. I told him he + would be held responsible for giving the story to that newspaper, + but he said that as long as it was true, as he could prove by my + letter, that the editor of the newspaper had a perfect right to use + it if he wished. He pointed out that it was nothing against Mr. + Gray's character and therefore legitimate news. + + "Then he had the unspeakable temerity to ask me if he might call on + me. You can imagine what I said. Thank goodness and you that I + found him out in time. I would be happier with a blind, deaf and + dumb man who couldn't walk than to be married to such a person. I + am _so_ angry. I have written another letter to dear Mrs. Gray + explaining the whole thing. She was so sweet to me when in Oakdale + that I felt it my duty to tell her everything. Will you go to her + and explain even more fully? You can fill in any gaps which my + letter to her may contain. Tell her every single thing about me. I + wish her to know it. I am sending her letter by special delivery + also. Must hurry and post both letters, so I will close. Write to + me soon. + + "Faithfully, + + "DAFFYDOWNDILLY THAYER + + ("To the end of the chapter.") + +Grace laid down this energetic communication with a faintly glad sigh. +This snarl at least had righted itself. Suppose it were an omen? "The +beginning of the end," she had said. It was a little thing, but in some +indefinable fashion her heart grew lighter. As Arline's letter had come +to her in time of need, perhaps out of the vast unknown would come some +sign of or from the lost one. + +Her straight brows arched themselves in surprise as she devoted herself +to the reading of a letter from Miriam Nesbit. + + "BELOVED LOYALHEART: + + "Can you, your father and mother come to New York City at once? + Everett and I are to be married on Friday evening at eight o'clock, + then take a night train for California. So my well-laid plans for a + grand wedding the last of October will have to end in mere + announcement cards. But I'll explain. You know I told you of those + wonderful open-air performances of Greek plays that have been going + on at a spot not far from Ravenwood, the motion picture studio + where Everett and Anne filmed Hamlet and Macbeth. To go back to the + Greek plays--they will end next week. They have proved so + successful that the management wishes to follow them with a series + of Shakesperian performances, as they have had requests for them + from all sides. To come directly to the point, the stellar honors + have been offered Everett, therefore I am about to sacrifice pomp + and ceremony on the altar of true love. + + "We are to be married in the Little Church Around the Corner where + so many professionals have taken their sacred vows. Only my nearest + and dearest are to be there. There will be neither a best man nor a + bridesmaid and I shall be married in a traveling gown and turn my + cherished trousseau into prosaic wardrobe. Even my wedding gown + will have to be used afterward, minus the veil, of course, as an + evening frock. I have telegraphed David and hope he can come. If he + does, he will go back to his search the day after my marriage. Poor + Loyalheart, I cannot write you all I feel for you. I'll try to tell + you when I see you. Don't disappoint me. I cannot bear to think of + going on this new pilgrimage without your being present to wish me + godspeed. With my dearest love and sympathy, + + "MIRIAM." + + "P. S. I hope Fairy Godmother will come, too. I have written her." + +As Grace read the signature, the letter fluttered to the floor unheeded. +Her generous soul rejoiced at Miriam's happiness, yet never before had +the gloom of her own situation struck her so sharply. One by one her +trusted comrades were placing their lives in the care of the chosen men +of their hearts. Only a little while before she had been of them all +perhaps the most buoyant. Her engagement to Tom, after months of +harrowing indecision, had always been a matter of reverent wonder to +her. She had looked eagerly forward to attending Miriam's wedding. Now +she dreaded the thought. She felt that she could have better borne with +attending an elaborate and formal wedding than to mingle with the +intimate few who would be present at the Little Church Around the +Corner. Yet she had no choice in the matter. + +Seeking her mother, Grace gave her Miriam's letter. A short consultation +in which it was decided that Grace must represent her family at Miriam's +wedding, and she was speeding upstairs to pack a steamer trunk. The mere +glance at a huge cedar chest in which reposed her own wedding gown sent +a chill to her heart. Listlessly she made her preparations for the +flitting. She would take the noon train which would reach New York at +nine o'clock that evening, provided her Fairy Godmother should decide +not to go to the wedding. Should she do so, then they would probably +wait until the following morning. At all events she would be ready. + +Her labor of packing accomplished, Grace set off for her interview with +Mrs. Gray. She found the lonely old lady raised to the nth power of +indignation over the deplorable newspaper notice. Anger at that +"detestable Forde person" had electrified her into a semblance of her +formerly vivacious self. Grace was delighted at the change, but had +considerable difficulty in reconciling her wrathful Fairy Godmother to +her own point of view. + +"I dare say you may be right, child," she reluctantly conceded, after +Grace had held forth at length. "That villainous young man may possibly +have done us a good turn, unawares. It was sweet in little Arline to +write me so beautifully. What a narrow escape she has had, to be sure! +If Tom were anything like this miserable man, Forde, I should not care +whether or not he ever came back. The publicity of this has upset my +nerves completely. We shall have to weather it, I suppose, now that the +mischief is done." + +"I am glad you can look at it in that light," was Grace's earnest +response. "Are you going to New York to see Miriam married, dear?" + +"Bless me, I had quite forgotten Miriam's wedding. When is it to be?" + +"Then you haven't received her letter!" Grace cried out in dismay. + +"I haven't looked at any of my mail, except this letter from Arline. It +was first on the pile. Jane gave me the newspaper when I returned last +night. She had already seen the article about Tom. Would you mind +sorting the mail? Miriam's letter is probably among the others. I have +tried to pay special attention to my mail since my poor boy vanished, +for fear of missing something I ought to know. But this morning my mind +was on Arline's letter and that newspaper. I think I shall have to +engage a secretary. You know I've never had one since Anne gave up the +position." + +Grace, whose fingers and eyes had been busy while Mrs. Gray talked, held +up a square white envelope. "Here is Miriam's letter." + +"I think we had better go to-day," decided Mrs. Gray, when at her +request Grace had read her Miriam's letter. "This is Wednesday. That +will give us two days with the Nesbits. As it is only half-past ten we +can catch that 12.30 train, provided you are ready. Ring for Jane. She +can quickly pack whatever I need to take with me. It is lucky that I +bought Miriam's wedding gift some time ago. I really think this little +trip will benefit me, though the very idea of attending a wedding gives +me the horrors. Still Miriam is one of my adopted children. I hope David +can come. I am anxious to talk with him. Strange that he can find out +nothing about Tom." + +Roused from the listless apathy which had so persistently preyed upon +her, Mrs. Gray rattled on with a new and surprising cheerfulness which +delighted Grace. Perhaps this was another link in the invisible chain. +The sudden upheaval of Miriam's plans for a magnificent wedding had at +least benefited one person. Then, too, they would perhaps see David and +learn more definitely of the territory which Tom had invaded to his +sorrow. + +Waiting only long enough to see Mrs. Gray deep in her preparations for +the coming journey, Grace hurried home to don a traveling gown, say a +fond farewell to her mother and leave a loving good-bye message for her +father. A telephone call left with her mother for her during her absence +informed her that Nora had heard from Miriam, too. She and Hippy would +take the evening train for New York. + +"We are rallying to Miriam's standard," Grace declared with a flash of +her former enthusiasm, when her mother had repeated Nora's message. "If +Jessica and Reddy can manage the trip, then--" She stopped, the smile +faded from her face. She had been about to say that the Eight Originals +would all be there. Turning abruptly she walked from the living-room, +the sentence unfinished. For a brief instant she had forgotten that +unless the unknown suddenly yielded up its prey, one loved face would be +missing from the Eight Originals. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +J. ELFREDA'S MASTER STROKE + + +As the twilight of a perfect September day deepened into purple night, a +little company of persons crossed the threshold of the quaint Little +Church Around the Corner. Though few in number it was a gathering +strongly fortified by warm affection. The several passers-by who chanced +to see this small procession enter the unpretentious sanctuary had no +difficulty in divining their purpose or singling out the chief +participants in the affair. The face of the beautiful, dark-eyed girl, +gowned in a smart tailored coat suit of brown, wore the shy radiance of +a bride. The tall, distinguished-looking man who accompanied her was +easily identified as the happy party of the second part. + +Though destiny had taken an unexpected hand in Miriam Nesbit's wedding +plans, she was perhaps better satisfied to make her vows of life-long +devotion in the presence of only those she had known best. Miss +Southard, Mrs. Nesbit, David, Anne, Grace, Hippy, Nora and Mrs. Gray +were present, as Miriam's nearest, and undoubtedly her dearest. Second +in her regard were J. Elfreda Briggs, Arline Thayer, Kathleen West and +Mabel Ashe, whose residence in or near New York made their attendance +possible. Greatly to the regret of all concerned, Jessica and Reddy had +been unable to come to the wedding. Though a decided air of informality +permeated the little assemblage, the always impressive ceremony of +marriage had never seemed more sacred to the chosen few. At Miriam's +earnest request they grouped themselves about her, a fond guard, while +the minister, Everett Southard's comrade of long standing, spoke the +simple, beautiful words that linked two lives together, "for better or +for worse, through good and evil report." + +From the moment she entered the Little Church until, the ceremony over, +she found herself being helped into the Nesbits' automobile, Grace was +as one in a dream. She had noted in absent wonder the play of more than +one handkerchief as her friends wiped away the furtive tears that are +always as sure to fall in the presence of a great happiness, as when the +occasion is one of grief. But she had no tears to shed. Weeks of silent +suffering had bereft her of that relief. Her sensitive face grew a +trifle more wistful as she listened to the sonorous voice intoning the +sacred words, but her brooding gray eyes remained dry. She alone knew +the agony of dull pain which clutched persistently at her heart. + +During the ceremony more than one pair of sympathetic eyes strayed from +Miriam and Everett Southard to the slender, white-clad girly whose +grave, sweet mouth and unfaltering glance told of a strength that came +from within. In the thick of the congratulations which followed, there +was not one of those who adored Grace who did not yearn to turn to her +and comfort her. Yet her very composure made consolation impossible. +They realized that she was sufficient unto herself. + +On the way to the station, where the Southards were to entrain almost +immediately for the West, she talked in her usual cheerful strain to +Mrs. Nesbit, Mrs. Gray and Elfreda Briggs, who shared an automobile with +her. David and Anne were in the Southards' limousine with Miss Southard +and the newly wedded pair, while the other members of the party had +followed in a larger automobile. Secretly, Grace and Mrs. Gray were +longing to talk with David Nesbit. He had arrived from the north only an +hour before the wedding, thus giving them no chance for an interview. +Both were imbued with but one thought and that thought centered on Tom +Gray. + +When the last hearty words of good will and farewell had been said and +the train bearing the Southards westward had chugged out of the station, +Grace was still obliged to possess her soul in patience while the +remainder of the wedding party, minus the chief participants, repaired +to the Nesbits' home for an informal supper in honor of the occasion. +During its progress, however, she and David managed to exchange a few +words regarding Tom. David had canvassed the region of the camp as +thoroughly as was possible during the time he had been North, but thus +far he had met with no clue to Tom's whereabouts. + +It was after eleven o'clock when Hippy, Nora, Anne, David, Mrs. Gray, +Mrs. Nesbit, Grace and Elfreda Briggs, whom Grace had begged to remain +with her, settled themselves in the library to hear David's account of +his northern explorations. + +"I am all broken up because I have no news for you," he began. "Good old +Tom's disappearance is the most baffling problem I've ever dealt with. +Blaisdell is completely discouraged. He and I have tramped through those +woods for days from daylight until dark. So far as we know, no one saw +Tom after he left the village. I found one little boy who insists that +he saw Tom that day, but he saw him just before he entered the woods, so +that doesn't help much. But I won't give up. I shall have to remain in +New York for a day, then I am going back to stay until I find him." + +"Mr. Blaisdell has written me that he must go to Cincinnati for a week +or two," sighed Mrs. Gray. "A case he was working on, before he took up +mine, needs his immediate attention." + +"Yes; he told me," nodded David. "He is a splendid man, but he's +handicapped in Tom's case by not being a thorough-going woodsman. His +work has lain a great deal in large cities. If one of us had disappeared +in such a wild region, instead of Tom, I'd say the very man to do the +trailing would be Tom Gray himself. What I can't understand is how an +expert woodsman like Tom could come to grief in the wilds." + +"Tom was always venturesome and reckless of danger," replied Mrs. Gray +with an ominous shake of her head. "I wish he had gone into some +commercial enterprise rather than to have become interested in forestry. +You know that the station master told him a storm was brewing, but he +paid no attention to the warning." + +"That storm was the cause of Tom's vanishing," broke in Grace almost +dramatically. "I've always felt it. It made him lose his way, +then----Who knows what happened then?" + +"I wish I could go with you, David," declared Hippy earnestly. "I would, +too, if I weren't tied up with a law suit which an irate traction +company is waging against the city of Oakdale. Although I am not a +woodsman, still I know the difference between a tree and a stump, and +during my long and useful career I have killed numbers of slimy, +slithery snakes." + +"At least, that's something to be proud of," lauded Elfreda Briggs, +favoring Hippy with an amused smile. The stout young man's remarks were +quite in accord with her own distinct sense of humor. Hitherto she had +listened without comment, absorbing all she heard and mentally +appraising it in her shrewd fashion. She had chosen to break into the +conversation at that moment because of an idea that was slowly taking +shape in her fertile brain. + +"I suppose," she continued nonchalantly, "that as David has just said, +it takes a woodsman to trail a woodsman." Her round eyes fastened +themselves on Grace. Knowing Elfreda as she did, Grace flashed the +speaker a curiously startled glance. Something of signal import to her +was about to fall from Elfreda's lips. + +"I was just thinking of the story of Ruth Denton's father and old Jean, +the hunter, who used to live in Upton Wood. Don't you remember, you told +me about how he was hurt and Mr. Denton nursed him back to health! You +told me, too, that this same Jean had hunted all over the United States +and Canada. There's a woodsman for you! If he's still in Oakdale, why +don't you ask him to go and look for Tom?" Elfreda leaned back in her +chair, well pleased with herself. The expressions mirrored on her +friends' faces told her that she had scored. + +"Why did we never think of Jean before?" wondered Grace in a hushed +voice. + +"Good old Jean!" Hippy sprang to his feet and performed a joyful dance +about the room. "Why, of course he's the very man!" + +"It was unforgivably stupid in me never to have thought of Jean," +admitted David, looking deep disgust at his own defection. + +"The reason none of us thought of Jean was because I made such a point +of keeping Tom's disappearance a secret," acknowledged Mrs. Gray +ruefully. "Did Grace tell you that a New York newspaper had published an +account of it?" + +"Miriam sent me a copy of the newspaper," returned David. "Who gave out +the news?" + +Mrs. Gray cast an interrogatory glance toward Grace, who met it with an +assuring smile. "It's all right, Aunt Rose," she nodded. "I have +Arline's permission to answer. She wishes me to tell anyone whom I think +ought to know it. She said so to-day." With this explanation Grace +continued: "I wrote Arline about the postponement of my marriage to Tom. +She answered, but confused her letter with another which she had written +to someone else. That person proved unfriendly to both of us, and so the +mystery of poor Tom came into print." + +"So that's the way it happened," mused David. Delicacy forbade him to +ask further questions. He understood, as did the others, that Grace's +explanation had been purposely sketchy. "Personally, I'm not sorry it's +now generally known. It may be the means of bringing Tom into the land +of the living again. I don't mean that I think he's dead. I can't and +won't think that." + +"Nor I," Grace cried out sharply. "I've never let myself believe that +for an instant. We ought to give Elfreda special vote of grateful thanks +for suggesting Jean. That was a master stroke." + +Grace's suggestion brought out a volley of acclamation in Elfreda's +direction. + +"Oh, forget it," she muttered, unconsciously relapsing into her old-time +use of slang. "Old Jean just happened to pop into my head. That's all." + +"Just the same, it takes an outsider to show the Oakdalites a few +things," warmly accorded Hippy. "I am proud to claim you as a colleague, +Elfreda. Some day we may yet grapple together with the intricacies of +the law. 