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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fd16d79 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #61987 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61987) diff --git a/old/61987-0.txt b/old/61987-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 379bbf2..0000000 --- a/old/61987-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7118 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Virginia's Adventure Club, by Grace May North - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Virginia's Adventure Club - -Author: Grace May North - -Release Date: May 1, 2020 [EBook #61987] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VIRGINIA'S ADVENTURE CLUB *** - - - - -Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - VIRGINIA’S ADVENTURE CLUB - - - - -[Illustration: “I’m not scared of you,” she said.] - - - - - VIRGINIA’S ADVENTURE CLUB - - By - GRACE MAY NORTH - - Author of - “Virginia of V. M. Ranch,” “Virginia at Vine Haven,” - “Virginia’s Ranch Neighbors,” “Virginia’s Romance.” - -[Illustration] - - A. L. BURT COMPANY - Publishers New York - Printed in U. S. A. - - - - - THE - VIRGINIA DAVIS SERIES - - A SERIES OF STORIES FOR GIRLS OF - TWELVE TO SIXTEEN YEARS OF AGE - - By GRACE MAY NORTH - - VIRGINIA OF V. M. RANCH - VIRGINIA AT VINE HAVEN - VIRGINIA’S ADVENTURE CLUB - VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS - VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE - - Copyright, 1924 - By A. L. BURT COMPANY - - VIRGINIA’S ADVENTURE CLUB - - Made in “U. S. A.” - - - - - VIRGINIA’S ADVENTURE CLUB - - - - - CHAPTER I - - THE ADVENTURE CLUB - - -“Now that the Christmas holidays are over,” Babs remarked on the first -Monday evening after the close of the short vacation, “I mean to redeem -myself.” - -Margaret Selover looked down at the Dresden China girl who, her fluffy -golden curls loosened from their fastenings, was wearing a blue corduroy -kimona which matched her eyes. Babs sat tailorwise upon the furry white -rug close to their grate fire. - -Megsy laughed. “Which means?” she inquired as she sat in front of her -birds-eye maple dressing table, brushing her pretty brown hair. - -“Which means that I have determined to startle the natives by getting my -name on the honor roll. Watchez-vous me! See if I don’t.” - -“I certainly admire your French.” Margaret was donning her golden brown -robe that was woolly and warm. Then, when she, too, was seated opposite -her roommate, she inquired: “But why this sudden ambition? I thought -your motto has always been ‘Learn as little as you can, for wisdom makes -a stupid man.’” - -“Well, doesn’t it?” Babs flashed. “Take Professor Crowell fer instance. -He probably knows as much as the encyclopædia, and yet, who can deny but -that he is stupid. He goes around ruminating on things that nobody else -could understand, and he can’t even tell his own daughters apart.” - -Margaret laughed. “Well, belovedest, I don’t think you and I are either -of us in danger of becoming as wise as Professor Crowell, and as for -telling Dora and Cora apart—who can? Certainly not Mrs. Martin, and -they’ve been in this school since they were small.” Then more seriously, -she clasped her hands over her drawn-up knees, Margaret continued: “But -I would like to be as wise as Miss Torrence. When she is reading to us -and there is a reference to someone or something that happened in the -long ago, you know how her eyes brighten. She is seeing a picture that -represents it. I know, because yesterday when I came across a reference -to the Peripatetic school, I was as pleased as Punch. I knew at once -that the Greek word meant ‘to walk,’ and that it had been used because -Aristotle, the greatest of ancient philosophers, walked up and down in -his garden while teaching. And so I have decided that, if learning does -nothing else, it adds a lot to one’s own pleasure.” - -Babs glanced at the clock over the mantle. “I don’t see why the girls -don’t come,” she said, trying to suppress a little yawn. Margaret -laughed and leaned over to poke up the fire. “My professorial discourse -has evidently made you sleepy. Hark! I believe I hear approaching -giggles.” - -A merry tattoo on the closed door announced the arrival of the expected -guests, and in they trooped, each wearing a bath robe or warm kimona of -the color which the owner believed to be most becoming to her particular -type of beauty. - -Betsy Clossen, in a brilliant cherry-red robe, was the first to burst -in. Then, observing the solemn faces of the two before the fire, she -remarked inelegantly: “For Pete’s sake, who died? I thought we were -going to have a giggle-fest to celebrate our reunion, after the long -separation, and here are our hostesses looking as though they had just -heard that they’d both failed in the final tests.” - -The newcomers dropped down on chairs or floor, as they preferred. -Barbara continued to look unusually solemn. “That’s just it,” she -announced. Then to Margaret: “That’s why I told you awhile ago that I -mean to redeem myself. I flunked on the holiday tests, and I was the -only one in our crowd who did. Even Betsy—” She paused and there was a -mischievous twinkle in the blue eyes that had been serious longer than -was their wont. - -“Believe me, I just got through by the skin of my teeth!” that maiden -announced in her characteristic manner. “Spent too much time playing -detective, and failed at that, too.” - -“I’ll tell you what!” Virginia Davis, who had been a sympathetic -listener, spoke for the first time. “Let’s have a study club and meet in -one of our rooms every Saturday evening and have an oral review of the -week’s work.” - -“Ooh!” moaned Betsy; “that doesn’t sound very interesting.” - -“I’m for it,” Babs announced; “and when the grind part is over, couldn’t -we have refreshments?” This, hopefully. - -“Why, of course. We are always allowed to make fudge on Saturday -evening—” Virginia had begun, when Betsy put in: “Oh, I say; please -change the name of it; then I’ll enjoy it heaps more, if one can enjoy -anything related to learning.” - -“Can’t we think up some name that won’t sound the least bit studious? -Then we can have the real object a secret.” - -“We might call it The Adventure Club if you would enjoy the meetings -more than you would if we called it The Weekly Review.” Margaret -smilingly suggested. - -“I’m for it,” Betsy declared, then added doubtfully. “I suppose my new -roommate will think she ought to be let in on it. Would any of you mind? -She’s not such a bad sort.” - -“Who did you draw, Bets? I thought you hoped you were to have your room -alone this term.”’ - -“So did I, but Fate was agin’ me. Just as I was spreading my duds all -over the room, thinking I was to be sole possessor, along came Mrs. -Martin with a roommate for me. Since Sally MacLean didn’t come the first -term, I didn’t ever expect her back again.” - -“Sentimental Sally!” Babs and Megsy exclaimed in one breath. “Has she -returned to Vine Haven?” - -A doleful nod was Betsy’s only reply. Then she laughed gaily as though -at some merry memory. “I suppose you girls who don’t know her are -wondering why we call her ‘Sentimental Sally,’ and so I’ll tell you.” - -“Well, proceed. We’re all ears, as the elephant’s child was once heard -to remark,” Barbara said as she leaned back against Virginia, who sat in -the easy willow chair. - -“Is this Sentimental Sally, silly?” Virg inquired. - -Betsy laughed. “Silly?” she repeated with rising inflection, “She’s -worse than that. She’s bugs! Or rather, she was. I sort of think she’s -cured. Time alone will tell.” - -“Sally is always in love or thinks she is, which is perfectly -ridiculous,” Margaret explained, “since she is only fifteen.” - -“I’ve sometimes thought that if Sally had had brothers, as we have, she -wouldn’t have had such foolish notions,” Barbara remarked. “You have the -floor now, Betsy, tell the girls the woeful tale of Sally’s downfall.” - -“Well, to begin at the beginning, Miss Snoopins, otherwise known as the -Belligerent Buell, is death on members of the sex not fair.” - -“Meaning boys,” Barbara put in. - -“One of the rules that she made for the corridors was that no -photographs of the objectionable creatures should be displayed in our -rooms. Well, as usual, Sally was being sentimental about somebody, and -the somebody was certainly a most good-looking boy. She called him -‘Donald Dear’ and raved about him whenever she could find anyone to -listen. - -“Of course she wanted to have his photo in her room, but that was -against the rules, so she got around it in this way. Her grandmother’s -picture was in a frame that was suspended between two little gilt -pillars and could be swung over with the back to the front, so to speak. -Sally fastened her Donald’s picture back of her grandmother’s photo, and -when she was all alone in the room, the boy smiled out at her, but when -she heard footsteps in the corridor, she darted to the mantel and turned -it over that her grandmother’s face might be the one to greet whoever -was about to enter. In this way Sally evaded Miss Snoopins for a long -time, but we knew that a day of reckoning would surely come. Nor were we -mistaken. - -“We were all in her room on Thanksgiving. Maybe I ought to be ashamed to -confess that, silly as we thought her, we were willing enough to partake -of the spreads that came to her from a doting mother on any and all -holidays. Sally is good-natured and she just adores me. Not much of a -comp, considering her lack of brains, but anyway when we got a bid to -her room for a Thanksgiving spread, we were all there, Megsy, Babs, -Dicky Taylor and the present speaker. The craziest part of it was that -we might have had that spread early in the evening, with permission, if -we had wished, but that wouldn’t have been romantic enough to suit -Sally. She wanted to wait until the lights-out bell had rung and then, -when Miss Snoopins had passed down the hall, to be sure that the gong -had been obeyed, she wanted us to all steal into her room, which we did. -Sally then locked the door and hung a towel over the keyhole and drew -the rug over the crack at the bottom. We forgot that light might also -shine through the crack at the top. Then Sally lighted her prized -candelabra and set it on the floor in the middle of a big paper table -cloth. Oh, baby, it makes me hungry now to think of that spread. Say, -Babs, do you remember how tender and juicy that turkey was? Yum! And -those cranberries?” Megsy and Barbara nodded. Virginia smiled. “I’ve -read boarding school stories,” she said, “and there was always some such -prank. I suppose that just as the feast was about to be eaten, there -came a knock on the door and—” - -But Betsy shook her head. “No, not that soon, thanks be. We had the -turkey devoured even to the bones and were starting on the dessert, when -Sally happened to look up at the mantle. If there wasn’t the -kindly-faced old grandmother smiling down at us. For once Sally had -forgotten to turn it over. Up she sprang and ‘Donald Dear’ beamed out. -Then, to prove just how sentimental she really was, Sally lighted two -tiny candles, one on either side of the frame. - -“He certainly was a handsome chap, and we all talked about him as we ate -the delicious pumpkin pie. We asked Sally where she had met him, how old -he was and if she were going to marry him when she grew up. She said yes -indeed, that they were engaged and that he just adored her. The only -reason that he didn’t write to her every day in the week was because -pupils at Vine Haven weren’t allowed to have letters from boys. Of -course we knew that. Now I happened to remember something which was, -that the first time that Sally had told me about Donald, she had said -that he was a class-mate of a boy cousin and that she had met him at her -aunt’s summer home, but that night she told the girls that she had met -Donald at a dance when she was visiting in Boston. Of course, being the -daughter of the most famous detective that ever was, I noticed that -discrepancy, though none of the other girls did, and I got suspicious at -once. If Sally didn’t know where she had met the handsome Donald (we all -agreed he was that), the question was had she really met him at all? - -“However, I didn’t want to spoil the spread by asking any embarrassing -questions, but you know how tickled I was to have something to detect. -Well, I was just eating my last luscious bite of mince pie when I -pricked up an ear, so to speak. ‘Hist!’ I whispered, holding up one -finger. ‘Didst hear a prowler?’ The girls all sprang up on the alert. - -“Of course we expected Miss Snoopins to appear and were prepared for the -worst.” - -The narrator paused to be sure that she had properly aroused the -curiosity of her listeners, and then she continued: “There was no -mistaking the fact that there were footfalls without, then a voice said: -‘Open the door, young ladies, if you please.’ And it wasn’t the voice of -Miss Snoopins. It was no less a personage than Mrs. Martin who stood -there when the door was opened. Sally had at once darted to the mantel -to reverse the picture in the swinging frame, but we made no attempt to -hide the feast. It just couldn’t be done. My! but weren’t we skeered! We -were sure we’d all get our walking papers, but though Mrs. Martin -delivered a short lecture on setting an example to younger girls, she -said kindly: ‘This was absolutely unnecessary, Sally, for you know I am -always perfectly willing to permit you to share the box of good things -that your mother sends you.’ - -“Miss Snoopins, who of course had brought Mrs. Martin, stood back of our -beloved principal and she fairly glared at us. One could plainly see -that she was boiling within and more than ever wrathful because Mrs. -Martin was not severe. Suddenly her X-ray glance, which had been -sweeping over the floor with its evidences of guilt, chanced to fall -upon the mantel. Into the room she strode, looking like a caricature in -her flannel nightie, her skimpy kimona and her flapping bedroom -slippers. Never before had her nose looked so long and peaked or her -thin hair so tightly drawn back. When Sally saw the direction she was -taking she looked, and to her horror she beheld that in her haste she -had whirled the picture over twice, and that Donald dear was again -smiling down upon the company. - -“Mrs. Martin, having asked us to promise that we would obtain permission -to have a feast, in the future, had retired and so she did not hear or -see what followed. Miss Snoopins’ green eyes fairly snapped. ‘Sally -MacLean, is that a boy’s picture?’ she demanded. - -“There being no answer needed, Sally gave none, but she felt like -crying, she said, when the belligerent Buell snatched it from the back -of the frame to which it had been pinned and tore it into shreds. Even -the pieces she thrust into the pocket of her kimona. ‘One hundred -buttonholes in garments for the heathen,’ she said in no quiet voice. In -fact, all the girls on our corridor were awakened, and the first to -thrust their heads in at the door were Dora and Cora Crowell, and -weren’t they mad when they saw that we had had a feast and that they -weren’t in on it, but they were all back in their rooms before Miss -Snoopins left which she did after ordering us out and watching us go. - -“Sally said she cried all night. She didn’t care to live without a -picture of her dear Donald. I said her cousin could send her another -picture of his roommate, but she didn’t reply. However, she looked so -sort of queer that I was more than ever sure that she was just using her -imagination. - -“Nothing happened until Valentine’s day, and you remember, Megsy, that -Mrs. Martin said that Benjy Wilson might bring over a few of his friends -from the Drexel Military Academy to call and that one of the teachers, -Miss King, if she were free, would act as chaperone. - -“That was a great occasion for the girls. Mrs. Martin excused us from -classes, as the calls were to be in the afternoon and Miss King took -that opportunity to drill us in how to receive visitors. After half an -hour of practice we skipped up to our rooms to get ready. We put on our -prettiest white dresses with gay colored sashes. Margaret and Babs were -to pour chocolate and Sally and I were to pass plates of wafers. This -reception was for all of our sophomore and senior girls. Of course, -Sentimental Sally was more excited than any of the rest of us, although -we were all interested. It was a pleasant break in the monotony of -school life. Eleanor Pettes had a single room at the front of the house -last year, and just as we were all dressed and waiting for a signal to -call us downstairs, Eleanor beckoned and we flocked to her room. ‘Here -they come,’ she whispered, as though they could hear, ‘and don’t they -look handsome, all of them in blue and gold dress uniforms.’ - -“They certainly did. There were about fifteen boys walking two by two -with Sergeant Hinkle, one of the seniors, in charge. Sally had been at -her mirror arranging her yellow curls in just the right places, and so -she hadn’t looked out the window, but she was ready a second later when -Miss King appeared to lead us downstairs. - -“The boys were standing about in the library looking at the books on the -shelves or pretending to when we entered. Miss King spoke first with -Sergeant Hinkle, and then we were all introduced in a rather general -way, and we stood about talking in groups. I said to Sally: ‘There are -two boys over by the window and they look lonely. Let’s go and talk with -them.’ - -“‘All right,’ Sally agreed, ‘you lead the way.’ - -“Sally followed as I wedged through the groups, but when we got there we -found only one boy who stood with his arms folded looking about the room -with rather an amused expression on his really good-looking face. He -turned toward us questioningly for Sally had uttered a little cry of -amazement and had put her hand to her heart. - -“Of course, I had recognized the boy at once. He was Donald Dear! He -looked at us pleasantly, even curiously, as he noted Sally’s very -evident agitation, but it was perfectly plain to me that he had never -seen either of us before. - -“‘What did Sally say?’ Virginia inquired. - -“‘She didn’t say—she bolted! She went up to her room and when the -callers were gone I found her there in tears.’ - -“‘She said that we’d all think she was a fibber, and that’s what she -really had been, for she hadn’t the least idea who the boy was in the -photograph. She just knew that he was a football player whose picture -was among a lot that her cousin had brought home from school. She said -she was just crazy about him and always would be.’ - -“‘Did Sally ever see him again?’ Virg inquired. - -“‘No, I guess not. Benjy said that Donald Dearing went to France soon -after that to be with his father, who was stationed there.’ - -“Margaret looked meditatively into the fire. ‘If only girls knew how -much more boys like them when they are not sentimental,’ she said, ‘they -would all try to be just good comrades.’ - -“‘Sally didn’t return to Vine Haven the next term,’ Betsy continued. -‘Honestly, I felt sorry for her, and so I wrote her a Christmas letter -and told her the girls didn’t hold it against her because she had used -her imagination. She was so happy to get that letter and she packed -right up and came back to school.’ - -“‘Poor girl!’ Virginia said kindly. ‘Do bring her to the meetings of The -Adventure Club. Perhaps it will do her a lot of good. Don’t you think -so, everybody?’ - -“Babs and Margaret nodded. ‘I always liked Sally, and I’m pretty sure -that she won’t be sentimental again,’ Megsy replied.” - -A get-ready-for-bed gong was pealing through the corridors and the girls -arose. “This is Monday,” Babs announced. “I’m going to study like a good -one, so I’ll know every question asked me at the Saturday Evening -Review.” - - - - - CHAPTER II - - SENTIMENTAL SALLY - - -Sally MacLean entered Barbara’s room almost shyly on the following -Saturday evening. She was pleased because Betsy had invited her to -attend The Adventure Club’s first gathering, but remembering her -humiliation of the year before, she was not sure how she would be -received. - -But the old pupils acted just as though nothing had ever happened and -Virginia welcomed Sally, whom she had not chanced to meet since her -arrival, in her friendliest manner. - -“Shall we begin the review at once?” the older girl asked. “Oh, dear me, -no!” Betsy protested. “If this is going to be a club, let’s elect -officers and frame rules, if that’s what it’s called, and choose a motto -an’ everything.” - -“I choose to be committee on refreshments,” Babs sang out. - -“I choose to be club detective,” Betsy put in. - -“I vote for Virginia for president,” Margaret said. - -“Second it! Third it! Fourth it!” came a succession of merry voices. - -“Winona you may be secretary and I’ll be treasurer if there is to be -anything to treasure.” Margaret happened to glance at the slight girl -who sat somewhat in the shadow. - -“Draw your chair into the firelight, Sallykins,” she called pleasantly. -“How can you expect to be elected to an office if you’re out of sight.” -The youngest member drew her chair forward, and when the flood of light -from the student lamp fell upon her doll pretty face and her long yellow -curls that hung to her waist, Virginia, for the first time, had a real -opportunity to observe her. - -“Poor girl!” she thought. “She has been too much petted and pampered by -a rich mother, I guess, to develop any real character. How pretty she -would be, with those dark blue eyes and long curling lashes, if her face -wasn’t so weak. Perhaps the club will be able to help her.” - -Virginia’s meditations were interrupted by Margaret, who was asking, -“Every one of us is holding an office except Sally. What can she be?” - -“I choose her for my assistant,” Virg said. - -“Whizzle! What an honor! Sal, think of that for dizzy soaring. Up from -the common ranks all in a jiff to vice president.” - -Sally flushed, looking prettier than before. “I never do know, Betsy,” -she said feebly, “whether you’re making fun or not.” - -Margaret intervened. “Just decide that she always is,” she suggested. “I -never knew Betsy Clossen to be solemn.” - -“Then Mistress Megsy, you’re going to have a brand new experience, for I -am going to be solemn five minutes by the clock.” Turning to Virginia -she asked, her expression as big-eyed and serious as she could make it, -“Madame President, we have two objects for this club, one to study and -one to eat. We have each been appointed to an office of honor. It merely -remains now for us to select a fitting motto.” - -Virginia smiled and the other girls laughed, but Betsy looked -reproachfully from one to the other and they could not make her change -her solemn expression. “Everybody think a moment,” Virg suggested, but -almost at once Babs sprang up and clapped her hands. “I know where there -are steens and steens of mottos, any one of them would do.” - -“Where?” Megsy inquired. - -“On my motto calendar. I’ll tell you what, Virg. You select a date and -I’ll read the motto that’s under it.” - -“Well, then, January fifteenth, which is today.” - -Barbara skipped to her bird’s-eye maple writing desk and read from the -small pad calendar. - - “Do the work that’s nearest, - Though it’s dull at whiles. - Helping when you meet them, - Lame dogs over stiles.” - -Virginia smiled. “That’s excellent,” she said, “and let’s begin to put -it into effect. To do the work that’s nearest, Babs, please hand me that -pile of books yonder and I’ll begin the weekly review.” - -“Ooh!” Betsy sank far down in her chair and looked so despondent that -the others laughed. “Let’s get this part over as quickly as ever we -can,” Barbara begged. “I’m almost famished for fudge.” - -The review that evening proved two things to the president of the club. -One was that Barbara had really studied during the week that had just -ended and her pretty flushed face and eager way of answering showed that -at last she was really interested in learning. - -But when Sally was asked to repeat William Cullen Bryant’s -“Thanatopsis,” the poem that all of the girls in Miss Torrence classes -were required to memorize soon or late, that doll-like little maid -became so confused that Virginia quickly realized that she had no -understanding of what the lines meant. - -“Girls,” Virginia said, looking at the others rather than at the -embarrassed newcomer, “there is only one real way to learn poetry, I -think, and that is to first picture what it means. When we thoroughly -understand the sentiment, we can far more easily memorize the words of -the poem.” Then very kindly, “Sally, what picture came to you when you -recited the lines - - “To him who in the love of nature holds - Communion with her visible forms, she speaks - A various language; for his gayer hours - She has a voice of gladness and a smile - And eloquence of beauty, and she glides - Into his darker musings with a mild - And healing sympathy that steals away - Their sharpness ere he is aware.” - -There was an almost startled expression in the baby-blue eyes that -turned toward the speaker. “Why, I don’t believe I saw any picture. I -was just trying to remember how the words came.” - -Margaret spoke. “Virginia,” she said, “those lines always mean one thing -to me. When father died, I felt as though I could not stay in the house. -The very walls oppressed me and so I ran away to a little woods that we -owned and where father and I had often walked after mother left us. I -had been sobbing for hours in my room and it was late afternoon when I -reached the wood. I threw myself down on the moss near a little fern -edged stream and though I cried at first, the gentle murmur of those -great old trees seemed to soothe me and brought a peace and somehow I -felt, that, though I could not see him, my dear father was still with -me. Ever since then I have loved Thanatopsis and have better understood -its meaning.” - -“Too, it is true that nature companions our happier moods with gladness -and song,” Virginia said. “Many a time when I have felt joyous and have -galloped on Comrade across the shining desert; the shout of the wind; -the frolicking of the rabbits; the very mountain peaks seemed to be -rejoicing with me. Nature truly is a wonderful companion.” - -Sally was listening with intelligent interest. “Oh, I believe I could -recite it now, Virginia. I think I understand better what it means.” - -And she did, no longer afraid. - -That ended the review for the evening and Betsy leaped up to pass the -fudge and this time she generously turned the plate so that Babs would -be obliged to take the piece that was nuttiest, it being nearest her. - -That night when Virginia and Winona had returned to their room, they -stood for a few moments, after the lights had been put out, to gaze -toward the ocean, over which hung one burning star that was much larger -than any of the others. - -Its path of quivering gold led toward the shore. They had opened the -window and they could hear the murmurous plash of the waves on the sand, -for the tide was out, and the surf was not crashing against the cliffs. - -These two, who so loved and understood nature, were quiet for a time. -Then Winona spoke. “Virg,” she said, “I have felt a strange stirring -within of late. It isn’t discontent, but a soul-voice is urging me to do -something really worthwhile.” - -The light had been turned on again and the girls were preparing for bed. - -“What are you planning to do, Winona, that will be more worthwhile?” -Virginia was sure that her Indian friend had not spoken without giving -the matter long and earnest contemplation. - -“I do not feel that this school is just the place that I should be.” -Then she hastily continued when she saw an expression of concern in the -face of her dearly loved companion, “I’m not unhappy here, white Lily, -but I seem to know that something else is waiting for me to do. I shall -be ready when it comes.” - -They said no more that night as the last “lights-out” bell was ringing -and after that, silence in the rooms was the rule. - -Virginia lay awake a long time watching the star that hung like a -lantern in the bit of dark blue of the sky that was framed in her -window. Her thoughts were of Winona. How calm and strong she was. She -would indeed be ready when the call came to do the worthwhile thing, -whatever sacrifice might be required of her. - - - - - CHAPTER III - - A SECRET ENEMY - - -“Hist. Virg, hold on a minute!” - -The tall slender girl warmly wrapped in hood and long cloak turned in -surprise as she was about to enter the little pine wood, beyond which -lay the cabin of her beloved teacher and friend Miss Torrence. - -She was indeed puzzled when she saw Betsy equally well protected from -the sleet and snow arise from a clump of bushes near the path. - -“How you startled me,” the older girl said, “with that mysterious -sounding ‘Hist’ of yours. Do detectives always do that?” - -“I don’t know,” Betsy confessed. “I never did hear my dad say it and -he’s the only detective of my acquaintance.” Then stepping over a snow -bank that she might stand in the shoveled path, she continued, “I wanted -to waylay you. I’ve something to tell you. I really hate to. It sounds -sort of sneaky, but we of The Adventure Club have just got to stand -together and protect each other, haven’t we, Madame President?” - -“Why, yes. I think we should. What have you heard?” - -“Well, I didn’t have much of anything to do this morning, being as it’s -Saturday and I thought I’d go up to the Tower Room that’s been vacant -since Gwendolyn Laureat went away before Christmas. I never will know -why I stole up those stairs as quietly as ever I could, unless it’s -because sleuths in the movies always do steal about that way. When I got -to the top of the stairs, I saw that the door was closed. There was -nothing particularly strange about that, but, just as I had my hand on -the knob to turn it, I heard voices inside. I tell you, it gave me a -start! I remembered all the stories about that room being haunted and I -was just about to dart away when I recognized one of the voices. The -speaker stood so close to the door I could hear what she said. It was -Kathryn Von Wellering and from what she was saying I knew that she is -your enemy.” - -“My enemy?” Virginia exclaimed in surprise. “Why, what have I done to -make Miss Von Wellering dislike me? All of the girls in that ‘Exclusive -Three’ group have failed to know that I exist.” - -Betsy looked wise. “Don’t you remember that your story was voted first -place in last term’s contest and that her story came out third? She had -boasted about among her set that she would be the next Editress of The -Manuscript Magazine and she isn’t used to not having what she wants.” - -“Oh, that’s it. But what can she do?” - -“What I heard her say was that she was going to see to it that the first -copy of the magazine was such a failure that Miss Torrence would gladly -appoint her as Editor.” - -Virginia looked troubled. “I’m truly sorry about this. I never did want -the position and if Miss Von Wellering really wants it, I shall be glad -to give it to her.” - -“Well, you’ll freeze, Virg, if I keep you standing out in this snowstorm -any longer, but I just want to tell you that I heard one of the three -say that you would find, at the last minute, that your own story was the -only usable contribution that you would receive.” - -“Why, that can’t be possible. Miss Torrence told me this very morning -that she would have a short story by Anne Peterson and a poem by Belle -Wiley to give me before the Manuscript Magazine is made up.” - -“It certainly is too bad that Eleanor Pettes decided to go to college -prep this term instead of coming here,” Virginia sighed. “She would know -just what to do.” Then, brightly, “But I must hurry along. It was lucky -that I started earlier than usual for Pine Cabin or I would be dolefully -late.” - -“I’ll keep my eyes and ears open,” Betsy promised as she began to walk -backwards toward the school. “But don’t give up the ship, Virg. Stick at -your post and we’ll back you. Whizzle, I’ll write a story myself or a -poem, even, if you run short of material.” Then, turning, she started to -run, while Virginia continued on her way smiling, as she thought of what -the Manuscript Magazine would be, if Betsy Clossen tried to write for -it. Betsy’s forte most certainly was not composition. - -When Virg entered the Pine Cabin whither she had gone alone to discuss -the first edition of The Monthly Magazine, which had been Miss -Torrence’s pet hobby since she first began to teach at Vine Haven, the -girl noted a perplexed expression in the eyes of her friend and teacher -as she looked up from her desk that was scattered over with papers. - -“Virginia,” Miss Torrence began at once, “I cannot understand in the -least what has happened. The story and poem that have been handed in by -Anne Petersen and Belle Wiley are not fit to use. They never before did -such poor work. In fact, these contributions do not sound at all like -their style of composition. I was particularly anxious to have our -January Manuscript Magazine an excellent one as Dean Craig of the Drexel -Academy was asking me about the plan and requested that he might see our -January number. He may start a similar magazine in his English classes. -We surely can’t use work as poor as this and there remains but one week -in which to find a really excellent short story. Kathryn Von Wellering -has withdrawn her story saying that it cannot be used unless she is -given the position of editor.” - -“I’d be glad to let her have it,” Virg said, but Miss Torrence shook her -head. “Character as well as literary ability are taken into -consideration when we appoint a girl at Vine Haven to a post of honor, -and Kathryn’s influence is not of the best. Well, we have a week to try -to unearth a worthwhile story.” Virginia soon left, wondering where a -story was to be found. Virg thought often that snowy Saturday about what -both Miss Torrence and Betsy Clossen had told her. It was hard to -believe that she had a real enemy, she who had befriended everything -that lived and who felt kindly toward all. - -“Virg, I believe that you actually would give up the post of honor that -you have won,” Margaret declared that evening as she prepared for a -second meeting of The Adventure Club. - -“Why not?” the girl addressed glanced up brightly. “It was an honor -thrust upon me, not one that I coveted. It isn’t bringing me any great -happiness and it has brought me an enemy. Who will, may have it, or, I -mean, could-if it were within my power to dispose of it, but Miss -Torrence has expressed her desire that I retain the position whether or -not we receive contributions considered worthy of acceptance.” - -“Betsy declares that she is going to submit a poem.” This from Sally who -was less timid than she had been at a previous meeting. Then she -tittered in a way which made her seem even more foolish than she really -was. “That’s why she’s late. She’s sitting curled up in our room writing -it now.” - -“The Fates deliver us from any poetry that Betsy might write,” Margaret -had just said when there came a pounding on the door, and, clad in her -cherry-red bath robe, the object of their conversation burst into the -room waving a sheet of foolscap paper. “It’s done! The day is saved. -Never before will there have been an edition of The Manuscript Magazine -to contain a literary gem like this.” - -The other members of the study club looked at each other in mock -despair. “Must we endure the torture?” Babs moaned. - -“Get it over with as soon as you possibly can, if it must be done,” -Margaret pleaded. - -Virginia interposed. “Girls, how dreadful of you! It might be good.” - -Betsy solemnly bowed, her hand on her heart. “Lady, I thank you for them -kind words,” she said. Then looking about the room, she inquired, -“Where’ll be the most effective place to stand?” - -“I’d keep real close to the door if I were you,” Barbara suggested. - -“Thanks, I will, though I won’t mind at all if you do pelt me with -fudge.” - -“Indeed, not a piece shall you get unless your poetry pleases us,” -threatened Margaret. - -Babs hastened to add, “I choose Betsy’s portion for it’s a foregone -conclusion that she won’t get any.” - -“Silence, young ladies, IF you please.” This in exact imitation of Miss -King’s voice and manner. Then making another elaborate bow, Betsy began -to read: - - “There is a young lady named Virg. - Who said Life is surely a scourge. - I’m so witty and wise - That I must editrize - Though I’d heaps rather be hearing my dirge.” - -The listeners laughed while Babs clapped with her thumbnails only. - - “There’s a senorita, named Marguerita - And Oh-a but she’s vera sweeta. - Her prida brought to her a fall - Once in a thronged study hall. - Her prida were her high-heeled feet-a. - - There is a young damsel named Babs - With manners most shocking. - She grabs! - Whenever there’s candy - That’s anywhere handy, - The nuttiest pieces she nabs. - - There is a fair maiden named Sally - Who lives in our Sweet Pickle Alley. - In front of a mirror - You oftenest see her - Whenever she has time to dally. - - There is a most witty young poet - Named Betsy, and I’m sure you know it. - She can tell by your glances, - As you listen in trances, - With a bouquet, just waiting to throw it.” - -Betsy ducked just in time for soft pillows snatched from the window seat -were hurled at her. Laughingly she gathered them up and replaced them in -a prim row, then she sank down among them as though exhausted. “Believe -me, that’s the hardest work I’ve done in my short lifetime. I’d heaps -rather shovel coal for a living. I thought I could never think of a word -to rhyme with Sally. Luckily we call our corridor Sweet Pickle Alley. -That helped some!” Then she interrupted herself to point an accusing -finger. “Quick! Look! Caught in the act. Wasn’t I right about Babs? It -isn’t yet time to pass the fudge and there she is helping herself to the -very piece that I had intended to take, because it’s so bulging full of -nuts.” Barbara sprang up, passed the plate and insisted that Betsy take -the nutty piece. Then, as they munched, Margaret said, “I’ll never -forget the day I wore those high-heeled slippers. Wasn’t I embarrassed, -it being a reception for patrons and parents? Common sense heels for -me.” - -The president of The Adventure Club tapped upon the table with her -pencil. “Attention, if you please, young ladies,” she said, “there is a -matter of importance to be discussed.” - -The girls looked up wonderingly. “Can you all keep a secret?” Virg asked -mysteriously. - -“Why, of course we can.” This protestingly from Margaret. - -“Whizzle, what a kweestion? A bottomless well couldn’t be more secretive -than I am if I give my word.” Betsy held up her right hand as though -taking a vow. - -“It won’t be hard for me to keep it if I can talk it over with you -girls,” Barbara told them. To the surprise of the others Sally rose. - -“I’d rather not try,” she said, speaking more seriously than usual. “If -it leaks out, you’d be sure to think I told, so, if you’ll excuse me, -I’d rather not know it.” - -Virginia rose and placing an arm about the slender girl who had her hand -on the door knob, she led her back to the group. “Sally,” she said -kindly, “I am sure that you will keep this secret.” - -The pretty face of the youngest girl glowed with happiness and pride. It -was the first time since she had been in that seminary that someone had -expressed faith in her. Many a time she had seen groups of girls stop -their chattering when she neared and she had felt left out. “They think -I’d tell what they’re saying, I suppose,” had been her unhappy -conclusion, as she wandered away by herself feeling so alone and -unwanted. But this wonderful girl, who was not only president of this -little club but also editor of The Manuscript Magazine, actually wanted -her to stay and share a real secret. Sally vowed within herself that -Virginia would find her worthy of the trust. - -“We’re all bristling with curiosity, as a porcupine was heard to -remark,” Betsy said. “What kind of a secret is it?” - -Virginia smiled at the mischievous would-be detective, as she replied: -“It isn’t anything that will interest you greatly. Yesterday Mrs. Martin -sent for me and asked if we girls from the West knew someone who would -appreciate a term at Vine Haven as guest. Now that Gwendolyn Laureat has -gone, the Tower Room is vacant. I do not know of anyone, but I said that -I would ask my closest friends if she wished. Mrs. Martin agreed, but -requested that we tell no one else as she never wished the identity of -the guest pupil to be generally known.” - -The girls were silent for a moment thinking over their friends and -acquaintances but finally they shook their heads. “It’s just too bad,” -Margaret said, “I’m ever so sure there must be some talented girl who -would love to have the advantages that this school offers and—” - -“Such as the refining influence of the members of The Adventure Club,” -put in Betsy with a twinkle. “I’ll undertake teaching her -up-to-the-minute slang.” - -Megsy, not heeding the interruption, continued, “and if The Exclusive -Three did not know her identity, she ought to be very happy here.” - -“Woe to her if they do find it out,” Barbara commented. “She might as -well pack up and leave that very day.” - -“Well, since there is no one whom we can suggest, we ourselves will not -know who the guest pupil is, as, of course, Mrs. Martin has many sources -to draw upon. Boston is full of girls, poor, but talented.” - -“Now, let’s have our weekly lesson review.” Virginia picked up an -Ancient History and in the midst of moans and groans asked the first -question. - -“Babs, you’re improving by the minute,” was Margaret’s comment when the -get-ready-for-bed gong pealed through the corridors. - -“Thanks, greatly! I mean to be a ‘Shining Light’ on the spring exams.” - -“Wouldn’t you faint right on the spot if you ever saw your name on the -Honor Roll board down in the main corridor?” Megsy asked. - -“Would she? I’ll tell the world!” Betsy answered for her. Then -teasingly, “Honestly girls, you may find this hard to believe but I -actually saw Babs stop in front of that popular black board every day -last week to see if her name is there yet.” - -Barbara flushed but spunkily protested, “I don’t care if I did. Now that -Virg and Margaret are on it, I mean to be, too, if I possibly can.” - -“Well, you needn’t bite my head off. Sally and I wouldn’t be on it, if -we could.” - -Then Sally surprised them all by saying, “Now that Virginia’s name is -there, I’d like ever so much to get my name on it, too.” - -“How’s that for idolatry?” Betsy began to tease, but Virginia remarked -seriously, “Sally, your hardest subject seems to be algebra. I’ll help -you, if you wish to study after hours just as Miss Torrence helps me.” - -“Whee-gee!” Betsy whistled. “If Sally MacLean gets her name on the Honor -Roll, it’s me as will faint and I don’t think I’ll ever come to.” - -When the girls were gone, and the lights had been turned out, Margaret -exclaimed, “Oh, Virg, see how beautiful the snowy world is in the -moonlight. I’m so glad that Monday is a holiday. Let’s go for a hike if -Mrs. Martin will permit. I just adore wading through snow-drifts.” - -“That would be a great adventure and a new one for me,” said the girl -from the desert where snow-drifts are unknown. They were indeed to have -an adventure. - - - - - CHAPTER IV - - THE FIRST ADVENTURE - - -“A whole holiday and every hour of it free. I feel like some caged bird -let loose,” Margaret exclaimed as the five girls from Vine Haven -Seminary started away from the school. All were clad in their warmest -coats, with leggings, mittens and flying scarfs to match the bright tams -that perched jauntily atop of their heads. - -“And to think that we may hike wherever we wish, on only one condition, -and that to report to Mrs. Martin half an hour before lunch,” Barbara -chattered. - -Virginia laughed. “One might think it the greatest kind of a lark just -to go outside of the gate,” she said. “I can understand it now, but when -I remember how I have galloped all over the desert for miles without -thought of keeping within certain boundaries, I don’t wonder that we -feel like caged birds.” - -“Snow birds, then,” Betsy’s merry face beamed out from beneath her -cherry colored tam. “Sally surely is. I just adore those white furs. You -look like a princess, Sal, stepped out of a fairy book with your golden -curls hanging like a mantle about your shoulders.” - -The others laughed. “Betsy, you aren’t going to burst out into poetry -again, are you?” - -“Not guilty!” that merry maid replied. Then pausing to look about she -inquired. “Which way shall we go in search of adventure? Behind us is -the sea. The wind is too icily cold to go in that direction. Down below -us is the village and beyond that—what?” - -“Let’s go and find out. Have we time?” Margaret consulted her wrist -watch. - -“Time to burn,” she announced. “It’s only eight-thirty. I’ve walked to -the village in half an hour often.” - -“Yes, my dear, so you have, but that was in the good old summer time. -You’ve never waded through drifts on an unbroken road and made that -speed,” Betsy told her, and Megsy agreed. - -“Well, count an hour to reach the village. Another hour to see what lies -beyond, and a third to return, and lo—that brings us back just on -schedule, thirty minutes before noon.” - -“I’ll tell you what,” Virginia said brightly, “let’s go as far as we can -in half of our time and return on the other half. But that wouldn’t do, -either,” she hastened to make the correction, “for it’s down hill going -and up hill coming back.” - -“Well, the sooner we get started the sooner we’ll return,” Barbara said -wisely, “and we can talk as we walk.” - -Away they went, Betsy and Babs in the lead, Virginia, Megsy and Sally -following single file. As they neared the top of the hill road, they -heard merry shouts and Betsy, having first reached the crest where she -could look over, turned and beckoned excitedly. “Quick! There are a lot -of youngsters here sliding down the hill, They’ve got a whopper of a -toboggan. It’s long enough to take us all on. Can’t we bribe them to -coast us down the hill? Then we’ll be that much nearer the town.” - -“That’s a spiffy idea,” Babs sang out. “I brought my purse. Suppose I -offer them five cents for each passenger.” - -“We’ll make it up to you, old dear,” Betsy told her, then she beckoned -to a boy of about fourteen who had been whirling the long toboggan into -place on the well trodden starting point. - -“How much will you charge to take us down to the bottom of the hill?” -she inquired. The lad touched his cap and replied most courteously, -“I’ll be glad to take you. I’m a Boy Scout and I do not accept pay for -doing a kind deed.” - -“That’s mighty nice of you,” Betsy said. “How do you want us to sit?” - -“Any way you like. I’ll be in front to steer,” the boy replied as he -took his place. - -The laughing girls thought this a fine adventure, especially Virg, who -had never before been on a sled of any kind. - -“All ready!” the lad glanced back inquiringly. - -“Go!” Betsy shouted, and they went! There was a sudden sharp descent -which gave the toboggan the start it needed. Skillfully the boy whirled -it around the curve in the road that was ahead of them and to their joy -the girls saw that the slide led right down to the edge of the village. - -“Hurray for us!” Betsy exclaimed, when at last they had stopped. - -“Thank you ever and ever so much,” Virginia exclaimed, “don’t believe we -were ten minutes coming down.” - -“I’ll take you again any time I’m up top,” the boy said gallantly. He -was about to start dragging the toboggan up the long hill when Betsy -hailed him. “Is there anything interesting to see beyond the village?” -she asked. - -The lad nodded. “I’ll say there is!” he replied in a voice that -suggested mystery. “There’s an old haunted house on the Poor Farm Road, -but I wouldn’t go near it if I were you. I sure wouldn’t.” - -Then, as some other boys were impatiently calling him to hurry up, he -left the girls to ponder on what they had heard. “I’m crazy to see it,” -Betsy said. “We can stand far off and just look at it.” - -The five girls walked rapidly through the small country village, -stopping only a moment at the general store to purchase five striped -bags of chocolate creams. They asked the direction they would have to -take to reach the Poorhouse road. The man behind the counter looked his -surprise. - -“You wasn’t figgerin’ on goin’ to the poorhouse, was you? If so, you’d -better hire the station rig to tote you there. It’s nigh five miles and -the goin’s pretty bad.” - -“Oh, no, indeed! We weren’t going that far.” Barbara turned in the door -to reply. - -“But thar’s nothin’ else on that road but Captain Burgess’ old place -whar thar’s nobody livin’. Leastwise, no one you’d care to meet up with -you a mere parcel of girls from the seminary, like as not.” - -But the garrulous old man’s curiosity was not to be satisfied, for with -a polite little nod, Barbara joined the others who were waiting on the -well-shoveled path in front of the store. - -The village was a small one. In ten minutes their brisk walking had -taken them to the last house. Beyond that the road lay a smooth unbroken -blanket of snow. Evidently the poorhouse was not often visited. - -The girls stopped and looked ahead. “Is it worth the effort?” Margaret -glanced up at her adopted sister. “We’ll have to wade up to our knees in -snow, and we don’t know how far away that old house may be. I can’t see -anything from here but a woods, and that’s at least a quarter of a mile, -shouldn’t you think?” - -Virginia nodded. “Fully.” - -“Oh, I say, Megsy, be a sport. You came all this distance for an -adventure and now want to back out. I think it will be scads of fun to -walk over to that woods. I’ll agree to turn back there (if you’ll go -that far), even if we don’t find the old house.” Betsy seemed so truly -disappointed that the others decided to go to the edge of the woods. - -The cold wind which had been blowing over the bluff by the sea could not -reach them in the lowland and the mid-morning sun was warm, dazzling the -snow. - -Betsy, in high spirits, plunged ahead, making a trail through the -drifts, that it might be easier traveling for the others, since she had -been the one who most wanted to come. As they neared the woods the sharp -eyes of the young detective made an interesting discovery. “It isn’t -just an ordinary woods,” she turned her glowing eyes to remark. “There’s -a high impenetrable hedge all around it.” - -Barbara laughed. “How do you know it is impenetrable? We’re too far away -to be sure of that, I should think.” - -Betsy had started to run, having reached a place that had been swept -clean of snow. “There’s one thing I’m sure of,” she called over her -shoulders, “which is that in the middle of the woods stands the deserted -house we’ve come to see.” - -When they reached the hedge and had followed around it for a time, they -decided that Betsy was right. It did indeed seem to be impenetrable. - -“There must be a gate somewhere! That Captain Burgess, who used to live -here, had to go in and out, and I don’t suppose that he jumped over the -hedge every time.” - -“Surely not, if it were as tall then as it is now,” Babs replied, amused -at the picture suggested by Betsy’s remark. - -“Here it is! And such big iron gates as they are!” It was Sally who, -having gone on ahead, turned to shout to them. They hurried to her side. - -“This must have been a carriage entrance once upon a time,” Virginia -remarked, “but the gates are fast shut with vines now. It is plain to -see that they haven’t been opened for years.” - -The underbrush within the grounds grew higher than the gate, and if -there was a house it could not be seen. - -“Hark!” the