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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/32053-8.txt b/32053-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9363d17 --- /dev/null +++ b/32053-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8122 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Happy House, by Jane D. Abbott + +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: Happy House + +Author: Jane D. Abbott + +Release Date: April 19, 2010 [EBook #32053] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAPPY HOUSE *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + +HAPPY HOUSE + + +BY + +JANE D. ABBOTT + + +AUTHOR OF "KEINETH" AND "LARKSPUR" + + + + + +GROSSET & DUNLAP + +PUBLISHERS ---- NEW YORK + + +Made in the United States of America + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY + + + + +TO MARTHA + +THIS BOOK IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I. THE LETTER + II. WEBB + III. HAPPY HOUSE + IV. AUNT MILLY + V. BIRD'S-NEST + VI. IN THE ORCHARD + VII. AUNT MILLY'S STORY + VIII. B'LINDY'S TRIUMPH + IX. DAVY'S CLUB + X. THE HIRED MAN + XI. MOONSHINE AND FAIRIES + XII. LIZ + XIII. THE FOURTH OF JULY + XIV. MRS. EATON CALLS + XV. GUNS AND STRING BEANS + XVI. PETER LENDS A HAND + XVII. NANCY PLANS A PARTY + XVIII. THE PARTY + XIX. THE MASTER + XX. A PICNIC + XXI. DAVY'S GIFT + XXII. REAL LEAVITTS AND OTHERS + XXIII. WHAT THE CHIMNEY HELD + XXIV. PETER + XXV. NANCY'S CONFESSION + XXVI. EUGENE STANDBRIDGE LEAVITT + XXVII. ARCHIE EATON RETURNS + XXVIII. A LETTER FROM THE MASTER + XXIX. BARRY + + + + +HAPPY HOUSE + + +CHAPTER I + +THE LETTER + +Through the stillness of a drowsy June day broke the intoning of the +library bell, chiming the hour. + +Three heads lifted quickly to listen. Three pairs of eyes met, the +same thought flashed through three minds. + +"Won't we miss that bell, though? I've seen grads when they've come +back stand perfectly still and listen to it with their eyes all weepy +looking. That's the way we'll feel by and by," one of them said slowly. + +"And the chimes used to make me dreadfully homesick! Don't those frosh +days seem ages ago?" + +The third girl slammed the lid of the trunk that occupied the centre of +the disordered room. She crossed to the window. + +Over the stretch of green between the dormitory and the campus many +people were slowly walking. Their fluffy dresses, their gay parasols, +the aimlessness of their wandering steps marked them as visitors. The +girl in the window frowned as she watched them. + +"I always hate it when the campus fills up with gawking, staring +people! It ought to be kept--sacred--just for us!" + +One of the three laughed merrily in answer. + +"How selfish that sounds, Claire! Haven't all those people come to see +one of us graduate? This is their day--ours is past." She stopped +short. "Did you see Thelma King's sister at the class-day exercises? +She's a _peach_! She's going to enter next fall. She's a leader in +everything at the High where she goes. She'll make a good college +girl; you could see the right spirit in her face. How I envy her! +It's dreadful when you think of new ones--coming--taking our places! I +wish I was just beginning my Freshman year--I'd even be willing to +endure Freshman math." + +The third of the group who had been sitting on, the floor staring out +over the tree tops with the dreamy gravity of one who--as long ago as +yesterday--graduated from the great University, suddenly interrupted. + +"Dear girls, cease your whining! What do those pieces of sheepskin +reposing somewhere in the mess on yonder bureau stand for? Remember +what that man said yesterday--how we mustn't think this Commencement is +the end of anything--it's just the beginning. Why, this new world +that's been born out of the frightful war is full of work for our +trained minds and hands! We mustn't look back for a minute--we must +look ahead!" Thrilled by her own words she leveled a reproachful +glance upon her two companions. + +Claire sighed. "I never could get the inspiration from things that you +always seem to, Anne. I guess I'm not built right! I couldn't make +myself listen to _half_ that man said. I can't think of anything right +now but what a job it's going to be getting everything into that trunk. +Mother was heartless not to stay over and do it for me!" + +"Never mind, Claire, we'll help you. Of course you and I can't see +things in the big, grand way that Anne can because she's found herself +and we haven't. But when our work _does_ come we'll do it! It may not +be off in Siberia or China or Africa--like Anne's--but, wherever it is, +I guess our Alma Mater won't be ashamed of us!" The girl's eyes +softened with the passionate tenderness of the new graduate for her +University. + +Back in the freshman days a curious chance had drawn these three +together. Then, for four years, years of hopeful effort, aspirations +and youthful problems, the currents of their young lives had +intermingled closely; now each must go its way. The moment brought the +pang that comes to youth at such a parting. Their bonds were something +closer than friendship. Behind them were months of the sweetest +intimacy that youth can know--ahead were the lives they must live apart +out in a world that cared nothing for college ideals and inspirations, +where each must find her "work" and do it, so that "her Alma Mater +might be proud!" + +Statistics, even in a university, would be dull if, now and then, Fate +did not play a trick with them. Upon the roster of the class of +Nineteen-nineteen had been entered two names: "Anne Leavitt, Los +Angeles, California; Anne Leavitt, New York City." + +When one thinks that in the great world war there was an army of, +approximately, seventy-five thousand Smiths alone, and a whole division +of John Smiths, one need not marvel that two Anne Leavitts came that +October day to the old University. Doubtless, in those first trying +days, they passed one another often and did not know, but a week later, +when Professor Nevin in First Year French, read slowly from his little +leather book: "Miss Anne Leavitt," two girls jumped to their feet and +in astonishment, faced one another. + +"_I_ am Anne Leavitt!" spoke the larger of the two. + +"And _I_ am Anne Leavitt, too!" laughed the smaller. + +A snicker ran around the room. Professor Nevin frowned and +stared--first at his little worn book and then at the two offending +young women. Of course he was powerless to undo what had been done +years before! And as he scowled, across the classroom one Anne Leavitt +smiled at the other. When the hour ended the recitation they walked +away arm in arm, laughing over the ridiculous situation. + +At the Library steps they were joined by another girl from the French +class. She had run in her eagerness to overtake them. + +"Are you _really_ both Anne Leavitts?" she asked breathlessly. + +They assured her solemnly that they were and that they didn't know just +what to do about it--old Professor Nevin had been so funny and upset. +They all three laughed again over it all. And there in the golden +warmth of that October day began the friendship of these three--for the +third girl was Claire Wallace. + +The students in the University found countless ways of distinguishing +between the two Anne Leavitts. One was tall and grave with a +meditative look in her deep-set eyes; the other, a head shorter, had a +lightness about her like an April day, reddish curly hair and an +upturned nose. One Anne Leavitt had never been called anything but +Anne, the other, since her baby days, had been Nancy. The more +intimate of the college girls called them Big Anne and Little Anne. +The professors, dignified perforce, read from their rolls, "Miss Anne +Leavitt, California--Miss Anne Leavitt, New York." + +In name only were the two girls alike. Anne had been born with the +legendary "silver spoon" and its mythical fortune. When her father and +mother died a friend of her father's, as guardian, had continued the +well-regulated indulgence that had marked her childhood. Because she +possessed an iron will and early acquired a seriousness and dignity +beyond her years, she was always a leader in each of the boarding +schools to which she progressed. Whatever Anne wanted to do she always +did, and yet, in spite of it, she had reached her college days +unspoiled, setting her strong will only for the best and obsessed with +a passionate longing for a service that would mean self-sacrifice. + +She thought now she had found it! Two weeks from this very day she, +would sail for a far-off village in Siberia to teach the peasant +children there and bring to the pitiful captivity of Russian ignorance +the enlightenment of American ideals. So big and wonderful seemed the +adventure that, girl-like, she had paid little heed to the small +details. Nancy and Claire Wallace worried more than she! + +"You'll never get enough to eat and how will you ever keep your clothes +clean," sighed Claire, who loved pretty frocks. + +"And we can't send you things, either, for they'd never reach you--some +of those awful Bolshevists would be sure to steal them!" + +Madame Breshkovsky, the little Grandmother of the Russian Revolution, +had made several visits to the University, and Anne, with the others, +had listened over and over to her vivid, heartrending stories of the +suffering needs of the children of the real Russia. It had been after +such an evening that Anne had given herself to the cause. So that, +when Nancy and Claire fretted excitedly over the hardships and dangers +of the undertaking, she had only looked at them with the question in +her grave, dark eyes: "What matters it if perhaps Anne Leavitt does +lack a few clothes and food and some silly luxuries if she is doing a +little, little bit to help her fellowmen?" + +Nancy Leavitt, like the beloved Topsy, had just "growed up." To her +chums, in her own spirited way, she had once described how: "Ever since +I can remember there were always just Dad and I. When he wanted to go +anywhere he used to pick me up like a piece of baggage and off we went. +Half the time I didn't go to the same school two years in succession. +And he used to teach me, too. Oh, how homesick I was when I came +here--without him. We're just like pals!" + +Nancy's physical well-being had been watched over by nurses of almost +every race and color. She knew a little Hindoo and from the old Hindoo +"ayah" she had caught bits of Hindoo mysticism. She had romped and +rolled with Japanese babies; she had lived on a ranch in Mexico until +bandits had driven them away; she had trudged along behind her father +over miles of trail in Alaska. And the only place she had ever called +"home" was a tiny flat in New York, where her father kept the pretty +furniture that Nancy's mother had bought when a bride. Back to this +they would come after long intervals, for a little respite from their +wanderings, and for Nancy the homecoming was always an excitingly happy +one from the moment she ran down to Mrs. Finnegan's door for the key to +the lugging out again of the two little trunks, which meant a sudden +departure for some distant land. + +College had brought a great change into this gypsy life and a grief at +the separation from her "Dad." But as the weeks had passed her letters +to him read less and less like a wail of homesickness, and were filled +more and more with the college happenings and whole passages devoted to +girlish descriptions of her new friends. + +For the last two years her father had been overseas as senior newspaper +correspondent with the American Expeditionary Force, and it would be +weeks before he could return. That thought added now to the lonely +ache in Nancy's heart as she stared at her chums and wondered what it +would seem like to live day after day without seeing them! + +These three had trod together up the Paths of Learning until they were +passing now the Gateway of Life; and yet, right at that moment, all of +them, even Anne, felt childishly lonely and homesick for the shelter of +the University they were leaving. + +That was why the chiming of the Library clock, that had marked the +passage of happy time for more than one generation of youth, brought a +shadow across each of the three young faces. + +A little wistfulness crept into Nancy's voice. "Your life's all cut +out for you, Anne. It's positively thrilling! Though I'd make an +awful mess out of any such undertaking. And Claire has her family. +I'll just go to New York and get the key from Mother Finnegan and work +like mad on the 'Child.' I want to finish it before Dad comes home. I +shall send it, then, to Theodore Hoffman himself--I might as well hitch +my wagon to the tiptoppest star--or whatever it is you do! Of course +it isn't as grand as going to Russia, but I'm going to work, and some +day, maybe, I'll be famous all over the world!" + +"Little Anne Leavitt, the great dramatist!" murmured Big Anne fondly. + +Claire Wallace, confronting nothing more serious than the squeezing of +her belongings into the huge trunk, was stirred with envy. Nancy had +her "Child"--not a youngster but a growing pile of manuscript, Anne had +her "crusade" among the unfortunate children of Siberia--she had +nothing ahead but to join her family at their summer home, an estate +that covered hundreds of acres on Long Island. + +"I wish you'd come home with me, first, Nancy! You heard mother say +how much she wanted you to come and we will have a beautiful time and +then you can see Barry." + +Nancy frowned sternly. She had several reasons for frowning--she +thought. Of course she would really like to go to Merrycliffe with +Claire; she loved to frolic, and the last term had been a pretty hard +grind, but her whole future depended upon her finishing her play and +Claire simply must _not_ coax her! Then the other reason was Barry. +Barry was Claire's brother recently returned from long service in +France, decorated by each of the allied countries. Toward him Nancy +and Anne, quite secretly, felt an unreasonable and growing dislike. +Neither of them had ever laid eyes on him but, ignoring the injustice, +based their antipathy solely on the fact that "Claire talks of nothing +but Barry until you feel like shutting your ears!" + +Nancy had, more than once, declared that "she could just see him +strutting around with all his medals, letting everyone make a lion of +him, and she loathed handsome men, anyway--they lacked character" and +Anne said "_her_ heart went out to those boys whose every minute in the +trenches had been an unrecognized and unrecorded act of heroism." Of +course they both carefully kept their real feelings from little Claire, +who was too dear to them to ever hurt in any way, so that, when she +talked "Barry," if they were only politely attentive, in her proud +enthusiasm, she never noticed. + +Now Nancy, instead of saying truthfully that "_she_ wasn't going to +spend her summer helping make a parlor pet out of the 'lion,'" simply +shook her head and frowned. + +"Claire, don't tease me! Of course I know how nice it would be to swim +and dance and play tennis and all sorts of things, but I must work!" +and she finished with the decided tone that was like Anne's. + +Claire looked unhappy. "_I_ don't want to go and dance and swim and +play around, though it is nice, but I can't write and I can't go to +Russia, so I'll just _have_ to go and do what the others in my crowd +all do, and I suppose you'll think I'm a butterfly when I'm _really_ +perfectly miserable!" + +Nancy controlled a smile. "Bless you, we won't think you're anything +but just the apple of our eyes. The world needs butterflies to keep it +beautiful and gay. Your adventure, Claire, is waiting for you, maybe, +around the corner. That's what Mother Finnegan is always saying! And +after my 'Child' is finished I promise I'll come and play with you!" + +Claire was only a little cheered. + +"But Barry may not be there, then. Mother says he's dreadfully +restless. He may be gone now!" + +A knock at the door saved Nancy from an answer. + +It was old Noah, the porter. He held a letter in his hand. + +"It's fer Mis' Anne Leavitt and I'm blessed if I know which one of yez +so, I sez, I'll jes' take it to the two of yez and let you toss up fer +it!" + +It was not unusual for the two girls to find their mail confused. They +generally distinguished by the handwriting or the postmarks. But now +they both stared at the letter they took from Noah's hand. + +It was addressed in a fine, old-fashioned handwriting. + +"_I_ can't recognize it," exclaimed one Anne Leavitt. + +"I'm sure _I_ never saw it before!" cried the other. + +"Isn't this exciting? Let me see the postmark. F-r-e-e-d-o-m!" +spelled Nancy. "I never heard of it," she declared. + +"I believe it's mine! I have some relatives--or did have--a great aunt +or something, who lived near a place like that way up on North Hero +Island. I'd forgotten all about them. Open it, Claire, and let's see +what it is."' + +"You never told _us_ about any aunt on any North Hero Island! It +sounds like a romance, Anne," accused Nancy, who thought she knew +everything about her friend. + +Anne laughed. "I don't wonder you think so. I just barely remember +father speaking of her. Read it, Claire!" + +Claire had seized the letter and opened it. "It is signed 'Your loving +aunt.' Isn't it the most ridiculous mystery? Why _couldn't_ it have +been something else besides an aunt!" + +"Well, I'm awfully afraid it _is_ for me. We never could _both_ have +aunts on North Hero Island. Go on, blessed child--I'm prepared for the +worst!" + +Claire rose dramatically. + + +"My dear Niece," she read, adding: "I want you to _know_, Anne, that +she honors you by spelling that with a capital." "Of later years it +has been a matter of deep regret to me that though the same blood runs +in our veins we are like strangers, and that you have been allowed to +grow to womanhood without knowing the home of your forefathers on this +historic island. It is for that reason that now, after considerable +debate with my conscience, I am writing to you at your college address +which I have obtained through a chance article in an Albany newspaper +('that was the Senior Play write-up,' interrupted Nancy, excitedly) to +urge you to avail yourself of the earliest opportunity to visit me in +the old home. + +"I feel the burden and responsibility of my increasing years, and I +know that soon I will be called to that land where our forefathers have +gone before us. You are, I believe, my nearest of kin--the family, as +you must know, is dying out and I would have preferred that you had +been a boy--I will tell you frankly that I am considering changing my +will and that upon your visit depends whether or not you will be my +beneficiary. I would wish to leave the home and my worldly wealth--the +wealth of the past Leavitts, to a Leavitt, but before I can do so to +the satisfaction of my own conscience, I must know that you are a +Leavitt and that you have been brought up with a true knowledge and +respect for what being a Leavitt demands of you, + +"I await your reply with anxiety. Your visit will give me pleasure and +I assure you that you will learn to love the spot on which, for so many +generations, your ancestors have lived." + +"Your Loving Aunt, + "SABRINA LEAVITT." + + +"Well, I'll be----" In all her college vocabulary Anne could not find +the word to express her feelings. + +"Isn't that rapturous? A great-aunt and a fortune! And will you +_please_ tell me why she had to debate with her conscience?" cried +Claire. + +Nancy was gleeful over Anne's wrath. + +"I'm glad she's yours, Annie darling! Dad always said the whole world +was _my_ only kin, but I never ran against anyone who wanted to look me +over before she left me a fortune! Who ever heard of North Hero Island +and where in goodness is it?" + +"I remember, now, that her name was awfully queer--Aunt Sa-something or +other, and North Hero Island isn't _utterly_ unknown, Nancy, to the +can't even remember! I wish it had happened to Lake Champlain. I saw +it once on a road-map when I was touring last fall with Professor and +Mrs. Scott, and Professor Scott said it was a locality picturesquely +historic--I remember." + +Claire turned the letter over and over. + +"I think it's all awfully thrilling! An aunt you can't even remember! +I wish it had happened to me! It would be something so different. +It's just like a story. But what a _lot_ she does think of her +forefathers!" + +"Well, the Leavitts are a very old family and they are a New England +family, too, although I was born in California," interrupted Anne with +a dignity that would have gladdened the great-aunt's heart. + +Nancy was again provoked to merriment. + +"Dad always said that the only other Leavitt _he_ knew was a +cow-puncher! He could lick anyone on the plains." + +Anne ignored this. She was frowning in deep thought. + +"The tiresome part is that--if I _don't_ go--if I tell her about going +to Russia--she may write to my guardian!" + +All three were struck dumb at the thought. Anne had not consulted her +guardian before she had impulsively enlisted her services in Madame +Breshkovsky's cause. Because she was three months past twenty-one, +legally he could not interfere, but being so newly of age she had not +had the courage to meet his protest. So she had simply written that +she was planning a long trip with friends and would tell him of the +details when they had been completed. A letter lay now in her desk +which she intended to mail the day before she sailed. It would be too +late, then, for him to interfere. If her conscience troubled her a +little about this plan, she told herself that the cause justified her +action. + +And now this Aunt Sa-something might upset everything! + +"I wish I could remember more about those relatives up there--father +and mother used to laugh whenever they mentioned the old place. I +always imagined they were dreadfully poor! She must be a terrible old +lady--you can sort of tell by the tone of her letter. Oh, dear!" + +"What will you do?" echoed Claire, still thinking it a much more +attractive adventure than Russia. + +"I have it!" cried Anne. "_You_ shall go in my place, Nancy!" + +"_I_! I should say not! Are you stark crazy, Anne Leavitt?" + +Anne seized her excitedly by the shoulder. "You could do it as easy as +anything in the world, Nancy. She's never laid eyes on me and I know +my father never wrote to her. You'll only have to go there for three +or four weeks----" + +"And pose as a real Leavitt when I'm a Leavitt that just belongs to +Dad! Well, I won't do it!" replied Nancy, stubbornly. + +"Nan-cy, please listen! You wouldn't have to do or say a thing--she'd +just take it for granted. And you could always make some excuse to go +away if----" + +"If it looked as though I was going to be found out! Why, it'd be like +living on a volcano. And I'd be sure to always say the wrong thing!" + +"But you could _try_ it," implored Anne. "It would make everything +simple and you'd be doing _your_ bit, then, for Madame Breshkovsky! +Think of all she told us of the suffering in Russia. Surely you could +do a little thing now to help! And if Aunt _did_ like you and left me +her money, it would _really_ be you and we'd give it to the cause!" + +"It'd be acting a lie," broke in Nancy. + +"Oh, not exactly, Nancy, for you really are Anne Leavitt and, anyway, +it's just as though you were my other half. Way back I know we are +related. If you don't love me well enough to help me out now--well, +I'm disappointed. I'll never forget it!" + +Poor Nancy, mindful of the long separation that lay before her and her +friend, cried out in protest. + +"Oh, Anne, _don't_ say that!" + +Claire, her eyes brilliant with excitement, chimed in: + +"Nancy, it's a hope-to-die adventure. Maybe you could make up no end +of stories and plays out of the things that happen up there! And, +anyway, you can finish the 'Child' and come to Merrycliffe that much +sooner!" + +Claire had advanced the most appealing argument. North Hero Island +certainly sounded more inspiring than a stuffy flat in Harlem with six +small Finnegans one floor below. And it was an adventure. Anne +hastened to take advantage of the yielding she saw in Nancy's face. + +"You can stay here with me until I have to go to New York, and we can +look up trains and I can tell you all about my forefathers, though I +really don't know a single thing. But she won't expect you to +know--don't you remember she wrote that she regretted my being brought +up without knowing the home of my forefathers. And if you just act as +though you wanted more than anything else in the world to learn all +about the Leavitts, she'll just love it and she'll tell you everything +you _have_ to know!" + +"It's the most _thrilling_ romance," sighed Claire, enviously. + +"Sounds more to _me_ like a conspiracy, and can't they put people in +jail for doing things like that?" demanded Nancy. + +"Oh, Nancy, you're _so_ literal--as if she would, way up there on an +island next to nowhere! And anyway, think of the boys who perjured +themselves to get into the service. Wasn't that justified?" + +Nancy, being in an unpleasant mood, started to ask what _that_ had to +do with _her_ pretending to be an Anne Leavitt who she wasn't, when Big +Anne went on in a hurt tone: + +"Well, we won't talk about it any more! I'll have to give up going to +Russia and my whole life will be spoiled. And I _am_ disappointed--I +thought our friendship meant something to you, Nancy." + +"_Anne_! There isn't a _thing_ I wouldn't do for you! You're next +dearest to Dad. For you I'll go to--Freedom or any old place. I'll do +my best to be you to the dot and I'll pay homage to your forefathers +and will ask not a penny of the legacy--if you get it! It shall all be +for the cause!" + +Anne read no irony in her tone. Her dignity flown, she caught her +friend in a strangling hug. "Oh, Nancy, you _darling_, will you? I'll +never forget it! We'll write to her right away--or you will. From +this _very_ minute you are Anne Leavitt!" + +"I wish I could go, too," put in Claire. "Perhaps I can coax Barry to +motor up that way." + +"Don't you _dare_!" cried Nancy in consternation. "It would spoil it +all. I'll write to you every day every thing that happens. Goodness, +if I'm as scared when I face your Aunt Sa-something as I am right now +when I think about it, she'll know at a glance that I'm just an +everyday Leavitt and not the child of her forefathers!" + +"Hark!" Claire lifted a silencing finger. "The seniors are singing." + +The lines they loved drifted to them. + + "Lift the chorus, speed it onward, + Loud her praises tell!" + + +"Let's join them." Suddenly Claire caught a hand of each. "_Girls_, +think of it--what it _means_--it's the last time--_it's all over_!" +Her pretty face was tragic. + +Big Anne, with a vision of Russia in her heart, set her lips resolutely. + +"Don't look _back_--look _ahead_!" she cried, grandly. + +But in Nancy's mind as, her arms linked with her chums', she hurried +off to join the other Seniors in their last sing, the troubling +question echoed: "To what?" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +WEBB + +A clatter of departing hoofs, a swirl of dust--and Nancy was left alone +on the hot railroad platform of North Hero. Her heart had seemed to +fix itself in one painful lump in her throat. She was so very, very +close to facing her adventure! + +"If you please, can you tell me in what way I can reach Freedom?" Her +faltering voice halted the telegraph operator as he was about to turn +the corner of the station. + +"Freedom? Well, now, old Webb had ought 'a been here for the train. +Isn't often Webb misses seein' the engine come in! Just you go in and +sit down, Miss, he'll come along," and scarcely had the encouraging +words passed the man's lips than a rickety, three-seated, +canopied-topped wagon, marked "Freedom Stage" turned the corner. + +"_Hey_, Webb, here's a lady passenger goin' along with you to Freedom! +And did you think the express would wait fer you?" + +Webb and his dusty, rusty and rickety wagon was a welcome sight to poor +Nancy. It had already seemed to her that her journey was endless and +that Freedom must be in the farthest corner of the world. For the +first few hours she had been absorbed by her grief at parting with +Anne. But a night in a funny little hotel in Burlington had given her +time to reflect upon her undertaking and it had assumed terrible +proportions in her eyes. The courage and confidence she had felt with +her chums, back in the room in the dormitory, deserted her now. + +"Goin' to Freedom you say, Miss?" the man Webb asked, a great curiosity +in his eyes. "Wal, you jes' come along with me! Had an order for +Tobiases and it set me late, but we'll git thar. Climb up here, Miss," +and with a flourishing aside of his reins he made room for her on the +dusty seat he occupied. + +Nancy handed him her big bag and climbed easily over the wheel into the +seat he had indicated. Then with a loud "get-ap" and a flourish of his +whip they rumbled off on the last leg of Nancy's journey. + +"Ain't ever been to Freedom before?" he asked as they turned the corner +of the maple-shaded street of the little town, and the horses settled +down into a steady trot. "Reckon not or old Webb 'ud have known +ye--ain't any folks come and go on this here island thet _I_ don't +know," he added with pride, dropping his reins for a better study of +his passenger. + +The air was fragrant with spring odors, the great trees met in a +quivery archway overhead, the meadow lands they passed were richly +green; Nancy's failing spirits began to soar! She threw a little smile +toward the old man. + +"I've never been in Freedom before--though I'm a Leavitt," she ventured. + +Her words had the desired effect. The man straightened with interest. + +"Wal, bless me, are ye one o' Miss Sabriny's folks? And a-goin' to +Happy House when ye ain't ever seen it?" + +Nancy nodded. "I'm Anne Leavitt," she answered carefully. "And I have +never seen my Aunt Sabrina. So I have come up from college for a +little visit. And I think _everything_ is lovely," she finished, +drawing a long breath, "though, goodness knows, I thought I'd never get +here!" + +She was uncomfortably conscious that the old man was regarding her with +open concern. + +"Funny, no one ain't heard a word about it! So ye're Miss Sabriny's +great-niece and a-comin' to Happy House from your school fer a visit!" + +"Why, yes, why not?" + +"Wal, I was jes' thinkin' you'd never _seen_ Happy House. And I guess +most folks in Freedom's forgotten Miss Sabriny hed any folks +much--count of the trouble!" + +"Oh, _what_ trouble, please, Mr. Webb?" + +The old man shook his reins vigorously against the horses' backs. + +"Webb, you're an old fool--an old, dodderin' fool! Of course this here +trouble was a long spell ago, Miss, and don't belong to Leavitts young +like you. I s'pose it want much, anyways, and I guess Miss Sabriny +herself's forgotten it else you wouldn't be a comin' to Happy House! +I'm an old man, missy, and thar ain't been much in Freedom as I don't +know about, but an old un'd ought 'a know 'nough to keep his tongue in +his head. Only--you come to Webb if anything bothers you and you +needn't call me _Mr_. Webb, either, for though I'm one of Freedom's +leadin' cit-zuns and they'd never be a Memorial Day or any kind of +Fourth of July doin's in Freedom without _me_--nobody calls me Mister +Webb and you jus' come to me----" + +Nancy, forgetful now of the pleasant things about her, frowned. + +"You're very nice to me, Webb, and I'm glad to have made a friend so +soon! I think the trouble _has_ been forgotten. Anyway, I'm only +going to stay a little while." + +"And a good thing it'll be fur Miss Milly, too." + +"Miss Milly----" asked Nancy. + +"It ain't no easy life fur her livin' with Miss Sabriny holdin' the +sword of wrath over her poor head, and there's lots of folks think Miss +Milly'd be a heap happier in the old graveyard than in Happy House, +'lowin' as how both feet are in the grave anyway. But this ain't no +cheerful talk to hand out to you, Miss, only I cal'late you'll make +Miss Milly a heap happier--shut up the way she is." + +"How far are we from Freedom?" asked Nancy, abruptly, thinking as she +did so that, if they were a very long way, she would have an +opportunity to learn from her garrulous friend all she needed to know! + +"Two mile from the turn yonder by the oak," the old man answered. + +For a few moments both maintained a deep silence. Nancy, her thoughts +in a tumult, was wondering what question she would ask first--there was +so much she wanted to know--the "trouble," "Miss Milly and the sword of +wrath" or what he meant by "Happy House." The last post stirred her +curiosity; then, too, it did not seem just nice to pry from this old +man. + +"Why do they call the Leavitt place 'Happy House'?" + +"Wal, I guess it ain't because it's exactly _happy_, and some sez mebbe +as how it's been a curse! Folks comes here to Freedom and looks at the +old place and there's somethin' printed about it in a little book they +sell up at Tobiases in Nor' Hero, only I ain't much on the readin'. +B'lindy Guest knows the story by heart, and she can tell you more'n I +can." + +"Oh, _please_, Webb, I can't make head or tail out of what you are +saying," laughed Nancy pleadingly. "Who _called_ it Happy House first?" + +"B'lindy sez the book sez that it was the first Anne Leavitt as come to +Nor' Hero called it Happy House and they hed one of these here mantels +made out o' marble over in London and fetched across with the letters +right in it spellin' Happy House! And she helped fix it up with her +own hands she'd kind o' set such store by the idee, right thar in the +settin' room and the very next day she slipped off sudden like and died +like a poor little flower. And there ain't been much happiness in +Happy House from them days since! B'lindy knows the hul story; jes' +'sits written." + +"Oh, how _thrilling_!" cried Nancy, breathing very fast. She had an +uncontrollable desire to halt Webb and the Freedom stage right on the +spot in order to write to Claire Wallace. But at that moment, around +the turn by the old oak galloped a horse and rider. Because it was the +first living creature Nancy had seen since leaving North Hero, she was +startled. + +"_Hey_ there, Webb," the rider cried, whirling out of the path of the +old wagon. + +And Webb called back in cheery greeting: "_Hey_, Pete!" + +Through the cloud of dust Nancy had caught a glimpse of a pair of merry +eyes set deep in a face as brown as the dark shirt the man wore. +Turning impulsively in her seat she noticed, with an unexplainable +sense of pleasure, that the bare head of the rider was exceptionally +well shaped and covered with short curly hair. Then, to her sudden +discomfiture, the rider wheeled directly in the road and pulled his +horse up short. + +It was, of course, because he was the first real person she had seen on +this big lonely Island that prompted her to nod ever so slightly in +response to his friendly wave! Then she turned discreetly back to Webb. + +"Who is he?" she asked, in what she tried to make an indifferent tone. + +"Peter Hyde an' as nice a young fellar as ever come to Freedom! Ain't +been here much more'n a week and knows everybody. He's old man +Judson's hired man and he's goin' to make somethin' of that ten-acre +strip of Judson's some day or my name ain't Cyrenus Webb!" + +"_Judson's hired man_!" cried Nancy, chagrined. What _would_ Anne +think of her--to have recognized, even in the slightest degree, the +impertinence of this fellow! Her face burned at the thought. + +"Seems to have a lot of learnin' but he's awful simple like and a +hustler. Nobody knows whereabouts he come from--jes' dropped by out of +some advertisement old Judson put in the papers up Burlington way." + +"Tell me more about Freedom," broke in Nancy with dignity. "Is it a +very old place?" + +"Wal, it's jest as old as this Island, though I ain't much on readin' +or dates. Folks on Nor' Hero's pretty proud of the hul Island and +B'lindy sez as how it's printed that folks settled here long 'fore +anyone, exceptin' the Indians, ever heard of Manhattan Island whar New +York is. Used to be French first round here but they didn't stay long, +and then the English come down 'fore the Revolution and the Leavitts +with them, I guess. This here Island's named fur Ethan Allen, you +know, and folks sez old Jonathan, thet works up at Happy House, is a +connection of his. All the folks round here's related some way or +other to them pi'neers and I guess if we hed to put up a fight now we'd +do it jest as brave as them Green Mountain Boys! The old smithy's been +standin' on the four corners for nigh onto one hundred years and the +meetin' house facin' the commons, B'lindy sez, is older than the +smithy. And up the Leavitt road thar's a tablet these here Daughters +of somethin' or other from Montpelier put up for some pi'neers that +died fightin' the Indians while their women folks set off in boats for +the mainland. I heard B'lindy tell that at the last social down at the +meetin' house. I cal'late some of them pi'neers were Leavitts, at +that, fur it want long before that the pretty lady came who hed the +name built in the mantel. B'lindy knows--she can tell jes' what day +the pretty lady come and the very room she died in. B'lindy was born +in the old house and she and Miss Sabriny growed up like sisters though +B'lindy's a good sight younger and spryer like than Miss Sabriny!" + +From the warmth of his tone Nancy guessed that there was a weak spot in +Webb's heart for B'lindy. + +"Tell me more about B'lindy," she asked, softly. + +"Wal, if you jus' take a bit of advice from an old man you be _purty_ +nice to B'lindy! Folks sez that Miss Sabriny's high and mightier than +the worst Leavitt, and they're a mighty proud lot, but I jus' got a +notion that the only person who runs Miss Sabriny is B'lindy and I sort +o' think she runs the hul of Happy House! And now here I am a +gossipin' so with a pretty passenger that I clean furgot to leave off +that chicken wire for Jenkins. _Whoa_, there, whoa, I say!" + +Nancy guessed that the cluster of housetops she glimpsed ahead, almost +hidden by the great elms and maples, was Freedom. She stared at them +reflectively. Through Webb she seemed suddenly to feel that she had +known the little tragedies and joys of Freedom all her life. She was +not a bit afraid now to meet Aunt Sabrina or this Miss Milly or +B'lindy. And she was eager to see the old, old house and the spot +where Leavitts had been massacred as they protected their women! After +all, it was going to be very pleasant--this playing at being one of the +old Leavitts! She wished Webb would hurry. + +When Farmer Jenkins followed Webb to the wheel of the wagon, Nancy knew +that Webb had lingered to tell of her coming. She met the farmer's +open stare with a pleasant little smile so that, an hour later, he +"opined" to the thin, bent-shouldered woman who shared his name and +labors, that "if that young gal wouldn't set things stirrin' pretty +lively up at Happy House, he'd miss his guess!" + +As they approached the outlying houses of the village Webb assumed an +important air. "This here's Freedom, Missy, and I'm proud to do the +honors for Miss Sabriny's niece! It's not big as places go but its +record can't be beat sence Ethan Allen's day. Webb knows, fer I +marched away with the boys in blue back in '61, though I was a +bare-footed youngster, long 'bout fourteen, and couldn't do nothin' +more useful than beat a drum. And thar's our service flag, Missy, and +every last one of the six of 'em's come through hul--thanks be to God! +And thar's the hotel by the post-office and cross here's the school +house which I helped build the winter they wa'n't no call fur the +stage. This is the Common and thet's the meetin' house, as anyone +could see, fur it ain't a line different from the meetin' houses over +at Bend and Cliffsdale and Nor' Hero and all over Vermont, I guess. +Funny how they never wanted only one kind o' meetin' houses! And +here's the old smithy lookin' like it was older than B'lindy 'lowed, +and here's whar we turn to go up the Leavitt road. Seein' how you're +sort of a special passenger I'll go right along up to Happy House, +though it ain't my custum!" + +Nancy was tremendously excited. She stared to right and left at the +little old frame and stone houses set squarely in grass-grown yards +flanked by flowerbeds, all abloom, and each wearing, because of tightly +closed blinds, an appearance of utter desertion. On the wooden "stoop" +of the place Webb had dignified by calling a "hotel" were lounging a +few men who had scarcely stirred when Webb in salutation had flourished +his whip at them. The Commons, hot in the June sun, was deserted save +for a few chickens pecking around in the long grass. The green +shutters of the meeting house were tightly closed, too. From the +gaping door of the smithy came not a sound. Even the great branches of +the trees scarcely stirred. Over everything brooded a peaceful quiet. + +"Oh, how delicious," thought Nancy. "How very, very old everything is. +_How_ I shall love it!" She leaned forward to catch a first glimpse of +Happy House. + +"Back by the smithy thar's old Dan'l Hopworth's place. Shame to have +it on Miss Sabriny's road only I 'low most as long as the Leavitts been +here thar's been some of the no-good Hopworths! Poor old Dan'l's 'bout +as shiftless as any o' them, B'lindy sez, and his grandchillern ain't +any better. And that thar leads down to old man Judson's. His ten +acre piece runs right up to Miss Sabriny's. And _thar's_ Happy House." + +Through the giant elms Nancy caught her first glimpse of the vine +covered old stone walls. Her first feeling was of disappointment; in +the square lines of the house there was little claim to beauty. But +its ugliness was softened by the wonderful trees that arched over its +roof; the gray of its walls and the tightly blinded windows gave a +stirring hint of mystery. + +The door, built squarely in the middle of the house, opened almost +directly upon a stone-flagged path that led in a straight line to the +road. There was something sternly formidable about it; Nancy, staring +at it with a rapidly beating heart, wondered, when it opened, what +might lie in store for her beyond it! + +Webb, with much ado, was swinging her big bag over the wheel. + +"Wal, we're makin' history, I guess, with another little Anne Leavitt +comin' to Happy House! Them horses'll stand and I'll jus' carry this +bag up fer you. Come along, Missy, and remember what Webb tells ye--ye +make up to B'lindy!" + +Nancy followed him up the path to the door. To herself she was +whispering, over the quaking of her heart: + +"Well, good-by Nancy Leavitt--you're _Anne_ now and don't you forget it +for one single minute!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +HAPPY HOUSE + +In the long, dim, high-ceilinged hall of Happy House Nancy felt very +small and very much afraid. Though Miss Sabrina was standing very +close to her it seemed as though her voice came from a long way off. +It was a cold voice, and although Miss Sabrina was without doubt trying +to be gracious, there was no warmth in her greeting. She was very +tall, with a long Roman nose that gave her entire appearance a +forbidding look. + +Following her, Nancy stumbled up the long stairs and down an upper hall +to a door where Miss Sabrina stopped. + +"This is the guest room," she explained, as she opened the door. + +Someone had opened one of the blinds so here there was more light. +Nancy, looking about, thought that it was the most dreadfully tidy room +she had ever seen. It had a starched look--the heavy lace curtains at +the window were so stiff that they could have stood quite alone without +pole or ring; the stiff-backed cushioned chairs were covered with stiff +linen "tidies," edged with stiff lace; the bureau and washstand were +likewise protected and a newly starched and ruffled strip, of a sister +pattern, protected the wall behind the bowl. + +"I think you'll find it comfortable--here. There is a pleasant land +breeze at night and it is quiet," Miss Sabrina was saying. + +"_Quiet_!" thought Nancy. Was there any noise anywhere on the whole +Island? She gave herself a little mental shake. She must say +_something_ to this very tall, very stately woman--she was +uncomfortably conscious that a pair of cold gray eyes was closely +scrutinizing her. + +"Oh, I shall love it," she cried with an enthusiasm she did not feel. +"And it is so nice in you--to want me!" + +The gray eyes kindled for a moment. + +"I wanted you to know us--and to know Happy House. In spite of all +that has happened you _are_ a Leavitt and I felt that it was wrong that +you should have grown up to womanhood out of touch with the traditions +of your forefathers. We are one of the oldest families on this +Island--Leavitts have always been foremost in making the history of the +state from the days when they fought side by side with Ethan Allen. +Any one of them would have laid down his life for the honor of his name +and his country. You will want to wash, Anne--the roads are dusty. +And no family in all Vermont is held in higher esteem than the Leavitts +since the first Leavitt came down from Montreal and settled here in the +wilderness. Put on a cooler dress, if you wish, and then come down to +the dining-room. We always eat dinner at twelve-thirty, but B'lindy +has kept something warm. Yes, if you are a true Leavitt you will soon +grow to revere the family pride and honor for which we Leavitts live!" +And with stately steps, as measured as her words, Miss Sabrina withdrew +from the room. + +"_Whe-w_! Can you just _beat_ it!" Nancy flung at the closed door. +She turned a complete circle, taking in with one sweeping glance the +heavy walnut furniture, dark and uninviting against the ugly wallpaper +and the equally ugly though spotlessly clean carpet; then threw out +both hands despairingly. + +"Well, Nancy, you _are_ in for it--forefathers and everything--family +pride and honor!" she finished with a groan. "So be a sport!" And +taking herself thus sternly in hand she went to the wash bowl and fell +to scrubbing off the dust as Miss Sabrina had bidden her. + +The clean, cool water and a change of dress restored her confidence. +At least Aunt Sabrina had accepted her without a question--_that_ +ordeal was over. Everything would go easier now. As she opened the +door there came up from below a tempting smell of hot food--Nancy +suddenly remembered that she had not eaten a crumb since her hasty, +early breakfast in Burlington. + +The dining-room was as dim and cool as the rest of the house and as +quiet. Miss Sabrina herself placed a steaming omelette at Nancy's +place. Then she sat down stiffly at the other end of the table. The +omelette was very good; Nancy relished, too, eating it from a plate of +rare old blue and white china; her quick eyes took in with one +appraising glance the beautiful lines of the old mohogany highboy and +the spindle-legged chairs which one of the "forefathers" must have +brought over from England, years and years ago. + +"The meat pie was cold so B'lindy beat up an omelette," Miss Sabrina +was saying. "I guess you must be hungry, Anne." + +And then, because there had been the slightest tremble in the older +woman's voice Nancy realized, in a flash, that Miss Sabrina was as +nervous as she! Of course she had dreaded the coming of this strange +grand-niece whom she had invited to Happy House merely from her sense +of duty to Leavitt traditions. In her relief Nancy wanted more than +anything to laugh loudly--instead she flashed a warm smile and said +coaxingly: + +"I wish you'd call me Nancy! Everyone does and it sounds--oh, jollier." + +But Miss Sabrina's long face grew longer. She shook her head +disapprovingly. "We've never called Anne Leavitts anything but Anne +since the first one and I guess in every generation there's been _one_ +Anne Leavitt! My mother gave the name to an older sister who died when +she was a baby. My own name is Sabrina Anne. Eat the strawberries! +Jonathan says they're the last from the garden." + +Rebuked Nancy bent her head over the fruit. "I am ashamed to know so +little--of my family! You will forgive me, won't you, when I seem +ignorant? I _do_ want to learn." And she said this with all her +heart, for unless she could either get Aunt Sabrina quickly away from +the beloved subject of family or learn something about them, she was +sure to make some dreadful blunder. + +Making little patterns on the tablecloth with the end of one thin +finger, Miss Sabrina cleared her throat twice, as though she wanted to +say something and found it difficult to speak. Her eyes, as she +levelled them upon Nancy, turned steely gray with cold little glints in +their depths. + +"As I wrote to you, I believe, I struggled--for a long time--with my +conscience before I took the unwarranted step of inviting you to Happy +House. Now I must make one command. Never, while you are here, are +you to mention the name of your father or grandfather--and I likewise +will refrain from so doing!" She stood up stiffly as she finished her +singular words. + +Nancy had lifted a round strawberry to her lips. She was so startled +that the hand that guided it dropped suddenly and the berry rolled over +the cloth, leaving a tiny red trail across the white surface. + +Was there ever anything in the world as strange as this? Why shouldn't +she mention Anne's father or her grandfather? To be sure, as all she +knew about them was the little Anne had told her during the last two +weeks, she was not likely to want to say much about them--nevertheless +she was immensely curious. Why _should_ Miss Sabrina make such a +singular command and _why_ should she be so agitated? + +Nancy knew she must say something in reply. "I--I'll be glad to do +just--what you want me to do!" she stammered. "I just want to--make +you like me--if I can." + +Nancy said this so humbly and so sincerely that it won a smile from +Miss Sabrina. Nancy did not know, of course, that the old woman had +been trying hungrily to find something in Nancy's face that was "like a +Leavitt!" And as Nancy had spoken she had suddenly seen an expression +cross the young face that, she said to herself, was "all Leavitt!" So +her voice was more kindly and she laid an affectionate hand upon the +girl's shoulder. + +"I am sure I shall grow very fond of you, my dear. Now I must leave +you to amuse yourself--this is my rest hour. Make yourself at home and +go about as you please!" + +Nancy did not move until the last sound of her aunt's footstep died +away. A door shut, then the house was perfectly still. She drew a +long, quivery breath. + +"Thank goodness--she _does_ have to rest! Nancy Leavitt, how are you +ever going to stand all that pomposity--for days and days. Wouldn't it +be _funny_ if I took to talking to myself in this dreadful stillness? +Happy House--_Happy_, indeed." + +It was not at all difficult for Nancy to know what each room, opening +from the long hall, was or what it looked like. The parlor opened from +one side, the sitting-room from the other; the dining-room was behind +the sitting-room and the kitchen in a wing beyond that. The parlor +with its old mahogany and walnut furniture, its faded pictures and ugly +carpeting was, of course, just like the sitting-room, except that, to +give it more of a homey air, in the sitting-room there were some waxed +flowers under a glass, a huge old Bible on the marble-topped table, a +bunch of peacock feathers in a corner and crocheted tidies on the +horsehair chairs--and the old mantel that had come from England, Webb +had said, was in the "sittin'-room." + +She tip-toed through the hall and opened the door on the right. +Accustomed now to the prevailing dimness, her eyes swept immediately to +the old fireplace. The marble mantel stood out in all its purity +against the dark wall; age had given a mellow lustre to its glossy +surface. Nancy, remembering Webb's story about that Anne Leavitt who, +ages ago had placed it there, went to it and touched it reverently. +"H-a-p-p-y H-o-u-s-e," she spelled softly, her finger tracing the +letters graven into the marble. Doubtless it had come across the sea +on one of those slow-sailing ships of long ago--that other Anne Leavitt +had waited impatiently months and months for it! + +Had that Anne Leavitt, like poor old Aunt Sabrina, worried and fussed +over Leavitt traditions? Of course not--she had _made_ them. + +A curiosity seized Nancy to find B'lindy. Webb had said she knew +everything. She must be somewhere beyond that last closed door in the +long hallway--the omelette had come from that direction. + +Under Nancy's pressure the door opened into a pantry and beyond, in a +big, sunny kitchen, shiny in its spotlessness, stood B'lindy before a +table, putting the last touches to a pie. She turned at the sound of +Nancy's step. Nancy paused in the doorway. + +"May I come in?" she asked. "Are you B'lindy?" She imitated Webb's +abbreviation. + +"Yes," the woman at the table answered shortly. "And you're the +niece." She gave Nancy a long, steady look. "Ain't a bit like a +Leavitt's I can see! Miss Sabriny would have you come, I hope you'll +like it." + +"The hateful creature," thought Nancy. Why couldn't _some one_ in +Happy House act natural and kind and jolly? + +Like Miss Sabrina, B'lindy was tall and almost as old; her forbidding +manner came not from a Roman nose but from heavy brows that frowned +down over deep-set eyes--eyes that pierced in their keenness. Like +Miss Sabrina she had a certain dignity, too, which seemed to set her +apart from her fellow creatures--the result, no doubt, as Nancy +thought, of having been born in the Leavitt household. + +"Of course I'm going to love it. It's so--so quiet! And that omelette +you made me was delicious. I was dreadfully hungry. And oh, there is +so much I want to know about Happy House. Webb told me--coming +here--that you knew everything. I've just gone in and looked at the +old fireplace. Tell me all about that Anne Leavitt." + +Nancy's coaxing tone covered the fire that was within her heart. To +herself she was saying: "The old iceberg--I'll thaw her out now or +never!" + +B'lindy set her pie down; her voice warmed a little. She rested her +hands on her hips and assumed what Webb would have called her "speakin' +air." + +"Well, now, if it's _pryin'_ B'lindy Guest don't know nothin', but if +it's hist'ry--Webb's just about right. Justin Leavitt brought Anne +Leavitt down from Montreal 'slong ago as 1740, when there was first a +settlement up to Isle la Motte. He bought most this whole Island, I +guess, from the Indians and when they wanted a home Anne Leavitt laid +her finger on this very spot we're sittin' on. Justin built the house +out of the stone they dug from the Island itself. And she planned that +there mantel--just set her heart on it and it seems how a Leavitt could +have anything--anyways they hed it made in England and brought over +here jest's she planned with Happy House spelled on it all carved like +'tis now. And she helped put it up with her own little hands. The +house's been changed a lot sence but no one's ever touched that mantel!" + +"And then she died," put in Nancy, breathlessly. + +"Yes--she was just nothin' more'n a child and delicate at that and +wa'n't built to stand them pi'neer hardships, hidin' from the Indians +and eatin' corn and roots and the like when she was used to food as +good as the king's, for noble blood she had--the book over at North +Hero says so! She just seemed to live 'til that there mantel come and +she saw it with her very own eyes. She was brave as any man and she +hung on spite of everything 'til she'd got that done and then jest 'sif +she was tuckered out she laid down and died!" + +"In what room, B'lindy?" + +"What's now the guest room--so the book says." B'lindy ignored Nancy's +stifled, "Oh, goodness me!" "That next year the Indians attacked all +the settlers and Justin Leavitt and his brother Remembrance was killed +along with a half-dozen other pi'neers beatin' back the red men while +Robert's wife and the other women folk escaped in an open boat across +the lake and Robert's wife hid little Justin under her cape. Then +Happy House was empty 'til little Justin growed up and came back." + +"And had the Indians gone then?" + +"No, but they were friendly like and a good thing it was for they'd +never been worse en'mies than the Yorkers was then. I guess Ethan +Allen, and his Green Mountain Boys slept right here many a time, for +there wasn't much they did fightin' the Yorkers without consultin' a +Leavitt! But here I am rattlin' on and the oven waitin' for them pies." + +"Oh, B'lindy--it's like a wonderful story! Will you show me the book +that tells all about it? I'm so glad my name is Anne, too. If you're +busy I'll run out and look at the garden--and find Jonathan. Webb told +me about him, too." + +Nancy's spirits were soaring; instinctively she felt that she had won +B'lindy! It was a good beginning. She opened the great oak door and +stepped out upon the path. At one time the grounds of Happy House must +have been pretentious--they were quaintly beautiful now in their age +and half-neglect. Flowering perennials had crept out from their old +beds and had spread unchecked around among the giant trunks of the +trees so that from hedge to hedge there was a riot of color. + +Among the gay blossoms Nancy picked her way, skirting the walls of the +house to discover what might lie beyond. In the back she found +Jonathan pottering among some raspberry bushes that bordered the +flagged walk. He was very bent and very old and very wrinkled; his +eyes twitched and blinked as he lifted his head to look at her. + +"Good afternoon! I am Anne Leavitt," Nancy called blithely. He was +such a perfect part of the old, old garden that she loved him on the +spot. + +"Wal, wal--little Anne Leavitt," and he nodded and blinked at her. + +"I wish you'd call me Nancy," Nancy ventured. "Everyone does, and I +don't seem nearly big enough to be Anne. I love your flowers and oh, +what a lot of berries you are going to have!" + +The old man straightened his shoulders--at least he tried to! His +flowers were his children. + +"In my younger days this here garden was the show of the Island," he +answered proudly. "Folks come from all round to look at it! +Thirty-two kinds of posies and that want countin' the hollyhocks that +grew like trees--taller'n I am. And vines and berries and vegetables. +But I can't work like I used to, and Miss Sabriny don't like anyone but +me to touch things. So things have to go abit. Miss Nancy, huh! Ye +_are_ a little thing." But his smile was kindly. "And I hope ye bring +some sunshine to Happy House." + +Suddenly Nancy exclaimed: "Oh--the lake! I didn't realize how close we +were to it." + +Beyond the raspberry patch and the kitchen garden stretched an old +orchard. Through the trees Nancy had glimpsed the sapphire blue of +Lake Champlain. + +"Is that orchard ours?" she asked Jonathan. + +"That it is. I helped my father plant those thar trees myself and +they're the best bearin' on the hul of Nor' Hero!" + +Nancy stood irresolute. She wanted to explore further--to run out +among the apple trees to the very cliff of the lake. But she was +bursting to write to Claire--there was already so much to tell her. + +So with one long, lingering look she retraced her steps back to the +house. As she passed slowly under the trees she was startled by the +movement of a single slat in one of the upstairs blinds. And +instinctively she knew that an eye peeped at her from behind it. + +Miss Milly--it must, of course, be the "poor Miss Milly" of whom Webb +had spoken! + +Nancy closed the front door softly behind her that it might not disturb +Miss Sabrina's hour of rest. Then she tiptoed up the long stairway. +It took but a moment's calculating to decide which door led to the room +where the blind had opened. She stopped before it and tapped gently +with one knuckle. + +"Come in," a voice answered. + +Opening the door, Nancy walked into a room the counterpart of her own, +except that a couch was drawn before the blinded windows. And against +it half-lay a frail little woman with snow-white hair and tired eyes, +shadowing a face that still held a trace of youth. + +As Nancy hesitated on the threshold a voice singularly sweet called to +her: + +"Come in, my dear! I am your Aunt Milly." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +AUNT MILLY + +"So this is Anne Leavitt!" + +But Aunt Milly did not say it at all like Aunt Sabrina, or even +crisply, like B'lindy's "so _you're_ the niece," but with a warm, +little trill in her voice that made Nancy feel as though she was very, +very glad to have her there! + +Two frail little hands caught Nancy's and squeezed them in such a human +way that Nancy leaned over impulsively and kissed Miss Milly on her +cheek. + +"I am so very glad to know you." Aunt Milly dashed a tear away from +her cheek. "I've counted the hours--after Sabrina told me you were +coming. To-day I lay here listening for Webb and then must have fallen +asleep, so that when you really came I didn't know it. Wasn't that +silly? Sit right down, dear--no, not in that old chair, it's so +uncomfortable--pull up that rocker. Let me get a good look at you!" + +Nancy did not even dread Miss Milly's "good look"--she was so +delightfully human! She pulled the rocker close to the lounge and +stretched out in it with a happy little sigh. + +"I thought _I'd_ never get here! It seems as though this is way off in +the corner of the world. And I'm just tired enough to find the--the +_quiet_ downright restful." + +Aunt Milly laughed. "I've been worrying over the 'quiet.' It's so +dreadfully quiet here--for young folks. I was afraid it would make you +homesick. Now tell me all about your trip and your Commencement. I've +been going over in my mind just what your Commencement must have been +like--ever since Sabrina told me we had a niece who was a Senior in +college. It must be wonderful!" she finished, with just the tiniest +bit of a sigh. + +Suddenly Nancy realized that here was someone hungry to know all that +was going on in the world outside of North Hero--not the world of men +and women, but her girl's world--that world that had ended Commencement +Day. She told a few little things about Senior Week, then, a little +homesick for all that had just been left behind, she rattled off one +recollection after another with an enthusiasm that kindled an answering +fire in Miss Milly's eyes. + +"I can't _bear_ to think it's all over--except that life itself is one +grand adventure and probably, after a little, I'll look back on the +school days and think how empty they were of--real things!" Then +Nancy, looking down at the frail white hand that clasped her own, +thought with a sort of shock that life was scarcely an adventure for +poor Miss Milly. But Miss Milly answered contentedly. "I love to hear +all about it. I'm glad you had it, my dear. I hope you'll come in and +talk with me often--it's like sunshine hearing your young voice!" + +"Oh, I shall _like_ to. You won't think I'm dreadful, will you, if I +tell you that Aunt Sabrina frightens me awfully and so does +B'lindy--just a little. But you don't seem a bit like them." + +Miss Milly laughed outright--a laugh that had a silver tinkle in it. +"No, I suppose I'm not--a bit like them." + +"So when I'm so frightened I don't know what to do I shall come +straight to you. And, please, Aunt Milly, will _you_ call me Nancy? +No one has ever called me anything but that and it makes me feel--like +someone else--when they call me Anne. Aunt Sabrina was horrified when +I asked her." + +"Yes--she would be! Of course I shall call you Nancy--or anything that +you wish! I can't be much company for you, dear, tied to this couch, +but you can bring a great deal of happiness to me." + +A wistful gleam in Aunt Milly's eyes made Nancy lean over and kiss her +again. At that moment the door opened and Aunt Sabrina walked in. +Then it seemed to Nancy as though a shadow crossed Miss Milly's face. +The glow in her eyes died completely. She seemed to shrink back among +the cushions. + +"Oh, you have met our niece," Aunt Sabrina said in her cold voice and +with no curiosity as to how it had happened. + +Nancy looked at Aunt Milly and Aunt Milly's glance seemed to say: +"Please don't tell her I peeked through the blinds." Aloud she +answered meekly: "I told her we were glad she had come!" + +Aunt Sabrina nodded as though to approve such action. Her eyes turned +around the room. + +"Is there anything you want done? B'lindy's washed the other covers +for your cushions, but they aren't dry enough to iron. The color +didn't run a bit--they'll be more sensible than those white ones, for +they won't be needing washing all the time, and B'lindy has enough to +do!" + +"Oh, yes, they'll be more sensible," Miss Milly agreed wearily. "No, I +don't want anything." + +There were two or three moments of silence. Aunt Sabrina went about +the room straightening a picture here, a "tidy" there. Nancy watched +her with angry eyes--what _was_ there about her that had killed that +precious glow in poor little Miss Milly? + +She rose abruptly. "May I go to my room? I want to write a letter." +Miss Sabrina said, "Why, of course, Anne," and Miss Milly flashed a +little ghost of a smile that entreated: "You see what life is like for +me, so please, _please_ come again." + +Upon Nancy's face, as she closed her own door behind her, was a mixture +of relief, indignation and apprehension. And a little of each of these +emotions crept into the lines of the letter that--to give vent to all +that was bursting within her--she dashed off to Claire. + +"---- You'd just better believe that if I had that precious darling, +Anne Leavitt, back in our beloved tower room I'd tell her that all the +fortunes in the world and all the suffering Russians wouldn't hire me +to spend one more day with her 'family.' + +"And yet, Claire, darling, it's so _dreadful_ that it's funny. I just +wonder that I haven't been scared _pink!_ Can you picture your little +Nancy surrounded by mahogany, so old that it fairly screams at you, +that it was brought over on the _Mayflower_ and walls as high as the +Library tower (please subtract poetical license) and just oodles of +Leavitt traditions--though I'll admit, just being a plain human mortal, +I don't know yet quite _what_ the Leavitt traditions are, but believe +me, I expect to, very soon, for Aunt Sabrina talks of nothing else! + +"Of course, sweet child, you can't make head or tail to all my +jibberish, so I'll write lucid English now. The Island is wonderfully +beautiful, everything about it seems different from any other part of +the world--the trees are bigger and the grass is greener and every now +and then you catch a glimpse of Lake Champlain as blue as Anne's +sapphire ring and hazy purple mountains beyond. And the whole place is +brimming with all kinds of historical stories. + +"They call this house Happy House. It was named that by the first Anne +Leavitt, and she had a mantel made in England with the letters carved +on it, and the day after it was put up she died in the very room I'm +writing in! Isn't that tragic and exciting? I can't make a story out +of that, though, for it's been all written up in a book they sell at +North Hero. + +"The house is big and built of stone that was quarried on the Island, +and it's all covered with vines and is beautiful--outside. It has +trees all around it that meet overhead like a canopy, and instead of a +regular garden in beds the ground's all covered with tiger lilies and +Sweet William and phlox and lots of flowers I don't know the name of, +that look as though they'd spilled out over their gardens and grew +everywhere. And there's a darling old gardener who is a descendant of +Ethan Allen. + +"In fact, everyone I've seen is old and, Webb said, is descended from +'somebody or other.' + +"But the inside of the house--oh, horrors! I don't believe a ray of +sunshine has gotten into it since the year one, and if it did, it would +be shut out mighty fast. Dad would go wild with delight over the old +furniture, and the dishes are beautiful, but the wallpaper looks like +green lobsters crawling all around, and you walk on brown-red roses as +big as cabbages. Does it torture my artistic soul? Oh, ye gods! And +my own room! No wonder that other Anne Leavitt died! I never saw so +many tidies in my life--I shall never draw a happy breath among them. +Oh, I can shut my eyes, right now and see the dear old tower room--you +sitting in the middle of the bed (unmade, of course), playing your uke, +Anne digging at her French Four on the window seat along with the fudge +dishes which I forgot to wash, and a week's muss all around us. Oh, +Claire, _weren't_ we happy, though? And to think it's all over. + +"Aunt Sabrina is very handsome and very Leavitty. I think Anne, in her +manner, when we've done something she doesn't approve of, is like her +Aunt Sabrina. She's very tall and parts her hair straight in the +middle and has the longest, straightest nose and a way of talking to +you that makes you feel like an atom. B'lindy, who is the +woman-of-all-work around Happy House, but Somebody, just you believe, +is very much like Aunt Sabrina and looks at you as if she could see the +littlest thought way back in your mind. And, of course, with me acting +a part and feeling as guilty as can be, you can imagine that I don't +enjoy B'lindy's searching glance! However, I asked her some questions +about the Leavitts and it warmed her up a little. + +"But there is an Aunt Milly that Anne didn't seem to know about and, +Claire, _she_ is human--the dearest, sweetest, prettiest, timidest +little thing. You can't tell, looking at her, whether she is old or +not, but being my great-aunt--or Anne's--I suppose she is. But she is +an invalid and evidently can't walk. There's something about her that +makes you feel dreadfully sorry for her and like taking care of her, +and I sort of imagine that for some reason or other Aunt Sabrina treats +her horridly. When Aunt Sabrina comes into the room, poor Aunt Milly +acts scared to death. + +"Just how I'll come out of it all I can't guess. I've got to keep my +head and see the thing through for Anne's sake. But--so far--I don't +like it a bit. It was easy enough planning it all with Anne back in +college, but somehow, now that I'm here, I feel so underhanded, +deceiving these people. And Miss Sabrina talks so much about the +Leavitt honor that it makes me feel like thirty cents. There is a lot +of mystery about the place, but I feel as though I had no right to try +and find it out, though I'll admit I'm dreadfully curious. I rode over +from North Hero with the funniest old man--his name is Webb and he said +he was one of Freedom's 'first citizens.' Modest--yes. Well, with a +very little encouragement he would have poured out the entire Leavitt +history, only it didn't seem nice to let him talk. But he spoke about +a 'Leavitt trouble,' and he said something about Miss Milly being +'happier in the grave.' Isn't that interesting? And the very +strangest thing of all is that Aunt Sabrina has forbidden me to ever +_mention_ my father--or Anne's father and grandfather! Of course Anne +will want to know all about it, and maybe it is my duty to find out +why! Anyway, if the chance comes to me, well, I won't shut my ears. + +"Speaking of Webb and riding over from North Hero, Claire, I did the +most dreadful thing, and if I tell you, you must swear that you won't +ever tell Anne, though goodness knows when either of us will see dear +old Anne again. We'd driven along for miles and hadn't seen a +soul--even the cows in the pastures weren't moving--when suddenly, +around a corner, dashed a man on horseback. He went by us like a +flash, but I could tell even with all the dust, that he rode well and +was very handsome and sort of different from--well, Webb, and the +people you'd _expect_ to see on North Hero Island. I was curious--you +know, I always am--and I turned around. And what do you think he +did--he wheeled that horse around and stopped dead still to stare at +us, and caught me turning, of course, though I was just curious because +he seemed different. And that isn't all--he had the nerve to wave his +hand and here's the confession! _I nodded back to him!_ I always am +so impulsive and it seemed so good to see someone that was young. And +he did have the grandest eyes even through the dust. But here's the +worst--I asked Webb who he was, and Webb said he was '_Judson's hired +man!_' Oh, Claire, what would Anne have said! + +"Well, of course, the fellow had his nerve, and if I ever see him again +I shall show him his place and make him understand that I am a +dignified, unapproachable young person. + +"Oh, Claire, dearest, I wish I was with you at Merrycliffe. You don't +know how lucky you are to have a jolly home and a jolly mother who +knows how to love! That's the trouble here--they act as though it was +a crime to show a spark of affection. Aunt Milly comes the nearest to +it, but I don't believe the others _know_ what love is. + +"Write to me often, for it will help keep up my courage, and I will +keep you posted as to all that happens to poor me--especially about the +hired man. I can't wait to see him. + +"Once your happy and now your perfectly miserable used-to-be Nancy. + +"To be known for the present as, + +"ANNE LEAVITT." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +BIRD'S-NEST + +"Joshua Leavitt was Justin's son and he married Abigail Clark over at +Isle Le Motte, and they had three sons, Joshua and John and Jacob, all +upright, settled young men. Let me see, it was either John or Jacob +was killed in the war of 1812, wasn't it, B'lindy?" + +Nancy's mind was working faster than the knitting needles in her +fingers. For three days now she had sat very close to Aunt Sabrina, +learning "all about the Leavitts." + +"It's lucky I have a good head for history," she said to herself, +nodding to show Aunt Sabrina that she was deeply interested in these +Joshuas and Johns and Jacobs. "If I'm here long enough she _may_ get +down to the present generation! Joshua--John--Jacob," she repeated +softly. + +"Dear me, where _is_ B'lindy? My memory isn't as good as it used to +be. I'm growing to be an old woman. But the Bible in there tells how +either John or Jacob fell at Fort Niagara. The Leavitts have always +been brave men--and men of honor!" + +At this point Nancy, quite involuntarily, dropped a stitch. The sudden +color that flushed her cheeks escaped Aunt Sabrina's notice, for +B'lindy's voice came suddenly through the open door. + +"Miss Sabriny, if Jon'than don't get that cornstarch from Eaton's there +won't be no cornstarch puddin' for dinner. He's worse than no good +round the house and a body takes more steps huntin' him than doin' all +his chores for him!" + +Nancy sprang to her feet. "Oh, _please_ let me find him! I--I'd love +to walk around a bit, too. I'll speak very sternly, B'lindy--you just +see if he doesn't go at once!" Tossing her red wool into the cushion +of the old rocker she had been occupying, Nancy was off before the +astonished B'lindy or Aunt Sabrina could utter a protest. + +She found Jonathan at his everlasting digging. Nancy shook him +playfully by the arm. Jonathan could not guess that her eyes were +bright because, for a few moments at least, she had escaped from the +oppressiveness of Aunt Sabrina and her ancestors; his old heart warmed +to her infectious smile. + +"B'lindy's as cross as can _be_! She must have the cornstarch at +_once_! I hate cornstarch pudding worse than poison, but you must +hurry as fast as you can, and _please_ go by the lilac side of the +house, because Miss Sabrina is sitting over on the hollyhock porch +talking ancestors and I want her to think that it's taking me forever +to find you!" + +"Cornstarch! Bless my boots!" A hundred wrinkles crossed the weather +beaten old face. "I'll go off to Eaton's fast's ever I can, Missy." + +"Nice Jonathan," and picking a posy, Nancy stuck it into the buttonhole +of the gardener's sweater. "And _I'm_ going fast's ever I can, +straight out to the lake." + +With a wave of her hand she flew down the path through the row of old +apple trees. She wanted to shout and to sing, but as that might +startle the entire island, she indulged in a joyous handspring instead! + +"Of course, Anne, darling, if _you_ could see me you'd look +shocked--you'd say, 'Nancy Leavitt, when _are_ you going to grow up!' +But, Annie, if growing up and up and up is going to be to grow like +your Aunt Sabrina, sitting all the day long dwelling on the glories +that are past and gone--never--never--_never_!" The girl flung her +arms out toward the blue waters of the lake. "If I had a wish I'd wish +that I could swim straight out across you--to those purple +mountains--over there!" + +It was very still in the orchard; cool, too, for the hot June sun only +penetrated in spots the outspreading branches of the old trees. +Gradually the tumult of longing in Nancy's mind quieted; a sense of +delicious quiet inspired her. + +"It's heavenly here--just as though I was all alone in the world." She +turned slowly around. Not a glimpse of any habitation could be seen, +the rows of trees hid even Happy House. And beyond was the stretch of +sparkling water, with its rim of hazy, purple hills. + +Nancy ran to the apple tree nearest the cliff. It was very old, its +branches grew close to the ground. In a moment she had climbed them +and had perched herself comfortably upon one with her back resting +against another. + +"It must be nice to be a bird," she mused, touching lightly the glossy +leaves about her. "Playing in tree-tops and when you're bored to +death, simply flying off without so much as an excuse! Or a +wood-nymph," wistfully. Then her drooping shoulder suddenly +straightened, under the stimulation of an idea. She sprang to the +ground. "Oh, _rapture_!" she cried, and raced back toward Happy House. + +Half an hour later Jonathan, having made peace with B'lindy, found her +in the old carriage house. Two shiny nails protruding from her teeth +and a hammer in her hands betrayed that she had found his tool-box. +Her face, through smudges of dust, wore a look of determination. + +"You've come just in time to help me, Jonathan. I must get the top of +_this_ box off and fasten it to _that_ box--so it'll open and shut. +Then you must find a piece of leather for hinges and some oil cloth. I +think that you have everything on earth hidden in this place--except +carriages!" + +Because, with Jonathan, it had been love at first sight, he obeyed with +only a "well, well, Missy." With the boards of one box he made a snug +door for the other box and he found, hidden away, some precious leather +that could be cut into strips for hinges, and a square of oil cloth and +canvas, too. There were more nails in the tool-box, and though old +Jonathan guarded that tool-box like a treasure-chest, he'd give Nancy +anything it held! + +They labored feverishly, and within an hour Nancy declared their work +done. + +"Now come with me, Jonathan, and I'll show you my secret." She lifted +the box and started toward the orchard, Jonathan trudging after her. + +When they reached the last tree near the cliff Nancy set her burden +down. She turned to her companion with a solemn face. + +"Jonathan, no one is going to know this secret but you and me! I am a +dramatist. You don't look as though you knew what that was, but it is +something that it's very, _very_ hard to be, and I shall have to +work--like everything! Right up on the branch of that tree is where +I'm going to work. I want you to take those nails I put in your pocket +and fasten this box securely to the trunk of the tree. Then I'm going +to keep all my things right in it and fasten it with this padlock +I--borrowed--from your tool-box. It'll be just like a nest--and I'll +steal out here and work and work and then, some day, when I'm famous, +all the newspapers will print a story telling how I wrote my first play +in an apple tree and that it was a secret between you and me, and +they'll want _your_ picture! Now, right here, Jonathan. I'll hold it +and you nail it tight." + +Jonathan _didn't_ know what a dramatist was, but he did know that his +"little Missy," perched on the old branch, was as pretty as any bird +and her eyes as bright as the sunshine that filtered through the leaves +of the tree. + +"Oh, that's just fine," cried Nancy, springing to the ground to survey +their work. "It's as safe as can be and you've helped me a _lot_, you +dear old thing, you. Now we must hurry home or B'lindy's dinner will +be cold and remember, cross your heart, this is a solemn, solemn +secret!" + +She drew her fingers across his worn, gray sweater, and he nodded in +acceptance of the mysterious sign. And as he followed her back through +the orchard to the house something within his breast seemed to sing the +way it did each spring when he found the first crocus peeping up +through the frosty earth. + +Nancy found it difficult to keep from bolting through her dinner. But +a tiny sense of guilt at having left "Joshua and Jacob" so abruptly +made her very attentive to Aunt Sabrina's long story of how the blue +china was first brought to Happy House. + +Scarcely had Miss Sabrina's door closed upon her for her hour of rest, +however, than Nancy flew to her own room. She gathered up her precious +paper and pencils, a knife and a worn manuscript case, a few favorite +books and a tattered dictionary, and started out on tip-toe through the +hall toward the stairs. But, though her step was light, its sound +caught a certain patient ear nearby. + +"Nancy! Oh, Nancy!" + +Nancy remembered, then, remorsefully, that not once that day had she +run in to see poor little Aunt Milly. With her treasures in her arms +she went straight to her. In the smile that greeted her from the couch +by the window, there was not one sign to indicate that Aunt Milly had +been waiting the whole long morning for her to come. + +"I've been so busy," explained Nancy, dropping her load. "I have a +mind to tell you, Aunt Milly. I meant it to be a secret, only Jonathan +knows, because he had to help me. And I'd like _you_ to know, too. +Anyway, a secret's more fun when more of us know it! You see, I'd +gotten as far as Jacob in my lessons on Leavitts, and then Aunt Sabrina +couldn't remember whether it was he or his brother that was killed in +the war of 1812, and B'lindy rudely interrupted just because she had no +corn starch! Oh, Aunt Milly, I'm dreadful, but I couldn't have stood +it another _minute_--I could have hugged B'lindy and her pudding! Why, +I've sat for three days straight in a horrible stiff chair listening to +musty, dusty tales, and I wanted to scream! So I said _I'd_ find +Jonathan and I bolted--and I _stayed_ away! And out in the orchard, +right close to the bank, the grandest idea came to me. To fix a nest! +And Jonathan helped me. We made a little box, all waterproof, and +nailed it to the tree to keep my things in--these," indicating the pile +at her feet. "And I'm going to hide there--and work! And that's +another secret. I'm writing a play! I wrote two in college and the +English professor said they were unusual and the Senior class gave one. +And I have a _real_ one, almost done. _Now_ you know the secret." + +"Oh, _Nancy_!" said Aunt Milly softly, two bright spots of color on her +cheeks. + +"You see I can steal out there and sit on that comfy branch and think +I'm all alone in the world. Such beautiful thoughts will come to me! +It'll be like a bird's nest." + +"Oh, Nancy," Aunt Milly said again, with a tragic look in her eyes that +the youthful Nancy could not read. "I wish I could see you there--just +once! Are the trees big, dear? And is the grass real green?" There +was a little tremble in the sweet voice. "Seems to me it used to be +ploughed up 'round the apple trees." + +Over Nancy rushed the heartbreaking thought that poor Miss Milly had +not seen the orchard for years and years. She threw both arms about +the frail form. With a torrent of words she pictured the raspberry +patch, old Jonathan's lettuce and radishes and beets and beans and +slender cornstalks working up through the soft earth, and the giant +apple trees beyond, the lake "just like diamonds sprinkled over +sapphire blue velvet" and the purple hills in the background. And all +the while she talked, Nancy felt little quivers passing through the +form she held. + +"It--isn't--_fair_!" she ended, enigmatically. She sat still for a +moment, staring at Miss Milly. With her bright color Aunt Milly didn't +look at all like a helpless invalid. "Maybe----" began Nancy, then +stopped short. She rose abruptly to her feet. "I've got an idea that +beats my bird's-nest all to pieces! I can't tell you now because you'd +be frightened to death, but it's going to be wonderful! Let me hide +this truck under your couch and now be very, very good until I come +back. I must find B'lindy at once." + +Nancy, fired by her sudden purpose, interrupted B'lindy in the last of +her "drying up" and demanded to know where she could find Mr. Webb. +When B'lindy "'lowed she wa'n't his keeper, but he's most al'las +hangin' 'round the smithy or Eaton's or the post-office or the hotel, +'cept when you wanted him, and then he wa'n't hangin' 'round nowhere," +Nancy started off down the path, bareheaded. + +Fortune favored her, for Mr. Webb was "hangin' round the smithy and +very delighted to see Miss Anne!" He had been wondering a lot about +the coming of the girl to Happy House. "Somethin' sure to come of it," +he had reflected again and again. + +Of course, he assured Nancy, he'd do anything he could for her. And +Nancy was sure they might find all that they needed right there in the +smithy. + +"It must be very comfortable and have some springs--and be safe, too. +And if you can find some wheels with rubber tires--off an old baby +carriage, they'll run more smoothly. And the seat must be big enough +for a lady--but she's a _small_ lady!" + +Jonathan thought he "caught her idee. Old Mrs. King, over at North +Hero, couldn't walk a step 'count of rheumatism, and she had a rig-up +such as Nancy was describing." Yes, Timothy Hopkins at the smithy had +most every kind of a thing about and he'd see what he could do, and +Miss Anne could run down in the morning, early, before the stage +started for North Hero. + +"And, Webb," Nancy levelled her sweetest smile, "don't even _try_ to +think whom it's for--it's a secret." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +IN THE ORCHARD + +Until Webb could finish the task that Nancy had assigned to him, Nancy +curbing her impatience, had to return to the study of "Joshua, Jacob +and John." + +"It was John that was killed in the war of 1812, and now we have +progressed to the next generation of Samuel and Ezekiel," she wrote to +Claire. "But let me tell you that just as soon as Webb finishes the +'rig-up' (that is what he calls my perfectly beautiful idea) I'm not +going to have a minute to spend on any of the old ancestors. Won't it +be wonderful to see Aunt Milly's face when she knows about it? _Think_ +of it, Claire--how we love to frolic all around this good old earth, +and how awful it would be to be tied to a couch all your days--and in +_such_ a room!" + +"After to-day my letters will be just scraps and you can picture your +Nancy working madly in her tree-top! + +"So far all is safe, and I'm really beginning to feel as though I was a +real Leavitt and not walking around in Anne's shoes, especially when I +am with Aunt Milly. But it's terribly hard not to talk about Dad and +you and Anne, and I have to hold my lips together lots of times to keep +from bursting out with something. I suppose it's good training for +me--Miss Sykes used to tell me my impulsiveness would be my ruin some +day. + +"I have seen the hired man! Yesterday, when I went out to my nest, I +deliberately walked around the edge of the orchard. I saw a lot of +tumble-down sheds and things over on a rise of ground that I supposed +was Judson's, and of course the lot in between was the ten-acre strip +that Webb told me about. I couldn't _see_ that it was any better than +any other part of the country around here. And while I was staring, +suddenly something moved, and there was that creature with a hoe +standing at the other end of the lot. And he waved his hand! Says I, +'Nancy Leavitt, this is your chance,' and I tossed my head so hard that +my neck truly cracked, and I stalked off back to the orchard. It was +good enough for him. + +"Oh, oh, oh, Webb has come! He's taken the rig-up around the lilac +side (for strategic reasons, I have divided the grounds of Happy House) +and out to the carriage barn. Now I shall tackle B'lindy and make +ready for the blessed hour of rest. + +"Adieu, dearest Claire, pray for your old pal." + +The winning of B'lindy to her plan was not as easy as Webb had been. +It had been a "bad" morning for B'lindy; the fire would not draw well, +she had forgotten to "set" her bread, and Judson's cat had gotten into +the cream. Nancy's arguments fell on deaf ears. + +"I guess what's well enough's well enough," at last she threw over her +shoulder. "Milly Leavitt's laid on that couch twenty years and it +ain't likely she'll lay there many more, and there ain't no use +meddlin' with what's what!" + +"But, B'lindy, no one has ever tried this! It's so easy. Wait until +you see how nice and safe Webb has made the chair. It's wonderful! It +would be wicked to keep her shut up there when we could take her out! +Think of it, B'lindy, all _we_ have and poor little Aunt Milly! Why, +it might make her well! I really know of such a case. It was a woman +who had tried every medicine she knew of and it was just happiness she +needed! If Aunt Milly could get out there in the sunshine and--and see +things, _she_ might get well, too. Anyway, she could laugh!" + +B'lindy laid down her egg-beater. It was a sign of yielding. + +"I guess nobody's _tried_ happiness on Milly Leavitt!" + +"We'll take her together, B'lindy. You may go with me to her room and +see her face when she knows!" + +"I told Miss Sabriny that there was no tellin' _what'd_ happen in Happy +House if she brought a young thing like you here," was B'lindy's way of +assent. With an uplifted arm she warded off what threatened to be a +hug. + +"Go 'way, Anne Leavitt, or there won't be no dinner! And this is +_your_ doin's, remember." + +True to her promise, Nancy waited until the last dinner dish was dried; +then she and B'lindy, very like culprits, tip-toed to Miss Milly's +room. Aunt Milly wore a look of expectancy, which changed to wonder +when she saw B'lindy. And one glance at Nancy's eager face told her +that something very, very different was about to happen! + +In a whisper Nancy commanded her to peep out and "just see what you'll +see." And Miss Milly, in a flutter, _did_ peep out, and saw Jonathan +below, with a curiously contrived chair on wheels. + +"It's for you--Webb made it," declared Nancy. "And you're not to get +excited, because that might spoil everything. We're going to take you +to the orchard!" + +"Oh, _Nancy_!" Something caught in poor Miss Milly's throat. + +"You must do just what I tell you. Take this shawl, though it's warmer +out there than it is in here. I'm very strong and I shall carry you +right down in my arms, and you must cling tight to my neck." + +Poor Miss Milly commenced to tremble violently. "Nancy--I'm afraid! +I--I--It's so long--maybe I'd better--maybe it isn't--_right_!" + +"Oh, Aunt Milly, darling, how could it be wrong to be happy! Just +_try_ it! Think of the sunshine and the birds and the nice smells and +all Jonathan's growing things! And B'lindy is going along, too, to +help. _Try_ it, Aunt Milly!" + +Aunt Milly's eyes filled with tears, then she commenced to laugh +softly. "Maybe it'll be the only time! I'd love--once more----" She +let Nancy lift her slowly. "I'm too heavy, dear," she protested. + +"_Heavy_----" thought Nancy. The pitifully frail form was as nothing +in her clasp. "I haven't played forward on our basket-ball team for +four years for nothing, Aunt Milly! March on, B'lindy. Now--very +still." + +It was a strange procession that moved off through the garden toward +the orchard. Jonathan led the way, B'lindy wheeled the chair and Nancy +frisked along, first one side, then the other, picking posies here and +there until Aunt Milly's lap was quite full. And Miss Milly sat very +still with her hands clasped tight together and a look of ecstasy in +her eyes, as though she was beholding a new and beautiful world! Every +step forward brought an added wonder. She had forgotten the world was +like this. + +"_Oh-h!_" she whispered rapturously when a robin trilled from a nearby +tree. "_Oh-h!_" she cried again when she caught a glimpse of the lake. + +But when they reached the cliff it was Nancy's turn to exclaim. For +there in her tree had been built the cosiest of rustic seats. + +"_How lovely!_" she cried, springing into it. "It just fits." She +shook her finger at old Jonathan. "_You_ made this for me, you dear +old thing!" + +But Jonathan, wishing mightily that he had, had to admit that he +"didn't know a blame thing 'bout it!" + +"Then it was Webb. He wanted to surprise me, too, as well as Aunt +Milly. Only--how did he know about my tree? Isn't it _nice_? It's as +comfy as can be." + +When Nancy joyously declared that everybody and everything was lovely, +somehow B'lindy and Jonathan and Aunt Milly felt so, too! B'lindy, at +Nancy's bidding, sat down upon the grass close to the chair, and +Jonathan, too rheumatic to follow her example, leaned against the tree +trunk and stared at Nancy with adoring eyes. + +"At first I was going to keep my nest a secret, just between Jonathan +and me. But it'll be much nicer to have all of us know about it. We +can have such nice times here. We can do so many things. B'lindy, can +you knit?" + +B'lindy said she could not, though she could crochet. + +"Then I'm going to teach you and Aunt Milly both. You can knit socks +for the children in Europe, though you must begin on washcloths. +Jonathan--I don't suppose there's any use trying to teach you--you must +keep us supplied with flowers because Aunt Milly can't have enough--you +see there are so many years she has to make up. And sometimes I'll +read to you and sometimes I'll work. We'll come here every +afternoon--shall we?" + +B'lindy and Jonathan and Aunt Milly nodded their heads. B'lindy, +watching Miss Milly's face, was beginning to think that there might be +some sense in Nancy's prescription of happiness. + +And if in her heart Nancy smothered any wistful longing as she glanced +at the locked treasure-box, she forgot it when she, too, watched Aunt +Milly. + +It was Jonathan who suddenly noticed that the sun was creeping over +toward the west and that he'd "better be at the lettuce." + +"Goodness to gracious," cried B'lindy, scrambling to her feet with a +considerable creaking of joints. "Anne Leavitt, my day's work ain't +half done!" + +On the way back through the orchard Miss Milly kept tight hold of +Nancy's hand, giving it an occasional squeeze. + +"I could die happy--now," she whispered. + +At the turn of the path beyond the raspberry patch the culprits were +confronted by Miss Sabrina. It was a very angry Aunt Sabrina, whose +one glance shadowed every bit of sunshine. Even Nancy, the ringleader +of the plot, felt her knees give way in fright. + +"What are you all about?" Miss Sabrina demanded in a voice cold with +anger. "Go about your work, Jonathan Allen. B'lindy, you wheel that +ridiculous chair back to wherever you got it from! And you, Milly +Leavitt, how _dare_ you meddle with the ways of God?" + +Everyone seemed to obey Miss Sabrina without a word of protest. +Jonathan faded out of sight, B'lindy disappeared toward the kitchen +with the chair and Nancy, followed by Miss Sabrina, carried the +trembling Miss Milly back to her couch. + +"Anne, you go out now!" Miss Sabrina jerked her head toward the door. + +"I'll have a thing or two to say to Milly. She made her bed--it's the +will of our Lord she should lie in it!" + +Nancy hesitated one moment, but something in Aunt Milly's frightened +glance seemed to say, "Go away!" So she went out and closed the door +upon the two sisters. + +Alone in her own room a storm of anger shook her. "I _hate_ her!" she +cried out to the ugly walls. "I _hate_ her! She's--just--_stone_!" + +"I'm _glad_ I'm not a real Leavitt! We were _so_ happy!" + +Then, really frightened, Nancy listened intently to catch some word +from the other room. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +AUNT MILLY'S STORY + +When Nancy could stand the interval of quiet no longer, she went back +to Miss Milly's door. She did not even knock. So sure was she of +finding a crushed and heartbroken Aunt Milly within that she stood +dumbfounded before the little creature who sat bolt upright upon the +couch. + +"Come in, my dear--and close the door!" + +Everything about Miss Milly seemed to say that "the worm has turned." +There was a glow on her face different from that it had worn out in the +orchard; it seemed to come from some fire within. + +"Open every blind in the room, Nancy," she commanded in a tone that was +new for Aunt Milly. "I might as well get what light I can in here. +Now come and sit beside me." + +For a moment Aunt Milly patted Nancy's hand and said nothing. Then she +gave a little sigh. + +"I can't _tell_ you, Nancy, I can't even _begin_ to tell you, what +you've done for me--taking me out there! If I never go again, I've had +it once. And it's sort of stiffened something inside of me!" + +She fell silent again. Nancy was wishing that she could have heard +what had passed between Aunt Sabrina and Miss Milly that had left Miss +Milly so defiant! + +Aunt Milly seemed to read her thought. + +"She was dreadfully angry and it was partly because she was +frightened--really frightened. You see, Nancy, sister Sabrina thinks +things must always go just so and that it's almost wicked to +try--different things. She says--I've made my bed!" + +"What _does_ she mean, Aunt Milly?" + +"It's a long story, dear." + +"I'd like to hear it, Aunt Milly." + +"I suppose you ought to know--someone else may tell you, old Webb or +B'lindy, or even Sabrina, though she'd rather die first! I think I +used to be something like you, Nancy, or I would have been, if it +hadn't been for--the trouble!" + +"Will it make you unhappy to tell it, Aunt Milly?" + +"No, child. I used to lie here by the hour and think things over and +over, but after awhile I got so things sort of blurred--I suppose I +grew resigned and all the fight inside of me died. There never was +much. You see Sabrina brought me up and she was as stern then as she +is now. Our father was like that, too. My mother died when I was a +baby." + +"When father died Sabrina had the care of me. I suppose she tried to +bring me up well; she was very strict and--never seemed to understand! +And when I was quite young I began to dream of getting away from the +Islands. I wanted to go away to school somewhere and learn to do +something--I did not much care what--that would keep me out in the +world. Finally I decided that I wanted to study music and then, +sometime, teach it. It wasn't much to want, was it, dear? But +goodness me, when I went to Sabrina with my plan she was terribly +angry. You might have thought I had suggested something wicked! She +simply _couldn't_ understand! There was enough money for us both to +live on and she said I was selfish and inconsiderate to want to go +away. She talked a great deal about the Leavitt position and being a +lady and learning contentment, and the more she talked the more +restless and discontented I grew! And the more I dreamed of what +waited out in the world beyond these little Islands. + +"After a long while, Nancy, I made up my mind to go, anyway! It was +not easy to do, because I'm not very brave, and the trouble we'd had +sort of made me hate to take any step that might make a break between +Sabrina and me. But I had to do it. I simply couldn't seem to face a +life here. That's hard for you to believe, isn't it, dear? But I +_was_ a different creature, then. Well, one night I packed some +clothes and slipped away. I walked to North Hero and caught the train +for Burlington. I was going from there to--to New York." + +Breathlessly, Nancy whispered, "What happened then?" + +"The train was wrecked outside of Burlington!" + +"_Oh_--Aunt Milly!" + +"I was terribly hurt. I lay for weeks in a hospital in Burlington and +they didn't know whether I'd live or die! I wish----" she stopped +short. "No, I don't! I'm _glad_ I didn't die. Then they brought me +home--like this!" + +"Poor, poor little Aunt Milly!" + +"But, listen, child--that isn't half all. It seems that on the same +train was a young man from North Hero whom I had always known--and +liked. But Aunt Sabrina had never approved of him, and long before she +had forbidden his coming here. I did see him sometimes, though--I +loved company and he was entertaining. There had never been more than +a pleasant friendship between us, and I had not dreamed that he was +going to Burlington on that train. He was killed. And when I came +back from the hospital the story was on every tongue that I had been +running away with Charlie Prince!" + +"Oh, I was hurt in every part of me--my body and my soul and my mind! +My precious dreams had crumbled forever and ever. And I had to face +that dreadful scandal! Not that I ever saw a soul--Sabrina took care +of _that_! She kept me shut up as though I had the plague. But +through her reproachful eyes I was made to see the accusations of every +man, woman and child on the Hero Islands. And I couldn't _make_ her +believe it wasn't so! She simply wouldn't talk about it. She went +around with that dreadful look, day after day, and when she'd say +anything at all, it was about how I had brought shame to the Leavitt +name. And after awhile I began to feel as though I _had_ done +something--more than just run away to study music. She made me +understand that the only way I could atone for it all was by burying +myself within these four walls." + +"Then _that's_ what she means by 'making your bed.'" + +"Yes, dear, I was so crushed that I came to believe she was right. God +knew that all I had wanted when I went away was a right to my own way +of living, but His ways are inscrutable and His Will has to be done! +Sabrina called it the sword of wrath and the justice of the Almighty, +and it didn't make much difference to me _what_ it was called--I was +here. That's my story, dear, that's the way I've lived until--to-day. +But you've changed it. Something inside of me that I thought was +dead--isn't dead at all! Do you know what I told Sabrina? I told her +I didn't _care_ what she thought, that I guessed when a woman was forty +years old and over she could decide things for herself and if just +going out there in the orchard was wicked, then I'd go on being +_wickeder_! That's what I told her. Dear, dear, you should have seen +her face!" + +"Hurrah, hurrah, Aunt Milly!" + +"Poor Sabrina, I never spoke like that in my life to her! I've always +been so--_afraid_, until to-day! I don't know what she'll do now. You +must not blame her too much, Nancy dear, it's the Leavitt trouble that +has made her what she is--it shadowed all our lives!" + +"Aunt Milly, what was the Leavitt trouble?" + +Aunt Milly looked distressed. "Then you _don't_ know? I shouldn't +have spoken of it! I promised Sabrina I wouldn't speak to you--about +it." + +"But, Aunt Milly, I have a--a right to know, haven't I? Even Webb +hinted about it, and it makes me feel as though I was--well, on the +outside of things, to be kept in ignorance." + +Miss Milly regarded her for a moment. "I _told_ Sabrina that you +wouldn't know! But may be you ought to. Somehow, telling things, too, +makes them seem not so dreadful! I believe we Leavitts lock troubles +away too much--don't air them enough, maybe. Sabrina thinks it's as +dreadful now as it was the day it happened. It was about our brother. +He was a year older than Sabrina. He wasn't at all like her, though, +nor like my father. He was gay and handsome, and high-spirited and +dreadfully extravagant. When I was very small I used to be frightened +at the quarrels between him and my father--and they were always over +money. + +"One night--he had come home just before supper after being away for a +week, no one knew where, and my father was very angry about that--they +had a quarrel that seemed more bitter than any other. Besides, there +was a thunder-storm that made it seem worse. I had been sent to bed, +but the lightning had frightened me, and I had crept downstairs to the +sitting-room. I opened the door. They were all three--for Sabrina +always sided with my father--talking so loudly they did not hear me. +My father's face frightened me more than the lightning and my brother's +had turned dead white. I think my father had just offered him some +money, for his wallet was in his hand and on the floor lay a bill, as +though my brother had thrown it back. I began to cry and ran back to +my room, more frightened by them than by the storm. And I lay there in +my bed for hours, waiting for something to happen!" + +"About midnight one dreadful bolt of lightning struck the house. It +shattered the chimney all to pieces on the outside and inside, filled +the sitting-room with dust and pieces of mortar, cracked the mantel and +moved it an inch and a half from the wall. But no one thought much of +all that, because something far more dreadful had happened! My brother +was gone and my father's wallet, the one I had seen in his hand, was +missing. He remembered laying it on the mantel and my brother and +Sabrina had seen him do it. It had contained over a thousand dollars +in bank notes. The next day my father found out that my brother had +taken the early train out of North Hero. I was too young to understand +much about it, but I used to pray, first, that my brother would come +back and tell them he _didn't_ take the wallet and then I'd pray that +he'd never, never come back, so that they couldn't put him in prison." + +"That must have been Anne's grandfather," Nancy was thinking. + +"He did come back, three weeks later," Miss Milly went on, "and there +was a scene much worse than the night of the storm. They forgot I was +in the room. My father accused my brother of stealing the wallet and +refused to let him say a word. 'I want no lies added to your other +sins,' was what he said--I can hear him now. And my brother looked as +though something had struck him. Then my father told him that if he'd +take himself off and never darken the doors of Happy House again, nor +communicate with his family in any way, the matter would be dropped +forever--for the sake of the Leavitt name. My brother stood there for +a moment; I remember, I wanted to run to him! Oh, I've wished I +_had_--so often! But I was afraid of Sabrina--and my father. And then +my brother turned and walked out of the room--and out of the +door--and--down the path--and----" + +Poor Miss Milly, worn out by the excitement of the day, began to cry +softly. + +Nancy had to jerk herself to break the spell of the story. Her face +wrinkled in a frown. "It--is--dreadful, isn't it, Aunt Milly? I don't +mean his spending money and running debts and things, I +mean--your--your father's horrid--_mercilessness_! Why, the courts +don't treat the worst criminals like that! And they call it Leavitt +pride--and honor! _I_ call it injustice. I wish you _had_ just run up +and kissed him, then. It might have made everything so different!" + +"So _that's_ why I can't speak of Anne's father or grandfather," Nancy +was thinking back of her frown. "And that's why Anne knew so little +about her aunts!" Then aloud: "I'm glad you told me, Aunt Milly. +It'll help us--be pals. We'll have other afternoons--like to-day--out +in the sunshine. But now you must rest. And I'll get ready to face +Aunt Sabrina!" + +"She'll be dreadfully cross," sighed Miss Milly, with the glow all gone +from her face. + +"I'm not a bit afraid," and Nancy meant it, for within her breast +smouldered such righteous indignation at Miss Sabrina and her precious +ancestors that she welcomed the challenge. + +Dressing hurriedly for supper Nancy's eye caught the letter to Claire +lying on her bureau. It seemed to her as though hours and hours had +passed since she had so flippantly bade Claire "pray for me!" + +She wanted to open the letter and dash off another page to tell Claire +of all that had happened and how the "mystery" was a mystery no longer. +Then, with the envelope in her hand, she remembered that it concerned +Aunt's grandfather and that, perhaps, _she_ had no right to tell! But +she did open the sheet and scribble across the top: "All sorts of +things have happened since I wrote this, and I may be back with you any +moment. I can't tell you yet all about it, but I can say this, that I +hate Happy House and I'm glad as can be that I'm only a pretend +Real-Leavitt! Everybody isn't horrid, though, that nice old Webb built +the cosiest seat up in my tree and surprised me." + +In exactly twenty minutes, by the hands of her small watch, she must +meet Miss Sabrina! Anyway, she could tell her just what she thought +about the whole thing, for, without any doubt she'd be sent away! But +there was Aunt Milly--she had promised Aunt Milly that there would be +more afternoons in the orchard. Somehow she must fix that. + +"I know," she waved her brush in mid-air, "I'll get Belinda!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +B'LINDY'S TRIUMPH + +No great general of war ever mapped out a plan of attack more carefully +than Nancy laid hers! First she begged B'lindy to let her pick over +the raspberries for supper. While doing this in the chummiest sort of +way, it was very easy to tell B'lindy that she had eaten lots of raised +biscuits but never any raised biscuits like she'd had at Happy House! + +The last raspberry in the glass dish, Nancy in departing, whispered +with a little laugh; "Weren't you dreadfully frightened this afternoon +when you saw Aunt Sabrina? O! of course you weren't--Webb told me you +were the only one who could really make Aunt Sabrina do anything, but, +goodness, _I_ was!" Which was balm to B'lindy's injured pride; as the +afternoon wore on B'lindy had been growing more and more indignant +because she had not "stood on her two feet and spoke up to Sabriny +Leavitt" instead of "turning tail like old Jonathan!" + +Throughout the supper, by eating very fast, Nancy managed to conceal +her nervousness and expectancy. Aunt Sabrina sat stiffly and looked +very tired and very old and, somehow, by a twist of her lips managed to +make Nancy understand that she, Nancy, was in deep disgrace and that in +due time sentence of punishment would be passed. Between B'lindy and +her mistress not a word was exchanged; B'lindy's head was tossed high +and there was an air of "sniffing" about her that, if it had not all +been so tragic, would have made the entire situation funny. + +"Oh, what a _place_--what _funny_ people!" cried Nancy to the stars as +she leaned that night far out of her window. "How can I _stand_ it! +And why does not something happen quickly? It's just _like_ Aunt +Sabrina not to say a word and to keep me on pins and needles! That's +the same way she treated Aunt Milly and that poor boy--years ago!" +Thereupon Nancy let her fancy wander back to the "gay-spirited, +extravagant" brother and his story--Anne's grandfather. Had _he_ +cared, she wondered, had he died longing to see again the old Island +home, or had it been a blessing--casting him out in the wide world. He +must have met fortune somewhere, for Anne's father had been wealthy. +Dear Anne--Nancy picked out the star that was farthest in the East and +addressed it reverently. "If you can see Anne and she can see you will +you tell her that she mustn't feel cross at the mess I've made of +things. I tried to be careful but I'm me and, anyway, all the +ignorance of her blessed peasants isn't any worse than the pride and +narrowness of her own relatives! Good-night, dearest Anne, for the +last time I go to sleep in my prison walls--to-morrow I die!" + +However, the June sunshine of the next morning restored much of Nancy's +courage. She made quick note of a few good signs, and best of these +was when she surprised B'lindy vigorously tacking a cushion upon Miss +Milly's chair. B'lindy did not see Nancy and Nancy tip-toed away with +a smile. + +Then, too, the glow was back in Miss Milly's face, and when Nancy ran +into her room, her hands full of roses, Miss Milly greeted her eagerly. + +"I think the sun is shining to-day just for me," she laughed, waving +her hand to the windows from which the blinds had been drawn. + +"And _I_ think," and Nancy cocked her head knowingly, "that B'lindy +will force an attack with the enemy about mid-day!" + +Nancy was right in her prediction. At dinner B'lindy, clad in her +customary checked gingham apron, served them veal stew and delicious +fluffy dumplings, but after the shortcake she appeared without it, and +with a broad-brimmed hat pinned well down over her sharp features. + +Nancy checked an exclamation; Miss Sabrina's lips twisted ever so +slightly, though not a word came from them. + +B'lindy assumed an added note of defiance by placing her hands on her +hips. "I guess the dishes can wait 'til the cool of the afternoon," +she said, trying to make her tone casual. "I'm goin' to take Miss +Milly for her airin'." + +One might have thought that there was nothing out of the ordinary in +B'lindy's announcement, beyond perhaps, the leaving of the dinner +dishes, but a tense moment followed, when one pair of steely eyes bored +into another pair, just as hard. And Nancy, a little frightened, +realized, with a sort of breathlessness, that she, was witnessing the +invisible conflict of two strong wills. One must weaken--and she +dropped her eyes, for she was swept by a moment's pity. + +It was Miss Sabrina's that weakened! The tenseness was broken when she +rose hurriedly from her chair. + +"Then it's on your own head, B'lindy Guest," she cried shrilly, "I've +done my duty as I saw it! She's better left alone." + +B'lindy, triumphant, threw after her, with a snort; "Duty's duty and +_I_ know that's well as you, but I guess no one's tried the +perscription of happiness for Milly Leavitt and mebbe it ain't too +late!" + +Nancy was torn between a wild desire to hug B'lindy and to say a nice +word to Aunt Sabrina, departing majestically from the room. But she +did neither--for both women, at that moment, looked very forbidding. +Instead, as the door closed behind Miss Sabrina, she drew a long +breath. "Suspended sentence," she said, solemnly. + +Then, at B'lindy's "What's that?" she laughed back: "The victor's +wreath shall adorn your brow, my worthy ally. While you prepare the +chariot I shall make haste to tell Aunt Milly that all's well with the +world! _Don't_ look at me like that, B'lindy Guest, I'm not +crazy--yet!" + +But B'lindy "'lowed" she was, for Nancy seized her by the shoulders and +kissed first one cheek and then the other, and uttered the perfectly +incomprehensible--to B'lindy--remark; "Webb was right!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +DAVY'S CLUB + +"The next thing we do is to s'lute the flag of our country. Now, one, +two, three--after me!" + +The shrill command floated up to Nancy in her tree-top. + +She had just snuggled back against her seat with a long sigh of +contentment. The door of her treasure-box stood open and beside her +were the sheets of her neglected manuscript. She had stolen out for an +hour's uninterrupted work. + +"How _heavenly_ quiet," she had been saying to the rustling leaves. +"_Now_ I am going to work and make up for lost time." Everything at +Happy House seemed to be back on what Nancy called a "peace-basis." "I +must go down to the village and tell Webb what a dear he was to make +this seat," she had thought, as she climbed into it. + +Then, just as her inspired pencil had written "Act 4" across the top of +a clean sheet, had come the strange words, seemingly out of nowhere. + +"Well, I _never_!" Nancy peeped all around. The sound came apparently +from under the cliff. "Who _is_ it? And how could _anyone_ get there." + +The voice--a boy's--was rattling on in a succession of sharp commands. +Nancy crept toward the edge and peeped over. There, to her amazement, +on a strip of sand beach in an indentation of the shore, marched and +counter-marched a small boy, quite alone. He was a funny, snub-nosed, +tousled headed boy in ragged blouse and blue jeans--and, clearly, very +much in earnest, for a deep scowl wrinkled his freckled face. + +"At-ten-shun! Shoulder arms--right face--forward, march." Three feet +length of bare-footed manliness stepped briskly across the sand. "Step +up, you Dick Snead," and a domineering arm swept out toward an +imaginary lagger in the rear. + +"Was there _ever_ anything so funny?" giggled Nancy, crouching in the +tall grass at the top of the cliff. "And what is it? Fairies don't +come in over-alls, and I don't think they ever liked military drill, +either." + +She loosened a stone and let it roll down the bank. Startled, the +youngster lifted his glance to the top of the bank. + +"Hello," called Nancy. + +A heavy scowl answered her friendly greeting. + +"What are you doing?" + +"I ain't doin' nothin'." It was clear that Nancy's interruption was +unwelcome. "Least I ain't doin' nothin' that's hurtin'." + +"Of course not! It sounded nice. I didn't even know there was a beach +down there! How did you ever get down?" + +The boy grew crafty--the haste with which he answered said plainly that +he did not _want_ Nancy to know how. + +"Girls can't get down--it's awful dang'rous!" + +"Then won't you come up?" + +The boy considered this. He had guessed that this must be the "girl up +at the Happy House." She seemed friendly and not at all disposed to +"chase a feller away." And if he climbed up to her, then there would +be no danger of her discovering the way down to the beach. + +"All right, I'll come up." He disappeared for a moment in the tangle +of growth that fringed the foot of the cliff to bob up close at Nancy's +side. + +"My goodness--it's just as though you came up by magic," she cried. +"It _must_ be dang'rous. I'm Nancy Leavitt. Who are you?" + +The boy gave Nancy a suspicious look. + +"Mebbe you'll tell!" he muttered, doubtingly. + +"Oh, no, I _wouldn't_! Besides, what can I tell? And I can't even +guess who you are because you see I don't know anyone in Freedom." + +"I'm Davy Hopworth." + +"Of course, I remember,--" But Nancy stopped short for what she +remembered was how Webb had called them the "no-good Hopworths." + +"And that there's my club," finished Davy, gravely. "Only the other +fellers couldn't sneak away today." + +"I--understand," Nancy nodded, hugging her knees with her arms. "What +a jolly place to meet. It's so--so secret." + +Davy grinned. "You bet. That's a pirate's cove. I guess mebbe +there's a treasure buried there. All us boys knows where to get down, +too." + +"I'm so glad you let me know your secret! I won't tell a soul! I +think your club's very jolly, too." + +Davy, won by Nancy's disarming friendliness, produced from a ragged +pocket a dirty piece of paper and handed it to her. + +"Them's the Rules," he said, briefly. + +At the top was printed "Cove Culb." And below were the rules: 1. No +swaring. 2. No back talk. 3. No smokin nothin. 4. No lis. 5. No +steling birds eggs. 6. No hurtin dume anmals. 7. Eviry boys goter no +how to swim and lick eviry boy thats an enmy to the culb. 8. To kil +pirats. 9. To fite for ar contry. + +While Nancy was trying to control her lips so that she could say +something, Davy added proudly, "I wrote 'em." + +"They're--splendid! But _why_ in the world should the other boys have +to sneak away?" + +"Liz says folks don't think a Hopworth's good 'nough. I guess no one +thinks a feller oughta have any fun, either. Liz don't. I wait 'til +she cleans the meetin' house--ev'ry Monday and after there's socials +and things. We sneak. Jim and Dick get a lickin' if they get caught," +Davy explained without the slightest embarrassment. + +Nancy's indignation was sincere. "What a _shame_! I wish I was a boy, +I'd join your club in a moment. Why, you can do so many things down +there--drill and--swim, can't you? And have jolly fires and roast +potatoes and weiners and corn?" + +"Gee--I wish you were a boy." + +"Why, can't I join anyway?" cried Nancy, inspired. "Some clubs have +honorary members who do nice things for them. Can't I?" + +Davy did not know what an "honorary member" was, and an instinct +trained to suspicion warned him now. + +"Girls ain't any fun." + +"Oh, some girls aren't, I know! But I'm a lot like a boy. I can swim +half a mile--I've done it! I can play ball, too and--and--why I won a +medal for a high pole-vault! I'll bet I can beat you right now in a +race!" + +Davy regarded her with wide eyes. + +"Bet you can't!" + +Nancy sprang to her feet. + +"Let's race from--here--to that big elm way down there." She indicated +with her finger a giant elm in the "ten-acre strip." + +"How you goin' to get over that stone fence?" And Davy pointed out the +low stretch of stones that marked the dividing line between the orchard +and the ten-acre strip. + +"Oh, _that_! That's easy!" + +Plainly Davy's respect was growing. He danced first on one foot and +then on the other. "You are a sport. If you can beat I'll let you +join the club. I'll count! One--two--three!" + +They were off over the stubby grass. Nancy, longer-limbed, caught the +lead. She vaulted the fence with agile ease. But Davy soon caught up +to her and in the last few yards passed her. Laughing, breathless, +Nancy reached the tree and clung to it. + +"Hurray," came from behind them. + +There, approaching them, was the "hired man." He had seemingly sprung +from nowhere. + +Flushed and disheveled by the race, an intruder on the enemy's own +ground, Nancy was at a disarming disadvantage. Besides, Davy greeted +the newcomer rapturously. + +"Say, she's as good's a boy. She's goin' to join the club!" he +announced, with triumph. "As honery member," he added. + +Peter Hyde held out a brown hand. + +"Congratulations! And to the club, too!" + +Nancy was conscious that he was staring at her in a perplexed way. Her +cheeks already red from running took on an added color under his +glance. But there was a friendliness in his, eyes that won, her in +spite of her resolve to avenge at every opportunity her injured dignity. + +"I'd have won," she retorted laughingly, "if it hadn't been +for--these," and she swished her white skirts. "But I don't care as +long as Davy says I may join the club. Meetings whenever Liz cleans +the meeting-house," she repeated. + +"And she can swim and she can play ball and says we can make fires and +things," cried Davy to Peter Hyde. + +"Then you won't need me anymore?" + +"You can be a honery member, too. She says they do nice things for +clubs." + +Peter Hyde put an arm across Davy's shoulder. "I think we could do a +lot of nice things for Davy and his club," he said, directly to Nancy. +"Seems to me there's energy and enthusiasm here that's being sort of +wasted. What do you say--shall we be honery members?" + +Nancy nodded. "I swear to keep all the rules." + +Davy hopped with joy. "Wait 'til I tell the fellers. I guess you'll +see 'em round, even if they do get a lickin'! But, say," he stopped +short, inspired by a sudden thought, "mebbe now Mis' Leavitt's niece +b'longs they won't _have_ to sneak!" + +Peter Hyde walked back with Nancy and Davy as far as the stone wall. +From, the corner of her eye Nancy was, quite against her will, admiring +the straight figure whose strength was only made more evident by the +rough working clothes. + +"He seems _nice_--for a hired man," she was thinking, all the while she +was answering Davy's boyish questions. + +And more than once, as he watched Nancy, that first perplexing look +came back into Peter Hyde's eyes. + +"Why, she _isn't_ a kid, after all!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE HIRED MAN + +"Claire, darling-- + +"It's after ten o'clock at night and here on North Hero that's like +four in the morning in New York, but I can't wait another minute to +write to you. The _funniest_ thing has happened--only I'll save it for +the end of my letter. + +"I haven't written to you since that letter with the crazy postscript, +like a nightcap, on it. Well, instead of being deported from Happy +House, bag and baggage, I seem to become more of a fixture, each day. +And each day, Claire Wallace, I grow more and _more_ to think I belong +here. Just so often I have to shake myself and say 'don't +forget--you're pretending.' And, I scarcely dare write this--I believe +they are all growing a _little_, wee bit fond of me--the real me. Of +course Webb loved me at first sight and so did old Jonathan--_he's_ a +dear! And precious little Aunt Milly, who is getting the prettiest +pink in her cheeks and can laugh now, truly laugh, and is as proud as +can be over her first washcloth, she wants me with her all the time. I +can tell by the way she looks at me. And I am really growing +embarrassed, to say nothing of fat, with the good things B'lindy cooks +and if you knew B'lindy, you'd understand that that is _her_ way of +showing sentiment. But as to Aunt Sabrina--I am not so sure! + +"Things have changed since I wrote to you--there was an awful clashing +of wills in Happy House and Aunt Sabrina came out on the bottom and +since then she has an air of 'having washed her hands of me.' And +she's stopped the lessons on Leavitts, too, just when we'd gotten to +Ezekiel. But I've learned more than she wanted me to--I've found out +about the mystery, as I wrote before, only I can't explain until our +own Anne says I may--because it's about her grandfather! + +"I believe in my last letter I said, too, that I hated Happy House. +Well, I don't believe I do. It's a funny place--just when you think +its dismal and prisony you see something you just love--like one of +Jonathan's rose ramblers, all pinky, climbing up an old gray tree +trunk. I can't explain it, there's a sort of an appeal about the whole +place that's spooky, as though it was something human and--wanted me! +Isn't that a silly notion, especially when I'm just here acting Anne's +part so that she can go off to Russia? + +"And this whole village is just like Happy House--it is proudly +clinging to what it has been in the past and defying the advance of the +new things of the present. When I walk along the main street (and only +street) of the village I stare at the shutup houses, for, bless me, no +one would dream of opening any blinds, and I wonder if there's a +marble-topped table in every one of those best-parlors and a family +Bible on every table filled with pages of ancestors. I suppose I'm +wickedly disrespectful--when I see my dear Dad, and oh, how I want, +want, want to see him--I shall tell him that now I know he didn't bring +me up right. + +"I am a 'honery' member of a club--and now I'm approaching the exciting +part of my letter. It is called Cove's Club and has rules that forbid +my swearing, talking back, smoking, lying, stealing bird's eggs, +hurting dumb animals, and that make me fight (and lick) every enemy to +the club (which, alas, seem to be mostly mothers) kill pirates and +defend my country. Isn't that heavenly? It meets whenever Liz +Hopworth has to clean the 'meetin' house' which is always on Mondays +and after there's a social. And to attend the meetings you have to +slide down thirty feet of bank to what is known around here as Falling +Water Cove, though I don't believe water ever fell there. Anyway, it +is a historic spot for reasons besides the club--one is that it was +from there Robert Leavitt and the women of the household, with little +Justine, escaped when Freedom was attacked by the Indians and it was +there, one dark night, Ethan Allen himself landed in a boat for a +secret conference with Jacob Leavitt before an attack upon the Yorkers. +(90 plus in American History.) + +"And the members of the Club are (please read slowly) Me, Davy +Hopworth, Dick Snead, Jim Davis, Kirk Brown and Peter Hyde--the hired +man. + +"Peter Hyde and I are the 'honery' members." + +"I can hear you, Claire. 'That is just like you, Nancy Leavitt--swear +you're going to do one thing and doing another.' Yes, darling, it is +like me, I'll admit! But this time it's different. I really did +intend to be very haughty and distant each time I saw the man but--I +couldn't. Could you, if you had just been running a race which +included vaulting a stone wall? I had to run the race to win Davy's +respect and I had to jump the wall--well, to show I could! And of +course I never dreamed the creature was anywhere around. But he sprang +up from the earth, I believe, and was there at the finish. And could +_you_ look haughty with every hair pin dropping out of your head? + +"And, anyway, afterwards, he explained something that has made +everything different, but that comes later in my story. + +"Today it rained for the first time since I've been in North Hero. A +sort of steady pitter-patter, not the kind of a downpour that makes you +hug shelter, but a splashy sort you long to run out in with your face +turned up. All morning long I sat with the aunts (Aunt Milly was so +disappointed when she saw the rain that I brought her down to the +hollyhock porch and made her all comfy there) and I simply couldn't +stand it all afternoon so, after lunch, I stole away. Now Happy House +is divided (thank goodness) into two parts, so if the aunts are on one +side it is easy to slip out of the other. I put on my slicker and cap +and slipped away. I frisked around in the rain drops for awhile, then, +I started toward the orchard to see if my water-proof box was +water-proof. And as I walked down the path I heard the sound of +hammering from the direction of my Nest. 'A-ha,' says I, 'I will +surprise nice Mr. Webb at his work!' So I crept up on tiptoe. And, +oh, Claire, it wasn't Mr. Webb _at all--it was Peter Hyde_! There he +was with a hammer and a saw and some nails in a funny apron he had tied +around him working away with the rain spattering through the leaves +right into his face. + +"I was so surprised I thought I'd run back, but just at that moment he +saw me. And of course, the way I always do when I shouldn't, I began +to laugh. And he laughed, too, though he _was_ embarrassed. + +"I am sure he didn't want me to find out that he had made the seat. +But for a hired man he met the situation with ease. He simply asked me +to stand there while he drove one more nail; then, he said, his work +would be complete. When he'd finished he held out his hand and invited +me to climb into the nest. All this with the rain spattering on us! +Of course I had to tell him that it was perfectly lovely and had been +such a jolly surprise and that I had thought Webb had made it. And now +comes the funny part. He explained in a sort of sheepish way that he +thought _I was a little girl_! Jonathan had told him that Miss +Sabrina's little niece was coming to Happy House. When he caught a +glimpse of me in the stage (he dared to say this) he thought I looked +like a 'jolly sort of a kid.' Then that very afternoon he saw me turn +a handspring in the orchard--and climb the tree! He said he got to +thinking what a sort of dull place Happy House would be for any +youngster, and that it would be fun for him to do some little thing to +make it jollier for her. He admitted, to use his own words, that he +was flabbergasted to find that I wasn't a kid after all! I'm glad, in +a 'close-up' I _do_ look my years! + +"But can't you see that that explains _everything_ and that he _wasn't_ +impertinent, after all? + +"Of course, living in cities all my life, I've always had an impression +that hired men were just big, clumsy, dirty looking creatures who ate +with knives and always smelled horsey. This Peter Hyde isn't that way +at all. He's tanned copper-color but his face and hands look clean and +except for his clothes, he doesn't look much different from any one +else. And now that he knows I am quite grown-up (at least in years) he +treats me very nicely. + +"We're going to do all sorts of nice things for Davy Hopworth, who is a +very nice, bright youngster, but, just because he's a Hopworth, the +other boys get punished for playing with him and that makes both Peter +Hyde and me indignant. + +"Isn't the world funny, Claire, how the sins of the fathers and the +grandfathers are visited upon the children--at least in places like +this? Of course my beloved Finnegans are too busy just keeping the +present generation going, to think much about the past, and the world +they live in rushes too fast to stop to think that Timmy Finnegan, +maybe's, going to rob a bank because his great-great-grandfather, over +in County Cork, ran off with a pig. + +"It is too late in the evening to philosophize, and I mustn't let my +wick burn too low or Aunt Sabrina will know I'm using the midnight oil. +Don't be cross, dear Claire, if you don't hear from me every day; +although you might suppose that up here I'd have a great deal of +leisure time, somehow each day seems to bring something unexpected. +And as I said on page 2 of this voluminous letter, I am growing fond of +Happy House and there is a sort of fascination about everything here. +Dear Anne, with her noble dreams, never longed to bring about the +reforms that I do! One is to throw out the dreadful waxed flowers and +peacock feathers and old grasses from Happy House and fill the vases +with fresh flowers. Another is to sweep through the whole blessed +village and open every blind and let in today! + +"And then when I'm bursting with my longing to make the whole world +better, I'm suddenly reminded that I'm just a little next-to-nothing +that can't even remember to act grown-up, masquerading in our Anne's +shoes and daring to find flaws in Miss Sabrina Leavitt with all the +noble heritage of Leavitt tradition flowing in her veins. + +"Good night, littlest pal, I wish I could be with you long enough for a +good, long gossip. But, by and by--" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +MOONSHINE AND FAIRIES + + "Good-evening, yellow Buttercups + Good-evening, daisies white, + Tell me, have you met the Moon-Queen + On this pretty night?" + + +The little singer made a sweeping courtesy. + +"How d'you do, Miss Buttercup? Do come here now and meet Mrs. Moon!" +With a gesture of exaggerated elegance she led an imaginary Buttercup +out to a pool of silver where the bright moonlight slanted through the +branches of an apple tree. + +"Now, everybody, bow to Mrs. Moon," and the fairy-hostess bent to the +ground. Then she snapped her fingers. "On with the music," she cried. +Like a spirit she danced off over the grass, now scarcely more than a +shadow among the shadows, now full in the moonlight, bending, swaying, +leaping, arms outstretched, face lifted. + +But the frolic of the fairies in the moonlight came to a sad end, for a +human hand reached out from behind a tree-trunk and caught the +make-believe hostess of Mrs. Moon by one thin arm. + +"Lemme go!" cried the child, shrilly. + +Nancy, awakened by the moonlight streaming across the rose-cabbages of +her carpeting, had been lured out into the night. Halting at the +raspberry patch she had heard the little singer. Cautiously, lest +indeed she disturb fairies at their revels she had crept into the +orchard. From a hiding place she had watched the child's mad dance. + +"Sh-h! I am the Moon-Queen! Let me dance with you!" Releasing the +little wriggling body Nancy threw off her slippers. "Come!" Waving +her hand she danced down through the apple trees, singing: + + In their dress of yellow gold, + In their petals white, + I can see the fairy folk + Gathered here to-night! + + +From the shadow the child watched her, sullenly, suspiciously. But +with her loosened hair falling down over her pink dressing gown, Nancy +herself looked an eerie little sprite; in a moment the child's alarm +vanished. Of course she _knew_ that this must be Miss Sabriny +Leavitt's niece, but it was fun, anyway, to pretend that she _was_ the +Moon-Queen! And she must be very, very nice not to have "chased" her +at once! And she might stop dancing, too, any moment! So out she ran +to join Nancy, with hands outstretched, and together they capered and +danced around among the old trees until, quite out of breath, Nancy +fell upon the soft grass. + +"Oh, goodness me, what _fun_! Now come here, Miss Fairy, and tell me +who you are? _Are_ you a fairy come from the Village of Tall Grass in +yonder field?" + +The child, completely won, dropped at Nancy's feet. + +"I'm Nonie Hopworth." + +"Oh-h!" Nancy was genuinely surprised. "Are you Davy's sister?" + +The child nodded. "Yep." She regarded Nancy closely. "You're +_different_, aren't you?" + +Nancy caught her meaning. "Yes, I'm different--at least, I'm not +exactly like----" + +"Miss Sabriny or--or B'lindy. _She'd_ have chased me! That's why I +come here to play at night. Anyway, it's easier to pretend at night. +Do you ever pretend, Miss?" + +"Call me Nancy, do! Of course, I pretend, often! I love to." + +"Ain't it fun--I mean isn't! I forgot. I play it 'most all the time." + +Nancy looked curiously at the strange little figure, almost wraithlike +in the dim light. It was hard to believe that the winsome creature +could belong in Freedom--and to the "no-good" Hopworths. + +There was grace in every movement of the thin little body not in the +least concealed by the worn, soiled, out-grown dress. Two dark, +burning, eager, questioning eyes told of a spirit that lived above and +beyond the sordid, colorless monotony of a life with old Dan'l Hopworth +and Liz, who "didn't believe a feller oughta have any fun!" + +"What do you pretend, Miss Nancy?" + +Nancy laughed and rubbed the soles of her bare feet. + +"Well, once I pretended I was the Moon-Queen and I scratched my poor +feet dreadfully. What do you pretend?" + +Nonie rocked back on her heels. + +"Oh, lots and lots of different things. My every-day game is Rosemary. +She's my make-believe chum. She lives down in the haunted house on the +North Hero road, only when I pretend, of course, the house isn't +haunted. And it's got lovely glass things from the ceiling for candles +and they sparkle like rainbows and diamonds. Rosemary and I play games +and we--we read and tell each other stories and sometimes she helps me +with the work, when Liz ain't around. Only Rosemary don't believe in +fairies. She says that's baby, so when she's away I pretend fairy." + +"When the moon shines----" + +"Oh, yes, it's nicer then. And you can't play-fairy round our house +because there ain't--there are _not_--any flowers. So I come +here--there are such lots of pretty shadows--and nice smells. I +pretend all the flowers come out from the garden and have a party. +It's fun having the flowers, 'cause you can just _tell_ how they'll +act. You know a tulip's going to be awful tall and proud and bow--like +this! And a rose'll act shy, and a buttercup's pert. And a daisy's +'shamed 'cause her dress ain't better--I mean isn't. And a dandelion's +awful bold. And a daffy-down-dilly--oh, _they're_ jolly!" + +"How perfectly delightful! Tell me more, Nonie. I believe you have a +witch for a fairy grandmother!" + +Nonie giggled. "That's 'nother of my games. I've had that for a long +time. She's coming some day and touch me with a wand and make me into +a beautiful lady. And I'll go out and step into my carriage and a +footman all shiny and white will say: 'To her Majesty's!' And I'll sit +in the best parlor and drink chocolate and real whipped cream from cups +with pink roses on 'em, and a page will say: '_Do_ have another piece +of cake, your ladyship,' and--and I'll say, 'I couldn't hold another +mouthful, thanks, I've had five!'" + +Nancy and Nonie laughed together. Then Nonie sighed. + +"Do any dreams ever come true? I mean the kind of things you sit and +think about and want?" + +"Maybe, if you dream hard enough, Nonie," Nancy answered, soberly. + +"'Course I know _some_ of the things I pretend can't come true but +maybe some will. Miss Denny told me they might. Only she said I'd +have to make 'em. She's my teacher. I love her. I guess you're most +as nice as she is. She gives me books and tells me when I say bad +grammar. She says we must just think beautiful things and then put +them into the right words--but it's hard! I forget awful easy. She +don't--I mean, she does _not_--think I'm queer. Liz calls me 'loony!'" + +"Oh, _no_--Nonie," protested Nancy, "Liz just can't understand." + +"But _you_ do, don't you? Miss Denny did, too." Nonie was silent for +a moment. "After I've learned a lot more I want to go out in the world +with Davy and make a fortune. I don't know just how--but I want to do +grand things. There's some places, ain't there--aren't there--that's +so big folks wouldn't know we were Hopworths? Davy says he wants to go +to sea and Liz says he'll come to no good end like Pa, but mebbe I can +take him with me." She sighed. "It's awful long off 'til I grow up, +though, I'm only twelve." + +Then Nonie added slowly, as though she was sharing a secret: "There's +one more thing I pretend. After I go to bed I shut my eyes tight and +pretend that a beautiful lady with hair all gold and eyes that twinkle +like stars and smile at you, comes and sits by my bed and takes hold of +my hand and pats it and then kisses me, sort of on my forehead, and +says: 'Good night, sweetness,' like that, in a voice that's soft like +music and not a bit of the holler-kind!" Nonie gave a little sigh of +rapture. "It's nice, you see, to have a make-believe mother like that! +I s'pose a real one wouldn't have time. Anyways, Liz says she'd like +to _see_ a real mother do more for young 'uns than she does!" + +Nancy blinked a sudden rush of tears from her eyes. She felt that she +had seen bared the very soul of a child--a soul hungry for kindness and +for love. She reached out and took one of the small hands in her own. + +"Nonie--let's you and I play lots together. I can give you books, too. +We'll read them together. You can come to Happy House often in the +daytime." + +Nonie shook her head doubtfully. + +"Liz won't let me. She says there ain't--there isn't--no use my going +off and leaving my work. She says school's bad enough!" + +"Does Liz--punish--you much?" + +"She chases Davy and me with the broom sometimes. And she scolds, too, +but we don't mind, 'cause she's scolding all the time. I wish she +would whip us--or lock us up--or--or send us to bed! It'd be like +other kids, then." + +The strangeness of a child longing for punishments that would make her +life seem like other childrens' shocked Nancy! She looked at the thin +body--was poverty starving the physical being while neglect starved the +spirit? + +"I'll talk to Liz myself. We'll see what I can coax her to do," Nancy +declared resolutely. "We'll be chums, Nonie." + +"Oh, then I won't have to play 'bout Rosemary! So, you _are_ as nice +as Miss Denny. You don't know her, do you? But she'll come back in +the fall and sometime, I guess, she'll be Mr. Peter's dearest." + +"What _do_ you mean, Nonie," demanded Nancy. + +"Well, Mr. Peter's the _nicest_ man I know 'cause he's awful--nice to +Davy and me, and Miss Denny's the nicest _lady_ and so she'll be his +dearest! He don't--he doesn't--know her yet but he will in the fall +and so will you." + +"I may not," Nancy answered, rather coldly, "so your Miss Denny may +have your Mr. Peter all to herself. And now something tells me it's +time for fairies to be in bed! If you'll hand me my slippers I'll +dance with you to the gate--only we must be very, very still or we'll +waken B'lindy!" + +From the gate of Happy House Nancy watched the child's figure disappear +in the shadows of the road. In a very little while she would be +crawling into her deserted bed, pulling the clothes up over her head +and pretending that a mother's hand was caressing her to sleep and a +voice that never "hollered" was whispering "goodnight." + +"Blessed child," thought Nancy, "her fairy godmother has given her one +gift that even Liz can't take away from her--imagination!