'Wingate and Briggs, Lawyer and Lawyeress. Daring Deeds +Perpetrated While You Wait,' would look nice on a sign." + +"I can see that you are making fun of a poor defenseless lawyeress," +retorted Elfreda good-humoredly. "Don't you think so, Mrs. Nesbit? +You've been listening to all of us without saying a word. Now we'd like +to hear your views on whether or not Wingate and Briggs, etc., would set +the world on fire as a law firm." + +"I have little doubt of the glorious future of such a combination," +agreed Mrs. Nesbit, smiling. There was an absent look in her eyes, +however. Her thoughts had been traveling persistently into the past as +she sat listening to the interesting discussion over the missing Tom. +Was it possible that Miriam, her little girl of yesterday, had actually +stepped out on the highway of married life? And Grace Harlowe, the +care-free torn-boy who had run races and flown kites with David, was now +a tragic-eyed young woman from whose hand fate had roughly snatched the +cup of happiness. There were Nora and Hippy, too, a veritable Darby and +Joan, despite their love for playful squabbling. Could it be that these +alert, self-reliant young men and women were once the children who had +romped and frisked about on her lawn, or played house under the tall +hollyhocks in the garden? + +"You are tired out, Mrs. Nesbit," suggested Grace with concern. She had +noted the brooding light in the older woman's gentle face and quickly +attributed the cause. "I think it is time to sound taps. We can continue +our session in the morning, can't we, Fairy Godmother?" + +"Yes. I am not nearly as young as I wish I were. This trouble about Tom +has made me realize it," returned Mrs. Gray somberly. "But Elfreda has +given us a valuable piece of advice. I am inclined to hope with Grace +that we have reached the beginning of the end of our weary waiting." + +"I've a favor to ask of you," stated Elfreda mysteriously, when, a +little later, she and Grace entered the sleeping room which they were to +occupy together. + +"It is granted." Grace passed an affectionate arm about Elfreda's plump +shoulders. + +"All right. I don't need to ask, then. I'll just remark that I'm going +home with you to Oakdale." + +"Elfreda!" Grace brought both arms into play in an energetic hug of the +stout girl. "Will you truly come home with me!" + +"I will," asserted Elfreda. + +"But what about your work?" + +"Let the law take its course--without me," was the unconcerned response. +"I wouldn't miss seeing old Jean for anything. But that's not my reason +for inviting myself to go home with you. I can see that you need a +comforter. Do I get the job?" + +"You do," laughed Grace, but the laugh ended in a sob against Elfreda's +shoulder. It had been a trying day for poor Loyalheart and the +inevitable reaction had set in. "You--understand--don't--you?" she +murmured brokenly. + +"Yes; I know how brave you've been to-day." Elfreda's soothing tones +were a trifle unsteady, as she added in tender whimsicality, "I could +see." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +FATE + + +Returned to Oakdale, Grace's first step was toward finding Jean, whose +long residence in the snug cabin in Upton Wood had made him seem like a +part of the forest itself. Greatly to her dismay, old Jean was not to be +found. Nora, Hippy, Elfreda and herself made a trip to the cabin only to +find it locked. On a bit of paper tacked to the door, appeared the +laboriously written notice: "Gone way June 2. Come back som day." + +It was a tragic downfall to the new hope that Grace had been confidently +nursing, and it took all the fortitude she could summon to recover even +in a measure from her bitter disappointment. Where to look for Jean she +had not the remotest notion. She knew only too well that "som day" was +quite likely to mean next winter. Jean was one of those rare persons who +can follow the dictates of his own pleasure. The whole woodland universe +was his to roam at will. His life-long communion with Nature had taught +him to supply his simple wants with the ease with which the prehistoric +denizens of the forest had attended to theirs, and life was to him one +glorious succession of light-hearted wayfaring. + +Every now and then, however, he would descend upon his lonely cabin, +laden with the spoils of the chase, which found a ready market in +Oakdale. After one of these jaunts he was always sure to find plenty of +work awaiting him, for aside from his prowess as a hunter, he was a +veritable Jack of all trades whose services were always in keen demand. + +J. Elfreda Briggs was also downcast over the fact that her suggestion +could not be immediately carried out. Determined not to be balked, she +asked Grace's permission to mail "personals" addressed to Jean to a +number of newspapers published in various large cities of the United +States. But these notices brought no reply from the old hunter, who, it +seemed, had vanished from the busy world as completely as had Tom Gray. + +In the meantime the Wingates, Elfreda and Grace made it a point to +institute a vigorous inquiry throughout Oakdale, in the hope of finding +someone who could give them some definite information regarding where +Jean had gone. From several persons who had talked with the old hunter +before his departure, they learned only that he had announced his +intention to go away on a long expedition, but had neglected to state +what part of the country he intended to traverse. + +Contrary to Mrs. Gray's and her own expectation that the news of Tom's +unexplained dropping-out of his own particular world of friends and +acquaintances would create disturbing gossip, Grace was supremely +touched by the sympathetic loyalty of her townspeople. Until visited by +adversity, she had never even suspected that she ranked so high in their +esteem. Each day brought her some fresh proof of consideration and +sympathy from the good-hearted residents of the little city of her +birth. Not one slighting or detrimental comment against either herself +or Tom came to her ears. It was as though the entire populace had risen +to her standard in the name of friendship. She was now wholly content +that the sad affair was no longer a secret. + +Yet even the undivided consideration of her townspeople could not serve +to throw a ray of light on the mystery. It was now the latter part of +September and not a word of encouragement had come from David Nesbit, +who had returned to the lumber country to pursue his lonely search until +Mr. Blaisdell should again join him. True, David kept the anxious +watchers fully informed of his movements, but the burden of his messages +was always, "Nothing new about poor Tom has come to light." + +During these days of dreary uncertainty, Elfreda proved herself a +comforter indeed. Although a week had elapsed since she had taken up her +residence under the Harlowe's hospitable roof, she calmly announced her +intention to stay on and await developments. Her repeated cheery +assertion, "Everything will come out all right yet," did much to help +Grace maintain the hopeful stand she had forced herself to take. She +could hardly bear to have Elfreda out of her sight, so greatly had she +come to rely on her. On the other hand, Elfreda was supremely satisfied +with her role of guardian angel. She regarded Grace as the direct +inspiration to every good deed she had ever performed, and humbly +congratulated herself on being for once granted an opportunity to make +some small return for the countless favors she had received at Grace's +hands. + +To Elfreda herself, however, it appeared that she had been able to do +very little. This thought was troubling her one hazy autumn afternoon as +the two girls silently ascended the steps to Haven Home, whither they +had walked through Upton Wood, to spend an hour or two. Elfreda was not +fond of these frequent visits to the House Behind the World. They were +invariably fraught with melancholy. Grace was always fairly cheerful at +the start, yet the moment her gray eyes glimpsed Haven Home the old, +wistful shadow crept into them. + +Once inside the stately old house, her depression became even more +apparent. Haven Home was now in complete order, even to the little +personal touches which greatly enhanced the beauty of the tasteful +furnishings. The color schemes for the various rooms had been decided +upon by Tom and Grace during those first happy hours of possession. How +energetically they had entered into even the smallest details, and how +enthusiastically they had engrossed themselves with the joyful labor of +planning the arrangement of the furniture and the countless +appointments. Both had agreed that everything in the house should +signify comfort rather than elegance, in order that, when the last +triumphant touch had been given to it, Haven Home should be a home +indeed. + +To carry on bravely the work which she and Tom had begun had been an +excruciating torture to Grace, made endurable only by the thought that +at least she was fulfilling Tom's wishes. She was ever urged on to her +sorrowful task by the one consolation that when the blessed day of Tom's +return dawned, and she believed that it must, he would find that she had +been loyal to his interests. She had not sat down to mourn, her hands +idle. She had faithfully labored to make their dream of home come true. +Though the winter of sorrow held her in its icy grip, the Golden Summer +of love still bloomed fresh and fragrant in her heart. + +"I don't think you ought to come here so much, Grace." Elfreda's +matter-of-fact tones roused Grace from the somber reverie which had +obsessed her as she stood in the center of the living-room, her absent +gaze on a painting which Tom had especially fancied. It represented a +young man in the dress of a cavalier and a beautiful girl in a simple +high-waisted gown of white, strolling through a field of starry daisies. +On both faces was the rapt expression of complete absorption that +betokened the knowledge of their great love for each other. Looming up, +a trifle in their rear, a gigantic black-robed figure, with a terrifying +face, was hurrying, with great strides, across the blossoming meadow to +overtake the absorbed pair. One had only to glance at the painting to +realize that in simply naming it "Fate" the artist had rightly suited +the legend to his conception. + +"Why not?" asked Grace, her attention still on the painting. + +"Because it's not good for you," protested Elfreda sturdily. "It isn't +as though the house needed your attention. It's in perfect order and the +prettiest, most comfortable place I ever set foot in. You've done +everything here that can be done. Now if I were you I'd hold up my right +hand and swear not to come here again until I stepped over the threshold +with Tom Gray. Every time, after we pay our respects to Haven Home, you +go away from it with the expression in your eyes of an early Christian +martyr going to the stake. Not that you ever complain. If you went +around weeping and wailing and gnashing your teeth, I'd be better +satisfied. But you don't. Your face simply takes on a hurt, despairing +look that makes me sick at heart." + +"I know it isn't good for me to come here," was Grace's frank admission. +"Each time I say, 'This must be the last,' and yet somehow I can't stay +away. My whole heart is bound up in Haven Home. It's the most wonderful +and at the same time the saddest place in the world to me. And this +picture! It fascinates me. When Tom and I chose it, we didn't dream that +Fate was hurrying to overtake us." + +"I'd turn it toward the wall," counseled Elfreda gruffly. "It's +beautiful, but it gives me the creeps. It upsets you more than anything +else in this house. Every time you come here, I've noticed you go +straight to it. I can see that it's a Jonah. Do you give me leave to do +the reversing act?" Elfreda grinned boyishly, yet her round blue eyes +were purposeful. It would have given her infinite pleasure to summarily +bundle the offending painting into Upton Wood, leaving it to the mercy +of the elements. + +"You may turn it toward the wall if you like." Grace sighed as she tore +her gaze from the painting. "It's rather heavy, though, and you will +have a hard time reaching up to it." + +"Oh, that's nothing. There's a step ladder on the back porch. I noticed +it the last time we were over here." Elfreda hurried from the room to +wrest the ladder from its lowly haunt. Returning she set it in place +before the painting and climbed the four steps to the top with joyful +alacrity. + +Grace followed the movements of her energetic companion with moody +interest. She was glad yet sorry to watch the change Elfreda was about +to make. + +"I can't reverse it up here," grumbled Elfreda. "I'm afraid of dropping +it. I'll have to get down from the ladder with it, then turn it around." + +Carefully descending, she laid the so-called Jonah face down on the top +step of the ladder, paused for an instant before completing her task. + +"Oh, look!" Grace cried out, staring hard at the back of the picture. +Standing out on it in letters of blue a single sentence had been +pencilled. + +Elfreda peered curiously at the writing. "True love laughs at Fate," she +read. "That's odd! Who in the world wrote that?" + +"It was Tom." Grace drew a long breath. "Seeing his writing gave me a +queer thrill for a minute. It was just as though out of the silence he +had suddenly spoken. Then I remembered. When the painting was unwrapped +we stood looking at it. Tom had a blue pencil in one hand. He had been +checking off a list of our belongings. I said that the painting was +beautiful but sinister, and that I hoped that no such terrible figure of +Fate would ever overtake us. Tom laughed and said he would put a spell +on the picture. So he took the blue pencil and scribbled that sentence +on the back of it. Then he hung it on the wall. I never recalled the +incident until this moment. I'm glad you suggested reversing 'Fate,' +Elfreda. I'd rather have it so. The very sight of his handwriting is a +comfort." + +"It's an omen," Elfreda declared solemnly, her plump face alive with +superstition. "Yes, sir; it's an omen. I can see that it's a fore-runner +of good luck." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +A GLEAM OF HOPE + + +Inspirited by Elfreda's emphatic prediction of good fortune, Grace left +Haven Home in a livelier frame of mind than she had exhibited when +entering the house. As they strolled down the walk she was further +cheered by the sight of a single, half-opened rose, flaunting its +crimson but lonely glory from a late-blooming bush. Elfreda, who was +bent on lightening Grace's mood, soberly assured her that it was merely +another lucky sign. Carefully plucking the fragrant token of good +fortune, Grace breathed a prayer that this might indeed be true. + +Tackling her role of comforter with a will, Elfreda enlivened the walk +home with numerous accounts of signs and wonders which had visited +friends and acquaintances of hers as heralds of great good fortune. "Of +course, I'm only telling you what I've heard," she said humorously. "I +can't say that I've ever had any direct manifestations that good luck +was signaling to me. Once I went to a bazaar and paid a dollar for the +privilege of drawing a number from a hat. I had a hunch that I'd win +something. I also had my eye on a hand-painted chocolate pot, but my +lucky number drew a toy velocipede instead. Still I was lucky to draw +anything. Then another time I found a horseshoe in the road. I hung it +over the front door and next day it fell down on Pa's head when he was +coming into the house. That was a very unlucky day for me." Elfreda +giggled reminiscently. "Pa raged like a lion. He declared I did it +purposely and pitched the horseshoe into the street. I let it stay +there. I wasn't much impressed with its lucky qualities. Just the same +it didn't cure me of my belief in signs." + +Grace's ready laughter held a merry note that was intensely gratifying +to the narrator of the tragic horseshoe episode. She had succeeded even +better than she had expected, was Elfreda's reflection. Then, too, the +unexpected sight of Tom Gray's handwriting on the back of the painting, +coupled with the finding of the rose, had brought a look of new +animation to Grace's too-calm features. + +"I am afraid I shall have to take back my promise not to go to Haven +Home again soon," was Grace's half apologetic comment as the two emerged +from Upton Wood upon the highway that wound its way from the outskirts +of Oakdale through the open country beyond the town. "I feel now as +though I wanted to go there often, just to read Tom's message. I like to +think of it as a message. Strange that I never recalled the incident +until to-day." + +"It was not intended that you should," maintained Elfreda. "As for +taking back your promise, you never really made one. If I were you, +though, I'd stay away from that house as long as I could. But if I found +that I was determined to go there, then I'd go." + +"That is very wise and elastic counsel," asserted Grace. "It can be +stretched to cover all my moods and yearnings." + +Arm in arm, the two friends swung briskly along the highway, following +it until they reached the wide tree-lined street in which the Harlowe +residence stood. When within a short distance of the house, their glance +became simultaneously fixed on two childish forms racing toward them at +full speed. + +"Here come Elizabeth and Anna May Angerell." An indulgent smile curved +Grace's lips. "They have spied us from afar. They are the dearest little +girls. I can't begin to