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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/37335-8.txt b/37335-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2bb70b5 --- /dev/null +++ b/37335-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7852 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Brenda's Bargain, by Helen Leah Reed + +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: Brenda's Bargain + A Story for Girls + +Author: Helen Leah Reed + +Illustrator: Ellen Bernard Thompson + +Release Date: September 8, 2011 [EBook #37335] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRENDA'S BARGAIN *** + + + + +Produced by Heather Clark, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + + + + Brenda's Bargain + + _A Story for Girls_ + + BY HELEN LEAH REED + +AUTHOR OF "BRENDA, HER SCHOOL AND HER CLUB" "BRENDA'S SUMMER AT +ROCKLEY," "BRENDA'S COUSIN AT RADCLIFFE" + +ILLUSTRATED BY ELLEN BERNARD THOMPSON + + BOSTON + LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY + 1903 + + _Copyright, 1903,_ + BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. + + _All rights reserved_ + + Published October, 1903 + + UNIVERSITY PRESS + JOHN WILSON AND SON + CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A. + + +[Illustration: But what startled Brenda was the sight of a girl sunk in +a heap beside the broken glass] + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I. THE BROKEN VASE 1 + + II. A FAMILY COUNCIL 14 + + III. BRENDA AT THE MANSION 26 + + IV. AN EXPLORING TOUR 40 + + V. PHILIP'S LECTURE 51 + + VI. IN THE STUDIO 62 + + VII. IN DIFFICULTIES 73 + + VIII. THE FRINGED GENTIAN LEAGUE 86 + + IX. NORA'S WORK--AND POLLY 97 + + X. ARTHUR'S ABSENCE 107 + + XI. SEEDS OF JEALOUSY 120 + + XII. DOUBTS AND DUTIES 126 + + XIII. THE VALENTINE PARTY 139 + + XIV. CONCILIATION 147 + + XV. WAR AT HAND 158 + + XVI. THE ARTISTS' FESTIVAL 168 + + XVII. IDEAL HOMES 180 + + XVIII. WHERE HONOR CALLS 193 + + XIX. THEY STAND AND WAIT 204 + + XX. WEARY WAITING 215 + + XXI. AN OCTOBER WEDDING 227 + + XXII. THE WINNER 239 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +"But what startled Brenda was the sight of a girl sunk in +a heap beside the broken glass" _Frontispiece_ + +"Waiting for a car they had sat down on a wayside seat" 62 + +"'I think I hear some one coming upstairs'" 77 + +"They walked through the long galleries" 136 + +"She seemed to take but a languid interest in the world +around her" 224 + +"Brenda had never looked so well" 235 + + + + + +BRENDA'S BARGAIN + + + + +I + +THE BROKEN VASE + + +One fine October afternoon Brenda Barlow walked leisurely across the +Common by one of the diagonal paths from Beacon Street to the shopping +district. It was an ideal day, and as she neared the shops she half +begrudged the time that she must spend indoors. "Now or never," she +thought philosophically; "I can't send a present that I haven't picked +out myself, and I cannot very well order it by mail. But it needn't take +me very long, especially as I know just what I want." + +Usually Brenda was fond of buying, and it merely was an evidence of the +charm of the day that she now felt more inclined toward a country walk +than a tour of the shops. + +Once inside the large building crowded with shoppers, she found a +certain pleasure in looking at the new goods displayed on the counters. +It was only a passing glance, however, that she gave them, and she +hastened to get the special thing that she had in mind that she might be +at home in season to keep an appointment. Her errand was to choose a +wedding present for a former schoolmate, and she had set her heart on a +cut-glass rose-bowl. Yet as she wandered past counters laden with +pretty, fragile things she began to waver in her choice. + +"Rose-bowls!" the salesman shrugged his shoulders expressively; "they +are going out of fashion." And Brenda wondered that she had thought of a +thing that was not really up to date; for, recalling Ruth's wedding +presents, she remembered that among them there were not many pieces of +cut-glass, and not a single rose-bowl. + +At last after some indecision she chose a delicate iridescent vase, +beautiful in design, but of no use as a flower holder. Its slender stem +looked as if a touch would snap it in two. It cost twice as much as she +had meant to spend for this particular thing, and had she thought longer +she would have realized that so fragile a gift would be a care to its +owner. Self-examination would have shown that she had made her choice +chiefly to reflect credit on her own liberality and good taste. But her +conscience had not begun to prick her as she drew from her purse the +twenty-dollar bill to pay for the purchase. + +A moment later, as Brenda walked away, a crash made her turn her head. A +second glance assured her that the glittering fragments on the floor +were the remains of her beautiful vase. But what startled Brenda more +than the shattered vase was the sight of a girl sunk in a heap beside +the broken glass. She recognized her as the cash-girl whom the clerk had +told to pack her purchase. Evidently she had let the vase fall from her +hands, and as evidently she was overcome by what had happened. + +Had she fainted? Brenda, bending over her, laid her hand on the girl's +head. Aroused by the touch, the child raised her head, showing a face +that was a picture of misery. Sobs shook her slight frame, and she +allowed a kind-looking saleswoman who came from behind a counter to lead +her away from the gaze of the curious. Meanwhile the salesman who had +served Brenda brushed the bits of glass into a pasteboard-box cover. + +"I'm very sorry," he said politely, "but we cannot replace that vase. As +I told you, it was in every way unique. However, there are other pieces +similar to it--a little higher-priced, perhaps--but we will make a +discount, to compensate--" + +"But who pays for this?" Brenda interrupted, inclining her head toward +the broken glass. + +"Oh, do not concern yourself about that, it is entirely our loss. Of +course, if you prefer, we can return you your money, but still--" + +"Will they make that poor little girl pay for the glass?" + +"Well, of course she broke it; it was entirely her fault; she let it +slip from her fingers. She is always very careless." + +"But I paid for it, didn't I?" asked Brenda. "That is my money, is it +not?" for he still held a bill between his fingers. + +"Why, yes; as I told you, you can have your money back." + +"I have not asked for my money, but I should like to have the vase that +I bought to take home with me. It will go into a small box now." + +"Do you mean these pieces?" The salesman was almost too bewildered to +speak. + +"Why, of course, they belong to me, do they not?" and a smile twinkled +around the corners of Brenda's mouth. At last the salesman understood. + +"It's very kind of you," he said, emptying the pieces from the cover +into a small pasteboard box. "Mayn't we send it home?" + +"Yes, after all, you may send it. Please have it packed carefully;" and +this time both Brenda and the salesman smiled outright. + +"It's the second thing," said the latter, "that Maggie has broken +lately. She's bound to lose her place. It took a week's wages to pay for +the cup, and I don't know what she could have done about this. It would +have taken more than six weeks' pay." + +"I should like to see her," said Brenda. "Can I go where she is?" + +"Certainly, she's in the waiting-room, just over there." + +"Come, come, Maggie," said Brenda gently, when she found the girl still +in tears; "stop crying, you won't have to pay for the glass vase. You +know I bought it, and I'm having the pieces sent home." + +As the girl gazed at Brenda in astonishment her tears ceased to flow +from her red-rimmed eyes. But the young lady's words seemed so +improbable that in a moment sobs again shook her frame. + +"It cost twenty dollars," she said; "I heard him say it. I can't ever +pay it in the world, and I don't want to go to prison." + +"Hush, hush, child!" cried a saleswoman who had stayed with her. "You +must stop crying, for I have to go back to my place." + +She looked inquiringly at Brenda, and Brenda in a few words explained +what she had done. + +"You are an angel," said the kind-hearted woman; "and if you can make +Maggie understand, perhaps she will stop crying." + +Now at last the truth had entered Maggie's not very quick brain. Jumping +to her feet she seized Brenda by the hand. + +"You mean it, you mean it, and I won't have to pay! But I'll pay you +some time. Oh, how good you are! How good you are!" + +"There, Maggie, you'll frighten the young lady, and you're not fit to go +back to the store. Your eyes would scare customers away. I'll take word +that you're sick, so's you can go home now; and, Miss, I hope Maggie'll +always remember how kind you've been." + +As the woman departed Brenda had a new idea, and when the message came +that Maggie might go home she asked the little girl to meet her at the +side door downstairs when she had put on her hat. "I want to talk with +you," she said, "and will walk with you a little way." + +Such condescension on the part of a beautiful young lady was enough to +turn the head of almost any little cash-girl, and Maggie could hardly +believe her ears, yet she hastened toward the side door where Brenda was +waiting. The latter glanced down at a forlorn little figure in the +scant, green plaid gown, which, although faded, was clean and whole. Her +dingy drab jacket was short-waisted, and her red woollen Tam o' Shanter +made her look very childish. + +As the two stood there in the doorway two young men whom Brenda knew +passed by. They were among the most supercilious of the younger set, and +as they raised their hats they looked curiously at Brenda's companion. +Brenda, though undisturbed, realized that she and Maggie were standing +in a very conspicuous place. + +"Come, Maggie," she said, "wouldn't you like a cup of chocolate? I'm +going to get one for myself." + +The little girl meekly followed her to a restaurant across the street, +and when they were seated at an upstairs table near a window Maggie felt +as if in some way she had been carried to a palace. There was really +nothing palatial in the room, though it was bright and cheerful, with a +red carpet that deadened all footfalls. But Maggie herself had never +before sat at a little round table in a pleasant room, with a waitress +attentive to her. A lunch counter was the only restaurant that she had +known, and this was certainly very different. The hot chocolate with +whipped cream, and the other dainties ordered for the two, made her half +forget her grief for her carelessness. Gradually she lost a little of +her shyness, and told Brenda about her work, and about the aunt with +whom she lived. + +"She wants me to keep that place, for it's one of the best shops in +town. But she's awful cross sometimes, and I'm terribly afraid of losing +it. You see," she continued, "my fingers seem buttered, and I don't run +quick enough when they call. I feel all confused like, for there's so +much coming and going. Ah, I wish that I had something else I could do!" + +"When did you leave school, Maggie?" + +"Oh, I'm a graduate; I'm fifteen past, and I got my diploma last spring. +My aunt was good; she thinks girls ought to go to school until they get +through the grammar school. She says my mother and me, we've been a +great expense, and the funeral cost a lot, so she needs every cent I +earn." + +Gradually Brenda understood about Maggie, and it seemed to her that she +would like to talk with her aunt. Glancing at the little enamelled watch +pinned to her coat, she saw that it was nearly four o'clock, and this +reminded her that at four she was to walk with Arthur Weston. Hurrying +her utmost, she could not keep the appointment. She would much prefer to +go home with Maggie. + +To think with Brenda was usually to act. So, finding her way to a +telephone in the office downstairs, she called up her own house, and was +surprised to have Arthur himself answer the call. + +"But where are you?" he asked; "why can't you come home?" + +"I've something very important to do, and I can walk with you any day." + +"Really!" + +"Yes, indeed." + +"But you shouldn't treat me in this way. I shall rush out to find you." + +"You can't do it, so you might as well give it up." + +In spite of Arthur's slight protest his voice had its usual jesting +tone, but before he could remonstrate further he was cut off, and Brenda +had turned back to Maggie. + +Though it was but a few months since the announcement of Brenda's +engagement to Arthur Weston, these two young people had known each other +long enough to have a thorough understanding of each other's character. +Brenda knew that Arthur hated to be mystified, and Arthur knew that +Brenda was wilful. Yet each at times would cross the other along what +might be called the line of greatest resistance. + +If Maggie was surprised that her new friend wished to accompany her home +she did not show her feeling, and Brenda soon found herself in a car +travelling to an unfamiliar part of the city. Near the corner where they +left the car was a large building, which Maggie explained was a very +popular theatre. + +"I love to look at those pictures," said the girl, pointing to the gaudy +bill-boards leaning against the wall. "I've only been there once, but +I'm going Thanksgiving,--if I don't lose my place." + +Her face darkened as she remembered that her prospect for having money +to spare at Thanksgiving had greatly lessened this afternoon. Brenda did +not like the neighborhood through which they now hastened toward +Maggie's home in Turquoise Street. It had not the antiquity of the North +End, nor the picturesqueness of the West End. There were too many liquor +shops, and the narrow street into which they turned was unattractive. +She did not like the appearance of many of the people whom she met, and +she felt like clinging to Maggie's hand. + +Still, the house itself which Maggie pointed out as the one where she +lived looked like a comfortable private house. Indeed, it once had been +the dwelling of a well-to-do private family. But inside, its halls were +bare of carpets, and not over clean. Evidently it had become a mere +tenement-house. + +"I wonder what my aunt will say," said Maggie timidly, as they stood at +the door of her aunt's rooms. + +"We'll know soon;" and even as Brenda spoke Maggie had opened the door, +and they stood face to face with a small, sharp-featured woman. + +"Goodness me! Maggie, are you sick? What did you come home for? Oh, a +lady! Please take a seat, ma'am," and Mrs. McSorley showed her +nervousness by vigorously dusting the seat of a chair with the end of +her blue-checked apron. + +Brenda thanked her for the proffered chair, for she had just climbed two +rather steep flights of stairs. She felt a little faint from the effort, +and from the odors that she had inhaled on the way up. One tenant had +evidently had cabbage for dinner, and another was frying onions for +tea. Although Brenda herself could not have told what these strange +odors were, they made her uncomfortable. While Maggie was explaining why +she had returned home so early, Brenda glanced with interest around the +room. It seemed to be a combination of kitchen and sitting-room. Above +the large cooking-stove was a shelf of pots and pans, and there was an +upholstered rocking-chair in one corner. There were plants in the +windows, and a shelf on the wall between them with a loud-ticking clock. +Under the shelf stood a table with a red-and-white plaid cotton +table-cover. A glass sugar-bowl, a crockery pitcher, and a pile of +plates showed that the table was for use as well as for ornament. +Through a half-open door Brenda had a glimpse of a bedroom that looked +equally neat and clean. + +"I'm sure, Miss," said Mrs. McSorley when Brenda had finished her story, +"I'm very much obliged to you. Maggie's a dreadful careless girl, and a +great trial to me. She'll make it her duty to pay that money back to +you." + +"Oh, no, indeed, I couldn't think of such a thing; if any one was to +blame it was I for buying so delicate a vase. Besides, they shouldn't +have a small girl carry things about." + +"Oh, no, Miss, it was just Maggie's fault. Her fingers are buttered, and +sometimes I don't know what her end will be. I suppose I'll have to put +her somewhere so's she can't do no mischief." + +At these ominous words Maggie's tears fell again, and Brenda, as she +afterward said to Arthur, felt her "heart in her mouth." For Mrs. +McSorley, with her arms akimbo, and her high cheek-bones and determined +expression looked indeed rather formidable, and Brenda hesitated to +suggest what she had in mind for Maggie's benefit. + +"I've tried to do my duty by her," continued Mrs. McSorley, "just as I +did by her mother, and we gave her a funeral with three carriages after +she'd been sick on my hands for two years, and her only my +sister-in-law; and I kept Maggie at school till she graduated, and she's +got a place in one of the best stores in town on account of that. If she +had any faculty she might have kept her place, but if people haven't +faculty they haven't anything." + +While her aunt was talking Maggie had hung up her things,--the Tam o' +Shanter on a hook on the bedroom door and the coat on another hook in +the corner. Brenda, watching her, thought that her orderliness might +prove an offset for her buttered fingers. + +Though there was little emotion on Mrs. McSorley's rather hard-featured +face, she looked at her visitor with curiosity. She was so pretty, with +her slight, graceful figure, waving dark hair, and the friendly +expression in her bright eyes was likely to win even so stolid a person +as Mrs. McSorley. + +"She dresses plain and neat," said Maggie, after Brenda had left; "but +she must be awful rich to wear a diamond pin to fasten her watch to the +outside of her coat, and there was about a dozen silver things dangling +from her belt." + +Yet though Brenda made a good impression on Mrs. McSorley, the latter +would not commit herself to say just what she would have Maggie do if +she should lose her place. She'd set her mind on having the girl rise +through the different grades. "I hate to have to switch my mind +round--I'm that set," she had explained, adding, "Maggie thinks me +stingy because I take all her earnings instead of letting her spend +money for fine feathers and theatres like the rest of the girls +hereabouts. But some time she'll be grateful." Then came Brenda's +opportunity for saying a little about her plan for Maggie,--a plan so +quickly made, so likely to be set aside by the grim aunt. + +While Mrs. McSorley listened she moved around the room, filling the +tea-kettle, lighting the lamp. At last, when Brenda had finished, her +reply gave only a slight hope that she would agree to the plan. Yet +Brenda felt that she had gained a point when Mrs. McSorley promised to +go with Maggie in a few days to visit the school. + +The lighted lamp reminded Brenda that outside it must be dusk. It would +trouble her to find her way to the cars through unfamiliar streets, and +she was only too glad to accept Maggie's offer to guide her, and Maggie +was more than delighted to have this last chance for a little talk with +"the kind young lady." + +"You'll not cry," said Brenda, "even if they won't take you back; +remember that you have a new friend." + +"Oh, Miss, you're so good, and to think that you have nothing for your +twenty dollars but those pieces of broken glass." + +"Ah! it's very pretty glass," responded Brenda, "and I'm going to keep +the pieces as a reminder." + +What she meant was that she would keep the pieces as a reminder not to +be extravagant, and as she looked at the little silver mesh purse +hanging at her belt she smiled to think that since she left home in the +early afternoon it had been emptied of more than twenty dollars, while +she had nothing to show for the money,--nothing, indeed, except her new +acquaintance with Mrs. McSorley and Maggie, and some fragments of +glass. + + + + +II + +A FAMILY COUNCIL + + +Brenda had to change from the surface car to one that would take her +home through the subway. It was so late that she involuntarily stepped +toward a cab standing on the corner opposite the Common. On second +thought she decided to economize, since she had already had an expensive +afternoon. After depositing her subway ticket she had to wait a few +minutes for her car in a crowd, and some one scrambling for a car pushed +some one else against her. Brenda, looking around, saw a handsome +black-eyed girl with a dark kerchief pinned over her head. + +"Oh, I beg your pardon," she said, with a foreign accent, fumbling in a +basket that she carried on her arm. + +Later, as the car was emerging into the light of the open space near the +Public Garden Brenda's hand went instinctively toward the silver-mesh +purse that she wore at her belt. It was not there, though she remembered +having taken a coin from it as she bought her car ticket. Though +accustomed to losing her little personal possessions, Brenda especially +valued this purse, and she set her wits at work to trace the loss. She +remembered the little girl with the basket, and recalled that the moment +before the child had begged her pardon she had felt something jerk her +belt. Had she only put the two things together earlier she might have +recovered the purse; for of course the child had taken it. Yet to prove +this would have been difficult. She would never have had the courage to +call a policeman, and remembering the little girl's large, soft eyes, +she found it hard to believe her a thief. "An expensive afternoon!" she +said to herself. "My twenty dollars gone in one crash, and then that +pretty purse with two or three dollars more. What will they say when I +tell them at home?" + +Then she decided to say nothing about losing the purse. This was the +kind of thing that they expected her to do, and her brother-in-law would +tease her unmercifully. But Brenda was not secretive, and it was easy +enough to speak about Maggie and the broken vase. The story did not lose +by her telling, especially as the box with the broken pieces arrived +when she was in the midst of her tale. The family was seated in the +library after dinner, and each one begged for a little piece of the +iridescent glass as a souvenir. But Brenda refused the request, on the +plea that for the present she wished to have something to show for her +money. + +"Although even without the vase I feel that I've gained something," she +concluded. + +"Experience?" queried her father; "I always hoped you'd feel that +experience is a treasure." + +"Of course," responded Brenda, "but I was thinking of Maggie McSorley; +she may prove of more worth than twenty dollars if she becomes my +candidate for Julia's school,--a perfect bargain, in fact." + +"If she keeps her promise--" + +"If! why, Mamma, I am sure that she will." + +"Speaking of losing," interposed Agnes, Brenda's sister, "Arthur lost +his temper to-day when he found that you were so ready to break your +appointment." + +"Oh, he'll find it soon enough; besides, he can't expect me always to be +ready to do just what he wishes." + +"Well, this involved some one else. He had promised young Halstead to +take you to his studio to see a picture, and he was greatly +disappointed, for the picture is to be sent away to-morrow." + +"There!" exclaimed Brenda, "why didn't I remember? I thought that we +were simply going for a walk to Brookline, but they shut off the +telephone, or cut me off, and that was why he couldn't remind me. I'm +awfully sorry." + +"You won't have a chance to tell him so this evening. What shall I say +when I see him?" + +"You needn't take the trouble, Ralph," replied Brenda; "we're to ride +to-morrow, and I can explain." + +"It will be his turn to forget." + +But Brenda did not heed Ralph's teasing, for already at the sound of +three sharp peals of the door-bell she had rushed out to meet her cousin +Julia. + +"Oh, Julia, I have found _just_ the girl for your school; she is an +orphan and hates study, and--" + +"Well, upon my word!" exclaimed Ralph, "those are certainly fine +qualifications,--'an orphan and hates study'!" + +"I understand what she means, or thinks she means," responded Julia, as +she laughingly advanced to the centre of the room, greeting the family +cordially, while Agnes helped her remove her hat and coat. + +"You've come for a week, I hope," exclaimed her uncle, kissing her. + +"Oh, I shall be here several times in the course of the week, and I +shall stay now overnight. But a whole week away from my work! Ah! Uncle +Robert, you're a good business man, to suggest such a thing!" And, +seating herself on the arm of Mr. Barlow's chair, Julia shook her finger +playfully in his face. + +"When do you have your house-warming?" asked Agnes, taking up the bit of +sewing that she had dropped on Julia's entrance. + +"We are not to have a house-warming, but later we shall invite you one +by one, or perhaps two by two, to see the house." + +"I suppose you've taken out all the good furniture, and in a certain way +the Du Launy Mansion must be greatly changed." + +"Don't speak so sadly, Aunt Anna; it is changed, and yet it is not +changed. But I did not know that you were attached to the old house?" + +"Hardly attached, Julia, for I was there only once, when I called on +Madame Du Launy the year before her death. But in its style of +architecture and its furnishings it seemed so completely an old-time +house that I regret that it has had to be changed into an institution." + +"Oh, no, please, Aunt Anna, not an institution; anything but that. Why, +we mean to make it a real home, so that girls who haven't homes of their +own will feel perfectly happy. Of course we have had to make some +changes in the house itself, and remove some of the furniture, but when +you visit us you will see that it is far removed from an institution." + +"How many nationalities have you now, Julia? You had a dozen or two +waiting admittance when you were last here, had you not?" + +"There are to be only ten girls in the home, and there are still some +vacancies. Indeed you are a tease, Uncle Robert." + +Yet, although her uncle and aunt had teased her a little, Julia was not +disconcerted, and when Agnes asked her to tell them something about the +girls already in residence, she entered upon the task with great +good-will. + +"Well, first of all, Concetta. It's fair to speak of her first, because +she's Miss South's protégée. She is the genuine Italian type, with the +most perfectly oval cheeks, and a kind of peach bloom showing through +the brown, and her hair closely plaited and wound round and round, and +the largest brown eyes. Miss South became interested in her last year +when she was visiting schools. She found that her father meant to take +her out of school this year to become a chocolate dipper." + +"A chocolate dipper! I've heard of tin dippers,--but--" + +"Hush, Ralph, you are too literal." + +"Yes," continued Julia, "a chocolate dipper. You know there's an +enormous candy factory there on the water front, and most of the girls +think their fortunes made when they can work in it. But after Miss South +had visited Concetta a few times she thought her capable of something +better, and so she is to have her chance at the Mansion. But her uncle +Luigi was determined to make Concetta a wage-earner as soon as possible. +She did not need more schooling, he said. + +"Fortunately, however, Concetta has a godmother who, although a +working-woman, dingily clad, and apparently hardly able to support +herself, is supposed to have money hidden away somewhere. On this +account she has much influence in the Zanetti family, and a word from +her accomplished more than all our arguments. Concetta is now freed from +the dirty, crowded tenement, and I feel that we may be able to make +something of her. Then there is Edith's nominee, Gretchen Rosenbaum, +whose grandfather is the Blairs' gardener. She's pale and thin, and not +at all the typical German maiden. She has a diploma from school of which +she is very proud, and she says that she wants to be a housekeeper. The +family are very thankful for the chance offered her by the Mansion." + +"The Germans know a good thing when they see it, especially if it isn't +going to cost them much," said Ralph. + +"Then," continued Julia, "there are my two little Portuguese cousins, +Luisa and Inez, as alike as two peas in a pod. Angelina told me about +them, and their teacher confirmed my opinion that it would be a charity +to save them from the slop-work sewing to which their old aunt had +destined them." + +"How much of an annuity do you have to pay the aunt?" asked Ralph. + +Julia blushed, for in fact, in order to give the girls the opportunity +that she thought they ought to have at the Mansion, she had had to +promise the aunt two dollars a week, which the latter had estimated as +her share of their earnings for the next two years. Julia did not wholly +approve of the arrangement, although she knew that only in this way +could she help the two little girls. + +"Hasn't Nora contributed to your household?" + +"Oh, yes, the dearest little Irish girl; we can hardly understand a word +Nellie says, though she thinks she talks English. Nora ran across her +and a party of other immigrants one day when she had gone over to the +Cunard wharf to meet some friends. Nellie and a half-dozen others had +become separated from the guide who was to take them to their +lodging-place in East Boston. They were near the dock, and Nora became +very much interested in Nellie. She took her name and destination, and +later went to see her, and the result is one of our most promising +pupils; that is, we have a chance to teach her more than almost any of +the others. But there! I'm ashamed of talking so much shop." + +"Oh, no, it's most interesting. You haven't finished?" + +"Well, there are two or three other girls, of whom I will tell you more +some other time, and there are one or two vacancies. I wish, Brenda, +that you could send us a pupil. I'm afraid that you won't have much +interest in the school unless you have a girl of your own there." + +"But I have--I will--that is--can't you see that I have something very +important to tell you?" and thereupon Brenda launched into a glowing +account of Maggie McSorley and the prospect of her going to the Mansion. +"I just jumped at the idea when it came to me," concluded Brenda, "for I +have had so many things on my mind this summer that I didn't make the +effort that I had intended to find a girl for you. But now I shall do my +utmost to persuade that cross-grained aunt, and I am bound to succeed." + +"I wouldn't discourage you, but evidently you made little headway this +afternoon," said her mother, "in spite of the pretty high price that you +have paid for the pleasure of Maggie's acquaintance." + +"Just wait, Mamma; just wait. When I really set out to do a thing I +generally succeed. I found out to-day that Mrs. McSorley rather +begrudges Maggie her home, although she feels it her duty to keep her. +She says that Maggie has a way of upsetting things that is very trying, +and she's had to give up to her the little room that she used to keep +for a sitting-room. Oh, I'm certain that I can persuade her to spare +Maggie." + +Then the conversation drifted on to other sides of the work, and Julia's +enthusiasm half reconciled Mr. and Mrs. Barlow to the fact that she was +to be away from them. + +"Home is a career, and we need you more than any group of strange girls +possibly can," Mr. Barlow had protested, when Julia had shown him the +impossibility of her settling down quietly at home. + +"You have Brenda and Agnes. Suppose that I had gone to Europe for two or +three years after leaving college. I am sure that then you would not +have complained, for you would have thought this a thing for my especial +profit and pleasure. Now when I shall be so near that you will see me at +least once a week, you are not altogether pleased, because you think +that I am likely to work too hard." + +"Oh, papa needn't worry," cried Brenda; "I shall see that you have +enough frivolity. You shall not overwork the poor little girls either. I +feel sorry for them now, with you and Pamela and Miss South egging them +on. But I have various frivolities in mind, and you must encourage me." + +"I never knew you to need encouragement in frivolity. A little +discouragement would be more likely to have a wholesome effect." + +Thus they chatted, and Mr. Barlow, looking up from his evening paper +from time to time, was convinced that Julia's new interests had +certainly not yet taken away her taste for the lighter side of life. + +Indeed, on the whole, he had no decided objection to the scheme that +Julia and Miss South had started to carry out. As his niece's tastes so +evidently ran in philanthropic directions, he knew that in the end she +must be happiest when following her bent. + +Miss South herself would have been the last to claim originality for the +much-discussed school. There were other social settlements in the city, +and one or two other domestic science schools in which girls had a good +chance to learn cooking and other branches of household work. Yet the +school at the Mansion had an object all its own. Miss South felt that +each year many young girls drifted into shop or factory who might be +encouraged to a higher ambition. For many of them evidently thought +first of the money they could immediately earn, and there was no one to +suggest that if they prepared themselves for something better they would +later have more money as well as greater honor. So she tried to find +girls willing to spend two years at the Mansion, while she watched them +and advised them and guided them into what she believed would be the +best avenue of employment for them. Some people thought that she meant +to train all the girls to be domestics; others thought she aimed to keep +them out of this occupation. She meant to train them all in housework so +thoroughly, that, whether they entered service or had homes of their +own, they should be able to do their work properly. She meant, if any of +these girls showed special talents, to encourage them to pursue their +natural bent. + +"Would you let them study art or music?" some one had asked in +surprise. + +"Yes; why not?" + +"Why, girls from the tenement districts!--it doesn't seem right to +encourage them in this way." + +"Oughtn't any young thing to be encouraged to follow its natural bent? +It's a case of individuals, not of sections of the city." + +"I've always been sorry," explained Miss South, "for the bright girls +who drop out of school at fourteen that their ablebodied parents may +snatch the little wages they can earn in the factories. The ten or +twelve girls we may have here at the Mansion are very few compared with +the hundreds who need the same kind of chance. But I am hoping that +through these a broader influence may be exerted." + +Although many critics naturally thought that Miss South did wrong in +giving girls of a certain class ideas above their sphere, on the whole +she was commended for undertaking a good work. There were some also who +pitied Mrs. Barlow on account of Julia's partnership in the scheme. + +"This is what comes of letting a girl go to college," and they wondered +that Mrs. Barlow herself did not express more disapproval. + +"You'll have only orphans," said Mr. Elton, a cousin of Mrs. Barlow's, +who took much interest in the work; "for in my experience fathers and +mothers of the working class are just lying in wait for the earnings of +their half-grown daughters. To fill your school you will either have to +kill off a few fathers and mothers, or else consider only orphans to be +suitable candidates. To be sure, you might offer heavy bribes to +parents. But of course you can get the orphans easily, if they have +cruel aunts or stepmothers." + +"As to cruel aunts," responded Julia, "judging from my own experience, +as was said of Mrs. Harris, 'I don't believe there's no sich a person;' +and in spite of Ovid and Cinderella, I have my doubts about cruel +stepmothers." + +"We'll see," said Mr. Elton. "At any rate, you'll have to bribe your +girls, and when I meet them my first question will be, How much do they +pay you to stay?" + +One of the most delightful features in fitting up the house for its new +use had been the eagerness to help shown by many of Miss South's former +pupils. + +Ruth, for example, in furnishing the kitchen, had said, "This will show +that I have a practical interest in housekeeping, even though I am to +spend my first year of married life in idle travel." + +"With your disposition it won't be wholly idle," Miss South had +responded. + +"Well, I do mean to discover at least one or two new receipts, or better +than that, some new articles of food, that I can put at the service of +the Mansion upon my return." + +"We certainly shall have you in mind whenever we look at these pretty +and practical things." + + + + +III + +BRENDA AT THE MANSION + + +One fine afternoon, not so very long after she had wasted her twenty +dollars and made a friend of Maggie McSorley, Brenda in riding costume +opened the front door. As she stood on the top step, somewhat +impatiently she snapped her short crop as she gazed anxiously up Beacon +Street. + +On the steps of the house directly opposite were three girls seated and +one standing near by. They were schoolgirls evidently, with short skirts +hardly to their ankles, and with hair in long pig-tails. As she looked +at them, by one of those swift flights of thought that so often carry us +unexpectedly back to the past Brenda was reminded of another bright +autumn afternoon, just six years earlier. Then she and Nora, and Edith +and Belle, an inseparable quartette, had sat on her front steps +discussing the arrival of her unknown cousin, Julia. + +How much had happened since that day! Then she had been younger even +than those girls across the street, and Julia, who had come and +conquered (though not without difficulties) was now a college graduate. + +But Brenda was not one to brood over the past, and when one of the girls +shouted, "We know whom you're looking for," she had a bright reply +ready. + +Soon around the corner came the clicking of hoofs on the asphalt +pavement. Brenda, shading her eyes from the sun, looked toward the west. + +"Late, as usual, Arthur!" she cried, a trifle sharply, as a young man, +flinging his reins to the groom on the other horse, ran up the steps +toward her. + +"Impatient, as usual!" he responded pleasantly, consulting his watch. +"As a matter of fact, I'm five minutes ahead of time. But I'd have been +here half an hour earlier had I known it was a matter of life and +death." + +The frown passed from Brenda's face. The two young people mounted their +horses, and the groom walked back to the stable. + +"Have a good time!" shouted one of the girls, as the two riders started +off. + +"The same to you!" cried Arthur. + +"Ah, me!" exclaimed Brenda, as they rode on, "I feel so old when I look +at those Sellers girls. Why, they are almost in long dresses now, and I +can remember when they were in baby carriages." + +"Well, even I would rather wear a long dress any day than a baby +carriage," responded Arthur. "There, look out!" for they were turning a +corner, and two or three bicyclists came suddenly upon them. Brenda +avoided the bicyclists, crossed the car tracks safely, and soon the two +were trotting through the Fenway. + +The foliage on the banks of the little stream was brilliant, and here +and there were clumps of asters and other late flowers. They rode on in +silence, and were well past the chocolate house before either spoke a +word. + +"Why so silent, fair sister-in-law?" + +"Oh, I was only thinking." + +"No wonder that you could not speak. I trust that you were thinking of +me." + +"To be frank," replied Brenda, "that is just what I was not doing. In +fact I was thinking of a time when I did not know of your existence." + +"Mention not that sad time, mention it not! fair sister-in-law." + +When Arthur used this term in addressing Brenda she knew that he was +bent on teasing; for although her sister had married Arthur's brother, +her engagement to Arthur, announced in June, might very properly be +thought to have done away with the teasing title "sister-in-law." + +"Don't be silly, Arthur," cried Brenda; "you can't tease me to-day. +Several years of my life certainly did pass before I had an idea that +you were in the world. I was thinking of the time before we knew each +other, when I was so jealous of Julia." + +"Jealous of Julia!" + +"Oh, I hadn't seen her when I began to have this feeling." + +"But why--what made you jealous if you hadn't seen her? + +"I can't wholly explain. Perhaps it wasn't altogether jealousy. You see +I didn't like the idea of her coming to live with us." + +"You must have got over that soon. You and she have always seemed to hit +it off pretty well since I've known you." + +"Oh, yes, ever since you have known us; and I've always been ashamed of +that first year. Though Belle led me on, just a little." + +As Arthur still seemed somewhat mystified, Brenda described Julia's +first winter in Boston; and she did not spare herself, when she told how +she had shut her cousin out from the little circle of "The Four." + +"Really, however, Nora and Edith were not at all to blame. They liked +Julia from the first. Then what a brick Julia was when she made up that +sum of money that I lost after we had worked so hard at the Bazaar for +Mrs. Rosa." + +Though Arthur had heard more or less about these things before, he +enjoyed hearing Brenda narrate them in her quick and somewhat excited +fashion. + +"Why, you may believe that I really missed Julia when she was at +Radcliffe, and I'm fearfully disappointed that she won't be at home with +us this winter." + +"She isn't going back to Cambridge, is she? I certainly saw her degree, +and it was on parchment." + +"Oh, Arthur, how you do forget things. I'm sure that I wrote you about +the school that she and Miss South were to start." + +"I was probably more interested in other things in the letter. But has +she lost her money, and hence starts a school?" + +"Arthur, I believe that you skip pages and pages." + +"No, indeed, dear sister-in-law, but some pages sink more deeply in my +mind than others. Has Julia lost her money, and therefore must she +teach?" + +"You are hopeless, though I believe that really you remember all about +it. It's Miss South's scheme. You see she has that great Du Launy house +on her hands, and it's a kind of domestic school for poor girls, and +Julia is to help her." + +"What kind of a school?" + +"A domestic school; I think that's it; to teach girls how to keep house +and be useful." + +"Indeed! Then couldn't you go there for a term or two, Brenda? That kind +of knowledge may be very useful to you some time." + +Whereupon Brenda urged her horse and was off at a gallop, so distancing +Arthur for some seconds before he overtook her. On they went through the +Arboretum, and around Franklin Park, then over the Boulevard toward +Mattapan and Milton. It was dusk when they turned homeward, and dark, as +they looked from a height on the city twinkling below them. + +As Arthur left her to take the horses to the stable Brenda called after +him, "I may take your advice and enter the school for a year or two." + +"We'll see," responded Arthur. + +Now, although Brenda had no real intention of entering the new school, +either as resident or pupil, she was deeply interested and extremely +anxious to see what changes had been made in the Du Launy Mansion, and +she was to make her first visit there a day or two after this ride with +Arthur Weston. + +The school itself was not as new as it seemed. It had existed in Miss +South's mind long before she had a prospect of carrying out her plans. +Many persons thought it a fine thing for her when she was able to give +up her teaching and live a life of leisure in the fine old mansion with +Madame Du Launy. + +Yet Miss South had wholly enjoyed her work at Miss Crawdon's school, and +she had said good-bye to her pupils with regret. Kind though her +grandmother was, she had sacrificed more than any one realized in +becoming the constant companion of an exacting old lady. Still, as this +was the duty that lay nearest her, she devoted herself to it wholly. + +Although Madame Du Launy had lived in a large and imposing house, +containing much costly furniture, her fortune was smaller than most +persons supposed. The larger part of her income came from an annuity +that ceased with her death. Miss South had not enough money left to +permit her to keep up the great house in the style in which her +grandmother had lived; for out of it small incomes were to be paid +during their lives to three old servants, and after their deaths this +money was to go to Lydia South's brother Louis. To Louis also went the +money from the sale of certain pictures and medieval tapestries that the +will had ordered to be sold. As to the Mansion itself, Lydia South could +do what she liked with it and its contents,--let it, sell it, or live in +it. + +"She'll have to take boarders, though, if she lives there," said some +one; "aside from the expense it would be altogether too dreary for a +young woman to live there alone." + +But Miss South had no doubt as to what she should do. Here was the +chance, that had once seemed so far away, of carrying out her plans for +a model school. She found that it was wisest for her to retain the old +house for her purpose, as she could neither sell it nor rent it to +advantage. The neighborhood was not what it had once been. Almost all +the older residents had moved away; two families or more were the rule +in most of the houses in the street, and not so very far away were +several unmistakable tenement-houses. Miss Crawdon's school had left the +street a year or two before, and if she should sell the house no one +would buy it for a residence. Julia, who was to be her partner in the +new scheme, thought the Du Launy Mansion far better suited to their +purpose than any house they could secure elsewhere. + +"The North End would be more picturesque, and we could do regular +settlement work among those interesting foreigners. But there is more +than one settlement down there already, and here we shall have the field +almost to ourselves." + +Changes and additions to the house had been made during the summer, and +not one of Julia's intimates, excepting those who were to live in the +Mansion, had been permitted to see it. Nora and Edith and Brenda had +implored, Philip had teased, but all had been refused. "You must wait +until everything is in readiness." + +When, therefore, Brenda and Nora one morning found themselves walking up +the little flagged walk to the old Du Launy House, they speculated +greatly as to the changes in the house. Outside, on the front at least, +there had been no alterations, and everything looked the same as on that +morning when the mischievous girls had ventured to pass under the +porte-cochère to apologize for breaking a window with their ball. It was +the same exterior, and yet not the same. It had, as Brenda said, "a +wide-awake look," whereas formerly almost all the blinds had been +closed, giving an aspect of dreariness. Now all the shutters were thrown +back, blinds were raised, and fresh muslin curtains showed at many +windows instead of the heavy draperies of Madame Du Launy's time. + +In place of the sleek butler who had seemed like a part of the +furnishings, permanent and unremovable, Angelina opened the front door, +beaming with satisfaction at the dignity to which she had risen. Indeed +she fairly bristled with a sense of her own importance, and answered +their questions in her airiest manner. + +"Oh, Manuel's doing finely at school, Miss Barlow. I can't be spared +much now to go to Shiloh, but I was there over Sunday, and my mother's +got two boarders, young women that work in the factory and don't make +much trouble for her. So you see I'm not so much needed at home. John's +got a place, too, in the city this winter, so that I'll see him +sometimes," and Angelina giggled in her rather foolish way. + +As she ushered them into the sitting-room Julia emerged from the shadows +of the long hall to greet them, and then there was a confusion of +sounds, as Nora and Brenda eagerly asked questions at the very moment +when Julia was trying to answer them. + +"Yes," said Julia, as they sat down in the reception-room, "this is the +same room where I first saw Madame Du Launy, the day I took Fidessa +home. But you've both been here since?" + +"Oh, yes, and I can see that it hasn't been so very greatly changed. +There's that picture of Miss South's mother that brought about the +reconciliation, as they'd say in a novel," responded Nora gayly. "I'm +glad that you haven't made the reception-room as bare as a hospital +ward; I had my misgivings, as I approached the door." + +"Oh, we wished this to be as pleasant and homelike as possible; you can +see that there are many things here that I had in my room at Cambridge," +and she pointed to a Turner etching, and a colonial desk, and an +easy-chair that Brenda and Nora both recognized. + +"The greatest changes," continued Julia, "are in the drawing-rooms;" and +leading the way across the hall, Brenda and Nora both exclaimed in +wonder. Two drawing-rooms, formerly connected by folding-doors, had +been thrown together, and with the partitions removed, the one great +room was really imposing. + +"You could give a dance here," cried Brenda, pirouetting over the +polished floor. + +"Who knows?" replied Julia with a smile. + +"I'm afraid that you'll have nothing but lectures and classical +concerts, and other improving things," rejoined Brenda. + +"Who knows?" again responded Julia. + +"But it's really lovely," interposed Nora; "I adore this grayish blue +paper,--everything looks well with it. And what sweet pictures! why, +there's that very water color that Madame Du Launy wanted to buy at the +Bazaar. To think that it should come to her house after all! And there's +your Botticelli print; well, I believe that it will have an elevating +effect; I know that it always makes me feel rather queer to look at it." + +"Strange logic!" responded Nora, as they wandered through the large +room. "I suppose that you chose the books, Julia; they look like +you,--Ruskin, and Longfellow, and Greene's 'Shorter History;' surely you +don't expect girls like these to read such books. Why, I haven't read +half of them myself; and such good bindings. I really believe that these +are your own books." + +"Why not? We have had great fun in choosing the books we thought they +might like to read from my collections, and from the old-fashioned +bookcases in Madame Du Launy's library. The best bindings are her books. +Many of them had never been read by any one, I am sure; and as to the +covers, we shall see that they are not ill-treated. We have a theory +that they may be more attracted by handsomely dressed books; for there's +no doubt," turning with a smile toward Miss South, "that they think more +of us when arrayed in our best." + +"I love these low bookcases," continued Nora; "and I dare say that +you'll train them up to liking this Tanagra figurine, and the Winged +Victory, and all these other objects that you have arranged so +artistically along the top." + +"And how you will feel," interposed Brenda, "when some girl in dusting +knocks one of these pretty things to the floor. That bit of Tiffany +glass, for instance, looks as if made expressly to fall under Maggie +McSorley's slippery fingers." + +"Oh, that reminds me, Brenda, Maggie has come," said Miss South. + +"No; not really?" + +"Yes, her aunt brought her over very solemnly two or three days ago. She +said she thought it her duty not to trouble you again, as Maggie had +already been so much expense to you. She came here the day after you saw +her, and I explained our plans, and what we should expect from every +girl who entered. She promised that Maggie should stay the two years, +and showed a canny Scotch appreciation of the fact, that although Maggie +could earn little or nothing while here, at the end of the time she +would be worth much more than if she had spent the two years in a +shop." + +"But how does Maggie feel?" + +"Oh, I should judge that resignation is Maggie's chief state of mind. We +are going to try to help her acquire some more active qualities," said +Miss South. + +"Come, come;" Brenda tried to draw Nora from the centre table on which +lay many attractive books and periodicals. "I'm very anxious to see +Maggie. Can't we see her now, Julia?" + +"I believe she's in the kitchen, and as this is one of our most +attractive rooms, you might as well go there first." + +"The kitchen, you remember, is practically Ruth's gift," said Julia, as +they stood on the threshold of a broad sunny room in the new ell, to +which they had descended a few steps from the main house. "She paid half +the expense of building the ell, and her purse paid for everything in +the kitchen." + +"But how beautiful; why, it isn't at all like a kitchen!" + +"All the same it is a kitchen, though we have tried to make it as +pleasant as any room in the house--in its way," concluded Julia smiling. + +Advancing a few steps farther, Nora and Brenda continued their +exclamations of admiration. The walls, painted a soft yellow, reflected +the sunshine, without making a glare. The oiled hardwood floor had its +centre covered with a large square of a substance resembling oilcloth, +yet softer. A large space around the range was of brick tiles. The iron +sink stood on four iron legs with a clear, open space beneath it; there +were no wooden closets under it to harbor musty cloths and half-cleaned +kettles, and serve as a breeding place for all kinds of microbes. A +shelf beside the sink was so sloped that dishes placed there would +quickly drain off before drying. The wall above the sink was of blue and +white Dutch tiles, and between the sink and the range a zinc-covered +table offered a suitable resting-place for hot kettles and pans. Below +the clock shelf was another, with a row of books that closer inspection +showed to be cook-books. All these details could not, of course, be +taken in at once, although the pleasant impression was immediate. + +"Plants in the window, and what a curious wire netting!" cried Brenda. + +"Yes, it is neater than curtains, keeps out flies, and though it is so +made that outsiders cannot look into the room it does not obscure the +light. The shades at the top can be pulled down when we really need to +darken the room." + +Nora stood enraptured before the tall dresser with its store of dishes +and jelly moulds, then she gazed into the long, light pantry, the +shelves of which were laden with materials for cooking in jars and tins +and little boxes, all neatly labelled and within easy reach. On the wall +were several charts--one showing the different cuts of beef and lamb, +another by figures and diagrams giving the different nutritive values of +different articles of food. On the walls were here and there hung +various sets of maxims or rules neatly framed, among which, perhaps the +most conspicuous, was: + + "I. Do everything in its proper time. + "II. Keep everything in its proper place. + "III. Put everything to its proper use." + + + + +IV + +AN EXPLORING TOUR + + +Examining and admiring everything in the kitchen, the girls had half +forgotten Maggie, until the sound of singing attracted their attention. + +"'Hold the Fort,'" exclaimed Brenda; then, after listening a moment, +"But no, the words sound strange." + +"Oh, it's one of their work songs," said Miss South, and listening +again, they made it out. + + "Now the cleaning quite to finish, + Pile up every plate, + Shake the cloth, and then with neatness + Fold exactly straight. + Quick, but silent, every motion + Taking things away, + To the pantry, to the kitchen, + With a little tray." + +"Their song betrays them," said Miss South; "this part of the work +should have been done earlier," and pushing open the door that led from +the other end of the pantry, the four found themselves in the girls' +dining-room. + +"How is this?" asked Miss South so seriously that one of the young girls +holding the table-cloth dropped an end suddenly, and both looked +sheepish. + +"It was such a lovely day that we went out and sat on the back steps," +said one of them frankly, "and then we forgot all about this room." + +"But it's the rule, is it not, to put this room in perfect order before +you wash the dishes?" + +"Yes'm--but we forgot." + +"Well, I'm not here to scold, but I only wish that you had been as +careful about this as about your kitchen work; I noticed that you had +left everything there very neat." + +"Yes'm," was the answer from both girls at once. + +"Where's Miss Dreen, Concetta?" + +"Oh! she said she'd go to market right after breakfast, and leave us do +what we could without her." + +"I understand," said Miss South, as she introduced each of the young +girls to the visitors. + +"Miss Dreen, the housekeeper," she explained, as they turned to go +upstairs, "supervises the girls in the kitchen. I suppose that she left +them alone to test their sense of responsibility. She will require a +report on her return." + +"Well, if they are as frank with her as with us, she will have little to +complain of. One looked like an Italian, and I thought that they were +never ready to tell the truth." + +"That depends on the girl," said Miss South; "but I have confidence in +this one. The other, by the way, is German. Edith's protégée, you +remember. I wonder where Maggie is," she continued; "she ought to have +been there, for we have three girls together serve a turn in the kitchen +each week, and we had her begin to-day." + +"I wish that Maggie were as pretty as Concetta," said Brenda, in a tone +louder than was really necessary, "for Maggie is mortal plain;" and +then, at that moment, she ran into somebody in a turn of the hallway, +and when in the same instant the door of an opposite room was opened she +saw Maggie McSorley gazing up at her with tear-stained eyes. + +"Why, Maggie, I came downstairs expressly to find you. Have you been +crying?" A glance had assured her that the tears had not been caused by +her hasty words. Indeed, the swollen eyes showed that the child had been +crying for some time. + +"What is the matter, Maggie?" asked Julia, while Nora and Miss South +passed on toward the reception-room. "Miss Barlow has come to see you, +and she may think that we have not been kind to you." + +"Oh, no, 'm, you've been kind;" and Maggie began to sob after the +fashion in which she had sobbed during her first interview with Brenda. + +At last by dint of much questioning they found that she and Concetta had +disagreed when they first set about clearing the table, and while +scuffling a pitcher had been broken. + +"_I_ didn't do it--truly; Concetta said I'd surely be sent home in +disgrace, and she picked up the pieces to show you, and locked the +dining-room door so's I couldn't go back and finish my work, and put the +key in her pocket; and what will Miss Dreen say, for it was my day to +tidy up the dining-room." + +Brenda and Julia saw that they had been rather hasty in forming an +opinion of Concetta's innocence and gentleness. They did not doubt +Maggie when she showed the swelling on her head, near her cheek-bone, +that she said had been caused by a blow. + +"Evidently you and Concetta cannot work together at the same time. We'll +send Nellie down to the kitchen this week. Now, Brenda, I'll leave you +with Maggie for a little while, and she can tell you what she is +learning here." + +But the interview was far from satisfactory to either of the two. +Maggie, always reticent, was now doubly so, as her mind dwelt on the +insult she had received from the Italian girl, "dago," as she said to +herself. On her part Brenda hated tears, and as she had not witnessed +the quarrel, she felt for Maggie less sympathy than when she had seen +her weep over the broken vase. Brenda asked a few questions, Maggie +replied in monosyllables, and both were relieved when Miss South +suggested that Maggie take Brenda up to see her room. + +Meanwhile the two young girls in the kitchen were engaged in an animated +discussion. In Brenda's presence Concetta's great, dark eyes had +expressed intense admiration for the slender, graceful young woman +flitting about with pleased exclamations for everything that she saw. + +"Ain't she stylish?" Concetta said to her companion as the visitors +turned away, "with all them silver things jingling from her belt, and +such shiny shoes. Say! don't you think those were silk flowers on her +hat?" + +Concetta had not been able to give to her English the polish of her +native tongue, and the grammar acquired in her teacher's presence +slipped away under the influence of the many-tongued neighborhood where +she lived. + +"She's a great sight handsomer than that Miss Blair," and she looked at +her companion narrowly. + +"Yes, I wish she'd brought me here instead of Miss Blair; she seems so +lively, and Miss Blair is so--so kind of slow." + +Gretchen knew very well that she was wrong in speaking thus of the one +whose interest had made her an inmate of the delightful Mansion, yet as +she and her companion continued to talk Brenda gained constantly at the +expense of Edith. + +It not infrequently happens that those persons whom we ought to admire +the most are those whom we find it the hardest to admire, sometimes even +to like. Gretchen owed everything to Edith, who had been very kind to +her at a time when her family were in rather sore straits. But +appearances count for more than they should with many young persons. +Whatever Edith wore was in good taste, and costly, even when lacking in +the indefinite something called style. Nora the girls would have put in +the same class with Brenda, as quite worthy for them to copy when they +should be old enough to dress like young ladies. They did not know that +Nora's clothes cost far less than Brenda's, and that Edith's dress was +usually twice as costly. It was undoubtedly Brenda's brightness of +manner and her generally graceful air that they translated into +"stylishness"--the kind of thing that they thought they could make their +own by imitation and practice when they were older. + +Now it happened that neither Concetta nor Gretchen had the least idea +that Maggie was Brenda's special protégée. Had they known this their +tongues might have flown even faster, as they jeered at the absent +Maggie for being a regular cry-baby. Their own wrongdoing in teasing +Maggie sat lightly on their little shoulders. It was their theory that +might makes right, and as they had been able to get rid of the girl they +didn't like, they believed themselves evidently much better than she. + +With her rather listless guide Brenda made the tour of the upper +stories. There were twelve pretty bedrooms for the girls, of almost +uniform size, although varying somewhat in shape. The furniture in each +was the same, but to allow a little scope for individual taste each girl +was permitted to decide upon the color to be used in draperies, +counterpane, and china. Blue and pink were the prevailing choice, for +the range of colors suitable for these purposes is limited. Nellie asked +for green, and had it even to the green clover-leaf on the china; and +another girl begged for plain white, unwilling to have even a touch of +gilt on the china; "it makes me think of heaven," she confided to Julia, +"to see everything so white and still when I come up to my room at +night." + +Maggie had chosen brown for her room, a choice that had especially +awakened the ridicule of Luisa, who had said that if she could have her +own way there should be a mixture of red, yellow, and blue on all her +possessions. + +"Why, it's ever so pretty, Maggie," said Brenda, "and you are keeping it +neat; but I can't say that those broad brown ribbons tying up the window +curtains are cheerful, and I never did like a brown pattern on +crockery-ware; but still if you like it--" + +"Well, I don't like it quite as much as I expected." + +"Then perhaps later you can make some changes; I would certainly have +blue ribbons." + +"Oh, I don't know, Miss Barlow, there's so many other colors, and I +can't tell which I'd like the best." + +"I must send you two or three books for your bookshelf." + +"Thank you, Miss Barlow," said Maggie coldly, without suggesting, as +Brenda hoped she might, some book that she particularly wished to own. + +Just then, to her relief, Julia passed through the hall. + +"Come upstairs with me and I will show you the gymnasium that we have +had built. Edith, you know, paid for it all." + +So up to the top of the house the two cousins climbed, followed by Nora +and Maggie. Two large rooms had been thrown into one, and as the roof +was flat, a fine, large hall was the result. This was fitted up with +light gymnastic apparatus, and Julia explained that a teacher was to +come once a week to teach the girls. "In stormy weather, when we can't +go out, this will be a grand place for bean-bags and similar games, and, +indeed, I think that the gymnasium will prove one of the most +attractive rooms in the Mansion." + +At this moment a Chinese gong resounded through the house. + +"Twelve o'clock; it seems hardly possible!" and Julia led the way for +the others to follow her downstairs. + +From the school-room above three or four girls now appeared, and others +came from various parts of the house where they had been at work, among +them Concetta and Gretchen. + +"Let me count you," said Miss South, after they were seated; "although I +can make only nine, I cannot decide who is missing." + +As Concetta raised her hand Gretchen tried to pull it down. + +"You're not in school; she don't want you to do that." + +But the former continued to shake her hand, until Miss South noticed +her. + +"Please, 'm, it's Mary Murphy; she told me she was going to sneak home +after breakfast. Her mother said she didn't sleep a wink for two nights +thinking of her dear daughter in such a place; so's soon as she'd read +the letter she said she'd go right home." + +"Very well," said Miss South, "I'm much obliged to you for telling me;" +and then, to the disappointment of all, she made no further comment on +Mary Murphy's departure. + +The half-hour in the library passed quickly. Each girl reported what she +had done thus far, and in some cases Miss South gave instructions for +the rest of the day. One or two had special questions to ask, one or two +had grievances. Promptly at half-past twelve Miss South gave the signal, +and they filed away to prepare for dinner. + +"It's a kind of dress inspection. You will understand what I mean if you +have ever visited an army post." + +"You did not find much fault." + +"No, Nora, but I observed many things, and before night I shall have a +chance for private conversation with several who stand in special need +of it. There were Concetta's finger-nails, and Luisa's shoestrings, and +Gretchen had her apron fastened with a safety-pin. Ah! well, we can't +expect too much." + +"They really are very funny," interposed Julia. "The other day I heard +Inez talking to Haleema as they were making a bed: 'Ain't it silly to +have to put all these sheets and things on so straight every day when +they get all mussed up at night.' + +"'My mother never used to make the beds,' said Haleema reminiscently. + +"'No, nor mine; we used just to lump them all at the foot of the bed, +and pile the blankets from the children's bed on the floor.' + +"'It would be nice and handy to hang them over the foot here.' + +"'Yes, they'd get so well aired, and it would save all this bother.' + +"I'm almost sure that they would have tried this plan," continued Julia, +"had they not seen me standing in the hall. However, Haleema did +venture to say that she wondered why we insist on having the bureau +drawers shut, after they've all been put in good order. It's only when +they have nothing in them that she thinks that they should be closed. +She also prefers to use the chair in her room for some of the little +ornaments that she brought from home, and when she sits down she +crouches on the rug." + +"Sits Turkish fashion, I suppose you mean." + +"Perhaps it is Turkish fashion, although I imagine that there is no love +lost between the Syrians and the Turks." + +"Haleema is much neater than Luisa, and although we think of her as less +civilized, she hasn't half as much objection to taking the daily bath +that Luisa considers a perfect waste of time." + +"It's very discouraging," said Julia with a sigh. + +"Oh, one needn't mind a little thing like that. One or two that I could +mention think it a great waste of time to wash the dishes after every +meal." + +"Ugh!" and an expression of disgust crossed Brenda's face at the mere +thought of using the same plates and cups unwashed for a second meal. + +"There's a slight strain on the one who supervises their table manners. +I've just been through my week. You see," and she turned in explanation +toward Nora and Brenda, "each resident serves for a week as head of the +girls' table at breakfast, and it is her duty to correct all their +little faults as a mother would. At the other two meals they have only +Miss Dreen, for we think that they ought to be free from the restraint +of our presence at these other meals." + +"Do you try to guide conversation, too?" + +"Oh, yes, but thus far our presence has seemed a decided damper, and the +solemnity of breakfast is in great contrast with the hilarity at the +other two meals. At tea-time their laughter sometimes reaches even as +far as the library." + +"They are ready to learn, and particularly ready to imitate. I am really +obliged to watch myself constantly," said Julia, "lest I say or do +something that may return against me some time, like a boomerang." + +"Then I fear that I should be a poor kind of resident," rejoined Brenda, +"for it has been said that I speak first and think afterwards. However, +in the presence of Maggie McSorley I am always going to try to do my +best; for apparently it's my duty to bring her up for the next few +years, and I won't shirk. But I wish that it had been Concetta instead +of Maggie on whom I stumbled. I'm going to tell Ralph that I've found a +perfect model for his new picture. Wouldn't you let her pose?" + +"Ask Miss South," responded Julia. + +But Miss South, without waiting for the question, only shook her head, +with an emphatic "No, indeed." + + + + +V + +PHILIP'S LECTURE + + +Angelina was smiling broadly, "grinning from ear to ear" some persons +would have expressed it, as she ushered two visitors into the room where +Miss South, Julia, and Pamela were sitting one afternoon toward six +o'clock, for Pamela was one of the residents at the Mansion. + +"Why, Philip; why, Tom!" cried Julia, rising from the lounge where she +was looking over a folio of engravings, "this _is_ a pleasure." + +"Yes, we thought we'd accept promptly your kind invitation to drop in +upon you at any time, so that we could see the Mansion and its contents +just as they are." + +"Oh, yes, they are always ready for inspection." + +"We hope that you will ask us to stay to dinner," added Tom, after he +had followed Philip's example and had shaken hands with the others. + +"Oh, certainly! especially as you have made it so evident that you are +ready to accept." + +"That is delightful! You see we feared to wait for a formal invitation, +lest you might show us only the company side of things, and we are +anxious to see you just as you are." + +"Ah! we have no company side. We decided in the beginning to welcome our +friends at any time, if they would take us just as we were." + +"This doesn't look like an institution," said Tom, glancing around the +pretty room. + +"No, we haven't seen the real inmates yet. I suppose you keep them under +lock and key," interposed Philip. + +"Hardly," responded Miss South, "because--" + +Then, as the door was pushed open for a minute, shouts of merriment from +another part of the house showed that if in durance vile, the inmates +were at least in full possession of some of their faculties. + +Then the party broke up into two groups. Tom in his vivacious way told +of his experiences as a fledgling lawyer. This was his first visit to +Boston since he had been admitted to the bar, and he described himself +as just beginning to believe that he might escape starvation from the +fact that one or two clients had made their appearance at his office. + +"It's lucky for my friends that a little practice is coming my way, for +I was ready, for the sake of business, to set any of them by the ears. +Why, the other day when I was out with my uncle, and the cable car +stopped too suddenly, I almost hoped that he would sprain his +ankle--just a little, that I might have the chance to bring suit against +the company." + +"How cruel!" exclaimed Julia, into whose ear he had let fall these rash +admissions. + +While Tom ran on in this frivolous fashion, Philip was talking more +seriously with Pamela and Miss South. Indeed, seriousness was a quality +that Philip now showed to an extent that seemed strange to those who had +known him in his earlier college years. Much responsibility had recently +come to him on account of his father's failing health, and in the West +he had been so thrown on his own resources that he no longer regarded +life as unsatisfactory unless it offered him amusement. + +"I have wondered," he was saying to Miss South, "if you really wished me +to give that talk on the Western country." + +"Yes, indeed, we are very anxious to have it. We are counting on you to +open our lecture season." + +"Oh, I'm only too happy, although you must remember that I'm not a +professional; but my lantern is in order, and I have nearly a hundred +slides. Many of them are really fine,--even if I do say it," he +concluded apologetically. + +"I'm sure they are," responded Miss South, "and I can tell you that we +older 'inmates,' as you call us, are equally anxious to hear you." + +"You mean, to see the pictures; they will be worth your attention, but +as to my speaking--" + + "'You'd scarce expect one of my age + To speak in public on the stage,'" + +interposed Tom mockingly, as he overheard the latter part of the +sentence. Whereat Philip, somewhat embarrassed, was glad to see +Angelina at the door announcing "Dinner is served," and leading the way +with Miss South the others followed them to the dining-room. + +As they took their places Philip found himself beside Pamela. He had +seen her but two or three times since her Freshman year at Radcliffe, +and in consequence would hardly have dared venture to allude to that +sugar episode through which he had first made her acquaintance. But +Pamela, no longer sensitive about this misadventure, brought it up +herself. Though Philip politely persisted that it had seemed the most +natural thing in the world to see before him on a Cambridge sidewalk a +stream of sugar pouring from an overturned paper-bag, Pamela assured him +that to her he had appeared like a hero on that memorable occasion, +since he had saved her from a certain amount of mortification. + +"But I'm wiser now," she said; "I hadn't studied philosophy then," and +she quoted one or two passages from certain ancient authors to show that +she had attained a state of indifference to outside criticism. + +Gradually Pamela told Philip much about her school, to prove that it +wasn't simply philosophy that helped her enjoy her work. + +"So it really is your interest in them that makes your pupils so fond of +your classes." + +Then, in answer to her word of surprise, he added: + +"Oh, my little cousin, Emily Dover, one of your most devoted admirers, +has been telling me--I believe that you have the misfortune to instruct +her." + +"Ah, the good fortune! She is a bright little thing, if not a hard +student." + +"You could hardly expect more from one of our family." + +"Why, your sister seems to me fairly intelligent." + +Could this be Pamela, actually speaking in a bantering tone, unawed by a +young man considerably her senior? + +"I am glad," he said a moment later, "that you are surviving not only +the experiment of teaching my little cousin, but this experiment at the +Mansion." + +"Oh, this isn't an experiment, it's--it's--" + +"The real thing?" + +"Yes, it really is. If you wish to understand it, you must come here +some day when the classes are at work. Miss South or Edith will be happy +to show you about." + +"But I am a working-man now. At the time when I might properly visit the +school I am afraid that there would be no classes in session." + +"Of course I'm busy myself, too," said Pamela, "and sometimes I feel +that I am here on false pretences." + +"Remembering your reputation, I don't believe that you are very idle." + +"Oh, of course I help; but then some one else could as well do my work." + +"Tell me exactly what you do." + +But Pamela shook her head, and with all his urging Philip could not make +her describe her exact sphere of activity. Yet Miss South or Julia could +have told that no resident was more useful than Pamela, who devoted her +evenings to the girls, talking to them, playing games, and in all that +she did directing their thoughts toward the appreciation of beautiful +things. Every Saturday she took two or three to the Art Museum, and +later she meant them to see any exhibitions that there might be in town. +One or two critics were inclined to laugh at this work. "It would put +strange ideas into the heads of the girls. They would want things that +they could never own." But Pamela was satisfied when she saw the +rapturous glance of appreciation on the faces of Concetta and Inez, the +most artistic of the girls, and the awakening interest in the others. + +But how could she explain all this to Philip in casual conversation at a +dinner-table? + +Maggie, helping Angelina, found this, her first experience in waiting on +company, very trying. To overcome her timidity Miss South had purposely +assigned her to this task. But who could have supposed that she would +let the bread fall as she passed it to Philip, tilting the plate so far +that a slice or two fell on the table before him. + +"There!" and he smiled good-humoredly, "the Mansion realizes the extent +of my appetite, and evidently I am to receive more even than I ask for." + +Poor Maggie's next mishap was to drop a dessert plate as she started to +take it from the sideboard. + +"It was because you looked at me so hard," she said afterwards to +Angelina; "I couldn't think what you wanted, you were shaking your head +so fierce." + +"Why, it was the finger-bowl, child. You forgot it. There should be one +on every plate. When I told you to get extra things for company, I meant +finger-bowls too. We always have them on the dessert plates." + +"Oh, yes," said Maggie, as if her not getting them had been the merest +oversight, although really this was her first experience in waiting at +dinner, and she had not a good memory for the details that had been +taught her. + +But shy as she was, she did not hesitate to take part in the +conversation once or twice. Miss South and the others showed no surprise +when twice her voice was heard replying to questions that Philip had +expected Miss South or Pamela to answer. + +After the older people returned to the library, Angelina confided to +Maggie that Mr. Philip Blair was to give a lecture at the Mansion in a +week or two. "I know all about it, because Miss Julia told me a few days +ago." + +Haleema, the little Syrian girl, who was helping Maggie in her +dish-washing, paused in her singing to listen to Angelina's accounts of +the wonderful adventures that Mr. Blair had had in the West. + +"Ho!" said Haleema, "it ain't nothing to go bear-hunting, if you don't +get killed. Why, I've had two uncles and ten cousins killed by the +Turks," and then she went on singing cheerfully,-- + + "'As quick as you're able set neatly the table, + And first lay the table-cloth square; + And then on the table-cloth, bright and clean table-cloth, + Napkins arrange with due care.'" + +The air to which she sang was "Little Buttercup," and her voice was +clear and sweet, but as she began the second stanza,-- + + "'Put plates in their places at regular spaces,'" + +Angelina interrupted her. "This isn't the time for singing this song, +this is dish-washing time;" and, overawed by Angelina's imperative +manner, Haleema was silenced. + + * * * * * + +As to the lecture itself, it is needless to say that Philip a few +evenings later had an appreciative audience. All the girls were in a +twitter at the prospect of this their first entertainment, Angelina most +of all. She had arranged her hair in an elaborate coiffure, which, she +informed Haleema, she had copied from a hairdresser's window in +Washington Street. + +"Ah, then, perhaps you have one of those things--a whip, I think they +call it?" + +"A what?" + +"A whip, a long piece of hair to tie on, for I did not know that you had +so much hair, Miss Angelina." + +"Oh, a switch." + +Angelina looked at Haleema sharply and made no further reply. Haleema +had addressed her by the flattering "Miss Angelina," which Manuel's +sister, when none of the residents were present, tried to exact from all +the younger girls at the Mansion, and therefore she would not reprove +her for her insinuation about "the whip." + +Nevertheless Angelina held her head rather stiffly as she filled her +part as head usher. + +Each girl at the Mansion had been permitted to invite two guests--a girl +of her own age and an older person. And almost every one invited was +present. Angelina's brother John was the only boy there. He had shot up +into a fairly tall youth, with a very intelligent face. He was attending +evening school in the city, and working through the day for a little +more than his board. Julia knew that she could depend on him to help her +when at times Angelina proved refractory. To-night John was to operate +the lantern while Philip talked about the views. + +The girls held their breath in admiration as slide after slide was +thrown on the screen. Gorges, cañons, mountain-passes followed one +another in quick succession. The wonderful cañon of the Arkansas, the +Marshall Pass, the Garden of the Gods, the tree-shaded streets of +Colorado Springs, the railroad up Pike's Peak, and all the weird and +wonderful sights of the Yellowstone Park. + +"He's really very handsome," whispered Nora to Julia during a pause +between the pictures when Philip's regular features were thrown in +silhouette upon the sheet. Then she continued, "Don't you remember how +we used to laugh at him, and call him a dandy, when he was a Sophomore; +but now he looks so manly, and his lecture has been really interesting." + +Pamela, seated on the other side of Nora, heard these words with +surprise. She had not known Philip in the days when he was considered +somewhat effeminate. + +All the girls expressed their pleasure as each new picture came in +sight, and yet I am afraid that their loudest applause was given to a +series of colored pictures showing the adventures of a farmer with an +obstinate calf that he vainly tried to drive to the barn, succeeding +only when he put a cow-bell around his own neck. + +At last the lights were turned on, but all were still seated as Angelina +rushed to pick up the pointer and to help roll up the screen. There was +no real need of her doing this, but she was anxious to impress the two +girls whom she had invited from the North End with a sense of her own +importance. Just as she had picked up the pointer, standing in full +sight of all, she was aware of a titter that was turning into a full +laugh. Instinctively she put her hand to her head, and looking around +she met the childlike gaze of Haleema, who was holding aloft a braid of +black hair. + +"Here, Miss Angelina, is your whip--I mean switch." + +Conscious of the strange appearance of her head since the towering +structure had fallen, annoyed by the smile on the faces of those before +her, and dreading the reproofs of her elders, Angelina fled shamefacedly +from the room. + +Maggie and Concetta and the other young girls were able to bear this +mishap with less discomfort than Angelina herself; for the latter in her +way was apt to be domineering, and they knew that for a little while she +would not come down to the dining-room where chocolate and cakes were to +be served. + +Serving their guests, the young housekeepers were at their best. Each +had her appointed duty. One carried plates and napkins, another arranged +the little white cloths on half a dozen small tables placed around the +room. One girl poured the chocolate, and another put the whipped cream +on the top of each slender cup. None of them hesitated to tell her +friends what portion of the feast she had prepared, whether sandwiches, +whipped cream, or the wafer-like cookies. + +"I wish that Brenda had been here," said Edith, as she and Nora and +Philip walked home. + +"Oh, Brenda wouldn't give an evening to this kind of thing at this +season; she says that it's the gayest winter since she came out." + +"I don't see how she can stand going out every evening," rejoined Edith, +who was wearing mourning for a relative, and hence was not accepting +invitations to dinners and dances. + +"I suppose she thinks it her duty to enjoy herself here. She says it +pleases her father and mother to have her enjoy herself." + +"Girls have strange ideas of duty," remarked Philip, "though it seems to +me that those girls at the Mansion have just about the right idea." + + + + +VI + +IN THE STUDIO + + +As autumn sped on Brenda was not very ardent in following up the Mansion +work. But what a perfect autumn it was! How bracing the air! How much +more delightful to spend the daylight hours in long rides out over the +bridle-path, along the broad boulevard, or in the narrower byways of the +suburbs. Sometimes, instead of riding, Arthur and Brenda would walk even +as far as the reservoir and back. One afternoon in late November they +had circled the lovely sheet of water that lies embosomed among the +hills of Brookline, and, waiting for a car, had sat down on a wayside +seat. + +"Except for the bare trees it's hard to believe that this is November," +Brenda had said. + +"Yes," responded Arthur. "Days like this almost redeem the bad character +of the New England climate." + +"Oh, Arthur, there isn't a better all-round climate anywhere." + +"After a winter in California, I should think that you'd know better +than that." + +[Illustration: Waiting for a car they had sat down on a wayside seat] + +The argument went a little further, and Brenda made out her case very +well, quoting the surprise of Californians and Southerners, who had +come to Boston expecting an Arctic winter, to find only an occasional +frigid day. + +"Those must have been exceptional winters;" and Arthur shrugged his +shoulders in a way that always provoked Brenda as he concluded, "Say +what you will, it is always a vile winter climate." + +"Then I'm sure," retorted Brenda, "I don't see why you plan to spend the +winter here." + +"Oh, indeed! I fancied that you knew the reason." + +Taking no notice of this pacific remark, Brenda continued: + +"Yes, if I were you I wouldn't stay in so dreadful a place; you +certainly have no important business to keep you. Why, papa said--" + +She did not finish the sentence. Arthur frowned ominously, and he +abruptly signalled a car just coming in sight. + +Brenda hardly understood why Arthur was so silent on the way home. She +did not realize that her allusion to her father had annoyed him. Arthur +knew that Mr. Barlow did not altogether approve of his lack of a +profession. After completing his studies he had not wished to practise +law. A slight impediment in his speech was likely to prevent his being a +good pleader, and the opportunity that he desired for office practice +had not yet offered. His personal income was just enough to permit him +to drift without a settled profession. There was danger that he might +learn to prefer a life of idleness to one in which work had the larger +part. + +Yet Arthur's intentions were the best in the world. He really was only +waiting for the right thing to present itself, and although Brenda had +not quoted her father's words, his imagination had flown ahead of what +she had said, and he was angry at the implied criticism. + +"No, I can't come in," he said, as he left Brenda at her door. "I have +an engagement." + +"Oh, what--" + +Then Brenda checked herself. If he did not care to tell her, she could +afford to hide her curiosity. After he left her she wondered what the +engagement was. + +"I'll see you at the studio to-morrow." This was Arthur's parting word, +in a pleasanter tone than that of a moment before. + +"Yes, perhaps so; I'm really not sure." + +The next day, toward four o'clock, Brenda and her little niece, Lettice, +mounted the stairs to the studio. The stairs were long and narrow, for +Ralph Weston, on his return from Europe, had chosen a studio in the top +of one of the old houses opposite the Garden, in preference to a newer +building. + +When his wife and her sister had protested that he would see them very +seldom if he persisted in having this inaccessible studio, "It may seem +ungallant to say so," he had said, "but that is one of my reasons for +choosing to perch myself in this eyrie. I am all the less likely to be +interrupted when seeking inspiration for a masterpiece. If I were +connected with the earth by an elevator I should never be safe from +interruption. In fact, I should probably urge you and your friends to +spend your spare time here. But now, knowing that it would be an +imposition to expect you to climb those stairs more than once a week, I +feel quite secure until Thursday rolls around." + +"Oh, you needn't worry. That glimpse across the Garden from your window +showing the State House as the very pinnacle of the city is beautiful, +but we can live without it, if _you_ can exist without us;" and Brenda +drew herself up with dignity. + +On this particular afternoon as she reached the studio door with Lettice +clinging to her hand she was flushed and almost out of breath. + +Within the studio her sister Agnes, giving a few last touches to the +table, exclaimed in surprise at sight of the little girl. + +"Why, Lettice, what in the world are you doing here?" + +"Oh, auntie found me in the park, and she sent nurse off." + +Then Brenda explained that Lettice looked so sweet that she just +couldn't bear to leave her behind, "and nurse," she added, "fortunately +had a very important errand down town, and was so glad that I could take +Lettice off her hands, and so--" + +"'The lady protests too much, methinks,'" interposed Ralph. "But you +really need not apologize. I am always glad to have Lettice here, even +though her mother does think her too young to receive at afternoon +teas." + +"At four years old--I should think so. There, dear, you mustn't touch +anything on the table," for the little girl, on tiptoe, was trying to +reach a plate of biscuit. + +Lettice withdrew her hand quickly, and, when her wraps were removed, +allowed herself to be perched on a tabaret, where her mother said she +was safe from harming or being harmed. + +The studio was filled with trophies that Mr. and Mrs. Weston had +collected abroad. The high carved mantle-piece was the work of some +medieval Hollander, the curtain shutting off one end of the room was old +Norman tapestry--the most valuable of all their possessions. Each chair +had, as Brenda sometimes said, a different nationality. Her own +preference was for the Venetian seat, with its curving back and +elaborate carving. As it grew darker outside the studio was brightened +by the light from a pair of Roman candlesticks. + +Only one or two of the paintings on the wall were Mr. Weston's work. +When asked, he always said that he had very little to show, and that he +did not believe in boring his guests by driving them, against their +judgment, perhaps, to praise what they saw. + +"Mock modesty!" Brenda had exclaimed at this expression of opinion. + +"If I were sure that that was a genuine Tintoretto, I should believe +that you were afraid of coming in direct competition with an old master; +though, to tell you the truth, I'm glad that your work is a little +brighter and livelier," she concluded. + +One or two callers had now come in, and Brenda took her place at the +tea-table, that Agnes might be free to move about the large studio. Soon +the nurse appeared, and Lettice, protesting that she was a big girl and +ought to stay, was ignominiously carried home. + +"Where's Arthur?" asked Ralph, as he stood near Brenda, waiting for her +to pour a cup of tea for a guest. + +"I'm sure I don't know." + +"Oh, I beg your pardon," responded Ralph ceremoniously. "I fancied that +you might have heard him say what he intended to do." + +Ralph went off with the tea, and Brenda continued to pour for other +guests. But her mind was wandering. She served lemon when the guest had +asked for cream, and generously dropped two lumps into the cup of one +who had expressly requested no sugar. In spite of herself her eye +travelled often to the door, and an observer would have seen that her +mind was far away. When at last she saw Arthur entering the room some +one was with him, and the two were laughing and chatting gayly. + +"Oh, we had such a time getting here," cried the shrill voice of Belle. +"Mr. Weston's been making calls with me in Jamaica Plain, and the cars +were blocked coming back, so that it seemed as if we should never get +here." + +"But we're glad to arrive at last;" and Arthur moved toward the table, +while Belle lingered for a word or two with Agnes and her husband. + +"Poor thing!" exclaimed Belle, when at last she joined Arthur beside the +table. "Poor thing! have you been shut up here pouring tea all the +afternoon? You ought to have been with us; we've had a perfectly lovely +time." + +"You don't care for sweet things, so I won't give you any sugar," said +Brenda, without replying directly to Belle. + +"Come, Belle, you must see this sketch of Lettice. It is the one you +were asking about." Agnes had come to the rescue. + +As Belle turned away, Arthur tried to make his peace, for he saw that in +some way he had displeased Brenda. He explained that he had merely +happened to meet Belle, who was out on a calling expedition. He had +accompanied her to one or two houses, because when she had paid these +visits she intended to go to the studio. "I really meant to call for +you, although you were so uncertain yesterday about coming," he +concluded apologetically. + +"Of course you knew I would come. I always do on Thursdays," replied +Brenda; "but you were not obliged to call for me if you had something +pleasanter to do." + +"Ah, Belle is never out of temper." Arthur spoke significantly, annoyed +by Brenda's unusual dignity of manner. Then, as she turned to speak to +some one at the other side of the table, he crossed the room and joined +Belle. + +Since the death of her grandmother two years before, Belle and her +mother had been away from Boston. They expected to spend the coming +season in Washington, as they had the preceding. Belle now pronounced +Boston altogether too old-fashioned a place for a person of cosmopolitan +tastes, and she dazzled the younger girls and the undergraduates of her +acquaintance by talking of diplomatic and state dignitaries with the +greatest freedom. According to her own estimate of herself, she was one +of the brightest stars in Washington society. + +Although she and Brenda were less intimate than formerly, when Belle was +in town she was with Brenda more than with any other girl of her +acquaintance. Despite her insincerity and her various other failings, +now much clearer to Brenda than in her school days, Belle had certain +qualities that made her very companionable, and Brenda was inclined to +overlook her less amiable traits. Indeed, she had clung to Belle in +spite of the protests of various other girls. But to-day she felt +impatient with Belle. Her high, sharp voice grated on her ear. Her +witticisms seemed particularly shallow, and almost for the first time +Brenda realized that the words with which Belle raised a laugh from +those present carried a sting for some one absent. + +Again Belle approached her. "I suppose your cousin never indulges in +frivolities like this. I hear that she has withdrawn altogether from the +world into some kind of a home or institution." + +"There, Belle, how silly you are! If you'd spend more time in Boston, +you'd at least hear things straight. Julia is just as fond of frivolity +as any of us, only it's the right kind of frivolity." + +"Oh, excuse me," exclaimed Belle with mock sorrow. "I had entirely +forgotten your new point of view. You used to feel so differently about +your cousin." + +"Well, it is irritating to hear you talk about her being in an +institution. Surely you've heard about Miss South and the old Du Launy +Mansion; and if you go up there and call, you'll see that they are not +shut out from the world." + +"Dear! dear! why need you take everything so seriously. There! why, it's +half-past five! I'm really afraid to go home alone." + +This was said as Arthur came within earshot, and, of course, he could +only offer to go home with her, as she professed to be in too great a +hurry to wait for Brenda and the rest of the party. + +"But I will come back for you," murmured Arthur, as he turned away. + +"No, thank you; you needn't," responded Brenda stiffly; "I have Ralph +and Agnes, and really I don't care for any one else." + +"Very well, then, we'll say good evening;" and the two young people went +off after Belle had said her farewells very effusively to all in the +studio. + +As Brenda sat alone in a corner of the studio after the other guests had +gone, she had an opportunity to think over the events of the past few +years which some of Belle's sharp remarks had brought up. Ralph and +Agnes were busy discussing designs for some picture-frames that he was +to have made, and, sitting apart, Brenda in a rather unusual fit of +reverie recalled some of the happenings of the six years since her +cousin Julia had first come into her life. When first she learned that +her orphan cousin, who was a year and a half her senior, was to become a +member of her family, she had been far from pleased. Without feeling +jealousy in its meanest form, she was annoyed lest the presence of Julia +should interfere with her enjoyment of her little circle of intimate +friends. Edith Blair, Nora Gostar, Belle Gregg and she had formed a +pleasant circle, "The Four," into which she did not care to have a fifth +enter. Consequently she was far from kind to her cousin, and would not +invite her to the weekly meetings of the group, when they gathered at +her house to work for a bazaar. Belle prompted and upheld Brenda in her +attitude toward her cousin, while Nora and Edith were Julia's champions. +Later Julia had an opportunity to behave very generously toward Brenda, +and from that time the cousins were good friends. Belle's departure for +boarding-school and her later absence in Washington had naturally +lessened her intimacy with Brenda. Julia, after two years at Miss +Crawdon's school with Brenda, had entered Radcliffe College, where in +her four years' course she had made many friends, and had been graduated +with honor. Belle, as well as Julia and Brenda, had been one of Miss +South's pupils at Miss Crawdon's school, but she was one of the few with +no interest whatever in the work begun at the Mansion--a work which the +majority had been only too glad to help. + +Belle had never shown herself to Brenda in so unlovely a light as on +this particular afternoon at the studio. Yet she had often been far more +disagreeable in her general way of expressing herself. The difference +was that now Brenda herself had begun to look at life in a very +different way. She had a higher standard; she understood and admired her +cousin, even though in many ways they were very unlike, and Belle in +contrast seemed particularly shallow. + +Then, too, to be perfectly honest with herself, she had to admit that +she was surprised and not pleased that Arthur Weston should show so much +interest in the society of Belle. + +"Come, Brenda, are you dreaming? We are ready to go home." + +At the sound of her sister's voice Brenda rose quickly, and was ready +with a laughing reply to one of her brother-in-law's witticisms. + +Brenda was not inclined to be melancholy, and the half-hour of +retrospect had been good for her. + + + + +VII + +IN DIFFICULTIES + + +On the same floor with the gymnasium at the end of the hall was a room +whose door was usually locked. In passing up and down it was not strange +that occasionally the girls would rattle the handle in their anxiety to +catch a glimpse of the inside of the room. But the door was always +fastened, and this fact allowed them to speculate widely as to what the +room contained. + +"It is full of clothes and jewels that belonged to Miss South's +grandmother," announced Concetta. "She was a very strange old lady, and +as rich as rich could be, and when Miss South wants any money, she just +sells some of the things from this room." + +"Oh, then the things must be beautiful; I wish we could see them!" + +"Well, we'll watch and watch, and perhaps some day we shall find it +open." + +Once or twice, however, on their way to the gymnasium the girls had +noticed this door ajar, and great had been their curiosity about it; for +Concetta, who was never backward in wrongdoing, had announced that she +meant to go in at the close of the gymnastic lesson, and look into some +of the trunks that were piled against the wall. + +"No, no," replied Gretchen, to whom she confided her intention, "that +wouldn't be right." + +"Why not?" + +"Oh, we've never been told that we could go in there." + +"But nobody said we couldn't go." + +"I'm sure Miss South wouldn't like it." + +"Ah, I shall go just the same; when I looked in just now, one of the +trunks was open, and on the top I saw a wig, all white curls, and a pink +satin dress. I'd like to have those things to dress up in. Just as soon +as I can I'm going into that room." + +It happened, however, to Concetta's disappointment that when the girls +came out from the gymnasium the room in the ell was locked. But she +remembered the room, and another day in passing she noticed that the +door was slightly ajar. She now said nothing to Gretchen, but had a +whispered conference with Haleema and Inez, with the result that these +three lingered behind when the others went downstairs. + +As the last footfall died away, the three girls stole quietly to the +room in the ell. Concetta laid her finger on her lips in token of +silence, for she was by no means sure that some older person might not +be within hearing. + +"Oh, they're all out this afternoon except Miss Dreen," said Haleema +confidently, "and she's down in the kitchen giving a cooking lesson." + +"See! see!" added Concetta, as she tiptoed ahead of the others, "there's +no one here; come on." And in a minute the three were inside the +mysterious room. + +"Those are the chests of jewels!" and Concetta pointed to the three +large chests ranged along the wall. + +At the end of the room were several large trunks. + +"I wish that we could look inside them," said Haleema. + +"Oh, no," and there was real terror in Inez's tone. + +"Don't be afraid; they're all out," said Concetta. + +"Yes, even Miss Angelina," added Haleema; "she's gone to a lecture." + +"Miss Angelina," responded Concetta, mimicking her tone. "She's no Miss +Angelina." + +"But you always call her that." + +"Oh, that only to her face; I should never call her that behind her +back. Why, she's only a girl, just like we are; why, she used to live +down there at the North End, near where Luisa's mother lives. But there, +shut the door, Haleema, so that we can look at these things." + +The three little girls bent over the trunk, the lid of which Concetta +had boldly opened. On the top lay the pink satin gown that she had +described in such glowing terms. Haleema slipped her arms into the +sleeves, and strange to say the bodice fitted her very well. + +"You oughtn't to touch it," cried Inez. + +"You are such a scarecrow," said Concetta, whose English was not always +perfect. + +"Scarecrow! you mean 'fraid-cat," corrected Inez. + +"Oh, well, it's all the same thing." + +What did a little question of English matter, when now they were so near +the mysterious treasure; for Concetta had noticed what the others had +not seen, that a bit of bright-colored fabric was hanging from one of +the chests, and she rightly conjectured that this trunk was unlocked. +Even while she spoke to Inez she was fingering the lid of the chest, and +in a moment it was thrown back. Many were the exclamations of the three +as garment after garment was drawn out from the depths; they were +chiefly of bright-colored and delicate materials, and Madame Du Launy +would have turned in her grave had she seen these little girls trying on +the things that at one time in her life had so delighted her. + +"I don't see any jewels," said Haleema disappointedly. + +"Oh, we'll find them; there are some boxes at the bottom. But see here!" +and Concetta drew out a mysterious, queerly shaped package. Opening it +rather gingerly, for at first she was uncertain what it contained, and +then with a skip and a jump-- + +"Oh, let's dress up; here are wigs and--" + +"No, no," said Inez, "perhaps some one might find us out." + +"No matter, no matter," and she waved the various wigs in the air. + +"Are they anybody's real hair?" asked Inez, in an awestruck tone, +pointing to the gray toupee and the short curled wig that Concetta held +in her hand. + +"Of course not, child. Oh, see! Haleema has found a box of paint," and +they laughed loudly at the bright red spots on Haleema's cheeks. Then +Haleema put on the curled wig. The others shrieked with laughter. "Your +eyes look blacker than black." + +[Illustration: "'I think I hear some one coming upstairs'"] + +"Ah, this is better than Angelina's whip," and then they all shouted +again, recalling the episode of Angelina and the switch. + +"Hush! hark!" cried Concetta, with her hand at her ear; "I think I hear +some one coming upstairs." + +"Shut the trunk! Let's go into the closet;" and as she spoke the other +two followed her into the closet. It was a large closet with a transom +that let in a certain amount of light, and at first their situation +seemed rather amusing to the three. Haleema, who had gone in last, had +closed the door with a snap, and after a few minutes had passed she +started to open it again. But, alas! she could not lift the latch. +Evidently it had closed with a spring, and they would have to wait until +some one should come to their relief. + +At first, as before, they giggled a little; then, as they realized their +situation, they sobered down. + +"Suppose no one should come; we might have to stay all night." + +"They may think that we've run away, and so they won't look for us." + +"Oh, some one will remember that we didn't go downstairs; they'll come +up here the first thing." + +"No, no, don't you remember how the others all ran down ahead of us? +They won't remember." + +"Gretchen's the only one who might think of this room. I told her the +other day that I meant to come in some time." + +"That won't do no good," rejoined Haleema; "she'll be glad to have you +shut up." + +"We're better off here than we would be in that trunk," continued +Haleema thoughtfully. "I read a poem the other day about a girl that got +shut up in a chest, and she did not get out until she was dead. She was +an Italian, too," she said, looking suggestively toward Concetta, "and +her name was Jinerva." + +Whereupon Concetta began to weep softly, either in sympathy for her +countrywoman or from fear that as an Italian she was more likely to +suffer than the others. + +"Oh, that's nothing," said Inez; "why, we had a history lesson once +about the Black Hole. Everybody that went into it died, and there were +dozens of people." + +"Why did they go in?" asked Concetta with a languid interest. + +"Oh, it was in war; I don't remember much about it, only they all died." + +"Well, this isn't a black hole," said Haleema cheerfully; "there's quite +a little light comes in at that window." And she began to hum, + + "'When a spring lock that lay in ambush there + Fastened her down forever.' + +There, that's the last of that Jinerva poem; I couldn't help remembering +it; I read it over several times." + +"Oh, Haleema, and we're fastened in with a spring lock." + +"Oh, we'll get out all right," said Haleema cheerfully; "'where there's +a will, there's a way.'" + +While she spoke she was moving about the closet. + +"I wouldn't meddle any more; if you hadn't meddled with that trunk we +wouldn't be in here now." + +"I'm not meddling," she replied angrily, "I'm trying to find something." +Her search continued for some time, and at last the others heard an +exclamation of satisfaction. + +"What is it?" asked Concetta. "What have you found?" + +"A stick," responded Haleema. "Do you know, I believe that I can break +that window." + +As she spoke she stood on tiptoe, and reached toward the transom. But, +alas! _she_ was too short, and the stick was too short, and with all her +efforts she could not reach the glass. + +"We could not get out through that window," said Concetta scornfully. +"We couldn't get out through that window, so what is the good of +trying?" + +"Oh, I didn't mean to get out through the window, but if I break the +glass we can have more air. We won't smother to death." + +At the suggestion of smothering, although Haleema had pronounced it an +unlikely happening, Inez began to cry. + +"Don't be a baby," said the little Syrian scornfully. "I guess there's +more than one way of catching a bird, even if you can't put salt on his +tail," from which it may be seen that Haleema was well on the way to +becoming a good Yankee, since her proverbs were not strictly Oriental. + +How long the time seemed! The light from the other room hardly showed +through the transom. Though they could move about in the closet, their +positions were naturally cramped. The air grew closer and warmer, and +though they were in no danger of suffocation, they were becoming drowsy +from the closeness and warmth. + +Haleema strained her ears to hear any one who should pass near, yet even +when she noted a distant step she realized that it would be hard to make +herself heard. Still the three girls kicked on the door, and sang at the +top of their voices, but in vain. + +At last Haleema grew desperate. + +"There's just one thing I can do," she said, "and I'll do it." + +Thereupon she again seized the stick, and telling the others to go close +up to the corners, she threw it toward the transom. The first time it +fell back and hit her on the nose, the second time it merely grazed the +wall beside the glass, the third time it touched the glass without +breaking it. + +"There," said Haleema, "I'm sure that I can do it," and with one mighty +effort she took aim again, and the stick crashed through the glass. Most +of the pieces went outside, but a few bits fell into the closet, and one +of these scratched Haleema's forehead. In her triumph at accomplishing +her end she did not mind the injury. + +"There! you can come out of the corner. We'll get plenty of air from the +room, and if any one should be passing, why, it will be easier to hear +us. Sing, Concetta, at the top of your voice." + +"I'm too tired," said Concetta crossly, "and dreadful hungry. I wish +you'd have let that trunk alone, Haleema; that's what made all the +trouble." + +So the time dragged on, and at length Concetta, though she never would +admit it, fell asleep. Haleema kept herself awake by telling wonderful +stories--some of them fairy tales, and some of them stories of +adventures that she professed to have passed through. + +At last even her lively tongue was quiet, and she had given up kicking +against the door, as a useless expenditure of energy. + +In the meantime the absence of the three girls had become the subject of +conjecture on the part of the others downstairs. No one apparently had +noticed when they left the gymnasium, though Nellie thought that she had +seen them on their way to the street floor. + +"Perhaps they've just gone off for fun. Haleema's always up to some +mischief." + +"They may have run off for good, like Mary Murphy." + +"Oh, no, there's no danger; that ain't likely. They know which side +their bread's buttered on." + +The three vacant places troubled Angelina as she sat at the end of the +table opposite Miss Dreen. + +"If I hadn't been away, they wouldn't have dared go off." + +Anstiss, to whom at last they applied for advice, was uncertain what +they ought to do. She was sorry that this was the evening that Pamela +and Julia and Miss South had taken to dine with Lois in Newton. It would +be late when they returned, and she did not like the responsibility +that had fallen upon her. + +While the discussion was going on, many thoughts were passing through +Gretchen's mind. Not until tea-time had she learned of the disappearance +of her schoolmates, and as she was not very quick-witted, she had not at +first connected them with the end room. When she did recall Concetta's +desire to explore it, she hesitated about speaking. In the first place, +if Concetta heard that she had told of her previous efforts to pry into +the mysteries of the trunks, she would surely take vengeance, especially +if at the present time she happened not to be there. If she had been +shut up in the room all this time, or in a trunk--and then the story of +Ginevra came into Gretchen's mind, and she was half afraid to suggest +that the end room be explored. + +So positive, however, was Angelina that the girls had run away, or at +least had taken advantage of Miss South's absence to spend the evening +out, that no one suggested exploring the house thoroughly. Anstiss +herself had gone to the room of each girl to assure herself that they +were not in one of them, and had sat herself down to her hour's reading +when she noticed that Gretchen was softly weeping. + +"Why, what is the matter, child?" she asked, and Gretchen, wiping her +eyes with a handkerchief that left a little dark streak, looked up for a +moment, and then hung down her head without answering. + +"Tell her," said Nellie, who sat beside her, with a nudge that made +Gretchen wriggle her shoulders. To save herself, perhaps, from a second +such demonstration, when Anstiss repeated her question Gretchen replied: + +"I'm afraid that they're locked up in the attic." + +"Who? Haleema and the other two?" + +Anstiss had already started toward the door. + +"Yes'm; I went upstairs just before you came in and I thought I heard a +little noise from the end room." + +"Then why didn't you look in? Was the door locked?" + +"I don't know; I didn't try it. I was afraid that they might be dead." + +"But you said that you heard a noise. Oh, Gretchen, you are a silly +girl." + +As she spoke Anstiss was wondering why she herself had not thought of +the end room, since every corner of the house ought to have been +thoroughly explored. + +Then she ran upstairs to the top of the house, and then down the two or +three steps to the end room, with five girls and Fidessa following her +closely. She felt sure that she heard a noise from the direction of the +room; nor was she wrong. Haleema, who had managed to keep herself awake +amid all the discomforts of her position, was shouting at the top of her +rather weak lungs. Yet she had made herself heard. + +A glance around the small room and the sight of the broken glass on the +floor outside showed Anstiss that the girls were in the closet. But here +was a new difficulty. The door had shut with a spring that had locked +it, and no one knew where the key could be found. + +The fact, however, that they were discovered had restored the spirits of +the girls inside the closet. + +"Yes, we are starved," they admitted when questioned. + +"Let's get a ladder, and send down a basket by a rope over the door," +suggested Angelina; and before any one could object she had gone down to +the kitchen. When she returned with a small basket containing three +oranges and some slices of bread and butter, Anstiss praised her warmly +for bringing just the right things. In her absence a ladder had been +brought from a corner of the gymnasium, and it was very little work to +lower the basket over the transom to the hungry girls within. + +They had hardly finished their repast when the diners-out returned, and +when they heard of the disturbance upstairs Miss South hastened at once +to the scene. + +"Why, no," she said, "I haven't a key; it is strange that that should +have been a spring latch, for there's nothing very valuable in the +closet. We did not intend to keep it fastened. There are many things of +my grandmother's in these trunks, and though we knew that no one would +meddle with them, we meant to keep them locked, as well as the door of +this room. I was up here myself just before I went out, and I fear that +I must have left the door open." + +Not a word thus far of reproof for the meddlesome girls within the +closet, although Miss South saw plainly that one trunk, if no more, had +been ransacked. + +A minute later Julia and Pamela appeared with the small tool-chest that +was kept in the hall closet on the first floor, and then, to every +one's astonishment, Miss South herself set to work upon the latch in the +deftest possible way, and in a minute the lock was off and the door +open. + +"My! she did it as well as a man could," whispered Gretchen to Nellie. +But Miss South heard the whisper, and, smiling, said, "As well as I hope +every girl in the Mansion will be able to do before her term here is +up." + +When the door was opened the prisoners rushed out; their faces were +rather grave. It is true that they were quite wide-awake, but now, +almost for the first time, they realized the impropriety of their +conduct, and dreaded facing their comrades. Everything considered, they +were hardly prepared for the shouts of laughter that greeted their +appearance. + +"Oh, Haleema, you do look so funny!" and Haleema, putting her hand to +her forehead, realized that she was still wearing the wig, while the +observers saw what she could not, that the paint was daubed on very +unevenly, and gave her a strange aspect. + + + + +VIII + +THE FRINGED GENTIAN LEAGUE + + +The "Fringed Gentian League" was the girls' favorite club; or it would +be truer to say that it was the favorite, partly because it was the only +regular club at the Mansion, and also because all its doings were +extremely interesting. Anstiss Rowe was the Honorary President and Julia +the Honorary Secretary, and the club had met two or three times before +it had elected its own officers. In starting, every one of the girls was +invited to join, and every one accepted. Then Miss South informed them +that a medium-sized room on the second floor in the wing was to be their +club-room. + +"I present the club," she said, when they first met in the room, "with +these chairs and the large library-table, but I hope that you will +gradually add to its furnishings from your own earnings." + +"Earnings!" At first none of them understood, nor indeed did they learn +for some time later just what she meant by "earnings." + +The walls were covered with a cartridge-paper of a curious purplish +blue, and that was what suggested to Gretchen the name for the League. +Some of the girls rejected this as a poor suggestion. + +"That would be a funny reason to give," said Concetta, "to name a club +for a wall-paper; we ought to have a different reason." + +Other girls gave other opinions, but while they were discussing it +Gretchen had been saying to herself the stanzas of Bryant's poem. At +last she looked as if she had come to a satisfactory reason, but she +hesitated about giving it to the others, lest they should laugh at her. +Accordingly she hastened to the honorary officers, who were busy with +the large book that was to contain the names of the members. + +"Why, yes, dear, that is a very good reason," responded Julia, while +Gretchen blushed at the praise. But although she had had the courage to +tell her elders, it was harder for the little German maiden to express +her thoughts to those of her own age. She was a curious mixture of +poetic fancies and practical ideas, and the fancies she always hesitated +to reveal to others. But at last she permitted Julia to tell the girls +why she thought "Fringed Gentian" a good name for the club. "Because +it's a looking upward club; that is, a 'look to heaven' club. Recite it, +Gretchen," urged Miss Julia, and the little girl began timidly,-- + + "'I would that thus when I shall see + The hour of death draw near to me, + Hope blossoming within my heart, + May look to heaven, as I depart.'" + +"Ugh!" cried Concetta, shaking her dark head. "How solemn; we don't mean +to die in this club, Miss Julia." + +"No, my dear; but the fringed gentian does not die instantly, as it +looks upward. Blue is the color of hope, and the fringed gentian by this +poem becomes a flower of hope, and so I think that you can give this +reason, if you ever have to give a reason, why this League is called the +'Fringed Gentian' League." + +It was therefore a following out of Gretchen's suggestion, that when +they came to draw up the Constitution for the League, its purpose was +defined in the language of much more important organizations. + +"The purpose of this League shall be to encourage good thoughts and good +books, and to keep our hearts looking upward." Although some of the more +matter-of-fact objected that hearts did not really look up at all, the +vote was in favor of the phrase, and the honorary officers said that no +club could have a loftier aim. + +The officers were to be a President, a Vice-President, a Secretary, and +a Treasurer. But they were not to be elected until the second meeting. + +The honorary officers, indeed, had their hands full in advising the +members as to what should and what should not be put in the +Constitution. But at last it was all arranged in paragraphs: one to tell +who should be the members, another to tell how many officers there +should be and what their duties, and others defining the aims of the +club, and one to state under what conditions a member might be put out +of the club. Each girl was perfectly sure that such a thing would never +happen. "It is always best to be prepared for the worst," said Maggie +sagely, and the others acceded. Finally there was a paragraph providing +for amendments, "for you may think of things you may wish to add to this +Constitution, and it would be a pity to find yourselves tied to laws +that you cannot add to or change." + +In fact, it was well that this provision was made, for at the next +weekly meeting the girls wished to add to the numbers of the League by +having associate members. Maggie, who made the suggestion, was praised +for it by Julia, who saw that in this way other girls might become +interested in the work of the Mansion. + +There was much discussion, of course, about the duties and privileges of +the new members. But at last it was settled that there were to be no +more than twelve associates. Each was to be elected unanimously by +Mansion members of the League, and they were to have the privilege of +attending all the regular meetings. They could take out books from the +library, but unlike the regular members they were not to use the +club-room at other times. + +"I would advise you," Julia had said, "not to elect more than half your +associate members at first, for should the list fill up too soon, you +might then find yourselves unable to invite other very desirable +members." + +"Couldn't we have them too?" + +"Ah! Concetta, the room is small, and even when the League has twenty +girls, you will find it fairly crowded." + +Guided partly by this advice, and also moved by the fact that the +founders of the League had difficulty in agreeing on new members, only +five associates had been added by Thanksgiving. One of these was a +friend of Concetta's from Prince Street, a timid little Italian, and +with her a Portuguese girl from the same house. It was again the advice +of the honorary officers that the girls should be chosen from the same +neighborhood, so that they could come and go together; for though the +meetings were on Thursday afternoons, there were certain advantages in +having the associates neighbors. Two others were Jewish girls from +Blossom Street, and the fifth was a little German from Roxbury, a +special friend of Gretchen's. + +Edith was slow in seeing the advantages of the League, as the girls at +the Mansion already formed practically a large club. But she soon +understood that it was well for them to learn that organization is a +good thing. She saw, too, that it would help interest them in things +outside their regular work. + +Angelina was honorary associate member, and Julia explained to her that +she was to be present at all special functions, but that on account of +her greater age--it pleased Angelina to have this set forth as an +evidence of her superiority--she might better not attend the regular +meetings, lest her presence should embarrass the younger girls. But +"honorary associate member" had such a high and mighty sound that +Angelina regarded the whole arrangement as complimentary to herself, and +thus the feelings of all were saved. + +In its early meetings the club naturally had its attention set on +Bryant. Julia was pleased to find that nearly all the girls were willing +to commit verses or even long poems to memory, and that there was a +good-natured rivalry as to which of them should learn the longest. She +was surprised, too, to find that these girls who knew so little of the +real country could appreciate many of the beautiful pictures of woods +and flowers and birds presented by the poet. "The Waterfowl" and "Green +River" and "The Evening Wind" were especial favorites, and indeed they +were fond of some of the more serious poems. + +The girls of the League had other interests besides their reading, and +they were encouraged to enter on certain bits of work that should not be +entirely for themselves. One group was busy making scrap-books, to be +given at Christmas to the Children's Hospital, and another was busy +dressing dolls. The best scrap-book and the best-dressed doll were to +receive a prize, and all were to be exhibited a day or two before +Christmas. On Anstiss had fallen the task of deciding which girls should +belong to the doll group, and which to the book group, and many were her +difficulties in keeping the girls to their first intention. When +Concetta, who had begun to dress a golden-haired doll, saw what a pretty +scrap-book Nellie was making on sheets of blue cambric with edges +buttonholed in red, she immediately threw down her doll with a gesture +of impatience. + +"I hate sewing, and it would be much pleasanter to paste pictures in a +scrap-book." + +"But if you make a scrap-book you must work at it, just as Nellie did, +and you will have to buttonhole the edges." Whereat Concetta, making a +wry face, protested that in spite of the buttonholing she would rather +make the scrap-book. + +"Very well, then; when you have the leaves ready, I will give you some +directions for pasting pictures. What color will you choose for the +leaves?" + +"Oh, pink, with yellow edges;" and Concetta, turning her back to the +discarded doll, sat down at the table beside Nellie. + +A week or two later Anstiss was surprised to have Concetta report that +she had finished her book. "But you were not to put the pictures in +until you had shown me the buttonholed edges." Whereupon Concetta, a +little shamefacedly, be it said, displayed her book with the pictures +and embossed decorations put in fairly well, but with the edges of the +leaves merely cut in scallops. + +"A book like this," said Anstiss, "would be of no good to the little +sick children. Almost as soon as they touched it, it would ravel out;" +and with a touch or two her fingers fringed the edge of one of the +pages. + +Concetta hung her head. "I can buttonhole it now, only I'd rather dress +my doll." + +"It isn't your doll, Concetta; Gretchen has taken it. If you work the +edges of the book now, I'm afraid that you will spoil the freshness of +the pictures. I shall let the League decide what you are to do." + +Upon this the girls were called by Angelina into business session, and +the vote was that Concetta must begin a new book. It was not a unanimous +vote, and Concetta, keenly noting the hands that were raised against +her, as she determined it, registered a vow to get even. + +Gretchen, who had the usual German skill with her fingers, was able to +dress two dolls, a blonde of Concetta's in addition to the brunette that +she had originally chosen, and Eliza made two scrap-books. But this was +rapid work in proportion to the time that they had before them, and +Anstiss did not encourage haste. + +Concetta was not the only girl who wished to change her work, for one or +two outside members absented themselves from several meetings because +they were dissatisfied with what they accomplished. + +Julia, visiting them in their homes, made them understand that there was +only a friendly rivalry in the whole competition, and that no one would +be permitted to criticise the work of another very severely. + +The staff of the Mansion, therefore, set itself at work very earnestly +to find reasons why each book and each doll should receive some special +award. So there were first prizes and second prizes: first for the +neatest, then for the prettiest books; and in the same way prizes were +given for the dolls. Besides these prizes there were honorable mention +awards and certain supplementary awards that Edith had begged to be +allowed to present, that no girl need feel that her industry had been +unappreciated. + +"For after all, every one has really shown perseverance, and some, I am +sure, displayed the greatest taste. Why, some of these dolls are so +pretty that I should like to play with them myself." + +"I am not so surprised at the dolls," said Miss South, "for most of +these girls have had sewing lessons in the public schools, and their +fingers have developed considerable skill along this one line. But I am +interested in the skill shown in making the scrap-books. To be sure, +some of them are daubed more than is necessary. Maggie's book, for +instance, shows a little glistening halo of dried mucilage around many +of the pictures. But what pleases me the most is their skill in grouping +and arranging." + +The girls themselves chose two of their number, Inez and Concetta, to be +on the jury, and Pamela, Julia, and Nora made up the other three. + +The first prize was given for the Bryant scrap-book that Phoebe had +made. No one certainly could find any fault with it, so neatly were the +pictures arranged, and so free from daubs were the broad margins. + +Every one wondered where she had found so many pictures that exactly +illustrated the poems chosen, and Phoebe assured them that this had +been not at all difficult, since Miss South had let her look over dozens +and dozens of old magazines, from which she had been able to choose +those that best suited the words. + +No one dissented from the award of a volume of Bryant's poems to +Phoebe, but there was more discussion when the second prize, a framed +photograph of Greuze's "Head of the Dauphin," went to Haleema for a +flower book. In this she had put a great variety of flower pictures, +some of them mere decalcomanie, embossed groups, others colored +lithographs from periodicals of all styles, while not a few were nature +pictures from the magazines in which flowers were conspicuous. + +Concetta and Gretchen were partly right in thinking that the very +prettiest of all was the book of children that Nellie had made. + +"The little sick children in the hospital will like it best, anyway," +said Concetta. She did not happen to like Phoebe very well, and for +the time being Nellie was especially in her favor. + +"Nellie's book certainly would be more entertaining to the little sick +ones in the hospital, and if she had only trimmed the edge of her +pictures more carefully, and had kept the margins free from mucilage, +she would have had something better than third prize." + +But Nellie herself was very well contented with the award, and her +beaming face testified that she did not need a champion to stand up for +her rights. Concetta, therefore, found herself a minority on the +committee in deciding this question, for all the others were in favor of +Phoebe's having the prize. + +When it came to the dolls there was less difficulty, for Miss South had +decreed that the award should go to the doll whose clothes showed the +neatest sewing. There were no two opinions, and as Concetta herself was +not on this committee of award, no one objected to her having the pretty +case of scissors that the judges handed her, after they had carefully +examined all the clothes of all the dolls--a piece of work that took +considerable time and thought. + +But entertaining though the judging and awarding had been, the +pleasantest part of this whole work came when they took the books and +the dolls to the hospital. + +Naturally the girls did not all go together, but in two or three +detachments, and their sympathies were moved to the utmost by the sight +of the helpless little ones. They were delighted when they learned that +this child or that would be in the hospital but a short time; and some +of them--Nellie, for example--were moved to tears on learning that one +or two whom they pitied might never be well. + +"There is no harm in having their sympathies touched," said Julia, when +some one remonstrated with her for taking these girls to the hospital, +"for we older people at the Mansion intend that the outcome shall be +some practical work." + + + + +IX + +NORA'S WORK--AND POLLY + + +When Nora visited the Mansion, every one was delighted. Nellie's face +naturally beamed at sight of her, for didn't Miss Nora belong to her +more than to any one else? But all the others were fond of the bright, +cheery young girl who not only remembered the name of each one, but had +some directly personal question to ask. She could ask about their aunts +and uncles and cousins, as well as about their nearer relatives by name, +and this meant a good deal to these younger girls, who, although happy +at the Mansion, remembered sometimes that they were among strangers, and +were glad of any word that connected them with their own homes. + +Nora was an outside worker, and very proud that her last year's lessons +in a normal cooking class had fitted her to give regular lessons to a +group of the Mansion girls. + +"'A penny saved is a penny earned,'" she had said gayly, when she made +the offer of her services; "and if you will hear me conduct one class, +and then take a good, long look at my certificate, you will decide, I am +sure,--or rather I hope,--to let me belong to the staff." + +Of course Miss South was only too happy, and she knew Nora's mental +qualities so well as to believe that she would make a good teacher; nor +was she disappointed after she had heard her conduct a class. + +"I really begin to feel as if I were of some use in the world," Nora +said, after her first lesson; while Miss South remonstrated, "Why, Nora, +you always have been one of the most useful girls of my acquaintance. +You are always busy at home, and so helpful to your brothers, and--" + +"Oh, in the ordinary relations of life it would be very strange if I +should not do what I can. But every one should reach out a little beyond +her immediate circle; don't you think so?" + +"Yes, indeed, I do think so, Nora; but for this reaching out, the work +of the world could not be carried on, and I am more than happy when I +see so young a girl ready to do her part." + +Now Nora's disposition, as Miss South had said, had always been one of +helpfulness to others. With less money to spend than most of her +intimate friends, she had managed to enjoy life thoroughly, and she had +been a most devoted sister and daughter. + +Her brothers would confide their difficulties to her more readily +sometimes than to their mother, although Mrs. Gostar was herself a most +sympathetic person, and Nora was friend and adviser to half a dozen +youths of Toby's classmates in College. + +Yet in spite of her many home duties she found time for much outside +work. She had a Sunday-school class of boys whose doings were a constant +surprise and almost as constant an occupation for her. Sometimes their +vagaries carried her even into the Police Court, where she was ready, +if necessary, to say a good word for some boy brought up for a petty +offence. When her brothers teased her about her burglar and highwayman +protégés, she took their teasing in good part, and replied that as yet +none of them had done anything bad enough to require her to give heavy +bonds. "Which is fortunate, considering that I am not a large owner of +real estate." + +"But how much of your pocket-money goes in fines or in cab-hire when you +are called out in sudden emergencies?" whereat Nora blushed to a degree +sufficient to show that Toby had hit somewhere near the truth; for +Nora's Sunday-school class, though not in a mission, was yet made up of +boys who were remarkably free from a sense of responsibility, and it was +this sense of responsibility that Nora tried to impress upon them; and +to assure them of her interest, she did all that she could for them in +their every-day life, and not infrequently was to be met with some of +them escorting her even on one of the fashionable thoroughfares. Nora +did not flinch at the smiles that some of her friends bestowed on her +when they met her with her cavaliers. + +Yet her interest in these boys did not prevent her having as great an +interest in the girls at the