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +LIZ + +Old Jonathan, returning from his daily trip to the postoffice, brought +home the news that "there'd be doin's on Fourth of July 'count of the +soldier boys--that Webb'd said it'd got to be a Fourth that not a child +in Freedom'd forget!" And B'lindy had retorted that "it wa'nt likely, +I guess, if Webb got up the doin's anyone _would_--they'd be doin's no +one _could_ forget!" + +But Nancy's interest in the coming event gave way with a quickly +smothered exclamation of delight when Jonathan drew from an inside +pocket a square, bluish envelope with a foreign postmark, redirected in +Mrs. Finnegan's most careful handwriting. + +"And here's another," he added, bringing forth a letter from Claire. + +"You're a _dear_," cried Nancy, hugging her treasures. "If you'll take +this pan of peas, Jonathan, I'll run off and read them!" + +B'lindy watched Nancy disappear toward the orchard with mingled +amazement and disapproval. "There never was a letter _I_ got I'd set +by my work for! _That's_ a young one for you!" + +Out in her Bird's-nest Nancy held up the two envelopes. "I'll save you +'til last, Daddy," she whispered, kissing the handwriting she loved. + +Claire's letter was short and yet so like her that Nancy could have +believed her friend was there with her--talking to her. + +"I'm perfectly miserable, and I can't let mother guess--she tries to +make everything so jolly for me. But I'm just plain homesick for +college and you girls. The summer isn't a bit what I'd planned. Barry +went away before I got home. Mother thought he'd come back but he +didn't, and the maddening thing is she won't tell me where he is. She +said Barry was 'getting settled.' Isn't that absurd? I suppose he's +gone off to the Canadian Rockies or maybe to Japan. But I don't see +why mother has to make a secret of it! The war's changed all the men I +know--none of them seem as nice. They're so restless and act so old. +But then, I'm restless, too, and feel as old as the hills. For +heaven's sake, Nancy, hurry up and do your duty by Anne's relatives and +come here to me--I need you!" + +"Funny Claire," laughed Nancy, talking aloud in the way she had learned +at Happy House. "She's always trying to make herself think she's +miserable. But Barry _is_ a pill! Now, Daddy mine!" + +Because she must make her moment of joy last as long as possible, she +spread out each page; she peeped into the envelope to be certain that +she had them all; she touched ever so lightly the penned lines; she +even sniffed joyously at the paper in a vain hope of detecting the +familiar odor of Havana tobacco. + +The letter had been three weeks on its way. And it was in answer to +one Nancy had written to him from college, soon after Anne's plans to +go to. Russia had been completed. + +"* * * * That is fine in Anne, but it seems to me, that in the +enthusiasm of her youth she's overlooking opportunities for service +closer at hand. These problems over here are so tremendous--they, need +a tried mind and the wisdom of years. You know, my dear, if you want +to do things to make this world better you can generally find them +waiting for you in your very own corner! Wherever you look you will +see the destruction of prejudice, ignorance, selfishness and pride--you +don't have to go to Russia to find it! + +"In a few weeks my baby will be graduated. I cannot picture you grown +up. Perhaps you will never seem so to your Dad. I feel as though +these months that I have spent over here away from you must have made +many changes in my girl--they have cheated me of a great deal of joy in +your development. But I hope that the dignities you have acquired have +not changed the dear, kind, joyous heart of you! + +"You tell me you have decided upon a 'career,' but you will not tell me +what--little torment! Is it something in which I can help? If it is +useful and honorable, my child, it will bring you happiness, whatever +it is. I hope it is a hard one, too, the more you have to work the +more satisfaction you will enjoy. + +"Now for good news. My work over here is done. As soon as I can get +passage I will sail for home, I can't think of anything else. I +thought I'd spend my unexpected holiday nosing around in the places +where I've always wanted to go--but I can't. I'm too impatient to +enjoy anything. So I shall camp on the doorstep of the G. H. Q. Office +until word of my sailing comes. I suppose you are at the apartment +under Mrs. Finnegan's loving eye. When I return we'll run off to the +seashore or mountains for a few weeks." + +"Dear, dear thoughtful Daddy--nice, old, _preachy_ Daddy--with your +sugar-coated sermons in little pellets, all easy to swallow!" cried +Nancy, laughing, then suddenly a sob choked her, another and then +another. + +"It's almost _dreadful_ to have Daddy have just me. What if he is +disappointed when he sees me! What if he is--angry--at what I've done!" + +For the first time this possibility crossed her mind {134} leaving a +terrible fear. Impulsive Nancy had often displeased her father, but +always the most trivial offence had troubled her deeply. Her father +had such an aversion to the smallest departure from truth! And wasn't +she really acting a lie? + +For the next few moments poor Nancy sorely needed the support of Anne's +convincing arguments! Remorse of the most torturing kind swept her. + +And she had dared to judge Miss Sabrina's standards of honor and +justice! + +"I'll go away," she cried, aloud. "I'll go straight back to Mrs. +Finnegan's where I belong." + +But this determination, soothing at it was, brought added problems. +Nancy's brow wrinkled with a deep frown of perplexity. It would not be +fair to Anne to just run away--she'd have to give some explanation to +Miss Sabrina and Miss Milly and B'lindy, and even Webb. And just now, +in her present mood, anything but the absolute truth seemed abhorrent +to her. + +Then she thought of Aunt Milly--dear little Aunt Milly. She was a +different creature now from the pale little woman Nancy had first seen +on the couch in the darkened room. Each day, when she did not go to +the orchard, she spent in the sitting room or on the hollyhock porch, +knitting and helping in little household tasks. And Nancy knew by the +wistful glance that met hers when she came and went, how Aunt Milly +hungered for her company. Nancy had told herself that it was because +she was young and that she seemed, perhaps, like what Aunt Milly had +wanted to be--before the dreadful accident. + +What _would_ Aunt Milly's life be if she went suddenly out of it? + +There was Davy, too, and all she had planned to start for the Club and +Nonie-- + +What must Nonie think? She had let a whole day go by and had not seen +Liz! + +Nancy re-read her father's letter. "If you want to do things to make +this world better you can generally find them waiting for you in your +very own corner!" Funny--that Daddy should have written just that! +Nancy folded her letter with a sigh of relief. "Of course, there's +work right here and maybe--I'd be a coward to run away--just now. The +wrong was done when I came!" + +The logic was youthful, but then Nancy, despite the dignity of +graduation was very youthful, too. Her mind made up she looked very +resolute. She'd go and call upon Liz that very afternoon. + +However, she must know more concerning the Hopworth's before she braved +Liz on her own ground. So she sought out the all-wise B'lindy. + +B'lindy was most generous with her information. + +"I guess the Hopworths ain't any concern of yours, Miss Anne. The +Leavitts al'las visited mostly with good folks like the Allens and the +Chamberlains and the Fiskes over in South Hero, and the Hills up to +Isle Le Motte and the Eatons and Todds, here to Freedom. Time was when +the best come to Happy House--Miss Sabriny's mother liked company--but +not trash like the Hopworth's!" + +"But _why_ are they trash, B'lindy? What do they do? Webb says +they're an old family, that they've been here as long as the Leavitts." + +B'lindy snorted. "Webb's tongue's tied in the middle and wags both +ends and I guess most of the time at the wrong end! Mebbe they are +old--you can't kill off folks same's you can a strain of cattle. They +don't do nothin', Miss Anne, that's it--they don't do nothin'. They're +just shiftless, no-good folks. Old Dan'l don't work--never did, and +his pa before him. And that Eric--he was worst of all!" + +"Who was Eric?" begged Nancy. + +"Old Dan'l's son and as bad a boy as ever tormented a neighborhood. +But no one knew he'd be anything but no-good, and he wasn't. Ran off +to sea. Folks never heard much 'bout him, but they knew they wouldn't +hear anything good, anyway. Then, sudden-like, he turns up with two +young 'uns. Brought 'em to old Dan'l to keep. One was a girl and the +other, a baby in his arms, was a boy." + +Freedom folks had never lost their enjoyment in this episode of Eric +Hopworth's adventurous life. B'lindy, happy now in her tale, made the +most of it. + +"I guess there were a lot of stories 'bout them young uns, but old +Dan'l never made a sign 'bout which was true. And Eric Hopworth went +off's suddenly as he come, leavin' those two more Hopworth's for old +Dan'l to feed and bring up, and for the folks 'round here to watch, +unless they wanted all their apples stolen and their chickens killed! +Mis' Tubbs told Mis' Sniggs that she _see_ a marriage certificate and +that the mother'd been one of them actor-women down in New York and she +thought like's not the woman died when the boy was born. Mis' Jenkins +sez _she'd_ heard other stories over in North Hero! Anyways old +Dan'l's as close-mouthed as a stature!" + +"And who's Liz?" asked Nancy. + +"Old Dan'l's half-sister. He brought her over from Bend after the +young 'uns came, to do for 'em." + +Nancy mused for a moment. There was not much use in telling B'lindy +that she was going to call upon Liz--it would take days and days of +argument to overcome the heritage of prejudice in B'lindy's mind. +Perhaps, for the present, she had better keep Nonie in the orchard. + +It had not needed B'lindy's description for Nancy to recognize the +Hopworth dwelling, if by such a name could be called the four +weather-beaten walls hanging crazily together as though by a last nail. +A litter of debris cluttered the bare ground around the house and +between the shed and the unused barn. Back of the shed an old man +slouched in the sun. + +The door sagged on its one hinge, partly open. When Nancy knocked a +gaunt, slatternly woman, in the room within, turned with a scowl. + +As Nancy's eyes, sweeping over the dirty, crowded room, came back to +the hard face before her, she sickened at the thought of little Nonie, +with her "dreams," growing in this environment. Then, as Liz' scowl +gave place to a sullen indifference, Nancy realized that the most +marked thing about the woman was a resigned hopelessness. + +Nancy, choosing her words carefully, introduced herself. As Liz' +unfriendliness discouraged any advances, Nancy plunged straight to the +point. She had taken a fancy to the children, she explained--would +Miss Hopworth permit Nonie and sometimes Davy, to come often to Happy +House? She, Nancy, found it a little lonesome at Happy House and she +would enjoy their company. + +Liz dropped a pan with a bang. "I'll tell you just's I tell her--there +ain't goin' to be any more traipsing 'way from her work all the time +like with the schoolmar'm either to Happy House nor nowhere. All them +notions is settin' the girl loony goin' on with her lies and things +'bout things bein' differunt. She'll stay _right_ to home!" + +And to prevent further argument Liz' head bent meaningly toward the +door. + +But at that moment a shadow crossed it. Mrs. Sniggs, very gingerly, +thrust a head inside. Under her arm she carried a kettle. Once in a +while old Dan'l mended the village kettles. + +"How d'do," snapped Liz. + +But Mrs. Sniggs, with an uplift of her nose that said plainly: "I don't +even _see_ you," put her kettle near the door without a word and turned +to depart. At which Liz, in a loud tone, exclaimed: "Most _certainly_, +Miss Leavitt, we're _delighted_! Our Nonie can visit you up to Happy +House real often!" + +Liz knew and Nancy knew, by the tell-tale shadow that lingered across +the threshold that Mrs. Sniggs had heard; Nancy blessed the good +fortune that had brought the woman there at that moment! + +Walking homeward, her mind full of plans of all she wanted to do for +Nonie and Davy, Nancy with a shudder recalled the Hopworth home--and +Liz. Something in the tired eyes haunted her. "Maybe," she thought +with a pang of pity, "maybe she's as--starved--as Nonie!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE FOURTH OF JULY + +B'lindy had said, truly, that "she guessed if Webb got up the Fourth of +July doin's they'd be doin's no one'd forget!" + +Webb's "doin's" took the form of a parade--a parade in which the very +young and the very old should take part. At its head Webb himself +would march, with the two recently returned soldiers, one on each side. +The young people would come in costumes depicting the characters of the +men associated with the Island history. + +"Mrs. Eaton wants you to help her dress the children, Anne," Miss +Sabrina had announced, the day before the Fourth. "She asked me to ask +you to be at the meeting-house at 9 o'clock. + +"Oh, I'd love to," Nancy had responded eagerly. + +"It is very nice of her, I am sure," Miss Sabrina had added. "She +_wants_ to be pleasant." And a hint of apology in Miss Sabrina's voice +made Nancy suddenly think that perhaps Mrs. Eaton was not _always_ +pleasant. + +She remembered that B'lindy had added the Eaton name to the list of +acquaintances possible to a Leavitt. + +The very air of that Fourth of July morning was a-tingle with +excitement. When Nancy turned into the village street it seemed to her +filled with people, all in Sunday-best and holiday spirits. The green +in front of the meeting-house was alive with eager, tumbling youngsters. + +Mrs. Eaton, a large woman with what Nancy called a prune mouth and +watery blue eyes, greeted Nancy effusively. Nancy was a "_dear_"--she +said it with a rising squeak--to help her! There wasn't a great deal +to do--the little dears were going to wear white caps and capes and +represent a band of peace; the girls would carry wreaths of white +syringa. _She'd_ thought of it all herself--two days before. + +"I'm _so_ glad to be rushed to _death_," she explained, patting down a +small cap on a small head. "Of _course_ you know my Archie is _still_ +in Germany!" + +Nancy had not known it, nor, indeed, anything about Archie, but she +nodded sympathetically. + +"Cyrus Eaton says I'm a _wonder_--just a wonder! But I _suppose_ I +ought to be thankful my Archie's come through without losing any of his +arms or legs! Now, my _dear_, if you'll fix the _rest_ of these +children I'll run down and look at the Indian Chiefs. _Bless_ me, I +don't know _what_ Webb'd do without me. But _then_, I'm glad to do +it--it keeps my _mind_ off Archie." She panted off with a patronizing +smile that took in Nancy and the group of staring youngsters. + +To Nancy, whose life had been spent mostly in the big cities of the +world, this glimpse of village life was a novel experience. She loved +it--the spontaneous gaiety of it all, the round-eyed children that +crowded to her, noisily clamoring to have their "things" put on. The +notes of a bugle floated up the street. Fire crackers popped off with +the regularity of machine-gun fire. From every side came loud, eager +voices. She was glad she was a part of it all. As she finished +arranging its cap, she patted each head, just as Mrs. Eaton had done, +but in Nancy's smile there was something that had not been in Mrs. +Eaton's, so she invariably won a quick smile in response. + +Suddenly Nancy spied Nonie and Davy, hand in hand, watching the other +children from a little distance. Their childish longing betrayed +itself in the unwonted way their hands clung together, in the +wistfulness of their faces. Nancy hailed them. + +"Come along--hurry!" she cried. They ran eagerly to her. Nancy seized +a cape and a cap. + +"Dast we?" asked Davy, very gravely. + +"Why, of _course_. Quick--take this cap, Davy. Here, Nonie, is a +wreath. Now--stand here--in this line!" She placed them between two +other children. "All of you--faces forward! Be ready for the signal. +Right foot--don't forget." + +Mrs. Eaton bustled up. "Everything _ready_, my dear? It's perfectly +_beautiful_--just beautiful!" in breathless staccato. "I wish my +Archie could see it! I'm actually _inspired_!" Her red, moist face +suggested that she had made a mistake in her choice of words. She ran +around the group of children, standing in ragged file, impatiently +awaiting the signal to start. "The little _dears_--just like a +beautiful band of peace!" Suddenly she stared and her face flushed a +darker red. "Nonie Hopworth, how _dared_ you come here!" + +Nonie's lips quivered and her eyes went imploringly to Nancy. Davy +tossed his head defiantly. Neither answered. + +"_I_ called them, Mrs. Eaton." + +Now there was no "my dear" on Mrs. Eaton's tongue. It clicked sharply +against her teeth. She was too outraged, too, to pick her words. + +"Get right away!" She seized Davy by the shoulder. "Little +good-for-nothings! This is a patriotic celebration and we don't want +any Hopworth's in it!" + +Nancy's eyes blazed. "_Oh_, Mrs. Eaton! _Don't_--they're just +children! They----" + +"_You're_ a stranger here in Freedom, Miss Leavitt--I'll be pleased if +you'll let _me_ manage this! I say it's an _insult_ to our heroes to +have Eric Hopworth's young 'uns here--an insult to Freedom's noble +history!" The ruffles on her bosom heaved in her anger. "What'd Eric +Hopworth do for his country! When I think of my Archie----" What she +might have thought did not find expression, because of the pins she was +tearing roughly from Nonie's cape and thrusting between her teeth. "Go +off now," she panted between the shining row. "Go off where you came +from!" + +Then, almost simultaneously with the approach of a dishevelled Indian +hollering between cupped hands that "p'rade's goin' start," came Webb's +warning whistle from down the street. Mrs. Eaton straightened to an +appropriate dignity of bearing. She made a waving motion of her arm +toward her little dears that ignored Nancy, standing back, dumb with +the cruelty of it all. + +But Nonie's crestfallen face stung Nancy to sudden action. While the +band of peace fluttered wildly back to its position, Nancy, with an arm +about each, moved with the children toward the church. She moved +quickly, too, for a sudden inspiration had seized her. She remembered +three flags on standards in the Sunday-school room. She bade Davy get +them. + +"Do _just_ what I tell you," she commanded. "The _cat_!" she threw +over her shoulder. + +All Freedom was too intent upon catching a first glimpse of Webb's host +moving up the village street to notice the strange sight of Nancy and +her companions racing through the back yards and fields that skirted +the main thoroughfare. A long tear in Nancy's skirt testified to the +speed with which she had climbed all obstacles. Such was the fire in +her soul that she could have climbed a mountain! + +In the shade of a wide maple tree, B'lindy, resplendent in fresh +gingham and her good-as-new-last-year's-hat, watched Webb's "doin's" +with a heart that fluttered with pride. No town in the whole Island +could turn out more folks! But, then, no town on the Island had a +prouder history! + +With his badges glittering on the faded blue coat, Webb marched at the +head of his "p'rade" in his uniform of the Grand Army of the Republic. +On either side of him stepped the recently returned soldiers, their +young-old faces turned straight ahead, their worn tunics attesting to +other lines of march through other village streets. Behind them were +the three soldier boys who had not "gone across." In pure enjoyment of +the occasion they had forgotten the resentment against fate that they +had cherished. A group of boys and girls in Indian costume portrayed +that epoch of Freedom's history. One great warrior brandished a +tomahawk that had been dug up in a nearby field and was now kept in a +suitable setting at the post-office. Close at their heels followed +four staid Puritan men, broad white collars pinned over Sunday coats. +Ethan Allen and his brother Ira, beloved heroes of the little Islands, +were there in character. Two lanky lads wore the uniform of 1861. +Mrs. Eaton's "band of peace" in straggling lines, brought up the rear. + +Greeted from each side by lusty cheers, through a cloud of dust, to the +tap-a-tap-tap of three proud drummers, the pageant moved down the +street. It had been Webb's plan that the "p'rade" should halt before +the stoop of the hotel, where Mr. Todd, the postmaster, in a collar +much too high and a coat much too tight, waited to give an address of +welcome. But as Webb's eyes roved with pardonable pride over the +fringe of spectators on each side of the line of march, they suddenly +spied an unexpected sight. On the stepping block in front of the +school house stood Nancy, her white skirts blowing, with Nonie and Davy +on each side. And each held, proudly upright, an American flag. + +It was a pretty sight--the colors of the flags fluttering over the +three bare heads, the young faces tilted earnestly forward. Webb saw +in it a friendly effort on Miss Anne's part to add to the success of +his "doin's." So as the line of march approached the stepping-block, +he solemnly saluted the three. + +Advancing, the returned soldiers also saluted, stiffly. The drummers +lost a beat in order to wave their drumsticks. The Indians gaily +brandished their clubs, the Puritans nodded, the "boys in blue" mimiced +their heroes of the hour with a stiff bending and jerking of their +right arms. + +But then and there Mrs. Eaton fell back from her position at the head +of the "band of peace." Nancy, wickedly watching from the corner of a +perfectly innocent appearing eye, saw her give a gasp as she stepped +aside. + +Nonie and Davy, exalted into an ecstasy of joy over the part they had +finally played in the celebration, stared in amazement at Nancy's +suppressed peals of laughter, to which she gave way only when the last +wee dove of peace had trailed off toward the hotel. And not only Davy +and Nonie stared; from out of the spectators came Peter Hyde. + +"I have cooked my goose--now," giggled Nancy, wiping her eyes and +holding out a hand. "She was _so_ funny! But I have outraged +Freedom's noble history!" Nancy twisted her lips to resemble Mrs. +Eaton's. + +"If you'll let me help you down we might hurry and hear some of the +Honorable Jeremiah Todd's oration," suggested Peter Hyde. + +Nancy jumped lightly to the ground. "I wouldn't _dare_," she answered. +"Mrs. Eaton only waits to tear me limb from limb! I saw it in her +pallid eye. You don't _know_ what I've done! Davy, you and Nonie +carry these flags carefully back to the Sunday-school. And what do you +say--in celebration of this day--to a swim--this afternoon, at the +Cove!" + +They exclaimed their approval of the suggestion. Nonie lingered. + +"Do you know what I pretended then?" she asked, affectionately gripping +Nancy's arm. "I pretended I was Joan of Arc, all in white, riding on a +big horse with bugles, calling to my army. Miss Denny read to me all +about it. Oh, it was grand!" She sighed, because the moment had +passed. Davy pranced impatiently. + +"Oh, come 'long--stop yer actin' lies!" Then, to Nancy, with a +questioning look that said such fortune seemed too good to be true: +"'_Honest?_' 'Bout the swimmin'." + +Nancy nodded mysteriously. "Honest to goodness--at three bells!" + +She watched the children scamper away, then turned eyes dark with +indignation to Peter Hyde. + +"How can _anyone_ be cruel to children?" she cried. "How can anyone +hurt them?" + +Peter did not know what she was talking about, but he agreed with all +his heart. + +"Kids--and dogs and cats and--little things," he added. "I shot a +rabbit once when I was fifteen, and when I went up to get it, it was +still breathing, and looked so pitiful and small--I couldn't help but +feel that it hadn't had a chance 'gainst a fellow like me. I had to +kill it then. That was enough for me! I haven't shot--any sort of +living things--like _that_--since!" + +His step shortened to Nancy's and together they turned their backs upon +Jeremiah's cheering audience and walked slowly homeward. Her mind +concerned with the children, Nancy told Peter all that had happened--of +finding Nonie in the orchard, of the child's "pretend" games, of her +call upon Liz. Then she concluded with an account of the incident of +the morning mimicing, comically, Mrs. Eaton's outraged manner. + +"As if it would hurt her or her Archie or--or anyone else in this old +place to make two youngsters happy," Nancy exclaimed, disgustedly. +"I'm going to do everything I can, while I'm at Happy House, to make up +to them," she finished. + +Peter assured her that he wanted to help. How much the desire was +inspired by sympathy for Nonie and Davy or by the winning picture Nancy +made, her rebel strands of red-brown hair blowing across her flushed +cheeks, no one could say. And when at the gate of Happy House they +separated, Peter promising to be on hand at the Cove at four o'clock, +Nancy watched him swing down the road with a pleasant sense of +comradeship. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +MRS. EATON CALLS + +"Oh, shades of Odysseus," muttered Nancy. From the swing on the +hollyhock porch she had spied Mrs. Eaton coming up the flagged path to +the front door. + +As she sat idly swinging, Nancy had been trying over the deeply +emotional lines that Berthé, the much-suffering heroine of her dear +play, should say when the villain proved to be her lover in disguise. +A chance glance through the syringas had acquainted her with the +alarming fact that an avenging enemy approached. + +It was the day after the Fourth of July. As yet not a word had come to +Happy House concerning Nancy's part in the celebration. + +There was not time for Nancy to escape; however, it was not likely that +Miss Sabrina would take such a guest out to the porch. Nancy heard her +greet the newcomer, then their steps approached the sitting-room. The +swing was at the other end of the porch. Nancy, hugging her knees, +could not be seen from the sitting-room windows and, anyway, the blinds +had been shut to keep out the hot morning sun. Through their slats +Nancy heard Mrs. Eaton's effusive greetings. + +"I might as well hear what the cat tells," Nancy concluded. The fate +of the proverbial eavesdropper did not alarm her in the least; she felt +the resignation, of a child that knows he faces punishment. + +Mrs. Eaton spent several moments explaining, how often she "had had a +_mind_ to drop in for a little chat." + +"But I am a _different_ woman with my Archie away! Cyrus says he don't +_know_ how I bear up so well. _You_ don't know, of course, a mother's +feelings!" Did Nancy imagine that she heard a rustling, as though Aunt +Sabrina had suddenly straightened in her chair? "And _I_ said to Cyrus +that _he_ don't even know a mother's feeling that's raised a boy right +from the _cradle_!" + +Miss Sabrina inquired politely as to the last word of Archie, and, with +satisfied pride, the mother recounted Archie's description of the +difficulties that had confronted the Allied occupancy of the +Rhinelands. Archie's mother truly believed that Archie alone bore that +tremendous responsibility. + +"And Archie and me are as _like_ as two peas," she added. + +It was, of course, only a matter of a few moments before Mrs. Eaton led +up to the event of the day before. Nancy caught the crisp change in +the woman's voice. The story gained much in her telling--of Nancy's +impertinence in forcing the Hopworth young 'uns among her "little +dears," then how she had, though fully aware of her, Mrs. Eaton's, +explicit orders, flaunted Eric Hopworth's brood in the face of every +respectable man, woman and child of Freedom--actually desecrating the +very flags she had--_taken_--out of the Sunday-school room. + +The story was interrupted by many sighs and sniffs. + +"Of course _everybody_ on this Island that knows me and my Archie, +Cyrus says, will _feel_ for me. I might as well as _not_ of been +slapped in the face. And I said to Cyrus, "_I_ think Miss Leavitt +ought to _know_--she's taken that girl there!" And Cyrus and I _both_ +said that of _course_ no one would be surprised, seeing she's _that_ +branch of your family where I suppose--you'll _forgive_ me for speaking +right out _plain_, you can expect almost _any_ kind of actions!" + +Nancy swung her feet down out of the hammock. "The cat," she breathed, +straightening. She could see that stinging shaft plunge straight into +poor Aunt Sabrina's heart and turn! She held her breath for Aunt +Sabrina's answer. + +Miss Sabrina's voice was cold and her words measured. "I am very sorry +this has happened, Mrs. Eaton. But I am sure my niece did not dream of +impertinence. She has not been here long enough to know of our +prejudices!" + +"_Bully!_" Nancy, said, almost aloud. "_That's_ a time when breeding +shows!" + +Mrs. Eaton was plainly annoyed at Miss Sabrina's defence. Her voice +took on a crisper edge. "She's been here long _enough_ to pick up with +Judson's hired _man_! _Your_ notions may be different from _mine_, +Miss Leavitt, but _I_ wouldn't 'low any girl of _mine_ to go swimming +at Cove's Hole with the Hopworth young 'uns! Dick Snead told his +mother and his mother told my Cousin 'Manthy. Ain't there any _better_ +folks she can take up with on this Island than a hired man _and_ the +Hopworths?" Her shrill inflection seemed to say, "There--I have you +_now_!" + +Nancy's feet beat a war-dance. She wanted to rush in to her own +defence--had Dick Snead told his mother and his mother told Cousin +'Manthy that she had swam forty strokes under water? Discretion, +however, bade her use caution. + +A rustling indicated that the caller, her errand accomplished, had +risen to go. She shot her last tiny, poisoned arrow. "Of _course_ I +said to Cyrus _all_ of us on the Island know all that poor Miss +Leavitt's _had_ to stand, what with her brother and _then_ her sister! +And _that's_ why, I said to Cyrus, Miss Leavitt _ought_ to know about +these goings on, or else something _else_ would come down on your poor +head! I must run along, now, 'Manthy came in to watch my jam. That +Carroll girl I got over at Greenfield isn't worth her keep--you have to +watch her _every_ moment!" + +All the pride of generations of Leavitts must have come to Miss +Sabrina's rescue at that moment! She met the final thrust with calm +dignity. + +"My niece is only making me a very short visit, Mrs. Eaton. It is +hardly worth while for me to interfere with her conduct." + +Nancy was struck dumb with amazement. What did Aunt Sabrina mean--that +_this_ silly little affair ended her stay at Happy House? What _would_ +Anne think? Oh, _what_ a mess she had made of everything! Of course +she had expected that something might happen any moment; after one day +had safely passed, she had always thought it might be the next; had she +not told Anne that she was certain to make some dreadful blunder? But +it was a shame to go away in disgrace when she had not really done +anything, after all! + +Indignation of the most righteous sort began slowly to master Nancy's +consternation. Well, if she did have to go she would allow herself, +just once, the sweet satisfaction of telling Miss Sabrina what she +thought of the Leavitts and their sense of honor! She rushed headlong +into the sitting-room. + +"I heard what that--that creature said," she blurted out. "I don't +_know _why God makes women like that! What would you _think_, Aunt +Sabrina, if you'd seen her take a whip and lash those children across +their bare bodies? And that wouldn't have been as bad as what she +really _did_ do, for those hurts would have healed, and the way she +hurt their spirits wouldn't _ever_ heal! She is cruelly unjust--and +unkind!" + +Poor Miss Sabrina looked very old and very tired--far too tired to meet +this impetuous attack! Something in the unyieldingness of her +expression drove Nancy to utter abandon. + +"Oh, I suppose I'll have--to go away! But I'm glad--everything is all +wrong at Happy House. There's no happiness here--at all. +Fath--someone I love used to tell me that happiness comes to you as you +_give_ happiness, and that's what's the matter here--you don't give +happiness! You live--apart--and you just wrap yourself round with the +traditions of the Leavitts and all that--tommyrot! I'm glad I'm +not--a--I'm glad I'm the--the other branch. I guess the golden rule is +better than any family honor and that it doesn't matter at _all_ what +all the people who are dead and gone've done--it's what the people who +are _living_ are doing--that counts!" + +Breathless from her outburst and frightened by its daring, Nancy burst +into tears and rushed from the room. + +In the aftermath of calm that followed the storm, Nancy woefully faced +the consequences of what she had done. How silly it would all sound to +Anne when she heard it! Anne would tell her, of course, what _she_ +would have done--but then, Anne had always been able to control every +word and every action. + +Nancy, staring about at the four walls of her room in very much the +same way she had done that first day of her coming to Happy House, +realized that they were not so ugly, after all. Their height gave a +sense of coolness and space; the branches of an old cherry tree brushed +her windows; from below came all sorts of sweet smells out of +Jonathan's garden; the incessant twittering of birds and the humming of +insects made the summer air teem with busy, happy life. It was +pleasant, she sighed--much pleasanter than a flat in Harlem in July! + +"Well, I won't pack until I get my dishonorable discharge, and I can't +get away until Webb's stage goes, anyway! I'll take Miss Milly once +more to the orchard." + +Miss Milly went to the orchard so often now that it had become a part +of almost every day's routine, and it was no longer necessary that +B'lindy and Jonathan should make up the party, though they went more +often than not. This day Aunt Milly declared everything particularly +nice, but she thought it was because she and Nancy were alone--she +could not know that Nancy had been doing her best to make it an +afternoon Aunt Milly would never forget--"because it's probably the +last!" + +They lingered in the orchard until almost supper-time. Then Nancy +sought the kitchen. She liked to drop in on B'lindy, help her in some +small way in the preparation of the evening meal, and chat at the same +time. She was astounded, now, to find Aunt Sabrina, with a very red +face, bending over the kitchen stove. + +B'lindy, sitting very straight in the chair by the window, gave the +explanation--resentfully. + +"'Pears to be hash ain't good enough for supper. Had it all fixed for +the cookin' and I guess it's fair 'nough for anyone to eat and I can't +abide left-overs hangin' 'round. But Miss S'briny says the supper +to-night's got to be extry nice and Miss Anne's got to have waffles and +_she'll_ cook 'em herself, seein' how old B'lindy that's cooked 'em +nigh onto fifty years, can't cook 'em _good_ 'nough for Miss Anne!" + +Miss Sabrina's face was bent over the waffles--Nancy could not see it. +The moment was too solemn to permit her to so much as smile. She said +very gravely, almost reprovingly: + +"You _know_, B'lindy, that you _can't_ make waffles as good as Aunt +Sabrina can and I've been hungry for days for waffles!" + +Nancy knew that, after that night, waffles would always mean something +more to her than merely a concoction of food stuffs particularly dear +to her palate--they'd mean the momentary triumph of reason and justice, +the defeat of the Mrs. Eaton-kind, and the pitiful attempt of a very +old and a very proud woman to "give happiness." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +GUNS AND STRING BEANS + +"Claire darling-- + +"Almost two weeks since I wrote to you. Will you love me any more? + +"As I write I am all alone on the edge of a very little pool of light +reflected from my little lamp that was only intended to see me into bed +and not to burn half the night through while I write to my pal. + +"Is this summer night as perfect where you are, Claire? (Tush--you've +probably been playing tennis and dancing and flirting until you are too +exhausted to care about anything except the breakfast bell disturbing +you.) But up here it's _wonderful_! The sky is blue-black velvet, all +studded with stars that seem suspended--they are so very close. And +the air just caresses you! And there are the sweetest smells, grassy +and earthy and all fragrant of roses. There are queer little noises, +too--as though the night was full of fairy creatures. And I heard a +whip-or-will! And a screech-owl, way, way off. + +"Since I wrote to you last I have 'put my foot in it' again! Terribly! +It's too long a story to write to you--there isn't nearly oil enough +for that--but I skated over the thin ice and reached safety--in other +words, I am still here! And, Nancy, I know, now, even Aunt Sabrina is +beginning to like me! Do you know why? Because I lost my head and +told her what I thought was the matter with her and Happy House and I +don't suppose anyone _dared_ to tell her that before. (I called her +Leavitt traditions tommy-rot.) And I think she _enjoyed_ the +sensation! Anyway, she seems to treat me now like Somebody and she +said something the other day about how lovely the autumns were on the +Island, as though she took it for granted I'd be here then! + +"Claire, what if I can _never_ get away? Did I dream, when I took +Anne's shoes (to speak in figures) and put them on, where they'd lead +me? And sometimes I think that I will not see the end of the trail for +a long time. I'm not crazy to see it, either, for it _must_ end in +Disaster! + +"I am beginning to understand these people, too. I--in my usual way, +judged them too quickly! One must know their history to know +them--know what a splendid background they have. Aunt Sabrina has +taken up Ezekiel where she left off and tells me stories about the +Champlain Valley. Of course, I know she is doing it, because I called +the Leavitt glories 'tommy-rot' and when I read, in B'lindy's book +(gotten up, of course, to bait tourists) what these Islanders _have_ +done, I feel cheap and small and insignificant beside all these people +who have such heroic grandfathers and great grandfathers. + +"I suppose, all over the world, Island people must be different from +people whose lands lie directly contingent with other lands and people. +The very waters that shut away these precious Hero Islands wash their +lives back upon themselves--they live in--they can't help it. The +world that rushes on so fast for us, living in the big cities, scarcely +stirs them here! These folks talk about Ethan Allen and Remembrance +Baker as though it was only yesterday they walked down under the elms +of the village street! They all eat off from very old china and sit in +very old chairs--precious because some hero dear to the Island has sat +in them! + +"(All of this is not original with me--The Hired Man said it.) + +"So just as I finished grandly saying to Aunt Sabrina that it didn't +matter at _all_ what the people, who are dead and gone, have done, I'm +beginning to see--like a picture opened before my eyes--that it _does_ +matter--quite a little! They, these dead and gone people, leave us +what they have done; if it's bad, we have to pay for it, some way or +other--if it's noble, we have to be worthy of it! _That_ philosophy is +all mine and not the Hired Man's. + +"There are a great many things about the aforesaid Hired Man (I never +think of him as that) that perplex me. He is a great big riddle. He +is more interesting than any one I ever met before. I wish you were +here so we could talk him over the way we used to the Knights of the +Pink Parlor. That he is good looking is not what seems so queer, +because I suppose there _are_ good-looking hired men as well as +good-looking street car conductors or undertakers. He is so +understandable--he is like you and Anne and Dad. And he knows so much +about everything! He must have gone to college--he talks just like a +college man. But once when I hinted he smiled and told me that he was +'still a student in the college of Experience, where after all one +could learn more than at even the great universities.' + +"He is Mysterious. After I've been with him I plan it all out--what he +must have been and why he fell to the level of this sort of work; then +the next time I see him he says something that makes me change all my +ideas. I am sure he is concealing something--he simply will not say +one word about himself! I don't believe it's anything as bad as murder +or forgery or--anything like that, because he has such honest eyes, and +they look right straight through you. It's probably some sorrow or--or +disappointment. Sometimes his eyes look very tired, as though they had +seen some terrible tragedy, though mostly always they're just jolly. + +"He's wonderful with Nonie and Davy--they adore him. He thinks of so +many nice things for them to do. He says once he was a scoutmaster in +the Boy Scouts. I think he almost gave something away then, for, after +he said it, he looked so funny and wouldn't say another word. + +"He treats me as though I was another boy just a little older than +Davy. And after the silly men we knew in college it's a relief to find +anyone like Peter Hyde, even though he is a hired man. I suppose it's +because he's probably had a hard time--has had to make his way, he's +had all the nonsense knocked out of him! I am sure, if one could teach +him to dance and then set him down in the middle of your mother's +living-room you'd all go crazy over him. Now isn't that some Hired +Man? Dear me, I spend more time wondering about him! Then I laugh at +myself. Do you remember the Russian who came to college last year--how +we all thought he must be a Russian prince and then we found out he'd +been born on the Lower East Side?" + + * * * * * + +There were other doubts concerning Peter Hyde that Nancy did _not_ +confide to Claire. For the past two years and more, in Nancy's honest +soul, all men between twenty-one and forty were divided into two +classes; those who had gone over to France and those who had not. If +Peter Hyde _had_ gone there was nothing in any act or word that +signified it; if he had _not_ gone, why not? Was _that_ what he was +hiding? + +She had resorted, feeling very contemptible as she did so, to little +traps to draw him out, but he had invariably escaped them--sometimes +changing the subject abruptly, other times openly laughing and saying +nothing. Very much against her will she felt growing within her a +contempt for him; almost a dislike of his personal appearance, so +obviously healthy and able to have fought for his country! And yet, +loyalty had kept her from confiding this to Claire. + +A sense of fairness, too, urged her to give Peter the benefit of the +doubt until she knew. "I'll just ask him," she decided resolutely. +"I'll ask him right out--the very first chance I get!" + +The opportunity to learn the truth had come on the very afternoon +following the night she had written to Claire. Nonie and Davy had not +appeared for a swim, so Peter had suggested a walk. He wanted Nancy to +go over, with him, the new work he had started on the Judson ten-acre +piece, the improvements in the barns, the rotary gardens. + +It was the first time that Peter Hyde had talked much about his work. +Nancy, who would have said turnips grew on bushes, for all she knew, +found herself, under his instruction, suddenly absorbed in the +scientific growing of beans and corn and potatoes; in the making of one +strip of garden produce three different food products in rotation; in +irrigation and drainage; in sanitary stables and electrically lighted +chicken houses. + +"You know there's poetry in these growing things," Peter cried, waving +his hand out over the tender stalks of corn. "You get all the Art you +want! Can you find anywhere a more wonderful picture than that waving +field of oats--pale green against that sky? And in a few weeks it'll +be yellow. See that lettuce green, too. And music--you can stand in a +field of corn when the wind is blowing a little and you will hear a +symphony!" + +Nancy, surprised, watched his glowing face with interest Here was +indeed a new side of the Hired Man! He went on: + +"And business, say, there's a practical side to this farming that ought +to satisfy any man. Wits, science, strategy, instinct, plain +common-sense--it's all as necessary right here as in the biggest +business concern in the world. And if a fellow wants a _fight_--well, +he has it when he goes up against Mother Earth. We're used to thinking +of her as kindly, generous, lavishing her favors! I've had another +picture--she's worse than a Czar! She's exacting, she's moody, she's +undependable, at times. I suppose she does it to try out her +children--but anyway, the farmer has to fight every minute!" + +He stopped suddenly. "I'm boring you to death, maybe!" He laughed +apologetically. "It's always been a hobby of mine--this working with +the earth. I never thought I'd do anything with it--until the war! +Then I realized how much a nation's prosperity depends upon how its +soil is used. And that's where our government's been short-sighted. +They haven't paid enough attention to the small farmers. Of course, +they try out some good things and publish bulletins, but the farmers +ought to _know_ how, by certain scientific changes, the productiveness +of the land can be doubled! Take Judson, here. He's been farming this +whole place just the way his grandfather did before him! He's read +about new-fangled things, but he's afraid to try them--he doesn't know +how to begin! Think how many Judsons there are all over the world! So +I'm trying to show him by actually working out some experiments I've +tested. If it's a success, if his account at the bank at North Hero +shows it at the end of the season--why, there isn't anything Judson +will be afraid to try. And think what it would mean to this country if +it had a million farmers like Judson! And see how easily they can be +shown!" + +Nancy's face was alight with enthusiasm. With her vivid imagination +she pictured a glorious army of Peter Hydes going out over the land, +rescuing the poor farmers, putting new weapons into their hands! + +"It's wonderful! And it's--brave!" she added, "because it isn't as if +you went off with a whole lot of others with bands and flags flying!" + +She was suddenly struck with remorse that she had, in her heart, so +wronged Peter Hyde! She had thought him a slacker when he had +shouldered the harder task! Something in the earnestness still +reflected on his face made her own her guilt. + +"I can't be glad _enough_ you've told me all this! I didn't know! I +never lived in the country. I just thought things to eat grew up any +old way. And all this time I have been thinking horrid things about +you because I thought you hadn't gone to war! I thought, maybe, you +were way off up here to escape the feeling everyone had for slackers! +You can imagine, now, when I see what you really _are_ doing, how +ashamed I feel! Will you forgive me?" + +Peter's frank amusement made Nancy feel very uncomfortable and small. +But then she deserved it! He held out his hand as a sign of his +forgiveness. There was still laughter in his eyes as he regarded her. + +"I suppose that was very natural! Most of the young fellows you know +must have gone over!" he said, seriously enough. + +She wanted very much to tell him of her father--how he had followed the +men over the top; how he had worked day after day getting the stories +back to the people at home and spent night after night tracing the +"missing," or writing letters for the boys who never got further back +than the first dressing-stations and who wanted mothers and fathers and +sweethearts to know that they'd had their chance and had made the most +of it! But she couldn't, for she was supposed to be Anne and Anne's +father had died when she was a little girl. + +She told him of a few of the college men she had known, who had gone, +eagerly, at the first call. + +"They didn't even want to wait to get commissions! _They_ just wanted +to fight!" + +The revelation of Peter Hyde made her think of Claire's brother. She +told him about Claire and Anne--she called Anne, vaguely, "another +girl." "Claire's a darling and we just love her, but we can't _abide_ +her brother! Of course it's not reasonable, because we've never laid +eyes on him, but we've heard enough from Claire to know just what he's +like. I suppose the war made a few like him--he was brave enough over +there and lucky to have all his recommendations recognized, but it made +him _so_ conceited! He came back here and just strutted around, +everywhere. Claire says her mother's friends used to have _teas_ for +him--he'd go to them and speak and show his medals! Claire was mad +over him. She was so disappointed because I came here instead of going +to Merrycliffe. But I couldn't see myself spending my time petting her +beloved Lion! I knew I'd be rude and say just what I thought." + +Nancy and Peter were sitting upon the stump of a tree near the cliff. +Peter suddenly rose and walked to the edge--his back square to Nancy. +After a moment he turned. + +"Thought I heard something down there," he explained, at her +questioning glance. "Don't blame you for disliking that sort--like +Claire's brother! They're a rummy kind! I had a friend a lot like +him. But--maybe, it wasn't all his fault--about the teas and things! +Maybe his mother got 'em started and he didn't want to hurt her!" + +It was like Peter Hyde, so gentle with children and animals, to stand +up now for even Barry Wallace's kind. + +"You're just like Dad," Nancy cried warmly, then stopped, a little +frightened. But of course Peter had not been in Freedom long enough to +know anything about the Leavitts. + +He bowed with great ceremony, one hand over his heart. + +"If Dad's like daughter, I thank you for the compliment. Now, if you +will linger longer with me I'd like to show you Mrs. Sally and her +babies. Sally is my experimental pig. I've built a piggery for her +with a plunge and a sunken garden, and if you don't declare that Sally +enjoys such improved surroundings, I'll know my whole summer's work's a +failure." + +Nancy walked over the rough ground toward the barns with a light heart. +She had a delightful sense of being "pals" with this new Peter +Hyde--who, while the Barry Wallaces were swaggering around with their +medals, was up here in an out-of-the-way corner of the nation, fighting +a new sort of a fight! He actually _wanted_ her approval of his new +piggery! + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +PETER LENDS A HAND + +It was quite natural that Nancy should take her problems to Peter Hyde. + +More correctly, she did not take them--Peter Hyde discovered them when, +a few days later, he found Nancy alone in her Bird's-nest, completely +surrounded by sheets of paper, a frown wrinkling her entire face, +furiously chewing one end of her pencil. + +There had, of course, to be some explanation of the manuscript. Nancy +told him of the play she was writing, how she had really come to North +Hero to finish it! + +"I thought I'd have hours and hours to work. And I was so glad when I +found this hiding place. I've been here, now, weeks and weeks, and +have done scarcely a thing!" + +"Is it because the Muse will not come?" asked Peter, eying the +scattered sheets with awe. + +"Oh, it would _come_--if it had a chance! My head's just bursting with +things I want to write and I dream about them in my sleep. But--it +sounds silly--I'm so busy. Maybe the things I do don't seem important +but I just can't escape them." + +She made room for Peter on the seat beside her. Then she told him of +Aunt Milly; of that first trip to the orchard, how it had been the +beginning of a new life for the little woman. + +"I bring her downstairs every day now, right after breakfast, and she's +one of the family. I'm going to coax Webb to make another sort of a +chair; one she can wheel herself--I've seen them. She's learned to +knit beautifully; she's so proud because she's working on a sock for +the Belgian children--she says it's the first time she's _ever_ felt +useful! She helps B'lindy, too. It makes you want to cry to see how +happy she is. But with all her independence she wants me all the time. +When I start to leave her there's something in the way she looks at me +that is just as though she reached out and caught me by the hand!" + +Nancy described, too, how B'lindy was constantly finding little tasks +for her that would keep her in the kitchen or on the back porch within +sound of her voice. + +"You see talking's the joy of B'lindy's life and my ears are new--they +haven't heard all the things she has to say. Just when I think I can +escape she begins telling me of the cake her mother baked for Miss +Sabrina's mother the day the Governor of Vermont came to Happy +House--or something like that!" + +Anxious that Peter should understand everything Nancy made a vivid +word-picture of Miss Sabrina and of the difficulties she had had in +winning her. "I believe she's fond of me now, but she just doesn't +know _how_ to show it! She's never displayed one bit of affection in +her whole life, I'm sure. She's stone. But sometime she's going to +break--I'm doing my best to make her! I know she enjoys having dear +little Aunt Milly around, but do you think she'd say so? Goodness no. +But there's a lot of good in Aunt Sabrina and I'm bound to know it all, +so I make it my duty to sit with her just so long each day while she +tells me about the Leavitts and the other families of this Island. And +there _is_ something heroic about them all! + +"So here I am, just tingling to finish the last act of my play and not +a moment to myself! If it isn't precious Aunt Milly or Aunt Sabrina or +B'lindy or even dear old Jonathan, it's Nonie or Davy or----" + +"Or me," finished Peter Hyde, glancing significantly at the neglected +work. "Your hands _are_ full!" + +Nancy went on earnestly. "And it all seems so worth while! Look at +Nonie--she's a different creature already. I don't believe she +pretends as much, either--her little body is catching up with her +spirit. And Davy doesn't hang his head when he looks at you!" + +Peter Hyde could understand her feeling toward the children. They had +planned together to bring something more into those two starved young +lives. Like Nancy, he was delighted at the results already apparent. +It _was_ work too worth while to be abandoned--for anything. + +"Nonie fairly eats up the books I give her but she always wants to read +them with me--it's so that she can ask questions. And the questions +she asks! Every new thing she learns she immediately adapts to her own +life. We've begun 'Little Women' and of course she plays Amy! Poor +little flower, sometimes I think of old Dan'l and Liz and wonder from +where on earth the child got her gift. And what a precious blessing it +is to her!" + +Recalling Davy's contempt for his sister's "actin' lies," they both +laughed. + +"How could _anyone_ think bad things of Davy," cried Nancy, +indignantly. "He's the soul of truth and honor! But up here he won't +have a chance." + +"Oh, yes, he will!" Peter contradicted. "If I'm any good reading +character in a ten-year-old he'll _make_ a chance. He's a leader, now. +Look at the way the other boys follow his slightest suggestion!" + +Davy's "club" was flourishing. The attractions that Peter and Nancy +had added to its program had made it boom. Several new "fellars" had +come in. The meetings were even more frequent than Liz cleaned the +meeting-house, and now, because it had become known that Miss Sabrina's +niece was a member of the club, no lickings awaited the members upon +their return, rather impatient mothers eager to hear "what that girl at +Happy House was up to now." There was some talk about turning the club +into a Boy Scout troop; Mr. Peter had promised to organize them and +train them. + +"Oh, dear," Nancy sighed, perplexed and torn, "it's like having a dream +you've dreamed crumble all to pieces! I wanted to have my play done +before my--I mean, I wanted to finish it up here and then send it +straight to Theodore Hoffman himself. Of course you don't know him. +He's one of the greatest dramatists and play producers in the world. I +know it's daring in me and maybe he won't even give a minute to my +little insignificant effort, but--whatever he may say, I'll know it is +the best criticism I can get!" + +To Nancy's surprise Peter displayed a considerable knowledge of plays +and actors, critics and producers. He could see her problem, too--how +she was torn between the claims of Happy House and her beloved work. + +Nancy was grateful for his sympathy and because he did not laugh at +her. But of course, why should anyone who could find music in waving +corn not understand her own dreams! + +Peter's face looked very much as though he was tackling some problem of +drainage--or a new incubator. + +"When you get right down to plain facts, it's a question of conserving +time. You're wasting it--somewhere. I believe you can double up a +bit. Let Aunt Milly listen to Belinda, and teach Aunt Milly to help +Nonie. I'll take care of Davy. You say Aunt Milly likes to feel she's +useful--if you start her she can help Nonie a lot and Nonie'll give her +something to think about, too." + +Nancy considered this with brightening eyes. "I believe you're right! +I've just been selfish, trying to do everything myself just because I +loved to, and stupid--to think no one else could do it! Of course Aunt +Milly can read with Nonie--and play with her, too. I'll begin this +very day. I'll have a school here in the orchard and Nonie and B'lindy +and Aunt Milly shall come. It'll be the funniest school you ever heard +of," Nancy laughed. "I'll teach B'lindy the joy of seeing Hopworth +'young 'uns' eat her best molasses cookies!" + +Nancy's face showed that she was mentally leaping far ahead in her +plans. Peter felt that he had been left out. + +"Let me be the head taskmaster or whatever you call it. You'll +doubtless need a strong hand now and then. Anyway, you don't know how +much it helps _my_ work mixing a little fun with it!" + +Now that her problems were straightening Nancy felt very kindly and +gracious and happy. + +"Of course, you may come to the orchard--whenever you want! Oh, you +_have_ helped me so much," she cried, with a smile that brought a +sudden gleam in Peter Hyde's eyes. "Now, if you'll give me a hand +putting these pages together, I'll run in and prepare Aunt Milly and +B'lindy." + +Following along the lines of Peter's suggestion, Nancy's "school" +developed rapidly. She covered sheet after sheet of paper with +"schedules" and finally to her satisfaction, blocked off every waking +moment of her pupils' day. Aunt Milly fell heartily in with her plans; +she was proud to know that she could help. The books for Nonie that +Nancy had spirited to Happy House were as fascinating to her as to +Nonie. + +After the first day Aunt Milly thought of a great many new "lessons" +they could begin for Nonie. With the promise that after awhile she +could make for herself a "pinky" dress, like Nancy's, Aunt Milly taught +her to hem and seam and tuck. At the same time Nonie learned that it +was quite as bad to wear a torn, soiled dress as to say "him and me" or +"I ain't." + +"You're _wonderful_, Aunt Milly," Nancy had declared, after this +innovation in the school. "I never would have thought of it, myself." +She laughed, ruefully. "I'd better study with Nonie, I guess, and +learn to mend, myself." + +Nancy had told Aunt Milly, too, of Nonie's pretend-mother. Perhaps +that was why Aunt Milly's voice was very sweet and tender as she and +Nonie talked and played and read together. Nonie liked to wheel the +chair; she began to look forward to bolder excursions beyond the gate +to the village. + +B'lindy, in her heart still a little distrustful that "no good could +come from encouragin' them Hopworths," nevertheless found countless +excuses to join the little group under the apple trees, sometimes +bringing some hideous lace crocheting that had been years in the making +but would some day--if B'lindy lived long enough to complete it--cover +a bed. Sometimes she brought a basket of goodies and other times came +empty-handed and just sat idle with a softened look in her old eyes as +they rested on the purple rim of mountains across the water. + +"I guess it makes a body work better for restin' a spell," she said, +after one of these intervals. + +But with the success of Nancy's new plans were two little clouds--small +at first but growing with each day. One was the realization that very +soon her work for these dear people could go on without her. And +though in one breath she told herself that this was fortunate, because +her stay at Happy House must end with her father's return, in the next +she was swept with a sharp jealousy that, after she had gone, Aunt +Milly and B'lindy and Nonie and Davy would still gather under the apple +tree. + +Since the afternoon Peter Hyde had found her with the manuscript she +had not laid eyes upon him! + +A sense of hurt at his neglect did not grow less when she learned from +old Jonathan, after one or two questions, that he had gone over to +Plattsburg; rather it gave way to a resentment that Peter, considering +what good chums they had grown to be and the "school" and everything, +should have gone off on any such trip without one word of parting! + +"He'll see how well we can get along without him," she had declared to +herself after the third day. After all he probably _was_ hiding +something; this sudden disappearance must have some connection with it. + +His comradeship had grown very pleasant, she admitted, but, she told +herself, it belonged to the real Anne Leavitt, like Aunt Milly and +Nonie and the others, he must drop out of her life when she left Happy +House. + +So that he might not even be missed by Davy and his cronies, Nancy +devoted one entire afternoon to teaching the boys of the club how to +build a fire without matches. When, after repeated and discouraging +failures, the last one had joyfully succeeded, Nancy had promised to +teach them to wig-wag at the very next meeting. + +When Nancy returned to the house, flushed and tired from the hours on +the beach, old Jonathan, at the door, presented her with a half-blown +rose, its stem thrust through a folded sheet of paper. + +"Mr. Peter, over to Judson's, asked me to give it t'you." + +With a certain set of the college men and girls Nancy had been very +popular; more than once pretty tributes of flowers had come to her. +She had accepted them rather indifferently, had kept them with dutiful +care in water and had pasted the cards that had come with them in her +remembrance book. But this gift was different; it was quaint--and _so_ +pretty! + +"If you will meet me at seven in the orchard I will tell you a surprise +that will tickle you to pieces," Peter Hyde had scrawled across the +paper. + +"How--_funny_!" laughed Nancy, reading and re-reading the lines. "What +can it be?" + +If Nancy had asked herself why she sang as she dressed for supper she +would have thought, truthfully, that it _was_ because she was +ravenously hungry and B'lindy's supper smelled very good; and she chose +to wear, from her slender wardrobe, a pink organdy, because it would be +cool--_not_ that she even dreamed, for a moment, of doing such a silly +thing as going to the orchard at seven o'clock, to meet Peter Hyde! + +A dozen times, during the evening meal, she resolved that Peter Hyde's +surprise could wait. He presumed, indeed, to think that, after he had +absented himself for so long without one little word of explanation, +she would go running at the crook of his little finger! + +However, she put the pink rose in her belt and occasionally slipped it +out to smell of it. It was the most beautiful rose she had ever +seen--she must ask Jonathan its variety. + +At five minutes of seven she picked up her knitting and sat resolutely +down between her aunts on the hollyhock porch. Just as Aunt Sabrina +was telling her how, back in 1776, Robert Leavitt had dined with +Benedict Arnold on the flagship of his little Champlain fleet, two days +before its engagement with the British, the old clock within the house +struck seven. With her breath caught in her throat Nancy counted +sixty, twice--then suddenly sprang to her feet and rushed off the +veranda. + +"Why, Nancy--dear," cried Aunt Milly, startled. + +"Humph," grunted Aunt Sabrina, clicking her needles faster than ever. + +Peter was in the orchard. He had been there since quarter of seven. +He was disappointed at the coolness of Nancy's greeting; it seemed to +him that he had been gone for ages, and he had, during his absence, +quite foolishly, been looking forward to this meeting. + +He had hoped, too, that she might wear the rose. + +"One guess where I've been," he commanded lightly, as he held out his +hand to assist her into the tree. + +"Dear me, how can I tell? Buying plows or pigs or----" + +Nancy tried to make her tone seem airily indifferent, when all the time +she was really consumed with curiosity and a desire, too, to tell him +how splendidly her work was going. + +"I have seen Theodore Hoffman!" + +"_What?_" + +"Don't look as though you thought I'd gone mad. He's human. I +happened to hear that he was staying at Bluff Point, so I went over to +see the gentleman." + +Nancy's eyes _did_ say that she thought he had gone quite out of his +mind! + +"How did you _dare_?" + +"I know a fellow that knows him. He was very nice--as I said, he's +human, terribly human. You should see him playing tennis!" + +"What--_what_ did you say to him?" + +"I told him I had a little friend who was soon to become one of the +greatest playwrights in the world and----" + +"_Peter!_" Nancy lifted an imploring finger. "Honest, what _did_ you +say? And why----" she was suddenly abashed. He had done this for her. + +Peter kept his tone light. + +"You see I did have some pig business over that way, so it was easy +enough to do a favor for a little pal at the same time. Hoffman was +very nice--he's going to be around up here for some weeks and promised +me he would drive over here. Now it's up to you to have the manuscript +ready." + +"Oh, Peter, I'm _frightened_! You're a darling! I shall _always_ +bless pigs! Of _course_ I'll have it done--I'll work night and day. +I'll go straight back to the house now." She jumped to the ground. In +her haste she forgot the poor rose she had hidden behind her. + +Peter, crestfallen at her sudden flight, found it, however. He smiled, +whimsically, as he held it in the palm of his hand. + +"Nice little kid," he said, as he had said once before, then he put the +rose carefully into his pocket. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +NANCY PLANS A PARTY + +"What are you doing, Nonie?" + +Pencil poised in mid-air; Nancy leaned down from her Nest where she had +been working. Aunt Milly was nodding in her chair, her finger and +thumb between the pages of "Sarah Crewe," from which she had been +reading until she had succumbed to the drowsy sounds of the summer air. +Nonie had been tiptoeing back and forth across the grass making funny, +little, inarticulate sounds in her throat. + +"I'm playing party," Nonie stopped under the apple tree and lifted a +thoughtful face to Nancy. "When I grow up I shall have ten children +and have parties all the time. There'll be harps and violins and drums +and lots and lots to eat. And I shall wear velvet, with a long train, +and carry a big fan." She sighed. "Do you always have to be beautiful +to do beautiful things?" + +"Just doing beautiful things makes you seem beautiful," explained Nancy. + +Nonie was not satisfied. "B'lindy makes beautiful cakes and pies but +_she_ isn't beautiful. And Jonathan puts seeds in the ground that grow +into pretty flowers but--he's ugly! Could I do beautiful things +and--look like this?" She spread out her shabby skirts. + +Behind the troubled gaze Nancy caught the gleam of a vision. + +"You can--you can! Nonie, no one can ever take your dreams away from +you!" + +"Not even Liz," echoed Nonie, bitterly. + +A few days before a tragedy had touched Nonie's life. From out of +nowhere there had wandered into her affections a hungry-eyed, maltese +cat with two small babies. Nonie had mothered them passionately, +tenderly. She had hidden scraps of food from her own meagre portions +to feed them; she had fitted a box with old rags and had concealed it +beneath the loose plankings of the shed. Then, mother cat, satisfied +that her babies were in good hands, had disappeared. + +"Even kittens can't have mothers," Nonie had thought, perplexed over +the ways of the world. "Never mind, darlings, Nonie will love you," +and she had kissed each small puss as a pledge of her devotion. + +But a week later she found both kittens lying stiff and cold behind the +shed. At her passionate outburst, Liz had told her that "_she_ wa'nt a +goin' to have any _cats_ under foot!" + +Nonie had taken her sorrow to the Bird's-Nest and Nancy and Aunt Milly +had managed to soothe her. But she would not forgive Liz. + +"If that mother should ever come back how could I face her," she had +asked very seriously. "She'd know it was my fault--because I left +them! I wish--I wish babies never had to be left--without mothers!" +Thereupon had taken shape the determination in Nonie's heart to some +day have ten children whom she would never, never leave--not for a +moment! + +"Don't forget the fairy godmother, Nonie, and her wand. Some day +she'll turn your old dress into gold cloth and put a crown upon your +head." Nancy made her tone light; she could not bear to see the shadow +on the child's face. She jumped down from the tree. + +"I've just thought of the loveliest plan! Nonie, let's have a party at +Happy House!" + +"A _real_ party?" + +"Yes, a real party--with lots and _lots_ to eat! It's too warm for +velvet, but how would you like to wear a white dress of mine that's +dreadfully small for me? I'm sure Aunt Milly's clever fingers can fix +it over. B'lindy shall make a cake--like the Governor had, and Aunt +Sabrina shall get out all the old silver and linen." + +Nonie's face said plainly that she could not believe her ears! + +"Honest?" she whispered, glancing toward Aunt Milly. + +"Well----" Nancy laughed. "Of course, we'll have to consult Aunt +Sabrina and Aunt Milly and B'lindy. Suppose we cough very loudly--then +Aunt Milly will waken!" + +An hour earlier, as Nancy sat in the Nest making notes here and there +upon her manuscript, the thought of the party had not entered her head. +But once there, it grew rapidly. Besides, her heart was very light; +she wanted everyone else to celebrate with her--her play was done! She +had worked day and night; the tiny shadows under her eyes told that. +But in her exultation any physical weariness was forgotten. + +In the still hours of the night before she had dashed off a sleepy line +to Claire..... "The Gypsy Sweetheart is done. Darling, pray for me! +My fate lies in those pages. I may soon be with you at +Merrycliffe--that is, if you still want me." + +The last line was an afterthought. That day a curious letter had come +from Claire, perplexing to Nancy because Claire's usual complaining +tone had given place to mysterious rejoicing. "I can't tell you +_anything_, Nancy, because I promised I wouldn't, but some day you're +going to know. I'm the most wildly happy girl in the world," and +beyond that the maddening creature had written nothing. "I believe +she's engaged," thought Nancy, indignant and hurt, too, that Claire +should let any such thing come into her life without some hint to her +dearest friends. + +After repeated coughing Aunt Milly wakened with a start and tried to +look as though she had not been asleep. Nancy told her of the party +they wanted to have at Happy House. She had a way of telling it that +made it seem very simple and easy. After one frightened gasp, Aunt +Milly promised to help win Aunt Sabrina's and B'lindy's approval. + +Nothing, perhaps, so marked the amazing changes in Happy House worked +by Nancy's stay than the eagerness with which B'lindy, and even Miss +Sabrina, accepted the suggestion of the "party." + +They sat with Nancy and Aunt Milly on the hollyhock porch after supper +excitedly making plans; at least B'lindy and Aunt Milly were excited; +Aunt Sabrina had moments of alarm--it had been so very long since they +had entertained anyone! + +"Do let me plan the whole thing," begged Nancy. "I'm good at such +things. I always had charge of all the class stunts. Ever since I've +been here I've pictured how wonderfully this old house would open up +for entertaining. We'll have flowers in all the rooms--heaps and heaps +of them. But let's serve out under the trees!" + +B'lindy and Miss Sabrina were horrified at such an idea. When guests +had come before to Happy House they had eaten in dignified manner from +the dining-room table. + +"But your garden is so lovely," Nancy cried. She made a vivid picture +of how it would look on the day of the party. Her enthusiasm won her +point; even Aunt Sabrina's doubt had to yield before her youthful +determination. + +So it was agreed that ice-cream and cake--like the Governor had +had--should be passed from tables set under the old trees, and in the +dining-room there would be punch in the old punch bowl that had, in +years gone by, honored many a distinguished gathering under the old +roof. And Nancy should have her "heaps" of flowers everywhere. + +"Maybe we'd better keep the sitting-room closed," suggested Miss +Sabrina, faintly. She was too proud to tell them that she could not +bear the thought of curious eyes staring at the mantel with its ragged +crack, everlasting reminder of the storm that marked the falling of the +shadow over Happy House. + +But Nancy would not listen even to this--flowers everywhere and doors +and windows open, everywhere. + +When Nancy had declared that everyone in Freedom must be invited--even +the Hopworths and Peter Hyde, Miss Sabrina had made her last protest. + +"The Leavitts, Anne----" she had begun. + +"Oh, _bless_ the Leavitts," Nancy had laughingly broken in, "dear Aunt +Sabrina, don't you see that it's your chance to show that--that catty +Mrs. Eaton, who's just a common storekeeper's wife and's only been here +on North Hero one and one-half generations, that _you_, Sabrina +Leavitt, are not going to be told by _her_ what you should do and what +you shouldn't do!" + +Miss Sabrina had not forgotten what she had suffered from Mrs. Eaton's +cruel tongue; Nancy's impetuous argument carried convincing weight. So +Nancy triumphantly added to her list, Mr. Daniel Hopworth, Miss +(Elizabeth or Eliza, she wondered) Hopworth, Miss Nonie Hopworth and +Master David Hopworth. + +For the next few days such a bustle followed that Nancy wondered why +she had not thought of it before! While B'lindy opened shutters and +swept and dusted and aired, the sunshine poured into corners of the old +house that had never seen it before. Miss Sabrina unlocked old chests +and sorted out and polished old silver and washed and pressed old linen +of exquisite fineness. Aunt Milly made over the white dress for Nonie. +Nancy wrote the invitations, in Miss Sabrina's name, and despatched +them by Webb to what B'lindy called "Tom, Dick and Harry" in Freedom. + +Nancy, herself, invited Webb. + +"I'll tell you a secret about this party, Webb! I want everyone in +Freedom to know that Happy House _is_ a happy house; I want them to see +how wonderful Aunt Milly is and that she _wouldn't_ be happier in her +grave! I want them to see the old mantel and the lovely rooms. And I +want them to know that the Hopworth's are invited!" + +"Wal, I guess Freedom folks never saw the like before at Happy House, +leastways not sence the old missus was alive," the old man had +excitedly answered. "You _bet_ old Webb'll be thar!" Nancy knew that +as each invitation was delivered at each door there would go with it an +excited account of the strange "sociable" that could include the +Hopworths, and his added opinion that "thet gal'd sartin'ly started +things happenin' at Happy House." + +The smithy's son was engaged to help Jonathan cut the grass, weed the +gardens and clip the borders, under Nancy's direction. So that, while +amazing changes were going on within the house, changes equally +startling were transforming the garden. Old Jonathan straightened more +than once to view with pride the results of their work. + +"This garden used to be the pride of the Island," he muttered, seeing +in its restored trimness something of its old-time beauty. "But it's +young hands that's needed." + +"It's beautiful, _now_," Nancy had declared. "It's the loveliest +garden I ever saw, Jonathan," and she thought of Nonie's quaint words: +"Jonathan puts in seeds that grow into pretty flowers and he's ugly!" +Yes, the wrinkled, leathery face under the old hat was not beautiful, +and yet something of the beauty of the flowers he grew was reflected in +the expression of the old eyes that bent so tenderly over them. + +"That's life," reflected Nancy, indulging in a moment's philosophizing. +"It's really what we think and do that makes us beautiful or not +beautiful!" + +They had worked late; the long shadows of the afternoon danced in lacy +patterns over the gray walls of the house. Nancy, watching them, +thought of that first disappointment she had felt upon viewing Happy +House. Then it had seemed an ugly pile of stones, severely lined. Now +it was more like a breathing Thing. It had sheltered and seen shaped +so many lives; it held a future, too; it must stand protectingly for +others after Aunt Milly and Aunt Sabrina had gone! + +It had, now, with its blinds fastened back, an awakened, expectant +look, as of eyes suddenly opened after a long, long sleep. + +Then into Nancy's happy meditations flashed the disturbing thought that +nothing about the garden or the house belonged in any way to her! + +"It's just _like_ me to forget," she declared aloud, shouldering her +hoe and turning toward the carriage barn. "And like me to get fond of +it all!" + +"Anyway, Nonie'll have her party, and even if there isn't a harp and a +velvet train there'll be lots to eat or B'lindy's name isn't B'lindy. +I wonder," and Nancy addressed the distant outline of the Judson's +barns, "how Peter Hyde'll _ever_ act at a tea-party!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE PARTY + +Very early, on the morning of the day of the party, Nancy and Aunt +Milly and B'lindy and Jonathan and Nonie and Davy and Peter Hyde, each, +scanned a sunny, cloudless sky with relief and joy. + +"Well, it isn't going to rain, anyway," each thought. + +Even Miss Sabrina, lifting her shade slowly, felt her pulse beat more +quickly as a sunbeam danced into her face. This day was a new day for +Happy House; she could not count the years since a "party" had been +given in her home; her old hands trembled now as she dressed hurriedly. +"_What_ if something goes wrong!" she thought. Had they forgotten +anything? + +A little later Nancy, standing with her arms full of girlish finery of +thirty years ago, voiced the same fear to Aunt Milly. + +"_What_ if something should go wrong!" But there had been a giggle in +her voice as she had said it. This was the most delightfully funny +party she had ever known, and it was going to be the very jolliest, too. + +Directly after breakfast Nonie had run home with the made-over white +dress. She thought it much lovelier than velvet and in her joy over a +pair of Nancy's slippers the child forgot her cherished dream of a +train. + +What Miss Milly should wear to the party was a matter that demanded +much thought. "You see, I want you to look _happy_," Nancy explained +to Aunt Milly. She had dragged down from the attic a little trunk in +which, after the accident, many of Aunt Milly's girlish possessions had +been packed. It was great fun taking them out and selecting from them +what Aunt Milly should wear. There were not many things--compared to +Nancy's own wardrobe it was pitifully small and spoke eloquently of the +limited pleasures of Aunt Milly's girlhood. + +"This will be lovely," Nancy held out a flowered silk. "And you can +wear these darling beads. And this," picking out a shell comb, "in +your hair. And I will send Jonathan over to Judson's for a bunch of +their lovely roses. I _know_ they have some!" + +"But isn't this--queer--and out of date? I'm old now, Nancy!" + +"You dear, funny Aunt Milly! Don't you know that you're not a bit old? +All this time you've been shut away the years have been rolling right +past you and have left you untouched. You're going to be the sweetest +picture and you're going to be a--surprise, too!" + +She was a picture when Nancy's eager fingers had finished with her. +The pink of the quaintly fashioned dress was not more pink than the +color that flushed her delicate cheeks; into her soft hair Nancy had +thrust the shell comb and around her neck hung a chain of tiny corals. +Jonathan had returned from Judson's with four bunches of roses and one +of them now adorned Miss Milly. + +"You're just _lovely_," Nancy had cried, imprinting a warm kiss upon +the blushing cheek. + +She awarded the same stamp of approval upon Aunt Sabrina, too, who was +very stately in a black silk with one of the Judson roses pinned in the +net fichu about her throat. + +"And I shall kiss you, too," Nancy called out to B'lindy, catching, +through the open door a glimpse of marvellously starched calico. + +"You go 'long and keep out from under my feet," had been B'lindy's +retort as she retreated from Nancy's threatened attack. "I guess +there's work has to be done before _this_ party's over!" But the +grumbling in her voice could not conceal her pride and satisfaction. + +"Oh, _everything_ is just lovely," Nancy exclaimed, tiptoeing about to +add a finishing touch here and there. And indeed, some magic wand +seemed to have scattered gladness everywhere about the old place; the +great rooms, open now to the sunshine, radiated it in the fragrance of +the flowers that Nancy had heaped everywhere. + +"I wish it would stay like this," was her unspoken thought. + +But in her plans for the party which was to show all Freedom that Happy +House _was_ a happy house, Nancy had reckoned without Mrs. Cyrus Eaton. + +Since trouble had shadowed Happy House and shut its hospitable doors, +time had brought changes to Freedom just as it had to every place on +the globe; commerce, trade, politics, a certain democratizing of the +standards of living had made their inroads even upon the little +village; new families came and old ones died out. And new influences +challenged and threatened the old Island aristocracy. + +Not the least of these was the influence of trade. When Cyrus Eaton +bought and rebuilt the general store next to the post-office he made +for himself--or for his wife--a social prestige that was beyond +dispute. As the years had gone by he had strengthened this materially +by certain credits which he extended to different families in the +village. + +Webb had gone to Mrs. Eaton's first with his invitation and his story. +That lady had flipped the little card upon the table with a snort. Did +Miss Leavitt or anyone _else_ think she'd go anywhere where those +Hopworths were? Was it not her duty, too, to warn her friends as to +what this party would be like--to tell them of this hoydenish, +impertinent girl, "of the bad branch of the family," who seemed to have +hypnotized Miss Sabrina? + +By the time Mrs. Eaton had finished her baking, put on her best purple +poplin and started out in Webb's trail, her rage had carried her to +such heights of eloquence that it was not difficult for her to convince +her neighbors that some "hoax" was about to be played upon the good +folks of Freedom and that each one must show her pride by remaining +away from the party. She talked so fast, and repeated her stories so +often, that she digressed, quite unconsciously, from the truth and, at +the last few calls, made Nancy out a most shocking young person! + +"I _can't_ tell you--I _wouldn't_ tell you--all the goings _on_ at that +Cove," was her favorite introduction. "And in the orchard, too! +_Anyone_ could have told Sabrina Leavitt she was a _fool_ bringing the +creature here--that branch of the family, _everyone_ knows, wouldn't be +above doing _anything_!" + +So while happy Nancy arranged flowers for the party the expected guests +entrenched themselves behind their closed blinds, their righteous +satisfaction tinged the very least bit by regret born of immense +curiosity. + +However, there were two exceptions. Samuel Todd, the postmaster, was +an aspirant for a seat in the State Legislature. His ancestors had +never lived anywhere else but on the Island and he had inherited a +wholesome respect for the Leavitt name. He was enough of a politician, +too, to know that, even though she was an old woman, he might sometime +need Miss Sabrina's good-will. + +"You go 'long and keep your eyes open and your mouth shut," he had +advised his wife when, after Mrs. Eaton's hurried call, she had sought +his counsel. "You women talk too much, anyway." + +Mrs. Todd, for once, was delighted to do his bidding; Carrie Baker, +over at North Hero, had made over her yellow muslin so that it was +"better'n new--and just lyin' up there in the closet catchin' dust," +she explained to Mrs. Sniggs. Mrs. Sniggs promptly offered to +accompany her. + +"I'm that _curious_ to see that mantel--and the girl, too!" + +So that, when the hour of the party struck and found Nancy, like a +flower, with Miss Sabrina and Miss Milly, on the lawn, ready to receive +their guests, the only guests (excepting Peter Hyde and the Hopworths +and Miss Sabrina and B'lindy, peeking from the door, did not count +them) were Mrs. Sniggs and Mrs. Todd. + +Liz Hopworth with Nonie and Davy had come early. Davy shone as to face +and feet; the grandeur of the new shoes Peter Hyde had given him quite +made up for the small things lacking in the rest of his appearance. +Liz was trying not to pant in a plum-colored cashmere that was many +sizes too small for her gaunt frame. Nancy had managed to place her +near Aunt Milly--Aunt Milly was sure to be cordial and gentle with her +and put her at her ease. + +Webb and Peter Hyde had come early, too. Nancy had caught herself +watching for Peter Hyde. She had given a little involuntary gasp when +she saw him--he was resplendent in immaculate white flannels! + +"Of course he _bought_ them--just for this!" she thought regretfully. +However, she had a moment of delicious satisfaction when she took him +to Miss Sabrina; they should all see that a hired man could be very +much of a gentleman. + +"Peter," she managed to whisper to him, "I have a feeling that +something _awful_ is going to happen!" Then Mrs. Todd and Mrs. Sniggs +had come through the gate and she had gone forward to meet them. + +It was Webb who gave Nancy a hint of the real truth. He was, as he +expressed it, "so gol darn flubberin' mad at the hul parcel of +womenfolks he'd liked to burst!" Gossip had crept to the post-office +stoop and Webb had sensed what was going on. "Skunks--beggin' your +pardon, Miss Anne, but that's _what_!" + +Nancy had a moment of panic; her eyes sought wildly for Peter Hyde. +Then her fighting blood stirred. "Thank you, Webb," she said with +well-assumed calmness. "Don't worry a bit! We'll show them--we'll act +just as though we hadn't invited anyone else!" + +But her nonchalant manner cloaked real distress. There was Miss +Sabrina, proud Miss Sabrina who had opened the doors of her trouble for +all Freedom to come and gape at--Nancy knew it had not been easy! +There was pretty, fluttering, expectant Aunt Milly in the dress she had +had made when she was eighteen; Nonie who had dreamed of throngs of +guests paying homage before her; and B'lindy, who had made a cake that +was "like as a twin to the one my mother made for the Gov'nor!" What +would _they_ say? + +Was she not, indirectly, the cause of the humiliation that threatened +them? + +Nancy hurried to Peter Hyde where, in a corner of the garden, he stood +paying court to Nonie. In answer to his pleasant nonsense Nonie's +delighted laughter was rising shrilly. Nancy sent Nonie back to Aunt +Milly. Then she caught Peter's arm. + +"Peter! _Pe-ter_! Quick--come behind this bush! I'm--I'm--I've got +to cry----" + +And to Peter Hyde's consternation Nancy _did_ burst into tears. + +"For Heaven's sake, Nancy, what----" + +"I'm just--_mad_," Nancy blurted from behind a handkerchief. "The--the +_cats_!" She lifted her head, relieved by her sudden outburst. "It's +that Mrs. Eaton again! She's--just--getting even!" She told what Webb +had said. "And here's the--party--and no one will come! Aunt Sabrina +will never, never get over it. And B'lindy--I _wish_ I could run away." + +Peter Hyde wanted very much to laugh, but the real distress in Nancy's +face touched him. He patted her consolingly. + +"Can't I do something? Can't Webb and I round 'em up at the point of a +gun?" + +"N-no, it's too late! We've just got to act as though the--the garden +was _full_ and make the best of it! I wanted it to be _such_ a +success. I wanted it to be a party that Nonie 'd never forget. And I +wanted everyone to see Aunt Milly! Oh, why, oh, _why_ doesn't +something happen!" For Nancy had suddenly remembered the huge pails of +ice-cream and the cake that was "like as a twin to the one my mother +made for the Gov'nor." + +At that moment the loud whirring of an automobile caught their +attention. Nancy, red-eyed, peeped from behind their bush. + +"It's at our gate!" she cried. "_Peter_----" she clutched his arm. +From the tonneau a tall man was alighting. To Nancy there was +something vaguely familiar in the sharp-featured, clean-shaven face and +in the mass of wavy white hair that fringed his coat collar. + +"_Peter, it's--it's--Theodore Hoffman!_" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE MASTER + +A bolt from the cloudless blue could not have startled the little +gathering on the lawn more than did the arrival of the distinguished +stranger at the gate of Happy House. Moreover, French Mercedes cars +did not often pass through North Hero; this was purple and cream color +and the chauffeur wore purple livery. And the man who walked up the +path had a bearing that distinctly set him apart from ordinary mortals. + +Nancy, in a panic, wanted the earth to swallow her, but as the earth +was very solid, she had no choice but to drag herself forward. She +had, only a moment before, prayed that something would happen--and +something had! + +Peter Hyde had rushed forward to greet the newcomer and this had given +Nancy a moment to rally her scattered wits. She was too busy +whispering an explanation to Miss Sabrina to notice how friendly had +been the master's greeting to Peter. + +"Miss Leavitt, may I present Mr. Theodore Hoffman--and Miss Anne +Leavitt." + +Peter's voice was as steady as though he was introducing any John +Smith; there was even a twinkle in his eye, as it caught Nancy's +glance, that seemed to say: "I have brought the master to you--now!" + +There was a gentleness in the keen, deep-set eyes, a friendliness in +the musical voice of the master that suddenly quieted Nancy's +fluttering nerves. Time and again, at the very thought of this +meeting, she had been so frightened and now--she was not a bit afraid. +She was even glad he had come when the garden looked so pretty, when +Aunt Sabrina was so proudly garbed in her best silk, when Aunt Milly, +all pink and white, with Nonie perched on the arm of her chair, was +leaning over explaining some intricate stitch in a bit of embroidery to +Liz, to whom embroidery was not less remote than Sanskrit literature. + +Mrs. Sniggs and Mrs. Todd were staring, open-mouthed, first at the +stranger, then at the cream-and-purple car at the gate. + +Nancy's spirits that had dropped to such depths behind the syringa +bushes soared again. At last her moment had come! The master was +declaring his delight in having chosen such a happy afternoon to come +to Happy House; he admired the garden, and the old house; he admitted +to a great curiosity concerning the Islands--he had never visited them +before. + +Nancy left him with Aunt Sabrina. Aunt Sabrina would manage to tell +him a great deal--Nancy, watching, knew just when she left the Indians +and the burning of Freedom and began on Ethan Allen and the Green +Mountain Boys and the coming of Benedict Arnold and his flagship to the +Island. + +"He'll love her," she whispered to Peter Hyde, nodding toward where the +master leaned with deep attention over Miss Sabrina's chair. "Look me +square in the eye, Peter! _Did_ you know he was coming to-day?" + +"On my honor, I didn't. Is the play ready?" + +"All ready, in a nice fat envelope. For goodness sake, look at Webb!" + +Webb, returning from the house where he had hurried to tell B'lindy of +the coming of the distinguished guest ("Don' know who he is nor whar he +come from, but he's got one of them thur autymobiles that's bigger'n a +steam enjine and a fellar drivin' it thet's dressed up like a circus +lady") was standing in the path wildly gesticulating with one hand to +attract Nancy's attention and with the other clapped over his mouth to +suppress the laughter that was plainly shaking his entire body. + +Nancy and Peter turned to see what had so convulsed him. Up the road +toward the gate were approaching three separate groups of women, all +coming hurriedly, breathlessly, with a great deal of chatter and +fussing with hats and gloves. + +Mrs. Maria Slade, behind her blind had seen the purple and +cream-colored car. So had Miss Merry, across the street; so had a +dozen others from behind their entrenchments. Simultaneously, in as +many hearts, the urge of curiosity conquered resentment. + +"It'll only take me _half_ a minit to slip on my green dress," Mrs. +Slade had called to Miss Merry. "Wait fer me!" + +Mrs. Brown, next door, had heard her. + +"I'll come along, too," she called out. + +All through the street there was a stirring behind closed blinds, a +hurried taking down of the Sunday-best and a feverish changing of shoes +and searching for gloves. + +"It's all very well for Sarah Eaton to tell us to show our pride," Mrs. +Dexter had confided to Mrs. Hill, "but _I_ just said to myself nobody +done nothing to hurt me, _I_ was goin' to see for myself what Sabriny +Leavitt was havin' up there! Did you see that automobile? Purple, as +I live. My, ain't this sun hot! I've got to go slower or I'll have a +stroke." + +"Every blessed woman in Freedom," cried Peter Hyde. + +"Oh, how _funny_! Look at them coming. They saw the purple car. +Peter, the party is a success! Aunt Sabrina will never know. Watch me +now!" With a saucy tilt of her chin Nancy stepped down the path to +greet the first of the late comers. + +"_So_ glad you have come," she murmured prettily, clasping Mrs. Slade's +warm hand. "Do come under the trees where it is cool. I am so sorry +you hurried." + +In her most gracious manner Nancy presented each one in turn to Mr. +Theodore Hoffman, of New York, then carried them off to Miss Milly. + +"--and Miss Hopworth! But of course you know Miss Hopworth. Doesn't +Nonie look darling to-day?" she would say to each one, with wicked +intent. + +Then a sudden inspiration seized her. "Nonie should play one of her +pretend games for the master and their guests," she whispered excitedly +to Aunt Milly and Nonie and Peter Hyde. + +"Wheel Aunt Milly's chair back toward those bushes--that'll be the +stage. Now, Nonie, play your best! Perhaps--perhaps the fairy +godmother is here." + +After a few moments of excited consultation Peter Hyde announced in a +loud tone that, for the entertainment of the guests, a fairy fantasy, +"The Visit of the Moon-Queen," would be presented by Miss Nonie +Hopworth. + +"Well, I swun, with folks here from N'York, encouragin' that girl to +act her nonsense," murmured Mrs. Sniggs to a neighbor. + +But the man-from-New York's face brightened expectantly when Nancy +waved her hand out over their heads as though to touch them all with a +fairy wand. "Let my magic give you fairy eyes so that you may see that +this is _not_ the garden of Happy House but a woodland, peopled by +fairy creatures! If you will listen very hard, you will hear them +stirring. It is the Flowers. They come to the Woodland to make it +ready for the Moon-Queen who will visit them this night!" + +Down through the trees danced Nonie, bare-footed, arms outflung, as +though she was, indeed, joyously preparing for the triumphal coming of +a Queen. In turn she characterized the Daisy, the Hollyhock, the +Buttercup and the Rose--then became the good old Dandelion. + +"Lily, you are _so_ lazy," the Dandelion sternly admonished her fair +sister. "Don't you know the Queen likes tidy gardens when she comes +here? And see the muss Buttercup has left around. Oh, dearie me, +children will be children and I'll be so glad when Buttercup and +Daffy-down-dilly grow up! Daisy, it isn't lady-like to complain that +your dress is so plain! I am sure the Queen will think you look very +well, if your petals are clean. It's what you _do_, anyway, and _not_ +what you wear!" + +Nancy saw Peter Hyde's laughing face drop suddenly between his arms. + +With quaint, childish phrasing and with dancing steps Nonie interpreted +her story to her audience. When each flower had done its part toward +preparing the Garden for the coming of the Queen, Nonie, as the old +Dandelion, admonished them to sit very still, "so as not to muss their +dresses," and then disappeared only to appear again as the stately +Queen. Like a peacock, holding an imaginary train in one hand, Nonie +strutted across the grass, now nodding graciously to right and left, +now haughtily chiding imaginary moonbeams who accompanied her. +Then--the Queen supposedly in state upon her throne--Nonie was again +the Dandelion, leading forward her sister flowers to pay court to their +Queen. + +Suddenly (from the direction of Aunt Milly's chair) came a slow, +sorrowful voice that the Flowers (or at least Dandelion) lamented +loudly as Trouble. The Flowers were sadly dismayed that Trouble should +have intruded upon this festive gathering in honor of the Moon-Queen! +But the Moon-Queen implored them "not to worry a bit." + +"I know all about Trouble and the harm she does! I see everything as I +ride through the sky. But, never fear, we will find a way to get rid +of her!" The Queen threw out her hand with an imperial gesture. +"Summon Youth!" + +Nancy, as Youth, trying very hard not to giggle, answered the summons. +In her pink dress, a flush dying her tanned cheeks, her eyes alight +with life, she was so much the embodiment of joyous, appealing youth +that Peter Hyde, absorbedly watching, felt a catch at his heart. + +Gravely the Moon-Queen touched Youth with her magic wand. + +"Go out into the world and drive Trouble away! I will give you fairy +presents to help you in your fight. This," holding out a flower, "is a +magic flower. If you wear it all the time you'll remember that there's +always flowers and birds and nice things to make people happy. And +here's a fairy leaf. If you wave that in people's faces they'll all be +kind and never be cross to little children or animals or old people. +And here is a fairy ring," placing a twisted dandelion stem in Youth's +hand, "that'll make you love everybody and everybody love you. And +here is a magic coat," putting Aunt Milly's shawl over Youth's arm, +"when you wear it you'll always do beautiful things and you'll always +seem beautiful and never grow old or ugly!" + +Then the Flowers, at the Queen's bidding, danced wildly about Youth to +show their joy at her coming--at least Nonie danced wildly, with utter +abandon. Forgetting her audience, she had thrown herself heart and +soul into the "game." + +Again the Queen, she bade the pretty Rose step forward and take Youth +by the hand and "walk along with her so that she'll see everything +through your spectacles. I bid all _adieu_!" + +After one sweeping bow Nonie had to unceremoniously leave the poor +Moon-Queen in order to become the joyous Rose to whom had been allotted +the pleasant task of accompanying Youth through her life's journey. +She caught Youth by the hand and together, amid loud applause, led +mainly by Webb and Peter Hyde, they danced away through the trees and +shrubbery to the kitchen garden beyond. + +"Author! Author!" came from Peter Hyde's corner and brought Nancy and +Nonie, flushed by their play, back to the gathering under the trees. + +"I'm blessed if _I_ could make head'nor tail out of any of it, but did +you see, Mary Sniggs, the way thet N'York man watched the two of them +galivantin'?" + +Mrs. Sniggs discreetly snorted into her handkerchief. "That kind o' +play-actin' may be very well for Sabriny Leavitt's niece, but I don' +believe it'll do any girl any good that's gotta earn her livin'!" + +Nancy, still breathless, found Peter Hyde at her side. There was an +earnestness in the gaze he kept fixed upon her that brought an added +color to her cheeks. + +"Was it _dreadfully_ silly, Peter? I couldn't resist it. Could you +_see_ their faces when they watched Nonie?" + +"I could only see you! I feel as though fairies _had_ been here!" + +"Peter--_you're_ silly," rebuked Nancy. "Shall I give you one of my +fairy gifts? The flower--or the leaf----" + +"I want the ring," he answered with provoking gravity. + +"There--you shall have it! Now you will love everybody and everybody +will love you," Nancy laughed, placing the dandelion stem in his +outstretched hand. + +She was tremendously glad that at that moment Theodore Hoffman joined +them--Peter Hyde had so seriously patted the pocket into which he had +placed the ring--as though he really believed it could work its magic! +She turned eagerly to the master but he spoke first. + +"Tell me--I am haunted by a thousand memories--who in the world is this +strange little creature?" + +Nancy told the master of Nonie, of that first night in the orchard, of +her strange gift of imagination, of her "pretend" games by which she +had persistently gilded over the very rough spots of a sordid, lonely +life. + +"She is always reaching out for the spirit of the things about her and +trying to make each her own!" + +"She is like a flower that has grown up among weeds," muttered the +great man, his thoughts far away, a frown wrinkling his brow. +"Sometimes, it is in such places that we find the greatest gifts. I +wonder," he gave a little start, as though bringing himself, with an +effort, back to the garden. "It's always been a hobby of mine, hunting +around in queer places for something I can give to my Art. Perhaps you +don't understand me, but, wherever I am, I am watching, watching all +the time, for a promise of talent that, if properly cultivated and +trained, will give something to the greatest of the Arts--dramatic +expression." + +Thrilled, Nancy sat tongue-tied, afraid to speak. He went on: "I said +I was haunted--years ago I ran across another child, not unlike this +one. She gave rare promise of genius. I put her in my school. I had +her there several years. I looked for a great deal from her. But--she +failed me." + +"Did she--die?" + +The master laughed. "No, she loved a man more than she did her art. I +was jealous--unreasonable. I let her go away--heard nothing more of +her. I suppose she married. She's probably fat now, with a half-dozen +squalling babies. Yes, I was jealous--I wanted to give her to my art, +soul and body--as a fanatic would make his offering to his gods. And +this child has made me think of her again. It has been a most +interesting hour, Miss Leavitt. You say the child's head is full of +this sort of thing? H-mm." + +Now the garden was filled with a babble of voices intermingled with the +clinking of spoons and dishes. Someone had overheard the great man's +praise of Nonie's "play-actin'," and the word spread quickly. Mrs. +Brown allowed it was "just spooky the way that child could make you +think she was what she wasn't" and Mrs. Slade's sister's sister-in-law +had seen Maude Adams in a play where she'd "pretended something all the +time--something 'bout Cinderella, and like as not it might have been +'bout fairies, too." Under the stimulation of iced tea and cakes and +caramel ice cream, served from delicate china, praise for Nonie grew +and the fairy leaf that Youth carried, so that "people would be kind," +began to work its magic in the garden. + +It was well toward sunset when the last guest departed. Nancy, +standing in the doorway with the empty house behind her, and before her +the deserted garden, with its chairs and tables in crazy disarray, sent +a wild little prayer down the road after the purple automobile that had +whirled away carrying the great master and her poor little play. + +"_Please_ think it's good! I worked so hard." + +As her eye caught the gleam of gabled housetops through the trees Nancy +suddenly pictured how, at that very moment, every home in Freedom was +echoing with the story of the party. + +It had been a success! All Freedom--through the women's eyes--had been +there to see precious Aunt Milly; now they knew that Happy House was a +happy house. And, wonder of wonders, she had heard Mrs. Sniggs, in a +most friendly way, ask Liz Hopworth to drop in and show her how she +made her "plum jell." + +Suddenly Nancy seemed to hear Peter Hyde saying: "I didn't see anything +but you!" How silly he'd been--putting that absurd dandelion stem into +his pocket, as though it really _had_ some magic! Then, with quite +unaccountable haste, as though to run away from her own meditations, +Nancy rushed to the kitchen and begged B'lindy to let her help "clear +up." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +A PICNIC + +A reaction set in after the party, Miss Milly, over-fatigued, had had +to stay in her room. Happy House, itself, fell back into its old ways; +again the blinds were shut, the flower vases disappeared and the +peacock feathers were returned to their places of honor. B'lindy +developed rheumatism. + +Too, a week followed of long hot days and stifling nights, "brewin' up +for somethin'," B'lindy declared. + +Nancy, her play finished, suffered from a restlessness she had never +known before. She told herself that, now her work was done, she must +not linger at Happy House; then found that she could not bear to face +the thought of going! These ties that she had made bound her closely. +It was not as though she might come back as they would think she +could--the separation must be forever. And the day must come when +these good people she had grown to love would know that she had +deceived and cheated them! + +"That is my punishment," she thought, in real distress. + +On the morning of a day that differed only from the other cloudless +days in that the sky was bluer and the sun hotter, Jonathan brought +Nancy a letter from Mrs. Finnegan. Enclosed in it was a cable from her +father telling her that he had booked passage on the _Tourraine_, +leaving Le Havre within two days. + +"Oh," Nancy cried aloud, "he is _coming home_!" + +So intent was she upon her letter that she did not see the rapid +approach of a shiny Ford; but at a terrific whirring and grating of +wheels and levers she turned, startled. + +"Love letter?" queried Peter Hyde, jumping from the driver's seat. + +"_How_ you frightened me! And why this magnificence? No, it is _not_ +a love-letter!" Nancy laughed joyously as she tucked it away in her +pocket. Oh, why _couldn't_ she tell Peter Hyde that it was word that +her dearest father was at that moment sailing home to her! (Nancy +could not know that the letter had lain in Tim Finnegan's pocket for +five whole days.) + +"This----" and Peter Hyde caressed his new possession, "is the latest +tool at Judson's. You have no idea how many things it can do--'most +everything except milk the cows. To-day I thought, if Miss Nancy +Leavitt was willing, it might take us on a picnic--say, up to Isle La +Motte. I'm beastly tired of work!" + +"Oh, lovely," declared Nancy. "I've felt these last few days as though +I wanted to rush off somewhere! Besides, I have something to tell you!" + +Peter pretended alarm at her serious tone; then making her promise to +be ready within a half-hour, he drove off. + +It would be very pleasant to have a last picnic with Peter Hyde. She +would give herself one day of frolic before she faced the problem of +getting away from Happy House. It was too hot for Aunt Milly to go out +to the orchard, she would leave word with B'lindy that if Nonie came +the child should be sent to Miss Milly's room to amuse her. And +perhaps it would be wiser if she slipped away without telling Aunt +Sabrina. Aunt Sabrina was sure to look as though, when _she_ was a +girl, young ladies did not dash off on long automobile rides +unchaperoned! + +Avoiding the living room and the hollyhock porch, Nancy sought out +B'lindy and begged a little lunch. + +"We're going for a little ride in Mr. Judson's new car, B'lindy, but we +might not get back in time for lunch--you know you never _can_ tell +what'll happen when you start out in an automobile! A few nice jelly +sandwiches and a little cold chicken and some fruit cake and--tarts----" + +B'lindy shook her head. "'Tain't the _lunch_ that's botherin' me, +child, but I can't get the pesky idee out o' my head that somethin' is +goin' to happen! I've been feelin' that way in my bones all day and +all day yesterday, too." + +"B'lindy, you foolish, superstitious thing--it's your rheumatism!" + +"I guess it ain't my rheumatiz, Miss Anne, and my bones generally feels +right. I ain't forgotten when Miss Milly had that accident nor when +Judson's barn burned. I thought mebbe it was poor Mis' Hopkins dyin'. +Didn't you know the poor soul dropped right off in her sleep last night +and left Timothy Hopkins with those ten children to care for? I sez +this mornin' when Jonathan told me that there was no use tryin' to +understand the ways of the Lord--ten children and that poor Timothy +Hopkins as helpless a body as ever was, anyway, and not much more'n +'nough to feed his own stomach and no one to manage now!" + +"How dreadful! Poor man." Nancy tried to make her tone sympathetic. +"Of course that was what your bones were feeling, B'lindy!" + +B'lindy turned a truly distressed face to Nancy. "But it _wa'nt_! No, +sir, right this minit my bones is feelin' worse than ever that +somethin' is goin' to happen!" She sighed as she patted a sandwich +together. "Lord knows mebbe it's the heat. There's somethin' brewin', +Miss Anne, and you'd better keep an eye open for a storm--they come up +fast in this valley!" + +But Nancy refused to let B'lindy's fears or warnings dampen her gay +spirits. Indeed, she promptly forgot them in the joy of dashing off +over the dusty road. B'lindy's lunch was tucked away in the back; +ahead stretched miles of smooth inviting highway, winding through +pleasant green meadows. + +And this man who grasped the wheel of the car with such complete +confidence, who seemed bent upon nothing more important than making the +little hand of the speedometer climb higher and higher--this was a new +Peter Hyde, unfamiliar and yet strangely familiar in that now he +resembled the dozens of other young men Nancy had known. + +Nancy felt suddenly shy. Always before, when with Peter, she had +enjoyed the least bit of a feeling of superiority, that she was +graciously bringing, with her friendship, much into a life that must, +because it was limited to Judson's farm, often seem dull and empty. +But it was not easy to feel that way toward this very good-looking +young man in immaculate blue serge who tended to her comfort with the +assurance of a person quite accustomed to taking young ladies on +automobile picnics! + +Because they were both young, because the breeze blowing deliciously +against their faces was fragrant with summer smells, their hearts were +light; they chattered merrily, as young people will, about everything +under the sun, then lapsed into pleasant silences, broken only by the +regular humming of the engine. + +However, after a little, these silences irritated Nancy. Peeping from +a corner of her eye at Peter Hyde's blonde head, she was annoyed by an +overwhelming curiosity as to what was going on, within it! What _was_ +the mystery concealed behind that pleasant mask? And why, when they +seemed such good friends, could he not tell her? + +Then she suddenly realized, with a quick sense of shame, that she, too, +was concealing much from Peter Hyde! + +As they rode along he pointed out old landmarks with the familiarity of +a life-long Islander. He admitted that history fascinated him. "Not +in books as much as when you can hook it up with the very ground you're +walking on! Look at that lake over there--can't you picture it covered +with the canoes of the Indians? They used to come around here in +flotillas--the Iroquois, the Algonquins and the Hurons, always +fighting. Great lot they were--scrapping all the time!" + +He seemed to have at his tongue's end some interesting bit of +information about every spot they passed. As they wandered around Isle +La Motte, he told how on this little Island Champlain had first landed +on his voyage down into the valley. He explained that a Jesuit mission +had been established there as far back as 1660, long before any other +white men had ventured into the wilderness. + +They visited the ruins of Fort Ste. Anne on Sandy Point and the little +chapel with its cross, to which, on the Feast of Ste. Anne, came +pilgrims from great distances, to pray at the shrine. + +"We think this America of ours is so young," he laughed. "And here we +are living on soil that has been consecrated by brave sacrifices of +centuries ago! Not so bad." + +Driving homeward their backs were turned to the little ominous pile of +clouds darkening a corner of the blue sky. At a spot where the road +ran close to the edge of the lake, under a wide-spreading maple tree, +they laid out B'lindy's lunch. + +"Now I'll tell him I'm going," Nancy vowed to herself, with a little +unaccountable fluttering. + +He was on his knees before the picnic box. She could not see his face. + +"Peter!" She had not realized how hard it was going to be to say it. +"I'm--going--away! Really." + +She had expected that he would be startled--show real consternation. +Her going _must_ make a difference in his life at Freedom--there were +no other young people to take her place. + +He was surprised; he held a jelly sandwich suspended for a moment, as +though waiting for her to say something more. Then he laid it down on +a paper plate. + +"White meat or dark meat," he asked. + +Nancy could not know that he was not really concerned as to whether she +preferred white meat or dark meat, that his indifference was, indeed, +covering a moment's inability to express his real feelings. She was +suddenly angry--angry at herself more than at Peter Hyde! + +"Of course I shall hate to go, I have grown very fond of Aunt Sabrina +and Aunt Milly and B'lindy--and dear little Nonie. It's hardest to +leave her!" + +"They'll miss you. You've changed Happy House. And Nonie's a +different child." + +"He's very careful not to say he'll miss me," thought Nancy with +childish pique. Then, aloud: "But I can't stay at Happy House forever. +I only planned to spend three weeks there at the most and it's been +six. And it seems as though I'd been there ages! I suppose one day on +the Islands is like a week in the cities, where you live right next to +people and never really touch their lives. However, it's in the rush +of the cities I belong; I should _die_ if I had to stay here!" She +wanted him to understand that the attractions of Happy House could not +hold her; she wanted to punish him for that abstraction that she had +thought indifference. + +"Judson's will be a dull hole without you at Happy House, Nancy," Peter +put in, gravely. + +She laughed lightly. "By Christmas you will have forgotten all about +me! Anyway, you will have Miss Denny." + +With wicked delight over his embarrassment Nancy told him of Nonie's +plan that Miss Denny should be Mr. Peter's "dearest." + +"Your fate is as plain as the nose on my face," she laughed, +tantalizingly. "You won't have to cross my palm with silver to know +your future, Mr. Hyde! A cottage on the ten-acre piece where you will +live happily--ever afterward. As a wedding gift, with my best wishes, +I'll give you the Bird's-Nest." + +She dodged the drum-stick that Peter threw at her. "You are not at all +grateful for the nice fortune I'm giving you," she declared. + +"I am, indeed! Though it doesn't seem quite fair for me to make too +many plans without consulting Miss Denny, and I've never seen the lady. +She may be old and ugly, black--or yellow." + +"I'll tell you--if you'll promise not to tell that I've told! She _is_ +old and ugly; she's blind in one eye and stutters and limps and has +straggly gray hair and----" + +"For Heaven's sake, stop! When all my life I've been looking for a +girl with brown hair that looks sort of red and freckles--about three +thousand of them!" + +"Peter!" Nancy sprang precipitously to her feet. "Look--there is a +storm coming!" + +B'lindy's threatened storm was approaching swiftly. The black cloud +that had been piling up behind them now overspread the whole western +sky. "What a shame--to have it spoil our day! This has been such fun. +I'll never forget it, after I've gone." Then, hastily, "Gather up the +napkins and the baskets; I promised B'lindy I'd bring them home! Isn't +there a short cut home? I'm really dreadfully afraid of lightning." +But she had caught something in the expression of Peter Hyde's face +that frightened her more than the threatened storm. + +"Let's hurry," she cried, running unceremoniously to the automobile. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +DAVY'S GIFT + +Real need recognizing no distinction of class, it had been Liz Hopworth +who had been summoned to the Hopkins home when Mrs. Hopkins "dropped +off" in the middle of the night, leaving ten children motherless. + +Over Dan'l's late breakfast Liz, wan-eyed from loss of sleep, but +dignified by a new importance, related all the sad circumstances of +poor Sarah Hopkins' passing. "Who'd a' _thought_," she exclaimed as +she vigorously beat her pan-cake batter, "yesterday when I see the poor +woman out a hangin' her clothes that this blessed night I'd a' been +called in to straighten her limbs and do for those poor young 'uns!" + +To Nonie and Davy death was a strangely mysterious thing which they +took for granted; dogs and cats and calves died; frequently there was a +burial in the village cemetery. These had always had an element of +excitement which even stirred the Hopworth home, detached though it was +from the village life. They looked at Liz, now, with wide eager eyes. +To have "straightened poor Sarah Hopkins' limbs" seemed to have +transformed her--her tone was kinder, something almost tender gleamed +in her tired eyes, and she was making pan-cakes for their breakfast! + +"Just fetch that grease, Nonie. Step spry, too--there's a lot to be +done before this day's over. Lordy, I thought to myself last night, +that the Lord strikes hard--leavin' those ten children that haven't +done no wrong without any mother to manage and Timothy Hopkins sittin' +there as helpless like he'd been hit over the head, he's that stunned. +And scarcely a bite in the house." + +Old Dan'l had long since gotten past the day of worrying over the ways +of the Lord. Nor to him was there anything particularly startling in a +lack of food. His had always been a philosophy that believed that from +somewhere or other Providence would provide, and if it didn't-- + +"Scarcely a bite, and all steppin' on one another, there's so many of +'em, and then when I think o' Happy House and the plenty there's there, +well, 's I say, the Lord's ways are beyond _me_! Eat up your +breakfast, Nonie. You gotta do up the work here, for I told that poor +man I'd come back quick as ever I could. There's no end of work to be +done 'fore that place will look fit for folks to come and see her." + +"Can I go, too, Liz?" asked Davy. "Mebbe I can help." + +Normally Liz would have made a sharp retort. Now she considered a +moment. + +"Mebbe you can. You can play with the baby so's Jennie can help me +sweep and dust. Sarah Hopkins would turn over if she thought folks was +goin' to see the muss and litter. Hurry along." + +All that Liz had said of the house of mourning had been true. Davy +found the muss and litter; the poor smithy wandering helplessly around +and the "young 'uns" stepping on one another. He shut his eyes tight +so that he would not have to catch the tiniest glimpse of poor Sarah +Hopkins lying very still in the bedroom off the kitchen. He was glad +when Liz, in a strangely brisk tone, bade Jennie, the oldest Hopkins +girl, give the baby over to Davy. + +"He's come 'long to mind the baby, so's you can help. Take him +outside, Davy, and keep him out from under foot. Take up these dishes! +Sure's I'm livin' I see Mrs. Sniggs comin' up the road this blessed +minit." + +Davy, gathering up his charge, retreated hastily. In fact, his pace +did not slacken until he was well away from the Hopkins home. Then he +put his burden down under a tree and stared at it. + +The baby, blissfully unconscious of its loss, cooed ecstatically to +express his joy at the unusual attention. He reached out tiny hands to +Davy. "Go----go!" he gurgled, coaxingly. + +"You sit right there! I gotta think," was Davy's scowling answer. + +And Davy was thinking--hard. Liz' story, over the breakfast, had sunk +deep into his soul. _He_ knew what it was to live in a household where +there was no mother and not much food! + +It did not take Davy very long to make up his mind. Then, with +determination written in every wrinkle of his frowning face, he lifted +the baby and hurried to his home. An hour later, still carrying the +baby, he trudged doggedly up the road to Happy House, through the gate, +along the path to the door. Only for a moment did he pause on the +threshold; then, softly opening the door, he entered, and came out +again, empty-armed. + +The oppressiveness of the day had decidedly ruffled the atmosphere of +Happy House. Miss Sabrina had taken the news of Nancy's flight with a +disapproving grunt; B'lindy had sharply come to Nancy's defense. She +"guessed girls had to be girls anyways, though she'd a feelin' in her +bones that somethin' might happen and one never could tell 'bout them +pesky machines." + +Then Miss Sabrina, taller and straighter than ever, had walked +haughtily away as far as the sitting room, when a shriek brought +B'lindy running. + +Miss Sabrina had dropped breathless into a chair and at her feet sat +the Hopkins baby sucking its thumb. + +"B'lindy--what--what is it? I liked to fall over it!" + +"Land a' goshen--a _baby_! A _real_ live baby!" B'lindy leaned over +cautiously. "Crawled in here like a caterpillar! As I live, here's a +note, Miss Sabrina!" She unpinned a piece of paper from the baby's +dress. + +"Ples kep this child there ante enuf food fer so meny Hopkins Liz sez +and she sez the Lord never ment any body to go hungry she sez your hous +is big enuf fer a dusen and lots of food I gues you don't no thet ther +ar so meny Hopkins and you will like to kepe this one I no how it hurts +to be hungry so ples don't send this baby bak. Yours truly, Davy." + +B'lindy, after reading the note aloud, stared at the baby. + +"Sarah Hopkins' young 'un--I swan!" With her apron she wiped a tear +from her eye. "No one to do for it now." + +Miss Sabrina snorted. + +"Of all the nerve--bringing it here--for me to break my neck on!" + +From above came Miss Milly's voice plaintively calling. + +"Take it away. Milly's calling--she's got to know what the +excitement's about. I'll _never_ get over my fright," and Miss +Sabrina, still trembling, rose to go to her sister. The baby puckered +his face preparatory to a long wail. "Take it _out_," commanded Miss +Sabrina, "it's going to cry--_give_ it something quick." + +B'lindy snatched the baby and flew to the kitchen. She could not bear +to think that any living thing in Happy House was hungry. However, the +threatened squall passed when B'lindy, after carefully shutting her +doors, produced a bowl and a shiny spoon. + +It had not been alone Miss Sabrina's shriek that had frightened Miss +Milly. She had heard a rumble of thunder. She was lying back among +her pillows deadly pale. She clutched Miss Sabrina's hand and begged +her to stay with her. + +"I know I'm foolish," she whispered plaintively, "but it's so +oppressive. It's hard--for me--to breathe." + +Sabrina sat down grimly beside her--no thunder storm came to North Hero +that it did not bring unpleasant memories to them both. + +"Is it--going to be--very bad?" Miss Milly asked plaintively. "I wish +Nancy--was home." + +"Maybe it'll go around," assured her sister with as much tenderness as +she was capable of showing. + +At that moment the door opened slowly and B'lindy, a strangely softened +look on her old face tip-toed in, carrying in her arms the baby, sound +asleep. + +"I just brought it up for Miss Milly to see, it's that cute!" she +explained, in a whisper. + +"The poor little thing," Aunt Milly timidly touched the moist chubby +hand. B'lindy, with the air of having accomplished some great feat, +laid the baby carefully upon the couch. + +"Fed its _poor_ little stomick and it dropped right off to sleep--it'll +forget things now," she said proudly. + +With a different feeling in each of their hearts the three women stared +for a moment at the sleeping baby. Miss Sabrina spoke first. Her +voice was cold and crisp. + +"Take that baby right out of here, B'lindy, and get Jonathan to carry +it back where it came from." + +A rumble of thunder, closer and louder, startled them. Miss Milly sat +bolt upright, white-faced, and reached out a hand. + +"Oh--_sister_! _Not_ in the storm!" + +B'lindy rose majestically and towered over her mistress. When, down +behind her shut doors, that baby had gone to sleep in B'lindy's arms, +something had wakened in her sixty-year old heart; it throbbed in her +voice now. She spoke slowly. "I guess the _Almighty_ sent Davy +Hopworth here with this poor little young 'un! Like as not it would go +hungry more'n once, and if three women here can't take care of a little +baby--well, the Lord that suffered little children to come unto Him +like's not will hold us to 'count for it! I guess Happy House would be +a heap happier if there was less high and mightiness and more of the +human milk of kindness in it, and doin' for others like little Miss +Anne's always tryin' to do, anyway!" And quite breathless from her +outburst B'lindy knelt beside the baby and defiantly folded sheltering +arms over it. + +For the briefest of moments no one stirred. Then Miss Sabrina rose +hurriedly, and, mumbling something incoherent, left the room. + +Across the baby B'lindy's eyes, feverishly bright, met Miss Milly's +anxious glance. + +"Don't know what she said, but, Milly Leavitt, sure's I'm alive I saw a +_tear_ in Sabriny Leavitt's eye! I guess we keep this baby." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +REAL LEAVITTS AND OTHERS + +The storm overtook Peter and Nancy on a lonely road that Peter had +taken as a short-cut home. + +At a sharp flash of lightning Nancy clutched Peter's arm. + +"Pe-ter! Oh-h! It's silly for me to be afraid! It's only when it +crackles!" + +"I thought we could make Freedom before it broke. But I guess not. +Here comes the rain!" + +It came, in a blinding deluge. + +"Sit close to me, Nancy. We must get to a house _somewhere_ along this +road!" + +"B'lindy's bones certainly did feel right," Nancy giggled, excitedly. +"Oh-h!" at another flash. "_Pe-ter_! I'm--I'm such a coward. Don't +you think that's the worst?" + +Peter hoped that it wasn't. He did not mind at all the flashes that +sent little quivers of alarm through Nancy and made her huddle closer +to him; he enjoyed the sense of protecting her, though his face, bent +grimly upon the puddled road ahead, gave no hint of his real feeling. + +"If this bus only had its curtains! Are you soaked?" + +"You are, too, Peter! Do you suppose this is a cloudburst? Can the +car make it?" For the little Ford was floundering uncertainly along +the flooded road. + +"What an end to our picnic," declared Peter, disgustedly. "Ha--a +house, as I live! See ahead there." + +Through the sheet of rain Nancy made out a low-gabled cottage almost +hidden by the trees. + +"It looks deserted," she declared, disappointedly. + +"It'll be shelter, anyway. Deserted nothing--hear the dog! When I +stop make a dash for the door." + +The dog's bark was by way of a welcome rather than a warning, for, as +he bounded toward the road, his shaggy tail wagged in a most friendly +way. As Nancy, following Peter's command, made a dash for shelter, the +door of the cottage opened hospitably and a little old woman, unmindful +of the fury of the rain, reached out to draw Nancy in. + +"Come right in! Bless me, you're soaked." She had a cheery, piping +voice and a way of repeating, "well, well, well," as though everything +on earth was an exciting surprise. + +"Won't your young man come in, too. Sit right over here by the fire! +I told sister Janie that I'd light a few sticks of wood to keep it +cheery. It got so dark-like. I'll set the kettle over and have a cup +of tea in the shake of a dog's tail. When it storms in these parts it +_does_ storm, dearie! How wet you are!" She fussed over the fire and +over her kettle and over Nancy's wet blouse. "Now, Janie, isn't it +nice to have folks come here out of the storm?" + +Then Nancy, through the gloom of the storm, made out that Janie was +another little old woman sitting in an old arm chair in the window. +Quite unmindful of the storm, she was tranquilly knitting. + +"Folks don't come by this road so often," she smiled back. + +"Aren't you afraid--sitting there?" Nancy cried. As she spoke there +came a flash of lightning followed almost simultaneously by a roar of +thunder that threatened the weather-beaten walls. + +The sister called Janie waited smilingly, her head cocked on one side +as though she enjoyed the storm. "Afraid, honey? Goodness, no. +Saphrony and I've lived through too many of these storms to be afraid! +Isn't the Lord watching over us just like all folks?" + +"And didn't He just bring you poor souls here out of the storm?" added +the older woman. "This tea will steep in a minit and I'm goin' to call +that boy in!" + +Peter had been trying to fasten a makeshift arrangement that would keep +Nancy's seat dry. He was glad enough to give it up at their hostess' +call. He looked so much like a drowned cat with the water dripping +from his hat and shoulders that Nancy was as concerned as Saphrony and +Janie. + +"You poor children," Saphrony cried, running around Peter in a flutter +of worry. "Take your coat right off this minit! Ain't I _glad_ I +started that fire! Fetch another stick, Janie. Well, well, well, now +ain't it a nice storm that brings folks here for shelter?" + +The fire did feel good against their soaked backs and Nancy and Peter +enjoyed the chatter of the two funny, fussy little old women. The +kettle sang merrily, too, and steamed invitingly. Janie, at her +sister's bidding, opened a treasure-chest in the other room and brought +from it a piece of fruit cake, wrapped in a red and white napkin. + +"A bite'll taste good with our tea," Saphrony explained, apologetically. + +"Aren't they the cutest pair?" Nancy whispered to Peter. "And isn't it +the funniest little house?" + +There seemed to be only the living room and kitchen combined and the +bedroom adjoining. The furniture in it was very old and very worn, but +everything was spotlessly clean. The red and white cover on the table, +the braided rugs on the uneven floor; and the piece-work cushions in +the armed chairs added a homey, cosy touch that made up for the little +luxuries lacking. Even in the storm the room was cheery. + +Nancy forgot the storm in her enjoyment of the situation. Janie +removed the red and white cover and spread a very worn white cloth. +Saphrony took from a cupboard built in the wall a shiny pewter +sugar-bowl and cream pitcher. Peter, amid a storm of protest from both +little women, drew up some chairs. + +"Now you stay right there by the fire," cried Saphrony. "We like to +fuss! Janie and I don't have folks here often. The hot tea'll warm +you." + +The tea tasted very good, both Peter and Nancy declared over and over. +"It's just like a party," Nancy added, nibbling on the thinnest shaving +of fruit cake. Her evident pleasure set both little old ladies off in +a soft cackling of satisfaction. + +"Do you two live here all alone?" Nancy asked, passing her cup for more +tea. "It seems so lonely." + +"Lonely--not a bit! Janie and I've lived here all our lives. Not many +folks come 'long this road, but we don't get lonesome--not a bit! +There's always something to do. Folks just gets lonesome and miserable +when they're idle, I always tell Janie. A little more cake, Mister----" + +"Peter," laughed Nancy. "Well, I shall remember this storm because +it's given us such a jolly half-hour, as well as a drenching! Oh, +_look_--the sun!" + +Through the mist of rain and the purple gloom the sun burst warm and +golden, pouring through the bare windows into the little room, touching +every corner and cranny with a cheerful glow. + +"How wonderful," Nancy exclaimed. "It's the bright lining, all +right--the cloud has turned inside out! I believe," she turned to +Peter, "that when the sun does shine it shines brighter--here! You two +have magic." + +"Janie and I never shut it out," laughed the sister Saphrony. "We say +it's God's way of smiling and frowning. There's no storm but what +passes and we're just mighty glad you two children came 'long this way. +Goin' to Freedom?" + +Afterwards Nancy said to Peter that that had been the most curious +thing about the two friendly little old women--that they had not right +at first asked who they were nor where they were going! + +Peter answered from the window. "Yes--we thought this road would be +shorter." Then, to Nancy: "Do you think we can venture now? I guess +the storm's passed." + +Nancy nodded. "We'd better start. My aunts are worrying dreadfully, +I'm afraid. But we've loved it--here. May we come again sometime? +And may we not know who it is that has given us shelter?" + +"Why, yes--I never thought to tell! Most folks know us, but maybe +you're new in these parts. We're Saphrony and Janie Leavitt." + +"_What!