timid Sally whispered. “Didn’t you hear a noise just beyond -the hedge?” - -“Some little wild creature, probably,” Virginia remarked. - -Betsy had again darted ahead of the others. There was little snow on the -ground in the shelter of hedge and overhanging trees. She had been gone -several minutes when they heard her shouting. “Here’s a hole that’s big -enough for Sally to crawl through!” she said, when they reached her. - -“Me? Well, I guess not! I’m not going to crawl all alone through a hole -in that hedge and not know what’s on the other side.” - -“Then I’ll go myself. Luckily, I’m not much bigger than you are! If I -get stuck, you all can pull me out by the legs.” Betsy was about to try -the experiment when Virginia detained her. “I’m not sure that we ought -to go,” she said. “If the owner of the estate wanted visitors, he would -have left a gate open. Moreover, I think we ought to go back to school -now. We’ll have to climb up the hill road, you know, and we don’t want -to worry Mrs. Martin, who has been so kind to us.” - -[Illustration: “Oh, Virg, have a heart!” Betsy pleaded. “Maybe there’s a -mystery here that I could solve.”] - -“Oh, Virg, have a heart!” Betsy pleaded. “Maybe there’s a mystery here -that I could solve. I’d always be sure there was, if I went away, -without even one little peek on the other side of this high hedge.” - -“I’ll tell you what!” Babs said generously. “If we’re late reaching the -village, I’ll hire the station sleigh to take us up to the seminary.” - -“And it’s only quarter to ten,” Margaret added, holding up her wrist -watch for the oldest girl to see. - -Virginia laughed. “All right, we’ll stay until ten.” - -Although Betsy did find the hole rather small, she succeeded in wedging -her way through and the other girls listened to hear what she would say, -but to their surprise they heard nothing. - -“Betsy, can you see a house?” Babs called wishing that she was just a -little smaller that she might follow her friend. - -There was no reply. What could it mean? “Where can she be?” Margaret -looked troubled. “She couldn’t have fallen into a hole or anything, -could she?” - -“It isn’t likely,” Virginia replied. “Sally, dear, would you mind just -putting your head through and—” - -But before the smallest girl had her courage put to the test, they heard -someone running on hard ground; then the would-be detective pushed her -way through the hole as though she were being pursued. - -“What is it, Betsy? What kept you so long. Did you see anything?” were -the questions hurled at her. - -“I’ll say I did,” the flushed girl replied inelegantly. “I saw an old -circling drive and I ran over to it, knowing that it must lead to the -house, and it did! There in the middle of this wood, which I suppose was -only a grove when the Burgess’ family lived here, there’s the most -fascinating old house. It looks ever so interesting and haunted. I do -wish that we had time to go closer and examine it. I always adore -reading stories about haunted houses, but I never before saw one, -really.” - -“But there isn’t time,” Margaret announced once more referring to her -popular timepiece. “It’s ten minutes past ten. We’ll have to fairly run -to make it on time.” But Fate was again kind to them for a boy who -delivered groceries at the school was just starting up the long grade of -the hill road and seeing the girls trudging along, he asked them if they -would like to ride. - -“Would we? I’ll say we will and thank you kindly.” Of course as usual it -was Betsy who replied. Up into the sleigh they climbed. The boy made -room for Virginia and Margaret on the wide seat but the three younger -girls sat in the back dangling long legs on which were bright-colored -leggins encrusted with snow. - -“I’m going to sing,” Betsy smilingly informed her companions. “Please -don’t!” the others pleaded. - -“Oh, I didn’t mean to do the solo stunt. Everybody, all together!” Betsy -really had a sweet soprano voice and when she started a rollicking -school song the others joined in repeating the chorus until they reached -the kitchen door of the seminary. A crowd of girls were having a -snowball game, Dora and Cora being captains of the opposing sides. - -“You girls missed the fun, going off that way on a stupid old hike,” -Dicky Taylor, rosy of cheek and looking much like a snow girl, called to -them. “Out of the way, there, or you’ll be pelted,” someone warned as -the five adventurers leaped from the wagon. After hurriedly thanking the -delivery boy they ducked into the back entry, and none too soon, for a -dozen well aimed balls whizzed through the crisp sunlit air and plunked -against the closed door. - -Every pupil in the school was ravenously hungry when the gong called -them to lunch. Betsy could talk of nothing but the possible mystery of -the old deserted house. - -“Just because people are not living in a house, doesn’t make it -mysterious,” Margaret told her. - -“What did the place look like?” Babs, more interested, inquired. - -“Well,” Betsy began, “I could tell that it had been very fine in its day -but now it is dilapidated and the windows are boarded up. That proves -that nobody is living in it, and, of course, if there was anyone there, -the storekeeper would know it, for there would be no other place to buy -supplies.” - -“Your evidence is conclusive,” Margaret said in a tone often used by -their algebra teacher. - -“Virg, you don’t act very much interested. Why are you gazing out of the -window in that preoccupied way as Miss Torrence so often asks Megsy?” - -The older girl turned and smiled at her questioner. “Because Betsy, if I -must confess it, I am heaps more eager to find someone who can -contribute a good story for our first edition of The Manuscript Magazine -then I am to solve the supposed mystery of your haunted house. I’ve -looked at every girl in the dining room hoping to recall some -composition that I have heard read in the assembly that might suggest a -story-writing talent, but I don’t believe I can and since the really -good story writers have gone over to the enemy’s side, I may have to -confess that as an editor, I am a failure.” - -“Cheer up, belovedest! You may find a genius in a most unexpected -place.” Betsy was eager to steer the conversation back to channels of -greater interest. “What I would like to know,” she continued, “is how, -and when can we again visit the old Burgess place?” - -“Hush!” Margaret whispered. “Mrs. Martin is coming in.” Instantly the -chairs were pushed back, the forty-four girls rose, courtesied and then -listened expectantly, for, as this was a whole holiday, they believed, -and rightly, that the kindly principal had a treat in store for them. - -“Young ladies,” she said, “I have planned a sleigh ride party for you. -Pat O’Brien and his son Micky will each drive a team and by a little -crowding you can all go in the two sleighs. Every January we send a -barrel of apples to the poorhouse and I thought perhaps, you would all -enjoy the ride.” - -“Thank you, Mrs. Martin,” was the enthusiastic response. Then, when they -were again seated, Betsy said, “Oh, girls, how I hope I’ll have a chance -to slip off at the Burgess place. I’d like to prowl around there until -the sleighs return.” - -“I’m with you,” Babs told her pal. - - - - - CHAPTER V - - THE MYSTERIOUS OLD HOUSE - - -Micky O’ Brien drove the school bus that was now on runners and -twenty-five of the warmly wrapped, hilariously joyful girls were crowded -in. - -A barrel of apples was strapped to each side of the bus where baggage -was often placed. The big, rough farm wagon, which had been converted -into a sleigh, with straw deep on the bottom of it, was filled with the -primary pupils. Betsy had so arranged things that she and her particular -friends were the last to enter the bus and so they were nearest the -door. Too, she had asked Micky to drive very slowly when he reached the -woods on the County Farm road. - -Luckily Mr. O’Brien was in the lead with his load and so he did not -notice when Betsy and Babs slipped out at the edge of the woods. - -“I don’t in the least approve of their going,” Virginia said to her -companion, “but I think we should accompany them. I’d be terribly -worried if they went alone.” - -Micky, who knew that Betsy wished to remain there until the sleigh -returned, had brought his team to a very slow walk, and so Virginia, -Megsy and Sally had no trouble whatever in stepping from the low step to -the road. If the other girls were curious, they had no time to make -inquiries for the young driver at once whipped up his horses and was -soon close behind his father’s sleigh. - -“We must find a wider hole in the hedge if we are all to get through,” -Virginia remarked. Betsy, hand in hand with Babs, was wading through -unbroken drifts. It was their intention to follow the hedge to the back -of the large estate. Micky had told them that it would be an hour, at -least, and perhaps longer, before he would be returning, and in that -time surely they ought to be able to closely examine the grounds and the -outside of the old house. Suddenly Betsy cried out joyfully, and -turning, she beckoned to the three who were following in the track they -had made. - -“Goody for us!” Babs exclaimed. “One of the cypress trees in the hedge -is dead and we can easily break through here.” - -Betsy was already doing this and in a few moments, with united effort, a -narrow passage appeared. - -“Ooh!” Megsy shuddered when they all stood within the high hedge. “How -dismal and silent it is, except for the sighing of the little wind in -the pine trees.” - -“Follow me,” Betsy called over her shoulder. “I’ll take you to the -circling drive. It’s blown clear of snow and leads right up to the old -house.” - -Margaret glanced at her wrist watch. “It’s three now. In half an hour we -must start back for the main road. I certainly wouldn’t want to be here -after dark, and the twilight comes so early these days.” - -“I can just imagine how lovely it must have been here once upon a time,” -Virginia said. “That old summer house is covered with rose vines. Can’t -you picture how pretty it will be in June?” - -“Let’s all come over and see it then, shall we?” Sally suggested. - -Virginia, who had never before seen a rustic garden house, was much -interested and she stopped at the open door. Megsy, Sally and Babs were -with her. A rustic table with four chairs made of small trees with the -bark on were within. - -“Isn’t it fun to think pictures?” the romantic Sally remarked. “Can’t -you fancy the Lady Burgess, her daughters and friends all dressed in the -pretty styles of long ago as they sat about that table drinking tea?” - -Margaret nodded. “I can see them, too,” she agreed, “and there’s a -gentleman wearing a bottle green broadcloth coat with gilt buttons and -knee breeches. At least that was what my grandfather wore. He is -standing up behind the ladies and passing the tea.” - -Virginia smiled. “And yet you won’t either of you try to write a story -for the Manuscript Magazine.” Then turning away, she inquired: “Why, -where is Betsy? She isn’t with us.” - -That would-be young detective had not cared to linger at an open summer -house, which she was sure contained no mystery (for, could not one see -all that was in it at a glance?) and so she had skipped ahead. They soon -found her standing in the drive gazing as one fascinated at an upper -window in a big, rambling old Colonial house. - -“What are you looking at so steadily?” Virginia asked. She, too, glanced -up. The windows were covered with heavy green blinds and the front door -was boarded up. - -“I’m not so sure that the old place is deserted,” Betsy said in a low -voice as the girls gathered close about her. “I was positive a moment -ago that I saw that upper left blind open a little, but now it seems to -be fastened as securely as before.” - -“Betsy, you, too, must be unusually imaginative today,” Margaret -declared. “If anyone were living here, why should the house be boarded -up?” - -“I suggest that we walk around the place,” Barbara, who liked mysteries -almost as much as Betsy, suggested. - -This they did, but the right side of the house was so bleak as the front -had been. Babs was first around the corner and she beckoned to the -others. “Look!” she cried. “An old-fashioned cellar door, just the kind -my grandfather had. How I adored sliding down it when I was very small. -See, this one is covered with ice. Watch me while I return to my -childhood sport.” - -Laughingly Barbara climbed up to the highest point of the sloping cellar -door. Suddenly there was a crash, followed by a frightened cry. Babs had -disappeared. - -The frightened girls lifted the other half of the sloping door and saw -Babs lying in the underground entrance to the cellar. They hurried down -damp, slippery steps and lifted her. Almost at once she opened her eyes, -“I’m all right,” she said. “I guess this house is rather old and -crumbly.” She rose, and, as no bones were broken, Betsy suggested that -they take a look about the cellar which lay beyond them, dark, damp and -undoubtedly rat infested. - -“I’d rather not.” Sally hugged her white furs closely about her and -shivered more from fear than cold. - -“Well, then, you all stand here in the entrance,” the would-be detective -suggested. “I see a faint ray of light coming from somewhere off there -in the darkness and I’m going to see what it is.” - -“I don’t know as we ought to let her go.” Virginia turned to Margaret. -“I’ve read of old cisterns being in cellars.” - -Betsy heard and turned back to reply, “My eyes are used to the darkness -now. Honest Virg, I can see where I step.” - -Cautiously feeling her way, she slowly advanced toward what seemed to be -daylight coming through a crack under a door. - -“I’ve reached it,” Betsy sang out. They could hear her voice plainly, -though they could not see her. “It is a door. Wait until I open it.” As -she spoke she pushed against it and the door opened silently as though -it had been unlatched. Beyond was the typical stairway leading from a -farm house kitchen to the cellar. A small high window in the wall was -letting in a dim light. - -“If one of us wasn’t such a fraid cat,” Betsy informed them, “I’d like -to climb this stairway and see where it leads.” - -“If you mean me, Betsy Clossen,” Sally, for once, flared up, “go ahead. -If Virginia isn’t afraid to go, neither am I.” - -The girls had no difficulty in crossing the uneven cellar floor in the -dim light from the stairway, but after they had glanced up and had seen -a closed door at the top, Virginia drew back. “Girls,” she said, “I -question if we ought to prowl about other people’s houses.” - -“But Virg, we wouldn’t harm anything,” Barbara protested. “Peyton is -always telling of some haunted house he once visited and I’ve been wild -to see one for myself.” - -After much persuasion, Virginia agreed to go to the top of the stairs if -the girls would consent to go back then. “Surely the hour is nearly up -and what would we do if the bus had passed and we were stranded so far -from school and after dark.” - -The picture was not a pleasing one and Sally clung to Virginia’s arm, -though she would not openly acknowledge that she was frightened. - -Betsy and Babs were the first to reach the top of the stairs. Barbara -turned the knob and the door opened just a bit, but then closed again, -and Betsy was sure that it was being held by someone on the other side. - -“How silly!” she thought. “Of course no one is holding it.” Then she put -her shoulder against the door and pushed with all her strength, Babs -helping. The door swung open easily, but the girls were all sure that -they heard soft hurrying footsteps. - -“Of course it couldn’t be, since the place is so plainly unoccupied,” -Margaret declared. “I believe that the sound we heard is the rush of -snow. You remember, Micky said there would surely be a snowstorm tonight -and I believe that it has begun.” - -They found themselves not in an old-fashioned kitchen as they had -expected, but in a long, wide dark hall which extended, after the -fashion of Colonial houses, through the entire center with doors on -either side. - -It was bitterly cold and down a chimney, above a fireless hearth, the -wind whistled and moaned. - -“Come, we must hurry away,” Virg said. “I feel just ever so guilty in -having entered this house at all” Then turning to her foster sister, she -anxiously inquired: “Margaret, can you see the time?” - -Megsy glanced at her faithful little wrist watch. Her exclamation of -dismay startled the group about her. “It’s quarter to five. The sleighs -must have passed long ago.” - -Virginia, feeling, because she was oldest, as though she were -responsible, walked quickly back to the door through which they had -come. To her dismay she found that when Margaret had closed it, it -automatically had locked. - -They were evidently prisoners in that old deserted house. Moreover, it -was bitterly cold. They would be nearly frozen if they remained there -all night, and yet, how could they get away? Even if Micky O’Brien found -a way to get into the grounds, they would not be able to hear him -however loud he shouted. - -Betsy, who had led them into all this trouble, felt properly contrite -for a moment. Then she said hopefully, “Girls, Micky will surely find -the trail we made in the snow and he’ll follow it. That will lead him to -the broken cellar door and——” - -But Margaret shook her head dolefully. “Not if the snowstorm has come. -Our tracks will soon be covered.” - -“Perhaps we can find another way out,” Babs said. “I suggest that we try -first one of these closed doors and then another.” But just at that -moment something most unexpected happened. - - - - - CHAPTER VI - - AN UNEXPECTED APPARITION - - -As Margaret advanced toward one of the closed doors, and had her hand on -the knob, she suddenly sprang back in alarm, for the door had been -thrown open and a young girl of their own age darted out, closing it -behind her. - -Then with flashing eyes, she asked, “Who are you and what right have you -to be prowling about my great great grandfather’s house?” - -“We have no right whatever,” Virginia said, “and we ask you to pardon -us. We are five girls from Vine Haven Seminary, and although we really -did want to see the outside of this most interesting old house, we -entered it quite unintentionally.” - -Here Betsy, no longer willing to be kept in the background, told of -Barbara’s desire to slide down a cellar door, once again, as she had in -the days of her childhood and of the resulting mishap. - -“Of course we should have gone right back then,” Margaret began -hesitatingly, “but—but—well, we didn’t.” - -To the surprise of the five intruders, the girl, to whom they were -endeavoring to apologize, flashed at them a radiant smile which was like -sunshine bursting through a thunder cloud. “I’m powerfully glad you did -intrude,” she said inconsistently. “I’ve been just ever and ever so -eager to see some girls from the seminary. My mother and her sister used -to go there when they were young and she often tells me about the good -times they had. Mother went up to the seminary the year before she was -married. That was when Mrs. Martin first started her school. But don’t -stand out here in this cold hall. Come in by the fire. Mother-mine will -be so glad to meet you.” - -“And we will be glad to know your mother, but right at this very minute -we ought to be hurrying back to the school. I’m so afraid that Micky -O’Brien thinks that we must have returned some other way and that he has -gone on without us,” Virginia explained. - -Nor were they wrong, for the faithful Micky had delayed in front of the -wood as long as he possibly could. His father turned often to beckon him -to make haste, and when at last he obeyed. Mr. O’Brien shouted, “Aren’t -ye after seein’ the storm clouds gatherin’? Snow’ll be fallin’ so thick, -come any minute, the hosses won’t be seein’ to kape on the road even.” - -Poor Micky had promised Betsy that he would tell no one, but the other -girls in his sleigh were curious until one of their number said, “Why -worry about them? Virginia Davis and Margaret Selover were with them. -They’re both on the Honor Roll and so, of course, they had permission to -do whatever it was that they did. My theory is that they decided to hike -back to the school. We will probably find them there waiting for us.” - -Micky overheard this conversation and how he did hope that it was true. -Following his father’s lead, he urged his horses to a gallop, hoping -that they would reach the seminary before the storm broke over them. It -grew momentarily darker as the clouds lowered above them and the horses -lagged as they drew their heavy loads up the gradual slope of the hill -road. They were just turning in between the gates of the school drive -when the snow began to fall. Faster and faster, thicker and thicker the -big flakes rushed, hiding everything that was a few feet in front of the -bus. Even the seminary did not loom up until they were nearly upon it. - -Poor Micky knew not what to do. He, of course, was obliged to go to the -stables with his team after the girls had been let out under the -sheltering portico at the wide front porch. Luckily his father had made -quick work of unharnessing and feeding his team, and he was in the warm -rooms above the stable when Micky drove into the barn. The lad had -lingered in front of the school as long as he could, hoping that Betsy -or Babs would appear to assure him that they had reached home in safety, -but they had not. - -He was just wondering if he dared go into the kitchen and ask Delia, one -of the maids who was kind to him, to obtain the information he desired, -when he saw, through the storm, the figure of a girl wrapped in a long -cloak and hood, hurrying toward the barn. It was Dicky Taylor. When she -stepped within the light of the lantern, the boy saw that her startled -eyes looked out of a face as white as the snow. “What is’t?” he -whispered hoarsely. “Ain’t they come yet, Mis’ Clossen or the rest of -them?” - -Dicky shook her head. “No, I’m sure they haven’t. I was curious about it -and so I went to their rooms just as soon as I reached the school, -before I took off my cloak, but not one of them is to be found. I can’t -bear to tell Mrs. Martin, for, if I do, Virginia and Margaret might lose -their places on the Honor Roll. Is there any way for us to get them -before supper, Micky? They won’t be missed until then.” - -“I’m feer’d not,” he replied. “It’s mos’ five.” Then with sudden -resolve, he turned his horses toward the door. “Gee, I’m glad I hain’t -unhitched yet. We’ll take a chanct, Pa,” he shouted up the narrow -stairway, “Gotta go to town on an errant.” He was gone, with Dicky at -his side, before his father could question him further. The older man -having removed his boots, had settled by the stove with his pipe. He -decided that Mrs. Martin had sent the boy back on some forgotten errand -and thought no more about it. - -Meanwhile the girls about whom so much anxiety was being felt were -talking with the young stranger who had appeared so unexpectedly. - -“But there is only one way out of this old house,” Eleanor Burgess told -the girls when Virginia protested that they would better hasten away and -return some other day to meet Mrs. Burgess, “and that way lies through -the South Wing, which mother and I are occupying.” As she spoke she -again opened the door and the five girls caught glimpses of a pleasant -fire-lighted apartment which seemed strangely out of keeping with the -cold damp old house through which they had been groping until they had -been suddenly confronted, not by the expected ghost, but by an -inhabitant who was a girl of their own age. - -Much mystified, they followed Eleanor and found themselves in a large -living room which seemed to combine within its four walls all the -requirements of a home, for one corner was lined with shelves on which -were many books. There, too, was an old mahogany desk littered with -papers and the pencil lying upon them seemed to have been hastily -dropped by whoever had been writing. In still another corner, almost -screened from their sight, was a small oil stove and a few kitchen -utensils, while in the middle of the room, drawn close to the wide -fireplace, on which a log was burning, stood a supper table set with two -places. The only light in the big room came from two candles on this -table, one behind the screen and the fire on the hearth. - -Easy chairs and a bed couch covered with bright-colored pillows -completed the furnishings. There was a charm about the room which -delighted Virginia. - -It was evident that someone was behind the kitchen screen, and, upon -hearing her name spoken, that someone appeared, smiling a welcome to the -unknown girls. A woman, neither old nor young, but with a weary -expression on a pale, though truly beautiful face, advanced with her -hand outheld. - -“And who may these maidens be?” The question was smilingly directed to -her daughter, whose flushed cheeks and bright eyes revealed that she was -both excited and happy about something. - -“Mother-mine, these are five girls from the seminary about which you -have told me so often.” Then impulsively turning to the girl nearest, -she said, “This is my lady-mother, Mrs. Burgess. Won’t you please tell -her your names? I simply can’t remember them.” - -“Gladly,” Margaret replied, then when the introductions were made, she -looked anxiously at her foster sister, saying, “It is five now. What -shall we do? Micky has of course driven past, and do see the snowstorm!” - -She glanced at the window, against which sheets of hail and snow were -beating. - -“Mrs. Martin will indeed be anxious,” the mother said. “Otherwise I -would suggest that you remain here and camp out with us.” - -“Oh, how I wish you could,” Eleanor exclaimed. “We would spread blankets -on the floor near the fire and pretend we were sleeping on the ground on -a summer’s night, out under the stars.” At that moment the wind whistled -dismally down the wide chimney and Virginia smiled. “We would have to -have good imaginations to pretend that, I fear,” she commented. - -“My little daughter has a very wonderful imagination,” the older woman -said as she pointed toward the old mahogany desk. “Instead of moping -because she is shut in with a weary invalid, as many girls would, she -spends hours scribbling. What she is writing she will not tell, but I -believe that it is a story.” - -Virginia’s eyes brightened. “Oh, is it truly? Do you write stories?” -Then when her question had been answered with a nod, she continued, “I -have been made Editress of The Manuscript Magazine, much against my -will, and I am searching for someone who can write an interesting story. -If you love to write, then of course you write well. How I do wish you -were a pupil at Vine Haven.” - -“And I, too, wish that she were, Virginia,” the mother replied sadly, -“but I have been obliged, through ill health, to give up my settlement -work in Boston and come back to my great grandfather’s old home to -recuperate. Our income at present is barely enough to provide our daily -needs and the tuition at the seminary is high.” - -A sudden memory brought a rush of gladness to the heart of Virginia. -Only a few days before Mrs. Martin had asked if she knew of a really -talented girl who would benefit by becoming the guest pupil and -occupying the Tower Room left vacant by the departure of the former -guest pupil. Surely nowhere could be found a girl more worthy of this -privilege. But of her thoughts she said nothing just then. She must -first consult Mrs. Martin. “Mrs. Burgess,” she said, “what would be your -advice to us? Shall we start out in the storm, endeavor to walk into -town and there hire a station wagon to take us up the hill, or—” - -The query was interrupted by a jingling of sleigh-bells without. Micky -had chanced to see the light from the kitchen candle glimmering through -the storm and had driven toward it, finding a gate open on the side -which the five girls had not visited, and so it happened, in another -moment, he was pounding at the door, which, when opened, admitted a gust -of sleety wind and revealed Dicky Taylor’s white, troubled face and that -of the Irish boy. - -“Do come in and get warm, both of you,” was Eleanor’s urgent invitation, -but the boy shook his head. “We mustn’t stop. We’re afther wantin’ to -get back before six.” - -“I’m coming again tomorrow if possible,” Virginia said before she left. - - - - - CHAPTER VII - - THE RESCUED CULPRITS - - -“It’s all my fault! I’m going to take every bit of the blame,” Betsy -declared. The six girls were huddled in the shelter of the bus while -faithful Micky, up on the storm-beaten high seat, steered as best he -could the weary team through the drifts and the blinding snow. - -“It’s not all your fault,” Virginia declared stoutly. “I knew that you -planned leaving the bus to visit the old house and I should have advised -you not to.” - -“You couldn’t have stopped us, I mean me,” Betsy declared. “I’ve been -foolishly headstrong. You did say that it was unwise but, of course we -didn’t know we were going in.” - -Barbara laughed. “I’ll say I didn’t. I never was so surprised in all my -life as I was when I DID go in.” - -“What happened?” Dickey Taylor inquired. Then, when she had been -informed, she added: “Oh, how I do wish I had been there. Next time, -take me, please do! I adore adventures.” - -“Girls, it has stopped snowing. Whizzle, but I’m glad!” Betsy announced. - -“What’s more the clouds are parting and the moon is coming through. Now -poor Micky will be able to see where he is driving.” This from Megsy. - -“Girls,” Barbara put in, “that Irish boy is as faithful a friend as -anyone could find on top of this earth. I wish we could do something -nice for him. Is there anything he wants that anybody knows? If there -is, we rescued ones might chip in and give it to him.” - -“Babs, you’ve known him longest and you’re really the lady of his heart, -so suppose you find out and then we’re with you on the coin part of it,” -Betsy said in a low voice, although her words could not possibly have -been heard by the boy who was whistling to keep up his spirits and -perhaps to hearten up his lagging team. - -“Virg, what are you thinking of so intently?” Dicky Taylor asked. - -The older girl replied: “Of the one room home that we just left, I was -wondering about that lovely mother and daughter. How strange, that they -should be living in that old tumble down house and yet the storekeeper -in the town know nothing of it.” - -Betsy was on the alert at once. “It’s a mystery,” she announced. “I just -knew there would be a mystery in that old house.” - -Barbara laughed. “Wrong you are! Eleanor told me how it happened, and it -is not at all strange. Her mother is a settlement worker, and she has -been giving more strength than she could spare to nursing, in the -tenement district through some epidemic, and when it was over and many -lives saved through her efforts, the physician in charge said that Mrs. -Burgess must have a month’s complete rest. He asked where she would like -to go, and she told him of that one wing which she and Eleanor had -fitted up several summers ago for their vacation retreat, and so he -brought them in his big comfortable closed car just before the snows -came, and he also had supplies sent from Boston, enough to last the -entire month they are to be there. In another fortnight that same -physician is to return for them, and as almost no one travels the County -Farm road in the winter, they may be gone, and that garrulous old -storekeeper may never know that they have been here at all, at all.” - -There was a wide canopy of star and moonlit sky above them as the bus -turned in again at the school drive. “Shall you all slip in up the back -way to your rooms? There’s time to dress before the supper gong rings,” -Dicky Taylor said. - -“Why, of course not,” Virginia replied. “If the rest of you are willing, -I would like to be the one to tell Mrs. Martin all that has happened.” - -“Oh, I say, Virg!” Betsy began; then added, “Why tell, if we wouldn’t be -found out? We didn’t do anything so terrible. You know this was a free -day and Mrs. Martin herself said that we might hike anywhere we wished -this morning.” - -“I do not expect Mrs. Martin to rebuke us,” the oldest girl said, “but I -do want to tell her about Eleanor Burgess.” - -“Oh, I know! You’re thinking she might become the gu——” Sally clapped -her hand on her mouth. She, who had vowed never to betray that secret, -had nearly told. It wouldn’t have mattered if their own group alone was -present, but Dicky was with them. Luckily, the bus was at that moment -stopping under the portico. Betsy said: “I understand, Virg! Do whatever -you think best, and remember I consider that I am most to blame. I’ll -never forgive myself if you and Megsy have your names taken from the -Honor Roll.” - -“If they don’t deserve being there, we want them off,” Margaret said -quietly. - -Micky grinned his pleasure when Babs told him that he was just like the -chivalrous knights in the stories of long ago. When they entered the -main hall of the school, Virginia saw that a card hung on the -principal’s door. “Occupied” was the one word printed thereon, so Virg -hastened upstairs with the others to prepare for supper. - -Directly after the evening meal, Virginia left the other girls in the -big comfortable school library where a log was burning on the wide -hearth, and where they were planning to do reference reading. She told -them that she would return as soon as possible and tell them just what -Mrs. Martin thought of the plan that she had to suggest. - -The kindly woman looked up expectantly when, in reply to her invitation -to enter, the door of her office opened. - -“Oh, good evening, Virginia,” she said, motioning to a chair near. “Be -seated, dear. Isn’t it curious that right this very moment I was -thinking of you, wondering if you or your friends had thought of someone -whom we could invite to occupy the Tower Room. I do not like to delay -longer, as the term will soon be well started.” Then she paused and -observed—“Virginia, I am convinced by your eager expression that you are -just waiting for an opportunity to tell me something that has greatly -interested you. What is it?” - -“You are right, Mrs, Martin,” the girl declared as she seated herself on -the straight backed chair near the principal’s desk. Then she hesitated. -“I hardly know where to begin,” she smilingly confessed. - -“Suppose you begin at the beginning,” was the amused comment of the -older woman. - -“Well, then, you know Mrs. Martin, that this morning you gave us all -permission to hike wherever we wished until noon. Our group of five were -taken by a very nice boy, of perhaps 14, on his toboggan to coast down -the long hill that leads to the village. When we reached the bottom, we -asked him if there was anything interesting to be seen beyond the town. -He told us about a house which he called haunted that had one time been -occupied by a Captain Burgess and his family.” - -Mrs. Martin’s expression brightened. “A wonderful old house that was in -its day and the Captain was a most interesting character. My husband -enjoyed nothing better when he was here resting from a hard session in -Washington than to spend a few hours over there listening to Captain -Burgess’ tales of his experiences on the sea. But he was a very -eccentric old man, and grew more so as the years passed. He was -determined that his two lovely daughters should never marry. His own -marriage, I believe, had been a very unhappy one and when he was left -alone with the two girls, he seemed to have but one thought and that was -to prevent their meeting young men who might wish to propose to them. -They were kept like two fair prisoners within that high hedge and when -necessity compelled me to change my home into a school these two young -ladies were among my first pupils, but they were always brought in a -closed carriage and were to remain within the seminary grounds until -they were called for. How they ever happened to meet the young men whom -they married is indeed a mystery. - -“One was named Eleanora and the other Dorinda. Eleanora became the wife -of a young man, who proved worthless and who left her. Dorinda married a -missionary and went to live in distant lands. Their father at the time -was on a long sea voyage and when he returned and found that his girls -had evaded the vigilance of a dragon-like housekeeper, whom he had left -in charge, he became very hard and declared that not one penny of his -fortune should be given to those ingrates for their good-for-nothing -husbands to spend. Both of the girls wrote begging their father to -forgive them. He died soon after that and he left a note saying, ‘I’ve -buried my money. Whoever finds it can have it.’ - -“Luckily this note was not made public or the grounds of the old Burgess -place would have been dug up long ago. It was sent to Eleanora, who had -become a settlement worker in Boston. Now and then the two sisters heard -from each other. They knew that Eleanora had a baby girl and Dorinda a -boy. These children must be about 16 and 18 now, I should think. But -here I am reminiscing when I am quite sure that you have something that -you are eager to tell me. Has it aught to do with the old Burgess -place?” - -Virginia replied that it had, and then she told all that had befallen -the group of girls who had started out that morning in search of an -adventure. Although she took a full share of the blame for having left -the bus, Mrs. Martin seemed to heed not at all. Her face plainly told -the anxious watcher that the misdemeanor was not of sufficient -importance to be rebuked, while, on the contrary, the news that her one -time pupil, the lovely daughter of old Captain Burgess was again at Vine -Haven pleased her exceedingly. - -“As you say,” she began, “the daughter, Eleanor, would be an ideal guest -pupil if I can persuade her proud mother to permit her to come to us.” -Then, for a moment, the principal sat gazing out of the window against -which, in the light from the room, the beating snow could be seen. - -“Virginia,” she said at last, “you may be excused from your morning -classes. I would like to have you accompany me to the old Burgess place. -Then, while I am visiting with Eleanora, the mother, perhaps you can -persuade the daughter that we would be glad indeed to have her with us -as a guest pupil.” - -Mrs. Martin had risen and Virg did also. “Oh, how glad the girls will -be,” she said. “They have all promised to keep the identity of the guest -pupil a secret. I am sure Eleanor will be very happy, if she will come.” -Then hesitatingly. “Mrs. Martin, do you think that my name should be -taken from the Honor Roll because of——” - -The principal interrupted her with an unexpected caress. “Dear girl,” -she said tenderly, “I wish I could put your name on twice.” Then she was -gone and there were tears in the eyes of the girl. Just such a caress -would an own mother have given a daughter with whom she was pleased. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - - AN EARLY MORNING VISIT - - -The other girls belonging to the Adventure Club were filled with envy, -when, on the following morning, Virginia told them that she was not to -attend the classes, but instead was to be driven in the teacher’s sleigh -(which was of Russian design with a fur robe hanging over the high-back -seat) to the old house which they had visited on the day previous. - -But they were agreed that their president was the most fitting member to -accompany so important a personage as the principal of Vine Haven, and -they all flocked into her room, to help her dress for the occasion. -Sally, as a token of her undying devotion, brought in her beautiful -white fur boa and muff and begged Virginia to wear them. “They’ll keep -you so warm and will remind you of me. Mrs. Martin won’t mind your -borrowing them, I am sure.” - -“Thank you, ever so much, dear. They are just lovely. I have never had -furs. You see, we don’t need them in Arizona, for, though it is very -cold early in the morning and in the late afternoon, even in February it -is pleasant and warm during the middle of the day.” - -When at last Virg had been well bundled, with the aid of loving hands, -she impulsively gave them all a French kiss, as Madame La Fleur had -taught them to do, which was a mere touch of the lips on first one cheek -and then on the other. At the door she turned to laughingly call. “One -might think that I was starting for Arizona, instead of merely to the -village of Vine Haven.” - -Then, when a chorus of merry good-byes had followed her as she tripped -down the broad front stairs she found herself wondering if she wished -she were starting for her beloved desert home. “Only four months more,” -she assured herself when she felt the clutch of homesickness that the -merest thought of them all so far away, brought to her heart. - -Micky was driving the white team, and Virginia noticed that at times he -shivered. His overcoat, it was very evident, had been cut down from an -old one of his father’s and it was threadbare in places, while in others -it was badly in need of repair. Almost unconsciously Virginia made a -mental note of this. - -Mrs. Martin, sitting by the side of the tall, bright-eyed maiden, smiled -at her lovingly. “Virginia,” she said, “I feel like a school girl -playing truant, don’t you?” - -“I feel eager, as though something very interesting was about to -happen.” Then, with renewed interest, Virg continued: “Oh, Mrs. Martin, -do tell me more about those unfortunate daughters of the eccentric old -sea captain.” - -“You are right. They were, indeed, unfortunate. Eleanora’s husband, -whose name was Mr. Craven, I believe, disappeared a year after the birth -of their child, and the disappointed young mother took back her father’s -name. Since then she has supported them both, doing settlement work in -Boston. - -“Dorinda was heard from until her son was eight. That was 10 years ago. -After that the letters sent to her by Eleanora were returned, unopened, -and on them was often written in a strange foreign hand, ‘Address -unknown.’” - -“And so what became of the sister to whom she was so devoted and to that -sister’s son, the mother of your friend Eleanor never knew?” - -When Micky turned in at the drive between the high hedge on the side -farthest from town the door of the old house was thrown open and a truly -beautiful young girl appeared. Although her skin was olive in hue, a -ruddy color glowed beneath it, and her eyes were a soft, dreamy brown, -while long curls, held together at her neck with a bright-colored ribbon -bow, hung to her waist. - -Her expression brightened when she saw who their early morning visitors -were and she darted within, probably to tell her mother who was -arriving, but she was back in the open door by the time that Mrs. Martin -and Virginia were ascending the well-shoveled front porch. - -“And so you are my Eleanora’s little daughter,” the older woman said, -graciously holding out her gloved hand to the girl. “I was sorry not to -see you when you and your mother were here two summers ago. The last -time I saw you, I think, was when you were seven.” - -“Oh, I just know that you are Mrs. Martin,” the girl said eagerly, while -Virginia hastened to apologize. “Pardon me for not having introduced -you, Mrs. Martin. You did not tell me, that is, I really supposed that -you were well acquainted.” - -The older woman smiled back at the tall girl who was following her. “I -should be,” she said. Then, hearing her name spoken, she hastened into -the large, homey living room, where the mother of Eleanor awaited them. -“It was so good of you to come.” There were sudden tears in the eyes of -the little woman, who was not yet strong. “It always makes me think of -the old days, when I return here,” Mrs. Burgess continued, when they -were seated about the wide, cheerful hearth. “I’ve been wondering so -much about Dorinda.” Then, hopefully: “Mrs. Martin, you haven’t heard, -have you? I know how much Dorinda cared for you, and I thought perhaps—” - -But the principal of Vine Haven was shaking her head. “No, Eleanora, I -never heard. That is, not more recently than you have. My last letter -was when the little boy was eight.” - -“They were on some island near Australia then,” Mrs. Burgess said, “but -though I have written to the American consul, I have never received -information that would lead to a knowledge of Dorinda’s whereabouts. I -now believe that she is dead. I wish we might find her poor boy, if he -is still living.” - -“Don’t give up hope, Eleanora,” Mrs. Martin said. “I feel sure that you -will find him some day. Now, there is another matter of which I wish to -speak.” - -Mrs. Burgess looked up with interest when the principal of Vine Haven -said that she had made that early morning visit with some definite -object in mind. - -The older woman placed a hand, from which the glove had been removed, -upon the slim white one that was lying on the arm of her chair. - -“Eleanora,” Mrs. Martin’s voice was tenderly sincere, “you have had a -great deal of trouble and misfortune and I do wish you would permit me -to help you.” - -According to a pre-arranged plan, Virginia had suggested that Eleanor -show her about the old house, and so the two older women were alone. - -“Help me?” Mrs. Burgess repeated. “Really, I don’t need help, though I -truly appreciate your thought of me.” - -It was very hard for Mrs. Martin to suggest that the proud younger woman -accept what she believed would be charity. In fact, she just couldn’t do -it. Then an inspiration came to aid her. Only the day before the teacher -of the very youngest girls had asked for a leave of absence for two -months, as she was needed in her home near Boston. Not waiting to think -out a plan, Mrs. Martin said hurriedly: - -“Eleanora, I began in the wrong way. I meant, that I have a request to -make which will greatly aid me, if you will grant it.” - -There was just a bit of a suspicious expression in the eyes that were -lifted inquiringly. - -“Why, Mrs. Martin, how could I aid you?” the younger woman asked. - -“In this way.” The principal’s mind was now fully made up. “Miss Rose, -my girl teacher, has asked for a leave of absence, and I would like your -Eleanor to assist me in her place if you are willing.” - -Again there were tears in the listener’s eyes and she held the hand of -her long-ago teacher and friend in a closer clasp. “Mrs. Martin,” she -said, “I understand. You are offering my dear little girl an opportunity -to receive an education where her mother spent many happy hours, and -that free of tuition, but——” - -“Don’t say ‘but’ Eleanora. Don’t you see that your daughter would be -earning her tuition if she spent a few hours each day with the primary -girls?” - -The younger woman could not trust herself to speak, but her eyes were -lifted gratefully. In her heart there was a sob. “Oh, how lonely she -would be in Boston’s tenement district without her girl’s bright face -awaiting her after each long hard day spent helping the miserable and -the poor.” - -“But it’s my Eleanor’s chance,” another thought reminded her. “I had -mine, and I will not deprive her.” - -A tap upon the door interrupted. Then a merry voice called through a -crack: “Have you two finished telling your secrets? The big house is so -damp and cold, we’re most frozen.” - -Mrs. Martin looked inquiringly at the younger woman, who had not voiced -her decision. “Yes, come in, darling, and get warm by the fire. I have -some wonderful news for you.” - -“Mother-mine, what?” The girl’s face was radiant. “Granddad’s hidden -fortune hasn’t been found, has it?” - -Mrs. Burgess shook her head. “And never will be,” was her response. -“This is something real. Mrs. Martin is offering you a term’s tuition at -the Vine Haven Boarding School in exchange for a few hours a day of your -time to be spent teaching the very little girls in the primary class.” - -Mrs. Martin noted Virginia’s quick glance of surprise, but the others -did not. Then the girl from the West correctly figured out just what had -happened, and turned to see how Eleanor would receive the news. Not as -she had expected, for, dropping on the stool at her mother’s feet, she -clasped her hand, as she said, “Though in one way I’d like to go to Vine -Haven better than anything I could do, I just couldn’t leave you. Why, -Mother-Mine, who would live with you in our tiny apartment? Who would -have ready for you the things you ought to eat when you come home each -night so tired after helping poor women who do not know how to help -themselves and their babies. I just couldn’t do it, Mother-Mine. I -couldn’t be happy knowing that you needed me.” Then rising, the girl -impulsively held out both hands to Mrs. Martin. “Thank you though. Thank -you more than words can tell. I’ve just longed to go to Vine Haven -Seminary and, perhaps, some time I may be able to, but I can’t leave -mother now, for, you see, she isn’t well, and I want her to need me.” - -They had all risen and the visitors were about to leave, when sleigh -bells were heard, and Eleanor skipped once more to the front door to see -who the new arrival might be. - -“Why, it’s Doctor Warren! Has he come for us so soon, Mother, do you -suppose? We weren’t expecting to return for another fortnight, were we?” -Before Mrs. Burgess could reply, the good man bustled in. “Well, well,” -he said when he saw visitors, “I’m glad to find that you are not lonely. -Don’t hurry away,” he held out a detaining hand when introductions had -been made, “Mrs. Martin, since you are so old a friend of my patient, I -may need your aid in persuading her to do something upon which my heart -is set. She’s stubborn, Mrs. Burgess is, as perhaps you know, but she -has always said that if the time ever came when she could help my wife, -she’d be glad to do it.” - -Here Mrs. Burgess interrupted. “Of course I shall keep that promise. -What do you want me to do?” - -The good man fairly beamed. “That wife of mine wishes to spend a few -months abroad, Italy and the like, and she insists that you are the -companion she wants with her, and she simply won’t take no for an -answer. It will do more to restore your health than anything else can -and now all that remains is to decide what our little Eleanor is to do -in the meantime. I have thought—” - -“Oh, Doctor Warren,” the girl leaped forward and caught the hands of -their old friend. “I’m disposed of for I am to be a sort of a teaching -pupil for the rest of the term at the Vine Haven Seminary.” - -“Fine! In the words of Billy Shakespeare, ‘All’s well that ends well.’” - -And so the matter was evidently decided although Mrs. Burgess had said -not one word. - - - - - CHAPTER IX - - WINONA’S DECISION - - -When Virginia returned to Vine Haven, she found the girls in the library -for the mid-morning free half hour. As soon as Mrs. Martin had closed -the door of her study, they flocked about their favorite begging her to -tell them just what happened. Betsy taking their president by the arm -led her into the long attractive room where the walls were lined with -books, pictures and small statues. - -“We were sure you’d be coming back about now,” Sally said as she skipped -along by the side of her beloved one, “and so we have been poking the -fire to keep it bright.” - -Betsy teased. “Sally hasn’t much faith in those furs that she loaned -you. She has been so afraid that you would come home frozen, it being so -cold today.” - -“I wasn’t cold,” Virg turned a grateful glance at the doll-like girl who -was always hovering near her, “but I know someone who was.” - -“My goodness me, it couldn’t have been Mrs. Martin,” Betsy declared. -“She was almost hidden in that adorable long fur coat of hers. It must -have cost a million dollars, unless her grandfather was a seal diver.” - -“They don’t dive to catch seals,” Megsy said, correctingly. “You’re -thinking of pearls.” - -Sally