Mansion, and in many a little emergency she +was the right-hand helper of Julia and Miss South. It was Nora, too, who +kept up the most active communication with Mrs. Rosa and the Rosa +children at Shiloh. Manuel, indeed, was her especial pride, although she +persisted that she was not entitled to all the praise that the family +lavished on her for having rescued him years before from being run over. +Angelina's sister was not as self-sufficient as she, and was only too +glad to look up to Miss Gostar for advice and praise. Moreover, Nora +gave perhaps a little less time than the others to the work at the +Mansion, because she was especially interested in a Boys' Club. Some of +her Sunday-school boys were in it, though a few of the club thought +themselves too old for Sunday school. What Nora managed to accomplish in +the course of a week was always a wonder to her friends, who with fewer +home duties still seldom had time for outside work. Though her two elder +brothers had gone from home, one to the West and one to New York, Toby +and Stanley made constant demands upon her. "They not only expect me," +she said, laughing, "to see that their buttons and gloves are in order, +but wish me to be at home whenever they have invited any special friends +to the house, and at pretty frequent intervals they expect me to ask +some girl or another in whom they have a special interest. But they are +very good to me, too," she would conclude, "and without one or the other +of them to escort me where I wish to go, I do not see what I should do. +I'd even have to stay away from the Mansion sometimes." + +The class in invalid cookery proved a great success, and Miss South, as +she tasted one after another of the savory little dishes offered her by +the proud cooks, said that she almost wished that she might be ill +enough to have these jellies and broths recommended to her for a steady +diet. + +Gretchen, to whom she said this, seemed greatly amused by the idea, and +smiled and smiled, and finally broke into a loud laugh. + +"Would you really like to be sick in your bed," she asked, "just so's +you could eat my jelly?" And then Miss South repeated her praise of +Gretchen's work. + +"By and by," continued Miss South, "you may wish to have an exhibition +of your work, and before spring I am sure you will probably have learned +to make several new things." + +"Oh, yes, indeed," and Gretchen's face beamed with delight, for it +really was her wish to excel in cooking, and the progress that she had +made was one of the things that so pleased her grandfather, that he was +likely to consent to her staying a second year. As to Gretchen herself, +she was now quite determined to be a cook when she should be older, and +Julia had made plans to send her to a regular cooking school at the end +of a year. Her grandfather had said that he would gladly pay the cost of +tuition, if Julia and the others would help in some other ways. The old +man had several persons dependent on him, and it was his constant +anxiety lest Gretchen should be left unable to earn a living when he +should be taken away. + +Though it was clear what Gretchen's future occupation should be, it was +less easy for Miss South and her staff to decide about the others. +Concetta's one talent for fine needlework seemed to imply that she was +intended to be a seamstress, and the aim of those interested should be +to train her, that her work might place her in a good position. As to +the others, it was too early to decide what they should do or be. + +Prompted by a spirit of mischief, one evening when Mrs. Blair asked her, +Julia replied: + +"How can I tell just what we are training them for? One or two are very +fond of music, Inez is devoted to art, Angelina is sure that she would +love to travel, and Gretchen is the only one who seems a born cook." + +"But you don't mean that you would let all these girls follow their own +tastes? Please pardon me for saying it, Julia. But I fear that you will +not have the sympathy of--yes, of your friends, unless you turn all +these girls into first-rate domestics. When you think how much need +there is of good servants--really it is the most pressing problem." + +"I wish that I could help solve it," Julia replied gravely; "and if I +can, you may be sure that I will. The girls at the Mansion have +certainly a greater love for all kinds of household duties than they had +six months ago, and every one of them could be very useful in her own +home or any other. But they are too young yet to decide on the future +profession, just as I am sure that you would consider it too early for +the average schoolgirl to decide her whole future life when she is only +fifteen." + +"Oh, but this is different; you have the chance of influencing these +girls, and really it is your duty, when you consider the servant +question--" and so _ad infinitum_; and, indeed, others of Julia's +friends would continue the discussion. Usually Julia turned all +criticism aside with a smiling and indefinite reply, although at times +she would say, "Ah, I hope that I shall always be found ready to do what +is best for each girl." + +Casual criticisms like this from those who did not really understand her +aim did not greatly disturb Julia. They were more than balanced by the +cordial appreciation of her aunt and Mrs. Gostar, and others who knew +what she was really striving for. Then at intervals--though rather long +intervals--she had a cheering word or two from Ruth, who, in spite of +being on a protracted wedding tour in extremely interesting countries, +evidently kept her thoughts constantly in touch with her Boston friends. +"Of course I mean to be part of your experiment when I return home, and +I mean to work like a Trojan to make up for my absence this year. Also, +as I have written you before, I am collecting all kinds of weird +receipts that I mean to have your poor little victims--for I am sure +they call themselves victims--fed on next season." + +One afternoon, after a rather hard morning in which everything had +happened just as it should not, Julia heard a tap at her study door. + +When she answered it Angelina ushered in--but no, Angelina had nothing +to do with it--a flying figure flung itself upon Julia, and before its +arms had been removed from her neck she recognized the soft accents of +Polly Porson. + +"It seems like I hadn't seen you for a century, although now that I do +see you, you look as natural as life, and not a bit as if you were +weighed down by the care of a hundred girls, such as I hear you have +taken under your wing." + +"Not a quarter nor an eighth of a hundred; but where in the world have +you dropped from, Polly Porson? Have you come North, as you used to +threaten, to buy a trousseau, or is your novel ready to offer to a +publisher?" + +At which confusing double question the usually nonchalant Polly blushed +so exceedingly that Julia knew which part of the question had been +answered. + +"Who is he?" she asked so pointedly, that Polly, nothing loath, sat down +to tell the story. She had sprained her ankle, it seemed, early in the +autumn. "Why, I am sure I wrote you about it," she added, when Julia +expressed her surprise, "and I'm sure that I told you about the doctor; +didn't I say a great deal about him?" + +"Well, perhaps you did, but I was so unsuspicious that I did not attach +much importance to what you said, or I thought what you wrote was in +mere appreciation for his skill. Besides, I begin to remember that you +told me that he was a cousin, and one whom you especially disliked, +though you believed that he had saved you from being permanently lame." + +"Well, he is a cousin, as cousins go in the South, several degrees +removed; and he was perfectly disagreeable at first because I had gone +to College; but I've brought him round, so that he has made his own +younger sister begin her preparation for Radcliffe." + +"So in gratitude to him you are going to give up all your plans for +independence and fame. Alas, poor Polly!" + +"Oh, no, indeed; he says that I may write novels or do anything I like. +You never saw such a changed man. I just wish that you had known him a +year ago, so that you could mark the improvement." + +Thus Polly rattled on, and yet, as in their College days, there was an +undercurrent of wisdom in all that she said. + +"To tell the truth," she explained, "one thing I came for was to see +just how your experiment is working, for I have an idea that I shall be +able to do something of the same kind in Atlanta--in a very small way," +she added hastily, "not at all in this magnificent style; but it's very +much needed, and I have some original ideas to combine with yours." + +So Polly spent several days at the Mansion, learning, and teaching too; +for her words of encouragement taught Julia that she had been unduly +discouraged by various things outside, as well as by a certain amount of +friction among her protégées. Polly's visit drew her away from her +cares. + +One evening Julia arranged a reunion of all the members of the class +that she could collect at short notice, and though there were many gaps +in the ranks, it was altogether a delightful evening, and each one +present told all that she could, not only about herself, but about the +absent. + +All too soon Polly flew away, and though she protested that her shopping +in New York was not to be regarded as preparation for a trousseau, Julia +was sure that when the two should meet again there would be no longer a +Polly Porson. "Not that your new name will not be just as becoming as +the old one," she added, as they said their last words, "but for some +selfish reason I do wish that I could have Polly Porson stay Polly +Porson a few years longer." + +"Nonsense!" cried Polly, as she bade her good-bye. + + + + +X + +ARTHUR'S ABSENCE + + +When Arthur wrote that he should be away Christmas, Brenda seemed +undisturbed, although Ralph and Agnes were annoyed by his absence. + +"But he has been in Washington less than a month, and probably he wishes +to stay over New Year's. We'll keep his Christmas presents until he +returns." + +Ralph and Agnes exchanged a glance. + +"Hasn't he written you?" + +"Why, yes--but what?" + +Then Ralph explained that Arthur had had an offer to be private +secretary to a certain senator, and that this would keep him in +Washington all winter. "I received my letter only last night," Ralph +hastened to add, lest Brenda should feel slighted. Brenda's own letter +arrived that very day, but as it was second to Ralph's she read it in no +very gracious spirit. + +Then, too, Arthur seemed to take it too much a matter of course that she +would praise his remaining in Washington. Brenda, forgetting that she +herself had really reproached him for his idleness in Boston, began to +complain to her mother of his lack of dignity in taking the position of +private secretary. + +"My dear," Mrs. Barlow had responded, "I am glad to hear that Arthur is +busy. As there is no likelihood of his practising law, it is much better +for him to have his mind occupied. It would be bad for you both were he +to spend the winter in Boston with nothing to do but walk or drive or go +to dinners and dances." + +"But he isn't very strong, Mamma." + +"Perhaps not; on that account the climate of Washington will be better +for him. We have the assurance, however, that his health will be +completely built up in a year, and your father has plans for him. It is +no secret, so I may tell you that a new branch of the business is to be +established next winter, and it is of such a nature that Arthur's +knowledge of law will be valuable, and he will be put in charge of the +office work." + +"Does Arthur know?" + +"Yes." + +"Then I cannot see why he need be busy this winter. I believe that he is +just staying in Washington to annoy me." + +"Nonsense, Brenda!" + +But Brenda would not listen to her mother, and it is to be feared that +her letters reflected her impatience, for Arthur's letters came at long +intervals. Although she did not hear from him directly, she knew from +Ralph and Agnes that he was well, and from another source she often +heard about him. + +Although Brenda and Belle saw much less of each other than formerly, or +perhaps because of this, they kept up a vigorous correspondence. After +Christmas Belle and her mother had gone to Washington, and in her very +first letter she mentioned having met Arthur Weston at a certain +reception; "And I can assure you, that, in spite of being cut off from +Boston, he looks very cheerful." + +After this Belle never failed to mention Arthur in her letters to +Brenda. She told what a great favorite he was with this one or that one. +"He is an immense favorite, and I almost ought to warn you that he is +really too happy in the society of other people." + +Poor Brenda! All she could do was to write glowing letters to Belle, +telling her that she herself had never known so pleasant a winter in +Boston. She left Belle to infer that she was enjoying herself even more +than would have been possible had Arthur been nearer. If the truth were +told, Brenda amused herself rather sadly. Society wearied her, but she +had not strength of mind to give it up altogether. To the delight, +however, of Maggie McSorley, she went more often to the Mansion, and +even condescended to give the girls some lessons in embroidery. Since +her earlier school-days Brenda's skill in needlework had developed +wonderfully, and she could work very beautiful patterns on doilies and +centrepieces. + +But to design and fill out these patterns was one thing, and to impart +any of her own skill was another. The latter required infinite patience +on Brenda's part, and Brenda had never been noted for her patience. Yet +the discipline was better for her even than for the younger girls as she +guided their needles and watched them take the right stitches, and +helped the careless Maggie pull out the threads where she had drawn them +too tight, puckering the linen web, and, alas! too often soiling it +hopelessly. + +It was good discipline for Brenda, because strangely enough she found +herself more inclined to blame than to praise, and she could not help +noticing how much defter and neater than all the others were the fingers +of Concetta. Indeed, the latter did not really need the instruction. She +had already, like many little Italian girls, served an apprenticeship in +embroidery under her aunt. She did not intend to deceive any one in +joining Brenda's class, but she could not bear the idea that she, among +all the girls, should be deprived of the chance to be near the charming +young lady, as she called Brenda, simply because she knew more than the +others; so she too puckered her thread, and made occasional mistakes in +fear lest perfection on her part should lead to her being excluded from +the class. + +Amy called herself a detached member of the Mansion staff. She could not +give much time to assisting Miss South and Julia without neglecting her +college work. But there were certain things that she could do in her +leisure, and occasional spare hours she gave with great good-will to a +class in literature. Amy was still devoted to her early love, "The Faery +Queen," and once in a while, like Mr. Wegg, of fragrant memory, she +dropped into poetry herself. She was winning her laurels in college, +however, for more serious work than poetry--more serious, that is, in +the eyes of the world; and already she was famous among her classmates +for her literary ability. + +Indirectly she had been the means of Haleema's going to the Mansion. It +had happened in this way: during her first year in college she had gone +once a week to play accompaniments at a College Settlement. In the +chorus, for which she played, Haleema had been one of the most +vociferous singers, and although Amy had not been able to see her much +outside of the class, she had become much interested in the little girl, +and had received one or two letters from her during the summer. What +Haleema herself wrote, and what the head worker at the Settlement told +her about Haleema's home life, convinced her that the little Syrian was +exactly the kind of candidate desired for the Mansion school, and she +was really pleased with her judgment when, after the first week or two, +she heard Miss South and Julia praising the quickness and docility of +her protégée. Haleema, however, was not a young person capable of great +personal devotion, a fact that her pleading, poetic eyes seemed to +contradict. As she sometimes confided to the other girls, she liked one +person as well as another, and if she had gone a little further in her +confidences, she might have said that the person in the ascendant was +usually the one who at the time was doing some special favor for her. +She appreciated presents, and had a hoard of pretty things stowed away +in the bottom drawer of her bureau. + +On Mondays Brenda often found herself going to the Mansion, chiefly +because this was her only chance of seeing Amy. Monday, the Wellesley +holiday, Amy gave in part to a Mansion class in literature, and when her +little informal talk was at an end Brenda would seize her for a +half-hour of "gossip," as she called it. Sometimes she arrived at the +house before the class was over, and then, if she slipped into the +class-room, Amy had not the heart to send her out. Amy protested that +her work was by no means up to the standard that Brenda should look for +in a teacher, while Brenda insisted that Amy's account of certain great +poets and their work was so stimulating, that she should take up a +course of reading herself; and, indeed, she did induce Amy to make out a +list of books that she ought to read. + +"I should rather they were interesting, but even if they are not really +exciting, I'll promise to read at least three or four of them." + +"To please me?" queried Amy. + +"Well, partly to please you, but more to--to--well, to give me something +to think about. Everything seems so dull and stupid this winter, that +I'm going to try a homoeopathic remedy and try to read dull +books--just to see if I can't strengthen my mind." + +Then Amy, noticing that Brenda seemed far from happy, wisely asked no +questions, and as they walked across the Common to the station they +talked of everything except the subject that lay nearest Brenda's heart. + +"How is Fritz Tomkins?" Brenda asked, almost abruptly, referring to an +old playmate of Amy's, now a Harvard Sophomore. + +"Oh, Fritz is doing splendidly. I hardly ever see him, and I'm so +pleased." + +"What a funny way of putting it--pleased because you seldom see him." + +"Why, yes, because I know that means that he is so busy with his work +that he has no time for other things. He has come to Wellesley only once +this winter, and he tells me that he never worked so hard in his life." + +If Amy's speech was a little disjointed, Brenda understood her, and in +contrast her mind wandered to Arthur Weston. He, too, was busy, and +perhaps doing his duty by remaining at his post in Washington. But +unlike Amy, she did not feel pleased that he could so contentedly keep +his back turned to his Boston friends. Consequently she sent only the +briefest answers to his letters, and his replies became at last, if +possible, briefer than hers. + +Belle, however, kept her informed of Arthur's doings, and Brenda was +never quite sure whether the information that she gave her was intended +to please or to trouble her. She wrote, for example, of a riding party +to Chevy Chase, where Arthur and Annabel Harmon had led all the others +in gayety. + +"Annabel Harmon!" The name was familiar; and soon Brenda recalled one of +Julia's classmates at Radcliffe, a popular girl, and yet one whom some +of the best girls did not like. She had had some trouble with that +strange Clarissa Herter. Although Brenda had never cared so very much +for Clarissa Herter, she was pleased now to recall that she had heard +that Clarissa had in the end been more popular, or rather better liked, +than Annabel. She remembered that Annabel's father was a politician, and +when a second letter came with Annabel's name still connected closely +with Arthur's, Brenda thought more deeply on the subject. She wondered +if, perhaps, Arthur was planning to stay permanently in Washington, and +if he hoped to get some position through the influence of Mr. Harmon. + +Had Arthur been at home, Brenda would, undoubtedly, have given less time +to the Mansion work; for in the first place, in starting the work Miss +South had not counted on her aid. Other girls, more enthusiastic in the +beginning, had given less service in the end, and Brenda was almost the +only one who, without having promised much, was willing to do a great +deal. + +On the whole, Miss South was well pleased with the interest shown by her +former pupils. There was Anstiss Rowe, for example, one of the most +valued of the residents, who, after a year in society, had pronounced it +all a bore. She had been one of the younger girls during Julia's days at +Miss Crawdon's. + +"You never knew," she said once to Julia, "my intense admiration for +you. It would have spoiled it all had you known. But each of us little +girls had to have some object of devotion, and you were my pattern of +perfection." + +"The idea!" responded Julia. "I suppose that I ought to blush, but what +you say is too absurd." + +"Oh, I suppose that you never wondered who used to send you those +valentines; probably you had so many that you never thought about mine. +But there was one with some lovely mother-of-pearl ornaments. In fact, I +sent you two valentines that year, and two the next; but, of course, you +wouldn't remember mine especially." + +"It's all very touching, and, indeed, I do remember them, my dear +Anstiss, for I have an idea that I received no other that year. At +least, I have them safely put away at this very minute." + +"Well, I suppose that you thought some extraordinary youth sent them." + +"He would, indeed, have been extraordinary. But to tell you the truth, I +suspected that some girl had a hand in them." + +"We missed you when you went to College," said Anstiss meditatively. + +Though Anstiss had pronounced society hollow and a bore, she had not +entirely forsworn it, and at times she went home for a week or two, +returning, however, always on the evening of her history reading. This +was her special contribution to the school work. + +Anstiss had her own protégée at the Mansion--a girl who had been in her +Sunday-school class. Phoebe had been loath to leave school when her +parents insisted, and Anstiss said it was merely avariciousness on their +part, as her father was earning good pay. "When I came to investigate," +she said, "I found that he was only her stepfather, and her mother said +that she did not need her money. So in the end I was able to get her +consent to her coming here. Phoebe was never very bright at school--" + +Then Julia interrupted her. + +"But she's doing splendidly here. Miss Dreen says that she's a born +cook, and never makes a mistake." + +"Yes, I know. And when she has finished her course I'm going to see what +can be done to encourage her to study still further. She says she'd like +to be a cook, but it seems to me that if she continues to be interested +in her study, she might be a director of cooking somewhere." + +"She'd earn as much by being a cook in some household." + +"Yes, but after all she has hardly the physique, and certain qualities +of hers lead me to think that she would be a good manager. We are going +to have an exhibition soon, and although we do not expect the greatest +results this first year, still I am sure that you will admit that the +girls have learned something, and Phoebe shall exhibit one of her +model luncheons. She has already served us some very good meals at a +fabulously low cost. That is one of the things she is learning, to make +the best use of inexpensive material." + +It was Edith who had been listening attentively to all that Anstiss had +said, and her reply, "I believe that I would rather see than eat those +very, very inexpensive things," was given seriously. Edith was always +glad to help the work at the Mansion when some matter of additional +expense was brought to her, and she made conscientious visits to +Gretchen, and in turn reported her progress to the old gardener. But +there was a certain coldness in her manner that the young girls felt. +They thought that she was not really interested in them, and her visits +were never greeted with the delight that was so evident when Nora made +her appearance. Edith was decided in her likes and dislikes. She could +always be depended on to stand by a friend, and as certainly was she apt +to be severe toward a wrongdoer. Though devoted to Julia and Miss South, +she was less fond of Pamela and Anstiss. + +"An artist's model! how Ralph would love to paint her!" Brenda had +exclaimed to Miss South after first seeing Concetta. "How I wish that I +had discovered her instead of Maggie." + +"She may have more personal charm," Miss South had responded, "but +Maggie is devoted to you, and some persons call her rather pretty, +although," a little apologetically, "we all understand here at the +Mansion that 'handsome is what handsome does' should be our chief rule +of conduct. I never permit the girls to make one word of comment about +the personal appearance of another." + +"Oh, naturally," responded Brenda, accepting the implied reproof; "but +the comparisons that I make will not come to the ears of the girls." + +"No, not the comparisons, perhaps; but we try ourselves not to let them +think that any girl is preferred by any one who comes here. All girls of +fifteen are sensitive." + +Yet Maggie, in spite of the fact that Concetta tried to make her +jealous, was unwilling to believe that Brenda had a preference for +Concetta. + +"Miss Brenda asked Miss South to send me up to her house to get that +parcel of embroidery patterns; she could have sent it down by her man +just as well," concluded Concetta, with an important air; "or she could +have asked you to come." + +Then, when Maggie made no reply, except perhaps that she polished her +glasses a little more vigorously, Concetta added: + +"But I'm sure she just loves to have me come to her house. You see she +always invites me to go up to her room, and she asks me all kinds of +questions." + +Then, as Maggie still continued provokingly silent, Concetta continued: + +"You see, my country is a very interesting country, and I tell her all +kinds of things that I have heard, especially about the beautiful +cathedrals. She thinks I remember them all, but it is what I have heard +the elders say, and she listens quite open-eyed, that, so young, I can +remember so much. Don't you hate that you were born only in Boston." + +"No, I don't," said Maggie gruffly; "I despise foreigners." + +Then did Concetta become wisely silent, for she heard the step in the +hall of one in authority, and she did not wish at the moment to bring +Maggie to the point of tears. Maggie wept with unusual ease, and just +now Concetta was not anxious to draw on herself a reproof, lest it +should be followed by a withdrawal of the permission to go to Miss +Barlow's. + +It was true that Maggie had never swerved in her devotion, showing it +often in unexpected ways. Whenever Brenda entered the room she followed +her with her eyes, and when her goddess addressed her she always blushed +deeply. Mrs. McSorley was constantly putting poor Maggie through a +course of questioning, that the former might be made sure that little +girl had done nothing likely to drive her out of this paradise. + + + + +XI + +SEEDS OF JEALOUSY + + +Fortunately for many of the girls at the Mansion, they did not live +under a very rigorous system of rewards and punishments. Every one was +expected to report once a week what property she had injured, and this +usually meant what dishes she had broken. She was also expected to tell +what other things she had done that were not for the good of the school. +One or two girls really liked to have a long list of misdemeanors. They +seemed to think that it gave them an air of distinction, and Concetta +was especially delighted to read from a written list: + + "Bed not made until ten o'clock Monday. + Bureau drawers untidy for three days. + Forgot to put salt in the bread. + Let the kitchen fire go out. + Spilled ink on my best apron. + Broke one of our blue cups," etc. + +Most of the girls were contented with one or two faults, and some were +inclined to forget that they had any, until reminded by nudges from some +of their neighbors. These "confession meetings" were held once a week, +between four and five o'clock. A girl would have had to show herself +unusually bad to be excluded from the pleasant hour that followed when +Miss Julia played for them to sing, and then around the open fire gave +them good advice for half an hour,--good advice that they never imagined +to be anything but a bit of pleasant conversation, although they all +said that they went away feeling as if they could be good forever. + +It is true that the girls whose conduct was especially approved by +Julia, regardless in many cases of their reports, were permitted to +borrow some book from her bookcase that they especially wished to read. +At first she had been surprised to find that few of these girls had any +idea about choosing books. + +Haleema didn't care to read; she liked to do other things better. +Concetta loved to read, but had actually never read anything but +stories; indeed, she was surprised to hear that people ever read +anything else. + +Little did Brenda realize that she was sowing the seeds of jealousy. She +felt much pride in Maggie as having been her own discovery. She thought, +with some complacence, that but for her Maggie might still have been +condemned to the tiresome round of a cash-girl's duties. She did several +little kind things of which Maggie herself was unaware, that enabled +Julia and Miss South to enlarge the work of the school in directions +that were especially helpful to Maggie. + +But with the best intentions in the world, Brenda could not help showing +her preference for the pretty Concetta, whose dark eyes seemed mirrors +of truth, and whose manners were always so charmingly deferential. Had +she known that she was giving pain to Maggie by showing her preference +in this way she would herself have been always ready enough to admit +that this was not wise. But Maggie, although her tears flowed so easily, +had the ability to keep her thought to herself. + +Mrs. McSorley herself, with her Scotch canniness, had an exalted opinion +of Brenda, and on Maggie's weekly visits home impressed on her the great +advantages that she might expect from having the interest of a Back Bay +young lady. "And if she likes any other girl better than you, it will be +all your fault, and I'll take it a sign that you ain't doing your very +best." + +So Maggie had never said a word to her aunt about Miss Barlow's growing +preference for Concetta. To have spoken of this would only have drawn a +reproof upon herself. It was hard enough to confess her real faults, to +tell over the list of things she had broken during the week. She had +promised on first entering the Mansion to do this, and thus far she had +kept her promise. + +Now Maggie had her own little bit of a secret, and sometimes she drew +from her pocket a crumpled half-sheet of paper, and wept when she saw at +the bottom: + +"From your loving Tim." + +What would her aunt say, what would Miss Brenda say, if they knew that +at intervals she received these misspelled letters from a jail-bird. +Yes! "a jail-bird," that was what her aunt had called him, and though it +was true that he had only been in the reformatory, and that his +offence, as he had explained it, was due more to the fault of another +man. Still he had been imprisoned, and Maggie was forbidden ever to +speak to him again. + +Yet he was her uncle more than Mrs. McSorley was her aunt. The latter +was only an aunt-in-law, while Tim was her own uncle, and in spite of +his faults she loved him. Of course he was a ne'er-do-well, but his +smile was so jolly in contrast with the long-drawn, severe expression of +Mrs. McSorley. The latter said that it was very easy for him to be +jolly, when he never had the least care in the world for himself or for +any one else. But Maggie remembered many kind things that he had done. +"Since for him I'd never have been to the circus, and it was a whole day +we spent at Nantasket, and he gave me that plush box of pink +note-paper;" and Maggie would wipe away one of her ready tears as she +thought of Tim, and she gazed at the tintype that she kept with a few +other treasures in the plush-covered box. + +Many a time she pondered what she should do if he should ever come to +Boston, for he was now in Connecticut looking, as he said, for work. +"And it won't be so very long," he wrote, "before I'll have me own +house, and you for housekeeper; so learn all you can, for it won't be +long." + +For Maggie had written him once or twice since coming to the Mansion, +and her letters had been more cheerful than those that had found their +way to him when she was living with her aunt. + +So Maggie had her day dreams; and the real secret of her patience, and +her anxiety to learn everything relating to the work of the house, came +from this hope, that she was to have the chance of showing her uncle +what a good housekeeper she could be. Now Maggie should have realized +that her aunt had done much more for her than her uncle; that Mrs. +McSorley had shown her kindness in comparison with which Tim's +occasional bursts of liberality were very small indeed. Where would she +and her mother have been but for Mrs. McSorley? And Mrs. McSorley was +only a sister-in-law, whereas Tim was her mother's own brother. Yet the +kindness of Mrs. McSorley had been so overladen with good advice and +reprimands, that it did not stand out as kindness pure and simple. +Maggie was as sure that Mrs. McSorley did not love her as she was +positive that Tim did love her. + +Among the girls at the home she found little Haleema almost the most +sympathetic. At least Concetta disliked them both, and this was their +first bond of sympathy. The girls were apt to be sent in pairs on +errands, and occasionally on pleasure walks, and it had come to be the +habit for Maggie and Haleema to go together. They had gone together in +company with Julia to present their scrap-books and dolls to the +Children's Hospital, and there it was that they had fallen in love with +the prettiest little blue-eyed girl, who had been sent to the hospital +with a broken leg. She was then almost well, and when Miss South saw how +deeply interested the two were in her she allowed them to go each week +on visiting day. Later, when little Jennie went home, the two continued +to visit her; sometimes they even brought her to the Mansion to visit. +There she soon became a great favorite, and poor Maggie saw that Jennie +no longer owed everything to her and Haleema. Concetta won the child's +heart by dressing her a beautiful doll, and all the others vied with one +another in doing things for her. + +It was especially hard for her when, in answer to a request from +Concetta, Brenda herself sent a box of useful and pretty things for +Jennie's use. + +"It might just as well have gone through me," thought poor Maggie; +though, on further reflection, she had to admit that Concetta deserved +these things, because she had been bright enough and quick enough to +think of asking for them. + +A few days later, when she went to see Jennie she took with her a +beautiful bouquet, purchased with money taken from the little hoard that +she had so carefully saved. This was a real sacrifice on Maggie's part, +and when she saw the joy with which the little girl received her gift +she was more than repaid. + +Moreover, in the hour that she spent with the little girl she was sure +that Jennie cared for her as much as ever. Indeed, had she been able to +reason more deeply, she would have discovered that a child discriminates +very slightly as to the value of different gifts. Jennie, like other +children, loved Maggie quite as well as she loved Concetta, and though +she enjoyed the presents that each one brought her, she had no scale of +values by which to measure them. + + + + +XII + +DOUBTS AND DUTIES + + + "But of course you haven't given up your music. If I thought that + you had, I should march straight East, and find the reason why. If + it's on account of that Mansion school, you'd have to leave it + instantly; so when you write tell me what you've been composing, + and whom you are studying with this year. As for me, I really am + rather idle, and I'm learning that a college education isn't really + wasted, even if one practises only the domestic virtues. My mother + has been far from well this year, and she's luxuriating in having + me here to run things. Running things, you know, is rather in my + line. But ah! how I wish that I could see you and Pamela and Lois + again, and all the others of our class who are enjoying themselves + fairly near the classic shades. I suppose that you go out to + Radcliffe at least once a week, and do you feel as blue as I do to + think it's all over? But don't forget to tell me about your music. + + "Ever your + + "CLARISSA." + +As Julia folded up this letter from her old classmate her face grew +thoughtful. She certainly was not even studying this year, nor had she +composed a note. It was kind in Clarissa to remember her little talent. +Even Lois had spoken to her recently about hiding her light under a +bushel. Was she doing this? Might her little candle, properly tended, +shine out large enough to be seen in the world? Her uncle and aunt had +remonstrated with her for neglecting her music, and Julia had promised +to resume her work later. But thus far the exact time had not come, and +she hesitated to tell them that she doubted that she had the talent that +they attributed to her. This feeling of discouragement had come to her +in the last year at Radcliffe, when she began to see that her ability as +a composer had its limits. Now, with Clarissa's letter before her, she +wondered if she had been right in letting one or two slight set-backs +discourage her. She had continued her practising, and her rendering of +the great composers was a continual uplifting to those who heard her. +But the other,--her work in harmony,--was she right or wrong in laying +it aside for the present? Was this the talent that she should be called +to account for? Ought she to keep it concealed in a napkin? As she +thought of this, Julia longed more than ever for Ruth--Ruth, with whom +she had found it easier to discuss these personal questions than with +any other of her friends. But Ruth, on her wedding trip, was thousands +of miles away. It would be six months, at least, before they could meet, +and she glanced at the map on which she marked a record of Ruth's +wanderings, and noted that now she was in the neighborhood of Calcutta. +"The other side of the world," she thought. "Ah! well, I will let things +go on as they have been going, and next year, perhaps, I shall see more +clearly what I ought to do." + +Pamela was perhaps carrying out her ideals more thoroughly than Julia, +for all her teaching was along the artistic lines that she loved the +best. She was not always sure that the girls got just what she intended +them to get from her little talks on the nature of beauty, and the +relations of beauty to utility. She used the simplest language, however, +and made her illustrations of a kind that they could easily comprehend. +She had tried to show them the meaning of "Have nothing in your house +that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful," and in +expounding this she saw that she must try to train them to understand +the truly beautiful. For her own room she had had some mottoes done in +pen and ink artistically lettered, and one at a time she would set them +in a conspicuous place, sure to attract the attention of the girls at +their lessons. + +Ruskin's "Every right action and true thought sets the seal of its +beauty on person and face; every wrong action and foul thought, its seal +of distortion," put up in plain sight, though at first it was not +thoroughly understood, served as the text for a little talk, and each +girl for the time being decided to curb her tongue, lest her face should +show the effect of backbiting. + +Samples of dress fabrics, samples of wall papers, gaudy chromos +contrasted with simple photographs, queer and over-decorated vases in +comparison with graceful Greek shapes, were all used by Pamela to +enforce her lessons. Yet she often had misgivings that her words were +not accepted as actual gospel by Nellie and Haleema and one or two +others, whose preference for crude colors and fantastic decorations +often came unexpectedly to the surface. + +Nora laughed at her efforts to develop an æsthetic sense in these girls. + +"They'll never have the chance to own the really beautiful things, and +they might as well think that these cheap and gaudy objects are +beautiful." + +But Pamela shook her head at this. + +"Why, Nora, you surprise me! What I am trying to teach is the fact that +beautiful things are often as cheap as ugly things. Of course, in one +sense, they are always cheaper, because they give more pleasure and +often last longer. But when a girl's taste is cultivated she can often +find more attractive things for less money. Who wouldn't rather have a +wicker chair than one of those hideous red and green plush upholstered +affairs, and the wicker chair certainly costs less." + +"You are absolutely correct, Pamela Northcote, and your sentiments do +not savor of anarchism, though I hear that Mrs. Blair is greatly +perturbed lest this work at the Mansion should interfere with the labor +market, and prevent the householder of the future from getting her +rightful quota of domestics." + +"It would not surprise me," said Pamela, "if not more than two of the +girls here actually became domestics. I think that Julia and Miss South +are right in encouraging them to live up to their highest aspirations." + +"Well, I doubt if any of them have begun to aspire very strongly yet. On +the whole they are remarkably short-sighted, and when I ask them what +they intend to be they are usually so taken by surprise that they can +make no reply." + +"Miss South feels that she can judge them only very superficially this +year; but she hopes that next year she will know them so well that she +can give them definite advice. In the mean time they are at the mercy of +laymen like yourself and myself, and we have the responsibility of +guiding them toward the heights of art, whether in the æsthetic or the +culinary line." + +Theoretically Pamela took some of the girls each Saturday to the Art +Museum; really the average was hardly oftener than every other week. +There were rainy Saturdays, there were days when Pamela had special work +of her own, or an occasional invitation would come for her to go out of +town. Three girls at a time were invited to go. Julia would not permit +Pamela to leave the house with more than that number, lest she should be +mistaken for the head of an orphan asylum. + +Pamela made these trips so interesting that for a girl to be forbidden +to go when her day came was the greatest punishment that could be +inflicted on her. Julia and Miss South had discovered this, and the +discovery had solved one of their greatest problems,--this question of +punishment; for although the girls were old enough to be beyond the need +of punishment, yet there were certain rules that only the very best +never broke, and to the breaking of which certain penalties were +attached. + +Thus it happened that on this particular Saturday afternoon Haleema, +whose turn it was to go, was not of the trio, and in her place was +Maggie, triumphant in the knowledge that for a whole week she had not +broken a single cup or saucer, nor in fact a dish of any kind. + +"That means that I have my whole quarter to do as I like with," she said +as they left the house. + +"That means," interpolated Concetta, "that you'll put it in your little +bank. She's a regular miser, Miss Northcote." + +"No, I ain't," responded Maggie, "only just now I'm saving." + +"That's right," said Pamela. "'Many a little make a mickle.'" + +"Yes, 'm," and Maggie lapsed into her wonted silence. + +Concetta, however, was inclined to be more talkative. + +"Oh, she isn't simply saving, she's mean. Why, she got Nellie to buy her +blue necktie last week; sold it for ten cents. Just think of that!" + +"Well, well, that is no affair of ours." + +"She sold a lovely story-book that her aunt gave her Christmas. She said +it was too young for her, and she'd rather have the money." + +"That may be, Concetta; but still I say that this is none of our +business." + +Yet although she thus reproved Concetta for her comments, Pamela +wondered why Maggie wished to save. Economy was not a characteristic of +girls of her age; though, recalling her own past need of money, Pamela +felt that thrift was not a thing to be discouraged. + +"Oh, please let us go to the paintings first," begged Concetta. + +"No! no! to the jewelry," cried Gretchen; while Maggie, knowing as well +as the others that they would first go where Miss Northcote chose, +wisely said nothing, expressed no preference. + +On their first visit they had walked through all the galleries to get +the necessary bird's-eye view, and a second visit had been given almost +wholly to the old Greek room. But all the casts and reliefs were as +nothing in Concetta's eyes compared with the richness of color in +Corot's "Dante and Virgil in the Forest," and the wonderful realism of +La Rolle's two peasant women. + +"I don't know whether they're Italians," said Concetta of the latter, +"but there's something about them that makes me think of Italy;" for +Concetta had vague remembrances of her native land and of the +picturesque costumes of the Italian women. Although she was proud enough +to consider herself an American citizen, she still was pleased when +people called her a true daughter of Italy, and she loved everything +that reminded her of her old home. + +Of all the things that she had seen, Gretchen declared that she would +much prefer the great crystal ball to which a fabulous value was +attached, although there were some exquisite gold necklaces that had an +especial charm for her. + +Now on this special day Pamela meant to combine instruction with +pleasure, and so the quartette quickly found themselves in the Egyptian +room. + +"You don't think that beautiful, do you, Miss Northcote?" and there was +more than a little doubt in Concetta's tone as she pointed to a granite +bust of a ruler in one of the earliest dynasties. + +"I like it better than the mummies," interposed Gretchen, before Pamela +could reply; "they give me the shivers." + +"I wish you'd take us into the mummy room," continued Concetta +seductively; "there are some lovely blue beads there." + +But Pamela was sternly steadfast to her purpose, reminding them that +there would be other opportunities for them to wander about +indefinitely, whereas now she wished them to get a little idea of +history through these reliefs and statues. But I am afraid that of the +three Maggie alone really listened very attentively to her explanation +of the difference between the Egyptians and the Assyrians, which their +works of art brought out so well. + +But neither Thotmes, nor Assur-bani-pal, nor Nimrod, nor Rameses were +names to conjure with, and in spite of her efforts to make her subject +interesting, by connecting things she told them with Bible incidents, +Pamela could not always hold their attention. To give up too easily +would have seemed ignominious, and she decided to allow them a diversion +in the shape of a visit to her favorite Tanagra figurines. + +"That will be good," said Gretchen, in her rather quaint English, as +they turned their backs on the grim relics of Egypt; "and we'll try to +remember every word you've told us to-day." + +"Then what _do_ you remember?" said Pamela with a suspicion of mischief +in her voice. + +The three looked uncomfortable. On their faces was the same expression +that Pamela often saw on the faces of her pupils in school when unable +to answer her questions. + +"The names were rather hard," ventured Concetta. + +"Yes, but you must remember one fact,--at least one among all the things +that I have been telling you." + +"I remember one," ventured Maggie. + +"Well, then, we shall be glad to hear it." + +"Why the Assyrians used to make their enemies look smaller than they +when they made reliefs of battles," ventured Maggie. + +"And the Egyptians were very fond of cats," added Gretchen; and with all +her efforts this was all the information Pamela gleaned from the girls +after her hour's work. + +But before she had a chance to try a new and better way of presenting +the Tanagra figures to them, she heard her name pronounced in a +well-known voice, and looking up she saw Philip Blair gazing at her +charges, and at her too, with an air of amusement. + +"This is a surprise. I did not realize that you were a lover of art," +she said a little awkwardly. + +"Oh, yes, indeed, though I can't tell you when I've been in this museum +before. It looks just about the same, though, as it did when I was a +kid." + +"There are some new paintings upstairs," said Pamela; "though it's +almost closing time now," she added, glancing at her watch. + +When they saw that Pamela was fairly absorbed in conversation, the three +girls wandered off toward another room where, Concetta whispered, there +were prettier things to be seen. + +"Do you bring them here often?" There was something quizzical in +Philip's tone as he watched the three for a moment. + +"Some of them every week; it's a great pleasure." Pamela was bound not +to apologize. + +"Do you think they'll get an idea of household art by coming here?" + +"I'm sure I hope so, though that isn't my whole aim. It will take more +than these visits here to get them to change their views of the really +beautiful. Concetta is always telling me about some of the beauties in +the house of her cousin, who married a saloon-keeper. They have green +and red brocade furniture in their sitting-room, and a piano that is +decorated with a kind of stucco-work, as well as I can understand her +description, for it can hardly be hand-carving." + +Emboldened by Philip's hearty laugh Pamela continued: + +"She also thinks our pictures far too simple, 'too neat and plain,' I +think she called them. Certainly she told me that she likes chromos in +gilt frames." + +"It is clearly, then, your duty to raise her ideals, though when it +comes to a whole houseful of new ideas, you will certainly have all that +you can do." + +But from this lighter talk Philip and Pamela turned to more serious +things, and as they walked through the long galleries, unconsciously +they were showing themselves in a new aspect to each other. Philip, at +least, who had had so many trips abroad, had profited more than many +young men by his opportunities; and as they walked, Pamela, for almost +the first time in her life, felt a little envious as he talked of this +great painting and then of that,--of paintings that she had longed to +see,--speaking of them as casually as she would speak of the flower-beds +on the Public Garden. Ah! was she never to have this chance of crossing +the ocean? It was but a passing shadow; for a swift calculation of her +probable savings showed that, though the time might be long, there was +still every probability that some time she could take herself to Europe. +But meanwhile-- + +"Ah! you should see a real Titian, or a Velasquez like the one the +National Gallery bought a few years ago; I saw it the last time I was +over. Oh! I should love to show you some of my favorites in the Dresden +Gallery." + +"Yes, yes!" Pamela spoke absent-mindedly. She had suddenly remembered +the existence of her charges. + +"I wonder," she began, when her speech was cut short by Gretchen, who +ran rapidly up to her from the broad hall outside, a look of alarm on +her face as she grasped Pamela's arm. + +"It's--it's Maggie!" she exclaimed excitedly. + +"What is it? Has anything happened? Is she hurt?" + +"I can't say as she's exactly hurt," responded Gretchen, "though she +gave an awful scream; but you'd better come." + +[Illustration: They walked through the long galleries] + +With Gretchen leaning on her arm, or rather dragging her on, Pamela +hastened to the large room with its tapestries and cases of +embroideries. + +"No, no, not here; this little room," and Pamela soon saw Concetta and +Maggie. The latter was weeping bitterly, the former stood near looking +rather sulky. One of the custodians, with severity in every line of his +face and figure, was talking to them "for all he was worth," as Gretchen +phrased it. + +In a glance Pamela saw what had happened. There was a hole in the top of +the glass case, and the man held in his hand a large glass marble. +Pamela remembered that Maggie had been tossing it up and down on her way +across the Common. + +"I didn't do it." Maggie was crying. + +"Nonsense, Maggie! I saw you playing with it myself." + +"But not now--not now." + +Pamela glanced suspiciously at Concetta, but the little Italian was +already at the other side of the room, pretending a great interest in a +case of ivories. For the moment Pamela was overcome. Her old shyness had +returned. Several bystanders were gazing at the strange group, and +Pamela was at a loss what to say. Clearly it was her duty to offer to +make restitution, but she could not speak; she did not know what to say; +and when Gretchen, too impressed, doubtless, by the brass buttons on the +coat of the official, said anxiously, "If he's a p'liceman, will he put +us all in jail?" the climax had been reached, and Pamela herself felt +ready to cry. + +In a moment she saw Philip pass her; he had been not far behind all the +time, and the few words that he spoke in a low voice made the grim +features of the official relax. + +"Oh, certainly, sir, certainly," he said, as Philip gave him his card. +"I'll go with you to the office." + +Philip paused only a moment to say to Pamela, "There, I leave you to +your charges; let me know if they break anything more on the way home." +Then, as if this was an afterthought, "By the way, it's all right about +that glass; my father's a trustee, you know; I'm going to fix it in the +office downstairs." + +When Pamela told her of the incident, Julia only laughed. "I dare say it +cost Philip a pretty penny; that kind of glass is very expensive." + +"Oh, I feel so ashamed," said Pamela. "It was really my fault. I should +not have let them leave me. I must repay the cost of the glass." + +"Nonsense! Philip might as well spend his money for that as for other +things. He never has been considered especially economical. Besides, it +was at least partly his fault that you left the girls, or let them leave +you;" and this was a fact that Pamela could not deny. + + + + +XIII + +THE VALENTINE PARTY + + +When the "Leaguers" announced that they intended to have a valentine +party, Julia and Miss South gave their assent with hesitation. + +"It has a sentimental sound," said Julia,--"a valentine party! and I do +wonder whom they wish to invite." + +But when they were questioned the girls explained that they did not +intend to ask a single person from outside, and, of course, not a single +boy. The valentines that they most enjoyed sending were to other girls, +and they wanted only girls at their valentine party. + +These, at least, were the words of Concetta, their spokesman, and if any +of the others dissented, they did not express their disagreement. + +"But we expect you, Miss South, and Miss Bourne and Miss Barlow, and all +the ladies who have been so very kind to us. Miss Northcote is in the +secret, but every one else is going to be very much surprised." + +"We'll try not to be curious, and I suppose that you wouldn't let us +bribe Angelina to tell us." + +"Oh, no'm; no, indeed. Miss Angelina," and Gretchen turned to Angelina, +who was standing near, "if you tell we'll never--never--" + +"Oh, I'm not afraid." + +"We'll never call you Miss Angelina again--just plain Angelina." + +"I wouldn't stand being called 'plain Angelina,'" said Miss South, +patting Angelina's shoulder as she passed by. + +Now for a week or two there was much secrecy, much whispering, many +hours spent in the gymnasium at times when the rules about exercising +did not require the girls to be there. Snippings of bright-colored paper +were found in the hall, and not only bits of paper but of colored +cambric; and Julia, and Nora when she came to the cooking-class, and all +the other older persons interested in the Mansion, professed to be +entirely mystified by what was going on. + +But at last the eventful fourteenth of February arrived, and all the +guests had assembled in the dining-room. The little stage had been set +up, and the audience awaited the performance with great interest. Each +girl, as before, had been permitted to invite two guests, and a number +of boys and men were present,--brothers, cousins, uncles, and an +occasional father, and the women relatives were out in full force. + +Angelina's sister had come in from Shiloh to spend a day or two, and she +was doorkeeper in Angelina's place. As the guests went to their places, +each one was given a heart-shaped card, the edges gilded, to which was +attached by a pink cord a small pencil shaped like an arrow. + +"Evidently we are to keep some kind of a score," said Nora, "but what it +is to be I cannot imagine." + +"Nor I," responded Brenda; "I haven't been taken into the secret, but I +know that it is to be something exciting." + +Brenda had not yet outgrown her love for emphatic words, and "exciting" +once in a while reappeared as a reminder of her childish years. + +They had not waited very long when the door from the little room behind +was opened, and a barefooted maiden with a broad straw hat torn at the +rim, and a blue calico gown looped up over a paler blue petticoat, +appeared. She carried a rake, and "Maud Muller" was breathed around the +room before Angelina, coming from behind the scenes,--that is, from the +other room,--had had time to say, "Ladies and gentlemen, you are asked +to listen to each character, and to make a record of two things: First, +those who look the best, then those who speak the best, that is,--I +mean--" and for the first time almost in the memory of those present +Angelina seemed to have stage fright, and was unable to translate her +sentences into the clearer and more elegant phrases that she had +intended to use. Thereupon she retired in some confusion, and Maud, who +was really Nellie, recited the simple lines of the charming poem: + + "'Maud Muller, on a summer's day, + Raked the meadow sweet with hay, + Under her torn hat glowed the wealth + Of simple beauty and rustic health.'" + +"I doubt that Maud had exactly that brogue," said Nora. "If she had, I +believe that the judge would have been too thoroughly fascinated to ride +away." + +After this came a strange, Spanish-looking figure, who took a kneeling +attitude with bowed head. The solemnity of the effect was somewhat +marred when Concetta--for she it was--turned her head around slightly to +make sure that the audience was fully appreciative of her. Many were the +guesses as to what she portrayed, and indeed it was one of the guests, a +thoughtful girl, who ventured Ximena, "the angel of Buena Vista," and +then every one else wondered why she had not been clever enough to think +of this. + + "'From its smoking hell of battle, love and pity send their prayer, + And still thy white-winged angels hover dimly in our air.'" + +After the women of Marblehead and Barbara Freitchie had made themselves +known, "The Witch's Daughter" was given in series of tableaux, in which +Maggie took the part of Mabel, and Angelina the part of Esek Harden, in +a coat which, if not historically accurate, was at least a suitable kind +of masculine attire for a girl to wear. Next came Haleema as the +Countess, and Luisa as Amy Wentworth, in rather elegant clothes that +surely must have come from one of the chests in the end room; and last, +but not least, Anna and Rhoda, the two sisters in their long white +gowns,--Anna timid and shrinking and Rhoda vehemently denouncing her; +Inez the former and Phoebe the latter,--reciting some of the more +tragic stanzas of the poem. + +"Must we give up these pretty hearts?" asked one after another as Phoebe +began to collect the cards. + +"Oh, you can have them back again if your names are on them, we only +want to count the votes;" and then there was a general murmur, for some +people had forgotten to record their opinions and a little time was +lost. But in the interval Julia played a Chopin waltz that several of +the girls especially liked, and followed this with a few chords of one +of the choruses they had been learning, in which they all joined very +heartily. + +When the score cards were brought back it was found that there was a tie +for the favorite character between Haleema as the Countess, and Maggie +and Angelina as Mabel Martin and Esek. + +Angelina was in a state of excitement when this result was announced, +and was determined that the decision should be immediately in her favor; +while Maggie, disturbed by being so conspicuous, hoped that the prize +might be given to Haleema. + +"It isn't for you to decide," said Phoebe sagely; "they'll find some +way of settling it--the ladies, I mean." + +This, of course, proved to be the case, and when an umpire had been +chosen whose decision all present agreed to respect, he decided that the +first prize should go to the Mabel Martin actors. This was not entirely +to the satisfaction of the followers of the Countess, and Concetta, who +was sometimes on Haleema's side and sometimes against her, now became a +very active partisan, and the two younger girls frowned ominously on +Angelina and Maggie. So far at least as prizes were concerned, Anstiss, +as President of the League, had brought it about that every actor +should have a prize, in each case an attractively bound book, with the +only advantage for the winners of the first prize that they were allowed +to have first choice. But there was a book for each of the others, and +each girl, too, had the pleasure of hearing from her own friends that +she really had made the very best representation of all. It was simply a +case of where all were so good it was almost impossible to choose the +very best. + +Mrs. McSorley was especially proud of Maggie's performance, and her face +almost lost its wonted grimness as she walked about among the girls and +their guests. "I'm thinking that you'll amount to something, after all," +she vouchsafed to her niece; and as this was almost the highest praise +she had ever given, Maggie was more than content. It may be said here +that in Turquoise Street Mrs. McSorley was much more eloquent than she +had been to Maggie's face, and the neighbors for many a day heard the +story of this very brilliant evening at the Mansion, and of the +remarkable manner in which Maggie McSorley had recited and acted the +part of the witch's daughter. + +Another pleasant result of the evening was that Haleema became more +friendly toward Maggie, for she had been impressed by Maggie's +generosity in being willing to resign the first prize to her. + +This, however, did not mean the winning of Concetta, who still seemed to +feel it her duty to refrain from any direct praise or showing any +friendliness for Maggie. But after this an observer would have seen that +she seldom showed any direct unfriendliness, and this was one of the +things that Maggie especially observed. + +The fun of the valentine party was quite forgotten in the excitement +that the girls of the Mansion, like every one else in the country, felt +on that sixteenth of February; for that was the day when news was +brought of the destruction of the "Maine." Angelina was the first to +report it when she broke into the dining-room with a newspaper that she +had bought from a boy at the front door. It had headlines in enormous, +heavy black letters, and Miss South, in spite of her general disapproval +of the headlines, could not resist reading the sheet that Angelina +handed her. + +"It means war, doesn't it?" cried Angelina in a tone that implied that +she hoped that it meant war. But neither Miss South nor the other +residents, nor the great world outside, knew whether peace or war was to +follow the awful disaster. It was useless to forbid the girls reading +the harrowing details. All, indeed, except Maggie and Inez seemed to +take a special delight in perusing them, and in speculating about the +families of the victims and the guilt of the Spaniards; for of course +the Spaniards had done this thing. There were no two opinions on the +subject, so far as the girls were concerned. Gretchen quickly became the +heroine of the day when it was learned that she had a cousin who was a +seaman on the "Maine," and when his name was read in the list of those +who had escaped, her special friends, Concetta and Luisa, seemed to +think that they, too, shared in the distinction, and they offered to do +her share of the housework that she might have time to think it all +over. Angelina was not altogether pleased that this honor had come to +Gretchen. + +"Julia," said Nora, whose day it was at the home, "I believe that she'd +be willing to sacrifice John for the sake of being the sister of a +victim," and in fact Angelina scanned the list of names, in the hope +that she might find one that she might claim as a relative. But +unluckily she could not fix on a single name that she could properly +claim. When she read aloud the President's message to Sigsbee, her voice +trembled with emotion: + + "The President directs me to express for himself and the people of + the United States his profound sympathy for the officers and crew + of the 'Maine,' and desires that no expense be spared in providing + for the survivors, and the care of the dead. + + "JOHN D. LONG, _Secretary._ + + "SIGSBEE, U. S. S. 'Maine.'" + +"But there isn't any 'Maine' now," said Maggie, as Angelina read the +last words, and then was the young girl moved to a word of genuine +eloquence. "There will always be a 'Maine;' it will always live in the +hearts of the American people!" and Julia, who happened to approach the +group just at this moment, said "Bravo! bravo! Angelina, you are a true +patriot." + + + + +XIV + +CONCILIATION + + +One day not so very long after the valentine party, when it was still +rather uncertain whether Maggie and Concetta were to be friends or +enemies, the former had a chance to do Concetta a real favor. It was a +morning when she had been very busy herself, as it was her week for +taking care of the large reading-room, and she had been up very early in +order to finish certain things before breakfast. First of all she had +cleaned mirrors with powdered whiting until they shone; then she had +polished the brasses; and finally, after spreading covers over +everything that might harbor dust, she had swept the long room. + +"Don't you hate sweeping?" asked Haleema, who was to help her dust and +arrange the rooms. + +"Not half as much as dusting. I really do hate that, it is so fussy, +and, do you know," dropping her voice, "I heard Miss Julia the other day +saying that she didn't like dusting either." + +In spite of any dislike that she may have had for the work, Maggie was a +willing worker, and soon she had the long room in perfect order. + +Soon after breakfast, passing through the back hall, they came upon an +array of lamps ranged on a long table. + +"Where's Concetta?" + +"I don't know. She was here a little while ago." + +"Well, I've looked all over the house, and I haven't seen her for an +hour." + +"It's her day to do the lamps. She'll get a scolding if she doesn't fill +them." + +"Who'll scold her? I never heard any one in this house scold." + +"Well, Miss Dreen, for one, is very particular, and she said that she'd +punish the next girl who neglected the lamps." + +"Oh, well," said Maggie, "perhaps she won't be back in time to do +them,--that is, if she has gone off anywhere." + +"She hasn't any right to go off in the morning." + +"I don't mind doing the lamps," said Maggie,--"that is, I'm not so very +fond of doing them, but I'd just as lieves, and it will save Concetta a +scolding. I don't mind a bit." + +So Maggie set to work with a will. She filled the lamps, trimmed one or +two wicks, put in one or two new ones, washed and polished the chimneys, +and when they were finished set them on a large tray to be ready for +evening. + +"Well, that's more than I would do," said Haleema. + +"I wonder how these lamps get used," said Maggie; "except in the library +they mostly use gas--the young ladies, I mean--and, of course, we only +have gas in our room." + +"Why, that's so," said Haleema, "though I never thought of it before." + +But neither of the girls put her mind sufficiently on the subject to see +that the care of the lamps was one of the devices of the two head +workers at the Mansion for getting a certain kind of exact service from +the young girls. The lamps were not needed. Often two of them were set +in a little-used room where they burned just long enough to sear the +wicks and cloud the shades, so that the young housekeepers could show +their skill in cleaning them. Miss South made it her duty usually to +keep in mind the girl whose task for the week it was to attend to the +lamps, and when the results were thoroughly satisfactory she was loud in +her praise, just as she felt it her duty to blame when the reverse was +true. From the lamps the two little girls went to the bathroom. + +"Oh, you oughtn't to dust without lifting down those bottles. Miss Dreen +says that we ought never to leave a corner untouched." + +"But I've dusted in between; it doesn't matter what there is under the +bottles." + +But Haleema was not to be rebuffed. + +"I like bottles," she added. "They almost always have things in them +that smell good," and she reached up on tiptoe toward the shelf. The +first bottle that she reached just came within her grasp, and she pulled +it toward her. When she pulled the stopper, it proved to be a fragrant +toilet water, and even Maggie, admitting that it was delightful, yielded +to the pleasure of inhaling it directly from the bottle. Emboldened by +her success, Haleema drew another bottle down toward her and made a +feint of drinking from it. + +"Oh, don't!" cried Maggie, in genuine alarm, "it may be poison." + +"Oh, they wouldn't leave poisons around like this. I'd just as lief as +not taste anything here. I ain't afraid." + +But although she spoke thus bravely, Haleema really did not venture to +put the liquid to her mouth. Then she touched a third bottle, filled +with a colorless liquid. She tried to pull out the rubber stopper, but +it would not stir. Holding the bottle under one arm, she gave a second, +more vigorous pull, when the stopper not only came out, but in some way +the liquid flew out, and then--a loud scream from Maggie, who was wiping +the edge of the bathtub. Haleema herself, half suffocated by the fumes +of the ammonia from the harmless-looking bottle, had enough presence of +mind to set it up on the marble washstand. But, alas! she set it down so +hard that the glass broke and the ammonia trickled down, destroying the +glossy surface of the hardwood floor. + +All these things, of course, had happened in a very short time; not a +minute, indeed, had passed after Maggie's first shriek before Julia and +Miss South and two or three girls had rushed to the room. + +The ammonia fumes at once told the story to Miss South, and without +waiting for an explanation she had raised Maggie from the floor. + +"Oh, dear, my eyes!" sobbed Maggie, and for a moment Miss South was +frightened. Ammonia can work great havoc when it touches the eyes. +Fortunately, however, as it happened it was not Maggie's eyes but her +face that the ammonia had really hurt. Her eyes were inflamed, and she +had to be kept in a dark room for a day or two, and her face had to be +salved and swathed in cloths. But in the end no great injury had been +done, and she won Haleema's everlasting gratitude by resisting the +temptation to tell enquirers that Haleema's carelessness had caused the +disaster; for great injury had been done the polished floor, and Haleema +knew that she deserved reproof and punishment. Yet such was Maggie's +reputation for destructiveness that she was supposed to have broken the +bottle, and in the injury to her face she was thought to have paid a +sufficient penalty. + +When Concetta returned to the house an hour later, great was her +surprise to find that her lamps had been cleaned, and when Haleema told +her of Maggie's kindness she could not understand it. + +"Perhaps she's trying for a prize." + +"What prize?" + +"Why, don't you know? At the end of the year the very best girl at the +Mansion is to have a prize. I shouldn't wonder if it would be a gold +watch." + +"Oh, I don't believe it." + +"Then you can ask Miss Bourne." + +A few days later Concetta had a chance to put the question to Julia. + +"Yes, indeed, there are to be two prizes: one for the girl who has +tried the hardest, and the other for the one who has succeeded the +best." + +"Which will get them, Miss Bourne?" + +"Ah, how can I tell?" + +"I don't see how any one can tell; no one is watching us all the time." + +"Some one does take account, Inez, of almost everything that you say and +do." + +"Oh, dear, I hate to be spied on," grumbled Concetta. + +"No one is spying, I can assure you; but there are certain things that +we notice carefully, and you have all been here so long that we know +pretty well just what you are likely to do." + +"I expect some one marks everything down in a book, like they used to at +school?" Maggie put this as a question, but Julia did not reply +directly. + +"All the advice I can give you is to do as well as you can, and whether +things are written in a book or not you will fare very well--at least, +you will all fare alike." + +"What will the prizes be, Miss Bourne?" + +"Ah, I cannot tell exactly." + +Thereupon the girls all fell to speculating not only about the prizes, +but about the kind of conduct that would win one. While they were +discussing this, Julia called to them from the floor above, "Have you +forgotten that this is your shopping day?" + +Then there was a scampering, and the girls who were to go with her began +to get ready. Each girl went shopping with one of the staff every three +months, and to-day the group was to consist of Concetta, Inez, Maggie, +and Nellie. It was Julia's turn to take them, and this was not wholly to +the satisfaction of Concetta. + +"I thought Miss Barlow said that she would go with us this time," she +murmured, as they left the house. She knew very well that if Brenda were +their shopping guide they would be able to purchase according to their +own sweet wills. She would be likely to approve everything that they +bought, provided that they had money to pay for it, and it was even +possible that she might supplement their allowance from her ever +generous purse. Thus, indeed, had she done on the one occasion when she +had taken them out, and her liberality had been even magnified by the +lively tongues of those who had described it. + +Shopping was not, of course, intended to occupy a large share of the +attention of these girls; yet to buy clothing properly was thought as +important by the elders who had them in charge, as marketing for the +table, and each girl was given a chance to market under the supervision +of Miss Dreen. They already knew the most nutritious and least expensive +cuts of meat. They could tell what vegetables could be most prudently +bought at each season, and some of them had already begun to show a +decided independence of judgment even in small matters relating to the +table. + +Hardly any of them, however, had the same degree of judgment in matters +of dress. On this account it had been thought wise to give each one a +small allowance, and let her spend it as she wished, with a certain +amount of guidance that she need not feel to be restraint. + +"What they spend for one thing they certainly will not have for another, +and there is probably no other way in which they can better learn what +to do." + +To let them use their own judgment on this particular shopping trip, +Julia made few restrictions. Each had the same amount of money to spend, +and out of it they were to buy spring hats, shoes and stockings, and the +material for two dresses, one of gingham and one of a heavier material. +All that they had left after making these purchases they were to spend +as they wished, and the sum had been so calculated as to leave a fair +margin. There was only one restriction: to save time and energy that +might be consumed in wandering around from one shop to another, Julia +planned that they should do all their purchasing in one of the larger +department stores, and while they were busy she did a few errands of her +own. At intervals she met them at certain counters by agreement, but in +almost every instance she found that they had made their purchase, so +that her advice was usually superfluous. + +"I thought that you were going to get a small sailor hat with a few +flowers at the side," she could not forbear saying to Inez, who showed +her a rather flimsy imitation tuscan, with some gaudy flowers and lace +for trimming. + +"Oh, but you should have seen the perfectly elegant hats they have +upstairs, all tulle and flowers, and as big--" at a loss for an object +of comparison. Concetta concluded, "as big as a bushel basket," after +which Julia could not say that the hat that Inez had chosen was really +of unreasonable size. + +Concetta looked somewhat shamefaced as she announced that she had no +hat. + +"But you had the money for it." + +"Yes, but I bought this, it's for the baby; I'd rather she'd have it," +and Concetta opened a large box in which lay a pretty, pink silk coat. +Closer examination showed that the silk was half cotton and the lace +very tawdry, but Julia hadn't the heart to reprove her. Concetta's love +for her baby cousin was genuine, and the coat undoubtedly represented a +certain sacrifice on her part. + +When they came to the dress materials, Maggie insisted on buying two +cotton dresses instead of the woollen dress, the material for which had +been provided by her money. + +"Maggie's a miser," said Concetta, and Maggie reddened without making +any explanation. + +Some of the materials bought were open to more or less criticism, and +later Julia meant to make certain of these mistakes the subject of a +little talk. They had done very well, she thought, for the present, in +buying practically all the things that she had intended to have them buy +with their money. Each of them, too, had a small surplus, and Inez was +the only one who proposed to use hers up by spending it at once for +candy. A little persuasion turned her aside from this purpose, and Julia +was careful that evening to offer her and the girls some especially fine +confections when they gathered in her room after tea. They all seemed +so receptive then that she thought it a good time to show them just how +their fifteen dollars might have been spent to the best advantage,--a +third for the dress materials, a third for shoes and hat, a third for +stockings and the other smaller things; and comparing what they had done +with her ideal purchases, she was interested to find that Nellie, the +young Irish girl, had really come the nearest to her standard, and +accordingly Nellie's face was wreathed in smiles as she learned that she +was thought to have been the ideal purchaser; for although Maggie had +also done very well, Julia was not wholly satisfied with her having +substituted the cotton for the woollen dress. + +That evening, as it was Saturday, they all played games in the large +gymnasium, where there was space enough for the exciting French +blindman's buff, in which, instead of having one of the players blinded, +she had her hands tied behind her back, and do her best, often she could +not catch the others. + +When they were tired of active sports, hjalma and draughts and other +games were ready for them, and occasionally they had charades or +impromptu tableaux, in which all the powers of their elders were taxed; +for the girls themselves lacked originality, and Miss South or one of +the other older members of the household had to supervise all that they +did. + +In these sports sometimes little unexpected jealousies arose, and Julia, +or Pamela, or Ruth, or Anstiss, as the case might be, had her hands full +trying to keep peace. The least desirable characteristics of the girls +came to the surface at times, and at times, too, their best qualities +were displayed in an equally unexpected way. Phoebe alone of them all +did not care for games. While the others were playing she was apt to +bury herself in a book, and often Julia and Pamela would insist that she +should put this aside to mingle with the others. + + + + +XV + +WAR AT HAND + + +As the weeks went on, Angelina and her little group of special friends +followed closely the newspaper reports of the troubles in Cuba; that is, +Angelina read the despatches and surmises, and told the others how +things were progressing. Except in the case of such definite events as +the destruction of the "Maine," the others were not extremely interested +in what Concetta called "stupid" accounts of distant happenings. +Angelina, however, was all excitement, and her theories were an +interesting supplement to all that the Board of Enquiry didn't find out. +When she read of Mr. Cannon's bill appropriating fifty millions for +defence she was sure that war was near at hand. When Maggie said that +there would be no money left in the country if so much was spent in war, +Angelina made a rapid calculation that this meant less than a dollar for +every person in the whole land, "and it would be a strange thing," she +said, "if we couldn't afford that." + +Even at the meetings of the League the conversation turned to war, and +they hastened through their readings of the Quaker poet to talk about +things that were rather far away from his teachings, except that he was +always on the side of the oppressed, and in the war of his time was +heard with no uncertain voice. + +The stripping of the fleet for war and the movement of the troops that +began early in April were described vividly by Angelina, after she had +read about them. The girls all took more interest when war seemed really +at hand, and Angelina was called upon to explain many things in which +her knowledge hardly equalled her willingness to impart it. + +"The mosquito fleet; oh, what can that be? Is it to bite the Spaniards?" +Inez had asked, and Angelina had replied most scornfully: + +"Of course not; it's a lot of long, thin iron boats that skim over the +water as fast as a mosquito flies--all made of iron, of course, with +long, thin legs that go out from the side like a mosquito's." + +"Legs," exclaimed Haleema dubiously; "on a boat!" and Angelina responded +hastily: + +"Well, not real legs, only kind of paddles, that make them go faster;" +and as no older person heard this original explanation, the girls +continued to have their very special interest in the curious mosquito +fleet. + +When the first shot was fired and the little "Buena Ventura" was +captured on April 22, young and old knew that peace was at an end, and +there was no surprise when the declaration of war came a few days later. + +"I've been looking for it," said Angelina, "ever since the 'Maine' was +destroyed, and I should have been dreadfully disappointed if war hadn't +come. But I was quite certain that there'd be fighting soon when I heard +that an officer had been sent abroad to buy warships; for what in the +world should _we_," with a strong emphasis on the "we," "want of +warships if we hadn't made up our minds to have a war?" + +During all these weeks Brenda had been no less interested than the +younger girls in the question of what should be done for Cuba. +Washington had become the centre of the world for her in the strongest +sense of the word, and evidently for the time it was the centre of +interest for the whole country. + +Arthur's letters to her continued rather brief. He spoke of being +overworked, and Belle in writing rarely failed to say that she had seen +him at this or that social function, and almost as often she mentioned +how popular he was. Brenda at last wrote one or two brief notes to +Arthur, asking him to return for a dinner that she was giving before +Lent; but he took no notice of these missives, at least he did not write +to her until Lent itself was half over, and then he made a simple little +reference to her request with a mere "I was sorry that I could not do +what you wished, but you must have known that I could not before you +wrote." + +Then Brenda came to the point of deciding that she would never write to +him again, and she threw herself into the work at the Mansion with much +more zeal than Julia had ever expected from her. She was far less +cheerful than the Brenda of old. It was not merely because she could not +have her own way, but rather that she felt the shadow of the impending +war cloud hanging over the country. + +Every Thursday she assisted Agnes at the informal studio tea, and this +was really her only amusement, and in the early spring the conversation +around the tea-table hovered between the two subjects,--the prospect of +war and the correct costume for the Festival. + +The Artists' Festival was an institution that the artists of the city +planned and enjoyed with the assistance of their friends. Each year +those who were invited were asked to appear in costumes suited to a +chosen period, the range of which might be several hundred years, but +within the limits of time and place each costume had to be artistically +correct, and meet the approval of the costume committee. This was to be +Brenda's first experience of the Festival, and earlier in the season, +when she and Arthur had talked about it, she had planned a certain style +of fourteenth-century costume, and Arthur was to go as her page. Ralph +had selected the plates, and though the time was then far off, they had +talked very definitely of what they should expect from the Festival. But +now-- + +Brenda decided to make a final test of Arthur. She would remind him of +the approaching Artists' Festival. + +"I shall be mortified to death," she had said to Agnes, "if Arthur does +not return in season for it." + +"Oh, I fear that he cannot, Brenda, from what he writes Ralph; I should +judge that he has work enough to keep him busy all the spring." + +"Well, it would be nothing for him to come here for two or three days +and then return to Washington; he used to be so fond of travelling." + +"You might write," responded Agnes. "Perhaps he may come." + +But in answer to Brenda's brief and rather imperative note Arthur wrote +simply that it was impossible for him to leave Washington now, greatly +as he should have enjoyed the Festival. Then after a page of more +personal matter he added that even if he could go to Boston, he should +feel indisposed to take part in gayeties at a season when the affairs of +the country were so unsettled. + +"Humph!" said Ralph, when Brenda repeated this part of the letter to +him. "They must be nearer war in Washington than we are here, for I can +contemplate an Artists' Festival without feeling that I am deserting my +country in its hour of need." + +As for Brenda herself, when Arthur's letter was closely followed by one +from Belle, in which she described a delightful dinner of the evening +before at Senator Harmon's, she tore Belle's letter as well as Arthur's +into small pieces; for Belle had told her that Arthur was one of the +gayest of the guests at the dinner. + +Yet even those who were pretty certain that war was near felt that there +could be no harm in planning for the Festival. Pamela was naturally +interested, but the medieval period chosen demanded more expensive +materials and a more elaborate costume than she felt disposed to +prepare. Julia was uncertain whether she cared to give the time to it, +and Miss South declared that she herself had not the energy to go. + +"So you, Anstiss, are the only one of us who will ornament the scene," +said Julia; "though I really think that Pamela ought to go, it is so +directly in line with the things that she likes." + +"As to that, it is ridiculous, Julia, that you shouldn't be there. When +you were out at Radcliffe you used to encourage operettas and tableaux +and all such things, but now--" + +"Well, now," responded Julia, "I feel as if I were working for a living +and ought not to waste my time in frivolities." + +"That is where you are very foolish. Soon we shall hear loud protests +from your aunt and uncle; indeed, they will probably come and drag you +away. They would be justified, too, if you continue in your +determination to have your whole life bounded by these walls." + +"Very comfortable walls they are, too, but I hate to wander too far in +search of costumes, and the thousand and one little things that are +necessary to make them complete. It is too much trouble for one +evening's enjoyment." + +"There!" exclaimed Miss South as Julia had finished, "I have an idea; +come with me." + +It was late and the pupils had all gone to bed, and Concetta, hearing +unwonted steps going to the upper story, pushed her door open a little, +and was surprised to see the strange procession winding upwards. + +It took its way to the end room in the attic, and when she had lit the +gas Miss South asked Anstiss to help her lift out a chest from a corner +of the closet. Selecting a small key from her ring and opening the +trunk, she began to unfold one or two garments. + +"Oh, how beautiful! But who could have worn it?" exclaimed Julia, as a +velvet gown trimmed with ermine and with a long train unfolded itself +before them. + +"Ah, but this is lovelier!" she added, as a dove-colored brocade with +pattern outlined in pink was shown, intended evidently to be worn with +the pink satin petticoat that accompanied it. Further delving into the +trunk brought out pointed shoes, elaborate head-dresses, and other +fantastic things. + +"Did your grandmother ever wear these clothes?" asked Anstiss in +surprise. "I should hardly think that they were of the style even of her +day." + +"Oh, these things are intended for costume parties," returned Miss +South. "My grandmother described some of the occasions when she first +wore them abroad. She took the greatest care of them, and every spring +she herself supervised her maid when she shook them and did them up +again in camphor. Strangely enough I have been so busy the past year +that I had forgotten about these particular things. There are two +complete costumes. One of them is entirely in the period of the +Festival, and the other needs so little alteration that you and Pamela, +Julia, will be completely equipped, with almost no thought in the +matter." + +"But why won't you go yourself?" + +"I have quite made up my mind about that; for the present, at least, I +have no desire for gayety." + +It was really amazing that these two costumes should have been found so +perfectly to meet all the requirements of the Festival. Julia, of +course, could have had a costume especially designed for her by a +costumer, but as she had said, in talking it over with Brenda, she was +by no means in the mood for this, and she would have stayed home rather +than waste the time in this way. + +Brenda threw herself into the preparations for the Festival as if she +had no other interest in the world. She was to be a principal figure in +the group that Ralph had arranged. With an artist's sense of beauty, and +an accuracy that no one had ever before suspected, Ralph planned the +costumes, and insisted that they should deviate in no particular from +his design. To effect this proved an unending occupation for Brenda and +Agnes. + +"There's one thing, Ralph, that has come out of this," said his wife one +day after he had given her a lecture on the unsuitability of certain +trimmings that she had selected. "After this I shall never worry about +our future." + +"Have you been doing so?" he asked in some surprise. + +"Well, I have had misgivings as to what might happen if you should +become blind, or if your pictures should fail to sell, or if Papa should +lose his money, or--" + +"How many more 'ifs,'" he asked; "I had no idea that you were a borrower +of trouble. What have I done to deserve this thoughtfulness, or perhaps +I should say thoughtlessness, on your part; for you say that now you +have ceased to worry." + +"Why, I am sure that you could transform yourself into a man milliner; +in fact, I'm not sure that I may not try to persuade you to change to a +more lucrative profession than that of a mere painter of portraits. From +the very way in which you hold that little pincushion under your arm, I +am sure that you would be a great success." + +Ralph only smiled as he snipped a bit from the end of a velvet train. +Then he moved off a little, that he might survey his work from a +distance. + +"It looks like a milliner's shop," said Brenda, pointing to the litter +of silk and velvets, embroideries and fur, strewn over chairs, tables, +and divan. + +"Yes, and I feel much as if I were waiting for customers. I believe, +however, that no more are expected this afternoon. I can therefore +attend to my mail orders. Tom Hearst, by the way, is coming on, and I am +designing something for him." + +"Well, if Tom can spare the time, I should think that Arthur might." + +"Ah, Arthur writes that he is too much concerned at the prospect of war. +He apparently does not approve of our frivolous doings. The times are +too serious." + +"I do not see why he need take things so to heart. He is not a--a +reconcentrado." Brenda's words may have seemed like an attempt at +levity, but, indeed, she felt far from cheerful. She concluded with a +weak, little "But you don't think that there will be a war, do you, +Ralph?" + +"I do, indeed, think that there will be a war, dear sister-in-law, but I +also think that it may be some distance off, and that we might as well +eat, drink, and be merry, in other words, enjoy the Artists' Festival," +he rejoined. + + + + +XVI + +THE ARTISTS' FESTIVAL + + +It was unfortunate that the Artists' Festival should have fallen on the +evening of the day succeeding the formal declaration of war, or, as some +of the younger people put it, that war should have been declared on the +eve of the Festival; for, they urged, the arrangements for the Festival +had been made before war had been even thought of, and so, if the +President and Congress had only waited a day-- + +But public affairs take their course, and Boston is a very small corner +of this large country, and though some persons may have absented +themselves from a sense of duty to their country, Brenda agreed with +Ralph that these never would be missed, so crowded did the hall prove +after the French play had ended and the seats had been removed. + +The patronesses, seated on a dais on one side of the hall, were gorgeous +in robes of cloth of gold, with the elaborate head-dresses of the time. + +The procession as it passed along was well worth seeing,--the trumpeters +at the head, the craftsmen and village folk, the brown-robed monks +singing a solemn chant, crusaders in scarlet coats, knights in armor, +ladies in sweeping trains, and everywhere the high-horned cap with its +graceful and inconvenient veil. + +On the stage at the end of the hall a French play was given, perfectly +rendered, complete in every detail of dress and scenery as well as of +acting. But it was a tragedy, acted so perfectly that Brenda, perhaps, +was not the only one who found it too gloomy for the occasion. The +tournament that followed, in which two hobby-horse knights tilted +against each other, was much more to her taste. + +"Why, Brenda Barlow! I was wondering if we should see you." + +Brenda looked up in surprise. The voice was surely Belle's, and +immediately she recognized her friend. Belle did not wait for questions +after the first greetings. + +"Oh, a party of us came on from Washington last night. The rest are +going back on Thursday, but I shall stay in New York for a month. +Annabel didn't come, nor Arthur either. You must have been awfully +disappointed that he wouldn't take any interest. I've always thought he +was a little uncertain. How do you like my costume? We ordered them at +the last minute from a costumer. I think he did very well, considering +the time. Tell me, is mine frightfully unbecoming? I've been trying to +make Mr. De Lancey tell me, but he simply says it's indescribably +fetching. I can't be sure whether or not he's in earnest. Oh, let me +present him to you; I forgot that you did not know each other." + +A moment later, separated from her own party, she was walking with Belle +and Mr. De Lancey into the adjacent supper-room, which had been +arranged in semblance of a rose-garden. They ate sandwiches and currant +buns served to them in baskets, and drank lemonade from pewter mugs. The +rooms had been rather cool. + +"It's the medieval chill," replied Brenda, when Belle asked her why she +was so quiet. + +"I believe it's worse in this rose-garden than in the large hall. I'm +afraid that these paper roses will become frostbitten." + +Soon Tom Hearst and Julia, in their search for Brenda, came upon her in +the garden. + +"Well, here you are! We've been looking everywhere. The rest of the +group has gone upstairs to be photographed. There's a man with a +flashlight in one of the studios. Aren't you coming?" + +The posing of the group took some time, and then there were single +pictures, and Agnes and Ralph were taken together. + +An idea came to Brenda. "Why shouldn't we form a group by ourselves?" +Brenda had turned to Tom Hearst with her question. + +"I should say so," he responded enthusiastically. "I mean certainly. How +shall I stand, or rather mayn't I prostrate myself at your feet as your +humble page?" + +"No, no, how absurd you are!" for Tom was already kneeling in an +attitude of devotion. + +"It's after twelve," the photographer reminded them, "and there are +several waiting." + +"In other words," said Tom, "we ought to hurry. So look pleasant, Miss +Barlow,--that is, as pleasant as you can under the circumstances," and +Brenda assumed her stateliest pose, having first seen that her train was +spread out to its broadest extent. + +"Really," exclaimed Ralph, who stood near, "you must send a copy of the +picture to Arthur." + +Brenda did not reply, but when they were again among the gay crowd she +was quieter than she had been before, and to the astonishment of Agnes +she was ready to go home long before the carriage came. + +But, strange to say, Pamela, the conscientious, was much less disturbed +than she should have been by the thought that this was the hour of her +country's danger. The artistic beauty of the whole scene was such that +for the time it occupied her mind completely, and she and Julia, with +Tom and Philip as attendant cavaliers, were quite care free as they +wandered among the gay throng. Yet her mind was turned a little toward +the war when Philip began to tell her of his difficulties. + +"In the natural course of events," he said, "I should have been in the +Cadets. But I had thought I'd wait a year or two. Now the only thing is +for me to enlist, or get an appointment as officer. They say that the +President will appoint any number of officers. There is only one +thing--" + +Pamela waited for him to continue, and at last he took up the broken +thread. + +"I haven't said much about it to other people, but my father is far from +well this spring. I notice this in little things, and he depends so on +me that I hesitate about taking a step that will lead to my leaving home +just now." + +"It is often hard to choose between two duties," said Pamela; "but I +believe the general rule is to choose the nearest, and in this case that +is evidently your father." + +"Where have you been all the evening, Philip? I have looked everywhere +for you." Edith's voice had an unwonted note of irritation. + +"Why, Edith, child, aren't you having a good time?" + +"Oh, I don't know; I've had to listen to such a lot of stuff from Belle, +and I haven't seen half the people I promised to meet." + +"There, there, child, I know how you feel; Belle has been talking too +much, but I will take care of you," and Philip pulled Edith's arm within +his own. "A big brother is useful sometimes," he added, for he saw that +Edith was a little perturbed. A moment later Nora joined the group, +followed by Julia and Tom Hearst, and soon Brenda joined them. + +"Why, here we have almost all the old crowd," exclaimed Tom. "If only +Will were here--" + +"And Ruth; you mustn't forget her." + +"Indeed, no, and I dare say that he is thinking of us. I fancy that at +this present moment he is just wild to be on this side of the world. +With his exalted ideas of patriotism, it must be torture to him that he +isn't on hand when there's fighting to be done." + +"It seems to me that your sword hasn't been brandished very fiercely, at +least, since the President's proclamation." + +"Ah! just wait. Within a month I may be waving a flag in Cuba. This +sound of revelry by night may be the last that I shall hear for a long +time. My uniform may not be as becoming to me as this costume," and Tom +threw back his head and strutted a few steps, as if to display to the +best advantage the artistic costume that Mr. Weston had designed for +him,--a most effective one with its crimson doublet, slashed sleeves, +and long, silk trunk hose. + +"Oh, don't talk about war," cried Brenda, almost pettishly, while Nora, +whose sparkling eyes and bright smile showed that she, at least, had +enjoyed the evening, said gently, "Come, Brenda, there are Agnes and +Ralph beckoning to us; I suppose they wish to count us all to see that +we are safe and sound before they start for home." + +A little bantering, a word or two of good-bye to passing friends, and +the merry group started for home, never, although they knew it not +then,--never to be together again as they had been that evening. + +In the next few weeks war news was of chief importance, and Brenda, +never a newspaper reader, now turned to the daily papers with great +interest. + +One afternoon she came into Julia's room at the Mansion with her eyes +suspiciously red. + +"You haven't been crying?" + +"Oh, no, not exactly crying, but--" + +At this time a tell-tale tear fell, and Brenda dabbed her eyes fiercely +with a crumpled handkerchief. + +"There, there, tell me all about it," said Julia. + +"Oh, it's nothing. Only I've just been at a meeting at the State House." + +Then, by dint of a little questioning, Julia learned that Brenda had +read the notice of a meeting to be held at the State House in the +interests of the Massachusetts troops that should go to the war, and +that she had decided to attend it. + +"Oh, it was dreadful," she said, not restraining the tears that were now +undeniably falling. "They talked about bandages and ambulances and the +hundreds that would be killed, and the dreadful things that happened in +the Civil War, and I couldn't help thinking how terrible it would be for +Arthur and Tom and all the others we know." + +"Arthur?" queried Julia; "I knew that Tom was going, but with his +regiment from New York--but Arthur, why, he has never been in the +militia?" + +"Oh, no," responded Brenda, "it's all his being in Washington. I wish +that he had never heard of Senator Harmon. It seems that he's to have a +commission in the regular army. The President is to make any number of +new officers, and you have to have influence. Ralph had a letter this +morning,--and I know he'll be killed." + +"Nonsense, child! If there is any fighting, it will be only on sea." + +"Oh, you should have heard them talk at the meeting to-day; and Papa +says that every young man should be ready to fight. He only wishes that +he was young enough. Amy writes that Fritz Tomkins is crazy to leave +college and volunteer, but his uncle won't let him, because his father +is in China. But lots of men are leaving college to go into the army. +Don't you think 'tis very noble in Arthur?" + +The last sentence was a change from the main subject, for Arthur's +college years were far away; but it showed where Brenda's heart lay, and +Julia did not laugh at her. + +"Come," she said, "let us go upstairs; you have never visited the home +economics class, and you are just in time for it." + +So hand in hand the two cousins went upstairs, and if Brenda was less +cheerful than usual, only Julia noticed this. + +"The dusty class," as some of the younger girls called it, because "Dust +and its dangers" had been the subject of the lessons. + +"How businesslike it is!" exclaimed Brenda, glancing around the plain +room, fitted with its long wooden table, plain walls, at one end of +which were many glass bottles and tubes. + +"Test tubes," explained Julia, as Brenda asked a question; "and these +gas jets that rise from the table are very useful in some of their +experiments." + +"Yes, that is some of Pamela's Ruskin," Julia added, as Brenda stopped +before a simply framed card on which in illuminated text was the +following: + + "There are three material things, not only useful, but essential to + life. No one knows how to live till he has got them. + + "These are Pure Air, Water, and Earth. + + "There are three immaterial things, not only useful, but essential + to life. No one knows how to live till he has got them also. + + "These are Admiration, Hope, and Love." + +"It looks very scientific," said Brenda, "with all those bottles and +tubes. I should call it a regular laboratory." + +"So it is," responded Julia; "and though the girls are untrained, and +rather young to understand thoroughly the scientific value of much that +is taught them, they do enjoy the experiments." + +At this moment the teacher entered the room. + +"Tell me, Miss Soddern," said Julia, after introducing Brenda to the +teacher,--"tell me if the girls have had any success with their +bacteria; I know that they are very much interested in their little +boxes." + +"Oh, I'm going to have them report this morning. You must wait until +they come." + +In a moment the girls filed in, Concetta, Luisa, Gretchen, Haleema, and +the rest whom Brenda knew best, and with them two or three girls from +outside who were members of the League; for in this, as in other +classes, it had seemed wise to enlarge the work a little. So the class +had taken in some of those whom the membership in the League had +interested in things that otherwise they might not have had the interest +to study. + +As they stood at their places around the table, Miss Soddern gave a +resumé of what they had already learned about dust and its dangers. They +talked with a fluency that surprised Brenda about bacteria and yeasts +and spores and moulds, and in most cases showed by examples that they +knew what they were talking about. + +"I am glad that all these bacteria are not harmful," said Brenda, "for +otherwise I should stand in fear of instant death when caught in one of +our east winds," and she looked with interest at the plate that showed a +great many little spots irregularly distributed within a circle. Each +spot represented a colony of bacteria, and though the showing was rather +overwhelming, it was not nearly as bad as another exposure made at a +crossing in a certain city where the old-fashioned street-cleaning +methods prevailed. An exposure made just after the carts had been +collecting heaps of dirt showed an almost incredible number, quite +beyond counting. + +So interesting did Miss Soddern make her lesson that Brenda stayed quite +through the hour. + +"I've gathered one or two new ideas on the subject of trailing skirts," +she whispered to Julia in one of the intervals of the lesson. "I always +thought it was just a notion, this talk about their being so unclean, +but now I shall always think of them as regular bacteria collectors. +Also I've learned one or two things about dusting, and I'm going to +watch our maid to-morrow, and if she isn't using a moist cloth, I'll +frighten her by asking her why she insists on distributing death-dealing +germs around the room." + +Half of the class that day had to report the result of their own +observation of bacteria colonies collected on the gelatine plate, and +half were to prepare the little glass boxes to take home. Brenda watched +the process with great interest,--the preparation of the boxes in a +vacuum, so that there would be no air inside them when they should be +first exposed in the new locality. + +"It's something," said Julia, "to get these girls to acquire habits of +accuracy." + +"Oh, it reminds me of the class in physics at Miss Crawdon's," replied +Brenda. "I never would take it myself, but some of the girls said that +it was splendid; it taught one to be accurate." + +At that moment Miss Soddern began to address the girls. They had been so +absorbed in their work that they had talked very little during the hour. + +"How many of you have anything to report regarding the boxes that you +took home last week." + +One by one the outside girls gave accounts of their observations, each +one vying with the others to describe the most prolific growth of +bacteria. + +"As the boxes were to be exposed simply in their living-rooms, I am +surprised at the results," said the teacher in an aside to Julia; "I'm +afraid that some one must have been stirring up the dust. What does your +family think of these experiments?" she continued, turning to a +bright-eyed American girl. + +"Oh, they're so interested," the girl replied. "You've no idea how +they've watched it; and since the bacteria have begun to develop,"--she +said this with an important air--"they show it to company. Why, you may +like to know that our visitors consider it more entertaining than the +family album." + +Miss Soddern herself did not dare to smile at this remark, but Julia and +Brenda hastily excused themselves. + +"Audible smiling," said Brenda, "is more excusable out here than it +would be in the school-room," and then both laughed outright. + +"I never did care for family photograph albums," said Julia, "and now I +see how easy it would be to have a scientific substitute." + + + + +XVII + +IDEAL HOMES + + +The triangular quarrel between Concetta, Haleema, and Angelina had +reached such a state that the three spoke only when actually under the +eyes of their elders. Even as Maggie had felt jealousy at first, did +Angelina now feel jealousy of Concetta. + +On pleasant spring Sundays when Angelina walked out with John she would +tell him her griefs, and so far as he could he would sympathize with +her; but when she talked of running away, he would simply laugh. + +"Why, if you wish to go back to Shiloh, I'm sure Miss Julia would let +you; you have only to tell her and she would let you off." + +Then Angelina would shake her head. "Ah! you have no idea how important +I am. Why, I know they couldn't get along without me, and I'm sure that +if I should leave, everything would stop. I'm surprised that you should +suggest it, John." + +"But you talked of running away." + +"Well, so I might, if Concetta keeps on acting in that forward way, as +if she were the most important person here. No, I won't desert Miss +Julia, even if Miss Brenda does show so much partiality. I suppose it's +my Spanish blood that makes me take it so hard." + +John looked at Angelina bewildered. + +"Spanish blood! why, we're not Spanish; I hadn't heard of it." + +"There, John, you haven't a bit of romance; I should think that you +could tell that we're Spanish just by looking in the glass, and I'm sure +Spain and Portugal are very near together, and though mother says she +was born a Portuguese she may be Spanish. A great many people are +beginning to sympathize with me on account of the war." + +There! the secret was out. The war with Spain had now come to the +foreground, and Angelina wished in some way to be a part of it and of +the general excitement. Had John been old enough to enlist she might +have worked off some of her energy in urging him to do so. As it was, +she amused those who had known her the longest by talking about her +fears for her own safety; for although Manila Bay was an American +victory, "of course," she would say, "every one has a prejudice against +persons of Spanish blood," and Angelina would raise her handkerchief to +her eyes, as if she were an exiled princess of Castile. + +John only laughed at Angelina when she talked in this way to him, and +wished that he could enlist and go toward the South, where the troops +were gathering for the war. + +"I should like to be a nurse," she then said, "for really this work here +with these younger girls is very tiresome, and I don't think that Miss +South and Miss Julia properly appreciate me." + +"You are ungrateful," John would reply solemnly. "Why, if it wasn't for +these young ladies I'm sure that mother wouldn't be alive now; she never +could have lived if we'd stayed on in Moon Street, and it was just +through them that we were able to have a home of our own, for those bare +rooms in Moon Street were not a home." + +John was an industrious youth, working hard, saving money, and studying +evenings. He was devoted to Manuel, now a strong boy of nine, and +anxious that he, too, should have a good education. Angelina's +flightiness troubled him, but he hoped that she would in time outgrow +it; for though the younger, he always felt that he was in the position +of an older brother, and when it came to any particular action, Angelina +usually took his advice, after first demurring, and professing that she +would rather do something else. Now he felt that he was right in trying +to make her keep her place at the Mansion; but even while he was trying +to persuade her, he could see that Angelina was thinking of something +else. + +But the war did not entirely occupy the thoughts of Julia and Pamela and +the others at the Mansion, and the former went on with the preparations +for her special exhibition after the fashion that she had planned long +before the fateful sixteenth of February. Gretchen and Maggie were her +chief assistants in carrying out her plans, and they went about with an +air of mystery that was particularly tantalizing to the others. + +"What do you suppose it's going to be?" asked Concetta, with two buttons +conspicuously fastened to her waist bearing the motto, "Remember the +Maine." + +"Some kind of a picture show, I guess; I saw two boxes of thumb tacks on +Miss South's table. I tried to make Maggie tell, but she's as still as a +mouse; she always is. Don't she make you think of one?" + +"Yes, she does," replied Haleema. "I've a good mind to peek in now; +there's nobody about." + +At that moment Angelina came around the corner. + +"I'm exceedingly surprised," she said, in her haughtiest manner, "that +you should try to pry into what doesn't concern you." + +"I didn't." + +"Yes, you were trying to." + +"No, I wasn't, and, besides, I have a perfect right to; I belong to Miss +Northcote's class. So there! You needn't stand and watch me." + +"I'll report you to Miss Dreen," said Angelina. "It's your day in the +kitchen. I remember that." + +Concetta's face clouded as Angelina passed on to the kitchen. + +"I wish people would attend to their own business." + +Concetta had hoped that Miss Dreen, who was a little absent-minded, +would fail to notice her absence. Another grievance was added to the +long list that she cherished against Angelina. + +But after all they were not kept so very long in suspense, for on the +Saturday after this little episode the doors were thrown open, and all +the girls marched in to see what really had been going on behind the +closed doors. Those in the secret were proud enough, and Maggie in +particular displayed an unexpected talkativeness. At least she was able +to explain the why and wherefore of the exhibit quite to the +satisfaction of all who heard her. + +The first exclamations of pleasure were called out by the sight that met +their eyes. One side of the room had been divided by partitions to make +two rooms. Each was furnished completely, and even those girls who were +too old to play with dolls were fascinated by the house; for each of the +two rooms was fitted up with absolute perfectness, from the wall-paper +to the tiny cushions on the sofa. They were on a scale large enough for +everything to be seen in detail, but a degree or two smaller than life +size. Pamela justly prided herself on the completeness of it all, and +this completeness had been made possible only by the kindness of Julia, +who had told her to spare no expense in having the house furnished +exactly as she wished it to be. She was safe in giving this wide +permission, since Pamela's friends all knew that extravagance was +absolutely impossible with her, and that she would use another's money +more carefully even than her own. + +Both rooms were furnished like sitting-rooms, but they differed utterly +in style. Maggie put it correctly by saying that one was "warm and +fussy-looking," while the other was "cool and restful." + +The floor-covering on the former, painted to imitate a real carpet, was +of bright colors and florid design. The reds and greens of which it was +composed were just a little off the tone of the flowered wall-paper,--a +greenish background with stiff bunches of red flowers, "that look as if +they were ready to jump out at you," as one of the girls put it. + +The little chairs and couch were upholstered in bright brocade velvet, +each one different from the others, and none in harmony with the paper +or with each other. On the tiny centre-table were one or two clumsy +pieces of bric-à-brac, and the pictures on the walls were small chromos +in ugly gilt frames. There were bright cushions on the divan, and +crocheted tidies on every chair. + +Nellie thought this room "perfectly beautiful." Her cousin's wife, whose +husband was a prosperous teamster, had one almost like it, she said. "Oh +what lovely easy-chairs! I hope I'll have a parlor as elegant as this +some day." + +The other room did not please her, it was too plain; whereas Concetta, +within whose breast there must have lingered some remnant of Italian +artistic instinct, thought it altogether beautiful. + +This second room had a plain, dull-green wall-paper, on which hung a few +photographs suitably framed. There was matting on the floor, and in the +centre a green art-square. The chairs were of rattan, in graceful +shapes, with green cushions, and one of artistic design in black wood +with broad arms was comfortably cushioned for a lounging-chair. A +bookcase, also of black wood, was filled with plainly bound books. On +the rattan centre-table was a tall green vase with a single rose in it, +and near by two or three small volumes of good literature. The ornaments +on the mantle-piece were few and well chosen, and each had an evident +reason for being there. The simple gilt moulding at the top was in +contrast with the fussy frieze in the other room, and the plain net +draperies at the windows were much more agreeable than the lace curtains +in the other room, with their elaborate pattern and plush lambrequins. + +Each girl as she came in was given a small blank-book, and was asked to +note down what she thought of each room, and to state her reasons for +preferring one room to another. + +"Ought we to like one more than another?" Inez asked anxiously. + +"Oh, Inez," said Haleema, "you are like sheep, you never stand alone," +which, although not an exact rendering of the proverb, at least partly +described the disposition of little Inez, who was far from independent. + +"My book isn't half full," said Phoebe, after she had written for +several minutes. + +"Ah, that isn't all," rejoined Maggie. + +"No, indeed," added Pamela, who had been listening with much interest to +all the comments. "You have entirely neglected this end of the room. You +will probably find more to do here than at the other end." + +Here the wall had been covered with a plain gray denim, against which +were pinned samples of wall-paper of every quality and color. Some were +quiet and in good taste, as well as inexpensive; others were evidently +costly, and at the same time loud and glaring. Each piece was numbered, +and the girls were asked to write in their books their opinion of these +samples. + +Again, on a table near the wall-paper lay a number of cards with pieces +of dress fabric fastened to them, and the girls were asked to state +which would probably hold their color the best, which would be suitable +for a working dress, which for a durable winter dress; and near certain +bright-colored fabrics were trimmings of various sorts, and they were +asked to tell which would best harmonize with the fabric. + +"It ought not to be so very hard for you to answer these questions," +said Julia, as she found Concetta scowling over her blank-book. "I know +that Miss Northcote has had much to say to you this winter about +furniture and wall-papers, and you ought to remember the reasons she has +given for calling one thing more beautiful than another. Then, as to +dress materials, why, think of our shopping expeditions, and the trouble +I have taken to make you understand what is best." + +"Yes, 'm," said Concetta. "If there's to be a prize, I'll try to prefer +the best things; but if there won't be one, why, I think I'll just say +what I really think." + +"Oh, Concetta! Concetta! you are hopeless," responded Julia; and though +she smiled slightly at this frank confession, she felt a little +depressed that her winter's work should have had no better effect. + +At five o'clock the books were all collected and put in Pamela's care +for discussion at the next meeting of her class, and a few minutes later +the aunts or cousins of the girls, as the case might be, began to +appear. Their "oh's" and "ah's" were genuine as they looked at the two +rooms; the numbers were about equally divided between those who +preferred the restful room and those who preferred the fussy and gaudy +one. They were greatly surprised to find that the more showy room had +had no more money spent on it than the other. To them it looked much the +more expensive; whereas to Julia and Nora and the others it was a +surprise that the cheap and shoddy things of the gaudy sitting-room had +cost as much as those in the really æsthetic apartment. + +All had been invited to the six-o'clock tea, and this had been designed +to show the skill in cooking of some of the number,--or perhaps I should +say skill in the preparation of a meal, since much that was to go on the +table was prepared under the eyes of the visitors. + +The dainty sandwiches, for instance, were so prepared. There were three +or four different kinds, of lettuce, of cheese, and some with nuts laid +between, to the great surprise of Mrs. McSorley. She had associated with +the name only the sandwich of the ham variety. Then the cold chicken, +creamed and served in the chafing-dish, and put steaming on the plates; +the chocolate that Maggie prepared on a tiny gas range, crowned with +whipped cream that she had whipped before their very eyes,--all these +things had their effect. When Luisa showed the blanc-mange that she had +made, "without any flavor of soup," Haleema remarked so mischievously, +that Luisa had to admit that earlier in the season she had prepared +some blanc-mange in a kettle which had not been washed since some +strong-flavored soup had been contained in it. Each girl had one special +dish that she had made the day before,--cake, or biscuit, or jelly. The +results were very satisfactory to the admiring relatives, who went home +particularly pleased with the Mansion and the young ladies, as well as +with their own particular loaf of cake or mould of jelly, as the case +may be. Each one, too, carried away a fine photograph of the Mansion, +under which Pamela had written one of her ever applicable Ruskin +quotations. + + "The girls to spin and weave and sew, and at a proper age to cook + all proper ordinary food exquisitely; the youth of both sexes to be + disciplined daily in the studies." + +This was at the bottom of the card, and at the top she had written: + + "Never look for amusement, but be always ready to amuse." + +"There," said Julia, after the last visitor had departed, "I don't +suppose that any of our guests know that we are college women, nor +probably have they heard the time-worn discussion as to whether college +women are capable of understanding the management of a house, but it +strikes me that we made a pretty good showing this evening." + +"Ah," replied Miss South, "I am older than you, and I can say pretty +confidently that no one need stand up for the college woman as home +maker; she needs no defence. More than half the college graduates of +to-day have homes of their own that are well managed, and have a high +sanitary standard, and--but there, I am talking as if you needed to be +convinced, whereas this is very far from being the case." + +"Indeed, Miss South," said Nora, "even I, who am not a college girl--" + +"Oh, but you are; don't forget the good work that you did as a special +at Radcliffe." + +"Thank you, Julia, but I'm only slightly a college girl. Well, even I +always have plenty of ammunition ready when one or two persons I might +mention have things to say about the uselessness of a college +education." + +"You are a good champion in any cause, and we thank you," said Julia, +slipping her arm in Nora's, and making a low courtesy. + +This exhibit of Pamela's was the end of the festivities at the Mansion. +The evenings were growing warm, and the interests of the girls were +turning in other directions. The meetings of the League were regular +sewing circles, and the busy needles of the members struggled through +the heavy denim that was to be used in comfort bags for the soldiers, or +they hemmed flannel bandages, or applied themselves to other useful bits +of work suggested by the Woman's Auxiliary of the Aid Association. While +others worked, Angelina read aloud to them, for she was fond of reading; +and those girls who had friends or relatives in the regiments that were +going South were proud of the fact, and referred to it often. + +But Maggie--poor Maggie! It seemed to her that she had reason to be +prouder than any of them, for she not only had a letter, but a +photograph, from a soldier, and to her Tim was a really heroic figure in +his blouse and campaign hat. And the words had a sacred meaning, "I'm +going to do something great before you see me again; I'll do something +great, and by and by we'll have that home of our own." + +She could not talk about this to any one, for the mention of Tim's name +still aroused a very bitter spirit in Mrs. McSorley, and Maggie feared +that if she confided even in Miss Julia, Tim's plans might in some way +come to Mrs. McSorley's ears. Although living now afar from her +immediate authority, Maggie still stood in great awe of her aunt, and +though the rather scanty praises bestowed on her showed a change in Mrs. +McSorley's spirit, Maggie knew how unwise it would be to speak to her of +Tim. + +Of the staff, Brenda was the only one who had little to say about the +war. She had not written to Arthur nor he to her since the Artists' +Festival; but she heard of him indirectly through Ralph and Agnes. His +regiment had gone to Tampa before the end of May, and if he was waiting +for her to reply to that unanswered letter, he waited in vain. Brenda, +when once she had made up her mind, was very determined. She showed, +however, that she was not happy. Her face had lost its color, and she +had less animation. + +"It all comes from staying indoors so much. Really, you must come with +us to Rockley," her parents insisted. + +But Brenda would not change her mind. She was now taking the place of +Anstiss, who had been called home on account of the illness of her +mother. + +"I did not know that you could be so industrious, Brenda. Have you any +idea how many hundred of these comfort bags you have made this spring?" + +"No," said Brenda, so shortly that Edith knew that she had made a +mistake in asking the question. + + + + +XVIII + +WHERE HONOR CALLS + + +In all his life Philip Blair had hardly learned a harder lesson than +that teaching him that it was his duty to stay at home with his father +at a time when so many of his friends and classmates were setting off +for the war. "They also serve who only stand and wait," echoed +constantly in his ear, though unluckily almost as imperative was another +refrain, "He that lives and fights and runs away, may live to fight +another day." It seemed to him not unlikely that those who did not know +him very well might put him in the latter class,--of those who avoided a +present danger for an unlikely and distant good. + +He could not deny the fact that his father was evidently ill, and as +evidently needed him. This in itself was reason enough for his staying +in Boston. He had so thoroughly mastered the details of the business, +that it would have been false modesty to deny that his departure would +make no difference. Even had his father been in perfect health, Philip's +departure would have thrown a certain amount of care upon him; but in +his present rather weak condition the young man felt that he had no +right to add to his burden. He envied Tom Hearst his commission as +captain in a regiment of regular troops, and he felt that his years on +the ranch had especially fitted him for a place with the Rough Riders. +What an opportunity this war might offer a young man for real +distinction! and yet the chance was that he could have no part in it. +Poor Philip! If some of his critics could have read his heart, they +would have had less to say about his staying at home. Certain +complications in his father's business had led him to give up his plans +for studying law. He was now a business man, pure and simple, and almost +any one would admit that he was devoting himself to his father's +interests. + +In one of his downcast moods one evening he strolled over to the Mansion +to take a message from Edith to Julia. His family had already gone down +to Beverly, but Edith, with her usual conscientiousness, let hardly a +week pass without sending some special message to Gretchen. + +The evening was one of the close and sultry evenings of early spring, +and as Philip drew near he was pleased to hear the voices of Brenda and +Julia. The two were seated on a rattan settle that had been drawn out +into the vestibule, and upon greeting them Philip discovered Pamela and +Miss South near by. After delivering Edith's message the conversation +drifted to the ever-engrossing subject. + +"I hardly expected to find so many of you here," said Philip. "Surely +some of you intend to go as nurses to help your suffering countrymen." + +"Angelina," responded Miss South, "is the only one of us who is +desperately in earnest about becoming a nurse." + +"So far as I can remember she has all the qualities that a nurse ought +not to have." + +"Oh, you are rather severe; she is not quite so bad, yet I doubt that +she would make a good nurse. But she really is interested, and I have +known her to make many sacrifices this spring to help the soldiers." + +"She thinks that the Red Cross costume would be very becoming, and that +is the secret of her interest," said Brenda, with a slight tinge of +bitterness. + +"What do you hear from the seat of war?" asked Philip, turning to +Brenda, as if to change the subject. + +"Oh, I never hear anything. Agnes and Ralph have letters, but I have too +much to do to bother about the war." + +Brenda's tone belied her words, and Philip wisely attempted no +rejoinder. A moment later she made an excuse for leaving the party in +group. + +"Ralph," explained Julia, "expects to go abroad in a few days; his uncle +is very ill in Paris, and it is necessary that he should see him. I +believe that Agnes is not sorry that he has decided to go. Otherwise, I +am sure that he would soon be starting for Cuba." + +"It's hard for any one to stay behind," said Philip; and then as Inez +and Nellie came out from the house with a message for Miss South and +Julia, the duty of entertaining Philip fell on Pamela. He never knew +just how it happened, but soon he was opening his heart to her more +freely than he had ever opened it to any one else; and when their little +talk was over he felt that at least one person realized that in staying +North at a time when men were needed in the South he was truly trying to +do his best. Undoubtedly Julia understood this, and Miss South, and all +sensible people who saw that Mr. Blair's health was now so precarious; +but Pamela made it so clear to Philip that his duty to his father was +really the higher duty, that he left the Mansion in a much more cheerful +frame of mind than that in which he had approached it. + +"It is just as she says," he thought, as he walked homeward. "If my +country were attacked, or if our flag were in danger, then it would be +the duty of every man to rush to the front. But now--why, when it comes +to fighting on land, we'll just have another walkover like the battle of +Manila Bay." + +He stepped briskly down the hill toward his home. + +"What a bright girl Miss Northcote is, and how thankful she must be that +her teaching is almost over for the year. Though she never admits it, +she must find teaching very tiresome." + +Pamela was glad, indeed, that her school tasks were over in season to +give her a week or two for special study, as she was anxious to do her +very best in the work that she had chosen at Radcliffe this year. The +two courses would count toward her post-graduate degree. Strangely +enough, a few days before the examination she had a chance to put her +own theories of duty into practice. + +A telegram from Vermont told her that her aunt had been thrown from a +carriage and seriously injured, and that in her moments of delirium she +was constantly calling for her. It took Pamela but a few moments to +decide, and packing a small trunk she was ready for the evening train +North. + +"My examinations can wait until next year," she replied to Julia's +expostulations; "and even if they could not, this is really the only +thing for me to do." + +Though for many years her relatives had been far from sympathetic, +Pamela recalled the days of her childhood, when they offered her a home, +and when in a clumsy way they had tried to make her happy. Knowing how +her uncle had depended on his wife, she could not bear to think of his +helplessness, and to help him became at once her nearest duty. + +Thus it happened that when Philip a few days later came again to the +Mansion for counsel, he found Pamela gone. Julia, too, happened to be +out, and Brenda, with whom he talked, was so downcast that he was +obliged to put himself in the most cheerful frame of mind to assure her +that there was not the least danger of actual fighting. + +"Why, before you know it, they'll all come marching home, and there'll +be processions and speeches and all the things that conquering heroes +expect--" + +"They won't be conquering heroes if they haven't done any fighting." + +"Don't interrupt; and you can throw a wreath at Arthur's feet." + +"I wasn't thinking of Arthur." + +"Excuse me, but I think that you were; and then, well--and then they +will live happy ever after." + +"Philip Blair, you are too absurd. Conquering heroes and wreaths, +indeed!" + +But Philip's nonsense had made Brenda smile, and for the time she was +decidedly more cheerful. + +When Mr. and Mrs. Barlow went down to Rockley, Brenda had simply refused +to go. When they told her that she would suffer in town from the heat, +she replied that she did not care, she hoped, indeed, that she would +suffer, and concluded by saying emphatically that she was tired of being +a mere idler. + +"But since you are so unused to hard work, and to the city in hot +weather, you must not overdo now. I do wish, Brenda," and Mrs. Barlow's +tone was unusually serious, "that you could do things in moderation. If +you had taken a little more interest in the work at the Mansion last +winter, perhaps you would not feel it necessary to go to extremes now." + +"It isn't extremes now, only I have more time to give to Julia, and I +don't feel like going to Rockley; and why should any one care, +especially as you have Agnes and Lettice with you." + +Mrs. Barlow for the time said no more. She managed, however, to persuade +Brenda to spend a day or two each week at Rockley, usually Saturday and +Sunday; and every Wednesday a large box of flowers was sent up to the +school with a card marked, "With love, from little Lettice." + +Concetta was now more than ever devoted to Brenda, and the latter found +her conversation more entertaining than that of any of the +others,--possibly because she heard more of it. Often during the hour +before bedtime she sat on the old rattan settle in the vestibule, while +the tongue of the little Italian girl rattled on over a great variety of +topics. Maggie, passing in or out sometimes after watering the plants in +the little garden, often felt like sitting down beside Brenda, but she +was never asked to join the two, and, unasked, she would not venture. +Then to console herself she would put her hand on the crumpled letter at +the bottom of her pocket. There was one person who cared for her, and +Tim, knowing that his letters would not be intercepted by Mrs. McSorley, +wrote to her often. His description of his life with the troops seemed +to her most wonderful, and oh! how she longed to show to the others that +picture that he had had taken of himself in uniform and broad campaign +hat. + +Angelina's interest in the war turned chiefly on her belief that she was +destined to be a nurse. A large red cross cut from flannel she had sewed +to her sleeve, and she told the younger girls that as soon