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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5438.txt b/5438.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9ec7bfb --- /dev/null +++ b/5438.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7781 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Glenloch Girls, by Grace M. Remick + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Glenloch Girls + +Author: Grace M. Remick + +Release Date: April, 2004 [EBook #5438] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on July 18, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, GLENLOCH GIRLS *** + + + + +Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + +GLENLOCH GIRLS + +By GRACE M. REMICK + +Author of + GLENLOCH GIRLS ABROAD + GLENLOCH GIRLS' CLUB + GLENLOCH GIRLS AT CAMP WEST + + +ILLUSTRATED BY ADA C. WILLLAMSON + + + + +To my little cousin + +KATHARINE McC. REMICK + +whose unfailing interest and appreciation have helped me to write +this book. + + + + +Introduction + + +This is the story of a pleasant winter in the lives of some everyday +girls and boys. That doesn't sound exciting, does it? And yet, if +you stop to think, you will remember that most girls and boys live +comparatively simple lives and that it is given only to a few to +have strange adventures and do valorous deeds. Ruth Shirley, one +of the girls, expects to be very forlorn, but, finding a new home +in Glenloch, she is welcomed by the kindest of friends and becomes +a Glenloch Girl in heart and name. One of the boys is obliged to +learn the lesson of patience and courage when that which he most +prizes is taken away and he supposes it will never be regained. +Like all the rest of us, these young people have their follies and +faults. On the whole, however, they are truthful, good-natured, +peaceable young citizens, full of the business of the hour, but +beginning already to plan for the mysterious future which to them +promises so much. Those who are interested in the story of their +good times together may be glad to read in "Glenloch Girls Abroad" +how Ruth meets her father, what tidings she has from Glenloch, and +something of the new friends she makes on the other side of the +ocean. They will be interested also in the further doings of The +Social Six, as they are related in "Glenloch Girls' Club." And the +adventures and good times of "Glenloch Girls at Camp West." + +GRACE M. REMICK. + + + + +CONTENTS + + I. RUTH'S FATHER + + II. THREE CHUMS + + III. THE NEWCOMER + + IV. A NEW CLUB + + V. THE SOCIAL SIX + + VI. BAD NEWS AND GOOD + + VII. CAPS AND APRONS + + VIII. CHARLOTTE'S PROBLEMS + + IX. OUT OF THE SNOW + + X. CHRISTMAS PRESENTS XI. ARTHUR COMES BACK + + XII. LOST AND FOUND + + XIII. MISS CYNTHIA + + XIV. TINY ELSA + + XV. PETER PAN + + XVI. TELLING FORTUNES + + XVII. UNCLE JERRY + +XVIII. THOSE RIDICULOUS BOYS + + XIX. "HOME, SWEET HOME" + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +"I WAS AFRAID YOU WEREN'T COMING," + +"DO YOU PROMISE TO KEEP OUR SECRETS?" + +"LET ME GIVE YOU YOUR PRESENT NOW" + +"IT'S VERY FINE AND BRAVE OF YOU" + +IT HAPPENED AS SHE HAD WISHED + +"IS YOUR LEMONADE GOOD?" + +"TELL THEM YOUR NEWS" + + + + +CHAPTER I + +RUTH'S FATHER + + +Just as the key clicked in the lock and the front door opened, +a bright face peeped over the baluster from the hall above. "Why, +papa," said a dismayed voice, "you're very early and I'm not dressed. +I wanted to be at the door to meet you tonight of all nights." + +"I'm sorry I'm not welcome, Ruthie," said papa, pretending to +be very much hurt. "Shall I go out and walk up and down the block +until you are ready to receive me?" + +"No, indeed, you absurd boy. I'll be down there in three minutes +and a half. Don't get interested in a book, will you, for I want +to talk with you." + +"Ail right, my dear," replied papa dutifully, and Ruth flew off to +her room to put the finishing touches to her toilet. + +A few minutes later she appeared in the library with flushed cheeks +and very bright eyes. "Now, Popsy, sit down here," she said, leading +him to the big armchair and sitting down in front of him. "Do you +know what day this is, sir?" she continued, trying to look very +stern. + +"I think I do," he answered meekly; "it's the seventeenth of +September, I believe." + +"And what day is that?" still more sternly. + +"That is, why, bless my soul, so it is, that's---" + +"Your birthday," finished Ruth triumphantly. "And we're going to +celebrate it just by ourselves. You aren't going out this evening, +are you, Popsy?" + +"No, dear, I shall be very glad to stay at home with you. I +am afraid, though, that I shan't be a very good birthday boy, for +there are some business plans that are troubling me, and I want to +talk them over with you." + +"Business plans?" said Ruth, surprised. "Why, papa, I never supposed +I could help you about business plans." + +"These particular plans have so much to do with you, little girl, +that it's only fair to tell you about them before I decide. However, +we won't talk about them until after dinner, for I'm as hungry as +a bear." + +"Well, do run upstairs and get ready now, for dinner will be ready +in a few minutes, and I'm dying to give you your birthday surprise." + +"Dear me, I thought it was enough of a shock to have a birthday, +without more surprises. Give it to me by degrees, please, for in +my starving condition I can't bear much." + +Ruth watched her father as he ran lightly up the stairs, and wondered +if any other girl had such a great, strong, handsome papa. "He's +my very best chum," she said to herself, "and sometimes he doesn't +seem a bit older than I do." + +Just as the maid announced dinner, papa appeared and Ruth met him +at the foot of the stairs with a sweeping courtesy. He responded +with a ceremonious bow, and the proffer of his arm, which Ruth took +with great gravity. + +"Aren't we grand?" she said in a satisfied tone. "It makes me feel +dreadfully grown up to have you treat me so politely." + +"I'll stop then," laughed papa. "Fourteen is old enough, and I +don't want my girl to turn into a young lady just yet." + +"Now shut your eyes, Popsy, and don't look until I get you into +your chair," said Ruth as they reached the dining-room door. + +Her father obediently shut his eyes, and Ruth led him to his place +at the table. Then she slipped around to her own chair, and clapping +her hands said triumphantly, "Now look." + +"Oh--o-oh!" gasped her father, almost before he had opened his +eyes. "This is truly superb. Ruth, you're an artist." + +"Mary helped me do it," said Ruth, smiling at the pretty maid; "but +I planned it every bit myself. I thought I would make it a pink +and white birthday because pink is your favorite color." + +Mr. Shirley looked at the pretty table with appreciative eyes. In +the centre a bowl of pink roses reflected in its shining facets +the lights of the pink candies which filled the candelabra at the +ends of the table. Broad, pink satin ribbons, with rosebuds and +maidenhair fern dropped upon them at intervals, ran from the flower +bowl in the centre to the comers of the polished table, and in front +of papa's plate was a huge birthday cake resplendent with pink and +white icing and glittering with candies. + +"You don't have to eat the birthday cake first," said Ruth, as Mr. +Shirley looked somewhat apprehensively in its direction. "You see +I made it myself, and I thought I couldn't possibly wait all through +dinner for it to be put on, so I told Mary we'd make it a sort of +glorified supper, and we could have the cake to look at while we +were eating the other things." + +"Do you mean to tell me that you made this gorgeous concoction +yourself?" asked papa, looking at her admiringly. "To think I should +have had such a genius in my house and not have known it." + +"I've been practicing ever since the first of September," answered +Ruth proudly, "and Nora said that this one looked quite perfect. +But you mustn't take too long over your supper, for there's another +surprise coming when we are all by ourselves in the library." + +"You don't say so. How can I wait until then?" said Mr. Shirley, +beginning to attack the salad with great energy. + +It was a delightful birthday supper, Ruth thought, for her father +was his funniest self, and she laughed so much that she had scarcely +time to eat. The cake was a great success, and Mr. Shirley praised +the maker of it so warmly that she blushed rosily and flew around +the table to give him a hug and kiss. + +"Now for surprise number two," cried Ruth as they left the table +and went into the cozy library. "Sit in the big chair, papa, and +I'll bring it to you." + +Mr. Shirley waited with pretended anxiety while Ruth opened a +drawer in the desk and took out a small box. "This is for the best +of fathers and the best of chums," she said giving it to him with +a kiss. + +"From the best of little daughters," he added as he opened the box. +Inside was a velvet case and opening that he found a gold locket +on which his monogram had been engraved. + +"It's for you to wear on your watch-chain," said Ruth. "Now open +it." + +Mr. Shirley pressed the tiny spring, and the locket flew open +disclosing two miniatures beautifully painted. One of Ruth with +merry brown eyes and brown curls tied in a knot in her neck, and the +other of a sweet-faced, tender-eyed woman whom Ruth much resembled. + +"Popsy, dear," said Ruth, "I couldn't think of anything you would +like half so well as these, so I took the money Uncle Jerry sent +me last birthday and had them painted for you. Isn't it sweet of +mamma?" she added softly. + +"Nothing you could have given me would have pleased me so much," +said Mr. Shirley with an odd little choke in his voice. "Those are +the two dearest faces I could possibly see, and they shall go with +me everywhere." + +"I'm so glad you like it. And now, papa, let's have the business +plans. It makes me feel very important to think that you are going +to talk business with me." + +"Dear, I'm afraid it's going to make you unhappy, and I hate to +spoil our pleasant evening together. Shan't we get the birthday +safely over, and put off the business plans until tomorrow?" + +"Seems to me I remember that you are always telling me something +about 'never putting off until tomorrow,' etc., etc. No, sir," she +continued with mock sternness, "I want to hear all about it." + +Still her father hesitated, until Ruth said hopefully, "You +haven't lost all your money, have you? That would be so romantic +and interesting. I think I should go out as a cook, and perhaps +you could get a place as butler in the same house. If it happened +just now, though, I should have to feed them on birthday cake until +I learned to make something else." + +Mr. Shirley threw back his head and laughed. "You're a good planner, +Ruthie, but I hardly think you'll be obliged to go out as a cook +just yet. I am sorry to disappoint you, but I really can't say that +I have lost any money." + +"Well, then, please tell me all about it, and I'll listen very +quietly," said Ruth perching herself on the arm of the big chair. + +"It's just this, little daughter," answered Mr. Shirley, putting +his arm around Ruth and drawing her closer; "it has been decided +that it will be a profitable thing for us to open a branch house +in Germany, and it is important that some member of the firm should +be over there for a year or two to start it." + +"And are you the one to go?" cried Ruth, clapping her hands. "Why +should you think that would make me unhappy, when it is one of the +dreams of my life to go abroad?" + +"That's just where the trouble comes, Ruthie," said her father +tenderly. "I have thought it all over carefully, and I cannot make +myself think that it would be right or wise to take you over there +with me for the first year. For six months, at least, I shall be +traveling nearly all the time, and I should neither want to take +you with me nor to leave you in a pension." + +"But, father, I'd be willing to stay alone if I could only see you +once in a while," cried Ruth with quivering lips. "Or you could +get me a German governess, and----" + +"Darling, I've thought over every possible plan, and it still seems +to me better for you not to go over during my first year," answered +Mr. Shirley soberly. + +"Oh, papa, I can't bear it," sobbed Ruth, burying her face on her +father's shoulder. "We've been such chums for the last year, and +I can't get along without you. Besides," she said, checking her +tears and looking at him with a pitiful attempt at a smile, "when +mamma died she told me I must try to take her place and always take +care of you, and how can I if you go so far away?" + +There was another burst of sobs, and all Mr. Shirley could do was +to hold her close and stroke the soft curls with a remorseful hand. +At last when it seemed to him that he could bear it no longer she +raised her tear-stained face, and said as she used to say when she +was a little girl, "I'm going to be good now, papa." + +"That's my brave girl," said Mr. Shirley much relieved. "Here, let +me help you wipe your eyes, darling. You need something bigger than +that scrap of a handkerchief after such a shower." + +Ruth laughed weakly as papa sopped her eyes in an unskilful but +efficacious manner. Then as she lay back in his arms quite tired +out after her storm of tears she said soberly, "Tell me all the +rest now, papa, please. What do you mean to do with me?" + +"That is the hardest question of all to decide," answered Mr. +Shirley gravely. "I never realized before quite how hard it would +be to find a suitable home for such an attractive young person +as you are. If Uncle Jerry would only find a wife and settle down +within the next month you could go to him, but I'm afraid we can't +manage that." + +"Within a month, papa? Must it be so soon as that?" asked Ruth, +looking at him with eyes that threatened to overflow again. + +"I'm afraid it must, dear," answered Mr. Shirley. "You see the +sooner I get to Germany the better it will be for the business, and +if you and I have a hard thing to do we may as well get it over as +soon as possible." + +Ruth shut her eyes for a moment and clenched her hands. She was +determined not to cry again, at least not when she was with her +father. + +"You must have some plan for me in your mind, papa," she said at +last very quietly; "please tell me what it is." + +"Well, dear, there are three ways out of it. You must either go to +school, have some one come and live with you here, or go to live +in the family of some one we know." + +"I've always thought I should just love to go to boarding-school," +said Ruth thoughtfully, "but now it seems to me I should hate it. +And I should simply die if you left me in this house, for I should +miss you and mamma every minute." + +"That's just what I feared," said Mr. Shirley, "and as to the +boarding-school plan, there are several reasons why I should prefer +to give that up for this year. That leaves plan number three to +be considered, and today I've had what I think is a brilliant idea +regarding it." + +"What is it, papa?" asked Ruth, beginning to get interested. + +"It seems to me that if I leave you with any of our friends here +in Chicago you will be constantly reminded of mamma and me and will +miss us more than you would if you were in some place where we had +never been together. Just as I was thinking this all over for the +hundredth time this morning a letter came from my old college chum, +Henry Hamilton. It was largely a business letter, but at the end +he inquired for you, and said that they wished very much that they +had a daughter growing up in their family." + +"Seems to me I've heard mamma speak of Mrs. Hamilton," said Ruth +musingly. "Didn't they play together when they were little girls?" + +"Why, yes, of course they did. Mrs. Hamilton was Mary Ashley, and +you remember that funny story mamma used to tell you about the time +they thought they heard a burglar." + +"Oh, yes, and how they went into Boston to a big fair and they lost +Mary Ashley's mother, who was taking care of them and had such a +funny time getting home," said Ruth. + +"Well, I called on them the last time I went East, and found them +living not far from Boston in a very delightful home, and when that +letter reminded me of them today I thought at once that their home +would be just the place for you if they were willing to take you." + +"Are there any children in the family?" + +"One boy about sixteen," replied Mr. Shirley. + +"Dear me! I wish he had a sister. But, papa, have you any idea that +they'll want to take a strange girl into their family for a whole +year? If they will take me I shall be so much nearer Europe, shan't +I?" + +"Of course you will, darling, and I somehow have the feeling that +they'll be glad to have you with them," said Mr. Shirley. "Now +if you agree with me that it is best to try this plan, I'll write +tonight, for I'm sorry to say our plans must be made quickly." + +Ruth's eyes filled with tears which she could not hide. "It all +seems so horrid to me when I think of being without you, papa," +she said slowly, "that I can't make any choice. You'll have to do +just as you think best, and perhaps I shall learn to be brave." + +Mr. Shirley hugged her tight for a moment without speaking. Then he +said tenderly, "Darling, go to bed now and try to sleep. Perhaps +in the morning things will look brighter to you. We'll talk it over +then and see what is best to be done." + +Ruth kissed him and tried to smile, "Goodnight, papa; I'll be +a better chum tomorrow," she said with an effort, and then went +quickly from the room. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THREE CHUMS + + +"Why, how delightful, Henry," cried Mrs. Hamilton, as she finished +reading a letter which her husband had just handed to her. "Of +course we want the little girl to come at once." + +"Of course," agreed Mr. Hamilton with equal heartiness. "It will +be nice to have a little daughter around the house to bring me my +slippers and play and sing to me when I am tired. But what will +Arthur think of it?" inquired Mr. Hamilton with a note of anxiety +in his voice. + +"I hadn't thought of that," answered his wife, her bright face +clouding. "I dare say he won't like it at all, but I don't see that +we can let him decide it. Perhaps it may do him good in the end." + +"Well, I shall leave you to settle it with him," said Mr. Hamilton +rising from the table. "For some reason nothing I say seems to make +much of an impression on him nowadays." + +"I must say that I get dreadfully discouraged, too," confessed his +wife. "He is so hopelessly indifferent to everything he used to +like; he utterly refuses to see one of the boys or girls, and he +sits for hours at a time doing absolutely nothing. I can see that +the doctor is really anxious about him," she continued. + +"Keep up your courage, dear," said Mr. Hamilton with more cheerfulness +than he felt. "Perhaps we shall find a way out of it soon." + +"I'll go up now and tell Arthur about Ruth," said Mrs. Hamilton as +she said goodbye to her husband in the hall. "That will give him +something to think of, whether he likes the prospect or not." + +As Mrs. Hamilton entered the little sitting-room which used to be +the pride of her son's heart, it was so full of warmth and light +and brightness that, for a moment, in spite of herself, she felt +as if she must see the cheery boy of six months before. Everything +so suggested him, and it was so clearly the room of a boy who loved +all kinds of outdoor exercise. A pair of tennis racquets crossed +on the wall had evidently resigned their place for the time being +to the golf clubs which stood in one comer. A couple of paddles +occupied another comer, and rigged on the wall near the door was +a complicated arrangement of ropes, pulleys and weights designed +to exercise every muscle in the human body. Mrs. Hamilton sighed +involuntarily as her eye rested on a silver cup which stood proudly +on the centre table, a mute witness to the prowess of its owner. +It was the prize for a hundred yard dash in which Arthur had borne +off the honors. + +"He'll never be able to do that again, poor laddie," she said to +herself, as she waited a moment to brush the tears from her eyes +before opening the door into the next room. + +"Good-morning, dear boy," she said brightly, as she entered a room +which seemed doubly gloomy to her after the brightness of the one +she had left. "You should provide a boy with a torch so that your +visitors can see to get across the room. What ho! have I found you +at last?" she continued, as she took her son's hand in a tender +grasp and gave him a good-morning kiss. + +"Do let's have some sunshine, Arthur," she said, putting up the +curtain and letting in a flood of light. "There, now I feel more +at home. Why don't you get the benefit of the morning sunshine?" + +"I don't like to look out just at this time in the morning, mother," +he answered briefly. + +Mrs. Hamilton understood in a flash, for just as they were speaking +a gay group of boys and girls had passed the window, and Arthur, +who had turned involuntarily to look at them, had closed his eyes +quickly as though to shut out the pleasant sight. + +"Dr. Holland says you may begin to study again, now, Arthur," said +his mother cheerfully, "and it seems to me you might be ready for +college next fall if you do a little every day. You may have a +tutor any time you are ready." + +"What's the use?" answered Arthur languidly. "I can't do anything +in athletics with this confounded leg, and I don't want to go there +just to limp around and grind." + +"My dear boy, college training is occasionally useful in the way of +improving one's mind as well as muscles," said Mrs. Hamilton with +mild sarcasm. "Dear, don't think I am unsympathetic," she added +quickly as her son. frowned impatiently. "I realize, in part, at +least, what it must be to you to give up your dreams of athletic +glory; but I know, too, that no one else can fight this battle for +you. You've got to face the question squarely, and I have faith +that you will come out a conqueror if you put your best self into +the effort." + +"Mother, you don't begin to know," said Arthur slowly, "what this +means to me. It's not alone giving up the athletics, though that's +hard enough, but it's the sensitiveness I feel about letting any +one see that I'm lame. I believe I was rather proud before," he +continued with a faint smile, "because I was straight and strong +and could almost always beat the other boys at any game we tried; +I know it always seemed to me the most dreadful thing in the world +to be crippled in any way, and now I've got to hop around with a +crutch all the rest of my life. Oh, I believe I'd rather die," he +ended bitterly. + +"Arthur, dear, I can understand that feeling perfectly," answered +his mother eagerly, "for at your age I had it as strongly as you have. +I think it is only natural to rejoice in strength and straightness +and skill, and to be sensitive if in any way they are taken away +from us. But for all our sakes you've got to bring yourself out of +this unhappy condition. Begin with your crutches about your room, +and when you get a little skill surprise father and me by coming +downstairs. We miss our boy more than I can say." + +There was silence for a moment and then Mrs. Hamilton said: + +"I came up with a pocketful of news and have almost forgotten to +tell you about it. We are to have a new member in our family; a +little girl, the daughter of an old friend of mine, is coming to +live with us for a whole year." + +"How old is she?" asked Arthur indifferently. + +"I'm not quite sure," answered his mother, relieved to find that +he took it so calmly, "but I think she is about fourteen." + +"Fourteen! Gracious!" ejaculated Arthur sitting bolt upright in +his dismay. "You don't mean to say that we've got to have a girl +fourteen years old in this house? I thought you meant a child about +four or five when you said 'little girl.'" + +Mrs. Hamilton couldn't help laughing at his comical look of +apprehension. "I think she's quite harmless, Arthur, and perhaps +you may find her really agreeable when you know her." + +"You know I don't know how to get on with girls, mother," he answered +ruefully. "I shall keep out of her way as much as possible, she +may be sure of that." + +"I am sorry to find you so ungraciously disposed toward our guest," +said Mrs. Hamilton quietly, "for I hoped you would help me to make +it pleasant for her. Her mother died only a little more than a year +ago, and now she is going to lose her father for a year, so I am +afraid the poor child will be rather forlorn." + +"We shall make a pretty pair for you and father to get along with," +said Arthur half ashamed. "I'm blue and disagreeable most of the +time, and she'll probably be ready to burst into tears at a moment's +notice." + +"There are other ways of giving way to one's feelings that are fully +as bad as tears, I think, my son," said Mrs. Hamilton significantly. + +Arthur said nothing, but his chin went down upon his hand in a way +that seemed to signify that he knew what his mother meant. + +Mrs. Hamilton looked at the curly head remorsefully, and longed to +pet and comfort as only mothers can. She knew, however, that Arthur +must be made to see that he was spoiling his life by giving way to +this great trial which had come to him. + +"Well, dear boy," she said at last, "I must go now and write to +Ruth and tell her that I shall be glad to welcome her here." + +"How soon will she get here?" asked Arthur in a resigned tone. + +"Her father wrote that he expects to sail on the fifteenth +of October, and as he wants to have two or three days in New York +before sailing that will probably bring her here about the twelfth +or thirteenth. Not quite three weeks, you see." + +"The time does seem short," said Arthur, trying to appear politely +interested. + +His mother laughed. "I'll leave you to prepare your mind for this +new infliction while I write the note and do my marketing. Don't +forget that you are going to practice with the crutches as soon as +possible; I shall be so proud of you when you can walk downstairs." + +Mrs. Hamilton a little later at her desk was just beginning the +pleasant task of writing to Ruth, when the sound of the doorbell +and a quick scamper of feet up the stairs made her put down her +pen with a smile. "Why, girls," she said as a trio of bright faces +appeared in the doorway. "How does it happen that you are out of +school at this hour of the day?" + +"Something happened to the gas-pipes, and there was an awful smell +of gas, and all sorts of workmen walking around the building, so +we were sent home," answered the tallest of the three girls. "And +we thought we'd come in and see you for a few minutes, if you +weren't busy and didn't mind." + +"I'm almost never too busy to see you and Charlotte and Dorothy, +Betty, and I'm particularly glad just now, for I want to consult +you all about something." + +"How fine," said Dorothy. "I love to be consulted, don't you, +girls?" + +"You see," continued Mrs. Hamilton, "I am going to borrow a daughter +for a whole year, and I thought you three would be the very ones +to help me make her happy." + +"We will. We'd like to," answered the girls. "How old is she?" +asked Charlotte. "And what's her name?" put in Dorothy. "I always +like to know the name before I begin to think very much about a +person." + +"Her name is Ruth Shirley, and she's just fourteen, I believe. She +lost a very lovely mother about a year ago, and now her father is +obliged to go abroad on business, so I suspect the poor child will +feel lonely and homesick for a while." + +"We'll give her all the good times we can," said Betty warmly. +"When do you expect her, Mrs. Hamilton?" + +"In less than three weeks, I think, and that reminds me that I +want you all to advise me about making her room pretty. Let's go +and look at it now and discuss ways and means." + +"Oh, you are going to give her the pink room," cried Dorothy as +they entered it. "I think this is the loveliest room in the house." +It was a pretty room, with its delicate pink and white paper, its +dainty draperies and white furniture, and the girls wondered what +more it could need in the way of preparation. + +"It seems to me this is fine enough for any one," said Charlotte, +who usually thought aloud quite frankly. "I don't see what you can +do to make it prettier." + +"Perhaps not so much prettier as a little more homelike, Charlotte. +For one thing I mean to have some andirons so that there can be a +fire made here when necessary, for this is likely to be a cold room +in winter." + +"That will be jolly," murmured Charlotte. "If there's anything I +adore it's an open fire with a rug before it. I hope she's a nice, +quiet girl and likes to read," she added with pretended anxiety, +"for in that case I shouldn't mind having her in the room with me +when I am enjoying her fire." + +They all laughed and Dorothy said, "Charlotte is such an old bookworm +that she won't know how to get on with any one who doesn't like to +read. For my part I hope she will be full of fun and like having +a good time better than poking in books all the time." + +"Well," said Betty pensively, "I hope she likes cats." + +"Well, girls, I hope Ruth will satisfy your expectations," said +Mrs. Hamilton. "And now I want you to do something for me. I want +each of you to think of something that will make the room look more +homelike and more like a girl's room. You may select anything you +like and if I can get it I shall, for I want you all to feel that +you have had a share in making the room pretty." + +"I know something," began Dorothy. + +"Don't tell, don't tell," interrupted Charlotte. "Let's tell Mrs. +Hamilton secretly, and after the room is finished we'll see if we +can guess what each one suggested." + +"That's a clever idea, Lottchen," said Betty, who admired all that +Charlotte said or did. + +This agreed upon, the girls said they must go, and Mrs. Hamilton +settled down to her letter once more. + +"MY DEAR RUTH" (she wrote): + +"I can't wait any longer to tell you how delighted I am to know +that you are coming to us for a whole year. I have always wanted +a daughter of my own, and the next best thing to that will be to +have a borrowed one. I am afraid you are not so full of delight at +the prospect as Mr. Hamilton and I are, but we hope to be able to +drive away at least a part of the homesickness, and we already feel +an affection for the little girl who is coming to us. + +"I am going to send you a photograph of some girls who have just +been in to see me and who have heard the news of your coming. I am +very fond of them, and they call themselves my 'visiting daughters,' +and run in to see me at all hours and on all sorts of errands. They +are very glad to know you are coming and are already wondering how +you look and whether you will like them. The one in the middle of +the picture is Charlotte Eastman, and the plump little girl on her +right is Betty Ellsworth. The other is Dorothy Marshall. I shall +not tell you anything more about them, because you will soon see +them and learn to know them for yourself." + +Just here Mrs. Hamilton paused in her letter. "She must know that +I have a son, and I'm afraid she'll think it strange if I don't +mention him," she said to herself. "I can't tell her that he is +dreading her coming, and I certainly can't say with truth that he +is expecting her with pleasure. Well, a very little will do and I +can explain later." + +"My son, Arthur," the letter went on, "is slowly recovering from +the effects of a severe accident. He has not yet left his room, +but I hope by the time you arrive he will have greatly improved. + +"And now, my dear, I'll close my note and hurry it off so that it +may soon assure you of our hearty welcome. With kindest regards to +your father, and love to yourself, I am, + +"Yours very sincerely, + +"MARY A. HAMILTON." + +Mrs. Hamilton's eyes were very tender as she folded and sealed her +letter. "Poor little girl," she said half aloud, "I suspect she +thinks her heart is broken, but we must try to mend it for her." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE NEWCOMER + + +At three o'clock on the afternoon of the twelfth of October the +Hamilton house was very still. Mrs. Hamilton had gone into town, +the housemaid was taking her "afternoon out," and the cook, who +had been kept awake by toothache the night before, was enjoying a +nap. + +Just about this time Arthur peered cautiously from his room. No one +being in sight he came out slowly and carefully on his crutches. +"I can do miles of exercise in this hall," he said to himself with +grim satisfaction, "as long as there is no one to watch me." + +He went up and down once, and then with great effort for a second +time. Just as he was about ready to start again, the door-bell rang. +He went carefully toward the door of his own room, always afraid +of toppling over, and paused when he got there to listen. The bell +rang again, this time more insistently, and he wondered impatiently +where Katie and Ellen were, and why some one didn't go to the door. +A third peal of the bell sent him back to the hall window. From +there he could see the depot carriage with a trunk on the back, and +the driver looking expectantly at the house. He could hear voices +on the steps below, but could see no one until, after a fourth +ring, a gentleman and a young girl went slowly down the steps and +stood looking back at the house. + +"It's that girl, and she's come a day too soon," gasped Arthur. He +threw up the hall window and spoke to them. + +"If you will wait a moment longer," he said, "I will try to find +some one to open the door for you." + +The gentleman bowed and thanked him, the girl smiled, and Arthur +left the window, inwardly vowing vengeance on faithless maids who +didn't attend to their duties. He groaned as he suddenly remembered +that it was Katie's afternoon out. He might as well go downstairs +himself as take the long journey through the house to find Ellen. + +"If I try to go down on these old sticks, they'll have to break +open the door and pick me up," he said to himself with a rueful +smile." I'll try it baby fashion." Sitting down, he let his crutches +slide along beside him, and holding the injured leg straight out +before him hitched along from stair to stair until he reached the +bottom. Then with even greater caution than he had used before he +walked to the door and opened it. + +A bright-faced girl stood on the step and without waiting for Arthur +to speak said pleasantly, "I am Ruth Shirley, and I am afraid you +are not expecting me until to-morrow." + +"I am sure mother didn't expect you to-day, for she has gone in town +and won't be back before five o'clock," said Arthur, unpleasantly +conscious of his crutches, his dressing-gown and his distracted-looking +hair. + +Ruth turned to the gentleman who was with her and held out her +hand. "Thank you very much, Mr. Ingersoll, for taking care of me +so nicely. I shall write father all about your kindness." + +"It was a very great pleasure, Miss Ruth," answered Mr. Ingersoll, +"and I shall hope some day to be able to tell your father what a +delightful traveling companion I found you. I am only sorry that I +must say good-bye so soon." The driver having carried in her trunk, +Ruth shook hands warmly with Mr. Ingersoll and watched him with a +little homesick pang as he stepped into the carriage and was driven +away. Then she walked into the house with the curious idea that she +was either just waking from a dream or was just going to begin one. + +"I feel like those funny little girls in the wonderland stories who +open mysterious doors and have ail sorts of adventures," she said +with a nervous little laugh. + +Arthur was distinctly conscious that he wished she had opened some +other mysterious door than his own. What on earth should he do with +a strange girl for the next hour or more? + +"You'd like to go up to your room, I'm sure," he said at last +with almost a gasp of relief. "I'll show you," he added, and then +stopped short. How was he going to get up those stairs again? Would +it be possible for him to make such an exhibition of himself with +the eyes of a girl upon him? + +"I think you'll have to let me tell you where it is," he said +finally. "It is the last room on the right as you go toward the +back of the house, and I think you will find everything there to +make you comfortable until my mother gets home." + +Ruth was rather awed by his excessive dignity, and because she was +a little nervous, and tired from her long journey, felt an intense +desire to laugh at him, at herself, or at nothing at all, for that +matter. She managed to restrain herself, however, and with a meek +"thank you," picked up her bag and went up-stairs. + +Arthur saw her disappear with a sigh of relief. "I'll wait until +she gets nicely settled in her room, and then I'll crawl up-stairs," +he said to himself, dropping wearily into one of the hall chairs. +He had sat there but a moment when to his horror he heard some one +coming quickly through the dining-room, and then a surprised voice +said: + +"Why, Arthur! How good it seems to see you down-stairs again!" + +"Oh, hello, Betty," answered Arthur, immensely relieved to find +that it was no one more formidable. "How did you get in?" + +"I slipped in the back door and found Ellen just coming down-stairs +rubbing her eyes. She said she thought she heard the bell ring, +but wasn't sure," finished Betty with a mischievous twinkle in her +eye. "I saw it all from my window, and knew your mother had gone +in town, so I thought I'd run over and see if I could do anything +for any one." + +"You're a trump, Betty, and you can do something," answered Arthur +gratefully. "Of course I had to ask her to go up to her room, and +I was just thinking she'd be rather forlorn sitting there until +mother gets here. It will be just the thing for you to go up and +talk to her." + +"Well, I will," said Betty, and started up the stairs. Half-way up +she paused and then came back. "I've got to run back home, Arthur. +There's something I want to get before I meet Ruth, and I won't be +gone a minute." + +She was out of the house in a second, and Arthur left to himself +wondered if he should have time to get up-stairs before her return. +"I should be afraid to try it," he thought; "she's as quick as a +flash, and I should probably be stuck half-way up by the time she +got back. I'll wait until the girls get to talking and then they +won't hear anything." + +In the meantime the pretty pink room was doing its best to make +the new occupant feel at home. + +"What a dear room!" Ruth said involuntarily as she stepped across +the threshold, and, as if to welcome the little mistress, the +andirons gleamed brightly, the polished teakettle shone with all +its might, and a capacious couch heaped with pillows and covered +with a gay Bagdad looked so comfortable that Ruth longed to try it +at once. She couldn't resist the temptation to peep into the desk +which stood in the comer, and she oh-ed with delight over the dainty +paper and the pretty silver penholder with her name engraved on +it. + +"I suppose you must belong to me, you dear room," she said half +aloud, "but I didn't think that I should have such a pretty one." + +She looked at the desk with great satisfaction. She opened the +little drawers and found to her surprise that one was filled with +foreign note-paper in delicate blue. "Just what I want for my +letters to papa," she thought with a little sigh, "and it was so +thoughtful of them to get blue, for that will express my feelings +so much better." + +"It's quite like having a fairy godmother," she said aloud, as her +eye took in a carved book-rack filled with books, and wandered to +the pretty tea-table where a tall chocolate pot seemed to proclaim +that nothing so harmful as tea should be taken by the girls who +might make merry there. + +"She's every bit as nice as a fairy god-mother," said a gay voice, +and Ruth turned suddenly to see standing in the doorway a plump, +red-haired girl with a fuzzy black kitten nestling on her shoulder. + +"On, you are Betty, I know," cried Ruth, much to the astonishment +of her guest. + +"I am, but I don't see how you knew," answered Betty, opening her +brown eyes very wide. + +"Oh, the fairy godmother wrote me about you," laughed Ruth, "and I've +looked at your picture at intervals all the way on from Chicago." + +"Then you know Charlotte and Dorothy, too, and we shan't seem like +strangers," said Betty with great satisfaction. "I live just across +the street, and I saw you come and knew Mrs. Hamilton had gone in +town, so I thought I'd run over and see you." + +Ruth smiled gratefully. "I'm glad you did, for I do feel just a +bit lonesome. What a darling kitten," she continued, stroking the +soft head as the black mite blinked sleepily at her and stretched +out a tiny paw. + +"I thought I'd bring him over," said Betty, "because kittens are +such a comfort to me, and I hoped you liked them, too. Mrs. Hamilton +says you may have a kitten if you want one, and I thought this one +would look so well on your white rug that I chose him." + +"Is he really for me?" cried Ruth as she took him gently in her arms +and sat down on the rug. "You couldn't have brought me anything I +should have liked better. I had to give away my kitten when I left +home and I had begun to miss the dear thing already." + +"I told the girls I was sure you liked kittens," said Betty +triumphantly, "and now I shall crow over them, for they are always +laughing at me for liking them so much. Charlotte says that a kitten +is my trade-mark." + +"Tell me about Charlotte," said Ruth eagerly. "Is she as much like +her picture as you are?" + +"Charlotte is a dear, and I know you'll like her, though some of +the girls call her queer and odd and never do get really acquainted +with her. She's tall and thin and doesn't look very strong, and +I'm afraid