giggled. “I’d hate to wear a string of pearls instead of a fur boa -on a day like this.” - -“But enlighten us; who was cold in your party?” Barbara brought the -subject back to its point of digression. - -“Micky was, and that set me to thinking of our plan. You know we said, -since we are so grateful to him for having come out in that bitterly -cold storm the other night to rescue us, that we would chip together and -buy him something. Well, I believe the thing he needs most is a warm -winter overcoat.” - -“Hurray for you, Virg! That’s a spiffy idea! I’m for it! Lessee! I have -at least fifty cents left after buying chocolate-chews and sweet -pickles.” This, of course, from twinkling-eyed Betsy. - -“I’m the moneyed person in this party,” Babs said with pretended pride, -“for dad sent me ten dollars extra on my month’s allowance, and it just -came today. That shall go toward the new coat.” - -“We’ll all chip in, but do let’s talk fast, for, in three minutes and -two seconds our free period will be over.” Margaret indeed was talking -so rapidly that her words sounded jumbled. “We’re wild to know what -happened over at the old Burgess place.” - -“But I couldn’t possibly tell it all to you in three minutes, for the -two seconds are already gone, but this much I can say. Eleanor Burgess -is coming, not as a guest but as a teaching pupil, so there will not be -anything to keep secret after all.” - -“Hurray! That’s jolly fine! I hope there’s a mystery about her that I -can solve.” These comments were laughingly called back over the -shoulders of the three departing girls for right on time the gong had -pealed in the main corridor bidding them to return to their classes. - -Virginia walked slowly upstairs to the room which she shared with -Winona. She was thinking of the Manuscript Magazine. Eleanor had told -her that she would rather write than eat Charlotte Russe and that that -was saying a good deal as she adored that particular kind of dessert, -but had always been too poor to have it except on very rare occasions -such as birthdays or Christmas. “I’m just sure we’ll all love her, and -how I do hope one of her stories will do for this month’s magazine.” -Virginia opened the door to the corner room and then stopped and stared -within. - -What she saw aroused her curiosity. - -“Winona, where are you going? Why are you packing? You haven’t had bad -news from home, have you?” This last because of an open letter on the -table which lay as though it had been hastily dropped as soon as it had -been read. - -The tall, graceful Indian girl stood up and turned to smile with her -usual calm expression undisturbed. - -“It’s strange, isn’t it,” she said, “how very much can happen in a very -little time? Just after you left this morning a telegram came from my -brother, Strong Heart, which had been sent from Red Riverton. In it he -told me that there was an epidemic in our village and that he was in -town trying to find a physician who would be willing to go so far out on -the desert and remain until all danger was over. ‘Do not come yet. Night -letter will follow,’ that telegram stated. Of course I began at once to -pack, believing that I might want to start West at any moment, but when -the night letter came, my sister, Glad Song wrote that help had been -obtained and that I need not come. I will read what she has written: -‘Winona, several of our little ones passed from our village before we -could obtain help. We no longer believe in our old medicine man and -there is no one in our midst who knows about first aid measures. I have -been wishing that you might learn something of these things before you -return to us.’” - -The Indian girl looked up, her dark eyes glowing with a new resolve. -“You remember White Lily, that day just after the Christmas holidays -when I told you that I felt that there must be some real mission in life -for each of us?” - -Virginia nodded: “Yes, I remember.” - -“And you agreed. I recall that you said if we each held the finding of -that mission as a definite goal, we would be led to it, and now,” the -dark face was radiant, “this is what I may do for my father’s people. I -shall go away to another school, White Lily, where I can learn the ways -of preventing epidemics.” - -How tall and straight, like an arrow, the Indian girl stood, and, in her -eyes there was that far-away expression as though she were seeing a -vision. Virginia thought of Joan d’Arc. That same expression was often -pictured in the eyes of young women who were inspired with a high -purpose and in whose hearts there was a noble resolve. - -“Where shall you go, Winona?” This was no time for sentimental regrets -that the friends were to be parted, their plans changed. - -“I do not know. I shall speak with Mrs. Martin. She will know best how -to advise me. I will go to her now.” - -When Winona was gone, Virginia removed her wraps and sat before the -fireplace, thinking. It was but a half hour before lunch and there was -not time to attend any of the morning classes. - -“Dear, wonderful Winona,” the girl from the West was thinking, “she has -found her life work and she will accomplish it, whatever the obstacles -may be that will arise in her path.” Then with a little sigh, Virginia -thought of her own future. What did it hold for her? What worthwhile -thing was she to do? Of course she would return to her beloved desert, -but who was there that she could really benefit with what she had -learned, as Winona would benefit her father’s remnant of a tribe? In a -flash there came to the girl a picture in the fire. For three long years -the little school house near the sand hills, which she and Winona had -attended when they were younger, had been deserted. The storms had blown -the sand high over the door-sill and the drifts, on the side toward -which the wind most frequently blew were even up to the windows. Such a -sad, forlorn little place it was! - -And it could not be reopened. A teacher could not be hired by the State -because there were only six pupils to attend it. The three little Mahoys -and another three little scraggly unkempt children belonging to a dry -rancher over in Wild Hog Canon. Six children who were to grow up without -the rudiments of knowledge because the Board of Education would not hire -a teacher for that little desert school unless there were eight pupils. - -Though she did not know it, the same light was burning deep in the eyes -of Virginia that she had noted a few moments before in the dark orbs of -her friend. “I, even I, am responsible for those six forlorn little -babies,” she was thinking. “They are my mission. Surely the State will -permit a self-appointed teacher, whom they will not have to pay, to at -least use the little schoolhouse that is nearly hidden in sand drifts. - -“Brother Peyton, Uncle Tex, Rusty Pete and the rest will gladly have a -shoveling roundup and clear away the sand from the windows and doors. It -will be a cheerful little room, flooded with sunlight and filled with -color and hope and happiness.” - -Virginia’s thoughts were interrupted by the return of Winona. “Strange -things are happening,” was her immediate remark. “Mrs. Martin had a -folder this morning from a hospital training school, and in it Mrs. -Martin is asked to send the name of any girl who might wish to take the -three months practical nursing course. - -“I said that I would gladly take it, and, that there might be no delay, -Mrs. Martin called up the hospital on long distance and she was asked to -send me at once as one applicant for the term just beginning had been -unable to take the work at present.” - -Virginia gladly assisted her friend to pack and that very afternoon the -Indian girl left the school before the other pupils even knew what was -happening. - - - - - CHAPTER X - - A NEW GOAL - - -Virginia was alone in her room. It looked barren on the side which had -been occupied by Winona’s bright blankets and reed baskets of quaint -design. The Indian maiden had begged Virginia to permit her to leave her -side of the room untouched, knowing how much the girl from the West -enjoyed having about her the things that suggested the desert, but Virg -had insisted that Winona would much more need them in the plain -white-walled room in the hospital school. - -As Virginia glanced around she was conscious of being more homesick than -ever. “But four months isn’t an eternity, and I do love it here,” she -had just concluded when there came a tapping on her door. - -Betsy Clossen’s merry face peeped in through the crack which she had -opened. “Are visitors wanted or diswanted?” she inquired. - -“We’re improvising words tonight,” Megsy, who closely followed, informed -the lonely occupant. - -“Yes, indeed, you’re all wanted. Do come right in. I don’t have to study -just this minute, and it isn’t well for me to be alone, for if I am long -I’m liable to do what my roommate did.” - -“What, Virg! You wouldn’t pack up and go to a hospital, would you?” -Margaret looked alarmed. - -“No, but I might pack up and go to the desert. Not to stay, but just to -peep in and see what brother and Uncle Tex are doing. They’re sitting in -front of the fireplace now, I suppose, and Rusty Pete, perhaps, is there -talking over the work for tomorrow.” - -“And my brother, Peyton, may have ridden over to V. M. to spend the -night,” Babs said. “He wrote me that he often does that, when he has -business to attend to in Douglas. It would be too far to make the round -trip in one day, and so he stops with Malcolm.” - -While the girls were talking there came a timid knock. - -“Come in,” was Virginia’s hospitable invitation. The door opened and -Dicky Taylor stood on the threshold. - -“Hello there, Dicky bird. What’s the big idea? Why not walk in?” This -from Betsy. - -“I wasn’t sure you wanted me.” The girl entered and closed the door. -“You see, I don’t belong to your little club-group, and I don’t want to -intrude, but ever since I went over to the Burgess place with Micky I’ve -had such an interest in that nice girl and I hoped you would tell me -what happened next.” - -There was a little wistful expression in the eyes of the pretty young -girl and Virginia hastened to say: “We haven’t a club, really, Dicky. I -mean not one that shuts anyone out who wants to come in. I’m not at all -sure but that we might have asked you to meet with us Saturday evenings -for our lesson reviews, that being our main object, only we thought that -you belonged to the Cora-Dora Troupe and that its activities and your -lemonade teas took all of your free time.” - -“It’s a curious thing.” Dicky had seated herself at Virg’s invitation, -and she spoke with unwonted seriousness. “I can’t understand it myself. -Last year I was perfectly contented with the nonsense and pranks that -the twins are always thinking up, but this year I feel—well, I don’t -know as I can express it. I’ll say sort of dissatisfied, as though I -were mentally hungry. Oh, I don’t know exactly what I do mean, but I -feel it. A restlessness that the Cora-Dora Troupe and the teas do not -seem to satisfy. And it just came to me recently that the something I -want, you girls have. Even Babs is lots different this year. She seems -to have a definite aim.” - -Virginia looked up brightly. “That’s it, dear! That is the whole secret -of content, I do believe. Having a definite aim and every day making -some progress, however little, toward it.” Then with a glance about at -all of them: “You want to know just what happened to change Winona’s -plans, so I will tell you.” - -When the little tale had been told, Virginia said with a queer little -smile: “Shall I tell you my new goal? Or rather the only one which I -have definitely formed?” - -“Oh, yes, please do!” It was little Sally who spoke. She had never even -thought that a goal in life was necessary. She nestled a bit nearer to -the speaker and listened with her baby-blue eyes intently watching. - -Then Virginia told of the little deserted schoolhouse, “It must be very -lonely, for it’s many a year since its door was closed and locked for -the last time. I suppose it has stood there through the long sunny days -and the long windy or rainy days, wondering why the eight laughing, -happy little children never came again, and the rickety shed back of it -wonders perhaps why eight little burros are no longer tied in its -shelter.” - -“I remember that little drifted-in schoolhouse, Virg,” Margaret said -softly. “I rode by there alone one day, and I dimly recall having -thought that it must be lonesome, though I haven’t the imagination that -you have, and oh! I do think it is just wonderful of you to want to give -some of your free time to teaching those babies. Maybe I will be able to -help. That is, if I am there.” - -“If you are there?” Virginia’s tone held a surprised query. “Dear, -adopted sister of mine, where else would you be but with us on V. M.? -Don’t you know that my brother Malcolm is your guardian and that our -home is always to be your home, that is, if you want to go back with me? -Of course, you will soon be free to choose your own way of living. -Perhaps you’d rather stay in the East?” - -“Oh, no, indeed. I want more than words can tell to go back home with -you and to live forever with my sister Virginia and my brother -Malcolm—if they want me.” Then with a little laugh she turned eyes in -which there were tears to look at the listening group. “Girls, forgive -me, please! I know I’m depressing everybody. I was just feeling so sort -of useless and all alone.” - -“Oh, you’re useful enough, Megsy. Cut out worrying about that,” Barbara -retorted gayly. “Didn’t you sew seven buttons on undergarments for me -just in time to save me from being pounced on by Miss Snoopins? And -didn’t she happen around five minutes after you had put up your needle -to examine my work basket? ‘Mees Barbara,’ she remarked, and her voice -was almost human, ‘this is the first time I have ever found your -undergarments neatly mended.’ Honestly, I thought by her manner that she -was disappointed. So don’t ever say you aren’t useful, Margaret -Selover.” - -“What I want to know,” Betsy put in irrelevantly “is, when Eleanor -Burgess is going to honor this seminary with her presence and with whom -she is going to room.” - - - - - CHAPTER XI - - A NEW PUPIL ARRIVES - - -But after all there was no mystery concerning the time when Eleanor -Burgess was to arrive at the seminary, for she appeared, bag and -baggage, on the second day after the visit which Mrs. Martin and -Virginia had made to the supposedly deserted house. - -The physician’s wife was eager to get away from the wet, cold, Boston -winter and into the golden, warm climate of southern Italy, and as she -had no friend whose companionship she more enjoyed than that of the -overweary mother of Eleanor Burgess, she was happy indeed when she heard -that her dream-plan was to become a realization and that, within a -fortnight. - -Mrs. Warren accompanied her husband from Boston on his return trip, two -days later, and after having taken Eleanor to the seminary, the -luxurious automobile, with its non-skid tires that defied snow-banks, -bore the three older people away to the city and left a girl whose heart -was filled with mingled sentiments of gladness and sorrow. - -It would be a long, long while, she knew, before the mother, who was -dearest in all the world to her, would return. But she was more content -as she pictured what that mother would look like after three months of -carefree existence, just resting and basking under sunny Italian skies. - -“What wonderful friends the Warrens are to us,” the girl thought as she -lifted the knocker of quaint design. The door was opened by the -pleasant-faced Delia, and Mrs. Martin, chancing to leave her office at -that moment, held out both hands to the newcomer. - -“Dear Eleanor,” she said, “how glad I am that you came today. Little -Miss Rose is impatient to be away, but she wanted to remain until she -could explain to you about her babies, all of whom she loves, as she is -sure that you will, also. But first you must go to your room.” - -The principal noted an eager brightening of the girl’s face as she -looked up inquiringly. “Are you wondering with whom you are to room?” -Mrs. Martin asked. - -“I was hoping that it might be with Virginia Davis, but I suppose that -someone else is with her.” - -Mrs. Martin had planned giving Eleanor the Tower Room, which was still -unoccupied, but she recalled its remoteness, and fearing that Eleanor -might be lonely there, she at once decided to go to Virginia and ask if -she would like the new pupil to take Winona’s place until that maiden -might return, if, indeed, she came back at all. - -Excusing herself, Mrs. Martin went to one of the classrooms and stepped -within. After consulting a moment with Virginia, she returned, saying -with her kindly smile, “Your wish is to be granted.” Then to Delia, -“Will you go with Miss Burgess to the southeast corner room?” - -Virginia could hardly wait until the class was dismissed to hasten -upstairs and greet her new roommate. Eleanor was standing at the window -which overlooked the sea when she heard the door open. She turned -quickly and walked toward the girl who had entered, hands outstretched. -“Isn’t it all wonderful,” she exclaimed, “and just like a story in a -book? Mother is to have the rest and change that she needs, and I am to -have my opportunity to learn to write and draw, and be independent at -the same time.” Then leaning over impulsively she kissed Virg as she -said sincerely. “It was mighty nice of you to let me be your roommate.” - -“Eleanor,” Virginia said, “I’m just looking forward to our free -evenings. We both like the same things and that, I am sure, is the -secret of true comradeship.” - -That afternoon the new teacher of the primary pupils began her duties, -and she reported, when she returned to Apple Blossom lane, that she just -adored the babies (there were five of them, and the oldest was seven, -while the youngest was but four and a half), and if only she could have -a letter from her mother every other day, at least, she was sure that -she would be the happiest girl in all the school. - -At the afternoon free period Virginia threw Winona’s warm-colored -blanket over her head, for it had been a parting gift from the Indian -maid to her schoolmate of many years, and, with a bundle of papers under -her arm, she followed the path that was shoveled deep between snow -banks, until it reached the shelter of the grove, and there, in many -places, were pine needles on the ground that was but slightly covered -with snow. - -Miss Torrence was eagerly awaiting the editress of The Manuscript -Magazine. “Herein lies our only hope,” Virginia said when her English -teacher had led her in to the sunny little den where she spent many -hours planning lessons for the girls, reading or writing. Now and then a -poem by Miss Torrence appeared in a current magazine, to the delight of -her girls. - -The teacher smiled as she took the bundle of papers. - -“Three stories and two poems, you say; and from them we may choose -material for our first Manuscript Magazine? Thank you for bringing them. -I will let you know tomorrow, Virginia, what I think of them.” - -The girl, as was her wont, stopped a moment in the sunny living room to -chat with the dear little old lady who liked nothing better than to have -one of the pupils from the seminary tell her of their merry or busy -life. “It gives me something pleasant to think over for quite a time,” -she often said. But best of all, she liked to have Virginia visit with -her, and then their talk was not of the school, but of the desert, and -the little old lady’s eyes would glow as she would retell, time and -again, the story of her journey across the plains with her father and -mother in a prairie schooner. And Virginia would listen, at each -telling, as though it were the first time she had heard it. - -“She is such a nice girl,” the old lady would invariably tell her -daughter, when Virg was gone. “I like the others, but some way I like -her best.” - -“Virginia is unselfish. She is sincerely interested in whatever -interests others, and few girls are that,” Miss Torrence would reply. - -At that same time Kathryn Von Wellering had called a meeting of her -“Exclusive Three.” - - - - - CHAPTER XII - - THE EXCLUSIVE THREE - - -Kathryn von Wellering was lying back in her luxuriously upholstered -reclining chair reading a novel with a title, which would have won the -disapproval of Miss Snoopins if she had been able to find its hiding -place, which, as yet, she had not. - -The tall, dark girl, whose truly beautiful face was marred by a hard, -selfish expression, unusual in one so young (for Kathryn was but -sixteen), sat up when there came a light tap on her door. - -“Come in,” she called languidly as she reached toward a small table -nearby and took a chocolate from an elaborately beribboned box. “You’re -five minutes late,” she addressed the two girls who had entered in a -petulant manner. - -Belle Wiley, plump, pretty, with wavy light hair, and clear hazel eyes, -was followed by Anne Peterson who was tall and willowy, but whose -yellowish eyes held an expression which suggested that she was not -sincere. These girls were fifteen years of age, and, though their -fathers were not as wealthy as Kathryn’s, she had chosen them to take -the places of the two former members of “The Exclusive Three.” It was -hard to understand why the pleasant-faced Belle Wiley was an admirer of -Kathryn’s, but Anne Petersen was undeniably a girl whom their leader -would choose as a comrade. - -“Why did you call a meeting today, Kathryn?” Belle inquired. She -remained standing, although Anne had at once seated herself among the -soft pillows on a deep comfortable chair, and had helped herself to -candy, not waiting to be asked. - -Kathryn Von Wellering lifted her dark eyebrows and shrugged her -shoulders. “Should the dictates of a leader be questioned?” she -inquired. - -She turned toward the girl who was seated, and Anne at once replied. -“I’ll say not. You may send for me at any old time. Whatever you’re -scheming, you may count on me, old dear, I’m game.” - -“That’s what I call loyalty.” Kathryn smiled, though she ended it with -an almost cynical lifting of one eyebrow. Then to Belle, who was still -lingering near the door, she said impatiently, “For goodness sakes, sit -down! What’s the big idea anyway, of seeming to be in such a rush? You -haven’t a pressing engagement in some other part of the school, have -you?” - -“Probably she’s going to squeal your whole plan to that teacher’s -darling, Virginia Davis.” This rather sarcastically, while the speaker -helped herself to another candy. - -Kathryn’s expression was not a pleasant one. “Belle Wiley,” she said, -threateningly, “if you tell, I’ll——well, be warned in time. Now sit down -and behave! Have a chocolate. You certainly need sweetening!” - -The girl addressed, reluctantly seated herself and their leader leaned -forward to say with an intensity which she seldom gave to anything. “I -hate her! I simply hate that upstart from the desert. And what’s more, I -hate all of her friends.” - -Belle interrupted. She was seeing the girl whom she had idealized as she -truly was, for the first time, although she had had disconcerting -glimpses since Kathryn began trying to win the editorship. - -She now said, “I can’t understand why you hate Virginia Davis. I was -talking with Dicky Taylor today. We stood next each other in gym, and -she told me that Virginia doesn’t want to be editor and would be pleased -if someone else had it, but Miss Torrence insists that she keep it.” - -“Well, when Miss Torrence finds that the first copy of the magazine is a -failure, perhaps she will be glad to let me have the place. She said, -herself, that my story was one of the very best submitted.” - -Anne Petersen laughed as though at a joke that amused her, but Belle -sitting on the very edge of her chair, blurted out with, “Yes, but you -know as well as we do, that the story you submitted was not original.” - -Kathryn’s eyes flashed dangerously, then she nearly closed them and -regarded the rebellious member narrowly. “You are mistaken, Miss Wiley. -My contribution was original, as all of my compositions have been since -I entered this school.” - -“Yes, original, I’ll agree,” Belle hurried on fearlessly, “but not -original by you.” - -“Oh, I say, cut out the wrangle. What’s the big idea, Belle? Where did -you unearth a conscience?” This from Anne, who had put her prettily -slippered feet on a stool and was looking at them admiringly. “Say, -Kathryn, old dear, those were spiffy silk hose that you gave me. I wish -my padre had money enough to buy silk things for me, but he thinks -paying my tuition is all that is necessary.” - -Then with a questioning glance at Belle. “Where are the silk stockings -Kathryn gave you? I thought you were mighty pleased yesterday when you -received them.” - -Belle flushed and put her hand in the deep pocket of her dark blue -school dress. She drew out a small, neatly wrapped bundle. This she -placed on the table. “I can’t accept them,” she declared. “I thought at -first that they were meant merely as a gift of friendship, but, when I -got to thinking it over, I knew they were meant to pay me for having -been untrue to myself.” - -“Hi-ho! Hear the young preacher! Any wings started?” Anne’s taunt was -interrupted by a now thoroughly angry Kathryn. “Belle Wiley,” she said, -“for the past month you’ve been hanging around my room, morning, noon -and night, telling me how much you admired me and hoping that some day -there’d be something you could do to show me how much you liked me, and -now, the very first thing I ask you to do, you act up in this way.” - -“But it wasn’t right. It wasn’t honest; the thing you asked me to do.” - -“Indeed? I merely asked you to write so poor a story that Miss Torrence -would find it unfit to use in the first copy of The Manuscript Magazine. -You did it. Nobody could have written a poorer one.” - -Anne stopped munching chocolates. Leaning forward, she said: “And, of -course, since we had done that simple little thing for Kathy, she wanted -to show her appreciation in some nice way and she gave us each a pair of -silk stockings. I call that a mighty fine friend to have, myself.” - -Belle rose as though she were about to go. “I’m sorry, Kathryn,” and -there was a little break in her voice. “I hate to be a piker and I know -you both believe that I am, but until today, I didn’t see things in the -right light. I did love you, Kathryn, and when you care for anybody, -don’t you understand, it’s awfully hard for you to believe that—,” she -hesitated miserably, but bravely kept on, “that your ideal is not on the -square. When I came in here and found you copying the story you -submitted for the contest, I just couldn’t believe my eyes. You said at -first it was a story you had written long ago, but afterwards you -confided to us that you were on easy street, for a cousin of yours in -Boston who was a crack at composition, sent one every week for you to -read and—” - -Kathryn pretended to yawn. “Please bring the sermon to an end. I’m glad -to have found out in time just how unworthy a friend you are, Belle. -Goodness, it scares me, when I realize how near I came to letting you in -on the reason for which I called this meeting. Please close the door -after you as you leave.” The words were calm, but there was a glint in -the dark, half-closed eyes that was threatening. Belle knew that she had -been dismissed. At the door she turned to repeat, “I’m sorry, Kathryn, -but I can’t——” - -“Just be careful what you say and do,” was the warning that followed the -retreating girl. She heard the key turn in the lock, then she went to -her room to sob out her disappointment in her friend. - -“Well, this is what comes of taking one of the common people into your -confidence.” Kathryn walked to the window when she had locked the door -and looked out at a snow-covered campus. “I knew, of course, that -Belle’s father was a tradesman, and, out of this seminary, I most -certainly would not have associated with her.” Anne winced. Her own -father’s profession was not one followed by aristocrats. He conducted a -pool room in the Middle West. How she hoped Kathryn knew nothing of -this. - -“What is your father’s—er—occupation?” Anne feared business would sound -too crude. - -Kathryn replied without turning around, “He is a Wall Street financier.” -High sounding surely, but meaning nothing to the listener. - -“Oh, don’t mind, Belle.” Anne was searching through the box to find a -candy of the kind she liked best. “There’s one thing about her, and that -is, you can count on her not to squeal. She’s dropped out of this thing -because—well, because, you know, it isn’t honest. Some girls are queer -that way, they’d rather be honest than wear silk stockings.” Anne was -again admiring her silk-covered ankles. - -She did not see the scornful turn to Kathryn’s thin lips. “I did not -consider myself dishonest, Miss Petersen,” she said coldly. - -Anne laughed. “Gracious guns, Kathy! Don’t put on any high and mighty -airs with me. I don’t care how many compositions of your cousin’s you -copy, but I repeat, Belle is right, it _isn’t_ considered honest.” - -“I didn’t say that story was original by me,” Kathryn retorted. “I wrote -in the upper left hand corner, as Miss Torrence has requested. ‘This is -an original story written by Kathryn Von Wellering. This story was -original by my cousin and the handwriting was mine.’” - -Anne sat up and opened her yellowish eyes wide, as though in surprise. - -“Say, Kathryn, are you trying to convince yourself, or me, that black is -white? ’Tisn’t necessary at all, as I stated before. It is black, clear -through, you and I know it, just as well as Belle knew it, only we -aren’t worrying about it. For Pat’s sake forget it, and proceed with the -meeting. I came here (though I’m supposed to be practicing), because I -understood that you had something important to say. If you have, spiel -along, for I’ve got to be down in the music room in five minutes. That’s -when Miss King looks in to see if I’m on duty. Luckily for me Esther -Dorset wanted to practice half an hour longer, but the time’s most up.” - -Kathryn regarded the speaker through half-closed eyes as was her custom. -“I suppose you call that honest.” - -“Me? Not at all! I knew if that piano was silent, Miss King would be -down there in two minutes to see why I wasn’t practicing, but with -Esther running scales as she is, I’ll get the credit, don’t you see, old -dear? Hurry on now, what is it you wanted to say?” - -Kathryn had seated herself but instead of speaking she looked into the -fire. At length she said, “When people aren’t honest, you can’t be sure -that you can trust them.” Then with a sudden quick glance, “You and I -aren’t sure we can trust each other, are we?” - -“Not at all!” agreed Anne. “But I’d trust Belle with anything. She’s a -mighty fine little girl, Belle is.” Then rising and stretching -languidly—“Well, so long, guess you’ve changed your mind about coming -out with your plan.” - -Kathryn made an impatient gesture. “Sit down. Since you’ve been so frank -with me, telling me just what I am, at least I’ll ask your advice.” - -Anne dropped into her chair again as she said, “You flatter me, old -dear, but make it snappy. I do want to get in half an hour at the -piano.” - -Kathryn was still looking in the fire. “I thought,” she began, “that -when you two girls handed in such poor compositions it would be too late -to get others for this month’s Manuscript Magazine, but today I hear -that a new pupil has arrived who has submitted three stories and two -poems and that Miss Torrence is delighted with them.” - -“Well, what next? You didn’t call a meeting merely to tell us that.” -Anne glanced at her wrist watch. - -“No, of course not.” Kathryn’s dark eyes searched her friend’s face. - -“This is the night the teachers assemble in Mrs. Martin’s office for -their Faculty Meetings.” - -“Yes, so it is. But I’m still in the dark.” Anne looked somewhat -interested, and even more curious. - -“Dark? That’s what it will be, for there isn’t a moon, and, what’s more, -the clouds are so heavy, it will probably snow.” - -“Which means?” Anne couldn’t imagine what Kathryn was planning. “Which -means that you and I could slip over to Pine Cabin while Miss Torrence -is here and—well—it wouldn’t be hard to get in her study window. I heard -her say last week that the lock is broken but that she wasn’t afraid.” - -Anne looked more puzzled than shocked. “What would we do in her study? -She hasn’t anything I want.” - -“Stupid! She has all of the contributions for the magazine in her desk. -I saw them there today when I went to return a book.” - -“Oh-h! Light is dawning. You want to get them?” - -“Yes, and burn them. Then where will their Manuscript Magazine be for -this month?” Anne had risen. She hesitated before replying. Kathryn saw -this. Going to her dresser, she picked up a bracelet set with blue -stones. “Here, you may have it.” Anne’s expression was hard for the -watcher to interpret. The yellowish eyes were admiring the sparkle deep -in the stones. Kathryn breathed a sigh of relief when Anne slipped on -the bracelet. “Thanks, old dear,” she said. “I’ll drop in about eight.” - - - - - CHAPTER XIII - - THE HEART OF ANNE - - -Kathryn von Wellering had been right in her prophecy. It was indeed a -dark night. The clouds had gathered in denseness through the late hours -of the afternoon and a chilling wet wind swept from the sea. - -Miss Torrence hesitated about going to the faculty meeting. Her mother -was not well. She had not been strong enough to get about since the -winter set in, and of late she seemed weaker than usual. - -“I wouldn’t leave you tonight, little mother,” the young teacher said, -“if it were not that a very important matter is to be discussed. I’ll -leave a low light burning in my study; one nearer than that might keep -you awake, and I do want you to sleep and then you will not miss me.” - -“It’s all right, daughter. Don’t mind me. I’ll just lie here and -remember pleasant things that happened in the long ago. I’m not afraid.” - -Miss Torrence leaned over the bed and kissed the sweet face of the -little old lady that looked up at her wistfully from under a beribboned -night cap. “Be sure to take your umbrella and wear your rubbers.” - -The young teacher smiled as she went out. Ever since she was a small -girl starting to kindergarten, this thoughtful mother had asked, “Are -you sure you have a clean handkerchief, daughter?” - -The wind caught at the umbrella the moment it was raised, just beyond -the shelter of the grove, and it had to be closed again, but, although -there was a fine mist-like snow in the air, it was not wet enough to -drench her. Gathering the flying folds of her cloak closely about her, -Miss Torrence hastened to the basement entrance of the school, and soon -appeared in the upper corridor and went at once toward the door of the -principal’s office. Two girls stood in front of the blackboard on which -was written in big white letters, “Honor Roll.” - -“Good evening, Miss Torrence.” One of them spoke in an unusually -friendly manner. - -“Good evening, Kathryn,” was the kindly given reply. “Are you and Anne -searching for your names? She who will, can be on the Honor Roll, you -know.” - -“Oh, no indeed! We weren’t expecting to be on it. We were rather -surprised, though, to find that Barbara Wente’s name is here.” - -“It was put up today. I am so glad.” The young teacher smiled again and -entered the office from which, when the door was momentarily open, the -girls could hear the hum of voices. - -“It’s going to be a long session, I’m thinking,” Kathryn said in a low -voice. “Now that we are sure that Miss Torrence is here, let’s go at -once to Pine Cabin.” - -Anne Petersen hesitated. She lifted her hand at that moment to adjust -her hair and the glint of the blue stones caught her eyes. - -“Very well, lead the way,” was what she said. - -Kathryn went upstairs to her room and Anne accompanied her. Earlier in -the evening she had left there her warm cloak and tam. “Wait until we -are sure the games are started in the gym,” Kathryn warned, “then, with -the teachers all occupied, we can slip out of the side door without -attracting attention.” - -This was indeed easily accomplished, and they were soon breasting the -wet cold wind that swept in from the sea. - -As they neared the Pine Cabin Kathryn whispered: “There’s a low light -burning in the study. That’s good for us. We can see at once where the -papers are and we won’t stumble over things.” - -“I hope the old lady is asleep,” said Anne. “I heard Miss Torrence say -only last week that her mother is so frail now that she has to carry her -from the chair she sits in all day to bed at night.” - -“What do I care about her? Be quiet, will you? I’ll lift the window and -we will have no trouble stepping in from this porch ledge.” - -Kathryn was right. The lock to the window had been broken and as Miss -Torrence had no fear of thieves, she had not called the gardener to -repair it. The window creaked slightly as it was lifted, and the girls -waited, listening breathlessly, before they stepped inside. - -They were not the only ones who heard it. The little old lady in the -adjoining room had also heard. - -“Daughter, is that you? Have you come back?” a tremulous voice called. - -Anne darted a quick look at her companion, and motioned her to be -absolutely quiet. The little old lady sank back on her pillow believing -the sound to have been caused by the rising wind. When the voice was not -heard again, Kathryn began to search through the desk. The bundle of -manuscripts that she had seen, when she had that afternoon returned a -book to Miss Torrence, was not in evidence. - -In her impatience she was not as quiet as she might have been. “You’ll -frighten the little old lady,” Anne Petersen whispered. - -“What do I care. She can’t walk! She’ll never be able to tell who was -here,” was Kathryn’s cold reply. - -Anne’s glance at her friend was scornful. “Do you mean to tell me, -Kathryn Von Wellering, that you don’t care whether you frighten that -little old lady to death or not? You’d sneak away, would you, and leave -her all alone here unable to get up and terrorized for the long hour -before her daughter gets back?” - -Luckily the moaning of the wind made it impossible for the little old -lady to hear this whispered conversation. - -Kathryn’s lips curled, but before she could reply, her searching eyes -discovered the manuscripts tied in a neat bundle. They were ready to be -given to Virginia on the morrow. Seizing them, the girl climbed through -the window, upsetting, as she did so, a flower pot that was on the sill. -It fell to the floor with a crash. - -At that moment they heard a pitiful, frightened cry from the room -occupied by the frail, elderly mother of Miss Torrence. - -Anne Petersen turned, her eyes flashing. “Kathryn Von Wellering,” she -said, “I’m going back there and comfort that poor little old lady. I -have a grandmother of my own at home and I wouldn’t want her to be -treated in this way. You are the most heartless girl I have ever known. -Here, take your bracelet; take it or I’ll throw it in the snow.” - -Kathryn caught the arm of the other and tried to drag her toward the -school, but Anne shook herself free. “Coward,” she said, “all you are -afraid of is that I’ll squeal on you. Don’t you worry. I won’t. And -don’t you ever speak to me again. I’m through.” - -Turning, she walked around to the front of the cabin and entered the -door. She heard the pitiful sobbing of the little old lady. - -“Mrs. Torrence,” she called reassuringly, “don’t be frightened. It’s -just one of the girls from the school. I—I had a sort of a headache, and -I—I came out to let the cool night air—” For the first time in her -fifteen years Anne felt a scorn for lying. She wished she could tell the -truth, but she couldn’t. She had promised Kathryn she wouldn’t squeal. - -“Who is it? Which one of the girls, and what was it fell?” came the -faint voice, but Anne noted with relief that the fear was gone. - -She walked to the door of the bedroom and switched on the light. “I’m -Anne Petersen,” she said. “You haven’t seen me before. I haven’t been -over to Pine Cabin, but I heard you call out and so I came in.” - -“Well, it was ever so nice of you, my dear. My daughter never will lock -the doors. She says there is no one who wants to come in, for harm, and -I suppose she is right. I thought I heard something fall in the house, -but like as not it was something just outside that the wind blew down.” - -It was plain that the little old lady was trying to assure herself that -all was well, but as Anne went nearer she could see that she was -shivering. “You’re cold, aren’t you?” she asked kindly. - -“Yes, I tried to get up but I couldn’t.” - -“Well, I’ll cover you more, then I’ll make you a warm drink. I’m going -to stay with you till Miss Torrence comes.” The girl had made this -sudden decision. She knew that, brave as the little old lady was trying -to be, she had been greatly frightened. - -A frail hand reached out and a grateful glance assured the girl that she -was right. - -“Oh, how kind you are! I’ll tell my daughter. She’ll be so pleased. -Somehow she didn’t want to leave me alone tonight. The wind makes me -lonesome-like, when she’s gone.” - -“I know. It makes me lonesome sometimes, too, for my mother. She didn’t -live many years after I came. Grandmother brought me up and she tried to -teach me to be good—but—I guess I’ve failed.” - -The frail hand patted the arm of the girl. “Dearie, how can you say that -when you’re being so kind to me? I wish all girls were as good and as -thoughtful of old folks as you are.” - -Anne hurried to the kitchen. She could not understand why tears had -come. She lighted the fire, and, finding there a pan of broth, she -heated it. Then lifting the little old lady she gave it to her. A few -moments later a clock in the study struck eight. “I think I’ll go now,” -Anne said, rising. “Miss Torrence will be here directly.” - -“Of course, dear girl, go right along. That warm broth has made me so -sleepy I’ll be drowsing when daughter gets here. Promise you’ll come and -see me again. Next to Virginia Davis I like you best of any of the -girls.” - -“I promise,” Anne said as she kissed the little old lady, who was so -like her own grandmother. Then she slipped away. - -Miss Torrence had to bend her head to battle through the snowstorm that -was beating down upon the campus when she emerged from the basement door -and so it was, when she entered the little grove, that she did not see a -dark figure standing close to a tree trunk and almost hidden by low -growth of pines. - -Nor did she enter her mother’s room, for the even, quiet breathing -assured her that the little old lady was fast asleep. - -Miss Torrence was unusually tired and so she turned out the low light in -the den without glancing around. It was not until the next morning, -while she and her mother were at breakfast, that she heard the story of -a visitor. - -“I don’t recollect what her name was, daughter, but she was the nicest, -kindest girl. I’m sure she must be one of your favorites up at the -school. Something had frightened me. I don’t like to tell it, being as -you say I fancy things, but I did think that I heard the window open in -your study and then, by and by, something fell, crash, but pretty soon -this nice girl came and told me the wind outside was blowing things -around pretty much.” - -Miss Torrence looked both troubled and puzzled. She knew what her mother -did not, that the pupils of Vine Haven Seminary were not permitted to -leave the school after dark, and surely no one would choose a wet, cold, -blustery night to take a walk on the ocean cliff. - -As soon as she had her mother settled in a comfortable chair in the bow -window, where boxes of ferns and flowers were growing, and a canary in a -cage sang cheerily, Miss Torrence went at once to her den. Her first -glance revealed the fallen flower pot; her second the rummaged desk. At -that moment there came a rapping on the front door and the young teacher -hastened into the living room, troubled and perplexed, to answer the -summons. - - - - - CHAPTER XIV - - FINDING THE CULPRIT - - -When Miss Torrence opened the door, half expecting to see the mysterious -visitor of the night before, she beheld instead the editor of the -Manuscript Magazine. - -“Oh, Virginia, I am so glad you came. Mother-mine, if you will excuse -us, I would like to take Virginia at once to my study, as it is nearly -time for us to go up to the school, and I have much to discuss with -her.” - -“Of course, daughter. Is it about the Manuscript Magazine? I’m sure it -will be a nice one, with such a nice girl for an editor.” Then when they -had started away the little old lady recalled them to add: “Daughter, -ask Virginia who she thinks it was came to visit me last night. She was -such a dear girl, I want to see her again, and thank her for being so -kind to me. She said I reminded her of her own grandmother, and when she -kissed me good-by I know she was crying.” - -“Yes, mother, I will,” the young teacher promised. Then, when they had -entered the study, she carefully closed the door and turned a troubled -face toward her companion. - -“Virginia,” she said in a voice very unlike her own, “some one of the -girls climbed in this window last night and carried away the bundle of -manuscripts that I had tied up to give to you this morning. In going -out, she must have hastened, or perhaps she had not noticed the flower -pot.” Miss Torrence pointed at the floor where it lay, its pieces -scattered and the small flowering plant withering. - -“Who could it have been?” But even as she spoke, the girl knew that but -one pupil in Vine Haven desired to prevent the appearance that week, of -the Manuscript Magazine. - -“I am almost convinced,” Miss Torrence told her, “that the culprit is -Kathryn Von Wellering. I am sure that you are also, but I hardly know -how to proceed with an inquiry into the matter.” - -“There is nothing here that would identify her?” Virg glanced about the -small den. - -“No, I looked, but I haven’t been outside yet. It wasn’t snowing when I -returned, and so perhaps their footprints may still be visible.” - -Together they slipped out a back door that they might not arouse the -curiosity of the little old lady who, sitting in the living room, was -partly dozing in the sun. - -“It must have snowed in the night,” Virginia, in the lead, called over -her shoulder, “for there isn’t a trace of a footprint beneath this -window.” - -Miss Torrence sighed. “I especially regret this, for Eleanor Burgess -told me that she had no other copy of her stories, and I assured her -that need cause her no alarm, as nothing could happen to them while they -were in either my possession or with you. I am sure that she treasured -them, and now, without doubt, whoever stole them has destroyed them.” - -“Shall we take Eleanor into our confidence?” the girl asked. - -“Not quite yet. I shall go at once to Mrs. Martin and ask just what she -would wish me to do to start an investigation. I do not want to openly -accuse one of her pupils, and perhaps have that girl leave the school. -It is all very unfortunate.” - -They bade the little old lady good-by, and walked slowly through the -grove and toward the seminary. It was a gloriously clear day. The -freshly fallen snow on the pine branches sparkled and gleamed, while the -blue-gray waves of the ocean danced and sang, it would seem, for very -joy. It was the first time the sun had shone in weeks and nature was -glad. But even the brightness about them could not lighten the load on -the hearts of Miss Torrence and Virginia. - -The girl went to her class, but Miss Torrence arranged with Miss King to -relieve her for at least ten minutes. - -Mrs. Martin looked up wonderingly when a tap sounded on her office door. -It was 9, and teachers and pupils were usually in the classrooms; but -then it might be the housekeeper or even Patrick needing advice. - -When the door opened and the young teacher entered, Mrs. Martin -exclaimed: “Something is wrong. I can tell by your expression. Be -seated, Miss Torrence.” - -“I would rather stand. The telling will take but a moment and Miss King, -who is with my girls, is due in the music room.” - -In as few words as possible, the story was told. - -“Why, this is unbelievable!” Mrs. Martin was shocked and amazed. “My -natural conclusion is, as was yours, that Kathryn Von Wellering is the -only girl who has a personal interest in the destruction of those -manuscripts. You say that Anne Petersen was with her when you first -arrived last evening?” - -“Yes, they were standing in front of the Honor Roll, pretending to scan -it, but I now believe that they were waiting to be sure that I was -coming to the meeting, as they naturally would not wish to go to Pine -Cabin if I were there.” - -“I have noted of late that Belle Wiley and Anne Petersen are often with -Kathryn Von Wellering, and I have regretted it, especially in the case -of Belle, who is a dear little girl, and I cannot but deplore the -influence of Kathryn, whose mother thinks of nothing but society and -whose father, I fear, enriches himself at the expense of the poor. I -have been told that he is a conscienceless Wall Street broker. I regret -that I accepted Kathryn as a pupil, and if it seems best, Miss Torrence, -for the good of the other girls, I will write her mother asking her to -send for her daughter.” - -Then rising, Mrs. Martin stood for a thoughtful moment gazing out at the -snow-covered world. At last, turning toward the waiting teacher, she -said: “Kathryn, Anne and Belle are all in your 9 o’clock class, are they -not?” - -“Yes, Mrs. Martin. That is, they should be. If they are not there this -morning, shall I send Virginia in to tell you?” - -“Yes, if you will,” the principal replied. “If she does not come almost -at once, I will know that those three girls are to be with you for one -hour.” Then she added: “Do not permit them to leave the class during -that period, Miss Torrence. I shall send for Miss Buell, and ask her to -thoroughly search the rooms occupied by those three pupils.” - -The young teacher took her departure and five moments later, as Virginia -had not appeared, Mrs. Martin rang for the member of her faculty who had -charge of the rooms and the corridors. Popularly she was known among the -girls as “Miss Snoopins.” - -“Miss Buell,” Mrs. Martin had drawn her within the office and closed the -door, “I want you, with all speed, to search first Kathryn Von -Wellering’s room, then Anne Petersen’s, and if you have not found a -package of manuscripts in either, you may look in Belle Wiley’s room. I -can trust you to be speedy and discreet.” - -Miss Buell sniffed. “Well, I certainly hope I’ll find whatever evidence -it is you want in that disagreeable Von Wellering girl’s room. She -treats folks as if they weren’t human, but that little Belle Wiley, why, -Mrs. Martin, she’s a sweet, innocent little lamb. She never tries to -hide things or play tricks on me the way the others do, or at least some -of them.” - -Mrs. Martin, knowing that Miss Buell’s weakness was loquacity, dismissed -her, and then sat down at her desk, supposedly to attend to business -matters, but she found her thoughts often wandering. She was indeed more -troubled because of what had happened than either Miss Torrence or Miss -Buell realized. “She who steals a composition will steal anything else -she desires. It is the act, and not the article, which proclaims one a -thief.” - -Not more than fifteen minutes had passed when the principal heard -footsteps descending the stairs, and so rapidly, though quietly, did -they approach her door, that she believed, and correctly that Miss -Snoopins had been successful in her search. - -Mrs. Martin had the door open before Miss Buell could rap. That thin -angular