diff options
| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-02-07 19:56:16 -0800 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-02-07 19:56:16 -0800 |
| commit | 301a14f5c6b17526da962588c675911c344801f1 (patch) | |
| tree | 08df606caebfa6a22ae74b249536ef8ef89618aa /old/56097-h/56097-h.htm | |
| parent | 1381a4085eb4d5bc955c7294e4bcaf9e790f67e9 (diff) | |
Diffstat (limited to 'old/56097-h/56097-h.htm')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/56097-h/56097-h.htm | 6745 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 6745 deletions
diff --git a/old/56097-h/56097-h.htm b/old/56097-h/56097-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 9e793ab..0000000 --- a/old/56097-h/56097-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6745 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> -<head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title>The Ranch Girls at Boarding School, by Margaret Vandercook</title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - <style type="text/css"> - body { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10% } - h1,h2 { text-align: center; clear: both } - p { text-align: justify; text-indent:1.5em; - margin-top:0.1em; margin-bottom:0.1em } - .d000 { page-break-inside:avoid } - .d001 { margin-top:4em; page-break-before:always; - page-break-inside:avoid; text-align:center } - .d002 { display:inline-block; width:90% } - .d003 { display:inline; width:100% } - .d004 { font-size:80%; margin-left:20%; - margin-right:20%; text-align:center; - text-indent:0 } - .d005 { margin-top:4em; page-break-before:always } - .d006 { text-align:center; text-indent:0 } - .d007 { font-size:1.5em; margin-top:1em; - text-align:center; text-indent:0 } - .d008 { margin-top:0.5em; text-align:center; - text-indent:0 } - .d009 { margin-bottom:0; margin-top:1em; - text-align:center; text-indent:0 } - .d010 { font-size:smaller; margin-top:0; - text-align:center; text-indent:0 } - .d011 { page-break-before:always } - .d012 { font-weight:bold; margin-bottom:1em; - margin-top:3em; margin-top:4em; - text-align:center; text-indent:0 } - .d013 { text-align:center } - .d014 { display:inline-block; text-align:left } - .d015 { text-indent:0 } - .d016 { font-size:1.5em; margin-top:4em; - page-break-before:always; text-indent:0 } - .d017 { font-size:large; margin-bottom:1em; - margin-top:4em; page-break-before:avoid } - .d018 { font-size:large; margin-bottom:1em; - margin-top:4em } - .d019 { text-align:left } - .d020 { display:inline-block; margin-bottom:0.7em; - margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em; - margin-top:0.7em; text-align:left } - .d021 { margin-left:1em; text-indent:-1em } - .d022 { text-align:right } - .d023 { margin-bottom:1em; margin-top:1em; width:60% } - .d024 { display:inline-block; margin-bottom:0.7em; - margin-left:2em; margin-top:0.7em; - text-align:left } - </style> -</head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ranch Girls at Boarding School, by -Margaret Vandercook - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Ranch Girls at Boarding School - -Author: Margaret Vandercook - -Illustrator: Hugh A. Bodine - -Release Date: December 1, 2017 [EBook #56097] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RANCH GIRLS AT BOARDING SCHOOL *** - - - - -Produced by Roger Frank - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class='d000'> -<div class='d001'> - <div class='d002'> - <img class='d003' - alt='MARGARET BELKNAP’S BROTHER COULD BE SEEN DANCING ATTENDANCE ON JEAN' - src='images/illus-fpc.jpg' /> - </div> - <p class='d004'> - MARGARET BELKNAP’S BROTHER COULD BE SEEN DANCING ATTENDANCE ON JEAN - </p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='d005'> -<p class='d006'>THE RANCH GIRLS SERIES</p> -<p class='d007'>The Ranch Girls at Boarding School</p> -<p class='d008'>By</p> -<p class='d006'>Margaret Vandercook</p> -<p class='d008'>Illustrated By</p> -<p class='d006'>Hugh A. Bodine</p> -<p class='d009'>THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY</p> -<p class='d010'>PHILADELPHIA</p> -</div> - -<div class='d005'> -<p class='d006'>Copyright, 1913, by</p> -<p class='d006'>THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY</p> -</div> - -<div class='d011'> - <p class='d012'>CONTENTS</p> - <div class='d013'> - <div class='d014'> - <p class='d015'> - <a href='#chI'>I. “STILL AS THE NIGHT”</a><br /> - <a href='#chII'>II. IN DISGRACE</a><br /> - <a href='#chIII'>III. “GERRY”</a><br /> - <a href='#chIV'>IV. GETTING INTO HARNESS</a><br /> - <a href='#chV'>V. NEWS AND A DISCOVERY</a><br /> - <a href='#chVI'>VI. HER TEMPTATION</a><br /> - <a href='#chVII'>VII. CINDERELLA</a><br /> - <a href='#chVIII'>VIII. SHADOWS BEFORE</a><br /> - <a href='#chIX'>IX. FRIEDA’S MISTAKE</a><br /> - <a href='#chX'>X. THE HOUSE OF MEMORY</a><br /> - <a href='#chXI'>XI. “SLEEPY HOLLOW, A LAND OF DREAMS”</a><br /> - <a href='#chXII'>XII. WINIFRED GRAHAM AND GERRY</a><br /> - <a href='#chXIII'>XIII. THE APPEAL TO OLIVE</a><br /> - <a href='#chXIV'>XIV. “TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE”</a><br /> - <a href='#chXV'>XV. THE DANGER OF WEALTH</a><br /> - <a href='#chXVI'>XVI. ELECTION DAY</a><br /> - <a href='#chXVII'>XVII. CONGRATULATIONS</a><br /> - <a href='#chXVIII'>XVIII. FANCIES OR MEMORIES?</a><br /> - <a href='#chXIX'>XIX. NEW YEAR’S EVE</a><br /> - <a href='#chXX'>XX. THE TRUE HISTORY OF OLIVE</a><br /> - <a href='#chXXI'>XXI. JEAN AND FRIEDA RETURN TO PRIMROSE HALL</a><br /> - <a href='#chXXII'>XXII. READJUSTMENTS</a><br /> - <a href='#chXXIII'>XXIII. “MAY TIME is GAY TIME”</a><br /> - <a href='#chXXIV'>XXIV. SHAKESPEARE’S HEROINES</a><br /> - <a href='#chXXV'>XXV. “JACK”</a> - </p> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<h1 class='d016'>The Ranch Girls at Boarding School</h1> - -<h2 id='chI' class='d017'>CHAPTER I<br/>“STILL AS THE NIGHT”</h2> - -<p>Would the long night never pass? A figure on a bed in a big -bare room stirred and then sighed. Ages ago a clock in the -great house known as Primrose Hall, not far from the famous -region of “Sleepy Hollow,” had struck three, then four, and -now one, two, three, four, five solemn strokes boomed forth -and yet not a glimmer of light nor a sound to announce the -coming of morning.</p> - -<p>“In the Lord put I my trust; how say ye then to my soul, -that she should flee as a bird unto the hill? For lo, the -ungodly bend their bow and make ready their arrow within the -quiver, that they may privily shoot at them which are true -of heart,” a tired voice murmured, and then after a short -pause: “Oh, girls, are you awake yet? Aren’t you ever, ever -going to wake up? Dear me, this night already seems to me to -have lasted forever and ever!” For no answer had followed -the question, although a door stood wide open between this -and an adjoining room and the bed in the other room was -occupied by two persons.</p> - -<p>Five minutes crawled by and then another five. Tired of -reciting the “Psalms of David” to induce repose, the wakeful -figure slipped suddenly from its own bed and a slim ghost -stole across the floor—a ghost that even in the darkness -revealed two shadowy lengths of jet-black hair. In the -farther room it knelt beside another bed, pressing its cheek -against another cheek that felt both plump and peaceful, -while its hand reached forth to find another hand that lay -outside the coverlet.</p> - -<p>“They are both sound asleep and I am a wretch to be trying -to waken them,” the spectre faltered; “but how can they -sleep so soundly the first night at a strange boarding -school when I am so homesick and lonely I know that I am -going to die or cry or do something else desperate? If only -Jack were here, things would be different!” And Olive -Ralston, one of the four girls from the Rainbow Ranch, -sliding to the floor again, sat with her legs crossed under -her and her head resting on her hands in a curious Indian -posture of grief. And while she waited, watching beside the -bedside where Jean Bruce and Frieda Ralston were now quietly -asleep, her thoughts wandered away to the hospital in New -York City, which held her beloved friend Jack.</p> - -<p>Only the day before the three ranch girls, accompanied by -their chaperon, Ruth Drew, had made their initial appearance -at Primrose Hall to begin their first year of fashionable -boarding school life. But once the girls had been introduced -to the principal of the school, Miss Katherine Winthrop, and -Ruth had had a talk with her and seen the rooms assigned to -the ranch girls, she had been compelled to take the next -train back to New York, a journey of twenty or more miles, -for Jack had been left behind in a hospital and must not be -long alone. There she lay awaiting the verdict of the New -York surgeons to know whether after her accident at the -Yellowstone Park the summer before she might ever expect to -walk again. The chief reason of the trip from the Rainbow -Lodge in Wyoming to New York City had not been to give the -ranch girls an eastern education and to fit them for a more -cosmopolitan life now that so great wealth was being brought -forth from the Rainbow Mine, but to find out what could be -done for Jack.</p> - -<p>Now even while Olive was thinking of her best loved friend, -a faint, chirrupy noise and a flutter of unfolding wings -sounded along the outside walls of Primrose Hall. Lifting -her head with a smothered cry of delight, the girl spied a -thin streak of light shining across the floor. A moment -later, back in her own room with the door closed behind her -and her own window open, her eyes were soon eagerly scanning -the unfamiliar scene before her. Dawn had come at last!</p> - -<p>The young girl drew a deep breath. In the excitement of her -arrival at school the day before, in the first meeting with -so many strangers, Olive had not spared time to see or think -of the surroundings of Primrose Hall, but now she could -examine the landscape thoroughly. Set in the midst of one of -the most beautiful valleys along the Hudson River, this -morning the fields near by were bright with blue asters, -with goldenrod and the white mist-like blossoms of the -immortelles; the low hills in the background were brown and -red and gold with the October foliage of the trees. Beyond -the fields the Hudson River ran broader and deeper than any -stream of water a ranch girl had ever seen, and across from -it the New Jersey palisades rose like hoary battlements now -veiled in a light fog. Surely no sunrise on the river Rhine -could be more wonderful than this sunrise over the Hudson -River; and yet, as Olive Ralston gazed out upon it, its -beauty did not dry her tears nor ease the lump in her -throat, for what she wanted was home, the old familiar -sights and sounds, the smell of the Rainbow Ranch—and -nothing could be more unlike the low level sweep of their -Wyoming prairie than this Hudson River country.</p> - -<p>“Heimweh,” the Germans call this yearning for home, which we -have named homesickness, but a better word theirs than ours, -for surely this longing for home, for accustomed people and -things in the midst of strange surroundings, may be a woe -very deep and intense.</p> - -<p>From the first hour of the ranch girls’ planning to come -east to boarding school Olive Ralston had believed that the -change from the simple life of the ranch to the more -conventional school atmosphere would be more difficult for -her than for either Jean or Frieda. True, she had not spoken -of it, but Olilie, whom the ranch girls had renamed Olive, -had never forgotten that she was in reality an unknown girl, -with no name of her own and no people, and except for her -friends’ generosity might still be living in the dirty hut -in the Indian village with old Laska.</p> - -<p>After talking it over with Ruth and Jack, they had all -decided that it would be wiser not to mention Olive’s -strange history to her new schoolmates. Now in the midst of -her attack of homesickness, Olive wondered if the girls -would not at once guess her mixed blood from her odd -appearance, or else might she not some day betray her -ignorance of the little manners and customs that reveal a -good family and good breeding? In the two happy years spent -at the Rainbow Ranch she had learned all she could from Ruth -and the other three girls, but were there not fourteen other -ignorant years back of those two years?</p> - -<p>A charming picture Olive made standing at the open window -with her quaint foreign face framed in the high colonial -casement. But now, finding both the autumn air and her own -thoughts chilling, she turned away and began slowly to -dress. She was still blue and yet at the same time ashamed -of herself, for had she not been indulging in the most -foolish habit in the world, feeling sorry for herself? Here -at Primrose Hall did she not hope to find the beginning of -her big opportunity and have not big opportunities the world -over the fashion of starting out with difficulties to be -overcome? When Olive’s education was completed she had made -up her mind to return once more to the Indian village where -she had spent her childhood and there devote her life to the -teaching of the Indian children. Though Jack and Frieda -Ralston, since the discovery of the gold mine near Rainbow -Creek, were probably very wealthy and though it was but -right that Jean Bruce as their first cousin should share -their fortune with them, Olive did not feel that she wished -to be always dependent even on the best of friends.</p> - -<p>Having slowly dressed with these thoughts in her mind, the -young girl’s mood was afterwards a little more cheerful, and -yet she could not make up her mind how best to amuse herself -until the half-past seven o’clock bell should ring for -breakfast. She might write Jack, of course, but there was no -news to tell her at present, and stirring about in her room -hanging pictures or arranging ornaments would surely awaken -Jean and Frieda, who were still slumbering like the seven -famous sleepers. No other girl shared Olive’s room because -Ruth and the four ranch girls hoped that after a few weeks’ -treatment in the New York hospital Jack would then be able -to join the others at school.</p> - -<p>Idling about and uncertain what to do, Olive came again to -her open window and there stood listening to the “chug, -chug, chug” of a big steamer out on the river and then to -the shriek of an engine along its banks. Suddenly her face -brightened.</p> - -<p>“What a goose I am to be moping indoors!” she exclaimed -aloud, “I think I will try Jack’s old remedy for a bad -temper and go and have a good walk to myself before -breakfast.”</p> - -<p>Now Olive did not have the least idea that in going out -alone and without permission she would be breaking an iron -law of Primrose Hall. Nothing was farther from her mind than -disobedience, but no one had yet told her of the school -rules and regulations and taking a walk alone seemed to her -the most natural thing in the world. Had she only waited a -few hours longer she must have understood differently, for -the students were expected to assemble that very morning to -hear what was required of them at Primrose Hall.</p> - -<p>As quietly as possible Olive now slipped on her coat and -hat, creeping along the hall on tiptoes so as not to disturb -the other sleepers, and for the same reason she as quietly -unlocked the big front door. But once out on the lawn, so -innocent was she of trying to escape unnoticed, that she -paused for several moments to gaze back at the great house -she was about to leave.</p> - -<p>Primrose Hall was so handsome and imposing that its new -pupil felt a thrill of admiration as she looked upon it. A -red brick mansion of the old colonial period, it was set in -a lovely garden with flowers and shrubs growing close about -the house and an avenue of elm trees leading down to the -gate. Back of the house was an English garden with a border -of box and a sun-dial at the end of a long path. This -morning only a few late asters were in bloom in the garden -and bushes of hardy hydrangeas with their great blossoms now -turning rose and brown from the first early autumn frosts. -The house and estate of twelve acres had belonged in the -family of Miss Katherine Winthrop for the past five -generations and Olive smiled a little over her queer -conceit, for the house somehow suggested its present owner -to her. Surely Miss Winthrop had appeared just as imposing -and aristocratic as her old home on first meeting with her -the day before, but far colder and more imposing than any -mere pile of brick and stone.</p> - -<p>Primrose Hall was of so great size that it included all the -bedrooms and reception rooms necessary for its pupils and -teachers, and the only other school buildings about the -grounds were the recitation hall and two sorority houses -devoted to the pleasures of the girls. Olive had never heard -of secret societies, yet she wondered what the mystic words -“Kappa” and “Theta” meant, inscribed above their doors.</p> - -<p>Primrose Hall had been recommended to Ruth Drew and the -ranch girls by Peter Drummond, the New York friend whom they -had learned to know at the Yellowstone Park, but apart from -its excellent reputation as a finishing school, their choice -had fallen upon it because of the far-famed beauty of its -historic grounds. In this same old house Washington and -Lafayette had been known to stay, and who can guess how many -powdered belles and beaus may have flirted with one another -in the garden by the old sun-dial?</p> - -<p>When Olive had grown tired of the views about the houses she -determined to extend her walk over a portion of the estate, -and coming to a low, stone wall, climbed over it without -thinking or caring just where it led her. Being outdoors -once more and free to wander as she choose after two weeks’ -confinement, one aboard a stuffy train and the other in a -palace-like hotel in New York, was now so inspiring that -Olive felt like singing aloud. Indeed, it seemed to her that -her own personality, which had somehow vanished since -leaving the ranch, had come back to her this morning like a -dear, familiar garment. It was as though she had lately been -wearing fine clothes that did not belong to her and in this -hour had donned once again her own well-worn dress.</p> - -<p>Running along with the fleetness and quietness of her early -Indian days, soon the truant found herself in a woods thick -with underbrush and trees never seen before by a Wyoming -girl. The air was delicious, the leaves sparkled with the -melting of the frost, there was a splendid new wine of youth -and romance abroad in the world and Olive completely forgot -that she was in the midst of a highly civilized community -and not in the heart of a virgin forest. Indeed, it was not -until she had come entirely out of the woods that her -awakening took place. Then she found herself apparently in -some one’s private yard, for she stood facing a white house -set up on a hill with a tower at the top of it and queer -gabled windows on either side. At the entrance to its big -front door stood two absurd iron dogs, and yet there was -nothing in any of these ordinary details to make the -onlooker turn crimson and then pale. And yet as she stared -up at the house the idea that had suddenly come to her -seemed so utterly, so absurdly impossible that surely she -must be losing her senses.</p> - -<p>For five minutes Olive waited without taking her gaze from -the house, and then with a shrug of her shoulders turned and -walked back into the woods. At first she paid no particular -attention to what direction she was taking until all at -once, hearing footsteps not far behind, she felt reasonably -sure they were following hers.</p> - -<h2 id='chII' class='d018'>CHAPTER II<br/>IN DISGRACE</h2> - -<p>It was ridiculous for Olive to have been so frightened with -so slight cause, yet the thought that some one might be in -pursuit of her filled her with a nervous terror. To the -people not afflicted with timidity, most fears are -ridiculous, and yet no single weakness is harder to -overcome. Of the four ranch girls, Olive was the only timid -one, but before one criticizes her, remember her childhood. -Now with her heart pounding and her breath coming in short -gasps, she quickened her pace into a run, recalling at the -same time their chaperon’s forgotten instruction that she -must no longer expect the happy freedom of their western -lands. But the faster the frightened girl ran the faster the -traveler back of her appeared to be following. And now Olive -dared not hide deeper in the woods, knowing that the hour -was growing late and that any added delay would make her -late for breakfast.</p> - -<p>Many times in her life would her Indian knowledge of the -woods save her in emergencies of this sort, so in another -moment she remembered that an Indian never runs away from -his pursuer, but hides until his enemy has passed. Behind a -low clump of laurel bushes the girl hid herself, crouching -low and expecting each instant to see a tramp or an armed -gamekeeper, whose business it was to keep intruders out of -private property, savagely on the lookout for her.</p> - -<p>Her pursuer did come on without hesitation and finally -arrived just opposite Olive’s hiding place, but then it was -the girl in hiding who suddenly sprang to her feet, -startling the newcomer. For the enemy she had so dreaded was -only another girl like herself with a smile on her face and -a bundle of books under her arm. She was ten years older -perhaps, yet she looked not unlike Jacqueline Ralston before -her illness; her eyes were blue instead of gray, but she had -the same bright bronze hair and firm line to her chin and -the same proud way of holding up her head.</p> - -<p>“Who or what are you?” she asked Olive, “a wood nymph living -in this underbrush, for your clothes are of so nearly the -same color that I did not see you at first.”</p> - -<p>Olive, who was wearing a dark olive-green coat suit and a -tam-o’-shanter of velvet of the same shade, shook her head. -“I am one of the new girls from Primrose Hall and I have -been out for a walk, but as I am not very familiar with -these woods, I am not just sure where I am. Would you mind—” -Her request came to an abrupt end because of the expression -of surprise and disapproval on the older girl’s face.</p> - -<p>“A student from Primrose Hall and outdoors alone at this -hour of the morning! How on earth did Miss Winthrop happen -to give you permission?” she asked in the positive fashion -that Olive was to learn to know so well later on.</p> - -<p>The first consciousness of possible wrong-doing now swept -over the truant. Could it be that in taking a walk without -asking permission she had broken a rule of her new school? -The idea seemed ridiculous to Olive, and yet—were not all -things different than in the old days? “I am so sorry, but -no one gave me permission to take a walk. Was it necessary -to ask?” she inquired. “You see, we only arrived at Primrose -Hall yesterday and we—I—why, we often stay out hours before -breakfast at home, riding over the plains!”</p> - -<p>Olive’s innocence of offense and her distress were so plain -to the older girl that straightway she slipped her arm -through hers and without delay hurried her along toward -school, talking as she went.</p> - -<p>“I am Jessica Hunt, the teacher of English and elocution at -Primrose Hall, and I have been spending the night with some -friends.” Jessica gave a reassuring pressure to the hand in -hers. “You must not be frightened, child, if Miss Winthrop -seems rather terrifying on your return. I used to be a pupil -at Primrose Hall before I started in with the teaching and -I’m really very fond of her. Miss Winthrop isn’t so severe -as she looks, but I expect I had better tell you that it is -after breakfast time now and, as the school girls are never -allowed to go out alone and never without permission, why -she may scold you a bit.”</p> - -<p>If only she might at this moment have dropped down in the -path to weep like a naughty child about to be punished for a -fault, Olive would have felt it a great relief, and only the -thought of her age prevented her doing this. Could she ever -live through the embarrassment of facing fifty strange -girls, more than half a dozen teachers and Miss Winthrop -while she was being reprimanded. Why, yesterday just on -being introduced to Miss Winthrop, with Ruth and Jean and -Frieda with her for protection, had she not felt as -tongue-tied and frightened as a silly baby? And now must -she face this stern woman alone and under the shadow of her -displeasure?</p> - -<p>Never as long as she lived (and the circumstances of Olive -Ralston’s life were always unusual and romantic) would she -ever forget the next half hour’s experience at Primrose -Hall, nor the appearance of the great hall as she entered -it, with girls and teachers grouped about, and towering -above everything and everybody, the tall, commanding -presence of its principal, Miss Katherine Winthrop.</p> - -<p>Almost without her own volition Olive found herself standing -in front of Miss Winthrop, Jessica’s arm still through hers, -heard the teacher of mathematics say, “Here is your new -runaway pupil with Miss Hunt,” and realized that this -teacher, whom she had disliked yesterday because she wore -round spectacles and dressed like a man, wished not so much -to get her into trouble as to involve Jessica in her -disgrace.</p> - -<p>But Jessica was not in the least disturbed, being the only -teacher at Primrose Hall not afraid of its owner. “Miss -Winthrop,” she now began coaxingly, “I have brought our new -girl home. She was only taking a walk in the woods near by, -but I am sure she would rather explain to you herself that -in going out without permission she did not know she was -breaking a school rule. You see, she has lived always in the -West and been accustomed to such perfect freedom—” Jessica -was continuing her case for the defendant, realizing that -Olive was still too frightened to speak for herself. But -suddenly Miss Hunt was thrust aside by a small, plump -person, with the longest yellow braids and the biggest blue -eyes in the school, and without the least regard for either -teachers or principal, Frieda Ralston now flung her arms -about Olive.</p> - -<p>“For goodness sake, why didn’t you tell Jean and me where -you were going?” she demanded. “We have been so frightened -about you.”</p> - -<p>And then before Olive could reply, another girl stood at her -other side, a girl with dark brown hair, a pale skin and -demure brown eyes, whose nose had the faintest, most -delicious tilt at the end of it. Jean Bruce said nothing, -but she looked ready and anxious to defend her friend -against all the world.</p> - -<p>Surrounding the little group of ranch girls and the three -teachers were numbers of other students, most of whom were -casting glances of sympathy at the new pupil who had so soon -fallen into disgrace. Breakfast just over, they were -supposedly on their way upstairs to their own rooms, but -Olive’s entrance with Jessica had interrupted them and until -Miss Winthrop spoke no one had stirred.</p> - -<p>“You may go to your own apartments now, girls,” she said -quietly. “Miss Ralston will explain her absence to me in my -private study.” As her words and look included Jean and -Frieda, they also were compelled to follow the other -students up the broad mahogany stairs, leaving Olive to face -her fate alone. Only one girl with short curly hair and a -freckled nose actually had the courage to stop in passing -and whisper to the offender:</p> - -<p>“Fare thee well, light of my life, farewell. For crimes -unknown you go to a dungeon cell,” she chanted. Then while -Olive was trying to summon a smile in return, a beautiful -girl with pale blonde hair joined both of them, and drawing -the other girl away, said loud enough for a dozen persons -near by to overhear: “Oh, do come on upstairs, Gerry. When -will you learn not to be friendly to objectionable persons -whom no one knows anything about?” And so cool and -indifferent did her expression appear as she made her unkind -speech that it was hard to believe she understood that her -words could be overheard. But Olive Ralston heard them and -in spite of her gentleness never in after years forgot or -forgave them.</p> - -<p>A minute or so later, when everybody else had disappeared, -Olive found herself alone in Miss Winthrop’s study, seated -in a comfortable leather chair facing a desk at which Miss -Winthrop was writing.</p> - -<p>“I will talk to you in a few minutes,” she had said as they -entered the room, and at first the prisoner had felt that -waiting to hear her sentence would be unendurable. Of course -she would be expelled from Primrose Hall; Olive had no other -idea. And of course Ruth and Jack would understand and -forgive her, but there would be no going back on her part to -be a burden and disgrace to them. Somehow she must find work -to support herself in the future!</p> - -<p>But as time passed on and Miss Winthrop continued with her -writing, by and by Olive’s attention wandered from her own -sorrows and she busied herself in studying her judge’s face. -Miss Winthrop’s expression was not so stern in repose, for -though the lines about her mouth were severe and her nose -aquiline, her forehead was high and broad and her dark eyes -full of dignity and purpose. And then her figure. Olive felt -obliged to admit that though she was taller and larger than -almost any woman she had known, her grace and dignity were -most unusual and the severity of her simple black silk gown -showed her to great advantage.</p> - -<p>Weary of scrutinizing the older woman, Olive’s eyes next -traveled idly to the top of Miss Winthrop’s desk, resting -there for an eager moment, while in her interest she forgot -everything else. For the first time in her life this young -girl, who had seen nothing of the World of art, had her -attention arrested by one of the world’s great masterpieces.</p> - -<p>On Miss Winthrop’s desk there stood a cast of an heroic -figure of a woman with broad, beautiful shoulders and -wonderful flowing draperies. The figure was without head or -arms and yet was so inspiring that, without realizing it, -Olive gave a sigh of delight.</p> - -<p>Straightway Miss Winthrop glanced up. “You like my cast?” -she asked quickly. “Do you know that it is a copy of the -statue of ‘The Winged Victory,’ ‘The Nike’? The real statue -now stands at the top of the stairs in the Louvre in Paris -and there you will probably see it some day. But I like to -keep the figure here as a kind of inspiration to me and to -my girls. For to me ‘The Victory’ means so much more than -the statue of a woman. It stands, I think, as the emblem of -the superwoman, what all we women must hope to be some day. -See the beauty and dignity of her, as though she had turned -her back on all sin and injustice and was moving forward -into a new world of light. I like to believe that the -splendid lost arms of the Nike carried the world’s children -in them.”</p> - -<p>Of course Miss Winthrop realized that she was talking above -the head of her new pupil, but she wished an opportunity to -study the girl’s face. Now she saw by its sudden glow and -softening that she had caught at least a measure of her -meaning.</p> - -<p>“Girls, girls, girls.” Sometimes Miss Winthrop felt that the -world held nothing else and that she knew all the varieties, -and yet one could never be too sure, for here before her was -a new type unlike all the others and for some reason at this -moment she attracted her strongly.</p> - -<p>To Miss Winthrop alone at Primrose Hall Ruth Drew had -thought it wise to confide as much as they knew of Olive’s -extraordinary history, pledging her to secrecy. Now to -herself Miss Winthrop said: “It is utterly ridiculous to -believe this child has Indian blood, for there is absolutely -nothing in her appearance to indicate it. I believe that her -history is far more curious than her friends suppose.”</p> - -<p>But to Olive, of course, she said nothing of this, for after -her first speech her manner appeared to change entirely. -Sitting very erect in her chair, she turned upon her pupil -“You may go,” she said coldly, “for I understand that by -your action this morning you did not deliberately intend to -break one of my rules. But kindly be more careful in the -future, for I am not accustomed to overlooking disobedience, -whatever its cause.”</p> - -<p>With a sigh of relief Olive straightway fled into the hall, -wondering if she could ever like this Miss Winthrop, who -could be so stern one moment and so interesting the next. -For her own part Olive felt that she much preferred their -former chaperon, Ruth Drew, for if Ruth were less handsome -and perhaps not so cultivated, she was at least more human. -If only they were all back at the Rainbow Ranch with Ruth to -scold and pet them for their misdoings all in the same -breath.</p> - -<h2 id='chIII' class='d018'>CHAPTER III<br/>“GERRY”</h2> - -<p>The three ranch girls had their set of apartments toward the -front of the house on the second floor at Primrose Hall, so -in order for Olive to reach her room it was necessary that -she should pass along a long corridor into which various -other apartments opened. She was not interested in anything -but the one thought of finding Frieda and Jean, and yet, -hurrying by an open door, she was obliged to overhear a -conversation between two girls who were talking in rather -loud tones.</p> - -<p>“I don’t care, Winifred Graham, whether you like it or not,” -one of the voices asserted, “but I certainly intend to be as -nice to these new Western girls as I know how. They are -strangers and I think it horrid to try to snub them just -because you think perhaps they are not so rich and -fashionable as the rest of the Primrose girls. I suppose you -will try to turn as many of the other Juniors against them -as you can twist around your finger, but kindly don’t -include me in your list. Perhaps you think I don’t know why -you have had me for one of your chums for so long. Goodness, -child, I am not so foolish as I look; it is because I am -homely as a mud fence, so when I’m around you’re more the -stately beauty than ever in contrast with poor little me. -But maybe you won’t always be thought the prettiest girl in -the school, for this queer looking Olive, what’s her name, -is as good looking as you are in an odd, foreign way, and -the brown-eyed one named Jean Bruce goes you a close second. -If you are angry with me, why you need not have me for a -roommate, for I am going this very second to call on the new -ranch girls and welcome them to Primrose Hall.” And with a -flounce the same short-haired girl who had stopped to tease -Olive earlier that morning, now ran along the hall after -her, slipping her arm through hers in the friendliest of -fashions. “Please’m, may I come and make you a call?” she -inquired, “for I have been several years at Primrose Hall -and know the place like an old shoe. Besides, I think that -you and the older one of your sisters or friends, I can’t -guess your relation, must be going to be in our Junior -class, and I tell you we Juniors have to stick close -together these days.”</p> - -<p>By this time the two girls had arrived before Olive’s door, -but hearing queer noises in another room, they followed the -sounds, discovering Jean and Frieda in the adjoining -chamber, which was to be the ranch girls’ sitting room. An -immediate introduction was difficult because both Jean and -Frieda were apparently standing on their heads inside the -trunk of their Indian curios. They were not alone, for two -sisters, Mollie and Lucy Johnson, from across the hall, had -come in to lend them hammer and nails and were now watching -them with deep absorption.</p> - -<p>“Jean, Frieda,” Olive exclaimed, “this is—” and then she -stopped in some confusion, remembering that she had not yet -heard their new friend’s name.</p> - -<p>The two ranch girls came forth from the trunk in time to see -their new visitor smiling at them. “I am Geraldine Ferrows, -at your service,” she explained, “but I’m better known to -the world as Gerry. See I have brought your Olive safe back -from the lion’s den and, as she is no more eaten up than was -the prophet Daniel, why it proves that she’s a saint to -start with. I wonder if you would care to have me tell you -about Primrose Hall and what we are expected to do and what -not to do?”</p> - -<p>Olive, Frieda and Mollie and Lucy Johnson nodded thankfully, -but Jean closed her lips and hardly appeared to have heard -the question. She was not accustomed to feeling out of -things as she had this morning and was not sure she cared to -have strangers making an effort to be kind. Suppose this -Geraldine Ferrows was one of the old students and said to be -one of the cleverest if not the cleverest of the girls, well -even that gave her no right to be patronizing to them!</p> - -<p>But Gerry, apparently not observing Jean’s unfriendliness -and having already taken a fancy to her, as strangers -usually did, now seated herself cross-legged on the floor, -beckoning to the others to follow suit. “All Gaul, my -children, is divided into three parts, as we learn in our -Latin book,” she said gayly, “but Primrose Hall, I regret to -say, is divided into only two parts, the girls Winifred -Graham likes and the girls she docs not. I used to belong to -the first class, but now I probably belong to the second. I -was kind of in love with Winifred last year and let her boss -me around, but during the summer I thought things over and -decided to strike. When she was so horrid to a stranger this -morning it seemed to me the time was ripe. She won’t care a -snap about my desertion, for she never cares for people -unless they are rich and I’m not a bit, only my father is a -famous surgeon in New York and I’m going to be a doctor -myself some day, since I’m too homely for any kind gentleman -to marry. I suppose it is because Winifred thought you girls -didn’t look rich that—” And instantly Gerry bit her lively -tongue, pretending not to be able to say anything more, -although Jean was gazing at her in a more encouraging -fashion than she had worn at the beginning of her speech.</p> - -<p>All the way across the continent from Wyoming to New York -City the four ranch girls, Ruth, and their English friend, -Frank Kent, had discussed this question: Should the girls on -arriving at boarding school speak of their new-found gold -mine to their new acquaintances? Ruth and Jack advised -against it, Olive had no pronounced opinion, Frieda and -Frank thought they might as well mention it now and then, -while Jean was determined to speak of their gold mine -whenever the chance offered and to make the biggest -impression she possibly could. So now it was surprising to -hear Jean say with a slight flush in the healthy pallor of -her clear skin: “No, we wouldn’t wish any one at Primrose -Hall to care for us because of our wealth—or lack of it,” -she answered demurely; “so I am afraid Miss Graham and her -friends will not like us any too well. You see, we are -simply ranch girls and will have to stand or fall by that. I -suppose this Miss Graham decided that we were poor because -our clothes are so simple and we haven’t thirteen trunks -apiece as most of the girls here have. Olive and I were -laughing yesterday because on our arrival we were given -United States lock boxes for our jewels. Jewels! why we -haven’t any except a few trinkets and two or three keepsakes -that belong to Olive!” And Jean frowned and shook her head -warningly at Frieda, whose eyes were bigger and bluer than -ever and whose lips were about to form the name of the -Rainbow Mine. Jumping up in order to divert her attention, -Jean ran across to their trunk of Indian relics and diving -down into it again, came forth with three pretty Indian -baskets. “Won’t each one of you take one of these baskets to -remind you that you were our first callers at Primrose Hall -and we hope our first friends,” she said prettily, handing a -basket to Gerry and then the others to the two sisters. But -all the while Jean was talking and acting this little -pantomime, inside of her something kept repeating: “Jack was -right and we don’t want to be liked for our money. We will -find out who the really nice girls are at Primrose Hall and -then—” Well, it was comfortable to recall that in Jim’s last -letter, written after they had left the ranch, he had said -the pot of gold from the end of their Rainbow Mine had -yielded five thousand dollars within the month just past and -that there appeared to be plenty more gold where that had -come from.