tell you what a comfort they've been to me this +summer. They're such joyous youngsters. They fairly bubble with +happiness. What a wonderful estate childhood is, Elfreda. Yet we never +realize it until long after it has passed away. I've often wished I +could go back and live it over, even for one day." + +"I'd rather be grown up," disagreed Elfreda. "I never had a very good +time when I was little, because I was always grieving over being a prize +fat child. The way of the baby elephant is pretty thorny. Well, well!" +she exclaimed playfully as the two little girls, laughing gleefully, +ended their run by flinging themselves ecstatically upon herself and +Grace. "What's the meaning of this onslaught? If we hadn't been very +large, sturdy persons we might have tumbled over like nine-pins." + +"We saw you coming away up the street," joyfully announced Anna May. "We +just had to run. We've been watching at our gate for you quite a while." + +"There's company come to see you, Miss Harlowe," burst forth Elizabeth +excitedly. "You can never guess who. It's somebody you've known for a +long time, but it's somebody you don't see very often. We aren't going +to tell you who's on the porch. We want you to be surprised. Do hurry as +fast as ever you can, for the person is anxious to see you." + +"We thought we'd tell you the minute we saw you, and then we thought it +would be more fun not to," explained Anna May wriggling with enjoyment +of the great secret. + +Elfreda and Grace exchanged lightning glances as they quickened their +pace, a devoted worshipper hanging to an arm of each. Could Elfreda's +prophesy of good fortune have been thus so quickly fulfilled? + +"It's not Mr. Gray." Elizabeth had remembered that long ago Grace had +answered her eager inquiry for "nice Mr. Tom" by saying that he had gone +on a journey from which he might return at any time. She had remembered, +too, how sad her dear Miss Grace had looked when she told her. When the +two children had posted themselves at the gate to watch for Grace, +Elizabeth had remarked confidentially to Anna May, "If Mr. Gray was +sitting on the porch waiting for Miss Harlowe, we couldn't surprise her. +We'd just tell her straight out. We wouldn't want to make her guess +that, would we?" And Anna May had replied: "No, siree. We ought to tell +her the first thing that it's not him, so that she won't look +disappointed when she sees who the company is." + +The startled light that had leaped into Grace's eyes died as Elizabeth +frankly excluded Tom's name from the guessing contest. She inwardly +rebuked herself for thus clutching at every straw which the wind blew in +her direction. On catching a first glimpse of the veranda, she cried out +sharply. Relaxing her light hold on Elfreda's arm and dropping +Elizabeth's hand, she darted to the gate, slammed it behind her and +raced up the walk to the steps, an animated flash of blue on the autumn +landscape. + +"Jean!" she almost shouted. "Where, oh, where did you come from?" The +next instant she held one of the hunter's rough hands in both hers, half +laughing, half crying. + +"Mam'selle Grace, it is of a truth the great 'appiness to see you," was +the old man's sincere greeting, his small black eyes shining with +feeling. "Jean has come far. Long way," he waved a comprehensive hand +toward the west. "I come because I hav' learn that you hav' the +trouble." + +"But how long have you been in Oakdale and who told you about Tom?" +questioned Grace anxiously. "We have gone to your cabin in Upton Wood +several times, in the hope that you had returned. The first time we went +we saw the sign on the door." + +"I put him there," nodded Jean, "because I go 'way for long time. Many +weeks I stay in Canada. Only to-day I come back. Then----" + +"Did some one in Oakdale tell you Tom was missing?" interrogated Grace, +cutting almost impatiently into Jean's narrative. + +"No, Mam'selle. Only I hav' speak the _bon jour_ to my frien's as I come +through the town. Some days have pass since firs' I see this." Jean +pulled a newspaper from a pocket of his weather-stained coat. Spreading +it open and laboriously perusing the first page, he tendered it to +Grace, pointing out a column in it. + +Grace needed but to glance at it to recognize it as a copy of the +newspaper recording Tom Gray's disappearance, which Hippy had brought +her. "How did you ever happen to come across this, Jean?" Her query held +a note of positive awe. + +"It is of a truth strange," admitted Jean. "W'en I stay long time in +Canada I come back to this country to Minnesota. I go to Duluth, w'ere I +hav' ol' frien'. I spen' two days by him an' talk about many t'ings +w'ich 'appen to us long ago w'en we hunt together. He tell me about a +young man who come up north an' get los'. Nobody can fin'. He show me +this paper an' say, 'W'en I read this I t'ink you, Jean, can fin' this +young man, because you great hunter.' Then I look an' see the young man +is M'sieu' Tom, an' the paper is ol' one. So I leave my pack skins wit' +my frien' and come here quick on the train, because I know Mam'selle +Grace will tell all. Then I go fin' M'sieu' Tom," ended Jean, wagging +his gray head with deep determination. + +"Talk about miracles!" burst forth Elfreda Briggs. "It's the most +remarkable thing I ever knew to happen." Elfreda had lost no time in +overtaking Grace on the veranda. The Angerell children had not followed, +however. They had trotted on home, well satisfied with the result of +their mission. + +"It is truly marvelous. And to think that Mother isn't at home this +afternoon to hear it. It was splendid in you to wait here for me, Jean." +Grace turned a glowing face toward the old hunter. "As for your going to +find Tom, I am _sure_ that you _will_ find him. I was so amazed at +seeing you, I forgot to introduce you to my friend Miss Briggs. She +knows all about you, already." + +Elfreda extended a prompt hand of welcome to the intrepid old trapper, +who grasped it warmly, saying: "The frien's of Mam'selle Grace are also +the frien's of ol' Jean." + +"Jean, before I tell you all I know about Tom's disappearance, I think +it would be better for the three of us to go on to Mrs. Gray's home and +talk things over. She will be so glad to see you. She has suffered +dreadfully. We have all suffered. But I feel now as though at last the +light had begun to break." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE LETTER + + +"And that is all the information that we can give you about Tom, Jean." +Grace sighed as she ended the recital of barren facts relating to the +vanishing of the man she loved. + +"It is very scant information on which to proceed," deplored Mrs. Gray. +"I confess that I made a mistake in keeping our trouble a secret. Since +that newspaper spread the news abroad I have done my best to amend the +error. I have seen to it that the sheriff of the county in which the +camp is located took up the matter. I have also offered a large reward +for the finding of Tom, or the positive proof that he is dead." Her +voice dropped despairingly on the last word. + +"Be of the brav' heart," responded Jean confidently. "I hav' the feeling +that it is for me to find the los' M'sieu' Tom. I hav' travel many times +over the country w'ere he get los' an' I know it, every tree an' stone. +It is a wil' place, an' the men up there know not'ing but cut down +trees. Very t'ick in the 'aid." Jean tapped his gray head significantly, +better to demonstrate the vast stupidity of lumbermen in general. + +"M'sieu' David is one fine young man, but he not know the big woods lak' +ol' Jean. The ot'er man, he also not know." Jean shrugged his broad +shoulders. "If all Jean's life he stay in cities, it would be so wit' +him." + +"But Jean, have you any idea of what might have happened to Tom?" +entreated Mrs. Gray. + +Again Jean shrugged. "Many t'ings might 'appen. P'r'aps he lose the way +in storm an' get hurt; mebbe he die. P'r'aps timber t'ieves get him an' +shut him up somew'ere way off hid. Of a truth, Jean cannot tell. But I +go hunt for M'sieu' Tom an' fin' out. Then I tell." Jean seemed +determined to impress upon his hearers that he would "fin'" Tom Gray. + +"When can you start north, Jean?" Grace waited breathlessly for the +answer. + +"Soon; to-morrow," came the quick assurance. "First I go to my cabin to +mak' ready. In the morning I come here early an' say the _au revoir_. +Then I go an' fin' M'sieu' Tom. You are satisfy?" His shrewd black eyes +sought the approval of the trio of tense faces bent earnestly upon him. + +"We are more than satisfied." Impulsively Mrs. Gray stretched forth a +little blue-veined hand. Somewhat to that estimable woman's astonishment +old Jean bent and with true Gallic chivalry raised it lightly to his +lips. "I am honor that you trust," he said simply. + +Looking on, Grace was immeasurably touched by the woodsman's quaintly +respectful act of deference toward her Fairy Godmother. Her romantic +fancy transformed rugged old Jean into a gallant knight about to fare +forth on a dangerous errand. + +"You are a true Frenchman, Jean," smiled the pleased old lady. "A +lifetime spent in roughing it hasn't robbed you of inherent chivalry. +Did you know that Miss Briggs remembered you from hearsay and was the +first one to suggest that you would be the very person to hunt for Tom?" + +"Mam'selle Grace has said," affirmed Jean. Turning to Elfreda he +continued almost humbly, "Mam'selle, I hav' only to be grateful to you +that you hav' remember me. Of a certainty, I shall not forget." + +Jean lingered for a little further talk, then departed for his cabin, +with many quaint bobbing bows. But he left behind him an atmosphere of +revivified hope. + +"We must go, too, J. Elfreda," reminded Grace, a distinct ring of +cheerfulness in her accents. "This is Bridget's afternoon out and I +promised Mother that I'd see that neither you or I starved. Father won't +be home for dinner to-night, either, so we shall dine in lonely state. +Mother went to spend the day with friends in Carrollton, and Father is +to go to their house to dinner to-night and bring Mother home," Grace +explained to Mrs. Gray. + +"Then you had better stay with me," advised Mrs. Gray. "Left to +yourselves I haven't the slightest doubt that you will talk much and eat +little. Besides, I know that the mere mention of hot waffles and honey +will make Elfreda linger. Stay, and we'll have an old-fashioned supper." + +"I couldn't be so cruel as to tear Elfreda away from such bliss," +laughed Grace. The stout girl's predeliction for waffles was known to +all her intimate friends. + +"How did you know my pet weakness?" Elfreda's round eyes grew rounder +with well-simulated surprise. "Did Grace tell you? Grace, I'm amazed to +think you would thus betray my fatal waffle hunger, even to Mrs. Gray." +Noting the old lady's increasing rise of good spirits, Elfreda purposely +pretended ignorance with a view of keeping up the sudden access of cheer +which Jean's visit had diffused. + +"Don't you remember that morning you came to Wayne Hall for breakfast +and asked anxiously if there would be waffles?" teased Mrs. Gray. "It +was at the time Grace and I went to Overton to set Harlowe House to +rights." + +"Oh, yes! So it was." Elfreda looked owlishly innocent. "That was the +time you got my waffle number. It seems a long while since then, doesn't +it, Grace?" + +"Yes." An absent gleam flickered in Grace's eyes, causing Elfreda to +wish she had not asked the question. It was replaced almost instantly by +a glint of pure amusement. Memories of Overton invariably brought back +Emma Dean. Merely to think of Emma meant to smile. "I wonder what Emma's +doing to-night," she said irrelevantly. "She must be back at Overton by +this time, wrestling with the management of Harlowe House." + +"We ought to make her a flying visit," proposed Elfreda, well pleased +with this sudden turn in the conversation. + +"I'd love to see her," agreed Grace, "but----" She hesitated. "I +shouldn't care to go away from home now. After Jean goes north we are +likely to hear news almost any day. You see, I have pinned my faith on +his ability to accomplish miracles." + +"Well, we can wait a week or so and see," declared Elfreda. "If things +stay just the same and we hear nothing of interest from him, we can +leave Overton on Saturday, spend Sunday with Emma and come back to +Oakdale on Monday." + +"I think it would do you good to see Emma, Grace," approved Mrs. Gray +with a touch of her old decision. "We can do nothing but hope, pray and +wait. Your trip to New York to see Miriam married was on the whole +depressing. Emma will put new life into you. She's such a comical, +delightful girl. Now that our case is at last in competent hands, we +must make a special effort to be cheerful. I've failed sadly this summer +in practicing what I am preaching. Now I intend to try to make up for +it. But if I am to make good my promise to Elfreda to feed her on +waffles, I must tell Margaret to make them." + +Left to themselves, the two girls conversed softly together regarding +the change the advent of old Jean had wrought in their hostess. When an +hour later the trio gathered in the morning room, unanimously chosen as +a supper room by reason of its cosiness, the sense of oppression which +had formerly held them captive had been marvelously lightened by hope. +Later the three spent a quiet evening together in the library, and it +was eleven o'clock when Grace and Elfreda turned their steps homeward. + +To her father and mother, who had reached home ahead of her, Grace +recounted the details of Jean's visit. They received the glad tidings +with a joy second only to her own. + +Another hour slipped swiftly by before the household retired, and it was +half-past twelve o'clock before Grace bade Elfreda good-night and softly +closed the door of her room. Alone with her own thoughts, she curled up +on a cushioned window seat and gazed meditatively out upon the still +autumn night. Through the open window a soft wind caressingly touched +her rapt face. It sighed through the trees, sending an occasional leaf +to earth with a faint protesting rustle. Overhead the stars twinkled +serenely down upon her, as though in tantalizing possession of the +answer to the question that lay behind her musing eyes. + +In close communion with the night, Grace lived over again those first +rare days of her Golden Summer. The present swept aside, the past +confronted her in sharpest outline. Her mind dwelt on the evening when +the Eight Originals had strolled to the old Omnibus House and Nora had +sung the song of Golden Summer. She could almost hear Tom say, "I'd like +our lives, from this moment on, always to be one long, continued Golden +Summer." She wondered if the very utterance of the wish had broken the +spell. Then came the remembrance of those dear hours of preparation at +Haven Home. Again she could fancy herself coming down the stairs in her +wedding gown and pausing to listen as Nora sang "La Lettre." + +Here her musings broke off abruptly. With the memory of "The Letter," a +sudden tender resolve took possession of her. To-morrow Jean would start +on his search. Very well, he should not go empty-handed. She would write +a letter to Tom. When Jean found him, her letter should bridge the gap +of distance between them. + +Rising from the window seat she sought her desk. Seated before it, she +took up her pen and laid a sheet of paper in place. Once she had begun +to write it was as though an unseen power guided her to inspiration. She +wondered if somewhere under the stars Tom Gray was seeking, at the same +time, to send her a message. Never before had she been so thoroughly +imbued with the mystical impression of his nearness to her. It was not a +long letter, yet somehow she had managed exactly to convey the meaning +she had intended. As she was finishing it, she heard the distant chime +of the grandfather's clock downstairs, striking the half hour, and she +smiled tenderly as the words of Nora's song returned to her. "I wonder: +'Is it I who write to thee, or thou to me?'" + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE LAST CHANCE + + +Despite her midnight vigil, Grace rose before seven o'clock the next +morning. On the previous afternoon Jean had stated that he would come +early to Mrs. Gray's the following morning to bid them farewell before +starting on his search for Tom. Eight o'clock found herself and Elfreda +Briggs walking rapidly up Chapel Hill. They found the old hunter had +stolen a march on them, however. When they entered the library he was +already there, in earnest conversation with Mrs. Gray. + +"I hav' wait for you," he said, after bidding them a quaint _bon jour_. +"But now the time grow short. The train, she run at nine o'clock. It is +now that we must say the _au revoir_. Not long an' I see the camp and +M'sieu' David. It is good that you hav' telegraph the young man. Ol' +Jean will do his best. _Le bon Dieu_ will do the rest." The hunter +reverently crossed himself. + +"I have a letter for you, Jean, to give to Tom." Grace was wearing her +most hopeful face as she gave the cherished letter into the old man's +keeping. "When you have found Tom, and I know that you will, tell him +that I am waiting for him and give--him--this--letter." + +[Illustration: "When You Have Found Tom, Give Him This Letter."] + +"It shall be of a sacred trust," Jean assured, crossing himself again. +"Be of the brav' heart, Mam'selle. For you and M'sieu' Tom the 'appiness +is near. Now it is time to go." + +Warmly shaking hands with the two for whom he was about to "do his +best," Jean turned to Elfreda and offered his hand with: "I am the lucky +man to hav' meet such good frien' to Mam'selle Grace." + +"Thank you, Jean." Elfreda colored with pleasure at the sincere tribute. +"Some day, when Tom Gray has been found and you are back again in +Oakdale, we'll pay a visit to your cabin. Then I'll tell you what a +splendid friend Grace Harlowe has been to me." + +"It shall be as Mam'selle says," responded Jean gallantly. Accompanied +as far as the veranda by the three women, Jean made his final adieus and +strode down the pebbled drive to the gate, a sturdy, purposeful figure, +despite his years. To the three who watched him almost out of sight, the +determined set of