as her mother +should give her permission she was going to Cuba. "As soon, at least, as +there's been a perfectly dreadful battle; of course I don't want to go +until I can be of real use." + +As a matter of fact Angelina had little prospect of entering upon this +career of nurse, though she cherished the hope that her mother and Miss +Julia might some time give their consent. + +From Tampa in June Arthur wrote home much about the condition of the +volunteers who had gone to the war without suitable equipment, and the +fingers of the young girls at the Mansion flew more swiftly, that they +might the more surely increase their quota of comfort bags. + +"Just think of Toby's having to work like a laborer," said Nora, two of +whose brothers had already found their way to the army in the front at +the South. "He says that if it were not for the hammock that he sleeps +in at night he never could stand the heat; but oh, dear! I do hope that +there won't be any real fighting. Where do you suppose that the +Spaniards are now?" + +"Off this coast, probably," said Edith; "they say there's a big pile of +coal at Salem, and that the Spanish ships will be sure to try to get it. +I wish we were going to Europe this summer, for I'm afraid that I should +not enjoy seeing a battle." + +"Well, I'd sooner see one than feel one, as might be the case if there +should be fighting off this coast; but I am sure that this will not be +the case, and we must feel that our part in the war is simply to keep up +our own courage, and that of our friends and relations, especially of +those who have gone to the war marching toward Cuba." + +This was the sensible view to take, and Nora was only one of many girls +whose chief work those long spring days consisted in cutting out +garments, in hemming and sewing, in knitting bandages, and in following +the directions of those older women who had organized themselves to care +for the needs of the soldiers in the field. + +Some of them, I am afraid (but we will whisper this), were a little +impatient that nothing happened; that is, that there had been no +fighting. But they were those who had no relatives and no friends in the +army. + +Brenda waited eagerly for each letter from Arthur, for he wrote +frequently from Tampa to Agnes. Ralph had already reached Paris, and the +house at Rockley seemed strangely quiet; for Lettice was a demure little +girl, playing very quietly in her corner of the garden or the +drawing-room. + +Two letters of Arthur's had lain unanswered, and now Brenda was +unwilling to make up for her neglect. "Arthur should write to me," she +said to herself, although she really knew that she could hardly expect +such a concession from even a young man far less proud than Arthur +Weston. Yet Brenda for a time tried to nurse a grievance, rather vainly, +it must be admitted, essaying to persuade herself that Arthur was in the +wrong. + +In the mean time, at the Mansion, she was really very helpful. She was +especially zealous in taking the girls to some of the factories that +Julia and Miss South thought it well for the girls to visit in little +groups. Thus the process of biscuit-making, and spice-making, and half a +dozen other processes had been made clear to them in the course of the +spring, and Brenda said that in accompanying Miss South and the girls on +these expeditions she gained much more than she ever had from the +occasional historic pilgrimages that she had sometimes made with her +cousins. + +The girls of the Mansion made one or two historic pilgrimages, too. In +Brenda there was not a deep poetic vein, and something akin to this is +needed to make one thoroughly appreciate historic surroundings. In the +bustling factories she found something with which her spirit was more in +sympathy. + +The questions asked by the girls with her diverted her; the explanations +given by their guides in these places took her out of herself. + +During the summer the girls were to be invited to New Hampshire; for +Julia had been able to arrange with a farmer living not far from the +home of Eliza, her former maid, to have half a dozen of the girls board +with him for two months, while two were to be under the care of Eliza. +Julia or Miss South was to be at the farmer's during all the stay of +these girls, but on the whole the summer was to be considered a time of +recreation rather than work, and what the girls should learn in the +country was to be gained rather by observation than by direct teaching. + +As the choice had been given them, three or four had preferred to return +to their own families for the summer rather than to go to the country, +and thus the number to be looked after was not too large for the +successful carrying out of Julia's vacation plans. Her first intention +had been to take a house and equip it for summer work, carried on upon +the same plan as that of the Mansion in the winter, but her uncle and +aunt and others had pointed out so clearly the disadvantages of this +scheme that she had quickly given it up. The girls were likely to +return to their duties in the autumn much fresher, and much readier to +set to work, than if they had had the same kind of household tasks that +fell to them in winter. + +Mr. and Mrs. Barlow wished that Julia had planned to close the Mansion +on the first of June instead of July, for they saw that Brenda had no +intention of coming down to Rockley permanently until July. + +"Surely you are not so very much needed at this season. Julia and Miss +South could undoubtedly get some one else to take your place," her +mother remonstrated; and Brenda merely replied: + +"Oh, I am needed; I like to feel that I am needed, and besides it is my +own choice; I am staying in town because I want to." + +It was evidently useless to argue, and Mrs. Barlow made no further +effort to persuade her to change her mind. Naturally, however, she was +somewhat concerned to notice that Brenda was growing paler and thinner. +She felt that no good could come from Brenda's staying so late in town. + + + + +XIX + +THEY STAND AND WAIT + + +"Why so pensive?" + +"Pensive! Am I? I did not mean to be; it is certainly not exactly polite +when I have company." Julia smiled at Lois as she spoke, for Lois was +making one of her infrequent visits to the Mansion, and the two girls +had been reviewing many of the events of their college years. + +"Yes, you were pensive; you looked as if something weighed on your mind. +That particular expression has vanished now," concluded Lois; "but since +I caught that very unusual look, please tell me what it means. Is it the +war?" + +"Oh, no, not wholly." + +"Then partly; do you wish to go as a nurse?" + +"Oh, no; that is a kind of personal service for which I have never +thought myself especially well adapted. I leave that to experts like you +and Clarissa, for I suppose that now Clarissa is on her way to Cuba, +ready to do the bidding of the Red Cross. Why, Lois, with your bent in +that direction I do not wonder that you are pleased at the prospect of +going where you can really do some good." + +"I am not altogether sure that I can go. My mother is opposed to my +going, and to-day when I went to see Miss Ambrose I found her seriously +ill. I came to town to do an errand for her, but I could not resist +running up here for a few minutes; I wished to know what you had heard +from Clarissa." + +"It was only the briefest note, but she seems perfectly delighted with +the prospect before her of going. She is so strong that I am sure that +no harm will come to her, and she will be a perfect host in camp or +hospital." + +"And the cap and apron will become her. Can you not see her with her cap +tilted over her dark curls? I haven't the slightest doubt that she will +pin a bow of scarlet ribbon somewhere on her gown, even though the +regulations prescribe sombre costume." + +"Indeed, I can see her at this very minute, a real ray of sunshine; but, +Lois, I hope that Miss Ambrose is not very ill." + +"I cannot tell. It is a nervous break down. All that she reads and hears +about the war carries her back to the days of the Civil War. She lost +several dear relatives and friends then, and the present excitement has +caused what I should call a kind of reflex action. Unless this Spanish +War proves longer than we expect, a few weeks rest will bring her +around. I am glad that my examinations are just over, for I must spend +my time with her." + +"Naturally," responded Julia; "and after all, this will be as good a +cause as nursing sick soldiers, though I understand your +disappointment." + +As the two friends talked, Julia's face lost the pensive expression that +Lois had remarked when she first came in. The expression had no deeper +reason than her feeling of dissatisfaction with her winter's work, a +regret that what she had undertaken must hamper her now, when greater +things were claiming the attention of so many other of her friends. Yet +before Lois went home she had begun to see that she need not be +dissatisfied with her own limitations. + +"'They also serve who only stand and wait,'" Lois had quoted apropos to +herself, just as Philip had quoted it some weeks before, and Julia found +this line of Milton's even more applicable to her own case than Philip +had to his. For there was a prospect that Lois, if the war continued, +might find it possible to offer herself as a nurse, while Julia was sure +that the duties that she had assumed would prevent her doing this, even +as Philip knew that he could not leave his father. Julia regretted, too, +that she had not as much money to offer as she would have had but for +her year's work at the Mansion. + +Miss Ambrose, to whom Lois had referred, was not a relative, nor even an +old friend. She had made the acquaintance of this elderly woman by +chance toward the close of her Radcliffe course, and had found her way +to Miss Ambrose's heart without special effort on her own part. An +accident had enabled her to do Miss Ambrose a real kindness. The older +woman had been greatly pleased to learn that Lois was studying at +Radcliffe. Her own tastes in her younger days had inclined her to a +college education, but, alas! at that time there was small opportunity +for a woman to go to college. In interesting herself in Lois' college +work she had seemed to live over again her own youth, and she was never +weary of hearing the details of college life. Later, when Lois was on +the point of leaving Radcliffe, because she had not the money to stay +there longer, Miss Ambrose insisted on her accepting from her the sum +necessary to enable her to remain. In view of the older woman's +kindness, and also because a genuine friendship existed between the two, +it was natural that Lois should wish to stay with Miss Ambrose while she +was ill. Indeed, she was glad to do this, even though she had to curb +her desire to be a nurse during the war. + +When Lois left, Julia put herself through a little cross-examination; +for a month or two she had not been wholly satisfied with her year's +work. Had she used her time and her money in the best way? Was there not +some other work that she might have carried on to greater advantage? Was +it altogether wise to have given up so entirely her own personal +interests? Ah! Clarissa was right; she was not justified in putting +entirely aside her music--especially her work in composition. What, +indeed, had she to show for the year? So her thoughts ran. Ten girls +better trained in useful things than would have been the case without +the Mansion teaching; but this year must be followed up by another year +of teaching, and then in the end could she be sure that they would +retain what they had learned? Concetta and Haleema had improved +superficially, but she was by no means confident that they were really +neater or really more truthful than in the beginning. Maggie--and here +she smiled--broke fewer dishes, but her reticence was far from +commendable. Frankness was a virtue that she herself constantly +preached, yet she had been able to instil very little of this quality +into Maggie's breast. In spite of all her precepts, too, Inez was still +as willing as at the beginning of the year to put on her stockings with +the feet unmended, and--"Difficulties are things that show what men +are." Like a ray of sunlight this thought from Epictetus flashed across +Julia's mind. After all, how few real difficulties she had had to meet +during the year; and had not the successes been more than the failures? + +Mary Murphy had been the only one of the girls to insist on leaving the +school, although she had occasionally heard the others expressing their +dissatisfaction, especially when some of them had undergone some of the +discipline that they had to undergo. One of the first lessons to learn +had been that of the general deceitfulness of girls, and of these girls +in particular, who did not hesitate to make many little criticisms as +unjustifiable as they were foolish. + +After all, the balance sheet did not show a total against the +experiment, even when all the things were counted that had to be called +not quite successful. + +"It is the warm weather," thought Julia, "that depresses me. Instead of +dreading next year, when autumn comes I shall probably wish that I had +twice as much to do." + +Brenda was disturbed by no such doubts as those that assailed Julia. She +was helping Julia that she might help herself forget that a war was +hanging over the country, and that if there should be a great battle, +if Arthur should be killed, she could never forgive herself. Yet, after +all, what had she had to do with his going, unless, indeed, she had been +foolish in repeating her father's criticism of Arthur's idleness. She +could not forget that autumn ride and that half-jesting conversation, +and the change in Arthur from that moment; but for that, perhaps, he +would not have gone to Washington, and if he had not gone to Washington +she was sure that he would not have volunteered so early. Had he been +near them, certainly Agnes and Ralph would have shown him that it was +his duty to stay at home, just as much his duty as it was the duty of +Ralph or Philip. + +Philip had stayed behind on account of his father, and Ralph felt it his +duty to fly to Paris on account of his sick uncle. Arthur could have +gone there in his place, and then he would have been perfectly safe. +Now, even while Brenda was reasoning in this foolish fashion--yet it +could hardly be called reasoning--she did not fully face the question as +to whether she had not done wrong rather than Arthur. She still blamed +him for not writing to her. What if she had not answered his last two +letters? He was the one who had gone farthest away, and he should have +written. + +Now all of this was the very poorest logic, and no one understood this +better than Brenda herself, slow though she was to admit that she had +made a blunder. + +Miss South heard frequently from her brother Louis, who had been one of +the first to go to the front, and a box had been already sent from the +Mansion filled with useful things for the men of his company, about +whose privations in camp he had written very entertainingly. "How would +you like it," he wrote, "to have to take your occasional bath in a +rubber blanket? Yes! that is exactly what I do. We cannot bathe in the +creek, for its muddy water is all we have to drink. So when I wish to +bathe I dig a narrow trench some distance away, lay my rubber blanket in +it, and carry enough water to fill it. In no other way could I get a +decent--I mean a half-decent--bath." Then he told of the canned beef and +hard bread that was his chief diet, and added that if the heat +continued, he would have nothing worse to fear from the Cuban climate, +"for to Cuba they say we shall go before the end of June." + +Brenda, listening to the letter, wondered if Arthur, too, had had the +same experiences. + +More than all, she wondered if the troops now in camp would really go to +Cuba, and if--if-- + +Then she would not let her thoughts go too far. She could not bear to +think of the coming battles; for every one said that the Spaniards would +not yield without a bitter conflict. + +Maggie, whose devotion to her was unnoted by Brenda, watched the latter +from day to day, and often saved her steps by anticipating her wishes. +Maggie observed that Brenda's face was paler and thinner than when she +first began to live at the Mansion. She noticed, too, that she no longer +cared for pretty gowns. She wore constantly a blue serge skirt and shirt +waist, suitable enough in its way for one who was a resident at a +settlement; but Brenda had formerly cared little for suitability, and +Maggie, though she would not for a moment have admitted that her idol +looked less than beautiful, still wished that she had the courage to ask +her to wear occasionally one of the dainty muslin gowns that she knew +she had brought with her to the Mansion. + +One day as Brenda strolled through the upper hall she saw the door of +Maggie's room ajar. This reminded her that it was her turn to inspect +the bureaus of the girls, and acting on impulse she went at once to +Maggie's drawer. This inspection usually consisted only of a passing +glance to make sure that the contents of the drawers were not in the +state of hopeless confusion into which the bureaus of young girls have a +strange way of throwing themselves. + +Maggie's bureau, if not above criticism, was fairly neat, but as Brenda +turned away something strangely familiar caught her eye. It could not +be--yet it surely was--and she took the bit of silver in her hand to +assure herself that it really was the chatelaine clasp of the silver +purse that she had lost. As she took up the little piece of silver her +hand trembled. There was no doubt about it; too well she recognized the +elaborately engraved rose, surmounted by the double B, that had been her +own especial design. How vividly came back to her the day on which she +had lost the purse--the day of the broken vase, of the discovery of +Maggie, of the deferred walk with Arthur; all came back to her vividly, +and yet these things seemed years and years away. She had never +associated Maggie with the lost purse, but now suspicion followed +suspicion, and all in an instant Maggie McSorley had become not merely a +tiresome little girl, but one deserving of reprimand if not of +punishment. + +Then discovery followed discovery. Just back of the silver clasp lay the +picture of a young, good-looking soldier in campaign uniform, and Brenda +could not help reading at the bottom the words, "From your loving Tim." + +At that moment there was a step at the door, and immediately Maggie was +beside her. The little girl reddened as she looked over Brenda's +shoulder. + +"My uncle," she exclaimed. + +"Why, Maggie! How often your aunt has said that you haven't a relation +in the world but herself and her husband." + +"Then it's she that doesn't tell the truth," and frightened by her own +boldness Maggie burst into tears. + +Brenda did not feel like consoling her. Moreover, Maggie's next words, +"Don't tell my aunt," were not reassuring; so Brenda went rather sadly +downstairs. The clasp was still in her left hand; she had even forgotten +to show it to Maggie. Near the library door she met Concetta, looking +bright and cheerful. What a pleasant contrast to the weeping, +unsatisfactory girl upstairs! + +That evening Maggie did not appear again downstairs. She would take no +tea, and Gretchen, who had gone above to inquire, reported that Maggie +had a severe headache. As Julia left the rest of the family after tea to +see what she could do for Maggie, Brenda seated herself at the library +table beside Concetta, who was turning over the leaves of a book. + +Half absent-mindedly Brenda fingered the clasp which had been in her +pocket since the afternoon, and Concetta, as her eye fell upon it, put +out her hand as if to seize it. Then as quickly she drew her hand away, +pretending not to have seen the bit of silver. Brenda did not notice +Concetta's action, though she was pleased to hear her say a word or two +in excuse of Maggie's weeping proclivities. + +"She's such a kind of tender-hearted girl. Yes, she told me the other +evening that she hated to kill a mosquito; she'd rather let them bite +her. Why, I'd kill hundreds of mosquitoes without thinking of it," +concluded Concetta boldly; "and it made Maggie cry when the kitten got +scalded the other day, but I wouldn't think of crying." + +Brenda listened to Concetta quietly; she was wondering if she ought to +disclose her suspicions to Julia. At length she decided that it was her +duty to do so. + +"Let us ask Miss South what she thinks. Perhaps there is some +explanation that she can suggest." + +Miss South, when consulted, was inclined to question the accuracy of +Brenda's memory. + +"Isn't it possible that you have forgotten just when you lost the +purse?" + +"No, indeed, I have not forgotten," said Brenda. "It made a great +impression on me that I should have lost it on the very day when I had +had to pay for that broken vase, and that was the day when I first went +home with Maggie; but really I never thought of her having taken it, +and I'm very, very sorry." + +Brenda spoke in tones of genuine distress. It is true that she had never +been very fond of Maggie, and that her first pride in her as an +acquisition for the Mansion had soon passed away. Concetta and one or +two of the other girls had interested her more. Yet in a general way she +had had a good opinion of Maggie, which it hurt her very much now to be +obliged to reverse. + +Thus, as the school year closed, Brenda, like Julia, was beginning to +have doubts about the value of the work that she had been doing; for if +Maggie had the clasp, she must also have the purse and its contents. The +money contained in it had amounted to only about three dollars, but the +purse itself had been valuable, and doubtless Maggie had sold it. "I +suppose she was afraid to sell the clasp on account of the initials," +Brenda thought, a little bitterly. + +Even though she had not liked Maggie as well as some of the other girls, +she was not pleased that she had made this unpleasant discovery. She +would have been more than glad if she had never seen that +harmless-looking little clasp lying in Maggie's bureau, if Maggie had +never told her that untruth about the soldier's photograph. + + + + +XX + +WEARY WAITING + + +Toward the end of June letters from Arthur were infrequent. Indeed, but +one had come from him since he had left camp for Cuba, and this, like +the earlier letters, had been addressed to Agnes, not to Brenda. Letters +were mailed to him twice a week, and various things had been sent to him +that the family hoped might be of use in camp. But although Brenda +helped pack the little boxes, and though she had bought, or at least +selected, many of the things that went in the boxes, she did not write. +She was still waiting for Arthur's letter. + +The last week in June several of the girls from the Mansion went home to +be with relatives for a few days before going up to the farm, and Brenda +at last agreed to go down to Rockley. Mrs. Barlow had told her that she +might bring with her any of the girls whom she wished to have with her. +"Naturally, I suppose, you will wish to bring Maggie, as she is your +especial protégée." + +Mrs. Barlow had not realized the waning of Brenda's interest in Maggie, +but Brenda, as she read the letter, knew that she would not invite +Maggie. She had not yet spoken to Maggie about the silver clasp, but she +saw that the time had now come to do it, and she nerved herself to the +disagreeable task. Accordingly, a day or two before she was to start for +Rockley she called Maggie to her room, but when Maggie appeared she was +not alone. Concetta was with her. It hardly seemed wise to send Concetta +away, and the two little girls sat down, as if to make an afternoon +visit. Hardly had she been seated five minutes, however, when Concetta +spied the little silver clasp that Brenda had laid on the table near by. +At first she put out her hand as if to take it, then even more quickly +drew it back. But Brenda had noted the action, and after they had talked +a few minutes of other things she brought up the subject of the lost +purse. + +She had described the pretty purse that she had so valued, because it +was a present from one of whom she was especially fond, and told how its +loss had distressed her. It must be admitted that her heart beat a +trifle more quickly as she looked at the two, but neither of the girls +appeared the least self-conscious. Then she held up the clasp--perhaps +it wasn't just right to say this before Concetta--and added: + +"It surprised me very much a day or two ago to find this little clasp in +the possession of one of the girls here at the Mansion, for it is the +very clasp that I lost with the silver purse." + +Then Maggie reddened and looked at Concetta, and Concetta looked from +Maggie to Brenda. + +"Did you think that somebody stole it?" asked Maggie anxiously, and +then she seemed to search Concetta's face for an answer. + +"I hardly care to say what I think," replied Brenda. "I should not like +to believe that any one had stolen it." + +This time her gaze was so evidently directed toward Maggie that Maggie +was almost driven to reply. + +"I know that it was in my drawer, Miss Barlow, but--" + +"Oh, it was I who gave it to her, I really did; but I didn't steal it." +Concetta spoke very positively. + +Brenda was certainly puzzled by the turn of affairs, the more puzzled +because she realized as well as any one else in the house that Maggie +and Concetta had never been good friends, yet it was Maggie whom she now +heard saying: + +"Oh, I'm sure, Miss Barlow, that Concetta isn't to blame." + +"I never saw the purse," explained Concetta, "but the clasp was given to +me--that is, I paid twenty-five cents for it. The girl I got it from +lives in the next house to my uncle's; you can ask her about it." + +"Well, I'm obliged to you, Concetta, for freeing Maggie from suspicion. +It is indeed strange that the day I lost the purse was the very day on +which I first saw Maggie. You remember, Maggie, the day when I went home +with you." + +"Yes, indeed, Miss Barlow, the day I broke that vase; that was a bad +bargain for you." + +"Why, I'm not so sure, Maggie; you see I seem to have found you in +exchange for the vase, and perhaps, after all, I have had the best of +the bargain. But tell me, Concetta, how it happens that you and Maggie +are good friends now. Only a little while ago you seemed to be far from +friendly, yet now you would not have been so ready to tell me about the +silver clasp if you had not been anxious to help free Maggie from any +chance of blame." + +So Concetta--for in spite of occasional mistakes in English she was +always more voluble than Maggie--explained that several times of late +Maggie had been very kind to her, and she gave among her instances the +day when Maggie had helped with the lamps; "and then I thought that she +was dreadfully good when she never told about Haleema the day the +ammonia got spilled, for it was Haleema that broke the bottle, but +Maggie never told; and then," concluded Concetta magnanimously, "I got +tired of hearing every one find fault with Maggie, so she and I are +going to be great friends now. That's one of the things I've learned +here, that it's better to be good friends with every one, 'to love your +neighbor as yourself.' Miss South often talks to me about it, and so I'm +trying to think that every one is as good as I am;" and Concetta tossed +her pretty head, and her expression seemed to say that she did not find +this sentiment the easiest one in the world to hold. + +On investigation--for Concetta urged her to investigate--Brenda found +her story true so far as it concerned the way in which she had come into +possession of the silver clasp. The little girl from whom she had bought +it referred her to an old woman who had a long story as to how it had +come into her possession, and Brenda at last decided that it was useless +to follow the clew further. But the outcome of all this was a better +understanding between Brenda and Maggie, for Brenda, when she had once +made a mistake, was never unwilling to rectify it. Whether this little +girl had stolen it or whether the old woman was to blame she did not +care. She felt sure that neither Maggie nor Concetta had taken the +purse. She praised the latter for her frankness, and became so kind to +the former, that Maggie actually blossomed out under her smiles. + +Before the end of the month Pamela had written that she must stay in +Vermont all summer, and in consequence could take no part in the +vacation work that Julia had planned. Nora accordingly offered her +services, and Amy wrote that she volunteered to spend August with the +girls. + +Brenda's cousin, Edward Elton, who happened to be present when the plans +were discussed, expressed himself as being so gratified that Julia and +Miss South would not be left to carry on the work quite alone, that +Anstiss Rowe, ever a fun lover, began to speculate as to the reason for +his concern. + +"Do you suppose that this is on account of his interest in Julia? Julia +has so many others to worry about her, that he need not be especially +fearful on her account, or--there, I'll ask her--" and running up to +Miss South, who had just been bidding Mr. Elton good-bye at the door, +she put the question so suddenly that Miss South actually blushed. Then +a certain idea came into Anstiss' mind, which just then she did not put +into words. + +It was the end of June before Brenda consented to go down to Rockley, +and when she went Maggie accompanied her. The observing little girl was +still disturbed as she noted how thin Brenda had grown, and even before +Mr. and Mrs. Barlow noticed it, Maggie had seen that Brenda's step was a +little heavy, that her bright manner had given place to listlessness. +Her one interest seemed to consist in buying and collecting things for +the benefit of the Volunteer Aid Association. No one now reproached her +for extravagance, and when her father found that it would please her, he +doubled his contribution to this Association, and sent another in +Brenda's name. + +One afternoon Julia came down and spent the night, and the two cousins +wandered on the beach, just as they had in that summer that now seemed +so long past--that summer that had been Julia's first at Rockley. Little +Lettice, skipping along beside them, begged her aunt to tell her about +the day when she had sat on the rock and had dropped her book on the +heads of Amy and Fritz seated just beneath her. It always interested +Lettice to hear this, for Brenda had a fashion of ending the story with +"and if I hadn't dropped that book, I might never have known your cousin +Amy." For Amy was "Cousin Amy" in the vocabulary of Lettice, who would +have thought it a great misfortune never to have known this adopted +relative, since nobody else in her whole circle of acquaintances had so +many delightful stories to tell. But on this particular evening Brenda +was not ready to repeat her story nor to tell any other, and little +Lettice, with a grieved expression, ran on ahead of Brenda and Julia to +skip stones in the water. Julia did not remonstrate with Brenda, for she +realized that her cousin was not acting wholly from perversity. + +Now Brenda was not the only one of the Mansion group whom the prospect +of Cuban fighting troubled. Miss South's brother Louis was at the front, +and two of Nora's brothers, and Tom Hearst, who had written several +amusing letters from camp. Yet although those who were in the army tried +to cheer the hearts of their friends at home, and although the latter +wrote cheerfully in reply, all felt that the time was far from a happy +one. The more timid, like Edith, had recovered from their fear that the +Spanish fleet would pounce down upon the defenceless inhabitants of the +North Shore. Yet some of them would have faced this danger rather than +to live in dread that their sons and brothers were to meet the troops in +actual conflict under the hot Cuban sun. + +Even the strongest, even those who had no relatives in the army, were +stirred, as they had seldom been stirred before, on that Sunday morning +when they received the first news of the attack on Santiago. How +terrifying were the broad headlines with letters two or three inches +long, and how meagre seemed the information given in the columns +below,--meagre, yet appalling: "The volunteers were terribly raked. +Nearly all the wounded will recover." How much and yet how little this +meant until the names of the killed and wounded should be given! Brenda +herself would not look at those Sunday newspapers. Agnes summarized the +news for her, and told her that in the short list given of wounded or +killed she had not yet found one that she knew. + +"Oh, when shall we hear everything?" cried Brenda. "Oh, Papa, can't you +go; can't I go with you? I would so much rather be in Cuba than here." + +"My dear child, you are foolish. In Cuba at this season! Even if you +could go, what could you do? The killed and wounded are a very small +proportion of those who are fighting, and we have no reason to think +that Arthur is among them. To be sure, I wish that Ralph were here; we +could, at least, send him South. As it is, I may go myself, but we can +only wait until to-morrow, when there will be more complete reports." + +Were twenty-four hours ever as long as those that passed before the +Monday morning papers arrived? + +After her sleepless night again Brenda shrank from reading the reports. +Agnes, going over the long list of killed and wounded, gave an +exclamation of surprise,--or horror,--then checked it, with an anxious +look at Brenda. The latter, watching her narrowly, sprang forward. + +"What is it Agnes? You must tell me at once." + +"Poor Tom Hearst!" cried Agnes, as her tears fell on the paper; "he was +killed by a bursting shell during the early part of the attack on San +Juan Hill." + +But Brenda apparently did not hear. + +"Is Arthur's name there?" she asked impatiently. + +"Why, yes," said Agnes reluctantly, "it--" + +But before she could utter another word Brenda had fallen heavily to the +floor, and for a few minutes everything else was forgotten. Indeed, from +the moment when Brenda was placed on the couch in her room upstairs +Agnes did not leave her side, and for twenty-four hours, by the +direction of the physician whom they had hastily summoned, they did not +dare to refer to Santiago. + +When she came to herself Brenda learned that the report about Arthur had +simply been "slightly wounded;" that her father was expecting an answer +soon to his telegram of enquiry, and that Philip Blair had started +South. + +A faint smile passed over Brenda's face. + +"I was sure--I was afraid that he was killed--like poor Tom. Isn't it +dreadful that he should die? he was always so full of life." Then she +began to weep silently, and said no more about Arthur. + +Now it happened that Brenda passed through a more severe illness that +summer than Arthur. Her physician, in anxious consultation with the +family, concluded that she had stayed too long in town. "I think, too," +he said, "that she has had something to worry her. It would seem," he +added apologetically, "that one situated as she is would have no cares; +but it is hard sometimes to account for the workings of a young girl's +mind. She may have magnified some little anxiety until it played serious +injury to her nerves." + +"It is this war," responded Mrs. Barlow. "I wonder that more of us do +not have nervous prostration." + +During those long weeks Brenda herself had little to say, even when she +was well enough to sit up. When she spent long hours under the awning on +the little balcony on which her windows opened, she seemed to take but a +languid interest in the world around her. + +In those first two or three days when Brenda's condition was at its +worst, when there was even a question whether or not she would get well, +no one thought much about Maggie, the newcomer at Rockley, whose grief +was greater than she could express. She kept her place in a corner of +the piazza, hoping and hoping that some one would ask her to do +something for the sick girl. Gladly would she have exchanged places with +the trained nurse who went back and forth to the sick-room, had she not +known that the nurse could do the things that she in her ignorance was +unequal to. At last there came a day when Brenda herself asked for her, +and after that Maggie was always in the sick-room, except on those +occasions when she was carrying into effect some request of Brenda's. +How thankful she felt for the lessons in invalid cookery, that now +enabled her to prepare a tempting luncheon that Brenda would eat after +she had petulantly refused the equally good luncheon prepared by the +nurse. Then there were hours when no one but Maggie could amuse Brenda, +when, after listening to a chapter or two from the book that she had +asked Maggie to read, the sick girl would draw the other into +conversation. Any one who listened would have found that the subject +about which they talked was war and battles--especially the eventful day +of the Santiago fight, concerning which Brenda would allow no one +else to speak to her. + +[Illustration: She seemed to take but a languid interest in the world +around her] + +Now it happened that one afternoon after Maggie had been reading to her, +Brenda remembered the photograph that she had seen in Maggie's room, and +again, as on that former day, she asked her about it. So Maggie was +drawn to tell all about Tim, even the sad story of his imprisonment. + +"But now," she concluded, "everything is going to be all right. His +captain is going to have him recommended for promotion for saving +life--great bravery," and she pronounced the words with extreme pride. +"He saved an officer at the risk of his own life, and when the war's +over he's coming to see me." + +In fact, Maggie had good reason to be proud of Tim. She had read his +name in the newspapers, and though his own letters were modest, she was +sure that he had been a real hero. + +But the strangest thing of all was a letter from Philip Blair, that Mrs. +Barlow read one day aloud in Maggie's presence. + +"After all," he wrote, "sick as Arthur is, we may be thankful that it is +fever and a very slight wound that keep him on his back. From all I hear +he had the narrowest escape, and but for a private soldier, Tim +McSorley, he would probably have lost both legs." Then followed a +description of the way in which Tim had rescued him almost from under +the bursting shell; for, the newspaper report to the contrary, Arthur +had not been badly hurt by the shell, only stunned, with a slight wound +also from a grazing bullet. But the hardships of the campaign had so +told on him that he was soon on the sick list, and when he reached Fort +Monroe on the hospital ship he was in a raging fever. + +Now to Philip in this eventful July had come an opportunity for +usefulness, really greater than if he had gone to Cuba in the army. As +his father could now spare him, he had given invaluable service to the +sick. He had made one trip to Cuba and had had the grave of Tom Hearst +marked properly, and he had travelled the length of the country from +Florida to Boston to report to the Volunteer Aid Association the +especial needs of the sick soldiers in the camps that he had visited. He +was a real ministering angel--for angels are often masculine--to Arthur +and other sick friends of his in the hospital at Fort Monroe; and those +who knew how much he accomplished in this direction wondered how he +found time for the long and cheerful letters that he wrote to the +friends of the sick to keep up their spirits. + +Lois, too, though belated, had a chance to serve as a nurse in one of +the camps, and, while doing her duty there, had the satisfaction of +knowing that she was not neglecting home duties; for both her family and +Miss Ambrose were at last in such a condition that she felt justified in +leaving them. Though few persons would have envied her her hard hospital +work, Lois considered herself the most enviable of mortals, and all that +she went through only confirmed her in her strong desire to be a +doctor. + + + + +XXI + +AN OCTOBER WEDDING + + +One fine October morning, almost three months to a day from the victory +at Santiago, Julia and Nora, Edith and Ruth, stood on one of the broad +piazzas at Rockley talking as rapidly as four intimate friends can talk. +Ruth and Julia were hand and hand, for this was their first day together +since Ruth's return from her year's wedding journey, and each was +delighted to find the other unchanged. "A little older," Julia had said +when Ruth pressed her for her opinion; and then, that her friend might +not take her too seriously, "but I'd never know it." + +"A little more sedate," Ruth had responded; "but you do not show it." + +Then the four fell to talking over the events of this very remarkable +year. + +"Nothing can surprise me," Ruth said, "since I have heard of the +engagement of Pamela to Philip Blair. I did not suppose that he had so +much sense. Excuse me," she added hastily, noting Edith's surprised +look; "I merely meant that Pamela's good qualities are the kind that the +average man would be apt to overlook." + +"Philip is not an average man," responded Edith proudly; "we all think +that he is most unusual." + +"Yes, indeed," interposed Nora; "my father says that he never saw any +one develop so wonderfully, and when he was first in college every one +thought that he was to be a mere society man, like Jimmy Jeremy. +Wouldn't you hate it, Edith, if he had decided to devote his life to +leading cotillions?" + +"Oh, he never would have done that," said the literal Edith; "he would +have found something else to do daytimes." + +Then Nora, to emphasize Philip's development, told several anecdotes of +his helpfulness and devotion to the sick soldiers. + +But neither Edith nor Nora then told what Ruth learned later, that Mrs. +Blair was far from pleased with the turn of events, as the quiet and +almost unknown Pamela was not the type of girl she would have selected +to be Philip's wife. Her objection, however, had been made before +Philip's engagement was formally announced. When once it was settled, +she accepted it with the best possible grace, and even Pamela herself +scarcely realized the obstacles that Philip had had to overcome in +gaining his mother's consent. + +Edith had found it even harder to conceal her disappointment from +Philip. Only to Nora did she say, frankly, "I hoped that it would be +Julia. They were always such friends, and I am sure that no one ever had +so much influence over him." + +"We can give Julia the credit of having made Philip look at life in a +broader way, and I am sure that they are still the greatest friends. +But I happen to know, Edith, that she never felt the least little bit of +sentiment for him, and never would." + +More than this Nora could not be persuaded to say, and Edith, though +with a slight accent of resignation, added: + +"Oh, well, I'm very fond of Pamela already, and if I can't have Julia +for a sister-in-law, I'm sure that she and I will get along beautifully. +Only it will seem very strange to have such a learned person in the +family." + +But to return to the group on the piazza this bright autumn morning. +Seldom have tongues flown faster than theirs. There were so many things +to talk about, more absorbing even than Philip's engagement,--Arthur's +wonderful escape, for example, of which Ruth had heard only the vaguest +account. Now, as she wished to hear details, Nora naturally was ready to +give them to her. + +"A shot had passed through his ankle, and he couldn't drag himself away, +so that there seems not the slightest doubt that he would have been +struck again, and perhaps killed, for he was just in the line of the +enemy's fire." + +Nora spoke as if quite familiar with army tactics and military language, +and since there was no one present to criticise her or to say whether +her description was technically correct, she continued: + +"Yes, we are quite sure that he would have been killed if it hadn't been +for Tim McSorley, who dragged him away--" + +"Ah," interposed Edith, "and isn't it strange this soldier proved to be +a cousin or uncle of Maggie McSorley, a girl, you know, who is at the +Mansion; and it's all the stranger because it was Brenda who discovered +her, and this has made the greatest difference for Maggie. Brenda had +got into the habit of snubbing her, but now she can't do enough for +her." + +"It's all very interesting," said Ruth, smiling slightly; "but Maggie +herself hadn't anything to do with rescuing Arthur, had she?" + +"Oh, no, indeed; but still it has made a difference, for Brenda +naturally feels grateful to every one belonging to Tim McSorley. She is +so impulsive. Then I think, too, that she saw that she had always been +unfair to Maggie, and so now she can't do enough for her, just to make +amends." + +"Yes, and besides, although Maggie had nothing to do with rescuing +Arthur, it was her uncle's letter to her that gave the first account of +what had really happened to Arthur. I was in the room when she came +running to Brenda with the letter; it was when Brenda was nearly beside +herself, waiting for some real news, and I honestly think that that +letter saved her from brain fever," added Julia. + +"'All's well that ends well,'" rejoined Ruth, "is too trite a proverb to +quote to-day, yet, however it happened, we should be thankful that +Brenda escaped brain fever. No day could be more ideally suited for a +wedding than this, but if Brenda's illness had been more severe than it +was, who knows when the wedding could have taken place. The day might +have been postponed to December or some equally disagreeable month, and +no tenting on the lawn then." + +"I agree with you," said Julia; "and now I must run away, for there are +still several things to do for Brenda, and in less than an hour the +train will be here bringing Arthur and the rest of the wedding party. +Let me advise you," she concluded, "to be arrayed in your wedding +garments by that time, for on an informal occasion like this you will +all be needed to help entertain. Many of the guests have never been here +before." + +When at last the wedding guests arrived, the truth of this statement was +evident, for among them were very few of the old friends of the Barlow +family. + +"We have had one family wedding," Brenda had protested, when her friends +expressed surprise at her plans; "and now, if I wish to have mine small +and quiet, I think that I ought to be suited, and Arthur, too, for he +wishes everything to be just as I wish it." + +There was no gainsaying this reasoning, nor would Mr. and Mrs. Barlow +have asked Brenda to change her plans. What remonstrances there were +came from some of the relatives, and from many of Brenda's young friends +not invited to the house, who felt that in some way they were to lose +something worth seeing. As Brenda had decreed that it should be a house +wedding, they were not even to have the privileges of lookers-on, as +might have been the case at a church wedding. + +But was ever any family perfectly satisfied with the plans made for the +wedding of one of its members? Was there ever a wedding in preparing +for which various persons did not think themselves more or less +slighted? How, then, could Brenda expect to please all in her large +connection? Now, in spite of her impulsiveness, Brenda had been +considered rather conventional, and on this account many felt aggrieved +that she had insisted on having the affair small and informal. + +Yet after all it wasn't a very small wedding, and the drawing-rooms at +Rockley were well filled, though with a far less fashionable assemblage +than that which had surrounded and greeted Agnes and Ralph Weston six +years before. There were naturally a certain number of relatives +present, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Blair, Dr. and Mrs. Gostar, and a few +other old friends of both Brenda's and Arthur's families. + +Besides the "Four," and Julia and Amy and Ruth, there were Frances +Pounder and two or three of Brenda's former schoolmates. Miss Crawdon, +too, had been invited, and one or two teachers from her school. + +Frances Pounder, as her friends still called her, was now Mrs. Egbert +Romeyn, and her husband was to perform the marriage ceremony. Mr. +Romeyn's church was in a mission centre on the outskirts of the city, +and Frances gladly shared his parish labors. To the great surprise of +all who knew her, she had really buried the pride and haughty spirit of +her school days. + +Anstiss and Miss South and the rest of the staff of the Mansion were +present; and besides Philip Blair, and Will Hardon and Nora's brothers, +and Fritz Tomkins and Ben Creighton, there were several other young +men, Arthur's special friends chiefly, with a few of those who had known +Brenda from childhood. + +Then in addition to these were a number of "unnecessary people," as +Belle called them in a stage whisper to Nora,--all the girls from the +Mansion, for example, every one of whom had accepted the invitation, and +the whole Rosa family, from Mrs. Rosa to the youngest child. Since the +defeat of the Spanish, and especially since the destruction of Cervera's +fleet, Angelina had had little to say about her Spanish blood. Indeed, +she had been overheard giving an elaborate explanation to one of the +Mansion girls of the difference between Spanish and Portuguese, with the +advantage on the side of the Portuguese, from whom, she said, she was +proud to be descended, "although," she had added, "I was born in the +United States, and so I shall always be an American citizen." + +Although Angelina was the especial protégée of Julia, rather than of +Brenda, she took the greatest interest in the wedding. Had she been one +of the bridesmaids she could hardly have taken more trouble in having +her gown of the latest mode, at least as she had understood it from +reading a certain fashion journal, with whose aid she and a rather +bewildered Shiloh seamstress had made up the inexpensive pink muslin. + +Mrs. Rosa, dazed by the invitation to the wedding, inclined not to +accept it; but Julia, anxious to please Brenda, did all that she could +to make it possible for the whole Rosa family to come from Shiloh to +Rockley. The Rosas did not seem exactly essential to the success of the +wedding, yet as Brenda had set her heart on their presence, there was no +reason why she should not be humored. + +To any one who did not know the circumstances, the presence of Mrs. +McSorley and Tim may have appeared less explainable even than the +presence of the Rosas. + +Yet Tim, Maggie's Tim, was only second in interest in the eyes of many +present to Arthur himself; for he it was who had saved Arthur's life on +that memorable day of battle, and for this and another act of heroism he +had received especial praise from his commanding officers. + +It isn't every family that can have a hero in it, and Mrs. McSorley, +after Maggie had shown her Tim's name in print, and some of his letters, +had wisely concluded, as she said, to "let bygones be bygones;" and as +the nearest relative after Maggie of the brave soldier, Arthur had sent +her a special invitation. So it was that sharp-featured little Mrs. +McSorley, almost to her own surprise, found herself at Rockley, though +feeling somewhat out of place in the midst of what she considered great +grandeur. She stood in the background, near one of the long glass doors +opening on the piazza, ready to make her escape should any curious eyes +be turned toward her. The Rosas, Angelina excepted, were near Mrs. +McSorley, and Mrs. Rosa was in much the same state of mind as the +latter. + +[Illustration: Brenda had never looked so well] + +Yet after all, who has eyes for any one else when once the bride and +bridegroom have taken their places. Punctually at the appointed hour the +bridal party entered the room, and the murmur of voices was hushed. But +when the impressive service was over, and young and old hastened +forward with their congratulations, again the voices were heard--a +subdued chorus of admiration. For although, as Brenda had decreed, this +was a most informal wedding, though the service was simple, and there +were no attendants but little Lettice and her cousin Harriet, yet no +wedding of the year had been more beautiful. Brenda herself had never +looked so well, and her simple muslin gown was infinitely more becoming +than one more elaborate could have been. She carried a great bouquet of +lilies-of-the-valley, and the little bridesmaids carried smaller bunches +of the same flower. They wore little pins of white and green enamel, and +pearls in the form of sprays of lily-of-the-valley, Arthur's gift to +them, and they held their little heads very proudly, since this to them +was the most important moment of their lives. Arthur, as a hero of the +late war, was almost as interesting to the onlookers as the bride, and +that is saying a great deal. Though a little against his own will, he +wore his uniform, at Brenda's request, and thus gave just the right note +of color, as the artistic Agnes phrased it. Over the spot where the two +stood was a wedding-bell of white blossoms,--the one conventional thing +that Brenda had permitted,--and in every possible place were masses of +white chrysanthemums and roses and other white flowers. + +The continued warm weather had enabled Brenda to carry out her +long-cherished plan of having the wedding-breakfast in a tent on the +lawn, and she and Arthur led the way outside as soon as they could. The +others followed, and quickly all the guests were grouped in smaller +marquees arranged for them around the large tent in which the tables +were set. The caterer and his assistants were aided by a rather unusual +corps of helpers,--the girls from the Mansion, who had begged Brenda's +permission to serve her in this way. Every one of them was there, and +Maggie, who had been at Rockley all summer, directed them, pleased +enough that her knowledge of the house and grounds enabled her to be of +real use on this eventful day. + +"No," responded Brenda smilingly, as some one asked her what prizes +there might be concealed within the slices of wedding-cake,--"no, this +time I believe there is neither a thimble nor a ring, nor any other +delusion. You see, at Agnes' wedding I received in my slice of +bride-cake the thimble that should have consigned me to eternal +spinsterhood, and Philip had the bachelor's button. Now you can picture +my mental struggle when I found that I couldn't live up to what was so +evidently predestined for me, and Philip doubtless has had the same +trouble, and you can see why it is wiser that none of the guests to-day +should be exposed to similar perplexity." + +"But you forget Miss South," said Nora, who was one of the group; "don't +you remember that she found the ring in Agnes' cake?" + +"Oh, yes, but that only proves my rule." + +"Why, Brenda Barlow, how blind you are! Haven't you heard?" + +"I'm not Brenda Barlow, thank you, and I haven't heard, but I can see," +and she looked in the direction in which Nora had turned. There, +surrounded by the rest of the "Four," with Mr. and Mrs. Barlow and Mr. +and Mrs. Blair near by, stood Mr. Edward Elston, the picture of +happiness. Miss Lydia South, leaning on his arm, looked equally happy, +and her attitude was that of one receiving congratulations. + +"They did not mean to have it come out until next week," explained Nora, +"but in some unexplained way it became known, and now I suppose we may +all congratulate them." + +In a moment Arthur and Brenda had offered Miss South their cordial good +wishes. "I am more than glad to call you cousin," said Brenda, "and I do +not know which to congratulate the more, you or Cousin Edward. But what +will Julia and the Mansion do without you next year?" + +"Oh, I shall be at the Mansion until after Easter," replied Miss South, +"and for the remainder of the year I think that Nora and Anstiss are +willing to do double work. Beyond that we cannot look at present." + +"Arthur," said Brenda, as they moved away, "you are not half as cheerful +to-day as you were at Agnes' wedding. You and Ralph seem to have changed +places. It is he who is making every one laugh. It does not seem natural +for you to be so serious." + +Brenda seemed satisfied with Arthur's reply. + +"For one thing," said Arthur, "I am thinking of poor Tom Hearst. I +cannot help remembering that he was the life of everything then; it +seems so hard that he should have been taken." + +"Yes, yes," responded Brenda gently. "I, too, have been thinking about +him. I was looking, last evening, at the photograph we had taken at the +Artists' Festival--the group in costume with Tom in it. He was so happy +then at the thought of going to Cuba; and now--just think, Arthur, it +was only six months ago." Brenda's voice broke, she could hardly finish +the sentence. + +"There, there," interposed Arthur gently, "let us remember only that he +died bravely;" and then in an unwonted poetical vein he recited a few +lines beginning-- + + "How sleep the brave who sink to rest, + By all their country's wishes bless'd!" + +and Brenda, listening, was partly cheered, though even as her face +brightened she averred that she did not wish ever to wholly forget Tom +Hearst. + +To Brenda, indeed, any allusion to the war was painful. She could not +soon forget those first days of anxiety, and the anxious weeks of her +convalescence, when it was not a question of whether she _would_ write +to Arthur or not, but of whether she _could_. But now, with the future +spreading so brightly before them, it was hardly the time to dwell on +the mistakes of the past. + + + + +XXII + +THE WINNER + + +One morning not so very long after the wedding the old Du Launy Mansion +was "bustling with excitement." This, at least, was the way in which +Concetta phrased it, and if her expression was not exactly perfect in +the matter of its English, every one who heard her understood what she +meant, and agreed with her. Girls with eager faces hurried up and down +stairs, laughing gayly as they met, even when occasionally the meeting +happened to take the form of a collision. + +Lois, entering the vestibule, looked at the doorkeeper in surprise. She +resembled Angelina, and yet it was not she. + +"I'm her sister," the little girl explained; "I'm Angelina's sister. +She's going to study all the time this winter." + +"Oh, yes," responded Lois absent-mindedly; "so you are to take her +place." + +Lois had not known the whole Rosa family, and if she had ever heard of +Angelina's sisters, had forgotten their existence. Her first start of +surprise, therefore, had not been strange. But now as she went upstairs +she did recall the fact that Miss South and Julia had decided that +Angelina's rather indefinite duties as doorkeeper and assistant were not +likely to fit her for the most useful career. Taking advantage +accordingly of her professed interest in nursing, they had advised her +to begin a certain course of training, by which she might fit herself to +be a skilled attendant. "At the end of this course you may be inclined +to return to the Mansion and help us with the younger girls whom we +shall then have with us." The suggestion that she might some time teach +the younger girls pleased Angelina, and almost to their surprise she +accepted the offer. Her letters from the school to which she had gone, +though she had been there so short a time, were highly entertaining. +Those who were most interested in her were glad that Angelina had made +the change. She had not yet sufficient age and discretion to assume the +role of mentor and patroness that she liked to assume before the younger +girls now at the Mansion. + +"It is no reflection upon our school," Julia had said cheerfully, "that +we send Angelina to another; but we shall have younger girls in our next +year's class, and Angelina herself will then be older, and possibly +wiser, so that if she then tries to guide our pupils, it will not be a +case of the blind leading the blind." + +But this is a little aside from the entrance of Lois into the Mansion +this bright October day. After she had passed the young doorkeeper her +second surprise came in the shape of Maggie, who greeted her +enthusiastically as she stood at the door of the study. Enthusiasm was a +new quality for Maggie to manifest, and Lois would indeed have been +unobserving not to notice that the Maggie who now spoke to her was +altogether different from the Maggie McSorley whom she had known six +months earlier. The other Maggie had been thin and pale, and her eyes +were apt to have a red and watery look. But this Maggie was rosy-cheeked +and bright-eyed, and her expression was one of real happiness. Lois had +no chance to compliment Maggie on the change, for, before she could +speak, from behind two hands clasped themselves across her eyes, while a +deep voice cried, "Guess, guess,--" + +"Clarissa!" exclaimed Lois, and then with her sight restored she turned +quickly about to meet the smiling gaze of her old classmate. + +"I knew you were coming soon to visit Julia, but I had no idea that it +would be so soon." + +"I hope that you are not disappointed," rejoined Clarissa. "I hurried on +account of this wonderful prize-day. But how _did_ you manage to play +hide-and-seek with me in Cuba. By rights we should have met at the +bedside of some soldier, or at least on the hospital ship. Tell me, now, +wasn't it great, to feel that one was actually saving life?" and then +and there the two friends sat down on the lowest stair and began to talk +over all they had gone through during the past few months, regardless of +the wondering glances of the girls who passed on their way up and down. + +Lois, however, spoke less cheerfully of her experiences. She had +happened to help attend to a number of extremely pathetic cases, and on +the whole her work had touched her very deeply. A general improvement +in Miss Ambrose's condition had enabled her to accept with a clear +conscience an opportunity that had come to her for a brief term of +service as nurse, and her family had put no further obstacles in her +way. But on the whole, though glad that she had been able to help, she +had found that she shrank from certain details of the work. An observer +would not have imagined this condition of mind in Lois, for her hand was +always steady, her mind always alert for every change in her patient, +and she was unsparing of herself. But she had learned from her +experience that it would be wiser for her to shape her future studies +toward a scientific career, rather than in the direction of the active +practice of medicine. To have attained this self-knowledge was worth a +great deal to her. + +On the other hand, nursing had strengthened Clarissa in her zeal for +personal service, and she had decided to add to her Red Cross training a +regular hospital course for nurses. + +In the midst of their eager conversation the two friends suddenly were +recalled to the present by seeing Julia at the head of the stairs. + +"What a lowly seat you have chosen!" she cried. "But do go into the +study; I'll be there in a moment." + +When she joined them Lois apologized for having come so early. + +"You wrote me that this was to be the most remarkable prize-day you had +ever had, and I thought that I might make myself useful by arriving this +morning. But if you tell me that I am in the way, I'll bear the reproof +for the sake of the pleasure I've had in meeting Clarissa. I had not +realized that her visit to you had already begun." + +"Oh, we didn't tell you purposely. We wished to surprise you," and then +the conversation drifted naturally to their Radcliffe days. + +Julia herself brought it to an end by asking her friends to go to the +gymnasium, where they could make themselves useful by talking to her +while she did several necessary things in connection with the award of +the prizes. + +"It seems to me that it's always a prize-day here at the Mansion. Didn't +you have several last winter?" asked Lois. "I remember the tableaux, and +the valentines, and there were some prizes for scrap-books, and dolls, +and--" + +"Well," said Julia, with a smile, "if competition is the soul of trade, +why shouldn't it be the soul of education? At any rate, we feel that at +the Mansion we can accomplish a great deal by stimulating the girls with +the hope of a future reward. The prize award to-day, however, is nothing +new. Prizes will be awarded on last year's record. You must remember +that we promised two--one to the girl who had improved the most, who had +succeeded in reaching the highest standard, and one to her who tried the +hardest." + +"Ah, yes, I remember," responded Lois; "but I thought that they were to +be given last year." + +"We were too much occupied at the end of the season with thoughts of the +war. We decided to postpone the prize-day until autumn." + +"It's well that you did," said Clarissa, "otherwise you wouldn't have +had the pleasure of hearing me make a speech on the happy occasion," and +she drew herself up to her full height, as if about to begin an eloquent +oration. + +When afternoon came a baker's dozen of girls assembled in the gymnasium, +which was tastefully decorated with flags, branches of autumn foliage, +and long-stemmed, tawny chrysanthemums arranged in tall vases. + +Besides the pupils there were present all the staff of the Mansion, but +no outsiders, since this, after all, was to be a family affair--no +outsiders, at least, except Clarissa; for Lois, like Nora and Amy, and +one or two other friends of Julia's, were accounted members of the +staff, though their help was less definite than that of Julia and Pamela +and the other residents of the Mansion. + +As the girls took their places in a semicircle in front of the little +platform, they talked to one another in an undertone. + +"I hear that the prizes are perfectly beautiful. Miss Brenda, I mean +Mrs. Weston, sent one of the prizes, but I don't know what it is." + +"Whom did you vote for, Concetta?" + +"Oh, that's telling; we were not to tell until all the votes were +counted; but I think--" + +"Hush! Miss Julia's going to speak." + +Then as all the eager faces turned toward her, Julia began her informal +address. + +"I need not remind you that last winter you were told that two prizes +would be awarded at the end of the season. The first to the girl who in +every way had been the most successful--whose record was really the +best. The second to the girl who had succeeded in making the most of +herself. Miss South and I have watched you all carefully. Every day we +made a record of your improvement--in some cases, I am sorry to say, of +your lack of improvement. We have talked the matter over, and have asked +Miss Northcote to help us decide; and after we three had made one +decision, we referred it to every other person who had lived here the +past year, or who had taught you even for a short time." + +Julia's natural timidity heightened perhaps the seriousness of her tone, +and the faces before her grew sober. + +"Now at one time, as I think I told you, we thought of leaving it to you +girls to vote on both the first and the second prizes; but on second +thought we have seen that the first prize ought to be based on the +records that have been kept. Accordingly," and she opened a box that lay +on the table before her, "it gives me great pleasure to present this +case of scissors to Phoebe, as a prize awarded her for having made the +best record in work and in all other things during the past year." + +Now Phoebe had been so quiet a girl, so colorless in many ways, that +no one had thought of her as a possible prize-winner. She accepted the +scissors with a smile and a word of thanks, and passed the red morocco +case around the circle that all might see its contents--six pairs of +scissors, of the finest steel, ranging in size from a very small pair +of embroidery scissors to the largest size for cutting cloth. + +There were whispered comments in the interval that followed. One girl +expressing her astonishment that Phoebe had been the winner, another +replying, "Why, she never did wrong, not once; didn't you ever notice?" + +Then in a little while Julia spoke again. + +"We have decided to let you vote for the girl who deserves the second +prize. Remember it is to be given to the girl who has made the most of +herself, who has shown the greatest improvement. Each must write her +choice independently on one of these slips of paper, and at the end of +ten minutes Miss Herter will collect the slips." + +As they wrote, the faces of the girls were worth studying. Evidently the +matter was one that demanded deep thought. They bit their pencils, and +looked at one another, and at last wrote the name in haste and folded +the slip with the air of having accomplished a great thing. There were +some, of course, who wrote their choice instantly, and with no +hesitation, and waited almost impatiently for Clarissa to collect the +slips. But at last the votes were in, and as it did not take long to +count them, the result was soon known. + +"Nine votes--a majority--for Nellie, and it is confirmed by the staff," +announced Clarissa in her clearest tones. At this there was much +clapping of hands, and even a little cheering, for Nellie was a +favorite, and no one begrudged her the set of ebony brushes and mirror +for her table. Even Concetta and Haleema seemed content with the +result, although more than one of the judges surmised that the slips +that bore the names of these two girls were written each by the girl +whose name it bore. + +There was justice in this award to Nellie, who a year before had been +the most hoidenish of young Irish girls, in speech more difficult to +understand than any of the others, in dress untidy to an extent +bordering on uncouthness, and in disposition apparently very slow to +learn the ways of an ordinary household. By the end of the season her +speech had become clear and distinct, though with a charming brogue; her +dress had become neat and tasteful, and she could make most of her own +clothes, and Miss Dreen considered her the deftest of her waitresses. +Perhaps, however, the vote would not have been so nearly unanimous had +not Nellie also endeared herself to the girls by a certain sunniness of +disposition. She had not made a single enemy during the whole year. But +in the midst of their congratulations--from which the blushing Nellie +would gladly have escaped--the girls again heard Julia's voice. + +"I have here a letter from Mrs. Arthur Weston ["Miss Brenda," two or +three explained to their neighbors], who expresses her regret that she +cannot be with us to-day." + +Julia would have been glad to read her cousin's letter to the girls, had +it not been written in so unconventional a style as to make this +impossible. There were passages, however, that it seemed wise to give at +first hand, and with one or two slight changes of wording she was able +to read them. But first she had a word or two of explanation. + +"You may remember last year, when I told you that you were to have a +small allowance of money to spend each month as you pleased, I spoke of +this as 'earnings.' Although we of the staff had decided that we should +not criticise your way of spending it, we thought that by calling the +money 'earnings,' you might take better care of it. Well, I know that +two or three of you opened small accounts in a savings bank. I know that +others have spent the money in useful things for their relatives at +home, and more than one, I am sure, has nothing to show for her money +except the memory of chocolates and oranges, and perishable ribbons and +other fleeting pleasures; but we have agreed not to criticise this +expenditure, and I merely refer to them because _I_ know that one of +your number has been called a miser, because she was so intent on +hoarding that she would not spend a cent for things either useful or +frivolous." + +All eyes were now turned toward Maggie, and for the moment she felt like +running from the room. + +"But before I continue," added Julia, "I must tell you a story," and +then in a few words she related the episode of the broken vase; "and +now," she concluded, "I will read directly from Mrs. Weston's letter: + +"'You may imagine my surprise,'" she read, "'when a letter came to me a +day or two ago from Maggie McSorley containing a post-office order for +twenty-two dollars. This was to pay for the broken vase with interest. +It seems she had been saving it all winter from that meagre little +allowance you allowed her, and to make up the whole sum she did some +work this summer--berry-picking, _I_ believe. Arthur and I were very +much touched, and I have put the post-office order away, for I am sure +that I should never feel like spending it.'" + +"Sensible!" exclaimed Miss South, under her breath. + +Then Julia continued to read from Brenda's letter. + +"'So of course I want to make it up to Maggie, and I am sending a +twenty-dollar gold piece, which you must promise to give her as a prize, +on the same day when you give the other prizes, and she's to do exactly +what she likes with it. It's a prize for her having learned not to break +things. But I'm writing her that I am very glad she broke that vase, for +if she had not, I should never have had the chance of having the help +she gave me this last, dreadful summer.'" + +Perhaps Julia need not have read so much of the letter, though in doing +so she attained what she had in mind,--to show the girls that Maggie was +not a miser, and to explain why Brenda had of late shown so much more +interest in her than in some of the other girls. + +So Maggie in her turn was congratulated, the more heartily even, because +Miss South had added a word to Julia's speech by saying that, before +Brenda's letter had come, she had contemplated a special prize for +Maggie, since the latter had certainly succeeded in her efforts to +overcome some of her more decided faults,--"'A reward,' rather than 'a +prize,' perhaps we should call it, but, by whatever name, equally +deserved." + +That evening, after Clarissa had accepted Lois' invitation to go with +her to her Newton home for a day or two, Julia decided to go to her +aunt's to spend the night. The family had not yet returned to town, +though the house was now ready for them. A care-taker and another +servant were in charge, and, weary from her exertions of the afternoon, +Julia was rather glad of the rest and quiet that the lonely house +afforded. + +But although she enjoyed the quiet, the very freedom from interruption +gave her time for disquieting thoughts. She began to reflect upon her +own loneliness, upon the fact that she was not really necessary to +anybody. Her uncle and aunt were kindness itself, but even they did not +depend upon her. + +Every one--even little Manuel Rosa--was of special importance to some +one else, while among all the people in her circle she alone seemed to +stand quite by herself. The thought wore upon her, and deepened when she +thought of Brenda's absence. Later, when she went to Brenda's room to +put away some things that she had promised to pack for her, the cover +slipped from a little pasteboard box that she had lifted from a shelf. +Glancing within she saw some bits of broken, iridescent glass. The sight +made her smile. "Brenda's bargain," she said; "how absurd that whole +thing was,--the loss of the vase, the acquisition of Maggie; and yet I +am not sure," she continued to herself, "but that Brenda gained by the +exchange. I am not sure but that Maggie was a better investment than any +of us at first realized. She has been one of the means, certainly, by +which Brenda has gained a truer knowledge of herself." + +Nor was Julia wrong in this. Maggie unconsciously had helped Brenda to a +knowledge of herself; for the Brenda of the past year had been very +different from the Brenda of six years before. The earlier Brenda, as +Julia had first known her, had been unwilling to admit herself wrong, +even when her blunders stared her in the face. But the latter Brenda had +profited by her own blunders, in that she had been willing to learn from +them; and though Maggie had been only one of the elements working toward +Brenda's uplifting, she had had her part in the progress of the past +year. + +Thinking of Brenda in this light, dwelling on the affection that had so +increased as the two cousins had come to understand each other, Julia +became more cheerful. She felt that she no longer stood alone, for even +setting aside her circle of warm friends (how had she dared to overlook +them?), was she not in her aunt's household a fourth daughter, and loved +as well--almost as well--as Caroline, or Agnes, or Brenda? + + +LITTLE, BROWN, & COMPANY, _Publishers_ + +254 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MASS. + + * * * * * + + +HELEN LEAH REED'S "BRENDA" BOOKS + + +BRENDA, HER SCHOOL AND HER CLUB + +Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith. 12mo. $1.50. + +_The Boston Herald_ says: "Miss Reed's girls have all the impulses and +likes of real girls as their characters are developing, and her record +of their thoughts and actions reads like a chapter snatched from the +page of life. It is bright, genial, merry, wholesome, and full of good +characterizations." + + +BRENDA'S SUMMER AT ROCKLEY + +Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith. 12mo. $1.50. + +A charming picture of vacation life along the famous North Shore of +Massachusetts. + +The _Outlook_ says: "The author is one of the best equipped of our +writers for girls of larger growth. Her stories are strong, intelligent, +and wholesome." + + +BRENDA'S COUSIN AT RADCLIFFE + +Illustrated by Alice Barber Stephens. 12mo. $1.20 _net._ + +A remarkably real and fascinating story of a college girl's career, +excelling in interest Miss Reed's first "Brenda" book. The _Providence +News_ says of it: "No better college story has been written." The author +is a graduate of Radcliffe College which she describes. + + +BRENDA'S BARGAIN + +Illustrated. 12mo. $1.20 _net._ + +The fourth of the "Brenda" books by Helen Leah Reed, which will bring +this popular series to a close. It introduces a group of younger girls, +pupils in the domestic science school conducted by Brenda's cousin and +her former teacher, Miss South. The story also deals with social +settlement work. + + * * * * * + +_Anna Chapin Ray's "Teddy" Stories_ + + +TEDDY: HER BOOK. A Story of Sweet Sixteen + +Illustrated by Vesper L. George. 12mo. $1.50. + +Miss Ray's work draws instant comparison with the best of Miss Alcott's: +first, because she has the same genuine sympathy with boy and girl life; +secondly, because she creates real characters, individual and natural, +like the young people one knows, actually working out the same kind of +problems; and, finally, because her style of writing is equally +unaffected and straightforward.--_Christian Register_, Boston. + + +PHEBE: HER PROFESSION + +A Sequel to "Teddy: Her Book" + +Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill. 12mo. $1.50. + +This is one of the few books written for young people in which there is +to be found the same vigor and grace that one demands in a good story +for older people.--_Worcester Spy._ + + +TEDDY: HER DAUGHTER + +A Sequel to "Teddy: Her Book," and "Phebe: Her Profession" + +Illustrated by J. B. Graff. 12mo. $1.50. + +Introduces a new generation of girls and boys, all well bred and gifted +with good manners, takes them through much fun and such adventures as +one may find on a small sandy island, and gives the girl a page or two +of saving common sense about her duties to boys and her obligation to be +true and womanly.--_New York Times Saturday Review._ + + +NATHALIE'S CHUM + +Illustrated by Ellen Bernard Thompson. 12mo. $1.20 _net._ + +A charming story of a courageous fifteen-year-old girl's effort to help +her older brother support an orphaned family of five. "Nathalie is the +sort of a young girl whom other girls like to read about," says the +_Hartford Courant_. + + +URSULA'S FRESHMAN. A Sequel to "Nathalie's Chum" + +Illustrated by Harriet Roosevelt Richards. 12mo. $1.20 _net._ + +A hot-tempered, domineering girl, yet full of common sense and capable +of loyal love, and Jack, her cousin, who stoically accepts the loss of +his father's fortune, and begins to earn his own way through Yale, are +the two principal characters in Miss Ray's new book. + + * * * * * + +_Myra Sawyer Hamlin's Stories_ + + +NAN AT CAMP CHICOPEE; or, Nan's Summer with the Boys + +Illustrated by Jessie McDermott. 16mo. $1.25. + +The story is one of free, outdoor life, characterized by a deal of fine +descriptive writing and many bits of local color that invest the whole +book with an atmosphere which is actually fragrant.--_Bangor +Commercial._ + + +NAN IN THE CITY; or, Nan's Winter with the Girls + +Illustrated by L. J. Bridgman. 16mo. $1.25. + +A bright story in which children and animals play an equal part.--_The +Outlook._ + +She is a womanly girl, and we have met her like outside of story-books. +A wonderfully healthy, thoroughly womanly maiden, standing at the point +in life where childhood and womanhood meet, one follows with interest +the account of her first winter at school in a great city, where she +made new friends and found some old ones.--_Chicago Advance._ + + +NAN'S CHICOPEE CHILDREN + +Illustrated by L. J. Bridgman. 16mo. $1.25. + +Myra Sawyer Hamlin's stories are full of outdoor life, redolent of the +woods, the fields, and the mountain lakes, and her characters are very +natural young folk.--_Cambridge Tribune._ + +Full of happiness and helpfulness, with experiences in doors and out +that will interest all young people.--_Evening Standard, New Bedford._ + + +CATHARINE'S PROXY. A Story of Schoolgirl Life + +Illustrated by Florence E. Plaisted. 12mo. $1.20 _net._ + +An entertaining story of a very modern young American girl of wealth who +fails to appreciate the advantages of an expensive education, and at the +suggestion of her father gives her educational advantage to another +girl, who for a year becomes her proxy. + +The girl characters are from fifteen to seventeen years of age, the boys +are preparing for college, and all are instilled with the spirit of +modern life in our best schools. + + * * * * * + +NEW BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE + + +JO'S BOYS, And How They Turned Out + +A Sequel to "Little Men." By LOUISA M. ALCOTT. _New Illustrated +Edition._ With ten full-page plates by Ellen Wetherald Ahrens. Crown +8vo. $2.00. + +_Uniform with Jo's Boys_ + +LITTLE WOMEN. Illustrated by Alice Barber Stephens. + +LITTLE MEN. Illustrated by Reginald B. Birch. + +AN OLD-FASHIONED GIRL. Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith. + +The four volumes put up in box, $8.00. + + +THE GOLDEN WINDOWS + +A Book of Fables for Old and Young. By LAURA E. RICHARDS. Illustrated. +12mo. $1.50. + +This charming book will be a source of delight to those who love the +best literature, and in its pages there is much that will be helpful in +shaping children's lives. The stories are simply and gracefully told. + + +THE AWAKENING OF THE DUCHESS + +By FRANCES CHARLES. With illustrations in color by I. H. Caliga. 12mo. +$1.50. + +A pretty and touching story of a lonely little heiress, Roselle, who +called her mother, a society favorite, "the Duchess"; and the final +awakening of a mother's love for her own daughter. + + +A DAUGHTER OF THE RICH + +By M. E. WALLER, author of "The Little Citizen." Illustrated. 12mo. +$1.50. + +A delightful book, telling the story of a happy summer in the Green +Mountains of Vermont and a pleasant winter in New York. 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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: Brenda's Bargain + A Story for Girls + +Author: Helen Leah Reed + +Illustrator: Ellen Bernard Thompson + +Release Date: September 8, 2011 [EBook #37335] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRENDA'S BARGAIN *** + + + + +Produced by Heather Clark, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<h1>Brenda's Bargain</h1> + +<h3><i>A Story for Girls</i></h3> + +<h2>BY HELEN LEAH REED</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Author of "Brenda, Her School and Her Club" "Brenda's Summer at +Rockley," "Brenda's Cousin at Radcliffe"</span></h3> + +<h3>ILLUSTRATED BY ELLEN BERNARD THOMPSON</h3> + + +<p class="center">BOSTON<br /> +LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY<br /> +1903</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Copyright, 1903,</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">By Little, Brown, and Company.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><i>All rights reserved</i></p> + +<p class="center">Published October, 1903</p> + +<p class="center">UNIVERSITY PRESS<br /> +JOHN WILSON AND SON<br /> +CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus1" id="illus1"></a> +<img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>But what startled Brenda was the sight of a girl sunk in a heap beside +the broken glass</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<table width="50%"> +<tr><td align="right">I. </td><td><a href="#I"><span class="smcap">The Broken Vase</span> </a></td><td align="right">1</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">II. </td><td><a href="#II"><span class="smcap">A Family Council</span> </a></td><td align="right">14</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">III. </td><td><a href="#III"><span class="smcap">Brenda at the Mansion</span> </a></td><td align="right">26</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">IV. </td><td><a href="#IV"><span class="smcap">An Exploring Tour</span> </a></td><td align="right">40</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">V. </td><td><a href="#V"><span class="smcap">Philip's Lecture</span> </a></td><td align="right">51</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VI. </td><td><a href="#VI"><span class="smcap">In the Studio</span> </a></td><td align="right">62</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VII. </td><td><a href="#VII"><span class="smcap">In Difficulties</span> </a></td><td align="right">73</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VIII. </td><td><a href="#VIII"><span class="smcap">The Fringed Gentian League</span> </a></td><td align="right">86</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">IX. </td><td><a href="#IX">Nora's Work—and Polly </a></td><td align="right">97</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">X. </td><td><a href="#X"><span class="smcap">Arthur's Absence</span> </a></td><td align="right">107</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XI. </td><td><a href="#XI"><span class="smcap">Seeds of Jealousy</span> </a></td><td align="right">120</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XII. </td><td><a href="#XII"><span class="smcap">Doubts and Duties</span> </a></td><td align="right">126</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XIII. </td><td><a href="#XIII"><span class="smcap">The Valentine Party</span> </a></td><td align="right">139</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XIV. </td><td><a href="#XIV"><span class="smcap">Conciliation</span> </a></td><td align="right">147</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XV. </td><td><a href="#XV"><span class="smcap">War at Hand</span> </a></td><td align="right">158</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XVI. </td><td><a href="#XVI"><span class="smcap">The Artists' Festival</span> </a></td><td align="right">168</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XVII. </td><td><a href="#XVII"><span class="smcap">Ideal Homes</span> </a></td><td align="right">180</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XVIII. </td><td><a href="#XVIII"><span class="smcap">Where Honor Calls</span> </a></td><td align="right">193</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XIX. </td><td><a href="#XIX"><span class="smcap">They Stand and Wait</span> </a></td><td align="right">204</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XX. </td><td><a href="#XX"><span class="smcap">Weary Waiting</span> </a></td><td align="right">215</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XXI. </td><td><a href="#XXI"><span class="smcap">An October Wedding</span> </a></td><td align="right">227</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XXII. </td><td><a href="#XXII"><span class="smcap">The Winner</span> </a></td><td align="right">239</td></tr> +</table> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<table width="85%"> +<tr><td><a href="#illus1">"But what startled Brenda was the sight of a girl sunk in a heap beside +the broken glass" </a></td><td align="right"><i>Frontispiece</i></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#illus2">"Waiting for a car they had sat down on a wayside seat" </a></td><td align="right">62</td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#illus3">"'I think I hear some one coming upstairs'" </a></td><td align="right">77</td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#illus4">"They walked through the long galleries" </a></td><td align="right">136</td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#illus5">"She seemed to take but a languid interest in the world around her" </a></td><td align="right">224</td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#illus6">"Brenda had never looked so well" </a></td><td align="right">235</td></tr> +</table> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>BRENDA'S BARGAIN</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I</h2> + +<h3>THE BROKEN VASE</h3> + + +<p>One fine October afternoon Brenda Barlow walked leisurely across the +Common by one of the diagonal paths from Beacon Street to the shopping +district. It was an ideal day, and as she neared the shops she half +begrudged the time that she must spend indoors. "Now or never," she +thought philosophically; "I can't send a present that I haven't picked +out myself, and I cannot very well order it by mail. But it needn't take +me very long, especially as I know just what I want."</p> + +<p>Usually Brenda was fond of buying, and it merely was an evidence of the +charm of the day that she now felt more inclined toward a country walk +than a tour of the shops.</p> + +<p>Once inside the large building crowded with shoppers, she found a +certain pleasure in looking at the new goods displayed on the counters. +It was only a passing glance, however, that she gave them, and she +hastened to get the special thing that she had in mind that she might be +at home in season to keep an appointment. Her errand was to choose a +wedding present for a former schoolmate, and she had set her heart on a +cut-glass rose-bowl. Yet as she wandered past counters laden with +pretty, fragile things she began to waver in her choice.</p> + +<p>"Rose-bowls!" the salesman shrugged his shoulders expressively; "they +are going out of fashion." And Brenda wondered that she had thought of a +thing that was not really up to date; for, recalling Ruth's wedding +presents, she remembered that among them there were not many pieces of +cut-glass, and not a single rose-bowl.</p> + +<p>At last after some indecision she chose a delicate iridescent vase, +beautiful in design, but of no use as a flower holder. Its slender stem +looked as if a touch would snap it in two. It cost twice as much as she +had meant to spend for this particular thing, and had she thought longer +she would have realized that so fragile a gift would be a care to its +owner. Self-examination would have shown that she had made her choice +chiefly to reflect credit on her own liberality and good taste. But her +conscience had not begun to prick her as she drew from her purse the +twenty-dollar bill to pay for the purchase.</p> + +<p>A moment later, as Brenda walked away, a crash made her turn her head. A +second glance assured her that the glittering fragments on the floor +were the remains of her beautiful vase. But what startled Brenda more +than the shattered vase was the sight of a girl sunk in a heap beside +the broken glass. She recognized her as the cash-girl whom the clerk had +told to pack her purchase. Evidently she had let the vase fall from her +hands, and as evidently she was overcome by what had happened.</p> + +<p>Had she fainted? Brenda, bending over her, laid her hand on the girl's +head. Aroused by the touch, the child raised her head, showing a face +that was a picture of misery. Sobs shook her slight frame, and she +allowed a kind-looking saleswoman who came from behind a counter to lead +her away from the gaze of the curious. Meanwhile the salesman who had +served Brenda brushed the bits of glass into a pasteboard-box cover.</p> + +<p>"I'm very sorry," he said politely, "but we cannot replace that vase. As +I told you, it was in every way unique. However, there are other pieces +similar to it—a little higher-priced, perhaps—but we will make a +discount, to compensate—"</p> + +<p>"But who pays for this?" Brenda interrupted, inclining her head toward +the broken glass.</p> + +<p>"Oh, do not concern yourself about that, it is entirely our loss. Of +course, if you prefer, we can return you your money, but still—"</p> + +<p>"Will they make that poor little girl pay for the glass?"</p> + +<p>"Well, of course she broke it; it was entirely her fault; she let it +slip from her fingers. She is always very careless."</p> + +<p>"But I paid for it, didn't I?" asked Brenda. "That is my money, is it +not?" for he still held a bill between his fingers.</p> + +<p>"Why, yes; as I told you, you can have your money back."</p> + +<p>"I have not asked for my money, but I should like to have the vase that +I bought to take home with me. It will go into a small box now."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean these pieces?" The salesman was almost too bewildered to +speak.</p> + +<p>"Why, of course, they belong to me, do they not?" and a smile twinkled +around the corners of Brenda's mouth. At last the salesman understood.</p> + +<p>"It's very kind of you," he said, emptying the pieces from the cover +into a small pasteboard box. "Mayn't we send it home?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, after all, you may send it. Please have it packed carefully;" and +this time both Brenda and the salesman smiled outright.</p> + +<p>"It's the second thing," said the latter, "that Maggie has broken +lately. She's bound to lose her place. It took a week's wages to pay for +the cup, and I don't know what she could have done about this. It would +have taken more than six weeks' pay."</p> + +<p>"I should like to see her," said Brenda. "Can I go where she is?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly, she's in the waiting-room, just over there."</p> + +<p>"Come, come, Maggie," said Brenda gently, when she found the girl still +in tears; "stop crying, you won't have to pay for the glass vase. You +know I bought it, and I'm having the pieces sent home."</p> + +<p>As the girl gazed at Brenda in astonishment her tears ceased to flow +from her red-rimmed eyes. But the young lady's words seemed so +improbable that in a moment sobs again shook her frame.</p> + +<p>"It cost twenty dollars," she said; "I heard him say it. I can't ever +pay it in the world, and I don't want to go to prison."</p> + +<p>"Hush, hush, child!" cried a saleswoman who had stayed with her. "You +must stop crying, for I have to go back to my place."</p> + +<p>She looked inquiringly at Brenda, and Brenda in a few words explained +what she had done.</p> + +<p>"You are an angel," said the kind-hearted woman; "and if you can make +Maggie understand, perhaps she will stop crying."</p> + +<p>Now at last the truth had entered Maggie's not very quick brain. Jumping +to her feet she seized Brenda by the hand.</p> + +<p>"You mean it, you mean it, and I won't have to pay! But I'll pay you +some time. Oh, how good you are! How good you are!"</p> + +<p>"There, Maggie, you'll frighten the young lady, and you're not fit to go +back to the store. Your eyes would scare customers away. I'll take word +that you're sick, so's you can go home now; and, Miss, I hope Maggie'll +always remember how kind you've been."</p> + +<p>As the woman departed Brenda had a new idea, and when the message came +that Maggie might go home she asked the little girl to meet her at the +side door downstairs when she had put on her hat. "I want to talk with +you," she said, "and will walk with you a little way."</p> + +<p>Such condescension on the part of a beautiful young lady was enough to +turn the head of almost any little cash-girl, and Maggie could hardly +believe her ears, yet she hastened toward the side door where Brenda was +waiting. The latter glanced down at a forlorn little figure in the +scant, green plaid gown, which, although faded, was clean and whole. Her +dingy drab jacket was short-waisted, and her red woollen Tam o' Shanter +made her look very childish.</p> + +<p>As the two stood there in the doorway two young men whom Brenda knew +passed by. They were among the most supercilious of the younger set, and +as they raised their hats they looked curiously at Brenda's companion. +Brenda, though undisturbed, realized that she and Maggie were standing +in a very conspicuous place.</p> + +<p>"Come, Maggie," she said, "wouldn't you like a cup of chocolate? I'm +going to get one for myself."</p> + +<p>The little girl meekly followed her to a restaurant across the street, +and when they were seated at an upstairs table near a window Maggie felt +as if in some way she had been carried to a palace. There was really +nothing palatial in the room, though it was bright and cheerful, with a +red carpet that deadened all footfalls. But Maggie herself had never +before sat at a little round table in a pleasant room, with a waitress +attentive to her. A lunch counter was the only restaurant that she had +known, and this was certainly very different. The hot chocolate with +whipped cream, and the other dainties ordered for the two, made her half +forget her grief for her carelessness. Gradually she lost a little of +her shyness, and told Brenda about her work, and about the aunt with +whom she lived.</p> + +<p>"She wants me to keep that place, for it's one of the best shops in +town. But she's awful cross sometimes, and I'm terribly afraid of losing +it. You see," she continued, "my fingers seem buttered, and I don't run +quick enough when they call. I feel all confused like, for there's so +much coming and going. Ah, I wish that I had something else I could do!"</p> + +<p>"When did you leave school, Maggie?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm a graduate; I'm fifteen past, and I got my diploma last spring. +My aunt was good; she thinks girls ought to go to school until they get +through the grammar school. She says my mother and me, we've been a +great expense, and the funeral cost a lot, so she needs every cent I +earn."</p> + +<p>Gradually Brenda understood about Maggie, and it seemed to her that she +would like to talk with her aunt. Glancing at the little enamelled watch +pinned to her coat, she saw that it was nearly four o'clock, and this +reminded her that at four she was to walk with Arthur Weston. Hurrying +her utmost, she could not keep the appointment. She would much prefer to +go home with Maggie.</p> + +<p>To think with Brenda was usually to act. So, finding her way to a +telephone in the office downstairs, she called up her own house, and was +surprised to have Arthur himself answer the call.</p> + +<p>"But where are you?" he asked; "why can't you come home?"</p> + +<p>"I've something very important to do, and I can walk with you any day."</p> + +<p>"Really!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed."</p> + +<p>"But you shouldn't treat me in this way. I shall rush out to find you."</p> + +<p>"You can't do it, so you might as well give it up."</p> + +<p>In spite of Arthur's slight protest his voice had its usual jesting +tone, but before he could remonstrate further he was cut off, and Brenda +had turned back to Maggie.</p> + +<p>Though it was but a few months since the announcement of Brenda's +engagement to Arthur Weston, these two young people had known each other +long enough to have a thorough understanding of each other's character. +Brenda knew that Arthur hated to be mystified, and Arthur knew that +Brenda was wilful. Yet each at times would cross the other along what +might be called the line of greatest resistance.</p> + +<p>If Maggie was surprised that her new friend wished to accompany her home +she did not show her feeling, and Brenda soon found herself in a car +travelling to an unfamiliar part of the city. Near the corner where they +left the car was a large building, which Maggie explained was a very +popular theatre.</p> + +<p>"I love to look at those pictures," said the girl, pointing to the gaudy +bill-boards leaning against the wall. "I've only been there once, but +I'm going Thanksgiving,—if I don't lose my place."</p> + +<p>Her face darkened as she remembered that her prospect for having money +to spare at Thanksgiving had greatly lessened this afternoon. Brenda did +not like the neighborhood through which they now hastened toward +Maggie's home in Turquoise Street. It had not the antiquity of the North +End, nor the picturesqueness of the West End. There were too many liquor +shops, and the narrow street into which they turned was unattractive. +She did not like the appearance of many of the people whom she met, and +she felt like clinging to Maggie's hand.</p> + +<p>Still, the house itself which Maggie pointed out as the one where she +lived looked like a comfortable private house. Indeed, it once had been +the dwelling of a well-to-do private family. But inside, its halls were +bare of carpets, and not over clean. Evidently it had become a mere +tenement-house.</p> + +<p>"I wonder what my aunt will say," said Maggie timidly, as they stood at +the door of her aunt's rooms.</p> + +<p>"We'll know soon;" and even as Brenda spoke Maggie had opened the door, +and they stood face to face with a small, sharp-featured woman.</p> + +<p>"Goodness me! Maggie, are you sick? What did you come home for? Oh, a +lady! Please take a seat, ma'am," and Mrs. McSorley showed her +nervousness by vigorously dusting the seat of a chair with the end of +her blue-checked apron.</p> + +<p>Brenda thanked her for the proffered chair, for she had just climbed two +rather steep flights of stairs. She felt a little faint from the effort, +and from the odors that she had inhaled on the way up. One tenant had +evidently had cabbage for dinner, and another was frying onions for +tea. Although Brenda herself could not have told what these strange +odors were, they made her uncomfortable. While Maggie was explaining why +she had returned home so early, Brenda glanced with interest around the +room. It seemed to be a combination of kitchen and sitting-room. Above +the large cooking-stove was a shelf of pots and pans, and there was an +upholstered rocking-chair in one corner. There were plants in the +windows, and a shelf on the wall between them with a loud-ticking clock. +Under the shelf stood a table with a red-and-white plaid cotton +table-cover. A glass sugar-bowl, a crockery pitcher, and a pile of +plates showed that the table was for use as well as for ornament. +Through a half-open door Brenda had a glimpse of a bedroom that looked +equally neat and clean.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure, Miss," said Mrs. McSorley when Brenda had finished her story, +"I'm very much obliged to you. Maggie's a dreadful careless girl, and a +great trial to me. She'll make it her duty to pay that money back to +you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, indeed, I couldn't think of such a thing; if any one was to +blame it was I for buying so delicate a vase. Besides, they shouldn't +have a small girl carry things about."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, Miss, it was just Maggie's fault. Her fingers are buttered, and +sometimes I don't know what her end will be. I suppose I'll have to put +her somewhere so's she can't do no mischief."</p> + +<p>At these ominous words Maggie's tears fell again, and Brenda, as she +afterward said to Arthur, felt her "heart in her mouth." For Mrs. +McSorley, with her arms akimbo, and her high cheek-bones and determined +expression looked indeed rather formidable, and Brenda hesitated to +suggest what she had in mind for Maggie's benefit.</p> + +<p>"I've tried to do my duty by her," continued Mrs. McSorley, "just as I +did by her mother, and we gave her a funeral with three carriages after +she'd been sick on my hands for two years, and her only my +sister-in-law; and I kept Maggie at school till she graduated, and she's +got a place in one of the best stores in town on account of that. If she +had any faculty she might have kept her place, but if people haven't +faculty they haven't anything."</p> + +<p>While her aunt was talking Maggie had hung up her things,—the Tam o' +Shanter on a hook on the bedroom door and the coat on another hook in +the corner. Brenda, watching her, thought that her orderliness might +prove an offset for her buttered fingers.</p> + +<p>Though there was little emotion on Mrs. McSorley's rather hard-featured +face, she looked at her visitor with curiosity. She was so pretty, with +her slight, graceful figure, waving dark hair, and the friendly +expression in her bright eyes was likely to win even so stolid a person +as Mrs. McSorley.</p> + +<p>"She dresses plain and neat," said Maggie, after Brenda had left; "but +she must be awful rich to wear a diamond pin to fasten her watch to the +outside of her coat, and there was about a dozen silver things dangling +from her belt."</p> + +<p>Yet though Brenda made a good impression on Mrs. McSorley, the latter +would not commit herself to say just what she would have Maggie do if +she should lose her place. She'd set her mind on having the girl rise +through the different grades. "I hate to have to switch my mind +round—I'm that set," she had explained, adding, "Maggie thinks me +stingy because I take all her earnings instead of letting her spend +money for fine feathers and theatres like the rest of the girls +hereabouts. But some time she'll be grateful." Then came Brenda's +opportunity for saying a little about her plan for Maggie,—a plan so +quickly made, so likely to be set aside by the grim aunt.</p> + +<p>While Mrs. McSorley listened she moved around the room, filling the +tea-kettle, lighting the lamp. At last, when Brenda had finished, her +reply gave only a slight hope that she would agree to the plan. Yet +Brenda felt that she had gained a point when Mrs. McSorley promised to +go with Maggie in a few days to visit the school.</p> + +<p>The lighted lamp reminded Brenda that outside it must be dusk. It would +trouble her to find her way to the cars through unfamiliar streets, and +she was only too glad to accept Maggie's offer to guide her, and Maggie +was more than delighted to have this last chance for a little talk with +"the kind young lady."</p> + +<p>"You'll not cry," said Brenda, "even if they won't take you back; +remember that you have a new friend."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Miss, you're so good, and to think that you have nothing for your +twenty dollars but those pieces of broken glass."</p> + +<p>"Ah! it's very pretty glass," responded Brenda, "and I'm going to keep +the pieces as a reminder."</p> + +<p>What she meant was that she would keep the pieces as a reminder not to +be extravagant, and as she looked at the little silver mesh purse +hanging at her belt she smiled to think that since she left home in the +early afternoon it had been emptied of more than twenty dollars, while +she had nothing to show for the money,—nothing, indeed, except her new +acquaintance with Mrs. McSorley and Maggie, and some fragments of +glass.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h2> + +<h3>A FAMILY COUNCIL</h3> + + +<p>Brenda had to change from the surface car to one that would take her +home through the subway. It was so late that she involuntarily stepped +toward a cab standing on the corner opposite the Common. On second +thought she decided to economize, since she had already had an expensive +afternoon. After depositing her subway ticket she had to wait a few +minutes for her car in a crowd, and some one scrambling for a car pushed +some one else against her. Brenda, looking around, saw a handsome +black-eyed girl with a dark kerchief pinned over her head.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I beg your pardon," she said, with a foreign accent, fumbling in a +basket that she carried on her arm.</p> + +<p>Later, as the car was emerging into the light of the open space near the +Public Garden Brenda's hand went instinctively toward the silver-mesh +purse that she wore at her belt. It was not there, though she remembered +having taken a coin from it as she bought her car ticket. Though +accustomed to losing her little personal possessions, Brenda especially +valued this purse, and she set her wits at work to trace the loss. She +remembered the little girl with the basket, and recalled that the moment +before the child had begged her pardon she had felt something jerk her +belt. Had she only put the two things together earlier she might have +recovered the purse; for of course the child had taken it. Yet to prove +this would have been difficult. She would never have had the courage to +call a policeman, and remembering the little girl's large, soft eyes, +she found it hard to believe her a thief. "An expensive afternoon!" she +said to herself. "My twenty dollars gone in one crash, and then that +pretty purse with two or three dollars more. What will they say when I +tell them at home?"</p> + +<p>Then she decided to say nothing about losing the purse. This was the +kind of thing that they expected her to do, and her brother-in-law would +tease her unmercifully. But Brenda was not secretive, and it was easy +enough to speak about Maggie and the broken vase. The story did not lose +by her telling, especially as the box with the broken pieces arrived +when she was in the midst of her tale. The family was seated in the +library after dinner, and each one begged for a little piece of the +iridescent glass as a souvenir. But Brenda refused the request, on the +plea that for the present she wished to have something to show for her +money.</p> + +<p>"Although even without the vase I feel that I've gained something," she +concluded.</p> + +<p>"Experience?" queried her father; "I always hoped you'd feel that +experience is a treasure."</p> + +<p>"Of course," responded Brenda, "but I was thinking of Maggie McSorley; +she may prove of more worth than twenty dollars if she becomes my +candidate for Julia's school,—a perfect bargain, in fact."</p> + +<p>"If she keeps her promise—"</p> + +<p>"If! why, Mamma, I am sure that she will."</p> + +<p>"Speaking of losing," interposed Agnes, Brenda's sister, "Arthur lost +his temper to-day when he found that you were so ready to break your +appointment."</p> + +<p>"Oh, he'll find it soon enough; besides, he can't expect me always to be +ready to do just what he wishes."</p> + +<p>"Well, this involved some one else. He had promised young Halstead to +take you to his studio to see a picture, and he was greatly +disappointed, for the picture is to be sent away to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"There!" exclaimed Brenda, "why didn't I remember? I thought that we +were simply going for a walk to Brookline, but they shut off the +telephone, or cut me off, and that was why he couldn't remind me. I'm +awfully sorry."</p> + +<p>"You won't have a chance to tell him so this evening. What shall I say +when I see him?"</p> + +<p>"You needn't take the trouble, Ralph," replied Brenda; "we're to ride +to-morrow, and I can explain."</p> + +<p>"It will be his turn to forget."</p> + +<p>But Brenda did not heed Ralph's teasing, for already at the sound of +three sharp peals of the door-bell she had rushed out to meet her cousin +Julia.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Julia, I have found <i>just</i> the girl for your school; she is an +orphan and hates study, and—"</p> + +<p>"Well, upon my word!" exclaimed Ralph, "those are certainly fine +qualifications,—'an orphan and hates study'!"</p> + +<p>"I understand what she means, or thinks she means," responded Julia, as +she laughingly advanced to the centre of the room, greeting the family +cordially, while Agnes helped her remove her hat and coat.</p> + +<p>"You've come for a week, I hope," exclaimed her uncle, kissing her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I shall be here several times in the course of the week, and I +shall stay now overnight. But a whole week away from my work! Ah! Uncle +Robert, you're a good business man, to suggest such a thing!" And, +seating herself on the arm of Mr. Barlow's chair, Julia shook her finger +playfully in his face.</p> + +<p>"When do you have your house-warming?" asked Agnes, taking up the bit of +sewing that she had dropped on Julia's entrance.</p> + +<p>"We are not to have a house-warming, but later we shall invite you one +by one, or perhaps two by two, to see the house."</p> + +<p>"I suppose you've taken out all the good furniture, and in a certain way +the Du Launy Mansion must be greatly changed."</p> + +<p>"Don't speak so sadly, Aunt Anna; it is changed, and yet it is not +changed. But I did not know that you were attached to the old house?"</p> + +<p>"Hardly attached, Julia, for I was there only once, when I called on +Madame Du Launy the year before her death. But in its style of +architecture and its furnishings it seemed so completely an old-time +house that I regret that it has had to be changed into an institution."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, please, Aunt Anna, not an institution; anything but that. Why, +we mean to make it a real home, so that girls who haven't homes of their +own will feel perfectly happy. Of course we have had to make some +changes in the house itself, and remove some of the furniture, but when +you visit us you will see that it is far removed from an institution."</p> + +<p>"How many nationalities have you now, Julia? You had a dozen or two +waiting admittance when you were last here, had you not?"</p> + +<p>"There are to be only ten girls in the home, and there are still some +vacancies. Indeed you are a tease, Uncle Robert."</p> + +<p>Yet, although her uncle and aunt had teased her a little, Julia was not +disconcerted, and when Agnes asked her to tell them something about the +girls already in residence, she entered upon the task with great +good-will.</p> + +<p>"Well, first of all, Concetta. It's fair to speak of her first, because +she's Miss South's protégée. She is the genuine Italian type, with the +most perfectly oval cheeks, and a kind of peach bloom showing through +the brown, and her hair closely plaited and wound round and round, and +the largest brown eyes. Miss South became interested in her last year +when she was visiting schools. She found that her father meant to take +her out of school this year to become a chocolate dipper."</p> + +<p>"A chocolate dipper! I've heard of tin dippers,—but—"</p> + +<p>"Hush, Ralph, you are too literal."</p> + +<p>"Yes," continued Julia, "a chocolate dipper. You know there's an +enormous candy factory there on the water front, and most of the girls +think their fortunes made when they can work in it. But after Miss South +had visited Concetta a few times she thought her capable of something +better, and so she is to have her chance at the Mansion. But her uncle +Luigi was determined to make Concetta a wage-earner as soon as possible. +She did not need more schooling, he said.</p> + +<p>"Fortunately, however, Concetta has a godmother who, although a +working-woman, dingily clad, and apparently hardly able to support +herself, is supposed to have money hidden away somewhere. On this +account she has much influence in the Zanetti family, and a word from +her accomplished more than all our arguments. Concetta is now freed from +the dirty, crowded tenement, and I feel that we may be able to make +something of her. Then there is Edith's nominee, Gretchen Rosenbaum, +whose grandfather is the Blairs' gardener. She's pale and thin, and not +at all the typical German maiden. She has a diploma from school of which +she is very proud, and she says that she wants to be a housekeeper. The +family are very thankful for the chance offered her by the Mansion."</p> + +<p>"The Germans know a good thing when they see it, especially if it isn't +going to cost them much," said Ralph.</p> + +<p>"Then," continued Julia, "there are my two little Portuguese cousins, +Luisa and Inez, as alike as two peas in a pod. Angelina told me about +them, and their teacher confirmed my opinion that it would be a charity +to save them from the slop-work sewing to which their old aunt had +destined them."</p> + +<p>"How much of an annuity do you have to pay the aunt?" asked Ralph.</p> + +<p>Julia blushed, for in fact, in order to give the girls the opportunity +that she thought they ought to have at the Mansion, she had had to +promise the aunt two dollars a week, which the latter had estimated as +her share of their earnings for the next two years. Julia did not wholly +approve of the arrangement, although she knew that only in this way +could she help the two little girls.</p> + +<p>"Hasn't Nora contributed to your household?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, the dearest little Irish girl; we can hardly understand a word +Nellie says, though she thinks she talks English. Nora ran across her +and a party of other immigrants one day when she had gone over to the +Cunard wharf to meet some friends. Nellie and a half-dozen others had +become separated from the guide who was to take them to their +lodging-place in East Boston. They were near the dock, and Nora became +very much interested in Nellie. She took her name and destination, and +later went to see her, and the result is one of our most promising +pupils; that is, we have a chance to teach her more than almost any of +the others. But there! I'm ashamed of talking so much shop."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, it's most interesting. You haven't finished?"</p> + +<p>"Well, there are two or three other girls, of whom I will tell you more +some other time, and there are one or two vacancies. I wish, Brenda, +that you could send us a pupil. I'm afraid that you won't have much +interest in the school unless you have a girl of your own there."</p> + +<p>"But I have—I will—that is—can't you see that I have something very +important to tell you?" and thereupon Brenda launched into a glowing +account of Maggie McSorley and the prospect of her going to the Mansion. +"I just jumped at the idea when it came to me," concluded Brenda, "for I +have had so many things on my mind this summer that I didn't make the +effort that I had intended to find a girl for you. But now I shall do my +utmost to persuade that cross-grained aunt, and I am bound to succeed."</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't discourage you, but evidently you made little headway this +afternoon," said her mother, "in spite of the pretty high price that you +have paid for the pleasure of Maggie's acquaintance."</p> + +<p>"Just wait, Mamma; just wait. When I really set out to do a thing I +generally succeed. I found out to-day that Mrs. McSorley rather +begrudges Maggie her home, although she feels it her duty to keep her. +She says that Maggie has a way of upsetting things that is very trying, +and she's had to give up to her the little room that she used to keep +for a sitting-room. Oh, I'm certain that I can persuade her to spare +Maggie."</p> + +<p>Then the conversation drifted on to other sides of the work, and Julia's +enthusiasm half reconciled Mr. and Mrs. Barlow to the fact that she was +to be away from them.</p> + +<p>"Home is a career, and we need you more than any group of strange girls +possibly can," Mr. Barlow had protested, when Julia had shown him the +impossibility of her settling down quietly at home.</p> + +<p>"You have Brenda and Agnes. Suppose that I had gone to Europe for two or +three years after leaving college. I am sure that then you would not +have complained, for you would have thought this a thing for my especial +profit and pleasure. Now when I shall be so near that you will see me at +least once a week, you are not altogether pleased, because you think +that I am likely to work too hard."</p> + +<p>"Oh, papa needn't worry," cried Brenda; "I shall see that you have +enough frivolity. You shall not overwork the poor little girls either. I +feel sorry for them now, with you and Pamela and Miss South egging them +on. But I have various frivolities in mind, and you must encourage me."</p> + +<p>"I never knew you to need encouragement in frivolity. A little +discouragement would be more likely to have a wholesome effect."</p> + +<p>Thus they chatted, and Mr. Barlow, looking up from his evening paper +from time to time, was convinced that Julia's new interests had +certainly not yet taken away her taste for the lighter side of life.</p> + +<p>Indeed, on the whole, he had no decided objection to the scheme that +Julia and Miss South had started to carry out. As his niece's tastes so +evidently ran in philanthropic directions, he knew that in the end she +must be happiest when following her bent.</p> + +<p>Miss South herself would have been the last to claim originality for the +much-discussed school. There were other social settlements in the city, +and one or two other domestic science schools in which girls had a good +chance to learn cooking and other branches of household work. Yet the +school at the Mansion had an object all its own. Miss South felt that +each year many young girls drifted into shop or factory who might be +encouraged to a higher ambition. For many of them evidently thought +first of the money they could immediately earn, and there was no one to +suggest that if they prepared themselves for something better they would +later have more money as well as greater honor. So she tried to find +girls willing to spend two years at the Mansion, while she watched them +and advised them and guided them into what she believed would be the +best avenue of employment for them. Some people thought that she meant +to train all the girls to be domestics; others thought she aimed to keep +them out of this occupation. She meant to train them all in housework so +thoroughly, that, whether they entered service or had homes of their +own, they should be able to do their work properly. She meant, if any of +these girls showed special talents, to encourage them to pursue their +natural bent.</p> + +<p>"Would you let them study art or music?" some one had asked in +surprise.</p> + +<p>"Yes; why not?"</p> + +<p>"Why, girls from the tenement districts!—it doesn't seem right to +encourage them in this way."</p> + +<p>"Oughtn't any young thing to be encouraged to follow its natural bent? +It's a case of individuals, not of sections of the city."</p> + +<p>"I've always been sorry," explained Miss South, "for the bright girls +who drop out of school at fourteen that their ablebodied parents may +snatch the little wages they can earn in the factories. The ten or +twelve girls we may have here at the Mansion are very few compared with +the hundreds who need the same kind of chance. But I am hoping that +through these a broader influence may be exerted."</p> + +<p>Although many critics naturally thought that Miss South did wrong in +giving girls of a certain class ideas above their sphere, on the whole +she was commended for undertaking a good work. There were some also who +pitied Mrs. Barlow on account of Julia's partnership in the scheme.</p> + +<p>"This is what comes of letting a girl go to college," and they wondered +that Mrs. Barlow herself did not express more disapproval.</p> + +<p>"You'll have only orphans," said Mr. Elton, a cousin of Mrs. Barlow's, +who took much interest in the work; "for in my experience fathers and +mothers of the working class are just lying in wait for the earnings of +their half-grown daughters. To fill your school you will either have to +kill off a few fathers and mothers, or else consider only orphans to be +suitable candidates. To be sure, you might offer heavy bribes to +parents. But of course you can get the orphans easily, if they have +cruel aunts or stepmothers."</p> + +<p>"As to cruel aunts," responded Julia, "judging from my own experience, +as was said of Mrs. Harris, 'I don't believe there's no sich a person;' +and in spite of Ovid and Cinderella, I have my doubts about cruel +stepmothers."</p> + +<p>"We'll see," said Mr. Elton. "At any rate, you'll have to bribe your +girls, and when I meet them my first question will be, How much do they +pay you to stay?"</p> + +<p>One of the most delightful features in fitting up the house for its new +use had been the eagerness to help shown by many of Miss South's former +pupils.</p> + +<p>Ruth, for example, in furnishing the kitchen, had said, "This will show +that I have a practical interest in housekeeping, even though I am to +spend my first year of married life in idle travel."</p> + +<p>"With your disposition it won't be wholly idle," Miss South had +responded.</p> + +<p>"Well, I do mean to discover at least one or two new receipts, or better +than that, some new articles of food, that I can put at the service of +the Mansion upon my return."</p> + +<p>"We certainly shall have you in mind whenever we look at these pretty +and practical things."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III</h2> + +<h3>BRENDA AT THE MANSION</h3> + + +<p>One fine afternoon, not so very long after she had wasted her twenty +dollars and made a friend of Maggie McSorley, Brenda in riding costume +opened the front door. As she stood on the top step, somewhat +impatiently she snapped her short crop as she gazed anxiously up Beacon +Street.</p> + +<p>On the steps of the house directly opposite were three girls seated and +one standing near by. They were schoolgirls evidently, with short skirts +hardly to their ankles, and with hair in long pig-tails. As she looked +at them, by one of those swift flights of thought that so often carry us +unexpectedly back to the past Brenda was reminded of another bright +autumn afternoon, just six years earlier. Then she and Nora, and Edith +and Belle, an inseparable quartette, had sat on her front steps +discussing the arrival of her unknown cousin, Julia.</p> + +<p>How much had happened since that day! Then she had been younger even +than those girls across the street, and Julia, who had come and +conquered (though not without difficulties) was now a college graduate.</p> + +<p>But Brenda was not one to brood over the past, and when one of the girls +shouted, "We know whom you're looking for," she had a bright reply +ready.</p> + +<p>Soon around the corner came the clicking of hoofs on the asphalt +pavement. Brenda, shading her eyes from the sun, looked toward the west.</p> + +<p>"Late, as usual, Arthur!" she cried, a trifle sharply, as a young man, +flinging his reins to the groom on the other horse, ran up the steps +toward her.</p> + +<p>"Impatient, as usual!" he responded pleasantly, consulting his watch. +"As a matter of fact, I'm five minutes ahead of time. But I'd have been +here half an hour earlier had I known it was a matter of life and +death."</p> + +<p>The frown passed from Brenda's face. The two young people mounted their +horses, and the groom walked back to the stable.</p> + +<p>"Have a good time!" shouted one of the girls, as the two riders started +off.</p> + +<p>"The same to you!" cried Arthur.</p> + +<p>"Ah, me!" exclaimed Brenda, as they rode on, "I feel so old when I look +at those Sellers girls. Why, they are almost in long dresses now, and I +can remember when they were in baby carriages."</p> + +<p>"Well, even I would rather wear a long dress any day than a baby +carriage," responded Arthur. "There, look out!" for they were turning a +corner, and two or three bicyclists came suddenly upon them. Brenda +avoided the bicyclists, crossed the car tracks safely, and soon the two +were trotting through the Fenway.</p> + +<p>The foliage on the banks of the little stream was brilliant, and here +and there were clumps of asters and other late flowers. They rode on in +silence, and were well past the chocolate house before either spoke a +word.</p> + +<p>"Why so silent, fair sister-in-law?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I was only thinking."</p> + +<p>"No wonder that you could not speak. I trust that you were thinking of +me."</p> + +<p>"To be frank," replied Brenda, "that is just what I was not doing. In +fact I was thinking of a time when I did not know of your existence."</p> + +<p>"Mention not that sad time, mention it not! fair sister-in-law."</p> + +<p>When Arthur used this term in addressing Brenda she knew that he was +bent on teasing; for although her sister had married Arthur's brother, +her engagement to Arthur, announced in June, might very properly be +thought to have done away with the teasing title "sister-in-law."</p> + +<p>"Don't be silly, Arthur," cried Brenda; "you can't tease me to-day. +Several years of my life certainly did pass before I had an idea that +you were in the world. I was thinking of the time before we knew each +other, when I was so jealous of Julia."</p> + +<p>"Jealous of Julia!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I hadn't seen her when I began to have this feeling."</p> + +<p>"But why—what made you jealous if you hadn't seen her?</p> + +<p>"I can't wholly explain. Perhaps it wasn't altogether jealousy. You see +I didn't like the idea of her coming to live with us."</p> + +<p>"You must have got over that soon. You and she have always seemed to hit +it off pretty well since I've known you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, ever since you have known us; and I've always been ashamed of +that first year. Though Belle led me on, just a little."</p> + +<p>As Arthur still seemed somewhat mystified, Brenda described Julia's +first winter in Boston; and she did not spare herself, when she told how +she had shut her cousin out from the little circle of "The Four."</p> + +<p>"Really, however, Nora and Edith were not at all to blame. They liked +Julia from the first. Then what a brick Julia was when she made up that +sum of money that I lost after we had worked so hard at the Bazaar for +Mrs. Rosa."</p> + +<p>Though Arthur had heard more or less about these things before, he +enjoyed hearing Brenda narrate them in her quick and somewhat excited +fashion.</p> + +<p>"Why, you may believe that I really missed Julia when she was at +Radcliffe, and I'm fearfully disappointed that she won't be at home with +us this winter."</p> + +<p>"She isn't going back to Cambridge, is she? I certainly saw her degree, +and it was on parchment."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Arthur, how you do forget things. I'm sure that I wrote you about +the school that she and Miss South were to start."</p> + +<p>"I was probably more interested in other things in the letter. But has +she lost her money, and hence starts a school?"</p> + +<p>"Arthur, I believe that you skip pages and pages."</p> + +<p>"No, indeed, dear sister-in-law, but some pages sink more deeply in my +mind than others. Has Julia lost her money, and therefore must she +teach?"</p> + +<p>"You are hopeless, though I believe that really you remember all about +it. It's Miss South's scheme. You see she has that great Du Launy house +on her hands, and it's a kind of domestic school for poor girls, and +Julia is to help her."</p> + +<p>"What kind of a school?"</p> + +<p>"A domestic school; I think that's it; to teach girls how to keep house +and be useful."</p> + +<p>"Indeed! Then couldn't you go there for a term or two, Brenda? That kind +of knowledge may be very useful to you some time."</p> + +<p>Whereupon Brenda urged her horse and was off at a gallop, so distancing +Arthur for some seconds before he overtook her. On they went through the +Arboretum, and around Franklin Park, then over the Boulevard toward +Mattapan and Milton. It was dusk when they turned homeward, and dark, as +they looked from a height on the city twinkling below them.</p> + +<p>As Arthur left her to take the horses to the stable Brenda called after +him, "I may take your advice and enter the school for a year or two."</p> + +<p>"We'll see," responded Arthur.</p> + +<p>Now, although Brenda had no real intention of entering the new school, +either as resident or pupil, she was deeply interested and extremely +anxious to see what changes had been made in the Du Launy Mansion, and +she was to make her first visit there a day or two after this ride with +Arthur Weston.</p> + +<p>The school itself was not as new as it seemed. It had existed in Miss +South's mind long before she had a prospect of carrying out her plans. +Many persons thought it a fine thing for her when she was able to give +up her teaching and live a life of leisure in the fine old mansion with +Madame Du Launy.</p> + +<p>Yet Miss South had wholly enjoyed her work at Miss Crawdon's school, and +she had said good-bye to her pupils with regret. Kind though her +grandmother was, she had sacrificed more than any one realized in +becoming the constant companion of an exacting old lady. Still, as this +was the duty that lay nearest her, she devoted herself to it wholly.</p> + +<p>Although Madame Du Launy had lived in a large and imposing house, +containing much costly furniture, her fortune was smaller than most +persons supposed. The larger part of her income came from an annuity +that ceased with her death. Miss South had not enough money left to +permit her to keep up the great house in the style in which her +grandmother had lived; for out of it small incomes were to be paid +during their lives to three old servants, and after their deaths this +money was to go to Lydia South's brother Louis. To Louis also went the +money from the sale of certain pictures and medieval tapestries that the +will had ordered to be sold. As to the Mansion itself, Lydia South could +do what she liked with it and its contents,—let it, sell it, or live in +it.</p> + +<p>"She'll have to take boarders, though, if she lives there," said some +one; "aside from the expense it would be altogether too dreary for a +young woman to live there alone."</p> + +<p>But Miss South had no doubt as to what she should do. Here was the +chance, that had once seemed so far away, of carrying out her plans for +a model school. She found that it was wisest for her to retain the old +house for her purpose, as she could neither sell it nor rent it to +advantage. The neighborhood was not what it had once been. Almost all +the older residents had moved away; two families or more were the rule +in most of the houses in the street, and not so very far away were +several unmistakable tenement-houses. Miss Crawdon's school had left the +street a year or two before, and if she should sell the house no one +would buy it for a residence. Julia, who was to be her partner in the +new scheme, thought the Du Launy Mansion far better suited to their +purpose than any house they could secure elsewhere.</p> + +<p>"The North End would be more picturesque, and we could do regular +settlement work among those interesting foreigners. But there is more +than one settlement down there already, and here we shall have the field +almost to ourselves."</p> + +<p>Changes and additions to the house had been made during the summer, and +not one of Julia's intimates, excepting those who were to live in the +Mansion, had been permitted to see it. Nora and Edith and Brenda had +implored, Philip had teased, but all had been refused. "You must wait +until everything is in readiness."</p> + +<p>When, therefore, Brenda and Nora one morning found themselves walking up +the little flagged walk to the old Du Launy House, they speculated +greatly as to the changes in the house. Outside, on the front at least, +there had been no alterations, and everything looked the same as on that +morning when the mischievous girls had ventured to pass under the +porte-cochère to apologize for breaking a window with their ball. It was +the same exterior, and yet not the same. It had, as Brenda said, "a +wide-awake look," whereas formerly almost all the blinds had been +closed, giving an aspect of dreariness. Now all the shutters were thrown +back, blinds were raised, and fresh muslin curtains showed at many +windows instead of the heavy draperies of Madame Du Launy's time.</p> + +<p>In place of the sleek butler who had seemed like a part of the +furnishings, permanent and unremovable, Angelina opened the front door, +beaming with satisfaction at the dignity to which she had risen. Indeed +she fairly bristled with a sense of her own importance, and answered +their questions in her airiest manner.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Manuel's doing finely at school, Miss Barlow. I can't be spared +much now to go to Shiloh, but I was there over Sunday, and my mother's +got two boarders, young women that work in the factory and don't make +much trouble for her. So you see I'm not so much needed at home. John's +got a place, too, in the city this winter, so that I'll see him +sometimes," and Angelina giggled in her rather foolish way.</p> + +<p>As she ushered them into the sitting-room Julia emerged from the shadows +of the long hall to greet them, and then there was a confusion of +sounds, as Nora and Brenda eagerly asked questions at the very moment +when Julia was trying to answer them.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Julia, as they sat down in the reception-room, "this is the +same room where I first saw Madame Du Launy, the day I took Fidessa +home. But you've both been here since?