_" cried Nancy with such astonishment that Peter turned from the +door. "Why, I--_I_ am Anne Leavitt!" she said in very much the same +way she had spoken in the French class, four years before. + +The two little old women laughed. "I guess you're one of the Happy +House Leavitts--they're _real_ Leavitts. Sister Janie and I are only +plain Leavitts," Saphrony explained with a twinkling in her eyes that +seemed to say that to confuse real Leavitts with plain Leavitts was +very, very funny. "Are you Miss Sabriny's niece?" + +Nancy avoided the question. "Aren't you any relation to us--up at +Happy House?" + +"Not as anybody ever knew of. There's Leavitts and Leavitts all over +New England, I guess. We've always been poor as Job." + +"Well, I shall always pretend we're related," declared Nancy, warmly, +"because it's been so nice here!" + +While Peter was carefully tucking her into the seat with much lamenting +that it had gotten so wet, Nancy was staring reflectively at the funny +little weather-beaten cottage. From the door smiled the two sisters. + +"I wish," she said, "that I could take a piece of their philosophy back +to Happy House!" She leaned out to wave her hand once more. "Hasn't +it been fun? I'm glad now that it stormed." + +As they splashed along toward Freedom, Nancy fell into a sudden quiet. +Her mind was held by an overwhelming desire to tell Peter, in this last +hour she might have alone with him, the whole truth--that she, like the +two sisters they had left, was not a real Leavitt, of that day back in +college, of Anne's pleading and her yielding. Twice she opened her +lips to speak, then shut them quickly. There was something in Peter's +strong profile that made her afraid. Once he turned quickly and saw +her eyes upon him with a frightened, troubled expression in their +depths. + +"What is it, Nancy?" he asked tenderly. + +She couldn't tell him--she could not bear to see his face when he knew +the truth! She tried to speak lightly. + +"I was thinking how much I'd grown to like--things--around here and how +I hate to--go away. Peter, will you keep Nonie and Davy doing happy +things--like other children. And, Peter--do you hate people that--act +lies?" + +Peter laughed--Nancy was so deliciously child-like. Then he suddenly +colored to the very roots of his hair. + +"Generally--I haven't much use for people that can't stick pretty well +to the truth. But when there may be some reason--someone may start +doing it for someone else----" he stopped abruptly. Nancy stared ahead +with startled eyes. Did he know? But, no, how could he! It had only +been an accident that he had so nearly hit upon the truth. + +She could not tell him--she need not tell him; in a few days she would +say good-by and go away and never see him again! Theirs had been a +pleasant friendship, for awhile she would miss it, but she'd be just +plain Nancy Leavitt again, playing with Claire at Merrycliffe or with +Daddy somewhere in the mountains or at the seashore, working, +too--beginning life. After a while these weeks at Happy House would +seem a curious memory--a dream! + +Suddenly she shivered. + +"Freedom--at last!" exclaimed Peter, increasing his speed. Ahead they +saw the gleam of roofs through the trees. "And it looks as though +they'd caught the storm worse than we did!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +WHAT THE CHIMNEY HELD + +The storm, sweeping down the valley, had reached the heighth of its +fury over Freedom. + +As the flashes of lightning grew sharper and more frequent, B'lindy +bade Miss Milly watch the baby while she made things fast around the +house. Beth women had been hanging over the sleeping child with +something like awe. "Poor little mite--like as not right this minit +Sarah Hopkins is watchin' us," B'lindy had whispered, "little bit of a +thing, goin' to grow into a big, big man some day! Ain't it just +_wonderful_, Milly Leavitt?" + +Milly's awe of the baby had been mixed with alarm at the increasing +intensity of the storm. So that, as B'lindy moved to go, she held out +an imploring hand. + +"Now you just hold yourself together, Milly Leavitt--that storm ain't +goin' to hurt you! Anyways, it's lots more likely to if I don't see +that everything's shut up tight, so's the lightnin' can't get in! +_Ouch!_" Even B'lindy covered her eyes from a blinding flash. "You +hold on to that baby, Milly Leavitt," she commanded, bolting from the +room. + +But with each flash, each roar of thunder, poor Miss Milly's courage +ebbed. Her cry--rising above, the noise of the storm brought Miss +Sabrina and B'lindy to her. + +"I can't--help--it!" she sobbed, covering her face. "It's so--so +dreadful! And where's--Nancy! Oh--oh!" + +Even Miss Sabrina's face was pale with alarm. + +"You two women are like so many children," cried B'lindy, taking +command. "Milly Leavitt, you'll work yourself into fits. Nancy's all +right somewheres! I guess Peter Hyde's man enough to take care of +her--mebbe they ain't where this storm is, anyways! Sabrina--you take +that baby where Milly's yellin' won't wake it. Goodness knows the +crashin's bad enough! Now Milly, you just hide your poor head in my +lap," with grand tenderness, "_I_ ain't afraid a bit." + +Sabrina had no choice--B'lindy had put the baby into her arms and +almost shoved her to the door. + +She carried it to her own room and sat down very carefully. Never in +her whole life had she held a little baby. What would she do if it +wakened suddenly? And if it kicked and squirmed, might she not drop it? + +But the baby did not kick or squirm--he felt very comfortable in Miss +Sabrina's arms--he snuggled ever so gently a little closer, turned his +face toward the warmth of her embrace, and throwing up one little arm, +laid it against her throat. The warm, soft baby fingers burned against +Sabrina's throbbing pulse--the little spark crept down, down to her +old, cold heart and kindled something there--something that swept her +whole being. Cautiously she held the baby closer, pressed it to her +breast so that she might feel the whole perfect little body; the little +lips twisted and Sabrina, thinking it was a smile, smiled back with +infinite tenderness. She forgot the storm raging without, her ears +were deaf to its roar; after a little she leaned her head down until +she could lay her cheek against the baby's soft head. + +Within the darkened room a miracle was working! + +Suddenly the air was split by a sharp crackle as of a hundred rifles +spitting fire close at hand; and simultaneously came a deafening roar +as though the very Heavens were dropping with a crash. Through it all +pierced Aunt Milly's scream. The walls of Happy House trembled and +swayed; for a moment everything went black before Sabrina's eyes! Then +B'lindy, running through the hall brought her sharply back to her +senses. + +"We're struck--we're struck! Sabrin'y! Jonathan!" + +Once more Happy House had been struck by lightning! The crashing had +been the tumbling of the bricks of the chimney. And just as in that +other storm, long before, the lightning had worked its vengeance on the +old mantel. It lay in pieces on the floor of the sitting-room, covered +with a litter of broken bric-a-brac and mortar and bricks from the +chimney. + +But in the fear of fire no one thought of the mantel. B'lindy ran +wildly around ordering Jonathan to throw buckets of water on any cranny +that might possibly conceal a smouldering flame, at the same time +heaping all kinds of curses down upon the heads of the neighbors who'd +"let Happy House burn right to the ground without liftin' a finger." +And Sabrina, after one look at the lightning's havoc, still with the +baby in her arms, had gone to quiet Miss Milly. + +When Jonathan's activity had threatened to destroy everything in the +house with water, B'lindy finally became convinced that there was to be +no fire. "Funniest lightnin' I ever see," she declared, breathlessly +dropping into a chair; "set down that pail, Jonathan--you've most +drowned us all. Thank Heaven, here comes Nancy." + +Nancy and Peter, after one glance at the bricks scattered over the +garden, had guessed what had happened. + +"Struck,--sure as preachin'! Lucky we ain't burned to a _crisp_. Just +_look_ at the muss!" and B'lindy swept her arm toward the sitting-room +door. + +Nancy's face was tragic as she saw the broken mantel and the gaping +fireplace. She clutched Peter's arm. "What a pity--what a _shame_! +It was so very old and--and----" She leaned down and picked up one of +the pieces. "Look, Peter, here are parts of the letters! See H-A-P. +It had been cracked by another lightning storm, you know, years and +years ago! Oh, I'm afraid it has been destroyed so that----" as she +spoke she searched in the debris on the floor for more of the carving. +Suddenly she cried out sharply and, straightening, held out an old, +worn, stained leather wallet. "Peter! B'lindy! _Aunt Sabrina!_" + +Her cry brought Miss Sabrina, alarmed, running. + +"It _must--be--the_--wallet!" + +Now it was Sabrina who cried out--a protesting, frightened cry. For a +moment she staggered as though she was going to fall; Nancy's strong +arm went closely around her. + +"Look quickly, dear Aunt Sabrina," Nancy implored. + +With trembling fingers Aunt Sabrina opened it--within lay mouldy, +age-worn bank-notes--many of them! + +"It must have fallen behind the mantel in that other storm," cried +Nancy. Then a great joy shone in her face. "He _didn't_ take +it--Anne's grandfather!" she stopped abruptly. But Miss Sabrina had +not even heard her, and Peter was too mystified by the whole thing to +think Nancy's words strange. Miss Sabrina turned, with a stricken face. + +"Anne--I--I can't think! What--what--wrong--have I done? Oh, God +forgive me!" She threw her arms up over her head. Her grief was +terrible because it was strange. Even Nancy, frightened, drew away. + +"Oh, God, give back the years----" she moaned. + +"It--is--too--late." She lifted a white, frightened face. "I +must---be alone! Don't let anyone disturb me. Tell them, Anne--tell +them--everything!" And with the wallet in her hand she went quickly +but of the room. + +Nancy turned to Peter, a triumph in her manner that was in strange +contrast to Miss Sabrina's sorrow. She held her hand out toward the +broken marble. + +"_What_ a story!" she cried, "over two generations that ugly old mantel +concealed the vindication of a man's honor!" Then, laughing at Peter's +puzzled face, she told him briefly the story of the trouble that had +hung over Happy House shadowing and embittering the lives of those +beneath its roof. + +"And, Peter, it has gone with the storm! Oh, you don't know what that +means!" she cried, because Peter _could_ not know that she did not +rejoice for herself, but because, now, there need be no barriers +between Happy House and her own dear Anne--the real Anne Leavitt. + +"After awhile--it _will_ be Happy House," she ended, enigmatically. + +She walked with him to the door. + +"What a day it has been," she laughed, catching her breath. "I feel as +though it had been weeks ago that we started off! I've forgotten how +wet we were," she pulled at her blouse. "Run away now, Peter, for I +must break the wonderful news to Aunt Milly and B'lindy, and, as +B'lindy would say--"there's a pile of work's got to be done!" + +"Nancy, the day isn't over yet!" Peter hesitated. "There's going to +be a gorgeous sunset to-night--won't you come into the orchard--just +for a little while?" + +"Silly--haven't you seen enough of me for one day?" + +His look spoke more eloquently than could any words. + +"_I_ have something to tell _you_!" he said, gravely. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +PETER + +Nancy knew, with the instinct of a heart unfamiliar with coquetry, what +Peter had to tell her! + +She had wanted dreadfully to have to stay away from the orchard--she +had hoped that Aunt Milly might need her, but Aunt Milly had gone to +bed directly after supper, exhausted by the day's happenings. Aunt +Sabrina's door had been shut ever since, with the wallet, she had gone +into her room, and from within no sound betrayed her tragedy. B'lindy +was fiercely struggling, with mop and broom, to remove all traces of +the "curse" from Happy House. "Now just keep out of my way! I'm that +upset," she answered Nancy, shortly. + +The sunset was gorgeous. It flooded the garden with a soft, flaming +golden light. + +Like all girls, Nancy had had her dream of that time when her Knight +should come riding to her; like all girls her dream-Knight was a +pleasantly hazy individual, changing with her changing moods. And she +had not wanted him to come quickly. Her young freedom was very +precious to her. + +One or two others had proposed to Nancy in hot-headed, boyish fashion. +That had been part of girlhood's fun. One, a Junior, after begging her +to elope with him, had gone away crushed, and vengeful, only to send +her, two weeks later, a bunch of violets and a little note thanking her +for her "common-sense," explaining that "Pop had threatened to cut his +allowance in half unless he settled down and made his mid-years." + +These had been boys; dear, sentimental, clean-hearted boys, but Peter +Hyde was different-- + +She had not dreamed of this--not for a moment, until she had seen it in +his eyes that afternoon as they sat under the maple tree with B'lindy's +lunch spread between them. He had been such a jolly comrade through +these weeks at Freedom, he had been so understandable, like Claire and +Anne and Daddy! He had never thought she was silly or +not-grown-up-enough, he liked children and animals and knew just what +to do to make Nonie and Davy happy; he had shared with her his +ambitions in his work as though she was a man but, with it all, he was +a farmer--his lot had been cast in the narrow confines of Judson's farm +and barns and piggery--except for these pleasant days at Happy House +she, Nancy Leavitt, with her heart set on a goal as distant as the +stars themselves, could have little in common with him. + +All this flashed through her mind as she walked slowly, reluctantly +toward the orchard--and with it an annoyance that their pleasant +comradeship should end this way. So that when, a little later, a very +earnest Peter began to tell her in stumbling, awkward words how much +her going must mean to him, she wanted to cry out and beg him to stop. + +"Nancy--_I'm_ clumsy as the devil. Don't you _know_ what I want to +tell you? I can't let you go without knowing it--and--and--Nancy, +_could_ you ever--ever love a fellow--like me--enough--to--want--to +marry him?" + +Then the woman's heart within her made Nancy ages old. + +"Oh, Peter!" she said with tender compassion. She _didn't_ want to +hurt this very dear friend! + +"I'm not nearly good enough for you, Nancy, but then, _any_ fellow +isn't good enough! And, Nancy, there isn't anything in this whole +world I wouldn't do--if you cared." + +"Oh, Peter!" Why _in_ the world couldn't she say something more, she +thought. Why couldn't she stem that flood she knew was coming? Why +could she not make him see instantly, how impossible it all was--and +say good-bye and go! + +"I'll make you happy, Nancy--if loving will do it," he finished humbly. + +"Peter--I wish--you hadn't--said this!" + +"Do you mean you don't care--a bit?" he cried, protestingly. "Have I +frightened you? You said yourself that living one day up here was like +weeks somewhere else! Somehow I've not thought of your going +away--ever. You seemed such a part of it here. You're +so--different--from all the girls I've known! You're such a--_pal_. +That's the kind a man needs!" + +Nancy was biting her lip to hide its trembling. Over her swept a +reverence for this that Peter Hyde was offering her--she knew that a +man's pure soul was being bared before her. His awkward words came +slowly because they were born of a deep feeling. She was not worthy! + +"Oh, Peter! Peter! Please--I'm--I can't let you say all this! I'm +_not_--what you think me! I'm a _cheat_! You'd hate me if----" + +He caught her hand. "I know what you are, Nancy--you're the best, +truest, straightest-hearted little girl that ever lived!" + +With an effort that hurt Nancy pulled herself together. She looked +away so that she might not see that it hurt Peter Hyde when she pulled +her hand from his close clasp. + +"Peter--we must be--sensible." She hated her own words, but something +within her, told her that she must say them. "We've been jolly +comrades--here, but--I'm not cut out for--this sort of life. I'd hate +it--after a little; I'd go mad on a farm with just cows and pigs and +things around," she caught her breath; "I'm really an awfully selfish +girl, Peter, and I've set my heart on my career! I'll always put that +before anything--_anyone_ else! That wouldn't be fair--to you. You +must forget me and find someone who will help you in your work." + +His face was turned from her--his silence frightened her. She tried to +make her tone light. "You've been a fine pal, Peter, you've helped me +a lot. You've taught me a great many things, too. I've always thought +that farmers and--and----" + +He wheeled suddenly. + +"Nancy, you haven't said you _didn't_ care for me, any!" he cried. + +Nancy flushed in vexation. + +"Well, I'm _trying_ to--the best way I know how! I _do_ like you--I'm +going to be as honest as I can be! I just couldn't _ever_--no matter +how much I might like the _farmer_--stand for--for a farm like +Judson's!" + +To Nancy's unutterable amazement Peter Hyde commenced to laugh, very +softly, with a look in his eyes that caressed her. What an +unexplainable creature he was--anyway! + +"When my play is produced," Nancy went on, airily, "I shall invite you +to come down and sit in a box and see it--and maybe, you'll bring Miss +Denny with you!" She wanted to punish him. + +But Peter Hyde, the incorrigible, was looking neither crestfallen nor +disheartened. He seized both of Nancy's hands and held them very close. + +"I'll come! When that play is produced you can just bet I'll be in the +stage box and it won't be Miss Denny that's with me either! You +haven't told me, Nancy--that you did not love _me_! You've just said +you didn't like--pigs and cows and hired men and Judson's in general. +Dear, I'm not going to let you answer me--now! I'm not even going to +say good-bye! You're a tired little girl. If I go, will you promise +me to go straight to bed?" + +In her astonishment Nancy submitted to the impetuous kiss he pressed +against her fingers. When but a few moments before her heart had been +torn with pity that she must hurt this man, now he was, in a masterful +way, sending her off to bed as though she was a very little girl! And +nothing in his tone or manner suggested _anything_ but utter peace of +mind and heart. + +But Nancy _was_ tired--so very tired that it was pleasant to be led up +the path toward the house, to think that someone--even Peter +Hyde--cared enough about her to beg her "not to open an eye for +twenty-four hours." + +And of course it was because the day had held so much for her that upon +reaching her room, she threw herself across her bed and burst into a +passion of tears. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +NANCY'S CONFESSION + +A thousand torments seemed to rack poor Nancy's tired soul and body. +For a long time she had lain, very still, across her bed. Then she +had, mechanically, made ready for the night. But sleep would not come. +Wider and wider-eyed she stared at the dim outline that was her open +window. After awhile she crossed to it and knelt down before it, her +bare arms folded on the sill. + +A sense of remorse, which Nancy had been trying for some time past to +keep tucked back somewhere in a corner of her mind, now overwhelmed +her. She saw herself a cheat, an imposter. What would these good +people of Happy House say of her when they knew all of them, even Peter +Hyde--and little Nonie! + +Her hands clenched tightly, Nancy faced what she called the reckoning. + +Only a few days before she and Aunt Milly had had a long talk. Aunt +Milly had told her how, one afternoon, she had tried to walk--and had +failed. + +"I'd been praying, my dear, that it might be possible. I thought, +perhaps, I felt so much better----. But the wonderful thing was +Nancy,--_I didn't care_! My life seems so full, now, of real things, +thanks to all you've done for me, that whether I can walk or not is +insignificant. And I shall always have you, anyway, Nancy!" Aunt +Milly had said with the yearning look in her eyes that Nancy knew so +well. + +What would Aunt Milly say when she knew? + +How had she, Nancy, betrayed Sabrina's trust? + +Rapidly, as one can at such moments, Nancy's mind went over the weeks +of her stay at Happy House. She had let herself go so far; she had +taught these people she was deceiving to grow fond of her--to _need_ +her! + +And she had grown fond of them--that was her punishment. She had grown +fond of Happy House; she wanted to be the real Anne Leavitt and belong +to Happy House and its precious traditions, that she had mocked; she +wanted to have the right to rejoice, now, in the vindication of that +brother who had gone away, years before. + +Poor little Nancy, shivering there in the chill and silence of the +night, her world, her girl's world, fell away from her. Like one +looking in from without, she saw her own life as though it was +another's--and what it might hold for her! She saw it stripped of the +little superficialities of youth; she saw clearly, with uncanny +preciseness, causes and effects, the havoc, too, of her own +thoughtlessness and weaknesses. + +Something in the vision frightened her, but challenged the best in her, +too. One had only one life to live and each wasted day counted so +much--each wasted hour cost so dearly! In the striving for the far +goal one must not leave undone the little things that lay close at +hand, the little, worth-while, sometimes-hard things. She had gone a +long way down the wrong road, but she'd turn squarely! Her head went +high--she would make a clean breast of it all--to them all; Aunt +Sabrina, Aunt Milly--Peter Hyde. + +Her face went down against her arms; she wanted to hide, even in the +darkness, the flush that mantled her cheeks. She could see his eyes as +they had seemed to caress her--out there in the orchard. Oh, why had +she not told him the truth, then and there; if she had he would have +despised her, but it would have killed forever the hope she had read in +his face. + +Nancy, girlishly eager to struggle in life's tide, now, facing the +greatest thing in life, shrank back, afraid. She wanted, oh so much, +to be little again; there had always been someone, then, to whom to +turn when problems pressed--Daddy, even Mrs. Finnegan--the Seniors in +college, the Dean herself. Now--she felt alone. + +Lighting her lamp, she pulled a chair to the table and spread out +sheets of paper. She wanted to tell it all, while her courage lasted. +She wrote furiously, her lips pressed in a straight line. She would +not spare herself one bit--Peter Hyde must know just what she had done. + +But, at the end, she yielded to a longing too strong to resist. + +"Please, _please_ don't think too badly of me. You see you don't know +Anne and how her heart was set on going to Russia, and she was sure +that if she told her relatives about going they'd stop her. And that +seemed, then, the only important thing--neither of us thought of the +wrong we'd be doing the people--here. It seemed, too, a very little +thing for me to do for her. But I just can't bear to have _you_ hate +me!" For a moment she held her pencil over the last words, then +hastily sealed the letter and addressed it. + +The last paragraph stayed in her mind. "How _silly_ we were, Anne," +she said aloud, mentally arraigning those two very young creatures of +college days. + +Her confession made, a load rolled from Nancy's heart. "Anyway, he'll +know the truth," was her soothing thought as she crawled into bed. In +the morning she would tell Aunt Sabrina. + +But Nancy's first waking thought--at a very late hour, for her +over-tired body had taken its due in sound sleep--was that she was +very, very unhappy. As she dressed, with trembling haste, she wondered +if she had not better plan to catch the afternoon train at North Hero. + +She sought out Jonathan first and despatched him with her letter, then +walked slowly back into the house to face Aunt Sabrina. + +On the newel post of the stairs were letters that Jonathan had just +brought up from the post-office. One was addressed to her in Anne's +familiar handwriting and was postmarked New York! + +As though she had been struck, Nancy dropped down on the stairs. + +Anne's valiant spirit of sacrifice and service had given way to +complaint. + +"All these weeks cooped up in a little room in London waiting for +further orders, only to have them _dare_ to tell me--after all the +encouragement I'd had--that I was too young and inexperienced to go on +into Russia, and that I could be of greater service in organization +work back home. Think of it, Nancy! And then shipping me back as +though I was a little child. I have worn myself out with +disappointment, rage and disgust. I came here to your rooms and slept +last night in your bed (as much as any one could sleep with the +Finnegan baby cutting a tooth downstairs) and I shall stay here until I +can calm down enough to make some definite plans. + +"... You've been a dear, Nancy, and I've been quite curious to know how +you've gotten on. I never dreamed you'd stay so long! And now I must +ask you to stay just a little longer, until I know what I want to do. +Under no circumstances let my aunt know the truth...." + +Nancy read the letter three times--she could scarcely believe her eyes. +Poor Anne, her splendid dreams had come to nothing. + +In her own desire to clean her soul by confession, she had forgotten +Anne! Of course she could not tell Aunt Sabrina--at least not now. +She must wait, as Anne had asked. + +"Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive," +Nancy repeated, bitterly, feeling as though the web she had made was +tying her hand and foot. + +B'lindy, looking in from the kitchen, saw her. B'lindy's face was +strangely brightened; she gave a mysterious crook to her finger as she +beckoned to Nancy to come into the kitchen. + +"I set some coffee by for you--I guessed you'd be tuckered out after +yesterday, ridin' round in that storm and then findin' the wallet was +'nough to tucker anybody." Before she poured the coffee she closed the +door leading into the front of the house. "Miss Nancy, there's been +more changes in Happy House even than findin' that wallet!" + +"What do you mean, B'lindy?" + +B'lindy leaned a radiant face over Nancy. + +"It's Miss Sabriny--she's been just like she was born again! I guess +folks won't know her. And you'll never guess what we're goin' to have +up here. _A baby!_" + +Nancy was frankly astonished. Then B'lindy told her what, in the +excitement of the afternoon before, she had not heard--of finding the +baby and Davy's note. + +"I guess that little mite opened up somethin' that was all dried up in +Sabriny Leavitt's heart! Seems while we was all fussin' over the mess +in the settin' room Davy Hopworth come up after that baby lookin' like +he'd been scared to death. And then this mornin' Sabriny Leavitt comes +to me 'n asks me to go down to Timothy Hopkins with her while she asks +him for that baby back. Well, we went--she couldn't even wait for me +to pick up. And Timothy Hopkins refused her _flat_! You wouldn't have +believed your ears, Nancy, Sabriny Leavitt took most to cryin' and she +told him how lonesome it was up to Happy House and how her whole life +'d been wasted 'cause she'd never done for others and he'd be doin' a +kindness to an old woman to let her take the baby and do for it. But +it wa'n't until she'd promised that she'd just sort o' bring him up and +he could always go home and play with the nine others, and the nine o' +them could come to Happy House's often as they wanted that he'd as much +as listen. So we're goin' to have a baby!" B'lindy said it with +unconcealed triumph. "Cunnin' little thing--smart's can be. You +should a' seen it grab for the spoon when I was feedin' it!" + +Nancy's eyes were shining. "Oh, that will be wonderful," she cried. +"Where is Aunt Sabrina?" + +As though in answer to her question, Miss Sabrina's voice called her +from the front hall and at the same moment Miss Sabrina opened the +door. Yes, it was a transformed Sabrina Leavitt--her face was deeply +lined by all she had gone through, but there was a humility in her eyes +that softened them and brought a deeper glow as though, indeed, from +some new-born spirit within. + +Impulsively, Nancy threw two strong arms about her neck and kissed her. + +"Come into the sitting-room with me, Anne, I have a great deal I want +to say to you." She led Nancy through the hall into the sitting-room +and they sat down together upon the old horse-hair sofa. In Miss +Sabrina's tone there was a dignified tranquility that made Nancy look +at her with a little wonder. As though in answer to Nancy's thought +Miss Sabrina said, quietly: + +"God alone knows what I've lived through--since yesterday afternoon. +Nancy, it is a terrible thing for an old woman to look back upon a life +she has wasted--through pride and prejudice. The storm and finding the +wallet--that was God's own way of opening my eyes! I have been a +wicked, proud, selfish woman. But I've hurt myself worst of all. For +here I am an old woman, and not a soul in the world really loves me----" + +Nancy put out a protesting hand. Miss Sabrina patted it. + +"I am right, my dear, I know it now. But if God will be good to me He +will give me a few more years to live, so that I may make up, in a +small way, for the wrong I have done--to others and to myself. Do you +know, Nancy, it was you who first brought home to me the truth--that +happiness comes as it is given. It was a fortunate thing for Happy +House when I brought you here, dear." + +Nancy had to bite her lips to strangle the words of confession that +sprang to them. Aunt Sabrina went on: + +"I cannot bring back the years or atone to my brother for the wrong I +did to him. I do not know how I can make up to your own father. +Perhaps, if you ask him to, he will forgive me, some day. But I shall, +as soon as I can see my lawyers in North Hero, make a new will, leaving +Happy House and my share of my father's fortune to you----" + +"Good gracious----" thought Nancy; "she thinks Anne's father is still +living!" In dismay Nancy sprang to her feet. But Miss Sabrina paid no +heed to her agitation. She rose and went to the table and opened a +leather-bound book that lay there. + +"I have brought down some papers and letters that belonged to your +grandfather--when he was a young man. Here is a picture of him. Come +and see it, my dear." + +Unwillingly Nancy crossed to the table. Miss Sabrina reverently placed +the faded picture in her hand. + +"My only brother," she whispered, brokenly. "Your grandfather." + +"No, _Anne's_ grandfather," Nancy almost screamed. + +She looked at the picture with intent interest. It portrayed a +strikingly handsome young man. She turned the card in her hand. +Across the back had been written the name. "Eugene Standbridge +Leavitt." + +Astounded, Nancy cried out: "Why, that--_that is my father's name_!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +EUGENE STANDBRIDGE LEAVITT + +For a moment Nancy thought she had gone quite crazy! She put her hand +to her head to steady its whirling. This was her grandfather--her own +father's father! She was the real Anne Leavitt! + +Aunt Sabrina was fussing over a note-book in which clippings had been +pasted. She thought Nancy's agitation quite excusable; she was +trembling herself. + +"That is a family name. The Standbridge comes from our +great-grandmother's side. I knew your father had been called +Eugene--yes, here's what B'lindy cut out of the newspaper." She placed +the open page of the book in Nancy's hands. + +She told Nancy how, after the quarrel, her father had ordered her to +destroy everything about the house that might remind anyone of the +disowned son. + +"I carried out his wishes. After our mother's death my father and I +had been constant companions. I was terribly angry at my brother for +having brought this grief and shame to my father in his old age. +Now----" she caught her breath sharply. + +"But B'lindy was fond of the boy. She packed these letters and the +picture away, and after that, for years, whenever she'd read anything +about him in the papers, or hear a word, she'd enter it in this little +book. I never knew that until years later. See--here's an account of +his wedding. It says he went abroad--he'd always wanted to, even when +he was a young lad. Here it tells that he bought a newspaper. Here's +where it speaks about his son Eugene." + +It seemed to Nancy as though the little pages of the book, with their +age-yellow clippings and curious entries, were opening to her a new +side of her father's life. She remembered some stuffed birds in her +father's cabinet that she had known in a vague sort of way had come +from Africa; it was intensely interesting to read from the little book +that "the well-known newspaper man, Eugene Leavitt, and his young son, +Eugene, had gone on a six-months' trip to Africa." + +"Milly wrote once to our brother, though I never knew it until I found +this book. After a long while he answered with this note. B'lindy's +put it here," turning a page. + +The few lines were strangely characteristic of Nancy's own father. +They told the younger sister that he'd found the world a very kind and +a very good place to live in. + +Another letter had been written by Nancy's father. It told, in a +boyish, awkward way, of his father's death and that his father, before +his death, had asked him to write to the relatives in Freedom and tell +them that "there was no hard feeling." + +Nancy pondered over this letter for a moment. A great many questions +came into her mind. Her father must have inherited from his father a +sense of hurt and injustice, or why, through all the years, and years +of poverty, too, had he refrained from any mention of the aunts in +Freedom? + +Like links in a chain the little entries in B'lindy's book connected +the three generations, for the last clipping told how the young wife of +Eugene Leavitt, Jr., had been killed in a runaway in Central Park, +leaving motherless the little three-year-old daughter, Anne Leavitt. + +"Once Milly told me of finding this. Sometimes she used to wonder what +you were like. But I was always angry when she mentioned you--I wanted +to feel that I had rooted out all affection for my brother and his kin! +As the years went by, though, I grew afraid--what was I going to do +with this earthly wealth I possessed? Then I wrote that letter to you +in college." + +As though it had been but the day before Nancy saw again the beloved +dormitory room, old Noah and his letter. + +Then the whole truth flashed across her mind! Anne's Aunt Sa-something +was the dear little Saphonia Leavitt, who lived with her sister Janie +on the lonely road out of Freedom! + +With a glee she made no effort to suppress, Nancy caught Aunt Sabrina +by the elbows, danced her madly around, and then enveloped her in an +impetuous hug. + +"Oh, you don't know--you can't ever, ever know how nice it all--is," +she cried, laughing and wiping away a tear at the same time. "To know +that I _really, truly_ belong to you and to Happy House!" Nancy's +words rang true. They brought a flood of color to the old woman's +cheeks. + +"You see I never knew how long I could stay--I was sort of on probation +and I love you all so much--now! But, tell me, are those two funny +little Leavitt sisters any relation of--_ours_?" Nancy emphasized the +last word with a squeeze of Miss Sabrina's hand. + +"No--or if they are, it is so far back it's been lost. When I was +little I used to see them occasionally, but they've never gone around +much. They have always been very poor. They had a brother, but he +went away from the Island when he was young--I think he must have died." + +"I am going to _pretend_ we're related," declared Nancy, "because I +just love them. They took us in during the storm. And--and I have a +dear chum, my very best chum, whose name is Anne Leavitt, too, and I am +sure they are her aunts." She told Aunt Sabrina, then, in a sketchy +way, of her four years' friendship with the other Anne Leavitt. + +The windows of the sitting-room had been opened after the storm to let +out the dust from the fallen mortar and brick. The blinds had not been +closed again. Through the windows streamed a flood of sunshine. + +With an impulsive movement Nancy closed the book and laid it down on +the table. Her manner said plainly that thus they would dispose of all +the past-and-gone Leavitts. She nodded toward the gaping fireplace. + +"Let's have a _new_ mantel made with Happy House carved in it, Aunt +Sabrina. And, I think, it _will_ be a Happy House, now." + +There was a great deal Nancy wanted to tell Aunt Sabrina--of her +father, and of their happy life together. But she had suddenly, with +consternation, remembered the eloquent confession she had sent off to +Peter Hyde. + +"And I didn't need to--for I _am_ Anne Leavitt!" + +As quickly as she could break away from her aunt, she ran off in search +of Jonathan. She found him tying up some of his vines that had been +beaten down in the storm. + +"Jonathan--that letter I gave you--did--did you give it to--to Mr. +Hyde?" she asked with a faint hope that he had' not. + +"Yes'm! Caught him jes' agoin' to take the stage." + +"Going _away_?" Nancy cried. + +"Yes'm. He hed a big bag and he give me a handshake like he was goin' +to be away for a spell, tho' it's most harvestin' and he's not the kind +to leave Judson short-handed--not him." + +After a moment Nancy grew conscious that old Jonathan was staring +curiously at her. So she turned and walked slowly back to the house. + +Peter Hyde had gone away--without a word! He would read her letter--he +would always think of her as she had pictured herself in it! And he +might never know how the curious tangle had come out! + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +ARCHIE EATON RETURNS + +Liz, returning from her "afternoon's work at the meeting house, blew +breathlessly into the Hopworth kitchen. + +"As I live, Archie Eaton's comin' home--this blessed day! His ma got a +telegram last night; Sammy Todd brought it over from Nor' Hero on his +bicycle. And Webb's put a notice in the post-office--he wants every +man, woman and child to meet on the Common to-night at seven to sort o' +welcome Archie to home." + +"Everybody? Me and Davy," broke in Nonie, excitedly. + +"Of course, when Webb says every man, woman and child it means all of +us," answered Liz with importance, smoothing out her gingham apron. + +Three days had entirely made over Liz Hopworth. Sarah Hopkins' death +had given Liz, hitherto an outcast, a position of importance in the +community. However unfitting Freedom's ladies might have thought it, +nevertheless it was an undisputable fact, and everyone knew it, that +Liz's hands had "done for" the stricken family; she had cleaned and +comforted, dusted and baked and stitched together suitable mourning for +poor Jennie, the oldest Hopkins girl. At the simple funeral it had +been Liz who had greeted the neighbors and had urged them to "just look +at Sarah Hopkins--you'd think she was enjoyin' it all, she's that happy +lookin'!" What no one else knew was that it had been Liz who had put +her arms around Jennie Hopkins when a complete realization of her loss +had swept over the girl and had bade her "just lay your poor little +head right here and cry all you want to!" Never in all her life had +Liz's arms known such a labor of love. Jennie _had_ cried all she +wanted to--great, heart-breaking sobs that had, though they exhausted, +finally soothed her. + +From his corner where old Dan'l, with hanging head waited his supper, +came a grunt of unbelief. Liz turned reprovingly. + +"Anyway, Archie Eaton's a soldier even if he be an Eaton!" Then, to +Nonie: "I met Mis' Sniggs comin' up the village and she wants all the +little girls to wear white and throw bouquets at Archie as he's gettin' +off the stage and sing America. She's goin' to get the flowers at Mis' +Todd's and Mis' Brown's. Miss Nancy's white's too nice, but I guess +your gingham's faded most white 'nough. Anyways, it's plenty good." + +"Have I time to run up and tell Miss Nancy?" + +"Lan' sakes, no! We gotta get supper spry so's to have the work +cleared away. Nancy Leavitt knows it, I callate--ain't much happens +Webb doesn't carry straight off up to Happy House. I guess maybe +they're pretty busy, too. Things is certainly changin', I said, when +Sabriny Leavitt goes to poor Sarah Hopkins' funeral, sittin' right on +the plush chair over in the right-hand corner near the waxed flowers. +And sure's I'm alive, she's taken the Hopkins baby up to Happy House to +do for. She wanted it to keep regular like her own, but Timothy +Hopkins wouldn't listen for a minit--his children wa'nt a goin' to be +separated if they all starved! Seems to me he was foolish, but he was +awful set and mebbe he was right. Dan'l Hopworth, take off your +slippers! Of course you're goin' to see Archie Eaton come home! I +guess you're as patriotic as any other folks." + +Liz's determination won its point so that a little before seven the +entire Hopworth family joined every other "man, woman and child" on the +village common. The common presented a pretty sight, big and small +flags fluttering, the weather-worn service flag again hoisted to its +place of honor and women and children in their best attire. Mrs. +Eaton, upon whom every glance turned with frank curiosity, did not need +her gorgeous purple poplin with its lace ruffles swelling over her +proud bosom, to make her the most conspicuous figure in the +gathering--that she was the mother of the returning soldier was enough! +And her eyes, as they strained down the road like the others, for a +first glimpse of Webb's horses, were wet with tears. + +Someone saw a little cloud of dust and set up a shout: "He's comin'!" +Others took up the cry. Mrs. Sniggs frantically gathered her flock of +little singers around the carriage-block in front of the meeting-house, +where Webb had promised to pull up his team. Some one pushed Mrs. +Eaton toward the spot. + +"_There_ he is," piped a small boy, pointing to the khaki figure that +leaned out of the stage, violently waving a hat. + +"Who's the other fellar?" asked Mr. Todd, but no one around him seemed +to know. + +All ceremony was thrown to the four winds; the hysterical piping of the +little girls was lost in the wild rub-a-dub dub of the Freedom's +drummers and the clamor of excited voices from the pushing, jostling +crowd. However, Archie Eaton was utterly unconscious of it all, for in +less than a second he was tightly enveloped in folds of purple poplin! + +After a moment he sprang back to the step of Webb's wagon and raised +his hand. + +"Mebbe you think it ain't good to get home! _I'll_ say it is! I've +laid awake nights dreamin' of this. I ain't goin' to make a speech, +folks, but I've got to tell you something. I wanted to send word to +you back a time but my buddy here wouldn't let me! Mebbe you don't +remember my buddy--he's changed a lot, I guess, but he's from Freedom, +all right!" He pulled at the arm of his companion. "Stand up, so +folks can see you! Give a cheer, now, for Eric Hopworth, the best and +bravest soldier in Uncle Sam's army!" + +Not a throat in Freedom could have made a sound for utter surprise. +They gaped at the big, bronzed fellow in khaki while Archie Eaton went +on, speaking rapidly. + +"Mebbe you folks up here don't know yet that he led a bunch of us after +a machine gun nest that was holdin' back the fellows there in the +Argonny and that when every man of us dropped he went on single-handed, +with a nasty hole in his side, and got every Jerry of 'em! But I guess +before he done that he pulled Archie Eaton back where the Jerries +couldn't finish me with their shot pepperin' the lot of us as we lay +there and--well, he's done a lot more'n that and mebbe you don't know +that the other day some fellers down at Washington gave him a +Distinguished Service Medal which I guess puts him pretty near next to +Ethan Allen himself! So set up a shout that'll split your throats for +Eric Hopworth, 'cause if it wasn't for him Archie Eaton wouldn't be +here holdin' his mother's hand and cryin' real tears, he's that tickled +to be home, and this old North Hero wouldn't be on the map like 'tis! +So let her rip, fellows! _My_ buddy, Eric Hopworth!" + +Something, pent up while Archie Eaton was speaking, burst with a roar. +Each person, big or small, tried to shout louder than anyone else; each +tried to press close enough to lay a hand on the hero. And, strange +sight, Mrs. Eaton was now clasping Eric Hopworth in her arms! + +Nancy, standing a little apart with Miss Sabrina, shouting like the +others, suddenly felt her throat choke with a sob, for she saw Dan'l, +stung to life, leap forward through the crowd to reach his son, his +face lifted and lighted by a great pride. Then, as they clasped hands, +the crowd parted suddenly, and through it flashed two small figures. +In less than a moment Nonie and Davy were both in their father's arms. + +No one stopped to recall the stories of Eric Hopworth's youth nor of +his bringing the two babies back to his father. It was enough that he +was there among them, one of the country's heroes. + +Mrs. Eaton was excitedly begging everyone to come to her home and have +ice cream and cake, and there was a general movement of young and old +to accept her hospitality. But when she urged Eric Hopworth he shook +his head, slipping one arm over his father's shoulder. + +"I guess we want to go home," he explained, a little embarrassed. "You +see, it's been a long time--Pa and I have got a lot to say to each +other! And _we've_ got to get acquainted," nodding at the youngsters +who were clinging to his arm. + +There was a great deal that Eric Hopworth could not tell his father, +for the simple reason that he had _not_ at his command the words that +could tell of the lessons the war had taught him. But in one simple, +awkward sentence he tried to express his remorse and penitence. + +"Well, Pa," they had stopped before the door of the dilapidated house, +"I guess it took the war to make a man of me! I went into it 'cause it +looked pretty excitin', but it didn't take me long to find out it was a +big job and the kind of a job that meant a fellow had to give the very +best in him--and only the best! I've had time to think a lot and +things sort a come to me different, over there. I guess I know now +that I've got a job right here most as big as the war and I'm goin' to +do it! I'm goin' to make a home for you and Liz and the kids--a _real_ +home!" + +Nonie, standing off, a little shyly and uncertainly, was steeling +herself for a test. Out of a clear sky had dropped a real father. He +looked very big, but his face was kind, and he had a nice voice. +Perhaps--_perhaps_ one of her dreams was coming true! She slipped away +to her room and made ready for bed with trembling fingers. For a long +time she lay listening to the voices below. After a little Davy came +in and crawled sleepily into the cot in the corner. Still she waited, +her hands clasped tightly under the covers. At last she heard a +step--not like her grandfather's, nor Liz', she knew theirs--a +cautious, tip-toey step. As it came nearer she shivered with exquisite +anticipation. + +Eric Hopworth leaned over the bed. He had thought Nonie would be +asleep. She held her eyes shut tight for a moment. He laid his hand +on her head with a shy, caressing movement. Suddenly the child threw +her two arms around his neck. He held her close, then he kissed her +and laid her gently back upon the pillow. + +"Good night, kiddie," he whispered softly, and tip-toed out of the room. + +Nonie gave one long, happy sigh, then, cuddling down under the covers, +dropped off into dreamless slumber. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +A LETTER FROM THE MASTER + +Four days had passed since Nancy had written her confession and sent it +off to Peter Hyde. They had seemed endless, too, in spite of all the +strange changes at Happy House. Aunt Sabrina and Aunt Milly were +pathetically and helplessly busy over the new member of the family, and +his coming had necessitated momentous reforms in the habits of the +household and long arguments as to the proper care of infants. B'lindy +had finally found somewhere in the back of a "Household Helper" a +chapter on the "Care of the Child," and went about all day with a +finger between its pages and a superior look on her face. + +Nancy had spent one entire afternoon at the Hopworth's. Nonie and Davy +had come for her and had dragged her back with them to see their "Dad." + +"Ask him to tell you 'bout----" and Davy had breathlessly, rattled off +a dozen or more of the war tales that he had liked best. + +Nancy had thought, that afternoon, that, somehow or other, the Hopworth +kitchen had changed since that first day she had visited it. It was +cleaner, homier; there was less litter, the air was not so heavy with +the stale odors of cooking. Old Dan'l sat near the open door smoking +the pipe Eric had brought him, his eyes following Eric's every +movement. Liz, fussing about over household tasks, was less dominant, +less forbidding, and the tired look had gone from her face. + +With the children's chatter Eric Hopworth's shyness soon wore off. +Nonie had told him of the pleasant days at Happy House with Nancy; he +felt a deep gratitude to these people who had been doing for his two +"kiddies" what he should have done. At Davy's coaxing he had repeated +for Nancy some of the incidents of the war in which he had shared. +Davy had proudly exhibited the precious trophies that had come home in +his father's luggage. + +"And Dad's going to stay home always and always now," Nonie had +announced. Then Eric Hopworth explained that he had taken a position +in a big manufacturing plant at Burlington. + +"The boss there was my captain. It'll do for a start. After a bit, +maybe, I can take the family there, though Pa'll likely want to always +stay here in Freedom," he had added with a squaring of the shoulders +that said plainly that the burdens of the household now rested upon him. + +Nancy had gone away from the cottage that afternoon with a feeling in +her heart that Nonie and Davy would no longer need her. Davy, with his +first-hand war stories and trophies and a real hero for a father, from +now on had an assured standing among the youths of the village, and +Nonie had some one to love and to love her. + +So the little loneliness that this thought created added to Nancy's +restlessness and made the hours seem endless. And it made her, too, +haunt the doorway watching for Jonathan and possible letters. + +She told herself, sternly, that, of course, it was silly to expect +Peter Hyde to write--that was a closed chapter. But she had written a +long letter to Anne, telling her of the strange things that had +transpired at Happy House and of the two dear little sisters who were +undoubtedly Anne's relatives. Surely Anne must answer that letter. + +Old Jonathan was too simple-hearted to wonder why Nancy ran out each +day to greet him or why she asked, each day, in a manner she tried to +make casual, if "Mr. Judson had anyone to help him yet?" But on this +fourth day, his smile was broad with satisfaction as he proudly placed +in her hand a big, flat envelope. + +A week before Nancy would have exclaimed--for it was from Theodore +Hoffman. Now she turned away in disappointment. + +In the excitement of the last few days she had forgotten her play. She +opened the envelope now with steady fingers. By some intuition she +knew just what she would find inside. There they were--all the sheets +over which she had toiled so long, familiar, yet unfamiliar, their +freshness gone from handling--tired-looking. Before she opened the +master's letter she gave them a tender little pat, as though she felt +very sorry for them. + +The master's letter told her that her play had much merit and a great +deal of promise, but that it was "young." "You must know more of life, +my dear young lady, live close to love and close to sorrow and learn +life's lessons, before you can portray them.... And never lose faith +in your work. After failure, try again--and again--and again.... +Work, work, work, greatness is in effort." + +Nancy read the words with a thrill--it was as though he was speaking to +her. + +Her labor of the last few months should not be in vain; her little +play, though it had been a failure, had brought her this golden message +from the one who had, through the effort he preached, risen to the very +top. + +Then the last two paragraphs of the master's letter made her forget +everything else. + +"I have had constantly in my mind that strange child who played and +danced in your garden. She has haunted me. You told me her name was +Nonie Hopworth. I have looked up records and have learned that the +young student who, fifteen years ago, gave such promise of dramatic +ability, was Ilona Carr and that she married an Eric Hopworth. This +Nonie is without doubt her child. + +"Will you ask the child's guardians if they will allow her to come to +my school at Tarrytown for a few years? There she will have the best +schooling and dramatic training that my teachers can give and her +talent will have an opportunity for development and growth. When she +is older she shall choose for herself whether or not she will follow +the calling----" + +"The fairy godmother has come," declared Nancy, later, bursting in upon +the Hopworth family with her strange news. She had to read and re-read +the letter so that they could understand and Eric Hopworth had to hear +all about the afternoon at Happy House when the great Theodore Hoffman +had called. + +At first he had decidedly opposed the plan. Liz had snorted in +disapproval. Nonie had stared at first one, then another, with round, +bewildered eyes. + +"You ought not to throw away such a chance. It's a wonderful +school--I've visited there. Nonie will have splendid training----" + +"I know all about it," Eric Hopworth had broken in, and Nancy suddenly +remembered what the master had told her. + +"Tell me about Nonie's mother," she begged. + +There was not much to tell--she had come into Eric Hopworth's life and +gone out again, in a few years. + +"I always had a feelin' I'd cheated her of a lot," Eric Hopworth said +humbly, turning in his hand the photograph he had brought out from old +Dan'l's bureau to show Nancy. + +It was a cheap little photograph, taken a few months after they had +been married. But the pretty face that smiled out of it was a happy +face. Nancy, as she studied it closely, wondered if it had ever been +shadowed by a regret for the dreams she had sacrificed by her marriage. + +"Then--don't cheat Nonie now," Nancy answered. + +So before she went away it was decided that Nonie should go to +Tarrytown and while little Nonie was pinching herself to be sure she +was awake and not dreaming, Nancy's and Liz's minds, in true feminine +fashion, leaped ahead to the question of "clothes." Upon their +perturbed planning came Mrs. Cyrus Eaton, walking into the Hopworth +kitchen with the air of one familiar with its threshold. + +Too many strange things had happened for Nancy to be amazed at this. +And when she saw Mrs. Eaton pat Eric Hopworth's arm as she sat down +beside him, Nancy knew that in the woman's heart, all silly prejudices +had been swept away by a deep affection for the man who had saved her +boy's life. + +Mrs. Eaton had to hear all about the master's letter and Nonie's +wonderful chance to go to the school at Tarrytown. + +"Clothes--land sakes, Liz Hopworth, you've got enough to do without +fussing over clothes. Let me get the child ready. I always did want +to sew for a girl. Besides, it isn't much for me to do, +considering----" she could not finish, but she laid her hand, again, on +Eric Hopworth's arm. + +Nancy realized, more than Liz, how much Mrs. Eaton wanted to have this +opportunity to do something for Nonie, so she answered quickly, before +anyone could make a protest: + +"That will be splendid if you will help out that way, Mrs. Eaton," and +she made her tone very final, as though they must all consider the +matter settled. + +Nancy left Mrs. Eaton and Liz fussing over the wearing qualities of +various fabrics hitherto absolutely unknown to Nonie and walked slowly +homeward. It was a sunny, still afternoon, conducive to meditation. +And Nancy, in a pensive mood, had much to meditate over. + +A moment's whim had brought her to Happy House and how much had +happened because of her coming. How curiously intermixed everything +had been; her acquaintance with Judson's hired man had brought her in +touch with the great Theodore Hoffman and then he, through her, had +found Nonie. + +Life was so funny--Nancy suddenly remembered a game she had played when +she was very, very small. She had had a box of queer shaped and many +colored Japanese blocks, that, if placed together in just the right +way, made a beautiful castle upon the highest peak of which she could +place a shining red ball. But it had been very difficult to build; +Nancy had, often, in impatience, thrown the blocks down, but her father +had always come, then, to her help and had laughingly coaxed her to try +again. + +Life was like that--if one could successfully fit all the queer edges +together and build up, piece by piece, one could have the reward of the +shining ball at the top. But Nancy, thinking of it now, felt the +tugging impatience that she had used to feel toward the pile of colored +blocks. + +A few weeks had so changed her own life--she must take up the little +pieces and begin to build again. + +At the gate of Happy House she paused, and turning, looked down the +road. In the last few days she had caught herself often looking down +that road and yet she would not admit to herself--she was too proud to +admit it that she was always wishing that she would see Peter Hyde +coming. It was very lonesome at Happy House without him. + +Suddenly, in a swirl of dust, a motor turned the corner at the smithy +and approached toward her at a tremendous speed, its outline barely +distinguishable because of the cloud that enveloped it. No one came up +that road unless they were coming to Happy House. + +Then someone, swathed in linen and green, floating veiling, spied Nancy +and waved wildly from the tonneau. + +Scarcely believing her eyes, Nancy took a step forward. With a swerve +and a roar the car came to a stop and from the front seat, throwing off +goggles and cap, sprang Eugene Leavitt. + +"Daddy!" cried Nancy, throwing herself into his arms. + +"I thought it was Anne, but I couldn't----" + +she began, finally withdrawing from his tight clasp to greet the +others. "I just--couldn't believe it." + +Anne was standing now beside her, and behind Anne, unwinding yards and +yards of dust-covered veiling, laughed Claire. + +"Oh, it's too good, good, good to be true," Nancy cried, trying to +embrace them both at the same time. "To have you all come--at once. +I'm so happy, I just want to cry." + +"And, Nancy, at last you're going to meet my brother Barry," +interrupted Claire, her eyes sparkling. "You wouldn't come to +Merrycliffe, so you see I had to bring him here." + +Nancy was so happy that she could even turn to greet the despised +"lion" with a radiant smile. Claire's brother, who, forgotten by the +others in their joyous reunion, had been busying himself with the +engine of his car, now turned and removed from a dust-stained face the +goggles that had almost completely hidden it. + +"Pe-ter. You----" and Nancy, her face crimson, put her two hands +behind her back. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +BARRY + +Nancy presented such a picture of bewilderment and unbelief that the +others all laughed--except Peter; his face was very grave. + +"You see I thought the only way I could get you--to forgive me--was by +bringing them all back with me." + +But Nancy had no intention of forgiving--at least, at once--the trick +that had been played upon her. She lifted her chin with meaning +disdain and turned to the others. + +"Let's go up to the house. My aunts will be so glad to see you all," +and slipping one hand through her father's arm and another into Anne's +she turned up the path, leaving Claire and her brother to follow. + +Miss Sabrina had seen the car stop at the gate and had come to the +door. She knew at once that this was Nancy's father. A color swept +her cheeks and faded. She tried to say some word of welcome but her +trembling lips could not frame a single syllable. But almost instantly +her fears were set at rest, for Eugene Leavitt took her two hands in +his clasp and lightly kissed her cheek in a cheery way that put aside +forever the trouble that had separated them. + +In the hub-bub and chatter that followed, Nancy did not realize that +Peter Hyde had slipped away; not until Aunt Sabrina had carried her +father off to Aunt Milly's room and B'lindy, radiant, had gone back to +the kitchen to prepare a supper "fit for folks," leaving the three +chums together. Claire gave her friend an affectionate shake. + +"Now, Nancy Leavitt, don't be silly and stay cross at Barry. It's my +fault. I knew he was here and that you were here, and that he knew you +and you knew him, and neither of you----" + +"Please, please Claire," begged Nancy, trying to stop her friend. Her +face turned scarlet. Of course she could not be offended at his +deception, had she not, herself, been masquerading? But burning in her +mind was the recollection of that afternoon when she had opened her +heart to Peter and had told him how she despised Barry Wallace and his +kind. And he had let her talk--she could not forgive that, ever. + +"After you'd been here a few weeks," Claire went on, "Barry wrote to +me. I suppose he'd gotten to the point where he simply had to confide +in someone. You can imagine, I nearly dropped when I saw the postmark +and knew what he was doing, but picture how I felt when he wrote that +he'd met the 'best girl ever--no frills and fropperies like mother's +crowd, but a regular girl.' Of course I knew he meant you. I let him +write a few more letters--I don't think Barry ever wrote so often to me +before--and then, I told him everything." + +"You did?" exclaimed Nancy. "Then----" she stopped short. Now she +understood why he had refused to accept her answer as final--that last +evening they had been together. + +"And I made him promise on his honor not to tell you that I had told. +So don't be cross at him," Claire pleaded, a little worried at Nancy's +expression. "He has gone back to Judson's and he said--he asked me to +ask you if you would go out to Bird's-Nest--after supper--and----" + +Claire, failing in words, threw her arms around Nancy's neck and kissed +her. Anne, who had been impatiently waiting for an opportunity, took +up her part of the story. + +"Goodness, Nancy, you can be thankful you've been up here and not at +the apartment--it's unbearably stuffy and hot. Although it ought to +have seemed like paradise after my quarters in London," snapping her +lips together. Poor Anne, her dream of service was now only a bitter +recollection. "I was sitting there as forlorn as could be when in +blew--no other word could describe it--Claire's brother. You wouldn't +have dreamed from the way he acted that he'd never laid eyes on me +before. He told me about the confession you'd written him and he said +he knew you were unhappy up here because of your false position and +that I ought to come back up here with him and get you out of it. He +didn't want me to lose a moment. Then, while we were talking, your +letter came with its astonishing news. Isn't it all like some +nightmare--all the aunts and things mixed up the way they were? We had +to read your letter over and over to understand it. Then when we +finally got it through our heads, we decided we'd get Claire and start +the next day for North Hero." + +"But Dad?" asked Nancy. + +"We were all ready to go when a taxi drove up to the door and out +jumped your father. Of course he had to hear the whole story way back +to the letter Noah brought to our room. Barry didn't give him a chance +to even wash his face, he bundled him straight into the automobile as +though it were a matter of life and death. And here we are. And this +place looks like Heaven," Anne finished. + +It was a merry party that gathered around Miss Sabrina's table. +B'lindy wanting to express all that was in her heart, had spread a +supper fit for the gods. Nancy's father had carried Miss Milly +downstairs and sat between her and Nancy. Every now and then Nancy +slipped her hand into his, under the tablecloth. Miss Sabrina, at the +head of the table, beamed down upon them all in a pathetic ecstasy of +happiness. From the kitchen came the insistent "goo's" of the smallest +Hopworth, to the accompaniment of a silver spoon beating against a +silver mug. + +Through all the light chatter in the room there was an undertone of +deep happiness and contentment. Only occasionally Claire's eyes +flashed a worried, pleading message to Nancy that Nancy wilfully +ignored. But when, after supper, the others all went to the Hollyhock +porch and Nancy slipped away, the watchful Claire drew a sigh of relief +and proceeded to feel riotously happy. + +As Nancy walked slowly down the path to the orchard she felt her heart +grow inexplainably, foolishly light. She was so glad that Peter Hyde +had come back. + +The gladness shone in her eyes as she let him clasp her two hands. He +did not even ask her if she would forgive him; they both laughed +joyously, like two children. + +"Wasn't it funny? Both of us up here pretending to be someone else." + +"But it wasn't fair. You knew--and I didn't." + +Peter hastened to defend himself. "I didn't--at first. And then +Claire made me promise not to let on that I knew. Anyway, I'd grown so +downright sick of that Barry Wallace that I wanted to just see if I +could make someone like plain Peter Hyde. Did I?" he asked. + +Nancy ignored the direct question and avoided the pleading in Peter's +eyes. + +"Why did you come here, Pet--Barry?" + +"I wonder if you will understand, Nancy?" Peter's voice was serious. +"Mother thought I was crazy and Claire would have, too--at the time. +But when I heard you tell--that afternoon--what you thought of Claire's +brother, I decided I'd done just about the right thing. You see, when +I came back from the other side, just because father and mother are +quite prominent, I found that a lot of stuff had been printed about all +the things I'd done----" + +"But you did do them," cried Nancy, warmly. + +"Oh, yes, I did them, and I have got three or four medals--but then so +were a lot of other fellows doing the same things and a lot of 'em were +killed, doing them. You see, I just looked at it that everyone of us +went over to do our duty and most all of us did--and that's all there +was to it. So when I came back it was a sort of a shock to fall into +the mess I found waiting for me. I couldn't turn around that I wasn't +asked to appear at a tea or a reception or a banquet or a church circle +or something or other to speak. Every other minute I was dodging a +photographer. And you see the worst of it all was that they were all +my mother's friends, and my mother was always around looking as though +she was at last reaping the reward for her sacrifice. I suppose any +mother would have been the same. But you can see the hole it put me +in. I hated it, but I couldn't bear to offend her. I wanted to go to +work at something; I tried a week in my father's office, but I couldn't +stand the confinement indoors. So I ran away--it was my only escape. +I headed for the mountains--somewhere where no one would know me. At +Burlington I saw Judson's ad. and this idea came to me. I'd hire out +to him for awhile and get a chance to work out some theories that were +pets of mine--before the war. I shipped my car back to Merrycliffe and +wrote to mother of my plan, begging her to tell no one. I picked the +name Peter Hyde at random--out of the hotel telephone book." + +"I shall never, never think of you as anything but Peter Hyde," broke +in Nancy. + +"I don't ever want you to," assured Barry. + +Nancy's eyes rested for a moment on the outline of the Judson barns. +"Are you going to help Judson with his harvesting?" she asked, suddenly. + +"Sure thing I am--I wouldn't think of leaving him, just now. Nancy, +will you listen to a plan I've been making? I've got some money--it +was my grandmother's--and I want to buy up some farms in different +parts of the state, the kind of farms that are sort of run down at the +heels, and experiment with them and see what can be done with them, as +a sort of outright demonstration for other farmers. Do you think that +worth while?" he asked so anxiously and with such humility that Nancy +colored. + +"Oh, Peter--why ask me? It sounds pleasant and--and like you." She +suddenly seemed to see him going on with this new work--without her. +The thought brought a wistful look into her face. Barry Wallace read +it there. + +"Nancy, I'm afraid I sort of made a mess of things--the other night. +When you told me you were going away--I lost my head. Tell me--you +said you'd always care more for your work than for anything or anyone +else--couldn't you share your work? Like I'd like to share mine?" + +Nancy lifted a protesting hand that Barry promptly imprisoned in both +of his own. + +"Oh, Peter, don't repeat all that--silly stuff--I said." + +"Didn't you mean it, Nancy?" Barry cried. + +"I meant it--then. But that was--young." Barry could not know that +she was using the master's words. "I know--I think--that--that----" + +"What, Nancy?" + +Nancy looked wildly around. She wanted to run away, but Barry Wallace +was holding her hand very tight. + +"That--I'll work better if--that--oh, I'm just glad you came back," and +Nancy could not have said anything more, for her face was smothered +against Barry's shoulder. + +After a little, Barry had to hear all about the rejected manuscript, +the master's letter and the redemption of the Hopworth's. There in the +sun-lit orchard a golden world seemed to stretch around them. + +"How foolish we used to be," laughed Nancy, with a rapturous sigh. "I +never doubted but that my first play was going to make my fortune." + +"And I, after facing death in every one of its worst forms, ran away +from a pack of fussy women," added Barry. + +"Never mind, let's bury those two children out here under the apple +trees and begin real work----" + +"Together." + +"Finding the little things to do in our very own corner," added Nancy, +dreamily. + +Across the twilight stillness came the familiar whistle that had been +the special signal among the three chums at college. + +"It's the girls," cried Nancy. "Let's go back. I can't bear to have +them come here--just now. It's--it's----" she blushed, but met his +eyes squarely. "I want this to be--just ours--for awhile." + +As they walked slowly back to the house, Nancy stopped suddenly in the +path. + +"Doesn't Happy House look beautiful?" she whispered. And in fact the +fading glow of the sun was touching the old walls with a shadowy beauty. + +"It seems to speak to one," added Nancy. She was thinking of that +other Anne Leavitt who had come there bravely intent upon building a +happy home in the heart of the wilderness. Though she said not a word, +in her heart she was making a solemn pledge--that she and Barry, would +add, through useful lives, their bit to the traditions of Happy House +and the little Island, traditions rich with bravery, sacrifice and +loyalty. + +Again came the girls' whistle--insistent. Nancy slipped her hand into +Barry's. + +"Let's hurry." + +Hand in hand they went along the path to the house--and to their future +together. As they reached, the edge of Jonathan's raspberry patch +Nancy turned with shining eyes and whispered: "Pals." + +And Barry, teasingly recalling Nonie's pet plan, answered tenderly: +"Dearest." + + + + +_There is the high, happy spirit of youth in these famous_ + +BOOKS FOR GIRLS + +by JANE D. ABBOTT + + +BARBERRY GATE + +A boy flyer opened the Barberry Gate, closed since the day +great-grandfather Colfax locked it, and Winsome learned the romantic +story behind it all. + + +LAUGHING LAST + +Sidney finds adventure in Provincetown--she takes part in the capture +of modern pirates, and much to her surprise plays an unexpected part in +her sister's romance. + + +APRILLY + +The charming story of a young girl, child of the circus, and the +adventures which led to her goal of happiness. + + +HIGHACRES + +A school story of Jerry Travis and her chum Gyp Westley. A thread of +romance and mystery in Jerry's life runs through the tale. + + +KEINETH + +How Keineth Randolph kept a secret--a war secret--for a whole year +makes one of the best stories ever written for girls. + + +RED ROBIN + +In attempting to bring happiness into the lives of mill workers, Robin +Forsythe, heir to a fortune, has many strange adventures. + + +HEYDAY + +Twenty-three! The heyday of life. Jay, a small town girl, finds +happiness in New York. + + +LARKSPUR + +Especially interesting to any Girl Scout because it is the story of a +Girl Scout who is poor and has to help her mother. + + +HAPPY HOUSE + +How an old family quarrel is healed through a misunderstanding and an +old homestead becomes a "happy house" in reality. + + +GROSSET & DUNLAP _Publishers_ NEW YORK + + +THE NANCY DREW MYSTERY STORIES + +By CAROLYN KEENE + +Illustrated. Every Volume Complete in Itself. + + +Here is a thrilling series of mystery stories for girls. Nancy Drew, +ingenious, alert, is the daughter of a famous criminal lawyer and she +herself is deeply interested in his mystery cases. Her interest +involves her often in some very dangerous and exciting situations. + + +THE SECRET OF THE OLD CLOCK + +Nancy, unaided, seeks to locate a missing will and finds herself in the +midst of adventure. + + +THE HIDDEN STAIRCASE + +Mysterious happenings in an old stone mansion lead to an investigation +by Nancy. + + +THE BUNGALOW MYSTERY + +Nancy has some perilous experiences around a deserted bungalow. + + +THE MYSTERY AT LILAC INN + +Quick thinking and quick action were needed for Nancy to extricate +herself from a dangerous situation. + + +THE SECRET AT SHADOW RANCH + +On a vacation in Arizona Nancy uncovers an old mystery and solves it. + + +THE SECRET OF RED GATE FARM + +Nancy exposes the doings of a secret society on an isolated farm. + + +THE CLUE IN THE DIARY + +A fascinating and exciting story of a search for a clue to a surprising +mystery. + + +NANCY'S MYSTERIOUS LETTER + +Nancy receives a letter informing her that she is heir to a fortune. +This story tells of her search for another Nancy Drew. + + +THE SIGN OF THE TWISTED CANDLES + +Nancy, as mediator in a generation-old feud, divulges an unknown +birthright. + + +THE PASSWORD TO LARKSPUR LANE + +A carrier pigeon furnishes Nancy with a clue to a mysterious retreat. + + +THE CLUE OF THE BROKEN LOCKET + +Nancy's sympathy for adopted twins leads her into a surprising mystery. + + +THE MESSAGE IN THE HOLLOW OAK + +In Canada, Nancy protects her new property from a crooked promoter. + + +THE MYSTERY OF THE IVORY CHARM + +Nancy solves an Indian mystery by means of a lucky elephant charm. + + +GROSSET & DUNLAP _Publishers_ NEW YORK + + +The Judy Bolton Mystery Stories + +_By MARGARET SUTTON_ + +Judy's adventures, every one of them, have been based on something that +actually happened. The flood, the house with the round attic windows, +the hiding place of the invisible chimes, the school fire, the camp in +the Thousand Islands, the queer old house in Parkville and the panic in +the theatre--all of them are real! + +_You will not want to miss one of these thrilling stories._ + +THE VANISHING SHADOW--Judy is constantly pursued by a mysterious +shadow. Her brother, a timid but lovable boy, turns out to be a real +hero in this dramatic, fast moving story. + +THE HAUNTED ATTIC--The Boltons move into a large rambling house reputed +to be haunted. Even brave Judy is frightened at the strange rappings +and the eerie "crying ghost". + +THE INVISIBLE CHIMES--A strange girl is sheltered by the Boltons and +Judy tracks down many clues before she uncovers her real identity. + +SEVEN STRANGE CLUES--Judy works out seven baffling clues to solve the +mystery of a school fire and a prize poster contest. + +THE GHOST PARADE--Weird happenings at Thousand Island Camp provide +mystery, humor and adventure in this thrilling story. + +THE YELLOW PHANTOM--With her quick thinking and courage, Judy rescues a +lost friend and solves the mystery of "Golden Girl." + +THE MYSTIC BALL--Irene, "the engaged girl," is frightened by a crystal +gazer but Judy exposes the trickery and saves her friend's romance. + +THE VOICE IN THE SUITCASE--A weird cry leads Judy into excitement and +danger in a lonely old house. + +THE MYSTERIOUS HALF CAT--Judy and her friends become suspicious of a +mysterious old beggar and follow him. + + +GROSSET & DUNLAP _Publishers_ NEW YORK + + +The MARY and JERRY MYSTERY STORIES + +By FRANCIS HUNT + + +THE MESSENGER DOG'S SECRET + +The big police dog Flanders carried a strange message in his collar. +By following its directions, Mary and Jerry Denton were able to bring a +lost fortune to someone in need. + + +THE MYSTERY OF THE TOY BANK + +Jerry Denton was saving for a bicycle, but when his little bank +strangely disappeared he had a big mystery to solve. With the aid of +Mary, several chums and a queer old sailor, this eager lad brought +about a happy solution. + + +THE STORY THE PARROT TOLD + +A fire in a pet shop started a long chain of adventures for Mary and +Jerry Denton. The tale the talking parrot told caused plenty of +excitement and mystery before the bird was restored to its rightful +owner. + + +THE SECRET OF THE MISSING CLOWN + +Mary and Jerry have many happy adventures at the circus while searching +for the missing clown and his beautiful pony, Silverfeet. + + +GROSSET & DUNLAP _Publishers_ NEW YORK + + +Melody Lane Mystery Stories + +_By LILIAN GARIS_ + +Thrills, secrets, ghosts--adventures that will fascinate you seem to +surround pretty Carol Duncan. A vivid, plucky girl, her cleverness at +solving mysteries will captivate and thrill every mystery fan. + +The author has written many popular mystery stories for girls and in +this new series Mrs. Garis is at her best. + + +THE GHOST OF MELODY LANE + +Mystery surrounds the great organ in the home of the "Cameo +Lady"--beloved friend of Carol and sponsor of the girls' Coral Club. +Three people see the "ghost" that wanders in the grove carrying a waxy +white rose. And Carol finds the rose! In the end she finds the ghost +too! + + +THE FORBIDDEN TRAIL + +There was a tradition at "Splatter Castle" on Melody Lane, and Marah +Splartier, eccentric aunt of Veronica Flint determined to protect Vera +from following the long line of family tragedies that had had their +beginning on the "forbidden trail." Carol has several bad frights +before she clears up the mystery that keeps the little family at +Splatter Castle unhappy and afraid. + + +THE TOWER SECRET + +The winking lights flashing from the old tower on the grounds of the +Bonds' new home defy explanation. There is no one in the tower--and no +electric power or connections! Had the engaging circus family that +Carol befriended anything to do with the mystery? And what interest +had Parsnips, the queer old farmer, in the "ghost" tower? + + +THE WILD WARNING + +What power did the strange, wild warning in the woods have over Polly +Flinders? And why was she so desperately anxious to earn money? Carol +brings happiness to three families when she solves this exciting +mystery. + + +THE TERROR OF MOANING CLIFF + +No tenant would stay in the great, bleak house on "moaning cliff" that +belonged to Carol's aunt. But Carol, courageous and determined, +finally tracks the uncanny "haunts" to their source. + + +THE DRAGON OF THE HILLS + +When Carol runs a tea shop for a friend, a baffling mystery comes to +her with her first customer. Who has the limping man's lost +package--the gypsies, the oriental or the neighbor's boy who ran away? + + +GROSSET & DUNLAP _Publishers_ NEW YORK + + +The Carolyn Wells + +Books for Girls + + +Fresh, spirited stories that the modern small girl will take to her +heart, these well known books by a famous author have won an important +place in the field of juvenile fiction. + +Patty, with her beauty and frank good nature, and Marjorie full of +vitality and good spirits, are two lovable characters well worth +knowing, and their adventures will stir the eager imaginations of young +readers. + + +THE FAMOUS "PATTY" BOOKS + + Patty Fairfield Patty's Motor Car + Patty at Home Patty's Butterfly Days + Patty in the City Patty's Social Season + Patty's Summer Days Patty's Suitors + Patty in Paris Patty's Romance + Patty's Friend Patty's Fortune + Party's Pleasure Trip Patty Blossom + Patty's Success Patty--Bride + Patty and Azalea + + +THE MARJORIE BOOKS + + Marjorie's Vacation Marjorie in Command + Marjorie's Busy Days Marjorie's Maytime + Marjorie's New Friend Marjorie at Seacote + + +GROSSET & DUNLAP _Publishers_ NEW YORK + + +DANA GIRLS MYSTERY STORIES + +BY CAROLYN KEENE + +_Author of the_ + +NANCY DREW MYSTERY STORIES + + +Impetuous, delightful Jean Dana and her charming serious minded sister +Louise find themselves in the midst of several mysteries, when they +attempt to aid people who are in trouble. Thrilling moments come to +the girls as they follow up clue after clue in an endeavor to untangle +the knotty problems in which they become enmeshed. + + +BY THE LIGHT OF THE STUDY LAMP + +A stolen study lamp, a fortune teller, and a distressed schoolmate +provide plenty of excitement for the Dana girls before they locate the +persons responsible for many mysterious happenings. + + +THE SECRET AT LONE TREE COTTAGE + +While the girls are at Starhurst School, they learn that their beloved +English teacher has vanished in a strange manner. In tracing her, Jean +and Louise are able to aid the frantic relatives of a dear little +curly-haired tot, but not before they themselves are in danger of +disappearing. + + +IN THE SHADOW OF THE TOWER + +The mingling of unusual characters, who have life interests very +different from one another, lends excitement and intrigue to a +Christmas vacation of the Dana girls. Their ability to fit together +the pieces of a strange puzzle brings happiness to several persons. + + +A THREE-CORNERED MYSTERY + +There were three strange corners which the Dana girls successfully +rounded in their search for clues to clear up a mystery, involving +property and an international spy of many aliases. + + +THE SECRET AT THE HERMITAGE + +When Louise is mistaken for a runaway prisoner, strange things begin to +happen, which lead the Danas to uncover the secret of a talented girl +and her crippled charge. + + +GROSSET & DUNLAP _Publishers_ NEW YORK + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Happy House, by Jane D. 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Abbott +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Happy House, by Jane D. Abbott + +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: Happy House + +Author: Jane D. Abbott + +Release Date: April 19, 2010 [EBook #32053] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAPPY HOUSE *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +HAPPY HOUSE +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +JANE D. ABBOTT +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +AUTHOR OF<BR> +"KEINETH" AND "LARKSPUR" +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +GROSSET & DUNLAP +<BR> +PUBLISHERS —— NEW YORK +</H3> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +Made in the United States of America +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TO MARTHA +<BR> +THIS BOOK IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">THE LETTER</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">WEBB</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">HAPPY HOUSE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">AUNT MILLY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">BIRD'S-NEST</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">IN THE ORCHARD</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">AUNT MILLY'S STORY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">B'LINDY'S TRIUMPH</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">DAVY'S CLUB</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">THE HIRED MAN</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">MOONSHINE AND FAIRIES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">LIZ</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">THE FOURTH OF JULY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">MRS. EATON CALLS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">GUNS AND STRING BEANS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">PETER LENDS A HAND</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">NANCY PLANS A PARTY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">THE PARTY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">THE MASTER</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">A PICNIC</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap21">DAVY'S GIFT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap22">REAL LEAVITTS AND OTHERS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap23">WHAT THE CHIMNEY HELD</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap24">PETER</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap25">NANCY'S CONFESSION</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap26">EUGENE STANDBRIDGE LEAVITT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap27">ARCHIE EATON RETURNS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap28">A LETTER FROM THE MASTER</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap29">BARRY</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +HAPPY HOUSE +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE LETTER +</H4> + +<P> +Through the stillness of a drowsy June day broke the intoning of the +library bell, chiming the hour. +</P> + +<P> +Three heads lifted quickly to listen. Three pairs of eyes met, the +same thought flashed through three minds. +</P> + +<P> +"Won't we miss that bell, though? I've seen grads when they've come +back stand perfectly still and listen to it with their eyes all weepy +looking. That's the way we'll feel by and by," one of them said slowly. +</P> + +<P> +"And the chimes used to make me dreadfully homesick! Don't those frosh +days seem ages ago?" +</P> + +<P> +The third girl slammed the lid of the trunk that occupied the centre of +the disordered room. She crossed to the window. +</P> + +<P> +Over the stretch of green between the dormitory and the campus many +people were slowly walking. Their fluffy dresses, their gay parasols, +the aimlessness of their wandering steps marked them as visitors. The +girl in the window frowned as she watched them. +</P> + +<P> +"I always hate it when the campus fills up with gawking, staring +people! It ought to be kept—sacred—just for us!" +</P> + +<P> +One of the three laughed merrily in answer. +</P> + +<P> +"How selfish that sounds, Claire! Haven't all those people come to see +one of us graduate? This is their day—ours is past." She stopped +short. "Did you see Thelma King's sister at the class-day exercises? +She's a <I>peach</I>! She's going to enter next fall. She's a leader in +everything at the High where she goes. She'll make a good college +girl; you could see the right spirit in her face. How I envy her! +It's dreadful when you think of new ones—coming—taking our places! I +wish I was just beginning my Freshman year—I'd even be willing to +endure Freshman math." +</P> + +<P> +The third of the group who had been sitting on, the floor staring out +over the tree tops with the dreamy gravity of one who—as long ago as +yesterday—graduated from the great University, suddenly interrupted. +</P> + +<P> +"Dear girls, cease your whining! What do those pieces of sheepskin +reposing somewhere in the mess on yonder bureau stand for? Remember +what that man said yesterday—how we mustn't think this Commencement is +the end of anything—it's just the beginning. Why, this new world +that's been born out of the frightful war is full of work for our +trained minds and hands! We mustn't look back for a minute—we must +look ahead!" Thrilled by her own words she leveled a reproachful +glance upon her two companions. +</P> + +<P> +Claire sighed. "I never could get the inspiration from things that you +always seem to, Anne. I guess I'm not built right! I couldn't make +myself listen to <I>half</I> that man said. I can't think of anything right +now but what a job it's going to be getting everything into that trunk. +Mother was heartless not to stay over and do it for me!" +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind, Claire, we'll help you. Of course you and I can't see +things in the big, grand way that Anne can because she's found herself +and we haven't. But when our work <I>does</I> come we'll do it! It may not +be off in Siberia or China or Africa—like Anne's—but, wherever it is, +I guess our Alma Mater won't be ashamed of us!" The girl's eyes +softened with the passionate tenderness of the new graduate for her +University. +</P> + +<P> +Back in the freshman days a curious chance had drawn these three +together. Then, for four years, years of hopeful effort, aspirations +and youthful problems, the currents of their young lives had +intermingled closely; now each must go its way. The moment brought the +pang that comes to youth at such a parting. Their bonds were something +closer than friendship. Behind them were months of the sweetest +intimacy that youth can know—ahead were the lives they must live apart +out in a world that cared nothing for college ideals and inspirations, +where each must find her "work" and do it, so that "her Alma Mater +might be proud!" +</P> + +<P> +Statistics, even in a university, would be dull if, now and then, Fate +did not play a trick with them. Upon the roster of the class of +Nineteen-nineteen had been entered two names: "Anne Leavitt, Los +Angeles, California; Anne Leavitt, New York City." +</P> + +<P> +When one thinks that in the great world war there was an army of, +approximately, seventy-five thousand Smiths alone, and a whole division +of John Smiths, one need not marvel that two Anne Leavitts came that +October day to the old University. Doubtless, in those first trying +days, they passed one another often and did not know, but a week later, +when Professor Nevin in First Year French, read slowly from his little +leather book: "Miss Anne Leavitt," two girls jumped to their feet and +in astonishment, faced one another. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>I</I> am Anne Leavitt!" spoke the larger of the two. +</P> + +<P> +"And <I>I</I> am Anne Leavitt, too!" laughed the smaller. +</P> + +<P> +A snicker ran around the room. Professor Nevin frowned and +stared—first at his little worn book and then at the two offending +young women. Of course he was powerless to undo what had been done +years before! And as he scowled, across the classroom one Anne Leavitt +smiled at the other. When the hour ended the recitation they walked +away arm in arm, laughing over the ridiculous situation. +</P> + +<P> +At the Library steps they were joined by another girl from the French +class. She had run in her eagerness to overtake them. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you <I>really</I> both Anne Leavitts?" she asked breathlessly. +</P> + +<P> +They assured her solemnly that they were and that they didn't know just +what to do about it—old Professor Nevin had been so funny and upset. +They all three laughed again over it all. And there in the golden +warmth of that October day began the friendship of these three—for the +third girl was Claire Wallace. +</P> + +<P> +The students in the University found countless ways of distinguishing +between the two Anne Leavitts. One was tall and grave with a +meditative look in her deep-set eyes; the other, a head shorter, had a +lightness about her like an April day, reddish curly hair and an +upturned nose. One Anne Leavitt had never been called anything but +Anne, the other, since her baby days, had been Nancy. The more +intimate of the college girls called them Big Anne and Little Anne. +The professors, dignified perforce, read from their rolls, "Miss Anne +Leavitt, California—Miss Anne Leavitt, New York." +</P> + +<P> +In name only were the two girls alike. Anne had been born with the +legendary "silver spoon" and its mythical fortune. When her father and +mother died a friend of her father's, as guardian, had continued the +well-regulated indulgence that had marked her childhood. Because she +possessed an iron will and early acquired a seriousness and dignity +beyond her years, she was always a leader in each of the boarding +schools to which she progressed. Whatever Anne wanted to do she always +did, and yet, in spite of it, she had reached her college days +unspoiled, setting her strong will only for the best and obsessed with +a passionate longing for a service that would mean self-sacrifice. +</P> + +<P> +She thought now she had found it! Two weeks from this very day she, +would sail for a far-off village in Siberia to teach the peasant +children there and bring to the pitiful captivity of Russian ignorance +the enlightenment of American ideals. So big and wonderful seemed the +adventure that, girl-like, she had paid little heed to the small +details. Nancy and Claire Wallace worried more than she! +</P> + +<P> +"You'll never get enough to eat and how will you ever keep your clothes +clean," sighed Claire, who loved pretty frocks. +</P> + +<P> +"And we can't send you things, either, for they'd never reach you—some +of those awful Bolshevists would be sure to steal them!" +</P> + +<P> +Madame Breshkovsky, the little Grandmother of the Russian Revolution, +had made several visits to the University, and Anne, with the others, +had listened over and over to her vivid, heartrending stories of the +suffering needs of the children of the real Russia. It had been after +such an evening that Anne had given herself to the cause. So that, +when Nancy and Claire fretted excitedly over the hardships and dangers +of the undertaking, she had only looked at them with the question in +her grave, dark eyes: "What matters it if perhaps Anne Leavitt does +lack a few clothes and food and some silly luxuries if she is doing a +little, little bit to help her fellowmen?" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy Leavitt, like the beloved Topsy, had just "growed up." To her +chums, in her own spirited way, she had once described how: "Ever since +I can remember there were always just Dad and I. When he wanted to go +anywhere he used to pick me up like a piece of baggage and off we went. +Half the time I didn't go to the same school two years in succession. +And he used to teach me, too. Oh, how homesick I was when I came +here—without him. We're just like pals!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy's physical well-being had been watched over by nurses of almost +every race and color. She knew a little Hindoo and from the old Hindoo +"ayah" she had caught bits of Hindoo mysticism. She had romped and +rolled with Japanese babies; she had lived on a ranch in Mexico until +bandits had driven them away; she had trudged along behind her father +over miles of trail in Alaska. And the only place she had ever called +"home" was a tiny flat in New York, where her father kept the pretty +furniture that Nancy's mother had bought when a bride. Back to this +they would come after long intervals, for a little respite from their +wanderings, and for Nancy the homecoming was always an excitingly happy +one from the moment she ran down to Mrs. Finnegan's door for the key to +the lugging out again of the two little trunks, which meant a sudden +departure for some distant land. +</P> + +<P> +College had brought a great change into this gypsy life and a grief at +the separation from her "Dad." But as the weeks had passed her letters +to him read less and less like a wail of homesickness, and were filled +more and more with the college happenings and whole passages devoted to +girlish descriptions of her new friends. +</P> + +<P> +For the last two years her father had been overseas as senior newspaper +correspondent with the American Expeditionary Force, and it would be +weeks before he could return. That thought added now to the lonely +ache in Nancy's heart as she stared at her chums and wondered what it +would seem like to live day after day without seeing them! +</P> + +<P> +These three had trod together up the Paths of Learning until they were +passing now the Gateway of Life; and yet, right at that moment, all of +them, even Anne, felt childishly lonely and homesick for the shelter of +the University they were leaving. +</P> + +<P> +That was why the chiming of the Library clock, that had marked the +passage of happy time for more than one generation of youth, brought a +shadow across each of the three young faces. +</P> + +<P> +A little wistfulness crept into Nancy's voice. "Your life's all cut +out for you, Anne. It's positively thrilling! Though I'd make an +awful mess out of any such undertaking. And Claire has her family. +I'll just go to New York and get the key from Mother Finnegan and work +like mad on the 'Child.' I want to finish it before Dad comes home. I +shall send it, then, to Theodore Hoffman himself—I might as well hitch +my wagon to the tiptoppest star—or whatever it is you do! Of course +it isn't as grand as going to Russia, but I'm going to work, and some +day, maybe, I'll be famous all over the world!" +</P> + +<P> +"Little Anne Leavitt, the great dramatist!" murmured Big Anne fondly. +</P> + +<P> +Claire Wallace, confronting nothing more serious than the squeezing of +her belongings into the huge trunk, was stirred with envy. Nancy had +her "Child"—not a youngster but a growing pile of manuscript, Anne had +her "crusade" among the unfortunate children of Siberia—she had +nothing ahead but to join her family at their summer home, an estate +that covered hundreds of acres on Long Island. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish you'd come home with me, first, Nancy! You heard mother say +how much she wanted you to come and we will have a beautiful time and +then you can see Barry." +</P> + +<P> +Nancy frowned sternly. She had several reasons for frowning—she +thought. Of course she would really like to go to Merrycliffe with +Claire; she loved to frolic, and the last term had been a pretty hard +grind, but her whole future depended upon her finishing her play and +Claire simply must <I>not</I> coax her! Then the other reason was Barry. +Barry was Claire's brother recently returned from long service in +France, decorated by each of the allied countries. Toward him Nancy +and Anne, quite secretly, felt an unreasonable and growing dislike. +Neither of them had ever laid eyes on him but, ignoring the injustice, +based their antipathy solely on the fact that "Claire talks of nothing +but Barry until you feel like shutting your ears!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy had, more than once, declared that "she could just see him +strutting around with all his medals, letting everyone make a lion of +him, and she loathed handsome men, anyway—they lacked character" and +Anne said "<I>her</I> heart went out to those boys whose every minute in the +trenches had been an unrecognized and unrecorded act of heroism." Of +course they both carefully kept their real feelings from little Claire, +who was too dear to them to ever hurt in any way, so that, when she +talked "Barry," if they were only politely attentive, in her proud +enthusiasm, she never noticed. +</P> + +<P> +Now Nancy, instead of saying truthfully that "<I>she</I> wasn't going to +spend her summer helping make a parlor pet out of the 'lion,'" simply +shook her head and frowned. +</P> + +<P> +"Claire, don't tease me! Of course I know how nice it would be to swim +and dance and play tennis and all sorts of things, but I must work!" +and she finished with the decided tone that was like Anne's. +</P> + +<P> +Claire looked unhappy. "<I>I</I> don't want to go and dance and swim and +play around, though it is nice, but I can't write and I can't go to +Russia, so I'll just <I>have</I> to go and do what the others in my crowd +all do, and I suppose you'll think I'm a butterfly when I'm <I>really</I> +perfectly miserable!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy controlled a smile. "Bless you, we won't think you're anything +but just the apple of our eyes. The world needs butterflies to keep it +beautiful and gay. Your adventure, Claire, is waiting for you, maybe, +around the corner. That's what Mother Finnegan is always saying! And +after my 'Child' is finished I promise I'll come and play with you!" +</P> + +<P> +Claire was only a little cheered. +</P> + +<P> +"But Barry may not be there, then. Mother says he's dreadfully +restless. He may be gone now!" +</P> + +<P> +A knock at the door saved Nancy from an answer. +</P> + +<P> +It was old Noah, the porter. He held a letter in his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"It's fer Mis' Anne Leavitt and I'm blessed if I know which one of yez +so, I sez, I'll jes' take it to the two of yez and let you toss up fer +it!" +</P> + +<P> +It was not unusual for the two girls to find their mail confused. They +generally distinguished by the handwriting or the postmarks. But now +they both stared at the letter they took from Noah's hand. +</P> + +<P> +It was addressed in a fine, old-fashioned handwriting. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>I</I> can't recognize it," exclaimed one Anne Leavitt. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sure <I>I</I> never saw it before!" cried the other. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't this exciting? Let me see the postmark. F-r-e-e-d-o-m!" +spelled Nancy. "I never heard of it," she declared. +</P> + +<P> +"I believe it's mine! I have some relatives—or did have—a great aunt +or something, who lived near a place like that way up on North Hero +Island. I'd forgotten all about them. Open it, Claire, and let's see +what it is."' +</P> + +<P> +"You never told <I>us</I> about any aunt on any North Hero Island! It +sounds like a romance, Anne," accused Nancy, who thought she knew +everything about her friend. +</P> + +<P> +Anne laughed. "I don't wonder you think so. I just barely remember +father speaking of her. Read it, Claire!" +</P> + +<P> +Claire had seized the letter and opened it. "It is signed 'Your loving +aunt.' Isn't it the most ridiculous mystery? Why <I>couldn't</I> it have +been something else besides an aunt!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm awfully afraid it <I>is</I> for me. We never could <I>both</I> have +aunts on North Hero Island. Go on, blessed child—I'm prepared for the +worst!" +</P> + +<P> +Claire rose dramatically. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"My dear Niece," she read, adding: "I want you to <I>know</I>, Anne, that +she honors you by spelling that with a capital." "Of later years it +has been a matter of deep regret to me that though the same blood runs +in our veins we are like strangers, and that you have been allowed to +grow to womanhood without knowing the home of your forefathers on this +historic island. It is for that reason that now, after considerable +debate with my conscience, I am writing to you at your college address +which I have obtained through a chance article in an Albany newspaper +('that was the Senior Play write-up,' interrupted Nancy, excitedly) to +urge you to avail yourself of the earliest opportunity to visit me in +the old home. +</P> + +<P> +"I feel the burden and responsibility of my increasing years, and I +know that soon I will be called to that land where our forefathers have +gone before us. You are, I believe, my nearest of kin—the family, as +you must know, is dying out and I would have preferred that you had +been a boy—I will tell you frankly that I am considering changing my +will and that upon your visit depends whether or not you will be my +beneficiary. I would wish to leave the home and my worldly wealth—the +wealth of the past Leavitts, to a Leavitt, but before I can do so to +the satisfaction of my own conscience, I must know that you are a +Leavitt and that you have been brought up with a true knowledge and +respect for what being a Leavitt demands of you, +</P> + +<P> +"I await your reply with anxiety. Your visit will give me pleasure and +I assure you that you will learn to love the spot on which, for so many +generations, your ancestors have lived." +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"Your Loving Aunt,<BR> + "SABRINA LEAVITT."<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Well, I'll be——" In all her college vocabulary Anne could not find +the word to express her feelings. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't that rapturous? A great-aunt and a fortune! And will you +<I>please</I> tell me why she had to debate with her conscience?" cried +Claire. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy was gleeful over Anne's wrath. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad she's yours, Annie darling! Dad always said the whole world +was <I>my</I> only kin, but I never ran against anyone who wanted to look me +over before she left me a fortune! Who ever heard of North Hero Island +and where in goodness is it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I remember, now, that her name was awfully queer—Aunt Sa-something or +other, and North Hero Island isn't <I>utterly</I> unknown, Nancy, to the +can't even remember! I wish it had happened to Lake Champlain. I saw +it once on a road-map when I was touring last fall with Professor and +Mrs. Scott, and Professor Scott said it was a locality picturesquely +historic—I remember." +</P> + +<P> +Claire turned the letter over and over. +</P> + +<P> +"I think it's all awfully thrilling! An aunt you can't even remember! +I wish it had happened to me! It would be something so different. +It's just like a story. But what a <I>lot</I> she does think of her +forefathers!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, the Leavitts are a very old family and they are a New England +family, too, although I was born in California," interrupted Anne with +a dignity that would have gladdened the great-aunt's heart. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy was again provoked to merriment. +</P> + +<P> +"Dad always said that the only other Leavitt <I>he</I> knew was a +cow-puncher! He could lick anyone on the plains." +</P> + +<P> +Anne ignored this. She was frowning in deep thought. +</P> + +<P> +"The tiresome part is that—if I <I>don't</I> go—if I tell her about going +to Russia—she may write to my guardian!" +</P> + +<P> +All three were struck dumb at the thought. Anne had not consulted her +guardian before she had impulsively enlisted her services in Madame +Breshkovsky's cause. Because she was three months past twenty-one, +legally he could not interfere, but being so newly of age she had not +had the courage to meet his protest. So she had simply written that +she was planning a long trip with friends and would tell him of the +details when they had been completed. A letter lay now in her desk +which she intended to mail the day before she sailed. It would be too +late, then, for him to interfere. If her conscience troubled her a +little about this plan, she told herself that the cause justified her +action. +</P> + +<P> +And now this Aunt Sa-something might upset everything! +</P> + +<P> +"I wish I could remember more about those relatives up there—father +and mother used to laugh whenever they mentioned the old place. I +always imagined they were dreadfully poor! She must be a terrible old +lady—you can sort of tell by the tone of her letter. Oh, dear!" +</P> + +<P> +"What will you do?" echoed Claire, still thinking it a much more +attractive adventure than Russia. +</P> + +<P> +"I have it!" cried Anne. "<I>You</I> shall go in my place, Nancy!" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>I</I>! I should say not! Are you stark crazy, Anne Leavitt?" +</P> + +<P> +Anne seized her excitedly by the shoulder. "You could do it as easy as +anything in the world, Nancy. She's never laid eyes on me and I know +my father never wrote to her. You'll only have to go there for three +or four weeks——" +</P> + +<P> +"And pose as a real Leavitt when I'm a Leavitt that just belongs to +Dad! Well, I won't do it!" replied Nancy, stubbornly. +</P> + +<P> +"Nan-cy, please listen! You wouldn't have to do or say a thing—she'd +just take it for granted. And you could always make some excuse to go +away if——" +</P> + +<P> +"If it looked as though I was going to be found out! Why, it'd be like +living on a volcano. And I'd be sure to always say the wrong thing!" +</P> + +<P> +"But you could <I>try</I> it," implored Anne. "It would make everything +simple and you'd be doing <I>your</I> bit, then, for Madame Breshkovsky! +Think of all she told us of the suffering in Russia. Surely you could +do a little thing now to help! And if Aunt <I>did</I> like you and left me +her money, it would <I>really</I> be you and we'd give it to the cause!" +</P> + +<P> +"It'd be acting a lie," broke in Nancy. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, not exactly, Nancy, for you really are Anne Leavitt and, anyway, +it's just as though you were my other half. Way back I know we are +related. If you don't love me well enough to help me out now—well, +I'm disappointed. I'll never forget it!" +</P> + +<P> +Poor Nancy, mindful of the long separation that lay before her and her +friend, cried out in protest. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Anne, <I>don't</I> say that!" +</P> + +<P> +Claire, her eyes brilliant with excitement, chimed in: +</P> + +<P> +"Nancy, it's a hope-to-die adventure. Maybe you could make up no end +of stories and plays out of the things that happen up there! And, +anyway, you can finish the 'Child' and come to Merrycliffe that much +sooner!" +</P> + +<P> +Claire had advanced the most appealing argument. North Hero Island +certainly sounded more inspiring than a stuffy flat in Harlem with six +small Finnegans one floor below. And it was an adventure. Anne +hastened to take advantage of the yielding she saw in Nancy's face. +</P> + +<P> +"You can stay here with me until I have to go to New York, and we can +look up trains and I can tell you all about my forefathers, though I +really don't know a single thing. But she won't expect you to +know—don't you remember she wrote that she regretted my being brought +up without knowing the home of my forefathers. And if you just act as +though you wanted more than anything else in the world to learn all +about the Leavitts, she'll just love it and she'll tell you everything +you <I>have</I> to know!" +</P> + +<P> +"It's the most <I>thrilling</I> romance," sighed Claire, enviously. +</P> + +<P> +"Sounds more to <I>me</I> like a conspiracy, and can't they put people in +jail for doing things like that?" demanded Nancy. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Nancy, you're <I>so</I> literal—as if she would, way up there on an +island next to nowhere! And anyway, think of the boys who perjured +themselves to get into the service. Wasn't that justified?" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy, being in an unpleasant mood, started to ask what <I>that</I> had to +do with <I>her</I> pretending to be an Anne Leavitt who she wasn't, when Big +Anne went on in a hurt tone: +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we won't talk about it any more! I'll have to give up going to +Russia and my whole life will be spoiled. And I <I>am</I> disappointed—I +thought our friendship meant something to you, Nancy." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Anne</I>! There isn't a <I>thing</I> I wouldn't do for you! You're next +dearest to Dad. For you I'll go to—Freedom or any old place. I'll do +my best to be you to the dot and I'll pay homage to your forefathers +and will ask not a penny of the legacy—if you get it! It shall all be +for the cause!" +</P> + +<P> +Anne read no irony in her tone. Her dignity flown, she caught her +friend in a strangling hug. "Oh, Nancy, you <I>darling</I>, will you? I'll +never forget it! We'll write to her right away—or you will. From +this <I>very</I> minute you are Anne Leavitt!" +</P> + +<P> +"I wish I could go, too," put in Claire. "Perhaps I can coax Barry to +motor up that way." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you <I>dare</I>!" cried Nancy in consternation. "It would spoil it +all. I'll write to you every day every thing that happens. Goodness, +if I'm as scared when I face your Aunt Sa-something as I am right now +when I think about it, she'll know at a glance that I'm just an +everyday Leavitt and not the child of her forefathers!" +</P> + +<P> +"Hark!" Claire lifted a silencing finger. "The seniors are singing." +</P> + +<P> +The lines they loved drifted to them. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"Lift the chorus, speed it onward,<BR> +Loud her praises tell!"<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Let's join them." Suddenly Claire caught a hand of each. "<I>Girls</I>, +think of it—what it <I>means</I>—it's the last time—<I>it's all over</I>!" +Her pretty face was tragic. +</P> + +<P> +Big Anne, with a vision of Russia in her heart, set her lips resolutely. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't look <I>back</I>—look <I>ahead</I>!" she cried, grandly. +</P> + +<P> +But in Nancy's mind as, her arms linked with her chums', she hurried +off to join the other Seniors in their last sing, the troubling +question echoed: "To what?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +WEBB +</H4> + +<P> +A clatter of departing hoofs, a swirl of dust—and Nancy was left alone +on the hot railroad platform of North Hero. Her heart had seemed to +fix itself in one painful lump in her throat. She was so very, very +close to facing her adventure! +</P> + +<P> +"If you please, can you tell me in what way I can reach Freedom?" Her +faltering voice halted the telegraph operator as he was about to turn +the corner of the station. +</P> + +<P> +"Freedom? Well, now, old Webb had ought 'a been here for the train. +Isn't often Webb misses seein' the engine come in! Just you go in and +sit down, Miss, he'll come along," and scarcely had the encouraging +words passed the man's lips than a rickety, three-seated, +canopied-topped wagon, marked "Freedom Stage" turned the corner. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Hey</I>, Webb, here's a lady passenger goin' along with you to Freedom! +And did you think the express would wait fer you?" +</P> + +<P> +Webb and his dusty, rusty and rickety wagon was a welcome sight to poor +Nancy. It had already seemed to her that her journey was endless and +that Freedom must be in the farthest corner of the world. For the +first few hours she had been absorbed by her grief at parting with +Anne. But a night in a funny little hotel in Burlington had given her +time to reflect upon her undertaking and it had assumed terrible +proportions in her eyes. The courage and confidence she had felt with +her chums, back in the room in the dormitory, deserted her now. +</P> + +<P> +"Goin' to Freedom you say, Miss?" the man Webb asked, a great curiosity +in his eyes. "Wal, you jes' come along with me! Had an order for +Tobiases and it set me late, but we'll git thar. Climb up here, Miss," +and with a flourishing aside of his reins he made room for her on the +dusty seat he occupied. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy handed him her big bag and climbed easily over the wheel into the +seat he had indicated. Then with a loud "get-ap" and a flourish of his +whip they rumbled off on the last leg of Nancy's journey. +</P> + +<P> +"Ain't ever been to Freedom before?" he asked as they turned the corner +of the maple-shaded street of the little town, and the horses settled +down into a steady trot. "Reckon not or old Webb 'ud have known +ye—ain't any folks come and go on this here island thet <I>I</I> don't +know," he added with pride, dropping his reins for a better study of +his passenger. +</P> + +<P> +The air was fragrant with spring odors, the great trees met in a +quivery archway overhead, the meadow lands they passed were richly +green; Nancy's failing spirits began to soar! She threw a little smile +toward the old man. +</P> + +<P> +"I've never been in Freedom before—though I'm a Leavitt," she ventured. +</P> + +<P> +Her words had the desired effect. The man straightened with interest. +</P> + +<P> +"Wal, bless me, are ye one o' Miss Sabriny's folks? And a-goin' to +Happy House when ye ain't ever seen it?" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy nodded. "I'm Anne Leavitt," she answered carefully. "And I have +never seen my Aunt Sabrina. So I have come up from college for a +little visit. And I think <I>everything</I> is lovely," she finished, +drawing a long breath, "though, goodness knows, I thought I'd never get +here!" +</P> + +<P> +She was uncomfortably conscious that the old man was regarding her with +open concern. +</P> + +<P> +"Funny, no one ain't heard a word about it! So ye're Miss Sabriny's +great-niece and a-comin' to Happy House from your school fer a visit!" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, yes, why not?" +</P> + +<P> +"Wal, I was jes' thinkin' you'd never <I>seen</I> Happy House. And I guess +most folks in Freedom's forgotten Miss Sabriny hed any folks +much—count of the trouble!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, <I>what</I> trouble, please, Mr. Webb?" +</P> + +<P> +The old man shook his reins vigorously against the horses' backs. +</P> + +<P> +"Webb, you're an old fool—an old, dodderin' fool! Of course this here +trouble was a long spell ago, Miss, and don't belong to Leavitts young +like you. I s'pose it want much, anyways, and I guess Miss Sabriny +herself's forgotten it else you wouldn't be a comin' to Happy House! +I'm an old man, missy, and thar ain't been much in Freedom as I don't +know about, but an old un'd ought 'a know 'nough to keep his tongue in +his head. Only—you come to Webb if anything bothers you and you +needn't call me <I>Mr</I>. Webb, either, for though I'm one of Freedom's +leadin' cit-zuns and they'd never be a Memorial Day or any kind of +Fourth of July doin's in Freedom without <I>me</I>—nobody calls me Mister +Webb and you jus' come to me——" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy, forgetful now of the pleasant things about her, frowned. +</P> + +<P> +"You're very nice to me, Webb, and I'm glad to have made a friend so +soon! I think the trouble <I>has</I> been forgotten. Anyway, I'm only +going to stay a little while." +</P> + +<P> +"And a good thing it'll be fur Miss Milly, too." +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Milly——" asked Nancy. +</P> + +<P> +"It ain't no easy life fur her livin' with Miss Sabriny holdin' the +sword of wrath over her poor head, and there's lots of folks think Miss +Milly'd be a heap happier in the old graveyard than in Happy House, +'lowin' as how both feet are in the grave anyway. But this ain't no +cheerful talk to hand out to you, Miss, only I cal'late you'll make +Miss Milly a heap happier—shut up the way she is." +</P> + +<P> +"How far are we from Freedom?" asked Nancy, abruptly, thinking as she +did so that, if they were a very long way, she would have an +opportunity to learn from her garrulous friend all she needed to know! +</P> + +<P> +"Two mile from the turn yonder by the oak," the old man answered. +</P> + +<P> +For a few moments both maintained a deep silence. Nancy, her thoughts +in a tumult, was wondering what question she would ask first—there was +so much she wanted to know—the "trouble," "Miss Milly and the sword of +wrath" or what he meant by "Happy House." The last post stirred her +curiosity; then, too, it did not seem just nice to pry from this old +man. +</P> + +<P> +"Why do they call the Leavitt place 'Happy House'?" +</P> + +<P> +"Wal, I guess it ain't because it's exactly <I>happy</I>, and some sez mebbe +as how it's been a curse! Folks comes here to Freedom and looks at the +old place and there's somethin' printed about it in a little book they +sell up at Tobiases in Nor' Hero, only I ain't much on the readin'. +B'lindy Guest knows the story by heart, and she can tell you more'n I +can." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, <I>please</I>, Webb, I can't make head or tail out of what you are +saying," laughed Nancy pleadingly. "Who <I>called</I> it Happy House first?" +</P> + +<P> +"B'lindy sez the book sez that it was the first Anne Leavitt as come to +Nor' Hero called it Happy House and they hed one of these here mantels +made out o' marble over in London and fetched across with the letters +right in it spellin' Happy House! And she helped fix it up with her +own hands she'd kind o' set such store by the idee, right thar in the +settin' room and the very next day she slipped off sudden like and died +like a poor little flower. And there ain't been much happiness in +Happy House from them days since! B'lindy knows the hul story; jes' +'sits written." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, how <I>thrilling</I>!" cried Nancy, breathing very fast. She had an +uncontrollable desire to halt Webb and the Freedom stage right on the +spot in order to write to Claire Wallace. But at that moment, around +the turn by the old oak galloped a horse and rider. Because it was the +first living creature Nancy had seen since leaving North Hero, she was +startled. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Hey</I> there, Webb," the rider cried, whirling out of the path of the +old wagon. +</P> + +<P> +And Webb called back in cheery greeting: "<I>Hey</I>, Pete!" +</P> + +<P> +Through the cloud of dust Nancy had caught a glimpse of a pair of merry +eyes set deep in a face as brown as the dark shirt the man wore. +Turning impulsively in her seat she noticed, with an unexplainable +sense of pleasure, that the bare head of the rider was exceptionally +well shaped and covered with short curly hair. Then, to her sudden +discomfiture, the rider wheeled directly in the road and pulled his +horse up short. +</P> + +<P> +It was, of course, because he was the first real person she had seen on +this big lonely Island that prompted her to nod ever so slightly in +response to his friendly wave! Then she turned discreetly back to Webb. +</P> + +<P> +"Who is he?" she asked, in what she tried to make an indifferent tone. +</P> + +<P> +"Peter Hyde an' as nice a young fellar as ever come to Freedom! Ain't +been here much more'n a week and knows everybody. He's old man +Judson's hired man and he's goin' to make somethin' of that ten-acre +strip of Judson's some day or my name ain't Cyrenus Webb!" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Judson's hired man</I>!" cried Nancy, chagrined. What <I>would</I> Anne +think of her—to have recognized, even in the slightest degree, the +impertinence of this fellow! Her face burned at the thought. +</P> + +<P> +"Seems to have a lot of learnin' but he's awful simple like and a +hustler. Nobody knows whereabouts he come from—jes' dropped by out of +some advertisement old Judson put in the papers up Burlington way." +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me more about Freedom," broke in Nancy with dignity. "Is it a +very old place?" +</P> + +<P> +"Wal, it's jest as old as this Island, though I ain't much on readin' +or dates. Folks on Nor' Hero's pretty proud of the hul Island and +B'lindy sez as how it's printed that folks settled here long 'fore +anyone, exceptin' the Indians, ever heard of Manhattan Island whar New +York is. Used to be French first round here but they didn't stay long, +and then the English come down 'fore the Revolution and the Leavitts +with them, I guess. This here Island's named fur Ethan Allen, you +know, and folks sez old Jonathan, thet works up at Happy House, is a +connection of his. All the folks round here's related some way or +other to them pi'neers and I guess if we hed to put up a fight now we'd +do it jest as brave as them Green Mountain Boys! The old smithy's been +standin' on the four corners for nigh onto one hundred years and the +meetin' house facin' the commons, B'lindy sez, is older than the +smithy. And up the Leavitt road thar's a tablet these here Daughters +of somethin' or other from Montpelier put up for some pi'neers that +died fightin' the Indians while their women folks set off in boats for +the mainland. I heard B'lindy tell that at the last social down at the +meetin' house. I cal'late some of them pi'neers were Leavitts, at +that, fur it want long before that the pretty lady came who hed the +name built in the mantel. B'lindy knows—she can tell jes' what day +the pretty lady come and the very room she died in. B'lindy was born +in the old house and she and Miss Sabriny growed up like sisters though +B'lindy's a good sight younger and spryer like than Miss Sabriny!" +</P> + +<P> +From the warmth of his tone Nancy guessed that there was a weak spot in +Webb's heart for B'lindy. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me more about B'lindy," she asked, softly. +</P> + +<P> +"Wal, if you jus' take a bit of advice from an old man you be <I>purty</I> +nice to B'lindy! Folks sez that Miss Sabriny's high and mightier than +the worst Leavitt, and they're a mighty proud lot, but I jus' got a +notion that the only person who runs Miss Sabriny is B'lindy and I sort +o' think she runs the hul of Happy House! And now here I am a +gossipin' so with a pretty passenger that I clean furgot to leave off +that chicken wire for Jenkins. <I>Whoa</I>, there, whoa, I say!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy guessed that the cluster of housetops she glimpsed ahead, almost +hidden by the great elms and maples, was Freedom. She stared at them +reflectively. Through Webb she seemed suddenly to feel that she had +known the little tragedies and joys of Freedom all her life. She was +not a bit afraid now to meet Aunt Sabrina or this Miss Milly or +B'lindy. And she was eager to see the old, old house and the spot +where Leavitts had been massacred as they protected their women! After +all, it was going to be very pleasant—this playing at being one of the +old Leavitts! She wished Webb would hurry. +</P> + +<P> +When Farmer Jenkins followed Webb to the wheel of the wagon, Nancy knew +that Webb had lingered to tell of her coming. She met the farmer's +open stare with a pleasant little smile so that, an hour later, he +"opined" to the thin, bent-shouldered woman who shared his name and +labors, that "if that young gal wouldn't set things stirrin' pretty +lively up at Happy House, he'd miss his guess!" +</P> + +<P> +As they approached the outlying houses of the village Webb assumed an +important air. "This here's Freedom, Missy, and I'm proud to do the +honors for Miss Sabriny's niece! It's not big as places go but its +record can't be beat sence Ethan Allen's day. Webb knows, fer I +marched away with the boys in blue back in '61, though I was a +bare-footed youngster, long 'bout fourteen, and couldn't do nothin' +more useful than beat a drum. And thar's our service flag, Missy, and +every last one of the six of 'em's come through hul—thanks be to God! +And thar's the hotel by the post-office and cross here's the school +house which I helped build the winter they wa'n't no call fur the +stage. This is the Common and thet's the meetin' house, as anyone +could see, fur it ain't a line different from the meetin' houses over +at Bend and Cliffsdale and Nor' Hero and all over Vermont, I guess. +Funny how they never wanted only one kind o' meetin' houses! And +here's the old smithy lookin' like it was older than B'lindy 'lowed, +and here's whar we turn to go up the Leavitt road. Seein' how you're +sort of a special passenger I'll go right along up to Happy House, +though it ain't my custum!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy was tremendously excited. She stared to right and left at the +little old frame and stone houses set squarely in grass-grown yards +flanked by flowerbeds, all abloom, and each wearing, because of tightly +closed blinds, an appearance of utter desertion. On the wooden "stoop" +of the place Webb had dignified by calling a "hotel" were lounging a +few men who had scarcely stirred when Webb in salutation had flourished +his whip at them. The Commons, hot in the June sun, was deserted save +for a few chickens pecking around in the long grass. The green +shutters of the meeting house were tightly closed, too. From the +gaping door of the smithy came not a sound. Even the great branches of +the trees scarcely stirred. Over everything brooded a peaceful quiet. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, how delicious," thought Nancy. "How very, very old everything is. +<I>How</I> I shall love it!" She leaned forward to catch a first glimpse of +Happy House. +</P> + +<P> +"Back by the smithy thar's old Dan'l Hopworth's place. Shame to have +it on Miss Sabriny's road only I 'low most as long as the Leavitts been +here thar's been some of the no-good Hopworths! Poor old Dan'l's 'bout +as shiftless as any o' them, B'lindy sez, and his grandchillern ain't +any better. And that thar leads down to old man Judson's. His ten +acre piece runs right up to Miss Sabriny's. And <I>thar's</I> Happy House." +</P> + +<P> +Through the giant elms Nancy caught her first glimpse of the vine +covered old stone walls. Her first feeling was of disappointment; in +the square lines of the house there was little claim to beauty. But +its ugliness was softened by the wonderful trees that arched over its +roof; the gray of its walls and the tightly blinded windows gave a +stirring hint of mystery. +</P> + +<P> +The door, built squarely in the middle of the house, opened almost +directly upon a stone-flagged path that led in a straight line to the +road. There was something sternly formidable about it; Nancy, staring +at it with a rapidly beating heart, wondered, when it opened, what +might lie in store for her beyond it! +</P> + +<P> +Webb, with much ado, was swinging her big bag over the wheel. +</P> + +<P> +"Wal, we're makin' history, I guess, with another little Anne Leavitt +comin' to Happy House! Them horses'll stand and I'll jus' carry this +bag up fer you. Come along, Missy, and remember what Webb tells ye—ye +make up to B'lindy!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy followed him up the path to the door. To herself she was +whispering, over the quaking of her heart: +</P> + +<P> +"Well, good-by Nancy Leavitt—you're <I>Anne</I> now and don't you forget it +for one single minute!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +HAPPY HOUSE +</H4> + +<P> +In the long, dim, high-ceilinged hall of Happy House Nancy felt very +small and very much afraid. Though Miss Sabrina was standing very +close to her it seemed as though her voice came from a long way off. +It was a cold voice, and although Miss Sabrina was without doubt trying +to be gracious, there was no warmth in her greeting. She was very +tall, with a long Roman nose that gave her entire appearance a +forbidding look. +</P> + +<P> +Following her, Nancy stumbled up the long stairs and down an upper hall +to a door where Miss Sabrina stopped. +</P> + +<P> +"This is the guest room," she explained, as she opened the door. +</P> + +<P> +Someone had opened one of the blinds so here there was more light. +Nancy, looking about, thought that it was the most dreadfully tidy room +she had ever seen. It had a starched look—the heavy lace curtains at +the window were so stiff that they could have stood quite alone without +pole or ring; the stiff-backed cushioned chairs were covered with stiff +linen "tidies," edged with stiff lace; the bureau and washstand were +likewise protected and a newly starched and ruffled strip, of a sister +pattern, protected the wall behind the bowl. +</P> + +<P> +"I think you'll find it comfortable—here. There is a pleasant land +breeze at night and it is quiet," Miss Sabrina was saying. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Quiet</I>!" thought Nancy. Was there any noise anywhere on the whole +Island? She gave herself a little mental shake. She must say +<I>something</I> to this very tall, very stately woman—she was +uncomfortably conscious that a pair of cold gray eyes was closely +scrutinizing her. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I shall love it," she cried with an enthusiasm she did not feel. +"And it is so nice in you—to want me!" +</P> + +<P> +The gray eyes kindled for a moment. +</P> + +<P> +"I wanted you to know us—and to know Happy House. In spite of all +that has happened you <I>are</I> a Leavitt and I felt that it was wrong that +you should have grown up to womanhood out of touch with the traditions +of your forefathers. We are one of the oldest families on this +Island—Leavitts have always been foremost in making the history of the +state from the days when they fought side by side with Ethan Allen. +Any one of them would have laid down his life for the honor of his name +and his country. You will want to wash, Anne—the roads are dusty. +And no family in all Vermont is held in higher esteem than the Leavitts +since the first Leavitt came down from Montreal and settled here in the +wilderness. Put on a cooler dress, if you wish, and then come down to +the dining-room. We always eat dinner at twelve-thirty, but B'lindy +has kept something warm. Yes, if you are a true Leavitt you will soon +grow to revere the family pride and honor for which we Leavitts live!" +And with stately steps, as measured as her words, Miss Sabrina withdrew +from the room. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Whe-w</I>! Can you just <I>beat</I> it!" Nancy flung at the closed door. +She turned a complete circle, taking in with one sweeping glance the +heavy walnut furniture, dark and uninviting against the ugly wallpaper +and the equally ugly though spotlessly clean carpet; then threw out +both hands despairingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Nancy, you <I>are</I> in for it—forefathers and everything—family +pride and honor!" she finished with a groan. "So be a sport!" And +taking herself thus sternly in hand she went to the wash bowl and fell +to scrubbing off the dust as Miss Sabrina had bidden her. +</P> + +<P> +The clean, cool water and a change of dress restored her confidence. +At least Aunt Sabrina had accepted her without a question—<I>that</I> +ordeal was over. Everything would go easier now. As she opened the +door there came up from below a tempting smell of hot food—Nancy +suddenly remembered that she had not eaten a crumb since her hasty, +early breakfast in Burlington. +</P> + +<P> +The dining-room was as dim and cool as the rest of the house and as +quiet. Miss Sabrina herself placed a steaming omelette at Nancy's +place. Then she sat down stiffly at the other end of the table. The +omelette was very good; Nancy relished, too, eating it from a plate of +rare old blue and white china; her quick eyes took in with one +appraising glance the beautiful lines of the old mohogany highboy and +the spindle-legged chairs which one of the "forefathers" must have +brought over from England, years and years ago. +</P> + +<P> +"The meat pie was cold so B'lindy beat up an omelette," Miss Sabrina +was saying. "I guess you must be hungry, Anne." +</P> + +<P> +And then, because there had been the slightest tremble in the older +woman's voice Nancy realized, in a flash, that Miss Sabrina was as +nervous as she! Of course she had dreaded the coming of this strange +grand-niece whom she had invited to Happy House merely from her sense +of duty to Leavitt traditions. In her relief Nancy wanted more than +anything to laugh loudly—instead she flashed a warm smile and said +coaxingly: +</P> + +<P> +"I wish you'd call me Nancy! Everyone does and it sounds—oh, jollier." +</P> + +<P> +But Miss Sabrina's long face grew longer. She shook her head +disapprovingly. "We've never called Anne Leavitts anything but Anne +since the first one and I guess in every generation there's been <I>one</I> +Anne Leavitt! My mother gave the name to an older sister who died when +she was a baby. My own name is Sabrina Anne. Eat the strawberries! +Jonathan says they're the last from the garden." +</P> + +<P> +Rebuked Nancy bent her head over the fruit. "I am ashamed to know so +little—of my family! You will forgive me, won't you, when I seem +ignorant? I <I>do</I> want to learn." And she said this with all her +heart, for unless she could either get Aunt Sabrina quickly away from +the beloved subject of family or learn something about them, she was +sure to make some dreadful blunder. +</P> + +<P> +Making little patterns on the tablecloth with the end of one thin +finger, Miss Sabrina cleared her throat twice, as though she wanted to +say something and found it difficult to speak. Her eyes, as she +levelled them upon Nancy, turned steely gray with cold little glints in +their depths. +</P> + +<P> +"As I wrote to you, I believe, I struggled—for a long time—with my +conscience before I took the unwarranted step of inviting you to Happy +House. Now I must make one command. Never, while you are here, are +you to mention the name of your father or grandfather—and I likewise +will refrain from so doing!" She stood up stiffly as she finished her +singular words. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy had lifted a round strawberry to her lips. She was so startled +that the hand that guided it dropped suddenly and the berry rolled over +the cloth, leaving a tiny red trail across the white surface. +</P> + +<P> +Was there ever anything in the world as strange as this? Why shouldn't +she mention Anne's father or her grandfather? To be sure, as all she +knew about them was the little Anne had told her during the last two +weeks, she was not likely to want to say much about them—nevertheless +she was immensely curious. Why <I>should</I> Miss Sabrina make such a +singular command and <I>why</I> should she be so agitated? +</P> + +<P> +Nancy knew she must say something in reply. "I—I'll be glad to do +just—what you want me to do!" she stammered. "I just want to—make +you like me—if I can." +</P> + +<P> +Nancy said this so humbly and so sincerely that it won a smile from +Miss Sabrina. Nancy did not know, of course, that the old woman had +been trying hungrily to find something in Nancy's face that was "like a +Leavitt!" And as Nancy had spoken she had suddenly seen an expression +cross the young face that, she said to herself, was "all Leavitt!" So +her voice was more kindly and she laid an affectionate hand upon the +girl's shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"I am sure I shall grow very fond of you, my dear. Now I must leave +you to amuse yourself—this is my rest hour. Make yourself at home and +go about as you please!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy did not move until the last sound of her aunt's footstep died +away. A door shut, then the house was perfectly still. She drew a +long, quivery breath. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank goodness—she <I>does</I> have to rest! Nancy Leavitt, how are you +ever going to stand all that pomposity—for days and days. Wouldn't it +be <I>funny</I> if I took to talking to myself in this dreadful stillness? +Happy House—<I>Happy</I>, indeed." +</P> + +<P> +It was not at all difficult for Nancy to know what each room, opening +from the long hall, was or what it looked like. The parlor opened from +one side, the sitting-room from the other; the dining-room was behind +the sitting-room and the kitchen in a wing beyond that. The parlor +with its old mahogany and walnut furniture, its faded pictures and ugly +carpeting was, of course, just like the sitting-room, except that, to +give it more of a homey air, in the sitting-room there were some waxed +flowers under a glass, a huge old Bible on the marble-topped table, a +bunch of peacock feathers in a corner and crocheted tidies on the +horsehair chairs—and the old mantel that had come from England, Webb +had said, was in the "sittin'-room." +</P> + +<P> +She tip-toed through the hall and opened the door on the right. +Accustomed now to the prevailing dimness, her eyes swept immediately to +the old fireplace. The marble mantel stood out in all its purity +against the dark wall; age had given a mellow lustre to its glossy +surface. Nancy, remembering Webb's story about that Anne Leavitt who, +ages ago had placed it there, went to it and touched it reverently. +"H-a-p-p-y H-o-u-s-e," she spelled softly, her finger tracing the +letters graven into the marble. Doubtless it had come across the sea +on one of those slow-sailing ships of long ago—that other Anne Leavitt +had waited impatiently months and months for it! +</P> + +<P> +Had that Anne Leavitt, like poor old Aunt Sabrina, worried and fussed +over Leavitt traditions? Of course not—she had <I>made</I> them. +</P> + +<P> +A curiosity seized Nancy to find B'lindy. Webb had said she knew +everything. She must be somewhere beyond that last closed door in the +long hallway—the omelette had come from that direction. +</P> + +<P> +Under Nancy's pressure the door opened into a pantry and beyond, in a +big, sunny kitchen, shiny in its spotlessness, stood B'lindy before a +table, putting the last touches to a pie. She turned at the sound of +Nancy's step. Nancy paused in the doorway. +</P> + +<P> +"May I come in?" she asked. "Are you B'lindy?" She imitated Webb's +abbreviation. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," the woman at the table answered shortly. "And you're the +niece." She gave Nancy a long, steady look. "Ain't a bit like a +Leavitt's I can see! Miss Sabriny would have you come, I hope you'll +like it." +</P> + +<P> +"The hateful creature," thought Nancy. Why couldn't <I>some one</I> in +Happy House act natural and kind and jolly? +</P> + +<P> +Like Miss Sabrina, B'lindy was tall and almost as old; her forbidding +manner came not from a Roman nose but from heavy brows that frowned +down over deep-set eyes—eyes that pierced in their keenness. Like +Miss Sabrina she had a certain dignity, too, which seemed to set her +apart from her fellow creatures—the result, no doubt, as Nancy +thought, of having been born in the Leavitt household. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course I'm going to love it. It's so—so quiet! And that omelette +you made me was delicious. I was dreadfully hungry. And oh, there is +so much I want to know about Happy House. Webb told me—coming +here—that you knew everything. I've just gone in and looked at the +old fireplace. Tell me all about that Anne Leavitt." +</P> + +<P> +Nancy's coaxing tone covered the fire that was within her heart. To +herself she was saying: "The old iceberg—I'll thaw her out now or +never!" +</P> + +<P> +B'lindy set her pie down; her voice warmed a little. She rested her +hands on her hips and assumed what Webb would have called her "speakin' +air." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, now, if it's <I>pryin'</I> B'lindy Guest don't know nothin', but if +it's hist'ry—Webb's just about right. Justin Leavitt brought Anne +Leavitt down from Montreal 'slong ago as 1740, when there was first a +settlement up to Isle la Motte. He bought most this whole Island, I +guess, from the Indians and when they wanted a home Anne Leavitt laid +her finger on this very spot we're sittin' on. Justin built the house +out of the stone they dug from the Island itself. And she planned that +there mantel—just set her heart on it and it seems how a Leavitt could +have anything—anyways they hed it made in England and brought over +here jest's she planned with Happy House spelled on it all carved like +'tis now. And she helped put it up with her own little hands. The +house's been changed a lot sence but no one's ever touched that mantel!" +</P> + +<P> +"And then she died," put in Nancy, breathlessly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—she was just nothin' more'n a child and delicate at that and +wa'n't built to stand them pi'neer hardships, hidin' from the Indians +and eatin' corn and roots and the like when she was used to food as +good as the king's, for noble blood she had—the book over at North +Hero says so! She just seemed to live 'til that there mantel come and +she saw it with her very own eyes. She was brave as any man and she +hung on spite of everything 'til she'd got that done and then jest 'sif +she was tuckered out she laid down and died!" +</P> + +<P> +"In what room, B'lindy?" +</P> + +<P> +"What's now the guest room—so the book says." B'lindy ignored Nancy's +stifled, "Oh, goodness me!" "That next year the Indians attacked all +the settlers and Justin Leavitt and his brother Remembrance was killed +along with a half-dozen other pi'neers beatin' back the red men while +Robert's wife and the other women folk escaped in an open boat across +the lake and Robert's wife hid little Justin under her cape. Then +Happy House was empty 'til little Justin growed up and came back." +</P> + +<P> +"And had the Indians gone then?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, but they were friendly like and a good thing it was for they'd +never been worse en'mies than the Yorkers was then. I guess Ethan +Allen, and his Green Mountain Boys slept right here many a time, for +there wasn't much they did fightin' the Yorkers without consultin' a +Leavitt! But here I am rattlin' on and the oven waitin' for them pies." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, B'lindy—it's like a wonderful story! Will you show me the book +that tells all about it? I'm so glad my name is Anne, too. If you're +busy I'll run out and look at the garden—and find Jonathan. Webb told +me about him, too." +</P> + +<P> +Nancy's spirits were soaring; instinctively she felt that she had won +B'lindy! It was a good beginning. She opened the great oak door and +stepped out upon the path. At one time the grounds of Happy House must +have been pretentious—they were quaintly beautiful now in their age +and half-neglect. Flowering perennials had crept out from their old +beds and had spread unchecked around among the giant trunks of the +trees so that from hedge to hedge there was a riot of color. +</P> + +<P> +Among the gay blossoms Nancy picked her way, skirting the walls of the +house to discover what might lie beyond. In the back she found +Jonathan pottering among some raspberry bushes that bordered the +flagged walk. He was very bent and very old and very wrinkled; his +eyes twitched and blinked as he lifted his head to look at her. +</P> + +<P> +"Good afternoon! I am Anne Leavitt," Nancy called blithely. He was +such a perfect part of the old, old garden that she loved him on the +spot. +</P> + +<P> +"Wal, wal—little Anne Leavitt," and he nodded and blinked at her. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish you'd call me Nancy," Nancy ventured. "Everyone does, and I +don't seem nearly big enough to be Anne. I love your flowers and oh, +what a lot of berries you are going to have!" +</P> + +<P> +The old man straightened his shoulders—at least he tried to! His +flowers were his children. +</P> + +<P> +"In my younger days this here garden was the show of the Island," he +answered proudly. "Folks come from all round to look at it! +Thirty-two kinds of posies and that want countin' the hollyhocks that +grew like trees—taller'n I am. And vines and berries and vegetables. +But I can't work like I used to, and Miss Sabriny don't like anyone but +me to touch things. So things have to go abit. Miss Nancy, huh! Ye +<I>are</I> a little thing." But his smile was kindly. "And I hope ye bring +some sunshine to Happy House." +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly Nancy exclaimed: "Oh—the lake! I didn't realize how close we +were to it." +</P> + +<P> +Beyond the raspberry patch and the kitchen garden stretched an old +orchard. Through the trees Nancy had glimpsed the sapphire blue of +Lake Champlain. +</P> + +<P> +"Is that orchard ours?" she asked Jonathan. +</P> + +<P> +"That it is. I helped my father plant those thar trees myself and +they're the best bearin' on the hul of Nor' Hero!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy stood irresolute. She wanted to explore further—to run out +among the apple trees to the very cliff of the lake. But she was +bursting to write to Claire—there was already so much to tell her. +</P> + +<P> +So with one long, lingering look she retraced her steps back to the +house. As she passed slowly under the trees she was startled by the +movement of a single slat in one of the upstairs blinds. And +instinctively she knew that an eye peeped at her from behind it. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Milly—it must, of course, be the "poor Miss Milly" of whom Webb +had spoken! +</P> + +<P> +Nancy closed the front door softly behind her that it might not disturb +Miss Sabrina's hour of rest. Then she tiptoed up the long stairway. +It took but a moment's calculating to decide which door led to the room +where the blind had opened. She stopped before it and tapped gently +with one knuckle. +</P> + +<P> +"Come in," a voice answered. +</P> + +<P> +Opening the door, Nancy walked into a room the counterpart of her own, +except that a couch was drawn before the blinded windows. And against +it half-lay a frail little woman with snow-white hair and tired eyes, +shadowing a face that still held a trace of youth. +</P> + +<P> +As Nancy hesitated on the threshold a voice singularly sweet called to +her: +</P> + +<P> +"Come in, my dear! I am your Aunt Milly." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +AUNT MILLY +</H4> + +<P> +"So this is Anne Leavitt!" +</P> + +<P> +But Aunt Milly did not say it at all like Aunt Sabrina, or even +crisply, like B'lindy's "so <I>you're</I> the niece," but with a warm, +little trill in her voice that made Nancy feel as though she was very, +very glad to have her there! +</P> + +<P> +Two frail little hands caught Nancy's and squeezed them in such a human +way that Nancy leaned over impulsively and kissed Miss Milly on her +cheek. +</P> + +<P> +"I am so very glad to know you." Aunt Milly dashed a tear away from +her cheek. "I've counted the hours—after Sabrina told me you were +coming. To-day I lay here listening for Webb and then must have fallen +asleep, so that when you really came I didn't know it. Wasn't that +silly? Sit right down, dear—no, not in that old chair, it's so +uncomfortable—pull up that rocker. Let me get a good look at you!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy did not even dread Miss Milly's "good look"—she was so +delightfully human! She pulled the rocker close to the lounge and +stretched out in it with a happy little sigh. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought <I>I'd</I> never get here! It seems as though this is way off in +the corner of the world. And I'm just tired enough to find the—the +<I>quiet</I> downright restful." +</P> + +<P> +Aunt Milly laughed. "I've been worrying over the 'quiet.' It's so +dreadfully quiet here—for young folks. I was afraid it would make you +homesick. Now tell me all about your trip and your Commencement. I've +been going over in my mind just what your Commencement must have been +like—ever since Sabrina told me we had a niece who was a Senior in +college. It must be wonderful!" she finished, with just the tiniest +bit of a sigh. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly Nancy realized that here was someone hungry to know all that +was going on in the world outside of North Hero—not the world of men +and women, but her girl's world—that world that had ended Commencement +Day. She told a few little things about Senior Week, then, a little +homesick for all that had just been left behind, she rattled off one +recollection after another with an enthusiasm that kindled an answering +fire in Miss Milly's eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't <I>bear</I> to think it's all over—except that life itself is one +grand adventure and probably, after a little, I'll look back on the +school days and think how empty they were of—real things!" Then +Nancy, looking down at the frail white hand that clasped her own, +thought with a sort of shock that life was scarcely an adventure for +poor Miss Milly. But Miss Milly answered contentedly. "I love to hear +all about it. I'm glad you had it, my dear. I hope you'll come in and +talk with me often—it's like sunshine hearing your young voice!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I shall <I>like</I> to. You won't think I'm dreadful, will you, if I +tell you that Aunt Sabrina frightens me awfully and so does +B'lindy—just a little. But you don't seem a bit like them." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Milly laughed outright—a laugh that had a silver tinkle in it. +"No, I suppose I'm not—a bit like them." +</P> + +<P> +"So when I'm so frightened I don't know what to do I shall come +straight to you. And, please, Aunt Milly, will <I>you</I> call me Nancy? +No one has ever called me anything but that and it makes me feel—like +someone else—when they call me Anne. Aunt Sabrina was horrified when +I asked her." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—she would be! Of course I shall call you Nancy—or anything that +you wish! I can't be much company for you, dear, tied to this couch, +but you can bring a great deal of happiness to me." +</P> + +<P> +A wistful gleam in Aunt Milly's eyes made Nancy lean over and kiss her +again. At that moment the door opened and Aunt Sabrina walked in. +Then it seemed to Nancy as though a shadow crossed Miss Milly's face. +The glow in her eyes died completely. She seemed to shrink back among +the cushions. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you have met our niece," Aunt Sabrina said in her cold voice and +with no curiosity as to how it had happened. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy looked at Aunt Milly and Aunt Milly's glance seemed to say: +"Please don't tell her I peeked through the blinds." Aloud she +answered meekly: "I told her we were glad she had come!" +</P> + +<P> +Aunt Sabrina nodded as though to approve such action. Her eyes turned +around the room. +</P> + +<P> +"Is there anything you want done? B'lindy's washed the other covers +for your cushions, but they aren't dry enough to iron. The color +didn't run a bit—they'll be more sensible than those white ones, for +they won't be needing washing all the time, and B'lindy has enough to +do!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, they'll be more sensible," Miss Milly agreed wearily. "No, I +don't want anything." +</P> + +<P> +There were two or three moments of silence. Aunt Sabrina went about +the room straightening a picture here, a "tidy" there. Nancy watched +her with angry eyes—what <I>was</I> there about her that had killed that +precious glow in poor little Miss Milly? +</P> + +<P> +She rose abruptly. "May I go to my room? I want to write a letter." +Miss Sabrina said, "Why, of course, Anne," and Miss Milly flashed a +little ghost of a smile that entreated: "You see what life is like for +me, so please, <I>please</I> come again." +</P> + +<P> +Upon Nancy's face, as she closed her own door behind her, was a mixture +of relief, indignation and apprehension. And a little of each of these +emotions crept into the lines of the letter that—to give vent to all +that was bursting within her—she dashed off to Claire. +</P> + +<P> +"—— You'd just better believe that if I had that precious darling, +Anne Leavitt, back in our beloved tower room I'd tell her that all the +fortunes in the world and all the suffering Russians wouldn't hire me +to spend one more day with her 'family.' +</P> + +<P> +"And yet, Claire, darling, it's so <I>dreadful</I> that it's funny. I just +wonder that I haven't been scared <I>pink!</I> Can you picture your little +Nancy surrounded by mahogany, so old that it fairly screams at you, +that it was brought over on the <I>Mayflower</I> and walls as high as the +Library tower (please subtract poetical license) and just oodles of +Leavitt traditions—though I'll admit, just being a plain human mortal, +I don't know yet quite <I>what</I> the Leavitt traditions are, but believe +me, I expect to, very soon, for Aunt Sabrina talks of nothing else! +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, sweet child, you can't make head or tail to all my +jibberish, so I'll write lucid English now. The Island is wonderfully +beautiful, everything about it seems different from any other part of +the world—the trees are bigger and the grass is greener and every now +and then you catch a glimpse of Lake Champlain as blue as Anne's +sapphire ring and hazy purple mountains beyond. And the whole place is +brimming with all kinds of historical stories. +</P> + +<P> +"They call this house Happy House. It was named that by the first Anne +Leavitt, and she had a mantel made in England with the letters carved +on it, and the day after it was put up she died in the very room I'm +writing in! Isn't that tragic and exciting? I can't make a story out +of that, though, for it's been all written up in a book they sell at +North Hero. +</P> + +<P> +"The house is big and built of stone that was quarried on the Island, +and it's all covered with vines and is beautiful—outside. It has +trees all around it that meet overhead like a canopy, and instead of a +regular garden in beds the ground's all covered with tiger lilies and +Sweet William and phlox and lots of flowers I don't know the name of, +that look as though they'd spilled out over their gardens and grew +everywhere. And there's a darling old gardener who is a descendant of +Ethan Allen. +</P> + +<P> +"In fact, everyone I've seen is old and, Webb said, is descended from +'somebody or other.' +</P> + +<P> +"But the inside of the house—oh, horrors! I don't believe a ray of +sunshine has gotten into it since the year one, and if it did, it would +be shut out mighty fast. Dad would go wild with delight over the old +furniture, and the dishes are beautiful, but the wallpaper looks like +green lobsters crawling all around, and you walk on brown-red roses as +big as cabbages. Does it torture my artistic soul? Oh, ye gods! And +my own room! No wonder that other Anne Leavitt died! I never saw so +many tidies in my life—I shall never draw a happy breath among them. +Oh, I can shut my eyes, right now and see the dear old tower room—you +sitting in the middle of the bed (unmade, of course), playing your uke, +Anne digging at her French Four on the window seat along with the fudge +dishes which I forgot to wash, and a week's muss all around us. Oh, +Claire, <I>weren't</I> we happy, though? And to think it's all over. +</P> + +<P> +"Aunt Sabrina is very handsome and very Leavitty. I think Anne, in her +manner, when we've done something she doesn't approve of, is like her +Aunt Sabrina. She's very tall and parts her hair straight in the +middle and has the longest, straightest nose and a way of talking to +you that makes you feel like an atom. B'lindy, who is the +woman-of-all-work around Happy House, but Somebody, just you believe, +is very much like Aunt Sabrina and looks at you as if she could see the +littlest thought way back in your mind. And, of course, with me acting +a part and feeling as guilty as can be, you can imagine that I don't +enjoy B'lindy's searching glance! However, I asked her some questions +about the Leavitts and it warmed her up a little. +</P> + +<P> +"But there is an Aunt Milly that Anne didn't seem to know about and, +Claire, <I>she</I> is human—the dearest, sweetest, prettiest, timidest +little thing. You can't tell, looking at her, whether she is old or +not, but being my great-aunt—or Anne's—I suppose she is. But she is +an invalid and evidently can't walk. There's something about her that +makes you feel dreadfully sorry for her and like taking care of her, +and I sort of imagine that for some reason or other Aunt Sabrina treats +her horridly. When Aunt Sabrina comes into the room, poor Aunt Milly +acts scared to death. +</P> + +<P> +"Just how I'll come out of it all I can't guess. I've got to keep my +head and see the thing through for Anne's sake. But—so far—I don't +like it a bit. It was easy enough planning it all with Anne back in +college, but somehow, now that I'm here, I feel so underhanded, +deceiving these people. And Miss Sabrina talks so much about the +Leavitt honor that it makes me feel like thirty cents. There is a lot +of mystery about the place, but I feel as though I had no right to try +and find it out, though I'll admit I'm dreadfully curious. I rode over +from North Hero with the funniest old man—his name is Webb and he said +he was one of Freedom's 'first citizens.' Modest—yes. Well, with a +very little encouragement he would have poured out the entire Leavitt +history, only it didn't seem nice to let him talk. But he spoke about +a 'Leavitt trouble,' and he said something about Miss Milly being +'happier in the grave.' Isn't that interesting? And the very +strangest thing of all is that Aunt Sabrina has forbidden me to ever +<I>mention</I> my father—or Anne's father and grandfather! Of course Anne +will want to know all about it, and maybe it is my duty to find out +why! Anyway, if the chance comes to me, well, I won't shut my ears. +</P> + +<P> +"Speaking of Webb and riding over from North Hero, Claire, I did the +most dreadful thing, and if I tell you, you must swear that you won't +ever tell Anne, though goodness knows when either of us will see dear +old Anne again. We'd driven along for miles and hadn't seen a +soul—even the cows in the pastures weren't moving—when suddenly, +around a corner, dashed a man on horseback. He went by us like a +flash, but I could tell even with all the dust, that he rode well and +was very handsome and sort of different from—well, Webb, and the +people you'd <I>expect</I> to see on North Hero Island. I was curious—you +know, I always am—and I turned around. And what do you think he +did—he wheeled that horse around and stopped dead still to stare at +us, and caught me turning, of course, though I was just curious because +he seemed different. And that isn't all—he had the nerve to wave his +hand and here's the confession! <I>I nodded back to him!</I> I always am +so impulsive and it seemed so good to see someone that was young. And +he did have the grandest eyes even through the dust. But here's the +worst—I asked Webb who he was, and Webb said he was '<I>Judson's hired +man!</I>' Oh, Claire, what would Anne have said! +</P> + +<P> +"Well, of course, the fellow had his nerve, and if I ever see him again +I shall show him his place and make him understand that I am a +dignified, unapproachable young person. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Claire, dearest, I wish I was with you at Merrycliffe. You don't +know how lucky you are to have a jolly home and a jolly mother who +knows how to love! That's the trouble here—they act as though it was +a crime to show a spark of affection. Aunt Milly comes the nearest to +it, but I don't believe the others <I>know</I> what love is. +</P> + +<P> +"Write to me often, for it will help keep up my courage, and I will +keep you posted as to all that happens to poor me—especially about the +hired man. I can't wait to see him. +</P> + +<P> +"Once your happy and now your perfectly miserable used-to-be Nancy. +</P> + +<P> +"To be known for the present as, +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"ANNE LEAVITT." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +BIRD'S-NEST +</H4> + +<P> +"Joshua Leavitt was Justin's son and he married Abigail Clark over at +Isle Le Motte, and they had three sons, Joshua and John and Jacob, all +upright, settled young men. Let me see, it was either John or Jacob +was killed in the war of 1812, wasn't it, B'lindy?" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy's mind was working faster than the knitting needles in her +fingers. For three days now she had sat very close to Aunt Sabrina, +learning "all about the Leavitts." +</P> + +<P> +"It's lucky I have a good head for history," she said to herself, +nodding to show Aunt Sabrina that she was deeply interested in these +Joshuas and Johns and Jacobs. "If I'm here long enough she <I>may</I> get +down to the present generation! Joshua—John—Jacob," she repeated +softly. +</P> + +<P> +"Dear me, where <I>is</I> B'lindy? My memory isn't as good as it used to +be. I'm growing to be an old woman. But the Bible in there tells how +either John or Jacob fell at Fort Niagara. The Leavitts have always +been brave men—and men of honor!" +</P> + +<P> +At this point Nancy, quite involuntarily, dropped a stitch. The sudden +color that flushed her cheeks escaped Aunt Sabrina's notice, for +B'lindy's voice came suddenly through the open door. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Sabriny, if Jon'than don't get that cornstarch from Eaton's there +won't be no cornstarch puddin' for dinner. He's worse than no good +round the house and a body takes more steps huntin' him than doin' all +his chores for him!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy sprang to her feet. "Oh, <I>please</I> let me find him! I—I'd love +to walk around a bit, too. I'll speak very sternly, B'lindy—you just +see if he doesn't go at once!" Tossing her red wool into the cushion +of the old rocker she had been occupying, Nancy was off before the +astonished B'lindy or Aunt Sabrina could utter a protest. +</P> + +<P> +She found Jonathan at his everlasting digging. Nancy shook him +playfully by the arm. Jonathan could not guess that her eyes were +bright because, for a few moments at least, she had escaped from the +oppressiveness of Aunt Sabrina and her ancestors; his old heart warmed +to her infectious smile. +</P> + +<P> +"B'lindy's as cross as can <I>be</I>! She must have the cornstarch at +<I>once</I>! I hate cornstarch pudding worse than poison, but you must +hurry as fast as you can, and <I>please</I> go by the lilac side of the +house, because Miss Sabrina is sitting over on the hollyhock porch +talking ancestors and I want her to think that it's taking me forever +to find you!" +</P> + +<P> +"Cornstarch! Bless my boots!" A hundred wrinkles crossed the weather +beaten old face. "I'll go off to Eaton's fast's ever I can, Missy." +</P> + +<P> +"Nice Jonathan," and picking a posy, Nancy stuck it into the buttonhole +of the gardener's sweater. "And <I>I'm</I> going fast's ever I can, +straight out to the lake." +</P> + +<P> +With a wave of her hand she flew down the path through the row of old +apple trees. She wanted to shout and to sing, but as that might +startle the entire island, she indulged in a joyous handspring instead! +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, Anne, darling, if <I>you</I> could see me you'd look +shocked—you'd say, 'Nancy Leavitt, when <I>are</I> you going to grow up!' +But, Annie, if growing up and up and up is going to be to grow like +your Aunt Sabrina, sitting all the day long dwelling on the glories +that are past and gone—never—never—<I>never</I>!" The girl flung her +arms out toward the blue waters of the lake. "If I had a wish I'd wish +that I could swim straight out across you—to those purple +mountains—over there!" +</P> + +<P> +It was very still in the orchard; cool, too, for the hot June sun only +penetrated in spots the outspreading branches of the old trees. +Gradually the tumult of longing in Nancy's mind quieted; a sense of +delicious quiet inspired her. +</P> + +<P> +"It's heavenly here—just as though I was all alone in the world." She +turned slowly around. Not a glimpse of any habitation could be seen, +the rows of trees hid even Happy House. And beyond was the stretch of +sparkling water, with its rim of hazy, purple hills. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy ran to the apple tree nearest the cliff. It was very old, its +branches grew close to the ground. In a moment she had climbed them +and had perched herself comfortably upon one with her back resting +against another. +</P> + +<P> +"It must be nice to be a bird," she mused, touching lightly the glossy +leaves about her. "Playing in tree-tops and when you're bored to +death, simply flying off without so much as an excuse! Or a +wood-nymph," wistfully. Then her drooping shoulder suddenly +straightened, under the stimulation of an idea. She sprang to the +ground. "Oh, <I>rapture</I>!" she cried, and raced back toward Happy House. +</P> + +<P> +Half an hour later Jonathan, having made peace with B'lindy, found her +in the old carriage house. Two shiny nails protruding from her teeth +and a hammer in her hands betrayed that she had found his tool-box. +Her face, through smudges of dust, wore a look of determination. +</P> + +<P> +"You've come just in time to help me, Jonathan. I must get the top of +<I>this</I> box off and fasten it to <I>that</I> box—so it'll open and shut. +Then you must find a piece of leather for hinges and some oil cloth. I +think that you have everything on earth hidden in this place—except +carriages!" +</P> + +<P> +Because, with Jonathan, it had been love at first sight, he obeyed with +only a "well, well, Missy." With the boards of one box he made a snug +door for the other box and he found, hidden away, some precious leather +that could be cut into strips for hinges, and a square of oil cloth and +canvas, too. There were more nails in the tool-box, and though old +Jonathan guarded that tool-box like a treasure-chest, he'd give Nancy +anything it held! +</P> + +<P> +They labored feverishly, and within an hour Nancy declared their work +done. +</P> + +<P> +"Now come with me, Jonathan, and I'll show you my secret." She lifted +the box and started toward the orchard, Jonathan trudging after her. +</P> + +<P> +When they reached the last tree near the cliff Nancy set her burden +down. She turned to her companion with a solemn face. +</P> + +<P> +"Jonathan, no one is going to know this secret but you and me! I am a +dramatist. You don't look as though you knew what that was, but it is +something that it's very, <I>very</I> hard to be, and I shall have to +work—like everything! Right up on the branch of that tree is where +I'm going to work. I want you to take those nails I put in your pocket +and fasten this box securely to the trunk of the tree. Then I'm going +to keep all my things right in it and fasten it with this padlock +I—borrowed—from your tool-box. It'll be just like a nest—and I'll +steal out here and work and work and then, some day, when I'm famous, +all the newspapers will print a story telling how I wrote my first play +in an apple tree and that it was a secret between you and me, and +they'll want <I>your</I> picture! Now, right here, Jonathan. I'll hold it +and you nail it tight." +</P> + +<P> +Jonathan <I>didn't</I> know what a dramatist was, but he did know that his +"little Missy," perched on the old branch, was as pretty as any bird +and her eyes as bright as the sunshine that filtered through the leaves +of the tree. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, that's just fine," cried Nancy, springing to the ground to survey +their work. "It's as safe as can be and you've helped me a <I>lot</I>, you +dear old thing, you. Now we must hurry home or B'lindy's dinner will +be cold and remember, cross your heart, this is a solemn, solemn +secret!" +</P> + +<P> +She drew her fingers across his worn, gray sweater, and he nodded in +acceptance of the mysterious sign. And as he followed her back through +the orchard to the house something within his breast seemed to sing the +way it did each spring when he found the first crocus peeping up +through the frosty earth. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy found it difficult to keep from bolting through her dinner. But +a tiny sense of guilt at having left "Joshua and Jacob" so abruptly +made her very attentive to Aunt Sabrina's long story of how the blue +china was first brought to Happy House. +</P> + +<P> +Scarcely had Miss Sabrina's door closed upon her for her hour of rest, +however, than Nancy flew to her own room. She gathered up her precious +paper and pencils, a knife and a worn manuscript case, a few favorite +books and a tattered dictionary, and started out on tip-toe through the +hall toward the stairs. But, though her step was light, its sound +caught a certain patient ear nearby. +</P> + +<P> +"Nancy! Oh, Nancy!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy remembered, then, remorsefully, that not once that day had she +run in to see poor little Aunt Milly. With her treasures in her arms +she went straight to her. In the smile that greeted her from the couch +by the window, there was not one sign to indicate that Aunt Milly had +been waiting the whole long morning for her to come. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been so busy," explained Nancy, dropping her load. "I have a +mind to tell you, Aunt Milly. I meant it to be a secret, only Jonathan +knows, because he had to help me. And I'd like <I>you</I> to know, too. +Anyway, a secret's more fun when more of us know it! You see, I'd +gotten as far as Jacob in my lessons on Leavitts, and then Aunt Sabrina +couldn't remember whether it was he or his brother that was killed in +the war of 1812, and B'lindy rudely interrupted just because she had no +corn starch! Oh, Aunt Milly, I'm dreadful, but I couldn't have stood +it another <I>minute</I>—I could have hugged B'lindy and her pudding! Why, +I've sat for three days straight in a horrible stiff chair listening to +musty, dusty tales, and I wanted to scream! So I said <I>I'd</I> find +Jonathan and I bolted—and I <I>stayed</I> away! And out in the orchard, +right close to the bank, the grandest idea came to me. To fix a nest! +And Jonathan helped me. We made a little box, all waterproof, and +nailed it to the tree to keep my things in—these," indicating the pile +at her feet. "And I'm going to hide there—and work! And that's +another secret. I'm writing a play! I wrote two in college and the +English professor said they were unusual and the Senior class gave one. +And I have a <I>real</I> one, almost done. <I>Now</I> you know the secret." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, <I>Nancy</I>!" said Aunt Milly softly, two bright spots of color on her +cheeks. +</P> + +<P> +"You see I can steal out there and sit on that comfy branch and think +I'm all alone in the world. Such beautiful thoughts will come to me! +It'll be like a bird's nest." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Nancy," Aunt Milly said again, with a tragic look in her eyes that +the youthful Nancy could not read. "I wish I could see you there—just +once! Are the trees big, dear? And is the grass real green?" There +was a little tremble in the sweet voice. "Seems to me it used to be +ploughed up 'round the apple trees." +</P> + +<P> +Over Nancy rushed the heartbreaking thought that poor Miss Milly had +not seen the orchard for years and years. She threw both arms about +the frail form. With a torrent of words she pictured the raspberry +patch, old Jonathan's lettuce and radishes and beets and beans and +slender cornstalks working up through the soft earth, and the giant +apple trees beyond, the lake "just like diamonds sprinkled over +sapphire blue velvet" and the purple hills in the background. And all +the while she talked, Nancy felt little quivers passing through the +form she held. +</P> + +<P> +"It—isn't—<I>fair</I>!" she ended, enigmatically. She sat still for a +moment, staring at Miss Milly. With her bright color Aunt Milly didn't +look at all like a helpless invalid. "Maybe——" began Nancy, then +stopped short. She rose abruptly to her feet. "I've got an idea that +beats my bird's-nest all to pieces! I can't tell you now because you'd +be frightened to death, but it's going to be wonderful! Let me hide +this truck under your couch and now be very, very good until I come +back. I must find B'lindy at once." +</P> + +<P> +Nancy, fired by her sudden purpose, interrupted B'lindy in the last of +her "drying up" and demanded to know where she could find Mr. Webb. +When B'lindy "'lowed she wa'n't his keeper, but he's most al'las +hangin' 'round the smithy or Eaton's or the post-office or the hotel, +'cept when you wanted him, and then he wa'n't hangin' 'round nowhere," +Nancy started off down the path, bareheaded. +</P> + +<P> +Fortune favored her, for Mr. Webb was "hangin' round the smithy and +very delighted to see Miss Anne!" He had been wondering a lot about +the coming of the girl to Happy House. "Somethin' sure to come of it," +he had reflected again and again. +</P> + +<P> +Of course, he assured Nancy, he'd do anything he could for her. And +Nancy was sure they might find all that they needed right there in the +smithy. +</P> + +<P> +"It must be very comfortable and have some springs—and be safe, too. +And if you can find some wheels with rubber tires—off an old baby +carriage, they'll run more smoothly. And the seat must be big enough +for a lady—but she's a <I>small</I> lady!" +</P> + +<P> +Jonathan thought he "caught her idee. Old Mrs. King, over at North +Hero, couldn't walk a step 'count of rheumatism, and she had a rig-up +such as Nancy was describing." Yes, Timothy Hopkins at the smithy had +most every kind of a thing about and he'd see what he could do, and +Miss Anne could run down in the morning, early, before the stage +started for North Hero. +</P> + +<P> +"And, Webb," Nancy levelled her sweetest smile, "don't even <I>try</I> to +think whom it's for—it's a secret." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +IN THE ORCHARD +</H4> + +<P> +Until Webb could finish the task that Nancy had assigned to him, Nancy +curbing her impatience, had to return to the study of "Joshua, Jacob +and John." +</P> + +<P> +"It was John that was killed in the war of 1812, and now we have +progressed to the next generation of Samuel and Ezekiel," she wrote to +Claire. "But let me tell you that just as soon as Webb finishes the +'rig-up' (that is what he calls my perfectly beautiful idea) I'm not +going to have a minute to spend on any of the old ancestors. Won't it +be wonderful to see Aunt Milly's face when she knows about it? <I>Think</I> +of it, Claire—how we love to frolic all around this good old earth, +and how awful it would be to be tied to a couch all your days—and in +<I>such</I> a room!" +</P> + +<P> +"After to-day my letters will be just scraps and you can picture your +Nancy working madly in her tree-top! +</P> + +<P> +"So far all is safe, and I'm really beginning to feel as though I was a +real Leavitt and not walking around in Anne's shoes, especially when I +am with Aunt Milly. But it's terribly hard not to talk about Dad and +you and Anne, and I have to hold my lips together lots of times to keep +from bursting out with something. I suppose it's good training for +me—Miss Sykes used to tell me my impulsiveness would be my ruin some +day. +</P> + +<P> +"I have seen the hired man! Yesterday, when I went out to my nest, I +deliberately walked around the edge of the orchard. I saw a lot of +tumble-down sheds and things over on a rise of ground that I supposed +was Judson's, and of course the lot in between was the ten-acre strip +that Webb told me about. I couldn't <I>see</I> that it was any better than +any other part of the country around here. And while I was staring, +suddenly something moved, and there was that creature with a hoe +standing at the other end of the lot. And he waved his hand! Says I, +'Nancy Leavitt, this is your chance,' and I tossed my head so hard that +my neck truly cracked, and I stalked off back to the orchard. It was +good enough for him. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, oh, oh, Webb has come! He's taken the rig-up around the lilac +side (for strategic reasons, I have divided the grounds of Happy House) +and out to the carriage barn. Now I shall tackle B'lindy and make +ready for the blessed hour of rest. +</P> + +<P> +"Adieu, dearest Claire, pray for your old pal." +</P> + +<P> +The winning of B'lindy to her plan was not as easy as Webb had been. +It had been a "bad" morning for B'lindy; the fire would not draw well, +she had forgotten to "set" her bread, and Judson's cat had gotten into +the cream. Nancy's arguments fell on deaf ears. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess what's well enough's well enough," at last she threw over her +shoulder. "Milly Leavitt's laid on that couch twenty years and it +ain't likely she'll lay there many more, and there ain't no use +meddlin' with what's what!" +</P> + +<P> +"But, B'lindy, no one has ever tried this! It's so easy. Wait until +you see how nice and safe Webb has made the chair. It's wonderful! It +would be wicked to keep her shut up there when we could take her out! +Think of it, B'lindy, all <I>we</I> have and poor little Aunt Milly! Why, +it might make her well! I really know of such a case. It was a woman +who had tried every medicine she knew of and it was just happiness she +needed! If Aunt Milly could get out there in the sunshine and—and see +things, <I>she</I> might get well, too. Anyway, she could laugh!" +</P> + +<P> +B'lindy laid down her egg-beater. It was a sign of yielding. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess nobody's <I>tried</I> happiness on Milly Leavitt!" +</P> + +<P> +"We'll take her together, B'lindy. You may go with me to her room and +see her face when she knows!" +</P> + +<P> +"I told Miss Sabriny that there was no tellin' <I>what'd</I> happen in Happy +House if she brought a young thing like you here," was B'lindy's way of +assent. With an uplifted arm she warded off what threatened to be a +hug. +</P> + +<P> +"Go 'way, Anne Leavitt, or there won't be no dinner! And this is +<I>your</I> doin's, remember." +</P> + +<P> +True to her promise, Nancy waited until the last dinner dish was dried; +then she and B'lindy, very like culprits, tip-toed to Miss Milly's +room. Aunt Milly wore a look of expectancy, which changed to wonder +when she saw B'lindy. And one glance at Nancy's eager face told her +that something very, very different was about to happen! +</P> + +<P> +In a whisper Nancy commanded her to peep out and "just see what you'll +see." And Miss Milly, in a flutter, <I>did</I> peep out, and saw Jonathan +below, with a curiously contrived chair on wheels. +</P> + +<P> +"It's for you—Webb made it," declared Nancy. "And you're not to get +excited, because that might spoil everything. We're going to take you +to the orchard!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, <I>Nancy</I>!" Something caught in poor Miss Milly's throat. +</P> + +<P> +"You must do just what I tell you. Take this shawl, though it's warmer +out there than it is in here. I'm very strong and I shall carry you +right down in my arms, and you must cling tight to my neck." +</P> + +<P> +Poor Miss Milly commenced to tremble violently. "Nancy—I'm afraid! +I—I—It's so long—maybe I'd better—maybe it isn't—<I>right</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Aunt Milly, darling, how could it be wrong to be happy! Just +<I>try</I> it! Think of the sunshine and the birds and the nice smells and +all Jonathan's growing things! And B'lindy is going along, too, to +help. <I>Try</I> it, Aunt Milly!" +</P> + +<P> +Aunt Milly's eyes filled with tears, then she commenced to laugh +softly. "Maybe it'll be the only time! I'd love—once more——" She +let Nancy lift her slowly. "I'm too heavy, dear," she protested. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Heavy</I>——" thought Nancy. The pitifully frail form was as nothing +in her clasp. "I haven't played forward on our basket-ball team for +four years for nothing, Aunt Milly! March on, B'lindy. Now—very +still." +</P> + +<P> +It was a strange procession that moved off through the garden toward +the orchard. Jonathan led the way, B'lindy wheeled the chair and Nancy +frisked along, first one side, then the other, picking posies here and +there until Aunt Milly's lap was quite full. And Miss Milly sat very +still with her hands clasped tight together and a look of ecstasy in +her eyes, as though she was beholding a new and beautiful world! Every +step forward brought an added wonder. She had forgotten the world was +like this. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Oh-h!</I>" she whispered rapturously when a robin trilled from a nearby +tree. "<I>Oh-h!</I>" she cried again when she caught a glimpse of the lake. +</P> + +<P> +But when they reached the cliff it was Nancy's turn to exclaim. For +there in her tree had been built the cosiest of rustic seats. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>How lovely!</I>" she cried, springing into it. "It just fits." She +shook her finger at old Jonathan. "<I>You</I> made this for me, you dear +old thing!" +</P> + +<P> +But Jonathan, wishing mightily that he had, had to admit that he +"didn't know a blame thing 'bout it!" +</P> + +<P> +"Then it was Webb. He wanted to surprise me, too, as well as Aunt +Milly. Only—how did he know about my tree? Isn't it <I>nice</I>? It's as +comfy as can be." +</P> + +<P> +When Nancy joyously declared that everybody and everything was lovely, +somehow B'lindy and Jonathan and Aunt Milly felt so, too! B'lindy, at +Nancy's bidding, sat down upon the grass close to the chair, and +Jonathan, too rheumatic to follow her example, leaned against the tree +trunk and stared at Nancy with adoring eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"At first I was going to keep my nest a secret, just between Jonathan +and me. But it'll be much nicer to have all of us know about it. We +can have such nice times here. We can do so many things. B'lindy, can +you knit?" +</P> + +<P> +B'lindy said she could not, though she could crochet. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I'm going to teach you and Aunt Milly both. You can knit socks +for the children in Europe, though you must begin on washcloths. +Jonathan—I don't suppose there's any use trying to teach you—you must +keep us supplied with flowers because Aunt Milly can't have enough—you +see there are so many years she has to make up. And sometimes I'll +read to you and sometimes I'll work. We'll come here every +afternoon—shall we?" +</P> + +<P> +B'lindy and Jonathan and Aunt Milly nodded their heads. B'lindy, +watching Miss Milly's face, was beginning to think that there might be +some sense in Nancy's prescription of happiness. +</P> + +<P> +And if in her heart Nancy smothered any wistful longing as she glanced +at the locked treasure-box, she forgot it when she, too, watched Aunt +Milly. +</P> + +<P> +It was Jonathan who suddenly noticed that the sun was creeping over +toward the west and that he'd "better be at the lettuce." +</P> + +<P> +"Goodness to gracious," cried B'lindy, scrambling to her feet with a +considerable creaking of joints. "Anne Leavitt, my day's work ain't +half done!" +</P> + +<P> +On the way back through the orchard Miss Milly kept tight hold of +Nancy's hand, giving it an occasional squeeze. +</P> + +<P> +"I could die happy—now," she whispered. +</P> + +<P> +At the turn of the path beyond the raspberry patch the culprits were +confronted by Miss Sabrina. It was a very angry Aunt Sabrina, whose +one glance shadowed every bit of sunshine. Even Nancy, the ringleader +of the plot, felt her knees give way in fright. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you all about?" Miss Sabrina demanded in a voice cold with +anger. "Go about your work, Jonathan Allen. B'lindy, you wheel that +ridiculous chair back to wherever you got it from! And you, Milly +Leavitt, how <I>dare</I> you meddle with the ways of God?" +</P> + +<P> +Everyone seemed to obey Miss Sabrina without a word of protest. +Jonathan faded out of sight, B'lindy disappeared toward the kitchen +with the chair and Nancy, followed by Miss Sabrina, carried the +trembling Miss Milly back to her couch. +</P> + +<P> +"Anne, you go out now!" Miss Sabrina jerked her head toward the door. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll have a thing or two to say to Milly. She made her bed—it's the +will of our Lord she should lie in it!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy hesitated one moment, but something in Aunt Milly's frightened +glance seemed to say, "Go away!" So she went out and closed the door +upon the two sisters. +</P> + +<P> +Alone in her own room a storm of anger shook her. "I <I>hate</I> her!" she +cried out to the ugly walls. "I <I>hate</I> her! She's—just—<I>stone</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm <I>glad</I> I'm not a real Leavitt! We were <I>so</I> happy!" +</P> + +<P> +Then, really frightened, Nancy listened intently to catch some word +from the other room. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +AUNT MILLY'S STORY +</H4> + +<P> +When Nancy could stand the interval of quiet no longer, she went back +to Miss Milly's door. She did not even knock. So sure was she of +finding a crushed and heartbroken Aunt Milly within that she stood +dumbfounded before the little creature who sat bolt upright upon the +couch. +</P> + +<P> +"Come in, my dear—and close the door!" +</P> + +<P> +Everything about Miss Milly seemed to say that "the worm has turned." +There was a glow on her face different from that it had worn out in the +orchard; it seemed to come from some fire within. +</P> + +<P> +"Open every blind in the room, Nancy," she commanded in a tone that was +new for Aunt Milly. "I might as well get what light I can in here. +Now come and sit beside me." +</P> + +<P> +For a moment Aunt Milly patted Nancy's hand and said nothing. Then she +gave a little sigh. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't <I>tell</I> you, Nancy, I can't even <I>begin</I> to tell you, what +you've done for me—taking me out there! If I never go again, I've had +it once. And it's sort of stiffened something inside of me!" +</P> + +<P> +She fell silent again. Nancy was wishing that she could have heard +what had passed between Aunt Sabrina and Miss Milly that had left Miss +Milly so defiant! +</P> + +<P> +Aunt Milly seemed to read her thought. +</P> + +<P> +"She was dreadfully angry and it was partly because she was +frightened—really frightened. You see, Nancy, sister Sabrina thinks +things must always go just so and that it's almost wicked to +try—different things. She says—I've made my bed!" +</P> + +<P> +"What <I>does</I> she mean, Aunt Milly?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's a long story, dear." +</P> + +<P> +"I'd like to hear it, Aunt Milly." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose you ought to know—someone else may tell you, old Webb or +B'lindy, or even Sabrina, though she'd rather die first! I think I +used to be something like you, Nancy, or I would have been, if it +hadn't been for—the trouble!" +</P> + +<P> +"Will it make you unhappy to tell it, Aunt Milly?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, child. I used to lie here by the hour and think things over and +over, but after awhile I got so things sort of blurred—I suppose I +grew resigned and all the fight inside of me died. There never was +much. You see Sabrina brought me up and she was as stern then as she +is now. Our father was like that, too. My mother died when I was a +baby." +</P> + +<P> +"When father died Sabrina had the care of me. I suppose she tried to +bring me up well; she was very strict and—never seemed to understand! +And when I was quite young I began to dream of getting away from the +Islands. I wanted to go away to school somewhere and learn to do +something—I did not much care what—that would keep me out in the +world. Finally I decided that I wanted to study music and then, +sometime, teach it. It wasn't much to want, was it, dear? But +goodness me, when I went to Sabrina with my plan she was terribly +angry. You might have thought I had suggested something wicked! She +simply <I>couldn't</I> understand! There was enough money for us both to +live on and she said I was selfish and inconsiderate to want to go +away. She talked a great deal about the Leavitt position and being a +lady and learning contentment, and the more she talked the more +restless and discontented I grew! And the more I dreamed of what +waited out in the world beyond these little Islands. +</P> + +<P> +"After a long while, Nancy, I made up my mind to go, anyway! It was +not easy to do, because I'm not very brave, and the trouble we'd had +sort of made me hate to take any step that might make a break between +Sabrina and me. But I had to do it. I simply couldn't seem to face a +life here. That's hard for you to believe, isn't it, dear? But I +<I>was</I> a different creature, then. Well, one night I packed some +clothes and slipped away. I walked to North Hero and caught the train +for Burlington. I was going from there to—to New York." +</P> + +<P> +Breathlessly, Nancy whispered, "What happened then?" +</P> + +<P> +"The train was wrecked outside of Burlington!" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Oh</I>—Aunt Milly!" +</P> + +<P> +"I was terribly hurt. I lay for weeks in a hospital in Burlington and +they didn't know whether I'd live or die! I wish——" she stopped +short. "No, I don't! I'm <I>glad</I> I didn't die. Then they brought me +home—like this!" +</P> + +<P> +"Poor, poor little Aunt Milly!" +</P> + +<P> +"But, listen, child—that isn't half all. It seems that on the same +train was a young man from North Hero whom I had always known—and +liked. But Aunt Sabrina had never approved of him, and long before she +had forbidden his coming here. I did see him sometimes, though—I +loved company and he was entertaining. There had never been more than +a pleasant friendship between us, and I had not dreamed that he was +going to Burlington on that train. He was killed. And when I came +back from the hospital the story was on every tongue that I had been +running away with Charlie Prince!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I was hurt in every part of me—my body and my soul and my mind! +My precious dreams had crumbled forever and ever. And I had to face +that dreadful scandal! Not that I ever saw a soul—Sabrina took care +of <I>that</I>! She kept me shut up as though I had the plague. But +through her reproachful eyes I was made to see the accusations of every +man, woman and child on the Hero Islands. And I couldn't <I>make</I> her +believe it wasn't so! She simply wouldn't talk about it. She went +around with that dreadful look, day after day, and when she'd say +anything at all, it was about how I had brought shame to the Leavitt +name. And after awhile I began to feel as though I <I>had</I> done +something—more than just run away to study music. She made me +understand that the only way I could atone for it all was by burying +myself within these four walls." +</P> + +<P> +"Then <I>that's</I> what she means by 'making your bed.'" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, dear, I was so crushed that I came to believe she was right. God +knew that all I had wanted when I went away was a right to my own way +of living, but His ways are inscrutable and His Will has to be done! +Sabrina called it the sword of wrath and the justice of the Almighty, +and it didn't make much difference to me <I>what</I> it was called—I was +here. That's my story, dear, that's the way I've lived until—to-day. +But you've changed it. Something inside of me that I thought was +dead—isn't dead at all! Do you know what I told Sabrina? I told her +I didn't <I>care</I> what she thought, that I guessed when a woman was forty +years old and over she could decide things for herself and if just +going out there in the orchard was wicked, then I'd go on being +<I>wickeder</I>! That's what I told her. Dear, dear, you should have seen +her face!" +</P> + +<P> +"Hurrah, hurrah, Aunt Milly!" +</P> + +<P> +"Poor Sabrina, I never spoke like that in my life to her! I've always +been so—<I>afraid</I>, until to-day! I don't know what she'll do now. You +must not blame her too much, Nancy dear, it's the Leavitt trouble that +has made her what she is—it shadowed all our lives!" +</P> + +<P> +"Aunt Milly, what was the Leavitt trouble?" +</P> + +<P> +Aunt Milly looked distressed. "Then you <I>don't</I> know? I shouldn't +have spoken of it! I promised Sabrina I wouldn't speak to you—about +it." +</P> + +<P> +"But, Aunt Milly, I have a—a right to know, haven't I? Even Webb +hinted about it, and it makes me feel as though I was—well, on the +outside of things, to be kept in ignorance." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Milly regarded her for a moment. "I <I>told</I> Sabrina that you +wouldn't know! But may be you ought to. Somehow, telling things, too, +makes them seem not so dreadful! I believe we Leavitts lock troubles +away too much—don't air them enough, maybe. Sabrina thinks it's as +dreadful now as it was the day it happened. It was about our brother. +He was a year older than Sabrina. He wasn't at all like her, though, +nor like my father. He was gay and handsome, and high-spirited and +dreadfully extravagant. When I was very small I used to be frightened +at the quarrels between him and my father—and they were always over +money. +</P> + +<P> +"One night—he had come home just before supper after being away for a +week, no one knew where, and my father was very angry about that—they +had a quarrel that seemed more bitter than any other. Besides, there +was a thunder-storm that made it seem worse. I had been sent to bed, +but the lightning had frightened me, and I had crept downstairs to the +sitting-room. I opened the door. They were all three—for Sabrina +always sided with my father—talking so loudly they did not hear me. +My father's face frightened me more than the lightning and my brother's +had turned dead white. I think my father had just offered him some +money, for his wallet was in his hand and on the floor lay a bill, as +though my brother had thrown it back. I began to cry and ran back to +my room, more frightened by them than by the storm. And I lay there in +my bed for hours, waiting for something to happen!" +</P> + +<P> +"About midnight one dreadful bolt of lightning struck the house. It +shattered the chimney all to pieces on the outside and inside, filled +the sitting-room with dust and pieces of mortar, cracked the mantel and +moved it an inch and a half from the wall. But no one thought much of +all that, because something far more dreadful had happened! My brother +was gone and my father's wallet, the one I had seen in his hand, was +missing. He remembered laying it on the mantel and my brother and +Sabrina had seen him do it. It had contained over a thousand dollars +in bank notes. The next day my father found out that my brother had +taken the early train out of North Hero. I was too young to understand +much about it, but I used to pray, first, that my brother would come +back and tell them he <I>didn't</I> take the wallet and then I'd pray that +he'd never, never come back, so that they couldn't put him in prison." +</P> + +<P> +"That must have been Anne's grandfather," Nancy was thinking. +</P> + +<P> +"He did come back, three weeks later," Miss Milly went on, "and there +was a scene much worse than the night of the storm. They forgot I was +in the room. My father accused my brother of stealing the wallet and +refused to let him say a word. 'I want no lies added to your other +sins,' was what he said—I can hear him now. And my brother looked as +though something had struck him. Then my father told him that if he'd +take himself off and never darken the doors of Happy House again, nor +communicate with his family in any way, the matter would be dropped +forever—for the sake of the Leavitt name. My brother stood there for +a moment; I remember, I wanted to run to him! Oh, I've wished I +<I>had</I>—so often! But I was afraid of Sabrina—and my father. And then +my brother turned and walked out of the room—and out of the +door—and—down the path—and——" +</P> + +<P> +Poor Miss Milly, worn out by the excitement of the day, began to cry +softly. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy had to jerk herself to break the spell of the story. Her face +wrinkled in a frown. "It—is—dreadful, isn't it, Aunt Milly? I don't +mean his spending money and running debts and things, I +mean—your—your father's horrid—<I>mercilessness</I>! Why, the courts +don't treat the worst criminals like that! And they call it Leavitt +pride—and honor! <I>I</I> call it injustice. I wish you <I>had</I> just run up +and kissed him, then. It might have made everything so different!" +</P> + +<P> +"So <I>that's</I> why I can't speak of Anne's father or grandfather," Nancy +was thinking back of her frown. "And that's why Anne knew so little +about her aunts!" Then aloud: "I'm glad you told me, Aunt Milly. +It'll help us—be pals. We'll have other afternoons—like to-day—out +in the sunshine. But now you must rest. And I'll get ready to face +Aunt Sabrina!" +</P> + +<P> +"She'll be dreadfully cross," sighed Miss Milly, with the glow all gone +from her face. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not a bit afraid," and Nancy meant it, for within her breast +smouldered such righteous indignation at Miss Sabrina and her precious +ancestors that she welcomed the challenge. +</P> + +<P> +Dressing hurriedly for supper Nancy's eye caught the letter to Claire +lying on her bureau. It seemed to her as though hours and hours had +passed since she had so flippantly bade Claire "pray for me!" +</P> + +<P> +She wanted to open the letter and dash off another page to tell Claire +of all that had happened and how the "mystery" was a mystery no longer. +Then, with the envelope in her hand, she remembered that it concerned +Aunt's grandfather and that, perhaps, <I>she</I> had no right to tell! But +she did open the sheet and scribble across the top: "All sorts of +things have happened since I wrote this, and I may be back with you any +moment. I can't tell you yet all about it, but I can say this, that I +hate Happy House and I'm glad as can be that I'm only a pretend +Real-Leavitt! Everybody isn't horrid, though, that nice old Webb built +the cosiest seat up in my tree and surprised me." +</P> + +<P> +In exactly twenty minutes, by the hands of her small watch, she must +meet Miss Sabrina! Anyway, she could tell her just what she thought +about the whole thing, for, without any doubt she'd be sent away! But +there was Aunt Milly—she had promised Aunt Milly that there would be +more afternoons in the orchard. Somehow she must fix that. +</P> + +<P> +"I know," she waved her brush in mid-air, "I'll get Belinda!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +B'LINDY'S TRIUMPH +</H4> + +<P> +No great general of war ever mapped out a plan of attack more carefully +than Nancy laid hers! First she begged B'lindy to let her pick over +the raspberries for supper. While doing this in the chummiest sort of +way, it was very easy to tell B'lindy that she had eaten lots of raised +biscuits but never any raised biscuits like she'd had at Happy House! +</P> + +<P> +The last raspberry in the glass dish, Nancy in departing, whispered +with a little laugh; "Weren't you dreadfully frightened this afternoon +when you saw Aunt Sabrina? O! of course you weren't—Webb told me you +were the only one who could really make Aunt Sabrina do anything, but, +goodness, <I>I</I> was!" Which was balm to B'lindy's injured pride; as the +afternoon wore on B'lindy had been growing more and more indignant +because she had not "stood on her two feet and spoke up to Sabriny +Leavitt" instead of "turning tail like old Jonathan!" +</P> + +<P> +Throughout the supper, by eating very fast, Nancy managed to conceal +her nervousness and expectancy. Aunt Sabrina sat stiffly and looked +very tired and very old and, somehow, by a twist of her lips managed to +make Nancy understand that she, Nancy, was in deep disgrace and that in +due time sentence of punishment would be passed. Between B'lindy and +her mistress not a word was exchanged; B'lindy's head was tossed high +and there was an air of "sniffing" about her that, if it had not all +been so tragic, would have made the entire situation funny. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, what a <I>place</I>—what <I>funny</I> people!" cried Nancy to the stars as +she leaned that night far out of her window. "How can I <I>stand</I> it! +And why does not something happen quickly? It's just <I>like</I> Aunt +Sabrina not to say a word and to keep me on pins and needles! That's +the same way she treated Aunt Milly and that poor boy—years ago!" +Thereupon Nancy let her fancy wander back to the "gay-spirited, +extravagant" brother and his story—Anne's grandfather. Had <I>he</I> +cared, she wondered, had he died longing to see again the old Island +home, or had it been a blessing—casting him out in the wide world. He +must have met fortune somewhere, for Anne's father had been wealthy. +Dear Anne—Nancy picked out the star that was farthest in the East and +addressed it reverently. "If you can see Anne and she can see you will +you tell her that she mustn't feel cross at the mess I've made of +things. I tried to be careful but I'm me and, anyway, all the +ignorance of her blessed peasants isn't any worse than the pride and +narrowness of her own relatives! Good-night, dearest Anne, for the +last time I go to sleep in my prison walls—to-morrow I die!" +</P> + +<P> +However, the June sunshine of the next morning restored much of Nancy's +courage. She made quick note of a few good signs, and best of these +was when she surprised B'lindy vigorously tacking a cushion upon Miss +Milly's chair. B'lindy did not see Nancy and Nancy tip-toed away with +a smile. +</P> + +<P> +Then, too, the glow was back in Miss Milly's face, and when Nancy ran +into her room, her hands full of roses, Miss Milly greeted her eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"I think the sun is shining to-day just for me," she laughed, waving +her hand to the windows from which the blinds had been drawn. +</P> + +<P> +"And <I>I</I> think," and Nancy cocked her head knowingly, "that B'lindy +will force an attack with the enemy about mid-day!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy was right in her prediction. At dinner B'lindy, clad in her +customary checked gingham apron, served them veal stew and delicious +fluffy dumplings, but after the shortcake she appeared without it, and +with a broad-brimmed hat pinned well down over her sharp features. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy checked an exclamation; Miss Sabrina's lips twisted ever so +slightly, though not a word came from them. +</P> + +<P> +B'lindy assumed an added note of defiance by placing her hands on her +hips. "I guess the dishes can wait 'til the cool of the afternoon," +she said, trying to make her tone casual. "I'm goin' to take Miss +Milly for her airin'." +</P> + +<P> +One might have thought that there was nothing out of the ordinary in +B'lindy's announcement, beyond perhaps, the leaving of the dinner +dishes, but a tense moment followed, when one pair of steely eyes bored +into another pair, just as hard. And Nancy, a little frightened, +realized, with a sort of breathlessness, that she, was witnessing the +invisible conflict of two strong wills. One must weaken—and she +dropped her eyes, for she was swept by a moment's pity. +</P> + +<P> +It was Miss Sabrina's that weakened! The tenseness was broken when she +rose hurriedly from her chair. +</P> + +<P> +"Then it's on your own head, B'lindy Guest," she cried shrilly, "I've +done my duty as I saw it! She's better left alone." +</P> + +<P> +B'lindy, triumphant, threw after her, with a snort; "Duty's duty and +<I>I</I> know that's well as you, but I guess no one's tried the +perscription of happiness for Milly Leavitt and mebbe it ain't too +late!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy was torn between a wild desire to hug B'lindy and to say a nice +word to Aunt Sabrina, departing majestically from the room. But she +did neither—for both women, at that moment, looked very forbidding. +Instead, as the door closed behind Miss Sabrina, she drew a long +breath. "Suspended sentence," she said, solemnly. +</P> + +<P> +Then, at B'lindy's "What's that?" she laughed back: "The victor's +wreath shall adorn your brow, my worthy ally. While you prepare the +chariot I shall make haste to tell Aunt Milly that all's well with the +world! <I>Don't</I> look at me like that, B'lindy Guest, I'm not +crazy—yet!" +</P> + +<P> +But B'lindy "'lowed" she was, for Nancy seized her by the shoulders and +kissed first one cheek and then the other, and uttered the perfectly +incomprehensible—to B'lindy—remark; "Webb was right!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +DAVY'S CLUB +</H4> + +<P> +"The next thing we do is to s'lute the flag of our country. Now, one, +two, three—after me!" +</P> + +<P> +The shrill command floated up to Nancy in her tree-top. +</P> + +<P> +She had just snuggled back against her seat with a long sigh of +contentment. The door of her treasure-box stood open and beside her +were the sheets of her neglected manuscript. She had stolen out for an +hour's uninterrupted work. +</P> + +<P> +"How <I>heavenly</I> quiet," she had been saying to the rustling leaves. +"<I>Now</I> I am going to work and make up for lost time." Everything at +Happy House seemed to be back on what Nancy called a "peace-basis." "I +must go down to the village and tell Webb what a dear he was to make +this seat," she had thought, as she climbed into it. +</P> + +<P> +Then, just as her inspired pencil had written "Act 4" across the top of +a clean sheet, had come the strange words, seemingly out of nowhere. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I <I>never</I>!" Nancy peeped all around. The sound came apparently +from under the cliff. "Who <I>is</I> it? And how could <I>anyone</I> get there." +</P> + +<P> +The voice—a boy's—was rattling on in a succession of sharp commands. +Nancy crept toward the edge and peeped over. There, to her amazement, +on a strip of sand beach in an indentation of the shore, marched and +counter-marched a small boy, quite alone. He was a funny, snub-nosed, +tousled headed boy in ragged blouse and blue jeans—and, clearly, very +much in earnest, for a deep scowl wrinkled his freckled face. +</P> + +<P> +"At-ten-shun! Shoulder arms—right face—forward, march." Three feet +length of bare-footed manliness stepped briskly across the sand. "Step +up, you Dick Snead," and a domineering arm swept out toward an +imaginary lagger in the rear. +</P> + +<P> +"Was there <I>ever</I> anything so funny?" giggled Nancy, crouching in the +tall grass at the top of the cliff. "And what is it? Fairies don't +come in over-alls, and I don't think they ever liked military drill, +either." +</P> + +<P> +She loosened a stone and let it roll down the bank. Startled, the +youngster lifted his glance to the top of the bank. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello," called Nancy. +</P> + +<P> +A heavy scowl answered her friendly greeting. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you doing?" +</P> + +<P> +"I ain't doin' nothin'." It was clear that Nancy's interruption was +unwelcome. "Least I ain't doin' nothin' that's hurtin'." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course not! It sounded nice. I didn't even know there was a beach +down there! How did you ever get down?" +</P> + +<P> +The boy grew crafty—the haste with which he answered said plainly that +he did not <I>want</I> Nancy to know how. +</P> + +<P> +"Girls can't get down—it's awful dang'rous!" +</P> + +<P> +"Then won't you come up?" +</P> + +<P> +The boy considered this. He had guessed that this must be the "girl up +at the Happy House." She seemed friendly and not at all disposed to +"chase a feller away." And if he climbed up to her, then there would +be no danger of her discovering the way down to the beach. +</P> + +<P> +"All right, I'll come up." He disappeared for a moment in the tangle +of growth that fringed the foot of the cliff to bob up close at Nancy's +side. +</P> + +<P> +"My goodness—it's just as though you came up by magic," she cried. +"It <I>must</I> be dang'rous. I'm Nancy Leavitt. Who are you?" +</P> + +<P> +The boy gave Nancy a suspicious look. +</P> + +<P> +"Mebbe you'll tell!" he muttered, doubtingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no, I <I>wouldn't</I>! Besides, what can I tell? And I can't even +guess who you are because you see I don't know anyone in Freedom." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm Davy Hopworth." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, I remember,—" But Nancy stopped short for what she +remembered was how Webb had called them the "no-good Hopworths." +</P> + +<P> +"And that there's my club," finished Davy, gravely. "Only the other +fellers couldn't sneak away today." +</P> + +<P> +"I—understand," Nancy nodded, hugging her knees with her arms. "What +a jolly place to meet. It's so—so secret." +</P> + +<P> +Davy grinned. "You bet. That's a pirate's cove. I guess mebbe +there's a treasure buried there. All us boys knows where to get down, +too." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm so glad you let me know your secret! I won't tell a soul! I +think your club's very jolly, too." +</P> + +<P> +Davy, won by Nancy's disarming friendliness, produced from a ragged +pocket a dirty piece of paper and handed it to her. +</P> + +<P> +"Them's the Rules," he said, briefly. +</P> + +<P> +At the top was printed "Cove Culb." And below were the rules: 1. No +swaring. 2. No back talk. 3. No smokin nothin. 4. No lis. 5. No +steling birds eggs. 6. No hurtin dume anmals. 7. Eviry boys goter no +how to swim and lick eviry boy thats an enmy to the culb. 8. To kil +pirats. 9. To fite for ar contry. +</P> + +<P> +While Nancy was trying to control her lips so that she could say +something, Davy added proudly, "I wrote 'em." +</P> + +<P> +"They're—splendid! But <I>why</I> in the world should the other boys have +to sneak away?" +</P> + +<P> +"Liz says folks don't think a Hopworth's good 'nough. I guess no one +thinks a feller oughta have any fun, either. Liz don't. I wait 'til +she cleans the meetin' house—ev'ry Monday and after there's socials +and things. We sneak. Jim and Dick get a lickin' if they get caught," +Davy explained without the slightest embarrassment. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy's indignation was sincere. "What a <I>shame</I>! I wish I was a boy, +I'd join your club in a moment. Why, you can do so many things down +there—drill and—swim, can't you? And have jolly fires and roast +potatoes and weiners and corn?" +</P> + +<P> +"Gee—I wish you were a boy." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, can't I join anyway?" cried Nancy, inspired. "Some clubs have +honorary members who do nice things for them. Can't I?" +</P> + +<P> +Davy did not know what an "honorary member" was, and an instinct +trained to suspicion warned him now. +</P> + +<P> +"Girls ain't any fun." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, some girls aren't, I know! But I'm a lot like a boy. I can swim +half a mile—I've done it! I can play ball, too and—and—why I won a +medal for a high pole-vault! I'll bet I can beat you right now in a +race!" +</P> + +<P> +Davy regarded her with wide eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Bet you can't!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy sprang to her feet. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's race from—here—to that big elm way down there." She indicated +with her finger a giant elm in the "ten-acre strip." +</P> + +<P> +"How you goin' to get over that stone fence?" And Davy pointed out the +low stretch of stones that marked the dividing line between the orchard +and the ten-acre strip. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, <I>that</I>! That's easy!" +</P> + +<P> +Plainly Davy's respect was growing. He danced first on one foot and +then on the other. "You are a sport. If you can beat I'll let you +join the club. I'll count! One—two—three!" +</P> + +<P> +They were off over the stubby grass. Nancy, longer-limbed, caught the +lead. She vaulted the fence with agile ease. But Davy soon caught up +to her and in the last few yards passed her. Laughing, breathless, +Nancy reached the tree and clung to it. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurray," came from behind them. +</P> + +<P> +There, approaching them, was the "hired man." He had seemingly sprung +from nowhere. +</P> + +<P> +Flushed and disheveled by the race, an intruder on the enemy's own +ground, Nancy was at a disarming disadvantage. Besides, Davy greeted +the newcomer rapturously. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, she's as good's a boy. She's goin' to join the club!" he +announced, with triumph. "As honery member," he added. +</P> + +<P> +Peter Hyde held out a brown hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Congratulations! And to the club, too!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy was conscious that he was staring at her in a perplexed way. Her +cheeks already red from running took on an added color under his +glance. But there was a friendliness in his, eyes that won, her in +spite of her resolve to avenge at every opportunity her injured dignity. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd have won," she retorted laughingly, "if it hadn't been +for—these," and she swished her white skirts. "But I don't care as +long as Davy says I may join the club. Meetings whenever Liz cleans +the meeting-house," she repeated. +</P> + +<P> +"And she can swim and she can play ball and says we can make fires and +things," cried Davy to Peter Hyde. +</P> + +<P> +"Then you won't need me anymore?" +</P> + +<P> +"You can be a honery member, too. She says they do nice things for +clubs." +</P> + +<P> +Peter Hyde put an arm across Davy's shoulder. "I think we could do a +lot of nice things for Davy and his club," he said, directly to Nancy. +"Seems to me there's energy and enthusiasm here that's being sort of +wasted. What do you say—shall we be honery members?" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy nodded. "I swear to keep all the rules." +</P> + +<P> +Davy hopped with joy. "Wait 'til I tell the fellers. I guess you'll +see 'em round, even if they do get a lickin'! But, say," he stopped +short, inspired by a sudden thought, "mebbe now Mis' Leavitt's niece +b'longs they won't <I>have</I> to sneak!" +</P> + +<P> +Peter Hyde walked back with Nancy and Davy as far as the stone wall. +From, the corner of her eye Nancy was, quite against her will, admiring +the straight figure whose strength was only made more evident by the +rough working clothes. +</P> + +<P> +"He seems <I>nice</I>—for a hired man," she was thinking, all the while she +was answering Davy's boyish questions. +</P> + +<P> +And more than once, as he watched Nancy, that first perplexing look +came back into Peter Hyde's eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, she <I>isn't</I> a kid, after all!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE HIRED MAN +</H4> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"Claire, darling— +</P> + +<P> +"It's after ten o'clock at night and here on North Hero that's like +four in the morning in New York, but I can't wait another minute to +write to you. The <I>funniest</I> thing has happened—only I'll save it for +the end of my letter. +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't written to you since that letter with the crazy postscript, +like a nightcap, on it. Well, instead of being deported from Happy +House, bag and baggage, I seem to become more of a fixture, each day. +And each day, Claire Wallace, I grow more and <I>more</I> to think I belong +here. Just so often I have to shake myself and say 'don't +forget—you're pretending.' And, I scarcely dare write this—I believe +they are all growing a <I>little</I>, wee bit fond of me—the real me. Of +course Webb loved me at first sight and so did old Jonathan—<I>he's</I> a +dear! And precious little Aunt Milly, who is getting the prettiest +pink in her cheeks and can laugh now, truly laugh, and is as proud as +can be over her first washcloth, she wants me with her all the time. I +can tell by the way she looks at me. And I am really growing +embarrassed, to say nothing of fat, with the good things B'lindy cooks +and if you knew B'lindy, you'd understand that that is <I>her</I> way of +showing sentiment. But as to Aunt Sabrina—I am not so sure! +</P> + +<P> +"Things have changed since I wrote to you—there was an awful clashing +of wills in Happy House and Aunt Sabrina came out on the bottom and +since then she has an air of 'having washed her hands of me.' And +she's stopped the lessons on Leavitts, too, just when we'd gotten to +Ezekiel. But I've learned more than she wanted me to—I've found out +about the mystery, as I wrote before, only I can't explain until our +own Anne says I may—because it's about her grandfather! +</P> + +<P> +"I believe in my last letter I said, too, that I hated Happy House. +Well, I don't believe I do. It's a funny place—just when you think +its dismal and prisony you see something you just love—like one of +Jonathan's rose ramblers, all pinky, climbing up an old gray tree +trunk. I can't explain it, there's a sort of an appeal about the whole +place that's spooky, as though it was something human and—wanted me! +Isn't that a silly notion, especially when I'm just here acting Anne's +part so that she can go off to Russia? +</P> + +<P> +"And this whole village is just like Happy House—it is proudly +clinging to what it has been in the past and defying the advance of the +new things of the present. When I walk along the main street (and only +street) of the village I stare at the shutup houses, for, bless me, no +one would dream of opening any blinds, and I wonder if there's a +marble-topped table in every one of those best-parlors and a family +Bible on every table filled with pages of ancestors. I suppose I'm +wickedly disrespectful—when I see my dear Dad, and oh, how I want, +want, want to see him—I shall tell him that now I know he didn't bring +me up right. +</P> + +<P> +"I am a 'honery' member of a club—and now I'm approaching the exciting +part of my letter. It is called Cove's Club and has rules that forbid +my swearing, talking back, smoking, lying, stealing bird's eggs, +hurting dumb animals, and that make me fight (and lick) every enemy to +the club (which, alas, seem to be mostly mothers) kill pirates and +defend my country. Isn't that heavenly? It meets whenever Liz +Hopworth has to clean the 'meetin' house' which is always on Mondays +and after there's a social. And to attend the meetings you have to +slide down thirty feet of bank to what is known around here as Falling +Water Cove, though I don't believe water ever fell there. Anyway, it +is a historic spot for reasons besides the club—one is that it was +from there Robert Leavitt and the women of the household, with little +Justine, escaped when Freedom was attacked by the Indians and it was +there, one dark night, Ethan Allen himself landed in a boat for a +secret conference with Jacob Leavitt before an attack upon the Yorkers. +(90 plus in American History.) +</P> + +<P> +"And the members of the Club are (please read slowly) Me, Davy +Hopworth, Dick Snead, Jim Davis, Kirk Brown and Peter Hyde—the hired +man. +</P> + +<P> +"Peter Hyde and I are the 'honery' members." +</P> + +<P> +"I can hear you, Claire. 'That is just like you, Nancy Leavitt—swear +you're going to do one thing and doing another.' Yes, darling, it is +like me, I'll admit! But this time it's different. I really did +intend to be very haughty and distant each time I saw the man but—I +couldn't. Could you, if you had just been running a race which +included vaulting a stone wall? I had to run the race to win Davy's +respect and I had to jump the wall—well, to show I could! And of +course I never dreamed the creature was anywhere around. But he sprang +up from the earth, I believe, and was there at the finish. And could +<I>you</I> look haughty with every hair pin dropping out of your head? +</P> + +<P> +"And, anyway, afterwards, he explained something that has made +everything different, but that comes later in my story. +</P> + +<P> +"Today it rained for the first time since I've been in North Hero. A +sort of steady pitter-patter, not the kind of a downpour that makes you +hug shelter, but a splashy sort you long to run out in with your face +turned up. All morning long I sat with the aunts (Aunt Milly was so +disappointed when she saw the rain that I brought her down to the +hollyhock porch and made her all comfy there) and I simply couldn't +stand it all afternoon so, after lunch, I stole away. Now Happy House +is divided (thank goodness) into two parts, so if the aunts are on one +side it is easy to slip out of the other. I put on my slicker and cap +and slipped away. I frisked around in the rain drops for awhile, then, +I started toward the orchard to see if my water-proof box was +water-proof. And as I walked down the path I heard the sound of +hammering from the direction of my Nest. 'A-ha,' says I, 'I will +surprise nice Mr. Webb at his work!' So I crept up on tiptoe. And, +oh, Claire, it wasn't Mr. Webb <I>at all—it was Peter Hyde</I>! There he +was with a hammer and a saw and some nails in a funny apron he had tied +around him working away with the rain spattering through the leaves +right into his face. +</P> + +<P> +"I was so surprised I thought I'd run back, but just at that moment he +saw me. And of course, the way I always do when I shouldn't, I began +to laugh. And he laughed, too, though he <I>was</I> embarrassed. +</P> + +<P> +"I am sure he didn't want me to find out that he had made the seat. +But for a hired man he met the situation with ease. He simply asked me +to stand there while he drove one more nail; then, he said, his work +would be complete. When he'd finished he held out his hand and invited +me to climb into the nest. All this with the rain spattering on us! +Of course I had to tell him that it was perfectly lovely and had been +such a jolly surprise and that I had thought Webb had made it. And now +comes the funny part. He explained in a sort of sheepish way that he +thought <I>I was a little girl</I>! Jonathan had told him that Miss +Sabrina's little niece was coming to Happy House. When he caught a +glimpse of me in the stage (he dared to say this) he thought I looked +like a 'jolly sort of a kid.' Then that very afternoon he saw me turn +a handspring in the orchard—and climb the tree! He said he got to +thinking what a sort of dull place Happy House would be for any +youngster, and that it would be fun for him to do some little thing to +make it jollier for her. He admitted, to use his own words, that he +was flabbergasted to find that I wasn't a kid after all! I'm glad, in +a 'close-up' I <I>do</I> look my years! +</P> + +<P> +"But can't you see that that explains <I>everything</I> and that he <I>wasn't</I> +impertinent, after all? +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, living in cities all my life, I've always had an impression +that hired men were just big, clumsy, dirty looking creatures who ate +with knives and always smelled horsey. This Peter Hyde isn't that way +at all. He's tanned copper-color but his face and hands look clean and +except for his clothes, he doesn't look much different from any one +else. And now that he knows I am quite grown-up (at least in years) he +treats me very nicely. +</P> + +<P> +"We're going to do all sorts of nice things for Davy Hopworth, who is a +very nice, bright youngster, but, just because he's a Hopworth, the +other boys get punished for playing with him and that makes both Peter +Hyde and me indignant. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't the world funny, Claire, how the sins of the fathers and the +grandfathers are visited upon the children—at least in places like +this? Of course my beloved Finnegans are too busy just keeping the +present generation going, to think much about the past, and the world +they live in rushes too fast to stop to think that Timmy Finnegan, +maybe's, going to rob a bank because his great-great-grandfather, over +in County Cork, ran off with a pig. +</P> + +<P> +"It is too late in the evening to philosophize, and I mustn't let my +wick burn too low or Aunt Sabrina will know I'm using the midnight oil. +Don't be cross, dear Claire, if you don't hear from me every day; +although you might suppose that up here I'd have a great deal of +leisure time, somehow each day seems to bring something unexpected. +And as I said on page 2 of this voluminous letter, I am growing fond of +Happy House and there is a sort of fascination about everything here. +Dear Anne, with her noble dreams, never longed to bring about the +reforms that I do! One is to throw out the dreadful waxed flowers and +peacock feathers and old grasses from Happy House and fill the vases +with fresh flowers. Another is to sweep through the whole blessed +village and open every blind and let in today! +</P> + +<P> +"And then when I'm bursting with my longing to make the whole world +better, I'm suddenly reminded that I'm just a little next-to-nothing +that can't even remember to act grown-up, masquerading in our Anne's +shoes and daring to find flaws in Miss Sabrina Leavitt with all the +noble heritage of Leavitt tradition flowing in her veins. +</P> + +<P> +"Good night, littlest pal, I wish I could be with you long enough for a +good, long gossip. But, by and by—" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +MOONSHINE AND FAIRIES +</H4> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"Good-evening, yellow Buttercups<BR> +Good-evening, daisies white,<BR> +Tell me, have you met the Moon-Queen<BR> +On this pretty night?"<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The little singer made a sweeping courtesy. +</P> + +<P> +"How d'you do, Miss Buttercup? Do come here now and meet Mrs. Moon!" +With a gesture of exaggerated elegance she led an imaginary Buttercup +out to a pool of silver where the bright moonlight slanted through the +branches of an apple tree. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, everybody, bow to Mrs. Moon," and the fairy-hostess bent to the +ground. Then she snapped her fingers. "On with the music," she cried. +Like a spirit she danced off over the grass, now scarcely more than a +shadow among the shadows, now full in the moonlight, bending, swaying, +leaping, arms outstretched, face lifted. +</P> + +<P> +But the frolic of the fairies in the moonlight came to a sad end, for a +human hand reached out from behind a tree-trunk and caught the +make-believe hostess of Mrs. Moon by one thin arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Lemme go!" cried the child, shrilly. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy, awakened by the moonlight streaming across the rose-cabbages of +her carpeting, had been lured out into the night. Halting at the +raspberry patch she had heard the little singer. Cautiously, lest +indeed she disturb fairies at their revels she had crept into the +orchard. From a hiding place she had watched the child's mad dance. +</P> + +<P> +"Sh-h! I am the Moon-Queen! Let me dance with you!" Releasing the +little wriggling body Nancy threw off her slippers. "Come!" Waving +her hand she danced down through the apple trees, singing: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +In their dress of yellow gold,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">In their petals white,</SPAN><BR> +I can see the fairy folk<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Gathered here to-night!</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +From the shadow the child watched her, sullenly, suspiciously. But +with her loosened hair falling down over her pink dressing gown, Nancy +herself looked an eerie little sprite; in a moment the child's alarm +vanished. Of course she <I>knew</I> that this must be Miss Sabriny +Leavitt's niece, but it was fun, anyway, to pretend that she <I>was</I> the +Moon-Queen! And she must be very, very nice not to have "chased" her +at once! And she might stop dancing, too, any moment! So out she ran +to join Nancy, with hands outstretched, and together they capered and +danced around among the old trees until, quite out of breath, Nancy +fell upon the soft grass. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, goodness me, what <I>fun</I>! Now come here, Miss Fairy, and tell me +who you are? <I>Are</I> you a fairy come from the Village of Tall Grass in +yonder field?" +</P> + +<P> +The child, completely won, dropped at Nancy's feet. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm Nonie Hopworth." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh-h!" Nancy was genuinely surprised. "Are you Davy's sister?" +</P> + +<P> +The child nodded. "Yep." She regarded Nancy closely. "You're +<I>different</I>, aren't you?" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy caught her meaning. "Yes, I'm different—at least, I'm not +exactly like——" +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Sabriny or—or B'lindy. <I>She'd</I> have chased me! That's why I +come here to play at night. Anyway, it's easier to pretend at night. +Do you ever pretend, Miss?" +</P> + +<P> +"Call me Nancy, do! Of course, I pretend, often! I love to." +</P> + +<P> +"Ain't it fun—I mean isn't! I forgot. I play it 'most all the time." +</P> + +<P> +Nancy looked curiously at the strange little figure, almost wraithlike +in the dim light. It was hard to believe that the winsome creature +could belong in Freedom—and to the "no-good" Hopworths. +</P> + +<P> +There was grace in every movement of the thin little body not in the +least concealed by the worn, soiled, out-grown dress. Two dark, +burning, eager, questioning eyes told of a spirit that lived above and +beyond the sordid, colorless monotony of a life with old Dan'l Hopworth +and Liz, who "didn't believe a feller oughta have any fun!" +</P> + +<P> +"What do you pretend, Miss Nancy?" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy laughed and rubbed the soles of her bare feet. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, once I pretended I was the Moon-Queen and I scratched my poor +feet dreadfully. What do you pretend?" +</P> + +<P> +Nonie rocked back on her heels. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, lots and lots of different things. My every-day game is Rosemary. +She's my make-believe chum. She lives down in the haunted house on the +North Hero road, only when I pretend, of course, the house isn't +haunted. And it's got lovely glass things from the ceiling for candles +and they sparkle like rainbows and diamonds. Rosemary and I play games +and we—we read and tell each other stories and sometimes she helps me +with the work, when Liz ain't around. Only Rosemary don't believe in +fairies. She says that's baby, so when she's away I pretend fairy." +</P> + +<P> +"When the moon shines——" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, it's nicer then. And you can't play-fairy round our house +because there ain't—there are <I>not</I>—any flowers. So I come +here—there are such lots of pretty shadows—and nice smells. I +pretend all the flowers come out from the garden and have a party. +It's fun having the flowers, 'cause you can just <I>tell</I> how they'll +act. You know a tulip's going to be awful tall and proud and bow—like +this! And a rose'll act shy, and a buttercup's pert. And a daisy's +'shamed 'cause her dress ain't better—I mean isn't. And a dandelion's +awful bold. And a daffy-down-dilly—oh, <I>they're</I> jolly!" +</P> + +<P> +"How perfectly delightful! Tell me more, Nonie. I believe you have a +witch for a fairy grandmother!" +</P> + +<P> +Nonie giggled. "That's 'nother of my games. I've had that for a long +time. She's coming some day and touch me with a wand and make me into +a beautiful lady. And I'll go out and step into my carriage and a +footman all shiny and white will say: 'To her Majesty's!' And I'll sit +in the best parlor and drink chocolate and real whipped cream from cups +with pink roses on 'em, and a page will say: '<I>Do</I> have another piece +of cake, your ladyship,' and—and I'll say, 'I couldn't hold another +mouthful, thanks, I've had five!'" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy and Nonie laughed together. Then Nonie sighed. +</P> + +<P> +"Do any dreams ever come true? I mean the kind of things you sit and +think about and want?" +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe, if you dream hard enough, Nonie," Nancy answered, soberly. +</P> + +<P> +"'Course I know <I>some</I> of the things I pretend can't come true but +maybe some will. Miss Denny told me they might. Only she said I'd +have to make 'em. She's my teacher. I love her. I guess you're most +as nice as she is. She gives me books and tells me when I say bad +grammar. She says we must just think beautiful things and then put +them into the right words—but it's hard! I forget awful easy. She +don't—I mean, she does <I>not</I>—think I'm queer. Liz calls me 'loony!'" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, <I>no</I>—Nonie," protested Nancy, "Liz just can't understand." +</P> + +<P> +"But <I>you</I> do, don't you? Miss Denny did, too." Nonie was silent for +a moment. "After I've learned a lot more I want to go out in the world +with Davy and make a fortune. I don't know just how—but I want to do +grand things. There's some places, ain't there—aren't there—that's +so big folks wouldn't know we were Hopworths? Davy says he wants to go +to sea and Liz says he'll come to no good end like Pa, but mebbe I can +take him with me." She sighed. "It's awful long off 'til I grow up, +though, I'm only twelve." +</P> + +<P> +Then Nonie added slowly, as though she was sharing a secret: "There's +one more thing I pretend. After I go to bed I shut my eyes tight and +pretend that a beautiful lady with hair all gold and eyes that twinkle +like stars and smile at you, comes and sits by my bed and takes hold of +my hand and pats it and then kisses me, sort of on my forehead, and +says: 'Good night, sweetness,' like that, in a voice that's soft like +music and not a bit of the holler-kind!" Nonie gave a little sigh of +rapture. "It's nice, you see, to have a make-believe mother like that! +I s'pose a real one wouldn't have time. Anyways, Liz says she'd like +to <I>see</I> a real mother do more for young 'uns than she does!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy blinked a sudden rush of tears from her eyes. She felt that she +had seen bared the very soul of a child—a soul hungry for kindness and +for love. She reached out and took one of the small hands in her own. +</P> + +<P> +"Nonie—let's you and I play lots together. I can give you books, too. +We'll read them together. You can come to Happy House often in the +daytime." +</P> + +<P> +Nonie shook her head doubtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Liz won't let me. She says there ain't—there isn't—no use my going +off and leaving my work. She says school's bad enough!" +</P> + +<P> +"Does Liz—punish—you much?" +</P> + +<P> +"She chases Davy and me with the broom sometimes. And she scolds, too, +but we don't mind, 'cause she's scolding all the time. I wish she +would whip us—or lock us up—or—or send us to bed! It'd be like +other kids, then." +</P> + +<P> +The strangeness of a child longing for punishments that would make her +life seem like other childrens' shocked Nancy! She looked at the thin +body—was poverty starving the physical being while neglect starved the +spirit? +</P> + +<P> +"I'll talk to Liz myself. We'll see what I can coax her to do," Nancy +declared resolutely. "We'll be chums, Nonie." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, then I won't have to play 'bout Rosemary! So, you <I>are</I> as nice +as Miss Denny. You don't know her, do you? But she'll come back in +the fall and sometime, I guess, she'll be Mr. Peter's dearest." +</P> + +<P> +"What <I>do</I> you mean, Nonie," demanded Nancy. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Mr. Peter's the <I>nicest</I> man I know 'cause he's awful—nice to +Davy and me, and Miss Denny's the nicest <I>lady</I> and so she'll be his +dearest! He don't—he doesn't—know her yet but he will in the fall +and so will you." +</P> + +<P> +"I may not," Nancy answered, rather coldly, "so your Miss Denny may +have your Mr. Peter all to herself. And now something tells me it's +time for fairies to be in bed! If you'll hand me my slippers I'll +dance with you to the gate—only we must be very, very still or we'll +waken B'lindy!" +</P> + +<P> +From the gate of Happy House Nancy watched the child's figure disappear +in the shadows of the road. In a very little while she would be +crawling into her deserted bed, pulling the clothes up over her head +and pretending that a mother's hand was caressing her to sleep and a +voice that never "hollered" was whispering "goodnight." +</P> + +<P> +"Blessed child," thought Nancy, "her fairy godmother has given her one +gift that even Liz can't take away from her—imagination!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +LIZ +</H4> + +<P> +Old Jonathan, returning from his daily trip to the postoffice, brought +home the news that "there'd be doin's on Fourth of July 'count of the +soldier boys—that Webb'd said it'd got to be a Fourth that not a child +in Freedom'd forget!" And B'lindy had retorted that "it wa'nt likely, +I guess, if Webb got up the doin's anyone <I>would</I>—they'd be doin's no +one <I>could</I> forget!" +</P> + +<P> +But Nancy's interest in the coming event gave way with a quickly +smothered exclamation of delight when Jonathan drew from an inside +pocket a square, bluish envelope with a foreign postmark, redirected in +Mrs. Finnegan's most careful handwriting. +</P> + +<P> +"And here's another," he added, bringing forth a letter from Claire. +</P> + +<P> +"You're a <I>dear</I>," cried Nancy, hugging her treasures. "If you'll take +this pan of peas, Jonathan, I'll run off and read them!" +</P> + +<P> +B'lindy watched Nancy disappear toward the orchard with mingled +amazement and disapproval. "There never was a letter <I>I</I> got I'd set +by my work for! <I>That's</I> a young one for you!" +</P> + +<P> +Out in her Bird's-nest Nancy held up the two envelopes. "I'll save you +'til last, Daddy," she whispered, kissing the handwriting she loved. +</P> + +<P> +Claire's letter was short and yet so like her that Nancy could have +believed her friend was there with her—talking to her. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm perfectly miserable, and I can't let mother guess—she tries to +make everything so jolly for me. But I'm just plain homesick for +college and you girls. The summer isn't a bit what I'd planned. Barry +went away before I got home. Mother thought he'd come back but he +didn't, and the maddening thing is she won't tell me where he is. She +said Barry was 'getting settled.' Isn't that absurd? I suppose he's +gone off to the Canadian Rockies or maybe to Japan. But I don't see +why mother has to make a secret of it! The war's changed all the men I +know—none of them seem as nice. They're so restless and act so old. +But then, I'm restless, too, and feel as old as the hills. For +heaven's sake, Nancy, hurry up and do your duty by Anne's relatives and +come here to me—I need you!" +</P> + +<P> +"Funny Claire," laughed Nancy, talking aloud in the way she had learned +at Happy House. "She's always trying to make herself think she's +miserable. But Barry <I>is</I> a pill! Now, Daddy mine!" +</P> + +<P> +Because she must make her moment of joy last as long as possible, she +spread out each page; she peeped into the envelope to be certain that +she had them all; she touched ever so lightly the penned lines; she +even sniffed joyously at the paper in a vain hope of detecting the +familiar odor of Havana tobacco. +</P> + +<P> +The letter had been three weeks on its way. And it was in answer to +one Nancy had written to him from college, soon after Anne's plans to +go to. Russia had been completed. +</P> + +<P> +"* * * * That is fine in Anne, but it seems to me, that in the +enthusiasm of her youth she's overlooking opportunities for service +closer at hand. These problems over here are so tremendous—they, need +a tried mind and the wisdom of years. You know, my dear, if you want +to do things to make this world better you can generally find them +waiting for you in your very own corner! Wherever you look you will +see the destruction of prejudice, ignorance, selfishness and pride—you +don't have to go to Russia to find it! +</P> + +<P> +"In a few weeks my baby will be graduated. I cannot picture you grown +up. Perhaps you will never seem so to your Dad. I feel as though +these months that I have spent over here away from you must have made +many changes in my girl—they have cheated me of a great deal of joy in +your development. But I hope that the dignities you have acquired have +not changed the dear, kind, joyous heart of you! +</P> + +<P> +"You tell me you have decided upon a 'career,' but you will not tell me +what—little torment! Is it something in which I can help? If it is +useful and honorable, my child, it will bring you happiness, whatever +it is. I hope it is a hard one, too, the more you have to work the +more satisfaction you will enjoy. +</P> + +<P> +"Now for good news. My work over here is done. As soon as I can get +passage I will sail for home, I can't think of anything else. I +thought I'd spend my unexpected holiday nosing around in the places +where I've always wanted to go—but I can't. I'm too impatient to +enjoy anything. So I shall camp on the doorstep of the G. H. Q. Office +until word of my sailing comes. I suppose you are at the apartment +under Mrs. Finnegan's loving eye. When I return we'll run off to the +seashore or mountains for a few weeks." +</P> + +<P> +"Dear, dear thoughtful Daddy—nice, old, <I>preachy</I> Daddy—with your +sugar-coated sermons in little pellets, all easy to swallow!" cried +Nancy, laughing, then suddenly a sob choked her, another and then +another. +</P> + +<P> +"It's almost <I>dreadful</I> to have Daddy have just me. What if he is +disappointed when he sees me! What if he is—angry—at what I've done!" +</P> + +<P> +For the first time this possibility crossed her mind +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P134"></A>134}</SPAN> +leaving a +terrible fear. Impulsive Nancy had often displeased her father, but +always the most trivial offence had troubled her deeply. Her father +had such an aversion to the smallest departure from truth! And wasn't +she really acting a lie? +</P> + +<P> +For the next few moments poor Nancy sorely needed the support of Anne's +convincing arguments! Remorse of the most torturing kind swept her. +</P> + +<P> +And she had dared to judge Miss Sabrina's standards of honor and +justice! +</P> + +<P> +"I'll go away," she cried, aloud. "I'll go straight back to Mrs. +Finnegan's where I belong." +</P> + +<P> +But this determination, soothing at it was, brought added problems. +Nancy's brow wrinkled with a deep frown of perplexity. It would not be +fair to Anne to just run away—she'd have to give some explanation to +Miss Sabrina and Miss Milly and B'lindy, and even Webb. And just now, +in her present mood, anything but the absolute truth seemed abhorrent +to her. +</P> + +<P> +Then she thought of Aunt Milly—dear little Aunt Milly. She was a +different creature now from the pale little woman Nancy had first seen +on the couch in the darkened room. Each day, when she did not go to +the orchard, she spent in the sitting room or on the hollyhock porch, +knitting and helping in little household tasks. And Nancy knew by the +wistful glance that met hers when she came and went, how Aunt Milly +hungered for her company. Nancy had told herself that it was because +she was young and that she seemed, perhaps, like what Aunt Milly had +wanted to be—before the dreadful accident. +</P> + +<P> +What <I>would</I> Aunt Milly's life be if she went suddenly out of it? +</P> + +<P> +There was Davy, too, and all she had planned to start for the Club and +Nonie— +</P> + +<P> +What must Nonie think? She had let a whole day go by and had not seen +Liz! +</P> + +<P> +Nancy re-read her father's letter. "If you want to do things to make +this world better you can generally find them waiting for you in your +very own corner!" Funny—that Daddy should have written just that! +Nancy folded her letter with a sigh of relief. "Of course, there's +work right here and maybe—I'd be a coward to run away—just now. The +wrong was done when I came!" +</P> + +<P> +The logic was youthful, but then Nancy, despite the dignity of +graduation was very youthful, too. Her mind made up she looked very +resolute. She'd go and call upon Liz that very afternoon. +</P> + +<P> +However, she must know more concerning the Hopworth's before she braved +Liz on her own ground. So she sought out the all-wise B'lindy. +</P> + +<P> +B'lindy was most generous with her information. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess the Hopworths ain't any concern of yours, Miss Anne. The +Leavitts al'las visited mostly with good folks like the Allens and the +Chamberlains and the Fiskes over in South Hero, and the Hills up to +Isle Le Motte and the Eatons and Todds, here to Freedom. Time was when +the best come to Happy House—Miss Sabriny's mother liked company—but +not trash like the Hopworth's!" +</P> + +<P> +"But <I>why</I> are they trash, B'lindy? What do they do? Webb says +they're an old family, that they've been here as long as the Leavitts." +</P> + +<P> +B'lindy snorted. "Webb's tongue's tied in the middle and wags both +ends and I guess most of the time at the wrong end! Mebbe they are +old—you can't kill off folks same's you can a strain of cattle. They +don't do nothin', Miss Anne, that's it—they don't do nothin'. They're +just shiftless, no-good folks. Old Dan'l don't work—never did, and +his pa before him. And that Eric—he was worst of all!" +</P> + +<P> +"Who was Eric?" begged Nancy. +</P> + +<P> +"Old Dan'l's son and as bad a boy as ever tormented a neighborhood. +But no one knew he'd be anything but no-good, and he wasn't. Ran off +to sea. Folks never heard much 'bout him, but they knew they wouldn't +hear anything good, anyway. Then, sudden-like, he turns up with two +young 'uns. Brought 'em to old Dan'l to keep. One was a girl and the +other, a baby in his arms, was a boy." +</P> + +<P> +Freedom folks had never lost their enjoyment in this episode of Eric +Hopworth's adventurous life. B'lindy, happy now in her tale, made the +most of it. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess there were a lot of stories 'bout them young uns, but old +Dan'l never made a sign 'bout which was true. And Eric Hopworth went +off's suddenly as he come, leavin' those two more Hopworth's for old +Dan'l to feed and bring up, and for the folks 'round here to watch, +unless they wanted all their apples stolen and their chickens killed! +Mis' Tubbs told Mis' Sniggs that she <I>see</I> a marriage certificate and +that the mother'd been one of them actor-women down in New York and she +thought like's not the woman died when the boy was born. Mis' Jenkins +sez <I>she'd</I> heard other stories over in North Hero! Anyways old +Dan'l's as close-mouthed as a stature!" +</P> + +<P> +"And who's Liz?" asked Nancy. +</P> + +<P> +"Old Dan'l's half-sister. He brought her over from Bend after the +young 'uns came, to do for 'em." +</P> + +<P> +Nancy mused for a moment. There was not much use in telling B'lindy +that she was going to call upon Liz—it would take days and days of +argument to overcome the heritage of prejudice in B'lindy's mind. +Perhaps, for the present, she had better keep Nonie in the orchard. +</P> + +<P> +It had not needed B'lindy's description for Nancy to recognize the +Hopworth dwelling, if by such a name could be called the four +weather-beaten walls hanging crazily together as though by a last nail. +A litter of debris cluttered the bare ground around the house and +between the shed and the unused barn. Back of the shed an old man +slouched in the sun. +</P> + +<P> +The door sagged on its one hinge, partly open. When Nancy knocked a +gaunt, slatternly woman, in the room within, turned with a scowl. +</P> + +<P> +As Nancy's eyes, sweeping over the dirty, crowded room, came back to +the hard face before her, she sickened at the thought of little Nonie, +with her "dreams," growing in this environment. Then, as Liz' scowl +gave place to a sullen indifference, Nancy realized that the most +marked thing about the woman was a resigned hopelessness. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy, choosing her words carefully, introduced herself. As Liz' +unfriendliness discouraged any advances, Nancy plunged straight to the +point. She had taken a fancy to the children, she explained—would +Miss Hopworth permit Nonie and sometimes Davy, to come often to Happy +House? She, Nancy, found it a little lonesome at Happy House and she +would enjoy their company. +</P> + +<P> +Liz dropped a pan with a bang. "I'll tell you just's I tell her—there +ain't goin' to be any more traipsing 'way from her work all the time +like with the schoolmar'm either to Happy House nor nowhere. All them +notions is settin' the girl loony goin' on with her lies and things +'bout things bein' differunt. She'll stay <I>right</I> to home!" +</P> + +<P> +And to prevent further argument Liz' head bent meaningly toward the +door. +</P> + +<P> +But at that moment a shadow crossed it. Mrs. Sniggs, very gingerly, +thrust a head inside. Under her arm she carried a kettle. Once in a +while old Dan'l mended the village kettles. +</P> + +<P> +"How d'do," snapped Liz. +</P> + +<P> +But Mrs. Sniggs, with an uplift of her nose that said plainly: "I don't +even <I>see</I> you," put her kettle near the door without a word and turned +to depart. At which Liz, in a loud tone, exclaimed: "Most <I>certainly</I>, +Miss Leavitt, we're <I>delighted</I>! Our Nonie can visit you up to Happy +House real often!" +</P> + +<P> +Liz knew and Nancy knew, by the tell-tale shadow that lingered across +the threshold that Mrs. Sniggs had heard; Nancy blessed the good +fortune that had brought the woman there at that moment! +</P> + +<P> +Walking homeward, her mind full of plans of all she wanted to do for +Nonie and Davy, Nancy with a shudder recalled the Hopworth home—and +Liz. Something in the tired eyes haunted her. "Maybe," she thought +with a pang of pity, "maybe she's as—starved—as Nonie!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE FOURTH OF JULY +</H4> + +<P> +B'lindy had said, truly, that "she guessed if Webb got up the Fourth of +July doin's they'd be doin's no one'd forget!" +</P> + +<P> +Webb's "doin's" took the form of a parade—a parade in which the very +young and the very old should take part. At its head Webb himself +would march, with the two recently returned soldiers, one on each side. +The young people would come in costumes depicting the characters of the +men associated with the Island history. +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Eaton wants you to help her dress the children, Anne," Miss +Sabrina had announced, the day before the Fourth. "She asked me to ask +you to be at the meeting-house at 9 o'clock. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I'd love to," Nancy had responded eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"It is very nice of her, I am sure," Miss Sabrina had added. "She +<I>wants</I> to be pleasant." And a hint of apology in Miss Sabrina's voice +made Nancy suddenly think that perhaps Mrs. Eaton was not <I>always</I> +pleasant. +</P> + +<P> +She remembered that B'lindy had added the Eaton name to the list of +acquaintances possible to a Leavitt. +</P> + +<P> +The very air of that Fourth of July morning was a-tingle with +excitement. When Nancy turned into the village street it seemed to her +filled with people, all in Sunday-best and holiday spirits. The green +in front of the meeting-house was alive with eager, tumbling youngsters. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Eaton, a large woman with what Nancy called a prune mouth and +watery blue eyes, greeted Nancy effusively. Nancy was a "<I>dear</I>"—she +said it with a rising squeak—to help her! There wasn't a great deal +to do—the little dears were going to wear white caps and capes and +represent a band of peace; the girls would carry wreaths of white +syringa. <I>She'd</I> thought of it all herself—two days before. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm <I>so</I> glad to be rushed to <I>death</I>," she explained, patting down a +small cap on a small head. "Of <I>course</I> you know my Archie is <I>still</I> +in Germany!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy had not known it, nor, indeed, anything about Archie, but she +nodded sympathetically. +</P> + +<P> +"Cyrus Eaton says I'm a <I>wonder</I>—just a wonder! But I <I>suppose</I> I +ought to be thankful my Archie's come through without losing any of his +arms or legs! Now, my <I>dear</I>, if you'll fix the <I>rest</I> of these +children I'll run down and look at the Indian Chiefs. <I>Bless</I> me, I +don't know <I>what</I> Webb'd do without me. But <I>then</I>, I'm glad to do +it—it keeps my <I>mind</I> off Archie." She panted off with a patronizing +smile that took in Nancy and the group of staring youngsters. +</P> + +<P> +To Nancy, whose life had been spent mostly in the big cities of the +world, this glimpse of village life was a novel experience. She loved +it—the spontaneous gaiety of it all, the round-eyed children that +crowded to her, noisily clamoring to have their "things" put on. The +notes of a bugle floated up the street. Fire crackers popped off with +the regularity of machine-gun fire. From every side came loud, eager +voices. She was glad she was a part of it all. As she finished +arranging its cap, she patted each head, just as Mrs. Eaton had done, +but in Nancy's smile there was something that had not been in Mrs. +Eaton's, so she invariably won a quick smile in response. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly Nancy spied Nonie and Davy, hand in hand, watching the other +children from a little distance. Their childish longing betrayed +itself in the unwonted way their hands clung together, in the +wistfulness of their faces. Nancy hailed them. +</P> + +<P> +"Come along—hurry!" she cried. They ran eagerly to her. Nancy seized +a cape and a cap. +</P> + +<P> +"Dast we?" asked Davy, very gravely. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, of <I>course</I>. Quick—take this cap, Davy. Here, Nonie, is a +wreath. Now—stand here—in this line!" She placed them between two +other children. "All of you—faces forward! Be ready for the signal. +Right foot—don't forget." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Eaton bustled up. "Everything <I>ready</I>, my dear? It's perfectly +<I>beautiful</I>—just beautiful!" in breathless staccato. "I wish my +Archie could see it! I'm actually <I>inspired</I>!" Her red, moist face +suggested that she had made a mistake in her choice of words. She ran +around the group of children, standing in ragged file, impatiently +awaiting the signal to start. "The little <I>dears</I>—just like a +beautiful band of peace!" Suddenly she stared and her face flushed a +darker red. "Nonie Hopworth, how <I>dared</I> you come here!" +</P> + +<P> +Nonie's lips quivered and her eyes went imploringly to Nancy. Davy +tossed his head defiantly. Neither answered. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>I</I> called them, Mrs. Eaton." +</P> + +<P> +Now there was no "my dear" on Mrs. Eaton's tongue. It clicked sharply +against her teeth. She was too outraged, too, to pick her words. +</P> + +<P> +"Get right away!" She seized Davy by the shoulder. "Little +good-for-nothings! This is a patriotic celebration and we don't want +any Hopworth's in it!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy's eyes blazed. "<I>Oh</I>, Mrs. Eaton! <I>Don't</I>—they're just +children! They——" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>You're</I> a stranger here in Freedom, Miss Leavitt—I'll be pleased if +you'll let <I>me</I> manage this! I say it's an <I>insult</I> to our heroes to +have Eric Hopworth's young 'uns here—an insult to Freedom's noble +history!" The ruffles on her bosom heaved in her anger. "What'd Eric +Hopworth do for his country! When I think of my Archie——" What she +might have thought did not find expression, because of the pins she was +tearing roughly from Nonie's cape and thrusting between her teeth. "Go +off now," she panted between the shining row. "Go off where you came +from!" +</P> + +<P> +Then, almost simultaneously with the approach of a dishevelled Indian +hollering between cupped hands that "p'rade's goin' start," came Webb's +warning whistle from down the street. Mrs. Eaton straightened to an +appropriate dignity of bearing. She made a waving motion of her arm +toward her little dears that ignored Nancy, standing back, dumb with +the cruelty of it all. +</P> + +<P> +But Nonie's crestfallen face stung Nancy to sudden action. While the +band of peace fluttered wildly back to its position, Nancy, with an arm +about each, moved with the children toward the church. She moved +quickly, too, for a sudden inspiration had seized her. She remembered +three flags on standards in the Sunday-school room. She bade Davy get +them. +</P> + +<P> +"Do <I>just</I> what I tell you," she commanded. "The <I>cat</I>!" she threw +over her shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +All Freedom was too intent upon catching a first glimpse of Webb's host +moving up the village street to notice the strange sight of Nancy and +her companions racing through the back yards and fields that skirted +the main thoroughfare. A long tear in Nancy's skirt testified to the +speed with which she had climbed all obstacles. Such was the fire in +her soul that she could have climbed a mountain! +</P> + +<P> +In the shade of a wide maple tree, B'lindy, resplendent in fresh +gingham and her good-as-new-last-year's-hat, watched Webb's "doin's" +with a heart that fluttered with pride. No town in the whole Island +could turn out more folks! But, then, no town on the Island had a +prouder history! +</P> + +<P> +With his badges glittering on the faded blue coat, Webb marched at the +head of his "p'rade" in his uniform of the Grand Army of the Republic. +On either side of him stepped the recently returned soldiers, their +young-old faces turned straight ahead, their worn tunics attesting to +other lines of march through other village streets. Behind them were +the three soldier boys who had not "gone across." In pure enjoyment of +the occasion they had forgotten the resentment against fate that they +had cherished. A group of boys and girls in Indian costume portrayed +that epoch of Freedom's history. One great warrior brandished a +tomahawk that had been dug up in a nearby field and was now kept in a +suitable setting at the post-office. Close at their heels followed +four staid Puritan men, broad white collars pinned over Sunday coats. +Ethan Allen and his brother Ira, beloved heroes of the little Islands, +were there in character. Two lanky lads wore the uniform of 1861. +Mrs. Eaton's "band of peace" in straggling lines, brought up the rear. +</P> + +<P> +Greeted from each side by lusty cheers, through a cloud of dust, to the +tap-a-tap-tap of three proud drummers, the pageant moved down the +street. It had been Webb's plan that the "p'rade" should halt before +the stoop of the hotel, where Mr. Todd, the postmaster, in a collar +much too high and a coat much too tight, waited to give an address of +welcome. But as Webb's eyes roved with pardonable pride over the +fringe of spectators on each side of the line of march, they suddenly +spied an unexpected sight. On the stepping block in front of the +school house stood Nancy, her white skirts blowing, with Nonie and Davy +on each side. And each held, proudly upright, an American flag. +</P> + +<P> +It was a pretty sight—the colors of the flags fluttering over the +three bare heads, the young faces tilted earnestly forward. Webb saw +in it a friendly effort on Miss Anne's part to add to the success of +his "doin's." So as the line of march approached the stepping-block, +he solemnly saluted the three. +</P> + +<P> +Advancing, the returned soldiers also saluted, stiffly. The drummers +lost a beat in order to wave their drumsticks. The Indians gaily +brandished their clubs, the Puritans nodded, the "boys in blue" mimiced +their heroes of the hour with a stiff bending and jerking of their +right arms. +</P> + +<P> +But then and there Mrs. Eaton fell back from her position at the head +of the "band of peace." Nancy, wickedly watching from the corner of a +perfectly innocent appearing eye, saw her give a gasp as she stepped +aside. +</P> + +<P> +Nonie and Davy, exalted into an ecstasy of joy over the part they had +finally played in the celebration, stared in amazement at Nancy's +suppressed peals of laughter, to which she gave way only when the last +wee dove of peace had trailed off toward the hotel. And not only Davy +and Nonie stared; from out of the spectators came Peter Hyde. +</P> + +<P> +"I have cooked my goose—now," giggled Nancy, wiping her eyes and +holding out a hand. "She was <I>so</I> funny! But I have outraged +Freedom's noble history!" Nancy twisted her lips to resemble Mrs. +Eaton's. +</P> + +<P> +"If you'll let me help you down we might hurry and hear some of the +Honorable Jeremiah Todd's oration," suggested Peter Hyde. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy jumped lightly to the ground. "I wouldn't <I>dare</I>," she answered. +"Mrs. Eaton only waits to tear me limb from limb! I saw it in her +pallid eye. You don't <I>know</I> what I've done! Davy, you and Nonie +carry these flags carefully back to the Sunday-school. And what do you +say—in celebration of this day—to a swim—this afternoon, at the +Cove!" +</P> + +<P> +They exclaimed their approval of the suggestion. Nonie lingered. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know what I pretended then?" she asked, affectionately gripping +Nancy's arm. "I pretended I was Joan of Arc, all in white, riding on a +big horse with bugles, calling to my army. Miss Denny read to me all +about it. Oh, it was grand!" She sighed, because the moment had +passed. Davy pranced impatiently. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, come 'long—stop yer actin' lies!" Then, to Nancy, with a +questioning look that said such fortune seemed too good to be true: +"'<I>Honest?</I>' 'Bout the swimmin'." +</P> + +<P> +Nancy nodded mysteriously. "Honest to goodness—at three bells!" +</P> + +<P> +She watched the children scamper away, then turned eyes dark with +indignation to Peter Hyde. +</P> + +<P> +"How can <I>anyone</I> be cruel to children?" she cried. "How can anyone +hurt them?" +</P> + +<P> +Peter did not know what she was talking about, but he agreed with all +his heart. +</P> + +<P> +"Kids—and dogs and cats and—little things," he added. "I shot a +rabbit once when I was fifteen, and when I went up to get it, it was +still breathing, and looked so pitiful and small—I couldn't help but +feel that it hadn't had a chance 'gainst a fellow like me. I had to +kill it then. That was enough for me! I haven't shot—any sort of +living things—like <I>that</I>—since!" +</P> + +<P> +His step shortened to Nancy's and together they turned their backs upon +Jeremiah's cheering audience and walked slowly homeward. Her mind +concerned with the children, Nancy told Peter all that had happened—of +finding Nonie in the orchard, of the child's "pretend" games, of her +call upon Liz. Then she concluded with an account of the incident of +the morning mimicing, comically, Mrs. Eaton's outraged manner. +</P> + +<P> +"As if it would hurt her or her Archie or—or anyone else in this old +place to make two youngsters happy," Nancy exclaimed, disgustedly. +"I'm going to do everything I can, while I'm at Happy House, to make up +to them," she finished. +</P> + +<P> +Peter assured her that he wanted to help. How much the desire was +inspired by sympathy for Nonie and Davy or by the winning picture Nancy +made, her rebel strands of red-brown hair blowing across her flushed +cheeks, no one could say. And when at the gate of Happy House they +separated, Peter promising to be on hand at the Cove at four o'clock, +Nancy watched him swing down the road with a pleasant sense of +comradeship. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +MRS. EATON CALLS +</H4> + +<P> +"Oh, shades of Odysseus," muttered Nancy. From the swing on the +hollyhock porch she had spied Mrs. Eaton coming up the flagged path to +the front door. +</P> + +<P> +As she sat idly swinging, Nancy had been trying over the deeply +emotional lines that Berthé, the much-suffering heroine of her dear +play, should say when the villain proved to be her lover in disguise. +A chance glance through the syringas had acquainted her with the +alarming fact that an avenging enemy approached. +</P> + +<P> +It was the day after the Fourth of July. As yet not a word had come to +Happy House concerning Nancy's part in the celebration. +</P> + +<P> +There was not time for Nancy to escape; however, it was not likely that +Miss Sabrina would take such a guest out to the porch. Nancy heard her +greet the newcomer, then their steps approached the sitting-room. The +swing was at the other end of the porch. Nancy, hugging her knees, +could not be seen from the sitting-room windows and, anyway, the blinds +had been shut to keep out the hot morning sun. Through their slats +Nancy heard Mrs. Eaton's effusive greetings. +</P> + +<P> +"I might as well hear what the cat tells," Nancy concluded. The fate +of the proverbial eavesdropper did not alarm her in the least; she felt +the resignation, of a child that knows he faces punishment. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Eaton spent several moments explaining, how often she "had had a +<I>mind</I> to drop in for a little chat." +</P> + +<P> +"But I am a <I>different</I> woman with my Archie away! Cyrus says he don't +<I>know</I> how I bear up so well. <I>You</I> don't know, of course, a mother's +feelings!" Did Nancy imagine that she heard a rustling, as though Aunt +Sabrina had suddenly straightened in her chair? "And <I>I</I> said to Cyrus +that <I>he</I> don't even know a mother's feeling that's raised a boy right +from the <I>cradle</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +Miss Sabrina inquired politely as to the last word of Archie, and, with +satisfied pride, the mother recounted Archie's description of the +difficulties that had confronted the Allied occupancy of the +Rhinelands. Archie's mother truly believed that Archie alone bore that +tremendous responsibility. +</P> + +<P> +"And Archie and me are as <I>like</I> as two peas," she added. +</P> + +<P> +It was, of course, only a matter of a few moments before Mrs. Eaton led +up to the event of the day before. Nancy caught the crisp change in +the woman's voice. The story gained much in her telling—of Nancy's +impertinence in forcing the Hopworth young 'uns among her "little +dears," then how she had, though fully aware of her, Mrs. Eaton's, +explicit orders, flaunted Eric Hopworth's brood in the face of every +respectable man, woman and child of Freedom—actually desecrating the +very flags she had—<I>taken</I>—out of the Sunday-school room. +</P> + +<P> +The story was interrupted by many sighs and sniffs. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course <I>everybody</I> on this Island that knows me and my Archie, +Cyrus says, will <I>feel</I> for me. I might as well as <I>not</I> of been +slapped in the face. And I said to Cyrus, "<I>I</I> think Miss Leavitt +ought to <I>know</I>—she's taken that girl there!" And Cyrus and I <I>both</I> +said that of <I>course</I> no one would be surprised, seeing she's <I>that</I> +branch of your family where I suppose—you'll <I>forgive</I> me for speaking +right out <I>plain</I>, you can expect almost <I>any</I> kind of actions!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy swung her feet down out of the hammock. "The cat," she breathed, +straightening. She could see that stinging shaft plunge straight into +poor Aunt Sabrina's heart and turn! She held her breath for Aunt +Sabrina's answer. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Sabrina's voice was cold and her words measured. "I am very sorry +this has happened, Mrs. Eaton. But I am sure my niece did not dream of +impertinence. She has not been here long enough to know of our +prejudices!" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Bully!</I>" Nancy, said, almost aloud. "<I>That's</I> a time when breeding +shows!" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Eaton was plainly annoyed at Miss Sabrina's defence. Her voice +took on a crisper edge. "She's been here long <I>enough</I> to pick up with +Judson's hired <I>man</I>! <I>Your</I> notions may be different from <I>mine</I>, +Miss Leavitt, but <I>I</I> wouldn't 'low any girl of <I>mine</I> to go swimming +at Cove's Hole with the Hopworth young 'uns! Dick Snead told his +mother and his mother told my Cousin 'Manthy. Ain't there any <I>better</I> +folks she can take up with on this Island than a hired man <I>and</I> the +Hopworths?" Her shrill inflection seemed to say, "There—I have you +<I>now</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy's feet beat a war-dance. She wanted to rush in to her own +defence—had Dick Snead told his mother and his mother told Cousin +'Manthy that she had swam forty strokes under water? Discretion, +however, bade her use caution. +</P> + +<P> +A rustling indicated that the caller, her errand accomplished, had +risen to go. She shot her last tiny, poisoned arrow. "Of <I>course</I> I +said to Cyrus <I>all</I> of us on the Island know all that poor Miss +Leavitt's <I>had</I> to stand, what with her brother and <I>then</I> her sister! +And <I>that's</I> why, I said to Cyrus, Miss Leavitt <I>ought</I> to know about +these goings on, or else something <I>else</I> would come down on your poor +head! I must run along, now, 'Manthy came in to watch my jam. That +Carroll girl I got over at Greenfield isn't worth her keep—you have to +watch her <I>every</I> moment!" +</P> + +<P> +All the pride of generations of Leavitts must have come to Miss +Sabrina's rescue at that moment! She met the final thrust with calm +dignity. +</P> + +<P> +"My niece is only making me a very short visit, Mrs. Eaton. It is +hardly worth while for me to interfere with her conduct." +</P> + +<P> +Nancy was struck dumb with amazement. What did Aunt Sabrina mean—that +<I>this</I> silly little affair ended her stay at Happy House? What <I>would</I> +Anne think? Oh, <I>what</I> a mess she had made of everything! Of course +she had expected that something might happen any moment; after one day +had safely passed, she had always thought it might be the next; had she +not told Anne that she was certain to make some dreadful blunder? But +it was a shame to go away in disgrace when she had not really done +anything, after all! +</P> + +<P> +Indignation of the most righteous sort began slowly to master Nancy's +consternation. Well, if she did have to go she would allow herself, +just once, the sweet satisfaction of telling Miss Sabrina what she +thought of the Leavitts and their sense of honor! She rushed headlong +into the sitting-room. +</P> + +<P> +"I heard what that—that creature said," she blurted out. "I don't +<I>know </I>why God makes women like that! What would you <I>think</I>, Aunt +Sabrina, if you'd seen her take a whip and lash those children across +their bare bodies? And that wouldn't have been as bad as what she +really <I>did</I> do, for those hurts would have healed, and the way she +hurt their spirits wouldn't <I>ever</I> heal! She is cruelly unjust—and +unkind!" +</P> + +<P> +Poor Miss Sabrina looked very old and very tired—far too tired to meet +this impetuous attack! Something in the unyieldingness of her +expression drove Nancy to utter abandon. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I suppose I'll have—to go away! But I'm glad—everything is all +wrong at Happy House. There's no happiness here—at all. +Fath—someone I love used to tell me that happiness comes to you as you +<I>give</I> happiness, and that's what's the matter here—you don't give +happiness! You live—apart—and you just wrap yourself round with the +traditions of the Leavitts and all that—tommyrot! I'm glad I'm +not—a—I'm glad I'm the—the other branch. I guess the golden rule is +better than any family honor and that it doesn't matter at <I>all</I> what +all the people who are dead and gone've done—it's what the people who +are <I>living</I> are doing—that counts!" +</P> + +<P> +Breathless from her outburst and frightened by its daring, Nancy burst +into tears and rushed from the room. +</P> + +<P> +In the aftermath of calm that followed the storm, Nancy woefully faced +the consequences of what she had done. How silly it would all sound to +Anne when she heard it! Anne would tell her, of course, what <I>she</I> +would have done—but then, Anne had always been able to control every +word and every action. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy, staring about at the four walls of her room in very much the +same way she had done that first day of her coming to Happy House, +realized that they were not so ugly, after all. Their height gave a +sense of coolness and space; the branches of an old cherry tree brushed +her windows; from below came all sorts of sweet smells out of +Jonathan's garden; the incessant twittering of birds and the humming of +insects made the summer air teem with busy, happy life. It was +pleasant, she sighed—much pleasanter than a flat in Harlem in July! +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I won't pack until I get my dishonorable discharge, and I can't +get away until Webb's stage goes, anyway! I'll take Miss Milly once +more to the orchard." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Milly went to the orchard so often now that it had become a part +of almost every day's routine, and it was no longer necessary that +B'lindy and Jonathan should make up the party, though they went more +often than not. This day Aunt Milly declared everything particularly +nice, but she thought it was because she and Nancy were alone—she +could not know that Nancy had been doing her best to make it an +afternoon Aunt Milly would never forget—"because it's probably the +last!" +</P> + +<P> +They lingered in the orchard until almost supper-time. Then Nancy +sought the kitchen. She liked to drop in on B'lindy, help her in some +small way in the preparation of the evening meal, and chat at the same +time. She was astounded, now, to find Aunt Sabrina, with a very red +face, bending over the kitchen stove. +</P> + +<P> +B'lindy, sitting very straight in the chair by the window, gave the +explanation—resentfully. +</P> + +<P> +"'Pears to be hash ain't good enough for supper. Had it all fixed for +the cookin' and I guess it's fair 'nough for anyone to eat and I can't +abide left-overs hangin' 'round. But Miss S'briny says the supper +to-night's got to be extry nice and Miss Anne's got to have waffles and +<I>she'll</I> cook 'em herself, seein' how old B'lindy that's cooked 'em +nigh onto fifty years, can't cook 'em <I>good</I> 'nough for Miss Anne!" +</P> + +<P> +Miss Sabrina's face was bent over the waffles—Nancy could not see it. +The moment was too solemn to permit her to so much as smile. She said +very gravely, almost reprovingly: +</P> + +<P> +"You <I>know</I>, B'lindy, that you <I>can't</I> make waffles as good as Aunt +Sabrina can and I've been hungry for days for waffles!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy knew that, after that night, waffles would always mean something +more to her than merely a concoction of food stuffs particularly dear +to her palate—they'd mean the momentary triumph of reason and justice, +the defeat of the Mrs. Eaton-kind, and the pitiful attempt of a very +old and a very proud woman to "give happiness." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +GUNS AND STRING BEANS +</H4> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"Claire darling— +</P> + +<P> +"Almost two weeks since I wrote to you. Will you love me any more? +</P> + +<P> +"As I write I am all alone on the edge of a very little pool of light +reflected from my little lamp that was only intended to see me into bed +and not to burn half the night through while I write to my pal. +</P> + +<P> +"Is this summer night as perfect where you are, Claire? (Tush—you've +probably been playing tennis and dancing and flirting until you are too +exhausted to care about anything except the breakfast bell disturbing +you.) But up here it's <I>wonderful</I>! The sky is blue-black velvet, all +studded with stars that seem suspended—they are so very close. And +the air just caresses you! And there are the sweetest smells, grassy +and earthy and all fragrant of roses. There are queer little noises, +too—as though the night was full of fairy creatures. And I heard a +whip-or-will! And a screech-owl, way, way off. +</P> + +<P> +"Since I wrote to you last I have 'put my foot in it' again! Terribly! +It's too long a story to write to you—there isn't nearly oil enough +for that—but I skated over the thin ice and reached safety—in other +words, I am still here! And, Nancy, I know, now, even Aunt Sabrina is +beginning to like me! Do you know why? Because I lost my head and +told her what I thought was the matter with her and Happy House and I +don't suppose anyone <I>dared</I> to tell her that before. (I called her +Leavitt traditions tommy-rot.) And I think she <I>enjoyed</I> the +sensation! Anyway, she seems to treat me now like Somebody and she +said something the other day about how lovely the autumns were on the +Island, as though she took it for granted I'd be here then! +</P> + +<P> +"Claire, what if I can <I>never</I> get away? Did I dream, when I took +Anne's shoes (to speak in figures) and put them on, where they'd lead +me? And sometimes I think that I will not see the end of the trail for +a long time. I'm not crazy to see it, either, for it <I>must</I> end in +Disaster! +</P> + +<P> +"I am beginning to understand these people, too. I—in my usual way, +judged them too quickly! One must know their history to know +them—know what a splendid background they have. Aunt Sabrina has +taken up Ezekiel where she left off and tells me stories about the +Champlain Valley. Of course, I know she is doing it, because I called +the Leavitt glories 'tommy-rot' and when I read, in B'lindy's book +(gotten up, of course, to bait tourists) what these Islanders <I>have</I> +done, I feel cheap and small and insignificant beside all these people +who have such heroic grandfathers and great grandfathers. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose, all over the world, Island people must be different from +people whose lands lie directly contingent with other lands and people. +The very waters that shut away these precious Hero Islands wash their +lives back upon themselves—they live in—they can't help it. The +world that rushes on so fast for us, living in the big cities, scarcely +stirs them here! These folks talk about Ethan Allen and Remembrance +Baker as though it was only yesterday they walked down under the elms +of the village street! They all eat off from very old china and sit in +very old chairs—precious because some hero dear to the Island has sat +in them! +</P> + +<P> +"(All of this is not original with me—The Hired Man said it.) +</P> + +<P> +"So just as I finished grandly saying to Aunt Sabrina that it didn't +matter at <I>all</I> what the people, who are dead and gone, have done, I'm +beginning to see—like a picture opened before my eyes—that it <I>does</I> +matter—quite a little! They, these dead and gone people, leave us +what they have done; if it's bad, we have to pay for it, some way or +other—if it's noble, we have to be worthy of it! <I>That</I> philosophy is +all mine and not the Hired Man's. +</P> + +<P> +"There are a great many things about the aforesaid Hired Man (I never +think of him as that) that perplex me. He is a great big riddle. He +is more interesting than any one I ever met before. I wish you were +here so we could talk him over the way we used to the Knights of the +Pink Parlor. That he is good looking is not what seems so queer, +because I suppose there <I>are</I> good-looking hired men as well as +good-looking street car conductors or undertakers. He is so +understandable—he is like you and Anne and Dad. And he knows so much +about everything! He must have gone to college—he talks just like a +college man. But once when I hinted he smiled and told me that he was +'still a student in the college of Experience, where after all one +could learn more than at even the great universities.' +</P> + +<P> +"He is Mysterious. After I've been with him I plan it all out—what he +must have been and why he fell to the level of this sort of work; then +the next time I see him he says something that makes me change all my +ideas. I am sure he is concealing something—he simply will not say +one word about himself! I don't believe it's anything as bad as murder +or forgery or—anything like that, because he has such honest eyes, and +they look right straight through you. It's probably some sorrow or—or +disappointment. Sometimes his eyes look very tired, as though they had +seen some terrible tragedy, though mostly always they're just jolly. +</P> + +<P> +"He's wonderful with Nonie and Davy—they adore him. He thinks of so +many nice things for them to do. He says once he was a scoutmaster in +the Boy Scouts. I think he almost gave something away then, for, after +he said it, he looked so funny and wouldn't say another word. +</P> + +<P> +"He treats me as though I was another boy just a little older than +Davy. And after the silly men we knew in college it's a relief to find +anyone like Peter Hyde, even though he is a hired man. I suppose it's +because he's probably had a hard time—has had to make his way, he's +had all the nonsense knocked out of him! I am sure, if one could teach +him to dance and then set him down in the middle of your mother's +living-room you'd all go crazy over him. Now isn't that some Hired +Man? Dear me, I spend more time wondering about him! Then I laugh at +myself. Do you remember the Russian who came to college last year—how +we all thought he must be a Russian prince and then we found out he'd +been born on the Lower East Side?" +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +There were other doubts concerning Peter Hyde that Nancy did <I>not</I> +confide to Claire. For the past two years and more, in Nancy's honest +soul, all men between twenty-one and forty were divided into two +classes; those who had gone over to France and those who had not. If +Peter Hyde <I>had</I> gone there was nothing in any act or word that +signified it; if he had <I>not</I> gone, why not? Was <I>that</I> what he was +hiding? +</P> + +<P> +She had resorted, feeling very contemptible as she did so, to little +traps to draw him out, but he had invariably escaped them—sometimes +changing the subject abruptly, other times openly laughing and saying +nothing. Very much against her will she felt growing within her a +contempt for him; almost a dislike of his personal appearance, so +obviously healthy and able to have fought for his country! And yet, +loyalty had kept her from confiding this to Claire. +</P> + +<P> +A sense of fairness, too, urged her to give Peter the benefit of the +doubt until she knew. "I'll just ask him," she decided resolutely. +"I'll ask him right out—the very first chance I get!" +</P> + +<P> +The opportunity to learn the truth had come on the very afternoon +following the night she had written to Claire. Nonie and Davy had not +appeared for a swim, so Peter had suggested a walk. He wanted Nancy to +go over, with him, the new work he had started on the Judson ten-acre +piece, the improvements in the barns, the rotary gardens. +</P> + +<P> +It was the first time that Peter Hyde had talked much about his work. +Nancy, who would have said turnips grew on bushes, for all she knew, +found herself, under his instruction, suddenly absorbed in the +scientific growing of beans and corn and potatoes; in the making of one +strip of garden produce three different food products in rotation; in +irrigation and drainage; in sanitary stables and electrically lighted +chicken houses. +</P> + +<P> +"You know there's poetry in these growing things," Peter cried, waving +his hand out over the tender stalks of corn. "You get all the Art you +want! Can you find anywhere a more wonderful picture than that waving +field of oats—pale green against that sky? And in a few weeks it'll +be yellow. See that lettuce green, too. And music—you can stand in a +field of corn when the wind is blowing a little and you will hear a +symphony!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy, surprised, watched his glowing face with interest Here was +indeed a new side of the Hired Man! He went on: +</P> + +<P> +"And business, say, there's a practical side to this farming that ought +to satisfy any man. Wits, science, strategy, instinct, plain +common-sense—it's all as necessary right here as in the biggest +business concern in the world. And if a fellow wants a <I>fight</I>—well, +he has it when he goes up against Mother Earth. We're used to thinking +of her as kindly, generous, lavishing her favors! I've had another +picture—she's worse than a Czar! She's exacting, she's moody, she's +undependable, at times. I suppose she does it to try out her +children—but anyway, the farmer has to fight every minute!" +</P> + +<P> +He stopped suddenly. "I'm boring you to death, maybe!" He laughed +apologetically. "It's always been a hobby of mine—this working with +the earth. I never thought I'd do anything with it—until the war! +Then I realized how much a nation's prosperity depends upon how its +soil is used. And that's where our government's been short-sighted. +They haven't paid enough attention to the small farmers. Of course, +they try out some good things and publish bulletins, but the farmers +ought to <I>know</I> how, by certain scientific changes, the productiveness +of the land can be doubled! Take Judson, here. He's been farming this +whole place just the way his grandfather did before him! He's read +about new-fangled things, but he's afraid to try them—he doesn't know +how to begin! Think how many Judsons there are all over the world! So +I'm trying to show him by actually working out some experiments I've +tested. If it's a success, if his account at the bank at North Hero +shows it at the end of the season—why, there isn't anything Judson +will be afraid to try. And think what it would mean to this country if +it had a million farmers like Judson! And see how easily they can be +shown!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy's face was alight with enthusiasm. With her vivid imagination +she pictured a glorious army of Peter Hydes going out over the land, +rescuing the poor farmers, putting new weapons into their hands! +</P> + +<P> +"It's wonderful! And it's—brave!" she added, "because it isn't as if +you went off with a whole lot of others with bands and flags flying!" +</P> + +<P> +She was suddenly struck with remorse that she had, in her heart, so +wronged Peter Hyde! She had thought him a slacker when he had +shouldered the harder task! Something in the earnestness still +reflected on his face made her own her guilt. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't be glad <I>enough</I> you've told me all this! I didn't know! I +never lived in the country. I just thought things to eat grew up any +old way. And all this time I have been thinking horrid things about +you because I thought you hadn't gone to war! I thought, maybe, you +were way off up here to escape the feeling everyone had for slackers! +You can imagine, now, when I see what you really <I>are</I> doing, how +ashamed I feel! Will you forgive me?" +</P> + +<P> +Peter's frank amusement made Nancy feel very uncomfortable and small. +But then she deserved it! He held out his hand as a sign of his +forgiveness. There was still laughter in his eyes as he regarded her. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose that was very natural! Most of the young fellows you know +must have gone over!" he said, seriously enough. +</P> + +<P> +She wanted very much to tell him of her father—how he had followed the +men over the top; how he had worked day after day getting the stories +back to the people at home and spent night after night tracing the +"missing," or writing letters for the boys who never got further back +than the first dressing-stations and who wanted mothers and fathers and +sweethearts to know that they'd had their chance and had made the most +of it! But she couldn't, for she was supposed to be Anne and Anne's +father had died when she was a little girl. +</P> + +<P> +She told him of a few of the college men she had known, who had gone, +eagerly, at the first call. +</P> + +<P> +"They didn't even want to wait to get commissions! <I>They</I> just wanted +to fight!" +</P> + +<P> +The revelation of Peter Hyde made her think of Claire's brother. She +told him about Claire and Anne—she called Anne, vaguely, "another +girl." "Claire's a darling and we just love her, but we can't <I>abide</I> +her brother! Of course it's not reasonable, because we've never laid +eyes on him, but we've heard enough from Claire to know just what he's +like. I suppose the war made a few like him—he was brave enough over +there and lucky to have all his recommendations recognized, but it made +him <I>so</I> conceited! He came back here and just strutted around, +everywhere. Claire says her mother's friends used to have <I>teas</I> for +him—he'd go to them and speak and show his medals! Claire was mad +over him. She was so disappointed because I came here instead of going +to Merrycliffe. But I couldn't see myself spending my time petting her +beloved Lion! I knew I'd be rude and say just what I thought." +</P> + +<P> +Nancy and Peter were sitting upon the stump of a tree near the cliff. +Peter suddenly rose and walked to the edge—his back square to Nancy. +After a moment he turned. +</P> + +<P> +"Thought I heard something down there," he explained, at her +questioning glance. "Don't blame you for disliking that sort—like +Claire's brother! They're a rummy kind! I had a friend a lot like +him. But—maybe, it wasn't all his fault—about the teas and things! +Maybe his mother got 'em started and he didn't want to hurt her!" +</P> + +<P> +It was like Peter Hyde, so gentle with children and animals, to stand +up now for even Barry Wallace's kind. +</P> + +<P> +"You're just like Dad," Nancy cried warmly, then stopped, a little +frightened. But of course Peter had not been in Freedom long enough to +know anything about the Leavitts. +</P> + +<P> +He bowed with great ceremony, one hand over his heart. +</P> + +<P> +"If Dad's like daughter, I thank you for the compliment. Now, if you +will linger longer with me I'd like to show you Mrs. Sally and her +babies. Sally is my experimental pig. I've built a piggery for her +with a plunge and a sunken garden, and if you don't declare that Sally +enjoys such improved surroundings, I'll know my whole summer's work's a +failure." +</P> + +<P> +Nancy walked over the rough ground toward the barns with a light heart. +She had a delightful sense of being "pals" with this new Peter +Hyde—who, while the Barry Wallaces were swaggering around with their +medals, was up here in an out-of-the-way corner of the nation, fighting +a new sort of a fight! He actually <I>wanted</I> her approval of his new +piggery! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +PETER LENDS A HAND +</H4> + +<P> +It was quite natural that Nancy should take her problems to Peter Hyde. +</P> + +<P> +More correctly, she did not take them—Peter Hyde discovered them when, +a few days later, he found Nancy alone in her Bird's-nest, completely +surrounded by sheets of paper, a frown wrinkling her entire face, +furiously chewing one end of her pencil. +</P> + +<P> +There had, of course, to be some explanation of the manuscript. Nancy +told him of the play she was writing, how she had really come to North +Hero to finish it! +</P> + +<P> +"I thought I'd have hours and hours to work. And I was so glad when I +found this hiding place. I've been here, now, weeks and weeks, and +have done scarcely a thing!" +</P> + +<P> +"Is it because the Muse will not come?" asked Peter, eying the +scattered sheets with awe. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it would <I>come</I>—if it had a chance! My head's just bursting with +things I want to write and I dream about them in my sleep. But—it +sounds silly—I'm so busy. Maybe the things I do don't seem important +but I just can't escape them." +</P> + +<P> +She made room for Peter on the seat beside her. Then she told him of +Aunt Milly; of that first trip to the orchard, how it had been the +beginning of a new life for the little woman. +</P> + +<P> +"I bring her downstairs every day now, right after breakfast, and she's +one of the family. I'm going to coax Webb to make another sort of a +chair; one she can wheel herself—I've seen them. She's learned to +knit beautifully; she's so proud because she's working on a sock for +the Belgian children—she says it's the first time she's <I>ever</I> felt +useful! She helps B'lindy, too. It makes you want to cry to see how +happy she is. But with all her independence she wants me all the time. +When I start to leave her there's something in the way she looks at me +that is just as though she reached out and caught me by the hand!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy described, too, how B'lindy was constantly finding little tasks +for her that would keep her in the kitchen or on the back porch within +sound of her voice. +</P> + +<P> +"You see talking's the joy of B'lindy's life and my ears are new—they +haven't heard all the things she has to say. Just when I think I can +escape she begins telling me of the cake her mother baked for Miss +Sabrina's mother the day the Governor of Vermont came to Happy +House—or something like that!" +</P> + +<P> +Anxious that Peter should understand everything Nancy made a vivid +word-picture of Miss Sabrina and of the difficulties she had had in +winning her. "I believe she's fond of me now, but she just doesn't +know <I>how</I> to show it! She's never displayed one bit of affection in +her whole life, I'm sure. She's stone. But sometime she's going to +break—I'm doing my best to make her! I know she enjoys having dear +little Aunt Milly around, but do you think she'd say so? Goodness no. +But there's a lot of good in Aunt Sabrina and I'm bound to know it all, +so I make it my duty to sit with her just so long each day while she +tells me about the Leavitts and the other families of this Island. And +there <I>is</I> something heroic about them all! +</P> + +<P> +"So here I am, just tingling to finish the last act of my play and not +a moment to myself! If it isn't precious Aunt Milly or Aunt Sabrina or +B'lindy or even dear old Jonathan, it's Nonie or Davy or——" +</P> + +<P> +"Or me," finished Peter Hyde, glancing significantly at the neglected +work. "Your hands <I>are</I> full!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy went on earnestly. "And it all seems so worth while! Look at +Nonie—she's a different creature already. I don't believe she +pretends as much, either—her little body is catching up with her +spirit. And Davy doesn't hang his head when he looks at you!" +</P> + +<P> +Peter Hyde could understand her feeling toward the children. They had +planned together to bring something more into those two starved young +lives. Like Nancy, he was delighted at the results already apparent. +It <I>was</I> work too worth while to be abandoned—for anything. +</P> + +<P> +"Nonie fairly eats up the books I give her but she always wants to read +them with me—it's so that she can ask questions. And the questions +she asks! Every new thing she learns she immediately adapts to her own +life. We've begun 'Little Women' and of course she plays Amy! Poor +little flower, sometimes I think of old Dan'l and Liz and wonder from +where on earth the child got her gift. And what a precious blessing it +is to her!" +</P> + +<P> +Recalling Davy's contempt for his sister's "actin' lies," they both +laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"How could <I>anyone</I> think bad things of Davy," cried Nancy, +indignantly. "He's the soul of truth and honor! But up here he won't +have a chance." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, he will!" Peter contradicted. "If I'm any good reading +character in a ten-year-old he'll <I>make</I> a chance. He's a leader, now. +Look at the way the other boys follow his slightest suggestion!" +</P> + +<P> +Davy's "club" was flourishing. The attractions that Peter and Nancy +had added to its program had made it boom. Several new "fellars" had +come in. The meetings were even more frequent than Liz cleaned the +meeting-house, and now, because it had become known that Miss Sabrina's +niece was a member of the club, no lickings awaited the members upon +their return, rather impatient mothers eager to hear "what that girl at +Happy House was up to now." There was some talk about turning the club +into a Boy Scout troop; Mr. Peter had promised to organize them and +train them. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, dear," Nancy sighed, perplexed and torn, "it's like having a dream +you've dreamed crumble all to pieces! I wanted to have my play done +before my—I mean, I wanted to finish it up here and then send it +straight to Theodore Hoffman himself. Of course you don't know him. +He's one of the greatest dramatists and play producers in the world. I +know it's daring in me and maybe he won't even give a minute to my +little insignificant effort, but—whatever he may say, I'll know it is +the best criticism I can get!" +</P> + +<P> +To Nancy's surprise Peter displayed a considerable knowledge of plays +and actors, critics and producers. He could see her problem, too—how +she was torn between the claims of Happy House and her beloved work. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy was grateful for his sympathy and because he did not laugh at +her. But of course, why should anyone who could find music in waving +corn not understand her own dreams! +</P> + +<P> +Peter's face looked very much as though he was tackling some problem of +drainage—or a new incubator. +</P> + +<P> +"When you get right down to plain facts, it's a question of conserving +time. You're wasting it—somewhere. I believe you can double up a +bit. Let Aunt Milly listen to Belinda, and teach Aunt Milly to help +Nonie. I'll take care of Davy. You say Aunt Milly likes to feel she's +useful—if you start her she can help Nonie a lot and Nonie'll give her +something to think about, too." +</P> + +<P> +Nancy considered this with brightening eyes. "I believe you're right! +I've just been selfish, trying to do everything myself just because I +loved to, and stupid—to think no one else could do it! Of course Aunt +Milly can read with Nonie—and play with her, too. I'll begin this +very day. I'll have a school here in the orchard and Nonie and B'lindy +and Aunt Milly shall come. It'll be the funniest school you ever heard +of," Nancy laughed. "I'll teach B'lindy the joy of seeing Hopworth +'young 'uns' eat her best molasses cookies!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy's face showed that she was mentally leaping far ahead in her +plans. Peter felt that he had been left out. +</P> + +<P> +"Let me be the head taskmaster or whatever you call it. You'll +doubtless need a strong hand now and then. Anyway, you don't know how +much it helps <I>my</I> work mixing a little fun with it!" +</P> + +<P> +Now that her problems were straightening Nancy felt very kindly and +gracious and happy. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, you may come to the orchard—whenever you want! Oh, you +<I>have</I> helped me so much," she cried, with a smile that brought a +sudden gleam in Peter Hyde's eyes. "Now, if you'll give me a hand +putting these pages together, I'll run in and prepare Aunt Milly and +B'lindy." +</P> + +<P> +Following along the lines of Peter's suggestion, Nancy's "school" +developed rapidly. She covered sheet after sheet of paper with +"schedules" and finally to her satisfaction, blocked off every waking +moment of her pupils' day. Aunt Milly fell heartily in with her plans; +she was proud to know that she could help. The books for Nonie that +Nancy had spirited to Happy House were as fascinating to her as to +Nonie. +</P> + +<P> +After the first day Aunt Milly thought of a great many new "lessons" +they could begin for Nonie. With the promise that after awhile she +could make for herself a "pinky" dress, like Nancy's, Aunt Milly taught +her to hem and seam and tuck. At the same time Nonie learned that it +was quite as bad to wear a torn, soiled dress as to say "him and me" or +"I ain't." +</P> + +<P> +"You're <I>wonderful</I>, Aunt Milly," Nancy had declared, after this +innovation in the school. "I never would have thought of it, myself." +She laughed, ruefully. "I'd better study with Nonie, I guess, and +learn to mend, myself." +</P> + +<P> +Nancy had told Aunt Milly, too, of Nonie's pretend-mother. Perhaps +that was why Aunt Milly's voice was very sweet and tender as she and +Nonie talked and played and read together. Nonie liked to wheel the +chair; she began to look forward to bolder excursions beyond the gate +to the village. +</P> + +<P> +B'lindy, in her heart still a little distrustful that "no good could +come from encouragin' them Hopworths," nevertheless found countless +excuses to join the little group under the apple trees, sometimes +bringing some hideous lace crocheting that had been years in the making +but would some day—if B'lindy lived long enough to complete it—cover +a bed. Sometimes she brought a basket of goodies and other times came +empty-handed and just sat idle with a softened look in her old eyes as +they rested on the purple rim of mountains across the water. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess it makes a body work better for restin' a spell," she said, +after one of these intervals. +</P> + +<P> +But with the success of Nancy's new plans were two little clouds—small +at first but growing with each day. One was the realization that very +soon her work for these dear people could go on without her. And +though in one breath she told herself that this was fortunate, because +her stay at Happy House must end with her father's return, in the next +she was swept with a sharp jealousy that, after she had gone, Aunt +Milly and B'lindy and Nonie and Davy would still gather under the apple +tree. +</P> + +<P> +Since the afternoon Peter Hyde had found her with the manuscript she +had not laid eyes upon him! +</P> + +<P> +A sense of hurt at his neglect did not grow less when she learned from +old Jonathan, after one or two questions, that he had gone over to +Plattsburg; rather it gave way to a resentment that Peter, considering +what good chums they had grown to be and the "school" and everything, +should have gone off on any such trip without one word of parting! +</P> + +<P> +"He'll see how well we can get along without him," she had declared to +herself after the third day. After all he probably <I>was</I> hiding +something; this sudden disappearance must have some connection with it. +</P> + +<P> +His comradeship had grown very pleasant, she admitted, but, she told +herself, it belonged to the real Anne Leavitt, like Aunt Milly and +Nonie and the others, he must drop out of her life when she left Happy +House. +</P> + +<P> +So that he might not even be missed by Davy and his cronies, Nancy +devoted one entire afternoon to teaching the boys of the club how to +build a fire without matches. When, after repeated and discouraging +failures, the last one had joyfully succeeded, Nancy had promised to +teach them to wig-wag at the very next meeting. +</P> + +<P> +When Nancy returned to the house, flushed and tired from the hours on +the beach, old Jonathan, at the door, presented her with a half-blown +rose, its stem thrust through a folded sheet of paper. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Peter, over to Judson's, asked me to give it t'you." +</P> + +<P> +With a certain set of the college men and girls Nancy had been very +popular; more than once pretty tributes of flowers had come to her. +She had accepted them rather indifferently, had kept them with dutiful +care in water and had pasted the cards that had come with them in her +remembrance book. But this gift was different; it was quaint—and <I>so</I> +pretty! +</P> + +<P> +"If you will meet me at seven in the orchard I will tell you a surprise +that will tickle you to pieces," Peter Hyde had scrawled across the +paper. +</P> + +<P> +"How—<I>funny</I>!" laughed Nancy, reading and re-reading the lines. "What +can it be?" +</P> + +<P> +If Nancy had asked herself why she sang as she dressed for supper she +would have thought, truthfully, that it <I>was</I> because she was +ravenously hungry and B'lindy's supper smelled very good; and she chose +to wear, from her slender wardrobe, a pink organdy, because it would be +cool—<I>not</I> that she even dreamed, for a moment, of doing such a silly +thing as going to the orchard at seven o'clock, to meet Peter Hyde! +</P> + +<P> +A dozen times, during the evening meal, she resolved that Peter Hyde's +surprise could wait. He presumed, indeed, to think that, after he had +absented himself for so long without one little word of explanation, +she would go running at the crook of his little finger! +</P> + +<P> +However, she put the pink rose in her belt and occasionally slipped it +out to smell of it. It was the most beautiful rose she had ever +seen—she must ask Jonathan its variety. +</P> + +<P> +At five minutes of seven she picked up her knitting and sat resolutely +down between her aunts on the hollyhock porch. Just as Aunt Sabrina +was telling her how, back in 1776, Robert Leavitt had dined with +Benedict Arnold on the flagship of his little Champlain fleet, two days +before its engagement with the British, the old clock within the house +struck seven. With her breath caught in her throat Nancy counted +sixty, twice—then suddenly sprang to her feet and rushed off the +veranda. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Nancy—dear," cried Aunt Milly, startled. +</P> + +<P> +"Humph," grunted Aunt Sabrina, clicking her needles faster than ever. +</P> + +<P> +Peter was in the orchard. He had been there since quarter of seven. +He was disappointed at the coolness of Nancy's greeting; it seemed to +him that he had been gone for ages, and he had, during his absence, +quite foolishly, been looking forward to this meeting. +</P> + +<P> +He had hoped, too, that she might wear the rose. +</P> + +<P> +"One guess where I've been," he commanded lightly, as he held out his +hand to assist her into the tree. +</P> + +<P> +"Dear me, how can I tell? Buying plows or pigs or——" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy tried to make her tone seem airily indifferent, when all the time +she was really consumed with curiosity and a desire, too, to tell him +how splendidly her work was going. +</P> + +<P> +"I have seen Theodore Hoffman!" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>What?</I>" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't look as though you thought I'd gone mad. He's human. I +happened to hear that he was staying at Bluff Point, so I went over to +see the gentleman." +</P> + +<P> +Nancy's eyes <I>did</I> say that she thought he had gone quite out of his +mind! +</P> + +<P> +"How did you <I>dare</I>?" +</P> + +<P> +"I know a fellow that knows him. He was very nice—as I said, he's +human, terribly human. You should see him playing tennis!" +</P> + +<P> +"What—<I>what</I> did you say to him?" +</P> + +<P> +"I told him I had a little friend who was soon to become one of the +greatest playwrights in the world and——" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Peter!</I>" Nancy lifted an imploring finger. "Honest, what <I>did</I> you +say? And why——" she was suddenly abashed. He had done this for her. +</P> + +<P> +Peter kept his tone light. +</P> + +<P> +"You see I did have some pig business over that way, so it was easy +enough to do a favor for a little pal at the same time. Hoffman was +very nice—he's going to be around up here for some weeks and promised +me he would drive over here. Now it's up to you to have the manuscript +ready." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Peter, I'm <I>frightened</I>! You're a darling! I shall <I>always</I> +bless pigs! Of <I>course</I> I'll have it done—I'll work night and day. +I'll go straight back to the house now." She jumped to the ground. In +her haste she forgot the poor rose she had hidden behind her. +</P> + +<P> +Peter, crestfallen at her sudden flight, found it, however. He smiled, +whimsically, as he held it in the palm of his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Nice little kid," he said, as he had said once before, then he put the +rose carefully into his pocket. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +NANCY PLANS A PARTY +</H4> + +<P> +"What are you doing, Nonie?" +</P> + +<P> +Pencil poised in mid-air; Nancy leaned down from her Nest where she had +been working. Aunt Milly was nodding in her chair, her finger and +thumb between the pages of "Sarah Crewe," from which she had been +reading until she had succumbed to the drowsy sounds of the summer air. +Nonie had been tiptoeing back and forth across the grass making funny, +little, inarticulate sounds in her throat. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm playing party," Nonie stopped under the apple tree and lifted a +thoughtful face to Nancy. "When I grow up I shall have ten children +and have parties all the time. There'll be harps and violins and drums +and lots and lots to eat. And I shall wear velvet, with a long train, +and carry a big fan." She sighed. "Do you always have to be beautiful +to do beautiful things?" +</P> + +<P> +"Just doing beautiful things makes you seem beautiful," explained Nancy. +</P> + +<P> +Nonie was not satisfied. "B'lindy makes beautiful cakes and pies but +<I>she</I> isn't beautiful. And Jonathan puts seeds in the ground that grow +into pretty flowers but—he's ugly! Could I do beautiful things +and—look like this?" She spread out her shabby skirts. +</P> + +<P> +Behind the troubled gaze Nancy caught the gleam of a vision. +</P> + +<P> +"You can—you can! Nonie, no one can ever take your dreams away from +you!" +</P> + +<P> +"Not even Liz," echoed Nonie, bitterly. +</P> + +<P> +A few days before a tragedy had touched Nonie's life. From out of +nowhere there had wandered into her affections a hungry-eyed, maltese +cat with two small babies. Nonie had mothered them passionately, +tenderly. She had hidden scraps of food from her own meagre portions +to feed them; she had fitted a box with old rags and had concealed it +beneath the loose plankings of the shed. Then, mother cat, satisfied +that her babies were in good hands, had disappeared. +</P> + +<P> +"Even kittens can't have mothers," Nonie had thought, perplexed over +the ways of the world. "Never mind, darlings, Nonie will love you," +and she had kissed each small puss as a pledge of her devotion. +</P> + +<P> +But a week later she found both kittens lying stiff and cold behind the +shed. At her passionate outburst, Liz had told her that "<I>she</I> wa'nt a +goin' to have any <I>cats</I> under foot!" +</P> + +<P> +Nonie had taken her sorrow to the Bird's-Nest and Nancy and Aunt Milly +had managed to soothe her. But she would not forgive Liz. +</P> + +<P> +"If that mother should ever come back how could I face her," she had +asked very seriously. "She'd know it was my fault—because I left +them! I wish—I wish babies never had to be left—without mothers!" +Thereupon had taken shape the determination in Nonie's heart to some +day have ten children whom she would never, never leave—not for a +moment! +</P> + +<P> +"Don't forget the fairy godmother, Nonie, and her wand. Some day +she'll turn your old dress into gold cloth and put a crown upon your +head." Nancy made her tone light; she could not bear to see the shadow +on the child's face. She jumped down from the tree. +</P> + +<P> +"I've just thought of the loveliest plan! Nonie, let's have a party at +Happy House!" +</P> + +<P> +"A <I>real</I> party?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, a real party—with lots and <I>lots</I> to eat! It's too warm for +velvet, but how would you like to wear a white dress of mine that's +dreadfully small for me? I'm sure Aunt Milly's clever fingers can fix +it over. B'lindy shall make a cake—like the Governor had, and Aunt +Sabrina shall get out all the old silver and linen." +</P> + +<P> +Nonie's face said plainly that she could not believe her ears! +</P> + +<P> +"Honest?" she whispered, glancing toward Aunt Milly. +</P> + +<P> +"Well——" Nancy laughed. "Of course, we'll have to consult Aunt +Sabrina and Aunt Milly and B'lindy. Suppose we cough very loudly—then +Aunt Milly will waken!" +</P> + +<P> +An hour earlier, as Nancy sat in the Nest making notes here and there +upon her manuscript, the thought of the party had not entered her head. +But once there, it grew rapidly. Besides, her heart was very light; +she wanted everyone else to celebrate with her—her play was done! She +had worked day and night; the tiny shadows under her eyes told that. +But in her exultation any physical weariness was forgotten. +</P> + +<P> +In the still hours of the night before she had dashed off a sleepy line +to Claire..... "The Gypsy Sweetheart is done. Darling, pray for me! +My fate lies in those pages. I may soon be with you at +Merrycliffe—that is, if you still want me." +</P> + +<P> +The last line was an afterthought. That day a curious letter had come +from Claire, perplexing to Nancy because Claire's usual complaining +tone had given place to mysterious rejoicing. "I can't tell you +<I>anything</I>, Nancy, because I promised I wouldn't, but some day you're +going to know. I'm the most wildly happy girl in the world," and +beyond that the maddening creature had written nothing. "I believe +she's engaged," thought Nancy, indignant and hurt, too, that Claire +should let any such thing come into her life without some hint to her +dearest friends. +</P> + +<P> +After repeated coughing Aunt Milly wakened with a start and tried to +look as though she had not been asleep. Nancy told her of the party +they wanted to have at Happy House. She had a way of telling it that +made it seem very simple and easy. After one frightened gasp, Aunt +Milly promised to help win Aunt Sabrina's and B'lindy's approval. +</P> + +<P> +Nothing, perhaps, so marked the amazing changes in Happy House worked +by Nancy's stay than the eagerness with which B'lindy, and even Miss +Sabrina, accepted the suggestion of the "party." +</P> + +<P> +They sat with Nancy and Aunt Milly on the hollyhock porch after supper +excitedly making plans; at least B'lindy and Aunt Milly were excited; +Aunt Sabrina had moments of alarm—it had been so very long since they +had entertained anyone! +</P> + +<P> +"Do let me plan the whole thing," begged Nancy. "I'm good at such +things. I always had charge of all the class stunts. Ever since I've +been here I've pictured how wonderfully this old house would open up +for entertaining. We'll have flowers in all the rooms—heaps and heaps +of them. But let's serve out under the trees!" +</P> + +<P> +B'lindy and Miss Sabrina were horrified at such an idea. When guests +had come before to Happy House they had eaten in dignified manner from +the dining-room table. +</P> + +<P> +"But your garden is so lovely," Nancy cried. She made a vivid picture +of how it would look on the day of the party. Her enthusiasm won her +point; even Aunt Sabrina's doubt had to yield before her youthful +determination. +</P> + +<P> +So it was agreed that ice-cream and cake—like the Governor had +had—should be passed from tables set under the old trees, and in the +dining-room there would be punch in the old punch bowl that had, in +years gone by, honored many a distinguished gathering under the old +roof. And Nancy should have her "heaps" of flowers everywhere. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe we'd better keep the sitting-room closed," suggested Miss +Sabrina, faintly. She was too proud to tell them that she could not +bear the thought of curious eyes staring at the mantel with its ragged +crack, everlasting reminder of the storm that marked the falling of the +shadow over Happy House. +</P> + +<P> +But Nancy would not listen even to this—flowers everywhere and doors +and windows open, everywhere. +</P> + +<P> +When Nancy had declared that everyone in Freedom must be invited—even +the Hopworths and Peter Hyde, Miss Sabrina had made her last protest. +</P> + +<P> +"The Leavitts, Anne——" she had begun. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, <I>bless</I> the Leavitts," Nancy had laughingly broken in, "dear Aunt +Sabrina, don't you see that it's your chance to show that—that catty +Mrs. Eaton, who's just a common storekeeper's wife and's only been here +on North Hero one and one-half generations, that <I>you</I>, Sabrina +Leavitt, are not going to be told by <I>her</I> what you should do and what +you shouldn't do!" +</P> + +<P> +Miss Sabrina had not forgotten what she had suffered from Mrs. Eaton's +cruel tongue; Nancy's impetuous argument carried convincing weight. So +Nancy triumphantly added to her list, Mr. Daniel Hopworth, Miss +(Elizabeth or Eliza, she wondered) Hopworth, Miss Nonie Hopworth and +Master David Hopworth. +</P> + +<P> +For the next few days such a bustle followed that Nancy wondered why +she had not thought of it before! While B'lindy opened shutters and +swept and dusted and aired, the sunshine poured into corners of the old +house that had never seen it before. Miss Sabrina unlocked old chests +and sorted out and polished old silver and washed and pressed old linen +of exquisite fineness. Aunt Milly made over the white dress for Nonie. +Nancy wrote the invitations, in Miss Sabrina's name, and despatched +them by Webb to what B'lindy called "Tom, Dick and Harry" in Freedom. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy, herself, invited Webb. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll tell you a secret about this party, Webb! I want everyone in +Freedom to know that Happy House <I>is</I> a happy house; I want them to see +how wonderful Aunt Milly is and that she <I>wouldn't</I> be happier in her +grave! I want them to see the old mantel and the lovely rooms. And I +want them to know that the Hopworth's are invited!" +</P> + +<P> +"Wal, I guess Freedom folks never saw the like before at Happy House, +leastways not sence the old missus was alive," the old man had +excitedly answered. "You <I>bet</I> old Webb'll be thar!" Nancy knew that +as each invitation was delivered at each door there would go with it an +excited account of the strange "sociable" that could include the +Hopworths, and his added opinion that "thet gal'd sartin'ly started +things happenin' at Happy House." +</P> + +<P> +The smithy's son was engaged to help Jonathan cut the grass, weed the +gardens and clip the borders, under Nancy's direction. So that, while +amazing changes were going on within the house, changes equally +startling were transforming the garden. Old Jonathan straightened more +than once to view with pride the results of their work. +</P> + +<P> +"This garden used to be the pride of the Island," he muttered, seeing +in its restored trimness something of its old-time beauty. "But it's +young hands that's needed." +</P> + +<P> +"It's beautiful, <I>now</I>," Nancy had declared. "It's the loveliest +garden I ever saw, Jonathan," and she thought of Nonie's quaint words: +"Jonathan puts in seeds that grow into pretty flowers and he's ugly!" +Yes, the wrinkled, leathery face under the old hat was not beautiful, +and yet something of the beauty of the flowers he grew was reflected in +the expression of the old eyes that bent so tenderly over them. +</P> + +<P> +"That's life," reflected Nancy, indulging in a moment's philosophizing. +"It's really what we think and do that makes us beautiful or not +beautiful!" +</P> + +<P> +They had worked late; the long shadows of the afternoon danced in lacy +patterns over the gray walls of the house. Nancy, watching them, +thought of that first disappointment she had felt upon viewing Happy +House. Then it had seemed an ugly pile of stones, severely lined. Now +it was more like a breathing Thing. It had sheltered and seen shaped +so many lives; it held a future, too; it must stand protectingly for +others after Aunt Milly and Aunt Sabrina had gone! +</P> + +<P> +It had, now, with its blinds fastened back, an awakened, expectant +look, as of eyes suddenly opened after a long, long sleep. +</P> + +<P> +Then into Nancy's happy meditations flashed the disturbing thought that +nothing about the garden or the house belonged in any way to her! +</P> + +<P> +"It's just <I>like</I> me to forget," she declared aloud, shouldering her +hoe and turning toward the carriage barn. "And like me to get fond of +it all!" +</P> + +<P> +"Anyway, Nonie'll have her party, and even if there isn't a harp and a +velvet train there'll be lots to eat or B'lindy's name isn't B'lindy. +I wonder," and Nancy addressed the distant outline of the Judson's +barns, "how Peter Hyde'll <I>ever</I> act at a tea-party!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE PARTY +</H4> + +<P> +Very early, on the morning of the day of the party, Nancy and Aunt +Milly and B'lindy and Jonathan and Nonie and Davy and Peter Hyde, each, +scanned a sunny, cloudless sky with relief and joy. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it isn't going to rain, anyway," each thought. +</P> + +<P> +Even Miss Sabrina, lifting her shade slowly, felt her pulse beat more +quickly as a sunbeam danced into her face. This day was a new day for +Happy House; she could not count the years since a "party" had been +given in her home; her old hands trembled now as she dressed hurriedly. +"<I>What</I> if something goes wrong!" she thought. Had they forgotten +anything? +</P> + +<P> +A little later Nancy, standing with her arms full of girlish finery of +thirty years ago, voiced the same fear to Aunt Milly. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>What</I> if something should go wrong!" But there had been a giggle in +her voice as she had said it. This was the most delightfully funny +party she had ever known, and it was going to be the very jolliest, too. +</P> + +<P> +Directly after breakfast Nonie had run home with the made-over white +dress. She thought it much lovelier than velvet and in her joy over a +pair of Nancy's slippers the child forgot her cherished dream of a +train. +</P> + +<P> +What Miss Milly should wear to the party was a matter that demanded +much thought. "You see, I want you to look <I>happy</I>," Nancy explained +to Aunt Milly. She had dragged down from the attic a little trunk in +which, after the accident, many of Aunt Milly's girlish possessions had +been packed. It was great fun taking them out and selecting from them +what Aunt Milly should wear. There were not many things—compared to +Nancy's own wardrobe it was pitifully small and spoke eloquently of the +limited pleasures of Aunt Milly's girlhood. +</P> + +<P> +"This will be lovely," Nancy held out a flowered silk. "And you can +wear these darling beads. And this," picking out a shell comb, "in +your hair. And I will send Jonathan over to Judson's for a bunch of +their lovely roses. I <I>know</I> they have some!" +</P> + +<P> +"But isn't this—queer—and out of date? I'm old now, Nancy!" +</P> + +<P> +"You dear, funny Aunt Milly! Don't you know that you're not a bit old? +All this time you've been shut away the years have been rolling right +past you and have left you untouched. You're going to be the sweetest +picture and you're going to be a—surprise, too!" +</P> + +<P> +She was a picture when Nancy's eager fingers had finished with her. +The pink of the quaintly fashioned dress was not more pink than the +color that flushed her delicate cheeks; into her soft hair Nancy had +thrust the shell comb and around her neck hung a chain of tiny corals. +Jonathan had returned from Judson's with four bunches of roses and one +of them now adorned Miss Milly. +</P> + +<P> +"You're just <I>lovely</I>," Nancy had cried, imprinting a warm kiss upon +the blushing cheek. +</P> + +<P> +She awarded the same stamp of approval upon Aunt Sabrina, too, who was +very stately in a black silk with one of the Judson roses pinned in the +net fichu about her throat. +</P> + +<P> +"And I shall kiss you, too," Nancy called out to B'lindy, catching, +through the open door a glimpse of marvellously starched calico. +</P> + +<P> +"You go 'long and keep out from under my feet," had been B'lindy's +retort as she retreated from Nancy's threatened attack. "I guess +there's work has to be done before <I>this</I> party's over!" But the +grumbling in her voice could not conceal her pride and satisfaction. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, <I>everything</I> is just lovely," Nancy exclaimed, tiptoeing about to +add a finishing touch here and there. And indeed, some magic wand +seemed to have scattered gladness everywhere about the old place; the +great rooms, open now to the sunshine, radiated it in the fragrance of +the flowers that Nancy had heaped everywhere. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish it would stay like this," was her unspoken thought. +</P> + +<P> +But in her plans for the party which was to show all Freedom that Happy +House <I>was</I> a happy house, Nancy had reckoned without Mrs. Cyrus Eaton. +</P> + +<P> +Since trouble had shadowed Happy House and shut its hospitable doors, +time had brought changes to Freedom just as it had to every place on +the globe; commerce, trade, politics, a certain democratizing of the +standards of living had made their inroads even upon the little +village; new families came and old ones died out. And new influences +challenged and threatened the old Island aristocracy. +</P> + +<P> +Not the least of these was the influence of trade. When Cyrus Eaton +bought and rebuilt the general store next to the post-office he made +for himself—or for his wife—a social prestige that was beyond +dispute. As the years had gone by he had strengthened this materially +by certain credits which he extended to different families in the +village. +</P> + +<P> +Webb had gone to Mrs. Eaton's first with his invitation and his story. +That lady had flipped the little card upon the table with a snort. Did +Miss Leavitt or anyone <I>else</I> think she'd go anywhere where those +Hopworths were? Was it not her duty, too, to warn her friends as to +what this party would be like—to tell them of this hoydenish, +impertinent girl, "of the bad branch of the family," who seemed to have +hypnotized Miss Sabrina? +</P> + +<P> +By the time Mrs. Eaton had finished her baking, put on her best purple +poplin and started out in Webb's trail, her rage had carried her to +such heights of eloquence that it was not difficult for her to convince +her neighbors that some "hoax" was about to be played upon the good +folks of Freedom and that each one must show her pride by remaining +away from the party. She talked so fast, and repeated her stories so +often, that she digressed, quite unconsciously, from the truth and, at +the last few calls, made Nancy out a most shocking young person! +</P> + +<P> +"I <I>can't</I> tell you—I <I>wouldn't</I> tell you—all the goings <I>on</I> at that +Cove," was her favorite introduction. "And in the orchard, too! +<I>Anyone</I> could have told Sabrina Leavitt she was a <I>fool</I> bringing the +creature here—that branch of the family, <I>everyone</I> knows, wouldn't be +above doing <I>anything</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +So while happy Nancy arranged flowers for the party the expected guests +entrenched themselves behind their closed blinds, their righteous +satisfaction tinged the very least bit by regret born of immense +curiosity. +</P> + +<P> +However, there were two exceptions. Samuel Todd, the postmaster, was +an aspirant for a seat in the State Legislature. His ancestors had +never lived anywhere else but on the Island and he had inherited a +wholesome respect for the Leavitt name. He was enough of a politician, +too, to know that, even though she was an old woman, he might sometime +need Miss Sabrina's good-will. +</P> + +<P> +"You go 'long and keep your eyes open and your mouth shut," he had +advised his wife when, after Mrs. Eaton's hurried call, she had sought +his counsel. "You women talk too much, anyway." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Todd, for once, was delighted to do his bidding; Carrie Baker, +over at North Hero, had made over her yellow muslin so that it was +"better'n new—and just lyin' up there in the closet catchin' dust," +she explained to Mrs. Sniggs. Mrs. Sniggs promptly offered to +accompany her. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm that <I>curious</I> to see that mantel—and the girl, too!" +</P> + +<P> +So that, when the hour of the party struck and found Nancy, like a +flower, with Miss Sabrina and Miss Milly, on the lawn, ready to receive +their guests, the only guests (excepting Peter Hyde and the Hopworths +and Miss Sabrina and B'lindy, peeking from the door, did not count +them) were Mrs. Sniggs and Mrs. Todd. +</P> + +<P> +Liz Hopworth with Nonie and Davy had come early. Davy shone as to face +and feet; the grandeur of the new shoes Peter Hyde had given him quite +made up for the small things lacking in the rest of his appearance. +Liz was trying not to pant in a plum-colored cashmere that was many +sizes too small for her gaunt frame. Nancy had managed to place her +near Aunt Milly—Aunt Milly was sure to be cordial and gentle with her +and put her at her ease. +</P> + +<P> +Webb and Peter Hyde had come early, too. Nancy had caught herself +watching for Peter Hyde. She had given a little involuntary gasp when +she saw him—he was resplendent in immaculate white flannels! +</P> + +<P> +"Of course he <I>bought</I> them—just for this!" she thought regretfully. +However, she had a moment of delicious satisfaction when she took him +to Miss Sabrina; they should all see that a hired man could be very +much of a gentleman. +</P> + +<P> +"Peter," she managed to whisper to him, "I have a feeling that +something <I>awful</I> is going to happen!" Then Mrs. Todd and Mrs. Sniggs +had come through the gate and she had gone forward to meet them. +</P> + +<P> +It was Webb who gave Nancy a hint of the real truth. He was, as he +expressed it, "so gol darn flubberin' mad at the hul parcel of +womenfolks he'd liked to burst!" Gossip had crept to the post-office +stoop and Webb had sensed what was going on. "Skunks—beggin' your +pardon, Miss Anne, but that's <I>what</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy had a moment of panic; her eyes sought wildly for Peter Hyde. +Then her fighting blood stirred. "Thank you, Webb," she said with +well-assumed calmness. "Don't worry a bit! We'll show them—we'll act +just as though we hadn't invited anyone else!" +</P> + +<P> +But her nonchalant manner cloaked real distress. There was Miss +Sabrina, proud Miss Sabrina who had opened the doors of her trouble for +all Freedom to come and gape at—Nancy knew it had not been easy! +There was pretty, fluttering, expectant Aunt Milly in the dress she had +had made when she was eighteen; Nonie who had dreamed of throngs of +guests paying homage before her; and B'lindy, who had made a cake that +was "like as a twin to the one my mother made for the Gov'nor!" What +would <I>they</I> say? +</P> + +<P> +Was she not, indirectly, the cause of the humiliation that threatened +them? +</P> + +<P> +Nancy hurried to Peter Hyde where, in a corner of the garden, he stood +paying court to Nonie. In answer to his pleasant nonsense Nonie's +delighted laughter was rising shrilly. Nancy sent Nonie back to Aunt +Milly. Then she caught Peter's arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Peter! <I>Pe-ter</I>! Quick—come behind this bush! I'm—I'm—I've got +to cry——" +</P> + +<P> +And to Peter Hyde's consternation Nancy <I>did</I> burst into tears. +</P> + +<P> +"For Heaven's sake, Nancy, what——" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm just—<I>mad</I>," Nancy blurted from behind a handkerchief. "The—the +<I>cats</I>!" She lifted her head, relieved by her sudden outburst. "It's +that Mrs. Eaton again! She's—just—getting even!" She told what Webb +had said. "And here's the—party—and no one will come! Aunt Sabrina +will never, never get over it. And B'lindy—I <I>wish</I> I could run away." +</P> + +<P> +Peter Hyde wanted very much to laugh, but the real distress in Nancy's +face touched him. He patted her consolingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't I do something? Can't Webb and I round 'em up at the point of a +gun?" +</P> + +<P> +"N-no, it's too late! We've just got to act as though the—the garden +was <I>full</I> and make the best of it! I wanted it to be <I>such</I> a +success. I wanted it to be a party that Nonie 'd never forget. And I +wanted everyone to see Aunt Milly! Oh, why, oh, <I>why</I> doesn't +something happen!" For Nancy had suddenly remembered the huge pails of +ice-cream and the cake that was "like as a twin to the one my mother +made for the Gov'nor." +</P> + +<P> +At that moment the loud whirring of an automobile caught their +attention. Nancy, red-eyed, peeped from behind their bush. +</P> + +<P> +"It's at our gate!" she cried. "<I>Peter</I>——" she clutched his arm. +From the tonneau a tall man was alighting. To Nancy there was +something vaguely familiar in the sharp-featured, clean-shaven face and +in the mass of wavy white hair that fringed his coat collar. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Peter, it's—it's—Theodore Hoffman!</I>" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE MASTER +</H4> + +<P> +A bolt from the cloudless blue could not have startled the little +gathering on the lawn more than did the arrival of the distinguished +stranger at the gate of Happy House. Moreover, French Mercedes cars +did not often pass through North Hero; this was purple and cream color +and the chauffeur wore purple livery. And the man who walked up the +path had a bearing that distinctly set him apart from ordinary mortals. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy, in a panic, wanted the earth to swallow her, but as the earth +was very solid, she had no choice but to drag herself forward. She +had, only a moment before, prayed that something would happen—and +something had! +</P> + +<P> +Peter Hyde had rushed forward to greet the newcomer and this had given +Nancy a moment to rally her scattered wits. She was too busy +whispering an explanation to Miss Sabrina to notice how friendly had +been the master's greeting to Peter. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Leavitt, may I present Mr. Theodore Hoffman—and Miss Anne +Leavitt." +</P> + +<P> +Peter's voice was as steady as though he was introducing any John +Smith; there was even a twinkle in his eye, as it caught Nancy's +glance, that seemed to say: "I have brought the master to you—now!" +</P> + +<P> +There was a gentleness in the keen, deep-set eyes, a friendliness in +the musical voice of the master that suddenly quieted Nancy's +fluttering nerves. Time and again, at the very thought of this +meeting, she had been so frightened and now—she was not a bit afraid. +She was even glad he had come when the garden looked so pretty, when +Aunt Sabrina was so proudly garbed in her best silk, when Aunt Milly, +all pink and white, with Nonie perched on the arm of her chair, was +leaning over explaining some intricate stitch in a bit of embroidery to +Liz, to whom embroidery was not less remote than Sanskrit literature. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Sniggs and Mrs. Todd were staring, open-mouthed, first at the +stranger, then at the cream-and-purple car at the gate. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy's spirits that had dropped to such depths behind the syringa +bushes soared again. At last her moment had come! The master was +declaring his delight in having chosen such a happy afternoon to come +to Happy House; he admired the garden, and the old house; he admitted +to a great curiosity concerning the Islands—he had never visited them +before. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy left him with Aunt Sabrina. Aunt Sabrina would manage to tell +him a great deal—Nancy, watching, knew just when she left the Indians +and the burning of Freedom and began on Ethan Allen and the Green +Mountain Boys and the coming of Benedict Arnold and his flagship to the +Island. +</P> + +<P> +"He'll love her," she whispered to Peter Hyde, nodding toward where the +master leaned with deep attention over Miss Sabrina's chair. "Look me +square in the eye, Peter! <I>Did</I> you know he was coming to-day?" +</P> + +<P> +"On my honor, I didn't. Is the play ready?" +</P> + +<P> +"All ready, in a nice fat envelope. For goodness sake, look at Webb!" +</P> + +<P> +Webb, returning from the house where he had hurried to tell B'lindy of +the coming of the distinguished guest ("Don' know who he is nor whar he +come from, but he's got one of them thur autymobiles that's bigger'n a +steam enjine and a fellar drivin' it thet's dressed up like a circus +lady") was standing in the path wildly gesticulating with one hand to +attract Nancy's attention and with the other clapped over his mouth to +suppress the laughter that was plainly shaking his entire body. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy and Peter turned to see what had so convulsed him. Up the road +toward the gate were approaching three separate groups of women, all +coming hurriedly, breathlessly, with a great deal of chatter and +fussing with hats and gloves. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Maria Slade, behind her blind had seen the purple and +cream-colored car. So had Miss Merry, across the street; so had a +dozen others from behind their entrenchments. Simultaneously, in as +many hearts, the urge of curiosity conquered resentment. +</P> + +<P> +"It'll only take me <I>half</I> a minit to slip on my green dress," Mrs. +Slade had called to Miss Merry. "Wait fer me!" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Brown, next door, had heard her. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll come along, too," she called out. +</P> + +<P> +All through the street there was a stirring behind closed blinds, a +hurried taking down of the Sunday-best and a feverish changing of shoes +and searching for gloves. +</P> + +<P> +"It's all very well for Sarah Eaton to tell us to show our pride," Mrs. +Dexter had confided to Mrs. Hill, "but <I>I</I> just said to myself nobody +done nothing to hurt me, <I>I</I> was goin' to see for myself what Sabriny +Leavitt was havin' up there! Did you see that automobile? Purple, as +I live. My, ain't this sun hot! I've got to go slower or I'll have a +stroke." +</P> + +<P> +"Every blessed woman in Freedom," cried Peter Hyde. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, how <I>funny</I>! Look at them coming. They saw the purple car. +Peter, the party is a success! Aunt Sabrina will never know. Watch me +now!" With a saucy tilt of her chin Nancy stepped down the path to +greet the first of the late comers. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>So</I> glad you have come," she murmured prettily, clasping Mrs. Slade's +warm hand. "Do come under the trees where it is cool. I am so sorry +you hurried." +</P> + +<P> +In her most gracious manner Nancy presented each one in turn to Mr. +Theodore Hoffman, of New York, then carried them off to Miss Milly. +</P> + +<P> +"—and Miss Hopworth! But of course you know Miss Hopworth. Doesn't +Nonie look darling to-day?" she would say to each one, with wicked +intent. +</P> + +<P> +Then a sudden inspiration seized her. "Nonie should play one of her +pretend games for the master and their guests," she whispered excitedly +to Aunt Milly and Nonie and Peter Hyde. +</P> + +<P> +"Wheel Aunt Milly's chair back toward those bushes—that'll be the +stage. Now, Nonie, play your best! Perhaps—perhaps the fairy +godmother is here." +</P> + +<P> +After a few moments of excited consultation Peter Hyde announced in a +loud tone that, for the entertainment of the guests, a fairy fantasy, +"The Visit of the Moon-Queen," would be presented by Miss Nonie +Hopworth. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I swun, with folks here from N'York, encouragin' that girl to +act her nonsense," murmured Mrs. Sniggs to a neighbor. +</P> + +<P> +But the man-from-New York's face brightened expectantly when Nancy +waved her hand out over their heads as though to touch them all with a +fairy wand. "Let my magic give you fairy eyes so that you may see that +this is <I>not</I> the garden of Happy House but a woodland, peopled by +fairy creatures! If you will listen very hard, you will hear them +stirring. It is the Flowers. They come to the Woodland to make it +ready for the Moon-Queen who will visit them this night!" +</P> + +<P> +Down through the trees danced Nonie, bare-footed, arms outflung, as +though she was, indeed, joyously preparing for the triumphal coming of +a Queen. In turn she characterized the Daisy, the Hollyhock, the +Buttercup and the Rose—then became the good old Dandelion. +</P> + +<P> +"Lily, you are <I>so</I> lazy," the Dandelion sternly admonished her fair +sister. "Don't you know the Queen likes tidy gardens when she comes +here? And see the muss Buttercup has left around. Oh, dearie me, +children will be children and I'll be so glad when Buttercup and +Daffy-down-dilly grow up! Daisy, it isn't lady-like to complain that +your dress is so plain! I am sure the Queen will think you look very +well, if your petals are clean. It's what you <I>do</I>, anyway, and <I>not</I> +what you wear!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy saw Peter Hyde's laughing face drop suddenly between his arms. +</P> + +<P> +With quaint, childish phrasing and with dancing steps Nonie interpreted +her story to her audience. When each flower had done its part toward +preparing the Garden for the coming of the Queen, Nonie, as the old +Dandelion, admonished them to sit very still, "so as not to muss their +dresses," and then disappeared only to appear again as the stately +Queen. Like a peacock, holding an imaginary train in one hand, Nonie +strutted across the grass, now nodding graciously to right and left, +now haughtily chiding imaginary moonbeams who accompanied her. +Then—the Queen supposedly in state upon her throne—Nonie was again +the Dandelion, leading forward her sister flowers to pay court to their +Queen. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly (from the direction of Aunt Milly's chair) came a slow, +sorrowful voice that the Flowers (or at least Dandelion) lamented +loudly as Trouble. The Flowers were sadly dismayed that Trouble should +have intruded upon this festive gathering in honor of the Moon-Queen! +But the Moon-Queen implored them "not to worry a bit." +</P> + +<P> +"I know all about Trouble and the harm she does! I see everything as I +ride through the sky. But, never fear, we will find a way to get rid +of her!" The Queen threw out her hand with an imperial gesture. +"Summon Youth!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy, as Youth, trying very hard not to giggle, answered the summons. +In her pink dress, a flush dying her tanned cheeks, her eyes alight +with life, she was so much the embodiment of joyous, appealing youth +that Peter Hyde, absorbedly watching, felt a catch at his heart. +</P> + +<P> +Gravely the Moon-Queen touched Youth with her magic wand. +</P> + +<P> +"Go out into the world and drive Trouble away! I will give you fairy +presents to help you in your fight. This," holding out a flower, "is a +magic flower. If you wear it all the time you'll remember that there's +always flowers and birds and nice things to make people happy. And +here's a fairy leaf. If you wave that in people's faces they'll all be +kind and never be cross to little children or animals or old people. +And here is a fairy ring," placing a twisted dandelion stem in Youth's +hand, "that'll make you love everybody and everybody love you. And +here is a magic coat," putting Aunt Milly's shawl over Youth's arm, +"when you wear it you'll always do beautiful things and you'll always +seem beautiful and never grow old or ugly!" +</P> + +<P> +Then the Flowers, at the Queen's bidding, danced wildly about Youth to +show their joy at her coming—at least Nonie danced wildly, with utter +abandon. Forgetting her audience, she had thrown herself heart and +soul into the "game." +</P> + +<P> +Again the Queen, she bade the pretty Rose step forward and take Youth +by the hand and "walk along with her so that she'll see everything +through your spectacles. I bid all <I>adieu</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +After one sweeping bow Nonie had to unceremoniously leave the poor +Moon-Queen in order to become the joyous Rose to whom had been allotted +the pleasant task of accompanying Youth through her life's journey. +She caught Youth by the hand and together, amid loud applause, led +mainly by Webb and Peter Hyde, they danced away through the trees and +shrubbery to the kitchen garden beyond. +</P> + +<P> +"Author! Author!" came from Peter Hyde's corner and brought Nancy and +Nonie, flushed by their play, back to the gathering under the trees. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm blessed if <I>I</I> could make head'nor tail out of any of it, but did +you see, Mary Sniggs, the way thet N'York man watched the two of them +galivantin'?" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Sniggs discreetly snorted into her handkerchief. "That kind o' +play-actin' may be very well for Sabriny Leavitt's niece, but I don' +believe it'll do any girl any good that's gotta earn her livin'!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy, still breathless, found Peter Hyde at her side. There was an +earnestness in the gaze he kept fixed upon her that brought an added +color to her cheeks. +</P> + +<P> +"Was it <I>dreadfully</I> silly, Peter? I couldn't resist it. Could you +<I>see</I> their faces when they watched Nonie?" +</P> + +<P> +"I could only see you! I feel as though fairies <I>had</I> been here!" +</P> + +<P> +"Peter—<I>you're</I> silly," rebuked Nancy. "Shall I give you one of my +fairy gifts? The flower—or the leaf——" +</P> + +<P> +"I want the ring," he answered with provoking gravity. +</P> + +<P> +"There—you shall have it! Now you will love everybody and everybody +will love you," Nancy laughed, placing the dandelion stem in his +outstretched hand. +</P> + +<P> +She was tremendously glad that at that moment Theodore Hoffman joined +them—Peter Hyde had so seriously patted the pocket into which he had +placed the ring—as though he really believed it could work its magic! +She turned eagerly to the master but he spoke first. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me—I am haunted by a thousand memories—who in the world is this +strange little creature?" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy told the master of Nonie, of that first night in the orchard, of +her strange gift of imagination, of her "pretend" games by which she +had persistently gilded over the very rough spots of a sordid, lonely +life. +</P> + +<P> +"She is always reaching out for the spirit of the things about her and +trying to make each her own!" +</P> + +<P> +"She is like a flower that has grown up among weeds," muttered the +great man, his thoughts far away, a frown wrinkling his brow. +"Sometimes, it is in such places that we find the greatest gifts. I +wonder," he gave a little start, as though bringing himself, with an +effort, back to the garden. "It's always been a hobby of mine, hunting +around in queer places for something I can give to my Art. Perhaps you +don't understand me, but, wherever I am, I am watching, watching all +the time, for a promise of talent that, if properly cultivated and +trained, will give something to the greatest of the Arts—dramatic +expression." +</P> + +<P> +Thrilled, Nancy sat tongue-tied, afraid to speak. He went on: "I said +I was haunted—years ago I ran across another child, not unlike this +one. She gave rare promise of genius. I put her in my school. I had +her there several years. I looked for a great deal from her. But—she +failed me." +</P> + +<P> +"Did she—die?" +</P> + +<P> +The master laughed. "No, she loved a man more than she did her art. I +was jealous—unreasonable. I let her go away—heard nothing more of +her. I suppose she married. She's probably fat now, with a half-dozen +squalling babies. Yes, I was jealous—I wanted to give her to my art, +soul and body—as a fanatic would make his offering to his gods. And +this child has made me think of her again. It has been a most +interesting hour, Miss Leavitt. You say the child's head is full of +this sort of thing? H-mm." +</P> + +<P> +Now the garden was filled with a babble of voices intermingled with the +clinking of spoons and dishes. Someone had overheard the great man's +praise of Nonie's "play-actin'," and the word spread quickly. Mrs. +Brown allowed it was "just spooky the way that child could make you +think she was what she wasn't" and Mrs. Slade's sister's sister-in-law +had seen Maude Adams in a play where she'd "pretended something all the +time—something 'bout Cinderella, and like as not it might have been +'bout fairies, too." Under the stimulation of iced tea and cakes and +caramel ice cream, served from delicate china, praise for Nonie grew +and the fairy leaf that Youth carried, so that "people would be kind," +began to work its magic in the garden. +</P> + +<P> +It was well toward sunset when the last guest departed. Nancy, +standing in the doorway with the empty house behind her, and before her +the deserted garden, with its chairs and tables in crazy disarray, sent +a wild little prayer down the road after the purple automobile that had +whirled away carrying the great master and her poor little play. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Please</I> think it's good! I worked so hard." +</P> + +<P> +As her eye caught the gleam of gabled housetops through the trees Nancy +suddenly pictured how, at that very moment, every home in Freedom was +echoing with the story of the party. +</P> + +<P> +It had been a success! All Freedom—through the women's eyes—had been +there to see precious Aunt Milly; now they knew that Happy House was a +happy house. And, wonder of wonders, she had heard Mrs. Sniggs, in a +most friendly way, ask Liz Hopworth to drop in and show her how she +made her "plum jell." +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly Nancy seemed to hear Peter Hyde saying: "I didn't see anything +but you!" How silly he'd been—putting that absurd dandelion stem into +his pocket, as though it really <I>had</I> some magic! Then, with quite +unaccountable haste, as though to run away from her own meditations, +Nancy rushed to the kitchen and begged B'lindy to let her help "clear +up." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A PICNIC +</H4> + +<P> +A reaction set in after the party, Miss Milly, over-fatigued, had had +to stay in her room. Happy House, itself, fell back into its old ways; +again the blinds were shut, the flower vases disappeared and the +peacock feathers were returned to their places of honor. B'lindy +developed rheumatism. +</P> + +<P> +Too, a week followed of long hot days and stifling nights, "brewin' up +for somethin'," B'lindy declared. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy, her play finished, suffered from a restlessness she had never +known before. She told herself that, now her work was done, she must +not linger at Happy House; then found that she could not bear to face +the thought of going! These ties that she had made bound her closely. +It was not as though she might come back as they would think she +could—the separation must be forever. And the day must come when +these good people she had grown to love would know that she had +deceived and cheated them! +</P> + +<P> +"That is my punishment," she thought, in real distress. +</P> + +<P> +On the morning of a day that differed only from the other cloudless +days in that the sky was bluer and the sun hotter, Jonathan brought +Nancy a letter from Mrs. Finnegan. Enclosed in it was a cable from her +father telling her that he had booked passage on the <I>Tourraine</I>, +leaving Le Havre within two days. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," Nancy cried aloud, "he is <I>coming home</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +So intent was she upon her letter that she did not see the rapid +approach of a shiny Ford; but at a terrific whirring and grating of +wheels and levers she turned, startled. +</P> + +<P> +"Love letter?" queried Peter Hyde, jumping from the driver's seat. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>How</I> you frightened me! And why this magnificence? No, it is <I>not</I> +a love-letter!" Nancy laughed joyously as she tucked it away in her +pocket. Oh, why <I>couldn't</I> she tell Peter Hyde that it was word that +her dearest father was at that moment sailing home to her! (Nancy +could not know that the letter had lain in Tim Finnegan's pocket for +five whole days.) +</P> + +<P> +"This——" and Peter Hyde caressed his new possession, "is the latest +tool at Judson's. You have no idea how many things it can do—'most +everything except milk the cows. To-day I thought, if Miss Nancy +Leavitt was willing, it might take us on a picnic—say, up to Isle La +Motte. I'm beastly tired of work!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, lovely," declared Nancy. "I've felt these last few days as though +I wanted to rush off somewhere! Besides, I have something to tell you!" +</P> + +<P> +Peter pretended alarm at her serious tone; then making her promise to +be ready within a half-hour, he drove off. +</P> + +<P> +It would be very pleasant to have a last picnic with Peter Hyde. She +would give herself one day of frolic before she faced the problem of +getting away from Happy House. It was too hot for Aunt Milly to go out +to the orchard, she would leave word with B'lindy that if Nonie came +the child should be sent to Miss Milly's room to amuse her. And +perhaps it would be wiser if she slipped away without telling Aunt +Sabrina. Aunt Sabrina was sure to look as though, when <I>she</I> was a +girl, young ladies did not dash off on long automobile rides +unchaperoned! +</P> + +<P> +Avoiding the living room and the hollyhock porch, Nancy sought out +B'lindy and begged a little lunch. +</P> + +<P> +"We're going for a little ride in Mr. Judson's new car, B'lindy, but we +might not get back in time for lunch—you know you never <I>can</I> tell +what'll happen when you start out in an automobile! A few nice jelly +sandwiches and a little cold chicken and some fruit cake and—tarts——" +</P> + +<P> +B'lindy shook her head. "'Tain't the <I>lunch</I> that's botherin' me, +child, but I can't get the pesky idee out o' my head that somethin' is +goin' to happen! I've been feelin' that way in my bones all day and +all day yesterday, too." +</P> + +<P> +"B'lindy, you foolish, superstitious thing—it's your rheumatism!" +</P> + +<P> +"I guess it ain't my rheumatiz, Miss Anne, and my bones generally feels +right. I ain't forgotten when Miss Milly had that accident nor when +Judson's barn burned. I thought mebbe it was poor Mis' Hopkins dyin'. +Didn't you know the poor soul dropped right off in her sleep last night +and left Timothy Hopkins with those ten children to care for? I sez +this mornin' when Jonathan told me that there was no use tryin' to +understand the ways of the Lord—ten children and that poor Timothy +Hopkins as helpless a body as ever was, anyway, and not much more'n +'nough to feed his own stomach and no one to manage now!" +</P> + +<P> +"How dreadful! Poor man." Nancy tried to make her tone sympathetic. +"Of course that was what your bones were feeling, B'lindy!" +</P> + +<P> +B'lindy turned a truly distressed face to Nancy. "But it <I>wa'nt</I>! No, +sir, right this minit my bones is feelin' worse than ever that +somethin' is goin' to happen!" She sighed as she patted a sandwich +together. "Lord knows mebbe it's the heat. There's somethin' brewin', +Miss Anne, and you'd better keep an eye open for a storm—they come up +fast in this valley!" +</P> + +<P> +But Nancy refused to let B'lindy's fears or warnings dampen her gay +spirits. Indeed, she promptly forgot them in the joy of dashing off +over the dusty road. B'lindy's lunch was tucked away in the back; +ahead stretched miles of smooth inviting highway, winding through +pleasant green meadows. +</P> + +<P> +And this man who grasped the wheel of the car with such complete +confidence, who seemed bent upon nothing more important than making the +little hand of the speedometer climb higher and higher—this was a new +Peter Hyde, unfamiliar and yet strangely familiar in that now he +resembled the dozens of other young men Nancy had known. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy felt suddenly shy. Always before, when with Peter, she had +enjoyed the least bit of a feeling of superiority, that she was +graciously bringing, with her friendship, much into a life that must, +because it was limited to Judson's farm, often seem dull and empty. +But it was not easy to feel that way toward this very good-looking +young man in immaculate blue serge who tended to her comfort with the +assurance of a person quite accustomed to taking young ladies on +automobile picnics! +</P> + +<P> +Because they were both young, because the breeze blowing deliciously +against their faces was fragrant with summer smells, their hearts were +light; they chattered merrily, as young people will, about everything +under the sun, then lapsed into pleasant silences, broken only by the +regular humming of the engine. +</P> + +<P> +However, after a little, these silences irritated Nancy. Peeping from +a corner of her eye at Peter Hyde's blonde head, she was annoyed by an +overwhelming curiosity as to what was going on, within it! What <I>was</I> +the mystery concealed behind that pleasant mask? And why, when they +seemed such good friends, could he not tell her? +</P> + +<P> +Then she suddenly realized, with a quick sense of shame, that she, too, +was concealing much from Peter Hyde! +</P> + +<P> +As they rode along he pointed out old landmarks with the familiarity of +a life-long Islander. He admitted that history fascinated him. "Not +in books as much as when you can hook it up with the very ground you're +walking on! Look at that lake over there—can't you picture it covered +with the canoes of the Indians? They used to come around here in +flotillas—the Iroquois, the Algonquins and the Hurons, always +fighting. Great lot they were—scrapping all the time!" +</P> + +<P> +He seemed to have at his tongue's end some interesting bit of +information about every spot they passed. As they wandered around Isle +La Motte, he told how on this little Island Champlain had first landed +on his voyage down into the valley. He explained that a Jesuit mission +had been established there as far back as 1660, long before any other +white men had ventured into the wilderness. +</P> + +<P> +They visited the ruins of Fort Ste. Anne on Sandy Point and the little +chapel with its cross, to which, on the Feast of Ste. Anne, came +pilgrims from great distances, to pray at the shrine. +</P> + +<P> +"We think this America of ours is so young," he laughed. "And here we +are living on soil that has been consecrated by brave sacrifices of +centuries ago! Not so bad." +</P> + +<P> +Driving homeward their backs were turned to the little ominous pile of +clouds darkening a corner of the blue sky. At a spot where the road +ran close to the edge of the lake, under a wide-spreading maple tree, +they laid out B'lindy's lunch. +</P> + +<P> +"Now I'll tell him I'm going," Nancy vowed to herself, with a little +unaccountable fluttering. +</P> + +<P> +He was on his knees before the picnic box. She could not see his face. +</P> + +<P> +"Peter!" She had not realized how hard it was going to be to say it. +"I'm—going—away! Really." +</P> + +<P> +She had expected that he would be startled—show real consternation. +Her going <I>must</I> make a difference in his life at Freedom—there were +no other young people to take her place. +</P> + +<P> +He was surprised; he held a jelly sandwich suspended for a moment, as +though waiting for her to say something more. Then he laid it down on +a paper plate. +</P> + +<P> +"White meat or dark meat," he asked. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy could not know that he was not really concerned as to whether she +preferred white meat or dark meat, that his indifference was, indeed, +covering a moment's inability to express his real feelings. She was +suddenly angry—angry at herself more than at Peter Hyde! +</P> + +<P> +"Of course I shall hate to go, I have grown very fond of Aunt Sabrina +and Aunt Milly and B'lindy—and dear little Nonie. It's hardest to +leave her!" +</P> + +<P> +"They'll miss you. You've changed Happy House. And Nonie's a +different child." +</P> + +<P> +"He's very careful not to say he'll miss me," thought Nancy with +childish pique. Then, aloud: "But I can't stay at Happy House forever. +I only planned to spend three weeks there at the most and it's been +six. And it seems as though I'd been there ages! I suppose one day on +the Islands is like a week in the cities, where you live right next to +people and never really touch their lives. However, it's in the rush +of the cities I belong; I should <I>die</I> if I had to stay here!" She +wanted him to understand that the attractions of Happy House could not +hold her; she wanted to punish him for that abstraction that she had +thought indifference. +</P> + +<P> +"Judson's will be a dull hole without you at Happy House, Nancy," Peter +put in, gravely. +</P> + +<P> +She laughed lightly. "By Christmas you will have forgotten all about +me! Anyway, you will have Miss Denny." +</P> + +<P> +With wicked delight over his embarrassment Nancy told him of Nonie's +plan that Miss Denny should be Mr. Peter's "dearest." +</P> + +<P> +"Your fate is as plain as the nose on my face," she laughed, +tantalizingly. "You won't have to cross my palm with silver to know +your future, Mr. Hyde! A cottage on the ten-acre piece where you will +live happily—ever afterward. As a wedding gift, with my best wishes, +I'll give you the Bird's-Nest." +</P> + +<P> +She dodged the drum-stick that Peter threw at her. "You are not at all +grateful for the nice fortune I'm giving you," she declared. +</P> + +<P> +"I am, indeed! Though it doesn't seem quite fair for me to make too +many plans without consulting Miss Denny, and I've never seen the lady. +She may be old and ugly, black—or yellow." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll tell you—if you'll promise not to tell that I've told! She <I>is</I> +old and ugly; she's blind in one eye and stutters and limps and has +straggly gray hair and——" +</P> + +<P> +"For Heaven's sake, stop! When all my life I've been looking for a +girl with brown hair that looks sort of red and freckles—about three +thousand of them!" +</P> + +<P> +"Peter!" Nancy sprang precipitously to her feet. "Look—there is a +storm coming!" +</P> + +<P> +B'lindy's threatened storm was approaching swiftly. The black cloud +that had been piling up behind them now overspread the whole western +sky. "What a shame—to have it spoil our day! This has been such fun. +I'll never forget it, after I've gone." Then, hastily, "Gather up the +napkins and the baskets; I promised B'lindy I'd bring them home! Isn't +there a short cut home? I'm really dreadfully afraid of lightning." +But she had caught something in the expression of Peter Hyde's face +that frightened her more than the threatened storm. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's hurry," she cried, running unceremoniously to the automobile. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +DAVY'S GIFT +</H4> + +<P> +Real need recognizing no distinction of class, it had been Liz Hopworth +who had been summoned to the Hopkins home when Mrs. Hopkins "dropped +off" in the middle of the night, leaving ten children motherless. +</P> + +<P> +Over Dan'l's late breakfast Liz, wan-eyed from loss of sleep, but +dignified by a new importance, related all the sad circumstances of +poor Sarah Hopkins' passing. "Who'd a' <I>thought</I>," she exclaimed as +she vigorously beat her pan-cake batter, "yesterday when I see the poor +woman out a hangin' her clothes that this blessed night I'd a' been +called in to straighten her limbs and do for those poor young 'uns!" +</P> + +<P> +To Nonie and Davy death was a strangely mysterious thing which they +took for granted; dogs and cats and calves died; frequently there was a +burial in the village cemetery. These had always had an element of +excitement which even stirred the Hopworth home, detached though it was +from the village life. They looked at Liz, now, with wide eager eyes. +To have "straightened poor Sarah Hopkins' limbs" seemed to have +transformed her—her tone was kinder, something almost tender gleamed +in her tired eyes, and she was making pan-cakes for their breakfast! +</P> + +<P> +"Just fetch that grease, Nonie. Step spry, too—there's a lot to be +done before this day's over. Lordy, I thought to myself last night, +that the Lord strikes hard—leavin' those ten children that haven't +done no wrong without any mother to manage and Timothy Hopkins sittin' +there as helpless like he'd been hit over the head, he's that stunned. +And scarcely a bite in the house." +</P> + +<P> +Old Dan'l had long since gotten past the day of worrying over the ways +of the Lord. Nor to him was there anything particularly startling in a +lack of food. His had always been a philosophy that believed that from +somewhere or other Providence would provide, and if it didn't— +</P> + +<P> +"Scarcely a bite, and all steppin' on one another, there's so many of +'em, and then when I think o' Happy House and the plenty there's there, +well, 's I say, the Lord's ways are beyond <I>me</I>! Eat up your +breakfast, Nonie. You gotta do up the work here, for I told that poor +man I'd come back quick as ever I could. There's no end of work to be +done 'fore that place will look fit for folks to come and see her." +</P> + +<P> +"Can I go, too, Liz?" asked Davy. "Mebbe I can help." +</P> + +<P> +Normally Liz would have made a sharp retort. Now she considered a +moment. +</P> + +<P> +"Mebbe you can. You can play with the baby so's Jennie can help me +sweep and dust. Sarah Hopkins would turn over if she thought folks was +goin' to see the muss and litter. Hurry along." +</P> + +<P> +All that Liz had said of the house of mourning had been true. Davy +found the muss and litter; the poor smithy wandering helplessly around +and the "young 'uns" stepping on one another. He shut his eyes tight +so that he would not have to catch the tiniest glimpse of poor Sarah +Hopkins lying very still in the bedroom off the kitchen. He was glad +when Liz, in a strangely brisk tone, bade Jennie, the oldest Hopkins +girl, give the baby over to Davy. +</P> + +<P> +"He's come 'long to mind the baby, so's you can help. Take him +outside, Davy, and keep him out from under foot. Take up these dishes! +Sure's I'm livin' I see Mrs. Sniggs comin' up the road this blessed +minit." +</P> + +<P> +Davy, gathering up his charge, retreated hastily. In fact, his pace +did not slacken until he was well away from the Hopkins home. Then he +put his burden down under a tree and stared at it. +</P> + +<P> +The baby, blissfully unconscious of its loss, cooed ecstatically to +express his joy at the unusual attention. He reached out tiny hands to +Davy. "Go——go!" he gurgled, coaxingly. +</P> + +<P> +"You sit right there! I gotta think," was Davy's scowling answer. +</P> + +<P> +And Davy was thinking—hard. Liz' story, over the breakfast, had sunk +deep into his soul. <I>He</I> knew what it was to live in a household where +there was no mother and not much food! +</P> + +<P> +It did not take Davy very long to make up his mind. Then, with +determination written in every wrinkle of his frowning face, he lifted +the baby and hurried to his home. An hour later, still carrying the +baby, he trudged doggedly up the road to Happy House, through the gate, +along the path to the door. Only for a moment did he pause on the +threshold; then, softly opening the door, he entered, and came out +again, empty-armed. +</P> + +<P> +The oppressiveness of the day had decidedly ruffled the atmosphere of +Happy House. Miss Sabrina had taken the news of Nancy's flight with a +disapproving grunt; B'lindy had sharply come to Nancy's defense. She +"guessed girls had to be girls anyways, though she'd a feelin' in her +bones that somethin' might happen and one never could tell 'bout them +pesky machines." +</P> + +<P> +Then Miss Sabrina, taller and straighter than ever, had walked +haughtily away as far as the sitting room, when a shriek brought +B'lindy running. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Sabrina had dropped breathless into a chair and at her feet sat +the Hopkins baby sucking its thumb. +</P> + +<P> +"B'lindy—what—what is it? I liked to fall over it!" +</P> + +<P> +"Land a' goshen—a <I>baby</I>! A <I>real</I> live baby!" B'lindy leaned over +cautiously. "Crawled in here like a caterpillar! As I live, here's a +note, Miss Sabrina!" She unpinned a piece of paper from the baby's +dress. +</P> + +<P> +"Ples kep this child there ante enuf food fer so meny Hopkins Liz sez +and she sez the Lord never ment any body to go hungry she sez your hous +is big enuf fer a dusen and lots of food I gues you don't no thet ther +ar so meny Hopkins and you will like to kepe this one I no how it hurts +to be hungry so ples don't send this baby bak. Yours truly, Davy." +</P> + +<P> +B'lindy, after reading the note aloud, stared at the baby. +</P> + +<P> +"Sarah Hopkins' young 'un—I swan!" With her apron she wiped a tear +from her eye. "No one to do for it now." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Sabrina snorted. +</P> + +<P> +"Of all the nerve—bringing it here—for me to break my neck on!" +</P> + +<P> +From above came Miss Milly's voice plaintively calling. +</P> + +<P> +"Take it away. Milly's calling—she's got to know what the +excitement's about. I'll <I>never</I> get over my fright," and Miss +Sabrina, still trembling, rose to go to her sister. The baby puckered +his face preparatory to a long wail. "Take it <I>out</I>," commanded Miss +Sabrina, "it's going to cry—<I>give</I> it something quick." +</P> + +<P> +B'lindy snatched the baby and flew to the kitchen. She could not bear +to think that any living thing in Happy House was hungry. However, the +threatened squall passed when B'lindy, after carefully shutting her +doors, produced a bowl and a shiny spoon. +</P> + +<P> +It had not been alone Miss Sabrina's shriek that had frightened Miss +Milly. She had heard a rumble of thunder. She was lying back among +her pillows deadly pale. She clutched Miss Sabrina's hand and begged +her to stay with her. +</P> + +<P> +"I know I'm foolish," she whispered plaintively, "but it's so +oppressive. It's hard—for me—to breathe." +</P> + +<P> +Sabrina sat down grimly beside her—no thunder storm came to North Hero +that it did not bring unpleasant memories to them both. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it—going to be—very bad?" Miss Milly asked plaintively. "I wish +Nancy—was home." +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe it'll go around," assured her sister with as much tenderness as +she was capable of showing. +</P> + +<P> +At that moment the door opened slowly and B'lindy, a strangely softened +look on her old face tip-toed in, carrying in her arms the baby, sound +asleep. +</P> + +<P> +"I just brought it up for Miss Milly to see, it's that cute!" she +explained, in a whisper. +</P> + +<P> +"The poor little thing," Aunt Milly timidly touched the moist chubby +hand. B'lindy, with the air of having accomplished some great feat, +laid the baby carefully upon the couch. +</P> + +<P> +"Fed its <I>poor</I> little stomick and it dropped right off to sleep—it'll +forget things now," she said proudly. +</P> + +<P> +With a different feeling in each of their hearts the three women stared +for a moment at the sleeping baby. Miss Sabrina spoke first. Her +voice was cold and crisp. +</P> + +<P> +"Take that baby right out of here, B'lindy, and get Jonathan to carry +it back where it came from." +</P> + +<P> +A rumble of thunder, closer and louder, startled them. Miss Milly sat +bolt upright, white-faced, and reached out a hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh—<I>sister</I>! <I>Not</I> in the storm!" +</P> + +<P> +B'lindy rose majestically and towered over her mistress. When, down +behind her shut doors, that baby had gone to sleep in B'lindy's arms, +something had wakened in her sixty-year old heart; it throbbed in her +voice now. She spoke slowly. "I guess the <I>Almighty</I> sent Davy +Hopworth here with this poor little young 'un! Like as not it would go +hungry more'n once, and if three women here can't take care of a little +baby—well, the Lord that suffered little children to come unto Him +like's not will hold us to 'count for it! I guess Happy House would be +a heap happier if there was less high and mightiness and more of the +human milk of kindness in it, and doin' for others like little Miss +Anne's always tryin' to do, anyway!" And quite breathless from her +outburst B'lindy knelt beside the baby and defiantly folded sheltering +arms over it. +</P> + +<P> +For the briefest of moments no one stirred. Then Miss Sabrina rose +hurriedly, and, mumbling something incoherent, left the room. +</P> + +<P> +Across the baby B'lindy's eyes, feverishly bright, met Miss Milly's +anxious glance. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't know what she said, but, Milly Leavitt, sure's I'm alive I saw a +<I>tear</I> in Sabriny Leavitt's eye! I guess we keep this baby." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap22"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +REAL LEAVITTS AND OTHERS +</H4> + +<P> +The storm overtook Peter and Nancy on a lonely road that Peter had +taken as a short-cut home. +</P> + +<P> +At a sharp flash of lightning Nancy clutched Peter's arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Pe-ter! Oh-h! It's silly for me to be afraid! It's only when it +crackles!" +</P> + +<P> +"I thought we could make Freedom before it broke. But I guess not. +Here comes the rain!" +</P> + +<P> +It came, in a blinding deluge. +</P> + +<P> +"Sit close to me, Nancy. We must get to a house <I>somewhere</I> along this +road!" +</P> + +<P> +"B'lindy's bones certainly did feel right," Nancy giggled, excitedly. +"Oh-h!" at another flash. "<I>Pe-ter</I>! I'm—I'm such a coward. Don't +you think that's the worst?" +</P> + +<P> +Peter hoped that it wasn't. He did not mind at all the flashes that +sent little quivers of alarm through Nancy and made her huddle closer +to him; he enjoyed the sense of protecting her, though his face, bent +grimly upon the puddled road ahead, gave no hint of his real feeling. +</P> + +<P> +"If this bus only had its curtains! Are you soaked?" +</P> + +<P> +"You are, too, Peter! Do you suppose this is a cloudburst? Can the +car make it?" For the little Ford was floundering uncertainly along +the flooded road. +</P> + +<P> +"What an end to our picnic," declared Peter, disgustedly. "Ha—a +house, as I live! See ahead there." +</P> + +<P> +Through the sheet of rain Nancy made out a low-gabled cottage almost +hidden by the trees. +</P> + +<P> +"It looks deserted," she declared, disappointedly. +</P> + +<P> +"It'll be shelter, anyway. Deserted nothing—hear the dog! When I +stop make a dash for the door." +</P> + +<P> +The dog's bark was by way of a welcome rather than a warning, for, as +he bounded toward the road, his shaggy tail wagged in a most friendly +way. As Nancy, following Peter's command, made a dash for shelter, the +door of the cottage opened hospitably and a little old woman, unmindful +of the fury of the rain, reached out to draw Nancy in. +</P> + +<P> +"Come right in! Bless me, you're soaked." She had a cheery, piping +voice and a way of repeating, "well, well, well," as though everything +on earth was an exciting surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"Won't your young man come in, too. Sit right over here by the fire! +I told sister Janie that I'd light a few sticks of wood to keep it +cheery. It got so dark-like. I'll set the kettle over and have a cup +of tea in the shake of a dog's tail. When it storms in these parts it +<I>does</I> storm, dearie! How wet you are!" She fussed over the fire and +over her kettle and over Nancy's wet blouse. "Now, Janie, isn't it +nice to have folks come here out of the storm?" +</P> + +<P> +Then Nancy, through the gloom of the storm, made out that Janie was +another little old woman sitting in an old arm chair in the window. +Quite unmindful of the storm, she was tranquilly knitting. +</P> + +<P> +"Folks don't come by this road so often," she smiled back. +</P> + +<P> +"Aren't you afraid—sitting there?" Nancy cried. As she spoke there +came a flash of lightning followed almost simultaneously by a roar of +thunder that threatened the weather-beaten walls. +</P> + +<P> +The sister called Janie waited smilingly, her head cocked on one side +as though she enjoyed the storm. "Afraid, honey? Goodness, no. +Saphrony and I've lived through too many of these storms to be afraid! +Isn't the Lord watching over us just like all folks?" +</P> + +<P> +"And didn't He just bring you poor souls here out of the storm?" added +the older woman. "This tea will steep in a minit and I'm goin' to call +that boy in!" +</P> + +<P> +Peter had been trying to fasten a makeshift arrangement that would keep +Nancy's seat dry. He was glad enough to give it up at their hostess' +call. He looked so much like a drowned cat with the water dripping +from his hat and shoulders that Nancy was as concerned as Saphrony and +Janie. +</P> + +<P> +"You poor children," Saphrony cried, running around Peter in a flutter +of worry. "Take your coat right off this minit! Ain't I <I>glad</I> I +started that fire! Fetch another stick, Janie. Well, well, well, now +ain't it a nice storm that brings folks here for shelter?" +</P> + +<P> +The fire did feel good against their soaked backs and Nancy and Peter +enjoyed the chatter of the two funny, fussy little old women. The +kettle sang merrily, too, and steamed invitingly. Janie, at her +sister's bidding, opened a treasure-chest in the other room and brought +from it a piece of fruit cake, wrapped in a red and white napkin. +</P> + +<P> +"A bite'll taste good with our tea," Saphrony explained, apologetically. +</P> + +<P> +"Aren't they the cutest pair?" Nancy whispered to Peter. "And isn't it +the funniest little house?" +</P> + +<P> +There seemed to be only the living room and kitchen combined and the +bedroom adjoining. The furniture in it was very old and very worn, but +everything was spotlessly clean. The red and white cover on the table, +the braided rugs on the uneven floor; and the piece-work cushions in +the armed chairs added a homey, cosy touch that made up for the little +luxuries lacking. Even in the storm the room was cheery. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy forgot the storm in her enjoyment of the situation. Janie +removed the red and white cover and spread a very worn white cloth. +Saphrony took from a cupboard built in the wall a shiny pewter +sugar-bowl and cream pitcher. Peter, amid a storm of protest from both +little women, drew up some chairs. +</P> + +<P> +"Now you stay right there by the fire," cried Saphrony. "We like to +fuss! Janie and I don't have folks here often. The hot tea'll warm +you." +</P> + +<P> +The tea tasted very good, both Peter and Nancy declared over and over. +"It's just like a party," Nancy added, nibbling on the thinnest shaving +of fruit cake. Her evident pleasure set both little old ladies off in +a soft cackling of satisfaction. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you two live here all alone?" Nancy asked, passing her cup for more +tea. "It seems so lonely." +</P> + +<P> +"Lonely—not a bit! Janie and I've lived here all our lives. Not many +folks come 'long this road, but we don't get lonesome—not a bit! +There's always something to do. Folks just gets lonesome and miserable +when they're idle, I always tell Janie. A little more cake, Mister——" +</P> + +<P> +"Peter," laughed Nancy. "Well, I shall remember this storm because +it's given us such a jolly half-hour, as well as a drenching! Oh, +<I>look</I>—the sun!" +</P> + +<P> +Through the mist of rain and the purple gloom the sun burst warm and +golden, pouring through the bare windows into the little room, touching +every corner and cranny with a cheerful glow. +</P> + +<P> +"How wonderful," Nancy exclaimed. "It's the bright lining, all +right—the cloud has turned inside out! I believe," she turned to +Peter, "that when the sun does shine it shines brighter—here! You two +have magic." +</P> + +<P> +"Janie and I never shut it out," laughed the sister Saphrony. "We say +it's God's way of smiling and frowning. There's no storm but what +passes and we're just mighty glad you two children came 'long this way. +Goin' to Freedom?" +</P> + +<P> +Afterwards Nancy said to Peter that that had been the most curious +thing about the two friendly little old women—that they had not right +at first asked who they were nor where they were going! +</P> + +<P> +Peter answered from the window. "Yes—we thought this road would be +shorter." Then, to Nancy: "Do you think we can venture now? I guess +the storm's passed." +</P> + +<P> +Nancy nodded. "We'd better start. My aunts are worrying dreadfully, +I'm afraid. But we've loved it—here. May we come again sometime? +And may we not know who it is that has given us shelter?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, yes—I never thought to tell! Most folks know us, but maybe +you're new in these parts. We're Saphrony and Janie Leavitt." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>What!</I>" cried Nancy with such astonishment that Peter turned from the +door. "Why, I—<I>I</I> am Anne Leavitt!" she said in very much the same +way she had spoken in the French class, four years before. +</P> + +<P> +The two little old women laughed. "I guess you're one of the Happy +House Leavitts—they're <I>real</I> Leavitts. Sister Janie and I are only +plain Leavitts," Saphrony explained with a twinkling in her eyes that +seemed to say that to confuse real Leavitts with plain Leavitts was +very, very funny. "Are you Miss Sabriny's niece?" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy avoided the question. "Aren't you any relation to us—up at +Happy House?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not as anybody ever knew of. There's Leavitts and Leavitts all over +New England, I guess. We've always been poor as Job." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I shall always pretend we're related," declared Nancy, warmly, +"because it's been so nice here!" +</P> + +<P> +While Peter was carefully tucking her into the seat with much lamenting +that it had gotten so wet, Nancy was staring reflectively at the funny +little weather-beaten cottage. From the door smiled the two sisters. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish," she said, "that I could take a piece of their philosophy back +to Happy House!" She leaned out to wave her hand once more. "Hasn't +it been fun? I'm glad now that it stormed." +</P> + +<P> +As they splashed along toward Freedom, Nancy fell into a sudden quiet. +Her mind was held by an overwhelming desire to tell Peter, in this last +hour she might have alone with him, the whole truth—that she, like the +two sisters they had left, was not a real Leavitt, of that day back in +college, of Anne's pleading and her yielding. Twice she opened her +lips to speak, then shut them quickly. There was something in Peter's +strong profile that made her afraid. Once he turned quickly and saw +her eyes upon him with a frightened, troubled expression in their +depths. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it, Nancy?" he asked tenderly. +</P> + +<P> +She couldn't tell him—she could not bear to see his face when he knew +the truth! She tried to speak lightly. +</P> + +<P> +"I was thinking how much I'd grown to like—things—around here and how +I hate to—go away. Peter, will you keep Nonie and Davy doing happy +things—like other children. And, Peter—do you hate people that—act +lies?" +</P> + +<P> +Peter laughed—Nancy was so deliciously child-like. Then he suddenly +colored to the very roots of his hair. +</P> + +<P> +"Generally—I haven't much use for people that can't stick pretty well +to the truth. But when there may be some reason—someone may start +doing it for someone else——" he stopped abruptly. Nancy stared ahead +with startled eyes. Did he know? But, no, how could he! It had only +been an accident that he had so nearly hit upon the truth. +</P> + +<P> +She could not tell him—she need not tell him; in a few days she would +say good-by and go away and never see him again! Theirs had been a +pleasant friendship, for awhile she would miss it, but she'd be just +plain Nancy Leavitt again, playing with Claire at Merrycliffe or with +Daddy somewhere in the mountains or at the seashore, working, +too—beginning life. After a while these weeks at Happy House would +seem a curious memory—a dream! +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly she shivered. +</P> + +<P> +"Freedom—at last!" exclaimed Peter, increasing his speed. Ahead they +saw the gleam of roofs through the trees. "And it looks as though +they'd caught the storm worse than we did!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap23"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +WHAT THE CHIMNEY HELD +</H4> + +<P> +The storm, sweeping down the valley, had reached the heighth of its +fury over Freedom. +</P> + +<P> +As the flashes of lightning grew sharper and more frequent, B'lindy +bade Miss Milly watch the baby while she made things fast around the +house. Beth women had been hanging over the sleeping child with +something like awe. "Poor little mite—like as not right this minit +Sarah Hopkins is watchin' us," B'lindy had whispered, "little bit of a +thing, goin' to grow into a big, big man some day! Ain't it just +<I>wonderful</I>, Milly Leavitt?" +</P> + +<P> +Milly's awe of the baby had been mixed with alarm at the increasing +intensity of the storm. So that, as B'lindy moved to go, she held out +an imploring hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Now you just hold yourself together, Milly Leavitt—that storm ain't +goin' to hurt you! Anyways, it's lots more likely to if I don't see +that everything's shut up tight, so's the lightnin' can't get in! +<I>Ouch!</I>" Even B'lindy covered her eyes from a blinding flash. "You +hold on to that baby, Milly Leavitt," she commanded, bolting from the +room. +</P> + +<P> +But with each flash, each roar of thunder, poor Miss Milly's courage +ebbed. Her cry—rising above, the noise of the storm brought Miss +Sabrina and B'lindy to her. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't—help—it!" she sobbed, covering her face. "It's so—so +dreadful! And where's—Nancy! Oh—oh!" +</P> + +<P> +Even Miss Sabrina's face was pale with alarm. +</P> + +<P> +"You two women are like so many children," cried B'lindy, taking +command. "Milly Leavitt, you'll work yourself into fits. Nancy's all +right somewheres! I guess Peter Hyde's man enough to take care of +her—mebbe they ain't where this storm is, anyways! Sabrina—you take +that baby where Milly's yellin' won't wake it. Goodness knows the +crashin's bad enough! Now Milly, you just hide your poor head in my +lap," with grand tenderness, "<I>I</I> ain't afraid a bit." +</P> + +<P> +Sabrina had no choice—B'lindy had put the baby into her arms and +almost shoved her to the door. +</P> + +<P> +She carried it to her own room and sat down very carefully. Never in +her whole life had she held a little baby. What would she do if it +wakened suddenly? And if it kicked and squirmed, might she not drop it? +</P> + +<P> +But the baby did not kick or squirm—he felt very comfortable in Miss +Sabrina's arms—he snuggled ever so gently a little closer, turned his +face toward the warmth of her embrace, and throwing up one little arm, +laid it against her throat. The warm, soft baby fingers burned against +Sabrina's throbbing pulse—the little spark crept down, down to her +old, cold heart and kindled something there—something that swept her +whole being. Cautiously she held the baby closer, pressed it to her +breast so that she might feel the whole perfect little body; the little +lips twisted and Sabrina, thinking it was a smile, smiled back with +infinite tenderness. She forgot the storm raging without, her ears +were deaf to its roar; after a little she leaned her head down until +she could lay her cheek against the baby's soft head. +</P> + +<P> +Within the darkened room a miracle was working! +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the air was split by a sharp crackle as of a hundred rifles +spitting fire close at hand; and simultaneously came a deafening roar +as though the very Heavens were dropping with a crash. Through it all +pierced Aunt Milly's scream. The walls of Happy House trembled and +swayed; for a moment everything went black before Sabrina's eyes! Then +B'lindy, running through the hall brought her sharply back to her +senses. +</P> + +<P> +"We're struck—we're struck! Sabrin'y! Jonathan!" +</P> + +<P> +Once more Happy House had been struck by lightning! The crashing had +been the tumbling of the bricks of the chimney. And just as in that +other storm, long before, the lightning had worked its vengeance on the +old mantel. It lay in pieces on the floor of the sitting-room, covered +with a litter of broken bric-a-brac and mortar and bricks from the +chimney. +</P> + +<P> +But in the fear of fire no one thought of the mantel. B'lindy ran +wildly around ordering Jonathan to throw buckets of water on any cranny +that might possibly conceal a smouldering flame, at the same time +heaping all kinds of curses down upon the heads of the neighbors who'd +"let Happy House burn right to the ground without liftin' a finger." +And Sabrina, after one look at the lightning's havoc, still with the +baby in her arms, had gone to quiet Miss Milly. +</P> + +<P> +When Jonathan's activity had threatened to destroy everything in the +house with water, B'lindy finally became convinced that there was to be +no fire. "Funniest lightnin' I ever see," she declared, breathlessly +dropping into a chair; "set down that pail, Jonathan—you've most +drowned us all. Thank Heaven, here comes Nancy." +</P> + +<P> +Nancy and Peter, after one glance at the bricks scattered over the +garden, had guessed what had happened. +</P> + +<P> +"Struck,—sure as preachin'! Lucky we ain't burned to a <I>crisp</I>. Just +<I>look</I> at the muss!" and B'lindy swept her arm toward the sitting-room +door. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy's face was tragic as she saw the broken mantel and the gaping +fireplace. She clutched Peter's arm. "What a pity—what a <I>shame</I>! +It was so very old and—and——" She leaned down and picked up one of +the pieces. "Look, Peter, here are parts of the letters! See H-A-P. +It had been cracked by another lightning storm, you know, years and +years ago! Oh, I'm afraid it has been destroyed so that——" as she +spoke she searched in the debris on the floor for more of the carving. +Suddenly she cried out sharply and, straightening, held out an old, +worn, stained leather wallet. "Peter! B'lindy! <I>Aunt Sabrina!</I>" +</P> + +<P> +Her cry brought Miss Sabrina, alarmed, running. +</P> + +<P> +"It <I>must—be—the</I>—wallet!" +</P> + +<P> +Now it was Sabrina who cried out—a protesting, frightened cry. For a +moment she staggered as though she was going to fall; Nancy's strong +arm went closely around her. +</P> + +<P> +"Look quickly, dear Aunt Sabrina," Nancy implored. +</P> + +<P> +With trembling fingers Aunt Sabrina opened it—within lay mouldy, +age-worn bank-notes—many of them! +</P> + +<P> +"It must have fallen behind the mantel in that other storm," cried +Nancy. Then a great joy shone in her face. "He <I>didn't</I> take +it—Anne's grandfather!" she stopped abruptly. But Miss Sabrina had +not even heard her, and Peter was too mystified by the whole thing to +think Nancy's words strange. Miss Sabrina turned, with a stricken face. +</P> + +<P> +"Anne—I—I can't think! What—what—wrong—have I done? Oh, God +forgive me!" She threw her arms up over her head. Her grief was +terrible because it was strange. Even Nancy, frightened, drew away. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, God, give back the years——" she moaned. +</P> + +<P> +"It—is—too—late." She lifted a white, frightened face. "I +must—-be alone! Don't let anyone disturb me. Tell them, Anne—tell +them—everything!" And with the wallet in her hand she went quickly +but of the room. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy turned to Peter, a triumph in her manner that was in strange +contrast to Miss Sabrina's sorrow. She held her hand out toward the +broken marble. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>What</I> a story!" she cried, "over two generations that ugly old mantel +concealed the vindication of a man's honor!" Then, laughing at Peter's +puzzled face, she told him briefly the story of the trouble that had +hung over Happy House shadowing and embittering the lives of those +beneath its roof. +</P> + +<P> +"And, Peter, it has gone with the storm! Oh, you don't know what that +means!" she cried, because Peter <I>could</I> not know that she did not +rejoice for herself, but because, now, there need be no barriers +between Happy House and her own dear Anne—the real Anne Leavitt. +</P> + +<P> +"After awhile—it <I>will</I> be Happy House," she ended, enigmatically. +</P> + +<P> +She walked with him to the door. +</P> + +<P> +"What a day it has been," she laughed, catching her breath. "I feel as +though it had been weeks ago that we started off! I've forgotten how +wet we were," she pulled at her blouse. "Run away now, Peter, for I +must break the wonderful news to Aunt Milly and B'lindy, and, as +B'lindy would say—"there's a pile of work's got to be done!" +</P> + +<P> +"Nancy, the day isn't over yet!" Peter hesitated. "There's going to +be a gorgeous sunset to-night—won't you come into the orchard—just +for a little while?" +</P> + +<P> +"Silly—haven't you seen enough of me for one day?" +</P> + +<P> +His look spoke more eloquently than could any words. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>I</I> have something to tell <I>you</I>!" he said, gravely. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap24"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +PETER +</H4> + +<P> +Nancy knew, with the instinct of a heart unfamiliar with coquetry, what +Peter had to tell her! +</P> + +<P> +She had wanted dreadfully to have to stay away from the orchard—she +had hoped that Aunt Milly might need her, but Aunt Milly had gone to +bed directly after supper, exhausted by the day's happenings. Aunt +Sabrina's door had been shut ever since, with the wallet, she had gone +into her room, and from within no sound betrayed her tragedy. B'lindy +was fiercely struggling, with mop and broom, to remove all traces of +the "curse" from Happy House. "Now just keep out of my way! I'm that +upset," she answered Nancy, shortly. +</P> + +<P> +The sunset was gorgeous. It flooded the garden with a soft, flaming +golden light. +</P> + +<P> +Like all girls, Nancy had had her dream of that time when her Knight +should come riding to her; like all girls her dream-Knight was a +pleasantly hazy individual, changing with her changing moods. And she +had not wanted him to come quickly. Her young freedom was very +precious to her. +</P> + +<P> +One or two others had proposed to Nancy in hot-headed, boyish fashion. +That had been part of girlhood's fun. One, a Junior, after begging her +to elope with him, had gone away crushed, and vengeful, only to send +her, two weeks later, a bunch of violets and a little note thanking her +for her "common-sense," explaining that "Pop had threatened to cut his +allowance in half unless he settled down and made his mid-years." +</P> + +<P> +These had been boys; dear, sentimental, clean-hearted boys, but Peter +Hyde was different— +</P> + +<P> +She had not dreamed of this—not for a moment, until she had seen it in +his eyes that afternoon as they sat under the maple tree with B'lindy's +lunch spread between them. He had been such a jolly comrade through +these weeks at Freedom, he had been so understandable, like Claire and +Anne and Daddy! He had never thought she was silly or +not-grown-up-enough, he liked children and animals and knew just what +to do to make Nonie and Davy happy; he had shared with her his +ambitions in his work as though she was a man but, with it all, he was +a farmer—his lot had been cast in the narrow confines of Judson's farm +and barns and piggery—except for these pleasant days at Happy House +she, Nancy Leavitt, with her heart set on a goal as distant as the +stars themselves, could have little in common with him. +</P> + +<P> +All this flashed through her mind as she walked slowly, reluctantly +toward the orchard—and with it an annoyance that their pleasant +comradeship should end this way. So that when, a little later, a very +earnest Peter began to tell her in stumbling, awkward words how much +her going must mean to him, she wanted to cry out and beg him to stop. +</P> + +<P> +"Nancy—<I>I'm</I> clumsy as the devil. Don't you <I>know</I> what I want to +tell you? I can't let you go without knowing it—and—and—Nancy, +<I>could</I> you ever—ever love a fellow—like me—enough—to—want—to +marry him?" +</P> + +<P> +Then the woman's heart within her made Nancy ages old. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Peter!" she said with tender compassion. She <I>didn't</I> want to +hurt this very dear friend! +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not nearly good enough for you, Nancy, but then, <I>any</I> fellow +isn't good enough! And, Nancy, there isn't anything in this whole +world I wouldn't do—if you cared." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Peter!" Why <I>in</I> the world couldn't she say something more, she +thought. Why couldn't she stem that flood she knew was coming? Why +could she not make him see instantly, how impossible it all was—and +say good-bye and go! +</P> + +<P> +"I'll make you happy, Nancy—if loving will do it," he finished humbly. +</P> + +<P> +"Peter—I wish—you hadn't—said this!" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean you don't care—a bit?" he cried, protestingly. "Have I +frightened you? You said yourself that living one day up here was like +weeks somewhere else! Somehow I've not thought of your going +away—ever. You seemed such a part of it here. You're +so—different—from all the girls I've known! You're such a—<I>pal</I>. +That's the kind a man needs!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy was biting her lip to hide its trembling. Over her swept a +reverence for this that Peter Hyde was offering her—she knew that a +man's pure soul was being bared before her. His awkward words came +slowly because they were born of a deep feeling. She was not worthy! +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Peter! Peter! Please—I'm—I can't let you say all this! I'm +<I>not</I>—what you think me! I'm a <I>cheat</I>! You'd hate me if——" +</P> + +<P> +He caught her hand. "I know what you are, Nancy—you're the best, +truest, straightest-hearted little girl that ever lived!" +</P> + +<P> +With an effort that hurt Nancy pulled herself together. She looked +away so that she might not see that it hurt Peter Hyde when she pulled +her hand from his close clasp. +</P> + +<P> +"Peter—we must be—sensible." She hated her own words, but something +within her, told her that she must say them. "We've been jolly +comrades—here, but—I'm not cut out for—this sort of life. I'd hate +it—after a little; I'd go mad on a farm with just cows and pigs and +things around," she caught her breath; "I'm really an awfully selfish +girl, Peter, and I've set my heart on my career! I'll always put that +before anything—<I>anyone</I> else! That wouldn't be fair—to you. You +must forget me and find someone who will help you in your work." +</P> + +<P> +His face was turned from her—his silence frightened her. She tried to +make her tone light. "You've been a fine pal, Peter, you've helped me +a lot. You've taught me a great many things, too. I've always thought +that farmers and—and——" +</P> + +<P> +He wheeled suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +"Nancy, you haven't said you <I>didn't</I> care for me, any!" he cried. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy flushed in vexation. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm <I>trying</I> to—the best way I know how! I <I>do</I> like you—I'm +going to be as honest as I can be! I just couldn't <I>ever</I>—no matter +how much I might like the <I>farmer</I>—stand for—for a farm like +Judson's!" +</P> + +<P> +To Nancy's unutterable amazement Peter Hyde commenced to laugh, very +softly, with a look in his eyes that caressed her. What an +unexplainable creature he was—anyway! +</P> + +<P> +"When my play is produced," Nancy went on, airily, "I shall invite you +to come down and sit in a box and see it—and maybe, you'll bring Miss +Denny with you!" She wanted to punish him. +</P> + +<P> +But Peter Hyde, the incorrigible, was looking neither crestfallen nor +disheartened. He seized both of Nancy's hands and held them very close. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll come! When that play is produced you can just bet I'll be in the +stage box and it won't be Miss Denny that's with me either! You +haven't told me, Nancy—that you did not love <I>me</I>! You've just said +you didn't like—pigs and cows and hired men and Judson's in general. +Dear, I'm not going to let you answer me—now! I'm not even going to +say good-bye! You're a tired little girl. If I go, will you promise +me to go straight to bed?" +</P> + +<P> +In her astonishment Nancy submitted to the impetuous kiss he pressed +against her fingers. When but a few moments before her heart had been +torn with pity that she must hurt this man, now he was, in a masterful +way, sending her off to bed as though she was a very little girl! And +nothing in his tone or manner suggested <I>anything</I> but utter peace of +mind and heart. +</P> + +<P> +But Nancy <I>was</I> tired—so very tired that it was pleasant to be led up +the path toward the house, to think that someone—even Peter +Hyde—cared enough about her to beg her "not to open an eye for +twenty-four hours." +</P> + +<P> +And of course it was because the day had held so much for her that upon +reaching her room, she threw herself across her bed and burst into a +passion of tears. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap25"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +NANCY'S CONFESSION +</H4> + +<P> +A thousand torments seemed to rack poor Nancy's tired soul and body. +For a long time she had lain, very still, across her bed. Then she +had, mechanically, made ready for the night. But sleep would not come. +Wider and wider-eyed she stared at the dim outline that was her open +window. After awhile she crossed to it and knelt down before it, her +bare arms folded on the sill. +</P> + +<P> +A sense of remorse, which Nancy had been trying for some time past to +keep tucked back somewhere in a corner of her mind, now overwhelmed +her. She saw herself a cheat, an imposter. What would these good +people of Happy House say of her when they knew all of them, even Peter +Hyde—and little Nonie! +</P> + +<P> +Her hands clenched tightly, Nancy faced what she called the reckoning. +</P> + +<P> +Only a few days before she and Aunt Milly had had a long talk. Aunt +Milly had told her how, one afternoon, she had tried to walk—and had +failed. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd been praying, my dear, that it might be possible. I thought, +perhaps, I felt so much better——. But the wonderful thing was +Nancy,—<I>I didn't care</I>! My life seems so full, now, of real things, +thanks to all you've done for me, that whether I can walk or not is +insignificant. And I shall always have you, anyway, Nancy!" Aunt +Milly had said with the yearning look in her eyes that Nancy knew so +well. +</P> + +<P> +What would Aunt Milly say when she knew? +</P> + +<P> +How had she, Nancy, betrayed Sabrina's trust? +</P> + +<P> +Rapidly, as one can at such moments, Nancy's mind went over the weeks +of her stay at Happy House. She had let herself go so far; she had +taught these people she was deceiving to grow fond of her—to <I>need</I> +her! +</P> + +<P> +And she had grown fond of them—that was her punishment. She had grown +fond of Happy House; she wanted to be the real Anne Leavitt and belong +to Happy House and its precious traditions, that she had mocked; she +wanted to have the right to rejoice, now, in the vindication of that +brother who had gone away, years before. +</P> + +<P> +Poor little Nancy, shivering there in the chill and silence of the +night, her world, her girl's world, fell away from her. Like one +looking in from without, she saw her own life as though it was +another's—and what it might hold for her! She saw it stripped of the +little superficialities of youth; she saw clearly, with uncanny +preciseness, causes and effects, the havoc, too, of her own +thoughtlessness and weaknesses. +</P> + +<P> +Something in the vision frightened her, but challenged the best in her, +too. One had only one life to live and each wasted day counted so +much—each wasted hour cost so dearly! In the striving for the far +goal one must not leave undone the little things that lay close at +hand, the little, worth-while, sometimes-hard things. She had gone a +long way down the wrong road, but she'd turn squarely! Her head went +high—she would make a clean breast of it all—to them all; Aunt +Sabrina, Aunt Milly—Peter Hyde. +</P> + +<P> +Her face went down against her arms; she wanted to hide, even in the +darkness, the flush that mantled her cheeks. She could see his eyes as +they had seemed to caress her—out there in the orchard. Oh, why had +she not told him the truth, then and there; if she had he would have +despised her, but it would have killed forever the hope she had read in +his face. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy, girlishly eager to struggle in life's tide, now, facing the +greatest thing in life, shrank back, afraid. She wanted, oh so much, +to be little again; there had always been someone, then, to whom to +turn when problems pressed—Daddy, even Mrs. Finnegan—the Seniors in +college, the Dean herself. Now—she felt alone. +</P> + +<P> +Lighting her lamp, she pulled a chair to the table and spread out +sheets of paper. She wanted to tell it all, while her courage lasted. +She wrote furiously, her lips pressed in a straight line. She would +not spare herself one bit—Peter Hyde must know just what she had done. +</P> + +<P> +But, at the end, she yielded to a longing too strong to resist. +</P> + +<P> +"Please, <I>please</I> don't think too badly of me. You see you don't know +Anne and how her heart was set on going to Russia, and she was sure +that if she told her relatives about going they'd stop her. And that +seemed, then, the only important thing—neither of us thought of the +wrong we'd be doing the people—here. It seemed, too, a very little +thing for me to do for her. But I just can't bear to have <I>you</I> hate +me!" For a moment she held her pencil over the last words, then +hastily sealed the letter and addressed it. +</P> + +<P> +The last paragraph stayed in her mind. "How <I>silly</I> we were, Anne," +she said aloud, mentally arraigning those two very young creatures of +college days. +</P> + +<P> +Her confession made, a load rolled from Nancy's heart. "Anyway, he'll +know the truth," was her soothing thought as she crawled into bed. In +the morning she would tell Aunt Sabrina. +</P> + +<P> +But Nancy's first waking thought—at a very late hour, for her +over-tired body had taken its due in sound sleep—was that she was +very, very unhappy. As she dressed, with trembling haste, she wondered +if she had not better plan to catch the afternoon train at North Hero. +</P> + +<P> +She sought out Jonathan first and despatched him with her letter, then +walked slowly back into the house to face Aunt Sabrina. +</P> + +<P> +On the newel post of the stairs were letters that Jonathan had just +brought up from the post-office. One was addressed to her in Anne's +familiar handwriting and was postmarked New York! +</P> + +<P> +As though she had been struck, Nancy dropped down on the stairs. +</P> + +<P> +Anne's valiant spirit of sacrifice and service had given way to +complaint. +</P> + +<P> +"All these weeks cooped up in a little room in London waiting for +further orders, only to have them <I>dare</I> to tell me—after all the +encouragement I'd had—that I was too young and inexperienced to go on +into Russia, and that I could be of greater service in organization +work back home. Think of it, Nancy! And then shipping me back as +though I was a little child. I have worn myself out with +disappointment, rage and disgust. I came here to your rooms and slept +last night in your bed (as much as any one could sleep with the +Finnegan baby cutting a tooth downstairs) and I shall stay here until I +can calm down enough to make some definite plans. +</P> + +<P> +"... You've been a dear, Nancy, and I've been quite curious to know how +you've gotten on. I never dreamed you'd stay so long! And now I must +ask you to stay just a little longer, until I know what I want to do. +Under no circumstances let my aunt know the truth...." +</P> + +<P> +Nancy read the letter three times—she could scarcely believe her eyes. +Poor Anne, her splendid dreams had come to nothing. +</P> + +<P> +In her own desire to clean her soul by confession, she had forgotten +Anne! Of course she could not tell Aunt Sabrina—at least not now. +She must wait, as Anne had asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive," +Nancy repeated, bitterly, feeling as though the web she had made was +tying her hand and foot. +</P> + +<P> +B'lindy, looking in from the kitchen, saw her. B'lindy's face was +strangely brightened; she gave a mysterious crook to her finger as she +beckoned to Nancy to come into the kitchen. +</P> + +<P> +"I set some coffee by for you—I guessed you'd be tuckered out after +yesterday, ridin' round in that storm and then findin' the wallet was +'nough to tucker anybody." Before she poured the coffee she closed the +door leading into the front of the house. "Miss Nancy, there's been +more changes in Happy House even than findin' that wallet!" +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean, B'lindy?" +</P> + +<P> +B'lindy leaned a radiant face over Nancy. +</P> + +<P> +"It's Miss Sabriny—she's been just like she was born again! I guess +folks won't know her. And you'll never guess what we're goin' to have +up here. <I>A baby!</I>" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy was frankly astonished. Then B'lindy told her what, in the +excitement of the afternoon before, she had not heard—of finding the +baby and Davy's note. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess that little mite opened up somethin' that was all dried up in +Sabriny Leavitt's heart! Seems while we was all fussin' over the mess +in the settin' room Davy Hopworth come up after that baby lookin' like +he'd been scared to death. And then this mornin' Sabriny Leavitt comes +to me 'n asks me to go down to Timothy Hopkins with her while she asks +him for that baby back. Well, we went—she couldn't even wait for me +to pick up. And Timothy Hopkins refused her <I>flat</I>! You wouldn't have +believed your ears, Nancy, Sabriny Leavitt took most to cryin' and she +told him how lonesome it was up to Happy House and how her whole life +'d been wasted 'cause she'd never done for others and he'd be doin' a +kindness to an old woman to let her take the baby and do for it. But +it wa'n't until she'd promised that she'd just sort o' bring him up and +he could always go home and play with the nine others, and the nine o' +them could come to Happy House's often as they wanted that he'd as much +as listen. So we're goin' to have a baby!" B'lindy said it with +unconcealed triumph. "Cunnin' little thing—smart's can be. You +should a' seen it grab for the spoon when I was feedin' it!" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy's eyes were shining. "Oh, that will be wonderful," she cried. +"Where is Aunt Sabrina?" +</P> + +<P> +As though in answer to her question, Miss Sabrina's voice called her +from the front hall and at the same moment Miss Sabrina opened the +door. Yes, it was a transformed Sabrina Leavitt—her face was deeply +lined by all she had gone through, but there was a humility in her eyes +that softened them and brought a deeper glow as though, indeed, from +some new-born spirit within. +</P> + +<P> +Impulsively, Nancy threw two strong arms about her neck and kissed her. +</P> + +<P> +"Come into the sitting-room with me, Anne, I have a great deal I want +to say to you." She led Nancy through the hall into the sitting-room +and they sat down together upon the old horse-hair sofa. In Miss +Sabrina's tone there was a dignified tranquility that made Nancy look +at her with a little wonder. As though in answer to Nancy's thought +Miss Sabrina said, quietly: +</P> + +<P> +"God alone knows what I've lived through—since yesterday afternoon. +Nancy, it is a terrible thing for an old woman to look back upon a life +she has wasted—through pride and prejudice. The storm and finding the +wallet—that was God's own way of opening my eyes! I have been a +wicked, proud, selfish woman. But I've hurt myself worst of all. For +here I am an old woman, and not a soul in the world really loves me——" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy put out a protesting hand. Miss Sabrina patted it. +</P> + +<P> +"I am right, my dear, I know it now. But if God will be good to me He +will give me a few more years to live, so that I may make up, in a +small way, for the wrong I have done—to others and to myself. Do you +know, Nancy, it was you who first brought home to me the truth—that +happiness comes as it is given. It was a fortunate thing for Happy +House when I brought you here, dear." +</P> + +<P> +Nancy had to bite her lips to strangle the words of confession that +sprang to them. Aunt Sabrina went on: +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot bring back the years or atone to my brother for the wrong I +did to him. I do not know how I can make up to your own father. +Perhaps, if you ask him to, he will forgive me, some day. But I shall, +as soon as I can see my lawyers in North Hero, make a new will, leaving +Happy House and my share of my father's fortune to you——" +</P> + +<P> +"Good gracious——" thought Nancy; "she thinks Anne's father is still +living!" In dismay Nancy sprang to her feet. But Miss Sabrina paid no +heed to her agitation. She rose and went to the table and opened a +leather-bound book that lay there. +</P> + +<P> +"I have brought down some papers and letters that belonged to your +grandfather—when he was a young man. Here is a picture of him. Come +and see it, my dear." +</P> + +<P> +Unwillingly Nancy crossed to the table. Miss Sabrina reverently placed +the faded picture in her hand. +</P> + +<P> +"My only brother," she whispered, brokenly. "Your grandfather." +</P> + +<P> +"No, <I>Anne's</I> grandfather," Nancy almost screamed. +</P> + +<P> +She looked at the picture with intent interest. It portrayed a +strikingly handsome young man. She turned the card in her hand. +Across the back had been written the name. "Eugene Standbridge +Leavitt." +</P> + +<P> +Astounded, Nancy cried out: "Why, that—<I>that is my father's name</I>!