his broad shoulders in itself seemed to presage the +success of his mission. + +"It was certainly nice in Jean to say what he did to me about my being +your friend," was Elfreda's abrupt comment when, after saying good-bye +to Mrs. Gray, the two young women started down Chapel Hill toward home. +"It was the highest compliment that he could pay me. If there had been +time I'd have liked to tell him a few of the reasons for it. I guess he +would have understood then that I had special cause to be loyal to you. +I don't mean by that that anybody would have to have special cause to be +_your_ friend. One would only have to meet you once, Grace Harlowe, to +know that your friendship would be the kind worth having. That is, if +one had any sense. That time I plumped myself down in your seat when we +were bound for Overton College to begin our freshman year, I was too +much wrapped up in myself to know how lucky I was. Isn't it queer, +though, how things like that are often the means by which we begin the +staunchest friendships?" + +"Yes, it _is_ strange. If we hadn't met on the train that day in that +way, you might have decided to go to another boarding place instead of +taking up with Mrs. Elwood's offer to you to share Miriam's room. Then, +very likely, we might never have become well acquainted. There were ever +so many girls at Overton College during the six years that I spent +there, whom I never came to know really well." Grace looked regretful. + +"But they all knew you," was the staunch retort. "You are as much of an +institution there now as Harlowe House is. Your name has become a +household word at Overton College. Emma and I were speaking of that very +thing at the reunion. She said that if she were manager of Harlowe House +for the next twenty years she'd never come to be known as well there as +you were in the time you spent at Overton." + +"Emma is a wily old flatterer and so are you," laughed Grace. "Just +because you girls like me you think the whole world ought to fall in +line and worship me." Her bantering tone changing to seriousness she +continued, "Not that I don't appreciate your affection, and love you +with all my heart for it. Neither of you ever stops to think how much +credit you both deserve. Sometimes I wonder what I ever did to bring me +so many true friends. I never properly realized their worth until this +summer. Living in the shadow has taught me a great deal. + +"The very fact that all my friends have stood by me so firmly has made +me see that I owe it to them to be strong and steadfast through all. It +has taught me, too, that I can't afford to be selfish. When Tom first +went away I used to think that, if he never came back, there wouldn't be +anything worth living for, ever again. But it came to me by degrees that +such a viewpoint was utterly selfish; that I had a great deal to live +for. Father and Mother, first of all; then Mrs. Gray and my friends. So +I made up my mind that if worse came to worst, I would devote myself to +them more than ever and thus try to make up for my own loss." + +"Of course you would," agreed Elfreda, with a ready tenderness that +arose from the emotion that had welled up within her at Grace's +unconscious revelation of unselfishness. "No one knows that better than +I know it." + +"I wonder what the postman has brought us this morning?" Grace had +decided that it was high time to lead the talk away from herself. She +had spoken to Elfreda with utter frankness of her inner resolve, yet she +could not bear to continue longer on the subject. It presented too +vividly the possibility of Tom's non-return, and she had schooled +herself not to dwell upon such a contingency. + +"We'll soon know." They were now within a short distance of the +Harlowe's home. "I hope Ma hasn't decided that I ought to go back to law +school and written me to that effect," grumbled Elfreda. "Now I am here, +I'd like to keep on being here until----" She paused. + +"Until we hear good news," finished Grace softly. "I wish you would stay +with me as long as you can, Elfreda. When the good news comes, I'd like +you to be here to share it." + +"Oh, I'll stay," assured Elfreda, "provided I can win Ma over to my +views. It will be the same as using my powers of eloquence to convince a +doubtful jury that the prisoner is innocent. There is nothing like +practice," she reminded, her wide, boyish grin in mischievous evidence. + +"Have we a heavy mail this morning, Mother?" was Grace's eager inquiry +as she and Elfreda came up the front steps to the veranda. Established +in a wide-armed rocking chair, her eyes busy with the reading of her own +mail, Mrs. Harlowe looked up smilingly as she said, "Heavy enough to +keep you both busy for a while. I didn't count your letters. They are on +the library table in the living-room. I sorted them into two piles. +Elfreda's was the highest." + +"Thank you, dear." Blowing a gay little kiss to her mother, Grace made +for the living-room, with Elfreda close behind her. + +"I ought to receive a few dozen letters," commented Elfreda. "Nearly +every one of my correspondents have been lagging and languishing." +Running hastily over the stack of letters bearing her name, she +separated one of them from the rest. "Here's the letter from Ma. Now +we'll see whether its back to law school for J. Elfreda." + +"Oh, here's one from Miriam." Having been equally busy with her own +mail, Grace drew up a chair before the table. Slipping into it she soon +became absorbed in what Miriam had written her. + +Seated opposite her, Elfreda perused the letter from her mother with the +anxious eye of one about to receive sentence. In the middle of it she +uttered a cluck of satisfaction. "Excuse me for interrupting you, but I +just wanted to tell you that Ma is a wingless angel. I don't have to do +the convincing act at all. She says I may stay with you until I either +wear out my welcome or get ready to come home. Isn't that a glorious +message? Hooray!" Elfreda waved her maternal parent's unexpected missive +of leniency on high. + +"Glorious indeed." Finishing the short but interesting letter from +Miriam, Grace shoved it across the table to Elfreda. "Read it," she +commanded. "I know Miriam would be willing that you should. As her +roommate of long standing you are entitled to special privileges." + +"Thank you." Elfreda pounced upon the proffered letter with avidity, +while Grace continued with her own correspondence. Counting her letters +over, she found she had received nine. As was her usual custom, she had +begun with the top one, which was from Miriam, and read them in the +order in which they were stacked. Elfreda on the contrary, scattered +broadcast on the table the whole ten letters she had received. She +picked and chose with the air of a connoisseur, keeping up a running +fire of ridiculous remarks between letters, that moved Grace to frequent +laughter, but did not distract her attention to any degree from her own +affairs. She had become too familiar with Elfreda's always entertaining +methods of doing things to be other than amused by them. + +The contents of her own mail filled her with a quiet joy. One and all, +so far as she had read, her friends breathed undying friendship and deep +devotion to herself. There was a long letter from Eleanor Savelli, who +was summering in Colorado with her father and aunt. It held the glad +tidings that Miss Nevin and herself intended to come to Oakdale for the +winter. Her father's concert tour would soon begin. She did not expect +to travel with him that winter. She was anxious to come back to +"Heartsease" for a long rest. Much in the letter was of a deeply +sympathetic nature, relating to Grace's misfortune. She begged Grace to +inform her at once should matters take a happier turn and hoped before +long to be with her. + +There was also a letter from Mabel Allison confiding the news of her +engagement to Arnold Evans. She was very happy, she declared. Formal +announcement of her betrothal to Arnold had not yet been made, but Grace +would soon receive a card to that effect. Mabel Ashe wrote much +sympathy, her letter fairly bristling with her lovable, vivid +personality. She ended with the jubilant news that she had sold the +novel on which she had worked so long and patiently to complete, to a +well-known book publishing firm. She had named it, "the Guardian of the +Flame." She styled it as "the story of a woman's heart," and her +publishers believed it would be very successful. + +The Emerson twins sent her a funny little epistle, in which they had +taken turns in the writing of its many paragraphs. It had evidently been +gotten up with a view to cheering her and she read between the lines the +kindliness which had prompted the joint authors to the deed. Jessica and +Anne came next with loving letters that proved how completely one they +were with her in spirit. A colorful account of the doings of the Harlowe +House girls at Overton College as set down by Evelyn Ward brought a +smile of pleasure to Grace's face. + +One of the two remaining envelopes bore Arline's mark. Grace's smile +deepened as she opened it and saw: + + "DEAREST LOYALHEART: + + "You owe me a letter, but never mind. I am of a patient and + forgiving disposition, so I'll overlook it. I have a very funny bit + of news to write. Stanley Forde, the hateful old tyrant, has gone + and engaged himself to be married again. Just like that! Don't + think this is a case of sour grapes. I am de-lighted. I am sorry + for the poor party of the second part, though. I know her well. She + is a pretty but foolish young person who was in love with Stanley + ages before he became betrothed to me. Of course he did it to spite + Daffydowndilly, but I'm not a bit 'spited.' I feel as though I + ought to go to the girl in the case and tell her what I know about + him. But it's useless to think of doing so." + +Arline devoted further space to affectionate inquiry regarding Grace's +troubles and ended with the naive announcement: + + "The other day I met a perfectly delightful young man at a dinner + dance. He is as much interested in settlement work as I am, and is + as nice as Stanley Forde is horrid. To-morrow he and Father and I + are going to motor out to the fresh air home Father founded. He is + anxious to see what we have done. Isn't that sweet in him? I do + hope appearances aren't deceitful. I'll tell you more about him + after I have met him a few more times. It's not wise, you know, to + rush into friendships. + + "With much love. You owe me two letters. + + "Cautiously, + + "DAFFYDOWNDILLY." + +The last letter on the pile was from Emma Dean. Hastily running over the +first page, Grace laughed outright. "Listen to this, Elfreda," she +commanded, her eyes dancing. + + "DEAREST AND BEST-LOVED GRACIOUS: + + "Hark to the lamentations of a Dean from darkest Deanery, now + transported to the Grace-haunted region of Overton! When first I + set foot in this desolate waste, my primary impulse was to lift my + venerable voice in a piercing wail of anguish. Only my overwhelming + respect for the powers which sit sternly in Overton Hall, and a + well-founded fear that I might be bundled off the campus to some + fell institution for the demented, prompted me to refrain from + howling. But the desire to howl still lingers, and some fine day I + shall meander moodily to Hunter's Rock and there, upon its lonely + height, startle the murmuring river below with my frantic cries. I + shall stand well back from the edge of that perilous platform, + however, as I have no malicious desire to deprive Overton of the + best teacher in English Overton ever had, known to the + English-speaking world as Emily Elizabeth Dean, who has now become + a manageress (see Dean Vocabulary). + + "Confidentially speaking, I should not have minded so much leaving + darkest Deanery for this Grace-less wilderness if it had not been + for the thought that your dear face would be missing in the + picture. Do not rashly misjudge me by jumping to the conclusion + that I parted with joy from the estimable Deans of whom I am which. + Bitterly did I regret leaving my sorrowing parents. It was not lack + of filial devotion to them that made me yearn for Overton. A + terrible shadow, or rather several shadows, had hovered over + hapless Deanery for a week before I packed my belongings and fled. + Our humble home had been turned over to an aggregation of ruthless + individuals who paint houses for a living. Darkest Deanery was once + a timid shade of brown that grew even more retiring with years. Now + it is a dazzling white, with still more dazzling gray trimmings. I + can never forget that harmonious combination of gray and white, as + I have annexed copious samples of it to most of my meager wardrobe. + + "If only I had had the forethought to design a simple burlap + costume with bag-like lines, and putting away false pride, worn it + on all occasions during that last sad week at home, I should not + now be spending my leisure hours experimenting to discover the most + efficacious paint eradicator on the market. Every time I hopefully + remove a prized garment from my trunk, I am confronted by the + unhappy recollection that darkest Deanery has been freshly painted. + It's positively maddening! + + "Knowing my fatal leaning toward the absent-minded, you can put two + and two together. They don't make four. They make 'paint.' Oh, the + supreme tragedy of that week! How well I remember the afternoon + when I sat down confidingly on the freshly-furbished porch rail in + my best pongee dress. I was about to go to a luncheon. I went, but + was late. There was a reason. By the time the front porch became a + sticky, glistening wonder, I thoughtfully dropped my nice seal + handbag in the middle of it. The irate painter remonstrated. Not + because I had ruined my cherished possession, but because of the + horrifying blank left where paint had lately flaunted itself. By + the time it had dawned upon me that the back entrance to the house + was the entrance for me, it had also become a trap for the unwary. + There were frequent other accidental collisions with the aforesaid + paint, all equally disastrous to poor me. Some of them were known + to me at the time; some were among the things that were revealed + thereafter. I began to feel that the whole vast universe was + chiefly composed of paint. So I fled to the greater ill of an + Overton without Grace Harlowe. + + "As I have suffered deeply and shall continue to suffer until I can + look my modest wardrobe in the face and say, 'presentable at last,' + I am certain that I deserve a special boon of consolation. In plain + English, to which I still cling, despite the fact that I dream of + some day establishing a marvelous vocabulary of my own, won't you + and Elfreda come to Overton to see me, if only for a day? I have + thought things over carefully before asking you. It is not entirely + selfishness that prompts the request. I think it would cheer you to + come again for a visit to Harlowe House. Though I have replaced you + as manager, I can never replace you in the hearts of the girls + here. I understand why you may not wish to come. As always, my + heart goes out to you. If you write 'no' as an answer, I shall + accept it in the best possible spirit. But if you feel that you can + drop in on me, even for a day, then I shall surely shriek with joy, + right here at Harlowe House, and abide by the consequences. I have + written Elfreda, too. If both letters reach you at the same time, + and I shall mail them together, then you can shake hands and + congratulate yourselves that you have both been invited. + + "Yours hopefully, + + "EMMA." + +"I'd love to go." Grace hesitated. "Do you think it would be disloyal in +me to leave Oakdale now, even for a day? I thought it over seriously +before I went to Miriam's wedding. That was really a duty, you know. But +since Jean has taken up Tom's case, it seems as though I am likely to +hear something important within a few days." + +"You mustn't be too sure," counseled Elfreda wisely. "You might be +disappointed. It may take even Jean a long time to find out anything. +I'm not saying that to be cruel." + +"You don't need to tell me that. I know I mustn't expect too much, even +of Jean. Yet I can't help thinking that if _he_ doesn't find Tom, no one +else ever will." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE CALL OF THE ELF'S HORN + + +Jean, however, had no intention of failing those who so strongly relied +upon him. He approached his difficult task with a confidence in his own +powers which long years of the free, independent life of the great +outdoors had given him. He knew the secrets of the wilderness as few men +knew them. He had little doubt that much which had remained obscure to +those already engaged in the search for Tom Gray would be made clear to +him. Alone in the world, Jean had long since come to regard the Eight +Originals as "his folks." Of the four girls, Grace Harlowe had always +been his favorite. Of the four boys, Tom Gray had held first place in +his heart. The young man's frank, delightful personality, coupled with +his intense love of Nature, had served signally to endear him to the old +hunter. + +As Jean had reverently assured Grace, it was indeed, to him, a sacred +mission on which he was now setting forth, and he longed impatiently for +the moment to come when he might leave the narrow confines of the +railway train and set foot in the little village nearest to the lumber +camp. Mrs. Gray had insisted on providing him liberally with the funds +she deemed necessary for the continuance of the search. Jean had stoutly +protested against this liberality. Overruled, he had given in somewhat +reluctantly, consoling himself with the thought that when M'sieu' Tom +was found he would give back the greater part of the money which had +been thus thrust upon him. His sturdy soul rose in revolt at the very +idea of tucking himself away in a Pullman berth, even for a night. Such +cubby-holes were not for him, he disdainfully reflected. He preferred to +sit up all night and amuse himself by watching the fleeting, indistinct +landscape through which the train was pursuing its steady run toward the +vast northern region that jealously concealed the mystery of Tom Gray's +fate. + +As he had already informed Grace and Mrs. Gray, the territory for which +he was bound was to him a fairly familiar one. True he had not hunted in +it for several years, although once or twice he had skirted it in making +his slow, deliberate marches to and from Canada. He assured himself that +naturally he would discover some changes in the heavy forest growth, +stretching for many miles north and west of the lumber camp for which +Tom Gray had headed. Yet Jean was not in the least dismayed by the +magnitude of his task. More than once he had served as tracer of persons +lost in the trackless wildernesses. More than once he had wandered about +in the dense, pathless forests, a lost man. + +While the train sped through the moonless night, Jean's sharp eyes were +trained on the weird, shadowy outlines into which darkness turns the +most commonplace objects. His nimble brain, however, was busily sorting +out the scant details that had been furnished him regarding Tom Gray, +with a view toward evolving a theory on which he might proceed. His own +good sense informed him that he could not even make a guess regarding +what had befallen his young friend until he had reached the lumber camp +and himself surveyed the situation. + +Seven o'clock the next evening saw the intrepid old man hurriedly +collecting his few belongings, preparatory to making a welcome end to +the long, tiresome ride in the train. Mrs. Gray had already telegraphed +David Nesbit to be on hand at the dingy little station to meet him. The +train rolled into it, puffing and clanging a noisy protest against the +indignity of being obliged to stay its flight, even momentarily, before +the scattered collection of frame dwellings dignified by the name of +village. Hardly had it jolted itself to a reluctant stop before Jean +made a hurried exit, to peer searchingly about the station platform for +David Nesbit. + +"Just the man I'm looking for," sounded a hearty voice behind him. +Whirling, he uttered a glad cry as he reached for David's outstretched +hand. "I'm certainly glad to see you, Jean." + +"It is of a 'appiness to see you, M'sieu' David." Jean's weather-beaten +face registered his joy. + +"Come with me, Jean. There's an apology for a hotel not far from the +station. We'd better stay there to-night, then start for the lumber camp +early to-morrow morning. It's a long hike, but I know you'd rather walk +than ride. Once we've had some supper, I can tell you what little I know +of this part of the country. Have you ever been up here before?" + +"Yep; 'bout five year ago, mebbe. I hunt up here a long winter. I know +him." Jean indicated the forest beyond the village with a wide sweep of +his arm. "Once, twice, after, I pass by him w'en I go an' come from +Canada." + +"Then you _do_ know something about it? I'm mighty glad to hear that. +But tell me about Oakdale and how you happened to pop up there just when +we needed you most. Grace wrote me that she had tried to find you, but +that you'd gone away." + +On the way to the hotel which David had mentioned, Jean recounted in his +broken phraseology all that had happened to him since his return to +Oakdale, while David listened and commented on the strange manner in +which the news of Tom's misfortune had been brought before the old +hunter. Over a plain but palatable supper Jean continued his narrative +to the point where he had landed on the station platform. "An' now the +hunt begin," he nodded. "To-morrow we get up 'fore it is light, then we +go to camp. All 'long way I look an' remember w'at I see. After that you +show me w'ere you go hunt. After that we fin' new places far away. We +hunt till we fin' M'sieu' Tom." + +"That's the idea," applauded David. "I think we'd better turn in early +at that. You must be dead tired. I know you don't like railway +traveling. Did you take a sleeper here?" + +"I don't lak' him," shrugged Jean. "I sit up all night. In the woods +never I am tired, but in the train, yes. It will be good to rest." + +After supper the two lingered for a while in the little room. Anxious to +get the benefit of a good night's rest preparatory to their long tramp +of the morning, it was not long before they climbed the narrow stairs to +their rooms. + +Five o'clock the next morning saw them eating a hasty breakfast, served +by a drowsy-eyed girl. After David had stowed into a knapsack an ample +luncheon for the two, and slung the knapsack across one shoulder, the +little search party went forth and soon left the village behind them for +the rough road that marked the beginning of their long jaunt through the +forest. Having traversed it many times since his advent into that +territory, David was well posted, yet he knew it no better than did +Jean. The sturdy old man seemed familiar with every phase of that +section. Now and again as they progressed he retailed some interesting +bit of history relative to his own wanderings therein. + +Noon found them more than half way to their destination, and by four +o'clock they reached the camp, where Jean was introduced to Mr. +Mackenzie, who had recovered from his illness and returned to his duties +as overseer. + +Jean discovered in the rugged Scotchman a person quite after his own +heart. Previous to meeting the overseer, he had confided to David that +he intended to make use of the tent which his young friend had stored +with Mr. Mackenzie, and sleep out of doors. By the time supper was over, +however, he was quite willing to accept the sleeping accommodations +which David had made for him at the Scotchman's house. + +Seated around a deep, open fireplace, in which a fire burned cheerfully, +the three men gravely discussed the details of the proposed search. Mr. +Mackenzie was of the opinion that it would be better to blaze new trails +rather than to waste time in traveling over the ground which David and +his men had so thoroughly covered. But Jean obstinately stuck to his own +viewpoint and insisted on re-traveling that territory. For three days +the old hunter led the young man on strenuous hikes that began with dawn +and ended long after dark. During that time Jean conducted David into +all sorts of forest nooks and crannies that the latter had not even +glimpsed when searching about with the men of the camp. Yet never did +they observe the slightest sign of the object of their search. + +At the end of the week, Jean announced his resolve to invade an +especially wild and lonely stretch of forest to the west. "To-morrow +morning we start," he declared. "We go mebbe twenty-five, mebbe fifty +mile, mebbe more. Mebbe gone a week." + +"But Tom could never have gone so far away in so short a time," reminded +David. "Besides, when last seen he was headed directly north." + +Jean shrugged. "Mebbe he lose his way. Mebbe travel all night in storm +in wrong direction. Then----" Again Jean's square shoulders went into +eloquent play. "Anyway we go wes'," he stubbornly maintained. + +The evening of another day saw them wending their difficult way +westward, according to Jean's plan. Surrounded by a particularly dense +and rugged stretch of forest growth they rolled up in their blankets and +slept under a great tree. Jean assured David that they had come not more +than fifteen miles, due to the difficulty they had encountered in +forcing their way through the endless undergrowth, though the young man +felt sure they had traveled fifty. + +"I couldn't get those fellows from the camp to come over here for love +nor money," remarked David the next morning, as he and Jean fried their +bacon and made coffee over the fire. "They say that a wild man was once +seen somewhere in this range of forest. I guess it's all talk, though. +Mr. Mackenzie never saw him. He says it's a story made up by timber +thieves to keep people away." + +Old Jean looked reflective. "Once I know wil' man," he remarked. "First +time I see him, jus' lak' any man. He great, big man; long black hair, +an' strong; very strong. 'Bout six foot, three inch. He live in little +cabin, 'bout hundred mile from here, wit' his son. Every year they go +Canada an' hunt. Then come back and sell skins. My, how that man love +that son! One day storm come an' tree fall on son. Kill him dead. Then +the father go wil'; crazy in the 'aid. All his black hair turn white. +After that I never see him again. Mebbe dead, too." + +"I hope nothing like that happened to good old Tom." David shuddered. +"Jean, honestly, do you think we'll ever find the boy?" + +"_Le bon Dieu_ know," Jean crossed himself reverently. + +"I don't think much of the sheriff up here," continued David. "He simply +laid down on his job after the first week or two. After Mrs. Gray had +offered a reward he made quite a lot of fuss. But it all died out +quickly. Blaisdell's done his best, but this isn't his kind of a job. +Half a dozen so-called woodsmen up here have tried their hand at it, +too. I spoke to the sheriff about this very piece of woods that we've +invaded, but he claimed he'd gone all over the ground. I don't believe +it, though. He gave me to understand that he thought the whole affair +was very queer. He even asked me if Mrs. Gray wasn't holding back +something. He hinted that she and Tom might have quarreled over family +matters and that Tom was keeping out of sight on purpose to worry her. I +reminded him that Tom had come up here to help Mr. Mackenzie out and +told him a few things about Tom that ought to have changed his opinion. +But I don't think he believed me. He's a bull-headed kind of fellow that +would never admit himself in the wrong," ended David in disgust. + +"I hav' seen many such," commented Jean soberly. "Anyhow we are here. +W'en we hav' finish the breakfast then we start again. Mebbe some good +come to-day." + +"I hope so." David's voice sounded a trifle weary. It was hard indeed to +meet with such continued discouragement. + +Breakfast finished, the seekers again took up their quest. Noon found +them not more than three miles away from the spot where they had +breakfasted. The necessity of halting frequently to inspect some +especially tangled bit of undergrowth or suspicious looking covert large +enough to conceal the body of a man, made their progress painfully slow. +Toward the middle of the afternoon, a cold rain set in, thereby adding +to the discomforts of their march. Although it was early October, the +great trees above their heads were partially stripped of their foliage, +thus offering them little protection from the unceasing drizzle. + +"This is awful, Jean!" exclaimed David Nesbit, as two hours later, +drenched to the skin, the wayfarers huddled together under a giant oak +tree to consider the situation. "We ought to try to find some sort of +shelter for the night. It will soon be dark and we can't go on then. +Have you any idea where we are?" + +"Yep; this place 'bout eighteen mile from camp," Jean nodded +confidently. "'Bout mile mebbe little more to little valley. In valley +is the little cabin. I know him. Somebody say this cabin hav' haunt. +Somebody kill 'nother man once who liv' there. Then nobody ever go near +because dead man walk aroun' there at night. Cabin mebbe not there now. +Anyhow we see, because we know dead man can't walk aroun'." + +"Lead me to the cabin. The dead man may walk around there all he likes, +provided he doesn't object to our sheltering with him," declared David +with grim humor. + +Floundering through dense growths of impeding bushes and crackling +underbrush, their feet sinking into a thick carpet of soggy, fallen +leaves, the two at last reached the top of a steep, rocky elevation. +From there, in the fast fading light, they could look down into a narrow +valley, formed by the precipitous slant of two hills. + +"I see him." Jean pointed triumphantly to a tiny hut, seemingly wedged +into the upper end of the valley. In the October twilight the outlines +of the shack were just visible. + +"It's going to be some work to get down there," observed David, +doubtfully eyeing the uninviting prospect before them. + +"Up there, not very far, it is easy," assured Jean. "You follow me, then +wait. I go ahead an' fin' the way." The indefatigable old hunter took +the lead, plodding along with the same energy that had characterized the +beginning of his day's tramp. Sturdy though he was, David soon found +himself well in the rear of the tireless old man, and it was not long +until he lost sight of him in the fast falling darkness. + +Peering anxiously ahead, David flashed the small electric searchlight he +carried in an effort to discern Jean. Fearing lest he might become lost +from Jean entirely, he returned it to a coat pocket, cupped his hands to +his mouth and emitted a peculiar trumpet-like call, known as the Elf's +Horn, which Tom Gray himself had taught him. Twice he sounded it, before +he had the satisfaction of hearing Jean answer him, repeating it several +times. + +Guided by the sound, and with the aid of his searchlight, David stumbled +his hurried way toward Jean, who had now halted to wait for his young +friend. + +"Jean, you old rascal, I thought I'd lost you for good and all," laughed +David as he brought up at the hunter's side. "You mustn't expect too +much of a tenderfoot, you know. I'm ashamed to admit it, but----" + +David's laughing admission was never finished. Over the monotonous +complaint of the rain rose a sound which made their hearts stand still. +From the very depths of the narrow valley floated up to them that +unmistakable trumpet call, the Elf's Horn. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +OUT OF THE VALLEY + + +"Did you hear that, Jean?" David's voice sunk to a sibilant whisper. He +was trembling violently as he asked the question. + +For answer, Jean raised shaking hands to his mouth. Again the call of +the Elf's Horn shrilled above the murmuring rain, and again, this time +clearer and louder, came the answer. + +"_Le bon Dieu_ hav' hear!" came the hunter's reverent exclamation. +Stopping only to make the sign of the cross, the old man plunged down +the perilous steep, David Nesbit at his heels. How they had come safely +into the valley, neither was afterward able to explain, nor did they +stop to remark it, once they had descended. Both men were intent only on +reaching the spot from whence had emanated that blessed call. + +"There's only one person up here who could answer that call, Jean." +David's tones were vibrant with emotion. "It's Tom Gray! I know it, and +he's in that hut." + +Stumbling desperately on in the greater darkness of the valley, they +reached the hut at last. + +"Tom!" shouted David at the top of his lungs. "Tom Gray! Are you there?" + +"Yes," sounded the unbelievable reply from within the hut. "Is that you, +David! I was sure of it when I heard the Elf's Horn and answered the +call. I knew you'd come for me some day." + +"Yes, old fellow; it's David," rang out the triumphant cry. "Thank God, +you are alive! Jean is with me." + +"_Le bon Dieu_ hav' hear," was Jean's muttered repetition, as the two +men made a concerted dash upon the shack, in a wild effort to locate the +door. Finding it by the aid of their flashlights, they made a determined +onslaught upon it, but it stubbornly resisted their importuning hands. + +"Hello, Jean! It's too good to be true. I might have known I could count +on you, though," came the welcome salutation from within. More anxiously +Tom Gray added: "You'll have to break the door down, if you can. It's +locked from the outside. _He_ carries the key. Hurry or he may come +back." Tom's voice quivered with dread. + +David groaned. His mind on this unexpected obstacle, which now +confronted them, he did not stop to consider who the mysterious "he" in +the problem might be. Tom's very tones indicated the hovering near of +some great danger. "Isn't there a window in the cabin? Can't you climb +out of it?" he shouted desperately. Inwardly he marveled that stalwart +Tom Gray should be caught in such a trap. + +"There are two windows, or rather holes in the cabin, but they are too +high up. I can't reach them. My leg was broken and it's not strong +enough yet to risk such a climb." This response was made in despairing +tones. + +At the mention of windows, Jean had begun to circle the cabin. Turning +his flashlight on the strong-timbered walls of the hut, he soon made out +one of those windows. "M'sieu' David," he called, "come. You will lif' +me an' I will clim' in this hole. Then we 'urry an' get M'sieu' Tom out, +mebbe." Jean's "mebbe" indicated uncertainty. The situation did not look +hopeful and there was evidently no time for questions regarding the how, +when and why of the affair. + +Helped by David, Jean's sinewy fingers soon clutched the lower part of +the primitive window. Being thin and wiry, he had no difficulty in +drawing himself up to it. With the skill of an acrobat he swung one leg +over the opening. The task of drawing himself through was much harder to +accomplish. But the will to do so was paramount. Emitting a jubilant +shout of accomplishment, he dropped, landing lightly on the cabin floor. + +Before he could bring his searchlight into play, an indistinct form had +seized him in a feeble but affectionate grip. "Jean--good--old Jean!" +Tom's broken utterance held a sob of relief and thankfulness. + +"Oh, M'sieu' Tom," Jean's own voice overran with emotion, "is it of a +truth that we hav' fin' you at las'?" Tears of joy were rolling down his +weather-beaten cheeks, as he added with sublime faith, "_Le bon Dieu_ +hav' hear!" + +In the overwhelming joy of reunion all else was for the moment +forgotten. David's stentorian tones asking, "Are you all right, Jean?" +brought back swift realization of the situation. "Can't you manage +between the two of you to do something to that door? I'll help all I can +from this side." + +"Yes; all right," returned Jean. Then to Tom: "Hav' you not then the +axe, to chop him into splinter'? This very queer way to fin' you, +M'sieu' Tom. But now we not stop to ask question, we 'urry, get you out. +Go 'way an' then talk. It is to see that you are the prisoner." + +"Prisoner!" Tom's exclamation vibrated with bitterness. "You can't +believe what I've been through. You're right about hurrying to get me +out. There's no time to be lost. No, there's neither an axe or a hatchet +here. He's too cunning for that. But in one corner of the