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, and I can see that it hasn't been so very greatly changed. +There's that picture of Miss South's mother that brought about the +reconciliation, as they'd say in a novel," responded Nora gayly. "I'm +glad that you haven't made the reception-room as bare as a hospital +ward; I had my misgivings, as I approached the door."</p> + +<p>"Oh, we wished this to be as pleasant and homelike as possible; you can +see that there are many things here that I had in my room at Cambridge," +and she pointed to a Turner etching, and a colonial desk, and an +easy-chair that Brenda and Nora both recognized.</p> + +<p>"The greatest changes," continued Julia, "are in the drawing-rooms;" and +leading the way across the hall, Brenda and Nora both exclaimed in +wonder. Two drawing-rooms, formerly connected by folding-doors, had +been thrown together, and with the partitions removed, the one great +room was really imposing.</p> + +<p>"You could give a dance here," cried Brenda, pirouetting over the +polished floor.</p> + +<p>"Who knows?" replied Julia with a smile.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid that you'll have nothing but lectures and classical +concerts, and other improving things," rejoined Brenda.</p> + +<p>"Who knows?" again responded Julia.</p> + +<p>"But it's really lovely," interposed Nora; "I adore this grayish blue +paper,—everything looks well with it. And what sweet pictures! why, +there's that very water color that Madame Du Launy wanted to buy at the +Bazaar. To think that it should come to her house after all! And there's +your Botticelli print; well, I believe that it will have an elevating +effect; I know that it always makes me feel rather queer to look at it."</p> + +<p>"Strange logic!" responded Nora, as they wandered through the large +room. "I suppose that you chose the books, Julia; they look like +you,—Ruskin, and Longfellow, and Greene's 'Shorter History;' surely you +don't expect girls like these to read such books. Why, I haven't read +half of them myself; and such good bindings. I really believe that these +are your own books."</p> + +<p>"Why not? We have had great fun in choosing the books we thought they +might like to read from my collections, and from the old-fashioned +bookcases in Madame Du Launy's library. The best bindings are her books. +Many of them had never been read by any one, I am sure; and as to the +covers, we shall see that they are not ill-treated. We have a theory +that they may be more attracted by handsomely dressed books; for there's +no doubt," turning with a smile toward Miss South, "that they think more +of us when arrayed in our best."</p> + +<p>"I love these low bookcases," continued Nora; "and I dare say that +you'll train them up to liking this Tanagra figurine, and the Winged +Victory, and all these other objects that you have arranged so +artistically along the top."</p> + +<p>"And how you will feel," interposed Brenda, "when some girl in dusting +knocks one of these pretty things to the floor. That bit of Tiffany +glass, for instance, looks as if made expressly to fall under Maggie +McSorley's slippery fingers."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that reminds me, Brenda, Maggie has come," said Miss South.</p> + +<p>"No; not really?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, her aunt brought her over very solemnly two or three days ago. She +said she thought it her duty not to trouble you again, as Maggie had +already been so much expense to you. She came here the day after you saw +her, and I explained our plans, and what we should expect from every +girl who entered. She promised that Maggie should stay the two years, +and showed a canny Scotch appreciation of the fact, that although Maggie +could earn little or nothing while here, at the end of the time she +would be worth much more than if she had spent the two years in a +shop."</p> + +<p>"But how does Maggie feel?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I should judge that resignation is Maggie's chief state of mind. We +are going to try to help her acquire some more active qualities," said +Miss South.</p> + +<p>"Come, come;" Brenda tried to draw Nora from the centre table on which +lay many attractive books and periodicals. "I'm very anxious to see +Maggie. Can't we see her now, Julia?"</p> + +<p>"I believe she's in the kitchen, and as this is one of our most +attractive rooms, you might as well go there first."</p> + +<p>"The kitchen, you remember, is practically Ruth's gift," said Julia, as +they stood on the threshold of a broad sunny room in the new ell, to +which they had descended a few steps from the main house. "She paid half +the expense of building the ell, and her purse paid for everything in +the kitchen."</p> + +<p>"But how beautiful; why, it isn't at all like a kitchen!"</p> + +<p>"All the same it is a kitchen, though we have tried to make it as +pleasant as any room in the house—in its way," concluded Julia smiling.</p> + +<p>Advancing a few steps farther, Nora and Brenda continued their +exclamations of admiration. The walls, painted a soft yellow, reflected +the sunshine, without making a glare. The oiled hardwood floor had its +centre covered with a large square of a substance resembling oilcloth, +yet softer. A large space around the range was of brick tiles. The iron +sink stood on four iron legs with a clear, open space beneath it; there +were no wooden closets under it to harbor musty cloths and half-cleaned +kettles, and serve as a breeding place for all kinds of microbes. A +shelf beside the sink was so sloped that dishes placed there would +quickly drain off before drying. The wall above the sink was of blue and +white Dutch tiles, and between the sink and the range a zinc-covered +table offered a suitable resting-place for hot kettles and pans. Below +the clock shelf was another, with a row of books that closer inspection +showed to be cook-books. All these details could not, of course, be +taken in at once, although the pleasant impression was immediate.</p> + +<p>"Plants in the window, and what a curious wire netting!" cried Brenda.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is neater than curtains, keeps out flies, and though it is so +made that outsiders cannot look into the room it does not obscure the +light. The shades at the top can be pulled down when we really need to +darken the room."</p> + +<p>Nora stood enraptured before the tall dresser with its store of dishes +and jelly moulds, then she gazed into the long, light pantry, the +shelves of which were laden with materials for cooking in jars and tins +and little boxes, all neatly labelled and within easy reach. On the wall +were several charts—one showing the different cuts of beef and lamb, +another by figures and diagrams giving the different nutritive values of +different articles of food. On the walls were here and there hung +various sets of maxims or rules neatly framed, among which, perhaps the +most conspicuous, was:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"> "I. Do everything in its proper time.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> "II. Keep everything in its proper place.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"III. Put everything to its proper use."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h2> + +<h3>AN EXPLORING TOUR</h3> + + +<p>Examining and admiring everything in the kitchen, the girls had half +forgotten Maggie, until the sound of singing attracted their attention.</p> + +<p>"'Hold the Fort,'" exclaimed Brenda; then, after listening a moment, +"But no, the words sound strange."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's one of their work songs," said Miss South, and listening +again, they made it out.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Now the cleaning quite to finish,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Pile up every plate,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shake the cloth, and then with neatness<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Fold exactly straight.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Quick, but silent, every motion<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Taking things away,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To the pantry, to the kitchen,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With a little tray."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Their song betrays them," said Miss South; "this part of the work +should have been done earlier," and pushing open the door that led from +the other end of the pantry, the four found themselves in the girls' +dining-room.</p> + +<p>"How is this?" asked Miss South so seriously that one of the young girls +holding the table-cloth dropped an end suddenly, and both looked +sheepish.</p> + +<p>"It was such a lovely day that we went out and sat on the back steps," +said one of them frankly, "and then we forgot all about this room."</p> + +<p>"But it's the rule, is it not, to put this room in perfect order before +you wash the dishes?"</p> + +<p>"Yes'm—but we forgot."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm not here to scold, but I only wish that you had been as +careful about this as about your kitchen work; I noticed that you had +left everything there very neat."</p> + +<p>"Yes'm," was the answer from both girls at once.</p> + +<p>"Where's Miss Dreen, Concetta?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! she said she'd go to market right after breakfast, and leave us do +what we could without her."</p> + +<p>"I understand," said Miss South, as she introduced each of the young +girls to the visitors.</p> + +<p>"Miss Dreen, the housekeeper," she explained, as they turned to go +upstairs, "supervises the girls in the kitchen. I suppose that she left +them alone to test their sense of responsibility. She will require a +report on her return."</p> + +<p>"Well, if they are as frank with her as with us, she will have little to +complain of. One looked like an Italian, and I thought that they were +never ready to tell the truth."</p> + +<p>"That depends on the girl," said Miss South; "but I have confidence in +this one. The other, by the way, is German. Edith's protégée, you +remember. I wonder where Maggie is," she continued; "she ought to have +been there, for we have three girls together serve a turn in the kitchen +each week, and we had her begin to-day."</p> + +<p>"I wish that Maggie were as pretty as Concetta," said Brenda, in a tone +louder than was really necessary, "for Maggie is mortal plain;" and +then, at that moment, she ran into somebody in a turn of the hallway, +and when in the same instant the door of an opposite room was opened she +saw Maggie McSorley gazing up at her with tear-stained eyes.</p> + +<p>"Why, Maggie, I came downstairs expressly to find you. Have you been +crying?" A glance had assured her that the tears had not been caused by +her hasty words. Indeed, the swollen eyes showed that the child had been +crying for some time.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter, Maggie?" asked Julia, while Nora and Miss South +passed on toward the reception-room. "Miss Barlow has come to see you, +and she may think that we have not been kind to you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, 'm, you've been kind;" and Maggie began to sob after the +fashion in which she had sobbed during her first interview with Brenda.</p> + +<p>At last by dint of much questioning they found that she and Concetta had +disagreed when they first set about clearing the table, and while +scuffling a pitcher had been broken.</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> didn't do it—truly; Concetta said I'd surely be sent home in +disgrace, and she picked up the pieces to show you, and locked the +dining-room door so's I couldn't go back and finish my work, and put the +key in her pocket; and what will Miss Dreen say, for it was my day to +tidy up the dining-room."</p> + +<p>Brenda and Julia saw that they had been rather hasty in forming an +opinion of Concetta's innocence and gentleness. They did not doubt +Maggie when she showed the swelling on her head, near her cheek-bone, +that she said had been caused by a blow.</p> + +<p>"Evidently you and Concetta cannot work together at the same time. We'll +send Nellie down to the kitchen this week. Now, Brenda, I'll leave you +with Maggie for a little while, and she can tell you what she is +learning here."</p> + +<p>But the interview was far from satisfactory to either of the two. +Maggie, always reticent, was now doubly so, as her mind dwelt on the +insult she had received from the Italian girl, "dago," as she said to +herself. On her part Brenda hated tears, and as she had not witnessed +the quarrel, she felt for Maggie less sympathy than when she had seen +her weep over the broken vase. Brenda asked a few questions, Maggie +replied in monosyllables, and both were relieved when Miss South +suggested that Maggie take Brenda up to see her room.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the two young girls in the kitchen were engaged in an animated +discussion. In Brenda's presence Concetta's great, dark eyes had +expressed intense admiration for the slender, graceful young woman +flitting about with pleased exclamations for everything that she saw.</p> + +<p>"Ain't she stylish?" Concetta said to her companion as the visitors +turned away, "with all them silver things jingling from her belt, and +such shiny shoes. Say! don't you think those were silk flowers on her +hat?"</p> + +<p>Concetta had not been able to give to her English the polish of her +native tongue, and the grammar acquired in her teacher's presence +slipped away under the influence of the many-tongued neighborhood where +she lived.</p> + +<p>"She's a great sight handsomer than that Miss Blair," and she looked at +her companion narrowly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I wish she'd brought me here instead of Miss Blair; she seems so +lively, and Miss Blair is so—so kind of slow."</p> + +<p>Gretchen knew very well that she was wrong in speaking thus of the one +whose interest had made her an inmate of the delightful Mansion, yet as +she and her companion continued to talk Brenda gained constantly at the +expense of Edith.</p> + +<p>It not infrequently happens that those persons whom we ought to admire +the most are those whom we find it the hardest to admire, sometimes even +to like. Gretchen owed everything to Edith, who had been very kind to +her at a time when her family were in rather sore straits. But +appearances count for more than they should with many young persons. +Whatever Edith wore was in good taste, and costly, even when lacking in +the indefinite something called style. Nora the girls would have put in +the same class with Brenda, as quite worthy for them to copy when they +should be old enough to dress like young ladies. They did not know that +Nora's clothes cost far less than Brenda's, and that Edith's dress was +usually twice as costly. It was undoubtedly Brenda's brightness of +manner and her generally graceful air that they translated into +"stylishness"—the kind of thing that they thought they could make their +own by imitation and practice when they were older.</p> + +<p>Now it happened that neither Concetta nor Gretchen had the least idea +that Maggie was Brenda's special protégée. Had they known this their +tongues might have flown even faster, as they jeered at the absent +Maggie for being a regular cry-baby. Their own wrongdoing in teasing +Maggie sat lightly on their little shoulders. It was their theory that +might makes right, and as they had been able to get rid of the girl they +didn't like, they believed themselves evidently much better than she.</p> + +<p>With her rather listless guide Brenda made the tour of the upper +stories. There were twelve pretty bedrooms for the girls, of almost +uniform size, although varying somewhat in shape. The furniture in each +was the same, but to allow a little scope for individual taste each girl +was permitted to decide upon the color to be used in draperies, +counterpane, and china. Blue and pink were the prevailing choice, for +the range of colors suitable for these purposes is limited. Nellie asked +for green, and had it even to the green clover-leaf on the china; and +another girl begged for plain white, unwilling to have even a touch of +gilt on the china; "it makes me think of heaven," she confided to Julia, +"to see everything so white and still when I come up to my room at +night."</p> + +<p>Maggie had chosen brown for her room, a choice that had especially +awakened the ridicule of Luisa, who had said that if she could have her +own way there should be a mixture of red, yellow, and blue on all her +possessions.</p> + +<p>"Why, it's ever so pretty, Maggie," said Brenda, "and you are keeping it +neat; but I can't say that those broad brown ribbons tying up the window +curtains are cheerful, and I never did like a brown pattern on +crockery-ware; but still if you like it—"</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't like it quite as much as I expected."</p> + +<p>"Then perhaps later you can make some changes; I would certainly have +blue ribbons."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know, Miss Barlow, there's so many other colors, and I +can't tell which I'd like the best."</p> + +<p>"I must send you two or three books for your bookshelf."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Miss Barlow," said Maggie coldly, without suggesting, as +Brenda hoped she might, some book that she particularly wished to own.</p> + +<p>Just then, to her relief, Julia passed through the hall.</p> + +<p>"Come upstairs with me and I will show you the gymnasium that we have +had built. Edith, you know, paid for it all."</p> + +<p>So up to the top of the house the two cousins climbed, followed by Nora +and Maggie. Two large rooms had been thrown into one, and as the roof +was flat, a fine, large hall was the result. This was fitted up with +light gymnastic apparatus, and Julia explained that a teacher was to +come once a week to teach the girls. "In stormy weather, when we can't +go out, this will be a grand place for bean-bags and similar games, and, +indeed, I think that the gymnasium will prove one of the most +attractive rooms in the Mansion."</p> + +<p>At this moment a Chinese gong resounded through the house.</p> + +<p>"Twelve o'clock; it seems hardly possible!" and Julia led the way for +the others to follow her downstairs.</p> + +<p>From the school-room above three or four girls now appeared, and others +came from various parts of the house where they had been at work, among +them Concetta and Gretchen.</p> + +<p>"Let me count you," said Miss South, after they were seated; "although I +can make only nine, I cannot decide who is missing."</p> + +<p>As Concetta raised her hand Gretchen tried to pull it down.</p> + +<p>"You're not in school; she don't want you to do that."</p> + +<p>But the former continued to shake her hand, until Miss South noticed +her.</p> + +<p>"Please, 'm, it's Mary Murphy; she told me she was going to sneak home +after breakfast. Her mother said she didn't sleep a wink for two nights +thinking of her dear daughter in such a place; so's soon as she'd read +the letter she said she'd go right home."</p> + +<p>"Very well," said Miss South, "I'm much obliged to you for telling me;" +and then, to the disappointment of all, she made no further comment on +Mary Murphy's departure.</p> + +<p>The half-hour in the library passed quickly. Each girl reported what she +had done thus far, and in some cases Miss South gave instructions for +the rest of the day. One or two had special questions to ask, one or two +had grievances. Promptly at half-past twelve Miss South gave the signal, +and they filed away to prepare for dinner.</p> + +<p>"It's a kind of dress inspection. You will understand what I mean if you +have ever visited an army post."</p> + +<p>"You did not find much fault."</p> + +<p>"No, Nora, but I observed many things, and before night I shall have a +chance for private conversation with several who stand in special need +of it. There were Concetta's finger-nails, and Luisa's shoestrings, and +Gretchen had her apron fastened with a safety-pin. Ah! well, we can't +expect too much."</p> + +<p>"They really are very funny," interposed Julia. "The other day I heard +Inez talking to Haleema as they were making a bed: 'Ain't it silly to +have to put all these sheets and things on so straight every day when +they get all mussed up at night.'</p> + +<p>"'My mother never used to make the beds,' said Haleema reminiscently.</p> + +<p>"'No, nor mine; we used just to lump them all at the foot of the bed, +and pile the blankets from the children's bed on the floor.'</p> + +<p>"'It would be nice and handy to hang them over the foot here.'</p> + +<p>"'Yes, they'd get so well aired, and it would save all this bother.'</p> + +<p>"I'm almost sure that they would have tried this plan," continued Julia, +"had they not seen me standing in the hall. However, Haleema did +venture to say that she wondered why we insist on having the bureau +drawers shut, after they've all been put in good order. It's only when +they have nothing in them that she thinks that they should be closed. +She also prefers to use the chair in her room for some of the little +ornaments that she brought from home, and when she sits down she +crouches on the rug."</p> + +<p>"Sits Turkish fashion, I suppose you mean."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it is Turkish fashion, although I imagine that there is no love +lost between the Syrians and the Turks."</p> + +<p>"Haleema is much neater than Luisa, and although we think of her as less +civilized, she hasn't half as much objection to taking the daily bath +that Luisa considers a perfect waste of time."</p> + +<p>"It's very discouraging," said Julia with a sigh.</p> + +<p>"Oh, one needn't mind a little thing like that. One or two that I could +mention think it a great waste of time to wash the dishes after every +meal."</p> + +<p>"Ugh!" and an expression of disgust crossed Brenda's face at the mere +thought of using the same plates and cups unwashed for a second meal.</p> + +<p>"There's a slight strain on the one who supervises their table manners. +I've just been through my week. You see," and she turned in explanation +toward Nora and Brenda, "each resident serves for a week as head of the +girls' table at breakfast, and it is her duty to correct all their +little faults as a mother would. At the other two meals they have only +Miss Dreen, for we think that they ought to be free from the restraint +of our presence at these other meals."</p> + +<p>"Do you try to guide conversation, too?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, but thus far our presence has seemed a decided damper, and the +solemnity of breakfast is in great contrast with the hilarity at the +other two meals. At tea-time their laughter sometimes reaches even as +far as the library."</p> + +<p>"They are ready to learn, and particularly ready to imitate. I am really +obliged to watch myself constantly," said Julia, "lest I say or do +something that may return against me some time, like a boomerang."</p> + +<p>"Then I fear that I should be a poor kind of resident," rejoined Brenda, +"for it has been said that I speak first and think afterwards. However, +in the presence of Maggie McSorley I am always going to try to do my +best; for apparently it's my duty to bring her up for the next few +years, and I won't shirk. But I wish that it had been Concetta instead +of Maggie on whom I stumbled. I'm going to tell Ralph that I've found a +perfect model for his new picture. Wouldn't you let her pose?"</p> + +<p>"Ask Miss South," responded Julia.</p> + +<p>But Miss South, without waiting for the question, only shook her head, +with an emphatic "No, indeed."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V</h2> + +<h3>PHILIP'S LECTURE</h3> + + +<p>Angelina was smiling broadly, "grinning from ear to ear" some persons +would have expressed it, as she ushered two visitors into the room where +Miss South, Julia, and Pamela were sitting one afternoon toward six +o'clock, for Pamela was one of the residents at the Mansion.</p> + +<p>"Why, Philip; why, Tom!" cried Julia, rising from the lounge where she +was looking over a folio of engravings, "this <i>is</i> a pleasure."</p> + +<p>"Yes, we thought we'd accept promptly your kind invitation to drop in +upon you at any time, so that we could see the Mansion and its contents +just as they are."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, they are always ready for inspection."</p> + +<p>"We hope that you will ask us to stay to dinner," added Tom, after he +had followed Philip's example and had shaken hands with the others.</p> + +<p>"Oh, certainly! especially as you have made it so evident that you are +ready to accept."</p> + +<p>"That is delightful! You see we feared to wait for a formal invitation, +lest you might show us only the company side of things, and we are +anxious to see you just as you are."</p> + +<p>"Ah! we have no company side. We decided in the beginning to welcome our +friends at any time, if they would take us just as we were."</p> + +<p>"This doesn't look like an institution," said Tom, glancing around the +pretty room.</p> + +<p>"No, we haven't seen the real inmates yet. I suppose you keep them under +lock and key," interposed Philip.</p> + +<p>"Hardly," responded Miss South, "because—"</p> + +<p>Then, as the door was pushed open for a minute, shouts of merriment from +another part of the house showed that if in durance vile, the inmates +were at least in full possession of some of their faculties.</p> + +<p>Then the party broke up into two groups. Tom in his vivacious way told +of his experiences as a fledgling lawyer. This was his first visit to +Boston since he had been admitted to the bar, and he described himself +as just beginning to believe that he might escape starvation from the +fact that one or two clients had made their appearance at his office.</p> + +<p>"It's lucky for my friends that a little practice is coming my way, for +I was ready, for the sake of business, to set any of them by the ears. +Why, the other day when I was out with my uncle, and the cable car +stopped too suddenly, I almost hoped that he would sprain his +ankle—just a little, that I might have the chance to bring suit against +the company."</p> + +<p>"How cruel!" exclaimed Julia, into whose ear he had let fall these rash +admissions.</p> + +<p>While Tom ran on in this frivolous fashion, Philip was talking more +seriously with Pamela and Miss South. Indeed, seriousness was a quality +that Philip now showed to an extent that seemed strange to those who had +known him in his earlier college years. Much responsibility had recently +come to him on account of his father's failing health, and in the West +he had been so thrown on his own resources that he no longer regarded +life as unsatisfactory unless it offered him amusement.</p> + +<p>"I have wondered," he was saying to Miss South, "if you really wished me +to give that talk on the Western country."</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed, we are very anxious to have it. We are counting on you to +open our lecture season."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm only too happy, although you must remember that I'm not a +professional; but my lantern is in order, and I have nearly a hundred +slides. Many of them are really fine,—even if I do say it," he +concluded apologetically.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure they are," responded Miss South, "and I can tell you that we +older 'inmates,' as you call us, are equally anxious to hear you."</p> + +<p>"You mean, to see the pictures; they will be worth your attention, but +as to my speaking—"</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'You'd scarce expect one of my age<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To speak in public on the stage,'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>interposed Tom mockingly, as he overheard the latter part of the +sentence. Whereat Philip, somewhat embarrassed, was glad to see +Angelina at the door announcing "Dinner is served," and leading the way +with Miss South the others followed them to the dining-room.</p> + +<p>As they took their places Philip found himself beside Pamela. He had +seen her but two or three times since her Freshman year at Radcliffe, +and in consequence would hardly have dared venture to allude to that +sugar episode through which he had first made her acquaintance. But +Pamela, no longer sensitive about this misadventure, brought it up +herself. Though Philip politely persisted that it had seemed the most +natural thing in the world to see before him on a Cambridge sidewalk a +stream of sugar pouring from an overturned paper-bag, Pamela assured him +that to her he had appeared like a hero on that memorable occasion, +since he had saved her from a certain amount of mortification.</p> + +<p>"But I'm wiser now," she said; "I hadn't studied philosophy then," and +she quoted one or two passages from certain ancient authors to show that +she had attained a state of indifference to outside criticism.</p> + +<p>Gradually Pamela told Philip much about her school, to prove that it +wasn't simply philosophy that helped her enjoy her work.</p> + +<p>"So it really is your interest in them that makes your pupils so fond of +your classes."</p> + +<p>Then, in answer to her word of surprise, he added:</p> + +<p>"Oh, my little cousin, Emily Dover, one of your most devoted admirers, +has been telling me—I believe that you have the misfortune to instruct +her."</p> + +<p>"Ah, the good fortune! She is a bright little thing, if not a hard +student."</p> + +<p>"You could hardly expect more from one of our family."</p> + +<p>"Why, your sister seems to me fairly intelligent."</p> + +<p>Could this be Pamela, actually speaking in a bantering tone, unawed by a +young man considerably her senior?</p> + +<p>"I am glad," he said a moment later, "that you are surviving not only +the experiment of teaching my little cousin, but this experiment at the +Mansion."</p> + +<p>"Oh, this isn't an experiment, it's—it's—"</p> + +<p>"The real thing?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, it really is. If you wish to understand it, you must come here +some day when the classes are at work. Miss South or Edith will be happy +to show you about."</p> + +<p>"But I am a working-man now. At the time when I might properly visit the +school I am afraid that there would be no classes in session."</p> + +<p>"Of course I'm busy myself, too," said Pamela, "and sometimes I feel +that I am here on false pretences."</p> + +<p>"Remembering your reputation, I don't believe that you are very idle."</p> + +<p>"Oh, of course I help; but then some one else could as well do my work."</p> + +<p>"Tell me exactly what you do."</p> + +<p>But Pamela shook her head, and with all his urging Philip could not make +her describe her exact sphere of activity. Yet Miss South or Julia could +have told that no resident was more useful than Pamela, who devoted her +evenings to the girls, talking to them, playing games, and in all that +she did directing their thoughts toward the appreciation of beautiful +things. Every Saturday she took two or three to the Art Museum, and +later she meant them to see any exhibitions that there might be in town. +One or two critics were inclined to laugh at this work. "It would put +strange ideas into the heads of the girls. They would want things that +they could never own." But Pamela was satisfied when she saw the +rapturous glance of appreciation on the faces of Concetta and Inez, the +most artistic of the girls, and the awakening interest in the others.</p> + +<p>But how could she explain all this to Philip in casual conversation at a +dinner-table?</p> + +<p>Maggie, helping Angelina, found this, her first experience in waiting on +company, very trying. To overcome her timidity Miss South had purposely +assigned her to this task. But who could have supposed that she would +let the bread fall as she passed it to Philip, tilting the plate so far +that a slice or two fell on the table before him.</p> + +<p>"There!" and he smiled good-humoredly, "the Mansion realizes the extent +of my appetite, and evidently I am to receive more even than I ask for."</p> + +<p>Poor Maggie's next mishap was to drop a dessert plate as she started to +take it from the sideboard.</p> + +<p>"It was because you looked at me so hard," she said afterwards to +Angelina; "I couldn't think what you wanted, you were shaking your head +so fierce."</p> + +<p>"Why, it was the finger-bowl, child. You forgot it. There should be one +on every plate. When I told you to get extra things for company, I meant +finger-bowls too. We always have them on the dessert plates."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said Maggie, as if her not getting them had been the merest +oversight, although really this was her first experience in waiting at +dinner, and she had not a good memory for the details that had been +taught her.</p> + +<p>But shy as she was, she did not hesitate to take part in the +conversation once or twice. Miss South and the others showed no surprise +when twice her voice was heard replying to questions that Philip had +expected Miss South or Pamela to answer.</p> + +<p>After the older people returned to the library, Angelina confided to +Maggie that Mr. Philip Blair was to give a lecture at the Mansion in a +week or two. "I know all about it, because Miss Julia told me a few days +ago."</p> + +<p>Haleema, the little Syrian girl, who was helping Maggie in her +dish-washing, paused in her singing to listen to Angelina's accounts of +the wonderful adventures that Mr. Blair had had in the West.</p> + +<p>"Ho!" said Haleema, "it ain't nothing to go bear-hunting, if you don't +get killed. Why, I've had two uncles and ten cousins killed by the +Turks," and then she went on singing cheerfully,—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'As quick as you're able set neatly the table,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And first lay the table-cloth square;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And then on the table-cloth, bright and clean table-cloth,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Napkins arrange with due care.'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The air to which she sang was "Little Buttercup," and her voice was +clear and sweet, but as she began the second stanza,—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'Put plates in their places at regular spaces,'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Angelina interrupted her. "This isn't the time for singing this song, +this is dish-washing time;" and, overawed by Angelina's imperative +manner, Haleema was silenced.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>As to the lecture itself, it is needless to say that Philip a few +evenings later had an appreciative audience. All the girls were in a +twitter at the prospect of this their first entertainment, Angelina most +of all. She had arranged her hair in an elaborate coiffure, which, she +informed Haleema, she had copied from a hairdresser's window in +Washington Street.</p> + +<p>"Ah, then, perhaps you have one of those things—a whip, I think they +call it?"</p> + +<p>"A what?"</p> + +<p>"A whip, a long piece of hair to tie on, for I did not know that you had +so much hair, Miss Angelina."</p> + +<p>"Oh, a switch."</p> + +<p>Angelina looked at Haleema sharply and made no further reply. Haleema +had addressed her by the flattering "Miss Angelina," which Manuel's +sister, when none of the residents were present, tried to exact from all +the younger girls at the Mansion, and therefore she would not reprove +her for her insinuation about "the whip."</p> + +<p>Nevertheless Angelina held her head rather stiffly as she filled her +part as head usher.</p> + +<p>Each girl at the Mansion had been permitted to invite two guests—a girl +of her own age and an older person. And almost every one invited was +present. Angelina's brother John was the only boy there. He had shot up +into a fairly tall youth, with a very intelligent face. He was attending +evening school in the city, and working through the day for a little +more than his board. Julia knew that she could depend on him to help her +when at times Angelina proved refractory. To-night John was to operate +the lantern while Philip talked about the views.</p> + +<p>The girls held their breath in admiration as slide after slide was +thrown on the screen. Gorges, cañons, mountain-passes followed one +another in quick succession. The wonderful cañon of the Arkansas, the +Marshall Pass, the Garden of the Gods, the tree-shaded streets of +Colorado Springs, the railroad up Pike's Peak, and all the weird and +wonderful sights of the Yellowstone Park.</p> + +<p>"He's really very handsome," whispered Nora to Julia during a pause +between the pictures when Philip's regular features were thrown in +silhouette upon the sheet. Then she continued, "Don't you remember how +we used to laugh at him, and call him a dandy, when he was a Sophomore; +but now he looks so manly, and his lecture has been really interesting."</p> + +<p>Pamela, seated on the other side of Nora, heard these words with +surprise. She had not known Philip in the days when he was considered +somewhat effeminate.</p> + +<p>All the girls expressed their pleasure as each new picture came in +sight, and yet I am afraid that their loudest applause was given to a +series of colored pictures showing the adventures of a farmer with an +obstinate calf that he vainly tried to drive to the barn, succeeding +only when he put a cow-bell around his own neck.</p> + +<p>At last the lights were turned on, but all were still seated as Angelina +rushed to pick up the pointer and to help roll up the screen. There was +no real need of her doing this, but she was anxious to impress the two +girls whom she had invited from the North End with a sense of her own +importance. Just as she had picked up the pointer, standing in full +sight of all, she was aware of a titter that was turning into a full +laugh. Instinctively she put her hand to her head, and looking around +she met the childlike gaze of Haleema, who was holding aloft a braid of +black hair.</p> + +<p>"Here, Miss Angelina, is your whip—I mean switch."</p> + +<p>Conscious of the strange appearance of her head since the towering +structure had fallen, annoyed by the smile on the faces of those before +her, and dreading the reproofs of her elders, Angelina fled shamefacedly +from the room.</p> + +<p>Maggie and Concetta and the other young girls were able to bear this +mishap with less discomfort than Angelina herself; for the latter in her +way was apt to be domineering, and they knew that for a little while she +would not come down to the dining-room where chocolate and cakes were to +be served.</p> + +<p>Serving their guests, the young housekeepers were at their best. Each +had her appointed duty. One carried plates and napkins, another arranged +the little white cloths on half a dozen small tables placed around the +room. One girl poured the chocolate, and another put the whipped cream +on the top of each slender cup. None of them hesitated to tell her +friends what portion of the feast she had prepared, whether sandwiches, +whipped cream, or the wafer-like cookies.</p> + +<p>"I wish that Brenda had been here," said Edith, as she and Nora and +Philip walked home.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Brenda wouldn't give an evening to this kind of thing at this +season; she says that it's the gayest winter since she came out."</p> + +<p>"I don't see how she can stand going out every evening," rejoined Edith, +who was wearing mourning for a relative, and hence was not accepting +invitations to dinners and dances.</p> + +<p>"I suppose she thinks it her duty to enjoy herself here. She says it +pleases her father and mother to have her enjoy herself."</p> + +<p>"Girls have strange ideas of duty," remarked Philip, "though it seems to +me that those girls at the Mansion have just about the right idea."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h2> + +<h3>IN THE STUDIO</h3> + + +<p>As autumn sped on Brenda was not very ardent in following up the Mansion +work. But what a perfect autumn it was! How bracing the air! How much +more delightful to spend the daylight hours in long rides out over the +bridle-path, along the broad boulevard, or in the narrower byways of the +suburbs. Sometimes, instead of riding, Arthur and Brenda would walk even +as far as the reservoir and back. One afternoon in late November they +had circled the lovely sheet of water that lies embosomed among the +hills of Brookline, and, waiting for a car, had sat down on a wayside +seat.</p> + +<p>"Except for the bare trees it's hard to believe that this is November," +Brenda had said.</p> + +<p>"Yes," responded Arthur. "Days like this almost redeem the bad character +of the New England climate."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Arthur, there isn't a better all-round climate anywhere."</p> + +<p>"After a winter in California, I should think that you'd know better +than that."</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus2" id="illus2"></a> +<img src="images/illus2.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>Waiting for a car they had sat down on a wayside seat</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>The argument went a little further, and Brenda made out her case very +well, quoting the surprise of Californians and Southerners, who had +come to Boston expecting an Arctic winter, to find only an occasional +frigid day.</p> + +<p>"Those must have been exceptional winters;" and Arthur shrugged his +shoulders in a way that always provoked Brenda as he concluded, "Say +what you will, it is always a vile winter climate."</p> + +<p>"Then I'm sure," retorted Brenda, "I don't see why you plan to spend the +winter here."</p> + +<p>"Oh, indeed! I fancied that you knew the reason."</p> + +<p>Taking no notice of this pacific remark, Brenda continued:</p> + +<p>"Yes, if I were you I wouldn't stay in so dreadful a place; you +certainly have no important business to keep you. Why, papa said—"</p> + +<p>She did not finish the sentence. Arthur frowned ominously, and he +abruptly signalled a car just coming in sight.</p> + +<p>Brenda hardly understood why Arthur was so silent on the way home. She +did not realize that her allusion to her father had annoyed him. Arthur +knew that Mr. Barlow did not altogether approve of his lack of a +profession. After completing his studies he had not wished to practise +law. A slight impediment in his speech was likely to prevent his being a +good pleader, and the opportunity that he desired for office practice +had not yet offered. His personal income was just enough to permit him +to drift without a settled profession. There was danger that he might +learn to prefer a life of idleness to one in which work had the larger +part.</p> + +<p>Yet Arthur's intentions were the best in the world. He really was only +waiting for the right thing to present itself, and although Brenda had +not quoted her father's words, his imagination had flown ahead of what +she had said, and he was angry at the implied criticism.</p> + +<p>"No, I can't come in," he said, as he left Brenda at her door. "I have +an engagement."</p> + +<p>"Oh, what—"</p> + +<p>Then Brenda checked herself. If he did not care to tell her, she could +afford to hide her curiosity. After he left her she wondered what the +engagement was.</p> + +<p>"I'll see you at the studio to-morrow." This was Arthur's parting word, +in a pleasanter tone than that of a moment before.</p> + +<p>"Yes, perhaps so; I'm really not sure."</p> + +<p>The next day, toward four o'clock, Brenda and her little niece, Lettice, +mounted the stairs to the studio. The stairs were long and narrow, for +Ralph Weston, on his return from Europe, had chosen a studio in the top +of one of the old houses opposite the Garden, in preference to a newer +building.</p> + +<p>When his wife and her sister had protested that he would see them very +seldom if he persisted in having this inaccessible studio, "It may seem +ungallant to say so," he had said, "but that is one of my reasons for +choosing to perch myself in this eyrie. I am all the less likely to be +interrupted when seeking inspiration for a masterpiece. If I were +connected with the earth by an elevator I should never be safe from +interruption. In fact, I should probably urge you and your friends to +spend your spare time here. But now, knowing that it would be an +imposition to expect you to climb those stairs more than once a week, I +feel quite secure until Thursday rolls around."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you needn't worry. That glimpse across the Garden from your window +showing the State House as the very pinnacle of the city is beautiful, +but we can live without it, if <i>you</i> can exist without us;" and Brenda +drew herself up with dignity.</p> + +<p>On this particular afternoon as she reached the studio door with Lettice +clinging to her hand she was flushed and almost out of breath.</p> + +<p>Within the studio her sister Agnes, giving a few last touches to the +table, exclaimed in surprise at sight of the little girl.</p> + +<p>"Why, Lettice, what in the world are you doing here?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, auntie found me in the park, and she sent nurse off."</p> + +<p>Then Brenda explained that Lettice looked so sweet that she just +couldn't bear to leave her behind, "and nurse," she added, "fortunately +had a very important errand down town, and was so glad that I could take +Lettice off her hands, and so—"</p> + +<p>"'The lady protests too much, methinks,'" interposed Ralph. "But you +really need not apologize. I am always glad to have Lettice here, even +though her mother does think her too young to receive at afternoon +teas."</p> + +<p>"At four years old—I should think so. There, dear, you mustn't touch +anything on the table," for the little girl, on tiptoe, was trying to +reach a plate of biscuit.</p> + +<p>Lettice withdrew her hand quickly, and, when her wraps were removed, +allowed herself to be perched on a tabaret, where her mother said she +was safe from harming or being harmed.</p> + +<p>The studio was filled with trophies that Mr. and Mrs. Weston had +collected abroad. The high carved mantle-piece was the work of some +medieval Hollander, the curtain shutting off one end of the room was old +Norman tapestry—the most valuable of all their possessions. Each chair +had, as Brenda sometimes said, a different nationality. Her own +preference was for the Venetian seat, with its curving back and +elaborate carving. As it grew darker outside the studio was brightened +by the light from a pair of Roman candlesticks.</p> + +<p>Only one or two of the paintings on the wall were Mr. Weston's work. +When asked, he always said that he had very little to show, and that he +did not believe in boring his guests by driving them, against their +judgment, perhaps, to praise what they saw.</p> + +<p>"Mock modesty!" Brenda had exclaimed at this expression of opinion.</p> + +<p>"If I were sure that that was a genuine Tintoretto, I should believe +that you were afraid of coming in direct competition with an old master; +though, to tell you the truth, I'm glad that your work is a little +brighter and livelier," she concluded.</p> + +<p>One or two callers had now come in, and Brenda took her place at the +tea-table, that Agnes might be free to move about the large studio. Soon +the nurse appeared, and Lettice, protesting that she was a big girl and +ought to stay, was ignominiously carried home.</p> + +<p>"Where's Arthur?" asked Ralph, as he stood near Brenda, waiting for her +to pour a cup of tea for a guest.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure I don't know."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I beg your pardon," responded Ralph ceremoniously. "I fancied that +you might have heard him say what he intended to do."</p> + +<p>Ralph went off with the tea, and Brenda continued to pour for other +guests. But her mind was wandering. She served lemon when the guest had +asked for cream, and generously dropped two lumps into the cup of one +who had expressly requested no sugar. In spite of herself her eye +travelled often to the door, and an observer would have seen that her +mind was far away. When at last she saw Arthur entering the room some +one was with him, and the two were laughing and chatting gayly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, we had such a time getting here," cried the shrill voice of Belle. +"Mr. Weston's been making calls with me in Jamaica Plain, and the cars +were blocked coming back, so that it seemed as if we should never get +here."</p> + +<p>"But we're glad to arrive at last;" and Arthur moved toward the table, +while Belle lingered for a word or two with Agnes and her husband.</p> + +<p>"Poor thing!" exclaimed Belle, when at last she joined Arthur beside the +table. "Poor thing! have you been shut up here pouring tea all the +afternoon? You ought to have been with us; we've had a perfectly lovely +time."</p> + +<p>"You don't care for sweet things, so I won't give you any sugar," said +Brenda, without replying directly to Belle.</p> + +<p>"Come, Belle, you must see this sketch of Lettice. It is the one you +were asking about." Agnes had come to the rescue.</p> + +<p>As Belle turned away, Arthur tried to make his peace, for he saw that in +some way he had displeased Brenda. He explained that he had merely +happened to meet Belle, who was out on a calling expedition. He had +accompanied her to one or two houses, because when she had paid these +visits she intended to go to the studio. "I really meant to call for +you, although you were so uncertain yesterday about coming," he +concluded apologetically.</p> + +<p>"Of course you knew I would come. I always do on Thursdays," replied +Brenda; "but you were not obliged to call for me if you had something +pleasanter to do."</p> + +<p>"Ah, Belle is never out of temper." Arthur spoke significantly, annoyed +by Brenda's unusual dignity of manner. Then, as she turned to speak to +some one at the other side of the table, he crossed the room and joined +Belle.</p> + +<p>Since the death of her grandmother two years before, Belle and her +mother had been away from Boston. They expected to spend the coming +season in Washington, as they had the preceding. Belle now pronounced +Boston altogether too old-fashioned a place for a person of cosmopolitan +tastes, and she dazzled the younger girls and the undergraduates of her +acquaintance by talking of diplomatic and state dignitaries with the +greatest freedom. According to her own estimate of herself, she was one +of the brightest stars in Washington society.</p> + +<p>Although she and Brenda were less intimate than formerly, when Belle was +in town she was with Brenda more than with any other girl of her +acquaintance. Despite her insincerity and her various other failings, +now much clearer to Brenda than in her school days, Belle had certain +qualities that made her very companionable, and Brenda was inclined to +overlook her less amiable traits. Indeed, she had clung to Belle in +spite of the protests of various other girls. But to-day she felt +impatient with Belle. Her high, sharp voice grated on her ear. Her +witticisms seemed particularly shallow, and almost for the first time +Brenda realized that the words with which Belle raised a laugh from +those present carried a sting for some one absent.</p> + +<p>Again Belle approached her. "I suppose your cousin never indulges in +frivolities like this. I hear that she has withdrawn altogether from the +world into some kind of a home or institution."</p> + +<p>"There, Belle, how silly you are! If you'd spend more time in Boston, +you'd at least hear things straight. Julia is just as fond of frivolity +as any of us, only it's the right kind of frivolity."</p> + +<p>"Oh, excuse me," exclaimed Belle with mock sorrow. "I had entirely +forgotten your new point of view. You used to feel so differently about +your cousin."</p> + +<p>"Well, it is irritating to hear you talk about her being in an +institution. Surely you've heard about Miss South and the old Du Launy +Mansion; and if you go up there and call, you'll see that they are not +shut out from the world."</p> + +<p>"Dear! dear! why need you take everything so seriously. There! why, it's +half-past five! I'm really afraid to go home alone."</p> + +<p>This was said as Arthur came within earshot, and, of course, he could +only offer to go home with her, as she professed to be in too great a +hurry to wait for Brenda and the rest of the party.</p> + +<p>"But I will come back for you," murmured Arthur, as he turned away.</p> + +<p>"No, thank you; you needn't," responded Brenda stiffly; "I have Ralph +and Agnes, and really I don't care for any one else."</p> + +<p>"Very well, then, we'll say good evening;" and the two young people went +off after Belle had said her farewells very effusively to all in the +studio.</p> + +<p>As Brenda sat alone in a corner of the studio after the other guests had +gone, she had an opportunity to think over the events of the past few +years which some of Belle's sharp remarks had brought up. Ralph and +Agnes were busy discussing designs for some picture-frames that he was +to have made, and, sitting apart, Brenda in a rather unusual fit of +reverie recalled some of the happenings of the six years since her +cousin Julia had first come into her life. When first she learned that +her orphan cousin, who was a year and a half her senior, was to become a +member of her family, she had been far from pleased. Without feeling +jealousy in its meanest form, she was annoyed lest the presence of Julia +should interfere with her enjoyment of her little circle of intimate +friends. Edith Blair, Nora Gostar, Belle Gregg and she had formed a +pleasant circle, "The Four," into which she did not care to have a fifth +enter. Consequently she was far from kind to her cousin, and would not +invite her to the weekly meetings of the group, when they gathered at +her house to work for a bazaar. Belle prompted and upheld Brenda in her +attitude toward her cousin, while Nora and Edith were Julia's champions. +Later Julia had an opportunity to behave very generously toward Brenda, +and from that time the cousins were good friends. Belle's departure for +boarding-school and her later absence in Washington had naturally +lessened her intimacy with Brenda. Julia, after two years at Miss +Crawdon's school with Brenda, had entered Radcliffe College, where in +her four years' course she had made many friends, and had been graduated +with honor. Belle, as well as Julia and Brenda, had been one of Miss +South's pupils at Miss Crawdon's school, but she was one of the few with +no interest whatever in the work begun at the Mansion—a work which the +majority had been only too glad to help.</p> + +<p>Belle had never shown herself to Brenda in so unlovely a light as on +this particular afternoon at the studio. Yet she had often been far more +disagreeable in her general way of expressing herself. The difference +was that now Brenda herself had begun to look at life in a very +different way. She had a higher standard; she understood and admired her +cousin, even though in many ways they were very unlike, and Belle in +contrast seemed particularly shallow.</p> + +<p>Then, too, to be perfectly honest with herself, she had to admit that +she was surprised and not pleased that Arthur Weston should show so much +interest in the society of Belle.</p> + +<p>"Come, Brenda, are you dreaming? We are ready to go home."</p> + +<p>At the sound of her sister's voice Brenda rose quickly, and was ready +with a laughing reply to one of her brother-in-law's witticisms.</p> + +<p>Brenda was not inclined to be melancholy, and the half-hour of +retrospect had been good for her.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII</h2> + +<h3>IN DIFFICULTIES</h3> + + +<p>On the same floor with the gymnasium at the end of the hall was a room +whose door was usually locked. In passing up and down it was not strange +that occasionally the girls would rattle the handle in their anxiety to +catch a glimpse of the inside of the room. But the door was always +fastened, and this fact allowed them to speculate widely as to what the +room contained.</p> + +<p>"It is full of clothes and jewels that belonged to Miss South's +grandmother," announced Concetta. "She was a very strange old lady, and +as rich as rich could be, and when Miss South wants any money, she just +sells some of the things from this room."</p> + +<p>"Oh, then the things must be beautiful; I wish we could see them!"</p> + +<p>"Well, we'll watch and watch, and perhaps some day we shall find it +open."</p> + +<p>Once or twice, however, on their way to the gymnasium the girls had +noticed this door ajar, and great had been their curiosity about it; for +Concetta, who was never backward in wrongdoing, had announced that she +meant to go in at the close of the gymnastic lesson, and look into some +of the trunks that were piled against the wall.</p> + +<p>"No, no," replied Gretchen, to whom she confided her intention, "that +wouldn't be right."</p> + +<p>"Why not?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, we've never been told that we could go in there."</p> + +<p>"But nobody said we couldn't go."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure Miss South wouldn't like it."</p> + +<p>"Ah, I shall go just the same; when I looked in just now, one of the +trunks was open, and on the top I saw a wig, all white curls, and a pink +satin dress. I'd like to have those things to dress up in. Just as soon +as I can I'm going into that room."</p> + +<p>It happened, however, to Concetta's disappointment that when the girls +came out from the gymnasium the room in the ell was locked. But she +remembered the room, and another day in passing she noticed that the +door was slightly ajar. She now said nothing to Gretchen, but had a +whispered conference with Haleema and Inez, with the result that these +three lingered behind when the others went downstairs.</p> + +<p>As the last footfall died away, the three girls stole quietly to the +room in the ell. Concetta laid her finger on her lips in token of +silence, for she was by no means sure that some older person might not +be within hearing.</p> + +<p>"Oh, they're all out this afternoon except Miss Dreen," said Haleema +confidently, "and she's down in the kitchen giving a cooking lesson."</p> + +<p>"See! see!" added Concetta, as she tiptoed ahead of the others, "there's +no one here; come on." And in a minute the three were inside the +mysterious room.</p> + +<p>"Those are the chests of jewels!" and Concetta pointed to the three +large chests ranged along the wall.</p> + +<p>At the end of the room were several large trunks.</p> + +<p>"I wish that we could look inside them," said Haleema.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," and there was real terror in Inez's tone.</p> + +<p>"Don't be afraid; they're all out," said Concetta.</p> + +<p>"Yes, even Miss Angelina," added Haleema; "she's gone to a lecture."</p> + +<p>"Miss Angelina," responded Concetta, mimicking her tone. "She's no Miss +Angelina."</p> + +<p>"But you always call her that."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that only to her face; I should never call her that behind her +back. Why, she's only a girl, just like we are; why, she used to live +down there at the North End, near where Luisa's mother lives. But there, +shut the door, Haleema, so that we can look at these things."</p> + +<p>The three little girls bent over the trunk, the lid of which Concetta +had boldly opened. On the top lay the pink satin gown that she had +described in such glowing terms. Haleema slipped her arms into the +sleeves, and strange to say the bodice fitted her very well.</p> + +<p>"You oughtn't to touch it," cried Inez.</p> + +<p>"You are such a scarecrow," said Concetta, whose English was not always +perfect.</p> + +<p>"Scarecrow! you mean 'fraid-cat," corrected Inez.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, it's all the same thing."</p> + +<p>What did a little question of English matter, when now they were so near +the mysterious treasure; for Concetta had noticed what the others had +not seen, that a bit of bright-colored fabric was hanging from one of +the chests, and she rightly conjectured that this trunk was unlocked. +Even while she spoke to Inez she was fingering the lid of the chest, and +in a moment it was thrown back. Many were the exclamations of the three +as garment after garment was drawn out from the depths; they were +chiefly of bright-colored and delicate materials, and Madame Du Launy +would have turned in her grave had she seen these little girls trying on +the things that at one time in her life had so delighted her.</p> + +<p>"I don't see any jewels," said Haleema disappointedly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, we'll find them; there are some boxes at the bottom. But see here!" +and Concetta drew out a mysterious, queerly shaped package. Opening it +rather gingerly, for at first she was uncertain what it contained, and +then with a skip and a jump—</p> + +<p>"Oh, let's dress up; here are wigs and—"</p> + +<p>"No, no," said Inez, "perhaps some one might find us out."</p> + +<p>"No matter, no matter," and she waved the various wigs in the air.</p> + +<p>"Are they anybody's real hair?" asked Inez, in an awestruck tone, +pointing to the gray toupee and the short curled wig that Concetta held +in her hand.</p> + +<p>"Of course not, child. Oh, see! Haleema has found a box of paint," and +they laughed loudly at the bright red spots on Haleema's cheeks. Then +Haleema put on the curled wig. The others shrieked with laughter. "Your +eyes look blacker than black."</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus3" id="illus3"></a> +<img src="images/illus3.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"I think I hear some one coming upstairs"</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"Ah, this is better than Angelina's whip," and then they all shouted +again, recalling the episode of Angelina and the switch.</p> + +<p>"Hush! hark!" cried Concetta, with her hand at her ear; "I think I hear +some one coming upstairs."</p> + +<p>"Shut the trunk! Let's go into the closet;" and as she spoke the other +two followed her into the closet. It was a large closet with a transom +that let in a certain amount of light, and at first their situation +seemed rather amusing to the three. Haleema, who had gone in last, had +closed the door with a snap, and after a few minutes had passed she +started to open it again. But, alas! she could not lift the latch. +Evidently it had closed with a spring, and they would have to wait until +some one should come to their relief.</p> + +<p>At first, as before, they giggled a little; then, as they realized their +situation, they sobered down.</p> + +<p>"Suppose no one should come; we might have to stay all night."</p> + +<p>"They may think that we've run away, and so they won't look for us."</p> + +<p>"Oh, some one will remember that we didn't go downstairs; they'll come +up here the first thing."</p> + +<p>"No, no, don't you remember how the others all ran down ahead of us? +They won't remember."</p> + +<p>"Gretchen's the only one who might think of this room. I told her the +other day that I meant to come in some time."</p> + +<p>"That won't do no good," rejoined Haleema; "she'll be glad to have you +shut up."</p> + +<p>"We're better off here than we would be in that trunk," continued +Haleema thoughtfully. "I read a poem the other day about a girl that got +shut up in a chest, and she did not get out until she was dead. She was +an Italian, too," she said, looking suggestively toward Concetta, "and +her name was Jinerva."</p> + +<p>Whereupon Concetta began to weep softly, either in sympathy for her +countrywoman or from fear that as an Italian she was more likely to +suffer than the others.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's nothing," said Inez; "why, we had a history lesson once +about the Black Hole. Everybody that went into it died, and there were +dozens of people."</p> + +<p>"Why did they go in?" asked Concetta with a languid interest.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it was in war; I don't remember much about it, only they all died."</p> + +<p>"Well, this isn't a black hole," said Haleema cheerfully; "there's quite +a little light comes in at that window." And she began to hum,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'When a spring lock that lay in ambush there<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fastened her down forever.'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>There, that's the last of that Jinerva poem; I couldn't help remembering +it; I read it over several times."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Haleema, and we're fastened in with a spring lock."</p> + +<p>"Oh, we'll get out all right," said Haleema cheerfully; "'where there's +a will, there's a way.'"</p> + +<p>While she spoke she was moving about the closet.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't meddle any more; if you hadn't meddled with that trunk we +wouldn't be in here now."</p> + +<p>"I'm not meddling," she replied angrily, "I'm trying to find something." +Her search continued for some time, and at last the others heard an +exclamation of satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" asked Concetta. "What have you found?"</p> + +<p>"A stick," responded Haleema. "Do you know, I believe that I can break +that window."</p> + +<p>As she spoke she stood on tiptoe, and reached toward the transom. But, +alas! <i>she</i> was too short, and the stick was too short, and with all her +efforts she could not reach the glass.</p> + +<p>"We could not get out through that window," said Concetta scornfully. +"We couldn't get out through that window, so what is the good of +trying?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I didn't mean to get out through the window, but if I break the +glass we can have more air. We won't smother to death."</p> + +<p>At the suggestion of smothering, although Haleema had pronounced it an +unlikely happening, Inez began to cry.</p> + +<p>"Don't be a baby," said the little Syrian scornfully. "I guess there's +more than one way of catching a bird, even if you can't put salt on his +tail," from which it may be seen that Haleema was well on the way to +becoming a good Yankee, since her proverbs were not strictly Oriental.</p> + +<p>How long the time seemed! The light from the other room hardly showed +through the transom. Though they could move about in the closet, their +positions were naturally cramped. The air grew closer and warmer, and +though they were in no danger of suffocation, they were becoming drowsy +from the closeness and warmth.</p> + +<p>Haleema strained her ears to hear any one who should pass near, yet even +when she noted a distant step she realized that it would be hard to make +herself heard. Still the three girls kicked on the door, and sang at the +top of their voices, but in vain.</p> + +<p>At last Haleema grew desperate.</p> + +<p>"There's just one thing I can do," she said, "and I'll do it."</p> + +<p>Thereupon she again seized the stick, and telling the others to go close +up to the corners, she threw it toward the transom. The first time it +fell back and hit her on the nose, the second time it merely grazed the +wall beside the glass, the third time it touched the glass without +breaking it.</p> + +<p>"There," said Haleema, "I'm sure that I can do it," and with one mighty +effort she took aim again, and the stick crashed through the glass. Most +of the pieces went outside, but a few bits fell into the closet, and one +of these scratched Haleema's forehead. In her triumph at accomplishing +her end she did not mind the injury.</p> + +<p>"There! you can come out of the corner. We'll get plenty of air from the +room, and if any one should be passing, why, it will be easier to hear +us. Sing, Concetta, at the top of your voice."</p> + +<p>"I'm too tired," said Concetta crossly, "and dreadful hungry. I wish +you'd have let that trunk alone, Haleema; that's what made all the +trouble."</p> + +<p>So the time dragged on, and at length Concetta, though she never would +admit it, fell asleep. Haleema kept herself awake by telling wonderful +stories—some of them fairy tales, and some of them stories of +adventures that she professed to have passed through.</p> + +<p>At last even her lively tongue was quiet, and she had given up kicking +against the door, as a useless expenditure of energy.</p> + +<p>In the meantime the absence of the three girls had become the subject of +conjecture on the part of the others downstairs. No one apparently had +noticed when they left the gymnasium, though Nellie thought that she had +seen them on their way to the street floor.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps they've just gone off for fun. Haleema's always up to some +mischief."</p> + +<p>"They may have run off for good, like Mary Murphy."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, there's no danger; that ain't likely. They know which side +their bread's buttered on."</p> + +<p>The three vacant places troubled Angelina as she sat at the end of the +table opposite Miss Dreen.</p> + +<p>"If I hadn't been away, they wouldn't have dared go off."</p> + +<p>Anstiss, to whom at last they applied for advice, was uncertain what +they ought to do. She was sorry that this was the evening that Pamela +and Julia and Miss South had taken to dine with Lois in Newton. It would +be late when they returned, and she did not like the responsibility +that had fallen upon her.</p> + +<p>While the discussion was going on, many thoughts were passing through +Gretchen's mind. Not until tea-time had she learned of the disappearance +of her schoolmates, and as she was not very quick-witted, she had not at +first connected them with the end room. When she did recall Concetta's +desire to explore it, she hesitated about speaking. In the first place, +if Concetta heard that she had told of her previous efforts to pry into +the mysteries of the trunks, she would surely take vengeance, especially +if at the present time she happened not to be there. If she had been +shut up in the room all this time, or in a trunk—and then the story of +Ginevra came into Gretchen's mind, and she was half afraid to suggest +that the end room be explored.</p> + +<p>So positive, however, was Angelina that the girls had run away, or at +least had taken advantage of Miss South's absence to spend the evening +out, that no one suggested exploring the house thoroughly. Anstiss +herself had gone to the room of each girl to assure herself that they +were not in one of them, and had sat herself down to her hour's reading +when she noticed that Gretchen was softly weeping.</p> + +<p>"Why, what is the matter, child?" she asked, and Gretchen, wiping her +eyes with a handkerchief that left a little dark streak, looked up for a +moment, and then hung down her head without answering.</p> + +<p>"Tell her," said Nellie, who sat beside her, with a nudge that made +Gretchen wriggle her shoulders. To save herself, perhaps, from a second +such demonstration, when Anstiss repeated her question Gretchen replied:</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid that they're locked up in the attic."</p> + +<p>"Who? Haleema and the other two?"</p> + +<p>Anstiss had already started toward the door.</p> + +<p>"Yes'm; I went upstairs just before you came in and I thought I heard a +little noise from the end room."</p> + +<p>"Then why didn't you look in? Was the door locked?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know; I didn't try it. I was afraid that they might be dead."</p> + +<p>"But you said that you heard a noise. Oh, Gretchen, you are a silly +girl."</p> + +<p>As she spoke Anstiss was wondering why she herself had not thought of +the end room, since every corner of the house ought to have been +thoroughly explored.</p> + +<p>Then she ran upstairs to the top of the house, and then down the two or +three steps to the end room, with five girls and Fidessa following her +closely. She felt sure that she heard a noise from the direction of the +room; nor was she wrong. Haleema, who had managed to keep herself awake +amid all the discomforts of her position, was shouting at the top of her +rather weak lungs. Yet she had made herself heard.</p> + +<p>A glance around the small room and the sight of the broken glass on the +floor outside showed Anstiss that the girls were in the closet. But here +was a new difficulty. The door had shut with a spring that had locked +it, and no one knew where the key could be found.</p> + +<p>The fact, however, that they were discovered had restored the spirits of +the girls inside the closet.</p> + +<p>"Yes, we are starved," they admitted when questioned.</p> + +<p>"Let's get a ladder, and send down a basket by a rope over the door," +suggested Angelina; and before any one could object she had gone down to +the kitchen. When she returned with a small basket containing three +oranges and some slices of bread and butter, Anstiss praised her warmly +for bringing just the right things. In her absence a ladder had been +brought from a corner of the gymnasium, and it was very little work to +lower the basket over the transom to the hungry girls within.</p> + +<p>They had hardly finished their repast when the diners-out returned, and +when they heard of the disturbance upstairs Miss South hastened at once +to the scene.</p> + +<p>"Why, no," she said, "I haven't a key; it is strange that that should +have been a spring latch, for there's nothing very valuable in the +closet. We did not intend to keep it fastened. There are many things of +my grandmother's in these trunks, and though we knew that no one would +meddle with them, we meant to keep them locked, as well as the door of +this room. I was up here myself just before I went out, and I fear that +I must have left the door open."</p> + +<p>Not a word thus far of reproof for the meddlesome girls within the +closet, although Miss South saw plainly that one trunk, if no more, had +been ransacked.</p> + +<p>A minute later Julia and Pamela appeared with the small tool-chest that +was kept in the hall closet on the first floor, and then, to every +one's astonishment, Miss South herself set to work upon the latch in the +deftest possible way, and in a minute the lock was off and the door +open.</p> + +<p>"My! she did it as well as a man could," whispered Gretchen to Nellie. +But Miss South heard the whisper, and, smiling, said, "As well as I hope +every girl in the Mansion will be able to do before her term here is +up."</p> + +<p>When the door was opened the prisoners rushed out; their faces were +rather grave. It is true that they were quite wide-awake, but now, +almost for the first time, they realized the impropriety of their +conduct, and dreaded facing their comrades. Everything considered, they +were hardly prepared for the shouts of laughter that greeted their +appearance.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Haleema, you do look so funny!" and Haleema, putting her hand to +her forehead, realized that she was still wearing the wig, while the +observers saw what she could not, that the paint was daubed on very +unevenly, and gave her a strange aspect.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII</h2> + +<h3>THE FRINGED GENTIAN LEAGUE</h3> + + +<p>The "Fringed Gentian League" was the girls' favorite club; or it would +be truer to say that it was the favorite, partly because it was the only +regular club at the Mansion, and also because all its doings were +extremely interesting. Anstiss Rowe was the Honorary President and Julia +the Honorary Secretary, and the club had met two or three times before +it had elected its own officers. In starting, every one of the girls was +invited to join, and every one accepted. Then Miss South informed them +that a medium-sized room on the second floor in the wing was to be their +club-room.</p> + +<p>"I present the club," she said, when they first met in the room, "with +these chairs and the large library-table, but I hope that you will +gradually add to its furnishings from your own earnings."</p> + +<p>"Earnings!" At first none of them understood, nor indeed did they learn +for some time later just what she meant by "earnings."</p> + +<p>The walls were covered with a cartridge-paper of a curious purplish +blue, and that was what suggested to Gretchen the name for the League. +Some of the girls rejected this as a poor suggestion.</p> + +<p>"That would be a funny reason to give," said Concetta, "to name a club +for a wall-paper; we ought to have a different reason."</p> + +<p>Other girls gave other opinions, but while they were discussing it +Gretchen had been saying to herself the stanzas of Bryant's poem. At +last she looked as if she had come to a satisfactory reason, but she +hesitated about giving it to the others, lest they should laugh at her. +Accordingly she hastened to the honorary officers, who were busy with +the large book that was to contain the names of the members.</p> + +<p>"Why, yes, dear, that is a very good reason," responded Julia, while +Gretchen blushed at the praise. But although she had had the courage to +tell her elders, it was harder for the little German maiden to express +her thoughts to those of her own age. She was a curious mixture of +poetic fancies and practical ideas, and the fancies she always hesitated +to reveal to others. But at last she permitted Julia to tell the girls +why she thought "Fringed Gentian" a good name for the club. "Because +it's a looking upward club; that is, a 'look to heaven' club. Recite it, +Gretchen," urged Miss Julia, and the little girl began timidly,—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'I would that thus when I shall see<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The hour of death draw near to me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hope blossoming within my heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">May look to heaven, as I depart.'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Ugh!" cried Concetta, shaking her dark head. "How solemn; we don't mean +to die in this club, Miss Julia."</p> + +<p>"No, my dear; but the fringed gentian does not die instantly, as it +looks upward. Blue is the color of hope, and the fringed gentian by this +poem becomes a flower of hope, and so I think that you can give this +reason, if you ever have to give a reason, why this League is called the +'Fringed Gentian' League."</p> + +<p>It was therefore a following out of Gretchen's suggestion, that when +they came to draw up the Constitution for the League, its purpose was +defined in the language of much more important organizations.</p> + +<p>"The purpose of this League shall be to encourage good thoughts and good +books, and to keep our hearts looking upward." Although some of the more +matter-of-fact objected that hearts did not really look up at all, the +vote was in favor of the phrase, and the honorary officers said that no +club could have a loftier aim.</p> + +<p>The officers were to be a President, a Vice-President, a Secretary, and +a Treasurer. But they were not to be elected until the second meeting.</p> + +<p>The honorary officers, indeed, had their hands full in advising the +members as to what should and what should not be put in the +Constitution. But at last it was all arranged in paragraphs: one to tell +who should be the members, another to tell how many officers there +should be and what their duties, and others defining the aims of the +club, and one to state under what conditions a member might be put out +of the club. Each girl was perfectly sure that such a thing would never +happen. "It is always best to be prepared for the worst," said Maggie +sagely, and the others acceded. Finally there was a paragraph providing +for amendments, "for you may think of things you may wish to add to this +Constitution, and it would be a pity to find yourselves tied to laws +that you cannot add to or change."</p> + +<p>In fact, it was well that this provision was made, for at the next +weekly meeting the girls wished to add to the numbers of the League by +having associate members. Maggie, who made the suggestion, was praised +for it by Julia, who saw that in this way other girls might become +interested in the work of the Mansion.</p> + +<p>There was much discussion, of course, about the duties and privileges of +the new members. But at last it was settled that there were to be no +more than twelve associates. Each was to be elected unanimously by +Mansion members of the League, and they were to have the privilege of +attending all the regular meetings. They could take out books from the +library, but unlike the regular members they were not to use the +club-room at other times.</p> + +<p>"I would advise you," Julia had said, "not to elect more than half your +associate members at first, for should the list fill up too soon, you +might then find yourselves unable to invite other very desirable +members."</p> + +<p>"Couldn't we have them too?"</p> + +<p>"Ah! Concetta, the room is small, and even when the League has twenty +girls, you will find it fairly crowded."</p> + +<p>Guided partly by this advice, and also moved by the fact that the +founders of the League had difficulty in agreeing on new members, only +five associates had been added by Thanksgiving. One of these was a +friend of Concetta's from Prince Street, a timid little Italian, and +with her a Portuguese girl from the same house. It was again the advice +of the honorary officers that the girls should be chosen from the same +neighborhood, so that they could come and go together; for though the +meetings were on Thursday afternoons, there were certain advantages in +having the associates neighbors. Two others were Jewish girls from +Blossom Street, and the fifth was a little German from Roxbury, a +special friend of Gretchen's.</p> + +<p>Edith was slow in seeing the advantages of the League, as the girls at +the Mansion already formed practically a large club. But she soon +understood that it was well for them to learn that organization is a +good thing. She saw, too, that it would help interest them in things +outside their regular work.</p> + +<p>Angelina was honorary associate member, and Julia explained to her that +she was to be present at all special functions, but that on account of +her greater age—it pleased Angelina to have this set forth as an +evidence of her superiority—she might better not attend the regular +meetings, lest her presence should embarrass the younger girls. But +"honorary associate member" had such a high and mighty sound that +Angelina regarded the whole arrangement as complimentary to herself, and +thus the feelings of all were saved.</p> + +<p>In its early meetings the club naturally had its attention set on +Bryant. Julia was pleased to find that nearly all the girls were willing +to commit verses or even long poems to memory, and that there was a +good-natured rivalry as to which of them should learn the longest. She +was surprised, too, to find that these girls who knew so little of the +real country could appreciate many of the beautiful pictures of woods +and flowers and birds presented by the poet. "The Waterfowl" and "Green +River" and "The Evening Wind" were especial favorites, and indeed they +were fond of some of the more serious poems.</p> + +<p>The girls of the League had other interests besides their reading, and +they were encouraged to enter on certain bits of work that should not be +entirely for themselves. One group was busy making scrap-books, to be +given at Christmas to the Children's Hospital, and another was busy +dressing dolls. The best scrap-book and the best-dressed doll were to +receive a prize, and all were to be exhibited a day or two before +Christmas. On Anstiss had fallen the task of deciding which girls should +belong to the doll group, and which to the book group, and many were her +difficulties in keeping the girls to their first intention. When +Concetta, who had begun to dress a golden-haired doll, saw what a pretty +scrap-book Nellie was making on sheets of blue cambric with edges +buttonholed in red, she immediately threw down her doll with a gesture +of impatience.</p> + +<p>"I hate sewing, and it would be much pleasanter to paste pictures in a +scrap-book."</p> + +<p>"But if you make a scrap-book you must work at it, just as Nellie did, +and you will have to buttonhole the edges." Whereat Concetta, making a +wry face, protested that in spite of the buttonholing she would rather +make the scrap-book.</p> + +<p>"Very well, then; when you have the leaves ready, I will give you some +directions for pasting pictures. What color will you choose for the +leaves?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, pink, with yellow edges;" and Concetta, turning her back to the +discarded doll, sat down at the table beside Nellie.</p> + +<p>A week or two later Anstiss was surprised to have Concetta report that +she had finished her book. "But you were not to put the pictures in +until you had shown me the buttonholed edges." Whereupon Concetta, a +little shamefacedly, be it said, displayed her book with the pictures +and embossed decorations put in fairly well, but with the edges of the +leaves merely cut in scallops.</p> + +<p>"A book like this," said Anstiss, "would be of no good to the little +sick children. Almost as soon as they touched it, it would ravel out;" +and with a touch or two her fingers fringed the edge of one of the +pages.</p> + +<p>Concetta hung her head. "I can buttonhole it now, only I'd rather dress +my doll."</p> + +<p>"It isn't your doll, Concetta; Gretchen has taken it. If you work the +edges of the book now, I'm afraid that you will spoil the freshness of +the pictures. I shall let the League decide what you are to do."</p> + +<p>Upon this the girls were called by Angelina into business session, and +the vote was that Concetta must begin a new book. It was not a unanimous +vote, and Concetta, keenly noting the hands that were raised against +her, as she determined it, registered a vow to get even.</p> + +<p>Gretchen, who had the usual German skill with her fingers, was able to +dress two dolls, a blonde of Concetta's in addition to the brunette that +she had originally chosen, and Eliza made two scrap-books. But this was +rapid work in proportion to the time that they had before them, and +Anstiss did not encourage haste.</p> + +<p>Concetta was not the only girl who wished to change her work, for one or +two outside members absented themselves from several meetings because +they were dissatisfied with what they accomplished.</p> + +<p>Julia, visiting them in their homes, made them understand that there was +only a friendly rivalry in the whole competition, and that no one would +be permitted to criticise the work of another very severely.</p> + +<p>The staff of the Mansion, therefore, set itself at work very earnestly +to find reasons why each book and each doll should receive some special +award. So there were first prizes and second prizes: first for the +neatest, then for the prettiest books; and in the same way prizes were +given for the dolls. Besides these prizes there were honorable mention +awards and certain supplementary awards that Edith had begged to be +allowed to present, that no girl need feel that her industry had been +unappreciated.</p> + +<p>"For after all, every one has really shown perseverance, and some, I am +sure, displayed the greatest taste. Why, some of these dolls are so +pretty that I should like to play with them myself."</p> + +<p>"I am not so surprised at the dolls," said Miss South, "for most of +these girls have had sewing lessons in the public schools, and their +fingers have developed considerable skill along this one line. But I am +interested in the skill shown in making the scrap-books. To be sure, +some of them are daubed more than is necessary. Maggie's book, for +instance, shows a little glistening halo of dried mucilage around many +of the pictures. But what pleases me the most is their skill in grouping +and arranging."</p> + +<p>The girls themselves chose two of their number, Inez and Concetta, to be +on the jury, and Pamela, Julia, and Nora made up the other three.</p> + +<p>The first prize was given for the Bryant scrap-book that Phœbe had +made. No one certainly could find any fault with it, so neatly were the +pictures arranged, and so free from daubs were the broad margins.</p> + +<p>Every one wondered where she had found so many pictures that exactly +illustrated the poems chosen, and Phœbe assured them that this had +been not at all difficult, since Miss South had let her look over dozens +and dozens of old magazines, from which she had been able to choose +those that best suited the words.</p> + +<p>No one dissented from the award of a volume of Bryant's poems to +Phœbe, but there was more discussion when the second prize, a framed +photograph of Greuze's "Head of the Dauphin," went to Haleema for a +flower book. In this she had put a great variety of flower pictures, +some of them mere decalcomanie, embossed groups, others colored +lithographs from periodicals of all styles, while not a few were nature +pictures from the magazines in which flowers were conspicuous.</p> + +<p>Concetta and Gretchen were partly right in thinking that the very +prettiest of all was the book of children that Nellie had made.</p> + +<p>"The little sick children in the hospital will like it best, anyway," +said Concetta. She did not happen to like Phœbe very well, and for +the time being Nellie was especially in her favor.</p> + +<p>"Nellie's book certainly would be more entertaining to the little sick +ones in the hospital, and if she had only trimmed the edge of her +pictures more carefully, and had kept the margins free from mucilage, +she would have had something better than third prize."</p> + +<p>But Nellie herself was very well contented with the award, and her +beaming face testified that she did not need a champion to stand up for +her rights. Concetta, therefore, found herself a minority on the +committee in deciding this question, for all the others were in favor of +Phœbe's having the prize.</p> + +<p>When it came to the dolls there was less difficulty, for Miss South had +decreed that the award should go to the doll whose clothes showed the +neatest sewing. There were no two opinions, and as Concetta herself was +not on this committee of award, no one objected to her having the pretty +case of scissors that the judges handed her, after they had carefully +examined all the clothes of all the dolls—a piece of work that took +considerable time and thought.</p> + +<p>But entertaining though the judging and awarding had been, the +pleasantest part of this whole work came when they took the books and +the dolls to the hospital.</p> + +<p>Naturally the girls did not all go together, but in two or three +detachments, and their sympathies were moved to the utmost by the sight +of the helpless little ones. They were delighted when they learned that +this child or that would be in the hospital but a short time; and some +of them—Nellie, for example—were moved to tears on learning that one +or two whom they pitied might never be well.</p> + +<p>"There is no harm in having their sympathies touched," said Julia, when +some one remonstrated with her for taking these girls to the hospital, +"for we older people at the Mansion intend that the outcome shall be +some practical work."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX</h2> + +<h3>NORA'S WORK—AND POLLY</h3> + + +<p>When Nora visited the Mansion, every one was delighted. Nellie's face +naturally beamed at sight of her, for didn't Miss Nora belong to her +more than to any one else? But all the others were fond of the bright, +cheery young girl who not only remembered the name of each one, but had +some directly personal question to ask. She could ask about their aunts +and uncles and cousins, as well as about their nearer relatives by name, +and this meant a good deal to these younger girls, who, although happy +at the Mansion, remembered sometimes that they were among strangers, and +were glad of any word that connected them with their own homes.</p> + +<p>Nora was an outside worker, and very proud that her last year's lessons +in a normal cooking class had fitted her to give regular lessons to a +group of the Mansion girls.</p> + +<p>"'A penny saved is a penny earned,'" she had said gayly, when she made +the offer of her services; "and if you will hear me conduct one class, +and then take a good, long look at my certificate, you will decide, I am +sure,—or rather I hope,—to let me belong to the staff."</p> + +<p>Of course Miss South was only too happy, and she knew Nora's mental +qualities so well as to believe that she would make a good teacher; nor +was she disappointed after she had heard her conduct a class.</p> + +<p>"I really begin to feel as if I were of some use in the world," Nora +said, after her first lesson; while Miss South remonstrated, "Why, Nora, +you always have been one of the most useful girls of my acquaintance. +You are always busy at home, and so helpful to your brothers, and—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, in the ordinary relations of life it would be very strange if I +should not do what I can. But every one should reach out a little beyond +her immediate circle; don't you think so?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed, I do think so, Nora; but for this reaching out, the work +of the world could not be carried on, and I am more than happy when I +see so young a girl ready to do her part."</p> + +<p>Now Nora's disposition, as Miss South had said, had always been one of +helpfulness to others. With less money to spend than most of her +intimate friends, she had managed to enjoy life thoroughly, and she had +been a most devoted sister and daughter.</p> + +<p>Her brothers would confide their difficulties to her more readily +sometimes than to their mother, although Mrs. Gostar was herself a most +sympathetic person, and Nora was friend and adviser to half a dozen +youths of Toby's classmates in College.</p> + +<p>Yet in spite of her many home duties she found time for much outside +work. She had a Sunday-school class of boys whose doings were a constant +surprise and almost as constant an occupation for her. Sometimes their +vagaries carried her even into the Police Court, where she was ready, +if necessary, to say a good word for some boy brought up for a petty +offence. When her brothers teased her about her burglar and highwayman +protégés, she took their teasing in good part, and replied that as yet +none of them had done anything bad enough to require her to give heavy +bonds. "Which is fortunate, considering that I am not a large owner of +real estate."</p> + +<p>"But how much of your pocket-money goes in fines or in cab-hire when you +are called out in sudden emergencies?" whereat Nora blushed to a degree +sufficient to show that Toby had hit somewhere near the truth; for +Nora's Sunday-school class, though not in a mission, was yet made up of +boys who were remarkably free from a sense of responsibility, and it was +this sense of responsibility that Nora tried to impress upon them; and +to assure them of her interest, she did all that she could for them in +their every-day life, and not infrequently was to be met with some of +them escorting her even on one of the fashionable thoroughfares. Nora +did not flinch at the smiles that some of her friends bestowed on her +when they met her with her cavaliers.</p> + +<p>Yet her interest in these boys did not prevent her having as great an +interest in the girls at the Mansion, and in many a little emergency she +was the right-hand helper of Julia and Miss South. It was Nora, too, who +kept up the most active communication with Mrs. Rosa and the Rosa +children at Shiloh. Manuel, indeed, was her especial pride, although she +persisted that she was not entitled to all the praise that the family +lavished on her for having rescued him years before from being run over. +Angelina's sister was not as self-sufficient as she, and was only too +glad to look up to Miss Gostar for advice and praise. Moreover, Nora +gave perhaps a little less time than the others to the work at the +Mansion, because she was especially interested in a Boys' Club. Some of +her Sunday-school boys were in it, though a few of the club thought +themselves too old for Sunday school. What Nora managed to accomplish in +the course of a week was always a wonder to her friends, who with fewer +home duties still seldom had time for outside work. Though her two elder +brothers had gone from home, one to the West and one to New York, Toby +and Stanley made constant demands upon her. "They not only expect me," +she said, laughing, "to see that their buttons and gloves are in order, +but wish me to be at home whenever they have invited any special friends +to the house, and at pretty frequent intervals they expect me to ask +some girl or another in whom they have a special interest. But they are +very good to me, too," she would conclude, "and without one or the other +of them to escort me where I wish to go, I do not see what I should do. +I'd even have to stay away from the Mansion sometimes."</p> + +<p>The class in invalid cookery proved a great success, and Miss South, as +she tasted one after another of the savory little dishes offered her by +the proud cooks, said that she almost wished that she might be ill +enough to have these jellies and broths recommended to her for a steady +diet.</p> + +<p>Gretchen, to whom she said this, seemed greatly amused by the idea, and +smiled and smiled, and finally broke into a loud laugh.</p> + +<p>"Would you really like to be sick in your bed," she asked, "just so's +you could eat my jelly?" And then Miss South repeated her praise of +Gretchen's work.</p> + +<p>"By and by," continued Miss South, "you may wish to have an exhibition +of your work, and before spring I am sure you will probably have learned +to make several new things."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, indeed," and Gretchen's face beamed with delight, for it +really was her wish to excel in cooking, and the progress that she had +made was one of the things that so pleased her grandfather, that he was +likely to consent to her staying a second year. As to Gretchen herself, +she was now quite determined to be a cook when she should be older, and +Julia had made plans to send her to a regular cooking school at the end +of a year. Her grandfather had said that he would gladly pay the cost of +tuition, if Julia and the others would help in some other ways. The old +man had several persons dependent on him, and it was his constant +anxiety lest Gretchen should be left unable to earn a living when he +should be taken away.</p> + +<p>Though it was clear what Gretchen's future occupation should be, it was +less easy for Miss South and her staff to decide about the others. +Concetta's one talent for fine needlework seemed to imply that she was +intended to be a seamstress, and the aim of those interested should be +to train her, that her work might place her in a good position. As to +the others, it was too early to decide what they should do or be.</p> + +<p>Prompted by a spirit of mischief, one evening when Mrs. Blair asked her, +Julia replied:</p> + +<p>"How can I tell just what we are training them for? One or two are very +fond of music, Inez is devoted to art, Angelina is sure that she would +love to travel, and Gretchen is the only one who seems a born cook."</p> + +<p>"But you don't mean that you would let all these girls follow their own +tastes? Please pardon me for saying it, Julia. But I fear that you will +not have the sympathy of—yes, of your friends, unless you turn all +these girls into first-rate domestics. When you think how much need +there is of good servants—really it is the most pressing problem."</p> + +<p>"I wish that I could help solve it," Julia replied gravely; "and if I +can, you may be sure that I will. The girls at the Mansion have +certainly a greater love for all kinds of household duties than they had +six months ago, and every one of them could be very useful in her own +home or any other. But they are too young yet to decide on the future +profession, just as I am sure that you would consider it too early for +the average schoolgirl to decide her whole future life when she is only +fifteen."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but this is different; you have the chance of influencing these +girls, and really it is your duty, when you consider the servant +question—" and so <i>ad infinitum</i>; and, indeed, others of Julia's +friends would continue the discussion. Usually Julia turned all +criticism aside with a smiling and indefinite reply, although at times +she would say, "Ah, I hope that I shall always be found ready to do what +is best for each girl."</p> + +<p>Casual criticisms like this from those who did not really understand her +aim did not greatly disturb Julia. They were more than balanced by the +cordial appreciation of her aunt and Mrs. Gostar, and others who knew +what she was really striving for. Then at intervals—though rather long +intervals—she had a cheering word or two from Ruth, who, in spite of +being on a protracted wedding tour in extremely interesting countries, +evidently kept her thoughts constantly in touch with her Boston friends. +"Of course I mean to be part of your experiment when I return home, and +I mean to work like a Trojan to make up for my absence this year. Also, +as I have written you before, I am collecting all kinds of weird +receipts that I mean to have your poor little victims—for I am sure +they call themselves victims—fed on next season."</p> + +<p>One afternoon, after a rather hard morning in which everything had +happened just as it should not, Julia heard a tap at her study door.</p> + +<p>When she answered it Angelina ushered in—but no, Angelina had nothing +to do with it—a flying figure flung itself upon Julia, and before its +arms had been removed from her neck she recognized the soft accents of +Polly Porson.</p> + +<p>"It seems like I hadn't seen you for a century, although now that I do +see you, you look as natural as life, and not a bit as if you were +weighed down by the care of a hundred girls, such as I hear you have +taken under your wing."</p> + +<p>"Not a quarter nor an eighth of a hundred; but where in the world have +you dropped from, Polly Porson? Have you come North, as you used to +threaten, to buy a trousseau, or is your novel ready to offer to a +publisher?"</p> + +<p>At which confusing double question the usually nonchalant Polly blushed +so exceedingly that Julia knew which part of the question had been +answered.</p> + +<p>"Who is he?" she asked so pointedly, that Polly, nothing loath, sat down +to tell the story. She had sprained her ankle, it seemed, early in the +autumn. "Why, I am sure I wrote you about it," she added, when Julia +expressed her surprise, "and I'm sure that I told you about the doctor; +didn't I say a great deal about him?"</p> + +<p>"Well, perhaps you did, but I was so unsuspicious that I did not attach +much importance to what you said, or I thought what you wrote was in +mere appreciation for his skill. Besides, I begin to remember that you +told me that he was a cousin, and one whom you especially disliked, +though you believed that he had saved you from being permanently lame."</p> + +<p>"Well, he is a cousin, as cousins go in the South, several degrees +removed; and he was perfectly disagreeable at first because I had gone +to College; but I've brought him round, so that he has made his own +younger sister begin her preparation for Radcliffe."</p> + +<p>"So in gratitude to him you are going to give up all your plans for +independence and fame. Alas, poor Polly!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, indeed; he says that I may write novels or do anything I like. +You never saw such a changed man. I just wish that you had known him a +year ago, so that you could mark the improvement."</p> + +<p>Thus Polly rattled on, and yet, as in their College days, there was an +undercurrent of wisdom in all that she said.</p> + +<p>"To tell the truth," she explained, "one thing I came for was to see +just how your experiment is working, for I have an idea that I shall be +able to do something of the same kind in Atlanta—in a very small way," +she added hastily, "not at all in this magnificent style; but it's very +much needed, and I have some original ideas to combine with yours."</p> + +<p>So Polly spent several days at the Mansion, learning, and teaching too; +for her words of encouragement taught Julia that she had been unduly +discouraged by various things outside, as well as by a certain amount of +friction among her protégées. Polly's visit drew her away from her +cares.</p> + +<p>One evening Julia arranged a reunion of all the members of the class +that she could collect at short notice, and though there were many gaps +in the ranks, it was altogether a delightful evening, and each one +present told all that she could, not only about herself, but about the +absent.</p> + +<p>All too soon Polly flew away, and though she protested that her shopping +in New York was not to be regarded as preparation for a trousseau, Julia +was sure that when the two should meet again there would be no longer a +Polly Porson. "Not that your new name will not be just as becoming as +the old one," she added, as they said their last words, "but for some +selfish reason I do wish that I could have Polly Porson stay Polly +Porson a few years longer."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense!" cried Polly, as she bade her good-bye.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>X</h2> + +<h3>ARTHUR'S ABSENCE</h3> + + +<p>When Arthur wrote that he should be away Christmas, Brenda seemed +undisturbed, although Ralph and Agnes were annoyed by his absence.</p> + +<p>"But he has been in Washington less than a month, and probably he wishes +to stay over New Year's. We'll keep his Christmas presents until he +returns."</p> + +<p>Ralph and Agnes exchanged a glance.</p> + +<p>"Hasn't he written you?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes—but what?"</p> + +<p>Then Ralph explained that Arthur had had an offer to be private +secretary to a certain senator, and that this would keep him in +Washington all winter. "I received my letter only last night," Ralph +hastened to add, lest Brenda should feel slighted. Brenda's own letter +arrived that very day, but as it was second to Ralph's she read it in no +very gracious spirit.</p> + +<p>Then, too, Arthur seemed to take it too much a matter of course that she +would praise his remaining in Washington. Brenda, forgetting that she +herself had really reproached him for his idleness in Boston, began to +complain to her mother of his lack of dignity in taking the position of +private secretary.</p> + +<p>"My dear," Mrs. Barlow had responded, "I am glad to hear that Arthur is +busy. As there is no likelihood of his practising law, it is much better +for him to have his mind occupied. It would be bad for you both were he +to spend the winter in Boston with nothing to do but walk or drive or go +to dinners and dances."</p> + +<p>"But he isn't very strong, Mamma."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not; on that account the climate of Washington will be better +for him. We have the assurance, however, that his health will be +completely built up in a year, and your father has plans for him. It is +no secret, so I may tell you that a new branch of the business is to be +established next winter, and it is of such a nature that Arthur's +knowledge of law will be valuable, and he will be put in charge of the +office work."</p> + +<p>"Does Arthur know?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Then I cannot see why he need be busy this winter. I believe that he is +just staying in Washington to annoy me."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, Brenda!"</p> + +<p>But Brenda would not listen to her mother, and it is to be feared that +her letters reflected her impatience, for Arthur's letters came at long +intervals. Although she did not hear from him directly, she knew from +Ralph and Agnes that he was well, and from another source she often +heard about him.</p> + +<p>Although Brenda and Belle saw much less of each other than formerly, or +perhaps because of this, they kept up a vigorous correspondence. After +Christmas Belle and her mother had gone to Washington, and in her very +first letter she mentioned having met Arthur Weston at a certain +reception; "And I can assure you, that, in spite of being cut off from +Boston, he looks very cheerful."</p> + +<p>After this Belle never failed to mention Arthur in her letters to +Brenda. She told what a great favorite he was with this one or that one. +"He is an immense favorite, and I almost ought to warn you that he is +really too happy in the society of other people."</p> + +<p>Poor Brenda! All she could do was to write glowing letters to Belle, +telling her that she herself had never known so pleasant a winter in +Boston. She left Belle to infer that she was enjoying herself even more +than would have been possible had Arthur been nearer. If the truth were +told, Brenda amused herself rather sadly. Society wearied her, but she +had not strength of mind to give it up altogether. To the delight, +however, of Maggie McSorley, she went more often to the Mansion, and +even condescended to give the girls some lessons in embroidery. Since +her earlier school-days Brenda's skill in needlework had developed +wonderfully, and she could work very beautiful patterns on doilies and +centrepieces.</p> + +<p>But to design and fill out these patterns was one thing, and to impart +any of her own skill was another. The latter required infinite patience +on Brenda's part, and Brenda had never been noted for her patience. Yet +the discipline was better for her even than for the younger girls as she +guided their needles and watched them take the right stitches, and +helped the careless Maggie pull out the threads where she had drawn them +too tight, puckering the linen web, and, alas! too often soiling it +hopelessly.</p> + +<p>It was good discipline for Brenda, because strangely enough she found +herself more inclined to blame than to praise, and she could not help +noticing how much defter and neater than all the others were the fingers +of Concetta. Indeed, the latter did not really need the instruction. She +had already, like many little Italian girls, served an apprenticeship in +embroidery under her aunt. She did not intend to deceive any one in +joining Brenda's class, but she could not bear the idea that she, among +all the girls, should be deprived of the chance to be near the charming +young lady, as she called Brenda, simply because she knew more than the +others; so she too puckered her thread, and made occasional mistakes in +fear lest perfection on her part should lead to her being excluded from +the class.</p> + +<p>Amy called herself a detached member of the Mansion staff. She could not +give much time to assisting Miss South and Julia without neglecting her +college work. But there were certain things that she could do in her +leisure, and occasional spare hours she gave with great good-will to a +class in literature. Amy was still devoted to her early love, "The Faery +Queen," and once in a while, like Mr. Wegg, of fragrant memory, she +dropped into poetry herself. She was winning her laurels in college, +however, for more serious work than poetry—more serious, that is, in +the eyes of the world; and already she was famous among her classmates +for her literary ability.</p> + +<p>Indirectly she had been the means of Haleema's going to the Mansion. It +had happened in this way: during her first year in college she had gone +once a week to play accompaniments at a College Settlement. In the +chorus, for which she played, Haleema had been one of the most +vociferous singers, and although Amy had not been able to see her much +outside of the class, she had become much interested in the little girl, +and had received one or two letters from her during the summer. What +Haleema herself wrote, and what the head worker at the Settlement told +her about Haleema's home life, convinced her that the little Syrian was +exactly the kind of candidate desired for the Mansion school, and she +was really pleased with her judgment when, after the first week or two, +she heard Miss South and Julia praising the quickness and docility of +her protégée. Haleema, however, was not a young person capable of great +personal devotion, a fact that her pleading, poetic eyes seemed to +contradict. As she sometimes confided to the other girls, she liked one +person as well as another, and if she had gone a little further in her +confidences, she might have said that the person in the ascendant was +usually the one who at the time was doing some special favor for her. +She appreciated presents, and had a hoard of pretty things stowed away +in the bottom drawer of her bureau.</p> + +<p>On Mondays Brenda often found herself going to the Mansion, chiefly +because this was her only chance of seeing Amy. Monday, the Wellesley +holiday, Amy gave in part to a Mansion class in literature, and when her +little informal talk was at an end Brenda would seize her for a +half-hour of "gossip," as she called it. Sometimes she arrived at the +house before the class was over, and then, if she slipped into the +class-room, Amy had not the heart to send her out. Amy protested that +her work was by no means up to the standard that Brenda should look for +in a teacher, while Brenda insisted that Amy's account of certain great +poets and their work was so stimulating, that she should take up a +course of reading herself; and, indeed, she did induce Amy to make out a +list of books that she ought to read.</p> + +<p>"I should rather they were interesting, but even if they are not really +exciting, I'll promise to read at least three or four of them."</p> + +<p>"To please me?" queried Amy.</p> + +<p>"Well, partly to please you, but more to—to—well, to give me something +to think about. Everything seems so dull and stupid this winter, that +I'm going to try a homœopathic remedy and try to read dull +books—just to see if I can't strengthen my mind."</p> + +<p>Then Amy, noticing that Brenda seemed far from happy, wisely asked no +questions, and as they walked across the Common to the station they +talked of everything except the subject that lay nearest Brenda's heart.</p> + +<p>"How is Fritz Tomkins?" Brenda asked, almost abruptly, referring to an +old playmate of Amy's, now a Harvard Sophomore.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Fritz is doing splendidly. I hardly ever see him, and I'm so +pleased."</p> + +<p>"What a funny way of putting it—pleased because you seldom see him."</p> + +<p>"Why, yes, because I know that means that he is so busy with his work +that he has no time for other things. He has come to Wellesley only once +this winter, and he tells me that he never worked so hard in his life."</p> + +<p>If Amy's speech was a little disjointed, Brenda understood her, and in +contrast her mind wandered to Arthur Weston. He, too, was busy, and +perhaps doing his duty by remaining at his post in Washington. But +unlike Amy, she did not feel pleased that he could so contentedly keep +his back turned to his Boston friends. Consequently she sent only the +briefest answers to his letters, and his replies became at last, if +possible, briefer than hers.</p> + +<p>Belle, however, kept her informed of Arthur's doings, and Brenda was +never quite sure whether the information that she gave her was intended +to please or to trouble her. She wrote, for example, of a riding party +to Chevy Chase, where Arthur and Annabel Harmon had led all the others +in gayety.</p> + +<p>"Annabel Harmon!" The name was familiar; and soon Brenda recalled one of +Julia's classmates at Radcliffe, a popular girl, and yet one whom some +of the best girls did not like. She had had some trouble with that +strange Clarissa Herter. Although Brenda had never cared so very much +for Clarissa Herter, she was pleased now to recall that she had heard +that Clarissa had in the end been more popular, or rather better liked, +than Annabel. She remembered that Annabel's father was a politician, and +when a second letter came with Annabel's name still connected closely +with Arthur's, Brenda thought more deeply on the subject. She wondered +if, perhaps, Arthur was planning to stay permanently in Washington, and +if he hoped to get some position through the influence of Mr. Harmon.</p> + +<p>Had Arthur been at home, Brenda would, undoubtedly, have given less time +to the Mansion work; for in the first place, in starting the work Miss +South had not counted on her aid. Other girls, more enthusiastic in the +beginning, had given less service in the end, and Brenda was almost the +only one who, without having promised much, was willing to do a great +deal.</p> + +<p>On the whole, Miss South was well pleased with the interest shown by her +former pupils. There was Anstiss Rowe, for example, one of the most +valued of the residents, who, after a year in society, had pronounced it +all a bore. She had been one of the younger girls during Julia's days at +Miss Crawdon's.</p> + +<p>"You never knew," she said once to Julia, "my intense admiration for +you. It would have spoiled it all had you known. But each of us little +girls had to have some object of devotion, and you were my pattern of +perfection."</p> + +<p>"The idea!" responded Julia. "I suppose that I ought to blush, but what +you say is too absurd."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I suppose that you never wondered who used to send you those +valentines; probably you had so many that you never thought about mine. +But there was one with some lovely mother-of-pearl ornaments. In fact, I +sent you two valentines that year, and two the next; but, of course, you +wouldn't remember mine especially."</p> + +<p>"It's all very touching, and, indeed, I do remember them, my dear +Anstiss, for I have an idea that I received no other that year. At +least, I have them safely put away at this very minute."</p> + +<p>"Well, I suppose that you thought some extraordinary youth sent them."</p> + +<p>"He would, indeed, have been extraordinary. But to tell you the truth, I +suspected that some girl had a hand in them."</p> + +<p>"We missed you when you went to College," said Anstiss meditatively.</p> + +<p>Though Anstiss had pronounced society hollow and a bore, she had not +entirely forsworn it, and at times she went home for a week or two, +returning, however, always on the evening of her history reading. This +was her special contribution to the school work.</p> + +<p>Anstiss had her own protégée at the Mansion—a girl who had been in her +Sunday-school class. Phœbe had been loath to leave school when her +parents insisted, and Anstiss said it was merely avariciousness on their +part, as her father was earning good pay. "When I came to investigate," +she said, "I found that he was only her stepfather, and her mother said +that she did not need her money. So in the end I was able to get her +consent to her coming here. Phœbe was never very bright at school—"</p> + +<p>Then Julia interrupted her.</p> + +<p>"But she's doing splendidly here. Miss Dreen says that she's a born +cook, and never makes a mistake."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know. And when she has finished her course I'm going to see what +can be done to encourage her to study still further. She says she'd like +to be a cook, but it seems to me that if she continues to be interested +in her study, she might be a director of cooking somewhere."</p> + +<p>"She'd earn as much by being a cook in some household."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but after all she has hardly the physique, and certain qualities +of hers lead me to think that she would be a good manager. We are going +to have an exhibition soon, and although we do not expect the greatest +results this first year, still I am sure that you will admit that the +girls have learned something, and Phœbe shall exhibit one of her +model luncheons. She has already served us some very good meals at a +fabulously low cost. That is one of the things she is learning, to make +the best use of inexpensive material."</p> + +<p>It was Edith who had been listening attentively to all that Anstiss had +said, and her reply, "I believe that I would rather see than eat those +very, very inexpensive things," was given seriously. Edith was always +glad to help the work at the Mansion when some matter of additional +expense was brought to her, and she made conscientious visits to +Gretchen, and in turn reported her progress to the old gardener. But +there was a certain coldness in her manner that the young girls felt. +They thought that she was not really interested in them, and her visits +were never greeted with the delight that was so evident when Nora made +her appearance. Edith was decided in her likes and dislikes. She could +always be depended on to stand by a friend, and as certainly was she apt +to be severe toward a wrongdoer. Though devoted to Julia and Miss South, +she was less fond of Pamela and Anstiss.</p> + +<p>"An artist's model! how Ralph would love to paint her!" Brenda had +exclaimed to Miss South after first seeing Concetta. "How I wish that I +had discovered her instead of Maggie."</p> + +<p>"She may have more personal charm," Miss South had responded, "but +Maggie is devoted to you, and some persons call her rather pretty, +although," a little apologetically, "we all understand here at the +Mansion that 'handsome is what handsome does' should be our chief rule +of conduct. I never permit the girls to make one word of comment about +the personal appearance of another."</p> + +<p>"Oh, naturally," responded Brenda, accepting the implied reproof; "but +the comparisons that I make will not come to the ears of the girls."</p> + +<p>"No, not the comparisons, perhaps; but we try ourselves not to let them +think that any girl is preferred by any one who comes here. All girls of +fifteen are sensitive."</p> + +<p>Yet Maggie, in spite of the fact that Concetta tried to make her +jealous, was unwilling to believe that Brenda had a preference for +Concetta.</p> + +<p>"Miss Brenda asked Miss South to send me up to her house to get that +parcel of embroidery patterns; she could have sent it down by her man +just as well," concluded Concetta, with an important air; "or she could +have asked you to come."</p> + +<p>Then, when Maggie made no reply, except perhaps that she polished her +glasses a little more vigorously, Concetta added:</p> + +<p>"But I'm sure she just loves to have me come to her house. You see she +always invites me to go up to her room, and she asks me all kinds of +questions."</p> + +<p>Then, as Maggie still continued provokingly silent, Concetta continued:</p> + +<p>"You see, my country is a very interesting country, and I tell her all +kinds of things that I have heard, especially about the beautiful +cathedrals. She thinks I remember them all, but it is what I have heard +the elders say, and she listens quite open-eyed, that, so young, I can +remember so much. Don't you hate that you were born only in Boston."</p> + +<p>"No, I don't," said Maggie gruffly; "I despise foreigners."</p> + +<p>Then did Concetta become wisely silent, for she heard the step in the +hall of one in authority, and she did not wish at the moment to bring +Maggie to the point of tears. Maggie wept with unusual ease, and just +now Concetta was not anxious to draw on herself a reproof, lest it +should be followed by a withdrawal of the permission to go to Miss +Barlow's.</p> + +<p>It was true that Maggie had never swerved in her devotion, showing it +often in unexpected ways. Whenever Brenda entered the room she followed +her with her eyes, and when her goddess addressed her she always blushed +deeply. Mrs. McSorley was constantly putting poor Maggie through a +course of questioning, that the former might be made sure that little +girl had done nothing likely to drive her out of this paradise.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI</h2> + +<h3>SEEDS OF JEALOUSY</h3> + + +<p>Fortunately for many of the girls at the Mansion, they did not live +under a very rigorous system of rewards and punishments. Every one was +expected to report once a week what property she had injured, and this +usually meant what dishes she had broken. She was also expected to tell +what other things she had done that were not for the good of the school. +One or two girls really liked to have a long list of misdemeanors. They +seemed to think that it gave them an air of distinction, and Concetta +was especially delighted to read from a written list:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Bed not made until ten o'clock Monday.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bureau drawers untidy for three days.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Forgot to put salt in the bread.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let the kitchen fire go out.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Spilled ink on my best apron.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Broke one of our blue cups," etc.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Most of the girls were contented with one or two faults, and some were +inclined to forget that they had any, until reminded by nudges from some +of their neighbors. These "confession meetings" were held once a week, +between four and five o'clock. A girl would have had to show herself +unusually bad to be excluded from the pleasant hour that followed when +Miss Julia played for them to sing, and then around the open fire gave +them good advice for half an hour,—good advice that they never imagined +to be anything but a bit of pleasant conversation, although they all +said that they went away feeling as if they could be good forever.</p> + +<p>It is true that the girls whose conduct was especially approved by +Julia, regardless in many cases of their reports, were permitted to +borrow some book from her bookcase that they especially wished to read. +At first she had been surprised to find that few of these girls had any +idea about choosing books.</p> + +<p>Haleema didn't care to read; she liked to do other things better. +Concetta loved to read, but had actually never read anything but +stories; indeed, she was surprised to hear that people ever read +anything else.</p> + +<p>Little did Brenda realize that she was sowing the seeds of jealousy. She +felt much pride in Maggie as having been her own discovery. She thought, +with some complacence, that but for her Maggie might still have been +condemned to the tiresome round of a cash-girl's duties. She did several +little kind things of which Maggie herself was unaware, that enabled +Julia and Miss South to enlarge the work of the school in directions +that were especially helpful to Maggie.</p> + +<p>But with the best intentions in the world, Brenda could not help showing +her preference for the pretty Concetta, whose dark eyes seemed mirrors +of truth, and whose manners were always so charmingly deferential. Had +she known that she was giving pain to Maggie by showing her preference +in this way she would herself have been always ready enough to admit +that this was not wise. But Maggie, although her tears flowed so easily, +had the ability to keep her thought to herself.</p> + +<p>Mrs. McSorley herself, with her Scotch canniness, had an exalted opinion +of Brenda, and on Maggie's weekly visits home impressed on her the great +advantages that she might expect from having the interest of a Back Bay +young lady. "And if she likes any other girl better than you, it will be +all your fault, and I'll take it a sign that you ain't doing your very +best."</p> + +<p>So Maggie had never said a word to her aunt about Miss Barlow's growing +preference for Concetta. To have spoken of this would only have drawn a +reproof upon herself. It was hard enough to confess her real faults, to +tell over the list of things she had broken during the week. She had +promised on first entering the Mansion to do this, and thus far she had +kept her promise.</p> + +<p>Now Maggie had her own little bit of a secret, and sometimes she drew +from her pocket a crumpled half-sheet of paper, and wept when she saw at +the bottom:</p> + +<p>"From your loving Tim."</p> + +<p>What would her aunt say, what would Miss Brenda say, if they knew that +at intervals she received these misspelled letters from a jail-bird. +Yes! "a jail-bird," that was what her aunt had called him, and though it +was true that he had only been in the reformatory, and that his +offence, as he had explained it, was due more to the fault of another +man. Still he had been imprisoned, and Maggie was forbidden ever to +speak to him again.</p> + +<p>Yet he was her uncle more than Mrs. McSorley was her aunt. The latter +was only an aunt-in-law, while Tim was her own uncle, and in spite of +his faults she loved him. Of course he was a ne'er-do-well, but his +smile was so jolly in contrast with the long-drawn, severe expression of +Mrs. McSorley. The latter said that it was very easy for him to be +jolly, when he never had the least care in the world for himself or for +any one else. But Maggie remembered many kind things that he had done. +"Since for him I'd never have been to the circus, and it was a whole day +we spent at Nantasket, and he gave me that plush box of pink +note-paper;" and Maggie would wipe away one of her ready tears as she +thought of Tim, and she gazed at the tintype that she kept with a few +other treasures in the plush-covered box.</p> + +<p>Many a time she pondered what she should do if he should ever come to +Boston, for he was now in Connecticut looking, as he said, for work. +"And it won't be so very long," he wrote, "before I'll have me own +house, and you for housekeeper; so learn all you can, for it won't be +long."</p> + +<p>For Maggie had written him once or twice since coming to the Mansion, +and her letters had been more cheerful than those that had found their +way to him when she was living with her aunt.</p> + +<p>So Maggie had her day dreams; and the real secret of her patience, and +her anxiety to learn everything relating to the work of the house, came +from this hope, that she was to have the chance of showing her uncle +what a good housekeeper she could be. Now Maggie should have realized +that her aunt had done much more for her than her uncle; that Mrs. +McSorley had shown her kindness in comparison with which Tim's +occasional bursts of liberality were very small indeed. Where would she +and her mother have been but for Mrs. McSorley? And Mrs. McSorley was +only a sister-in-law, whereas Tim was her mother's own brother. Yet the +kindness of Mrs. McSorley had been so overladen with good advice and +reprimands, that it did not stand out as kindness pure and simple. +Maggie was as sure that Mrs. McSorley did not love her as she was +positive that Tim did love her.</p> + +<p>Among the girls at the home she found little Haleema almost the most +sympathetic. At least Concetta disliked them both, and this was their +first bond of sympathy. The girls were apt to be sent in pairs on +errands, and occasionally on pleasure walks, and it had come to be the +habit for Maggie and Haleema to go together. They had gone together in +company with Julia to present their scrap-books and dolls to the +Children's Hospital, and there it was that they had fallen in love with +the prettiest little blue-eyed girl, who had been sent to the hospital +with a broken leg. She was then almost well, and when Miss South saw how +deeply interested the two were in her she allowed them to go each week +on visiting day. Later, when little Jennie went home, the two continued +to visit her; sometimes they even brought her to the Mansion to visit. +There she soon became a great favorite, and poor Maggie saw that Jennie +no longer owed everything to her and Haleema. Concetta won the child's +heart by dressing her a beautiful doll, and all the others vied with one +another in doing things for her.</p> + +<p>It was especially hard for her when, in answer to a request from +Concetta, Brenda herself sent a box of useful and pretty things for +Jennie's use.</p> + +<p>"It might just as well have gone through me," thought poor Maggie; +though, on further reflection, she had to admit that Concetta deserved +these things, because she had been bright enough and quick enough to +think of asking for them.</p> + +<p>A few days later, when she went to see Jennie she took with her a +beautiful bouquet, purchased with money taken from the little hoard that +she had so carefully saved. This was a real sacrifice on Maggie's part, +and when she saw the joy with which the little girl received her gift +she was more than repaid.</p> + +<p>Moreover, in the hour that she spent with the little girl she was sure +that Jennie cared for her as much as ever. Indeed, had she been able to +reason more deeply, she would have discovered that a child discriminates +very slightly as to the value of different gifts. Jennie, like other +children, loved Maggie quite as well as she loved Concetta, and though +she enjoyed the presents that each one brought her, she had no scale of +values by which to measure them.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII</h2> + +<h3>DOUBTS AND DUTIES</h3> + + +<blockquote><p>"But of course you haven't given up your music. If I thought that +you had, I should march straight East, and find the reason why. If +it's on account of that Mansion school, you'd have to leave it +instantly; so when you write tell me what you've been composing, +and whom you are studying with this year. As for me, I really am +rather idle, and I'm learning that a college education isn't really +wasted, even if one practises only the domestic virtues. My mother +has been far from well this year, and she's luxuriating in having +me here to run things. Running things, you know, is rather in my +line. But ah! how I wish that I could see you and Pamela and Lois +again, and all the others of our class who are enjoying themselves +fairly near the classic shades. I suppose that you go out to +Radcliffe at least once a week, and do you feel as blue as I do to +think it's all over? But don't forget to tell me about your music.</p> + +<p class="center">"Ever your "<span class="smcap">Clarissa</span>."</p></blockquote> + +<p>As Julia folded up this letter from her old classmate her face grew +thoughtful. She certainly was not even studying this year, nor had she +composed a note. It was kind in Clarissa to remember her little talent. +Even Lois had spoken to her recently about hiding her light under a +bushel. Was she doing this? Might her little candle, properly tended, +shine out large enough to be seen in the world? Her uncle and aunt had +remonstrated with her for neglecting her music, and Julia had promised +to resume her work later. But thus far the exact time had not come, and +she hesitated to tell them that she doubted that she had the talent that +they attributed to her. This feeling of discouragement had come to her +in the last year at Radcliffe, when she began to see that her ability as +a composer had its limits. Now, with Clarissa's letter before her, she +wondered if she had been right in letting one or two slight set-backs +discourage her. She had continued her practising, and her rendering of +the great composers was a continual uplifting to those who heard her. +But the other,—her work in harmony,—was she right or wrong in laying +it aside for the present? Was this the talent that she should be called +to account for? Ought she to keep it concealed in a napkin? As she +thought of this, Julia longed more than ever for Ruth—Ruth, with whom +she had found it easier to discuss these personal questions than with +any other of her friends. But Ruth, on her wedding trip, was thousands +of miles away. It would be six months, at least, before they could meet, +and she glanced at the map on which she marked a record of Ruth's +wanderings, and noted that now she was in the neighborhood of Calcutta. +"The other side of the world," she thought. "Ah! well, I will let things +go on as they have been going, and next year, perhaps, I shall see more +clearly what I ought to do."</p> + +<p>Pamela was perhaps carrying out her ideals more thoroughly than Julia, +for all her teaching was along the artistic lines that she loved the +best. She was not always sure that the girls got just what she intended +them to get from her little talks on the nature of beauty, and the +relations of beauty to utility. She used the simplest language, however, +and made her illustrations of a kind that they could easily comprehend. +She had tried to show them the meaning of "Have nothing in your house +that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful," and in +expounding this she saw that she must try to train them to understand +the truly beautiful. For her own room she had had some mottoes done in +pen and ink artistically lettered, and one at a time she would set them +in a conspicuous place, sure to attract the attention of the girls at +their lessons.</p> + +<p>Ruskin's "Every right action and true thought sets the seal of its +beauty on person and face; every wrong action and foul thought, its seal +of distortion," put up in plain sight, though at first it was not +thoroughly understood, served as the text for a little talk, and each +girl for the time being decided to curb her tongue, lest her face should +show the effect of backbiting.