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap26"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +EUGENE STANDBRIDGE LEAVITT +</H4> + +<P> +For a moment Nancy thought she had gone quite crazy! She put her hand +to her head to steady its whirling. This was her grandfather—her own +father's father! She was the real Anne Leavitt! +</P> + +<P> +Aunt Sabrina was fussing over a note-book in which clippings had been +pasted. She thought Nancy's agitation quite excusable; she was +trembling herself. +</P> + +<P> +"That is a family name. The Standbridge comes from our +great-grandmother's side. I knew your father had been called +Eugene—yes, here's what B'lindy cut out of the newspaper." She placed +the open page of the book in Nancy's hands. +</P> + +<P> +She told Nancy how, after the quarrel, her father had ordered her to +destroy everything about the house that might remind anyone of the +disowned son. +</P> + +<P> +"I carried out his wishes. After our mother's death my father and I +had been constant companions. I was terribly angry at my brother for +having brought this grief and shame to my father in his old age. +Now——" she caught her breath sharply. +</P> + +<P> +"But B'lindy was fond of the boy. She packed these letters and the +picture away, and after that, for years, whenever she'd read anything +about him in the papers, or hear a word, she'd enter it in this little +book. I never knew that until years later. See—here's an account of +his wedding. It says he went abroad—he'd always wanted to, even when +he was a young lad. Here it tells that he bought a newspaper. Here's +where it speaks about his son Eugene." +</P> + +<P> +It seemed to Nancy as though the little pages of the book, with their +age-yellow clippings and curious entries, were opening to her a new +side of her father's life. She remembered some stuffed birds in her +father's cabinet that she had known in a vague sort of way had come +from Africa; it was intensely interesting to read from the little book +that "the well-known newspaper man, Eugene Leavitt, and his young son, +Eugene, had gone on a six-months' trip to Africa." +</P> + +<P> +"Milly wrote once to our brother, though I never knew it until I found +this book. After a long while he answered with this note. B'lindy's +put it here," turning a page. +</P> + +<P> +The few lines were strangely characteristic of Nancy's own father. +They told the younger sister that he'd found the world a very kind and +a very good place to live in. +</P> + +<P> +Another letter had been written by Nancy's father. It told, in a +boyish, awkward way, of his father's death and that his father, before +his death, had asked him to write to the relatives in Freedom and tell +them that "there was no hard feeling." +</P> + +<P> +Nancy pondered over this letter for a moment. A great many questions +came into her mind. Her father must have inherited from his father a +sense of hurt and injustice, or why, through all the years, and years +of poverty, too, had he refrained from any mention of the aunts in +Freedom? +</P> + +<P> +Like links in a chain the little entries in B'lindy's book connected +the three generations, for the last clipping told how the young wife of +Eugene Leavitt, Jr., had been killed in a runaway in Central Park, +leaving motherless the little three-year-old daughter, Anne Leavitt. +</P> + +<P> +"Once Milly told me of finding this. Sometimes she used to wonder what +you were like. But I was always angry when she mentioned you—I wanted +to feel that I had rooted out all affection for my brother and his kin! +As the years went by, though, I grew afraid—what was I going to do +with this earthly wealth I possessed? Then I wrote that letter to you +in college." +</P> + +<P> +As though it had been but the day before Nancy saw again the beloved +dormitory room, old Noah and his letter. +</P> + +<P> +Then the whole truth flashed across her mind! Anne's Aunt Sa-something +was the dear little Saphonia Leavitt, who lived with her sister Janie +on the lonely road out of Freedom! +</P> + +<P> +With a glee she made no effort to suppress, Nancy caught Aunt Sabrina +by the elbows, danced her madly around, and then enveloped her in an +impetuous hug. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you don't know—you can't ever, ever know how nice it all—is," +she cried, laughing and wiping away a tear at the same time. "To know +that I <I>really, truly</I> belong to you and to Happy House!" Nancy's +words rang true. They brought a flood of color to the old woman's +cheeks. +</P> + +<P> +"You see I never knew how long I could stay—I was sort of on probation +and I love you all so much—now! But, tell me, are those two funny +little Leavitt sisters any relation of—<I>ours</I>?" Nancy emphasized the +last word with a squeeze of Miss Sabrina's hand. +</P> + +<P> +"No—or if they are, it is so far back it's been lost. When I was +little I used to see them occasionally, but they've never gone around +much. They have always been very poor. They had a brother, but he +went away from the Island when he was young—I think he must have died." +</P> + +<P> +"I am going to <I>pretend</I> we're related," declared Nancy, "because I +just love them. They took us in during the storm. And—and I have a +dear chum, my very best chum, whose name is Anne Leavitt, too, and I am +sure they are her aunts." She told Aunt Sabrina, then, in a sketchy +way, of her four years' friendship with the other Anne Leavitt. +</P> + +<P> +The windows of the sitting-room had been opened after the storm to let +out the dust from the fallen mortar and brick. The blinds had not been +closed again. Through the windows streamed a flood of sunshine. +</P> + +<P> +With an impulsive movement Nancy closed the book and laid it down on +the table. Her manner said plainly that thus they would dispose of all +the past-and-gone Leavitts. She nodded toward the gaping fireplace. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's have a <I>new</I> mantel made with Happy House carved in it, Aunt +Sabrina. And, I think, it <I>will</I> be a Happy House, now." +</P> + +<P> +There was a great deal Nancy wanted to tell Aunt Sabrina—of her +father, and of their happy life together. But she had suddenly, with +consternation, remembered the eloquent confession she had sent off to +Peter Hyde. +</P> + +<P> +"And I didn't need to—for I <I>am</I> Anne Leavitt!" +</P> + +<P> +As quickly as she could break away from her aunt, she ran off in search +of Jonathan. She found him tying up some of his vines that had been +beaten down in the storm. +</P> + +<P> +"Jonathan—that letter I gave you—did—did you give it to—to Mr. +Hyde?" she asked with a faint hope that he had' not. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes'm! Caught him jes' agoin' to take the stage." +</P> + +<P> +"Going <I>away</I>?" Nancy cried. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes'm. He hed a big bag and he give me a handshake like he was goin' +to be away for a spell, tho' it's most harvestin' and he's not the kind +to leave Judson short-handed—not him." +</P> + +<P> +After a moment Nancy grew conscious that old Jonathan was staring +curiously at her. So she turned and walked slowly back to the house. +</P> + +<P> +Peter Hyde had gone away—without a word! He would read her letter—he +would always think of her as she had pictured herself in it! And he +might never know how the curious tangle had come out! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap27"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +ARCHIE EATON RETURNS +</H4> + +<P> +Liz, returning from her "afternoon's work at the meeting house, blew +breathlessly into the Hopworth kitchen. +</P> + +<P> +"As I live, Archie Eaton's comin' home—this blessed day! His ma got a +telegram last night; Sammy Todd brought it over from Nor' Hero on his +bicycle. And Webb's put a notice in the post-office—he wants every +man, woman and child to meet on the Common to-night at seven to sort o' +welcome Archie to home." +</P> + +<P> +"Everybody? Me and Davy," broke in Nonie, excitedly. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, when Webb says every man, woman and child it means all of +us," answered Liz with importance, smoothing out her gingham apron. +</P> + +<P> +Three days had entirely made over Liz Hopworth. Sarah Hopkins' death +had given Liz, hitherto an outcast, a position of importance in the +community. However unfitting Freedom's ladies might have thought it, +nevertheless it was an undisputable fact, and everyone knew it, that +Liz's hands had "done for" the stricken family; she had cleaned and +comforted, dusted and baked and stitched together suitable mourning for +poor Jennie, the oldest Hopkins girl. At the simple funeral it had +been Liz who had greeted the neighbors and had urged them to "just look +at Sarah Hopkins—you'd think she was enjoyin' it all, she's that happy +lookin'!" What no one else knew was that it had been Liz who had put +her arms around Jennie Hopkins when a complete realization of her loss +had swept over the girl and had bade her "just lay your poor little +head right here and cry all you want to!" Never in all her life had +Liz's arms known such a labor of love. Jennie <I>had</I> cried all she +wanted to—great, heart-breaking sobs that had, though they exhausted, +finally soothed her. +</P> + +<P> +From his corner where old Dan'l, with hanging head waited his supper, +came a grunt of unbelief. Liz turned reprovingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Anyway, Archie Eaton's a soldier even if he be an Eaton!" Then, to +Nonie: "I met Mis' Sniggs comin' up the village and she wants all the +little girls to wear white and throw bouquets at Archie as he's gettin' +off the stage and sing America. She's goin' to get the flowers at Mis' +Todd's and Mis' Brown's. Miss Nancy's white's too nice, but I guess +your gingham's faded most white 'nough. Anyways, it's plenty good." +</P> + +<P> +"Have I time to run up and tell Miss Nancy?" +</P> + +<P> +"Lan' sakes, no! We gotta get supper spry so's to have the work +cleared away. Nancy Leavitt knows it, I callate—ain't much happens +Webb doesn't carry straight off up to Happy House. I guess maybe +they're pretty busy, too. Things is certainly changin', I said, when +Sabriny Leavitt goes to poor Sarah Hopkins' funeral, sittin' right on +the plush chair over in the right-hand corner near the waxed flowers. +And sure's I'm alive, she's taken the Hopkins baby up to Happy House to +do for. She wanted it to keep regular like her own, but Timothy +Hopkins wouldn't listen for a minit—his children wa'nt a goin' to be +separated if they all starved! Seems to me he was foolish, but he was +awful set and mebbe he was right. Dan'l Hopworth, take off your +slippers! Of course you're goin' to see Archie Eaton come home! I +guess you're as patriotic as any other folks." +</P> + +<P> +Liz's determination won its point so that a little before seven the +entire Hopworth family joined every other "man, woman and child" on the +village common. The common presented a pretty sight, big and small +flags fluttering, the weather-worn service flag again hoisted to its +place of honor and women and children in their best attire. Mrs. +Eaton, upon whom every glance turned with frank curiosity, did not need +her gorgeous purple poplin with its lace ruffles swelling over her +proud bosom, to make her the most conspicuous figure in the +gathering—that she was the mother of the returning soldier was enough! +And her eyes, as they strained down the road like the others, for a +first glimpse of Webb's horses, were wet with tears. +</P> + +<P> +Someone saw a little cloud of dust and set up a shout: "He's comin'!" +Others took up the cry. Mrs. Sniggs frantically gathered her flock of +little singers around the carriage-block in front of the meeting-house, +where Webb had promised to pull up his team. Some one pushed Mrs. +Eaton toward the spot. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>There</I> he is," piped a small boy, pointing to the khaki figure that +leaned out of the stage, violently waving a hat. +</P> + +<P> +"Who's the other fellar?" asked Mr. Todd, but no one around him seemed +to know. +</P> + +<P> +All ceremony was thrown to the four winds; the hysterical piping of the +little girls was lost in the wild rub-a-dub dub of the Freedom's +drummers and the clamor of excited voices from the pushing, jostling +crowd. However, Archie Eaton was utterly unconscious of it all, for in +less than a second he was tightly enveloped in folds of purple poplin! +</P> + +<P> +After a moment he sprang back to the step of Webb's wagon and raised +his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Mebbe you think it ain't good to get home! <I>I'll</I> say it is! I've +laid awake nights dreamin' of this. I ain't goin' to make a speech, +folks, but I've got to tell you something. I wanted to send word to +you back a time but my buddy here wouldn't let me! Mebbe you don't +remember my buddy—he's changed a lot, I guess, but he's from Freedom, +all right!" He pulled at the arm of his companion. "Stand up, so +folks can see you! Give a cheer, now, for Eric Hopworth, the best and +bravest soldier in Uncle Sam's army!" +</P> + +<P> +Not a throat in Freedom could have made a sound for utter surprise. +They gaped at the big, bronzed fellow in khaki while Archie Eaton went +on, speaking rapidly. +</P> + +<P> +"Mebbe you folks up here don't know yet that he led a bunch of us after +a machine gun nest that was holdin' back the fellows there in the +Argonny and that when every man of us dropped he went on single-handed, +with a nasty hole in his side, and got every Jerry of 'em! But I guess +before he done that he pulled Archie Eaton back where the Jerries +couldn't finish me with their shot pepperin' the lot of us as we lay +there and—well, he's done a lot more'n that and mebbe you don't know +that the other day some fellers down at Washington gave him a +Distinguished Service Medal which I guess puts him pretty near next to +Ethan Allen himself! So set up a shout that'll split your throats for +Eric Hopworth, 'cause if it wasn't for him Archie Eaton wouldn't be +here holdin' his mother's hand and cryin' real tears, he's that tickled +to be home, and this old North Hero wouldn't be on the map like 'tis! +So let her rip, fellows! <I>My</I> buddy, Eric Hopworth!" +</P> + +<P> +Something, pent up while Archie Eaton was speaking, burst with a roar. +Each person, big or small, tried to shout louder than anyone else; each +tried to press close enough to lay a hand on the hero. And, strange +sight, Mrs. Eaton was now clasping Eric Hopworth in her arms! +</P> + +<P> +Nancy, standing a little apart with Miss Sabrina, shouting like the +others, suddenly felt her throat choke with a sob, for she saw Dan'l, +stung to life, leap forward through the crowd to reach his son, his +face lifted and lighted by a great pride. Then, as they clasped hands, +the crowd parted suddenly, and through it flashed two small figures. +In less than a moment Nonie and Davy were both in their father's arms. +</P> + +<P> +No one stopped to recall the stories of Eric Hopworth's youth nor of +his bringing the two babies back to his father. It was enough that he +was there among them, one of the country's heroes. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Eaton was excitedly begging everyone to come to her home and have +ice cream and cake, and there was a general movement of young and old +to accept her hospitality. But when she urged Eric Hopworth he shook +his head, slipping one arm over his father's shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess we want to go home," he explained, a little embarrassed. "You +see, it's been a long time—Pa and I have got a lot to say to each +other! And <I>we've</I> got to get acquainted," nodding at the youngsters +who were clinging to his arm. +</P> + +<P> +There was a great deal that Eric Hopworth could not tell his father, +for the simple reason that he had <I>not</I> at his command the words that +could tell of the lessons the war had taught him. But in one simple, +awkward sentence he tried to express his remorse and penitence. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Pa," they had stopped before the door of the dilapidated house, +"I guess it took the war to make a man of me! I went into it 'cause it +looked pretty excitin', but it didn't take me long to find out it was a +big job and the kind of a job that meant a fellow had to give the very +best in him—and only the best! I've had time to think a lot and +things sort a come to me different, over there. I guess I know now +that I've got a job right here most as big as the war and I'm goin' to +do it! I'm goin' to make a home for you and Liz and the kids—a <I>real</I> +home!" +</P> + +<P> +Nonie, standing off, a little shyly and uncertainly, was steeling +herself for a test. Out of a clear sky had dropped a real father. He +looked very big, but his face was kind, and he had a nice voice. +Perhaps—<I>perhaps</I> one of her dreams was coming true! She slipped away +to her room and made ready for bed with trembling fingers. For a long +time she lay listening to the voices below. After a little Davy came +in and crawled sleepily into the cot in the corner. Still she waited, +her hands clasped tightly under the covers. At last she heard a +step—not like her grandfather's, nor Liz', she knew theirs—a +cautious, tip-toey step. As it came nearer she shivered with exquisite +anticipation. +</P> + +<P> +Eric Hopworth leaned over the bed. He had thought Nonie would be +asleep. She held her eyes shut tight for a moment. He laid his hand +on her head with a shy, caressing movement. Suddenly the child threw +her two arms around his neck. He held her close, then he kissed her +and laid her gently back upon the pillow. +</P> + +<P> +"Good night, kiddie," he whispered softly, and tip-toed out of the room. +</P> + +<P> +Nonie gave one long, happy sigh, then, cuddling down under the covers, +dropped off into dreamless slumber. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap28"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A LETTER FROM THE MASTER +</H4> + +<P> +Four days had passed since Nancy had written her confession and sent it +off to Peter Hyde. They had seemed endless, too, in spite of all the +strange changes at Happy House. Aunt Sabrina and Aunt Milly were +pathetically and helplessly busy over the new member of the family, and +his coming had necessitated momentous reforms in the habits of the +household and long arguments as to the proper care of infants. B'lindy +had finally found somewhere in the back of a "Household Helper" a +chapter on the "Care of the Child," and went about all day with a +finger between its pages and a superior look on her face. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy had spent one entire afternoon at the Hopworth's. Nonie and Davy +had come for her and had dragged her back with them to see their "Dad." +</P> + +<P> +"Ask him to tell you 'bout——" and Davy had breathlessly, rattled off +a dozen or more of the war tales that he had liked best. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy had thought, that afternoon, that, somehow or other, the Hopworth +kitchen had changed since that first day she had visited it. It was +cleaner, homier; there was less litter, the air was not so heavy with +the stale odors of cooking. Old Dan'l sat near the open door smoking +the pipe Eric had brought him, his eyes following Eric's every +movement. Liz, fussing about over household tasks, was less dominant, +less forbidding, and the tired look had gone from her face. +</P> + +<P> +With the children's chatter Eric Hopworth's shyness soon wore off. +Nonie had told him of the pleasant days at Happy House with Nancy; he +felt a deep gratitude to these people who had been doing for his two +"kiddies" what he should have done. At Davy's coaxing he had repeated +for Nancy some of the incidents of the war in which he had shared. +Davy had proudly exhibited the precious trophies that had come home in +his father's luggage. +</P> + +<P> +"And Dad's going to stay home always and always now," Nonie had +announced. Then Eric Hopworth explained that he had taken a position +in a big manufacturing plant at Burlington. +</P> + +<P> +"The boss there was my captain. It'll do for a start. After a bit, +maybe, I can take the family there, though Pa'll likely want to always +stay here in Freedom," he had added with a squaring of the shoulders +that said plainly that the burdens of the household now rested upon him. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy had gone away from the cottage that afternoon with a feeling in +her heart that Nonie and Davy would no longer need her. Davy, with his +first-hand war stories and trophies and a real hero for a father, from +now on had an assured standing among the youths of the village, and +Nonie had some one to love and to love her. +</P> + +<P> +So the little loneliness that this thought created added to Nancy's +restlessness and made the hours seem endless. And it made her, too, +haunt the doorway watching for Jonathan and possible letters. +</P> + +<P> +She told herself, sternly, that, of course, it was silly to expect +Peter Hyde to write—that was a closed chapter. But she had written a +long letter to Anne, telling her of the strange things that had +transpired at Happy House and of the two dear little sisters who were +undoubtedly Anne's relatives. Surely Anne must answer that letter. +</P> + +<P> +Old Jonathan was too simple-hearted to wonder why Nancy ran out each +day to greet him or why she asked, each day, in a manner she tried to +make casual, if "Mr. Judson had anyone to help him yet?" But on this +fourth day, his smile was broad with satisfaction as he proudly placed +in her hand a big, flat envelope. +</P> + +<P> +A week before Nancy would have exclaimed—for it was from Theodore +Hoffman. Now she turned away in disappointment. +</P> + +<P> +In the excitement of the last few days she had forgotten her play. She +opened the envelope now with steady fingers. By some intuition she +knew just what she would find inside. There they were—all the sheets +over which she had toiled so long, familiar, yet unfamiliar, their +freshness gone from handling—tired-looking. Before she opened the +master's letter she gave them a tender little pat, as though she felt +very sorry for them. +</P> + +<P> +The master's letter told her that her play had much merit and a great +deal of promise, but that it was "young." "You must know more of life, +my dear young lady, live close to love and close to sorrow and learn +life's lessons, before you can portray them.... And never lose faith +in your work. After failure, try again—and again—and again.... +Work, work, work, greatness is in effort." +</P> + +<P> +Nancy read the words with a thrill—it was as though he was speaking to +her. +</P> + +<P> +Her labor of the last few months should not be in vain; her little +play, though it had been a failure, had brought her this golden message +from the one who had, through the effort he preached, risen to the very +top. +</P> + +<P> +Then the last two paragraphs of the master's letter made her forget +everything else. +</P> + +<P> +"I have had constantly in my mind that strange child who played and +danced in your garden. She has haunted me. You told me her name was +Nonie Hopworth. I have looked up records and have learned that the +young student who, fifteen years ago, gave such promise of dramatic +ability, was Ilona Carr and that she married an Eric Hopworth. This +Nonie is without doubt her child. +</P> + +<P> +"Will you ask the child's guardians if they will allow her to come to +my school at Tarrytown for a few years? There she will have the best +schooling and dramatic training that my teachers can give and her +talent will have an opportunity for development and growth. When she +is older she shall choose for herself whether or not she will follow +the calling——" +</P> + +<P> +"The fairy godmother has come," declared Nancy, later, bursting in upon +the Hopworth family with her strange news. She had to read and re-read +the letter so that they could understand and Eric Hopworth had to hear +all about the afternoon at Happy House when the great Theodore Hoffman +had called. +</P> + +<P> +At first he had decidedly opposed the plan. Liz had snorted in +disapproval. Nonie had stared at first one, then another, with round, +bewildered eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"You ought not to throw away such a chance. It's a wonderful +school—I've visited there. Nonie will have splendid training——" +</P> + +<P> +"I know all about it," Eric Hopworth had broken in, and Nancy suddenly +remembered what the master had told her. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me about Nonie's mother," she begged. +</P> + +<P> +There was not much to tell—she had come into Eric Hopworth's life and +gone out again, in a few years. +</P> + +<P> +"I always had a feelin' I'd cheated her of a lot," Eric Hopworth said +humbly, turning in his hand the photograph he had brought out from old +Dan'l's bureau to show Nancy. +</P> + +<P> +It was a cheap little photograph, taken a few months after they had +been married. But the pretty face that smiled out of it was a happy +face. Nancy, as she studied it closely, wondered if it had ever been +shadowed by a regret for the dreams she had sacrificed by her marriage. +</P> + +<P> +"Then—don't cheat Nonie now," Nancy answered. +</P> + +<P> +So before she went away it was decided that Nonie should go to +Tarrytown and while little Nonie was pinching herself to be sure she +was awake and not dreaming, Nancy's and Liz's minds, in true feminine +fashion, leaped ahead to the question of "clothes." Upon their +perturbed planning came Mrs. Cyrus Eaton, walking into the Hopworth +kitchen with the air of one familiar with its threshold. +</P> + +<P> +Too many strange things had happened for Nancy to be amazed at this. +And when she saw Mrs. Eaton pat Eric Hopworth's arm as she sat down +beside him, Nancy knew that in the woman's heart, all silly prejudices +had been swept away by a deep affection for the man who had saved her +boy's life. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Eaton had to hear all about the master's letter and Nonie's +wonderful chance to go to the school at Tarrytown. +</P> + +<P> +"Clothes—land sakes, Liz Hopworth, you've got enough to do without +fussing over clothes. Let me get the child ready. I always did want +to sew for a girl. Besides, it isn't much for me to do, +considering——" she could not finish, but she laid her hand, again, on +Eric Hopworth's arm. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy realized, more than Liz, how much Mrs. Eaton wanted to have this +opportunity to do something for Nonie, so she answered quickly, before +anyone could make a protest: +</P> + +<P> +"That will be splendid if you will help out that way, Mrs. Eaton," and +she made her tone very final, as though they must all consider the +matter settled. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy left Mrs. Eaton and Liz fussing over the wearing qualities of +various fabrics hitherto absolutely unknown to Nonie and walked slowly +homeward. It was a sunny, still afternoon, conducive to meditation. +And Nancy, in a pensive mood, had much to meditate over. +</P> + +<P> +A moment's whim had brought her to Happy House and how much had +happened because of her coming. How curiously intermixed everything +had been; her acquaintance with Judson's hired man had brought her in +touch with the great Theodore Hoffman and then he, through her, had +found Nonie. +</P> + +<P> +Life was so funny—Nancy suddenly remembered a game she had played when +she was very, very small. She had had a box of queer shaped and many +colored Japanese blocks, that, if placed together in just the right +way, made a beautiful castle upon the highest peak of which she could +place a shining red ball. But it had been very difficult to build; +Nancy had, often, in impatience, thrown the blocks down, but her father +had always come, then, to her help and had laughingly coaxed her to try +again. +</P> + +<P> +Life was like that—if one could successfully fit all the queer edges +together and build up, piece by piece, one could have the reward of the +shining ball at the top. But Nancy, thinking of it now, felt the +tugging impatience that she had used to feel toward the pile of colored +blocks. +</P> + +<P> +A few weeks had so changed her own life—she must take up the little +pieces and begin to build again. +</P> + +<P> +At the gate of Happy House she paused, and turning, looked down the +road. In the last few days she had caught herself often looking down +that road and yet she would not admit to herself—she was too proud to +admit it that she was always wishing that she would see Peter Hyde +coming. It was very lonesome at Happy House without him. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly, in a swirl of dust, a motor turned the corner at the smithy +and approached toward her at a tremendous speed, its outline barely +distinguishable because of the cloud that enveloped it. No one came up +that road unless they were coming to Happy House. +</P> + +<P> +Then someone, swathed in linen and green, floating veiling, spied Nancy +and waved wildly from the tonneau. +</P> + +<P> +Scarcely believing her eyes, Nancy took a step forward. With a swerve +and a roar the car came to a stop and from the front seat, throwing off +goggles and cap, sprang Eugene Leavitt. +</P> + +<P> +"Daddy!" cried Nancy, throwing herself into his arms. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought it was Anne, but I couldn't——" +</P> + +<P> +she began, finally withdrawing from his tight clasp to greet the +others. "I just—couldn't believe it." +</P> + +<P> +Anne was standing now beside her, and behind Anne, unwinding yards and +yards of dust-covered veiling, laughed Claire. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it's too good, good, good to be true," Nancy cried, trying to +embrace them both at the same time. "To have you all come—at once. +I'm so happy, I just want to cry." +</P> + +<P> +"And, Nancy, at last you're going to meet my brother Barry," +interrupted Claire, her eyes sparkling. "You wouldn't come to +Merrycliffe, so you see I had to bring him here." +</P> + +<P> +Nancy was so happy that she could even turn to greet the despised +"lion" with a radiant smile. Claire's brother, who, forgotten by the +others in their joyous reunion, had been busying himself with the +engine of his car, now turned and removed from a dust-stained face the +goggles that had almost completely hidden it. +</P> + +<P> +"Pe-ter. You——" and Nancy, her face crimson, put her two hands +behind her back. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap29"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIX +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +BARRY +</H4> + +<P> +Nancy presented such a picture of bewilderment and unbelief that the +others all laughed—except Peter; his face was very grave. +</P> + +<P> +"You see I thought the only way I could get you—to forgive me—was by +bringing them all back with me." +</P> + +<P> +But Nancy had no intention of forgiving—at least, at once—the trick +that had been played upon her. She lifted her chin with meaning +disdain and turned to the others. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's go up to the house. My aunts will be so glad to see you all," +and slipping one hand through her father's arm and another into Anne's +she turned up the path, leaving Claire and her brother to follow. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Sabrina had seen the car stop at the gate and had come to the +door. She knew at once that this was Nancy's father. A color swept +her cheeks and faded. She tried to say some word of welcome but her +trembling lips could not frame a single syllable. But almost instantly +her fears were set at rest, for Eugene Leavitt took her two hands in +his clasp and lightly kissed her cheek in a cheery way that put aside +forever the trouble that had separated them. +</P> + +<P> +In the hub-bub and chatter that followed, Nancy did not realize that +Peter Hyde had slipped away; not until Aunt Sabrina had carried her +father off to Aunt Milly's room and B'lindy, radiant, had gone back to +the kitchen to prepare a supper "fit for folks," leaving the three +chums together. Claire gave her friend an affectionate shake. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Nancy Leavitt, don't be silly and stay cross at Barry. It's my +fault. I knew he was here and that you were here, and that he knew you +and you knew him, and neither of you——" +</P> + +<P> +"Please, please Claire," begged Nancy, trying to stop her friend. Her +face turned scarlet. Of course she could not be offended at his +deception, had she not, herself, been masquerading? But burning in her +mind was the recollection of that afternoon when she had opened her +heart to Peter and had told him how she despised Barry Wallace and his +kind. And he had let her talk—she could not forgive that, ever. +</P> + +<P> +"After you'd been here a few weeks," Claire went on, "Barry wrote to +me. I suppose he'd gotten to the point where he simply had to confide +in someone. You can imagine, I nearly dropped when I saw the postmark +and knew what he was doing, but picture how I felt when he wrote that +he'd met the 'best girl ever—no frills and fropperies like mother's +crowd, but a regular girl.' Of course I knew he meant you. I let him +write a few more letters—I don't think Barry ever wrote so often to me +before—and then, I told him everything." +</P> + +<P> +"You did?" exclaimed Nancy. "Then——" she stopped short. Now she +understood why he had refused to accept her answer as final—that last +evening they had been together. +</P> + +<P> +"And I made him promise on his honor not to tell you that I had told. +So don't be cross at him," Claire pleaded, a little worried at Nancy's +expression. "He has gone back to Judson's and he said—he asked me to +ask you if you would go out to Bird's-Nest—after supper—and——" +</P> + +<P> +Claire, failing in words, threw her arms around Nancy's neck and kissed +her. Anne, who had been impatiently waiting for an opportunity, took +up her part of the story. +</P> + +<P> +"Goodness, Nancy, you can be thankful you've been up here and not at +the apartment—it's unbearably stuffy and hot. Although it ought to +have seemed like paradise after my quarters in London," snapping her +lips together. Poor Anne, her dream of service was now only a bitter +recollection. "I was sitting there as forlorn as could be when in +blew—no other word could describe it—Claire's brother. You wouldn't +have dreamed from the way he acted that he'd never laid eyes on me +before. He told me about the confession you'd written him and he said +he knew you were unhappy up here because of your false position and +that I ought to come back up here with him and get you out of it. He +didn't want me to lose a moment. Then, while we were talking, your +letter came with its astonishing news. Isn't it all like some +nightmare—all the aunts and things mixed up the way they were? We had +to read your letter over and over to understand it. Then when we +finally got it through our heads, we decided we'd get Claire and start +the next day for North Hero." +</P> + +<P> +"But Dad?" asked Nancy. +</P> + +<P> +"We were all ready to go when a taxi drove up to the door and out +jumped your father. Of course he had to hear the whole story way back +to the letter Noah brought to our room. Barry didn't give him a chance +to even wash his face, he bundled him straight into the automobile as +though it were a matter of life and death. And here we are. And this +place looks like Heaven," Anne finished. +</P> + +<P> +It was a merry party that gathered around Miss Sabrina's table. +B'lindy wanting to express all that was in her heart, had spread a +supper fit for the gods. Nancy's father had carried Miss Milly +downstairs and sat between her and Nancy. Every now and then Nancy +slipped her hand into his, under the tablecloth. Miss Sabrina, at the +head of the table, beamed down upon them all in a pathetic ecstasy of +happiness. From the kitchen came the insistent "goo's" of the smallest +Hopworth, to the accompaniment of a silver spoon beating against a +silver mug. +</P> + +<P> +Through all the light chatter in the room there was an undertone of +deep happiness and contentment. Only occasionally Claire's eyes +flashed a worried, pleading message to Nancy that Nancy wilfully +ignored. But when, after supper, the others all went to the Hollyhock +porch and Nancy slipped away, the watchful Claire drew a sigh of relief +and proceeded to feel riotously happy. +</P> + +<P> +As Nancy walked slowly down the path to the orchard she felt her heart +grow inexplainably, foolishly light. She was so glad that Peter Hyde +had come back. +</P> + +<P> +The gladness shone in her eyes as she let him clasp her two hands. He +did not even ask her if she would forgive him; they both laughed +joyously, like two children. +</P> + +<P> +"Wasn't it funny? Both of us up here pretending to be someone else." +</P> + +<P> +"But it wasn't fair. You knew—and I didn't." +</P> + +<P> +Peter hastened to defend himself. "I didn't—at first. And then +Claire made me promise not to let on that I knew. Anyway, I'd grown so +downright sick of that Barry Wallace that I wanted to just see if I +could make someone like plain Peter Hyde. Did I?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy ignored the direct question and avoided the pleading in Peter's +eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Why did you come here, Pet—Barry?" +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder if you will understand, Nancy?" Peter's voice was serious. +"Mother thought I was crazy and Claire would have, too—at the time. +But when I heard you tell—that afternoon—what you thought of Claire's +brother, I decided I'd done just about the right thing. You see, when +I came back from the other side, just because father and mother are +quite prominent, I found that a lot of stuff had been printed about all +the things I'd done——" +</P> + +<P> +"But you did do them," cried Nancy, warmly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, I did them, and I have got three or four medals—but then so +were a lot of other fellows doing the same things and a lot of 'em were +killed, doing them. You see, I just looked at it that everyone of us +went over to do our duty and most all of us did—and that's all there +was to it. So when I came back it was a sort of a shock to fall into +the mess I found waiting for me. I couldn't turn around that I wasn't +asked to appear at a tea or a reception or a banquet or a church circle +or something or other to speak. Every other minute I was dodging a +photographer. And you see the worst of it all was that they were all +my mother's friends, and my mother was always around looking as though +she was at last reaping the reward for her sacrifice. I suppose any +mother would have been the same. But you can see the hole it put me +in. I hated it, but I couldn't bear to offend her. I wanted to go to +work at something; I tried a week in my father's office, but I couldn't +stand the confinement indoors. So I ran away—it was my only escape. +I headed for the mountains—somewhere where no one would know me. At +Burlington I saw Judson's ad. and this idea came to me. I'd hire out +to him for awhile and get a chance to work out some theories that were +pets of mine—before the war. I shipped my car back to Merrycliffe and +wrote to mother of my plan, begging her to tell no one. I picked the +name Peter Hyde at random—out of the hotel telephone book." +</P> + +<P> +"I shall never, never think of you as anything but Peter Hyde," broke +in Nancy. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't ever want you to," assured Barry. +</P> + +<P> +Nancy's eyes rested for a moment on the outline of the Judson barns. +"Are you going to help Judson with his harvesting?" she asked, suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure thing I am—I wouldn't think of leaving him, just now. Nancy, +will you listen to a plan I've been making? I've got some money—it +was my grandmother's—and I want to buy up some farms in different +parts of the state, the kind of farms that are sort of run down at the +heels, and experiment with them and see what can be done with them, as +a sort of outright demonstration for other farmers. Do you think that +worth while?" he asked so anxiously and with such humility that Nancy +colored. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Peter—why ask me? It sounds pleasant and—and like you." She +suddenly seemed to see him going on with this new work—without her. +The thought brought a wistful look into her face. Barry Wallace read +it there. +</P> + +<P> +"Nancy, I'm afraid I sort of made a mess of things—the other night. +When you told me you were going away—I lost my head. Tell me—you +said you'd always care more for your work than for anything or anyone +else—couldn't you share your work? Like I'd like to share mine?" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy lifted a protesting hand that Barry promptly imprisoned in both +of his own. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Peter, don't repeat all that—silly stuff—I said." +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't you mean it, Nancy?" Barry cried. +</P> + +<P> +"I meant it—then. But that was—young." Barry could not know that +she was using the master's words. "I know—I think—that—that——" +</P> + +<P> +"What, Nancy?" +</P> + +<P> +Nancy looked wildly around. She wanted to run away, but Barry Wallace +was holding her hand very tight. +</P> + +<P> +"That—I'll work better if—that—oh, I'm just glad you came back," and +Nancy could not have said anything more, for her face was smothered +against Barry's shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +After a little, Barry had to hear all about the rejected manuscript, +the master's letter and the redemption of the Hopworth's. There in the +sun-lit orchard a golden world seemed to stretch around them. +</P> + +<P> +"How foolish we used to be," laughed Nancy, with a rapturous sigh. "I +never doubted but that my first play was going to make my fortune." +</P> + +<P> +"And I, after facing death in every one of its worst forms, ran away +from a pack of fussy women," added Barry. +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind, let's bury those two children out here under the apple +trees and begin real work——" +</P> + +<P> +"Together." +</P> + +<P> +"Finding the little things to do in our very own corner," added Nancy, +dreamily. +</P> + +<P> +Across the twilight stillness came the familiar whistle that had been +the special signal among the three chums at college. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the girls," cried Nancy. "Let's go back. I can't bear to have +them come here—just now. It's—it's——" she blushed, but met his +eyes squarely. "I want this to be—just ours—for awhile." +</P> + +<P> +As they walked slowly back to the house, Nancy stopped suddenly in the +path. +</P> + +<P> +"Doesn't Happy House look beautiful?" she whispered. And in fact the +fading glow of the sun was touching the old walls with a shadowy beauty. +</P> + +<P> +"It seems to speak to one," added Nancy. She was thinking of that +other Anne Leavitt who had come there bravely intent upon building a +happy home in the heart of the wilderness. Though she said not a word, +in her heart she was making a solemn pledge—that she and Barry, would +add, through useful lives, their bit to the traditions of Happy House +and the little Island, traditions rich with bravery, sacrifice and +loyalty. +</P> + +<P> +Again came the girls' whistle—insistent. Nancy slipped her hand into +Barry's. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's hurry." +</P> + +<P> +Hand in hand they went along the path to the house—and to their future +together. As they reached, the edge of Jonathan's raspberry patch +Nancy turned with shining eyes and whispered: "Pals." +</P> + +<P> +And Barry, teasingly recalling Nonie's pet plan, answered tenderly: +"Dearest." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<HR> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap30"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +<I>There is the high, happy spirit of youth in these famous</I> +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +BOOKS FOR GIRLS +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +by JANE D. ABBOTT +</H3> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +BARBERRY GATE +</H4> + +<P> +A boy flyer opened the Barberry Gate, closed since the day +great-grandfather Colfax locked it, and Winsome learned the romantic +story behind it all. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +LAUGHING LAST +</H4> + +<P> +Sidney finds adventure in Provincetown—she takes part in the capture +of modern pirates, and much to her surprise plays an unexpected part in +her sister's romance. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +APRILLY +</H4> + +<P> +The charming story of a young girl, child of the circus, and the +adventures which led to her goal of happiness. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +HIGHACRES +</H4> + +<P> +A school story of Jerry Travis and her chum Gyp Westley. A thread of +romance and mystery in Jerry's life runs through the tale. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +KEINETH +</H4> + +<P> +How Keineth Randolph kept a secret—a war secret—for a whole year +makes one of the best stories ever written for girls. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +RED ROBIN +</H4> + +<P> +In attempting to bring happiness into the lives of mill workers, Robin +Forsythe, heir to a fortune, has many strange adventures. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +HEYDAY +</H4> + +<P> +Twenty-three! The heyday of life. Jay, a small town girl, finds +happiness in New York. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +LARKSPUR +</H4> + +<P> +Especially interesting to any Girl Scout because it is the story of a +Girl Scout who is poor and has to help her mother. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +HAPPY HOUSE +</H4> + +<P> +How an old family quarrel is healed through a misunderstanding and an +old homestead becomes a "happy house" in reality. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +GROSSET & DUNLAP <I>Publishers</I> NEW YORK +</H4> + +<BR><BR> + +<HR> + +<BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +THE NANCY DREW MYSTERY STORIES +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +By CAROLYN KEENE +</H3> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +Illustrated. Every Volume Complete in Itself. +</H5> + +<BR> + +<P> +Here is a thrilling series of mystery stories for girls. Nancy Drew, +ingenious, alert, is the daughter of a famous criminal lawyer and she +herself is deeply interested in his mystery cases. Her interest +involves her often in some very dangerous and exciting situations. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE SECRET OF THE OLD CLOCK +</H4> + +<P> +Nancy, unaided, seeks to locate a missing will and finds herself in the +midst of adventure. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE HIDDEN STAIRCASE +</H4> + +<P> +Mysterious happenings in an old stone mansion lead to an investigation +by Nancy. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE BUNGALOW MYSTERY +</H4> + +<P> +Nancy has some perilous experiences around a deserted bungalow. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE MYSTERY AT LILAC INN +</H4> + +<P> +Quick thinking and quick action were needed for Nancy to extricate +herself from a dangerous situation. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE SECRET AT SHADOW RANCH +</H4> + +<P> +On a vacation in Arizona Nancy uncovers an old mystery and solves it. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE SECRET OF RED GATE FARM +</H4> + +<P> +Nancy exposes the doings of a secret society on an isolated farm. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE CLUE IN THE DIARY +</H4> + +<P> +A fascinating and exciting story of a search for a clue to a surprising +mystery. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +NANCY'S MYSTERIOUS LETTER +</H4> + +<P> +Nancy receives a letter informing her that she is heir to a fortune. +This story tells of her search for another Nancy Drew. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE SIGN OF THE TWISTED CANDLES +</H4> + +<P> +Nancy, as mediator in a generation-old feud, divulges an unknown +birthright. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE PASSWORD TO LARKSPUR LANE +</H4> + +<P> +A carrier pigeon furnishes Nancy with a clue to a mysterious retreat. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE CLUE OF THE BROKEN LOCKET +</H4> + +<P> +Nancy's sympathy for adopted twins leads her into a surprising mystery. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE MESSAGE IN THE HOLLOW OAK +</H4> + +<P> +In Canada, Nancy protects her new property from a crooked promoter. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE MYSTERY OF THE IVORY CHARM +</H4> + +<P> +Nancy solves an Indian mystery by means of a lucky elephant charm. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +GROSSET & DUNLAP <I>Publishers</I> NEW YORK +</H4> + +<BR><BR> + +<HR> + +<BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +The Judy Bolton Mystery Stories +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +<I>By MARGARET SUTTON</I> +</H3> + +<P> +Judy's adventures, every one of them, have been based on something that +actually happened. The flood, the house with the round attic windows, +the hiding place of the invisible chimes, the school fire, the camp in +the Thousand Islands, the queer old house in Parkville and the panic in +the theatre—all of them are real! +</P> + +<P> +<I>You will not want to miss one of these thrilling stories.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +THE VANISHING SHADOW—Judy is constantly pursued by a mysterious +shadow. Her brother, a timid but lovable boy, turns out to be a real +hero in this dramatic, fast moving story. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +THE HAUNTED ATTIC—The Boltons move into a large rambling house reputed +to be haunted. Even brave Judy is frightened at the strange rappings +and the eerie "crying ghost". +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +THE INVISIBLE CHIMES—A strange girl is sheltered by the Boltons and +Judy tracks down many clues before she uncovers her real identity. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +SEVEN STRANGE CLUES—Judy works out seven baffling clues to solve the +mystery of a school fire and a prize poster contest. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +THE GHOST PARADE—Weird happenings at Thousand Island Camp provide +mystery, humor and adventure in this thrilling story. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +THE YELLOW PHANTOM—With her quick thinking and courage, Judy rescues a +lost friend and solves the mystery of "Golden Girl." +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +THE MYSTIC BALL—Irene, "the engaged girl," is frightened by a crystal +gazer but Judy exposes the trickery and saves her friend's romance. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +THE VOICE IN THE SUITCASE—A weird cry leads Judy into excitement and +danger in a lonely old house. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +THE MYSTERIOUS HALF CAT—Judy and her friends become suspicious of a +mysterious old beggar and follow him. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +GROSSET & DUNLAP <I>Publishers</I> NEW YORK +</H4> + +<BR><BR> + +<HR> + +<BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +The MARY and JERRY MYSTERY STORIES +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +By FRANCIS HUNT +</H3> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE MESSENGER DOG'S SECRET +</H4> + +<P> +The big police dog Flanders carried a strange message in his collar. +By following its directions, Mary and Jerry Denton were able to bring a +lost fortune to someone in need. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE MYSTERY OF THE TOY BANK +</H4> + +<P> +Jerry Denton was saving for a bicycle, but when his little bank +strangely disappeared he had a big mystery to solve. With the aid of +Mary, several chums and a queer old sailor, this eager lad brought +about a happy solution. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE STORY THE PARROT TOLD +</H4> + +<P> +A fire in a pet shop started a long chain of adventures for Mary and +Jerry Denton. The tale the talking parrot told caused plenty of +excitement and mystery before the bird was restored to its rightful +owner. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE SECRET OF THE MISSING CLOWN +</H4> + +<P> +Mary and Jerry have many happy adventures at the circus while searching +for the missing clown and his beautiful pony, Silverfeet. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +GROSSET & DUNLAP <I>Publishers</I> NEW YORK +</H4> + +<BR><BR> + +<HR> + +<BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +Melody Lane Mystery Stories +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +<I>By LILIAN GARIS</I> +</H3> + +<BR> + +<P> +Thrills, secrets, ghosts—adventures that will fascinate you seem to +surround pretty Carol Duncan. A vivid, plucky girl, her cleverness at +solving mysteries will captivate and thrill every mystery fan. +</P> + +<P> +The author has written many popular mystery stories for girls and in +this new series Mrs. Garis is at her best. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE GHOST OF MELODY LANE +</H4> + +<P> +Mystery surrounds the great organ in the home of the "Cameo +Lady"—beloved friend of Carol and sponsor of the girls' Coral Club. +Three people see the "ghost" that wanders in the grove carrying a waxy +white rose. And Carol finds the rose! In the end she finds the ghost +too! +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE FORBIDDEN TRAIL +</H4> + +<P> +There was a tradition at "Splatter Castle" on Melody Lane, and Marah +Splartier, eccentric aunt of Veronica Flint determined to protect Vera +from following the long line of family tragedies that had had their +beginning on the "forbidden trail." Carol has several bad frights +before she clears up the mystery that keeps the little family at +Splatter Castle unhappy and afraid. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE TOWER SECRET +</H4> + +<P> +The winking lights flashing from the old tower on the grounds of the +Bonds' new home defy explanation. There is no one in the tower—and no +electric power or connections! Had the engaging circus family that +Carol befriended anything to do with the mystery? And what interest +had Parsnips, the queer old farmer, in the "ghost" tower? +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE WILD WARNING +</H4> + +<P> +What power did the strange, wild warning in the woods have over Polly +Flinders? And why was she so desperately anxious to earn money? Carol +brings happiness to three families when she solves this exciting +mystery. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE TERROR OF MOANING CLIFF +</H4> + +<P> +No tenant would stay in the great, bleak house on "moaning cliff" that +belonged to Carol's aunt. But Carol, courageous and determined, +finally tracks the uncanny "haunts" to their source. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE DRAGON OF THE HILLS +</H4> + +<P> +When Carol runs a tea shop for a friend, a baffling mystery comes to +her with her first customer. Who has the limping man's lost +package—the gypsies, the oriental or the neighbor's boy who ran away? +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +GROSSET & DUNLAP <I>Publishers</I> NEW YORK +</H4> + +<BR><BR> + +<HR> + +<BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +The Carolyn Wells +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Books for Girls +</H3> + +<BR> + +<P> +Fresh, spirited stories that the modern small girl will take to her +heart, these well known books by a famous author have won an important +place in the field of juvenile fiction. +</P> + +<P> +Patty, with her beauty and frank good nature, and Marjorie full of +vitality and good spirits, are two lovable characters well worth +knowing, and their adventures will stir the eager imaginations of young +readers. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE FAMOUS "PATTY" BOOKS +</H4> + +<PRE> +Patty Fairfield Patty's Motor Car +Patty at Home Patty's Butterfly Days +Patty in the City Patty's Social Season +Patty's Summer Days Patty's Suitors +Patty in Paris Patty's Romance +Patty's Friend Patty's Fortune +Party's Pleasure Trip Patty Blossom +Patty's Success Patty—Bride +Patty and Azalea +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE MARJORIE BOOKS +</H4> + +<PRE> +Marjorie's Vacation Marjorie in Command +Marjorie's Busy Days Marjorie's Maytime +Marjorie's New Friend Marjorie at Seacote +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +GROSSET & DUNLAP <I>Publishers</I> NEW YORK +</H4> + +<BR><BR> + +<HR> + +<BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +DANA GIRLS MYSTERY STORIES +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY CAROLYN KEENE +</H3> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +<I>Author of the</I> +</H5> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +NANCY DREW MYSTERY STORIES +</H4> + +<BR> + +<P> +Impetuous, delightful Jean Dana and her charming serious minded sister +Louise find themselves in the midst of several mysteries, when they +attempt to aid people who are in trouble. Thrilling moments come to +the girls as they follow up clue after clue in an endeavor to untangle +the knotty problems in which they become enmeshed. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +BY THE LIGHT OF THE STUDY LAMP +</H4> + +<P> +A stolen study lamp, a fortune teller, and a distressed schoolmate +provide plenty of excitement for the Dana girls before they locate the +persons responsible for many mysterious happenings. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE SECRET AT LONE TREE COTTAGE +</H4> + +<P> +While the girls are at Starhurst School, they learn that their beloved +English teacher has vanished in a strange manner. In tracing her, Jean +and Louise are able to aid the frantic relatives of a dear little +curly-haired tot, but not before they themselves are in danger of +disappearing. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +IN THE SHADOW OF THE TOWER +</H4> + +<P> +The mingling of unusual characters, who have life interests very +different from one another, lends excitement and intrigue to a +Christmas vacation of the Dana girls. Their ability to fit together +the pieces of a strange puzzle brings happiness to several persons. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A THREE-CORNERED MYSTERY +</H4> + +<P> +There were three strange corners which the Dana girls successfully +rounded in their search for clues to clear up a mystery, involving +property and an international spy of many aliases. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE SECRET AT THE HERMITAGE +</H4> + +<P> +When Louise is mistaken for a runaway prisoner, strange things begin to +happen, which lead the Danas to uncover the secret of a talented girl +and her crippled charge. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +GROSSET & DUNLAP <I>Publishers</I> NEW YORK +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Happy House, by Jane D. Abbott + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAPPY HOUSE *** + +***** This file should be named 32053-h.htm or 32053-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/0/5/32053/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. 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Abbott + +Release Date: April 19, 2010 [EBook #32053] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAPPY HOUSE *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + +HAPPY HOUSE + + +BY + +JANE D. ABBOTT + + +AUTHOR OF "KEINETH" AND "LARKSPUR" + + + + + +GROSSET & DUNLAP + +PUBLISHERS ---- NEW YORK + + +Made in the United States of America + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY + + + + +TO MARTHA + +THIS BOOK IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I. THE LETTER + II. WEBB + III. HAPPY HOUSE + IV. AUNT MILLY + V. BIRD'S-NEST + VI. IN THE ORCHARD + VII. AUNT MILLY'S STORY + VIII. B'LINDY'S TRIUMPH + IX. DAVY'S CLUB + X. THE HIRED MAN + XI. MOONSHINE AND FAIRIES + XII. LIZ + XIII. THE FOURTH OF JULY + XIV. MRS. EATON CALLS + XV. GUNS AND STRING BEANS + XVI. PETER LENDS A HAND + XVII. NANCY PLANS A PARTY + XVIII. THE PARTY + XIX. THE MASTER + XX. A PICNIC + XXI. DAVY'S GIFT + XXII. REAL LEAVITTS AND OTHERS + XXIII. WHAT THE CHIMNEY HELD + XXIV. PETER + XXV. NANCY'S CONFESSION + XXVI. EUGENE STANDBRIDGE LEAVITT + XXVII. ARCHIE EATON RETURNS + XXVIII. A LETTER FROM THE MASTER + XXIX. BARRY + + + + +HAPPY HOUSE + + +CHAPTER I + +THE LETTER + +Through the stillness of a drowsy June day broke the intoning of the +library bell, chiming the hour. + +Three heads lifted quickly to listen. Three pairs of eyes met, the +same thought flashed through three minds. + +"Won't we miss that bell, though? I've seen grads when they've come +back stand perfectly still and listen to it with their eyes all weepy +looking. That's the way we'll feel by and by," one of them said slowly. + +"And the chimes used to make me dreadfully homesick! Don't those frosh +days seem ages ago?" + +The third girl slammed the lid of the trunk that occupied the centre of +the disordered room. She crossed to the window. + +Over the stretch of green between the dormitory and the campus many +people were slowly walking. Their fluffy dresses, their gay parasols, +the aimlessness of their wandering steps marked them as visitors. The +girl in the window frowned as she watched them. + +"I always hate it when the campus fills up with gawking, staring +people! It ought to be kept--sacred--just for us!" + +One of the three laughed merrily in answer. + +"How selfish that sounds, Claire! Haven't all those people come to see +one of us graduate? This is their day--ours is past." She stopped +short. "Did you see Thelma King's sister at the class-day exercises? +She's a _peach_! She's going to enter next fall. She's a leader in +everything at the High where she goes. She'll make a good college +girl; you could see the right spirit in her face. How I envy her! +It's dreadful when you think of new ones--coming--taking our places! I +wish I was just beginning my Freshman year--I'd even be willing to +endure Freshman math." + +The third of the group who had been sitting on, the floor staring out +over the tree tops with the dreamy gravity of one who--as long ago as +yesterday--graduated from the great University, suddenly interrupted. + +"Dear girls, cease your whining! What do those pieces of sheepskin +reposing somewhere in the mess on yonder bureau stand for? Remember +what that man said yesterday--how we mustn't think this Commencement is +the end of anything--it's just the beginning. Why, this new world +that's been born out of the frightful war is full of work for our +trained minds and hands! We mustn't look back for a minute--we must +look ahead!" Thrilled by her own words she leveled a reproachful +glance upon her two companions. + +Claire sighed. "I never could get the inspiration from things that you +always seem to, Anne. I guess I'm not built right! I couldn't make +myself listen to _half_ that man said. I can't think of anything right +now but what a job it's going to be getting everything into that trunk. +Mother was heartless not to stay over and do it for me!" + +"Never mind, Claire, we'll help you. Of course you and I can't see +things in the big, grand way that Anne can because she's found herself +and we haven't. But when our work _does_ come we'll do it! It may not +be off in Siberia or China or Africa--like Anne's--but, wherever it is, +I guess our Alma Mater won't be ashamed of us!" The girl's eyes +softened with the passionate tenderness of the new graduate for her +University. + +Back in the freshman days a curious chance had drawn these three +together. Then, for four years, years of hopeful effort, aspirations +and youthful problems, the currents of their young lives had +intermingled closely; now each must go its way. The moment brought the +pang that comes to youth at such a parting. Their bonds were something +closer than friendship. Behind them were months of the sweetest +intimacy that youth can know--ahead were the lives they must live apart +out in a world that cared nothing for college ideals and inspirations, +where each must find her "work" and do it, so that "her Alma Mater +might be proud!" + +Statistics, even in a university, would be dull if, now and then, Fate +did not play a trick with them. Upon the roster of the class of +Nineteen-nineteen had been entered two names: "Anne Leavitt, Los +Angeles, California; Anne Leavitt, New York City." + +When one thinks that in the great world war there was an army of, +approximately, seventy-five thousand Smiths alone, and a whole division +of John Smiths, one need not marvel that two Anne Leavitts came that +October day to the old University. Doubtless, in those first trying +days, they passed one another often and did not know, but a week later, +when Professor Nevin in First Year French, read slowly from his little +leather book: "Miss Anne Leavitt," two girls jumped to their feet and +in astonishment, faced one another. + +"_I_ am Anne Leavitt!" spoke the larger of the two. + +"And _I_ am Anne Leavitt, too!" laughed the smaller. + +A snicker ran around the room. Professor Nevin frowned and +stared--first at his little worn book and then at the two offending +young women. Of course he was powerless to undo what had been done +years before! And as he scowled, across the classroom one Anne Leavitt +smiled at the other. When the hour ended the recitation they walked +away arm in arm, laughing over the ridiculous situation. + +At the Library steps they were joined by another girl from the French +class. She had run in her eagerness to overtake them. + +"Are you _really_ both Anne Leavitts?" she asked breathlessly. + +They assured her solemnly that they were and that they didn't know just +what to do about it--old Professor Nevin had been so funny and upset. +They all three laughed again over it all. And there in the golden +warmth of that October day began the friendship of these three--for the +third girl was Claire Wallace. + +The students in the University found countless ways of distinguishing +between the two Anne Leavitts. One was tall and grave with a +meditative look in her deep-set eyes; the other, a head shorter, had a +lightness about her like an April day, reddish curly hair and an +upturned nose. One Anne Leavitt had never been called anything but +Anne, the other, since her baby days, had been Nancy. The more +intimate of the college girls called them Big Anne and Little Anne. +The professors, dignified perforce, read from their rolls, "Miss Anne +Leavitt, California--Miss Anne Leavitt, New York." + +In name only were the two girls alike. Anne had been born with the +legendary "silver spoon" and its mythical fortune. When her father and +mother died a friend of her father's, as guardian, had continued the +well-regulated indulgence that had marked her childhood. Because she +possessed an iron will and early acquired a seriousness and dignity +beyond her years, she was always a leader in each of the boarding +schools to which she progressed. Whatever Anne wanted to do she always +did, and yet, in spite of it, she had reached her college days +unspoiled, setting her strong will only for the best and obsessed with +a passionate longing for a service that would mean self-sacrifice. + +She thought now she had found it! Two weeks from this very day she, +would sail for a far-off village in Siberia to teach the peasant +children there and bring to the pitiful captivity of Russian ignorance +the enlightenment of American ideals. So big and wonderful seemed the +adventure that, girl-like, she had paid little heed to the small +details. Nancy and Claire Wallace worried more than she! + +"You'll never get enough to eat and how will you ever keep your clothes +clean," sighed Claire, who loved pretty frocks. + +"And we can't send you things, either, for they'd never reach you--some +of those awful Bolshevists would be sure to steal them!" + +Madame Breshkovsky, the little Grandmother of the Russian Revolution, +had made several visits to the University, and Anne, with the others, +had listened over and over to her vivid, heartrending stories of the +suffering needs of the children of the real Russia. It had been after +such an evening that Anne had given herself to the cause. So that, +when Nancy and Claire fretted excitedly over the hardships and dangers +of the undertaking, she had only looked at them with the question in +her grave, dark eyes: "What matters it if perhaps Anne Leavitt does +lack a few clothes and food and some silly luxuries if she is doing a +little, little bit to help her fellowmen?" + +Nancy Leavitt, like the beloved Topsy, had just "growed up." To her +chums, in her own spirited way, she had once described how: "Ever since +I can remember there were always just Dad and I. When he wanted to go +anywhere he used to pick me up like a piece of baggage and off we went. +Half the time I didn't go to the same school two years in succession. +And he used to teach me, too. Oh, how homesick I was when I came +here--without him. We're just like pals!" + +Nancy's physical well-being had been watched over by nurses of almost +every race and color. She knew a little Hindoo and from the old Hindoo +"ayah" she had caught bits of Hindoo mysticism. She had romped and +rolled with Japanese babies; she had lived on a ranch in Mexico until +bandits had driven them away; she had trudged along behind her father +over miles of trail in Alaska. And the only place she had ever called +"home" was a tiny flat in New York, where her father kept the pretty +furniture that Nancy's mother had bought when a bride. Back to this +they would come after long intervals, for a little respite from their +wanderings, and for Nancy the homecoming was always an excitingly happy +one from the moment she ran down to Mrs. Finnegan's door for the key to +the lugging out again of the two little trunks, which meant a sudden +departure for some distant land. + +College had brought a great change into this gypsy life and a grief at +the separation from her "Dad." But as the weeks had passed her letters +to him read less and less like a wail of homesickness, and were filled +more and more with the college happenings and whole passages devoted to +girlish descriptions of her new friends. + +For the last two years her father had been overseas as senior newspaper +correspondent with the American Expeditionary Force, and it would be +weeks before he could return. That thought added now to the lonely +ache in Nancy's heart as she stared at her chums and wondered what it +would seem like to live day after day without seeing them! + +These three had trod together up the Paths of Learning until they were +passing now the Gateway of Life; and yet, right at that moment, all of +them, even Anne, felt childishly lonely and homesick for the shelter of +the University they were leaving. + +That was why the chiming of the Library clock, that had marked the +passage of happy time for more than one generation of youth, brought a +shadow across each of the three young faces. + +A little wistfulness crept into Nancy's voice. "Your life's all cut +out for you, Anne. It's positively thrilling! Though I'd make an +awful mess out of any such undertaking. And Claire has her family. +I'll just go to New York and get the key from Mother Finnegan and work +like mad on the 'Child.' I want to finish it before Dad comes home. I +shall send it, then, to Theodore Hoffman himself--I might as well hitch +my wagon to the tiptoppest star--or whatever it is you do! Of course +it isn't as grand as going to Russia, but I'm going to work, and some +day, maybe, I'll be famous all over the world!" + +"Little Anne Leavitt, the great dramatist!" murmured Big Anne fondly. + +Claire Wallace, confronting nothing more serious than the squeezing of +her belongings into the huge trunk, was stirred with envy. Nancy had +her "Child"--not a youngster but a growing pile of manuscript, Anne had +her "crusade" among the unfortunate children of Siberia--she had +nothing ahead but to join her family at their summer home, an estate +that covered hundreds of acres on Long Island. + +"I wish you'd come home with me, first, Nancy! You heard mother say +how much she wanted you to come and we will have a beautiful time and +then you can see Barry." + +Nancy frowned sternly. She had several reasons for frowning--she +thought. Of course she would really like to go to Merrycliffe with +Claire; she loved to frolic, and the last term had been a pretty hard +grind, but her whole future depended upon her finishing her play and +Claire simply must _not_ coax her! Then the other reason was Barry. +Barry was Claire's brother recently returned from long service in +France, decorated by each of the allied countries. Toward him Nancy +and Anne, quite secretly, felt an unreasonable and growing dislike. +Neither of them had ever laid eyes on him but, ignoring the injustice, +based their antipathy solely on the fact that "Claire talks of nothing +but Barry until you feel like shutting your ears!" + +Nancy had, more than once, declared that "she could just see him +strutting around with all his medals, letting everyone make a lion of +him, and she loathed handsome men, anyway--they lacked character" and +Anne said "_her_ heart went out to those boys whose every minute in the +trenches had been an unrecognized and unrecorded act of heroism." Of +course they both carefully kept their real feelings from little Claire, +who was too dear to them to ever hurt in any way, so that, when she +talked "Barry," if they were only politely attentive, in her proud +enthusiasm, she never noticed. + +Now Nancy, instead of saying truthfully that "_she_ wasn't going to +spend her summer helping make a parlor pet out of the 'lion,'" simply +shook her head and frowned. + +"Claire, don't tease me! Of course I know how nice it would be to swim +and dance and play tennis and all sorts of things, but I must work!" +and she finished with the decided tone that was like Anne's. + +Claire looked unhappy. "_I_ don't want to go and dance and swim and +play around, though it is nice, but I can't write and I can't go to +Russia, so I'll just _have_ to go and do what the others in my crowd +all do, and I suppose you'll think I'm a butterfly when I'm _really_ +perfectly miserable!" + +Nancy controlled a smile. "Bless you, we won't think you're anything +but just the apple of our eyes. The world needs butterflies to keep it +beautiful and gay. Your adventure, Claire, is waiting for you, maybe, +around the corner. That's what Mother Finnegan is always saying! And +after my 'Child' is finished I promise I'll come and play with you!" + +Claire was only a little cheered. + +"But Barry may not be there, then. Mother says he's dreadfully +restless. He may be gone now!" + +A knock at the door saved Nancy from an answer. + +It was old Noah, the porter. He held a letter in his hand. + +"It's fer Mis' Anne Leavitt and I'm blessed if I know which one of yez +so, I sez, I'll jes' take it to the two of yez and let you toss up fer +it!" + +It was not unusual for the two girls to find their mail confused. They +generally distinguished by the handwriting or the postmarks. But now +they both stared at the letter they took from Noah's hand. + +It was addressed in a fine, old-fashioned handwriting. + +"_I_ can't recognize it," exclaimed one Anne Leavitt. + +"I'm sure _I_ never saw it before!" cried the other. + +"Isn't this exciting? Let me see the postmark. F-r-e-e-d-o-m!" +spelled Nancy. "I never heard of it," she declared. + +"I believe it's mine! I have some relatives--or did have--a great aunt +or something, who lived near a place like that way up on North Hero +Island. I'd forgotten all about them. Open it, Claire, and let's see +what it is."' + +"You never told _us_ about any aunt on any North Hero Island! It +sounds like a romance, Anne," accused Nancy, who thought she knew +everything about her friend. + +Anne laughed. "I don't wonder you think so. I just barely remember +father speaking of her. Read it, Claire!" + +Claire had seized the letter and opened it. "It is signed 'Your loving +aunt.' Isn't it the most ridiculous mystery? Why _couldn't_ it have +been something else besides an aunt!" + +"Well, I'm awfully afraid it _is_ for me. We never could _both_ have +aunts on North Hero Island. Go on, blessed child--I'm prepared for the +worst!" + +Claire rose dramatically. + + +"My dear Niece," she read, adding: "I want you to _know_, Anne, that +she honors you by spelling that with a capital." "Of later years it +has been a matter of deep regret to me that though the same blood runs +in our veins we are like strangers, and that you have been allowed to +grow to womanhood without knowing the home of your forefathers on this +historic island. It is for that reason that now, after considerable +debate with my conscience, I am writing to you at your college address +which I have obtained through a chance article in an Albany newspaper +('that was the Senior Play write-up,' interrupted Nancy, excitedly) to +urge you to avail yourself of the earliest opportunity to visit me in +the old home. + +"I feel the burden and responsibility of my increasing years, and I +know that soon I will be called to that land where our forefathers have +gone before us. You are, I believe, my nearest of kin--the family, as +you must know, is dying out and I would have preferred that you had +been a boy--I will tell you frankly that I am considering changing my +will and that upon your visit depends whether or not you will be my +beneficiary. I would wish to leave the home and my worldly wealth--the +wealth of the past Leavitts, to a Leavitt, but before I can do so to +the satisfaction of my own conscience, I must know that you are a +Leavitt and that you have been brought up with a true knowledge and +respect for what being a Leavitt demands of you, + +"I await your reply with anxiety. Your visit will give me pleasure and +I assure you that you will learn to love the spot on which, for so many +generations, your ancestors have lived." + +"Your Loving Aunt, + "SABRINA LEAVITT." + + +"Well, I'll be----" In all her college vocabulary Anne could not find +the word to express her feelings. + +"Isn't that rapturous? A great-aunt and a fortune! And will you +_please_ tell me why she had to debate with her conscience?" cried +Claire. + +Nancy was gleeful over Anne's wrath. + +"I'm glad she's yours, Annie darling! Dad always said the whole world +was _my_ only kin, but I never ran against anyone who wanted to look me +over before she left me a fortune! Who ever heard of North Hero Island +and where in goodness is it?" + +"I remember, now, that her name was awfully queer--Aunt Sa-something or +other, and North Hero Island isn't _utterly_ unknown, Nancy, to the +can't even remember! I wish it had happened to Lake Champlain. I saw +it once on a road-map when I was touring last fall with Professor and +Mrs. Scott, and Professor Scott said it was a locality picturesquely +historic--I remember." + +Claire turned the letter over and over. + +"I think it's all awfully thrilling! An aunt you can't even remember! +I wish it had happened to me! It would be something so different. +It's just like a story. But what a _lot_ she does think of her +forefathers!" + +"Well, the Leavitts are a very old family and they are a New England +family, too, although I was born in California," interrupted Anne with +a dignity that would have gladdened the great-aunt's heart. + +Nancy was again provoked to merriment. + +"Dad always said that the only other Leavitt _he_ knew was a +cow-puncher! He could lick anyone on the plains." + +Anne ignored this. She was frowning in deep thought. + +"The tiresome part is that--if I _don't_ go--if I tell her about going +to Russia--she may write to my guardian!" + +All three were struck dumb at the thought. Anne had not consulted her +guardian before she had impulsively enlisted her services in Madame +Breshkovsky's cause. Because she was three months past twenty-one, +legally he could not interfere, but being so newly of age she had not +had the courage to meet his protest. So she had simply written that +she was planning a long trip with friends and would tell him of the +details when they had been completed. A letter lay now in her desk +which she intended to mail the day before she sailed. It would be too +late, then, for him to interfere. If her conscience troubled her a +little about this plan, she told herself that the cause justified her +action. + +And now this Aunt Sa-something might upset everything! + +"I wish I could remember more about those relatives up there--father +and mother used to laugh whenever they mentioned the old place. I +always imagined they were dreadfully poor! She must be a terrible old +lady--you can sort of tell by the tone of her letter. Oh, dear!" + +"What will you do?" echoed Claire, still thinking it a much more +attractive adventure than Russia. + +"I have it!" cried Anne. "_You_ shall go in my place, Nancy!" + +"_I_! I should say not! Are you stark crazy, Anne Leavitt?" + +Anne seized her excitedly by the shoulder. "You could do it as easy as +anything in the world, Nancy. She's never laid eyes on me and I know +my father never wrote to her. You'll only have to go there for three +or four weeks----" + +"And pose as a real Leavitt when I'm a Leavitt that just belongs to +Dad! Well, I won't do it!" replied Nancy, stubbornly. + +"Nan-cy, please listen! You wouldn't have to do or say a thing--she'd +just take it for granted. And you could always make some excuse to go +away if----" + +"If it looked as though I was going to be found out! Why, it'd be like +living on a volcano. And I'd be sure to always say the wrong thing!" + +"But you could _try_ it," implored Anne. "It would make everything +simple and you'd be doing _your_ bit, then, for Madame Breshkovsky! +Think of all she told us of the suffering in Russia. Surely you could +do a little thing now to help! And if Aunt _did_ like you and left me +her money, it would _really_ be you and we'd give it to the cause!" + +"It'd be acting a lie," broke in Nancy. + +"Oh, not exactly, Nancy, for you really are Anne Leavitt and, anyway, +it's just as though you were my other half. Way back I know we are +related. If you don't love me well enough to help me out now--well, +I'm disappointed. I'll never forget it!" + +Poor Nancy, mindful of the long separation that lay before her and her +friend, cried out in protest. + +"Oh, Anne, _don't_ say that!" + +Claire, her eyes brilliant with excitement, chimed in: + +"Nancy, it's a hope-to-die adventure. Maybe you could make up no end +of stories and plays out of the things that happen up there! And, +anyway, you can finish the 'Child' and come to Merrycliffe that much +sooner!" + +Claire had advanced the most appealing argument. North Hero Island +certainly sounded more inspiring than a stuffy flat in Harlem with six +small Finnegans one floor below. And it was an adventure. Anne +hastened to take advantage of the yielding she saw in Nancy's face. + +"You can stay here with me until I have to go to New York, and we can +look up trains and I can tell you all about my forefathers, though I +really don't know a single thing. But she won't expect you to +know--don't you remember she wrote that she regretted my being brought +up without knowing the home of my forefathers. And if you just act as +though you wanted more than anything else in the world to learn all +about the Leavitts, she'll just love it and she'll tell you everything +you _have_ to know!" + +"It's the most _thrilling_ romance," sighed Claire, enviously. + +"Sounds more to _me_ like a conspiracy, and can't they put people in +jail for doing things like that?" demanded Nancy. + +"Oh, Nancy, you're _so_ literal--as if she would, way up there on an +island next to nowhere! And anyway, think of the boys who perjured +themselves to get into the service. Wasn't that justified?" + +Nancy, being in an unpleasant mood, started to ask what _that_ had to +do with _her_ pretending to be an Anne Leavitt who she wasn't, when Big +Anne went on in a hurt tone: + +"Well, we won't talk about it any more! I'll have to give up going to +Russia and my whole life will be spoiled. And I _am_ disappointed--I +thought our friendship meant something to you, Nancy." + +"_Anne_! There isn't a _thing_ I wouldn't do for you! You're next +dearest to Dad. For you I'll go to--Freedom or any old place. I'll do +my best to be you to the dot and I'll pay homage to your forefathers +and will ask not a penny of the legacy--if you get it! It shall all be +for the cause!" + +Anne read no irony in her tone. Her dignity flown, she caught her +friend in a strangling hug. "Oh, Nancy, you _darling_, will you? I'll +never forget it! We'll write to her right away--or you will. From +this _very_ minute you are Anne Leavitt!" + +"I wish I could go, too," put in Claire. "Perhaps I can coax Barry to +motor up that way." + +"Don't you _dare_!" cried Nancy in consternation. "It would spoil it +all. I'll write to you every day every thing that happens. Goodness, +if I'm as scared when I face your Aunt Sa-something as I am right now +when I think about it, she'll know at a glance that I'm just an +everyday Leavitt and not the child of her forefathers!" + +"Hark!" Claire lifted a silencing finger. "The seniors are singing." + +The lines they loved drifted to them. + + "Lift the chorus, speed it onward, + Loud her praises tell!" + + +"Let's join them." Suddenly Claire caught a hand of each. "_Girls_, +think of it--what it _means_--it's the last time--_it's all over_!" +Her pretty face was tragic. + +Big Anne, with a vision of Russia in her heart, set her lips resolutely. + +"Don't look _back_--look _ahead_!" she cried, grandly. + +But in Nancy's mind as, her arms linked with her chums', she hurried +off to join the other Seniors in their last sing, the troubling +question echoed: "To what?" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +WEBB + +A clatter of departing hoofs, a swirl of dust--and Nancy was left alone +on the hot railroad platform of North Hero. Her heart had seemed to +fix itself in one painful lump in her throat. She was so very, very +close to facing her adventure! + +"If you please, can you tell me in what way I can reach Freedom?" Her +faltering voice halted the telegraph operator as he was about to turn +the corner of the station. + +"Freedom? Well, now, old Webb had ought 'a been here for the train. +Isn't often Webb misses seein' the engine come in! Just you go in and +sit down, Miss, he'll come along," and scarcely had the encouraging +words passed the man's lips than a rickety, three-seated, +canopied-topped wagon, marked "Freedom Stage" turned the corner. + +"_Hey_, Webb, here's a lady passenger goin' along with you to Freedom! +And did you think the express would wait fer you?" + +Webb and his dusty, rusty and rickety wagon was a welcome sight to poor +Nancy. It had already seemed to her that her journey was endless and +that Freedom must be in the farthest corner of the world. For the +first few hours she had been absorbed by her grief at parting with +Anne. But a night in a funny little hotel in Burlington had given her +time to reflect upon her undertaking and it had assumed terrible +proportions in her eyes. The courage and confidence she had felt with +her chums, back in the room in the dormitory, deserted her now. + +"Goin' to Freedom you say, Miss?" the man Webb asked, a great curiosity +in his eyes. "Wal, you jes' come along with me! Had an order for +Tobiases and it set me late, but we'll git thar. Climb up here, Miss," +and with a flourishing aside of his reins he made room for her on the +dusty seat he occupied. + +Nancy handed him her big bag and climbed easily over the wheel into the +seat he had indicated. Then with a loud "get-ap" and a flourish of his +whip they rumbled off on the last leg of Nancy's journey. + +"Ain't ever been to Freedom before?" he asked as they turned the corner +of the maple-shaded street of the little town, and the horses settled +down into a steady trot. "Reckon not or old Webb 'ud have known +ye--ain't any folks come and go on this here island thet _I_ don't +know," he added with pride, dropping his reins for a better study of +his passenger. + +The air was fragrant with spring odors, the great trees met in a +quivery archway overhead, the meadow lands they passed were richly +green; Nancy's failing spirits began to soar! She threw a little smile +toward the old man. + +"I've never been in Freedom before--though I'm a Leavitt," she ventured. + +Her words had the desired effect. The man straightened with interest. + +"Wal, bless me, are ye one o' Miss Sabriny's folks? And a-goin' to +Happy House when ye ain't ever seen it?" + +Nancy nodded. "I'm Anne Leavitt," she answered carefully. "And I have +never seen my Aunt Sabrina. So I have come up from college for a +little visit. And I think _everything_ is lovely," she finished, +drawing a long breath, "though, goodness knows, I thought I'd never get +here!" + +She was uncomfortably conscious that the old man was regarding her with +open concern. + +"Funny, no one ain't heard a word about it! So ye're Miss Sabriny's +great-niece and a-comin' to Happy House from your school fer a visit!" + +"Why, yes, why not?" + +"Wal, I was jes' thinkin' you'd never _seen_ Happy House. And I guess +most folks in Freedom's forgotten Miss Sabriny hed any folks +much--count of the trouble!" + +"Oh, _what_ trouble, please, Mr. Webb?" + +The old man shook his reins vigorously against the horses' backs. + +"Webb, you're an old fool--an old, dodderin' fool! Of course this here +trouble was a long spell ago, Miss, and don't belong to Leavitts young +like you. I s'pose it want much, anyways, and I guess Miss Sabriny +herself's forgotten it else you wouldn't be a comin' to Happy House! +I'm an old man, missy, and thar ain't been much in Freedom as I don't +know about, but an old un'd ought 'a know 'nough to keep his tongue in +his head. Only--you come to Webb if anything bothers you and you +needn't call me _Mr_. Webb, either, for though I'm one of Freedom's +leadin' cit-zuns and they'd never be a Memorial Day or any kind of +Fourth of July doin's in Freedom without _me_--nobody calls me Mister +Webb and you jus' come to me----" + +Nancy, forgetful now of the pleasant things about her, frowned. + +"You're very nice to me, Webb, and I'm glad to have made a friend so +soon! I think the trouble _has_ been forgotten. Anyway, I'm only +going to stay a little while." + +"And a good thing it'll be fur Miss Milly, too." + +"Miss Milly----" asked Nancy. + +"It ain't no easy life fur her livin' with Miss Sabriny holdin' the +sword of wrath over her poor head, and there's lots of folks think Miss +Milly'd be a heap happier in the old graveyard than in Happy House, +'lowin' as how both feet are in the grave anyway. But this ain't no +cheerful talk to hand out to you, Miss, only I cal'late you'll make +Miss Milly a heap happier--shut up the way she is." + +"How far are we from Freedom?" asked Nancy, abruptly, thinking as she +did so that, if they were a very long way, she would have an +opportunity to learn from her garrulous friend all she needed to know! + +"Two mile from the turn yonder by the oak," the old man answered. + +For a few moments both maintained a deep silence. Nancy, her thoughts +in a tumult, was wondering what question she would ask first--there was +so much she wanted to know--the "trouble," "Miss Milly and the sword of +wrath" or what he meant by "Happy House." The last post stirred her +curiosity; then, too, it did not seem just nice to pry from this old +man. + +"Why do they call the Leavitt place 'Happy House'?" + +"Wal, I guess it ain't because it's exactly _happy_, and some sez mebbe +as how it's been a curse! Folks comes here to Freedom and looks at the +old place and there's somethin' printed about it in a little book they +sell up at Tobiases in Nor' Hero, only I ain't much on the readin'. +B'lindy Guest knows the story by heart, and she can tell you more'n I +can." + +"Oh, _please_, Webb, I can't make head or tail out of what you are +saying," laughed Nancy pleadingly. "Who _called_ it Happy House first?" + +"B'lindy sez the book sez that it was the first Anne Leavitt as come to +Nor' Hero called it Happy House and they hed one of these here mantels +made out o' marble over in London and fetched across with the letters +right in it spellin' Happy House! And she helped fix it up with her +own hands she'd kind o' set such store by the idee, right thar in the +settin' room and the very next day she slipped off sudden like and died +like a poor little flower. And there ain't been much happiness in +Happy House from them days since! B'lindy knows the hul story; jes' +'sits written." + +"Oh, how _thrilling_!" cried Nancy, breathing very fast. She had an +uncontrollable desire to halt Webb and the Freedom stage right on the +spot in order to write to Claire Wallace. But at that moment, around +the turn by the old oak galloped a horse and rider. Because it was the +first living creature Nancy had seen since leaving North Hero, she was +startled. + +"_Hey_ there, Webb," the rider cried, whirling out of the path of the +old wagon. + +And Webb called back in cheery greeting: "_Hey_, Pete!" + +Through the cloud of dust Nancy had caught a glimpse of a pair of merry +eyes set deep in a face as brown as the dark shirt the man wore. +Turning impulsively in her seat she noticed, with an unexplainable +sense of pleasure, that the bare head of the rider was exceptionally +well shaped and covered with short curly hair. Then, to her sudden +discomfiture, the rider wheeled directly in the road and pulled his +horse up short. + +It was, of course, because he was the first real person she had seen on +this big lonely Island that prompted her to nod ever so slightly in +response to his friendly wave! Then she turned discreetly back to Webb. + +"Who is he?" she asked, in what she tried to make an indifferent tone. + +"Peter Hyde an' as nice a young fellar as ever come to Freedom! Ain't +been here much more'n a week and knows everybody. He's old man +Judson's hired man and he's goin' to make somethin' of that ten-acre +strip of Judson's some day or my name ain't Cyrenus Webb!" + +"_Judson's hired man_!" cried Nancy, chagrined. What _would_ Anne +think of her--to have recognized, even in the slightest degree, the +impertinence of this fellow! Her face burned at the thought. + +"Seems to have a lot of learnin' but he's awful simple like and a +hustler. Nobody knows whereabouts he come from--jes' dropped by out of +some advertisement old Judson put in the papers up Burlington way." + +"Tell me more about Freedom," broke in Nancy with dignity. "Is it a +very old place?" + +"Wal, it's jest as old as this Island, though I ain't much on readin' +or dates. Folks on Nor' Hero's pretty proud of the hul Island and +B'lindy sez as how it's printed that folks settled here long 'fore +anyone, exceptin' the Indians, ever heard of Manhattan Island whar New +York is. Used to be French first round here but they didn't stay long, +and then the English come down 'fore the Revolution and the Leavitts +with them, I guess. This here Island's named fur Ethan Allen, you +know, and folks sez old Jonathan, thet works up at Happy House, is a +connection of his. All the folks round here's related some way or +other to them pi'neers and I guess if we hed to put up a fight now we'd +do it jest as brave as them Green Mountain Boys! The old smithy's been +standin' on the four corners for nigh onto one hundred years and the +meetin' house facin' the commons, B'lindy sez, is older than the +smithy. And up the Leavitt road thar's a tablet these here Daughters +of somethin' or other from Montpelier put up for some pi'neers that +died fightin' the Indians while their women folks set off in boats for +the mainland. I heard B'lindy tell that at the last social down at the +meetin' house. I cal'late some of them pi'neers were Leavitts, at +that, fur it want long before that the pretty lady came who hed the +name built in the mantel. B'lindy knows--she can tell jes' what day +the pretty lady come and the very room she died in. B'lindy was born +in the old house and she and Miss Sabriny growed up like sisters though +B'lindy's a good sight younger and spryer like than Miss Sabriny!" + +From the warmth of his tone Nancy guessed that there was a weak spot in +Webb's heart for B'lindy. + +"Tell me more about B'lindy," she asked, softly. + +"Wal, if you jus' take a bit of advice from an old man you be _purty_ +nice to B'lindy! Folks sez that Miss Sabriny's high and mightier than +the worst Leavitt, and they're a mighty proud lot, but I jus' got a +notion that the only person who runs Miss Sabriny is B'lindy and I sort +o' think she runs the hul of Happy House! And now here I am a +gossipin' so with a pretty passenger that I clean furgot to leave off +that chicken wire for Jenkins. _Whoa_, there, whoa, I say!" + +Nancy guessed that the cluster of housetops she glimpsed ahead, almost +hidden by the great elms and maples, was Freedom. She stared at them +reflectively. Through Webb she seemed suddenly to feel that she had +known the little tragedies and joys of Freedom all her life. She was +not a bit afraid now to meet Aunt Sabrina or this Miss Milly or +B'lindy. And she was eager to see the old, old house and the spot +where Leavitts had been massacred as they protected their women! After +all, it was going to be very pleasant--this playing at being one of the +old Leavitts! She wished Webb would hurry. + +When Farmer Jenkins followed Webb to the wheel of the wagon, Nancy knew +that Webb had lingered to tell of her coming. She met the farmer's +open stare with a pleasant little smile so that, an hour later, he +"opined" to the thin, bent-shouldered woman who shared his name and +labors, that "if that young gal wouldn't set things stirrin' pretty +lively up at Happy House, he'd miss his guess!" + +As they approached the outlying houses of the village Webb assumed an +important air. "This here's Freedom, Missy, and I'm proud to do the +honors for Miss Sabriny's niece! It's not big as places go but its +record can't be beat sence Ethan Allen's day. Webb knows, fer I +marched away with the boys in blue back in '61, though I was a +bare-footed youngster, long 'bout fourteen, and couldn't do nothin' +more useful than beat a drum. And thar's our service flag, Missy, and +every last one of the six of 'em's come through hul--thanks be to God! +And thar's the hotel by the post-office and cross here's the school +house which I helped build the winter they wa'n't no call fur the +stage. This is the Common and thet's the meetin' house, as anyone +could see, fur it ain't a line different from the meetin' houses over +at Bend and Cliffsdale and Nor' Hero and all over Vermont, I guess. +Funny how they never wanted only one kind o' meetin' houses! And +here's the old smithy lookin' like it was older than B'lindy 'lowed, +and here's whar we turn to go up the Leavitt road. Seein' how you're +sort of a special passenger I'll go right along up to Happy House, +though it ain't my custum!" + +Nancy was tremendously excited. She stared to right and left at the +little old frame and stone houses set squarely in grass-grown yards +flanked by flowerbeds, all abloom, and each wearing, because of tightly +closed blinds, an appearance of utter desertion. On the wooden "stoop" +of the place Webb had dignified by calling a "hotel" were lounging a +few men who had scarcely stirred when Webb in salutation had flourished +his whip at them. The Commons, hot in the June sun, was deserted save +for a few chickens pecking around in the long grass. The green +shutters of the meeting house were tightly closed, too. From the +gaping door of the smithy came not a sound. Even the great branches of +the trees scarcely stirred. Over everything brooded a peaceful quiet. + +"Oh, how delicious," thought Nancy. "How very, very old everything is. +_How_ I shall love it!" She leaned forward to catch a first glimpse of +Happy House. + +"Back by the smithy thar's old Dan'l Hopworth's place. Shame to have +it on Miss Sabriny's road only I 'low most as long as the Leavitts been +here thar's been some of the no-good Hopworths! Poor old Dan'l's 'bout +as shiftless as any o' them, B'lindy sez, and his grandchillern ain't +any better. And that thar leads down to old man Judson's. His ten +acre piece runs right up to Miss Sabriny's. And _thar's_ Happy House." + +Through the giant elms Nancy caught her first glimpse of the vine +covered old stone walls. Her first feeling was of disappointment; in +the square lines of the house there was little claim to beauty. But +its ugliness was softened by the wonderful trees that arched over its +roof; the gray of its walls and the tightly blinded windows gave a +stirring hint of mystery. + +The door, built squarely in the middle of the house, opened almost +directly upon a stone-flagged path that led in a straight line to the +road. There was something sternly formidable about it; Nancy, staring +at it with a rapidly beating heart, wondered, when it opened, what +might lie in store for her beyond it! + +Webb, with much ado, was swinging her big bag over the wheel. + +"Wal, we're makin' history, I guess, with another little Anne Leavitt +comin' to Happy House! Them horses'll stand and I'll jus' carry this +bag up fer you. Come along, Missy, and remember what Webb tells ye--ye +make up to B'lindy!" + +Nancy followed him up the path to the door. To herself she was +whispering, over the quaking of her heart: + +"Well, good-by Nancy Leavitt--you're _Anne_ now and don't you forget it +for one single minute!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +HAPPY HOUSE + +In the long, dim, high-ceilinged hall of Happy House Nancy felt very +small and very much afraid. Though Miss Sabrina was standing very +close to her it seemed as though her voice came from a long way off. +It was a cold voice, and although Miss Sabrina was without doubt trying +to be gracious, there was no warmth in her greeting. She was very +tall, with a long Roman nose that gave her entire appearance a +forbidding look. + +Following her, Nancy stumbled up the long stairs and down an upper hall +to a door where Miss Sabrina stopped. + +"This is the guest room," she explained, as she opened the door. + +Someone had opened one of the blinds so here there was more light. +Nancy, looking about, thought that it was the most dreadfully tidy room +she had ever seen. It had a starched look--the heavy lace curtains at +the window were so stiff that they could have stood quite alone without +pole or ring; the stiff-backed cushioned chairs were covered with stiff +linen "tidies," edged with stiff lace; the bureau and washstand were +likewise protected and a newly starched and ruffled strip, of a sister +pattern, protected the wall behind the bowl. + +"I think you'll find it comfortable--here. There is a pleasant land +breeze at night and it is quiet," Miss Sabrina was saying. + +"_Quiet_!" thought Nancy. Was there any noise anywhere on the whole +Island? She gave herself a little mental shake. She must say +_something_ to this very tall, very stately woman--she was +uncomfortably conscious that a pair of cold gray eyes was closely +scrutinizing her. + +"Oh, I shall love it," she cried with an enthusiasm she did not feel. +"And it is so nice in you--to want me!" + +The gray eyes kindled for a moment. + +"I wanted you to know us--and to know Happy House. In spite of all +that has happened you _are_ a Leavitt and I felt that it was wrong that +you should have grown up to womanhood out of touch with the traditions +of your forefathers. We are one of the oldest families on this +Island--Leavitts have always been foremost in making the history of the +state from the days when they fought side by side with Ethan Allen. +Any one of them would have laid down his life for the honor of his name +and his country. You will want to wash, Anne--the roads are dusty. +And no family in all Vermont is held in higher esteem than the Leavitts +since the first Leavitt came down from Montreal and settled here in the +wilderness. Put on a cooler dress, if you wish, and then come down to +the dining-room. We always eat dinner at twelve-thirty, but B'lindy +has kept something warm. Yes, if you are a true Leavitt you will soon +grow to revere the family pride and honor for which we Leavitts live!" +And with stately steps, as measured as her words, Miss Sabrina withdrew +from the room. + +"_Whe-w_! Can you just _beat_ it!" Nancy flung at the closed door. +She turned a complete circle, taking in with one sweeping glance the +heavy walnut furniture, dark and uninviting against the ugly wallpaper +and the equally ugly though spotlessly clean carpet; then threw out +both hands despairingly. + +"Well, Nancy, you _are_ in for it--forefathers and everything--family +pride and honor!" she finished with a groan. "So be a sport!" And +taking herself thus sternly in hand she went to the wash bowl and fell +to scrubbing off the dust as Miss Sabrina had bidden her. + +The clean, cool water and a change of dress restored her confidence. +At least Aunt Sabrina had accepted her without a question--_that_ +ordeal was over. Everything would go easier now. As she opened the +door there came up from below a tempting smell of hot food--Nancy +suddenly remembered that she had not eaten a crumb since her hasty, +early breakfast in Burlington. + +The dining-room was as dim and cool as the rest of the house and as +quiet. Miss Sabrina herself placed a steaming omelette at Nancy's +place. Then she sat down stiffly at the other end of the table. The +omelette was very good; Nancy relished, too, eating it from a plate of +rare old blue and white china; her quick eyes took in with one +appraising glance the beautiful lines of the old mohogany highboy and +the spindle-legged chairs which one of the "forefathers" must have +brought over from England, years and years ago. + +"The meat pie was cold so B'lindy beat up an omelette," Miss Sabrina +was saying. "I guess you must be hungry, Anne." + +And then, because there had been the slightest tremble in the older +woman's voice Nancy realized, in a flash, that Miss Sabrina was as +nervous as she! Of course she had dreaded the coming of this strange +grand-niece whom she had invited to Happy House merely from her sense +of duty to Leavitt traditions. In her relief Nancy wanted more than +anything to laugh loudly--instead she flashed a warm smile and said +coaxingly: + +"I wish you'd call me Nancy! Everyone does and it sounds--oh, jollier." + +But Miss Sabrina's long face grew longer. She shook her head +disapprovingly. "We've never called Anne Leavitts anything but Anne +since the first one and I guess in every generation there's been _one_ +Anne Leavitt! My mother gave the name to an older sister who died when +she was a baby. My own name is Sabrina Anne. Eat the strawberries! +Jonathan says they're the last from the garden." + +Rebuked Nancy bent her head over the fruit. "I am ashamed to know so +little--of my family! You will forgive me, won't you, when I seem +ignorant? I _do_ want to learn." And she said this with all her +heart, for unless she could either get Aunt Sabrina quickly away from +the beloved subject of family or learn something about them, she was +sure to make some dreadful blunder. + +Making little patterns on the tablecloth with the end of one thin +finger, Miss Sabrina cleared her throat twice, as though she wanted to +say something and found it difficult to speak. Her eyes, as she +levelled them upon Nancy, turned steely gray with cold little glints in +their depths. + +"As I wrote to you, I believe, I struggled--for a long time--with my +conscience before I took the unwarranted step of inviting you to Happy +House. Now I must make one command. Never, while you are here, are +you to mention the name of your father or grandfather--and I likewise +will refrain from so doing!" She stood up stiffly as she finished her +singular words. + +Nancy had lifted a round strawberry to her lips. She was so startled +that the hand that guided it dropped suddenly and the berry rolled over +the cloth, leaving a tiny red trail across the white surface. + +Was there ever anything in the world as strange as this? Why shouldn't +she mention Anne's father or her grandfather? To be sure, as all she +knew about them was the little Anne had told her during the last two +weeks, she was not likely to want to say much about them--nevertheless +she was immensely curious. Why _should_ Miss Sabrina make such a +singular command and _why_ should she be so agitated? + +Nancy knew she must say something in reply. "I--I'll be glad to do +just--what you want me to do!" she stammered. "I just want to--make +you like me--if I can." + +Nancy said this so humbly and so sincerely that it won a smile from +Miss Sabrina. Nancy did not know, of course, that the old woman had +been trying hungrily to find something in Nancy's face that was "like a +Leavitt!" And as Nancy had spoken she had suddenly seen an expression +cross the young face that, she said to herself, was "all Leavitt!" So +her voice was more kindly and she laid an affectionate hand upon the +girl's shoulder. + +"I am sure I shall grow very fond of you, my dear. Now I must leave +you to amuse yourself--this is my rest hour. Make yourself at home and +go about as you please!" + +Nancy did not move until the last sound of her aunt's footstep died +away. A door shut, then the house was perfectly still. She drew a +long, quivery breath. + +"Thank goodness--she _does_ have to rest! Nancy Leavitt, how are you +ever going to stand all that pomposity--for days and days. Wouldn't it +be _funny_ if I took to talking to myself in this dreadful stillness? +Happy House--_Happy_, indeed." + +It was not at all difficult for Nancy to know what each room, opening +from the long hall, was or what it looked like. The parlor opened from +one side, the sitting-room from the other; the dining-room was behind +the sitting-room and the kitchen in a wing beyond that. The parlor +with its old mahogany and walnut furniture, its faded pictures and ugly +carpeting was, of course, just like the sitting-room, except that, to +give it more of a homey air, in the sitting-room there were some waxed +flowers under a glass, a huge old Bible on the marble-topped table, a +bunch of peacock feathers in a corner and crocheted tidies on the +horsehair chairs--and the old mantel that had come from England, Webb +had said, was in the "sittin'-room." + +She tip-toed through the hall and opened the door on the right. +Accustomed now to the prevailing dimness, her eyes swept immediately to +the old fireplace. The marble mantel stood out in all its purity +against the dark wall; age had given a mellow lustre to its glossy +surface. Nancy, remembering Webb's story about that Anne Leavitt who, +ages ago had placed it there, went to it and touched it reverently. +"H-a-p-p-y H-o-u-s-e," she spelled softly, her finger tracing the +letters graven into the marble. Doubtless it had come across the sea +on one of those slow-sailing ships of long ago--that other Anne Leavitt +had waited impatiently months and months for it! + +Had that Anne Leavitt, like poor old Aunt Sabrina, worried and fussed +over Leavitt traditions? Of course not--she had _made_ them. + +A curiosity seized Nancy to find B'lindy. Webb had said she knew +everything. She must be somewhere beyond that last closed door in the +long hallway--the omelette had come from that direction. + +Under Nancy's pressure the door opened into a pantry and beyond, in a +big, sunny kitchen, shiny in its spotlessness, stood B'lindy before a +table, putting the last touches to a pie. She turned at the sound of +Nancy's step. Nancy paused in the doorway. + +"May I come in?" she asked. "Are you B'lindy?" She imitated Webb's +abbreviation. + +"Yes," the woman at the table answered shortly. "And you're the +niece." She gave Nancy a long, steady look. "Ain't a bit like a +Leavitt's I can see! Miss Sabriny would have you come, I hope you'll +like it." + +"The hateful creature," thought Nancy. Why couldn't _some one_ in +Happy House act natural and kind and jolly? + +Like Miss Sabrina, B'lindy was tall and almost as old; her forbidding +manner came not from a Roman nose but from heavy brows that frowned +down over deep-set eyes--eyes that pierced in their keenness. Like +Miss Sabrina she had a certain dignity, too, which seemed to set her +apart from her fellow creatures--the result, no doubt, as Nancy +thought, of having been born in the Leavitt household. + +"Of course I'm going to love it. It's so--so quiet! And that omelette +you made me was delicious. I was dreadfully hungry. And oh, there is +so much I want to know about Happy House. Webb told me--coming +here--that you knew everything. I've just gone in and looked at the +old fireplace. Tell me all about that Anne Leavitt." + +Nancy's coaxing tone covered the fire that was within her heart. To +herself she was saying: "The old iceberg--I'll thaw her out now or +never!" + +B'lindy set her pie down; her voice warmed a little. She rested her +hands on her hips and assumed what Webb would have called her "speakin' +air." + +"Well, now, if it's _pryin'_ B'lindy Guest don't know nothin', but if +it's hist'ry--Webb's just about right. Justin Leavitt brought Anne +Leavitt down from Montreal 'slong ago as 1740, when there was first a +settlement up to Isle la Motte. He bought most this whole Island, I +guess, from the Indians and when they wanted a home Anne Leavitt laid +her finger on this very spot we're sittin' on. Justin built the house +out of the stone they dug from the Island itself. And she planned that +there mantel--just set her heart on it and it seems how a Leavitt could +have anything--anyways they hed it made in England and brought over +here jest's she planned with Happy House spelled on it all carved like +'tis now. And she helped put it up with her own little hands. The +house's been changed a lot sence but no one's ever touched that mantel!" + +"And then she died," put in Nancy, breathlessly. + +"Yes--she was just nothin' more'n a child and delicate at that and +wa'n't built to stand them pi'neer hardships, hidin' from the Indians +and eatin' corn and roots and the like when she was used to food as +good as the king's, for noble blood she had--the book over at North +Hero says so! She just seemed to live 'til that there mantel come and +she saw it with her very own eyes. She was brave as any man and she +hung on spite of everything 'til she'd got that done and then jest 'sif +she was tuckered out she laid down and died!" + +"In what room, B'lindy?" + +"What's now the guest room--so the book says." B'lindy ignored Nancy's +stifled, "Oh, goodness me!" "That next year the Indians attacked all +the settlers and Justin Leavitt and his brother Remembrance was killed +along with a half-dozen other pi'neers beatin' back the red men while +Robert's wife and the other women folk escaped in an open boat across +the lake and Robert's wife hid little Justin under her cape. Then +Happy House was empty 'til little Justin growed up and came back." + +"And had the Indians gone then?" + +"No, but they were friendly like and a good thing it was for they'd +never been worse en'mies than the Yorkers was then. I guess Ethan +Allen, and his Green Mountain Boys slept right here many a time, for +there wasn't much they did fightin' the Yorkers without consultin' a +Leavitt! But here I am rattlin' on and the oven waitin' for them pies." + +"Oh, B'lindy--it's like a wonderful story! Will you show me the book +that tells all about it? I'm so glad my name is Anne, too. If you're +busy I'll run out and look at the garden--and find Jonathan. Webb told +me about him, too." + +Nancy's spirits were soaring; instinctively she felt that she had won +B'lindy! It was a good beginning. She opened the great oak door and +stepped out upon the path. At one time the grounds of Happy House must +have been pretentious--they were quaintly beautiful now in their age +and half-neglect. Flowering perennials had crept out from their old +beds and had spread unchecked around among the giant trunks of the +trees so that from hedge to hedge there was a riot of color. + +Among the gay blossoms Nancy picked her way, skirting the walls of the +house to discover what might lie beyond. In the back she found +Jonathan pottering among some raspberry bushes that bordered the +flagged walk. He was very bent and very old and very wrinkled; his +eyes twitched and blinked as he lifted his head to look at her. + +"Good afternoon! I am Anne Leavitt," Nancy called blithely. He was +such a perfect part of the old, old garden that she loved him on the +spot. + +"Wal, wal--little Anne Leavitt," and he nodded and blinked at her. + +"I wish you'd call me Nancy," Nancy ventured. "Everyone does, and I +don't seem nearly big enough to be Anne. I love your flowers and oh, +what a lot of berries you are going to have!" + +The old man straightened his shoulders--at least he tried to! His +flowers were his children. + +"In my younger days this here garden was the show of the Island," he +answered proudly. "Folks come from all round to look at it! +Thirty-two kinds of posies and that want countin' the hollyhocks that +grew like trees--taller'n I am. And vines and berries and vegetables. +But I can't work like I used to, and Miss Sabriny don't like anyone but +me to touch things. So things have to go abit. Miss Nancy, huh! Ye +_are_ a little thing." But his smile was kindly. "And I hope ye bring +some sunshine to Happy House." + +Suddenly Nancy exclaimed: "Oh--the lake! I didn't realize how close we +were to it." + +Beyond the raspberry patch and the kitchen garden stretched an old +orchard. Through the trees Nancy had glimpsed the sapphire blue of +Lake Champlain. + +"Is that orchard ours?" she asked Jonathan. + +"That it is. I helped my father plant those thar trees myself and +they're the best bearin' on the hul of Nor' Hero!" + +Nancy stood irresolute. She wanted to explore further--to run out +among the apple trees to the very cliff of the lake. But she was +bursting to write to Claire--there was already so much to tell her. + +So with one long, lingering look she retraced her steps back to the +house. As she passed slowly under the trees she was startled by the +movement of a single slat in one of the upstairs blinds. And +instinctively she knew that an eye peeped at her from behind it. + +Miss Milly--it must, of course, be the "poor Miss Milly" of whom Webb +had spoken! + +Nancy closed the front door softly behind her that it might not disturb +Miss Sabrina's hour of rest. Then she tiptoed up the long stairway. +It took but a moment's calculating to decide which door led to the room +where the blind had opened. She stopped before it and tapped gently +with one knuckle. + +"Come in," a voice answered. + +Opening the door, Nancy walked into a room the counterpart of her own, +except that a couch was drawn before the blinded windows. And against +it half-lay a frail little woman with snow-white hair and tired eyes, +shadowing a face that still held a trace of youth. + +As Nancy hesitated on the threshold a voice singularly sweet called to +her: + +"Come in, my dear! I am your Aunt Milly." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +AUNT MILLY + +"So this is Anne Leavitt!" + +But Aunt Milly did not say it at all like Aunt Sabrina, or even +crisply, like B'lindy's "so _you're_ the niece," but with a warm, +little trill in her voice that made Nancy feel as though she was very, +very glad to have her there! + +Two frail little hands caught Nancy's and squeezed them in such a human +way that Nancy leaned over impulsively and kissed Miss Milly on her +cheek. + +"I am so very glad to know you." Aunt Milly dashed a tear away from +her cheek. "I've counted the hours--after Sabrina told me you were +coming. To-day I lay here listening for Webb and then must have fallen +asleep, so that when you really came I didn't know it. Wasn't that +silly? Sit right down, dear--no, not in that old chair, it's so +uncomfortable--pull up that rocker. Let me get a good look at you!" + +Nancy did not even dread Miss Milly's "good look"--she was so +delightfully human! She pulled the rocker close to the lounge and +stretched out in it with a happy little sigh. + +"I thought _I'd_ never get here! It seems as though this is way off in +the corner of the world. And I'm just tired enough to find the--the +_quiet_ downright restful." + +Aunt Milly laughed. "I've been worrying over the 'quiet.' It's so +dreadfully quiet here--for young folks. I was afraid it would make you +homesick. Now tell me all about your trip and your Commencement. I've +been going over in my mind just what your Commencement must have been +like--ever since Sabrina told me we had a niece who was a Senior in +college. It must be wonderful!" she finished, with just the tiniest +bit of a sigh. + +Suddenly Nancy realized that here was someone hungry to know all that +was going on in the world outside of North Hero--not the world of men +and women, but her girl's world--that world that had ended Commencement +Day. She told a few little things about Senior Week, then, a little +homesick for all that had just been left behind, she rattled off one +recollection after another with an enthusiasm that kindled an answering +fire in Miss Milly's eyes. + +"I can't _bear_ to think it's all over--except that life itself is one +grand adventure and probably, after a little, I'll look back on the +school days and think how empty they were of--real things!" Then +Nancy, looking down at the frail white hand that clasped her own, +thought with a sort of shock that life was scarcely an adventure for +poor Miss Milly. But Miss Milly answered contentedly. "I love to hear +all about it. I'm glad you had it, my dear. I hope you'll come in and +talk with me often--it's like sunshine hearing your young voice!" + +"Oh, I shall _like_ to. You won't think I'm dreadful, will you, if I +tell you that Aunt Sabrina frightens me awfully and so does +B'lindy--just a little. But you don't seem a bit like them." + +Miss Milly laughed outright--a laugh that had a silver tinkle in it. +"No, I suppose I'm not--a bit like them." + +"So when I'm so frightened I don't know what to do I shall come +straight to you. And, please, Aunt Milly, will _you_ call me Nancy? +No one has ever called me anything but that and it makes me feel--like +someone else--when they call me Anne. Aunt Sabrina was horrified when +I asked her." + +"Yes--she would be! Of course I shall call you Nancy--or anything that +you wish! I can't be much company for you, dear, tied to this couch, +but you can bring a great deal of happiness to me." + +A wistful gleam in Aunt Milly's eyes made Nancy lean over and kiss her +again. At that moment the door opened and Aunt Sabrina walked in. +Then it seemed to Nancy as though a shadow crossed Miss Milly's face. +The glow in her eyes died completely. She seemed to shrink back among +the cushions. + +"Oh, you have met our niece," Aunt Sabrina said in her cold voice and +with no curiosity as to how it had happened. + +Nancy looked at Aunt Milly and Aunt Milly's glance seemed to say: +"Please don't tell her I peeked through the blinds." Aloud she +answered meekly: "I told her we were glad she had come!" + +Aunt Sabrina nodded as though to approve such action. Her eyes turned +around the room. + +"Is there anything you want done? B'lindy's washed the other covers +for your cushions, but they aren't dry enough to iron. The color +didn't run a bit--they'll be more sensible than those white ones, for +they won't be needing washing all the time, and B'lindy has enough to +do!" + +"Oh, yes, they'll be more sensible," Miss Milly agreed wearily. "No, I +don't want anything." + +There were two or three moments of silence. Aunt Sabrina went about +the room straightening a picture here, a "tidy" there. Nancy watched +her with angry eyes--what _was_ there about her that had killed that +precious glow in poor little Miss Milly? + +She rose abruptly. "May I go to my room? I want to write a letter." +Miss Sabrina said, "Why, of course, Anne," and Miss Milly flashed a +little ghost of a smile that entreated: "You see what life is like for +me, so please, _please_ come again." + +Upon Nancy's face, as she closed her own door behind her, was a mixture +of relief, indignation and apprehension. And a little of each of these +emotions crept into the lines of the letter that--to give vent to all +that was bursting within her--she dashed off to Claire. + +"---- You'd just better believe that if I had that precious darling, +Anne Leavitt, back in our beloved tower room I'd tell her that all the +fortunes in the world and all the suffering Russians wouldn't hire me +to spend one more day with her 'family.' + +"And yet, Claire, darling, it's so _dreadful_ that it's funny. I just +wonder that I haven't been scared _pink!_ Can you picture your little +Nancy surrounded by mahogany, so old that it fairly screams at you, +that it was brought over on the _Mayflower_ and walls as high as the +Library tower (please subtract poetical license) and just oodles of +Leavitt traditions--though I'll admit, just being a plain human mortal, +I don't know yet quite _what_ the Leavitt traditions are, but believe +me, I expect to, very soon, for Aunt Sabrina talks of nothing else! + +"Of course, sweet child, you can't make head or tail to all my +jibberish, so I'll write lucid English now. The Island is wonderfully +beautiful, everything about it seems different from any other part of +the world--the trees are bigger and the grass is greener and every now +and then you catch a glimpse of Lake Champlain as blue as Anne's +sapphire ring and hazy purple mountains beyond. And the whole place is +brimming with all kinds of historical stories. + +"They call this house Happy House. It was named that by the first Anne +Leavitt, and she had a mantel made in England with the letters carved +on it, and the day after it was put up she died in the very room I'm +writing in! Isn't that tragic and exciting? I can't make a story out +of that, though, for it's been all written up in a book they sell at +North Hero. + +"The house is big and built of stone that was quarried on the Island, +and it's all covered with vines and is beautiful--outside. It has +trees all around it that meet overhead like a canopy, and instead of a +regular garden in beds the ground's all covered with tiger lilies and +Sweet William and phlox and lots of flowers I don't know the name of, +that look as though they'd spilled out over their gardens and grew +everywhere. And there's a darling old gardener who is a descendant of +Ethan Allen. + +"In fact, everyone I've seen is old and, Webb said, is descended from +'somebody or other.' + +"But the inside of the house--oh, horrors! I don't believe a ray of +sunshine has gotten into it since the year one, and if it did, it would +be shut out mighty fast. Dad would go wild with delight over the old +furniture, and the dishes are beautiful, but the wallpaper looks like +green lobsters crawling all around, and you walk on brown-red roses as +big as cabbages. Does it torture my artistic soul? Oh, ye gods! And +my own room! No wonder that other Anne Leavitt died! I never saw so +many tidies in my life--I shall never draw a happy breath among them. +Oh, I can shut my eyes, right now and see the dear old tower room--you +sitting in the middle of the bed (unmade, of course), playing your uke, +Anne digging at her French Four on the window seat along with the fudge +dishes which I forgot to wash, and a week's muss all around us. Oh, +Claire, _weren't_ we happy, though? And to think it's all over. + +"Aunt Sabrina is very handsome and very Leavitty. I think Anne, in her +manner, when we've done something she doesn't approve of, is like her +Aunt Sabrina. She's very tall and parts her hair straight in the +middle and has the longest, straightest nose and a way of talking to +you that makes you feel like an atom. B'lindy, who is the +woman-of-all-work around Happy House, but Somebody, just you believe, +is very much like Aunt Sabrina and looks at you as if she could see the +littlest thought way back in your mind. And, of course, with me acting +a part and feeling as guilty as can be, you can imagine that I don't +enjoy B'lindy's searching glance! However, I asked her some questions +about the Leavitts and it warmed her up a little. + +"But there is an Aunt Milly that Anne didn't seem to know about and, +Claire, _she_ is human--the dearest, sweetest, prettiest, timidest +little thing. You can't tell, looking at her, whether she is old or +not, but being my great-aunt--or Anne's--I suppose she is. But she is +an invalid and evidently can't walk. There's something about her that +makes you feel dreadfully sorry for her and like taking care of her, +and I sort of imagine that for some reason or other Aunt Sabrina treats +her horridly. When Aunt Sabrina comes into the room, poor Aunt Milly +acts scared to death. + +"Just how I'll come out of it all I can't guess. I've got to keep my +head and see the thing through for Anne's sake. But--so far--I don't +like it a bit. It was easy enough planning it all with Anne back in +college, but somehow, now that I'm here, I feel so underhanded, +deceiving these people. And Miss Sabrina talks so much about the +Leavitt honor that it makes me feel like thirty cents. There is a lot +of mystery about the place, but I feel as though I had no right to try +and find it out, though I'll admit I'm dreadfully curious. I rode over +from North Hero with the funniest old man--his name is Webb and he said +he was one of Freedom's 'first citizens.' Modest--yes. Well, with a +very little encouragement he would have poured out the entire Leavitt +history, only it didn't seem nice to let him talk. But he spoke about +a 'Leavitt trouble,' and he said something about Miss Milly being +'happier in the grave.' Isn't that interesting? And the very +strangest thing of all is that Aunt Sabrina has forbidden me to ever +_mention_ my father--or Anne's father and grandfather! Of course Anne +will want to know all about it, and maybe it is my duty to find out +why! Anyway, if the chance comes to me, well, I won't shut my ears. + +"Speaking of Webb and riding over from North Hero, Claire, I did the +most dreadful thing, and if I tell you, you must swear that you won't +ever tell Anne, though goodness knows when either of us will see dear +old Anne again. We'd driven along for miles and hadn't seen a +soul--even the cows in the pastures weren't moving--when suddenly, +around a corner, dashed a man on horseback. He went by us like a +flash, but I could tell even with all the dust, that he rode well and +was very handsome and sort of different from--well, Webb, and the +people you'd _expect_ to see on North Hero Island. I was curious--you +know, I always am--and I turned around. And what do you think he +did--he wheeled that horse around and stopped dead still to stare at +us, and caught me turning, of course, though I was just curious because +he seemed different. And that isn't all--he had the nerve to wave his +hand and here's the confession! _I nodded back to him!_ I always am +so impulsive and it seemed so good to see someone that was young. And +he did have the grandest eyes even through the dust. But here's the +worst--I asked Webb who he was, and Webb said he was '_Judson's hired +man!_' Oh, Claire, what would Anne have said! + +"Well, of course, the fellow had his nerve, and if I ever see him again +I shall show him his place and make him understand that I am a +dignified, unapproachable young person. + +"Oh, Claire, dearest, I wish I was with you at Merrycliffe. You don't +know how lucky you are to have a jolly home and a jolly mother who +knows how to love! That's the trouble here--they act as though it was +a crime to show a spark of affection. Aunt Milly comes the nearest to +it, but I don't believe the others _know_ what love is. + +"Write to me often, for it will help keep up my courage, and I will +keep you posted as to all that happens to poor me--especially about the +hired man. I can't wait to see him. + +"Once your happy and now your perfectly miserable used-to-be Nancy. + +"To be known for the present as, + +"ANNE LEAVITT." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +BIRD'S-NEST + +"Joshua Leavitt was Justin's son and he married Abigail Clark over at +Isle Le Motte, and they had three sons, Joshua and John and Jacob, all +upright, settled young men. Let me see, it was either John or Jacob +was killed in the war of 1812, wasn't it, B'lindy?" + +Nancy's mind was working faster than the knitting needles in her +fingers. For three days now she had sat very close to Aunt Sabrina, +learning "all about the Leavitts." + +"It's lucky I have a good head for history," she said to herself, +nodding to show Aunt Sabrina that she was deeply interested in these +Joshuas and Johns and Jacobs. "If I'm here long enough she _may_ get +down to the present generation! Joshua--John--Jacob," she repeated +softly. + +"Dear me, where _is_ B'lindy? My memory isn't as good as it used to +be. I'm growing to be an old woman. But the Bible in there tells how +either John or Jacob fell at Fort Niagara. The Leavitts have always +been brave men--and men of honor!" + +At this point Nancy, quite involuntarily, dropped a stitch. The sudden +color that flushed her cheeks escaped Aunt Sabrina's notice, for +B'lindy's voice came suddenly through the open door. + +"Miss Sabriny, if Jon'than don't get that cornstarch from Eaton's there +won't be no cornstarch puddin' for dinner. He's worse than no good +round the house and a body takes more steps huntin' him than doin' all +his chores for him!" + +Nancy sprang to her feet. "Oh, _please_ let me find him! I--I'd love +to walk around a bit, too. I'll speak very sternly, B'lindy--you just +see if he doesn't go at once!" Tossing her red wool into the cushion +of the old rocker she had been occupying, Nancy was off before the +astonished B'lindy or Aunt Sabrina could utter a protest. + +She found Jonathan at his everlasting digging. Nancy shook him +playfully by the arm. Jonathan could not guess that her eyes were +bright because, for a few moments at least, she had escaped from the +oppressiveness of Aunt Sabrina and her ancestors; his old heart warmed +to her infectious smile. + +"B'lindy's as cross as can _be_! She must have the cornstarch at +_once_! I hate cornstarch pudding worse than poison, but you must +hurry as fast as you can, and _please_ go by the lilac side of the +house, because Miss Sabrina is sitting over on the hollyhock porch +talking ancestors and I want her to think that it's taking me forever +to find you!" + +"Cornstarch! Bless my boots!" A hundred wrinkles crossed the weather +beaten old face. "I'll go off to Eaton's fast's ever I can, Missy." + +"Nice Jonathan," and picking a posy, Nancy stuck it into the buttonhole +of the gardener's sweater. "And _I'm_ going fast's ever I can, +straight out to the lake." + +With a wave of her hand she flew down the path through the row of old +apple trees. She wanted to shout and to sing, but as that might +startle the entire island, she indulged in a joyous handspring instead! + +"Of course, Anne, darling, if _you_ could see me you'd look +shocked--you'd say, 'Nancy Leavitt, when _are_ you going to grow up!' +But, Annie, if growing up and up and up is going to be to grow like +your Aunt Sabrina, sitting all the day long dwelling on the glories +that are past and gone--never--never--_never_!" The girl flung her +arms out toward the blue waters of the lake. "If I had a wish I'd wish +that I could swim straight out across you--to those purple +mountains--over there!" + +It was very still in the orchard; cool, too, for the hot June sun only +penetrated in spots the outspreading branches of the old trees. +Gradually the tumult of longing in Nancy's mind quieted; a sense of +delicious quiet inspired her. + +"It's heavenly here--just as though I was all alone in the world." She +turned slowly around. Not a glimpse of any habitation could be seen, +the rows of trees hid even Happy House. And beyond was the stretch of +sparkling water, with its rim of hazy, purple hills. + +Nancy ran to the apple tree nearest the cliff. It was very old, its +branches grew close to the ground. In a moment she had climbed them +and had perched herself comfortably upon one with her back resting +against another. + +"It must be nice to be a bird," she mused, touching lightly the glossy +leaves about her. "Playing in tree-tops and when you're bored to +death, simply flying off without so much as an excuse! Or a +wood-nymph," wistfully. Then her drooping shoulder suddenly +straightened, under the stimulation of an idea. She sprang to the +ground. "Oh, _rapture_!" she cried, and raced back toward Happy House. + +Half an hour later Jonathan, having made peace with B'lindy, found her +in the old carriage house. Two shiny nails protruding from her teeth +and a hammer in her hands betrayed that she had found his tool-box. +Her face, through smudges of dust, wore a look of determination. + +"You've come just in time to help me, Jonathan. I must get the top of +_this_ box off and fasten it to _that_ box--so it'll open and shut. +Then you must find a piece of leather for hinges and some oil cloth. I +think that you have everything on earth hidden in this place--except +carriages!" + +Because, with Jonathan, it had been love at first sight, he obeyed with +only a "well, well, Missy." With the boards of one box he made a snug +door for the other box and he found, hidden away, some precious leather +that could be cut into strips for hinges, and a square of oil cloth and +canvas, too. There were more nails in the tool-box, and though old +Jonathan guarded that tool-box like a treasure-chest, he'd give Nancy +anything it held! + +They labored feverishly, and within an hour Nancy declared their work +done. + +"Now come with me, Jonathan, and I'll show you my secret." She lifted +the box and started toward the orchard, Jonathan trudging after her. + +When they reached the last tree near the cliff Nancy set her burden +down. She turned to her companion with a solemn face. + +"Jonathan, no one is going to know this secret but you and me! I am a +dramatist. You don't look as though you knew what that was, but it is +something that it's very, _very_ hard to be, and I shall have to +work--like everything! Right up on the branch of that tree is where +I'm going to work. I want you to take those nails I put in your pocket +and fasten this box securely to the trunk of the tree. Then I'm going +to keep all my things right in it and fasten it with this padlock +I--borrowed--from your tool-box. It'll be just like a nest--and I'll +steal out here and work and work and then, some day, when I'm famous, +all the newspapers will print a story telling how I wrote my first play +in an apple tree and that it was a secret between you and me, and +they'll want _your_ picture! Now, right here, Jonathan. I'll hold it +and you nail it tight." + +Jonathan _didn't_ know what a dramatist was, but he did know that his +"little Missy," perched on the old branch, was as pretty as any bird +and her eyes as bright as the sunshine that filtered through the leaves +of the tree. + +"Oh, that's just fine," cried Nancy, springing to the ground to survey +their work. "It's as safe as can be and you've helped me a _lot_, you +dear old thing, you. Now we must hurry home or B'lindy's dinner will +be cold and remember, cross your heart, this is a solemn, solemn +secret!" + +She drew her fingers across his worn, gray sweater, and he nodded in +acceptance of the mysterious sign. And as he followed her back through +the orchard to the house something within his breast seemed to sing the +way it did each spring when he found the first crocus peeping up +through the frosty earth. + +Nancy found it difficult to keep from bolting through her dinner. But +a tiny sense of guilt at having left "Joshua and Jacob" so abruptly +made her very attentive to Aunt Sabrina's long story of how the blue +china was first brought to Happy House. + +Scarcely had Miss Sabrina's door closed upon her for her hour of rest, +however, than Nancy flew to her own room. She gathered up her precious +paper and pencils, a knife and a worn manuscript case, a few favorite +books and a tattered dictionary, and started out on tip-toe through the +hall toward the stairs. But, though her step was light, its sound +caught a certain patient ear nearby. + +"Nancy! Oh, Nancy!" + +Nancy remembered, then, remorsefully, that not once that day had she +run in to see poor little Aunt Milly. With her treasures in her arms +she went straight to her. In the smile that greeted her from the couch +by the window, there was not one sign to indicate that Aunt Milly had +been waiting the whole long morning for her to come. + +"I've been so busy," explained Nancy, dropping her load. "I have a +mind to tell you, Aunt Milly. I meant it to be a secret, only Jonathan +knows, because he had to help me. And I'd like _you_ to know, too. +Anyway, a secret's more fun when more of us know it! You see, I'd +gotten as far as Jacob in my lessons on Leavitts, and then Aunt Sabrina +couldn't remember whether it was he or his brother that was killed in +the war of 1812, and B'lindy rudely interrupted just because she had no +corn starch! Oh, Aunt Milly, I'm dreadful, but I couldn't have stood +it another _minute_--I could have hugged B'lindy and her pudding! Why, +I've sat for three days straight in a horrible stiff chair listening to +musty, dusty tales, and I wanted to scream! So I said _I'd_ find +Jonathan and I bolted--and I _stayed_ away! And out in the orchard, +right close to the bank, the grandest idea came to me. To fix a nest! +And Jonathan helped me. We made a little box, all waterproof, and +nailed it to the tree to keep my things in--these," indicating the pile +at her feet. "And I'm going to hide there--and work! And that's +another secret. I'm writing a play! I wrote two in college and the +English professor said they were unusual and the Senior class gave one. +And I have a _real_ one, almost done. _Now_ you know the secret." + +"Oh, _Nancy_!" said Aunt Milly softly, two bright spots of color on her +cheeks. + +"You see I can steal out there and sit on that comfy branch and think +I'm all alone in the world. Such beautiful thoughts will come to me! +It'll be like a bird's nest." + +"Oh, Nancy," Aunt Milly said again, with a tragic look in her eyes that +the youthful Nancy could not read. "I wish I could see you there--just +once! Are the trees big, dear? And is the grass real green?" There +was a little tremble in the sweet voice. "Seems to me it used to be +ploughed up 'round the apple trees." + +Over Nancy rushed the heartbreaking thought that poor Miss Milly had +not seen the orchard for years and years. She threw both arms about +the frail form. With a torrent of words she pictured the raspberry +patch, old Jonathan's lettuce and radishes and beets and beans and +slender cornstalks working up through the soft earth, and the giant +apple trees beyond, the lake "just like diamonds sprinkled over +sapphire blue velvet" and the purple hills in the background. And all +the while she talked, Nancy felt little quivers passing through the +form she held. + +"It--isn't--_fair_!" she ended, enigmatically. She sat still for a +moment, staring at Miss Milly. With her bright color Aunt Milly didn't +look at all like a helpless invalid. "Maybe----" began Nancy, then +stopped short. She rose abruptly to her feet. "I've got an idea that +beats my bird's-nest all to pieces! I can't tell you now because you'd +be frightened to death, but it's going to be wonderful! Let me hide +this truck under your couch and now be very, very good until I come +back. I must find B'lindy at once." + +Nancy, fired by her sudden purpose, interrupted B'lindy in the last of +her "drying up" and demanded to know where she could find Mr. Webb. +When B'lindy "'lowed she wa'n't his keeper, but he's most al'las +hangin' 'round the smithy or Eaton's or the post-office or the hotel, +'cept when you wanted him, and then he wa'n't hangin' 'round nowhere," +Nancy started off down the path, bareheaded. + +Fortune favored her, for Mr. Webb was "hangin' round the smithy and +very delighted to see Miss Anne!" He had been wondering a lot about +the coming of the girl to Happy House. "Somethin' sure to come of it," +he had reflected again and again. + +Of course, he assured Nancy, he'd do anything he could for her. And +Nancy was sure they might find all that they needed right there in the +smithy. + +"It must be very comfortable and have some springs--and be safe, too. +And if you can find some wheels with rubber tires--off an old baby +carriage, they'll run more smoothly. And the seat must be big enough +for a lady--but she's a _small_ lady!" + +Jonathan thought he "caught her idee. Old Mrs. King, over at North +Hero, couldn't walk a step 'count of rheumatism, and she had a rig-up +such as Nancy was describing." Yes, Timothy Hopkins at the smithy had +most every kind of a thing about and he'd see what he could do, and +Miss Anne could run down in the morning, early, before the stage +started for North Hero. + +"And, Webb," Nancy levelled her sweetest smile, "don't even _try_ to +think whom it's for--it's a secret." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +IN THE ORCHARD + +Until Webb could finish the task that Nancy had assigned to him, Nancy +curbing her impatience, had to return to the study of "Joshua, Jacob +and John." + +"It was John that was killed in the war of 1812, and now we have +progressed to the next generation of Samuel and Ezekiel," she wrote to +Claire. "But let me tell you that just as soon as Webb finishes the +'rig-up' (that is what he calls my perfectly beautiful idea) I'm not +going to have a minute to spend on any of the old ancestors. Won't it +be wonderful to see Aunt Milly's face when she knows about it? _Think_ +of it, Claire--how we love to frolic all around this good old earth, +and how awful it would be to be tied to a couch all your days--and in +_such_ a room!" + +"After to-day my letters will be just scraps and you can picture your +Nancy working madly in her tree-top! + +"So far all is safe, and I'm really beginning to feel as though I was a +real Leavitt and not walking around in Anne's shoes, especially when I +am with Aunt Milly. But it's terribly hard not to talk about Dad and +you and Anne, and I have to hold my lips together lots of times to keep +from bursting out with something. I suppose it's good training for +me--Miss Sykes used to tell me my impulsiveness would be my ruin some +day. + +"I have seen the hired man! Yesterday, when I went out to my nest, I +deliberately walked around the edge of the orchard. I saw a lot of +tumble-down sheds and things over on a rise of ground that I supposed +was Judson's, and of course the lot in between was the ten-acre strip +that Webb told me about. I couldn't _see_ that it was any better than +any other part of the country around here. And while I was staring, +suddenly something moved, and there was that creature with a hoe +standing at the other end of the lot. And he waved his hand! Says I, +'Nancy Leavitt, this is your chance,' and I tossed my head so hard that +my neck truly cracked, and I stalked off back to the orchard. It was +good enough for him. + +"Oh, oh, oh, Webb has come! He's taken the rig-up around the lilac +side (for strategic reasons, I have divided the grounds of Happy House) +and out to the carriage barn. Now I shall tackle B'lindy and make +ready for the blessed hour of rest. + +"Adieu, dearest Claire, pray for your old pal." + +The winning of B'lindy to her plan was not as easy as Webb had been. +It had been a "bad" morning for B'lindy; the fire would not draw well, +she had forgotten to "set" her bread, and Judson's cat had gotten into +the cream. Nancy's arguments fell on deaf ears. + +"I guess what's well enough's well enough," at last she threw over her +shoulder. "Milly Leavitt's laid on that couch twenty years and it +ain't likely she'll lay there many more, and there ain't no use +meddlin' with what's what!" + +"But, B'lindy, no one has ever tried this! It's so easy. Wait until +you see how nice and safe Webb has made the chair. It's wonderful! It +would be wicked to keep her shut up there when we could take her out! +Think of it, B'lindy, all _we_ have and poor little Aunt Milly! Why, +it might make her well! I really know of such a case. It was a woman +who had tried every medicine she knew of and it was just happiness she +needed! If Aunt Milly could get out there in the sunshine and--and see +things, _she_ might get well, too. Anyway, she could laugh!" + +B'lindy laid down her egg-beater. It was a sign of yielding. + +"I guess nobody's _tried_ happiness on Milly Leavitt!" + +"We'll take her together, B'lindy. You may go with me to her room and +see her face when she knows!" + +"I told Miss Sabriny that there was no tellin' _what'd_ happen in Happy +House if she brought a young thing like you here," was B'lindy's way of +assent. With an uplifted arm she warded off what threatened to be a +hug. + +"Go 'way, Anne Leavitt, or there won't be no dinner! And this is +_your_ doin's, remember." + +True to her promise, Nancy waited until the last dinner dish was dried; +then she and B'lindy, very like culprits, tip-toed to Miss Milly's +room. Aunt Milly wore a look of expectancy, which changed to wonder +when she saw B'lindy. And one glance at Nancy's eager face told her +that something very, very different was about to happen! + +In a whisper Nancy commanded her to peep out and "just see what you'll +see." And Miss Milly, in a flutter, _did_ peep out, and saw Jonathan +below, with a curiously contrived chair on wheels. + +"It's for you--Webb made it," declared Nancy. "And you're not to get +excited, because that might spoil everything. We're going to take you +to the orchard!" + +"Oh, _Nancy_!" Something caught in poor Miss Milly's throat. + +"You must do just what I tell you. Take this shawl, though it's warmer +out there than it is in here. I'm very strong and I shall carry you +right down in my arms, and you must cling tight to my neck." + +Poor Miss Milly commenced to tremble violently. "Nancy--I'm afraid! +I--I--It's so long--maybe I'd better--maybe it isn't--_right_!" + +"Oh, Aunt Milly, darling, how could it be wrong to be happy! Just +_try_ it! Think of the sunshine and the birds and the nice smells and +all Jonathan's growing things! And B'lindy is going along, too, to +help. _Try_ it, Aunt Milly!" + +Aunt Milly's eyes filled with tears, then she commenced to laugh +softly. "Maybe it'll be the only time! I'd love--once more----" She +let Nancy lift her slowly. "I'm too heavy, dear," she protested. + +"_Heavy_----" thought Nancy. The pitifully frail form was as nothing +in her clasp. "I haven't played forward on our basket-ball team for +four years for nothing, Aunt Milly! March on, B'lindy. Now--very +still." + +It was a strange procession that moved off through the garden toward +the orchard. Jonathan led the way, B'lindy wheeled the chair and Nancy +frisked along, first one side, then the other, picking posies here and +there until Aunt Milly's lap was quite full. And Miss Milly sat very +still with her hands clasped tight together and a look of ecstasy in +her eyes, as though she was beholding a new and beautiful world! Every +step forward brought an added wonder. She had forgotten the world was +like this. + +"_Oh-h!_" she whispered rapturously when a robin trilled from a nearby +tree. "_Oh-h!_" she cried again when she caught a glimpse of the lake. + +But when they reached the cliff it was Nancy's turn to exclaim. For +there in her tree had been built the cosiest of rustic seats. + +"_How lovely!_" she cried, springing into it. "It just fits." She +shook her finger at old Jonathan. "_You_ made this for me, you dear +old thing!" + +But Jonathan, wishing mightily that he had, had to admit that he +"didn't know a blame thing 'bout it!" + +"Then it was Webb. He wanted to surprise me, too, as well as Aunt +Milly. Only--how did he know about my tree? Isn't it _nice_? It's as +comfy as can be." + +When Nancy joyously declared that everybody and everything was lovely, +somehow B'lindy and Jonathan and Aunt Milly felt so, too! B'lindy, at +Nancy's bidding, sat down upon the grass close to the chair, and +Jonathan, too rheumatic to follow her example, leaned against the tree +trunk and stared at Nancy with adoring eyes. + +"At first I was going to keep my nest a secret, just between Jonathan +and me. But it'll be much nicer to have all of us know about it. We +can have such nice times here. We can do so many things. B'lindy, can +you knit?" + +B'lindy said she could not, though she could crochet. + +"Then I'm going to teach you and Aunt Milly both. You can knit socks +for the children in Europe, though you must begin on washcloths. +Jonathan--I don't suppose there's any use trying to teach you--you must +keep us supplied with flowers because Aunt Milly can't have enough--you +see there are so many years she has to make up. And sometimes I'll +read to you and sometimes I'll work. We'll come here every +afternoon--shall we?" + +B'lindy and Jonathan and Aunt Milly nodded their heads. B'lindy, +watching Miss Milly's face, was beginning to think that there might be +some sense in Nancy's prescription of happiness. + +And if in her heart Nancy smothered any wistful longing as she glanced +at the locked treasure-box, she forgot it when she, too, watched Aunt +Milly. + +It was Jonathan who suddenly noticed that the sun was creeping over +toward the west and that he'd "better be at the lettuce." + +"Goodness to gracious," cried B'lindy, scrambling to her feet with a +considerable creaking of joints. "Anne Leavitt, my day's work ain't +half done!" + +On the way back through the orchard Miss Milly kept tight hold of +Nancy's hand, giving it an occasional squeeze. + +"I could die happy--now," she whispered. + +At the turn of the path beyond the raspberry patch the culprits were +confronted by Miss Sabrina. It was a very angry Aunt Sabrina, whose +one glance shadowed every bit of sunshine. Even Nancy, the ringleader +of the plot, felt her knees give way in fright. + +"What are you all about?" Miss Sabrina demanded in a voice cold with +anger. "Go about your work, Jonathan Allen. B'lindy, you wheel that +ridiculous chair back to wherever you got it from! And you, Milly +Leavitt, how _dare_ you meddle with the ways of God?" + +Everyone seemed to obey Miss Sabrina without a word of protest. +Jonathan faded out of sight, B'lindy disappeared toward the kitchen +with the chair and Nancy, followed by Miss Sabrina, carried the +trembling Miss Milly back to her couch. + +"Anne, you go out now!" Miss Sabrina jerked her head toward the door. + +"I'll have a thing or two to say to Milly. She made her bed--it's the +will of our Lord she should lie in it!" + +Nancy hesitated one moment, but something in Aunt Milly's frightened +glance seemed to say, "Go away!" So she went out and closed the door +upon the two sisters. + +Alone in her own room a storm of anger shook her. "I _hate_ her!" she +cried out to the ugly walls. "I _hate_ her! She's--just--_stone_!" + +"I'm _glad_ I'm not a real Leavitt! We were _so_ happy!" + +Then, really frightened, Nancy listened intently to catch some word +from the other room. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +AUNT MILLY'S STORY + +When Nancy could stand the interval of quiet no longer, she went back +to Miss Milly's door. She did not even knock. So sure was she of +finding a crushed and heartbroken Aunt Milly within that she stood +dumbfounded before the little creature who sat bolt upright upon the +couch. + +"Come in, my dear--and close the door!" + +Everything about Miss Milly seemed to say that "the worm has turned." +There was a glow on her face different from that it had worn out in the +orchard; it seemed to come from some fire within. + +"Open every blind in the room, Nancy," she commanded in a tone that was +new for Aunt Milly. "I might as well get what light I can in here. +Now come and sit beside me." + +For a moment Aunt Milly patted Nancy's hand and said nothing. Then she +gave a little sigh. + +"I can't _tell_ you, Nancy, I can't even _begin_ to tell you, what +you've done for me--taking me out there! If I never go again, I've had +it once. And it's sort of stiffened something inside of me!" + +She fell silent again. Nancy was wishing that she could have heard +what had passed between Aunt Sabrina and Miss Milly that had left Miss +Milly so defiant! + +Aunt Milly seemed to read her thought. + +"She was dreadfully angry and it was partly because she was +frightened--really frightened. You see, Nancy, sister Sabrina thinks +things must always go just so and that it's almost wicked to +try--different things. She says--I've made my bed!" + +"What _does_ she mean, Aunt Milly?" + +"It's a long story, dear." + +"I'd like to hear it, Aunt Milly." + +"I suppose you ought to know--someone else may tell you, old Webb or +B'lindy, or even Sabrina, though she'd rather die first! I think I +used to be something like you, Nancy, or I would have been, if it +hadn't been for--the trouble!" + +"Will it make you unhappy to tell it, Aunt Milly?" + +"No, child. I used to lie here by the hour and think things over and +over, but after awhile I got so things sort of blurred--I suppose I +grew resigned and all the fight inside of me died. There never was +much. You see Sabrina brought me up and she was as stern then as she +is now. Our father was like that, too. My mother died when I was a +baby." + +"When father died Sabrina had the care of me. I suppose she tried to +bring me up well; she was very strict and--never seemed to understand! +And when I was quite young I began to dream of getting away from the +Islands. I wanted to go away to school somewhere and learn to do +something--I did not much care what--that would keep me out in the +world. Finally I decided that I wanted to study music and then, +sometime, teach it. It wasn't much to want, was it, dear? But +goodness me, when I went to Sabrina with my plan she was terribly +angry. You might have thought I had suggested something wicked! She +simply _couldn't_ understand! There was enough money for us both to +live on and she said I was selfish and inconsiderate to want to go +away. She talked a great deal about the Leavitt position and being a +lady and learning contentment, and the more she talked the more +restless and discontented I grew! And the more I dreamed of what +waited out in the world beyond these little Islands. + +"After a long while, Nancy, I made up my mind to go, anyway! It was +not easy to do, because I'm not very brave, and the trouble we'd had +sort of made me hate to take any step that might make a break between +Sabrina and me. But I had to do it. I simply couldn't seem to face a +life here. That's hard for you to believe, isn't it, dear? But I +_was_ a different creature, then. Well, one night I packed some +clothes and slipped away. I walked to North Hero and caught the train +for Burlington. I was going from there to--to New York." + +Breathlessly, Nancy whispered, "What happened then?" + +"The train was wrecked outside of Burlington!" + +"_Oh_--Aunt Milly!" + +"I was terribly hurt. I lay for weeks in a hospital in Burlington and +they didn't know whether I'd live or die! I wish----" she stopped +short. "No, I don't! I'm _glad_ I didn't die. Then they brought me +home--like this!" + +"Poor, poor little Aunt Milly!" + +"But, listen, child--that isn't half all. It seems that on the same +train was a young man from North Hero whom I had always known--and +liked. But Aunt Sabrina had never approved of him, and long before she +had forbidden his coming here. I did see him sometimes, though--I +loved company and he was entertaining. There had never been more than +a pleasant friendship between us, and I had not dreamed that he was +going to Burlington on that train. He was killed. And when I came +back from the hospital the story was on every tongue that I had been +running away with Charlie Prince!" + +"Oh, I was hurt in every part of me--my body and my soul and my mind! +My precious dreams had crumbled forever and ever. And I had to face +that dreadful scandal! Not that I ever saw a soul--Sabrina took care +of _that_! She kept me shut up as though I had the plague. But +through her reproachful eyes I was made to see the accusations of every +man, woman and child on the Hero Islands. And I couldn't _make_ her +believe it wasn't so! She simply wouldn't talk about it. She went +around with that dreadful look, day after day, and when she'd say +anything at all, it was about how I had brought shame to the Leavitt +name. And after awhile I began to feel as though I _had_ done +something--more than just run away to study music. She made me +understand that the only way I could atone for it all was by burying +myself within these four walls." + +"Then _that's_ what she means by 'making your bed.'" + +"Yes, dear, I was so crushed that I came to believe she was right. God +knew that all I had wanted when I went away was a right to my own way +of living, but His ways are inscrutable and His Will has to be done! +Sabrina called it the sword of wrath and the justice of the Almighty, +and it didn't make much difference to me _what_ it was called--I was +here. That's my story, dear, that's the way I've lived until--to-day. +But you've changed it. Something inside of me that I thought was +dead--isn't dead at all! Do you know what I told Sabrina? I told her +I didn't _care_ what she thought, that I guessed when a woman was forty +years old and over she could decide things for herself and if just +going out there in the orchard was wicked, then I'd go on being +_wickeder_! That's what I told her. Dear, dear, you should have seen +her face!" + +"Hurrah, hurrah, Aunt Milly!" + +"Poor Sabrina, I never spoke like that in my life to her! I've always +been so--_afraid_, until to-day! I don't know what she'll do now. You +must not blame her too much, Nancy dear, it's the Leavitt trouble that +has made her what she is--it shadowed all our lives!" + +"Aunt Milly, what was the Leavitt trouble?" + +Aunt Milly looked distressed. "Then you _don't_ know? I shouldn't +have spoken of it! I promised Sabrina I wouldn't speak to you--about +it." + +"But, Aunt Milly, I have a--a right to know, haven't I? Even Webb +hinted about it, and it makes me feel as though I was--well, on the +outside of things, to be kept in ignorance." + +Miss Milly regarded her for a moment. "I _told_ Sabrina that you +wouldn't know! But may be you ought to. Somehow, telling things, too, +makes them seem not so dreadful! I believe we Leavitts lock troubles +away too much--don't air them enough, maybe. Sabrina thinks it's as +dreadful now as it was the day it happened. It was about our brother. +He was a year older than Sabrina. He wasn't at all like her, though, +nor like my father. He was gay and handsome, and high-spirited and +dreadfully extravagant. When I was very small I used to be frightened +at the quarrels between him and my father--and they were always over +money. + +"One night--he had come home just before supper after being away for a +week, no one knew where, and my father was very angry about that--they +had a quarrel that seemed more bitter than any other. Besides, there +was a thunder-storm that made it seem worse. I had been sent to bed, +but the lightning had frightened me, and I had crept downstairs to the +sitting-room. I opened the door. They were all three--for Sabrina +always sided with my father--talking so loudly they did not hear me. +My father's face frightened me more than the lightning and my brother's +had turned dead white. I think my father had just offered him some +money, for his wallet was in his hand and on the floor lay a bill, as +though my brother had thrown it back. I began to cry and ran back to +my room, more frightened by them than by the storm. And I lay there in +my bed for hours, waiting for something to happen!" + +"About midnight one dreadful bolt of lightning struck the house. It +shattered the chimney all to pieces on the outside and inside, filled +the sitting-room with dust and pieces of mortar, cracked the mantel and +moved it an inch and a half from the wall. But no one thought much of +all that, because something far more dreadful had happened! My brother +was gone and my father's wallet, the one I had seen in his hand, was +missing. He remembered laying it on the mantel and my brother and +Sabrina had seen him do it. It had contained over a thousand dollars +in bank notes. The next day my father found out that my brother had +taken the early train out of North Hero. I was too young to understand +much about it, but I used to pray, first, that my brother would come +back and tell them he _didn't_ take the wallet and then I'd pray that +he'd never, never come back, so that they couldn't put him in prison." + +"That must have been Anne's grandfather," Nancy was thinking. + +"He did come back, three weeks later," Miss Milly went on, "and there +was a scene much worse than the night of the storm. They forgot I was +in the room. My father accused my brother of stealing the wallet and +refused to let him say a word. 'I want no lies added to your other +sins,' was what he said--I can hear him now. And my brother looked as +though something had struck him. Then my father told him that if he'd +take himself off and never darken the doors of Happy House again, nor +communicate with his family in any way, the matter would be dropped +forever--for the sake of the Leavitt name. My brother stood there for +a moment; I remember, I wanted to run to him! Oh, I've wished I +_had_--so often! But I was afraid of Sabrina--and my father. And then +my brother turned and walked out of the room--and out of the +door--and--down the path--and----" + +Poor Miss Milly, worn out by the excitement of the day, began to cry +softly. + +Nancy had to jerk herself to break the spell of the story. Her face +wrinkled in a frown. "It--is--dreadful, isn't it, Aunt Milly? I don't +mean his spending money and running debts and things, I +mean--your--your father's horrid--_mercilessness_! Why, the courts +don't treat the worst criminals like that! And they call it Leavitt +pride--and honor! _I_ call it injustice. I wish you _had_ just run up +and kissed him, then. It might have made everything so different!" + +"So _that's_ why I can't speak of Anne's father or grandfather," Nancy +was thinking back of her frown. "And that's why Anne knew so little +about her aunts!" Then aloud: "I'm glad you told me, Aunt Milly. +It'll help us--be pals. We'll have other afternoons--like to-day--out +in the sunshine. But now you must rest. And I'll get ready to face +Aunt Sabrina!" + +"She'll be dreadfully cross," sighed Miss Milly, with the glow all gone +from her face. + +"I'm not a bit afraid," and Nancy meant it, for within her breast +smouldered such righteous indignation at Miss Sabrina and her precious +ancestors that she welcomed the challenge. + +Dressing hurriedly for supper Nancy's eye caught the letter to Claire +lying on her bureau. It seemed to her as though hours and hours had +passed since she had so flippantly bade Claire "pray for me!" + +She wanted to open the letter and dash off another page to tell Claire +of all that had happened and how the "mystery" was a mystery no longer. +Then, with the envelope in her hand, she remembered that it concerned +Aunt's grandfather and that, perhaps, _she_ had no right to tell! But +she did open the sheet and scribble across the top: "All sorts of +things have happened since I wrote this, and I may be back with you any +moment. I can't tell you yet all about it, but I can say this, that I +hate Happy House and I'm glad as can be that I'm only a pretend +Real-Leavitt! Everybody isn't horrid, though, that nice old Webb built +the cosiest seat up in my tree and surprised me." + +In exactly twenty minutes, by the hands of her small watch, she must +meet Miss Sabrina! Anyway, she could tell her just what she thought +about the whole thing, for, without any doubt she'd be sent away! But +there was Aunt Milly--she had promised Aunt Milly that there would be +more afternoons in the orchard. Somehow she must fix that. + +"I know," she waved her brush in mid-air, "I'll get Belinda!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +B'LINDY'S TRIUMPH + +No great general of war ever mapped out a plan of attack more carefully +than Nancy laid hers! First she begged B'lindy to let her pick over +the raspberries for supper. While doing this in the chummiest sort of +way, it was very easy to tell B'lindy that she had eaten lots of raised +biscuits but never any raised biscuits like she'd had at Happy House! + +The last raspberry in the glass dish, Nancy in departing, whispered +with a little laugh; "Weren't you dreadfully frightened this afternoon +when you saw Aunt Sabrina? O! of course you weren't--Webb told me you +were the only one who could really make Aunt Sabrina do anything, but, +goodness, _I_ was!" Which was balm to B'lindy's injured pride; as the +afternoon wore on B'lindy had been growing more and more indignant +because she had not "stood on her two feet and spoke up to Sabriny +Leavitt" instead of "turning tail like old Jonathan!" + +Throughout the supper, by eating very fast, Nancy managed to conceal +her nervousness and expectancy. Aunt Sabrina sat stiffly and looked +very tired and very old and, somehow, by a twist of her lips managed to +make Nancy understand that she, Nancy, was in deep disgrace and that in +due time sentence of punishment would be passed. Between B'lindy and +her mistress not a word was exchanged; B'lindy's head was tossed high +and there was an air of "sniffing" about her that, if it had not all +been so tragic, would have made the entire situation funny. + +"Oh, what a _place_--what _funny_ people!" cried Nancy to the stars as +she leaned that night far out of her window. "How can I _stand_ it! +And why does not something happen quickly? It's just _like_ Aunt +Sabrina not to say a word and to keep me on pins and needles! That's +the same way she treated Aunt Milly and that poor boy--years ago!" +Thereupon Nancy let her fancy wander back to the "gay-spirited, +extravagant" brother and his story--Anne's grandfather. Had _he_ +cared, she wondered, had he died longing to see again the old Island +home, or had it been a blessing--casting him out in the wide world. He +must have met fortune somewhere, for Anne's father had been wealthy. +Dear Anne--Nancy picked out the star that was farthest in the East and +addressed it reverently. "If you can see Anne and she can see you will +you tell her that she mustn't feel cross at the mess I've made of +things. I tried to be careful but I'm me and, anyway, all the +ignorance of her blessed peasants isn't any worse than the pride and +narrowness of her own relatives! Good-night, dearest Anne, for the +last time I go to sleep in my prison walls--to-morrow I die!" + +However, the June sunshine of the next morning restored much of Nancy's +courage. She made quick note of a few good signs, and best of these +was when she surprised B'lindy vigorously tacking a cushion upon Miss +Milly's chair. B'lindy did not see Nancy and Nancy tip-toed away with +a smile. + +Then, too, the glow was back in Miss Milly's face, and when Nancy ran +into her room, her hands full of roses, Miss Milly greeted her eagerly. + +"I think the sun is shining to-day just for me," she laughed, waving +her hand to the windows from which the blinds had been drawn. + +"And _I_ think," and Nancy cocked her head knowingly, "that B'lindy +will force an attack with the enemy about mid-day!" + +Nancy was right in her prediction. At dinner B'lindy, clad in her +customary checked gingham apron, served them veal stew and delicious +fluffy dumplings, but after the shortcake she appeared without it, and +with a broad-brimmed hat pinned well down over her sharp features. + +Nancy checked an exclamation; Miss Sabrina's lips twisted ever so +slightly, though not a word came from them. + +B'lindy assumed an added note of defiance by placing her hands on her +hips. "I guess the dishes can wait 'til the cool of the afternoon," +she said, trying to make her tone casual. "I'm goin' to take Miss +Milly for her airin'." + +One might have thought that there was nothing out of the ordinary in +B'lindy's announcement, beyond perhaps, the leaving of the dinner +dishes, but a tense moment followed, when one pair of steely eyes bored +into another pair, just as hard. And Nancy, a little frightened, +realized, with a sort of breathlessness, that she, was witnessing the +invisible conflict of two strong wills. One must weaken--and she +dropped her eyes, for she was swept by a moment's pity. + +It was Miss Sabrina's that weakened! The tenseness was broken when she +rose hurriedly from her chair. + +"Then it's on your own head, B'lindy Guest," she cried shrilly, "I've +done my duty as I saw it! She's better left alone." + +B'lindy, triumphant, threw after her, with a snort; "Duty's duty and +_I_ know that's well as you, but I guess no one's tried the +perscription of happiness for Milly Leavitt and mebbe it ain't too +late!" + +Nancy was torn between a wild desire to hug B'lindy and to say a nice +word to Aunt Sabrina, departing majestically from the room. But she +did neither--for both women, at that moment, looked very forbidding. +Instead, as the door closed behind Miss Sabrina, she drew a long +breath. "Suspended sentence," she said, solemnly. + +Then, at B'lindy's "What's that?" she laughed back: "The victor's +wreath shall adorn your brow, my worthy ally. While you prepare the +chariot I shall make haste to tell Aunt Milly that all's well with the +world! _Don't_ look at me like that, B'lindy Guest, I'm not +crazy--yet!" + +But B'lindy "'lowed" she was, for Nancy seized her by the shoulders and +kissed first one cheek and then the other, and uttered the perfectly +incomprehensible--to B'lindy--remark; "Webb was right!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +DAVY'S CLUB + +"The next thing we do is to s'lute the flag of our country. Now, one, +two, three--after me!" + +The shrill command floated up to Nancy in her tree-top. + +She had just snuggled back against her seat with a long sigh of +contentment. The door of her treasure-box stood open and beside her +were the sheets of her neglected manuscript. She had stolen out for an +hour's uninterrupted work. + +"How _heavenly_ quiet," she had been saying to the rustling leaves. +"_Now_ I am going to work and make up for lost time." Everything at +Happy House seemed to be back on what Nancy called a "peace-basis." "I +must go down to the village and tell Webb what a dear he was to make +this seat," she had thought, as she climbed into it. + +Then, just as her inspired pencil had written "Act 4" across the top of +a clean sheet, had come the strange words, seemingly out of nowhere. + +"Well, I _never_!" Nancy peeped all around. The sound came apparently +from under the cliff. "Who _is_ it? And how could _anyone_ get there." + +The voice--a boy's--was rattling on in a succession of sharp commands. +Nancy crept toward the edge and peeped over. There, to her amazement, +on a strip of sand beach in an indentation of the shore, marched and +counter-marched a small boy, quite alone. He was a funny, snub-nosed, +tousled headed boy in ragged blouse and blue jeans--and, clearly, very +much in earnest, for a deep scowl wrinkled his freckled face. + +"At-ten-shun! Shoulder arms--right face--forward, march." Three feet +length of bare-footed manliness stepped briskly across the sand. "Step +up, you Dick Snead," and a domineering arm swept out toward an +imaginary lagger in the rear. + +"Was there _ever_ anything so funny?" giggled Nancy, crouching in the +tall grass at the top of the cliff. "And what is it? Fairies don't +come in over-alls, and I don't think they ever liked military drill, +either." + +She loosened a stone and let it roll down the bank. Startled, the +youngster lifted his glance to the top of the bank. + +"Hello," called Nancy. + +A heavy scowl answered her friendly greeting. + +"What are you doing?" + +"I ain't doin' nothin'." It was clear that Nancy's interruption was +unwelcome. "Least I ain't doin' nothin' that's hurtin'." + +"Of course not! It sounded nice. I didn't even know there was a beach +down there! How did you ever get down?" + +The boy grew crafty--the haste with which he answered said plainly that +he did not _want_ Nancy to know how. + +"Girls can't get down--it's awful dang'rous!" + +"Then won't you come up?" + +The boy considered this. He had guessed that this must be the "girl up +at the Happy House." She seemed friendly and not at all disposed to +"chase a feller away." And if he climbed up to her, then there would +be no danger of her discovering the way down to the beach. + +"All right, I'll come up." He disappeared for a moment in the tangle +of growth that fringed the foot of the cliff to bob up close at Nancy's +side. + +"My goodness--it's just as though you came up by magic," she cried. +"It _must_ be dang'rous. I'm Nancy Leavitt. Who are you?" + +The boy gave Nancy a suspicious look. + +"Mebbe you'll tell!" he muttered, doubtingly. + +"Oh, no, I _wouldn't_! Besides, what can I tell? And I can't even +guess who you are because you see I don't know anyone in Freedom." + +"I'm Davy Hopworth." + +"Of course, I remember,--" But Nancy stopped short for what she +remembered was how Webb had called them the "no-good Hopworths." + +"And that there's my club," finished Davy, gravely. "Only the other +fellers couldn't sneak away today." + +"I--understand," Nancy nodded, hugging her knees with her arms. "What +a jolly place to meet. It's so--so secret." + +Davy grinned. "You bet. That's a pirate's cove. I guess mebbe +there's a treasure buried there. All us boys knows where to get down, +too." + +"I'm so glad you let me know your secret! I won't tell a soul! I +think your club's very jolly, too." + +Davy, won by Nancy's disarming friendliness, produced from a ragged +pocket a dirty piece of paper and handed it to her. + +"Them's the Rules," he said, briefly. + +At the top was printed "Cove Culb." And below were the rules: 1. No +swaring. 2. No back talk. 3. No smokin nothin. 4. No lis. 5. No +steling birds eggs. 6. No hurtin dume anmals. 7. Eviry boys goter no +how to swim and lick eviry boy thats an enmy to the culb. 8. To kil +pirats. 9. To fite for ar contry. + +While Nancy was trying to control her lips so that she could say +something, Davy added proudly, "I wrote 'em." + +"They're--splendid! But _why_ in the world should the other boys have +to sneak away?" + +"Liz says folks don't think a Hopworth's good 'nough. I guess no one +thinks a feller oughta have any fun, either. Liz don't. I wait 'til +she cleans the meetin' house--ev'ry Monday and after there's socials +and things. We sneak. Jim and Dick get a lickin' if they get caught," +Davy explained without the slightest embarrassment. + +Nancy's indignation was sincere. "What a _shame_! I wish I was a boy, +I'd join your club in a moment. Why, you can do so many things down +there--drill and--swim, can't you? And have jolly fires and roast +potatoes and weiners and corn?" + +"Gee--I wish you were a boy." + +"Why, can't I join anyway?" cried Nancy, inspired. "Some clubs have +honorary members who do nice things for them. Can't I?" + +Davy did not know what an "honorary member" was, and an instinct +trained to suspicion warned him now. + +"Girls ain't any fun." + +"Oh, some girls aren't, I know! But I'm a lot like a boy. I can swim +half a mile--I've done it! I can play ball, too and--and--why I won a +medal for a high pole-vault! I'll bet I can beat you right now in a +race!" + +Davy regarded her with wide eyes. + +"Bet you can't!" + +Nancy sprang to her feet. + +"Let's race from--here--to that big elm way down there." She indicated +with her finger a giant elm in the "ten-acre strip." + +"How you goin' to get over that stone fence?" And Davy pointed out the +low stretch of stones that marked the dividing line between the orchard +and the ten-acre strip. + +"Oh, _that_! That's easy!" + +Plainly Davy's respect was growing. He danced first on one foot and +then on the other. "You are a sport. If you can beat I'll let you +join the club. I'll count! One--two--three!" + +They were off over the stubby grass. Nancy, longer-limbed, caught the +lead. She vaulted the fence with agile ease. But Davy soon caught up +to her and in the last few yards passed her. Laughing, breathless, +Nancy reached the tree and clung to it. + +"Hurray," came from behind them. + +There, approaching them, was the "hired man." He had seemingly sprung +from nowhere. + +Flushed and disheveled by the race, an intruder on the enemy's own +ground, Nancy was at a disarming disadvantage. Besides, Davy greeted +the newcomer rapturously. + +"Say, she's as good's a boy. She's goin' to join the club!" he +announced, with triumph. "As honery member," he added. + +Peter Hyde held out a brown hand. + +"Congratulations! And to the club, too!" + +Nancy was conscious that he was staring at her in a perplexed way. Her +cheeks already red from running took on an added color under his +glance. But there was a friendliness in his, eyes that won, her in +spite of her resolve to avenge at every opportunity her injured dignity. + +"I'd have won," she retorted laughingly, "if it hadn't been +for--these," and she swished her white skirts. "But I don't care as +long as Davy says I may join the club. Meetings whenever Liz cleans +the meeting-house," she repeated. + +"And she can swim and she can play ball and says we can make fires and +things," cried Davy to Peter Hyde. + +"Then you won't need me anymore?" + +"You can be a honery member, too. She says they do nice things for +clubs." + +Peter Hyde put an arm across Davy's shoulder. "I think we could do a +lot of nice things for Davy and his club," he said, directly to Nancy. +"Seems to me there's energy and enthusiasm here that's being sort of +wasted. What do you say--shall we be honery members?" + +Nancy nodded. "I swear to keep all the rules." + +Davy hopped with joy. "Wait 'til I tell the fellers. I guess you'll +see 'em round, even if they do get a lickin'! But, say," he stopped +short, inspired by a sudden thought, "mebbe now Mis' Leavitt's niece +b'longs they won't _have_ to sneak!" + +Peter Hyde walked back with Nancy and Davy as far as the stone wall. +From, the corner of her eye Nancy was, quite against her will, admiring +the straight figure whose strength was only made more evident by the +rough working clothes. + +"He seems _nice_--for a hired man," she was thinking, all the while she +was answering Davy's boyish questions. + +And more than once, as he watched Nancy, that first perplexing look +came back into Peter Hyde's eyes. + +"Why, she _isn't_ a kid, after all!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE HIRED MAN + +"Claire, darling-- + +"It's after ten o'clock at night and here on North Hero that's like +four in the morning in New York, but I can't wait another minute to +write to you. The _funniest_ thing has happened--only I'll save it for +the end of my letter. + +"I haven't written to you since that letter with the crazy postscript, +like a nightcap, on it. Well, instead of being deported from Happy +House, bag and baggage, I seem to become more of a fixture, each day. +And each day, Claire Wallace, I grow more and _more_ to think I belong +here. Just so often I have to shake myself and say 'don't +forget--you're pretending.' And, I scarcely dare write this--I believe +they are all growing a _little_, wee bit fond of me--the real me. Of +course Webb loved me at first sight and so did old Jonathan--_he's_ a +dear! And precious little Aunt Milly, who is getting the prettiest +pink in her cheeks and can laugh now, truly laugh, and is as proud as +can be over her first washcloth, she wants me with her all the time. I +can tell by the way she looks at me. And I am really growing +embarrassed, to say nothing of fat, with the good things B'lindy cooks +and if you knew B'lindy, you'd understand that that is _her_ way of +showing sentiment. But as to Aunt Sabrina--I am not so sure! + +"Things have changed since I wrote to you--there was an awful clashing +of wills in Happy House and Aunt Sabrina came out on the bottom and +since then she has an air of 'having washed her hands of me.' And +she's stopped the lessons on Leavitts, too, just when we'd gotten to +Ezekiel. But I've learned more than she wanted me to--I've found out +about the mystery, as I wrote before, only I can't explain until our +own Anne says I may--because it's about her grandfather! + +"I believe in my last letter I said, too, that I hated Happy House. +Well, I don't believe I do. It's a funny place--just when you think +its dismal and prisony you see something you just love--like one of +Jonathan's rose ramblers, all pinky, climbing up an old gray tree +trunk. I can't explain it, there's a sort of an appeal about the whole +place that's spooky, as though it was something human and--wanted me! +Isn't that a silly notion, especially when I'm just here acting Anne's +part so that she can go off to Russia? + +"And this whole village is just like Happy House--it is proudly +clinging to what it has been in the past and defying the advance of the +new things of the present. When I walk along the main street (and only +street) of the village I stare at the shutup houses, for, bless me, no +one would dream of opening any blinds, and I wonder if there's a +marble-topped table in every one of those best-parlors and a family +Bible on every table filled with pages of ancestors. I suppose I'm +wickedly disrespectful--when I see my dear Dad, and oh, how I want, +want, want to see him--I shall tell him that now I know he didn't bring +me up right. + +"I am a 'honery' member of a club--and now I'm approaching the exciting +part of my letter. It is called Cove's Club and has rules that forbid +my swearing, talking back, smoking, lying, stealing bird's eggs, +hurting dumb animals, and that make me fight (and lick) every enemy to +the club (which, alas, seem to be mostly mothers) kill pirates and +defend my country. Isn't that heavenly? It meets whenever Liz +Hopworth has to clean the 'meetin' house' which is always on Mondays +and after there's a social. And to attend the meetings you have to +slide down thirty feet of bank to what is known around here as Falling +Water Cove, though I don't believe water ever fell there. Anyway, it +is a historic spot for reasons besides the club--one is that it was +from there Robert Leavitt and the women of the household, with little +Justine, escaped when Freedom was attacked by the Indians and it was +there, one dark night, Ethan Allen himself landed in a boat for a +secret conference with Jacob Leavitt before an attack upon the Yorkers. +(90 plus in American History.) + +"And the members of the Club are (please read slowly) Me, Davy +Hopworth, Dick Snead, Jim Davis, Kirk Brown and Peter Hyde--the hired +man. + +"Peter Hyde and I are the 'honery' members." + +"I can hear you, Claire. 'That is just like you, Nancy Leavitt--swear +you're going to do one thing and doing another.' Yes, darling, it is +like me, I'll admit! But this time it's different. I really did +intend to be very haughty and distant each time I saw the man but--I +couldn't. Could you, if you had just been running a race which +included vaulting a stone wall? I had to run the race to win Davy's +respect and I had to jump the wall--well, to show I could! And of +course I never dreamed the creature was anywhere around. But he sprang +up from the earth, I believe, and was there at the finish. And could +_you_ look haughty with every hair pin dropping out of your head? + +"And, anyway, afterwards, he explained something that has made +everything different, but that comes later in my story. + +"Today it rained for the first time since I've been in North Hero. A +sort of steady pitter-patter, not the kind of a downpour that makes you +hug shelter, but a splashy sort you long to run out in with your face +turned up. All morning long I sat with the aunts (Aunt Milly was so +disappointed when she saw the rain that I brought her down to the +hollyhock porch and made her all comfy there) and I simply couldn't +stand it all afternoon so, after lunch, I stole away. Now Happy House +is divided (thank goodness) into two parts, so if the aunts are on one +side it is easy to slip out of the other. I put on my slicker and cap +and slipped away. I frisked around in the rain drops for awhile, then, +I started toward the orchard to see if my water-proof box was +water-proof. And as I walked down the path I heard the sound of +hammering from the direction of my Nest. 'A-ha,' says I, 'I will +surprise nice Mr. Webb at his work!' So I crept up on tiptoe. And, +oh, Claire, it wasn't Mr. Webb _at all--it was Peter Hyde_! There he +was with a hammer and a saw and some nails in a funny apron he had tied +around him working away with the rain spattering through the leaves +right into his face. + +"I was so surprised I thought I'd run back, but just at that moment he +saw me. And of course, the way I always do when I shouldn't, I began +to laugh. And he laughed, too, though he _was_ embarrassed. + +"I am sure he didn't want me to find out that he had made the seat. +But for a hired man he met the situation with ease. He simply asked me +to stand there while he drove one more nail; then, he said, his work +would be complete. When he'd finished he held out his hand and invited +me to climb into the nest. All this with the rain spattering on us! +Of course I had to tell him that it was perfectly lovely and had been +such a jolly surprise and that I had thought Webb had made it. And now +comes the funny part. He explained in a sort of sheepish way that he +thought _I was a little girl_! Jonathan had told him that Miss +Sabrina's little niece was coming to Happy House. When he caught a +glimpse of me in the stage (he dared to say this) he thought I looked +like a 'jolly sort of a kid.' Then that very afternoon he saw me turn +a handspring in the orchard--and climb the tree! He said he got to +thinking what a sort of dull place Happy House would be for any +youngster, and that it would be fun for him to do some little thing to +make it jollier for her. He admitted, to use his own words, that he +was flabbergasted to find that I wasn't a kid after all! I'm glad, in +a 'close-up' I _do_ look my years! + +"But can't you see that that explains _everything_ and that he _wasn't_ +impertinent, after all? + +"Of course, living in cities all my life, I've always had an impression +that hired men were just big, clumsy, dirty looking creatures who ate +with knives and always smelled horsey. This Peter Hyde isn't that way +at all. He's tanned copper-color but his face and hands look clean and +except for his clothes, he doesn't look much different from any one +else. And now that he knows I am quite grown-up (at least in years) he +treats me very nicely. + +"We're going to do all sorts of nice things for Davy Hopworth, who is a +very nice, bright youngster, but, just because he's a Hopworth, the +other boys get punished for playing with him and that makes both Peter +Hyde and me indignant. + +"Isn't the world funny, Claire, how the sins of the fathers and the +grandfathers are visited upon the children--at least in places like +this? Of course my beloved Finnegans are too busy just keeping the +present generation going, to think much about the past, and the world +they live in rushes too fast to stop to think that Timmy Finnegan, +maybe's, going to rob a bank because his great-great-grandfather, over +in County Cork, ran off with a pig. + +"It is too late in the evening to philosophize, and I mustn't let my +wick burn too low or Aunt Sabrina will know I'm using the midnight oil. +Don't be cross, dear Claire, if you don't hear from me every day; +although you might suppose that up here I'd have a great deal of +leisure time, somehow each day seems to bring something unexpected. +And as I said on page 2 of this voluminous letter, I am growing fond of +Happy House and there is a sort of fascination about everything here. +Dear Anne, with her noble dreams, never longed to bring about the +reforms that I do! One is to throw out the dreadful waxed flowers and +peacock feathers and old grasses from Happy House and fill the vases +with fresh flowers. Another is to sweep through the whole blessed +village and open every blind and let in today! + +"And then when I'm bursting with my longing to make the whole world +better, I'm suddenly reminded that I'm just a little next-to-nothing +that can't even remember to act grown-up, masquerading in our Anne's +shoes and daring to find flaws in Miss Sabrina Leavitt with all the +noble heritage of Leavitt tradition flowing in her veins. + +"Good night, littlest pal, I wish I could be with you long enough for a +good, long gossip. But, by and by--" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +MOONSHINE AND FAIRIES + + "Good-evening, yellow Buttercups + Good-evening, daisies white, + Tell me, have you met the Moon-Queen + On this pretty night?" + + +The little singer made a sweeping courtesy. + +"How d'you do, Miss Buttercup? Do come here now and meet Mrs. Moon!" +With a gesture of exaggerated elegance she led an imaginary Buttercup +out to a pool of silver where the bright moonlight slanted through the +branches of an apple tree. + +"Now, everybody, bow to Mrs. Moon," and the fairy-hostess bent to the +ground. Then she snapped her fingers. "On with the music," she cried. +Like a spirit she danced off over the grass, now scarcely more than a +shadow among the shadows, now full in the moonlight, bending, swaying, +leaping, arms outstretched, face lifted. + +But the frolic of the fairies in the moonlight came to a sad end, for a +human hand reached out from behind a tree-trunk and caught the +make-believe hostess of Mrs. Moon by one thin arm. + +"Lemme go!" cried the child, shrilly. + +Nancy, awakened by the moonlight streaming across the rose-cabbages of +her carpeting, had been lured out into the night. Halting at the +raspberry patch she had heard the little singer. Cautiously, lest +indeed she disturb fairies at their revels she had crept into the +orchard. From a hiding place she had watched the child's mad dance. + +"Sh-h! I am the Moon-Queen! Let me dance with you!" Releasing the +little wriggling body Nancy threw off her slippers. "Come!" Waving +her hand she danced down through the apple trees, singing: + + In their dress of yellow gold, + In their petals white, + I can see the fairy folk + Gathered here to-night! + + +From the shadow the child watched her, sullenly, suspiciously. But +with her loosened hair falling down over her pink dressing gown, Nancy +herself looked an eerie little sprite; in a moment the child's alarm +vanished. Of course she _knew_ that this must be Miss Sabriny +Leavitt's niece, but it was fun, anyway, to pretend that she _was_ the +Moon-Queen! And she must be very, very nice not to have "chased" her +at once! And she might stop dancing, too, any moment! So out she ran +to join Nancy, with hands outstretched, and together they capered and +danced around among the old trees until, quite out of breath, Nancy +fell upon the soft grass. + +"Oh, goodness me, what _fun_! Now come here, Miss Fairy, and tell me +who you are? _Are_ you a fairy come from the Village of Tall Grass in +yonder field?" + +The child, completely won, dropped at Nancy's feet. + +"I'm Nonie Hopworth." + +"Oh-h!" Nancy was genuinely surprised. "Are you Davy's sister?" + +The child nodded. "Yep." She regarded Nancy closely. "You're +_different_, aren't you?" + +Nancy caught her meaning. "Yes, I'm different--at least, I'm not +exactly like----" + +"Miss Sabriny or--or B'lindy. _She'd_ have chased me! That's why I +come here to play at night. Anyway, it's easier to pretend at night. +Do you ever pretend, Miss?" + +"Call me Nancy, do! Of course, I pretend, often! I love to." + +"Ain't it fun--I mean isn't! I forgot. I play it 'most all the time." + +Nancy looked curiously at the strange little figure, almost wraithlike +in the dim light. It was hard to believe that the winsome creature +could belong in Freedom--and to the "no-good" Hopworths. + +There was grace in every movement of the thin little body not in the +least concealed by the worn, soiled, out-grown dress. Two dark, +burning, eager, questioning eyes told of a spirit that lived above and +beyond the sordid, colorless monotony of a life with old Dan'l Hopworth +and Liz, who "didn't believe a feller oughta have any fun!" + +"What do you pretend, Miss Nancy?" + +Nancy laughed and rubbed the soles of her bare feet. + +"Well, once I pretended I was the Moon-Queen and I scratched my poor +feet dreadfully. What do you pretend?" + +Nonie rocked back on her heels. + +"Oh, lots and lots of different things. My every-day game is Rosemary. +She's my make-believe chum. She lives down in the haunted house on the +North Hero road, only when I pretend, of course, the house isn't +haunted. And it's got lovely glass things from the ceiling for candles +and they sparkle like rainbows and diamonds. Rosemary and I play games +and we--we read and tell each other stories and sometimes she helps me +with the work, when Liz ain't around. Only Rosemary don't believe in +fairies. She says that's baby, so when she's away I pretend fairy." + +"When the moon shines----" + +"Oh, yes, it's nicer then. And you can't play-fairy round our house +because there ain't--there are _not_--any flowers. So I come +here--there are such lots of pretty shadows--and nice smells. I +pretend all the flowers come out from the garden and have a party. +It's fun having the flowers, 'cause you can just _tell_ how they'll +act. You know a tulip's going to be awful tall and proud and bow--like +this! And a rose'll act shy, and a buttercup's pert. And a daisy's +'shamed 'cause her dress ain't better--I mean isn't. And a dandelion's +awful bold. And a daffy-down-dilly--oh, _they're_ jolly!" + +"How perfectly delightful! Tell me more, Nonie. I believe you have a +witch for a fairy grandmother!" + +Nonie giggled. "That's 'nother of my games. I've had that for a long +time. She's coming some day and touch me with a wand and make me into +a beautiful lady. And I'll go out and step into my carriage and a +footman all shiny and white will say: 'To her Majesty's!' And I'll sit +in the best parlor and drink chocolate and real whipped cream from cups +with pink roses on 'em, and a page will say: '_Do_ have another piece +of cake, your ladyship,' and--and I'll say, 'I couldn't hold another +mouthful, thanks, I've had five!'" + +Nancy and Nonie laughed together. Then Nonie sighed. + +"Do any dreams ever come true? I mean the kind of things you sit and +think about and want?" + +"Maybe, if you dream hard enough, Nonie," Nancy answered, soberly. + +"'Course I know _some_ of the things I pretend can't come true but +maybe some will. Miss Denny told me they might. Only she said I'd +have to make 'em. She's my teacher. I love her. I guess you're most +as nice as she is. She gives me books and tells me when I say bad +grammar. She says we must just think beautiful things and then put +them into the right words--but it's hard! I forget awful easy. She +don't--I mean, she does _not_--think I'm queer. Liz calls me 'loony!'" + +"Oh, _no_--Nonie," protested Nancy, "Liz just can't understand." + +"But _you_ do, don't you? Miss Denny did, too." Nonie was silent for +a moment. "After I've learned a lot more I want to go out in the world +with Davy and make a fortune. I don't know just how--but I want to do +grand things. There's some places, ain't there--aren't there--that's +so big folks wouldn't know we were Hopworths? Davy says he wants to go +to sea and Liz says he'll come to no good end like Pa, but mebbe I can +take him with me." She sighed. "It's awful long off 'til I grow up, +though, I'm only twelve." + +Then Nonie added slowly, as though she was sharing a secret: "There's +one more thing I pretend. After I go to bed I shut my eyes tight and +pretend that a beautiful lady with hair all gold and eyes that twinkle +like stars and smile at you, comes and sits by my bed and takes hold of +my hand and pats it and then kisses me, sort of on my forehead, and +says: 'Good night, sweetness,' like that, in a voice that's soft like +music and not a bit of the holler-kind!" Nonie gave a little sigh of +rapture. "It's nice, you see, to have a make-believe mother like that! +I s'pose a real one wouldn't have time. Anyways, Liz says she'd like +to _see_ a real mother do more for young 'uns than she does!" + +Nancy blinked a sudden rush of tears from her eyes. She felt that she +had seen bared the very soul of a child--a soul hungry for kindness and +for love. She reached out and took one of the small hands in her own. + +"Nonie--let's you and I play lots together. I can give you books, too. +We'll read them together. You can come to Happy House often in the +daytime." + +Nonie shook her head doubtfully. + +"Liz won't let me. She says there ain't--there isn't--no use my going +off and leaving my work. She says school's bad enough!" + +"Does Liz--punish--you much?" + +"She chases Davy and me with the broom sometimes. And she scolds, too, +but we don't mind, 'cause she's scolding all the time. I wish she +would whip us--or lock us up--or--or send us to bed! It'd be like +other kids, then." + +The strangeness of a child longing for punishments that would make her +life seem like other childrens' shocked Nancy! She looked at the thin +body--was poverty starving the physical being while neglect starved the +spirit? + +"I'll talk to Liz myself. We'll see what I can coax her to do," Nancy +declared resolutely. "We'll be chums, Nonie." + +"Oh, then I won't have to play 'bout Rosemary! So, you _are_ as nice +as Miss Denny. You don't know her, do you? But she'll come back in +the fall and sometime, I guess, she'll be Mr. Peter's dearest." + +"What _do_ you mean, Nonie," demanded Nancy. + +"Well, Mr. Peter's the _nicest_ man I know 'cause he's awful--nice to +Davy and me, and Miss Denny's the nicest _lady_ and so she'll be his +dearest! He don't--he doesn't--know her yet but he will in the fall +and so will you." + +"I may not," Nancy answered, rather coldly, "so your Miss Denny may +have your Mr. Peter all to herself. And now something tells me it's +time for fairies to be in bed! If you'll hand me my slippers I'll +dance with you to the gate--only we must be very, very still or we'll +waken B'lindy!" + +From the gate of Happy House Nancy watched the child's figure disappear +in the shadows of the road. In a very little while she would be +crawling into her deserted bed, pulling the clothes up over her head +and pretending that a mother's hand was caressing her to sleep and a +voice that never "hollered" was whispering "goodnight." + +"Blessed child," thought Nancy, "her fairy godmother has given her one +gift that even Liz can't take away from her--imagination!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +LIZ + +Old Jonathan, returning from his daily trip to the postoffice, brought +home the news that "there'd be doin's on Fourth of July 'count of the +soldier boys--that Webb'd said it'd got to be a Fourth that not a child +in Freedom'd forget!" And B'lindy had retorted that "it wa'nt likely, +I guess, if Webb got up the doin's anyone _would_--they'd be doin's no +one _could_ forget!" + +But Nancy's interest in the coming event gave way with a quickly +smothered exclamation of delight when Jonathan drew from an inside +pocket a square, bluish envelope with a foreign postmark, redirected in +Mrs. Finnegan's most careful handwriting. + +"And here's another," he added, bringing forth a letter from Claire. + +"You're a _dear_," cried Nancy, hugging her treasures. "If you'll take +this pan of peas, Jonathan, I'll run off and read them!" + +B'lindy watched Nancy disappear toward the orchard with mingled +amazement and disapproval. "There never was a letter _I_ got I'd set +by my work for! _That's_ a young one for you!" + +Out in her Bird's-nest Nancy held up the two envelopes. "I'll save you +'til last, Daddy," she whispered, kissing the handwriting she loved. + +Claire's letter was short and yet so like her that Nancy could have +believed her friend was there with her--talking to her. + +"I'm perfectly miserable, and I can't let mother guess--she tries to +make everything so jolly for me. But I'm just plain homesick for +college and you girls. The summer isn't a bit what I'd planned. Barry +went away before I got home. Mother thought he'd come back but he +didn't, and the maddening thing is she won't tell me where he is. She +said Barry was 'getting settled.' Isn't that absurd? I suppose he's +gone off to the Canadian Rockies or maybe to Japan. But I don't see +why mother has to make a secret of it! The war's changed all the men I +know--none of them seem as nice. They're so restless and act so old. +But then, I'm restless, too, and feel as old as the hills. For +heaven's sake, Nancy, hurry up and do your duty by Anne's relatives and +come here to me--I need you!" + +"Funny Claire," laughed Nancy, talking aloud in the way she had learned +at Happy House. "She's always trying to make herself think she's +miserable. But Barry _is_ a pill! Now, Daddy mine!" + +Because she must make her moment of joy last as long as possible, she +spread out each page; she peeped into the envelope to be certain that +she had them all; she touched ever so lightly the penned lines; she +even sniffed joyously at the paper in a vain hope of detecting the +familiar odor of Havana tobacco. + +The letter had been three weeks on its way. And it was in answer to +one Nancy had written to him from college, soon after Anne's plans to +go to. Russia had been completed. + +"* * * * That is fine in Anne, but it seems to me, that in the +enthusiasm of her youth she's overlooking opportunities for service +closer at hand. These problems over here are so tremendous--they, need +a tried mind and the wisdom of years. You know, my dear, if you want +to do things to make this world better you can generally find them +waiting for you in your very own corner! Wherever you look you will +see the destruction of prejudice, ignorance, selfishness and pride--you +don't have to go to Russia to find it! + +"In a few weeks my baby will be graduated. I cannot picture you grown +up. Perhaps you will never seem so to your Dad. I feel as though +these months that I have spent over here away from you must have made +many changes in my girl--they have cheated me of a great deal of joy in +your development. But I hope that the dignities you have acquired have +not changed the dear, kind, joyous heart of you! + +"You tell me you have decided upon a 'career,' but you will not tell me +what--little torment! Is it something in which I can help? If it is +useful and honorable, my child, it will bring you happiness, whatever +it is. I hope it is a hard one, too, the more you have to work the +more satisfaction you will enjoy. + +"Now for good news. My work over here is done. As soon as I can get +passage I will sail for home, I can't think of anything else. I +thought I'd spend my unexpected holiday nosing around in the places +where I've always wanted to go--but I can't. I'm too impatient to +enjoy anything. So I shall camp on the doorstep of the G. H. Q. Office +until word of my sailing comes. I suppose you are at the apartment +under Mrs. Finnegan's loving eye. When I return we'll run off to the +seashore or mountains for a few weeks." + +"Dear, dear thoughtful Daddy--nice, old, _preachy_ Daddy--with your +sugar-coated sermons in little pellets, all easy to swallow!" cried +Nancy, laughing, then suddenly a sob choked her, another and then +another. + +"It's almost _dreadful_ to have Daddy have just me. What if he is +disappointed when he sees me! What if he is--angry--at what I've done!" + +For the first time this possibility crossed her mind {134} leaving a +terrible fear. Impulsive Nancy had often displeased her father, but +always the most trivial offence had troubled her deeply. Her father +had such an aversion to the smallest departure from truth! And wasn't +she really acting a lie? + +For the next few moments poor Nancy sorely needed the support of Anne's +convincing arguments! Remorse of the most torturing kind swept her. + +And she had dared to judge Miss Sabrina's standards of honor and +justice! + +"I'll go away," she cried, aloud. "I'll go straight back to Mrs. +Finnegan's where I belong." + +But this determination, soothing at it was, brought added problems. +Nancy's brow wrinkled with a deep frown of perplexity. It would not be +fair to Anne to just run away--she'd have to give some explanation to +Miss Sabrina and Miss Milly and B'lindy, and even Webb. And just now, +in her present mood, anything but the absolute truth seemed abhorrent +to her. + +Then she thought of Aunt Milly--dear little Aunt Milly. She was a +different creature now from the pale little woman Nancy had first seen +on the couch in the darkened room. Each day, when she did not go to +the orchard, she spent in the sitting room or on the hollyhock porch, +knitting and helping in little household tasks. And Nancy knew by the +wistful glance that met hers when she came and went, how Aunt Milly +hungered for her company. Nancy had told herself that it was because +she was young and that she seemed, perhaps, like what Aunt Milly had +wanted to be--before the dreadful accident. + +What _would_ Aunt Milly's life be if she went suddenly out of it? + +There was Davy, too, and all she had planned to start for the Club and +Nonie-- + +What must Nonie think? She had let a whole day go by and had not seen +Liz! + +Nancy re-read her father's letter. "If you want to do things to make +this world better you can generally find them waiting for you in your +very own corner!" Funny--that Daddy should have written just that! +Nancy folded her letter with a sigh of relief. "Of course, there's +work right here and maybe--I'd be a coward to run away--just now. The +wrong was done when I came!" + +The logic was youthful, but then Nancy, despite the dignity of +graduation was very youthful, too. Her mind made up she looked very +resolute. She'd go and call upon Liz that very afternoon. + +However, she must know more concerning the Hopworth's before she braved +Liz on her own ground. So she sought out the all-wise B'lindy. + +B'lindy was most generous with her information. + +"I guess the Hopworths ain't any concern of yours, Miss Anne. The +Leavitts al'las visited mostly with good folks like the Allens and the +Chamberlains and the Fiskes over in South Hero, and the Hills up to +Isle Le Motte and the Eatons and Todds, here to Freedom. Time was when +the best come to Happy House--Miss Sabriny's mother liked company--but +not trash like the Hopworth's!" + +"But _why_ are they trash, B'lindy? What do they do? Webb says +they're an old family, that they've been here as long as the Leavitts." + +B'lindy snorted. "Webb's tongue's tied in the middle and wags both +ends and I guess most of the time at the wrong end! Mebbe they are +old--you can't kill off folks same's you can a strain of cattle. They +don't do nothin', Miss Anne, that's it--they don't do nothin'. They're +just shiftless, no-good folks. Old Dan'l don't work--never did, and +his pa before him. And that Eric--he was worst of all!" + +"Who was Eric?" begged Nancy. + +"Old Dan'l's son and as bad a boy as ever tormented a neighborhood. +But no one knew he'd be anything but no-good, and he wasn't. Ran off +to sea. Folks never heard much 'bout him, but they knew they wouldn't +hear anything good, anyway. Then, sudden-like, he turns up with two +young 'uns. Brought 'em to old Dan'l to keep. One was a girl and the +other, a baby in his arms, was a boy." + +Freedom folks had never lost their enjoyment in this episode of Eric +Hopworth's adventurous life. B'lindy, happy now in her tale, made the +most of it. + +"I guess there were a lot of stories 'bout them young uns, but old +Dan'l never made a sign 'bout which was true. And Eric Hopworth went +off's suddenly as he come, leavin' those two more Hopworth's for old +Dan'l to feed and bring up, and for the folks 'round here to watch, +unless they wanted all their apples stolen and their chickens killed! +Mis' Tubbs told Mis' Sniggs that she _see_ a marriage certificate and +that the mother'd been one of them actor-women down in New York and she +thought like's not the woman died when the boy was born. Mis' Jenkins +sez _she'd_ heard other stories over in North Hero! Anyways old +Dan'l's as close-mouthed as a stature!" + +"And who's Liz?" asked Nancy. + +"Old Dan'l's half-sister. He brought her over from Bend after the +young 'uns came, to do for 'em." + +Nancy mused for a moment. There was not much use in telling B'lindy +that she was going to call upon Liz--it would take days and days of +argument to overcome the heritage of prejudice in B'lindy's mind. +Perhaps, for the present, she had better keep Nonie in the orchard. + +It had not needed B'lindy's description for Nancy to recognize the +Hopworth dwelling, if by such a name could be called the four +weather-beaten walls hanging crazily together as though by a last nail. +A litter of debris cluttered the bare ground around the house and +between the shed and the unused barn. Back of the shed an old man +slouched in the sun. + +The door sagged on its one hinge, partly open. When Nancy knocked a +gaunt, slatternly woman, in the room within, turned with a scowl. + +As Nancy's eyes, sweeping over the dirty, crowded room, came back to +the hard face before her, she sickened at the thought of little Nonie, +with her "dreams," growing in this environment. Then, as Liz' scowl +gave place to a sullen indifference, Nancy realized that the most +marked thing about the woman was a resigned hopelessness. + +Nancy, choosing her words carefully, introduced herself. As Liz' +unfriendliness discouraged any advances, Nancy plunged straight to the +point. She had taken a fancy to the children, she explained--would +Miss Hopworth permit Nonie and sometimes Davy, to come often to Happy +House? She, Nancy, found it a little lonesome at Happy House and she +would enjoy their company. + +Liz dropped a pan with a bang. "I'll tell you just's I tell her--there +ain't goin' to be any more traipsing 'way from her work all the time +like with the schoolmar'm either to Happy House nor nowhere. All them +notions is settin' the girl loony goin' on with her lies and things +'bout things bein' differunt. She'll stay _right_ to home!" + +And to prevent further argument Liz' head bent meaningly toward the +door. + +But at that moment a shadow crossed it. Mrs. Sniggs, very gingerly, +thrust a head inside. Under her arm she carried a kettle. Once in a +while old Dan'l mended the village kettles. + +"How d'do," snapped Liz. + +But Mrs. Sniggs, with an uplift of her nose that said plainly: "I don't +even _see_ you," put her kettle near the door without a word and turned +to depart. At which Liz, in a loud tone, exclaimed: "Most _certainly_, +Miss Leavitt, we're _delighted_! Our Nonie can visit you up to Happy +House real often!" + +Liz knew and Nancy knew, by the tell-tale shadow that lingered across +the threshold that Mrs. Sniggs had heard; Nancy blessed the good +fortune that had brought the woman there at that moment! + +Walking homeward, her mind full of plans of all she wanted to do for +Nonie and Davy, Nancy with a shudder recalled the Hopworth home--and +Liz. Something in the tired eyes haunted her. "Maybe," she thought +with a pang of pity, "maybe she's as--starved--as Nonie!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE FOURTH OF JULY + +B'lindy had said, truly, that "she guessed if Webb got up the Fourth of +July doin's they'd be doin's no one'd forget!" + +Webb's "doin's" took the form of a parade--a parade in which the very +young and the very old should take part. At its head Webb himself +would march, with the two recently returned soldiers, one on each side. +The young people would come in costumes depicting the characters of the +men associated with the Island history. + +"Mrs. Eaton wants you to help her dress the children, Anne," Miss +Sabrina had announced, the day before the Fourth. "She asked me to ask +you to be at the meeting-house at 9 o'clock. + +"Oh, I'd love to," Nancy had responded eagerly. + +"It is very nice of her, I am sure," Miss Sabrina had added. "She +_wants_ to be pleasant." And a hint of apology in Miss Sabrina's voice +made Nancy suddenly think that perhaps Mrs. Eaton was not _always_ +pleasant. + +She remembered that B'lindy had added the Eaton name to the list of +acquaintances possible to a Leavitt. + +The very air of that Fourth of July morning was a-tingle with +excitement. When Nancy turned into the village street it seemed to her +filled with people, all in Sunday-best and holiday spirits. The green +in front of the meeting-house was alive with eager, tumbling youngsters. + +Mrs. Eaton, a large woman with what Nancy called a prune mouth and +watery blue eyes, greeted Nancy effusively. Nancy was a "_dear_"--she +said it with a rising squeak--to help her! There wasn't a great deal +to do--the little dears were going to wear white caps and capes and +represent a band of peace; the girls would carry wreaths of white +syringa. _She'd_ thought of it all herself--two days before. + +"I'm _so_ glad to be rushed to _death_," she explained, patting down a +small cap on a small head. "Of _course_ you know my Archie is _still_ +in Germany!" + +Nancy had not known it, nor, indeed, anything about Archie, but she +nodded sympathetically. + +"Cyrus Eaton says I'm a _wonder_--just a wonder! But I _suppose_ I +ought to be thankful my Archie's come through without losing any of his +arms or legs! Now, my _dear_, if you'll fix the _rest_ of these +children I'll run down and look at the Indian Chiefs. _Bless_ me, I +don't know _what_ Webb'd do without me. But _then_, I'm glad to do +it--it keeps my _mind_ off Archie." She panted off with a patronizing +smile that took in Nancy and the group of staring youngsters. + +To Nancy, whose life had been spent mostly in the big cities of the +world, this glimpse of village life was a novel experience. She loved +it--the spontaneous gaiety of it all, the round-eyed children that +crowded to her, noisily clamoring to have their "things" put on. The +notes of a bugle floated up the street. Fire crackers popped off with +the regularity of machine-gun fire. From every side came loud, eager +voices. She was glad she was a part of it all. As she finished +arranging its cap, she patted each head, just as Mrs. Eaton had done, +but in Nancy's smile there was something that had not been in Mrs. +Eaton's, so she invariably won a quick smile in response. + +Suddenly Nancy spied Nonie and Davy, hand in hand, watching the other +children from a little distance. Their childish longing betrayed +itself in the unwonted way their hands clung together, in the +wistfulness of their faces. Nancy hailed them. + +"Come along--hurry!" she cried. They ran eagerly to her. Nancy seized +a cape and a cap. + +"Dast we?" asked Davy, very gravely. + +"Why, of _course_. Quick--take this cap, Davy. Here, Nonie, is a +wreath. Now--stand here--in this line!" She placed them between two +other children. "All of you--faces forward! Be ready for the signal. +Right foot--don't forget." + +Mrs. Eaton bustled up. "Everything _ready_, my dear? It's perfectly +_beautiful_--just beautiful!" in breathless staccato. "I wish my +Archie could see it! I'm actually _inspired_!" Her red, moist face +suggested that she had made a mistake in her choice of words. She ran +around the group of children, standing in ragged file, impatiently +awaiting the signal to start. "The little _dears_--just like a +beautiful band of peace!" Suddenly she stared and her face flushed a +darker red. "Nonie Hopworth, how _dared_ you come here!" + +Nonie's lips quivered and her eyes went imploringly to Nancy. Davy +tossed his head defiantly. Neither answered. + +"_I_ called them, Mrs. Eaton." + +Now there was no "my dear" on Mrs. Eaton's tongue. It clicked sharply +against her teeth. She was too outraged, too, to pick her words. + +"Get right away!" She seized Davy by the shoulder. "Little +good-for-nothings! This is a patriotic celebration and we don't want +any Hopworth's in it!" + +Nancy's eyes blazed. "_Oh_, Mrs. Eaton! _Don't_--they're just +children! They----" + +"_You're_ a stranger here in Freedom, Miss Leavitt--I'll be pleased if +you'll let _me_ manage this! I say it's an _insult_ to our heroes to +have Eric Hopworth's young 'uns here--an insult to Freedom's noble +history!" The ruffles on her bosom heaved in her anger. "What'd Eric +Hopworth do for his country! When I think of my Archie----" What she +might have thought did not find expression, because of the pins she was +tearing roughly from Nonie's cape and thrusting between her teeth. "Go +off now," she panted between the shining row. "Go off where you came +from!" + +Then, almost simultaneously with the approach of a dishevelled Indian +hollering between cupped hands that "p'rade's goin' start," came Webb's +warning whistle from down the street. Mrs. Eaton straightened to an +appropriate dignity of bearing. She made a waving motion of her arm +toward her little dears that ignored Nancy, standing back, dumb with +the cruelty of it all. + +But Nonie's crestfallen face stung Nancy to sudden action. While the +band of peace fluttered wildly back to its position, Nancy, with an arm +about each, moved with the children toward the church. She moved +quickly, too, for a sudden inspiration had seized her. She remembered +three flags on standards in the Sunday-school room. She bade Davy get +them. + +"Do _just_ what I tell you," she commanded. "The _cat_!" she threw +over her shoulder. + +All Freedom was too intent upon catching a first glimpse of Webb's host +moving up the village street to notice the strange sight of Nancy and +her companions racing through the back yards and fields that skirted +the main thoroughfare. A long tear in Nancy's skirt testified to the +speed with which she had climbed all obstacles. Such was the fire in +her soul that she could have climbed a mountain! + +In the shade of a wide maple tree, B'lindy, resplendent in fresh +gingham and her good-as-new-last-year's-hat, watched Webb's "doin's" +with a heart that fluttered with pride. No town in the whole Island +could turn out more folks! But, then, no town on the Island had a +prouder history! + +With his badges glittering on the faded blue coat, Webb marched at the +head of his "p'rade" in his uniform of the Grand Army of the Republic. +On either side of him stepped the recently returned soldiers, their +young-old faces turned straight ahead, their worn tunics attesting to +other lines of march through other village streets. Behind them were +the three soldier boys who had not "gone across." In pure enjoyment of +the occasion they had forgotten the resentment against fate that they +had cherished. A group of boys and girls in Indian costume portrayed +that epoch of Freedom's history. One great warrior brandished a +tomahawk that had been dug up in a nearby field and was now kept in a +suitable setting at the post-office. Close at their heels followed +four staid Puritan men, broad white collars pinned over Sunday coats. +Ethan Allen and his brother Ira, beloved heroes of the little Islands, +were there in character. Two lanky lads wore the uniform of 1861. +Mrs. Eaton's "band of peace" in straggling lines, brought up the rear. + +Greeted from each side by lusty cheers, through a cloud of dust, to the +tap-a-tap-tap of three proud drummers, the pageant moved down the +street. It had been Webb's plan that the "p'rade" should halt before +the stoop of the hotel, where Mr. Todd, the postmaster, in a collar +much too high and a coat much too tight, waited to give an address of +welcome. But as Webb's eyes roved with pardonable pride over the +fringe of spectators on each side of the line of march, they suddenly +spied an unexpected sight. On the stepping block in front of the +school house stood Nancy, her white skirts blowing, with Nonie and Davy +on each side. And each held, proudly upright, an American flag. + +It was a pretty sight--the colors of the flags fluttering over the +three bare heads, the young faces tilted earnestly forward. Webb saw +in it a friendly effort on Miss Anne's part to add to the success of +his "doin's." So as the line of march approached the stepping-block, +he solemnly saluted the three. + +Advancing, the returned soldiers also saluted, stiffly. The drummers +lost a beat in order to wave their drumsticks. The Indians gaily +brandished their clubs, the Puritans nodded, the "boys in blue" mimiced +their heroes of the hour with a stiff bending and jerking of their +right arms. + +But then and there Mrs. Eaton fell back from her position at the head +of the "band of peace." Nancy, wickedly watching from the corner of a +perfectly innocent appearing eye, saw her give a gasp as she stepped +aside. + +Nonie and Davy, exalted into an ecstasy of joy over the part they had +finally played in the celebration, stared in amazement at Nancy's +suppressed peals of laughter, to which she gave way only when the last +wee dove of peace had trailed off toward the hotel. And not only Davy +and Nonie stared; from out of the spectators came Peter Hyde. + +"I have cooked my goose--now," giggled Nancy, wiping her eyes and +holding out a hand. "She was _so_ funny! But I have outraged +Freedom's noble history!" Nancy twisted her lips to resemble Mrs. +Eaton's. + +"If you'll let me help you down we might hurry and hear some of the +Honorable Jeremiah Todd's oration," suggested Peter Hyde. + +Nancy jumped lightly to the ground. "I wouldn't _dare_," she answered. +"Mrs. Eaton only waits to tear me limb from limb! I saw it in her +pallid eye. You don't _know_ what I've done! Davy, you and Nonie +carry these flags carefully back to the Sunday-school. And what do you +say--in celebration of this day--to a swim--this afternoon, at the +Cove!" + +They exclaimed their approval of the suggestion. Nonie lingered. + +"Do you know what I pretended then?" she asked, affectionately gripping +Nancy's arm. "I pretended I was Joan of Arc, all in white, riding on a +big horse with bugles, calling to my army. Miss Denny read to me all +about it. Oh, it was grand!" She sighed, because the moment had +passed. Davy pranced impatiently. + +"Oh, come 'long--stop yer actin' lies!" Then, to Nancy, with a +questioning look that said such fortune seemed too good to be true: +"'_Honest?_' 'Bout the swimmin'." + +Nancy nodded mysteriously. "Honest to goodness--at three bells!" + +She watched the children scamper away, then turned eyes dark with +indignation to Peter Hyde. + +"How can _anyone_ be cruel to children?" she cried. "How can anyone +hurt them?" + +Peter did not know what she was talking about, but he agreed with all +his heart. + +"Kids--and dogs and cats and--little things," he added. "I shot a +rabbit once when I was fifteen, and when I went up to get it, it was +still breathing, and looked so pitiful and small--I couldn't help but +feel that it hadn't had a chance 'gainst a fellow like me. I had to +kill it then. That was enough for me! I haven't shot--any sort of +living things--like _that_--since!" + +His step shortened to Nancy's and together they turned their backs upon +Jeremiah's cheering audience and walked slowly homeward. Her mind +concerned with the children, Nancy told Peter all that had happened--of +finding Nonie in the orchard, of the child's "pretend" games, of her +call upon Liz. Then she concluded with an account of the incident of +the morning mimicing, comically, Mrs. Eaton's outraged manner. + +"As if it would hurt her or her Archie or--or anyone else in this old +place to make two youngsters happy," Nancy exclaimed, disgustedly. +"I'm going to do everything I can, while I'm at Happy House, to make up +to them," she finished. + +Peter assured her that he wanted to help. How much the desire was +inspired by sympathy for Nonie and Davy or by the winning picture Nancy +made, her rebel strands of red-brown hair blowing across her flushed +cheeks, no one could say. And when at the gate of Happy House they +separated, Peter promising to be on hand at the Cove at four o'clock, +Nancy watched him swing down the road with a pleasant sense of +comradeship. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +MRS. EATON CALLS + +"Oh, shades of Odysseus," muttered Nancy. From the swing on the +hollyhock porch she had spied Mrs. Eaton coming up the flagged path to +the front door. + +As she sat idly swinging, Nancy had been trying over the deeply +emotional lines that Berthe, the much-suffering heroine of her dear +play, should say when the villain proved to be her lover in disguise. +A chance glance through the syringas had acquainted her with the +alarming fact that an avenging enemy approached. + +It was the day after the Fourth of July. As yet not a word had come to +Happy House concerning Nancy's part in the celebration. + +There was not time for Nancy to escape; however, it was not likely that +Miss Sabrina would take such a guest out to the porch. Nancy heard her +greet the newcomer, then their steps approached the sitting-room. The +swing was at the other end of the porch. Nancy, hugging her knees, +could not be seen from the sitting-room windows and, anyway, the blinds +had been shut to keep out the hot morning sun. Through their slats +Nancy heard Mrs. Eaton's effusive greetings. + +"I might as well hear what the cat tells," Nancy concluded. The fate +of the proverbial eavesdropper did not alarm her in the least; she felt +the resignation, of a child that knows he faces punishment. + +Mrs. Eaton spent several moments explaining, how often she "had had a +_mind_ to drop in for a little chat." + +"But I am a _different_ woman with my Archie away! Cyrus says he don't +_know_ how I bear up so well. _You_ don't know, of course, a mother's +feelings!" Did Nancy imagine that she heard a rustling, as though Aunt +Sabrina had suddenly straightened in her chair? "And _I_ said to Cyrus +that _he_ don't even know a mother's feeling that's raised a boy right +from the _cradle_!" + +Miss Sabrina inquired politely as to the last word of Archie, and, with +satisfied pride, the mother recounted Archie's description of the +difficulties that had confronted the Allied occupancy of the +Rhinelands. Archie's mother truly believed that Archie alone bore that +tremendous responsibility. + +"And Archie and me are as _like_ as two peas," she added. + +It was, of course, only a matter of a few moments before Mrs. Eaton led +up to the event of the day before. Nancy caught the crisp change in +the woman's voice. The story gained much in her telling--of Nancy's +impertinence in forcing the Hopworth young 'uns among her "little +dears," then how she had, though fully aware of her, Mrs. Eaton's, +explicit orders, flaunted Eric Hopworth's brood in the face of every +respectable man, woman and child of Freedom--actually desecrating the +very flags she had--_taken_--out of the Sunday-school room. + +The story was interrupted by many sighs and sniffs. + +"Of course _everybody_ on this Island that knows me and my Archie, +Cyrus says, will _feel_ for me. I might as well as _not_ of been +slapped in the face. And I said to Cyrus, "_I_ think Miss Leavitt +ought to _know_--she's taken that girl there!" And Cyrus and I _both_ +said that of _course_ no one would be surprised, seeing she's _that_ +branch of your family where I suppose--you'll _forgive_ me for speaking +right out _plain_, you can expect almost _any_ kind of actions!" + +Nancy swung her feet down out of the hammock. "The cat," she breathed, +straightening. She could see that stinging shaft plunge straight into +poor Aunt Sabrina's heart and turn! She held her breath for Aunt +Sabrina's answer. + +Miss Sabrina's voice was cold and her words measured. "I am very sorry +this has happened, Mrs. Eaton. But I am sure my niece did not dream of +impertinence. She has not been here long enough to know of our +prejudices!" + +"_Bully!_" Nancy, said, almost aloud. "_That's_ a time when breeding +shows!" + +Mrs. Eaton was plainly annoyed at Miss Sabrina's defence. Her voice +took on a crisper edge. "She's been here long _enough_ to pick up with +Judson's hired _man_! _Your_ notions may be different from _mine_, +Miss Leavitt, but _I_ wouldn't 'low any girl of _mine_ to go swimming +at Cove's Hole with the Hopworth young 'uns! Dick Snead told his +mother and his mother told my Cousin 'Manthy. Ain't there any _better_ +folks she can take up with on this Island than a hired man _and_ the +Hopworths?" Her shrill inflection seemed to say, "There--I have you +_now_!" + +Nancy's feet beat a war-dance. She wanted to rush in to her own +defence--had Dick Snead told his mother and his mother told Cousin +'Manthy that she had swam forty strokes under water? Discretion, +however, bade her use caution. + +A rustling indicated that the caller, her errand accomplished, had +risen to go. She shot her last tiny, poisoned arrow. "Of _course_ I +said to Cyrus _all_ of us on the Island know all that poor Miss +Leavitt's _had_ to stand, what with her brother and _then_ her sister! +And _that's_ why, I said to Cyrus, Miss Leavitt _ought_ to know about +these goings on, or else something _else_ would come down on your poor +head! I must run along, now, 'Manthy came in to watch my jam. That +Carroll girl I got over at Greenfield isn't worth her keep--you have to +watch her _every_ moment!" + +All the pride of generations of Leavitts must have come to Miss +Sabrina's rescue at that moment! She met the final thrust with calm +dignity. + +"My niece is only making me a very short visit, Mrs. Eaton. It is +hardly worth while for me to interfere with her conduct." + +Nancy was struck dumb with amazement. What did Aunt Sabrina mean--that +_this_ silly little affair ended her stay at Happy House? What _would_ +Anne think? Oh, _what_ a mess she had made of everything! Of course +she had expected that something might happen any moment; after one day +had safely passed, she had always thought it might be the next; had she +not told Anne that she was certain to make some dreadful blunder? But +it was a shame to go away in disgrace when she had not really done +anything, after all! + +Indignation of the most righteous sort began slowly to master Nancy's +consternation. Well, if she did have to go she would allow herself, +just once, the sweet satisfaction of telling Miss Sabrina what she +thought of the Leavitts and their sense of honor! She rushed headlong +into the sitting-room. + +"I heard what that--that creature said," she blurted out. "I don't +_know _why God makes women like that! What would you _think_, Aunt +Sabrina, if you'd seen her take a whip and lash those children across +their bare bodies? And that wouldn't have been as bad as what she +really _did_ do, for those hurts would have healed, and the way she +hurt their spirits wouldn't _ever_ heal! She is cruelly unjust--and +unkind!" + +Poor Miss Sabrina looked very old and very tired--far too tired to meet +this impetuous attack! Something in the unyieldingness of her +expression drove Nancy to utter abandon. + +"Oh, I suppose I'll have--to go away! But I'm glad--everything is all +wrong at Happy House. There's no happiness here--at all. +Fath--someone I love used to tell me that happiness comes to you as you +_give_ happiness, and that's what's the matter here--you don't give +happiness! You live--apart--and you just wrap yourself round with the +traditions of the Leavitts and all that--tommyrot! I'm glad I'm +not--a--I'm glad I'm the--the other branch. I guess the golden rule is +better than any family honor and that it doesn't matter at _all_ what +all the people who are dead and gone've done--it's what the people who +are _living_ are doing--that counts!" + +Breathless from her outburst and frightened by its daring, Nancy burst +into tears and rushed from the room. + +In the aftermath of calm that followed the storm, Nancy woefully faced +the consequences of what she had done. How silly it would all sound to +Anne when she heard it! Anne would tell her, of course, what _she_ +would have done--but then, Anne had always been able to control every +word and every action. + +Nancy, staring about at the four walls of her room in very much the +same way she had done that first day of her coming to Happy House, +realized that they were not so ugly, after all. Their height gave a +sense of coolness and space; the branches of an old cherry tree brushed +her windows; from below came all sorts of sweet smells out of +Jonathan's garden; the incessant twittering of birds and the humming of +insects made the summer air teem with busy, happy life. It was +pleasant, she sighed--much pleasanter than a flat in Harlem in July! + +"Well, I won't pack until I get my dishonorable discharge, and I can't +get away until Webb's stage goes, anyway! I'll take Miss Milly once +more to the orchard." + +Miss Milly went to the orchard so often now that it had become a part +of almost every day's routine, and it was no longer necessary that +B'lindy and Jonathan should make up the party, though they went more +often than not. This day Aunt Milly declared everything particularly +nice, but she thought it was because she and Nancy were alone--she +could not know that Nancy had been doing her best to make it an +afternoon Aunt Milly would never forget--"because it's probably the +last!" + +They lingered in the orchard until almost supper-time. Then Nancy +sought the kitchen. She liked to drop in on B'lindy, help her in some +small way in the preparation of the evening meal, and chat at the same +time. She was astounded, now, to find Aunt Sabrina, with a very red +face, bending over the kitchen stove. + +B'lindy, sitting very straight in the chair by the window, gave the +explanation--resentfully. + +"'Pears to be hash ain't good enough for supper. Had it all fixed for +the cookin' and I guess it's fair 'nough for anyone to eat and I can't +abide left-overs hangin' 'round. But Miss S'briny says the supper +to-night's got to be extry nice and Miss Anne's got to have waffles and +_she'll_ cook 'em herself, seein' how old B'lindy that's cooked 'em +nigh onto fifty years, can't cook 'em _good_ 'nough for Miss Anne!" + +Miss Sabrina's face was bent over the waffles--Nancy could not see it. +The moment was too solemn to permit her to so much as smile. She said +very gravely, almost reprovingly: + +"You _know_, B'lindy, that you _can't_ make waffles as good as Aunt +Sabrina can and I've been hungry for days for waffles!" + +Nancy knew that, after that night, waffles would always mean something +more to her than merely a concoction of food stuffs particularly dear +to her palate--they'd mean the momentary triumph of reason and justice, +the defeat of the Mrs. Eaton-kind, and the pitiful attempt of a very +old and a very proud woman to "give happiness." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +GUNS AND STRING BEANS + +"Claire darling-- + +"Almost two weeks since I wrote to you. Will you love me any more? + +"As I write I am all alone on the edge of a very little pool of light +reflected from my little lamp that was only intended to see me into bed +and not to burn half the night through while I write to my pal. + +"Is this summer night as perfect where you are, Claire? (Tush--you've +probably been playing tennis and dancing and flirting until you are too +exhausted to care about anything except the breakfast bell disturbing +you.) But up here it's _wonderful_! The sky is blue-black velvet, all +studded with stars that seem suspended--they are so very close. And +the air just caresses you! And there are the sweetest smells, grassy +and earthy and all fragrant of roses. There are queer little noises, +too--as though the night was full of fairy creatures. And I heard a +whip-or-will! And a screech-owl, way, way off. + +"Since I wrote to you last I have 'put my foot in it' again! Terribly! +It's too long a story to write to you--there isn't nearly oil enough +for that--but I skated over the thin ice and reached safety--in other +words, I am still here! And, Nancy, I know, now, even Aunt Sabrina is +beginning to like me! Do you know why? Because I lost my head and +told her what I thought was the matter with her and Happy House and I +don't suppose anyone _dared_ to tell her that before. (I called her +Leavitt traditions tommy-rot.) And I think she _enjoyed_ the +sensation! Anyway, she seems to treat me now like Somebody and she +said something the other day about how lovely the autumns were on the +Island, as though she took it for granted I'd be here then! + +"Claire, what if I can _never_ get away? Did I dream, when I took +Anne's shoes (to speak in figures) and put them on, where they'd lead +me? And sometimes I think that I will not see the end of the trail for +a long time. I'm not crazy to see it, either, for it _must_ end in +Disaster! + +"I am beginning to understand these people, too. I--in my usual way, +judged them too quickly! One must know their history to know +them--know what a splendid background they have. Aunt Sabrina has +taken up Ezekiel where she left off and tells me stories about the +Champlain Valley. Of course, I know she is doing it, because I called +the Leavitt glories 'tommy-rot' and when I read, in B'lindy's book +(gotten up, of course, to bait tourists) what these Islanders _have_ +done, I feel cheap and small and insignificant beside all these people +who have such heroic grandfathers and great grandfathers. + +"I suppose, all over the world, Island people must be different from +people whose lands lie directly contingent with other lands and people. +The very waters that shut away these precious Hero Islands wash their +lives back upon themselves--they live in--they can't help it. The +world that rushes on so fast for us, living in the big cities, scarcely +stirs them here! These folks talk about Ethan Allen and Remembrance +Baker as though it was only yesterday they walked down under the elms +of the village street! They all eat off from very old china and sit in +very old chairs--precious because some hero dear to the Island has sat +in them! + +"(All of this is not original with me--The Hired Man said it.) + +"So just as I finished grandly saying to Aunt Sabrina that it didn't +matter at _all_ what the people, who are dead and gone, have done, I'm +beginning to see--like a picture opened before my eyes--that it _does_ +matter--quite a little! They, these dead and gone people, leave us +what they have done; if it's bad, we have to pay for it, some way or +other--if it's noble, we have to be worthy of it! _That_ philosophy is +all mine and not the Hired Man's. + +"There are a great many things about the aforesaid Hired Man (I never +think of him as that) that perplex me. He is a great big riddle. He +is more interesting than any one I ever met before. I wish you were +here so we could talk him over the way we used to the Knights of the +Pink Parlor. That he is good looking is not what seems so queer, +because I suppose there _are_ good-looking hired men as well as +good-looking street car conductors or undertakers. He is so +understandable--he is like you and Anne and Dad. And he knows so much +about everything! He must have gone to college--he talks just like a +college man. But once when I hinted he smiled and told me that he was +'still a student in the college of Experience, where after all one +could learn more than at even the great universities.' + +"He is Mysterious. After I've been with him I plan it all out--what he +must have been and why he fell to the level of this sort of work; then +the next time I see him he says something that makes me change all my +ideas. I am sure he is concealing something--he simply will not say +one word about himself! I don't believe it's anything as bad as murder +or forgery or--anything like that, because he has such honest eyes, and +they look right straight through you. It's probably some sorrow or--or +disappointment. Sometimes his eyes look very tired, as though they had +seen some terrible tragedy, though mostly always they're just jolly. + +"He's wonderful with Nonie and Davy--they adore him. He thinks of so +many nice things for them to do. He says once he was a scoutmaster in +the Boy Scouts. I think he almost gave something away then, for, after +he said it, he looked so funny and wouldn't say another word. + +"He treats me as though I was another boy just a little older than +Davy. And after the silly men we knew in college it's a relief to find +anyone like Peter Hyde, even though he is a hired man. I suppose it's +because he's probably had a hard time--has had to make his way, he's +had all the nonsense knocked out of him! I am sure, if one could teach +him to dance and then set him down in the middle of your mother's +living-room you'd all go crazy over him. Now isn't that some Hired +Man? Dear me, I spend more time wondering about him! Then I laugh at +myself. Do you remember the Russian who came to college last year--how +we all thought he must be a Russian prince and then we found out he'd +been born on the Lower East Side?" + + * * * * * + +There were other doubts concerning Peter Hyde that Nancy did _not_ +confide to Claire. For the past two years and more, in Nancy's honest +soul, all men between twenty-one and forty were divided into two +classes; those who had gone over to France and those who had not. If +Peter Hyde _had_ gone there was nothing in any act or word that +signified it; if he had _not_ gone, why not? Was _that_ what he was +hiding? + +She had resorted, feeling very contemptible as she did so, to little +traps to draw him out, but he had invariably escaped them--sometimes +changing the subject abruptly, other times openly laughing and saying +nothing. Very much against her will she felt growing within her a +contempt for him; almost a dislike of his personal appearance, so +obviously healthy and able to have fought for his country! And yet, +loyalty had kept her from confiding this to Claire. + +A sense of fairness, too, urged her to give Peter the benefit of the +doubt until she knew. "I'll just ask him," she decided resolutely. +"I'll ask him right out--the very first chance I get!" + +The opportunity to learn the truth had come on the very afternoon +following the night she had written to Claire. Nonie and Davy had not +appeared for a swim, so Peter had suggested a walk. He wanted Nancy to +go over, with him, the new work he had started on the Judson ten-acre +piece, the improvements in the barns, the rotary gardens. + +It was the first time that Peter Hyde had talked much about his work. +Nancy, who would have said turnips grew on bushes, for all she knew, +found herself, under his instruction, suddenly absorbed in the +scientific growing of beans and corn and potatoes; in the making of one +strip of garden produce three different food products in rotation; in +irrigation and drainage; in sanitary stables and electrically lighted +chicken houses. + +"You know there's poetry in these growing things," Peter cried, waving +his hand out over the tender stalks of corn. "You get all the Art you +want! Can you find anywhere a more wonderful picture than that waving +field of oats--pale green against that sky? And in a few weeks it'll +be yellow. See that lettuce green, too. And music--you can stand in a +field of corn when the wind is blowing a little and you will hear a +symphony!" + +Nancy, surprised, watched his glowing face with interest Here was +indeed a new side of the Hired Man! He went on: + +"And business, say, there's a practical side to this farming that ought +to satisfy any man. Wits, science, strategy, instinct, plain +common-sense--it's all as necessary right here as in the biggest +business concern in the world. And if a fellow wants a _fight_--well, +he has it when he goes up against Mother Earth. We're used to thinking +of her as kindly, generous, lavishing her favors! I've had another +picture--she's worse than a Czar! She's exacting, she's moody, she's +undependable, at times. I suppose she does it to try out her +children--but anyway, the farmer has to fight every minute!" + +He stopped suddenly. "I'm boring you to death, maybe!" He laughed +apologetically. "It's always been a hobby of mine--this working with +the earth. I never thought I'd do anything with it--until the war! +Then I realized how much a nation's prosperity depends upon how its +soil is used. And that's where our government's been short-sighted. +They haven't paid enough attention to the small farmers. Of course, +they try out some good things and publish bulletins, but the farmers +ought to _know_ how, by certain scientific changes, the productiveness +of the land can be doubled! Take Judson, here. He's been farming this +whole place just the way his grandfather did before him! He's read +about new-fangled things, but he's afraid to try them--he doesn't know +how to begin! Think how many Judsons there are all over the world! So +I'm trying to show him by actually working out some experiments I've +tested. If it's a success, if his account at the bank at North Hero +shows it at the end of the season--why, there isn't anything Judson +will be afraid to try. And think what it would mean to this country if +it had a million farmers like Judson! And see how easily they can be +shown!" + +Nancy's face was alight with enthusiasm. With her vivid imagination +she pictured a glorious army of Peter Hydes going out over the land, +rescuing the poor farmers, putting new weapons into their hands! + +"It's wonderful! And it's--brave!" she added, "because it isn't as if +you went off with a whole lot of others with bands and flags flying!" + +She was suddenly struck with remorse that she had, in her heart, so +wronged Peter Hyde! She had thought him a slacker when he had +shouldered the harder task! Something in the earnestness still +reflected on his face made her own her guilt. + +"I can't be glad _enough_ you've told me all this! I didn't know! I +never lived in the country. I just thought things to eat grew up any +old way. And all this time I have been thinking horrid things about +you because I thought you hadn't gone to war! I thought, maybe, you +were way off up here to escape the feeling everyone had for slackers! +You can imagine, now, when I see what you really _are_ doing, how +ashamed I feel! Will you forgive me?" + +Peter's frank amusement made Nancy feel very uncomfortable and small. +But then she deserved it! He held out his hand as a sign of his +forgiveness. There was still laughter in his eyes as he regarded her. + +"I suppose that was very natural! Most of the young fellows you know +must have gone over!" he said, seriously enough. + +She wanted very much to tell him of her father--how he had followed the +men over the top; how he had worked day after day getting the stories +back to the people at home and spent night after night tracing the +"missing," or writing letters for the boys who never got further back +than the first dressing-stations and who wanted mothers and fathers and +sweethearts to know that they'd had their chance and had made the most +of it! But she couldn't, for she was supposed to be Anne and Anne's +father had died when she was a little girl. + +She told him of a few of the college men she had known, who had gone, +eagerly, at the first call. + +"They didn't even want to wait to get commissions! _They_ just wanted +to fight!" + +The revelation of Peter Hyde made her think of Claire's brother. She +told him about Claire and Anne--she called Anne, vaguely, "another +girl." "Claire's a darling and we just love her, but we can't _abide_ +her brother! Of course it's not reasonable, because we've never laid +eyes on him, but we've heard enough from Claire to know just what he's +like. I suppose the war made a few like him--he was brave enough over +there and lucky to have all his recommendations recognized, but it made +him _so_ conceited! He came back here and just strutted around, +everywhere. Claire says her mother's friends used to have _teas_ for +him--he'd go to them and speak and show his medals! Claire was mad +over him. She was so disappointed because I came here instead of going +to Merrycliffe. But I couldn't see myself spending my time petting her +beloved Lion! I knew I'd be rude and say just what I thought." + +Nancy and Peter were sitting upon the stump of a tree near the cliff. +Peter suddenly rose and walked to the edge--his back square to Nancy. +After a moment he turned. + +"Thought I heard something down there," he explained, at her +questioning glance. "Don't blame you for disliking that sort--like +Claire's brother! They're a rummy kind! I had a friend a lot like +him. But--maybe, it wasn't all his fault--about the teas and things! +Maybe his mother got 'em started and he didn't want to hurt her!" + +It was like Peter Hyde, so gentle with children and animals, to stand +up now for even Barry Wallace's kind. + +"You're just like Dad," Nancy cried warmly, then stopped, a little +frightened. But of course Peter had not been in Freedom long enough to +know anything about the Leavitts. + +He bowed with great ceremony, one hand over his heart. + +"If Dad's like daughter, I thank you for the compliment. Now, if you +will linger longer with me I'd like to show you Mrs. Sally and her +babies. Sally is my experimental pig. I've built a piggery for her +with a plunge and a sunken garden, and if you don't declare that Sally +enjoys such improved surroundings, I'll know my whole summer's work's a +failure." + +Nancy walked over the rough ground toward the barns with a light heart. +She had a delightful sense of being "pals" with this new Peter +Hyde--who, while the Barry Wallaces were swaggering around with their +medals, was up here in an out-of-the-way corner of the nation, fighting +a new sort of a fight! He actually _wanted_ her approval of his new +piggery! + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +PETER LENDS A HAND + +It was quite natural that Nancy should take her problems to Peter Hyde. + +More correctly, she did not take them--Peter Hyde discovered them when, +a few days later, he found Nancy alone in her Bird's-nest, completely +surrounded by sheets of paper, a frown wrinkling her entire face, +furiously chewing one end of her pencil. + +There had, of course, to be some explanation of the manuscript. Nancy +told him of the play she was writing, how she had really come to North +Hero to finish it! + +"I thought I'd have hours and hours to work. And I was so glad when I +found this hiding place. I've been here, now, weeks and weeks, and +have done scarcely a thing!" + +"Is it because the Muse will not come?" asked Peter, eying the +scattered sheets with awe. + +"Oh, it would _come_--if it had a chance! My head's just bursting with +things I want to write and I dream about them in my sleep. But--it +sounds silly--I'm so busy. Maybe the things I do don't seem important +but I just can't escape them." + +She made room for Peter on the seat beside her. Then she told him of +Aunt Milly; of that first trip to the orchard, how it had been the +beginning of a new life for the little woman. + +"I bring her downstairs every day now, right after breakfast, and she's +one of the family. I'm going to coax Webb to make another sort of a +chair; one she can wheel herself--I've seen them. She's learned to +knit beautifully; she's so proud because she's working on a sock for +the Belgian children--she says it's the first time she's _ever_ felt +useful! She helps B'lindy, too. It makes you want to cry to see how +happy she is. But with all her independence she wants me all the time. +When I start to leave her there's something in the way she looks at me +that is just as though she reached out and caught me by the hand!" + +Nancy described, too, how B'lindy was constantly finding little tasks +for her that would keep her in the kitchen or on the back porch within +sound of her voice. + +"You see talking's the joy of B'lindy's life and my ears are new--they +haven't heard all the things she has to say. Just when I think I can +escape she begins telling me of the cake her mother baked for Miss +Sabrina's mother the day the Governor of Vermont came to Happy +House--or something like that!" + +Anxious that Peter should understand everything Nancy made a vivid +word-picture of Miss Sabrina and of the difficulties she had had in +winning her. "I believe she's fond of me now, but she just doesn't +know _how_ to show it! She's never displayed one bit of affection in +her whole life, I'm sure. She's stone. But sometime she's going to +break--I'm doing my best to make her! I know she enjoys having dear +little Aunt Milly around, but do you think she'd say so? Goodness no. +But there's a lot of good in Aunt Sabrina and I'm bound to know it all, +so I make it my duty to sit with her just so long each day while she +tells me about the Leavitts and the other families of this Island. And +there _is_ something heroic about them all! + +"So here I am, just tingling to finish the last act of my play and not +a moment to myself! If it isn't precious Aunt Milly or Aunt Sabrina or +B'lindy or even dear old Jonathan, it's Nonie or Davy or----" + +"Or me," finished Peter Hyde, glancing significantly at the neglected +work. "Your hands _are_ full!" + +Nancy went on earnestly. "And it all seems so worth while! Look at +Nonie--she's a different creature already. I don't believe she +pretends as much, either--her little body is catching up with her +spirit. And Davy doesn't hang his head when he looks at you!" + +Peter Hyde could understand her feeling toward the children. They had +planned together to bring something more into those two starved young +lives. Like Nancy, he was delighted at the results already apparent. +It _was_ work too worth while to be abandoned--for anything. + +"Nonie fairly eats up the books I give her but she always wants to read +them with me--it's so that she can ask questions. And the questions +she asks! Every new thing she learns she immediately adapts to her own +life. We've begun 'Little Women' and of course she plays Amy! Poor +little flower, sometimes I think of old Dan'l and Liz and wonder from +where on earth the child got her gift. And what a precious blessing it +is to her!" + +Recalling Davy's contempt for his sister's "actin' lies," they both +laughed. + +"How could _anyone_ think bad things of Davy," cried Nancy, +indignantly. "He's the soul of truth and honor! But up here he won't +have a chance." + +"Oh, yes, he will!" Peter contradicted. "If I'm any good reading +character in a ten-year-old he'll _make_ a chance. He's a leader, now. +Look at the way the other boys follow his slightest suggestion!" + +Davy's "club" was flourishing. The attractions that Peter and Nancy +had added to its program had made it boom. Several new "fellars" had +come in. The meetings were even more frequent than Liz cleaned the +meeting-house, and now, because it had become known that Miss Sabrina's +niece was a member of the club, no lickings awaited the members upon +their return, rather impatient mothers eager to hear "what that girl at +Happy House was up to now." There was some talk about turning the club +into a Boy Scout troop; Mr. Peter had promised to organize them and +train them. + +"Oh, dear," Nancy sighed, perplexed and torn, "it's like having a dream +you've dreamed crumble all to pieces! I wanted to have my play done +before my--I mean, I wanted to finish it up here and then send it +straight to Theodore Hoffman himself. Of course you don't know him. +He's one of the greatest dramatists and play producers in the world. I +know it's daring in me and maybe he won't even give a minute to my +little insignificant effort, but--whatever he may say, I'll know it is +the best criticism I can get!" + +To Nancy's surprise Peter displayed a considerable knowledge of plays +and actors, critics and producers. He could see her problem, too--how +she was torn between the claims of Happy House and her beloved work. + +Nancy was grateful for his sympathy and because he did not laugh at +her. But of course, why should anyone who could find music in waving +corn not understand her own dreams! + +Peter's face looked very much as though he was tackling some problem of +drainage--or a new incubator. + +"When you get right down to plain facts, it's a question of conserving +time. You're wasting it--somewhere. I believe you can double up a +bit. Let Aunt Milly listen to Belinda, and teach Aunt Milly to help +Nonie. I'll take care of Davy. You say Aunt Milly likes to feel she's +useful--if you start her she can help Nonie a lot and Nonie'll give her +something to think about, too." + +Nancy considered this with brightening eyes. "I believe you're right! +I've just been selfish, trying to do everything myself just because I +loved to, and stupid--to think no one else could do it! Of course Aunt +Milly can read with Nonie--and play with her, too. I'll begin this +very day. I'll have a school here in the orchard and Nonie and B'lindy +and Aunt Milly shall come. It'll be the funniest school you ever heard +of," Nancy laughed. "I'll teach B'lindy the joy of seeing Hopworth +'young 'uns' eat her best molasses cookies!" + +Nancy's face showed that she was mentally leaping far ahead in her +plans. Peter felt that he had been left out. + +"Let me be the head taskmaster or whatever you call it. You'll +doubtless need a strong hand now and then. Anyway, you don't know how +much it helps _my_ work mixing a little fun with it!" + +Now that her problems were straightening Nancy felt very kindly and +gracious and happy. + +"Of course, you may come to the orchard--whenever you want! Oh, you +_have_ helped me so much," she cried, with a smile that brought a +sudden gleam in Peter Hyde's eyes. "Now, if you'll give me a hand +putting these pages together, I'll run in and prepare Aunt Milly and +B'lindy." + +Following along the lines of Peter's suggestion, Nancy's "school" +developed rapidly. She covered sheet after sheet of paper with +"schedules" and finally to her satisfaction, blocked off every waking +moment of her pupils' day. Aunt Milly fell heartily in with her plans; +she was proud to know that she could help. The books for Nonie that +Nancy had spirited to Happy House were as fascinating to her as to +Nonie. + +After the first day Aunt Milly thought of a great many new "lessons" +they could begin for Nonie. With the promise that after awhile she +could make for herself a "pinky" dress, like Nancy's, Aunt Milly taught +her to hem and seam and tuck. At the same time Nonie learned that it +was quite as bad to wear a torn, soiled dress as to say "him and me" or +"I ain't." + +"You're _wonderful_, Aunt Milly," Nancy had declared, after this +innovation in the school. "I never would have thought of it, myself." +She laughed, ruefully. "I'd better study with Nonie, I guess, and +learn to mend, myself." + +Nancy had told Aunt Milly, too, of Nonie's pretend-mother. Perhaps +that was why Aunt Milly's voice was very sweet and tender as she and +Nonie talked and played and read together. Nonie liked to wheel the +chair; she began to look forward to bolder excursions beyond the gate +to the village. + +B'lindy, in her heart still a little distrustful that "no good could +come from encouragin' them Hopworths," nevertheless found countless +excuses to join the little group under the apple trees, sometimes +bringing some hideous lace crocheting that had been years in the making +but would some day--if B'lindy lived long enough to complete it--cover +a bed. Sometimes she brought a basket of goodies and other times came +empty-handed and just sat idle with a softened look in her old eyes as +they rested on the purple rim of mountains across the water. + +"I guess it makes a body work better for restin' a spell," she said, +after one of these intervals. + +But with the success of Nancy's new plans were two little clouds--small +at first but growing with each day. One was the realization that very +soon her work for these dear people could go on without her. And +though in one breath she told herself that this was fortunate, because +her stay at Happy House must end with her father's return, in the next +she was swept with a sharp jealousy that, after she had gone, Aunt +Milly and B'lindy and Nonie and Davy would still gather under the apple +tree. + +Since the afternoon Peter Hyde had found her with the manuscript she +had not laid eyes upon him! + +A sense of hurt at his neglect did not grow less when she learned from +old Jonathan, after one or two questions, that he had gone over to +Plattsburg; rather it gave way to a resentment that Peter, considering +what good chums they had grown to be and the "school" and everything, +should have gone off on any such trip without one word of parting! + +"He'll see how well we can get along without him," she had declared to +herself after the third day. After all he probably _was_ hiding +something; this sudden disappearance must have some connection with it. + +His comradeship had grown very pleasant, she admitted, but, she told +herself, it belonged to the real Anne Leavitt, like Aunt Milly and +Nonie and the others, he must drop out of her life when she left Happy +House. + +So that he might not even be missed by Davy and his cronies, Nancy +devoted one entire afternoon to teaching the boys of the club how to +build a fire without matches. When, after repeated and discouraging +failures, the last one had joyfully succeeded, Nancy had promised to +teach them to wig-wag at the very next meeting. + +When Nancy returned to the house, flushed and tired from the hours on +the beach, old Jonathan, at the door, presented her with a half-blown +rose, its stem thrust through a folded sheet of paper. + +"Mr. Peter, over to Judson's, asked me to give it t'you." + +With a certain set of the college men and girls Nancy had been very +popular; more than once pretty tributes of flowers had come to her. +She had accepted them rather indifferently, had kept them with dutiful +care in water and had pasted the cards that had come with them in her +remembrance book. But this gift was different; it was quaint--and _so_ +pretty! + +"If you will meet me at seven in the orchard I will tell you a surprise +that will tickle you to pieces," Peter Hyde had scrawled across the +paper. + +"How--_funny_!" laughed Nancy, reading and re-reading the lines. "What +can it be?" + +If Nancy had asked herself why she sang as she dressed for supper she +would have thought, truthfully, that it _was_ because she was +ravenously hungry and B'lindy's supper smelled very good; and she chose +to wear, from her slender wardrobe, a pink organdy, because it would be +cool--_not_ that she even dreamed, for a moment, of doing such a silly +thing as going to the orchard at seven o'clock, to meet Peter Hyde! + +A dozen times, during the evening meal, she resolved that Peter Hyde's +surprise could wait. He presumed, indeed, to think that, after he had +absented himself for so long without one little word of explanation, +she would go running at the crook of his little finger! + +However, she put the pink rose in her belt and occasionally slipped it +out to smell of it. It was the most beautiful rose she had ever +seen--she must ask Jonathan its variety. + +At five minutes of seven she picked up her knitting and sat resolutely +down between her aunts on the hollyhock porch. Just as Aunt Sabrina +was telling her how, back in 1776, Robert Leavitt had dined with +Benedict Arnold on the flagship of his little Champlain fleet, two days +before its engagement with the British, the old clock within the house +struck seven. With her breath caught in her throat Nancy counted +sixty, twice--then suddenly sprang to her feet and rushed off the +veranda. + +"Why, Nancy--dear," cried Aunt Milly, startled. + +"Humph," grunted Aunt Sabrina, clicking her needles faster than ever. + +Peter was in the orchard. He had been there since quarter of seven. +He was disappointed at the coolness of Nancy's greeting; it seemed to +him that he had been gone for ages, and he had, during his absence, +quite foolishly, been looking forward to this meeting. + +He had hoped, too, that she might wear the rose. + +"One guess where I've been," he commanded lightly, as he held out his +hand to assist her into the tree. + +"Dear me, how can I tell? Buying plows or pigs or----" + +Nancy tried to make her tone seem airily indifferent, when all the time +she was really consumed with curiosity and a desire, too, to tell him +how splendidly her work was going. + +"I have seen Theodore Hoffman!" + +"_What?_" + +"Don't look as though you thought I'd gone mad. He's human. I +happened to hear that he was staying at Bluff Point, so I went over to +see the gentleman." + +Nancy's eyes _did_ say that she thought he had gone quite out of his +mind! + +"How did you _dare_?" + +"I know a fellow that knows him. He was very nice--as I said, he's +human, terribly human. You should see him playing tennis!" + +"What--_what_ did you say to him?" + +"I told him I had a little friend who was soon to become one of the +greatest playwrights in the world and----" + +"_Peter!_" Nancy lifted an imploring finger. "Honest, what _did_ you +say? And why----" she was suddenly abashed. He had done this for her. + +Peter kept his tone light. + +"You see I did have some pig business over that way, so it was easy +enough to do a favor for a little pal at the same time. Hoffman was +very nice--he's going to be around up here for some weeks and promised +me he would drive over here. Now it's up to you to have the manuscript +ready." + +"Oh, Peter, I'm _frightened_! You're a darling! I shall _always_ +bless pigs! Of _course_ I'll have it done--I'll work night and day. +I'll go straight back to the house now." She jumped to the ground. In +her haste she forgot the poor rose she had hidden behind her. + +Peter, crestfallen at her sudden flight, found it, however. He smiled, +whimsically, as he held it in the palm of his hand. + +"Nice little kid," he said, as he had said once before, then he put the +rose carefully into his pocket. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +NANCY PLANS A PARTY + +"What are you doing, Nonie?" + +Pencil poised in mid-air; Nancy leaned down from her Nest where she had +been working. Aunt Milly was nodding in her chair, her finger and +thumb between the pages of "Sarah Crewe," from which she had been +reading until she had succumbed to the drowsy sounds of the summer air. +Nonie had been tiptoeing back and forth across the grass making funny, +little, inarticulate sounds in her throat. + +"I'm playing party," Nonie stopped under the apple tree and lifted a +thoughtful face to Nancy. "When I grow up I shall have ten children +and have parties all the time. There'll be harps and violins and drums +and lots and lots to eat. And I shall wear velvet, with a long train, +and carry a big fan." She sighed. "Do you always have to be beautiful +to do beautiful things?" + +"Just doing beautiful things makes you seem beautiful," explained Nancy. + +Nonie was not satisfied. "B'lindy makes beautiful cakes and pies but +_she_ isn't beautiful. And Jonathan puts seeds in the ground that grow +into pretty flowers but--he's ugly! Could I do beautiful things +and--look like this?" She spread out her shabby skirts. + +Behind the troubled gaze Nancy caught the gleam of a vision. + +"You can--you can! Nonie, no one can ever take your dreams away from +you!" + +"Not even Liz," echoed Nonie, bitterly. + +A few days before a tragedy had touched Nonie's life. From out of +nowhere there had wandered into her affections a hungry-eyed, maltese +cat with two small babies. Nonie had mothered them passionately, +tenderly. She had hidden scraps of food from her own meagre portions +to feed them; she had fitted a box with old rags and had concealed it +beneath the loose plankings of the shed. Then, mother cat, satisfied +that her babies were in good hands, had disappeared. + +"Even kittens can't have mothers," Nonie had thought, perplexed over +the ways of the world. "Never mind, darlings, Nonie will love you," +and she had kissed each small puss as a pledge of her devotion. + +But a week later she found both kittens lying stiff and cold behind the +shed. At her passionate outburst, Liz had told her that "_she_ wa'nt a +goin' to have any _cats_ under foot!" + +Nonie had taken her sorrow to the Bird's-Nest and Nancy and Aunt Milly +had managed to soothe her. But she would not forgive Liz. + +"If that mother should ever come back how could I face her," she had +asked very seriously. "She'd know it was my fault--because I left +them! I wish--I wish babies never had to be left--without mothers!" +Thereupon had taken shape the determination in Nonie's heart to some +day have ten children whom she would never, never leave--not for a +moment! + +"Don't forget the fairy godmother, Nonie, and her wand. Some day +she'll turn your old dress into gold cloth and put a crown upon your +head." Nancy made her tone light; she could not bear to see the shadow +on the child's face. She jumped down from the tree. + +"I've just thought of the loveliest plan! Nonie, let's have a party at +Happy House!" + +"A _real_ party?" + +"Yes, a real party--with lots and _lots_ to eat! It's too warm for +velvet, but how would you like to wear a white dress of mine that's +dreadfully small for me? I'm sure Aunt Milly's clever fingers can fix +it over. B'lindy shall make a cake--like the Governor had, and Aunt +Sabrina shall get out all the old silver and linen." + +Nonie's face said plainly that she could not believe her ears! + +"Honest?" she whispered, glancing toward Aunt Milly. + +"Well----" Nancy laughed. "Of course, we'll have to consult Aunt +Sabrina and Aunt Milly and B'lindy. Suppose we cough very loudly--then +Aunt Milly will waken!" + +An hour earlier, as Nancy sat in the Nest making notes here and there +upon her manuscript, the thought of the party had not entered her head. +But once there, it grew rapidly. Besides, her heart was very light; +she wanted everyone else to celebrate with her--her play was done! She +had worked day and night; the tiny shadows under her eyes told that. +But in her exultation any physical weariness was forgotten. + +In the still hours of the night before she had dashed off a sleepy line +to Claire..... "The Gypsy Sweetheart is done. Darling, pray for me! +My fate lies in those pages. I may soon be with you at +Merrycliffe--that is, if you still want me." + +The last line was an afterthought. That day a curious letter had come +from Claire, perplexing to Nancy because Claire's usual complaining +tone had given place to mysterious rejoicing. "I can't tell you +_anything_, Nancy, because I promised I wouldn't, but some day you're +going to know. I'm the most wildly happy girl in the world," and +beyond that the maddening creature had written nothing. "I believe +she's engaged," thought Nancy, indignant and hurt, too, that Claire +should let any such thing come into her life without some hint to her +dearest friends. + +After repeated coughing Aunt Milly wakened with a start and tried to +look as though she had not been asleep. Nancy told her of the party +they wanted to have at Happy House. She had a way of telling it that +made it seem very simple and easy. After one frightened gasp, Aunt +Milly promised to help win Aunt Sabrina's and B'lindy's approval. + +Nothing, perhaps, so marked the amazing changes in Happy House worked +by Nancy's stay than the eagerness with which B'lindy, and even Miss +Sabrina, accepted the suggestion of the "party." + +They sat with Nancy and Aunt Milly on the hollyhock porch after supper +excitedly making plans; at least B'lindy and Aunt Milly were excited; +Aunt Sabrina had moments of alarm--it had been so very long since they +had entertained anyone! + +"Do let me plan the whole thing," begged Nancy. "I'm good at such +things. I always had charge of all the class stunts. Ever since I've +been here I've pictured how wonderfully this old house would open up +for entertaining. We'll have flowers in all the rooms--heaps and heaps +of them. But let's serve out under the trees!" + +B'lindy and Miss Sabrina were horrified at such an idea. When guests +had come before to Happy House they had eaten in dignified manner from +the dining-room table. + +"But your garden is so lovely," Nancy cried. She made a vivid picture +of how it would look on the day of the party. Her enthusiasm won her +point; even Aunt Sabrina's doubt had to yield before her youthful +determination. + +So it was agreed that ice-cream and cake--like the Governor had +had--should be passed from tables set under the old trees, and in the +dining-room there would be punch in the old punch bowl that had, in +years gone by, honored many a distinguished gathering under the old +roof. And Nancy should have her "heaps" of flowers everywhere. + +"Maybe we'd better keep the sitting-room closed," suggested Miss +Sabrina, faintly. She was too proud to tell them that she could not +bear the thought of curious eyes staring at the mantel with its ragged +crack, everlasting reminder of the storm that marked the falling of the +shadow over Happy House. + +But Nancy would not listen even to this--flowers everywhere and doors +and windows open, everywhere. + +When Nancy had declared that everyone in Freedom must be invited--even +the Hopworths and Peter Hyde, Miss Sabrina had made her last protest. + +"The Leavitts, Anne----" she had begun. + +"Oh, _bless_ the Leavitts," Nancy had laughingly broken in, "dear Aunt +Sabrina, don't you see that it's your chance to show that--that catty +Mrs. Eaton, who's just a common storekeeper's wife and's only been here +on North Hero one and one-half generations, that _you_, Sabrina +Leavitt, are not going to be told by _her_ what you should do and what +you shouldn't do!" + +Miss Sabrina had not forgotten what she had suffered from Mrs. Eaton's +cruel tongue; Nancy's impetuous argument carried convincing weight. So +Nancy triumphantly added to her list, Mr. Daniel Hopworth, Miss +(Elizabeth or Eliza, she wondered) Hopworth, Miss Nonie Hopworth and +Master David Hopworth. + +For the next few days such a bustle followed that Nancy wondered why +she had not thought of it before! While B'lindy opened shutters and +swept and dusted and aired, the sunshine poured into corners of the old +house that had never seen it before. Miss Sabrina unlocked old chests +and sorted out and polished old silver and washed and pressed old linen +of exquisite fineness. Aunt Milly made over the white dress for Nonie. +Nancy wrote the invitations, in Miss Sabrina's name, and despatched +them by Webb to what B'lindy called "Tom, Dick and Harry" in Freedom. + +Nancy, herself, invited Webb. + +"I'll tell you a secret about this party, Webb! I want everyone in +Freedom to know that Happy House _is_ a happy house; I want them to see +how wonderful Aunt Milly is and that she _wouldn't_ be happier in her +grave! I want them to see the old mantel and the lovely rooms. And I +want them to know that the Hopworth's are invited!" + +"Wal, I guess Freedom folks never saw the like before at Happy House, +leastways not sence the old missus was alive," the old man had +excitedly answered. "You _bet_ old Webb'll be thar!" Nancy knew that +as each invitation was delivered at each door there would go with it an +excited account of the strange "sociable" that could include the +Hopworths, and his added opinion that "thet gal'd sartin'ly started +things happenin' at Happy House." + +The smithy's son was engaged to help Jonathan cut the grass, weed the +gardens and clip the borders, under Nancy's direction. So that, while +amazing changes were going on within the house, changes equally +startling were transforming the garden. Old Jonathan straightened more +than once to view with pride the results of their work. + +"This garden used to be the pride of the Island," he muttered, seeing +in its restored trimness something of its old-time beauty. "But it's +young hands that's needed." + +"It's beautiful, _now_," Nancy had declared. "It's the loveliest +garden I ever saw, Jonathan," and she thought of Nonie's quaint words: +"Jonathan puts in seeds that grow into pretty flowers and he's ugly!" +Yes, the wrinkled, leathery face under the old hat was not beautiful, +and yet something of the beauty of the flowers he grew was reflected in +the expression of the old eyes that bent so tenderly over them. + +"That's life," reflected Nancy, indulging in a moment's philosophizing. +"It's really what we think and do that makes us beautiful or not +beautiful!" + +They had worked late; the long shadows of the afternoon danced in lacy +patterns over the gray walls of the house. Nancy, watching them, +thought of that first disappointment she had felt upon viewing Happy +House. Then it had seemed an ugly pile of stones, severely lined. Now +it was more like a breathing Thing. It had sheltered and seen shaped +so many lives; it held a future, too; it must stand protectingly for +others after Aunt Milly and Aunt Sabrina had gone! + +It had, now, with its blinds fastened back, an awakened, expectant +look, as of eyes suddenly opened after a long, long sleep. + +Then into Nancy's happy meditations flashed the disturbing thought that +nothing about the garden or the house belonged in any way to her! + +"It's just _like_ me to forget," she declared aloud, shouldering her +hoe and turning toward the carriage barn. "And like me to get fond of +it all!" + +"Anyway, Nonie'll have her party, and even if there isn't a harp and a +velvet train there'll be lots to eat or B'lindy's name isn't B'lindy. +I wonder," and Nancy addressed the distant outline of the Judson's +barns, "how Peter Hyde'll _ever_ act at a tea-party!