woman entered, her eyes fairly glittering with the joy of having -accomplished her errand. - -“I found ’em,” she announced, “and what’s curious, maybe, I found two of -’em.” - -“Why, how could you, Miss Buell, when only one package of manuscripts -was missing.” The principal was puzzled indeed, for at that moment from -beneath her copious gingham apron, Miss Snoopins did produce two bundles -of compositions. These she laid on the desk, saying, as she pointed at -one accusingly. “That was in the bottom of Kathryn Von Wellering’s trunk -and it was plain she was trying to hide it, for she had a tray over it -so at first glance it would look like that was the bottom and no use to -look farther, but I was bent on finding evidence and——” - -Mrs. Martin looked disappointed. “But these are old compositions, I -judge, and not the ones for which we are searching. This other package -is more like it. Where did you find that?” - -“In Anne Petersen’s room and the queer thing about it was that it wasn’t -hidden at all. It was lying right on the floor inside of her door. That -one wasn’t hard to find. It didn’t——” - -The principal interrupted. “Miss Buell,” she said, “will you kindly ask -Miss King to again relieve Miss Torrence and you need not return.” - -Mrs. Martin pretended not to notice the disappointment plainly portrayed -in the other woman’s thin face. “Then that’s all you want me to do?” she -lingered in the open door. - -“Yes, thank you, Miss Buell. You have helped us immeasurably.” - -Almost at once Miss Torrence entered the office and found Mrs. Martin -examining the two packages which she had not untied. - -“This is the one that I lost,” she identified unhesitatingly. Then -glancing up questionably. “You say that it was found lying on the floor -just inside of Anne Petersen’s room. That is curious! What do you make -of it?” - -“I haven’t decided as yet. But this much I am sure. Belle is not -involved. I am glad of that.” - -Then, as she noted that the young teacher seemed to be greatly -interested in the manuscripts found in Kathryn’s trunk, the principal -inquired, “What are they, Miss Torrence?” - -“Stories, poems and other compositions written by a cousin of Kathryn’s, -it would seem, who is attending a girls’ school in Boston. They are the -same in subject matter which Kathryn has been handing in week after -week, writing upon them, as is our custom, ‘original stories written by -Kathryn Von Wellering.’” - -“That decides the matter, for, whether or not she or Anne Petersen -entered your cabin last night, Kathryn can no longer remain as a pupil -in this school. I shall write her mother today asking her to send for -her daughter.” - -Miss Torrence looked thoughtful, then said, “The blame for the package -stolen from my den has, of course, been placed upon Anne Petersen. -Mother told me that the girl who visited the cabin was most tender to -her, quieting her fear and heating broth to warm her when she was -chilled from having attempted to arise. That never could have been -Kathryn, nor, am I sure that it could have been Anne. Although I have -sometimes thought that Anne assumed an indifference and heartlessness -that might not be real. What shall we do?” - -“If it were Anne who was so kind to your mother, then there is something -in her nature that we can work upon. It might do more harm to her -character to dismiss her, than to keep her for a time. I wish, Miss -Torrence, that, at the close of your class, you would bring those two -girls to my office.” - -The pupils of the 9-to-10 class of rhetoric had been puzzled by the -frequency with which Miss King had relieved their teacher during the one -short hour. Only Kathryn and Anne were suspicious of the real nature of -the interruptions. The former tried to leave at once, when the gong in -the corridor announced a 15-minute free period, but Miss Torrence was -watchful. “Kathryn Von Wellering and Anne Petersen will remain in their -seats while the others pass out, if you please.” - -Kathryn was inclined to make a break and run for her room when Miss -Torrence asked them to accompany her to the office of the principal. - -The young teacher noticed the difference in the behavior of the two -girls. Anne seemed composed and there was a new determination in her -face. - -Kathryn, with an attempt at bravado, was nevertheless the one whose -manner betrayed guilt. - -The girls were closely watched when the packages were pointed out to -them, no explanation being given. It was plain that Anne was not in the -least troubled until she was informed where the stolen manuscript had -been found. “In my room?” she repeated with such genuine surprise and -amazement that Mrs. Martin heard herself saying with conviction, “Yes, -Anne; but they were thrown there just after you left, by Kathryn, -without doubt; as she wished to place the entire blame upon you.” - -Anne shrugged slightly, and seemed to be her old indifferent self. She -had in that moment recalled her promise of the night before, when she -had said: “Coward! All you are afraid of is that I will squeal. Well, I -won’t, but I don’t want you ever again to speak to me. I’m through!” - -“This other package of compositions, Kathryn, was found in your trunk -and—” - -The girl angrily interrupted the speaker. “Mrs. Martin, what right has -anyone to look in my trunk and take out of it something belonging to -me?” - -Mrs. Martin found it hard to speak calmly. “We reserve the right to read -all letters and search where we will. This is stated in the seminary -folders and is read by the mothers of the pupils before they choose this -school for their daughters to attend, and, as for stealing—what did you -call it, Kathryn, when at night you entered Miss Torrence’s home and -took something which did not belong to you?” - -“I didn’t take it,” the girl flared. “You just said that you found it in -that—that tattling girl’s room.” - -“Anne has not tattled.” The principal’s voice was hard now. “Kathryn, go -to your room at once and begin your packing. I shall wire your mother to -meet the afternoon train, as you will be on it.” - -Anne Petersen expected to hear more of the incident, but it was -evidently closed. Miss Torrence had taken an opportunity to thank the -girl for her kindness to her mother, adding that she would make that -frail invalid most happy if she could find time, now and then, to call -upon her, and, to her own surprise, the girl soon found the moments that -she spent in the bow window with the little old lady (who reminded her -so much of her own grandmother) were among the happiest of her day. - -There she often met Virginia Davis. Too, she promised to write the very -best story that she could for the second edition of the Manuscript -Magazine, and she said that she would ask Belle Wiley to do the same. - -With the departure of Kathryn Von Wellering, the large front room was -left vacant, and, as the two small rooms occupied by Anne and Belle were -on the north side of the school, and cold in winter, Mrs. Martin asked -them if they would like to be roommates and share the large, sunny room, -formerly occupied by Kathryn. - -Mrs. Martin and Miss Torrence had been right. Anne Petersen, who had -scorned lying, even when she had resorted to it, developed into one of -the finest girls in the seminary; one whom every teacher could trust. - -This was partly due to the something within herself, it is true, but -also to the loving influence of the little old lady in Pine Cabin and to -the roommate who believed in her. - - - - - CHAPTER XV - - THE MANUSCRIPT MAGAZINE - - -The Manuscript Magazine was a great success. All of the girls who stood -E in penmanship (and that meant excellent) volunteered to assist in -copying the stories that were to be bound together in magazine form. - -When it was completed the new editor was invited to read it in assembly -from the title page to the last period, and a most enthusiastic applause -followed. Many a girl, listening, was inspired to do better work in -English, that before the close of the school year she might have one of -her stories in the Manuscript Magazine. - -Virginia, flushed and happy, because of the success of her efforts, left -the gym where the forty-five pupils of the school had been assembled, -and with her were her own particular friends, members of the Study Club. - -They were all clattering at once. “I told you so,” Babs was saying. “A -thousand times you would have given up the editorship if we would have -permitted you to do so.” - -“I think it was a jim-cracky fine get-up,” Betsy declared, walking -backwards in front of the group that was on its way to “The Sign of the -Tea Kettle,” where Dicky Taylor was to dispense a real treat—not the -usual lemonade, she had whispered mysteriously, but something different, -and extra, and with permission, so there would be no fear of a -visitation from Miss Snoopins. - -Dicky was hurried right up to her room after the reading of The -Manuscript Magazine, so when the group had reached the upper corridor -she threw the door open to greet them before Betsy had had time to tap. - -“I am so glad that Dora and Cora have gone to the city with their father -professor. I would hate to leave them out and hurt their feelings, but -since you have invited me to become a member of your club I would rather -just have our own group.” - -The guests flocked into the sun-flooded room, which was filled with -mementos of many a merry occasion. There were paddles crossed upon the -walls. - -“Oh, girls, didn’t I have the time of my young life when Tom and I spent -a summer on Hide-Away Lake? We each had a canoe and I became as skillful -as—as Minnehaha, if I do say so, as I shouldn’t.” - -“You’ll have to show me!” Betsy began to tease, when Dicky whirled -around and pointed at the wall, where a long row of mounted kodak -pictures reached almost to the floor from somewhere up near the ceiling. -“A kodak can’t lie!” she retorted. “Put on your specs, and behold.” The -girls crowded around the panel of pictures, and many an amusing remark -was uttered. “Say! Dicky made a fine boy in those hiking trousers.” - -“Lookee, will you? Here she is having a canoe race with a good-looking -boy.” - -“They’re near enough alike to be twins.” - -While her guests were so intent upon the pictures the little hostess, in -another part of the room, was busily occupied behind a screen. A moment -later she removed this and rang a tiny silver bell. The girls whirled to -behold a table on which were seven plates of ice cream and a big dish -heaped with little cakes. - -“I say, this is some class!” - -“Spiffy! That’s what I call it.” - -“Here you, Babs, stop edging around to where the biggest piece is. I had -my eye on that one myself.” - -“Betsy, be quiet! What would Miss King think of our manners?” - -“Oh, alas and alack! There are place cards, and so there’s no picking a -piece after all.” - -“The truth of the matter is, I cut the ice cream brick by rule, and each -one of the pieces is two inches thick.” - -“It’s delicious, Dicky,” Virginia said, “and I especially appreciate it -after having read aloud for so long.” - -Silence reigned for at least five minutes that the treat might be -enjoyed to the full, then, when the dishes had been cleared away, Virg -offered to stay and wash them, but Dicky shook her head. - -“What?” she inquired in mock dismay. “Do you think that we would permit -the president of our club to wash the dishes? No, indeed! I choose Betsy -Clossen and Barbara Wente to assist me. Moreover, I heard you say you -were due at Pine Cabin at 4:30, and it’s five minutes of that time now.” - -Betsy moaned and groaned when she found that she had been elected to -wash dishes, but Babs cheerfully accepted. The other girls went their -various ways, some to do reference in the library, Sally to take a -lesson on a beautiful gilded harp which her mother had recently sent to -the school, and which was the joy of all of the girls, though none but -the professor who came from Boston once a week could play upon it. - -“Little Sally, she do well,” the long-haired foreigner had assured Mrs. -Martin. “She has ze ear. More than some! Zat Betsy, she has no ear.” - -It chanced that Babs had been passing through the lower corridor at the -time, and as she dried dishes she took the opportunity to tease Betsy -about her missing member. - -“You can’t make me mad telling me that. I warned my dad that I never -would make a musician, but he said that he wasn’t going to leave a stone -unturned to try to make me into something.” - -“Poor man! He’s doomed to bitter disappointment,” Babs began, then -suddenly whirled and gave her friend a hug. “I love you!” she said. “I -wouldn’t have you different, not for anything, so now!” - -“Say, old dear!” Betsy shook out her drying cloth, “Just for that I’ll -give you the nuttiest piece of ice cream or cake or fudge that turns up -at the next treat.” - -“Sh! Footsteps approach!” Dicky held up a dripping finger. - -Delia, the maid, was at the door. “Is Miss Barbara Wente here? There’s a -young gentleman in the library to see her, and Mrs. Martin said that she -could go down without a chaperone.” - -“Oh! ho! ho! Babs has a beau!” Betsy began to tease when Delia had gone, -but Barbara, crimson of cheek, had darted to her own room, to tidy up. - -A very solemn-faced lad in the blue and gold uniform of Drexel Academy -awaited Barbara in the library of Vine Haven Seminary. - -“Benjy,” the girl hurried forward with hands outstretched, “what has -happened? You look—is it sad? Is your mother no better?” - -The lad had risen when Babs entered. When they were seated he said, “I -fear not. My mother has not been well for months and Harry writes that -unless she is better soon he will send for me, as Mums so often talks of -how happy she will be when this term is over and I can return home.” -Then, as he glanced out of the window and saw that snow was beginning to -fall, he added, almost wistfully, “Spring seems a long way off, doesn’t -it?” - -“But it isn’t Benjy. Tomorrow will be the first day of March. This is -probably to be the last snowstorm, and then, you know, after a few days -of sun and rain, how soon the leaves and flowers appear. Strength seems -to come with the spring, so please don’t worry more than you can help.” - -The boy looked up brightly. “I knew seeing you would make me feel -better. I wanted to come over last week when I first had the letter from -Harry, but I couldn’t. We were so busy over at Drexel. Even today I had -little hope of coming until Dean Craig asked if one of the boys wished -to drive with him to Vine Haven. We came over in his own private cutter -with that thoroughbred horse that fairly flew.” - -Barbara looked around curiously. “Is Dean Craig here? I haven’t seen -him.” - -“Oh, no, he isn’t in the seminary. He let me out and then drove down to -the cabin in the Pine Grove. He is interested in the Manuscript Magazine -that your Miss Torrence planned and he came to see about starting some -such thing in our English class.” Then he smiled in his frank boyish -way. “Maybe the Dean is a bit interested in Miss Torrence herself. Is -she young and attractive?” - -“Oh, isn’t she though?” Babs was enthusiastic. “She’s the sweetest, -dearest, lovablest young teacher in this school. Mrs. Martin is a -darling, but of course she is elderly.” Then, as she suddenly thought of -something, the impulsive girl exclaimed. “Here comes Virg from Pine -Cabin this very minute. Wouldn’t you like to see her, Benjy? She just -loves to see people who are her neighbors out on the desert. Sometimes -she gets powerfully homesick.” - -A slight expression of disappointment crossed the face of the boy. He -had called just to see Babs, whom he thought the sweetest, prettiest -girl in all the world, but since she was eagerly awaiting his reply, and -expecting it to be in the affirmative, he could do not less than say, -“Why, yes, of course I would like to see Virginia.” - -Barbara was already skipping to the long French window near which Virg -was passing. Lifting the sash, she called, “Benjy’s here and he’d just -love to see you a minute.” - -Virginia soon appeared, although she well knew that Babs had exaggerated -the lad’s desire to see her. - -Throwing back her Papago blanket of many colors on which snow flakes, -lightly fallen, quickly melted, she advanced, her hand outstretched. -“Benjy, but it’s good to see someone from home!” Then, standing back, -she looked him over admiringly. “You don’t resemble a cowboy or a sheep -herder much, do you?” - -The boy was about to protest that he had no such ambition, when Babs -exclaimed, “Oh, but he will, won’t you, Benjy, next summer when we are -all together on the desert? I’d rather look like a real cowgirl than -anything else.” - -The listeners smiled as they gazed at the dainty, Dresden China girl -whose gold and pink and white prettiness suggested a fairy queen far -more than a rough-riding cowgirl. - -“We often wish to be what we aren’t,” Virginia began, then turned -brightly to Benjy to exclaim: “Dean Craig arrived at Pine Cabin while I -was there, and he was so interested in the Manuscript Magazine. He asked -if he might borrow our one lone copy, and he said that, if we would -trust it to him, next week he would send it back, and that it would be -accompanied by as many more copies as we might request.” - -Babs’ eyes were round and inquiring. “What is he going to do; set Benjy -and the other boys to copying it, do you suppose?” - -The lad laughed. “Indeed not. Drexel Academy is now the proud possessor -of a printing press and your Manuscript Magazine will be the first thing -in book form that we have made.” - -“Virg, won’t you be the proudest ever to see your name printed after -your story?” Then turning to the lad, Babs prattled, “Oh, Benjy, be sure -to read Virg’s story. It’s about the desert and it’s the best ever.” - -“I know that I shall enjoy it,” the boy rose as he spoke, for, around -the circling drive a cutter, drawn by a high-stepping horse appeared. -“Oh, isn’t it a beauty—Virg, see how proudly it holds its head? Wouldn’t -you and Megsy and I love to have horses like that one out on the -desert?” - -“I wouldn’t give my Comrade for any horse on this earth,” Virginia -replied. “He saved my brother’s life, you know.” - -Then when the good-bys had been said, and Virginia had departed, Barbara -lingered to say earnestly, “If you have news that saddens you, Benjy, -come right over and see me. You haven’t an own sister and so let’s -pretend that I am one.” The lad gave the girl’s hand a grateful -pressure. - -“Thank you, Barbara,” he said, “I feel heaps more hopeful, somehow, that -I did.” - -Betsy had planned teasing Babs unmercifully, but, when she saw the -thoughtful, almost sad expression on the girl’s face when she came -upstairs she changed her mind and kissed her lovingly instead. - - - - - CHAPTER XVI - - A SPRING RIDE - - -It was nearly the middle of March before a big bundle of printed -Manuscript Magazines appeared at Vine Haven. Dean Craig did not bring it -himself as the melting snow and frequent rains had made the cross -country roads almost impassible, and so he had sent it by express, via -Boston, which greatly lengthened its journey. Micky O’Brien was sent to -the village to obtain it and great was the excitement in the library of -the seminary when Miss Torrence assembled all the girls who were chiefly -interested to be present at the official opening of the bundle. - -“Oh Virg, doesn’t your name look perfectly scrumptious on the cover? -‘The Manuscript Magazine, edited by Virginia Davis!’ Wouldn’t I feel all -spiffed up if my name were in it anywhere, even in the teeniest, tiniest -print way off in a corner somewhere.” - -Miss Torrence smiled indulgently at the girl who felt that English as -the King spoke it, was not expressive enough to embody the sentiments of -an American school girl. “Keen stuff! Oh, I mean it’s a very nice -magazine.” Betsy actually looked embarrassed, but Miss Torrence was at -that moment saying to Virginia, “You wanted one copy to send to Eleanor -Pettes, didn’t you? And one for Winona?” - -“And, oh, I would love to have one to send to my brother Malcolm.” - -“Of course, so you shall. Dean Craig wrote a little letter which told of -the coming of the magazines that he would leave the type set until he -received a message from us telling if we need more copies.” - -“Isn’t he the nicest man?” Barbara, the ever impulsive, exclaimed; then -she wondered why Miss Torrence’s cheeks were suddenly like roses. - -“I like him,” was the reply. Then, as a gong, pealing through the -school, told that lunch hour was approaching, the magazines were divided -and away the girls trooped to the upper corridor to prepare for the noon -meal. - -“Did you notice Miss Torrence blushing when we mentioned the Dean?” -Sally asked her roommate when Sweet Pickle Alley had been reached. - -“Me? Nope, my belovedest! I have a mind above such things. I was -sniffing the air just then trying to decide what savory thing was being -prepared in the kitchen.” - -“Oh, Betsy, you are so tantalizing.” - -“And I decided that it was liver and bacon. If I am right, will you give -me your share, Sal, old dear?” - -That particular dish, as all the girls knew, was Betsy’s favorite. - -“Goodness no, much as I don’t like it, I’m too hungry to give it away if -that’s all there is.” But the menu that noon was of quite a different -nature. However, Betsy always ate anything that was provided with a -relish. “Girls,” she confided, “Micky told me that the postman has -bronchial fiditis and that he is to drive into town this afternoon and -get the mail. It being Saturday and sunny, I thought perhaps we might -get permission to ride in with him.” - -“I’d like that all right,” Barbara smiled. “I was just wishing I could -go out in this sparkling air and not get my feet wet.” - -Mrs. Martin was glad to permit them to accompany the gardener’s boy and -an hour after lunch, the school bus started down the hill road, filled -almost to overflowing with laughing, singing, joyous girls, who felt -that the holiday spirit was abroad. - -“Watch out for a first robin!” Betsy shouted. - -“Or violets,” Barbara sniffed the warm earthy, fragrant air. “I just -know there are some over yonder in that ferny dell.” - -“More likely we’d find them in that sunny sheltered meadow or some fence -corner.” - -When the town was reached, the girls tried to be more sedate. When the -bus stopped at the post-office they could not decide which one should -have the honor of going in to inquire for the mail, with Micky, who, of -course, would be needed to carry out the pouch. Since they all wished to -be the one selected, Betsy cried, “Let’s compromise and all go.” - -This they did, tumbling out of the bus with such a merry rush that old -“Si” Peters, who for years had sat all day long on the bench in front of -the post-office, leaned forward on his cane and chuckled, although he -chewed faster than ever, if such a feat were possible. - -Betsy nudged Babs, as she nodded toward the old man who was a town -character. “See how his chin beard points up,” she whispered. “Honest -Injun, I believe he’s going to speak to us.” - -Nor was she wrong. “Good-day, gals! Be ye all from the seminary up top -the hill?” he inquired pleasantly. - -“Yes, we are,” Virginia replied kindly. Virginia was always kind to -everyone whom she met of whatever station. - -“Waal now, as nice a parcel o’ gals as ever I did see,” they heard him -muttering as they trooped in to the general store bent on spending part -of their hoarded allowance for striped bags full of candy. - -The mail pouch was unusually bulky, and, as the girls rode back up the -hill, they amused themselves by guessing which of them was to receive a -letter. Suddenly, just as they reached the crest and were about to turn -in between the seminary gates, Betsy Clossen gave a cry of joy, and -leaped to her feet pointing. “See, there it is! Quick! Everybody wish on -the first robin.” - -A flash of red from a tree near, and a familiar, though startled note, -confirmed Betsy’s remark. “I wish to pass A 1 in every subject on the -spring exams,” Sally surprised them all by remarking. - -“Oh, I say, Sal, wish for something that could happen.” - -“Stick to it, Sally, you’ve improved worlds since Virg has been playing -tutor.” This from Babs. - -“I wish my mother may find Aunt Dorinda,” Eleanor began, when the bus -stopped under the seminary portico and ten eager girls followed Micky as -he carried the pouch (which might contain a letter for them) up the -steps and into the school. - - - - - CHAPTER XVII - - THE HEART OF MISS SNOOPINS - - -“Miss Snoopins is almost human sometimes, isn’t she?” Betsy exclaimed as -the girls, having received their mail, trooped upstairs to their rooms. -“She actually smiled when Miss King called her and gave her a letter. I -do believe it’s the first she’s had this term.” - -“Maybe it was only a bill, after all. I don’t think there’s anyone on -this green earth who would care to write to her.” - -“Oh, Betsy!” Virginia protested. “There is someone to love everybody.” - -“You’ll have to prove it to me. I don’t believe—” - -“Sh!” Megsy cautioned. She was last in line, and turning, she saw that -Miss Buell had started up the stairway and feared that she might -overhear. They proceeded toward the southeast wing almost in silence and -were indeed surprised to hear Miss Snoopins’ voice, close back of them, -saying: “Miss Virginia, can you spare time to come to my room? I’d like -your help for a few moments.” - -“Indeed I can, Miss Buell. I have an hour of free time, and I shall be -glad to give it to you.” - -Excusing herself, the girl turned down a narrow hallway at the end of -which was the small room occupied by the monitress of the rooms and -corridors. The thin, angular woman was plainly excited. On her usually -sallow face two red spots burned. She drew forward a stiff-backed chair. - -“Oh, Miss Virginia,” she said, “I just had to tell someone—or—” She was -plainly unable to complete the sentence, and so Virg said kindly: - -“You have had good news, from some relative perhaps? I shall be glad to -hear about it.” But she was interrupted with: “No, ’tisn’t a relative. -Leastwise not by blood. I haven’t any of those.” Then eagerly: “There is -a way, isn’t there, by going to law or something by which folks can be -made into real relations, if they aren’t born so?” - -“Why, yes, Miss Buell. Neighbors of ours on the desert adopted a boy and -then he was their very own.” - -The eyes, that the girls had called green, were like wells of happiness. -“That’s what I wanted to know. Of course I could have asked Mrs. Martin, -but she’d have discouraged me, like as not, saying I had all I could do -to save up a bit for my old age.” Then, opening the envelope, she handed -the wondering girl a kodak picture. “That’s little Terry!” - -Tears sprang to the eyes of Virginia, “Oh, Miss Buell,” she said, “that -poor little twisted body, but what a beautiful face he has! It makes me -think of a painting I saw in the Boston cathedral when Miss Torrence -took us up there for Christmas service. It’s just as though his little -soul were singing songs of praise.” - -Tears, all unheeded, fell down the sallow cheeks of the woman, who had -been called unloved and unloving. “I believe he is! I sometimes think -little Terry lives in a world the rest of us can’t see.” - -“Tell me about him. Is it Terry whom you wish to adopt?” - -Miss Buell nodded. “I was under-housekeeper at the Boston orphanage two -years ago, and this little fellow—he was five then—was brought in. He -was found on the steps in a basket after dark and the matron said they -couldn’t keep him. He was so twisted she thought he’d need a nurse all -the time, and what was more, when he came to the age to be homed out, -there wouldn’t be anybody that would want him. Well, it was decided that -he would have to be sent somewhere else, but it being late evening they -had to keep him till they could find where he could be taken. What to do -with him that night troubled the matron. Then ’twas I stepped up and -said I’d keep him in my room and be glad to. He was in awful pain all -night, the little fellow was, and though he didn’t cry out loud, he kept -up a pitiful moaning, and his eyes looked scared, as though somebody’d -hit him for it. But when I picked him up and held him close in my arms, -he seemed to feel better, and by and by he went to sleep, but I didn’t -lay him down. I just held him there all night, and though my arms ached, -there was a warm feeling in my heart. I just knew that it was love. The -next morning, the matron said the proper authorities were coming to get -him. I kept watching and when I saw the hard-faced woman in a blue -uniform who came I just up and told that matron that I was going to keep -the little fellow myself. The next day I was to leave there, anyway, so -I took Terry with me and I asked in the city where was the place that -crooked babies were made straight. They told me about a hospital. It -cost a lot to have Terry taken in there, but I left him, and I’ve sent -them all the money I’ve made here every month up to now. - -“They’ve done lots for that little fellow. He can walk some, and the -nurses are teaching him to read and write. The doctor tells me if I can -leave him there five years more he’ll be about like other boys, -excepting that he’ll always have to wear braces.” - -“And are you going to try to keep him there for five more years, Miss -Buell?” Virginia felt awed in the presence of such complete -self-sacrifice. - -The thin woman’s face brightened. “Of course I am, but first I want to -have Terry made into an own relation. Then when the time is up I’m going -to take him back to my father’s old farm. That’s mine, clear, and Terry -and I’ll make it into a home.” - -Then the woman rose. - -“Thanks,” she said, “for coming in, but I’ve kept this shut up inside -myself for so long I just wanted to tell somebody about Terry.” - -“Thank you for telling me,” the girl replied, and then as she left the -small room she suddenly recalled a joking conversation of the girls on -the day she had arrived at Vine Haven. Babs had been telling about Miss -Snoopins and had called her “heartless,” but Virginia had declared that -everyone had a heart, and Margaret had prophesied that if Miss Snoopins -had one, Virginia would find it. How she did wish she could tell the -girls. Some day perhaps she would be given permission to do so. The -others looked up wonderingly as she entered. - -All Virginia said was: “I have found the heart of Miss Buell, and this -much I will tell you, there is no one in this school who is living a -life of greater self-sacrifice.” - -The girls, who had gathered in the corner room occupied by Margaret and -Babs, were indeed surprised to hear that Virginia had found the heart of -Miss Snoopins. But, since that maiden did not feel that she had a right -to tell the sweet, sad story, they soon forgot about it in recounting -their own news items that had arrived in the same mail pouch. - -“Peyton is ever so eager to have us come home,” Babs exclaimed as she -glanced back at the open letter which she had been reading aloud when -Virginia’s entrance had interrupted. “Shall I go on?” - -“Oh, yes, indeed, please do.” The girl, whose home had always been on -the desert (more than any of the others), was eager to have news from -there. - -“Begin over again, Babs.” Megsy was on the window seat with her -roommate. “Then Virg will better understand just what is happening in -her home country.” - -And so Babs read. “Dear sister and friends: - -“Malcolm and I have just returned from a ride to the north. We have been -hunting for cows with young calves that we might drive them in and brand -them before they fell into the hands of rustlers. We were told that a -bunch of cattle from V. M. had been seen not far south of the Wilson -ranch and so we rode up there after them. We despaired of finding them, -and were turning back to the south when that little Mexican chap with -the long name, Francisco Quintano Mendoza, appeared. He seemed to rise -right up out of the chaparral on that little wild broncho of his and he -galloped toward us shouting frantically. - -“We turned our horses and waited. He told us in broken English that -Harry had sent him to herd our little bunch of stray cattle until he had -an opportunity to drive them to V. M. and that he had them safe in a -nearby hollow. Just at that moment Harry appeared coming down the canyon -trail, and, as we had not seen him since Christmas, we were indeed glad -to hear his news and have an opportunity to thank him for having -protected our strays. - -“Hal looked troubled. He is worried about his mother, but don’t mention -it to Benjy. They want him to finish out his year at Drexel if possible. -He certainly is a fine chap. He inquired about you girls, but especially -about Winona. He seems to greatly admire that Indian friend of yours. - -“It took us a day and a night to return to the ranch belonging to -Barbara and Peyton Wente. Sis, I’ll ’fess up that I haven’t done a thing -to the inside of that old house. I’m leaving it all for you to change to -suit yourself. - -“Malcolm said to tell Virginia that Uncle Tex spends most of his time -this spring planning a surprise for his beloved ‘gal.’” - -“Dear old man,” Virg said when Babs paused. “I wonder what it can be -that he is making for me.” - -“Only two months more and then you will know.” - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII - - A BUSY APRIL - - -The month of April was a busy one in Vine Haven Seminary. - -“Virg, what have you done to Sally MacLean?” Betsy inquired one Saturday -morning. “I just now asked her to go for a hike with me and hunt for -wild flowers. It’s such a perfectly scrumptious day, so shiny and blue, -but no, she just wouldn’t budge. And of all the stupid things that I -left her doing, you never could guess.” - -“Oh yes, I could,” the older girl replied, smiling at the piquant-faced -little maid in a cherry colored sport coat and tam, who stood in her -open door. “I am almost certain that Sally is translating Latin, because -we are going to review the entire term’s work on the Saturday mornings -in April. Better join us.” - -“Me?” Betsy pretended to groan. “May the saints help the two of you. -What in the world is old Sal trying to do? Get her name on the Honor -Roll?” - -“I hope so.” - -“Well, it’s a lost hope. She never could do it.” - -“I’m not so sure of that,” Megsy, who sat by an open window with her -mending, smiled across at the speaker, “I did it and so did Babs.” - -“Well, it’s me as isn’t even trying for it. Good! There’s Dicky Taylor.” -With a farewell wave of her hand, Betsy skipped down the corridor -calling, “I say, Dick, Virg hasn’t hoodooed you into trying for the -Honor Roll, has she? Put on your hiking togs and come out with me.” - -The other girl hesitated. “I don’t suppose I could make the grade,” she -confessed, “but I’d heaps like to try. Our president said that nothing -would please her more than to have the names of every member of our -little study club on the Honor Roll before the closing exercises. I hate -to acknowledge that I haven’t the brains or the perseverance that even -Sentimental Sally possesses.” - -Betsy entered “The Sign of the Tea Kettle,” and sat on the arm of a -chair as she watched Dicky get out her books, pad and pencil. - -“Are you going to dig into geometry on a spiffy Saturday morning like -this?” she inquired. - -“That’s my plan, old dear.” Dicky’s words were merry, but it was plain -that her intentions were serious. - -“If confessions are good for the soul, I’ll confide to you, belovedest. -That one subject is my Waterloo. My name might decorate the blackboard -in the lower corridor, if I could make head or tail out of geometry, but -I can’t! I’m nutty when it comes to that subject.” - -Dicky Taylor’s face brightened. “I was just that way about it at first. -I didn’t think I ever could understand it, but when I knew I had to, or -fail, I asked Miss King if I might stay after class and ask her a few -questions, and, what do you think, it came to me all in a flash, sort -of, and I believe I could make it clear to you, Betsy, if you have time -to spare.” - -The cherry colored tam was tossed on a chair and the sport coat was -removed. Then Betsy locked the door. “I don’t want any of the bunch to -catch me studying when I’ve kidded them all for doing it, but mind you, -Dicky, even if I do dig in a while this morning, I’m not trying for the -Honor Roll.” - -Half an hour later there came a tap on the closed door. Betsy motioned -Dicky to keep quiet. Then a voice outside said, “Dick and Bets went for -a hike I think.” It was Sally who was speaking. Dora Crowell replied, “I -wanted her to play singles with me. You come, will you Sal?” but that -little maid shook her head and continued on her way to the room of Virg. - -When the gong bidding the girls prepare for lunch rang, Betsy sprang up. -“Dick,” she pleaded, “don’t you tell a soul that I studied geom all this -morning. They’d think I was getting dippy, or that I was trying for the -Honor Roll. Stuff and nonsense! I wouldn’t have my name seen on it. No -siree! ’Tisn’t sour grapes,” she retorted when her companion began to -tease. - -She opened the door to go to Sweet Pickle Alley and prepare for the noon -meal, but she had lingered too long. A swarm of girls appeared without. -“Oh, no,” Babs shouted. “Here’s Betsy back from her hike.” - -“Did you find any wild flowers?” - -“You’ve been up to mischief. You look as though we’d caught you in the -act of stealing sheep.” - -Betsy broke through the group of tormentors and ran to her room. Hastily -she tidied her hair, then joined the procession of girls who, two by -two, under the surveillance of Miss King, were descending the wide -stairway to the basement dining room. - -As they passed the blackboard in the lower hall near the door of the -principal’s office, Betsy whispered, “Look at Babs admiring her own -name.” - -“That’s something you’ll never be able to do.” The speaker was Ethel -Cummins, a girl whom Betsy especially disliked. Instantly she flared. -“Indeed, is that so? Well, I’ll have you know that my name is to be on -that board before the closing exercises.” - -“Silence, young ladies, if you please!” Miss King was peering over her -glasses as she looked back along the line to try to discover the -offender but Betsy was at that moment passing with her head held high -and a new determination plainly discernable on her usually laughing -face. - -How pleased her old dad would be if she could make the grade, she was -thinking. “Erase the ‘if’” she told herself as she recalled how her -father had often said, “Perseverance spells success, little daughter, -just remember that. Choose a goal! Go straight toward it and count every -failure as a spur to greater endeavor.” - -But before that month was up, Betsy had many a moment of doubt. - - - - - CHAPTER XIX - - SPRING VACATION - - -The two weeks’ vacation, which usually came at Easter time, had been -postponed until May, the reason being that Mrs. Martin wished to visit -Washington for a fortnight and attend the wedding of a favorite niece. - -There was great excitement among the girls whose homes were not far -away, as they packed their suitcases; often skipping from one room to -another to tell some joyous plan they had in store for them. The brother -of Dicky Taylor had written of a jolly house party they were to have in -their summer home. “Mother is going with us and all of our eight -cousins, so you can just bank on a dandy time.” - -Then there was a postscript. “Mums said for you to bring along the -twins, if you wish, and that will make ten. They’ll keep things lively.” - - “Your Buddy.” - -Cora and Dora were indeed more pleased with this invitation than Dicky -was. “It’s a curious thing,” she confided to Virginia. “Last year I just -begged Mumsie to let me bring the Crowell girls home for the spring -vacation and she said, ‘Some other time, dear.’ Mums has remembered her -promise and now I’d heaps rather have you or some of your crowd. I still -like the twins, but their antics don’t amuse me the way they did last -year. I seem to have outgrown them, just as one does—well—dolls and -toys.” - -“I understand, dear,” the older girl said. “But suppose you think of it -in a different way. Cora and Dora have had no home-life, I understand, -since they were babies and that was too long ago for them to remember. -They have been kept summer and winter in Vine Haven Seminary since they -were four, and I am sure a fortnight in a real home will give them more -happiness than it could any of the rest of us.” - -“I know it will,” Dicky agreed brightly, “and I’ll try to think of it -that way. Their father-professor never pays them any real attention. -When he does come to see them during the Sunday afternoon visiting hour, -he always tells them about his scientific discoveries. Dora declares she -feels smothered when he is gone.” - -Great was the hustle and bustle, as the hour approached for the bus to -take the first load of pupils to the station. The five girls whose homes -were too far away to be visited for so short a vacation, were on the -front porch to wave good-by to those who were departing. - -“I say but I’m sorry for you, old dears!” Cora put her head out of a -window of the retreating bus to call. - -“Don’t cry your eyes out with loneliness for us.” Dora’s merry face -appeared beside that of her twin. - -“We’ll try to endure the separation,” Betsy Clossen replied. Then as the -stage was too far away for further conversation, even though carried on -in shouting voices, the six girls on the porch turned and looked at one -another. - -“Well, we’re here because we’re here,” Babs sang out. “Now the next -thing is, what shall we do to while away the tedium (as the story books -say), of the next two weeks?” - -“With all of the teachers gone, like mice of fiction, we ought to do -very much as we wish.” Betsy swung herself up on the rail of the porch. - -“I’m so glad Miss Torrence’s mother was strong enough to ride in that -comfortable closed car of her brother’s to visit his nice home in -Boston. She has three little grandchildren there and she has been so -eager to see them.” Virginia had seated herself on the top step of the -wide front porch, and, leaning back, she breathed deeply of the warm -fragrance-laden air. - -“What a glorious day it is!” she said, smiling up at Margaret who stood -at her side. “Do see our wonderful apple orchard. Isn’t it just like a -floating cloud of blossoms? I don’t wonder that birds like to build -their nests in those great old branches, Hark! Hear one of them singing -as though he would burst his throat and just for the joy of living.” - -“Oh, good! Here comes the postman.” Sally who had been sitting on the -step lower than her idol, looked up glowingly. - -A two-wheeled cart was turning in between the high gates and a thin, -wiry horse was drawing the queer little equipage up the wide circling -drive, in what the girls thought a most provoking leisurely manner. - -The pleasant-faced postman beamed out from under his leather visor. -“What, ho!” he called, when the horse had stopped under the portico. “Be -you all that’s left out of the hurly-burly crowd of you?” - -The girls trooped down the steps and surrounded the vehicle. Babs -climbed up on the small step to peer into the opened bag, while Betsy -attempted to leap up on the back board from the ground. - -“Yes, we’re all that’s left and we need twice as many letters to console -us,” she remarked, when the feat had been accomplished. - -“Wall, it does seem like thar’s an extra big batch this here mornin’. -Where’s that Miss King, teacher, who allays takes the mail pouch. I’ve -orders, you know, to just give it to her or her representative. That’s -what Mis’ Martin said, slow-like and plain as anything. Now what I’m -wantin’ to know, is any of you gals that representative?” - -It was easy to see that the elderly rural postman was proud of his -ability to use that word of many syllables. - -At that moment, Mrs. Dorsey, the general housekeeper of the school -appeared. “Just fetch that pouch right in here, Mr. Peters. I’ll appoint -Virginia Davis as mail custodian until Miss King gets back, so -hereafter, if I’m not handy to find, just give it to her.” - -The elderly man climbed the steps of the porch and there deposited the -pouch. Virginia looked up at the open door to ask Mrs. Dorsey if she -wished to sort the contents, but that middle-aged woman had bustled -away, for, during vacation, the cook and maid had been permitted to -leave, and so Mrs. Dorsey was busy preparing the lunch. - -“Well, Virg, I guess it’s up to you to do the honors.” Betsy, kneeling -down, opened the pouch and peered within, as she chanted: - - “Leather bag, what do you hold? - Messages more dear than gold?” - -Whirling, she pointed at Babs, who, knowing what was expected, quickly -said: - - “Leather bag, please yield for me - A letter from my brother P.” - -Turning quickly, she pointed at Margaret. - -That maiden actually blushed. She had been wishing that the bag would -contain a letter, all for her very own self from her guardian, Malcolm -Davis whom she greatly admired, but she would not put this in a rhyme, -and so she said: - - “Leather bag, surely you’ve guessed, - I want a letter from the West.” - -Then she pointed at Sally: - - “Leather bag, please give to me - A letter from someone over the sea.” - -The other girls looked their puzzled surprise at this request, as they -had never heard that Sally had relations on the other side of the ocean. - -“Suffering cats, Sally! You don’t mean you wish you could have a letter -from Donald Dearing, do you? He has gone to France to be with his dad, -and whose photograph you used to have.” - -The pretty girl’s denial was vehement. “Not at all,” she declared. “I -had to have something to rhyme with me and so I said sea.” - -Eleanor was saying with an eagerness that could not be hidden: - - “Leather bag, more than any other, - Give me a letter from my mother.” - -“Betsy, for cricket’s sake, don’t begin that Round Robin Rhyme game -again when we are in such a terrific hurry, because, according to its -rule, we can’t do anything else until it’s been around.” - -Virginia, having emptied the pouch, lifted a packet of letters. “Most of -these seem to be for Mrs. Martin. I’ll put them in on her desk,” she -said, suiting the action to the word. - -Another pack was taken from the pouch. “Gimme one. Please, gimme one!” -Betsy and Babs clamored with hands outstretched. - -“Well, here is one for Miss Barbara.” - -“Hurray, it’s from Peyton!” that maiden squealed. Adding, “Betsy, that -rhyme must have been magic, for, see, I got just what I wished for.” - -But there was no letters at all for Margaret, but there was a very plump -one from the West for Virginia. Too, there was a foreign looking -envelope addressed to Eleanor Burgess, and Sally received a letter from -her doting mother. - -The empty pouch was hung in its customary place by the door of the -principal’s office, for, into it, all outgoing letters were to be -dropped. Then, on the day following, when Mr. Peters brought more mail, -he would take that pouch from its hook and start the letters on their -journeys to widely separated destinations. - -Eleanor, who was eager to be all alone when she read this pen-visit from -her mother, excused herself and went down the steps and sat on a rustic -bench in the blossoming orchard. - -Sally and Betsy went to their own Sweet Pickle Alley, while the other -three girls sauntered down toward the cliff to read the letter from the -desert. Although there was no especially exciting news either from -Peyton or Malcolm, it meant much to those three girls to be transported -even in imagination to V. M. ranch. - -When the letters had been read, they sat in a row on the top of the -steep cliff gazing down at the even roll of the waves far beneath them, -for, as the tide was low, the surf was not crashing against the rocks. - -Suddenly there was a growling noise in the underbrush back of them. - -They all looked around almost startled, but it was Betsy Clossen’s -mischievous face that peered out at them. - -The girls sprang up and surrounded the bushes. Sally was also there in -hiding. “It’s nearly lunch time,” Betsy announced. “Come on, let’s get -Eleanor and storm the kitchen. Mrs. Dorsey likes me, and I’m going to -ask her to let me have two helpings of dessert.” - -The five girls had started walking slowly back toward the orchard. “She -will probably refer the matter to Virginia,” Margaret said, to tease. - -Eleanor looked up from the bench, where she was seated, when she heard -merry voices nearing. Her eyes were aglow with happiness. “Girls,” she -cried. “Think of it! Mother-mine is now so well and strong that she can -walk miles and feel no especial fatigue.” Then, she added, as she joined -them, “Poor little mother has had one real disappointment. She was so in -hopes that when she reached the land across the sea, she might hear -something of her sister Dorinda, or of her son. She did learn that my -aunt’s husband died many years ago, but that was merely from a report -about foreign missionaries. It made no mention of the wife or son. Of -course mother is the guest of Mrs. Warren and so she cannot visit the -places where her sister’s husband had lived. If only we could find the -fortune which my grandfather Burgess hid, then mother would never have -to work any more and she could search the world over for her lost -sister.” - -“What?” Betsy leaped forward, her very expression an interrogation. “Is -there a fortune hidden around here somewhere? Lead me to the place and -I’ll dig it up.” - -The others laughed. “So would we all, if we knew the place.” - -“Say, that would be a spiffy way to spend this two weeks’ vacation. -Let’s hunt for Captain Burgess’ buried treasure.” - -“It would be a waste of time,” Eleanor said. “Mother, of course, has had -experts search for it, and the final decision was that Grandfather was -wandering in his mind when he wrote that and that he had hidden nothing -at all.” - -“Another fond hope blasted,” Betsy, the would-be detective said with so -comically dismal an expression that the others laughed. - -Then, just as they were about to enter the basement door, she whirled to -announce: “Well, upon this much I am determined. Since we are members of -The Adventure Club, we are going to start out this afternoon in search -of an adventure.” They were all amused by Betsy’s nonsense, though they -little dreamed that a real adventure awaited them that very afternoon. - - - - - CHAPTER XX - - RED FEATHER GUIDE - - -Luckily Mrs. Martin had told Mrs. Dorsey, the housekeeper, to give the -six girls who were to remain in the seminary during the short vacation, -all the liberty they wished, permitting them to go on long hikes on -condition that they would return in time for the evening meal. - -Directly after lunch, following Betsy’s suggestion, they donned their -khaki hiking suits and started out, the would-be detective in their -lead. - -Suddenly she whirled about, and, holding up a staff which she had found -when they passed through the grove, she announced in a mock-solemn tone: -“Members of our adventurous band, we are setting forth without a plan, -except to go where-ere we will and do what-ere we wish as long as our -hearts find no wrong in it.” - -They had left the school grounds and were following a trail that had, at -one time been made, it would seem, by pastured cattle. - -“If we follow this path, we will come out in some farmer’s barnyard, -methinks,” Barbara put in. “And surely that would not be an adventure.” - -“Oh, goodness, gracious! Don’t do that, please! I’d rather meet a -three-headed dragon any day than a cow.” Sally looked so truly terrified -that her companions laughed. All but Virg, who slipped an arm through -that of the youngest member of their band. “If you had grown up with -cattle as I did on the desert, you