</p> + +<p>Samples of dress fabrics, samples of wall papers, gaudy chromos +contrasted with simple photographs, queer and over-decorated vases in +comparison with graceful Greek shapes, were all used by Pamela to +enforce her lessons. Yet she often had misgivings that her words were +not accepted as actual gospel by Nellie and Haleema and one or two +others, whose preference for crude colors and fantastic decorations +often came unexpectedly to the surface.</p> + +<p>Nora laughed at her efforts to develop an æsthetic sense in these girls.</p> + +<p>"They'll never have the chance to own the really beautiful things, and +they might as well think that these cheap and gaudy objects are +beautiful."</p> + +<p>But Pamela shook her head at this.</p> + +<p>"Why, Nora, you surprise me! What I am trying to teach is the fact that +beautiful things are often as cheap as ugly things. Of course, in one +sense, they are always cheaper, because they give more pleasure and +often last longer. But when a girl's taste is cultivated she can often +find more attractive things for less money. Who wouldn't rather have a +wicker chair than one of those hideous red and green plush upholstered +affairs, and the wicker chair certainly costs less."</p> + +<p>"You are absolutely correct, Pamela Northcote, and your sentiments do +not savor of anarchism, though I hear that Mrs. Blair is greatly +perturbed lest this work at the Mansion should interfere with the labor +market, and prevent the householder of the future from getting her +rightful quota of domestics."</p> + +<p>"It would not surprise me," said Pamela, "if not more than two of the +girls here actually became domestics. I think that Julia and Miss South +are right in encouraging them to live up to their highest aspirations."</p> + +<p>"Well, I doubt if any of them have begun to aspire very strongly yet. On +the whole they are remarkably short-sighted, and when I ask them what +they intend to be they are usually so taken by surprise that they can +make no reply."</p> + +<p>"Miss South feels that she can judge them only very superficially this +year; but she hopes that next year she will know them so well that she +can give them definite advice. In the mean time they are at the mercy of +laymen like yourself and myself, and we have the responsibility of +guiding them toward the heights of art, whether in the æsthetic or the +culinary line."</p> + +<p>Theoretically Pamela took some of the girls each Saturday to the Art +Museum; really the average was hardly oftener than every other week. +There were rainy Saturdays, there were days when Pamela had special work +of her own, or an occasional invitation would come for her to go out of +town. Three girls at a time were invited to go. Julia would not permit +Pamela to leave the house with more than that number, lest she should be +mistaken for the head of an orphan asylum.</p> + +<p>Pamela made these trips so interesting that for a girl to be forbidden +to go when her day came was the greatest punishment that could be +inflicted on her. Julia and Miss South had discovered this, and the +discovery had solved one of their greatest problems,—this question of +punishment; for although the girls were old enough to be beyond the need +of punishment, yet there were certain rules that only the very best +never broke, and to the breaking of which certain penalties were +attached.</p> + +<p>Thus it happened that on this particular Saturday afternoon Haleema, +whose turn it was to go, was not of the trio, and in her place was +Maggie, triumphant in the knowledge that for a whole week she had not +broken a single cup or saucer, nor in fact a dish of any kind.</p> + +<p>"That means that I have my whole quarter to do as I like with," she said +as they left the house.</p> + +<p>"That means," interpolated Concetta, "that you'll put it in your little +bank. She's a regular miser, Miss Northcote."</p> + +<p>"No, I ain't," responded Maggie, "only just now I'm saving."</p> + +<p>"That's right," said Pamela. "'Many a little make a mickle.'"</p> + +<p>"Yes, 'm," and Maggie lapsed into her wonted silence.</p> + +<p>Concetta, however, was inclined to be more talkative.</p> + +<p>"Oh, she isn't simply saving, she's mean. Why, she got Nellie to buy her +blue necktie last week; sold it for ten cents. Just think of that!"</p> + +<p>"Well, well, that is no affair of ours."</p> + +<p>"She sold a lovely story-book that her aunt gave her Christmas. She said +it was too young for her, and she'd rather have the money."</p> + +<p>"That may be, Concetta; but still I say that this is none of our +business."</p> + +<p>Yet although she thus reproved Concetta for her comments, Pamela +wondered why Maggie wished to save. Economy was not a characteristic of +girls of her age; though, recalling her own past need of money, Pamela +felt that thrift was not a thing to be discouraged.</p> + +<p>"Oh, please let us go to the paintings first," begged Concetta.</p> + +<p>"No! no! to the jewelry," cried Gretchen; while Maggie, knowing as well +as the others that they would first go where Miss Northcote chose, +wisely said nothing, expressed no preference.</p> + +<p>On their first visit they had walked through all the galleries to get +the necessary bird's-eye view, and a second visit had been given almost +wholly to the old Greek room. But all the casts and reliefs were as +nothing in Concetta's eyes compared with the richness of color in +Corot's "Dante and Virgil in the Forest," and the wonderful realism of +La Rolle's two peasant women.</p> + +<p>"I don't know whether they're Italians," said Concetta of the latter, +"but there's something about them that makes me think of Italy;" for +Concetta had vague remembrances of her native land and of the +picturesque costumes of the Italian women. Although she was proud enough +to consider herself an American citizen, she still was pleased when +people called her a true daughter of Italy, and she loved everything +that reminded her of her old home.</p> + +<p>Of all the things that she had seen, Gretchen declared that she would +much prefer the great crystal ball to which a fabulous value was +attached, although there were some exquisite gold necklaces that had an +especial charm for her.</p> + +<p>Now on this special day Pamela meant to combine instruction with +pleasure, and so the quartette quickly found themselves in the Egyptian +room.</p> + +<p>"You don't think that beautiful, do you, Miss Northcote?" and there was +more than a little doubt in Concetta's tone as she pointed to a granite +bust of a ruler in one of the earliest dynasties.</p> + +<p>"I like it better than the mummies," interposed Gretchen, before Pamela +could reply; "they give me the shivers."</p> + +<p>"I wish you'd take us into the mummy room," continued Concetta +seductively; "there are some lovely blue beads there."</p> + +<p>But Pamela was sternly steadfast to her purpose, reminding them that +there would be other opportunities for them to wander about +indefinitely, whereas now she wished them to get a little idea of +history through these reliefs and statues. But I am afraid that of the +three Maggie alone really listened very attentively to her explanation +of the difference between the Egyptians and the Assyrians, which their +works of art brought out so well.</p> + +<p>But neither Thotmes, nor Assur-bani-pal, nor Nimrod, nor Rameses were +names to conjure with, and in spite of her efforts to make her subject +interesting, by connecting things she told them with Bible incidents, +Pamela could not always hold their attention. To give up too easily +would have seemed ignominious, and she decided to allow them a diversion +in the shape of a visit to her favorite Tanagra figurines.</p> + +<p>"That will be good," said Gretchen, in her rather quaint English, as +they turned their backs on the grim relics of Egypt; "and we'll try to +remember every word you've told us to-day."</p> + +<p>"Then what <i>do</i> you remember?" said Pamela with a suspicion of mischief +in her voice.</p> + +<p>The three looked uncomfortable. On their faces was the same expression +that Pamela often saw on the faces of her pupils in school when unable +to answer her questions.</p> + +<p>"The names were rather hard," ventured Concetta.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but you must remember one fact,—at least one among all the things +that I have been telling you."</p> + +<p>"I remember one," ventured Maggie.</p> + +<p>"Well, then, we shall be glad to hear it."</p> + +<p>"Why the Assyrians used to make their enemies look smaller than they +when they made reliefs of battles," ventured Maggie.</p> + +<p>"And the Egyptians were very fond of cats," added Gretchen; and with all +her efforts this was all the information Pamela gleaned from the girls +after her hour's work.</p> + +<p>But before she had a chance to try a new and better way of presenting +the Tanagra figures to them, she heard her name pronounced in a +well-known voice, and looking up she saw Philip Blair gazing at her +charges, and at her too, with an air of amusement.</p> + +<p>"This is a surprise. I did not realize that you were a lover of art," +she said a little awkwardly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, indeed, though I can't tell you when I've been in this museum +before. It looks just about the same, though, as it did when I was a +kid."</p> + +<p>"There are some new paintings upstairs," said Pamela; "though it's +almost closing time now," she added, glancing at her watch.</p> + +<p>When they saw that Pamela was fairly absorbed in conversation, the three +girls wandered off toward another room where, Concetta whispered, there +were prettier things to be seen.</p> + +<p>"Do you bring them here often?" There was something quizzical in +Philip's tone as he watched the three for a moment.</p> + +<p>"Some of them every week; it's a great pleasure." Pamela was bound not +to apologize.</p> + +<p>"Do you think they'll get an idea of household art by coming here?"</p> + +<p>"I'm sure I hope so, though that isn't my whole aim. It will take more +than these visits here to get them to change their views of the really +beautiful. Concetta is always telling me about some of the beauties in +the house of her cousin, who married a saloon-keeper. They have green +and red brocade furniture in their sitting-room, and a piano that is +decorated with a kind of stucco-work, as well as I can understand her +description, for it can hardly be hand-carving."</p> + +<p>Emboldened by Philip's hearty laugh Pamela continued:</p> + +<p>"She also thinks our pictures far too simple, 'too neat and plain,' I +think she called them. Certainly she told me that she likes chromos in +gilt frames."</p> + +<p>"It is clearly, then, your duty to raise her ideals, though when it +comes to a whole houseful of new ideas, you will certainly have all that +you can do."</p> + +<p>But from this lighter talk Philip and Pamela turned to more serious +things, and as they walked through the long galleries, unconsciously +they were showing themselves in a new aspect to each other. Philip, at +least, who had had so many trips abroad, had profited more than many +young men by his opportunities; and as they walked, Pamela, for almost +the first time in her life, felt a little envious as he talked of this +great painting and then of that,—of paintings that she had longed to +see,—speaking of them as casually as she would speak of the flower-beds +on the Public Garden. Ah! was she never to have this chance of crossing +the ocean? It was but a passing shadow; for a swift calculation of her +probable savings showed that, though the time might be long, there was +still every probability that some time she could take herself to Europe. +But meanwhile—</p> + +<p>"Ah! you should see a real Titian, or a Velasquez like the one the +National Gallery bought a few years ago; I saw it the last time I was +over. Oh! I should love to show you some of my favorites in the Dresden +Gallery."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes!" Pamela spoke absent-mindedly. She had suddenly remembered +the existence of her charges.</p> + +<p>"I wonder," she began, when her speech was cut short by Gretchen, who +ran rapidly up to her from the broad hall outside, a look of alarm on +her face as she grasped Pamela's arm.</p> + +<p>"It's—it's Maggie!" she exclaimed excitedly.</p> + +<p>"What is it? Has anything happened? Is she hurt?"</p> + +<p>"I can't say as she's exactly hurt," responded Gretchen, "though she +gave an awful scream; but you'd better come."</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus4" id="illus4"></a> +<img src="images/illus4.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>They walked through the long galleries</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>With Gretchen leaning on her arm, or rather dragging her on, Pamela +hastened to the large room with its tapestries and cases of +embroideries.</p> + +<p>"No, no, not here; this little room," and Pamela soon saw Concetta and +Maggie. The latter was weeping bitterly, the former stood near looking +rather sulky. One of the custodians, with severity in every line of his +face and figure, was talking to them "for all he was worth," as Gretchen +phrased it.</p> + +<p>In a glance Pamela saw what had happened. There was a hole in the top of +the glass case, and the man held in his hand a large glass marble. +Pamela remembered that Maggie had been tossing it up and down on her way +across the Common.</p> + +<p>"I didn't do it." Maggie was crying.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, Maggie! I saw you playing with it myself."</p> + +<p>"But not now—not now."</p> + +<p>Pamela glanced suspiciously at Concetta, but the little Italian was +already at the other side of the room, pretending a great interest in a +case of ivories. For the moment Pamela was overcome. Her old shyness had +returned. Several bystanders were gazing at the strange group, and +Pamela was at a loss what to say. Clearly it was her duty to offer to +make restitution, but she could not speak; she did not know what to say; +and when Gretchen, too impressed, doubtless, by the brass buttons on the +coat of the official, said anxiously, "If he's a p'liceman, will he put +us all in jail?" the climax had been reached, and Pamela herself felt +ready to cry.</p> + +<p>In a moment she saw Philip pass her; he had been not far behind all the +time, and the few words that he spoke in a low voice made the grim +features of the official relax.</p> + +<p>"Oh, certainly, sir, certainly," he said, as Philip gave him his card. +"I'll go with you to the office."</p> + +<p>Philip paused only a moment to say to Pamela, "There, I leave you to +your charges; let me know if they break anything more on the way home." +Then, as if this was an afterthought, "By the way, it's all right about +that glass; my father's a trustee, you know; I'm going to fix it in the +office downstairs."</p> + +<p>When Pamela told her of the incident, Julia only laughed. "I dare say it +cost Philip a pretty penny; that kind of glass is very expensive."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I feel so ashamed," said Pamela. "It was really my fault. I should +not have let them leave me. I must repay the cost of the glass."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense! Philip might as well spend his money for that as for other +things. He never has been considered especially economical. Besides, it +was at least partly his fault that you left the girls, or let them leave +you;" and this was a fact that Pamela could not deny.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>XIII</h2> + +<h3>THE VALENTINE PARTY</h3> + + +<p>When the "Leaguers" announced that they intended to have a valentine +party, Julia and Miss South gave their assent with hesitation.</p> + +<p>"It has a sentimental sound," said Julia,—"a valentine party! and I do +wonder whom they wish to invite."</p> + +<p>But when they were questioned the girls explained that they did not +intend to ask a single person from outside, and, of course, not a single +boy. The valentines that they most enjoyed sending were to other girls, +and they wanted only girls at their valentine party.</p> + +<p>These, at least, were the words of Concetta, their spokesman, and if any +of the others dissented, they did not express their disagreement.</p> + +<p>"But we expect you, Miss South, and Miss Bourne and Miss Barlow, and all +the ladies who have been so very kind to us. Miss Northcote is in the +secret, but every one else is going to be very much surprised."</p> + +<p>"We'll try not to be curious, and I suppose that you wouldn't let us +bribe Angelina to tell us."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no'm; no, indeed. Miss Angelina," and Gretchen turned to Angelina, +who was standing near, "if you tell we'll never—never—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm not afraid."</p> + +<p>"We'll never call you Miss Angelina again—just plain Angelina."</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't stand being called 'plain Angelina,'" said Miss South, +patting Angelina's shoulder as she passed by.</p> + +<p>Now for a week or two there was much secrecy, much whispering, many +hours spent in the gymnasium at times when the rules about exercising +did not require the girls to be there. Snippings of bright-colored paper +were found in the hall, and not only bits of paper but of colored +cambric; and Julia, and Nora when she came to the cooking-class, and all +the other older persons interested in the Mansion, professed to be +entirely mystified by what was going on.</p> + +<p>But at last the eventful fourteenth of February arrived, and all the +guests had assembled in the dining-room. The little stage had been set +up, and the audience awaited the performance with great interest. Each +girl, as before, had been permitted to invite two guests, and a number +of boys and men were present,—brothers, cousins, uncles, and an +occasional father, and the women relatives were out in full force.</p> + +<p>Angelina's sister had come in from Shiloh to spend a day or two, and she +was doorkeeper in Angelina's place. As the guests went to their places, +each one was given a heart-shaped card, the edges gilded, to which was +attached by a pink cord a small pencil shaped like an arrow.</p> + +<p>"Evidently we are to keep some kind of a score," said Nora, "but what it +is to be I cannot imagine."</p> + +<p>"Nor I," responded Brenda; "I haven't been taken into the secret, but I +know that it is to be something exciting."</p> + +<p>Brenda had not yet outgrown her love for emphatic words, and "exciting" +once in a while reappeared as a reminder of her childish years.</p> + +<p>They had not waited very long when the door from the little room behind +was opened, and a barefooted maiden with a broad straw hat torn at the +rim, and a blue calico gown looped up over a paler blue petticoat, +appeared. She carried a rake, and "Maud Muller" was breathed around the +room before Angelina, coming from behind the scenes,—that is, from the +other room,—had had time to say, "Ladies and gentlemen, you are asked +to listen to each character, and to make a record of two things: First, +those who look the best, then those who speak the best, that is,—I +mean—" and for the first time almost in the memory of those present +Angelina seemed to have stage fright, and was unable to translate her +sentences into the clearer and more elegant phrases that she had +intended to use. Thereupon she retired in some confusion, and Maud, who +was really Nellie, recited the simple lines of the charming poem:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'Maud Muller, on a summer's day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Raked the meadow sweet with hay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Under her torn hat glowed the wealth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of simple beauty and rustic health.'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"I doubt that Maud had exactly that brogue," said Nora. "If she had, I +believe that the judge would have been too thoroughly fascinated to ride +away."</p> + +<p>After this came a strange, Spanish-looking figure, who took a kneeling +attitude with bowed head. The solemnity of the effect was somewhat +marred when Concetta—for she it was—turned her head around slightly to +make sure that the audience was fully appreciative of her. Many were the +guesses as to what she portrayed, and indeed it was one of the guests, a +thoughtful girl, who ventured Ximena, "the angel of Buena Vista," and +then every one else wondered why she had not been clever enough to think +of this.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'From its smoking hell of battle, love and pity send their prayer,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And still thy white-winged angels hover dimly in our air.'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>After the women of Marblehead and Barbara Freitchie had made themselves +known, "The Witch's Daughter" was given in series of tableaux, in which +Maggie took the part of Mabel, and Angelina the part of Esek Harden, in +a coat which, if not historically accurate, was at least a suitable kind +of masculine attire for a girl to wear. Next came Haleema as the +Countess, and Luisa as Amy Wentworth, in rather elegant clothes that +surely must have come from one of the chests in the end room; and last, +but not least, Anna and Rhoda, the two sisters in their long white +gowns,—Anna timid and shrinking and Rhoda vehemently denouncing her; +Inez the former and Phœbe the latter,—reciting some of the more +tragic stanzas of the poem.</p> + +<p>"Must we give up these pretty hearts?" asked one after another as Phoebe +began to collect the cards.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you can have them back again if your names are on them, we only +want to count the votes;" and then there was a general murmur, for some +people had forgotten to record their opinions and a little time was +lost. But in the interval Julia played a Chopin waltz that several of +the girls especially liked, and followed this with a few chords of one +of the choruses they had been learning, in which they all joined very +heartily.</p> + +<p>When the score cards were brought back it was found that there was a tie +for the favorite character between Haleema as the Countess, and Maggie +and Angelina as Mabel Martin and Esek.</p> + +<p>Angelina was in a state of excitement when this result was announced, +and was determined that the decision should be immediately in her favor; +while Maggie, disturbed by being so conspicuous, hoped that the prize +might be given to Haleema.</p> + +<p>"It isn't for you to decide," said Phœbe sagely; "they'll find some +way of settling it—the ladies, I mean."</p> + +<p>This, of course, proved to be the case, and when an umpire had been +chosen whose decision all present agreed to respect, he decided that the +first prize should go to the Mabel Martin actors. This was not entirely +to the satisfaction of the followers of the Countess, and Concetta, who +was sometimes on Haleema's side and sometimes against her, now became a +very active partisan, and the two younger girls frowned ominously on +Angelina and Maggie. So far at least as prizes were concerned, Anstiss, +as President of the League, had brought it about that every actor +should have a prize, in each case an attractively bound book, with the +only advantage for the winners of the first prize that they were allowed +to have first choice. But there was a book for each of the others, and +each girl, too, had the pleasure of hearing from her own friends that +she really had made the very best representation of all. It was simply a +case of where all were so good it was almost impossible to choose the +very best.</p> + +<p>Mrs. McSorley was especially proud of Maggie's performance, and her face +almost lost its wonted grimness as she walked about among the girls and +their guests. "I'm thinking that you'll amount to something, after all," +she vouchsafed to her niece; and as this was almost the highest praise +she had ever given, Maggie was more than content. It may be said here +that in Turquoise Street Mrs. McSorley was much more eloquent than she +had been to Maggie's face, and the neighbors for many a day heard the +story of this very brilliant evening at the Mansion, and of the +remarkable manner in which Maggie McSorley had recited and acted the +part of the witch's daughter.</p> + +<p>Another pleasant result of the evening was that Haleema became more +friendly toward Maggie, for she had been impressed by Maggie's +generosity in being willing to resign the first prize to her.</p> + +<p>This, however, did not mean the winning of Concetta, who still seemed to +feel it her duty to refrain from any direct praise or showing any +friendliness for Maggie. But after this an observer would have seen that +she seldom showed any direct unfriendliness, and this was one of the +things that Maggie especially observed.</p> + +<p>The fun of the valentine party was quite forgotten in the excitement +that the girls of the Mansion, like every one else in the country, felt +on that sixteenth of February; for that was the day when news was +brought of the destruction of the "Maine." Angelina was the first to +report it when she broke into the dining-room with a newspaper that she +had bought from a boy at the front door. It had headlines in enormous, +heavy black letters, and Miss South, in spite of her general disapproval +of the headlines, could not resist reading the sheet that Angelina +handed her.</p> + +<p>"It means war, doesn't it?" cried Angelina in a tone that implied that +she hoped that it meant war. But neither Miss South nor the other +residents, nor the great world outside, knew whether peace or war was to +follow the awful disaster. It was useless to forbid the girls reading +the harrowing details. All, indeed, except Maggie and Inez seemed to +take a special delight in perusing them, and in speculating about the +families of the victims and the guilt of the Spaniards; for of course +the Spaniards had done this thing. There were no two opinions on the +subject, so far as the girls were concerned. Gretchen quickly became the +heroine of the day when it was learned that she had a cousin who was a +seaman on the "Maine," and when his name was read in the list of those +who had escaped, her special friends, Concetta and Luisa, seemed to +think that they, too, shared in the distinction, and they offered to do +her share of the housework that she might have time to think it all +over. Angelina was not altogether pleased that this honor had come to +Gretchen.</p> + +<p>"Julia," said Nora, whose day it was at the home, "I believe that she'd +be willing to sacrifice John for the sake of being the sister of a +victim," and in fact Angelina scanned the list of names, in the hope +that she might find one that she might claim as a relative. But +unluckily she could not fix on a single name that she could properly +claim. When she read aloud the President's message to Sigsbee, her voice +trembled with emotion:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The President directs me to express for himself and the people of +the United States his profound sympathy for the officers and crew +of the 'Maine,' and desires that no expense be spared in providing +for the survivors, and the care of the dead.</p> + +<p class="right">"<span class="smcap">John D. Long</span>, <i>Secretary.</i></p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Sigsbee</span>, U. S. S. 'Maine.'"</p></blockquote> + +<p>"But there isn't any 'Maine' now," said Maggie, as Angelina read the +last words, and then was the young girl moved to a word of genuine +eloquence. "There will always be a 'Maine;' it will always live in the +hearts of the American people!" and Julia, who happened to approach the +group just at this moment, said "Bravo! bravo! Angelina, you are a true +patriot."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a>XIV</h2> + +<h3>CONCILIATION</h3> + + +<p>One day not so very long after the valentine party, when it was still +rather uncertain whether Maggie and Concetta were to be friends or +enemies, the former had a chance to do Concetta a real favor. It was a +morning when she had been very busy herself, as it was her week for +taking care of the large reading-room, and she had been up very early in +order to finish certain things before breakfast. First of all she had +cleaned mirrors with powdered whiting until they shone; then she had +polished the brasses; and finally, after spreading covers over +everything that might harbor dust, she had swept the long room.</p> + +<p>"Don't you hate sweeping?" asked Haleema, who was to help her dust and +arrange the rooms.</p> + +<p>"Not half as much as dusting. I really do hate that, it is so fussy, +and, do you know," dropping her voice, "I heard Miss Julia the other day +saying that she didn't like dusting either."</p> + +<p>In spite of any dislike that she may have had for the work, Maggie was a +willing worker, and soon she had the long room in perfect order.</p> + +<p>Soon after breakfast, passing through the back hall, they came upon an +array of lamps ranged on a long table.</p> + +<p>"Where's Concetta?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. She was here a little while ago."</p> + +<p>"Well, I've looked all over the house, and I haven't seen her for an +hour."</p> + +<p>"It's her day to do the lamps. She'll get a scolding if she doesn't fill +them."</p> + +<p>"Who'll scold her? I never heard any one in this house scold."</p> + +<p>"Well, Miss Dreen, for one, is very particular, and she said that she'd +punish the next girl who neglected the lamps."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well," said Maggie, "perhaps she won't be back in time to do +them,—that is, if she has gone off anywhere."</p> + +<p>"She hasn't any right to go off in the morning."</p> + +<p>"I don't mind doing the lamps," said Maggie,—"that is, I'm not so very +fond of doing them, but I'd just as lieves, and it will save Concetta a +scolding. I don't mind a bit."</p> + +<p>So Maggie set to work with a will. She filled the lamps, trimmed one or +two wicks, put in one or two new ones, washed and polished the chimneys, +and when they were finished set them on a large tray to be ready for +evening.</p> + +<p>"Well, that's more than I would do," said Haleema.</p> + +<p>"I wonder how these lamps get used," said Maggie; "except in the library +they mostly use gas—the young ladies, I mean—and, of course, we only +have gas in our room."</p> + +<p>"Why, that's so," said Haleema, "though I never thought of it before."</p> + +<p>But neither of the girls put her mind sufficiently on the subject to see +that the care of the lamps was one of the devices of the two head +workers at the Mansion for getting a certain kind of exact service from +the young girls. The lamps were not needed. Often two of them were set +in a little-used room where they burned just long enough to sear the +wicks and cloud the shades, so that the young housekeepers could show +their skill in cleaning them. Miss South made it her duty usually to +keep in mind the girl whose task for the week it was to attend to the +lamps, and when the results were thoroughly satisfactory she was loud in +her praise, just as she felt it her duty to blame when the reverse was +true. From the lamps the two little girls went to the bathroom.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you oughtn't to dust without lifting down those bottles. Miss Dreen +says that we ought never to leave a corner untouched."</p> + +<p>"But I've dusted in between; it doesn't matter what there is under the +bottles."</p> + +<p>But Haleema was not to be rebuffed.</p> + +<p>"I like bottles," she added. "They almost always have things in them +that smell good," and she reached up on tiptoe toward the shelf. The +first bottle that she reached just came within her grasp, and she pulled +it toward her. When she pulled the stopper, it proved to be a fragrant +toilet water, and even Maggie, admitting that it was delightful, yielded +to the pleasure of inhaling it directly from the bottle. Emboldened by +her success, Haleema drew another bottle down toward her and made a +feint of drinking from it.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't!" cried Maggie, in genuine alarm, "it may be poison."</p> + +<p>"Oh, they wouldn't leave poisons around like this. I'd just as lief as +not taste anything here. I ain't afraid."</p> + +<p>But although she spoke thus bravely, Haleema really did not venture to +put the liquid to her mouth. Then she touched a third bottle, filled +with a colorless liquid. She tried to pull out the rubber stopper, but +it would not stir. Holding the bottle under one arm, she gave a second, +more vigorous pull, when the stopper not only came out, but in some way +the liquid flew out, and then—a loud scream from Maggie, who was wiping +the edge of the bathtub. Haleema herself, half suffocated by the fumes +of the ammonia from the harmless-looking bottle, had enough presence of +mind to set it up on the marble washstand. But, alas! she set it down so +hard that the glass broke and the ammonia trickled down, destroying the +glossy surface of the hardwood floor.</p> + +<p>All these things, of course, had happened in a very short time; not a +minute, indeed, had passed after Maggie's first shriek before Julia and +Miss South and two or three girls had rushed to the room.</p> + +<p>The ammonia fumes at once told the story to Miss South, and without +waiting for an explanation she had raised Maggie from the floor.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear, my eyes!" sobbed Maggie, and for a moment Miss South was +frightened. Ammonia can work great havoc when it touches the eyes. +Fortunately, however, as it happened it was not Maggie's eyes but her +face that the ammonia had really hurt. Her eyes were inflamed, and she +had to be kept in a dark room for a day or two, and her face had to be +salved and swathed in cloths. But in the end no great injury had been +done, and she won Haleema's everlasting gratitude by resisting the +temptation to tell enquirers that Haleema's carelessness had caused the +disaster; for great injury had been done the polished floor, and Haleema +knew that she deserved reproof and punishment. Yet such was Maggie's +reputation for destructiveness that she was supposed to have broken the +bottle, and in the injury to her face she was thought to have paid a +sufficient penalty.</p> + +<p>When Concetta returned to the house an hour later, great was her +surprise to find that her lamps had been cleaned, and when Haleema told +her of Maggie's kindness she could not understand it.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps she's trying for a prize."</p> + +<p>"What prize?"</p> + +<p>"Why, don't you know? At the end of the year the very best girl at the +Mansion is to have a prize. I shouldn't wonder if it would be a gold +watch."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't believe it."</p> + +<p>"Then you can ask Miss Bourne."</p> + +<p>A few days later Concetta had a chance to put the question to Julia.</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed, there are to be two prizes: one for the girl who has +tried the hardest, and the other for the one who has succeeded the +best."</p> + +<p>"Which will get them, Miss Bourne?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, how can I tell?"</p> + +<p>"I don't see how any one can tell; no one is watching us all the time."</p> + +<p>"Some one does take account, Inez, of almost everything that you say and +do."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear, I hate to be spied on," grumbled Concetta.</p> + +<p>"No one is spying, I can assure you; but there are certain things that +we notice carefully, and you have all been here so long that we know +pretty well just what you are likely to do."</p> + +<p>"I expect some one marks everything down in a book, like they used to at +school?" Maggie put this as a question, but Julia did not reply +directly.</p> + +<p>"All the advice I can give you is to do as well as you can, and whether +things are written in a book or not you will fare very well—at least, +you will all fare alike."</p> + +<p>"What will the prizes be, Miss Bourne?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, I cannot tell exactly."</p> + +<p>Thereupon the girls all fell to speculating not only about the prizes, +but about the kind of conduct that would win one. While they were +discussing this, Julia called to them from the floor above, "Have you +forgotten that this is your shopping day?"</p> + +<p>Then there was a scampering, and the girls who were to go with her began +to get ready. Each girl went shopping with one of the staff every three +months, and to-day the group was to consist of Concetta, Inez, Maggie, +and Nellie. It was Julia's turn to take them, and this was not wholly to +the satisfaction of Concetta.</p> + +<p>"I thought Miss Barlow said that she would go with us this time," she +murmured, as they left the house. She knew very well that if Brenda were +their shopping guide they would be able to purchase according to their +own sweet wills. She would be likely to approve everything that they +bought, provided that they had money to pay for it, and it was even +possible that she might supplement their allowance from her ever +generous purse. Thus, indeed, had she done on the one occasion when she +had taken them out, and her liberality had been even magnified by the +lively tongues of those who had described it.</p> + +<p>Shopping was not, of course, intended to occupy a large share of the +attention of these girls; yet to buy clothing properly was thought as +important by the elders who had them in charge, as marketing for the +table, and each girl was given a chance to market under the supervision +of Miss Dreen. They already knew the most nutritious and least expensive +cuts of meat. They could tell what vegetables could be most prudently +bought at each season, and some of them had already begun to show a +decided independence of judgment even in small matters relating to the +table.</p> + +<p>Hardly any of them, however, had the same degree of judgment in matters +of dress. On this account it had been thought wise to give each one a +small allowance, and let her spend it as she wished, with a certain +amount of guidance that she need not feel to be restraint.</p> + +<p>"What they spend for one thing they certainly will not have for another, +and there is probably no other way in which they can better learn what +to do."</p> + +<p>To let them use their own judgment on this particular shopping trip, +Julia made few restrictions. Each had the same amount of money to spend, +and out of it they were to buy spring hats, shoes and stockings, and the +material for two dresses, one of gingham and one of a heavier material. +All that they had left after making these purchases they were to spend +as they wished, and the sum had been so calculated as to leave a fair +margin. There was only one restriction: to save time and energy that +might be consumed in wandering around from one shop to another, Julia +planned that they should do all their purchasing in one of the larger +department stores, and while they were busy she did a few errands of her +own. At intervals she met them at certain counters by agreement, but in +almost every instance she found that they had made their purchase, so +that her advice was usually superfluous.</p> + +<p>"I thought that you were going to get a small sailor hat with a few +flowers at the side," she could not forbear saying to Inez, who showed +her a rather flimsy imitation tuscan, with some gaudy flowers and lace +for trimming.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but you should have seen the perfectly elegant hats they have +upstairs, all tulle and flowers, and as big—" at a loss for an object +of comparison. Concetta concluded, "as big as a bushel basket," after +which Julia could not say that the hat that Inez had chosen was really +of unreasonable size.</p> + +<p>Concetta looked somewhat shamefaced as she announced that she had no +hat.</p> + +<p>"But you had the money for it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but I bought this, it's for the baby; I'd rather she'd have it," +and Concetta opened a large box in which lay a pretty, pink silk coat. +Closer examination showed that the silk was half cotton and the lace +very tawdry, but Julia hadn't the heart to reprove her. Concetta's love +for her baby cousin was genuine, and the coat undoubtedly represented a +certain sacrifice on her part.</p> + +<p>When they came to the dress materials, Maggie insisted on buying two +cotton dresses instead of the woollen dress, the material for which had +been provided by her money.</p> + +<p>"Maggie's a miser," said Concetta, and Maggie reddened without making +any explanation.</p> + +<p>Some of the materials bought were open to more or less criticism, and +later Julia meant to make certain of these mistakes the subject of a +little talk. They had done very well, she thought, for the present, in +buying practically all the things that she had intended to have them buy +with their money. Each of them, too, had a small surplus, and Inez was +the only one who proposed to use hers up by spending it at once for +candy. A little persuasion turned her aside from this purpose, and Julia +was careful that evening to offer her and the girls some especially fine +confections when they gathered in her room after tea. They all seemed +so receptive then that she thought it a good time to show them just how +their fifteen dollars might have been spent to the best advantage,—a +third for the dress materials, a third for shoes and hat, a third for +stockings and the other smaller things; and comparing what they had done +with her ideal purchases, she was interested to find that Nellie, the +young Irish girl, had really come the nearest to her standard, and +accordingly Nellie's face was wreathed in smiles as she learned that she +was thought to have been the ideal purchaser; for although Maggie had +also done very well, Julia was not wholly satisfied with her having +substituted the cotton for the woollen dress.</p> + +<p>That evening, as it was Saturday, they all played games in the large +gymnasium, where there was space enough for the exciting French +blindman's buff, in which, instead of having one of the players blinded, +she had her hands tied behind her back, and do her best, often she could +not catch the others.</p> + +<p>When they were tired of active sports, hjalma and draughts and other +games were ready for them, and occasionally they had charades or +impromptu tableaux, in which all the powers of their elders were taxed; +for the girls themselves lacked originality, and Miss South or one of +the other older members of the household had to supervise all that they +did.</p> + +<p>In these sports sometimes little unexpected jealousies arose, and Julia, +or Pamela, or Ruth, or Anstiss, as the case might be, had her hands full +trying to keep peace. The least desirable characteristics of the girls +came to the surface at times, and at times, too, their best qualities +were displayed in an equally unexpected way. Phœbe alone of them all +did not care for games. While the others were playing she was apt to +bury herself in a book, and often Julia and Pamela would insist that she +should put this aside to mingle with the others.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XV" id="XV"></a>XV</h2> + +<h3>WAR AT HAND</h3> + + +<p>As the weeks went on, Angelina and her little group of special friends +followed closely the newspaper reports of the troubles in Cuba; that is, +Angelina read the despatches and surmises, and told the others how +things were progressing. Except in the case of such definite events as +the destruction of the "Maine," the others were not extremely interested +in what Concetta called "stupid" accounts of distant happenings. +Angelina, however, was all excitement, and her theories were an +interesting supplement to all that the Board of Enquiry didn't find out. +When she read of Mr. Cannon's bill appropriating fifty millions for +defence she was sure that war was near at hand. When Maggie said that +there would be no money left in the country if so much was spent in war, +Angelina made a rapid calculation that this meant less than a dollar for +every person in the whole land, "and it would be a strange thing," she +said, "if we couldn't afford that."</p> + +<p>Even at the meetings of the League the conversation turned to war, and +they hastened through their readings of the Quaker poet to talk about +things that were rather far away from his teachings, except that he was +always on the side of the oppressed, and in the war of his time was +heard with no uncertain voice.</p> + +<p>The stripping of the fleet for war and the movement of the troops that +began early in April were described vividly by Angelina, after she had +read about them. The girls all took more interest when war seemed really +at hand, and Angelina was called upon to explain many things in which +her knowledge hardly equalled her willingness to impart it.</p> + +<p>"The mosquito fleet; oh, what can that be? Is it to bite the Spaniards?" +Inez had asked, and Angelina had replied most scornfully:</p> + +<p>"Of course not; it's a lot of long, thin iron boats that skim over the +water as fast as a mosquito flies—all made of iron, of course, with +long, thin legs that go out from the side like a mosquito's."</p> + +<p>"Legs," exclaimed Haleema dubiously; "on a boat!" and Angelina responded +hastily:</p> + +<p>"Well, not real legs, only kind of paddles, that make them go faster;" +and as no older person heard this original explanation, the girls +continued to have their very special interest in the curious mosquito +fleet.</p> + +<p>When the first shot was fired and the little "Buena Ventura" was +captured on April 22, young and old knew that peace was at an end, and +there was no surprise when the declaration of war came a few days later.</p> + +<p>"I've been looking for it," said Angelina, "ever since the 'Maine' was +destroyed, and I should have been dreadfully disappointed if war hadn't +come. But I was quite certain that there'd be fighting soon when I heard +that an officer had been sent abroad to buy warships; for what in the +world should <i>we</i>," with a strong emphasis on the "we," "want of +warships if we hadn't made up our minds to have a war?"</p> + +<p>During all these weeks Brenda had been no less interested than the +younger girls in the question of what should be done for Cuba. +Washington had become the centre of the world for her in the strongest +sense of the word, and evidently for the time it was the centre of +interest for the whole country.</p> + +<p>Arthur's letters to her continued rather brief. He spoke of being +overworked, and Belle in writing rarely failed to say that she had seen +him at this or that social function, and almost as often she mentioned +how popular he was. Brenda at last wrote one or two brief notes to +Arthur, asking him to return for a dinner that she was giving before +Lent; but he took no notice of these missives, at least he did not write +to her until Lent itself was half over, and then he made a simple little +reference to her request with a mere "I was sorry that I could not do +what you wished, but you must have known that I could not before you +wrote."</p> + +<p>Then Brenda came to the point of deciding that she would never write to +him again, and she threw herself into the work at the Mansion with much +more zeal than Julia had ever expected from her. She was far less +cheerful than the Brenda of old. It was not merely because she could not +have her own way, but rather that she felt the shadow of the impending +war cloud hanging over the country.</p> + +<p>Every Thursday she assisted Agnes at the informal studio tea, and this +was really her only amusement, and in the early spring the conversation +around the tea-table hovered between the two subjects,—the prospect of +war and the correct costume for the Festival.</p> + +<p>The Artists' Festival was an institution that the artists of the city +planned and enjoyed with the assistance of their friends. Each year +those who were invited were asked to appear in costumes suited to a +chosen period, the range of which might be several hundred years, but +within the limits of time and place each costume had to be artistically +correct, and meet the approval of the costume committee. This was to be +Brenda's first experience of the Festival, and earlier in the season, +when she and Arthur had talked about it, she had planned a certain style +of fourteenth-century costume, and Arthur was to go as her page. Ralph +had selected the plates, and though the time was then far off, they had +talked very definitely of what they should expect from the Festival. But +now—</p> + +<p>Brenda decided to make a final test of Arthur. She would remind him of +the approaching Artists' Festival.</p> + +<p>"I shall be mortified to death," she had said to Agnes, "if Arthur does +not return in season for it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I fear that he cannot, Brenda, from what he writes Ralph; I should +judge that he has work enough to keep him busy all the spring."</p> + +<p>"Well, it would be nothing for him to come here for two or three days +and then return to Washington; he used to be so fond of travelling."</p> + +<p>"You might write," responded Agnes. "Perhaps he may come."</p> + +<p>But in answer to Brenda's brief and rather imperative note Arthur wrote +simply that it was impossible for him to leave Washington now, greatly +as he should have enjoyed the Festival. Then after a page of more +personal matter he added that even if he could go to Boston, he should +feel indisposed to take part in gayeties at a season when the affairs of +the country were so unsettled.</p> + +<p>"Humph!" said Ralph, when Brenda repeated this part of the letter to +him. "They must be nearer war in Washington than we are here, for I can +contemplate an Artists' Festival without feeling that I am deserting my +country in its hour of need."</p> + +<p>As for Brenda herself, when Arthur's letter was closely followed by one +from Belle, in which she described a delightful dinner of the evening +before at Senator Harmon's, she tore Belle's letter as well as Arthur's +into small pieces; for Belle had told her that Arthur was one of the +gayest of the guests at the dinner.</p> + +<p>Yet even those who were pretty certain that war was near felt that there +could be no harm in planning for the Festival. Pamela was naturally +interested, but the medieval period chosen demanded more expensive +materials and a more elaborate costume than she felt disposed to +prepare. Julia was uncertain whether she cared to give the time to it, +and Miss South declared that she herself had not the energy to go.</p> + +<p>"So you, Anstiss, are the only one of us who will ornament the scene," +said Julia; "though I really think that Pamela ought to go, it is so +directly in line with the things that she likes."</p> + +<p>"As to that, it is ridiculous, Julia, that you shouldn't be there. When +you were out at Radcliffe you used to encourage operettas and tableaux +and all such things, but now—"</p> + +<p>"Well, now," responded Julia, "I feel as if I were working for a living +and ought not to waste my time in frivolities."</p> + +<p>"That is where you are very foolish. Soon we shall hear loud protests +from your aunt and uncle; indeed, they will probably come and drag you +away. They would be justified, too, if you continue in your +determination to have your whole life bounded by these walls."</p> + +<p>"Very comfortable walls they are, too, but I hate to wander too far in +search of costumes, and the thousand and one little things that are +necessary to make them complete. It is too much trouble for one +evening's enjoyment."</p> + +<p>"There!" exclaimed Miss South as Julia had finished, "I have an idea; +come with me."</p> + +<p>It was late and the pupils had all gone to bed, and Concetta, hearing +unwonted steps going to the upper story, pushed her door open a little, +and was surprised to see the strange procession winding upwards.</p> + +<p>It took its way to the end room in the attic, and when she had lit the +gas Miss South asked Anstiss to help her lift out a chest from a corner +of the closet. Selecting a small key from her ring and opening the +trunk, she began to unfold one or two garments.</p> + +<p>"Oh, how beautiful! But who could have worn it?" exclaimed Julia, as a +velvet gown trimmed with ermine and with a long train unfolded itself +before them.</p> + +<p>"Ah, but this is lovelier!" she added, as a dove-colored brocade with +pattern outlined in pink was shown, intended evidently to be worn with +the pink satin petticoat that accompanied it. Further delving into the +trunk brought out pointed shoes, elaborate head-dresses, and other +fantastic things.</p> + +<p>"Did your grandmother ever wear these clothes?" asked Anstiss in +surprise. "I should hardly think that they were of the style even of her +day."</p> + +<p>"Oh, these things are intended for costume parties," returned Miss +South. "My grandmother described some of the occasions when she first +wore them abroad. She took the greatest care of them, and every spring +she herself supervised her maid when she shook them and did them up +again in camphor. Strangely enough I have been so busy the past year +that I had forgotten about these particular things. There are two +complete costumes. One of them is entirely in the period of the +Festival, and the other needs so little alteration that you and Pamela, +Julia, will be completely equipped, with almost no thought in the +matter."</p> + +<p>"But why won't you go yourself?"</p> + +<p>"I have quite made up my mind about that; for the present, at least, I +have no desire for gayety."</p> + +<p>It was really amazing that these two costumes should have been found so +perfectly to meet all the requirements of the Festival. Julia, of +course, could have had a costume especially designed for her by a +costumer, but as she had said, in talking it over with Brenda, she was +by no means in the mood for this, and she would have stayed home rather +than waste the time in this way.</p> + +<p>Brenda threw herself into the preparations for the Festival as if she +had no other interest in the world. She was to be a principal figure in +the group that Ralph had arranged. With an artist's sense of beauty, and +an accuracy that no one had ever before suspected, Ralph planned the +costumes, and insisted that they should deviate in no particular from +his design. To effect this proved an unending occupation for Brenda and +Agnes.</p> + +<p>"There's one thing, Ralph, that has come out of this," said his wife one +day after he had given her a lecture on the unsuitability of certain +trimmings that she had selected. "After this I shall never worry about +our future."</p> + +<p>"Have you been doing so?" he asked in some surprise.</p> + +<p>"Well, I have had misgivings as to what might happen if you should +become blind, or if your pictures should fail to sell, or if Papa should +lose his money, or—"</p> + +<p>"How many more 'ifs,'" he asked; "I had no idea that you were a borrower +of trouble. What have I done to deserve this thoughtfulness, or perhaps +I should say thoughtlessness, on your part; for you say that now you +have ceased to worry."</p> + +<p>"Why, I am sure that you could transform yourself into a man milliner; +in fact, I'm not sure that I may not try to persuade you to change to a +more lucrative profession than that of a mere painter of portraits. From +the very way in which you hold that little pincushion under your arm, I +am sure that you would be a great success."</p> + +<p>Ralph only smiled as he snipped a bit from the end of a velvet train. +Then he moved off a little, that he might survey his work from a +distance.</p> + +<p>"It looks like a milliner's shop," said Brenda, pointing to the litter +of silk and velvets, embroideries and fur, strewn over chairs, tables, +and divan.</p> + +<p>"Yes, and I feel much as if I were waiting for customers. I believe, +however, that no more are expected this afternoon. I can therefore +attend to my mail orders. Tom Hearst, by the way, is coming on, and I am +designing something for him."</p> + +<p>"Well, if Tom can spare the time, I should think that Arthur might."</p> + +<p>"Ah, Arthur writes that he is too much concerned at the prospect of war. +He apparently does not approve of our frivolous doings. The times are +too serious."</p> + +<p>"I do not see why he need take things so to heart. He is not a—a +reconcentrado." Brenda's words may have seemed like an attempt at +levity, but, indeed, she felt far from cheerful. She concluded with a +weak, little "But you don't think that there will be a war, do you, +Ralph?"</p> + +<p>"I do, indeed, think that there will be a war, dear sister-in-law, but I +also think that it may be some distance off, and that we might as well +eat, drink, and be merry, in other words, enjoy the Artists' Festival," +he rejoined.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XVI" id="XVI"></a>XVI</h2> + +<h3>THE ARTISTS' FESTIVAL</h3> + + +<p>It was unfortunate that the Artists' Festival should have fallen on the +evening of the day succeeding the formal declaration of war, or, as some +of the younger people put it, that war should have been declared on the +eve of the Festival; for, they urged, the arrangements for the Festival +had been made before war had been even thought of, and so, if the +President and Congress had only waited a day—</p> + +<p>But public affairs take their course, and Boston is a very small corner +of this large country, and though some persons may have absented +themselves from a sense of duty to their country, Brenda agreed with +Ralph that these never would be missed, so crowded did the hall prove +after the French play had ended and the seats had been removed.</p> + +<p>The patronesses, seated on a dais on one side of the hall, were gorgeous +in robes of cloth of gold, with the elaborate head-dresses of the time.</p> + +<p>The procession as it passed along was well worth seeing,—the trumpeters +at the head, the craftsmen and village folk, the brown-robed monks +singing a solemn chant, crusaders in scarlet coats, knights in armor, +ladies in sweeping trains, and everywhere the high-horned cap with its +graceful and inconvenient veil.</p> + +<p>On the stage at the end of the hall a French play was given, perfectly +rendered, complete in every detail of dress and scenery as well as of +acting. But it was a tragedy, acted so perfectly that Brenda, perhaps, +was not the only one who found it too gloomy for the occasion. The +tournament that followed, in which two hobby-horse knights tilted +against each other, was much more to her taste.</p> + +<p>"Why, Brenda Barlow! I was wondering if we should see you."</p> + +<p>Brenda looked up in surprise. The voice was surely Belle's, and +immediately she recognized her friend. Belle did not wait for questions +after the first greetings.</p> + +<p>"Oh, a party of us came on from Washington last night. The rest are +going back on Thursday, but I shall stay in New York for a month. +Annabel didn't come, nor Arthur either. You must have been awfully +disappointed that he wouldn't take any interest. I've always thought he +was a little uncertain. How do you like my costume? We ordered them at +the last minute from a costumer. I think he did very well, considering +the time. Tell me, is mine frightfully unbecoming? I've been trying to +make Mr. De Lancey tell me, but he simply says it's indescribably +fetching. I can't be sure whether or not he's in earnest. Oh, let me +present him to you; I forgot that you did not know each other."</p> + +<p>A moment later, separated from her own party, she was walking with Belle +and Mr. De Lancey into the adjacent supper-room, which had been +arranged in semblance of a rose-garden. They ate sandwiches and currant +buns served to them in baskets, and drank lemonade from pewter mugs. The +rooms had been rather cool.</p> + +<p>"It's the medieval chill," replied Brenda, when Belle asked her why she +was so quiet.</p> + +<p>"I believe it's worse in this rose-garden than in the large hall. I'm +afraid that these paper roses will become frostbitten."</p> + +<p>Soon Tom Hearst and Julia, in their search for Brenda, came upon her in +the garden.</p> + +<p>"Well, here you are! We've been looking everywhere. The rest of the +group has gone upstairs to be photographed. There's a man with a +flashlight in one of the studios. Aren't you coming?"</p> + +<p>The posing of the group took some time, and then there were single +pictures, and Agnes and Ralph were taken together.</p> + +<p>An idea came to Brenda. "Why shouldn't we form a group by ourselves?" +Brenda had turned to Tom Hearst with her question.</p> + +<p>"I should say so," he responded enthusiastically. "I mean certainly. How +shall I stand, or rather mayn't I prostrate myself at your feet as your +humble page?"</p> + +<p>"No, no, how absurd you are!" for Tom was already kneeling in an +attitude of devotion.</p> + +<p>"It's after twelve," the photographer reminded them, "and there are +several waiting."</p> + +<p>"In other words," said Tom, "we ought to hurry. So look pleasant, Miss +Barlow,—that is, as pleasant as you can under the circumstances," and +Brenda assumed her stateliest pose, having first seen that her train was +spread out to its broadest extent.</p> + +<p>"Really," exclaimed Ralph, who stood near, "you must send a copy of the +picture to Arthur."</p> + +<p>Brenda did not reply, but when they were again among the gay crowd she +was quieter than she had been before, and to the astonishment of Agnes +she was ready to go home long before the carriage came.</p> + +<p>But, strange to say, Pamela, the conscientious, was much less disturbed +than she should have been by the thought that this was the hour of her +country's danger. The artistic beauty of the whole scene was such that +for the time it occupied her mind completely, and she and Julia, with +Tom and Philip as attendant cavaliers, were quite care free as they +wandered among the gay throng. Yet her mind was turned a little toward +the war when Philip began to tell her of his difficulties.</p> + +<p>"In the natural course of events," he said, "I should have been in the +Cadets. But I had thought I'd wait a year or two. Now the only thing is +for me to enlist, or get an appointment as officer. They say that the +President will appoint any number of officers. There is only one +thing—"</p> + +<p>Pamela waited for him to continue, and at last he took up the broken +thread.</p> + +<p>"I haven't said much about it to other people, but my father is far from +well this spring. I notice this in little things, and he depends so on +me that I hesitate about taking a step that will lead to my leaving home +just now."</p> + +<p>"It is often hard to choose between two duties," said Pamela; "but I +believe the general rule is to choose the nearest, and in this case that +is evidently your father."</p> + +<p>"Where have you been all the evening, Philip? I have looked everywhere +for you." Edith's voice had an unwonted note of irritation.</p> + +<p>"Why, Edith, child, aren't you having a good time?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know; I've had to listen to such a lot of stuff from Belle, +and I haven't seen half the people I promised to meet."</p> + +<p>"There, there, child, I know how you feel; Belle has been talking too +much, but I will take care of you," and Philip pulled Edith's arm within +his own. "A big brother is useful sometimes," he added, for he saw that +Edith was a little perturbed. A moment later Nora joined the group, +followed by Julia and Tom Hearst, and soon Brenda joined them.</p> + +<p>"Why, here we have almost all the old crowd," exclaimed Tom. "If only +Will were here—"</p> + +<p>"And Ruth; you mustn't forget her."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, no, and I dare say that he is thinking of us. I fancy that at +this present moment he is just wild to be on this side of the world. +With his exalted ideas of patriotism, it must be torture to him that he +isn't on hand when there's fighting to be done."</p> + +<p>"It seems to me that your sword hasn't been brandished very fiercely, at +least, since the President's proclamation."</p> + +<p>"Ah! just wait. Within a month I may be waving a flag in Cuba. This +sound of revelry by night may be the last that I shall hear for a long +time. My uniform may not be as becoming to me as this costume," and Tom +threw back his head and strutted a few steps, as if to display to the +best advantage the artistic costume that Mr. Weston had designed for +him,—a most effective one with its crimson doublet, slashed sleeves, +and long, silk trunk hose.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't talk about war," cried Brenda, almost pettishly, while Nora, +whose sparkling eyes and bright smile showed that she, at least, had +enjoyed the evening, said gently, "Come, Brenda, there are Agnes and +Ralph beckoning to us; I suppose they wish to count us all to see that +we are safe and sound before they start for home."</p> + +<p>A little bantering, a word or two of good-bye to passing friends, and +the merry group started for home, never, although they knew it not +then,—never to be together again as they had been that evening.</p> + +<p>In the next few weeks war news was of chief importance, and Brenda, +never a newspaper reader, now turned to the daily papers with great +interest.</p> + +<p>One afternoon she came into Julia's room at the Mansion with her eyes +suspiciously red.</p> + +<p>"You haven't been crying?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, not exactly crying, but—"</p> + +<p>At this time a tell-tale tear fell, and Brenda dabbed her eyes fiercely +with a crumpled handkerchief.</p> + +<p>"There, there, tell me all about it," said Julia.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's nothing. Only I've just been at a meeting at the State House."</p> + +<p>Then, by dint of a little questioning, Julia learned that Brenda had +read the notice of a meeting to be held at the State House in the +interests of the Massachusetts troops that should go to the war, and +that she had decided to attend it.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it was dreadful," she said, not restraining the tears that were now +undeniably falling. "They talked about bandages and ambulances and the +hundreds that would be killed, and the dreadful things that happened in +the Civil War, and I couldn't help thinking how terrible it would be for +Arthur and Tom and all the others we know."</p> + +<p>"Arthur?" queried Julia; "I knew that Tom was going, but with his +regiment from New York—but Arthur, why, he has never been in the +militia?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," responded Brenda, "it's all his being in Washington. I wish +that he had never heard of Senator Harmon. It seems that he's to have a +commission in the regular army. The President is to make any number of +new officers, and you have to have influence. Ralph had a letter this +morning,—and I know he'll be killed."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, child! If there is any fighting, it will be only on sea."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you should have heard them talk at the meeting to-day; and Papa +says that every young man should be ready to fight. He only wishes that +he was young enough. Amy writes that Fritz Tomkins is crazy to leave +college and volunteer, but his uncle won't let him, because his father +is in China. But lots of men are leaving college to go into the army. +Don't you think 'tis very noble in Arthur?"</p> + +<p>The last sentence was a change from the main subject, for Arthur's +college years were far away; but it showed where Brenda's heart lay, and +Julia did not laugh at her.</p> + +<p>"Come," she said, "let us go upstairs; you have never visited the home +economics class, and you are just in time for it."</p> + +<p>So hand in hand the two cousins went upstairs, and if Brenda was less +cheerful than usual, only Julia noticed this.</p> + +<p>"The dusty class," as some of the younger girls called it, because "Dust +and its dangers" had been the subject of the lessons.</p> + +<p>"How businesslike it is!" exclaimed Brenda, glancing around the plain +room, fitted with its long wooden table, plain walls, at one end of +which were many glass bottles and tubes.</p> + +<p>"Test tubes," explained Julia, as Brenda asked a question; "and these +gas jets that rise from the table are very useful in some of their +experiments."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that is some of Pamela's Ruskin," Julia added, as Brenda stopped +before a simply framed card on which in illuminated text was the +following:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"There are three material things, not only useful, but essential to +life. No one knows how to live till he has got them.</p> + +<p>"These are Pure Air, Water, and Earth.</p> + +<p>"There are three immaterial things, not only useful, but essential +to life. No one knows how to live till he has got them also.</p> + +<p>"These are Admiration, Hope, and Love."</p></blockquote> + +<p>"It looks very scientific," said Brenda, "with all those bottles and +tubes. I should call it a regular laboratory."</p> + +<p>"So it is," responded Julia; "and though the girls are untrained, and +rather young to understand thoroughly the scientific value of much that +is taught them, they do enjoy the experiments."</p> + +<p>At this moment the teacher entered the room.</p> + +<p>"Tell me, Miss Soddern," said Julia, after introducing Brenda to the +teacher,—"tell me if the girls have had any success with their +bacteria; I know that they are very much interested in their little +boxes."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm going to have them report this morning. You must wait until +they come."</p> + +<p>In a moment the girls filed in, Concetta, Luisa, Gretchen, Haleema, and +the rest whom Brenda knew best, and with them two or three girls from +outside who were members of the League; for in this, as in other +classes, it had seemed wise to enlarge the work a little. So the class +had taken in some of those whom the membership in the League had +interested in things that otherwise they might not have had the interest +to study.</p> + +<p>As they stood at their places around the table, Miss Soddern gave a +resumé of what they had already learned about dust and its dangers. They +talked with a fluency that surprised Brenda about bacteria and yeasts +and spores and moulds, and in most cases showed by examples that they +knew what they were talking about.</p> + +<p>"I am glad that all these bacteria are not harmful," said Brenda, "for +otherwise I should stand in fear of instant death when caught in one of +our east winds," and she looked with interest at the plate that showed a +great many little spots irregularly distributed within a circle. Each +spot represented a colony of bacteria, and though the showing was rather +overwhelming, it was not nearly as bad as another exposure made at a +crossing in a certain city where the old-fashioned street-cleaning +methods prevailed. An exposure made just after the carts had been +collecting heaps of dirt showed an almost incredible number, quite +beyond counting.</p> + +<p>So interesting did Miss Soddern make her lesson that Brenda stayed quite +through the hour.</p> + +<p>"I've gathered one or two new ideas on the subject of trailing skirts," +she whispered to Julia in one of the intervals of the lesson. "I always +thought it was just a notion, this talk about their being so unclean, +but now I shall always think of them as regular bacteria collectors. +Also I've learned one or two things about dusting, and I'm going to +watch our maid to-morrow, and if she isn't using a moist cloth, I'll +frighten her by asking her why she insists on distributing death-dealing +germs around the room."</p> + +<p>Half of the class that day had to report the result of their own +observation of bacteria colonies collected on the gelatine plate, and +half were to prepare the little glass boxes to take home. Brenda watched +the process with great interest,—the preparation of the boxes in a +vacuum, so that there would be no air inside them when they should be +first exposed in the new locality.</p> + +<p>"It's something," said Julia, "to get these girls to acquire habits of +accuracy."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it reminds me of the class in physics at Miss Crawdon's," replied +Brenda. "I never would take it myself, but some of the girls said that +it was splendid; it taught one to be accurate."</p> + +<p>At that moment Miss Soddern began to address the girls. They had been so +absorbed in their work that they had talked very little during the hour.</p> + +<p>"How many of you have anything to report regarding the boxes that you +took home last week."</p> + +<p>One by one the outside girls gave accounts of their observations, each +one vying with the others to describe the most prolific growth of +bacteria.</p> + +<p>"As the boxes were to be exposed simply in their living-rooms, I am +surprised at the results," said the teacher in an aside to Julia; "I'm +afraid that some one must have been stirring up the dust. What does your +family think of these experiments?" she continued, turning to a +bright-eyed American girl.</p> + +<p>"Oh, they're so interested," the girl replied. "You've no idea how +they've watched it; and since the bacteria have begun to develop,"—she +said this with an important air—"they show it to company. Why, you may +like to know that our visitors consider it more entertaining than the +family album."</p> + +<p>Miss Soddern herself did not dare to smile at this remark, but Julia and +Brenda hastily excused themselves.</p> + +<p>"Audible smiling," said Brenda, "is more excusable out here than it +would be in the school-room," and then both laughed outright.</p> + +<p>"I never did care for family photograph albums," said Julia, "and now I +see how easy it would be to have a scientific substitute."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XVII" id="XVII"></a>XVII</h2> + +<h3>IDEAL HOMES</h3> + + +<p>The triangular quarrel between Concetta, Haleema, and Angelina had +reached such a state that the three spoke only when actually under the +eyes of their elders. Even as Maggie had felt jealousy at first, did +Angelina now feel jealousy of Concetta.</p> + +<p>On pleasant spring Sundays when Angelina walked out with John she would +tell him her griefs, and so far as he could he would sympathize with +her; but when she talked of running away, he would simply laugh.</p> + +<p>"Why, if you wish to go back to Shiloh, I'm sure Miss Julia would let +you; you have only to tell her and she would let you off."</p> + +<p>Then Angelina would shake her head. "Ah! you have no idea how important +I am. Why, I know they couldn't get along without me, and I'm sure that +if I should leave, everything would stop. I'm surprised that you should +suggest it, John."</p> + +<p>"But you talked of running away."</p> + +<p>"Well, so I might, if Concetta keeps on acting in that forward way, as +if she were the most important person here. No, I won't desert Miss +Julia, even if Miss Brenda does show so much partiality. I suppose it's +my Spanish blood that makes me take it so hard."</p> + +<p>John looked at Angelina bewildered.</p> + +<p>"Spanish blood! why, we're not Spanish; I hadn't heard of it."</p> + +<p>"There, John, you haven't a bit of romance; I should think that you +could tell that we're Spanish just by looking in the glass, and I'm sure +Spain and Portugal are very near together, and though mother says she +was born a Portuguese she may be Spanish. A great many people are +beginning to sympathize with me on account of the war."</p> + +<p>There! the secret was out. The war with Spain had now come to the +foreground, and Angelina wished in some way to be a part of it and of +the general excitement. Had John been old enough to enlist she might +have worked off some of her energy in urging him to do so. As it was, +she amused those who had known her the longest by talking about her +fears for her own safety; for although Manila Bay was an American +victory, "of course," she would say, "every one has a prejudice against +persons of Spanish blood," and Angelina would raise her handkerchief to +her eyes, as if she were an exiled princess of Castile.</p> + +<p>John only laughed at Angelina when she talked in this way to him, and +wished that he could enlist and go toward the South, where the troops +were gathering for the war.</p> + +<p>"I should like to be a nurse," she then said, "for really this work here +with these younger girls is very tiresome, and I don't think that Miss +South and Miss Julia properly appreciate me."</p> + +<p>"You are ungrateful," John would reply solemnly. "Why, if it wasn't for +these young ladies I'm sure that mother wouldn't be alive now; she never +could have lived if we'd stayed on in Moon Street, and it was just +through them that we were able to have a home of our own, for those bare +rooms in Moon Street were not a home."</p> + +<p>John was an industrious youth, working hard, saving money, and studying +evenings. He was devoted to Manuel, now a strong boy of nine, and +anxious that he, too, should have a good education. Angelina's +flightiness troubled him, but he hoped that she would in time outgrow +it; for though the younger, he always felt that he was in the position +of an older brother, and when it came to any particular action, Angelina +usually took his advice, after first demurring, and professing that she +would rather do something else. Now he felt that he was right in trying +to make her keep her place at the Mansion; but even while he was trying +to persuade her, he could see that Angelina was thinking of something +else.</p> + +<p>But the war did not entirely occupy the thoughts of Julia and Pamela and +the others at the Mansion, and the former went on with the preparations +for her special exhibition after the fashion that she had planned long +before the fateful sixteenth of February. Gretchen and Maggie were her +chief assistants in carrying out her plans, and they went about with an +air of mystery that was particularly tantalizing to the others.</p> + +<p>"What do you suppose it's going to be?" asked Concetta, with two buttons +conspicuously fastened to her waist bearing the motto, "Remember the +Maine."</p> + +<p>"Some kind of a picture show, I guess; I saw two boxes of thumb tacks on +Miss South's table. I tried to make Maggie tell, but she's as still as a +mouse; she always is. Don't she make you think of one?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, she does," replied Haleema. "I've a good mind to peek in now; +there's nobody about."</p> + +<p>At that moment Angelina came around the corner.</p> + +<p>"I'm exceedingly surprised," she said, in her haughtiest manner, "that +you should try to pry into what doesn't concern you."</p> + +<p>"I didn't."</p> + +<p>"Yes, you were trying to."</p> + +<p>"No, I wasn't, and, besides, I have a perfect right to; I belong to Miss +Northcote's class. So there! You needn't stand and watch me."</p> + +<p>"I'll report you to Miss Dreen," said Angelina. "It's your day in the +kitchen. I remember that."</p> + +<p>Concetta's face clouded as Angelina passed on to the kitchen.</p> + +<p>"I wish people would attend to their own business."</p> + +<p>Concetta had hoped that Miss Dreen, who was a little absent-minded, +would fail to notice her absence. Another grievance was added to the +long list that she cherished against Angelina.</p> + +<p>But after all they were not kept so very long in suspense, for on the +Saturday after this little episode the doors were thrown open, and all +the girls marched in to see what really had been going on behind the +closed doors. Those in the secret were proud enough, and Maggie in +particular displayed an unexpected talkativeness. At least she was able +to explain the why and wherefore of the exhibit quite to the +satisfaction of all who heard her.</p> + +<p>The first exclamations of pleasure were called out by the sight that met +their eyes. One side of the room had been divided by partitions to make +two rooms. Each was furnished completely, and even those girls who were +too old to play with dolls were fascinated by the house; for each of the +two rooms was fitted up with absolute perfectness, from the wall-paper +to the tiny cushions on the sofa. They were on a scale large enough for +everything to be seen in detail, but a degree or two smaller than life +size. Pamela justly prided herself on the completeness of it all, and +this completeness had been made possible only by the kindness of Julia, +who had told her to spare no expense in having the house furnished +exactly as she wished it to be. She was safe in giving this wide +permission, since Pamela's friends all knew that extravagance was +absolutely impossible with her, and that she would use another's money +more carefully even than her own.</p> + +<p>Both rooms were furnished like sitting-rooms, but they differed utterly +in style. Maggie put it correctly by saying that one was "warm and +fussy-looking," while the other was "cool and restful."</p> + +<p>The floor-covering on the former, painted to imitate a real carpet, was +of bright colors and florid design. The reds and greens of which it was +composed were just a little off the tone of the flowered wall-paper,—a +greenish background with stiff bunches of red flowers, "that look as if +they were ready to jump out at you," as one of the girls put it.</p> + +<p>The little chairs and couch were upholstered in bright brocade velvet, +each one different from the others, and none in harmony with the paper +or with each other. On the tiny centre-table were one or two clumsy +pieces of bric-à-brac, and the pictures on the walls were small chromos +in ugly gilt frames. There were bright cushions on the divan, and +crocheted tidies on every chair.</p> + +<p>Nellie thought this room "perfectly beautiful." Her cousin's wife, whose +husband was a prosperous teamster, had one almost like it, she said. "Oh +what lovely easy-chairs! I hope I'll have a parlor as elegant as this +some day."</p> + +<p>The other room did not please her, it was too plain; whereas Concetta, +within whose breast there must have lingered some remnant of Italian +artistic instinct, thought it altogether beautiful.</p> + +<p>This second room had a plain, dull-green wall-paper, on which hung a few +photographs suitably framed. There was matting on the floor, and in the +centre a green art-square. The chairs were of rattan, in graceful +shapes, with green cushions, and one of artistic design in black wood +with broad arms was comfortably cushioned for a lounging-chair. A +bookcase, also of black wood, was filled with plainly bound books. On +the rattan centre-table was a tall green vase with a single rose in it, +and near by two or three small volumes of good literature. The ornaments +on the mantle-piece were few and well chosen, and each had an evident +reason for being there. The simple gilt moulding at the top was in +contrast with the fussy frieze in the other room, and the plain net +draperies at the windows were much more agreeable than the lace curtains +in the other room, with their elaborate pattern and plush lambrequins.</p> + +<p>Each girl as she came in was given a small blank-book, and was asked to +note down what she thought of each room, and to state her reasons for +preferring one room to another.</p> + +<p>"Ought we to like one more than another?" Inez asked anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Inez," said Haleema, "you are like sheep, you never stand alone," +which, although not an exact rendering of the proverb, at least partly +described the disposition of little Inez, who was far from independent.</p> + +<p>"My book isn't half full," said Phœbe, after she had written for +several minutes.</p> + +<p>"Ah, that isn't all," rejoined Maggie.</p> + +<p>"No, indeed," added Pamela, who had been listening with much interest to +all the comments. "You have entirely neglected this end of the room. You +will probably find more to do here than at the other end."</p> + +<p>Here the wall had been covered with a plain gray denim, against which +were pinned samples of wall-paper of every quality and color. Some were +quiet and in good taste, as well as inexpensive; others were evidently +costly, and at the same time loud and glaring. Each piece was numbered, +and the girls were asked to write in their books their opinion of these +samples.</p> + +<p>Again, on a table near the wall-paper lay a number of cards with pieces +of dress fabric fastened to them, and the girls were asked to state +which would probably hold their color the best, which would be suitable +for a working dress, which for a durable winter dress; and near certain +bright-colored fabrics were trimmings of various sorts, and they were +asked to tell which would best harmonize with the fabric.</p> + +<p>"It ought not to be so very hard for you to answer these questions," +said Julia, as she found Concetta scowling over her blank-book. "I know +that Miss Northcote has had much to say to you this winter about +furniture and wall-papers, and you ought to remember the reasons she has +given for calling one thing more beautiful than another. Then, as to +dress materials, why, think of our shopping expeditions, and the trouble +I have taken to make you understand what is best."</p> + +<p>"Yes, 'm," said Concetta. "If there's to be a prize, I'll try to prefer +the best things; but if there won't be one, why, I think I'll just say +what I really think."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Concetta! Concetta! you are hopeless," responded Julia; and though +she smiled slightly at this frank confession, she felt a little +depressed that her winter's work should have had no better effect.</p> + +<p>At five o'clock the books were all collected and put in Pamela's care +for discussion at the next meeting of her class, and a few minutes later +the aunts or cousins of the girls, as the case might be, began to +appear. Their "oh's" and "ah's" were genuine as they looked at the two +rooms; the numbers were about equally divided between those who +preferred the restful room and those who preferred the fussy and gaudy +one. They were greatly surprised to find that the more showy room had +had no more money spent on it than the other. To them it looked much the +more expensive; whereas to Julia and Nora and the others it was a +surprise that the cheap and shoddy things of the gaudy sitting-room had +cost as much as those in the really æsthetic apartment.</p> + +<p>All had been invited to the six-o'clock tea, and this had been designed +to show the skill in cooking of some of the number,—or perhaps I should +say skill in the preparation of a meal, since much that was to go on the +table was prepared under the eyes of the visitors.</p> + +<p>The dainty sandwiches, for instance, were so prepared. There were three +or four different kinds, of lettuce, of cheese, and some with nuts laid +between, to the great surprise of Mrs. McSorley. She had associated with +the name only the sandwich of the ham variety. Then the cold chicken, +creamed and served in the chafing-dish, and put steaming on the plates; +the chocolate that Maggie prepared on a tiny gas range, crowned with +whipped cream that she had whipped before their very eyes,—all these +things had their effect. When Luisa showed the blanc-mange that she had +made, "without any flavor of soup," Haleema remarked so mischievously, +that Luisa had to admit that earlier in the season she had prepared +some blanc-mange in a kettle which had not been washed since some +strong-flavored soup had been contained in it. Each girl had one special +dish that she had made the day before,—cake, or biscuit, or jelly. The +results were very satisfactory to the admiring relatives, who went home +particularly pleased with the Mansion and the young ladies, as well as +with their own particular loaf of cake or mould of jelly, as the case +may be. Each one, too, carried away a fine photograph of the Mansion, +under which Pamela had written one of her ever applicable Ruskin +quotations.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The girls to spin and weave and sew, and at a proper age to cook +all proper ordinary food exquisitely; the youth of both sexes to be +disciplined daily in the studies."</p></blockquote> + +<p>This was at the bottom of the card, and at the top she had written:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Never look for amusement, but be always ready to amuse."</p></blockquote> + +<p>"There," said Julia, after the last visitor had departed, "I don't +suppose that any of our guests know that we are college women, nor +probably have they heard the time-worn discussion as to whether college +women are capable of understanding the management of a house, but it +strikes me that we made a pretty good showing this evening."</p> + +<p>"Ah," replied Miss South, "I am older than you, and I can say pretty +confidently that no one need stand up for the college woman as home +maker; she needs no defence. More than half the college graduates of +to-day have homes of their own that are well managed, and have a high +sanitary standard, and—but there, I am talking as if you needed to be +convinced, whereas this is very far from being the case."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, Miss South," said Nora, "even I, who am not a college girl—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, but you are; don't forget the good work that you did as a special +at Radcliffe."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Julia, but I'm only slightly a college girl. Well, even I +always have plenty of ammunition ready when one or two persons I might +mention have things to say about the uselessness of a college +education."</p> + +<p>"You are a good champion in any cause, and we thank you," said Julia, +slipping her arm in Nora's, and making a low courtesy.</p> + +<p>This exhibit of Pamela's was the end of the festivities at the Mansion. +The evenings were growing warm, and the interests of the girls were +turning in other directions. The meetings of the League were regular +sewing circles, and the busy needles of the members struggled through +the heavy denim that was to be used in comfort bags for the soldiers, or +they hemmed flannel bandages, or applied themselves to other useful bits +of work suggested by the Woman's Auxiliary of the Aid Association. While +others worked, Angelina read aloud to them, for she was fond of reading; +and those girls who had friends or relatives in the regiments that were +going South were proud of the fact, and referred to it often.</p> + +<p>But Maggie—poor Maggie! It seemed to her that she had reason to be +prouder than any of them, for she not only had a letter, but a +photograph, from a soldier, and to her Tim was a really heroic figure in +his blouse and campaign hat. And the words had a sacred meaning, "I'm +going to do something great before you see me again; I'll do something +great, and by and by we'll have that home of our own."</p> + +<p>She could not talk about this to any one, for the mention of Tim's name +still aroused a very bitter spirit in Mrs. McSorley, and Maggie feared +that if she confided even in Miss Julia, Tim's plans might in some way +come to Mrs. McSorley's ears. Although living now afar from her +immediate authority, Maggie still stood in great awe of her aunt, and +though the rather scanty praises bestowed on her showed a change in Mrs. +McSorley's spirit, Maggie knew how unwise it would be to speak to her of +Tim.</p> + +<p>Of the staff, Brenda was the only one who had little to say about the +war. She had not written to Arthur nor he to her since the Artists' +Festival; but she heard of him indirectly through Ralph and Agnes. His +regiment had gone to Tampa before the end of May, and if he was waiting +for her to reply to that unanswered letter, he waited in vain. Brenda, +when once she had made up her mind, was very determined. She showed, +however, that she was not happy. Her face had lost its color, and she +had less animation.</p> + +<p>"It all comes from staying indoors so much. Really, you must come with +us to Rockley," her parents insisted.</p> + +<p>But Brenda would not change her mind. She was now taking the place of +Anstiss, who had been called home on account of the illness of her +mother.</p> + +<p>"I did not know that you could be so industrious, Brenda. Have you any +idea how many hundred of these comfort bags you have made this spring?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Brenda, so shortly that Edith knew that she had made a +mistake in asking the question.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XVIII" id="XVIII"></a>XVIII</h2> + +<h3>WHERE HONOR CALLS</h3> + + +<p>In all his life Philip Blair had hardly learned a harder lesson than +that teaching him that it was his duty to stay at home with his father +at a time when so many of his friends and classmates were setting off +for the war. "They also serve who only stand and wait," echoed +constantly in his ear, though unluckily almost as imperative was another +refrain, "He that lives and fights and runs away, may live to fight +another day." It seemed to him not unlikely that those who did not know +him very well might put him in the latter class,—of those who avoided a +present danger for an unlikely and distant good.</p> + +<p>He could not deny the fact that his father was evidently ill, and as +evidently needed him. This in itself was reason enough for his staying +in Boston. He had so thoroughly mastered the details of the business, +that it would have been false modesty to deny that his departure would +make no difference. Even had his father been in perfect health, Philip's +departure would have thrown a certain amount of care upon him; but in +his present rather weak condition the young man felt that he had no +right to add to his burden. He envied Tom Hearst his commission as +captain in a regiment of regular troops, and he felt that his years on +the ranch had especially fitted him for a place with the Rough Riders. +What an opportunity this war might offer a young man for real +distinction! and yet the chance was that he could have no part in it. +Poor Philip! If some of his critics could have read his heart, they +would have had less to say about his staying at home. Certain +complications in his father's business had led him to give up his plans +for studying law. He was now a business man, pure and simple, and almost +any one would admit that he was devoting himself to his father's +interests.</p> + +<p>In one of his downcast moods one evening he strolled over to the Mansion +to take a message from Edith to Julia. His family had already gone down +to Beverly, but Edith, with her usual conscientiousness, let hardly a +week pass without sending some special message to Gretchen.</p> + +<p>The evening was one of the close and sultry evenings of early spring, +and as Philip drew near he was pleased to hear the voices of Brenda and +Julia. The two were seated on a rattan settle that had been drawn out +into the vestibule, and upon greeting them Philip discovered Pamela and +Miss South near by. After delivering Edith's message the conversation +drifted to the ever-engrossing subject.</p> + +<p>"I hardly expected to find so many of you here," said Philip. "Surely +some of you intend to go as nurses to help your suffering countrymen."</p> + +<p>"Angelina," responded Miss South, "is the only one of us who is +desperately in earnest about becoming a nurse."</p> + +<p>"So far as I can remember she has all the qualities that a nurse ought +not to have."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you are rather severe; she is not quite so bad, yet I doubt that +she would make a good nurse. But she really is interested, and I have +known her to make many sacrifices this spring to help the soldiers."</p> + +<p>"She thinks that the Red Cross costume would be very becoming, and that +is the secret of her interest," said Brenda, with a slight tinge of +bitterness.</p> + +<p>"What do you hear from the seat of war?" asked Philip, turning to +Brenda, as if to change the subject.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I never hear anything. Agnes and Ralph have letters, but I have too +much to do to bother about the war."</p> + +<p>Brenda's tone belied her words, and Philip wisely attempted no +rejoinder. A moment later she made an excuse for leaving the party in +group.</p> + +<p>"Ralph," explained Julia, "expects to go abroad in a few days; his uncle +is very ill in Paris, and it is necessary that he should see him. I +believe that Agnes is not sorry that he has decided to go. Otherwise, I +am sure that he would soon be starting for Cuba."</p> + +<p>"It's hard for any one to stay behind," said Philip; and then as Inez +and Nellie came out from the house with a message for Miss South and +Julia, the duty of entertaining Philip fell on Pamela. He never knew +just how it happened, but soon he was opening his heart to her more +freely than he had ever opened it to any one else; and when their little +talk was over he felt that at least one person realized that in staying +North at a time when men were needed in the South he was truly trying to +do his best. Undoubtedly Julia understood this, and Miss South, and all +sensible people who saw that Mr. Blair's health was now so precarious; +but Pamela made it so clear to Philip that his duty to his father was +really the higher duty, that he left the Mansion in a much more cheerful +frame of mind than that in which he had approached it.</p> + +<p>"It is just as she says," he thought, as he walked homeward. "If my +country were attacked, or if our flag were in danger, then it would be +the duty of every man to rush to the front. But now—why, when it comes +to fighting on land, we'll just have another walkover like the battle of +Manila Bay."</p> + +<p>He stepped briskly down the hill toward his home.</p> + +<p>"What a bright girl Miss Northcote is, and how thankful she must be that +her teaching is almost over for the year. Though she never admits it, +she must find teaching very tiresome."</p> + +<p>Pamela was glad, indeed, that her school tasks were over in season to +give her a week or two for special study, as she was anxious to do her +very best in the work that she had chosen at Radcliffe this year. The +two courses would count toward her post-graduate degree. Strangely +enough, a few days before the examination she had a chance to put her +own theories of duty into practice.</p> + +<p>A telegram from Vermont told her that her aunt had been thrown from a +carriage and seriously injured, and that in her moments of delirium she +was constantly calling for her. It took Pamela but a few moments to +decide, and packing a small trunk she was ready for the evening train +North.</p> + +<p>"My examinations can wait until next year," she replied to Julia's +expostulations; "and even if they could not, this is really the only +thing for me to do."</p> + +<p>Though for many years her relatives had been far from sympathetic, +Pamela recalled the days of her childhood, when they offered her a home, +and when in a clumsy way they had tried to make her happy. Knowing how +her uncle had depended on his wife, she could not bear to think of his +helplessness, and to help him became at once her nearest duty.</p> + +<p>Thus it happened that when Philip a few days later came again to the +Mansion for counsel, he found Pamela gone. Julia, too, happened to be +out, and Brenda, with whom he talked, was so downcast that he was +obliged to put himself in the most cheerful frame of mind to assure her +that there was not the least danger of actual fighting.</p> + +<p>"Why, before you know it, they'll all come marching home, and there'll +be processions and speeches and all the things that conquering heroes +expect—"</p> + +<p>"They won't be conquering heroes if they haven't done any fighting."</p> + +<p>"Don't interrupt; and you can throw a wreath at Arthur's feet."</p> + +<p>"I wasn't thinking of Arthur."</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, but I think that you were; and then, well—and then they +will live happy ever after."</p> + +<p>"Philip Blair, you are too absurd. Conquering heroes and wreaths, +indeed!"</p> + +<p>But Philip's nonsense had made Brenda smile, and for the time she was +decidedly more cheerful.</p> + +<p>When Mr. and Mrs. Barlow went down to Rockley, Brenda had simply refused +to go. When they told her that she would suffer in town from the heat, +she replied that she did not care, she hoped, indeed, that she would +suffer, and concluded by saying emphatically that she was tired of being +a mere idler.</p> + +<p>"But since you are so unused to hard work, and to the city in hot +weather, you must not overdo now. I do wish, Brenda," and Mrs. Barlow's +tone was unusually serious, "that you could do things in moderation. If +you had taken a little more interest in the work at the Mansion last +winter, perhaps you would not feel it necessary to go to extremes now."</p> + +<p>"It isn't extremes now, only I have more time to give to Julia, and I +don't feel like going to Rockley; and why should any one care, +especially as you have Agnes and Lettice with you."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Barlow for the time said no more. She managed, however, to persuade +Brenda to spend a day or two each week at Rockley, usually Saturday and +Sunday; and every Wednesday a large box of flowers was sent up to the +school with a card marked, "With love, from little Lettice."</p> + +<p>Concetta was now more than ever devoted to Brenda, and the latter found +her conversation more entertaining than that of any of the +others,—possibly because she heard more of it. Often during the hour +before bedtime she sat on the old rattan settle in the vestibule, while +the tongue of the little Italian girl rattled on over a great variety of +topics. Maggie, passing in or out sometimes after watering the plants in +the little garden, often felt like sitting down beside Brenda, but she +was never asked to join the two, and, unasked, she would not venture. +Then to console herself she would put her hand on the crumpled letter at +the bottom of her pocket. There was one person who cared for her, and +Tim, knowing that his letters would not be intercepted by Mrs. McSorley, +wrote to her often. His description of his life with the troops seemed +to her most wonderful, and oh! how she longed to show to the others that +picture that he had had taken of himself in uniform and broad campaign +hat.</p> + +<p>Angelina's interest in the war turned chiefly on her belief that she was +destined to be a nurse. A large red cross cut from flannel she had sewed +to her sleeve, and she told the younger girls that as soon as her mother +should give her permission she was going to Cuba. "As soon, at least, as +there's been a perfectly dreadful battle; of course I don't want to go +until I can be of real use."</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact Angelina had little prospect of entering upon this +career of nurse, though she cherished the hope that her mother and Miss +Julia might some time give their consent.</p> + +<p>From Tampa in June Arthur wrote home much about the condition of the +volunteers who had gone to the war without suitable equipment, and the +fingers of the young girls at the Mansion flew more swiftly, that they +might the more surely increase their quota of comfort bags.</p> + +<p>"Just think of Toby's having to work like a laborer," said Nora, two of +whose brothers had already found their way to the army in the front at +the South. "He says that if it were not for the hammock that he sleeps +in at night he never could stand the heat; but oh, dear! I do hope that +there won't be any real fighting. Where do you suppose that the +Spaniards are now?"</p> + +<p>"Off this coast, probably," said Edith; "they say there's a big pile of +coal at Salem, and that the Spanish ships will be sure to try to get it. +I wish we were going to Europe this summer, for I'm afraid that I should +not enjoy seeing a battle."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'd sooner see one than feel one, as might be the case if there +should be fighting off this coast; but I am sure that this will not be +the case, and we must feel that our part in the war is simply to keep up +our own courage, and that of our friends and relations, especially of +those who have gone to the war marching toward Cuba."</p> + +<p>This was the sensible view to take, and Nora was only one of many girls +whose chief work those long spring days consisted in cutting out +garments, in hemming and sewing, in knitting bandages, and in following +the directions of those older women who had organized themselves to care +for the needs of the soldiers in the field.</p> + +<p>Some of them, I am afraid (but we will whisper this), were a little +impatient that nothing happened; that is, that there had been no +fighting. But they were those who had no relatives and no friends in the +army.</p> + +<p>Brenda waited eagerly for each letter from Arthur, for he wrote +frequently from Tampa to Agnes. Ralph had already reached Paris, and the +house at Rockley seemed strangely quiet; for Lettice was a demure little +girl, playing very quietly in her corner of the garden or the +drawing-room.</p> + +<p>Two letters of Arthur's had lain unanswered, and now Brenda was +unwilling to make up for her neglect. "Arthur should write to me," she +said to herself, although she really knew that she could hardly expect +such a concession from even a young man far less proud than Arthur +Weston. Yet Brenda for a time tried to nurse a grievance, rather vainly, +it must be admitted, essaying to persuade herself that Arthur was in the +wrong.</p> + +<p>In the mean time, at the Mansion, she was really very helpful. She was +especially zealous in taking the girls to some of the factories that +Julia and Miss South thought it well for the girls to visit in little +groups. Thus the process of biscuit-making, and spice-making, and half a +dozen other processes had been made clear to them in the course of the +spring, and Brenda said that in accompanying Miss South and the girls on +these expeditions she gained much more than she ever had from the +occasional historic pilgrimages that she had sometimes made with her +cousins.</p> + +<p>The girls of the Mansion made one or two historic pilgrimages, too. In +Brenda there was not a deep poetic vein, and something akin to this is +needed to make one thoroughly appreciate historic surroundings. In the +bustling factories she found something with which her spirit was more in +sympathy.</p> + +<p>The questions asked by the girls with her diverted her; the explanations +given by their guides in these places took her out of herself.</p> + +<p>During the summer the girls were to be invited to New Hampshire; for +Julia had been able to arrange with a farmer living not far from the +home of Eliza, her former maid, to have half a dozen of the girls board +with him for two months, while two were to be under the care of Eliza. +Julia or Miss South was to be at the farmer's during all the stay of +these girls, but on the whole the summer was to be considered a time of +recreation rather than work, and what the girls should learn in the +country was to be gained rather by observation than by direct teaching.</p> + +<p>As the choice had been given them, three or four had preferred to return +to their own families for the summer rather than to go to the country, +and thus the number to be looked after was not too large for the +successful carrying out of Julia's vacation plans. Her first intention +had been to take a house and equip it for summer work, carried on upon +the same plan as that of the Mansion in the winter, but her uncle and +aunt and others had pointed out so clearly the disadvantages of this +scheme that she had quickly given it up. The girls were likely to +return to their duties in the autumn much fresher, and much readier to +set to work, than if they had had the same kind of household tasks that +fell to them in winter.</p> + +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Barlow wished that Julia had planned to close the Mansion +on the first of June instead of July, for they saw that Brenda had no +intention of coming down to Rockley permanently until July.</p> + +<p>"Surely you are not so very much needed at this season. Julia and Miss +South could undoubtedly get some one else to take your place," her +mother remonstrated; and Brenda merely replied:</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am needed; I like to feel that I am needed, and besides it is my +own choice; I am staying in town because I want to."</p> + +<p>It was evidently useless to argue, and Mrs. Barlow made no further +effort to persuade her to change her mind. Naturally, however, she was +somewhat concerned to notice that Brenda was growing paler and thinner. +She felt that no good could come from Brenda's staying so late in town.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIX" id="XIX"></a>XIX</h2> + +<h3>THEY STAND AND WAIT</h3> + + +<p>"Why so pensive?"</p> + +<p>"Pensive! Am I? I did not mean to be; it is certainly not exactly polite +when I have company." Julia smiled at Lois as she spoke, for Lois was +making one of her infrequent visits to the Mansion, and the two girls +had been reviewing many of the events of their college years.</p> + +<p>"Yes, you were pensive; you looked as if something weighed on your mind. +That particular expression has vanished now," concluded Lois; "but since +I caught that very unusual look, please tell me what it means. Is it the +war?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, not wholly."</p> + +<p>"Then partly; do you wish to go as a nurse?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no; that is a kind of personal service for which I have never +thought myself especially well adapted. I leave that to experts like you +and Clarissa, for I suppose that now Clarissa is on her way to Cuba, +ready to do the bidding of the Red Cross. Why, Lois, with your bent in +that direction I do not wonder that you are pleased at the prospect of +going where you can really do some good."</p> + +<p>"I am not altogether sure that I can go. My mother is opposed to my +going, and to-day when I went to see Miss Ambrose I found her seriously +ill. I came to town to do an errand for her, but I could not resist +running up here for a few minutes; I wished to know what you had heard +from Clarissa."</p> + +<p>"It was only the briefest note, but she seems perfectly delighted with +the prospect before her of going. She is so strong that I am sure that +no harm will come to her, and she will be a perfect host in camp or +hospital."</p> + +<p>"And the cap and apron will become her. Can you not see her with her cap +tilted over her dark curls? I haven't the slightest doubt that she will +pin a bow of scarlet ribbon somewhere on her gown, even though the +regulations prescribe sombre costume."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, I can see her at this very minute, a real ray of sunshine; but, +Lois, I hope that Miss Ambrose is not very ill."</p> + +<p>"I cannot tell. It is a nervous break down. All that she reads and hears +about the war carries her back to the days of the Civil War. She lost +several dear relatives and friends then, and the present excitement has +caused what I should call a kind of reflex action. Unless this Spanish +War proves longer than we expect, a few weeks rest will bring her +around. I am glad that my examinations are just over, for I must spend +my time with her."</p> + +<p>"Naturally," responded Julia; "and after all, this will be as good a +cause as nursing sick soldiers, though I understand your +disappointment."</p> + +<p>As the two friends talked, Julia's face lost the pensive expression that +Lois had remarked when she first came in. The expression had no deeper +reason than her feeling of dissatisfaction with her winter's work, a +regret that what she had undertaken must hamper her now, when greater +things were claiming the attention of so many other of her friends. Yet +before Lois went home she had begun to see that she need not be +dissatisfied with her own limitations.</p> + +<p>"'They also serve who only stand and wait,'" Lois had quoted apropos to +herself, just as Philip had quoted it some weeks before, and Julia found +this line of Milton's even more applicable to her own case than Philip +had to his. For there was a prospect that Lois, if the war continued, +might find it possible to offer herself as a nurse, while Julia was sure +that the duties that she had assumed would prevent her doing this, even +as Philip knew that he could not leave his father. Julia regretted, too, +that she had not as much money to offer as she would have had but for +her year's work at the Mansion.</p> + +<p>Miss Ambrose, to whom Lois had referred, was not a relative, nor even an +old friend. She had made the acquaintance of this elderly woman by +chance toward the close of her Radcliffe course, and had found her way +to Miss Ambrose's heart without special effort on her own part. An +accident had enabled her to do Miss Ambrose a real kindness. The older +woman had been greatly pleased to learn that Lois was studying at +Radcliffe. Her own tastes in her younger days had inclined her to a +college education, but, alas! at that time there was small opportunity +for a woman to go to college. In interesting herself in Lois' college +work she had seemed to live over again her own youth, and she was never +weary of hearing the details of college life. Later, when Lois was on +the point of leaving Radcliffe, because she had not the money to stay +there longer, Miss Ambrose insisted on her accepting from her the sum +necessary to enable her to remain. In view of the older woman's +kindness, and also because a genuine friendship existed between the two, +it was natural that Lois should wish to stay with Miss Ambrose while she +was ill. Indeed, she was glad to do this, even though she had to curb +her desire to be a nurse during the war.</p> + +<p>When Lois left, Julia put herself through a little cross-examination; +for a month or two she had not been wholly satisfied with her year's +work. Had she used her time and her money in the best way? Was there not +some other work that she might have carried on to greater advantage? Was +it altogether wise to have given up so entirely her own personal +interests? Ah! Clarissa was right; she was not justified in putting +entirely aside her music—especially her work in composition. What, +indeed, had she to show for the year? So her thoughts ran. Ten girls +better trained in useful things than would have been the case without +the Mansion teaching; but this year must be followed up by another year +of teaching, and then in the end could she be sure that they would +retain what they had learned? Concetta and Haleema had improved +superficially, but she was by no means confident that they were really +neater or really more truthful than in the beginning. Maggie—and here +she smiled—broke fewer dishes, but her reticence was far from +commendable. Frankness was a virtue that she herself constantly +preached, yet she had been able to instil very little of this quality +into Maggie's breast. In spite of all her precepts, too, Inez was still +as willing as at the beginning of the year to put on her stockings with +the feet unmended, and—"Difficulties are things that show what men +are." Like a ray of sunlight this thought from Epictetus flashed across +Julia's mind. After all, how few real difficulties she had had to meet +during the year; and had not the successes been more than the failures?</p> + +<p>Mary Murphy had been the only one of the girls to insist on leaving the +school, although she had occasionally heard the others expressing their +dissatisfaction, especially when some of them had undergone some of the +discipline that they had to undergo. One of the first lessons to learn +had been that of the general deceitfulness of girls, and of these girls +in particular, who did not hesitate to make many little criticisms as +unjustifiable as they were foolish.</p> + +<p>After all, the balance sheet did not show a total against the +experiment, even when all the things were counted that had to be called +not quite successful.</p> + +<p>"It is the warm weather," thought Julia, "that depresses me. Instead of +dreading next year, when autumn comes I shall probably wish that I had +twice as much to do."</p> + +<p>Brenda was disturbed by no such doubts as those that assailed Julia. She +was helping Julia that she might help herself forget that a war was +hanging over the country, and that if there should be a great battle, +if Arthur should be killed, she could never forgive herself. Yet, after +all, what had she had to do with his going, unless, indeed, she had been +foolish in repeating her father's criticism of Arthur's idleness. She +could not forget that autumn ride and that half-jesting conversation, +and the change in Arthur from that moment; but for that, perhaps, he +would not have gone to Washington, and if he had not gone to Washington +she was sure that he would not have volunteered so early. Had he been +near them, certainly Agnes and Ralph would have shown him that it was +his duty to stay at home, just as much his duty as it was the duty of +Ralph or Philip.</p> + +<p>Philip had stayed behind on account of his father, and Ralph felt it his +duty to fly to Paris on account of his sick uncle. Arthur could have +gone there in his place, and then he would have been perfectly safe. +Now, even while Brenda was reasoning in this foolish fashion—yet it +could hardly be called reasoning—she did not fully face the question as +to whether she had not done wrong rather than Arthur. She still blamed +him for not writing to her. What if she had not answered his last two +letters? He was the one who had gone farthest away, and he should have +written.</p> + +<p>Now all of this was the very poorest logic, and no one understood this +better than Brenda herself, slow though she was to admit that she had +made a blunder.</p> + +<p>Miss South heard frequently from her brother Louis, who had been one of +the first to go to the front, and a box had been already sent from the +Mansion filled with useful things for the men of his company, about +whose privations in camp he had written very entertainingly. "How would +you like it," he wrote, "to have to take your occasional bath in a +rubber blanket? Yes! that is exactly what I do. We cannot bathe in the +creek, for its muddy water is all we have to drink. So when I wish to +bathe I dig a narrow trench some distance away, lay my rubber blanket in +it, and carry enough water to fill it. In no other way could I get a +decent—I mean a half-decent—bath." Then he told of the canned beef and +hard bread that was his chief diet, and added that if the heat +continued, he would have nothing worse to fear from the Cuban climate, +"for to Cuba they say we shall go before the end of June."</p> + +<p>Brenda, listening to the letter, wondered if Arthur, too, had had the +same experiences.</p> + +<p>More than all, she wondered if the troops now in camp would really go to +Cuba, and if—if—</p> + +<p>Then she would not let her thoughts go too far. She could not bear to +think of the coming battles; for every one said that the Spaniards would +not yield without a bitter conflict.</p> + +<p>Maggie, whose devotion to her was unnoted by Brenda, watched the latter +from day to day, and often saved her steps by anticipating her wishes. +Maggie observed that Brenda's face was paler and thinner than when she +first began to live at the Mansion. She noticed, too, that she no longer +cared for pretty gowns. She wore constantly a blue serge skirt and shirt +waist, suitable enough in its way for one who was a resident at a +settlement; but Brenda had formerly cared little for suitability, and +Maggie, though she would not for a moment have admitted that her idol +looked less than beautiful, still wished that she had the courage to ask +her to wear occasionally one of the dainty muslin gowns that she knew +she had brought with her to the Mansion.</p> + +<p>One day as Brenda strolled through the upper hall she saw the door of +Maggie's room ajar. This reminded her that it was her turn to inspect +the bureaus of the girls, and acting on impulse she went at once to +Maggie's drawer. This inspection usually consisted only of a passing +glance to make sure that the contents of the drawers were not in the +state of hopeless confusion into which the bureaus of young girls have a +strange way of throwing themselves.</p> + +<p>Maggie's bureau, if not above criticism, was fairly neat, but as Brenda +turned away something strangely familiar caught her eye. It could not +be—yet it surely was—and she took the bit of silver in her hand to +assure herself that it really was the chatelaine clasp of the silver +purse that she had lost. As she took up the little piece of silver her +hand trembled. There was no doubt about it; too well she recognized the +elaborately engraved rose, surmounted by the double B, that had been her +own especial design. How vividly came back to her the day on which she +had lost the purse—the day of the broken vase, of the discovery of +Maggie, of the deferred walk with Arthur; all came back to her vividly, +and yet these things seemed years and years away. She had never +associated Maggie with the lost purse, but now suspicion followed +suspicion, and all in an instant Maggie McSorley had become not merely a +tiresome little girl, but one deserving of reprimand if not of +punishment.</p> + +<p>Then discovery followed discovery. Just back of the silver clasp lay the +picture of a young, good-looking soldier in campaign uniform, and Brenda +could not help reading at the bottom the words, "From your loving Tim."</p> + +<p>At that moment there was a step at the door, and immediately Maggie was +beside her. The little girl reddened as she looked over Brenda's +shoulder.</p> + +<p>"My uncle," she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"Why, Maggie! How often your aunt has said that you haven't a relation +in the world but herself and her husband."</p> + +<p>"Then it's she that doesn't tell the truth," and frightened by her own +boldness Maggie burst into tears.</p> + +<p>Brenda did not feel like consoling her. Moreover, Maggie's next words, +"Don't tell my aunt," were not reassuring; so Brenda went rather sadly +downstairs. The clasp was still in her left hand; she had even forgotten +to show it to Maggie. Near the library door she met Concetta, looking +bright and cheerful. What a pleasant contrast to the weeping, +unsatisfactory girl upstairs!</p> + +<p>That evening Maggie did not appear again downstairs. She would take no +tea, and Gretchen, who had gone above to inquire, reported that Maggie +had a severe headache. As Julia left the rest of the family after tea to +see what she could do for Maggie, Brenda seated herself at the library +table beside Concetta, who was turning over the leaves of a book.</p> + +<p>Half absent-mindedly Brenda fingered the clasp which had been in her +pocket since the afternoon, and Concetta, as her eye fell upon it, put +out her hand as if to seize it. Then as quickly she drew her hand away, +pretending not to have seen the bit of silver. Brenda did not notice +Concetta's action, though she was pleased to hear her say a word or two +in excuse of Maggie's weeping proclivities.</p> + +<p>"She's such a kind of tender-hearted girl. Yes, she told me the other +evening that she hated to kill a mosquito; she'd rather let them bite +her. Why, I'd kill hundreds of mosquitoes without thinking of it," +concluded Concetta boldly; "and it made Maggie cry when the kitten got +scalded the other day, but I wouldn't think of crying."</p> + +<p>Brenda listened to Concetta quietly; she was wondering if she ought to +disclose her suspicions to Julia. At length she decided that it was her +duty to do so.</p> + +<p>"Let us ask Miss South what she thinks. Perhaps there is some +explanation that she can suggest."</p> + +<p>Miss South, when consulted, was inclined to question the accuracy of +Brenda's memory.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it possible that you have forgotten just when you lost the +purse?"</p> + +<p>"No, indeed, I have not forgotten," said Brenda. "It made a great +impression on me that I should have lost it on the very day when I had +had to pay for that broken vase, and that was the day when I first went +home with Maggie; but really I never thought of her having taken it, +and I'm very, very sorry."</p> + +<p>Brenda spoke in tones of genuine distress. It is true that she had never +been very fond of Maggie, and that her first pride in her as an +acquisition for the Mansion had soon passed away. Concetta and one or +two of the other girls had interested her more. Yet in a general way she +had had a good opinion of Maggie, which it hurt her very much now to be +obliged to reverse.</p> + +<p>Thus, as the school year closed, Brenda, like Julia, was beginning to +have doubts about the value of the work that she had been doing; for if +Maggie had the clasp, she must also have the purse and its contents. The +money contained in it had amounted to only about three dollars, but the +purse itself had been valuable, and doubtless Maggie had sold it. "I +suppose she was afraid to sell the clasp on account of the initials," +Brenda thought, a little bitterly.</p> + +<p>Even though she had not liked Maggie as well as some of the other girls, +she was not pleased that she had made this unpleasant discovery. She +would have been more than glad if she had never seen that +harmless-looking little clasp lying in Maggie's bureau, if Maggie had +never told her that untruth about the soldier's photograph.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XX" id="XX"></a>XX</h2> + +<h3>WEARY WAITING</h3> + + +<p>Toward the end of June letters from Arthur were infrequent. Indeed, but +one had come from him since he had left camp for Cuba, and this, like +the earlier letters, had been addressed to Agnes, not to Brenda. Letters +were mailed to him twice a week, and various things had been sent to him +that the family hoped might be of use in camp. But although Brenda +helped pack the little boxes, and though she had bought, or at least +selected, many of the things that went in the boxes, she did not write. +She was still waiting for Arthur's letter.</p> + +<p>The last week in June several of the girls from the Mansion went home to +be with relatives for a few days before going up to the farm, and Brenda +at last agreed to go down to Rockley. Mrs. Barlow had told her that she +might bring with her any of the girls whom she wished to have with her. +"Naturally, I suppose, you will wish to bring Maggie, as she is your +especial protégée."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Barlow had not realized the waning of Brenda's interest in Maggie, +but Brenda, as she read the letter, knew that she would not invite +Maggie. She had not yet spoken to Maggie about the silver clasp, but she +saw that the time had now come to do it, and she nerved herself to the +disagreeable task. Accordingly, a day or two before she was to start for +Rockley she called Maggie to her room, but when Maggie appeared she was +not alone. Concetta was with her. It hardly seemed wise to send Concetta +away, and the two little girls sat down, as if to make an afternoon +visit. Hardly had she been seated five minutes, however, when Concetta +spied the little silver clasp that Brenda had laid on the table near by. +At first she put out her hand as if to take it, then even more quickly +drew it back. But Brenda had noted the action, and after they had talked +a few minutes of other things she brought up the subject of the lost +purse.</p> + +<p>She had described the pretty purse that she had so valued, because it +was a present from one of whom she was especially fond, and told how its +loss had distressed her. It must be admitted that her heart beat a +trifle more quickly as she looked at the two, but neither of the girls +appeared the least self-conscious. Then she held up the clasp—perhaps +it wasn't just right to say this before Concetta—and added:</p> + +<p>"It surprised me very much a day or two ago to find this little clasp in +the possession of one of the girls here at the Mansion, for it is the +very clasp that I lost with the silver purse."</p> + +<p>Then Maggie reddened and looked at Concetta, and Concetta looked from +Maggie to Brenda.</p> + +<p>"Did you think that somebody stole it?" asked Maggie anxiously, and +then she seemed to search Concetta's face for an answer.</p> + +<p>"I hardly care to say what I think," replied Brenda. "I should not like +to believe that any one had stolen it."</p> + +<p>This time her gaze was so evidently directed toward Maggie that Maggie +was almost driven to reply.</p> + +<p>"I know that it was in my drawer, Miss Barlow, but—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, it was I who gave it to her, I really did; but I didn't steal it." +Concetta spoke very positively.</p> + +<p>Brenda was certainly puzzled by the turn of affairs, the more puzzled +because she realized as well as any one else in the house that Maggie +and Concetta had never been good friends, yet it was Maggie whom she now +heard saying:</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm sure, Miss Barlow, that Concetta isn't to blame."</p> + +<p>"I never saw the purse," explained Concetta, "but the clasp was given to +me—that is, I paid twenty-five cents for it. The girl I got it from +lives in the next house to my uncle's; you can ask her about it."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm obliged to you, Concetta, for freeing Maggie from suspicion. +It is indeed strange that the day I lost the purse was the very day on +which I first saw Maggie. You remember, Maggie, the day when I went home +with you."</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed, Miss Barlow, the day I broke that vase; that was a bad +bargain for you."</p> + +<p>"Why, I'm not so sure, Maggie; you see I seem to have found you in +exchange for the vase, and perhaps, after all, I have had the best of +the bargain. But tell me, Concetta, how it happens that you and Maggie +are good friends now. Only a little while ago you seemed to be far from +friendly, yet now you would not have been so ready to tell me about the +silver clasp if you had not been anxious to help free Maggie from any +chance of blame."</p> + +<p>So Concetta—for in spite of occasional mistakes in English she was +always more voluble than Maggie—explained that several times of late +Maggie had been very kind to her, and she gave among her instances the +day when Maggie had helped with the lamps; "and then I thought that she +was dreadfully good when she never told about Haleema the day the +ammonia got spilled, for it was Haleema that broke the bottle, but +Maggie never told; and then," concluded Concetta magnanimously, "I got +tired of hearing every one find fault with Maggie, so she and I are +going to be great friends now. That's one of the things I've learned +here, that it's better to be good friends with every one, 'to love your +neighbor as yourself.' Miss South often talks to me about it, and so I'm +trying to think that every one is as good as I am;" and Concetta tossed +her pretty head, and her expression seemed to say that she did not find +this sentiment the easiest one in the world to hold.</p> + +<p>On investigation—for Concetta urged her to investigate—Brenda found +her story true so far as it concerned the way in which she had come into +possession of the silver clasp. The little girl from whom she had bought +it referred her to an old woman who had a long story as to how it had +come into her possession, and Brenda at last decided that it was useless +to follow the clew further. But the outcome of all this was a better +understanding between Brenda and Maggie, for Brenda, when she had once +made a mistake, was never unwilling to rectify it. Whether this little +girl had stolen it or whether the old woman was to blame she did not +care. She felt sure that neither Maggie nor Concetta had taken the +purse. She praised the latter for her frankness, and became so kind to +the former, that Maggie actually blossomed out under her smiles.</p> + +<p>Before the end of the month Pamela had written that she must stay in +Vermont all summer, and in consequence could take no part in the +vacation work that Julia had planned. Nora accordingly offered her +services, and Amy wrote that she volunteered to spend August with the +girls.</p> + +<p>Brenda's cousin, Edward Elton, who happened to be present when the plans +were discussed, expressed himself as being so gratified that Julia and +Miss South would not be left to carry on the work quite alone, that +Anstiss Rowe, ever a fun lover, began to speculate as to the reason for +his concern.</p> + +<p>"Do you suppose that this is on account of his interest in Julia? Julia +has so many others to worry about her, that he need not be especially +fearful on her account, or—there, I'll ask her—" and running up to +Miss South, who had just been bidding Mr. Elton good-bye at the door, +she put the question so suddenly that Miss South actually blushed. Then +a certain idea came into Anstiss' mind, which just then she did not put +into words.</p> + +<p>It was the end of June before Brenda consented to go down to Rockley, +and when she went Maggie accompanied her. The observing little girl was +still disturbed as she noted how thin Brenda had grown, and even before +Mr. and Mrs. Barlow noticed it, Maggie had seen that Brenda's step was a +little heavy, that her bright manner had given place to listlessness. +Her one interest seemed to consist in buying and collecting things for +the benefit of the Volunteer Aid Association. No one now reproached her +for extravagance, and when her father found that it would please her, he +doubled his contribution to this Association, and sent another in +Brenda's name.</p> + +<p>One afternoon Julia came down and spent the night, and the two cousins +wandered on the beach, just as they had in that summer that now seemed +so long past—that summer that had been Julia's first at Rockley. Little +Lettice, skipping along beside them, begged her aunt to tell her about +the day when she had sat on the rock and had dropped her book on the +heads of Amy and Fritz seated just beneath her. It always interested +Lettice to hear this, for Brenda had a fashion of ending the story with +"and if I hadn't dropped that book, I might never have known your cousin +Amy." For Amy was "Cousin Amy" in the vocabulary of Lettice, who would +have thought it a great misfortune never to have known this adopted +relative, since nobody else in her whole circle of acquaintances had so +many delightful stories to tell. But on this particular evening Brenda +was not ready to repeat her story nor to tell any other, and little +Lettice, with a grieved expression, ran on ahead of Brenda and Julia to +skip stones in the water. Julia did not remonstrate with Brenda, for she +realized that her cousin was not acting wholly from perversity.</p> + +<p>Now Brenda was not the only one of the Mansion group whom the prospect +of Cuban fighting troubled. Miss South's brother Louis was at the front, +and two of Nora's brothers, and Tom Hearst, who had written several +amusing letters from camp. Yet although those who were in the army tried +to cheer the hearts of their friends at home, and although the latter +wrote cheerfully in reply, all felt that the time was far from a happy +one. The more timid, like Edith, had recovered from their fear that the +Spanish fleet would pounce down upon the defenceless inhabitants of the +North Shore. Yet some of them would have faced this danger rather than +to live in dread that their sons and brothers were to meet the troops in +actual conflict under the hot Cuban sun.</p> + +<p>Even the strongest, even those who had no relatives in the army, were +stirred, as they had seldom been stirred before, on that Sunday morning +when they received the first news of the attack on Santiago. How +terrifying were the broad headlines with letters two or three inches +long, and how meagre seemed the information given in the columns +below,—meagre, yet appalling: "The volunteers were terribly raked. +Nearly all the wounded will recover." How much and yet how little this +meant until the names of the killed and wounded should be given! Brenda +herself would not look at those Sunday newspapers. Agnes summarized the +news for her, and told her that in the short list given of wounded or +killed she had not yet found one that she knew.</p> + +<p>"Oh, when shall we hear everything?" cried Brenda. "Oh, Papa, can't you +go; can't I go with you? I would so much rather be in Cuba than here."</p> + +<p>"My dear child, you are foolish. In Cuba at this season! Even if you +could go, what could you do? The killed and wounded are a very small +proportion of those who are fighting, and we have no reason to think +that Arthur is among them. To be sure, I wish that Ralph were here; we +could, at least, send him South. As it is, I may go myself, but we can +only wait until to-morrow, when there will be more complete reports."