</p> - -<p>Suddenly a great bell sounded close by and five girls -started with surprise, only Geraldine Ferrows remaining -perfectly calm. Getting up from the floor, however, she -stuck her Indian basket on her head for a hat, using the -handle as a strap.</p> - -<p>“Tidy your hair, young women, and come along over to the -recitation hall. That was not an alarm of fire that just -sounded, only a gentle reminder that we are to assemble -within the next ten minutes to meet our teachers and to get -ready our schedules of work for the next quarter. I can only -hope that all of you are as wise as you are beautiful, for -Primrose Hall is no cinch.” Gerry was marching out of the -room to the tune of “Tommy Atkins,” when Jean called after -her: “You were awfully good to come in to see us and we are -obliged to you, so please help us out whenever you can. I am -afraid that the things we know, such as riding bareback and -raising cattle and shooting straight, won’t be considered -accomplishments at boarding school.” And Jean looked -unusually humble and particularly pretty.</p> - -<p>Gerry laughed. “Don’t worry, we are none too learned -ourselves at Primrose Hall, for we keep all varieties of -insects here, butterflies as well as bookworms. But I will -say for Miss Winthrop, that though this is a fashionable -school, she does try to make us mind our Q’s as well as our -P’s.”</p> - -<p>Frieda was never born to understand a joke. “Please, what -does it mean ‘To mind our P’s and Q’s?’” she inquired -solemnly.</p> - -<p>“Oh, P’s stand for parties and politeness and primping and -how to enter a room and what to say when you get there and -all the things that mean Society with a big S, Miss Frieda -Ralston,” Gerry returned. “But Q’s, Q’s are dreadful things -called Quizzes, and you will pretty soon find out what -quizzing means, particularly if you happen to be in the -mathematics class taught by the female who rejoices in the -delicious name of Miss Rebecca Sterne. But really, Frieda, -if you want to know the truth about the meaning of the old -expression, ‘mind your P’s and Q’s,’ the Century Dictionary -tells us that the expression alluded to the difficulty in -the early days of discerning the difference between the two -letters.” And with this last bit of wisdom and a shake of -her curly head, Gerry really vanished from the ranch girls’ -room.</p> - -<h2 id='chIV' class='d018'>CHAPTER IV<br/>GETTING INTO HARNESS</h2> - -<p>Two weeks had elapsed since the arrival of the three ranch -girls at boarding school and so many changes appeared to -have taken place in their lives that already the weeks -seemed as many months. One of the changes they themselves -did not realize, but nevertheless it was a serious one, for -Jean, Frieda and Olive were no longer so intimate as they -had been in the old days at Rainbow Lodge. Each girl was -going her own way, keeping her own confidence, forming new -friendships and apparently forgetting the importance of past -ties.</p> - -<p>And of the three girls it was Frieda who had become the most -emancipated. Having conceived a tremendous devotion for -Mollie Johnson, the two girls were rarely apart. Lucy -Johnson was a good deal older than Frieda, but Mollie was a -year younger than the youngest Miss Ralston and looked up to -her as the most wonderful person in the world, insisting -that the stories Frieda told of her life on the ranch made -her appear like a heroine in a book. Now Frieda was tired of -being treated like a baby by her family, and besides, as no -one had ever told her before that she was in the least like -a heroine, she found the idea distinctly pleasant. The two -Johnson sisters were from Richmond, Virginia, and had -vivacious manners and soft southern voices. Mollie was small -and dark and fluttered about like a little brown bird, such -a complete contrast to Frieda’s fairness and slow movements -that it was small wonder the two girls were drawn together -by their very unlikeness and that already their schoolmates -were calling them the Siamese twins, because they went -everywhere together with their arms locked about one -another, wore one another’s clothes when their different -sizes permitted, and were never without true lover’s knots -of blue ribbon tied in their buttonholes, knots made from a -sacrificial division of all Frieda’s best hair ribbons. Not -that hair ribbons interested their owner any further, for -the fifth day after Frieda’s arrival at boarding school, and -in spite of Jean’s and Olive’s objections, her long braids -had disappeared and in their place a Pysche knot of huge -proportions could be seen at the back of her head. The -Psyche knot was not becoming, because its wearer did not -have a Greek face, but it was grown up and the latest -fashion and of course nothing else really matters. As -Frieda’s school work was not the same as Jean’s and Olive’s, -on account of her age and the fact that she never had cared -much about books, the division of her time was different -from theirs, so perhaps it was but natural that in the -excitement of her first independence and without Jack’s -influence, she should be for the first time in her life -“ganging her own gait.”</p> - -<p>But with Jean Bruce the change was even more subtle and more -unconscious. Why, Jean and Olive had actually laughed -together over Frieda’s desertion of them and all the while -they were laughing, though she had said nothing, Olive was -wondering if Jean did not know that she saw almost as little -of her as she did of Frieda these days. Without realizing it -or having made any special effort, Jean Bruce, two weeks -after her arrival at Primrose Hall, was one of the most -popular girls in the school. As a proof of it she had -already been invited to join both the two sororities and had -not made up her mind which one she should choose. The fact -that Winifred Graham belonged to the “Kappa” sorority -certainly influenced Jean in the direction of the “Theta,” -for from the hour of Geraldine Ferrows’ revelation of -Winifred’s character there had been open war between -Winifred and Jean. Of course, Winifred’s rudeness to Olive -was the first cause of Jean’s offense, but now Olive was -almost forgotten and overlooked in their personal rivalry. -It was an open discussion that the choice for Junior class -president, which must be made before the Christmas holidays, -would lie between these two girls. For though Jean had -continued her masquerade of poverty, the best girls in the -school had not been influenced by it. Indeed, Jean’s closest -friend, Margaret Belknap, belonged to one of the oldest and -wealthiest families in New York City, people who looked down -upon the Four Hundred as belonging to the dreadful “new -rich.”</p> - -<p>But while school life was apparently moving so pleasantly -for Jean and Frieda, Olive, for some unexplained reason, was -making no friends. Though it was customary to invite the new -girls at Primrose Hall into one or the other of the secret -societies almost immediately upon their arrival at school, -Olive had not yet been chosen for either sorority. Too shy -and sensitive to mention it even to her best friends, she -did not dream that Jean was unaware of the slights put upon -her. Only in secret Olive suffered tortures, wondering if -her blood showed itself so plainly that her classmates -disliked her for that reason or if she were more -unattractive than all other girls. Still her beloved Jack, -who was finer and more beautiful than anybody in the world, -had cared for her and if only the doctors would say that -Jack was strong enough to join them at Primrose Hall, -nothing else would make any difference! Letters from Ruth -Drew and now and then one from Peter Drummond had assured -the girls that Jack was doing as well as could be expected, -but as yet there had been no definite report from the -surgeon?</p> - -<p>However, if Olive Ralston had so far made no friends among -her classmates, there were other persons in the school -interested in her, who were more important. Among them was -Jessica Hunt, the young teacher whom Olive had met on the -morning of her unfortunate walk. There was something in the -strange girl’s shyness and gentle dignity that made a strong -appeal to Jessica, and though she had so far no opportunity -to reveal her friendliness, she had noticed the slights put -upon Olive and was trying her best to discover their cause. -Some secret story might possibly be in circulation about the -newcomer, but so far Jessica had not been able to find it -out.</p> - -<p>One Friday afternoon Olive had been alone in their sitting -room for several hours. Always books had been her -consolation for loneliness since the days when her only -white friend had been the teacher in the Indian school in -her village, yet nevertheless, hearing an unexpected knock -at the door, her face brightened. “Jean is sending for me to -join her somewhere perhaps,” she thought happily, but on -opening the door her eyes had widened with surprise.</p> - -<p>“Please, may I come in? I’m not a teacher this afternoon: I -am a visitor,” Jessica Hunt had said at once. “I have been -looking for you everywhere in the garden and at the sorority -houses and on the verandas. To quote Mr. Kipling, ‘over the -world and under the world and back at the last to you,’ here -in your sitting room. Why aren’t you with the other girls?” -Knowing what she did, perhaps Jessica’s question to Olive -may seem cruel, yet she asked it hoping that Olive might -confide in her the unfriendliness of her classmates. Then -they might talk the matter over sensibly together and she -might be able to help. But alas for Olive! Though Ruth had -warned her to try to overcome her reserve that day of the -flower fortunes in Yellowstone Park, she was yet unable to -give her confidence to any one but Jack! So now she only -answered Miss Hunt quietly: “It is because I am stupider -than the other girls that I have to stay in my room to study -more. But I am through with my work now and awfully glad to -see you,” and Olive’s rather misty smile of welcome revealed -more of her real feeling than any number of words.</p> - -<p>Once inside the ranch girls’ sitting room, Jessica Hunt gave -a little cry of admiration and surprise. “Why, no wonder you -don’t wish to be outdoors,” she exclaimed, “for this is the -most charming girls’ room at Primrose Hall! It makes me -think of that same poem of Kipling’s which I was misquoting -a minute ago, ‘The Gypsy Trail.’ You must read it some day -when you’re older, for you look like a Romany maid yourself. -And surely in this room at least ‘the east and the west are -one.’”</p> - -<p>Truly the ranch girls’ sitting room was indeed what they had -dreamed of making it in the last days at home, a bit of the -Rainbow Lodge in miniature, their own beloved ranch house -living room reproduced many miles across the continent. By -Ruth’s request Miss Winthrop had allotted to the three ranch -girls a large and almost empty room, containing only a -divan, a few chairs and low bookshelves. Now the floor was -covered with half a dozen gayly colored Indian rugs, bright -shawls were thrown over the divan, piled with sofa cushions -of leather and silk, and on the walls were prints of Indian -heads, one of them a picture of a young girl looking -singularly like Olive, and several Remington drawings of -cowboys on lonely western plains. Over the open fireplace, -about one-fourth the size of the one at The Lodge, was the -head of an elk shot by Jim Colter himself on the border of -their own ranch, and on the mantel the very brass -candlesticks that belonged on the mantelpiece at home, -besides several pieces of Indian crockery, the ancient -ornaments discovered by Frieda in the Indian cave on the day -when Olive had made her first appearance in the ranch girls’ -lives.</p> - -<p>But when Jessica had seen the beauties of the sitting room -she began at once to look more closely at the few -photographs which the ranch girls had placed on top of their -bookshelves, knowing that there is no quicker way to learn -to understand and enter the heart of a school girl than by -taking an interest in her photographs. Of course, these must -represent the persons nearest and dearest, their families -and closest friends.</p> - -<p>The ranch girls had not a very large collection of pictures, -only an absurd one of Jim, taken at Laramie as a farewell -present to them, but as he wore a stiff collar and shirt and -his Sunday clothes, it was not in the least like their big, -splendidly handsome friend. Next Jim’s was one of Ruth and -alongside that one of Frank Kent, but almost instinctively -Jessica’s hand reached forth to pick up a photograph of a -girl on horseback and at the same instant she touched -Olive’s heart.</p> - -<p>“Who is this beautiful girl?” she asked quickly. “She is -just the type of girl I admire the most, so graceful and -vigorous and with such a lot of character. Oh, I hope I -haven’t said anything I shouldn’t,” she ended suddenly, -seeing that Olive’s eyes had filled with tears.</p> - -<p>Olive shook her head. “No, it’s all right, only Jack isn’t -vigorous any more.” And then, to her own surprise and -relief, Olive poured forth the whole story of Jack’s -accident and their reasons for coming east.</p> - -<p>Strange, and yet no stranger than the same kind of thing -that takes place every day, but just as Olive was on the -point of telling Miss Hunt that she expected each day to -hear more definite news of Jack, a message was sent upstairs -to her from the office. A visitor was in the reception room -desiring to see the Misses Ralston and Miss Bruce at once. -Would Olive find the other girls and come to the reception -room immediately?</p> - -<p>With but one thought in her mind, that it must be Ruth Drew -who had come to tell them that Jack was better, Olive, with -a hurried apology to Jessica, begging her to wait until her -return, fled out, of her room down through the lower part of -the house and then out into the school grounds to search for -Jean and Frieda, for much as she yearned to run at once to -Ruth, it would be too selfish not to let the other girls -hear the good news with her.</p> - -<p>And Jessica Hunt was glad enough to be left alone in the -ranch girls’ room for a few minutes longer, for standing -near the photograph of Jacqueline Ralston was another -photograph whose presence in the room puzzled her greatly. -She did not feel that she had the right to ask curious -questions and yet she must look at this picture more -closely, for the exact, copy of it was at this moment lying -in her own bureau drawer between folds of lavender-scented -silk.</p> - -<h2 id='chV' class='d018'>CHAPTER V<br/>NEWS AND A DISCOVERY</h2> - -<p>Jean and Frieda were not to be found on either of the two -great side porches, where the Primrose Hall girls spent many -recreation hours on these warm Indian summer afternoons, but -just in front of the sorority house with “Theta” engraved -above the door, Olive spied Jean surrounded by a dozen -girls. She was talking in a very animated fashion and had -her back turned so that she did not see Olive, who started -to run toward her and then hesitated and flushed. Each girl -in the group was known to her by name, all of them were -Juniors and her classmates and yet not one of them, except -Geraldine Ferrows, had ever voluntarily held five minutes’ -conversation with her. Did she have the courage now to -thrust herself among them and to interrupt Jean? Only the -thought that Ruth must be waiting for them with news of Jack -braced her. “Jean,” Olive called softly and then in a louder -tone, “Jean!”</p> - -<p>At once Jean swung round, but at the same moment twelve -other pairs of eyes stared poor Olive up and down.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I am so glad you have come, Olive,” Jean exclaimed, her -brown eyes shining with enthusiasm, “for it has all been -arranged that I am to join the ‘Theta’ Society and I do hope -that you will come in with me. Then we are going to form a -dramatic club in our sorority and after a little while give -a perfectly stunning play. I am sure the girls will want you -to take part in it, for you see Olive can act better than -any one of us, or at least she used to when we had charades -at Rainbow Lodge.” Jean paused, feeling a peculiar change in -the atmosphere about her. Would no one echo her invitation -to Olive? And why had her friends drawn away in silence -unless something was the matter, for Olive was standing -right before them with her cheeks crimson and biting her -lips to hide their trembling?</p> - -<p>Jean stamped her foot with a flash of her old anger. “If you -think for an instant, Margaret Belknap,” she said, turning -to her best friend in the little company, a tall, -distinguished, but plain-looking girl, “that I will be in -things and do things without Olive, why—” But Olive took -Jean softly by the arm. “Please don’t say anything, dear,” -she whispered, and then as Jean caught the message she had -come to give her, without further thought of anything or -anybody at Primrose Hall, the two friends hurried off -together. Jean was not so conscientious about trying to find -Frieda, but leaving word with the maids to send her after -them, in a few moments the two girls appeared at the -reception room door.</p> - -<p>“Ruth, you darling,” they called in chorus and then turned -white faces to stare at each other and at the tall figure -that rose to greet them holding Frieda’s hand in one of his. -“It is Peter Drummond, gooseys; don’t you know him?” Frieda -cried happily. “Some one told me we had a caller and I came -in here expecting to find some strange, horrid visitor, and -when I saw Peter I forgot I wasn’t a little girl any longer -and most hugged him. You might say you think it good of him -to come to see us,” she ended, rather crossly.</p> - -<p>“We thought you were Ruth, Mr. Drummond,” Jean replied, -coming to herself sooner than Olive, “but of course we are -terribly glad it is you; only—why—the truth is, we expected -Ruth to be able to tell us that Jack was better or -something. Just think, we haven’t seen old Jack in weeks, -ages it seems.” Jean put out her hand to take hold of their -friend’s when Olive spoke: “I think Mr. Drummond has come to -tell us about Jack instead of Ruth,” she said in a slightly -strained voice. “I am afraid that Jack isn’t so well as we -hoped she would be and Ruth couldn’t leave her. Won’t she -ever be able to walk again like other people? Have the -doctors said? Tell us, please, quickly what has brought you -to see us, for anything is better than suspense.” And still -for a second Peter Drummond did not reply.</p> - -<p>The first cause of his silence was that Frieda, entirely -surprised at Olive’s interpretation of his visit, had -unexpectedly burst into tears.</p> - -<p>“Come now,” Mr. Drummond said finally, patting Frieda’s -hand, “it isn’t so bad as all this. Olive did guess the -truth and I have come to tell you about Jack. Perhaps she -isn’t so well as we hoped, for she can’t join you at school -just at present or get about very much. The fact is—” Mr. -Drummond cleared his throat, “well, the surgeons are not -quite sure of Jack’s condition yet and must wait a while -longer and keep her very quiet before they can decide. But I -saw her a minute the other day and she and Ruth send you -their love and Jack hopes boarding school isn’t so dreadful -as she thinks it must be and— Why doesn’t some one else say -something, for never before in my life have I been with -three women and had to do all the talking?” And Peter, with -a man’s embarrassment at being the bearer of ill news, -looked at the ranch girls with pretended indignation.</p> - -<p>“Are you sure you have told us the truth, Mr. Drummond?” -Jean asked, and their visitor, not in the least offended by -the question, emphatically bowed his head.</p> - -<p>Jean turned to the other two girls. “Then Olive and Frieda, -I don’t think we need be frightened,” she said stoutly, -“though of course we are terribly disappointed at not having -Jack here at school with us, I have always felt she would be -well some day. Even if the surgeons should say she won’t, my -money is on old Jack!”</p> - -<p>Instantly Frieda’s face cleared at Jean’s courageous -attitude, though Olive looked considerably depressed. But at -this minute Mr. Drummond, to divert everybody’s attention, -turned toward Frieda. “Will somebody tell me, please, what -is the trouble with the youngest Miss Ralston, for if two -weeks at boarding school can affect her like this, What will -a whole year do?”</p> - -<p>Instinctively Frieda’s hand went up to her Psyche knot. -“Don’t tell Jack and Ruth,” she begged, and then, tossing -her blonde head: “Oh, tell away if you like, Peter Drummond. -I haven’t any disease, if that’s what you mean; I am just -not a baby any longer.”</p> - -<p>Peter’s expression was a funny mixture of gravity and -amusement. “If it’s old age that is afflicting you, Frieda,” -he said pulling at his own heavy iron-gray hair, “then -you’ve got about the worst disease in the world and the most -incurable, but I didn’t really think it was apt to overtake -one at fifteen.” Seeing that Frieda looked injured, he -turned again to Olive and Jean. “The Harmons have been -awfully nice to Jack and Ruth and they are coming out here -to see you pretty soon. There is a queer old house in this -neighborhood where an old relative of theirs lives. The -house is supposed to be haunted, or at least there is some -mystery about it. I wonder if you girls have seen it?”</p> - -<p>“I have,” Olive answered quickly and Jean laughed.</p> - -<p>“How on the face of the earth do you know you have seen the -place Peter is describing, Olive?” Jean questioned, “for he -hasn’t told you the name of it or what it looks like or -anything to identify it.”</p> - -<p>Olive looked puzzled. “Yes, I know it is funny, but it is a -place called ‘The Towers,’ with a high tower at the top of -it and a balcony and queer little windows.” Quite -unconsciously Olive had closed her eyes, because for some -strange reason she seemed to be able to recall the house she -had seen on the morning of her early walk better with her -eyes closed.</p> - -<p>Mr. Drummond smiled at her. “Olive is right, the place is -called ‘The Towers.’ I remember now,” he repeated. “I wonder -if because Olive is perhaps a gypsy or an Indian, she is -going to be a fortune teller.” But because Olive’s face had -crimsoned at his speech his tone changed. “My dear Olive, -suppose you are half Indian, why on earth should you care? -There isn’t the least disgrace in it, is there?” And Olive -noticed that Mr. Drummond’s speech ended with a question.</p> - -<p>But he had now risen, picking up from the table near him a -large box and a small one. The large box he handed to Jean. -“You are please to conceal this from the powers that be, if -it’s against boarding school laws to eat candy,” he said and -then stood turning the smaller box about in his hand, -surveying it thoughtfully. “This is a gift to you girls from -Jack,” he remarked finally. “Miss Drew tells me it contains -a great surprise, and as I haven’t the faintest idea what is -inside of it, may I be present at its opening?”</p> - -<p>The girls allowed Frieda to tear off the paper covering -outside the parcel. Inside a white velvet box was revealed -which opened with a spring. Instantly Frieda touched this -spring there were three cries of “Oh,” followed by a -moment’s silence. On the white satin lining of the box were -three crescent-shaped pins as large in circumference as a -quarter. The pins were composed of seven lovely jewels -shading from red to pale violet. Each girl took her gift -from the box, regarding it with characteristic expressions. -Jean’s eyes were dancing with delight, the dimple showing at -the corner of her mouth, Frieda’s blue eyes were bluer than -ever and her cheeks pinker, while Olive’s eyes were -overclouded and her face quivered with pleasure.</p> - -<div class='d001'> - <div class='d002'> - <img class='d003' - alt='THERE WERE THREE CRIES OF “OH,” FOLLOWED BY A MOMENT’S SILENCE' - src='images/illus-001.jpg' /> - </div> - <p class='d004'> - THERE WERE THREE CRIES OF “OH,” FOLLOWED BY A MOMENT’S SILENCE - </p> -</div> - -<p>“They are the loveliest things I ever saw in my life and the -grandest, and now Jean won’t be able to pretend we are poor -any more,” Frieda announced.</p> - -<p>“Ah, but maybe Jack is a fairy godmother, and even poor -girls may have fairy godmothers,” Jean teased.</p> - -<p>“I think none of us have guessed yet what Jack intends our -gifts to suggest,” Olive added slowly, her eyes still -resting on the glowing colors of the jeweled pins. “Don’t -you see, Mr. Drummond, that our pins represent rainbows? I -have been repeating the rainbow colors to myself—red, -orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. And here are -seven jewels of the same colors in our pins.”</p> - -<p>Peter Drummond took Olive’s pin in his own hand. “Right you -are, and Jack has beaten me at my own game. For I have been -collecting jewels all my life and never thought of so pretty -an idea as this. Here is a garnet to start with for the red, -then a topaz for the orange, a yellow diamond next, an -emerald for the green, a sapphire for blue, a blue opal for -indigo and last of all an amethyst for the last shade of -violet.”</p> - -<p>“They are to make us think of the ranch and the lodge and -the mine and all the good things that have come to us -through a rainbow,” Jean said thoughtfully and then more -huskily, “I guess Jack is pretty homesick.” Frieda made a -dive toward the floor at this moment, rising up with a piece -of paper in her hand. “This fell out of the jewel case when -I opened it, but I hadn’t time to pick it up then,” she -announced. “Oh, goodness gracious, Jack, of all people, has -written us a poem!” And Frieda read:</p> - -<div class='d019'> - <div class='d014'> - <div class='d020'> - <div class='d021'>“Here are seven colors in nature and art,</div> - <div class='d021'>What I think they mean I wish you from my heart;</div> - <div class='d021'>Here’s red, that good courage may fill you each day</div> - <div class='d021'>And orange and yellow to shine on your way.</div> - <div class='d021'>Here’s green for the ocean to bear us afar</div> - <div class='d021'>To some lovely blue land ’neath an opal star.</div> - <div class='d021'>And yet to the end shall we ever forget</div> - <div class='d021'>Our own prairie fields of pale violet?”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p>“It is a rather hard poem to understand, but it rhymes -pretty well,” Frieda ended doubtfully.</p> - -<p>Olive’s loyalty left no room for criticism. “It’s beautiful, -I think. And I know what Jack means at the end. If we ever -do go to Europe, as we sometimes have planned, we must never -forget the Rainbow Ranch. You know, Frieda dear, that the -alfalfa clover is violet and not pink and white like the -clover in the east.”</p> - -<p>But the poem could not be further unraveled because Mr. -Drummond had now to tear himself away in order to catch his -train back to New York. Hurrying out into the hall, with the -three ranch girls close behind him, he suddenly came to an -abrupt stop. He had nearly run into a young woman, who also -stood still, staring at him with reproachful blue eyes and a -haughtily held head.</p> - -<p>“Peter, that is, Mr. Drummond, how could you come down here -when I told you not to?” the girls heard Jessica Hunt say -with the least little nervous tremor in her voice.</p> - -<p>Mr. Drummond bowed to her coldly. “I am very sorry, Jessica, -Miss Hunt,” he returned coldly, “but I had not the faintest -idea of seeing you at Primrose Hall. You do not know it, but -the ranch girls are my very dear friends and my visit was -solely to them.” Peter was moving majestically away when a -hand was laid for the briefest instant on his coat sleeve. -This time a humbler voice said, “Forgive me, Peter, I might -have known you would never trouble to come to see me again.”</p> - -<p>That evening as the ranch girls were dressing for dinner -Jean poked her head in Olive’s room. “Olive Ralston, has it -ever occurred to you that Peter Drummond may have -recommended Primrose Hall to us because a certain young -woman named Jessica Hunt taught here? Men folks is deep, -child, powerful deep, but as the book says, ‘we shall see -what we shall see.’ I wonder, though, why girls and men -can’t fall in love and get married without such a lot of -fussing and misunderstanding. Think how Ruth is treating -poor Jim! When I fall in love I am not going to be so silly -and tiresome. I am just going to say yes and thank you too -and let’s get married next week.” Jean’s face was very -serious for the moment and also very bewitching.</p> - -<p>But Olive answered her with the voice of prophecy. “Jean -Bruce, you will have the hardest time of us all in making up -your mind when you are in love.”</p> - -<h2 id='chVI' class='d018'>CHAPTER VI<br/>HER TEMPTATION</h2> - -<p>Face to face with her first serious temptation stood Jean -Bruce. Always beyond anything else had she desired to be -popular, even in the old days at the ranch when the only -society in which she had a part was composed of the few -neighbors in riding distance of the Lodge. But here at -Primrose Hall was her first real opportunity to gratify her -heart’s desire, and would she for the sake of another be -compelled to give it up? For how could she accept the honor -that might be bestowed upon her of being chosen for Junior -class president without turning traitor to Olive. After her -friends’ treatment of Olive in front of the “Theta” house on -the afternoon of Peter Drummond’s visit, Jean could no -longer shut her eyes to Olive’s unpopularity. What was the -cause of it? Try as she might she could not find out, yet -the prejudice was certainly deeper than any one could -suppose. Suspecting Winifred Graham to be at the bottom of -the mischief, Jean kept a close watch upon her, but if she -had circulated any story against Olive no one would confess -it. “Miss Ralston is so shy and queer, her appearance is so -odd, I do not think she enjoys being with other girls,” -these evasions of the truth were all Jean could get hold of. -But in the meantime there was no doubt that Olive’s -classmates absolutely refused to have her in either of the -two sororities and that this insult was almost unprecedented -in the history of Primrose Hall. Of course, Jean might have -appealed to Miss Winthrop or one of the other teachers, -asking that their influence be exerted in Olive’s behalf, -but this for Olive’s own sake she was unwilling to do. For -even if Olive should be forced into one of the sororities, -how would it change her classmates’ attitude toward her? -Would it not make them more unkind than ever? No, there were -only two courses open to Jean, either she must join the -sorority she had chosen without any question of Olive’s -being a member or else she must decline to be admitted -herself until such time as the girls should come to their -senses and voluntarily desire the election of them both.</p> - -<p>Of course, if membership in one or the other of the two -sororities had been Jean’s only dilemma there had been small -excuse for her hesitation. But a larger issue was at stake. -Unless she became a member of a sorority and as one of its -leaders could influence new girls to her cause, she might -lose the Junior presidency and Winifred Graham, the head of -the Kappa organization, would surely be chosen in her stead.</p> - -<p>Jean had won her way to her present popularity in a very -charming fashion, just by the power of her own personality, -which is after all the greatest force in the world. She had -no prominent family connections, as so many of the Primrose -Hall girls had, and she continued to act as though she had -no money except what was necessary for very simple -requirements. Indeed, she behaved as she must have done had -the ranch girls come east to boarding school before the -discovery of the gold mine of Rainbow Creek. But it was a -hard fight and many times the young girl longed to break -faith with herself.</p> - -<p>Before setting out on their journey, after a careful reading -of the Primrose Hall catalogue, Ruth Drew had ordered the -three ranch girls’ school outfits, but now these clothes -seemed so simple and ordinary that at least two of the girls -hated the wearing of them.</p> - -<p>Each one of them had several pretty school dresses of light -weight flannel and serge, two simple silks for afternoon -entertainments and dinner use and a single party dress for -the monthly dances which were a feature of Primrose Hall -school life. Their underclothes were plentiful but plain. -Indeed, until Jean saw her friend Margaret Belknap’s -lingerie, she had supposed that only brides, and very -wealthy ones at that, could have such possessions. Just -think of a single item of a dozen hand-made nightgowns at -fifteen dollars apiece in a school girl’s outfit; and yet -these were among Margaret’s clothes. Jean openly expressed -her wonder and yet managed quietly to refuse to receive a -gift of two of them without hurting her new friend’s -feelings.</p> - -<p>To a girl brought up in the conventional and moneyed -atmosphere that Margaret Belknap had been, Jean was a -revelation. She seemed not to know the meaning of snobbery, -not to care who people were so long as she liked what they -were. Her manners were as charming to one person as to -another and her interest as sincere. Margaret had already -asked Jean to visit her in her home in New York during the -Christmas holidays, as she longed to introduce her to her -own family in order that they might lose their prejudice -against western girls. But more especially Margaret desired -to bring her Harvard College brother, Cecil, and Jean -together so as to find out what they would think of one -another. She was only awaiting the first opportunity. In the -meantime, although Jean would not accept other gifts from -her wealthy friend, she could not refuse the flowers -Margaret so constantly sent her. Indeed, she went about -school so much of the time with a pink carnation tucked in -her hair that she soon became known as “the pink carnation -girl.”</p> - -<p>One of Jean’s greatest self-denials was not being able to -send flowers to Margaret in return, but in order to retain -her masquerade of poverty, most of the time she had to -refrain. Only now and then she did relieve her feelings by -presenting Margaret a bunch of Violets or roses regardless -of cost. And occasionally a box of roses or chrysanthemums -would find their way into the room of a teacher who had been -especially kind to Olive, Frieda or her.</p> - -<p>With Olive there was apparently no self-denial in failing to -spread abroad the news of their wealth and in spending no -pocket money, but with Frieda the case was very different. -It is quite certain that Jean would never have had her way -with Frieda except by appealing directly to Jack for advice -and assistance. When the letter from Jack came begging her -little sister to keep the secret of their wealth and to -agree to Jean’s plan, Frieda’s rebellion had weakened. Not -that she saw any sense in her sacrifice or was in the least -reconciled to it, but simply because under the -circumstances, while Jack was still so ill, she could refuse -her nothing. And this self-restraint was particularly hard -on both the ranch girls, because never before in their lives -had they had any money of their own to spend and now Jack -was sending each one of them fifty dollars a month for pin -money. Think of the fortune of it, if you have had only -one-tenth of that amount per month for your own use before!</p> - -<p>And yet so far only once in all the weeks had Frieda yielded -to temptation. Going up to New York one Saturday for her -first visit to the grand opera, she had drifted into a big -department store with half a dozen of the other school girls -and their chaperon in order to buy herself a pair of gloves.</p> - -<p>Late that same afternoon Jean and Olive, who happened at the -time to be dressing for dinner, received a shock. An elegant -young woman, arrayed in a dark blue velvet coat and a hat -encircled with a large, lighter-blue feather, entering -Jean’s room, dropped exhausted on the bed. A cry brought -Olive to the scene, but either because Frieda looked too -pretty in her new clothes to scold, or because she pretended -to be ill from fatigue, no word of reproach was spoken to -her, not even when a pale blue silk followed next morning by -the early express and twenty-five dollars had to be borrowed -from Olive and Jean to pay for it.</p> - -<p>Possibly both of the older girls were secretly pleased at -Frieda’s extravagance, because, while saving money is a -virtuous act, it certainly is a very dull one. And while -Olive was storing her income away in a lock box, wondering -if it were possible to return it some day in a gift for -Jack, Jean was also hoarding hers in the same fashion, but -intending finally to spend it all in one grand splurge.</p> - -<p>While Jean often regretted having taken the vow of poverty -at Primrose Hall, she was always convinced of its wisdom. -That there could be so much talk and thought of money as she -had lately heard among the set of girls of whom Winifred -Graham was leader, was repellant to her and, as Jean already -had developed strong class feeling, one of her chief reasons -for desiring to be elected Junior class president was in -order to prove that this snobbish set was not really in -control of Primrose Hall. Would Ruth and Jack and Jim -Colter, the overseer of their ranch, who had always said -money would be the ruination of Jean, not feel proud of her -if they could hear that she won out in her battle without -its help. And yet what would they think of her if she turned -her back on Olive? Surely if Jean had not been so harassed -and torn between the twin enemies, ambition and love, she -would hardly have accused Olive of being the cause of her -own unpopularity and certainly not at so unpropitious an -hour as she chose. But the time for Jean to make up her mind -one way or another was drawing close at hand and so far -Olive had no idea of her friend’s struggle, naturally -supposing that Jean had already entered the “Theta” society -without mentioning it to her in order to spare her pride.</p> - -<p>Monthly dances were an institution at Primrose Hall and it -was now the evening of the first one of them. Of course, -dances at girls’ boarding schools are not unusual, but the -dances at Primrose Hall were, for Miss Winthrop allowed -young men to be present at them. Her guests were brothers -and cousins of her students or else intimate friends, -carefully introduced by the girls’ parents. Miss Winthrop -regarded Primrose Hall as a training school for the larger -social world and desired her students to learn to accept an -acquaintance with young men as simply and naturally as they -did the same acquaintance with girls. If young girls and -boys never saw or spoke to one another during the years of -their school life, it was Miss Winthrop’s idea that they -developed false notions in regard to one another and false -attitudes. Therefore, although no one could be more severe -than the principal of Primrose Hall toward any shadow of -flirtation, she was entirely reasonable toward a simple -friendship. It was because most of her girls had respected -Miss Winthrop’s judgment in this matter that her monthly -dances, at first much criticized, had since become a great -success. Watching her students and their friends together, -the older woman could often give her students the help and -advice they needed in their first knowledge of young men. So -when Olive sent down an imploring message asking to be -excused from attendance at these monthly dances, Miss -Winthrop had positively refused her request. No excuse save -illness was ever accepted from either the Junior or Senior -girls.</p> - -<p>It was a quarter before eight o’clock and the dance was to -begin at eight that evening, when Olive, already dressed, -strolled slowly into Jean’s and Frieda’s room, pretending -that she wished to assist them, but really longing for some -word of sympathy or encouragement to help her in overcoming -her shyness.</p> - -<p>Frieda had slipped across the hall to show herself in her -new blue gown to the Johnson sisters, therefore Jean was -alone. At the very instant of Olive’s entrance she was -thinking of her with a good deal of annoyance and -uncertainty and now the very fact that Olive looked so -charming in a pale-green crepe dress made her crosser than -ever. When Olive was so pretty how could the school girls -fail to like her?