you won't think her a bit pretty. I'm so fond of her, +though, that she always looks pretty to me," ended Betty loyally, +trying to do full justice to her friend and yet be honest. + +"She sounds interesting," murmured Ruth, rubbing the sleepy kitten +under its chin and beginning to feel less homesick. + +"Interesting! I should say so!" replied Betty energetically. "Why, +she's the cleverest girl I know; there isn't anything she can't +do; and she writes the most beautiful stories. I don't see how, +for it's more than I can do to write the essays we have in school." + +"I don't mind so much writing essays, but I do hate arithmetic and +algebra, and I never can get them through my head. Papa says I must +go to school here, but I'm afraid I shan't be far enough along to +go in the class with you," said Ruth soberly. + +"Oh, that will be too bad. But if you can't, you can probably go in +with Dorothy, for she's a class behind Charlotte and me. Dolly's +great fun," continued Betty; "she has long braids of really golden +hair, and blue eyes and the prettiest color in her cheeks. She's +full of fun and always ready for a good time. Her father has a +great deal of money, I suppose, for she has an allowance and lots +of pretty clothes, and doesn't have to economize the way Charlotte +and I do." + +"I have an allowance, but it isn't a very big one and I never know +where it goes to," confessed Ruth. "Papa wants me to keep a cash +account this winter, and send it over to him every month. but I +know I shall make awful work of it." + +"I tried it once when grandma gave me five dollars to spend just +as I liked," said Betty with a laugh. "I got along pretty well +considering it was the first time, but when I came to balance it +I was forty-three cents short and so I wrote at the end, 'Gone, I +know not where, forty-three cents.' I showed it to father, and he +has never got over it; he said it was the most poetical entry he +had ever seen in a cash account." + +Just then there was a knock at the door, and Betty opened it to +find Ellen standing there, with her face wreathed in smiles and a +tray in her hands. + +"Mr. Arthur thought you might be hungry, Miss," she said to Ruth, +"and so I brought you up a cup of chocolate and a bit of bread and +butter to make you last till dinner time. I thought perhaps Miss +Betty might like some, too," she added with a sly smile. + +"Did you ever know the time when I wasn't ready for a cup of your +chocolate, Ellen?" replied Betty enthusiastically. "She makes the +best chocolate you ever tasted, Ruth." + +"Oh, now you're flatterin' me, Miss Betty, dear," said Ellen, +backing out of the door in pretended confusion. + +"Not a bit of it. You know it's so yourself," called Betty as the +door closed. "Wasn't it nice of Arthur to think of it?" she added, +as they settled down to their cozy lunch. + +"Very," answered Ruth, who, at sight of the thin bread and butter +and the steaming chocolate topped with small mountains of whipped +cream, had just found out that she was really hungry and couldn't +wait another moment. + +While the girls had been talking, Arthur had been trying to make +up his mind to start up the stairs again. The flight looked endless +to him, and after the excitement and effort he had just been through +he felt weak and miserable. Time after time he decided to start, +and once he got as far as the stairs, but a sudden sound drove him +back to the hall sofa again. How could he tell that Betty might not +come down at any minute and perhaps bring Ruth with her? At last a +brilliant idea struck him. Ruth must be hungry after her journey, +and if Ellen should take up a lunch it would keep them busy for +some time at least. He made his way out into the kitchen, where +Ellen received him with wonder and delight, and almost cried over +him, so great was her joy at seeing him down-stairs once more. +Then, having waited until the tray was safely in Ruth's room, he +started up-stairs. It was no small undertaking to hitch along, one +stair at a time, dragging a stiff, painful leg, and pulling his +crutches after him. At last, however, with only three more stairs +before him, he stopped to rest a moment and began to breathe more +easily. + +"There," said Ruth, as she finished her last piece of bread +and butter and set down her cup with hardly a drop in it, "I feel +like another girl. I didn't know how hungry I was. I couldn't eat +any dinner on the train because I felt so badly over leaving papa +and----" + +A strange noise interrupted her. A noise of some one or something +clattering, bumping, sliding down-stairs. + +"What do you think it is, Betty?" asked Ruth turning pale. + +"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," answered Betty, who had +already started for the hall. As they reached the top of the stairs +they stopped short, for there sat Arthur, very red, very much out +of breath and, it must be confessed, very cross. + +"Oh, Arthur, how you scared us! I thought some one was just about +killed," cried Betty. + +"It was those confounded crutches," answered Arthur gruffly. "They +slipped just as I reached the top stair, and I nearly broke my +neck trying to catch them. I don't see how I am going to get into +my room unless you'll get them for me, Betty," he added helplessly. + +"Why, of course; how stupid of me not to think of it!" said Betty, +as she slipped by him and ran lightly down the stairs. + +Ruth stood in the hall feeling very ill at ease. She wished Arthur +would laugh and make things seem less solemn. Then as he didn't +look at her or say a word she went back into her room again. + +"Wasn't that too bad?" said Betty softly as she came in and closed +the door. "Arthur is dreadfully sensitive about his lameness, and +I am afraid it will take him a long time to get over this afternoon's +experience. Why, just think, this is the first time I've seen him +since his accident." + +Betty was trying to look sober, but her eyes were dancing with +merriment in spite of her efforts. Finally she gave a half-stifled +little laugh as she said, "I was dreadfully sorry for him, but he +was so funny sitting there at the top of the stairs and looking +so dignified and cross. I almost know he'd been doing his best to +get up without letting us hear him." + +Betty's laugh was irresistible, and Ruth, who had been on the verge +of either laughter or tears ail day, couldn't help joining in. + +"Oh, oh," laughed Betty, burying her face in a cushion. "Sh, +sh, he'll hear us," she gasped, as Ruth gave an answering peal of +laughter. "It's dreadful of us," said Betty at last, sitting up +and wiping her eyes, "to laugh at that poor boy. I'm just ashamed." + +"So am I," gasped Ruth, "but you're really too funny when you laugh +and I couldn't help it." + +Betty's eyes twinkled, and Ruth looked as though a fresh burst were +imminent when a pleasant voice said in the doorway: + +"Well, I hear that my girl has stolen a march on me and got here +before I expected her. Your father's telegram has only just arrived, +my dear, and I am so sorry that I wasn't here to welcome you." + +Ruth looked with eager curiosity at the tall, gracious woman who +came toward her. Then she put both hands into the welcoming ones +outstretched to meet her, and said with a little quiver in her +voice: + +"Papa said that the moment I saw you I should feel at home, and I +do." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A NEW CLUB + + +The first days in the new home, while Mr. Shirley was still in New +York and within reach, were hard to bear and unpleasant to think +of afterward. The new friends were so anxious to help her through +the hard time that they scarcely gave her time to think, but in +spite of their kindness, Ruth went to bed at night with a lonesome +ache in her throat, and got up in the morning with the wild desire +to take the first train to New York and catch papa before he should +sail. + +When at last the day and hour of sailing had come and gone, Ruth +found it easier to resign herself to the inevitable, and began to +really enjoy life instead of only seeming to do so. + +Glenloch was a beautiful town, just far enough from Boston to make +it seem like the country, and yet near enough so that concerts and +shopping were within easy reach. To Ruth, who, except for brief +visits East, had been accustomed ail her life to the level stretches +of the Middle West, the New England hills, just now radiant in +their autumn coloring were a constant source of delight. + +She had been kept so busy seeing Glenloch, meeting Mrs. Hamilton's +friends and getting acquainted with her own special chums that she +had hardly had time to settle her belongings. Saturday morning, +therefore, found her at work in good earnest, for the girls were +coming in that afternoon, and she wanted her pretty room to look +its prettiest. + +"Not homesick, I hope, dear," said Mrs. Hamilton, coming into the +room about noon to find Ruth curled up in the big armchair with +the black kitten on her lap. + +"No, only resting after putting my room in order. I've been so busy +and the days have flown so fast that I haven't wholly unpacked my +trunk until this morning." + +"The pictures make the room look very homelike," said Mrs. Hamilton, +glancing at the photographs which adorned desk, mantel and table. +"Are these all friends of yours?" she added with a sly smile, as +her eye caught the picture of the little Queen of Holland in quaint +peasant costume. + +"No, most of them are what papa calls my 'admirations,'" answered +Ruth with a laugh. "That picture of Queen Wilhelmina is my great +joy because she looks like such a nice girl. The others are mostly +musicians and composers. Papa bought them to encourage me in my +music, because he is so anxious I shall make a success of it." + +"Why, this is interesting. I haven't had time yet to find out about +your talents. Do you sing or play the piano?" + +"A little of both, but I like the violin best and I've taken lessons +on it since I was eight years old. I am all out of practice now," +she added soberly, "for I've done hardly anything at it since mamma +died. She was so fond of it that everything I play reminds me of +her, and I can't bear it yet." + +"Perhaps you will feel like beginning again this winter," said Mrs. +Hamilton, putting her arm around her. + +"I am sure I shall," answered Ruth gratefully, giving the kind arm +a little squeeze. "Papa thought that just as soon as I got well +started in school it would be a good plan for me to go into Boston +for violin lessons." + +"That will be delightful," said Mrs. Hamilton heartily, "and I shall +have to begin practicing so that I can play your accompaniments. +Since Arthur has been ill I have neglected my piano dreadfully. +I used to play duets with him a great deal, but I suppose nothing +would persuade him to touch the piano now." + +"Will he never be any better?" + +"The doctor gives us every reason to hope that he will be almost +well if he can only get over this terrible depression. His father +and I can only stand by and help all we can while he fights this +battle for himself." There was a long pause while Mrs. Hamilton +looked thoughtfully out of the window as though facing problems +harder than she could solve, and Ruth racked her brain to think of +something encouraging to say. + +"If I could only help I should be very glad," she said at last, +timidly. + +"I am sure you would," answered Mrs. Hamilton with a grateful kiss. +"And now what are your plans for this afternoon?" she added brightly. + +"Oh, the girls are coming in, and I am going to try to get really +acquainted with them. It's so interesting to have three new friends +at the same time." + +"They are very nice girls, and each so different from the other +that I sometimes wonder why they are such close friends." + +"I am just a little bit afraid of Charlotte still," confessed +Ruth. "She seems to know so much, and she makes such funny, sharp +speeches. But I feel as though I'd known Betty for years." + +"Poor Charlotte has had a different sort of life from the others," +said Mrs. Hamilton with a sigh, "and it has helped to bring out the +sharp comers in her nature. Her mother is an invalid, and Charlotte +has had a great deal of care and responsibility." + +"Betty thinks everything that Charlotte does is just right," said +Ruth. + +"Betty is one of the most loyal friends imaginable. She puts her +dearest friends on pedestals, and bestows her time and her services +freely upon them. I've known her ever since she was a baby, and +she has always been the same sunshiny little soul." + +"She just suits me because she always has a kitten or two trailing +after her," said Ruth. with a laugh. "Dorothy's a dear, too, and in +fact I'm sure we are all going to be such good chums that I shan't +know which one I like best." + +"That's the very nicest way," answered Mrs. Hamilton. "Bless me, is +it lunch time?" she added as Katie appeared in the doorway. "You +are an entertaining hostess, my dear, and you have made me forget +how fast time flies." + +Ruth was glad that the cool afternoon gave an excuse for a fire, +for she loved the crackle and warmth, and the soft color that the +fire-glow threw over everything. As she looked around her pretty +room with a satisfied air, there was a patter of feet on the stairs, +a suppressed giggle and then a knock. + +"Come in, come in," cried Ruth, throwing the door wide open. "I +was beginning to be afraid you weren't coming." + +"It's my fault, as usual," said Charlotte in a resigned tone. "The +girls called for me, and just as we were going to start one of the +twins fell into a kettle of grape-juice that had been left to cool +in the summer-kitchen." + +"Oh! Was he badly burned?" cried Ruth. + +"No, it was cold, but he'll be purple for the next week, I suppose. +Of course I had to stop and wring him out and make him as clean as +I could. He's a sight, though." + +The contrast between Charlotte's tragic tone and the picture she +gave of her small brother was too much for Ruth's gravity, and she +laughed till the tears came. + +"How old are they, and do they do those things often?" she gasped +at last. + +"They're six, and they do," said Charlotte briefly. "If ever a day +passes that one of those boys doesn't do something to harrow our +feelings I know that it is a sure sign that something more awful +than usual is going to happen the next day." + +"It must be exciting to have a large family," said Ruth with a +tinge of longing in her voice. + +"It is; desperately exciting," said Charlotte drily. "Now I call +this luxury," she added, dropping down on the fur rug. "Just imagine +having a place like this where you can be absolutely alone with +books and pictures and fire. You're a lucky girl, Ruth." + +"It's a perfectly dear room, and I love it," added Ruth. "It was so +good of all of you to help plan it before you even knew me. Let's +make some fudge, girls," she added. "Who's the best fudge-maker +here?" + +"Not I," answered Charlotte lazily. "I'm second to none on eating +it, though." + +"Dolly's fudge is great," said Betty. + +"You make it then, Dorothy, and I'll help when your arm gets tired," +said Ruth, getting the chafing-dish from the shelf under the table. +"We'll put the cups on the mantel, girls, and cover the table with +this enamel cloth that Mrs. Hamilton gave me this morning. Isn't +she a dear? She thinks of everything to make me have a good time." + +"Have you got much acquainted with Arthur yet?" asked Dorothy, who +was busily mixing the ingredients for the candy. + +"Haven't seen him since the day I came," answered Ruth, looking at +Betty with a twinkle in her eye, "and I certainly didn't get very +well acquainted with him then." + +"It's a shame that he shuts himself up; he's just about breaking +his mother's heart," declared Dorothy, stirring the savory mixture +with unnecessary vehemence. + +"He used to be great fun, and we miss him dreadfully at all our +parties," said Betty with a sigh. "He isn't even willing to see +Frank and Joe, and they used to be such chums." + +"We might form ourselves into a society for 'The Restoration to the +World of Arthur Hamilton, Esquire; T.R.T.T.W.O.A.H.E.': wouldn't +that make a fine name for a secret society?" said Charlotte, who +hadn't stirred from the rug. "Don't you want me to help you make +the fudge, girls?" she added amiably, as Dorothy and then Ruth gave +it a vigorous beating. + +"Thank you, lazybones. It's done now. But you can help put things +in order," said Dorothy slyly. + +Charlotte groaned. "You know that's what I hate most of all. I +should rather have made the fudge." + +"Speaking of societies," broke in Betty, who had been in a brown +study for several minutes, "let's have a club of some kind." + +"Good idea, Bettikins," approved Charlotte. "Let's make it a dramatic +club, and I'll do the heroes." + +"With only four in the club you would have to be hero and villain +and the heroine's white-haired father all in the same play," said +Ruth with a laugh. "It would take all the rest of us to play the +other parts." + +"I mean really a nice club," continued Betty, pursuing her own idea +with great seriousness, "and meet once a week and do something." + +"Rather vague, that," murmured Charlotte. "If that's all there is +to it we're a club now." + +"What's your idea, Betty?" asked Dorothy encouragingly. "Anything +but sewing. I utterly refuse to join that kind of a club." + +"I knew a girl in Chicago," said Ruth, "who belonged to a cooking +club. They met every two weeks at the different houses to practice, +and once in two months they cooked a supper and invited other girls +and boys. She said they had great fun and really learned a great +deal." + +"That's just my idea," declared Betty promptly, "only I couldn't +get it quite clear in my own mind." + +"I don't like cooking," said Charlotte soberly, "but I suppose it +wouldn't hurt me to know something about it." + +"The first thing, of course, is to ask our mothers and Mrs. +Hamilton," said Dorothy, who was always practical. "I know mamma +will be glad to have me learn, though I'm afraid the cook won't +like to have us in her kitchen." + +"Our Hannah wouldn't mind if you met at our house every time," said +Betty. + +"That can all be settled later when we find out whether we can +really do it," declared Charlotte impatiently. "In the meantime +I'm pining for a piece of that fudge; isn't it hard yet, Dolly?" + +"Just right," answered Dorothy, taking it in from the window-ledge. + +"Dorothy, this is certainly the best fudge I ever tasted," declared +Ruth impressively. "Mine was never half so good. Girls, I move +that in consideration of Miss Dorothy Marshall's skill as a maker +of fudge she be made president of the new club." + +"Second the motion," cried both the girls at once, and as there +was no one left to vote on it, it was declared settled. + +Dorothy rose, bowed, tapped on the table with the chafing-dish spoon, +and said with a fair imitation of her mother's stately manner: + +"Ladies, I thank you for the honor you have conferred upon me." +Then dropping her official manner, she added, "Let's keep it a dead +secret at first from the boys, because they never tell us anything +about their old Candle Club." + +"What's that?" asked Ruth with great interest. + +"Oh, six of the boys belong to it, and they've fixed up one of the +rooms above our stable," answered Dorothy. "They call it the Candle +Club because at first they used candles, but now the name doesn't +fit." + +"They might call themselves 'electric sparks,' now," drawled +Charlotte; "but boys are so unprogressive." + +"We shall need some more officers," said Betty. "I think Charlotte +ought to be secretary because she likes to write, and Ruth--" + +What Ruth was to be was not destined to be told at that meeting, +for just at that moment there was a loud knock which made the +girls jump. Ruth opened the door and for a second saw no one. Then +a plump, curly-haired boy, very purple as to his face and hands, +and rather bedraggled as to his general appearance, walked in +hesitatingly. Close at his heels followed a depressed-looking Scotch +terrier. At sight of the latter, every individual hair on Fuzzy's +spine stood up straight, and with remarks in several different +languages he fled to the top of a high-backed chair, where he sat +and glared at the enemy. + +The girls were convulsed with laughter, and the small visitor, +abashed, fled to Charlotte and buried his face in her lap. + +"Irving Eastman, what are you here for?" demanded Charlotte sternly, +trying to raise the curly beau so that she might look the culprit +in the face. + +"Wanted to find you," came in smothered accents from her lap. "Me +and Tatterth got lonethome." + +"Why didn't you stay with Stanley and the others?" + +"Couldn't. Couthin Jothie came and took them out to walk, and I +couldn't go 'cauth I wath all blue." + +"How did you get in here?" + +"The door wath open, and I came upthtairth and then I couldn't find +you. But I found Arthur, and Tatterth and I thtayed with him." + +The girls looked at each other in amazement. + +"What did you do in Arthur's room, Irving?" asked Betty soothingly. + +"I talked to him and he gave me thith." The purple cherub raised +his head and opening one fat hand displayed a small carved bear of +Swiss manufacture. "He thaid it could be my bear for alwayth," he +declared triumphantly. + +"What did Arthur say when you walked into his room?" asked Dorothy. + +"He laughed so hard I wath going to come away, but he called me +back." + +"Girls, he laughed," repeated Charlotte impressively. "Irving, +I ought to scold you, but this time you are an angel in disguise. +Perhaps this is the first step in the Restoration of A. H., Esq." + +"Let's take another, then, by sending him a plate of fudge," +suggested Ruth. + +"Just the thing," exclaimed Betty and Dorothy together, and they +immediately hooked little fingers and proceeded to wish. + +"Irving, can you carry some fudge to Arthur?" continued Ruth, +heaping up one of her daintiest saucers. "If you will take this +without spilling any, you shall have some to take home with you." + +"I gueth tho," said Irving with an angelic smile, feeling himself +the hero of the occasion. + +"Just give the dish to Arthur and come right back," said Charlotte +decidedly. "It's time to go anyway," she continued, "and I must +take the Infant home as soon as possible, or mother will worry." + +"He thayth 'thankth,'" said Irving in aloud voice, strolling down +the hall and leaving Arthur's door wide open behind him. + +"Shut the door, Irving," said Charlotte in a loud whisper. + +"I think he better have it open," answered Irving, who did not feel +disposed to take any extra steps. + +"Irving," began Charlotte sternly, then stopped in amazement at +the unexpected sound of Arthur's voice. + +"Never mind the door, Irving," he said, "The fudge is out of sight, +girls, or will be in a few moments. Much obliged." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE SOCIAL SIX + + +It was about time for news of the steamer's arrival to reach Ruth, +and in spite of her many new experiences the thought of her father +was always uppermost in her mind. The morning and evening newspapers +meant to her simply the shipping news, and, several days before +the steamer could possibly arrive, she began her daily study of +the shipping lists. Eight days had seemed long to wait for news +of one's best-beloved chum, but Ruth had to confess that the time +had been filled so full that it had passed quickly. Starting in +school had not been so great an ordeal as she had expected. To her +joy she was to be allowed to see what she could do in the class +with Betty and Charlotte, and she was determined to succeed, though +she knew it meant harder work than she had ever done in her life. + +The Glenloch Academy was the pride of Glenloch and the envy of the +surrounding towns. The money for its establishment and maintenance +had been left the town by a public-spirited citizen, and the fund +had been so generous that the best in the way of teachers and equipaient +had been made possible. It took the place of a high school in its +methods of study, gave a thorough preparation for college, and +offered six years of the most liberal training to those whose school +education must of necessity stop there. Ruth felt an interest at +once in her new teachers, was charmed with the idea of doing regular +gymnasium work in the fine gymnasium which had lately been added +to the school, and altogether felt that her lines had fallen in +pleasant places. + +"Don't be in such a rush," called Dorothy, as Ruth ran down the +school steps. "I want to talk to you." + +"I'm in a hurry every day now," confessed Ruth, "to get home and see +if I have any news from papa. Mr. Hamilton thinks that by to-night +surely the ship's arrival will be cabled, and I have a faint hope +that I may have a cablegram from papa almost any minute." + +"I'll walk around your way," said Dorothy. "Doesn't it make you +feel terribly important to be expecting a cablegram?" + +"Why, I don't know," laughed Ruth, "perhaps it does, a little. +It's been such a long time to wait to hear that papa is safe that +I can't think of anything else." + +As she finished speaking a long, low call made them both turn to +see Charlotte and Betty running after them. + +"What are you going to do this afternoon, Ruth?" called Charlotte +as they got within speaking distance. "We want you to go to walk +with the 'Social Six.'" + +Dorothy raised her eyebrows questioningly, and Ruth asked curiously, +"The Social Six? Who under the sun are the Social Six?" + +"It's all right, Dolly," said Betty reassuringly. "You see," she +added, turning to Ruth, "we couldn't tell you about them at first, +because we had all agreed never to have more than six in the club +and our number was full. But just to-day one of the girls has told +us that she is going to resign at this meeting, so we want you to +join right away if you will." "Why, of course I will," said Ruth, +with perfect faith that whatever the three wanted her to do would +be worth doing. "But what is the club for and what do you do?" + +"It's a walking club in spring and fall," answered Betty. + +"And a skating club when we have ice," added Dorothy. "That's the +best part of it all, for we have bonfires on the edge of the pond, +and go to some house for supper when we get through skating." + +"Well, it all sounds lovely, and I shall be delighted to join. +What time do you start?" asked Ruth. + +"At two sharp, and we are to meet at the schoolhouse," answered +Charlotte. "Miss Burton is going with us this afternoon, and she's +to be made an honorary member of the club." "All right. I'll be +there," said Ruth, as the girls left her at Mr. Hamilton's door. + +Once in the house she looked first to see if there were letters or +the much-desired cablegram, and finding nothing ran up-stairs to +get ready for lunch. The house was strangely still, and she missed +Mrs. Hamilton's cordial welcome, which she had found vastly comforting +in these first days of feeling so much alone. + +On her desk was a note which she hastened to open. + +"MY DEAR RUTH" (it began): + +"I am sorry you will find neither a cablegram nor me writing for +you this noon. Mr. Hamilton has telephoned me that friends of ours +are in town who will not have time to come out to us. So we are +all to dine together in Boston to-night. I am sorry that you will +have two lonely meals, and hope some of the girls will dine with +you. Invite them for me, and forgive me for leaving you in such +unexpected solitude. + +"Yours lovingly, + +"AUNT MARY." + +"How sweet of her to sign herself that way," thought Ruth, as she +folded the note. "I do miss her, and I'm glad there's something +pleasant ahead for this afternoon." + +The Social Six to a girl were prompt at the meeting-place, and +as Miss Burton appeared just as the clock was striking two, the +expedition started with no delay. "It's a perfect day for Bear Hill," +said Dorothy enthusiastically, as she led the way with Miss Burton, +and unconsciously tried to imitate her swinging gait. Since Miss +Burton had taken charge of the gymnasium, Dorothy, who was always +to the fore in out-of-door life, had been more than ever devoted +to everything pertaining to physical culture. + +"See Dolly walk," said Charlotte, who was ambling along in the +extreme rear; "she walks as though she positively enjoyed the mere +motion of it, while I am so lazy that I shouldn't even belong to +the club if it weren't for being with the girls, and for the fun +we have at our parties." + +As they crossed the railroad and entered the narrow wood-path +on the other side, the girls fell into single file and walked on +steadily, talking gaily. It was one of those brilliant October days +when all the warmth of the fleeting summer is in the air; when the +sky is a radiant blue, and the red and gold of the foliage casts +a glory over the sombre woods. + +Ruth was enchanted. "I've never seen anything so beautiful," +she said breathlessly, as, after a long walk through the winding, +shaded path, they came out into the open, and almost at the top of +the hill. + +"Wait till you get to the tip-top," said Dorothy, her eyes sparkling +from the exercise. "Can you stand it to climb for five minutes +more?" + +"Of course," answered Ruth stoutly, "though I'm not sorry that +we're almost there," she added in a low tone to Katharine French +who, with Alice Stevens and Louise Cobb, made up the membership of +the club. + +The climb of the last five minutes was harder than ail the rest, +and Ruth groaned as she sank on the ground at the very top. "My +Chicago training hasn't prepared me for this," she said plaintively. +"You'll have to take me in hand, Miss Burton, and help me to get +my muscles in condition." + +"Don't sit too long on the ground now," laughed Miss Burton, "or +we shall have to carry you home." + +"Miss Burton, would you and Ruth mind going over behind that big +rock for a few minutes?" asked Dorothy. "The club always has its +business meeting the first thing, and as we are to admit a new +member it will take longer than usual." + +Over behind the big rock proved to be a very agreeable place to sit, +for the girls had covered some smaller rocks with pine boughs and +a golf cape, and the view of the surrounding country was glorious. + +"Rather different from Chicago, isn't it, Ruth?" asked Miss Burton. +"I'm a Western girl myself, and I taught in Chicago for ayear, so +I know how this must seem to you." + +"Are you really a Western girl?" cried Ruth interested at once. +"Then you won't mind if I talk Chicago to you once in a while, +will you? This is quite the most beautiful place I've ever lived +in, but," she added honestly, "I'm dreadfully homesick for Chicago +sometimes, and I don't like to confess it because they are all so +lovely to me." + +"Come and talk to me when you feel like that," said Miss Burton, +with one of her radiant smiles; "it will do us both good." + +"I'd love to," said Ruth fervently, "and----" + +She was interrupted by a call from the girls, and with Miss Burton +hastened to join the others, only to stop short in amazement +as they rounded the rock against which they had been sitting. The +girls had worked fast and with no noise, and it was so undeniably +a gypsy camp into which Ruth had walked that she could hardly +believe her eyes. A small fire was built on some rocks, and over +it hung in the crotch of a branch an odd-looking kettle. Three of +the girls had unbraided their hair and made themselves gay with +artificial flowers, bright ribbons and brilliant scarfs. Alice +Stevens, who was dark enough to look really like a gypsy, was +reading Louise Cobb's hand, while Betty looked on and occasionally +stirred an imaginary something in the kettle. Charlotte, Dorothy +and Katharine French, who were all tall and preferred masculine +parts, sat on the other side of the fire dressed in colored paper +caps, and bright sashes draped over one shoulder. + +Miss Burton broke the silence by clapping her hands. "It's fine, +girls," she cried with enthusiasm. "I didn't know we were to see +anything really artistic." + +"We only do this when we admit a new member," said Betty. + +"And not then unless the weather happens to be just right," added +Dorothy. "But we must hurry and make Ruth a member. Go on, Betty." + +"Kneel here, Ruth," said Betty, who was presiding officer for the +day. Then looking as solemn as her dimples and twinkling eyes would +permit, she added, "Being about to lose a well-beloved member of +our club," here ail looked at Louise Cobb, "we are at liberty to +admit another. Do you desire to become a member of this club?" + +"I do," answered Ruth, much impressed. + +"Do you promise to further our interests in all possible ways and +to keep our secrets?" + +"I do." + +"Then I pronounce you a fully initiated member," said Betty, striking +her on the shoulder with a twig tipped with scarlet leaves. "We +really haven't any secrets," she added unofficially, "except that +we don't want the other boys and girls to know where we go or that +we dress up like this. We don't make our honorary members promise +anything, but we know Miss Burton won't tell." + +"Of course not," said Miss Burton. "I feel too much honored to be +admitted to the club to betray their secrets." + +"Now, Ruth," continued Betty, "the next thing is that the new member +must do something; sing or dance or tell a story." + +"Oh!" gasped Ruth. "I'll resign at once. Imagine me singing or dancing +when I'm so tired I can hardly move; and as for story-telling, I +simply can't." + +"Perhaps you'd rather recite a poem," said Charlotte. + +"May I have it as short as I please?" asked Ruth as if an idea had +struck her, and as Betty nodded assent, she added, "Give me five +minutes by myself and I'll do it." + +The girls chatted while Ruth went just out of hearing and communed +with herself. + +"Time's up, Ruth," called Dorothy. + +"All right," answered Ruth, walking into the circle and sitting +down, while she met the expectant eyes with a roguish twinkle in +her own. Then she recited: + + "There was a young girl from the West, + Who very much needed a rest. + When asked, 'Can you sing?' + She replied, 'Not a thing:' + And felt very sadly depressed." + +Ruth suited her expression to her last words in so comical a fashion +that the girls shouted with laughter. + +"However did you do it, Ruth?" asked Betty. "I couldn't make a +rhyme to save me." + +"Oh, father and I got into the habit of making up those five-liners, +and I often do it just for fun." + +"We're proud to have such a poetess in the Social Six," said +Charlotte, making her a sweeping bow with her hand on her heart. + +"Miss Burton, we don't insist that our honorary member shall perform, +but we'd like it if you would," said Betty. + +Miss Burton smiled good-naturedly. "I would tell you a story, +only I am afraid our Western member would be too stiff to move if +she sat through it. How would you like to postpone my part of the +program until after school some day, and then come and have a cup +of chocolate with me?" + +"Oh, lovely!" cried Dorothy, always ready for anything that Miss +Burton proposed. + +As she spoke a sound as of some one sliding came from behind the +big rock, and then a low but unmistakable chuckle. + +"It's some of those horrid boys," said Dorothy tragically. + +The girls tore off caps and sashes, but before they could wholly +divest themselves of their gypsy appearance two heads peered around +the rock and a pleading voice said, "Please, may we come in?" + +"Indeed you may not," cried Dorothy, quite white with anger. "I +think you're the meanest boy I ever saw, Frank Marshall, and you're +not one bit better, Bert. Between you, you always spoil all my good +times. I think it's the most despicable thing to spy on people, +and----" + +There was such a sudden stillness about her that Dorothy became +conscious of Miss Burton's troubled expression and Ruth's surprised +face. + +"Well, I don't care; it was a mean trick," she muttered as she +turned her back on the boys and walked away. + +"Honestly, girls, we didn't mean to make you mad," said Frank as +his sister finished. "We came up for a walk and didn't know any +one was here till we saw the smoke from your fire. We came over to +find out about that, and heard the young lady from the West recite +her poem. We should have gone off without letting you know if Bert +hadn't slipped on the rock." + +"Of course," added Bert with an extremely virtuous air, "if we +had guessed that this was the famous club we should have put our +fingers in our ears and have run away." + +"You sinner," said Betty, who couldn't help laughing, "you know +you have tried ever since we have had the club to make me tell you +about it." + +"I propose," said Miss Burton, "that we put the boys on their honor +not to tell what they have seen and heard." + +"Second the motion," said Charlotte with great promptness. "We have +them there, for boys never tell when they're on honor." + +"Good for you, Charlotte," said Frank gratefully. "We'll promise, +won't we, Bert?" + +"Of course," agreed Bert. "And, girls," he continued, "we've got +some potatoes roasting in the ashes near here that'll be just the +thing to brace you up for the walk home. Come along and help us +eat 'em." + +"I should say we would," accepted Charlotte. "Did you ever know us +to refuse anything to eat?" + +The little feast and the walk home became the jolliest things possible. +Tired as she was, no one was merrier than Ruth. for in her inmost +heart she was sure that she should find news of her father waiting +for her. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +BAD NEWS AND GOOD + + +As she entered the house, Ruth's first glance was at the hall table, +but there was no important-looking yellow envelope to suggest that +her cablegram had arrived. Then her eye fell on the evening paper; +perhaps that might tell that the "Utopia" was safely in port. +She started to turn to the shipping news, but her gaze was caught +by a headline on the first page, and she stood rigid, holding the +paper in her shaking hands and trying to make sense of what she +was reading. + + "The 'Utopia' storm-swept + A passenger injured." + +That was what she seemed to read, and below it an inch of fine +type announced that during the severe storm which had hampered all +ocean travel for the last few days the "Utopia" had been swept by +heavy waves, and one of the passengers injured. + +One of the passengers injured! That, of course, meant father! +Ruth read it time after time until the printed words swam before +her eyes, and she groped blindly for a chair so that she need not +fall. There she sat feeling that limbs and tongue were in chains, +and that she could neither move nor speak. + +Katie, passing through the hall, was startled by the sight of the +rigid little figure in the big hall chair, and frightened out of +her wits when her sympathetic questions failed to bring forth any +response. She flew out into the kitchen to Ellen, who came hurrying +in with a face full of anxiety, and, kneeling before Ruth, took +both the cold hands in her own warm clasp. + +"What is it, Miss Ruth, darlin'? Tell me," she said coaxingly. At +the friendly, human touch, Ruth's face relaxed. "Oh, Ellen," she +cried, clinging to her closely, "some one on papa's steamer has +been injured in the storm, and I know it must be papa." + +Ellen looked dazed, and Ruth gave her the paper, pointing out the +paragraph as she did so. + +"Sure, Miss Ruth, I can't read it quickly when my mind is so unaisy. +Just read it to me, honey." + +So Ruth read it over for the twentieth time and was surprised to +find Ellen still looking cheerful as she finished. + +"They don't give any names," said Ellen thoughtfully, "and wasn't +it you yourself was telling me that there was over a hundred cabin +passengers on that boat, to say nothing of the steerage?" + +"Why, yes," answered Ruth, "but--" + +"Well, then," interrupted Ellen, "there's at laste ninety-nine +chances out of a hundred that your blessed father never had a hair +of his head touched, and that's sayin' a good deal, darlin'." + +"It is indeed, Miss Ruth," added Katie, who had been hovering around +anxious to do something to help. + +Ruth began to look a bit comforted, and Ellen went on, "I do belave +from me soul, Miss Ruth, dear, that before you go to bed tonight +you'll have word from your father. At any rate, you can't bring +it any faster, nor help it one bit by worryin' about it. So now, +darlin', go upstairs and bathe your face and smooth your pretty +curls, and we'll put such a nice dinner on the table for you that +you can't help eatin'." + +"It's a shame the poor little thing has got to eat her dinner all +alone," said Ellen, as she and Katie went back to the kitchen. +"I've a great mind--" But what she had a mind to do wasn't told, +for she vanished from the kitchen and Katie heard her climbing the +back stairs. + +She went straight to Arthur's room, knocked, and hardly waiting for +an answer walked in. Arthur, who was absorbed in a book, looked up +surprised at her sudden entrance. + +"It's only meself, Mr. Arthur," said Ellen, quite out of breath, +"and it's a great favor I've come up to ask of you. You see," she +went on hurriedly, "poor little Miss Ruth has got word in tonight's +paper that there's been an accident on her father's boat, and she's +that frightened and worried that she doesn't know what to do with +herself. It's too bad for her to have to eat her dinner with nothing +but her own sad thoughts for company, and I thought perhaps you--" + +"Oh, no, Ellen, I can't," interrupted Arthur decidedly; "why, I +don't really know her yet." + +"The more shame to you that you don't when she's been livin' in +your house for two weeks," answered Ellen, as much surprised at +her own boldness as Arthur was. "I've been livin' with your mother +ever since you was a wee baby, Mr. Arthur, and there ain't any one +outside your own family who loves you more than I do, but I must +say I'm disappointed in you." + +Arthur looked at her in amazement, but Ellen went on without giving +him a chance to speak. + +"Don't you know that life is just made up of knock-downs and get-ups," +she said quaintly, "and whatever will you do if you stay down the +first time you're hit?" + +Something in the homely little sermon touched a responsive chord +in Arthur as nothing else had done. "You're a good fellow, Ellen," +he said affectionately, "and to prove that I think so I'm going +down to dinner tonight." + +"Oh, Mr. Arthur," cried Ellen, almost on the point of tears, and +saving herself from it only by wringing her apron convulsively in +both hands. "It's the angel boy you are to take all the hard things +I said so sweetly. And it's that glad I am that you're going down, +for I don't belave Miss Ruth could eat a mite of dinner without +some man or other to encourage her about her father." + +"I'll get down before she does if I can," said Arthur, reaching +for his crutches, "and see what the paper says about the steamer." + +"That'a right, Mr. Arthur, do," answered Ellen, "and I'll hurry +down and see to the dinner." But she stopped on her way to knock +on Ruth's door and say coaxingly, "You won't change your mind, Miss +Ruth, dear; you'll surely come down." + +Ruth, who was sitting in the big chair with the black kitten in +her arms, looked up soberly. "I don't believe I'll come down after +all, Ellen; I'm not a bit hungry, and I'm sure I couldn't eat a +mouthful." + +"Oh, but Miss Ruth," cried Ellen in despair, "you'll spoil all my +plans if you don't. I've just persuaded Mr. Arthur to come down +so that you needn't be alone, and perhaps if he comes the once he +will every day. Just think how happy it will make his father and +mother!" + +Ruth's forehead puckered into a frown. She felt much more like +sitting in front of her fire and thinking sad, lonely thoughts. But +it was such a small thing to do for Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton, who had +been so kind to her, and it would mean so much to them if it did +help Arthur to conquer his dread of taking up the old life again. +Then, too, it would be a triumph to tell the girls that one member +of the society for the restoration of Arthur Hamilton to the world +had already begun the good work. + +It was with a little smile that she looked up at Ellen, who +was anxiously waiting for her answer, and said, "I'll go down, of +course; I should be a selfish pig not to when you are all so good +to me." + +"That's a darlin," cried Ellen much relieved. "And would you please +try to make him feel that it's a great favor to you for him to come +down? You know the men have to be managed a bit," she added slyly. + +Ruth made a hasty dinner toilet by running a comb through her waving +locks, patting the big bow at the back of her head, and putting on +a fresh collar. Then she went slowly downstairs, wishing she knew +just what to say to Arthur. + +To her relief he looked up from the paper he was reading and said +just as if they had been meeting every day for the past two weeks, +"I'm sure this report makes it seem worse than it is, Ruth. I don't +believe there is any real reason for you to worry about your father." + +"Do you really think so? I suppose it's foolish to worry, but it's +pretty hard when he's so far away and I haven't heard for so long." + +There was a suspicious quaver in her voice that made Arthur's +thoughts turn longingly to the safe shelter of his own room. What +if he should have a weeping girl on his hands! He turned cold at +the thought. "Oh, I'm sure you'll get some word from your father +before morning," he said with such anxious haste that quick-witted +Ruth guessed at once what he was dreading. + +"You think I'm going to cry, but I'm not," she announced with +great dignity. "I hate to cry before people anyway, and I specially +wouldn't before a boy." + +"Good for you! I wouldn't cry before a boy either," answered Arthur +with a twinkle in his eye, and then they both laughed and felt +better. + +"It was good of you to come down to dinner tonight," said Ruth as +they began on their soup. "If I'd been alone I shouldn't have been +able to keep my mind off that awful newspaper heading for a minute." + +"We can telephone in town after a while and find out what they know +at the steamship company's office. I can't help feeling, though, +that the newspaper report is very likely exaggerated." + +Ruth felt much comforted by this masculine view of the situation, +and racked her brain to think up some interesting subjects for +conversation, for she wanted to show him that girls could be calm +and self-possessed even under the most trying circumstances. + +"Are you fond of football?" she asked suddenly, when the long +silence was getting on her nerves, and she felt that she must say +something. Before he could answer, it flashed across her mind with +painful distinctness that it was at football that Arthur had been +injured. The color flashed into her cheeks, and she unconsciously +looked so appealingly at Arthur that he came to the rescue at once. + +"Of course I am," he asserted stoutly. "It's a great old game, and +we've got some ripping good players in Glenloch. You ought to see +some of the Saturday games." + +"I should love to," she responded with a fervor that showed her +relief, and then silence fell again. Ruth was in despair. With +athletics cut out, what could she talk about to a boy, particularly +when she was anxious to avoid any reference to anything which would +make her think of her father? + +"I'm reading a great book now," said Arthur, whose thoughts for +the last few minutes had been much the same as Ruth's, and who felt +that if he didn't say something soon he never should. + +"Oh, what is it? Tell me about it," said Ruth, with such touching +anxiety to help the conversation along that Arthur chuckled silently. + +"It's one of Clark Russell's sea stories, and I've just left my +hero in such an exciting situation that I can hardly wait to see +how he is coming out." + +It was Ruth's turn to feel amused now. "Too bad that you had to +stop to eat dinner with a mere girl, isn't it?" she said saucily. + +Arthur laughed. "I was getting so hungry and thirsty out there in +mid-ocean with my hero, waiting for a sail to turn up, that I really +needed my dinner. Jiminy! it must be awful to have anything happen +to you on the ocean," he continued absent-mindedly; "you must feel +so awfully far away from every one and so helpless." + +"Oh, please don't," cried Ruth with such real terror in her voice +that Arthur woke suddenly to a realization of what he'd been saying. + +"Of all stupid numskulls!" he said impatiently. "Look here, Ruth, +you can cry if you want to after that, and I won't say a word. I +deserve some punishment for being such a forgetful idiot." + +Ruth couldn't help laughing at his penitent expression. "I don't want +to cry any more than you want me to. And you're not a forgetful idiot +any more than I am. Let's call it square," she ended significantly. + +"All right, and I'll stand up for girls from now on." + +"Will you do me a favor?" + +"Anything, fair lady, that you may see fit to ask," replied Arthur +dramatically. + +"Then come down to your meals every day," demanded Ruth, inwardly +quaking, but outwardly calm and innocent looking. + +Arthur looked as if he were about to protest, but changed his mind +and said firmly, "I never go back on my word, so I'll do it." + +Fearing to spoil her victory by saying anything more, Ruth rose +from the table and walked into the hall, leaving Arthur to follow +more slowly. Just as she did so, the bell rang, a sharp, clear peal, +and Katie hurried to the door to return in a second with a yellow +envelope, and a small book for Ruth to sign. + +Ruth's hands shook with excitement as she tried to use the stub of +a pencil, and she felt grateful when Arthur took book and all from +her saying gently, "You open your cablegram; I'll sign the book." + +Ruth was actually pale as she tore open the envelope, but the color +came back to her cheeks as she read the one word written there. "It +says 'sound,'" she cried exultantly, "and papa said that one word +could mean everything I wanted it to mean. That he is well, and has +had a pleasant voyage, and has arrived safely. Oh, I am so happy. +It's good news! The best of news, Ellen," she added, as the good +soul's beaming face appeared in the doorway. "Oh, I can't keep +still," and catching Ellen around her massive waist, Ruth almost +whirled her off her feet in a wild dance of joy. + +"Miss Ruth, Miss Ruth, darlin', behave yourself," protested Ellen, +who like other unwieldy objects went on from sheer momentum when +once started. "How can you expect a fat old thing like me to dance?" + +"Oh, Ellen, that did me heaps of good," and Ruth sank panting into +a chair, while Arthur laughed as he had never expected to laugh +again, and Ellen tried to look cross, but failed in the attempt. + +There was a quick rattle of a key in the lock, and the door opened +suddenly to admit Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton. Their surprise as they +surveyed the jolly group was funny to see, and Ruth and Arthur went +off into a fresh fit of mirth, while Ellen slipped shamefacedly +into the kitchen. + +"We gave up our dinner party, and came home," said Mrs. Hamilton, +"because we were afraid that Ruth would be worried about--" She +stopped suddenly, realizing too late that there was no need of +telling Ruth why she should be worried, since evidently she didn't +know. + +"Oh, I am dreadfully--I mean I was," cried Ruth incoherently, "and +I don't know what I should have done if Ellen hadn't comforted me, +and Arthur hadn't come down to dinner. But it's all right now, for +my cablegram says 'sound,' and that means everything good." + +"So it does, so it does, little girl," said Mr. Hamilton, much +relieved. "It makes you as happy as it makes me feel to see this +tall boy of mine down here. Got back to us for keeps now, Arthur?" +he asked, as he put his arm around his son's shoulder with a smile +that went straight to the boy's heart. + +"Yes, sir, I think so," mumbled Arthur, who found it hard to live +up to his standard of manliness, as he felt the quick clasp of his +mother's hand and saw the look in her eyes. + +For a moment the three stood there, a little world in themselves. +Then Mrs. Hamilton stretched out a welcoming hand to Ruth. + +"You belong too, little daughter," she said lovingly. "We're going +to have good times together, we four. You shall see." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +CAPS AND APRONS + + +"Now, young ladies, please come to order," said Dorothy, rapping +on the table with a wooden spoon, which seemed the most appropriate +symbol of office for the president of a cooking club. + +It was a day in late November, and the afternoon sun streaming +in at the windows of the Ellsworth kitchen smiled broadly at the +sight of six cooks in caps and aprons. This was the first working +meeting of the club, and as the girls had thought it better to make +six the membership, Katharine French and Alice Stevens had been +invited to join. + +"Usually," continued Dorothy, in an official manner which she +flattered herself was in close imitation of the president of the +Glenloch Fortnightly Club, "Usually we shall choose our dishes +beforehand and bring the materials for making them. As this is the +first meeting, Mrs. Ellsworth is going to let us use her materials, +and she thinks that we'd better get up a simple supper for our +first attempt. I thought that popovers, scalloped oysters, baked +apples, cake, chocolate and some simple dessert would be nice, and +after this you can make things as elaborate as you like." + +Dorothy looked so dignified and important as she finished her little +speech that irrepressible Charlotte longed to tickle her or rumple +her hair, two things that the neat Dorothy loathed. As she couldn't +she only said meekly, "Please, ma'am, are we to choose which we'd +rather cook? If we are, I prefer the apples." + +"So do I," laughed Katharine; "you're not any lazier than I am, +Charlotte." + +"We'll have to write the names of things on slips of paper and draw +for them," said Dorothy, "and no matter what you get you must do +the best you can with it." + +"My, but you are stern, Dolly," said Betty admiringly. "I should +probably have let them spend the next half hour wrangling about +what they'll do." + +Charlotte, who had been made secretary, wrote the names of the +various dishes on slips of paper and put them in the hat which Betty +brought her. Then with a low bow she presented the hat to Dorothy, +who drew the slip on which was written "scalloped oysters." + +"How noble of you, Dolly, to draw the one we should all have hated," +cried Ruth. "Oh, I'm not sure but this is just as bad," she added, +as the slip marked "dessert" fell to her lot. Betty found herself +staring at the word "popovers," while Katharine and Alice drew cake +and chocolate respectively. + +"Girls, I don't need to tell you that 'the lame and the lazy +are always provided for,'" cried Charlotte, as she triumphantly +flourished the "baked apple" slip. "I will prepare my portion of +the feast and then read a while." + +"Oh, I forgot to say," said Betty, "that mother suggested that +the one who baked the apples might even up things by building the +fire. She said one of the first duties of a cook was to know how +to manage the stove." + +"I wouldn't have believed it of you, Betty," groaned Charlotte, as +she made up a face. "I don't know anything about building a fire. +How under the sun shall I begin?" + +"Read this and grow wise," answered Betty, thrusting an open cookbook +under Charlotte's nose. "That tells you just how to do it." + +Each of the other girls having brought a cookbook buried herself in +it for the time being, while Charlotte, left to her own resources, +proceeded to build the fire. First she read with great care the +directions in the cookbook, and then looked rather helplessly at +the stove. + +"This is the front draught, of course," she murmured, "but where's +the oven draught? Betty, do tell me where the oven draught is on +this stove." + +Betty flew over from the further side of the big kitchen, and pointed +out the oven draught. Then she absorbed herself again in her book +so completely that Charlotte hadn't the courage to ask for further +instructions. She noticed a damper in the stovepipe, and wanted to +ask about that, but pride forbade. "I'll do this alone or perish in +the attempt," she said to herself with noble courage, and proceeding +on the principle that she ought to change the existing condition +of everything, she turned the one in the stovepipe and speedily +forgot all about it. Then she put in a layer of twisted papers, laid +the kindlings artistically, with air-spaces between the sticks, +and before putting on the covers stood off to admire her work. +She looked around for sympathy, but the girls were ail absorbed in +their books, and no one gave her a glanee. Then with the sigh of +unappreciated genius, she covered the stove, and touched a match +to the papers through the front grate. + +The kitchen was very still except for the crackle of the fire. +The sunshine came like a shower of gold through the west window, +glorifying everything it touched. Charlotte, feeling extremely +capable, began with great energy to add an extra polish to the +apples which she was to bake. + +Suddenly Dorothy raised her head and sniffed the air. "I smell +smoke. Oh, Charlotte, look at your stove," she cried. + +Even as she spoke the smoke poured out around the covers in great +volume. Clouds of smoke forced their way through hitherto unsuspected +cracks. + +"Open the windows," gasped Betty, whom the stinging wood smoke +almost blinded. + +"Perhaps I turned the dampers wrong," cried Charlotte, making a +dash for the stove, and turning the oven draught. The result was +disastrous, for the smoke rolled out with still greater violence, +only to be met and beaten back into the room by the air from the +windows. Charlotte turned the oven draught again, and then stood +helpless. + +Suddenly Betty bethought herself of what her mother had told her. +"There's a damper in the stovepipe," she choked, covering her +streaming eyes with one hand, and waving the other wildly in the +air. "Did you touch that?" + +"Yes," gasped Charlotte. + +"Well, turn it the way it isn't, quick," and while Charlotte +reached for the damper, Betty groped her way to the sink to soothe +her afflicted eyes with cold water. + +Coughing, and with smarting eyes, the girls stood around, while +as if by magic the clouds of smoke diminished to tiny streams and +then died away altogether. + +"How beautifully simple," said Charlotte grimly. "That makes me +feel small." + +"It wasn't your fault," said Betty. "Mother told me to be sure to +remember that that damper in the pipe wasn't to be changed, and of +course I had to forget." + +Charlotte lifted the cover, and surveyed the fire with a critical +though somewhat humbled air. Then after letting it burn up a little +she put in a goodly supply of coal and went back to her apples. + +"The cake and the apples must go in as soon as the oven is hot," +said Dorothy, emerging from her cook-book. "That will leave the +oven free for my oysters and Betty's popovers." + +Ruth gave a squeal of delight. "I've found a recipe for a pudding +that sounds perfectly fascinating, and the cooking can be done on +the top of the stove, which is an advantage." + +"I can't decide between a chocolate cream cake and a cake with +caramel filling," wailed Katharine, who loved rich, mushy, sweet +things. + +"Goodness, child," said Dorothy, with that superior air which she +so often affected, "don't try anything so hard the first time. +Find something simple." + +"Crushed again," muttered Katharine, only loud enough for Ruth to +hear. "Dolly loves to manage everything. You mustn't even breathe +hard, girls, for ten minutes, and don't walk so heavily," she said +as she carried her cake pan across the kitchen and deposited it +in the oven. "This cake is going to be simply dandy, and my heart +will be broken if it falls." + +"Better not leave the oven door open so long then," said Betty, +who having nothing to do for the moment was interesting herself in +her neighbor's affairs. + +Katharine, who had been absorbed in gazing proudly at her creation, +started guiltily, and the oven door slipping from her fingers shut +itself with a crash that filled her with horror. + +"Do you suppose that old door's spoiled it?" she said in a despairing +voice. "I don't see how it can fall, though, till it has begun to +rise," she added hopefully to Betty as she went back to the table +to clear away her cooking dishes. + +"Just give a look at my apples when you're looking at your cake, +will you, Kit?" asked Charlotte, who had produced a small book from +some mysterious hiding-place, and was slipping off into a comer +with it. + +"That isn't fair," called Dorothy sharply, but Charlotte pretended +not to hear, and Dorothy with a shrug of the shoulders gave her up +as a hopeless case. Dorothy and Charlotte were apt to turn their +sharp edges toward each other, though either would have defended +the other had an outsider interfered. + +"Dear me, things look too good to be true," said Ruth a little later +as Katharine took her cake, golden-brown and deliciously light, +from the oven. "It seems as though some one would have to make a +failure of something." + +"It won't be my apples," proclaimed Charlotte with great pride. +"Now I call that an artistic piece of cookery; they're not all +mushy and cooked to death, but they've split open just enough to +show that they're done." + +"Small credit to you," laughed Alice. "If it hadn't been for Katharine +you wouldn't have come out of your book for the next hour." + +"Don't be envious, Al," answered Charlotte sweetly. "Perhaps your +chocolate will be as good as my apples." + +"There," said Ruth with a sigh of relief, "now that can cool, and +I'll put the finishing touches on later." + +Suddenly the door-bell rang sharply. "You'll have to go to the +door, girls," said Betty, poking her head into the dining-room, +"for there's no one besides us in the house." + +There was a murmur of conversation at the door, and then Ruth +came flying into the kitchen with shining eyes and flushed cheeks. +"There's the dearest little old woman at the door, girls," she +said, "with soap and pins and needles to sell, and I'm so sorry +for her because she says she hasn't sold a thing today. And she's +the cleanest-looking old dear you ever saw, and don't you think we +might ask her to stay to supper?" + +Ruth stopped for lack of breath, and her face fell as she saw +plainly that both Dorothy and Betty disapproved of her plan. She +started slowly toward the door, wondering how much money she had +in her purse, and whether it would be enough to get the old woman +her supper, when help came from an unexpected quarter. Charlotte, +who at that moment was so completely a Knight of the Round Table +that she could hardly refrain from using the language of chivalry, +and who saw in this instance a chance to bring chivalric ideas into +practical use, said excitedly, "Why not, girls, if she's clean? +She certainly can't run off with the silver with six of us to watch +her." + +"She's very respectable looking," pleaded Ruth; "her clothes are +neat, and she looks as though--as though she'd seen better days." + +"Mother said she wished we could make our club helpful to some one +besides ourselves," said Betty slowly; "perhaps this is one of the +ways." + +"Of course it is," answered Ruth, and was about to make a wild +dash for the door when she remembered that Dorothy was president +and ought to have the deciding voice. "What do you say, Dolly?" she +asked coaxingly. Dorothy frowned. "I don't approve of it a bit," +she said, "but as you all seem to be against me I won't say anything +more about it." Ruth walked slowly toward the front door, feeling +very undecided, but Charlotte, who had followed her, helped her to +a decision by saying softly, "Go ahead and invite her, Ruth; Dolly +will come round ail right." + +Seated in the kitchen the old woman didn't look at all dangerous +even to Dorothy's suspicious eyes. She was dressed neatly in black, +and, though politely urged, refused to take off either bonnet or +shawl. Much conversation with her was impossible, for she was very +deaf and mumbled so in talking that it was hard to understand her. +The girls couldn't help liking the rosy face with its crown of snowy +hair under a black veil, and they felt, too, that gentle glow of +pride which comes of exceeding virtue. The old lady's bright eyes +traveled from one to the other of them as they worked, and occasionally +her whole frame trembled as though with emotion. + +"Poor old soul! Perhaps she had daughters of her own," said Alice +in a low voice. + +It was impossible for the old woman to have heard, but it seemed +almost as though she had, for just at that moment she sighed deeply, +and drawing from her bag a neatly folded handkerchief wiped her +eyes. Then she settled her spectacles on her nose and looked up +at Ruth with a brave smile. The girls were touched by her courage, +and each resolved privately to buy some of her pins and needles +before she left the house. + +At last everything was ready and the girls looked at the table with +pardonable pride. "My, but I'm hungry," sighed Ruth, "and everything +looks so good." + +"I don't see why my popovers aren't poppier," said Betty anxiously. +"I thought I followed--Oh, goose! Idiot! What do you think I did?" +she wailed. "I wanted to be sure to have enough, so I doubled the +recipe--but I forgot to double the eggs!" + +Betty's despair was so comical that the girls couldn't help laughing, +in spite of the fact that the popovers had not fulfilled the end +and aim of their existence. + +"Oh, Betty, to leave out the poppiest part of them," laughed Charlotte; +"now just look at my apples; not a thing left out in cooking those." + +The girls shouted again, and the old woman looked around the table +as though wondering what the fun was about. + +The supper progressed merrily, and everything, even the unambitious +popovers, tasted good to the hungry cooke. Their guest paid the +highest possible compliment to her hostesses by devouring with +great eagerness everything that was offered to her. After she had +been served three times to scalloped oysters, and had eaten five +popovers and two baked apples, the girls looked at each other in +amazement. + +"The poor old thing probably hasn't had a square meal in years," +said Charlotte softly. + +"She'll never be able to walk if she eats ail that cake and pudding +she has on her plate," said Dorothy anxiously, "and that's her +second cup of chocolate. Why, she's got an appetite like--like a +boy." + +There was a subdued chuckle from the other end of the table followed +by a laugh which ail the girls recognized. Then the old woman, very +red in the face and very much hampered by her skirts, pushed back +her chair and started for the door. + +Quick as a flash Dorothy, looking very determined, stood with her +back against the door. "Guard the other door, girls, and some one +help me here!" she cried. "Now, Joe Bancroft, who helped you get +up this trick?" + +Joe, to whom laughter and eating were the main objects of life, +threw back his head and laughed until he choked, and grew so red +in the face that the girls were actually frightened. + +"Oh, oh," he gasped at last, "that's done me lots of good. I think +I could eat a little more supper now." + +He looked so funny standing there in the neat, black skirt topped +by the respectable bonnet and shawl, the spectacles and white hair, +that the girls went off into shrieks of merriment. Even Dorothy, who +was really angry, couldn't wholly resist the fun of the situation, +but she was sober again in a moment and said sternly, "You haven't +told us yet who are the others. You never got this up all by +yourself, I know." + +"Honor forbids me to mention the names of my partners in crime," +answered Joe with great solemnity. "They will all be glad to know +that you were so kind to a poor old woman--who may have had daughters +of her own," he added with a naughty twinkle in his eye. + +"Oh, this is too much. Do let him go, Dolly," begged Charlotte. +"We know well enough that Frank and Bert are in it, and probably +Phil Canfield and Jack." + +"No, not Phil and Jack," said Joe quickly, and then groaned inwardly +over his stupidity. + +"Thanks. That's all we wanted to know," answered Charlotte with +triumph in her voice. + +"That's one for you, Charlotte. You had me there ail right. Now, +ladies, with your kind permission I'll go, leaving you in part +payment for my gorgeous supper my stock in trade." + +He drew from his bag and laid solemnly on the table one paper of +pins, one of needles, and a cake of soap. Then, seeing that the +girls at the other door had relaxed their watchfulness, he slipped +past them, through the kitchen and out the back door. + +A shout of boyish laughter greeted him, and Dorothy groaned as she +heard it. "Why didn't you keep him, girls? I was going to make him +wash the dishes," she said mournfully. + +"It's much nicer to have him out of the way," answered Ruth. +"Besides, I want to taste my pudding and Katharine's cake if that +greedy boy has left any of it." + +"Betty's mother will be so pleased to hear that we've begun so +soon to make our club helpful to some one else," observed Charlotte +pensively, as they finished washing the dishes, and the club ended +its first meeting with a burst of laughter. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +CHARLOTTE'S PROBLEMS + + +There was a cold rain, freezing as it fell, and the outdoor world +looked cheerless and forsaken. In Ruth's room the fire was evidently +doing its best to make one forget that it was winter and almost +Christmas. Ruth was absorbed in the tying of a gorgeous lavender +bow which was to adorn a sweet-grass basket standing on the table +near her. So intent was she on her work that she heard no footsteps +in the hall, and she jumped violently when a voice at the door +said, "Well, this is the cheerfulest place I've found. May I come +in and stay a little while?" + +"Why, Charlotte, of course you may. I'm delighted to see you," and +Ruth's glance swept the table and bed to see if any gift were in +sight which ought to be concealed. + +"Don't stop your work; just let me lie here and look at the fire. +Meanwhile you can say nice, soothing things to me, for I'm tired +and cross." Charlotte stretched herself on the rug and even laid +her cheek for an instant on the black kitten, a concession that +would have filled Betty's soul with joy. + +"What's the matter?" asked Ruth a bit absently, as she held the +basket out at arm's length and gazed critically at the bow. + +"Oh, we're in several different shades of dark-blue over at our +house," answered Charlotte. "Mother has shut herself up with a +raging headache, Molly has quarreled with her best chum and refuses +to be comforted, and one of the twins has the earache. To crown it +ail, Melina, who is usually cheerful, is going around the kitchen +looking as though she'd lost her last friend, and I actually +haven't had the courage yet to find out what's the matter with her. +Fortunately for every one, Cousin Josie blew in, and when she saw +how things were going she made me go out for an hour, and said +she'd stay with the children." + +"It must be hard to manage so many," said Ruth who longed to help +but didn't know how. "I'm sure I think you're awfully brave to be +so cheerful all the time." + +"Oh, but I'm not; I'm the most doleful thing you ever knew at home +sometimes. And every little while I have to play baby and fuss it +all out to some one. You happen to be the victim this time, but +if it hadn't been you it would have been Mrs. Hamilton, or Betty." +Charlotte's voice quavered, and there was a long silence while +she stared gloomily into the fire and Ruth searched her mind for +something comforting to say. At last she said hesitatingly, "I wish +there was something I could do to help." + +"I know you do," answered Charlotte with a smile. "But you can't +except just by understanding, and letting me tell my woes to you +occasionally. After I've really been in the dumps I'm the most +courageous thing you ever saw, and feel that I can accomplish wonders. +I suppose the reason I feel blue just now is because Christmas is +so near." + +"Christmas! Why, don't you just love Christmas?" + +"Love it! I should say not. I usually hate it." + +Ruth's eyes opened very wide as she stared at Charlotte. That any +sane girl should hate Christmas was incomprehensible. + +"Christmas won't seem the same to me this year," she said soberly, +"but I love it and I'm going to have as good a time as I can. Why +do you hate it, Charlotte?" + +"Oh, for various reasons. Mother always seems sicker at this season, +and father looks anxious and more tired. I always feel that he's +trying to squeeze out a little more money to give us a good time, +and doesn't see how he possibly can. As for me, I'm so hopelessly +in debt to other people in the way of presents that I shall never +swim out." Charlotte tried to speak lightly, but it was a dismal +failure. + +"I never felt about it in just that way,--I mean about being in debt +to people. I dare say I've missed giving sometimes when I should +have given, if that's the way of it. I love to choose and make +presents for the people I'm fond of, and that's what Christmas +means to me." + +"Well, that's very lovely and quite the proper way to think of it, +I know, but it wouldn't seem quite so easy to you if you didn't +have any money to spend." + +"Why not make things?" asked Ruth innocently. + +Charlotte laughed. "Bless your heart, child, doesn't it cost money +to buy materials? And I do all the sewing I can possibly make up +my mind to in helping to keep the twins from falling out of their +clothes. You never saw such holes." + +There was a long silence while Charlotte lay still, apparently trying +to go to sleep, and Ruth's forehead puckered itself into wrinkles +as she wrestled with a weighty problem. + +Suddenly Charlotte opened her eyes. "Look here, Ruth," she said +bluntly, "I didn't mean to come over here and tell a tale of woe +about not having any money, and I'm ashamed because I have. Please +forget all about it." + +"Oh, Charlotte," cried Ruth, dropping scissors, thimble and spool +with a clatter as she got up from her chair. "Oh, Charlotte, I wish +you would let me do something I want very much to do." + +As she spoke Ruth threw herself on the couch beside Charlotte and +put her arms about her. Charlotte, who was most undemonstrative, was +vaguely comforted by the friendly embrace, and to her own surprise +found herself returning it. + +"Charlotte," pleaded Ruth, "I've really more money than I need for +Christmas presents this year, for Uncle Jerry sent me a check to +use just as I please. Now won't you let me give you your present +now, and give it to you in money, so that you may have the fun of +using it before Christmas? Oh, oh, don't you dare say a word yet +if you can't say yes," she said fiercely, putting her hand over +Charlotte's mouth, and in her anxiety pressing so hard that Charlotte +gasped for breath. + +"Don't you see what a pleasure you'd be giving me?" Ruth went on. +"I do so love to give people what they really want, and it's so +hard to know. And there won't a soul know about it except us, and +I'm dying to have a secret with some one." + +Charlotte couldn't help laughing, Ruth's manner was so funny and +anxious. "Thank you very much, Ruth, but I really couldn't," she +said at last decidedly. "They wouldn't be my presents if I used +your money for them; and besides, it makes me feel as though I'd +no business to complain to you as I've done." + +"Oh, Charlotte, they will be. It won't be my money, for I shall give +it to you to use just as you please, and what's the good of having +a friend if you don't tell her your troubles once in a while?" + +Charlotte was silent and troubled, but she smiled a little at Ruth's +mixed-up sentences. Ruth thought this was a good sign and rushed +on without giving her a chance for a positive refusal. + +"Don't you suppose I know how hard it is for a proud old thing like +you to do it? But I'm just selfish enough to try to tease you into +it because it's going to be such a favor to me. Do, Charlotte, +that's a dear." + +With Ruth's arms tightly around her, and Ruth's brown eyes looking +at her with mischievous pleading, Charlotte found it difficult to +be disappointing. "Well--" she said at last. + +"You will!" cried Ruth in a tone of rapture. "Oh, Charlotte, you're +a darling, and I'll do as much for you some day." + +"I feel as though I'd been in a hold-up," murmured Charlotte, as +Ruth released her after another violent squeeze, and went to her +desk. + +"I don't wonder," laughed Ruth coming back with an envelope in her +hand. "Now, Charlotte, I don't want to hurry you, but your hour +is up, and I think you'd better go. I have a premonition that the +twins have fallen into something or other." + +Charlotte rose lazily and held out her arms for the coat which +Ruth was holding and into the pocket of which she had slipped the +envelope. "You're a sly thing," she said. "You're afraid if I stay +I'll go back on my bargain." + +"Never," laughed Ruth. "You're not that kind. Can't you go into +Boston with me to-morrow and do some shopping? It will be almost +the last chance before Christmas." + +"Why, yes. I think so. I'm almost sure I can." Charlotte started +to go, but turned and gripped Ruth's hand. "You're a trump, Ruth, +and you've helped me lots," she said with an effort, "but I must +say I don't feel quite right about taking that money." + +"Oh, but I do. I shall enjoy it more than any other present I'm +giving. We'll have a great time to-morrow spending it." + +Once out of the house Charlotte couldn't resist the temptation to +take a peep at the contents of the envelope. As she caught a glimpse +of a crisp five dollar bill her first impulse was to go immediately +and make Ruth take it back. She half turned, and waited irresolutely +until the cold sting of the rain forced her to realize that the +middle of the street was no place for deciding a weighty question. +Then she went slowly toward home, uncomfortable because she had +taken the money, happy because of the affection and sympathy Ruth +had shown her. + +At home a more cheerful atmosphere reigned, and Charlotte felt her +spirits rise as she walked into the up-stairs sitting-room where +the children were. "You're an angel of peace, Cousin Josie," said +Charlotte gratefully. "I'll try to keep them happy until bedtime, +though I'm no such genius at it as you are." + +Charlotte felt so cheered and comforted that she thought of poor +Melina, whose sorrows she had not yet investigated, and turned +toward the kitchen. Melina was one of those rare maids-of-all-work +whose services cannot be estimated, nor can they be paid for in +mere money. Coming into the family when Charlotte was a small child, +she had taken each successive baby into her heart, and had worked +for them all as faithfully and lovingly as if they belonged to her. + +As she walked into the room she was startled to find Melina rocking +hard with her apron thrown over her face and audible sniffs going +on behind it. The chair was making such a noise that at first she +didn't hear Charlotte, and the latter had time to wonder whether +it wouldn't be better to steal away softly and come in later. She +knew she should hate to be found crying and she supposed Melina +would. Before she could decide Melina threw down the apron and +jumped up. + +"Land, how you scared me," she said huskily. "I guess I was just +having a kind of a little nap." + +"Oh, was that it?" answered Charlotte. She felt the delicacy of +the situation, and hated to pry into things that others didn't want +her to know. + +"Any cookies, Melina?" she continued carelessly. "I thought I'd +take some up to the children. My, but these are good! Who was it +in your family used to like them so much? Oh, I know, it was your +nephew down in Maine. How is he now, Melina? Does he get any better?" + +Melina's answer was so indistinct that Charlotte looked at her in +amazement to see two great tears rolling slowly down her cheeks. +"Oh, Melina, is he worse, and is that what makes you feel so bad?" +she cried sympathetically. + +"No, he ain't worse. If anything he's a little mite better." + +"What is the matter then? Don't you want to tell me? Perhaps father +or some of us could help." + +Melina shook her head. "It's only that I ain't got quite enough +money to make him the Christmas present I'd planned for him, and +what's worse I've been fool enough to write him it was coming. It's +one of those new-fangled beds so that he can be wheeled around, +and the end raises so that he can sit up a little. He's counting +on it so that I can't bear to disappoint him. All I need is five +dollars, and I thought sure I should have it because some one owes +me just that much. But I got a letter to-day saying she couldn't +pay it until after the first of January, so there 'tis." + +"If father was only home he could fix it ail right, but I'm afraid +mother hasn't five dollars she could spare just now," said Charlotte +doubtfully. + +"If she had I wouldn't take it," answered Melina, whose business +principles were founded on a rock. "Your father paid me up to +yesterday, and it ain't time for me to have any more." + +"Oh, Melina, wait!" cried Charlotte, and she flashed out of the room +and up the stairs, leaving Melina to wonder what had come over the +girl. She was back in a moment, hiding both hands behind her as +she came into the kitchen. Her eyes were sparkling with excitement, +and she was so different from the ordinarily languid Charlotte that +Melina looked at her in astonishment. + +"Melina," she said earnestly, "do you remember when I was a little +girl and I used to beg you over and over again to say which hand +you'd take? Now, please, please choose now." + +Melina hesitated, but Charlotte's manner was so persuasive that +she couldn't resist, and murmuring, "left hand nearest the heart," +touched that one. + +Charlotte pushed something crisp and crackling into her hand. "It's +mine to do just what I please with," she cried exultantly, "and I +never wanted to do anything more than I want to do this." + +Melina stared at the five dollar bill in her hand. Then she held +it out to Charlotte again. "I can't take your money," she said. "I +ain't saying that I wouldn't like to have it, but I can't take it." + +Charlotte looked at her pleadingly. Then she remembered how Ruth +had won her over. "But, Melina, it's a favor to me. You've always +been doing me favors, I know, but you might do just this one more." + +Melina shook her head. "It's no use," she began, and then stopped +aghast, for Charlotte, the self-controlled, the hater of tears, +startled Melina and fell forever in her own estimation by bursting +into sobs. "For the land's sake, child, don't do that," ejaculated +Melina, almost whirling herself off her feet in her frantic efforts +to decide whether to throw water on her or burn feathers under her +nose. + +Those who rarely cry are likely to do so with great violence when +they once give themselves up to it, and Charlotte's rending sobs +drove poor Melina to the verge of distraction. At last she gathered +the girl's slender figure into her arms and sat down in the big +rocker. + +"There, there, lamb," she said, "put your head on Melina's shoulder +and cry all you want to," and she held her tenderly until the +gasping sobs grew less frequent. + +"Oh, Melina, if you could only make up your mind to take that +money," said Charlotte at last, getting up and trying hard to keep +back the persistent tears. "I do want that poor boy to have his +bed right away. I think I could stop crying if you only would." + +Melina's thin lips tightened. + +"Well," she said at last, grudgingly, "I'll take it and call it a +loan. I must say, though, that I think you took an unfair advantage +of me. I ain't seen you cry since you was little more than a baby." + +"I didn't do it to get my own way. I've been holding on to myself +all day, and that was just the last straw that made me let go. +Don't call it a loan, for I never want to see it again. Keep it +till you find some one who needs it as much as you do just now, +and then pass it along. Wouldn't it be interesting to see how far +five dollars could travel if it was passed from one to another that +way?" + +"Talk about goodness," muttered Melina as Charlotte disappeared, +"that child's a wonder,--sometimes." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +OUT OF THE SNOW + + +Charlotte woke the next morning feeling vaguely uncomfortable and +wondering what was the reason for it. Suddenly it occurred to her +that to-day she must see Ruth and must give a reason for not going +to Boston with her. To explain what she had done with the money was +out of the question, for Charlotte would have been more unwilling +to tell of the performance of a good deed than to confess that she +had done something wrong. If she gave no reason and simply said +she couldn't go Ruth might think she was going to use the money for +herself, and that would be unbearable. But, of course, it would be +enough to say that it was Melina's only chance to go in town, and +she couldn't disappoint her. The fact that her mother was still sick +in bed would be sufficient reason why Charlotte couldn't leave on +the same day. + +Melina, herself, was cross, and worked as though she had a personal +grudge against every dish and piece of furniture she touched. The +twins and Molly were actually scared into silence, and forbore +to make their usual demands on her time and patience. Charlotte, +who understood, kept them and herself as much out of the way as +possible, and helped all she could so that Melina might take an +early train. + +As soon as breakfast was over, Charlotte went to Mrs. Hamilton's +and found Ruth just getting ready for her trip to Boston. + +"Why, Charlotte, you're surely not ready so early as this," she +said in surprise as her friend walked into her room. + +"Why, no; the fact is I can't go to-day. Melina wants to go, and +mother is still too sick to be left alone with the children. I came +over early because I thought you might want to ask some one else." + +"Oh, dear! Can't Melina wait till to-morrow? I'm dreadfully +disappointed." Ruth looked so reproachful that Charlotte found it +harder than she had anticipated. + +"You see," she explained, "Melina wants to send something off to +her nephew in Maine, and if she doesn't start it to-day it won't +get there for Christmas." + +"Bother Melina's nephew! I'd set my heart on having you with me +to-day, and you know why." + +Charlotte did know why, and much to her own sorrow. "I'm sorry it's +happened so," she began, but Ruth interrupted her. + +"It isn't really necessary for me to go to-day. Why can't we both +go to-morrow? We don't mind if the stores are crowded." + +Poor Charlotte looked positively unhappy. In all the labyrinth +of thought through which she had wandered this exceedingly simple +solution of the matter hadn't occurred to her. + +"Why, I might," she stammered feeling her way. "No, I can't," she +went on decidedly. "The truth is, Ruth, I'm not going to buy any +Christmas presents this year, after all." + +"Oh," said Ruth coldly. "Then, of course, you won't want to go in +town." + +"No, I think I'd better not. I'm sorry,--I can't explain." + +"You don't need to explain. You have a perfect right to do as +you please, of course." Ruth's tone was so freezingly polite that +Charlotte almost shivered. + +"I must run back home," she said at last with an attempt at +cheerfulness. "Would you like to have me ask Betty or Dolly to go +with you?" + +"No, thank you," and Ruth busied herself in the tying of a bow +with such complete absorption that Charlotte felt that the best +and only thing she could do was to go. She was so absorbed in her +own disagreeable thoughts that she plodded along through the snow +with her head down, and almost ran over Joe, who was patiently +standing in the middle of the walk hoping for just that result. + +"Why don't you warn a fellow when you are coming down upon him +like a ship under full sail, Charlotte?" he asked with pretended +indignation. + +"Get right out of my way, little boy," answered Charlotte, with +assumed scorn. "I suppose now that vacation has begun you children +will be under my feet all the time." + +Joe chuckled softly. He would have been disappointed if Charlotte +had answered in any other way. + +"What's the matter with you, Charlotte?" he asked as she passed +him and he fell into line behind her. "You look as though you had +lost your last friend." + +"I feel so," remarked Charlotte briefly, and in a flash was sorry +she had said it. + +"I didn't think Ruth was that kind," Joe said after a pause. + +"What kind? She isn't. There isn't anything the matter, and it's +all my fault. Ruth's all right, and I don't blame her a bit." + +Joe grinned appreciatively behind her back over this mixed statement +of affairs. Then he said, "Good for you, Charlotte. You're all +right, too. What are you going to do this morning?" + +"Shovel snow. It's the only kind of work that I really enjoy." + +"Let me help. I like to shovel snow when it isn't in my own yard." + +"Run off and play with the other boys," answered Charlotte ungratefully. +"I have the twins and Molly on my hands, and that will be enough +for one day." + +"Don't be foolish and refuse a good thing when it's offered you," +said Joe good-naturedly. "I'll help you amuse them." + +"Well, come along in then, and read while I get the children ready. +Oh, they're out now," she added, as they turned the comer and saw +the twins, looking like industrious brownies, rolling a huge snowball +across the yard, while Molly was expending her artistic talent on +the building of a snow-man. + +The clean snow-drifts, glittering in the sunshine, fired Charlotte +with the desire to play as she used to play when a child. "Get the +shovels, Joe," she commanded, "and after we've cleared the piazza, +let's build a snow-house and freeze it." + +"And my man can be the man that owns it, out for a walk in his +garden," chimed in Molly, who had been too much absorbed in her +work to speak before. + +"Nice weather for gardening," said Joe with a wink, as he started +after the shovels. + +Work is a cure for many sorrows, and Charlotte felt her heart grow +lighter as she helped Joe cut great blocks of snow and pile them +symmetrically. Betty, who had wandered over to see Charlotte, proved +a most efficient helper, and Frank and Bert, driving by almost +hidden under the branches of a stately Christmas tree, shouted +their greetings and came back later to join in the work. + +Both boys and girls worked hard, and the result was a snow hut +large enough to shelter a good-sized family of Esquimaux. An arched +doorway gave entrance to the interior, which was divided into two +rooms. It had taken a large amount of snow to build it, and really +much skill, for the day was growing warmer and it was almost +impossible to make the structure firm enough to stand. + +"There," said Charlotte, as she stuck a tiny American flag just +over the entrance, "I consider that the finishing touch. Now if you +boys will come over this afternoon and freeze it it will probably +last for some time." + +"What a short morning!" exclaimed Betty as the church clock struck +twelve. "I'm as warm as toast and as hungry as a bear." + +"Come in and help me get out the lunch Melina left for us," begged +Charlotte, "and then we can rest till the boys come over this +afternoon." + +The boys left in a cloud of snowballs, but Joe found a chance to say +softly to Charlotte as he passed her, "Feeling better, Charlotte? +You look it." + +"Run along and don't be foolish," answered Charlotte disdainfully. + +"Goodness! Melina must have thought she was going to feed an army," +laughed Betty, as Charlotte brought out sandwiches, cookies, brown +bread and a plate heaped with the cunning apple turnovers for which +Melina was famous. "Doesn't everything look good?" + +"Don't you want to make us some cocoa, Bettina? Yours is so good." + +Betty laughed. "Of course, you sly old thing. You know I love to +show off on cooking, don't you?" + +"Good reason why; because you're so clever about it. I wish I weren't +such a stupid about doing all the things a girl is expected to do, +and I truly wish I didn't hate it all so." + +"You can do other things," answered Betty loyally; "things I'd be +only too glad to do if I could. You ought to have heard all the +nice things Ruth said about you the other day." + +Charlotte's heart sank. The joy of working in the keen, clear air +had almost made her forget the unpleasantness of the morning. Now +it ail came back to her with a rush. Ruth would never again say +nice things about her, and there would be an end, of course, to +ail the delightful intimacy which had seemed to promise so much +pleasure for the winter. + +"Charlotte, Charlotte, Irving is climbing on the table to get a +turnover," announced Molly in a tone of dignified disapproval, and +Charlotte came to the rescue just in time to defeat the plans of +the small pirate, whose schemes for getting what he wanted were +without end. + +It was a jolly lunch, for they were all too hungry to notice Charlotte's +sudden depression, and the twins kept Betty in a perpetual state of +amusement. To Charlotte, however, the tempting food might as well +have been something far less appetizing, for the keen discomfort +she was feeling took away all sense of pleasure. + +"I don't believe I want to work any more on the snow-house," she +said soberly, as she and Betty finished putting away the dishes. +"You and the boys can finish up if you like, but I'm almost too +tired to move." + +"Well, I don't care," answered Betty good-naturedly. "I ought to +be working on my Christmas presents anyway, and I've had a pretty +good airing this morning. Can't you bring some sewing over to my +house?" + +"Sewing! You know I hate it. I hate Christmas presents, too, and +I shall be glad when Christmas is over." + +Betty gazed at her in such consternation that Charlotte couldn't +help laughing. "Don't mind me, Bettikins," she said penitently; "I'm +a cross, disagreeable thing, and I ought to know better, Only, if +you love me, don't say Christmas anywhere in my neighborhood, or +I shall certainly explode into some badness." + +Betty looked puzzled, but wisely refrained from asking any questions. +"Don't make yourself out too much of a villain," she said with a +comforting pat, "for I shan't believe it, and I shall keep on liking +you just the same." + +With a look at the twins and Molly, who were safely at work in the +snow, Charlotte went up-stairs to her mother, wishing in her heart +that she could take her troubles to her as other girls did to +their mothers, but knowing from long experience that nothing of the +kind was possible. Mrs. Eastman had been so long an invalid that +Charlotte could hardly remember the time when it had not been the +first object of her father, and later of herself, to spare her +mother every care and excitement. To-day was one of Mrs. Eastman's +better days, and Charlotte found her dressed and sitting by the +window when she went in with the tray. + +"Why, mother, how good it seems to see you sitting up," she said +happily; "are you really feeling better?" + +"Yes, really better; so much so that I thought I would give my good +little daughter a pleasant surprise when she came up to see me." + +Charlotte looked at her mother with delight. It was many weeks +since she had heard that cheerful tone, had seen the blue eyes so +clear, and the sweet face so untroubled. + +"Oh, Mumsey, you are so pretty when you don't have that horrid +pain," she said, setting the tray on the table and kneeling down +to rest her head on her mother's knee. + +Mrs. Eastman laughed softly, and patted the tired head with a +tender hand. "I'm glad I look pretty to you," she said. "But where +are Molly and the twins?" + +"Out in the yard digging in the snow. The boys and Betty were here +this morning, and we made a grand snow-house, but no one has come +back to finish up." Charlotte looked out as she spoke and opened +the window a crack to remind Irving that he couldn't prance around +on top of the snow-house, because it wasn't strong enough yet for +such treatment. + +"Don't you believe you'll be able to come down-stairs pretty soon? +Perhaps you can be with us on Christmas Day; oh, Mumsey," and +Charlotte glowed with delighted anticipation. "It won't make so +very much difference, after all," she added soberly, "for Christmas +won't be much different from any other day." + +"Yes, it will; it shall, darling," said Mrs. Eastman. "I know we +can't spend much money for presents, but we'll trim the house, and +we'll have popcorn and apples and--" + +Just what her mother intended to add Charlotte never knew, for +a wild shriek from the yard made her rush to the window in terror. +At first she could not tell what had happened. Then she realized that +Molly was dancing wildly around wringing her hands, that Irving's +startled face and sturdy shoulders were emerging from the ruins of +the snow-house, and that no one else was in sight. + +"Stanley, where is Stanley?" she called, opening the window wide. + +"Under the snow," shrieked Molly. "He can't get out, he can't get +out." + +Charlotte said afterward that she never felt sure whether she went +out of the window or over the stairs. She realized only that some +one came swiftly behind her and she screamed, "Go back, go back; +I'll get him out." + +But the figure kept silently on, and, before Charlotte could prevent, +her mother was pulling Irving with all her strength. + +"Help me lift him," she cried piteously; "my other baby is under +all this snow." + +No one knew better than Charlotte the weight of snow which had +fallen on poor Stanley, and she felt sick with terror as they at +last set Irving on his feet. + +"Run for Dr. Holland, Molly, and tell the neighbors to come here," +she said in a voice sharp with fear. Then she seized a shovel which +lay near and began to lift off the snow with a care and slowness +which made her mother frantic, + +"Give me the shovel, Charlotte; my baby will smother while you work +so slowly." + +"Stop, mother," answered Charlotte. "We may hurt him if we use the +shovel any more. Now I must use my hands." + +It seemed hours before Charlotte, plunging in the snow and throwing +it aside with her arms and her whole body, felt the touch of her +brother's coat. And then still hours before she could draw out the +limp, little body. + +"Give him to me," cried Mrs. Eastman snatching him to her breast, +and running toward the house. "Get hot water, Charlotte, and +blankets." Charlotte tried to run, but couldn't. She was vaguely +conscious that a sleigh had stopped outside the gate, that figures +were hurrying toward the house, that Joe, looking exceedingly red +and anxious but withal rather indistinct, had almost reached her, +and then she forgot everything. + +When she opened her eyes she was on the library sofa, and Mrs. +Hamilton and Betty were smiling reassuringly at her. She looked +at them a moment without speaking, and then all that had happened +came sharply back to her. + +"Where is Stanley?" she cried, starting up in alarm. + +"Stanley is all right, dear," answered Mrs. Hamilton, putting a +restraining hand on her shoulder. "Dr. Holland says that by to-morrow +he won't know that anything has happened to him." + +"And mother? She was out there in the cold and snow." + +"She says it hasn't hurt her a bit and she will insist on staying +up to take care of Stanley. Truly they are all right, Charlotte, +and you mustn't worry." Betty's tone was so motherly and insistent +that Charlotte couldn't help smiling. She closed her eyes sleepily +and didn't even trouble to open them when she felt herself lifted +from the sofa and carried up-stairs. + +When she awoke it was quite dark in the room except for the light +from the open fire. She could hear in the sitting-room a subdued +murmur of voices, and now and then Irving's giggle, promptly +suppressed by the stern Molly. As she lay there in drowsy comfort +Melina stole into the room and coming softly to the bed peered +sharply at her. + +"Hullo," said Charlotte with a suddeness that made Melina jump. +"What time is it, and how is every one?" + +"Goodness, I thought you was asleep. They're all right. I've just +made your ma go to bed, though she declares she never felt better +in her life. Stanley's sitting up on the sofa with the pillows ail +around him, feeling like a little king, and Molly's proud as Punch +to be nurse. Now what would you like for your supper?" + +"My! Is it supper-time? Oh, bring me anything good. You know what +I like." + +"There's a girl in the kitchen--the one that's staying with Mrs. +Hamilton. She wanted I should come up to see how you are, and she +says she'll come to see you just as soon as you want her." + +"Oh, ask her to come now, Melina, please. I feel quite well enough +to see her." + +Melina began to protest, but Charlotte's eagerness conquered, and +she went grumbling down-stairs to call Ruth. + +"Oh, Charlotte, you're a dear to let me come and tell you how mean +I feel. I don't believe I should have slept to-night if I couldn't +'fess up' to somebody." + +Charlotte looked at her in astonishment and Ruth went on, "You see +I know all about what you did with the money, for Melina sat with +me coming out on the train." + +"Melina told you!" said Charlotte, hardly able to believe her own +ears. + +"Yes, I remembered her face and said something to her. She was so +full of joy over having sent the bed off to her nephew that before +she knew it she had told me all about him, and about the five +dollars, too." + +"She probably won't tell anything again in a hundred years," +murmured Charlotte, looking so embarrassed and uncomfortable that +Ruth couldn't help seeing it. + +"You're a funny girl to be so ashamed of your good deeds. But, +honestly, Charlotte, I'll never tell if you don't want me to. I'm +simply bowed down with shame myself to think I was so mean and +hateful this morning." + +"Oh, that's ail right, Ruth," said Charlotte warmly, "and I'm not +going to be horrid about Christmas any more. I think this will be +the happiest one I've ever had." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +CHRISTMAS PRESENTS + + +The day before Christmas Ruth awoke with an ache in her heart, and +an inexpressible longing for mother and father. It was even worse, +she thought, than the Christmas before when grief for her mother +was so keenly new. Then, she and her father had been so occupied +making the hard day easier for each other that it had passed almost +pleasantly. But now, with her best chum so far away, the longing +for her mother increased tenfold, and Ruth found herself wishing +that she could go to sleep again, and not wake until the holidays +were over. + +It was hard to look cheerful at the breakfast-table, and every one +missed the gay laugh and chatter which usually made the meal so +pleasant. + +"You're not ill, child, are you?" asked Mr. Hamilton as he rose +from the table. + +"Oh, no," answered Ruth quickly, feeling that it would be rank +ingratitude to look melancholy after ail their kindness to her. + +"That's right," he said with a farewell pat. "We can't have you +looking sober. You know I depend on you to give me a merry Christmas." + +"I'll try," answered Ruth dutifully, but she felt that it would be +an impossibility for her to add to any one's happiness. + +"Perhaps you will help me a little, Ruth," said Mrs. Hamilton as they +finished breakfast. "I'm going to pack and deliver some Christmas +baskets this morning, and I really need some assistance in order +to get through with it." + +"I'd love to. Mother and I always did that, and I used to think +it almost the nicest part of Christmas. Mayn't I buy something to +put in the baskets, or have you all that you can use?" + +"It would be very nice if you would, for I've just heard of a +family this morning where the children haven't the necessary winter +clothing. There are four children, the oldest about seven and the +youngest a baby, and I'm sure you will find a great many things +they need at the little store near the post-office. If you feel +like taking that off my mind I shall be truly grateful." + +"Indeed I do," and Ruth, looking more cheerful already, ran off +to put on her coat and gay little hat. It is undeniable that doing +for others is the best cure for an ache in one's own heart, and +Ruth felt almost happy for the next half hour as she bought little +suits of underwear, warm petticoats and stockings, and red mittens +enough for the entire family. She felt quite like Santa Claus as she +walked down the street, for she had made a last purchase of toys +and candy, and enticing-looking bundles stuck out in all directions. +Those who passed couldn't help smiling at the pretty girl who, for +the time, at least, was the embodiment of Christmas cheer. + +"There, that was fun," she said with a sigh of satisfaction as she +deposited her bundles on the table. "Now, let me help you pack." + +For the remainder of the morning there was no time to be unhappy, +for by the time the baskets were packed the sleigh was at the door. +Mrs. Hamilton's errands took them to the outskirts of the town, +where great fields of snow spread their dazzling whiteness, and +the cool, crisp air blew the cobwebs from one's brain. Ruth learned +a helpful lesson in the art of giving, for Mrs. Hamilton was as +beautifully simple and friendly with the poor women she visited as +with her wealthier friends, and it was a pleasure to see the good +comradeship with which she entered into their joys and sorrows. + +"This is my last visit for the morning," said Mrs. Hamilton, as the +sleigh drew up before a neat little house. "I have just a little +Christmas remembrance to leave here, and I think you may find this +the most attractive place of all." + +Ruth followed Mrs. Hamilton into the house with real curiosity, +only to be met by a cheerful, rosy-cheeked woman who looked clean +and wholesome, though not especially interesting. She was putting +an extra polish on her little parlor, which already looked spotless, +and singing softly as she did so. As the song stopped Ruth realized +that the words were French and she began to feel curious immediately. + +"Ah, Mrs. Hamilton, it ees a great pleasure to see you," the woman +said as Mrs. Hamilton shook hands with her. "Marie will be so happy. +She has so wearied for you." + +Mrs. Hamilton and Ruth followed the good woman into the little +room, which was dining-room and sitting-room combined, and where +on a couch lay a girl a year or two older than Ruth. The great dark +eyes, looking out of the palest face Ruth had ever seen, lighted +up with joy, and a flashing smile disclosed faultless teeth as the +girl said with an accent even more marked than Mrs. Perrier's, +"It ees my angel of mercy come again. I am so glad, so glad." + +"I thought you might get tired of such an old angel, Marie," laughed +Mrs. Hamilton, "so I've brought a younger one along with me. Come +here, Ruth, and let me make you acquainted with my friend, Marie +Borel, who has left her Swiss mountains, and has come to America +to do great things." + +"Such great things I have done!" said Marie, reproachfully. "The +first thing ees to get seeck so that my good aunt should have to +take care of me. I do not like to make so much trouble." + +"It is nothing," said her aunt affectionately as she patted the thin +hand. "The uncle and I, we care only for your pain and trouble. It +ees a pleasure to have you with us." + +Marie looked at her with such loving gratitude in her soft eyes +that her aunt retreated to the kitchen where Mrs. Hamilton followed +her on the pretext of obtaining a promised recipe. + +Left to themselves the girls chatted in friendliest fashion, and +Ruth soon learned at least the outlines of Marie's story. Her father +had been pastor in a quaint little town of French Switzerland, and +there Marie had been born and had lived until death had taken both +father and mother within a year. Then, heart-broken over her loss, +she had accepted with gratitude an invitation from her aunt, who +had gone to America with her husband when Marie was a little girl. + +It was a trial of Ruth's self-control when Marie told so simply +and pathetically of the death of her mother and father, for her own +loss seemed so terribly near. "I've lost my mother, too, Marie," +she said softly, "and my father has gone so far away that sometimes +I feel quite alone." + +"Ah, then you can understand how hard it is to be brave when one +has so great a sorrow." + +"Indeed I can. And I'm not always brave. But tell me what happened +to you after you got here." + +"Something, my grief, perhaps, or the voyage, made me so seeck. +But it ees much better already, for now I can read a little and +can also sew." As she spoke Marie took from a little bag lying by +her side a piece of embroidery which to Ruth's eyes seemed a marvel +of neatness and beauty. + +"Oh, how lovely!" she said admiringly. "How can you do such fine +even work?" + +"We are taught to make such fine stitches when we are very little +girls," answered Marie much gratified at the praise. "And I also +make the pillow lace. Have you ever seen that made?" + +Ruth looked with greatest interest at the plump cushion with its +rows of pins, and watched intently while the thin hands deftly +tossed the bobbins around in most mysterious fashion. + +"Oh, you do that so fast and so carelessly," she said at last, "and +yet that beautiful pattern comes so perfectly." "Isn't it wonderful, +Ruth?" asked Mrs. Hamilton, coming into the room. "I hoped Marie +would show you her lace pillow and her embroidery." + +"It's perfectly fascinating," declared Ruth, "and I'd like to +learn, but I know I should tie all those threads in a tight knot +right away." + +"Come over and I will teach you a simple pattern that in my country +quite little children learn to make," urged Marie, who longed for +another visit from her new friend. + +"I'll come again gladly, but I'm not sure that I shall ever have +courage to attempt anything so wonderful," laughed Ruth as she rose +to go. + +"I'm so glad you took me there, Aunt Mary," she said as they got +into the sleigh. "You seem to know just what to do for people when +they are miserable." + +"I knew that what you wanted most I couldn't give you, dear, so I +tried the next best thing." + +"Marie was so cheerful and patient that it made me ashamed to +be anything else when I'm so well and have father. Only it seems +as though I never wanted my mother more than I do to-day." Ruth's +voice trembled and the tears filled her eyes. + +"Dear, we think you are brave, and we have appreciated your struggles +more than you suspect," said Mrs. Hamilton tenderly. "We are so +grateful for what you have done for Arthur, and the whole house +seems more cheerful when our borrowed daughter is in it." + +Ruth's face brightened, and her hand sought Mrs. Hamilton's under +the robe and squeezed it hard. She was silent for a moment and +then she cried gayly, "From now on I 'solomon promidge,' as some +one used to say, to be good and cheerful for the rest of the day." + +"That's right, darling; and now let's see if any Christmas greetings +have arrived while we've been away," said Mrs. Hamilton as they +entered the house. + +"I should say they had," said Arthur, who had just come down to +lunch, and was scrutinizing the addresses on several interesting +looking packages. "Here's a heavy box for Ruth, and several small +packages for you, mother." + +"Oh, would you open it now, or would you wait until to-morrow?" +cried Ruth, as she weighed the package in her hands and studied +the outside. "It's too fascinating, and I really can't wait," she +decided, and cutting the string with the knife Arthur held out to +her, she soon disclosed a box of unmistakable intent. + +"Tyler's!" she said rapturously, "and five pounds of it, I'm sure. +That's Uncle Jerry's writing on the envelope. 'For the Social Six, +whose acquaintance I hope to make in the near future.' How dear +of him! And that means that he's coming to Boston some time this +winter! Oh, I shall be so happy if he does." + +"He's a wise young man to pave the way beforehand so sweetly," said +Mrs. Hamilton with a laugh. "Ail the girls will think him quite +perfect." + +"He's the nicest uncle that ever lived, and we do have such good +times together. He's only twelve years older than I am, you know, +and he seems more like a brother than an uncle." As Ruth spoke the +front door opened suddenly and Mr. Hamilton entered. + +"Am I just in time for lunch?" he asked gaily. "I thought I'd come +out early to-day and play with Ruth. Besides, I have a package here +which she might like to investigate." + +He gave Ruth a bundle which was almost covered with seals, stamps +and addresses, and a letter which bore a foreign postmark. + +"From father," exclaimed Ruth. "Excuse me if I open it now. Do listen +to this," she said as her eyes traveled quickly over the familiar +handwriting. "'The package which I am sending in Mr. Hamilton's +care contains some little gifts for the girls and boys about whom +you have written to me. They have all been so kind to you that I +am glad to express my gratitude to them even in so slight a manner. +I shall leave you to bestow them as you think fit, and only hope +that they will enjoy them as much as I have enjoyed choosing them.' + +"Isn't that the loveliest thing you ever heard of?" said Ruth, +turning to Mrs. Hamilton. "Won't we have fun deciding about them?" + +"Let's have an impromptu party, to-night, if we can get the girls +and boys together," said Mrs. Hamilton, who was as much a girl as +Ruth about some things. + +"Splendid!" said Ruth, and then added in comical dismay, "I don't +see how you expect me to eat any lunch with such exciting times in +prospect." + +"We'll eat and plan at the same moment," consoled Mrs. Hamilton, +"and then you won't feel that you're losing precious time." + +It was decided that they should invite only the Social Six girls, +and the boys of the Candle Club, and to Ruth was left the pleasant +task of telephoning where she could, and sending John with notes +to the others. Every one in the house was busy, for each wanted to +have a hand in making Ruth's first party in her new home a happy +one. Delicious odors began to come from the kitchen, where Ellen +was flying around with a red and beaming face, and even Arthur was +shut up in his room carrying out mysterious directions his mother +had given him. + +"I've been racking my brains to think up some quite novel way to +give these presents," said Ruth as she and Mrs. Hamilton finished +making their selections. + +"Just leave it to me. I have a plan for that, and all you need to +do is to make them into nice little packages. You can use these +small cards for marking them." + +Ruth sat in her room making her parcels gay with gold cord and sprigs +of holly until she heard Mrs. Hamilton calling her. Then she went +down-stairs to find the family assembled in the dining-room for +a light and early supper. Until they had met at the table it had +not occurred to Ruth to wonder how Arthur would take this sudden +festivity. + +So it was with real purpose but with an apparently careless manner +that she stopped him on his way to the stairs to say, "Do be down +before any one comes, for I want you to help me out. I feel really +embarrassed over my first party." + +"I'm not coming down," he answered abruptly. + +"Not coming down? Oh, Arthur, that's too bad of you. Does your +mother know?" + +"No, not yet. I told her I'd try, and I have, but I can't manage +it." Arthur's face and manner were so forlorn that it took all +Ruth's courage to continue. She glanced around but there was no +one within hearing, and at last she said, "Why won't you come down? +Is it because you can't bear to have the boys and girls see you on +crutches?" + +Arthur nodded uncomfortably. He hated to talk of this to any one, +and he hadn't expected any determined interference in his plans. + +"Don't you suppose they ail know about it? And if they do will just +seeing you make any difference?" continued Ruth, quite surprised +at her own eloquence, and still persistently barring the way to +the stairs. "I know that they are all longing to have you with them +again, and that none of the good times seem the same without you. +I heard Frank and Joe say the other day that if you kept up this +sort of thing much longer they were going to make a raid on your +room and have it out with you." + +"I wish they would," answered Arthur gloomily. "Perhaps they might +knock some sense into me." + +"Well, if you want to know what I think," Ruth went on, feeling that +her courage was fast departing, and on that very account growing +more and more severe, "I think it's cowardly to shut yourself away +from your friends and spoil everything like this. I dare say you +are one of the very boys who think that ail girls are cry-babies, +but I can't see why it isn't playing baby to do as you are doing." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +ARTHUR COMES BACK + + +As soon as Arthur was out of sight Ruth flew up the stairs and into +her room. + +"Oh, dear! Now I have done it!" she thought, throwing herself on +the couch and clasping her hands behind her head. "Just as we were +beginning to be good friends, too. Why didn't I keep still and let +his mother manage it?" + +Ruth's cheeks were very red and her hands hot and unsteady as she +put on her dainty silk gown. She had expected to enjoy the evening +so much, and now, for the moment, at least, she would be thankful +if there were to be no party. She tormented herself by thinking that +perhaps if she had not interfered things might have gone better. +What boy could ever forgive being called a coward and a baby? Would +she, herself, have been braver or more cheerful if she had suddenly +been condemned to crutches and so inactive a life? + +Fortunately for her the sound of the door-bell made her run hastily +down-stairs to receive her guests. It was a relief to find Mrs. +Hamilton in the big music-room, for though she was accustomed to +meeting the three boys who had arrived first, they seemed strangely +formal and unfamiliar in the dignity of their party clothes. They +were doing their best to be cheerful and entertaining, for all felt +oppressed by the fact that there was to be a party in the Hamilton +house without Arthur as host. + +Joe, who with Frank and Arthur had formed a trio noted for its +loyalty and good fellowship, looked as solemn as a boy who resembled +a good-natured cherub could, and shook hands with Mrs. Hamilton +and Ruth with a fervor that made them wince. Arthur had been his +hero and chum ever since they were small boys in knickerbockers. +They had gone to school together, and had been preparing for the +same college when the accident happened which had so changed Arthur. +It had been the first real sorrow of Joe's life to be shut away +from Arthur, and he felt that he should never be reconciled to it. + +Philip and John Canfield were brothers who had come lately to Glenloch, +and were much liked by the boys and girls. Phil, the elder, was a +quiet, studious boy, much interested in mechanics and electricity, +and preparing for a course in one of the well-known scientific +schools. He was devoted to his younger brother, who was a brilliant, +artistic lad, but not very strong. The family had come to Glenloch +on account of the fine air, and the out-of-door life. + +Glenloch young people were never late in arriving at a party, and +almost before Ruth realized it ail her guests had come. + +"What shall we do first?" she whispered to Charlotte, who was +looking really pretty in her red dress, though a little pale still +from her recent fright. + +"Let's play Twenty Questions. That breaks the ice beautifully, for +we always get so excited over it." + +Dorothy and Bert Ellsworth were selected as leaders and began at once +to choose their supporters. They had not progressed far, however, +when an exclamation from Joe, who was standing in the background, +made them all turn to look at him. He was staring past Mr. and +Mrs. Hamilton out into the hall, his eyes very big and round, and +a broad smile on his face. Before he could speak a voice from the +hall, a voice that tried very hard to be steady, said: + +"Can you find a place for me on one of the sides?" + +Then, and only then, Joe came to life. Leaping toward the door he +seized the owner of the voice by the shoulders with a force that +threatened to overbalance him. + +"It's Art!" he almost shrieked, "by glory, it's Arthur. Of course +you can have a place. You can be on both sides. You can own the +whole party if you want to." + +"Hold on, old man," said Arthur with a laugh as he started slowly +into the room with Joe's arm around his shoulders. "Don't rush me +too hard, for I'm not so steady on my pins as I used to be." + +Almost before the words were ont of his mouth there was a general +rush of boys in his direction. + +"Take care of the sticks, Joe," ordered Frank; "now, Phil, gently +there," and before Arthur could protest he was lifted skilfully +in the arms of his chums, borne in triumphal procession across the +long room, and deposited in the biggest armchair. + +"What's the matter with Arthur?" piped Jack, as the boys settled +themselves on the floor around the big chair, and in response a +ringing chorus of boys and girls lustily asserted, "He's all right!" + +Arthur held his head high and smiled bravely, but his paleness told +what a struggle for self-control he was making. Quite unconsciously +he looked appealingly at his mother, but saw only her back as she +went quickly from the room. + +Betty, who had a positive genius for sensing situations and smoothing +over hard places, saw the look and came to the rescue at once. "Get +up, children," she commanded with mock severity; "this is a party, +and we don't sit on the floor at parties. Besides, we're going to +play a game." + +"Oh, we'd rather talk to Arthur," answered Bert bluntly. "You girls +can play games in the library if you want to." + +There was a chorus of protest from the girls, in the midst of +which Frank and Joe set Bert forcibly on his feet, while Phil said +paternally, "Son, son, is that the way you talk to your sister? +You're going to have plenty of chance to talk to Arthur from now +on, so come along and play like a good little boy." + +It was Dorothy's turn to choose, and she took what her brother called +a mean advantage by immediately choosing Arthur and establishing +her camp around the big chair. Bert's side went reluctantly into +the library, and the game began by sending Philip and Katharine +into the hall to choose what the others should guess. + +In spite of the fact that what she most wanted had come to pass +Ruth still felt uncomfortable, indeed almost unhappy. To be sure +Arthur had come down, but would he ever forgive what she had said +to him? She had been quick to see that at first he had resented +her advent into the family, and it was with a secret pride that +she had lately realized that they were getting to be good friends. +"Now I have spoiled all that," she thought mournfully. "He may be +glad I made him come down, but I know he'll never forget the horrid +things I said." + +Katharine and Philip fondly hoped that they had chosen something +which would puzzle their friends for some time. It was not long, +however, before Charlotte, whose skilful questioning was the admiration +of her own side and the despair of the other, had gradually drawn +from Philip the fact that the object thought of was the right eye +of the first fish Frank had caught the last time he went fishing. As +Philip reluctantly assented there was a shout of joy from Bert's +side, and an answering chorus of groans from the music-room. +Then Charlotte and Jack went out and tried their best to think of +something almost unguessable, and at last Ruth was sent out to wait +for some one from the other side who seemed to be slow in coming. + +She sat down in one of the hall chairs, but started up again and +would have liked to run away when she heard the familiar tap of the +crutches on the polished floor. It was silly to feel so embarrassed, +she thought; she had meant well, at least, in what she had done, +and if she had gone too far she was sorry but it couldn't be helped +now. She tried to think only of the game they were playing and said +brightly to Arthur as he approached: + +"I hope you've thought of something hard, for I'm so stupid I can't +think of a thing." + +"Oh, hang the game," he answered impatiently. "See here, Ruth, it's +not very easy for me to say things, but I've just been waiting for +the chance to tell you that you've done something for me to-night +that I shall never forget." + +"Oh, but I want you to forget all those horrid things I said, and +I take them all back this very minute. I think it's very fine and +brave of you to come down and act just the same as ever." + +Arthur looked as if the little speech pleased him, though, being +a boy, of course he couldn't say so. + +"It's taken three of you to reform me," he said with a little laugh. +"Mother has tried her hand at it, and good old Ellen, and now you +have put on the finishing touch. At least, I hope it's the finishing +touch," he added soberly. + +"Of course it is. You can never feel like shutting yourself up +again when you see how they all want you, and how happy you make +your mother and father." + +"I shall be an ungrateful beast if I don't