</p> + +<p>Were twenty-four hours ever as long as those that passed before the +Monday morning papers arrived?</p> + +<p>After her sleepless night again Brenda shrank from reading the reports. +Agnes, going over the long list of killed and wounded, gave an +exclamation of surprise,—or horror,—then checked it, with an anxious +look at Brenda. The latter, watching her narrowly, sprang forward.</p> + +<p>"What is it Agnes? You must tell me at once."</p> + +<p>"Poor Tom Hearst!" cried Agnes, as her tears fell on the paper; "he was +killed by a bursting shell during the early part of the attack on San +Juan Hill."</p> + +<p>But Brenda apparently did not hear.</p> + +<p>"Is Arthur's name there?" she asked impatiently.</p> + +<p>"Why, yes," said Agnes reluctantly, "it—"</p> + +<p>But before she could utter another word Brenda had fallen heavily to the +floor, and for a few minutes everything else was forgotten. Indeed, from +the moment when Brenda was placed on the couch in her room upstairs +Agnes did not leave her side, and for twenty-four hours, by the +direction of the physician whom they had hastily summoned, they did not +dare to refer to Santiago.</p> + +<p>When she came to herself Brenda learned that the report about Arthur had +simply been "slightly wounded;" that her father was expecting an answer +soon to his telegram of enquiry, and that Philip Blair had started +South.</p> + +<p>A faint smile passed over Brenda's face.</p> + +<p>"I was sure—I was afraid that he was killed—like poor Tom. Isn't it +dreadful that he should die? he was always so full of life." Then she +began to weep silently, and said no more about Arthur.</p> + +<p>Now it happened that Brenda passed through a more severe illness that +summer than Arthur. Her physician, in anxious consultation with the +family, concluded that she had stayed too long in town. "I think, too," +he said, "that she has had something to worry her. It would seem," he +added apologetically, "that one situated as she is would have no cares; +but it is hard sometimes to account for the workings of a young girl's +mind. She may have magnified some little anxiety until it played serious +injury to her nerves."</p> + +<p>"It is this war," responded Mrs. Barlow. "I wonder that more of us do +not have nervous prostration."</p> + +<p>During those long weeks Brenda herself had little to say, even when she +was well enough to sit up. When she spent long hours under the awning on +the little balcony on which her windows opened, she seemed to take but a +languid interest in the world around her.</p> + +<p>In those first two or three days when Brenda's condition was at its +worst, when there was even a question whether or not she would get well, +no one thought much about Maggie, the newcomer at Rockley, whose grief +was greater than she could express. She kept her place in a corner of +the piazza, hoping and hoping that some one would ask her to do +something for the sick girl. Gladly would she have exchanged places with +the trained nurse who went back and forth to the sick-room, had she not +known that the nurse could do the things that she in her ignorance was +unequal to. At last there came a day when Brenda herself asked for her, +and after that Maggie was always in the sick-room, except on those +occasions when she was carrying into effect some request of Brenda's. +How thankful she felt for the lessons in invalid cookery, that now +enabled her to prepare a tempting luncheon that Brenda would eat after +she had petulantly refused the equally good luncheon prepared by the +nurse. Then there were hours when no one but Maggie could amuse Brenda, +when, after listening to a chapter or two from the book that she had +asked Maggie to read, the sick girl would draw the other into +conversation. Any one who listened would have found that the subject +about which they talked was war and battles—especially the eventful day +of the Santiago fight, concerning which Brenda would allow no one +else to speak to her.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus5" id="illus5"></a> +<img src="images/illus5.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>She seemed to take but a languid interest in the world +around her</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>Now it happened that one afternoon after Maggie had been reading to her, +Brenda remembered the photograph that she had seen in Maggie's room, and +again, as on that former day, she asked her about it. So Maggie was +drawn to tell all about Tim, even the sad story of his imprisonment.</p> + +<p>"But now," she concluded, "everything is going to be all right. His +captain is going to have him recommended for promotion for saving +life—great bravery," and she pronounced the words with extreme pride. +"He saved an officer at the risk of his own life, and when the war's +over he's coming to see me."</p> + +<p>In fact, Maggie had good reason to be proud of Tim. She had read his +name in the newspapers, and though his own letters were modest, she was +sure that he had been a real hero.</p> + +<p>But the strangest thing of all was a letter from Philip Blair, that Mrs. +Barlow read one day aloud in Maggie's presence.</p> + +<p>"After all," he wrote, "sick as Arthur is, we may be thankful that it is +fever and a very slight wound that keep him on his back. From all I hear +he had the narrowest escape, and but for a private soldier, Tim +McSorley, he would probably have lost both legs." Then followed a +description of the way in which Tim had rescued him almost from under +the bursting shell; for, the newspaper report to the contrary, Arthur +had not been badly hurt by the shell, only stunned, with a slight wound +also from a grazing bullet. But the hardships of the campaign had so +told on him that he was soon on the sick list, and when he reached Fort +Monroe on the hospital ship he was in a raging fever.</p> + +<p>Now to Philip in this eventful July had come an opportunity for +usefulness, really greater than if he had gone to Cuba in the army. As +his father could now spare him, he had given invaluable service to the +sick. He had made one trip to Cuba and had had the grave of Tom Hearst +marked properly, and he had travelled the length of the country from +Florida to Boston to report to the Volunteer Aid Association the +especial needs of the sick soldiers in the camps that he had visited. He +was a real ministering angel—for angels are often masculine—to Arthur +and other sick friends of his in the hospital at Fort Monroe; and those +who knew how much he accomplished in this direction wondered how he +found time for the long and cheerful letters that he wrote to the +friends of the sick to keep up their spirits.</p> + +<p>Lois, too, though belated, had a chance to serve as a nurse in one of +the camps, and, while doing her duty there, had the satisfaction of +knowing that she was not neglecting home duties; for both her family and +Miss Ambrose were at last in such a condition that she felt justified in +leaving them. Though few persons would have envied her her hard hospital +work, Lois considered herself the most enviable of mortals, and all that +she went through only confirmed her in her strong desire to be a +doctor.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXI" id="XXI"></a>XXI</h2> + +<h3>AN OCTOBER WEDDING</h3> + + +<p>One fine October morning, almost three months to a day from the victory +at Santiago, Julia and Nora, Edith and Ruth, stood on one of the broad +piazzas at Rockley talking as rapidly as four intimate friends can talk. +Ruth and Julia were hand and hand, for this was their first day together +since Ruth's return from her year's wedding journey, and each was +delighted to find the other unchanged. "A little older," Julia had said +when Ruth pressed her for her opinion; and then, that her friend might +not take her too seriously, "but I'd never know it."</p> + +<p>"A little more sedate," Ruth had responded; "but you do not show it."</p> + +<p>Then the four fell to talking over the events of this very remarkable +year.</p> + +<p>"Nothing can surprise me," Ruth said, "since I have heard of the +engagement of Pamela to Philip Blair. I did not suppose that he had so +much sense. Excuse me," she added hastily, noting Edith's surprised +look; "I merely meant that Pamela's good qualities are the kind that the +average man would be apt to overlook."</p> + +<p>"Philip is not an average man," responded Edith proudly; "we all think +that he is most unusual."</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed," interposed Nora; "my father says that he never saw any +one develop so wonderfully, and when he was first in college every one +thought that he was to be a mere society man, like Jimmy Jeremy. +Wouldn't you hate it, Edith, if he had decided to devote his life to +leading cotillions?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he never would have done that," said the literal Edith; "he would +have found something else to do daytimes."</p> + +<p>Then Nora, to emphasize Philip's development, told several anecdotes of +his helpfulness and devotion to the sick soldiers.</p> + +<p>But neither Edith nor Nora then told what Ruth learned later, that Mrs. +Blair was far from pleased with the turn of events, as the quiet and +almost unknown Pamela was not the type of girl she would have selected +to be Philip's wife. Her objection, however, had been made before +Philip's engagement was formally announced. When once it was settled, +she accepted it with the best possible grace, and even Pamela herself +scarcely realized the obstacles that Philip had had to overcome in +gaining his mother's consent.</p> + +<p>Edith had found it even harder to conceal her disappointment from +Philip. Only to Nora did she say, frankly, "I hoped that it would be +Julia. They were always such friends, and I am sure that no one ever had +so much influence over him."</p> + +<p>"We can give Julia the credit of having made Philip look at life in a +broader way, and I am sure that they are still the greatest friends. +But I happen to know, Edith, that she never felt the least little bit of +sentiment for him, and never would."</p> + +<p>More than this Nora could not be persuaded to say, and Edith, though +with a slight accent of resignation, added:</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, I'm very fond of Pamela already, and if I can't have Julia +for a sister-in-law, I'm sure that she and I will get along beautifully. +Only it will seem very strange to have such a learned person in the +family."</p> + +<p>But to return to the group on the piazza this bright autumn morning. +Seldom have tongues flown faster than theirs. There were so many things +to talk about, more absorbing even than Philip's engagement,—Arthur's +wonderful escape, for example, of which Ruth had heard only the vaguest +account. Now, as she wished to hear details, Nora naturally was ready to +give them to her.</p> + +<p>"A shot had passed through his ankle, and he couldn't drag himself away, +so that there seems not the slightest doubt that he would have been +struck again, and perhaps killed, for he was just in the line of the +enemy's fire."</p> + +<p>Nora spoke as if quite familiar with army tactics and military language, +and since there was no one present to criticise her or to say whether +her description was technically correct, she continued:</p> + +<p>"Yes, we are quite sure that he would have been killed if it hadn't been +for Tim McSorley, who dragged him away—"</p> + +<p>"Ah," interposed Edith, "and isn't it strange this soldier proved to be +a cousin or uncle of Maggie McSorley, a girl, you know, who is at the +Mansion; and it's all the stranger because it was Brenda who discovered +her, and this has made the greatest difference for Maggie. Brenda had +got into the habit of snubbing her, but now she can't do enough for +her."</p> + +<p>"It's all very interesting," said Ruth, smiling slightly; "but Maggie +herself hadn't anything to do with rescuing Arthur, had she?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, indeed; but still it has made a difference, for Brenda +naturally feels grateful to every one belonging to Tim McSorley. She is +so impulsive. Then I think, too, that she saw that she had always been +unfair to Maggie, and so now she can't do enough for her, just to make +amends."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and besides, although Maggie had nothing to do with rescuing +Arthur, it was her uncle's letter to her that gave the first account of +what had really happened to Arthur. I was in the room when she came +running to Brenda with the letter; it was when Brenda was nearly beside +herself, waiting for some real news, and I honestly think that that +letter saved her from brain fever," added Julia.</p> + +<p>"'All's well that ends well,'" rejoined Ruth, "is too trite a proverb to +quote to-day, yet, however it happened, we should be thankful that +Brenda escaped brain fever. No day could be more ideally suited for a +wedding than this, but if Brenda's illness had been more severe than it +was, who knows when the wedding could have taken place. The day might +have been postponed to December or some equally disagreeable month, and +no tenting on the lawn then."</p> + +<p>"I agree with you," said Julia; "and now I must run away, for there are +still several things to do for Brenda, and in less than an hour the +train will be here bringing Arthur and the rest of the wedding party. +Let me advise you," she concluded, "to be arrayed in your wedding +garments by that time, for on an informal occasion like this you will +all be needed to help entertain. Many of the guests have never been here +before."</p> + +<p>When at last the wedding guests arrived, the truth of this statement was +evident, for among them were very few of the old friends of the Barlow +family.</p> + +<p>"We have had one family wedding," Brenda had protested, when her friends +expressed surprise at her plans; "and now, if I wish to have mine small +and quiet, I think that I ought to be suited, and Arthur, too, for he +wishes everything to be just as I wish it."</p> + +<p>There was no gainsaying this reasoning, nor would Mr. and Mrs. Barlow +have asked Brenda to change her plans. What remonstrances there were +came from some of the relatives, and from many of Brenda's young friends +not invited to the house, who felt that in some way they were to lose +something worth seeing. As Brenda had decreed that it should be a house +wedding, they were not even to have the privileges of lookers-on, as +might have been the case at a church wedding.</p> + +<p>But was ever any family perfectly satisfied with the plans made for the +wedding of one of its members? Was there ever a wedding in preparing +for which various persons did not think themselves more or less +slighted? How, then, could Brenda expect to please all in her large +connection? Now, in spite of her impulsiveness, Brenda had been +considered rather conventional, and on this account many felt aggrieved +that she had insisted on having the affair small and informal.</p> + +<p>Yet after all it wasn't a very small wedding, and the drawing-rooms at +Rockley were well filled, though with a far less fashionable assemblage +than that which had surrounded and greeted Agnes and Ralph Weston six +years before. There were naturally a certain number of relatives +present, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Blair, Dr. and Mrs. Gostar, and a few +other old friends of both Brenda's and Arthur's families.</p> + +<p>Besides the "Four," and Julia and Amy and Ruth, there were Frances +Pounder and two or three of Brenda's former schoolmates. Miss Crawdon, +too, had been invited, and one or two teachers from her school.</p> + +<p>Frances Pounder, as her friends still called her, was now Mrs. Egbert +Romeyn, and her husband was to perform the marriage ceremony. Mr. +Romeyn's church was in a mission centre on the outskirts of the city, +and Frances gladly shared his parish labors. To the great surprise of +all who knew her, she had really buried the pride and haughty spirit of +her school days.</p> + +<p>Anstiss and Miss South and the rest of the staff of the Mansion were +present; and besides Philip Blair, and Will Hardon and Nora's brothers, +and Fritz Tomkins and Ben Creighton, there were several other young +men, Arthur's special friends chiefly, with a few of those who had known +Brenda from childhood.</p> + +<p>Then in addition to these were a number of "unnecessary people," as +Belle called them in a stage whisper to Nora,—all the girls from the +Mansion, for example, every one of whom had accepted the invitation, and +the whole Rosa family, from Mrs. Rosa to the youngest child. Since the +defeat of the Spanish, and especially since the destruction of Cervera's +fleet, Angelina had had little to say about her Spanish blood. Indeed, +she had been overheard giving an elaborate explanation to one of the +Mansion girls of the difference between Spanish and Portuguese, with the +advantage on the side of the Portuguese, from whom, she said, she was +proud to be descended, "although," she had added, "I was born in the +United States, and so I shall always be an American citizen."</p> + +<p>Although Angelina was the especial protégée of Julia, rather than of +Brenda, she took the greatest interest in the wedding. Had she been one +of the bridesmaids she could hardly have taken more trouble in having +her gown of the latest mode, at least as she had understood it from +reading a certain fashion journal, with whose aid she and a rather +bewildered Shiloh seamstress had made up the inexpensive pink muslin.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Rosa, dazed by the invitation to the wedding, inclined not to +accept it; but Julia, anxious to please Brenda, did all that she could +to make it possible for the whole Rosa family to come from Shiloh to +Rockley. The Rosas did not seem exactly essential to the success of the +wedding, yet as Brenda had set her heart on their presence, there was no +reason why she should not be humored.</p> + +<p>To any one who did not know the circumstances, the presence of Mrs. +McSorley and Tim may have appeared less explainable even than the +presence of the Rosas.</p> + +<p>Yet Tim, Maggie's Tim, was only second in interest in the eyes of many +present to Arthur himself; for he it was who had saved Arthur's life on +that memorable day of battle, and for this and another act of heroism he +had received especial praise from his commanding officers.</p> + +<p>It isn't every family that can have a hero in it, and Mrs. McSorley, +after Maggie had shown her Tim's name in print, and some of his letters, +had wisely concluded, as she said, to "let bygones be bygones;" and as +the nearest relative after Maggie of the brave soldier, Arthur had sent +her a special invitation. So it was that sharp-featured little Mrs. +McSorley, almost to her own surprise, found herself at Rockley, though +feeling somewhat out of place in the midst of what she considered great +grandeur. She stood in the background, near one of the long glass doors +opening on the piazza, ready to make her escape should any curious eyes +be turned toward her. The Rosas, Angelina excepted, were near Mrs. +McSorley, and Mrs. Rosa was in much the same state of mind as the +latter.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus6" id="illus6"></a> +<img src="images/illus6.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>Brenda had never looked so well</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>Yet after all, who has eyes for any one else when once the bride and +bridegroom have taken their places. Punctually at the appointed hour the +bridal party entered the room, and the murmur of voices was hushed. But +when the impressive service was over, and young and old hastened +forward with their congratulations, again the voices were heard—a +subdued chorus of admiration. For although, as Brenda had decreed, this +was a most informal wedding, though the service was simple, and there +were no attendants but little Lettice and her cousin Harriet, yet no +wedding of the year had been more beautiful. Brenda herself had never +looked so well, and her simple muslin gown was infinitely more becoming +than one more elaborate could have been. She carried a great bouquet of +lilies-of-the-valley, and the little bridesmaids carried smaller bunches +of the same flower. They wore little pins of white and green enamel, and +pearls in the form of sprays of lily-of-the-valley, Arthur's gift to +them, and they held their little heads very proudly, since this to them +was the most important moment of their lives. Arthur, as a hero of the +late war, was almost as interesting to the onlookers as the bride, and +that is saying a great deal. Though a little against his own will, he +wore his uniform, at Brenda's request, and thus gave just the right note +of color, as the artistic Agnes phrased it. Over the spot where the two +stood was a wedding-bell of white blossoms,—the one conventional thing +that Brenda had permitted,—and in every possible place were masses of +white chrysanthemums and roses and other white flowers.</p> + +<p>The continued warm weather had enabled Brenda to carry out her +long-cherished plan of having the wedding-breakfast in a tent on the +lawn, and she and Arthur led the way outside as soon as they could. The +others followed, and quickly all the guests were grouped in smaller +marquees arranged for them around the large tent in which the tables +were set. The caterer and his assistants were aided by a rather unusual +corps of helpers,—the girls from the Mansion, who had begged Brenda's +permission to serve her in this way. Every one of them was there, and +Maggie, who had been at Rockley all summer, directed them, pleased +enough that her knowledge of the house and grounds enabled her to be of +real use on this eventful day.</p> + +<p>"No," responded Brenda smilingly, as some one asked her what prizes +there might be concealed within the slices of wedding-cake,—"no, this +time I believe there is neither a thimble nor a ring, nor any other +delusion. You see, at Agnes' wedding I received in my slice of +bride-cake the thimble that should have consigned me to eternal +spinsterhood, and Philip had the bachelor's button. Now you can picture +my mental struggle when I found that I couldn't live up to what was so +evidently predestined for me, and Philip doubtless has had the same +trouble, and you can see why it is wiser that none of the guests to-day +should be exposed to similar perplexity."</p> + +<p>"But you forget Miss South," said Nora, who was one of the group; "don't +you remember that she found the ring in Agnes' cake?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, but that only proves my rule."</p> + +<p>"Why, Brenda Barlow, how blind you are! Haven't you heard?"</p> + +<p>"I'm not Brenda Barlow, thank you, and I haven't heard, but I can see," +and she looked in the direction in which Nora had turned. There, +surrounded by the rest of the "Four," with Mr. and Mrs. Barlow and Mr. +and Mrs. Blair near by, stood Mr. Edward Elston, the picture of +happiness. Miss Lydia South, leaning on his arm, looked equally happy, +and her attitude was that of one receiving congratulations.</p> + +<p>"They did not mean to have it come out until next week," explained Nora, +"but in some unexplained way it became known, and now I suppose we may +all congratulate them."</p> + +<p>In a moment Arthur and Brenda had offered Miss South their cordial good +wishes. "I am more than glad to call you cousin," said Brenda, "and I do +not know which to congratulate the more, you or Cousin Edward. But what +will Julia and the Mansion do without you next year?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I shall be at the Mansion until after Easter," replied Miss South, +"and for the remainder of the year I think that Nora and Anstiss are +willing to do double work. Beyond that we cannot look at present."</p> + +<p>"Arthur," said Brenda, as they moved away, "you are not half as cheerful +to-day as you were at Agnes' wedding. You and Ralph seem to have changed +places. It is he who is making every one laugh. It does not seem natural +for you to be so serious."</p> + +<p>Brenda seemed satisfied with Arthur's reply.</p> + +<p>"For one thing," said Arthur, "I am thinking of poor Tom Hearst. I +cannot help remembering that he was the life of everything then; it +seems so hard that he should have been taken."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes," responded Brenda gently. "I, too, have been thinking about +him. I was looking, last evening, at the photograph we had taken at the +Artists' Festival—the group in costume with Tom in it. He was so happy +then at the thought of going to Cuba; and now—just think, Arthur, it +was only six months ago." Brenda's voice broke, she could hardly finish +the sentence.</p> + +<p>"There, there," interposed Arthur gently, "let us remember only that he +died bravely;" and then in an unwonted poetical vein he recited a few +lines beginning—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"How sleep the brave who sink to rest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By all their country's wishes bless'd!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>and Brenda, listening, was partly cheered, though even as her face +brightened she averred that she did not wish ever to wholly forget Tom +Hearst.</p> + +<p>To Brenda, indeed, any allusion to the war was painful. She could not +soon forget those first days of anxiety, and the anxious weeks of her +convalescence, when it was not a question of whether she <i>would</i> write +to Arthur or not, but of whether she <i>could</i>. But now, with the future +spreading so brightly before them, it was hardly the time to dwell on +the mistakes of the past.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXII" id="XXII"></a>XXII</h2> + +<h3>THE WINNER</h3> + + +<p>One morning not so very long after the wedding the old Du Launy Mansion +was "bustling with excitement." This, at least, was the way in which +Concetta phrased it, and if her expression was not exactly perfect in +the matter of its English, every one who heard her understood what she +meant, and agreed with her. Girls with eager faces hurried up and down +stairs, laughing gayly as they met, even when occasionally the meeting +happened to take the form of a collision.</p> + +<p>Lois, entering the vestibule, looked at the doorkeeper in surprise. She +resembled Angelina, and yet it was not she.</p> + +<p>"I'm her sister," the little girl explained; "I'm Angelina's sister. +She's going to study all the time this winter."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," responded Lois absent-mindedly; "so you are to take her +place."</p> + +<p>Lois had not known the whole Rosa family, and if she had ever heard of +Angelina's sisters, had forgotten their existence. Her first start of +surprise, therefore, had not been strange. But now as she went upstairs +she did recall the fact that Miss South and Julia had decided that +Angelina's rather indefinite duties as doorkeeper and assistant were not +likely to fit her for the most useful career. Taking advantage +accordingly of her professed interest in nursing, they had advised her +to begin a certain course of training, by which she might fit herself to +be a skilled attendant. "At the end of this course you may be inclined +to return to the Mansion and help us with the younger girls whom we +shall then have with us." The suggestion that she might some time teach +the younger girls pleased Angelina, and almost to their surprise she +accepted the offer. Her letters from the school to which she had gone, +though she had been there so short a time, were highly entertaining. +Those who were most interested in her were glad that Angelina had made +the change. She had not yet sufficient age and discretion to assume the +role of mentor and patroness that she liked to assume before the younger +girls now at the Mansion.</p> + +<p>"It is no reflection upon our school," Julia had said cheerfully, "that +we send Angelina to another; but we shall have younger girls in our next +year's class, and Angelina herself will then be older, and possibly +wiser, so that if she then tries to guide our pupils, it will not be a +case of the blind leading the blind."</p> + +<p>But this is a little aside from the entrance of Lois into the Mansion +this bright October day. After she had passed the young doorkeeper her +second surprise came in the shape of Maggie, who greeted her +enthusiastically as she stood at the door of the study. Enthusiasm was a +new quality for Maggie to manifest, and Lois would indeed have been +unobserving not to notice that the Maggie who now spoke to her was +altogether different from the Maggie McSorley whom she had known six +months earlier. The other Maggie had been thin and pale, and her eyes +were apt to have a red and watery look. But this Maggie was rosy-cheeked +and bright-eyed, and her expression was one of real happiness. Lois had +no chance to compliment Maggie on the change, for, before she could +speak, from behind two hands clasped themselves across her eyes, while a +deep voice cried, "Guess, guess,—"</p> + +<p>"Clarissa!" exclaimed Lois, and then with her sight restored she turned +quickly about to meet the smiling gaze of her old classmate.</p> + +<p>"I knew you were coming soon to visit Julia, but I had no idea that it +would be so soon."</p> + +<p>"I hope that you are not disappointed," rejoined Clarissa. "I hurried on +account of this wonderful prize-day. But how <i>did</i> you manage to play +hide-and-seek with me in Cuba. By rights we should have met at the +bedside of some soldier, or at least on the hospital ship. Tell me, now, +wasn't it great, to feel that one was actually saving life?" and then +and there the two friends sat down on the lowest stair and began to talk +over all they had gone through during the past few months, regardless of +the wondering glances of the girls who passed on their way up and down.</p> + +<p>Lois, however, spoke less cheerfully of her experiences. She had +happened to help attend to a number of extremely pathetic cases, and on +the whole her work had touched her very deeply. A general improvement +in Miss Ambrose's condition had enabled her to accept with a clear +conscience an opportunity that had come to her for a brief term of +service as nurse, and her family had put no further obstacles in her +way. But on the whole, though glad that she had been able to help, she +had found that she shrank from certain details of the work. An observer +would not have imagined this condition of mind in Lois, for her hand was +always steady, her mind always alert for every change in her patient, +and she was unsparing of herself. But she had learned from her +experience that it would be wiser for her to shape her future studies +toward a scientific career, rather than in the direction of the active +practice of medicine. To have attained this self-knowledge was worth a +great deal to her.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, nursing had strengthened Clarissa in her zeal for +personal service, and she had decided to add to her Red Cross training a +regular hospital course for nurses.</p> + +<p>In the midst of their eager conversation the two friends suddenly were +recalled to the present by seeing Julia at the head of the stairs.</p> + +<p>"What a lowly seat you have chosen!" she cried. "But do go into the +study; I'll be there in a moment."</p> + +<p>When she joined them Lois apologized for having come so early.</p> + +<p>"You wrote me that this was to be the most remarkable prize-day you had +ever had, and I thought that I might make myself useful by arriving this +morning. But if you tell me that I am in the way, I'll bear the reproof +for the sake of the pleasure I've had in meeting Clarissa. I had not +realized that her visit to you had already begun."</p> + +<p>"Oh, we didn't tell you purposely. We wished to surprise you," and then +the conversation drifted naturally to their Radcliffe days.</p> + +<p>Julia herself brought it to an end by asking her friends to go to the +gymnasium, where they could make themselves useful by talking to her +while she did several necessary things in connection with the award of +the prizes.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me that it's always a prize-day here at the Mansion. Didn't +you have several last winter?" asked Lois. "I remember the tableaux, and +the valentines, and there were some prizes for scrap-books, and dolls, +and—"</p> + +<p>"Well," said Julia, with a smile, "if competition is the soul of trade, +why shouldn't it be the soul of education? At any rate, we feel that at +the Mansion we can accomplish a great deal by stimulating the girls with +the hope of a future reward. The prize award to-day, however, is nothing +new. Prizes will be awarded on last year's record. You must remember +that we promised two—one to the girl who had improved the most, who had +succeeded in reaching the highest standard, and one to her who tried the +hardest."</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes, I remember," responded Lois; "but I thought that they were to +be given last year."</p> + +<p>"We were too much occupied at the end of the season with thoughts of the +war. We decided to postpone the prize-day until autumn."</p> + +<p>"It's well that you did," said Clarissa, "otherwise you wouldn't have +had the pleasure of hearing me make a speech on the happy occasion," and +she drew herself up to her full height, as if about to begin an eloquent +oration.</p> + +<p>When afternoon came a baker's dozen of girls assembled in the gymnasium, +which was tastefully decorated with flags, branches of autumn foliage, +and long-stemmed, tawny chrysanthemums arranged in tall vases.</p> + +<p>Besides the pupils there were present all the staff of the Mansion, but +no outsiders, since this, after all, was to be a family affair—no +outsiders, at least, except Clarissa; for Lois, like Nora and Amy, and +one or two other friends of Julia's, were accounted members of the +staff, though their help was less definite than that of Julia and Pamela +and the other residents of the Mansion.</p> + +<p>As the girls took their places in a semicircle in front of the little +platform, they talked to one another in an undertone.</p> + +<p>"I hear that the prizes are perfectly beautiful. Miss Brenda, I mean +Mrs. Weston, sent one of the prizes, but I don't know what it is."</p> + +<p>"Whom did you vote for, Concetta?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's telling; we were not to tell until all the votes were +counted; but I think—"</p> + +<p>"Hush! Miss Julia's going to speak."</p> + +<p>Then as all the eager faces turned toward her, Julia began her informal +address.</p> + +<p>"I need not remind you that last winter you were told that two prizes +would be awarded at the end of the season. The first to the girl who in +every way had been the most successful—whose record was really the +best. The second to the girl who had succeeded in making the most of +herself. Miss South and I have watched you all carefully. Every day we +made a record of your improvement—in some cases, I am sorry to say, of +your lack of improvement. We have talked the matter over, and have asked +Miss Northcote to help us decide; and after we three had made one +decision, we referred it to every other person who had lived here the +past year, or who had taught you even for a short time."</p> + +<p>Julia's natural timidity heightened perhaps the seriousness of her tone, +and the faces before her grew sober.</p> + +<p>"Now at one time, as I think I told you, we thought of leaving it to you +girls to vote on both the first and the second prizes; but on second +thought we have seen that the first prize ought to be based on the +records that have been kept. Accordingly," and she opened a box that lay +on the table before her, "it gives me great pleasure to present this +case of scissors to Phœbe, as a prize awarded her for having made the +best record in work and in all other things during the past year."</p> + +<p>Now Phœbe had been so quiet a girl, so colorless in many ways, that +no one had thought of her as a possible prize-winner. She accepted the +scissors with a smile and a word of thanks, and passed the red morocco +case around the circle that all might see its contents—six pairs of +scissors, of the finest steel, ranging in size from a very small pair +of embroidery scissors to the largest size for cutting cloth.</p> + +<p>There were whispered comments in the interval that followed. One girl +expressing her astonishment that Phœbe had been the winner, another +replying, "Why, she never did wrong, not once; didn't you ever notice?"</p> + +<p>Then in a little while Julia spoke again.</p> + +<p>"We have decided to let you vote for the girl who deserves the second +prize. Remember it is to be given to the girl who has made the most of +herself, who has shown the greatest improvement. Each must write her +choice independently on one of these slips of paper, and at the end of +ten minutes Miss Herter will collect the slips."</p> + +<p>As they wrote, the faces of the girls were worth studying. Evidently the +matter was one that demanded deep thought. They bit their pencils, and +looked at one another, and at last wrote the name in haste and folded +the slip with the air of having accomplished a great thing. There were +some, of course, who wrote their choice instantly, and with no +hesitation, and waited almost impatiently for Clarissa to collect the +slips. But at last the votes were in, and as it did not take long to +count them, the result was soon known.</p> + +<p>"Nine votes—a majority—for Nellie, and it is confirmed by the staff," +announced Clarissa in her clearest tones. At this there was much +clapping of hands, and even a little cheering, for Nellie was a +favorite, and no one begrudged her the set of ebony brushes and mirror +for her table. Even Concetta and Haleema seemed content with the +result, although more than one of the judges surmised that the slips +that bore the names of these two girls were written each by the girl +whose name it bore.</p> + +<p>There was justice in this award to Nellie, who a year before had been +the most hoidenish of young Irish girls, in speech more difficult to +understand than any of the others, in dress untidy to an extent +bordering on uncouthness, and in disposition apparently very slow to +learn the ways of an ordinary household. By the end of the season her +speech had become clear and distinct, though with a charming brogue; her +dress had become neat and tasteful, and she could make most of her own +clothes, and Miss Dreen considered her the deftest of her waitresses. +Perhaps, however, the vote would not have been so nearly unanimous had +not Nellie also endeared herself to the girls by a certain sunniness of +disposition. She had not made a single enemy during the whole year. But +in the midst of their congratulations—from which the blushing Nellie +would gladly have escaped—the girls again heard Julia's voice.</p> + +<p>"I have here a letter from Mrs. Arthur Weston ["Miss Brenda," two or +three explained to their neighbors], who expresses her regret that she +cannot be with us to-day."</p> + +<p>Julia would have been glad to read her cousin's letter to the girls, had +it not been written in so unconventional a style as to make this +impossible. There were passages, however, that it seemed wise to give at +first hand, and with one or two slight changes of wording she was able +to read them. But first she had a word or two of explanation.</p> + +<p>"You may remember last year, when I told you that you were to have a +small allowance of money to spend each month as you pleased, I spoke of +this as 'earnings.' Although we of the staff had decided that we should +not criticise your way of spending it, we thought that by calling the +money 'earnings,' you might take better care of it. Well, I know that +two or three of you opened small accounts in a savings bank. I know that +others have spent the money in useful things for their relatives at +home, and more than one, I am sure, has nothing to show for her money +except the memory of chocolates and oranges, and perishable ribbons and +other fleeting pleasures; but we have agreed not to criticise this +expenditure, and I merely refer to them because <i>I</i> know that one of +your number has been called a miser, because she was so intent on +hoarding that she would not spend a cent for things either useful or +frivolous."</p> + +<p>All eyes were now turned toward Maggie, and for the moment she felt like +running from the room.</p> + +<p>"But before I continue," added Julia, "I must tell you a story," and +then in a few words she related the episode of the broken vase; "and +now," she concluded, "I will read directly from Mrs. Weston's letter:</p> + +<p>"'You may imagine my surprise,'" she read, "'when a letter came to me a +day or two ago from Maggie McSorley containing a post-office order for +twenty-two dollars. This was to pay for the broken vase with interest. +It seems she had been saving it all winter from that meagre little +allowance you allowed her, and to make up the whole sum she did some +work this summer—berry-picking, <i>I</i> believe. Arthur and I were very +much touched, and I have put the post-office order away, for I am sure +that I should never feel like spending it.'"</p> + +<p>"Sensible!" exclaimed Miss South, under her breath.</p> + +<p>Then Julia continued to read from Brenda's letter.</p> + +<p>"'So of course I want to make it up to Maggie, and I am sending a +twenty-dollar gold piece, which you must promise to give her as a prize, +on the same day when you give the other prizes, and she's to do exactly +what she likes with it. It's a prize for her having learned not to break +things. But I'm writing her that I am very glad she broke that vase, for +if she had not, I should never have had the chance of having the help +she gave me this last, dreadful summer.'"</p> + +<p>Perhaps Julia need not have read so much of the letter, though in doing +so she attained what she had in mind,—to show the girls that Maggie was +not a miser, and to explain why Brenda had of late shown so much more +interest in her than in some of the other girls.</p> + +<p>So Maggie in her turn was congratulated, the more heartily even, because +Miss South had added a word to Julia's speech by saying that, before +Brenda's letter had come, she had contemplated a special prize for +Maggie, since the latter had certainly succeeded in her efforts to +overcome some of her more decided faults,—"'A reward,' rather than 'a +prize,' perhaps we should call it, but, by whatever name, equally +deserved."</p> + +<p>That evening, after Clarissa had accepted Lois' invitation to go with +her to her Newton home for a day or two, Julia decided to go to her +aunt's to spend the night. The family had not yet returned to town, +though the house was now ready for them. A care-taker and another +servant were in charge, and, weary from her exertions of the afternoon, +Julia was rather glad of the rest and quiet that the lonely house +afforded.</p> + +<p>But although she enjoyed the quiet, the very freedom from interruption +gave her time for disquieting thoughts. She began to reflect upon her +own loneliness, upon the fact that she was not really necessary to +anybody. Her uncle and aunt were kindness itself, but even they did not +depend upon her.</p> + +<p>Every one—even little Manuel Rosa—was of special importance to some +one else, while among all the people in her circle she alone seemed to +stand quite by herself. The thought wore upon her, and deepened when she +thought of Brenda's absence. Later, when she went to Brenda's room to +put away some things that she had promised to pack for her, the cover +slipped from a little pasteboard box that she had lifted from a shelf. +Glancing within she saw some bits of broken, iridescent glass. The sight +made her smile. "Brenda's bargain," she said; "how absurd that whole +thing was,—the loss of the vase, the acquisition of Maggie; and yet I +am not sure," she continued to herself, "but that Brenda gained by the +exchange. I am not sure but that Maggie was a better investment than any +of us at first realized. She has been one of the means, certainly, by +which Brenda has gained a truer knowledge of herself."</p> + +<p>Nor was Julia wrong in this. Maggie unconsciously had helped Brenda to a +knowledge of herself; for the Brenda of the past year had been very +different from the Brenda of six years before. The earlier Brenda, as +Julia had first known her, had been unwilling to admit herself wrong, +even when her blunders stared her in the face. But the latter Brenda had +profited by her own blunders, in that she had been willing to learn from +them; and though Maggie had been only one of the elements working toward +Brenda's uplifting, she had had her part in the progress of the past +year.</p> + +<p>Thinking of Brenda in this light, dwelling on the affection that had so +increased as the two cousins had come to understand each other, Julia +became more cheerful. She felt that she no longer stood alone, for even +setting aside her circle of warm friends (how had she dared to overlook +them?), was she not in her aunt's household a fourth daughter, and loved +as well—almost as well—as Caroline, or Agnes, or Brenda?</p> + + +<p class="center">LITTLE, BROWN, & COMPANY, <i>Publishers</i></p> + +<p class="center">254 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MASS.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + + +<p class="center">HELEN LEAH REED'S "BRENDA" BOOKS</p> + + +<p class="center">BRENDA, HER SCHOOL AND HER CLUB</p> + +<p>Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith. 12mo. $1.50.</p> + +<p><i>The Boston Herald</i> says: "Miss Reed's girls have all the impulses and +likes of real girls as their characters are developing, and her record +of their thoughts and actions reads like a chapter snatched from the +page of life. It is bright, genial, merry, wholesome, and full of good +characterizations."</p> + + +<p class="center">BRENDA'S SUMMER AT ROCKLEY</p> + +<p>Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith. 12mo. $1.50.</p> + +<p>A charming picture of vacation life along the famous North Shore of +Massachusetts.</p> + +<p>The <i>Outlook</i> says: "The author is one of the best equipped of our +writers for girls of larger growth. Her stories are strong, intelligent, +and wholesome."</p> + + +<p class="center">BRENDA'S COUSIN AT RADCLIFFE</p> + +<p>Illustrated by Alice Barber Stephens. 12mo. $1.20 <i>net.</i></p> + +<p>A remarkably real and fascinating story of a college girl's career, +excelling in interest Miss Reed's first "Brenda" book. The <i>Providence +News</i> says of it: "No better college story has been written." The author +is a graduate of Radcliffe College which she describes.</p> + + +<p class="center">BRENDA'S BARGAIN</p> + +<p>Illustrated. 12mo. $1.20 <i>net.</i></p> + +<p>The fourth of the "Brenda" books by Helen Leah Reed, which will bring +this popular series to a close. It introduces a group of younger girls, +pupils in the domestic science school conducted by Brenda's cousin and +her former teacher, Miss South. The story also deals with social +settlement work.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p class="center"><i>Anna Chapin Ray's "Teddy" Stories</i></p> + + +<p class="center">TEDDY: HER BOOK. A Story of Sweet Sixteen</p> + +<p>Illustrated by Vesper L. George. 12mo. $1.50.</p> + +<p>Miss Ray's work draws instant comparison with the best of Miss Alcott's: +first, because she has the same genuine sympathy with boy and girl life; +secondly, because she creates real characters, individual and natural, +like the young people one knows, actually working out the same kind of +problems; and, finally, because her style of writing is equally +unaffected and straightforward.—<i>Christian Register</i>, Boston.</p> + + +<p class="center">PHEBE: HER PROFESSION</p> + +<p class="center">A Sequel to "Teddy: Her Book"</p> + +<p>Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill. 12mo. $1.50.</p> + +<p>This is one of the few books written for young people in which there is +to be found the same vigor and grace that one demands in a good story +for older people.—<i>Worcester Spy.</i></p> + + +<p class="center">TEDDY: HER DAUGHTER</p> + +<p class="center">A Sequel to "Teddy: Her Book," and "Phebe: Her Profession"</p> + +<p>Illustrated by J. B. Graff. 12mo. $1.50.</p> + +<p>Introduces a new generation of girls and boys, all well bred and gifted +with good manners, takes them through much fun and such adventures as +one may find on a small sandy island, and gives the girl a page or two +of saving common sense about her duties to boys and her obligation to be +true and womanly.—<i>New York Times Saturday Review.</i></p> + + +<p class="center">NATHALIE'S CHUM</p> + +<p>Illustrated by Ellen Bernard Thompson. 12mo. $1.20 <i>net.</i></p> + +<p>A charming story of a courageous fifteen-year-old girl's effort to help +her older brother support an orphaned family of five. "Nathalie is the +sort of a young girl whom other girls like to read about," says the +<i>Hartford Courant</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center">URSULA'S FRESHMAN. A Sequel to "Nathalie's Chum"</p> + +<p>Illustrated by Harriet Roosevelt Richards. 12mo. $1.20 <i>net.</i></p> + +<p>A hot-tempered, domineering girl, yet full of common sense and capable +of loyal love, and Jack, her cousin, who stoically accepts the loss of +his father's fortune, and begins to earn his own way through Yale, are +the two principal characters in Miss Ray's new book.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p class="center"><i>Myra Sawyer Hamlin's Stories</i></p> + + +<p class="center">NAN AT CAMP CHICOPEE; or, Nan's Summer with the Boys</p> + +<p>Illustrated by Jessie McDermott. 16mo. $1.25.</p> + +<p>The story is one of free, outdoor life, characterized by a deal of fine +descriptive writing and many bits of local color that invest the whole +book with an atmosphere which is actually fragrant.—<i>Bangor +Commercial.</i></p> + + +<p class="center">NAN IN THE CITY; or, Nan's Winter with the Girls</p> + +<p>Illustrated by L. J. Bridgman. 16mo. $1.25.</p> + +<p>A bright story in which children and animals play an equal part.—<i>The +Outlook.</i></p> + +<p>She is a womanly girl, and we have met her like outside of story-books. +A wonderfully healthy, thoroughly womanly maiden, standing at the point +in life where childhood and womanhood meet, one follows with interest +the account of her first winter at school in a great city, where she +made new friends and found some old ones.—<i>Chicago Advance.</i></p> + + +<p class="center">NAN'S CHICOPEE CHILDREN</p> + +<p>Illustrated by L. J. Bridgman. 16mo. $1.25.</p> + +<p>Myra Sawyer Hamlin's stories are full of outdoor life, redolent of the +woods, the fields, and the mountain lakes, and her characters are very +natural young folk.—<i>Cambridge Tribune.</i></p> + +<p>Full of happiness and helpfulness, with experiences in doors and out +that will interest all young people.—<i>Evening Standard, New Bedford.</i></p> + + +<p class="center">CATHARINE'S PROXY. A Story of Schoolgirl Life</p> + +<p>Illustrated by Florence E. Plaisted. 12mo. $1.20 <i>net.</i></p> + +<p>An entertaining story of a very modern young American girl of wealth who +fails to appreciate the advantages of an expensive education, and at the +suggestion of her father gives her educational advantage to another +girl, who for a year becomes her proxy.</p> + +<p>The girl characters are from fifteen to seventeen years of age, the boys +are preparing for college, and all are instilled with the spirit of +modern life in our best schools.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p class="center">NEW BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE</p> + + +<p class="center">JO'S BOYS, And How They Turned Out</p> + +<p>A Sequel to "Little Men." By <span class="smcap">Louisa M. Alcott</span>. <i>New Illustrated +Edition.</i> With ten full-page plates by Ellen Wetherald Ahrens. Crown +8vo. $2.00.</p> + +<p><i>Uniform with Jo's Boys</i></p> + +<p class="center">LITTLE WOMEN. Illustrated by Alice Barber Stephens.</p> + +<p class="center">LITTLE MEN. Illustrated by Reginald B. Birch.</p> + +<p class="center">AN OLD-FASHIONED GIRL. Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith.</p> + +<p>The four volumes put up in box, $8.00.</p> + + +<p class="center">THE GOLDEN WINDOWS</p> + +<p>A Book of Fables for Old and Young. By <span class="smcap">Laura E. Richards</span>. Illustrated. +12mo. $1.50.</p> + +<p>This charming book will be a source of delight to those who love the +best literature, and in its pages there is much that will be helpful in +shaping children's lives. The stories are simply and gracefully told.</p> + + +<p class="center">THE AWAKENING OF THE DUCHESS</p> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">Frances Charles</span>. With illustrations in color by I. H. Caliga. 12mo. +$1.50.</p> + +<p class="center">A pretty and touching story of a lonely little heiress, Roselle, who +called her mother, a society favorite, "the Duchess"; and the final +awakening of a mother's love for her own daughter.</p> + + +<p class="center">A DAUGHTER OF THE RICH</p> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">M. E. Waller</span>, author of "The Little Citizen." Illustrated. 12mo. +$1.50.</p> + +<p>A delightful book, telling the story of a happy summer in the Green +Mountains of Vermont and a pleasant winter in New York. The two girl +characters are Hazel Clyde, the daughter of a New York millionaire, and +Rose Blossom, a Vermont girl.</p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Brenda's Bargain, by Helen Leah Reed + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRENDA'S BARGAIN *** + +***** This file should be named 37335-h.htm or 37335-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/3/3/37335/ + +Produced by Heather Clark, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: Brenda's Bargain + A Story for Girls + +Author: Helen Leah Reed + +Illustrator: Ellen Bernard Thompson + +Release Date: September 8, 2011 [EBook #37335] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRENDA'S BARGAIN *** + + + + +Produced by Heather Clark, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + + + + Brenda's Bargain + + _A Story for Girls_ + + BY HELEN LEAH REED + +AUTHOR OF "BRENDA, HER SCHOOL AND HER CLUB" "BRENDA'S SUMMER AT +ROCKLEY," "BRENDA'S COUSIN AT RADCLIFFE" + +ILLUSTRATED BY ELLEN BERNARD THOMPSON + + BOSTON + LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY + 1903 + + _Copyright, 1903,_ + BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. + + _All rights reserved_ + + Published October, 1903 + + UNIVERSITY PRESS + JOHN WILSON AND SON + CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A. + + +[Illustration: But what startled Brenda was the sight of a girl sunk in +a heap beside the broken glass] + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I. THE BROKEN VASE 1 + + II. A FAMILY COUNCIL 14 + + III. BRENDA AT THE MANSION 26 + + IV. AN EXPLORING TOUR 40 + + V. PHILIP'S LECTURE 51 + + VI. IN THE STUDIO 62 + + VII. IN DIFFICULTIES 73 + + VIII. THE FRINGED GENTIAN LEAGUE 86 + + IX. NORA'S WORK--AND POLLY 97 + + X. ARTHUR'S ABSENCE 107 + + XI. SEEDS OF JEALOUSY 120 + + XII. DOUBTS AND DUTIES 126 + + XIII. THE VALENTINE PARTY 139 + + XIV. CONCILIATION 147 + + XV. WAR AT HAND 158 + + XVI. THE ARTISTS' FESTIVAL 168 + + XVII. IDEAL HOMES 180 + + XVIII. WHERE HONOR CALLS 193 + + XIX. THEY STAND AND WAIT 204 + + XX. WEARY WAITING 215 + + XXI. AN OCTOBER WEDDING 227 + + XXII. THE WINNER 239 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +"But what startled Brenda was the sight of a girl sunk in +a heap beside the broken glass" _Frontispiece_ + +"Waiting for a car they had sat down on a wayside seat" 62 + +"'I think I hear some one coming upstairs'" 77 + +"They walked through the long galleries" 136 + +"She seemed to take but a languid interest in the world +around her" 224 + +"Brenda had never looked so well" 235 + + + + + +BRENDA'S BARGAIN + + + + +I + +THE BROKEN VASE + + +One fine October afternoon Brenda Barlow walked leisurely across the +Common by one of the diagonal paths from Beacon Street to the shopping +district. It was an ideal day, and as she neared the shops she half +begrudged the time that she must spend indoors. "Now or never," she +thought philosophically; "I can't send a present that I haven't picked +out myself, and I cannot very well order it by mail. But it needn't take +me very long, especially as I know just what I want." + +Usually Brenda was fond of buying, and it merely was an evidence of the +charm of the day that she now felt more inclined toward a country walk +than a tour of the shops. + +Once inside the large building crowded with shoppers, she found a +certain pleasure in looking at the new goods displayed on the counters. +It was only a passing glance, however, that she gave them, and she +hastened to get the special thing that she had in mind that she might be +at home in season to keep an appointment. Her errand was to choose a +wedding present for a former schoolmate, and she had set her heart on a +cut-glass rose-bowl. Yet as she wandered past counters laden with +pretty, fragile things she began to waver in her choice. + +"Rose-bowls!" the salesman shrugged his shoulders expressively; "they +are going out of fashion." And Brenda wondered that she had thought of a +thing that was not really up to date; for, recalling Ruth's wedding +presents, she remembered that among them there were not many pieces of +cut-glass, and not a single rose-bowl. + +At last after some indecision she chose a delicate iridescent vase, +beautiful in design, but of no use as a flower holder. Its slender stem +looked as if a touch would snap it in two. It cost twice as much as she +had meant to spend for this particular thing, and had she thought longer +she would have realized that so fragile a gift would be a care to its +owner. Self-examination would have shown that she had made her choice +chiefly to reflect credit on her own liberality and good taste. But her +conscience had not begun to prick her as she drew from her purse the +twenty-dollar bill to pay for the purchase. + +A moment later, as Brenda walked away, a crash made her turn her head. A +second glance assured her that the glittering fragments on the floor +were the remains of her beautiful vase. But what startled Brenda more +than the shattered vase was the sight of a girl sunk in a heap beside +the broken glass. She recognized her as the cash-girl whom the clerk had +told to pack her purchase. Evidently she had let the vase fall from her +hands, and as evidently she was overcome by what had happened. + +Had she fainted? Brenda, bending over her, laid her hand on the girl's +head. Aroused by the touch, the child raised her head, showing a face +that was a picture of misery. Sobs shook her slight frame, and she +allowed a kind-looking saleswoman who came from behind a counter to lead +her away from the gaze of the curious. Meanwhile the salesman who had +served Brenda brushed the bits of glass into a pasteboard-box cover. + +"I'm very sorry," he said politely, "but we cannot replace that vase. As +I told you, it was in every way unique. However, there are other pieces +similar to it--a little higher-priced, perhaps--but we will make a +discount, to compensate--" + +"But who pays for this?" Brenda interrupted, inclining her head toward +the broken glass. + +"Oh, do not concern yourself about that, it is entirely our loss. Of +course, if you prefer, we can return you your money, but still--" + +"Will they make that poor little girl pay for the glass?" + +"Well, of course she broke it; it was entirely her fault; she let it +slip from her fingers. She is always very careless." + +"But I paid for it, didn't I?" asked Brenda. "That is my money, is it +not?" for he still held a bill between his fingers. + +"Why, yes; as I told you, you can have your money back." + +"I have not asked for my money, but I should like to have the vase that +I bought to take home with me. It will go into a small box now." + +"Do you mean these pieces?" The salesman was almost too bewildered to +speak. + +"Why, of course, they belong to me, do they not?" and a smile twinkled +around the corners of Brenda's mouth. At last the salesman understood. + +"It's very kind of you," he said, emptying the pieces from the cover +into a small pasteboard box. "Mayn't we send it home?" + +"Yes, after all, you may send it. Please have it packed carefully;" and +this time both Brenda and the salesman smiled outright. + +"It's the second thing," said the latter, "that Maggie has broken +lately. She's bound to lose her place. It took a week's wages to pay for +the cup, and I don't know what she could have done about this. It would +have taken more than six weeks' pay." + +"I should like to see her," said Brenda. "Can I go where she is?" + +"Certainly, she's in the waiting-room, just over there." + +"Come, come, Maggie," said Brenda gently, when she found the girl still +in tears; "stop crying, you won't have to pay for the glass vase. You +know I bought it, and I'm having the pieces sent home." + +As the girl gazed at Brenda in astonishment her tears ceased to flow +from her red-rimmed eyes. But the young lady's words seemed so +improbable that in a moment sobs again shook her frame. + +"It cost twenty dollars," she said; "I heard him say it. I can't ever +pay it in the world, and I don't want to go to prison." + +"Hush, hush, child!" cried a saleswoman who had stayed with her. "You +must stop crying, for I have to go back to my place." + +She looked inquiringly at Brenda, and Brenda in a few words explained +what she had done. + +"You are an angel," said the kind-hearted woman; "and if you can make +Maggie understand, perhaps she will stop crying." + +Now at last the truth had entered Maggie's not very quick brain. Jumping +to her feet she seized Brenda by the hand. + +"You mean it, you mean it, and I won't have to pay! But I'll pay you +some time. Oh, how good you are! How good you are!" + +"There, Maggie, you'll frighten the young lady, and you're not fit to go +back to the store. Your eyes would scare customers away. I'll take word +that you're sick, so's you can go home now; and, Miss, I hope Maggie'll +always remember how kind you've been." + +As the woman departed Brenda had a new idea, and when the message came +that Maggie might go home she asked the little girl to meet her at the +side door downstairs when she had put on her hat. "I want to talk with +you," she said, "and will walk with you a little way." + +Such condescension on the part of a beautiful young lady was enough to +turn the head of almost any little cash-girl, and Maggie could hardly +believe her ears, yet she hastened toward the side door where Brenda was +waiting. The latter glanced down at a forlorn little figure in the +scant, green plaid gown, which, although faded, was clean and whole. Her +dingy drab jacket was short-waisted, and her red woollen Tam o' Shanter +made her look very childish. + +As the two stood there in the doorway two young men whom Brenda knew +passed by. They were among the most supercilious of the younger set, and +as they raised their hats they looked curiously at Brenda's companion. +Brenda, though undisturbed, realized that she and Maggie were standing +in a very conspicuous place. + +"Come, Maggie," she said, "wouldn't you like a cup of chocolate? I'm +going to get one for myself." + +The little girl meekly followed her to a restaurant across the street, +and when they were seated at an upstairs table near a window Maggie felt +as if in some way she had been carried to a palace. There was really +nothing palatial in the room, though it was bright and cheerful, with a +red carpet that deadened all footfalls. But Maggie herself had never +before sat at a little round table in a pleasant room, with a waitress +attentive to her. A lunch counter was the only restaurant that she had +known, and this was certainly very different. The hot chocolate with +whipped cream, and the other dainties ordered for the two, made her half +forget her grief for her carelessness. Gradually she lost a little of +her shyness, and told Brenda about her work, and about the aunt with +whom she lived. + +"She wants me to keep that place, for it's one of the best shops in +town. But she's awful cross sometimes, and I'm terribly afraid of losing +it. You see," she continued, "my fingers seem buttered, and I don't run +quick enough when they call. I feel all confused like, for there's so +much coming and going. Ah, I wish that I had something else I could do!" + +"When did you leave school, Maggie?" + +"Oh, I'm a graduate; I'm fifteen past, and I got my diploma last spring. +My aunt was good; she thinks girls ought to go to school until they get +through the grammar school. She says my mother and me, we've been a +great expense, and the funeral cost a lot, so she needs every cent I +earn." + +Gradually Brenda understood about Maggie, and it seemed to her that she +would like to talk with her aunt. Glancing at the little enamelled watch +pinned to her coat, she saw that it was nearly four o'clock, and this +reminded her that at four she was to walk with Arthur Weston. Hurrying +her utmost, she could not keep the appointment. She would much prefer to +go home with Maggie. + +To think with Brenda was usually to act. So, finding her way to a +telephone in the office downstairs, she called up her own house, and was +surprised to have Arthur himself answer the call. + +"But where are you?" he asked; "why can't you come home?" + +"I've something very important to do, and I can walk with you any day." + +"Really!" + +"Yes, indeed." + +"But you shouldn't treat me in this way. I shall rush out to find you." + +"You can't do it, so you might as well give it up." + +In spite of Arthur's slight protest his voice had its usual jesting +tone, but before he could remonstrate further he was cut off, and Brenda +had turned back to Maggie. + +Though it was but a few months since the announcement of Brenda's +engagement to Arthur Weston, these two young people had known each other +long enough to have a thorough understanding of each other's character. +Brenda knew that Arthur hated to be mystified, and Arthur knew that +Brenda was wilful. Yet each at times would cross the other along what +might be called the line of greatest resistance. + +If Maggie was surprised that her new friend wished to accompany her home +she did not show her feeling, and Brenda soon found herself in a car +travelling to an unfamiliar part of the city. Near the corner where they +left the car was a large building, which Maggie explained was a very +popular theatre. + +"I love to look at those pictures," said the girl, pointing to the gaudy +bill-boards leaning against the wall. "I've only been there once, but +I'm going Thanksgiving,--if I don't lose my place." + +Her face darkened as she remembered that her prospect for having money +to spare at Thanksgiving had greatly lessened this afternoon. Brenda did +not like the neighborhood through which they now hastened toward +Maggie's home in Turquoise Street. It had not the antiquity of the North +End, nor the picturesqueness of the West End. There were too many liquor +shops, and the narrow street into which they turned was unattractive. +She did not like the appearance of many of the people whom she met, and +she felt like clinging to Maggie's hand. + +Still, the house itself which Maggie pointed out as the one where she +lived looked like a comfortable private house. Indeed, it once had been +the dwelling of a well-to-do private family. But inside, its halls were +bare of carpets, and not over clean. Evidently it had become a mere +tenement-house. + +"I wonder what my aunt will say," said Maggie timidly, as they stood at +the door of her aunt's rooms. + +"We'll know soon;" and even as Brenda spoke Maggie had opened the door, +and they stood face to face with a small, sharp-featured woman. + +"Goodness me! Maggie, are you sick? What did you come home for? Oh, a +lady! Please take a seat, ma'am," and Mrs. McSorley showed her +nervousness by vigorously dusting the seat of a chair with the end of +her blue-checked apron. + +Brenda thanked her for the proffered chair, for she had just climbed two +rather steep flights of stairs. She felt a little faint from the effort, +and from the odors that she had inhaled on the way up. One tenant had +evidently had cabbage for dinner, and another was frying onions for +tea. Although Brenda herself could not have told what these strange +odors were, they made her uncomfortable. While Maggie was explaining why +she had returned home so early, Brenda glanced with interest around the +room. It seemed to be a combination of kitchen and sitting-room. Above +the large cooking-stove was a shelf of pots and pans, and there was an +upholstered rocking-chair in one corner. There were plants in the +windows, and a shelf on the wall between them with a loud-ticking clock. +Under the shelf stood a table with a red-and-white plaid cotton +table-cover. A glass sugar-bowl, a crockery pitcher, and a pile of +plates showed that the table was for use as well as for ornament. +Through a half-open door Brenda had a glimpse of a bedroom that looked +equally neat and clean. + +"I'm sure, Miss," said Mrs. McSorley when Brenda had finished her story, +"I'm very much obliged to you. Maggie's a dreadful careless girl, and a +great trial to me. She'll make it her duty to pay that money back to +you." + +"Oh, no, indeed, I couldn't think of such a thing; if any one was to +blame it was I for buying so delicate a vase. Besides, they shouldn't +have a small girl carry things about." + +"Oh, no, Miss, it was just Maggie's fault. Her fingers are buttered, and +sometimes I don't know what her end will be. I suppose I'll have to put +her somewhere so's she can't do no mischief." + +At these ominous words Maggie's tears fell again, and Brenda, as she +afterward said to Arthur, felt her "heart in her mouth." For Mrs. +McSorley, with her arms akimbo, and her high cheek-bones and determined +expression looked indeed rather formidable, and Brenda hesitated to +suggest what she had in mind for Maggie's benefit. + +"I've tried to do my duty by her," continued Mrs. McSorley, "just as I +did by her mother, and we gave her a funeral with three carriages after +she'd been sick on my hands for two years, and her only my +sister-in-law; and I kept Maggie at school till she graduated, and she's +got a place in one of the best stores in town on account of that. If she +had any faculty she might have kept her place, but if people haven't +faculty they haven't anything." + +While her aunt was talking Maggie had hung up her things,--the Tam o' +Shanter on a hook on the bedroom door and the coat on another hook in +the corner. Brenda, watching her, thought that her orderliness might +prove an offset for her buttered fingers. + +Though there was little emotion on Mrs. McSorley's rather hard-featured +face, she looked at her visitor with curiosity. She was so pretty, with +her slight, graceful figure, waving dark hair, and the friendly +expression in her bright eyes was likely to win even so stolid a person +as Mrs. McSorley. + +"She dresses plain and neat," said Maggie, after Brenda had left; "but +she must be awful rich to wear a diamond pin to fasten her watch to the +outside of her coat, and there was about a dozen silver things dangling +from her belt." + +Yet though Brenda made a good impression on Mrs. McSorley, the latter +would not commit herself to say just what she would have Maggie do if +she should lose her place. She'd set her mind on having the girl rise +through the different grades. "I hate to have to switch my mind +round--I'm that set," she had explained, adding, "Maggie thinks me +stingy because I take all her earnings instead of letting her spend +money for fine feathers and theatres like the rest of the girls +hereabouts. But some time she'll be grateful." Then came Brenda's +opportunity for saying a little about her plan for Maggie,--a plan so +quickly made, so likely to be set aside by the grim aunt. + +While Mrs. McSorley listened she moved around the room, filling the +tea-kettle, lighting the lamp. At last, when Brenda had finished, her +reply gave only a slight hope that she would agree to the plan. Yet +Brenda felt that she had gained a point when Mrs. McSorley promised to +go with Maggie in a few days to visit the school. + +The lighted lamp reminded Brenda that outside it must be dusk. It would +trouble her to find her way to the cars through unfamiliar streets, and +she was only too glad to accept Maggie's offer to guide her, and Maggie +was more than delighted to have this last chance for a little talk with +"the kind young lady." + +"You'll not cry," said Brenda, "even if they won't take you back; +remember that you have a new friend." + +"Oh, Miss, you're so good, and to think that you have nothing for your +twenty dollars but those pieces of broken glass." + +"Ah! it's very pretty glass," responded Brenda, "and I'm going to keep +the pieces as a reminder." + +What she meant was that she would keep the pieces as a reminder not to +be extravagant, and as she looked at the little silver mesh purse +hanging at her belt she smiled to think that since she left home in the +early afternoon it had been emptied of more than twenty dollars, while +she had nothing to show for the money,--nothing, indeed, except her new +acquaintance with Mrs. McSorley and Maggie, and some fragments of +glass. + + + + +II + +A FAMILY COUNCIL + + +Brenda had to change from the surface car to one that would take her +home through the subway. It was so late that she involuntarily stepped +toward a cab standing on the corner opposite the Common. On second +thought she decided to economize, since she had already had an expensive +afternoon. After depositing her subway ticket she had to wait a few +minutes for her car in a crowd, and some one scrambling for a car pushed +some one else against her. Brenda, looking around, saw a handsome +black-eyed girl with a dark kerchief pinned over her head. + +"Oh, I beg your pardon," she said, with a foreign accent, fumbling in a +basket that she carried on her arm. + +Later, as the car was emerging into the light of the open space near the +Public Garden Brenda's hand went instinctively toward the silver-mesh +purse that she wore at her belt. It was not there, though she remembered +having taken a coin from it as she bought her car ticket. Though +accustomed to losing her little personal possessions, Brenda especially +valued this purse, and she set her wits at work to trace the loss. She +remembered the little girl with the basket, and recalled that the moment +before the child had begged her pardon she had felt something jerk her +belt. Had she only put the two things together earlier she might have +recovered the purse; for of course the child had taken it. Yet to prove +this would have been difficult. She would never have had the courage to +call a policeman, and remembering the little girl's large, soft eyes, +she found it hard to believe her a thief. "An expensive afternoon!" she +said to herself. "My twenty dollars gone in one crash, and then that +pretty purse with two or three dollars more. What will they say when I +tell them at home?" + +Then she decided to say nothing about losing the purse. This was the +kind of thing that they expected her to do, and her brother-in-law would +tease her unmercifully. But Brenda was not secretive, and it was easy +enough to speak about Maggie and the broken vase. The story did not lose +by her telling, especially as the box with the broken pieces arrived +when she was in the midst of her tale. The family was seated in the +library after dinner, and each one begged for a little piece of the +iridescent glass as a souvenir. But Brenda refused the request, on the +plea that for the present she wished to have something to show for her +money. + +"Although even without the vase I feel that I've gained something," she +concluded. + +"Experience?" queried her father; "I always hoped you'd feel that +experience is a treasure." + +"Of course," responded Brenda, "but I was thinking of Maggie McSorley; +she may prove of more worth than twenty dollars if she becomes my +candidate for Julia's school,--a perfect bargain, in fact." + +"If she keeps her promise--" + +"If! why, Mamma, I am sure that she will." + +"Speaking of losing," interposed Agnes, Brenda's sister, "Arthur lost +his temper to-day when he found that you were so ready to break your +appointment." + +"Oh, he'll find it soon enough; besides, he can't expect me always to be +ready to do just what he wishes." + +"Well, this involved some one else. He had promised young Halstead to +take you to his studio to see a picture, and he was greatly +disappointed, for the picture is to be sent away to-morrow." + +"There!" exclaimed Brenda, "why didn't I remember? I thought that we +were simply going for a walk to Brookline, but they shut off the +telephone, or cut me off, and that was why he couldn't remind me. I'm +awfully sorry." + +"You won't have a chance to tell him so this evening. What shall I say +when I see him?" + +"You needn't take the trouble, Ralph," replied Brenda; "we're to ride +to-morrow, and I can explain." + +"It will be his turn to forget." + +But Brenda did not heed Ralph's teasing, for already at the sound of +three sharp peals of the door-bell she had rushed out to meet her cousin +Julia. + +"Oh, Julia, I have found _just_ the girl for your school; she is an +orphan and hates study, and--" + +"Well, upon my word!" exclaimed Ralph, "those are certainly fine +qualifications,--'an orphan and hates study'!" + +"I understand what she means, or thinks she means," responded Julia, as +she laughingly advanced to the centre of the room, greeting the family +cordially, while Agnes helped her remove her hat and coat. + +"You've come for a week, I hope," exclaimed her uncle, kissing her. + +"Oh, I shall be here several times in the course of the week, and I +shall stay now overnight. But a whole week away from my work! Ah! Uncle +Robert, you're a good business man, to suggest such a thing!" And, +seating herself on the arm of Mr. Barlow's chair, Julia shook her finger +playfully in his face. + +"When do you have your house-warming?" asked Agnes, taking up the bit of +sewing that she had dropped on Julia's entrance. + +"We are not to have a house-warming, but later we shall invite you one +by one, or perhaps two by two, to see the house." + +"I suppose you've taken out all the good furniture, and in a certain way +the Du Launy Mansion must be greatly changed." + +"Don't speak so sadly, Aunt Anna; it is changed, and yet it is not +changed. But I did not know that you were attached to the old house?" + +"Hardly attached, Julia, for I was there only once, when I called on +Madame Du Launy the year before her death. But in its style of +architecture and its furnishings it seemed so completely an old-time +house that I regret that it has had to be changed into an institution." + +"Oh, no, please, Aunt Anna, not an institution; anything but that. Why, +we mean to make it a real home, so that girls who haven't homes of their +own will feel perfectly happy. Of course we have had to make some +changes in the house itself, and remove some of the furniture, but when +you visit us you will see that it is far removed from an institution." + +"How many nationalities have you now, Julia? You had a dozen or two +waiting admittance when you were last here, had you not?" + +"There are to be only ten girls in the home, and there are still some +vacancies. Indeed you are a tease, Uncle Robert." + +Yet, although her uncle and aunt had teased her a little, Julia was not +disconcerted, and when Agnes asked her to tell them something about the +girls already in residence, she entered upon the task with great +good-will. + +"Well, first of all, Concetta. It's fair to speak of her first, because +she's Miss South's protegee. She is the genuine Italian type, with the +most perfectly oval cheeks, and a kind of peach bloom showing through +the brown, and her hair closely plaited and wound round and round, and +the largest brown eyes. Miss South became interested in her last year +when she was visiting schools. She found that her father meant to take +her out of school this year to become a chocolate dipper." + +"A chocolate dipper! I've heard of tin dippers,--but--" + +"Hush, Ralph, you are too literal." + +"Yes," continued Julia, "a chocolate dipper. You know there's an +enormous candy factory there on the water front, and most of the girls +think their fortunes made when they can work in it. But after Miss South +had visited Concetta a few times she thought her capable of something +better, and so she is to have her chance at the Mansion. But her uncle +Luigi was determined to make Concetta a wage-earner as soon as possible. +She did not need more schooling, he said. + +"Fortunately, however, Concetta has a godmother who, although a +working-woman, dingily clad, and apparently hardly able to support +herself, is supposed to have money hidden away somewhere. On this +account she has much influence in the Zanetti family, and a word from +her accomplished more than all our arguments. Concetta is now freed from +the dirty, crowded tenement, and I feel that we may be able to make +something of her. Then there is Edith's nominee, Gretchen Rosenbaum, +whose grandfather is the Blairs' gardener. She's pale and thin, and not +at all the typical German maiden. She has a diploma from school of which +she is very proud, and she says that she wants to be a housekeeper. The +family are very thankful for the chance offered her by the Mansion." + +"The Germans know a good thing when they see it, especially if it isn't +going to cost them much," said Ralph. + +"Then," continued Julia, "there are my two little Portuguese cousins, +Luisa and Inez, as alike as two peas in a pod. Angelina told me about +them, and their teacher confirmed my opinion that it would be a charity +to save them from the slop-work sewing to which their old aunt had +destined them." + +"How much of an annuity do you have to pay the aunt?" asked Ralph. + +Julia blushed, for in fact, in order to give the girls the opportunity +that she thought they ought to have at the Mansion, she had had to +promise the aunt two dollars a week, which the latter had estimated as +her share of their earnings for the next two years. Julia did not wholly +approve of the arrangement, although she knew that only in this way +could she help the two little girls. + +"Hasn't Nora contributed to your household?" + +"Oh, yes, the dearest little Irish girl; we can hardly understand a word +Nellie says, though she thinks she talks English. Nora ran across her +and a party of other immigrants one day when she had gone over to the +Cunard wharf to meet some friends. Nellie and a half-dozen others had +become separated from the guide who was to take them to their +lodging-place in East Boston. They were near the dock, and Nora became +very much interested in Nellie. She took her name and destination, and +later went to see her, and the result is one of our most promising +pupils; that is, we have a chance to teach her more than almost any of +the others. But there! I'm ashamed of talking so much shop." + +"Oh, no, it's most interesting. You haven't finished?" + +"Well, there are two or three other girls, of whom I will tell you more +some other time, and there are one or two vacancies. I wish, Brenda, +that you could send us a pupil. I'm afraid that you won't have much +interest in the school unless you have a girl of your own there." + +"But I have--I will--that is--can't you see that I have something very +important to tell you?" and thereupon Brenda launched into a glowing +account of Maggie McSorley and the prospect of her going to the Mansion. +"I just jumped at the idea when it came to me," concluded Brenda, "for I +have had so many things on my mind this summer that I didn't make the +effort that I had intended to find a girl for you. But now I shall do my +utmost to persuade that cross-grained aunt, and I am bound to succeed." + +"I wouldn't discourage you, but evidently you made little headway this +afternoon," said her mother, "in spite of the pretty high price that you +have paid for the pleasure of Maggie's acquaintance." + +"Just wait, Mamma; just wait. When I really set out to do a thing I +generally succeed. I found out to-day that Mrs. McSorley rather +begrudges Maggie her home, although she feels it her duty to keep her. +She says that Maggie has a way of upsetting things that is very trying, +and she's had to give up to her the little room that she used to keep +for a sitting-room. Oh, I'm certain that I can persuade her to spare +Maggie." + +Then the conversation drifted on to other sides of the work, and Julia's +enthusiasm half reconciled Mr. and Mrs. Barlow to the fact that she was +to be away from them. + +"Home is a career, and we need you more than any group of strange girls +possibly can," Mr. Barlow had protested, when Julia had shown him the +impossibility of her settling down quietly at home. + +"You have Brenda and Agnes. Suppose that I had gone to Europe for two or +three years after leaving college. I am sure that then you would not +have complained, for you would have thought this a thing for my especial +profit and pleasure. Now when I shall be so near that you will see me at +least once a week, you are not altogether pleased, because you think +that I am likely to work too hard." + +"Oh, papa needn't worry," cried Brenda; "I shall see that you have +enough frivolity. You shall not overwork the poor little girls either. I +feel sorry for them now, with you and Pamela and Miss South egging them +on. But I have various frivolities in mind, and you must encourage me." + +"I never knew you to need encouragement in frivolity. A little +discouragement would be more likely to have a wholesome effect." + +Thus they chatted, and Mr. Barlow, looking up from his evening paper +from time to time, was convinced that Julia's new interests had +certainly not yet taken away her taste for the lighter side of life. + +Indeed, on the whole, he had no decided objection to the scheme that +Julia and Miss South had started to carry out. As his niece's tastes so +evidently ran in philanthropic directions, he knew that in the end she +must be happiest when following her bent. + +Miss South herself would have been the last to claim originality for the +much-discussed school. There were other social settlements in the city, +and one or two other domestic science schools in which girls had a good +chance to learn cooking and other branches of household work. Yet the +school at the Mansion had an object all its own. Miss South felt that +each year many young girls drifted into shop or factory who might be +encouraged to a higher ambition. For many of them evidently thought +first of the money they could immediately earn, and there was no one to +suggest that if they prepared themselves for something better they would +later have more money as well as greater honor. So she tried to find +girls willing to spend two years at the Mansion, while she watched them +and advised them and guided them into what she believed would be the +best avenue of employment for them. Some people thought that she meant +to train all the girls to be domestics; others thought she aimed to keep +them out of this occupation. She meant to train them all in housework so +thoroughly, that, whether they entered service or had homes of their +own, they should be able to do their work properly. She meant, if any of +these girls showed special talents, to encourage them to pursue their +natural bent. + +"Would you let them study art or music?" some one had asked in +surprise. + +"Yes; why not?" + +"Why, girls from the tenement districts!--it doesn't seem right to +encourage them in this way." + +"Oughtn't any young thing to be encouraged to follow its natural bent? +It's a case of individuals, not of sections of the city." + +"I've always been sorry," explained Miss South, "for the bright girls +who drop out of school at fourteen that their ablebodied parents may +snatch the little wages they can earn in the factories. The ten or +twelve girls we may have here at the Mansion are very few compared with +the hundreds who need the same kind of chance. But I am hoping that +through these a broader influence may be exerted." + +Although many critics naturally thought that Miss South did wrong in +giving girls of a certain class ideas above their sphere, on the whole +she was commended for undertaking a good work. There were some also who +pitied Mrs. Barlow on account of Julia's partnership in the scheme. + +"This is what comes of letting a girl go to college," and they wondered +that Mrs. Barlow herself did not express more disapproval. + +"You'll have only orphans," said Mr. Elton, a cousin of Mrs. Barlow's, +who took much interest in the work; "for in my experience fathers and +mothers of the working class are just lying in wait for the earnings of +their half-grown daughters. To fill your school you will either have to +kill off a few fathers and mothers, or else consider only orphans to be +suitable candidates. To be sure, you might offer heavy bribes to +parents. But of course you can get the orphans easily, if they have +cruel aunts or stepmothers." + +"As to cruel aunts," responded Julia, "judging from my own experience, +as was said of Mrs. Harris, 'I don't believe there's no sich a person;' +and in spite of Ovid and Cinderella, I have my doubts about cruel +stepmothers." + +"We'll see," said Mr. Elton. "At any rate, you'll have to bribe your +girls, and when I meet them my first question will be, How much do they +pay you to stay?" + +One of the most delightful features in fitting up the house for its new +use had been the eagerness to help shown by many of Miss South's former +pupils. + +Ruth, for example, in furnishing the kitchen, had said, "This will show +that I have a practical interest in housekeeping, even though I am to +spend my first year of married life in idle travel." + +"With your disposition it won't be wholly idle," Miss South had +responded. + +"Well, I do mean to discover at least one or two new receipts, or better +than that, some new articles of food, that I can put at the service of +the Mansion upon my return." + +"We certainly shall have you in mind whenever we look at these pretty +and practical things." + + + + +III + +BRENDA AT THE MANSION + + +One fine afternoon, not so very long after she had wasted her twenty +dollars and made a friend of Maggie McSorley, Brenda in riding costume +opened the front door. As she stood on the top step, somewhat +impatiently she snapped her short crop as she gazed anxiously up Beacon +Street. + +On the steps of the house directly opposite were three girls seated and +one standing near by. They were schoolgirls evidently, with short skirts +hardly to their ankles, and with hair in long pig-tails. As she looked +at them, by one of those swift flights of thought that so often carry us +unexpectedly back to the past Brenda was reminded of another bright +autumn afternoon, just six years earlier. Then she and Nora, and Edith +and Belle, an inseparable quartette, had sat on her front steps +discussing the arrival of her unknown cousin, Julia. + +How much had happened since that day! Then she had been younger even +than those girls across the street, and Julia, who had come and +conquered (though not without difficulties) was now a college graduate. + +But Brenda was not one to brood over the past, and when one of the girls +shouted, "We know whom you're looking for," she had a bright reply +ready. + +Soon around the corner came the clicking of hoofs on the asphalt +pavement. Brenda, shading her eyes from the sun, looked toward the west. + +"Late, as usual, Arthur!" she cried, a trifle sharply, as a young man, +flinging his reins to the groom on the other horse, ran up the steps +toward her. + +"Impatient, as usual!" he responded pleasantly, consulting his watch. +"As a matter of fact, I'm five minutes ahead of time. But I'd have been +here half an hour earlier had I known it was a matter of life and +death." + +The frown passed from Brenda's face. The two young people mounted their +horses, and the groom walked back to the stable. + +"Have a good time!" shouted one of the girls, as the two riders started +off. + +"The same to you!" cried Arthur. + +"Ah, me!" exclaimed Brenda, as they rode on, "I feel so old when I look +at those Sellers girls. Why, they are almost in long dresses now, and I +can remember when they were in baby carriages." + +"Well, even I would rather wear a long dress any day than a baby +carriage," responded Arthur. "There, look out!" for they were turning a +corner, and two or three bicyclists came suddenly upon them. Brenda +avoided the bicyclists, crossed the car tracks safely, and soon the two +were trotting through the Fenway. + +The foliage on the banks of the little stream was brilliant, and here +and there were clumps of asters and other late flowers. They rode on in +silence, and were well past the chocolate house before either spoke a +word. + +"Why so silent, fair sister-in-law?" + +"Oh, I was only thinking." + +"No wonder that you could not speak. I trust that you were thinking of +me." + +"To be frank," replied Brenda, "that is just what I was not doing. In +fact I was thinking of a time when I did not know of your existence." + +"Mention not that sad time, mention it not! fair sister-in-law." + +When Arthur used this term in addressing Brenda she knew that he was +bent on teasing; for although her sister had married Arthur's brother, +her engagement to Arthur, announced in June, might very properly be +thought to have done away with the teasing title "sister-in-law." + +"Don't be silly, Arthur," cried Brenda; "you can't tease me to-day. +Several years of my life certainly did pass before I had an idea that +you were in the world. I was thinking of the time before we knew each +other, when I was so jealous of Julia." + +"Jealous of Julia!" + +"Oh, I hadn't seen her when I began to have this feeling." + +"But why--what made you jealous if you hadn't seen her? + +"I can't wholly explain. Perhaps it wasn't altogether jealousy. You see +I didn't like the idea of her coming to live with us." + +"You must have got over that soon. You and she have always seemed to hit +it off pretty well since I've known you." + +"Oh, yes, ever since you have known us; and I've always been ashamed of +that first year. Though Belle led me on, just a little." + +As Arthur still seemed somewhat mystified, Brenda described Julia's +first winter in Boston; and she did not spare herself, when she told how +she had shut her cousin out from the little circle of "The Four." + +"Really, however, Nora and Edith were not at all to blame. They liked +Julia from the first. Then what a brick Julia was when she made up that +sum of money that I lost after we had worked so hard at the Bazaar for +Mrs. Rosa." + +Though Arthur had heard more or less about these things before, he +enjoyed hearing Brenda narrate them in her quick and somewhat excited +fashion. + +"Why, you may believe that I really missed Julia when she was at +Radcliffe, and I'm fearfully disappointed that she won't be at home with +us this winter." + +"She isn't going back to Cambridge, is she? I certainly saw her degree, +and it was on parchment." + +"Oh, Arthur, how you do forget things. I'm sure that I wrote you about +the school that she and Miss South were to start." + +"I was probably more interested in other things in the letter. But has +she lost her money, and hence starts a school?" + +"Arthur, I believe that you skip pages and pages." + +"No, indeed, dear sister-in-law, but some pages sink more deeply in my +mind than others. Has Julia lost her money, and therefore must she +teach?" + +"You are hopeless, though I believe that really you remember all about +it. It's Miss South's scheme. You see she has that great Du Launy house +on her hands, and it's a kind of domestic school for poor girls, and +Julia is to help her." + +"What kind of a school?" + +"A domestic school; I think that's it; to teach girls how to keep house +and be useful." + +"Indeed! Then couldn't you go there for a term or two, Brenda? That kind +of knowledge may be very useful to you some time." + +Whereupon Brenda urged her horse and was off at a gallop, so distancing +Arthur for some seconds before he overtook her. On they went through the +Arboretum, and around Franklin Park, then over the Boulevard toward +Mattapan and Milton. It was dusk when they turned homeward, and dark, as +they looked from a height on the city twinkling below them. + +As Arthur left her to take the horses to the stable Brenda called after +him, "I may take your advice and enter the school for a year or two." + +"We'll see," responded Arthur. + +Now, although Brenda had no real intention of entering the new school, +either as resident or pupil, she was deeply interested and extremely +anxious to see what changes had been made in the Du Launy Mansion, and +she was to make her first visit there a day or two after this ride with +Arthur Weston. + +The school itself was not as new as it seemed. It had existed in Miss +South's mind long before she had a prospect of carrying out her plans. +Many persons thought it a fine thing for her when she was able to give +up her teaching and live a life of leisure in the fine old mansion with +Madame Du Launy. + +Yet Miss South had wholly enjoyed her work at Miss Crawdon's school, and +she had said good-bye to her pupils with regret. Kind though her +grandmother was, she had sacrificed more than any one realized in +becoming the constant companion of an exacting old lady. Still, as this +was the duty that lay nearest her, she devoted herself to it wholly. + +Although Madame Du Launy had lived in a large and imposing house, +containing much costly furniture, her fortune was smaller than most +persons supposed. The larger part of her income came from an annuity +that ceased with her death. Miss South had not enough money left to +permit her to keep up the great house in the style in which her +grandmother had lived; for out of it small incomes were to be paid +during their lives to three old servants, and after their deaths this +money was to go to Lydia South's brother Louis. To Louis also went the +money from the sale of certain pictures and medieval tapestries that the +will had ordered to be sold. As to the Mansion itself, Lydia South could +do what she liked with it and its contents,--let it, sell it, or live in +it. + +"She'll have to take boarders, though, if she lives there," said some +one; "aside from the expense it would be altogether too dreary for a +young woman to live there alone." + +But Miss South had no doubt as to what she should do. Here was the +chance, that had once seemed so far away, of carrying out her plans for +a model school. She found that it was wisest for her to retain the old +house for her purpose, as she could neither sell it nor rent it to +advantage. The neighborhood was not what it had once been. Almost all +the older residents had moved away; two families or more were the rule +in most of the houses in the street, and not so very far away were +several unmistakable tenement-houses. Miss Crawdon's school had left the +street a year or two before, and if she should sell the house no one +would buy it for a residence. Julia, who was to be her partner in the +new scheme, thought the Du Launy Mansion far better suited to their +purpose than any house they could secure elsewhere. + +"The North End would be more picturesque, and we could do regular +settlement work among those interesting foreigners. But there is more +than one settlement down there already, and here we shall have the field +almost to ourselves." + +Changes and additions to the house had been made during the summer, and +not one of Julia's intimates, excepting those who were to live in the +Mansion, had been permitted to see it. Nora and Edith and Brenda had +implored, Philip had teased, but all had been refused. "You must wait +until everything is in readiness." + +When, therefore, Brenda and Nora one morning found themselves walking up +the little flagged walk to the old Du Launy House, they speculated +greatly as to the changes in the house. Outside, on the front at least, +there had been no alterations, and everything looked the same as on that +morning when the mischievous girls had ventured to pass under the +porte-cochere to apologize for breaking a window with their ball. It was +the same exterior, and yet not the same. It had, as Brenda said, "a +wide-awake look," whereas formerly almost all the blinds had been +closed, giving an aspect of dreariness. Now all the shutters were thrown +back, blinds were raised, and fresh muslin curtains showed at many +windows instead of the heavy draperies of Madame Du Launy's time. + +In place of the sleek butler who had seemed like a part of the +furnishings, permanent and unremovable, Angelina opened the front door, +beaming with satisfaction at the dignity to which she had risen. Indeed +she fairly bristled with a sense of her own importance, and answered +their questions in her airiest manner. + +"Oh, Manuel's doing finely at school, Miss Barlow. I can't be spared +much now to go to Shiloh, but I was there over Sunday, and my mother's +got two boarders, young women that work in the factory and don't make +much trouble for her. So you see I'm not so much needed at home. John's +got a place, too, in the city this winter, so that I'll see him +sometimes," and Angelina giggled in her rather foolish way. + +As she ushered them into the sitting-room Julia emerged from the shadows +of the long hall to greet them, and then there was a confusion of +sounds, as Nora and Brenda eagerly asked questions at the very moment +when Julia was trying to answer them. + +"Yes," said Julia, as they sat down in the reception-room, "this is the +same room where I first saw Madame Du Launy, the day I took Fidessa +home. But you've both been here since?" + +"Oh, yes, and I can see that it hasn't been so very greatly changed. +There's that picture of Miss South's mother that brought about the +reconciliation, as they'd say in a novel," responded Nora gayly. "I'm +glad that you haven't made the reception-room as bare as a hospital +ward; I had my misgivings, as I approached the door." + +"Oh, we wished this to be as pleasant and homelike as possible; you can +see that there are many things here that I had in my room at Cambridge," +and she pointed to a Turner etching, and a colonial desk, and an +easy-chair that Brenda and Nora both recognized. + +"The greatest changes," continued Julia, "are in the drawing-rooms;" and +leading the way across the hall, Brenda and Nora both exclaimed in +wonder. Two drawing-rooms, formerly connected by folding-doors, had +been thrown together, and with the partitions removed, the one great +room was really imposing. + +"You could give a dance here," cried Brenda, pirouetting over the +polished floor. + +"Who knows?" replied Julia with a smile. + +"I'm afraid that you'll have nothing but lectures and classical +concerts, and other improving things," rejoined Brenda. + +"Who knows?" again responded Julia. + +"But it's really lovely," interposed Nora; "I adore this grayish blue +paper,--everything looks well with it. And what sweet pictures! why, +there's that very water color that Madame Du Launy wanted to buy at the +Bazaar. To think that it should come to her house after all! And there's +your Botticelli print; well, I believe that it will have an elevating +effect; I know that it always makes me feel rather queer to look at it." + +"Strange logic!" responded Nora, as they wandered through the large +room. "I suppose that you chose the books, Julia; they look like +you,--Ruskin, and Longfellow, and Greene's 'Shorter History;' surely you +don't expect girls like these to read such books. Why, I haven't read +half of them myself; and such good bindings. I really believe that these +are your own books." + +"Why not? We have had great fun in choosing the books we thought they +might like to read from my collections, and from the old-fashioned +bookcases in Madame Du Launy's library. The best bindings are her books. +Many of them had never been read by any one, I am sure; and as to the +covers, we shall see that they are not ill-treated. We have a theory +that they may be more attracted by handsomely dressed books; for there's +no doubt," turning with a smile toward Miss South, "that they think more +of us when arrayed in our best." + +"I love these low bookcases," continued Nora; "and I dare say that +you'll train them up to liking this Tanagra figurine, and the Winged +Victory, and all these other objects that you have arranged so +artistically along the top." + +"And how you will feel," interposed Brenda, "when some girl in dusting +knocks one of these pretty things to the floor. That bit of Tiffany +glass, for instance, looks as if made expressly to fall under Maggie +McSorley's slippery fingers." + +"Oh, that reminds me, Brenda, Maggie has come," said Miss South. + +"No; not really?" + +"Yes, her aunt brought her over very solemnly two or three days ago. She +said she thought it her duty not to trouble you again, as Maggie had +already been so much expense to you. She came here the day after you saw +her, and I explained our plans, and what we should expect from every +girl who entered. She promised that Maggie should stay the two years, +and showed a canny Scotch appreciation of the fact, that although Maggie +could earn little or nothing while here, at the end of the time she +would be worth much more than if she had spent the two years in a +shop." + +"But how does Maggie feel?" + +"Oh, I should judge that resignation is Maggie's chief state of mind. We +are going to try to help her acquire some more active qualities," said +Miss South. + +"Come, come;" Brenda tried to draw Nora from the centre table on which +lay many attractive books and periodicals. "I'm very anxious to see +Maggie. Can't we see her now, Julia?" + +"I believe she's in the kitchen, and as this is one of our most +attractive rooms, you might as well go there first." + +"The kitchen, you remember, is practically Ruth's gift," said Julia, as +they stood on the threshold of a broad sunny room in the new ell, to +which they had descended a few steps from the main house. "She paid half +the expense of building the ell, and her purse paid for everything in +the kitchen." + +"But how beautiful; why, it isn't at all like a kitchen!" + +"All the same it is a kitchen, though we have tried to make it as +pleasant as any room in the house--in its way," concluded Julia smiling. + +Advancing a few steps farther, Nora and Brenda continued their +exclamations of admiration. The walls, painted a soft yellow, reflected +the sunshine, without making a glare. The oiled hardwood floor had its +centre covered with a large square of a substance resembling oilcloth, +yet softer. A large space around the range was of brick tiles. The iron +sink stood on four iron legs with a clear, open space beneath it; there +were no wooden closets under it to harbor musty cloths and half-cleaned +kettles, and serve as a breeding place for all kinds of microbes. A +shelf beside the sink was so sloped that dishes placed there would +quickly drain off before drying. The wall above the sink was of blue and +white Dutch tiles, and between the sink and the range a zinc-covered +table offered a suitable resting-place for hot kettles and pans. Below +the clock shelf was another, with a row of books that closer inspection +showed to be cook-books. All these details could not, of course, be +taken in at once, although the pleasant impression was immediate. + +"Plants in the window, and what a curious wire netting!" cried Brenda. + +"Yes, it is neater than curtains, keeps out flies, and though it is so +made that outsiders cannot look into the room it does not obscure the +light. The shades at the top can be pulled down when we really need to +darken the room." + +Nora stood enraptured before the tall dresser with its store of dishes +and jelly moulds, then she gazed into the long, light pantry, the +shelves of which were laden with materials for cooking in jars and tins +and little boxes, all neatly labelled and within easy reach. On the wall +were several charts--one showing the different cuts of beef and lamb, +another by figures and diagrams giving the different nutritive values of +different articles of food. On the walls were here and there hung +various sets of maxims or rules neatly framed, among which, perhaps the +most conspicuous, was: + + "I. Do everything in its proper time. + "II. Keep everything in its proper place. + "III. Put everything to its proper use." + + + + +IV + +AN EXPLORING TOUR + + +Examining and admiring everything in the kitchen, the girls had half +forgotten Maggie, until the sound of singing attracted their attention. + +"'Hold the Fort,'" exclaimed Brenda; then, after listening a moment, +"But no, the words sound strange." + +"Oh, it's one of their work songs," said Miss South, and listening +again, they made it out. + + "Now the cleaning quite to finish, + Pile up every plate, + Shake the cloth, and then with neatness + Fold exactly straight. + Quick, but silent, every motion + Taking things away, + To the pantry, to the kitchen, + With a little tray." + +"Their song betrays them," said Miss South; "this part of the work +should have been done earlier," and pushing open the door that led from +the other end of the pantry, the four found themselves in the girls' +dining-room. + +"How is this?" asked Miss South so seriously that one of the young girls +holding the table-cloth dropped an end suddenly, and both looked +sheepish. + +"It was such a lovely day that we went out and sat on the back steps," +said one of them frankly, "and then we forgot all about this room." + +"But it's the rule, is it not, to put this room in perfect order before +you wash the dishes?" + +"Yes'm--but we forgot." + +"Well, I'm not here to scold, but I only wish that you had been as +careful about this as about your kitchen work; I noticed that you had +left everything there very neat." + +"Yes'm," was the answer from both girls at once. + +"Where's Miss Dreen, Concetta?" + +"Oh! she said she'd go to market right after breakfast, and leave us do +what we could without her." + +"I understand," said Miss South, as she introduced each of the young +girls to the visitors. + +"Miss Dreen, the housekeeper," she explained, as they turned to go +upstairs, "supervises the girls in the kitchen. I suppose that she left +them alone to test their sense of responsibility. She will require a +report on her return." + +"Well, if they are as frank with her as with us, she will have little to +complain of. One looked like an Italian, and I thought that they were +never ready to tell the truth." + +"That depends on the girl," said Miss South; "but I have confidence in +this one. The other, by the way, is German. Edith's protegee, you +remember. I wonder where Maggie is," she continued; "she ought to have +been there, for we have three girls together serve a turn in the kitchen +each week, and we had her begin to-day." + +"I wish that Maggie were as pretty as Concetta," said Brenda, in a tone +louder than was really necessary, "for Maggie is mortal plain;" and +then, at that moment, she ran into somebody in a turn of the hallway, +and when in the same instant the door of an opposite room was opened she +saw Maggie McSorley gazing up at her with tear-stained eyes. + +"Why, Maggie, I came downstairs expressly to find you. Have you been +crying?" A glance had assured her that the tears had not been caused by +her hasty words. Indeed, the swollen eyes showed that the child had been +crying for some time. + +"What is the matter, Maggie?" asked Julia, while Nora and Miss South +passed on toward the reception-room. "Miss Barlow has come to see you, +and she may think that we have not been kind to you." + +"Oh, no, 'm, you've been kind;" and Maggie began to sob after the +fashion in which she had sobbed during her first interview with Brenda. + +At last by dint of much questioning they found that she and Concetta had +disagreed when they first set about clearing the table, and while +scuffling a pitcher had been broken. + +"_I_ didn't do it--truly; Concetta said I'd surely be sent home in +disgrace, and she picked up the pieces to show you, and locked the +dining-room door so's I couldn't go back and finish my work, and put the +key in her pocket; and what will Miss Dreen say, for it was my day to +tidy up the dining-room." + +Brenda and Julia saw that they had been rather hasty in forming an +opinion of Concetta's innocence and gentleness. They did not doubt +Maggie when she showed the swelling on her head, near her cheek-bone, +that she said had been caused by a blow. + +"Evidently you and Concetta cannot work together at the same time. We'll +send Nellie down to the kitchen this week. Now, Brenda, I'll leave you +with Maggie for a little while, and she can tell you what she is +learning here." + +But the interview was far from satisfactory to either of the two. +Maggie, always reticent, was now doubly so, as her mind dwelt on the +insult she had received from the Italian girl, "dago," as she said to +herself. On her part Brenda hated tears, and as she had not witnessed +the quarrel, she felt for Maggie less sympathy than when she had seen +her weep over the broken vase. Brenda asked a few questions, Maggie +replied in monosyllables, and both were relieved when Miss South +suggested that Maggie take Brenda up to see her room. + +Meanwhile the two young girls in the kitchen were engaged in an animated +discussion. In Brenda's presence Concetta's great, dark eyes had +expressed intense admiration for the slender, graceful young woman +flitting about with pleased exclamations for everything that she saw. + +"Ain't she stylish?" Concetta said to her companion as the visitors +turned away, "with all them silver things jingling from her belt, and +such shiny shoes. Say! don't you think those were silk flowers on her +hat?" + +Concetta had not been able to give to her English the polish of her +native tongue, and the grammar acquired in her teacher's presence +slipped away under the influence of the many-tongued neighborhood where +she lived. + +"She's a great sight handsomer than that Miss Blair," and she looked at +her companion narrowly. + +"Yes, I wish she'd brought me here instead of Miss Blair; she seems so +lively, and Miss Blair is so--so kind of slow." + +Gretchen knew very well that she was wrong in speaking thus of the one +whose interest had made her an inmate of the delightful Mansion, yet as +she and her companion continued to talk Brenda gained constantly at the +expense of Edith. + +It not infrequently happens that those persons whom we ought to admire +the most are those whom we find it the hardest to admire, sometimes even +to like. Gretchen owed everything to Edith, who had been very kind to +her at a time when her family were in rather sore straits. But +appearances count for more than they should with many young persons. +Whatever Edith wore was in good taste, and costly, even when lacking in +the indefinite something called style. Nora the girls would have put in +the same class with Brenda, as quite worthy for them to copy when they +should be old enough to dress like young ladies. They did not know that +Nora's clothes cost far less than Brenda's, and that Edith's dress was +usually twice as costly. It was undoubtedly Brenda's brightness of +manner and her generally graceful air that they translated into +"stylishness"--the kind of thing that they thought they could make their +own by imitation and practice when they were older. + +Now it happened that neither Concetta nor Gretchen had the least idea +that Maggie was Brenda's special protegee. Had they known this their +tongues might have flown even faster, as they jeered at the absent +Maggie for being a regular cry-baby. Their own wrongdoing in teasing +Maggie sat lightly on their little shoulders. It was their theory that +might makes right, and as they had been able to get rid of the girl they +didn't like, they believed themselves evidently much better than she. + +With her rather listless guide Brenda made the tour of the upper +stories. There were twelve pretty bedrooms for the girls, of almost +uniform size, although varying somewhat in shape. The furniture in each +was the same, but to allow a little scope for individual taste each girl +was permitted to decide upon the color to be used in draperies, +counterpane, and china. Blue and pink were the prevailing choice, for +the range of colors suitable for these purposes is limited. Nellie asked +for green, and had it even to the green clover-leaf on the china; and +another girl begged for plain white, unwilling to have even a touch of +gilt on the china; "it makes me think of heaven," she confided to Julia, +"to see everything so white and still when I come up to my room at +night." + +Maggie had chosen brown for her room, a choice that had especially +awakened the ridicule of Luisa, who had said that if she could have her +own way there should be a mixture of red, yellow, and blue on all her +possessions. + +"Why, it's ever so pretty, Maggie," said Brenda, "and you are keeping it +neat; but I can't say that those broad brown ribbons tying up the window +curtains are cheerful, and I never did like a brown pattern on +crockery-ware; but still if you like it--" + +"Well, I don't like it quite as much as I expected." + +"Then perhaps later you can make some changes; I would certainly have +blue ribbons." + +"Oh, I don't know, Miss Barlow, there's so many other colors, and I +can't tell which I'd like the best." + +"I must send you two or three books for your bookshelf." + +"Thank you, Miss Barlow," said Maggie coldly, without suggesting, as +Brenda hoped she might, some book that she particularly wished to own. + +Just then, to her relief, Julia passed through the hall. + +"Come upstairs with me and I will show you the gymnasium that we have +had built. Edith, you know, paid for it all." + +So up to the top of the house the two cousins climbed, followed by Nora +and Maggie. Two large rooms had been thrown into one, and as the roof +was flat, a fine, large hall was the result. This was fitted up with +light gymnastic apparatus, and Julia explained that a teacher was to +come once a week to teach the girls. "In stormy weather, when we can't +go out, this will be a grand place for bean-bags and similar games, and, +indeed, I think that the gymnasium will prove one of the most +attractive rooms in the Mansion." + +At this moment a Chinese gong resounded through the house. + +"Twelve o'clock; it seems hardly possible!" and Julia led the way for +the others to follow her downstairs. + +From the school-room above three or four girls now appeared, and others +came from various parts of the house where they had been at work, among +them Concetta and Gretchen. + +"Let me count you," said Miss South, after they were seated; "although I +can make only nine, I cannot decide who is missing." + +As Concetta raised her hand Gretchen tried to pull it down. + +"You're not in school; she don't want you to do that." + +But the former continued to shake her hand, until Miss South noticed +her. + +"Please, 'm, it's Mary Murphy; she told me she was going to sneak home +after breakfast. Her mother said she didn't sleep a wink for two nights +thinking of her dear daughter in such a place; so's soon as she'd read +the letter she said she'd go right home." + +"Very well," said Miss South, "I'm much obliged to you for telling me;" +and then, to the disappointment of all, she made no further comment on +Mary Murphy's departure. + +The half-hour in the library passed quickly. Each girl reported what she +had done thus far, and in some cases Miss South gave instructions for +the rest of the day. One or two had special questions to ask, one or two +had grievances. Promptly at half-past twelve Miss South gave the signal, +and they filed away to prepare for dinner. + +"It's a kind of dress inspection. You will understand what I mean if you +have ever visited an army post." + +"You did not find much fault." + +"No, Nora, but I observed many things, and before night I shall have a +chance for private conversation with several who stand in special need +of it. There were Concetta's finger-nails, and Luisa's shoestrings, and +Gretchen had her apron fastened with a safety-pin. Ah! well, we can't +expect too much." + +"They really are very funny," interposed Julia. "The other day I heard +Inez talking to Haleema as they were making a bed: 'Ain't it silly to +have to put all these sheets and things on so straight every day when +they get all mussed up at night.' + +"'My mother never used to make the beds,' said Haleema reminiscently. + +"'No, nor mine; we used just to lump them all at the foot of the bed, +and pile the blankets from the children's bed on the floor.' + +"'It would be nice and handy to hang them over the foot here.' + +"'Yes, they'd get so well aired, and it would save all this bother.' + +"I'm almost sure that they would have tried this plan," continued Julia, +"had they not seen me standing in the hall. However, Haleema did +venture to say that she wondered why we insist on having the bureau +drawers shut, after they've all been put in good order. It's only when +they have nothing in them that she thinks that they should be closed. +She also prefers to use the chair in her room for some of the little +ornaments that she brought from home, and when she sits down she +crouches on the rug." + +"Sits Turkish fashion, I suppose you mean." + +"Perhaps it is Turkish fashion, although I imagine that there is no love +lost between the Syrians and the Turks." + +"Haleema is much neater than Luisa, and although we think of her as less +civilized, she hasn't half as much objection to taking the daily bath +that Luisa considers a perfect waste of time." + +"It's very discouraging," said Julia with a sigh. + +"Oh, one needn't mind a little thing like that. One or two that I could +mention think it a great waste of time to wash the dishes after every +meal." + +"Ugh!" and an expression of disgust crossed Brenda's face at the mere +thought of using the same plates and cups unwashed for a second meal. + +"There's a slight strain on the one who supervises their table manners. +I've just been through my week. You see," and she turned in explanation +toward Nora and Brenda, "each resident serves for a week as head of the +girls' table at breakfast, and it is her duty to correct all their +little faults as a mother would. At the other two meals they have only +Miss Dreen, for we think that they ought to be free from the restraint +of our presence at these other meals." + +"Do you try to guide conversation, too?" + +"Oh, yes, but thus far our presence has seemed a decided damper, and the +solemnity of breakfast is in great contrast with the hilarity at the +other two meals. At tea-time their laughter sometimes reaches even as +far as the library." + +"They are ready to learn, and particularly ready to imitate. I am really +obliged to watch myself constantly," said Julia, "lest I say or do +something that may return against me some time, like a boomerang." + +"Then I fear that I should be a poor kind of resident," rejoined Brenda, +"for it has been said that I speak first and think afterwards. However, +in the presence of Maggie McSorley I am always going to try to do my +best; for apparently it's my duty to bring her up for the next few +years, and I won't shirk. But I wish that it had been Concetta instead +of Maggie on whom I stumbled. I'm going to tell Ralph that I've found a +perfect model for his new picture. Wouldn't you let her pose?" + +"Ask Miss South," responded Julia. + +But Miss South, without waiting for the question, only shook her head, +with an emphatic "No, indeed." + + + + +V + +PHILIP'S LECTURE + + +Angelina was smiling broadly, "grinning from ear to ear" some persons +would have expressed it, as she ushered two visitors into the room where +Miss South, Julia, and Pamela were sitting one afternoon toward six +o'clock, for Pamela was one of the residents at the Mansion. + +"Why, Philip; why, Tom!" cried Julia, rising from the lounge where she +was looking over a folio of engravings, "this _is_ a pleasure." + +"Yes, we thought we'd accept promptly your kind invitation to drop in +upon you at any time, so that we could see the Mansion and its contents +just as they are." + +"Oh, yes, they are always ready for inspection." + +"We hope that you will ask us to stay to dinner," added Tom, after he +had followed Philip's example and had shaken hands with the others. + +"Oh, certainly! especially as you have made it so evident that you are +ready to accept." + +"That is delightful! You see we feared to wait for a formal invitation, +lest you might show us only the company side of things, and we are +anxious to see you just as you are." + +"Ah! we have no company side. We decided in the beginning to welcome our +friends at any time, if they would take us just as we were." + +"This doesn't look like an institution," said Tom, glancing around the +pretty room. + +"No, we haven't seen the real inmates yet. I suppose you keep them under +lock and key," interposed Philip. + +"Hardly," responded Miss South, "because--" + +Then, as the door was pushed open for a minute, shouts of merriment from +another part of the house showed that if in durance vile, the inmates +were at least in full possession of some of their faculties. + +Then the party broke up into two groups. Tom in his vivacious way told +of his experiences as a fledgling lawyer. This was his first visit to +Boston since he had been admitted to the bar, and he described himself +as just beginning to believe that he might escape starvation from the +fact that one or two clients had made their appearance at his office. + +"It's lucky for my friends that a little practice is coming my way, for +I was ready, for the sake of business, to set any of them by the ears. +Why, the other day when I was out with my uncle, and the cable car +stopped too suddenly, I almost hoped that he would sprain his +ankle--just a little, that I might have the chance to bring suit against +the company." + +"How cruel!" exclaimed Julia, into whose ear he had let fall these rash +admissions. + +While Tom ran on in this frivolous fashion, Philip was talking more +seriously with Pamela and Miss South. Indeed, seriousness was a quality +that Philip now showed to an extent that seemed strange to those who had +known him in his earlier college years. Much responsibility had recently +come to him on account of his father's failing health, and in the West +he had been so thrown on his own resources that he no longer regarded +life as unsatisfactory unless it offered him amusement. + +"I have wondered," he was saying to Miss South, "if you really wished me +to give that talk on the Western country." + +"Yes, indeed, we are very anxious to have it. We are counting on you to +open our lecture season." + +"Oh, I'm only too happy, although you must remember that I'm not a +professional; but my lantern is in order, and I have nearly a hundred +slides. Many of them are really fine,--even if I do say it," he +concluded apologetically. + +"I'm sure they are," responded Miss South, "and I can tell you that we +older 'inmates,' as you call us, are equally anxious to hear you." + +"You mean, to see the pictures; they will be worth your attention, but +as to my speaking--" + + "'You'd scarce expect one of my age + To speak in public on the stage,'" + +interposed Tom mockingly, as he overheard the latter part of the +sentence. Whereat Philip, somewhat embarrassed, was glad to see +Angelina at the door announcing "Dinner is served," and leading the way +with Miss South the others followed them to the dining-room. + +As they took their places Philip found himself beside Pamela. He had +seen her but two or three times since her Freshman year at Radcliffe, +and in consequence would hardly have dared venture to allude to that +sugar episode through which he had first made her acquaintance. But +Pamela, no longer sensitive about this misadventure, brought it up +herself. Though Philip politely persisted that it had seemed the most +natural thing in the world to see before him on a Cambridge sidewalk a +stream of sugar pouring from an overturned paper-bag, Pamela assured him +that to her he had appeared like a hero on that memorable occasion, +since he had saved her from a certain amount of mortification. + +"But I'm wiser now," she said; "I hadn't studied philosophy then," and +she quoted one or two passages from certain ancient authors to show that +she had attained a state of indifference to outside criticism. + +Gradually Pamela told Philip much about her school, to prove that it +wasn't simply philosophy that helped her enjoy her work. + +"So it really is your interest in them that makes your pupils so fond of +your classes." + +Then, in answer to her word of surprise, he added: + +"Oh, my little cousin, Emily Dover, one of your most devoted admirers, +has been telling me--I believe that you have the misfortune to instruct +her." + +"Ah, the good fortune! She is a bright little thing, if not a hard +student." + +"You could hardly expect more from one of our family." + +"Why, your sister seems to me fairly intelligent." + +Could this be Pamela, actually speaking in a bantering tone, unawed by a +young man considerably her senior? + +"I am glad," he said a moment later, "that you are surviving not only +the experiment of teaching my little cousin, but this experiment at the +Mansion." + +"Oh, this isn't an experiment, it's--it's--" + +"The real thing?" + +"Yes, it really is. If you wish to understand it, you must come here +some day when the classes are at work. Miss South or Edith will be happy +to show you about." + +"But I am a working-man now. At the time when I might properly visit the +school I am afraid that there would be no classes in session." + +"Of course I'm busy myself, too," said Pamela, "and sometimes I feel +that I am here on false pretences." + +"Remembering your reputation, I don't believe that you are very idle." + +"Oh, of course I help; but then some one else could as well do my work." + +"Tell me exactly what you do." + +But Pamela shook her head, and with all his urging Philip could not make +her describe her exact sphere of activity. Yet Miss South or Julia could +have told that no resident was more useful than Pamela, who devoted her +evenings to the girls, talking to them, playing games, and in all that +she did directing their thoughts toward the appreciation of beautiful +things. Every Saturday she took two or three to the Art Museum, and +later she meant them to see any exhibitions that there might be in town. +One or two critics were inclined to laugh at this work. "It would put +strange ideas into the heads of the girls. They would want things that +they could never own." But Pamela was satisfied when she saw the +rapturous glance of appreciation on the faces of Concetta and Inez, the +most artistic of the girls, and the awakening interest in the others. + +But how could she explain all this to Philip in casual conversation at a +dinner-table? + +Maggie, helping Angelina, found this, her first experience in waiting on +company, very trying. To overcome her timidity Miss South had purposely +assigned her to this task. But who could have supposed that she would +let the bread fall as she passed it to Philip, tilting the plate so far +that a slice or two fell on the table before him. + +"There!" and he smiled good-humoredly, "the Mansion realizes the extent +of my appetite, and evidently I am to receive more even than I ask for." + +Poor Maggie's next mishap was to drop a dessert plate as she started to +take it from the sideboard. + +"It was because you looked at me so hard," she said afterwards to +Angelina; "I couldn't think what you wanted, you were shaking your head +so fierce." + +"Why, it was the finger-bowl, child. You forgot it. There should be one +on every plate. When I told you to get extra things for company, I meant +finger-bowls too. We always have them on the dessert plates." + +"Oh, yes," said Maggie, as if her not getting them had been the merest +oversight, although really this was her first experience in waiting at +dinner, and she had not a good memory for the details that had been +taught her. + +But shy as she was, she did not hesitate to take part in the +conversation once or twice. Miss South and the others showed no surprise +when twice her voice was heard replying to questions that Philip had +expected Miss South or Pamela to answer. + +After the older people returned to the library, Angelina confided to +Maggie that Mr. Philip Blair was to give a lecture at the Mansion in a +week or two. "I know all about it, because Miss Julia told me a few days +ago." + +Haleema, the little Syrian girl, who was helping Maggie in her +dish-washing, paused in her singing to listen to Angelina's accounts of +the wonderful adventures that Mr. Blair had had in the West. + +"Ho!" said Haleema, "it ain't nothing to go bear-hunting, if you don't +get killed. Why, I've had two uncles and ten cousins killed by the +Turks," and then she went on singing cheerfully,-- + + "'As quick as you're able set neatly the table, + And first lay the table-cloth square; + And then on the table-cloth, bright and clean table-cloth, + Napkins arrange with due care.'" + +The air to which she sang was "Little Buttercup," and her voice was +clear and sweet, but as she began the second stanza,-- + + "'Put plates in their places at regular spaces,'" + +Angelina interrupted her. "This isn't the time for singing this song, +this is dish-washing time;" and, overawed by Angelina's imperative +manner, Haleema was silenced. + + * * * * * + +As to the lecture itself, it is needless to say that Philip a few +evenings later had an appreciative audience. All the girls were in a +twitter at the prospect of this their first entertainment, Angelina most +of all. She had arranged her hair in an elaborate coiffure, which, she +informed Haleema, she had copied from a hairdresser's window in +Washington Street. + +"Ah, then, perhaps you have one of those things--a whip, I think they +call it?" + +"A what?" + +"A whip, a long piece of hair to tie on, for I did not know that you had +so much hair, Miss Angelina." + +"Oh, a switch." + +Angelina looked at Haleema sharply and made no further reply. Haleema +had addressed her by the flattering "Miss Angelina," which Manuel's +sister, when none of the residents were present, tried to exact from all +the younger girls at the Mansion, and therefore she would not reprove +her for her insinuation about "the whip." + +Nevertheless Angelina held her head rather stiffly as she filled her +part as head usher. + +Each girl at the Mansion had been permitted to invite two guests--a girl +of her own age and an older person. And almost every one invited was +present. Angelina's brother John was the only boy there. He had shot up +into a fairly tall youth, with a very intelligent face. He was attending +evening school in the city, and working through the day for a little +more than his board. Julia knew that she could depend on him to help her +when at times Angelina proved refractory. To-night John was to operate +the lantern while Philip talked about the views. + +The girls held their breath in admiration as slide after slide was +thrown on the screen. Gorges, canons, mountain-passes followed one +another in quick succession. The wonderful canon of the Arkansas, the +Marshall Pass, the Garden of the Gods, the tree-shaded streets of +Colorado Springs, the railroad up Pike's Peak, and all the weird and +wonderful sights of the Yellowstone Park. + +"He's really very handsome," whispered Nora to Julia during a pause +between the pictures when Philip's regular features were thrown in +silhouette upon the sheet. Then she continued, "Don't you remember how +we used to laugh at him, and call him a dandy, when he was a Sophomore; +but now he looks so manly, and his lecture has been really interesting." + +Pamela, seated on the other side of Nora, heard these words with +surprise. She had not known Philip in the days when he was considered +somewhat effeminate. + +All the girls expressed their pleasure as each new picture came in +sight, and yet I am afraid that their loudest applause was given to a +series of colored pictures showing the adventures of a farmer with an +obstinate calf that he vainly tried to drive to the barn, succeeding +only when he put a cow-bell around his own neck. + +At last the lights were turned on, but all were still seated as Angelina +rushed to pick up the pointer and to help roll up the screen. There was +no real need of her doing this, but she was anxious to impress the two +girls whom she had invited from the North End with a sense of her own +importance. Just as she had picked up the pointer, standing in full +sight of all, she was aware of a titter that was turning into a full +laugh. Instinctively she put her hand to her head, and looking around +she met the childlike gaze of Haleema, who was holding aloft a braid of +black hair. + +"Here, Miss Angelina, is your whip--I mean switch." + +Conscious of the strange appearance of her head since the towering +structure had fallen, annoyed by the smile on the faces of those before +her, and dreading the reproofs of her elders, Angelina fled shamefacedly +from the room. + +Maggie and Concetta and the other young girls were able to bear this +mishap with less discomfort than Angelina