room is a +heavy iron bar. It hasn't done me any good. I've been too weak to use +it. Is your rifle outside, Jean? If he should come back before we can +get away, you'll need it. Two sturdy men and one poor excuse like myself +couldn't handle him. He's the strongest fellow I ever saw." His voice +rising he called warning to David. "Keep a sharp watch, old man. If you +see or hear anyone coming, give us the signal." + +"I'm on the job," floated back David's reassuring response. + +"Show to me the bar," ordered Jean with the brevity of one whose mind is +set on swift action. + +Without replying, Tom limped a straight course in the dark to a corner +of the one-room shack. "I've looked at that bar so often and so +longingly I could find my way to it if I were blind," he commented with +grim wistfulness. "There's not much else in the room, except a bench and +a bough bed." + +Following at his heels, Jean used one hand to train his light on the +bar. Soon the other hand had fastened itself firmly around it. "He very +strong," was his terse observation. "If you will 'old the light, I try +him." Raising his voice he shouted, "M'sieu' David, we hav' foun' very +strong piec' iron. Now we try smash open the door. You stan' by, ready. +Then soon we go 'way from here with M'sieu' Tom." + +Limping ahead of the old hunter, Tom flashed the searchlight directly on +the heavy door. "There's the door, Jean," he said, his tones thrilling +with new hope. "Wait a minute until I limp out of your way. I'm not +going to risk further accident. Now; go ahead and strike hard!" + +Jean needed no second bidding. Resolutely gripping the bar, he raised it +on high and dealt the stubborn obstruction to Tom's freedom a +reverberating blow. Three times he brought it down upon the opposing +portal. Half a dozen more swings of the bar and splinters began to fly +from it. + +Outside the shack, David Nesbit's eyes and ears were busy obeying Tom's +warning instructions. Whom Tom feared and why he was afraid, his chum +had not the remotest idea. Every crashing blow which Jean dealt the +door, sent a thrill of joy to David's heart. He would have liked to +shout his jubilation, but refrained for fear his friends within the +shack would misinterpret his loud rejoicing as a danger signal. + +For at least fifteen minutes Jean continued to batter the door, resting +briefly at intervals. At the end of that time, he had demolished it +sufficiently to make room for a man to crawl through. To break it down +completely would have taken too much precious time. + +"It--is--don'!" he panted at length. "Now we go 'way soon. First I try +him. If still you hav' the coat an' 'at, M'sieu' Tom, put him on; but +'urry." + +"I've already done so," assured Tom with fervor. "It's lucky for me that +lunatic didn't see fit to hide my clothes." + +Jean pricked up his ears at the word "lunatic," but said nothing. +"Careful," he cautioned solicitously, as Tom, essaying to make his exit +from the hut, drew back, uttering a faint moan of pain. "It is for me to +'elp you." Secretly marveling at Tom's light weight, Jean lifted him in +his arms. Bidding him straighten his legs, Jean called to David to stand +by to receive his burden. Then the old hunter passed him through the +opening to David as though Tom had been a bag of meal. Hastily +scrambling through after him, Jean was just in time to witness the +affecting meeting which took place between the two young men. Tom's +first words after greeting David were: "Tell me quickly, how are Grace +and Aunt Rose?" And in the darkness no one saw the flood of emotion that +mastered Tom Gray as he learned the deep, abiding belief of his loved +ones that he would return. + +Though the night lay black around them, the rain had ceased falling. +Directing the rays of his searchlight on Tom, David gave a horrified +gasp at the sight of his chum's pale, emaciated features. + +"I don't look much like myself, do I?" asked the prisoner with a short +laugh. "The fact is, I don't know just how I do look, but I guess it's +pretty bad." + +"But how in the world did you ever come to be----" began David. + +"No time for talk now," broke in Jean. "We mus' 'urry, an' get way off +from here. You can walk a little, M'sieu' Tom? Not far? We 'elp you. +There is easy way out of valley." + +Yet it was not an easy matter, even with the combined force of the two +men, to conduct Tom Gray out of the valley in which he had spent so many +weary, hopeless weeks. His left leg, which had been broken above the +knee, was far from strong. It was only within the past week that he had +been able to limp painfully about the narrow confines of his jail. Once +outdoors, the darkness of the night and the roughness of treacherous, +rock-strewn ground made progress barely possible. Neither did Jean nor +David dare to undertake carrying him. Burdened with Tom, a single +misstep on the part of either was likely to prove disastrous to all +three. + +"We mus' tak' the chance," declared Jean gravely to David, when at last +the arduous ascent from the valley had been stumblingly accomplished. +"'Bout four mile 'way we cache the t'ings. Only I hav' the rifle an' the +blanket of us two, an' M'sieu' David hav' the knapsack. In that we hav' +the supper. We go little furder. W'en we fin' the big rock, we lie on it +the blanket, an' on him we lie M'sieu' Tom. Then, you an' me, we stay up +an' watch. W'en morning com', then we mak' litter an' carry M'sieu' Tom. +I hav' hear him speak of wil' man. If wil' man com', Jean will be ready +to shoot at him the rifle. You are satisfy?" + +"I don't see that we can very well do differently," was David's rueful +reply. "At least we shall have a chance to find out from Tom just what +has happened to him." + +"No; M'sieu' David." Jean shook a respectful but decided head. "For +to-night we mus' say no much. M'sieu' Tom is too tire' to talk. Also we +mus' keep the quiet. No much nois'; no fire to cook the supper. The ear +of a wil' man hear far off. It is good if we miss him. You hav' hear +M'sieu' Tom say the wil' man is very strong. Jean is not 'fraid. But +many year he hunt, an' never shoot the rifle at any man. Now he pray _le +bon Dieu_ that he never may hav' it to do." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE STRANGE STORY + + +Jean's fervent declaration that he prayed never to be obliged to use his +rifle against a human being may have acted as a potent charm against +evil. At any rate, the welcome light of a gray October morning saw the +little company still undisturbed by any unpleasant intruder. It had been +a strenuous night for the three men, yet daylight found them signally +cheerful and alert. The long weary vigil that David and Jean had kept, +the greater part of it standing on their feet, was a watch of pure +affection. The object of their solicitude had been hardly more +comfortable. The cold, rain-beaten rock on which Jean had spread his own +and David's blankets was a poor couch at best. But to Tom it represented +the freedom he had despaired of ever again attaining, and he was more +than satisfied with his makeshift bed. Worn out by his recent exertion, +he had fallen asleep directly after they had eaten supper. He awakened +at daybreak declaring that he felt refreshed and much stronger. + +As soon as the first indications of dawn appeared in the still-cloudy +sky, Jean was about and stirring. As they devoured the few sandwiches +they had left, he gravely urged the necessity of starting at once for +the spot where he had cached their supplies. Among these supplies was a +coil of thin, tough rope which Jean proposed should serve in the +construction of a litter on which to carry Tom. Once that important +detail had been attended to, they would be able to proceed much faster +toward Mr. Mackenzie's camp. + +Again old Jean had insisted that Tom must postpone the telling of his +story until they were well on the way to camp. "You talk now, you get +tire', M'sieu' Tom," he said with a solemn wagging of his gray head. "We +know wil' man have shut you up an' keep you hid for long time. It is +enough to know. We are satisfy." Privately Jean was alive with curiosity +regarding the mysterious "wil' man," yet his duty to Tom came first and +he did not intend to slight it in any particular. + +The hike to the cached supplies was painful for Tom Gray, yet he limped +along uncomplainingly, part of the time supported by Jean's ready arm; +then again helped over the rough spots by David. Though they had set +forth with the dawn, it was after mid-day when they reached their goal. +Almost immediately after they arrived, Jean scoured the vicinity for +enough dry wood to build a fire. Once a blaze was well started David +prepared the simple meal, while the intrepid old man turned his +attention to the construction of the litter. Armed with a hatchet he +hacked sufficient boughs from the trees with which to make it, and went +at his task with a will. + +He left his task only long enough to snatch a hasty bite, then returned +to it, his wiry fingers fairly flying as he worked. When completed, the +litter would be a rude affair at best, made somewhat more comfortable by +the folded blankets which covered it. Tom, meanwhile, was rejoicing +openly over his coffee and crisp fried bacon. "It's the first square +meal I've had for over a week," he declared. "If you only knew--but I'll +have to wait to tell you. Won't I, Jean?" He called this last to Jean, +who was putting the finishing touches to the litter. + +"It is for M'sieu' Tom's own good that I mak' the reques'," replied +Jean. "But for this, that you min' what ol' Jean tell you, I will give +you the rewar'." His shrewd black eyes very tender, Jean fumbled in an +inner pocket of his rough coat. Drawing forth Grace's letter he rose and +tendered it to the astonished young man. + +"Now him is done," Jean referred, not to Tom, but to the finished means +for Tom's transportation. "I go, put 'way the t'ings till we com' after, +som' day." With this pointed assertion, Jean promptly made good his +word. David followed him with alacrity, leaving Tom alone with his +unexpected treasure. Despite Jean's frequent admonitions that they "mus' +'urry," it was fully fifteen minutes before either he or David returned +to the wan, but happy-faced figure by the fire. Man-like, not one of the +three made any allusion to the letter which was now tucked away in one +of Tom's coat pockets. Jean and David had seen the light of a great joy +flame up in their comrade's gray eyes, and in the old hunter's +vernacular, they were "satisfy." + +Having again cached their few effects, with the exception of Jean's +trusty rifle, Tom was soon established on the litter and the hike was +again renewed. Difficult as it had been for David and Jean to make their +way to the point in the woods which they had just left, the return was a +trebly laborious journey. The approach of night found them not yet +halfway to the lumber camp. They had calculated that the increased +supplies in David's knapsack would furnish them with supper, leaving a +comfortable allowance for breakfast the next day. By starting again at +daylight the following morning they hoped to reach camp before the +middle of the next afternoon. As they drew nearer to the camp they knew +they would find the road less difficult. + +"We hav' not done bad," congratulated Jean when, at twilight, they +halted to prepare supper. "We hav' meet no one that hav' the wish to +'arm us. M'sieu' Tom he get better all the time. Mebbe now because he +get better an' we so near camp, after supper he tell about wil' man. +Then we turn in; go to sleep quick, an' to-morrow we are safe." + +"You are right, Jean. I am getting better every minute, thanks to you +fellows. Since I have your permission at last to talk about myself, I'll +tell you what I've been crazy to say ever since I heard the call of the +Elf's Horn and you found me." Tom gave an involuntary sigh as the events +of the past few weeks came to his mind. + +Supper was somewhat hastily disposed of. Both David and Jean were as +anxious to hear Tom Gray's story, as the latter was to tell it. +Self-denial in this respect had been hard to practice. Yet all three had +acquitted themselves with credit. Seated on a log, with his friends on +either side of him, Tom started his strange narrative with: + +"At the very beginning I'll say that I'm primarily to blame for my own +troubles. The afternoon I landed in that little village nearest to the +camp, I had made up my mind to get to camp that same day. When I found I +couldn't get any kind of conveyance to take me there, I decided to walk. +The station master warned me that a big storm was coming, but I thought +I could make the trip before it came. The sky didn't look very +threatening to me. + +"He was a better weather prophet than I, for I hadn't gone two miles +when the storm broke. And such a storm! It was a terror! At first it was +a gale of wind, and maybe it didn't hit the trees, though. The way they +came crashing down made me sick at heart. You know how I feel about +trees. That I might get hurt didn't bother me half so much as to see the +way those magnificent old wonders were being demolished. + +"Though it was summer it grew pretty dark in the woods and, for the +first time I ever remember, I lost my way, I didn't know it just then. I +thought I was going north, when all the time I must have been going +west. I didn't want to stop. I thought I would be courting just as much +chance of getting hit by a falling tree if I stood still as if I kept on +going. Besides I was anxious to reach the camp. I had been following a +narrow trail, as well as I could under the circumstances, and I supposed +I was still on it. It was not until long afterward that I realized that +I had made a mistake. + +"Well, I plodded along for hours thinking I'd soon reach the camp. It +was then pitch dark and raining hard. I was beginning to tire, too. I +wasn't in the least worried about not finding the camp. I knew, of +course, by that time that I was lost, but I knew, too, I'd be all right +when morning came. What bothered me was to hunt some place where I could +get out of the rain and spend the night. But I couldn't find even an +overhanging rock, though I kept my pocket searchlight going constantly. + +"The last time I turned it on my watch I saw it was ten o 'clock. After +that--well here comes the queerest story you ever heard. I was stumbling +along in the dark, when all of a sudden the ground seemed to disappear +under my very feet. I felt myself falling. I don't suppose it was more +than ten feet, but it seemed a mile. I struck something hard, all in a +heap. After that I didn't remember anything until I opened my eyes, +groaning terribly. It was just getting daylight. I was lying at the +bottom of a gorge. Bending over me was the most terrifying person I had +ever seen in all my forest wanderings. It was a man and he was a regular +giant. He had a head of long snow-white hair and a long white beard that +made him look like Father Time. But his face was young, almost +child-like, except his eyes. They were big and black and wild. When he +saw my eyes were open he gave a kind of leap into the air and shouted at +the top of his lungs: 'He is alive again! My son has come back!' + +"Before I could say a word he stooped and grabbed me up in his arms. As +my left leg hurt me terribly, I knew it must be broken. I groaned and +tried to tell him, but he hung me over his shoulder as though I were a +feather and went crashing through the woods. I fainted with pain and +didn't come to myself again for quite a while. We were still traveling +along as though the fellow had on seven league boots. The pain in my leg +became even worse and I fainted again. When I came to myself the second +time, the sun was shining down through the trees. I was lying on the +ground and this crazy fellow--I was sure by that time that he _was_ +crazy--was circling around me, muttering and laughing to himself. + +"I tried again to talk to him, but I was suffering too much to do more +than mumble. I don't know how long we'd been there. I suppose he'd only +stopped to rest, for before long he hoisted me over his shoulder again +and away we went. Quite a while after that we struck that little valley +where the hut stands. He carried me into the shack and laid me on the +floor. I hadn't the least idea of what he was going to do, and I was too +sick to care. I knew he was crazy and that I could expect almost +anything to happen. What really happened was the biggest kind of a +surprise. He undressed me with the greatest gentleness and then examined +my broken leg, and afterward set it and fixed it up with the skill of a +doctor, in spite of the fact that he had no conveniences to help him. +You can imagine how I suffered during the process. I groaned a good deal +and he must have really sympathized with me, for he crooned and lamented +over me all the time he was doing it. He kept calling me his dear son +and said over and over, 'God has given you back to me at last.' + +"Then he went out of the hut and came back after a while with a forest +of balsam boughs. He made me a bough bed in one corner of the room, +spread a blanket over it and laid me on it. After that he rummaged +around the place and fished out an iron kettle from a heap of stuff in a +corner. Then he took it and went out of the shack, and I heard him lock +the door after him. He was gone a long time, several hours, I presume. +When he returned he hunted up a battered tin dish and went out again. +Pretty soon he came back with part of a cooked rabbit and some broth. +And I was glad to get it. + +"Matters ran along in about that way for some days. I tried at first to +keep track of them, but I was in so much pain that I soon lost count. It +wasn't physical pain alone, either. I went almost crazy myself wondering +what Grace and Aunt Rose would think at not hearing from me. I knew that +as soon as they realized that I had disappeared, they would send some +one to find me. I hadn't the least idea of where I was. I still supposed +that I wasn't far from the lumber camp and expected any moment to see a +search party descend on the hut. I soon found that I couldn't expect any +help from my host. He was crazy as a loon and besides he had a fixed +idea that I was a