wouldn’t mind them in the least. I -never heard of a cow attacking anyone unless, indeed, someone tried to -take away its calf.” - -They had reached the brow of a meadowland knoll, and Margaret, looking -over, announced: “Babs is right! There is a farm directly below here and -this trail leads right to the neat red barn.” - -Betsy, with a little squeal of joy, pounced upon something that was -caught in a bush. “Lookee!” she called. “Here is a scarlet feather -fallen from some bird of passage. I have an idea! Let’s toss it to the -air again; let it fly away in the breeze, and follow where it leads.” - -As she spoke, the little red plume went soaring, and, as the breeze was -a brisk one, it took the girls on a merry chase, for the little feather -followed no trail, but led them through wiry grass and stubbly bushes -away from both school and farm, and toward the sea. - -“We’ve never been in this direction before,” Margaret announced, when -the feather dropped to the ground and the girls paused to rest. “That, -in itself, is an adventure, I think, don’t you?” - -“I certainly do,” Babs replied. “I’ve often wondered what lay beyond -that rocky promintory over there. We can see it from our window. I think -since we are so near, it would be all right for us to climb to the top -of it and see what lies beyond.” - -“I can pretty nearly tell you,” Betsy said, as she picked up the little -red feather. “A stretch of sandy beach, rocky cliffs and nothing more.” - -It was a hard steep climb that the girls had when they endeavored to -scale the almost perpendicular side of the promintory which jutted from -the mainland out into the shining blue sea. - -Sally, more frail than the others, soon gave out and sank down on the -rocks to rest. Eleanor and Barbara leaped back to help her. “Maybe I’d -ought to have stayed at school,” the youngest girl said. “Maybe you’d -have had a better adventure without me.” - -“Of course not,” Virginia protested as she seated herself beside the -other. “It’s only two-thirty and We are not going anywhere in -particular.” - -But even as she spoke Virginia had a strange feeling as though she had -said something which was untrue. She could not in the least understand -it. - -The unwearied Betsy did not wish to rest. “On the alert,” she called. -“Hist! Dids’t hear a noise on the other side of the cliff? I believe -something or someone must be there. You all get your breath, while I -climb up and look over.” - -“I’m rested now!” Sally smiled gratefully up at Virginia. “Let’s all go -on.” - -[Illustration: When the top was reached ... all they saw was a long -deserted stretch of beach and a boat.] - -When the top was reached the girls peered over and how Betsy did hope -that something mysterious would be revealed, but, all that they saw was -a long deserted stretch of beach and a boat, evidently a fishing smack, -which seemed to be anchored near a dilapidated dock. - -“No adventure in sight,” sighed Betsy. “That feather was not a good -prognosticator.” - -“Hear! Hear!” teased Barbara. “Wouldn’t Miss Torrence be pleased as -Punch if she knew that Betsy could use a word of more than one -syllable?” - -“Not that any of us know whether she used it correctly or not,” she -added, laughingly, to conciliate her bristling friend. - -“What shall we do now?” Virg inquired. “Since there is nary an adventure -below us on the beach, shall we retrace our steps?” - -“It’s only three by my little wrist watch,” Margaret put in. “Don’t -let’s give up searching for an adventure quite so soon. Betsy, where’s -that feather guide of yours?” - -“Here it is, and there it goes.” The little red plume again sailed in -the air, then slowly fluttered downwards, A brisk breeze caught it, and -the gleaming bit of red fairly rushed toward the broken old dock. - -“Whizzle! Lookee! Will you? If it hasn’t boarded that fishing smack. -Who’s game to go down and take a look at the old boat?” - -Sally, who dreaded nothing more than to be considered a doll-baby by -Betsy, was the first to reply with a courage she did not feel. “I am,” -she said, “if Virg thinks we ought to.” - -But there was no time for the oldest girl to give the matter a deciding -thought, for Betsy, with Babs closely following, was already fairly -sliding down the seaward side of the promintory. - -“Watch me, I’m a whiz at this sort of thing!” Betsy looked over her -shoulder to call. Unfortunately for the boaster, when she was not -watching, she stepped on a rolling stone, and went scudding the -remaining way to the beach at a terrifying rate. Luckily she had not far -to go. She sprang up, to Virginia’s relief, and laughingly called, -“Rather the worse for bumps, maybe, but what’s an adventure without a -mishap?” - -Again, as she heard that word, there was in the heart of the oldest -girl, a strange warning premonition. - -“I think we’d better follow the beach until we come to a road leading -into town and go back to the seminary,” she said, addressing Margaret, -especially, for she could always depend upon her adopted sister to -second her suggestions. - -“Aw, I say! Let’s play the game! We said we’d follow the little red -feather and it went aboard that old boat. I’d like to take a peek at -it.” - -They were starting across the beach and toward the water, when Margaret -touched Virginia’s arm and whispered, “Look over in the shelter of the -cliff. There’s a little old cabin. Maybe the fisherman who owns the boat -lives in it.” - -“Maybe,” Virg replied, “but it looks to me as though it had been long -vacant.” - -They reached the little dock, which was sheltered from the pounding surf -by a projection of the rocky promintory. Betsy was walking carefully out -on the tottering beams and rotting cross boards. - -“Watch your step, if you never did before,” she sang out warningly. This -caution was not needed for, most carefully the six girls proceeded Virg -holding the arm of Sally. - -Betsy, ever in the lead, had reached the part of the dock against which -the boat was bumping. - -Eleanor looked at it curiously. “Is it anchored or tied?” she inquired. - -“Anchored, I should say,” Margaret replied. “Don’t you see the rope -hanging over the stern and into the water!” - -“Of course.” Betsy was climbing over the low rail, “All aboard, that’s -going aboard.” - -She was closely followed by Barbara and Eleanor, then Megsy climbed -over, and Sally; last of all, Virginia, though much against her better -judgment. - -“We mustn’t stay more than a moment,” she told them. - -“We won’t,” this cheerfully from Betsy. “Lookee! There’s a sure enough -cabin below decks.” She was peering down into the dark hold. “I suppose -the fisherman who lives in the cabin under the cliff has just returned -from a fishing trip. He anchored his boat here while he went in to town -to sell his catch.” Then twinkling her eyes at Sally, she said, “I dare -you to go alone down in that dark hole.” - -“Well, I _won’t_ take the dare,” the youngest girl retorted with some -show of spirit. - -“I will.” Babs was descending the rickety stairs even as she spoke, and -Betsy clattered down after her. - -“Oh, lookee! Here are two funny bunks that fold up against the walls,” -Betsy sang out to the girls who were still on deck, “Oh, I say, be game, -kids. Come on down and see what a fishing boat looks like. You may never -have another chance.” - -So Virginia and the other two girls descended. It took several moments -for their eyes to become used to the dusk. Then. “Here are life -preservers, but they’re all crumbling to pieces. Even a drowning rat -wouldn’t find them much use,” Babs remarked. - -“Hark!” Virginia held up a finger and they all listened. - -“What’s that swishing sound, do you suppose?” Her questioning glance was -directed toward Margaret. - -“The wind must be rising,” that maiden replied. “We’d better get out of -the boat. I’ve had adventure enough for one day.” - -“Seems to me I hear a queer kind of a scraping noise,” Sally said. - -Betsy was the first up on deck, then she called down the hatchway in -alarm. “Girls! Girls! Come quick. What do you suppose has happened? The -anchor must have broken off for we are drifting out to sea.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXI - - AN UNEXPECTED CRUISE - - -It was indeed as Betsy had said. “Oh, Virginia, what shall we do?” Sally -clung to the oldest girl, her baby-blue eyes wide with terror. - -The president of The Adventure Club was as frightened as were the -others, but she said with assumed calm, “Let us remember what Mrs. -Martin has often told us. When an emergency arises, try to think -clearly, and a way out of the trouble will be found. Now, whatever we -do, don’t let’s lose our heads.” - -“I’m holding on to mine,” the irrepressible Betsy said gaily, suiting -the action to the words. Virg continued, “We have all had first aid -training, but unfortunately Miss King never foresaw that we would be set -afloat in a boat at sea.” - -“Of course one should put on life belts,” Eleanor remarked, “but those -that we found were but crumbling cork.” - -Because of the outgoing tide the boat was being rapidly carried away -from shore. Virginia eagerly scanned the receding beach, then the cliff, -but not a sign of life was to be seen. In the far distance she could see -the tower of the seminary but that was at least two miles away. - -The other girls were watching her, feeling sure that she would find some -way out of their trouble. “We might shout, all together, and wave our -colored sweater coats, but I don’t believe anyone would see or hear,” -Margaret suggested. - -It was then that Eleanor noticed that there were no sails. “Girls,” she -exclaimed in dismay. “I was going to suggest that we put up the sails -and return to the shore, but there aren’t any. It’s just a dismantled -old hulk set afloat to sink, or fall to pieces. The incoming tide washed -it against that dilapidated old dock, and the outgoing tide is now -taking it to sea.” - -“And taking us with it!” wailed Barbara. - -The six girls seated themselves on the benches under the rails and -looked at each other in despair. Suddenly Betsy laughed. Her friends -always said that she would laugh at her own funeral. - -“Well, anyway,” she announced, “we’re having what we wished for. The -Adventure Club is having an adventure.” - -Virginia, being the oldest girl and president of the club, felt that she -was really responsible for all that had happened. “I ought to have -insisted that we go back when I first felt—well—as though something was -going to happen—something tragic.” - -Margaret looked up with interest. “Virg, did you feel that way? So did -I, but I didn’t want to spoil Betsy’s fun by grumping about her plan.” - -“I’ll take the blame, that is, I mean, with Mrs. Martin,” that maiden -said meekly, then added with her inevitable desire to tease. “Sally is -the only one of us who is ready to die. She knows how to play a harp.” - -“What time is it, Megs?” Virg asked, then added, as the thought came to -her, “You’d better wind your watch, dear. We’d feel so helpless if it -ran down.” - -“If Winona were with us, she could tell time by the sun,” Babs -volunteered. “She gave me a few lessons. Wait a minute till I try.” -Then, a second later, she continued. “The month being May, I believe -that it is now about four o’clock, since it is dark at seven.” - -“Right you are! It is two minutes to four.” Megsy was winding her wrist -watch as she spoke. - -Luckily the old fishing smack had no water in the hold, and so, unsafe -as it looked, it evidently did not leak. - -“Which is one comfort, surely,” Barbara remarked. - -The boat had drifted beyond the shelter of the out-jutting promintory, -and an increasing land breeze was blowing them steadily out to sea. - -The gentle, even roll of the waves rocked the boat and poor little Sally -was the first to become pale and ill. This added to their anxiety. -Virginia insisted that the youngest girl lie down upon the deck. With -her own sweater, she made a rolled pillow while Megsy offered her -sweater coat for a covering. - -For a long hour the fishing smack slowly drifted. Suddenly Betsy gave a -cry of joy. “Lookee! Look yonder! Surely that is a steamer. Let’s all -stand up on the seats and wave something. Maybe they will see us through -their glasses and come to our rescue.” - -This they did, but the steamer, plying its way, many miles out at sea, -did not veer from its course and soon disappeared in the fog that was -slowly creeping shoreward. - -“Virg, I don’t believe I can keep calm much longer,” Barbara said, -turning toward the oldest girl, a pretty face that quivered. “I—I feel -so terribly frightened deep inside.” - -“I know, dear, but we _must_ keep up our spirits. It won’t help in the -least for us to cry, or get panicky. We want to be able to think clearly -if the time comes to act.” Virginia held the hand of Babs in a tight, -comforting clasp. “My theory is that when the tide turns we will drift -back to the shore again. We must help each other by trying to be brave. -When something has really happened, it will be time enough to give up -hope.” - -“Virg, you’re a wonder!” Eleanor said admiringly. “I, for one, shall not -give up hope until you do.” - -A grateful glance was the only reply the speaker received, and she was -satisfied. But, during the hour that followed, it was very hard for -Virginia to keep the younger girls brave and hopeful, for a dense wet -fog settled about them, and the setting sun, after glaring red like a -ball of fire in the mist, sank, leaving the unwilling voyagers hungry, -cold and altogether miserable. - -“Girls,” Virginia said in a tone of authority, “I want you all to go -down in the hold. At least it is sheltered there from this wet wind. I -will stay on deck and watch for the light of a steamer.” - -Margaret and Eleanor protested. “Let three go down and three remain on -watch for a few hours, then change about as real sailors do,” Megsy -suggested. - -“Please let me do it my way.” Virginia’s voice sounded so imploring that -the other girls went below decks, and, letting down the two old bunks, -they huddled upon them to keep warm. - -Betsy, bent on keeping up the spirits of her comrades, began to sing, -but Babs hushed her. “Don’t!” she begged. “You’ll make me cry.” - -“I’ll tell you what,” Betsy stopped singing to suggest, “let’s each take -a turn at crying, while one of us counts fifty. A girl always thinks she -has to cry, and the sooner we get the tears spilled out, and done with, -the better. Now Babs, one, two, three.” - -Betsy’s monotonous recital of the numbers ended abruptly for Babs had -laughingly clapped her hand over the mouth of her tormentor. - -“I’m not going to cry, really. None of us are. We’d be ashamed to, with -Virg so brave, up there all alone on deck.” - -For a while they were silent. The swish of the water against the sides -of the boat had a lulling sound, and, one by one, the girls made -themselves as comfortable as was possible under the circumstances, and -went to sleep. - -Meanwhile, Virginia, alone on the deck, knelt down in silent, -strength-giving prayer. A fog-horn, from somewhere, sounded dismally at -intervals. Margaret, unable to sleep long, soon slipped up on the deck, -and, groping her way toward her friend, she sat close beside her and -reached for her hand and so they sat, waiting, watching as the dark -hours slowly passed. - -New hope crept into the heart of Virginia with the coming of the dawn. - - - - - CHAPTER XXII - - LAND—BUT WHERE? - - -With the grey of the dawn, the fog again drifted out to sea and the sun -arose in a glory of flaming color. - -“Isn’t it wonderful?” Virg said to the pale, weary girl at her side. -“The God who has created the sun and the stars, and keeps them in their -places, can also take care of us and I know that he will.” Then she -added very softly, “I wish the other girls might sleep longer, for, if -they waken, they will be hungry and we have nothing to give them.” - -“I suppose poor Mrs. Dorsey is frantic because we have not returned,” -said Megsy, also in a whisper. “I am truly sorry for her, but I do hope -that she won’t wire Mrs. Martin and spoil her long planned vacation.” - -“No fear of that, for, directly after the wedding, Mrs. Martin was to go -with her brother and sister on an automobile trip visiting many -interesting places, and, returning with them to Vine Haven at the close -of the vacation. I heard her tell Mrs. Dorsey not to try to forward her -mail as she would have no definite address. However, Mrs. Dorsey will, -of course, notify the town authorities and they will begin to search for -us, but they will not dream that we are lost at sea since we started out -to hike across country.” - -For a moment Margaret silently watched the East. Then she said: “Virg, -if it weren’t for the real danger that we are in, I would be glad to -have this opportunity of seeing such a wonderful sunrise. The very water -seems to be of molten gold.” - -“It is awe-inspiring,” the older girl replied. “I feel as though we were -in the very presence of the Creator.” - -A bank of shining mist was just ahead of them. “It is the very same that -I have seen from Pine Cabin,” Virg remarked, “and dear old Mrs. Torrence -often said that she believed it to be an island, which looked misty -because of the distance, and once, when the air was unusually clear, I -actually believed that I could see its rocky outlines.” - -The two girls, who so loved each other, walked toward the bow of the old -boat, and with eyes shaded, gazed ahead through the shimmering air. - -“We must have drifted far in those long hours of the night,” Margaret -said. “We have much to be thankful for that we did not run upon a -shoal.” Suddenly the speaker clutched the arm of her companion. “Virg, -after all, we must be drifting back toward the shore. See, there is land -in that cloud of mist. Can’t you see it? I can plainly make out trees -and rocks.” - -“It is indeed land,” Virginia replied, a prayer of gratitude in her -heart, “but not the land that we left yesterday, and, what is more, I -believe it is an island. A very long one, it would seem, but I think -that I can see both ends of it.” Then after a moment. “Oh, I’m so afraid -that we are going to drift beyond it.” - -At that moment Barbara appeared on deck, and, noting the excited faces -of her two friends, she asked eagerly, “What has happened?” - -When she heard that Virginia was afraid that they would not drift to the -island, Babs exclaimed, “Girls, surely there is a rudder! Peyton taught -me how to steer his sail-boat the year before he left home.” Even as she -spoke, she was hurrying to the stern. The rudder handle was swinging -aimlessly. - -At Barbara’s firm touch, the boat responded and swung around, heading in -the direction toward which Virginia was pointing. - -The other girls appeared on deck and were overjoyed to see land, which, -as the sun rose higher, and the fog lifted, was plainly discernable, not -more than an eighth of a mile ahead of them. - -They were soon near enough to see that it was a large, rocky island with -a densely wooded hill rising high in the middle of it. Too, there was a -long stretch of deserted beach shining white in the sun. - -“I don’t see anyone about,” Eleanor said, making field glasses of her -hands, “but then it is very early. Perhaps the inhabitants are not yet -astir.” - -“Megsy, stand in the bow, will you?” the girl at the rudder called. -“Sometimes, as one nears land, there are almost hidden shoals. Keep a -close watch ahead, and, if you do see one, motion which way I am to -steer.” - -Eleanor joined Margaret in the bow of the boat and they gazed anxiously -into the water, over which the boat was slowly drifting. Suddenly Megsy -waved frantically to the left. Barbara pushed on the rudder with all her -strength, but it was too late, The boat slid up on a wide flat submerged -shoal. - -There was a cry of alarm from the younger girls, but Virginia calmed -them. After looking into the water, she said, “We are in no immediate -danger. Now, let us think calmly just what may happen and what we would -better do.” - -“I was noticing, when we let down the bunks in the hold, that the boards -were loose. I think we would better each get one to cling to, if we -found ourselves in the water.” This from the thoughtful Eleanor. - -“I agree with you,” Virginia said, “for although we seem to be -well-grounded, it is very probable that a hole has been made in the -bottom of the boat. If larger waves come in, we will be lifted from the -shoal, the hold will fill with water and the boat will sink.” - -Even Sally, relieved because the rocking motion had ceased, went with -the others below decks. They soon reappeared dragging boards, one at a -time. They were not as easy to procure as had been supposed. Indeed, -within the hour that followed, only three had been brought up on deck. -It was then that Eleanor made a discovery. “The water is leaving the -shoal,” she announced. “Before many minutes I do believe that we will be -high and dry.” - -Almost breathlessly the six girls leaned over the rail and watched the -shoal. - -“The tide has turned,” Virginia said. “It does, you know, every twelve -hours, and it is just about that long since we started out on this -voyage.” - -Margaret, who had been intensely gazing at the shore, now exclaimed: -“Girls, do you know what I think? I believe that we are stranded on the -outer edge of a shoal that goes right up to the island, and that, in a -few moments, it will be above water. Then we can land.” - -Fifteen minutes later Margaret’s prophecy was fulfilled. Virginia -rejoiced at this, for they would all be able to desert the craft, which -she no longer considered a safe haven. - -“I’ll climb over first,” Betsy volunteered, “and if I can walk to the -shore without slipping in the briny deep, the rest of you may safely -follow. First of all, let’s remove our shoes and stockings.” - -Virginia remained in the boat until all the others had climbed out and -were well on their way to the shore. Margaret, standing on the shoal, -was waiting for her, when suddenly she uttered a cry of alarm. - -“Virg! Hurry up, quick! The boat is slipping out with the tide.” - -And so it surely was. Lightened of nearly all its load, the old hulk was -once again afloat. Virginia leaped over the rail and was caught by -Margaret’s outstretched hands. They had to cling to each other a moment -to regain their balance. Betsy, having heard the cry, ran back toward -them. - -“The boat!” she ejaculated. “Why, it’s sailing away! Lookee!” - -The other two girls nodded. “We know it well enough,” Megsy informed -her. “Our darling Virg nearly sailed away on it.” - -“Don’t tell the others, please,” the oldest girl pleaded. “Since all is -well, there is no need to trouble them.” - -They were nearing the shore when Barbara, who was sitting there, pointed -excitedly back of them. “Girls! See what we’ve escaped.” Virginia, -Margaret and Betsy looked back of them and beheld the old hulk slowly -sinking in the deep water beyond the shoal. - -“Talk of adventure! I never heard of so much outside of a book!” Barbara -declared. “That’s what might be labeled a ‘hair breadth escape.’” - -Virginia looked about her. “Well, at least we can’t drown here,” she -said, “for, instead of water, we have a wide deserted beach, rocky -cliffs and a dense woodland.” - -“But we may be eaten by cannibals.” It was the first time that Sally had -ventured a remark since landing. - -“Luckily there are none in these civilized parts,” Babs replied. “Now, -girls,” she continued, “let’s hold a council and decide what we are to -eat for breakfast.” - -“Goodness, yes, let’s! I’d almost as soon drown as starve.” This from -Betsy, who, having seated herself on a rock, was putting on her shoes -and stockings. The others did likewise. Megsy, saying dolefully the -while, “We might hold twenty councils, but pray, how would that procure -us anything to eat?” - -“There may be a fisherman living on this island.” Virg hoped she was a -prophet, but was almost convinced that she was not. The island was too -remote to be accessible to the markets. - -Betsy, again on her feet, put one finger against her forehead as though -in deep thought. “Idea!” she then sang out. - -“Let’s hear it, old dear.” Babs felt her spirits greatly restored now -that her feet were on dry land. - -“When I was a little kid I read ‘Swiss Family Robinson’ seven times and -I now recall a few of the ways that were resorted to for the obtaining -of sustenance.” - -“Shooting stars, Betsy! You must have swallowed the book whole when you -finished reading it. You talk just like it.” It was of course Babs who -was taunting her friend. - -“I did!” Betsy solemnly looked about. “If the worst comes to the worst, -we can build a house in a tree, the way they did, and—” - -“Begin on the eats, old dear. What did the Swiss family do when they -were hungry?” - -“They—er—” It was plain Betsy’s memory needed considerable searching. - -“Oh, yes, they dug clams.” This, with a sudden brightening expression on -her piquant, freckled face. Then she laughed as she confessed, “I -haven’t the vaguest notion how it was done.” - -“I have!” Barbara was glad that she and Peyton had spent a summer on the -coast when they were a boy and girl. “First you hunt around for a little -air-bubbly-hole on the sand at low tide and then dig down and get the -clam.” - -“Just so easy!” Betsy laughed. “Come on, everybody. Hunt for air holes.” - -But it wasn’t so easy after all. Now and then one of their number would -leap toward what seemed to be an air-hole, dig frantically; then give up -as a clam was not revealed. - -“I’ve heard of stranded travelers living for quite a time on birds’ -eggs.” It was Eleanor who made this suggestion. - -“Well, I, for one, can climb trees.” Betsy started to race toward the -woods, and the others followed, but once among the great old trees, they -paused. - -“I haven’t seen a sign of a footprint of any kind,” Virginia remarked, -“so I conclude that we have this island very much to ourselves.” - -But Virginia was mistaken for at least one dweller of the island was -crouched in a nearby tangle of bushes and a pair of dark eyes watched -every move made by the six invaders. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIII - - FAIR EXPLORERS - - -Into the pleasant woods the girls went, Betsy, of course, in the lead. -Sometimes there were open places among the trees where they could walk -easily, but, at other times, they came to tangles of bushes that were -very difficult to break through. - -Suddenly the leader paused and held up a warning finger. “Hst!” she -whispered in the dramatic way she seemed to enjoy, “I thought I heard -sort of a rustling noise in the bushes over there.” - -“It might be snakes—” Barbara began, when Sally uttered a piercing -scream. “I stepped on one! I know I did!” she was screaming -hysterically. - -“No, you didn’t. That’s only a big stick. Here, give it to me. I -remember now, in Swiss Family Robinson, when the boys went through dense -underbrush, they pounded the bushes ahead of them to frighten away -snakes and other wild creatures.” - -They moved forward, but it was Virginia herself who soon called a halt. -“Girls,” she said in a very low tone, “it may be my imagination but ever -since Betty spoke, I, too, keep hearing a rustling noise back of us. It -stops when we stop, then begins again when we start on.” - -“I believe we are being followed,” Betsy turned to say. “I remember how -tigers and things used to trail after the Robinson boys, waiting for a -good chance to spring out and eat them.” - -At that Sally just sank right down on a stump and began to cry. Virginia -tried to comfort her. “Dear,” she said, with a pleading look at the -tormentor. “Betsy is just trying to tease. You know, Sally, as well as -we do that there are no tigers near Boston. I ought not to have -mentioned the rustle I heard. I thought it might be a squirrel or some -harmless little wood animal—” - -“That we might catch and eat instead of its catching and eating us,” -Babs said cheerily. Then she called the command: “Procession, proceed!” - -Virginia, the last in line, looked back when the rustle began again, but -because of the density of the leaves she could not see the little -creature that was indeed following them with bright eyes that never -permitted them to get out of sight. - -“How imaginative we are becoming,” Barbara remarked. “That surely ought -to please Miss Torrence.” - -“I say, Virg,” Betsy, in the lead, stopped swinging her big stick to -call, “ask me to write a story for your next Manuscript Magazine, will -you? I’ll name it ‘How six shipwrecked girls perished on a deserted -island.’” - -“If we’re going to perish,” Sally said dismally, “I guess we won’t be -writing compositions about it.” - -They had been climbing the wooded hill which they had seen from the boat -and when they reached a clear place on the summit, they saw far below, -on the other side, a sheltered valley-like depression which had a narrow -opening toward the sea. - -“Oh, how picturesque this place it,” Virginia exclaimed. “If I were sure -that some day we would be rescued, I would be glad that we had had an -opportunity to visit this island.” - -“Me, too,” Betsy chimed in ungrammatically as she delighted in doing. -Then, as she sank down on the soft mossy ground to rest, she remarked: -“Girls, we started out with the avowed purpose of hunting for the -fortune hidden by Eleanor’s grandfather, Captain Burgess, but, as an -adventure, I do believe even such a search is backed off of the map.” - -Eleanor laughed as she leaned against a tree. “It is indeed, especially -since, as I have told you, my grandfather probably wrote that note just -to cause anxiety for those who were left. I am not at all sure that he -ever had a fortune to hide. Of course he owned the fine old place on the -County Road, and mother and her sister Dorinda had every comfort -provided for them, but they were never given any money to spend.” - -“If there was a fortune, it would rightfully belong to your mother and -to her sister Dorinda.” Babs lying flat on the ground with her hands -clasped under her head, remarked. - -“Yes, of course. I had a boy cousin whom I would so like to see. Mother -is trying hard to locate him. He and I would have a share in the money, -I suppose, if there were any.” - -“Whizzle.” Betsy leaped to her feet. “Here it is mid-morning and we -haven’t had a bite to eat since yesterday noon.” - -“I’m thirstier than I am hungry,” Barbara remarked, as they began the -descent. - -Virginia turned her head to listen and to her unexpressed delight that -strange rustling sound which had suggested that they were being followed -was no longer to be heard. - -“After all, it was my imagination,” she had just decided, when there was -a joyful shout from Babs, seconded by one from Betsy. They had scrambled -down into a little dell, which looked especially green and inviting, and -there they had found a spring of clear, cold water. - -The older girls were overjoyed at this discovery, for well they knew -that one could live longer without food than without water. One by one -they knelt among the ferns to quench their thirst. Virg made a mental -note of the location of the spring that they might return to it later, -if they so desired. - -Even Sally became more optimistic when her thirst was quenched. Betsy -and Babs were running a race down the last gentle slope of the hill, and -so they were quite a distance ahead, when the girls following saw them -stop suddenly, then Betsy dropped to her knees and began examining the -ground. - -Leaping up, she beckoned frantically for the others to make haste. It -was plain that the two girls were much excited. - -Eager to know the cause of it, the other four started on a run. - -“What is it?” Virg called as soon as they were near enough. “What have -you found?” - -For answer Betsy pointed at the black wet soil down which water from the -spring trickled. The prints of small bare feet were plainly to be seen. -After examining them for a moment, Virginia exclaimed glowingly, “It is -surely the print of a child’s foot, which means that we were right in -believing that a fisherman lives on this island. Perhaps even now, we -are near his cabin.” - -The oldest girl sincerely hoped that the dwellers on the island might be -fisher folk, but well she knew that sometimes smugglers and even outlaws -hid among seldom frequented islands off the coast. - -Betsy, delighted to have something to detect, was following the way the -footprints led and soon they beheld before them a sheltering wall of -rocks, and nestled close to it, as though for protection, the oddest -kind of a dwelling. It had been crudely fashioned with small logs laid -one on another, fastened to upright trees at the four corners by stout -reeds that had been procured from some swamp. The roof was thatched with -interwoven branches and a door, similarly constructed, was closed and -fastened. There were no windows to the house and the owner was evidently -away. - -“Maybe it was made by savages,” Sally ventured. “There’s a picture -something like it in the big geography on the page that tells about the -South Sea Islands.” - -“And there is a crude outdoor open,” Babs pointed, “and right by it are -scooped out stones and big shells as though they were cooking utensils.” - -Virginia gazed about for a thoughtful moment, then she said, “I’m almost -inclined to think that whoever lives here has been shipwrecked like -ourselves, and so, of course, he would have to resort to primitive -methods of building and cooking.” - -“Look!” Babs clutched Virginia in real terror. “The door of that queer -hut opened a crack. I’m just ever so sure it did, and I know that I saw -eyes peering out at us.” - -“What if it’s some shipwrecked sailor who has gone crazy from living so -long alone?” Sally began, frightening herself more than her listeners -with her fancy. - -“Sh! The door is opening again.” Betsy walked boldly toward the hut and -then she smiled and nodded as though she were talking to someone, as -indeed she was. “Don’t be afraid of us!” Could the girls believe their -ears. “We won’t hurt you. Come out and get acquainted.” That was what -Betsy was actually saying. - -The door again opened, and this time it did not close and out of the -house stepped the queerest little creature imaginable. - -“It’s a dwarf,” Sally began, but Virginia was hurrying forward. - -“It’s a little child,” she said; and indeed it was. A small girl with a -mat of long tangled hair and a dress made of a burlap bag with openings -that had been haggled in it for arms. Her eyes were dark and very -bright. - -“I’m not scared of you,” she said, as she walked toward the girls. “I -saw you long ago when you first came ashore. I was over there looking -for May apples. I followed after you part of the way, then I darted down -here to hoist the flag up there on the rocks. That’s to tell my brother -to come ashore quick. He won’t know what’s happened. He’ll think -something has scared me and so he’ll come in a hurry.” - -Virginia decided that the girl was older than she had at first supposed, -and in answer to the question usually put to small children, she -unhesitatingly answered, “I’m eight, going on nine.” Then gleefully, -“Won’t brother be surprised though. He’s catching fish for our dinner.” -She started running toward the shore, then turned to inform them. “Here -he comes now. Oho, Winston! Here’s some girls.” - -A small raft had appeared and on it a tall graceful lad was standing. -With a long stout pole he was pushing his craft toward the beach. There -he made it fast, by driving other stout sticks through the two corners -that were high and dry, then taking up a long reed on which fish were -strung, he shouldered a pole and started on a light run toward the -wondering group. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIV - - THE NATIVES - - -“Are you an apparition?” the boy smilingly inquired, when he was near -enough to speak. “It is hard for me to believe my eyes.” Then, before -the girls could reply, the lad was eagerly asking, “Have you come in a -boat that is anchored nearby, and will you take little sister and me -over to the mainland?” - -Virginia, being the oldest, stepped forward and held out her hand, -smiling in her frank, friendly way. “I wish that I might reply in the -affirmative,” she said, “but that I cannot do, for we are shipwrecked, -as I suppose you are also.” Then she told of their recent adventures, -ending with, “But I am sure that we will soon be found by the Vine Haven -authorities. This island cannot be far away, and so in time their search -ought to lead them here.” - -“I sincerely hope that they will for all our sakes,” the boy declared, -“but before I tell you of the misadventures which led to Peggy and my -being shipwrecked, I shall cook these fish for I am sure, if you have -had nothing to eat since yesterday, that you must be nearly famished.” -Then, he added, with a smile that assured the girls that he was just the -kind of a lad Megs could depend on, he said: “Permit me to introduce my -little sister, Mistress Peggy Wentworth. My own name is Winston.” - -Virginia then told the first name of each of the six girls. “You never -could remember so many last names, and so there is no need to tell them. -Now, what can we do to help prepare the fish?” Then Virginia hesitated. -“Although it doesn’t seem quite right for us to eat up your supplies.” - -The boy laughed. “Luckily for us, this particular kind of a small fish -seems eager to be caught. I can get as many as I want. I’ll rig up some -more lines and we can all go fishing when our larder gets empty.” - -“That boy has been well brought up, hasn’t he?” Eleanor said to -Margaret, when they had left the group to search for sticks for the -fire. - -“Yes, indeed. And isn’t he good-looking?” - -“Little Peggy would be a beauty if she were prettily dressed and had her -hair cut.” - -At another time Sally, the pampered darling of an idolizing mother would -have scorned such coarse fare, but she ate her share at the strange -banquet which soon followed as though it were the most delicious kind of -food. - -Luckily there was enough to satisfy even the ravenous appetites of the -guests, then each was given a large shell and told to go to the spring -for a drink. Laughingly they trooped along to the ferny dell, while -their host remained behind to bury the bones. - -“Winston,” Margaret said, when they returned, “we are all curious to -know how you happened to be here. Will you tell us?” - -“Yes, willingly,” was the reply, then the lad slipped an arm about his -little sister as though it were a comfort to have her close, when he -told, what the girls knew from his expression, would be a sad story. “My -father having died,” he began, “my mother, Peggy and I set sail in a -merchant ship bound for a port in the South where we were to make our -home with my father’s brother. That was last December. There were -constant storms and at last the captain told the few passengers that the -boat might flounder at any time. My first act was to fasten a life belt -about mother, who, not being well, kept to her cabin. - -“Little sister had gone up on deck, although a gale was raging and the -waves were so high that each one seemed about to break over the deck and -engulf us. I was terrorized to see that she had made her way to the bow, -and having reached there was afraid to return. Clinging to the rail, she -turned toward me a white, pleading face. At that moment the boat tipped -so far over that the deck seemed almost perpendicular. ‘Hold fast, -Peggy!’ I shouted. I clung to a corner of the cabin until the vessel -righted. Then I ran across the unsteady deck and hastily fastened about -her the belt I had carried. As I stood up, I heard her scream. She was -pointing back of me. I turned and saw a roaring, rushing wave that -lifted its angry crest high about the deck. I knew that nothing could -save us, but instinctively I caught little sister in one arm and held -hard to the rail with my other hand. I tried to shelter her from the -torrent of water that surged over us. With tremendous force it hurled us -against the rail which instantly snapped and in another moment we were -both being whirled about in the seething water back of the boat. No one -had seen us, and, even if they had, the merchant ship could not have -been turned to come to our rescue. I still held my sister’s dress and -with the other hand I was clinging to the part of the rail which had -broken, permitting us to fall overboard. For a time we were driven along -at an almost breathless speed by the next mountainous wave. At the crest -I looked back and was glad to see that the boat had righted and still -had a chance of making port, but I have since doubted that, as surely -our mother would have had the coast searched for us. Luckily I am an -excellent swimmer. I put my sister’s arms over the rail and then swam or -floated until at last we found ourselves in calmer water. This assured -me that a harbor had been reached. - -“My feet soon touched bottom, then, on the next wave, we rode high on -the beach, remaining there when it had receded. Since then I have had to -recall all that I have read and use a good deal of invention besides, -but we have managed to keep alive. Several times I have caught a glimpse -of what I believed might be mainland, but I never have been quite sure -enough to risk the life of my little sister by venturing out on our -small raft. It is none too securely made, as reeds are all that I had to -lash together the logs.” - -It was very hot in the little sheltered hollow and Sally’s head was -nodding by the time that the tale was told. - -“Poor girl,” Virg said softly, “she has been terribly frightened, but -she has been very brave, I think.” - -“You all look tired and sleepy,” the boy rose as he spoke. “I am now -going to take Peggy out on my raft for we will need many more fish for -the evening meal. Tomorrow you may have a turn,” he assured Virginia -before she could voice the protest that he knew was coming, “but right -now I want you to all sleep, for at least two hours. Go in our house if -you wish.” - -But Virginia declared that the warm sandy ground made a good bed. -Indeed, as soon as they saw the raft bobbing on little waves in a -sheltered harbor, they all lay down and were soon sound asleep. - - - - - CHAPTER XXV - - A SEARCH STARTED - - -Meanwhile in Vine Haven Seminary a nearly frantic housekeeper had, as -Virginia had prophesied, reported to the sheriff that six girls had -started out on a hike at one o’clock of the day before and had not -returned. It was then eight in the morning. Mrs. Dorsey’s hope had been -that the girls had wandered so far from the school, that they had -decided to remain in some sheltered place and return by daylight in the -early morning. - -Not knowing how she could reach Mrs. Martin, the poor woman had put in a -call for Drexel Academy and when Dean Craig replied, she had told the -circumstances in such a breathless, excited manner that it was hard for -him to understand just what had happened, but he did gather that Mrs. -Dorsey wished as many boys as he could spare to come at once to Vine -Haven to help the sheriff search for someone who was lost. - -Benjy Wilson happened to pass the Dean’s office at that moment, and, -hearing his name called, he went in. - -“Oh, Dean Craig,” he implored, “I beg of you, permit me to go. Two of -the girls, who were to remain at the school during their spring -vacation, are neighbors of mine in Arizona and I couldn’t do a thing -here not knowing what trouble they may be in.” - -“I quite agree with you, Benjamin,” the serious young officer replied. -“Take two boys with you, any two that you believe would aid you the -most, and ride at once to Vine Haven. You may take my car, I shall not -need it.” - -Scarcely more than an hour elapsed before the three boys dressed in -their hiking togs appeared on the wide veranda of the Vine Haven -Seminary. - -A red-eyed, though pale housekeeper, admitted them. “I haven’t slept a -wink, nor eaten either, and I never shall, I’m thinkin’, unless we can -find those girls,” she said, when she had finished telling them all she -knew about the girls’ departure on the day before. - -Benjy was most courteous. “Mrs. Dorsey, do not be so worried. I feel -confident that they are safe somewhere. Virginia Davis is an unusually -capable girl, as you know, and so are Margaret Selover and Barbara -Wente. I am sure they can take care of themselves in any ordinary -circumstances. Now if you will tell us in which direction they first -went when they left the school, we will start out at once in search of -them.” - -Mrs. Dorsey felt comforted by the lad’s optimism and told all she knew, -which was very little. - -“That Betsy Clossen, she as is always thinking up mischief, told me they -were an Adventure Club, and that they were starting out to hunt for an -adventure. I said ’twas all right as long as they were home before dark. -I stood and watched them a spell and they headed for the dairy farm over -in the valley, but, by and by, they dropped out of sight below the top -of the hill and I went on with my work.” - -Benjy rose as did his two companions. - -“We will start in that direction, Mrs. Dorsey. Perhaps at the dairy farm -there may be someone who saw them pass.” - -“No,” was the doleful response. “The sheriff rode in a bit ago, just -before you came it was, and he said he and his men had been there and -everywhere in this neighborhood, for that matter, that is, everywhere -’ceptin’ over the Wall o’ Rocks Promintory. The sheriff said there was -no use looking there as school girls wouldn’t even think of trying to -climb over it. Well, I sure wish you luck. I’ll keep watching out for -you to come back. I’ll have plenty to eat waiting for you.” - -Benjy was indeed sorry for the good woman who was so crushed by the -disappearance of the girls. As soon as the three lads were beyond the -confines of the school grounds, Benjy paused. “That Wall of Rocks -Promintory is about two miles from here,” he told his companions. “Some -of us from Drexel went there last year on a cross country hike. I -remember how very steep it was. I have little hope of finding the girls -there, and choose it merely because the sheriff mentioned that his men -had searched everywhere else.” - -Jack Dennison and Dick Beardsley, who were the particular friends of -Benjy’s at the military academy agreed that the promintory would not -invite the ordinary schoolgirl to scale its jagged and almost -perpendicular side. When the top was reached, they stood looking down at -the beach that was gleaming in the sunlight. Jack was the first to -notice the small hut close to the base of the cliff. Smoke was rising -from the chimney and Benjy cried: “Down the trail, boys, and let’s find -out what we can from whoever may be there.” - -The occupant of the old hut was an ancient fisherman who sat in the -shade mending nets. He looked up when he saw the three boys approaching, -and, taking his clay pipe from his mouth, he inquired: “Wall, lads, be -ye comin’ fer fish? If so, help yerselves. Had a big haul last week.” - -Then, noting their anxious expressions, he added: “What’s up? Anything -wrong?” - -Benjy told of the disappearance of the six girls who had started in that -general direction on a hike. Then eagerly, “You didn’t see them anywhere -around here on the beach yesterday, did you?” - -The old man shook his head. “They might o’ been, now, for all that,” he -said. “It’s me as wasn’t here. I’ve been gone down the coast fishing the -week past.” - -He nodded as he spoke toward the dilapidated dock, and the boys, -glancing in that direction, saw an old boat there with patched sail so -soiled that it was hard to believe that it might once have been white. -“Ye can take The Nancy and cruise along the shore, if ye think ’twill -help ye any. I won’t be wantin’ to go fishin’ again for many a day I’m -thinkin’.” - -“Thank you,” Benjy said. “We will pay you well if we decide to accept -your offer.” Then the three lads walked slowly toward the old dock. “If -only we had some clue,” Dick was saying, when Jack leaped forward, -beckoning excitedly. “Here’s a red feather,” he cried. “Don’t you think -it might have blown off a girl’s hat?” - -He picked it up as he spoke. “Oh, I don’t think so,” Benjy began, “and -yet, maybe it might.” - -“There’s a brisk breeze blowing beyond the shelter of the wall of -rocks,” Dick announced. “I vote that we do take the old fisherman’s boat -and scud up and down the coast. The girls may have been stranded -somewhere by the tide. I’ve read stories like that, and they were -founded on fact.” - -“So have I,” Benjy agreed. “It might be a good bet.” - -And so it chanced that the three lads set sail in the old boat Nancy -just as the girls, whom they were searching, were sitting down to -partake of a fish dinner on an island which could be seen, but dimly -from the mainland. - - - - - CHAPTER XXVI - - A MESSAGE AFLOAT - - -The girls awakened, greatly refreshed from the nap they had taken, lying -on the warm sunny sand, while Winston and Peggy had gone fishing to -provide food for the next meal. It was two-thirty by Margaret’s faithful -wrist watch when they arose and sauntered down to the shore. They saw -the small raft returning and by the merry shouting of Peggy, they were -sure that the catch had been a large one. - -When the queer craft had been secured on the beach, Virginia said, -“Winston, we girls were just thinking that we would like to go to the -side of the island on which we landed, make a fire or in some way -attempt to attract attention of the people on the mainland, who, we are -sure, must by this time have started out in search of us.” - -“Righto!” the lad cried, then leaping ahead of them, he disappeared in -the hut, to soon return with a bottle, “I dug this up yesterday on the -shore and I planned using it in a way that might bring help to my sister -and me.” - -“Oh, I know!” Betsy clapped her hands gleefully. “You planned writing a -message, enclosing it in an air-tight bottle and setting it afloat. -Wasn’t that it, Winston?” - -“The very thing, and let’s do it now. I have a pencil,” the lad said, -producing a well-worn stub. - -“What shall we do for paper?” Eleanor had just asked, when Margaret -answered her: “Birch bark makes the best kind of paper. I saw a tree on -the edge of the little wood.” - -“True enough,” Winston exclaimed, as he bounded away, returning a few -moments later with a strip of bark. The message was written, placed in -the bottle and securely corked. - -“I wish we had something to tie on the neck of the bottle to make it -more noticeable,” Virginia began when Betsy snatched a cherry-red ribbon -from her hair. - -“The very thing!” the lad exclaimed. “Now, let’s cross the island. There -is a much shorter way than that by which you came.” - -“Hurray for us!” the lad cried half an hour later, when they stood on -the shore near where the girls had landed. “Luck is with us! The wind -and tide are just right to carry our message rapidly toward the -mainland.” - -Taking off his shoes and stockings, Winston waded far out on the shoal -and then he lightly tossed the bottle into the deep water beyond. It -partly sank, then rose. The wind caught in the loops of the red ribbon -bow making sails that soon carried the bobbing bottle out of their -sight. - -“I have often made a fire on this shore at night,” Winston said, -pointing to a charred place among the rocks, “but it evidently aroused -no one’s curiosity. It is well for Peggy and for me that I studied -woodcraft when I was a Boy Scout in England and learned to make a fire -without matches,” he told them as they retraced their steps to the side -of the island on which their host and wee hostess lived. - - * * * * * - -In the meantime the three lads from Drexel Academy were slowly cruising -along the coast. Every now and then they would go as close as they -dared, and all three, making megaphones of their hands, would shout: -“Virginia Davis! Barbara Wente!” over and over, but only echoes from the -cliff replied. Occasionally a sea bird startled by their cries would -circle about them, but no other living thing was seen. - -“This is a lost hope,” Benjy said, at last. “We have been cruising up -and down this coast for two hours, in fact, nearly three, and so we -might as well give up.” - -“The wind is getting pretty brisk and since it is from the sea, we’ll -have to tack out quite a bit to make the port we started from,” Jack -said. He then pushed the rudder handle and the bow swung into the wind. - -“We’ll have to go at least a mile out to sea,” Dick agreed, “if we make -the fisherman’s dock on one tack.” - -“That’s hard luck,” Benjy spoke regretfully. “I hate to waste the time, -but of course we must get the old boat back. Make the best speed you -can, boys.” - -Dick and Jack were experienced sailors, while Benjy, desert-born, knew -nothing whatever of the management of a boat. - -For a long half hour they scudded in silence which was suddenly broken -by an exclamation from the boy at the rudder. “Hi, you, Ben! Look over -to starboard. What’s that red thing bobbing up and down.” - -“Looks like a bottle floating this way. Turn about, can’t you, so that -we can sail close enough to pick it up?” - -“I’m afraid I can’t make it, old man,” Jack replied. “If we swing that -way an inch more we’ll lose the wind out of our sails.” - -They were scudding away from the bottle when Benjy shouted excitedly: -“Never mind if we do lose headway, I want to get that bottle. I believe -that red thing on it is a girl’s hair ribbon and I’d never forgive -myself if there was a message in it from Babs and the rest of them.” - -“Well, I’ll take a tack that way, if you say so, but of course the -bottle can’t hold a message from the girls since it is sailing directly -in from somewhere out at sea. More than likely it was dropped from a -ship in distress.” - -“Well, even so. It’s up to us to get it, whoever set it afloat.” - -“Benjy is right,” Dick agreed. “There, now we’re making straight for -it.” - -“Hold the boat steady,” Benjy called. “I’ll lean way over and try to -grab it when it’s near enough.” - -But holding the boat steady with the sails flapping in an -ever-increasing wind proved to be an impossible feat. - -“Pull on the sheet! Quick!” was Jack’s sharp command. “We’re bearing -right down on it. Gee whiz! We hit it! Now, like as not, it’s broken.” - -But the bottle, evidently unharmed, slid around the boat and bobbed up -on the other side. Making a lunge which nearly resulted in his falling -overboard, Benjy secured the prize, and holding it up, he could plainly -see the birch bark inside which he was convinced held some message. - -“There’s only one way to it,” Dick told him, “that’s to break the -bottle.” - -This was easily done and the piece of birch bark fell out. - -The three boys crowded round to try to decipher the blurred pencil -marks. - -“It’s unbelievable!” Benjy stood up and shading his eyes, gazed out -toward the bank of mist which nearly always hung like a curtain between -the mainland and the island. - -Then, with a whoop of joy, he shouted, “Look yonder! A fishing launch is -coming in. Let’s hire one of the men to sail The Nancy back to its dock -and the other to take us over to the island.” - -“The very thing!” As he spoke Jack stood up and waved his coat. The -other boys did likewise, then, when they were sure that they had -attracted attention, they beckoned and shouted. The two fishermen in the -launch, believing that the boys were in trouble, decided to change their -course, and so before long, they were within speaking distance. Upon -hearing the story, they readily agreed to comply with the boys’ plans -and fifteen minutes later, the launch was headed directly for the bank -of mist, while the Nancy was tacking leisurely toward the mainland. At -that same moment, the young people on the island had made an exciting -discovery. - - - - - CHAPTER XXVII - - AN INDIAN MOUND - - -When the girls with Winston and Peggy had watched the bottle until its -gleaming red sails could no longer be seen, they had retraced their -steps toward the other side of the island. - -“I feel sure that we are to be rescued before many moons,” Eleanor said. - -“That is what Indians called a month. I go you one better than that,” -Betsy put in. “I’ll say that we’ll be back in Vine Haven before many -suns.” - -“Speaking of Indians,” Virginia remarked, “Winston, do you suppose there -ever were Indians on this island?” - -“I think so,” the lad replied. “In fact, one day when I was exploring, I -came upon a mound which I am confident was an Indian grave. I have often -thought I would like to go back there and dig into it. Some tribes, as -you know, buried really interesting things with their dead, believing -that the departing soul would have use of them in the world to which -they were going.” - -“Where did you find that mound, Winston? Could we visit it now?” Eleanor -inquired. “We haven’t anything else that needs doing, have we?” - -“No, indeed,” the lad replied. “We have fish enough for supper and for -breakfast, too, for that matter.” - -As he talked, he led the way toward the densely wooded hill that rose in -the middle of the narrow, though long island. On the top, under old -gnarled pine trees, they came upon the mound which Winston had seen on a -former visit. It did indeed look like an Indian grave. - -“I wish we had shovels and things,” Betsy said. - -“I’ll tell you what!” Eleanor exclaimed. “Let’s pretend we are Indians, -really, and, of course, they would have had no utensils or implements. -Now, if they wanted to dig, what would they do?” - -“They would find rocks, perhaps, that had been hollowed out by waves,” -Margaret had just said, when Winston leaped up from the ground where he -had been kneeling and gave a whoop, as an inspiration came to him. “You -girls wait here,” he said, “while Peggy and I run down to our hut. We -have dozens of huge shells. We’ll each bring back as many as we can -carry. They’ll make the best kind of trowels.” - -Away the sister and brother ran and during their absence, the girls -knelt on the dry pine needles to inspect more closely the Indian grave. - -“I wonder how long it has been here. Years and years I suppose,” Eleanor -said. - -“If we did find interesting relics in this mound, to whom would they -belong?” Megsy inquired. - -“Why to Winston and Peggy, I should think, since they first discovered -it.” - -“I don’t know when I’ve met a boy I like better,” Eleanor said, seating -herself on the ground. “I felt right at once as though I had known -Winston for a long time. Don’t you like him, Virginia?” - -“Yes, indeed.” The older girl rising had turned to look toward the -mainland. She shaded her eyes and gazed into the gleaming sunlight, but -she could not see far because of the cloud of mist. - -“A boat might be nearly here and we could not see it,” Eleanor began, -when a shout announced that Winston and Peggy were returning. - -The shells were indeed large and strong. One was given to each girl. -Then Winston suggested: “Suppose we work in relays. In that way we will -not all be tired at once.” - -“You and Virginia may be the first relay,” Betsy said generously. The -older girl laughed. “No, indeed, I know you are just wild to begin to -ferret out the mystery. Suppose you and Eleanor begin. Five minutes will -be allowed each pair of diggers. Megsy, since you have a wrist watch, -you may be time-keeper.” - -But many a five minutes had passed before much of the earth had been -removed. It was decided, because of his superior strength that Winston -might have a turn all by himself until he announced that his arm was -tired. It was then that some real headway was noticed. However, it was -Eleanor who was digging when a hard object was struck. Great was the -excitement as they all crowded around. “Maybe it’s Indian crockery. You -know what vessels and things were buried in their graves.” - -“Be careful how you hit it, Betsy, for if it is crockery, it will surely -break,” Sally warned. But the something which they were rapidly -uncovering did not resemble anything which Indians were known to make. - -“It’s a small copper chest,” Winston announced at last. - -Betsy sprang to her feet and leaped about joyfully. “Oh, ho, ho!” she -cried. “This is Stevenson’s Treasure Island, I do believe.” - -Winston’s eyes glowed with excitement as he looked over at Eleanor, who -was also digging. “I do believe Betsy is right. Of course it isn’t -_that_ Treasure Island, but smugglers, at some time, may have buried -this here.” - -Having removed the hard packed dirt from the top of the box, the lad -tried to pry it out but it was too firmly embedded. “We’ll have to be -patient and dig some more,” he said. Although the boy’s fingers were -almost numb from holding the handless implement for so long, he was so -eager to unearth the find, that he did not want to rest, but Virginia -begged him to let her take his place for a time. - -“All righto!” he sang out as a new thought suggested itself to him. “And -I’ll break a strong staff from a tree and make a lever out of it.” He -leaped away to accomplish this, and while he was gone, the girls -redoubled their efforts. - -[Illustration: “Girls! Girls! Call Winston. The cover moved ever so -slightly.”] - -“I never in all my life dreamed that such exciting adventures ever -really happened,” Betsy was saying, when Eleanor cried: “Girls! Girls! -Call Winston. The cover moved ever so slightly. I believe if he has -found a stout stick, he could pry it off.” - -The lad came bounding back when he heard a chorus of excited voices -shouting his name. Wedging his sharp pointed stick under the cover of -the box, he soon pried it lose. Together he and Eleanor lifted it. There -were two leather bags in the box and they were so heavy that it was with -difficulty that the lad lifted them. - -On the inside of the copper lid was inscribed the name of the one who -had buried the treasure. The girls were sure that they knew what they -were to hear before Winston could decipher it. - -“It’s your grandfather Burgess’ buried fortune,” Betsy told Eleanor, but -before that maiden could reply, an exclamation of amazement from the lad -caused them all to turn in his direction. “Eleanor,” he cried, “is -_your_ name Burgess? Why didn’t you tell me before? My mother’s maiden -name was Dorinda Burgess.” - -And then, as though that were not enough excitement for one hour, there -arose below them on the beach, a loud hallooing. Winston leaped to a -spot where he could look down. “Girls,” he cried, but there was no need -to call, for they were closely following him. “There is a launch -anchored just beyond the shoal and three boys have come ashore in a -dory.” - -“It’s Benjy and two of the boys from Drexel Academy!” Barbara whirled to -hug Margaret. “Oh, girls, aren’t you glad we were shipwrecked, now that -we are to be rescued?” - - - - - CHAPTER XXVIII - - IN WHICH MANY THINGS HAPPEN - - -Although Winston was indeed glad that he and his small sister were being -rescued, his heart was too full of anxiety concerning his mother’s fate -to really share in the hilarious rejoicing of his companions. Not -wishing to depress them by reminding them of his possible loss, he -smiled as cheerfully as he could, whenever he was addressed, but -Virginia noticed that he held little Peggy close to him during the sail -to the mainland. - -Luckily the wind was back of them and they did not need to delay for -frequent tacks. While the other girls were telling the story of their -unexpected voyage to their three rescuers, Eleanor managed to find a -seat near Winston. She lifted shining eyes to her new-found cousin, but -in them tears slowly gathered. Then quietly she told him the story of -her mother’s long search for her sister Dorinda, “I cannot understand,” -the lad seemed perplexed. “I know that my mother repeatedly sent letters -to a sister in America, but the name on the envelope was never Burgess.” - -“That is true,” the reply was sadly given. “Aunt Dorinda never knew that -my father was not—well, not what a husband should be to the best woman -in the world. It was because of his unworthiness that Mumsie took back -her maiden name.” - -“I remember that my mother wrote everywhere that she could possibly hope -to find her sister, but the letters were always returned, unopened. -Sometimes on them would be stamped: ‘Name not in directory,’ and so my -mother, grieving over the loss of my father, was even more saddened by -the fear that she had also lost her sister. Broken in health and with -very little money, we went to England where I tried to work a small -farm. I learned a lot about it, and liked it tremendously, but mother -longed to get back to her home country. It was at that time that my -father’s brother sent us money for our passage, asking us to visit him -until my mother had regained her strength. The very thought that she -might hear what had happened to her sister made it possible for mother -to undertake the voyage, but now—” The lad, visibly affected turned -away. Eleanor slipped her hand over his. - -“Dear cousin,” she said softly, “I have a feeling, deep in my heart, -that somehow, someway, all is to be well. Let’s keep hoping until we -know.” - -They could say no more as the mainland dock had been reached. Virginia -had glanced at Winston and realizing that he and Eleanor wished to -converse alone, she had kept the others interested and occupied. Then as -they all landed, Betsy Clossen exclaimed: “Why, if here isn’t that -little red feather that led us into all this—this—what _shall_ I call -it?” - -“A very wonderful something.” It was Eleanor who spoke. “For, because of -it, my dear cousins have been rescued.” - -“I’m glad it all happened just as it did,” Virginia said. Then turning -to Benjy and his two companions, she held out her hand, adding: “I’m -going to be a self-appointed spokesman and thank you on behalf of us all -for your great kindness. Will you return with us to Vine Haven?” - -“Rather, I am going to suggest that you accompany us to the village -which is reached much more easily, as the road beyond the cliff leads -directly there, and then we will take the next train back to Drexel, -while you can telephone for the school bus to come after you.” - -This really excellent suggestion was acted upon. When the station was -reached, Benjy suggested that Winston accompany the three boys. One of -them, Jack Dennison, being the same build as the stranded youth, quietly -offered to loan him clothes until he could procure for himself the -things he needed. - -“From there,” he told Eleanor, “I shall go directly to Boston in search -of my mother as that was the port where the boat hoped to put in to -await calmer seas.” - -“And little Peggy shall go to Vine Haven with me.” The small girl looked -up happily and nestled confidingly close to her new-found relative. - -It was all very mysterious to her but she accepted Eleanor -unquestioningly since her wonderful brother did. - -Luckily the train was drawing into the station at the moment of their -arrival and so the four boys swung on up to the platform and almost -before the girls realized, they found themselves alone. Virginia at once -called up Mrs. Dorsey, who burst into tears when she learned that her -charges were safe and for several seconds she could not make herself -understood. - -After that, in an unaccountably short time, or so it seemed, Micky -appeared with the bus. The little fellow was overjoyed to see his -beloved Babs once again. When the school was reached, the door was -thrown open and the stout and motherly Mrs. Dorsey ran down the steps, -her apron flying, her arms outstretched as though she would gather them -all into her warm embrace. “You darlings!” she sobbed, as she held close -those who were nearest. “This is the happiest moment, I guess, in the -long life of me. I was so dreading that I’d have to tell poor Mrs. -Martin that I hadn’t been worthy of the trust she’d put in me.” Then, -wiping her eyes with her apron, she added: “But do come in, you poor -tired-out creatures. I’ve been running around ever since you telephoned, -trying to get you up a good hot meal, and, as soon as you’re washed and -ready, it will be the same. Not washed, of course,” the kind woman -smiled through the tears that still came, “but anyhow ’twill be ready.” - -Peggy, she had taken as a matter of course, not stopping to ask or -wonder how Eleanor Burgess had procured a little cousin on her strange -voyage. - -The girls started away and had reached an upper landing when a flustered -and visibly excited housekeeper reappeared at the foot of the stairs. -“Oh, Eleanor Burgess,” she exclaimed. The girls all turned to listen. -“There’s been a phone call coming for you every little while. It’s long -distance and nobody but the operator speaks, so I don’t know who ’tis -that’s wanting you. Fearing it was your mother, I didn’t say anything -about your being lost. I just said call later, which I’m expecting they -will.” - -“Thank you, Mrs. Dorsey.” Then Eleanor turned glowing eyes toward her -friends. “Mother has come back even sooner than she had expected, I do -believe, and probably she is sending for me to come to her in Boston. -Oh, how glad I am that she knows nothing of our recent adventure.” - -“You’ll be glad to see her, dear, won’t you?” Virginia kissed the -flushed cheek of her friend. Then they went to their rooms to change -their dresses. Eleanor hardly knew what to put on little Peggy. - -The queer costume of the child had escaped Mrs. Dorsey’s notice since -Betsy Clossen, who was the smallest among them, had put her sweater coat -over the little one’s shoulders and it reached nearly to her knees. - -“I have a dress in my trunk that I long ago outgrew,” Betsy said, “but I -liked it so much I have kept it. I believe it can be taken in with -safety so that at least it won’t slip off.” - -A merry time the roommates had washing and dressing the little maid. -They did not attempt to take the tangles out of the child’s hair. “It -will have to be cut off, but we can’t do that now,” Eleanor said, and, -even as she spoke, a familiar gong sounded through the corridors. - -“Good! My, but I’m hungry.” Betsy skipped to the door and flung it wide -open. Outside the other girls waited and then down the front stairs they -ran in a manner that was never seen at Vine Haven when Miss King awaited -them in the lower hall. - -Eleanor glanced toward the telephone as they passed, wondering when it -would ring again. They were descending the stairs to the dining room -when she heard its summons. “Eleanor, come quick!” Betsy shouted from -the end of the line. “It’s probably for you!” - - - - - CHAPTER XXIX - - A HAPPY REUNION - - -There was no need to call twice for Eleanor bounded back and took down -the receiver. The girls had returned to the main corridor and waited -eagerly. They heard a glad cry which assured them that it was indeed -Mrs. Burgess, but they were surprised at Eleanor’s first remark. -“Mother, are you really home? I mean here at grandfather’s place? Oh, I -can’t wait to get there, and you have a surprise for me? Well, then, I -have a surprise for you! Yes, yes, Mumsie. I’ll come at once. I’ll get -Micky to take me.” - -When the girl turned toward them, Virginia thought she had never before -seen a more glowing face. Eleanor tried to speak but choked and holding -out her arms ran to Virginia and clung to her, sobbing. Then she reached -out a hand and drew the wondering Peggy to her. - -At that moment the mystified Mrs. Dorsey appeared at the head of the -basement stairs. “Girls, why don’t you come? Your lunch will be that -cold, ’twill be no good at all, and I took such pains making what I knew -you’d be liking.” - -“Eleanor dear, come down with us. You and Peggy are just as hungry as we -are, and, after lunch, if Mrs. Dorsey is willing, I will accompany you -in the bus.” - -Reluctantly the girl permitted herself to be led to the dining room but -she was so excited, so eager to be gone that she could hardly eat, but -Virginia knew that Peggy could, and she did, though she kept watching -her new cousin with big round eyes. Strange things were surely happening -and there was a vague feeling of lonesomeness in her heart. She had -never before been separated from Winston, her brother. - -After the rather hurried meal, Micky, whom Babs had notified, drove up -with the bus and Virginia accompanied Eleanor and Peggy. The other girls -agreed that Virg was the right one to go. “For who can be a greater -comfort if the surprise should be a sad one?” Megsy asked them. - -But it was not. It was so wonderful a surprise that it was almost hard -to believe that it had really happened. - -When the bus stopped in front of the side door, Eleanor suggested that -Peggy stay in it with Virg, while she went alone to greet her mother. -When she bounded up the steps, the door opened and there stood, not the -frail little woman who had set sail with the doctor’s wife a few months -before, but one who radiated health and an inward joy. Instantly -Virginia, watching, knew that the surprise was not to be a sad one, and -how glad she was. Then the door closed, but almost at once it opened -again and a most excited girl leaped down the steps and raced out to the -bus. “Oh, Virg!” Eleanor cried. “Aunt Dorinda is found. Doctor Warren -found her in a hospital where she had been taken when the boat went to -pieces right in the very harbor and everyone was rescued. Oh, how I wish -Winston were here, but I’ll telephone to Drexel before he can go to -Boston. There isn’t another train out until night.” - -Catching Peggy by the hand she ran with her into the house. Then a few -moments later returned, asking Virg if she would come in and meet her -mother and Aunt Dorinda. - -“Not today, dear. Shall you return with us now or would you like to stay -over-night with your mother?” - -“I’ll stay until Mrs. Martin comes back,” Eleanor said. “Phone me, won’t -you, the minute she returns?” - -Virginia agreed that she would, and then she bade Micky drive back to -the school. The girls were waiting eagerly on the wide front porch and -when they heard what the surprise had been, the irrepressible Betsy led -the school cheer. “My, but I’m glad! I shall treasure that red feather -as long as I live!” she ended, by saying. - -“Maybe some time in the future it may lead you on another adventure,” -Babs said. - -“Who knows?” Betsy beamed. “But next time I hope there will be a mystery -for me to solve.” - -“Poor little detective who never succeeds,” Babs teased. - -For once Betsy did not retort, but she determined that before many moons -she would unearth a mystery that she could solve, nor was she wrong, -though the nature of it the merry little maid did not even guess. - - * * * * * - -A week later Vine Haven Seminary had settled back into its usual -routine. Mrs. Martin had returned rested and enthusiastic over the -interesting trip that she had taken. Of course Mrs. Dorsey had thought -right to tell all that had happened, and even offered to resign if Mrs. -Martin felt that she had been at fault, but the principal, who was -always just, assured the anxious matron that she was in no way at fault -nor indeed did she blame the girls. - -Eleanor had not appeared until the morning when the first classes were -to report and then she told her friends how overjoyed Winston and his -mother had been to be reunited. “And the best of it is that the two -sisters are going to stay on grandfather’s place and make a real home of -it, and Winston’s dream has come true for he has a farm of his own to do -with whatever he wishes, and, as for Peggy, next year she is to come to -Vine Haven with me.” - -The girls were all unusually studious during the remainder of May, for -were not the final exams near at hard, and Virg had added to her other -duties, the pleasure of editing the last Manuscript Magazine for the -year. - -And yet there were hours, and many of them (usually at night when the -other girls were asleep), that she lay, watching the stars, and yearning -for the loved ones on the far away desert. “Would she find any changes?” -she wondered. - - - - - CHAPTER XXX - - BETSY’S SECRET GOAL - - -“Girls! News! News! Great news!” It was Margaret Selover who skipped -into the corner room occupied by Virg and Eleanor Burgess. - -“Mrs. Martin just told me that Eleanor Pettes’ college closes a few days -before Vine Haven and she has written that she will come for our final -exercises. She’s ever so eager to see our last Manuscript Magazine of -the year.” - -“Well, it’s to be a spiffy one all right. My name is going to be in it.” - -“Oh, Betsy, I don’t believe it! Virg, she’s storying, isn’t she? You -never would print one of her doggerels, would you?” - -The editor of the magazine laughed and actually winked at Betsy. With a -chuckle that little maid asked: “Won’t Margaret be the most surprised -person in this school when she does see the reason for my name being in -the bang-up last edition?” - -“Maybe Virg is starting a joke column and is permitting Betsy to conduct -it.” This from Babs who had followed Margaret into the room. - -“Me? I’m no joker. I’m the most serious-minded pusson at Vine Haven.” -Then tantalizingly, “If you tried till doomsday, you couldn’t guess why -my name is to be featured in the biggest and best Manuscript Magazine of -the year, so you might as well devote your thoughts to something -easier.” - -“Very well.” Megsy looked inquiringly at Virginia. “Have you heard from -Winona? Is she coming here to be ready to go West with us?” - -The girl addressed shook her head. “No, I’m sorry to say. Winona writes -that the practical nursing courses will not be completed until the last -of June and of course we cannot wait for her three weeks after our -school closes. But Winona is quite capable of crossing the country -alone. Anyone of us is now, I feel sure.” - -“Virg,” Babs exclaimed, “what wonders you’ve worked with Sentimental -Sally! She even looks different someway. Yesterday, just to tease, one -of the girls who has a brother over at Drexel told her that Donald -Dearing has returned to that Military Academy and that she had invited -him to come to our closing party. A few months ago Sally would have -acted silly, giggled or simpered or something, but instead she merely -smiled indifferently and went right back on with her reference work. I -was in the library at the same table and that’s how I happened to hear -it.” - -“There’s a lot to Sally. Her mother cares only for society and her chief -desire it would seem is to have her daughter learn how to be idle -gracefully. I don’t know what she will think when she finds that Sally -has actually chosen a goal toward which she is working. She plays -beautifully on the harp and since she will not need to earn money, she -is going to plan to devote part of her time to giving harp concerts in -hospitals, old folks’ homes and places where her music will bring the -most happiness.” Virginia was proud of and pleased with her protege, it -was quite evident. - -“Betsy, you are our incorrigible member,” Megsy said to tease. “Virginia -has failed to influence you for good. You’re the only one in the study -club who hasn’t been inspired to choose a goal or try for the Honor -Roll.” - -“Me? Goodness no. I don’t want to sprout wings yet. But if you’ll -produce a deep-dyed mystery of some kind, I’ll show you what I can do.” - -Barbara laughed. “You remind me of the tramp who offered to shovel snow -in the summer to pay for a meal.” Then catching hold of Margaret’s arm, -she added, “Two bells. Time for you and me to go to French. -Fare-thee-well till lunch.” - -When Virginia and Betsy were alone, the latter maid grinned her delight, -but suddenly there was an anxious cloud on her piquant face. “Virg,” she -said, “do you think I can make it? This Latin translation is powerfully -hard.” She had taken a book from her blouse where it had been hidden -while her tormentors had been in the room. - -“I’m sure of it!” Virginia’s voice expressed her confidence. “I have a -free hour now and we’ll go over it together.” - -The weeks that followed were indeed busy ones. Each of the older girls -in Madame La Fleur’s sewing class was to make her own dainty white dress -for the closing party, and, at almost any free hour groups of merry -maids could be seen gathered first in one room and then in another -hemming, basting and ruffling, for those little “French gowns,” as Babs -called them, were to be made every stitch of them by hand. - -“This would have been jolly fun,” Betsy declared, “if it wasn’t for the -fact that final exams are hanging so heavily over our heads.” - -Virg, of course, solved this problem by suggesting that one girl read -history while the others sewed. This they did and at the end of each -chapter the book was passed to someone else that the former reader might -not lose too much time from the making of her gown. - -“I’m glad it’s the history of France,” Sally remarked during a pause in -which the book was being passed from one to another. “That seems sort of -appropriate since we are making French dresses. Madame La Fleur even had -the material sent from her brother’s shop in Paris.” - -“It doesn’t look like mere muslin does it?” Babs held up a shimmering -length to let the sun shine through it. “It’s heaps more like gossamer, -but Dicky, do go on with the reading.” - -“Very well. This chapter is called ‘Reaction and New Discontent.’ ‘It -was said of the Bourbons that they never forgot anything and never -learned anything.’” - -“This is rather paradoxical, isn’t it?” Margaret began, when Betsy -teasingly interrupted. “Whizzle, Megsy! What a word! You certainly have -learned something and didn’t forget it either. Why if I could say such a -long one as that right off easy, I’d think I was ready to graduate.” - -“Hush, Bets. Just because you aren’t trying for the Honor Roll is no -reason why the rest of us don’t want to study.” Sally spoke her thoughts -these days as independently as did the others. - -Betsy flashed. “Just for that I’m going to finish the paragraph.” Which -she did, rattling off information about Louis eighteenth in a manner to -make several of the girls present open their eyes in amazement, but -before they could declare that they believed Betsy had a book hidden in -her sewing and was reading it, a gong called them to another task. - -Later that day when Virginia and Betsy were having one of their secret -sessions at translating Latin, the younger girl chuckled. “That was a -close call. I almost gave away the fact that I have actually been -studying. That never would do, if it’s to be a grand -sweep-’em-off-their-feet surprise.” - -Virginia laughed. “Betsy, you are as refreshing as one of our desert -winds, after a sultry day, when it blows down from the snowy-topped -mountains. Often I go up on the mesa, when it begins to blow, and take -gloriously deep breaths. They make one feel like a new being.” - -Betsy had closed her book and was sitting with an almost pensive -expression on her usually merry face. “It must be wonderful to have a -real home,” she said. “Dad and I haven’t had one for years, not since -mother left. We live in hotels, you know, wherever Dad is sent. -Sometimes it’s in one big city and sometimes another. At first I thought -it was great, but after the novelty wore off I was desperately lonesome. -Then Dad sent me here to boarding school. Of course I love it, with all -of the girls for make-believe family, but, when vacation time comes and -you are all talking of going home, I do wish that Dad and I had one, -somewhere. This summer, though, will be better than most, for I have a -very nice aunt who has invited me to visit her and her two small boys at -their summer home on the sound.” - -Then springing up, the impulsive girl gave her companion an unexpected -hug. “Virg, you’re a dear,” she exclaimed. “I don’t in the least like -the thought that after the closing party I shall never, never see you -again.” - -The older girl was touched, for there were actually tears in the eyes -that were usually laughing. “I’ll play prophet,” she said gaily. “I will -prophecy that you will visit us all out on the desert some day. Perhaps -next year or the year after.” - -“Virg,” the eyes now were glowing, “if such a thing could happen, I just -know that I would live happily ever after.” - -As we know, strange things do happen. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXI - - BETSY SPRINGS A SURPRISE - - -The dresses were all made and ready to be donned. One by one the girls -had descended to the laundry and under the skillful supervision of -Delia, the marvels of ruffly whiteness had been pressed. They were then -laid on the beds in the room of each seamstress and all of the -particular friends were invited in to admire. Notwithstanding the fact -that with very little difference, the dresses closely resembled each -other, individual taste had been displayed in sashes and hair ribbons. -Betsy’s cherry-red sash with long fringed ends was indeed “adorable,” as -the girls all said, and Babs was, of course, to wear blue, the color of -her eyes. Dicky always wore yellow, when a choice of color was -permitted. Virg had never had a sash, and, as she was not going to the -city to make purchases before returning home, she had decided to be -content with a muslin belt. - -Betsy, however, had been sent for by her Dad, who was to be in Boston -over the week-end. When she returned she called a meeting of the Study -Club and presented Virginia a long box, and when that puzzled maiden -opened it, there lay the softest, silkiest sash and butterfly bow for -her hair. It was the color of lilacs and a delicate fragrance drifted up -from its folds when the delighted girl lifted the sash and placed it -about her waist. - -“You like that color, don’t you, Virg?” Megsy asked. “I was sure that I -had heard you say that you did.” - -“Yes, indeed. I think it is the sweetest! I had a little lilac bush out -on the desert. Mother had planted it and after she left I nursed it and -watered it, but once when I was away Uncle Tex forgot, and it dried up -and died. It had very few flowers, but I loved their color and -fragrance.” Then as a card fluttered out, Virginia read: “To our beloved -president from the members of the Saturday Evening Study Club.” - -“Girls,” Virg exclaimed, “I don’t know what to say to thank you.”’ - -“That’s the way we feel about all the things you have done for us.” It -was Sally who spoke. - -“Why, I haven’t done anything for any of you,” Virginia declared, -adding, with an almost tremulous smile, “except love you.” - -“That’s it,” Margaret slipped an arm about her adopted sister. “You know -‘love sacrificeth itself.’” - -“Girls, please don’t put me on a pedestal. You have helped me just as -much as I hope that I have helped you.” - -“If only we have all passed our exams fairly creditably,” Dicky Taylor -began when Betsy interrupted, her eyes shining: “Girls, hark! The bus is -coming! Eleanor Pettes will be on it. She mustn’t get as far as the -front door and not have us there to greet her.” - -Down the wide stairway the merry maids trooped, chattering gaily, for, -as this was the last day of school, all silence rules had been banished. -The bell was ringing, and Delia had appeared, but Babs beckoned her to -wait and let them open the door. - -“Let’s all pounce out on her and shout ‘welcome belovedest,’” Betsy -suggested. - -“All right. One—two—three—” The door was flung open, Betsy and Babs were -about to throw their arms about the girl who was expected to be on the -porch, but they stopped, and their outstretched arms dropped to their -sides, for the visitors were lads from Drexel Academy. Benjy Wilson, his -two best friends Jack Dennison and Dick Beardsley, while the fourth was -Donald Dearing. They were in their dress uniforms and looked very fine -indeed. The amazed faces of the girls puzzled the lads until the -impulsive Betsy exclaimed, “Oh, we almost hugged you! We were expecting -Eleanor Pettes. We were sure we heard the school bus.” - -“So you did! We came up from the station on it. There was a girl on the -bus, but she saw some of her friends in the orchard and so she joined -them.” Then Benjy hurried on to explain, “Of course we know that it’s -much too early for the party guests to arrive, but if we may, we would -like to speak with Mrs. Martin. Then we are going back to town, and -return at the proper time.” - -The principal received the lads in her office and the girls raced out to -the orchard, where they found the former editress of the Manuscript -Magazine, surrounded by seniors. She turned with outstretched hands to -greet the younger girls, and Betsy bubblingly related the narrow escape -the boys had had from being pounced upon. - -“I can’t imagine why they came so early. I’m just ever so curious to -know why they wanted to see Mrs. Martin,” Babs said when Sally -whispered, “See, there they go now. How straight and nice they look in -their dress uniforms.” - -Virginia noticed with pleasure that Sally had said this in the same way -that any of them would have done. She no longer simpered, and, in fact, -the girls had forgotten that they had ever called her “Sentimental -Sally.” - -“We’re ever so excited,” Margaret confided to Eleanor Pettes as they all -turned to go in to the school. “In less than half an hour we are to -gather in the gym for assembly. Miss Torrence wanted to wait until you -arrived, and then the last Manuscript Magazine of the year is to be read -aloud.” - -Babs skipped up to say, “Betsy insists that her name is to be in it, but -we are sure that she is joking. Composition isn’t her best subject.” - -But a surprise awaited them. - -There was a flutter of excitement evident among the 45 girls who were -gathered in assembly just as the clock told the hour of three. Dean -Craig, who had accompanied the boys to Vine Haven, was the only outsider -who had been invited to the reading. He sat with Mrs. Martin and the -other teachers on the raised platform at one end of the long hall. - -Miss Torrence rose. - -“How young she looks today,” Bess whispered to Megsy. “Sometimes she -seems real old and wise, but in that flowered muslin she looks like a -senior instead of a——” - -“Sh! Miss Torrence is speaking.” - -“Young ladies,” the English teacher was saying, and she smiled on them -all, “I want to thank you for your splendid co-operation which has made -it possible for us to produce a magazine of unusual excellence. Too, I -am sure that you will wish to express your gratitude to Dean Craig, who -has had his boys print fifty copies that you may each have one to keep -as a memento of this school year which is now closing. In it, on page -fifteen, you will find a list of all your names and home addresses. This -will enable you to correspond with each other, even though you may not -return to this school another year.” Miss Torrence paused to take from a -table, near, a copy of the magazine. Several of the girls took that -opportunity to lean over and whisper, “Betsy, now we know why your name -is in.” - -For reply, that maid wrinkled her pert little nose, then turned toward -the front, for Miss Torrence was again speaking. - -“We have with us our former editress, Eleanor Pettes, and, at your -request, she will read the opening poem which she wrote in memory of her -school days here.” - -The English teacher seated herself and Eleanor went to the platform. Her -rather long poem told of pleasant events and friendships formed in the -three years she had spent at Vine Haven, and the girls were all glad -that they were going to have a copy of the magazine for their very own. - -Eleanor Burgess then read her short story, and one after another of the -stories and poems followed, the young authors going to the platform as -their turns came. - -At last Mrs. Martin rose and said smilingly, “That is all, young ladies, -you may now go to your rooms, for I am sure that you will want to rest -before dressing for the evening party.” - -Babs leaned forward to whisper: “There, Miss Betsy, I told you that your -name wouldn’t be in, that is, not more than any of the others.” But Miss -Torrence was motioning the girls to remain seated. - -“Pardon me, Mrs. Martin,” she said, turning toward the principal, “may I -detain the young ladies one more moment? I wish to read one item, which, -though neither a poem nor story, is, I am sure, of unusual interest. -Five names are to be added to the Honor Roll. These are Betsy Clossen, -Sally MacLean, Dicky Taylor, Anne Petersen and Eleanor Burgess.” - -Such a hand clapping as followed. Then, at a motion for dismissal, the -girls thronged around Betsy, Sally and Dicky, congratulating and -teasing. Invariably, in response to the astonished inquiries, “How in -the world did you manage to do it?” all three replied. “Don’t ask us! -Ask Virginia!” - -“All right. Here is the answer,” that maiden smilingly replied. “You -chose a definite goal and then kept working straight toward it just as -Mrs. Martin has always told us is the only way to attain success.” - -“Hurrah for us!” The irrepressible Betsy sprang up on a ladder that led -to a cross-bar. There, holding by one hand, and waving her cherry-red -hair ribbon in the other, she recited gaily: - - “Three cheers for Virginia Davis, - Who has dragged us along to success. - The very best president there ever was. - Do we love her? Well, I’ll say YES!” - -Virginia was pleased when her friends all joined in the cheering, and -how she wished her brother Malcolm and Uncle Tex could hear it. - -“But I’ll soon be able to tell them all about it,” Virginia thought, -with a sudden warm glow in her heart. Then, as the merry throng had -started to ascend the basement stairs on the way to their rooms, where -they were expected to rest for an hour before dressing for the party, -she confided to the girl nearest, “Margaret, just think, in one week you -and I will be home on the wonderful desert. Are you glad?” - -There was an unmistakable answer in the eyes that were lifted and in the -loving squeeze that the older girl felt on her arm, though no word was -spoken. Even Virginia did not guess how eager Margaret was to see her -guardian, the earnest quiet lad, Malcolm Davis. - -At the entrance to Sweet Pickle Alley, Betsy whirled to say: “Sally and -I are going to be the belles of the party tonight, so don’t anybody dare -to speak a loud word for the next hour, being as we are going to take -our beauty nap.” - -“You’ll need more than an hour for that——” Bess began teasingly, then -she darted for her room, followed by Margaret. - -A very unusual silence did settle down on the upper corridor, but it was -soon broken by the stealthy opening of a door. - -It was Margaret who on tip-toe crossed the narrow hall which the girls -called Apple Blossom Lane. Ever so lightly she tapped on the door -opposite. If Virginia were really asleep, she could not have heard, but -she was awake, sitting in the easy chair close to the open window -through which a breeze from the sea was wafting. - -“Come in, dear,” her smile was welcoming. “I thought you planned taking -a nap.” - -Virginia moved over, for that deep comfortable chair was wide enough for -two slender girls. “I knew that Eleanor had gone home,” Margaret began, -“directly after the reading, and, since you were alone I thought—well, I -guess I felt a little home sick. Babs is a dear, but Virg, you and -Malcolm are all the real home folks that I have. I hope we’ll never be -separated again, not even by a narrow hall.” - -Virginia slipped her arm about her brother’s ward and the golden head -and the brown rested close together. For a time they were silent, just -content to be together. After a time Megsy spoke. “We’re not coming back -next year, are we?” - -“No, dear. I am not. I feel that the home on the desert needs me. I want -you to come, if you wish, but I shall be glad if you are content at V. -M. with me.” - -Impulsively Margaret turned and clung to her friend. “Oh, Virg,” she -half sobbed, “I don’t know why I have doubted. You haven’t given me any -reason to, but I sometimes thought perhaps you would rather have Eleanor -Pettes or someone older and wiser than I am for your very dearest -friend. I’ve tried to be glad but I’ve been so—so foolishly lonesome.” - -“Why, little-big sister, I never dreamed that you felt left out. In the -very beginning, I would have chosen you for my roommate, don’t you know -that dear? But who else would have wanted to room with Winona? No one -understands her as I do, and then, there was Babs. She began at once to -prattle about your rooming together as you had done the year before.” - -“Oh, I know I have been silly, and I’m awfully sorry, Virg. It wasn’t -that I thought you ought to like me best. I don’t think I’m anywhere -near nice enough for that, and you’re heaps wiser, but just the same I -wanted to be loved best. It’s horribly selfish, isn’t it?” - -Virginia held her companion in a closer clasp. She was thinking of the -mother and father love that they both of them had lost. - -“No, dear, it is not selfish for us to want our sisters and our brothers -to love us best and we do, deeply, truly, sincerely.” She kissed -Margaret and rose, for there had been a sudden stir in the corridors. -The hour of rest was over and an excited hum of voices told that the -girls were preparing to dress for the party which was one of the great -events of the school year. - -A merry pounding on the closed door announced arrivals and before Virg -could open it, a group of laughing girls burst in unceremoniously. They -were dragging Sally whose wealth of long golden hair had been unbraided -and hung to her knees. She was wearing an exquisite pale blue silk -kimona embroidered with delicate pink flowers which her doting mother -had sent her as a gift from Paris. There were slippers to match. - -“Virg,” Betsy Clossen cried, “isn’t our Sally a picture? If she could -appear in that tonight, wouldn’t she be the belle of the ball all -right?” - -“If I had hair like yours Sal, I’d think life was worth living.” Dicky -Taylor perched on the arm of a chair and looked admiringly at the maid -whose cheeks were flushed and whose eyes sparkled. Breaking away from -her truly admiring tormentors, Sally darted for the door. “I may -surprise you and _be_ the belle of the ball for all your teasing. Just -wait and see.” - -“Was that a threat?” Betsy began, then chancing to glance at the clock, -she sprang up from the window seat, grabbed Dicky and Babs and pushed -them toward the door. “Only three-quarters of an hour to dress and if we -intend to outshine Sally, we’ll have to do a powerful lot of prinking.” - -Margaret and Virginia left alone, smiled at each other. “What a merry -trio Babs, Betsy and Dicky are,” Virg said as she let down her own sunny -hair and began to brush it. - -“Dear,” Margaret said, “you’ve done a good many things this year worth -the doing, but among the most lasting in its influence for good, I do -believe is the change that you have wrought in Sally. She used to be so -self-conscious and simpering; probably because her mother was always -asking people if they didn’t think she was a beautiful child, but now, -when we really were admiring that wonderful hair of hers, she would have -like to pummel us.” - -“She’s a dear girl,” Virginia agreed, “and I only hope her unwise mother -will not be able to undo the good we have done. But do hurry, Megsy, if -you are to compete for the honor of being belle of the ball.” - -“I plead not guilty. I’m going to vote for you, of course.” Then she -skipped to her room across the hall, but scarcely had she gone, when -Dicky Taylor appeared, dressed in the ruffly white gown but carrying a -long pale green hair ribbon, “Oh, I say, Virg,” she pleaded, “won’t you -have pity on a ‘pusson’ whose fingers are all thumbs? I’ve tried twenty -times to tie a beautiful butterfly bow for my crowning ornament but I -simply can’t do it.” - -“Of course I will.” Virginia’s skillful fingers soon fashioned a -graceful bow which she pinned atop of the short dark locks. With profuse -thanks, Dicky darted away but almost at once Babs and Betsy appeared. -“Oh, I say, Virg, that’s being partial. Betsy’ll get all the votes just -because of that adorable bow. Show us how to make ours.” - -“Better still, I’ll make them!” When the grateful girls were gone, Megsy -appeared. “Why, Virg, it’s ten minutes to dinner time and you aren’t -dressed. I was going to ask you to tie my sash, but instead I’m going to -help you.” - -Virginia’s toilet was completed just as the supper bell rang. “There’s -to be a new way to choose the belle tonight. I wonder what it is to be,” -Betsy whispered as the excited girls trooped down to the dining room. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXII - - THE BELLE OF THE PARTY - - -After dinner the girls flocked to their rooms for a last peep into -mirrors and a last adjusting of ribbon or ruffle. - -The members of The Adventure Club were all in Dicky Taylor’s room, when -Cora and Dora Crowell darted up from the lower corridor and bouncing -into “The Sign of the Tea Kettle,” they closed the door and looked -around beamingly. - -“We’ve found out about it,” Cora began. - -“And we thought we’d be the first to spring it. We know you are just -dying of curiosity,” Dora seconded. - -“They’ve all come and my, don’t they look handsome, though? Dean Craig -just ushered them into the library.” - -“But what we don’t know is what’s in the boxes that they gave to Delia. -She took them right into Mrs. Martin’s office.” - -“Girls, you make me dizzy. Begin at the beginning. What have you found -out?” Dicky inquired. - -“The way the belle of the party is to be chosen. Instead of voting for -the most popular girl as we did last year, we are to vote for a boy to -lead the grand march and he is to choose the belle.” Dora was much -excited. She was far more interested in having been the first to hear -the new plan than she was in the plan itself. - -“That’s a spiffy idea!” It was of course Betsy who had spoken. - -“Babs and I’ll vote for Benjy Wilson. I say, girls, I wish you’d all -vote for Benjy, then the belle is sure to be chosen from our crowd.” - -“Out with her,” Dicky cried teasingly. “Betsy’s trying to influence the -vote.” - -“I’m crazy to know what is in the boxes,” Dora chattered on. “One was -large and round and there were six smaller ones.” - -“I’ll bet its candy. I hope I’ll draw the big one.” - -“Bets, there’s nothing piggy about you, is there?” - -“Hark, footsteps approach.” Dora peeped out of the partly open door. -“It’s Miss King! Sh! Don’t let on I told.” - -The instructress of manners and gymnastics appeared, and for once she -was actually smiling. After all, even teachers, at times, were human. - -“Young ladies, IF you please, form a line in the upper corridor as -quickly and quietly as you can that you may not be heard by the guests -who have assembled in the library.” - -The excited girls took their places so softly that not a rustle could -have been heard. Their cheeks were flushed, their eyes sparkled and -there was not a heart under the pretty white ruffles that was beating -normally. - -Mrs. Martin in a gray silk gown stood in the lower corridor and the -girls courtesied as they passed her. She smiled and nodded in return and -in her heart was a warm glow of pride. Mrs. Martin loved her girls, even -the most mischievous of them. - -The lads in their dress uniforms were standing about the big library -which had been cleared of furniture and which had crash on the floor. -Miss Torrence and Dean Craig received and introduced, but at first there -was a stiffness and shyness evident that these two were at a loss how to -overcome. “Suppose we ask our Glee Club to sing,” Dean Craig suggested. -This was done. Donald Dearing, with a truly beautiful tenor voice, sang -the solo parts and a group of lads joined in the chorus. - -Then Sally MacLean was asked to play on her harp. She had consented to -take part in the program if her harp might be concealed by palms, but -there were a few in the big room who stood in such a position that the -palms could not hide from them the truly beautiful girl who sat at the -golden harp. These were the lads who had just been singing. Donald -Dearing, with his arms crossed, watched the all-unconscious girl as she -played, and never before had Sally played with such sympathetic feeling. -Something in the tenor voice had stirred a responsive chord in her music -loving soul and had inspired her. - -When the first waltz was played by two of the boys from Drexel on the -piano and violin, Sally tried to slip away unobserved, but found Donald -waiting for her near the palms. “May I have this dance with you, Miss -MacLean?” he asked. Then, as they joined the others, he said softly, “My -sister, who left us, was learning to play the harp. You like music, -don’t you?” - -“Yes,” the girl replied. “I love it. Next year mother is to take me to -Paris that I may study there?” - -“Good,” the lad replied, brightly. “Then, perhaps, if I may I shall be -able to call on your mother and you, for my Dad is still stationed over -there and I am to spend my vacations with him. He wants me to get my -training at Drexel, because he did.” - -Virginia glanced across the room when the dance was over and the young -people were seated. In her heart there was a glow of pride for she could -not but know her friendship had helped Sally to become the sweetly, -sensible girl that she now was, treating her boy comrade in as frank and -friendly a manner as she would a girl companion. - -Somehow it seemed fitting that Donald Dearing should have the most votes -and everyone knew that Sally would be chosen by him as “belle.” - -Standing at his side, that flushed and happy girl was asked to choose -three lassies to follow her in the march while Donald chose their -partners. - -Then Dora’s curiosity was satisfied concerning the content of the boxes. - -A large bouquet of orchids and violets was given to Sally and smaller -ones to the lucky girls who were chosen as her attendants. - -How great was the change in Sally was made evident that night when the -guests were gone. “Shall you press the orchids and keep them to remember -Donald Dearing?” Betsy inquired as they were preparing for bed. - -“No, indeed. I am going to give them to poor Miss Buell in the morning. -She’s been sick for two days and she hasn’t anything in her room to make -it cheerful,” was Sally’s unexpected reply. - -Somehow Betsy couldn’t tease, but she confided to Dicky Taylor that she -felt in her bones that some day Sally would become Mrs. Donald Dearing. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXIII - - FAREWELL TO VINE HAVEN - - -The school year was over. Trunks strapped and ready to be taken away -were piled high in the lower corridor. Girls arrayed in traveling suits, -many of them with hats already on, were hurrying about visiting each -other’s rooms to say farewell. - -“Oh, how I do envy you all,” Betsy Clossen declared as she stood by the -window watching Babs and Megsy in their last preparations for departure. - -“You four girls all going West together with that nice Benjy Wilson as -escort. I’d give anything if I could go, too, but Fate is certainly -against me.” - -The usually cheerful Betsy Clossen looked so dismally doleful that -Margaret sprang up from the floor where she had been strapping a -suitcase and caught the hands of her friend as she exclaimed: “Why, -Betsy, you look as though you were about to cry. What has happened? I -thought you had such happy plans for the summer? Aren’t you going to -that nice aunt’s summer home for three months?” - -The other girl shook her head. “I did expect to go and I was so happy -about it,” she replied, “but today Mrs. Martin had a long distance -telephone message from my uncle. The boys have scarlet fever and the -house will be quarantined for at least a month, maybe even longer.” - -Virginia, who had appeared in the doorway, had heard and she said: “Why, -Betsy, that will leave you all alone in this big rambling old house, -won’t it, for even Mrs. Martin is going and only a caretaker is to -remain.” - -The girl nodded and tears rolled down her cheeks, “Dad would have taken -me with him had he known, but he sailed for London last week on -business.” Then with April-like suddenness, she smiled through her tears -and exclaimed with an effort at cheerfulness, “But there, I don’t want -to sadden you all on this day which has been such a happy one. I suppose -it won’t be so very terrible when I get used to it. I can read all the -books in the library and—and—” the poor girl’s lips quivered, and -throwing her arms about Virginia, she sobbed, “but worst of all will be -nights without one of you here. I’ve tried all day to be brave, the way -you would have been, Virginia, but I guess we’re made of different -material.” - -Virg had been thinking rapidly. “Wait here a moment,” she said. “I’ll be -back in a jiff.” Then away Virginia went, leaving her companions to -wonder where she was going and why. A moment later she tapped on the -office door of the principal. That good woman bade her enter and -Virginia said, “Mrs. Martin, would it be possible for Betsy Clossen to -visit me on the V. M. Ranch during the month that her aunt’s home is -quarantined?” - -The older woman looked up brightly and picking up a yellow envelope, she -exclaimed, “Betsy’s aunt just wired me two hundred dollars and asked me -to send the little girl to some summer camp where I knew she would be -well cared for and happy, but nowhere in the world would Betsy be -happier, dear Virginia, than with you.” Then the principal glanced at -her watch. “Do you think that you girls could help her pack and be ready -for the second bus which leaves in one hour?” - -“Indeed we can, Mrs. Martin, and thank you ever and ever so much. We all -love Betsy and will be ever so glad to have her with us.” - -When she was alone, Mrs. Martin thought. “Dear girl, it is her joy to -give pleasure to others and it isn’t a pose either. It is just -Virginia.” - -The girls were watching the open door when they heard the feet of their -returning friend dancing along the corridor. - -“Virginia has some good news,” Margaret said brightly. “I can tell by -the way she is skipping.” - -It was indeed marvellously good news to Betsy Clossen and to the other -girls who were going West. They wanted to dance in a ring around, but -Virg laughingly remonstrated. “Take off your hats, Megsy and Babs, and -forward march to Betsy’s room. We have fifty minutes by the clock to -pack her trunk,” she commanded. - -“You’d better wash your face. It’s all tear stains.” Babs looked -critically at the now fairly beaming Betsy. - -“I’ll say I’ll wash,” was the characteristic reply. “Oh, girls, aren’t -we going to have scads of fun? Of all my maddest, gladdest, -never-expected-to-come-true dreams, this is the superlativest.” Betsy -was getting into her traveling suit with little heed to which button -went where. However, so rapidly and skillfully did loving hands help -that by quarter to ten they were all in the lower corridor waiting for -the second bus. - -“Megs, I wish you’d give me the once over,” Betsy begged. “I feel sure -some of the hooks got into the wrong eyes, and my hair actually feels -tousled.” - -Margaret laughed. “Betsy won’t care how her hair looks when she rides -bareback out on the desert,” she said to Babs. - -“Me? Ride bareback? Why, I’ve never even been on horseback.” - -“Then you have a new experience ahead of you. I’ll prophecy that before -a week is out you’ll be riding the wildest broncho Malcolm has on V. -M.,” Margaret told her. - -Just then the principal appeared and Virginia, stepping from the group, -said: “Mrs. Martin, the girls have asked me to tell you that we are most -grateful for all that you have done for us during the past year. Babs is -coming back, but Margaret and I are planning to remain with my brother.” -Then impulsively the girl added. “Mrs. Martin, won’t you come West some -day and visit us?” - -In thinking of it afterwards Virginia could only recall that the -principal had kissed her with unusual tenderness, then the bus had -arrived, the trunk was carried out and the girls were urged by Micky to -hurry. - -As the two big white horses turned out between the high stone gates, -Virginia looked back at the imposing building. Her mother’s wish had -been fulfilled. The daughter she so loved had been East to school, and -how Virginia hoped that she was now better fitted to fill that loved -mother’s place in the home that had been so lonely on V. M. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Virginia's Adventure Club - -Author: Grace May North - -Release Date: May 1, 2020 [EBook #61987] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VIRGINIA'S ADVENTURE CLUB *** - - - - -Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - -</pre> - -<h1>VIRGINIA’S ADVENTURE CLUB</h1> -<div class='section'> -<div class='figcenter' style='width:80%; max-width:453px;'> -<img src='images/frontis.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%;height:auto;' /> -<p class='caption'>“I’m not scared of you,” she said.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class='section'> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;'> -<div style='font-size:1.4em;margin-bottom:1em;'>VIRGINIA’S ADVENTURE CLUB</div> -<div>By</div> -<div style='font-size:1.2em;margin-bottom:1em;'>GRACE MAY NORTH</div> -<div style='font-size:0.9em;'>Author of</div> -<div style='font-size:0.9em;'>“Virginia of V. M. Ranch,” “Virginia at Vine Haven,”</div> -<div style='font-size:0.9em;'>“Virginia’s Ranch Neighbors,” “Virginia’s Romance.”</div> -</div> -<div class='figcenter' style='width:23%; max-width:196px;'> -<img src='images/illus-tpg.png' alt='' style='width:100%;height:auto;' /> -</div> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;'> -<div>A. L. BURT COMPANY</div> -<div>Publishers New York</div> -<div>Printed in U. S. A.</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class='section'> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;'> -<div>THE</div> -<div style='margin-bottom:1em;'>VIRGINIA DAVIS SERIES</div> -<div>A SERIES OF STORIES FOR GIRLS OF</div> -<div style='margin-bottom:1em;'>TWELVE TO SIXTEEN YEARS OF AGE</div> -<div>By GRACE MAY NORTH</div> -</div> -<div style='text-align:center; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em'> -<div style='display:inline-block; text-align:left;'> -<div class='cbline'>VIRGINIA OF V. M. RANCH</div> -<div class='cbline'>VIRGINIA AT VINE HAVEN</div> -<div class='cbline'>VIRGINIA’S ADVENTURE CLUB</div> -<div class='cbline'>VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS</div> -<div class='cbline'>VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE</div> -</div> -</div> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;'> -<div>Copyright, 1924</div> -<div style='margin-bottom:1em;'>By A. L. BURT COMPANY</div> -<div style='margin-bottom:1em;'>VIRGINIA’S ADVENTURE CLUB</div> -<div style='font-size:0.8em;'>Made in “U. S. A.”</div> -</div> -</div> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;'> -<div style='font-size:1.4em;'>VIRGINIA’S ADVENTURE CLUB</div> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chI' title='The Adventure Club'>CHAPTER I<br />THE ADVENTURE CLUB</h2> -</div> -<p>“Now that the Christmas holidays are over,” Babs remarked on the first -Monday evening after the close of the short vacation, “I mean to redeem -myself.”</p> -<p>Margaret Selover looked down at the Dresden China girl who, her fluffy -golden curls loosened from their fastenings, was wearing a blue corduroy -kimona which matched her eyes. Babs sat tailorwise upon the furry white -rug close to their grate fire.</p> -<p>Megsy laughed. “Which means?” she inquired as she sat in front of her -birds-eye maple dressing table, brushing her pretty brown hair.</p> -<p>“Which means that I have determined to startle the natives by getting my -name on the honor roll. Watchez-vous me! See if I don’t.”</p> -<p>“I certainly admire your French.” Margaret was donning her golden brown -robe that was woolly and warm. Then, when she, too, was seated opposite -her roommate, she inquired: “But why this sudden ambition? I thought -your motto has always been ‘Learn as little as you can, for wisdom makes -a stupid man.’”</p> -<p>“Well, doesn’t it?” Babs flashed. “Take Professor Crowell fer instance. -He probably knows as much as the encyclopædia, and yet, who can deny but -that he is stupid. He goes around ruminating on things that nobody else -could understand, and he can’t even tell his own daughters apart.”</p> -<p>Margaret laughed. “Well, belovedest, I don’t think you and I are either -of us in danger of becoming as wise as Professor Crowell, and as for -telling Dora and Cora apart—who can? Certainly not Mrs. Martin, and -they’ve been in this school since they were small.” Then more seriously, -she clasped her hands over her drawn-up knees, Margaret continued: “But -I would like to be as wise as Miss Torrence. When she is reading to us -and there is a reference to someone or something that happened in the -long ago, you know how her eyes brighten. She is seeing a picture that -represents it. I know, because yesterday when I came across a reference -to the Peripatetic school, I was as pleased as Punch. I knew at once -that the Greek word meant ‘to walk,’ and that it had been used because -Aristotle, the greatest of ancient philosophers, walked up and down in -his garden while teaching. And so I have decided that, if learning does -nothing else, it adds a lot to one’s own pleasure.”</p> -<p>Babs glanced at the clock over the mantle. “I don’t see why the girls -don’t come,” she said, trying to suppress a little yawn. Margaret -laughed and leaned over to poke up the fire. “My professorial discourse -has evidently made you sleepy. Hark! I believe I hear approaching -giggles.”</p> -<p>A merry tattoo on the closed door announced the arrival of the expected -guests, and in they trooped, each wearing a bath robe or warm kimona of -the color which the owner believed to be most becoming to her particular -type of beauty.</p> -<p>Betsy Clossen, in a brilliant cherry-red robe, was the first to burst -in. Then, observing the solemn faces of the two before the fire, she -remarked inelegantly: “For Pete’s sake, who died? I thought we were -going to have a giggle-fest to celebrate our reunion, after the long -separation, and here are our hostesses looking as though they had just -heard that they’d both failed in the final tests.”</p> -<p>The newcomers dropped down on chairs or floor, as they preferred. -Barbara continued to look unusually solemn. “That’s just it,” she -announced. Then to Margaret: “That’s why I told you awhile ago that I -mean to redeem myself. I flunked on the holiday tests, and I was the -only one in our crowd who did. Even Betsy—” She paused and there was a -mischievous twinkle in the blue eyes that had been serious longer than -was their wont.</p> -<p>“Believe me, I just got through by the skin of my teeth!” that maiden -announced in her characteristic manner. “Spent too much time playing -detective, and failed at that, too.”</p> -<p>“I’ll tell you what!” Virginia Davis, who had been a sympathetic -listener, spoke for the first time. “Let’s have a study club and meet in -one of our rooms every Saturday evening and have an oral review of the -week’s work.”</p> -<p>“Ooh!” moaned Betsy; “that doesn’t sound very interesting.”</p> -<p>“I’m for it,” Babs announced; “and when the grind part is over, couldn’t -we have refreshments?” This, hopefully.</p> -<p>“Why, of course. We are always allowed to make fudge on Saturday -evening—” Virginia had begun, when Betsy put in: “Oh, I say; please -change the name of it; then I’ll enjoy it heaps more, if one can enjoy -anything related to learning.”</p> -<p>“Can’t we think up some name that won’t sound the least bit studious? -Then we can have the real object a secret.”</p> -<p>“We might call it The Adventure Club if you would enjoy the meetings -more than you would if we called it The Weekly Review.” Margaret -smilingly suggested.</p> -<p>“I’m for it,” Betsy declared, then added doubtfully. “I suppose my new -roommate will think she ought to be let in on it. Would any of you mind? -She’s not such a bad sort.”</p> -<p>“Who did you draw, Bets? I thought you hoped you were to have your room -alone this term.”’</p> -<p>“So did I, but Fate was agin’ me. Just as I was spreading my duds all -over the room, thinking I was to be sole possessor, along came Mrs. -Martin with a roommate for me. Since Sally MacLean didn’t come the first -term, I didn’t ever expect her back again.”</p> -<p>“Sentimental Sally!” Babs and Megsy exclaimed in one breath. “Has she -returned to Vine Haven?”</p> -<p>A doleful nod was Betsy’s only reply. Then she laughed gaily as though -at some merry memory. “I suppose you girls who don’t know her are -wondering why we call her ‘Sentimental Sally,’ and so I’ll tell you.”</p> -<p>“Well, proceed. We’re all ears, as the elephant’s child was once heard -to remark,” Barbara said as she leaned back against Virginia, who sat in -the easy willow chair.</p> -<p>“Is this Sentimental Sally, silly?” Virg inquired.</p> -<p>Betsy laughed. “Silly?” she repeated with rising inflection, “She’s -worse than that. She’s bugs! Or rather, she was. I sort of think she’s -cured. Time alone will tell.”</p> -<p>“Sally is always in love or thinks she is, which is perfectly -ridiculous,” Margaret explained, “since she is only fifteen.”</p> -<p>“I’ve sometimes thought that if Sally had had brothers, as we have, she -wouldn’t have had such foolish notions,” Barbara remarked. “You have the -floor now, Betsy, tell the girls the woeful tale of Sally’s downfall.”</p> -<p>“Well, to begin at the beginning, Miss Snoopins, otherwise known as the -Belligerent Buell, is death on members of the sex not fair.”</p> -<p>“Meaning boys,” Barbara put in.</p> -<p>“One of the rules that she made for the corridors was that no -photographs of the objectionable creatures should be displayed in our -rooms. Well, as usual, Sally was being sentimental about somebody, and -the somebody was certainly a most good-looking boy. She called him -‘Donald Dear’ and raved about him whenever she could find anyone to -listen.</p> -<p>“Of course she wanted to have his photo in her room, but that was -against the rules, so she got around it in this way. Her grandmother’s -picture was in a frame that was suspended between two little gilt -pillars and could be swung over with the back to the front, so to speak. -Sally fastened her Donald’s picture back of her grandmother’s photo, and -when she was all alone in the room, the boy smiled out at her, but when -she heard footsteps in the corridor, she darted to the mantel and turned -it over that her grandmother’s face might be the one to greet whoever -was about to enter. In this way Sally evaded Miss Snoopins for a long -time, but we knew that a day of reckoning would surely come. Nor were we -mistaken.</p> -<p>“We were all in her room on Thanksgiving. Maybe I ought to be ashamed to -confess that, silly as we thought her, we were willing enough to partake -of the spreads that came to her from a doting mother on any and all -holidays. Sally is good-natured and she just adores me. Not much of a -comp, considering her lack of brains, but anyway when we got a bid to -her room for a Thanksgiving spread, we were all there, Megsy, Babs, -Dicky Taylor and the present speaker. The craziest part of it was that -we might have had that spread early in the evening, with permission, if -we had wished, but that wouldn’t have been romantic enough to suit -Sally. She wanted to wait until the lights-out bell had rung and then, -when Miss Snoopins had passed down the hall, to be sure that the gong -had been obeyed, she wanted us to all steal into her room, which we did. -Sally then locked the door and hung a towel over the keyhole and drew -the rug over the crack at the bottom. We forgot that light might also -shine through the crack at the top. Then Sally lighted her prized -candelabra and set it on the floor in the middle of a big paper table -cloth. Oh, baby, it makes me hungry now to think of that spread. Say, -Babs, do you remember how tender and juicy that turkey was? Yum! And -those cranberries?” Megsy and Barbara nodded. Virginia smiled. “I’ve -read boarding school stories,” she said, “and there was always some such -prank. I suppose that just as the feast was about to be eaten, there -came a knock on the door and—”</p> -<p>But Betsy shook her head. “No, not that soon, thanks be. We had the -turkey devoured even to the bones and were starting on the dessert, when -Sally happened to look up at the mantle. If there wasn’t the -kindly-faced old grandmother smiling down at us. For once Sally had -forgotten to turn it over. Up she sprang and ‘Donald Dear’ beamed out. -Then, to prove just how sentimental she really was, Sally lighted two -tiny candles, one on either side of the frame.</p> -<p>“He certainly was a handsome chap, and we all talked about him as we ate -the delicious pumpkin pie. We asked Sally where she had met him, how old -he was and if she were going to marry him when she grew up. She said yes -indeed, that they were engaged and that he just adored her. The only -reason that he didn’t write to her every day in the week was because -pupils at Vine Haven weren’t allowed to have letters from boys. Of -course we knew that. Now I happened to remember something which was, -that the first time that Sally had told me about Donald, she had said -that he was a class-mate of a boy cousin and that she had met him at her -aunt’s summer home, but that night she told the girls that she had met -Donald at a dance when she was visiting in Boston. Of course, being the -daughter of the most famous detective that ever was, I noticed that -discrepancy, though none of the other girls did, and I got suspicious at -once. If Sally didn’t know where she had met the handsome Donald (we all -agreed he was that), the question was had she really met him at all?</p> -<p>“However, I didn’t want to spoil the spread by asking any embarrassing -questions, but you know how tickled I was to have something to detect. -Well, I was just eating my last luscious bite of mince pie when I -pricked up an ear, so to speak. ‘Hist!’ I whispered, holding up one -finger. ‘Didst hear a prowler?’ The girls all sprang up on the alert.</p> -<p>“Of course we expected Miss Snoopins to appear and were prepared for the -worst.”</p> -<p>The narrator paused to be sure that she had properly aroused the -curiosity of her listeners, and then she continued: “There was no -mistaking the fact that there were footfalls without, then a voice said: -‘Open the door, young ladies, if you please.’ And it wasn’t the voice of -Miss Snoopins. It was no less a personage than Mrs. Martin who stood -there when the door was opened. Sally had at once darted to the mantel -to reverse the picture in the swinging frame, but we made no attempt to -hide the feast. It just couldn’t be done. My! but weren’t we skeered! We -were sure we’d all get our walking papers, but though Mrs. Martin -delivered a short lecture on setting an example to younger girls, she -said kindly: ‘This was absolutely unnecessary, Sally, for you know I am -always perfectly willing to permit you to share the box of good things -that your mother sends you.’</p> -<p>“Miss Snoopins, who of course had brought Mrs. Martin, stood back of our -beloved principal and she fairly glared at us. One could plainly see -that she was boiling within and more than ever wrathful because Mrs. -Martin was not severe. Suddenly her X-ray glance, which had been -sweeping over the floor with its evidences of guilt, chanced to fall -upon the mantel. Into the room she strode, looking like a caricature in -her flannel nightie, her skimpy kimona and her flapping bedroom -slippers. Never before had her nose looked so long and peaked or her -thin hair so tightly drawn back. When Sally saw the direction she was -taking she looked, and to her horror she beheld that in her haste she -had whirled the picture over twice, and that Donald dear was again -smiling down upon the company.</p> -<p>“Mrs. Martin, having asked us to promise that we would obtain permission -to have a feast, in the future, had retired and so she did not hear or -see what followed. Miss Snoopins’ green eyes fairly snapped. ‘Sally -MacLean, is that a boy’s picture?’ she demanded.</p> -<p>“There being no answer needed, Sally gave none, but she felt like -crying, she said, when the belligerent Buell snatched it from the back -of the frame to which it had been pinned and tore it into shreds. Even -the pieces she thrust into the pocket of her kimona. ‘One hundred -buttonholes in garments for the heathen,’ she said in no quiet voice. In -fact, all the girls on our corridor were awakened, and the first to -thrust their heads in at the door were Dora and Cora Crowell, and -weren’t they mad when they saw that we had had a feast and that they -weren’t in on it, but they were all back in their rooms before Miss -Snoopins left which she did after ordering us out and watching us go.</p> -<p>“Sally said she cried all night. She didn’t care to live without a -picture of her dear Donald. I said her cousin could send her another -picture of his roommate, but she didn’t reply. However, she looked so -sort of queer that I was more than ever sure that she was just using her -imagination.</p> -<p>“Nothing happened until Valentine’s day, and you remember, Megsy, that -Mrs. Martin said that Benjy Wilson might bring over a few of his friends -from the Drexel Military Academy to call and that one of the teachers, -Miss King, if she were free, would act as chaperone.</p> -<p>“That was a great occasion for the girls. Mrs. Martin excused us from -classes, as the calls were to be in the afternoon and Miss King took -that opportunity to drill us in how to receive visitors. After half an -hour of practice we skipped up to our rooms to get ready. We put on our -prettiest white dresses with gay colored sashes. Margaret and Babs were -to pour chocolate and Sally and I were to pass plates of wafers. This -reception was for all of our sophomore and senior girls. Of course, -Sentimental Sally was more excited than any of the rest of us, although -we were all interested. It was a pleasant break in the monotony of -school life. Eleanor Pettes had a single room at the front of the house -last year, and just as we were all dressed and waiting for a signal to -call us downstairs, Eleanor beckoned and we flocked to her room. ‘Here -they come,’ she whispered, as though they could hear, ‘and don’t they -look handsome, all of them in blue and gold dress uniforms.’</p> -<p>“They certainly did. There were about fifteen boys walking two by two -with Sergeant Hinkle, one of the seniors, in charge. Sally had been at -her mirror arranging her yellow curls in just the right places, and so -she hadn’t looked out the window, but she was ready a second later when -Miss King appeared to lead us downstairs.</p> -<p>“The boys were standing about in the library looking at the books on the -shelves or pretending to when we entered. Miss King spoke first with -Sergeant Hinkle, and then we were all introduced in a rather general -way, and we stood about talking in groups. I said to Sally: ‘There are -two boys over by the window and they look lonely. Let’s go and talk with -them.’</p> -<p>“‘All right,’ Sally agreed, ‘you lead the way.’</p> -<p>“Sally followed as I wedged through the groups, but when we got there we -found only one boy who stood with his arms folded looking about the room -with rather an amused expression on his really good-looking face. He -turned toward us questioningly for Sally had uttered a little cry of -amazement and had put her hand to her heart.</p> -<p>“Of course, I had recognized the boy at once. He was Donald Dear! He -looked at us pleasantly, even curiously, as he noted Sally’s very -evident agitation, but it was perfectly plain to me that he had never -seen either of us before.</p> -<p>“‘What did Sally say?’ Virginia inquired.</p> -<p>“‘She didn’t say—she bolted! She went up to her room and when the -callers were gone I found her there in tears.’</p> -<p>“‘She said that we’d all think she was a fibber, and that’s what she -really had been, for she hadn’t the least idea who the boy was in the -photograph. She just knew that he was a football player whose picture -was among a lot that her cousin had brought home from school. She said -she was just crazy about him and always would be.’</p> -<p>“‘Did Sally ever see him again?’ Virg inquired.</p> -<p>“‘No, I guess not. Benjy said that Donald Dearing went to France soon -after that to be with his father, who was stationed there.’</p> -<p>“Margaret looked meditatively into the fire. ‘If only girls knew how -much more boys like them when they are not sentimental,’ she said, ‘they -would all try to be just good comrades.’</p> -<p>“‘Sally didn’t return to Vine Haven the next term,’ Betsy continued. -‘Honestly, I felt sorry for her, and so I wrote her a Christmas letter -and told her the girls didn’t hold it against her because she had used -her imagination. She was so happy to get that letter and she packed -right up and came back to school.’</p> -<p>“‘Poor girl!’ Virginia said kindly. ‘Do bring her to the meetings of The -Adventure Club. Perhaps it will do her a lot of good. Don’t you think -so, everybody?’</p> -<p>“Babs and Margaret nodded. ‘I always liked Sally, and I’m pretty sure -that she won’t be sentimental again,’ Megsy replied.”</p> -<p>A get-ready-for-bed gong was pealing through the corridors and the girls -arose. “This is Monday,” Babs announced. “I’m going to study like a good -one, so I’ll know every question asked me at the Saturday Evening -Review.”</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chII' title='Sentimental Sally'>CHAPTER II<br />SENTIMENTAL SALLY</h2> -</div> -<p>Sally MacLean entered Barbara’s room almost shyly on the following -Saturday evening. She was pleased because Betsy had invited her to -attend The Adventure Club’s first gathering, but remembering her -humiliation of the year before, she was not sure how she would be -received.</p> -<p>But the old pupils acted just as though nothing had ever happened and -Virginia welcomed Sally, whom she had not chanced to meet since her -arrival, in her friendliest manner.</p> -<p>“Shall we begin the review at once?” the older girl asked. “Oh, dear me, -no!” Betsy protested. “If this is going to be a club, let’s elect -officers and frame rules, if that’s what it’s called, and choose a motto -an’ everything.”</p> -<p>“I choose to be committee on refreshments,” Babs sang out.</p> -<p>“I choose to be club detective,” Betsy put in.</p> -<p>“I vote for Virginia for president,” Margaret said.</p> -<p>“Second it! Third it! Fourth it!” came a succession of merry voices.</p> -<p>“Winona you may be secretary and I’ll be treasurer if there is to be -anything to treasure.” Margaret happened to glance at the slight girl -who sat somewhat in the shadow.</p> -<p>“Draw your chair into the firelight, Sallykins,” she called pleasantly. -“How can you expect to be elected to an office if you’re out of sight.” -The youngest member drew her chair forward, and when the flood of light -from the student lamp fell upon her doll pretty face and her long yellow -curls that hung to her waist, Virginia, for the first time, had a real -opportunity to observe her.</p> -<p>“Poor girl!” she thought. “She has been too much petted and pampered by -a rich mother, I guess, to develop any real character. How pretty she -would be, with those dark blue eyes and long curling lashes, if her face -wasn’t so weak. Perhaps the club will be able to help her.”</p> -<p>Virginia’s meditations were interrupted by Margaret, who was asking, -“Every one of us is holding an office except Sally. What can she be?”</p> -<p>“I choose her for my assistant,” Virg said.</p> -<p>“Whizzle! What an honor! Sal, think of that for dizzy soaring. Up from -the common ranks all in a jiff to vice president.”</p> -<p>Sally flushed, looking prettier than before. “I never do know, Betsy,” -she said feebly, “whether you’re making fun or not.”</p> -<p>Margaret intervened. “Just decide that she always is,” she suggested. “I -never knew Betsy Clossen to be solemn.”</p> -<p>“Then Mistress Megsy, you’re going to have a brand new experience, for I -am going to be solemn five minutes by the clock.” Turning to Virginia -she asked, her expression as big-eyed and serious as she could make it, -“Madame President, we have two objects for this club, one to study and -one to eat. We have each been appointed to an office of honor. It merely -remains now for us to select a fitting motto.”</p> -<p>Virginia smiled and the other girls laughed, but Betsy looked -reproachfully from one to the other and they could not make her change -her solemn expression. “Everybody think a moment,” Virg suggested, but -almost at once Babs sprang up and clapped her hands. “I know where there -are steens and steens of mottos, any one of them would do.”</p> -<p>“Where?” Megsy inquired.</p> -<p>“On my motto calendar. I’ll tell you what, Virg. You select a date and -I’ll read the motto that’s under it.”</p> -<p>“Well, then, January fifteenth, which is today.”</p> -<p>Barbara skipped to her bird’s-eye maple writing desk and read from the -small pad calendar.</p> -<p style='text-indent:0; margin:1em auto 1em 2em'> -“Do the work that’s nearest,<br /> -  Though it’s dull at whiles.<br /> -Helping when you meet them,<br /> -  Lame dogs over stiles.”<br /> -</p> -<p>Virginia smiled. “That’s excellent,” she said, “and let’s begin to put -it into effect. To do the work that’s nearest, Babs, please hand me that -pile of books yonder and I’ll begin the weekly review.”</p> -<p>“Ooh!” Betsy sank far down in her chair and looked so despondent that -the others laughed. “Let’s get this part over as quickly as ever we -can,” Barbara begged. “I’m almost famished for fudge.”</p> -<p>The review that evening proved two things to the president of the club. -One was that Barbara had really studied during the week that had just -ended and her pretty flushed face and eager way of answering showed that -at last she was really interested in learning.</p> -<p>But when Sally was asked to repeat William Cullen Bryant’s -“Thanatopsis,” the poem that all of the girls in Miss Torrence classes -were required to memorize soon or late, that doll-like little maid -became so confused that Virginia quickly realized that she had no -understanding of what the lines meant.</p> -<p>“Girls,” Virginia said, looking at the others rather than at the -embarrassed newcomer, “there is only one real way to learn poetry, I -think, and that is to first picture what it means. When we thoroughly -understand the sentiment, we can far more easily memorize the words of -the poem.” Then very kindly, “Sally, what picture came to you when you -recited the lines</p> -<p style='text-indent:0; margin:1em auto 1em 2em'> -“To him who in the love of nature holds<br /> -Communion with her visible forms, she speaks<br /> -A various language; for his gayer hours<br /> -She has a voice of gladness and a smile<br /> -And eloquence of beauty, and she glides<br /> -Into his darker musings with a mild<br /> -And healing sympathy that steals away<br /> -Their sharpness ere he is aware.”<br /> -</p> -<p>There was an almost startled expression in the baby-blue eyes that -turned toward the speaker. “Why, I don’t believe I saw any picture. I -was just trying to remember how the words came.”</p> -<p>Margaret spoke. “Virginia,” she said, “those lines always mean one thing -to me. When father died, I felt as though I could not stay in the house. -The very walls oppressed me and so I ran away to a little woods that we -owned and where father and I had often walked after mother left us. I -had been sobbing for hours in my room and it was late afternoon when I -reached the wood. I threw myself down on the moss near a little fern -edged stream and though I cried at first, the gentle murmur of those -great old trees seemed to soothe me and brought a peace and somehow I -felt, that, though I could not see him, my dear father was still with -me. Ever since then I have loved Thanatopsis and have better understood -its meaning.”</p> -<p>“Too, it is true that nature companions our happier moods with gladness -and song,” Virginia said. “Many a time when I have felt joyous and have -galloped on Comrade across the shining desert; the shout of the wind; -the frolicking of the rabbits; the very mountain peaks seemed to be -rejoicing with me. Nature truly is a wonderful companion.”</p> -<p>Sally was listening with intelligent interest. “Oh, I believe I could -recite it now, Virginia. I think I understand better what it means.”</p> -<p>And she did, no longer afraid.</p> -<p>That ended the review for the evening and Betsy leaped up to pass the -fudge and this time she generously turned the plate so that Babs would -be obliged to take the piece that was nuttiest, it being nearest her.</p> -<p>That night when Virginia and Winona had returned to their room, they -stood for a few moments, after the lights had been put out, to gaze -toward the ocean, over which hung one burning star that was much larger -than any of the others.</p> -<p>Its path of quivering gold led toward the shore. They had opened the -window and they could hear the murmurous plash of the waves on the sand, -for the tide was out, and the surf was not crashing against the cliffs.</p> -<p>These two, who so loved and understood nature, were quiet for a time. -Then Winona spoke. “Virg,” she said, “I have felt a strange stirring -within of late. It isn’t discontent, but a soul-voice is urging me to do -something really worthwhile.”</p> -<p>The light had been turned on again and the girls were preparing for bed.</p> -<p>“What are you planning to do, Winona, that will be more worthwhile?” -Virginia was sure that her Indian friend had not spoken without giving -the matter long and earnest contemplation.</p> -<p>“I do not feel that this school is just the place that I should be.” -Then she hastily continued when she saw an expression of concern in the -face of her dearly loved companion, “I’m not unhappy here, white Lily, -but I seem to know that something else is waiting for me to do. I shall -be ready when it comes.”</p> -<p>They said no more that night as the last “lights-out” bell was ringing -and after that, silence in the rooms was the rule.</p> -<p>Virginia lay awake a long time watching the star that hung like a -lantern in the bit of dark blue of the sky that was framed in her -window. Her thoughts were of Winona. How calm and strong she was. She -would indeed be ready when the call came to do the worthwhile thing, -whatever sacrifice might be required of her.</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chIII' title='A Secret Enemy'>CHAPTER III<br />A SECRET ENEMY</h2> -</div> -<p>“Hist. Virg, hold on a minute!”</p> -<p>The tall slender girl warmly wrapped in hood and long cloak turned in -surprise as she was about to enter the little pine wood, beyond which -lay the cabin of her beloved teacher and friend Miss Torrence.</p> -<p>She was indeed puzzled when she saw Betsy equally well protected from -the sleet and snow arise from a clump of bushes near the path.</p> -<p>“How you startled me,” the older girl said, “with that mysterious -sounding ‘Hist’ of yours. Do detectives always do that?”</p> -<p>“I don’t know,” Betsy confessed. “I never did hear my dad say it and -he’s the only detective of my acquaintance.” Then stepping over a snow -bank that she might stand in the shoveled path, she continued, “I wanted -to waylay you. I’ve something to tell you. I really hate to. It sounds -sort of sneaky, but we of The Adventure Club have just got to stand -together and protect each other, haven’t we, Madame President?”</p> -<p>“Why, yes. I think we should. What have you heard?”</p> -<p>“Well, I didn’t have much of anything to do this morning, being as it’s -Saturday and I thought I’d go up to the Tower Room that’s been vacant -since Gwendolyn Laureat went away before Christmas. I never will know -why I stole up those stairs as quietly as ever I could, unless it’s -because sleuths in the movies always do steal about that way. When I got -to the top of the stairs, I saw that the door was closed. There was -nothing particularly strange about that, but, just as I had my hand on -the knob to turn it, I heard voices inside. I tell you, it gave me a -start! I remembered all the stories about that room being haunted and I -was just about to dart away when I recognized one of the voices. The -speaker stood so close to the door I could hear what she said. It was -Kathryn Von Wellering and from what she was saying I knew that she is -your enemy.”</p> -<p>“My enemy?” Virginia exclaimed in surprise. “Why, what have I done to -make Miss Von Wellering dislike me? All of the girls in that ‘Exclusive -Three’ group have failed to know that I exist.”</p> -<p>Betsy looked wise. “Don’t you remember that your story was voted first -place in last term’s contest and that her story came out third? She had -boasted about among her set that she would be the next Editress of The -Manuscript Magazine and she isn’t used to not having what she wants.”</p> -<p>“Oh, that’s it. But what can she do?”</p> -<p>“What I heard her say was that she was going to see to it that the first -copy of the magazine was such a failure that Miss Torrence would gladly -appoint her as Editor.”</p> -<p>Virginia looked troubled. “I’m truly sorry about this. I never did want -the position and if Miss Von Wellering really wants it, I shall be glad -to give it to her.”</p> -<p>“Well, you’ll freeze, Virg, if I keep you standing out in this snowstorm -any longer, but I just want to tell you that I heard one of the three -say that you would find, at the last minute, that your own story was the -only usable contribution that you would receive.”</p> -<p>“Why, that can’t be possible. Miss Torrence told me this very morning -that she would have a short story by Anne Peterson and a poem by Belle -Wiley to give me before the Manuscript Magazine is made up.”</p> -<p>“It certainly is too bad that Eleanor Pettes decided to go to college -prep this term instead of coming here,” Virginia sighed. “She would know -just what to do.” Then, brightly, “But I must hurry along. It was lucky -that I started earlier than usual for Pine Cabin or I would be dolefully -late.”</p> -<p>“I’ll keep my eyes and ears open,” Betsy promised as she began to walk -backwards toward the school. “But don’t give up the ship, Virg. Stick at -your post and we’ll back you. Whizzle, I’ll write a story myself or a -poem, even, if you run short of material.” Then, turning, she started to -run, while Virginia continued on her way smiling, as she thought of what -the Manuscript Magazine would be, if Betsy Clossen tried to write for -it. Betsy’s forte most certainly was not composition.</p> -<p>When Virg entered the Pine Cabin whither she had gone alone to discuss -the first edition of The Monthly Magazine, which had been Miss -Torrence’s pet hobby since she first began to teach at Vine Haven, the -girl noted a perplexed expression in the eyes of her friend and teacher -as she looked up from her desk that was scattered over with papers.</p> -<p>“Virginia,” Miss Torrence began at once, “I cannot understand in the -least what has happened. The story and poem that have been handed in by -Anne Petersen and Belle Wiley are not fit to use. They never before did -such poor work. In fact, these contributions do not sound at all like -their style of composition. I was particularly anxious to have our -January Manuscript Magazine an excellent one as Dean Craig of the Drexel -Academy was asking me about the plan and requested that he might see our -January number. He may start a similar magazine in his English classes. -We surely can’t use work as poor as this and there remains but one week -in which to find a really excellent short story. Kathryn Von Wellering -has withdrawn her story saying that it cannot be used unless she is -given the position of editor.”</p> -<p>“I’d be glad to let her have it,” Virg said, but Miss Torrence shook her -head. “Character as well as literary ability are taken into -consideration when we appoint a girl at Vine Haven to a post of honor, -and Kathryn’s influence is not of the best. Well, we have a week to try -to unearth a worthwhile story.” Virginia soon left, wondering where a -story was to be found. Virg thought often that snowy Saturday about what -both Miss Torrence and Betsy Clossen had told her. It was hard to -believe that she had a real enemy, she who had befriended everything -that lived and who felt kindly toward all.</p> -<p>“Virg, I believe that you actually would give up the post of honor that -you have won,” Margaret declared that evening as she prepared for a -second meeting of The Adventure Club.</p> -<p>“Why not?” the girl addressed glanced up brightly. “It was an honor -thrust upon me, not one that I coveted. It isn’t bringing me any great -happiness and it has brought me an enemy. Who will, may have it, or, I -mean, could-if it were within my power to dispose of it, but Miss -Torrence has expressed her desire that I retain the position whether or -not we receive contributions considered worthy of acceptance.”</p> -<p>“Betsy declares that she is going to submit a poem.” This from Sally who -was less timid than she had been at a previous meeting. Then she -tittered in a way which made her seem even more foolish than she really -was. “That’s why she’s late. She’s sitting curled up in our room writing -it now.”</p> -<p>“The Fates deliver us from any poetry that Betsy might write,” Margaret -had just said when there came a pounding on the door, and, clad in her -cherry-red bath robe, the object of their conversation burst into the -room waving a sheet of foolscap paper. “It’s done! The day is saved. -Never before will there have been an edition of The Manuscript Magazine -to contain a literary gem like this.”</p> -<p>The other members of the study club looked at each other in mock -despair. “Must we endure the torture?” Babs moaned.</p> -<p>“Get it over with as soon as you possibly can, if it must be done,” -Margaret pleaded.</p> -<p>Virginia interposed. “Girls, how dreadful of you! It might be good.”</p> -<p>Betsy solemnly bowed, her hand on her heart. “Lady, I thank you for them -kind words,” she said. Then looking about the room, she inquired, -“Where’ll be the most effective place to stand?”</p> -<p>“I’d keep real close to the door if I were you,” Barbara suggested.</p> -<p>“Thanks, I will, though I won’t mind at all if you do pelt me with -fudge.”</p> -<p>“Indeed, not a piece shall you get unless your poetry pleases us,” -threatened Margaret.</p> -<p>Babs hastened to add, “I choose Betsy’s portion for it’s a foregone -conclusion that she won’t get any.”</p> -<p>“Silence, young ladies, IF you please.” This in exact imitation of Miss -King’s voice and manner. Then making another elaborate bow, Betsy began -to read:</p> -<p style='text-indent:0; margin:1em auto 1em 2em'> -“There is a young lady named Virg.<br /> -Who said Life is surely a scourge.<br /> -I’m so witty and wise<br /> -That I must editrize<br /> -Though I’d heaps rather be hearing my dirge.”<br /> -</p> -<p>The listeners laughed while Babs clapped with her thumbnails only.</p> -<p style='text-indent:0; margin:1em auto 1em 2em'> -“There’s a senorita, named Marguerita<br /> -And Oh-a but she’s vera sweeta.<br /> -Her prida brought to her a fall<br /> -Once in a thronged study hall.<br /> -Her prida were her high-heeled feet-a.<br /> -<br /> -There is a young damsel named Babs<br /> -With manners most shocking.<br /> -She grabs!<br /> -Whenever there’s candy<br /> -That’s anywhere handy,<br /> -The nuttiest pieces she nabs.<br /> -<br /> -There is a fair maiden named Sally<br /> -Who lives in our Sweet Pickle Alley.<br /> -In front of a mirror<br /> -You oftenest see her<br /> -Whenever she has time to dally.<br /> -<br /> -There is a most witty young poet<br /> -Named Betsy, and I’m sure you know it.<br /> -She can tell by your glances,<br /> -As you listen in trances,<br /> -With a bouquet, just waiting to throw it.”<br /> -</p> -<p>Betsy ducked just in time for soft pillows snatched from the window seat -were hurled at her. Laughingly she gathered them up and replaced them in -a prim row, then she sank down among them as though exhausted. “Believe -me, that’s the hardest work I’ve done in my short lifetime. I’d heaps -rather shovel coal for a living. I thought I could never think of a word -to rhyme with Sally. Luckily we call our corridor Sweet Pickle Alley. -That helped some!” Then she interrupted herself to point an accusing -finger. “Quick! Look! Caught in the act. Wasn’t I right about Babs? It -isn’t yet time to pass the fudge and there she is helping herself to the -very piece that I had intended to take, because it’s so bulging full of -nuts.” Barbara sprang up, passed the plate and insisted that Betsy take -the nutty piece. Then, as they munched, Margaret said, “I’ll never -forget the day I wore those high-heeled slippers. Wasn’t I embarrassed, -it being a reception for patrons and parents? Common sense heels for -me.”</p> -<p>The president of The Adventure Club tapped upon the table with her -pencil. “Attention, if you please, young ladies,” she said, “there is a -matter of importance to be discussed.”</p> -<p>The girls looked up wonderingly. “Can you all keep a secret?” Virg asked -mysteriously.</p> -<p>“Why, of course we can.” This protestingly from Margaret.</p> -<p>“Whizzle, what a kweestion? A bottomless well couldn’t be more secretive -than I am if I give my word.” Betsy held up her right hand as though -taking a vow.</p> -<p>“It won’t be hard for me to keep it if I can talk it over with you -girls,” Barbara told them. To the surprise of the others Sally rose.</p> -<p>“I’d rather not try,” she said, speaking more seriously than usual. “If -it leaks out, you’d be sure to think I told, so, if you’ll excuse me, -I’d rather not know it.”</p> -<p>Virginia rose and placing an arm about the slender girl who had her hand -on the door knob, she led her back to the group. “Sally,” she said -kindly, “I am sure that you will keep this secret.”</p> -<p>The pretty face of the youngest girl glowed with happiness and pride. It -was the first time since she had been in that seminary that someone had -expressed faith in her. Many a time she had seen groups of girls stop -their chattering when she neared and she had felt left out. “They think -I’d tell what they’re saying, I suppose,” had been her unhappy -conclusion, as she wandered away by herself feeling so alone and -unwanted. But this wonderful girl, who was not only president of this -little club but also editor of The Manuscript Magazine, actually wanted -her to stay and share a real secret. Sally vowed within herself that -Virginia would find her worthy of the trust.</p> -<p>“We’re all bristling with curiosity, as a porcupine was heard to -remark,” Betsy said. “What kind of a secret is it?”</p> -<p>Virginia smiled at the mischievous would-be detective, as she replied: -“It isn’t anything that will interest you greatly. Yesterday Mrs. Martin -sent for me and asked if we girls from the West knew someone who would -appreciate a term at Vine Haven as guest. Now that Gwendolyn Laureat has -gone, the Tower Room is vacant. I do not know of anyone, but I said that -I would ask my closest friends if she wished. Mrs. Martin agreed, but -requested that we tell no one else as she never wished the identity of -the guest pupil to be generally known.”</p> -<p>The girls were silent for a moment thinking over their friends and -acquaintances but finally they shook their heads. “It’s just too bad,” -Margaret said, “I’m ever so sure there must be some talented girl who -would love to have the advantages that this school offers and—”</p> -<p>“Such as the refining influence of the members of The Adventure Club,” -put in Betsy with a twinkle. “I’ll undertake teaching her -up-to-the-minute slang.”