herself; for the latter in her +way was apt to be domineering, and they knew that for a little while she +would not come down to the dining-room where chocolate and cakes were to +be served. + +Serving their guests, the young housekeepers were at their best. Each +had her appointed duty. One carried plates and napkins, another arranged +the little white cloths on half a dozen small tables placed around the +room. One girl poured the chocolate, and another put the whipped cream +on the top of each slender cup. None of them hesitated to tell her +friends what portion of the feast she had prepared, whether sandwiches, +whipped cream, or the wafer-like cookies. + +"I wish that Brenda had been here," said Edith, as she and Nora and +Philip walked home. + +"Oh, Brenda wouldn't give an evening to this kind of thing at this +season; she says that it's the gayest winter since she came out." + +"I don't see how she can stand going out every evening," rejoined Edith, +who was wearing mourning for a relative, and hence was not accepting +invitations to dinners and dances. + +"I suppose she thinks it her duty to enjoy herself here. She says it +pleases her father and mother to have her enjoy herself." + +"Girls have strange ideas of duty," remarked Philip, "though it seems to +me that those girls at the Mansion have just about the right idea." + + + + +VI + +IN THE STUDIO + + +As autumn sped on Brenda was not very ardent in following up the Mansion +work. But what a perfect autumn it was! How bracing the air! How much +more delightful to spend the daylight hours in long rides out over the +bridle-path, along the broad boulevard, or in the narrower byways of the +suburbs. Sometimes, instead of riding, Arthur and Brenda would walk even +as far as the reservoir and back. One afternoon in late November they +had circled the lovely sheet of water that lies embosomed among the +hills of Brookline, and, waiting for a car, had sat down on a wayside +seat. + +"Except for the bare trees it's hard to believe that this is November," +Brenda had said. + +"Yes," responded Arthur. "Days like this almost redeem the bad character +of the New England climate." + +"Oh, Arthur, there isn't a better all-round climate anywhere." + +"After a winter in California, I should think that you'd know better +than that." + +[Illustration: Waiting for a car they had sat down on a wayside seat] + +The argument went a little further, and Brenda made out her case very +well, quoting the surprise of Californians and Southerners, who had +come to Boston expecting an Arctic winter, to find only an occasional +frigid day. + +"Those must have been exceptional winters;" and Arthur shrugged his +shoulders in a way that always provoked Brenda as he concluded, "Say +what you will, it is always a vile winter climate." + +"Then I'm sure," retorted Brenda, "I don't see why you plan to spend the +winter here." + +"Oh, indeed! I fancied that you knew the reason." + +Taking no notice of this pacific remark, Brenda continued: + +"Yes, if I were you I wouldn't stay in so dreadful a place; you +certainly have no important business to keep you. Why, papa said--" + +She did not finish the sentence. Arthur frowned ominously, and he +abruptly signalled a car just coming in sight. + +Brenda hardly understood why Arthur was so silent on the way home. She +did not realize that her allusion to her father had annoyed him. Arthur +knew that Mr. Barlow did not altogether approve of his lack of a +profession. After completing his studies he had not wished to practise +law. A slight impediment in his speech was likely to prevent his being a +good pleader, and the opportunity that he desired for office practice +had not yet offered. His personal income was just enough to permit him +to drift without a settled profession. There was danger that he might +learn to prefer a life of idleness to one in which work had the larger +part. + +Yet Arthur's intentions were the best in the world. He really was only +waiting for the right thing to present itself, and although Brenda had +not quoted her father's words, his imagination had flown ahead of what +she had said, and he was angry at the implied criticism. + +"No, I can't come in," he said, as he left Brenda at her door. "I have +an engagement." + +"Oh, what--" + +Then Brenda checked herself. If he did not care to tell her, she could +afford to hide her curiosity. After he left her she wondered what the +engagement was. + +"I'll see you at the studio to-morrow." This was Arthur's parting word, +in a pleasanter tone than that of a moment before. + +"Yes, perhaps so; I'm really not sure." + +The next day, toward four o'clock, Brenda and her little niece, Lettice, +mounted the stairs to the studio. The stairs were long and narrow, for +Ralph Weston, on his return from Europe, had chosen a studio in the top +of one of the old houses opposite the Garden, in preference to a newer +building. + +When his wife and her sister had protested that he would see them very +seldom if he persisted in having this inaccessible studio, "It may seem +ungallant to say so," he had said, "but that is one of my reasons for +choosing to perch myself in this eyrie. I am all the less likely to be +interrupted when seeking inspiration for a masterpiece. If I were +connected with the earth by an elevator I should never be safe from +interruption. In fact, I should probably urge you and your friends to +spend your spare time here. But now, knowing that it would be an +imposition to expect you to climb those stairs more than once a week, I +feel quite secure until Thursday rolls around." + +"Oh, you needn't worry. That glimpse across the Garden from your window +showing the State House as the very pinnacle of the city is beautiful, +but we can live without it, if _you_ can exist without us;" and Brenda +drew herself up with dignity. + +On this particular afternoon as she reached the studio door with Lettice +clinging to her hand she was flushed and almost out of breath. + +Within the studio her sister Agnes, giving a few last touches to the +table, exclaimed in surprise at sight of the little girl. + +"Why, Lettice, what in the world are you doing here?" + +"Oh, auntie found me in the park, and she sent nurse off." + +Then Brenda explained that Lettice looked so sweet that she just +couldn't bear to leave her behind, "and nurse," she added, "fortunately +had a very important errand down town, and was so glad that I could take +Lettice off her hands, and so--" + +"'The lady protests too much, methinks,'" interposed Ralph. "But you +really need not apologize. I am always glad to have Lettice here, even +though her mother does think her too young to receive at afternoon +teas." + +"At four years old--I should think so. There, dear, you mustn't touch +anything on the table," for the little girl, on tiptoe, was trying to +reach a plate of biscuit. + +Lettice withdrew her hand quickly, and, when her wraps were removed, +allowed herself to be perched on a tabaret, where her mother said she +was safe from harming or being harmed. + +The studio was filled with trophies that Mr. and Mrs. Weston had +collected abroad. The high carved mantle-piece was the work of some +medieval Hollander, the curtain shutting off one end of the room was old +Norman tapestry--the most valuable of all their possessions. Each chair +had, as Brenda sometimes said, a different nationality. Her own +preference was for the Venetian seat, with its curving back and +elaborate carving. As it grew darker outside the studio was brightened +by the light from a pair of Roman candlesticks. + +Only one or two of the paintings on the wall were Mr. Weston's work. +When asked, he always said that he had very little to show, and that he +did not believe in boring his guests by driving them, against their +judgment, perhaps, to praise what they saw. + +"Mock modesty!" Brenda had exclaimed at this expression of opinion. + +"If I were sure that that was a genuine Tintoretto, I should believe +that you were afraid of coming in direct competition with an old master; +though, to tell you the truth, I'm glad that your work is a little +brighter and livelier," she concluded. + +One or two callers had now come in, and Brenda took her place at the +tea-table, that Agnes might be free to move about the large studio. Soon +the nurse appeared, and Lettice, protesting that she was a big girl and +ought to stay, was ignominiously carried home. + +"Where's Arthur?" asked Ralph, as he stood near Brenda, waiting for her +to pour a cup of tea for a guest. + +"I'm sure I don't know." + +"Oh, I beg your pardon," responded Ralph ceremoniously. "I fancied that +you might have heard him say what he intended to do." + +Ralph went off with the tea, and Brenda continued to pour for other +guests. But her mind was wandering. She served lemon when the guest had +asked for cream, and generously dropped two lumps into the cup of one +who had expressly requested no sugar. In spite of herself her eye +travelled often to the door, and an observer would have seen that her +mind was far away. When at last she saw Arthur entering the room some +one was with him, and the two were laughing and chatting gayly. + +"Oh, we had such a time getting here," cried the shrill voice of Belle. +"Mr. Weston's been making calls with me in Jamaica Plain, and the cars +were blocked coming back, so that it seemed as if we should never get +here." + +"But we're glad to arrive at last;" and Arthur moved toward the table, +while Belle lingered for a word or two with Agnes and her husband. + +"Poor thing!" exclaimed Belle, when at last she joined Arthur beside the +table. "Poor thing! have you been shut up here pouring tea all the +afternoon? You ought to have been with us; we've had a perfectly lovely +time." + +"You don't care for sweet things, so I won't give you any sugar," said +Brenda, without replying directly to Belle. + +"Come, Belle, you must see this sketch of Lettice. It is the one you +were asking about." Agnes had come to the rescue. + +As Belle turned away, Arthur tried to make his peace, for he saw that in +some way he had displeased Brenda. He explained that he had merely +happened to meet Belle, who was out on a calling expedition. He had +accompanied her to one or two houses, because when she had paid these +visits she intended to go to the studio. "I really meant to call for +you, although you were so uncertain yesterday about coming," he +concluded apologetically. + +"Of course you knew I would come. I always do on Thursdays," replied +Brenda; "but you were not obliged to call for me if you had something +pleasanter to do." + +"Ah, Belle is never out of temper." Arthur spoke significantly, annoyed +by Brenda's unusual dignity of manner. Then, as she turned to speak to +some one at the other side of the table, he crossed the room and joined +Belle. + +Since the death of her grandmother two years before, Belle and her +mother had been away from Boston. They expected to spend the coming +season in Washington, as they had the preceding. Belle now pronounced +Boston altogether too old-fashioned a place for a person of cosmopolitan +tastes, and she dazzled the younger girls and the undergraduates of her +acquaintance by talking of diplomatic and state dignitaries with the +greatest freedom. According to her own estimate of herself, she was one +of the brightest stars in Washington society. + +Although she and Brenda were less intimate than formerly, when Belle was +in town she was with Brenda more than with any other girl of her +acquaintance. Despite her insincerity and her various other failings, +now much clearer to Brenda than in her school days, Belle had certain +qualities that made her very companionable, and Brenda was inclined to +overlook her less amiable traits. Indeed, she had clung to Belle in +spite of the protests of various other girls. But to-day she felt +impatient with Belle. Her high, sharp voice grated on her ear. Her +witticisms seemed particularly shallow, and almost for the first time +Brenda realized that the words with which Belle raised a laugh from +those present carried a sting for some one absent. + +Again Belle approached her. "I suppose your cousin never indulges in +frivolities like this. I hear that she has withdrawn altogether from the +world into some kind of a home or institution." + +"There, Belle, how silly you are! If you'd spend more time in Boston, +you'd at least hear things straight. Julia is just as fond of frivolity +as any of us, only it's the right kind of frivolity." + +"Oh, excuse me," exclaimed Belle with mock sorrow. "I had entirely +forgotten your new point of view. You used to feel so differently about +your cousin." + +"Well, it is irritating to hear you talk about her being in an +institution. Surely you've heard about Miss South and the old Du Launy +Mansion; and if you go up there and call, you'll see that they are not +shut out from the world." + +"Dear! dear! why need you take everything so seriously. There! why, it's +half-past five! I'm really afraid to go home alone." + +This was said as Arthur came within earshot, and, of course, he could +only offer to go home with her, as she professed to be in too great a +hurry to wait for Brenda and the rest of the party. + +"But I will come back for you," murmured Arthur, as he turned away. + +"No, thank you; you needn't," responded Brenda stiffly; "I have Ralph +and Agnes, and really I don't care for any one else." + +"Very well, then, we'll say good evening;" and the two young people went +off after Belle had said her farewells very effusively to all in the +studio. + +As Brenda sat alone in a corner of the studio after the other guests had +gone, she had an opportunity to think over the events of the past few +years which some of Belle's sharp remarks had brought up. Ralph and +Agnes were busy discussing designs for some picture-frames that he was +to have made, and, sitting apart, Brenda in a rather unusual fit of +reverie recalled some of the happenings of the six years since her +cousin Julia had first come into her life. When first she learned that +her orphan cousin, who was a year and a half her senior, was to become a +member of her family, she had been far from pleased. Without feeling +jealousy in its meanest form, she was annoyed lest the presence of Julia +should interfere with her enjoyment of her little circle of intimate +friends. Edith Blair, Nora Gostar, Belle Gregg and she had formed a +pleasant circle, "The Four," into which she did not care to have a fifth +enter. Consequently she was far from kind to her cousin, and would not +invite her to the weekly meetings of the group, when they gathered at +her house to work for a bazaar. Belle prompted and upheld Brenda in her +attitude toward her cousin, while Nora and Edith were Julia's champions. +Later Julia had an opportunity to behave very generously toward Brenda, +and from that time the cousins were good friends. Belle's departure for +boarding-school and her later absence in Washington had naturally +lessened her intimacy with Brenda. Julia, after two years at Miss +Crawdon's school with Brenda, had entered Radcliffe College, where in +her four years' course she had made many friends, and had been graduated +with honor. Belle, as well as Julia and Brenda, had been one of Miss +South's pupils at Miss Crawdon's school, but she was one of the few with +no interest whatever in the work begun at the Mansion--a work which the +majority had been only too glad to help. + +Belle had never shown herself to Brenda in so unlovely a light as on +this particular afternoon at the studio. Yet she had often been far more +disagreeable in her general way of expressing herself. The difference +was that now Brenda herself had begun to look at life in a very +different way. She had a higher standard; she understood and admired her +cousin, even though in many ways they were very unlike, and Belle in +contrast seemed particularly shallow. + +Then, too, to be perfectly honest with herself, she had to admit that +she was surprised and not pleased that Arthur Weston should show so much +interest in the society of Belle. + +"Come, Brenda, are you dreaming? We are ready to go home." + +At the sound of her sister's voice Brenda rose quickly, and was ready +with a laughing reply to one of her brother-in-law's witticisms. + +Brenda was not inclined to be melancholy, and the half-hour of +retrospect had been good for her. + + + + +VII + +IN DIFFICULTIES + + +On the same floor with the gymnasium at the end of the hall was a room +whose door was usually locked. In passing up and down it was not strange +that occasionally the girls would rattle the handle in their anxiety to +catch a glimpse of the inside of the room. But the door was always +fastened, and this fact allowed them to speculate widely as to what the +room contained. + +"It is full of clothes and jewels that belonged to Miss South's +grandmother," announced Concetta. "She was a very strange old lady, and +as rich as rich could be, and when Miss South wants any money, she just +sells some of the things from this room." + +"Oh, then the things must be beautiful; I wish we could see them!" + +"Well, we'll watch and watch, and perhaps some day we shall find it +open." + +Once or twice, however, on their way to the gymnasium the girls had +noticed this door ajar, and great had been their curiosity about it; for +Concetta, who was never backward in wrongdoing, had announced that she +meant to go in at the close of the gymnastic lesson, and look into some +of the trunks that were piled against the wall. + +"No, no," replied Gretchen, to whom she confided her intention, "that +wouldn't be right." + +"Why not?" + +"Oh, we've never been told that we could go in there." + +"But nobody said we couldn't go." + +"I'm sure Miss South wouldn't like it." + +"Ah, I shall go just the same; when I looked in just now, one of the +trunks was open, and on the top I saw a wig, all white curls, and a pink +satin dress. I'd like to have those things to dress up in. Just as soon +as I can I'm going into that room." + +It happened, however, to Concetta's disappointment that when the girls +came out from the gymnasium the room in the ell was locked. But she +remembered the room, and another day in passing she noticed that the +door was slightly ajar. She now said nothing to Gretchen, but had a +whispered conference with Haleema and Inez, with the result that these +three lingered behind when the others went downstairs. + +As the last footfall died away, the three girls stole quietly to the +room in the ell. Concetta laid her finger on her lips in token of +silence, for she was by no means sure that some older person might not +be within hearing. + +"Oh, they're all out this afternoon except Miss Dreen," said Haleema +confidently, "and she's down in the kitchen giving a cooking lesson." + +"See! see!" added Concetta, as she tiptoed ahead of the others, "there's +no one here; come on." And in a minute the three were inside the +mysterious room. + +"Those are the chests of jewels!" and Concetta pointed to the three +large chests ranged along the wall. + +At the end of the room were several large trunks. + +"I wish that we could look inside them," said Haleema. + +"Oh, no," and there was real terror in Inez's tone. + +"Don't be afraid; they're all out," said Concetta. + +"Yes, even Miss Angelina," added Haleema; "she's gone to a lecture." + +"Miss Angelina," responded Concetta, mimicking her tone. "She's no Miss +Angelina." + +"But you always call her that." + +"Oh, that only to her face; I should never call her that behind her +back. Why, she's only a girl, just like we are; why, she used to live +down there at the North End, near where Luisa's mother lives. But there, +shut the door, Haleema, so that we can look at these things." + +The three little girls bent over the trunk, the lid of which Concetta +had boldly opened. On the top lay the pink satin gown that she had +described in such glowing terms. Haleema slipped her arms into the +sleeves, and strange to say the bodice fitted her very well. + +"You oughtn't to touch it," cried Inez. + +"You are such a scarecrow," said Concetta, whose English was not always +perfect. + +"Scarecrow! you mean 'fraid-cat," corrected Inez. + +"Oh, well, it's all the same thing." + +What did a little question of English matter, when now they were so near +the mysterious treasure; for Concetta had noticed what the others had +not seen, that a bit of bright-colored fabric was hanging from one of +the chests, and she rightly conjectured that this trunk was unlocked. +Even while she spoke to Inez she was fingering the lid of the chest, and +in a moment it was thrown back. Many were the exclamations of the three +as garment after garment was drawn out from the depths; they were +chiefly of bright-colored and delicate materials, and Madame Du Launy +would have turned in her grave had she seen these little girls trying on +the things that at one time in her life had so delighted her. + +"I don't see any jewels," said Haleema disappointedly. + +"Oh, we'll find them; there are some boxes at the bottom. But see here!" +and Concetta drew out a mysterious, queerly shaped package. Opening it +rather gingerly, for at first she was uncertain what it contained, and +then with a skip and a jump-- + +"Oh, let's dress up; here are wigs and--" + +"No, no," said Inez, "perhaps some one might find us out." + +"No matter, no matter," and she waved the various wigs in the air. + +"Are they anybody's real hair?" asked Inez, in an awestruck tone, +pointing to the gray toupee and the short curled wig that Concetta held +in her hand. + +"Of course not, child. Oh, see! Haleema has found a box of paint," and +they laughed loudly at the bright red spots on Haleema's cheeks. Then +Haleema put on the curled wig. The others shrieked with laughter. "Your +eyes look blacker than black." + +[Illustration: "'I think I hear some one coming upstairs'"] + +"Ah, this is better than Angelina's whip," and then they all shouted +again, recalling the episode of Angelina and the switch. + +"Hush! hark!" cried Concetta, with her hand at her ear; "I think I hear +some one coming upstairs." + +"Shut the trunk! Let's go into the closet;" and as she spoke the other +two followed her into the closet. It was a large closet with a transom +that let in a certain amount of light, and at first their situation +seemed rather amusing to the three. Haleema, who had gone in last, had +closed the door with a snap, and after a few minutes had passed she +started to open it again. But, alas! she could not lift the latch. +Evidently it had closed with a spring, and they would have to wait until +some one should come to their relief. + +At first, as before, they giggled a little; then, as they realized their +situation, they sobered down. + +"Suppose no one should come; we might have to stay all night." + +"They may think that we've run away, and so they won't look for us." + +"Oh, some one will remember that we didn't go downstairs; they'll come +up here the first thing." + +"No, no, don't you remember how the others all ran down ahead of us? +They won't remember." + +"Gretchen's the only one who might think of this room. I told her the +other day that I meant to come in some time." + +"That won't do no good," rejoined Haleema; "she'll be glad to have you +shut up." + +"We're better off here than we would be in that trunk," continued +Haleema thoughtfully. "I read a poem the other day about a girl that got +shut up in a chest, and she did not get out until she was dead. She was +an Italian, too," she said, looking suggestively toward Concetta, "and +her name was Jinerva." + +Whereupon Concetta began to weep softly, either in sympathy for her +countrywoman or from fear that as an Italian she was more likely to +suffer than the others. + +"Oh, that's nothing," said Inez; "why, we had a history lesson once +about the Black Hole. Everybody that went into it died, and there were +dozens of people." + +"Why did they go in?" asked Concetta with a languid interest. + +"Oh, it was in war; I don't remember much about it, only they all died." + +"Well, this isn't a black hole," said Haleema cheerfully; "there's quite +a little light comes in at that window." And she began to hum, + + "'When a spring lock that lay in ambush there + Fastened her down forever.' + +There, that's the last of that Jinerva poem; I couldn't help remembering +it; I read it over several times." + +"Oh, Haleema, and we're fastened in with a spring lock." + +"Oh, we'll get out all right," said Haleema cheerfully; "'where there's +a will, there's a way.'" + +While she spoke she was moving about the closet. + +"I wouldn't meddle any more; if you hadn't meddled with that trunk we +wouldn't be in here now." + +"I'm not meddling," she replied angrily, "I'm trying to find something." +Her search continued for some time, and at last the others heard an +exclamation of satisfaction. + +"What is it?" asked Concetta. "What have you found?" + +"A stick," responded Haleema. "Do you know, I believe that I can break +that window." + +As she spoke she stood on tiptoe, and reached toward the transom. But, +alas! _she_ was too short, and the stick was too short, and with all her +efforts she could not reach the glass. + +"We could not get out through that window," said Concetta scornfully. +"We couldn't get out through that window, so what is the good of +trying?" + +"Oh, I didn't mean to get out through the window, but if I break the +glass we can have more air. We won't smother to death." + +At the suggestion of smothering, although Haleema had pronounced it an +unlikely happening, Inez began to cry. + +"Don't be a baby," said the little Syrian scornfully. "I guess there's +more than one way of catching a bird, even if you can't put salt on his +tail," from which it may be seen that Haleema was well on the way to +becoming a good Yankee, since her proverbs were not strictly Oriental. + +How long the time seemed! The light from the other room hardly showed +through the transom. Though they could move about in the closet, their +positions were naturally cramped. The air grew closer and warmer, and +though they were in no danger of suffocation, they were becoming drowsy +from the closeness and warmth. + +Haleema strained her ears to hear any one who should pass near, yet even +when she noted a distant step she realized that it would be hard to make +herself heard. Still the three girls kicked on the door, and sang at the +top of their voices, but in vain. + +At last Haleema grew desperate. + +"There's just one thing I can do," she said, "and I'll do it." + +Thereupon she again seized the stick, and telling the others to go close +up to the corners, she threw it toward the transom. The first time it +fell back and hit her on the nose, the second time it merely grazed the +wall beside the glass, the third time it touched the glass without +breaking it. + +"There," said Haleema, "I'm sure that I can do it," and with one mighty +effort she took aim again, and the stick crashed through the glass. Most +of the pieces went outside, but a few bits fell into the closet, and one +of these scratched Haleema's forehead. In her triumph at accomplishing +her end she did not mind the injury. + +"There! you can come out of the corner. We'll get plenty of air from the +room, and if any one should be passing, why, it will be easier to hear +us. Sing, Concetta, at the top of your voice." + +"I'm too tired," said Concetta crossly, "and dreadful hungry. I wish +you'd have let that trunk alone, Haleema; that's what made all the +trouble." + +So the time dragged on, and at length Concetta, though she never would +admit it, fell asleep. Haleema kept herself awake by telling wonderful +stories--some of them fairy tales, and some of them stories of +adventures that she professed to have passed through. + +At last even her lively tongue was quiet, and she had given up kicking +against the door, as a useless expenditure of energy. + +In the meantime the absence of the three girls had become the subject of +conjecture on the part of the others downstairs. No one apparently had +noticed when they left the gymnasium, though Nellie thought that she had +seen them on their way to the street floor. + +"Perhaps they've just gone off for fun. Haleema's always up to some +mischief." + +"They may have run off for good, like Mary Murphy." + +"Oh, no, there's no danger; that ain't likely. They know which side +their bread's buttered on." + +The three vacant places troubled Angelina as she sat at the end of the +table opposite Miss Dreen. + +"If I hadn't been away, they wouldn't have dared go off." + +Anstiss, to whom at last they applied for advice, was uncertain what +they ought to do. She was sorry that this was the evening that Pamela +and Julia and Miss South had taken to dine with Lois in Newton. It would +be late when they returned, and she did not like the responsibility +that had fallen upon her. + +While the discussion was going on, many thoughts were passing through +Gretchen's mind. Not until tea-time had she learned of the disappearance +of her schoolmates, and as she was not very quick-witted, she had not at +first connected them with the end room. When she did recall Concetta's +desire to explore it, she hesitated about speaking. In the first place, +if Concetta heard that she had told of her previous efforts to pry into +the mysteries of the trunks, she would surely take vengeance, especially +if at the present time she happened not to be there. If she had been +shut up in the room all this time, or in a trunk--and then the story of +Ginevra came into Gretchen's mind, and she was half afraid to suggest +that the end room be explored. + +So positive, however, was Angelina that the girls had run away, or at +least had taken advantage of Miss South's absence to spend the evening +out, that no one suggested exploring the house thoroughly. Anstiss +herself had gone to the room of each girl to assure herself that they +were not in one of them, and had sat herself down to her hour's reading +when she noticed that Gretchen was softly weeping. + +"Why, what is the matter, child?" she asked, and Gretchen, wiping her +eyes with a handkerchief that left a little dark streak, looked up for a +moment, and then hung down her head without answering. + +"Tell her," said Nellie, who sat beside her, with a nudge that made +Gretchen wriggle her shoulders. To save herself, perhaps, from a second +such demonstration, when Anstiss repeated her question Gretchen replied: + +"I'm afraid that they're locked up in the attic." + +"Who? Haleema and the other two?" + +Anstiss had already started toward the door. + +"Yes'm; I went upstairs just before you came in and I thought I heard a +little noise from the end room." + +"Then why didn't you look in? Was the door locked?" + +"I don't know; I didn't try it. I was afraid that they might be dead." + +"But you said that you heard a noise. Oh, Gretchen, you are a silly +girl." + +As she spoke Anstiss was wondering why she herself had not thought of +the end room, since every corner of the house ought to have been +thoroughly explored. + +Then she ran upstairs to the top of the house, and then down the two or +three steps to the end room, with five girls and Fidessa following her +closely. She felt sure that she heard a noise from the direction of the +room; nor was she wrong. Haleema, who had managed to keep herself awake +amid all the discomforts of her position, was shouting at the top of her +rather weak lungs. Yet she had made herself heard. + +A glance around the small room and the sight of the broken glass on the +floor outside showed Anstiss that the girls were in the closet. But here +was a new difficulty. The door had shut with a spring that had locked +it, and no one knew where the key could be found. + +The fact, however, that they were discovered had restored the spirits of +the girls inside the closet. + +"Yes, we are starved," they admitted when questioned. + +"Let's get a ladder, and send down a basket by a rope over the door," +suggested Angelina; and before any one could object she had gone down to +the kitchen. When she returned with a small basket containing three +oranges and some slices of bread and butter, Anstiss praised her warmly +for bringing just the right things. In her absence a ladder had been +brought from a corner of the gymnasium, and it was very little work to +lower the basket over the transom to the hungry girls within. + +They had hardly finished their repast when the diners-out returned, and +when they heard of the disturbance upstairs Miss South hastened at once +to the scene. + +"Why, no," she said, "I haven't a key; it is strange that that should +have been a spring latch, for there's nothing very valuable in the +closet. We did not intend to keep it fastened. There are many things of +my grandmother's in these trunks, and though we knew that no one would +meddle with them, we meant to keep them locked, as well as the door of +this room. I was up here myself just before I went out, and I fear that +I must have left the door open." + +Not a word thus far of reproof for the meddlesome girls within the +closet, although Miss South saw plainly that one trunk, if no more, had +been ransacked. + +A minute later Julia and Pamela appeared with the small tool-chest that +was kept in the hall closet on the first floor, and then, to every +one's astonishment, Miss South herself set to work upon the latch in the +deftest possible way, and in a minute the lock was off and the door +open. + +"My! she did it as well as a man could," whispered Gretchen to Nellie. +But Miss South heard the whisper, and, smiling, said, "As well as I hope +every girl in the Mansion will be able to do before her term here is +up." + +When the door was opened the prisoners rushed out; their faces were +rather grave. It is true that they were quite wide-awake, but now, +almost for the first time, they realized the impropriety of their +conduct, and dreaded facing their comrades. Everything considered, they +were hardly prepared for the shouts of laughter that greeted their +appearance. + +"Oh, Haleema, you do look so funny!" and Haleema, putting her hand to +her forehead, realized that she was still wearing the wig, while the +observers saw what she could not, that the paint was daubed on very +unevenly, and gave her a strange aspect. + + + + +VIII + +THE FRINGED GENTIAN LEAGUE + + +The "Fringed Gentian League" was the girls' favorite club; or it would +be truer to say that it was the favorite, partly because it was the only +regular club at the Mansion, and also because all its doings were +extremely interesting. Anstiss Rowe was the Honorary President and Julia +the Honorary Secretary, and the club had met two or three times before +it had elected its own officers. In starting, every one of the girls was +invited to join, and every one accepted. Then Miss South informed them +that a medium-sized room on the second floor in the wing was to be their +club-room. + +"I present the club," she said, when they first met in the room, "with +these chairs and the large library-table, but I hope that you will +gradually add to its furnishings from your own earnings." + +"Earnings!" At first none of them understood, nor indeed did they learn +for some time later just what she meant by "earnings." + +The walls were covered with a cartridge-paper of a curious purplish +blue, and that was what suggested to Gretchen the name for the League. +Some of the girls rejected this as a poor suggestion. + +"That would be a funny reason to give," said Concetta, "to name a club +for a wall-paper; we ought to have a different reason." + +Other girls gave other opinions, but while they were discussing it +Gretchen had been saying to herself the stanzas of Bryant's poem. At +last she looked as if she had come to a satisfactory reason, but she +hesitated about giving it to the others, lest they should laugh at her. +Accordingly she hastened to the honorary officers, who were busy with +the large book that was to contain the names of the members. + +"Why, yes, dear, that is a very good reason," responded Julia, while +Gretchen blushed at the praise. But although she had had the courage to +tell her elders, it was harder for the little German maiden to express +her thoughts to those of her own age. She was a curious mixture of +poetic fancies and practical ideas, and the fancies she always hesitated +to reveal to others. But at last she permitted Julia to tell the girls +why she thought "Fringed Gentian" a good name for the club. "Because +it's a looking upward club; that is, a 'look to heaven' club. Recite it, +Gretchen," urged Miss Julia, and the little girl began timidly,-- + + "'I would that thus when I shall see + The hour of death draw near to me, + Hope blossoming within my heart, + May look to heaven, as I depart.'" + +"Ugh!" cried Concetta, shaking her dark head. "How solemn; we don't mean +to die in this club, Miss Julia." + +"No, my dear; but the fringed gentian does not die instantly, as it +looks upward. Blue is the color of hope, and the fringed gentian by this +poem becomes a flower of hope, and so I think that you can give this +reason, if you ever have to give a reason, why this League is called the +'Fringed Gentian' League." + +It was therefore a following out of Gretchen's suggestion, that when +they came to draw up the Constitution for the League, its purpose was +defined in the language of much more important organizations. + +"The purpose of this League shall be to encourage good thoughts and good +books, and to keep our hearts looking upward." Although some of the more +matter-of-fact objected that hearts did not really look up at all, the +vote was in favor of the phrase, and the honorary officers said that no +club could have a loftier aim. + +The officers were to be a President, a Vice-President, a Secretary, and +a Treasurer. But they were not to be elected until the second meeting. + +The honorary officers, indeed, had their hands full in advising the +members as to what should and what should not be put in the +Constitution. But at last it was all arranged in paragraphs: one to tell +who should be the members, another to tell how many officers there +should be and what their duties, and others defining the aims of the +club, and one to state under what conditions a member might be put out +of the club. Each girl was perfectly sure that such a thing would never +happen. "It is always best to be prepared for the worst," said Maggie +sagely, and the others acceded. Finally there was a paragraph providing +for amendments, "for you may think of things you may wish to add to this +Constitution, and it would be a pity to find yourselves tied to laws +that you cannot add to or change." + +In fact, it was well that this provision was made, for at the next +weekly meeting the girls wished to add to the numbers of the League by +having associate members. Maggie, who made the suggestion, was praised +for it by Julia, who saw that in this way other girls might become +interested in the work of the Mansion. + +There was much discussion, of course, about the duties and privileges of +the new members. But at last it was settled that there were to be no +more than twelve associates. Each was to be elected unanimously by +Mansion members of the League, and they were to have the privilege of +attending all the regular meetings. They could take out books from the +library, but unlike the regular members they were not to use the +club-room at other times. + +"I would advise you," Julia had said, "not to elect more than half your +associate members at first, for should the list fill up too soon, you +might then find yourselves unable to invite other very desirable +members." + +"Couldn't we have them too?" + +"Ah! Concetta, the room is small, and even when the League has twenty +girls, you will find it fairly crowded." + +Guided partly by this advice, and also moved by the fact that the +founders of the League had difficulty in agreeing on new members, only +five associates had been added by Thanksgiving. One of these was a +friend of Concetta's from Prince Street, a timid little Italian, and +with her a Portuguese girl from the same house. It was again the advice +of the honorary officers that the girls should be chosen from the same +neighborhood, so that they could come and go together; for though the +meetings were on Thursday afternoons, there were certain advantages in +having the associates neighbors. Two others were Jewish girls from +Blossom Street, and the fifth was a little German from Roxbury, a +special friend of Gretchen's. + +Edith was slow in seeing the advantages of the League, as the girls at +the Mansion already formed practically a large club. But she soon +understood that it was well for them to learn that organization is a +good thing. She saw, too, that it would help interest them in things +outside their regular work. + +Angelina was honorary associate member, and Julia explained to her that +she was to be present at all special functions, but that on account of +her greater age--it pleased Angelina to have this set forth as an +evidence of her superiority--she might better not attend the regular +meetings, lest her presence should embarrass the younger girls. But +"honorary associate member" had such a high and mighty sound that +Angelina regarded the whole arrangement as complimentary to herself, and +thus the feelings of all were saved. + +In its early meetings the club naturally had its attention set on +Bryant. Julia was pleased to find that nearly all the girls were willing +to commit verses or even long poems to memory, and that there was a +good-natured rivalry as to which of them should learn the longest. She +was surprised, too, to find that these girls who knew so little of the +real country could appreciate many of the beautiful pictures of woods +and flowers and birds presented by the poet. "The Waterfowl" and "Green +River" and "The Evening Wind" were especial favorites, and indeed they +were fond of some of the more serious poems. + +The girls of the League had other interests besides their reading, and +they were encouraged to enter on certain bits of work that should not be +entirely for themselves. One group was busy making scrap-books, to be +given at Christmas to the Children's Hospital, and another was busy +dressing dolls. The best scrap-book and the best-dressed doll were to +receive a prize, and all were to be exhibited a day or two before +Christmas. On Anstiss had fallen the task of deciding which girls should +belong to the doll group, and which to the book group, and many were her +difficulties in keeping the girls to their first intention. When +Concetta, who had begun to dress a golden-haired doll, saw what a pretty +scrap-book Nellie was making on sheets of blue cambric with edges +buttonholed in red, she immediately threw down her doll with a gesture +of impatience. + +"I hate sewing, and it would be much pleasanter to paste pictures in a +scrap-book." + +"But if you make a scrap-book you must work at it, just as Nellie did, +and you will have to buttonhole the edges." Whereat Concetta, making a +wry face, protested that in spite of the buttonholing she would rather +make the scrap-book. + +"Very well, then; when you have the leaves ready, I will give you some +directions for pasting pictures. What color will you choose for the +leaves?" + +"Oh, pink, with yellow edges;" and Concetta, turning her back to the +discarded doll, sat down at the table beside Nellie. + +A week or two later Anstiss was surprised to have Concetta report that +she had finished her book. "But you were not to put the pictures in +until you had shown me the buttonholed edges." Whereupon Concetta, a +little shamefacedly, be it said, displayed her book with the pictures +and embossed decorations put in fairly well, but with the edges of the +leaves merely cut in scallops. + +"A book like this," said Anstiss, "would be of no good to the little +sick children. Almost as soon as they touched it, it would ravel out;" +and with a touch or two her fingers fringed the edge of one of the +pages. + +Concetta hung her head. "I can buttonhole it now, only I'd rather dress +my doll." + +"It isn't your doll, Concetta; Gretchen has taken it. If you work the +edges of the book now, I'm afraid that you will spoil the freshness of +the pictures. I shall let the League decide what you are to do." + +Upon this the girls were called by Angelina into business session, and +the vote was that Concetta must begin a new book. It was not a unanimous +vote, and Concetta, keenly noting the hands that were raised against +her, as she determined it, registered a vow to get even. + +Gretchen, who had the usual German skill with her fingers, was able to +dress two dolls, a blonde of Concetta's in addition to the brunette that +she had originally chosen, and Eliza made two scrap-books. But this was +rapid work in proportion to the time that they had before them, and +Anstiss did not encourage haste. + +Concetta was not the only girl who wished to change her work, for one or +two outside members absented themselves from several meetings because +they were dissatisfied with what they accomplished. + +Julia, visiting them in their homes, made them understand that there was +only a friendly rivalry in the whole competition, and that no one would +be permitted to criticise the work of another very severely. + +The staff of the Mansion, therefore, set itself at work very earnestly +to find reasons why each book and each doll should receive some special +award. So there were first prizes and second prizes: first for the +neatest, then for the prettiest books; and in the same way prizes were +given for the dolls. Besides these prizes there were honorable mention +awards and certain supplementary awards that Edith had begged to be +allowed to present, that no girl need feel that her industry had been +unappreciated. + +"For after all, every one has really shown perseverance, and some, I am +sure, displayed the greatest taste. Why, some of these dolls are so +pretty that I should like to play with them myself." + +"I am not so surprised at the dolls," said Miss South, "for most of +these girls have had sewing lessons in the public schools, and their +fingers have developed considerable skill along this one line. But I am +interested in the skill shown in making the scrap-books. To be sure, +some of them are daubed more than is necessary. Maggie's book, for +instance, shows a little glistening halo of dried mucilage around many +of the pictures. But what pleases me the most is their skill in grouping +and arranging." + +The girls themselves chose two of their number, Inez and Concetta, to be +on the jury, and Pamela, Julia, and Nora made up the other three. + +The first prize was given for the Bryant scrap-book that Phoebe had +made. No one certainly could find any fault with it, so neatly were the +pictures arranged, and so free from daubs were the broad margins. + +Every one wondered where she had found so many pictures that exactly +illustrated the poems chosen, and Phoebe assured them that this had +been not at all difficult, since Miss South had let her look over dozens +and dozens of old magazines, from which she had been able to choose +those that best suited the words. + +No one dissented from the award of a volume of Bryant's poems to +Phoebe, but there was more discussion when the second prize, a framed +photograph of Greuze's "Head of the Dauphin," went to Haleema for a +flower book. In this she had put a great variety of flower pictures, +some of them mere decalcomanie, embossed groups, others colored +lithographs from periodicals of all styles, while not a few were nature +pictures from the magazines in which flowers were conspicuous. + +Concetta and Gretchen were partly right in thinking that the very +prettiest of all was the book of children that Nellie had made. + +"The little sick children in the hospital will like it best, anyway," +said Concetta. She did not happen to like Phoebe very well, and for +the time being Nellie was especially in her favor. + +"Nellie's book certainly would be more entertaining to the little sick +ones in the hospital, and if she had only trimmed the edge of her +pictures more carefully, and had kept the margins free from mucilage, +she would have had something better than third prize." + +But Nellie herself was very well contented with the award, and her +beaming face testified that she did not need a champion to stand up for +her rights. Concetta, therefore, found herself a minority on the +committee in deciding this question, for all the others were in favor of +Phoebe's having the prize. + +When it came to the dolls there was less difficulty, for Miss South had +decreed that the award should go to the doll whose clothes showed the +neatest sewing. There were no two opinions, and as Concetta herself was +not on this committee of award, no one objected to her having the pretty +case of scissors that the judges handed her, after they had carefully +examined all the clothes of all the dolls--a piece of work that took +considerable time and thought. + +But entertaining though the judging and awarding had been, the +pleasantest part of this whole work came when they took the books and +the dolls to the hospital. + +Naturally the girls did not all go together, but in two or three +detachments, and their sympathies were moved to the utmost by the sight +of the helpless little ones. They were delighted when they learned that +this child or that would be in the hospital but a short time; and some +of them--Nellie, for example--were moved to tears on learning that one +or two whom they pitied might never be well. + +"There is no harm in having their sympathies touched," said Julia, when +some one remonstrated with her for taking these girls to the hospital, +"for we older people at the Mansion intend that the outcome shall be +some practical work." + + + + +IX + +NORA'S WORK--AND POLLY + + +When Nora visited the Mansion, every one was delighted. Nellie's face +naturally beamed at sight of her, for didn't Miss Nora belong to her +more than to any one else? But all the others were fond of the bright, +cheery young girl who not only remembered the name of each one, but had +some directly personal question to ask. She could ask about their aunts +and uncles and cousins, as well as about their nearer relatives by name, +and this meant a good deal to these younger girls, who, although happy +at the Mansion, remembered sometimes that they were among strangers, and +were glad of any word that connected them with their own homes. + +Nora was an outside worker, and very proud that her last year's lessons +in a normal cooking class had fitted her to give regular lessons to a +group of the Mansion girls. + +"'A penny saved is a penny earned,'" she had said gayly, when she made +the offer of her services; "and if you will hear me conduct one class, +and then take a good, long look at my certificate, you will decide, I am +sure,--or rather I hope,--to let me belong to the staff." + +Of course Miss South was only too happy, and she knew Nora's mental +qualities so well as to believe that she would make a good teacher; nor +was she disappointed after she had heard her conduct a class. + +"I really begin to feel as if I were of some use in the world," Nora +said, after her first lesson; while Miss South remonstrated, "Why, Nora, +you always have been one of the most useful girls of my acquaintance. +You are always busy at home, and so helpful to your brothers, and--" + +"Oh, in the ordinary relations of life it would be very strange if I +should not do what I can. But every one should reach out a little beyond +her immediate circle; don't you think so?" + +"Yes, indeed, I do think so, Nora; but for this reaching out, the work +of the world could not be carried on, and I am more than happy when I +see so young a girl ready to do her part." + +Now Nora's disposition, as Miss South had said, had always been one of +helpfulness to others. With less money to spend than most of her +intimate friends, she had managed to enjoy life thoroughly, and she had +been a most devoted sister and daughter. + +Her brothers would confide their difficulties to her more readily +sometimes than to their mother, although Mrs. Gostar was herself a most +sympathetic person, and Nora was friend and adviser to half a dozen +youths of Toby's classmates in College. + +Yet in spite of her many home duties she found time for much outside +work. She had a Sunday-school class of boys whose doings were a constant +surprise and almost as constant an occupation for her. Sometimes their +vagaries carried her even into the Police Court, where she was ready, +if necessary, to say a good word for some boy brought up for a petty +offence. When her brothers teased her about her burglar and highwayman +proteges, she took their teasing in good part, and replied that as yet +none of them had done anything bad enough to require her to give heavy +bonds. "Which is fortunate, considering that I am not a large owner of +real estate." + +"But how much of your pocket-money goes in fines or in cab-hire when you +are called out in sudden emergencies?" whereat Nora blushed to a degree +sufficient to show that Toby had hit somewhere near the truth; for +Nora's Sunday-school class, though not in a mission, was yet made up of +boys who were remarkably free from a sense of responsibility, and it was +this sense of responsibility that Nora tried to impress upon them; and +to assure them of her interest, she did all that she could for them in +their every-day life, and not infrequently was to be met with some of +them escorting her even on one of the fashionable thoroughfares. Nora +did not flinch at the smiles that some of her friends bestowed on her +when they met her with her cavaliers. + +Yet her interest in these boys did not prevent her having as great an +interest in the girls at the Mansion, and in many a little emergency she +was the right-hand helper of Julia and Miss South. It was Nora, too, who +kept up the most active communication with Mrs. Rosa and the Rosa +children at Shiloh. Manuel, indeed, was her especial pride, although she +persisted that she was not entitled to all the praise that the family +lavished on her for having rescued him years before from being run over. +Angelina's sister was not as self-sufficient as she, and was only too +glad to look up to Miss Gostar for advice and praise. Moreover, Nora +gave perhaps a little less time than the others to the work at the +Mansion, because she was especially interested in a Boys' Club. Some of +her Sunday-school boys were in it, though a few of the club thought +themselves too old for Sunday school. What Nora managed to accomplish in +the course of a week was always a wonder to her friends, who with fewer +home duties still seldom had time for outside work. Though her two elder +brothers had gone from home, one to the West and one to New York, Toby +and Stanley made constant demands upon her. "They not only expect me," +she said, laughing, "to see that their buttons and gloves are in order, +but wish me to be at home whenever they have invited any special friends +to the house, and at pretty frequent intervals they expect me to ask +some girl or another in whom they have a special interest. But they are +very good to me, too," she would conclude, "and without one or the other +of them to escort me where I wish to go, I do not see what I should do. +I'd even have to stay away from the Mansion sometimes." + +The class in invalid cookery proved a great success, and Miss South, as +she tasted one after another of the savory little dishes offered her by +the proud cooks, said that she almost wished that she might be ill +enough to have these jellies and broths recommended to her for a steady +diet. + +Gretchen, to whom she said this, seemed greatly amused by the idea, and +smiled and smiled, and finally broke into a loud laugh. + +"Would you really like to be sick in your bed," she asked, "just so's +you could eat my jelly?" And then Miss South repeated her praise of +Gretchen's work. + +"By and by," continued Miss South, "you may wish to have an exhibition +of your work, and before spring I am sure you will probably have learned +to make several new things." + +"Oh, yes, indeed," and Gretchen's face beamed with delight, for it +really was her wish to excel in cooking, and the progress that she had +made was one of the things that so pleased her grandfather, that he was +likely to consent to her staying a second year. As to Gretchen herself, +she was now quite determined to be a cook when she should be older, and +Julia had made plans to send her to a regular cooking school at the end +of a year. Her grandfather had said that he would gladly pay the cost of +tuition, if Julia and the others would help in some other ways. The old +man had several persons dependent on him, and it was his constant +anxiety lest Gretchen should be left unable to earn a living when he +should be taken away. + +Though it was clear what Gretchen's future occupation should be, it was +less easy for Miss South and her staff to decide about the others. +Concetta's one talent for fine needlework seemed to imply that she was +intended to be a seamstress, and the aim of those interested should be +to train her, that her work might place her in a good position. As to +the others, it was too early to decide what they should do or be. + +Prompted by a spirit of mischief, one evening when Mrs. Blair asked her, +Julia replied: + +"How can I tell just what we are training them for? One or two are very +fond of music, Inez is devoted to art, Angelina is sure that she would +love to travel, and Gretchen is the only one who seems a born cook." + +"But you don't mean that you would let all these girls follow their own +tastes? Please pardon me for saying it, Julia. But I fear that you will +not have the sympathy of--yes, of your friends, unless you turn all +these girls into first-rate domestics. When you think how much need +there is of good servants--really it is the most pressing problem." + +"I wish that I could help solve it," Julia replied gravely; "and if I +can, you may be sure that I will. The girls at the Mansion have +certainly a greater love for all kinds of household duties than they had +six months ago, and every one of them could be very useful in her own +home or any other. But they are too young yet to decide on the future +profession, just as I am sure that you would consider it too early for +the average schoolgirl to decide her whole future life when she is only +fifteen." + +"Oh, but this is different; you have the chance of influencing these +girls, and really it is your duty, when you consider the servant +question--" and so _ad infinitum_; and, indeed, others of Julia's +friends would continue the discussion. Usually Julia turned all +criticism aside with a smiling and indefinite reply, although at times +she would say, "Ah, I hope that I shall always be found ready to do what +is best for each girl." + +Casual criticisms like this from those who did not really understand her +aim did not greatly disturb Julia. They were more than balanced by the +cordial appreciation of her aunt and Mrs. Gostar, and others who knew +what she was really striving for. Then at intervals--though rather long +intervals--she had a cheering word or two from Ruth, who, in spite of +being on a protracted wedding tour in extremely interesting countries, +evidently kept her thoughts constantly in touch with her Boston friends. +"Of course I mean to be part of your experiment when I return home, and +I mean to work like a Trojan to make up for my absence this year. Also, +as I have written you before, I am collecting all kinds of weird +receipts that I mean to have your poor little victims--for I am sure +they call themselves victims--fed on next season." + +One afternoon, after a rather hard morning in which everything had +happened just as it should not, Julia heard a tap at her study door. + +When she answered it Angelina ushered in--but no, Angelina had nothing +to do with it--a flying figure flung itself upon Julia, and before its +arms had been removed from her neck she recognized the soft accents of +Polly Porson. + +"It seems like I hadn't seen you for a century, although now that I do +see you, you look as natural as life, and not a bit as if you were +weighed down by the care of a hundred girls, such as I hear you have +taken under your wing." + +"Not a quarter nor an eighth of a hundred; but where in the world have +you dropped from, Polly Porson? Have you come North, as you used to +threaten, to buy a trousseau, or is your novel ready to offer to a +publisher?" + +At which confusing double question the usually nonchalant Polly blushed +so exceedingly that Julia knew which part of the question had been +answered. + +"Who is he?" she asked so pointedly, that Polly, nothing loath, sat down +to tell the story. She had sprained her ankle, it seemed, early in the +autumn. "Why, I am sure I wrote you about it," she added, when Julia +expressed her surprise, "and I'm sure that I told you about the doctor; +didn't I say a great deal about him?" + +"Well, perhaps you did, but I was so unsuspicious that I did not attach +much importance to what you said, or I thought what you wrote was in +mere appreciation for his skill. Besides, I begin to remember that you +told me that he was a cousin, and one whom you especially disliked, +though you believed that he had saved you from being permanently lame." + +"Well, he is a cousin, as cousins go in the South, several degrees +removed; and he was perfectly disagreeable at first because I had gone +to College; but I've brought him round, so that he has made his own +younger sister begin her preparation for Radcliffe." + +"So in gratitude to him you are going to give up all your plans for +independence and fame. Alas, poor Polly!" + +"Oh, no, indeed; he says that I may write novels or do anything I like. +You never saw such a changed man. I just wish that you had known him a +year ago, so that you could mark the improvement." + +Thus Polly rattled on, and yet, as in their College days, there was an +undercurrent of wisdom in all that she said. + +"To tell the truth," she explained, "one thing I came for was to see +just how your experiment is working, for I have an idea that I shall be +able to do something of the same kind in Atlanta--in a very small way," +she added hastily, "not at all in this magnificent style; but it's very +much needed, and I have some original ideas to combine with yours." + +So Polly spent several days at the Mansion, learning, and teaching too; +for her words of encouragement taught Julia that she had been unduly +discouraged by various things outside, as well as by a certain amount of +friction among her protegees. Polly's visit drew her away from her +cares. + +One evening Julia arranged a reunion of all the members of the class +that she could collect at short notice, and though there were many gaps +in the ranks, it was altogether a delightful evening, and each one +present told all that she could, not only about herself, but about the +absent. + +All too soon Polly flew away, and though she protested that her shopping +in New York was not to be regarded as preparation for a trousseau, Julia +was sure that when the two should meet again there would be no longer a +Polly Porson. "Not that your new name will not be just as becoming as +the old one," she added, as they said their last words, "but for some +selfish reason I do wish that I could have Polly Porson stay Polly +Porson a few years longer." + +"Nonsense!" cried Polly, as she bade her good-bye. + + + + +X + +ARTHUR'S ABSENCE + + +When Arthur wrote that he should be away Christmas, Brenda seemed +undisturbed, although Ralph and Agnes were annoyed by his absence. + +"But he has been in Washington less than a month, and probably he wishes +to stay over New Year's. We'll keep his Christmas presents until he +returns." + +Ralph and Agnes exchanged a glance. + +"Hasn't he written you?" + +"Why, yes--but what?" + +Then Ralph explained that Arthur had had an offer to be private +secretary to a certain senator, and that this would keep him in +Washington all winter. "I received my letter only last night," Ralph +hastened to add, lest Brenda should feel slighted. Brenda's own letter +arrived that very day, but as it was second to Ralph's she read it in no +very gracious spirit. + +Then, too, Arthur seemed to take it too much a matter of course that she +would praise his remaining in Washington. Brenda, forgetting that she +herself had really reproached him for his idleness in Boston, began to +complain to her mother of his lack of dignity in taking the position of +private secretary. + +"My dear," Mrs. Barlow had responded, "I am glad to hear that Arthur is +busy. As there is no likelihood of his practising law, it is much better +for him to have his mind occupied. It would be bad for you both were he +to spend the winter in Boston with nothing to do but walk or drive or go +to dinners and dances." + +"But he isn't very strong, Mamma." + +"Perhaps not; on that account the climate of Washington will be better +for him. We have the assurance, however, that his health will be +completely built up in a year, and your father has plans for him. It is +no secret, so I may tell you that a new branch of the business is to be +established next winter, and it is of such a nature that Arthur's +knowledge of law will be valuable, and he will be put in charge of the +office work." + +"Does Arthur know?" + +"Yes." + +"Then I cannot see why he need be busy this winter. I believe that he is +just staying in Washington to annoy me." + +"Nonsense, Brenda!" + +But Brenda would not listen to her mother, and it is to be feared that +her letters reflected her impatience, for Arthur's letters came at long +intervals. Although she did not hear from him directly, she knew from +Ralph and Agnes that he was well, and from another source she often +heard about him. + +Although Brenda and Belle saw much less of each other than formerly, or +perhaps because of this, they kept up a vigorous correspondence. After +Christmas Belle and her mother had gone to Washington, and in her very +first letter she mentioned having met Arthur Weston at a certain +reception; "And I can assure you, that, in spite of being cut off from +Boston, he looks very cheerful." + +After this Belle never failed to mention Arthur in her letters to +Brenda. She told what a great favorite he was with this one or that one. +"He is an immense favorite, and I almost ought to warn you that he is +really too happy in the society of other people." + +Poor Brenda! All she could do was to write glowing letters to Belle, +telling her that she herself had never known so pleasant a winter in +Boston. She left Belle to infer that she was enjoying herself even more +than would have been possible had Arthur been nearer. If the truth were +told, Brenda amused herself rather sadly. Society wearied her, but she +had not strength of mind to give it up altogether. To the delight, +however, of Maggie McSorley, she went more often to the Mansion, and +even condescended to give the girls some lessons in embroidery. Since +her earlier school-days Brenda's skill in needlework had developed +wonderfully, and she could work very beautiful patterns on doilies and +centrepieces. + +But to design and fill out these patterns was one thing, and to impart +any of her own skill was another. The latter required infinite patience +on Brenda's part, and Brenda had never been noted for her patience. Yet +the discipline was better for her even than for the younger girls as she +guided their needles and watched them take the right stitches, and +helped the careless Maggie pull out the threads where she had drawn them +too tight, puckering the linen web, and, alas! too often soiling it +hopelessly. + +It was good discipline for Brenda, because strangely enough she found +herself more inclined to blame than to praise, and she could not help +noticing how much defter and neater than all the others were the fingers +of Concetta. Indeed, the latter did not really need the instruction. She +had already, like many little Italian girls, served an apprenticeship in +embroidery under her aunt. She did not intend to deceive any one in +joining Brenda's class, but she could not bear the idea that she, among +all the girls, should be deprived of the chance to be near the charming +young lady, as she called Brenda, simply because she knew more than the +others; so she too puckered her thread, and made occasional mistakes in +fear lest perfection on her part should lead to her being excluded from +the class. + +Amy called herself a detached member of the Mansion staff. She could not +give much time to assisting Miss South and Julia without neglecting her +college work. But there were certain things that she could do in her +leisure, and occasional spare hours she gave with great good-will to a +class in literature. Amy was still devoted to her early love, "The Faery +Queen," and once in a while, like Mr. Wegg, of fragrant memory, she +dropped into poetry herself. She was winning her laurels in college, +however, for more serious work than poetry--more serious, that is, in +the eyes of the world; and already she was famous among her classmates +for her literary ability. + +Indirectly she had been the means of Haleema's going to the Mansion. It +had happened in this way: during her first year in college she had gone +once a week to play accompaniments at a College Settlement. In the +chorus, for which she played, Haleema had been one of the most +vociferous singers, and although Amy had not been able to see her much +outside of the class, she had become much interested in the little girl, +and had received one or two letters from her during the summer. What +Haleema herself wrote, and what the head worker at the Settlement told +her about Haleema's home life, convinced her that the little Syrian was +exactly the kind of candidate desired for the Mansion school, and she +was really pleased with her judgment when, after the first week or two, +she heard Miss South and Julia praising the quickness and docility of +her protegee. Haleema, however, was not a young person capable of great +personal devotion, a fact that her pleading, poetic eyes seemed to +contradict. As she sometimes confided to the other girls, she liked one +person as well as another, and if she had gone a little further in her +confidences, she might have said that the person in the ascendant was +usually the one who at the time was doing some special favor for her. +She appreciated presents, and had a hoard of pretty things stowed away +in the bottom drawer of her bureau. + +On Mondays Brenda often found herself going to the Mansion, chiefly +because this was her only chance of seeing Amy. Monday, the Wellesley +holiday, Amy gave in part to a Mansion class in literature, and when her +little informal talk was at an end Brenda would seize her for a +half-hour of "gossip," as she called it. Sometimes she arrived at the +house before the class was over, and then, if she slipped into the +class-room, Amy had not the heart to send her out. Amy protested that +her work was by no means up to the standard that Brenda should look for +in a teacher, while Brenda insisted that Amy's account of certain great +poets and their work was so stimulating, that she should take up a +course of reading herself; and, indeed, she did induce Amy to make out a +list of books that she ought to read. + +"I should rather they were interesting, but even if they are not really +exciting, I'll promise to read at least three or four of them." + +"To please me?" queried Amy. + +"Well, partly to please you, but more to--to--well, to give me something +to think about. Everything seems so dull and stupid this winter, that +I'm going to try a homoeopathic remedy and try to read dull +books--just to see if I can't strengthen my mind." + +Then Amy, noticing that Brenda seemed far from happy, wisely asked no +questions, and as they walked across the Common to the station they +talked of everything except the subject that lay nearest Brenda's heart. + +"How is Fritz Tomkins?" Brenda asked, almost abruptly, referring to an +old playmate of Amy's, now a Harvard Sophomore. + +"Oh, Fritz is doing splendidly. I hardly ever see him, and I'm so +pleased." + +"What a funny way of putting it--pleased because you seldom see him." + +"Why, yes, because I know that means that he is so busy with his work +that he has no time for other things. He has come to Wellesley only once +this winter, and he tells me that he never worked so hard in his life." + +If Amy's speech was a little disjointed, Brenda understood her, and in +contrast her mind wandered to Arthur Weston. He, too, was busy, and +perhaps doing his duty by remaining at his post in Washington. But +unlike Amy, she did not feel pleased that he could so contentedly keep +his back turned to his Boston friends. Consequently she sent only the +briefest answers to his letters, and his replies became at last, if +possible, briefer than hers. + +Belle, however, kept her informed of Arthur's doings, and Brenda was +never quite sure whether the information that she gave her was intended +to please or to trouble her. She wrote, for example, of a riding party +to Chevy Chase, where Arthur and Annabel Harmon had led all the others +in gayety. + +"Annabel Harmon!" The name was familiar; and soon Brenda recalled one of +Julia's classmates at Radcliffe, a popular girl, and yet one whom some +of the best girls did not like. She had had some trouble with that +strange Clarissa Herter. Although Brenda had never cared so very much +for Clarissa Herter, she was pleased now to recall that she had heard +that Clarissa had in the end been more popular, or rather better liked, +than Annabel. She remembered that Annabel's father was a politician, and +when a second letter came with Annabel's name still connected closely +with Arthur's, Brenda thought more deeply on the subject. She wondered +if, perhaps, Arthur was planning to stay permanently in Washington, and +if he hoped to get some position through the influence of Mr. Harmon. + +Had Arthur been at home, Brenda would, undoubtedly, have given less time +to the Mansion work; for in the first place, in starting the work Miss +South had not counted on her aid. Other girls, more enthusiastic in the +beginning, had given less service in the end, and Brenda was almost the +only one who, without having promised much, was willing to do a great +deal. + +On the whole, Miss South was well pleased with the interest shown by her +former pupils. There was Anstiss Rowe, for example, one of the most +valued of the residents, who, after a year in society, had pronounced it +all a bore. She had been one of the younger girls during Julia's days at +Miss Crawdon's. + +"You never knew," she said once to Julia, "my intense admiration for +you. It would have spoiled it all had you known. But each of us little +girls had to have some object of devotion, and you were my pattern of +perfection." + +"The idea!" responded Julia. "I suppose that I ought to blush, but what +you say is too absurd." + +"Oh, I suppose that you never wondered who used to send you those +valentines; probably you had so many that you never thought about mine. +But there was one with some lovely mother-of-pearl ornaments. In fact, I +sent you two valentines that year, and two the next; but, of course, you +wouldn't remember mine especially." + +"It's all very touching, and, indeed, I do remember them, my dear +Anstiss, for I have an idea that I received no other that year. At +least, I have them safely put away at this very minute." + +"Well, I suppose that you thought some extraordinary youth sent them." + +"He would, indeed, have been extraordinary. But to tell you the truth, I +suspected that some girl had a hand in them." + +"We missed you when you went to College," said Anstiss meditatively. + +Though Anstiss had pronounced society hollow and a bore, she had not +entirely forsworn it, and at times she went home for a week or two, +returning, however, always on the evening of her history reading. This +was her special contribution to the school work. + +Anstiss had her own protegee at the Mansion--a girl who had been in her +Sunday-school class. Phoebe had been loath to leave school when her +parents insisted, and Anstiss said it was merely avariciousness on their +part, as her father was earning good pay. "When I came to investigate," +she said, "I found that he was only her stepfather, and her mother said +that she did not need her money. So in the end I was able to get her +consent to her coming here. Phoebe was never very bright at school--" + +Then Julia interrupted her. + +"But she's doing splendidly here. Miss Dreen says that she's a born +cook, and never makes a mistake." + +"Yes, I know. And when she has finished her course I'm going to see what +can be done to encourage her to study still further. She says she'd like +to be a cook, but it seems to me that if she continues to be interested +in her study, she might be a director of cooking somewhere." + +"She'd earn as much by being a cook in some household." + +"Yes, but after all she has hardly the physique, and certain qualities +of hers lead me to think that she would be a good manager. We are going +to have an exhibition soon, and although we do not expect the greatest +results this first year, still I am sure that you will admit that the +girls have learned something, and Phoebe shall exhibit one of her +model luncheons. She has already served us some very good meals at a +fabulously low cost. That is one of the things she is learning, to make +the best use of inexpensive material." + +It was Edith who had been listening attentively to all that Anstiss had +said, and her reply, "I believe that I would rather see than eat those +very, very inexpensive things," was given seriously. Edith was always +glad to help the work at the Mansion when some matter of additional +expense was brought to her, and she made conscientious visits to +Gretchen, and in turn reported her progress to the old gardener. But +there was a certain coldness in her manner that the young girls felt. +They thought that she was not really interested in them, and her visits +were never greeted with the delight that was so evident when Nora made +her appearance. Edith was decided in her likes and dislikes. She could +always be depended on to stand by a friend, and as certainly was she apt +to be severe toward a wrongdoer. Though devoted to Julia and Miss South, +she was less fond of Pamela and Anstiss. + +"An artist's model! how Ralph would love to paint her!" Brenda had +exclaimed to Miss South after first seeing Concetta. "How I wish that I +had discovered her instead of Maggie." + +"She may have more personal charm," Miss South had responded, "but +Maggie is devoted to you, and some persons call her rather pretty, +although," a little apologetically, "we all understand here at the +Mansion that 'handsome is what handsome does' should be our chief rule +of conduct. I never permit the girls to make one word of comment about +the personal appearance of another." + +"Oh, naturally," responded Brenda, accepting the implied reproof; "but +the comparisons that I make will not come to the ears of the girls." + +"No, not the comparisons, perhaps; but we try ourselves not to let them +think that any girl is preferred by any one who comes here. All girls of +fifteen are sensitive." + +Yet Maggie, in spite of the fact that Concetta tried to make her +jealous, was unwilling to believe that Brenda had a preference for +Concetta. + +"Miss Brenda asked Miss South to send me up to her house to get that +parcel of embroidery patterns; she could have sent it down by her man +just as well," concluded Concetta, with an important air; "or she could +have asked you to come." + +Then, when Maggie made no reply, except perhaps that she polished her +glasses a little more vigorously, Concetta added: + +"But I'm sure she just loves to have me come to her house. You see she +always invites me to go up to her room, and she asks me all kinds of +questions." + +Then, as Maggie still continued provokingly silent, Concetta continued: + +"You see, my country is a very interesting country, and I tell her all +kinds of things that I have heard, especially about the beautiful +cathedrals. She thinks I remember them all, but it is what I have heard +the elders say, and she listens quite open-eyed, that, so young, I can +remember so much. Don't you hate that you were born only in Boston." + +"No, I don't," said Maggie gruffly; "I despise foreigners." + +Then did Concetta become wisely silent, for she heard the step in the +hall of one in authority, and she did not wish at the moment to bring +Maggie to the point of tears. Maggie wept with unusual ease, and just +now Concetta was not anxious to draw on herself a reproof, lest it +should be followed by a withdrawal of the permission to go to Miss +Barlow's. + +It was true that Maggie had never swerved in her devotion, showing it +often in unexpected ways. Whenever Brenda entered the room she followed +her with her eyes, and when her goddess addressed her she always blushed +deeply. Mrs. McSorley was constantly putting poor Maggie through a +course of questioning, that the former might be made sure that little +girl had done nothing likely to drive her out of this paradise. + + + + +XI + +SEEDS OF JEALOUSY + + +Fortunately for many of the girls at the Mansion, they did not live +under a very rigorous system of rewards and punishments. Every one was +expected to report once a week what property she had injured, and this +usually meant what dishes she had broken. She was also expected to tell +what other things she had done that were not for the good of the school. +One or two girls really liked to have a long list of misdemeanors. They +seemed to think that it gave them an air of distinction, and Concetta +was especially delighted to read from a written list: + + "Bed not made until ten o'clock Monday. + Bureau drawers untidy for three days. + Forgot to put salt in the bread. + Let the kitchen fire go out. + Spilled ink on my best apron. + Broke one of our blue cups," etc. + +Most of the girls were contented with one or two faults, and some were +inclined to forget that they had any, until reminded by nudges from some +of their neighbors. These "confession meetings" were held once a week, +between four and five o'clock. A girl would have had to show herself +unusually bad to be excluded from the pleasant hour that followed when +Miss Julia played for them to sing, and then around the open fire gave +them good advice for half an hour,--good advice that they never imagined +to be anything but a bit of pleasant conversation, although they all +said that they went away feeling as if they could be good forever. + +It is true that the girls whose conduct was especially approved by +Julia, regardless in many cases of their reports, were permitted to +borrow some book from her bookcase that they especially wished to read. +At first she had been surprised to find that few of these girls had any +idea about choosing books. + +Haleema didn't care to read; she liked to do other things better. +Concetta loved to read, but had actually never read anything but +stories; indeed, she was surprised to hear that people ever read +anything else. + +Little did Brenda realize that she was sowing the seeds of jealousy. She +felt much pride in Maggie as having been her own discovery. She thought, +with some complacence, that but for her Maggie might still have been +condemned to the tiresome round of a cash-girl's duties. She did several +little kind things of which Maggie herself was unaware, that enabled +Julia and Miss South to enlarge the work of the school in directions +that were especially helpful to Maggie. + +But with the best intentions in the world, Brenda could not help showing +her preference for the pretty Concetta, whose dark eyes seemed mirrors +of truth, and whose manners were always so charmingly deferential. Had +she known that she was giving pain to Maggie by showing her preference +in this way she would herself have been always ready enough to admit +that this was not wise. But Maggie, although her tears flowed so easily, +had the ability to keep her thought to herself. + +Mrs. McSorley herself, with her Scotch canniness, had an exalted opinion +of Brenda, and on Maggie's weekly visits home impressed on her the great +advantages that she might expect from having the interest of a Back Bay +young lady. "And if she likes any other girl better than you, it will be +all your fault, and I'll take it a sign that you ain't doing your very +best." + +So Maggie had never said a word to her aunt about Miss Barlow's growing +preference for Concetta. To have spoken of this would only have drawn a +reproof upon herself. It was hard enough to confess her real faults, to +tell over the list of things she had broken during the week. She had +promised on first entering the Mansion to do this, and thus far she had +kept her promise. + +Now Maggie had her own little bit of a secret, and sometimes she drew +from her pocket a crumpled half-sheet of paper, and wept when she saw at +the bottom: + +"From your loving Tim." + +What would her aunt say, what would Miss Brenda say, if they knew that +at intervals she received these misspelled letters from a jail-bird. +Yes! "a jail-bird," that was what her aunt had called him, and though it +was true that he had only been in the reformatory, and that his +offence, as he had explained it, was due more to the fault of another +man. Still he had been imprisoned, and Maggie was forbidden ever to +speak to him again. + +Yet he was her uncle more than Mrs. McSorley was her aunt. The latter +was only an aunt-in-law, while Tim was her own uncle, and in spite of +his faults she loved him. Of course he was a ne'er-do-well, but his +smile was so jolly in contrast with the long-drawn, severe expression of +Mrs. McSorley. The latter said that it was very easy for him to be +jolly, when he never had the least care in the world for himself or for +any one else. But Maggie remembered many kind things that he had done. +"Since for him I'd never have been to the circus, and it was a whole day +we spent at Nantasket, and he gave me that plush box of pink +note-paper;" and Maggie would wipe away one of her ready tears as she +thought of Tim, and she gazed at the tintype that she kept with a few +other treasures in the plush-covered box. + +Many a time she pondered what she should do if he should ever come to +Boston, for he was now in Connecticut looking, as he said, for work. +"And it won't be so very long," he wrote, "before I'll have me own +house, and you for housekeeper; so learn all you can, for it won't be +long." + +For Maggie had written him once or twice since coming to the Mansion, +and her letters had been more cheerful than those that had found their +way to him when she was living with her aunt. + +So Maggie had her day dreams; and the real secret of her patience, and +her anxiety to learn everything relating to the work of the house, came +from this hope, that she was to have the chance of showing her uncle +what a good housekeeper she could be. Now Maggie should have realized +that her aunt had done much more for her than her uncle; that Mrs. +McSorley had shown her kindness in comparison with which Tim's +occasional bursts of liberality were very small indeed. Where would she +and her mother have been but for Mrs. McSorley? And Mrs. McSorley was +only a sister-in-law, whereas Tim was her mother's own brother. Yet the +kindness of Mrs. McSorley had been so overladen with good advice and +reprimands, that it did not stand out as kindness pure and simple. +Maggie was as sure that Mrs. McSorley did not love her as she was +positive that Tim did love her. + +Among the girls at the home she found little Haleema almost the most +sympathetic. At least Concetta disliked them both, and this was their +first bond of sympathy. The girls were apt to be sent in pairs on +errands, and occasionally on pleasure walks, and it had come to be the +habit for Maggie and Haleema to go together. They had gone together in +company with Julia to present their scrap-books and dolls to the +Children's Hospital, and there it was that they had fallen in love with +the prettiest little blue-eyed girl, who had been sent to the hospital +with a broken leg. She was then almost well, and when Miss South saw how +deeply interested the two were in her she allowed them to go each week +on visiting day. Later, when little Jennie went home, the two continued +to visit her; sometimes they even brought her to the Mansion to visit. +There she soon became a great favorite, and poor Maggie saw that Jennie +no longer owed everything to her and Haleema. Concetta won the child's +heart by dressing her a beautiful doll, and all the others vied with one +another in doing things for her. + +It was especially hard for her when, in answer to a request from +Concetta, Brenda herself sent a box of useful and pretty things for +Jennie's use. + +"It might just as well have gone through me," thought poor Maggie; +though, on further reflection, she had to admit that Concetta deserved +these things, because she had been bright enough and quick enough to +think of asking for them. + +A few days later, when she went to see Jennie she took with her a +beautiful bouquet, purchased with money taken from the little hoard that +she had so carefully saved. This was a real sacrifice on Maggie's part, +and when she saw the joy with which the little girl received her gift +she was more than repaid. + +Moreover, in the hour that she spent with the little girl she was sure +that Jennie cared for her as much as ever. Indeed, had she been able to +reason more deeply, she would have discovered that a child discriminates +very slightly as to the value of different gifts. Jennie, like other +children, loved Maggie quite as well as she loved Concetta, and though +she enjoyed the presents that each one brought her, she had no scale of +values by which to measure them. + + + + +XII + +DOUBTS AND DUTIES + + + "But of course you haven't given up your music. If I thought that + you had, I should march straight East, and find the reason why. If + it's on account of that Mansion school, you'd have to leave it + instantly; so when you write tell me what you've been composing, + and whom you are studying with this year. As for me, I really am + rather idle, and I'm learning that a college education isn't really + wasted, even if one practises only the domestic virtues. My mother + has been far from well this year, and she's luxuriating in having + me here to run things. Running things, you know, is rather in my + line. But ah! how I wish that I could see you and Pamela and Lois + again, and all the others of our class who are enjoying themselves + fairly near the classic shades. I suppose that you go out to + Radcliffe at least once a week, and do you feel as blue as I do to + think it's all over? But don't forget to tell me about your music. + + "Ever your + + "CLARISSA." + +As Julia folded up this letter from her old classmate her face grew +thoughtful. She certainly was not even studying this year, nor had she +composed a note. It was kind in Clarissa to remember her little talent. +Even Lois had spoken to her recently about hiding her light under a +bushel. Was she doing this? Might her little candle, properly tended, +shine out large enough to be seen in the world? Her uncle and aunt had +remonstrated with her for neglecting her music, and Julia had promised +to resume her work later. But thus far the exact time had not come, and +she hesitated to tell them that she doubted that she had the talent that +they attributed to her. This feeling of discouragement had come to her +in the last year at Radcliffe, when she began to see that her ability as +a composer had its limits. Now, with Clarissa's letter before her, she +wondered if she had been right in letting one or two slight set-backs +discourage her. She had continued her practising, and her rendering of +the great composers was a continual uplifting to those who heard her. +But the other,--her work in harmony,--was she right or wrong in laying +it aside for the present? Was this the talent that she should be called +to account for? Ought she to keep it concealed in a napkin? As she +thought of this, Julia longed more than ever for Ruth--Ruth, with whom +she had found it easier to discuss these personal questions than with +any other of her friends. But Ruth, on her wedding trip, was thousands +of miles away. It would be six months, at least, before they could meet, +and she glanced at the map on which she marked a record of Ruth's +wanderings, and noted that now she was in the neighborhood of Calcutta. +"The other side of the world," she thought. "Ah! well, I will let things +go on as they have been going, and next year, perhaps, I shall see more +clearly what I ought to do." + +Pamela was perhaps carrying out her ideals more thoroughly than Julia, +for all her teaching was along the artistic lines that she loved the +best. She was not always sure that the girls got just what she intended +them to get from her little talks on the nature of beauty, and the +relations of beauty to utility. She used the simplest language, however, +and made her illustrations of a kind that they could easily comprehend. +She had tried to show them the meaning of "Have nothing in your house +that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful," and in +expounding this she saw that she must try to train them to understand +the truly beautiful. For her own room she had had some mottoes done in +pen and ink artistically lettered, and one at a time she would set them +in a conspicuous place, sure to attract the attention of the girls at +their lessons. + +Ruskin's "Every right action and true thought sets the seal of its +beauty on person and face; every wrong action and foul thought, its seal +of distortion," put up in plain sight, though at first it was not +thoroughly understood, served as the text for a little talk, and each +girl for the time being decided to curb her tongue, lest her face should +show the effect of backbiting. + +Samples of dress fabrics, samples of wall papers, gaudy chromos +contrasted with simple photographs, queer and over-decorated vases in +comparison with graceful Greek shapes, were all used by Pamela to +enforce her lessons. Yet she often had misgivings that her words were +not accepted as actual gospel by Nellie and Haleema and one or two +others, whose preference for crude colors and fantastic decorations +often came unexpectedly to the surface. + +Nora laughed at her efforts to develop an aesthetic sense in these girls. + +"They'll never have the chance to own the really beautiful things, and +they might as well think that these cheap and gaudy objects are +beautiful." + +But Pamela shook her head at this. + +"Why, Nora, you surprise me! What I am trying to teach is the fact that +beautiful things are often as cheap as ugly things. Of course, in one +sense, they are always cheaper, because they give more pleasure and +often last longer. But when a girl's taste is cultivated she can often +find more attractive things for less money. Who wouldn't rather have a +wicker chair than one of those hideous red and green plush upholstered +affairs, and the wicker chair certainly costs less." + +"You are absolutely correct, Pamela Northcote, and your sentiments do +not savor of anarchism, though I hear that Mrs. Blair is greatly +perturbed lest this work at the Mansion should interfere with the labor +market, and prevent the householder of the future from getting her +rightful quota of domestics." + +"It would not surprise me," said Pamela, "if not more than two of the +girls here actually became domestics. I think that Julia and Miss South +are right in encouraging them to live up to their highest aspirations." + +"Well, I doubt if any of them have begun to aspire very strongly yet. On +the whole they are remarkably short-sighted, and when I ask them what +they intend to be they are usually so taken by surprise that they can +make no reply." + +"Miss South feels that she can judge them only very superficially this +year; but she hopes that next year she will know them so well that she +can give them definite advice. In the mean time they are at the mercy of +laymen like yourself and myself, and we have the responsibility of +guiding them toward the heights of art, whether in the aesthetic or the +culinary line." + +Theoretically Pamela took some of the girls each Saturday to the Art +Museum; really the average was hardly oftener than every other week. +There were rainy Saturdays, there were days when Pamela had special work +of her own, or an occasional invitation would come for her to go out of +town. Three girls at a time were invited to go. Julia would not permit +Pamela to leave the house with more than that number, lest she should be +mistaken for the head of an orphan asylum. + +Pamela made these trips so interesting that for a girl to be forbidden +to go when her day came was the greatest punishment that could be +inflicted on her. Julia and Miss South had discovered this, and the +discovery had solved one of their greatest problems,--this question of +punishment; for although the girls were old enough to be beyond the need +of punishment, yet there were certain rules that only the very best +never broke, and to the breaking of which certain penalties were +attached. + +Thus it happened that on this particular Saturday afternoon Haleema, +whose turn it was to go, was not of the trio, and in her place was +Maggie, triumphant in the knowledge that for a whole week she had not +broken a single cup or saucer, nor in fact a dish of any kind. + +"That means that I have my whole quarter to do as I like with," she said +as they left the house. + +"That means," interpolated Concetta, "that you'll put it in your little +bank. She's a regular miser, Miss Northcote." + +"No, I ain't," responded Maggie, "only just now I'm saving." + +"That's right," said Pamela. "'Many a little make a mickle.'" + +"Yes, 'm," and Maggie lapsed into her wonted silence. + +Concetta, however, was inclined to be more talkative. + +"Oh, she isn't simply saving, she's mean. Why, she got Nellie to buy her +blue necktie last week; sold it for ten cents. Just think of that!" + +"Well, well, that is no affair of ours." + +"She sold a lovely story-book that her aunt gave her Christmas. She said +it was too young for her, and she'd rather have the money." + +"That may be, Concetta; but still I say that this is none of our +business." + +Yet although she thus reproved Concetta for her comments, Pamela +wondered why Maggie wished to save. Economy was not a characteristic of +girls of her age; though, recalling her own past need of money, Pamela +felt that thrift was not a thing to be discouraged. + +"Oh, please let us go to the paintings first," begged Concetta. + +"No! no! to the jewelry," cried Gretchen; while Maggie, knowing as well +as the others that they would first go where Miss Northcote chose, +wisely said nothing, expressed no preference. + +On their first visit they had walked through all the galleries to get +the necessary bird's-eye view, and a second visit had been given almost +wholly to the old Greek room. But all the casts and reliefs were as +nothing in Concetta's eyes compared with the richness of color in +Corot's "Dante and Virgil in the Forest," and the wonderful realism of +La Rolle's two peasant women. + +"I don't know whether they're Italians," said Concetta of the latter, +"but there's something about them that makes me think of Italy;" for +Concetta had vague remembrances of her native land and of the +picturesque costumes of the Italian women. Although she was proud enough +to consider herself an American citizen, she still was pleased when +people called her a true daughter of Italy, and she loved everything +that reminded her of her old home. + +Of all the things that she had seen, Gretchen declared that she would +much prefer the great crystal ball to which a fabulous value was +attached, although there were some exquisite gold necklaces that had an +especial charm for her. + +Now on this special day Pamela meant to combine instruction with +pleasure, and so the quartette quickly found themselves in the Egyptian +room. + +"You don't think that beautiful, do you, Miss Northcote?" and there was +more than a little doubt in Concetta's tone as she pointed to a granite +bust of a ruler in one of the earliest dynasties. + +"I like it better than the mummies," interposed Gretchen, before Pamela +could reply; "they give me the shivers." + +"I wish you'd take us into the mummy room," continued Concetta +seductively; "there are some lovely blue beads there." + +But Pamela was sternly steadfast to her purpose, reminding them that +there would be other opportunities for them to wander about +indefinitely, whereas now she wished them to get a little idea of +history through these reliefs and statues. But I am afraid that of the +three Maggie alone really listened very attentively to her explanation +of the difference between the Egyptians and the Assyrians, which their +works of art brought out so well. + +But neither Thotmes, nor Assur-bani-pal, nor Nimrod, nor Rameses were +names to conjure with, and in spite of her efforts to make her subject +interesting, by connecting things she told them with Bible incidents, +Pamela could not always hold their attention. To give up too easily +would have seemed ignominious, and she decided to allow them a diversion +in the shape of a visit to her favorite Tanagra figurines. + +"That will be good," said Gretchen, in her rather quaint English, as +they turned their backs on the grim relics of Egypt; "and we'll try to +remember every word you've told us to-day." + +"Then what _do_ you remember?" said Pamela with a suspicion of mischief +in her voice. + +The three looked uncomfortable. On their faces was the same expression +that Pamela often saw on the faces of her pupils in school when unable +to answer her questions. + +"The names were rather hard," ventured Concetta. + +"Yes, but you must remember one fact,--at least one among all the things +that I have been telling you." + +"I remember one," ventured Maggie. + +"Well, then, we shall be glad to hear it." + +"Why the Assyrians used to make their enemies look smaller than they +when they made reliefs of battles," ventured Maggie. + +"And the Egyptians were very fond of cats," added Gretchen; and with all +her efforts this was all the information Pamela gleaned from the girls +after her hour's work. + +But before she had a chance to try a new and better way of presenting +the Tanagra figures to them, she heard her name pronounced in a +well-known voice, and looking up she saw Philip Blair gazing at her +charges, and at her too, with an air of amusement. + +"This is a surprise. I did not realize that you were a lover of art," +she said a little awkwardly. + +"Oh, yes, indeed, though I can't tell you when I've been in this museum +before. It looks just about the same, though, as it did when I was a +kid." + +"There are some new paintings upstairs," said Pamela; "though it's +almost closing time now," she added, glancing at her watch. + +When they saw that Pamela was fairly absorbed in conversation, the three +girls wandered off toward another room where, Concetta whispered, there +were prettier things to be seen. + +"Do you bring them here often?" There was something quizzical in +Philip's tone as he watched the three for a moment. + +"Some of them every week; it's a great pleasure." Pamela was bound not +to apologize. + +"Do you think they'll get an idea of household art by coming here?" + +"I'm sure I hope so, though that isn't my whole aim. It will take more +than these visits here to get them to change their views of the really +beautiful. Concetta is always telling me about some of the beauties in +the house of her cousin, who married a saloon-keeper. They have green +and red brocade furniture in their sitting-room, and a piano that is +decorated with a kind of stucco-work, as well as I can understand her +description, for it can hardly be hand-carving." + +Emboldened by Philip's hearty laugh Pamela continued: + +"She also thinks our pictures far too simple, 'too neat and plain,' I +think she called them. Certainly she told me that she likes chromos in +gilt frames." + +"It is clearly, then, your duty to raise her ideals, though when it +comes to a whole houseful of new ideas, you will certainly have all that +you can do." + +But from this lighter talk Philip and Pamela turned to more serious +things, and as they walked through the long galleries, unconsciously +they were showing themselves in a new aspect to each other. Philip, at +least, who had had so many trips abroad, had profited more than many +young men by his opportunities; and as they walked, Pamela, for almost +the first time in her life, felt a little envious as he talked of this +great painting and then of that,--of paintings that she had longed to +see,--speaking of them as casually as she would speak of the flower-beds +on the Public Garden. Ah! was she never to have this chance of crossing +the ocean? It was but a passing shadow; for a swift calculation of her +probable savings showed that, though the time might be long, there was +still every probability that some time she could take herself to Europe. +But meanwhile-- + +"Ah! you should see a real Titian, or a Velasquez like the one the +National Gallery bought a few years ago; I saw it the last time I was +over. Oh! I should love to show you some of my favorites in the Dresden +Gallery." + +"Yes, yes!" Pamela spoke absent-mindedly. She had suddenly remembered +the existence of her charges. + +"I wonder," she began, when her speech was cut short by Gretchen, who +ran rapidly up to her from the broad hall outside, a look of alarm on +her face as she grasped Pamela's arm. + +"It's--it's Maggie!" she exclaimed excitedly. + +"What is it? Has anything happened? Is she hurt?" + +"I can't say as she's exactly hurt," responded Gretchen, "though she +gave an awful scream; but you'd better come." + +[Illustration: They walked through the long galleries] + +With Gretchen leaning on her arm, or rather dragging her on, Pamela +hastened to the large room with its tapestries and cases of +embroideries. + +"No, no, not here; this little room," and Pamela soon saw Concetta and +Maggie. The latter was weeping bitterly, the former stood near looking +rather sulky. One of the custodians, with severity in every line of his +face and figure, was talking to them "for all he was worth," as Gretchen +phrased it. + +In a glance Pamela saw what had happened. There was a hole in the top of +the glass case, and the man held in his hand a large glass marble. +Pamela remembered that Maggie had been tossing it up and down on her way +across the Common. + +"I didn't do it." Maggie was crying. + +"Nonsense, Maggie! I saw you playing with it myself." + +"But not now--not now." + +Pamela glanced suspiciously at Concetta, but the little Italian was +already at the other side of the room, pretending a great interest in a +case of ivories. For the moment Pamela was overcome. Her old shyness had +returned. Several bystanders were gazing at the strange group, and +Pamela was at a loss what to say. Clearly it was her duty to offer to +make restitution, but she could not speak; she did not know what to say; +and when Gretchen, too impressed, doubtless, by the brass buttons on the +coat of the official, said anxiously, "If he's a p'liceman, will he put +us all in jail?" the climax had been reached, and Pamela herself felt +ready to cry. + +In a moment she saw Philip pass her; he had been not far behind all the +time, and the few words that he spoke in a low voice made the grim +features of the official relax. + +"Oh, certainly, sir, certainly," he said, as Philip gave him his card. +"I'll go with you to the office." + +Philip paused only a moment to say to Pamela, "There, I leave you to +your charges; let me know if they break anything more on the way home." +Then, as if this was an afterthought, "By the way, it's all right about +that glass; my father's a trustee, you know; I'm going to fix it in the +office downstairs." + +When Pamela told her of the incident, Julia only laughed. "I dare say it +cost Philip a pretty penny; that kind of glass is very expensive." + +"Oh, I feel so ashamed," said Pamela. "It was really my fault. I should +not have let them leave me. I must repay the cost of the glass." + +"Nonsense! Philip might as well spend his money for that as for other +things. He never has been considered especially economical. Besides, it +was at least partly his fault that you left the girls, or let them leave +you;" and this was a fact that Pamela could not deny. + + + + +XIII + +THE VALENTINE PARTY + + +When the "Leaguers" announced that they intended to have a valentine +party, Julia and Miss South gave their assent with hesitation. + +"It has a sentimental sound," said Julia,--"a valentine party! and I do +wonder whom they wish to invite." + +But when they were questioned the girls explained that they did not +intend to ask a single person from outside, and, of course, not a single +boy. The valentines that they most enjoyed sending were to other girls, +and they wanted only girls at their valentine party. + +These, at least, were the words of Concetta, their spokesman, and if any +of the others dissented, they did not express their disagreement. + +"But we expect you, Miss South, and Miss Bourne and Miss Barlow, and all +the ladies who have been so very kind to us. Miss Northcote is in the +secret, but every one else is going to be very much surprised." + +"We'll try not to be curious, and I suppose that you wouldn't let us +bribe Angelina to tell us." + +"Oh, no'm; no, indeed. Miss Angelina," and Gretchen turned to Angelina, +who was standing near, "if you tell we'll never--never--" + +"Oh, I'm not afraid." + +"We'll never call you Miss Angelina again--just plain Angelina." + +"I wouldn't stand being called 'plain Angelina,'" said Miss South, +patting Angelina's shoulder as she passed by. + +Now for a week or two there was much secrecy, much whispering, many +hours spent in the gymnasium at times when the rules about exercising +did not require the girls to be there. Snippings of bright-colored paper +were found in the hall, and not only bits of paper but of colored +cambric; and Julia, and Nora when she came to the cooking-class, and all +the other older persons interested in the Mansion, professed to be +entirely mystified by what was going on. + +But at last the eventful fourteenth of February arrived, and all the +guests had assembled in the dining-room. The little stage had been set +up, and the audience awaited the performance with great interest. Each +girl, as before, had been permitted to invite two guests, and a number +of boys and men were present,--brothers, cousins, uncles, and an +occasional father, and the women relatives were out in full force. + +Angelina's sister had come in from Shiloh to spend a day or two, and she +was doorkeeper in Angelina's place. As the guests went to their places, +each one was given a heart-shaped card, the edges gilded, to which was +attached by a pink cord a small pencil shaped like an arrow. + +"Evidently we are to keep some kind of a score," said Nora, "but what it +is to be I cannot imagine." + +"Nor I," responded Brenda; "I haven't been taken into the secret, but I +know that it is to be something exciting." + +Brenda had not yet outgrown her love for emphatic words, and "exciting" +once in a while reappeared as a reminder of her childish years. + +They had not waited very long when the door from the little room behind +was opened, and a barefooted maiden with a broad straw hat torn at the +rim, and a blue calico gown looped up over a paler blue petticoat, +appeared. She carried a rake, and "Maud Muller" was breathed around the +room before Angelina, coming from behind the scenes,--that is, from the +other room,--had had time to say, "Ladies and gentlemen, you are asked +to listen to each character, and to make a record of two things: First, +those who look the best, then those who speak the best, that is,--I +mean--" and for the first time almost in the memory of those present +Angelina seemed to have stage fright, and was unable to translate her +sentences into the clearer and more elegant phrases that she had +intended to use. Thereupon she retired in some confusion, and Maud, who +was really Nellie, recited the simple lines of the charming poem: + + "'Maud Muller, on a summer's day, + Raked the meadow sweet with hay, + Under her torn hat glowed the wealth + Of simple beauty and rustic health.'" + +"I doubt that Maud had exactly that brogue," said Nora. "If she had, I +believe that the judge would have been too thoroughly fascinated to ride +away." + +After this came a strange, Spanish-looking figure, who took a kneeling +attitude with bowed head. The solemnity of the effect was somewhat +marred when Concetta--for she it was--turned her head around slightly to +make sure that the audience was fully appreciative of her. Many were the +guesses as to what she portrayed, and indeed it was one of the guests, a +thoughtful girl, who ventured Ximena, "the angel of Buena Vista," and +then every one else wondered why she had not been clever enough to think +of this. + + "'From its smoking hell of battle, love and pity send their prayer, + And still thy white-winged angels hover dimly in our air.'" + +After the women of Marblehead and Barbara Freitchie had made themselves +known, "The Witch's Daughter" was given in series of tableaux, in which +Maggie took the part of Mabel, and Angelina the part of Esek Harden, in +a coat which, if not historically accurate, was at least a suitable kind +of masculine attire for a girl to wear. Next came Haleema as the +Countess, and Luisa as Amy Wentworth, in rather elegant clothes that +surely must have come from one of the chests in the end room; and last, +but not least, Anna and Rhoda, the two sisters in their long white +gowns,--Anna timid and shrinking and Rhoda vehemently denouncing her; +Inez the former and Phoebe the latter,--reciting some of the more +tragic stanzas of the poem. + +"Must we give up these pretty hearts?" asked one after another as Phoebe +began to collect the cards. + +"Oh, you can have them back again if your names are on them, we only +want to count the votes;" and then there was a general murmur, for some +people had forgotten to record their opinions and a little time was +lost. But in the interval Julia played a Chopin waltz that several of +the girls especially liked, and followed this with a few chords of one +of the choruses they had been learning, in which they all joined very +heartily. + +When the score cards were brought back it was found that there was a tie +for the favorite character between Haleema as the Countess, and Maggie +and Angelina as Mabel Martin and Esek. + +Angelina was in a state of excitement when this result was announced, +and was determined that the decision should be immediately in her favor; +while Maggie, disturbed by being so conspicuous, hoped that the prize +might be given to Haleema. + +"It isn't for you to decide," said Phoebe sagely; "they'll find some +way of settling it--the ladies, I mean." + +This, of course, proved to be the case, and when an umpire had been +chosen whose decision all present agreed to respect, he decided that the +first prize should go to the Mabel Martin actors. This was not entirely +to the satisfaction of the followers of the Countess, and Concetta, who +was sometimes on Haleema's side and sometimes against her, now became a +very active partisan, and the two younger girls frowned ominously on +Angelina and Maggie. So far at least as prizes were concerned, Anstiss, +as President of the League, had brought it about that every actor +should have a prize, in each case an attractively bound book, with the +only advantage for the winners of the first prize that they were allowed +to have first choice. But there was a book for each of the others, and +each girl, too, had the pleasure of hearing from her own friends that +she really had made the very best representation of all. It was simply a +case of where all were so good it was almost impossible to choose the +very best. + +Mrs. McSorley was especially proud of Maggie's performance, and her face +almost lost its wonted grimness as she walked about among the girls and +their guests. "I'm thinking that you'll amount to something, after all," +she vouchsafed to her niece; and as this was almost the highest praise +she had ever given, Maggie was more than content. It may be said here +that in Turquoise Street Mrs. McSorley was much more eloquent than she +had been to Maggie's face, and the neighbors for many a day heard the +story of this very brilliant evening at the Mansion, and of the +remarkable manner in which Maggie McSorley had recited and acted the +part of the witch's daughter. + +Another pleasant result of the evening was that Haleema became more +friendly toward Maggie, for she had been impressed by Maggie's +generosity in being willing to resign the first prize to her. + +This, however, did not mean the winning of Concetta, who still seemed to +feel it her duty to refrain from any direct praise or showing any +friendliness for Maggie. But after this an observer would have seen that +she seldom showed any direct unfriendliness, and this was one of the +things that Maggie especially observed. + +The fun of the valentine party was quite forgotten in the excitement +that the girls of the Mansion, like every one else in the country, felt +on that sixteenth of February; for that was the day when news was +brought of the destruction of the "Maine." Angelina was the first to +report it when she broke into the dining-room with a newspaper that she +had bought from a boy at the front door. It had headlines in enormous, +heavy black letters, and Miss South, in spite of her general disapproval +of the headlines, could not resist reading the sheet that Angelina +handed her. + +"It means war, doesn't it?" cried Angelina in a tone that implied that +she hoped that it meant war. But neither Miss South nor the other +residents, nor the great world outside, knew whether peace or war was to +follow the awful disaster. It was useless to forbid the girls reading +the harrowing details. All, indeed, except Maggie and Inez seemed to +take a special delight in perusing them, and in speculating about the +families of the victims and the guilt of the Spaniards; for of course +the Spaniards had done this thing. There were no two opinions on the +subject, so far as the girls were concerned. Gretchen quickly became the +heroine of the day when it was learned that she had a cousin who was a +seaman on the "Maine," and when his name was read in the list of those +who had escaped, her special friends, Concetta and Luisa, seemed to +think that they, too, shared in the distinction, and they offered to do +her share of the housework that she might have time to think it all +over. Angelina was not altogether pleased that this honor had come to +Gretchen. + +"Julia," said Nora, whose day it was at the home, "I believe that she'd +be willing to sacrifice John for the sake of being the sister of a +victim," and in fact Angelina scanned the list of names, in the hope +that she might find one that she might claim as a relative. But +unluckily she could not fix on a single name that she could properly +claim. When she read aloud the President's message to Sigsbee, her voice +trembled with emotion: + + "The President directs me to express for himself and the people of + the United States his profound sympathy for the officers and crew + of the 'Maine,' and desires that no expense be spared in providing + for the survivors, and the care of the dead. + + "JOHN D. LONG, _Secretary._ + + "SIGSBEE, U. S. S. 