son of his who had evidently been supposed to be dead +for several years and had now come to life again in the woods. I tried +once to explain to him that I wasn't his son, but it made him so angry +that I was afraid to say anything more about it for fear he'd finish me. +He wouldn't talk much. When he did say anything it was absolutely +without sense. But he'd sit on the floor beside my bed by the hour, and +stare at me out of his wild black eyes. He was good to me, though. He +fed me and took care of me in a way that surprised me. + +"Twice he left me for a whole day and a night. When he came back he +brought a lot of provisions with him. He had quite a bit of money in +notes in the shack. He kept it in a box under a board in the floor and +almost every day he'd go there to look at it. He never counted it. He'd +lift the board, haul out the box, pat the roll of bills, croon over it, +and stuff it back again. One thing kept me thinking we were near to the +camp was the provisions he brought in. How he managed to get them +without getting himself locked up was a mystery to me. + +"As my leg began to get better, he began to grow less careful of me. +Knowing that I couldn't possibly get away, he would set food and water +beside my bed, lock me in the cabin--he never failed to do that--and go +away for three or four days at a stretch, sometimes longer. Often I used +to be faint with hunger before he'd come back. On one of those jaunts +somebody must have seen him, for he came tearing into the hut late one +night saying, 'I am afraid they saw me! I hid in the woods until dark +for fear they would follow me. They must not see me nor find out where I +live. If they do, they will try to take you away again and then tell me +you are dead. They would not believe that you have come to life again. +If they ever come I will kill them.' + +"After that he stayed in or near the shack for days. He was so upset for +fear someone would find me that instead of going around as usual without +saying much, he would talk all the time. He was cunning enough not to +talk loudly, though. He had a glimmer of sense even if he was crazy, for +he kept his voice down to a mutter. I dare say my broken leg would have +healed a good deal faster, if he had gone on giving me as good care as +he gave me at first. He wasn't anxious for me to get well. He used to +say, 'When you can walk again, you will have to stay shut up just the +same. If you go into the woods, they will see you and take you away.' + +"Privately I made up my mind that as soon as I was well enough I +wouldn't wait for 'them' to 'take me away'; I'd go of my own accord. But +I had to be careful. As I've already told you he was a giant. He was at +least six feet three and strong as a gorilla. I often used to wonder who +he was and all about him. One day, about a week before you came, I +thought I'd try my damaged leg to see if I could use it. He was off on +one of his jaunts or I wouldn't have dared to try it. I found I could +hobble about a little and just for curiosity I lifted up the board in +the floor, not because I wanted to count his money, but to see what else +he kept in the little old-fashioned box he always took it from. All I +found besides the money was a battered photograph of a little boy. On +the back of it was written in a round, childish hand: 'To my father. You +little son, Wallace Lindsey, twelve years old.' I suppose it must have +been----" + +Old Jean interrupted Tom's recital with a sudden ringing cry of, "It is +the wil' man! He hav' the name Lindsey. You remember, M'sieu' David, I +hav' tell you 'bout him!" In his excitement Jean leaped from the log, +Tom and David viewing him in amazement. "But w'en I hav' see his son, he +big man lak' his father." + +"What do you know of him, Jean!" Tom's question was freighted with +eagerness. "It's evident you must know something." + +"Do you mean, Jean, that you think this fellow is the one you were +telling me of?" demanded David skeptically. + +"It is the sam'," almost shouted the hunter. "I hav' know the name when +I hear it, but never could I remember. But I think he dead long time, +because after his son who he hav' love much get kill by tree, he turn to +wil' man an' run 'way to Canada, an' no one know after where he hav' +gone. Of a truth we hav' done well not to meet him. No wonder you say +'urry an' get away, M'sieu' Tom." + +"Yes, I knew the danger if you didn't," returned Tom. "He had been gone +three days when you came and I was expecting him back at almost any +minute. Now I understand why he called me his dear son. How we managed +to dodge him is a miracle." + +"Finding you was a miracle!" was David's reverent exclamation. "I feel +as though I'd been living in a nightmare and just awakened from it." + +"_Le bon Dieu_ never forget the one' he lov'," nodded Jean positively. +"An' he hav' lov' Mam'selle Grace an' M'sieu' Tom much or we never fin' +the M'sieu'." Jean made his usual sign of reverence for the Supreme +Being in which his faith was firmly grounded. "Now we mak' ready to +spen' another night outdoors. Jean will watch while his frien's sleep. +To-morrow an' we see the camp. Then, M'sieu' David, it is for you to go +to the village an' sen' the message that we hav' not fail, to those who +watch an' wait." + +Late the following afternoon the overseer of the lumber camp received +the surprise of his life. The sight of two exhausted, weather-beaten men +who toiled painfully into his front yard, bearing a rude litter on which +reclined a third man, sent the amazed Scotchman racing joyfully to meet +them. A little later Tom Gray was surrounded by the comforts which had +so long been denied him. After a hearty meal and a brief rest, David +Nesbit set off for the village on the overseer's horse to telegraph to +Grace Harlowe and Mrs. Gray the glorious news that Tom Gray had been +found and would soon be restored to them. + +But David had also another equally important commission to execute which +directly concerned Jean's "wil' man." After sending the two telegrams he +went at once to the home of the county sheriff, who lived in the +village. Completely disgusted with the lax manner in which the sheriff +had conducted the search, David reported to him the finding of Tom, with +a scathing arraignment which the inefficient official accepted in +scowling silence. Convinced by David's rebuke that it was high time to +redeem himself, he agreed to send out a posse of men the very next day +to cover the western stretch of forest in which the demented man had +managed to keep himself so cleverly concealed. + +It may be said here that the sheriff kept his word. For two weeks the +hunters of the unfortunate man scoured the forest to find him. Due to +the wildness of the region they had great difficulty in locating the +place of Tom Gray's imprisonment. Once discovered, they found the hut +empty. A guard was posted around it, but the fearsome tenant never +returned. It was not until almost a year afterward that those whose +lives fate had briefly linked with his, read in a newspaper a lengthy +account of his capture in a town a long distance from the territory +surrounding the lumber camp. The news that he had been placed in an +asylum for the insane was a matter of relief to all concerned. + + * * * * * + +On the very afternoon that Tom Gray was carried into the overseer's yard +Grace Harlowe and J. Elfreda Briggs were making arrangements to leave +Oakdale for a brief visit to Emma Dean at Overton College. They had +planned to depart for Overton on the nine o'clock train the next +morning, little dreaming of the remarkable upheaval that was soon to +take place in their plans. Having waited long and patiently for news +from the north Grace was feeling the suspense most keenly. She had +expected so much from Jean that with each day's dawn the struggle to +maintain a hopeful aspect grew more difficult. It was now over two weeks +since Jean had departed from Oakdale, and aside from two brief letters +from David, written during the first week of the renewed search for Tom +Gray, she had heard nothing further from him. From Jean she had not +expected to receive a letter. It had been agreed beforehand that David +should do the letter-writing. + +Despite her efforts at concealment, her deep depression now began to +stamp itself so strongly upon her sensitive features, that Elfreda +Briggs had again pleaded with her to consider paying a brief visit to +Emma Dean. Fond as she was of Emma, Grace's heart was not in the +proposed trip to Overton. She finally made reluctant consent, merely to +please the girl who had stood by her so staunchly. + +It was therefore a most mournful Loyalheart who listlessly packed a +traveling bag, preparatory to the next morning's journey. Long after the +house was quiet for the night, she lay awake, debating with herself +whether or not it were wise to go to Overton. Morning found her still +undecided. When at half-past eight o'clock she and Elfreda descended the +stairs, luggage in hand, she experienced a wild desire to refuse flatly +to go. The thought that the taxicab ordered to convey them to the +station was probably on its way to the house, brought her a remorseful +reflection that she had no right to back out at the last moment, thus +disappointing Elfreda. + +"What's the matter with that taxicab, I wonder?" grumbled the latter. +Standing beside Grace on the veranda, she was engaged in peering +frowningly down the street. "When I make up my mind to go, I want to go. +If that driver loiters along the way until he makes us miss our train, +he'll hear what I have to say about it. The idea of him being so +late----" + +"Oh!" A sharp cry from Grace, whose gray eyes had been pensively staring +up the street, put an abrupt end to Elfreda's remark. Coming down the +street toward the house a bicycle appeared ridden by a youngster in the +uniform of a messenger from a world-known telegraph company. Where was +he going? Was the telegraphic communication he bore for her? Grace cried +out again as she saw him stop before the gate and dismount. + +Before he was fairly through the gate a lithe figure had darted down the +steps toward him. Halfway up the walk they met. "Telegram for you, Miss +Harlowe," announced the boy cheerily. "Sign here, please." Handing her a +stub of a pencil, he held the book. With a shaking hand she managed to +trace her name. As he turned and went down the walk whistling shrilly, +Grace stared at the yellow envelope, hardly daring to open it. + +In the same instant she felt Elfreda Briggs' reassuring arm about her. +From the veranda the stout girl "could see" and had acted accordingly. + +With a quick gasping breath Grace tore open the envelope, her trembling +fingers fumbling at its contents. Then the world seemed suddenly to +recede, leaving her alone with the unbelievable information: "Tom found. +O.K. Sends love. Coming home Tuesday. Will wire train. David." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE NOON OF GOLDEN SUMMER + + +It was high noon on a gloriously sunshiny Indian summer day in November; +one of the last fond concessions of Mother Nature to those who still +mourn her departed "darling of the year." In a stately church on Chapel +Hill, Golden Summer was at high noon in two hearts. To Tom Gray and +Grace Harlowe, as they knelt for a moment before the altar, preparatory +to taking their vows of eternal constancy and devotion, the world held +but those two. + +In the sweet silence that pervaded the overflowing church, the two young +voices rang out clearly as they repeated their solemn pledges. +Unflinchingly they had weathered their winter of despair. It was +eminently fitting that happiness should now flood their loyal souls. +Among the large assemblage that had gathered to witness the welding of +that holy bond, there was not one person who did not rejoice with Grace +and Tom. + +Over a month had passed since that memorable October evening when Tom +Gray, looking but a shadow of his formerly robust self, had set foot on +the platform of the Oakdale station to receive the fervent welcome of +those whose lives and interests were centered in his own. As his arrival +had been kept a secret, few by-standers were at the station when he +arrived. After the first rush of greeting had spent itself, he was +affectionately conducted to Mrs. Gray's limousine with herself, the +Wingates, Grace, David and Jean as a bodyguard. Though still weak, three +days of rest had done much for him. Whatever he still lacked in mere +physical strength, he was the same buoyant, cheerful Tom, with only a +slight limp in his walk, and a touch of haunting wistfulness in his gray +eyes as a reminder of his terrible experience. + +At home once more and surrounded by every luxury and with every +consideration that those who loved him could offer, health came back +with a rush. His rugged constitution had stood him in good stead during +those dark days in the sequestered hut, and by the first of November he +was quite himself again. + +During the days of his rapid convalescence, the earlier-interrupted +wedding plans went steadily forward. The bitterness of loss had doubly +endeared Grace and Tom to each other. Out of the ashes of suffering, +affection had put forth a new growth which to them seemed completely to +dwarf their love of previous days. In proportion to the sorrow which had +been hers when she wrote to her comrades regarding the postponement of +her marriage was the supreme joy she experienced in writing them of +Tom's return. With Tom at home and entirely well again, she felt that +she could this time defy fate in setting her wedding day for the +sixteenth of November. + +And now the day had dawned, perfect in its autumnal beauty. Though the +trees were bare of leaves, the Oakdale gardens and lawns still flaunted +a few late-blooming, rich-hued chrysanthemums. Perhaps it was because of +the dark season of suspense through which she and Tom had passed that +Grace declared herself for the cheerful daintiness of a pink and white +wedding. In contradistinction to the weddings of her chums, who with the +exception of Miriam Nesbit had each been accompanied to the altar by a +bevy of bridesmaids, Grace announced that she wished the services of +only a maid of honor and two flower girls. Nor did any one complain when +her choice of bridal attendant fell upon J. Elfreda Briggs. As for the +latter, she was in the seventh heaven of delight and wondered humbly how +it had all happened. Anna May and Elizabeth Angerell felt equally proud +and delighted to have been chosen by dear Miss Harlowe as flower girls. + +As the greater part of the townspeople of Oakdale were desirous of +seeing Grace Harlowe and Tom Gray married, Grace rather reluctantly +decided in favor of a church wedding. Privately she would have preferred +being married in her own home, but this she kept strictly to herself. +There was also another secret which she and Tom sedulously guarded. It +related to where they intended to go on their honeymoon. Only Mr. and +Mrs. Harlowe and Mrs. Gray had shared their confidence regarding their +purposed destination, and their elders proved themselves to be good +secret-keepers. Withholding this bit of information was in the nature of +a whim on Grace's part, and though she and Tom were daily besieged with +questions by their friends, no one had any serious thought of spoiling +Grace's little surprise by endeavoring to pry it from her smiling lips. + +Apart from the Six Originals and her many intimate Oakdale friends of +school and later days, countless others gathered from far and near to be +on hand for the great day. The Semper Fidelis girls had journeyed to +Oakdale to a member. Judge Putnam and his sister, Mrs. Gibson, Mrs. +Allison and Mabel, Arnold Evans, the Southards, Eleanor Savelli, her +father and her aunt, Miss Nevin, had all congregated to do her honor. +Even Professor Morton and Miss Wilder were among those present. Mrs. +Gray insisted on making herself responsible for the appearance of the +Harlowe House girls, who received special permission from Professor +Morton to attend the great event in a body. + +Kathleen West, Laura Atkins, Mabel Ashe and Patience Eliot came to the +wedding, as did Madge Morton and the Meadow-brook Girls. In fact, +Oakdale had the air of a town holding a convention, and it would not +have been surprising to many had the streets of the little city suddenly +burst forth in gay decorations. As for wedding gifts, their name was +legion, and Grace laughingly declared herself to be hopelessly +embarrassed by the number of beautiful and costly offerings which poured +in upon her. + +Perhaps she was most deeply touched, however, by the arrival of a +wonderful set of martin furs, sent her by Jean. The old hunter occupied +a front seat in the church, at Tom's and Grace's earnest request, his +rugged face glowing with proud happiness as he watched the two young +people united in marriage. The ceremony over, Tom's first act after +saluting his bride, embracing his aunt and newly acquired mother-in-law +and grasping the hand of Mr. Harlowe, was to beckon Jean to him. "You +come next, Jean. You gave me my happiness," were words which the old +hunter treasured to the end of his life. + +"For once I hav' the honor to salut' Mam'selle Grace," smiled the old +man as he gripped Tom's hand. Then he kissed the radiant girl lightly on +both cheeks, after the fashion of his nation. To him she would always be +Mam'selle Grace. + +Due to the flood of congratulations which constantly poured in upon the +newly-weds, it was some time before they left the church to enter a +waiting automobile which was to convey them to the Harlowes' home. + +In order not to slight anyone, an elaborate reception had been arranged +to take place there after the performance of the ceremony. The reception +began shortly after the bridal pair reached the house, yet it was past +five o'clock when the numerous guests had departed with the exception of +a few of Grace's close friends, who stayed to see herself and Tom depart +on their honeymoon. + +"At last the mystery of 'Where lies honeymoon land?' is about to be +solved," proclaimed Hippy, in a loud, jubilant voice. Occupying the +center of the spacious flower-decked living-room he beamed benevolently +on the company of young