</p> - -<p>But Olive immediately on entering the room and entirely -unconscious of Jean’s anger, stood silent for a moment lost -in admiration of her friend’s appearance. In truth, to-night -Jean was “a pink carnation girl,” for Margaret Belknap had -sent her a great box of the deep rose-colored variety and -she wore a wreath of them in her hair. Quite by accident her -frock happened to be of the same color and the rose was -particularly becoming to her healthy pallor and the dark -brown of her hair, while to-night the excitement of -attending her first school dance made Jean’s brown eyes -sparkle and her lips a deep crimson.</p> - -<p>“I do wish Ruth could see you to-night,” Olive said -wistfully, “for I think she has already cared more for you -than even for Frieda or Jack.”</p> - -<p>“And not for you at all, Olive, I suppose,” Jean answered -ungraciously. “I do wish you would get over the habit of -depreciating yourself. Didn’t Miss Winthrop say the other -day that we generally got what we expected in this world and -if you don’t expect people to like you and are too shy and -proud to let them, why how can they be nice to you?”</p> - -<p>Olive colored, but did not reply at once.</p> - -<p>“I do wish Jack were here,” Jean continued, “for she would -have some influence with you and not let you be so pokey and -unfriendly. I am sure I have tried in vain to stir you up -and now I think I’ll write Jack and Ruth how you are -behaving. Really, you are spoiling Frieda’s and my good -times at school by being so stiff and touchy.” And Jean, -knowing that Olive did not yet understand how her failure to -be invited into either sorority was influencing her chance -for the class election, yet had the grace to turn her face -away.</p> - -<p>For Olive had grown white. “Please don’t write to Jack or -Ruth, Jean,” she asked quietly, “I do not wish them to know -I am not a success at school and if you tell them that no -one here likes me they will then know that I am unhappy and -will be worried, and Jack must not have any worry now. It -isn’t that I don’t try to make the girls like me. You are -mistaken if you think I don’t try; but oh, what is the matter -with me, Jean, that makes me so unpopular?”</p> - -<p>In an instant Jean’s arms were about Olive and she was -kissing her warmly. “Don’t be a goose, dear, there is -nothing the matter with you and you are not unpopular -really; it is just some horrid, silly mistake. Now promise -me that to-night you won’t be frightened and you will be -friendly with everybody.” In this instant Jean made up her -mind that in some unexplainable way Olive must be standing -in her own light or else her classmates must see how -charming she was.</p> - -<p>Olive promised with a quaking heart, knowing that many eyes -would soon be upon her to-night, including Miss Winthrop’s, -who would be noticing her unpopularity. And would she know a -single guest at the dance?</p> - -<p>Frieda and Mollie Johnson had already disappeared, so that -Jean and Olive went down to the big reception rooms -together, holding each other’s hands like little girls.</p> - -<h2 id='chVII' class='d018'>CHAPTER VII<br/>CINDERELLA</h2> - -<p>To Miss Katherine Winthrop’s credit it must be stated that -she desired her students at Primrose Hall to grow into -something more useful than mere society women. Her ambition -was to have them fill many important positions in the modern -world now offering such big opportunities to clever women. -Miss Winthrop was herself an unusually clever woman, cold -perhaps and not sympathetic with most of her girls, but just -always and interested in their welfare. But then none of her -girls knew the story of her youth nor realized that the last -life she had ever expected for herself in her rich and -brilliant girlhood was that of a mistress of a fashionable -boarding school. Years before, Katherine Winthrop had been -the belle and beauty of the countryside, a toast in New York -City and in the homes of the old Dutch and English families -along the Hudson River, until she had let her pride spoil -the one romance of her life. By and by, when her father died -and her family fortune disappeared, she had then opened up -her old home as a girls’ boarding school and her -aristocratic connections and old name immediately made -Primrose Hall both fashionable and popular, until now its -mere name lent its students an assured social prestige. -Nevertheless, Miss Winthrop wished her school to be -something more than fashionable. Indeed, this thought had -been in her mind when she had chosen the ranch girls for her -pupils from among a list of fifty or more applicants whom -she had been obliged to refuse. There was little in the life -of her school which she did not see and understand, and now -her hope was that Jean and Olive and Frieda, with their -freedom from snobbery, their simplicity and broader way of -looking at things, would bring the element most needed into -their mere money-loving and conventional eastern atmosphere. -Though no one had mentioned it to her, she had already -observed Jean’s great popularity with her classmates, -Frieda’s good time among the younger girls and Olive’s -failure to make friends. What was the trouble with this -third ranch girl?</p> - -<p>Although Miss Winthrop had been particularly busy for the -past month in getting her school into good working order, -she had not forgotten the peculiar emotion that Olive had -awakened in her at their first meeting. Because the child -was unusual in her manner and appearance was scarcely a -sufficient reason for the universal prejudice against her, -and to-night, at the first dance of the school season, Miss -Winthrop had determined to watch Olive closely and find out -for herself wherein lay the difficulty. Jessica Hunt was -receiving with Miss Winthrop to-night and had also wondered -how Olive would stand the ordeal of their first evening -entertainment. For the dances at Primrose Hall were not -informal, it being a part of the principal’s idea that they -should train her girls for social life in any part of the -world where in later years circumstances might chance to -take them.</p> - -<p>Miss Winthrop, her teachers and students, always appeared in -full evening dress at these entertainments, and this evening -Miss Winthrop wore a plain black velvet gown with a small -diamond star at her throat, a piece of jewelry for which she -had a peculiar affection. Jessica Hunt, who was standing -next her, was in pure white, so that her blue eyes and the -bronze-gold of her hair (so like Jack’s, Olive had thought) -made a striking contrast with the darker, sterner beauty of -the older woman. Though there were a dozen or more of the -Primrose Hall girls grouped about the two women when Jean -and Olive entered the reception room together, both of them -immediately saw and watched them as they came slowly -forward.</p> - -<p>The eyes of Jean, the flush and sparkle of her, spoke of her -anticipation of unutterable delights. Yet who should know, -as she moved through the room with an expression of fine -unconsciousness, that this was the first really formal party -she had ever attended in her life. Neither her blush nor her -dimple betrayed her, although she was perfectly aware that a -number of youths in long-tailed coats and black trousers, -wearing immaculate white gloves and ties, had stopped -talking for several moments to their girl friends in order -to glance at Olive and at her. She even saw, without -appearing to lift her lids, that a tall, blonde fellow -standing near her friend, Margaret Belknap, was deliberately -staring at her through a pair of eyeglasses. And at once -Jean decided that the young man was extremely ugly in spite -of his fashionable clothes and therefore not to be compared -to Ralph Merrit or other simple western fellows whom she had -known in the past.</p> - -<p>Perhaps five minutes were required for this list of Jean’s -passing observations in her forward progress toward Miss -Winthrop, and yet in the same length of time Olive, who was -close beside her, had seen nothing “but a sea of unknown -faces.” Even her school companions to-night in their frocks -of silk and lace looked unfamiliar. And yet somehow, with -Jean’s assistance, she also managed to arrive in front of -Miss Winthrop and Jessica Hunt and to pay her respects to -them. Then, still sticking close to Jean, she was soon borne -off for a short distance and there surrounded by a group of -Jean’s girl friends.</p> - -<p>Half a dozen or more of them, Gerry Ferrows and Margaret -Belknap in the number, had come up with their cousins, -brothers and friends to meet Jean Bruce and to fill up her -dance card. They were, of course, also introduced to Olive, -but as she did not speak, no one noticed her particularly -and no one invited her to dance. Jean had not intended to -desert Olive, but when the music of the first waltz began -she forgot her and marched off with an enthusiastic partner, -who had asked Gerry Ferrows to introduce him to the most -fascinating girl in the room, and Gerry had unhesitatingly -chosen Jean.</p> - -<p>There were two or three other girls and young men standing -near Olive when Jean had turned away, but a few seconds -later and she was entirely alone.</p> - -<p>Is there greater anguish than for a shy girl unaccustomed to -society to find herself solitary in a crowded ballroom? At first -Olive felt desperate, knowing that her cheeks were crimson with -shame and fearing that her eyes were filling with tears. Then -looking about her she soon discovered a group of palms in a -corner of the room not far away and guessed that she could find -shelter behind them. Slipping across she came upon a small sofa -hidden behind the evergreens, and with a little sigh of -thanksgiving sank down upon it. Soon after Olive began to grow -serene, for from her retreat she could watch the dancers and see -what a good time Jean and Frieda were having without being seen -herself. Once she almost laughed aloud as Frieda waltzed by her -hiding place—Frieda, who had been a fat, little girl with long -plaits down her back just a few weeks ago, now attired in a blue -silk and lace, was whirling about on the arm of a long-legged -boy who had such a small nose and ridiculous quantity of blonde -curls that he might almost have been Frieda’s twin brother. Five -minutes later Olive decided that Jean was the belle of the -evening and that she would write the news to Jack to-morrow, for -apparently every young man in the ballroom was wishing to dance -with her. Even the supercilious fellow with the eyeglasses, whom -Olive recognized as Margaret Belknap’s much-talked-of Harvard -brother, could be seen dancing attendance on Jean.</p> - -<p>Twenty minutes, half an hour must have passed by in this -fashion until Olive felt perfectly safe in her green -retreat, when unexpectedly a hand was laid upon her shoulder -and a voice said sternly, “What in the world, child, are you -doing hiding yourself in here? When I said you could not -stay up in your room to-night it was because I desired you -to take part in the dancing; there really isn’t much -difference between your being concealed up there or here.”</p> - -<p>And then to Olive’s discouragement an absurd catch in her -breath made her unable to answer at once.</p> - -<p>Olive’s retreat behind the palms had not been unnoticed as -she had thought, for both Miss Winthrop and Jessica Hunt had -seen first her embarrassment at being left alone and next -her withdrawal. In much the same fashion that Jack would -have followed, Jessica had wished to rush off at once to -comfort Olive, but Miss Winthrop had held her back.</p> - -<p>“What is the difficulty about this girl, Jessica, what makes -her so unpopular?” she had asked when every one else was out -of hearing. “I wish you would tell me if you know any -explanation for it.”</p> - -<p>But Jessica had only been able to shake her head, answering, -“I can’t for the life of me understand. There are a good -many little things that Olive does not seem to know, and -yet, as she studies very hard, I believe she will soon be -one of the honor girls in my class. I have a friend in New -York, or an acquaintance rather,” and here Jessica blushed -unaccountably, “who seems to know the ranch girls very well. -Perhaps I had best ask him if there is anything unusual -about Olive.”</p> - -<p>But the older woman had interrupted, “No, I had rather you -would ask no questions, at least not now please, Jessica, -for I have heard at least a part of the girl’s history, and -yet I believe the real truth is not known to any one and -perhaps never will be. It may be happier for Olive if it -never is found out, but I wish we could teach her not to be -so sensitive.” And then when the opportunity arrived Miss -Winthrop had moved across the room to where Olive was in -hiding. As the girl’s startled brown eyes were upturned to -hers Miss Winthrop, who was not poetic, yet thought that her -pupil in her pale green dress with her queer pointed chin -and her air of mystery, somehow suggested a girl from some -old fairy legend of the sea. And she wondered why the girls -and young men in the ballroom had not also seen Olive’s -unusual beauty, forgetting that young people seldom admire -what is out of the ordinary.</p> - -<p>Some impulse after her first speech to Olive made the older -woman quickly put out her hand, clasping Olive’s slender -brown fingers in hers. “Don’t be afraid of me,” she said in -a voice that was gentler than usual, “for I understand it is -timidity that is making you hide yourself. Don’t you think -though that you would enjoy dancing?”</p> - -<p>Olive’s face was suddenly aglow. “I should love it,” she -returned, forgetting for the instant her shyness, “only no -one has invited me.” Then as her teacher suddenly rose to -her feet, as though intending to find her a partner, with a -sudden accession of dignity and fearlessness Olive drew her -down again. “Please don’t ask anyone to dance with me, Miss -Winthrop,” she begged; “if you will sit by me for a little -while I am sure it will be delightful just watching the -others.”</p> - -<p>While the woman and girl were quietly gazing at the dancers, -Miss Winthrop happened to notice a silver chain with a cross -at the end of it, which Olive was wearing around her throat. -Leaning over she took the cross in her hand. “This is an odd -piece of jewelry, child, and must be very old; it is so -heavy that I wonder if there is anything concealed inside -it.”</p> - -<p>Olive shook her head. “No, that is, I don’t know anything -about it, except that I hope it once belonged to my mother,” -she replied. For some strange reason this shy girl was -speaking of her mother to a comparative stranger, when she -rarely had spoken the name even to her best beloved friend, -Jacqueline Ralston.</p> - -<p>But before Miss Winthrop had time to reply a new voice -startled both of them. “Why, Olive Ralston,” it exclaimed, -“what do you mean by hiding yourself away with Miss Winthrop -when I have been searching the house over for you.”</p> - -<p>Turning around, to her intense surprise, Olive now beheld -Donald Harmon standing near them, the young fellow whose -father had rented the Rainbow Ranch from the Ralston girls -the summer before and whose sister had been responsible for -Jack Ralston’s fall over the cliff.</p> - -<p>“I wonder why you would not tell Olive that I was to be one -of your guests to-night, Miss Winthrop,” he continued, “and -that my aunt is your old friend and lives near Primrose -Hall.”</p> - -<p>While Miss Winthrop was laughing and protesting that she had -no idea that Olive and Donald could know each other, Donald -was trying to persuade Olive out on the ballroom floor for -her first dance with him. By accident it happened to be a -Spanish waltz and Olive had not danced it before, but she -had been watching the other girls. Donald was an excellent -partner and in five minutes she might have been dancing it -all her life.</p> - -<p>Now dancing with Olive and with Jean was quite a different -art, although both of the girls were beautiful dancers. Jean -was gay and vivacious, full of grace and activity, keeping -excellent time to the music, but Olive seemed to move like a -flower that is swayed by the wind, hardly conscious of what -she was dancing or how she was dancing it and yet yielding -her body to every note of the music and movement of her -partner.</p> - -<p>By and by, as Olive and Donald continued their dancing, many -of the others stopped and at once the young men demanded to -be told who Olive was and why she had been hidden away from -their sight until now? Whatever replies the girls may have -made to these questions, they did not apparently affect -their questioners, for from the time of her first dance -until the close of the evening Olive no longer lacked for -partners. She did not talk very much, but her eyes shone and -her cheeks grew crimson with pleasure and now and then her -low laugh rang out, and always she could dance. What did -conversation at a ball amount to anyhow when movement was -the thing, and this stranger girl could dance like a fairy -princess just awakened from a long enchantment?</p> - -<p>Donald Harmon grew sorry later in the evening that he had -ever brought Olive forth from her retreat, but just before -midnight, when Primrose Hall parties must always come to an -end, he did manage to get her away for a moment out on the -veranda, where chairs were placed so that the young people -could rest and talk.</p> - -<h2 id='chVIII' class='d018'>CHAPTER VIII<br/>SHADOWS BEFORE</h2> - -<p>The veranda was prettily lighted with Japanese lanterns and -shaded electric lights and Donald found chairs for Olive and -himself in a corner where they could see the dancers and yet -not be interrupted, for he wished to talk to her alone for a -few moments, never having forgotten the impression she had -made upon him at their first meeting, nor the peculiar -likeness which he still saw in her to his mother.</p> - -<p>But though Olive could not forget the Harmons, she had never -really liked them nor could she forgive the hurt which -Elizabeth had innocently brought upon her beloved Jack. And -yet, as she knew that this attitude on her part was hardly -fair, she now turned to Donald. “I hope your mother and -Elizabeth are quite well,” she inquired with unconscious -coldness.</p> - -<p>Donald felt the coldness, but answered at once. “Yes, they -are both unusually well these days, and if Beth could only -hear that your friend Miss Ralston was going to get quite -well, why she would brace up a lot. But she worries about -her a great deal, so she and my mother have just come out -here to Tarrydale for a short visit to my aunt. I got away -from college for a few days to be with them and to see you -ranch girls again,” he ended honestly.</p> - -<p>“You are very kind,” Olive murmured, watching the passers-by -for a glimpse of Jean or Frieda.</p> - -<p>“Elizabeth and mother wish you to come over very soon and -have tea with them,” the young man urged, appearing not to -notice his companion’s lack of interest. “My aunt’s place is -very near Primrose Hall, so you can easily walk over.”</p> - -<p>Olive shook her head. “I don’t believe Miss Winthrop would -care to have us go about the neighborhood making visits,” -she announced, glad of what seemed to her a reasonable -excuse.</p> - -<p>Donald laughed, although he did feel somewhat hurt by -Olive’s manner. “Don’t try to get out of coming to see us -for any such cause, Miss Olive,” he protested, “for Miss -Winthrop is one of my aunt’s dearest friends and she and my -mother have known one another since they were girls. Why, my -aunt is one of the shareholders in this school and is always -offering prizes to the girls, a Shakespeare prize and -perhaps some others that I don’t know about. You see, I was -going to ask Miss Winthrop to bring you and Miss Bruce and -Frieda over to us, as she always comes to see my aunt every -week, now that Aunt Agatha has grown too old and too cranky -to leave her place.”</p> - -<p>Olive was essentially gentle in her disposition and knowing -that Donald had always been their friend in all family -difficulties, she was sorry to have seemed unkind. “I’ll -tell Jean and Frieda,” she replied with more enthusiasm, -“and if Miss Winthrop is willing, why of course we will be -happy to come. You are staying at ‘The Towers,’ aren’t you, -the white house at the end of the woods with a tower at the -top of it and queer gabled windows and two absurd dogs on -either side the front door?”</p> - -<p>The young man nodded. “You have seen the place, haven’t you? -We are dreadfully ashamed of those dogs now, but we used to -love them as children; I suppose a good many generations of -the children in our family have had glorious rides on their -backs.” Olive frowned, a wave of color sweeping over her -face which even in the glow of the artificial lights Donald -was able to see. “I wonder,” she said, “about that tower -room. Isn’t it very big, with guns and swords and things -around the walls, and books, and a man in armor standing in -one corner?”</p> - -<p>Donald stared, as Olive’s face went suddenly white again. “I -am sorry I made such a silly speech. Of course your tower -room isn’t like that. I think I must just have read of some -such a room at the top of a house somewhere that looks like -yours. Only I want to ask you a few questions.”</p> - -<p>At this instant a pair of hands were suddenly clasped over -Olive’s eyes and a voice asked:</p> - -<div class='d019'> - <div class='d014'> - <div class='d020'> - <div class='d021'>“Oh, tell me, lady, fair and blind,</div> - <div class='d021'>Whose hands about thee are entwined?”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p>The voice there was little difficulty in recognizing, for -Jean had come up quietly behind Olive and Donald with Cecil -Belknap and with Gerry Ferrows and one of her friends. Jean -promptly began a conversation with Donald; Gerry and her -friend, after being properly introduced to the others, -continued their discussion, so there was nothing for poor -Olive to do but to try to talk to Cecil.</p> - -<p>Rather more sure of counting on Jean’s interest in his -invitation than Olive’s, Donald Harmon had promptly repeated -his request to her, so that for five minutes or more they -were deep in questions and answers, Jean laughingly -reproaching Donald for not having asked her to dance all -evening, while he assured her that in vain had he tried to -break through the wall of her admirers. When a truce was -finally declared Jean smilingly accepted his invitation to -tea and then turning stood for a moment with her eyes -dancing as she watched Olive’s struggle to keep up a -conversation with Cecil Belknap. The subject of the weather -had evidently been exhausted, also the beauty of the moon -even now peeping over one of the ridges of the Sleepy Hollow -hills, and still Olive was struggling bravely on without the -least assistance from her superior companion, who merely -stared at her without volunteering a single remark.</p> - -<p>Jean’s laugh rang out mischievously. “I do ask your pardon, -Olive, for having left you to talk to Mr. Belknap so long. -Just think,” she turned to look up at the young man with her -most demure expression, “I used to think the sphinx a woman, -but now I am entirely convinced that he or she is a Harvard -student, for surely nothing else could be so equally silent -and inscrutable.”</p> - -<p>Cecil Belknap’s glasses slid off his nose. Could it be that -this small ranch girl, whom he had been trying to be nice to -all evening on account of his sister’s affection for her, -was actually poking fun at him, a Harvard Senior and heir to -half a million dollars? The thing was impossible! Had she -not realized that his mere presence near her had added to -her social distinction all evening? Could it be that she had -also expected him to chatter with her like any ordinary -schoolboy? Winifred Graham would have had no such ridiculous -ideas and Cecil now hoped it was not too late to reduce Jean -to a proper state of humility.</p> - -<p>However, Jean at this moment, asking pardon for her -rudeness, drew Olive aside. “Olive,” she whispered in her -friend’s ear in rather anxious and annoyed tones, “have you -seen anything of Frieda Ralston for the past hour? I told -that young lady to come and speak to one or the other of us -every half hour all this evening and she has never been near -me a single time. Has she spoken to you?”</p> - -<p>Olive laughed, shaking her head. “No, Frieda has never -spoken to me,” she replied, “but once in dancing by me she -did deign to smile as though we had met somewhere before. -Isn’t she funny?”</p> - -<p>But Jean was not amused. “She’s perfectly ridiculous with -her grown-up airs and I wish Ruth were here to send her -upstairs to bed. You know it is nearly twelve o’clock, -Olive, and our dance will be over at exactly twelve and then -Miss Winthrop expects each one of us to come up and -personally say good-night to her. Suppose Frieda and that -Johnson child should not be around, for I can’t find Mollie -either. I wonder if they have gone off anywhere with that -long-legged grasshopper of a boy?”</p> - -<p>“You take Frieda too seriously, Jean,” Olive murmured, “she -is sure to be in the parlor and will say good-night with the -rest of us. You see, we are so used to thinking of her as a -baby that we can’t get used to her independence.”</p> - -<p>But the two ranch girls could not continue indefinitely to -talk of family matters with strangers waiting near them. -Anyhow, just at this moment the big clock in the hall, the -same clock that Olive had listened to so long on that first -night at Primrose Hall, now slowly began to boom forth the -hour of midnight and at the same moment the music began to -play the farewell strains of the “Home, Sweet Home” waltz.</p> - -<p>Cecil Belknap straightway offered his arm to Olive, not that -he desired her as a partner, but that he wished to punish -Jean. A moment later Gerry and her friend entered the -ballroom, so that naturally Donald and Jean were compelled -to have this last dance together. Of course Donald would -have preferred Olive, but any ranch girl was sure of being -second best. However, Donald need not have worried over -Jean’s being forced upon him, for no sooner had they come -into the parlor with the other dancers, than two young -fellows, seizing hold of Jean, declared she had promised the -“Home, Sweet Home” waltz to both of them, and almost -forcibly bore her away to divide the dance between them.</p> - -<p>So with nothing better left to do, Donald stood for a moment -watching Olive and Cecil Belknap. They were having a -conspicuously sad time, for Cecil could not dance and so -Olive was miserable. Rushing to the rescue, Donald bore his -first partner away and now Cecil had the desire of his -heart. For Jean’s benefit he spent the closing moments of -the evening in the society of her rival, Winifred Graham. -However, the young man would have been better satisfied -could he have known whether or not the western girl noticed -his desertion. His sister had asked him to be nice to Jean -in order that the mere influence of his presence near her -might induce her classmates to vote for her, and yet she had -not appeared particularly grateful. It is the old story with -a girl or a woman. Strange, but she never seems to care for -a man’s attention when he makes a martyr of himself for her -sake!</p> - -<p>However, in these last few minutes of the dance the older -ranch girls were concerned only with thoughts of Frieda. -Nowhere about the great room could she be seen, not even -after the young men guests had gone away and the girls had -formed in line to say good-night to Miss Winthrop and -Jessica Hunt. Olive and Jean were separated by several -students and yet the same questions traveled from one face -to the other. “Suppose Miss Winthrop asks us what has become -of Frieda, what must we say, and what will she do if, after -trusting Frieda and Mollie, they have gotten into some kind -of mischief?”</p> - -<p>Two steps at a time, the two girls, when their own -good-nights had been said and no questions asked, rushed -upstairs to their bedrooms. But outside Jean’s door Olive -suddenly stopped and laughed. “Frieda is such a baby, she -has only gone upstairs to bed. Of course she has said -good-night long ago.”</p> - -<p>Cautiously they thrust open the door; a dim light was -burning inside the room and a maid had turned down Frieda’s -bed, but that young lady was not in it, neither was there -any sign of her presence about the place.</p> - -<p>Jean slipped across the hall to the Johnson girls’ room. -“Lucy says Mollie hasn’t come upstairs either,” she reported -immediately, “so what on earth shall we do? Miss Sterne has -charge of our floor to-night and will be around in a few -minutes to see that we are ready for bed. Then if Frieda -isn’t here, won’t she just get it?” Jean was almost in tears -from nervousness and vexation, having always tried to keep -Frieda a little bit in order. Now that Frieda no longer paid -any attention to her, she was both angry and frightened.</p> - -<p>“I will slip downstairs and look for her,” Olive suggested -faintly, knowing that she could never get downstairs and -back again before Miss Sterne’s appearance and feeling that -the vanishment of two girls might be even more conspicuous -and draw greater wrath down upon their heads than the -disappearance of one.</p> - -<p>“Miss Winthrop or one of the other teachers would surely see -you prowling around and would have to know the reason why, -so that wouldn’t help the present situation,” Jean answered. -“Surely Frieda will be here in a few minutes.” All up and -down the hall the opening and shutting of bedroom doors -could now be heard and the voices of the other girls bidding -Miss Sterne and each other good-night.</p> - -<h2 id='chIX' class='d018'>CHAPTER IX<br/>FRIEDA’S MISTAKE</h2> - -<p>Jean had on her blanket wrapper and had taken down her hair, -but Olive, still fully dressed, kept darting from her own -bedroom to Jean’s and Frieda’s, peering out both doors for a -sign of the wanderer.</p> - -<p>Finally Jean turned to her. “Come on, Olive, I don’t care in -the least what Miss Winthrop does to Frieda when she finds -out how she has behaved, but you and I must go to look for -her.”</p> - -<p>Jean and Olive were half-way out in the hall, where the -lights were now being turned low, when a figure brushed by -them. “Please let me get into my own room,” a voice said -peevishly, and nothing loath, the three figures returned -inside the room. “Begin undressing at once, Frieda Ralston,” -Jean commanded, “and don’t say one word in explanation or -excuse until Rebecca Sterne has gone by our room, for it is -just barely possible that she may not have seen you sneaking -along the hall.”</p> - -<p>Jean spoke in tones of the utmost severity and even Olive -gazed upon the youngest ranch girl with an expression of -disapproval.</p> - -<p>The preceptress’s knock came at this very instant.</p> - -<p>“Whatever are you doing in your ball gown, Frieda?” Miss -Sterne inquired, with her head on one side, gazing about -through her large horn spectacles that Olive had so promptly -disliked, like a wise old owl.</p> - -<p>“And you, Miss Ralston, why aren’t you in your own room?” -she continued, “you know you are not expected to enter -another girl’s sleeping apartment after the hour for -retiring.”</p> - -<p>Without replying Olive promptly slipped back into her own -room and rapidly began making ready for bed, not returning -to talk to Jean or to Frieda even when Miss Sterne’s -retreating footsteps were far out of hearing.</p> - -<p>And only once in the next ten minutes did she understand -what the other two ranch girls were saying and then it was -Jean’s tones that were the more distinct.</p> - -<p>Frieda was quietly slipping off a pale blue silk stocking and -slipper, keeping her eyes fastened conscientiously on the floor, -when Jean, now in her night gown, planted herself before her. -“Where have you been all this time, Frieda Ralston, and why -didn’t you and Mollie Johnson say good-night to Miss Winthrop -when the rest of us did?”</p> - -<p>Frieda looked up, her eyes, almost the color of her blue -stockings, swimming in tears. “I was in the back hall, Jean, -and I didn’t dream of its being so late. Do you think Miss -Winthrop noticed?” the culprit faltered.</p> - -<p>Jean cruelly bowed her head. “What is there that goes on in -this school, Frieda, that escapes Miss Winthrop?” she -inquired. “I suppose you will be able to explain to her in -the morning why you were in the back hall instead of in the -parlor with her guests, as you never seem to care to tell -anything to Olive or to me any more. Please hurry to bed.”</p> - -<p>Frieda was very angry at Jean’s superior air, but her own -heart was quaking and her lips trembling, so that she could -not answer back in the cool fashion she desired. “Mollie -Johnson was with me,” she managed to say, “and two boys.”</p> - -<p>Jean might have been the late Empress Dowager of China or -the present Czarina of Russia, so majestic was her manner as -she sat up in bed with her arms folded before her.</p> - -<p>“I had no idea you were alone, Frieda,” she said firmly, -“but will you please tell me why you went to the back hall -when you knew perfectly well that Miss Winthrop was trusting -you to behave like a lady and remain in the rooms where she -was receiving her guests. I don’t know what Ruth and Jack -will say.”</p> - -<p>Frieda began to cry softly. “We were so hungry, Jean,” she -murmured, struggling to braid her long locks of flaxen hair. -“You see, we had only ices and cake for the party, and about -eleven o’clock Tom Parker, the boy I was with, said he -wished he had a sandwich, and I was just as hungry for one, -so we found Mollie and another boy and slipped out of the -dining room. Mrs. White, the housekeeper, was up and back in -the pantry and she gave us cheese and pie and all sorts of -good things.” And now Frieda’s courage returning in a small -measure, she turned out the electric lights, hopping into -bed. “I am not going to be treated like a criminal, though, -Jean Bruce, so I shan’t tell you anything more,” she ended, -burying herself under the cover.</p> - -<p>So half an hour passed and supposedly the three ranch girls -were sound asleep, though in reality the three of them were -still wide awake.</p> - -<p>Jean and Olive were both worrying over Frieda, not yet -understanding the real facts of her escape, and Frieda was -longing with all her might for some one to sympathize with -her and help her in her scrape, some one who would let her -cry herself out.</p> - -<p>By and by Olive crept softly from her room to Jean’s -bedside. “Jean, has Frieda explained things to you?” she -whispered.</p> - -<p>Jean sighed. “She said they were hungry, she and Mollie and -two boys, and that they went into the pantry and had -something to eat, but she didn’t say why they stayed in the -back hall afterwards. They couldn’t have kept on eating -pickles and cheese for over an hour.” And both girls giggled -softly in spite of their worry, for was it not like little -greedy baby Frieda to have required extra food just as she -was constantly doing on their long trip through the -Yellowstone the summer before?</p> - -<p>“Well, it all sounds pretty simple, Jean,” Olive comforted, -“and I don’t think Miss Winthrop will be very angry when she -hears that the pantry was the difficulty, for she knows how -good the housekeeper is to all the little girls.”</p> - -<p>“It isn’t the pantry that worries me; it’s the back hall.” -Jean’s voice became low and impressive, “What do you suppose -that Frieda Ralston could have to talk about to a—boy?”</p> - -<p>A stifled sob at this moment shook the bed-clothes and both -older girls started, guiltily. Reaching over, Olive patted -the outside of the blanket.</p> - -<p>“Were you talking to the boy, Frieda?” she inquired in a -sterner manner than was usual to her, “or were all four of -you just sitting around having a jolly time together?” Now -that Frieda’s sobs assured the other two girls that she was -awake, they were glad enough to be able to go on with her -cross-examination.</p> - -<p>“I was talking to the boy all by myself,” Frieda’s reply was -unhesitating though somewhat choked. “Mollie and the other -boy were sitting on a higher step and the servants were -around, but no one told us how late it was.”</p> - -<p>“Well, what were you talking about that you found so -interesting that you could not hear the clock strike twelve, -or the ‘Home, Sweet Home’ waltz, or the good-byes being -said?” Jean demanded fiercely.</p> - -<p>This time Frieda made not the least effort to restrain her -sorrow, for the bed fairly shook with her weeping. “We were -talking about worms!” she sobbed.</p> - -<p>“Worms!” Olive and Jean repeated in chorus, believing that -they could not have heard aright.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, worms and flies,” the culprit continued. “You see, -we got to talking about fishing and Tom Parker said he loved -it better than most anything he ever did and some summers he -goes way up into the Maine woods and fishes in the lakes for -trout. He uses flies for bait always, but I told him that we -fished with worms in Rainbow Creek and sometimes when it -wouldn’t rain for a long time we used to have to dig way -down under the ground to find them. I told him too how once -I started a fishing worm aquarium and kept all the worms I -could dig up in a glass bowl to sell to Jim and the cowboys -whenever they wished to go fishing.”</p> - -<p>Frieda did not further endeavor to outline her grown-up -conversation with her first admirer, feeling too angry and -too puzzled to go on for the minute, for her former irate -judges were now holding their sides and doing their level -best to keep from shrieking with laughter.</p> - -<p>“And I was afraid she was talking sentiment instead of -fishing worms,” Jean whispered in Olive’s ear.</p> - -<p>Around to the other side of the bed Olive went to tuck the -covers more closely about Frieda. “Go to sleep, baby, and -dream of Jack,” she comforted, “and perhaps Miss Winthrop -will never hear of your mistaking the time for saying -good-night.”</p> - -<p>“And if she does hear, you’ll ask her to forgive me,” Frieda -returned sleepily, “for I believe she likes you, Olive, -better than most any of the girls. I have seen her looking -at you so strangely every now and then.”</p> - -<p>In another half minute Frieda was fast asleep, not feeling -so penitent over her escapade as the two older ranch girls -supposed. But Frieda had always been a good deal spoiled -and, as Miss Winthrop had not noticed her failure to say -good-night, no further scolding impressed her fault upon her -mind. Perhaps this was unfortunate, for it is better that -both little girls and big receive their punishment for a -fault so soon as the fault is committed, in order not to -keep on growing naughtier and naughtier until Fate punishes -us for many sins at once.</p> - -<h2 id='chX' class='d018'>CHAPTER X<br/>THE HOUSE OF MEMORY</h2> - -<p>After lunch the day following the dance, as it chanced to be -Saturday afternoon, Jean came into the ranch girls’ sitting -room looking for Olive and Frieda. She had been playing -basketball for the past two hours and in spite of having -known nothing of the game on her arrival at school, was -already one of its acknowledged champions. But although -Jean’s cheeks were glowing and her hair in a tumbled mass -above her face, her expression was uncommonly serious and in -her hand she held a bundle of letters. One she tossed to -Frieda, who was curled up on a sofa nursing a small cold due -to her frivolity, and two to Olive, keeping two for herself.</p> - -<p>Olive quickly tore open the letter addressed -to her in Jack’s handwriting and Frieda -followed suit. When Jack had first been taken -to the hospital and there compelled to lie -always flat on her back, her handwriting had -been difficult to read, but now that she had -gotten used to this method of writing, her -stroke was again as vigorous and characteristic as of old.</p> - -<p>Frieda, after reading a few lines, smiled up at the other -girls. “Jack says she is getting on very well and we are to -see her in a few weeks—perhaps,” she announced.</p> - -<p>Olive looked over at Jean. “It is worse than Jack writes, of -course, isn’t it?” she asked. “I suppose Ruth has written -you, for Jack never tells anything but the best news of -herself.”