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diff --git a/old/54021-0.txt b/old/54021-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 515c0b3..0000000 --- a/old/54021-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7670 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dorothy Dale's Promise, by Margaret Penrose - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Dorothy Dale's Promise - -Author: Margaret Penrose - -Release Date: January 19, 2017 [EBook #54021] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOROTHY DALE'S PROMISE *** - - - - -Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, MFR and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - -[Illustration: INTO THE RIVER THEY PLUNGED. - - _Dorothy Dale’s Promise._ _Page_ 179.] - - - - - DOROTHY DALE’S - PROMISE - - BY - MARGARET PENROSE - - AUTHOR OF “DOROTHY DALE: A GIRL OF TO-DAY,” “DOROTHY - DALE AT GLENWOOD SCHOOL,” “THE MOTOR - GIRLS SERIES,” ETC. - - ILLUSTRATED - - NEW YORK - CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY - - - - -BOOKS BY MARGARET PENROSE - - - THE DOROTHY DALE SERIES - - 12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. - - DOROTHY DALE: A GIRL OF TO-DAY - DOROTHY DALE AT GLENWOOD SCHOOL - DOROTHY DALE’S GREAT SECRET - DOROTHY DALE AND HER CHUMS - DOROTHY DALE’S QUEER HOLIDAYS - DOROTHY DALE’S CAMPING DAYS - DOROTHY DALE’S SCHOOL RIVALS - DOROTHY DALE IN THE CITY - DOROTHY DALE’S PROMISE - - - THE MOTOR GIRLS SERIES - - 12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. - - THE MOTOR GIRLS - THE MOTOR GIRLS ON A TOUR - THE MOTOR GIRLS AT LOOKOUT BEACH - THE MOTOR GIRLS THROUGH NEW - ENGLAND - THE MOTOR GIRLS ON CEDAR LAKE - THE MOTOR GIRLS ON THE COAST - THE MOTOR GIRLS ON CRYSTAL BAY - - _Cupples & Leon Co., Publishers, New York_ - - COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY - CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY - - DOROTHY DALE’S PROMISE - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - - I. “THE BAD PENNIES” 1 - - II. CELIA MORAN, OF “THE FINDLING” 10 - - III. THE PROMISE 19 - - IV. A PORCINE PICNIC 28 - - V. A MOUNTAIN OUT OF A MOLEHILL 36 - - VI. DOROTHY IS “POUNCED UPON” 45 - - VII. A RAID 53 - - VIII. CONDITIONS 61 - - IX. AN EXPEDITION AFOOT 70 - - X. AT THE CASTLE OF THE OGRESS 78 - - XI. SNOWBOUND 87 - - XII. TAVIA IS MYSTIFIED 98 - - XIII. TUNNELING OUT 107 - - XIV. SEVERAL SURPRISING THINGS 115 - - XV. WHY DID HE DISAPPEAR? 123 - - XVI. DOROTHY’S WITS AT WORK 132 - - XVII. TAVIA TAKES A HAND 141 - - XVIII. THE RUNAWAY 149 - - XIX. ANOTHER REASON FOR FINDING TOM MORAN 160 - - XX. BACK TO DALTON 170 - - XXI. “THAT REDHEAD” 178 - - XXII. ON THE TRAIL 185 - - XXIII. ALMOST CAUGHT 193 - - XXIV. “ALIAS JOHN SMITH” 201 - - XXV. THE WOODCHUCK HUNT 210 - - XXVI. THE FIERY FURNACE 217 - - XXVII. THE RING ON MISS OLAINE’S FINGER 224 - - XXVIII. “JES’ THE CUTEST LITTLE THING” 232 - - XXIX. WHITE LAWN AND WHITE ROSES 240 - - XXX. “GOODNIGHT, GLENWOOD--GOD BLESS YOU!” 248 - - - - -DOROTHY DALE’S PROMISE - -CHAPTER I - -“THE BAD PENNIES” - - -The train started a second after the two almost breathless girls -entered the half-empty chair car. They came in with a rush, and barely -found their seats and got settled in them before the easily rolling -train had pulled clear of the station and the yards. - -“Back to dear old Glenwood School, Doro!” cried Tavia Travers, fairly -hugging her more sober companion. “How do you feel about it?” - -“_De_-lighted, Miss,” laughed Dorothy Dale. “After our trying -experiences in New York----Well! a country life is strenuous enough for -me, I guess.” - -“But we _did_ have some fun, Doro. And how we got the best of that -hateful Akerson man! I just _hate_ that fellow. I could _beat_ him!” - -“Your feeling is not scriptural,” groaned Dorothy, though her eyes -twinkled. “Don’t you know, if you are struck on one cheek you should -turn the other also?” - -“But suppose you’re hit on the nose?” demanded Tavia. “One hasn’t _two_ -noses!” - -“Well, Aunt Winnie is well rid of that Akerson,” said Dorothy, with a -little sigh of satisfaction. - -“And your cousins, Ned and Nat, have you to thank for the salvation of -their income,” returned Tavia. - -“_Us_, you mean,” laughed Dorothy. “You had more to do with the showing -up of that real estate agent than _I_ had, Tavia.” - -“Nonsense---- Oh, here’s the station where the girls may join us. Do -let me open that window, Doro! I don’t care if it _is_ cold outside. I -want to see if they are on the platform.” - -Tavia was already struggling with the window. But windows in cars are -made to stick, it would seem. Tavia cast a pleading glance from her big -eyes at the trim young brakeman just then coming through the car. - -“Please!” Tavia’s eyes said just as plainly as though she had spoken -the word; but the young brakeman shook his head gravely. - -“Do you really want it open, Miss?” he asked, hesitating at the chairs -occupied by the two friends. - -“I want to see out--just a little bit,” said Tavia, pouting. - -“But if anybody objects----” the young brakeman continued, taking hold -of the fixtures of the sash with his gloved hands. - -“Isn’t he just a dear?” murmured Tavia to Dorothy, but loud enough for -the young railroad man to hear. - -“Do hush, Tavia!” gasped her friend. - -The young man opened the window. The exertion seemed to have been -considerable, for he grew red to the very tips of his ears while he was -raising the sash! - -“Oh, thank you--so much!” gushed Tavia, perfectly cool. And when the -brakeman had gone, she turned to Dorothy, and demanded: - -“Didn’t I say that prettily? Just like a New York society girl would -say it--the one who took us to tea that time in the tea room that used -to be a millionaire’s stable; do you remember?” - -“You are just dreadful, Tavia!” groaned Dorothy Dale. “Will you never -learn to behave?” - -“There they are!” shrieked Tavia, with her head out of the window. -“There are all the ‘bad pennies’--they always turn up again, you know.” - -The train was slowing down and the long platform of the junction came -into view. - -“Who’s there?” begged Dorothy, willing to learn the details from her -more venturesome companion. - -“Ned Ebony--yes, ma’am! And there’s Cologne. Oh, bully! everybody’s -here. This way, girls!” cried Tavia as the car passed a group of -merry-faced girls of about their own age. “I hope you’ve all got chairs -in this car.” - -And, by good fortune, they had! Within the next few moments nearly a -dozen of the pupils of Glenwood School had joined the chums--and all of -these newcomers, as well as Dorothy and Tavia, belonged to the class -that would graduate from the famous old school the coming June. - -“Tell us all about New York--do!” cried Ned Ebony, otherwise Edna Black. - -“And Miss Mingle!” urged Rose-Mary, whom the other girls called -“Cologne” most of the time. “Is she coming back to Glenwood School to -teach music?” - -“Poor little Mingle has had a hard time,” Dorothy said. “But she is -coming back to us--and we must treat her nicely, girls.” - -“Oh, we must!” added Tavia. “Better than I treated her feather-bed.” - -The girls all laughed at that, for it had been Tavia’s last prank at -Glenwood to shower little Miss Mingle with the feathers from her own -special tick. - -“But about New York,” urged one of the other girls who had never been -to the metropolis. “We’re just dying to know something about it, Doro.” - -“And if it is as wicked as they say it is,” cried another. - -“And as nice,” urged Ned Ebony. - -“And as horribly dirty as they say,” went on Cologne. - -“And the subways--and elevated trains--and all the rest of it,” came -the seemingly unending demands. - -“Help! help! ‘Ath-thith-tanth, pleath!’” cried Tavia. “That’s the way -one of the girls in a big store called the floorwalker--jutht like -that!” - -“Now, go ahead and tell us something wonderful,” begged Cologne. - -“See here,” said Dorothy, laughing, and diving into her handbag. -“Here’s something that I cut out of the paper. It is how New York -struck the wondering eye of an Arab who visited it recently. He sent -this letter to his brother at home: - - “‘People in America travel like rats under the ground, and like - squirrels in the air, and the buildings are so high that people - have to be put in square boxes and pulled to the top by heavy - ropes. In the day the sun furnishes the light as in Morocco. At - night the light is as strong as in the day, but people here do - not seem to have much use for sleep, as the streets are just as - crowded at night as in the day.’ - -“There!” laughed Dorothy. “That is New York--that, and operas, and -theatres, and ‘tea-fights,’ and automobiles whizzing, and car gongs -banging, and the rattle of steam riveters, and newsboys shrieking, -and----” - -“My turn! I’ll relieve you,” interposed Tavia. “There are lots of nice -boys--real _dressy_ boys--and it’s fun to go to the tea-rooms, for you -see everybody--and they dance! And we’ve learned to dance the very -newest dances----” - -“Oh, Tavia!” gasped Dorothy. “Only with each other--you know that. -We’ve just picked up some of the steps, seeing others do it--and -practised in our room at Aunt Winnie’s.” - -“There! She always spoils everything,” declared Tavia. “I was just -making Ned Ebony’s eyes ‘bulge right out’ at our wickedness. I -think----” - -At that moment brakes were put on the train and the girls were suddenly -tumbled together in quite a heap. There was something ahead to cause -this sudden stoppage, and Tavia struggled with her window again. It -went up easier this time. Perhaps that was because there was no good -looking young man--in or out of uniform--near at hand. - -“Oh! it’s a fire!” gasped Cologne, looking over Tavia’s shoulder when -the latter got the window open. - -“On the tracks!” declared Tavia. - -Dorothy got a glimpse of the fire now. - -“It’s the bridge over Caloom Creek,” she cried. “It’s all ablaze! I -declare, girls, suppose we are held here all night!” - -“Don’t mention such a thing!” groaned Ned Ebony. “It’s only twenty -miles from here to Glenwood.” - -“Right,” agreed Tavia; “and Belding is the next station beyond the -creek.” - -“Let’s go out and ask the railroad men if we can’t get over the river -and get a train on to Glenwood at once,” suggested Dorothy Dale. - -“Let’s!” agreed Tavia, with a giggle. “That nice young brakeman, -Doro--I’ll ask him, if you are bashful.” - -But it was the conductor in charge of the train they found when the -hilarious party of school girls got out with their hand baggage. - -“How are you going to get across the river, young ladies?” he wanted to -know. “The highway bridge is a mile through the woods.” - -“But we know all about this river,” spoke up Tavia. “There are stepping -stones across it right below this old railroad bridge. We’ve been -across them before--haven’t we, Doro?” - -“In the summer,” her friend admitted. - -“Well, you can try it,” said the conductor. “That bridge is going to -be unstable, even if they get the fire out. A train may not cross from -either side before to-morrow.” - -“Oh!” cried Ned Ebony, “we could never wait that long!” - -“Come on!” commanded Tavia, leading the way into a path beside the -railroad tracks. “Let’s at least see if the stones are uncovered.” - -“You’ll probably find transportation from Belding to the Glen,” said -the conductor, as the girls started on. - -“Come on, now,” said Tavia. “Let’s show our pluck. Who’s afraid of a -little water?” - -“I’m always seasick on the water,” murmured Cologne. - -“Never heard of anybody being troubled by _mal de mer_ going over -stepping stones,” snorted Tavia, in disgust. “Come on!” - -There was a fringe of bushes along both sides of the creek. This path -beside the railroad tracks forked, and one branch of it led right down -to the stepping stones. The water was rough; but there was no ice, and -the top of each stone was bare and dry. - -Years and years before the people living in the neighborhood had put -these flat-top boulders into the creek-bed, because the light wooden -bridges were forever being carried away by the floods. Of course that -was before the day of the railroad. - -Tavia started across the stones, and Dorothy followed her. One after -the other they got over safely. But Ned Ebony’s shoe came untied and -she was last. - -Perhaps she was careless; perhaps she tripped on her shoelace; perhaps -she was heedless enough to step on the edge of a certain small boulder -that Tavia warned her was not exactly steady. - -However it was, the boulder rolled, poor Edna “sprawled” in the air for -a moment to get her balance, and then the rock turned over and she went -“splash!” into the water. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -CELIA MORAN, OF THE “FINDLING” - - -“To the rescue!” shrieked Tavia, charging back to the stepping stones. -“Forward, my bold hearties! Man overboard! Who’s got a rope?” - -Then she lost the power of speech in a burst of laughter; for certain -it was, poor Ned Ebony was an awfully funny sight! - -But Dorothy was at hand to do something practical. She sprang back upon -the nearest boulder to the one that had turned under her unfortunate -schoolmate, and in half a minute she had dragged Edna out of the cold -water. - -“Oh! _oh!_ OH!” sputtered Edna in _crescendo_. “I--I’m drowned--dead! -Oh, do help me out! You mean thing, Tavia! Oh, I’m frozen!” - -The water was ice cold, and the temperature of the air was close to the -freezing point. This adventure might easily become serious, and Dorothy -knew it. - -“We must hurry her to the Belding station,” she cried. “Come on, -Neddie! You must run.” - -“Run? I can’t. See how water-soaked my skirt is. I _can’t_ run.” - -“You must!” declared Dorothy. “Come, Tavia--take her other hand. Have -you her bag, Cologne? We’ll run ahead with her and see if we can find -somebody to take her in. She must be dried and have other clothing. Oh, -hurry!” - -“I can’t run, Doro Dale! I tell you I can’t,” wailed the saturated girl. - -But they made her hurry, and in fifteen minutes had her in the sitting -room belonging to the station agent’s wife, where she was helped to -disrobe, dried, dosed with hot tea, and finally managed to dress -herself in dry garments borrowed from the bags of her schoolmates, the -contents of her own bag being wet, too. - -There was no chance to get on to Glenwood for two hours; so the party -of schoolgirls must of necessity occupy themselves as best they might -around the Belding station. Meanwhile a better introduction to Dorothy -Dale and her friends, as well as a brief sketch of “what has gone -before” in this series, may not come amiss. - -In “Dorothy Dale: A Girl of To-day” my heroine was some three years -younger than she is when she makes her bow in this present volume. But -even then she was a bright, sprightly girl, more thoughtful than the -average of her age, perhaps; yet thoroughly a _girl_. Nevertheless, -because of the illness of her father, Major Dale, of Dalton (she was -motherless) Dorothy took up the work of publishing his weekly paper, -_The Dalton Bugle_. - -At that time the paper was all the Dales had to depend on for a -livelihood; therefore Dorothy’s success as a publisher and editor -meant much to herself and her immediate family which, beside the -Major, consisted of her two much younger brothers, Joe and Roger. With -her closest chum, Octavia Travers, Dorothy had many adventures while -running the paper--some merely amusing but others of a really perilous -nature. - -Dorothy, however, survived these adventures, Major Dale recovered, and -in the end secured a generous legacy which had been left him, which -enhancement of the family’s fortune made possible the writing of the -second volume of the series: “Dorothy Dale at Glenwood School.” - -This story served, too, to introduce more effectually Dorothy’s aunt, -Mrs. Winnie White, and her two boys, Nat and Ned, who lived at North -Birchlands and with whom Major Dale and his motherless children had -now, for some time, made their home. At school Dorothy had some fun, -many adventures, and several little troubles; but with the help and -companionship of Tavia, who was enabled to go to the school, too, after -a very few months both chums decided that Glenwood was the very finest -school “that ever happened.” - -“Dorothy Dale’s Great Secret” came very nearly being Tavia Travers’ -undoing, and that sprightly damsel’s adventures, and her friend’s -wholesome influence over her, are fully related in the third volume of -the above name. - -In the fourth volume, “Dorothy Dale and Her Chums,” Dorothy came into -really startling association with some gypsies and their queens; but -there is likewise in the story plenty of school fun and excitement and -almost a rebellion of the Glenwood girls against a harsh teacher who -had charge while Mrs. Pangborn, the principal, was away. - -Dorothy and her chums, with the help of Nat and Ned White and some of -their friends, solved the mystery of the “castle” in the next volume, -which is well entitled, “Dorothy Dale’s Queer Holidays.” The holidays -were queer, indeed, and there was a time when serious trouble seemed to -threaten them all. - -In “Dorothy Dale’s Camping Days,” the sixth volume of the series, -Dorothy was mistaken for a demented girl who had escaped from a -sanitarium, and our heroine suffered imprisonment and much anxiety -before the mistake was explained. In this, as in “Dorothy Dale’s -School Rivals,” the seventh book, Tavia Travers had a prominent part -in the action of the story; but Tavia was a flyaway and often Dorothy -was anxious about her. The irresponsible Tavia had a heart of gold, -however, and her love for Dorothy, and her loyalty to her in any and -every difficulty, kept the girl from going very far wrong. - -The girls had boarded the train for Glenwood, which had met this -obstruction of the burning bridge, after the winter vacation; and that -vacation had been spent by Dorothy and Tavia in New York. The account -of the fun and adventures they had there is too long to tell here, but -it is all related in the volume next preceding this, entitled, “Dorothy -Dale in the City.” - -The chums not only found the great metropolis a veritable fairyland -of surprises, but they had adventures galore. By a fortunate turn of -circumstances the two girls were able to save Dorothy’s Aunt Winnie -from the machinations of a dishonest real estate agent who had been -handling some of that lady’s property; and likewise they had been able -to befriend Miss Mingle, the music teacher at Glenwood School, and her -invalid sister. - -As the other girls were looking after Ned Ebony, and offering -her the contents of their own bags--from “mule” slippers to -powder-puffs--Dorothy was not needed; so she went back to the railroad -station to make sure that no train was made up for Glenwood without her -and her friends being aware of it. - -There, in the waiting room, she spied a tall, burly woman, with a very -hard red face, who had just placed upon one of the benches a little -girl of some six or seven years. The child was poorly dressed, and -although she was not crying, she looked very woe-begone indeed. - -The big woman gave the child a little shake when she had placed her on -the bench. - -“There now, Celia Moran!” she snapped. “You stay put; will yer? I never -seen no child more like an eel than _you_ be.” - -“Am--am I really like a--neel, Mrs. Hogan?” demanded the little girl, -timidly. “Do--does a--neel have feets an’ hands?” - -“You shet up with your questions!” commanded the woman, shaking a -finger at her. “As sure as me name’s Ann Hogan I’d never tuk ye from -that Findling Asylum if I’d knowed ye had a tongue in your mout’ that’s -hung in the middle and wags both ends. Sorra the day I tuk ye!” - -Little Celia Moran put a tentative finger in her mouth to see if it was -verily so--that her tongue was “hung” different from other people’s -tongues. - -“Are--are you _sure_ my tongue’s that way, Mrs. Hogan?” she asked, -plaintively as the big woman was turning away. “It--it _feels_ all -right.” - -“Now, you shet up!” warned Mrs. Hogan, wrathfully. “Ax me another -question an’ I’ll spank ye--so I will! I’m goin’ now to find Jim -Bentley’s waggin’. Do you sit right there still--don’t move! If ye do, -I’ll know it when I come back an’ ’twill be the wuss for ye.” - -With this threat the big woman departed with an angry stride. Dorothy -had stopped to listen to the conversation; and she was greatly -interested in the little girl. She immediately went and sat down by -Celia Moran. - -She was not a very big girl for her age, being thin and “wriggly.” -It did seem quite impossible for her to keep either her limbs or her -tongue still. - -But she was, without doubt, a most appealing little thing. Dorothy -smiled at her, and Dorothy’s smile was bound to “make friends” with any -one. - -“I guess you don’t know me; do you?” asked the child, looking up from -under long, black lashes at Dorothy. Those lashes, and the velvety -black eyes they almost hid, were all the really pretty features the -child possessed. She was not plump enough to be pretty of form, and the -expression of her features was too shrewd and worldly-wise to make a -child of her age attractive. - -“I guess you don’t know me; do you?” she repeated, looking in a sly -little way at Dorothy. - -“Oh, yes, I do,” declared Dorothy Dale, laughing outright. “You are -Celia Moran,” she added, remembering the name the sour-faced woman had -used. - -“But you don’t know where I come from?” - -The ugly gingham uniform she wore told _that_ story only too well. -Dorothy became grave at once. - -“You come from some orphan asylum, my dear.” - -“From the Findling,” said the little girl, pursing up her lips and -nodding. - -“From a foundling asylum?” - -“Yes’m. But I wasn’t really a ‘findling.’ I didn’t come there like the -babies do. _I_ was two an’ a ha’f years old when they took me in. That -ain’t no baby; is it?” - -“Two and a half? Why, that’s a _big_ girl,” agreed Dorothy. - -“’Course it is. But my papa had been dead a long time; and my mamma, -too. And then my auntie died, so I had to go to the Findling.” - -“And wasn’t there anybody else to look out for you?” asked the -interested Dorothy. - -“Only Tom. And he went away.” - -“Tom who?” - -“Tom Moran. He’s my brother. I don’t suppose _you_ know him; do you?” - -“I don’t think I do,” said Dorothy, shaking her head. - -“Oh, you’d remember him--of course,” confided Celia, impressively. -“For he is so big, and strong, and--and red-headed. Yes. He’s got -awful red hair. And he builds bridges, and things. Oh, I can remember -him--_just as easy_! So I must have been a big girl when they brought -me to the Findling.” - -“And you haven’t seen your brother since?” - -“No’m. And he’d gone away before auntie died. That’s why he doesn’t -come for me, I s’pose. So the matron says. He don’t know where I is,” -she added, with a little sigh. - -“And now Mrs. Hogan’s got me. She’s tooked me to bring up. And she says -she’s going to bring me up right strict,” added the child, pursing her -lips and shaking her head in her queer, old-fashioned way. “She spects -it’s goin’ to be jes’ a _job_ to do it!” - - - - -CHAPTER III - -THE PROMISE - - -Dorothy Dale was delighted with the little one; but she pitied her so, -too! Covertly the schoolgirl wiped her eyes, while the child prattled -on. - -“Sometime I know Tom Moran will come for me. Oh, yes! He mus’ be very -smart, for he builds bridges and things. My auntie what died told the -Findling Asylum matron so. But somehow the letters the matron wrote to -Tom Moran never bringed him back. - -“Of course, he didn’t get ’em. If he had, he’d come for me. And he’ll -come for me anyway, and find me--even if Mrs. Ann Hogan has got me. - -“You see, all us Morans is jes’ as _smart_! Somebody said I was jes’ -the cutest little thing they ever see,” and Celia looked up again, -slily, at her new friend. - -“I really believe you are--you little dear!” cried Dorothy, suddenly -hugging her. - -“I’m glad you like me so much,” said Celia, quite placidly. “For then -you’ll do something for me, I know.” - -“Of course I will, my dear,” agreed the older girl. - -“Thank you,” said Celia, demurely. “What I want is that you should -find Tom Moran for me. If I could jes’ find him once I know I wouldn’t -have to stay with Mrs. Hogan. For I jes’ _know_,” concluded the -old-fashioned little thing, shaking her head, “that she’s goin’ to have -a--nawful job bringing me up strict--I jes’ know she is!” - -“You poor, motherless little thing!” choked Dorothy. “I’ll try my best -to find your brother. I really will, dear.” - -“That’ll be nice,” confided Celia. “For I think I shall like better -bein’ with him than with Mrs. Hogan.” - -“And where is Mrs. Hogan going to take you, dear?” asked Dorothy. - -“To her farm. A farm is a nawful nice place,” said Celia, gravely. “Was -you ever at a farm?” - -“Oh, yes.” - -[Illustration: “AND WHERE IS MRS. HOGAN GOING TO TAKE YOU, DEAR?” - - _Dorothy Dale’s Promise._ _Page 20._] - -“So was I,” confided Celia. “Last summer. They sends a bunch of us -kids from the Findling to a farm--O-o-o, _ever_ so far away from the -Findling. And an old lady got me at the station, an’ we drove--O-o-o, -_ever_ so far to where there wasn’t any houses, or streets, or wagons, -or music machines, or saloons, or delicatessen stores. - -“There was just one house where the old lady lived. And it was kinder -lonesome; but the grass was there and bushes all flowered out like -what’s in the flower-store windows. An’ they smelled sweet,” continued -Celia, big eyed with her remembrance of her first experience in the -country. - -“I felt funny inside--all lonesome, like as though there was a hole -here,” and she put her little hands upon her stomach to show where she -felt the emotion which she could so ill express--the homesickness for -the sights, and sounds, and bustle of the city. - -“But the old lady was real nice to me,” confessed Celia. “And she gave -me real nice things to eat. And--Oh, yes! she laughed at me so. You -see, I was a nawful greeny!” - -“I expect you were, dear,” chuckled Dorothy. “You had never seen the -country before?” - -“No, I never had. And I saw the chickens go to roost, and the old lady -caught one chicken and began to pick his feathers off, and that’s when -she laughed so at me.” - -“Why?” asked Dorothy. - -“You see, I didn’t know about it, and I asked her: ‘Do you take off -their clo’es every night, lady?’ And of course they _don’t_,” finished -Celia, laughing shrilly herself now. “Chickens ain’t like folks.” - -“No; not very much like folks,” agreed Dorothy, greatly amused. - -“No. We eat--ed that chicken the next day,” said Celia. “An’ it was -nawful good. We don’t have chicken--much--at the Findling.” - -“Perhaps it will be nice at Mrs. Hogan’s for you, Celia, dear,” -suggested the older girl. “Perhaps it will be as nice as it was at that -other farm.” - -But the little one shook her head slowly and for the first time the -tears welled into her eyes and over-ran them, falling drop by drop down -her thin cheeks. She did not sob, or cry, as a child usually does. - -“No,” she whispered. “Mrs. Ann Hogan isn’t like the good lady I was -with for two weeks las’ summer. No, Mrs. Hogan isn’t like _that_.” - -“But she’ll learn to love you, too,” declared Dorothy, determined to -cheer the child if she could. - -“No,” said Celia again, gravely. “I’ve got to ‘earn my salt,’ Mrs. -Hogan says. An’ I guess I’ll hafter work nawful hard to earn _that_, -for I like things salt,” and she shook her head. - -“You see, at that other farm, the lady didn’t make me work. I played. -And I watched the birds, and the chickens, and the horses and cows. -Why,” she said, her face clearing up with the elasticity of youth, -“Why, there was an old man that brought his cow along the road to feed -every day. The grass was good beside the road and the old man had no -reg’lar lot for her to feed in, so my lady friend said.” - -The little old-fashioned way in which she used this last phrase almost -convulsed Dorothy, despite her feeling of pity for the child. - -“And I used to watch the cow. It was a pleasant cow,” said Celia, -gravely. “And sometimes the old man would sit down under a tree in -the lane, and he’d open a newspaper an’ read to the cow while she was -chewin’ grass. She must ha’ been a real intel’gent cow,” concluded -Celia, wagging her little head. - -“Oh, dear me! you funny little thing!” murmured Dorothy. “I do wish -Tavia could hear you.” - -But this she said to herself. Celia Moran talked on, in her -old-fashioned way: “No’m; I ain’t goin’ to like it so well at Mrs. Ann -Hogan’s. I--I’m ’most afraid of Mrs. Hogan. I--I don’t think she likes -little girls a-tall.” - -“Oh! I hope she’ll like you,” said Dorothy. - -“But you will find my brother, Tom?” urged Celia, earnestly. “Tom Moran -will take care of me if he finds me. I know he will.” - -“I will do my very best to find him, dear,” promised the bigger girl, -again, with her arm about Celia’s shoulders. - -In the distance she saw the grenadier Mrs. Hogan approaching, and she -had a feeling that the woman would not be pleased if she knew Celia had -been talking to anybody. - -“Here, dear,” said Dorothy, hastily, drawing out her purse and giving -the child a crisp dollar bill. “You hide that away. Maybe you will want -to spend some of it for candies, or ribbons, or something. Let me kiss -you. You dear little thing! I will try to find your brother just as -hard as ever I tried to do anything in my life.” - -“I guess you can find him,” returned Celia, with assurance, looking -wistfully up at Dorothy Dale. “You’re so big, you know. I want to see -you again.” - -“And you shall. I’ll find out where Mrs. Hogan lives and come to see -you,” declared Dorothy. - -But then the big woman came and grabbed the child by the wrist. “Come -on, you!” she exclaimed. “We gotter hurry now, for Bentley’s waitin’.” - -Celia looked back once over her shoulder as she was borne so hurriedly -away. The little, thin face was twisted into a pitiful smile, and -Dorothy bore the remembrance of that smile in her heart for many a long -day. - -Mrs. Hogan had been so abrupt that Dorothy had not plucked up courage -to accost her. When she asked one of the railroad men if he knew where -Jim Bentley, or Mrs. Hogan, lived, the man had never heard the names. - -There was no time then to seek further for the locality of the farm to -which little Celia Moran was being taken, for a train was backing down -beside the platform and the conductor told her it would start in ten -minutes for Glenwood. - -So Dorothy ran to gather her scattered flock of schoolmates. Ned -Ebony’s coat was dry enough to put on; but she had to go dressed in a -conglomeration of other garments, some of which did not fit her very -well. Tavia and the others made much fun over Edna’s plight. - -“That hat!” groaned Tavia. “It--it looks just like you’d had it in -pawn, Ned.” - -“In pawn! what do you mean?” queried Edna, doubtfully, and putting up -both hands to the really disgraceful-looking hat--for it had been dried -out before the sitting room stove at the railroad station agent’s, too. - -“Anyway, it looks like it had been in soak, Neddie, dear,” giggled -Tavia. “And to use a slang phrase----” - -“I should say that _was_ slang,” returned Edna, in disgust. “The very -commonest kind--‘in soak,’ indeed!” - -“And that bird on your hat,” pursued Tavia, wickedly. “That is sure -enough one of those extinct fowl you read about.” - -“Lots you know about extinct birds,” sniffed Edna. - -“There’s the dodo,” suggested one of the other girls. - -“Oh, I know what an extinct bird is,” declared Cologne. “It’s Billy, -our poor old canary--poor thing! The cat got him this morning before I -left home, so he’s extinct now!” - -Ned Ebony couldn’t take her coat off because she wore Dorothy’s morning -gown instead of a street dress. And she had on Tavia’s slippers -instead of real shoes; and there hadn’t been a guimpe in any girl’s -bag that would fit her, so she was afraid of removing the coat as she -might catch cold. She had been used to wearing a fur-piece around her -neck and that much bedraggled article was in the big bundle of her -half-dried belongings, thrust into the baggage rack overhead. - -“I know that fur is just ruined,” she moaned. “And it’s brand new, too.” - -“Never mind,” giggled Tavia. “I bet it’s only cat’s fur, and there’s -slathers of cats at the Glen. We can trap some and make you a new scarf -just as good.” - -“Miss Smartie!” - -“I declare, Ned, you looked just like a half-drowned pussy-cat yourself -when Doro hauled you ashore.” - -“Yes,” complained Edna, “you others would have left me to swim out as -best I might alone--no doubt of that. It is always Doro who comes to -the rescue.” - -Dorothy smiled half-heartedly. She did not join the general cross-fire -of joking and repartee. She could not get the wan little face of Celia -Moran out of her mind--that wistful little smile of hers--while she -seemed to hear again the sweet little voice say: “An’ I’m jes’ the -cutest little thing you ever see!” - -But Dorothy was afraid that, as cute as she was, the ogress would be -too much for her! - -“That’s just what that Hogan woman is--an ogress,” thought Dorothy. - -Celia had been woefully afraid of Mrs. Hogan; yet how brave she had -been, too! - -“Somehow I’ll find her brother--Tom Moran--for her,” thought Dorothy. -“I will! I must!” - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -A PORCINE PICNIC - - -There were five bows of ribbon laid out in a row on Tavia’s bureau, -each with a cunning little collar of the same attached. Pink, -green--real apple green--mauve, tango and orange. - -“What under the sun can she be doing with those?” murmured Dorothy, -when she chanced to see them, and touching the pretty bows lightly with -her fingers. “Why! Tavia must be going to introduce a new style. Are -they ribbon bracelets? How pretty!” - -It was the day following the hilarious arrival of “the bad pennies” -at Glenwood School, after the railroad bridge had burned and delayed -them, and Dorothy herself had met little Celia Moran, the girl from the -“Findling.” - -Mrs. Pangborn had not yet arrived. She had been delayed by some family -difficulty, it was understood, and really, for these first days of -the new term, “things were going every which-way,” as Tavia herself -declared. - -There was a new teacher in charge, too--Miss Olaine. Miss Olaine was -tall, and thin, and grim. Tavia declared she looked just like “a sign -post on the road to trouble.” - -“And you want to be careful you don’t fall under her eye, Tavia,” -Cologne had advised. “The girls who have been here through the vacation -say she’s a Tartar.” - -“Humph!” the headstrong Tavia had declared, “she may be the cream of -Tartar, for all I care. I shall take the starch out of her.” - -Now, had Dorothy Dale chanced to hear this reckless promise of her chum -she might have been more suspicious of the five pretty ribbon bows. -Indeed, she would have been suspicious of every particular thing Tavia -said, or did. - -But, as it chanced, Miss Olaine seemed no more harsh or forbidding to -Dorothy than any other teacher. Dorothy was not one to antagonize the -teachers, no matter who they might be. - -“Five bows,” murmured Dorothy again. “I wonder just what they can be -for? Why, they’re too small, I do believe--those rings are--for Tavia’s -wrist--or mine. - -“Five of them! One for each finger of a hand--one for each of the ‘five -senses,’ I declare!