please my mother and +father. You must give me a push if you see me going backward, Ruth. +What's the use of a borrowed sister if she can't help a fellow +along?" + +"I will, and you must help me, for boys always have very strict +ideas as to how their sisters should behave," said Ruth with a +mischievous twinkle. "My, but I feel better," she added with a sigh. +"You've been such an awful load on my conscience, Arthur Hamilton, +that I haven't enjoyed one minute of my party. Now I'm going to +have a good time." + +She started toward the door of the library just as Joe's voice +called from the music-room, "What under the sun are you two people +taking so long about?" + +Ruth flew back to Arthur in dismay. "Oh, in another second I should +have walked straight back to my own side without choosing a thing," +she gasped. "Do think of something quick." + +Arthur shouted with laughter. "I'd have given anything if you had," +he choked. "I should have liked to see your face when you came to." + +"Mean boy!" she said sternly. "You can only pay up for that by +thinking of something immediately, before I count five. One, two, +three, four---" + +"The tip of Fuzzy's tail," answered Arthur, making a useless grab +for the object in question as its small proprietor disappeared up +the stairs. + +"All right. But they'll guess it in a minute," declared Ruth as they +took their separate ways. Contrary to her expectations it proved +a hard one, and they were all in gales of merriment before Betty, +whose thoughts turned easily to cats, started the questioning in +the right direction. Charades came next, then a game proposed by +Philip, and after that supper was announced. + +Ruth, who had not been let into the secret of the final arrangements, +felt a thrill of delight when she saw the pretty table. A tiny +Christmas tree hung with glittering ornaments, and dotted with +twinkling candies was the centerpiece, while a border of delicate +green vine brightened with sprigs of holly ran all around the table. +At the foot of the little tree were heaped mysterious parcels wrapped +in white tissue-paper and tied with gold cord. Now Ruth knew what +Arthur had been so busy over all the afternoon, for the place cards +were small and very funny snapshots of the guests themselves, neatly +mounted, and with the date in gold lettering. + +"The mental effort of playing guessing games gives me almost +an appetite," said Joe pensively, as he watched with hungry eyes +a platter of chicken coming his way. There was a general shout at +this, for Joe was always eating, and never hesitated to proclaim +that he considered the serving of the refreshments the nicest part +of a party. + +"You have a fairly good appetite for a boy," remarked Ruth, "or +for a white-haired lady either," she added demurely. + +Every one laughed and Joe groaned. He had tried to keep it a dead +secret that his grandmother had been highly indignant because +he had borrowed her best gown without leave, and had cut off his +allowance for several weeks, but it had leaked out, and the girls +didn't mean he should hear the last of it. + +"Never mind, old boy," said Arthur. "There's more food in sight +and still more in the kitchen, so pitch in." + +It was a delicious supper of chicken and creamed potatoes, crisp +rolls and foamy chocolate, and Ellen's unrivaled ice-cream and +cake to top off with. As they were finishing the ice-cream, Katie +appeared with a tray on which reposed six pound boxes and an equal +number of half pound boxes. All eyes were upon her as she gave a +large box to each girl and a small box to each boy. + +"Wow!" said the irrepressible Joe, lifting his box and letting it +fly into the air, so great was his astonishment at finding it empty. + +"Oh, here's richness!" cried Dorothy, taking off the cover of hers +to disclose row upon row of tempting chocolates. + +The boys with one accord uncovered their boxes, only to find them +empty, and a low groan went around the table. + +"I say, Betty, I always did like you," said Frank, gazing covetously +at the sweets so near at hand. + +"Tell them about it, Ruth," laughed Mrs. Hamilton. + +Ruth tried to look very solemn as she gazed around the table. "This, +boys," she said impressively, "is intended for an object-lesson, to +show you how nice and kind and generous, and--and everything else +that's good, girls can be when they have the slightest chance. My +Uncle Jerry, who hopes soon to know you all, has sent this candy +to the girls, and now it's their turn to do the next thing." + +"Give me your box then, and let me fill it at once before I am +tempted to keep it ail myself," groaned Charlotte, reaching for +Joe's box. "And 'think shame to yourself' for your greediness in +the past." + +Meanwhile Mrs. Hamilton was busy with the packages placed around the +little Christmas tree. From somewhere in the midst of the greenery +she extracted a bunch of red and white ribbons and, holding them so +that it was impossible to see to which packages they were attached, +she offered them to each in turn saying, "Girls white, and boys +red, please. + +"Now pull and see what you'll get," she said as the last ribbon +left her hand. "These are gifts which have come across the ocean +to you from Ruth's father." + +The ribbons were purposely so tangled that at first it was like +pulling in an unwilling fish. There was much friendly squabbling, +and then a chorus of ohs and ahs as the gifts were finally opened. + +"Just what I wanted," contentedly sighed Dorothy as she clasped +a turquoise-studded bracelet on her round arm. "What a perfectly +elegant father you must have, Ruth!" + +"I should say so," came in a duet from Betty and Katharine who were +respectively gloating over a string of pearl beads and a pretty +hatpin. Alice had found a silver belt-buckle in her parcel, and +Charlotte was gazing at a coral necklace with great satisfaction. + +"What vain creatures girls are," said Frank maliciously as he gazed +at the absorbed young ladies. "Now we men, ahem, are presented with +practical gifts." As he spoke he held up a fine knife with views +of Nuremberg on the handle. + +"You spoke too soon, Frank," said Phil, showing a pair of cuff +links, while Joe made every one laugh by assuming dandified airs as +he stuck in his tie a pretty scarf-pin. Arthur peacefully attached +a silver pencil to his watch-chain, Bert transferred his small +change to a pigskin purse, and Jack slashed imaginary villains with +a knife similar to Frank's. + +"But where's your present, Ruth?" asked Betty. "You ought to have +the nicest of all." Ruth, who had been absorbed in watching the +others, came to herself with a start. "Why--why, I actually forgot +to choose something for myself. I meant to, though," she added +honestly. + +"How will this do?" asked Mrs. Hamilton, producing a package that +no one had seen before. + +"Why, did father send another package?" said Ruth, looking so surprised +that every one shouted with laughter. The girls eagerly crowded +around her as she cut the cord and disclosed an attractive-looking +box. Opening this she discovered a dainty velvet case in which +reposed the prettiest watch she had ever seen. It was hung on a +slender chain, and Ruth put it around her neck at once and tucked +the little watch under her belt. + +"Isn't it a darling?" she said happily. "Father always gives me +what I most want." + +"Let's see the wheels go round," suggested Phil, and Ruth opened +the case to find a little picture of her father, taken since he +went away, and looking so very like him that for a moment she could +hardly speak. + +"That's my father," she said when she could find her voice. Both +girls and boys crowded around to look at the kind, handsome face +gazing at them from out the little watch, and Ruth's heart swelled +with pride and affection as she listened to their admiring remarks. + +"Let's show them the game we tried the other night," said Dorothy +to her brother as they all returned to the music-room. + +"Oh, that's too hard for them," answered Frank with affected +superiority. "They couldn't guess anything so difficult as that." + +"Try it and see," clamored two or three voices. + +So Frank with one finger drew a large circle in the air, and with +elaborate gestures made two points for the eyes and a line each +for nose and mouth. As he did so he recited solemnly: + + + +"The moon is large and full and round; Two eyes, a nose and mouth." + +"Now see if you can do it just as I did," he said to Jack, who sat +next him. + +Jack tried, imitating as nearly as he could remember all of Frank's +peculiar movements of hand and arm, but as he finished Dorothy and +Frank shouted, "No; not right." + +"Do it again, Frank," begged Charlotte, watching him sharply. + +Frank did it again, and this time with even more elaboration +of gesture. The eyes were poked in with great firmness, the nose +in its airy curves looked like no possible human feature, and the +mouth was so decidedly turned up at the comers that one might have +fancied it was laughing at them. + +Charlotte thought she knew; she had noticed a peculiar curve in +Frank's little finger, and the sudden way in which he had dropped +his hand both times. So she tried her fate with great courage, only +to fail as Jack had done. + +"You do it, Dorothy," said Betty. + +Dorothy did it, but her method was so different from Frank's that +she gave them no discoverable clue. The features she made were +all small and precise, and she put in a few meaningless flourishes +which puzzled them more than ever. + +Then Arthur, who had been watching quietly, said the little speech +and made the drawing in a way quite different from either Frank +or Dorothy, and to the surprise of all the two wise ones admitted +him at once into their fellowship. + +"All right, old fellow," laughed Frank. "Now there are three of us +who know." + +At last Betty, with a gurgle of triumph, did it in the required +way. Then Phil saw the point, and Alice discovered it almost at the +same time. Finally there was a circle of waving arms, and a chorus +of voices announcing that: + +"The moon is large and full and round; Two eyes, a nose and mouth." + +Only Ruth failed to guess the secret, and, though she waved with +the others and tried her best to imitate all the various methods +at once, she still failed every time. + +"Your arm's in my way, Ruth," said Joe, who happened to be sitting +on her right. + +"I'll do it with the other, then," responded Ruth good-naturedly. +To her surprise this attempt was greeted with a shout of, "That's +right," and then every one laughed at her dazed expression. + +"Why, I've done it that way dozens of times," she protested. + +"No, you haven't," came in a laughing chorus. "Look at us once +more." + +Ruth looked and for the first time realized that each one was using +the left hand to make the picture. "What a stupid I am," she said +ruefully. "To think I let all you Glenloch girls and boys get ahead +of Chicago." + +"You're a Glenloch girl yourself, now," put in Katharine. + +"So I am, and I know a trick game, too. If Betty will come out in +the hall with me I'll have my revenge on you." + +She started toward the door as she spoke, but a loud peal of the +door-bell sent her flying back into the room again. + +Mr. Hamilton opened the door and took in a yellow envelope which +he handed to Ruth. + +She tore it open eagerly and her face flushed with pleasure as she +read the message. "It's from father," she cried, looking at the +expectant faces around her. "He must have guessed that we might be +having a party, for he says, 'Merry Christmas to all.' I just wish +he could know you all, for I'm sure he'd like you." + +As she stood there smiling happily, Frank had a sudden inspiration. +Seizing the hands of Charlotte and Alice, who were nearest him, he +began to dance around Ruth, singing at the top of his voice: + +"For she's a jolly good fellow, For she's a jolly good fellow, For +she's a jolly good fellow, And we're very glad she came." + +All joined in as Mrs. Hamilton caught it on the piano, and Ruth +stood surrounded by a circle of beaming faces, and feeling that +the world was a very good sort of place after all. + +As the laughing crowd broke ranks, Ruth was mysteriously drawn +aside by Charlotte, Betty and Dorothy. + +"Allow us to crown you," said Charlotte, placing an available holly +wreath on Ruth's head, "as the only successful member of the 'S. +F. T. R. O. A. H. T. T. W.' The object of this society having been +fulfilled, the society will now be officially dissolved." + +"Why, what do you mean?" asked Ruth much mystified. + +"Don't you remember the society we planned the first day we met +in your room?" demanded Dorothy. "Well, look there, and there, and +see if you haven't accomplished its object." + +Ruth looked and found it truly a pleasant sight. Arthur, the central +figure of a group of boys, looked happier than she had ever seen +him, and was evidently making plans for future good times, while his +father and mother beamed contentedly on him from a little distance. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +LOST AND FOUND + + +Ten days after Christmas the ice was declared quite perfect, and +the Social Six were to have their first skating-party of the season +on Holden's Pond. It was planned to invite the usual boys, to begin +skating at about half-past six, and to go to Katharine French's +house at half-past eight for supper and games. Betty's married +brother and his wife, who were great favorites with the girls and +boys, were to chaperone the party. + +Ruth was greatly excited over the prospect, for she had hardly +done more than learn to stand up on her Christmas skates, and she +longed to be able to glide off as gracefully as Dorothy did. She +looked very gay in her red suit, with a jaunty tam-o'-shanter set +rakishly on the brown curls, and even Arthur smiled involuntarily +at the pretty picture as she came into the library to say good-bye. + +"I wish you were going, Arthur," she said. "But, at least, you'll +escape one trial; you won't have to hold me up." + +"I believe I could stand even that," answered Arthur wistfully. And +then because he had set himself to the task of keeping cheerful, +he added, "Just wait until next winter; I'll get up a special +skating-party for you, and whiz you over the ice at a great rate." + +"I hope by that time I'll be able to whiz a little by myself. Just +now I can only wabble and squeal. Oh, I must hurry, for there's +the whistle," and with a gay good-bye Ruth flew out of the house. + +Arthur went slowly over to the window to watch the jolly crowd +out of sight. Then he went back to his book and began reading with +an unconscious sigh which made his mother and father look at each +other with troubled eyes. + +As they neared the pond with its twinkling bonfires, it seemed +to Ruth there would be small chance for an inexperienced skater +in the midst of the many dark figures which were gliding in every +direction. She felt better about it, however, when she found Philip +taking possession of her to put on her skates, and then starting +off at a slow, steady glide which at once gave her confidence. She +had almost begun to feel that she could really skate, when Frank +came up and took her for a mad dash around the pond at a pace that +fairly made her tremble. She was glad to get back once more to the +little inlet which the club had chosen for its meeting-place, and +where on the bank they had built their bonfire. Joe and Charlotte +skated along at about the same moment, and Ruth was secretly glad +to have Joe claim her as his next partner. + +"You're doing wonders, my dear," said pretty Mrs. Ellsworth, +as Ruth came back to the meeting-place after her comfortable spin +with Joe. "Here's Jack waiting to take you out as soon as you are +rested, and I'll get Joe to help me find my husband." + +Jack was a fine skater, and Ruth felt so encouraged by her last +attempt that she really enjoyed her skate with him and began to +long to do something by herself. As they came back after circling +the pond, she said earnestly, "Now you go and have a skate with some +one who knows how. I want to rest a minute, and try all by myself +in this inlet, where I shall be out of the way." + +Jack refused at first to leave her alone, but she insisted, and +as Betty went by at that moment he was off in pursuit before he +fairly realized what he was doing. He quieted his own conscience +and Betty's protests by promising to find Bert and send him back +to Ruth immediately. + +Left to herself, Ruth started out, very timidly at first and very +unevenly. Finding herself still on her feet she gained confidence +and struck out more boldly. The inlet seemed altogether too small, +and she skated out a little way, still keeping near the shore and +well out of the track of the skaters. + +She was so busy watching her own feet that she didn't notice Betty +and Jack as they flashed by until they shouted their congratulations +on her success. Then Bert and Dorothy came along and stopped to +tell her that they would all meet at the bonfire in fifteen minutes, +and go from there to Katharine's house. They tried to persuade her +to skate around the pond with them, but she was so in love with +her own efforts that she said no and sent them off in a hurry. Then +she tried again with new courage, and struck out with such energy +that before she knew it she had left the edge of the pond, and +was skating with quick and fairly steady strokes in the direction, +opposite to that in which Bert and Dorothy had gone. It startled her +when she realized that she had left the meeting-place far behind, +and she knew she ought to turn about and try to get back there. +But she was so fascinated by her own success that she hated to turn +for fear the spell would be broken. + +Suddenly she caught the toe of her skate in a crack, made a frantic +effort to keep herself from falling, and then went with a crash flat +on her face on the ice. It seemed an age to her before she could +move; then she tried to get up, and some one, rather unskilfully, +helped her to her feet. As she stood there half dazed and shaking, +she put her hand to her face and brought it away all wet. + +"Oh, dear, my nose is bleeding," she said aloud, and then became +conscious that she had an audience of two small boys, who were +grinning at her unsympathetically. + +"Won't you please take off my skates?" she said as pleasantly as +she could, for it made her very angry to see them laughing at her. +She longed to get out of their sight as quickly as possible, and +she wondered if she could ever make her way across the ice and back +to the meeting-place with her knees trembling under her in such +unwonted fashion. Then she thought of how she must look with her +face streaked with blood, and she decided it would be better to +go home. She felt quite sure that if she went a little way across +the field to the left she should find the road they had come down +earlier in the evening. + +"It didn't take us so very long to come down here," she thought, +as she plunged through the snow, "and after I've repaired damages +Uncle Henry will see that I get back to the party." + +Her nose was still bleeding, but she stopped it after a while +with applications of snow. Her head ached, and she felt sure the +afflicted nose was swelling and that she should be a fright. She +wished that she hadn't tried to be so smart, that she had stayed +in the little inlet, and all the useless wishes that one makes when +it is too late. + +When she came to the road she felt better, and walked along as +cheerfully as her increasing aches would permit. Now that she was +getting farther away from the pond it was very still, painfully +still, she thought. The moon had disappeared, but the sky was thickly +sown with stars and the glistening snow-mantle was more beautiful +than ever. For some reason the road seemed strangely unfamiliar, +and Ruth faltered and almost turned back as she remembered that +she had never before been out alone in the evening. It had been so +light at the pond, with the many bonfires, and so noisily gay that +she had not realized until now what the loneliness of the walk +would be. + +"It was stupid of me not to have one of those small boys go for Bert +or Phil," she said to herself. "I should rather it would be Phil, +because he takes care of one so nicely, and I'm sure he wouldn't +laugh. I'd be willing to have them laugh at me, though, if I could +only see them." + +By this time Ruth should have begun to see houses, and she had +already decided that she should stop at the first one she saw and +ask for help. But to her dismay no houses appeared, and the road +seemed narrower and more shut in by trees than it had before. + +Still she clung tenaciously to the idea that she was on the right +road, and that if she kept on long enough she should come to the +houses. She tried to comfort herself by thinking that she had been +too absorbed on the way down to notice how the road turned and how +far the houses really were from the pond. Her head ached enough +to make her feel a little dazed, and her nose seemed as large as +a small apple when she cautiously touched it. + +Suddenly she was quite sure that she was on the wrong road, +and realized that she had no idea in which direction to go to get +home. Besides that she was so tired that she could hardly keep on +walking. Tears started to her eyes, but she winked them away. "I +won't cry," she said boldly, as though she thought that speaking +aloud would make it more binding upon her. "And I will keep moving, +for then I can't freeze, and it seems terrifically cold." + +She stood still for a moment trying to peer into the darkness +ahead of her and wondering whether there might be houses near, or +whether it would be better to go back and try to find the pond. + +Suddenly on the still, cold air floated the sound of a voice. "Ruth!" +it called,--and then after a moment of silence, "Ruth Shirley!" The +sound was so drawn-out, so far-reaching, that as it echoed about +her Ruth positively shook with fright and excitement. Then she +started in the direction from which it seemed to come, a pathetic +little figure stumbling from weariness. + +After Ruth's departure Arthur tried hard to fix his mind on his +story, but even the charm of Treasure Island failed to distract +him. In spite of himself his thoughts turned always to the starlit +winter night, and to the pond gay with bonfires and torches and +covered with boys and girls. After a while he closed the book with +a snap, and went to the piano, where he softly tried over some new +music Ruth had left there. Then came a sound of sleigh-bells, the +tramp of feet on the piazza, and the peal of the door-bell. + +As Katie opened the door, a cyclone swept in which resolved itself +into Phil, Frank and Joe, all talking at once. "We've come to take +you over to Katharine's for the supper, and you've got to go," they +announced almost as one man. + +"It's no use for you to say no," continued Phil, "for we shall use +force if necessary. We've had our orders not to come back without +you, and you surely wouldn't deprive our dear little Joe of the +chance of a supper." + +Joe clasped his hands and wriggled imploringly, while Frank tried +to hasten matters by going in search of Arthur's overcoat. + +"Well, I'll go," said Arthur hesitatingly. "You'll have to boost +me out to the sleigh, for I couldn't take a step on this snow." + +"Of course. Frank and I will bear your lordship to the sleigh, and +Joe can bring the stick. I'm glad that it's only one crutch now, +old fellow," ended Phil so affectionately that Mrs. Hamilton could +have hugged him. + +"It's going to be one cane in--well, I don't dare to say just how +long, but soon," announced Arthur with such determination that, +"Hurrah," "Bully for you," "You're a brick," came from the boys +simultaneously. + +To Arthur the quick rush through the keen air, the tingle of +the flying snow-needles against his face, above all the wholesome +companionship of his chums, were as rain in thirsty places. The +jokes of the boys seemed the wittiest things he had ever heard, +and he shouted with laughter. + +As they reached the piazza Betty opened the door. "Have you seen +Ruth?" she asked anxiously. "She has disappeared, and all the others +except Katharine are out hunting for her." + +"Disappeared!" said Frank, looking as though he could not believe +his ears. "How under the sun could she manage to disappear? Wasn't +Jack with her?" + +"Yes, but she wanted to be left alone for a while to practice, and +when we were ready to start for Katharine's she was nowhere to be +found. Oh, do hurry and don't stop for explanations." Phil and Joe +were already out of the house, and Frank was soon at their heels. + +"It's horrid to be left behind to wait, isn't it, Arthur?" said +Betty, feeling very helpless and realizing how much more so Arthur +must feel. + +"It makes me feel like a log," answered Arthur. He was tramping up +and down the long parlor and in his excitement doing better work +with his crutch than he had ever done. "I'm going out on the piazza, +Betty," he announced. "I can't stand it any longer in the house." + +As he went through the hall his eye fell on the megaphone which +hung there, and with a dim idea that it might be of use to him he +tucked it under his free arm. The piazza was clean and dry, and he +walked its length, finding the exertion a relief to his feelings. +The megaphone was an awkward burden, and he started to put it down, +only to snatch it up again before it had touched the piazza floor. +When he had brought it out he had thought he might shout a triumphant +"found" through it. Now a better purpose suggested itself to him. + +"Ruth! Ruth Shirley!" he called, and his ringing voice flew through +the air in waves of sound. + +"Oh, do you see her?" shrieked Katharine, opening the front door. + +"No, but I hope she can hear me. I've an idea that she tried to +go home for some reason, and that she has lost herself on one of +those winding roads that lead from the pond. Anyway, I'm going to +shout every two minutes, and the sound may help her find her way." +Katharine retreated, and the two girls wandered about restlessly +in the house and listened for each call of Ruth's name. Suddenly +there was a hurried thump of the crutch and Arthur shouted excitedly: +"She's coming, girls; run and meet her." + +The two girls flew out of the house to see just turning into the +yard a weary-looking girl who was unmistakably Ruth. They rushed +to meet her and half carried her up the steps and into the house, +while Arthur shouted a rousing "found" through the megaphone. + +"Is that the voice that's been calling me?" asked Ruth as he followed +them into the house. "I believe if it hadn't been for that I should +have given up." + +"But where have you been and how did you manage to get lost?" +questioned Betty. + +"Oh, don't ask me any questions now, but give me a looking-glass +and some powder so that I can fix this dreadful nose before the +others get here," implored Ruth. "I'm tired to death, but I started +out to make myself look better before I came to your party, and I +want to do it." + +The three girls vanished up-stairs, leaving Arthur to poke the fire +and chuckle quietly over this truly feminine ending to the tragedy. + +"She's the real thing," he said to himself. "Doesn't want to be +pitied and fussed over." + +By the time the others had gathered, Ruth came down-stairs and was +besieged at once with questions. + +"It was so foolish of me," she said as she finished telling her +story. "I might so easily have sent one of those small boys across +the pond. All I could think of at first was to go somewhere where +I could take care of my poor nose." As she spoke she shut one eye +and gazed with the other at her red and swollen nose. + +"I think the swelling's going down a little, don't you?" she asked +anxiously. + +They all laughed, and Jack said almost as if he felt it a personal +grievance, "I don't believe you were so scared as we were after +all." + +It was a jolly supper, but to Ruth, who ached from head to foot, +it seemed as if it would never end. She did her best to behave as +usual, and succeeded so well that for some time no one noticed how +pale and tired she looked. + +As they got up from the table, Arthur said suddenly: "Say, Phil, +I'm awfully tired. Do you mind getting out your old nag now? And, +Ruth, wouldn't you like to go home too?" + +"Oh, yes," answered Ruth, so eagerly that the others realized at +once the cause of Arthur's sudden weariness. No one said a word, +but the girls almost fell over each other in their endeavors to +assist her, and the boys rushed the sleigh to the door in great +haste. + +"Ladies first," said Phil gallantly, and before Ruth realized what +was happening, he and Frank had gently picked her up and deposited +her in the sleigh. Then came Arthur, and then the boys piled in on +the front seat. + +Mrs. Hamilton met them at the front door. "I'm so glad you came home +early, children. Ruth, you must be tired to death after skating." + +"I am. Oh, I am," answered Ruth with a little laugh, and then she +surprised herself by throwing both arms about Mrs. Hamilton's neck +and bursting into tears. + +"Don't you dare to think I'm crying, Arthur Hamilton," she managed +to say between her sobs. "I said I wouldn't, and I won't," and +then realizing the absurdity of what she was saying, she laughed +as unrestrainedly as she had cried. + +The sight of Mrs. Hamilton's worried face and Arthur's helpless +alarm brought her to her senses, and she said penitently, "Do forgive +me for being so foolish. I've tried so hard not to cry that when +I felt Aunt Mary's arms around me it just had to come out." + +"Darling, the best place for you is in bed, and I shall see that +you're tucked in all 'comfy,'" said Mrs. Hamilton tenderly. + +As she started up the stairs, Ruth turned to Arthur who was slowly +following. "I really do believe you saved my life," she said +earnestly. "I was so frightened and tired and achy that I couldn't +have gone many more steps if that blessed old voice hadn't led me." + +"Oh, some one would have found you before long," answered Arthur, +who hated to take any undeserved credit to himself. + +"Perhaps," assented Ruth doubtfully. "At any rate it would have +been a trifle cold sitting there waiting to be found, and I prefer +to think you saved my life. It makes me feel much more important." + +"Ail right, we'll call it so then," said Arthur with a laugh. "And +now we're square again, as we were on the night when we first ate +dinner together, for if I saved your life you have certainly saved +my common sense." + +"I must say I like it to hear you compare your common sense with +my life. However, I'll shake hands on it," and with a laughing +good-night Ruth followed Mrs. Hamilton into the pink room. + +Arthur thumped along into his own room and went happily to bed, +feeling that girls were pluckier that he had thought them, and that +even crutch-bearers could accomplish something in the world. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +MISS CYNTHIA + + +"Come down to the pond with me this afternoon," said Dorothy as +she and Ruth parted on their way home from school a few days after +the skating-party, "and we'll go into a quiet comer and practice +until you feel sure of yourself." + +"All right; I'll go," Ruth answered, "but I can't stay long; I must +study for at least an hour before dinner." + +"Well, be at my house by two, and then we shall have the pond +almost to ourselves for a while, and we'll be ready to go home by +the time the crowd gets there." + +Dorothy was a good teacher and in the hour they spent on the pond +Ruth gained both skill and confidence. + +"I never shall be nervous again about it," she said with enthusiasm +as they took a last swing around the pond together. "It's like +so many other things; you have to get the feeling of it before you +can really enjoy it." + +"That's so," assented Dorothy; "you probably never will lose +it now. My, but it's growing colder every minute, isn't it? Let's +hurry home, and I'll make some hot chocolate. You'll have plenty +of time before you need to study." + +Ruth stooped to take off her skates at once. "I'm really as hungry +as a bear," she confessed, "and a cup of your chocolate will be +fine." + +When the girls entered the house Dorothy stopped short as she +caught the sound of voices in the library. She listened intently a +second, then she frowned, put her finger on her lips, and grasping +Ruth by the hand led her softly across the hall and up-stairs. Not +until they had reached the large room in the third story and had +closed the door did she break the silence which enfolded them. + +"For pity's sake," asked Ruth as she took off her coat and hat, +"what is it and who is it?" + +"Oh, it's only Miss Cynthia," answered Dolly carelessly. "I didn't +want mother to know I'm in the house." + +"Who's Miss Cynthia?" pursued Ruth with great curiosity, "and why +don't you want your mother to know?" + +"Why, Miss Cynthia Atwood, of course. Don't you know her yet? +You're fortunate, that's all I can say. She lives in that funny +little house near the library, and she's the last surviving member +of one of the oldest families here. I ought to know, for she's told +me times enough." + +"But why don't you like her?" persisted Ruth, who was toasting herself +in front of the open fire while Dorothy got out the materials for +the chocolate. + +"Oh, I don't know," answered Dolly with a shrug. "She's tiresome +and inquisitive, and she's always coming round to make visitations +on days when she ought not to be out, and then we girls or the +boys have to see that she gets home safely. I can't help slipping +out of her way whenever I can." + +"Well, you certainly slipped this time," said Ruth with a laugh. "I +didn't really know what was going to happen to me. What a good-timey +looking room this is, Dolly," she went on, glancing about her. +"I always feel when I am up here as if I can't go away until I've +tried every one of these games." + +It was a huge room, rather bare of ornament except for the pictures +Frank and Dorothy had put up, but wholly suggestive of good times, +as Ruth had said. Nothing was too good for use, and everything +promised pleasure of the most wholesome kind. + +"Father and mother like us to have our best times at home," said +Dolly sipping her chocolate with a critical air, "and Frank and I +have had this room for a playroom ever since I can remember." + +"It must be fine to have a brother or sister," said Ruth wistfully. +"I don't think only children have half so much fun." + +"They miss some quarrels, too," laughed Dolly. "Poor old Frankie! +He's splendid discipline for my temper, for he can be the most +exasperating boy I ever saw. I suppose I'm just as exasperating, +though," she added honestly. + +"Is that four o'clock?" asked Ruth suddenly. "Dear me, I must go, +though I'd much rather stay here. Your chocolate is great, Dolly, +and those nice little wafers were perfect with it." + +"I hate to have you go, but I'll walk over with you just to get a +little more air," said Dolly, settling her fur turban on her blonde +locks. "Now we must go down softly, for Miss Cynthia may still be +here. I dare say Frank is somewhere about, and mother can get him +to take her home," she added, as if she half felt the need of an +apology. "I'm sure it's his turn to go, anyway." + +It was with the feeling of being guilty conspirators that the girls +stole down-stairs and tiptoed softly across the hall, and they +both jumped violently, when, even as Dorothy had her hand on the +door-knob, Mrs. Marshall's voice called: + +"Dorothy, is that you, dear?" + +"Yes, mother," answered Dorothy in a voice expressive of resigned +despair. Then she added in a tragic whisper, "We are lost! There +is no escape from our unhappy fate!" + +"Dorothy, Miss Cynthia is here, and I want you to see that she gets +safely home," said her mother. + +"Yes, mother," answered Dorothy again, looking at Ruth with an +I-told-you-so expression. "Don't you dare to leave me, Ruth Shirley," +she went on fiercely. "You'll have plenty of time to go with me. +Come on in now and be introduced to her." + +Ruth hardly knew what picture she had formed of Miss Cynthia, but +she certainly hadn't expected to meet the pretty, pink-cheeked old +lady to whom Mrs. Marshall presented her. She was the smallest, +most delicate of creatures, with snowy hair and bright blue eyes, +which in darting glances seemed to absorb in minutest detail the +person to whom she was talking. + +"And so this is Ruth Shirley," she said, holding one of Ruth's +hands in both her tiny ones. "I'm very glad to know you, my dear. +It seems as if Mrs. Hamilton might have brought you over to call +on me before this. But then I'm used to being forgotten. How are +Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton, and how is that dear boy, Arthur?" Miss +Cynthia paused for breath and Ruth gladly released her hand. + +"Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton are very well," she answered, "and Arthur +is much--" + +"I always said he would be better if he would only make an effort," +interrupted Miss Cynthia triumphantly. "But I began to be afraid +he never would, and I thought it most likely that he would go off +into a decline, I've often told Mary Hamilton that I should be +worried to death if he were my boy. Do you hear from your father +often? It must be pretty bad to have him so far away; so many things +can happen nowadays that you can't tell from one day to the next +where you'll be or how you'll be. Of course you know that, though, +having lost your mother, poor child." + +"She hears very often from her father," said Mrs. Marshall, noticing +Ruth's flushed cheeks, "and he makes the distance seem very short +by sending cablegrams every once in a while. Now, Miss Cynthia, let +me help you on with your cape, and then you can start out with an +escort on each side of you." + +"Now, girls, you'll have to excuse me if I don't talk much," said +Miss Cynthia apologetically, as they were leaving the house; "this +icy wind makes my throat feel sore. But I shall be delighted to +hear you talk. Girls always have such a lot to say to each other." + +"Please come in and rest yourselves," said Miss Cynthia with urgent +hospitality, as they reached the door of the small old-fashioned +looking house which Ruth had often noticed before. + +Dorothy began hasty explanations about being in a hurry to get +home, but Miss Cynthia laid an imploring hand on Ruth's arm and, +looking at her with real appeal in her blue eyes, almost drew her +into the house. + +"We'll let Dorothy go if she must," she said decidedly, "but I want +to get acquainted with you, child, and I'm terribly lonesome, too, +these winter afternoons." + +Even with every desire to escape Ruth couldn't resist the pleading +old eyes which were looking at her almost tearfully. + +"Do come in, Dolly," she begged; "I shall have time before I need +to study to stay a little while." But almost as she spoke Dorothy +vanished unaccountably, and there was nothing left for Ruth but to +follow Miss Cynthia. + +"Come right into the parlor and sit down, while I find Luella and +have her light a lamp," said the old lady, hurrying out of the room +with surprising agility. + +The room was so dark that at first Ruth hardly dared to move, then +as her eyes became accustomed to the gloom she found her way to a +chair and sat down on the edge of it. She didn't enjoy the situation +in which she found herself, and she wished she were out of it. Even +the algebra which she must study as soon as she got home possessed +a charm for her in comparison with the present moment. She half +smiled as she thought of the suddenness with which Dorothy had +faded from sight. + +"She might have waited after getting me into this," she said to +herself impatiently. + +Just then with a suddenness which sent her flying out of her chair +a harsh voice said almost in her ear: + +"Cheer up! Cheer up! Don't you cry!" and then followed an unintelligible +variety of sounds ending with a cackling laugh. + +Ruth knew almost at once that it must be a parrot, but the surprise +had been so great that she stood shaking in the middle of the +room, not daring to move for fear of stepping on the uncanny bird. +She remembered that once when she was a very little girl she had +confidingly held out her finger to a parrot and that the unfriendly +creature had immediately taken a bite out of it. She wished that +the light would come; it made her nervous to be in a dark room with +only a voice for company. + +"Who's afraid?" asked the parrot with surprising distinctness. + +"I am, Polly," answered Ruth with great truthfulness, and just then +the maid brought in a lamp and her mistress followed. + +"Oh, you bad bird," said Miss Cynthia reproachfully, as the friendly +gleam of the lamp disclosed the parrot perched on the back of the +chair next to the one on which Ruth had been sitting. "You bad +Ebenezer, you've opened your cage again. Isn't it clever of him. +to do it?" + +"Very clever," answered Ruth politely, but she still kept a safe +distance from Ebenezer, who cocked his head on one side to look +at her. and then burst into a hoarse, chuckling laugh as though he +had seen something very funny. + +"That bird is such a comfort to me," sighed Miss Cynthia, smoothing +the gay plumage. "I named him Ebenezer because it's so nice to have +a man's name that you can call naturally in case you think some +one's in the house. I got a man that worked for us to teach him +what to answer when I call his name. Just listen, my dear." + +Miss Cynthia stepped into the hall. "Ebenezer! Ebenezer!" she +called loudly, and to Ruth's amusement Ebenezer answered promptly +in a voice that sounded surprisingly like that of a man, "Yes, I'm +coming." + +"I guess that would scare a burglar some," remarked Miss Cynthia, +complacently, "particularly as you never could tell but that Ebenezer +might be right