</p> - -<p>“There may be an operation or something of the sort later -on,” Jean conceded, “Ruth does not say positively, for it -may not be for some months yet. Only if the operation does -have to take place Jack has demanded that Jim come on from -the ranch to New York, leaving Ralph Merrit to look after -things at the mine. Jim would come now, but things are in a -bit of a tangle. I wonder how Ruth will behave if Jim does -come?” And Jean sighed.</p> - -<p>An interested expression, crossed Frieda’s face. “Why should -she behave in any special way?” she inquired, sitting -straight up on the couch to gaze from Olive to Jean.</p> - -<p>Quickly the subject of conversation needed to be changed, -for Frieda was the only one of the four ranch girls who knew -nothing of what had happened at the ranch between Jim -Colter, their overseer, and Ruth Drew, their chaperon. What -had come between the two lovers only Jack Ralston -understood, but Olive and Jean were both perfectly aware -that Jim and Ruth had seemed to care a great deal for one -another and then some mysterious misunderstanding had -suddenly parted them.</p> - -<p>“I wonder if old Jack looks very badly,” Jean suggested, -knowing this would surely divert Frieda’s attention to one -theme. “Sometimes I wish for Jack’s sake that we were all -back at Rainbow Lodge, for there she was able to be out in -the air a part of the time and now—” The vision of Jack -lying helpless at the hospital was too much for the three -girls, so that there was a moment of painful silence in the -room. Then Jean said more cheerfully after re-reading the -latter part of Ruth’s letter: “Jim says that Ralph Merrit is -doing perfectly splendid work at the mine and that he is a -trump. Do you know I am rather vain of having discovered -Ralph that day in the wilderness, considering how well he -has turned out; Jim likes him a lot better than he does -Frank Kent.”</p> - -<p>The young lady on the sofa with the cold had not yet -forgiven Jean for last night’s scolding. Now she turned up -her small nose a trifle more than usual. “Oh, you just say -that because Ralph likes you best and Frank Kent is more -fond of Jack,” she answered scornfully. And Jean flushed.</p> - -<p>“That is not true, Frieda. Of course it is only natural that -Jim should like Ralph better because Ralph is poor and has -to make his own way in the world just as Jim has; and Frank -Kent, though he is awfully simple and a thorough good -fellow, is the son of an English Lord and may have a title -himself some day.”</p> - -<p>“Then wouldn’t it be splendid if Jack should become an -English lady and own country estates and ride to hounds?” -Frieda suggested more peacefully, gazing across the room at -Frank Kent’s photograph, which ornamented the bookshelf. “I -think I should love to be introduced into English society -and talk to earls and princes and things,” she ended lamely.</p> - -<p>A fine sarcasm curled Jean’s lips, though her eyes sparkled -with mischief. “Talk to earls and princes and things about -fishing worms, baby?” she queried with studied politeness.</p> - -<p>And promptly Frieda, flushing quite up to her ears, hurled a -sofa cushion at Jean, which Olive caught, saying gently:</p> - -<p>“Please don’t let’s quarrel, children, we never used to at -the Lodge. What would Ruth think of us?” And picking up a -second letter that Jean had brought to her, she began to -read it.</p> - -<p>Jean sat penitently down on the sofa trying to kiss Frieda, -who resolutely covered up her head. “Come on and get -dressed, infant; no, your cold isn’t too bad for you to -come. Olive is reading a note of invitation from Mrs. Harmon -for us to come over to ‘The Towers’ to have tea and Miss -Winthrop and Jessica Hunt are to go with us.”</p> - -<p>But the rôle of invalid was too precious a one and too seldom -enjoyed by the youngest Miss Ralston for her to surrender it -easily.</p> - -<p>“I am too sick, please tell Mrs. Harmon,” she protested -resolutely; “only if they have any candy or cake and happen to -mention sending me some you might bring it along. And I do wish -both you girls would go out for a while, for Mollie is coming to -spend the afternoon with me after she finishes her music lesson -and we would love to have the sitting room to ourselves.”</p> - -<p>“I hope, Olive, that you know when you are not wanted without -being actually knocked over by the broadness of the hint,” Jean -said, seeing that Olive was hesitating about what she should do. -“Come along, it will do us both good to get away and not to sit -here thinking about what we can’t help,” she ended.</p> - -<p>While both girls were putting on their best afternoon frocks -preparatory to starting forth on their visit, in the silence of -her own room Olive was trying to persuade herself that her -hesitation in going for the call upon the Harmons was because -she dreaded to be reminded by the sight of Elizabeth of the old -tragedy to Jack. But there was something more than this in her -mind, for actually she dreaded entering the big white house -which had given her such an uncomfortable sensation the moment -her eyes had rested upon it. Yet what connection could she have -ever had with an old place like “The Towers,” or any house -resembling it? Her impression that she must have seen the house -somewhere before was sheer madness, for was it not an old Dutch -mansion, perhaps built hundreds of years ago, and certainly -wholly unlike any of the ranch houses out West?</p> - -<p>Olive resolutely put all the ridiculous ideas that had annoyed -her out of her mind and with Jessica Hunt, Miss Winthrop and -Jean started gayly forth on their walk. It was about four -o’clock in the late November afternoon and instead of following -the path through the woods, the little party set out along the -lane that led through an exquisite part of the Sleepy Hollow -neighborhood. Crossing a little brook they climbed a short hill -and from the top of it could see at some distance off the spire -of the old Sleepy Hollow church and on the other side the Hudson -River with the autumn mists rising above it like breath from its -deep hidden lungs.</p> - -<p>Jessica and Olive were together, Jean and Miss Winthrop. As -Olive was particularly silent, Jessica drew her arm through -hers. “This is a land of legends and of dreams about here, dear, -and some day I must take you western girls about the country and -show you the historic places nearby. Do you know anything about -them?” she asked.</p> - -<p>But Olive was dreaming or else stupid, for she only shook her -head. “I don’t know,” she answered, “the country does seem -somehow familiar, yet it did not at first. Don’t you believe -that all the world, at least the world of outside things, of -hills and trees and valleys and water, somehow belongs alike to -all of us and once we have seen a landscape and moved about in -it, why we are at home. There isn’t any strangeness in nature, -there can’t be; it is only people and houses and streets that -are odd and unlike and fail to belong to us.”</p> - -<p>Donald Harmon met his four guests some yards up the road on -their approach to the house. As he was holding a great St. -Bernard dog by the collar and as it bounded away from him all of -a sudden, nearly upsetting Olive and Jessica in the rapture of -its welcome, the little party entered “The Towers” with too much -laughter and excitement for Olive to feel any self-consciousness -or emotion. Indeed, she quite forgot all of her past foolishness -in meeting Mrs. Harmon and Elizabeth again after so many -eventful months. Elizabeth was able to walk about the room quite -easily and of course her first inquiry was for Jack.</p> - -<p>Without a chance for exchanging views, Jean and Olive both -decided at once that the drawing room at “The Towers,” in spite -of its magnificence, was one of the darkest and most -unattractive rooms either of them had ever seen. For everything -was very stiff and formal and without life or fragrance. Carved -black furniture sat stiffly against the walls, which were hung -with old portraits of men and women in high fluted ruffs, with -gorgeous embroidered clothes and hard, cold faces. Over in one -corner stood a tea table piled with silver and white linen and -having a large arm chair near it carved like a throne. And -behind this chair was a portrait of a beautiful boy of ten or -twelve, who looked a little like Donald Harmon.</p> - -<p>“My aunt will be down in a few minutes, Katherine,” Mrs. Harmon -had said as soon as her guests were seated. “She has asked us to -wait tea for her.” And Jean and Olive both noticed that Mrs. -Harmon’s manner was a little constrained and that she kept -looking at Olive as though she intended asking her some -question, but as the question was never asked, the girls must -have been mistaken. However, the conversation in the little -company did not become general, for no one except Miss Winthrop -seemed to feel at ease, until by and by the tap, tap, tap of a -long stick was heard coming along the hall and with a low bow -the butler flung open the drawing room door.</p> - -<p>Everybody sat up straighter in their high-back chairs; Jean -could not forbear a slight wink at Donald, but Olive felt her -heart rise up in her throat. Why on earth was the old mistress -of “The Towers” so formidable that the entire neighborhood felt -an awe of her? Olive was rather sorry that she was competing for -one of her prizes offered to the Junior students at Primrose -Hall.</p> - -<p>“Madame Van Mater,” the butler announced very distinctly and at -the name of the owner of the white house, which Olive now heard -for the first time since her arrival at Primrose Hall, the young -girl caught at the sides of her chair, and drew in her breath -sharply. Then when no one was looking at her, smiled at herself -and turned her gaze curiously on their ancient hostess.</p> - -<h2 id='chXI' class='d018'>CHAPTER XI<br/>“SLEEPY HOLLOW, A LAND OF DREAMS”</h2> - -<p>For the first time in her life she now beheld a lady for whom -there is no English expression so good as the French, “a grande -dame.”</p> - -<p>There was still daylight in Madame Van Mater’s drawing room, but -she stood for a moment in the center of her doorway staring with -brilliant, hard, black eyes from one guest to the other and -slightly inclining her head. Then she walked over to the high, -carved chair near the tea table and sat down under the picture -of the little boy. Feeble from old age, she was yet of too -determined a spirit to accept help from any one, for when Donald -tried to slip a cushion under her feet, she calmly motioned it -away. Her hair, which was snow white, was piled high on her head -by a careful maid; her skin, showing the remorseless touch of -age, was yet as delicately powdered and rouged as if she had -been an actress about to make her debut, and she was carefully -dressed in a gown of deep purple silk with lace at her throat -and old amethysts. And yet no art or effort could hide the -ravages of age and of sorrow in the face, though the coldness of -her air and expression suggested that she would have repelled -grief as well as love whenever she was humanly able.</p> - -<p>The atmosphere of the old drawing room was not any more cheerful -after its hostess had entered. Indeed, no one in the room seemed -to be able to speak except Miss Winthrop, for Mrs. Harmon was -plainly ill at ease and even Elizabeth had been taught to treat -this wealthy old aunt, whose fortune she expected some day to -share with her brother, with more respect than she showed to any -one else in the world.</p> - -<p>Unconsciously the young people, including Jessica Hunt, had -huddled close together, solemnly drinking their tea but having -little to say to one another.</p> - -<p>Finally a cold voice made the five of them jump and Jean was -barely able to suppress a giggle. “Donald,” Madame Van Mater -said, “bring the girl, whom you tell me you met in the West and -who bears so strange a resemblance to your mother, closer to me. -I think all resemblances are ridiculous and yet you have made me -curious.”</p> - -<p>Why on earth should Olive be made the center of all eyes when of -all things she most hated it, and yet what else was there for -her to do in this instance but to arise and allow Donald to lead -her across the room to his aunt? Donald’s eyes begged -forgiveness for the old woman’s peremptory manner, and yet he -showed no sign of disobedience.</p> - -<p>“Turn on the electric light,” Madame Van Mater ordered, for the -dusk was creeping into the big room. And under the light, facing -her hostess, Olive waited with Mrs. Harmon only a few feet away.</p> - -<p>It was unlike this shy, delicate girl on meeting with strangers -even to raise her eyes to theirs, and yet she now stared -straight at Madame Van Mater with a gaze as fixed and direct as -hers and almost as searching and haughty. For Olive’s emotion -was immediately one of the deepest antagonism toward this woman, -however old she might be, who summoned her as a queen might -summon a subject.</p> - -<p>Beginning at the girl’s feet, Madame Van Mater surveyed her -slowly through a pair of gold-rimmed lorgnettes, her eyes, of -course, resting longest on Olive’s face. And was the sigh she -drew one of relief as she turned again to Donald and to Mrs. -Harmon? “I do not see the least likeness in this girl to any -member of my family,” she announced. “Whatever her name may be, -her appearance is quite foreign and I should prefer never to -have the subject of this resemblance mentioned again.” And -nodding her head, the old lady apparently dismissed Olive to her -seat.</p> - -<p>But Miss Winthrop caught at her pupil’s hand as she passed her -drawing her down toward her. “Let me look at you, Olive,” she -murmured. “I had not heard of this fancy of Donald’s, but it has -seemed to me that I have seen some one a little like you -somewhere, I fancied in some old picture.” Then smiling she -shook her head. “No, Donald, I can’t say I see any likeness to -your mother, and yet, after all, perhaps there is enough of a -suggestion of her for you not to be altogether snubbed.”</p> - -<p>And now at last Olive was permitted to return to her chair, -where she sat down pretending to look out of the window, though -all the time she was feeling hot and rebellious at the scene in -which she had just been compelled to play an unwilling part. -Why, because she was so uncertain of her ancestry, should she be -forced to go through these moments that made the fact more -bitterly painful to her?</p> - -<p>Donald guessed at Olive’s feelings, for though the ranch girls -had tried their best to keep her story from the ears of the -Harmons during their stay at Rainbow Lodge, a part of it Donald, -his sister and mother had learned through Aunt Ellen, through -the cowboys on the ranch and through one or two of their closest -neighbors. And for this reason the young fellow was perhaps even -more interested in this half Indian girl. Now he wished very -much to help her escape from the unpleasant situation into which -his own idle talk had led her.</p> - -<p>Donald turned to Jean and Jessica Hunt. “I wonder if you and -Miss Ralston would care to come and look over the old house with -me?” he asked “It is so old that it is quite worth seeing and I -am sure that Elizabeth will excuse us.”</p> - -<p>Elizabeth did not pretend that she enjoyed the idea of being -left with only the older people, but as Jacqueline Ralston was -the only one of the ranch girls for whom she deeply cared, she -made no objection, particularly as no one waited for her to -speak. For Jean fairly bounced from her chair with relief, -Jessica Hunt rose immediately and Olive soon after, feeling that -she would surely turn to stone if she were obliged to remain -another moment in the room with the old mistress of “The -Towers.”</p> - -<p>Once out in the hall, the party of young people appeared -suddenly to have been released from prison. Jean danced a -two-step, Jessica clapped her hands softly together and Olive -laughed, while Donald straightway plunged head first up the dark -mahogany steps. “Do come on upstairs,” he begged, “for there -isn’t much time and Miss Hunt knows the house well enough to -tell you that it is the tower room where we have the great view -that is most interesting. Please save your breath, for we have -rather a long climb.”</p> - -<p>Immediately after Donald, Jean climbed and then Olive and then -Jessica. Of course, the first two flights of stairs were like -those in any ordinary house, but the third was a queer spiral -resembling the steps in a lighthouse. About midway up these -steps Jessica noticed that Olive paused, pressing her hands to -her eyes as though to shut out some idea or some vision that -assailed her, and that she wavered as though she felt faint.</p> - -<p>“What is the matter, Olive, are you ill?” Jessica inquired, -knowing that climbing to unexpected heights often has this -effect on sensitive persons. And though Olive now shook her -head, moving on again, Jessica determined to watch her.</p> - -<p>To Jean’s openly expressed surprise the tower room was not a -small, closet-like place as she had supposed, but a big, -spacious apartment out of which the little gabled windows winked -like so many friendly eyes. The room was fitted up as a boy’s -room with a bed apparently just ready to be slept in, there was -a trapeze at one end and a punching bag, but the bookcases were -filled with books of all kinds and for all ages, French, Spanish -and German books and plays from the days of the miracle plays -down to the English comedies. Olive looked at these books for a -long time and then went over to a far corner of the room which -seemed to be a small museum, for rusty swords and old pistols -were hung on the walls, a shield and a helmet and the complete -figure of a knight in armor stood in one corner. Curious why -these masculine trophies should interest a girl, and yet for -some reason they did interest Olive, for she waited there alone; -Jessica, Jean and Donald having gone over to one of the windows -were gazing out over the countryside made famous the world over -through its history and legend, “Sleepy Hollow, the Land of -Dreams.”</p> - -<p>Jean beckoned to Olive. “Come over here, dear, if you wish to -see the view,” she begged, “for the sun will be going down in -the next few minutes.”</p> - -<p>And in a moment, taking tight hold of Jean’s hand, Olive also -looked out the window. She saw the little brook and a bit of the -bridge over which they had lately passed, with the stretch of -woodlands to one side and the autumn-colored hills rising in the -background. Very quietly she began to speak:</p> - -<p>“Not far from the village, perhaps about two miles, there is a -little valley, or rather lap of land, among high hills, which is -one of the quietest places in the whole world. A small brook -glides through it, with just murmur enough to lull one to -repose; and the occasional whistle of a quail or tapping of a -woodpecker is almost the only sound that ever breaks in upon the -uniform tranquillity.”</p> - -<p>These words Olive repeated with her eyes still on the landscape -and her lips moving as though she were reciting a verse of -poetry long ago forgotten and now brought back to mind by the -objects that inspired it.</p> - -<p>It was so utterly unlike Olive to be drawing attention to -herself by reciting that Jean stared at her in blank amazement, -but neither Donald Harmon nor Miss Hunt appeared in the least -surprised and after a moment, as though again striking the -strings of her memory, the young girl went on: “If ever I should -wish for a retreat, whither I might steal from the world and its -distractions, and dream quietly away the remnant of a troubled -life, I know of none more promising than this little valley.” -And then her recitation abruptly ended.</p> - -<p>“What on earth are you spouting, Olive Ralston?” Jean demanded; -“or tell us, please, if you are composing an essay on the spur -of the moment to impress your English teacher?”</p> - -<p>Jessica laughed. “Ignorant child, not to know what Olive is -repeating! I should have taught it you before now, but Olive -seems to have gotten ahead of me and learned it first.”</p> - -<p>“But what is it?” Jean insisted. “The idea of Olive’s memorizing -a thing like that and then waiting for a critical minute to -recite it so as to impress her audience. I never should have -suspected her!”</p> - -<p>But as Olive made no answer to her friend’s teasing, Jessica -said in explanation: “Why, Olive has just recited Washington -Irving’s description of this countryside, which he gives in his -‘Legend of Sleepy Hollow,’ and when you get back to school, -Jean, I advise you to ask Olive to lend you her book.”</p> - -<p>Downstairs the little party broke up and on the way back to -Primrose Hall, Olive walked close beside Miss Winthrop. At first -both the woman and the girl were silent, but as they neared the -school Olive spoke suddenly:</p> - -<p>“Miss Winthrop, I suppose most everybody in the world knows the -feeling of coming to a strange place and all at once thinking -that you have been there before, seen the same things or people -and even heard the same words said?”</p> - -<p>Miss Winthrop nodded, trying to study Olive’s face closely and -yet not appearing too deeply interested, although the girl’s -expression was both puzzled and intent.</p> - -<p>“Why, yes, Olive, it is a very usual experience,” she answered. -“No one can understand or explain it very well, but the -impression is more apt to come to you when you are young. I can -recall once having gone into a ballroom and there having had -some one make a perfectly ordinary speech to me and yet I had a -sudden sensation almost of faintness, so sure was I that at some -past time I had been in the same place, under the same -circumstances and heard the same speech, and yet I knew at the -time it was impossible.”</p> - -<p>“But can one remember actual words that may have been spoken in -a certain place? I don’t see how a thing can suddenly pop into -one’s mind without our remembering where we have learned it -before,” Olive persisted.</p> - -<p>Miss Winthrop took the girl’s hand in hers. “My dear,” she said -quietly, “I think there are many wonderful things in the world -around us that we do not believe in because we do not yet -understand them, just as long years ago men and women did not -believe that our world was round because it had not then been -revealed to them. And so I do not understand about these strange -psychical experiences about which we have just been talking. But -I recall a remarkable book by Du Maurier, one of the most -remarkable novels I have ever read, called ‘Peter Ibbetson.’ In -this story there is a song whose refrain is ever repeated in the -hero’s mind from the time he is a little boy all through his -life. He does not understand why he remembers this song, but by -and by it is explained to the reader that this song had played -an important part in the life of one of Peter Ibbetson’s -ancestors. And just as we can inherit the color of our eyes, the -shape of our nose, a queer trait of character from some far-off -ancestor, so Du Maurier wrote that we might inherit some mental -impression, like the lines of this song. It is a difficult thing -to understand, but the idea is interesting.”</p> - -<p>“It is very,” Olive replied. “I think I should like to read the -book.”</p> - -<p>Miss Winthrop again turned to study Olive’s face, but the -darkness of the late fall afternoon had now fallen completely.</p> - -<p>“May I ask if you have had any queer experience, Olive? Have you -ever felt that you have been in a certain place before, where -you know you could never really have been, or have you thought -suddenly of something that you did not remember having in your -mind before? But please do not answer me if you would rather -not, for I know that these queer experiences most of us would -rather keep to ourselves.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you,” was Olive’s unsatisfactory answer as the four women -started up the outside steps of Primrose Hall.</p> - -<h2 id='chXII' class='d018'>CHAPTER XII<br/>WINIFRED GRAHAM AND GERRY</h2> - -<p>While Jean and Olive were having tea at “The Towers” and Frieda -and Mollie were engaged in a confidential talk in the ranch -girls’ sitting room, school politics were playing an important -part in the precincts of Primrose Hall, for Winifred Graham and -Gerry Ferrows were devoting that same Saturday afternoon to -canvassing their class in order to discover whether Jean or -Winifred might hope in the following week to be elected -president of the Junior class. Gerry was electioneering for -Jean, while Winifred was conducting a personal investigation. -Indeed, the situation between these two girls was a peculiar and -a difficult one, for having once been intimate friends, they had -now become violently estranged from one another and yet -continued to be room-mates. For no other reason than because -Winifred suspected Gerry’s political intentions on that Saturday -afternoon did she arrange to bring her own followers together -and with their aid to outclass Gerry, for Jean had positively -refused to work for herself, having turned over her cause to her -two best friends, Gerry and Margaret Belknap.</p> - -<p>But before leaving for “The Towers” very early on that morning -Jean and Gerry had had a long and intimate talk over the chances -for her election and Gerry had been perfectly frank about the -whole situation.</p> - -<p>Olive was still the obstacle standing in the way of Jean’s -success. If even at this late date Jean would allow herself to -be elected into one of the sororities and thus proclaim her -independence of the girl whose presence in the school her -classmates resented, she might yet win their complete -allegiance; if not—well, it was just this state of the case that -Gerry was trying to fathom. For Jean absolutely declined to turn -her back on her adopted sister and yet longed with all her heart -for the honor of the class presidency. Gerry’s own position on -this question of Olive was an exceedingly anomalous one; while -she was too good a sport to be unkind to any one in adversity, -yet she did not herself care to associate with Olive on terms of -perfect equality, although she had never mentioned this fact to -Jean. And lately she had felt her own decision waver, for since -her father had written her that he had charge of Jack Ralston’s -case at his hospital and found her the pluckiest girl he had -ever seen, Gerry longed to take all the ranch girls under her -protection, and yet her prejudice still held out against Olive.</p> - -<p>Being but human and entirely devoted to Jean, this prejudice -grew deeper on the afternoon that Gerry went from one room to -the other of her classmates, asking them point-blank whether -they intended to cast their votes for Winifred or for Jean at -the coming election. Some of the girls were quite frank. They -had intended voting for Jean, but lately decided that it would -be wiser not to have as the representative of their class a girl -who claimed as her adopted sister a half-caste Indian. Others of -the Juniors hedged, they might or they might not vote for Jean, -not having entirely made up their minds between her and -Winifred; a number of them were, of course, Jean’s frank and -loyal supporters and yet it was with a feeling of discouragement -that Gerry at the close of her canvass returned to her own room. -She had taken a note book with her and written down each girl’s -position in regard to the election, and yet she could not now -decide whether Jean’s prospects were good or bad. So it was -peculiarly irritating on bouncing angrily into her sitting room -to find Winifred already there before her, with her long blonde -hair down her back, and, while she was pretending to cut the -pages of a magazine, wearing a particularly cheerful and -self-satisfied expression.</p> - -<p>Winifred Graham was a very beautiful girl and perhaps not an -agreeable one, and yet she represented a type not unusual in a -certain portion of American society. As long as Winifred could -remember she had been taught these two things: By her brains and -her beauty she must some day win for herself the wealth and the -position that her family had always longed to have and yet never -had quite succeeded in attaining. For always her mother and -father had been spending more money than they could afford in -trying to keep up with their friends who were richer and more -prominent than themselves. Indeed, Winifred’s presence at -Primrose Hall was but another proof of their extravagance, for -they could by no means afford the expense of such a school, yet -their hope was that there Winifred would make so many wealthy -and aristocratic friends that later on they might help her to a -wealthy marriage.</p> - -<p>But Winifred was not only ambitious socially; she had a good -mind and longed to succeed in her classes as well as in her -friendships, so it was hardly to be wondered at that she should -cordially dislike the two older ranch girls, who, coming out of -nowhere and pretending to nothing, seemed likely to prove her -rivals. For, while Jean might stand in the way of her being -chosen to fill the highest position in the Junior class, Olive -was seeking to wrest from her the Shakespeare prize which the -old lady at “The Towers” offered each year to the Junior -students in Jessica Hunt’s class. Gerry Ferrows was also -competing for this prize, but as it represented a fairly large -sum of money, sufficient to cover a year’s tuition at Primrose -Hall, Winifred felt that in any case it must be hers.</p> - -<p>She looked up and laughed mockingly as Gerry flung herself down -on their couch, closing her eyes as though she wished to take a -nap.</p> - -<p>“What luck for the fair Jean at the coming election, friend -Gerry?” she asked in an irritating fashion.</p> - -<p>“Better luck than for the fair Winifred,” Gerry answered, none -too truthfully, but enraged at her companion’s air of calm -assurance.</p> - -<p>Winifred laughed again. “That isn’t the truth, Gerry, and you -know it, and I thought you always spoke the truth no matter if -it half killed you, being anxious to prove that women are as -honest as men, as brave and as straight-forward and as clever, -and therefore should be entitled to equal suffrage.”</p> - -<p>Gerry now sat up on her couch challenging her foe, her homely -face crimsoning. “You are right, Winifred, I wasn’t quite -truthful; I am afraid that your chance for the presidency is -better than Jean’s. But you know that it is all because the -girls here think that Olive isn’t a fit associate for the rest -of us, or else Jean would have won in a walkover. I wonder if -the story of Olive’s not knowing anything of her parentage is -true and if she is a half Indian girl? You told it me. Where did -you get the information? Perhaps after all it isn’t so!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, the story came through the Harmons, who were out West and -heard the tale and Elizabeth’s repeating it to one of the -younger girls she knew in this school. I don’t suppose Elizabeth -meant any harm in telling, for she seemed to think that we would -be pleased to have an Indian enliven us at Primrose Hall. You -may be very sure, however, that Olive and Jean and Frieda have -been very quiet about the whole question of this objectionable -Olive, but if you don’t believe the story, Gerry, why don’t you -inquire of Miss Winthrop?” Winifred ended.</p> - -<p>Again Gerry flushed. “I have,” she answered shortly, “and Miss -Winthrop treated me with her most frozen manner. ‘If there is -any mystery about Olive Ralston’s parentage, that is her private -affair,’ she said. ‘But kindly remember that she is a student at -Primrose Hall and if I thought her unfit for the companionship -of my other girls, she would not be among you.’ You can imagine -that I felt about the size of a small caterpillar when she got -through with me.” And Gerry bridled, still sore from Miss -Winthrop’s snubbing.</p> - -<p>“You can count on Katherine Winthrop to recommend you to mind -your own business,” Winifred interposed with secret -satisfaction, knowing from Gerry’s report that Miss Winthrop had -heard of Olive’s past and glad to have the truth of the story -that she had been repeating confirmed.</p> - -<p>“But don’t you think perhaps it is unkind to be so unfriendly to -a girl for something she cannot help?” Gerry questioned, not so -anxious to have Winifred’s opinion as to clear things up in her -own mind.</p> - -<p>Winifred shook her head. “I don’t know how you feel, Gerry, but -honestly, I couldn’t be friends with an Indian girl and I don’t -think she ought to be in so exclusive a school as Primrose Hall, -If Miss Winthrop were anyone but Miss Winthrop I believe some of -the girls’ parents would have complained of Olive before this, -but that lady is just as likely to fire us all out and to keep -just this one girl, as she seems to have such an unaccountable -fancy for her. Look here, Gerry, you and I used to be good -friends and Jean Bruce can’t be elected, so why don’t you give -up working for her and come over to my side and not mix yourself -up with this other business? You may be sorry for it some day -and Jean hasn’t a ghost of a show.”</p> - -<p>Gerry jumped several feet off her couch. “Don’t you be so -plague-taked sure, Winifred Graham, that Jean Bruce hasn’t a -chance for the election! And not for anything would I go back on -her now! Besides, I have a plan that, has just come into my mind -this very second that may straighten things out for Jean most -beau-ti-fully.”</p> - -<h2 id='chXIII' class='d018'>CHAPTER XIII<br/>THE APPEAL TO OLIVE</h2> - -<p>And Gerry’s plan was nothing more or less than to make a direct, -personal appeal to Olive, asking her to aid in the fight for -Jean by making a sacrifice of herself. True, Gerry did not know -that Olive was as yet completely in the dark about Jean’s -refusal to join the Theta sorority because of the failure of the -girls to include her in the invitation, but even with this -knowledge Gerry would hardly have been deterred from her plan. -For how could it help Olive to have Jean wreck her own chances -on her account nor how could it alter her classmates’ attitude -toward her?</p> - -<p>The Monday following her talk with Winifred, Gerry overtook -Olive, as both girls were leaving their class room, and coming -up close behind her leaned over and whispered in her ear: “Oh, -Olive, I wonder if you could have a little talk with me this -afternoon on strictly private business; I wish to talk to you -quite alone.”</p> - -<p>Although Gerry had never been so rude and cold to her as some of -her other classmates, at this attitude of unexpected intimacy, -Olive appeared surprised. She had no idea that Gerry could be -wishing to speak to her of the class election, for Jean had -carefully excluded all mention of this subject from the -conversation in their own rooms and no one else had seen fit to -mention the subject to Olive.</p> - -<p>“Oh, certainly, I shall be delighted to see you at any time,” -Olive nodded, pleased that Gerry should wish to be with her -alone. “Why not come up to our sitting room right now, as our -lessons are over for the afternoon?”</p> - -<p>But with a great appearance of secrecy Gerry shook her curly -head. “No, I am afraid Jean might be bobbing in there at any -minute,” she confided, “and I particularly don’t want her to -know just at present what I wish to say to you.”</p> - -<p>“Suppose I ask Miss Hunt to let us take a walk together without -any one else?” Olive next proposed; “I am sure she will.”</p> - -<p>Half an hour later the two girls, well away from Primrose Hall, -were walking through the nearby woods and yet Gerry had not -mentioned the subject of conversation they had come forth to -discuss.</p> - -<p>Curious why she should find it difficult; she was perfectly sure -of having right on her side in this suggestion she was about to -make, and yet there was a quiet, unconscious dignity in Olive’s -manner that made her companion a little fearful of approaching -her with advice or entreaty. Perhaps it might have been just as -well to have laid this matter before Jessica Hunt or, as a last -resort, Miss Winthrop, before forging ahead. But Gerry was an -ardent suffragette in the making and, as she had determined to -follow in the footsteps of her brilliant father, she knew that -indecision must never be a characteristic of the new woman. -However, it was just as well to have this stranger girl -recognize her entire friendliness before she made known her -mission.</p> - -<p>Having talked of many things together, of their love of the -outdoors, of Jack’s condition, after all it was Olive who at -last opened up the way for her companion’s disclosure.</p> - -<p>“I am sorry to have talked so much,” she said suddenly, “for I -have not yet given you a chance to say what you wished to me. -What is it?”</p> - -<p>And all at once her face flooded with color, her eyes widened -and she looked at Gerry with a half-spoken appeal. Up to this -moment it had not occurred to Olive that her classmate’s desire -for a private interview with her could have any serious import, -but noticing Gerry’s hesitation and apparent embarrassment, -Olive suddenly believed that she intended questioning her about -her past. And what could she say? Ruth and Jack had advised her -not to reveal her story, and yet if her schoolmate now asked her -for the truth she would not lie. Gerry had always been kinder -than the other girls and possibly thinking the gossip about her -false, her desire now might be to disprove it.</p> - -<p>With a kind of proud humility Olive faced the girl whom she -hoped for the minute wished to be her friend. “What is it?” she -asked again.</p> - -<p>Evasion was not Gerry Ferrows’ strong point. “Do you want Jean -to be elected Junior Class president?” she demanded abruptly.</p> - -<p>Olive stared and then laughed happily. “Well, I should say I do, -rather,” she answered. “What a funny thing for you to ask me. -And I am awfully grateful to you for the help you are giving -Jean, for she is awfully ambitious and Ruth and Jack and Jim -Colter and all of us would be so proud of her if she should win -after being so short a time at school.”</p> - -<p>“Well, if you are so anxious for her to win, why don’t you do -something to help her instead of standing in her way?” This -question was even more blunt than the first. And it hurt, -because Olive bit her lips.</p> - -<p>“I help her? I stand in her way?” she repeated, stopping in her -walk and turning to face the other girl squarely. “Tell me, -please, how I can help her and how I stand in the way of her -election?”</p> - -<p>At this, Gerry Ferrows felt extremely uncomfortable, still she -was not of the kind to turn back. “Well, you can help Jean a -whole lot by making her join our Theta Sorority at once and not -hold back any longer because you have not been invited to join -also.”</p> - -<p>There could be no doubt that Olive’s amazement was perfectly -genuine. “Do you mean to tell me that Jean isn’t a Theta already -with the girls tormenting her every minute for weeks to come -into the society? Why, I thought that Jean had joined long ago -and simply had not mentioned the matter to me because of not -wishing to talk of a thing that might make me uncomfortable. I -can see now that the girls may not want a class president who -isn’t a member of a sorority, and also that if Jean stays out of -the societies because of me, it makes us seem more like real -sisters instead of just a girl whom Jean’s family is -befriending.”</p> - -<p>Gerry nodded, mute for once because Olive had put the case too -plainly for her either to add to it or to contradict.</p> - -<p>“Dear Jean, it is awfully good of her and awfully foolish and -just what I should have expected,” she went on. “Please -understand that I am very sorry both for Jean’s and Frieda’s -sakes that I ever came with them as a student to Primrose Hall -and I would have gone away before now only I could not worry -Jacqueline Ralston, who is so ill, or our chaperon, Ruth Drew, -who must give all her time and thought to Jack. But you see none -of us realized that the girls at Primrose Hall would care so -much because my birth and past were so different from theirs. In -the West these things do not count to so great an extent.”</p> - -<p>To her own surprise Gerry Ferrows’ eyes, which were seldom given -to this proceeding, suddenly filled with tears. Like Ishmael of -old, Olive seemed to her to be cast out into the desert for a -crime in which she had no part.