--one for each of Jacob Bensell’s young ones who -live in the cottage down the road. There’s five of _them_. - -“And there’s five cows in Middleton’s pasture--though I don’t suppose -Tavia is going to decorate them. And there’s five cunning little pigs -in Jake’s pen--he showed them to me last night,” and Dorothy laughed, -as she touched the pretty bows again. “I can’t imagine----” - -In bounced Tavia herself. “Oh, _you_ here?” she cried, and went right -over to the bureau and tumbled the five pretty ribbon bows into her top -drawer and shut the drawer quickly. - -“I got here just a minute ahead of you,” said Dorothy. - -“Oh!” - -“What are the cunning little wristlets for?” demanded Dorothy, -curiously. - -“‘Wristlets’?” - -“You know what I mean. The ribbons?” - -“Oh--now--Doro----” - -“What are they for?” repeated Dorothy. - -“Just to make curious folk ask questions, I guess,” chuckled Tavia, -her big brown eyes dancing, and just then several of the other girls -tumbled into the room and there was so much noise and talk that Dorothy -quite forgot the ribbon bows. - -“That old Olaine is just the meanest----” from Cologne. - -“Did you hear what she said to little Luttrell when she couldn’t find -her skates? And Luttrell’s folks can’t buy her skates every day, I -don’t believe,” declared Ned Ebony, hotly. - -“Did you hear her, Doro?” demanded Nita Brent. - -“No,” admitted Dorothy Dale. - -“Why, she told Luttrell not to cry like a baby about it; probably -somebody found them that needed them more than _she_ did. Nasty old----” - -“Hold on! Hold on!” advised Dorothy. - -Tavia laughed rather harshly. “Miss Olaine is just as comforting as the -rooster was when Mrs. Hen was in tears because one of her little ones -had been sacrificed to make a repast for the visiting clergyman. - -“‘Cheer up, Madam,’ said Mr. Rooster. ‘You should rejoice that your son -is entering the ministry. He was poorly qualified for a lay member, -anyhow,’” and Tavia laughed again, as did the others. - -“Oh, Tavia, that’s ridiculous,” said Cologne. “Aren’t you sorry for -little Luttrell?” - -“And don’t you just hate Miss Olaine?” demanded Ebony. - -“Oh, you leave her to me,” said Tavia, cheerfully. “We’ll get square -with her if she stays at Glenwood Hall for long.” - -“You would better have a care,” warned Dorothy. “I don’t believe that -the lady will stand much fooling, Tavia.” - -“‘Fooling’?” repeated Tavia, making “big eyes” at her chums. “How you -talk! I would not _fool_ with Miss Olaine----” - -“I guess not,” cried one of the other girls. “I heard what she said to -Miss Mingle.” - -“What was that?” - -“She said ‘she hoped she knew how to handle a lot of half-grown, saucy -young-ones!’ Doesn’t that sound nice?” - -“Us--young-ones!” gasped Dorothy. - -“What a slap at our dignity--and we to graduate in June,” said Cologne, -heavily. “I guess that settles Miss Olaine----” - -“You leave her to me,” said Tavia, again, and nodding with emphasis. “I -shall just square things up with her.” - -“Oh, Tavia!” cried Edna Black. “What will you do?” - -“Nothing at all, I hope,” interposed Dorothy. - -Her chum began to giggle. “You just wait,” she said. - -“Do, _do_ be careful,” warned Dorothy when the other girls had gone -some time later, leaving her and her chum alone in the dormitory. - -“Am I not always careful?” demanded Tavia, opening her big eyes wider -than ever. - -“You’re usually careful to get into trouble,” sighed Dorothy. - -“Oh, Doro----” - -“And see the numbers of times the rest of us have had to help you out.” - -“You mean _you_ have had to help me out. You’re a good old thing, -Doro--just like a grandma to me! Come and kiss your youngest -grandchild, Doro--that’s a dear!” - -“Go away, do!” cried Dorothy, though she had to laugh at Tavia, too. -“You are as irresponsible as ever.” - -“Of course, Granny,” giggled Tavia, as she put a wee dab of talcum -powder on her nose. - -“But don’t you _dare_ do anything to make Mrs. Pangborn send you home -before you are properly graduated,” warned Dorothy. - -“Suspended from the Glen? Well, I guess not!” cried her friend. - -But there was something in the air. Dorothy knew it. Nobody else seemed -to be in the secret but Tavia, however; and for Tavia to have any -secret at all from her chum---- - -Well, Dorothy could only wait. She was sure Tavia “would show her hand” -before long. But this time the prank was revealed to Dorothy too late -for the latter to save her fly-away friend from the results of her -folly. - -The next evening she saw Tavia lurking in the shadow of the hedge down -towards Bensell’s place. Was that Jake’s oldest boy who ran away when -Dorothy approached? - -“My goodness! how you startled me!” drawled Tavia when Dorothy pinched -her chum’s plump arm. - -“Can’t you let them be in peace, Tavia?” laughed Dorothy, who knew very -well that her chum had not been startled at all. - -“_What?_ Oh! Let who be in peace?” demanded Tavia, and then Dorothy, in -amaze, knew her friend _was_ startled. - -“The boys. Have you got to practice your fell designs on Sammy Bensell?” - -“How ridiculous!” chuckled Tavia, with a toss of her head, and plainly -relieved. “Poor Sammy!” - -And even then Dorothy had not suspected the secret. Tavia went back to -the Hall with her. Everything seemed as calm as could be. And then, the -next forenoon, when recitations began in Miss Olaine’s room, the storm -broke. - -Behind the desk and platform devoted to the teacher’s use was the door -of a little retiring room. Soon after the class assembled there were -peculiar noises heard in that room. Miss Olaine stood up and looked at -the door. - -“Who is in that room, young ladies?” she demanded. - -Silence--oh, a great deal of silence! You could cut it with a knife. - -And the most amazed-looking person in the room was Tavia Travers. -Miss Olaine threw open the door with a savage sort of exclamation. The -next instant she shrieked shrilly, and hopped into the seat of her own -chair, standing upright there and holding her skirts close about her -ankles. - -“Who did this? Who did such an atrocious thing?” cried the teacher. - -Out of the room there ran a cunning little white and black pig--and -then another, and another, until the laughing, half-hysterical girls -counted five of the little dears. - -Each was scrubbed as clean as ever pig before was scrubbed! And their -little pink eyes, and sharp noses, and pricked-up ears, and queer -little tails, made the cunning little things as pretty as lapdogs. - -“Who’d suppose she was afraid of pigs?” Edna Black said afterward. “And -they so cute!” - -But Miss Olaine shrieked and shrieked, as the pigs, each with one of -those beautiful ribbon bows at the back of its fat neck, ran around -and around her chair and desk. The platform was so high that they were -afraid to jump down, for they were not more than two spans long. - -“Oh, dear me!” groaned Dorothy. “Now Tavia is in for it again,” for -Tavia looked altogether too innocent to escape suspicion. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -A MOUNTAIN OUT OF A MOLEHILL - - -“Who did this?” demanded the teacher, from her perch. “Who _dared_ -commit such an atrocious act? Take them aw-a-ay!” - -Her cry ending in such a wail, and her appearance suggesting -approaching hysterics, Dorothy ran forward and tried to “shoo” the -little piglets back into the closet. But most of the other girls were -laughing so outrageously that they could not help, and the little -squealers would not “shoo” worth a cent! - -“Are you guilty of this deed, Miss Dale?” demanded Miss Olaine, seizing -a ruler from the desk and trying to strike one of the pigs. - -“Oh, don’t hurt the cunning little things!” cried Dorothy. “Please -don’t, Miss Olaine. Oh!” - -One of the little fellows got a crack from the ruler and his little -tail straightened out and he made a noise like a rusty gate-hinge. - -“Oh, oh! Please don’t!” begged Dorothy. - -“Please don’t, Miss Olaine. I’ll get them all shut up----” - -Just then the two that she had managed to get into the closet again, -ran out. The teacher was recovering from her fright; but her rage grew -apace. - -“You are guilty of this outrage, Miss Dale!” she accused. “You shall be -punished for it--indeed yes!” - -“You are mistaken, Miss Olaine,” said Dorothy, ceasing to chase the -tiny porkers, and facing the teacher standing in the chair. - -“You did! You did it!” ejaculated the panting teacher. “You know all -about the beasts----” - -Then she let out another yell. One of the little fellows stood on its -hind legs against Miss Olaine’s chair and tried to sniff at that lady’s -boots. - -“Get them back into that closet!” commanded Miss Olaine, savagely, and -glaring at Dorothy. “Then I’ll ’tend to you, Miss.” - -The whole class was silent by this time--“all but the pigs,” as one of -the girls whispered. They were astonished to hear Dorothy accused by -the teacher--more astonished than they had been by the advent of the -pigs in the classroom. As Ned Ebony pointed out afterward, pigs, or -anything else, might come to recitation; but for Dorothy Dale to be -accused of such a prank as this was quite too shocking! - -Now, Dorothy was usually pretty sweet tempered; but the manner in which -the new teacher spoke to her--and her unfair decision that _she_, -Dorothy, was guilty of the prank--hurt and angered the girl. - -She lifted her head grandly and looked Miss Olaine straight in the eye. - -“You may get rid of the pigs yourself, as far as I am concerned,” she -said, distinctly. “We are not in the habit of being accused of things -at Glenwood Hall without there being some evidence against us.” - -She whirled around and went to her seat. Miss Olaine fairly screamed -after her: “Come back here, Miss Saucebox, and get rid of these pigs.” - -“They’re not _my_ pigs,” said Dorothy, resuming her seat, coolly. - -“They’re Jake Bensell’s pigs, Miss Olaine,” piped up one of the girls -from a back seat. - -“Run and get Mr. Bensell at once,” commanded the teacher. “I’ll get to -the bottom of this----” - -She almost pitched out of the chair then, and all the pigs ran out of -the closet again and gamboled about the platform. Miss Olaine was held -prisoner in her chair--“like a statue of Liberty defying the lightning” -Tavia whispered to Edna. - -“She’s an awfully funny statue,” giggled Ned. “But you’ve got Liberty -and Ajax mixed, Tavia.” - -Miss Olaine would not allow any of the other girls to help her after -Dorothy had retreated. She waited impatiently until the girl who had -run for Jake Bensell returned with the farmer in tow. - -“Is your name Bensell?” demanded Miss Olaine from her perch on the -chair. - -“Yes, ma’am!” admitted Jake. - -“Are these your pigs--these nasty beasts?” - -Jake scratched his head slowly, and grinned. “I expect they be; but -they air kinder dressed up,” he said. “I heard the old one carryin’ on -all this mawnin’; but I didn’t know the litter had strayed clean over -here to school,” and he chuckled. - -“Take the insufferable creatures out of here!” commanded Miss Olaine. -“And I believe you knew something about this disgusting exhibition of -Tom-foolery!” - -“Eh? No, ma’am! I didn’t have nothin’ to do with it,” declared Jake. -“And I’ll have to go home for a bag to put them in----” - -“Get them out of this room at once!” cried Miss Olaine. “I cannot stand -this another minute.” - -Hysteria was threatening again. Jake drew a handful of corn from his -pocket. The little pigs were just about big enough to begin to eat -corn. He dropped a few kernels on the platform, trailed it along to the -door of the small room, and then threw the rest of the corn inside. -In two minutes the last curly-cued tail disappeared within, and Jake -closed the door on them. - -“You kin come down, ma’am,” he said, with a chuckle. “I’ll go home for -a bag, and I’ll step into that room through the winder--it’s open--and -gather ’em all up.” - -“They must have been put in at that window,” remarked Miss Olaine, -suspiciously, and breathing heavily after sitting down again. “What do -you know about it, sir?” - -“Nothing a-tall--I assure ye,” chuckled Jake. - -“Those horrid beasts could not have got into that open window without -help,” snapped the teacher. - -“I dunno,” said the farmer, gracelessly. “They wander a good ways -now----” - -“I believe you are in league with that girl!” and she pointed her -finger at Dorothy. - -“Miss Dorothy? My goodness, no!” gasped Jake. “I’m dead sure _she_ -ain’t in it,” he added. - -“Why not, sir?” - -“’Cause she ain’t never into no such practical jokes----” - -“Jokes!” cried Miss Olaine. “She’ll find it’s no joke. It--it is a -crime! She should be instantly dismissed. Oh, if Mrs. Pangborn were -only here----” - -Jake retreated, shaking his head. The class was in a buzz of -excitement. Dorothy was angry enough to reply in heat to Miss Olaine; -but she had bethought herself now that she was likely to make the real -culprit more trouble if she “fought back.” - -Of course that “real culprit” was Tavia. The practical joke had assumed -rather serious proportions, however. Tavia looked commiseratingly at -Dorothy. When she caught her friend’s eye she mouthed: - -“I’ll tell her I did it, Doro.” - -“Don’t you do it!” snapped Dorothy, almost out loud. “Let her find it -out herself--if she can.” - -Dorothy was quite furious--to be doubted and insulted in this public -way! She was almost glad that Tavia had originated the foolish joke -with the cunning little pigs. Only--she well knew--in the end, Tavia -must suffer for it. - -Miss Olaine was not a person to give up the trail so easily. Edna -whispered that she would be “a red Indian” on the scent of the joker. -Poor Tavia would have to “take it” in the end; for of course she would -not let Dorothy suffer for her sins. - -The recitation hour drew to a close. Miss Olaine rapped for order at -last. “Miss Dale will remain,” she said. - -The other girls looked at Dorothy, and she sat down. But Tavia got up -with an exclamation and tramped up to the desk. - -“You can let her go, Miss Olaine,” she declared. “Doro had nothing to -do with the pigs. _I_ did it.” - -“What is that?” demanded the teacher, stiffening and turning very red. - -“Doro didn’t have anything to do with putting the pigs in at the -window. I did it before recitation. Doro didn’t even know I was going -to do it.” - -Tavia was defiant, and held her head up. Miss Olaine seemed to be -doubly enraged because she had been deluded into making a mistake in -the identity of the culprit. - -“Why didn’t you tell me so?” she demanded of Dorothy. - -“I told you I was not guilty,” replied Dorothy. - -“But why didn’t you tell me who _was_ at fault?” - -The girls all chorused a gasp of dismay. Dorothy actually turned pale -with anger. - -“To tell on another girl?” she cried. “We don’t do things like that in -Glenwood Hall, Miss Olaine.” - -“You are saucy, Miss!” declared the teacher. “Let me tell you that Mrs. -Pangborn shall hear of your impudence when she returns. As for you, -Octavia--is that your name?” - -“So they tell me, Miss Olaine,” returned Tavia, drawling in her speech. - -“You go into this room!” commanded Miss Olaine, pointing at the door -behind which the piglets had been shut. “You will find company there -quite of your own kind, Miss. Come, march! I tell you, I mean to be -obeyed. Go in there, Octavia.” - -“Oh--of course--if you mean it,” said Tavia, lightly. “And the company -of the pigs will be preferred to some I might mention.” - -But this last the graceless girl was wise enough to murmur too low for -the teacher to hear. She went into the closet-like room instantly. The -girls at once heard the pigs begin squealing. Tavia was rescuing the -pretty ribbons before Mr. Bensell should return for his five little -porkers. - -Miss Olaine did not speak to Dorothy again, so the latter followed the -other girls out of the classroom. Cologne was saying: - -“She just made a mountain out of a molehill. It wasn’t nothing--just -a joke. And now she is going to tear the whole school up by the roots -about it.” - -“You are just right, Rose-Mary,” agreed Ned Ebony. - -“Bear it in mind,” said Dorothy, firmly, “we are going to have a lot -of trouble while that teacher remains in Glenwood School. Oh, dear me! -I didn’t think I ever should be glad to leave the Glen for good; but -if Miss Olaine stays till June I know I shall be delighted to get away -from here.” - -“Me, too!” “And I!” “And we-uns!” was the chorused agreement to this -statement. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -DOROTHY IS “POUNCED UPON” - - -Dorothy had two very serious problems in her mind all the time, and -they sometimes interfered with the problems put forth by Miss Olaine to -the class. The girl wanted to know where Mrs. Ann Hogan had her farm; -and she wondered how she was to begin, even, to get into communication -with Tom Moran, the big, redheaded brother that little Celia remembered -“just as easy!” - -“It’s easy enough to guess where Celia came from--the ‘Findling,’ I -mean. There’s only one foundling asylum in the county and that is in -the city. Celia has been used to the city all her life. I can write to -the matron of the city children’s asylum and find out all _she_ knows -about Celia and her folks. - -“But even she wasn’t able to find Tom Moran. It’s pretty sure that -Celia knew what she was talking about. She has got a big brother, and -he went off to work before his aunt died, thinking he had left Celia in -good care. - -“‘He builds bridges, and things.’ That’s what Celia says. Those -sort of men travel about a good deal. What does the paper call -them--now--‘bridge and structural iron workers?’ Isn’t that it? And -they have a very strong union. - -“I’ve heard daddy talking about them,” quoth Dorothy Dale. “And I’ve -read about them in the papers, too. Very brave, hardy men they are, and -they build the steel framework of the big office buildings--the great, -tall skyscrapers--as well as bridges. - -“Now, Tom Moran might have gone clear across the continent, following -his job. Or he might be right around here somewhere. If he’s just one -of the ordinary workmen I suppose he belongs to the union. If he’s -a foreman, or something big in the work, he might not belong to the -union; but they would know his name, just the same. - -“Now!” reflected Dorothy. “I don’t believe that asylum matron ever -thought to ask the union, in all these four years little Celia has been -in her care. I’ll look up the local headquarters in the directory, and -write them a nice letter about Tom Moran. - -“As for learning where Mrs. Hogan has taken Celia, I’ll inquire of -every farmer I see. Mrs. Hogan’s farm can’t be _very_ far from here.” - -Dorothy Dale had come to these conclusions before ever Tavia got into -trouble with Miss Olaine, and been shut up in the dressing-room with -the pigs. - -She had, indeed, gone to Mrs. Pangborn’s office immediately after the -recitation hour in which Tavia had fallen into disgrace, to look in the -city directory for the address she wished to discover. - -The older pupils were allowed to refer to the school reference books, -and the like, as they chose. Mrs. Pangborn never objected to their -doing so. - -Therefore Dorothy’s surprise was the greater when, as she bent over the -book she desired to consult, a harsh voice demanded: - -“What are you doing in here, Miss? Is _this_ the place for you at this -hour?” - -It was Miss Olaine, and she was grimmer than before. Dorothy was more -than ever sure that she would continually clash with this teacher. - -“I was looking for something, Miss Olaine,” the girl said, stiffly. - -“Ask permission when you want to come into the office,” snapped the -teacher. “And recitation hour is not the time for idling about. What is -your class, Miss?” - -“I have half an hour with Miss Mingle next. But she isn’t ready for -me,” replied Dorothy. - -“Humph! that is an extra. You may skip that to-day and go to your next -regular recitation.” - -“But my music----” - -“_I_ have charge here, Miss Dale. You and your friends would better -understand it. I find the entire first class almost unmanageable. -Aren’t you due at rhetoric and grammar?” - -“If Miss Mingle had not called me--yes,” said Dorothy, feeling -revolutionary. Miss Olaine certainly was trying! - -“Go to your class, then--at once!” commanded the teacher. “And remember -that while _I_ am in charge of Glenwood School, you girls do not have -free access to this office. Ask permission if you wish to consult any -book here.” - -And Dorothy had not found the address she desired! She went out of the -room very angry at heart with Miss Olaine. She was so angry, in fact, -that she felt just like disobeying her flatly! - -That was not like sensible Dorothy. To antagonize the teacher would aid -nobody; yet she felt just like doing so. - -Instead of mounting the stairs to the classroom in which the present -recitation was under way, and from which she had been excused for her -music lesson, she ran out of the building altogether and went around to -the window of the dressing-room where Tavia was confined. - -Tavia must have reached the window by the aid of a stepladder, for it -was quite high from the ground. Now the stepladder had been removed, -the window was closed, and Dorothy was not at first sure that her -friend was still in durance there. - -“Tavia!” she called. - -It was not until she had spoken the name twice that Tavia’s face -appeared at the pane. Then the girl inside opened the window and smiled -broadly down upon her chum. - -“Is the ogress about?” asked Tavia. - -“She’s in the office. I just had a flare-up with her,” admitted Dorothy. - -“Oh, don’t you get into trouble over _me_, Doro,” begged Tavia. “It -isn’t worth while.” - -“What is she going to do with you?” - -“Boil me in oil, or some pleasant little pastime like that,” chuckled -Tavia. - -“Do be sensible.” - -“I can’t. I’m lonesome. They’ve taken away the pigs.” - -“Oh, dear me, Tavia! That was a dreadful trick. How did you manage it?” - -“Hist! cross your heart? Well, Sammy and I did it. But his father -mustn’t know, for if he does Sammy says he’ll get ‘lambasted’--whatever -_that_ may be.” - -“Well, I’m sorry you’re lonesome,” Dorothy said. “But Miss Olaine isn’t -likely to pity you any on that score----” - -A window was raised swiftly, and the teacher appeared. She must have -been watching Dorothy from the office, and had come around here to -this side of the building particularly to spy upon her. - -“So!” she exclaimed. “You flaunt me, do you, Miss Dale? Didn’t I tell -you to go to your class?” - -“Yes, ma’am,” replied Dorothy. “And I was going----” - -“But you will take your own time about it, eh?” snapped the lady. “You -may come in here at once. And tell that other girl to close her window.” - -Tavia made a dreadful face and slammed down her window. Of course, Miss -Olaine could not see the grimace. - -“Come in here to me at once,” repeated Miss Olaine, and Dorothy obeyed. - -The teacher waited for her in the classroom. Dorothy had not felt so -disturbed and angry with a teacher since she and Tavia were little -girls and had got into trouble with Miss Ellis in the old Dalton public -school! - -“Now, young lady,” snapped Miss Olaine, “you may go into that room and -remain with your friend until I choose to release you both. And I hope -Mrs. Pangborn will return in season to take the responsibility of your -further punishment off my hands.” - -“Gracious!” exclaimed Tavia, quite loud enough for the teacher to -hear, when Dorothy was rudely thrust into the dressing closet by the -shoulders, “she thinks hanging’s too good for us, doesn’t she, Doro?” - -But Dorothy was too angry to reply at first. She felt that the new -teacher had gone quite beyond her rights in handling the matter. To -push her into the room so! - -“Why,” thought Dorothy, “she might as well have struck me! And Mrs. -Pangborn would not have allowed such a thing. We--we are almost grown -up. It is an insult.” - -But she said nothing like this to Tavia. Besides, Tavia had brought -punishment upon her own head in the first place by her practical joke. -At the moment, Dorothy could not see that _she_ was in anyway at fault. -Miss Olaine had just “pounced upon” her, with neither right nor reason -on her side! - -“And here we are, shut into this little old room,” croaked Tavia. “Not -even pigs for company.” - -“Do be quiet, Tavia,” begged Dorothy. “You’ll have her back--and she’ll -do something worse to us.” - -“Here’s some books on the shelf,” said her friend. “Oh, dear! I wish -they were story books. Only old textbooks.” - -“All right,” said Dorothy, more cheerfully. “Let’s get up lessons for -to-morrow.” - -“That’s no fun!” cried Tavia, objecting. - -“But it will help to pass away the time. I’m going to do it,” said -Dorothy, firmly. - -“Well--I may as well, too,” said Tavia, sighing. - -There was a small table and two chairs. They opened the books and sat -down to study. The noon luncheon hour came and went and nobody came -near the prisoners. Of course, long before this, Tavia had made sure -the door was locked. - -“Not even bread and water,” groaned Tavia. “She means to starve us into -subjection, Doro.” - -“I wish Mrs. Pangborn would come home,” said Dorothy Dale. - -“We’ll be living skeletons before then,” groaned her friend. - -But when it grew dark Miss Olaine appeared at the door. She brought a -tray upon which was a small pitcher of skimmed milk, and two slices of -very dry bread. - -“Your supper, young ladies--and quite good enough for you,” she -declared. “Mrs. Pangborn will be at home on the midnight train. I have -just received a telegram from her. You shall remain here until she -arrives. Then I shall gladly wash my hands of you.” - -“My goodness! she can wash her hands just as soon as she likes, for all -of me,” exclaimed Tavia. “A slice of bread and milk! why, I could eat a -house, I’m so starved!” - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -A RAID - - -Dorothy found a match on the shelf and lit the gas. It had grown pitch -dark outside, and she drew the curtain, too. - -“Just as snug as a bug in a rug,” quoted Tavia, chuckling. “Only we -can’t eat the rug, as the bug might, and so reduce our awful appetites. -Couldn’t you eat a whole ox, Doro?” - -“And a minute ago you wanted to eat a house,” said Dorothy. “Think of -something more appropriate.” - -“I will. Nice, thin slices of boiled ham between soft white -bread--plenty of butter and some mustard--not too much. Pickles--just -the very sourest kind. Some chicken salad with fresh lettuce -leaves--home-made dressing, no bottled stuff. Stuffed olives. Peanut -butter between graham crackers--m-m-m! lovely! celery. And a big piece -of frosted cake----” - -“Stop!” commanded Dorothy. “Do you want to drive me quite into -insurrection?” - -“I am already an _insurrecto_,” declared Tavia. “And I believe I can -get just the sort of banquet I have outlined.” - -“At some nice hotel--in New York?” - -“_I_ know what they were going to have for supper to-night,” declared -Tavia, and walked over to examine the locked door. - -“Do you mean to say we are going to have _that_ kind of a supper?” -demanded Dorothy, tragically. “And we under arrest?” - -“M-m-m!” said Tavia, thoughtfully. “See here, Doro! Got a hammer?” - -“A hammer? Of course! A whole tool chest in my pocket.” - -“Something to hammer with, then,” said Tavia, earnestly. “If I had one -I could open this door.” - -“It’s locked.” - -“Of course it is. But the hinges are on this side.” - -“Oh! you need a screw-driver!” cried Dorothy, coming over to her. - -“Nothing of the kind. I want something to knock out these pins--don’t -you see? Then we can lift the door off its hinges and pull the bolt out -of the lock. Ha!” - -“What is it?” - -“I’ve got it!” cried Tavia, under her breath, and immediately dropped -down upon the floor and began to take off her shoe. - -Quick as it was off, she grasped the shoe by the foot and used the heel -to start the pin of the lower hinge. In a moment the steel pin popped -out; then Tavia knocked out the one in the upper hinge. - -“Now for it, Doro,” whispered the bright girl. “Put out the gas, so if -anybody should be watching. That’s it. Now--take hold and ease off the -door. No noise now, my lady!” - -The girls managed to pull the door toward them, got a firm hold upon -the edge of it, and pried the bolt loose. The door was shoved back -against the wall of the room and they could look out into the empty -classroom. Light from out of doors--and that very faint--was all that -illuminated the larger apartment. - -“Oh! if she catches us!” gasped Dorothy. - -“Don’t you fret. This is a regular hunger strike--just as though we -were suffragettes and had been imprisoned. Only we don’t refuse to eat; -we just refuse _not_ to eat,” and Tavia giggled as she hastily laced up -her shoe again. - -“Now, don’t you dare be afraid. I’m going on a raid, Doro. Kiss me -good-bye, dear. If I never should retur-r-rn---- Blub! blub! My -handkerchief isn’t big enough to cry into. Lend me yours. - -“‘Farewell, farewell, my own tr-r-rue lo-o-ove! Farewell-er, -farewell-er’---- - -“I go where glory waits me--don’t you forget that, Doro. And something -to eat, too, better than bread and milk. Hist!” - -After this rigamarole, and with the stride of a stage villain, Tavia -left the classroom. She did not ask, or expect, Dorothy to take part in -the raid on the pantry; indeed, had there been any good in doing so, -Dorothy would have advised against the scheme. - -Perhaps the girls had a right to a decent supper. At least, Dorothy had -done nothing to deserve such harsh treatment from Miss Olaine. So both -she and her chum defied the decree of the teacher. They’d actually be -starved by midnight, when Mrs. Pangborn was expected to arrive. - -If Tavia was caught---- - -Dorothy went to the corridor door and held it ajar, listening. -Sometimes she heard girls’ laughter in the upper stories. A teacher -passed, but did not see the girl behind the door. By and by there was -another stealthy tread. - -Miss Olaine? No! It was a girl with her arms full. - -“Oh, Tavia!” - -“It’s me! Lemme in,” exclaimed the raider, in a whisper. “Quick, now! -We must get that door on its hinges again. And _such_ a scrumptious -lay-out, Doro! Mm-m-m!” - -They did not light the gas. Tavia “unloaded” upon the table. “Mercy -on us! the butter’s flatter than a pancake,” she breathed. “And the -mayonnaise is all over the napkin. But never mind. We can lick it off!” -chuckled this reckless bandit. - -“Let’s get the door back,” urged Dorothy. - -“Right!” Tavia came to her assistance. They lifted it back into place; -only Tavia turned the key which had been left in the lock, and put the -key on the inside of the door. - -“What for?” demanded the anxious Dorothy. - -“We won’t run the risk of having the ogress get in and spoil our -supper,” declared Tavia. “Then--the door goes on easier.” - -They got it hung in half a minute; then Tavia turned the key in the -lock. - -“If worse comes to worst,” she said, “we’ll throw the key out of the -window and let her hunt for the person who unlocked our door, gave us -the supper, and ran away with the key.” - -“Oh, Tavia! We’ll both get into serious trouble.” - -“Sufficient unto the day is the trouble thereof,” misquoted Tavia. “Now -the gas! Let me spread this out. What do you think of this banquet, -Doro?” - -Dorothy could not refuse her share of the goodies. There was all that -Tavia had promised. She seemed to have known to the last item just what -the pantry had contained. And she had brought a bottle of real fizzy -sarsaparilla and two glasses. - -“Do you think I’d let a person like Miss Olaine get the best of me?” -demanded Tavia, with pride. “Bread and milk, indeed! Well, I guess----” - -“Hush!” whispered Dorothy. - -There was a firm step in the classroom. They heard it mount the -platform and then came a fumbling at the door. - -“Oh! she’s found us out,” breathed Dorothy, seizing Tavia’s wrist. - -“She’s found us _in_, you mean,” returned her friend, almost exploding -with laughter. “And what more can she expect?” - -“Girls!” exclaimed Miss Olaine’s harsh voice. - -No answer. “Girls!” repeated the teacher. “Miss Dale! Miss Octavia!” - -“Yes, ma’am!” drawled Tavia, yawning prodigiously. “Yes, ma’am!” - -“You need not tell me you were asleep,” snapped the teacher. “Where is -the key to this door?” - -Tavia had removed the key from the lock and now held it up for Dorothy -to see. Then she laid it on the window sill before she answered: - -“I’m sure, Miss Olaine, _I_ haven’t the key. You locked us in----” - -“And I left the key in the door, Miss Impertinence,” interposed the -teacher. - -“If the key was on the outside and we are on the inside,” said Tavia, -calmly, “of course you do not accuse us of appropriating it, Miss -Olaine?” - -“Somebody has been here, Miss. I demand to know who it was.” - -“I can tell you truthfully, Miss Olaine,” said Tavia, still calmly, -“that _I_ have seen nobody at the door.” - -“Miss Dale, where is the key?” - -Like a flash Tavia opened the lower sash and threw the key out into -the darkness. She pointed to Dorothy and mouthed the words she was to -say--and they were perfectly truthful: - -“Say you don’t know where!” commanded Tavia, in this silent way. - -“Miss Dale!” exclaimed the teacher again. “Do you know where the key -is?” - -“No.” - -“Is that all you can say, Miss?” - -“We have not got it--of _that_ I am sure,” declared Dorothy. - -Tavia had calmly gone back to her salad and peanut butter sandwiches. -Her mouth was so full when Miss Olaine spoke to her again that she -could hardly answer. - -“Miss Octavia Travers! Who removed the key from this lock? You know who -it was.” - -“I’m--I’m----” - -“What is the matter with you? Your mouth is full. You are eating, -Miss. Where did you get the food? Who has been here and supplied you -with more than I gave you at supper time?” - -“There hasn’t been a soul at that door except yourself,” declared -Tavia, exactly, “as far as _I_ know.” - -“You are not telling the truth, Miss!” declared the teacher, warmly. - -Mrs. Pangborn’s system of conducting Glenwood Hall did not include -doubting the word of her pupils. The girls were put on their honor from -the hour they first entered the school, and seldom had the principal -been taken advantage of. - -Dorothy and Tavia looked at each other. Both were flushed and all the -laughter had gone out of Tavia’s brown eyes. - -“Why, how horrid!” she gasped. - -“What is that, Miss?” demanded the angry teacher outside. - -And then Dorothy spoke up. “We refuse to discuss the matter with you -any further, Miss Olaine--until Mrs. Pangborn arrives. In _this_ school -the girls are not accused of falsehoods.” - -Miss Olaine was silent a moment. Then they heard her walk heavily away -from the locked door. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -CONDITIONS - - -“Two of the girls shut up in the little dressing-room? And the key -missing? Suppose there should be a fire, Miss Olaine?” - -Mrs. Pangborn had just arrived. She had not even removed her bonnet, -only untied its strings. And she sat with her feet on the fender of the -open fire place where the gaslog burned in the office. It was a half -hour after midnight and Glenwood Hall was supposed to be as silent as -the tomb at that time. - -“I thought of that. It is a trick,” said the dark teacher, hastily, and -wringing her hands together in the peculiar way she had. It showed that -Miss Olaine was a very nervous person. - -“How do you mean--a trick?” asked the principal, quietly. - -“Some person in league with the two girls removed the key, of course. -I am sure it was done so as to keep me out while they ate forbidden -food.” - -“But did they not have their supper?” - -“Bread and milk; quite enough for them.” - -“And for luncheon? You say they were shut into the room in the -forenoon.” - -“I--I thought it would bring them to terms quicker. A little fast -surely would not hurt them,” said Miss Olaine, hesitatingly. - -“Perhaps not,” agreed Mrs. Pangborn, after a moment of silence, but -looking at her new assistant in rather a curious way. “However, I do -not approve of corporal punishment----” - -“Corporal punishment!” - -“Yes. Underfeeding must come under that head,” said Mrs. Pangborn, but -with a laugh. “And you think they somehow tricked you and got more -supper than you intended?” - -“I am positive. I have been to the pantry. That door should be -locked----” - -“Oh, no!” cried the principal. “I never lock things away from my girls.” - -“A mistake, Mrs. Pangborn,” declared the assistant, with growing -confidence. “Youth is naturally treacherous.” - -“Oh, my dear Miss Olaine!” exclaimed the principal of Glenwood. “I am -sorry your experience has led to that belief. Mine has not--and it has -the advantage of yours in extent of time,” and she smiled again. - -“I am sure, Miss Olaine, you and I are going to get on beautifully; -but you do not understand my girls.” - -“I understand both of these I have shut up----” - -“Thank goodness there is a master-key to all the doors right here on my -ring,” interrupted Mrs. Pangborn, shaking the jingling bunch of keys. -“In a moment--as soon as my feet are warm--we will go and let those -poor girls out and send them to bed.” - -“Mrs. Pangborn! you evidently do not consider the serious nature of the -offense,” cried Miss Olaine, again wringing her bony hands, her eyes -flashing. - -“No. True. I did not ask you. What happened?” - -Miss Olaine told her story--all about the pigs, and her fright, and -Dorothy being disobedient, and defying her, as Miss Olaine said. But -she neglected to call either culprit by name. - -“I did not expect insurrection to begin so quickly, Miss Olaine,” said -the principal, gravely. “And I gather from your statement that two of -my girls---- They belong to the upper class, you say?” - -“Yes, Mrs. Pangborn. Young ladies old enough----” - -“And their names?” - -“Misses Travers and Dale.” - -“Tavia Travers!” gasped the older lady. “Of course! Who else would have -invented such a perfectly ridiculous thing as introducing pigs into the -school room?” - -“I knew you would be amazed, madam.” - -“Not at all,” the principal hastened to say. “Nothing Tavia ever does -surprises me. But the other--not Dorothy Dale?” - -“Yes, Miss Dale.” - -“Oh, Miss Olaine! there must be some mistake there. I know Dorothy so -well,” said Mrs. Pangborn, gravely. “The two are always together; but -I am sure that whatever Dorothy told you was true. And Tavia, too, for -that matter.” - -“I am positive they were endeavoring to mislead me. And they would not -tell who had helped them, or who else was in the plot to put those pigs -in this house----” - -“Miss Olaine!” gasped Mrs. Pangborn, suddenly. “That is something I -forgot to speak of when I went away in such a hurry the day after you -came to Glenwood.” - -“What is that?” asked the surprised assistant. - -“I never ask one of my girls to tell on another. They are all on honor, -here. I do not expect any girl to play the spy. Indeed, I punish -severely only those who show such a tendency. You were wrong to expect -either of those girls to give any information which might lead to -trouble for their schoolmates. Whereas, if they say nobody else was -aware of the prank----” - -“Miss Travers refuses to admit that she had any help at all.” - -“If she says it is her own performance, you may believe it is so.” - -“Oh, I do not believe in giving such latitude to mere school girls,” -declared Miss Olaine, and now she was quite heated again. - -Mrs. Pangborn looked at her seriously. “You have much to learn yet, I -fear, Miss Olaine,” she said, quietly. “Reports of your erudition and -management of studies in a great public school urged me to engage you -as my assistant; but you must be guided by me in the management of my -girls--that is sure. - -“You might have known that shutting a girl like Tavia Travers into that -little room would be no real punishment. She would merely put on her -thinking cap and endeavor to bring about something that would make you -look the more ridiculous.” - -“Mrs. Pangborn!” - -“Yes. And she has succeeded in doing so; hasn’t she?” - -“How would you have had me punish her?” demanded Miss Olaine, reddening -under the principal’s rather stern eye. - -“Oh, that is another matter!” and the older woman laughed. “A -punishment to fit the crime is rather difficult to invent in Tavia’s -case. I believe I should have demanded from her an exhaustive -composition upon swine, from the earliest mention of the beast in -history, down through all the ages to and including the packing-house -age. I would have made Tavia industrious, and perhaps taught her -something. - -“As for Dorothy---- Well, you have quite mistaken her character, Miss -Olaine. She is the soul of truth, and while she may have been loyal to -her friend, that should not be considered a crime; should it? - -“Let us go now and interview the culprits. And, if you agree, I think -they have both had punishment enough. Suppose you tell them to go to -their room and that they will not be expected to appear at prayers or -breakfast to-morrow morning. I do not approve of my girls losing their -beauty sleep.” - -And _that_ is why Dorothy and Tavia got out of their difficulty so -easily. They didn’t understand it--just then. But Dorothy suspected -and she knew that Mrs. Pangborn was far too wise to give them an -opportunity to openly face Miss Olaine and have judgment rendered -accordingly. - -“But I dislike her just the same,” whispered Dorothy. - -“Of course we do! And she’ll try to catch us again----” - -“Then behave, Tavia. The whole trouble started with your trying to -plague her,” declared her friend. - -“Well! I--like--that,” murmured Tavia in a tone that showed she did -_not_ like it, at all. “Just you wait, Doro. We haven’t heard the last -of this. Old Olaine will just be waiting for half a chance to pounce on -us again.” - -Dorothy did not get at what she was looking for in the directory -until the afternoon of the next day. Then she was very careful to ask -permission to go to the office for reference. - -She found the name and address of the secretary of the bridge builders’ -union, and she wrote that afternoon asking about Tom Moran. She -explained just why she wanted to learn about him, and his whereabouts, -and tried to put before the person she wrote to the pitiful history of -Celia Moran in a way that might engage his interest. - -Dorothy had told nobody about Celia--not even Tavia. Of course her chum -would have been interested in the child from the “Findling” and her -lost brother. But just now--at the beginning of the term--there really -was so much going on at Glenwood that aside from the hours that they -spent in their imprisonment, the two friends had very little time to -talk together. - -This last half-year at Glenwood was bound to be a very busy one. Some -studies in which Dorothy was proficient Tavia did not stand so well in, -and _vice versa_. They had to study very hard, and when Tavia “broke -out” as she was bound to do every little while, it seemed absolutely -necessary that she “let off steam.” - -Mrs. Pangborn understood, and so did the older teachers. But Miss -Olaine was naturally a martinet, and she was very nervous and irritable -in the bargain. She could not overlook the least exuberance of -schoolgirl enthusiasm. - -So, inside of a week, Tavia was “conditioned.” Each black mark that she -had against her in deportment had to be “worked off” before the end of -the half, or she could not graduate. - -And in seeking to shield her chum again from the consequences of her -folly, Dorothy found herself conditioned, too. Mrs. Pangborn demanded -her presence in the office, and for almost the first time in her career -at Glenwood, Dorothy Dale found herself at odds with the kind principal -of the school. - -“I am sure I have been here long enough for you to know me quite well, -Mrs. Pangborn,” she said, with some heat, to the good lady who loved -her. “Have I changed so much, do you think? Nobody else reports me but -Miss Olaine----” - -“You are changing every day, my dear. We all are,” said the principal, -firmly. “But I do not believe your _heart_ has changed, Dorothy Dale. -Unfortunately Miss Olaine’s manner made all you older girls dislike -her at the start. But have you stopped to think that perhaps there is -something in her life--some trouble, perhaps--that makes her nervous -and excitable?” - -“Well--but--we----” - -“You have never before been uncharitable,” smiled Mrs. Pangborn. “Try -and bear patiently with Miss Olaine. If you knew all about her you -would pity her condition, I am sure. No! I cannot tell you. It is not -my secret, my dear. But try to understand her better--and do, Dorothy, -keep Tavia within bounds!” - -The principal knew that this line of pleading would win over Dorothy -Dale every time! - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -AN EXPEDITION AFOOT - - -“Yes,” said Miss Olaine, who became deeply interested when she thought -she had the attention of her class, and the matter under discussion was -one that appealed particularly to herself. “What we want in literature -is direct and simple English. - -“I wish you young ladies to mark this: Epigrams, or flowers of -rhetoric, or so-called ‘fine writing,’ does not mark scholarship. The -better understanding one has of words and their meanings, the more -simply thought may be expressed. - -“Do you attend me?” she added, sharply, staring straight at Tavia. -“Then to-morrow each of you bring me, expressed in her own language -upon paper, her consideration of what simple English means.” - -And Tavia received another “condition” for presenting and reading aloud -to the class, as requested, the following: - -“Those conglomerated effusions of vapid intellects, which posed in -lamented attitudes as the emotional and intellectual ingredients -of fictional realism, fall far short of the obvious requirements -of contemporary demands and violate the traditional models of the -transcendent minds of the Elizabethan era of glorious memory.” - -“You consider yourself very smart, I have no doubt, Miss Travers,” said -Miss Olaine, sneeringly, “in inventing a specimen of so-called English -exactly opposed to the simple language I demanded. You evidently -consider that you have been sent here to school to _play_. We will see -what a little extra _work_ will do for you.” - -And so Tavia had certain tasks to perform that kept her indoors on the -next Saturday half-holiday. That is why Dorothy chanced to set out -alone from the school for a long walk. - -It was a cold afternoon, and the sun was hidden. There seemed to be a -haze over the whole sky. But there was no snow on the ground, and the -latter was as hard as iron and rang under her feet. - -Jack Frost had fettered the ponds and streams and frozen the earth, in -preparation for the snow that was coming. But Dorothy, not being very -weatherwise, did not guess what the atmospheric conditions foretold. - -It seemed to her to be a very delightful day for walking, for there -was no rough wind, and the paths were so hard. She was only sorry that -Tavia was not with her. - -It was the apparent peacefulness of the day that tempted her off the -highroad into a piece of wood with which she was not very familiar. -Indeed, she would better have turned back toward the school at the time -she entered the wood, for she had then come a long way. - -The path she finally struck into was narrow and winding, and the trees -loomed thickly on either hand. Before she realized her position, it was -growing dusk and fine snow was sifting down upon her--from the thick -branches of the trees, she thought at first. - -“But no! that can’t be,” urged Dorothy, suddenly, and aloud. “There -hasn’t been any snow for a week, and surely that which fell last would -not have lain upon the branches so long. I declare! it’s a storm -started. I must get back to Glenwood.” - -She turned square around--she was positive she did so--and supposedly -took the back track. But there were intersecting paths, and all she -could see of the sky overhead was a gray blotch of cloud, out of which -the snow sifted faster and faster. She had no idea of the points of the -compass. - -She went on, and on. “I really must get out of this and reach the -road,” Dorothy told herself. “Otherwise I shall be drifting about the -woods all night--and it’s altogether too cold to even contemplate -_that_ as a possibility.” - -Being cheerful, however, did not culminate in Dorothy’s finding the end -of the path at once. And when she did so--coming suddenly out into an -open place which she did not recognize--the fine snow was driving down -so fast that it almost blinded her. - -“This is not the road,” thought the girl, with the first shiver of fear -that she had felt. “I have got turned about. I shall have to ask----” - -Whom? Through the snow she could see no house--no building of any kind. -She stood and listened for several moments, straining her ears to catch -the faintest sound above the swish of the driving snow. - -There was no other sound. The wind seemed to be rising, and the snow -had already gathered to the depth of several inches while she had been -rambling in the woods. - -“Really,” thought Dorothy. “I never saw snow gather so fast before.” - -She had little trouble at first following the path on the edge of the -wood. She knew very well it was not the highway; but it must lead -somewhere--and to _somewhere_ she must very quickly make her way! - -“If I don’t want to be snowed under completely--be a regular lost ‘babe -in the wood’--I must arrive at some place very soon!” was her decision. - -The path was a cart track. There was a half-covered worm-fence on one -hand and the edge of the wood on the other. She had no idea whether -she was traveling in the direction of Glenwood Hall, or exactly the -opposite way. - -“Swish! swish! swish!” hissed the snow. It had a sort of soothing -sound; but the fact that she was lost in it was not a soothing idea at -all to Dorothy. - -She staggered on, stumbling in the frozen path, and realizing very -keenly that the snow was gathering no faster than the cold was -increasing. With the dropping of night the temperature was sliding -downward with great rapidity. - -Dorothy Dale was in real peril. The driving snow blinded her; she lost -the line of the fence finally, and knew that she was staggering through -an open field. She was still in the winding cart-path, for she fell -into and out of the ruts continually; but she was traveling across an -open farm. The sheltering wood was behind her and the snow drove down -upon her, harder than before. - -She halted, her back to the increasing wind, and tried to peer ahead. -A wall of drifting snow limited the view. She raised her voice and -shouted--again and again! - -There came no reply. Not even a dog barked. She seemed alone in a world -of drifting snow, and now she was really terrified. - -She was benumbed by the cold and it would be impossible for her to -travel much farther. If she did not reach some refuge soon---- - -Dorothy plunged on into the storm, scrambling over the rough path, -and occasionally raising her voice in cries for help. But she was so -breathless and spent that she traveled slowly. - -Here was a fence corner. The way was open into a narrow lane. Several -huge oak trees in a row bulked big before her as she pressed on. She -could not remember ever having seen the spot before. - -But Dorothy believed a house must be near. Surely she would not be -lost--covered up by the snow and frozen to death--near to a human -habitation? - -“There must be somebody living around here!” she murmured, plowing on -through the drifts. “Help; help!” - -Her faint cry brought no response. She was becoming confused as well -as weary. The wind increased in force so rapidly that when she again -halted and leaned back against it, it seemed to the weakened girl as -though she were lying in somebody’s arms! - -The snow swept around her like a mantle. It gathered deeply at her -feet. She no longer felt the keen air, but was sinking into a pleasant -lethargy. - -There was peril in this, and at another time Dorothy would have -understood it fully. But she was not now in a state to understand what -threatened her. She was only drowsy--weak--almost insensible. Another -moment and she would have fallen in the snow and sunk into that sleep -from which there would be no awakening. - -And then, to her dim eyes, appeared a sudden glow of lamplight ahead. -It could not be far away, for she heard the hinges of a door creak, and -then a voice reached her ears: - -“Come in here! What are you doing out in that snow--ye -good-for-nothin’? Ain’t ye got no sinse, I wanter know? Av all the -young ’uns that iver was bawn, it’s you is the wust av th’ lot. Come in -here!” - -Dorothy was aroused by these words. For a moment she thought the woman -who spoke must be addressing her. Then she heard a thin little voice -answer: - -“Oh, Mrs. Hogan! I _know_ I heard somebody hollerin’ in the snow. It’s -somebody what’s lost, Mrs. Hogan.” - -“Nonsinse! Come away, now--I’ll have no more av yer foolin’, Cely -Moran. I’ll sind ye ter bed widout yer supper if ye don’t come in out -o’ that snow----” - -Dorothy hardly understood yet; but almost involuntarily she raised her -voice in a cry of: - -“Celia! Celia Moran!” - -[Illustration: SHE STAGGERED FORWARD INTO THE DIM RADIANCE OF THE LIGHT. - - _Dorothy Dale’s Promise._ _Page 77._] - -“Do you hear that, Mrs. Hogan?” shrieked the shrill voice of the child. - -“Bless us an’ save us!” gasped the woman. “The saints preserve us! ’Tis -a ghost, it is.” - -“What’s a ghost, Mrs. Hogan?” demanded the inquisitive Celia, quick to -seize upon a new word. - -“’Tis a Pixie. Who knows yer name in this place? Come away, child!” - -Dorothy, who heard them plainly now, cried out again. She staggered -forward into the dim radiance of the light that shone from the -farmhouse kitchen. - -“There she is!” Dorothy heard the little one say. Then she plunged -forward to her knees. Mrs. Ann Hogan, the grenadier, came flying out of -the doorway and gathered Dorothy right up in her strong arms. - -“Git out from under fut, ye nuisance!” she commanded, speaking to -Celia. “Av coorse ’tis somebody in trouble. Make way, there! Lemme near -the stove wid her. - -“Sure, ’tis a most be-uchiful young leddy as ever was. An’ she was lost -in the snow--thrue for yez! Sure her folks will be payin’ well for her -bein’ saved from death this night. - -“Shut the door, Cely. Put on the kettle--she must have somethin’ hot. -Stir yer stumps, Cely Moran, or I’ll be the death of ye!” - - - - -CHAPTER X - -AT THE CASTLE OF THE OGRESS - - -There was a buzzing in Dorothy’s ears; it seemed as though she could -not be herself, but must be somebody else. “Herself” was still out in -that dreadful snowstorm--sinking to a fatal sleep in the soft drifts. - -Yet all the time she heard--distantly, but sufficiently distinct--the -clatter of Mrs. Ann Hogan’s tongue, and the gasping, interrupted speech -of little Celia Moran. At first Dorothy thought her rescue must be a -dream. - -“Take off her shoes--do ye hear me, ye little nuisance?” commanded the -big woman. “Sure, ’tis jest about done for, she is. Cely! Cely Moran! -did ye bring the eggs as I told ye?” - -“Oh, dear, me, Mrs. Hogan,” said the little girl. “I _was_ that -scared----” - -“Thim eggs!” exclaimed the woman. “Where be they?” - -“I dropped the basket when I heard the lady holler----” - -“Go for thim! They’ll be froze in another minnit--an’ eggs fawty-two -cints th’ dozen at the store! Mind, now! if ye’ve broke thim, I’ll -wallop ye.” - -Dorothy knew that the door was opened again, for a blast of cold wind -came in. But she could not open her eyes. The lids were too heavy. Mrs. -Hogan was rubbing her hand’s between her own--which were as rough as -nutmeg graters! - -“Here ye are,” declared the woman, still kneeling before the settee on -which she had laid Dorothy. She spoke to the child. “Are they broke, I -ax ye?” - -“No, ma’am! No, ma’am, Mrs. Hogan,” stuttered Celia’s shrill little -voice. “Oh, I didn’t break none; but the hulls come off two or -three----” - -“Little nuisance!” snapped the woman. “And ye’d lie about it, too. Put -’em careful on the shelf--or I’ll be the death of ye! Lit another egg -be broken----” - -The unfinished threat seemed to fill the child with terror. Dorothy -heard her sobbing softly. Then she crept to Dorothy’s feet again and -continued to unlace the bigger girl’s shoes. When they were drawn off -Mrs. Hogan began to rub the girl’s feet. They were so cold and stiff -that it seemed to Dorothy as though they would be broken right off in -the woman’s hard hands. - -She forced her eyes open, and saw the big woman on her knees. Celia’s -wondering little face was close to her own. Dorothy sat up with sudden -energy. - -“Oh! oh! oh!” whispered Celia. “It is my dear, dear young lady!” - -“Why, Celia----” - -“Is it knowin’ aich other ye bes?” demanded Mrs. Hogan, suspiciously. -Dorothy was half afraid of this muscular Amazon. She thought it best to -tell the whole truth. - -“I saw Celia in the Belding station the day you brought her home from -the city foundling asylum, Mrs. Hogan,” she said, simply. - -“Arrah! the little baggage!” grumbled the woman. “An’ she niver said a -wor-r-rd about it--bad ’cess to her!” - -“I expect she was afraid you would not like it,” observed Dorothy, -quietly. “It was not Celia’s fault. I spoke to her myself. No, Mrs. -Hogan! never mind rubbing my feet any more. Thank you. They will be -quite warm in a minute.” - -Somehow she did not want the great, coarse woman to touch her. - -“Well, now,” said Mrs. Hogan, rising to her feet, and standing with her -hands on her hips and her arms akimbo, “well, now, will ye be tellin’ -me where ye come from, young leddy?” - -“From Glenwood Hall school. I am Dorothy Dale.” - -“Indade! And do they know where ye be?” - -“Why, I didn’t know myself where I was until I heard Celia’s voice,” -declared Dorothy. “She told me she was going to live with you. But--but -I don’t really know the situation of this farm, Mrs. Hogan. You see, I -got lost in the woods, and in the storm. It came on to snow so fast and -so suddenly.” - -“Yis--I see,” grunted Mrs. Hogan. “I kin tell ye how far ye air from -the highway. ’Tis eight mile, if it’s a step.” - -“Oh, dear! I must have been wandering farther and farther away from the -highway all the time.” - -“Thrue for ye! Well, ye want to retur-r-rn, I make no doubt--as soon as -ye can?” - -“Yes, indeed,” said the girl, quickly. “I am getting nice and warm. It -was silly of me to almost lose consciousness----” - -“In a short time ye’d been dead in the snow,” declared the woman, -bluntly. “And ye can thank yer stars I found ye. Yis, indeed. Yer -friends will doubtless thank me, too,” and she spoke grimly. - -Dorothy was remembering more clearly now. She had heard the woman say -something about being paid for taking care of her--she could easily -believe that Mrs. Hogan would do no kindness save through a mercenary -motive. - -“Do you suppose I can get back to school to-night, Mrs. Hogan?” she -asked, rather timidly. - -“And in this stor-r-rm, is it?” - -“But Mrs. Pangborn will be worried.” - -“Who’s she--the head teacher, is it? Well! Now, do yez think yez could -find yer way alone, Miss?” - -“Oh, I am afraid not,” admitted Dorothy, looking at the snow banking -against the windows of the farmhouse kitchen. - -“Nor ye couldn’t walk it, not even if I went with ye?” - -“Oh, Mrs. Hogan! You wouldn’t attempt such a thing?” - -The grenadier shook herself. She was more than six feet tall, and her -shoulders were wide and her arms long. She was really a giantess. - -“Sure, I’ve tackled har-r-rder jobs,” she said. “But mebbe I kin get -Jim Bentley to put the hosses t’ th’ pung. But ye’ll pay for thim?” - -“I’d gladly pay what you ask----” - -“Tin dollars, then,” said the woman, quickly. “’Tis wuth it, to take ye -home through the snow this night.” - -“I--I’ll pay it, Mrs. Hogan,” said Dorothy, faintly. “At least, Mrs. -Pangborn will pay it. I haven’t the money.” - -“Well! I’ll see Jim--Is he out to the stables, Cely?” - -“Yes, ma’am,” replied the child, who had been gazing at Dorothy all -this time with wide open eyes. “But one of the hosses is down, ma’am.” - -“What’s that? What’s that ye tell me?” exclaimed the woman, turning on -Celia, angrily. “Down in the stall, ye mane?” - -“Yes, ma’am. I saw it. And Mr. Bentley, he was sayin’ nawful things -about it----” - -“Sayin’ _what_?” demanded Mrs. Hogan. - -“He was swearin’ jes’ awful,” pursued the little girl, in an awed -whisper. - -“Swearin’; was he? What do ye know about swearin’, plague o’ me life?” -said the woman. “Till me what he said?” - -“Oh, Mrs. Hogan! I couldn’t,” gasped Celia, shaking her head. “It--it’s -wicked to swear.” - -“You tell me----” - -“I couldn’t,” repeated Celia. “But you say over all of the very baddest -cuss words you know, Mrs. Hogan, and I’ll tell you when you come to -’em--jes’ what Mr. Bentley said.” - -Dorothy suddenly wanted to laugh, although she was half frightened -still of the ogress. Mrs. Hogan raised her hand as though to box the -little girl’s ears; but then she thought better of it. - -“Can ye bate that, Miss?” she demanded of Dorothy. “’Tis allus the way. -The young ’un is as smart as a steel trap. ’Tis the way she be allus -gittin’ the best of me. - -“Well, now! ’tis not to the school ye’ll get this night, then. Ye can -see that?” - -“Oh, Mrs. Hogan!” - -“And the stor-r-rm is bad, too. Aven with two hosses we might not win -through aisy. And with only wan--Arrah! ye’ll haf ter stay the night -out, Miss. I s’pose ye’ll willin’ly pay for it?” - -“I am sure, Mrs. Hogan,” Dorothy said, “you will lose nothing by giving -me shelter.” - -“I dunno. Rich folks ain’t as lib’ral as they might be. And ye’d never -cra’led--not on yer han’s an’ knees--to the next neighbor. Mind that, -now!” - -“I am quite sure,” said Dorothy, humbly, “that I should have fallen in -the snow had not your house been near.” - -“Well! I’ll make ye somehow comferble. Till marnin’ anyhow. Thin we’ll -see. If it kapes on snowin’ like this, though, Miss, ’twill be a -blizzard an’ no knowin’ when ye’ll git back to that school.” - -“If only Mrs. Pangborn--and Tavia--and all the others--won’t be scared -about me,” murmured Dorothy. - -“They’ll be sure ye warn’t fule enough to go on, and on, when it began -ter snow so,” grunted the woman. “’Tis lucky our frinds think better -av our sinse than we desarve. They’ll be sure ye wint into some house -when it began to storm so hard, me gur-r-rl.” - -Meanwhile Dorothy had removed her hat and coat and Mrs. Hogan hung -them to dry behind the big cookstove which set well out from the -chimney-piece. She advised her guest to sit up to the stove and dry the -bottom of her skirt, while she herself got into a man’s storm-coat and -gloves, lit a lantern, and sallied forth, as she said, “to see what -that ormadoun, Jim Bentley, was doing to the hoss.” - -The moment she was gone Celia ran into Dorothy’s open arms. The child -clung around the neck of Dorothy, and whispered: - -“Don’t you be afraid, lady. She won’t hurt _you_.” - -“Does she hurt you, Celia?” demanded the older girl. “Does she whip -you?” - -“Oh, no! Not unless I’m real _bad_. But--but she doesn’t like little -girls--not a little, teeny bit. I--I wisht I lived with somebody that -liked little girls, lady.” - -“Don’t call me that, dear,” said Dorothy, hastily, and wiping away her -tears. The little one was dry-eyed as she had been that day in the -railroad station. “My name is Dorothy--Dorothy Dale. Can you remember -that?” - -“Oh, yes! It’s so pretty,” said Celia, smiling up at her wistfully. -“And please, can I ask you a question, Dorothy Dale--please?” - -“All you want to, dear,” cried her friend. - -“Oh!” cried Celia, clasping her little, clawlike hands, “have you found -Tom Moran yet? Have you found my brother?” - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -SNOWBOUND - - -The earnestness in the little, shrewd face, the quaver of her voice, -the clutch of her fingers around Dorothy’s neck, all impressed the girl -from Glenwood Hall as to just how much the finding of the big, lost -brother meant to little Celia Moran. - -“I haven’t found him yet, dear,” she said, brokenly. “But I will--_I -will_--find him. I have written a letter, and I am going to keep on -searching--Oh, my dear! I _know_ I shall find him for you in the end. -Just you have patience.” - -“That’s what the matron used to say at the Findling,” said Celia. “But, -do you know patience is a nawful hard thing to keep?” - -“I expect it is, dear.” - -“And you’ll be sure to find the _right_ Tom Moran,” urged the little -girl. “You know, he’s big, and he’s got ever so red hair, and he builds -bridges and things.” - -“I shall find the right one,” promised Dorothy. - -“You see, Mrs. Hogan don’t want me to talk about him,” said the child, -faintly. “When I forgets and does, she says: ‘Drat the young ’un! Ain’t -she thankful for havin’ a home?’ - -“But, do you know,” pursued Celia, her voice dropping to a whisper -again, “I’se afraid I ain’t as thankful as I doughter be--no, I ain’t.” - -“Not thankful?” - -“No, ma’am! I can’t somehow jes’ feel thankful for Mrs. Ann Hogan.” - -Dorothy could not blame her for this, but she did not feel it right to -agree with her. “Oh, my dear! I expect Mrs. Hogan is kind to you--in -her way,” she said. - -“Yes, I ’spect so,” sighed Celia, nodding slowly. “But you can’t -jes’ get uster some folkses’ ways; can you? It--it was better in the -Findling--yes, it was, Dorothy. And I hoped if any lady took me away it -would be a nice, cuddly one.” - -“A cuddly one?” repeated Dorothy. “What sort of a lady is that?” - -“Why, you know,” Celia said, with eagerness. “The kind that cuddles -you, and makes a-much over you. Of course, you never was a Findling, -Dorothy?” - -“Oh, no, dear! I haven’t any mother, any more than you have; but I have -a dear, dear father and two brothers----” - -“Well, you see,” interrupted the eager little one, “some of the ladies -what come for the findlings just fall right in love with them. The -matron lady always dresses ’em up real pretty, and curls their hair, -and makes ’em look as pretty as they can look. - -“You see,” she added, in an explanatory way, “I was so nawful -thin--scrawny, the matron said--the mother-ladies what comed to find a -findling didn’t care much for me.” - -Dorothy could understand that it was the pretty, plump children who -would mostly attract those lonely hearts reaching out for the babies -that God had denied them. - -“You see,” pursued Celia, “Mrs. Hogan wanted a young one that could -_work_. She told the matron so. I was gettin’ so big that they had -to let somebody have me pretty soon, or I’d have to go to the Girls’ -School--an’ the matron said ‘God forbid!’ so I guess the Girls’ School -ain’t a very nice place for little girls to go,” and Celia shook her -head wisely. - -“But, you see, I hoped an’ hoped that one of the cuddly ladies would -take me. I seen one carry Maisie--she was my little friend--right out -of the Findling, and down the steps, and into a great, big, be-youtiful -ortermobile. She hugged her tight all the way, too, an’ I _think_--she -cried over her. The matron said she’d lost a little girl that looked -like Maisie. - -“But I didn’t look like nobody that was lost--not at all. They all -said when they looked at me: ‘She’s jes’ the cutest little thing!’ But -somehow they didn’t love me.” - -“Oh, my dear!” cried Dorothy, gathering Celia into her arms again. “I -don’t see why all the lonesome mothers that came there to the asylum -didn’t fall in love with you right away!” - -There was a great stamping upon the porch and the door flew open. -Dorothy saw that the whole world outside seemed to be one vast -snowbank. Mrs. Hogan, puffing and blowing, in knee boots and her man’s -outfit, was covered with snow. - -“That Jim Bentley’s gone home--bad ’cess t’ him. Though ’tis me saves -a supper thereby. An’ he niver got the hoss up at all, at all!” she -cried, wiping her red face on a towel hanging by the sink, and then -shedding her outside garments, boots and all, in a heap by the hot -stove. - -“’Tis an awful night out,” she pursued. “’Tis lucky ye came here as ye -did, Miss. We’re safe and sound, the saints be praised! An’ I got the -ould hoss on his feet, mesilf, an’ no thanks to that lazy spalpane, Jim -Bentley. The Lord is good to the poor Irish.” - -Dorothy decided that the man, Jim Bentley, must be a neighbor whom Mrs. -Hogan hired to do some of her heavy work. But the Amazon seemed quite -capable of doing a good deal of farm work herself. - -Now she set about getting supper, and she kept Celia Moran hopping to -run her errands, fetch and carry, and otherwise aid in the preparation -of the meal. It was no banquet; merely hot bread and fried pork, with -some preserves, the latter evidently opened for the delectation of the -“paying guest.” - -Mrs. Hogan made it plain at every turn that she expected to be paid -for everything she did for Dorothy. She was a veritable female miser. -Dorothy had never imagined such a person in all her life before. - -And, although the woman did not really put her hand upon little Celia, -she was continually threatening her and hustling her about. She seemed -even to begrudge the poor child her food, and the infinitesimal portion -of preserve that was put upon Celia’s plate was, to Dorothy’s mind, -“the last straw.” - -The school girl boldly changed saucers with Celia and gave the little -one _her_ share of the sweetmeat. - -Mrs. Hogan would not let her guest assist in clearing up after supper. -Celia, in a long apron tied around her throat by its strings, and -dragging on the floor so that her little feet in their worn shoes were -impeded when she tried to walk, stood upon a box at the kitchen sink -and washed the pile of dishes, while her mistress dried them--scolding -and admonishing all the time. - -“Av all the young imps of Satan! looker that now! D’ye not know tis -wrong ter wash the greasy dishes first? How often must I tell ye? An’ -her water’s not hot. - -“That’s it! pour in some more. ’Tis too hot for ye? ’Twill cool. An’ -yer han’s no bether nor mine, an’ w’en I was your age I washed dishes -for a boardin’ house--twinty hear-r-rty men sat doon to the table, too. -And they made a wash-basket o’ dishes iv’ry male, so they did! - -“What’s the mather with yer han’s? Is ut a cute lady ye expict ter be? -Ha! ye’ll l’arn some practical things, then, while yer wid me. Arrah! -there’s a plate that ain’t clane. What d’ye mane by ut? ’Tis a good -lickin’ ye oughter have!” - -And thus she went on all during the task. Poor Celia was not struck, or -really abused, as far as Dorothy could see. But she was sensitive, and -the lashing of Mrs. Hogan’s coarse tongue hurt Celia more than physical -punishment would have hurt some other child. - -When the smoke of battle had passed away, and little Celia had washed -out and hung up the dish-towels to dry on the line behind the stove, -Dorothy took her on the settee beside her. Mrs. Hogan made no -objection, nor did she scarcely speak to them as the evening advanced. - -Dorothy whispered stories to the round-eyed child--Oh! she had had -plenty of practise in story-telling while her brothers, Joe and Roger, -were little. Celia was too old to care much for “The Little Rid Hin”, -or “The Frog He Would A-Wooing Go”; but Dorothy could repeat “Aspinax; -or, the Enchanted Dwarf” almost word for word, and the marvellous -adventures of that appealing hero held Celia’s enthralled attention for -the evening. - -Perhaps Mrs. Hogan had been listening, too; for she never said a word -about its being bedtime until the story was finished. All the time the -snow had been beating against the house, while the wind moaned in the -chimney and occasionally rattled a loose shutter. - -It was really an awful night out, and Dorothy felt that she was being -snowbound here in this lonely farmhouse. She was only afraid that Tavia -and the other girls, as well as Mrs. Pangborn, would be frightened for -her. - -“I’ll be puttin’ youse in the spare room. ’Tis a betther bed than those -above stairs,” said Mrs. Hogan. “I suppose ye’ll be willin’ to pay a -mite extry for th’ accommidation? There’s a stove and a fire laid ready -to light. Ye kin undress where ’tis war-r-rm, and I’ll heat the sheets -for ye. In the marnin’ I’ll sind Celia down airly, an’ she kin light -the fire for ye, Miss Dale. ’Tis goin’ to be a cold night, an’ we may -be snowed ter th’ eaves by marnin.” - -“Oh! I hope not,” replied Dorothy, warmly. - -“Ye nade have no fear. There’s plenty of fuel and atein’, I’d have ye -know.” - -“But are you going to let me sleep down here all alone?” queried -Dorothy. - -“Sure, the upstairs rooms are not fit for the likes o’ ye,” said the -woman, quickly. “And there’s no manes of heatin’ them. In the marnin’ -ye’ll have a nice, hot fire to git up by. I’ll see that Cely lights -it----” - -“Oh, Mrs. Hogan!” cried Dorothy, “let Celia sleep down here with me. -Your bed is big enough for two, surely.” - -“Well, I dunno----” - -“Then she will be right on hand to light the fire in the morning,” -suggested Dorothy, who could not think calmly of the little girl -getting up in the cold to come downstairs and light a fire for _her_. -“And I’d love to have her sleep with me. She’d be company.” - -“Well, if ye wish it,” said the woman, slowly. “But mind ye, Cely! -if ye’re not a good gur-rl--an’ kick an’ thrash in yer sleep--I’ll -certainly spank ye. Now, mind that!” - -The woman got up and went through the hall to open the guest chamber. -The room was like a refrigerator, and the cold air swept out of it into -the kitchen and made Dorothy and Celia “hug the stove.” It was a bitter -cold night and Dorothy secretly longed for her own warm room, with -Tavia, at Glenwood Hall. - -But Celia was delighted at the permission given her. She wriggled out -of Dorothy’s arms and ran upstairs for her nightie. Mrs. Hogan brought -forth one of her own sleeping garments for Dorothy--voluminous enough, -it seemed to the girl, to be used as a tent if one wished to go camping -out. - -The nightgown was of coarse muslin, but as white as it could be, and -had evidently been folded away in lavender for some special occasion. -Mrs. Hogan did not give one the impression of being a lady who paid -much attention to the niceties of life. - -And there was Celia’s little nightie--a coarse, unbleached cotton -garment, with not even a frill of common lace about the throat. When -the child got into it and knelt by the kitchen settee to say her -prayers, Dorothy thought she looked as though she was dressed in a -little meal-sack! - -Meanwhile Mrs. Hogan had brought down an old-fashioned brass “bed -warmer” from the wall--a long handle, covered pan (the cover being -perforated) into which she shoveled some glowing coals from the -stove fire-box. With this bed-warmer she ironed the bed in the guest -room. These bed-warmers were common enough in the pioneer homes of -New England and the upper New York counties, and Dorothy decided that -Mrs. Hogan must have found this one in the old farmhouse when she had -purchased the place. - -“Come on wid ye, now!” the woman called from the cold bed chamber. -“Oi’ve taken the desp’rit cold out o’ the shates, and’ yez kin cuddle -in here an’ kape war-r-rm. But ye’ll git no sich notion in yer head -that I’ll be warmin’ yer bid for yez on other nights, Cely; for I won’t -do ut! I never have me own bed warmed, and it’s well fer youse ter -l’arn ter live harsh, too.” - -This was her good-night to them. When the two girls had scrambled into -bed, all of a shiver from crossing the cold hall and the big chamber, -Mrs. Hogan banged the door, and the next moment they heard her fixing -the kitchen fire for the night. - -Dorothy had gathered the little, starved body of Celia in her arms. -The little one sighed, sobbed, and then lay still. Before Dorothy had -realized it, Celia was fast asleep--so wearied was the little one. - -But the older girl lay, broad awake, for some minutes. Her breath -puffed out in plainly visible mist, the air of the room was so cold. -The freezing water in the pitcher on the washstand snapped and -crackled. A shade had been raised to the top of the sash, and that -ghostly light always present when it is snowing at night, faintly -illuminated the bare room. - -“Swish! swish! swish!” the snow beat upon the clapboards outside. She -saw that the lower sash was completely covered by the snow. The drifts -were piling up on this side of the house, and Dorothy finally dropped -to sleep, hugging her little charge, with the feeling that she was -being buried alive beneath the soft, white mantle. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -TAVIA IS MYSTIFIED - - -Tavia, among other things, had a long Latin verse to translate. This -was one of the “extras,” or “conditions” heaped upon the already -burdened shoulders of the irrepressible. - -“But if Olaine wasn’t such a mean, mean thing she wouldn’t have given -me all those black marks--so’t I couldn’t go with Dorothy on her -walk,” Tavia said to some of the other girls who looked in on her that -Saturday afternoon. - -From which it may clearly be drawn that Tavia was one of those persons -who desire “to eat their cake and have it, too!” She had had her fun, -in breaking the school rules; but she did not like to pay for the -privilege. - -“I wouldn’t mind if it was mathematics,” wailed Tavia, when Ned -Ebony and Cologne came in to condole with her. “But this beastly old -Latin----” - -“Oh, dear me! that reminds me,” said the slow-going Cologne. “I _hate_ -mathematics. There used to be a problem in the arithmetic about how -much water goes over Niagara Falls in a given time----” - -“Pooh!” interrupted Tavia, “I can tell you off-hand how much water goes -over Niagara Falls to a quart.” - -“Oh, Tavia! you can’t,” gasped Cologne, her eyes big with awe. - -“That’s easy. Two pints,” chuckled Tavia, and Cologne was for some time -studying out the answer! - -“If you’d only learned to be ambidextrous in your youth, Tavia,” said -Edna Black, smiling. “_Then_ you could write out that Latin with one -hand and do sums with the other--and so get over your old ‘conditions’ -quicker and come and have some fun.” - -“Ha! that’s what Mrs. Pangborn said yesterday,” interposed Cologne, -coming out of her brown study. “She said that with just a little -practise we should find it just as easy to do anything with one hand as -with the other.” - -Tavia looked up from her paper again, and giggled. “Wish I’d heard -her,” she said. - -“Why?” - -“I’d asked her how she supposed a boy would ever learn to put his left -hand in the right hand pocket of his trousers. Wouldn’t _that_ have -stumped even Mrs. Pangborn?” - -“And it might have won you another black mark. That fatal sense of -humor of yours will get you into deep water yet,” said Cologne, wagging -her head. - -“Oh, go on out and play--both of you!” cried Tavia. “I couldn’t go with -Dorothy, and I’ll _never_ get this done if you don’t leave me alone. -Miss Olaine said I must do it before supper time.” - -“You’d better hurry, then,” declared Ned. - -“That’s right,” said Rose-Mary. “It’s getting dark now--and oh! it’s -beginning to snow.” - -It was snowing hard when Tavia went down to the office to deliver her -papers into the strict Miss Olaine’s hands. The mail bag had just come -in and the teacher was distributing the letters and cards into the -pigeon-holes which served the school for letter boxes. Each member of -the senior class had her own little box. - -Tavia knew better than to interrupt Miss Olaine at her present task. -The whole school had learned by now that the new assistant was not to -be trifled with. Miss Olaine was as severe as though she were a prison -warden instead of a school teacher. - -Idly Tavia watched the distribution of the mail. She saw a fat letter -put into her own pigeon-hole and knew it was from her brother Johnny. -Dorothy’s box was right next to it. Already there were several letters -lying in it, for her correspondence was large. - -Then Tavia saw Miss Olaine hesitate with a postal card in her hand. The -teacher had evidently picked it up with the message side uppermost. -Something on the card caught Miss Olaine’s eye. - -She gasped. Then the teacher turned white and staggered to a chair. The -girl almost sprang forward to assist her; but Miss Olaine recovered her -usual stern manner. - -She read the card through, however--there was no doubt of that. Then -she turned it over slowly and read the address. - -Tavia waited. - -Miss Olaine slowly recovered from her emotion--either fear or -amazement, Tavia did not know which. She had evidently forgotten the -girl’s presence. - -She stood up again. The other letters had fallen, and were scattered on -the desk. Miss Olaine held the postal card as though she contemplated -tearing it in pieces. - -But evidently the remembrance that Uncle Sam’s mail laws cannot be -violated with impunity, held the teacher’s hand. Slowly she raised the -card and placed it--in Dorothy Dale’s letter box! - -“Now, whatever under the sun can _that_ mean?” whispered Tavia to -herself. “For Dorothy! And she was going to tear it up----” - -“Well, Miss! what do you want?” snapped Miss Olaine, suddenly. She -seemed quite to have recovered from her emotion, whatever it had been. -She spoke more tartly than usual, and glared at Tavia as though the -girl had no business there. - -“I brought down my exercise as you told me, Miss Olaine,” said Tavia, -who was not at all awed by the teacher’s grimness. - -“Leave it,” was the short command. - -“Can--can I have our mail?” - -“You will get your mail at supper time--with the rest of the girls,” -replied Miss Olaine. - -“But I only thought--as long as I was here----” - -“There are rules to be abided by, Miss Octavia,” said the teacher, -sternly. “If you would try to remember that, you would get along better -at this school,” and she showed that she expected Tavia to leave the -office at once. - -“My goodness!” exclaimed Tavia, under her breath, as she departed, -“isn’t she the old cat? And she almost tore up Dorothy’s card! I wonder -what it meant? Humph! just the same if that card doesn’t show up in -Dorothy’s mail to-night, I shall tell her, and we’ll just get after old -Olaine. I’d like to drive her out of the school, anyway.” - -Tavia, however, forgot about Miss Olaine’s sternness--even forgot about -the mystery of the postal card--when the supper bell rang and Dorothy -had not returned. By that time the snow was sifting down steadily, -gathering in depth each minute, and the wind had begun to sigh in the -pines “like long lost spirits,” as Ned Ebony said. - -“Oh, dear, me! where can she have gone?” cried Tavia. - -Soon it would be pitch dark--or, as dark as it could be with the snow -falling. It looked as though a white curtain had been drawn right down -outside each window that Tavia looked out of. She hurried downstairs, -forgetting all about mail which was now “open”, and asked to see Mrs. -Pangborn. - -The principal was at tea, and when Tavia burst in upon her she, being -used to the girl’s exuberance of temperament, went right on eating thin -strips of buttered toast and sipping tea. - -“And if it _is_ snowing hard, my dear, don’t you think that our -sensible Dorothy will realize it--quite as soon as _we_ do?” queried -Mrs. Pangborn. - -“But, suppose there was no house near when it began to snow?” - -“Dorothy was going out the Old Mill road; wasn’t she? So you said.” - -“Yes, ma’am.” - -“And there isn’t a house on that road that is out of sight of at least -two other houses,” laughed the principal of Glenwood. “Oh, my dear! -Dorothy has undoubtedly been caught in the storm--and has been wise -enough to take shelter until morning. Don’t worry, my dear.” - -Mrs. Pangborn was so cool about it that Tavia was bound to have her -anxiety quenched. Only--she _did_ feel as though something was not -altogether right with her absent friend. But Tavia went away to supper, -feeling somehow relieved. - -The girls of Glenwood Hall usually had a good time at this hour. As -long as they did not become too hilarious, the teachers had been in the -habit of overlooking a certain amount of boisterousness and display of -high spirits. - -That is, so it had been up to this term. But since Miss Olaine had been -in the school a general drawing of the lines over all the girls had -gone on until more than Tavia and her immediate friends complained of -the strictness of the school discipline. - -This evening Miss Olaine sat like a thundercloud at the head of the -seniors’ table. Every time a girl laughed aloud the stern teacher -turned her baleful glance that way. - -“Something’s up!” whispered Edna to Tavia. “Never has Miss Olaine -looked as grim as to-night. What have _you_ been doing to her, Tavia?” - -“Not a thing!” declared the girl addressed. But the remark set Tavia to -thinking of the incident of the postal card. She hurried through her -supper, was excused early, and went directly to the office for her own -mail--and for Dorothy’s. - -“If that card isn’t there----” - -This was Tavia’s unfinished thought. She obtained Johnny’s letter and -Dorothy’s packet of missives, and ran upstairs to the room. There she -spread all of her chum’s letters out under the reading lamp. - -There was more than one card; but Tavia knew the one Miss Olaine had -read, very well. The other cards were souvenir cards; this was a -regular correspondence card, addressed to “Miss Dorothy Dale, Glenwood -School.” There was no mistaking it. - -“Well, it’s here,” Tavia murmured, with a sigh of relief. “She didn’t -make way with it. I wonder----” - -She turned the card over. It was the most natural thing in the world to -read the brief, typewritten message there: - - “Tom Moran disappeared after the Rector St. School fire, two - years ago. His Union Card has lapsed. We know nothing about his - whereabouts--if he is alive. - - “I. K. TIERNEY, _Sec’y_.” - -“Why--isn’t that funny?” gasped Tavia. “Whoever heard the like? Yes! -it’s really got Dorothy’s name on it. Sounds just as though she had -asked this man, Tierney, about this other person, Tom Moran! - -“I never heard of either of them. What interest can Dorothy have in -them? But--hold on!” exclaimed Tavia, suddenly startled by a new -thought. “_What interest has Miss Olaine in the men_--or in Dorothy’s -inquiry, whichever it may be?” - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -TUNNELING OUT - - -What awoke Dorothy she could not tell. For the first few moments she -lay still, realizing that there was a deadly chill in the air outside -of the heavy mass of bedclothing that weighed her body down. The frosty -air did not seem at all like the air of the room she occupied with -Tavia at Glenwood Hall. - -Then--with something of a shock--she remembered that she was not with -Tavia, or at Glenwood Hall! - -She felt the pressure of the warm little body of Celia, curled up like -a kitten in a ball, beside her in the bed of the best room at Mrs. -Hogan’s house. There was light enough in the room for her to see the -grim, bare nature of the place--its ugly furniture and the plain rag -carpet on the floor. - -She looked at the uncurtained window and to her amazement saw that, -from bottom to top, it was masked with snow. It looked as though the -drift was higher than the very top of the window! - -Was it still snowing, or had the storm ceased? Not a sound came from -without; nor could she detect a sound within the house. - -There was no clock in the room and Dorothy’s own watch was in the -kitchen where she had left her clothing. She stirred about to gain an -easier position, and the little body of Celia Moran uncurled. - -“Oh! oh! Tom--Dorothy----” - -The murmur of the child’s voice served to wake Dorothy properly. Celia -was dreaming--of Dorothy herself, and of her lost brother. The older -girl kissed her, laid her touseled head upon the pillow, and then crept -out of the warm feathers into the cold, cold room. - -There was a matchbox on the mantel behind the small sheet-iron stove. -With chattering teeth the Glenwood girl reached the matches, stooped by -the door of the stove, scratched the lucifer, and ignited the shavings -and corncobs which made sufficient kindling in the firebox to set off -the hardwood sticks piled in above the tinder. - -The fire began to roar almost instantly. She darted back across the icy -floor and crept again into bed. Whether it was morning, or not, Dorothy -determined to have a fire and somehow kill the deadly chill of that -guest room. - -Celia still slept. The yellow light of the fire began to send dancing -reflections upon the ceiling through the perforated draft of the -stove. Dorothy lay there and listened to the fire’s roar; but there was -no other sound in the house for some time. - -The atmosphere of the room perceptibly changed. There was a little blue -haze in the air and the smell of burning varnish, for the careful Mrs. -Hogan had painted the stove to keep it from rusting and perhaps this -was the first time it had been used during the winter. - -By and by Dorothy heard the creak of the stair under the heavy tread of -the farm woman. It must, the schoolgirl judged, be time to rise; yet -the snow drift kept out the morning light. - -She heard Mrs. Hogan at the kitchen stove, raking down the ashes and -rattling the dampers. By and by she came through the hall and opened -the door. - -“Ha!” she said. “Ye have a boomin’ fire--an’ all goin’ up the chimney, -av coorse. Fuel is nothin’ to the rich. Git up out o’ that, Cely Moran! -D’ye wanter lie abed all day? ’Tis long past sivin o’clock, and we’re -snowed in to the second story--an’ still ’tis snowin’. Git up, I say!” - -Meanwhile she had partly closed the back draft and the fire roared less -angrily. Celia stirred sleepily. - -“Good morning!” Dorothy said to Mrs. Hogan. “I am going to get up, -too. Will you put my clothes in here? It is getting nice and warm now.” - -“I’ll sind thim in by Cely. Git out o’ that bed, now--plague o’ me -life! Scatter out inter the kitchen,” and she drove the little one -before her as one would shoo a chicken. - -“It really isn’t snowing _now_; is it?” cried Dorothy, before Mrs. -Hogan could shut the door. - -“Indade it is--snowin’ hard. I kin see it from me winder upstairs. But -the house is drifted around, till there’s a bank before me kitchen door -higher than the lintel. And me’ kitchen pump’s froze. Lucky there’s -water in the tea kettle and I’ll soon have it thawed. Ye’ll find -water--or ice--in that pitcher yonder, Miss.” - -The woman retreated. Celia, as soon as she had got into her own -clothes, brought in Dorothy’s garments and hung them carefully on -chairs about the stove to warm before the bigger girl put them on. - -“You’re a dear little maid!” cried Dorothy. “Thank you.” - -“I wish I could go to that school and work for you,” said Celia, -wistfully. “Don’t you suppose I could?” - -“I am afraid not, Celia,” returned Dorothy, yet wishing, too, that it -were possible. “You try your best to please Mrs. Hogan. And meantime -I’ll find your brother as quick as I can.” - -Had Dorothy known what was written on that postal card from the -secretary of the ironworkers’ union, which message had so puzzled her -friend Tavia, she could not have spoken with the assurance she did. - -Dorothy dressed hurriedly and managed to get enough of the ice in the -pitcher melted, meanwhile, on the stove hearth, to enable her to make -her toilet. The sting of the icy water upon her eyes and temples served -to wake her up and started her pulse at a quicker beat. She ran out -into the smoky kitchen, to see Celia setting the table while Mrs. Hogan -fried the usual pork and johnny cakes. - -“Oh, that _does_ smell so good!” cried the girl from Glenwood School. - -Mrs. Hogan smiled--and her smile was rare indeed!--when she heard this. -She considered that she could safely tack on an additional quarter -for breakfast in the final bill she meant to present for Dorothy’s -entertainment. - -“Oh, see here!” exclaimed Celia, and ran to open the door. A white wall -of packed snow faced them. - -“Oh, dear me! we are really snowed in,” said Dorothy. “However will we -manage to dig a way out?” - -“Come away from that, now, ye little plague,” spoke Mrs. Hogan to -Celia. “Arrah, now! see what ye’ve done. Looker that mess of snow on -the floor.” - -A hodful, at least, had become detached and fallen inward. Dorothy ran -for the brush and dustpan which hung against the bricks behind the -stove. - -“I’ll clean it up, Mrs. Hogan,” she said. “You go about your work, -Celia.” - -“We’ll have to dig a tunnel through to the shed door after breakfast,” -declared Mrs. Hogan. “We’ve got to get through the shed to the barn, -an’ then into the hen house. Surely, we can’t l’ave the critters ter -starve. And there’s no knowing when this storm will stop. Ye’ll not git -to school this day, I’m thinkin’, me young lady.” - -“I am only glad that I am not out there in the lane under all this -snow,” replied Dorothy, gravely. - -After breakfast she went upstairs with Celia to peer out at the storm. -It was, indeed, a blizzard. Scarcely a landmark was visible through -the falling snow. The fences were, of course, long since drifted over; -and the snow had been blown into the farmyard in a great mound, piled -against the side of the house to the sill of the second floor windows, -and completely covering the roofs of the lower buildings. - -Mrs. Hogan put a huge boiler on the stove when they came down. She had -not thawed her pump as yet; but she opened the barricaded door and -into this boiler shoveled snow, from time to time, until she had melted -sufficient to well fill the receptacle, and had dug quite a cavern in -the snowbank. - -Then, dressed in her half-mannish costume, the Amazon set to work with -a steel shovel to really excavate a tunnel through the drift to the -woodshed door. Dorothy and Celia helped by “trimming” the sides and -roof of the tunnel, and trampling down the excavated snow under foot. - -The passage to the woodshed door was short. Beyond the shed the snow -filled all the space to the stables, and was heaped fifteen feet high. -They cut out the snow in blocks and heaped it to one side within the -shed. In two hours Mrs. Hogan, working as though tireless, opened the -way to the stables and they could feed the stock. Fortunately there was -a trap between the barn and the hennery through which they could throw -corn and oats to the flock. - -Tunneling through the snowbank Celia thought to be lots of fun; and -Dorothy found it amusing. Mrs. Hogan’s grim face and grimmer remarks, -however, proved that she considered the situation quite serious. - -“You young’uns kape yer feet dry. Have no chills, nor colds, nor other -didoes, now; for ’tis no knowin’ how long ’twould take a dochter to -git here through these drifts--an’ however would we git word to such, -anyhow, I dunno?” - -Dorothy and Celia wrapped shawls around their shoulders again and went -to the upper windows to look out. Although the flakes were bigger now, -and the snow was not gathering so fast, they could not see far along -the lane; and not a moving object appeared upon the surface of the -drifts. - -“Oh, I’m glad you are here, Dorothy Dale,” whispered Celia. “It would -jes’ be _dreadful_ to be smothered in with snow like this, with only -Mrs. Ann Hogan--yes, it would!” - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -SEVERAL SURPRISING THINGS - - -“Now you’ve got to just tell me all about what it means!” declared -Tavia, the moment the door had closed on the other girls and she and -Dorothy were alone in their old room at Glenwood Hall. “Don’t you see -that I’m just eaten up with curiosity?” - -“Why, you don’t seem to have lost any flesh at all,” laughed Dorothy, -pinching one of her friend’s cheeks while she kissed the other. - -“Stop tantalizing! What does that card mean? Who is Tom Moran? How -_dare_ you have a gentleman friend, Dorothy Dale, with whom I am not -acquainted?” - -“What nonsense,” said Dorothy. “Tom Moran is--why, just Tom Moran.” - -“Lucid as mud! And what, or who, is he to Olaine?” - -“You puzzle me a whole lot more than you are puzzled yourself,” -complained Dorothy. “I don’t understand--not the least little -bit--what you tell me about Miss Olaine.” - -“She was just as scared as she could be when she read this message to -you, Doro,” and Tavia thrust the typewritten postal card under her -friend’s eyes. “Read it and tell me what it means.” - -“Oh, I can do _that_.” - -“Well, do it!” cried Tavia. “Don’t hesitate so.” - -“First I must tell you about Celia Moran----” - -“Another stranger!” gasped Tavia. - -“Just the dearest, funniest, most pitiful little girl----” - -“I’m glad it’s a girl this time,” sniffed Tavia. - -“Of course--Celia!” - -“Well! go on?” urged Tavia. - -So her friend began at the beginning--with her first meeting with the -child from the foundling asylum in the Belding Station. And she related -the particulars, too, of her recent adventure in the snow and her two -nights and the Sunday spent at the Hogan farmhouse. - -“That Hogan woman is a regular ogress. I wish I could take Celia away -from there this very day,” sighed Dorothy. “Did you see her when she -drove me in here?” - -“The giantess? Of course! She looked so funny in that gray and purple -sweater and the green hood----” - -“No matter for laughing. Do you know what she made Mrs. Pangborn pay -her for ‘me keep’, as she called it?” - -“No.” - -“Twenty dollars--think of it? She’s a terrible miser--and that poor -little thing isn’t half fed.” - -“The poor kid!” agreed Tavia, whose warm heart was touched by the story -Dorothy told her. - -“She wanted to come with us so badly,” sighed Dorothy. “But Mrs. Hogan -made her stay and keep up the fire, and watch to see if the hens laid -any eggs. They bring ’em right in from the nests for fear they will -freeze,” explained Dorothy. - -“I really believe, Tavia, if that little thing hadn’t been out -gathering eggs Saturday evening, I would have laid down in the snow and -died!” - -“Oh, Doro! How dreadful!” - -“I was ‘all in’, as Ned and Nat would say. Just at the last gasp when -Celia heard me crying for help.” - -“I’d like to hug her for that,” cried Tavia, her eyes shining. - -“And so, I must find her brother if I can,” continued Dorothy, not very -lucidly, it must be confessed. But Tavia had gained a general idea of -the matter now and she said: - -“That’s Tom Moran?” - -“Yes. That’s her brother. ‘He builds bridges, and things.’ That is what -Celia says. She remembers a lot for such a little thing. So I wrote -to the local union in the city and asked if they knew him. And this,” -said Dorothy, pursing her lips and shaking her head, “is their answer. -It’s--it’s not very hopeful----” - -“But for goodness sake tell me what Miss Olaine has to do with it?” -demanded Tavia. - -“Now, dear, you know very well I can’t tell you _that_,” admitted -Dorothy, thoughtfully. - -“She was just as startled----” - -“Do you suppose it was Tom Moran’s name that startled her, or the -signature of the secretary of the union? Or--or----?” - -“Or, what else? What else is there in the note to scare her?” demanded -Tavia. - -“The school fire. Do you remember? It was an awful fire. Some of the -children failed to get out in the fire drill. They were shut into a -room on an upper floor, it seems to me--with a teacher----?” - -“I can’t remember about it,” quoth Tavia, disappointed. “I remember the -papers were full of it at the time. But what had this Tom Moran to do -with it--with the fire, I mean?” - -“I--I can’t think. I don’t remember his name, or any other detail of -the fire,” agreed Dorothy. - -“Let’s ask Miss Olaine.” - -“I wouldn’t dare! You wouldn’t dare yourself, Tavia?” - -“No--o. I guess I wouldn’t. She--she’s so different from the other -teachers. I feel just as though she’d slap me!” - -“Wait a minute!” exclaimed Dorothy, thinking hard. “Something Mrs. -Pangborn said to me--I remember.” - -“What about? What’s Mrs. Pangborn got to do with the mystery?” - -“She hinted that there had been something in Miss Olaine’s life that -excused her harshness--something that if we girls knew it would make us -forgive her irritability.” - -“What is it?” asked the curious Tavia. - -“I don’t know. I haven’t the least idea. Mrs. Pangborn intimated that -she had no right to tell us.” - -“Why, I think that’s puzzling,” admitted Tavia. “But I can’t work up -much sympathy for Olaine on _that_ showing. I want details.” - -“And _I_ want details of Tom Moran’s mix-up with the Rector Street -School fire. Oh, Tavia!” - -“What is it?” demanded her friends, quite startled by the way Dorothy -had clutched at her. - -“I know how we can find out.” - -“About Miss Olaine?” - -“About Tom Moran and the fire. There are the files of the city papers. -Father used to always keep files of _The Bugle_ when he ran it in -Dalton. Let’s go to town the very next chance we get and go to the -office of the _Courier_. We can read all about the fire of two years -ago.” - -“Of course it would take you, Dorothy Dale, to think of that,” said -Tavia, admiringly. - -“Will you do it?” - -“Of course. We’ll go Saturday.” - -“But you will have to be careful and get no ‘conditions’ this week,” -warned Dorothy. - -“Oh! I’ll be as good as gold--you see,” promised Tavia. - -And, really, it did seem as though even Miss Olaine could find nothing -for which to find fault in Tavia’s conduct that week. The irrepressible -tried very hard indeed to attend to nothing but her studies--and her -meals! - -She was almost perfect, even, in her French, and Tavia was not partial -to French. “Goodness knows, I’ll never get to Paris, and what use is -there in learning French in these United States, just so’s to be able -to read the menus at the fashionable hotels?” complained Tavia. - -“But, it is considered quite _the_ thing,” suggested Ned Ebony. - -“Oh, sure! everybody who’s made a little money in oil, or coal, or -pork, or wheat, has to have a French teacher. Say, Doro! do you -remember Mrs. Painter, in Dalton? The lady whose husband had an -_awful_ lot of money left him?” - -“Oh, I remember!” laughed Dorothy. “Poor woman! She wanted to be _so_ -refined and educated all of a sudden.” - -“That’s the lady,” said Tavia. - -“What about her?” demanded Cologne. - -“She tried to learn French. At any rate, she learned a few phrases, and -she used to work them into conversation in such a funny way,” Tavia -explained, giggling over the thought of the poor lady. - -“She went into the butcher shop one day and asked Sam Smike, the -butcher, if he had any ‘bon-vivant’.” - -“‘Bon-vivant’?” gasped Cologne. “What--what----” - -“That’s what Sam wanted to know,” giggled Tavia. “He says to her: -‘Boned _what_, ma’am?’ - -“And Mrs. Painter said, perfectly serious: ‘Why, bon-vivant, you know. -That’s the French for good liver.’” - -“Why, Tavia! how ridiculous!” exclaimed Ned Ebony. “It couldn’t be----” - -“It’s true, just the same. At any rate, Sam Smike told it to me -himself.” - -However, even French did not floor Tavia that week. On Saturday Mrs. -Pangborn made no objection to the two friends going to the city by -train--presumably to do a little shopping. - -And they did shop. They had three full hours in town, and they could -afford the time. Then they went to the _Courier_ office, and Dorothy -sent in her father’s card and her own to one of the editors, and he -kindly came out and allowed them to visit “the morgue,” as he called -the biographical room, where a young man in spectacles and with a -streak of dust on the side of his nose, lifted down heavy, bound -volumes of the _Courier_ and showed them how to find the articles for -which they were in search. - -The Rector Street School fire had been a local disaster of some moment. -The first hastily written account, on the day of the fire, did not -contain that which interested Dorothy and Tavia. But in the second -day’s edition they found what they had never expected to learn--about -both Celia Moran’s brother and Miss Olaine. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -WHY DID HE DISAPPEAR? - - -“Misses Dale and Travers, late for supper,” said the sharp voice of -Miss Olaine. “Your excuses, please?” - -This was the chums’ welcome as they entered the big entrance hall of -Glenwood School after dark. - -“Oh, Miss Olaine! the train was late, and we stopped on the way to----” - -“That will do, Miss Travers,” said the teacher. “Other girls who came -on that train were here ten minutes ago.” - -“But they ran their legs off,” sniffed Tavia, when the teacher broke in -with: - -“And you took your time, of course, Octavia. Ten lines -extra--Latin--Tuesday morning. I will point out which lines Monday. -That is all.” - -Tavia flared up and was evidently about to make the matter worse. But -Dorothy pinched her, and pinched hard. - -“You remember what we agreed coming over from the train,” she warned. -“Swallow it like a man!” - -“Oh--oh!” gasped Tavia. “She does make me so mad, Doro.” - -“You wouldn’t have got the condition if you had kept still. That tongue -of yours, Tavia, is like what Mrs. Hogan accused Celia of having: It’s -hung in the middle and wags at both ends.” - -“Well! it’s not fair!” grumbled her school chum. - -“Of course not; but we agreed, fair or not, to bear with Miss -Olaine--and to urge the other girls to bear with her. When she sits and -wrings her hands and bites her lips so, _we_ know what she is thinking -of; don’t we?” - -“Oh, yes!” admitted Tavia, with a shudder. “I know she is to be pitied. -But it is dreadful hard to be picked upon the way she picks upon me----” - -“Now, you know that’s nonsense,” replied Dorothy, sensibly. “If you -would not answer back and give her an excuse for punishing you, you’d -not be in trouble. She gave _me_ no condition.” - -“Oh, that’s your luck, that’s all,” sighed Tavia. - -“You know that’s not so,” replied Dorothy, mildly. “Do be careful, -Tavia. And let us tell the other girls and get them to try to be kind -to Miss Olaine. I am very sorry for her.” - -“Well--I s’pose--of course I am, too!” exclaimed the really -warm-hearted Tavia. “But she _does_ get my ‘mad up’ so easy!” - -“You get mad without much provocation, it seems to me. Now, after -church service to-morrow, let’s get the girls all in our room--our -crowd, I mean--and tell them about the Rector Street School fire.” - -“All right. The poor thing----” - -“Miss Olaine?” - -“Of course,” said Tavia. “The poor thing must be always remembering -about the little kiddies, and how she came near to forgetting them----” - -“And if it hadn’t been for the man on the steel beam outside----” - -“Of course, that was your Tom Moran,” said Tavia. - -“Celia’s Tom Moran,” corrected Dorothy. - -But, never mind the further discussion of the matter between the two -friends. The following is what Dorothy had copied out of the file of -the _Courier_, and she read it to the other girls the next day, as -proposed: - - “The burning of that fire-trap, the Rector Street School, long - since condemned by everybody but the Board of Education, could - scarcely have been regrettable had it not been for the several - terrifying incidents connected with it. Some of the hairbreadth - escapes were related in yesterday’s _Courier_; but the details of - that incident which was most perilous--the salvation of the seven - little girls and the teacher left to perish on the upper floor - of the schoolhouse--were not known when we went to press last - evening. - - “Although our fire department boys did their duty at every point, - the spectacular rescue of these seven children and the teacher - was accomplished by men at work upon the steel structure of the - new Adrian Building, which was going up directly beside the - burned schoolhouse. - - “At the height of the fire the teacher and her charges were - discovered at the window of a small room on the top floor, by - a workman on a steel girder that was being raised by the steam - winch to its place in the structure. The girder was twenty feet - long and the man--by the name of Moran--was riding the beam when - the fire broke out. - - “He called to some helpers, and signalled the engineer below how - he wished the girder handled. With a cable they swung the end of - the heavy piece of steel so that its end rested on the sill of - the window of the room where the teacher and her charges were - trapped. The other end of the girder rested in the framework of - the new building. - - “Then the teacher, Rebecca Olaine, of 127 Morrell Street, this - city, opened the lower sash and got out on the broad window sill. - She was able to lift and pass to Moran each of the children, and - he ran back along the narrow bridge and handed them to other men - waiting beyond. - - “Miss Olaine seemed to lose her strength when the last child was - saved, and she could not walk the girder with the workman’s help. - Fire had burst into the room then, and the smoke was so thick - that just what occurred at the window could not well be seen from - the ground. - - “But in trying to drag the teacher forth, Moran seemed to lose - his footing, and fell back into the room. Two other workmen - seized the teacher and carried her, insensible, to safety. - - “By that time members of Hose Company Number 7 reached the steel - bridge and took upon themselves the rescue of the workman. He - was pulled out of the fire somewhat scorched; but inquiry at the - hospital this afternoon failed to discover his whereabouts. He - had had his burns dressed, and had left the hospital early in the - day. - - “Our reporter could learn nothing at 127 Morrell Street regarding - the condition of Miss Olaine, save that the doctor had forbidden - her seeing anybody at present. None of the children saved with - her was even scorched.” - -“Well!” gasped Nita Brent. “Whatever do you think about _that_? Is it -sure-to-goodness _our_ Olaine?” - -“Our own dear, timid, sweet Miss Olaine,” drawled Tavia who--although -she agreed with Dorothy that the terrible adventure through which Miss -Olaine had passed, should be considered as a reason for the teacher’s -unfortunate manner and disposition--could not so freely forgive her as -did Dorothy. - -“The poor thing!” murmured Cologne. - -“I don’t know!” blurted out Ned Ebony, shaking her head. “What’s it all -for, Doro?” - -“I think we ought to pity her and--and take her scoldings with a wee -hit of patience,” said Dorothy, quietly. “She must have been greatly -shaken up by the fire----” - -“So she wants to shake _us_ down,” observed Tavia, “to pay up for it.” - -“It made her nervous and irritable,” said Dorothy, with a look at her -chum. “She is more to be pitied----” - -“Than censured,” groaned the irrepressible Tavia. “All right, Doro! -I’ll agree to play no more tricks on her.” - -“You’d better decide on that,” grumbled Ned. “Otherwise you will not -graduate from old Glenwood with flying colors.” - -“Let’s all ‘be easy’ on Miss Olaine,” said Dorothy, calmly. “I -understand that Miss