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE PARTY + +Very early, on the morning of the day of the party, Nancy and Aunt +Milly and B'lindy and Jonathan and Nonie and Davy and Peter Hyde, each, +scanned a sunny, cloudless sky with relief and joy. + +"Well, it isn't going to rain, anyway," each thought. + +Even Miss Sabrina, lifting her shade slowly, felt her pulse beat more +quickly as a sunbeam danced into her face. This day was a new day for +Happy House; she could not count the years since a "party" had been +given in her home; her old hands trembled now as she dressed hurriedly. +"_What_ if something goes wrong!" she thought. Had they forgotten +anything? + +A little later Nancy, standing with her arms full of girlish finery of +thirty years ago, voiced the same fear to Aunt Milly. + +"_What_ if something should go wrong!" But there had been a giggle in +her voice as she had said it. This was the most delightfully funny +party she had ever known, and it was going to be the very jolliest, too. + +Directly after breakfast Nonie had run home with the made-over white +dress. She thought it much lovelier than velvet and in her joy over a +pair of Nancy's slippers the child forgot her cherished dream of a +train. + +What Miss Milly should wear to the party was a matter that demanded +much thought. "You see, I want you to look _happy_," Nancy explained +to Aunt Milly. She had dragged down from the attic a little trunk in +which, after the accident, many of Aunt Milly's girlish possessions had +been packed. It was great fun taking them out and selecting from them +what Aunt Milly should wear. There were not many things--compared to +Nancy's own wardrobe it was pitifully small and spoke eloquently of the +limited pleasures of Aunt Milly's girlhood. + +"This will be lovely," Nancy held out a flowered silk. "And you can +wear these darling beads. And this," picking out a shell comb, "in +your hair. And I will send Jonathan over to Judson's for a bunch of +their lovely roses. I _know_ they have some!" + +"But isn't this--queer--and out of date? I'm old now, Nancy!" + +"You dear, funny Aunt Milly! Don't you know that you're not a bit old? +All this time you've been shut away the years have been rolling right +past you and have left you untouched. You're going to be the sweetest +picture and you're going to be a--surprise, too!" + +She was a picture when Nancy's eager fingers had finished with her. +The pink of the quaintly fashioned dress was not more pink than the +color that flushed her delicate cheeks; into her soft hair Nancy had +thrust the shell comb and around her neck hung a chain of tiny corals. +Jonathan had returned from Judson's with four bunches of roses and one +of them now adorned Miss Milly. + +"You're just _lovely_," Nancy had cried, imprinting a warm kiss upon +the blushing cheek. + +She awarded the same stamp of approval upon Aunt Sabrina, too, who was +very stately in a black silk with one of the Judson roses pinned in the +net fichu about her throat. + +"And I shall kiss you, too," Nancy called out to B'lindy, catching, +through the open door a glimpse of marvellously starched calico. + +"You go 'long and keep out from under my feet," had been B'lindy's +retort as she retreated from Nancy's threatened attack. "I guess +there's work has to be done before _this_ party's over!" But the +grumbling in her voice could not conceal her pride and satisfaction. + +"Oh, _everything_ is just lovely," Nancy exclaimed, tiptoeing about to +add a finishing touch here and there. And indeed, some magic wand +seemed to have scattered gladness everywhere about the old place; the +great rooms, open now to the sunshine, radiated it in the fragrance of +the flowers that Nancy had heaped everywhere. + +"I wish it would stay like this," was her unspoken thought. + +But in her plans for the party which was to show all Freedom that Happy +House _was_ a happy house, Nancy had reckoned without Mrs. Cyrus Eaton. + +Since trouble had shadowed Happy House and shut its hospitable doors, +time had brought changes to Freedom just as it had to every place on +the globe; commerce, trade, politics, a certain democratizing of the +standards of living had made their inroads even upon the little +village; new families came and old ones died out. And new influences +challenged and threatened the old Island aristocracy. + +Not the least of these was the influence of trade. When Cyrus Eaton +bought and rebuilt the general store next to the post-office he made +for himself--or for his wife--a social prestige that was beyond +dispute. As the years had gone by he had strengthened this materially +by certain credits which he extended to different families in the +village. + +Webb had gone to Mrs. Eaton's first with his invitation and his story. +That lady had flipped the little card upon the table with a snort. Did +Miss Leavitt or anyone _else_ think she'd go anywhere where those +Hopworths were? Was it not her duty, too, to warn her friends as to +what this party would be like--to tell them of this hoydenish, +impertinent girl, "of the bad branch of the family," who seemed to have +hypnotized Miss Sabrina? + +By the time Mrs. Eaton had finished her baking, put on her best purple +poplin and started out in Webb's trail, her rage had carried her to +such heights of eloquence that it was not difficult for her to convince +her neighbors that some "hoax" was about to be played upon the good +folks of Freedom and that each one must show her pride by remaining +away from the party. She talked so fast, and repeated her stories so +often, that she digressed, quite unconsciously, from the truth and, at +the last few calls, made Nancy out a most shocking young person! + +"I _can't_ tell you--I _wouldn't_ tell you--all the goings _on_ at that +Cove," was her favorite introduction. "And in the orchard, too! +_Anyone_ could have told Sabrina Leavitt she was a _fool_ bringing the +creature here--that branch of the family, _everyone_ knows, wouldn't be +above doing _anything_!" + +So while happy Nancy arranged flowers for the party the expected guests +entrenched themselves behind their closed blinds, their righteous +satisfaction tinged the very least bit by regret born of immense +curiosity. + +However, there were two exceptions. Samuel Todd, the postmaster, was +an aspirant for a seat in the State Legislature. His ancestors had +never lived anywhere else but on the Island and he had inherited a +wholesome respect for the Leavitt name. He was enough of a politician, +too, to know that, even though she was an old woman, he might sometime +need Miss Sabrina's good-will. + +"You go 'long and keep your eyes open and your mouth shut," he had +advised his wife when, after Mrs. Eaton's hurried call, she had sought +his counsel. "You women talk too much, anyway." + +Mrs. Todd, for once, was delighted to do his bidding; Carrie Baker, +over at North Hero, had made over her yellow muslin so that it was +"better'n new--and just lyin' up there in the closet catchin' dust," +she explained to Mrs. Sniggs. Mrs. Sniggs promptly offered to +accompany her. + +"I'm that _curious_ to see that mantel--and the girl, too!" + +So that, when the hour of the party struck and found Nancy, like a +flower, with Miss Sabrina and Miss Milly, on the lawn, ready to receive +their guests, the only guests (excepting Peter Hyde and the Hopworths +and Miss Sabrina and B'lindy, peeking from the door, did not count +them) were Mrs. Sniggs and Mrs. Todd. + +Liz Hopworth with Nonie and Davy had come early. Davy shone as to face +and feet; the grandeur of the new shoes Peter Hyde had given him quite +made up for the small things lacking in the rest of his appearance. +Liz was trying not to pant in a plum-colored cashmere that was many +sizes too small for her gaunt frame. Nancy had managed to place her +near Aunt Milly--Aunt Milly was sure to be cordial and gentle with her +and put her at her ease. + +Webb and Peter Hyde had come early, too. Nancy had caught herself +watching for Peter Hyde. She had given a little involuntary gasp when +she saw him--he was resplendent in immaculate white flannels! + +"Of course he _bought_ them--just for this!" she thought regretfully. +However, she had a moment of delicious satisfaction when she took him +to Miss Sabrina; they should all see that a hired man could be very +much of a gentleman. + +"Peter," she managed to whisper to him, "I have a feeling that +something _awful_ is going to happen!" Then Mrs. Todd and Mrs. Sniggs +had come through the gate and she had gone forward to meet them. + +It was Webb who gave Nancy a hint of the real truth. He was, as he +expressed it, "so gol darn flubberin' mad at the hul parcel of +womenfolks he'd liked to burst!" Gossip had crept to the post-office +stoop and Webb had sensed what was going on. "Skunks--beggin' your +pardon, Miss Anne, but that's _what_!" + +Nancy had a moment of panic; her eyes sought wildly for Peter Hyde. +Then her fighting blood stirred. "Thank you, Webb," she said with +well-assumed calmness. "Don't worry a bit! We'll show them--we'll act +just as though we hadn't invited anyone else!" + +But her nonchalant manner cloaked real distress. There was Miss +Sabrina, proud Miss Sabrina who had opened the doors of her trouble for +all Freedom to come and gape at--Nancy knew it had not been easy! +There was pretty, fluttering, expectant Aunt Milly in the dress she had +had made when she was eighteen; Nonie who had dreamed of throngs of +guests paying homage before her; and B'lindy, who had made a cake that +was "like as a twin to the one my mother made for the Gov'nor!" What +would _they_ say? + +Was she not, indirectly, the cause of the humiliation that threatened +them? + +Nancy hurried to Peter Hyde where, in a corner of the garden, he stood +paying court to Nonie. In answer to his pleasant nonsense Nonie's +delighted laughter was rising shrilly. Nancy sent Nonie back to Aunt +Milly. Then she caught Peter's arm. + +"Peter! _Pe-ter_! Quick--come behind this bush! I'm--I'm--I've got +to cry----" + +And to Peter Hyde's consternation Nancy _did_ burst into tears. + +"For Heaven's sake, Nancy, what----" + +"I'm just--_mad_," Nancy blurted from behind a handkerchief. "The--the +_cats_!" She lifted her head, relieved by her sudden outburst. "It's +that Mrs. Eaton again! She's--just--getting even!" She told what Webb +had said. "And here's the--party--and no one will come! Aunt Sabrina +will never, never get over it. And B'lindy--I _wish_ I could run away." + +Peter Hyde wanted very much to laugh, but the real distress in Nancy's +face touched him. He patted her consolingly. + +"Can't I do something? Can't Webb and I round 'em up at the point of a +gun?" + +"N-no, it's too late! We've just got to act as though the--the garden +was _full_ and make the best of it! I wanted it to be _such_ a +success. I wanted it to be a party that Nonie 'd never forget. And I +wanted everyone to see Aunt Milly! Oh, why, oh, _why_ doesn't +something happen!" For Nancy had suddenly remembered the huge pails of +ice-cream and the cake that was "like as a twin to the one my mother +made for the Gov'nor." + +At that moment the loud whirring of an automobile caught their +attention. Nancy, red-eyed, peeped from behind their bush. + +"It's at our gate!" she cried. "_Peter_----" she clutched his arm. +From the tonneau a tall man was alighting. To Nancy there was +something vaguely familiar in the sharp-featured, clean-shaven face and +in the mass of wavy white hair that fringed his coat collar. + +"_Peter, it's--it's--Theodore Hoffman!_" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE MASTER + +A bolt from the cloudless blue could not have startled the little +gathering on the lawn more than did the arrival of the distinguished +stranger at the gate of Happy House. Moreover, French Mercedes cars +did not often pass through North Hero; this was purple and cream color +and the chauffeur wore purple livery. And the man who walked up the +path had a bearing that distinctly set him apart from ordinary mortals. + +Nancy, in a panic, wanted the earth to swallow her, but as the earth +was very solid, she had no choice but to drag herself forward. She +had, only a moment before, prayed that something would happen--and +something had! + +Peter Hyde had rushed forward to greet the newcomer and this had given +Nancy a moment to rally her scattered wits. She was too busy +whispering an explanation to Miss Sabrina to notice how friendly had +been the master's greeting to Peter. + +"Miss Leavitt, may I present Mr. Theodore Hoffman--and Miss Anne +Leavitt." + +Peter's voice was as steady as though he was introducing any John +Smith; there was even a twinkle in his eye, as it caught Nancy's +glance, that seemed to say: "I have brought the master to you--now!" + +There was a gentleness in the keen, deep-set eyes, a friendliness in +the musical voice of the master that suddenly quieted Nancy's +fluttering nerves. Time and again, at the very thought of this +meeting, she had been so frightened and now--she was not a bit afraid. +She was even glad he had come when the garden looked so pretty, when +Aunt Sabrina was so proudly garbed in her best silk, when Aunt Milly, +all pink and white, with Nonie perched on the arm of her chair, was +leaning over explaining some intricate stitch in a bit of embroidery to +Liz, to whom embroidery was not less remote than Sanskrit literature. + +Mrs. Sniggs and Mrs. Todd were staring, open-mouthed, first at the +stranger, then at the cream-and-purple car at the gate. + +Nancy's spirits that had dropped to such depths behind the syringa +bushes soared again. At last her moment had come! The master was +declaring his delight in having chosen such a happy afternoon to come +to Happy House; he admired the garden, and the old house; he admitted +to a great curiosity concerning the Islands--he had never visited them +before. + +Nancy left him with Aunt Sabrina. Aunt Sabrina would manage to tell +him a great deal--Nancy, watching, knew just when she left the Indians +and the burning of Freedom and began on Ethan Allen and the Green +Mountain Boys and the coming of Benedict Arnold and his flagship to the +Island. + +"He'll love her," she whispered to Peter Hyde, nodding toward where the +master leaned with deep attention over Miss Sabrina's chair. "Look me +square in the eye, Peter! _Did_ you know he was coming to-day?" + +"On my honor, I didn't. Is the play ready?" + +"All ready, in a nice fat envelope. For goodness sake, look at Webb!" + +Webb, returning from the house where he had hurried to tell B'lindy of +the coming of the distinguished guest ("Don' know who he is nor whar he +come from, but he's got one of them thur autymobiles that's bigger'n a +steam enjine and a fellar drivin' it thet's dressed up like a circus +lady") was standing in the path wildly gesticulating with one hand to +attract Nancy's attention and with the other clapped over his mouth to +suppress the laughter that was plainly shaking his entire body. + +Nancy and Peter turned to see what had so convulsed him. Up the road +toward the gate were approaching three separate groups of women, all +coming hurriedly, breathlessly, with a great deal of chatter and +fussing with hats and gloves. + +Mrs. Maria Slade, behind her blind had seen the purple and +cream-colored car. So had Miss Merry, across the street; so had a +dozen others from behind their entrenchments. Simultaneously, in as +many hearts, the urge of curiosity conquered resentment. + +"It'll only take me _half_ a minit to slip on my green dress," Mrs. +Slade had called to Miss Merry. "Wait fer me!" + +Mrs. Brown, next door, had heard her. + +"I'll come along, too," she called out. + +All through the street there was a stirring behind closed blinds, a +hurried taking down of the Sunday-best and a feverish changing of shoes +and searching for gloves. + +"It's all very well for Sarah Eaton to tell us to show our pride," Mrs. +Dexter had confided to Mrs. Hill, "but _I_ just said to myself nobody +done nothing to hurt me, _I_ was goin' to see for myself what Sabriny +Leavitt was havin' up there! Did you see that automobile? Purple, as +I live. My, ain't this sun hot! I've got to go slower or I'll have a +stroke." + +"Every blessed woman in Freedom," cried Peter Hyde. + +"Oh, how _funny_! Look at them coming. They saw the purple car. +Peter, the party is a success! Aunt Sabrina will never know. Watch me +now!" With a saucy tilt of her chin Nancy stepped down the path to +greet the first of the late comers. + +"_So_ glad you have come," she murmured prettily, clasping Mrs. Slade's +warm hand. "Do come under the trees where it is cool. I am so sorry +you hurried." + +In her most gracious manner Nancy presented each one in turn to Mr. +Theodore Hoffman, of New York, then carried them off to Miss Milly. + +"--and Miss Hopworth! But of course you know Miss Hopworth. Doesn't +Nonie look darling to-day?" she would say to each one, with wicked +intent. + +Then a sudden inspiration seized her. "Nonie should play one of her +pretend games for the master and their guests," she whispered excitedly +to Aunt Milly and Nonie and Peter Hyde. + +"Wheel Aunt Milly's chair back toward those bushes--that'll be the +stage. Now, Nonie, play your best! Perhaps--perhaps the fairy +godmother is here." + +After a few moments of excited consultation Peter Hyde announced in a +loud tone that, for the entertainment of the guests, a fairy fantasy, +"The Visit of the Moon-Queen," would be presented by Miss Nonie +Hopworth. + +"Well, I swun, with folks here from N'York, encouragin' that girl to +act her nonsense," murmured Mrs. Sniggs to a neighbor. + +But the man-from-New York's face brightened expectantly when Nancy +waved her hand out over their heads as though to touch them all with a +fairy wand. "Let my magic give you fairy eyes so that you may see that +this is _not_ the garden of Happy House but a woodland, peopled by +fairy creatures! If you will listen very hard, you will hear them +stirring. It is the Flowers. They come to the Woodland to make it +ready for the Moon-Queen who will visit them this night!" + +Down through the trees danced Nonie, bare-footed, arms outflung, as +though she was, indeed, joyously preparing for the triumphal coming of +a Queen. In turn she characterized the Daisy, the Hollyhock, the +Buttercup and the Rose--then became the good old Dandelion. + +"Lily, you are _so_ lazy," the Dandelion sternly admonished her fair +sister. "Don't you know the Queen likes tidy gardens when she comes +here? And see the muss Buttercup has left around. Oh, dearie me, +children will be children and I'll be so glad when Buttercup and +Daffy-down-dilly grow up! Daisy, it isn't lady-like to complain that +your dress is so plain! I am sure the Queen will think you look very +well, if your petals are clean. It's what you _do_, anyway, and _not_ +what you wear!" + +Nancy saw Peter Hyde's laughing face drop suddenly between his arms. + +With quaint, childish phrasing and with dancing steps Nonie interpreted +her story to her audience. When each flower had done its part toward +preparing the Garden for the coming of the Queen, Nonie, as the old +Dandelion, admonished them to sit very still, "so as not to muss their +dresses," and then disappeared only to appear again as the stately +Queen. Like a peacock, holding an imaginary train in one hand, Nonie +strutted across the grass, now nodding graciously to right and left, +now haughtily chiding imaginary moonbeams who accompanied her. +Then--the Queen supposedly in state upon her throne--Nonie was again +the Dandelion, leading forward her sister flowers to pay court to their +Queen. + +Suddenly (from the direction of Aunt Milly's chair) came a slow, +sorrowful voice that the Flowers (or at least Dandelion) lamented +loudly as Trouble. The Flowers were sadly dismayed that Trouble should +have intruded upon this festive gathering in honor of the Moon-Queen! +But the Moon-Queen implored them "not to worry a bit." + +"I know all about Trouble and the harm she does! I see everything as I +ride through the sky. But, never fear, we will find a way to get rid +of her!" The Queen threw out her hand with an imperial gesture. +"Summon Youth!" + +Nancy, as Youth, trying very hard not to giggle, answered the summons. +In her pink dress, a flush dying her tanned cheeks, her eyes alight +with life, she was so much the embodiment of joyous, appealing youth +that Peter Hyde, absorbedly watching, felt a catch at his heart. + +Gravely the Moon-Queen touched Youth with her magic wand. + +"Go out into the world and drive Trouble away! I will give you fairy +presents to help you in your fight. This," holding out a flower, "is a +magic flower. If you wear it all the time you'll remember that there's +always flowers and birds and nice things to make people happy. And +here's a fairy leaf. If you wave that in people's faces they'll all be +kind and never be cross to little children or animals or old people. +And here is a fairy ring," placing a twisted dandelion stem in Youth's +hand, "that'll make you love everybody and everybody love you. And +here is a magic coat," putting Aunt Milly's shawl over Youth's arm, +"when you wear it you'll always do beautiful things and you'll always +seem beautiful and never grow old or ugly!" + +Then the Flowers, at the Queen's bidding, danced wildly about Youth to +show their joy at her coming--at least Nonie danced wildly, with utter +abandon. Forgetting her audience, she had thrown herself heart and +soul into the "game." + +Again the Queen, she bade the pretty Rose step forward and take Youth +by the hand and "walk along with her so that she'll see everything +through your spectacles. I bid all _adieu_!" + +After one sweeping bow Nonie had to unceremoniously leave the poor +Moon-Queen in order to become the joyous Rose to whom had been allotted +the pleasant task of accompanying Youth through her life's journey. +She caught Youth by the hand and together, amid loud applause, led +mainly by Webb and Peter Hyde, they danced away through the trees and +shrubbery to the kitchen garden beyond. + +"Author! Author!" came from Peter Hyde's corner and brought Nancy and +Nonie, flushed by their play, back to the gathering under the trees. + +"I'm blessed if _I_ could make head'nor tail out of any of it, but did +you see, Mary Sniggs, the way thet N'York man watched the two of them +galivantin'?" + +Mrs. Sniggs discreetly snorted into her handkerchief. "That kind o' +play-actin' may be very well for Sabriny Leavitt's niece, but I don' +believe it'll do any girl any good that's gotta earn her livin'!" + +Nancy, still breathless, found Peter Hyde at her side. There was an +earnestness in the gaze he kept fixed upon her that brought an added +color to her cheeks. + +"Was it _dreadfully_ silly, Peter? I couldn't resist it. Could you +_see_ their faces when they watched Nonie?" + +"I could only see you! I feel as though fairies _had_ been here!" + +"Peter--_you're_ silly," rebuked Nancy. "Shall I give you one of my +fairy gifts? The flower--or the leaf----" + +"I want the ring," he answered with provoking gravity. + +"There--you shall have it! Now you will love everybody and everybody +will love you," Nancy laughed, placing the dandelion stem in his +outstretched hand. + +She was tremendously glad that at that moment Theodore Hoffman joined +them--Peter Hyde had so seriously patted the pocket into which he had +placed the ring--as though he really believed it could work its magic! +She turned eagerly to the master but he spoke first. + +"Tell me--I am haunted by a thousand memories--who in the world is this +strange little creature?" + +Nancy told the master of Nonie, of that first night in the orchard, of +her strange gift of imagination, of her "pretend" games by which she +had persistently gilded over the very rough spots of a sordid, lonely +life. + +"She is always reaching out for the spirit of the things about her and +trying to make each her own!" + +"She is like a flower that has grown up among weeds," muttered the +great man, his thoughts far away, a frown wrinkling his brow. +"Sometimes, it is in such places that we find the greatest gifts. I +wonder," he gave a little start, as though bringing himself, with an +effort, back to the garden. "It's always been a hobby of mine, hunting +around in queer places for something I can give to my Art. Perhaps you +don't understand me, but, wherever I am, I am watching, watching all +the time, for a promise of talent that, if properly cultivated and +trained, will give something to the greatest of the Arts--dramatic +expression." + +Thrilled, Nancy sat tongue-tied, afraid to speak. He went on: "I said +I was haunted--years ago I ran across another child, not unlike this +one. She gave rare promise of genius. I put her in my school. I had +her there several years. I looked for a great deal from her. But--she +failed me." + +"Did she--die?" + +The master laughed. "No, she loved a man more than she did her art. I +was jealous--unreasonable. I let her go away--heard nothing more of +her. I suppose she married. She's probably fat now, with a half-dozen +squalling babies. Yes, I was jealous--I wanted to give her to my art, +soul and body--as a fanatic would make his offering to his gods. And +this child has made me think of her again. It has been a most +interesting hour, Miss Leavitt. You say the child's head is full of +this sort of thing? H-mm." + +Now the garden was filled with a babble of voices intermingled with the +clinking of spoons and dishes. Someone had overheard the great man's +praise of Nonie's "play-actin'," and the word spread quickly. Mrs. +Brown allowed it was "just spooky the way that child could make you +think she was what she wasn't" and Mrs. Slade's sister's sister-in-law +had seen Maude Adams in a play where she'd "pretended something all the +time--something 'bout Cinderella, and like as not it might have been +'bout fairies, too." Under the stimulation of iced tea and cakes and +caramel ice cream, served from delicate china, praise for Nonie grew +and the fairy leaf that Youth carried, so that "people would be kind," +began to work its magic in the garden. + +It was well toward sunset when the last guest departed. Nancy, +standing in the doorway with the empty house behind her, and before her +the deserted garden, with its chairs and tables in crazy disarray, sent +a wild little prayer down the road after the purple automobile that had +whirled away carrying the great master and her poor little play. + +"_Please_ think it's good! I worked so hard." + +As her eye caught the gleam of gabled housetops through the trees Nancy +suddenly pictured how, at that very moment, every home in Freedom was +echoing with the story of the party. + +It had been a success! All Freedom--through the women's eyes--had been +there to see precious Aunt Milly; now they knew that Happy House was a +happy house. And, wonder of wonders, she had heard Mrs. Sniggs, in a +most friendly way, ask Liz Hopworth to drop in and show her how she +made her "plum jell." + +Suddenly Nancy seemed to hear Peter Hyde saying: "I didn't see anything +but you!" How silly he'd been--putting that absurd dandelion stem into +his pocket, as though it really _had_ some magic! Then, with quite +unaccountable haste, as though to run away from her own meditations, +Nancy rushed to the kitchen and begged B'lindy to let her help "clear +up." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +A PICNIC + +A reaction set in after the party, Miss Milly, over-fatigued, had had +to stay in her room. Happy House, itself, fell back into its old ways; +again the blinds were shut, the flower vases disappeared and the +peacock feathers were returned to their places of honor. B'lindy +developed rheumatism. + +Too, a week followed of long hot days and stifling nights, "brewin' up +for somethin'," B'lindy declared. + +Nancy, her play finished, suffered from a restlessness she had never +known before. She told herself that, now her work was done, she must +not linger at Happy House; then found that she could not bear to face +the thought of going! These ties that she had made bound her closely. +It was not as though she might come back as they would think she +could--the separation must be forever. And the day must come when +these good people she had grown to love would know that she had +deceived and cheated them! + +"That is my punishment," she thought, in real distress. + +On the morning of a day that differed only from the other cloudless +days in that the sky was bluer and the sun hotter, Jonathan brought +Nancy a letter from Mrs. Finnegan. Enclosed in it was a cable from her +father telling her that he had booked passage on the _Tourraine_, +leaving Le Havre within two days. + +"Oh," Nancy cried aloud, "he is _coming home_!" + +So intent was she upon her letter that she did not see the rapid +approach of a shiny Ford; but at a terrific whirring and grating of +wheels and levers she turned, startled. + +"Love letter?" queried Peter Hyde, jumping from the driver's seat. + +"_How_ you frightened me! And why this magnificence? No, it is _not_ +a love-letter!" Nancy laughed joyously as she tucked it away in her +pocket. Oh, why _couldn't_ she tell Peter Hyde that it was word that +her dearest father was at that moment sailing home to her! (Nancy +could not know that the letter had lain in Tim Finnegan's pocket for +five whole days.) + +"This----" and Peter Hyde caressed his new possession, "is the latest +tool at Judson's. You have no idea how many things it can do--'most +everything except milk the cows. To-day I thought, if Miss Nancy +Leavitt was willing, it might take us on a picnic--say, up to Isle La +Motte. I'm beastly tired of work!" + +"Oh, lovely," declared Nancy. "I've felt these last few days as though +I wanted to rush off somewhere! Besides, I have something to tell you!" + +Peter pretended alarm at her serious tone; then making her promise to +be ready within a half-hour, he drove off. + +It would be very pleasant to have a last picnic with Peter Hyde. She +would give herself one day of frolic before she faced the problem of +getting away from Happy House. It was too hot for Aunt Milly to go out +to the orchard, she would leave word with B'lindy that if Nonie came +the child should be sent to Miss Milly's room to amuse her. And +perhaps it would be wiser if she slipped away without telling Aunt +Sabrina. Aunt Sabrina was sure to look as though, when _she_ was a +girl, young ladies did not dash off on long automobile rides +unchaperoned! + +Avoiding the living room and the hollyhock porch, Nancy sought out +B'lindy and begged a little lunch. + +"We're going for a little ride in Mr. Judson's new car, B'lindy, but we +might not get back in time for lunch--you know you never _can_ tell +what'll happen when you start out in an automobile! A few nice jelly +sandwiches and a little cold chicken and some fruit cake and--tarts----" + +B'lindy shook her head. "'Tain't the _lunch_ that's botherin' me, +child, but I can't get the pesky idee out o' my head that somethin' is +goin' to happen! I've been feelin' that way in my bones all day and +all day yesterday, too." + +"B'lindy, you foolish, superstitious thing--it's your rheumatism!" + +"I guess it ain't my rheumatiz, Miss Anne, and my bones generally feels +right. I ain't forgotten when Miss Milly had that accident nor when +Judson's barn burned. I thought mebbe it was poor Mis' Hopkins dyin'. +Didn't you know the poor soul dropped right off in her sleep last night +and left Timothy Hopkins with those ten children to care for? I sez +this mornin' when Jonathan told me that there was no use tryin' to +understand the ways of the Lord--ten children and that poor Timothy +Hopkins as helpless a body as ever was, anyway, and not much more'n +'nough to feed his own stomach and no one to manage now!" + +"How dreadful! Poor man." Nancy tried to make her tone sympathetic. +"Of course that was what your bones were feeling, B'lindy!" + +B'lindy turned a truly distressed face to Nancy. "But it _wa'nt_! No, +sir, right this minit my bones is feelin' worse than ever that +somethin' is goin' to happen!" She sighed as she patted a sandwich +together. "Lord knows mebbe it's the heat. There's somethin' brewin', +Miss Anne, and you'd better keep an eye open for a storm--they come up +fast in this valley!" + +But Nancy refused to let B'lindy's fears or warnings dampen her gay +spirits. Indeed, she promptly forgot them in the joy of dashing off +over the dusty road. B'lindy's lunch was tucked away in the back; +ahead stretched miles of smooth inviting highway, winding through +pleasant green meadows. + +And this man who grasped the wheel of the car with such complete +confidence, who seemed bent upon nothing more important than making the +little hand of the speedometer climb higher and higher--this was a new +Peter Hyde, unfamiliar and yet strangely familiar in that now he +resembled the dozens of other young men Nancy had known. + +Nancy felt suddenly shy. Always before, when with Peter, she had +enjoyed the least bit of a feeling of superiority, that she was +graciously bringing, with her friendship, much into a life that must, +because it was limited to Judson's farm, often seem dull and empty. +But it was not easy to feel that way toward this very good-looking +young man in immaculate blue serge who tended to her comfort with the +assurance of a person quite accustomed to taking young ladies on +automobile picnics! + +Because they were both young, because the breeze blowing deliciously +against their faces was fragrant with summer smells, their hearts were +light; they chattered merrily, as young people will, about everything +under the sun, then lapsed into pleasant silences, broken only by the +regular humming of the engine. + +However, after a little, these silences irritated Nancy. Peeping from +a corner of her eye at Peter Hyde's blonde head, she was annoyed by an +overwhelming curiosity as to what was going on, within it! What _was_ +the mystery concealed behind that pleasant mask? And why, when they +seemed such good friends, could he not tell her? + +Then she suddenly realized, with a quick sense of shame, that she, too, +was concealing much from Peter Hyde! + +As they rode along he pointed out old landmarks with the familiarity of +a life-long Islander. He admitted that history fascinated him. "Not +in books as much as when you can hook it up with the very ground you're +walking on! Look at that lake over there--can't you picture it covered +with the canoes of the Indians? They used to come around here in +flotillas--the Iroquois, the Algonquins and the Hurons, always +fighting. Great lot they were--scrapping all the time!" + +He seemed to have at his tongue's end some interesting bit of +information about every spot they passed. As they wandered around Isle +La Motte, he told how on this little Island Champlain had first landed +on his voyage down into the valley. He explained that a Jesuit mission +had been established there as far back as 1660, long before any other +white men had ventured into the wilderness. + +They visited the ruins of Fort Ste. Anne on Sandy Point and the little +chapel with its cross, to which, on the Feast of Ste. Anne, came +pilgrims from great distances, to pray at the shrine. + +"We think this America of ours is so young," he laughed. "And here we +are living on soil that has been consecrated by brave sacrifices of +centuries ago! Not so bad." + +Driving homeward their backs were turned to the little ominous pile of +clouds darkening a corner of the blue sky. At a spot where the road +ran close to the edge of the lake, under a wide-spreading maple tree, +they laid out B'lindy's lunch. + +"Now I'll tell him I'm going," Nancy vowed to herself, with a little +unaccountable fluttering. + +He was on his knees before the picnic box. She could not see his face. + +"Peter!" She had not realized how hard it was going to be to say it. +"I'm--going--away! Really." + +She had expected that he would be startled--show real consternation. +Her going _must_ make a difference in his life at Freedom--there were +no other young people to take her place. + +He was surprised; he held a jelly sandwich suspended for a moment, as +though waiting for her to say something more. Then he laid it down on +a paper plate. + +"White meat or dark meat," he asked. + +Nancy could not know that he was not really concerned as to whether she +preferred white meat or dark meat, that his indifference was, indeed, +covering a moment's inability to express his real feelings. She was +suddenly angry--angry at herself more than at Peter Hyde! + +"Of course I shall hate to go, I have grown very fond of Aunt Sabrina +and Aunt Milly and B'lindy--and dear little Nonie. It's hardest to +leave her!" + +"They'll miss you. You've changed Happy House. And Nonie's a +different child." + +"He's very careful not to say he'll miss me," thought Nancy with +childish pique. Then, aloud: "But I can't stay at Happy House forever. +I only planned to spend three weeks there at the most and it's been +six. And it seems as though I'd been there ages! I suppose one day on +the Islands is like a week in the cities, where you live right next to +people and never really touch their lives. However, it's in the rush +of the cities I belong; I should _die_ if I had to stay here!" She +wanted him to understand that the attractions of Happy House could not +hold her; she wanted to punish him for that abstraction that she had +thought indifference. + +"Judson's will be a dull hole without you at Happy House, Nancy," Peter +put in, gravely. + +She laughed lightly. "By Christmas you will have forgotten all about +me! Anyway, you will have Miss Denny." + +With wicked delight over his embarrassment Nancy told him of Nonie's +plan that Miss Denny should be Mr. Peter's "dearest." + +"Your fate is as plain as the nose on my face," she laughed, +tantalizingly. "You won't have to cross my palm with silver to know +your future, Mr. Hyde! A cottage on the ten-acre piece where you will +live happily--ever afterward. As a wedding gift, with my best wishes, +I'll give you the Bird's-Nest." + +She dodged the drum-stick that Peter threw at her. "You are not at all +grateful for the nice fortune I'm giving you," she declared. + +"I am, indeed! Though it doesn't seem quite fair for me to make too +many plans without consulting Miss Denny, and I've never seen the lady. +She may be old and ugly, black--or yellow." + +"I'll tell you--if you'll promise not to tell that I've told! She _is_ +old and ugly; she's blind in one eye and stutters and limps and has +straggly gray hair and----" + +"For Heaven's sake, stop! When all my life I've been looking for a +girl with brown hair that looks sort of red and freckles--about three +thousand of them!" + +"Peter!" Nancy sprang precipitously to her feet. "Look--there is a +storm coming!" + +B'lindy's threatened storm was approaching swiftly. The black cloud +that had been piling up behind them now overspread the whole western +sky. "What a shame--to have it spoil our day! This has been such fun. +I'll never forget it, after I've gone." Then, hastily, "Gather up the +napkins and the baskets; I promised B'lindy I'd bring them home! Isn't +there a short cut home? I'm really dreadfully afraid of lightning." +But she had caught something in the expression of Peter Hyde's face +that frightened her more than the threatened storm. + +"Let's hurry," she cried, running unceremoniously to the automobile. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +DAVY'S GIFT + +Real need recognizing no distinction of class, it had been Liz Hopworth +who had been summoned to the Hopkins home when Mrs. Hopkins "dropped +off" in the middle of the night, leaving ten children motherless. + +Over Dan'l's late breakfast Liz, wan-eyed from loss of sleep, but +dignified by a new importance, related all the sad circumstances of +poor Sarah Hopkins' passing. "Who'd a' _thought_," she exclaimed as +she vigorously beat her pan-cake batter, "yesterday when I see the poor +woman out a hangin' her clothes that this blessed night I'd a' been +called in to straighten her limbs and do for those poor young 'uns!" + +To Nonie and Davy death was a strangely mysterious thing which they +took for granted; dogs and cats and calves died; frequently there was a +burial in the village cemetery. These had always had an element of +excitement which even stirred the Hopworth home, detached though it was +from the village life. They looked at Liz, now, with wide eager eyes. +To have "straightened poor Sarah Hopkins' limbs" seemed to have +transformed her--her tone was kinder, something almost tender gleamed +in her tired eyes, and she was making pan-cakes for their breakfast! + +"Just fetch that grease, Nonie. Step spry, too--there's a lot to be +done before this day's over. Lordy, I thought to myself last night, +that the Lord strikes hard--leavin' those ten children that haven't +done no wrong without any mother to manage and Timothy Hopkins sittin' +there as helpless like he'd been hit over the head, he's that stunned. +And scarcely a bite in the house." + +Old Dan'l had long since gotten past the day of worrying over the ways +of the Lord. Nor to him was there anything particularly startling in a +lack of food. His had always been a philosophy that believed that from +somewhere or other Providence would provide, and if it didn't-- + +"Scarcely a bite, and all steppin' on one another, there's so many of +'em, and then when I think o' Happy House and the plenty there's there, +well, 's I say, the Lord's ways are beyond _me_! Eat up your +breakfast, Nonie. You gotta do up the work here, for I told that poor +man I'd come back quick as ever I could. There's no end of work to be +done 'fore that place will look fit for folks to come and see her." + +"Can I go, too, Liz?" asked Davy. "Mebbe I can help." + +Normally Liz would have made a sharp retort. Now she considered a +moment. + +"Mebbe you can. You can play with the baby so's Jennie can help me +sweep and dust. Sarah Hopkins would turn over if she thought folks was +goin' to see the muss and litter. Hurry along." + +All that Liz had said of the house of mourning had been true. Davy +found the muss and litter; the poor smithy wandering helplessly around +and the "young 'uns" stepping on one another. He shut his eyes tight +so that he would not have to catch the tiniest glimpse of poor Sarah +Hopkins lying very still in the bedroom off the kitchen. He was glad +when Liz, in a strangely brisk tone, bade Jennie, the oldest Hopkins +girl, give the baby over to Davy. + +"He's come 'long to mind the baby, so's you can help. Take him +outside, Davy, and keep him out from under foot. Take up these dishes! +Sure's I'm livin' I see Mrs. Sniggs comin' up the road this blessed +minit." + +Davy, gathering up his charge, retreated hastily. In fact, his pace +did not slacken until he was well away from the Hopkins home. Then he +put his burden down under a tree and stared at it. + +The baby, blissfully unconscious of its loss, cooed ecstatically to +express his joy at the unusual attention. He reached out tiny hands to +Davy. "Go----go!" he gurgled, coaxingly. + +"You sit right there! I gotta think," was Davy's scowling answer. + +And Davy was thinking--hard. Liz' story, over the breakfast, had sunk +deep into his soul. _He_ knew what it was to live in a household where +there was no mother and not much food! + +It did not take Davy very long to make up his mind. Then, with +determination written in every wrinkle of his frowning face, he lifted +the baby and hurried to his home. An hour later, still carrying the +baby, he trudged doggedly up the road to Happy House, through the gate, +along the path to the door. Only for a moment did he pause on the +threshold; then, softly opening the door, he entered, and came out +again, empty-armed. + +The oppressiveness of the day had decidedly ruffled the atmosphere of +Happy House. Miss Sabrina had taken the news of Nancy's flight with a +disapproving grunt; B'lindy had sharply come to Nancy's defense. She +"guessed girls had to be girls anyways, though she'd a feelin' in her +bones that somethin' might happen and one never could tell 'bout them +pesky machines." + +Then Miss Sabrina, taller and straighter than ever, had walked +haughtily away as far as the sitting room, when a shriek brought +B'lindy running. + +Miss Sabrina had dropped breathless into a chair and at her feet sat +the Hopkins baby sucking its thumb. + +"B'lindy--what--what is it? I liked to fall over it!" + +"Land a' goshen--a _baby_! A _real_ live baby!" B'lindy leaned over +cautiously. "Crawled in here like a caterpillar! As I live, here's a +note, Miss Sabrina!" She unpinned a piece of paper from the baby's +dress. + +"Ples kep this child there ante enuf food fer so meny Hopkins Liz sez +and she sez the Lord never ment any body to go hungry she sez your hous +is big enuf fer a dusen and lots of food I gues you don't no thet ther +ar so meny Hopkins and you will like to kepe this one I no how it hurts +to be hungry so ples don't send this baby bak. Yours truly, Davy." + +B'lindy, after reading the note aloud, stared at the baby. + +"Sarah Hopkins' young 'un--I swan!" With her apron she wiped a tear +from her eye. "No one to do for it now." + +Miss Sabrina snorted. + +"Of all the nerve--bringing it here--for me to break my neck on!" + +From above came Miss Milly's voice plaintively calling. + +"Take it away. Milly's calling--she's got to know what the +excitement's about. I'll _never_ get over my fright," and Miss +Sabrina, still trembling, rose to go to her sister. The baby puckered +his face preparatory to a long wail. "Take it _out_," commanded Miss +Sabrina, "it's going to cry--_give_ it something quick." + +B'lindy snatched the baby and flew to the kitchen. She could not bear +to think that any living thing in Happy House was hungry. However, the +threatened squall passed when B'lindy, after carefully shutting her +doors, produced a bowl and a shiny spoon. + +It had not been alone Miss Sabrina's shriek that had frightened Miss +Milly. She had heard a rumble of thunder. She was lying back among +her pillows deadly pale. She clutched Miss Sabrina's hand and begged +her to stay with her. + +"I know I'm foolish," she whispered plaintively, "but it's so +oppressive. It's hard--for me--to breathe." + +Sabrina sat down grimly beside her--no thunder storm came to North Hero +that it did not bring unpleasant memories to them both. + +"Is it--going to be--very bad?" Miss Milly asked plaintively. "I wish +Nancy--was home." + +"Maybe it'll go around," assured her sister with as much tenderness as +she was capable of showing. + +At that moment the door opened slowly and B'lindy, a strangely softened +look on her old face tip-toed in, carrying in her arms the baby, sound +asleep. + +"I just brought it up for Miss Milly to see, it's that cute!" she +explained, in a whisper. + +"The poor little thing," Aunt Milly timidly touched the moist chubby +hand. B'lindy, with the air of having accomplished some great feat, +laid the baby carefully upon the couch. + +"Fed its _poor_ little stomick and it dropped right off to sleep--it'll +forget things now," she said proudly. + +With a different feeling in each of their hearts the three women stared +for a moment at the sleeping baby. Miss Sabrina spoke first. Her +voice was cold and crisp. + +"Take that baby right out of here, B'lindy, and get Jonathan to carry +it back where it came from." + +A rumble of thunder, closer and louder, startled them. Miss Milly sat +bolt upright, white-faced, and reached out a hand. + +"Oh--_sister_! _Not_ in the storm!" + +B'lindy rose majestically and towered over her mistress. When, down +behind her shut doors, that baby had gone to sleep in B'lindy's arms, +something had wakened in her sixty-year old heart; it throbbed in her +voice now. She spoke slowly. "I guess the _Almighty_ sent Davy +Hopworth here with this poor little young 'un! Like as not it would go +hungry more'n once, and if three women here can't take care of a little +baby--well, the Lord that suffered little children to come unto Him +like's not will hold us to 'count for it! I guess Happy House would be +a heap happier if there was less high and mightiness and more of the +human milk of kindness in it, and doin' for others like little Miss +Anne's always tryin' to do, anyway!" And quite breathless from her +outburst B'lindy knelt beside the baby and defiantly folded sheltering +arms over it. + +For the briefest of moments no one stirred. Then Miss Sabrina rose +hurriedly, and, mumbling something incoherent, left the room. + +Across the baby B'lindy's eyes, feverishly bright, met Miss Milly's +anxious glance. + +"Don't know what she said, but, Milly Leavitt, sure's I'm alive I saw a +_tear_ in Sabriny Leavitt's eye! I guess we keep this baby." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +REAL LEAVITTS AND OTHERS + +The storm overtook Peter and Nancy on a lonely road that Peter had +taken as a short-cut home. + +At a sharp flash of lightning Nancy clutched Peter's arm. + +"Pe-ter! Oh-h! It's silly for me to be afraid! It's only when it +crackles!" + +"I thought we could make Freedom before it broke. But I guess not. +Here comes the rain!" + +It came, in a blinding deluge. + +"Sit close to me, Nancy. We must get to a house _somewhere_ along this +road!" + +"B'lindy's bones certainly did feel right," Nancy giggled, excitedly. +"Oh-h!" at another flash. "_Pe-ter_! I'm--I'm such a coward. Don't +you think that's the worst?" + +Peter hoped that it wasn't. He did not mind at all the flashes that +sent little quivers of alarm through Nancy and made her huddle closer +to him; he enjoyed the sense of protecting her, though his face, bent +grimly upon the puddled road ahead, gave no hint of his real feeling. + +"If this bus only had its curtains! Are you soaked?" + +"You are, too, Peter! Do you suppose this is a cloudburst? Can the +car make it?" For the little Ford was floundering uncertainly along +the flooded road. + +"What an end to our picnic," declared Peter, disgustedly. "Ha--a +house, as I live! See ahead there." + +Through the sheet of rain Nancy made out a low-gabled cottage almost +hidden by the trees. + +"It looks deserted," she declared, disappointedly. + +"It'll be shelter, anyway. Deserted nothing--hear the dog! When I +stop make a dash for the door." + +The dog's bark was by way of a welcome rather than a warning, for, as +he bounded toward the road, his shaggy tail wagged in a most friendly +way. As Nancy, following Peter's command, made a dash for shelter, the +door of the cottage opened hospitably and a little old woman, unmindful +of the fury of the rain, reached out to draw Nancy in. + +"Come right in! Bless me, you're soaked." She had a cheery, piping +voice and a way of repeating, "well, well, well," as though everything +on earth was an exciting surprise. + +"Won't your young man come in, too. Sit right over here by the fire! +I told sister Janie that I'd light a few sticks of wood to keep it +cheery. It got so dark-like. I'll set the kettle over and have a cup +of tea in the shake of a dog's tail. When it storms in these parts it +_does_ storm, dearie! How wet you are!" She fussed over the fire and +over her kettle and over Nancy's wet blouse. "Now, Janie, isn't it +nice to have folks come here out of the storm?" + +Then Nancy, through the gloom of the storm, made out that Janie was +another little old woman sitting in an old arm chair in the window. +Quite unmindful of the storm, she was tranquilly knitting. + +"Folks don't come by this road so often," she smiled back. + +"Aren't you afraid--sitting there?" Nancy cried. As she spoke there +came a flash of lightning followed almost simultaneously by a roar of +thunder that threatened the weather-beaten walls. + +The sister called Janie waited smilingly, her head cocked on one side +as though she enjoyed the storm. "Afraid, honey? Goodness, no. +Saphrony and I've lived through too many of these storms to be afraid! +Isn't the Lord watching over us just like all folks?" + +"And didn't He just bring you poor souls here out of the storm?" added +the older woman. "This tea will steep in a minit and I'm goin' to call +that boy in!" + +Peter had been trying to fasten a makeshift arrangement that would keep +Nancy's seat dry. He was glad enough to give it up at their hostess' +call. He looked so much like a drowned cat with the water dripping +from his hat and shoulders that Nancy was as concerned as Saphrony and +Janie. + +"You poor children," Saphrony cried, running around Peter in a flutter +of worry. "Take your coat right off this minit! Ain't I _glad_ I +started that fire! Fetch another stick, Janie. Well, well, well, now +ain't it a nice storm that brings folks here for shelter?" + +The fire did feel good against their soaked backs and Nancy and Peter +enjoyed the chatter of the two funny, fussy little old women. The +kettle sang merrily, too, and steamed invitingly. Janie, at her +sister's bidding, opened a treasure-chest in the other room and brought +from it a piece of fruit cake, wrapped in a red and white napkin. + +"A bite'll taste good with our tea," Saphrony explained, apologetically. + +"Aren't they the cutest pair?" Nancy whispered to Peter. "And isn't it +the funniest little house?" + +There seemed to be only the living room and kitchen combined and the +bedroom adjoining. The furniture in it was very old and very worn, but +everything was spotlessly clean. The red and white cover on the table, +the braided rugs on the uneven floor; and the piece-work cushions in +the armed chairs added a homey, cosy touch that made up for the little +luxuries lacking. Even in the storm the room was cheery. + +Nancy forgot the storm in her enjoyment of the situation. Janie +removed the red and white cover and spread a very worn white cloth. +Saphrony took from a cupboard built in the wall a shiny pewter +sugar-bowl and cream pitcher. Peter, amid a storm of protest from both +little women, drew up some chairs. + +"Now you stay right there by the fire," cried Saphrony. "We like to +fuss! Janie and I don't have folks here often. The hot tea'll warm +you." + +The tea tasted very good, both Peter and Nancy declared over and over. +"It's just like a party," Nancy added, nibbling on the thinnest shaving +of fruit cake. Her evident pleasure set both little old ladies off in +a soft cackling of satisfaction. + +"Do you two live here all alone?" Nancy asked, passing her cup for more +tea. "It seems so lonely." + +"Lonely--not a bit! Janie and I've lived here all our lives. Not many +folks come 'long this road, but we don't get lonesome--not a bit! +There's always something to do. Folks just gets lonesome and miserable +when they're idle, I always tell Janie. A little more cake, Mister----" + +"Peter," laughed Nancy. "Well, I shall remember this storm because +it's given us such a jolly half-hour, as well as a drenching! Oh, +_look_--the sun!" + +Through the mist of rain and the purple gloom the sun burst warm and +golden, pouring through the bare windows into the little room, touching +every corner and cranny with a cheerful glow. + +"How wonderful," Nancy exclaimed. "It's the bright lining, all +right--the cloud has turned inside out! I believe," she turned to +Peter, "that when the sun does shine it shines brighter--here! You two +have magic." + +"Janie and I never shut it out," laughed the sister Saphrony. "We say +it's God's way of smiling and frowning. There's no storm but what +passes and we're just mighty glad you two children came 'long this way. +Goin' to Freedom?" + +Afterwards Nancy said to Peter that that had been the most curious +thing about the two friendly little old women--that they had not right +at first asked who they were nor where they were going! + +Peter answered from the window. "Yes--we thought this road would be +shorter." Then, to Nancy: "Do you think we can venture now? I guess +the storm's passed." + +Nancy nodded. "We'd better start. My aunts are worrying dreadfully, +I'm afraid. But we've loved it--here. May we come again sometime? +And may we not know who it is that has given us shelter?" + +"Why, yes--I never thought to tell! Most folks know us, but maybe +you're new in these parts. We're Saphrony and Janie Leavitt." + +"_What!_" cried Nancy with such astonishment that Peter turned from the +door. "Why, I--_I_ am Anne Leavitt!" she said in very much the same +way she had spoken in the French class, four years before. + +The two little old women laughed. "I guess you're one of the Happy +House Leavitts--they're _real_ Leavitts. Sister Janie and I are only +plain Leavitts," Saphrony explained with a twinkling in her eyes that +seemed to say that to confuse real Leavitts with plain Leavitts was +very, very funny. "Are you Miss Sabriny's niece?" + +Nancy avoided the question. "Aren't you any relation to us--up at +Happy House?" + +"Not as anybody ever knew of. There's Leavitts and Leavitts all over +New England, I guess. We've always been poor as Job." + +"Well, I shall always pretend we're related," declared Nancy, warmly, +"because it's been so nice here!" + +While Peter was carefully tucking her into the seat with much lamenting +that it had gotten so wet, Nancy was staring reflectively at the funny +little weather-beaten cottage. From the door smiled the two sisters. + +"I wish," she said, "that I could take a piece of their philosophy back +to Happy House!" She leaned out to wave her hand once more. "Hasn't +it been fun? I'm glad now that it stormed." + +As they splashed along toward Freedom, Nancy fell into a sudden quiet. +Her mind was held by an overwhelming desire to tell Peter, in this last +hour she might have alone with him, the whole truth--that she, like the +two sisters they had left, was not a real Leavitt, of that day back in +college, of Anne's pleading and her yielding. Twice she opened her +lips to speak, then shut them quickly. There was something in Peter's +strong profile that made her afraid. Once he turned quickly and saw +her eyes upon him with a frightened, troubled expression in their +depths. + +"What is it, Nancy?" he asked tenderly. + +She couldn't tell him--she could not bear to see his face when he knew +the truth! She tried to speak lightly. + +"I was thinking how much I'd grown to like--things--around here and how +I hate to--go away. Peter, will you keep Nonie and Davy doing happy +things--like other children. And, Peter--do you hate people that--act +lies?" + +Peter laughed--Nancy was so deliciously child-like. Then he suddenly +colored to the very roots of his hair. + +"Generally--I haven't much use for people that can't stick pretty well +to the truth. But when there may be some reason--someone may start +doing it for someone else----" he stopped abruptly. Nancy stared ahead +with startled eyes. Did he know? But, no, how could he! It had only +been an accident that he had so nearly hit upon the truth. + +She could not tell him--she need not tell him; in a few days she would +say good-by and go away and never see him again! Theirs had been a +pleasant friendship, for awhile she would miss it, but she'd be just +plain Nancy Leavitt again, playing with Claire at Merrycliffe or with +Daddy somewhere in the mountains or at the seashore, working, +too--beginning life. After a while these weeks at Happy House would +seem a curious memory--a dream! + +Suddenly she shivered. + +"Freedom--at last!" exclaimed Peter, increasing his speed. Ahead they +saw the gleam of roofs through the trees. "And it looks as though +they'd caught the storm worse than we did!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +WHAT THE CHIMNEY HELD + +The storm, sweeping down the valley, had reached the heighth of its +fury over Freedom. + +As the flashes of lightning grew sharper and more frequent, B'lindy +bade Miss Milly watch the baby while she made things fast around the +house. Beth women had been hanging over the sleeping child with +something like awe. "Poor little mite--like as not right this minit +Sarah Hopkins is watchin' us," B'lindy had whispered, "little bit of a +thing, goin' to grow into a big, big man some day! Ain't it just +_wonderful_, Milly Leavitt?" + +Milly's awe of the baby had been mixed with alarm at the increasing +intensity of the storm. So that, as B'lindy moved to go, she held out +an imploring hand. + +"Now you just hold yourself together, Milly Leavitt--that storm ain't +goin' to hurt you! Anyways, it's lots more likely to if I don't see +that everything's shut up tight, so's the lightnin' can't get in! +_Ouch!_" Even B'lindy covered her eyes from a blinding flash. "You +hold on to that baby, Milly Leavitt," she commanded, bolting from the +room. + +But with each flash, each roar of thunder, poor Miss Milly's courage +ebbed. Her cry--rising above, the noise of the storm brought Miss +Sabrina and B'lindy to her. + +"I can't--help--it!" she sobbed, covering her face. "It's so--so +dreadful! And where's--Nancy! Oh--oh!" + +Even Miss Sabrina's face was pale with alarm. + +"You two women are like so many children," cried B'lindy, taking +command. "Milly Leavitt, you'll work yourself into fits. Nancy's all +right somewheres! I guess Peter Hyde's man enough to take care of +her--mebbe they ain't where this storm is, anyways! Sabrina--you take +that baby where Milly's yellin' won't wake it. Goodness knows the +crashin's bad enough! Now Milly, you just hide your poor head in my +lap," with grand tenderness, "_I_ ain't afraid a bit." + +Sabrina had no choice--B'lindy had put the baby into her arms and +almost shoved her to the door. + +She carried it to her own room and sat down very carefully. Never in +her whole life had she held a little baby. What would she do if it +wakened suddenly? And if it kicked and squirmed, might she not drop it? + +But the baby did not kick or squirm--he felt very comfortable in Miss +Sabrina's arms--he snuggled ever so gently a little closer, turned his +face toward the warmth of her embrace, and throwing up one little arm, +laid it against her throat. The warm, soft baby fingers burned against +Sabrina's throbbing pulse--the little spark crept down, down to her +old, cold heart and kindled something there--something that swept her +whole being. Cautiously she held the baby closer, pressed it to her +breast so that she might feel the whole perfect little body; the little +lips twisted and Sabrina, thinking it was a smile, smiled back with +infinite tenderness. She forgot the storm raging without, her ears +were deaf to its roar; after a little she leaned her head down until +she could lay her cheek against the baby's soft head. + +Within the darkened room a miracle was working! + +Suddenly the air was split by a sharp crackle as of a hundred rifles +spitting fire close at hand; and simultaneously came a deafening roar +as though the very Heavens were dropping with a crash. Through it all +pierced Aunt Milly's scream. The walls of Happy House trembled and +swayed; for a moment everything went black before Sabrina's eyes! Then +B'lindy, running through the hall brought her sharply back to her +senses. + +"We're struck--we're struck! Sabrin'y! Jonathan!" + +Once more Happy House had been struck by lightning! The crashing had +been the tumbling of the bricks of the chimney. And just as in that +other storm, long before, the lightning had worked its vengeance on the +old mantel. It lay in pieces on the floor of the sitting-room, covered +with a litter of broken bric-a-brac and mortar and bricks from the +chimney. + +But in the fear of fire no one thought of the mantel. B'lindy ran +wildly around ordering Jonathan to throw buckets of water on any cranny +that might possibly conceal a smouldering flame, at the same time +heaping all kinds of curses down upon the heads of the neighbors who'd +"let Happy House burn right to the ground without liftin' a finger." +And Sabrina, after one look at the lightning's havoc, still with the +baby in her arms, had gone to quiet Miss Milly. + +When Jonathan's activity had threatened to destroy everything in the +house with water, B'lindy finally became convinced that there was to be +no fire. "Funniest lightnin' I ever see," she declared, breathlessly +dropping into a chair; "set down that pail, Jonathan--you've most +drowned us all. Thank Heaven, here comes Nancy." + +Nancy and Peter, after one glance at the bricks scattered over the +garden, had guessed what had happened. + +"Struck,--sure as preachin'! Lucky we ain't burned to a _crisp_. Just +_look_ at the muss!" and B'lindy swept her arm toward the sitting-room +door. + +Nancy's face was tragic as she saw the broken mantel and the gaping +fireplace. She clutched Peter's arm. "What a pity--what a _shame_! +It was so very old and--and----" She leaned down and picked up one of +the pieces. "Look, Peter, here are parts of the letters! See H-A-P. +It had been cracked by another lightning storm, you know, years and +years ago! Oh, I'm afraid it has been destroyed so that----" as she +spoke she searched in the debris on the floor for more of the carving. +Suddenly she cried out sharply and, straightening, held out an old, +worn, stained leather wallet. "Peter! B'lindy! _Aunt Sabrina!_" + +Her cry brought Miss Sabrina, alarmed, running. + +"It _must--be--the_--wallet!" + +Now it was Sabrina who cried out--a protesting, frightened cry. For a +moment she staggered as though she was going to fall; Nancy's strong +arm went closely around her. + +"Look quickly, dear Aunt Sabrina," Nancy implored. + +With trembling fingers Aunt Sabrina opened it--within lay mouldy, +age-worn bank-notes--many of them! + +"It must have fallen behind the mantel in that other storm," cried +Nancy. Then a great joy shone in her face. "He _didn't_ take +it--Anne's grandfather!" she stopped abruptly. But Miss Sabrina had +not even heard her, and Peter was too mystified by the whole thing to +think Nancy's words strange. Miss Sabrina turned, with a stricken face. + +"Anne--I--I can't think! What--what--wrong--have I done? Oh, God +forgive me!" She threw her arms up over her head. Her grief was +terrible because it was strange. Even Nancy, frightened, drew away. + +"Oh, God, give back the years----" she moaned. + +"It--is--too--late." She lifted a white, frightened face. "I +must---be alone! Don't let anyone disturb me. Tell them, Anne--tell +them--everything!" And with the wallet in her hand she went quickly +but of the room. + +Nancy turned to Peter, a triumph in her manner that was in strange +contrast to Miss Sabrina's sorrow. She held her hand out toward the +broken marble. + +"_What_ a story!" she cried, "over two generations that ugly old mantel +concealed the vindication of a man's honor!" Then, laughing at Peter's +puzzled face, she told him briefly the story of the trouble that had +hung over Happy House shadowing and embittering the lives of those +beneath its roof. + +"And, Peter, it has gone with the storm! Oh, you don't know what that +means!" she cried, because Peter _could_ not know that she did not +rejoice for herself, but because, now, there need be no barriers +between Happy House and her own dear Anne--the real Anne Leavitt. + +"After awhile--it _will_ be Happy House," she ended, enigmatically. + +She walked with him to the door. + +"What a day it has been," she laughed, catching her breath. "I feel as +though it had been weeks ago that we started off! I've forgotten how +wet we were," she pulled at her blouse. "Run away now, Peter, for I +must break the wonderful news to Aunt Milly and B'lindy, and, as +B'lindy would say--"there's a pile of work's got to be done!" + +"Nancy, the day isn't over yet!" Peter hesitated. "There's going to +be a gorgeous sunset to-night--won't you come into the orchard--just +for a little while?" + +"Silly--haven't you seen enough of me for one day?" + +His look spoke more eloquently than could any words. + +"_I_ have something to tell _you_!" he said, gravely. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +PETER + +Nancy knew, with the instinct of a heart unfamiliar with coquetry, what +Peter had to tell her! + +She had wanted dreadfully to have to stay away from the orchard--she +had hoped that Aunt Milly might need her, but Aunt Milly had gone to +bed directly after supper, exhausted by the day's happenings. Aunt +Sabrina's door had been shut ever since, with the wallet, she had gone +into her room, and from within no sound betrayed her tragedy. B'lindy +was fiercely struggling, with mop and broom, to remove all traces of +the "curse" from Happy House. "Now just keep out of my way! I'm that +upset," she answered Nancy, shortly. + +The sunset was gorgeous. It flooded the garden with a soft, flaming +golden light. + +Like all girls, Nancy had had her dream of that time when her Knight +should come riding to her; like all girls her dream-Knight was a +pleasantly hazy individual, changing with her changing moods. And she +had not wanted him to come quickly. Her young freedom was very +precious to her. + +One or two others had proposed to Nancy in hot-headed, boyish fashion. +That had been part of girlhood's fun. One, a Junior, after begging her +to elope with him, had gone away crushed, and vengeful, only to send +her, two weeks later, a bunch of violets and a little note thanking her +for her "common-sense," explaining that "Pop had threatened to cut his +allowance in half unless he settled down and made his mid-years." + +These had been boys; dear, sentimental, clean-hearted boys, but Peter +Hyde was different-- + +She had not dreamed of this--not for a moment, until she had seen it in +his eyes that afternoon as they sat under the maple tree with B'lindy's +lunch spread between them. He had been such a jolly comrade through +these weeks at Freedom, he had been so understandable, like Claire and +Anne and Daddy! He had never thought she was silly or +not-grown-up-enough, he liked children and animals and knew just what +to do to make Nonie and Davy happy; he had shared with her his +ambitions in his work as though she was a man but, with it all, he was +a farmer--his lot had been cast in the narrow confines of Judson's farm +and barns and piggery--except for these pleasant days at Happy House +she, Nancy Leavitt, with her heart set on a goal as distant as the +stars themselves, could have little in common with him. + +All this flashed through her mind as she walked slowly, reluctantly +toward the orchard--and with it an annoyance that their pleasant +comradeship should end this way. So that when, a little later, a very +earnest Peter began to tell her in stumbling, awkward words how much +her going must mean to him, she wanted to cry out and beg him to stop. + +"Nancy--_I'm_ clumsy as the devil. Don't you _know_ what I want to +tell you? I can't let you go without knowing it--and--and--Nancy, +_could_ you ever--ever love a fellow--like me--enough--to--want--to +marry him?" + +Then the woman's heart within her made Nancy ages old. + +"Oh, Peter!" she said with tender compassion. She _didn't_ want to +hurt this very dear friend! + +"I'm not nearly good enough for you, Nancy, but then, _any_ fellow +isn't good enough! And, Nancy, there isn't anything in this whole +world I wouldn't do--if you cared." + +"Oh, Peter!" Why _in_ the world couldn't she say something more, she +thought. Why couldn't she stem that flood she knew was coming? Why +could she not make him see instantly, how impossible it all was--and +say good-bye and go! + +"I'll make you happy, Nancy--if loving will do it," he finished humbly. + +"Peter--I wish--you hadn't--said this!" + +"Do you mean you don't care--a bit?" he cried, protestingly. "Have I +frightened you? You said yourself that living one day up here was like +weeks somewhere else! Somehow I've not thought of your going +away--ever. You seemed such a part of it here. You're +so--different--from all the girls I've known! You're such a--_pal_. +That's the kind a man needs!" + +Nancy was biting her lip to hide its trembling. Over her swept a +reverence for this that Peter Hyde was offering her--she knew that a +man's pure soul was being bared before her. His awkward words came +slowly because they were born of a deep feeling. She was not worthy! + +"Oh, Peter! Peter! Please--I'm--I can't let you say all this! I'm +_not_--what you think me! I'm a _cheat_! You'd hate me if----" + +He caught her hand. "I know what you are, Nancy--you're the best, +truest, straightest-hearted little girl that ever lived!" + +With an effort that hurt Nancy pulled herself together. She looked +away so that she might not see that it hurt Peter Hyde when she pulled +her hand from his close clasp. + +"Peter--we must be--sensible." She hated her own words, but something +within her, told her that she must say them. "We've been jolly +comrades--here, but--I'm not cut out for--this sort of life. I'd hate +it--after a little; I'd go mad on a farm with just cows and pigs and +things around," she caught her breath; "I'm really an awfully selfish +girl, Peter, and I've set my heart on my career! I'll always put that +before anything--_anyone_ else! That wouldn't be fair--to you. You +must forget me and find someone who will help you in your work." + +His face was turned from her--his silence frightened her. She tried to +make her tone light. "You've been a fine pal, Peter, you've helped me +a lot. You've taught me a great many things, too. I've always thought +that farmers and--and----" + +He wheeled suddenly. + +"Nancy, you haven't said you _didn't_ care for me, any!" he cried. + +Nancy flushed in vexation. + +"Well, I'm _trying_ to--the best way I know how! I _do_ like you--I'm +going to be as honest as I can be! I just couldn't _ever_--no matter +how much I might like the _farmer_--stand for--for a farm like +Judson's!" + +To Nancy's unutterable amazement Peter Hyde commenced to laugh, very +softly, with a look in his eyes that caressed her. What an +unexplainable creature he was--anyway! + +"When my play is produced," Nancy went on, airily, "I shall invite you +to come down and sit in a box and see it--and maybe, you'll bring Miss +Denny with you!" She wanted to punish him. + +But Peter Hyde, the incorrigible, was looking neither crestfallen nor +disheartened. He seized both of Nancy's hands and held them very close. + +"I'll come! When that play is produced you can just bet I'll be in the +stage box and it won't be Miss Denny that's with me either! You +haven't told me, Nancy--that you did not love _me_! You've just said +you didn't like--pigs and cows and hired men and Judson's in general. +Dear, I'm not going to let you answer me--now! I'm not even going to +say good-bye! You're a tired little girl. If I go, will you promise +me to go straight to bed?" + +In her astonishment Nancy submitted to the impetuous kiss he pressed +against her fingers. When but a few moments before her heart had been +torn with pity that she must hurt this man, now he was, in a masterful +way, sending her off to bed as though she was a very little girl! And +nothing in his tone or manner suggested _anything_ but utter peace of +mind and heart. + +But Nancy _was_ tired--so very tired that it was pleasant to be led up +the path toward the house, to think that someone--even Peter +Hyde--cared enough about her to beg her "not to open an eye for +twenty-four hours." + +And of course it was because the day had held so much for her that upon +reaching her room, she threw herself across her bed and burst into a +passion of tears. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +NANCY'S CONFESSION + +A thousand torments seemed to rack poor Nancy's tired soul and body. +For a long time she had lain, very still, across her bed. Then she +had, mechanically, made ready for the night. But sleep would not come. +Wider and wider-eyed she stared at the dim outline that was her open +window. After awhile she crossed to it and knelt down before it, her +bare arms folded on the sill. + +A sense of remorse, which Nancy had been trying for some time past to +keep tucked back somewhere in a corner of her mind, now overwhelmed +her. She saw herself a cheat, an imposter. What would these good +people of Happy House say of her when they knew all of them, even Peter +Hyde--and little Nonie! + +Her hands clenched tightly, Nancy faced what she called the reckoning. + +Only a few days before she and Aunt Milly had had a long talk. Aunt +Milly had told her how, one afternoon, she had tried to walk--and had +failed. + +"I'd been praying, my dear, that it might be possible. I thought, +perhaps, I felt so much better----. But the wonderful thing was +Nancy,--_I didn't care_! My life seems so full, now, of real things, +thanks to all you've done for me, that whether I can walk or not is +insignificant. And I shall always have you, anyway, Nancy!" Aunt +Milly had said with the yearning look in her eyes that Nancy knew so +well. + +What would Aunt Milly say when she knew? + +How had she, Nancy, betrayed Sabrina's trust? + +Rapidly, as one can at such moments, Nancy's mind went over the weeks +of her stay at Happy House. She had let herself go so far; she had +taught these people she was deceiving to grow fond of her--to _need_ +her! + +And she had grown fond of them--that was her punishment. She had grown +fond of Happy House; she wanted to be the real Anne Leavitt and belong +to Happy House and its precious traditions, that she had mocked; she +wanted to have the right to rejoice, now, in the vindication of that +brother who had gone away, years before. + +Poor little Nancy, shivering there in the chill and silence of the +night, her world, her girl's world, fell away from her. Like one +looking in from without, she saw her own life as though it was +another's--and what it might hold for her! She saw it stripped of the +little superficialities of youth; she saw clearly, with uncanny +preciseness, causes and effects, the havoc, too, of her own +thoughtlessness and weaknesses. + +Something in the vision frightened her, but challenged the best in her, +too. One had only one life to live and each wasted day counted so +much--each wasted hour cost so dearly! In the striving for the far +goal one must not leave undone the little things that lay close at +hand, the little, worth-while, sometimes-hard things. She had gone a +long way down the wrong road, but she'd turn squarely! Her head went +high--she would make a clean breast of it all--to them all; Aunt +Sabrina, Aunt Milly--Peter Hyde. + +Her face went down against her arms; she wanted to hide, even in the +darkness, the flush that mantled her cheeks. She could see his eyes as +they had seemed to caress her--out there in the orchard. Oh, why had +she not told him the truth, then and there; if she had he would have +despised her, but it would have killed forever the hope she had read in +his face. + +Nancy, girlishly eager to struggle in life's tide, now, facing the +greatest thing in life, shrank back, afraid. She wanted, oh so much, +to be little again; there had always been someone, then, to whom to +turn when problems pressed--Daddy, even Mrs. Finnegan--the Seniors in +college, the Dean herself. Now--she felt alone. + +Lighting her lamp, she pulled a chair to the table and spread out +sheets of paper. She wanted to tell it all, while her courage lasted. +She wrote furiously, her lips pressed in a straight line. She would +not spare herself one bit--Peter Hyde must know just what she had done. + +But, at the end, she yielded to a longing too strong to resist. + +"Please, _please_ don't think too badly of me. You see you don't know +Anne and how her heart was set on going to Russia, and she was sure +that if she told her relatives about going they'd stop her. And that +seemed, then, the only important thing--neither of us thought of the +wrong we'd be doing the people--here. It seemed, too, a very little +thing for me to do for her. But I just can't bear to have _you_ hate +me!" For a moment she held her pencil over the last words, then +hastily sealed the letter and addressed it. + +The last paragraph stayed in her mind. "How _silly_ we were, Anne," +she said aloud, mentally arraigning those two very young creatures of +college days. + +Her confession made, a load rolled from Nancy's heart. "Anyway, he'll +know the truth," was her soothing thought as she crawled into bed. In +the morning she would tell Aunt Sabrina. + +But Nancy's first waking thought--at a very late hour, for her +over-tired body had taken its due in sound sleep--was that she was +very, very unhappy. As she dressed, with trembling haste, she wondered +if she had not better plan to catch the afternoon train at North Hero. + +She sought out Jonathan first and despatched him with her letter, then +walked slowly back into the house to face Aunt Sabrina. + +On the newel post of the stairs were letters that Jonathan had just +brought up from the post-office. One was addressed to her in Anne's +familiar handwriting and was postmarked New York! + +As though she had been struck, Nancy dropped down on the stairs. + +Anne's valiant spirit of sacrifice and service had given way to +complaint. + +"All these weeks cooped up in a little room in London waiting for +further orders, only to have them _dare_ to tell me--after all the +encouragement I'd had--that I was too young and inexperienced to go on +into Russia, and that I could be of greater service in organization +work back home. Think of it, Nancy! And then shipping me back as +though I was a little child. I have worn myself out with +disappointment, rage and disgust. I came here to your rooms and slept +last night in your bed (as much as any one could sleep with the +Finnegan baby cutting a tooth downstairs) and I shall stay here until I +can calm down enough to make some definite plans. + +"... You've been a dear, Nancy, and I've been quite curious to know how +you've gotten on. I never dreamed you'd stay so long! And now I must +ask you to stay just a little longer, until I know what I want to do. +Under no circumstances let my aunt know the truth...." + +Nancy read the letter three times--she could scarcely believe her eyes. +Poor Anne, her splendid dreams had come to nothing. + +In her own desire to clean her soul by confession, she had forgotten +Anne! Of course she could not tell Aunt Sabrina--at least not now. +She must wait, as Anne had asked. + +"Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive," +Nancy repeated, bitterly, feeling as though the web she had made was +tying her hand and foot. + +B'lindy, looking in from the kitchen, saw her. B'lindy's face was +strangely brightened; she gave a mysterious crook to her finger as she +beckoned to Nancy to come into the kitchen. + +"I set some coffee by for you--I guessed you'd be tuckered out after +yesterday, ridin' round in that storm and then findin' the wallet was +'nough to tucker anybody." Before she poured the coffee she closed the +door leading into the front of the house. "Miss Nancy, there's been +more changes in Happy House even than findin' that wallet!" + +"What do you mean, B'lindy?" + +B'lindy leaned a radiant face over Nancy. + +"It's Miss Sabriny--she's been just like she was born again! I guess +folks won't know her. And you'll never guess what we're goin' to have +up here. _A baby!_" + +Nancy was frankly astonished. Then B'lindy told her what, in the +excitement of the afternoon before, she had not heard--of finding the +baby and Davy's note. + +"I guess that little mite opened up somethin' that was all dried up in +Sabriny Leavitt's heart! Seems while we was all fussin' over the mess +in the settin' room Davy Hopworth come up after that baby lookin' like +he'd been scared to death. And then this mornin' Sabriny Leavitt comes +to me 'n asks me to go down to Timothy Hopkins with her while she asks +him for that baby back. Well, we went--she couldn't even wait for me +to pick up. And Timothy Hopkins refused her _flat_! You wouldn't have +believed your ears, Nancy, Sabriny Leavitt took most to cryin' and she +told him how lonesome it was up to Happy House and how her whole life +'d been wasted 'cause she'd never done for others and he'd be doin' a +kindness to an old woman to let her take the baby and do for it. But +it wa'n't until she'd promised that she'd just sort o' bring him up and +he could always go home and play with the nine others, and the nine o' +them could come to Happy House's often as they wanted that he'd as much +as listen. So we're goin' to have a baby!" B'lindy said it with +unconcealed triumph. "Cunnin' little thing--smart's can be. You +should a' seen it grab for the spoon when I was feedin' it!" + +Nancy's eyes were shining. "Oh, that will be wonderful," she cried. +"Where is Aunt Sabrina?" + +As though in answer to her question, Miss Sabrina's voice called her +from the front hall and at the same moment Miss Sabrina opened the +door. Yes, it was a transformed Sabrina Leavitt--her face was deeply +lined by all she had gone through, but there was a humility in her eyes +that softened them and brought a deeper glow as though, indeed, from +some new-born spirit within. + +Impulsively, Nancy threw two strong arms about her neck and kissed her. + +"Come into the sitting-room with me, Anne, I have a great deal I want +to say to you." She led Nancy through the hall into the sitting-room +and they sat down together upon the old horse-hair sofa. In Miss +Sabrina's tone there was a dignified tranquility that made Nancy look +at her with a little wonder. As though in answer to Nancy's thought +Miss Sabrina said, quietly: + +"God alone knows what I've lived through--since yesterday afternoon. +Nancy, it is a terrible thing for an old woman to look back upon a life +she has wasted--through pride and prejudice. The storm and finding the +wallet--that was God's own way of opening my eyes! I have been a +wicked, proud, selfish woman. But I've hurt myself worst of all. For +here I am an old woman, and not a soul in the world really loves me----" + +Nancy put out a protesting hand. Miss Sabrina patted it. + +"I am right, my dear, I know it now. But if God will be good to me He +will give me a few more years to live, so that I may make up, in a +small way, for the wrong I have done--to others and to myself. Do you +know, Nancy, it was you who first brought home to me the truth--that +happiness comes as it is given. It was a fortunate thing for Happy +House when I brought you here, dear." + +Nancy had to bite her lips to strangle the words of confession that +sprang to them. Aunt Sabrina went on: + +"I cannot bring back the years or atone to my brother for the wrong I +did to him. I do not know how I can make up to your own father. +Perhaps, if you ask him to, he will forgive me, some day. But I shall, +as soon as I can see my lawyers in North Hero, make a new will, leaving +Happy House and my share of my father's fortune to you----" + +"Good gracious----" thought Nancy; "she thinks Anne's father is still +living!" In dismay Nancy sprang to her feet. But Miss Sabrina paid no +heed to her agitation. She rose and went to the table and opened a +leather-bound book that lay there. + +"I have brought down some papers and letters that belonged to your +grandfather--when he was a young man. Here is a picture of him. Come +and see it, my dear." + +Unwillingly Nancy crossed to the table. Miss Sabrina reverently placed +the faded picture in her hand. + +"My only brother," she whispered, brokenly. "Your grandfather." + +"No, _Anne's_ grandfather," Nancy almost screamed. + +She looked at the picture with intent interest. It portrayed a +strikingly handsome young man. She turned the card in her hand. +Across the back had been written the name. "Eugene Standbridge +Leavitt." + +Astounded, Nancy cried out: "Why, that--_that is my father's name_!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +EUGENE STANDBRIDGE LEAVITT + +For a moment Nancy thought she had gone quite crazy! She put her hand +to her head to steady its whirling. This was her grandfather--her own +father's father! She was the real Anne Leavitt! + +Aunt Sabrina was fussing over a note-book in which clippings had been +pasted. She thought Nancy's agitation quite excusable; she was +trembling herself. + +"That is a family name. The Standbridge comes from our +great-grandmother's side. I knew your father had been called +Eugene--yes, here's what B'lindy cut out of the newspaper." She placed +the open page of the book in Nancy's hands. + +She told Nancy how, after the quarrel, her father had ordered her to +destroy everything about the house that might remind anyone of the +disowned son. + +"I carried out his wishes. After our mother's death my father and I +had been constant companions. I was terribly angry at my brother for +having brought this grief and shame to my father in his old age. +Now----" she caught her breath sharply. + +"But B'lindy was fond of the boy. She packed these letters and the +picture away, and after that, for years, whenever she'd read anything +about him in the papers, or hear a word, she'd enter it in this little +book. I never knew that until years later. See--here's an account of +his wedding. It says he went abroad--he'd always wanted to, even when +he was a young lad. Here it tells that he bought a newspaper. Here's +where it speaks about his son Eugene." + +It seemed to Nancy as though the little pages of the book, with their +age-yellow clippings and curious entries, were opening to her a new +side of her father's life. She remembered some stuffed birds in her +father's cabinet that she had known in a vague sort of way had come +from Africa; it was intensely interesting to read from the little book +that "the well-known newspaper man, Eugene Leavitt, and his young son, +Eugene, had gone on a six-months' trip to Africa." + +"Milly wrote once to our brother, though I never knew it until I found +this book. After a long while he answered with this note. B'lindy's +put it here," turning a page. + +The few lines were strangely characteristic of Nancy's own father. +They told the younger sister that he'd found the world a very kind and +a very good place to live in. + +Another letter had been written by Nancy's father. It told, in a +boyish, awkward way, of his father's death and that his father, before +his death, had asked him to write to the relatives in Freedom and tell +them that "there was no hard feeling." + +Nancy pondered over this letter for a moment. A great many questions +came into her mind. Her father must have inherited from his father a +sense of hurt and injustice, or why, through all the years, and years +of poverty, too, had he refrained from any mention of the aunts in +Freedom? + +Like links in a chain the little entries in B'lindy's book connected +the three generations, for the last clipping told how the young wife of +Eugene Leavitt, Jr., had been killed in a runaway in Central Park, +leaving motherless the little three-year-old daughter, Anne Leavitt. + +"Once Milly told me of finding this. Sometimes she used to wonder what +you were like. But I was always angry when she mentioned you--I wanted +to feel that I had rooted out all affection for my brother and his kin! +As the years went by, though, I grew afraid--what was I going to do +with this earthly wealth I possessed? Then I wrote that letter to you +in college." + +As though it had been but the day before Nancy saw again the beloved +dormitory room, old Noah and his letter. + +Then the whole truth flashed across her mind! Anne's Aunt Sa-something +was the dear little Saphonia Leavitt, who lived with her sister Janie +on the lonely road out of Freedom! + +With a glee she made no effort to suppress, Nancy caught Aunt Sabrina +by the elbows, danced her madly around, and then enveloped her in an +impetuous hug. + +"Oh, you don't know--you can't ever, ever know how nice it all--is," +she cried, laughing and wiping away a tear at the same time. "To know +that I _really, truly_ belong to you and to Happy House!" Nancy's +words rang true. They brought a flood of color to the old woman's +cheeks. + +"You see I never knew how long I could stay--I was sort of on probation +and I love you all so much--now! But, tell me, are those two funny +little Leavitt sisters any relation of--_ours_?" Nancy emphasized the +last word with a squeeze of Miss Sabrina's hand. + +"No--or if they are, it is so far back it's been lost. When I was +little I used to see them occasionally, but they've never gone around +much. They have always been very poor. They had a brother, but he +went away from the Island when he was young--I think he must have died." + +"I am going to _pretend_ we're related," declared Nancy, "because I +just love them. They took us in during the storm. And--and I have a +dear chum, my very best chum, whose name is Anne Leavitt, too, and I am +sure they are her aunts." She told Aunt Sabrina, then, in a sketchy +way, of her four years' friendship with the other Anne Leavitt. + +The windows of the sitting-room had been opened after the storm to let +out the dust from the fallen mortar and brick. The blinds had not been +closed again. Through the windows streamed a flood of sunshine. + +With an impulsive movement Nancy closed the book and laid it down on +the table. Her manner said plainly that thus they would dispose of all +the past-and-gone Leavitts. She nodded toward the gaping fireplace. + +"Let's have a _new_ mantel made with Happy House carved in it, Aunt +Sabrina. And, I think, it _will_ be a Happy House, now." + +There was a great deal Nancy wanted to tell Aunt Sabrina--of her +father, and of their happy life together. But she had suddenly, with +consternation, remembered the eloquent confession she had sent off to +Peter Hyde. + +"And I didn't need to--for I _am_ Anne Leavitt!" + +As quickly as she could break away from her aunt, she ran off in search +of Jonathan. She found him tying up some of his vines that had been +beaten down in the storm. + +"Jonathan--that letter I gave you--did--did you give it to--to Mr. +Hyde?" she asked with a faint hope that he had' not. + +"Yes'm! Caught him jes' agoin' to take the stage." + +"Going _away_?" Nancy cried. + +"Yes'm. He hed a big bag and he give me a handshake like he was goin' +to be away for a spell, tho' it's most harvestin' and he's not the kind +to leave Judson short-handed--not him." + +After a moment Nancy grew conscious that old Jonathan was staring +curiously at her. So she turned and walked slowly back to the house. + +Peter Hyde had gone away--without a word! He would read her letter--he +would always think of her as she had pictured herself in it! And he +might never know how the curious tangle had come out! + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +ARCHIE EATON RETURNS + +Liz, returning from her "afternoon's work at the meeting house, blew +breathlessly into the Hopworth kitchen. + +"As I live, Archie Eaton's comin' home--this blessed day! His ma got a +telegram last night; Sammy Todd brought it over from Nor' Hero on his +bicycle. And Webb's put a notice in the post-office--he wants every +man, woman and child to meet on the Common to-night at seven to sort o' +welcome Archie to home." + +"Everybody? Me and Davy," broke in Nonie, excitedly. + +"Of course, when Webb says every man, woman and child it means all of +us," answered Liz with importance, smoothing out her gingham apron. + +Three days had entirely made over Liz Hopworth. Sarah Hopkins' death +had given Liz, hitherto an outcast, a position of importance in the +community. However unfitting Freedom's ladies might have thought it, +nevertheless it was an undisputable fact, and everyone knew it, that +Liz's hands had "done for" the stricken family; she had cleaned and +comforted, dusted and baked and stitched together suitable mourning for +poor Jennie, the oldest Hopkins girl. At the simple funeral it had +been Liz who had greeted the neighbors and had urged them to "just look +at Sarah Hopkins--you'd think she was enjoyin' it all, she's that happy +lookin'!" What no one else knew was that it had been Liz who had put +her arms around Jennie Hopkins when a complete realization of her loss +had swept over the girl and had bade her "just lay your poor little +head right here and cry all you want to!" Never in all her life had +Liz's arms known such a labor of love. Jennie _had_ cried all she +wanted to--great, heart-breaking sobs that had, though they exhausted, +finally soothed her. + +From his corner where old Dan'l, with hanging head waited his supper, +came a grunt of unbelief. Liz turned reprovingly. + +"Anyway, Archie Eaton's a soldier even if he be an Eaton!" Then, to +Nonie: "I met Mis' Sniggs comin' up the village and she wants all the +little girls to wear white and throw bouquets at Archie as he's gettin' +off the stage and sing America. She's goin' to get the flowers at Mis' +Todd's and Mis' Brown's. Miss Nancy's white's too nice, but I guess +your gingham's faded most white 'nough. Anyways, it's plenty good." + +"Have I time to run up and tell Miss Nancy?" + +"Lan' sakes, no! We gotta get supper spry so's to have the work +cleared away. Nancy Leavitt knows it, I callate--ain't much happens +Webb doesn't carry straight off up to Happy House. I guess maybe +they're pretty busy, too. Things is certainly changin', I said, when +Sabriny Leavitt goes to poor Sarah Hopkins' funeral, sittin' right on +the plush chair over in the right-hand corner near the waxed flowers. +And sure's I'm alive, she's taken the Hopkins baby up to Happy House to +do for. She wanted it to keep regular like her own, but Timothy +Hopkins wouldn't listen for a minit--his children wa'nt a goin' to be +separated if they all starved! Seems to me he was foolish, but he was +awful set and mebbe he was right. Dan'l Hopworth, take off your +slippers! Of course you're goin' to see Archie Eaton come home! I +guess you're as patriotic as any other folks." + +Liz's determination won its point so that a little before seven the +entire Hopworth family joined every other "man, woman and child" on the +village common. The common presented a pretty sight, big and small +flags fluttering, the weather-worn service flag again hoisted to its +place of honor and women and children in their best attire. Mrs. +Eaton, upon whom every glance turned with frank curiosity, did not need +her gorgeous purple poplin with its lace ruffles swelling over her +proud bosom, to make her the most conspicuous figure in the +gathering--that she was the mother of the returning soldier was enough! +And her eyes, as they strained down the road like the others, for a +first glimpse of Webb's horses, were wet with tears. + +Someone saw a little cloud of dust and set up a shout: "He's comin'!" +Others took up the cry. Mrs. Sniggs frantically gathered her flock of +little singers around the carriage-block in front of the meeting-house, +where Webb had promised to pull up his team. Some one pushed Mrs. +Eaton toward the spot. + +"_There_ he is," piped a small boy, pointing to the khaki figure that +leaned out of the stage, violently waving a hat. + +"Who's the other fellar?" asked Mr. Todd, but no one around him seemed +to know. + +All ceremony was thrown to the four winds; the hysterical piping of the +little girls was lost in the wild rub-a-dub dub of the Freedom's +drummers and the clamor of excited voices from the pushing, jostling +crowd. However, Archie Eaton was utterly unconscious of it all, for in +less than a second he was tightly enveloped in folds of purple poplin! + +After a moment he sprang back to the step of Webb's wagon and raised +his hand. + +"Mebbe you think it ain't good to get home! _I'll_ say it is! I've +laid awake nights dreamin' of this. I ain't goin' to make a speech, +folks, but I've got to tell you something. I wanted to send word to +you back a time but my buddy here wouldn't let me! Mebbe you don't +remember my buddy--he's changed a lot, I guess, but he's from Freedom, +all right!" He pulled at the arm of his companion. "Stand up, so +folks can see you! Give a cheer, now, for Eric Hopworth, the best and +bravest soldier in Uncle Sam's army!" + +Not a throat in Freedom could have made a sound for utter surprise. +They gaped at the big, bronzed fellow in khaki while Archie Eaton went +on, speaking rapidly. + +"Mebbe you folks up here don't know yet that he led a bunch of us after +a machine gun nest that was holdin' back the fellows there in the +Argonny and that when every man of us dropped he went on single-handed, +with a nasty hole in his side, and got every Jerry of 'em! But I guess +before he done that he pulled Archie Eaton back where the Jerries +couldn't finish me with their shot pepperin' the lot of us as we lay +there and--well, he's done a lot more'n that and mebbe you don't know +that the other day some fellers down at Washington gave him a +Distinguished Service Medal which I guess puts him pretty near next to +Ethan Allen himself! So set up a shout that'll split your throats for +Eric Hopworth, 'cause if it wasn't for him Archie Eaton wouldn't be +here holdin' his mother's hand and cryin' real tears, he's that tickled +to be home, and this old North Hero wouldn't be on the map like 'tis! +So let her rip, fellows! _My_ buddy, Eric Hopworth!" + +Something, pent up while Archie Eaton was speaking, burst with a roar. +Each person, big or small, tried to shout louder than anyone else; each +tried to press close enough to lay a hand on the hero. And, strange +sight, Mrs. Eaton was now clasping Eric Hopworth in her arms! + +Nancy, standing a little apart with Miss Sabrina, shouting like the +others, suddenly felt her throat choke with a sob, for she saw Dan'l, +stung to life, leap forward through the crowd to reach his son, his +face lifted and lighted by a great pride. Then, as they clasped hands, +the crowd parted suddenly, and through it flashed two small figures. +In less than a moment Nonie and Davy were both in their father's arms. + +No one stopped to recall the stories of Eric Hopworth's youth nor of +his bringing the two babies back to his father. It was enough that he +was there among them, one of the country's heroes. + +Mrs. Eaton was excitedly begging everyone to come to her home and have +ice cream and cake, and there was a general movement of young and old +to accept her hospitality. But when she urged Eric Hopworth he shook +his head, slipping one arm over his father's shoulder. + +"I guess we want to go home," he explained, a little embarrassed. "You +see, it's been a long time--Pa and I have got a lot to say to each +other! And _we've_ got to get acquainted," nodding at the youngsters +who were clinging to his arm. + +There was a great deal that Eric Hopworth could not tell his father, +for the simple reason that he had _not_ at his command the words that +could tell of the lessons the war had taught him. But in one simple, +awkward sentence he tried to express his remorse and penitence. + +"Well, Pa," they had stopped before the door of the dilapidated house, +"I guess it took the war to make a man of me! I went into it 'cause it +looked pretty excitin', but it didn't take me long to find out it was a +big job and the kind of a job that meant a fellow had to give the very +best in him--and only the best! I've had time to think a lot and +things sort a come to me different, over there. I guess I know now +that I've got a job right here most as big as the war and I'm goin' to +do it! I'm goin' to make a home for you and Liz and the kids--a _real_ +home!" + +Nonie, standing off, a little shyly and uncertainly, was steeling +herself for a test. Out of a clear sky had dropped a real father. He +looked very big, but his face was kind, and he had a nice voice. +Perhaps--_perhaps_ one of her dreams was coming true! She slipped away +to her room and made ready for bed with trembling fingers. For a long +time she lay listening to the voices below. After a little Davy came +in and crawled sleepily into the cot in the corner. Still she waited, +her hands clasped tightly under the covers. At last she heard a +step--not like her grandfather's, nor Liz', she knew theirs--a +cautious, tip-toey step. As it came nearer she shivered with exquisite +anticipation. + +Eric Hopworth leaned over the bed. He had thought Nonie would be +asleep. She held her eyes shut tight for a moment. He laid his hand +on her head with a shy, caressing movement. Suddenly the child threw +her two arms around his neck. He held her close, then he kissed her +and laid her gently back upon the pillow. + +"Good night, kiddie," he whispered softly, and tip-toed out of the room. + +Nonie gave one long, happy sigh, then, cuddling down under the covers, +dropped off into dreamless slumber. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +A LETTER FROM THE MASTER + +Four days had passed since Nancy had written her confession and sent it +off to Peter Hyde. They had seemed endless, too, in spite of all the +strange changes at Happy House. Aunt Sabrina and Aunt Milly were +pathetically and helplessly busy over the new member of the family, and +his coming had necessitated momentous reforms in the habits of the +household and long arguments as to the proper care of infants. B'lindy +had finally found somewhere in the back of a "Household Helper" a +chapter on the "Care of the Child," and went about all day with a +finger between its pages and a superior look on her face. + +Nancy had spent one entire afternoon at the Hopworth's. Nonie and Davy +had come for her and had dragged her back with them to see their "Dad." + +"Ask him to tell you 'bout----" and Davy had breathlessly, rattled off +a dozen or more of the war tales that he had liked best. + +Nancy had thought, that afternoon, that, somehow or other, the Hopworth +kitchen had changed since that first day she had visited it. It was +cleaner, homier; there was less litter, the air was not so heavy with +the stale odors of cooking. Old Dan'l sat near the open door smoking +the pipe Eric had brought him, his eyes following Eric's every +movement. Liz, fussing about over household tasks, was less dominant, +less forbidding, and the tired look had gone from her face. + +With the children's chatter Eric Hopworth's shyness soon wore off. +Nonie had told him of the pleasant days at Happy House with Nancy; he +felt a deep gratitude to these people who had been doing for his two +"kiddies" what he should have done. At Davy's coaxing he had repeated +for Nancy some of the incidents of the war in which he had shared. +Davy had proudly exhibited the precious trophies that had come home in +his father's luggage. + +"And Dad's going to stay home always and always now," Nonie had +announced. Then Eric Hopworth explained that he had taken a position +in a big manufacturing plant at Burlington. + +"The boss there was my captain. It'll do for a start. After a bit, +maybe, I can take the family there, though Pa'll likely want to always +stay here in Freedom," he had added with a squaring of the shoulders +that said plainly that the burdens of the household now rested upon him. + +Nancy had gone away from the cottage that afternoon with a feeling in +her heart that Nonie and Davy would no longer need her. Davy, with his +first-hand war stories and trophies and a real hero for a father, from +now on had an assured standing among the youths of the village, and +Nonie had some one to love and to love her. + +So the little loneliness that this thought created added to Nancy's +restlessness and made the hours seem endless. And it made her, too, +haunt the doorway watching for Jonathan and possible letters. + +She told herself, sternly, that, of course, it was silly to expect +Peter Hyde to write--that was a closed chapter. But she had written a +long letter to Anne, telling her of the strange things that had +transpired at Happy House and of the two dear little sisters who were +undoubtedly Anne's relatives. Surely Anne must answer that letter. + +Old Jonathan was too simple-hearted to wonder why Nancy ran out each +day to greet him or why she asked, each day, in a manner she tried to +make casual, if "Mr. Judson had anyone to help him yet?" But on this +fourth day, his smile was broad with satisfaction as he proudly placed +in her hand a big, flat envelope. + +A week before Nancy would have exclaimed--for it was from Theodore +Hoffman. Now she turned away in disappointment. + +In the excitement of the last few days she had forgotten her play. She +opened the envelope now with steady fingers. By some intuition she +knew just what she would find inside. There they were--all the sheets +over which she had toiled so long, familiar, yet unfamiliar, their +freshness gone from handling--tired-looking. Before she opened the +master's letter she gave them a tender little pat, as though she felt +very sorry for them. + +The master's letter told her that her play had much merit and a great +deal of promise, but that it was "young." "You must know more of life, +my dear young lady, live close to love and close to sorrow and learn +life's lessons, before you can portray them.... And never lose faith +in your work. After failure, try again--and again--and again.... +Work, work, work, greatness is in effort." + +Nancy read the words with a thrill--it was as though he was speaking to +her. + +Her labor of the last few months should not be in vain; her little +play, though it had been a failure, had brought her this golden message +from the one who had, through the effort he preached, risen to the very +top. + +Then the last two paragraphs of the master's letter made her forget +everything else. + +"I have had constantly in my mind that strange child who played and +danced in your garden. She has haunted me. You told me her name was +Nonie Hopworth. I have looked up records and have learned that the +young student who, fifteen years ago, gave such promise of dramatic +ability, was Ilona Carr and that she married an Eric Hopworth. This +Nonie is without doubt her child. + +"Will you ask the child's guardians if they will allow her to come to +my school at Tarrytown for a few years? There she will have the best +schooling and dramatic training that my teachers can give and her +talent will have an opportunity for development and growth. When she +is older she shall choose for herself whether or not she will follow +the calling----" + +"The fairy godmother has come," declared Nancy, later, bursting in upon +the Hopworth family with her strange news. She had to read and re-read +the letter so that they could understand and Eric Hopworth had to hear +all about the afternoon at Happy House when the great Theodore Hoffman +had called. + +At first he had decidedly opposed the plan. Liz had snorted in +disapproval. Nonie had stared at first one, then another, with round, +bewildered eyes. + +"You ought not to throw away such a chance. It's a wonderful +school--I've visited there. Nonie will have splendid training----" + +"I know all about it," Eric Hopworth had broken in, and Nancy suddenly +remembered what the master had told her. + +"Tell me about Nonie's mother," she begged. + +There was not much to tell--she had come into Eric Hopworth's life and +gone out again, in a few years. + +"I always had a feelin' I'd cheated her of a lot," Eric Hopworth said +humbly, turning in his hand the photograph he had brought out from old +Dan'l's bureau to show Nancy. + +It was a cheap little photograph, taken a few months after they had +been married. But the pretty face that smiled out of it was a happy +face. Nancy, as she studied it closely, wondered if it had ever been +shadowed by a regret for the dreams she had sacrificed by her marriage. + +"Then--don't cheat Nonie now," Nancy answered. + +So before she went away it was decided that Nonie should go to +Tarrytown and while little Nonie was pinching herself to be sure she +was awake and not dreaming, Nancy's and Liz's minds, in true feminine +fashion, leaped ahead to the question of "clothes." Upon their +perturbed planning came Mrs. Cyrus Eaton, walking into the Hopworth +kitchen with the air of one familiar with its threshold. + +Too many strange things had happened for Nancy to be amazed at this. +And when she saw Mrs. Eaton pat Eric Hopworth's arm as she sat down +beside him, Nancy knew that in the woman's heart, all silly prejudices +had been swept away by a deep affection for the man who had saved her +boy's life. + +Mrs. Eaton had to hear all about the master's letter and Nonie's +wonderful chance to go to the school at Tarrytown. + +"Clothes--land sakes, Liz Hopworth, you've got enough to do without +fussing over clothes. Let me get the child ready. I always did want +to sew for a girl. Besides, it isn't much for me to do, +considering----" she could not finish, but she laid her hand, again, on +Eric Hopworth's arm. + +Nancy realized, more than Liz, how much Mrs. Eaton wanted to have this +opportunity to do something for Nonie, so she answered quickly, before +anyone could make a protest: + +"That will be splendid if you will help out that way, Mrs. Eaton," and +she made her tone very final, as though they must all consider the +matter settled. + +Nancy left Mrs. Eaton and Liz fussing over the wearing qualities of +various fabrics hitherto absolutely unknown to Nonie and walked slowly +homeward. It was a sunny, still afternoon, conducive to meditation. +And Nancy, in a pensive mood, had much to meditate over. + +A moment's whim had brought her to Happy House and how much had +happened because of her coming. How curiously intermixed everything +had been; her acquaintance with Judson's hired man had brought her in +touch with the great Theodore Hoffman and then he, through her, had +found Nonie. + +Life was so funny--Nancy suddenly remembered a game she had played when +she was very, very small. She had had a box of queer shaped and many +colored Japanese blocks, that, if placed together in just the right +way, made a beautiful castle upon the highest peak of which she could +place a shining red ball. But it had been very difficult to build; +Nancy had, often, in impatience, thrown the blocks down, but her father +had always come, then, to her help and had laughingly coaxed her to try +again. + +Life was like that--if one could successfully fit all the queer edges +together and build up, piece by piece, one could have the reward of the +shining ball at the top. But Nancy, thinking of it now, felt the +tugging impatience that she had used to feel toward the pile of colored +blocks. + +A few weeks had so changed her own life--she must take up the little +pieces and begin to build again. + +At the gate of Happy House she paused, and turning, looked down the +road. In the last few days she had caught herself often looking down +that road and yet she would not admit to herself--she was too proud to +admit it that she was always wishing that she would see Peter Hyde +coming. It was very lonesome at Happy House without him. + +Suddenly, in a swirl of dust, a motor turned the corner at the smithy +and approached toward her at a tremendous speed, its outline barely +distinguishable because of the cloud that enveloped it. No one came up +that road unless they were coming to Happy House. + +Then someone, swathed in linen and green, floating veiling, spied Nancy +and waved wildly from the tonneau. + +Scarcely believing her eyes, Nancy took a step forward. With a swerve +and a roar the car came to a stop and from the front seat, throwing off +goggles and cap, sprang Eugene Leavitt. + +"Daddy!" cried Nancy, throwing herself into his arms. + +"I thought it was Anne, but I couldn't----" + +she began, finally withdrawing from his tight clasp to greet the +others. "I just--couldn't believe it." + +Anne was standing now beside her, and behind Anne, unwinding yards and +yards of dust-covered veiling, laughed Claire. + +"Oh, it's too good, good, good to be true," Nancy cried, trying to +embrace them both at the same time. "To have you all come--at once. +I'm so happy, I just want to cry." + +"And, Nancy, at last you're going to meet my brother Barry," +interrupted Claire, her eyes sparkling. "You wouldn't come to +Merrycliffe, so you see I had to bring him here." + +Nancy was so happy that she could even turn to greet the despised +"lion" with a radiant smile. Claire's brother, who, forgotten by the +others in their joyous reunion, had been busying himself with the +engine of his car, now turned and removed from a dust-stained face the +goggles that had almost completely hidden it. + +"Pe-ter. You----" and Nancy, her face crimson, put her two hands +behind her back. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +BARRY + +Nancy presented such a picture of bewilderment and unbelief that the +others all laughed--except Peter; his face was very grave. + +"You see I thought the only way I could get you--to forgive me--was by +bringing them all back with me." + +But Nancy had no intention of forgiving--at least, at once--the trick +that had been played upon her. She lifted her chin with meaning +disdain and turned to the others. + +"Let's go up to the house. My aunts will be so glad to see you all," +and slipping one hand through her father's arm and another into Anne's +she turned up the path, leaving Claire and her brother to follow. + +Miss Sabrina had seen the car stop at the gate and had come to the +door. She knew at once that this was Nancy's father. A color swept +her cheeks and faded. She tried to say some word of welcome but her +trembling lips could not frame a single syllable. But almost instantly +her fears were set at rest, for Eugene Leavitt took her two hands in +his clasp and lightly kissed her cheek in a cheery way that put aside +forever the trouble that had separated them. + +In the hub-bub and chatter that followed, Nancy did not realize that +Peter Hyde had slipped away; not until Aunt Sabrina had carried her +father off to Aunt Milly's room and B'lindy, radiant, had gone back to +the kitchen to prepare a supper "fit for folks," leaving the three +chums together. Claire gave her friend an affectionate shake. + +"Now, Nancy Leavitt, don't be silly and stay cross at Barry. It's my +fault. I knew he was here and that you were here, and that he knew you +and you knew him, and neither of you----" + +"Please, please Claire," begged Nancy, trying to stop her friend. Her +face turned scarlet. Of course she could not be offended at his +deception, had she not, herself, been masquerading? But burning in her +mind was the recollection of that afternoon when she had opened her +heart to Peter and had told him how she despised Barry Wallace and his +kind. And he had let her talk--she could not forgive that, ever. + +"After you'd been here a few weeks," Claire went on, "Barry wrote to +me. I suppose he'd gotten to the point where he simply had to confide +in someone. You can imagine, I nearly dropped when I saw the postmark +and knew what he was doing, but picture how I felt when he wrote that +he'd met the 'best girl ever--no frills and fropperies like mother's +crowd, but a regular girl.' Of course I knew he meant you. I let him +write a few more letters--I don't think Barry ever wrote so often to me +before--and then, I told him everything." + +"You did?" exclaimed Nancy. "Then----" she stopped short. Now she +understood why he had refused to accept her answer as final--that last +evening they had been together. + +"And I made him promise on his honor not to tell you that I had told. +So don't be cross at him," Claire pleaded, a little worried at Nancy's +expression. "He has gone back to Judson's and he said--he asked me to +ask you if you would go out to Bird's-Nest--after supper--and----" + +Claire, failing in words, threw her arms around Nancy's neck and kissed +her. Anne, who had been impatiently waiting for an opportunity, took +up her part of the story. + +"Goodness, Nancy, you can be thankful you've been up here and not at +the apartment--it's unbearably stuffy and hot. Although it ought to +have seemed like paradise after my quarters in London," snapping her +lips together. Poor Anne, her dream of service was now only a bitter +recollection. "I was sitting there as forlorn as could be when in +blew--no other word could describe it--Claire's brother. You wouldn't +have dreamed from the way he acted that he'd never laid eyes on me +before. He told me about the confession you'd written him and he said +he knew you were unhappy up here because of your false position and +that I ought to come back up here with him and get you out of it. He +didn't want me to lose a moment. Then, while we were talking, your +letter came with its astonishing news. Isn't it all like some +nightmare--all the aunts and things mixed up the way they were? We had +to read your letter over and over to understand it. Then when we +finally got it through our heads, we decided we'd get Claire and start +the next day for North Hero." + +"But Dad?" asked Nancy. + +"We were all ready to go when a taxi drove up to the door and out +jumped your father. Of course he had to hear the whole story way back +to the letter Noah brought to our room. Barry didn't give him a chance +to even wash his face, he bundled him straight into the automobile as +though it were a matter of life and death. And here we are. And this +place looks like Heaven," Anne finished. + +It was a merry party that gathered around Miss Sabrina's table. +B'lindy wanting to express all that was in her heart, had spread a +supper fit for the gods. Nancy's father had carried Miss Milly +downstairs and sat between her and Nancy. Every now and then Nancy +slipped her hand into his, under the tablecloth. Miss Sabrina, at the +head of the table, beamed down upon them all in a pathetic ecstasy of +happiness. From the kitchen came the insistent "goo's" of the smallest +Hopworth, to the accompaniment of a silver spoon beating against a +silver mug. + +Through all the light chatter in the room there was an undertone of +deep happiness and contentment. Only occasionally Claire's eyes +flashed a worried, pleading message to Nancy that Nancy wilfully +ignored. But when, after supper, the others all went to the Hollyhock +porch and Nancy slipped away, the watchful Claire drew a sigh of relief +and proceeded to feel riotously happy. + +As Nancy walked slowly down the path to the orchard she felt her heart +grow inexplainably, foolishly light. She was so glad that Peter Hyde +had come back. + +The gladness shone in her eyes as she let him clasp her two hands. He +did not even ask her if she would forgive him; they both laughed +joyously, like two children. + +"Wasn't it funny? Both of us up here pretending to be someone else." + +"But it wasn't fair. You knew--and I didn't." + +Peter hastened to defend himself. "I didn't--at first. And then +Claire made me promise not to let on that I knew. Anyway, I'd grown so +downright sick of that Barry Wallace that I wanted to just see if I +could make someone like plain Peter Hyde. Did I?" he asked. + +Nancy ignored the direct question and avoided the pleading in Peter's +eyes. + +"Why did you come here, Pet--Barry?" + +"I wonder if you will understand, Nancy?" Peter's voice was serious. +"Mother thought I was crazy and Claire would have, too--at the time. +But when I heard you tell--that afternoon--what you thought of Claire's +brother, I decided I'd done just about the right thing. You see, when +I came back from the other side, just because father and mother are +quite prominent, I found that a lot of stuff had been printed about all +the things I'd done----" + +"But you did do them," cried Nancy, warmly. + +"Oh, yes, I did them, and I have got three or four medals--but then so +were a lot of other fellows doing the same things and a lot of 'em were +killed, doing them. You see, I just looked at it that everyone of us +went over to do our duty and most all of us did--and that's all there +was to it. So when I came back it was a sort of a shock to fall into +the mess I found waiting for me. I couldn't turn around that I wasn't +asked to appear at a tea or a reception or a banquet or a church circle +or something or other to speak. Every other minute I was dodging a +photographer. And you see the worst of it all was that they were all +my mother's friends, and my mother was always around looking as though +she was at last reaping the reward for her sacrifice. I suppose any +mother would have been the same. But you can see the hole it put me +in. I hated it, but I couldn't bear to offend her. I wanted to go to +work at something; I tried a week in my father's office, but I couldn't +stand the confinement indoors. So I ran away--it was my only escape. +I headed for the mountains--somewhere where no one would know me. At +Burlington I saw Judson's ad. and this idea came to me. I'd hire out +to him for awhile and get a chance to work out some theories that were +pets of mine--before the war. I shipped my car back to Merrycliffe and +wrote to mother of my plan, begging her to tell no one. I picked the +name Peter Hyde at random--out of the hotel telephone book." + +"I shall never, never think of you as anything but Peter Hyde," broke +in Nancy. + +"I don't ever want you to," assured Barry. + +Nancy's eyes rested for a moment on the outline of the Judson barns. +"Are you going to help Judson with his harvesting?" she asked, suddenly. + +"Sure thing I am--I wouldn't think of leaving him, just now. Nancy, +will you listen to a plan I've been making? I've got some money--it +was my grandmother's--and I want to buy up some farms in different +parts of the state, the kind of farms that are sort of run down at the +heels, and experiment with them and see what can be done with them, as +a sort of outright demonstration for other farmers. Do you think that +worth while?" he asked so anxiously and with such humility that Nancy +colored. + +"Oh, Peter--why ask me? It sounds pleasant and--and like you." She +suddenly seemed to see him going on with this new work--without her. +The thought brought a wistful look into her face. Barry Wallace read +it there. + +"Nancy, I'm afraid I sort of made a mess of things--the other night. +When you told me you were going away--I lost my head. Tell me--you +said you'd always care more for your work than for anything or anyone +else--couldn't you share your work? Like I'd like to share mine?" + +Nancy lifted a protesting hand that Barry promptly imprisoned in both +of his own. + +"Oh, Peter, don't repeat all that--silly stuff--I said." + +"Didn't you mean it, Nancy?" Barry cried. + +"I meant it--then. But that was--young." Barry could not know that +she was using the master's words. "I know--I think--that--that----" + +"What, Nancy?" + +Nancy looked wildly around. She wanted to run away, but Barry Wallace +was holding her hand very tight. + +"That--I'll work better if--that--oh, I'm just glad you came back," and +Nancy could not have said anything more, for her face was smothered +against Barry's shoulder. + +After a little, Barry had to hear all about the rejected manuscript, +the master's letter and the redemption of the Hopworth's. There in the +sun-lit orchard a golden world seemed to stretch around them. + +"How foolish we used to be," laughed Nancy, with a rapturous sigh. "I +never doubted but that my first play was going to make my fortune." + +"And I, after facing death in every one of its worst forms, ran away +from a pack of fussy women," added Barry. + +"Never mind, let's bury those two children out here under the apple +trees and begin real work----" + +"Together." + +"Finding the little things to do in our very own corner," added Nancy, +dreamily. + +Across the twilight stillness came the familiar whistle that had been +the special signal among the three chums at college. + +"It's the girls," cried Nancy. "Let's go back. I can't bear to have +them come here--just now. It's--it's----" she blushed, but met his +eyes squarely. "I want this to be--just ours--for awhile." + +As they walked slowly back to the house, Nancy stopped suddenly in the +path. + +"Doesn't Happy House look beautiful?" she whispered. And in fact the +fading glow of the sun was touching the old walls with a shadowy beauty. + +"It seems to speak to one," added Nancy. She was thinking of that +other Anne Leavitt who had come there bravely intent upon building a +happy home in the heart of the wilderness. Though she said not a word, +in her heart she was making a solemn pledge--that she and Barry, would +add, through useful lives, their bit to the traditions of Happy House +and the little Island, traditions rich with bravery, sacrifice and +loyalty. + +Again came the girls' whistle--insistent. Nancy slipped her hand into +Barry's. + +"Let's hurry." + +Hand in hand they went along the path to the house--and to their future +together. As they reached, the edge of Jonathan's raspberry patch +Nancy turned with shining eyes and whispered: "Pals." + +And Barry, teasingly recalling Nonie's pet plan, answered tenderly: +"Dearest." + + + + +_There is the high, happy spirit of youth in these famous_ + +BOOKS FOR GIRLS + +by JANE D. ABBOTT + + +BARBERRY GATE + +A boy flyer opened the Barberry Gate, closed since the day +great-grandfather Colfax locked it, and Winsome learned the romantic +story behind it all. + + +LAUGHING LAST + +Sidney finds adventure in Provincetown--she takes part in the capture +of modern pirates, and much to her surprise plays an unexpected part in +her sister's romance. + + +APRILLY + +The charming story of a young girl, child of the circus, and the +adventures which led to her goal of happiness. + + +HIGHACRES + +A school story of Jerry Travis and her chum Gyp Westley. A thread of +romance and mystery in Jerry's life runs through the tale. + + +KEINETH + +How Keineth Randolph kept a secret--a war secret--for a whole year +makes one of the best stories ever written for girls. + + +RED ROBIN + +In attempting to bring happiness into the lives of mill workers, Robin +Forsythe, heir to a fortune, has many strange adventures. + + +HEYDAY + +Twenty-three! The heyday of life. Jay, a small town girl, finds +happiness in New York. + + +LARKSPUR + +Especially interesting to any Girl Scout because it is the story of a +Girl Scout who is poor and has to help her mother. + + +HAPPY HOUSE + +How an old family quarrel is healed through a misunderstanding and an +old homestead becomes a "happy house" in reality. + + +GROSSET & DUNLAP _Publishers_ NEW YORK + + +THE NANCY DREW MYSTERY STORIES + +By CAROLYN KEENE + +Illustrated. Every Volume Complete in Itself. + + +Here is a thrilling series of mystery stories for girls. Nancy Drew, +ingenious, alert, is the daughter of a famous criminal lawyer and she +herself is deeply interested in his mystery cases. Her interest +involves her often in some very dangerous and exciting situations. + + +THE SECRET OF THE OLD CLOCK + +Nancy, unaided, seeks to locate a missing will and finds herself in the +midst of adventure. + + +THE HIDDEN STAIRCASE + +Mysterious happenings in an old stone mansion lead to an investigation +by Nancy. + + +THE BUNGALOW MYSTERY + +Nancy has some perilous experiences around a deserted bungalow. + + +THE MYSTERY AT LILAC INN + +Quick thinking and quick action were needed for Nancy to extricate +herself from a dangerous situation. + + +THE SECRET AT SHADOW RANCH + +On a vacation in Arizona Nancy uncovers an old mystery and solves it. + + +THE SECRET OF RED GATE FARM + +Nancy exposes the doings of a secret society on an isolated farm. + + +THE CLUE IN THE DIARY + +A fascinating and exciting story of a search for a clue to a surprising +mystery. + + +NANCY'S MYSTERIOUS LETTER + +Nancy receives a letter informing her that she is heir to a fortune. +This story tells of her search for another Nancy Drew. + + +THE SIGN OF THE TWISTED CANDLES + +Nancy, as mediator in a generation-old feud, divulges an unknown +birthright. + + +THE PASSWORD TO LARKSPUR LANE + +A carrier pigeon furnishes Nancy with a clue to a mysterious retreat. + + +THE CLUE OF THE BROKEN LOCKET + +Nancy's sympathy for adopted twins leads her into a surprising mystery. + + +THE MESSAGE IN THE HOLLOW OAK + +In Canada, Nancy protects her new property from a crooked promoter. + + +THE MYSTERY OF THE IVORY CHARM + +Nancy solves an Indian mystery by means of a lucky elephant charm. + + +GROSSET & DUNLAP _Publishers_ NEW YORK + + +The Judy Bolton Mystery Stories + +_By MARGARET SUTTON_ + +Judy's adventures, every one of them, have been based on something that +actually happened. The flood, the house with the round attic windows, +the hiding place of the invisible chimes, the school fire, the camp in +the Thousand Islands, the queer old house in Parkville and the panic in +the theatre--all of them are real! + +_You will not want to miss one of these thrilling stories._ + +THE VANISHING SHADOW--Judy is constantly pursued by a mysterious +shadow. Her brother, a timid but lovable boy, turns out to be a real +hero in this dramatic, fast moving story. + +THE HAUNTED ATTIC--The Boltons move into a large rambling house reputed +to be haunted. Even brave Judy is frightened at the strange rappings +and the eerie "crying ghost". + +THE INVISIBLE CHIMES--A strange girl is sheltered by the Boltons and +Judy tracks down many clues before she uncovers her real identity. + +SEVEN STRANGE CLUES--Judy works out seven baffling clues to solve the +mystery of a school fire and a prize poster contest. + +THE GHOST PARADE--Weird happenings at Thousand Island Camp provide +mystery, humor and adventure in this thrilling story. + +THE YELLOW PHANTOM--With her quick thinking and courage, Judy rescues a +lost friend and solves the mystery of "Golden Girl." + +THE MYSTIC BALL--Irene, "the engaged girl," is frightened by a crystal +gazer but Judy exposes the trickery and saves her friend's romance. + +THE VOICE IN THE SUITCASE--A weird cry leads Judy into excitement and +danger in a lonely old house. + +THE MYSTERIOUS HALF CAT--Judy and her friends become suspicious of a +mysterious old beggar and follow him. + + +GROSSET & DUNLAP _Publishers_ NEW YORK + + +The MARY and JERRY MYSTERY STORIES + +By FRANCIS HUNT + + +THE MESSENGER DOG'S SECRET + +The big police dog Flanders carried a strange message in his collar. +By following its directions, Mary and Jerry Denton were able to bring a +lost fortune to someone in need. + + +THE MYSTERY OF THE TOY BANK + +Jerry Denton was saving for a bicycle, but when his little bank +strangely disappeared he had a big mystery to solve. With the aid of +Mary, several chums and a queer old sailor, this eager lad brought +about a happy solution. + + +THE STORY THE PARROT TOLD + +A fire in a pet shop started a long chain of adventures for Mary and +Jerry Denton. The tale the talking parrot told caused plenty of +excitement and mystery before the bird was restored to its rightful +owner. + + +THE SECRET OF THE MISSING CLOWN + +Mary and Jerry have many happy adventures at the circus while searching +for the missing clown and his beautiful pony, Silverfeet. + + +GROSSET & DUNLAP _Publishers_ NEW YORK + + +Melody Lane Mystery Stories + +_By LILIAN GARIS_ + +Thrills, secrets, ghosts--adventures that will fascinate you seem to +surround pretty Carol Duncan. A vivid, plucky girl, her cleverness at +solving mysteries will captivate and thrill every mystery fan. + +The author has written many popular mystery stories for girls and in +this new series Mrs. Garis is at her best. + + +THE GHOST OF MELODY LANE + +Mystery surrounds the great organ in the home of the "Cameo +Lady"--beloved friend of Carol and sponsor of the girls' Coral Club. +Three people see the "ghost" that wanders in the grove carrying a waxy +white rose. And Carol finds the rose! In the end she finds the ghost +too! + + +THE FORBIDDEN TRAIL + +There was a tradition at "Splatter Castle" on Melody Lane, and Marah +Splartier, eccentric aunt of Veronica Flint determined to protect Vera +from following the long line of family tragedies that had had their +beginning on the "forbidden trail." Carol has several bad frights +before she clears up the mystery that keeps the little family at +Splatter Castle unhappy and afraid. + + +THE TOWER SECRET + +The winking lights flashing from the old tower on the grounds of the +Bonds' new home defy explanation. There is no one in the tower--and no +electric power or connections! Had the engaging circus family that +Carol befriended anything to do with the mystery? And what interest +had Parsnips, the queer old farmer, in the "ghost" tower? + + +THE WILD WARNING + +What power did the strange, wild warning in the woods have over Polly +Flinders? And why was she so desperately anxious to earn money? Carol +brings happiness to three families when she solves this exciting +mystery. + + +THE TERROR OF MOANING CLIFF + +No tenant would stay in the great, bleak house on "moaning cliff" that +belonged to Carol's aunt. But Carol, courageous and determined, +finally tracks the uncanny "haunts" to their source. + + +THE DRAGON OF THE HILLS + +When Carol runs a tea shop for a friend, a baffling mystery comes to +her with her first customer. Who has the limping man's lost +package--the gypsies, the oriental or the neighbor's boy who ran away? + + +GROSSET & DUNLAP _Publishers_ NEW YORK + + +The Carolyn Wells + +Books for Girls + + +Fresh, spirited stories that the modern small girl will take to her +heart, these well known books by a famous author have won an important +place in the field of juvenile fiction. + +Patty, with her beauty and frank good nature, and Marjorie full of +vitality and good spirits, are two lovable characters well worth +knowing, and their adventures will stir the eager imaginations of young +readers. + + +THE FAMOUS "PATTY" BOOKS + + Patty Fairfield Patty's Motor Car + Patty at Home Patty's Butterfly Days + Patty in the City Patty's Social Season + Patty's Summer Days Patty's Suitors + Patty in Paris Patty's Romance + Patty's Friend Patty's Fortune + Party's Pleasure Trip Patty Blossom + Patty's Success Patty--Bride + Patty and Azalea + + +THE MARJORIE BOOKS + + Marjorie's Vacation Marjorie in Command + Marjorie's Busy Days Marjorie's Maytime + Marjorie's New Friend Marjorie at Seacote + + +GROSSET & DUNLAP _Publishers_ NEW YORK + + +DANA GIRLS MYSTERY STORIES + +BY CAROLYN KEENE + +_Author of the_ + +NANCY DREW MYSTERY STORIES + + +Impetuous, delightful Jean Dana and her charming serious minded sister +Louise find themselves in the midst of several mysteries, when they +attempt to aid people who are in trouble. Thrilling moments come to +the girls as they follow up clue after clue in an endeavor to untangle +the knotty problems in which they become enmeshed. + + +BY THE LIGHT OF THE STUDY LAMP + +A stolen study lamp, a fortune teller, and a distressed schoolmate +provide plenty of excitement for the Dana girls before they locate the +persons responsible for many mysterious happenings. + + +THE SECRET AT LONE TREE COTTAGE + +While the girls are at Starhurst School, they learn that their beloved +English teacher has vanished in a strange manner. In tracing her, Jean +and Louise are able to aid the frantic relatives of a dear little +curly-haired tot, but not before they themselves are in danger of +disappearing. + + +IN THE SHADOW OF THE TOWER + +The mingling of unusual characters, who have life interests very +different from one another, lends excitement and intrigue to a +Christmas vacation of the Dana girls. Their ability to fit together +the pieces of a strange puzzle brings happiness to several persons. + + +A THREE-CORNERED MYSTERY + +There were three strange corners which the Dana girls successfully +rounded in their search for clues to clear up a mystery, involving +property and an international spy of many aliases. + + +THE SECRET AT THE HERMITAGE + +When Louise is mistaken for a runaway prisoner, strange things begin to +happen, which lead the Danas to uncover the secret of a talented girl +and her crippled charge. + + +GROSSET & DUNLAP _Publishers_ NEW YORK + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Happy House, by Jane D. 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