</p> - -<p>But if this Indian girl had always been shy and sensitive in her -attitude before the hurt of her schoolmates’ coldness toward her -in times past, at this moment her manner greatly changed. -Perhaps because Olive was so quiet and gentle it had looked as -though she had no pride, but this is not true, for her pride was -of a deeper kind than expresses itself in noise and protest: it -was of that unconscious kind associated with high birth and -breeding, the pride that suffers wrong and hurt with dignity and -in silence.</p> - -<p>Now she drew herself up, facing her companion quietly, her dark -eyes quite steady, her lips fixed in a firm line and two bright -spots of color glowing in her dark cheeks. “I cannot tell you -how much I thank you for telling me this about Jean,” she said -“and please believe I did not know of it. Of course you wish me -to make Jean see the foolishness and the utter uselessness of -her sacrifice of herself for me and I surely will. I suppose you -must have wondered why I did not do this before.”</p> - -<p>And still Gerry continued to find conversation increasingly -difficult, though fortunately Olive was saying for her the very -things she had intended to say. Shyly Gerry slipped her arm in -school-girl fashion across Olive’s shoulder, but the other girl -drew herself away, not angrily in the least, but as if she -wished neither sympathy nor an apology.</p> - -<p>“Do let us go on back to the house at once,” she suggested, “for -I must not waste any time before I see Jean, as the election is -to take place so soon. If her connection with me should make her -lose it I simply don’t know what I should do!”</p> - -<p>And forgetting all about the presence of Gerry, Olive started -for home, walking with that peculiar grace and swiftness which -was so marked a characteristic of her training.</p> - -<p>Almost panting, Gerry, who was herself exceedingly athletic, -tried to keep up. “You must not be foolish, Olive,” she begged, -“and you are a brick! Whatever happens it can’t be your fault if -we girls at Primrose Hall are narrow and hateful and blind.” For -somehow at this late hour in their acquaintance Gerry Ferrows -had begun to realize that whatever unfortunate past Olive -Ralston may have had, somehow she had managed to breathe a -higher atmosphere than most other girls. In their first intimate -talk together Olive had shown no anger against her classmates -for their cruelty, no envy of Jean’s popularity or desire to -claim her allegiance as a defense against their unkindness. No, -she had only been too anxious to sacrifice herself, to make the -way straight for Jean. And at this moment quite humbly Gerry -would have liked to have begged Olive to allow her to be her -friend, only at this time she did not dare. And as they walked -on together in silence some lines that she had learned that -morning in their Shakespeare class in their reading of “The -Winter’s Tale,” came suddenly to her mind.</p> - -<div class='d019'> - <div class='d014'> - <div class='d020'> - <div class='d021'>“Nothing she does or seems, but smacks of something greater than herself,</div> - <div class='d021'>Too noble for this place.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<h2 id='chXIV' class='d018'>CHAPTER XIV<br/>“TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE”</h2> - -<p>Fortunately the two girls had not to spend a minute in looking -for Jean, for no sooner had they entered the front hall of the -school than she was seen talking with a group of friends.</p> - -<p>“Hello,” she cried, pleased to find that Gerry and Olive had -been out together for a walk and grateful for what she thought -Gerry’s friendliness to Olive.</p> - -<p>Olive went straight up to her, too much in earnest to be abashed -by the presence of others. “Come on up to our sitting room, -Jean,” she begged, “for Gerry and I have something to talk to -you about that must be decided at once.”</p> - -<p>It was a pity that Olive must be in such a hurry, Gerry thought -a little impatiently, and also a pity that she had used her name -in speaking to Jean and plainly wished her to be present at -their coming interview, for there was, of course, a possibility -that Jean might be a good deal vexed at her interference. But as -Jean left her other friends immediately, slipping one arm -through Olive’s and another through Gerry’s and propelling them -as rapidly as she could up the broad stairs, what was there for -Gerry to do but to surrender and let things take their course?</p> - -<p>“Whatever weighty problem there is on your mind, Olive Ralston, -that you wish me to help you solve,” Jean exclaimed gaily, as -they reached their own door, “kindly remember that three heads -are better than one, even if one is a dunce’s head, else I -should never have allowed Geraldine Ferrows to be present at our -council.” And giving each of the girls an added shove, the three -of them plunged headlong into the sitting room.</p> - -<p>Frieda was not to be seen, but to their surprise there before -their open fire Jessica Hunt sat peacefully, holding a large -open box of flowers on her lap, with her cheeks a good deal -flushed, possibly from the heat of the fire.</p> - -<p>“I beg your pardon, children, for having taken possession of -your apartment in this way,” she explained, “but I happen to -have a present for you sent through my care and it seemed to me -that the surest way to find you was to wait at your own -hearthstone until you chose to appear.” While Jessica was -speaking she was holding out the box of flowers toward Jean and -Olive. “Mr. Drummond has sent you these with a note to me asking -me to see that you get them.”</p> - -<p>With cries of delight the two ranch girls, pouncing on the great -box, which was brimful of violets, buried their noses in its -fragrances.</p> - -<p>“They are just too lovely and too Rainbow ranchy for anything,” -Jean exclaimed, thrusting a bunch into Gerry’s hand. “Won’t -Frieda be homesick for her violet beds when she sees them, even -if she is so enraptured with boarding school that she hardly -talks of home any more?”</p> - -<p>While Jean was speaking Olive was busily lifting the flowers -from the box. Just toward the last she discovered a separate -bouquet, wrapped in white paper and bearing a card with a name -inscribed upon it.</p> - -<p>“This is for you, Miss Hunt; it has your name upon it,” Olive -announced, trying to look entirely unconscious, although she and -Jean both guessed at once that the gift of the large box of -flowers to them had been made largely in order to include the -smaller offering inside it.</p> - -<p>Jessica, assuming a far-away expression of complete -indifference, took the flowers; they were lilies of the valley -encircled with violets and it was difficult for any girl to -conceal her delight in them.</p> - -<p>Watching her with her head slightly to one side and a -dangerously demure look on her face, Jean said suddenly, “I -wonder, Miss Hunt, how long you have known our Mr. Drummond? You -see, we are awfully fond of him and he has been very good to all -of us, especially to Jack. Sometimes I have wondered if he could -think you and Jack look a little bit alike? Olive and I think -you do. But we don’t know anything about Mr. Drummond except -that he is terribly rich and terribly good looking and very -kind. Can’t you tell us something more?”</p> - -<p>Jessica shook her head gravely. “I am afraid that is all I can -tell you about Peter, I mean Mr. Drummond, that is of any -importance. Just that he is rich and good looking and kind. He -is so rich that he has never done anything or been anything -else, and I have known him a great many years, since I was a -small girl and he was a big boy and we used to live near one -another in Washington Square, before my father died and we lost -some of our money.”</p> - -<p>“Well,” Jean returned reflectively, “it seems to me that it is a -good deal to be just rich and good looking and kind, for there -are lots of people who are not one of those three things.”</p> - -<p>And though Jessica was not feeling especially happy at the -moment, Jean’s words made her smile. “That is true, dear,” she -returned, “but I am afraid that I want a man to be more and to -mean more in this world than just that.” She was about to leave -the room when Olive put her hand on her arm. “Don’t go, Jessica, -Miss Hunt I mean,” she apologized, “but I so often think of you -as a girl like the rest of us. I want to talk to Jean about -something and I wish you to stay to help me make her behave -sensibly.”</p> - -<p>Still unsuspicious of what Olive had in mind, but realizing now -that it was important, else she would not have called in so many -persons to her assistance, Jean put down her flowers and coming -up to her friend placed one hand on each of her shoulders, -looking closely with her own autumn-toned brown eyes into her -friend’s darker ones.</p> - -<p>“Out with it, Olive Ralston. What on earth is it that you wish -me to do that requires so much persuasion?”</p> - -<p>And Olive, equally in earnest, likewise put her hands on Jean’s -shoulders, so that the two girls made an unconscious picture -illustrating the old proverb: “United we stand, divided we -fall.”</p> - -<p>“I want you, Jean, please not to be a goose,” Olive pleaded.</p> - -<p>Gay laughter rang out in response. “I knew, Olive, from the -first that you were going to ask me something I could not -grant,” Jean returned plaintively. “Has any one in this world -ever heard of a goose who chose to be one?”</p> - -<p>Her listeners could not help smiling, but Olive’s mood was too -intense for interruption. Without allowing Jean another -opportunity for a moment’s speech she began her request, -imploring her to join the Theta Society at once and not to put -it off a day longer than necessary. “For how, dear, can you do -me the least good by not belonging when the girls want you so -much and when if you don’t you may lose your chance at the -Junior election,” she ended.</p> - -<p>“And who, Olive, has been telling you that I am not already a -member of the Theta Society and that my chance for the -presidency will be influenced if I am not?” Jean inquired -angrily, although she did not glance toward any one for her -answer save Olive.</p> - -<p>But Gerry Ferrows was not in the least a coward, neither did she -feel in any sense a traitor either to Jean or to Olive, so now -she moved quietly forward.</p> - -<p>“I told Olive, Jean,” she answered, “and you may be angry with -me, but I have no intention of playing a sneak. For the life of -me I cannot see how it will hurt Olive for you to join the -Thetas without her and it will hurt you very much in your -election if you don’t. Olive is not going to be invited to -become a member if you stay out and you may lose the class -presidency if you are so obstinate.”</p> - -<p>Olive turned to Jessica Hunt. “Won’t you please tell Jean that -Gerry is perfectly right and that there is no other way of -looking at this matter?” she entreated. “She will just break my -heart if she does not, and I can’t see a bit of sense in her -position.”</p> - -<p>“I can,” Jessica answered briefly, “but I would rather not say -anything at all until I have heard just how Jean feels about -this whole business.”</p> - -<p>A grateful look was flashed at her, but Jean moved first toward -Gerry.</p> - -<p>“I am awfully sorry I was cross, Gerry,” she murmured, “because -of course I know you are being good as gold to me and only -acting for what you believe to be my good, but I don’t think -either you or Olive in the least understand my position. I am -not staying out of the Theta Society for Olive’s sake; I am -staying out for my own.”</p> - -<p>“But that can’t be possible,” both the other girls urged.</p> - -<p>“Gerry Ferrows,” Jean said, “I want you to do me a favor. I want -you to think quietly of what your opinion of another girl would -be (leaving me out of the case entirely) if that girl should win -out in a big matter like a class election by turning her back on -her best friend and more than her friend, her almost sister. And -you, Olive, suppose you had no part in this business at all, or -suppose you and I had changed places, what would you think of a -girl who would say to another group of girls, ‘Yes, thank you, I -am very grateful indeed to you for permitting me to enjoy your -superior society, even if you do think the people whom I love -and who belong to my family are not worthy of association with -you?’ I, of course, am humbly delighted to be a renegade and a -traitor if you will just let me play with you.” And Jean’s brown -eyes were flashing and her face was pale, yet she laughed a -little at her own fierceness.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I won’t pretend that I didn’t think at first of doing just -this thing that you girls are begging me to do,” she went on, -“and I argued it all out in my own mind that I wouldn’t hurt -Olive by joining the Theta’s, but I never could persuade myself -that such an action would not hurt me. See here, dear,” and -Jean’s usually merry lips were trembling as she spoke again -directly to Olive. “How could it injure you for me to forget our -friendship and happy years together at the ranch, for wouldn’t -you still be true and loyal and devoted to me? But poor little -me, and what would I be? Wouldn’t I have to live with myself day -time and night time knowing exactly what kind of a wretch I was? -No, sir-ee,” and here Jean struck a highly dramatic attitude, -pretending to slip her fingers inside an imaginary coat. “In the -words of that famous gentleman, whether Henry Clay, or Patrick -Henry, or Daniel Webster, I can’t remember, ‘I would rather be -right than President!’”</p> - -<p>“Bravo, Jean,” called Jessica’s voice from the doorway, “I -take off my hat to you! Gerry, Olive, please don’t argue this -question any further with Jean, for she has just said something -that we all know to be a fact: ‘To thine own self be true. Thou -canst not then be false to any man.’”</p> - -<p>Gerry cleared her throat, pulling at her short hair rather like -an embarrassed boy than a clever girl of seventeen. “All right, -Jean,” she conceded; “maybe you are right, and of course you are -if you feel as you say you do, so I shall not try to make you -change your opinion.”</p> - -<p>But Olive, equally miserable and unconvinced, standing alone in -the center of the room, said to Jean, “You are dreadfully good, -but I don’t care what you say, I simply can’t allow you to -sacrifice yourself in the way you are doing for me. I must find -out how to prevent it and I warn you now that I shall write to -Jack and have her ask you to change your mind.”</p> - -<p>Jean only laughed. “It would be so like old Jack to ask a fellow -to be a poor sport,” she teased, “but for goodness sake don’t -let us talk about this tedious subject any longer and do let us -put the kettle on and all take tea, for I have talked so much I -am nearly dying of thirst.”</p> - -<p>Around a small table the four girls placed themselves, the ranch -girls getting out their tins of cakes and chocolates kept for -just such occasions, and nothing more of a serious character was -said until they were all comfortably sipping their tea. And then -Jean turned to Olive.</p> - -<p>“Look here, Olive, I want to ask Gerry a question, if it won’t -hurt your feelings too much, and while Miss Hunt is here with us -it seems to me the best time to ask it. Gerry, of course we have -known for some time that there has been some gossip about Olive -going the rounds of the school, but we have never known who -started it nor just what the story is. Would you mind telling -us?”</p> - -<p>Instead of answering Gerry hesitated, her homely, kindly face -showing nervousness and discomfort.</p> - -<p>“Is the story just that Olive does not know who her parents are -and that we ranch girls found her several years ago with an -Indian woman and that she may be of part Indian blood?” Jean -continued inexorably.</p> - -<p>Gerry nodded her head. “Yes, and the story came originally -through the Harmons, I believe, though they meant no harm.”</p> - -<p>“Is that all the tale or has anything else been added?” her -questioner continued. And Gerry answered with her eyes on her -saucer, “Yes, that is all.”</p> - -<p>“Then please tell every girl at Primrose Hall that what they -have heard is perfectly true,” Jean blazed, although she was -trying to speak calmly. “I can see now that we have made a -mistake; it would have been better if we had been perfectly -candid about Olive’s past from the first. There never has been a -minute when we would have minded telling it, if any one of the -girls had come and asked us, but lately I have thought that some -extra story must have been hatched up about poor Olive and -joined to the true one, for I simply couldn’t believe that any -human beings could be so horrid and so stupid as the Primrose -Hall girls have been to Olive, unless they had been told -something perfectly dreadful about her. Well, I don’t think I -care a snap about being class president of such a set of girls,” -Jean added impolitely, forgetting one of her guests. “Olive -Ralston, I don’t believe you are any more an Indian than I am, -but I want to say just this one more thing and then I positively -promise to stop talking: For my part I would rather have good -red Indian blood in my veins than the kind of thin white blood -that must run in the veins of such a horrid set of snobs. Gerry, -dear, I do beg your pardon and of course I don’t mean you, but -if I hadn’t been allowed to speak this out loud, I should -certainly have exploded.”</p> - -<p>Gerry’s head dropped. “Well, perhaps I have belonged to the -snobs, too, Jean,” she answered truthfully, “but if Olive will -forgive me and make up, perhaps some day we may be friends.”</p> - -<p>Slowly the sitting-room door now opened and a languid figure, -clothed in a marvelous dressing gown of pale blue silk and lace, -with yellow hair piled high on its head, entered the room. “What -on earth is Jean preaching about?” the voice of no other person -than the youngest Miss Ralston inquired. “I have just been -across the hall with Mollie and Lucy Johnson and I declare she -has been talking steadily for an hour.”</p> - -<p>Jessica Hunt made some laughing explanation, but Olive and Jean -could only stare in amazement at Frieda. Where on earth had she -gotten so marvelous a kimono? It really looked like a stage -affair. But at this instant, beholding the violets, Frieda, -forgetting her grown-up manner for a moment, jumped at them. -“Aren’t they too beau-ti-ful?” she said like the small girl who -once had taken care of her own violet beds at The Rainbow Lodge.</p> - -<h2 id='chXV' class='d018'>CHAPTER XV<br/>THE DANGER OF WEALTH</h2> - -<p>The truth of the matter was that Frieda Ralston would have been -somewhat happier and certainly a great deal better off in many -respects could she now have turned back the pages of her -existence for a few months and been again that same little -yellow-haired girl who was the beloved of every man, woman and -child within the thousand acres of the Rainbow Ranch, for Frieda -had lately been getting into a kind of mischief that is of a -serious nature, whether practiced by a young girl or by very -much older persons. She had been spending far too much money.</p> - -<p>After the trip to New York and the purchase of the blue silk -gown and velvet coat a number of weeks before, the desire for -beautiful clothes awoke in Frieda. Remember that she was only a -Western ranch girl and had never dreamed of such splendors as -the New York shops afforded, neither did she have any very clear -idea of the real value of money. Because gold had been -discovered on their ranch and because Jack was sending her fifty -dollars as pin money each month, Frieda considered that their -wealth must be fabulous and so she had contracted the very -dangerous habit of buying whatever she wished without -considering the cost, and the way she managed to do this was by -making bills!</p> - -<p>Earlier in the season, when the girls had found it difficult to -go into town for every little purchase it became necessary for -them to make, Ruth had opened a charge account for the three -ranch girls at one of the best of the New York shops, but the -bills were expected to be sent to the girls and to be paid out -of their allowances. Jean and Olive had made only a few -necessary purchases, but though no one else knew of it, Frieda -had lately been buying with utter recklessness.</p> - -<p>Indeed, the gorgeous kimono which had just electrified the other -two ranch girls was only one of a number of articles that had -arrived that very afternoon and been delivered in the care of -Mollie Johnson. Hanging up in Mollie’s closet at the same -instant was an equally charming garment, almost of the same kind -as Frieda’s, save that it was pink and but lately presented by -Frieda to her best friend.</p> - -<p>So it would appear that even though Frieda might be keeping the -letter of the law in not speaking of their wealth at Primrose -Hall, she was certainly not obeying it in spirit, and indeed she -had broken her promise altogether on the afternoon when she and -Mollie had been alone together, while Olive and Jean were -drinking tea at “The Towers.”</p> - -<p>Not that she had meant to do this when Mollie came in; far from -it. The story had just leaked out quite innocently at first. For -Frieda naturally began the conversation with her friend by -telling her that Jean and Olive had gone to tea with the -Harmons, and then that they had learned to know the Harmons -because they had rented their ranch to them the summer before. -From the ranch the speaker traveled very naturally to the -Yellowstone and the story of Jack, told many times before, and -coming back again to the ranch ended with Mr. Harmon’s effort to -buy the Rainbow Mine.</p> - -<p>When this word “mine” popped out, Frieda had stopped suddenly, -but it was soul satisfying to observe how her friend Mollie’s -eyes had grown wider and bigger with admiration and surprise at -her words. “Why, Frieda Ralston,” Mollie had reproached at once, -“you don’t mean to tell me that you are an heiress as well as -everything else that is interesting! Why, you have let me think -that you were poor before, though I have wondered sometimes -about the lovely things you have been buying. Do please tell me -whether your mine is copper or silver or pure gold?”</p> - -<p>To Frieda’s credit it must be stated that when Mollie thus began -her very natural investigation of her story, she felt at once -both sorry and frightened. “It is a secret, Mollie,” she began; -“that is, I don’t see any sense in its being, but I have -promised Jack and Jean and Ruth Drew not to talk about our money -at Primrose Hall, since we would rather have our friends just -know us as ranch girls, but we really have a gold mine. Do you -see why I shouldn’t talk about it?”</p> - -<p>Earnestly Mollie shook her head.</p> - -<p>“Well, I suppose I shouldn’t, so long as I have promised,” -Frieda conceded; “but now I have told you of it without meaning -to, I am glad, for I do just want to talk about it with somebody -and you are my dearest friend and I wish you to know everything -about me.”</p> - -<p>Frieda might have said that she wished Mollie to know all the -nice things about her, for it really is not our faults that we -long to pour into the ears of our friends.</p> - -<p>The invalid, who had been stretched on the couch with a bad cold -for the past hour or so, now curled her feet up under her and -rested her chin on her hands. “Want me to tell you every single -thing about our mine?” she demanded. “It is quite like a fairy -story.”</p> - -<p>And of course there is nobody in the world (and certainly not -Mollie Johnson) who does not like to hear of the finding of a -mine.</p> - -<p>“Cross your heart and body that you’ll never betray me; say you -wish you may die if you do,” Frieda abjured. And promising -everything and making all the mystic signs necessary to eternal -secrecy, Mollie then had listened to the unfolding of the fairy -tale.</p> - -<p>Frieda had not really intended to make her story a fairy tale, -but she had no more idea of how much money the Rainbow Mine -produced than a baby, and of course with the telling of her tale -the size of the nuggets that Jim was getting out of the mine -each week naturally grew.</p> - -<p>“You see,” Frieda explained, warming with her subject, “we -simply don’t know how rich we are. Jim, our overseer at the -ranch, who now looks after our mine, says you never can tell at -first how much a mine may yield. Perhaps we may be millionaires -some day.”</p> - -<p>The word millionaire was an entirely new one in Frieda’s -vocabulary, which she had learned since coming to Primrose Hall, -but certainly it had a magnificent sound and made Mollie blink.</p> - -<p>“It sounds just too wonderful,” the little Southern girl sighed, -“and I do declare, Frieda, that if I didn’t love you more than -most anybody I should feel envious. We aren’t rich a bit; my -father is just a lawyer in Richmond and while we have a pretty -house and all that, why we have some other brothers and sisters, -and father says all he can afford to do is to let Lucy and me -have two years apiece at Primrose Hall. He can’t give us money -for the wonderful clothes you buy. Won’t I be proud if you can -make me a visit in the Christmas holidays to show you and your -lovely things to my friends!” And Mollie began twisting into -curls the ends of her Frieda’s yellow braids and looking up at -her with an even increased admiration.</p> - -<p>Such a rush of recklessness and affection then seized hold on -the youngest Miss Ralston, that without even discussing the -question with Mollie, she immediately arose from her couch and -rushing to her desk indited a letter to a New York firm asking -that the two kimonos be sent her at once with slippers and -stockings to match. For her beloved Mollie was just too sweet -and sympathetic for anything and quite unlike adopted sisters -and relations, who scolded and put on airs when one’s affairs -went a bit wrong. Frieda would have liked at the instant of -writing her letter to have poured all her wealth at her friend’s -feet, but all that she could do more was to invite her to come -into town the next week to be her guest at the matinee and lunch -and to help her make a few more purchases.</p> - -<p>For Frieda’s December bill had not yet arrived and her check -had, and so for the time being, like many another person, she -felt fairly well off, although her allowance for the past two -months had melted away like wax without her being able to pay -back a single cent of the money to either Jean or Olive, which -they had advanced to help with her first extravagance, the blue -silk dress and velvet coat.</p> - -<p>One of the subjects that a great many people discuss, with a -good deal more money at their disposal than Frieda had at -present, is the way that five-dollar bills have of disappearing -in New York City. So by the time Frieda had paid for three -tickets to the matinee, as the girls were of course compelled to -bring a chaperon into town with them, and three lunches at a -fashionable restaurant, there was so little of her money left -out of her original amount that again she was obliged to do some -charging on her account, in order to get the few more things -that she and Mollie decided might be needed in case she paid the -visit in Richmond toward the close of December.</p> - -<p>On the way back to Primrose Hall, however, seated on the train -and feeling a bit weary, Frieda wished that she had not spent -this extra money. Now she wouldn’t be able to pay her debts -until January, and what with Christmas coming, there would be so -many presents for others that she would wish to buy! So once -Frieda sighed, but when Mollie, giving her a hug, demanded to -know what worried her, she would not say. For how confess that -money matters were worrying her but a few days after the time -when she had announced herself as an heiress? Of course Jack and -Ruth would see that she was supplied with extra money at -Christmas time, if they should consent to let her make the trip -south, and out of this amount she would certainly save enough to -pay her bills, without having to confess her extravagances. For -Frieda knew that Jack and Ruth would both be angry and ashamed -of her for breaking her promise and for buying things which she -did not really need.</p> - -<h2 id='chXVI' class='d018'>CHAPTER XVI<br/>ELECTION DAY</h2> - -<p>The day for the election of the president of the Junior Class -had arrived at last. Lessons were over at noon and from three -o’clock until six in the afternoon Jessica Hunt and Miss Sterne -would remain in the library at Primrose Hall watching over the -ballot box. Immediately after six the box would be opened, the -ballots counted and the choice of the Juniors announced.</p> - -<p>For December had come with her white frosts and cold, brilliant -days and the fields about Primrose Hall were sere and brown. Now -and then in the past few weeks a light snow had fallen and the -shore waters of the Hudson River would then be trimmed with a -fine fringe of ice. Once the election was over the Primrose Hall -students would be making plans for the Christmas holidays, but -until then nothing else, not even home and family, appeared of -so great importance.</p> - -<p>Do not think because Gerry’s appeal to Olive to save Jean had -gone astray that she had given up the fight for her friend’s -cause. Indeed, like many another brave campaigner, she had only -worked the harder, rallying Jean’s friends closer around her, -exhorting her enemies and trying to persuade the girls on the -fence that there was no real point in their antagonism toward -Olive. And in all the efforts Gerry had made she had had an able -lieutenant in Margaret Belknap, Jean’s other devoted friend.</p> - -<p>For herself Jean could do little electioneering, realizing that -unless her classmates desired her to represent them by reason of -the character she had already established among them, nothing -she could do or say at this late day should influence them. And -Jean had also never wavered from the attitude she had taken in -regard to Olive on the afternoon of their final discussion of -the subject. She had not needed that her resolution be -strengthened, but if she had, letters from Ruth Drew and Jack -Ralston would certainly have accomplished it. For Olive, true to -her threat, had written them the entire situation, begging that -Jean be persuaded from the error of her ways. Instead of the -reply she hoped for, Ruth and Jack had both emphatically -declared Jean’s position the only possible one.</p> - -<p>All the morning in the hours just before the election Jean had -been conscious that Olive’s eyes were fixed on her whenever -their presence in one of the class rooms made it possible. Her -expression was so wistful and apologetic that Jean began to care -more for her own success on Olive’s account than her own. So as -soon as luncheon was over and three o’clock had come around, -slipping her arm through her adopted sister’s, she drew her -along the hall toward the library door.</p> - -<p>“Come on, Olive, child, and cast your vote for me and then let -us go upstairs and stay hidden away until the election is over. -Then Gerry and Margaret will let us know the result. If I were a -really high-minded person I suppose I should now vote for my -rival, Miss Graham, but as I can’t bring myself up to that -point, I’ll just slip in a piece of paper for old Gerry.”</p> - -<p>Ten minutes after this conversation Jean and Olive were in their -own sitting room for the entire afternoon, having placed a sign -outside announcing that no one could be admitted. Of course both -ranch girls were excited and nervous, but of the two Olive was -plainly the more affected, for while Jean talked and laughed in -a perfectly natural fashion, she was pale and silent and -oftentimes on the verge of tears.</p> - -<p>The day was cold and lovely and outside the sun shone on the -bare upturned branches of the trees and on the broad bosom of -the earth.</p> - -<p>“Silly child,” Jean began, arranging her paper and ink on the -writing table before one of their windows, “why should you -behave as though the question of my election was the only -important thing in the world. On a day like this I only feel -desperately homesick for Jack and the old ranch. What wouldn’t I -give if we were all there to-day and just starting out on a -long, hard ride? Sometimes I am so desperate about never seeing -Jack that I don’t know what to do. I think I will write to Jim -and to Ralph Merrit this afternoon, for it will help to make the -time pass faster than anything else. I am afraid I have treated -Ralph rather badly, as I promised to write him often and have -only written twice. Then I want to ask Jim if he is really -coming east to see how Jack is getting on. I wonder if he will -hate to see Ruth again or like it? One never can tell about a -person in love.”</p> - -<p>Perhaps Jean’s thought of her old friends and affairs at the -Rainbow Ranch may have had a cheering influence upon her, for no -sooner had she put her pen to the paper than apparently all -worry and suspense left her and she scratched away rapidly and -clearly for several hours.</p> - -<p>But poor Olive found no such distraction or solace; indeed, she -kept up such a restless and unnecessary moving about the room -that at any other time Jean most certainly would Lave scolded. -First she tried studying her Shakespeare, since she was making a -special effort to succeed in the Shakespeare class, and before -coming east to school had read only a few plays with Ruth and -the ranch girls in the big living room at the Lodge. But not the -most thrilling historic drama nor the most delightful comedy by -William Shakespeare could to-day take her mind from the one idea -that engrossed it. After half an hour of merely pretending to -read, she flung her book down on the floor, saying petulantly: -“Tiresome stuff! I wonder what ever made me think for an instant -I could stand any chance of getting the Shakespeare prize?”</p> - -<p>Jean smiled. “Oh, I suppose, Olive, because Ruth and all of us -thought you had a lot of talent for reciting and acting and you -dearly love to read and study at most times. But why don’t you -go out for a walk, you can find Frieda somewhere around -downstairs and make her go with you. I don’t want to.”</p> - -<p>“And I don’t want to either and won’t,” Olive answered with a -good deal more temper than usual with her, and flying into her -own room, she banged the door behind her. Rummaging about for -some occupation, she came across a piece of sewing which she had -once started at the Lodge, some white silk cut in the shape of a -round cap to be covered over with small white pearl beads.</p> - -<p>Slipping back once more into the sitting room, Olive found a low -stool by the fire and there tried to see whether sewing would -have a more soothing influence upon her than reading for the -two more hours that had somehow to be disposed of. Yes, sewing -on this occasion was more distracting than reading, for very -soon Olive’s fingers worked automatically while her brain -began to concern itself with interesting and puzzling ideas. -The many hours which she had spent alone at Primrose Hall had -not been wholly unprofitable—lonely hours need never be unless -we choose to make them so—but Olive perhaps had more to think of -and to ponder over than most girls of her age who have not led -such eventful lives.</p> - -<p>After her afternoon call at “The Towers” and her conversation -later with Miss Winthrop, Olive had been reading all the books -in the school library that she could find, which might help her -explain the curious experience—confided to no one—through which -she had passed that afternoon. But it was not just this one -experience that had puzzled and worried Olive, for many strange -fancies, impressions, memories, she knew not what to call them, -had been drifting into her mind since her first sight of that -white house on the hill on the morning after her arrival at -Tarry dale. The ideas had no special connection with anything -that was definite, but Olive was lately beginning to believe -that she could recall dim ideas and events having no connection -with the years she had spent in the Indian tent with old Laska. -But why had these far-off memories not assailed her in the two -years at the Rainbow Ranch? Perhaps then the recollection of -Laska, of her son Josef, who had treated her with such an odd -mixture of respect and cruelty, of the Indian people about her -whom she had so disliked, had been too close, too omnipresent in -her mind. Had she needed to come far away from the West and its -associations to feel that she had come home? No, it was -impossible, for Olive felt sure that she had never been east -before in her life.</p> - -<p>Finally the clock struck five and then half-past and at last -six.</p> - -<p>Jean, some moments before, had ceased writing and now sat calmly -folding up her pile of letters, placing them in their respective -envelopes. She looked tired and perhaps a trifle pale but -composed. At last she got up from her chair and crossing the -floor knelt down in front of Olive, taking the piece of sewing -from her cold fingers.</p> - -<p>“Olive dear,” she said unexpectedly, “you are looking positively -ill from thinking of something or other and worrying over me. -For both our sakes I wish that Jack could be with us this -afternoon just for the next hour. I know I have not been elected -the Junior president. I never have really expected to be, but -just as I sat there writing about half an hour ago I knew I had -not been. Now see here, Olive, I have been thinking that I have -been defeated for more than thirty minutes and yet look at me! -Do I look heartbroken or as if I were very deeply disappointed?” -And Jean smiled quietly and serenely at her companion. “Promise -me that when the girls come in in a few minutes to tell me I -have not been elected, that you will take things sensibly and -not think that you have had anything to do with my failure.”</p> - -<p>Olive shook her head. “How can I promise such a thing, Jean, -when I know perfectly well it isn’t true,” she answered, vainly -attempting to hide the fact that she was trembling with -excitement and that her ears were strained forward to catch the -first noise of footsteps coming toward their door.</p> - -<p>Sighing, Jean continued, “Oh, you silly child, what shall I say -or do with you? Don’t you know if the girls had really wanted me -for president nothing and no one could have stood in my way?”</p> - -<p>The shove which Olive gave her, slight though it was, nearly -made Jean tumble backwards. “Why do you talk as though you knew -positively you had not been elected, Jean Bruce, when you really -know absolutely nothing about it. I am sorry I pushed you, but I -thought I heard some one coming down the hall.”</p> - -<p>As Olive had gotten to her feet, Jean now arose also. No one had -appeared to interrupt them.</p> - -<p>“I know by this time that I have not been elected,” Jean said, -“because it must now be some little time after six o’clock and -Miss Sterne and Jessica could never have taken so long a time as -this to count the few ballots of the Junior class.”</p> - -<p>However, there was no doubt at this instant of noises out in the -hall approaching nearer and nearer the ranch girls’ sitting -room.</p> - -<p>It was Olive who rushed to the door and fairly tore it open, -while Jean waited calmly in the center of the room.</p> - -<p>Outside were Gerry and Margaret Belknap, Frieda and Lucy and -Mollie Johnson, and one look at the five faces told the waiting -girls the truth. Coming in, Margaret flung her arms about Jean -and Gerry took a farm clasp of Olive’s hand.</p> - -<p>“I never would have believed it in the world!” she exclaimed.</p> - -<h2 id='chXVII' class='d018'>CHAPTER XVII<br/>CONGRATULATIONS</h2> - -<p>By this time the usually self-contained Margaret was weeping -bitterly in Jean’s arms, while she patted her reassuringly on -the back. Gerry looked utterly exhausted, her hair was in a -perfect tumble and a smut ornamented one of her cheeks. Frieda -had turned toward the wall and Lucy and Mollie Johnson each had -an arm about her.</p> - -<p>“Well, girls, the game is up, isn’t it?” Jean spoke first, but -Olive simply would not accept what her eyes had already told -her.</p> - -<p>“It isn’t true, Jean hasn’t been defeated, has she Gerry?” she -entreated, squeezing the hand that held hers.</p> - -<p>“Winifred Graham has just been elected president of the Junior -class at Primrose Hall for the coming year!” Gerry announced -stoically, and then there was a sudden sound of weeping from all -parts of the sitting room.