Olaine was not fit to teach for a year after the -fire, and that the reason she came to Glenwood is because it made her -nervous to teach in a big, crowded city school again. I got that much -out of Miss Pangborn this morning after prayers. - -“Of course, if Doro says we must treat her nicely, we must,” said Nita. -“But she--she’s just an old bear!” - -“Who dares call my Doro a bear?” demanded Tavia. “There will at once be -trouble _bruin_.” - -“Now, you know very well I meant Olaine,” complained Nita. - -“She’s just horrid,” added Molly Richards. “She’s given _me_ -conditions--just for _nothing_--too!” - -“Don’t weep about it, Dicky,” advised Tavia. “I claim to have the -greatest record for receiving extras without cause since the beginning -of Miss Olaine’s reign.” - -“Anyhow,” said Cologne, “if Dorothy says we ought to excuse her, and -try and treat her nicely----” - -“Don’t put it that way,” urged Dorothy. “Don’t you all think she is to -be excused?” - -“Well, wasn’t anybody else ever in a fire?” began Ned Ebony, hotly. - -“Think of Shagbark, Myshirt, and Abedwego!” exclaimed Tavia. “Weren’t -they the three worthies who went into the fiery furnace?” - -“But I hope they didn’t teach school afterward, if it made ’em as -cross as Miss Olaine,” sighed Cologne, as she arranged her hair before -the glass. - -It was agreed, however, that the graduating class of Glenwood was to be -particularly nice to Miss Olaine for the rest of the school year. - -“We’ll just heap coals of fire on her head,” said Nita. - -“Hope it’ll singe her hair, then,” sniffed Tavia. - -When the others were gone, she and Dorothy discussed the other--and -more interesting--detail of the Rector Street School fire. The other -girls had been told nothing about Celia and Tom Moran. - -“Where do you suppose he went after that fire?” queried Dorothy, -sitting on the edge of the bed with her chin in the cup of her hand. - -“Tom Moran?” - -“Of course.” - -“The paper said, several days later, you know, that he had left town. -People had looked him up. The parents of the children who were saved -with the teacher wanted to make up a purse for him.” - -“And this card,” said Dorothy, reflectively, taking the postal card -from her pocket, “says that the union knows nothing about him. He -disappeared after that fire--and he was a regular hero!” - -“Sure he was,” agreed Tavia. “Maybe he was such a modest one that he -ran away.” - -But Dorothy was not listening to her jokes. She murmured, thoughtfully: - -“I wonder if Miss Olaine knows what became of Tom Moran?” - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -DOROTHY’S WITS AT WORK - - -“The Night of the White Giant,” whispered Ned Ebony, shrilly, as she -put her head in at the door of the chums’ room at Glenwood. - -“Boo! how you scared me!” exclaimed Tavia, preparing to throw her Latin -grammar--it was a book she would willingly have spared altogether--at -Ned’s devoted head. - -“Hist!” - -Nita Brent looked over the stooping Edna. Above _her_ head at the -narrow opening appeared the rather puffy-looking face of Cologne. It -was evident that the “heavy lady” had been asleep, but now she yawned -and said: - -“Hist twice! Come on, girls!” - -“Don’t shoot, Tavia. Like Davy Crockett’s coon, we’ll come down,” said -Ned, dodging the threatening book. - -“You’ll have Olaine--or some other teacher--upon our trail,” gasped -Nita. - -“What’s up?” demanded Dorothy, shutting her book and leaving a hairpin -for a bookmark. - -“We are. So must you be. And _they_ will have to!” declared Ned. “We’re -for getting the whole bunch. It’s the Night of the White Giant, I tell -you.” - -“Oh, goody, goody-gander!” exclaimed Tavia, clapping her hands--but -softly. “I had forgotten. We haven’t had one this winter.” - -“It’s kid tricks, girls,” complained Dorothy. - -“List to her! Wow!” gasped Tavia, and landed a soft sofa pillow right -in the back of Dorothy’s neck. “Don’t you dare suggest we’re growing -old.” - -“‘Silver threads among the gold’,” quoted Cologne. “I know. She’s -getting rheumatic, too. Second childhood is close upon her----” - -“Stop ranting and come on!” commanded Ned Ebony. “High -overshoes--mittens--everything! the snow is just soft enough. If we’re -careful we’ll make Olaine’s eyes bulge out in the morning. _She_ never -saw an old-fashioned Glenwood ‘white giant.’” - -“‘The little dimpled darling has never seen Christmas yet,’” quoted -Tavia in a high, mincing tone. “Where’s my rub-a-dub-dubs, Dorothy -Dale? Did you eat ’em, I want to know?” - -But when the chums were dressed, and the other girls of the upper class -filed into the corridor, dressed for the frolic, there was little -noise. This was an escapade that was not indulged in every winter by -the Glenwood girls, for not often was the snow in the state it was at -present. - -There was plenty of it; it was soft and “packy,” and there was -starlight enough to aid them in their work, although there was no moon. - -The pedestal of the statue they proposed erecting was made of several -huge balls rolled on the campus and then set upright in a circle, in -the middle of the lawn, facing the teachers’ windows. - -Other smaller balls were rolled swiftly and, as they had to be brought -from a greater distance as the figure progressed, they were rolled upon -sleds and dragged to the scene of operations. With pieces of board and -a couple of shovels Tavia, Dorothy and Cologne shaped the round body of -the giant as it grew in bulk and height. - -“We’ll make the biggest and the tallest giant Glenwood ever saw,” -declared Tavia. “Come on with that ball, Neddie. Hoist it up here!” - -When one of the snowballs, raised in the arms of four girls to be -adjusted upon the figure, chanced to burst like a bomb, there was much -smothered hilarity--from those who were not engulfed in the mishap. - -“Oh! oh! oh!” cried Nita. “I feel as if I’d been caught in an avalanche -in the Alps! Goodness me! how wet that snow is!” - -“All the dry snow’s ‘give out’, Nita. We’ve got to use the wet kind,” -giggled Tavia. - -“If you had two quarts of snow down your back----” began Ned Ebony, in -disgust. - -“Come on! come on!” urged Cologne. “You’re wasting time. Who knows but -Olaine will be out here any minute?” - -“Oh, I hope not!” cried one of the other girls. “I am trying my very -best to treat her nicely; and I am sorry for her. But she is the most -cantankerous thing! So there!” - -“Come on! come on!” Tavia kept urging. “Hand ’em up here---- My -goodness gracious, Agnes! I almost went down _that_ time. If I only had -a nice young man up here to help me hold on this slippery eminence----” - -“Where would you ever get a young man--nice or otherwise--at Glenwood?” -demanded Ned Ebony. - -“Don’t know. Advertise for one, I guess,” grunted the struggling Tavia. -“‘Lost, Strayed, or Stolen--One young man--preferably blue eyed.’ Going -to put that in the ‘Agony Column’ of the New York Screecher----” - -“Oh, Tavia!” gasped Dorothy, standing up straight on the giant’s “waist -line” and staring up at her friend. - -“What’s up now? Mercy!” ejaculated Tavia, making a grab for her. -“_You’ll_ be down next, if you don’t look out. What’s the matter?” - -“You--you gave me an idea,” said Dorothy, slowly. - -“Hope I never give you another,” declared Tavia. “Look out, now! here -comes that part of the giant called--colloquially--his ‘dining room’. -It must be adjusted properly. Let’s have a real shapely giant--do.” - -“He’ll look as though he had swallowed Jack the Giant Killer, all -right,” panted Ned Ebony. - -“Not much! Give me that shovel,” cried Tavia. “I am going to slice off -some of his aldermanic proportions. Huh! we don’t want him to look as -though he’d suffered from earthquake and everything had fallen into his -‘dining room,’ do we?” - -“You’re the most dreadful girl!” sighed Cologne. - -Meanwhile Dorothy was thinking deeply. There was too much going on for -her to confide her “idea” to her chum. And, later, she decided to wait -and see how it “panned out.” - -The white giant grew apace. The girls dragged around two of the -gardener’s ladders, by the aid of which they finished the effigy -handsomely. He had a noble round head, set firmly on a “bull neck”; a -white cardboard nose stuck in the middle of his face, with pieces of -coal for teeth---- - -“Shows the deplorable result of not using Somebody’s Toothpaste--a -‘horrible example’ for the youngsters. Miss Mingle is always at ’em to -use their toothbrushes,” declared Tavia. - -The grinning mask of the white giant had black eyes, as well, and a -bushel basket served as a hat. The front of his waistcoat was decorated -with round turnips for buttons. Altogether he was a striking-looking -figure in the starlight, but was even more so the next day when the sun -shone on him. - -His head was as high as the second story windows. The rest of the -school “oh-ed” and “ah-ed” about it, wondering how the big girls had -built such an enormous statue. - -Miss Olaine expected Mrs. Pangborn to consider the frolic a punishable -offence. But the principal recognized the “white giant” as an -established outlet for the exuberance of the senior class of her -pupils. Many a snowman of huge proportions stood on the campus for -weeks, until the rains and winds of March and April carried away the -last vestige of the heaped-up snow. - -Miss Olaine was used to the strict discipline of the city public -school; she could not understand Mrs. Pangborn’s leniency in her -treatment of perfectly harmless escapades--and those girls who took -part in them. - -Meanwhile Dorothy’s wits--spurred by Tavia’s irresponsible remark about -the “Agony Column” of the newspaper--had been working overtime. The -personal column of a newspaper did not appeal to her; but she believed -that advertising for little Celia’s brother might bring about some -result. - -She chose the Salvation Army paper, in which she knew there was a -column devoted to requests for news of “absent friends,” and she wrote -to the editor in New York all about Celia, and why she so desired to -get some trace of the missing ironworker. - -The editor kindly put her paragraph in the paper and sent her a copy -with the request marked with a blue pencil. And that marked paragraph -occasioned more excitement in Glenwood school than Dorothy expected. - -Matters had run along pretty smoothly after the Night of the White -Giant, and the giant himself was already a devastated, melting pillar -on the school lawn. The Easter vacation was in sight. - -“You’ll surely go home with me, Doro--to dear old Dalton?” sang Tavia, -hugging her friend. “You promised----” - -“And I wouldn’t miss it for anything!” declared Dorothy, laughing -gaily. “I’m just crazy to see all the folks there. And Nat and Ned say -they’ll come--going to stop with the Perritons. You know--Abe Perriton -is in college with my cousins.” - -“Good enough!” exclaimed Tavia. “Perhaps there’ll be boys enough for -once to ‘go ’round.’” - -“Oh!” exclaimed Dorothy, with twinkling eyes, “somebody else will be -there, too.” - -“Who else? Joe and Roger?” - -“I suppose they’ll tease to come. And they can stay with their little -friends just as I stay with you, and the big boys camp down on Abe’s -folks. But there is one other---- Oh, Tavia! can’t you guess?” - -Tavia’s cheeks had begun to burn and she shook her head firmly. “I -don’t care to know. Nobody in particular, of course,” she said, with an -impudent assumption of not caring. - -“You _do_ care,” frowned Dorothy. “And you must guess. Ned just wrote -me that he’s sure to be in Dalton if _you_ are there.” - -“The cheek of those boys!” observed Tavia, tossing her head. - -“‘B.N.,’” said Dorothy, teasingly. - -“‘B.N.’?” queried Tavia, with an elaborate air of not understanding. -“Are you sure it isn’t ‘N.B.’? _That_ means ‘note well.’” - -“It would never have happened if you hadn’t noted him well in the -first place,” chuckled Dorothy. “You have chained him to your chariot -wheels--you know you have--Pretty!” murmured Dorothy, and, hugging her -friend tightly, whispered in her burning ear: - -“Bob Niles. You _know_ he’ll be there.” - -“Oh!” yawned Tavia, beginning to recover from her confusion. “_That_ -boy? Why, I had almost forgotten him.” - -“Fibber!” said Dorothy, pinching her. - -“I really thought you meant the young brakeman on the train when we -came over from New York,” sighed Tavia, affectedly. “Wasn’t he lovely?” - -“You can’t fool me, Tavia,” declared her friend, laughing. “I don’t -believe you even remember the color of that railroad man’s eyes.” - -“Blue--to match his uniform,” said Tavia, smartly. - -“Who ever heard of a Navy blue eye?” demanded Dorothy. - -“Sure! wait till you get struck in the eye once; I _was_. And -for a week before it turned yellow and green, it was the most -be-you-ti-ful--Navy--blue----” - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -TAVIA TAKES A HAND - - -It was a few days later that the _War Cry_ arrived in the mail, for -Dorothy. The young girl knew that the paper was widely circulated, -and likewise that it was circulated among people who might know Tom -Moran. Men of his trade, traveling about the country, often drop into -Salvation Army meetings for very loneliness, if nothing more. - -“Oh, I just hope he’ll see it, and learn about how Celia wants him.” -said Dorothy, clasping her hands. “The poor little thing----” - -“What do you s’pose Miss Olaine would say if she saw this notice?” -interposed Tavia, after reading the blue-penciled paragraph. - -“Miss Olaine?” - -“Yes.” - -“I can’t imagine why you say that,” observed Dorothy, puzzled. - -“Didn’t I tell you how startled she was when she read Tom Moran’s name -on that postal card?” - -“But nonsense, Tavia!” cried Dorothy. “That was because she was -reminded of the awful fire in which she came so near to losing her -life.” - -“How do you know?” snapped Tavia. - -“But--my dear----” - -“I tell you I believe she knows Tom Moran. Of course she would remember -him, when he played the hero in that fire.” - -“It’s ridiculous for you to talk that way, Tavia,” declared Dorothy. -“You always do go flying off on a tangent----” - -“Then I get a free ride. Don’t worry. I am welcome to my own ‘idee’; am -I not, Doro?” - -“I suppose you are.” - -“Then I stick to it,” said Tavia, with a toss of her head. “Olaine was -startled because you were making inquiries about Tom Moran. Haven’t I -been watching her--‘hout of me heagle heye,’ as the Cockney villain -says in the play----” - -“You and your plays!” sniffed Dorothy. “Your romantic nature is working -overtime again. I _do_ wish you would make it behave.” - -But Tavia secretly held to her own belief. She, and not Dorothy, had -observed Miss Olaine’s emotion when she came across the postal card -in the mail. Pooh! merely the remainder of that Rector Street School -fire would not make the teacher look like _that_. You couldn’t fool -Tavia--at least, so she said in her heart. - -She secured the copy of the Salvation Army paper when Dorothy was not -near, and carried it into the recitation room in her blouse. Miss -Olaine was more than usually severe that morning, and perhaps Tavia was -thus encouraged to “spring” her little surprise, as she called it. - -She made an excuse to go to the teacher’s desk. She was not the only -one who went there while Miss Olaine was at the blackboard, so the -plotter did not think she would be suspected more than any of several -other members of the class. - -She laid the paper, with the page uppermost on which was printed the -paragraph asking for news of Tom Moran, among the teacher’s books. And -surely Miss Olaine could not miss noticing that paragraph with the -broad, blue pencil marks about it! - -Tavia could not attend to the problem under discussion, her mind being -centered upon what was going to happen when Miss Olaine got back to her -desk. Therefore when the teacher shot a query at Tavia suddenly she -made a woeful exhibition of herself. - -“Inattention, Miss Travers. I will speak to you of that later,” snapped -Miss Olaine, striding back to her desk. - -“Now she’ll see it!” whispered Tavia to herself, scarcely minding the -threatened black mark. - -But Miss Olaine went on with her instructions to the class, and did -not see the paper. She sat there, looking out over the class, and -Tavia began to wonder if ever she _would_ drop her gaze and see that -blue-penciled paragraph in the _War Cry_ staring up at her. - -Tavia really became so nervous that she could not follow the trend of -the lesson at all. Once more Miss Olaine asked her a question, and the -girl floundered most desperately and could not answer. - -She could only think just then of Dorothy. Suppose Miss Olaine should -accuse Dorothy of putting the paper there? Dorothy’s name was on the -label pasted upon the margin of the paper. - -“You evidently have no interest in this recitation, Miss,” said the -teacher, sneeringly, when Tavia had made another lamentable exhibition -of incompetence. - -“Oh, yes, I have, ma’am,” gasped Tavia. - -“You may come to me after school this afternoon and explain, then, why -you show so little interest now,” declared the teacher. - -Then her gaze dropped to the desk. She saw the paper, and Tavia saw -that her attention was almost immediately fixed by the marked paragraph. - -There was a sudden silence in the room. Of course, the other girls knew -nothing about the interest Tavia had in what the teacher was reading; -but to her it seemed as though everything came to a standstill while -Miss Olaine read and digested the paragraph. - -She suddenly looked up and Tavia saw a deep flush come into her sallow -cheek. She fumbled the paper, too, with shaking fingers. Her lips -parted as though she were about to speak angrily. - -Then the color left her face as though all the blood had been drained -from her arteries in an instant! She sank back in her seat, with the -back of her head against the chair. - -“Oh! oh!” whispered Ned Ebony, who suddenly saw the teacher’s condition. - -Molly Richards was nearest, and she jumped up and ran to the platform. -Tavia felt as though her own limbs were powerless. The girl realized -that the teacher had fainted. - -“Oh, dear me! whatever shall we do?” gasped Dick, chafing the teacher’s -hands. - -“Run get some water--or some smelling salts!” cried Edna Black; but she -never offered to go herself. - -It was Dorothy who knew enough to act sensibly. When she looked up from -her book and saw Miss Olaine’s condition, she ran for the water at once -and brought it to the desk. With her handkerchief she began to bathe -the teacher’s eyes and temples. - -The paper was pushed off the desk into the wastebasket. Nobody noticed -this save Tavia. And she could barely stand up by her seat, she felt so -weak. - -The result of her experiment had shocked her quite as much as Miss -Olaine. She was hovering on the edge of the group of excited and -sympathetic girls when the teacher opened her eyes. - -For a moment Miss Olaine stared about, confused and frightened. Then -she put out both hands and pushed those nearest her away. Her hand -clutched Dorothy’s wrist and she suddenly glared into the latter’s -sympathetic eyes. - -“What are you doing here?” she asked, thickly. “_Where is it?_” - -She looked all around the desk. The color began to flood back into her -face again and there could be no doubt but that the teacher was angry. -She stared again at Dorothy. - -“Go to your seat, Miss Dale. I--I shall look into--into this matter -later. Go to your seat, instantly!” - -“But--but, Miss Olaine----” - -Dorothy was certainly amazed. The teacher, however, waved her away. -“Immediately!” she gasped. “Or I shall report you to Mrs. Pangborn.” - -The other girls moved away, staring and surprised. Of course Dorothy -took her seat; but her face showed that she was both hurt and puzzled. - -Tavia slipped into her own place, the _War Cry_ hidden in her blouse. -She had taken it out of the teacher’s wastebasket when no one observed -her. She was really frightened, now, by what she had brought about. - -Dorothy was suspected, it was evident. Miss Olaine believed that the -marked paper had been thrust under her eyes by the girl whose name and -address were upon the margin. - -Now, what would Miss Olaine do? What _could_ she do, in fact? It really -was a personal matter. She could not punish Dorothy very well for -merely laying that paper on the desk. - -So Tavia told herself. She had suddenly lost grip on her courage. Tavia -was not usually a cowardly girl--not even morally. - -But she shrank from explaining to the teacher. Something was gravely -wrong with Miss Olaine, and it was connected with Tom Moran. It wasn’t -the mention of the Rector Street School fire that had “sent her off,” -as Tavia expressed it, on that former occasion, when Miss Olaine read -Dorothy’s postal card. - -There was some reason for Miss Olaine to be disturbed by the mention of -Tom Moran’s name. Tavia had suspected it; but now she was sorry that -she had gone to work to prove her suspicion! - -“I’ve got myself into an awful mess again!” groaned Tavia, in spirit. -“And I daren’t tell Dorothy--not yet. She’d be _mad_. - -“Of course, if old Olaine tries to punish Doro for what I’ve done---- -Oh, she won’t dare! I wonder what is the matter with her? And what she -knows about that Tom Moran? - -“I--I wish I hadn’t ever put my finger in the pie,” sighed Tavia. “For -certain sure it is most awfully burned--and serves me right.” - -She watched the teacher closely for the rest of the recitation hour. -Miss Olaine seemed to be peering all about her desk for the paper, and -she did not find it. Then she glared again at Dorothy. - -“Oh, dear me!” groaned Tavia. “I’ve done a cruel and foolish thing, I -am afraid. And I--I don’t dare tell Doro about it!” - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -THE RUNAWAY - - -“Goodness to gracious--and all hands around!” - -“This is the muckiest, murkiest, most miserable, muddy day that ever -was invented.” - -“Wish we could set it up somewhere and shoot at it with our popguns!” - -“Hate to stay in the house, and it isn’t any fun to go out.” - -“Can’t--can’t we play something?” urged Dorothy Dale, feebly, hearing -her friends all blaming the weather for their own shortcomings. It was -Saturday afternoon--the first real soft, spring day of the season. It -_was_ depressing. - -“Ya-as,” yawned Cologne. “Let’s pla-a-ay--wow! That most dislocated my -jaws, I declare!” - -“Play ‘cumjicum’ or ‘all around the mulberry bush,’” sniffed Edna -Black. “You _do_ think we are still kids; don’t you, Doro?” - -“I can’t help it,” returned Dorothy, smiling. “You act that way.” - -“Oh! listen to her! Villainess!” gasped Tavia, threatening her chum -from the broad window sill of Number Nineteen with both clenched fists. - -“Well, it isn’t really _fitten_ to go out, as Chloe, the colored maid, -says,” remarked Nita. “And what we shall really do with all this long -afternoon and evening----” - -“Let’s have a sing,” suggested Molly, passing around the last of a box -of chocolate fudge she had made. - -“Miss Olaine will stop us. She’s got a headache and has retired to her -den,” said Dorothy, shaking her head. - -“I tell you!” gasped Tavia, quickly. “Let’s play a play--a real play. -All dress up, and paint our faces--Ned shall be the hero, and we’ll -dress her up like a boy. And I’ll be the adventuress--I really just -_love_ to play I’m wicked--for I never get a chance to be.” - -“You’re wicked enough naturally. It would be more of a stunt for you -to play the innocuous heroine--or the ‘on-gi-nu,’” drawled Rose-Mary -Markin. - -“Oh! what an awful slap on the wrist!” cried Molly Richards. - -“_Et tu, Brute?_” growled Tavia, in despairing accents. - -“Now, what’s the use?” again demanded Dorothy. “You know very well that -Miss Olaine will stop any fun that we start in the house.” - -“You admit her unfairness; do you, Miss?” cried Ned Ebony. - -“She is perfectly outrageous of late!” gasped Dorothy. - -“To you, too,” groaned Cologne. “And no reason for it. You never did -her any harm.” - -“Not that I know of,” admitted Dorothy, sadly. - -Tavia kept very still. She had no part in this discussion, but she felt -“mean all over.” She believed she could explain the sudden dislike Miss -Olaine seemed to have taken to Dorothy Dale. - -“If we hadn’t all promised to treat her just as nice as we could----” -began Molly. - -“And we’ll keep it up to the end of the term,” said Dorothy, decidedly. - -“Oh, yes!” exclaimed Ned. “We’ll be ladylike, be it ever so painful.” - -“It’s easy,” interposed Tavia, with a grin, “to be as polite as _she_ -is. Whatever is working on Olaine’s mind----” - -“It must be something awful. Nothing less than murder,” declared Ned. - -“And now it’s begun to rain again,” observed Cologne, gloomily. - -“Just a mist,” quoth Dorothy. - -“Well! we could have _missed_ it without crying about it. _Now_ we -can’t go out at all,” said Tavia, inclined to be snappy. - -She turned to the window again. While the others were gabbling -inconsequently, she stared off across the campus, already turning -green, to the break in the tree-line where a considerable stretch of -road could be seen plainly. - -“Oh! the poor little kid!” she suddenly said. - -“What’s the matter now?” drawled Rose-Mary. “Is Sammy Bensell’s goat on -the rampage?” - -“Goat? Who said anything about goat? What d’ye mean, goat?” demanded -Tavia, without turning from the window. - -“You said kid----” - -“And it is! A little girl! Just see here, Doro!” cried Tavia, more -energetically. “She’s lost one of those big rubbers in the mud. There! -there goes the other----” - -Her chum ran to the window to look out and the others crowded up to -peer over their shoulders. They all saw the little figure struggling -along the muddy road toward the school gate. She had a hood on, and a -bedrabbled-looking coat, and tried to carry a broken umbrella. - -“The poor little thing!” murmured Cologne. - -Dorothy suddenly uttered a cry, backed out of the group with energy, -and dashed for the door. - -“What is it?” gasped Ned Ebony, who had been almost overturned. - -“_Who_ is it?” added Tavia, herself bursting through the group on the -trail of her roommate. - -“It’s Celia--little Celia!” cried Dorothy, as she ran out of the room -without hat, coat, or overshoes. - -Tavia followed her. It was a race between them to the gateway of -Glenwood. They got there just as the wind-blown and saturated figure of -Mrs. Ann Hogan’s little slave-of-all-work arrived at the open gateway. - -“Oh, please!” shrilled the child’s sweet voice, “is this the big school -where my Miss Dorothy---- Oh, my dear Dorothy Dale!” she concluded, and -ran sobbing into Dorothy’s arms. - -There was great confusion for the next few moments--not only at the -gate, where Dorothy and Tavia took turns in hugging and quieting the -sobbing child--but when they returned with Celia to the porch, where -the other girls had gathered to satisfy their curiosity about the -stranger. - -“No,” said Dorothy, decidedly; “you must not all talk at once. It -bothers her. Tavia and I are going to take her to our room---- No! you -can’t all of you come. Go on about your business. By supper time Celia -will be all right and you shall all get acquainted with her.” - -She picked the little girl up in her arms--oh, how thin the little body -was!--and carried her all the way to Number Nineteen. Tavia “tagged” -closely, just as interested as she could be in the child. - -“How did you get here, Celia?” demanded Dorothy, gravely, as she sat -before the register, “skinning” off the little one’s damp stockings, -after Tavia had removed the worn shoes. - -“I rode-ed part of the way,” confessed Celia, nodding. “But Bentley -didn’t know about it. I hide-ed in the back of the wagon.” - -“My dear!” gasped Dorothy. “You ran away?” - -“Bully!” murmured Tavia. “I love her for it.” - -“Hush!” commanded Dorothy; but Celia did not hear what Tavia said. - -“Yes, Dorothy Dale, I jes’ _had_ to run away to see you. I jes’ knowed -I could find you.” - -“But Mrs. Hogan----” - -“She--she wouldn’t let me come,” choked Celia. “I asked her. She said I -wouldn’t die if I didn’t see you; but I knowed I _should_ die,” added -the child, with confidence. - -“Oh, my dear!” almost sobbed Dorothy. - -“So I comed,” said Celia, blandly smiling upon Dorothy and Tavia. “I -hope you and your lady friend are glad to see me, Miss Dorothy?” - -“Oh, aren’t we--just!” murmured Tavia, under her breath. - -“But I am afraid Mrs. Hogan will punish you,” remarked Dorothy. - -“Well,” replied the philosophical infant, “she can’t punish me before -I see you--for I see you now, dear Dorothy Dale!” She laughed shrilly, -threw her arms about the bigger girl’s neck and clasped her hands -tightly. - -Tavia was delighted with the cunning little thing; she did not think of -how seriously Celia might have to pay for her escapade. - -“And to find her way here--all of eight miles!” she cried. - -“The Morans is very, very smart,” declared Celia, gravely, repeating -what she had evidently heard older people say many times. “And when Jim -Bentley turned off the straight road I slipped out of the cart behind, -and I axed a man was _this_ the road to the school, and he said yes, -and so I comed.” - -“She must have walked a mile and a half at that!” cried Tavia. “She -_is_ a smart little thing. And how did you know _this_ was the school, -dear?” - -“I didn’t know--for sure,” admitted Celia. “But it didn’t look like -houses, and it didn’t look jes’ like Findling asylums; so I ’spected it -must be a school.” - -“And she never saw a school before!” cried Tavia. - -“Oh, yes, Miss Dorothy’s friend,” said Celia, demurely. “I went to -school some when I was at the Findling. It was right on our block, and -the matron let us big girls go,” and the way she said that “big” Tavia -declared was “just killing!” - -“So you big girls went to school?” queried Tavia. “How far did you get -in school, dear?” - -“Oh--dear--me--let’s see,” said the little one, thoughtfully. “Why, I -got as far as ‘gozinto’--yes, that’s it; we studied ‘gozinto.’” - -“‘Gozinto’?” repeated Tavia, looking at Dorothy in wonder. “What under -the sun does the child mean? Whoever heard of ‘gozinto’?” - -“Why, don’t they study ‘gozinto’ here in this school?” queried the -round eyed Celia. “You know, it’s four gozinto eight twicet, an’ three -gozinto twelve four times, an’ like that. It’s re’l int’restin’,” said -the child, nodding. - -“Oh! the funny little thing!” cried Tavia, bursting out laughing. “Did -you ever hear the like of that, Dorothy?” - -Dorothy was amused--as she had been before--by Celia’s funny sayings; -but she was interested more now in stripping off the child’s poor -garments--for she feared they were damp--and wrapping her in one of her -own nightgowns. - -“Now, you’re going right into Dorothy’s bed; aren’t you, dear? And -you’ll go to sleep, and then we’ll talk more afterward?” - -Dorothy’s motherly way pleased the wearied child. “I’ll do jes’ what -you say, Dorothy Dale,” declared Celia. “But--but has you found Tom -yet?” - -“Not yet, dear; but I believe I am on the trail of him,” declared -Dorothy, softly. - -Tavia turned her back quickly when the missing man was mentioned. She -had never plucked up courage to tell her chum how she had put before -Miss Olaine the printed paragraph about Tom Moran. Miss Olaine had -never really punished Dorothy for Tavia’s act; but since that time -Tavia knew that the teacher had treated Dorothy more harshly than ever. - -Tavia knew she had done wrong, but she did not know just how to -straighten the matter out. To tell Dorothy would not help at all; and -to broach the subject to Miss Olaine might do more harm than good. - -The wearied child went to sleep almost as soon as her curly head -touched Dorothy’s pillow. The girls sat beside her and whispered their -comments upon the incident, while the garments of little Celia dried at -the register. - -“That Mrs. Hogan will beat her; won’t she?” demanded Tavia. “I’d like -to beat _her_!” - -“I don’t know that the woman actually abuses her--not in that way. -Celia doesn’t seem to be afraid of being beaten.” - -“She’s a plucky little thing.” - -“Yes, she doesn’t cringe when Mrs. Hogan threatens to strike her. I -noticed that when I stayed over night at the farmhouse,” said Dorothy. - -“But she isn’t half fed,” declared Tavia. “See how thin her little arms -and legs are! It’s a shame.” - -“I am afraid Celia doesn’t have proper nourishment. She gets no milk -nor eggs. Mrs. Hogan sells every pound of butter she makes, too. Now -those things are just what a frail little thing like Celia needs. Mrs. -Hogan is a female miser.” - -“A miserine--eh?” chuckled Tavia, who could not help joking even though -so angry with the farm woman who half starved her little slavey. - -“I must go down and tell Mrs. Pangborn about her,” sighed Dorothy. -“Otherwise there will be trouble.” - -“But we’ll keep her till after supper---- Oh, do!” exclaimed Tavia, -under her breath. - -“I don’t see how we can get her home to-night. Maybe Mrs. Pangborn can -telephone to some neighbor who lives near that Hogan woman----” - -Dorothy ran down to the school principal. Miss Olaine had retired to -bed, it was understood, for the rest of the day, and Dorothy was glad. -She wanted all the girls to see Celia at supper time, and “make much” -of her. - -Mrs. Pangborn called up Central and learned the number of the nearest -correspondent of the telephone company to the Hogan farm. There they -took a message for the farm woman. Already the news had gone around the -neighborhood that Mrs. Hogan’s little girl was lost. - -“But she is not likely to get ‘way over here for her before morning,” -said the school principal. “I do not like that woman, Dorothy; and what -you tell me about this child makes me fear that she is not a proper -person to have charge of the little one.” - -“I am sure she isn’t!” cried Dorothy. “If we could only find her -brother,” and she went on to relate to Mrs. Pangborn how she and Tavia -had found out all about Tom Moran and the Rector Street School fire, -and how the man had disappeared after rescuing the children and Miss -Olaine from the burning building. - -“Why, that is very interesting,” said Mrs. Pangborn, after Dorothy had -finished. “I must tell Miss Olaine about the child.” - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -ANOTHER REASON FOR FINDING TOM MORAN - - -Dorothy had freshened up little Celia’s garments as well as she could -while the child slept. She was handier with the needle than Tavia, -although the latter had greatly improved in domestic science since -those early days when she first began to take pattern of Dorothy, back -in Dalton. - -“Those shoes aren’t fit for the child to wear,” grumbled Tavia, who was -helping to dress Celia when the warning bell for supper rang. - -“Come on! Hurry up!” commanded Dorothy. “We’re late now. Haven’t you -got her shoes on yet?” - -“Yes, ma’am! all but one,” responded Tavia. - -“‘All but one!’ How many feet has the poor child got?” cried Dorothy. -“You talk as though she were a centipede.” - -“She wriggles as though she had a hundred legs,” panted Tavia. “Do be -still, dearie--for a minute.” - -“Celia’s full of wriggles,” declared Dorothy. “Now come. Aren’t you -hungry, dear?” - -“Oh-o-o! You jes’ bet I am!” exclaimed Celia, running to the door ahead -of her friends. - -“Nice bread and milk for little girls--and plenty of it,” promised -Dorothy. - -“Don’t they haf to save the milk here at this school?” asked Celia, -wonderingly. “Sometimes I get a little skimmed milk; but Mrs. Hogan -says it pays best to give it to the hens and pigs.” - -“I suppose it does!” growled Tavia. “She can’t sell little girls when -they are fattened.” - -“Hush!” warned Dorothy, opening the door for the impatient Celia. “Now, -wait and walk beside me--like a little lady.” - -The other girls were eager to see and speak with the little runaway. -Miss Olaine being absent from her station at the head of the senior -table, the classmates of Dorothy and Tavia hardly ate, watching Celia -and listening to her prattle. - -“She just is the cutest little thing that ever happened!” murmured -Cologne. - -Dorothy had placed Celia between herself and Tavia, and the little -girl sat upon a dictionary borrowed from the principal’s office. Celia -had been neglected in many ways, one of which was in the niceties of -etiquette. So Dorothy whispered to her to use her fork more frequently -than she did a spoon, or her fingers--for there was something beside -bread and milk for the little visitor. - -“Ain’t that funny?” cried Celia, in her shrill voice. “I used to eat -with my spoon, an’ now you tell me to eat with my fork, Dorothy; how -old must I be ’fore I eat with my knife--say?” - -The upper class had the fun of Celia at table; but afterward she was -borne off to the gym., where the whole school could entertain her. - -Tavia took charge. The girls got into their gym. suits and an -up-to-the-minute circus was arranged for the visitor’s entertainment. -There was “ground and lofty tumbling,” clown tricks, jumping through -hoops, Ned Ebony in tights and tinsel to represent the usual lady -“bare-back rider,” all the known ferocious beasts in chair-rung cages, -with the labels displayed very prominently, including the “Gyrogustus” -and the “Chrisomela-bypunktater”; and at last there was a splendid -side show, with Cologne in a position of prominence as the $10,000 Fat -Beauty, Molly Richards as an Albino Twin, Nita as the Tatooed Lady, -well disguised with red, blue and green chalk, and Tavia herself as -the Bearded Lady, with so much black fringe on her face that she could -scarcely talk. - -Celia entered into the spirit of all the fun, appeared scared into fits -by the roaring of the lions and the fierce appearance of the other -astonishing animals; laughed at the antics of the clowns, was thrilled -by the acrobatics, and wasn’t quite sure that Nita’s “tattooing” would -really come off if you rubbed it! - -The nine o’clock bell sent all hands scattering to their rooms. Perhaps -Mrs. Pangborn had been more lenient than usual this evening; at least, -none of the other teachers had interfered with the hilarity of the -school in general--and the strict Miss Olaine was shut away in her room. - -But as Dorothy and Tavia, bearing the sleepy Celia in a “chair” between -them, passed the door of Miss Olaine’s room, they saw Mrs. Pangborn -come forth. - -“Let me see your little friend, Dorothy,” she said, hastily, and the -chums stopped to introduce Celia Moran to the principal. - -“So this is Tom Moran’s little sister; is it?” Mrs. Pangborn said, -patting the little girl’s cheek. - -“Do--do _you_ know my brother, Tom Moran, ma’am?” asked Celia, -sleepily. “He’s big--an’ he’s got _such_ red hair--and he builds -bridges an’ things----” - -She almost nodded off to sleep. Mrs. Pangborn kissed her. “I have heard -a good deal about Tom Moran--this evening,” she said, and she looked -significantly back at the door which she had just closed. - -Tavia flashed a meaning look at Dorothy, and the moment the principal -was out of the way, she whispered: “What did I tell you?” - -“About what?” demanded Dorothy. - -“About Miss Olaine and Tom Moran? She knows something about him and -she has been telling Mrs. Pangborn.” - -“Sh!” warned Dorothy. “If it was anything that might lead to his being -found, she would have told me--surely.” - -“Who?” - -“Mother Pangborn.” - -“Well, there’s something queer about it,” declared Tavia, nodding, “and -Miss Olaine _knows_.” - -They put Celia to bed in Number Nineteen and some time after Dorothy -had put out the light and crept in beside the little girl--Tavia was -already asleep in her own bed--Dorothy heard a sound outside of the -door. - -Somebody was creeping along the corridor. Was it some teacher on the -watch for some infraction of the rules? Dorothy had heard nothing of a -“spread-eagle” affair on this corridor to-night. - -The step stopped. Was it at this door? For some moments Dorothy lay, -covered to her ears, and listened. - -Then to her surprise she knew that the door was open. It was the draft -from the window that assured her of this fact. The door was opened -wider and a tall figure, dimly visible because of the light in the -hall, pushed into the room. - -The lock clicked faintly as the knob was released by the marauder’s -hand. Dorothy was half-frightened at first; then she _knew_ there could -be nobody about the building who would hurt her. - -The visitor moved toward her bed. Peeping carefully, but continuing to -breathe in the same regular fashion that Tavia did, Dorothy watched the -shadowy form draw near. - -It was a woman, for whoever it was had on a long woollen dressing gown. -But the face and head were in complete shadow, and at first Dorothy had -no idea as to the person’s identity. - -The woman came close to the foot of the bed and stood there for several -minutes. Dorothy began to feel highly nervous--she really thought she -should scream. Not that she was afraid as yet; but the strange actions -of the Unknown---- - -Ah! now she was moving nearer. She was coming alongside--between -Tavia’s and Dorothy’s beds. Celia was on that side, and Dorothy was -about to put her arm protectingly over the child. - -Then she feared the visitor would suspect that _she_ was not asleep. -And if she was frightened off, Dorothy might not learn who it was. - -So the girl kept very still, continuing to breathe deeply and -regularly. The woman stooped closer and closer. It was over Celia that -she bent, and Dorothy saw her hand steal out to draw the sheet farther -back from the child’s face. - -Then Dorothy knew suddenly who it was. She recognized the long, -clawlike hand; and the peculiar ring upon the third finger--the -engagement finger--fully identified Miss Olaine! - -Dorothy had often noted that ring on the strange teacher’s hand. Miss -Olaine had come creeping into the room, supposing all the girls to be -asleep, just to see Celia Moran! - -There could be no doubt but that Miss Olaine had some deep interest in -the Morans--in both Tom and Celia. Tavia had suggested such a thing; -but really Dorothy had not believed it before Mrs. Pangborn spoke as -she did on this evening as the girls were coming up to bed with Celia. - -The queer teacher bent down and peered into the face of the unconscious -child. A glance at Dorothy seemed to have satisfied her that the latter -was asleep. All her interest was centered in the little child who had -run away from her hard task-mistress. - -She stooped lower. Dorothy saw that Miss Olaine’s face was -tear-streaked and her eyes were wet. She bent near, breathing softly, -and touched her lips to the pale forehead of little Celia. - -Then Miss Olaine rose up quickly and stole away from the bed again. -Dorothy almost forgot to breathe steadily. She was amazed and -excited by the actions of the teacher who, heretofore, had seemed so -hard-hearted. - -There certainly was what Tavia would have called a “soft streak” in -Miss Olaine. Dorothy was sure that she heard her sobbing as the -teacher opened the door quietly again and stole out. - -What did it mean? Had Miss Olaine a personal interest in the little -girl from the “Findling asylum”--the little lost sister of Tom Moran? - -Evidently Mrs. Pangborn had told her assistant of the presence in the -school that night of little Celia. Miss Olaine must have a deeper -interest in Tom Moran than the incident of the school building fire two -years before would suggest. - -It was a big mystery--a puzzle that Dorothy could not fathom, though -she lay awake a long time trying to do so. Here was another reason for -finding the missing man. Dorothy could not help pitying Miss Olaine, -although the teacher had treated her so harshly for a fortnight or more. - -“Just as Mrs. Pangborn says, we have reason to excuse her harshness,” -thought Dorothy, as usual willing and ready to excuse other people. -“And I’d just love to be the one to clear all the trouble up both for -Miss Olaine and little Celia. - -“Finding Tom Moran will bring Celia happiness, I am sure. Now, would -finding him bring happiness to Rebecca Olaine, as well?” - -Early in the morning Mrs. Ann Hogan made her appearance at Glenwood -School. But Dorothy and Tavia had got Celia up betimes, and the three -had had their breakfast before the regular breakfast hour. Tavia always -knew how to “get around the cook” and did about as she pleased with -that good soul. - -“We’ll just fill Celia up as tight as a little tick,” declared Tavia, -“before that ogress carries her off to her castle again. Oh, Dorothy! -do you suppose that horrid thing will _beat_ poor little Celia?” - -“I am sure Mrs. Pangborn will ’tend to that matter,” Dorothy said. - -And Mrs. Pangborn did ask Mrs. Hogan into her office before she had -Celia brought in by the girls. It was evident that the dignified school -principal had spoken much to the point to the red-faced Mrs. Hogan, for -the latter was both subdued and nervous when Celia appeared. - -“Celia has certainly done wrong in coming here to find you, Dorothy,” -said Mrs. Pangborn, quietly. “I hope you said nothing to her which -encouraged her to run away?” - -“Oh, no, indeed, Mrs. Pangborn!” said Dorothy, while Celia clung tight -about her neck and looked fearfully at her taskmistress. - -“Then Mrs. Hogan knows that it was just the child’s longing for you -that brought her here.” - -“Sure, the little plague has been talkin’ about Miss Dale all the time -since she was wid us for the week-end,” grumbled Mrs. Hogan. “Come -here, Cely. I’ll not chastise ye this time--but if there’s another----” - -“I am sure there is no need of threatening her,” interposed Mrs. -Pangborn. “Come, Celia!” - -The little one unclasped her hands lingeringly from about Dorothy’s -neck. - -“Oh, I’ll find some way to see you again, Dorothy Dale,” she whispered. -“For you know they all say----” - -“You be good, and I’ll come to see you,” declared Dorothy. - -“And so will I,” cried Tavia, almost in tears. - -“Yes. You both come. It--it won’t be so bad if I can see you now and -then,” sighed Celia. “And you’ll find Tom Moran?” - -“Have done with that fulishness now!” exclaimed Mrs. Hogan. “She goes -on about that brother av hern foriver. Ye’ll niver see him again, my -gur-r-rl.” - -“Oh, yes, she shall!” cried Dorothy Dale. “Don’t you fear, Celia. I -shall find him for you.” - -Then Mrs. Hogan bore the little one off to her wagon, and they drove -away. It made Dorothy and Tavia feel very sad to see the cute little -thing go off in such a way. - -“I am sure that woman abuses her!” cried Tavia. - -“Oh, we will hope not. But if only Tom Moran would re-appear,” sighed -Dorothy, “all her troubles would vanish in smoke.” - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -BACK TO DALTON - - -“Dalton! Dalton! Hurrah!” - -“Look out--do, Tavia! You’ll be out of the window next.” - -“No, I won’t. That isn’t the very _next_ thing I’m going to do.” - -“What is ‘next,’ then?” - -“Going to hug you!” declared Tavia, and proceeded to put her threat -into execution, smashing Dorothy’s hat down over her eyes, and -otherwise adding to the general “mussed-up condition” resulting from -the long journey from Glenwood to the town which was still Tavia’s -home, and for which Dorothy would always have a soft spot in her heart. - -“Oh, dear me!” gasped Tavia. “It is so delightsome, Doro Doodlebug, to -have you really going home with me to stay at my house for two whole -weeks. It is too good to be true!” and out of the window her head went -again, thrust forth far to see the station the train was approaching. -Dorothy made another frantic grab at her skirt. - -“Do be careful! You’ll knock your silly head off on a telegraph pole.” - -“No loss, according to the opinion of all my friends,” sighed Tavia. -“Do you know the latest definition of ‘a friend’? It’s a person who -stands up for you behind your back and sits down on you _hard_ when you -are in his company.” - -The brakes began to grind and Tavia put on her hat and grabbed her hand -baggage. - -“Dear old Dalton,” whispered Dorothy, looking through the window with a -mist in her eyes. “What good times we had here when we were just--just -children!” - -“Dead oodles of fun!” quoth Tavia. “Come on, Doro. You’ll get carried -past the station and have to walk back from the water-tank.” - -But Dorothy was ready to leave in good season. And when the girls got -off the train who should meet them but three smartly-dressed youngsters -who proceeded to greet them with wild yells and an Indian war dance -performed in public on the station platform. - -“Oh, Johnny!” gasped Tavia, capturing her own young brother. - -“And Joe and Roger!” cried Dorothy. “How did you boys get here ahead of -us? Aren’t you the dears?” - -“School closed two days earlier than usual,” explained Joe Dale, who -was now almost as tall as Dorothy and a very manly-looking fellow. - -“Don’t kiss me so much on the street, sister,” begged Roger, under his -breath. “Folks will see.” - -“And what if?” demanded Dorothy, laughing. - -“They’ll think I’m a _little_ boy yet,” said Roger. “And you know I’m -_not_. - -“No. You are no longer Dorothy’s baby,” sighed the girl. “She’s lost -her two ‘childers’.” - -“Never mind, Sis,” sympathized Joe. “You were awful good to us when we -were small. We sha’n’t forget our ‘Little Mum’ right away; shall we, -Rogue?” - -“Is _that_ what the other boys call him at school?” demanded Dorothy, -with her arm still around the little fellow. - -“Yep,” laughed Joe. “And he _is_ a rogue. You ought to heard him in -class the other day. Professor Brown was giving a nature lesson and he -asked Rogue, ‘How does a bee sting?’ and Roger says, ‘Just awful!’ What -do you think of that?” - -“A graduate of the school of experience,” commented Tavia. “Come on, -now, folks. Joe and Roger are staying at our house, too--for a while.” - -She started off, arm in arm with her own brother, and Dorothy followed -with Joe and Roger, the boys carrying all “the traps,” as Johnny called -the baggage. - -The present home of the Travers family was much different from that -home as introduced to my readers in “Dorothy Dale: A Girl of To-day”; -for although Mrs. Travers would never be a model housekeeper, the -influence of Tavia was felt in the home even when she was away at -school. - -Mr. Travers, too, had succeeded in business and was not only an officer -in the town, and of political importance, but he was interested in a -construction company, and the family was prospering. - -Mrs. Travers realized the help and stimulation Dorothy had given to -Tavia, and she welcomed her daughter’s friend very warmly. Tavia “took -hold” immediately and straightened up the house and seized the reins of -government. Tavia was proud and she did not wish Dorothy to see just -how “slack” her mother still was in many ways. - -Her own dainty room she shared with Dorothy; and while the latter was -going about, calling on old friends, during the first two days, Tavia -worked like a Trojan to make the whole house spick and span. - -“It’s worth a fortune to have you around the house again, Daughter,” -declared Mr. Travers. - -“All right, Squire,” she said, laughingly giving him his official -title. “When I get through at Glenwood I reckon I’ll have to be your -housekeeper altogether--eh?” - -“And will you be content to come home and stay?” he asked her, pinching -the lobe of her ear. - -“Why not?” she demanded, cheerfully. - -“But if Dorothy goes to college----?” - -“I can’t have Dorothy always. I wish I could,” sighed Tavia. “But I -know, as Grandma Potter says, ‘Every tub must stand on its own bottom.’ -I have got to learn to get along without Dorothy _some time_.” - -But that night, when she and her chum had gone to bed, she suddenly put -both arms around Dorothy and hugged her--_hard_. - -“What is it, dear?” asked Dorothy, sleepily. - -“Oh, dear Dorothy Dale!” whispered Tavia. “I hope we marry twins--you -and I. Then we needn’t be separated--much.” - -“Marry twins? Mercy!” - -“I mean, each of us a twin--twins that belong together,” explained -Tavia. “Then _we_ needn’t be so far apart.” - -“What a girl you are, Tavia!” laughed Dorothy, kissing her. “Why, we -won’t have to think about the possibility of our having a chance to be -married----” - -“Mercy!” chuckled Tavia, recovering herself. “_What_ an elongated -sentence you’re fixin’ up.” - -“Where--where was I?” murmured Dorothy. - -“Never mind, Doro. The man who marries either of us will have to agree -to let us live right next door to each other. Isn’t that right?” - -“Oh, more than that,” agreed Dorothy. “He’ll have to agree that we -shall be together most of the time anyway. But don’t worry. I think -seriously of being a she philanthropist, and of course no man will want -to marry me then.” - -“And I’ll be a--a policewoman--or a doctress,” gasped Tavia. “Either -job will drive ’em away.” - -“And--Bob--is--coming--to-morrow,” yawned Dorothy, and the next minute -was asleep. - -Before the boys came, however, Dorothy and Tavia went to see Sarah -Ford. And it was on the way back that they had their adventure with the -ox-cart. Of course, it was Tavia’s fault; but the young man driving -the oxen had such a good-natured smile, and such red hair, and so many -freckles---- - -“No use!” Tavia declared. “I felt just like going up to him on the spot -and calling him ‘brother.’ I know the boys must always have called him -‘Bricktop,’ or ‘Reddy’--and I’m Reddy’s brother, sure,” touching her -own beautiful ruddy hair. “How I _did_ hate to be called ‘Carrots’ when -I went to Miss Ellis’s school, Doro.” - -But this isn’t the story of the ox-cart ride. The cart was full of -hay--up to the high sides of it. There were a couple of bags of feed, -too. - -“Oh, I ought to know him,” Tavia assured Dorothy. “He’s working for -my father. I remember the old cart. They are digging away the top of -Longreach Hill. Say! couldn’t we ride?” - -“Of course, Miss,” said the red-headed and good-natured young man. -“Whaw, Buck! Back, Bright!” He snapped his long whiplash in front of -the noses of the great black steers. They stopped almost instantly, and -in a moment Tavia wriggled herself in upon the hay from behind, and -gave her hand to Dorothy to help her in, too. - -“Oh! isn’t this fun?” gasped Tavia, snuggling down in the -sweet-smelling hay, while the span of big beasts swung forward on the -road again. - -“We’re too big to play at such games, I s’pose,” said Dorothy, but her -friend interrupted with: - -“Wait, for mercy’s sake, till we’re graduated. I’m afraid you’re -going to be a regular _poke_ before long, Doro. Ugh! wasn’t that a -thank-you-ma’am? Just see their broad backs wag from side to side. Why! -they’re as big as elephants!” - -“Suppose they should run away?” murmured Dorothy. - -But neither believed that was really possible. Only, it was deliciously -exciting to think of careening down the hill behind the great steers, -with no red-headed young man to snap his whip and cry: - -“Hawther, Bright! Come up, Buck!” - -On the brow of Longreach Hill the red-headed young man stopped the -oxen. It was a steep pitch just before them--then a long slant to -the shallows of the river--quite half a mile from the hilltop to the -river’s edge. - -Somebody shouted and beckoned the driver of the oxen away before he -could help the girls out of the cart. - -“Wait a moment, ladies,” he begged, with a smile, and hurried to assist -in the moving of a heavy slab of rock. - -It was then three youths came running out of the grove, waving their -hats and sticks. - -“Oh, look who has come!” cried Tavia, seizing Dorothy’s arm. - -“Ned and Nat--and there’s Bob, of course,” laughed Dorothy. “What did I -tell you, lady?” - -A dog ran behind the boys--a funny, long bodied, short-legged dog. He -cavorted about as gracefully as an animated sausage. - -“Look at the funny dog!” gasped Tavia, immediately appearing to lose -her interest in the three collegians. “Is that a dachshund? Oh-o-o!” - -Her scream was reasonable. The dog leaped in front of the steers’ -noses. The huge creatures snorted, swung the cart-tongue around, and -lurched forward down the steep descent! - -The girls could not get out then. The road was too rocky. The oxen were -really running away. Their tails stiffened out over the front board of -the cart and the cart itself bounded in the air so that the passengers -could only cling and scream. - -They were having quite all the excitement even Tavia craved, thank you! - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - -“THAT REDHEAD” - - -“To look at those beasts,” Tavia said, ruefully, and some time after -the event, “you wouldn’t think they could run at all.” - -Certainly a pair of steers tipping the scales at a ton and a half each -did not look like racing machines. But they proved to be that as they -thundered down hill. - -Had one of them fallen on the way we shrink from thinking of the -result--to the two girls in the cart. The long, lingering dog that had -started the trouble was left far behind. The three collegians who had -come over the hill to surprise the girls, could not gain a yard in the -race. As for “that redhead” who had governed the steers before they -ran, he just missed the rear of the cart and he followed it down the -steep grade with an abandon that was worthy of a better end. - -For he couldn’t catch it; and had he been able to, what advantage would -it have given him? - -When a span of steers wish to run away, and decide upon running away, -and really get into action, nothing but a ten-foot stone wall will -stop them. And there was no wall at hand. - -The great wheels bounced and the cart threatened to turn over at every -revolution of the wheels; Tavia screamed intermittently; Dorothy held -on grimly and hoped for the best. - -The steers kept right on in a desperately grim way, their tails still -stiffened. They reached the bottom of the hill and were at the very -verge of the sloping bank into the shallows of the river. - -A suicidal mania seemed to have gained possession of their bovine -minds. They cared nothing for themselves, for the wagon, or for the -passengers in that wagon. Into the river they plunged. The wabbling -cart rolled after them until the water rose more than hub high. - -And then the oxen halted abruptly, both lowered their noses a little, -_and both began to drink_! - -“Such excitement over an old drink of water!” gasped Tavia, and then -fell completely into the hay and could not rise for laughing. - -“Do--do you suppose they ran down here--like _that_--just to get a -drink?” demanded Dorothy. “Why--why I was scared almost to death!” - -“Me, too; we could have been killed just as easy, whether the oxen were -murderously inclined or as playful as kittens. Ugh! that redhead!” - -“It wasn’t his fault,” said Dorothy. - -“He never should have left us alone with them.” - -“It was that dog did it,” declared Dorothy. - -“Don’t matter who did it. The dog _was_ funny enough looking to scare -’em into fits,” giggled Tavia. “Here he comes again. Oh, I hope the -oxen don’t see him.” - -“Yet you blame the young man with the--light hair,” hesitated Dorothy. -“Here he comes now.” - -The excited young man with the flame-colored tresses was ahead of the -three collegians. He leaped right into the water and called to the -girls to come to the back of the cart. - -“’Tis no knowing when them ugly bastes will take it inter their heads -to start ag’in,” he declared, holding his strong arms to Dorothy. -“Lemme carry ye ashore out o’ harm’s way, Miss.” - -Dorothy trusted herself to him at once. But the boys were not to be -outdone in this act of gallantry--at least, one of them was not. Bob -Niles rushed right into the water and grabbed Tavia, whether she wanted -to be “rescued” or not. - -“Bob, my dear boy,” said Tavia, in her most grown-up manner, “don’t -stub your poor little piggy-wiggies and send us both splash into the -water. _That_ would be too ridiculous.” - -“I shall bear you safely ashore, Tavia--no fear,” he grunted. “Whew! -You’ve been putting on flesh, I declare, since New Year’s,” he added. - -“Pounds and pounds,” she assured him. “Now, up the bank, little boy.” - -Dorothy was already deposited in safety and her cousins were taking -their turns in “saluting her on both cheeks;” but when Bob tried to -take toll from Tavia in that way she backed off, threatening him with -an upraised hand. - -“You are no cousin--make no mistake on that point, sir,” she declared. - -“Huh! I ought to have some reward for saving you from a watery grave,” -said Bob, sheepishly. - -“Charge it, please,” lisped Tavia. “There are _some_ debts I never -propose to pay till I get ready.” - -But she, like Dorothy, was unfeignedly glad to see the three young men -again. While they chattered with Ned, and Nat, and Bob, the red-haired -young man got his oxen and the cart out of the river and guided the -animals back toward the hill. - -There came on a dog-trot from the scene of the excavating operations -a fat, puffy man, who snatched the whip out of redhead’s hand and -proceeded to administer a tongue lashing, part of which the girls and -their companions overheard. - -“Oh! he doesn’t deserve that,” said Dorothy, mildly. “It wasn’t his -fault.” - -“He shouldn’t have left us alone in the cart,” pouted Tavia. “That’s -Mr. Simpson, one of father’s foremen. Let him be. A scolding never -killed anybody yet--otherwise, how would I have survived Olaine this -term?” - -Dorothy was not quite satisfied, but she was overborne by her -companions to go back to town and so did not see the end of the -controversy between the foreman and “That Redhead” as Tavia insisted on -calling the ox-team driver. Besides, Tavia acknowledged a cut she had -received on her arm by being banged about in the ox-cart. - -“You’d better hurry home and put some disinfectant on it,” advised Nat, -who always had serious interest in Tavia’s well-being. - -“Huh!” said Tavia, hotly, “I’m not a kitchen sink, I hope. If you mean -antiseptic, say so.” - -“Wow!” cried Ned. “Our Tavia has become a purist.” - -“Oh, dear, that’s worse!” declared Tavia. “Come on, Doro, I don’t like -these boys any more. I am going to become a man-hater, anyway, I think. -They’re always underfoot---- Oh! what a cute dog you’ve got, Ned.” - -“’Tain’t mine,” said Ned. “It’s Nat’s.” - -“But he seems a long way from his head to his tail for a short-legged -beast,” observed Dorothy. - -“That’s some dog, let me tell you,” Nat declared, stoutly. “He’s a real -German dachshund.” - -“I thought he looked like an animated sausage,” declared Tavia, -stooping to pet the animal. The creature stood very still while she -patted his sleek coat, only blinking his big, soft brown eyes. - -“He isn’t very sociable, I don’t think,” grumbled Tavia. - -“Of course he is,” said Nat. “He’s as good-natured as he can be.” - -“How are you going to tell? He doesn’t wag his tail when you pat him on -the head--see there!” - -“Aw, give him time,” laughed Ned. “Don’t you know it takes a dachshund -several minutes to transmit ecstacy along the line to the terminus?” - -They went along to Tavia’s house gaily. The boys remained to supper, -and it was only after that comfortable meal, and while the boys were -in Mr. Travers’ “office,” where he smoked his evening pipe, the girls -being busy clearing the table and washing dishes, that Nat sang out: - -“Hi, Doro! did you hear about your redhead?” - -“What about him?” cried Dorothy and Tavia. - -“Mr. Travers says he got the G. B. after letting those oxen run away.” - -“Oh, never!” cried Tavia, coming to the door. - -“You were sore on him yourself, Tavia,” reminded Bob Niles. - -“But you didn’t discharge him, Father?” questioned the tender-hearted -girl. - -“No. It was Simpson. But I could not very well interfere,” said Mr. -Travers. - -“Why not? It wasn’t fair!” urged Tavia. - -“I am sure Simpson knows best. Though I liked Tom,” said her father. “I -cannot interfere between the foreman and the men. If I did I’d soon -have neither overseers nor workmen, but a strike on my hands,” and he -laughed. - -“I think it is too bad, sir,” said Dorothy, gravely. “Really, it was not -his fault at all that we were run away with.” - -“He left you alone with the beasts,” Ned declared. - -“He was called by those other men to help,” Tavia retorted. - -“Well, he’s gone, I fear,” said Mr. Travers, shaking his head. - -“Not out of town, father?” - -“I reckon so. Tom comes and goes. He is a good man, although he’s -young; but he’s unsettled. Lots of these workmen are. They go from -place to place. He is fit to take charge himself, I believe, of a steel -construction gang; but, as the boys say, ‘something got his goat.’ He -doesn’t work at his trade any more. It is a dangerous trade, and he -probably had an accident----” - -“Steel construction--bridge building, do you mean, sir?” asked Dorothy, -suddenly. - -“Why, yes--I suppose so.” - -“And he is red-haired!” gasped Dorothy. “Oh, what’s his name, Mr. -Travers?” - -“Tom Moran; he’s worked for me before--” - -“Oh, Doro!” cried Tavia. - -“Oh, Tavia!” echoed Dorothy. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - -ON THE TRAIL - - -“It seems almost impossible that a man with _such_ a red head could so -completely drop out of sight,” sighed Tavia the next day. - -The boys had just combed Dalton “with a fine-toothed comb” -for the elusive Tom Moran, and had bagged nothing. He had -gone--vamoosed--disappeared--winked out; all these synonyms were -Tavia’s. The girls had discussed the disappearance until there seemed -nothing more to be said. - -“We don’t really know that he _was_ Celia’s big brother,” said Dorothy, -reflectively. “But it seems very probable. Even your father knew that -he was a bridge builder.” - -“But we didn’t,” snapped Tavia. “Who expected to find a structural -ironworker driving a yoke of steers?” - -“And _such_ steers,” sighed Dorothy, for she had scarcely gotten over -the scare of that perilous ride. - -Everybody about town knew by this time that the red-haired young man -who had worked in Simpson’s gang was wanted by Dorothy Dale. Dorothy -had more friends in Dalton than anywhere else. Indeed, she could well -claim every respectable member of the community, save the nursing -babies, as her own particular friend. - -With so many people on the lookout for a trace of Tom Moran, therefore, -it was no wonder that Dorothy and her friends were running down -possible clues all day long. - -The second morning news came from a farmer out on the Fountainville -Road. Ned and Nat had come down to Dalton in their _Firebird_, and they -got the motorcar out of the garage at once and brought it around to -give the girls a ride to Farmer Prater’s house. - -“He’s been losing chickens,” said Ned, as they all scrambled in. “And -he telephoned in something about a red-headed man he had hired, named -Moran, having a fight in the night with a band of chicken thieves in an -automobile. What do you know about _that_?” - -“Sounds crazy enough,” said Tavia, tartly. - -“All right. Your father’s sent a constable out to see about it, just -the same. And there aren’t two red-headed men named Moran wandering -about the county, I am sure.” - -“But I don’t believe Celia’s brother would rob a henroost,” said -Dorothy. - -“Oh, fudge!” exclaimed Nat. “Listen to the girl? Who said he _did_?” - -“Well! wasn’t there something about chicken stealing in what Ned said? -Oh! I almost lost my hat that time. _What_ a jolty road.” - -“Look out or you’ll lose your name and number both on this stretch of -highway. Can’t the old _Firebird_ spin some?” - -“Such flowers of rhetoric,” sighed Tavia. “‘Spin some’ is beautiful.” - -“Lots you know about flowers of any kind, Miss Travers,” teased Nat. - -“I know all about flowers--especially of speech,” returned Tavia, -tossing her head. “I can even tell you the favorite flowers of the -various States and countries----” - -“England?” shouted Nat. - -“Primroses,” returned Tavia, promptly, unwilling to be caught. - -“France?” questioned Bob. - -“Lilies.” - -“Scotland?” asked Dorothy, laughing. - -“Ought to be a beard of oats, but it’s the thistle,” said Tavia, -promptly. - -“Ireland?” demanded Ned, without turning from his steering wheel. - -“Shamrock, of course.” - -“Got you!” ejaculated Nat. “What’s Spain’s favorite?” - -“Oh-oh-oh---- Bulrushes, I s’pect,” said Tavia, having the words jolted -out of her. “Bull-fights, anyway. Dear, dear me! we might as well -travel over plowed ground.” - -They struck a better automobile road on the Fountainville turnpike, and -before long they came in sight of Farmer Prater’s house. Oddly enough -there was a gray and yellow automobile under one of the farmer’s sheds. - -The farmer was in high fettle, it proved, and willing enough to talk -about the raid the night before on his pens of Rhode Island reds. - -“Jefers pelters!” he chortled. “I got me pullets back and the -ortermerbile ter boot. D’ye see it? That’s what the raskils come in.” - -“Not the red-headed man?” demanded Tavia. - -“Who said anything about a red headed---- Oh! you mean Tom Moran?” -asked Mr. Prater. “Why, _he_ warn’t with ’em. If it hadn’t been for him -them raskils would ha’ got erway with my pullets--ya-as, sir-ree-sir!” - -“Where is Tom?” demanded Dorothy. - -But Mr. Prater had to tell the story in his own way. And it was an -exciting one--to him! He had been awakened in the early hours of the -morning and had seen an automobile standing in the road. Then he heard -a squawking in the chicken pens. He had valuable feathered stock, and -he got up in a hurry to learn what was afoot. - -But the thieves would have gotten well away with their bags of -feathered loot had it not been for Tom Moran, who was sleeping for the -night in Farmer Prater’s barn. - -“That red-headed feller is as smart as a steel trap,” said the farmer, -admiringly. “I’ve been at him every time I’m in Dalton to come an’ work -for me. But he wouldn’t.” - -“What did he do?” asked Dorothy, interested for more reasons than one -in any account of Tom Moran. - -“Why, he jumped out of the hay, got ahead of the thieves, and leaped -into their merchine before they reached it. It’s a self-starter--d’ye -see? So he jest teched up the engine button, and started the merchine -to traveling. Them fellers couldn’t git aboard, and they had to drop -the sacks and run. I was right behind ’em with my gun, ye see, and I’d -peppered ’em with rock salt if they hadn’t quit as they did---- Ya-as, -sir-ree-sir!” - -“And where did Tom go?” queried Tavia, breathlessly. - -“Why, he brought the machine back, eat his breakfast, and went on his -way. He didn’t say where he was goin’. I’ll wait for the owner of the -ortermobile to show up an’ explain about his car, I reckon. Ain’t no -license number on it.” - -So _that_ settled this trace of Tom Moran. He had disappeared again. -Nobody near Mr. Prater had observed the red-headed man when he -left for parts unknown. The girls and their friends had lots of fun -scouring the neighboring country in the _Firebird_; but the young -man whom Dorothy Dale wished to see so very much was as elusive as a -will-o’-the-wisp! - -And when they got back to town there was a letter about the very -man himself addressed to the _War Cry_ office, in regard to the -advertisement that Dorothy had caused to be printed in that paper. The -letter had gone to Glenwood and been forwarded to Dalton on Dorothy’s -trail. - -The letter was written on dirty paper and in a handwriting that showed -the writer to be a very ignorant person. And it was actually mailed in -Dalton! The girls read it eagerly. - - “If you want to knos bout Tom Moran I can tell you all you want - to knos. but I got a be paid for what I knos. hes a many mils - from here. but I can find him if its mad wuth my wile. So no mor - at present Well wisher. p. s.