close to the man's ear when he answered. I taught +him to say 'Cheer up, cheer up; don't you cry,' because sometimes +I'm dreadfully lonesome. It helps out even to have a bird to talk +to." + +She looked very sober as she ended, but Ebenezer, fixing a solemn +eye on her, barked loudly and then mewed like a cat, evidently +desiring to make his mistress feel that she had a large family to +comfort her. + +"He thinks he's a whole menagerie," laughed Ruth. + +"Shake hands with her, Ebenezer, and settle it," commanded Miss +Cynthia, and at the word the bird stretched out his funny claw, +which Ruth took in gingerly fashion. + +"Ebenezer likes young folks as well as I do," said his mistress +soberly, "but somehow they don't care much about coming to see +us. Aren't you the girl who likes lace and embroidery?" she asked +suddenly. "I've heard about your going over to see that Swiss girl +make lace. I've been looking over a chest this morning and I've +left all the old dresses out to air. Would you like to see them?" + +Ruth assented eagerly. This would be an easy way for her to finish +her call, and she loved to see old-fashioned things. Miss Cynthia +was pleased at her enthusiasm, and after returning Ebenezer to his +despised cage, an attention which he acknowledged by pecking gently +at her white hair and screaming "Bad bird, bad bird," led the way +up the short, steep flight of stairs. + +"What a dear room!" exclaimed Ruth giving a quick glance about +her. Then as her eyes fell upon the treasures spread upon the bed +she cried out with pleasure. + +"What a beautiful blue gown! Did somebody really ever wear it?" + +"That was my great-aunt's wedding gown, my Great-aunt Cynthia. It +was given to the niece who was named for her, and then to me on +account of the name." + +Ruth gazed admiringly at the shining satin, blue as a summer sky, +and made in the quaint fashion of years long past. + +"Here are the shoes and the gloves which went with it," continued +Miss Cynthia, "and a fan which she carried. These little lace +tuckers were hers, too. She never lived to wear out all her pretty +fineries, poor little soul, but I've been told that her short life +was a happy one and a very sweet memory to all who knew her." + +Miss Cynthia's voice and eyes were strangely gentle as she talked +about the youthful great-aunt whose shining gown had been one of +her choicest treasures for so many years, and Ruth began to like +her. + +"Do you know how she looked?" she asked with real interest in her +voice. "I should like to imagine her in this lovely dress." + +"My aunt," answered Miss Cynthia musingly, "was too young when +she died to remember her; but she has told me many times that her +father, who was the first Cynthia's brother, often said she was +the prettiest creature the sun ever shone on, with black hair and +rosy cheeks and blue eyes that were like violets. I like to talk +about her," added Miss Cynthia. "Here are more things my Aunt +Cynthia left me." + +Ruth, who had an instinctive liking for delicate fabrics and fine +embroideries, reveled in the beautiful pieces of hand-work which +Miss Cynthia showed her. There was a muslin gown embroidered +so profusely that one wondered if the patient needlewoman had any +eyes left when her artistic work was completed. There were fichus, +small and large, with patterns simple and elaborate, looking as +though a breath might blow them out of existence, so fragile was +their substance. Ruth laughed gleefully at the face which looked +out at her from the mirror when Miss Cynthia told her to put on +a queer, old bonnet which she called a calash. There was a ribbon +hanging under her chin which the old lady called a bridle, and when +Ruth pulled it the bonnet stretched like the top of an old-fashioned +chaise. + +"How funny," laughed Ruth. "Did you. really ever wear one like +this?" + +"That was my dear mother's," answered Miss Cynthia, "but I can just +remember having one when I was a little girl." + +"Oh, dear. I hate to leave all these interesting things, but I must +go home," said Ruth, reluctantly laying the calash on the bed, and +taking a last look at the beautiful things displayed there. "I've +had a lovely call, Miss Cynthia, and I thank you so much for letting +me see these wonderful old dresses." + +"My dear, if you would prize it I should like you to have this +handkerchief which was my Great-aunt Cynthia's." + +"Oh, Miss Cynthia, I couldn't take anything so lovely," protested +Ruth. + +"My dear child, there's no one else who will care for these things +as I have done, and it's been a great pleasure to show them to +some one who is sympathetic, and--and I know my little great-aunt +would have liked you to have it if she could have known you." + +Miss Cynthia's voice was trembling and her eyes looked clouded and +wistful. Ruth could hardly believe that this was the sharp-voiced, +prying old lady whom she had wished to escape meeting earlier in +the afternoon. + +"Dear Miss Cynthia," she answered impulsively, "I never shall forget +your Great-aunt Cynthia, and I shall be delighted to own something +that belonged to her. I'm sure I never had anything half so lovely +as this cobwebby handkerchief. Have the other girls," she went on +hesitatingly, "ever seen these beautiful old things?" She would +have liked to ask that they might all see them together some day, +but she hardly dared. + +"No," said Miss Cynthia ungraciously, "they haven't. The girls in +this town don't care anything about me or my belongings, and they +never come here if they can help it. The boys are nicer." And +forthwith Miss Cynthia told Ruth some of the kind things the boys +had done for her, and grew quite gentle and friendly again in the +telling. + +"I often wish I knew something I could do for them," she added. +"It's so hard to think of anything that would really please boys." + +"If they should see the bundles of letters you have there, Miss +Cynthia," suggested Ruth, "I'm sure they'd ask you if you could +spare any stamps. They're all crazy over their collections." + +"Are they really?" asked Miss Cynthia, as if a new idea had been +given her. "Why, my dear, those are letters from all over the +world written to my blessed father. One of his dearest friends was +a sea-captain who sailed everywhere, and always mailed letters to +my father from every port he touched." + +Even as she spoke, Miss Cynthia was excitedly slipping the letters +out of their envelopes. "Here," she said, thrusting a package into +Ruth's hands. "You help me, and then you may take them home to +Arthur, and he can divide with the others. Of course I don't know +which ones they will like, so I'll send them all." + +"Good-bye, Miss Cynthia. I can hardly wait to show these to the +boys," said Ruth as her hostess came slowly down the steep stairs +behind her, and then she jumped and almost screamed when, "Good-bye, +good-bye; come again," came hoarsely from under her very feet. + +"It's only Ebenezer out again," said Miss Cynthia serenely. "I must +have the catch on that door made stronger." + +Five minutes later Ruth rang the door-bell at home, and, as she +stepped into the house, Dorothy came toward her from the library. + +"Oh, did you think I was perfectly dreadful?" cried Dolly, putting +on a very penitent expression. + +"Well, yes, I did just at first. Then Ebenezer told me to 'cheer +up' and after that, to tell the truth, I forgot all about you. +I've had a perfectly lovely time." + +"A lovely time!" echoed Dorothy. "Well, you are a funny girl." + +"Are the boys here with Arthur?" Ruth went on, noticing for the +first time the hum of voices in the library. + +"Yes," answered Dolly. "They're busy over their everlasting stamps +as usual. I've just been in to see if Frank was ready to go home +and I told them where you were." + +"Do come in again with me," begged Ruth, "and see if they like what +I have for them." + +A stormy discussion was in progress when they entered the room, +but Phil, who never forgot his good manners, got up to find chairs +for the young ladies, and the other boys fired a volley of questions +at Ruth, who could hardly stop to answer them, so great was her +excitement. She laid the old envelopes on the table with an air +of triumph. "I do hope you'll find something there that's really +valuable," she added, "for Miss Cynthia was so pleased at the idea +of giving you something you would like. She said you boys had always +been so nice to her." + +Ruth's face and manner were the perfection of innocence, but for +some reason there was a tinge of discomfort in the manner of the +boys gathered around the table. + +"That looks like a good one, Phil," said Arthur, pushing an envelope +across the table. "Just look it up in the catalogue, will you?" + +"She said that Joe," Ruth went on relentlessly, "had always been +very good about doing errands for her and seeing her home from his +grandmother's." + +"I never did anything for her," blustered Joe, turning red, "except +what I had to." + +"And she told me that for one whole winter, Frank and Bert kept all +her paths clean," pursued Ruth, purposely refraining from looking +at her unhappy victims, "and wouldn't take a cent for it when she +wanted to pay them." + +"We did it just because we happened to want to," growled Frank, +looking as uncomfortably guilty as though he had been discovered +in some bad action. + +"Say, there are some dandy stamps here," said Phil, fearing that +his turn was coming next and anxious to change the conversation. +"Did you ever see one like that, Art?" + +The boys poked over the stamps in an excited silence, gazed at +them through lenses, and hunted in the catalogue with an absorbed +interest which seemed to make them quite forget their guests. Every +few minutes they found a new treasure. + +At last Ruth got up with an air of pretended indignation and walked +toward the door saying, "Come on, Dolly; let's go. We don't seem +to be wanted here." + +"Please don't go," said Arthur with an air so distressingly polite +that it wouldn't have deceived any one. + +"All right for you," laughed Ruth as she closed the library door +behind her; "just wait until I bring you stamps again." + +For a few minutes after the departure of the girls not a word was +spoken. Then Joe gave vent to a sudden groan and put his hand to +his head. + +"Is my hair entirely burnt off on the top of my head?" he asked +in comical despair. "These are the hottest coals of fire I've ever +had handed out to me, That wretch of a Ruth knew she was making us +squirm." + +"I'm afraid the poor old lady never had any chance to be grateful +to me," said Arthur uncomfortably. + +"The worst of it is," confessed Frank, "that father was paying Bert +and me for every bit of that shoveling and Miss Cynthia never knew +it. I feel as if I wanted to go right round there and do something +for her this very minute." + +"So do I," agreed Joe and Bert almost at the same time. + +"Let's form a secret order," suggested Arthur, "and pledge ourselves +to make Miss Cynthia as happy as possible for the rest of her life." + +No one answered for a moment and then Phil said thoughtfully, "We +might call it the 'Order of the Moon.' Cynthia is one of the names +for the moon, you know. Don't you remember, Art, we were reading +in class this morning about 'fair Cynthia's rays' or something like +that?" + +"That's great!" said Frank, "and that name will drive the girls +wild, for they'll never guess what it means." + +And so the "Order of the Moon" was established then and there, +and to the credit of the boys be it said that the fine purpose for +which it was started was faithfully carried out. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +TINY ELSA + + +It was the usual custom for Ruth and Arthur to play together for +an hour after dinner, and they had just got fairly under way one +evening when Arthur stopped in the middle of a measure and began +to count the fire alarm. In a small town every one listens when an +alarm is struck, and many go to the fire. + +"Sixty-five," said Arthur, as the sound died away on the air. +"That's in the factory settlement, isn't it, father?" + +"Yes," answered his father, counting again as a second alarm sounded. +"Get on a warm coat, Ruth. and we'll see what's burning." + +"Why don't you let John take you in the sleigh," suggested Mrs. +Hamilton, "and then Arthur can go with you." She had been quick to +notice the regret in Arthur's face, for now that he was beginning +to get out again he longed to do everything the others did. + +"Oh, mother, they can't wait for John to harness," he said quickly, +as his father hesitated before replying. "If they did the fire +would be out." + +"That's right, son. Very likely it's not much of a fire anyway, +but a little run in this frosty air won't hurt Ruth and me. Are +you warmly dressed, little girl; overshoes on and mittens?" added +Mr. Hamilton, as Ruth came down-stairs. + +"Very warmly dressed, Uncle Henry. I've got so much on that probably +I shan't be able to run at all." + +Once out in the cold, starlit night none of the warm garments seemed +superfluous, and Ruth ran and walked by turns in order to keep up +with Mr. Hamilton's long strides. As they reached Mr. Marshall's +house Dorothy and her father and Frank joined them, and just ahead +they could see the Ellsworth boys with Betty and Charlotte. + +"Some one says it's that old brown house that was almost ready to +fall to pieces anyway," said Jack coming up behind them with Phil. + +"Was any one living there?" asked Mr. Marshall. + +"I saw some children playing out in the yard when I drove by the +other day," answered Frank. "Come on, boys, let's run for it," he +added, as a turn in the road enabled them to see the fire. + +"Isn't it dreadful?" shuddered Ruth as, with fascinated gaze, she +watched the flames fasten hungrily upon one part after another +of the doomed house, and sweep into the air as though exulting in +their triumph. "Do you suppose these other houses will have to go +too?" + +"I hardly think so," answered Mr. Hamilton. "They are beginning to +get the fire under, and they are keeping the other roofs wet." + +"Stay here with the girls and Mr. Hamilton, Dolly," said Mr. Marshall +suddenly. "I want to go over and talk to some of these people." + +A little crowd had collected around the door of one of the cottages, +and as Mr. Marshall walked toward them the girls looked after him +with eyes that were frankly curious. + +"I remember coming up here with Aunt Mary the day before Christmas," +said Ruth. "And she left a Christmas basket at this very same +brown house, if I'm not mistaken. Yes, I'm sure of it, and there +were five or six children in the family. Oh, I hope they all got +out safely." + +"Lucky that it was early in the evening," observed Charlotte, +stamping her feet to get some warmth into them. "I can't stay much +longer, girls; I'm so cold that--" + +"Here comes Mr. Marshall," interrupted Betty eagerly. "Wait a +minute, Char, and we'll all go." + +Mr. Marshall, who had been inside one of the houses, came toward +them with something clasped in his arms, and as he drew near they +could see that it was apparently a baby rolled in a heavy shawl. +The child had put both arms around his neck and was hiding her eyes +on his shoulder when he reached the little group. He looked very +grave, and the girlish faces grew sober in sympathy even before he +spoke. + +"Oh, father, is the baby hurt?" asked Dorothy anxiously. + +"Not injured, dear, but left very much alone. She is a little German +girl, and she and her mother had only been here a few days. The +mother wanted to get work in the factory, and had taken a room +for herself and the baby with the German family which lived in the +brown house. Every one got out safely, but the excitement was too +much for the poor young mother. She must have had a weak heart, +I'm afraid, for she had to go away and leave her baby." + +Ruth's eyes filled with tears as she realized what he meant, and +she stretched out her arms impulsively toward the baby. + +"Poor little soul," she said with a choke in her voice; "is she +old enough to know what happened?" + +As she spoke the baby raised her head and stared in startled wonder +at the pitying faces about her. The shawl fell back a little from +her head, and, in the brilliant light from the fire, the girls could +see golden rings of hair clustering around a face delicately pink +and white. The big brown eyes gazed at them for a moment, then with +a little sob she buried her head on Mr. Marshall's shoulder again. + +"I must look like some one she has known," he said softly, as he +wrapped the shawl closely around her, "for the minute she saw me +she held out her arms to me, and no one could get her away. These +poor people around here have enough to look out for over night, so +I'll take this baby home. Do you think you can help take care of +her for a while, daughter?" + +"Oh, yes, I'd love to," assented Dolly eagerly. "I wish she'd let +me take her," but for the present, at least, the sorrowful baby +refused to leave her safe resting-place, and only clung more tightly +to Mr. Marshall when the girls tried to beguile her. + +Mr. Hamilton and Betty's older brothers stayed to make some arrangements +for the poor family that had been turned out-of-doors, and, as by +this time the fire was well under control, the spectators dispersed +in various directions. The girls and boys escorted Mr. Marshall +and the baby home, and then left Ruth at her own door. + +By the time she had finished telling Mrs. Hamilton and Arthur about +the fire and the forlorn baby, Mr. Hamilton appeared and was at +once besieged with questions. + +"I wish you had been there, Mary," he said to his wife; "you always +seem to know how to make every one comfortable. It is wonderful to +me to see how good those people are to each other. They were only +too anxious to shelter that poor Schmidt family, in which there are +six children, and I didn't know whether we should ever get them +peaceably divided up. I tried to get more information about the +baby's mother; but no one seems to know anything except that she +was called Mrs. Winter, and had lost her husband quite recently." + +"Was she a young woman?" asked Mrs. Hamilton. + +"She looked hardly more than a girl as she lay there, and her face +was so refined and sweet that I couldn't help fancying that the +early part of her life had been spent under very different conditions +from these." + +"Didn't the woman they lived with know anything more about them?" +asked Ruth, much disappointed. + +"Poor Mrs. Schmidt was so excited, and so anxious to see that her +own brood was safe and to be well cared for, that she didn't know +much about anything else. The poor little mother had only been +with her a few days, and beyond the fact that she seemed very sad +and had cried a great deal, and that the little one's name was +Elsa, she could tell me nothing. Oh, she did say that the mother +and baby looked very much alike, the same large, brown eyes, and +the same fair complexion and fair hair." + +"The baby is a perfect little beauty," said Ruth, "and I quite +envy Dolly the fun of having her in the house. I'm going over the +first thing in the morning to see her." + +Fortunately the next day was Saturday, and one by one the girls +dropped into Dorothy's house to see the pretty baby. Alice and +Katharine, who hadn't seen the fire the night before, had to hear +the whole story from the other girls, and all were much impressed +when Ruth happened to mention that Mr. Hamilton had thought the +poor young mother looked better than her surroundings. + +"I shouldn't wonder a bit," said Dorothy impressively. "Everything +about this baby was just as clean and sweet as could be. Her mother +must have taken her right out of bed, for she had nothing on but +her little nightie when father brought her home. Mother found some +baby clothes of mine, and I had such fun dressing her this morning." + +"How old do you suppose she is?" asked Betty. + +"Oh, I know. Mrs. Schmidt told father last night that she was two +years old," answered Dorothy. + +While the girls were talking about her the baby had sat quietly on +Dorothy's lap looking from one to another with her solemn, brown +eyes. Ruth and Betty had made several attempts to get her to sit +with them, but she only turned her head away and nestled closer to +Dorothy, much to that young lady's delight. + +"I wish mother would let me keep her always," said Dolly with a +little sigh. "I should just love to take care of her." + +"For how long?" laughed Charlotte. + +"Now, Charlotte, don't be horrid. Just because you get tired of +children is no reason I should," answered Dorothy, putting on the +superior air which Charlotte couldn't stand. + +"Oh, fudge, you wouldn't like it any better than I do if you really +couldn't get out of it," snapped Charlotte. + +"I'm the only one who really needs her, because I haven't any +sister or brother," said Ruth, holding out her arms once more to +the baby. "And, of course, I can't have her." + +To her surprise this time the little Elsa half smiled at her, and, +as though wanting to make up to her for the sister she couldn't +have, put out her own chubby hands. Ruth took her quickly before +she should have time to repent and sat down with her. + +"She saw your watch," said Dorothy as the baby put up a timid finger +to touch it. + +"I'm glad there's something about me she likes," retorted Ruth +quickly. "Perhaps in time, Dolly, she'll love me for myself alone, +as she does you." + +Dorothy colored, and it seemed as if the baby were likely to be the +innocent cause of trouble, but Betty, who was a born peacemaker, +stepped into the breach with eager unconsciousness. She had been +thinking deeply for some minutes and her smooth forehead was puckered +perplexedly as she spoke. + +"You're always laughing at me for my queer ideas, girls, but this +time I've really thought of something," she said with repressed +excitement." + +"Does it hurt, Betsy?" inquired Charlotte with pretended anxiety. + +"Why can't the Social Six," went on Betty, ignoring her flippant +friend, "adopt the baby and bring her up?" + +"For goodness' sake, Betty, what do you think we are, millionaires?" +protested Charlotte. + +"No, of course not. But I know that I could earn a little money +every week if I wanted to work for it, and I can't bear to think +of this darling baby going into an orphan asylum." + +Betty leaned over and kissed the dimpled hand as she spoke, looking +so tender and motherly that the girls forgot to laugh at her. The +baby, who had been sitting contentedly on Ruth's lap, received the +kiss with favor, and then looking at the girls hovering around her +smiled sweetly as if taking them all into her affection at once. + +"Isn't she a perfect dear?" cried Dorothy, going down on her +knees before her. "I'm with you, Betty; she shall have most of my +allowance every week, and I know that we can get lots of help if +we are only in earnest about it." + +"I'd just love to have the club do it," said Ruth with her usual +enthusiasm. "And wherever I am I shall be a member of the club just +the same, and always be ready to help out with little Elsa. I know +father and Uncle Jerry will be interested in her, too." + +"We can all sew for her," suggested Alice, a proposition which caused +Dorothy and Charlotte to look at each other in disgusted silence. + +"But where is she going to live?" inquired Katharine, who frequently +put a damper on the enthusiasm of her friends by some exceedingly +practical question. "We can't plant her out in the square at an +equal distance from all of us." + +"Oh, dear!" sighed Betty. "I hate to be brought down so suddenly. +I'd forgotten that she'd have to have a home. I was just thinking +of clothes and education, and I had it all planned that she should +be a great singer or a writer, and take care of us in our old age." + +Betty's flight of fancy was so absurd that the girls shouted with +laughter, and seeing them so merry little Elsa laughed too, and +showed her white teeth. + +"She's ail right, girls; she can see a joke," said Charlotte, who +in spite of herself began to feel the baby's charm. + +"Poor little kiddie! I'm sure she's very brave to laugh at the idea +of having to support us all," giggled Ruth. + +"Let's ask mother about it," suggested Dorothy, as Mrs. Marshall +came into the room, and the busy woman, who was never too much +occupied to listen to her daughter's plans, or to lend a helping +hand, sat down as calmly as though she had nothing else to do. She +had already begun to consider the problem of Elsa's future, and +she decided immediately that Betty's idea was a good one, and as +helpful for the girls as for the baby. + +"You might board her at Mrs. Hall's," she suggested, after listening +to a rather disjointed narrative from the entire club. + +"Of course. The very thing," murmured Betty. "Why didn't we think +of it ourselves?" + +"And you must organize your work in a businesslike way," continued +Mrs. Marshall. "You might start an Elsa fund with what you can +collect among yourselves, no matter how small. Then you can see +who will be willing to promise regular subscriptions. You will need +a treasurer to take charge of the fund, and a secretary to manage +your correspondence." + +The girls looked very thoughtful; they had hardly realized that +their plan would assume so much importance. + +"You must understand, girls, before you go into this, that you are +undertaking a serious thing and one you cannot give up lightly," +continued their adviser. "For my own part I can't think of any +better use to which you can put your energy and your club funds +than to the care of this dear, motherless baby. Of course, you know +that we shall do all we can to find out if she has any relatives, +but there seems small chance of success, as we haven't the slightest +clue to follow." + +The girls were silent as Mrs. Marshall went out of the room. Then +Betty, taking the baby in her arms said, "Come here, littlest club +girl; we can't initiate you yet, but you've got six new mothers, +and you'll be taken care of to within an inch of your life." + +Then began a busy time for the members of the Social Six. Dorothy +was made secretary and Charlotte treasurer of the Elsa Fund, which +started out with the imposing sum of three dollars, taken bodily +from the club treasury. + +In order to help the cause along, Mrs. Marshall invited the +ladies of the Fortnightly Club to meet at her house, and Betty was +persuaded to tell them what the girls hoped to do for the baby. It +was rather a halting little speech, but she ended it most effectively +by stepping to the door and bringing in little Elsa, who had been +waiting in the hall for this very moment. As Betty stood there +before them all smiling at the rosy baby in her arms, the sound +of Ruth's violin broke the silence. It was the simplest lullaby +she was playing, but she made it so tender and appealing that the +hearts of the mothers went out to the dear baby who had no mother, +and all were eager to help. + +By the time Mrs. Hall came in to take Elsa home, a substantial +sum was promised for the fund, and duly noted by Charlotte, who +comforted herself for her own lack of money by keeping the accounts +in the most businesslike manner. It was no small task, for promises +of contributions came in so readily that the treasurer was obliged +to take most of her spare time out of school to keep her books in +order. + +To her surprise Melina came to her with an air of great mystery +and, first making sure that no one was within sight or hearing, +held out to her a five dollar bill. + +"I want to git that five dollars off my mind and start it movin'," +she said grimly when Charlotte looked at her in wonder. "No, there +ain't no use of your refusing. That baby needs it as much as any +one I know just now, and that was the idea, you know, that I should +pass it on." + +Charlotte realized that she couldn't refuse without hurting Melina's +feelings. "All right," she said, "I'll take it for her, and when +she gets old enough to understand it I'll explain that she must +start it on again." + +For a while it seemed almost as though little Elsa might be hurt +by too much care. The six young mothers made all sorts of errands +into Mrs. Hall's that they might have a chance to play with the +baby, who seemed to love them all with great impartiality. Ruth +and Dorothy almost quarreled one afternoon because each claimed +the privilege of taking her out and neither one was willing to give +up. Just as it threatened to become serious, Betty, who had come +in a few minutes later, slipped off with the baby while the other +two were arguing. She did it so cleverly that when they discovered +her treachery they made common cause against her, and went amiably +home together vowing vengeance upon Miss Betty for her slyness. + +By the end of three weeks the novelty had worn off a little and +the girls no longer struggled to be first in the baby's affections, +but were frequently willing to omit going to see her for a day or +two. And just then, when the mothers were beginning to smile and +shake their heads over the situation, something happened which +again made little Miss Elsa the centre of interest. + +Mrs. Schmidt, prowling around the blackened ruins of her former +home, came upon a metal box, locked and little harmed by the flames, +which she remembered as belonging to the baby's mother. In great +excitement she took it to Mrs. Hamilton and that evening the girls +were called in solemn conclave to see the box opened. + +First, Mr. Hamilton took out four photographs which were passed +from one to another. One pictured a gray-haired man in military +clothes, very erect, very stern and fine-looking. Another was +of a plump, placid, elderly lady who looked the very picture of +motherliness. + +"I know that's the baby's grandmother and grandfather," said Dorothy +positively, and no one had any other opinion to offer. + +Mr. Hamilton uttered an exclamation of surprise as he took the third +picture from the paper which enfolded it. "That's the poor little +mother," he said softly, and the girls crowded around eagerly +to gaze at the pretty, girlish creature looking out at them with +hopeful eyes which foreshadowed no hint of her sad fate. + +The girls were very sober, and no one broke the silence as Mr. +Harnilton unwrapped the remaining picture. It was a young man with +a thim, delicate face and large eyes rather sad in their expression. +On the back was written in German, "Karl von Winterbach, to his +beloved wife." + +"He looks like the picture of some German poet," murmured Charlotte +thoughtfully. + +"The poor little soul had evidently dropped part of her name," said +Mr. Hamilton, "for the people in the settlement knew her only as +Mrs. Winter." + +There was not much else in the box; a few ornaments, a little faded +needlebook which looked as though it had been kept for memory's +sake, and two letters. One of the letters was unsealed, and Mr. +Hamilton took out a slip of paper which said with pathetic brevity, +"If I am dead please send this letter to my dear father. He will +care for my baby. Emilie von Winterbach." + +The girls scrutinized the address on the other letter with the most +excited interest. + +To the Herr Baron von Grunwald, 10 Sommerstrasse, Dresden, Germany, +read Ruth slowly over Mr. Hamilton's shoulder. "Why, girls, he's +a baron; Elsa's grandfather is a baron." + +"I knew she looked aristocratic," remarked Betty in a satisfied +tone. "I shall go the first thing in the morning to offer her my +humble services." + +"Well, young ladies, it looks very much as if the Social Six would +be deprived of their youngest member," said Mr. Hamilton as he put +pictures and letters back into the box. "I shall send that letter +to-morrow morning, and another with it telling all we know about +little Elsa's mother, and I am sure we shall hear something as soon +as possible from the Herr Baron von Grunwald." + +The prospect of losing the club baby made her all the more precious +in the eyes of her six adopted mothers, and during the weeks while +they waited for news from across the ocean, they were lavish in +care and affection. They planned to make an elaborate traveling +wardrobe for her, and worked courageously at it every minute they +could spare. Even Charlotte and Dorothy took a hand. Time was +lacking, however, and their ideas of what their baby really needed +grew less expansive as the days went on. The Candle Club boys felt +that they were offering a neat and appropriate tribute when they +presented the small lady with six pairs of shoes, two black, two +white, and a pair each of red and blue. + +"Those are good enough for a baron's granddaughter, don't you think?" +asked Jack, who had been deputed to present them at a meeting of +the Social Six. "I think they're rather neat, myself," he added +with modest pride, as he stood off and gazed admiringly at them. + +"They are lovely," said Ruth warmly. "Have some fudge. And here, +take some back to the boys to show that we appreciate their kindness." + +"I just know they waited to give them. until they felt sure we +were making fudge," grumbled Dolly as Jack departed. "I know their +tricks." + +"I don't care," laughed Ruth. "We've had plenty anyway, and it was +nice of them to spend their money on shoes." + +The girls were in Ruth's room, and the rest of the house was very +still, for Mrs. Hamilton had gone to Boston and Arthur was out +with the boys. Tongues were flying fast, and no one heard the bell +ring. Presently Katie appeared in the doorway with the card-tray +saying: + +"Miss Ruth, there is a gentleman down-stairs who wants to see Mrs. +Hamilton, and I can't make him understand where she is." + +Ruth looked at the card curiously and then fell back on the sofa +with a startled face. + +"Girls, it's the Baron von Grunwald," she gasped, "and he's come +without any warning. Oh, why did Aunt Mary go into town to-day!" + +"It's much more likely to be one of the boys playing a joke +on us," said Dolly who hadn't had a chance to see the exceedingly +correct-looking card which Ruth was crushing in her agitation. "I +don't believe there has been time yet for Elsa's relatives to get +here." + +"Pretty nearly four weeks ago that Uncle Henry sent the letters," +replied Ruth. "You can't make me believe the boys could get up +anything like this," she added, displaying the card. + +"You'll have to go down right off," said Dorothy, quite convinced. +"You mustn't keep him waiting." + +"Oh, why not one of you?" groaned Ruth. "He won't know the difference, +and you've lived in Glenloch longer." + +"Goosey. As if that made any difference," laughed Charlotte. + +"You know more German than any one of us," said Katharine comfortingly. + +"Horrors! Shall I have to talk to him in German?" asked poor Ruth +in despair. + +"Of course," said Betty. "Didn't Katie say that she couldn't make +him understand?" + +Ruth would have liked to run and hide, but instead she went slowly +down-stairs and walked straight into the parlor without giving +herself time to think. + +The tall, gray-haired man who rose to meet her was so like the +picture in the box that Ruth felt almost as if she knew him, and +she would have known just what to say if the dreaded German hadn't +embarrassed her. She shook hands with him in silence, and then for +a moment struggled to find a conversational opening which shouldn't +plunge her into deeper distress. + +The kind old man evidently understood her difficulty, for his sad +face grew gentle as he said with slow distinctness: + +"I can understand English, Fraulein." + +He smiled at the extreme relief expressed in Ruth's face and went +on speaking. + +"I have come so quick as I can from Germany, Fraulein, my little +grandchild to see, and I find that I am arrived before my letter +gets here. I have seen in Boston Mr. Hamilton, and he has told me +how to find his home and that he will come also so soon as he can." + +Ruth drew a breath of relief. "If you will excuse me I will send +for the baby this very minute," she said, and went quickly from +the room. + +"Girls, go get Elsa and bring her here as fast as you can," she +exclaimed, popping her head into her own room. "He's perfectly +elegant," and then she was gone again. + +Betty and Dorothy running down the stairs soon after heard the +steady hum of conversation in the parlor, and smiled to think how +soon Ruth's terror had vanished. For Ruth the next twenty minutes +seemed very long, and she spent it trying to make the Herr Baron +feel at home, and hoping against hope that Mrs. Hamilton would +arrive by the next train. + +To her joy it happened as she had wished, for Mrs. Hamilton and the +baby arrived at the house almost in the same moment. Little Elsa +had grown so used to petting and attention that she was friendliness +itself and went to her grandfather with a gurgle of delight. He, +poor man, almost lost his self-control at sight of her, for she +was wonderfully like his own lost daughter. Ruth slipped out of the +room, because she couldn't bear to see his grief, and went back to +the girls, who were waiting for her with eager curiosity. + +A little later Mrs. Hamilton came to them. + +"Uncle Henry has come and has taken the Baron off to talk with +Mrs. Schmidt and Mrs. Hall," she said in answer to their questions. +"The poor man says his only daughter married against his wishes, +but that he should have willingly forgiven her and her husband if +they had only given him the chance. He is delighted with little +Elsa, and so grateful to you girls for befriending her. He hopes +to get Mrs. Hall to go with him and the baby to Dresden, and then +he will send her back here. He is very anxious to meet the club +girls and thank them for what they have done, and he's invited us +all to visit him if we go to Germany." + +"When will he start for home?" asked Ruth. + +"As soon as he can get away," answered Mrs. Hamilton. "And that +reminds me that I must see if I can do anything for Mrs. Hall to +help matters along. I can sympathize with the poor grandfather's +desire to get the baby to her grandmother as soon as possible." + +Left to themselves the girls looked at each other blankly. + +"So that's the end of the club baby," sighed Betty. + +"Why, no, she can be our German member," said Ruth decidedly. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +PETER PAN + + +It was Saturday morning, and Ruth sat down at her desk to write +her regular letter to her father. She laid out her paper, fitted a +fresh pen into the silver holder, and then looked at the calendar. +As she found the date her eyes grew very thoughtful. + +"Six months to a day," she murmured. "How fast the time has gone." +Then she began her letter. + +"Glenloch, March 17th. + +"Darling father: + +"I wonder if you remember that just six months ago to-day you and +I were celebrating your birthday together, and that I was heartbroken +when you told me what was going to happen to us. Nothing could +have made me believe then that I could be so happy now, or that +the time could possibly seem so short. I wonder if you would think +I've changed any. I'm an inch taller than I was when you saw me +last, and I weigh ten pounds more, so I've accomplished something +in six months. I don't believe you've grown an inch; at least not +an up and down inch. + +"I just wish you could taste some of my cooking. If I went out as +cook now, I shouldn't have to feed the family on birthday cake, +for I can make perfectly scrumptious little baking-powder biscuit, +and my salad dressing is a joy forever. I can do other things, of +course, but these are my specialties. Oh, and I can make a maple +fudge that just melts in your mouth. I sent a box of it to Uncle +Jerry, and he wrote back right off that I could consider myself +engaged as cook whenever he set up housekeeping. + +"I read almost every bit of your German letter myself, though I had +to get Aunt Mary to help me out once or twice. It made me want to +study all the harder to see how quickly she read it. It's ten times +easier now to work hard on French and German, because I hope that +I shall need to use them before very long. Oh, Popsy, won't it +be joyful when I can come over to you!!!! It would take more than +four hundred exclamation points to express my feelings, so you must +please imagine the rest of them. + +"I don't want to make you too proud of your daughter, but I must +just tell you that I got an A in French history last month. We have +a dandy history teacher who makes everything interesting, and then +I keep thinking that I must know all about these things before I +go abroad, and that helps lots. + +"More than anything I love the Gym. I just wish you could see Miss +Burton; she's the dearest, sweetest teacher I ever had, and so +pretty that I want to look at her all the time. She's a splendid +teacher, too, and the girls are all wild over the lessons and over +her. + +"I take only one violin lesson a week now, because, though you may +find it hard to believe, I am really working too hard at school to +go into Boston twice a week. I practice every day and Arthur and +I play together almost every evening. Arthur is so changed and so +jolly now. He uses only one cane and says he means to walk without +any soon. He acts as if he couldn't get enough of the boys and +girls, and his father and mother look perfectly radiant whenever +their eyes light on him. He's gone back to school, and he and Joe +are making all sorts of plans about college. + +"I suppose you never noticed that I didn't tell you what Uncle Henry +gave me for a Christmas present, or perhaps you thought he didn't +give me anything. Well, he did give me one of the very nicest presents +I ever had, and that was a course of lessons at a riding-school in +Boston. I was perfectly delighted, and I knew I shouldn't have to +ask you about it because you've always meant to have me learn to +ride. I've been going in every Wednesday since Christmas, taking +a violin lesson first, and then meeting Uncle Henry to go to the +riding-school. He said he was so particular about borrowed articles +that he would never let me go alone. My, but it was hard at first, +and I thought I never should learn to hold my whip and my reins +and myself in the proper way. I had such a darling horse, though, +and it was such fun, that I couldn't help sticking to it, and now +the riding-master says that I really ride very well. + +"A week ago Uncle Henry surprised me by buying the horse I've been +riding and he's out in the stable this very minute. He thinks I'm +quite ready to ride with him out here, and he's coming home to lunch +so that we can start off early this afternoon. That last sentence +sounds rather mixed. Of course I mean that it's the horse that's +in the stable, and it's Uncle Henry, not the horse, who's coming +home to lunch. + +"There, that cat is out of the bag and I feel better. I suppose +they'll all laugh at me for telling, but I don't care. I thought +at first it would be great fun to surprise you after I got over +there, but I might have known I couldn't keep such a lovely secret +all that time. + +"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you that Aunt Mary said her part of +the present was to be my riding-habit, and the first time Arthur +went into Boston he brought me the prettiest little riding-crop +I've ever seen. + +"Mercy! My arm's stiff from writing so much, and my little watch +tells me that it's almost lunch-time. I never wrote such a long +letter before and I do hope you'll be properly grateful for it. +I've known you to complain of the shortness of my letters, but you +can't this time. + +"With heaps of love to you, I am "Your faithfulest, lovingest chum, + +"Ruth." + +"There! The dearest of fathers ought to be satisfied with that," +thought Ruth as she slipped her letter into the envelope, sealed +it and stamped it. "Now for lunch and then my ride." + +"Isn't he a beauty, Arthur?" called Ruth, coming out on the piazza +in all the glory of her dark-blue habit, high boots and gauntlet +gloves. + +Arthur, who had a pocketful of sugar and was dividing it impartially +between the two horses, turned at the sound of the voice and gave +her an approving glance. + +"He certainly is," he answered, "and he's going to have a very +swell-looking rider, too. I like that blue dress and that neat +little hat." + +"Glad you're suited," laughed Ruth. "He ought to have a name; do +think up a nice name right off now so that I can have something to +call him this afternoon." + +"I like your way of ordering me to think up things on the moment," +protested Arthur in an aggrieved tone. + +"Of course you like it. Do think quick, because Uncle Henry is just +ready to start." + +"Peter Pan," suggested Arthur. "And then he'll never grow old and +bony and lame." + +"Clever boy," said Ruth approvingly as they started off. "That name +suits me exactly. Can't you just see him doing a shadow dance with +me on his back?" + +Arthur watched them until a curve in the road hid them from sight. +Then as he started toward the house a familiar voice hailed him, and +he turned to see Dr. Holland looking at him with approving eyes. + +"Pretty nice looking pair of riders, aren't they? Why don't you go +in for that sort of thing, my boy?" + +"I shall just as soon as you say I can, doctor." + +"Go ahead then, with my blessing. You've always been so used to +riding that the exercise will be the best thing in the world for +you. Leg still pain you any?" + +"A little, but it's growing stronger every day." + +"Well, keep it up, young man, and you'll come out all right," said +the doctor heartily as he drove off, leaving Arthur to find his +mother and tell her the good news. + +In the meantime Ruth and Mr. Hamilton were riding at an easy pace +down the road past the old mill. It was a rare day for March. The +snow had been gone for a fortnight, and to-day the air and sunshine +were full of promises of spring. + +To Ruth the ride was a perfect delight. She was happy because the +sun shone, and because fleecy clouds were chasing each other across +a blue sky. She loved the hint of spring in the air, and the fresh +breeze which blew over the lake. Most of all she delighted in Peter +Pan, who responded to her slightest touch, and flew over the ground +so smoothly and surely that fear was impossible. + +As they rounded the lake and came out on the side nearest the centre +of the town, Ruth saw a house which seemed strangely familiar to +her. + +"Why, it's Mrs. Perrier's house, and there's Marie out on the +porch," she said in great surprise. "I haven't seen it from this +side before and I didn't know it at first. Do you think we might +stop and see Marie for just a few minutes? I haven't been to see +her for two weeks, and I'm afraid she'll think I'm neglecting her." + +Mr. Hamilton looked at his watch. "Yes, we shall have time to make +a short call on that sunshiny porch and still get you back in time +for Miss Burton." + +Marie was sitting in a steamer chair, well wrapped up, and so +absorbed in her work that she saw nothing of her guests until they +were almost at her side. When she looked up a warm color flushed +her pale cheeks, and she tried to conceal the sheet of paper on +which she had been working. + +"This is Mr. Hamilton, Marie, and this is my friend, Marie Borel, +Uncle Henry," said Ruth quickly. "You two should be very good +friends, for Uncle Henry's just been telling me how fond he is of +Switzerland." + +"Ah, do you love my country?" cried Marie, all her embarrassment +forgotten. "It ees so good to hear that; I am sometimes so homeseeck +for my mountains." + +"Indeed I do love your mountains and your lakes and the good +people who live there," responded Mr. Hamilton with a warmth that +delighted Marie's homesick heart. + +"But I must speak to my aunt," said Marie struggling to rise from +her many wraps. "You will perhaps come into the house." "No, sit +still, and I'll tell Mrs. Perrier we're here," urged Ruth. "We can +stay only a few minutes, and we like to sit here in the sunshine." + +She disappeared into the house, and while she was gone Mr. Hamilton +set himself to the pleasant task of getting acquainted with the +shy girl whose wonderful dark eyes looked so confidingly at him. +It needed only a few sympathetic questions to induce her to tell +him of the little town nestled at the foot of the Jura Mountains, +of the sparkling lake on which she used to look from her chamber +window, and of the Jungfrau, seventy miles away, but seeming so +near in clear weather. + +"I know just where your old home is, Marie," he said kindly, when, +in her pretty, broken English, she had pictured her birthplace to +him. "I don't wonder that you are homesick, for even I often long +for a sight of those beautiful mountains." + +"It gives me much good to talk of them to some one who knows how +beautiful they are," answered Marie simply. "But here comes Miss +Ruth, and--" + +"Now, Marie, don't you scold me," interrupted Ruth gaily. "I just +couldn't help bringing out your lace pillow and your embroidery +for Uncle Henry to see." + +"Oh, a gentleman," laughed Marie, "a gentleman, he does not care +for fine stitches." + +"There, isn't that beautiful, Uncle Henry?" persisted Ruth. "And +what do you think? I've learned to make a very simple pattern." + +"You don't say so!" said Uncle Henry, much impressed. "Couldn't +you--couldn't you make me something to wear?" + +"What shall it be?" laughed Ruth. "I'll tell you. If you'll promise +to have a black velvet suit and wear it to the office every day, +I'll make you a large lace collar to wear with it." + +"I'll let you know when I leave the order for the suit. It will be +time enough to begin. on the collar then," answered Mr. Hamilton, +much amused at the idea. "I'm afraid we must be saying good-bye +to Marie now," he added with a glance at his watch, "or you won't +have any time to rest before starting out again." + +But just then Mrs. Perrier came out on the porch carrying a tray, +and nothing would do but that Mr. Hamilton and Ruth must taste her +home-made grape-juice, and the little cakes made from a recipe she +had brought from Switzerland. They were almost as thin as paper, +and so deliciously crisp and toothsome-looking that Ruth couldn't +resist them. + +"Oh, Uncle Henry," she cried impulsively, "I am so hungry: and you +have a hungry look, too, hasn't he, Marie? Never mind if we don't +get home quite so soon; I can rest while I'm eating." + +"Just as you say, my dear," answered Mr. Hamilton with proper meekness. +He was having an unusual and interesting experience himself, and +didn't in the least mind staying. + +The little lunch was delicious, and Ruth sighed as she finished the +last cake she felt she could possibly eat. Mr. Hamilton stooped to +pick up his whip before saying good-bye, and as he did so dislodged +a book which was tucked into the steamer chair. It fell to the +floor, and a paper fluttered out of it and floated almost to Ruth's +feet. She picked it up to return it, but her eye was caught by a +pencil sketch which stood out boldly. + +"Why, Marie," she cried in astonishment, "did you draw this? It's +that little piece of the shore of the lake that I've been looking +at while I've sat here. Do let me show it to Uncle Henry." + +"Eet ees nothing," faltered Marie, full of shy embarrassment. "I +cannot make eet look as I see eet." + +Mr. Hamilton studied the little sketch with kindly, critical eyes. +Then he apparently forgot that there was need to hurry, for to +Ruth's surprise he sat down again by Marie's chair, saying earnestly: +"Have you more sketches in that book I knocked down, child? Let me +see them if you have." + +His manner was so serious, so compelling, that Marie gave him the +book without a word. There were sketches in pencil and sketches in +water-color. Those in the first part of the book were tiny drawings +of the interior of Mrs. Perrier's house, with now and again that +smiling woman herself in a characteristic pose. Once in a while +there was a sketch in color of mountains, lake and sky done evidently +from memory. All crude and faulty, but showing so much strength, +so much individuality and color-sense, that Mr. Hamilton turned +the leaves of the little book again and again, and finally laid it +down reluctantly, saying: + +"If I only had time, Marie, I should like to talk them all over +with you. There is so much promise in them that you must keep on +trying; you must study as soon as you are strong enough." + +"I am so glad that you think I am not wasting my time when I do +such things," she answered wistfully. "They will never look as I +want them to look, but I cannot help trying. I shall hope to study +some day." + +Marie walked to where the horses were tied to show Ruth how much +she had improved, and as they turned to wave a last good-bye to her +Mr. Hamilton said impressively, "Ruth, do you know we've discovered +a genius there. I firmly believe that girl will make a name for +herself some day. We must help her." + +"I should like to," answered Ruth, who all the way home seemed to +be in a brown study. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +TELLING FORTUNES + + +"I'm very sorry to be late," said Ruth penitently, as she walked +into Miss Burton's little sitting-room to find the three other +girls there before her. + +"We were just wondering whether that fiery steed had carried you +off so far that you couldn't get back," laughed Miss Burton. + +"He's a beauty, and I'd have given anything to have my father see +you ride off on him," said Dorothy, who longed to ride, but hadn't +yet been able to persuade her father that it was a necessary part +of her education. + +"You see we didn't wait for you," continued Miss Burton, "so take +off your hat and coat, and you shall have a cup of chocolate and +some bread and butter as soon as you are ready." + +"Riding does give one such an appetite," murmured Ruth apologetically, +forgetting that they didn't know that she had been feasting only +about an hour before. "But what were you talking about, girls, as +I came up-stairs? Your voices sounded so earnest that I felt quite +curious." + +"We were talking about Mildred Walker," answered Betty. "I don't +believe you ever heard of her, Ruth, but she's a girl who always +lived here until about three years ago. Her father had a good deal +of money, and suddenly he made a great deal more and they went to +New York to live. They lived pretty extravagantly, I guess, and now +he has lost all his money and is very sick, and Mildred will have +to do something to help support the family. She's only nineteen, +and she's never done anything but have a good time all her life, +so we were wondering how she would get along." + +"When my father heard about it," said Dorothy, "he slapped his +hand down on the table and said, 'There, that settles it; my girl +shall learn to do something to support herself in case need comes.' +He looked so fierce and decided that I should have been quite worried +if I hadn't made up my mind some time ago what I wanted to do." + +"Oh, Dolly, what is it?" cried Ruth, almost upsetting her cup in +her earnestness. + +"Why, physical culture, of course," answered Dorothy. "I haven't +any talent for anything else, and I just love that." + +"It's a very good choice, Dorothy, for, even if you're never obliged +to teach, it helps one in many ways," said Miss Burton. "I've +always been very thankful that my wise father felt just as yours +does, for when the time came I was able to take hold and do my part. +When father helped me plan my education there seemed no possible +chance that I should be obliged to earn my own living, but it came +suddenly, as as it so often does, and I'm glad to think that both +father and mother lived to see me working happily and successfully." + +Miss Burton was smiling as she finished, but there was a soft +mistiness in her brown eyes which touched the hearts of her adoring +audience. + +"Dear little Miss Burton," said Ruth, giving her a swift hug, "we +can't be sorry that you had to earn your living if we try, for if +you hadn't we never should have known you." + +"Who can tell?" said Charlotte with mock solemnity. "Perhaps she +might have come into our lives in some other way. Perhaps even +now some one is drawing near to us who may be destined to play an +important part in our lives or hers." Charlotte's voice grew deeper +as she spoke, and her eyes had a faraway look. + +"Oh, Charlotte, you goose. You make me feel positively creepy," +cried Betty. + +"You don't see any one over my shoulder, I hope," said Dorothy with +an involuntary backward glance. + +"Now, Miss Burton," said Charlotte with a laugh, "I leave it to +you if that isn't sufficient proof that I ought to be an actress." + +"I'm afraid the modern manager would require still more proof +than that, Charlotte," answered Miss Burton, much amused. "But you +certainly did that well." + +"Let's all tell what we think we could do if we had to," proposed +Betty. "What should you do, Ruth?" + +"I suppose that after I've studied the violin a few years more I +could give lessons," said Ruth thoughtfully. "But somehow I don't +seem to look forward to it with any wild joy. Whenever I plan ahead, +I always think of myself as in a home, making things look pretty, +and having lots of dinner-parties. I believe I should like to be +a model hostess," she added honestly. + +"Oh, Ruth, just a society woman?" asked Charlotte with scorn in +her voice. + +"Ruth's idea means more than that, Charlotte, if you think of it +in its broadest sense," interposed Miss Burton. "To be a perfect +hostess implies capacity for managing one's household, a wide +culture, forgetfulness of self and a ready appreciation of the needs +of others, sincerity, charm, interest in one's fellow beings, and +so many other good qualities that I can't stop to mention them. +It's really a beautiful ideal, and Ruth is fortunate in living with +a woman who is one of the few perfect hostesses I know." + +"I don't think I quite realized before how much it meant," said +Ruth. "But it must have been watching Aunt Mary that made me think +of it, for I used to have quite different ideas. It just occurs +to me," she added with an infections laugh, "that the last time I +remember saying anything about it I told father that when I grew +up I should keep a candy-shop." + +"And eat all you wanted, of course," added Charlotte as they all +laughed. "That was my first idea, too." + +"And what's your present idea?" asked Betty. + +"Oh, mine's so big and impossible, and so slow in coming, that I +can't bear to talk about it," answered Charlotte, grown suddenly +shy, and then she relapsed into silence, and no amount of urging +would make her speak. + +"No one asks me about mine," said Betty plaintively after a pause +in the conversation, "and I'm just dying to tell." + +"Oh, Betty, forgive us, and divulge the secret this very minute," +laughed Miss Burton. + +"Well," began Betty slyly, "I'm going to be different from the rest +of you; I'm going to be married and keep house. And my husband's +going to be an invalid, at least I think I shall have him an invalid, +and I shall have to support the family. Oh, I forgot to say that +before I'm married I'm going to learn all about cooking and--and +domestic science. Then I shall do all my own housework, and make +cake for the neighbors, and cater for lunch-parties, and raise +chickens and squabs, and keep bees, and grow violets and mushrooms, +and have an herb-garden. Oh, and in my leisure moments--" + +Miss Burton and the girls were quite helpless with laughter by this +time, and Betty interrupted herself to look at them with pretended +astonishment. + +"I was just about to say," she went on severely, "when you +interrupted me by laughing so rudely, that in my leisure moments I +should make clothing for the children and myself, and also furnish +fancy articles for the Woman's Exchange." + +"Oh, Betty, when you are funny you are the funniest thing I ever +saw," gasped Charlotte, going off into a fresh burst of laughter. + +"I'm much obliged to you, Betty, for that laugh," said Miss Burton, +wiping her eyes, "and I hope I'll be there to see when you get that +model establishment of yours in running order." + +"I'll send you samples of the various things if you're not on +hand," responded Betty with a twinkle. "But really, Miss Burton," +she added with sudden seriousness, "I do want to take a course in +cooking and domestic science." + +"Judging by the specimens of your cooking I've eaten I should think +it would be the thing for you to do," replied Miss Burton heartily. +"The opportunities for teaching in that line are many, and even if +you never have to earn money by it, to know how to cook is a very +great accomplishment." + +"I dare say," said Charlotte, "that we shall all do something +absolutely different from what we are planning now. Probably Betty +will marry a millionaire, and Dolly will take in sewing. Who can +say that Ruth may not be an artist? And I--well, I think my strong +point is cooking, and I shall undoubtedly be feeding starving +families on baked apples for years to come." + +"Oh, fudge," said Dolly, much disgusted with her part of the prophecy. +"You can't tell fortunes for me, Charlotte; I won't have it." + +"I'm sure to be an artist," laughed Ruth. "I can draw a pig with +my eyes shut just as well as I can with them open. I should love +to splash on color, though." + +"You might be a house-painter," said Betty meditatively. "When my +millionaire builds his house I'll employ you to do the painting." + +"And Charlotte can be cook," suggested Ruth. "But speaking of +artists, girls, makes me think of what I've been wanting to ask +you ever since I got here. Uncle Henry and I called on Marie this +afternoon and found her sitting on the piazza in the sunshine. +Just as we were leaving we found out quite by accident that she +has been making perfectly lovely little sketches, and Uncle Henry +thinks she's a genius. He told her she must study as soon as she +got strong, and you should have seen the longing look in those +great dark eyes of hers." + +"I suppose she hasn't a cent that she feels she can use for lessons," +said Miss Burton thoughtfully. She, as well as Ruth's special chums, +had become very much interested in Marie, and Mrs. Perrier's little +house had been the goal of many a breezy walk. + +"I think Uncle Henry means to help her, of course," continued Ruth, +"but I was wondering if there wasn't something we could do to earn +money. Wouldn't it be great if the Cooking Club could do something +to help?" + +"I should say it would," responded Dorothy with the greatest +enthusiasm. "Didn't we begin to try even at our first meeting to +make our club helpful to others?" + +"I hope we shan't miss the mark the way we did that time," groaned +Charlotte with a disgusted expression on her face. + +"Oh, but didn't Joe look too absurd in that ladylike black skirt +and bonnet?" said Ruth going off into a fit of laughter. "I don't +care if the joke was mostly on me; it was the funniest thing I ever +saw." + +"We never could pay him off with anything half so clever," laughed +Betty. "But, girls, it's Marie who wants to be an artist, not Joe. +Who's got an idea?" + +"Let's have a supper in the Town Hall and cook all we can ourselves +and solicit the rest," proposed Dorothy. + +"Too much outside work when we're in school," protested Charlotte. + +"If we could have it four weeks from now it would come in the April +vacation," persisted Dorothy. + +"Why not have some sort of an entertainment," suggested Miss Burton, +"and seat your audience at small tables? Then at the end of the +entertainment you could serve light refreshments." + +"And we could have tableaux and perhaps some music," cried Ruth in +a burst of inspiration. "You'd help us out with it, wouldn't you, +Miss Burton?" + +"Of course I would. I've had to plan such things several times." + +"Let's choose the prettiest girls we can find in the school for +waitresses," said Betty, "and have them wear cunning aprons and +big bows on their heads." + +"Why not have the thing open an hour or so before the entertainment +begins, and give them a chance to buy home-made candy and salted +almonds and some of those specialties which the gifted members of +our club delight in making?" suggested Charlotte. "We shall need +all the money we can get, for just the price of the tickets won't +amount to very much." + +"That's a practical idea, Charlotte," said Miss Burton. "And +if you'd like it perhaps I can make some money for you by reading +palms. The boys could build a little tent for me, and I could give +each applicant five minutes of my valuable time." + +"Oh, Miss Burton, can you really read palms?" cried Betty much +impressed. + +"Well, Betty," said Miss Burton with her radiant smile, "I can, +at least, make it interesting for persons who like to have their +palms read. And fortunately I have a costume which I wore for this +same purpose at a Charity Bazar in Chicago." + +"That will be great," said Dorothy. "Oh, girls, I think this is +going to be the grandest affair we've ever had in Glenloch. Can't +you just see how everything is going to look?" + +"We'll get the boys to help decorate the hall," suggested Betty. + +"They'll be useful in lots of ways," added Charlotte. "Boys come +in handy sometimes." + +"We must have a business meeting right away with Kit and Alice," +continued the practical Dorothy. "We shan't accomplish anything +until we know just what each one is to do." + +"There's just one thing," said Ruth hesitatingly. "Do you suppose +we can make a success of it without telling people what we are going +to do with the money? Of course I know," she went on hurriedly, +"that our own families must be told, but it seems to me it will be +much pleasanter for Marie if it isn't generally known." + +"That's so," declared Dorothy. "It would be horrid for her to feel +that she is being made an object of charity for the town. Let's +tell just our mothers and fathers, and swear them to secrecy." + +"If we give a good entertainment," added Charlotte, "no one will +have any right to ask what we're going to do with the money." + +"Good," cried Ruth, much relieved. "I felt almost sorry I'd proposed +it when I began to think about poor Marie." + +"Girls, girls, it's half-past six," cried Betty, as Miss Burton's +clock struck the half-hour. "I actually haven't heard that clock +strike before this afternoon." + +"Mercy me! We have dinner at six," and Ruth turned to find her coat +and hat. + +At that moment there was a knock, and Miss Burton's landlady poked +her head into the room to say there was a gentleman at the door +who wanted to see Miss Ruth Shirley. + +"It must be Mr. Hamilton," said Ruth, who felt guilty on account +of the lateness of the hour. "I'll call down and tell him I'll be +there in a minute." + +"It's not Mr. Hamilton. It's no one I know," answered Mrs. Stearns. + +Ruth looked puzzled. "Oh, do come down with me," she implored, +catching Miss Burton's hand, and together they went along the hall +and down to the turn in the stairs. Then, as Ruth caught sight +of the tall, handsome man standing in the hall with the lamplight +shining full upon his face, she forgot everything else in the world, +and getting over the remaining stairs in some incomprehensible way, +threw herself into his outstretched arms. + +"Oh, Uncle Jerry, Uncle Jerry!" she cried with a little break in +her voice as she buried her head on his shoulder. She was quite +unconscious that, though his arms tightened around her, his eyes +were fixed with eager longing on the smiling girl who had stopped +half-way down the stairs. There was a long second of silence. Uncle +Jerry's face went white and then red. Margaret Burton's smile faded, +and an expression of perplexity took its place. Then she came down +the stairs, and holding out her hand said: + +"I see you haven't forgotten me, Mr. Harper. I am very glad to see +you again." + +Ruth looked up in amazement as Uncle Jerry took the white hand in +both of his. "Why, Miss Burton," he began impetuously, "I--" and +then something made him look up to the hall above where three heads +were gazing over the railing with eager curiosity. + +"I am more than glad to meet you here," he continued lamely. "I--I +had no idea of meeting an old friend." + +"Miss Burton, you never told me that you knew my Uncle Jerry, and +I've talked about him lots of times," protested Ruth in an aggrieved +voice. + +"Well, of course, I supposed your Uncle Jerry was Jeremiah Shirley," +laughed Miss Burton. "You never told me that Jerry stood for Jerome, +nor that his last name wasn't the same as yours." + +"Why, so I didn't. And I suppose all the girls think your name is +Jeremiah, and they're probably sorry for you. I'll run up now and +get my hat, and bring them down to be properly introduced." + +It seemed only a minute, and a very short one at that, to Jerome +Harper, before Ruth came down-stairs again with the girls behind +her. He ventured a little protesting glance at Miss Burton as she +stepped into the background, and allowed the chattering girls to +absorb him. Being Ruth's Uncle Jerry it was plainly his duty to +show himself in the best possible light to these, her friends, and +he did it in so charming a manner that they all fell in love with +him on the spot. + +They left the house together, and only Dorothy noticed that Uncle +Jerry lingered a little to say good-bye to Miss Burton. Dorothy +usually did notice everything connected with Miss Burton, and just +then she had been thinking how pretty she looked in her simple +white wool gown, with her fair hair low on her neck and her brown +eyes shining. + +"What under the sun made you say that some one might be coming to +play an important part in Miss Burton's life, Char?" she said in +a low tone to Charlotte as they started off. "Did you really have +a feeling?" + +"A feeling? No, goosey; of course I didn't. Why do you ask?" + +Dorothy pinched her arm to hush her, and nodded significantly at +Uncle Jerry, who was just ahead of them with Betty and Ruth. + +Charlotte looked surprised and then scornful. "I hate to see any +one getting up a romance out of nothing," she whispered almost +crossly. "They're just old acquaintances, of course." + +But Dorothy knew that Charlotte hadn't seen Uncle Jerry's face as +he said good-bye. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +UNCLE JERRY + + +Uncle Jerry stayed only until Monday morning, and his visit seemed +so short to Ruth that after he had gone she could hardly believe +that it had really happened. Neither could she quite reconcile +herself to the fact that out of that brief time he had taken two +whole hours away from his only niece to call on Miss Burton. Her +only consolation was that he had promised to return for the night +of the grand entertainment, and he thought it probable that he +should be able then to stay a week. + +She had little time to think about her own affairs, for with the +date of the entertainment once set the days flew by on wings. It +was planned for the second Wednesday in April, which would come in +the middle of the spring vacation, and thus give the girls a chance +to rest after it was over. Once in the midst of their preparations, +the girls began to realize how big a thing they had undertaken, and +were fearful that they should not be able to make it a financial +success. Fortunately their elders realized it, too, and came +promptly to the rescue. Mr. Hamilton offered to pay for the hall, +Mr. Marshall agreed to provide the tables and chairs, and to pay +for having the stage enlarged, and the Candle Club boys devoted +themselves to their hard-working friends, and were ready to do +anything to help. + +As time went on the lofty ideals with which the girls had started +gradually diminished in fervor. At first they had planned to make +the ice-cream and cake, but later they accepted with a gratitude +that was almost pathetic Mrs. Hamilton's offer to take upon her +own shoulders the duty of providing both of these necessities. + +In spite of all this assistance, however, the week before the +performance passed in a mad whirl of rehearsals and preparation of +costumes, topped off on the very day before by the making of candy +and the doing of innumerable last things. Even at nine o'clock on +Tuesday evening Ruth and Arthur were still at work packing into +paper boxes the crisp wafers which Ruth had engaged Mrs. Perrier +to make for her. + +"Fifteen, seventeen, nineteen," murmured Ruth. "Oh, dear, I'm +so tired and sleepy I don't know whether there are twenty-five or +twenty-four in two dozen." + +"Go to bed then," laughed Arthur, "and I'll finish. There are not +many more, anyway, and you've got the hustle of your life before +you to-morrow." + +Ruth pulled herself out of her chair slowly but with evident +willingness. "Some folks don't give boys credit for being half so +nice as they are, but I do," she announced with a smile of sleepy +gratitude as she started out of the room. + +Wednesday morning the Town Hall was the scene of such excited +animation that it was difficult to tell whether anything was being +accomplished or not. The Cooking Club girls and the Candle Club +boys together with a dozen picked helpers had assembled to decorate +the hall, and for the moment there seemed an endless confusion of +boys, step-ladders, hammers and cheese-cloth. + +"For goodness' sake, Phil," begged Dorothy, leaving a group of girls +and running over to where Phil and Arthur were talking together, +"won't you and Arthur take the management of this decoration? You've +done it before and you know how it ought to look." + +"All right, your Majesty," responded Phil. "Come on, Art; let's +agree on a general scheme, and then you can boss this side of the +room and I'll take the other." + +"Ruth! Ruth! you're wanted," called a half-dozen voices at once, +and Ruth stopped her work to find John, Mr. Hamilton's man, waiting +at the door with a good-sized box. + +"It's just come by express, Miss Ruth," said John, "and 'twas labeled +Town Hall, so Mrs. Hamilton thought you'd better open it here." + +"Help me open it, some one, please," begged Ruth, and as the top +boards were quickly ripped off, she took out first a letter from +New York in Uncle Jerry's writing. + +"Dear Ruth" (it began): + +"I have just stumbled on a little shop devoted to souvenirs of +Switzerland. The proprietor has a bad attack of homesickness, and +can't stand New York any longer, so he is selling out at a sacrifice. +It occurred to me that I might kill two birds, etc., by contributing +to the good cause at Glenloch and helping this poor fellow at the +same time. I thought you might make a little something by selling +them for any price you can get. + +"I shall probably get there almost as soon as the box, so won't +stop to write more. + +"Yours with love, Uncle Jerry." + +Ruth had an interested audience as she unrolled some of the packages +and peeped into others to see what they contained, and could he +have heard the enthusiastic comments Uncle Jerry would have felt +still more sure of his place in the hearts of his Glenloch friends. + +"It's wasting time to look at them now," said Ruth with a sigh. +"We must arrange a table and put them on it this afternoon." + +"What a pity that we couldn't have some one in Swiss costume to +sell them," suggested Charlotte, who had paused in her work to take +one look. + +Ruth took in a quick breath as the idea struck her. "Do you suppose +Mrs. Perrier,--or Marie," she thought aloud. "Why, Marie might +even feel well enough to come herself if we sent for her and sent +her home. Couldn't some one, couldn't you, Arthur, ride over and +ask her?" + +"Why, yes," agreed Arthur, hurrying after John to tell him to bring +Peter Pan to the hall. He came back again in a minute to find Ruth +and say coaxingly: + +"Say, Ruth, John's got the carriage outside here, and why can't +you just slip out and drive over with me? It'll do you good to get +away from this noise and confusion for a while." + +"Oh, I can't, possibly. It would be mean when the others are working +so hard." + +"You'll be back before they know you're gone," pleaded Arthur. +"It'll do you so much good that you'll be able to work a great deal +faster," added the wily youth. + +"Go away, and don't tempt me," laughed Ruth. She started to leave +him, but turned back to say earnestly: "Let's make Charlotte go +with you. She's got a splitting headache, and she won't be fit for +anything to-night if she doesn't rest for a while." + +Arthur felt that he hadn't got quite all he was asking for, but +he fell in with Ruth's idea cheerfully, and their united arguments +persuaded Charlotte to go for the restful drive through the wooded +roads. + +They were back almost before Ruth could realize that they had +started, and announced with an air of triumph that Marie would be +delighted to come, and that Mrs. Perrier had a costume which could +easily be made to do. + +"And I begged her to bring her lace pillow," said Charlotte. "I +thought that would add a touch to the whole occasion." + +Ruth gave her a rapturous hug. "It will," she said joyfully. "And +isn't it all going to be the finest thing you ever saw?" + +The hall hummed like a beehive as the work went on, and little by +little things took shape and began to promise a harmonious whole. +It really seemed as though some good fairy were watching over +affairs, for the carpenters finished their work and went at an +early hour, the chairs and tables arrived in good season, and the +big picture-frame which had been put together for the girls proved +to be all that could be desired. + +To be sure there were disagreements, and even accidents, for Bert +and a step-ladder had a difference of opinion and collapsed together, +and Betty dropped a pail of paste on Jack, who had politely stopped +to admire the artistic work she and Frank were doing on the palmist's +tent. As he was looking up and had just opened his mouth to say +something complimentary the result was disastrous, and the poor +fellow stood there blinded and gasping until Dorothy carne to the +rescue with a wet towel. + +At one o'clock the workers departed for lunch, a few of the boys +and girls promising to come back in the early afternoon to finish +the little that was left. + +"I haven't the slightest idea whether it is going to look pretty +or not," said Ruth wearily as they left the hall. + +"Just wait until it's lighted," consoled Betty. "Then you'll see." + +When the earliest of the audience arrived that evening the old +hall, dressed in her best, was waiting to receive them. The cool +green and white of the draperies softened the plainness of the walls, +and a huge, round ball made of red and yellow roses and glittering +with diamond dust swung from the centre chandelier and glowed in +its light. Smaller balls hung from the side-brackets, each enclosing +an electric bulb which shone with soft radiance through the vivid +red and pale yellow of the roses. + +In the comer nearest the door was a booth draped in pink and blue, +and here two pretty girls in white were ready to sell the various +delicacies made by the members of the Cooking Club. The girls had +worked hard, and Ruth's maple fudge, Dorothy's creamed walnuts and +dates, Katharine's salted nuts, and Alice's peanut brittle made +such a tempting array that none could see without wanting to buy. +Betty's contribution was a dozen glasses of delicious-looking orange +marmalade, and behind them were piled boxes of Mrs. Perrier's +crisp Swiss wafers. + +As a joke Charlotte had brought in quite unexpectedly at the last +moment a huge pan of baked apples, and she insisted on having them +on the table in spite of the fact that the pan in its nest of pink +crepe paper took up a large amount of space. + +"The rest of you are represented by your masterpieces," she said, +rolling out the long words with great relish. "So why shouldn't I +put mine there? I'm sure I shall never achieve anything more perfect +than those baked apples, and they're much more digestible than all +that sweet stuff." + +As usual Charlotte's argument was unanswerable, and the apples +remained on the table, forming a sturdy and wholesome contrast to +their more dainty companions. + +At the front of the hall and quite near the stage sat Marie dressed +in the pretty Bernese costume with its velvet bodice, and silver +pins and chains. Before her was a table covered with Swiss carved +work, bears, paper-knives, picture-frames, watch-stands and dainty +edelweiss pins. Her eyes were sparkling and a faint color stole +into her cheeks as she chatted in her soft voice with those who +came to look at her wares. + +In spite of the attractiveness of good things to eat and pretty +things to see, the most popular place in the hall was the gaily +decorated tent where Miss Burton in gypsy costume read palms. From +the time the hall was opened there was a waiting group outside the +tent where Dorothy took the money, and cut each five minutes off +on the dot so that she might get in as many as possible. So many +applicants were there that, when at half-past seven Ruth's Uncle +Jerry arrived with the Hamiltons and a party of their Boston +friends, there seemed to be no immediate chance that he would be +able to penetrate the mysteries of the future with the aid of Miss +Burton. + +"Dear me, Miss Dorothy," he said beseechingly, "can't you make a +special appointment for me? I'm afraid my life-line isn't strong +enough to bear me up under such a disappointment." + +"I'm afraid I can't, Mr. Harper," answered Dorothy firmly. "There +are enough waiting now to keep the palmist busy until the entertainment +begins, and after that you must take your chance with the others." + +In the depths of her heart Dorothy was glad to turn away Uncle +Jerry. He was altogether too much in a hurry, she thought with a +little frown. She didn't want any one to like Miss Burton too much. + +Uncle Jerry wandered off disconsolately, but solaced himself by +buying candy and Swiss carvings until his hands were so full that +he couldn't manage his parcels. Then, in a fit of desperation, he +returned them all to the young ladies from whom he had bought them, +begging them to sell them over again for the good of the cause. + +At five minutes before eight there was a burst of applause as Phil +appeared on the stage and requested the audience to be seated at +the small tables, as the entertainment was about to begin. + +When the confusion had subsided into silence, some one at the piano +began to play softly, and the curtain parted to show in the frame +a beautiful Spanish girl with fan and mantilla. Following her in +quick succession came a fair-haired English girl, a smiling maiden +from Japan with arched eyebrows and bright-colored parasol, and a +rosy Dutch girl in cap and kerchief. Then a Turk sitting cross-legged +upon his cushion smoked his long pipe and beamed affably on the +audience, an Esquimaux gentleman came from his igloo in the north +to pose for a moment, and a boyish Uncle Sam and John Bull shook +hands fraternally. + +Each picture was shown twice, but it was ail too short for the +enthusiastic audience, which applauded so vociferously that Frank +was obliged to step before the curtain and announce that owing to +lack of time no encores could be given. + +Then followed representations of celebrated paintings; the Girl +with the Muff, a pathetic Nydia, and the charming little Dutch girl +holding a cat. Molly Eastman posed for that with Bagheera, Betty's +largest cat, clutched tightly in her arms. When Bagheera heard the +applause he struggled wildly to escape, nearly knocking Molly over +as he leaped from her arms just as the curtain covered the frame. +Molly looked ready to cry because her picture could not be shown a +second time, then snatching up her beloved Teddy bear, which went +everywhere she did, she stood, triumphant, waiting for the curtain +to be drawn. It was too good to be lost, and the boys pulled the +curtain twice, much to Molly's joy and the delight of the audience. + +This