</p> - -<p>“Why, goodness gracious, girls, don’t take things like this,” -Jean insisted, being the only dry-eyed person on the scene. -“Margaret dear, you are positively wetting my shirtwaist. Of -course, I am sorry not to have been elected, but I’m not -disappointed, as I haven’t thought lately that I could be. And -please, this isn’t anybody’s funeral.” Then Jean kissed Margaret -and walked over to shake hands with Gerry.</p> - -<p>“You have both worked terribly hard for me and I never can cease -to be grateful to you, but now that things are all over do let -us show the girls that we can take defeat gracefully anyhow. -Please everybody stop crying at once and come on with me to -shake hands and offer my congratulations to Winifred Graham. -Wouldn’t we look a sorry set if the next time she beheld us we -should all appear to have been washed away in tears? The first -person that looks cheerful in this room shall have a five-pound -box of candy from me in the morning.”</p> - -<p>Of course Jean’s suggestion that Winifred Graham should not -learn the bitterness with which they accepted their defeat had -an immediate effect, as she had guessed it would, upon Gerry and -Margaret. Both girls stiffened up at once.</p> - -<p>“Jean is perfectly right,” Margaret immediately agreed, “for it -will never do in the world for us to make a split in our Junior -class just because things have not gone as we wanted. Lots of -the girls did vote for Jean and if we take our defeat bravely, -why Winifred Graham and her set can’t crow over us half so much -as if we show our chagrin.”</p> - -<p>Gerry made such a funny face over the prospect of Winifred’s -crowing that everybody was able to summon a faint laugh.</p> - -<p>“Come on at once then, let us go and offer our congratulations -to Winifred while we have our courage screwed to the sticking -point. For my part I would rather do my duty and remember my -manners without delay.”</p> - -<p>And Jean opened the door, believing that all her friends would -follow her. Once in the hall, however, she soon discovered that -Olive was missing and going back called out softly: “Come on, -Olive, and help us congratulate the winner. You wouldn’t have us -show an ugly spirit now, would you?”</p> - -<p>But Olive quietly shook her head. And as Jean was by no means -sure how Winifred might receive any attention from Olive, she -forbore to insist on her accompanying them. Should Winifred be -disagreeable under the present circumstances Jean was not -perfectly sure of being able to keep cool; and of all things she -must not show temper at the present moment. Besides, her few -minutes’ conversation with Olive, before the coming of the girls -to announce her defeat, had evidently borne good fruit, for -Olive did not appear particularly distressed at the result of -the election. After a first moment of breaking down she had -entirely regained her self-control. Truly Jean was delighted at -seeing her so sensible.</p> - -<p>One, two, three minutes passed after the other girls’ departure -and an entire silence reigned in the room, Olive standing -perfectly still. Had Jean been pleased because she had accepted -her failure so sensibly? Sensibly! why Olive had not spoken -simply because she could not trust herself to speak. She had not -cried, because in the first moments of humiliation and regret, -there are but few people who can at once summon tears. Of -course, Olive was taking the affair too seriously and Jean’s -view was the only reasonable one, but she had not been defeated -herself, she had stood in the way of her friend’s victory and -this last blow had come to her after months of coldness and -neglect on the part of her classmates, which she had borne -bravely and in silence. Now Olive was through with courage and -with silence.</p> - -<p>At last she seemed to have made up her mind to some action, for -the relief of tears came. Going into her own room, Olive flung -herself face downward on the bed, giving herself up to the -luxury of this weakness. When she arose her face wore a look of -unusual determination. Whatever her fight, it was ended now. -First she walked over to her bureau and there unlocking a small -iron safe took out a sandalwood box, a box which all who have -followed her history, know to be the single possession she had -rescued from the Indian woman before running away from her for -the last time.</p> - -<p>The girl carried her few treasures to her desk and before -beginning the letter she plainly intended writing, she picked -them up one by one, looking at them closely, the silver cross -and chain worn on the evening of the dance, the small book only -a few inches in size, and the watch with the picture of a -woman’s face in it, the picture that Ruth and the ranch girls -had always believed to look like Olive.</p> - -<p>At the face she looked longest, but after a few moments this -also was laid aside for the work she had in mind.</p> - -<p>“DEAR RUTH” (her letter read):</p> - -<p>“I write to tell you that I am not willing to remain longer as a -student at Primrose Hall. I am sorry to trouble you with this -news and if Jack is too ill to be worried, please do not mention -this to her. I have tried very hard to bear my difficulties here -and truly I would have gone on without complaining, for I can -live without the friendship of other girls so long as you and -the ranch girls care for me, but what I cannot bear is to be a -drawback to Jean and Frieda and to stand in their way as I do -here. I do not know what to ask you to do with me, for I cannot -go back to live among the Indians until I know more than I do -now and am able to teach them. Can I not go to some little -school where the girls will not care so much about my past? But -if you are not willing for me to do this, and I know how little -I am worthy of all you and the ranch girls have done for me, you -must not mind if I find some work to do, so that I can make my -living. For no matter what happens, I can remain no longer at -Primrose Hall.</p> - -<p class='d022'>“With all love, OLIVE.”</p> - -<p>And when the letter was finished Olive, whose head was hot and -aching, rested it for a moment on the desk upon her folded arms. -When she lifted it, because of a noise nearby, Miss Katherine -Winthrop was standing only a few feet away.</p> - -<p>“I beg your pardon, I knocked at your door, Olive, but you must -have failed to hear me and then I came inside, for I wanted to -talk to you.”</p> - -<p>The fact that Miss Katherine Winthrop in some remarkable fashion -seemed always to know, almost before it happened, every event -that transpired at Primrose Hall, with the causes that led to -it, was well recognized by her pupils. So of course she now knew -not only that Winifred Graham had been elected to the Junior -Class presidency, but the particular reason why Jean had been -defeated.</p> - -<p>“I am sorry to have you see that I have been crying, Miss -Winthrop,” Olive said, knowing that there was no use in trying -to disguise the truth. “I know you think it very foolish and -stupid of me.”</p> - -<p>Miss Winthrop sat down in a big chair, beckoning the young girl -to a stool near her feet. “Well, I suppose I do usually -discourage tears,” she answered with a half smile; “at least, I -know my girls think I am very unsympathetic about them. But I -suppose now and then we women are just obliged to weep, being -made that way. What I want to talk to you about is Jean’s defeat -at the election this afternoon. You feel responsible for it, -don’t you?”</p> - -<p>Why be surprised at Miss Winthrop’s knowledge of her feelings, -as apparently she knew everything? So Olive merely bowed her -head.</p> - -<p>“I want to ask you to tear up the letter which you have just -written asking your friends to let you leave Primrose Hall -because of what has happened.”</p> - -<p>Miss Winthrop’s eyes had not apparently been turned for an -instant toward the desk on which her letter lay, and even so she -could not have seen inside a sealed envelope. Olive stared, -almost gasped. “How could you know, Miss Winthrop?”</p> - -<p>Miss Winthrop put her hand on Olive’s dark hair, so black that -it seemed to have strange colors of its own in it. “I didn’t -know about your letter, dear, I only guessed that after the -experience you have passed through this afternoon, with what has -gone before, you were almost sure to have written it. And I want -to ask you to stay on at Primrose Hall.”</p> - -<p>Olive shrank away, shaking her head quietly. “I have made up my -mind,” she returned; “I have been thinking of it before and now -I am quite determined.”</p> - -<p>A moment’s silence followed and then in a different voice, as -though she were not speaking directly to the girl before her, -Miss Winthrop went on. “I believe there are but three types of -people in this world, be they men or women, that I cannot -endure,—a coward, a quitter and a snob. Unfortunately I have -discovered that there are among the girls here in my school a -good many snobs. I guessed it before you ranch girls came to me -and now that I have seen what you have been made to suffer, I am -very sure. But, Olive, I want you to help me teach my girls the -weakness, the ugliness, the foolishness of snobbery. And can you -help me, if though not a snob, you are one or both of the other -two things I have mentioned?”</p> - -<p>“A coward and a quitter?” Olive repeated slowly, wondering at -the older woman’s choice of these two words and yet knowing that -no others could express her meaning so forcibly.</p> - -<p>“But I would not be going away on my own account, but for the -sake of Jean and Frieda,” she defended.</p> - -<p>“I think not. You may just now be under that impression, but if -you think things over, does it not come back at last to you? You -feel you have endured the slights and coldness of your -classmates without flinching and it has hurt. Yes, but not like -the hurt that comes to you with the feeling that your presence -in the school is reflecting on Frieda and Jean. They do not wish -you to go away, Olive, they will be deeply sorry if you do and -whatever harm you may think you have done them has already been -done and can’t be undone. No, dear, if you go away from Primrose -Hall now it is because of your own wounded feelings, because -your pride which you hide way down inside you has been touched -at last!”</p> - -<p>Miss Winthrop said nothing more, but turned and looked away from -her listener.</p> - -<p>For Olive was trying now to face the issue squarely and needed -no further influence from the outside. By and by she put her -small hand on Miss Winthrop’s firm, large one. “I won’t go,” she -replied. “I believe I <i>have</i> been thinking all this time -about myself without knowing it, You made me think of Jack when -you spoke of a coward and a quitter, for they are the kind of -words she would have been apt to use.”</p> - -<p>Miss Winthrop laughed. “Oh, I have been a girl in my day too, -Olive, and I haven’t forgotten all I learned. Indeed, I believe -I learned those two words and what they stood for from a boy -friend of mine long years ago. Now I want to talk to you about -yourself.” The woman leaned over, and putting her two fingers -under Olive’s sharply pointed chin, she tilted her head back so -that she could see in sharp outline every feature of the girl’s -face.</p> - -<p>“Olive, your friend Miss Drew told me on bringing you here to -Primrose Hall what she and your friends knew of your curious -story, of their finding you with an old Indian woman with whom -you had apparently lived a great many years. I believe that the -woman claimed you as her daughter, but though no one believed -her, your Western friends have never made any investigation -about your past, fearing that this Indian woman might again -appear to claim you.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” the girl gratefully agreed.</p> - -<p>“Well, Olive, I have seen a great deal of the world and very -many people in it and since the idea that you are an Indian -worries you so much, I want to assure you I do not believe for a -moment you have a trace of Indian blood in you. Except that you -have black hair and your skin is a little darker than -Anglo-Saxon peoples, there is nothing about you to carry a -remote suggestion of the Indian race. Why, dear, your features -are exquisitely thin and fine, your eyes are large. The idea is -too absurd! I wonder if you could tell me anything about -yourself and if you would like me to try to find out something -of your history. Perhaps I might know better how to go about it -than your Western friends.”</p> - -<p>For answer Olive rose and going over to her desk, returned with -the sandalwood box containing her three treasures. “This is all -I have of my own,” she said, first putting the box into Miss -Winthrop’s lap and then tearing up the letter just written to -Ruth, before sitting down again on her stool near the older -woman. Gratefully she touched her lips to Miss Winthrop’s hand, -saying: “I would like very much to tell you all I can recall -about myself, for lately queer ideas and impressions have come -to me and I believe I can remember a time and people in my life, -whom I must have known long before old Laska and the Indian -days.”</p> - -<h2 id='chXVIII' class='d018'>CHAPTER XVIII<br/>FANCIES OR MEMORIES?</h2> - -<p>Miss Winthrop nodded. “Tell me everything you can recall and -keep back nothing for fear it is not the whole truth or that I -will not understand. Whoever your father and mother may have -been, you certainly have ancestors of whom you need not be -ashamed.”</p> - -<p>Then Olive, clasping her fingers together over her knee with her -eyes on the floor, began to speak. And first she told the story -of the Indian village and of Laska and how she could not recall -a time when she had not spoken English as white people speak it, -then of her years at the Government school for Indians taught by -a white woman, who had always been her friend and assured her -that she was not of the same race as the Indian children about -her. But in proof of this she had nothing save the ornaments in -the sandalwood box, which, in the interest of her story, Miss -Winthrop had not yet examined.</p> - -<p>Yes, and one thing more Olive could remember. Through all the -years she had lived with the Indian woman there had come to old -Laska in the mail each month a certain sum of money, large -enough to keep her and her son in greater wealth and idleness -than any of the other Indians in the village enjoyed. But from -what place this money had come nor who had sent it Olive did not -know, and so to her this fact did not seem of great value, -although Miss Winthrop’s face had shown keen interest on hearing -it.</p> - -<p>“Was there not a postmark on the outside of the letter, Olive?” -she demanded.</p> - -<p>Clasping her fingers over her eyes in a way she had when -puzzled, the girl waited a moment. “Why, yes, there was,” she -said slowly. “How strange and stupid of me never to have thought -of this before! The postmark was New York! But New York meant -nothing to me in those days, Miss Winthrop, except just a name -on a map at school. You cannot guess how strange and ignorant I -was until the ranch girls found me and began teaching me a few -things that were not to be found in school books. But no one -could have sent money to Laska for me from New York. I must have -been mistaken and this money did not come for me as I have -always hoped. Laska must have received it for some other -reason.” And then Olive, either from weariness or -disappointment, stopped in her narrative, not as though she had -told all that she knew, but because she could not quite make up -her mind to go on.</p> - -<p>A few moments of quiet waiting and then Miss Winthrop spoke -again:</p> - -<p>“The money was sent Laska for your care, Olive, I am sure of it. -But this story of the Indian woman and your life there you have -told to other persons, to the ranch girls and your chaperon, -Miss Drew. What I most wish you to confide to me are the ideas -and impressions of the years when you may not always have lived -in the Indian village.”</p> - -<p>Sadly the girl shook her head. “Miss Winthrop, the fancies that -I have had lately have been too ridiculous for me to feel I can -confide even to you, kind as you are to me. For how can it be -possible that a human being can remember things at one time of -their life and not have known them always? Why, since my arrival -at Primrose Hall, do I seem to recall impressions that I did not -have at the Rainbow Ranch?”</p> - -<p>The older woman did not reply at once, as she was pondering over -the question just asked her. “Olive,” she returned slowly, “I -believe I can in a measure understand this problem that troubles -you. Half the memories that we have in the world come through -association. It is the sight of an object that recalls something -in our past which brings that past back to us. Now when you were -living at the Rainbow Ranch the memory of your life with Laska, -the fear that she might take you away from your friends, was so -close to you that you thought of little else. But now you are in -an entirely different place, the fear of the woman has gone from -you; it is but natural, I think, that new and different -associations should bring to life new memories. What is there -that you have been recalling in these past few months?”</p> - -<p>And still the girl hesitated. “It is so absurd of me,” she -murmured at last, “but one of my most foolish ideas is that I -have seen the big, white house where Madame Van Mater lives at -some time before. Of course, I know I have not seen it, for I -have never been in this part of the world before. But the other -day, standing at the window, I suddenly remembered a description -of the Sleepy Hollow scenery, which I must have read and learned -long years ago, though I never thought of it until that moment.”</p> - -<p>Miss Winthrop’s face was now more puzzled than the speaker’s by -reason of her deeper knowledge of life. “Go on,” she insisted -quietly. “Can you recall anything more about the house and do -you think that you ever saw Madame Van Mater before the other -day?” The strange note in her questioner’s voice was lost upon -the girl at her feet.</p> - -<p>“No, I never saw Madame Van Mater in my life and I do not like -her,” Olive returned quickly. “The furniture inside the house -did not seem familiar, only the outside and the tower room and -those ridiculous iron dogs guarding the front door. But I want -to tell you something that seems to me important—of course, my -impression about Madame Van Mater’s home is sheer madness. What -I really can remember is this—” Olive stopped for a moment as -though trying to be very careful of only telling the truth. “I -remember that when I was a very little girl I must have traveled -about from one place to another a great deal, for I do not think -I ever had a home nor do I remember my mother. My father, lately -I have believed I have a real impression of him,” and Olive’s -eyes, turned toward her teacher, were big with mystery and hope. -“He must have been very tall, or at least he seemed so to me -then, and I went about with him everywhere. Finally we came to a -place where we stayed a much longer time and there Laska first -must have come to take care of us. I think now that my father -must have died in that place, for I can not remember anything -more of him and ever afterwards I lived on with Laska and the -Indians. That isn’t very much to know and of nothing am I -perfectly certain,” Olive ended with a sigh, seeing that Miss -Winthrop had not spoken and supposing therefore that she -considered her idle fancies of little account.</p> - -<p>The older woman now sat with one elbow on the arm of her chair, -her hand shading her eyes so that it was impossible to catch the -expression of her face. Whatever idea had come to her with the -hearing of her pupil’s strange story, she did not now mean to -reveal.</p> - -<p>“It is all very interesting, Olive,” she answered, quietly, “and -surely very puzzling, so that I am not surprised at your putting -but little faith in your own recollections, for I cannot see any -possible connection between your travels in the West as a little -child and your idea that you had seen some old house like ‘The -Towers.’ But there is one person who can tell us something of -your early history without doubt—and that person is this woman -Laska! She kept you with her all those years for money and -probably pretends that you are with her still, so that she -continues to receive the same money each month, else she would -have made another effort to get hold of you. Well, if the love -of money has made the Indian woman keep your secret, perhaps an -offer of more money will make her tell it. We will not speak of -this, Olive dear, to any one in the world at present, but I will -write to your old teacher at the Government school in the Indian -village and perhaps through her aid we may reach this Laska.”</p> - -<p>Olive made no answer, for to have expressed ordinary thanks in -the face of so great interest and kindness would have been too -inadequate. What could she say? Besides, Miss Winthrop was now -looking at her few treasures in the sandalwood box.</p> - -<p>“I have seen your cross and chain before,” she said, letting it -slip through her fingers as once more she examined its curious -workmanship, “but this little book—why, it is written in Spanish -and is a Spanish prayer book.” Then for a second time Miss -Winthrop put her hand under Olive’s chin, studying the unusual -outline of her face. “I wonder if you are a Spanish girl, child, -for that would explain why you are darker than most Americans -and why you have so foreign an appearance?”</p> - -<p>Olive, silently opening the watch, lifted the picture inside it -to her friend’s gaze.</p> - -<p>Miss Winthrop looking at the picture nodded, and then began -turning the watch over in her hand; strangely enough, not so -deeply interested in the photograph as in the watch itself. -“This watch was sold here in New York, Olive, and I have seen -one exactly like it years ago.” Her voice trembled a little and -she seemed fatigued. “But don’t let us talk of this any more -this evening, as it is nearly dinner time. I am going to ask you -to trust me with these trinkets of yours, as I want to study -them more closely.”</p> - -<p>And without another word Miss Winthrop quietly arose and left -the room.</p> - -<h2 id='chXIX' class='d018'>CHAPTER XIX<br/>NEW YEAR’S EVE</h2> - -<p>Several weeks had passed since the interview between Olive and -Miss Winthrop on the evening of Jean’s defeat, and now the -Christmas holidays at Primrose Hall were well nigh over. For -twelve days, save for Olive and its owner, the great house had -been empty of all its other pupils and teachers; now in another -thirty-six hours they would be returning to take up their work -again.</p> - -<p>The time had been long and lonely for Olive, of course, for Jean -and gone into New York to visit Gerry Ferrows and Margaret -Belknap and Frieda had departed south with the two Johnson -sisters. The ranch girls had not wished to leave Olive alone and -each one of them had offered to remain at school with her, but -this sacrifice could hardly be accepted because Olive had made -no friends who had wished her to be with them. Jessica Hunt -would have liked to have had Olive visit her, but she had no -home of her own and her sister’s apartment was crowded with -babies; Margaret and Gerry, who had been kinder since their -common disappointment, had invited her for week ends, but these -Invitations Olive had quietly declined. All she would have cared -for in a trip to New York was an opportunity to see Jack, and -this privilege was still denied the ranch girls.</p> - -<p>Of course, Ruth had been informed that Olive was to be left -alone at Primrose Hall with only Miss Winthrop as her companion -during the holidays, and one afternoon had hurried out to see -what arrangements could be made for her pleasure. However, after -a serious half hour’s talk with Miss Winthrop and a shorter -consultation with Olive, she had gone away again content to -leave the fourth ranch girl in wiser hands than her own.</p> - -<p>And though the two weeks may have been long and lonely for -Olive, yet they had never been dull, for each moment she was -hoping and praying to hear some news from old Laska and each -hour being drawn into closer intimacy with Miss Winthrop. For -now that the discipline of school life had been relaxed, the -principal of Primrose Hall showed herself to her favorite pupil -in a light that would have surprised most of her students. She -was no longer unsympathetic or stern, but treated Olive with an -affection that was almost like a mother’s. Each evening in her -private study before a beautiful open fire the woman and girl -would sit close together under the shadow of “The Winged -Victory,” reading aloud or talking of the great world of men and -cities about which Miss Winthrop knew so much and Olive so -little. But of the secret of the girl’s past her new friend did -not encourage her to talk for the present.</p> - -<p>“If you have told me all you know, Olive, then it is better for -us not to go into this subject again until we hear from the -Indian woman, and then should she fail us, I must try to think -of some other plan to help you.”</p> - -<p>And so one by one the holidays went by, as days will go under -every human circumstance, and yet no word had come from Laska, -though it was now the afternoon of New Year’s eve. Olive had -been alone all morning and unusually depressed, for although she -had not heard what she so eagerly waited to hear, she had -learned that the surgeons had at last decided an operation must -be performed on Jack. Ruth had written her that there was -supposed to be some pressure from a broken bone on Jack’s spine -that made it impossible for her to walk, and although the -operation might not be absolutely successful, Jack herself had -insisted that it should be tried.</p> - -<p>The snow had been falling all morning and the neighborhood of -Sleepy Hollow had never been more beautiful, not even in its -Indian summer mists. If Olive could go for a walk she felt that -she might brace up, for certainly she did not intend to let -Frieda and Jean find her in the dumps on their return from their -holidays. Miss Winthrop would probably go out with her, as she -had been attending to school matters all morning, seeing that -the house was made ready for the return of her students, and -Olive felt the fresh air might also do her good. They had eaten -lunch together, but Miss Winthrop had not been seen since.</p> - -<p>While Olive dispatched one of the maids to look for her friend -she herself went into the rooms where she had been accustomed to -find her in the past two weeks, but neither in her study, nor in -the library, nor in the drawing rooms, could she be found and by -and by the maid came back to tell Olive that Miss Winthrop had -gone out and would probably not return till tea time. She had -left word that Olive must not be lonely and that she must -entertain herself in any way she desired. Well, Olive knew of -but one thing she wished to do: she would go for a walk and she -would go alone. School was not in session, so school rules were -no longer enforced, and by this time Olive had become thoroughly -familiar with the nearby neighborhood.</p> - -<p>Instead of a hundred-dollar check, which had been Jack’s -Christmas present to both Jean and Frieda in order that they -might have their Christmas visits to friend’s, she had given -Olive a brown fur coat and cap. Olive had not worn them before, -but now, with the snow falling and the thought of Jack in her -mind, she put them both on. For a minute she glanced at herself -in her mirror before leaving the house and though her vanity was -less than most girls’, she could not help a slight thrill of -pleasure on seeing her own reflection in the mirror. Somehow her -new furs were uncommonly becoming, as they are to most people. -The soft brown of the cap showed against the blue-black darkness -of her hair and in her olive cheeks there was a bright color -which grew brighter the longer and faster she trudged through -the lightly falling snow.</p> - -<p>Olive did not know the direction that Miss Winthrop had taken -for her walk, but half guessed that she must have gone for a -visit to Madame Van Mater, as she was in the habit of calling on -the old lady every few days and knew Olive’s dislike to -accompanying her. Indeed, she had not been inside “The Towers” -nor seen its mistress since her first and only visit there. But -now she set off in the direction of the house, hoping to find -her friend returning toward home.</p> - -<p>The walk through the woods, Olive’s first walk in the vicinity -of Primrose Hall, was now a familiar one and less dark because -the trees had long ago cast off their cloakings of leaves and -were covered only with the few snowflakes that clung to them. No -man or woman who has lived a great deal out of doors in their -youth fails to draw new strength and cheerfulness from the air -and sunshine, and Olive, who had left school thinking only that -Jack’s operation might not be successful and of the pain her -friend must suffer, now began to dwell on the beautiful -possibility of her growing well and strong as she had been in -the old days at the ranch and of their being reunited there some -day not too far off. Then she had been weakly believing that she -would never hear news of herself, that old Laska was probably -dead or had disappeared into some other Indian encampment. Now -with her blood running quickly in her veins from the cold and -the snow, she determined if Laska failed her to go west the next -summer and try to trace out her ancestry herself. Miss Winthrop, -Ruth and the four ranch girls she knew stood ready to help her -in anything she might undertake.</p> - -<p>“It is a pretty good thing to have friends, even if one is bare -of relations,” Olive thought, coming out of the woods to the -opening where she could catch the first glimpse of the big white -house. “I wish Miss Winthrop would come along out of there,” she -said aloud after waiting a minute and finding that standing -still made her shiver in spite of her furs. “I wonder why I -can’t get up the courage to march up to that front door past -those two fierce iron dogs, ring the bell and ask for her. I -don’t have to go into the house, and as it is growing a little -late, Miss Winthrop would probably prefer my not walking back -alone. Besides, I want to walk with her.”</p> - -<p>Like most people with only a few affections, Olive’s were very -true and deep, and now that she had learned to care for Miss -Winthrop, she cared for her with all her heart.</p> - -<p>Slowly she approached the house, hesitating once or twice and -looking up toward the tower room as though she were ashamed to -recall her own foolishness on the afternoon of her introduction -to it. There was no one about in the front of the house, not a -servant nor a caller. For a moment Olive stopped, smiling, by -one of the big iron dogs that seemed to guard the entrance to -the old place. She brushed off a little snow from the head of -one of them and, stooping, patted it. “Isn’t it silly of me to -think I remember having seen you?” she murmured. And then -Olive’s hand went up swiftly to her own eyes and she appeared to -be brushing away something from them as she had brushed the snow -from the statue of a dog. “I haven’t seen you before, I have -only heard about you. And I haven’t seen this old house, but I -have been told about it until I felt almost as if I had seen -it,” she announced with greater conviction in her tones than she -had ever used before, even to herself, in trying to recall the -confused impressions of her childhood.</p> - -<p>But now, instead of going up the front steps of the old house -and ringing the bell, she hesitated. And while she waited the -door was suddenly opened and into the white world outside Miss -Winthrop stepped with an expression on her face no one had ever -seen it wear before—one of surprise and wonder, anger and -pleasure.</p> - -<p>“Olive, is it you?” she said just as if she had expected to find -the girl waiting outside for her on the doorstep. “Come in to -Madame Van Mater. We have something to tell you.”</p> - -<div class='d001'> - <div class='d002'> - <img class='d003' - alt='“I SUPPOSE I CANNOT DENY THE PROOFS YOU HAVE BROUGHT TO ME.”' - src='images/illus-002.jpg' /> - </div> - <p class='d004'> - “I SUPPOSE I CANNOT DENY THE PROOFS YOU HAVE BROUGHT TO ME.” - </p> -</div> - -<h2 id='chXX' class='d018'>CHAPTER XX<br/>THE TRUE HISTORY OF OLIVE</h2> - -<p>In the same high carved chair that she had used on the afternoon -of Olive’s first meeting with her, Madame Van Mater now sat -apparently waiting for someone, for her hair and complexion were -as artistically arranged and she was as carefully dressed as -ever. At the stranger girl’s sudden entrance with Miss Winthrop -she showed no marked surprise.</p> - -<p>“Turn on the lights, please, Katherine, and bring the girl close -to me,” she commanded in almost the same tones that she had used -on a former occasion, and now for the second time Olive found -herself facing the old lady and being critically surveyed by -her. Again, with almost unconscious antagonism, their glances -met.</p> - -<p>“I suppose I cannot deny the proofs you have brought to me, -Katherine Winthrop, that this girl is my granddaughter,” Madame -Van Mater said coldly, “and I am obliged to confess that her -appearance is not what I feared it might be, considering my -son’s marriage. However, I do not see the least trace of -resemblance in her to any member of my family.” And possibly to -hide the trembling of her old hands, Madame Van Mater now picked -up a number of papers with which the table in front of her was -strewn. “You may sit down, child,” she remarked turning to -Olive, “and Katherine Winthrop will explain the extraordinary -circumstance of your connection with me. Because I tried to keep -you as far away from me as possible, fate has therefore brought -you here under my very nose. It has ever been the way of -circumstances to thwart me.”</p> - -<p>Not understanding in the least what Madame Van Mater was talking -about and yet feeling a sudden curious weakness in her knees, -Olive dropped into a chair which Miss Winthrop had at this -instant placed near her.</p> - -<p>“Sit perfectly still a moment, Olive dear,” Miss Winthrop -interposed. “Strange and improbable as it may seem to you to -hear that you are the granddaughter of Madame Van Mater, it will -not take long for me to explain the necessary facts to you. -Years ago your grandmother had an only child, a son of whom she -was very proud, and as her husband had died some time before, -all her great wealth was to be given to this son. She hoped that -some day he would be a great lawyer, a statesman, and that he -would make his old family name known all over the world. Well, -by and by when this son had grown up, he cared nothing for law -or any of the interests that his mother wished and one day -announced to her and to me that he had chosen the stage as his -profession. It is not worth while for me to try to explain to -you what this decision meant to his mother and to me then,” Miss -Winthrop continued; “but twenty years ago the stage did not hold -the position in the world that it does to-day, and even now -there are few mothers who would choose it as the profession for -their only sons. Well, there were many arguments and threats, -but as your father was determined on his own course, he went -away from this part of the country to the far west and there -after several years we learned that he had married. I knew that -your mother had died soon after her marriage and some years -later your father, but I was never told that they had left a -child. Only your grandmother, of course, has always known of -your existence, for since your father’s death she has been -paying this Indian woman Laska to have charge of you. The fact -that Laska has now sent me papers signed by your grandmother’s -own hand makes it impossible for your relationship to be -doubted.” Miss Winthrop now paused for a moment.</p> - -<p>Olive was not looking at her, but at Madame Van Mater. “You did -not wish to recognize me as your granddaughter because you did -not believe my mother a lady?” she asked quietly.</p> - -<p>“Precisely,” Madame Van Mater agreed.</p> - -<p>“I see. It is all strangely clear to me now. I thought I -remembered this house because my father had talked of it so much -to me that I really believed I had seen it myself, his bedroom -in the tower, the old dogs at the front door that he used to -play with as a child and all the story of Sleepy Hollow. Well, I -am sorry for your sake, Madame Van Mater, that Miss Winthrop has -discovered my father’s name and people, but for my own I am very -glad.” And Olive’s eyes turned toward the picture of the boy on -the wall. “I suppose that when my father was ill he wrote and -asked you to care for me and that is how you came to hear of -Laska?” she questioned. And again the old woman bowed her head.</p> - -<p>Very quietly Olive now got up from her chair. “Shall we be going -back to school, Miss Winthrop?” she inquired. “I believe I would -rather not stay here any longer at present.”</p> - -<hr class='d023' /> - -<p>In ten minutes the two women, the young and the older one, were -walking home through the winter dusk together, Olive keeping a -tight clutch of Miss Winthrop’s arm, for now that she was well -away from “The Towers” and the cold woman who was its mistress, -she felt frightened and confused, as though the story she had -just heard was a ridiculous dream.</p> - -<p>“Yes, it is very, very strange,” Miss Winthrop had reiterated -over and over again in the course of their walk, “but I cannot -believe that the queer accidents of life are accidents at all. I -believe that it has always been intended that you should some -day know your own people and for that reason you were brought -from your home in the West to this very neighborhood.”</p> - -<p>After a while when Olive had found her voice she said, “I do not -like my grandmother, Miss Winthrop, and I feel sure that we will -never like one another. But I am very glad, because if she had -cared for me she might have wished me to leave the ranch girls, -and not for all the world can I give up them.”</p> - -<p>There was another moment of silence and then Miss Winthrop spoke -again: “I cared for your father once very deeply, Olive, and I -have cared in the same way for no one else since, but I also -felt as your grandmother did about the work he chose to do and -so here in the old garden at Primrose Hall we said good-bye one -afternoon for all time. I suppose my pride was greater than my -love for him, but I have been sorry since. Now I care very much -for my old friend’s daughter and hope she will let me be her -friend.”</p> - -<p>“She has been more than that already,” Olive returned fervently; -“no one save Jack has ever been so kind.” And then both women -talked only of trivial matters until after dinner time that -evening.</p> - -<p>In Miss Winthrop’s study from eight o’clock until nine Olive sat -with her portfolio on her lap writing a long letter to Ruth -Drew, disclosing to her the story of the afternoon and asking -her to keep the discovery of the secret of her ancestry from -Jacqueline Ralston, if she felt it better that Jack be not -informed at present. And at her desk during the same hour Miss -Winthrop was also engaged in writing Ruth. Carefully she set -forth to her how through the efforts of Olive’s former teacher -at the Government school and by the payment of a sum of money -(which seemed very large to the Indian woman), Laska had been -induced to surrender certain papers proving that the old -mistress of “The Towers” at Tarry dale was undoubtedly Olive’s -grandmother. Though the news had come as an entire surprise to -Olive, her grandmother was not so wholly unprepared for the -revelation. For it seemed that Mrs. Harmon had known of the -existence of a young girl, the daughter of her first cousin, who -was being taken care of by an Indian woman somewhere in the -state of Wyoming. On meeting Olive at the Rainbow Ranch the -summer before and learning of her extraordinary history she had -wondered if the girl could have any connection with her own -family. Although she had not really believed this possible, -knowing that Olive had come as a student to Primrose Hall, she -had confided the girl’s story to her aunt and Olive’s first -visit to “The Towers” had been of great interest to both women. -However, Madame Van Mater’s first survey of Olive had set her -mind at rest. This girl, whom Donald believed to resemble his -mother, was to her mind wholly unlike her; neither could she -catch the faintest resemblance to her son, who had been supposed -to be like his cousin, Mrs. Harmon. Then Olive’s quiet beauty -and refined appearance had also satisfied Madame Van Mater that -this girl could not be her granddaughter, for she believed that -Olive’s mother had been of too humble an origin to have had so -lovely a daughter. Besides, did not old Laska continue to -receive the allowance sent her each month for her -granddaughter’s care?