--rite me at Dalton N. York, name - john Smith. Ile get it from genl dlivry.” - -“Now, never in the world did that red-haired young man write such a -letter, Doro!” cried Tavia. - -“Of course not. It is some bad person who saw the advertisement and -thinks that some money is to be made out of poor Celia’s brother.” - -“And this awful scrawl was written when Tom was right here in town.” - -“Certainly,” agreed Dorothy. - -“Yet the writer says he is ‘a many mils from here.’” - -“That is why we may be sure that the person writing to me has a very -bad mind and is trying to get money. I am sure Tom Moran never saw the -notice in the _War Cry_ and that he knows nothing about this letter,” -repeated Dorothy. - -“Dear me! to be so close on the trail of that redhead--and then to lose -him,” Tavia said despairingly. - -“Perhaps this person who wrote the letter knows where he is now. Yes, -it looks reasonable,” said Dorothy, reflectively. “You see, believing -as he does that somebody will pay money to find Tom Moran, he will -likely keep in touch with Celia’s brother.” - -“I see!” cried Tavia. “I see what you are driving at. Aren’t you smart, -Doro Dale? The way to do, then, is for us to find this John Smith---- -But how will you do it?” - -“How?” - -“Of course that isn’t his name. I don’t believe there is a John Smith -in Dalton.” - -“Perhaps not. Although John Smiths aren’t uncommon,” laughed Dorothy. -“But we know that is the name in which he’ll ask for his mail. Now, why -not keep watch----” - -“Better than that!” gasped Tavia. “Let’s tell Mr. Somes, the -postmaster, and have him set a watch upon whoever gets a letter for -John Smith.” - -“But where’ll he get a letter--if I don’t write him?” demanded Dorothy. - -“Of course, you’ll write him. Write now. Make him think you are going -to ‘bite’ on his offer.” - -“But I don’t intend to pay any great sum for finding Tom Moran--though -I’d be willing to if I had it.” - -“We can fool him; can’t we?” demanded Tavia. “He is evidently trying -to over-reach Tom and you both. Let the biter be bitten,” said Tavia, -gaily. “Come on, Doro! Write the letter.” - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -ALMOST CAUGHT - - -“My!” exclaimed Tavia, later. “There is a whole lot to making up a -plot; isn’t there? And how wise you are, Doro!” - -“But you see, my child, you can’t go ahead with this scheme as you -first mapped it out,” observed Dorothy, drily. - -“Oh, I see,” agreed her friend. “Mr. Somes can’t arrest the man who -calls himself ‘John Smith.’” - -“Of course not. Nor can anybody else arrest him. He has committed no -crime in trying to get money for his information about Tom Moran.” - -“But how will you fix him?” - -“You see, if Mr. Somes will allow the clerk at the general delivery -window of the post-office to make some signal when a person comes to -call for this letter I have written, we will have somebody on the watch -to follow John Smith. Then we’ll find out who he is----” - -“If it _is_ a ‘he,’” interposed Tavia. - -“Of course it is,” returned her friend. “It’s a man’s handwriting. And -a very bad, ignorant man, I am afraid.” - -“He doesn’t belong to Dalton, then,” declared Tavia, earnestly. “Since -the liquor crusade, when the saloons were all shut, we haven’t had many -men of bad character in Dalton.” - -“That’s right,” agreed Dorothy. “But you see, there is always a -‘floating population.’ Work such as your father’s company is doing -brings in irresponsible men from outside. They have no interest in the -fair name of Dalton, so we mustn’t be surprised if they misbehave,” -said sensible Dorothy. - -“But who is going to watch all the time at the post-office?” demanded -Tavia. - -“The window for the delivery of letters is open from eight till eight. -We’ll get the boys to help us take turns. There are you and me, Johnny, -Joe and Roger--even Roger isn’t too little to follow the man and find -out where he lives,” said Dorothy, briskly. “Then we can pull my -cousins, and Bob Niles, and Abe Perriton into it. That makes nine of -us. Nine in twelve hours---- What does nine in twelve make, Tavia?” - -“One hour and twenty minutes each--_about_. Oh, all right!” exclaimed -Tavia. “Of course we can watch. But the question is: Will that do any -good?” - -Dorothy would not listen to any croaking. She wrote the decoy letter, -and the two girls went down town and saw Mr. Somes privately. He knew -both Tavia’s father and Major Dale; and when the girls from Glenwood -disclosed to the postmaster just why they wished to find Tom Moran, and -all about Celia, and the letter Dorothy had received from “John Smith,” -he agreed to help them. - -It was arranged, however, that the letter should not be put in the mail -until the following morning, so that the girls might fully arrange the -“watch-and-watch” on the general delivery letter window. - -Their boy friends fell into the scheme with alacrity. Dorothy and Tavia -did not explain entirely their interest in Tom Moran, nor why there was -such a hue and cry after that red-haired young man; but---- - -“It doesn’t matter,” said one of the lads, cheerfully. “If Dot says she -wants to find the chap--and this fellow who wrote the bum letter--we’ll -do just what she says. Dot’s all right, you know, fellows!” - -But that very morning there came word over the telephone to Abe -Perriton’s house that started the excitement in a new quarter. A man -named Polk, who ran a sawmill on Upper Creek, asked Mr. Perriton to -hire several men in Dalton if he could, as he had work that must be -rushed and he needed an extra force of hands. - -“And I haven’t been able to hire a soul up here, except Tom Moran, who -came along last night. And I’m afraid he won’t stay. He’ll not promise -to.” - -“Here, Abe,” said Mr. Perriton. “Didn’t I hear something about your -friends wanting to see Tom Moran? He’s up to Polk’s mill.” - -That was enough. The boys started with the _Firebird_ inside of ten -minutes picking up Dorothy and Tavia on the way. But nobody thought to -telephone to the mill man to ask him to hold the red-haired man until -the _Firebird_ party arrived. - -It was over another rough road to Polk’s mill on Upper Creek. “Dear, -dear,” complained Tavia, “I am half in doubt whether the geographers -have got it right. Perhaps the world isn’t round. I don’t see how it -can be when it is so awful bumpy!” - -“You feel like Nat did, I guess,” chuckled Ned. “That was when my -lovely brother was a whole lot younger than he is now--hey, Nat?” - -“What’s the burn?” asked Nathaniel White, Esquire. - -“’Member when Miss Baker put the poser to you in intermediate school? -’Member about it, boy?” - -“Oh, that’s an old one,” grunted Nat. - -“Let’s hear it--do,” cried Dorothy. “Did Nattie miss his lesson?” - -“He wasn’t paying much attention, I reckon,” said Ned, just scaling a -corner post as they took a turn, and scaring a squawking flock of hens -almost into “nervous prosperity,” as Tavia called it. “Miss Baker was -giving us fits in the physical geography line. She snaps one at Nat: - -“‘What’s the shape of the earth, Nathaniel?’ - -“‘Oh! Ugh-huh? Round,’ says Nat, just barely waking up. - -“‘How do you know it’s round?’ demands Miss Baker. - -“‘All right,’ says Nat. ‘It’s square, then. I don’t mean to argue about -it!’” - -“Aw, I never!” cried Nat, as the others shouted their appreciation of -the story. “That’s just one of Ned’s yarns.” - -With similar “carryings-on” they lightened the rough way to the sawmill -camp. The last mile they had to walk, leaving the _Firebird_ at a -farmer’s place. There was no such thing as taking the automobile to the -camp. - -“I hope Tom Moran is here,” said Dorothy, again and again, to her -friend, Tavia. “But I feel as though we were due to have another -disappointment.” - -“Oh, I hope not,” groaned Tavia. - -The boys would not keep to the wood road, but scrambled over stumps -and brambles, raising the hue and cry after timid rabbits, starting an -old cock partridge now and then, and chasing chipmunks along the fences. - -“I’d love to have a woodchuck bake,” Abe Perriton said. “The kids say -they’ve found several woodchuck holes up near the Rouse place.” - -“Joe and Roger, you mean?” asked Dorothy, to whom Abe was speaking. - -“And Octavia’s brother Jack. Yes. Those kids would find woodchucks if -there were any in the county. M-m-m! did you ever eat woodchuck, Tavia?” - -“Sure I did. But I never expect to enjoy a woodchuck bake again. I’m -grown up now,” called Tavia, from her position in the lead with Bob -Niles. - -“If the kids really have found the holes--and Mr. Woodchuck is home,” -said Abe, “we might have a picnic, even if it is cold weather--say day -after to-morrow.” - -“Nice weather for a picnic,” laughed Dorothy. “See! there’s still some -snow in the fence corners.” - -“And the groundhogs will be as poor as Job’s turkey,” said Tavia, who -understood about such things better, even, than a boy. - -“Hurrah! there’s the mill,” shouted Nat. - -The whine of the saw as it cut through a log floated down to them -through the aisles of the wood. They hurried to reach their destination. - -The saw was flying and the few men about the mill were working -speedily. Mr. Polk himself, whom they knew by sight, was dragging a -huge log out of the water by the aid of a chain and a small engine. But -nowhere in sight was “that redhead.” - -“Hello, Abe Perriton!” shouted the master of the mill. “Your -father going to send that gang? Or are you huskies--and the little -ladies--goin’ to roll logs for me?” - -“I guess father will send along men. But we’ll roll _that_ one for you, -Mr. Polk,” laughed Abe, as the huge log came up the runway to the mill. - -The boys grabbed canthooks and helped put the log in place upon the -carriage. The girls looked on with interest, for the working of a -sawmill with a disk-saw of this size is not uninteresting. - -“But that log’s got a hollow in it, Mr. Polk,” advised Tavia, the -sharp-eyed. - -“I know it, Miss. But the grain of the wood’s so straight, and the -hollow’s so small, that I believe we’re going to get some mighty fine -planks out of it, just the same,” replied the sawyer. - -“Ask him about Tom Moran,” begged Dorothy, _sotto-voce_. - -“Just wait till he gets this log on the carriage. Now it goes!” -exclaimed the interested Tavia. - -The saw struck the hollow place the first clip, the outside slab was -cut off, and out of the hollow flopped something that made the girls -scream. - -“A snake!” gasped Dorothy. - -“Maybe it’s an eel,” said Tavia. - -But quick-eyed Nat jumped for it and held up the flopping creature. It -was a beautiful brook trout more than two feet long. - -“Great find, boy!” declared Mr. Polk. “The law ain’t off until April -first; but I reckon that’s your kill.” - -“We’ll have the picnic, anyway!” laughed Bob Niles. “I bet trout baked -in the ashes beats woodchuck all to pieces!” - -Dorothy had come close to the sawyer now and tapped him on the arm. - -“Oh, sir!” she exclaimed. “Isn’t Tom Moran here with you?” - -Polk’s face clouded. “The red-haired rascal wouldn’t stay. He don’t -like sawmill work. He worked for me yesterday and started in this -morning; but an hour before you came he lit out.” - -“Gone?” gasped Dorothy. - -“Yes, ma’am!” - -“And you don’t know where he’s gone?” broke in Tavia. - -“Couldn’t tell ye,” said Polk. “He lit out--walkin’--toward Pollinary. -But that’s twenty mile from here. Dunno as he’ll go that far.” - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV - -“ALIAS JOHN SMITH” - - -The wood smoke curled up in a spiral from the side of a big, rotting -log where Nat had settled on the camp. The _Firebird_ stood beside -the narrow road with the lunch board spread, and Ned and Abe were -diligently making ready the picnic repast, of which the seven pound -trout and a half-peck of potatoes, bought of a farmer, were the main -viands. - -But how good it all did smell! The girls had appetites equal to the -boys’ own. And although Dorothy and Tavia were deeply disappointed in -their search for Tom Moran, they “threw aside carking care,” as Nat -said, for the time being. - -“For there is another day coming, Dot!” he declared. “A man with a head -as red as that fellow’s cannot be lost for long--no, indeed!” - -“Cheerful soul, is Nattie,” jollied Ned. “He always was hopeful. -’Member when you were fishing in the bathtub that time, kid?” - -“What time?” demanded his brother, suspecting one of Edward’s jokes. - -“You know--when mother asked you what you expected to catch? And says -you: ‘Pollyglubs.’ - -“‘What _is_ a pollyglub?’ says the mater, and you handed her back a hot -one. - -“Oh, I did?” grunted Nat. “Don’t remember it. What did I say?” - -“Why, says you: ‘Don’t know; I haven’t caught one yet.’ Oh, you -couldn’t beat Nattie for hopefulness. He was one sanguine kid,” laughed -Ned. Bob slapped Nat on the back at that and rolled him over on a dry -bit of sod where they wrestled for a few minutes--until Ned yelled -for help at the campfire. Soon all six of the young folk were busy -discussing the luncheon. - -“This is really the nicest meal I’ve eaten since we were in camp--eh, -Doro?” asked Tavia. - -“I believe you, dear,” admitted her friend. - -But Dorothy could not be very enthusiastic. Her disappointment over -missing Tom Moran was keen. And she was not much fun that night when -the boys all came over to Tavia’s for a “sing” and a general good time. -_Her_ mind was fixed upon the watch-and-watch they were to keep upon -the general delivery window of the post-office the next day. - -Joe demanded the privilege of being the first “man on duty.” He was -deeply interested in the Tom Moran conspiracy, as he insisted upon -calling it because he admired Dorothy so, and because his boyish heart -and sense of chivalry had been touched by the story of little Celia, -“the findling.” - -“If this chap who’s written to you, Doro,” said Joe, with decided -appreciation of the situation, “is in communication with Tom Moran, -maybe we can catch Celia’s brother before he gets any farther away from -Dalton.” - -“But he’s going farther away all the time, it seems,” sighed Dorothy. -“And up there beyond Polk’s mill is a wild country.” - -Young Joe went off after an early breakfast in Tavia’s kitchen, full of -importance. He was to stand guard at the post-office window until ten -o’clock, or until one of the other boys, or Dorothy or Tavia, relieved -him. - -The signal agreed upon with the mail-clerk was a newspaper dropped -through the opening after the person calling for “John Smith’s” letter -turned away. Joe served his time patiently, and nothing happened. Nat -White lounged down, entered the post-office corridor, tweaked Joe’s -ear, and sent him off about his business. - -“Johnny Travers and Rogue are waiting for you to go woodchucking,” Nat -told his cousin. “Off with you!” - -Dorothy took her own luncheon early, and drifted into the post-office -about one o’clock. Tavia was to join her later. - -“Never did think you’d come,” groaned Nat. “I’m starved to death.” - -“No sign of the Mystery yet?” breathed Dorothy. - -“Nary a sign. I’m off! Good luck.” - -And if finding the mysterious “John Smith” was sure enough good luck, -Dorothy could consider herself fortunate within half on hour. A lanky, -hesitating youth approached the general delivery window. Twice he -stepped back and allowed other people to get in front of him. Somehow -Dorothy’s attention was particularly attracted to the nondescript’s -face. - -He might have been seventeen--perhaps older. There was a little -yellow fuzz on his cheeks and chin, showing that his blonde beard was -sprouting early. He was possessed of sharp features and a high and -narrow forehead, prominent, watery blue eyes, and scarcely a vestige of -eyebrows or lashes. This lack in the upper part of his face gave him -a blank appearance--like the end wall of a house with two shutterless -windows in it. - -Below his countenance was quite as unattractive. In the first place he -had a retreating, weak chin, prominent upper teeth, and an enormous -Adam’s apple. He was evidently nervous, or bashful. Dorothy saw him -swallow several times before he could speak to the clerk inside the -window. And when he swallowed, that bunch in his throat went up and -down in a most ridiculous way. - -“What did you say the name was?” Dorothy heard the mail clerk ask. - -The shambling youth repeated it: “John Smith. Mis-ter John Smith. Yes, -sir. Thank ye, sir.” - -The boy backed away with something white in his hand which Dorothy knew -to be her letter. A newspaper, pushed through the window, fluttered to -the floor of the corridor. But Dorothy was already going out of the -post-office. - -The youth followed her out. The letter had been put away somewhere in -his skimpy clothing; for it must be admitted that not a garment visible -on the stranger seemed to fit him. - -Either his trousers, and coat, and vest, had been intended for a much -smaller youth, or he was growing so fast that he could not wear a suit -out before wrists, ankles, and neck were thrust through their several -openings in the clothes in a most ridiculous fashion. - -“I never saw such a funny-looking creature,” Dorothy told herself, as -she watched the boy from across the street. “And I don’t remember ever -having seen him in Dalton before. He looks ignorant enough to have -written that letter I received, too; and yet--there is an innocent look -about his face. I wonder if he really has intelligence enough to fix -up any scheme to make money out of those who wish to find Tom Moran?” - -The boy dawdled along the street and Dorothy walked on the other side, -looking into shop windows now and then, but unfailing in her vigilance. -She did not let the shambling youth out of her line of vision; and -especially was she watchful when he passed close to any other person. - -Nobody spoke to him; he seemed quite unknown in the town. He drifted -down toward the railroad yards where--in two or three mean streets--the -poorer and most shiftless denizens of Dalton resided. - -Down here was an open lot on which much of the refuse of the town -was dumped to fill in a yawning gully. Ashes and piles of cans, and -boxes and the like, offered to the poorer children a playground most -amusing, if not conducive to health. At one corner two or three -shacks--incongruous huts they were--had been constructed. Certain -squatters evidently had taken up their abode in these, despite the -still cool weather. - -Lengths of rusty stovepipes were thrust through the side walls of these -huts. The roofs were made of oil cans, unsoldered, and beaten flat, -the sheets overlapping one another. Doors wabbled on leather hinges. A -broken window was plugged up with an old silk hat. - -[Illustration: “I’D VERY MUCH LIKE TO KNOW YOUR NAME,” SAID DOROTHY. - - _Dorothy Dale’s Promise._ _Page 207._] - -Dorothy felt a shiver as she ventured further into the bad section of -the town; but she was determined to learn something more of the boy who -had received the letter addressed to “John Smith” from the post-office. - -He crossed the open lot, aiming without doubt for the squalid huts. -Dorothy quickened her steps and remained on the sidewalk, following the -line of the open square. She reached the corner nearest to the huts -just as the youth strolled out of the open gully and to the side of the -nearest shack. - -There, sitting upon an overturned tub, barefooted, and dressed in -coarse petticoat and blouse, was a hatless woman picking over a mess of -greens in a rusty dishpan. - -“Wa-al! I wanter know, Poke!” she drawled, looking up at the shambling -youth. “Y’ don’t mean ter say you’ve got back?” - -“Ye din’t tell me ter run,” said the young fellow, dropping down upon a -broken box beside her. - -“Wal! Plague take it! you air the laziest---- Good afternoon, Ma’am! -Was you wantin’ anything?” - -This last question was directed at Dorothy. The girl, quite thoughtless -in her excitement, had crossed the street and stood before the woman -and the youth. - -“I--I---- Oh! I’d very much like to know your name,” said Dorothy, -rather confused. - -“Huh? Y’ got some pertic’lar reason for findin’ out, Miss?” - -“Perhaps,” and Dorothy began to look at the woman more calmly. - -“I ain’t none ashamed of it. It’s Daggett. Jane Daggett. And this is my -boy, Poke Daggett.” - -“You never were called Smith, I suppose?” queried Dorothy, quickly. - -“Smith?” the woman exclaimed, and although she did not change -color--she was too sallow for that--her little black eyes brightened -perceptibly. “No. I can’t say I ever was. Daggett was my secon’ -husban’; but I never married a Smith, an’ my own name--’fore I married -a-tall--was Blinkensopp. Now, air you satisfied, Miss?” - -“Not wholly,” Dorothy said, with courage. “If your name is not Smith, -and your son’s name is not Smith, why did he just get a letter from the -post-office addressed to Mr. John Smith?” - -The boy, Poke, jumped; indeed, he almost fell off the box. His mother -pinched him sharply in the leg. - -“Dunno what ye mean, lady,” she whined. “Poke ain’t never got a letter -in his life--I don’t believe. Has you, Poke?” - -“I--I never!” gasped Poke, the lie showing plainly in his face. - -“You have a letter somewhere in your pocket now,” accused Dorothy, -looking at the youth directly. “Don’t deny it. I wrote it myself, so I -should know. And,” she added, wheeling on the mother, who had risen and -let the greens slip from her lap, “I want to know what _you_ know about -Tom Moran?” - -“Tom Moran?” whispered the boy, shaking his head, and looking terrified. - -But the woman wasn’t like that. She was a hard, bony-looking woman, and -very tall and strong. While Dorothy was speaking she had beckoned to -a black-haired, red-faced woman who stood curiously a little distance -away. - -“What’s wanted, Jane?” demanded this virago, coming forward. - -“Here’s a poor gal out o’ her senses, I make no doubt,” said the woman -who owned the name of Jane Daggett. “She--she’s firm’ off her mouth too -much--that’s what she’s doin’. Sech folks oughter be restrained----” - -“An’ we’ll restrain ’em!” declared the black-haired woman, and the next -instant she seized Dorothy by the shoulders and ran into the open door -of the hut. - -Both women were in the shack with the girl, and the door was closed, -before Dorothy could even scream. - - - - -CHAPTER XXV - -THE WOODCHUCK HUNT - - -“Now, I got it all fixed, Tavia. You come along with us and see the -fun,” said Joe Dale, at luncheon time. “I’m sorry Dorothy’s gone over -to the post-office. She won’t find anything, I’m afraid. Nobody came -there this morning when _I_ was on watch,” he added, as though that was -conclusive. - -“But she will expect me----” - -“No, she won’t. Bob and Ned are going there right after two o’clock, -they say, and they’ll take her place.” - -“If Bob Niles is going there I don’t want to go,” said Tavia, with a -toss of her head. “He’s getting too--numerous.” - -“Come on with us and hunt woodchucks. We got the holes all marked this -morning,” said her brother Johnny. “And Rogue’s got a turtle--a real -snappy one, if it _is_ so early in the spring.” - -“A turtle?” asked Tavia, wonderingly. “What do you do with a turtle -catching woodchucks?” - -“Oh, you’ll see,” promised Joe. “Come on.” - -And Tavia, who was just _crazy_ to run wild in the woods and fields -again, as she herself said, was over-ruled and went with the boys. - -They went up into the fields near the Rouse farm. Had they gone by the -way of the railroad crossing they might have passed “the Dump,” as the -open lot was called, just about the time Dorothy was talking with Jane -Daggett and her hopeful son. - -But Tavia and the boys--all Dorothy’s friends, in fact--were quite -unaware of the trouble into which Dorothy’s impetuosity had gotten her. - -The old pasture in which the boys had discovered the woodchuck burrows -was full of sheltering clumps of dwarfed trees, and piles of stone. A -woodchuck always has two openings to his home, and unless a watch is -set at both holes no amount of smoking out will enable the hunter to -grab Mr. Woodchuck. - -“But we got it cinched!” declared Joe Dale, with excitement. “See this -old mud turtle?” - -The turtle produced was as large as the bottom of a two-quart pail. -Tavia, who knew lots about snaring and trapping small game, was frankly -puzzled over the use to which the turtle was to be put. - -“Now you’ll see,” giggled her brother. “And we ain’t goin’ to hurt the -turtle a mite. Pull out his tail, Joe.” - -“Yes, pull out his tail, brother,” urged Roger, dancing around the -group that hovered about one of the doors to Mr. Woodchuck’s den. - -“Isn’t a turtle funny?” laughed Tavia. “He sits down, swallows his -head, and puts both his hands and feet in his pockets.” - -“Now the string,” said Joe, seriously. He tied a piece of stout cord to -the creature’s tail. - -“It’ll slip,” objected Johnny. - -“No, ’twon’t!” - -“Give me the wire, Rogue,” commanded Johnny. - -The younger lad produced a piece of thin wire about two feet in length. -At one end was a loop, and to this the bit of stout cord was fastened. -Then, to the other end of the wire, Johnny attached a ball of cotton. -Joe produced a bottle of coal oil. - -“Whatever are you horrid boys going to do?” demanded Tavia, suddenly. - -“Now, we’re not going to hurt the turtle,” explained her brother, -calmly. “You needn’t fret. We’re going to get and bake Mr. Woodchuck. -He’s proper game. Mr. Turtle may be scared for a minute, or two, but -that’s all. He is a cold-blooded insect----” - -“Insect! hear to him!” burst out Joe Dale, laughing uproariously. - -“Oh--ah-ugh! I mean reptile,” grunted Johnny. - -“That’s as bad as one of the fellows in school,” said Roger. “Teacher -asked him what an oyster was, and he told her it was a fish built like -a nut.” - -“Goody!” chuckled Tavia. “So it is. But do you think this cold-blooded -reptile--which is also a good deal like a nut--needs warming up, boys?” - -“We won’t warm him,” explained Johnny. “Don’t you see we’ve got the -wire tied to his tail with a piece of string? If the wire should get -hot _he’d_ never feel it. Now come on, Joe. Pour on the oil. You -watching that other hole, Rogue? We don’t want the old groundhog to -fool us.” - -“He hasn’t poked his snout out here yet,” declared the smallest boy, -with confidence. - -But Tavia, who had begun to look worried, suddenly interfered. - -“Say! I want to know,” she demanded, “wherever you boys learned to -smoke a woodchuck out in this way? It’s not nice. I don’t like it----” - -“Aw, listen to her!” ejaculated Johnny Travers. “Don’t be a softie, -Tavia.” - -“I tell you it doesn’t hurt the turtle,” said Joe Dale. - -“I don’t care,” said Tavia, warmly. “Even if it only _looks_ as though -it might hurt him, we shouldn’t do it. We shouldn’t even be willing -to stand for animals _appearing_ to be hurt. It’s not nice--it’s not -kindly----” - -“Aw, shucks!” began her brother again; but Joe shut him up quickly: - -“That’s all right, Jack. If Tavia says we’re not to do it, we won’t. -Let him go,” and in a moment he had released the reptile, which began -crawling off desperately as though he knew just how narrow an escape he -had had from becoming an animated torch. - -For a minute or two Johnny was inclined to pout. But Tavia (who knew -as much about woodchuck hunting as the boys themselves) quickly made a -brush torch, and they saturated that with oil, touched it off with a -match, and pushed it down the woodchuck hole. - -There was a big stack of corn fodder near at hand; but the interested -young folk did not pay much attention to it at the moment. They did -not even observe a certain rustling in the fodder when they first came -to the woodchuck burrow; nor did they see a pair of very bright eyes, -belonging to a young man with very red hair, that peered out at them -when they began smoking out the denizen of the hole in the hillside. -This red-haired person only grinned at them and then lay down for -another nap in the fodder. He was laying up sleep for the coming night, -for he expected to “jump” the fast freight to the West that passed -through Dalton at midnight, and only stopped at the water-tank below -this hill. - -The three boys and Tavia waited at the other end of the woodchuck -burrow. - -“If he doesn’t get heart-failure, or apoplexy, or something like that, -Mr. Woodchuck will run out in about two shakes of a lamb’s tail,” -chuckled Johnny Travers. - -“Your lamb has an awful long tail, Johnny,” quoth his sister, -teasingly, after a minute or so. - -And then she suddenly joined the boys in a whoop of excitement. The -nose of the woodchuck appeared. Little Rogue hit it a crack and the -creature didn’t run far. But Johnny waited with uplifted “whanger” -and there appeared a second woodchuck. They got that one, too--and -both were pretty plump, for all that they had been hived up during the -winter. - -“We’ve got enough for a bake--a small one,” said Roger. - -“Aw, wait,” said his brother. “There’s another hole. Come on, Johnny! -Let’s make a new torch.” - -Johnny obeyed and Joe led the way around the stack. There were signs of -another woodchuck hollow. They repeated the performance with the torch -here, and then grouped about the other outlet to welcome the groundhog -when he appeared. - -In ten minutes they had a third fat carcass, and the boys began to skin -and clean them. - -“Nat was laughing at us,” said Joe Dale. “I reckon he and Cousin Ned -will be glad enough to eat some of these fellows.” - -“Faugh! you wouldn’t really eat ’em?” began Tavia. But the boys laughed -uproariously. - -“Ain’t that just like a girl?” cried Johnny. “Woodchuck is as good -eating as ’possum, or coon, or squirrel.” - -“That’s all right,” laughed Tavia, tossing her head. “Everybody to -their taste, as the old woman said when she kissed her cow. I’ll choose -squirrel--and I reckon Doro will, too--and the bigger boys. And I know -where we can get some, for there’s no law on squirrels in this county. -We’ll have some potatoes in the bake, too.” - -“Goody!” cried Roger, jumping around. “It takes girls to think of the -fixin’s.” - -“That’s so,” agreed Johnny, getting over his little grouch. - -“And let’s have the bake in Griscom’s grove--you know--back of the old -schoolhouse; there’s a fine place there. Don’t you remember, Johnny?” - -“Of course,” said her brother. “There’s plenty of stones there for an -oven. And----” - -“Oh, oh, oh!” screamed Tavia, suddenly. - -“Whatever became of that torch, Rogue?” demanded Joe. - -It was too late, however, to wonder about that. One side of the stack -of fodder was all ablaze. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI - -THE FIERY FURNACE - - -Dorothy was not likely to scream--not just at the moment she was thrust -into the old shack by her two vigorous captors. For the black-haired -woman clapped her dirty palm right over the girl’s mouth, hissing into -her ear meanwhile: - -“Let a squawk out o’ ye, me foine lady, and I’ll choke it back inter -yer throat like a cork-stopper. Understand me, now?” - -Dorothy nodded. Although she was greatly startled, she was not so -frightened that she could not think clearly. What would these women -make by trying to hold her captive here, so near a public street? -Surely they would not really injure her if she obeyed them. - -“Easy, dear,” urged the light-haired woman, who confessed to the name -of Jane Daggett. “We won’t hurt a hair of her head--but that hat----” - -She tore the pretty hat Dorothy wore from her head. Then off came the -girl’s jacket. Jane Daggett spied the watch Dorothy carried. - -“The jewelry’s too much for the likes of her,” she said, grinning. “And -there’s her ring.” - -The black-haired woman tore the ring from Dorothy’s finger. “That’s -_my_ share, Jane,” she said. “Don’t you be a pig, my dear.” - -“Sure we’ll share an’ share alike,” replied Jane Daggett, grimly. “Take -off your dress, my dear,” she commanded Dorothy. “It’s too good for ye. -I’ll give ye one o’ me own. It may be a mite too big for ye; but ye’ll -grow to it,” and she chuckled at her own witticism. - -“Oh, please!” gasped Dorothy, now freed from the bigger woman’s hand. - -“Hush up!” ordered the black-haired virago. - -“She’s got a pretty purse, too,” laughed Jane Daggett, dragging the -article from the coat pocket. - -Dorothy could not help crying a little. She dared not make a loud -noise, for she saw that the rougher woman would instantly strangle her -if she did so. But she would not unbutton her dress. - -“You’d better mind!” hissed the black-haired woman, in a low voice. -“You’d better----” - -The unuttered threat made Dorothy tremble violently. She felt as though -she would faint. Things began to turn black around her. The hideous, -grinning faces of her two captors swam before her gaze---- - -Suddenly there came a pounding on the wall of the shack. “Hush!” cried -Jane Daggett. - -“What’s that?” whispered the other woman. - -“My Poke. What’s th’ matter, Poke?” - -“Cheese it! Here’s some fellers----” - -The drawling voice of the young man who had got the letter at the -post-office ceased. The next instant Dorothy heard the cheerful voice -of Ned White, her big cousin: - -“Hullo, you! Didn’t a pretty girl just go past here--a girl with red in -her hat and a tan coat?” - -“Don’t know nothin’ erbout no gal,” drawled Poke Daggett. - -Now, Poke was naturally a coward. His lantern features likely showed -that he was telling a falsehood, too. Bob Niles’ voice interposed: - -“You’ve got good eyes, young fellow. You saw Miss Dale all right. Which -way did she go?” - -“Ain’t seen no gal,” drawled Poke. - -Jane Daggett had Dorothy by one arm. Her lean fingers were bruising the -tender flesh warningly. On the other side stood the black-haired woman -with a piece of plank held threateningly to strike. Dorothy could see -nails in that plank--if the woman used it, her face would be lacerated! - -“Hul-_lo_!” exclaimed Ned’s voice, suddenly. - -“Handkerchief, by Jove!” cried Bob. - -“It’s Dorothy’s, too! This rascal----” - -There was a sudden spurning of the gravel. Poke, lazy as he was, had -begun to run. With a shout Bob leaped away after him. - -But Ned turned toward the closed cabin door. The wadded-up handkerchief -had dropped from the cuff of Dorothy’s coat just as she was being -pushed inside. It was off the sidewalk, and Ned’s brain worked quickly. - -“Come back here, Bob!” he yelled. “He’s only putting us off the scent. -_Here she is!