'Maine.'" + +"But there isn't any 'Maine' now," said Maggie, as Angelina read the +last words, and then was the young girl moved to a word of genuine +eloquence. "There will always be a 'Maine;' it will always live in the +hearts of the American people!" and Julia, who happened to approach the +group just at this moment, said "Bravo! bravo! Angelina, you are a true +patriot." + + + + +XIV + +CONCILIATION + + +One day not so very long after the valentine party, when it was still +rather uncertain whether Maggie and Concetta were to be friends or +enemies, the former had a chance to do Concetta a real favor. It was a +morning when she had been very busy herself, as it was her week for +taking care of the large reading-room, and she had been up very early in +order to finish certain things before breakfast. First of all she had +cleaned mirrors with powdered whiting until they shone; then she had +polished the brasses; and finally, after spreading covers over +everything that might harbor dust, she had swept the long room. + +"Don't you hate sweeping?" asked Haleema, who was to help her dust and +arrange the rooms. + +"Not half as much as dusting. I really do hate that, it is so fussy, +and, do you know," dropping her voice, "I heard Miss Julia the other day +saying that she didn't like dusting either." + +In spite of any dislike that she may have had for the work, Maggie was a +willing worker, and soon she had the long room in perfect order. + +Soon after breakfast, passing through the back hall, they came upon an +array of lamps ranged on a long table. + +"Where's Concetta?" + +"I don't know. She was here a little while ago." + +"Well, I've looked all over the house, and I haven't seen her for an +hour." + +"It's her day to do the lamps. She'll get a scolding if she doesn't fill +them." + +"Who'll scold her? I never heard any one in this house scold." + +"Well, Miss Dreen, for one, is very particular, and she said that she'd +punish the next girl who neglected the lamps." + +"Oh, well," said Maggie, "perhaps she won't be back in time to do +them,--that is, if she has gone off anywhere." + +"She hasn't any right to go off in the morning." + +"I don't mind doing the lamps," said Maggie,--"that is, I'm not so very +fond of doing them, but I'd just as lieves, and it will save Concetta a +scolding. I don't mind a bit." + +So Maggie set to work with a will. She filled the lamps, trimmed one or +two wicks, put in one or two new ones, washed and polished the chimneys, +and when they were finished set them on a large tray to be ready for +evening. + +"Well, that's more than I would do," said Haleema. + +"I wonder how these lamps get used," said Maggie; "except in the library +they mostly use gas--the young ladies, I mean--and, of course, we only +have gas in our room." + +"Why, that's so," said Haleema, "though I never thought of it before." + +But neither of the girls put her mind sufficiently on the subject to see +that the care of the lamps was one of the devices of the two head +workers at the Mansion for getting a certain kind of exact service from +the young girls. The lamps were not needed. Often two of them were set +in a little-used room where they burned just long enough to sear the +wicks and cloud the shades, so that the young housekeepers could show +their skill in cleaning them. Miss South made it her duty usually to +keep in mind the girl whose task for the week it was to attend to the +lamps, and when the results were thoroughly satisfactory she was loud in +her praise, just as she felt it her duty to blame when the reverse was +true. From the lamps the two little girls went to the bathroom. + +"Oh, you oughtn't to dust without lifting down those bottles. Miss Dreen +says that we ought never to leave a corner untouched." + +"But I've dusted in between; it doesn't matter what there is under the +bottles." + +But Haleema was not to be rebuffed. + +"I like bottles," she added. "They almost always have things in them +that smell good," and she reached up on tiptoe toward the shelf. The +first bottle that she reached just came within her grasp, and she pulled +it toward her. When she pulled the stopper, it proved to be a fragrant +toilet water, and even Maggie, admitting that it was delightful, yielded +to the pleasure of inhaling it directly from the bottle. Emboldened by +her success, Haleema drew another bottle down toward her and made a +feint of drinking from it. + +"Oh, don't!" cried Maggie, in genuine alarm, "it may be poison." + +"Oh, they wouldn't leave poisons around like this. I'd just as lief as +not taste anything here. I ain't afraid." + +But although she spoke thus bravely, Haleema really did not venture to +put the liquid to her mouth. Then she touched a third bottle, filled +with a colorless liquid. She tried to pull out the rubber stopper, but +it would not stir. Holding the bottle under one arm, she gave a second, +more vigorous pull, when the stopper not only came out, but in some way +the liquid flew out, and then--a loud scream from Maggie, who was wiping +the edge of the bathtub. Haleema herself, half suffocated by the fumes +of the ammonia from the harmless-looking bottle, had enough presence of +mind to set it up on the marble washstand. But, alas! she set it down so +hard that the glass broke and the ammonia trickled down, destroying the +glossy surface of the hardwood floor. + +All these things, of course, had happened in a very short time; not a +minute, indeed, had passed after Maggie's first shriek before Julia and +Miss South and two or three girls had rushed to the room. + +The ammonia fumes at once told the story to Miss South, and without +waiting for an explanation she had raised Maggie from the floor. + +"Oh, dear, my eyes!" sobbed Maggie, and for a moment Miss South was +frightened. Ammonia can work great havoc when it touches the eyes. +Fortunately, however, as it happened it was not Maggie's eyes but her +face that the ammonia had really hurt. Her eyes were inflamed, and she +had to be kept in a dark room for a day or two, and her face had to be +salved and swathed in cloths. But in the end no great injury had been +done, and she won Haleema's everlasting gratitude by resisting the +temptation to tell enquirers that Haleema's carelessness had caused the +disaster; for great injury had been done the polished floor, and Haleema +knew that she deserved reproof and punishment. Yet such was Maggie's +reputation for destructiveness that she was supposed to have broken the +bottle, and in the injury to her face she was thought to have paid a +sufficient penalty. + +When Concetta returned to the house an hour later, great was her +surprise to find that her lamps had been cleaned, and when Haleema told +her of Maggie's kindness she could not understand it. + +"Perhaps she's trying for a prize." + +"What prize?" + +"Why, don't you know? At the end of the year the very best girl at the +Mansion is to have a prize. I shouldn't wonder if it would be a gold +watch." + +"Oh, I don't believe it." + +"Then you can ask Miss Bourne." + +A few days later Concetta had a chance to put the question to Julia. + +"Yes, indeed, there are to be two prizes: one for the girl who has +tried the hardest, and the other for the one who has succeeded the +best." + +"Which will get them, Miss Bourne?" + +"Ah, how can I tell?" + +"I don't see how any one can tell; no one is watching us all the time." + +"Some one does take account, Inez, of almost everything that you say and +do." + +"Oh, dear, I hate to be spied on," grumbled Concetta. + +"No one is spying, I can assure you; but there are certain things that +we notice carefully, and you have all been here so long that we know +pretty well just what you are likely to do." + +"I expect some one marks everything down in a book, like they used to at +school?" Maggie put this as a question, but Julia did not reply +directly. + +"All the advice I can give you is to do as well as you can, and whether +things are written in a book or not you will fare very well--at least, +you will all fare alike." + +"What will the prizes be, Miss Bourne?" + +"Ah, I cannot tell exactly." + +Thereupon the girls all fell to speculating not only about the prizes, +but about the kind of conduct that would win one. While they were +discussing this, Julia called to them from the floor above, "Have you +forgotten that this is your shopping day?" + +Then there was a scampering, and the girls who were to go with her began +to get ready. Each girl went shopping with one of the staff every three +months, and to-day the group was to consist of Concetta, Inez, Maggie, +and Nellie. It was Julia's turn to take them, and this was not wholly to +the satisfaction of Concetta. + +"I thought Miss Barlow said that she would go with us this time," she +murmured, as they left the house. She knew very well that if Brenda were +their shopping guide they would be able to purchase according to their +own sweet wills. She would be likely to approve everything that they +bought, provided that they had money to pay for it, and it was even +possible that she might supplement their allowance from her ever +generous purse. Thus, indeed, had she done on the one occasion when she +had taken them out, and her liberality had been even magnified by the +lively tongues of those who had described it. + +Shopping was not, of course, intended to occupy a large share of the +attention of these girls; yet to buy clothing properly was thought as +important by the elders who had them in charge, as marketing for the +table, and each girl was given a chance to market under the supervision +of Miss Dreen. They already knew the most nutritious and least expensive +cuts of meat. They could tell what vegetables could be most prudently +bought at each season, and some of them had already begun to show a +decided independence of judgment even in small matters relating to the +table. + +Hardly any of them, however, had the same degree of judgment in matters +of dress. On this account it had been thought wise to give each one a +small allowance, and let her spend it as she wished, with a certain +amount of guidance that she need not feel to be restraint. + +"What they spend for one thing they certainly will not have for another, +and there is probably no other way in which they can better learn what +to do." + +To let them use their own judgment on this particular shopping trip, +Julia made few restrictions. Each had the same amount of money to spend, +and out of it they were to buy spring hats, shoes and stockings, and the +material for two dresses, one of gingham and one of a heavier material. +All that they had left after making these purchases they were to spend +as they wished, and the sum had been so calculated as to leave a fair +margin. There was only one restriction: to save time and energy that +might be consumed in wandering around from one shop to another, Julia +planned that they should do all their purchasing in one of the larger +department stores, and while they were busy she did a few errands of her +own. At intervals she met them at certain counters by agreement, but in +almost every instance she found that they had made their purchase, so +that her advice was usually superfluous. + +"I thought that you were going to get a small sailor hat with a few +flowers at the side," she could not forbear saying to Inez, who showed +her a rather flimsy imitation tuscan, with some gaudy flowers and lace +for trimming. + +"Oh, but you should have seen the perfectly elegant hats they have +upstairs, all tulle and flowers, and as big--" at a loss for an object +of comparison. Concetta concluded, "as big as a bushel basket," after +which Julia could not say that the hat that Inez had chosen was really +of unreasonable size. + +Concetta looked somewhat shamefaced as she announced that she had no +hat. + +"But you had the money for it." + +"Yes, but I bought this, it's for the baby; I'd rather she'd have it," +and Concetta opened a large box in which lay a pretty, pink silk coat. +Closer examination showed that the silk was half cotton and the lace +very tawdry, but Julia hadn't the heart to reprove her. Concetta's love +for her baby cousin was genuine, and the coat undoubtedly represented a +certain sacrifice on her part. + +When they came to the dress materials, Maggie insisted on buying two +cotton dresses instead of the woollen dress, the material for which had +been provided by her money. + +"Maggie's a miser," said Concetta, and Maggie reddened without making +any explanation. + +Some of the materials bought were open to more or less criticism, and +later Julia meant to make certain of these mistakes the subject of a +little talk. They had done very well, she thought, for the present, in +buying practically all the things that she had intended to have them buy +with their money. Each of them, too, had a small surplus, and Inez was +the only one who proposed to use hers up by spending it at once for +candy. A little persuasion turned her aside from this purpose, and Julia +was careful that evening to offer her and the girls some especially fine +confections when they gathered in her room after tea. They all seemed +so receptive then that she thought it a good time to show them just how +their fifteen dollars might have been spent to the best advantage,--a +third for the dress materials, a third for shoes and hat, a third for +stockings and the other smaller things; and comparing what they had done +with her ideal purchases, she was interested to find that Nellie, the +young Irish girl, had really come the nearest to her standard, and +accordingly Nellie's face was wreathed in smiles as she learned that she +was thought to have been the ideal purchaser; for although Maggie had +also done very well, Julia was not wholly satisfied with her having +substituted the cotton for the woollen dress. + +That evening, as it was Saturday, they all played games in the large +gymnasium, where there was space enough for the exciting French +blindman's buff, in which, instead of having one of the players blinded, +she had her hands tied behind her back, and do her best, often she could +not catch the others. + +When they were tired of active sports, hjalma and draughts and other +games were ready for them, and occasionally they had charades or +impromptu tableaux, in which all the powers of their elders were taxed; +for the girls themselves lacked originality, and Miss South or one of +the other older members of the household had to supervise all that they +did. + +In these sports sometimes little unexpected jealousies arose, and Julia, +or Pamela, or Ruth, or Anstiss, as the case might be, had her hands full +trying to keep peace. The least desirable characteristics of the girls +came to the surface at times, and at times, too, their best qualities +were displayed in an equally unexpected way. Phoebe alone of them all +did not care for games. While the others were playing she was apt to +bury herself in a book, and often Julia and Pamela would insist that she +should put this aside to mingle with the others. + + + + +XV + +WAR AT HAND + + +As the weeks went on, Angelina and her little group of special friends +followed closely the newspaper reports of the troubles in Cuba; that is, +Angelina read the despatches and surmises, and told the others how +things were progressing. Except in the case of such definite events as +the destruction of the "Maine," the others were not extremely interested +in what Concetta called "stupid" accounts of distant happenings. +Angelina, however, was all excitement, and her theories were an +interesting supplement to all that the Board of Enquiry didn't find out. +When she read of Mr. Cannon's bill appropriating fifty millions for +defence she was sure that war was near at hand. When Maggie said that +there would be no money left in the country if so much was spent in war, +Angelina made a rapid calculation that this meant less than a dollar for +every person in the whole land, "and it would be a strange thing," she +said, "if we couldn't afford that." + +Even at the meetings of the League the conversation turned to war, and +they hastened through their readings of the Quaker poet to talk about +things that were rather far away from his teachings, except that he was +always on the side of the oppressed, and in the war of his time was +heard with no uncertain voice. + +The stripping of the fleet for war and the movement of the troops that +began early in April were described vividly by Angelina, after she had +read about them. The girls all took more interest when war seemed really +at hand, and Angelina was called upon to explain many things in which +her knowledge hardly equalled her willingness to impart it. + +"The mosquito fleet; oh, what can that be? Is it to bite the Spaniards?" +Inez had asked, and Angelina had replied most scornfully: + +"Of course not; it's a lot of long, thin iron boats that skim over the +water as fast as a mosquito flies--all made of iron, of course, with +long, thin legs that go out from the side like a mosquito's." + +"Legs," exclaimed Haleema dubiously; "on a boat!" and Angelina responded +hastily: + +"Well, not real legs, only kind of paddles, that make them go faster;" +and as no older person heard this original explanation, the girls +continued to have their very special interest in the curious mosquito +fleet. + +When the first shot was fired and the little "Buena Ventura" was +captured on April 22, young and old knew that peace was at an end, and +there was no surprise when the declaration of war came a few days later. + +"I've been looking for it," said Angelina, "ever since the 'Maine' was +destroyed, and I should have been dreadfully disappointed if war hadn't +come. But I was quite certain that there'd be fighting soon when I heard +that an officer had been sent abroad to buy warships; for what in the +world should _we_," with a strong emphasis on the "we," "want of +warships if we hadn't made up our minds to have a war?" + +During all these weeks Brenda had been no less interested than the +younger girls in the question of what should be done for Cuba. +Washington had become the centre of the world for her in the strongest +sense of the word, and evidently for the time it was the centre of +interest for the whole country. + +Arthur's letters to her continued rather brief. He spoke of being +overworked, and Belle in writing rarely failed to say that she had seen +him at this or that social function, and almost as often she mentioned +how popular he was. Brenda at last wrote one or two brief notes to +Arthur, asking him to return for a dinner that she was giving before +Lent; but he took no notice of these missives, at least he did not write +to her until Lent itself was half over, and then he made a simple little +reference to her request with a mere "I was sorry that I could not do +what you wished, but you must have known that I could not before you +wrote." + +Then Brenda came to the point of deciding that she would never write to +him again, and she threw herself into the work at the Mansion with much +more zeal than Julia had ever expected from her. She was far less +cheerful than the Brenda of old. It was not merely because she could not +have her own way, but rather that she felt the shadow of the impending +war cloud hanging over the country. + +Every Thursday she assisted Agnes at the informal studio tea, and this +was really her only amusement, and in the early spring the conversation +around the tea-table hovered between the two subjects,--the prospect of +war and the correct costume for the Festival. + +The Artists' Festival was an institution that the artists of the city +planned and enjoyed with the assistance of their friends. Each year +those who were invited were asked to appear in costumes suited to a +chosen period, the range of which might be several hundred years, but +within the limits of time and place each costume had to be artistically +correct, and meet the approval of the costume committee. This was to be +Brenda's first experience of the Festival, and earlier in the season, +when she and Arthur had talked about it, she had planned a certain style +of fourteenth-century costume, and Arthur was to go as her page. Ralph +had selected the plates, and though the time was then far off, they had +talked very definitely of what they should expect from the Festival. But +now-- + +Brenda decided to make a final test of Arthur. She would remind him of +the approaching Artists' Festival. + +"I shall be mortified to death," she had said to Agnes, "if Arthur does +not return in season for it." + +"Oh, I fear that he cannot, Brenda, from what he writes Ralph; I should +judge that he has work enough to keep him busy all the spring." + +"Well, it would be nothing for him to come here for two or three days +and then return to Washington; he used to be so fond of travelling." + +"You might write," responded Agnes. "Perhaps he may come." + +But in answer to Brenda's brief and rather imperative note Arthur wrote +simply that it was impossible for him to leave Washington now, greatly +as he should have enjoyed the Festival. Then after a page of more +personal matter he added that even if he could go to Boston, he should +feel indisposed to take part in gayeties at a season when the affairs of +the country were so unsettled. + +"Humph!" said Ralph, when Brenda repeated this part of the letter to +him. "They must be nearer war in Washington than we are here, for I can +contemplate an Artists' Festival without feeling that I am deserting my +country in its hour of need." + +As for Brenda herself, when Arthur's letter was closely followed by one +from Belle, in which she described a delightful dinner of the evening +before at Senator Harmon's, she tore Belle's letter as well as Arthur's +into small pieces; for Belle had told her that Arthur was one of the +gayest of the guests at the dinner. + +Yet even those who were pretty certain that war was near felt that there +could be no harm in planning for the Festival. Pamela was naturally +interested, but the medieval period chosen demanded more expensive +materials and a more elaborate costume than she felt disposed to +prepare. Julia was uncertain whether she cared to give the time to it, +and Miss South declared that she herself had not the energy to go. + +"So you, Anstiss, are the only one of us who will ornament the scene," +said Julia; "though I really think that Pamela ought to go, it is so +directly in line with the things that she likes." + +"As to that, it is ridiculous, Julia, that you shouldn't be there. When +you were out at Radcliffe you used to encourage operettas and tableaux +and all such things, but now--" + +"Well, now," responded Julia, "I feel as if I were working for a living +and ought not to waste my time in frivolities." + +"That is where you are very foolish. Soon we shall hear loud protests +from your aunt and uncle; indeed, they will probably come and drag you +away. They would be justified, too, if you continue in your +determination to have your whole life bounded by these walls." + +"Very comfortable walls they are, too, but I hate to wander too far in +search of costumes, and the thousand and one little things that are +necessary to make them complete. It is too much trouble for one +evening's enjoyment." + +"There!" exclaimed Miss South as Julia had finished, "I have an idea; +come with me." + +It was late and the pupils had all gone to bed, and Concetta, hearing +unwonted steps going to the upper story, pushed her door open a little, +and was surprised to see the strange procession winding upwards. + +It took its way to the end room in the attic, and when she had lit the +gas Miss South asked Anstiss to help her lift out a chest from a corner +of the closet. Selecting a small key from her ring and opening the +trunk, she began to unfold one or two garments. + +"Oh, how beautiful! But who could have worn it?" exclaimed Julia, as a +velvet gown trimmed with ermine and with a long train unfolded itself +before them. + +"Ah, but this is lovelier!" she added, as a dove-colored brocade with +pattern outlined in pink was shown, intended evidently to be worn with +the pink satin petticoat that accompanied it. Further delving into the +trunk brought out pointed shoes, elaborate head-dresses, and other +fantastic things. + +"Did your grandmother ever wear these clothes?" asked Anstiss in +surprise. "I should hardly think that they were of the style even of her +day." + +"Oh, these things are intended for costume parties," returned Miss +South. "My grandmother described some of the occasions when she first +wore them abroad. She took the greatest care of them, and every spring +she herself supervised her maid when she shook them and did them up +again in camphor. Strangely enough I have been so busy the past year +that I had forgotten about these particular things. There are two +complete costumes. One of them is entirely in the period of the +Festival, and the other needs so little alteration that you and Pamela, +Julia, will be completely equipped, with almost no thought in the +matter." + +"But why won't you go yourself?" + +"I have quite made up my mind about that; for the present, at least, I +have no desire for gayety." + +It was really amazing that these two costumes should have been found so +perfectly to meet all the requirements of the Festival. Julia, of +course, could have had a costume especially designed for her by a +costumer, but as she had said, in talking it over with Brenda, she was +by no means in the mood for this, and she would have stayed home rather +than waste the time in this way. + +Brenda threw herself into the preparations for the Festival as if she +had no other interest in the world. She was to be a principal figure in +the group that Ralph had arranged. With an artist's sense of beauty, and +an accuracy that no one had ever before suspected, Ralph planned the +costumes, and insisted that they should deviate in no particular from +his design. To effect this proved an unending occupation for Brenda and +Agnes. + +"There's one thing, Ralph, that has come out of this," said his wife one +day after he had given her a lecture on the unsuitability of certain +trimmings that she had selected. "After this I shall never worry about +our future." + +"Have you been doing so?" he asked in some surprise. + +"Well, I have had misgivings as to what might happen if you should +become blind, or if your pictures should fail to sell, or if Papa should +lose his money, or--" + +"How many more 'ifs,'" he asked; "I had no idea that you were a borrower +of trouble. What have I done to deserve this thoughtfulness, or perhaps +I should say thoughtlessness, on your part; for you say that now you +have ceased to worry." + +"Why, I am sure that you could transform yourself into a man milliner; +in fact, I'm not sure that I may not try to persuade you to change to a +more lucrative profession than that of a mere painter of portraits. From +the very way in which you hold that little pincushion under your arm, I +am sure that you would be a great success." + +Ralph only smiled as he snipped a bit from the end of a velvet train. +Then he moved off a little, that he might survey his work from a +distance. + +"It looks like a milliner's shop," said Brenda, pointing to the litter +of silk and velvets, embroideries and fur, strewn over chairs, tables, +and divan. + +"Yes, and I feel much as if I were waiting for customers. I believe, +however, that no more are expected this afternoon. I can therefore +attend to my mail orders. Tom Hearst, by the way, is coming on, and I am +designing something for him." + +"Well, if Tom can spare the time, I should think that Arthur might." + +"Ah, Arthur writes that he is too much concerned at the prospect of war. +He apparently does not approve of our frivolous doings. The times are +too serious." + +"I do not see why he need take things so to heart. He is not a--a +reconcentrado." Brenda's words may have seemed like an attempt at +levity, but, indeed, she felt far from cheerful. She concluded with a +weak, little "But you don't think that there will be a war, do you, +Ralph?" + +"I do, indeed, think that there will be a war, dear sister-in-law, but I +also think that it may be some distance off, and that we might as well +eat, drink, and be merry, in other words, enjoy the Artists' Festival," +he rejoined. + + + + +XVI + +THE ARTISTS' FESTIVAL + + +It was unfortunate that the Artists' Festival should have fallen on the +evening of the day succeeding the formal declaration of war, or, as some +of the younger people put it, that war should have been declared on the +eve of the Festival; for, they urged, the arrangements for the Festival +had been made before war had been even thought of, and so, if the +President and Congress had only waited a day-- + +But public affairs take their course, and Boston is a very small corner +of this large country, and though some persons may have absented +themselves from a sense of duty to their country, Brenda agreed with +Ralph that these never would be missed, so crowded did the hall prove +after the French play had ended and the seats had been removed. + +The patronesses, seated on a dais on one side of the hall, were gorgeous +in robes of cloth of gold, with the elaborate head-dresses of the time. + +The procession as it passed along was well worth seeing,--the trumpeters +at the head, the craftsmen and village folk, the brown-robed monks +singing a solemn chant, crusaders in scarlet coats, knights in armor, +ladies in sweeping trains, and everywhere the high-horned cap with its +graceful and inconvenient veil. + +On the stage at the end of the hall a French play was given, perfectly +rendered, complete in every detail of dress and scenery as well as of +acting. But it was a tragedy, acted so perfectly that Brenda, perhaps, +was not the only one who found it too gloomy for the occasion. The +tournament that followed, in which two hobby-horse knights tilted +against each other, was much more to her taste. + +"Why, Brenda Barlow! I was wondering if we should see you." + +Brenda looked up in surprise. The voice was surely Belle's, and +immediately she recognized her friend. Belle did not wait for questions +after the first greetings. + +"Oh, a party of us came on from Washington last night. The rest are +going back on Thursday, but I shall stay in New York for a month. +Annabel didn't come, nor Arthur either. You must have been awfully +disappointed that he wouldn't take any interest. I've always thought he +was a little uncertain. How do you like my costume? We ordered them at +the last minute from a costumer. I think he did very well, considering +the time. Tell me, is mine frightfully unbecoming? I've been trying to +make Mr. De Lancey tell me, but he simply says it's indescribably +fetching. I can't be sure whether or not he's in earnest. Oh, let me +present him to you; I forgot that you did not know each other." + +A moment later, separated from her own party, she was walking with Belle +and Mr. De Lancey into the adjacent supper-room, which had been +arranged in semblance of a rose-garden. They ate sandwiches and currant +buns served to them in baskets, and drank lemonade from pewter mugs. The +rooms had been rather cool. + +"It's the medieval chill," replied Brenda, when Belle asked her why she +was so quiet. + +"I believe it's worse in this rose-garden than in the large hall. I'm +afraid that these paper roses will become frostbitten." + +Soon Tom Hearst and Julia, in their search for Brenda, came upon her in +the garden. + +"Well, here you are! We've been looking everywhere. The rest of the +group has gone upstairs to be photographed. There's a man with a +flashlight in one of the studios. Aren't you coming?" + +The posing of the group took some time, and then there were single +pictures, and Agnes and Ralph were taken together. + +An idea came to Brenda. "Why shouldn't we form a group by ourselves?" +Brenda had turned to Tom Hearst with her question. + +"I should say so," he responded enthusiastically. "I mean certainly. How +shall I stand, or rather mayn't I prostrate myself at your feet as your +humble page?" + +"No, no, how absurd you are!" for Tom was already kneeling in an +attitude of devotion. + +"It's after twelve," the photographer reminded them, "and there are +several waiting." + +"In other words," said Tom, "we ought to hurry. So look pleasant, Miss +Barlow,--that is, as pleasant as you can under the circumstances," and +Brenda assumed her stateliest pose, having first seen that her train was +spread out to its broadest extent. + +"Really," exclaimed Ralph, who stood near, "you must send a copy of the +picture to Arthur." + +Brenda did not reply, but when they were again among the gay crowd she +was quieter than she had been before, and to the astonishment of Agnes +she was ready to go home long before the carriage came. + +But, strange to say, Pamela, the conscientious, was much less disturbed +than she should have been by the thought that this was the hour of her +country's danger. The artistic beauty of the whole scene was such that +for the time it occupied her mind completely, and she and Julia, with +Tom and Philip as attendant cavaliers, were quite care free as they +wandered among the gay throng. Yet her mind was turned a little toward +the war when Philip began to tell her of his difficulties. + +"In the natural course of events," he said, "I should have been in the +Cadets. But I had thought I'd wait a year or two. Now the only thing is +for me to enlist, or get an appointment as officer. They say that the +President will appoint any number of officers. There is only one +thing--" + +Pamela waited for him to continue, and at last he took up the broken +thread. + +"I haven't said much about it to other people, but my father is far from +well this spring. I notice this in little things, and he depends so on +me that I hesitate about taking a step that will lead to my leaving home +just now." + +"It is often hard to choose between two duties," said Pamela; "but I +believe the general rule is to choose the nearest, and in this case that +is evidently your father." + +"Where have you been all the evening, Philip? I have looked everywhere +for you." Edith's voice had an unwonted note of irritation. + +"Why, Edith, child, aren't you having a good time?" + +"Oh, I don't know; I've had to listen to such a lot of stuff from Belle, +and I haven't seen half the people I promised to meet." + +"There, there, child, I know how you feel; Belle has been talking too +much, but I will take care of you," and Philip pulled Edith's arm within +his own. "A big brother is useful sometimes," he added, for he saw that +Edith was a little perturbed. A moment later Nora joined the group, +followed by Julia and Tom Hearst, and soon Brenda joined them. + +"Why, here we have almost all the old crowd," exclaimed Tom. "If only +Will were here--" + +"And Ruth; you mustn't forget her." + +"Indeed, no, and I dare say that he is thinking of us. I fancy that at +this present moment he is just wild to be on this side of the world. +With his exalted ideas of patriotism, it must be torture to him that he +isn't on hand when there's fighting to be done." + +"It seems to me that your sword hasn't been brandished very fiercely, at +least, since the President's proclamation." + +"Ah! just wait. Within a month I may be waving a flag in Cuba. This +sound of revelry by night may be the last that I shall hear for a long +time. My uniform may not be as becoming to me as this costume," and Tom +threw back his head and strutted a few steps, as if to display to the +best advantage the artistic costume that Mr. Weston had designed for +him,--a most effective one with its crimson doublet, slashed sleeves, +and long, silk trunk hose. + +"Oh, don't talk about war," cried Brenda, almost pettishly, while Nora, +whose sparkling eyes and bright smile showed that she, at least, had +enjoyed the evening, said gently, "Come, Brenda, there are Agnes and +Ralph beckoning to us; I suppose they wish to count us all to see that +we are safe and sound before they start for home." + +A little bantering, a word or two of good-bye to passing friends, and +the merry group started for home, never, although they knew it not +then,--never to be together again as they had been that evening. + +In the next few weeks war news was of chief importance, and Brenda, +never a newspaper reader, now turned to the daily papers with great +interest. + +One afternoon she came into Julia's room at the Mansion with her eyes +suspiciously red. + +"You haven't been crying?" + +"Oh, no, not exactly crying, but--" + +At this time a tell-tale tear fell, and Brenda dabbed her eyes fiercely +with a crumpled handkerchief. + +"There, there, tell me all about it," said Julia. + +"Oh, it's nothing. Only I've just been at a meeting at the State House." + +Then, by dint of a little questioning, Julia learned that Brenda had +read the notice of a meeting to be held at the State House in the +interests of the Massachusetts troops that should go to the war, and +that she had decided to attend it. + +"Oh, it was dreadful," she said, not restraining the tears that were now +undeniably falling. "They talked about bandages and ambulances and the +hundreds that would be killed, and the dreadful things that happened in +the Civil War, and I couldn't help thinking how terrible it would be for +Arthur and Tom and all the others we know." + +"Arthur?" queried Julia; "I knew that Tom was going, but with his +regiment from New York--but Arthur, why, he has never been in the +militia?" + +"Oh, no," responded Brenda, "it's all his being in Washington. I wish +that he had never heard of Senator Harmon. It seems that he's to have a +commission in the regular army. The President is to make any number of +new officers, and you have to have influence. Ralph had a letter this +morning,--and I know he'll be killed." + +"Nonsense, child! If there is any fighting, it will be only on sea." + +"Oh, you should have heard them talk at the meeting to-day; and Papa +says that every young man should be ready to fight. He only wishes that +he was young enough. Amy writes that Fritz Tomkins is crazy to leave +college and volunteer, but his uncle won't let him, because his father +is in China. But lots of men are leaving college to go into the army. +Don't you think 'tis very noble in Arthur?" + +The last sentence was a change from the main subject, for Arthur's +college years were far away; but it showed where Brenda's heart lay, and +Julia did not laugh at her. + +"Come," she said, "let us go upstairs; you have never visited the home +economics class, and you are just in time for it." + +So hand in hand the two cousins went upstairs, and if Brenda was less +cheerful than usual, only Julia noticed this. + +"The dusty class," as some of the younger girls called it, because "Dust +and its dangers" had been the subject of the lessons. + +"How businesslike it is!" exclaimed Brenda, glancing around the plain +room, fitted with its long wooden table, plain walls, at one end of +which were many glass bottles and tubes. + +"Test tubes," explained Julia, as Brenda asked a question; "and these +gas jets that rise from the table are very useful in some of their +experiments." + +"Yes, that is some of Pamela's Ruskin," Julia added, as Brenda stopped +before a simply framed card on which in illuminated text was the +following: + + "There are three material things, not only useful, but essential to + life. No one knows how to live till he has got them. + + "These are Pure Air, Water, and Earth. + + "There are three immaterial things, not only useful, but essential + to life. No one knows how to live till he has got them also. + + "These are Admiration, Hope, and Love." + +"It looks very scientific," said Brenda, "with all those bottles and +tubes. I should call it a regular laboratory." + +"So it is," responded Julia; "and though the girls are untrained, and +rather young to understand thoroughly the scientific value of much that +is taught them, they do enjoy the experiments." + +At this moment the teacher entered the room. + +"Tell me, Miss Soddern," said Julia, after introducing Brenda to the +teacher,--"tell me if the girls have had any success with their +bacteria; I know that they are very much interested in their little +boxes." + +"Oh, I'm going to have them report this morning. You must wait until +they come." + +In a moment the girls filed in, Concetta, Luisa, Gretchen, Haleema, and +the rest whom Brenda knew best, and with them two or three girls from +outside who were members of the League; for in this, as in other +classes, it had seemed wise to enlarge the work a little. So the class +had taken in some of those whom the membership in the League had +interested in things that otherwise they might not have had the interest +to study. + +As they stood at their places around the table, Miss Soddern gave a +resume of what they had already learned about dust and its dangers. They +talked with a fluency that surprised Brenda about bacteria and yeasts +and spores and moulds, and in most cases showed by examples that they +knew what they were talking about. + +"I am glad that all these bacteria are not harmful," said Brenda, "for +otherwise I should stand in fear of instant death when caught in one of +our east winds," and she looked with interest at the plate that showed a +great many little spots irregularly distributed within a circle. Each +spot represented a colony of bacteria, and though the showing was rather +overwhelming, it was not nearly as bad as another exposure made at a +crossing in a certain city where the old-fashioned street-cleaning +methods prevailed. An exposure made just after the carts had been +collecting heaps of dirt showed an almost incredible number, quite +beyond counting. + +So interesting did Miss Soddern make her lesson that Brenda stayed quite +through the hour. + +"I've gathered one or two new ideas on the subject of trailing skirts," +she whispered to Julia in one of the intervals of the lesson. "I always +thought it was just a notion, this talk about their being so unclean, +but now I shall always think of them as regular bacteria collectors. +Also I've learned one or two things about dusting, and I'm going to +watch our maid to-morrow, and if she isn't using a moist cloth, I'll +frighten her by asking her why she insists on distributing death-dealing +germs around the room." + +Half of the class that day had to report the result of their own +observation of bacteria colonies collected on the gelatine plate, and +half were to prepare the little glass boxes to take home. Brenda watched +the process with great interest,--the preparation of the boxes in a +vacuum, so that there would be no air inside them when they should be +first exposed in the new locality. + +"It's something," said Julia, "to get these girls to acquire habits of +accuracy." + +"Oh, it reminds me of the class in physics at Miss Crawdon's," replied +Brenda. "I never would take it myself, but some of the girls said that +it was splendid; it taught one to be accurate." + +At that moment Miss Soddern began to address the girls. They had been so +absorbed in their work that they had talked very little during the hour. + +"How many of you have anything to report regarding the boxes that you +took home last week." + +One by one the outside girls gave accounts of their observations, each +one vying with the others to describe the most prolific growth of +bacteria. + +"As the boxes were to be exposed simply in their living-rooms, I am +surprised at the results," said the teacher in an aside to Julia; "I'm +afraid that some one must have been stirring up the dust. What does your +family think of these experiments?" she continued, turning to a +bright-eyed American girl. + +"Oh, they're so interested," the girl replied. "You've no idea how +they've watched it; and since the bacteria have begun to develop,"--she +said this with an important air--"they show it to company. Why, you may +like to know that our visitors consider it more entertaining than the +family album." + +Miss Soddern herself did not dare to smile at this remark, but Julia and +Brenda hastily excused themselves. + +"Audible smiling," said Brenda, "is more excusable out here than it +would be in the school-room," and then both laughed outright. + +"I never did care for family photograph albums," said Julia, "and now I +see how easy it would be to have a scientific substitute." + + + + +XVII + +IDEAL HOMES + + +The triangular quarrel between Concetta, Haleema, and Angelina had +reached such a state that the three spoke only when actually under the +eyes of their elders. Even as Maggie had felt jealousy at first, did +Angelina now feel jealousy of Concetta. + +On pleasant spring Sundays when Angelina walked out with John she would +tell him her griefs, and so far as he could he would sympathize with +her; but when she talked of running away, he would simply laugh. + +"Why, if you wish to go back to Shiloh, I'm sure Miss Julia would let +you; you have only to tell her and she would let you off." + +Then Angelina would shake her head. "Ah! you have no idea how important +I am. Why, I know they couldn't get along without me, and I'm sure that +if I should leave, everything would stop. I'm surprised that you should +suggest it, John." + +"But you talked of running away." + +"Well, so I might, if Concetta keeps on acting in that forward way, as +if she were the most important person here. No, I won't desert Miss +Julia, even if Miss Brenda does show so much partiality. I suppose it's +my Spanish blood that makes me take it so hard." + +John looked at Angelina bewildered. + +"Spanish blood! why, we're not Spanish; I hadn't heard of it." + +"There, John, you haven't a bit of romance; I should think that you +could tell that we're Spanish just by looking in the glass, and I'm sure +Spain and Portugal are very near together, and though mother says she +was born a Portuguese she may be Spanish. A great many people are +beginning to sympathize with me on account of the war." + +There! the secret was out. The war with Spain had now come to the +foreground, and Angelina wished in some way to be a part of it and of +the general excitement. Had John been old enough to enlist she might +have worked off some of her energy in urging him to do so. As it was, +she amused those who had known her the longest by talking about her +fears for her own safety; for although Manila Bay was an American +victory, "of course," she would say, "every one has a prejudice against +persons of Spanish blood," and Angelina would raise her handkerchief to +her eyes, as if she were an exiled princess of Castile. + +John only laughed at Angelina when she talked in this way to him, and +wished that he could enlist and go toward the South, where the troops +were gathering for the war. + +"I should like to be a nurse," she then said, "for really this work here +with these younger girls is very tiresome, and I don't think that Miss +South and Miss Julia properly appreciate me." + +"You are ungrateful," John would reply solemnly. "Why, if it wasn't for +these young ladies I'm sure that mother wouldn't be alive now; she never +could have lived if we'd stayed on in Moon Street, and it was just +through them that we were able to have a home of our own, for those bare +rooms in Moon Street were not a home." + +John was an industrious youth, working hard, saving money, and studying +evenings. He was devoted to Manuel, now a strong boy of nine, and +anxious that he, too, should have a good education. Angelina's +flightiness troubled him, but he hoped that she would in time outgrow +it; for though the younger, he always felt that he was in the position +of an older brother, and when it came to any particular action, Angelina +usually took his advice, after first demurring, and professing that she +would rather do something else. Now he felt that he was right in trying +to make her keep her place at the Mansion; but even while he was trying +to persuade her, he could see that Angelina was thinking of something +else. + +But the war did not entirely occupy the thoughts of Julia and Pamela and +the others at the Mansion, and the former went on with the preparations +for her special exhibition after the fashion that she had planned long +before the fateful sixteenth of February. Gretchen and Maggie were her +chief assistants in carrying out her plans, and they went about with an +air of mystery that was particularly tantalizing to the others. + +"What do you suppose it's going to be?" asked Concetta, with two buttons +conspicuously fastened to her waist bearing the motto, "Remember the +Maine." + +"Some kind of a picture show, I guess; I saw two boxes of thumb tacks on +Miss South's table. I tried to make Maggie tell, but she's as still as a +mouse; she always is. Don't she make you think of one?" + +"Yes, she does," replied Haleema. "I've a good mind to peek in now; +there's nobody about." + +At that moment Angelina came around the corner. + +"I'm exceedingly surprised," she said, in her haughtiest manner, "that +you should try to pry into what doesn't concern you." + +"I didn't." + +"Yes, you were trying to." + +"No, I wasn't, and, besides, I have a perfect right to; I belong to Miss +Northcote's class. So there! You needn't stand and watch me." + +"I'll report you to Miss Dreen," said Angelina. "It's your day in the +kitchen. I remember that." + +Concetta's face clouded as Angelina passed on to the kitchen. + +"I wish people would attend to their own business." + +Concetta had hoped that Miss Dreen, who was a little absent-minded, +would fail to notice her absence. Another grievance was added to the +long list that she cherished against Angelina. + +But after all they were not kept so very long in suspense, for on the +Saturday after this little episode the doors were thrown open, and all +the girls marched in to see what really had been going on behind the +closed doors. Those in the secret were proud enough, and Maggie in +particular displayed an unexpected talkativeness. At least she was able +to explain the why and wherefore of the exhibit quite to the +satisfaction of all who heard her. + +The first exclamations of pleasure were called out by the sight that met +their eyes. One side of the room had been divided by partitions to make +two rooms. Each was furnished completely, and even those girls who were +too old to play with dolls were fascinated by the house; for each of the +two rooms was fitted up with absolute perfectness, from the wall-paper +to the tiny cushions on the sofa. They were on a scale large enough for +everything to be seen in detail, but a degree or two smaller than life +size. Pamela justly prided herself on the completeness of it all, and +this completeness had been made possible only by the kindness of Julia, +who had told her to spare no expense in having the house furnished +exactly as she wished it to be. She was safe in giving this wide +permission, since Pamela's friends all knew that extravagance was +absolutely impossible with her, and that she would use another's money +more carefully even than her own. + +Both rooms were furnished like sitting-rooms, but they differed utterly +in style. Maggie put it correctly by saying that one was "warm and +fussy-looking," while the other was "cool and restful." + +The floor-covering on the former, painted to imitate a real carpet, was +of bright colors and florid design. The reds and greens of which it was +composed were just a little off the tone of the flowered wall-paper,--a +greenish background with stiff bunches of red flowers, "that look as if +they were ready to jump out at you," as one of the girls put it. + +The little chairs and couch were upholstered in bright brocade velvet, +each one different from the others, and none in harmony with the paper +or with each other. On the tiny centre-table were one or two clumsy +pieces of bric-a-brac, and the pictures on the walls were small chromos +in ugly gilt frames. There were bright cushions on the divan, and +crocheted tidies on every chair. + +Nellie thought this room "perfectly beautiful." Her cousin's wife, whose +husband was a prosperous teamster, had one almost like it, she said. "Oh +what lovely easy-chairs! I hope I'll have a parlor as elegant as this +some day." + +The other room did not please her, it was too plain; whereas Concetta, +within whose breast there must have lingered some remnant of Italian +artistic instinct, thought it altogether beautiful. + +This second room had a plain, dull-green wall-paper, on which hung a few +photographs suitably framed. There was matting on the floor, and in the +centre a green art-square. The chairs were of rattan, in graceful +shapes, with green cushions, and one of artistic design in black wood +with broad arms was comfortably cushioned for a lounging-chair. A +bookcase, also of black wood, was filled with plainly bound books. On +the rattan centre-table was a tall green vase with a single rose in it, +and near by two or three small volumes of good literature. The ornaments +on the mantle-piece were few and well chosen, and each had an evident +reason for being there. The simple gilt moulding at the top was in +contrast with the fussy frieze in the other room, and the plain net +draperies at the windows were much more agreeable than the lace curtains +in the other room, with their elaborate pattern and plush lambrequins. + +Each girl as she came in was given a small blank-book, and was asked to +note down what she thought of each room, and to state her reasons for +preferring one room to another. + +"Ought we to like one more than another?" Inez asked anxiously. + +"Oh, Inez," said Haleema, "you are like sheep, you never stand alone," +which, although not an exact rendering of the proverb, at least partly +described the disposition of little Inez, who was far from independent. + +"My book isn't half full," said Phoebe, after she had written for +several minutes. + +"Ah, that isn't all," rejoined Maggie. + +"No, indeed," added Pamela, who had been listening with much interest to +all the comments. "You have entirely neglected this end of the room. You +will probably find more to do here than at the other end." + +Here the wall had been covered with a plain gray denim, against which +were pinned samples of wall-paper of every quality and color. Some were +quiet and in good taste, as well as inexpensive; others were evidently +costly, and at the same time loud and glaring. Each piece was numbered, +and the girls were asked to write in their books their opinion of these +samples. + +Again, on a table near the wall-paper lay a number of cards with pieces +of dress fabric fastened to them, and the girls were asked to state +which would probably hold their color the best, which would be suitable +for a working dress, which for a durable winter dress; and near certain +bright-colored fabrics were trimmings of various sorts, and they were +asked to tell which would best harmonize with the fabric. + +"It ought not to be so very hard for you to answer these questions," +said Julia, as she found Concetta scowling over her blank-book. "I know +that Miss Northcote has had much to say to you this winter about +furniture and wall-papers, and you ought to remember the reasons she has +given for calling one thing more beautiful than another. Then, as to +dress materials, why, think of our shopping expeditions, and the trouble +I have taken to make you understand what is best." + +"Yes, 'm," said Concetta. "If there's to be a prize, I'll try to prefer +the best things; but if there won't be one, why, I think I'll just say +what I really think." + +"Oh, Concetta! Concetta! you are hopeless," responded Julia; and though +she smiled slightly at this frank confession, she felt a little +depressed that her winter's work should have had no better effect. + +At five o'clock the books were all collected and put in Pamela's care +for discussion at the next meeting of her class, and a few minutes later +the aunts or cousins of the girls, as the case might be, began to +appear. Their "oh's" and "ah's" were genuine as they looked at the two +rooms; the numbers were about equally divided between those who +preferred the restful room and those who preferred the fussy and gaudy +one. They were greatly surprised to find that the more showy room had +had no more money spent on it than the other. To them it looked much the +more expensive; whereas to Julia and Nora and the others it was a +surprise that the cheap and shoddy things of the gaudy sitting-room had +cost as much as those in the really aesthetic apartment. + +All had been invited to the six-o'clock tea, and this had been designed +to show the skill in cooking of some of the number,--or perhaps I should +say skill in the preparation of a meal, since much that was to go on the +table was prepared under the eyes of the visitors. + +The dainty sandwiches, for instance, were so prepared. There were three +or four different kinds, of lettuce, of cheese, and some with nuts laid +between, to the great surprise of Mrs. McSorley. She had associated with +the name only the sandwich of the ham variety. Then the cold chicken, +creamed and served in the chafing-dish, and put steaming on the plates; +the chocolate that Maggie prepared on a tiny gas range, crowned with +whipped cream that she had whipped before their very eyes,--all these +things had their effect. When Luisa showed the blanc-mange that she had +made, "without any flavor of soup," Haleema remarked so mischievously, +that Luisa had to admit that earlier in the season she had prepared +some blanc-mange in a kettle which had not been washed since some +strong-flavored soup had been contained in it. Each girl had one special +dish that she had made the day before,--cake, or biscuit, or jelly. The +results were very satisfactory to the admiring relatives, who went home +particularly pleased with the Mansion and the young ladies, as well as +with their own particular loaf of cake or mould of jelly, as the case +may be. Each one, too, carried away a fine photograph of the Mansion, +under which Pamela had written one of her ever applicable Ruskin +quotations. + + "The girls to spin and weave and sew, and at a proper age to cook + all proper ordinary food exquisitely; the youth of both sexes to be + disciplined daily in the studies." + +This was at the bottom of the card, and at the top she had written: + + "Never look for amusement, but be always ready to amuse." + +"There," said Julia, after the last visitor had departed, "I don't +suppose that any of our guests know that we are college women, nor +probably have they heard the time-worn discussion as to whether college +women are capable of understanding the management of a house, but it +strikes me that we made a pretty good showing this evening." + +"Ah," replied Miss South, "I am older than you, and I can say pretty +confidently that no one need stand up for the college woman as home +maker; she needs no defence. More than half the college graduates of +to-day have homes of their own that are well managed, and have a high +sanitary standard, and--but there, I am talking as if you needed to be +convinced, whereas this is very far from being the case." + +"Indeed, Miss South," said Nora, "even I, who am not a college girl--" + +"Oh, but you are; don't forget the good work that you did as a special +at Radcliffe." + +"Thank you, Julia, but I'm only slightly a college girl. Well, even I +always have plenty of ammunition ready when one or two persons I might +mention have things to say about the uselessness of a college +education." + +"You are a good champion in any cause, and we thank you," said Julia, +slipping her arm in Nora's, and making a low courtesy. + +This exhibit of Pamela's was the end of the festivities at the Mansion. +The evenings were growing warm, and the interests of the girls were +turning in other directions. The meetings of the League were regular +sewing circles, and the busy needles of the members struggled through +the heavy denim that was to be used in comfort bags for the soldiers, or +they hemmed flannel bandages, or applied themselves to other useful bits +of work suggested by the Woman's Auxiliary of the Aid Association. While +others worked, Angelina read aloud to them, for she was fond of reading; +and those girls who had friends or relatives in the regiments that were +going South were proud of the fact, and referred to it often. + +But Maggie--poor Maggie! It seemed to her that she had reason to be +prouder than any of them, for she not only had a letter, but a +photograph, from a soldier, and to her Tim was a really heroic figure in +his blouse and campaign hat. And the words had a sacred meaning, "I'm +going to do something great before you see me again; I'll do something +great, and by and by we'll have that home of our own." + +She could not talk about this to any one, for the mention of Tim's name +still aroused a very bitter spirit in Mrs. McSorley, and Maggie feared +that if she confided even in Miss Julia, Tim's plans might in some way +come to Mrs. McSorley's ears. Although living now afar from her +immediate authority, Maggie still stood in great awe of her aunt, and +though the rather scanty praises bestowed on her showed a change in Mrs. +McSorley's spirit, Maggie knew how unwise it would be to speak to her of +Tim. + +Of the staff, Brenda was the only one who had little to say about the +war. She had not written to Arthur nor he to her since the Artists' +Festival; but she heard of him indirectly through Ralph and Agnes. His +regiment had gone to Tampa before the end of May, and if he was waiting +for her to reply to that unanswered letter, he waited in vain. Brenda, +when once she had made up her mind, was very determined. She showed, +however, that she was not happy. Her face had lost its color, and she +had less animation. + +"It all comes from staying indoors so much. Really, you must come with +us to Rockley," her parents insisted. + +But Brenda would not change her mind. She was now taking the place of +Anstiss, who had been called home on account of the illness of her +mother. + +"I did not know that you could be so industrious, Brenda. Have you any +idea how many hundred of these comfort bags you have made this spring?" + +"No," said Brenda, so shortly that Edith knew that she had made a +mistake in asking the question. + + + + +XVIII + +WHERE HONOR CALLS + + +In all his life Philip Blair had hardly learned a harder lesson than +that teaching him that it was his duty to stay at home with his father +at a time when so many of his friends and classmates were setting off +for the war. "They also serve who only stand and wait," echoed +constantly in his ear, though unluckily almost as imperative was another +refrain, "He that lives and fights and runs away, may live to fight +another day." It seemed to him not unlikely that those who did not know +him very well might put him in the latter class,--of those who avoided a +present danger for an unlikely and distant good. + +He could not deny the fact that his father was evidently ill, and as +evidently needed him. This in itself was reason enough for his staying +in Boston. He had so thoroughly mastered the details of the business, +that it would have been false modesty to deny that his departure would +make no difference. Even had his father been in perfect health, Philip's +departure would have thrown a certain amount of care upon him; but in +his present rather weak condition the young man felt that he had no +right to add to his burden. He envied Tom Hearst his commission as +captain in a regiment of regular troops, and he felt that his years on +the ranch had especially fitted him for a place with the Rough Riders. +What an opportunity this war might offer a young man for real +distinction! and yet the chance was that he could have no part in it. +Poor Philip! If some of his critics could have read his heart, they +would have had less to say about his staying at home. Certain +complications in his father's business had led him to give up his plans +for studying law. He was now a business man, pure and simple, and almost +any one would admit that he was devoting himself to his father's +interests. + +In one of his downcast moods one evening he strolled over to the Mansion +to take a message from Edith to Julia. His family had already gone down +to Beverly, but Edith, with her usual conscientiousness, let hardly a +week pass without sending some special message to Gretchen. + +The evening was one of the close and sultry evenings of early spring, +and as Philip drew near he was pleased to hear the voices of Brenda and +Julia. The two were seated on a rattan settle that had been drawn out +into the vestibule, and upon greeting them Philip discovered Pamela and +Miss South near by. After delivering Edith's message the conversation +drifted to the ever-engrossing subject. + +"I hardly expected to find so many of you here," said Philip. "Surely +some of you intend to go as nurses to help your suffering countrymen." + +"Angelina," responded Miss South, "is the only one of us who is +desperately in earnest about becoming a nurse." + +"So far as I can remember she has all the qualities that a nurse ought +not to have." + +"Oh, you are rather severe; she is not quite so bad, yet I doubt that +she would make a good nurse. But she really is interested, and I have +known her to make many sacrifices this spring to help the soldiers." + +"She thinks that the Red Cross costume would be very becoming, and that +is the secret of her interest," said Brenda, with a slight tinge of +bitterness. + +"What do you hear from the seat of war?" asked Philip, turning to +Brenda, as if to change the subject. + +"Oh, I never hear anything. Agnes and Ralph have letters, but I have too +much to do to bother about the war." + +Brenda's tone belied her words, and Philip wisely attempted no +rejoinder. A moment later she made an excuse for leaving the party in +group. + +"Ralph," explained Julia, "expects to go abroad in a few days; his uncle +is very ill in Paris, and it is necessary that he should see him. I +believe that Agnes is not sorry that he has decided to go. Otherwise, I +am sure that he would soon be starting for Cuba." + +"It's hard for any one to stay behind," said Philip; and then as Inez +and Nellie came out from the house with a message for Miss South and +Julia, the duty of entertaining Philip fell on Pamela. He never knew +just how it happened, but soon he was opening his heart to her more +freely than he had ever opened it to any one else; and when their little +talk was over he felt that at least one person realized that in staying +North at a time when men were needed in the South he was truly trying to +do his best. Undoubtedly Julia understood this, and Miss South, and all +sensible people who saw that Mr. Blair's health was now so precarious; +but Pamela made it so clear to Philip that his duty to his father was +really the higher duty, that he left the Mansion in a much more cheerful +frame of mind than that in which he had approached it. + +"It is just as she says," he thought, as he walked homeward. "If my +country were attacked, or if our flag were in danger, then it would be +the duty of every man to rush to the front. But now--why, when it comes +to fighting on land, we'll just have another walkover like the battle of +Manila Bay." + +He stepped briskly down the hill toward his home. + +"What a bright girl Miss Northcote is, and how thankful she must be that +her teaching is almost over for the year. Though she never admits it, +she must find teaching very tiresome." + +Pamela was glad, indeed, that her school tasks were over in season to +give her a week or two for special study, as she was anxious to do her +very best in the work that she had chosen at Radcliffe this year. The +two courses would count toward her post-graduate degree. Strangely +enough, a few days before the examination she had a chance to put her +own theories of duty into practice. + +A telegram from Vermont told her that her aunt had been thrown from a +carriage and seriously injured, and that in her moments of delirium she +was constantly calling for her. It took Pamela but a few moments to +decide, and packing a small trunk she was ready for the evening train +North. + +"My examinations can wait until next year," she replied to Julia's +expostulations; "and even if they could not, this is really the only +thing for me to do." + +Though for many years her relatives had been far from sympathetic, +Pamela recalled the days of her childhood, when they offered her a home, +and when in a clumsy way they had tried to make her happy. Knowing how +her uncle had depended on his wife, she could not bear to think of his +helplessness, and to help him became at once her nearest duty. + +Thus it happened that when Philip a few days later came again to the +Mansion for counsel, he found Pamela gone. Julia, too, happened to be +out, and Brenda, with whom he talked, was so downcast that he was +obliged to put himself in the most cheerful frame of mind to assure her +that there was not the least danger of actual fighting. + +"Why, before you know it, they'll all come marching home, and there'll +be processions and speeches and all the things that conquering heroes +expect--" + +"They won't be conquering heroes if they haven't done any fighting." + +"Don't interrupt; and you can throw a wreath at Arthur's feet." + +"I wasn't thinking of Arthur." + +"Excuse me, but I think that you were; and then, well--and then they +will live happy ever after." + +"Philip Blair, you are too absurd. Conquering heroes and wreaths, +indeed!" + +But Philip's nonsense had made Brenda smile, and for the time she was +decidedly more cheerful. + +When Mr. and Mrs. Barlow went down to Rockley, Brenda had simply refused +to go. When they told her that she would suffer in town from the heat, +she replied that she did not care, she hoped, indeed, that she would +suffer, and concluded by saying emphatically that she was tired of being +a mere idler. + +"But since you are so unused to hard work, and to the city in hot +weather, you must not overdo now. I do wish, Brenda," and Mrs. Barlow's +tone was unusually serious, "that you could do things in moderation. If +you had taken a little more interest in the work at the Mansion last +winter, perhaps you would not feel it necessary to go to extremes now." + +"It isn't extremes now, only I have more time to give to Julia, and I +don't feel like going to Rockley; and why should any one care, +especially as you have Agnes and Lettice with you." + +Mrs. Barlow for the time said no more. She managed, however, to persuade +Brenda to spend a day or two each week at Rockley, usually Saturday and +Sunday; and every Wednesday a large box of flowers was sent up to the +school with a card marked, "With love, from little Lettice." + +Concetta was now more than ever devoted to Brenda, and the latter found +her conversation more entertaining than that of any of the +others,--possibly because she heard more of it. Often during the hour +before bedtime she sat on the old rattan settle in the vestibule, while +the tongue of the little Italian girl rattled on over a great variety of +topics. Maggie, passing in or out sometimes after watering the plants in +the little garden, often felt like sitting down beside Brenda, but she +was never asked to join the two, and, unasked, she would not venture. +Then to console herself she would put her hand on the crumpled letter at +the bottom of her pocket. There was one person who cared for her, and +Tim, knowing that his letters would not be intercepted by Mrs. McSorley, +wrote to her often. His description of his life with the troops seemed +to her most wonderful, and oh! how she longed to show to the others that +picture that he had had taken of himself in uniform and broad campaign +hat. + +Angelina's interest in the war turned chiefly on her belief that she was +destined to be a nurse. A large red cross cut from flannel she had sewed +to her sleeve, and she told the younger girls that as soon as her mother +should give her permission she was going to Cuba. "As soon, at least, as +there's been a perfectly dreadful battle; of course I don't want to go +until I can be of real use." + +As a matter of fact Angelina had little prospect of entering upon this +career of nurse, though she cherished the hope that her mother and Miss +Julia might some time give their consent. + +From Tampa in June Arthur wrote home much about the condition of the +volunteers who had gone to the war without suitable equipment, and the +fingers of the young girls at the Mansion flew more swiftly, that they +might the more surely increase their quota of comfort bags. + +"Just think of Toby's having to work like a laborer," said Nora, two of +whose brothers had already found their way to the army in the front at +the South. "He says that if it were not for the hammock that he sleeps +in at night he never could stand the heat; but oh, dear! I do hope that +there won't be any real fighting. Where do you suppose that the +Spaniards are now?" + +"Off this coast, probably," said Edith; "they say there's a big pile of +coal at Salem, and that the Spanish ships will be sure to try to get it. +I wish we were going to Europe this summer, for I'm afraid that I should +not enjoy seeing a battle." + +"Well, I'd sooner see one than feel one, as might be the case if there +should be fighting off this coast; but I am sure that this will not be +the case, and we must feel that our part in the war is simply to keep up +our own courage, and that of our friends and relations, especially of +those who have gone to the war marching toward Cuba." + +This was the sensible view to take, and Nora was only one of many girls +whose chief work those long spring days consisted in cutting out +garments, in hemming and sewing, in knitting bandages, and in following +the directions of those older women who had organized themselves to care +for the needs of the soldiers in the field. + +Some of them, I am afraid (but we will whisper this), were a little +impatient that nothing happened; that is, that there had been no +fighting. But they were those who had no relatives and no friends in the +army. + +Brenda waited eagerly for each letter from Arthur, for he wrote +frequently from Tampa to Agnes. Ralph had already reached Paris, and the +house at Rockley seemed strangely quiet; for Lettice was a demure little +girl, playing very quietly in her corner of the garden or the +drawing-room. + +Two letters of Arthur's had lain unanswered, and now Brenda was +unwilling to make up for her neglect. "Arthur should write to me," she +said to herself, although she really knew that she could hardly expect +such a concession from even a young man far less proud than Arthur +Weston. Yet Brenda for a time tried to nurse a grievance, rather vainly, +it must be admitted, essaying to persuade herself that Arthur was in the +wrong. + +In the mean time, at the Mansion, she was really very helpful. She was +especially zealous in taking the girls to some of the factories that +Julia and Miss South thought it well for the girls to visit in little +groups. Thus the process of biscuit-making, and spice-making, and half a +dozen other processes had been made clear to them in the course of the +spring, and Brenda said that in accompanying Miss South and the girls on +these expeditions she gained much more than she ever had from the +occasional historic pilgrimages that she had sometimes made with her +cousins. + +The girls of the Mansion made one or two historic pilgrimages, too. In +Brenda there was not a deep poetic vein, and something akin to this is +needed to make one thoroughly appreciate historic surroundings. In the +bustling factories she found something with which her spirit was more in +sympathy. + +The questions asked by the girls with her diverted her; the explanations +given by their guides in these places took her out of herself. + +During the summer the girls were to be invited to New Hampshire; for +Julia had been able to arrange with a farmer living not far from the +home of Eliza, her former maid, to have half a dozen of the girls board +with him for two months, while two were to be under the care of Eliza. +Julia or Miss South was to be at the farmer's during all the stay of +these girls, but on the whole the summer was to be considered a time of +recreation rather than work, and what the girls should learn in the +country was to be gained rather by observation than by direct teaching. + +As the choice had been given them, three or four had preferred to return +to their own families for the summer rather than to go to the country, +and thus the number to be looked after was not too large for the +successful carrying out of Julia's vacation plans. Her first intention +had been to take a house and equip it for summer work, carried on upon +the same plan as that of the Mansion in the winter, but her uncle and +aunt and others had pointed out so clearly the disadvantages of this +scheme that she had quickly given it up. The girls were likely to +return to their duties in the autumn much fresher, and much readier to +set to work, than if they had had the same kind of household tasks that +fell to them in winter. + +Mr. and Mrs. Barlow wished that Julia had planned to close the Mansion +on the first of June instead of July, for they saw that Brenda had no +intention of coming down to Rockley permanently until July. + +"Surely you are not so very much needed at this season. Julia and Miss +South could undoubtedly get some one else to take your place," her +mother remonstrated; and Brenda merely replied: + +"Oh, I am needed; I like to feel that I am needed, and besides it is my +own choice; I am staying in town because I want to." + +It was evidently useless to argue, and Mrs. Barlow made no further +effort to persuade her to change her mind. Naturally, however, she was +somewhat concerned to notice that Brenda was growing paler and thinner. +She felt that no good could come from Brenda's staying so late in town. + + + + +XIX + +THEY STAND AND WAIT + + +"Why so pensive?" + +"Pensive! Am I? I did not mean to be; it is certainly not exactly polite +when I have company." Julia smiled at Lois as she spoke, for Lois was +making one of her infrequent visits to the Mansion, and the two girls +had been reviewing many of the events of their college years. + +"Yes, you were pensive; you looked as if something weighed on your mind. +That particular expression has vanished now," concluded Lois; "but since +I caught that very unusual look, please tell me what it means. Is it the +war?" + +"Oh, no, not wholly." + +"Then partly; do you wish to go as a nurse?" + +"Oh, no; that is a kind of personal service for which I have never +thought myself especially well adapted. I leave that to experts like you +and Clarissa, for I suppose that now Clarissa is on her way to Cuba, +ready to do the bidding of the Red Cross. Why, Lois, with your bent in +that direction I do not wonder that you are pleased at the prospect of +going where you can really do some good." + +"I am not altogether sure that I can go. My mother is opposed to my +going, and to-day when I went to see Miss Ambrose I found her seriously +ill. I came to town to do an errand for her, but I could not resist +running up here for a few minutes; I wished to know what you had heard +from Clarissa." + +"It was only the briefest note, but she seems perfectly delighted with +the prospect before her of going. She is so strong that I am sure that +no harm will come to her, and she will be a perfect host in camp or +hospital." + +"And the cap and apron will become her. Can you not see her with her cap +tilted over her dark curls? I haven't the slightest doubt that she will +pin a bow of scarlet ribbon somewhere on her gown, even though the +regulations prescribe sombre costume." + +"Indeed, I can see her at this very minute, a real ray of sunshine; but, +Lois, I hope that Miss Ambrose is not very ill." + +"I cannot tell. It is a nervous break down. All that she reads and hears +about the war carries her back to the days of the Civil War. She lost +several dear relatives and friends then, and the present excitement has +caused what I should call a kind of reflex action. Unless this Spanish +War proves longer than we expect, a few weeks rest will bring her +around. I am glad that my examinations are just over, for I must spend +my time with her." + +"Naturally," responded Julia; "and after all, this will be as good a +cause as nursing sick soldiers, though I understand your +disappointment." + +As the two friends talked, Julia's face lost the pensive expression that +Lois had remarked when she first came in. The expression had no deeper +reason than her feeling of dissatisfaction with her winter's work, a +regret that what she had undertaken must hamper her now, when greater +things were claiming the attention of so many other of her friends. Yet +before Lois went home she had begun to see that she need not be +dissatisfied with her own limitations. + +"'They also serve who only stand and wait,'" Lois had quoted apropos to +herself, just as Philip had quoted it some weeks before, and Julia found +this line of Milton's even more applicable to her own case than Philip +had to his. For there was a prospect that Lois, if the war continued, +might find it possible to offer herself as a nurse, while Julia was sure +that the duties that she had assumed would prevent her doing this, even +as Philip knew that he could not leave his father. Julia regretted, too, +that she had not as much money to offer as she would have had but for +her year's work at the Mansion. + +Miss Ambrose, to whom Lois had referred, was not a relative, nor even an +old friend. She had made the acquaintance of this elderly woman by +chance toward the close of her Radcliffe course, and had found her way +to Miss Ambrose's heart without special effort on her own part. An +accident had enabled her to do Miss Ambrose a real kindness. The older +woman had been greatly pleased to learn that Lois was studying at +Radcliffe. Her own tastes in her younger days had inclined her to a +college education, but, alas! at that time there was small opportunity +for a woman to go to college. In interesting herself in Lois' college +work she had seemed to live over again her own youth, and she was never +weary of hearing the details of college life. Later, when Lois was on +the point of leaving Radcliffe, because she had not the money to stay +there longer, Miss Ambrose insisted on her accepting from her the sum +necessary to enable her to remain. In view of the older woman's +kindness, and also because a genuine friendship existed between the two, +it was natural that Lois should wish to stay with Miss Ambrose while she +was ill. Indeed, she was glad to do this, even though she had to curb +her desire to be a nurse during the war. + +When Lois left, Julia put herself through a little cross-examination; +for a month or two she had not been wholly satisfied with her year's +work. Had she used her time and her money in the best way? Was there not +some other work that she might have carried on to greater advantage? Was +it altogether wise to have given up so entirely her own personal +interests? Ah! Clarissa was right; she was not justified in putting +entirely aside her music--especially her work in composition. What, +indeed, had she to show for the year? So her thoughts ran. Ten girls +better trained in useful things than would have been the case without +the Mansion teaching; but this year must be followed up by another year +of teaching, and then in the end could she be sure that they would +retain what they had learned? Concetta and Haleema had improved +superficially, but she was by no means confident that they were really +neater or really more truthful than in the beginning. Maggie--and here +she smiled--broke fewer dishes, but her reticence was far from +commendable. Frankness was a virtue that she herself constantly +preached, yet she had been able to instil very little of this quality +into Maggie's breast. In spite of all her precepts, too, Inez was still +as willing as at the beginning of the year to put on her stockings with +the feet unmended, and--"Difficulties are things that show what men +are." Like a ray of sunlight this thought from Epictetus flashed across +Julia's mind. After all, how few real difficulties she had had to meet +during the year; and had not the successes been more than the failures? + +Mary Murphy had been the only one of the girls to insist on leaving the +school, although she had occasionally heard the others expressing their +dissatisfaction, especially when some of them had undergone some of the +discipline that they had to undergo. One of the first lessons to learn +had been that of the general deceitfulness of girls, and of these girls +in particular, who did not hesitate to make many little criticisms as +unjustifiable as they were foolish. + +After all, the balance sheet did not show a total against the +experiment, even when all the things were counted that had to be called +not quite successful. + +"It is the warm weather," thought Julia, "that depresses me. Instead of +dreading next year, when autumn comes I shall probably wish that I had +twice as much to do." + +Brenda was disturbed by no such doubts as those that assailed Julia. She +was helping Julia that she might help herself forget that a war was +hanging over the country, and that if there should be a great battle, +if Arthur should be killed, she could never forgive herself. Yet, after +all, what had she had to do with his going, unless, indeed, she had been +foolish in repeating her father's criticism of Arthur's idleness. She +could not forget that autumn ride and that half-jesting conversation, +and the change in Arthur from that moment; but for that, perhaps, he +would not have gone to Washington, and if he had not gone to Washington +she was sure that he would not have volunteered so early. Had he been +near them, certainly Agnes and Ralph would have shown him that it was +his duty to stay at home, just as much his duty as it was the duty of +Ralph or Philip. + +Philip had stayed behind on account of his father, and Ralph felt it his +duty to fly to Paris on account of his sick uncle. Arthur could have +gone there in his place, and then he would have been perfectly safe. +Now, even while Brenda was reasoning in this foolish fashion--yet it +could hardly be called reasoning--she did not fully face the question as +to whether she had not done wrong rather than Arthur. She still blamed +him for not writing to her. What if she had not answered his last two +letters? He was the one who had gone farthest away, and he should have +written. + +Now all of this was the very poorest logic, and no one understood this +better than Brenda herself, slow though she was to admit that she had +made a blunder. + +Miss South heard frequently from her brother Louis, who had been one of +the first to go to the front, and a box had been already sent from the +Mansion filled with useful things for the men of his company, about +whose privations in camp he had written very entertainingly. "How would +you like it," he wrote, "to have to take your occasional bath in a +rubber blanket? Yes! that is exactly what I do. We cannot bathe in the +creek, for its muddy water is all we have to drink. So when I wish to +bathe I dig a narrow trench some distance away, lay my rubber blanket in +it, and carry enough water to fill it. In no other way could I get a +decent--I mean a half-decent--bath." Then he told of the canned beef and +hard bread that was his chief diet, and added that if the heat +continued, he would have nothing worse to fear from the Cuban climate, +"for to Cuba they say we shall go before the end of June." + +Brenda, listening to the letter, wondered if Arthur, too, had had the +same experiences. + +More than all, she wondered if the troops now in camp would really go to +Cuba, and if--if-- + +Then she would not let her thoughts go too far. She could not bear to +think of the coming battles; for every one said that the Spaniards would +not yield without a bitter conflict. + +Maggie, whose devotion to her was unnoted by Brenda, watched the latter +from day to day, and often saved her steps by anticipating her wishes. +Maggie observed that Brenda's face was paler and thinner than when she +first began to live at the Mansion. She noticed, too, that she no longer +cared for pretty gowns. She wore constantly a blue serge skirt and shirt +waist, suitable enough in its way for one who was a resident at a +settlement; but Brenda had formerly cared little for suitability, and +Maggie, though she would not for a moment have admitted that her idol +looked less than beautiful, still wished that she had the courage to ask +her to wear occasionally one of the dainty muslin gowns that she knew +she had brought with her to the Mansion. + +One day as Brenda strolled through the upper hall she saw the door of +Maggie's room ajar. This reminded her that it was her turn to inspect +the bureaus of the girls, and acting on impulse she went at once to +Maggie's drawer. This inspection usually consisted only of a passing +glance to make sure that the contents of the drawers were not in the +state of hopeless confusion into which the bureaus of young girls have a +strange way of throwing themselves. + +Maggie's bureau, if not above criticism, was fairly neat, but as Brenda +turned away something strangely familiar caught her eye. It could not +be--yet it surely was--and she took the bit of silver in her hand to +assure herself that it really was the chatelaine clasp of the silver +purse that she had lost. As she took up the little piece of silver her +hand trembled. There was no doubt about it; too well she recognized the +elaborately engraved rose, surmounted by the double B, that had been her +own especial design. How vividly came back to her the day on which she +had lost the purse--the day of the broken vase, of the discovery of +Maggie, of the deferred walk with Arthur; all came back to her vividly, +and yet these things seemed years and years away. She had never +associated Maggie with the lost purse, but now suspicion followed +suspicion, and all in an instant Maggie McSorley had become not merely a +tiresome little girl, but one deserving of reprimand if not of +punishment. + +Then discovery followed discovery. Just back of the silver clasp lay the +picture of a young, good-looking soldier in campaign uniform, and Brenda +could not help reading at the bottom the words, "From your loving Tim." + +At that moment there was a step at the door, and immediately Maggie was +beside her. The little girl reddened as she looked over Brenda's +shoulder. + +"My uncle," she exclaimed. + +"Why, Maggie! How often your aunt has said that you haven't a relation +in the world but herself and her husband." + +"Then it's she that doesn't tell the truth," and frightened by her own +boldness Maggie burst into tears. + +Brenda did not feel like consoling her. Moreover, Maggie's next words, +"Don't tell my aunt," were not reassuring; so Brenda went rather sadly +downstairs. The clasp was still in her left hand; she had even forgotten +to show it to Maggie. Near the library door she met Concetta, looking +bright and cheerful. What a pleasant contrast to the weeping, +unsatisfactory girl upstairs! + +That evening Maggie did not appear again downstairs. She would take no +tea, and Gretchen, who had gone above to inquire, reported that Maggie +had a severe headache. As Julia left the rest of the family after tea to +see what she could do for Maggie, Brenda seated herself at the library +table beside Concetta, who was turning over the leaves of a book. + +Half absent-mindedly Brenda fingered the clasp which had been in her +pocket since the afternoon, and Concetta, as her eye fell upon it, put +out her hand as if to seize it. Then as quickly she drew her hand away, +pretending not to have seen the bit of silver. Brenda did not notice +Concetta's action, though she was pleased to hear her say a word or two +in excuse of Maggie's weeping proclivities. + +"She's such a kind of tender-hearted girl. Yes, she told me the other +evening that she hated to kill a mosquito; she'd rather let them bite +her. Why, I'd kill hundreds of mosquitoes without thinking of it," +concluded Concetta boldly; "and it made Maggie cry when the kitten got +scalded the other day, but I wouldn't think of crying." + +Brenda listened to Concetta quietly; she was wondering if she ought to +disclose her suspicions to Julia. At length she decided that it was her +duty to do so. + +"Let us ask Miss South what she thinks. Perhaps there is some +explanation that she can suggest." + +Miss South, when consulted, was inclined to question the accuracy of +Brenda's memory. + +"Isn't it possible that you have forgotten just when you lost the +purse?" + +"No, indeed, I have not forgotten," said Brenda. "It made a great +impression on me that I should have lost it on the very day when I had +had to pay for that broken vase, and that was the day when I first went +home with Maggie; but really I never thought of her having taken it, +and I'm very, very sorry." + +Brenda spoke in tones of genuine distress. It is true that she had never +been very fond of Maggie, and that her first pride in her as an +acquisition for the Mansion had soon passed away. Concetta and one or +two of the other girls had interested her more. Yet in a general way she +had had a good opinion of Maggie, which it hurt her very much now to be +obliged to reverse. + +Thus, as the school year closed, Brenda, like Julia, was beginning to +have doubts about the value of the work that she had been doing; for if +Maggie had the clasp, she must also have the purse and its contents. The +money contained in it had amounted to only about three dollars, but the +purse itself had been valuable, and doubtless Maggie had sold it. "I +suppose she was afraid to sell the clasp on account of the initials," +Brenda thought, a little bitterly. + +Even though she had not liked Maggie as well as some of the other girls, +she was not pleased that she had made this unpleasant discovery. She +would have been more than glad if she had never seen that +harmless-looking little clasp lying in Maggie's bureau, if Maggie had +never told her that untruth about the soldier's photograph. + + + + +XX + +WEARY WAITING + + +Toward the end of June letters from Arthur were infrequent. Indeed, but +one had come from him since he had left camp for Cuba, and this, like +the earlier letters, had been addressed to Agnes, not to Brenda. Letters +were mailed to him twice a week, and various things had been sent to him +that the family hoped might be of use in camp. But although Brenda +helped pack the little boxes, and though she had bought, or at least +selected, many of the things that went in the boxes, she did not write. +She was still waiting for Arthur's letter. + +The last week in June several of the girls from the Mansion went home to +be with relatives for a few days before going up to the farm, and Brenda +at last agreed to go down to Rockley. Mrs. Barlow had told her that she +might bring with her any of the girls whom she wished to have with her. +"Naturally, I suppose, you will wish to bring Maggie, as she is your +especial protegee." + +Mrs. Barlow had not realized the waning of Brenda's interest in Maggie, +but Brenda, as she read the letter, knew that she would not invite +Maggie. She had not yet spoken to Maggie about the silver clasp, but she +saw that the time had now come to do it, and she nerved herself to the +disagreeable task. Accordingly, a day or two before she was to start for +Rockley she called Maggie to her room, but when Maggie appeared she was +not alone. Concetta was with her. It hardly seemed wise to send Concetta +away, and the two little girls sat down, as if to make an afternoon +visit. Hardly had she been seated five minutes, however, when Concetta +spied the little silver clasp that Brenda had laid on the table near by. +At first she put out her hand as if to take it, then even more quickly +drew it back. But Brenda had noted the action, and after they had talked +a few minutes of other things she brought up the subject of the lost +purse. + +She had described the pretty purse that she had so valued, because it +was a present from one of whom she was especially fond, and told how its +loss had distressed her. It must be admitted that her heart beat a +trifle more quickly as she looked at the two, but neither of the girls +appeared the least self-conscious. Then she held up the clasp--perhaps +it wasn't just right to say this before Concetta--and added: + +"It surprised me very much a day or two ago to find this little clasp in +the possession of one of the girls here at the Mansion, for it is the +very clasp that I lost with the silver purse." + +Then Maggie reddened and looked at Concetta, and Concetta looked from +Maggie to Brenda. + +"Did you think that somebody stole it?" asked Maggie anxiously, and +then she seemed to search Concetta's face for an answer. + +"I hardly care to say what I think," replied Brenda. "I should not like +to believe that any one had stolen it." + +This time her gaze was so evidently directed toward Maggie that Maggie +was almost driven to reply. + +"I know that it was in my drawer, Miss Barlow, but--" + +"Oh, it was I who gave it to her, I really did; but I didn't steal it." +Concetta spoke very positively. + +Brenda was certainly puzzled by the turn of affairs, the more puzzled +because she realized as well as any one else in the house that Maggie +and Concetta had never been good friends, yet it was Maggie whom she now +heard saying: + +"Oh, I'm sure, Miss Barlow, that Concetta isn't to blame." + +"I never saw the purse," explained Concetta, "but the clasp was given to +me--that is, I paid twenty-five cents for it. The girl I got it from +lives in the next house to my uncle's; you can ask her about it." + +"Well, I'm obliged to you, Concetta, for freeing Maggie from suspicion. +It is indeed strange that the day I lost the purse was the very day on +which I first saw Maggie. You remember, Maggie, the day when I went home +with you." + +"Yes, indeed, Miss Barlow, the day I broke that vase; that was a bad +bargain for you." + +"Why, I'm not so sure, Maggie; you see I seem to have found you in +exchange for the vase, and perhaps, after all, I have had the best of +the bargain. But tell me, Concetta, how it happens that you and Maggie +are good friends now. Only a little while ago you seemed to be far from +friendly, yet now you would not have been so ready to tell me about the +silver clasp if you had not been anxious to help free Maggie from any +chance of blame." + +So Concetta--for in spite of occasional mistakes in English she was +always more voluble than Maggie--explained that several times of late +Maggie had been very kind to her, and she gave among her instances the +day when Maggie had helped with the lamps; "and then I thought that she +was dreadfully good when she never told about Haleema the day the +ammonia got spilled, for it was Haleema that broke the bottle, but +Maggie never told; and then," concluded Concetta magnanimously, "I got +tired of hearing every one find fault with Maggie, so she and I are +going to be great friends now. That's one of the things I've learned +here, that it's better to be good friends with every one, 'to love your +neighbor as yourself.' Miss South often talks to me about it, and so I'm +trying to think that every one is as good as I am;" and Concetta tossed +her pretty head, and her expression seemed to say that she did not find +this sentiment the easiest one in the world to hold. + +On investigation--for Concetta urged her to investigate--Brenda found +her story true so far as it concerned the way in which she had come into +possession of the silver clasp. The little girl from whom she had bought +it referred her to an old woman who had a long story as to how it had +come into her possession, and Brenda at last decided that it was useless +to follow the clew further. But the outcome of all this was a better +understanding between Brenda and Maggie, for Brenda, when she had once +made a mistake, was never unwilling to rectify it. Whether this little +girl had stolen it or whether the old woman was to blame she did not +care. She felt sure that neither Maggie nor Concetta had taken the +purse. She praised the latter for her frankness, and became so kind to +the former, that Maggie actually blossomed out under her smiles. + +Before the end of the month Pamela had written that she must stay in +Vermont all summer, and in consequence could take no part in the +vacation work that Julia had planned. Nora accordingly offered her +services, and Amy wrote that she volunteered to spend August with the +girls. + +Brenda's cousin, Edward Elton, who happened to be present when the plans +were discussed, expressed himself as being so gratified that Julia and +Miss South would not be left to carry on the work quite alone, that +Anstiss Rowe, ever a fun lover, began to speculate as to the reason for +his concern. + +"Do you suppose that this is on account of his interest in Julia? Julia +has so many others to worry about her, that he need not be especially +fearful on her account, or--there, I'll ask her--" and running up to +Miss South, who had just been bidding Mr. Elton good-bye at the door, +she put the question so suddenly that Miss South actually blushed. Then +a certain idea came into Anstiss' mind, which just then she did not put +into words. + +It was the end of June before Brenda consented to go down to Rockley, +and when she went Maggie accompanied her. The observing little girl was +still disturbed as she noted how thin Brenda had grown, and even before +Mr. and Mrs. Barlow noticed it, Maggie had seen that Brenda's step was a +little heavy, that her bright manner had given place to listlessness. +Her one interest seemed to consist in buying and collecting things for +the benefit of the Volunteer Aid Association. No one now reproached her +for extravagance, and when her father found that it would please her, he +doubled his contribution to this Association, and sent another in +Brenda's name. + +One afternoon Julia came down and spent the night, and the two cousins +wandered on the beach, just as they had in that summer that now seemed +so long past--that summer that had been Julia's first at Rockley. Little +Lettice, skipping along beside them, begged her aunt to tell her about +the day when she had sat on the rock and had dropped her book on the +heads of Amy and Fritz seated just beneath her. It always interested +Lettice to hear this, for Brenda had a fashion of ending the story with +"and if I hadn't dropped that book, I might never have known your cousin +Amy." For Amy was "Cousin Amy" in the vocabulary of Lettice, who would +have thought it a great misfortune never to have known this adopted +relative, since nobody else in her whole circle of acquaintances had so +many delightful stories to tell. But on this particular evening Brenda +was not ready to repeat her story nor to tell any other, and little +Lettice, with a grieved expression, ran on ahead of Brenda and Julia to +skip stones in the water. Julia did not remonstrate with Brenda, for she +realized that her cousin was not acting wholly from perversity. + +Now Brenda was not the only one of the Mansion group whom the prospect +of Cuban fighting troubled. Miss South's brother Louis was at the front, +and two of Nora's brothers, and Tom Hearst, who had written several +amusing letters from camp. Yet although those who were in the army tried +to cheer the hearts of their friends at home, and although the latter +wrote cheerfully in reply, all felt that the time was far from a happy +one. The more timid, like Edith, had recovered from their fear that the +Spanish fleet would pounce down upon the defenceless inhabitants of the +North Shore. Yet some of them would have faced this danger rather than +to live in dread that their sons and brothers were to meet the troops in +actual conflict under the hot Cuban sun. + +Even the strongest, even those who had no relatives in the army, were +stirred, as they had seldom been stirred before, on that Sunday morning +when they received the first news of the attack on Santiago. How +terrifying were the broad headlines with letters two or three inches +long, and how meagre seemed the information given in the columns +below,--meagre, yet appalling: "The volunteers were terribly raked. +Nearly all the wounded will recover." How much and yet how little this +meant until the names of the killed and wounded should be given! Brenda +herself would not look at those Sunday newspapers. Agnes summarized the +news for her, and told her that in the short list given of wounded or +killed she had not yet found one that she knew. + +"Oh, when shall we hear everything?" cried Brenda. "Oh, Papa, can't you +go; can't I go with you? I would so much rather be in Cuba than here." + +"My dear child, you are foolish. In Cuba at this season! Even if you +could go, what could you do? The killed and wounded are a very small +proportion of those who are fighting, and we have no reason to think +that Arthur is among them. To be sure, I wish that Ralph were here; we +could, at least, send him South. As it is, I may go myself, but we can +only wait until to-morrow, when there will be more complete reports." + +Were twenty-four hours ever as long as those that passed before the +Monday morning papers arrived? + +After her sleepless night again Brenda shrank from reading the reports. +Agnes, going over the long list of killed and wounded, gave an +exclamation of surprise,--or horror,--then checked it, with an anxious +look at Brenda. The latter, watching her narrowly, sprang forward. + +"What is it Agnes? You must tell me at once." + +"Poor Tom Hearst!" cried Agnes, as her tears fell on the paper; "he was +killed by a bursting shell during the early part of the attack on San +Juan Hill." + +But Brenda apparently did not hear. + +"Is Arthur's name there?" she asked impatiently. + +"Why, yes," said Agnes reluctantly, "it--" + +But before she could utter another word Brenda had fallen heavily to the +floor, and for a few minutes everything else was forgotten. Indeed, from +the moment when Brenda was placed on the couch in her room upstairs +Agnes did not leave her side, and for twenty-four hours, by the +direction of the physician whom they had hastily summoned, they did not +dare to refer to Santiago. + +When she came to herself Brenda learned that the report about Arthur had +simply been "slightly wounded;" that her father was expecting an answer +soon to his telegram of enquiry, and that Philip Blair had started +South. + +A faint smile passed over Brenda's face. + +"I was sure--I was afraid that he was killed--like poor Tom. Isn't it +dreadful that he should die? he was always so full of life." Then she +began to weep silently, and said no more about Arthur. + +Now it happened that Brenda passed through a more severe illness that +summer than Arthur. Her physician, in anxious consultation with the +family, concluded that she had stayed too long in town. "I think, too," +he said, "that she has had something to worry her. It would seem," he +added apologetically, "that one situated as she is would have no cares; +but it is hard sometimes to account for the workings of a young girl's +mind. She may have magnified some little anxiety until it played serious +injury to her nerves." + +"It is this war," responded Mrs. Barlow. "I wonder that more of us do +not have nervous prostration." + +During those long weeks Brenda herself had little to say, even when she +was well enough to sit up. When she spent long hours under the awning on +the little balcony on which her windows opened, she seemed to take but a +languid interest in the world around her. + +In those first two or three days when Brenda's condition was at its +worst, when there was even a question whether or not she would get well, +no one thought much about Maggie, the newcomer at Rockley, whose grief +was greater than she could express. She kept her place in a corner of +the piazza, hoping and hoping that some one would ask her to do +something for the sick girl. Gladly would she have exchanged places with +the trained nurse who went back and forth to the sick-room, had she not +known that the nurse could do the things that she in her ignorance was +unequal to. At last there came a day when Brenda herself asked for her, +and after that Maggie was always in the sick-room, except on those +occasions when she was carrying into effect some request of Brenda's. +How thankful she felt for the lessons in invalid cookery, that now +enabled her to prepare a tempting luncheon that Brenda would eat after +she had petulantly refused the equally good luncheon prepared by the +nurse. Then there were hours when no one but Maggie could amuse Brenda, +when, after listening to a chapter or two from the book that she had +asked Maggie to read, the sick girl would draw the other into +conversation. Any one who listened would have found that the subject +about which they talked was war and battles--especially the eventful day +of the Santiago fight, concerning which Brenda would allow no one +else to speak to her. + +[Illustration: She seemed to take but a languid interest in the world +around her] + +Now it happened that one afternoon after Maggie had been reading to her, +Brenda remembered the photograph that she had seen in Maggie's room, and +again, as on that former day, she asked her about it. So Maggie was +drawn to tell all about Tim, even the sad story of his imprisonment. + +"But now," she concluded, "everything is going to be all right. His +captain is going to have him recommended for promotion for saving +life--great bravery," and she pronounced the words with extreme pride. +"He saved an officer at the risk of his own life, and when the war's +over he's coming to see me." + +In fact, Maggie had good reason to be proud of Tim. She had read his +name in the newspapers, and though his own letters were modest, she was +sure that he had been a real hero. + +But the strangest thing of all was a letter from Philip Blair, that Mrs. +Barlow read one day aloud in Maggie's presence. + +"After all," he wrote, "sick as Arthur is, we may be thankful that it is +fever and a very slight wound that keep him on his back. From all I hear +he had the narrowest escape, and but for a private soldier, Tim +McSorley, he would probably have lost both legs." Then followed a +description of the way in which Tim had rescued him almost from under +the bursting shell; for, the newspaper report to the contrary, Arthur +had not been badly hurt by the shell, only stunned, with a slight wound +also from a grazing bullet. But the hardships of the campaign had so +told on him that he was soon on the sick list, and when he reached Fort +Monroe on the hospital ship he was in a raging fever. + +Now to Philip in this eventful July had come an opportunity for +usefulness, really greater than if he had gone to Cuba in the army. As +his father could now spare him, he had given invaluable service to the +sick. He had made one trip to Cuba and had had the grave of Tom Hearst +marked properly, and he had travelled the length of the country from +Florida to Boston to report to the Volunteer Aid Association the +especial needs of the sick soldiers in the camps that he had visited. He +was a real ministering angel--for angels are often masculine--to Arthur +and other sick friends of his in the hospital at Fort Monroe; and those +who knew how much he accomplished in this direction wondered how he +found time for the long and cheerful letters that he wrote to the +friends of the sick to keep up their spirits. + +Lois, too, though belated, had a chance to serve as a nurse in one of +the camps, and, while doing her duty there, had the satisfaction of +knowing that she was not neglecting home duties; for both her family and +Miss Ambrose were at last in such a condition that she felt justified in +leaving them. Though few persons would have envied her her hard hospital +work, Lois considered herself the most enviable of mortals, and all that +she went through only confirmed her in her strong desire to be a +doctor. + + + + +XXI + +AN OCTOBER WEDDING + + +One fine October morning, almost three months to a day from the victory +at Santiago, Julia and Nora, Edith and Ruth, stood on one of the broad +piazzas at Rockley talking as rapidly as four intimate friends can talk. +Ruth and Julia were hand and hand, for this was their first day together +since Ruth's return from her year's wedding journey, and each was +delighted to find the other unchanged. "A little older," Julia had said +when Ruth pressed her for her opinion; and then, that her friend might +not take her too seriously, "but I'd never know it." + +"A little more sedate," Ruth had responded; "but you do not show it." + +Then the four fell to talking over the events of this very remarkable +year. + +"Nothing can surprise me," Ruth said, "since I have heard of the +engagement of Pamela to Philip Blair. I did not suppose that he had so +much sense. Excuse me," she added hastily, noting Edith's surprised +look; "I merely meant that Pamela's good qualities are the kind that the +average man would be apt to overlook." + +"Philip is not an average man," responded Edith proudly; "we all think +that he is most unusual." + +"Yes, indeed," interposed Nora; "my father says that he never saw any +one develop so wonderfully, and when he was first in college every one +thought that he was to be a mere society man, like Jimmy Jeremy. +Wouldn't you hate it, Edith, if he had decided to devote his life to +leading cotillions?" + +"Oh, he never would have done that," said the literal Edith; "he would +have found something else to do daytimes." + +Then Nora, to emphasize Philip's development, told several anecdotes of +his helpfulness and devotion to the sick soldiers. + +But neither Edith nor Nora then told what Ruth learned later, that Mrs. +Blair was far from pleased with the turn of events, as the quiet and +almost unknown Pamela was not the type of girl she would have selected +to be Philip's wife. Her objection, however, had been made before +Philip's engagement was formally announced. When once it was settled, +she accepted it with the best possible grace, and even Pamela herself +scarcely realized the obstacles that Philip had had to overcome in +gaining his mother's consent. + +Edith had found it even harder to conceal her disappointment from +Philip. Only to Nora did she say, frankly, "I hoped that it would be +Julia. They were always such friends, and I am sure that no one ever had +so much influence over him." + +"We can give Julia the credit of having made Philip look at life in a +broader way, and I am sure that they are still the greatest friends. +But I happen to know, Edith, that she never felt the least little bit of +sentiment for him, and never would." + +More than this Nora could not be persuaded to say, and Edith, though +with a slight accent of resignation, added: + +"Oh, well, I'm very fond of Pamela already, and if I can't have Julia +for a sister-in-law, I'm sure that she and I will get along beautifully. +Only it will seem very strange to have such a learned person in the +family." + +But to return to the group on the piazza this bright autumn morning. +Seldom have tongues flown faster than theirs. There were so many things +to talk about, more absorbing even than Philip's engagement,--Arthur's +wonderful escape, for example, of which Ruth had heard only the vaguest +account. Now, as she wished to hear details, Nora naturally was ready to +give them to her. + +"A shot had passed through his ankle, and he couldn't drag himself away, +so that there seems not the slightest doubt that he would have been +struck again, and perhaps killed, for he was just in the line of the +enemy's fire." + +Nora spoke as if quite familiar with army tactics and military language, +and since there was no one present to criticise her or to say whether +her description was technically correct, she continued: + +"Yes, we are quite sure that he would have been killed if it hadn't been +for Tim McSorley, who dragged him away--" + +"Ah," interposed Edith, "and isn't it strange this soldier proved to be +a cousin or uncle of Maggie McSorley, a girl, you know, who is at the +Mansion; and it's all the stranger because it was Brenda who discovered +her, and this has made the greatest difference for Maggie. Brenda had +got into the habit of snubbing her, but now she can't do enough for +her." + +"It's all very interesting," said Ruth, smiling slightly; "but Maggie +herself hadn't anything to do with rescuing Arthur, had she?" + +"Oh, no, indeed; but still it has made a difference, for Brenda +naturally feels grateful to every one belonging to Tim McSorley. She is +so impulsive. Then I think, too, that she saw that she had always been +unfair to Maggie, and so now she can't do enough for her, just to make +amends." + +"Yes, and besides, although Maggie had nothing to do with rescuing +Arthur, it was her uncle's letter to her that gave the first account of +what had really happened to Arthur. I was in the room when she came +running to Brenda with the letter; it was when Brenda was nearly beside +herself, waiting for some real news, and I honestly think that that +letter saved her from brain fever," added Julia. + +"'All's well that ends well,'" rejoined Ruth, "is too trite a proverb to +quote to-day, yet, however it happened, we should be thankful that +Brenda escaped brain fever. No day could be more ideally suited for a +wedding than this, but if Brenda's illness had been more severe than it +was, who knows when the wedding could have taken place. The day might +have been postponed to December or some equally disagreeable month, and +no tenting on the lawn then." + +"I agree with you," said Julia; "and now I must run away, for there are +still several things to do for Brenda, and in less than an hour the +train will be here bringing Arthur and the rest of the wedding party. +Let me advise you," she concluded, "to be arrayed in your wedding +garments by that time, for on an informal occasion like this you will +all be needed to help entertain. Many of the guests have never been here +before." + +When at last the wedding guests arrived, the truth of this statement was +evident, for among them were very few of the old friends of the Barlow +family. + +"We have had one family wedding," Brenda had protested, when her friends +expressed surprise at her plans; "and now, if I wish to have mine small +and quiet, I think that I ought to be suited, and Arthur, too, for he +wishes everything to be just as I wish it." + +There was no gainsaying this reasoning, nor would Mr. and Mrs. Barlow +have asked Brenda to change her plans. What remonstrances there were +came from some of the relatives, and from many of Brenda's young friends +not invited to the house, who felt that in some way they were to lose +something worth seeing. As Brenda had decreed that it should be a house +wedding, they were not even to have the privileges of lookers-on, as +might have been the case at a church wedding. + +But was ever any family perfectly satisfied with the plans made for the +wedding of one of its members? Was there ever a wedding in preparing +for which various persons did not think themselves more or less +slighted? How, then, could Brenda expect to please all in her large +connection? Now, in spite of her impulsiveness, Brenda had been +considered rather conventional, and on this account many felt aggrieved +that she had insisted on having the affair small and informal. + +Yet after all it wasn't a very small wedding, and the drawing-rooms at +Rockley were well filled, though with a far less fashionable assemblage +than that which had surrounded and greeted Agnes and Ralph Weston six +years before. There were naturally a certain number of relatives +present, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Blair, Dr. and Mrs. Gostar, and a few +other old friends of both Brenda's and Arthur's families. + +Besides the "Four," and Julia and Amy and Ruth, there were Frances +Pounder and two or three of Brenda's former schoolmates. Miss Crawdon, +too, had been invited, and one or two teachers from her school. + +Frances Pounder, as her friends still called her, was now Mrs. Egbert +Romeyn, and her husband was to perform the marriage ceremony. Mr. +Romeyn's church was in a mission centre on the outskirts of the city, +and Frances gladly shared his parish labors. To the great surprise of +all who knew her, she had really buried the pride and haughty spirit of +her school days. + +Anstiss and Miss South and the rest of the staff of the Mansion were +present; and besides Philip Blair, and Will Hardon and Nora's brothers, +and Fritz Tomkins and Ben Creighton, there were several other young +men, Arthur's special friends chiefly, with a few of those who had known +Brenda from childhood. + +Then in addition to these were a number of "unnecessary people," as +Belle called them in a stage whisper to Nora,--all the girls from the +Mansion, for example, every one of whom had accepted the invitation, and +the whole Rosa family, from Mrs. Rosa to the youngest child. Since the +defeat of the Spanish, and especially since the destruction of Cervera's +fleet, Angelina had had little to say about her Spanish blood. Indeed, +she had been overheard giving an elaborate explanation to one of the +Mansion girls of the difference between Spanish and Portuguese, with the +advantage on the side of the Portuguese, from whom, she said, she was +proud to be descended, "although," she had added, "I was born in the +United States, and so I shall always be an American citizen." + +Although Angelina was the especial protegee of Julia, rather than of +Brenda, she took the greatest interest in the wedding. Had she been one +of the bridesmaids she could hardly have taken more trouble in having +her gown of the latest mode, at least as she had understood it from +reading a certain fashion journal, with whose aid she and a rather +bewildered Shiloh seamstress had made up the inexpensive pink muslin. + +Mrs. Rosa, dazed by the invitation to the wedding, inclined not to +accept it; but Julia, anxious to please Brenda, did all that she could +to make it possible for the whole Rosa family to come from Shiloh to +Rockley. The Rosas did not seem exactly essential to the success of the +wedding, yet as Brenda had set her heart on their presence, there was no +reason why she should not be humored. + +To any one who did not know the circumstances, the presence of Mrs. +McSorley and Tim may have appeared less explainable even than the +presence of the Rosas. + +Yet Tim, Maggie's Tim, was only second in interest in the eyes of many +present to Arthur himself; for he it was who had saved Arthur's life on +that memorable day of battle, and for this and another act of heroism he +had received especial praise from his commanding officers. + +It isn't every family that can have a hero in it, and Mrs. McSorley, +after Maggie had shown her Tim's name in print, and some of his letters, +had wisely concluded, as she said, to "let bygones be bygones;" and as +the nearest relative after Maggie of the brave soldier, Arthur had sent +her a special invitation. So it was that sharp-featured little Mrs. +McSorley, almost to her own surprise, found herself at Rockley, though +feeling somewhat out of place in the midst of what she considered great +grandeur. She stood in the background, near one of the long glass doors +opening on the piazza, ready to make her escape should any curious eyes +be turned toward her. The Rosas, Angelina excepted, were near Mrs. +McSorley, and Mrs. Rosa was in much the same state of mind as the +latter. + +[Illustration: Brenda had never looked so well] + +Yet after all, who has eyes for any one else when once the bride and +bridegroom have taken their places. Punctually at the appointed hour the +bridal party entered the room, and the murmur of voices was hushed. But +when the impressive service was over, and young and old hastened +forward with their congratulations, again the voices were heard--a +subdued chorus of admiration. For although, as Brenda had decreed, this +was a most informal wedding, though the service was simple, and there +were no attendants but little Lettice and her cousin Harriet, yet no +wedding of the year had been more beautiful. Brenda herself had never +looked so well, and her simple muslin gown was infinitely more becoming +than one more elaborate could have been. She carried a great bouquet of +lilies-of-the-valley, and the little bridesmaids carried smaller bunches +of the same flower. They wore little pins of white and green enamel, and +pearls in the form of sprays of lily-of-the-valley, Arthur's gift to +them, and they held their little heads very proudly, since this to them +was the most important moment of their lives. Arthur, as a hero of the +late war, was almost as interesting to the onlookers as the bride, and +that is saying a great deal. Though a little against his own will, he +wore his uniform, at Brenda's request, and thus gave just the right note +of color, as the artistic Agnes phrased it. Over the spot where the two +stood was a wedding-bell of white blossoms,--the one conventional thing +that Brenda had permitted,--and in every possible place were masses of +white chrysanthemums and roses and other white flowers. + +The continued warm weather had enabled Brenda to carry out her +long-cherished plan of having the wedding-breakfast in a tent on the +lawn, and she and Arthur led the way outside as soon as they could. The +others followed, and quickly all the guests were grouped in smaller +marquees arranged for them around the large tent in which the tables +were set. The caterer and his assistants were aided by a rather unusual +corps of helpers,--the girls from the Mansion, who had begged Brenda's +permission to serve her in this way. Every one of them was there, and +Maggie, who had been at Rockley all summer, directed them, pleased +enough that her knowledge of the house and grounds enabled her to be of +real use on this eventful day. + +"No," responded Brenda smilingly, as some one asked her what prizes +there might be concealed within the slices of wedding-cake,--"no, this +time I believe there is neither a thimble nor a ring, nor any other +delusion. You see, at Agnes' wedding I received in my slice of +bride-cake the thimble that should have consigned me to eternal +spinsterhood, and Philip had the bachelor's button. Now you can picture +my mental struggle when I found that I couldn't live up to what was so +evidently predestined for me, and Philip doubtless has had the same +trouble, and you can see why it is wiser that none of the guests to-day +should be exposed to similar perplexity." + +"But you forget Miss South," said Nora, who was one of the group; "don't +you remember that she found the ring in Agnes' cake?" + +"Oh, yes, but that only proves my rule." + +"Why, Brenda Barlow, how blind you are! Haven't you heard?" + +"I'm not Brenda Barlow, thank you, and I haven't heard, but I can see," +and she looked in the direction in which Nora had turned. There, +surrounded by the rest of the "Four," with Mr. and Mrs. Barlow and Mr. +and Mrs. Blair near by, stood Mr. Edward Elston, the picture of +happiness. Miss Lydia South, leaning on his arm, looked equally happy, +and her attitude was that of one receiving congratulations. + +"They did not mean to have it come out until next week," explained Nora, +"but in some unexplained way it became known, and now I suppose we may +all congratulate them." + +In a moment Arthur and Brenda had offered Miss South their cordial good +wishes. "I am more than glad to call you cousin," said Brenda, "and I do +not know which to congratulate the more, you or Cousin Edward. But what +will Julia and the Mansion do without you next year?" + +"Oh, I shall be at the Mansion until after Easter," replied Miss South, +"and for the remainder of the year I think that Nora and Anstiss are +willing to do double work. Beyond that we cannot look at present." + +"Arthur," said Brenda, as they moved away, "you are not half as cheerful +to-day as you were at Agnes' wedding. You and Ralph seem to have changed +places. It is he who is making every one laugh. It does not seem natural +for you to be so serious." + +Brenda seemed satisfied with Arthur's reply. + +"For one thing," said Arthur, "I am thinking of poor Tom Hearst. I +cannot help remembering that he was the life of everything then; it +seems so hard that he should have been taken." + +"Yes, yes," responded Brenda gently. "I, too, have been thinking about +him. I was looking, last evening, at the photograph we had taken at the +Artists' Festival--the group in costume with Tom in it. He was so happy +then at the thought of going to Cuba; and now--just think, Arthur, it +was only six months ago." Brenda's voice broke, she could hardly finish +the sentence. + +"There, there," interposed Arthur gently, "let us remember only that he +died bravely;" and then in an unwonted poetical vein he recited a few +lines beginning-- + + "How sleep the brave who sink to rest, + By all their country's wishes bless'd!" + +and Brenda, listening, was partly cheered, though even as her face +brightened she averred that she did not wish ever to wholly forget Tom +Hearst. + +To Brenda, indeed, any allusion to the war was painful. She could not +soon forget those first days of anxiety, and the anxious weeks of her +convalescence, when it was not a question of whether she _would_ write +to Arthur or not, but of whether she _could_. But now, with the future +spreading so brightly before them, it was hardly the time to dwell on +the mistakes of the past. + + + + +XXII + +THE WINNER + + +One morning not so very long after the wedding the old Du Launy Mansion +was "bustling with excitement." This, at least, was the way in which +Concetta phrased it, and if her expression was not exactly perfect in +the matter of its English, every one who heard her understood what she +meant, and agreed with her. Girls with eager faces hurried up and down +stairs, laughing gayly as they met, even when occasionally the meeting +happened to take the form of a collision. + +Lois, entering the vestibule, looked at the doorkeeper in surprise. She +resembled Angelina, and yet it was not she. + +"I'm her sister," the little girl explained; "I'm Angelina's sister. +She's going to study all the time this winter." + +"Oh, yes," responded Lois absent-mindedly; "so you are to take her +place." + +Lois had not known the whole Rosa family, and if she had ever heard of +Angelina's sisters, had forgotten their existence. Her first start of +surprise, therefore, had not been strange. But now as she went upstairs +she did recall the fact that Miss South and Julia had decided that +Angelina's rather indefinite duties as doorkeeper and assistant were not +likely to fit her for the most useful career. Taking advantage +accordingly of her professed interest in nursing, they had advised her +to begin a certain course of training, by which she might fit herself to +be a skilled attendant. "At the end of this course you may be inclined +to return to the Mansion and help us with the younger girls whom we +shall then have with us." The suggestion that she might some time teach +the younger girls pleased Angelina, and almost to their surprise she +accepted the offer. Her letters from the school to which she had gone, +though she had been there so short a time, were highly entertaining. +Those who were most interested in her were glad that Angelina had made +the change. She had not yet sufficient age and discretion to assume the +role of mentor and patroness that she liked to assume before the younger +girls now at the Mansion. + +"It is no reflection upon our school," Julia had said cheerfully, "that +we send Angelina to another; but we shall have younger girls in our next +year's class, and Angelina herself will then be older, and possibly +wiser, so that if she then tries to guide our pupils, it will not be a +case of the blind leading the blind." + +But this is a little aside from the entrance of Lois into the Mansion +this bright October day. After she had passed the young doorkeeper her +second surprise came in the shape of Maggie, who greeted her +enthusiastically as she stood at the door of the study. Enthusiasm was a +new quality for Maggie to manifest, and Lois would indeed have been +unobserving not to notice that the Maggie who now spoke to her was +altogether different from the Maggie McSorley whom she had known six +months earlier. The other Maggie had been thin and pale, and her eyes +were apt to have a red and watery look. But this Maggie was rosy-cheeked +and bright-eyed, and her expression was one of real happiness. Lois had +no chance to compliment Maggie on the change, for, before she could +speak, from behind two hands clasped themselves across her eyes, while a +deep voice cried, "Guess, guess,--" + +"Clarissa!" exclaimed Lois, and then with her sight restored she turned +quickly about to meet the smiling gaze of her old classmate. + +"I knew you were coming soon to visit Julia, but I had no idea that it +would be so soon." + +"I hope that you are not disappointed," rejoined Clarissa. "I hurried on +account of this wonderful prize-day. But how _did_ you manage to play +hide-and-seek with me in Cuba. By rights we should have met at the +bedside of some soldier, or at least on the hospital ship. Tell me, now, +wasn't it great, to feel that one was actually saving life?" and then +and there the two friends sat down on the lowest stair and began to talk +over all they had gone through during the past few months, regardless of +the wondering glances of the girls who passed on their way up and down. + +Lois, however, spoke less cheerfully of her experiences. She had +happened to help attend to a number of extremely pathetic cases, and on +the whole her work had touched her very deeply. A general improvement +in Miss Ambrose's condition had enabled her to accept with a clear +conscience an opportunity that had come to her for a brief term of +service as nurse, and her family had put no further obstacles in her +way. But on the whole, though glad that she had been able to help, she +had found that she shrank from certain details of the work. An observer +would not have imagined this condition of mind in Lois, for her hand was +always steady, her mind always alert for every change in her patient, +and she was unsparing of herself. But she had learned from her +experience that it would be wiser for her to shape her future studies +toward a scientific career, rather than in the direction of the active +practice of medicine. To have attained this self-knowledge was worth a +great deal to her. + +On the other hand, nursing had strengthened Clarissa in her zeal for +personal service, and she had decided to add to her Red Cross training a +regular hospital course for nurses. + +In the midst of their eager conversation the two friends suddenly were +recalled to the present by seeing Julia at the head of the stairs. + +"What a lowly seat you have chosen!" she cried. "But do go into the +study; I'll be there in a moment." + +When she joined them Lois apologized for having come so early. + +"You wrote me that this was to be the most remarkable prize-day you had +ever had, and I thought that I might make myself useful by arriving this +morning. But if you tell me that I am in the way, I'll bear the reproof +for the sake of the pleasure I've had in meeting Clarissa. I had not +realized that her visit to you had already begun." + +"Oh, we didn't tell you purposely. We wished to surprise you," and then +the conversation drifted naturally to their Radcliffe days. + +Julia herself brought it to an end by asking her friends to go to the +gymnasium, where they could make themselves useful by talking to her +while she did several necessary things in connection with the award of +the prizes. + +"It seems to me that it's always a prize-day here at the Mansion. Didn't +you have several last winter?" asked Lois. "I remember the tableaux, and +the valentines, and there were some prizes for scrap-books, and dolls, +and--" + +"Well," said Julia, with a smile, "if competition is the soul of trade, +why shouldn't it be the soul of education? At any rate, we feel that at +the Mansion we can accomplish a great deal by stimulating the girls with +the hope of a future reward. The prize award to-day, however, is nothing +new. Prizes will be awarded on last year's record. You must remember +that we promised two--one to the girl who had improved the most, who had +succeeded in reaching the highest standard, and one to her who tried the +hardest." + +"Ah, yes, I remember," responded Lois; "but I thought that they were to +be given last year." + +"We were too much occupied at the end of the season with thoughts of the +war. We decided to postpone the prize-day until autumn." + +"It's well that you did," said Clarissa, "otherwise you wouldn't have +had the pleasure of hearing me make a speech on the happy occasion," and +she drew herself up to her full height, as if about to begin an eloquent +oration. + +When afternoon came a baker's dozen of girls assembled in the gymnasium, +which was tastefully decorated with flags, branches of autumn foliage, +and long-stemmed, tawny chrysanthemums arranged in tall vases. + +Besides the pupils there were present all the staff of the Mansion, but +no outsiders, since this, after all, was to be a family affair--no +outsiders, at least, except Clarissa; for Lois, like Nora and Amy, and +one or two other friends of Julia's, were accounted members of the +staff, though their help was less definite than that of Julia and Pamela +and the other residents of the Mansion. + +As the girls took their places in a semicircle in front of the little +platform, they talked to one another in an undertone. + +"I hear that the prizes are perfectly beautiful. Miss Brenda, I mean +Mrs. Weston, sent one of the prizes, but I don't know what it is." + +"Whom did you vote for, Concetta?" + +"Oh, that's telling; we were not to tell until all the votes were +counted; but I think--" + +"Hush! Miss Julia's going to speak." + +Then as all the eager faces turned toward her, Julia began her informal +address. + +"I need not remind you that last winter you were told that two prizes +would be awarded at the end of the season. The first to the girl who in +every way had been the most successful--whose record was really the +best. The second to the girl who had succeeded in making the most of +herself. Miss South and I have watched you all carefully. Every day we +made a record of your improvement--in some cases, I am sorry to say, of +your lack of improvement. We have talked the matter over, and have asked +Miss Northcote to help us decide; and after we three had made one +decision, we referred it to every other person who had lived here the +past year, or who had taught you even for a short time." + +Julia's natural timidity heightened perhaps the seriousness of her tone, +and the faces before her grew sober. + +"Now at one time, as I think I told you, we thought of leaving it to you +girls to vote on both the first and the second prizes; but on second +thought we have seen that the first prize ought to be based on the +records that have been kept. Accordingly," and she opened a box that lay +on the table before her, "it gives me great pleasure to present this +case of scissors to Phoebe, as a prize awarded her for having made the +best record in work and in all other things during the past year." + +Now Phoebe had been so quiet a girl, so colorless in many ways, that +no one had thought of her as a possible prize-winner. She accepted the +scissors with a smile and a word of thanks, and passed the red morocco +case around the circle that all might see its contents--six pairs of +scissors, of the finest steel, ranging in size from a very small pair +of embroidery scissors to the largest size for cutting cloth. + +There were whispered comments in the interval that followed. One girl +expressing her astonishment that Phoebe had been the winner, another +replying, "Why, she never did wrong, not once; didn't you ever notice?" + +Then in a little while Julia spoke again. + +"We have decided to let you vote for the girl who deserves the second +prize. Remember it is to be given to the girl who has made the most of +herself, who has shown the greatest improvement. Each must write her +choice independently on one of these slips of paper, and at the end of +ten minutes Miss Herter will collect the slips." + +As they wrote, the faces of the girls were worth studying. Evidently the +matter was one that demanded deep thought. They bit their pencils, and +looked at one another, and at last wrote the name in haste and folded +the slip with the air of having accomplished a great thing. There were +some, of course, who wrote their choice instantly, and with no +hesitation, and waited almost impatiently for Clarissa to collect the +slips. But at last the votes were in, and as it did not take long to +count them, the result was soon known. + +"Nine votes--a majority--for Nellie, and it is confirmed by the staff," +announced Clarissa in her clearest tones. At this there was much +clapping of hands, and even a little cheering, for Nellie was a +favorite, and no one begrudged her the set of ebony brushes and mirror +for her table. Even Concetta and Haleema seemed content with the +result, although more than one of the judges surmised that the slips +that bore the names of these two girls were written each by the girl +whose name it bore. + +There was justice in this award to Nellie, who a year before had been +the most hoidenish of young Irish girls, in speech more difficult to +understand than any of the others, in dress untidy to an extent +bordering on uncouthness, and in disposition apparently very slow to +learn the ways of an ordinary household. By the end of the season her +speech had become clear and distinct, though with a charming brogue; her +dress had become neat and tasteful, and she could make most of her own +clothes, and Miss Dreen considered her the deftest of her waitresses. +Perhaps, however, the vote would not have been so nearly unanimous had +not Nellie also endeared herself to the girls by a certain sunniness of +disposition. She had not made a single enemy during the whole year. But +in the midst of their congratulations--from which the blushing Nellie +would gladly have escaped--the girls again heard Julia's voice. + +"I have here a letter from Mrs. Arthur Weston ["Miss Brenda," two or +three explained to their neighbors], who expresses her regret that she +cannot be with us to-day." + +Julia would have been glad to read her cousin's letter to the girls, had +it not been written in so unconventional a style as to make this +impossible. There were passages, however, that it seemed wise to give at +first hand, and with one or two slight changes of wording she was able +to read them. But first she had a word or two of explanation. + +"You may remember last year, when I told you that you were to have a +small allowance of money to spend each month as you pleased, I spoke of +this as 'earnings.' Although we of the staff had decided that we should +not criticise your way of spending it, we thought that by calling the +money 'earnings,' you might take better care of it. Well, I know that +two or three of you opened small accounts in a savings bank. I know that +others have spent the money in useful things for their relatives at +home, and more than one, I am sure, has nothing to show for her money +except the memory of chocolates and oranges, and perishable ribbons and +other fleeting pleasures; but we have agreed not to criticise this +expenditure, and I merely refer to them because _I_ know that one of +your number has been called a miser, because she was so intent on +hoarding that she would not spend a cent for things either useful or +frivolous." + +All eyes were now turned toward Maggie, and for the moment she felt like +running from the room. + +"But before I continue," added Julia, "I must tell you a story," and +then in a few words she related the episode of the broken vase; "and +now," she concluded, "I will read directly from Mrs. Weston's letter: + +"'You may imagine my surprise,'" she read, "'when a letter came to me a +day or two ago from Maggie McSorley containing a post-office order for +twenty-two dollars. This was to pay for the broken vase with interest. +It seems she had been saving it all winter from that meagre little +allowance you allowed her, and to make up the whole sum she did some +work this summer--berry-picking, _I_ believe. Arthur and I were very +much touched, and I have put the post-office order away, for I am sure +that I should never feel like spending it.'" + +"Sensible!" exclaimed Miss South, under her breath. + +Then Julia continued to read from Brenda's letter. + +"'So of course I want to make it up to Maggie, and I am sending a +twenty-dollar gold piece, which you must promise to give her as a prize, +on the same day when you give the other prizes, and she's to do exactly +what she likes with it. It's a prize for her having learned not to break +things. But I'm writing her that I am very glad she broke that vase, for +if she had not, I should never have had the chance of having the help +she gave me this last, dreadful summer.'" + +Perhaps Julia need not have read so much of the letter, though in doing +so she attained what she had in mind,--to show the girls that Maggie was +not a miser, and to explain why Brenda had of late shown so much more +interest in her than in some of the other girls. + +So Maggie in her turn was congratulated, the more heartily even, because +Miss South had added a word to Julia's speech by saying that, before +Brenda's letter had come, she had contemplated a special prize for +Maggie, since the latter had certainly succeeded in her efforts to +overcome some of her more decided faults,--"'A reward,' rather than 'a +prize,' perhaps we should call it, but, by whatever name, equally +deserved." + +That evening, after Clarissa had accepted Lois' invitation to go with +her to her Newton home for a day or two, Julia decided to go to her +aunt's to spend the night. The family had not yet returned to town, +though the house was now ready for them. A care-taker and another +servant were in charge, and, weary from her exertions of the afternoon, +Julia was rather glad of the rest and quiet that the lonely house +afforded. + +But although she enjoyed the quiet, the very freedom from interruption +gave her time for disquieting thoughts. She began to reflect upon her +own loneliness, upon the fact that she was not really necessary to +anybody. Her uncle and aunt were kindness itself, but even they did not +depend upon her. + +Every one--even little Manuel Rosa--was of special importance to some +one else, while among all the people in her circle she alone seemed to +stand quite by herself. The thought wore upon her, and deepened when she +thought of Brenda's absence. Later, when she went to Brenda's room to +put away some things that she had promised to pack for her, the cover +slipped from a little pasteboard box that she had lifted from a shelf. +Glancing within she saw some bits of broken, iridescent glass. The sight +made her smile. "Brenda's bargain," she said; "how absurd that whole +thing was,--the loss of the vase, the acquisition of Maggie; and yet I +am not sure," she continued to herself, "but that Brenda gained by the +exchange. I am not sure but that Maggie was a better investment than any +of us at first realized. She has been one of the means, certainly, by +which Brenda has gained a truer knowledge of herself." + +Nor was Julia wrong in this. Maggie unconsciously had helped Brenda to a +knowledge of herself; for the Brenda of the past year had been very +different from the Brenda of six years before. The earlier Brenda, as +Julia had first known her, had been unwilling to admit herself wrong, +even when her blunders stared her in the face. But the latter Brenda had +profited by her own blunders, in that she had been willing to learn from +them; and though Maggie had been only one of the elements working toward +Brenda's uplifting, she had had her part in the progress of the past +year. + +Thinking of Brenda in this light, dwelling on the affection that had so +increased as the two cousins had come to understand each other, Julia +became more cheerful. She felt that she no longer stood alone, for even +setting aside her circle of warm friends (how had she dared to overlook +them?), was she not in her aunt's household a fourth daughter, and loved +as well--almost as well--as Caroline, or Agnes, or Brenda? + + +LITTLE, BROWN, & COMPANY, _Publishers_ + +254 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MASS. + + * * * * * + + +HELEN LEAH REED'S "BRENDA" BOOKS + + +BRENDA, HER SCHOOL AND HER CLUB + +Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith. 12mo. $1.50. + +_The Boston Herald_ says: "Miss Reed's girls have all the impulses and +likes of real girls as their characters are developing, and her record +of their thoughts and actions reads like a chapter snatched from the +page of life. It is bright, genial, merry, wholesome, and full of good +characterizations." + + +BRENDA'S SUMMER AT ROCKLEY + +Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith. 12mo. $1.50. + +A charming picture of vacation life along the famous North Shore of +Massachusetts. + +The _Outlook_ says: "The author is one of the best equipped of our +writers for girls of larger growth. Her stories are strong, intelligent, +and wholesome." + + +BRENDA'S COUSIN AT RADCLIFFE + +Illustrated by Alice Barber Stephens. 12mo. $1.20 _net._ + +A remarkably real and fascinating story of a college girl's career, +excelling in interest Miss Reed's first "Brenda" book. The _Providence +News_ says of it: "No better college story has been written." The author +is a graduate of Radcliffe College which she describes. + + +BRENDA'S BARGAIN + +Illustrated. 12mo. $1.20 _net._ + +The fourth of the "Brenda" books by Helen Leah Reed, which will bring +this popular series to a close. It introduces a group of younger girls, +pupils in the domestic science school conducted by Brenda's cousin and +her former teacher, Miss South. The story also deals with social +settlement work. + + * * * * * + +_Anna Chapin Ray's "Teddy" Stories_ + + +TEDDY: HER BOOK. A Story of Sweet Sixteen + +Illustrated by Vesper L. George. 12mo. $1.50. + +Miss Ray's work draws instant comparison with the best of Miss Alcott's: +first, because she has the same genuine sympathy with boy and girl life; +secondly, because she creates real characters, individual and natural, +like the young people one knows, actually working out the same kind of +problems; and, finally, because her style of writing is equally +unaffected and straightforward.--_Christian Register_, Boston. + + +PHEBE: HER PROFESSION + +A Sequel to "Teddy: Her Book" + +Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill. 12mo. $1.50. + +This is one of the few books written for young people in which there is +to be found the same vigor and grace that one demands in a good story +for older people.--_Worcester Spy._ + + +TEDDY: HER DAUGHTER + +A Sequel to "Teddy: Her Book," and "Phebe: Her Profession" + +Illustrated by J. B. Graff. 12mo. $1.50. + +Introduces a new generation of girls and boys, all well bred and gifted +with good manners, takes them through much fun and such adventures as +one may find on a small sandy island, and gives the girl a page or two +of saving common sense about her duties to boys and her obligation to be +true and womanly.--_New York Times Saturday Review._ + + +NATHALIE'S CHUM + +Illustrated by Ellen Bernard Thompson. 12mo. $1.20 _net._ + +A charming story of a courageous fifteen-year-old girl's effort to help +her older brother support an orphaned family of five. "Nathalie is the +sort of a young girl whom other girls like to read about," says the +_Hartford Courant_. + + +URSULA'S FRESHMAN. A Sequel to "Nathalie's Chum" + +Illustrated by Harriet Roosevelt Richards. 12mo. $1.20 _net._ + +A hot-tempered, domineering girl, yet full of common sense and capable +of loyal love, and Jack, her cousin, who stoically accepts the loss of +his father's fortune, and begins to earn his own way through Yale, are +the two principal characters in Miss Ray's new book. + + * * * * * + +_Myra Sawyer Hamlin's Stories_ + + +NAN AT CAMP CHICOPEE; or, Nan's Summer with the Boys + +Illustrated by Jessie McDermott. 16mo. $1.25. + +The story is one of free, outdoor life, characterized by a deal of fine +descriptive writing and many bits of local color that invest the whole +book with an atmosphere which is actually fragrant.--_Bangor +Commercial._ + + +NAN IN THE CITY; or, Nan's Winter with the Girls + +Illustrated by L. J. Bridgman. 16mo. $1.25. + +A bright story in which children and animals play an equal part.--_The +Outlook._ + +She is a womanly girl, and we have met her like outside of story-books. +A wonderfully healthy, thoroughly womanly maiden, standing at the point +in life where childhood and womanhood meet, one follows with interest +the account of her first winter at school in a great city, where she +made new friends and found some old ones.--_Chicago Advance._ + + +NAN'S CHICOPEE CHILDREN + +Illustrated by L. J. Bridgman. 16mo. $1.25. + +Myra Sawyer Hamlin's stories are full of outdoor life, redolent of the +woods, the fields, and the mountain lakes, and her characters are very +natural young folk.--_Cambridge Tribune._ + +Full of happiness and helpfulness, with experiences in doors and out +that will interest all young people.--_Evening Standard, New Bedford._ + + +CATHARINE'S PROXY. A Story of Schoolgirl Life + +Illustrated by Florence E. Plaisted. 12mo. $1.20 _net._ + +An entertaining story of a very modern young American girl of wealth who +fails to appreciate the advantages of an expensive education, and at the +suggestion of her father gives her educational advantage to another +girl, who for a year becomes her proxy. + +The girl characters are from fifteen to seventeen years of age, the boys +are preparing for college, and all are instilled with the spirit of +modern life in our best schools. + + * * * * * + +NEW BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE + + +JO'S BOYS, And How They Turned Out + +A Sequel to "Little Men." By LOUISA M. ALCOTT. _New Illustrated +Edition._ With ten full-page plates by Ellen Wetherald Ahrens. Crown +8vo. $2.00. + +_Uniform with Jo's Boys_ + +LITTLE WOMEN. Illustrated by Alice Barber Stephens. + +LITTLE MEN. Illustrated by Reginald B. Birch. + +AN OLD-FASHIONED GIRL. Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith. + +The four volumes put up in box, $8.00. + + +THE GOLDEN WINDOWS + +A Book of Fables for Old and Young. By LAURA E. RICHARDS. Illustrated. +12mo. $1.50. + +This charming book will be a source of delight to those who love the +best literature, and in its pages there is much that will be helpful in +shaping children's lives. The stories are simply and gracefully told. + + +THE AWAKENING OF THE DUCHESS + +By FRANCES CHARLES. With illustrations in color by I. H. Caliga. 12mo. +$1.50. + +A pretty and touching story of a lonely little heiress, Roselle, who +called her mother, a society favorite, "the Duchess"; and the final +awakening of a mother's love for her own daughter. + + +A DAUGHTER OF THE RICH + +By M. E. WALLER, author of "The Little Citizen." Illustrated. 12mo. +$1.50. + +A delightful book, telling the story of a happy summer in the Green +Mountains of Vermont and a pleasant winter in New York. The two girl +characters are Hazel Clyde, the daughter of a New York millionaire, and +Rose Blossom, a Vermont girl. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Brenda's Bargain, by Helen Leah Reed + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRENDA'S BARGAIN *** + +***** This file should be named 37335.txt or 37335.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/3/3/37335/ + +Produced by Heather Clark, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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