</p> - -<p>In a few lines at the close of Miss Winthrop’s letter of -explanation to Ruth she added the only apology that could ever -be made for Madame Van Mater’s behavior. The proud old woman had -not understood how ignorant this Indian woman Laska was, nor had -she dreamed that Olive was being brought up as an Indian. She -had simply told the woman to continue as Olive’s servant until -such time as the girl should reach the age of twenty-one, when -she intended settling a certain sum of money upon her. She had -not wished that this child of her son’s should suffer, only that -she should not be troubled with her nor compelled to recognize -her as her heiress and the bearer of her name.</p> - -<p>By and by, however, both Olive and Miss Winthrop grew weary of -their long letter writing and Olive, coming across the room, -placed herself on a low stool near her companion, resting her -chin on her hands in a fashion she had when interested. Both -women talked of her father; they could recall his reading aloud -to them hour after hour and Olive believed that she must have -learned by rote Washington Irving’s description of Sleepy Hollow -valley when she was only a tiny girl and that her first look out -of her father’s bedroom window had suddenly brought the lines -back to her recollection.</p> - -<p>Till a little before midnight there were questions to be asked -and answered between the two friends, but just as the old year -was dying with the twelve strokes of the clock in the hall, -Olive said good night. She was half way out the door when she -turned back again and Miss Winthrop could see by the color in -her cheeks that there was still another question she wished to -ask.</p> - -<p>“Do you think,” she asked finally, “that my mother could have -been such a dreadful person? I do not think I ever saw a -lovelier face than her picture in my father’s watch.”</p> - -<p>Miss Winthrop looked closely at Olive, remembering how her -strange and foreign beauty had always interested her. “No, my -dear, your mother could most certainly not have been dreadful,” -she answered. “I think I heard that she was a Spanish girl and -these curios you have and your own appearance make me feel -assured of the fact. It was because your grandmother was -informed that your mother was a singer or an actress, that she -felt so deep a prejudice against her. But the real truth is that -she never forgave her son and wished never to hear his name -mentioned as long as she lived.”</p> - -<p>With a little shiver at the thought of such a nature as the old -woman’s at “The Towers,” Olive went on up to her own room to -bed.</p> - -<h2 id='chXXI' class='d018'>CHAPTER XXI<br/>JEAN AND FRIEDA RETURN TO PRIMROSE HALL</h2> - -<p>In less than forty-eight hours after the close of the last -chapter Primrose Hall was once more emptied of its silences and -loneliness and gay with the returning of its students now that -the holiday season was well past.</p> - -<p>Most of the girls came back in groups of twos and threes, since -trains at Tarrydale were numerous, but every now and then the -school carryall would be loaded up with girls, hanging on to the -steps, sitting in one another’s laps. And it happened that in -one of these overloaded parties Jean and Frieda arrived at -Primrose Hall together.</p> - -<p>There was so much excitement, of course, in the arrival of such -a number of students at one time and so much kissing and -embracing among some of the girls tragically separated from -their best chums for two weeks, that in the general hubbub Jean -and Frieda noticed no special change in Olive. If Jean thought -at first that she had looked a little tired she forgot about it -in a few minutes. The girls had so many stories to tell of their -own experiences, there was so much running back and forth from -one room to the other, so much unpacking of trunks and bestowing -of forgotten gifts, that the three ranch girls really saw very -little of each other without outside friends being present until -almost bedtime that night.</p> - -<p>Then at nine o’clock, with only an hour to spare before their -lights were turned out, they met before their sitting-room fire, -wearing their kimonos, their hair down their backs, prepared at -last for the confidential talk to which for different reasons -they had all been looking forward for some time.</p> - -<p>A sign with “No Admittance” printed on it hung outside their -door and on the floor in convenient reach of the three girls sat -two large boxes of candy, one presented to Frieda upon leaving -Richmond, Va., and the other a farewell gift to Jean from Cecil -Belknap in New York.</p> - -<p>For the first moment so great was the satisfaction of the three -girls at being reunited that nobody spoke, and then all at once -they began talking in chorus.</p> - -<p>“I think I ought to have the first chance to tell things, as I -am the youngest and have been the farthest away,” Frieda -protested.</p> - -<p>Of course Jean and Olive were glad enough to give Frieda the -first chance, but now as she began to speak, very naturally both -of them turned their attention full upon her. It was strange, -for of course Frieda had had a wonderful visit—what girl in a -southern city fails to have—and yet in spite of all her accounts -of dances and dinner parties and germans given for the school -girls in Richmond during the holidays, both Jean and Olive -noticed that she did not look as cheerful as usual, but that, if -it were possible to believe such a thing, a fine line of worry -appeared to pucker her brow.</p> - -<p>“Frieda Ralston, you have been going too hard and seeing -altogether too much of life for such a baby,” Jean insisted when -Frieda had triumphantly cast a dozen or more pretty trinkets -received as favors at germans at their feet.</p> - -<p>But Frieda had only obstinately shaken her head, “I haven’t -either, Jean,” she declared, “Mrs. Johnson says it does not hurt -girls to have a good time in the holidays if they only study -hard and behave themselves properly at school.”</p> - -<p>“Well, perhaps you are just tired, Frieda,” Olive suggested.</p> - -<p>And again the youngest Miss Ralston disagreed. “I am not tired. -Why should you girls think there is anything the matter with -me?” And she turned such round, innocent blue eyes on her -audience that it became silenced. For five, ten minutes -afterwards Frieda continued to hold the floor, and then in the -midst of an account of a party given at the Johnson home she had -suddenly stopped talking and thrown herself down on the floor, -tucking a sofa pillow under her blonde head. “Maybe I am tired -to-night on account of the trip home,” she confessed; “anyhow I -don’t want to talk any more just now. I suppose, Olive, you -haven’t anything special to say, just having stayed here at -school with Miss Winthrop. So Jean, you tell us what you did in -New York.”</p> - -<p>Because Jean took up the conversational gauntlet so promptly, -both the older girls failed to notice that before Frieda had -even ceased talking her eyes had filled with tears.</p> - -<p>The story Jean told of her visits to Gerry and Margaret in New -York City was not exactly like Frieda’s, for though Jean was -several years older than her cousin, in New York school girls -are never allowed the same privileges that they enjoy in the -South. But Jean had been to the theatre many times and to -luncheons and twice Mrs. Belknap had taken Margaret and Jean and -Gerry to the opera in her box. “Yes, Cecil Belknap had been very -nice and she had liked him a little better, though she still -thought him horribly vain,” Jean confessed, in answer to a -leading question from Frieda. Then she, too, abruptly concluded -her story. “There is just a weeny thing more I have got to tell -everybody when the lights go out,” she concluded, “but I am not -willing to tell now.”</p> - -<p>Frieda reached out for comfort toward her box of candy, popping -a large chocolate into her mouth.</p> - -<p>“Now, Olive, you please tell us what you did while we went away -like selfish pigs and left you for most two weeks. You must have -had a dreadfully dull time!” Frieda suggested indulgently.</p> - -<p>Olive laughed quietly. “Well, I didn’t have exactly a dull time; -at least, not lately.”</p> - -<p>Another chocolate passed from the box to the youngest girl’s -lips.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I suppose you mean that Miss Winthrop was kind to you and -you took long walks together and things like that. I believe -Miss Winthrop is really fond of you, Olive, even more than she -is of Jean and me. I wonder why?”</p> - -<p>At this both the girls laughed. “Oh, I suppose it is because she -thinks Olive the most attractive of ‘The Three Graces.’ Baby, of -course you and I are the other two,” Jean interrupted. “But I -hope, Olive dear, that she was good to you.”</p> - -<p>And at this simple remark of Jean’s, Olive’s face suddenly -flushed scarlet. “Yes, Miss Winthrop has been good to me, better -than any one else in the world except you ranch girls,” she -replied.</p> - -<p>Struck by something unusual in her friend’s face and expression, -Jean’s own face suddenly sobered. “What do you mean, how can she -have been so unusually kind to you?” she questioned. Then with a -sudden flash of illumination. “Olive Ralston, you have something -important on your mind that you want to tell us. I might have -guessed that you have been keeping it a secret ever since we -returned, letting us chat all this nonsense about our visits -first. Don’t you dare to tell us that Miss Winthrop wants to -adopt you as her daughter and that you have consented, or none -of us will ever forgive you in this world!”</p> - -<p>Still Olive hesitated. “Truly, I don’t know how to tell you -yet,” she murmured, “though I have been planning a dozen -different ways of starting in the last two days.”</p> - -<p>“That is it, then, Jean has guessed right,” interrupted Frieda -darkly. “I suppose it has happened just as a punishment to us -for having left you alone at Primrose Hall during the Christmas -holidays. Of course Miss Winthrop decided that we really do not -care much for you and for all her coldness to the other girls -she needn’t try to deceive me; she is just crazy about you, -Olive!” Frieda now began really to shed tears. “But whether you -like Jean and Ruth and me or not, I never could have believed -that you would be so cruel as to turn your back on poor Jack -when she is too ill to speak for herself,” she finished.</p> - -<p>“Hush, Frieda,” Olive returned sternly. “That is not what I want -to tell you. Of course Miss Winthrop has asked me to live with -her if you should ever wish to stop taking care of me, but I -don’t want to live with her if you ranch girls want me. I was -only trying to explain——”</p> - -<p>“What, for heaven’s sake, Olive?” Jean demanded, now nearly as -white and shaken as her friend, seeing Olive’s great difficulty -in making her confession.</p> - -<p>“Jean, Frieda,” Olive began, speaking quietly now and in her -accustomed voice and manner, “it is only that since you have -been away Miss Winthrop has found out for me that I am not an -Indian girl. I am not even a western girl, or at least my father -was not a Westerner. You remember the day we went to see the -Harmons at ‘The Towers’ and old Madame Van Mater stared at me so -strangely and scolded Donald for thinking I was like his mother. -She did not wish me to look like Mrs. Harmon because Mrs. Harmon -was my father’s first cousin and——”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Olive, what are you talking about? You sound quite crazy!” -Frieda interposed.</p> - -<p>And then Olive went on, even more clearly and rapidly telling -the other girls the history of her father and of herself as far -back as she had learned it. “Oh, I know you can’t believe what I -have told you all at once, girls, for it does sound like a -miracle or a fable and we never would have believed such a story -had we read of it in a book. But Miss Winthrop says that every -day in the real world just such wonderful things are happening -as my coming here to Primrose Hall in the very neighborhood -where my father used to live and finding my grandmother alive. -In any newspaper you pick up you can run across just such an odd -coincidence.” As Olive had been allowed to talk on without -interruption, of course she believed by this time that both Jean -and Frieda understood the news she had been trying to make plain -to them. Frieda had risen to a sitting posture and was staring -at her with frightened eyes, Jean was frowning deeply.</p> - -<p>“You mean?” said Jean helplessly. “You don’t mean?” said -Frieda at the same moment, and then, to relieve the tension of -the situation the three girls giggled hysterically.</p> - -<p>“Please begin right at the beginning and tell the whole story -over again, Olive, and I will try to understand this time,” Jean -had then commanded and patiently Olive went through the whole -tale again.</p> - -<p>Therefore it was small wonder that they forgot about the bedtime -hour, until a knock at the door startled them. Jessica Hunt was -preceptress of their floor for the evening and, as Miss Winthrop -had already told her something of Olive’s history, she readily -allowed the ranch girls a half hour’s extra talk. She could not -help their lights going out at ten o’clock, however, but the -ranch girls did not really care. A candle under an umbrella -makes an excellent light and no one outside can be any the -wiser!</p> - -<p>Perhaps it was their two weeks of separation, perhaps it was -Olive’s strange story, for rarely had the three girls felt more -devoted to one another than they did to-night. They were sitting -with their arms about one another when Olive jumped up. “Please -lend me the candle a minute,” she begged unexpectedly, “I have -been talking so much about myself that I forgot I had some -letters for you. They may be important.”</p> - -<p>In another moment, coming back from her desk, she dropped -several envelopes in Jean’s and in Frieda’s hands. “I suppose if -they are Christmas cards you can see them by this light,” she -said carelessly, “but if they are letters you had best wait till -morning.”</p> - -<p>With a quick gesture Frieda tore open one of her envelopes and -the paper enclosed was neither a card nor a letter. “Oh, my -goodness gracious, what ever am I going to do?” she asked -desperately, seeing three large black figures staring at her -even in the dark. “I have but ten cents in all this world and I -owe a bill of one hundred and fifty dollars!”</p> - -<p>The reason for the line in Frieda’s brow was now disclosed. -Instead of having saved any of her hundred-dollar Christmas -present during her Christmas visit she had spent every cent of -it. Now, without waiting for her to find out what she could do -to get the money for her dreadful bill, the wretched, unkind -shop people had sent it her on the very first day of the New -Year.</p> - -<p>“I don’t like to borrow money of you and Olive, Jean, when I -haven’t paid back the last,” Frieda said, after a slight, -uncomfortable moment of surprise on the part of the other ranch -girls, “but what can I do? I suppose I have just got to write to -Ruth and Jack, asking them to pay it for me.”</p> - -<p>“How could you ever have made such a bill, Frieda?” Jean -demanded, looking over her cousin’s shoulder in the flicker of -the candle light.</p> - -<p>“Clothes,” the answer came back in a weak, small voice.</p> - -<p>Unexpectedly Jean laughed. “Oh, well, I need not preach, baby. -What I wanted to tell you myself, when the lights went out, is -that I became a backslider in New York and with Ruth’s consent -told Gerry and Margaret that we were not absolutely paupers. I -just had to spend some of the money I had saved, the things in -New York were so fascinating. So I haven’t much left to lend -you, Frieda, and I am awfully sorry, for Ruth says the mine is -not yielding quite as much as it formerly did and we must all be -economical, for such a dreadful lot of money is needed right -away for Jack. I am pretty glad we did not tell the girls at -Primrose Hall that we were rich, because it may turn out that we -are not after all; gold mines are often uncertain.”</p> - -<p>“Then I suppose I will have to go to prison for debt,” Frieda -murmured. And both older girls were heartless enough to laugh. -“Oh, no, it need not go as far as that, Frieda,” Olive assured -her, “for I have hardly spent a cent since coming to Primrose -Hall, so I have nearly enough to help you out, so you need not -worry. Besides Miss Winthrop says that however much I may -dislike my grandmother and she me, I cannot refuse to allow her -to do for me now that she has discovered my whereabouts, for the -money that is now hers should <i>rightfully</i> have come to my -father even though she did not wish him to have it.”</p> - -<p>“Remember the fortune the old gypsy told you, Olive,” Jean -repeated, just as they were separating for the night. “‘And a -fortune untold, Shall make for your feet a rich pathway of -gold.’ I used to think she meant our mine.”</p> - -<h2 id='chXXII' class='d018'>CHAPTER XXII<br/>READJUSTMENTS</h2> - -<p>In the weeks that followed the discovery of Olive’s connection -with the wealthy old patroness of Primrose Hall a student of -psychology would have had an interesting opportunity in the -study of the changed attitude of her schoolmates toward her. In -the first place, from being an Indian girl of uncertain origin, -Olive had suddenly become a heroine of romance and also there -was the possibility that she might in time be an heiress, should -her grandmother change in her feelings toward her and disinherit -the Harmons. In any case, the law would certainly allow her some -portion of the old estate. So you see that instead of being -looked down upon as the most undesirable student at Primrose -Hall, the fourth ranch girl had suddenly become exalted upon a -pedestal, and perhaps it is just as deceptive in this world to -look up to other people as it is to look down upon them, since a -fair judgment can only be attained by standing face to face.</p> - -<p>Truly Olive had no more desire for this second false position -than she had for the first, but now her shyness, once regarded -as ill breeding, was called haughtiness and her classmates stood -a little in awe of her. The position was indeed a trying one for -everybody concerned in it, for scarcely could the girls who had -been unkind to Olive, now throw themselves about her neck -begging her forgiveness, simply because so unexpected a turn had -come in her fortunes. Of course, some of the unwise girls did do -this, but not those with better judgment and taste, for they -understood that Olive must be approached more slowly and with -greater tact.</p> - -<p>Among this second class of girls was Winifred Graham. Now no one -could be more vexed than she was with herself for her persistent -snubbing of Olive from the first day of her entrance into -Primrose Hall, not because she liked Olive any better than she -had at first, but because Winifred only cared for persons who -might be useful to her, and now this ridiculous Olive with her -romantic history, might be very useful indeed. The point at -issue was the bestowal of the Shakespeare prize of several -hundred dollars, given each year by Madame Van Mater to the -Junior students in Jessica Hunt’s class. Mention has been made -before that the three girls who stood closest in line for this -prize were Winifred, Olive and Gerry. Now Winifred supposed that -Olive would of course withdraw from the contest, since she could -hardly take a prize presented by her own grandmother, but what -Winifred feared was that Olive might throw the balance of her -influence in Gerry’s favor. Very carefully she now undertook to -show her change of feeling toward the ranch girls without -offending them or making them suspicious by too great haste. A -confidential talk with Jessica Hunt, who had always been their -friend, was one of the methods Winifred first employed, but -there was little assistance to be had from Jessica. For in the -first place Jessica declared immediately that Olive was not to -give up her effort to win the Shakespeare prize. Jessica had -talked the matter over both with Olive and Miss Winthrop and -they had decided in council that Olive need not give up her -cherished ambition on account of her altered connection with -Madame Van Mater. The prize had been freely offered without -reservations to whatever girl in the Junior class should have -the best yearly record, write the best Shakespeare essay at the -close of the school year and give the best recitation from any -one of the Shakespeare plays.</p> - -<p>Not approving of Olive’s continuance in the contest, Winifred -had then freely expressed her opinion to Jessica and afterwards -to Olive, but though her manner was now entirely friendly, her -protest had not the least effect upon Olive’s decision. Indeed, -when things had settled down into routine again Olive continued -to work harder than ever during the following winter and spring -months. Of course, her position among her classmates had altered -somewhat; Margaret and Gerry were both her friends as well as a -number of other girls who had never been actively disagreeable, -but with Winifred, Olive could not keep up more than a faint -pretense of friendliness. At heart the two girls did not like -one another and no amount of veneering can ever cover a real -antagonism of temperament. They exchanged greetings in their -class rooms and several times Winifred called on the ranch -girls, but as her visits were never returned, she had to try -other methods of softening the hostility her own unkindness had -created, hoping that before the school year was over something -would give her a chance to win their liking.</p> - -<p>One month after the return of the Primrose Hall students from -their Christmas holidays the Theta Sorority had solemnly and -with distinguished rites received Olive and Jean into their -mystic order. When finally the invitation, so much discussed, -had been extended to the two ranch girls they had not known what -to do in the matter. Of course, they had not wished to show -continued ill feeling, so with Jessica’s advice, had joined the -society, afterwards greatly enjoying the pretty club house and -the frequent informal entertainments which the sorority gave -during the rest of the school year.</p> - -<p>So month after month rolled pleasantly and less eventfully on at -Primrose Hall. Weekly visits at the command of her grandmother -were still made by Olive to “The Towers.” At first Miss Winthrop -had been in the habit of accompanying her and later Jean and -Frieda, but there were times when pilgrimages had to be made -alone. Why they had to be made at all Olive did not understand, -for Madame Van Mater still showed but little liking for the -granddaughter whom circumstances and Miss Winthrop had surely -thrust upon her. If she liked any one of the three ranch girls -it was Jean, for as usual Jean had not really felt the least -fear of her and when they had made their first call it was with -difficulty that she refrained from giving her hostess a piece of -her mind in regard to her treatment of Olive. Perhaps Madame Van -Mater’s age prevented her from receiving the scolding and -perhaps her manner. For instead Jean told her the story of the -ranch girls’ discovery of Olive and of how much she had -previously suffered. And perhaps this story worked as well as -the scolding, since the old mistress of “The Towers” abruptly -invited Jean to tell her nothing more of this woman Laska, but -of their life at the Rainbow Ranch. Although all three girls -could be eloquent on the subject of the ranch, Jean was allowed -the floor and three times in the course of the conversation -Madame Van Mater actually had laughed aloud, a proceeding most -unusual with her. Perhaps after all, in spite of her hardness -and pride, the old woman had not been altogether happy over her -treatment of her son’s child, even though she believed that her -son had forfeited her love and consideration by his own actions. -But whatever her reasons, thus far kept to herself, Olive was -forced to continue the weekly calls.</p> - -<p>One afternoon in April, when Miss Winthrop was busy with school -matters and Jean and Frieda were engaged in a game of -basketball, Olive found herself compelled to go alone to see her -grandmother. And she was particularly vexed over this special -visit, as she had wished to join the other girls in their game.</p> - -<p>Always until this afternoon Olive had been received by Madame -Van Mater with entire formality in the old drawing room, where -they had had their two memorable meetings, but to-day she found -the drawing room empty and while she waited a maid came to say -that she was kindly to walk upstairs.</p> - -<p>Anything was better than the stiffness and coldness of the old -drawing room! Because the spring day was cool, Olive on going -upstairs found her grandmother before an open fire wrapped about -with silk shawls and comforts. Her hair was, of course, piled as -high as usual and her costume as handsome, but it was plain to -see that she was not so well.</p> - -<p>“Kindly don’t come near me, as I am suffering from a severe -cold,” she announced, as Olive approached to shake hands with -her, never having at any time offered her any more intimate -greeting.</p> - -<p>Olive sat down, trying to look properly interested, but really -feeling bored and uncomfortable at the thought of the next half -hour. These calendar-like visits and the fact that Jack Ralston -was still a prisoner in New York were the only worries she now -seemed to have at Primrose Hall.</p> - -<p>“I am sorry you are ill,” she began politely, only to have her -remark waved aside.</p> - -<p>“I am not ill,” Madame Van Mater returned, “only not well; but -if I were there are other more important matters than my health -which I wish to discuss with you this afternoon; therefore am I -very glad to see you alone.”</p> - -<p>There was no answer to be made to this statement. Olive had -never attempted to be hypocritical with her grandmother by -pretending to feel any affection for her. She now simply sat -perfectly still and respectful, waiting to hear what was to be -said next. But rarely had she looked more attractive than on -this afternoon. In the first place, her walk had given her a -bright color and she was wearing a particularly becoming frock.</p> - -<p>Miss Winthrop had insisted that Olive always dress with great -care on these visits to her grandmother, so this special frock, -which Ruth lately had sent from New York, was now worn for the -first time. It was of some soft material of silk and wool made -with a short waist and softly clinging skirt of a bright golden -brown with a girdle of brown velvet. Olive was very slender -always and of only medium height, but her dark coloring was rich -and unusual and now her expression was gayer and in some -unconscious way she seemed more confident and less timid in her -manner than formerly.</p> - -<p>For several moments after her first long speech Madame Van Mater -continued to study the appearance of the young girl sitting -opposite her, and then, without the least warning of her -intention, said abruptly: “Olive, I suppose you have not -understood why I have insisted on your coming to see me so -regularly and constantly since my discovery of your connection -with me. You may, of course, have guessed, but if you have not I -am prepared to tell you this afternoon. I have been studying you -and I am now willing to say that I have in the past done you a -great injustice. However much my son disappointed me by his -choice of an occupation and by his marriage to your mother -instead of Katherine Winthrop, I had no real right to cast off -from me all responsibility in regard to his child. You are not -altogether what I would have you to be, you have less social -ease of manner and less conversational ability than I desire in -my granddaughter; but I am prepared to overlook these faults in -you now, Olive, or at least to give you time to conquer them. -What I am coming to is this. I have recently decided to make -reparation to you by having you come here to live with me when -your year at Primrose Hall is passed, and if I find you as -refined and as capable of being managed as I now suppose you to -be, I am prepared to change my will, making you heir to the -greater part of my estate and giving my grand-niece and nephew, -Donald and Elizabeth Harmon, only the portion formerly intended -for you. You need not thank me; I am doing this simply because I -wish to do it. And also because it will please Katherine -Winthrop, who is one of the few persons for whom I have always -cared.”</p> - -<p>Olive smiled, although the smile did not really cross her lips, -but seemed somehow to drift across her entire face. “I had no -intention of thanking you, grandmother,” she returned quietly, -“only of refusing your offer. It may be very kind of you to -desire me to live with you, but I thought you understood that -nothing and no one in the world could ever persuade me to stop -living with the ranch girls so long as they wish me to be with -them. And even after we are grown up and they marry or anything -else happens, why, even then, I have plans of my own.”</p> - -<p>“Ranch girls, fiddlesticks,” exclaimed Madame Van Mater, far -more inelegantly than one would have thought possible to her. -“Of course, I wish to say nothing against these friends of -yours; under the circumstances I am even prepared to be grateful -to them for their kindness to you, but surely you cannot expect -to live forever on their bounty, and what can they offer you in -the way of social opportunity? I believe they have no parents to -introduce them into society, only this chaperon named Ruth Drew -and some man or other who manages their ranch.”</p> - -<p>Olive flushed and then smiled. “I don’t believe I am very -anxious or very well fitted for social opportunity,” she -answered, “but I don’t think you need worry about the ranch -girls, for when the time comes for them to take any part in -society I am sure they will find opportunities enough. I wrote -Jack only a few weeks ago, ten days after her operation was -over, that as soon as she was well enough and whenever she -wanted me to, I would go back with her to the ranch or we would -travel or do whatever was best for her. Of course, we don’t any -of us know yet whether Jack’s operation was successful, but Jean -and Frieda and I have positively made up our minds that nothing -will induce us to be separated from her after this year.”</p> - -<p>“You are talking school girl nonsense,” Madame Van Mater -returned coldly, “but naturally I do not care to argue this -question with you. I shall have Katherine Winthrop put the -matter before you. But you can rest assured, Olive, of these two -things: In the first place, that if at any time you displease me -I can leave my money to any one whom I may select, as my -husband’s will gave his estate entirely into my hands; and in -the second place, that if I desire to control your actions, you -are not yet of age and I, and not the ranch girls, am your -natural guardian.”</p> - -<p>Very few times in her life had Olive ever known what it was to -be violently angry, and yet no matter how gentle one’s nature -anger must get the best of all of us now and then. Quickly the -girl now got up from her chair and crossing the room faced -Madame Van Mater with an expression as determined as her own. -“Please understand that I do not want to defraud either Donald -or Elizabeth Harmon of the money you have always promised them. -They have been very kind since the discovery of my connection -with them and of course you must be more fond of them than you -can ever be of me. The truth of the matter is that though I -don’t want to be rude or unfair, I do not like you, grandmother, -nor do I feel that I can ever forgive the years of your neglect -of me. Do you think it is quite fair for you now to speak of -being my natural guardian when for so many years you desired -nothing so much as that my name should never be mentioned to -you? Please don’t let us talk of this ever, ever any more, but -understand that I shall never leave the ranch girls.”</p> - -<p>Plainly Madame Van Mater was amazed at Olive’s unexpected anger, -for until this moment her granddaughter had always seemed to her -rather too gentle and shy. Now the old woman simply shrugged her -shoulders indifferently. “You may go,” she replied, “but of -course, Olive, I shall decide later what course in regard to you -I shall consider it advisable to take.”</p> - -<p>So with scarlet cheeks and feeling more obstinate than ever -before in her life, Olive, finding herself dismissed, rushed for -consolation to Primrose Hall.</p> - -<h2 id='chXXIII' class='d018'>CHAPTER XXIII<br/>“MAY TIME IS GAY TIME”</h2> - -<p>May had arrived and with it the first warm spring weather along -the Hudson River valley. Now the river was often crowded with -sail boats dipping their white and gray canvases toward the sky -and toward the water like the wings of a seagull; motor boats -chugged along, making more noise than automobiles; while the -steam yachts, ever the aristocrats among all water craft, -sailing into their own harbors up and down the Hudson shores, -ever and anon put forth again as though intending to leave home -behind for adventures on the open sea. All the hills beyond and -near by the neighborhood of Sleepy Hollow were like mammoth -bouquets with their fragrance and beauty upturned to the sun, -while within the meadows and fields and gardens were a greater -variety of wild-flowers than can be found in many other places -in this land.</p> - -<p>Now at last the ranch girls understood why Miss Katherine -Winthrop’s old home had been called “Primrose Hall” long before -ever the school was thought of. For wild primroses blossomed -everywhere, although the season was late, until the garden about -the old place looked like the famous field of “The Cloth of -Gold.”</p> - -<p>As much as possible on these bright May days the students at -Primrose Hall lived out of doors, but with the school year -drawing to a close it was not always easy to desert lessons and -the thought of approaching examinations.</p> - -<p>One afternoon Jean and Frieda had arranged themselves in a -corner of one of the big verandas with a table between them and -a screen carefully set up to protect them from interruption. The -girls were not talking, indeed an utter silence had reigned -between them for the last ten minutes, broken only by the squeak -of Frieda’s pen writing its last essay for the present term and -by an occasional sigh from Jean from the depth of an oration by -Cicero.</p> - -<p>Stealing along outside the defensive wall of this screen a short -time later mysterious footsteps might be heard, not of one pair -of feet but of several, and yet not a single head appeared above -it.</p> - -<p>Frowning, Jean listened and then went on with her work, -determined not to be lured from the strict path of duty.</p> - -<p>“Whatever geese are outside the screen,” she thought to herself, -“seeing our sign on it, ‘Positively No Admittance, Studying,’ -will go away and leave us in peace.”</p> - -<p>But when a screen falls to the floor with a bang only a few -inches from where one is seated, certainly no degree of devotion -to the study of literature and the classics will prevent one -from jumping up with a scream. And this Jean and Frieda did at -the same instant, and behold, there, with only the prostrate -screen dividing them, were Gerry and Margaret, Lucy and Mollie -Johnson, besides several other members of their Junior class!</p> - -<p>“The city has fallen and the prisoners are ours!” Gerry -announced, pointing a pen at Jean’s heart as an improvised -dagger.</p> - -<p>Jean tried not to look cross. “Look here, girls, what do you want -with us?” she demanded. “You know it isn’t fair to come -interrupting a fellow at his labors, and Miss Winthrop——”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Miss Winthrop be—any old thing,” Gerry answered saucily. -“Do you suppose that when school is nearly over that we care -half so much for the views and wishes of our lady principal as -we do earlier in the year, when we might have to live on under -the shadow of her displeasure? However, on this one occasion the -fear of that august personage need not darken our young lives, -since she has given her consent to what I am now about to -propose. Oh, well, since it is Margaret’s party, I suppose I had -best let her extend the actual invitation, while I beg you to -accept it beforehand.”</p> - -<p>Jean put up two protesting hands, but Frieda showed no such -moral hesitancy. “Please don’t ask Frieda and me to do anything -agreeable this afternoon,” Jean pleaded, “for we simply can’t -accept any invitation, and yet if you ask us we may.”</p> - -<p>Margaret Belknap laughed. “Of course you will when you hear what -it is. You must get your coats and hats at once and come and -drive with us for a mile or so to the nearest landing pier and -there father and Cecil will be waiting for us in our yacht to -take us for a sail.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, my goodness gracious me!” exclaimed Frieda ecstatically, -gathering her school paraphernalia into her arms, “and to think -that I have never been on a yacht or even a sailboat in my whole -life!”</p> - -<p>Apparently there was to be no further question of their studies -this afternoon, for Jean and Frieda now fairly leaped over the -overturned screen in their efforts to get up to their room for -hats and coats without delay.</p> - -<p>However, but two minutes had passed, a not sufficient time for -Jean to have made preparations for the trip, when she was seen -slowly returning toward her group of friends.</p> - -<p>“Margaret, Gerry,” she begged, “if the other girls will please -excuse us, I want to speak to you privately for half a minute.”</p> - -<p>Jean’s face was flushed and her manner embarrassed. “Please -don’t think I am ungrateful for your invitation, Margaret,” she -said softly, “but really I don’t believe I had better go with -you this afternoon after all. Frieda says she <i>will</i> go,” -and unconsciously the speaker put an added emphasis on the verb -will.</p> - -<p>Margaret, hurt at her friend’s attitude, did not answer at once, -particularly as Gerry hardly gave her the opportunity.</p> - -<p>“Will you kindly tell us, Jean Bruce, what has happened to make -you change your mind in the distance between the veranda and -your bedroom door?” she inquired. “You need not tell me that you -won’t go for a sail on the Hudson for the first time in your -life because you love your Cicero so.”</p> - -<p>Jean shook her head, smiling in spite of herself. “Well, not -exactly.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Margaret, for heaven’s sake explain to Jean that we have -asked Olive too, but that Olive says she positively can’t join -us. Of course she is working on that plagued old Shakespeare -essay of hers. And to think that once I believed I had a chance -at that Shakespeare prize.”</p> - -<p>At Gerry’s first words Jean’s face had magically cleared. “Oh, -if Margaret wants Olive too, I will make her come along with us, -she shall not be such a grind,” she protested. But before she -could vanish for the second time Margaret and Gerry both -clutched at her skirts.</p> - -<p>“Don’t urge Olive to come with us, for you see we don’t really -want her, and only asked her because we knew she couldn’t come.” -Margaret explained hastily, and then seeing Jean’s face crimson -with anger and resentment, she gave her an affectionate shake.</p> - -<p>“Oh, for heaven’s sake, child, when will you ranch girls get -over being so touchy about one another? You know that now we -know Olive better, we like her as much as any girl in our class. -To tell you the truth, it is just because we are trying to fix -up some plan to show Olive how we feel toward her that we did -not want her to come along with us now. It seemed to us this -would be our best chance to let you know our idea and to see -what you think about it. I suppose I might have told you this at -first,” Margaret ended, “only I am not a tactful person, and -perhaps put things pretty badly.”