_” - -In a moment Ned burst into the shack. Jane Daggett dodged and ran out. -The black-haired virago aimed a blow at Ned’s head with the plank, but -missed him by a hair’s breadth. - -“Look out! Look out!” cried Dorothy, sinking into a corner, out of the -way. - -“Oh, I’d give a dollar if you were a man for a minute!” exclaimed Ned, -stepping around the woman to dodge her blows, but having to stand her -coarse vituperations. - -Bob came back with a whoop. The woman dodged out and disappeared up the -gully on the trail of Jane Daggett. Dorothy’s hat, coat, watch, purse -and ring went with them. - -“They’ve robbed and beaten you, Dot,” cried Ned, beside himself with -rage. “Oh! if they’d only been men so we could hit ’em.” - -“Well, now,” began Bob, when Dorothy panted: - -“There’s the boy, Ned. Let’s catch him. Never mind my things. That boy -got the letter and he knows about Tom Moran, I am sure.” - -“He’s crossed the tracks,” said Bob. “If you hadn’t called me back, -Ned, I’d had him.” - -“We’ll get him yet,” declared Ned. “Come on.” - -He took his cousin’s hand. Bob seized Dorothy’s other hand and she ran -between them, down across the railroad tracks and up the hill. They -were going toward Rouse’s farm. They saw the lanky, white-haired youth -climbing the heights above them. - -Suddenly smoke and fire burst out at a point in the upper pasture far -from Simeon Rouse’s house. It was a fodder stack afire, and Dorothy and -the two boys saw several figures running about it. - -The path over the upland which Poke Daggett followed led him right past -the fired stack of corn fodder. Ned and Dorothy both saw this. - -“Leave me behind, boys--do,” she gasped. “You can overtake him and I -can’t.” - -“Isn’t that Tavia?” demanded Bob Niles. “It _is_ she, I’m sure.” - -“And the boys,” cried Dorothy. “Tell them to stop him, Ned!” - -Ned White raised his voice in a great whoop. He waved his hands and -pointed to the running Daggett. The latter was almost up to the stack -of burning fodder. - -It was Tavia’s quick mind that understood Ned’s yells and gestures. She -sprang straight into the path of the white-haired youth. He dodged -her, but came to his knees. Joe and Johnny, well up in football -tactics, tackled low and brought the fellow down again before he had -fairly regained his feet. - -“That’s it! Hold him!” whooped Bob and Ned. - -They left Dorothy behind as they clambered up the rough hillside. The -staggering Daggett put forth the last ounce of his faint strength. He -rose up, threw off the two smaller boys, and started on. - -And just then a new actor appeared in the field--and a most astonishing -one. A yell of fright sounded, and there sprang out of the fodder -stack--seemingly from the very heart of the fire--a figure wreathed -by smoke and sparks. Indeed, the man’s clothing was afire at several -points. - -But most striking of all, his hair was the reddest of the red, and his -freckles stood out prominently on the background of his pale skin. - -“Fire! Fire,” he roared. “Who’s tr-ryin’ to burn me up? Wow! is that -you, Poke Daggett?” - -He whirled right into the flying Daggett’s arms. He had been trying to -beat out the sparks upon his clothing, and as he collided with Poke, -the two went to the ground. - -“It--it’s that redhead!” gasped Tavia. “Oh, it’s surely Tom Moran!” - -Joe and Johnny--and even little Roger Dale--ran to assist in putting -out the fire in the red-haired man’s clothing. Poke Daggett rose and -tried to drag himself away. - -But Ned and Bob arrived, and the former ordered young Daggett to stop. -“We’ve got a bone to pick with you, you white-haired rascal. Wait! -Isn’t your name Moran?” he asked of the man who had been afire. - -“I don’t know--they woke me up so quick,” returned the red-headed one, -with a grin. “However did these kids set the fodder afire? Somebody -will have to pay Simeon Rouse for it.” - -“We’ll ’tend to that,” returned Ned, quickly. “But Miss Dale is very -anxious to meet you.” - -“Meet me?” asked Tom Moran, for it was he. “About that runaway the -other day? I’m mighty sorry the steers ran----” - -“That’s not it,” said Tavia, briskly. “It’s about your sister Celia, -and Miss Olaine, and----” - -Tom Moran’s face changed instantly. He forgot all about Poke, who would -have crept away had not Bob taken a turn in his jacket collar and held -the fellow prisoner. - -“I guess you’re saying something now, Miss,” said Moran, gravely. “What -do you know about my little sister? I’ve been hunting for her a long -time. And the other person you speak of----” - -Then Dorothy arrived and, as Tavia said, “the court of inquiry went -into executive session.” - - - - -CHAPTER XXVII - -THE RING ON MISS OLAINE’S FINGER - - -Tom Moran read the besmirched letter Dorothy had received through her -advertisement in the paper. Then he made Poke Daggett give up the reply -he had taken addressed to “John Smith.” - -“Explanation’s easy,” he said, bluntly. “These Daggetts knew me. Why, I -fed ’em for a whole month this winter when Jane Daggett was sick. Ain’t -that so, Poke?” - -Poke whined: “Wal, ’twarn’t none o’ my doin’s, Tom. I tole ma how -’twould be. But she seen the notice in the Salvation Army paper. One o’ -them Salvation Anns was round ter see us an’ lef’ the paper; maw said -mebbe there was money in it for us ef we played our cards right----” - -“And all we were trying to find Mr. Moran for was because of his -little sister--and she wanting him so!” ejaculated Tavia. “My! but you -Daggetts must be mean sort of folks.” - -This frank statement drew no comment from Poke. He was too meek now. - -“Well, I reckon you can get out,” said Tom Moran, grimly. “And tell -your maw to bring around to the place where I’ve been boarding Miss -Dale’s hat and coat, the watch, the pocket-book and the ring--and -anything else they took from Miss Dale. If she doesn’t do it I’ll -see that she and you and that Munsey woman all go to jail, where you -belong. Believe me, I’ll do it!” - -Tom Moran, although he had been only working at odd jobs about Dalton, -was a person of intelligence and seemed to feel sure of his ability to -do as he said. When Poke was out of the way, he turned back to Dorothy -and smiled broadly. - -“I get it that you have been interesting yourself in my affairs, Miss, -and I thank you. If you can tell me anything about poor little Cely----” - -“I can tell you all about her, Mr. Moran,” cried Dorothy, eagerly. “And -you really couldn’t find her?” - -“I’ll tell you how it was,” said Tom Moran. “I went away to get work -that would pay me better. I was going to send money to Auntie every -month. I went with a gang to Mexico, and the very first week we were at -work a crowd of rebels came and drove us away from the job, and I got -shot. - -“I was in a hospital in Texas. Then I came East, after writing and -getting no answer from Auntie. When I got home the very house we lived -in was torn down and there wasn’t a soul in the neighborhood remembered -my aunt, or little Cely, or knew what became of them. - -“I hunted around and advertised in the papers, but didn’t get any news. -I had to go to work again, and I got a job on the Adrian Building, that -was put up right next to the old Rector Street School. I guess you read -about that school being burned?” he asked, with a sidelong glance at -Dorothy, that reminded the girl very much of Celia herself. - -“We looked it up,” said Dorothy. - -“Oh, and there’s Miss Olaine!” interposed the deeply interested Tavia. -“Did you know Miss Rebecca Olaine?” - -“Hush, Tavia!” admonished Dorothy. - -But Tom Moran flushed up to the very roots of his red hair, and his -blue eyes opened wide. - -“Guess I do know her,” he said. “Why--why, we boarded at the same house -together, for a while. On Morrell Street. Of course--of course, Miss -Olaine was too high-toned a lady for me----” - -Tavia sniffed. “I don’t know, Mr. Moran. She’s one of our teachers now -at Glenwood. Aren’t you just as good as anybody else?” - -“Well! I dunno. I ain’t eddicated, as ye might say. When I get re’l -excited I drop inter the brogue, too,” and he shook his head with a -grin. - -“Howsomever, no need to speak of that fire--or Miss Olaine----” - -“But we want to know,” began the eager and curious Tavia. - -“Hold on, now!” cried Ned White. “Let’s have things on order. All -this search of Dorothy’s was taken on because of the little girl, I -understand?” - -“I promised Celia I’d find her brother,” said Dorothy, gravely. “And I -believe you are he, Mr. Moran. She says her brother is Tom Moran, and -that he is very big and strong, and--that his hair is red----” - -“That’s me!” cried Tom Moran, slapping his knee, and bursting into -laughter. “The little dear! She used ter pull my hair when she was a -baby. She ain’t forgot.” - -“No,” said Dorothy, quietly. “She hasn’t forgotten. ‘He builds bridges, -and things,’ Celia says. And she prays for you to come for her every -night, Tom Moran. She--she is just wearing her little heart out for -you,” and Dorothy hid her eyes and sobbed aloud. - -“Oh, my dear!” cried Tavia, coming to hug her. - -“You tell me all about her, Miss,” urged the red-haired man. “I’ll sure -go after her if she’s a thousand miles away.” - -“Oh, she’s not,” replied Dorothy, through her tears. “She’s only eight -miles from Glenwood, on Mrs. Hogan’s farm.” - -“That ogress!” muttered Tavia. - -“What’s that?” exclaimed Tom Moran. “What d’ye call her? Isn’t Cely -being treated right by some woman?” - -“It’s only that the child wants to be loved--and Mrs. Hogan doesn’t -love her,” Dorothy said, mildly. “She’s never improperly treated--not -really.” - -“Just the same, that Hogan is an awful woman,” grumbled Tavia. - -Dorothy proceeded to repeat to Tom Moran all the story of little Celia, -as the child had told it to her; and she told, also, of her first -meeting with Celia and her promise, and how she (Dorothy) had been lost -in the snow and had spent Sunday at Mrs. Hogan’s; likewise, how Celia, -“jes’ the cutest little thing,” had longed to see Dorothy so much that -she had run away from the farm woman and found Glenwood Hall all by -herself. - -“And if you don’t say she’s the cutest thing you ever saw when you set -eyes on her----” interrupted the exuberant Tavia. - -“I want to see her bad enough, the Lord knows. I was going to beat it -away from Dalton this very night. Lucky you boys set that rick afire, -or I’d still been sleeping, and I’d caught the night freight out of -here--that’s right,” said Tom Moran. - -“But I’ll get a job now--a steady job. I’ll have an anchor if I have -Cely. That’s what Miss Olaine used to say I needed. Ye see,” said Tom, -again blushing, “she an’ me was awful good friends once.” - -“But why did you run away after the schoolhouse fire?” asked Tavia, the -curious. - -“Well, ye see,” said Tom Moran, “the newspaper made such a fuss over -it--and folks began to talk about doin’ foolish things----” - -“You were a hero!” cried Tavia. “A real hero.” - -“Aw, no,” said Moran, blushing again. “That was all newspaper talk. -Anyhow I didn’t want money for saving them kids from being burned up.” - -“But you needn’t have run away,” sighed Dorothy. “Your modesty made us -a lot of trouble. You know, we might have found you out a long time -ago----” - -“Huh! Everybody didn’t think so much of me,” grinned Tom Moran. Yet he -looked serious the next minute. “You see--Miss--Olaine---- Well, we’d -had some words, and I’d left the Morrell Street house before the fire -happened. I’d have gone away from that town, anyway.” - -“And your seeing her at the fire helped to make you decide to leave -town?” demanded the shrewd Tavia. - -“Why, Tavia!” murmured Dorothy, rather disturbed because her friend -seemed to pry into Tom Moran’s personal affairs. - -“Something like that, I s’pose,” replied the young man, running his -blackened hands through his mop of red hair. “Ye see--Well! we was -engaged.” - -“To be married?” queried Ned, open-eyed. - -“Of course.” - -“Oh, dear me!” whispered Dorothy in Tavia’s ear; “and we treated Miss -Olaine so meanly.” - -“Huh! Did _we_ know it?” returned her friend. - -“I guess she got sorry right away. Of course I ain’t in her class,” -said Tom Moran, soberly. “She’s got education. I ain’t got nothing but -a little schoolin’ an’ me two hands. But she was willing to wear my -ring, and----” - -“Tell me,” interrupted Dorothy, herself getting personal now, “is it a -ring with a diamond in the middle and little chip emeralds around it?” - -“Ye--as,” drawled Tom Moran, looking at her again in his sly way. - -“She’s wearing it yet,” murmured Dorothy. - -“And on her engagement finger,” cried Tavia. “I remember! She--she----” - -“Hush!” warned Dorothy. Then she said to Tom Moran: “She must think a -whole lot of you yet, Mr. Moran.” - -“Do--do you think so?” - -“I am sure.” She whispered in his ear about Miss Olaine coming to -Number Nineteen the night little Celia had slept with Dorothy, and how -the teacher had stooped over and kissed the little girl. - -“She did it in memory of you--I am sure,” Dorothy said, earnestly. - -The others had stepped aside to look at the woodchucks. Tavia had seen -that Dorothy wished to speak to Tom Moran alone. - -“Why was it she wouldn’t let me haul her out of that fire, then, two -years ago?” demanded Tom Moran, in an injured tone. - -“Wouldn’t she let you help her?” - -“She give me a shove into the fire herself. Guess that was an accident. -But she said, ‘Don’t you touch me!’” declared Tom. - -“I wouldn’t let that worry me,” Dorothy said, decidedly. “I am sure -that Miss Olaine has been grieving over your absence all this time. She -was excited at the fire, I suppose. Oh, Mr. Moran! you can’t always -tell what a woman means by what she says.” - -“Is that so?” returned Tom Moran, wonderingly. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVIII - -“JES’ THE CUTEST LITTLE THING” - - -The woodchuck bake in the grove behind the old school house, which -Dorothy and Tavia used to attend, was pronounced a success by the three -youngsters. Of course, there were not many invited guests, for aside -from three woodchucks and a half bushel of sweet potatoes, there were -but half a dozen squirrels baked in the ashes of a huge campfire. These -were not sufficient to supply a regiment, as Tavia herself said--and -Tavia was a generous body. - -Besides the two girl friends and the three small boys, there were the -four freshmen, three of whom had frankly come down here to Dalton for -this spring vacation just because Dorothy and Tavia were here. - -These individuals could not really be counted as guests--any of them. -So Tom Moran was really the only guest at the bake. He had recovered -Dorothy’s hat and jacket and other possessions from the Daggetts and -their friends, and when he brought them to Tavia’s, Dorothy and her -chum made Tom come along with them to the picnic. - -Ned White had gone to Mr. Rouse, the farmer, and paid for the burned -fodder stack. - -“Eight dollars, young gentlemen,” said Ned, rather grimly, to Joe and -Roger Dale and Tavia’s brother. Rather a high price to pay per pound -for woodchuck meat; and Nat figured it out to cost something like sixty -or seventy cents per pound. - -“Oh! don’t talk about it that way, Nat,” begged Joe. “It will taste so -of money that none of us kids will want to eat it.” - -They all got pretty well acquainted with Tom Moran that day. And he -really was a fine young fellow. Although his book learning might not be -extensive, he had traveled much and was one of those fortunate persons -who remember, and can talk of, what they have seen. - -Tom Moran was going back with the girls the next day, for the vacation -was close upon its end. At first he was not decided what he should do -after getting little Celia from Mrs. Hogan. But Tavia and Dorothy fixed -_that_. - -“Tom,” said Mr. Travers, when the party returned from the woodchuck -bake, “I’ve been talking with my partners and we want you to settle -down here in Dalton and work for us.” - -“I don’t know, Mr. Travers,” said the young man, undecidedly. “You -see, I had some words with Simpson----” - -“Oh, you won’t be under Simpson--and we won’t put a mechanic like you -to driving an ox-team, either. There is a better job than that here for -you,” and Mr. Travers talked seriously with the red-haired youth for an -hour. - -“The trouble with you is, you have never settled down. You haven’t had -an anchor. Now, Celia can’t travel about with you, and she’s got to be -your care for some years to come.” - -“I know. If I can get her away from that Hogan woman. I may have -trouble there--if the foundling asylum folk let Mrs. Hogan adopt her.” - -“If you want help in _that_ matter, you trust to Major Dale, Dorothy’s -father. He’ll see you through, Tom. And so will your friends here in -Dalton. We want you to come back here and go to work.” - -Thus it was arranged. Tom, the next day, appeared at the railroad -station in a neat suit and with a new grip in his hand. The grip was -practically empty, he told Dorothy; but he proposed to get it filled -up with nice clothes for Celia if he could get the child away from her -taskmistress at once. - -The White boys and Abe Perriton and Bob Niles traveled back to college -in the _Firebird_, so Dorothy and Tavia said good-bye to them before -they left Dalton. Bob Niles tried to get Tavia off by herself to talk -on the last evening they were together; but Tavia was suddenly very -strict with him. - -“You are nothing but a college freshman,” she told him, coolly, “and a -very _fresh_ freshman at that! Don’t you think for a minute that you -are a grown-up young man--you are not. And _I_ am only three months, -or so, older than I was when we parted in New York. It’s going to be a -long, long time before either Doro or I will begin to think seriously -of young men. Besides--you’re not a twin,” she added, and ran away from -him, leaving poor Bob greatly puzzled by her final phrase. - -They were going back to Glenwood a day early, because of Tom’s anxiety. -When the train reached the school station only Tavia got off; Dorothy -went on to Belding with Celia’s brother. - -At the station they hired a carriage and an hour later drove into the -lane leading to Mrs. Hogan’s home. - -It was the first real spring day. The grass “was getting green by -the minute,” so Tom said; the trees were budding bountifully; every -little rill and stream was full and dancing to its own melody over the -pebbles; the early feathered comers, from swamp and woodland, were -splitting their throats in song. - -And when the two drove into the yard there were sounds of altercation -from the house--the first harsh sounds they had heard since starting -from Belding. - -“And that’s the way ye do ut--heh?” exclaimed Mrs. Hogan’s strident -voice. “After all I been tellin’ yez. Ye air the most impident, -useless, wasteful crature that ever I come across! An’ not a bit of -gratichude have ye for me takin’ yez out of the Findling an’ givin’ ye -a home, an’ sumpin’ to ate, an’ a place ter lie down in.’ Bad ’cess ter -yez, Cely Moran! Sorry the day I ever tuk yez----” - -“I--I’m so sorry,” interposed Celia’s feeble little voice. -“Won’t--won’t you please take me back there, ma’am?” - -“Tak’ ye back where?” demanded the woman, in an uglier tone, were that -possible. “Tak’ ye back where?” - -“To the Findling, ma’am. Oh, dear me!” sobbed Celia, “I was a great -deal happier there!” - -“Ungrateful----” - -“No, ma’am. It isn’t that,” declared the child, grown desperate at -last, perhaps. “But you don’t love me. You don’t love any little girls. -And I’d go without a sup to eat, or a roof like you give me, or--or a -bed, jes’ to be loved a little.” - -“Plague o’ me life!” ejaculated the woman. - -They heard her swift and heavy foot across the floor. The child cried -out before she was struck. Tom had helped Dorothy out of the carriage -and was tying the horse. Swift of foot, the girl from Glenwood was -before him at the door. - -“Celia!” she cried, before the echo of the slap crossed the kitchen. - -Celia’s whimper was changed to a scream of delight. She rushed across -the room into Dorothy’s arms. - -“How dare you, Mrs. Hogan?” exclaimed Dorothy, her beautiful eyes fairly -flashing with anger. “How dare you?” - -“Who are ye, now? What! come to make more trouble, heh?” exclaimed the -woman, advancing in her rage in a very threatening way toward Dorothy. - -But Dorothy stood her ground, while the child cowered behind her. “You -cannot scare me, Mrs. Hogan,” declared Dorothy. “You dare not strike -me. Nor shall you ever touch this little one again.” - -“Impidence!” gasped the woman. “I’ll show ye----” - -“Show me, missus,” growled Tom Moran, his face very much flushed and -his red hair seeming to stand fairly on end. - -He had entered, put Dorothy and Celia gently to one side, and stood -before the ogress. “Show me, missus,” he said again. “I’m more like -your size.” - -“Who are you?” demanded the farm woman, taken aback. - -But Celia’s voice was again heard--and this time it was no whimper. She -suddenly bounded upon Tom and clasped both her tiny arms about one of -his sturdy legs. - -“I know him! I know him!” she shrieked. “My Miss Dorothy Dale has kep’ -her _promise_. It’s Tom Moran. I knowed I’d know him. _Don’t you see -his red hair?_” - -“And he kin take his red hair out o’ here,” declared Mrs. Hogan, -standing with arms akimbo and a very red face. - -“It’s quick enough I shall be doin’ so,” said Tom Moran, sternly. “And -Cely shall come with me.” - -“Not much!” ejaculated the woman. “I got her, bound hard and fast be -the orphan asylum folks----” - -Tom seemed to swell until he was twice his usual size. His steely eyes -flashed as Dorothy’s had flashed. - -“Let me tell ye something, me lady,” he almost croaked, and shaking -a finger in Mrs. Hogan’s face. “If ye had a stack av papers from -the foundling asylum, as high as yon tree, ye’d not kape me from -takin’ away me own sister--mind that now! And _you_ call yourself an -Irishwoman? Where’s yer hear-r-rt? Where’s yer pity for the little wan -of yer own race, left to the tinder care of strangers? Ah-h!” - -Like Ned White, when he had tackled the Daggett woman and her crony, -Tom Moran heartily wished at that moment that Mrs. Ann Hogan were a man! - -“I’m going to take me sister away from ye,” said Tom, after a minute’s -silence. “Stay me if ye dare!” - -He picked the child up suddenly and hugged her fiercely to his broad -breast. Celia, with a happy cry, put both arms about his neck, and -looked up into his red face. - -“I’se _so_ glad you comed for me like you did, Tom Moran. And you -_will_ keep me with you always?” - -“Please God I will, Cely,” he said kissing her, hungrily. - -The child laughed, and flung her head back so that she could see him -the better. - -“Do you hear, dear Dorothy Dale?” she cried. “I am going with Tom -Moran. Why, maybe we’ll keep house together. _I_ can keep the -house--jes’ as clean! An’ I can cook, an’ scrub, an’ wash--’cause you -know, they say I’se jes’ the cutest little thing!” - - - - -CHAPTER XXIX - -WHITE LAWN AND WHITE ROSES - - -The great green campus between Glenwood Hall and the road looked to be -scattered over with snowdrifts. That is the way it must have looked to -an aviator had one sailed over the old school and looked down upon the -campus on this beautiful June day. - -But the snow drifts were of lawn and roses. Every girl in the -school was dressed in white, and every girl wore, or carried, white -roses. They were grouped by classes, or in little cliques, while a -photographer from the city with a great camera arranged to take a -picture of the scene. - -“Hope he’ll hurry up,” groaned Cologne, sitting with Dorothy and Tavia -and some of the other girls. “My foot’s asleep.” - -“Hush-a-by! don’t wake it up,” drawled Tavia. “You know, Cologne, you -haven’t really had a good sleep this half.” - -“Especially this last month or six weeks,” groaned Ned Ebony. “Hasn’t -old Olaine just kept us on the hop?” - -“Why,” said Nita Brent, thoughtfully, “I had been thinking Olaine was -a whole lot nicer than she used to be.” - -“Certain sure she’s done better by us since Easter,” said Molly -Richards, earnestly. - -“You’re famous for seeing the best side of a thing, Dicky,” laughed -Ned. “I tell you she’s pushed me hard.” - -“And me!” “And us-uns!” - -The wail became general. Dorothy’s mellow laugh brought them to time. - -“Where does the giggle come in, Miss Dale?” demanded Edna Black. - -“Sh! don’t disturb your pose,” begged one of the others. “That -photographer is getting ready.” - -“Well, what does Doro mean by laughing?” complained Rose-Mary, -otherwise Cologne. - -“I mean to say,” said Doro, quietly, “that you girls all amuse me. Of -course we’ve been pushed this half--and especially this last month.” - -“And Olaine has done it!” declared Edna. - -“Quite so. It was her business to. Do you realize that is what Mrs. -Pangborn hired her for? And it’s too bad she isn’t going to stay.” - -“Not going to stay?” cried one. - -“Olaine just delighted in pushing us,” observed another. - -“Of course she did,” Tavia said to the last speaker. “Doesn’t Doro -point out the fact that that was her job here?” - -“And isn’t it going to be her job after this term?” demanded Edna Black. - -“Oh!” cried another girl. “This combination of Doro Dale and Tavia -Travers knows everything!” - -“If that is so, they might scatter some of their intelligence among the -faithful,” drawled Cologne. - -“First, _why_ should we accept Olaine as a slave driver, and thank her -for it?” demanded Edna. - -“Because this graduating class has higher marks and ‘does Mrs. Pangborn -proud’ more than any class ever graduated from Glenwood. Didn’t you -know that?” replied Dorothy. - -“And I guess we can thank Olaine,” said Tavia, nodding. “I know _I_ -can.” - -“And I! And I!” chorused others. - -“She was awful crusty about it,” said Molly, “but she _did_ know how to -make us climb.” - -“We’re some climbers,” remarked Tavia, airily. “I’ve got so high myself -that I feel dizzy.” - -“But say! about Olaine. Is she really going to leave?” impatiently -demanded one miss who could not keep her mind on the main point. - -“Wait!” commanded Dorothy. “The man is going to take the pictures. Do -be still now.” - -“Steady, my hearties,” drawled Tavia; but her lips hardly moved. - -There was silence all over the great lawn. It was then that the -aviator--had he flown over the spot suddenly--might have thought the -white of lawn and roses heaps of unsullied snow, for the girls were -just as still as they could be. - -“Thank you, young ladies. That is all!” shouted a little, fat man in -tall hat and frock-coat. “We will not trouble you longer.” - -And in a minute the groups were broken up, and the girls in white were -flitting here and there over the green. So much was going on before -the bell rang for the graduation class to march to the hall that the -question about Miss Olaine was not just then answered. - -But Dorothy showed Tavia two letters she had received that morning from -Dalton. The outside envelope was addressed to her in the large, rather -stiff lettering of Tom Moran; but inside there was a little pink note -enclosed with the red-headed young man’s letter. - -“Dear little Celia!” exclaimed Tavia. “Let me read it, Doro.” - -And the difficult little scrawl from “jes’ the cutest little thing” -brought both laughter and tears to the eyes of tender-hearted Tavia: - - “‘My loverly, dere miss Doroty Dale: - - ‘My teacher says she will look ove this letter for mistaks; but - she says to ime larnin fast as can be. I wuz goin to kep hous - for Tom Moran but he says no not yet sometime praps. I gotter go - to schol fust. But Tom Moran is got a big, big house and hes - got furnchure an pitchers an things an he says he is goin to let - a lady come and kep hous for us till i git bigger. Her name is - Olain and he says she is goin to be lik aunty was to me, only - better. So no more now from one that lovs you lots you no your - little Celia.’” - -“Then it’s going to be--really?” demanded Tavia, of her chum. - -“About Miss Olaine?” - -“Yes.” - -“Open the other note,” commanded Dorothy. - -And that frank letter from Tom Moran delighted Tavia quite as much as -did the mis-spelled one from Celia. Tom had stopped at the school when -he had brought Celia away from Mrs. Hogan’s. And he had asked to see, -and had been closeted in the office for an hour with, no other than -Miss Rebecca Olaine! - -“And I saw that ring on her finger when she went in,” Tavia had -whispered to Dorothy, on that now long past occasion. “And it was still -on her finger when she came out.” - -But the interested schoolmates did not know for sure “that it was all -fixed” until this day when Tom Moran’s letter had come to Dorothy. - -Miss Olaine had never shown the chums any particular friendliness; that -was not her way. But, as they were strolling up to Number Nineteen -for a last “prinking” before the exercises in the chapel, the teacher -passed them in the corridor. - -“Come and have tea this afternoon in my room, young ladies,” she said, -quite as though she were giving a command instead of an invitation. - -“Of course we will, dear Miss Olaine,” cried Dorothy, brightly. “We -will be delighted to.” - -The grim teacher flushed. When she flushed her eyes twinkled and she -looked happier than the girls had ever seen her look before. - -“Do you really mean that, Dorothy Dale?” she asked, quickly. - -“Mean what?” questioned Dorothy, in surprise. - -“That you will take pleasure in drinking tea with me?” - -“Why, Miss Olaine, no invitation could have given me so much pleasure -to-day--and I am sure Tavia feels the same.” - -“I--I am afraid I did not understand you girls very well when first I -came here to Glenwood,” said Miss Olaine, gravely. - -“Oh, dear Miss Olaine! we did not understand you either!” cried Dorothy. - -“And I was real _mean_ to you,” said Tavia, brokenly. “But now----” - -The impulsive girl threw her arms about Miss Olaine’s neck and -whispered in her ear: “We’re so, so happy about you and Tom Moran! -For you’ll love Celia, too, and you all will have such a fine time -together!” - -Miss Olaine blushed more deeply at that, and looked very much confused. -“You--you’ll really come, girls?” she repeated, and then fairly ran -into her room and closed the door. - -A little later the bell began to peal. The graduating class gathered in -the porch. Dorothy and Tavia were at the head of the line. The others -took their places. Dear little Miss Mingle began to play the march on -the piano. - -“Hay foot, straw foot!” whispered Tavia, bound to joke even on so -serious an occasion. - -They led the procession down the steps. As they approached the chapel -the organ broke forth in the same march Miss Mingle had begun. The -audience room was already crowded, save for the seats reserved for the -graduating class. - -“Oh! my father!” whispered Tavia. - -“And my father, and Aunt Winnie,” whispered Dorothy, in return. - -With sparkling eyes the girls took their seats upon the platform. There -was singing, and announcements, and speaking, and the girls filled in -their own part of the program--Dorothy with the valedictory, Cologne -with quite a serious paper, Nita, as class poet, and Tavia as class -historian. - -It was almost like a dream to Dorothy Dale--the speaking, the music, -the applause which followed the reading of her own paper, and all that -was said and done. Mrs. Pangborn finally came forward and two of the -smallest girls in the school held the basket of blue-ribboned diplomas. - -“My prize class,” said the principal, rather brokenly, “is leaving me -and leaving Glenwood forever. You fathers and mothers must see your -children go out into the world one at a time. But you seldom know the -wrench of parting with so many bright faces at once. - -“And this happens to me year after year. Just as I get to know them -all, to understand their different dispositions, to learn all their -lovable traits, they leave me. And, perhaps, just as they begin to see -that I am their friend and loving helper instead of their taskmistress, -they graduate. Ah, if they carry from Glenwood something that shall -make their future lives sweeter, nobler----” - -Dorothy could not hear what else she said for she could not see Mrs. -Pangborn through her falling tears and without sight hearing seemed to -leave her, too. Pictures of the past, of her many achievements here -at Glenwood, and fun and frolic as well, passed before her eyes. And -then---- - -“Miss Dorothy Dale!” - -Mrs. Pangborn’s voice was steady again. Tavia gave her friend a slight -push. - -Dorothy Dale went forward to receive her diploma. - - - - -CHAPTER XXX - -“GOODNIGHT, GLENWOOD, GOD BLESS YOU!” - - -“Am I not proud of my Little Captain?” said Major Dale, leaning on -Dorothy’s shoulder as they slowly wended their way out of doors. - -Roger was at her other hand, and Joe nearby. The boys had left their -own school a day or two early to come and “see sister graduate.” Aunt -Winnie had congratulated “her daughter,” as she was proud to call -Dorothy, too. - -“Ned and Nat are only sorry that they could not come. Indeed, I had -forbade it. We will go to their college instead to help them ‘receive’ -on Commencement Day,” Aunt Winnie declared. - -“And there is a big surprise in store for you, my dear,” she added, -pinching Dorothy’s cheek; but what it was we can only learn when we -meet Dorothy and her friends again in “Dorothy Dale in the West.” - -Now there was so very, very much to do in getting ready to leave old -Glenwood for the last time. The girls had yet to pack; they would sleep -one more night in the old room. Then the class would scatter, perhaps -never to meet again! - -Of course there were hundreds of promises to write and to visit, and -plans for the summer were being discussed right and left. Dorothy felt -more serious than she ever had felt before; but Tavia was so excited -that she could scarcely keep both feet on the ground at once. - -“You are really glad to leave dear old Glenwood,” said Dorothy, after -they had drunk tea with Miss Olaine and come up to their room again. - -“I never did like school as you do, Dorothy. But I love the old crowd, -and I’m sorry to lose the fun we have here,” Tavia admitted. - -“The whole world’s before us now,” sighed Dorothy. - -“Dish-washing, and sweeping, and bed-making, and all that is before -your humble servant,” laughed Tavia. “I’m going home, as you know, to -keep father’s house for him spick and span. Mother will be glad. She -hates housework.” - -They packed their trunks more soberly than they had ever packed them -for removal from the school before. Down from the walls came every -keepsake and picture that they owned. - -“Nix on the decorations!” Tavia said. “Jumble them all into the boxes. -Never more shall they hang from the battlements----” - -“What a lot of them there are, too!” sighed Dorothy. “Not half room in -this box for my photographs.” - -“We might throw away all the boys’ photographs,” said Tavia, giggling. -“You know, we have foresworn boys. Is that right, Doro?” - -“Oh, yes; boys are only a nuisance--except our brothers and cousins. -Don’t you say so, Tavia?” - -“Sure! And a few thousand more,” she added, _sotto voce_. “But we’re -going to marry twins if we marry at all. _That_ is decided, Doro?” - -“Certainly,” returned Dorothy, gravely. - -It was growing late. The nine o’clock bell meant nothing to the girls -of Glenwood Hall this night. There was bustle in every room, laughter -in the corridors, and a running back and forth until late. Suddenly -Tavia had an idea. It grew out of the over-crammed boxes and trunks of -“loot” from the walls. - -“Goody-goody-gander! I’ve got it!” she announced to Dorothy. - -“I know you have--St. Vitus’s dance,” groaned Dorothy. “I have been -expecting the announcement for ever so long.” - -“Miss Smartie!” responded Tavia. “You’ll see.” - -She flew about, whispering to the other graduates. In half an hour, -just as Dorothy and Tavia themselves were in their nighties and boudoir -caps, a knock came at the door, it flew open, and there filed into -Nineteen almost the whole class with arms full of a “great debris” of -articles, as Tavia called them, which had plainly been torn from the -walls of the various rooms. - -“Come on, Doro,” giggled Tavia. “This is a donation party. We’re going -to donate to the girls who are left such adornments, and the like, as -we do not wish to carry away with us. You know--‘We who are about to -die salute you,’ and all that. Come on!” - -Dorothy entered into the spirit of the affair. There were many trophies -and pictures that would merely gather dust in the attic at North -Birchlands, she knew; she grabbed for these, and the procession took up -its march from room to room. - -The lights had been left turned on in the halls; even if the girls were -in bed they were routed out to receive the donation from the departing -class. Mrs. Pangborn--even Miss Olaine--were conveniently blind and -deaf. - -Tavia made the most extravagant speeches. The most ridiculous presents -were given with a ceremony that convulsed everybody. It was a fine, -hilarious time. - -“Oh, and the last bit of fun we shall ever have in old Glenwood Hall,” -said Cologne, sadly, as empty-armed at last, the big girls made their -way back to Nineteen. - -“We’ll never have so much fun again, no matter where we go,” sighed Ned -Ebony. - -“Never is a long time, Neddie,” said Dorothy, cheerfully. - -Molly Richards had her arms around Dorothy. “Miss Cheerfulness!” she -said. “When the skies are gray and the birds do not sing, Doro Dale -will always be exuding sunshine--eh?” - -“And we’ll all miss you--oh! _so_ much, Doro!” cried Nita Brent. - -“We’ll miss each other,” admitted Dorothy. “But let us hope, even if -we do say good-bye to Glenwood and the old crowd, that we’ll all meet -again some time.” - -Tavia had been strumming on the banjo strings lightly, not having -packed that joy-giving instrument. She broke out suddenly into the old -school chant--and they joined her, softly: - - “Good night! good night! good night! good night! - Good night, again; God bless you! - And oh, until we meet again, - Good night! good night! God bless you!” - -The echoes of their sweet young voices died away. They kissed each -other warmly and in silence. Then the others stole out of the old room -that Dorothy and Tavia had occupied so long, leaving the two chums to -the silence of the June night and their own thoughts. - - -THE END. - - - - -Transcriber’s Note: - -Variations in hyphenation and spelling have been retained as published -in the original publication. Punctuation has been standardised. Other -changes have been made as follows: - - Page 5 - one of the girl’s in a big _changed to_ - one of the girls in a big - - Page 29 - been more supsicious of _changed to_ - been more suspicious of - - Page 51 - said Dorothy, more cheefully _changed to_ - said Dorothy, more cheerfully - - Page 54 - Dou you mean to say we are _changed to_ - Do you mean to say we are - - said Tavia, thoughfully _changed to_ - said Tavia, thoughtfully - - Page 56 - Bye and bye there was another _changed to_ - By and by there was another - - Page 91 - aid in the preparation _changed to_ - aid in the preparation of - - Page 107 - the first few moment _changed to_ - the first few moments - - Page 129 - Who dare’s call my Doro _changed to_ - Who dares call my Doro - - Page 132 - throw her Latin grammer _changed to_ - throw her Latin grammar - - Page 184 - “I think it is too bad, sir,” said Dorothy, grave- - were run away with.” - ly. “Really, it was not his fault at all that we - _changed to_ - “I think it is too bad, sir,” said Dorothy, gravely. - “Really, it was not his fault at all that we - were run away with.” - - Page 196 - That was then my _changed to_ - That was when my - - Page 228 - proceded to repeat _changed to_ - proceeded to repeat - - Page 237 - excaimed Dorothy, her beautiful _changed to_ - exclaimed Dorothy, her beautiful - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Dorothy Dale's Promise, by Margaret Penrose - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOROTHY DALE'S PROMISE *** - -***** This file should be named 54021-0.txt or 54021-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/4/0/2/54021/ - -Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, MFR and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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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