was the end of the first part of the program, and there was +a buzz of conversation which softened into silence as the school +orchestra filed on the stage. It was warmly greeted, for this was +its first public appearance, and the proud parents of the performers +were anxious to hear the results of their practice together. Like +wise boys they didn't try to do anything great, but delighted the +hearts of their hearers with a simple arrangement of some of the +old patriotic songs that every one loves. They ended with the Star +Spangled Banner and played it with so much spirit that the entire +audience rose to do honor to the grand old song. + +With the second drawing of the curtain, ten dainty Japanese ladies +fluttered upon the stage with mincing steps, waving gay fans and +bowing low as they drew up in line before the audience. So much +did the flowing garments, the fan-bedecked hair and the slanting +eyebrows change the girls that even some of the mothers failed at +first to recognize their own daughters. + +"I see Charlotte, and that one on the end is Ruth," announced the +irrepressible Molly Eastman loudly, and then buried her head on +her father's shoulder when every one turned to look at her. + +The fan drill was beautiful to see, for the intricate marching, the +delicate swaying of the figures, was done with a precision which +gave no chance for criticism. The performers came out to bow their +thanks for the hearty applause, and, when the audience refused to be +satisfied, fluttered out again with fans held coquettishly before +their faces. Then each girl extracted from her flowing sleeve +a paper bird, and holding it as high as she could reach began to +fan it into motion. It was a pretty sight; the gaily-colored birds +flying in all directions, and the graceful girls, quick of eye and +action, doing their utmost to keep them from falling. There were +one or two narrow escapes, but not one really reached the floor, +and at a signal they were caught upon the outstretched fans and +the little ladies had fled. + +"If that looks easy to you just try it," said Mrs. Hamilton during +the pause in the program. "I made an attempt at it the other day +when Ruth was practicing at home, and I found it the hardest thing +I've undertaken for some time. It's wonderful training for the eye +and muscles." + +As she finished speaking, slow, dreamy music began on the piano +and the curtains were pulled apart, disclosing a pedestal on which +stood Dorothy in a flowing Greek robe and with her golden hair +dressed in classic fashion. At first she was like a beautiful statue, +then, as the music proceeded, she went through a series of poses, +each one so vivid and graceful that when she became a statue once +more and the curtain hid her from sight the hall rang with applause. + +The program was already so long that Dorothy refused to repeat her +number, and when the curtain was drawn again four fine lads stepped +out to swing Indian clubs. The boys did it well and the fathers +and mothers glowed with pride over the straight young figures and +the easy grace which made the clubs seem like mere toys. + +The last number was announced as a march by the Glenloch Academy +children, and the boy who made the announcement couldn't keep from +laughing as he hurriedly got out of sight. + +"Rather unusual, isn't it, for boys and girls of that age to allow +themselves to be called 'children'?" asked Mr. Hamilton, but even +as he spoke his question was answered, for as the piano began +a simple melody in rushed twelve children, blowing horns, jumping +ropes, and pinching and pulling each other in very real fashion. +There was a roar of laughter from the audience, for the boys were +all figures of fun in their checked aprons and tassel caps. Tall +Phil was a sight never to be forgotten as he smiled amiably on the +world at large, but Joe had the best of it, for he was so plump and +rosy that he looked fairly like the child he was trying to represent. +The girls wore skirts which stuck out stiffly all around, and had +their hair braided in pigtails and tied with ribbons to match their +sashes. Betty looked the very picture of innocent, chubby childhood, +and couldn't forbear making eyes at her adoring father, who sat +near the stage, and seemed to find it difficult to look at any one +but his engaging little daughter. + +The piano struck up a stirring march, and the merry children dropped +their toys and formed in line with Jack and Ruth as leaders. The +performers did their best to make it as childlike as possible, +and it was an amusing procession that the two captains led through +intricate ways. It had an ending alike unexpected by performers and +audience, for as they were going through one of the last figures, +Joe slipped, made a heroic effort to recover his balance, and then +sat flat on the floor facing the audience. He had such a funny, +surprised look on his face that every one in the hall roared with +laughter, much to his discomfiture. Then an idea seized him, and +scrambling to his feet he put both fists in his eyes and bellowed +like a naughty child. The others kept on marching, but he stood +there inconsolable, until Betty, always quick to think, gave him a +little shake in passing and held out to him a bright red apple she'd +been nibbling. An ecstatic smile spread over his face, he grabbed +the apple, took a big bite, and fell into line just as they all +marched off the stage. So cleverly was it done that the audience +decided that the fall had been intentional, and the whole thing +a part of the performance, and gave Master Joe an extra salvo of +applause when the children returned to make their bows. + +As the curtains fell together for the last time, twenty-five girls +dressed in white and carrying trays came into the hall. They wore +coquettish little aprons, and large ribbon bows in a variety of +color, and suggested butterflies as they flitted among the tables. +One by one the performers, most of them still in costume, slipped +out from behind the scenes. + +"Is your lemonade good, Uncle Jerry, and are you having a nice +time?" asked the Japanese maiden leaning confidingly on Mr. Harper's +shoulder. + +"Yes, to both the questions, 'Yuki-San,'" replied her uncle +affectionately. "But, Ruth," he was speaking now in a low tone, "I +shan't be really happy until I have my palm read; and perhaps not +then," he finished inaudibly. + +Ruth glanced quickly toward the palmist's tent. "Miss Burton said +she should keep busy while the refreshments were served so as to +make as much money as possible. I'll see if she can take you now." + +Uncle Jerry watched until he saw Ruth beckon to him. Then he made +his way quickly to the tent, and started in just as Dorothy resumed +her position outside as guardian. + +"Only five minutes, Mr. Harper," said Dorothy decidedly. + +"Give me ten, Miss Dorothy," pleaded Uncle Jerry, "and I'll give +you four times the price of admission. It's for the good of the +cause, you know." + +"For the good of the cause, then," she answered grudgingly. "Ten +minutes and not an atom more." + +"You're a terror, Dolly," laughed Ruth, slipping into the chair +beside her. "How can you be so severe with my beloved Uncle Jerry?" + +Dorothy's answer was slow in coming, and Ruth went on happily without +waiting. "Don't you think we've made a big success? Everything's +sold except two or three boxes of candy and a loaf or two of cake. +And Marie's perfectly radiant because several people have given +her orders for lace and embroidery." + +Dorothy was holding her watch in her hand and almost counting each +second as it ticked away. "Eight and a half," she murmured. "Why, +yes, I do think it's a success, and won't it be fun when we can +take the money over to Mrs. Perrier's and surprise Marie? Time's +up, Mr. Harper," she added with cruel promptness, and Uncle Jerry, +fearing the invasion of other applicants, didn't dare to disobey. + +Dorothy looked at him critically as he emerged from the tent. There +was no mistaking the triumphant light in his eye, and she saw that +she must resign herself to defeat. + +"Did she give you a good fortune, Uncle Jerry?" inquired Ruth. + +"Splendid. The best in the world," he answered with such happiness +in his voice that Dorothy felt her resentment fading away. "Now, +Miss Japan, let's go and buy everything there is left," he added. + +Dorothy watched them as they strolled away, and saw Uncle Jerry +draw Ruth into a quiet comer, where he told her something that made +her clasp her hands and look at him with beaming eyes. + +"They haven't the least idea I've guessed," said Dolly to herself +with a sad little shake of the head, "but I'll show them that a +girl can keep a secret even when she hasn't been asked to." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THOSE RIDICULOUS BOYS + + +"It's terribly romantic," said Ruth with a satisfied sigh. "She +didn't know he cared anything about her, and he thought she couldn't +care for him because she went away from Chicago without letting +him know or leaving him her address." + +"And they're really engaged?" asked Betty for the third time. "I +can't believe it." + +It was a warm afternoon in May, and all the girls were out in +Mrs. Hamilton's garden drying their hair after a shampoo. To the +surprise of every one the spring had made good its early promises, +and buds and blossoms had hurried forth with quivering eagerness. +The soft breeze which rustled the leaves and played caressingly +with the floating locks was as mild as in summer, and the girls +felt that pleasant languor which comes with the first warm days. + +"Yes, really engaged. Uncle Jerry wanted to settle it when he first +found her here in Glenloch, but she made him wait until he came the +second time," answered Ruth shaking her hair to the breeze which +curled it into tendrils. "I've been simply bursting to tell you +ever since the entertainment, but I had to wait until Miss Burton +said I might." + +"I think it's funny you didn't guess. I felt it in my bones from +the first minute I saw him," said Dorothy. "And I was perfectly +sure of it when I saw him tell you, Ruth." + +"Why, Dolly, you're a witch! And you never said a word to any one?" +asked Ruth incredulously. + +"No. I didn't think Miss Burton would want me to. And I'm so jealous +of you that I can't see straight, because, of course, she'll have +to like you best," finished Dorothy with a mournful sigh. + +"She'll think you're a trump when I tell her that you truly guessed +and never said a word," comforted Ruth. "The only other thing I +can do is to offer you a share in Uncle Jerry." + +"You'll have to divide him in small pieces if you're going to share +him," said Charlotte. "Did you ever see anything like the way the +boys took to him?" + +"Between the two clubs he had small chance to be alone with Miss +Burton that week he was here," laughed Betty. + +"He was a dear to take us all to Boston and give us such a dandy +time," murmured Charlotte. + +"What a week we had," said Alice, pulling her black locks apart to +get out the snarls. "Can't you just see Marie's face when we gave +her that two hundred dollars?" + +"She's so happy now," added Ruth, "and she's getting better every +day. Arthur and I rode by there yesterday, and she was out helping +her aunt make a garden." + +"Isn't your hair most dry, girls?" asked Dorothy, with a sudden +change of subject. "Let's hurry and put it up any old way, and then +have some tennis." + +There was a simultaneous groan from Katharine and Charlotte. + +"I didn't expect anything of you two lazy things," said Dorothy +coolly. "I'm glad you don't want to, for that leaves just the four +of us without any fuss about deciding." + +"I'd like to play," said Ruth, tugging at her refractory curls, +"only you'll have to wait till I do my hair properly, and take this +mess of towels into the house." + +"Oh, Ruth, if I didn't like you so much I should say you were +pernickety," cried Dorothy impatiently. + +"I suppose I am fussy," confessed Ruth. "But mother was always +very particular about having me keep my own things in order, and +especially about leaving other people's belongings the way I found +them, and I can't get over the habit." + +"For goodness' sake, you sound as if you thought it was a crime," +said Charlotte. "I only wish I had a few such bad habits as that." + +"I'm a shining example for you, Charlotte," laughed Betty, "for I +cleared up my top bureau drawer to-day." + +"You're a shining example for me in more ways than one, Betsy," +answered Charlotte with such unexpected earnestness that rosy Betty +grew rosier than ever. + +For a few minutes the girls worked busily, and the hair, black, +brown, shining gold and burnished copper, was soon adorning the +heads of its owners in the accustomed way. Ruth and Betty took +in the towels and brought out racquets and balls. Charlotte and +Katharine languidly changed their seats to where they could watch +the court, and the other four began a vigorous game. + +It was a long and hotly contested deuce set, and ended in favor of +Dorothy and Alice just as Katie appeared with tray and glasses. + +"Ellen thought you'd like some lemonade, Miss Ruth. I'll bring it +out directly." + +Ellen's lemonade was a work of art; full of tantalizing and unexpected +flavors of orange, mint and clove. The girls, who knew it of old, +groaned with pleasure at sight of the frosty-looking pitcher with +sprigs of mint at the top. + +"This is richness," sighed Dorothy, as she settled herself on the +big rug and took one of the fresh chocolate-frosted cakes that +Katie had brought out. + +"Ellen's the best old dear," said Ruth. "I never even have to ask +for things." + +"There's a letter on the tray," said Betty suddenly. "No, not a +letter, because there's no stamp on it, but it's for you, Ruth." + +Ruth picked it up and opened it. Then she laughed and held it out +to the girls, reading aloud as she did so. + +The Candle Club Presents its compliments to The Cooking Club And +requests the pleasure of its company Saturday, May eighteenth, At +half-after six + +The Club Room + +"My, but they're formal," said Dorothy. "Will you look at the +elegance of 'half-after six'?" + +"Jack did the invitations with his new typewriter, I suppose," said +Betty. "I wonder how many sheets of paper he spoiled." + +"Of course we'll all go," said Charlotte, lazily pulling herself up +from her seat on the ground. "It's perfectly lovely sitting here +and drinking this delicious lemonade, and I hate to mention it, +but I've got to get home, girls. Betty, you ought to walk 'round +my way to-night; I went with you last night." + +"Wait till I get the last drop out of my glass," gurgled Betty, +pulling away at her straw with great diligence. + +"We're all going," added Dorothy. "It's almost six anyway." + +Ruth went with them to the front of the house and then back to the +tennis ground to pick up racquets and balls. It was so cool and +still and beautiful in the garden that she sat down on the rug +again with her hands clasped around her knees. The old apple-tree +covered with pink and white blossoms rustled softly overhead, a +fat robin cocked his eye at her as he listened for worms, and from +the other side of the garden came the faint, melodious tinkle of +the little fountain. + +Something flipped into the grass beside her and the robin flew +away. + +"It's just a penny," called a gay voice, "the one they're always +offering for your thoughts, you know." + +Ruth looked up as Arthur dropped down on the rug beside her. +"They're worth so much more that I couldn't let you have them for +a penny," she said with a laugh. + +"Make it a spring bargain sale and give 'em to me at a great +reduction," he suggested. + +"They were perfectly good thoughts," answered Ruth. "I was just +wondering how I happened to drop down in such a lovely place, and +why every one is so nice to me, and thinking how I shall miss you +all when father sends for me." + +"Don't begin to think about that," protested Arthur quickly. "You +know you came for a year, a whole year." + +"I know," laughed Ruth. "I don't believe you were a bit pleased +when you heard that I was coming for a whole year. I really think +you've got used to me very nicely." + +"It's astonishing how soon we get used to things that we know we +must put up with," said Arthur with a sigh of resignation. "Oh, by +the way, there's something I forgot to tell you," he added. + +"What is it?" cried Ruth eagerly. + +"You won't tell the other girls, will you?" + +"Why no, if you really don't want me to." + +Arthur looked thoughtful. "I wouldn't for a while, anyway," he said +at last. + +"I won't tell until you say I may," said Ruth with great decision. + +"Well, then,--I was sent out here to ask you to come in to dinner," +chuckled the graceless youth, picking himself up from the ground, +and making off with surprising agility. + +"Oh, you villain," groaned Ruth, throwing a tennis ball at him with +such unexpectedly good aim that it hit him squarely in the back. + +"Good shot! How did it happen? Oh, but you did bite nicely that +time," and Arthur laughed again at her pretended rage. + +"If you ever want to be forgiven, come back here and help me take +in the racquets and balls," called Ruth, starting toward the house. + +"Sure, I will," responded Arthur amiably. "Give me all the racquets +and you can take the balls. I know," he continued a moment later, +"why every one is so nice to you." + +"Is this another sell?" demanded Ruth. + +"No, this is truth. You'll find the answer in Mary's Little Lamb +if you change the words a little. You look up the last verse and +see if I'm not right." + +Ruth looked thoughtfully at him as they entered the house, and then +sternly repressing the pleased smile that flitted over her face +said with assumed indifference: + +"I hope that's a compliment, but how can you expect me to remember +the rhymes of my childhood?" + +The days went by so fast that Ruth could hardly keep the run of the +calendar. They were full days, with hard work at school, delightful +rides on Peter Pan with Arthur or his father to accompany her, and +pleasant afternoons with the girls at one house or another. Then +there were important letters from her father and Uncle Jerry which +necessitated lengthy replies, and frequent conferences with Miss +Burton and Mrs. Hamilton. + +On the night of the Candle Club party the girls met first at Dorothy's +house, and went out into the stable together. A large room on the +second floor had been given up to the boys who had furnished and +decorated it to suit their taste and their opportunities. An old +piano, begged for by Frank when the Marshalls were buying a new +one, stood under one of the electric lights and looked well-used. +That it had outlived its most tuneful days was not to be denied, +but Arthur could still coax college songs out of it, and for +miscellaneous strumming and tunes with one finger it was invaluable. +It was also a convenient place on which to leave sweaters, hats +and books, and altogether the boys considered it one of the most +valuable of their possessions. + +The furniture of the club room could hardly be called ornamental, +but it was certainly comfortable. A couple of steamer chairs, a +roomy couch covered with bright cushions, and an ancient bookcase +offered an impartial welcome to the lazy and the studious, and +bore mute witness to the fact that many happy hours had been passed +there. The boys had made the room gay with banners, and trophies +of past victories, and red curtains and a few rugs added to the +general cheerfulness. + +Mr. and Mrs. Marshall went out to the stable with the girls, and as +they went up the narrow stairs there was a shout of laughter from +the club room, laughter so mirth-compelling that the girls giggled +involuntarily. At Mr. Marshall's peremptory knock there was a sudden +stillness; then the door opened a crack and in a choked voice Arthur +said, "Just hold the line a second, please, and we'll let you in." + +Almost as he spoke there was a low, "all right now," from Joe, and +Arthur threw the door wide open. For an instant the guests coming +from the dark stairway into the brightly lighted room could hardly +see; then as they took in the general appearance of their hosts +the room rang with laughter. + +The boys were all dressed in shirt-waists and skirts, with neat +white collars and little bows of various kinds. The skirts came +to the tops of their boots, and as they had donned the heaviest, +biggest boots they could find, the result was amusing. They all +wore frivolous little aprons, and on their heads jaunty white caps +perched on hair which made the girls go off into fresh fits of +merriment. It was the most wonderful hair-dressing the girls had +ever seen; heavy braids, thick curls, even pompadours--and all made +out of yarn. + +"What happened that made you keep us waiting?" asked Ruth as she +wiped real tears from her eyes. + +"Betty fell over his skirt and had to fix it on again," said Phil +with a twinkle, realizing that the girls hadn't yet taken in the +full meaning of the performance. + +Then it was the boys' turn to laugh, for, looking at Joe's red wig, +the girls knew at once what Phil meant, and each hurried to pick +out the imitation of herself. + +"Do you mean to tell me I look like that?" asked Dorothy, pointing +a scornful finger at Jack, who was deeply engaged in tightening a +large, black bow which dangled at the end of his long, yellow braid. + +"Why, Dolly, I flattered myself I was the handsomest one of the +bunch, and now you speak harshly to me," protested Jack in a tone +of great grief. + +"So far as beauty goes there isn't much choice between you," said +Charlotte meditatively. Her eye was taking in Phil's tall, slender +figure, upon which the skirt hung in limp folds. His brown braids +were twined about his head in a coronet, a style with which +Charlotte's mirror was familiar. + +"Oh, those ridiculous boys! Do see my bunch of curls," shrieked +Ruth, getting around where she could better see the back of Arthur's +head. + +"Whatever made you think to do it, you silly things?" asked Betty, +eyeing with disfavor the magenta-colored hair which graced the head +of her double. + +"Why, we are going to cook a supper for you to-night, and we thought +we couldn't follow better models as to dress than the celebrated +Cooking Club," answered Phil making a low bow with his hand on his +heart. + +"Do get to work, then," said Dolly with great disdain. "Let's see +if you can imitate our cooking as remarkably as you have our looks." + +A long table stood in the middle of the room, covered with a white +cloth, and on it reposed several chafing-dishes, a pile of plates, +forks, spoons and knives, and a quantity of paper napkins. Olives, +crisp little pickles and plates of crackers were the only visible +evidences of food, and to the hungry girls the prospect was not +encouraging. + +"If you will kindly be seated, young ladies," said Frank, whose +woolly black locks made his imposing manner ridiculous, "we will +now show you how much we know." + +"How little, you mean," added his sister in an audible whisper. + +"I'm not going to have Dolly near me while I cook," said Frank +decidedly. "You go and watch Arthur, Dolly; that's a good girl." + +"Don't watch me," groaned Arthur. "Charlotte and Ruth have got their +eyes glued on everything I'm doing already. Watch Phil, Dorothy. +He's much nicer than I am." + +Mr. and Mrs. Marshall slipped quietly away about this time, and +then, with their guests showing an irritating and undue interest +in all that they did, the boys began the preparation of the supper. +As the work progressed, wigs were pushed out of place and finally +discarded; hooks and eyes, too fragile for such muscular young +ladies, loosed their hold, and skirts were trampled under foot and +cast aside. At last it was only six boys in girlish-looking waists +who were working with pretended confidence but real anxiety under +the eyes of their unsparing critics. + +It leaked out afterward that the boys had been practicing for +several weeks on the special dishes they made, and it was a great +relief to the girls to find this out. On this evening, however, +the lordly creatures asserted that cooking was an art that reached +perfection only when man undertook it, and that a man knew by +instinct quantities, seasoning and time of preparation. + +The girls, though not half believing, watched with a surprise not +unmixed with awe while Phil cooked a lobster a la Newburg, seasoned +to perfection, Arthur prepared delicious creamed potatoes, and Frank +did up cold lamb in hot currant jelly in the most approved style. +There were potato chips and buttered brown bread to eat with the +lobster, and warm rolls to go with the second course. Everything +was so good that the girls could only wonder and eat. + +"Could I have a glass of water, please?" begged Ruth just before +the feast began. + +"Sure. Oh, wait a minute and I'll get you something better than +water," said Joe, plunging down the stairs and into the house, to +return in a moment laden with bottles of ginger-ale. + +"Now watch him open them, Ruth," said Charlotte with pretended +admiration. "See how skilfully he does it. No girl could ever attain +to anything like that. After all boys are superior beings and--" + +"Wow," gasped Joe, as a fountain of ginger-ale rose from the bottle +and struck him squarely in the face. + +"Here, take that bottle out of the way. It's going all over my +creamed potatoes," shouted Arthur. + +Blinded and dripping, Joe made a frantic effort to head the bottle +another way, and in the attempt turned a liberal portion over Bert, +who was standing near. + +"I was just about to say," continued Charlotte calmly, "that boys +always do everything in such a complete way." + +"Well they know when not to talk," growled Joe, mopping himself +with a napkin, and frowning darkly at the offending young lady. + +It was a supper of gayety, and good things to eat. The boys were so +proud of their cooking that they disliked to let the conversation +wander from that particular subject, and brought it back by some +skilful remark whenever they thought the interest of the girls was +flagging. Each club toasted the other, and Jack toasted the ladies, +ending with the sentence, which became a byword in Glenloch, "Girls +are all right if you only know how to manage 'em." + +"What a lot of dishes," said Betty with a sigh as they rose from +the table. + +"We will now show you how the powerful masculine mind handles the +problem of dishes," proclaimed Phil. + +"Do those dishes worry us? Not at all," added Bert as the boys +lifted the table bodily and put it in a comer of the room. + +"Now you see 'em," said Joe, helping to unfold two screens borrowed +for the occasion, "and now you don't." + +"Yes, but they're there all the same," argued Dorothy unconvinced. + +"Mrs. Flinn will change all that, little sister," answered her +brother condescendingly. "We have bribed her to spend to-morrow +morning cleaning the club room, and she thinks we are 'blissed +young gintlemen.'" + +"Get over on the piano stool, Art, and give us that new music you +were playing last night," begged Joe. + +"No, don't play new things," implored Dorothy. "Play some college +songs." + +And so Arthur played and they all sang; some on the pitch and some +off, but all happy, and each one deeply satisfied with his own share +of the performance. At last, swinging around on the piano stool, +Arthur looked at Ruth and said mysteriously, "You may as well tell +them your news now, Ruth." + +Every one turned to look at Ruth with such sudden interest that +the color flashed into her face. + +"It isn't enough to make you all look so curious," she laughed. +"It's only that I can't have many more parties with you, because +my father has sent for me, and I am to sail on the 'Utopia' a month +from to-day." + +There was a moment of mournful and incredulous silence; then Dorothy +said indignantly, "I call that a mean shame; you were promised to +us for a year, and that would make it next October." + +"I know. But you see father will be ready for me sooner than he +thought, and much as I should love to spend the summer here, I do +want to be with him." + +"Strange," murmured Joe. + +"And--and there's more news," continued Ruth. "Uncle Jerry and Miss +Burton are going to be married a week before I sail, and go over +with me for a wedding trip," + +"Tell us all about it," pleaded Betty, throwing herself on the +floor at Ruth's feet. + +"I have; just about. You see Miss Burton's father and mother are +dead, and she hasn't any near relations except a sister who lives +way out in Seattle. So Mrs. Hamilton has invited her to be married +at her house, and it's going to be a very private wedding." + +Distinct disappointment was visible in the girlish faces as Ruth +finished. + +"But." she continued hurriedly, "there is to be a reception after +the ceremony, and all of us girls are to be invited to help receive +and the boys to usher." + +"How perfectly lovely!" exclaimed Betty. + +"I don't think so," mourned Dolly. "What shall we do with Ruth and +Miss Burton both gone?" + +"Tell them the rest, Ruth," urged Arthur. + +"The rest? Oh, yes. After the reception Uncle Jerry and his +wife--doesn't that sound grand?--are going off somewhere for a week, +and Mrs. Hamilton is going to take me to New York to meet them." + +"And Mr. Hamilton and Mr. A. Hamilton are going, too," added Arthur +with great satisfaction. + +It was Ruth's turn to look surprised. "Why how perfectly grand! +You never said a word." + +"Father just suggested it to-night and I thought I'd surprise you. +He's planning to have four days there before you sail." + +"Fine old plans," said Betty soberly. "It's all very nice for Ruth, +but I feel as if all the dolls I ever had were stuffed with sawdust." + +"So do I," added Dorothy, with a little catch in her voice. +Charlotte said nothing, but to the surprise of every one she put +her arm around Ruth in a way that was more eloquent than words. + +The Candle Club party threatened to end in melancholy fashion, +but the irrepressible Joe came to the rescue as usual. "Ruth can't +leave the country," he announced decidedly. "She has too much live +stock to look after. To my knowledge she owns half a horse, and +the whole of a very enterprising kitten." + +Every one laughed, for all knew that Fuzzy's latest escapade had +been the theft of a string of sausages which he had proudly brought +home untouched to show to his mistress. + +"It's just as well for me to go before my live stock gets me into +trouble," laughed Ruth. "As for my half of Peter Pan, I shall will +that to Arthur to keep until--" + +"Until you come back, of course," interrupted Arthur. "Your father +may have you for a while, and then you must come back to Glenloch, +and this time for a whole year." + +"Hear, hear," came in eager chorus from the others, and the party +broke up happily after all. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +"HOME, SWEET HOME" + + +As the "Utopia" made her slow way out into the harbor Ruth's +eyes clung lovingly to the three people who were waving farewell +to her from the end of the pier. For some time she could see them +distinctly, could tell which was Aunt Mary and which Arthur. Then +the figures on the pier began to melt into each other, the waving +handkerchiefs became mere white specks in the distance, and Ruth +looked up to find Uncle Jerry watching her with quizzical gaze. + +"I don't see why that band wants to play 'Home, Sweet Home,'" she +said impatiently as she turned away from the side. "I don't think +it's nice to work on people's feelings that way." + +Uncle Jerry laughed. "You're not the first one who's thought that," +he said consolingly. "Your aunt and a steamer chair are waiting +for you on the other side, so come along and look at your letters +and parcels." + +"My aunt," repeated Ruth. "How ridiculous it seems to think of that +little young thing being my aunt." + +"Not any more absurd, I'm sure, than that a little young thing like +me should be your uncle. I'm only five feet eleven, and a hundred +and eighty pounds in weight." + +Ruth laughed merrily, as Uncle Jerry meant she should, and just +then they came to their chairs, and to the pretty new aunt smiling +a welcome. + +"You were so absorbed that we left you for a moment while we secured +our chairs." she said as Ruth dropped down beside her. "I'm glad +you've come, for I'm so anxious to know what's in these mysterious +packages." + +"I brought them up from your stateroom in my bag," added Uncle +Jerry. "I thought you could entertain your youthful uncle and aunt +by taking out one at a time. Sort of a grab-bag arrangement, you +know." + +Ruth drew out one of the packages and looked at it curiously. "That's +Katharine's writing," she said, as she studied the address. Inside +was a round flat pincushion made of blue velvet and embroidered with +a spray of apple-blossoms. Around its edge was a fancy arrangement +of pins of all colors, and fastened at the back hung a sort of +needle-book with leaves of coarse net in which were run invisible +hairpins. On a sheet of paper was written in Alice's small, neat +hand: + +Pins for your collar and pins for your hair, Pins for your belt, +and some to spare For any old thing you may want to do. And not +only pins, but our love so true We send in this little package to +you. Katharine--Alice. + +"Isn't that dear of them?" cried Ruth. "I suppose they made it, +and I shall hang it up in my room just as soon as I get a room." + +Number two proved to be a letter from Charlotte, and as Ruth opened +it a dainty handkerchief trimmed with narrow lace insertion and +bordered with pink wash ribbon dropped into her lap. + +"DEAR OLD RUTH" (the letter ran): + +"Don't fall overboard when I tell you I trimmed this handkerchief +myself, and more than that, don't look at the stitches. I thought +I couldn't show my devotion to you more than by poking a needle in +and out. + +"Glenloch won't seem the same without you, and I can't bear to +think you've really gone. Do write to me often and tell me all the +interesting things you see and do. + +"I can hear weeping and wailing out in the yard, and I know the +twins are into some mischief, so I must stop. + +"Love to Uncle and Aunt Jerry from "Yours disconsolately, "CHARLOTTE." + +"I should say that was devotion," said Ruth much touched. "Charlotte +hates sewing, and that handkerchief must have been awfully fussy +to do. But isn't that a nice name she's given you, Aunt Jerry? I +like that and think I shall use it." + +The next package was a small book from Marie, filled with little +water-color sketches of Glenloch. Ruth and Mrs. Jerry took such a +long time over it that Uncle Jerry got quite impatient, and threatened +to draw the next one himself if Ruth didn't hurry. + +This time she brought out a rolled sheet of paper, and opening it +found a snapshot of Betty's merry face stuck in the centre, and +all around her a circle of kitten pictures. At the bottom she had +written: + +"DEAR RUTH: + +"Once a lady told me that nothing tasted so good to her on shipboard +as some home-made cookies some one had given her, so I thought I'd +try it for you. I packed them in a new tin pail with a tight cover, +and I hope they'll keep crisp until you can eat them. + +"Arthur promised to leave them in your stateroom, so if you don't +find them you'll know it's his fault. + +"I shall go in often and pet Fuzzy so that he won't miss you too +much. + +"Yours with love and kisses, + +"BETTY." + +"Isn't that Betty all over?" said Mrs. Jerry with a laugh. "So +practical and helpful and anxious to comfort some one, if it's only +a kitten." + +"That accounts for the package down below that I didn't bring up," +said Uncle Jerry. "I didn't realize it belonged to Ruth." + +"Those cookies will taste good," laughed Ruth. "She couldn't have +sent anything more--more Bettyesque." + +The next thing was carefully packed and required much unwrapping, +but as the last paper was taken off Ruth squealed with delight over +a little traveling clock in a brown leather case. Enclosed with +it were five cards each bearing a message. The first one that she +read said in a small, even hand: + +"This clock is to tick away the hours until you come back to us. +Please hurry so that it won't get too tired.--PHIL." + +Then a boyish-looking writing announced, "'Time and tide wait for +no man,' but Glenloch and the Candle Club will wait for the nicest +girl that ever came out of the West.--JACK." + +"Dear me! Am I blushing, Aunt Jerry?" asked Ruth quite overpowered +by this last tribute. "This next is Frank's; I know his funny, +scrawly writing." + +"'Backward, turn backward, oh, Time in thy flight.' Give us our +Ruth again just for to-night." + +"Isn't that neat and sentimental? Now I shall go in and play and +sing 'My Bonnie lies over the Ocean.' Aren't you glad you're out +of ear-shot?--Frank." + +Card number four was enlivened by a funny drawing of a boy with +his fists in his eyes standing in a pool of tears, and under it +the inscription: "Bert; his feelings to a T." + +The last card said in writing so small that Ruth could hardly read +it: + +"Dear Ruth: + +"Hope you'll like the clock. We know you are fond of a good +time(-keeper). I am growing thin because I miss you so. Not a morsel +of food has passed my lips to-day; it has all gone in. My kindest +regards to Emperor William. + +"Love to Uncle Jerry and Mrs. Jerry. + +"Yours," + +"Joe." + +Ruth sat back in her chair quite overwhelmed by her latest gift. +"Isn't that a dear clock, and aren't they perfectly dandy boys?" +she asked as she fished around in the bag which was growing empty. + +"Here's something from Dolly," she added as she drew out a tiny +package with a note attached. + +"DEAR RUTH" (the note said): + +"I've decided not to be jealous any more, and just to prove it I'm +sending you my heart. + +"Do write soon to + +"Yours lovingly, DOROTHY." + +Ruth hastened to open the package and found in a little box a tiny, +gold heart. "How lovely! Dolly heard me say I wanted one of these +little hearts," she said in a satisfied tone. "And isn't it sweet +of her to forgive me for letting Uncle Jerry marry you?" she added +with a laugh. + +"Now there are just two more packages; a small and a large. Which +shall I take?" + +"Take the large one; you've just opened a small one," advised Uncle +Jerry. + +Ruth pulled out a large, square package, and opened it to find a +handsome album filled with snapshots of Glenloch scenes and Glenloch +friends. + +"That's from Arthur, I know, though it doesn't say so, and that's +what he's been so busy and secret over all these last weeks." + +Ruth turned the leaves knowing that here, at least, she should +find an unfailing source of pleasure. There were single pictures +and groups of all the girls and boys she knew best, some of them +so funny she could hardly see for laughing. There was Joe as the +nice old lady; all the Candle Club boys in the costumes they wore at +the last party; Ruth herself starting off on Peter Pan for a ride +with Uncle Henry; Fuzzy in his most bewitching attitudes; and others +so suggestive of the good times that had been that Ruth finally +closed the book with almost a sigh. + +"Well, now for the last package," she said diving into the bag. +"Oh, here's a note from Arthur that I didn't find before." She +tucked the envelope down in her lap, and opened first the little +box to which was attached a note from Mrs. Hamilton. In the box +was a brooch, a holly wreath in delicate greenish gold with tiny +rubies for berries. The note said: + +"DEAREST OF BORROWED DAUGHTERS: + +"This is from Uncle Henry and me to remind you of the Christmas +when you did so much for us. I am beginning to miss you even as +I write this, and I don't like to think of our home without you. +Come to us again soon. With much love, + +"AUNT MARY." + +Ruth's eyes were suspiciously misty as she held the note and the +little box out to Mrs. Jerry. "You'll have to read that for yourself," +she said with a choke in her voice. + +Then she opened Arthur's note, which began: + +"DEAR RUTH: + +"This is not a sell, but a real secret. Father has just told me +that if everything goes well we three will take a trip abroad next +year and meet you and your father. We want you to travel with us +if we do. Isn't that great? You can tell your people, but we don't +want it told in Glenloch just yet. I'm going to work like everything +this fall so that when the time comes there won't be anything on +my part to keep us from going. + +"Keep jolly, and remember that you're a Glenloch girl and must come +back to us before long. + +Yours, ARTHUR." + +"Here's a grand surprise, and you two can be in the secret," she +said as she handed the note to Uncle Jerry. "Isn't it fine to think +that the Glenloch good times haven't come to an end?" she continued. +"Do you remember the story of the 'Princess and the Goblins,' and +how the little Princess always felt safe so long as she held one end +of her fairy grandmother's thread? Well, I feel as if I am taking +with me the ends of any number of threads; one from each of the +girls, and a very important one from Aunt Mary, and a great many +others, too. I'm going to keep tight hold of them all, and some +day they will pull me back to Glenloch, I'm sure." + +Ruth sat silent for some time looking out with eyes that hardly saw +the heavenly blue of the sky, or the sparkle of the waves as they +rose and fell in the sunshine. Then, as though her spirit had already +traversed the unending stretch of ocean, she said with a throb of +exultation in her voice: + +"Now, six days of this, and then Germany and--my father." + +Other Stories in this Series are GLENLOCH GIRLS ABROAD +GLENLOCH GIRLS' CLUB GLENLOCH GIRLS AT CAMP WEST + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, GLENLOCH GIRLS *** + +This file should be named 5438.txt or 5438.zip + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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