</p> - -<p>“You certainly did,” Jean laughed, “but now I will hurry and get -my belongings, as I am perfectly dying to hear what you have in -mind.”</p> - -<p>An hour later eight members of the Junior class, Frieda and -Mollie and Miss Rebecca Sterne, having arrived at a private -landing pier not far from their school, were assisted aboard the -steam yacht “Marathon” by Cecil Belknap and his father.</p> - -<p>During the first half of the sail there was little real -conversation among the girls, only “Ohs” and “Ahs” of delight at -the beauty of the river scenery and the wonders of the yacht. -But by and by on their return journey when Margaret and her -guests were seated around the salon dining table drinking -afternoon tea, Gerry, who never could bear putting off things, -turned to her hostess.</p> - -<p>“Look here, Margaret,” she said in tones loud enough for the -entire company to overhear, “if your father and brother will -pardon us, I vote that we plunge right into the subject we have -come together to discuss this afternoon. I suppose your father -and Cecil must both have heard something of Olive’s story by -now.”</p> - -<p>Margaret nodded. Jean was not so sure that she cared to have -Olive’s difficulties at school discussed before Cecil Belknap, -whom she did not yet thoroughly like, but as Margaret’s guest -she did not like to protest.</p> - -<p>Gerry then leaned across the table toward the ranch girls with -her teaspoon poised in the air.</p> - -<p>“Look here, Jean, Frieda, everybody, it is just like this. You -know that when the three ranch girls came to Primrose Hall most -of us liked two of the three girls right from the first, after a -few of their western peculiarities had rubbed up against our -eastern ones. But with the third girl, with Olive—well, it was -different. In the first place, Olive was shy and did not look -exactly like the rest of us (she is much prettier than I am, for -example); in the second place, the story was circulated about -among the girls that Olive was part Indian, the daughter of a -dreadfully ignorant Indian woman from whom she had run away and -that now she was trying to pretend that she was no relation to -her own mother. Of course, had any one of us ever looked at -Olive very hard we must have known that this story was an -untruth, or else only a half truth, which is the worst kind of a -lie. But we were too prejudiced and Olive too shy to stand up -for herself and—oh, what is the use of my going into this horrid -part of my story when I want to come to the fairy tale at the -end! After a while some of us girls did begin to see a little -further than the end of our noses and to suspect that a girl as -clever as Olive in her studies, as lovely in disposition and as -refined and gentle in her manner, could hardly be what we had -believed her, simply couldn’t. And now I want to say just one -thing in excuse for myself. I did know that Olive was a lady and -more than a lady, a trump, before I learned that she was not an -Indian girl, but a heroine,” and here Gerry paused an instant to -sigh and to get her breath in order to continue to express her -romantic delight in the change of the stranger girl’s fortune.</p> - -<p>Hurriedly, however, Margaret Belknap now seized this moment’s -respite.</p> - -<p>“I knew that Olive was charming too,” she interposed, “and I did -try to be nicer to her before I went away for the Christmas -holidays, intending on my return to ask her to overlook the past -and be friends. I suppose there were other girls in our class -who felt the same way and had this same intention?”</p> - -<p>As Margaret paused four or five other voices answered: “There -certainly were,” before she went on. “Yes, I know. But after we -got back from our holidays it was then too late to make Olive -believe in our good intentions, because in that short time -things had so changed for her that she had become more -interesting than any of the rest of us. You can see, Jean and -Frieda, just what we have been up against?” (The well-broughtup -Margaret was not conscious of using slang at this moment and -only her brother smiled at her.) “If our Junior class had then -rushed up at once to Olive and apologized to her, after we had -learned of what had befallen her, why we did not believe that -she would care very much for such a belated repentance. So for -months now we have been trying to think of some pretty and -tactful way to show our real feeling toward her and now we hope -we have at last hit upon the right plan.”</p> - -<p>“Do let me tell the rest, Margaret, you have talked such a long -time,” and though a laugh went all around the table at her -expense, Gerry again burst forth: “Everybody here knows that we -are to have our school finals now in a short time and see the -Seniors graduate and the Juniors, who are trying for the -Shakespeare prize, give their recitations before the committee -specially chosen to pass on them? Then of course we have -luncheon and afterwards a dance on the lawn with all our guests -at the commencement present. But there is one thing that perhaps -you two ranch girls don’t know and that is that we always choose -one of the Primrose Hall girls as our Queen for commencement -day. Of course she must be selected from among the entire -school, not from any one class; but Margaret and some of the -other Juniors and I have been talking things over with the -Seniors and they say it is our turn to have the Queen and that -they are willing to—you know what we want to do, don’t you, Jean -and Frieda?”</p> - -<p>Jean bowed her head showing that she understood, but Frieda -still appeared mystified.</p> - -<p>“I think it would be a beautiful thing for you girls to do, if -you really wish to do it,” Jean answered a bit huskily, although -she was trying not to show any special emotion before Cecil -Belknap, who had been watching her pretty closely all afternoon -through his same hateful pair of eyeglasses.</p> - -<p>“Beautiful to do what?” Frieda now demanded, turning first -toward Mollie and then toward Lucy Johnson for the explanation -of this everlasting preamble of Gerry’s and Margaret’s.</p> - -<p>“Why, choose Olive for our School Queen for commencement day,” -Gerry returned, “and as our finals take place in May, I suppose -you can call her ‘Queen of the May’ if you like. For you see she -does preside over our dances all afternoon, leads any special -ones, and we pay her whatever homage we can. Now, please, don’t -you, Cecil, or any other human being at this table start -reciting: ‘You must wake and call me early, call me early, -mother dear’,” she concluded, “for if it were not for that -tiresome, weepy poem, I should think the choosing of a May Queen -one of the prettiest customs in the world. But I can assure you -that at least eleven out of every twelve persons who come to our -commencement feel called upon to spout that poem; I suppose -because it is so ridiculously easy to remember.”</p> - -<p>As soon as the speaker finished Margaret jumped up from the -table, her guests immediately following suit. “Then it is all -settled,” she exclaimed happily, lifting high her pretty teacup, -“so let us drink to Olive as our next queen and to the other -ranch girls.”</p> - -<p>“I suppose you mean Jack too, even if you don’t know her,” -Frieda suggested loyally before joining in the toast. And -Gerry’s hearty “Of course,” ended the pretty scene.</p> - -<p>For now the entire party of girls, deserting the salon, made -their way again out on to the deck of the yacht. Of the group -Jean was the last to leave, followed by Cecil Belknap.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I say, Miss Bruce, will you go a bit slow?” he asked. “My -sister tells me that she has asked you to pay us a visit at our -cottage on the Massachusetts coast this summer and I hope you -are going to be jolly enough to come, for I should enjoy it most -awfully.”</p> - -<p>“You wouldn’t really, not a visit from a western ranch girl?” -Jean’s eyes danced; “but it is very kind of you to say so,” she -ended prettily, extending her hand to the young man.</p> - -<p>Cecil was looking out the open door to where the lights were now -twinkling forth one by one along the side of the Jersey shore. -“No, it is not what I would call good of me,” he replied -quietly. “I thought I told you at our house at Christmas that I -liked you and that if there wasn’t any fellow out West, I would -like to see more of you anyhow. Do say you will make us the -visit?”</p> - -<p>With a new dignity that a year of Primrose Hall had helped -develop in her, Jean now shook her head. “No,” she replied -quietly, “I have already explained to Margaret that I shan’t be -able to come to her this summer. You see, my cousin, Jack -Ralston, whether she is better or not, is to leave the hospital -in New York early in June and then we expect to go back to the -Rainbow Ranch for the summer time. After that we may go, who -knows where?”</p> - -<p>The young people went out on deck together as the yacht was now -running in toward shore, and beyond the landing pier in the -soft, spring dusk the travelers could see the old school -carryall and in another carriage Olive and Miss Winthrop waiting -to drive the party back to Primrose Hall. But before anybody was -allowed to leave the yacht Gerry had solemnly whispered to each -one of them. “Remember, please, Olive is not to hear a single, -solitary word about our plan. It is to be a secret up to the -very last minute.”</p> - -<h2 id='chXXIV' class='d018'>CHAPTER XXIV<br/>SHAKESPEARE’S HEROINES</h2> - -<p>“I declare, I never saw such a spectacle as I am in my life,” -Gerry Ferrows protested, turning half way around to get a back -view of herself in her bedroom mirror. “You look perfectly -lovely, Winifred, and I would not be a bit surprised if you get -the Shakespeare prize after all, even though Olive has the best -class record for the year and I the highest mark for my essay. -We are so close together in this contest that the least thing -may change the balance. It is my private opinion that whoever -gives the best Shakespeare recitation to-day will receive the -prize.” And Gerry sighed and then laughed, as she stooped to -adjust her doublet and hose. “Dear me, Winifred, why couldn’t I -have been born a stately blonde beauty like you so that I might -have appeared as lovely Ophelia instead of having to represent -Rosalind on account of my short hair?”</p> - -<p>Winifred also laughed, just the least bit complacently, -happening at that moment to catch sight of her own fair -reflection. She was dressed in a long clinging robe of some soft -white material and her pale blonde hair, bound with a fillet of -silver, hung loose about her neck. In her hand she held a sheet -of paper with her speech written upon it, which she glanced at a -little nervously every now and then.</p> - -<div class='d019'> - <div class='d014'> - <div class='d020'> - <div class='d021'>“Oh, what a noble mind is here o’erthrown!</div> - <div class='d021'>The courtier’s, soldier’s, scholar’s, eye, tongue, sword;</div> - <div class='d021'>The expectancy and rose of the fair state.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p>“Dear me, Gerry, don’t talk of my winning the prize by my -recitation,” Winifred groaned. “I have the most dreadful case of -stage fright already, and to think that I have to make the first -speech!” She glanced up at the clock on their mantel. “It is -only a half hour now before we must go downstairs and I believe -that there have never been so many guests at one of our -commencements before. I suppose it is because the day is so -beautiful that we can have our whole entertainment outdoors. I -wish we had a front window, for I am sure I have heard at least -a hundred automobiles drive up to the house. If we go to the -ranch girls’ room we can see out into the yard and I can have a -look at Olive. I am simply dying to find out what she looks -like!”</p> - -<p>Gerry shook her head positively. “Jean says that no one is to -come near Olive; she even means to go downstairs with her -herself and to slip around to the entrance to the stage in the -pavilion, so that no one shall dare speak to her. So I suppose -if the truth be known, Winifred, Olive is just about as badly -scared as you are and a good deal more so, considering how -dreadfully shy she is. But don’t fear that she will not look -pretty. I heard Jessica Hunt say the other night that she never -saw any one so exquisite in her life as Olive in her Shakespeare -costume. And I feel rather proud because Olive chose Perdita in -‘The Winter’s Tale’ for her character because I asked her to. -She had once made me think of a description of Perdita.”</p> - -<p>Winifred flushed angrily and then began walking up and down the -room. “See here, Gerry Ferrows, I do think it is just too -hateful for you to have kept on encouraging Olive to try for -this prize. It will look awfully queer to people if she accepts -a prize from her own grandmother anyhow, and I do need it most -dreadfully.” In her nervousness and temper Winifred was almost -in tears, though not for worlds would she consciously have -marred her lovely appearance.</p> - -<p>A low whistle came from between Gerry’s red lips. “Please don’t -leave me out of the race altogether, sweet Winifred,” she -begged. “I may not have so great beauty as you and Olive to -commend me, but remember:</p> - -<div class='d019'> - <div class='d014'> - <div class='d020'> - <div class='d021'>“‘From the east to western Ind,</div> - <div class='d021'>No jewel is like Rosalind.</div> - <div class='d021'>Her worth, being mounted on the wind,</div> - <div class='d021'>Through all the world bears Rosalind.’”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p>Then Gerry, marching over with an exaggerated, swashbuckling -stride toward Winifred, smote her on the shoulder with more -friendliness than she had shown her in many weeks. “Come, -Winifred, what is the use of our worrying now? I believe I need -this prize money quite as much as you do, since my father has -just made some unfortunate investments and may not be able to -let me come back to old Primrose Hall to graduate next year. And -of course we know this prize would mean our tuition. But we must -take what comes with a good grace, for you and Olive and I have -an equally fair chance with our speeches to-day. So if Olive -wins we ought not to fuss, for I can perfectly well understand -how she wants the glory of winning and not the prize itself. She -told me that she had been working for this prize ever since she -first came to Primrose Hall in order to show her beloved Jack -Ralston how much she had appreciated the opportunities she had -given her.”</p> - -<p>In reply Winifred merely shrugged her shoulders scornfully, but -at the same instant, a bell sounding out on the lawn and a great -clapping of hands, she again fell to studying the paper in her -hand. “Good gracious, there is someone’s speech just ending!” -she exclaimed, “so our turns will come soon.”</p> - -<p>And Gerry, even though she was sure of being letter perfect in -Rosalind’s saucy reply to Orlando: “No, no, Orlando, men are -April when they woo, December when they wed,” opened her “As You -Like It” and began once more to read over her part.</p> - -<p>So five, ten, fifteen minutes went by and then Jessica Hunt’s -voice was heard outside in the hall: “Where are my Shakespeare -heroines?” she demanded. “Gerry, Winifred, please put your long -coats around you and come on downstairs now. The coast is clear -and it is almost time for your speeches. I will tell Olive.”</p> - -<p>Winifred had indeed been right: no commencement day at Primrose -Hall had ever been so beautiful as this one and never before had -one called forth so many guests.</p> - -<p>Built as like as possible to an old Greek outdoor theatre, a -stage had been erected at the edge of a grove of trees not many -yards from the great house and a kind of covered arbor -temporarily arranged so that the girls who took part in the -commencement exercises might pass from the house to the stage -without being seen by the audience. The stage had no curtain and -only the sky for a canopy, a rarely blue sky with the white -clouds that melt before the deeper warmth of June. On either -side were piled great branches of trees freshly brought in from -the woods, delicately green with the early leaves of spring, and -the floor of the stage was strewn with wild-flowers, buttercups, -violets and daisies.</p> - -<p>In the yard facing the pretty impromptu theatre the audience was -seated, perhaps two hundred persons, so that any girl making her -first public appearance before it might reasonably be -frightened. Perhaps it was the beauty of the day, perhaps the -novelty of Miss Winthrop’s stage arrangements, for surely no -audience had ever appeared more enthusiastic than hers, and as -each girl had stepped forth on the stage, apparently entering -from the heart of a woods on to a carpet of flowers, the -applause and interest had increased.</p> - -<p>The Shakespeare heroines were to be the closing feature of the -programme. Therefore, in the front row facing the stage were -half a dozen men and women whom Miss Winthrop had invited to act -as judges, and a few feet from them in a chair next Miss -Winthrop’s sat old Madame Van Mater, the owner of “The Towers” -and the donor of the Shakespeare prize. Her appearance at the -commencement had been a surprise to everybody, but whether she -came because of her interest in her newly-found granddaughter or -whether because of her affection for Miss Winthrop, no one had -been told.</p> - -<p>When Winifred Graham first came out upon the stage such a murmur -of admiration ran through the audience that its echo reached to -her, giving her just the confidence she had needed for the -making of her speech. And truly her beauty justified the -admiration, for she was wearing the costume that best suited her -and was most effective against the natural background of -evergreens and flowers. The sunshine falling between the leaves -of the trees overhead touched her pale blonde hair to a deeper -gold, making fairy shadow patterns on the pure white of her -dress.</p> - -<p>Without a trace of the nervousness that had haunted her -upstairs, nor a moment’s faltering over her lines, Winifred -recited Ophelia’s famous description of Hamlet, ending with the -words, “O, woe is me, To have seen what I have seen, see what I -see.” Then for just a moment she paused with a pretty, pathetic -gesture and her gaze swept the faces of her judges before she -vanished from the stage amid much clapping of hands. Three times -Winifred was recalled by the audience and at each call Gerry’s -heart sank lower and lower in her pretty high-top boots.</p> - -<p>“There is no use my trying now,” she grumbled, “because Winifred -has already won.” When a friend standing near whispered -something in her ear she laughed in her usual good-humored -fashion. “Oh, yes, I suppose I can recite better than Winifred, -but what avails it me when I can’t look like the goddess of -spring as she does at this moment there on the stage with her -arms full of flowers.”</p> - -<p>Gerry and two of her closest friends were under the enclosed -arbor in the spot nearest the entrance to the stage, as her -recitation came next, and a few feet away Olive, closely guarded -by Jean, was also waiting.</p> - -<p>Hurriedly Jessica Hunt rushed in, whispering something to Jean. -Then she darted across to Gerry. “Winifred is coming off now for -the last time; are you ready? Winifred looked perfectly lovely, -but she did not speak distinctly enough. Remember it is -difficult to hear out of doors.”</p> - -<p>Then came Gerry’s cue. A little nearsighted without her glasses, -she tripped over some branches, making a headlong rush on to the -stage in her entrance, as though Rosalind, really trying to find -her way through an unknown woods, had stumbled in the -underbrush.</p> - -<p>No one had ever been able to call Gerry Ferrows handsome, and -yet in the character and costume of Rosalind she was certainly -at her best. Perhaps the description that the heroine gives of -herself in masquerade will best describe Gerry’s present -appearance.</p> - -<div class='d019'> - <div class='d014'> - <div class='d024'> - <div class='d021'>“More than common tall,</div> - <div class='d021'>That I did suit me all points like a man?</div> - <div class='d021'>A gallant curtle axe upon my thigh,</div> - <div class='d021'>A boar-spear in my hand and—in my heart</div> - <div class='d021'>Lie there what hidden woman’s fear there will—</div> - <div class='d021'>We’ll have a swashing and a martial outside.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p>And truly if Gerry did feel any womanish fear during her -recitation she did not in any way betray it, for at once the -gayety of Rosalind, her wit and gallant courage, seemed to have -fallen like a mantle upon Gerry. Twice her audience laughed -aloud in the course of her recitation and once two of the judges -nodded at each other, which had not happened during Winifred’s -speech. Nevertheless, though Gerry came twice on to the stage -again to receive her flowers and applause, she was certain that -unless Olive made a much better showing than she had, Winifred -would be the winner of their contest.</p> - -<p>For some unexplainable reason there was a slight wait before the -third girl, who was to close the competition, made her -appearance. And this was unfortunate for Olive. In the first -place, the large audience was growing a little bit tired and -hungry, and in the second place, it gave them the opportunity to -begin talking of Olive’s curious history, retailing to one -another as much or as little as each one of them knew.</p> - -<p>Olive’s costume was a gift from Ruth and Jack, sent from New -York and shown to no one before the entertainment save Jessica -Hunt and Miss Winthrop. No one will ever know how much pleasure -the planning of it had given to Jack Ralston in the tiresome -days at the hospital. Not that she and Ruth were Shakespeare -scholars, only it had happened that years before Ruth had seen a -famous actress, who soon afterwards retired from the stage, in -this very character of Perdita in “The Winter’s Tale” and had -never forgotten the details of her dress.</p> - -<p>Quietly, when but few persons were looking, Olive at last -skipped on to the stage. She was wearing a pale pink crepe dress -that came down to her ankles, covered with an overdress of -flowered tulle. Her long and curiously black hair was braided in -the two familiar loose braids with a single pink flower at one -side, and on her arm she carried a basket of spring flowers.</p> - -<p>Had all her friends and acquaintances not been convinced from -the first that Olive would be frightened to death before so many -people? It was odd, therefore, that as she first came down -toward the edge of the platform she smiled assurance at Miss -Winthrop, who was trying her best not to appear too anxious or -too interested in her favorite pupil.</p> - -<p>Then, Olive, before beginning Perdita’s speech, started slowly -to dance an old English folk dance such as the country people -must have danced in rustic England long before even -Shakespeare’s time. Dancing was an art with Olive, so that -before she commenced her speech her audience was won.</p> - -<p>Still not showing the least trace of fright or nervousness, when -her dance was concluded, Olive stepped forward again to the -center of the open-air stage:</p> - -<div class='d019'> - <div class='d014'> - <div class='d024'> - <div>“I would I had some flowers o’ the spring that might</div> - <div>Become your time of day; and yours, and yours—”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p>She looked from one face to the other in the rows of people -watching her as though addressing Perdita’s pretty speech to -them.</p> - -<p>Then Miss Winthrop lost her color and old Madame Van Mater -stiffened and her eyes flashed. “Foolish girl, she has forgotten -her part and is going to make a spectacle of herself and me!” -she whispered in her friend’s ear. “I wish I had never come.”</p> - -<p>And apparently Olive had forgotten her lines or else grown -suddenly ill, for she continued standing perfectly still and -speechless for a period of one, two minutes, though surely it -seemed like ten, while waves of color swept over her face, -turning it crimson and then leaving it pale. “Oh, I cannot -believe it,” she whispered softly to herself, never taking her -eyes from a central place in the audience, as though on this -exquisite May morning she had suddenly seen a ghost.</p> - -<p>What secret message traveled across the heads of the audience to -the girl on the stage, no one knows, but Olive must have caught -it, for she smiled again and dipping her hand in her basket of -wild-flowers appeared to present them to various characters, who -in Shakespeare’s play stand grouped around the figure of Perdita -as she makes this speech:</p> - -<div class='d019'> - <div class='d014'> - <div class='d020'> - <div class='d021'>“Daffodils,</div> - <div class='d021'>That come before the swallow dares, and take</div> - <div class='d021'>The winds of March with beauty; violets dim,</div> - <div class='d021'>But sweeter than the lids of Juno’s eyes</div> - <div class='d021'>Or Cytherea’s breath; pale primroses,</div> - <div class='d021'>That die unmarried—”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p>As Olive spoke slowly she drew her flowers from her basket, -dropping them to the ground and moving gradually backwards -toward the entrance to the stage. Then, when she had recited the -last line of her speech, she made a quick bow and before her -audience realized that her speech was actually over, had -disappeared.</p> - -<p>Whether the applause that followed after her equalled Winifred’s -and Gerry’s she did not know and at the moment did not care. For -Jean was waiting only a few yards away and Olive rushed to her -at once.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Jean dear,” she said half laughing and half crying, “I -didn’t see? It can’t be true! Oh, why didn’t you tell me -before?”</p> - -<p>“Because we did not want you to be too excited,” Jean answered, -trying to speak calmly, “but oh, Olive, please hurry, for Jack -wishes you to come to her at once.”</p> - -<h2 id='chXXV' class='d018'>CHAPTER XXV<br/>“JACK”</h2> - -<p>Under a tall linden tree shedding its yellowy perfumed blossoms -about her a young girl stood alone, waiting. She was pale and -fragile and leaned slightly on a cane; her hair was a deep -bronze, the color of copper in the sunlight, and her gray eyes, -were now unusually dark with emotion. She was evidently trying -to appear less disturbed than she felt, for her head was tilted -back the least bit and her lips were held close together; -indeed, her whole attitude suggested a strong effort at -self-control.</p> - -<p>“Jack!” Two figures came running across the lawn entirely -unconscious of the number of persons about them, and the girl in -the costume of an English shepherdess arrived at the desired -goal first.</p> - -<p>“Olive!” There are no adequate words that can be spoken on first -meeting after a long separation from one we love. And so for -several moments the two ranch girls clung together trying hard -to keep back their tears, while Jean, standing a little apart -from them, pretended to laugh at their emotion.</p> - -<p>“But, Jack, you are well. Why didn’t you let us know? When did -it happen? There are so many things I want to ask you and yet I -don’t care whether you answer me or not, I am so glad you are -here.” Olive said at last.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps it wasn’t quite fair of me, Olive, to have taken you so -much by surprise. Jean and Frieda had a few days of warning. But -you see it was like this,” Jack explained, leaning a little more -heavily on her cane, although neither Jean nor Olive noticed it. -“When my operation was over neither the surgeons nor anybody -knew just at first whether or not I was to get well. So of -course Ruth did not wish to write and tell you until we were -certain. Then after a little while when I began to get stronger -I thought how I should love to surprise you by appearing out -here at Primrose Hall just as I have done to-day. Of course I -did not mean to put off coming until commencement day,” Jack -continued apologetically, “but somehow I did not get well quite -as fast as I expected, until it had to be now or never, so Ruth -wrote Jean and Frieda to expect us this morning but not to let -you know, for we were afraid that seeing me would somehow affect -your speech.”</p> - -<p>“It nearly finished it altogether,” Olive returned. “Just think -how I felt, Jack, when suddenly in the midst of my poor effort I -saw you standing straight up in the crowd looking just as you -used to do.”</p> - -<p>“I shouldn’t have stood up, Ruth tried her best to hide me, only -I got so excited.” Jack wavered a little. “Jean, of course I am -perfectly well, but would you mind getting me a chair; I am not -accustomed to standing so long.”</p> - -<p>Feeling dreadfully ashamed of her thoughtlessness, Jean hurried -off, returning in another minute empty handed. But following -close behind her was a tall man in a costume that somehow looked -a little out of place at Primrose Hall. Also he walked with a -freedom and power that did not speak of city streets, neither -did the deep tan of his skin. He was carrying the big, -comfortable chair for Jean.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Jim, Mr. Colter, I don’t think it fair to give a person so -many surprises in one day!” Olive protested.</p> - -<p>Jim Colter, the overseer of the Rainbow Ranch and the manager of -the Rainbow Mine, was engaged in helping Jack into her chair so -that he could not at once shake hands with Olive. But in another -moment his big hands closed over hers.</p> - -<p>“Don’t talk about surprises, Miss Olive Van Mater,” he replied. -“To think I used to laugh at all the yarns in the story books, -and here I was raising up a real live heroine out at the Rainbow -Ranch, whose history makes most of the fiction tales look real -pale! But ain’t it great to see the boss herself again. I -couldn’t believe she was getting well when she wrote me; I was -like that man from Missouri, ‘you had to show me’.” And here Jim -put his hand on top of Jack’s uncovered head.</p> - -<p>“Jim Colter, where are you and Jack and everybody?” a new voice -demanded. “I promised to let Jack and Olive have just five -minutes together alone, and I have, but now I am not going to -let my sister get out of my sight again as long as I live!” -Frieda had joined the little group under the linden tree just as -Jim was finishing his speech and before Olive could answer him.</p> - -<p>Now Olive turned again to Jack. “Do you know about everything, -my grandmother and all my queer history?” she asked.</p> - -<div class='d001'> - <div class='d002'> - <img class='d003' - alt='“DON’T TALK ABOUT SURPRISES.”' - src='images/illus-003.jpg' /> - </div> - <p class='d004'> - “DON’T TALK ABOUT SURPRISES.” - </p> -</div> - -<p>Jack nodded. “Yes, Olive, I do know,” she returned, “and I am -awfully glad and awfully sorry, for somehow it seems to make you -belong to us less than you used to do. Ruth told me as soon as -she thought I was well enough to hear. Didn’t you know that I -have even had a letter from your grandmother thanking me for -rescuing you from a person by whom she had been deceived, -meaning old Laska, I suppose. But goodness gracious, who are all -those persons coming towards us now?”</p> - -<p>Half a dozen persons were approaching, Madame Van Mater and Miss -Winthrop, Ruth Drew and Gerry Ferrows, and bringing up the end -of the line Jessica Hunt and Peter Drummond, smiling at one -another and apparently unconscious of every one else.</p> - -<p>With great solemnity introductions were soon exchanged and then -immediately afterwards Gerry Ferrows slipped over next Olive.</p> - -<p>“Miss Winthrop said I might be first to tell you that you have -received the Shakespeare prize,” she whispered. “The judges -voted your speech the most effective, and as you already had the -best record for the year in the Junior Shakespeare class, why of -course the honors are yours and I want to congratulate you.”</p> - -<p>With entire good feeling Gerry put forth her hand toward her -victorious rival.</p> - -<p>But Olive quickly clasped her own hands behind her. “I won’t be -congratulated, Gerry, and I won’t have a prize that I don’t -deserve,” she answered. “Tell me, please, who was the second -choice?”</p> - -<p>“I was, or at least the judges said so, though I entirely -disagree with them,” Gerry returned, blushing furiously, for -Olive was almost forcibly trying to drag her over to where -Madame Van Mater and Miss Winthrop were standing together.</p> - -<p>“Yes, the Shakespeare prize is to be yours, Gerry,” Miss -Winthrop at once explained. “Olive wanted the pleasure of trying -for it just to see what she could do, but Madame Van Mater does -not wish the prize given her, and of course under the -circumstances Olive does not wish it herself.”</p> - -<p>Ten minutes later Jean, Frieda, Olive and Gerry were -peremptorily borne away by a number of their classmates. Later -on from a kind of throne on one of the Primrose Hall verandas -Jack and some of her friends witnessed the pretty ceremony of -the crowning of Olive as Queen of the day. For several hours -afterwards the dancing out on the lawn continued, Olive raising -a silver wand as a signal for each dance to begin and then in -royal fashion leading it off herself. Four or five times during -the afternoon Olive and Donald Harmon had been partners. Once, -when Jack had been watching them, she happened to turn to speak -to Madame Van Mater, who sat next her. But whatever she may have -intended to say she did not, but instead waited to study her -companion’s expression.</p> - -<p>There was no doubt that Madame Van Mater was looking distinctly -pleased at the sight of Olive and Donald together, for there was -almost a smile of satisfaction on her face. Watching her, Jack -flushed, biting her lips, then she leaned over and spoke:</p> - -<p>“You are very good, Madame Van Mater, to be willing to have -Olive go home with us to our ranch this summer. I wonder if -afterwards you will do something that is kinder still?” she -asked.</p> - -<p>With distinct approval Madame Van Mater regarded Jack, for there -was an air of distinction and aristocracy about her that was -very pleasing.</p> - -<p>“It was Katherine Winthrop’s idea that I should not interfere -with my granddaughter’s liberty at present,” she replied; “but -what more would you have me to do?”</p> - -<p>For answer Jack, who was growing weary, leaned back on her sofa -cushions looking out over the garden and fields to where afar -off she could see just a silver line marking the course of the -Hudson River.</p> - -<p>“I have been shut up inside a hospital for seven months, Madame -Van Mater,” she explained slowly, “and until my accident I don’t -believe I had ever been indoors twenty-four hours together in my -life. And all the time lately I have been thinking and longing -for just two things. One to see our beloved ranch again, to get -on horseback and ride for miles and miles over the prairie. And -then—”</p> - -<p>“And then?” old Madame Van Mater repeated with more interest -than you would believe she could show.</p> - -<p>Jack laughed. “Why then I want to travel as far and as fast as I -can. You see, I have been shut in so long and some days I used -to think perhaps I should never see much more of the world than -just four walls.” Jack shuddered and then braced her shoulders -in her old, determined way. “But I am well now and, as the -doctors don’t wish me to be in school, I want you to promise to -let Olive go to Europe with Jean and Frieda and me next fall?”</p> - -<p>“Europe?” Madame Van Mater reflected a moment. “An excellent -idea! I could have planned nothing better for Olive, for travel -and experience may give her just the ease and culture she needs. -But who will look after you?”</p> - -<p>At this moment Ruth Drew slowly approached towards Jack and her -companion. She too was looking pale and worn from her long vigil -of watching, but she smiled as Jack, reaching forth, took tight -hold of her hand.</p> - -<p>“Why Miss Drew will chaperon us, of course,” she answered. “She -will not go home with us this summer, but she has promised to go -abroad afterwards and to stay forever if we wish.”</p> - -<p>Before Ruth could do more than make a conventional reply, Miss -Winthrop arriving persuaded her old friend to join her in saying -farewell to her guests.</p> - -<p>So just for a few moments, as all their friends were walking -about in the great garden, Ruth and Jack were once more left -alone. Not far off they could see Jim Colter slowly approaching -them with Jean and Frieda holding on to his hands like little -girls.</p> - -<p>Jack looked first at Jim and then turned to the older girl at -her side.</p> - -<p>“I am so sorry, Ruth,” she said, “perhaps I was foolish, but I -used to hope in those long empty days at the hospital that when -you and Jim saw each other again you would forget what has -separated you and only remember you care for one another. -Somehow when one has been very ill, love seems the only thing -that is really important.”</p> - -<p>Ruth flushed until she looked like the old Ruth of those last -weeks at the ranch before Jim had made the tragic confession of -his past fault to her. “Jim does not care for me any more, Jack -dear,” she whispered, although no one was near enough to hear. -“He has not spoken to me alone since he arrived in New York, so -I suppose he has not forgiven my hardness and narrowness; -besides, men forget love very easily.”</p> - -<p>Jack shook her head and somehow her expression was happier than -it had been the moment before Ruth’s speech. “Jim does not -forget,” she answered, “he is the faithfulest, tenderest, -kindest person in the world.” And then the oldest ranch girl -sighed. “Dear me, isn’t it the horridest thing in the world to -have to wait for the nice things to happen?” she asked. “Of -course, we all know, Ruth, that some day everything will turn -out for the best, but it is just that silly old indefinite word -some that makes the waiting so difficult.”</p> - -<p>The next volume to be issued in the Ranch Girls’ Series will -appear under the title of “The Ranch Girls in Europe.” In this -story the histories of the four girls and their chaperon will be -more fully developed, for having put childhood and school life -behind them, they will enter that broader world of young -womanhood, where romance stands ever waiting round the corner.</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ranch Girls at Boarding School, by -Margaret Vandercook - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RANCH GIRLS AT BOARDING SCHOOL *** - -***** This file should be named 56097-h.htm or 56097-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/6/0/9/56097/ - -Produced by Roger Frank -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this -eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook -for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, -performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given -away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks -not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the -trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country outside the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no - restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it - under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this - eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the - United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you - are located before using this ebook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The -Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the -mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its -volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous -locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt -Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to -date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and -official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -For additional contact information: - - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - - - -</pre> - -</body> -</html> |