folks who had tarried at the Harlowes' to learn +that very thing. Gathered there were six of the Eight Originals, Miriam, +Everett Southard and Miss Southard, the Savellis and Miss Nevin, Mrs. +Gray, Mrs. Nesbit, old Jean, Kathleen West and Patience Eliot, Mabel +Ashe, Laura Atkins and the Semper Fidelis girls. Despite the goodly size +of the room it was a trifle more than well-filled by those who waited +till Grace and Tom should reappear to say good-bye before starting on +their trip. The latter had briefly absented himself to go on a +mysterious errand to his aunt's home, which they guessed had something +to do with the secret. + +They had been waiting together perhaps twenty minutes, when Hippy +launched his loud, cheerful remark, for which he was laughingly taken to +task by Nora. + +"Why should I not announce that the momentous time is at hand?" he +demanded in a purposely grieved voice. "I am merely voicing the +sentiments of the multitude. Look at their eager, wistful faces and dare +to say I am not right." + +"For once I'll stand by you," conceded Reddy graciously. "I never +expected to do it, but the unexpected sometimes happens." He sidled +nearer to Hippy as he spoke. + +"Is that a threat?" flung back Hippy, taking several cautious steps away +from the approaching Reddy. + +"It depends----" began Reddy. + +He did not finish his speech. The sound of approaching feet on the +stairs turned the eyes of every one toward the wide doorway. A ripple of +fond surprise circled the room, as Grace descended the last step to be +met by Tom Gray. Into the room, hand in hand, stepped two veritable +foresters. In his suit of brown corduroy, with his high-laced tan boots, +Tom looked as though he were about to start on one of the long hikes in +which he so delighted. Attired in a trim suit of hunter's green that +reached a trifle below a pair of high-laced boots, the counterpart of +Tom's, except that they were small and dainty, a hat of soft green +velour upon her golden brown hair, Grace was a true forest maid. + +An instant and they were surrounded by an eager, buzzing throng. Their +very appearance told its own story. Knowing them so well, those present +understood the meaning of their unusual attire. For half an hour the two +lingered among these friends who were so loth to part with them. Then +the grandfather's clock in the hall sent out its ringing chime of six +o'clock. Tom and Grace exchanged affectionate glances. "It is time to +say good-bye." Grace's clear voice wavered a little on the last word. +"But when the last good-bye has been said, won't you please all of you +see us as far as the gate?" + +A unanimous assent went up from every throat as their dear ones hemmed +in the two foresters to offer them heartfelt good wishes and exchange +final good-byes. Heading a smiling procession to the gate, Tom and Grace +paused to say a last word of farewell to Mrs. Gray and Mr. and Mrs. +Harlowe, who had followed directly behind them. Grace's final caress was +reserved for her mother. For an instant the two clung fondly to each +other, then, accepting Tom's hand, Grace Harlowe passed through the +gateway of her first home to begin her pilgrimage to a second that +awaited her beyond Upton Wood. + +The brooding tenderness that lighted Mrs. Harlowe's eyes was reflected +in those of the silent group that stood watching the two figures as, +side by side, they swung bravely up the quiet street in the last warm +rays of the setting sun. An eloquent silence reigned as the intent +watchers followed the progress of the foresters up the street to the +point of disappearance. It was broken by Kathleen West. Out of the love +she bore Grace Harlowe she had christened Grace, "Loyalheart." It seemed +only natural that she should be the one to speak the epilogue to this +little drama of human love and happiness. Clearly and sweetly it fell on +the still evening air: "Having ended her pilgrimage in the Land of +College, Loyalheart has gone to Haven Home." + +THE END + + + + + * * * * * + + + + HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY'S + + CATALOGUE OF + + The Best and Least Expensive Books for Real Boys and Girls + + Really good and new stories for boys and girls are not + plentiful. Many stories, too, are so highly improbable as + to bring a grin of derision to the young reader's face before + he has gone far. The name of ALTEMUS is a distinctive + brand on the cover of a book, always ensuring + the buyer of having a book that is up-to-date and fine + throughout. No buyer of an ALTEMUS book is ever + disappointed. + + Many are the claims made as to the inexpensiveness + of books. Go into any bookstore and ask for an Altemus + book. Compare the price charged you for Altemus + books with the price demanded for other juvenile books. + You will at once discover that a given outlay of money + will buy more of the ALTEMUS books than of those + published by other houses. + + Every dealer in books carries the ALTEMUS books. + + Sold by all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt of price + + Henry Altemus Company + + 1326-1336 Vine Street, Philadelphia + + + + + The Motor Boat Club Series + + By H. IRVING HANCOCK + + + The keynote of these books is manliness. The stories are wonderfully + entertaining, and they are at the same time sound and wholesome. + No boy will willingly lay down an unfinished book in this + series. + + THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB OF THE KENNEBEC; + Or, The Secret of Smugglers' Island. + + THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AT NANTUCKET; + Or, The Mystery of the Dunstan Heir. + + THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB OFF LONG ISLAND; + Or, A Daring Marine Game at Racing Speed. + + THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AND THE WIRELESS; + Or, The Dot, Dash and Dare Cruise. + + THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB IN FLORIDA; + Or, Laying the Ghost of Alligator Swamp. + + THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AT THE GOLDEN GATE; + Or, A Thrilling Capture in the Great Fog. + + THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB ON THE GREAT LAKES; + Or, The Flying Dutchman of the Big Fresh Water. + + + + + The Range and Grange Hustlers + + By FRANK GEE PATCHIN + + + Have you any idea of the excitements, the glories of life on great + ranches in the West? Any bright boy will "devour" the books of + this series, once he has made a start with the first volume. + + THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS ON THE RANCH; + Or, The Boy Shepherds of the Great Divide. + + THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS' GREATEST ROUND-UP; + Or, Pitting Their Wits Against a Packers' Combine. + + THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS ON THE PLAINS; + Or, Following the Steam Plows Across the Prairie. + + THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS AT CHICAGO; + Or, The Conspiracy of the Wheat Pit. + + + + + Submarine Boys Series + + By VICTOR G. DURHAM + + + THE SUBMARINE BOYS ON DUTY; + Or, Life on a Diving Torpedo Boat. + + THE SUBMARINE BOYS' TRIAL TRIP; + Or, "Making Good" as Young Experts. + + THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE MIDDIES; + Or, The Prize Detail at Annapolis. + + THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE SPIES; + Or, Dodging the Sharks of the Deep. + + THE SUBMARINE BOYS' LIGHTNING CRUISE; + Or, The Young Kings of the Deep. + + THE SUBMARINE BOYS FOR THE FLAG; + Or, Deeding Their Lives to Uncle Sam. + + THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE SMUGGLERS; + Or, Breaking Up the New Jersey Customs Frauds. + + + + + The Square Dollar Boys Series + + By H. IRVING HANCOCK + + + THE SQUARE DOLLAR BOYS WAKE UP; + Or, Fighting the Trolley Franchise Steal. + + THE SQUARE DOLLAR BOYS SMASH THE RING; + Or, In the Lists Against the Crooked Land Deal. + + + + + The College Girls Series + + By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A.M. + + + GRACE HARLOWE'S FIRST YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE. + + GRACE HARLOWE'S SECOND YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE. + + GRACE HARLOWE'S THIRD YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE. + + GRACE HARLOWE'S FOURTH YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE. + + GRACE HARLOWE'S RETURN TO OVERTON CAMPUS. + + + + + Dave Darrin Series + + By H. IRVING HANCOCK + + + DAVE DARRIN AT VERA CRUZ; + Or, Fighting With the U. S. Navy in Mexico. + + + + + Pony Rider Boys Series + + By FRANK GEE PATCHIN + + + These tales may be aptly described the best books for boys and girls. + + THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ROCKIES; + Or, The Secret of the Lost Claim. + + THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN TEXAS; + Or, The Veiled Riddle of the Plains. + + THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN MONTANA; + Or, The Mystery of the Old Custer Trail. + + THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE OZARKS; + Or, The Secret of Ruby Mountain. + + THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ALKALI; + Or, Finding a Key to the Desert Maze. + + THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN NEW MEXICO; + Or, The End of the Silver Trail. + + THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE GRAND CANYON; + Or, The Mystery of Bright Angel Gulch. + + + + + The Boys of Steel Series + + By JAMES R. MEARS + + + Each book presents vivid picture of this great industry. Each story + is full of adventure and fascination. + + THE IRON BOYS IN THE MINES; + Or, Starting at the Bottom of the Shaft. + + THE IRON BOYS AS FOREMEN; + Or, Heading the Diamond Drill Shift. + + THE IRON BOYS ON THE ORE BOATS; + Or, Roughing It on the Great Lakes. + + THE IRON BOYS IN THE STEEL MILLS; + Or, Beginning Anew in the Cinder Pits. + + + + + The Madge Morton Books + + By AMY D. V. CHALMERS + + + MADGE MORTON--CAPTAIN OF THE MERRY MAID. + + MADGE MORTON'S SECRET. + + MADGE MORTON'S TRUST. + + MADGE MORTON'S VICTORY. + + + + + West Point Series + + By H. IRVING HANCOCK + + The principal characters in these narratives are manly, young + Americans whose doings will inspire all boy readers. + + DICK PRESCOTT'S FIRST YEAR AT WEST POINT; + Or, Two Chums in the Cadet Gray. + + DICK PRESCOTT'S SECOND YEAR AT WEST POINT; + Or, Finding the Glory of the Soldier's Life. + + DICK PRESCOTT'S THIRD YEAR AT WEST POINT; + Or, Standing Firm for Flag and Honor. + + DICK PRESCOTT'S FOURTH YEAR AT WEST POINT; + Or, Ready to Drop the Gray for Shoulder Straps. + + + + + Annapolis Series + + By H. IRVING HANCOCK + + + The Spirit of the new Navy is delightfully and truthfully depicted + in these volumes. + + DAVE DARRIN'S FIRST YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; + Or, Two Plebe Midshipmen at the U. S. Naval Academy. + + DAVE DARRIN'S SECOND YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; + Or, Two Midshipmen as Naval Academy "Youngsters." + + DAVE DARRIN'S THIRD YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; + Or, Leaders of the Second Class Midshipmen. + + DAVE DARRIN'S FOURTH YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; + Or, Headed for Graduation and the Big Cruise. + + + + + The Young Engineers Series + + By H. IRVING HANCOCK + + + The heroes of these stories are known to readers of the High + School Boys Series. In this new series Tom Reade and Harry + Hazelton prove worthy of all the traditions of Dick & Co. + + THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN COLORADO; + Or, At Railroad Building in Earnest. + + THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN ARIZONA; + Or, Laying Tracks on the "Man-Killer" Quicksand. + + THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN NEVADA; + Or, Seeking Fortune on the Turn of a Pick. + + THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN MEXICO; + Or, Fighting the Mine Swindlers. + + + + + Boys of the Army Series + + By H. IRVING HANCOCK + + + These books breathe the life and spirit of the United States Army + of to-day, and the life, just as it is, is described by a master pen. + + UNCLE SAM'S BOYS IN THE RANKS; + Or, Two Recruits in the United States Army. + + UNCLE SAM'S BOYS ON FIELD DUTY; + Or, Winning Corporal's Chevrons. + + UNCLE SAM'S BOYS AS SERGEANTS; + Or, Handling Their First Real Commands. + + UNCLE SAM'S BOYS IN THE PHILIPPINES; + Or, Following the Flag Against the Moros. + + + + + Battleship Boys Series + + By FRANK GEE PATCHIN + + + These stories throb with the life of young Americans on to-day's + huge drab Dreadnaughts. + + THE BATTLESHIP BOYS AT SEA; + Or, Two Apprentices in Uncle Sam's Navy. + + THE BATTLESHIP BOYS FIRST STEP UPWARD; + Or, Winning Their Grades as Petty Officers. + + THE BATTLESHIP BOYS IN FOREIGN SERVICE; + Or, Earning New Ratings in European Seas. + + THE BATTLESHIP BOYS IN THE TROPICS; + Or, Upholding the American Flag in a Honduras Revolution. + + + + + The Meadow-Brook Girls Series + + By JANET ALDRIDGE + + + Real live stories pulsing with the vibrant atmosphere of outdoor + life. + + THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS UNDER CANVAS. + + THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ACROSS COUNTRY. + + THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS AFLOAT. + + THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS IN THE HILLS. + + THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS BY THE SEA. + + THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ON THE TENNIS COURTS. + + + + + High School Boys Series + + By H. IRVING HANCOCK + + + In this series of bright, crisp books a new note has been struck. + Boys of every age under sixty will be interested in these fascinating + volumes. + + THE HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMEN; + Or, Dick & Co.'s First Year Pranks and Sports. + + THE HIGH SCHOOL PITCHER; + Or, Dick & Co. on the Gridley Diamond. + + THE HIGH SCHOOL LEFT END; + Or, Dick & Co. Grilling on the Football Gridiron. + + THE HIGH SCHOOL CAPTAIN OF THE TEAM; + Or, Dick & Co. Leading the Athletic Vanguard. + + + + + Grammar School Boys Series + + By H. IRVING HANCOCK + + + This series of stories, based on the actual doings of grammar + school boys, comes near to the heart of the average American boy. + + THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS OF GRIDLEY; + Or, Dick & Co. Start Things Moving. + + THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS SNOWBOUND; + Or, Dick & Co. at Winter Sports. + + THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS IN THE WOODS; + Or, Dick & Co. Trail Fun and Knowledge. + + THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS IN SUMMER ATHLETICS; + Or, Dick & Co. Make Their Fame Secure. + + + + + High School Boys' Vacation Series + + By H. IRVING HANCOCK + + + "Give us more Dick Prescott books!" + + This has been the burden of the cry from young readers of the + country over. Almost numberless letters have been received by the + publishers, making this eager demand; for Dick Prescott, Dave Darrin, + Tom Reade, and the other members of Dick & Co. are the most + popular high school boys in the land. Boys will alternately thrill + and chuckle when reading these splendid narratives. + + THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' CANOE CLUB; + Or, Dick & Co.'s Rivals on Lake Pleasant. + + THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS IN SUMMER CAMP; + Or, The Dick Prescott Six Training for the Gridley Eleven. + + THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' FISHING TRIP; + Or, Dick & Co. in the Wilderness. + + THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' TRAINING HIKE; + Or, Dick & Co. Making Themselves "Hard as Nails." + + + + + The Circus Boys Series + + By EDGAR B. P. DARLINGTON + + + Mr. Darlington's books breathe forth every phase of an intensely + interesting and exciting life. + + THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE FLYING RINGS; + Or, Making the Start in the Sawdust Life. + + THE CIRCUS BOYS ACROSS THE CONTINENT; + Or, Winning New Laurels on the Tanbark. + + THE CIRCUS BOYS IN DIXIE LAND; + Or, Winning the Plaudits of the Sunny South. + + THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE MISSISSIPPI; + Or, Afloat with the Big Show on the Big River. + + + + + The High School Girls Series + + By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A. M. + + + These breezy stories of the American High School Girl take the + reader fairly by storm. + + GRACE HARLOWE'S PLEBE YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; + Or, The Merry Doings of the Oakdale Freshman Girls. + + GRACE HARLOWE'S SOPHOMORE YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; + Or, The Record of the Girl Chums in Work and Athletics. + + GRACE HARLOWE'S JUNIOR YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; + Or, Fast Friends in the Sororities. + + GRACE HARLOWE'S SENIOR YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; + Or, The Parting of the Ways. + + + + + The Automobile Girls Series + + By LAURA DENT CRANE + + + No girl's library--no family book-case can be considered at all + complete unless it contains these sparkling twentieth-century books. + + THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT NEWPORT; + Or, Watching the Summer Parade. + + THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS IN THE BERKSHIRES; + Or, The Ghost of Lost Man's Trail. + + THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS ALONG THE HUDSON; + Or, Fighting Fire in Sleepy Hollow. + + THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT CHICAGO; + Or, Winning Out Against Heavy Odds. + + THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT PALM BEACH: + Or, Proving Their Mettle Under Southern Skies. + + THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT WASHINGTON; + Or, Checkmating the Plots of Foreign Spies. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Grace Harlowe's Golden Summer, by +Jessie Graham Flower + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRACE HARLOWE'S GOLDEN SUMMER *** + +***** This file should be named 20471.txt or 20471.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/4/7/20471/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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