</p> -<p>Megsy, not heeding the interruption, continued, “and if The Exclusive -Three did not know her identity, she ought to be very happy here.”</p> -<p>“Woe to her if they do find it out,” Barbara commented. “She might as -well pack up and leave that very day.”</p> -<p>“Well, since there is no one whom we can suggest, we ourselves will not -know who the guest pupil is, as, of course, Mrs. Martin has many sources -to draw upon. Boston is full of girls, poor, but talented.”</p> -<p>“Now, let’s have our weekly lesson review.” Virginia picked up an -Ancient History and in the midst of moans and groans asked the first -question.</p> -<p>“Babs, you’re improving by the minute,” was Margaret’s comment when the -get-ready-for-bed gong pealed through the corridors.</p> -<p>“Thanks, greatly! I mean to be a ‘Shining Light’ on the spring exams.”</p> -<p>“Wouldn’t you faint right on the spot if you ever saw your name on the -Honor Roll board down in the main corridor?” Megsy asked.</p> -<p>“Would she? I’ll tell the world!” Betsy answered for her. Then -teasingly, “Honestly girls, you may find this hard to believe but I -actually saw Babs stop in front of that popular black board every day -last week to see if her name is there yet.”</p> -<p>Barbara flushed but spunkily protested, “I don’t care if I did. Now that -Virg and Margaret are on it, I mean to be, too, if I possibly can.”</p> -<p>“Well, you needn’t bite my head off. Sally and I wouldn’t be on it, if -we could.”</p> -<p>Then Sally surprised them all by saying, “Now that Virginia’s name is -there, I’d like ever so much to get my name on it, too.”</p> -<p>“How’s that for idolatry?” Betsy began to tease, but Virginia remarked -seriously, “Sally, your hardest subject seems to be algebra. I’ll help -you, if you wish to study after hours just as Miss Torrence helps me.”</p> -<p>“Whee-gee!” Betsy whistled. “If Sally MacLean gets her name on the Honor -Roll, it’s me as will faint and I don’t think I’ll ever come to.”</p> -<p>When the girls were gone, and the lights had been turned out, Margaret -exclaimed, “Oh, Virg, see how beautiful the snowy world is in the -moonlight. I’m so glad that Monday is a holiday. Let’s go for a hike if -Mrs. Martin will permit. I just adore wading through snow-drifts.”</p> -<p>“That would be a great adventure and a new one for me,” said the girl -from the desert where snow-drifts are unknown. They were indeed to have -an adventure.</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chIV' title='The First Adventure'>CHAPTER IV<br />THE FIRST ADVENTURE</h2> -</div> -<p>“A whole holiday and every hour of it free. I feel like some caged bird -let loose,” Margaret exclaimed as the five girls from Vine Haven -Seminary started away from the school. All were clad in their warmest -coats, with leggings, mittens and flying scarfs to match the bright tams -that perched jauntily atop of their heads.</p> -<p>“And to think that we may hike wherever we wish, on only one condition, -and that to report to Mrs. Martin half an hour before lunch,” Barbara -chattered.</p> -<p>Virginia laughed. “One might think it the greatest kind of a lark just -to go outside of the gate,” she said. “I can understand it now, but when -I remember how I have galloped all over the desert for miles without -thought of keeping within certain boundaries, I don’t wonder that we -feel like caged birds.”</p> -<p>“Snow birds, then,” Betsy’s merry face beamed out from beneath her -cherry colored tam. “Sally surely is. I just adore those white furs. You -look like a princess, Sal, stepped out of a fairy book with your golden -curls hanging like a mantle about your shoulders.”</p> -<p>The others laughed. “Betsy, you aren’t going to burst out into poetry -again, are you?”</p> -<p>“Not guilty!” that merry maid replied. Then pausing to look about she -inquired. “Which way shall we go in search of adventure? Behind us is -the sea. The wind is too icily cold to go in that direction. Down below -us is the village and beyond that—what?”</p> -<p>“Let’s go and find out. Have we time?” Margaret consulted her wrist -watch.</p> -<p>“Time to burn,” she announced. “It’s only eight-thirty. I’ve walked to -the village in half an hour often.”</p> -<p>“Yes, my dear, so you have, but that was in the good old summer time. -You’ve never waded through drifts on an unbroken road and made that -speed,” Betsy told her, and Megsy agreed.</p> -<p>“Well, count an hour to reach the village. Another hour to see what lies -beyond, and a third to return, and lo—that brings us back just on -schedule, thirty minutes before noon.”</p> -<p>“I’ll tell you what,” Virginia said brightly, “let’s go as far as we can -in half of our time and return on the other half. But that wouldn’t do, -either,” she hastened to make the correction, “for it’s down hill going -and up hill coming back.”</p> -<p>“Well, the sooner we get started the sooner we’ll return,” Barbara said -wisely, “and we can talk as we walk.”</p> -<p>Away they went, Betsy and Babs in the lead, Virginia, Megsy and Sally -following single file. As they neared the top of the hill road, they -heard merry shouts and Betsy, having first reached the crest where she -could look over, turned and beckoned excitedly. “Quick! There are a lot -of youngsters here sliding down the hill, They’ve got a whopper of a -toboggan. It’s long enough to take us all on. Can’t we bribe them to -coast us down the hill? Then we’ll be that much nearer the town.”</p> -<p>“That’s a spiffy idea,” Babs sang out. “I brought my purse. Suppose I -offer them five cents for each passenger.”</p> -<p>“We’ll make it up to you, old dear,” Betsy told her, then she beckoned -to a boy of about fourteen who had been whirling the long toboggan into -place on the well trodden starting point.</p> -<p>“How much will you charge to take us down to the bottom of the hill?” -she inquired. The lad touched his cap and replied most courteously, -“I’ll be glad to take you. I’m a Boy Scout and I do not accept pay for -doing a kind deed.”</p> -<p>“That’s mighty nice of you,” Betsy said. “How do you want us to sit?”</p> -<p>“Any way you like. I’ll be in front to steer,” the boy replied as he -took his place.</p> -<p>The laughing girls thought this a fine adventure, especially Virg, who -had never before been on a sled of any kind.</p> -<p>“All ready!” the lad glanced back inquiringly.</p> -<p>“Go!” Betsy shouted, and they went! There was a sudden sharp descent -which gave the toboggan the start it needed. Skillfully the boy whirled -it around the curve in the road that was ahead of them and to their joy -the girls saw that the slide led right down to the edge of the village.</p> -<p>“Hurray for us!” Betsy exclaimed, when at last they had stopped.</p> -<p>“Thank you ever and ever so much,” Virginia exclaimed, “don’t believe we -were ten minutes coming down.”</p> -<p>“I’ll take you again any time I’m up top,” the boy said gallantly. He -was about to start dragging the toboggan up the long hill when Betsy -hailed him. “Is there anything interesting to see beyond the village?” -she asked.</p> -<p>The lad nodded. “I’ll say there is!” he replied in a voice that -suggested mystery. “There’s an old haunted house on the Poor Farm Road, -but I wouldn’t go near it if I were you. I sure wouldn’t.”</p> -<p>Then, as some other boys were impatiently calling him to hurry up, he -left the girls to ponder on what they had heard. “I’m crazy to see it,” -Betsy said. “We can stand far off and just look at it.”</p> -<p>The five girls walked rapidly through the small country village, -stopping only a moment at the general store to purchase five striped -bags of chocolate creams. They asked the direction they would have to -take to reach the Poorhouse road. The man behind the counter looked his -surprise.</p> -<p>“You wasn’t figgerin’ on goin’ to the poorhouse, was you? If so, you’d -better hire the station rig to tote you there. It’s nigh five miles and -the goin’s pretty bad.”</p> -<p>“Oh, no, indeed! We weren’t going that far.” Barbara turned in the door -to reply.</p> -<p>“But thar’s nothin’ else on that road but Captain Burgess’ old place -whar thar’s nobody livin’. Leastwise, no one you’d care to meet up with -you a mere parcel of girls from the seminary, like as not.”</p> -<p>But the garrulous old man’s curiosity was not to be satisfied, for with -a polite little nod, Barbara joined the others who were waiting on the -well-shoveled path in front of the store.</p> -<p>The village was a small one. In ten minutes their brisk walking had -taken them to the last house. Beyond that the road lay a smooth unbroken -blanket of snow. Evidently the poorhouse was not often visited.</p> -<p>The girls stopped and looked ahead. “Is it worth the effort?” Margaret -glanced up at her adopted sister. “We’ll have to wade up to our knees in -snow, and we don’t know how far away that old house may be. I can’t see -anything from here but a woods, and that’s at least a quarter of a mile, -shouldn’t you think?”</p> -<p>Virginia nodded. “Fully.”</p> -<p>“Oh, I say, Megsy, be a sport. You came all this distance for an -adventure and now want to back out. I think it will be scads of fun to -walk over to that woods. I’ll agree to turn back there (if you’ll go -that far), even if we don’t find the old house.” Betsy seemed so truly -disappointed that the others decided to go to the edge of the woods.</p> -<p>The cold wind which had been blowing over the bluff by the sea could not -reach them in the lowland and the mid-morning sun was warm, dazzling the -snow.</p> -<p>Betsy, in high spirits, plunged ahead, making a trail through the -drifts, that it might be easier traveling for the others, since she had -been the one who most wanted to come. As they neared the woods the sharp -eyes of the young detective made an interesting discovery. “It isn’t -just an ordinary woods,” she turned her glowing eyes to remark. “There’s -a high impenetrable hedge all around it.”</p> -<p>Barbara laughed. “How do you know it is impenetrable? We’re too far away -to be sure of that, I should think.”</p> -<p>Betsy had started to run, having reached a place that had been swept -clean of snow. “There’s one thing I’m sure of,” she called over her -shoulders, “which is that in the middle of the woods stands the deserted -house we’ve come to see.”</p> -<p>When they reached the hedge and had followed around it for a time, they -decided that Betsy was right. It did indeed seem to be impenetrable.</p> -<p>“There must be a gate somewhere! That Captain Burgess, who used to live -here, had to go in and out, and I don’t suppose that he jumped over the -hedge every time.”</p> -<p>“Surely not, if it were as tall then as it is now,” Babs replied, amused -at the picture suggested by Betsy’s remark.</p> -<p>“Here it is! And such big iron gates as they are!” It was Sally who, -having gone on ahead, turned to shout to them. They hurried to her side.</p> -<p>“This must have been a carriage entrance once upon a time,” Virginia -remarked, “but the gates are fast shut with vines now. It is plain to -see that they haven’t been opened for years.”</p> -<p>The underbrush within the grounds grew higher than the gate, and if -there was a house it could not be seen.</p> -<p>“Hark!” the timid Sally whispered. “Didn’t you hear a noise just beyond -the hedge?”</p> -<p>“Some little wild creature, probably,” Virginia remarked.</p> -<p>Betsy had again darted ahead of the others. There was little snow on the -ground in the shelter of hedge and overhanging trees. She had been gone -several minutes when they heard her shouting. “Here’s a hole that’s big -enough for Sally to crawl through!” she said, when they reached her.</p> -<p>“Me? Well, I guess not! I’m not going to crawl all alone through a hole -in that hedge and not know what’s on the other side.”</p> -<p>“Then I’ll go myself. Luckily, I’m not much bigger than you are! If I -get stuck, you all can pull me out by the legs.” Betsy was about to try -the experiment when Virginia detained her. “I’m not sure that we ought -to go,” she said. “If the owner of the estate wanted visitors, he would -have left a gate open. Moreover, I think we ought to go back to school -now. We’ll have to climb up the hill road, you know, and we don’t want -to worry Mrs. Martin, who has been so kind to us.”</p> -<div class='figcenter' style='width:80%; max-width:461px;'> -<img src='images/illus-054.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%;height:auto;' /> -<p class='caption'>“Oh, Virg, have a heart!” Betsy pleaded. “Maybe there’s a mystery here that I could solve.”</p> -</div> -<p>“Oh, Virg, have a heart!” Betsy pleaded. “Maybe there’s a mystery here -that I could solve. I’d always be sure there was, if I went away, -without even one little peek on the other side of this high hedge.”</p> -<p>“I’ll tell you what!” Babs said generously. “If we’re late reaching the -village, I’ll hire the station sleigh to take us up to the seminary.”</p> -<p>“And it’s only quarter to ten,” Margaret added, holding up her wrist -watch for the oldest girl to see.</p> -<p>Virginia laughed. “All right, we’ll stay until ten.”</p> -<p>Although Betsy did find the hole rather small, she succeeded in wedging -her way through and the other girls listened to hear what she would say, -but to their surprise they heard nothing.</p> -<p>“Betsy, can you see a house?” Babs called wishing that she was just a -little smaller that she might follow her friend.</p> -<p>There was no reply. What could it mean? “Where can she be?” Margaret -looked troubled. “She couldn’t have fallen into a hole or anything, -could she?”</p> -<p>“It isn’t likely,” Virginia replied. “Sally, dear, would you mind just -putting your head through and—”</p> -<p>But before the smallest girl had her courage put to the test, they heard -someone running on hard ground; then the would-be detective pushed her -way through the hole as though she were being pursued.</p> -<p>“What is it, Betsy? What kept you so long. Did you see anything?” were -the questions hurled at her.</p> -<p>“I’ll say I did,” the flushed girl replied inelegantly. “I saw an old -circling drive and I ran over to it, knowing that it must lead to the -house, and it did! There in the middle of this wood, which I suppose was -only a grove when the Burgess’ family lived here, there’s the most -fascinating old house. It looks ever so interesting and haunted. I do -wish that we had time to go closer and examine it. I always adore -reading stories about haunted houses, but I never before saw one, -really.”</p> -<p>“But there isn’t time,” Margaret announced once more referring to her -popular timepiece. “It’s ten minutes past ten. We’ll have to fairly run -to make it on time.” But Fate was again kind to them for a boy who -delivered groceries at the school was just starting up the long grade of -the hill road and seeing the girls trudging along, he asked them if they -would like to ride.</p> -<p>“Would we? I’ll say we will and thank you kindly.” Of course as usual it -was Betsy who replied. Up into the sleigh they climbed. The boy made -room for Virginia and Margaret on the wide seat but the three younger -girls sat in the back dangling long legs on which were bright-colored -leggins encrusted with snow.</p> -<p>“I’m going to sing,” Betsy smilingly informed her companions. “Please -don’t!” the others pleaded.</p> -<p>“Oh, I didn’t mean to do the solo stunt. Everybody, all together!” Betsy -really had a sweet soprano voice and when she started a rollicking -school song the others joined in repeating the chorus until they reached -the kitchen door of the seminary. A crowd of girls were having a -snowball game, Dora and Cora being captains of the opposing sides.</p> -<p>“You girls missed the fun, going off that way on a stupid old hike,” -Dicky Taylor, rosy of cheek and looking much like a snow girl, called to -them. “Out of the way, there, or you’ll be pelted,” someone warned as -the five adventurers leaped from the wagon. After hurriedly thanking the -delivery boy they ducked into the back entry, and none too soon, for a -dozen well aimed balls whizzed through the crisp sunlit air and plunked -against the closed door.</p> -<p>Every pupil in the school was ravenously hungry when the gong called -them to lunch. Betsy could talk of nothing but the possible mystery of -the old deserted house.</p> -<p>“Just because people are not living in a house, doesn’t make it -mysterious,” Margaret told her.</p> -<p>“What did the place look like?” Babs, more interested, inquired.</p> -<p>“Well,” Betsy began, “I could tell that it had been very fine in its day -but now it is dilapidated and the windows are boarded up. That proves -that nobody is living in it, and, of course, if there was anyone there, -the storekeeper would know it, for there would be no other place to buy -supplies.”</p> -<p>“Your evidence is conclusive,” Margaret said in a tone often used by -their algebra teacher.</p> -<p>“Virg, you don’t act very much interested. Why are you gazing out of the -window in that preoccupied way as Miss Torrence so often asks Megsy?”</p> -<p>The older girl turned and smiled at her questioner. “Because Betsy, if I -must confess it, I am heaps more eager to find someone who can -contribute a good story for our first edition of The Manuscript Magazine -then I am to solve the supposed mystery of your haunted house. I’ve -looked at every girl in the dining room hoping to recall some -composition that I have heard read in the assembly that might suggest a -story-writing talent, but I don’t believe I can and since the really -good story writers have gone over to the enemy’s side, I may have to -confess that as an editor, I am a failure.”</p> -<p>“Cheer up, belovedest! You may find a genius in a most unexpected -place.” Betsy was eager to steer the conversation back to channels of -greater interest. “What I would like to know,” she continued, “is how, -and when can we again visit the old Burgess place?”</p> -<p>“Hush!” Margaret whispered. “Mrs. Martin is coming in.” Instantly the -chairs were pushed back, the forty-four girls rose, courtesied and then -listened expectantly, for, as this was a whole holiday, they believed, -and rightly, that the kindly principal had a treat in store for them.</p> -<p>“Young ladies,” she said, “I have planned a sleigh ride party for you. -Pat O’Brien and his son Micky will each drive a team and by a little -crowding you can all go in the two sleighs. Every January we send a -barrel of apples to the poorhouse and I thought perhaps, you would all -enjoy the ride.”</p> -<p>“Thank you, Mrs. Martin,” was the enthusiastic response. Then, when they -were again seated, Betsy said, “Oh, girls, how I hope I’ll have a chance -to slip off at the Burgess place. I’d like to prowl around there until -the sleighs return.”</p> -<p>“I’m with you,” Babs told her pal.</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chV' title='The Mysterious Old House'>CHAPTER V<br />THE MYSTERIOUS OLD HOUSE</h2> -</div> -<p>Micky O’ Brien drove the school bus that was now on runners and -twenty-five of the warmly wrapped, hilariously joyful girls were crowded -in.</p> -<p>A barrel of apples was strapped to each side of the bus where baggage -was often placed. The big, rough farm wagon, which had been converted -into a sleigh, with straw deep on the bottom of it, was filled with the -primary pupils. Betsy had so arranged things that she and her particular -friends were the last to enter the bus and so they were nearest the -door. Too, she had asked Micky to drive very slowly when he reached the -woods on the County Farm road.</p> -<p>Luckily Mr. O’Brien was in the lead with his load and so he did not -notice when Betsy and Babs slipped out at the edge of the woods.</p> -<p>“I don’t in the least approve of their going,” Virginia said to her -companion, “but I think we should accompany them. I’d be terribly -worried if they went alone.”</p> -<p>Micky, who knew that Betsy wished to remain there until the sleigh -returned, had brought his team to a very slow walk, and so Virginia, -Megsy and Sally had no trouble whatever in stepping from the low step to -the road. If the other girls were curious, they had no time to make -inquiries for the young driver at once whipped up his horses and was -soon close behind his father’s sleigh.</p> -<p>“We must find a wider hole in the hedge if we are all to get through,” -Virginia remarked. Betsy, hand in hand with Babs, was wading through -unbroken drifts. It was their intention to follow the hedge to the back -of the large estate. Micky had told them that it would be an hour, at -least, and perhaps longer, before he would be returning, and in that -time surely they ought to be able to closely examine the grounds and the -outside of the old house. Suddenly Betsy cried out joyfully, and -turning, she beckoned to the three who were following in the track they -had made.</p> -<p>“Goody for us!” Babs exclaimed. “One of the cypress trees in the hedge -is dead and we can easily break through here.”</p> -<p>Betsy was already doing this and in a few moments, with united effort, a -narrow passage appeared.</p> -<p>“Ooh!” Megsy shuddered when they all stood within the high hedge. “How -dismal and silent it is, except for the sighing of the little wind in -the pine trees.”</p> -<p>“Follow me,” Betsy called over her shoulder. “I’ll take you to the -circling drive. It’s blown clear of snow and leads right up to the old -house.”</p> -<p>Margaret glanced at her wrist watch. “It’s three now. In half an hour we -must start back for the main road. I certainly wouldn’t want to be here -after dark, and the twilight comes so early these days.”</p> -<p>“I can just imagine how lovely it must have been here once upon a time,” -Virginia said. “That old summer house is covered with rose vines. Can’t -you picture how pretty it will be in June?”</p> -<p>“Let’s all come over and see it then, shall we?” Sally suggested.</p> -<p>Virginia, who had never before seen a rustic garden house, was much -interested and she stopped at the open door. Megsy, Sally and Babs were -with her. A rustic table with four chairs made of small trees with the -bark on were within.</p> -<p>“Isn’t it fun to think pictures?” the romantic Sally remarked. “Can’t -you fancy the Lady Burgess, her daughters and friends all dressed in the -pretty styles of long ago as they sat about that table drinking tea?”</p> -<p>Margaret nodded. “I can see them, too,” she agreed, “and there’s a -gentleman wearing a bottle green broadcloth coat with gilt buttons and -knee breeches. At least that was what my grandfather wore. He is -standing up behind the ladies and passing the tea.”</p> -<p>Virginia smiled. “And yet you won’t either of you try to write a story -for the Manuscript Magazine.” Then turning away, she inquired: “Why, -where is Betsy? She isn’t with us.”</p> -<p>That would-be young detective had not cared to linger at an open summer -house, which she was sure contained no mystery (for, could not one see -all that was in it at a glance?) and so she had skipped ahead. They soon -found her standing in the drive gazing as one fascinated at an upper -window in a big, rambling old Colonial house.</p> -<p>“What are you looking at so steadily?” Virginia asked. She, too, glanced -up. The windows were covered with heavy green blinds and the front door -was boarded up.</p> -<p>“I’m not so sure that the old place is deserted,” Betsy said in a low -voice as the girls gathered close about her. “I was positive a moment -ago that I saw that upper left blind open a little, but now it seems to -be fastened as securely as before.”</p> -<p>“Betsy, you, too, must be unusually imaginative today,” Margaret -declared. “If anyone were living here, why should the house be boarded -up?”</p> -<p>“I suggest that we walk around the place,” Barbara, who liked mysteries -almost as much as Betsy, suggested.</p> -<p>This they did, but the right side of the house was so bleak as the front -had been. Babs was first around the corner and she beckoned to the -others. “Look!” she cried. “An old-fashioned cellar door, just the kind -my grandfather had. How I adored sliding down it when I was very small. -See, this one is covered with ice. Watch me while I return to my -childhood sport.”</p> -<p>Laughingly Barbara climbed up to the highest point of the sloping cellar -door. Suddenly there was a crash, followed by a frightened cry. Babs had -disappeared.</p> -<p>The frightened girls lifted the other half of the sloping door and saw -Babs lying in the underground entrance to the cellar. They hurried down -damp, slippery steps and lifted her. Almost at once she opened her eyes, -“I’m all right,” she said. “I guess this house is rather old and -crumbly.” She rose, and, as no bones were broken, Betsy suggested that -they take a look about the cellar which lay beyond them, dark, damp and -undoubtedly rat infested.</p> -<p>“I’d rather not.” Sally hugged her white furs closely about her and -shivered more from fear than cold.</p> -<p>“Well, then, you all stand here in the entrance,” the would-be detective -suggested. “I see a faint ray of light coming from somewhere off there -in the darkness and I’m going to see what it is.”</p> -<p>“I don’t know as we ought to let her go.” Virginia turned to Margaret. -“I’ve read of old cisterns being in cellars.”</p> -<p>Betsy heard and turned back to reply, “My eyes are used to the darkness -now. Honest Virg, I can see where I step.”</p> -<p>Cautiously feeling her way, she slowly advanced toward what seemed to be -daylight coming through a crack under a door.</p> -<p>“I’ve reached it,” Betsy sang out. They could hear her voice plainly, -though they could not see her. “It is a door. Wait until I open it.” As -she spoke she pushed against it and the door opened silently as though -it had been unlatched. Beyond was the typical stairway leading from a -farm house kitchen to the cellar. A small high window in the wall was -letting in a dim light.</p> -<p>“If one of us wasn’t such a fraid cat,” Betsy informed them, “I’d like -to climb this stairway and see where it leads.”</p> -<p>“If you mean me, Betsy Clossen,” Sally, for once, flared up, “go ahead. -If Virginia isn’t afraid to go, neither am I.”</p> -<p>The girls had no difficulty in crossing the uneven cellar floor in the -dim light from the stairway, but after they had glanced up and had seen -a closed door at the top, Virginia drew back. “Girls,” she said, “I -question if we ought to prowl about other people’s houses.”</p> -<p>“But Virg, we wouldn’t harm anything,” Barbara protested. “Peyton is -always telling of some haunted house he once visited and I’ve been wild -to see one for myself.”</p> -<p>After much persuasion, Virginia agreed to go to the top of the stairs if -the girls would consent to go back then. “Surely the hour is nearly up -and what would we do if the bus had passed and we were stranded so far -from school and after dark.”</p> -<p>The picture was not a pleasing one and Sally clung to Virginia’s arm, -though she would not openly acknowledge that she was frightened.</p> -<p>Betsy and Babs were the first to reach the top of the stairs. Barbara -turned the knob and the door opened just a bit, but then closed again, -and Betsy was sure that it was being held by someone on the other side.</p> -<p>“How silly!” she thought. “Of course no one is holding it.” Then she put -her shoulder against the door and pushed with all her strength, Babs -helping. The door swung open easily, but the girls were all sure that -they heard soft hurrying footsteps.</p> -<p>“Of course it couldn’t be, since the place is so plainly unoccupied,” -Margaret declared. “I believe that the sound we heard is the rush of -snow. You remember, Micky said there would surely be a snowstorm tonight -and I believe that it has begun.”</p> -<p>They found themselves not in an old-fashioned kitchen as they had -expected, but in a long, wide dark hall which extended, after the -fashion of Colonial houses, through the entire center with doors on -either side.</p> -<p>It was bitterly cold and down a chimney, above a fireless hearth, the -wind whistled and moaned.</p> -<p>“Come, we must hurry away,” Virg said. “I feel just ever so guilty in -having entered this house at all” Then turning to her foster sister, she -anxiously inquired: “Margaret, can you see the time?”</p> -<p>Megsy glanced at her faithful little wrist watch. Her exclamation of -dismay startled the group about her. “It’s quarter to five. The sleighs -must have passed long ago.”</p> -<p>Virginia, feeling, because she was oldest, as though she were -responsible, walked quickly back to the door through which they had -come. To her dismay she found that when Margaret had closed it, it -automatically had locked.</p> -<p>They were evidently prisoners in that old deserted house. Moreover, it -was bitterly cold. They would be nearly frozen if they remained there -all night, and yet, how could they get away? Even if Micky O’Brien found -a way to get into the grounds, they would not be able to hear him -however loud he shouted.</p> -<p>Betsy, who had led them into all this trouble, felt properly contrite -for a moment. Then she said hopefully, “Girls, Micky will surely find -the trail we made in the snow and he’ll follow it. That will lead him to -the broken cellar door and——”</p> -<p>But Margaret shook her head dolefully. “Not if the snowstorm has come. -Our tracks will soon be covered.”</p> -<p>“Perhaps we can find another way out,” Babs said. “I suggest that we try -first one of these closed doors and then another.” But just at that -moment something most unexpected happened.</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chVI' title='An Unexpected Apparition'>CHAPTER VI<br />AN UNEXPECTED APPARITION</h2> -</div> -<p>As Margaret advanced toward one of the closed doors, and had her hand on -the knob, she suddenly sprang back in alarm, for the door had been -thrown open and a young girl of their own age darted out, closing it -behind her.</p> -<p>Then with flashing eyes, she asked, “Who are you and what right have you -to be prowling about my great great grandfather’s house?”</p> -<p>“We have no right whatever,” Virginia said, “and we ask you to pardon -us. We are five girls from Vine Haven Seminary, and although we really -did want to see the outside of this most interesting old house, we -entered it quite unintentionally.”</p> -<p>Here Betsy, no longer willing to be kept in the background, told of -Barbara’s desire to slide down a cellar door, once again, as she had in -the days of her childhood and of the resulting mishap.</p> -<p>“Of course we should have gone right back then,” Margaret began -hesitatingly, “but—but—well, we didn’t.”</p> -<p>To the surprise of the five intruders, the girl, to whom they were -endeavoring to apologize, flashed at them a radiant smile which was like -sunshine bursting through a thunder cloud. “I’m powerfully glad you did -intrude,” she said inconsistently. “I’ve been just ever and ever so -eager to see some girls from the seminary. My mother and her sister used -to go there when they were young and she often tells me about the good -times they had. Mother went up to the seminary the year before she was -married. That was when Mrs. Martin first started her school. But don’t -stand out here in this cold hall. Come in by the fire. Mother-mine will -be so glad to meet you.”</p> -<p>“And we will be glad to know your mother, but right at this very minute -we ought to be hurrying back to the school. I’m so afraid that Micky -O’Brien thinks that we must have returned some other way and that he has -gone on without us,” Virginia explained.</p> -<p>Nor were they wrong, for the faithful Micky had delayed in front of the -wood as long as he possibly could. His father turned often to beckon him -to make haste, and when at last he obeyed. Mr. O’Brien shouted, “Aren’t -ye after seein’ the storm clouds gatherin’? Snow’ll be fallin’ so thick, -come any minute, the hosses won’t be seein’ to kape on the road even.”</p> -<p>Poor Micky had promised Betsy that he would tell no one, but the other -girls in his sleigh were curious until one of their number said, “Why -worry about them? Virginia Davis and Margaret Selover were with them. -They’re both on the Honor Roll and so, of course, they had permission to -do whatever it was that they did. My theory is that they decided to hike -back to the school. We will probably find them there waiting for us.”</p> -<p>Micky overheard this conversation and how he did hope that it was true. -Following his father’s lead, he urged his horses to a gallop, hoping -that they would reach the seminary before the storm broke over them. It -grew momentarily darker as the clouds lowered above them and the horses -lagged as they drew their heavy loads up the gradual slope of the hill -road. They were just turning in between the gates of the school drive -when the snow began to fall. Faster and faster, thicker and thicker the -big flakes rushed, hiding everything that was a few feet in front of the -bus. Even the seminary did not loom up until they were nearly upon it.</p> -<p>Poor Micky knew not what to do. He, of course, was obliged to go to the -stables with his team after the girls had been let out under the -sheltering portico at the wide front porch. Luckily his father had made -quick work of unharnessing and feeding his team, and he was in the warm -rooms above the stable when Micky drove into the barn. The lad had -lingered in front of the school as long as he could, hoping that Betsy -or Babs would appear to assure him that they had reached home in safety, -but they had not.</p> -<p>He was just wondering if he dared go into the kitchen and ask Delia, one -of the maids who was kind to him, to obtain the information he desired, -when he saw, through the storm, the figure of a girl wrapped in a long -cloak and hood, hurrying toward the barn. It was Dicky Taylor. When she -stepped within the light of the lantern, the boy saw that her startled -eyes looked out of a face as white as the snow. “What is’t?” he -whispered hoarsely. “Ain’t they come yet, Mis’ Clossen or the rest of -them?”</p> -<p>Dicky shook her head. “No, I’m sure they haven’t. I was curious about it -and so I went to their rooms just as soon as I reached the school, -before I took off my cloak, but not one of them is to be found. I can’t -bear to tell Mrs. Martin, for, if I do, Virginia and Margaret might lose -their places on the Honor Roll. Is there any way for us to get them -before supper, Micky? They won’t be missed until then.”</p> -<p>“I’m feer’d not,” he replied. “It’s mos’ five.” Then with sudden -resolve, he turned his horses toward the door. “Gee, I’m glad I hain’t -unhitched yet. We’ll take a chanct, Pa,” he shouted up the narrow -stairway, “Gotta go to town on an errant.” He was gone, with Dicky at -his side, before his father could question him further. The older man -having removed his boots, had settled by the stove with his pipe. He -decided that Mrs. Martin had sent the boy back on some forgotten errand -and thought no more about it.</p> -<p>Meanwhile the girls about whom so much anxiety was being felt were -talking with the young stranger who had appeared so unexpectedly.</p> -<p>“But there is only one way out of this old house,” Eleanor Burgess told -the girls when Virginia protested that they would better hasten away and -return some other day to meet Mrs. Burgess, “and that way lies through -the South Wing, which mother and I are occupying.” As she spoke she -again opened the door and the five girls caught glimpses of a pleasant -fire-lighted apartment which seemed strangely out of keeping with the -cold damp old house through which they had been groping until they had -been suddenly confronted, not by the expected ghost, but by an -inhabitant who was a girl of their own age.</p> -<p>Much mystified, they followed Eleanor and found themselves in a large -living room which seemed to combine within its four walls all the -requirements of a home, for one corner was lined with shelves on which -were many books. There, too, was an old mahogany desk littered with -papers and the pencil lying upon them seemed to have been hastily -dropped by whoever had been writing. In still another corner, almost -screened from their sight, was a small oil stove and a few kitchen -utensils, while in the middle of the room, drawn close to the wide -fireplace, on which a log was burning, stood a supper table set with two -places. The only light in the big room came from two candles on this -table, one behind the screen and the fire on the hearth.</p> -<p>Easy chairs and a bed couch covered with bright-colored pillows -completed the furnishings. There was a charm about the room which -delighted Virginia.</p> -<p>It was evident that someone was behind the kitchen screen, and, upon -hearing her name spoken, that someone appeared, smiling a welcome to the -unknown girls. A woman, neither old nor young, but with a weary -expression on a pale, though truly beautiful face, advanced with her -hand outheld.</p> -<p>“And who may these maidens be?” The question was smilingly directed to -her daughter, whose flushed cheeks and bright eyes revealed that she was -both excited and happy about something.</p> -<p>“Mother-mine, these are five girls from the seminary about which you -have told me so often.” Then impulsively turning to the girl nearest, -she said, “This is my lady-mother, Mrs. Burgess. Won’t you please tell -her your names? I simply can’t remember them.”</p> -<p>“Gladly,” Margaret replied, then when the introductions were made, she -looked anxiously at her foster sister, saying, “It is five now. What -shall we do? Micky has of course driven past, and do see the snowstorm!”</p> -<p>She glanced at the window, against which sheets of hail and snow were -beating.</p> -<p>“Mrs. Martin will indeed be anxious,” the mother said. “Otherwise I -would suggest that you remain here and camp out with us.”</p> -<p>“Oh, how I wish you could,” Eleanor exclaimed. “We would spread blankets -on the floor near the fire and pretend we were sleeping on the ground on -a summer’s night, out under the stars.” At that moment the wind whistled -dismally down the wide chimney and Virginia smiled. “We would have to -have good imaginations to pretend that, I fear,” she commented.</p> -<p>“My little daughter has a very wonderful imagination,” the older woman -said as she pointed toward the old mahogany desk. “Instead of moping -because she is shut in with a weary invalid, as many girls would, she -spends hours scribbling. What she is writing she will not tell, but I -believe that it is a story.”</p> -<p>Virginia’s eyes brightened. “Oh, is it truly? Do you write stories?” -Then when her question had been answered with a nod, she continued, “I -have been made Editress of The Manuscript Magazine, much against my -will, and I am searching for someone who can write an interesting story. -If you love to write, then of course you write well. How I do wish you -were a pupil at Vine Haven.”</p> -<p>“And I, too, wish that she were, Virginia,” the mother replied sadly, -“but I have been obliged, through ill health, to give up my settlement -work in Boston and come back to my great grandfather’s old home to -recuperate. Our income at present is barely enough to provide our daily -needs and the tuition at the seminary is high.”</p> -<p>A sudden memory brought a rush of gladness to the heart of Virginia. -Only a few days before Mrs. Martin had asked if she knew of a really -talented girl who would benefit by becoming the guest pupil and -occupying the Tower Room left vacant by the departure of the former -guest pupil. Surely nowhere could be found a girl more worthy of this -privilege. But of her thoughts she said nothing just then. She must -first consult Mrs. Martin. “Mrs. Burgess,” she said, “what would be your -advice to us? Shall we start out in the storm, endeavor to walk into -town and there hire a station wagon to take us up the hill, or—”</p> -<p>The query was interrupted by a jingling of sleigh-bells without. Micky -had chanced to see the light from the kitchen candle glimmering through -the storm and had driven toward it, finding a gate open on the side -which the five girls had not visited, and so it happened, in another -moment, he was pounding at the door, which, when opened, admitted a gust -of sleety wind and revealed Dicky Taylor’s white, troubled face and that -of the Irish boy.</p> -<p>“Do come in and get warm, both of you,” was Eleanor’s urgent invitation, -but the boy shook his head. “We mustn’t stop. We’re afther wantin’ to -get back before six.”</p> -<p>“I’m coming again tomorrow if possible,” Virginia said before she left.</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chVII' title='The Rescued Culprits'>CHAPTER VII<br />THE RESCUED CULPRITS</h2> -</div> -<p>“It’s all my fault! I’m going to take every bit of the blame,” Betsy -declared. The six girls were huddled in the shelter of the bus while -faithful Micky, up on the storm-beaten high seat, steered as best he -could the weary team through the drifts and the blinding snow.</p> -<p>“It’s not all your fault,” Virginia declared stoutly. “I knew that you -planned leaving the bus to visit the old house and I should have advised -you not to.”</p> -<p>“You couldn’t have stopped us, I mean me,” Betsy declared. “I’ve been -foolishly headstrong. You did say that it was unwise but, of course we -didn’t know we were going in.”</p> -<p>Barbara laughed. “I’ll say I didn’t. I never was so surprised in all my -life as I was when I DID go in.”</p> -<p>“What happened?” Dickey Taylor inquired. Then, when she had been -informed, she added: “Oh, how I do wish I had been there. Next time, -take me, please do! I adore adventures.”</p> -<p>“Girls, it has stopped snowing. Whizzle, but I’m glad!” Betsy announced.</p> -<p>“What’s more the clouds are parting and the moon is coming through. Now -poor Micky will be able to see where he is driving.” This from Megsy.</p> -<p>“Girls,” Barbara put in, “that Irish boy is as faithful a friend as -anyone could find on top of this earth. I wish we could do something -nice for him. Is there anything he wants that anybody knows? If there -is, we rescued ones might chip in and give it to him.”</p> -<p>“Babs, you’ve known him longest and you’re really the lady of his heart, -so suppose you find out and then we’re with you on the coin part of it,” -Betsy said in a low voice, although her words could not possibly have -been heard by the boy who was whistling to keep up his spirits and -perhaps to hearten up his lagging team.</p> -<p>“Virg, what are you thinking of so intently?” Dicky Taylor asked.</p> -<p>The older girl replied: “Of the one room home that we just left, I was -wondering about that lovely mother and daughter. How strange, that they -should be living in that old tumble down house and yet the storekeeper -in the town know nothing of it.”</p> -<p>Betsy was on the alert at once. “It’s a mystery,” she announced. “I just -knew there would be a mystery in that old house.”</p> -<p>Barbara laughed. “Wrong you are! Eleanor told me how it happened, and it -is not at all strange. Her mother is a settlement worker, and she has -been giving more strength than she could spare to nursing, in the -tenement district through some epidemic, and when it was over and many -lives saved through her efforts, the physician in charge said that Mrs. -Burgess must have a month’s complete rest. He asked where she would like -to go, and she told him of that one wing which she and Eleanor had -fitted up several summers ago for their vacation retreat, and so he -brought them in his big comfortable closed car just before the snows -came, and he also had supplies sent from Boston, enough to last the -entire month they are to be there. In another fortnight that same -physician is to return for them, and as almost no one travels the County -Farm road in the winter, they may be gone, and that garrulous old -storekeeper may never know that they have been here at all, at all.”</p> -<p>There was a wide canopy of star and moonlit sky above them as the bus -turned in again at the school drive. “Shall you all slip in up the back -way to your rooms? There’s time to dress before the supper gong rings,” -Dicky Taylor said.</p> -<p>“Why, of course not,” Virginia replied. “If the rest of you are willing, -I would like to be the one to tell Mrs. Martin all that has happened.”</p> -<p>“Oh, I say, Virg!” Betsy began; then added, “Why tell, if we wouldn’t be -found out? We didn’t do anything so terrible. You know this was a free -day and Mrs. Martin herself said that we might hike anywhere we wished -this morning.”</p> -<p>“I do not expect Mrs. Martin to rebuke us,” the oldest girl said, “but I -do want to tell her about Eleanor Burgess.”</p> -<p>“Oh, I know! You’re thinking she might become the gu——” Sally clapped -her hand on her mouth. She, who had vowed never to betray that secret, -had nearly told. It wouldn’t have mattered if their own group alone was -present, but Dicky was with them. Luckily, the bus was at that moment -stopping under the portico. Betsy said: “I understand, Virg! Do whatever -you think best, and remember I consider that I am most to blame. I’ll -never forgive myself if you and Megsy have your names taken from the -Honor Roll.”</p> -<p>“If they don’t deserve being there, we want them off,” Margaret said -quietly.</p> -<p>Micky grinned his pleasure when Babs told him that he was just like the -chivalrous knights in the stories of long ago. When they entered the -main hall of the school, Virginia saw that a card hung on the -principal’s door. “Occupied” was the one word printed thereon, so Virg -hastened upstairs with the others to prepare for supper.</p> -<p>Directly after the evening meal, Virginia left the other girls in the -big comfortable school library where a log was burning on the wide -hearth, and where they were planning to do reference reading. She told -them that she would return as soon as possible and tell them just what -Mrs. Martin thought of the plan that she had to suggest.</p> -<p>The kindly woman looked up expectantly when, in reply to her invitation -to enter, the door of her office opened.</p> -<p>“Oh, good evening, Virginia,” she said, motioning to a chair near. “Be -seated, dear. Isn’t it curious that right this very moment I was -thinking of you, wondering if you or your friends had thought of someone -whom we could invite to occupy the Tower Room. I do not like to delay -longer, as the term will soon be well started.” Then she paused and -observed—“Virginia, I am convinced by your eager expression that you are -just waiting for an opportunity to tell me something that has greatly -interested you. What is it?”</p> -<p>“You are right, Mrs, Martin,” the girl declared as she seated herself on -the straight backed chair near the principal’s desk. Then she hesitated. -“I hardly know where to begin,” she smilingly confessed.</p> -<p>“Suppose you begin at the beginning,” was the amused comment of the -older woman.</p> -<p>“Well, then, you know Mrs. Martin, that this morning you gave us all -permission to hike wherever we wished until noon. Our group of five were -taken by a very nice boy, of perhaps 14, on his toboggan to coast down -the long hill that leads to the village. When we reached the bottom, we -asked him if there was anything interesting to be seen beyond the town. -He told us about a house which he called haunted that had one time been -occupied by a Captain Burgess and his family.”</p> -<p>Mrs. Martin’s expression brightened. “A wonderful old house that was in -its day and the Captain was a most interesting character. My husband -enjoyed nothing better when he was here resting from a hard session in -Washington than to spend a few hours over there listening to Captain -Burgess’ tales of his experiences on the sea. But he was a very -eccentric old man, and grew more so as the years passed. He was -determined that his two lovely daughters should never marry. His own -marriage, I believe, had been a very unhappy one and when he was left -alone with the two girls, he seemed to have but one thought and that was -to prevent their meeting young men who might wish to propose to them. -They were kept like two fair prisoners within that high hedge and when -necessity compelled me to change my home into a school these two young -ladies were among my first pupils, but they were always brought in a -closed carriage and were to remain within the seminary grounds until -they were called for. How they ever happened to meet the young men whom -they married is indeed a mystery.</p> -<p>“One was named Eleanora and the other Dorinda. Eleanora became the wife -of a young man, who proved worthless and who left her. Dorinda married a -missionary and went to live in distant lands. Their father at the time -was on a long sea voyage and when he returned and found that his girls -had evaded the vigilance of a dragon-like housekeeper, whom he had left -in charge, he became very hard and declared that not one penny of his -fortune should be given to those ingrates for their good-for-nothing -husbands to spend. Both of the girls wrote begging their father to -forgive them. He died soon after that and he left a note saying, ‘I’ve -buried my money. Whoever finds it can have it.’</p> -<p>“Luckily this note was not made public or the grounds of the old Burgess -place would have been dug up long ago. It was sent to Eleanora, who had -become a settlement worker in Boston. Now and then the two sisters heard -from each other. They knew that Eleanora had a baby girl and Dorinda a -boy. These children must be about 16 and 18 now, I should think. But -here I am reminiscing when I am quite sure that you have something that -you are eager to tell me. Has it aught to do with the old Burgess -place?”</p> -<p>Virginia replied that it had, and then she told all that had befallen -the group of girls who had started out that morning in search of an -adventure. Although she took a full share of the blame for having left -the bus, Mrs. Martin seemed to heed not at all. Her face plainly told -the anxious watcher that the misdemeanor was not of sufficient -importance to be rebuked, while, on the contrary, the news that her one -time pupil, the lovely daughter of old Captain Burgess was again at Vine -Haven pleased her exceedingly.</p> -<p>“As you say,” she began, “the daughter, Eleanor, would be an ideal guest -pupil if I can persuade her proud mother to permit her to come to us.” -Then, for a moment, the principal sat gazing out of the window against -which, in the light from the room, the beating snow could be seen.</p> -<p>“Virginia,” she said at last, “you may be excused from your morning -classes. I would like to have you accompany me to the old Burgess place. -Then, while I am visiting with Eleanora, the mother, perhaps you can -persuade the daughter that we would be glad indeed to have her with us -as a guest pupil.”</p> -<p>Mrs. Martin had risen and Virg did also. “Oh, how glad the girls will -be,” she said. “They have all promised to keep the identity of the guest -pupil a secret. I am sure Eleanor will be very happy, if she will come.” -Then hesitatingly. “Mrs. Martin, do you think that my name should be -taken from the Honor Roll because of——”</p> -<p>The principal interrupted her with an unexpected caress. “Dear girl,” -she said tenderly, “I wish I could put your name on twice.” Then she was -gone and there were tears in the eyes of the girl. Just such a caress -would an own mother have given a daughter with whom she was pleased.</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chVIII' title='An Early Morning Visit'>CHAPTER VIII<br />AN EARLY MORNING VISIT</h2> -</div> -<p>The other girls belonging to the Adventure Club were filled with envy, -when, on the following morning, Virginia told them that she was not to -attend the classes, but instead was to be driven in the teacher’s sleigh -(which was of Russian design with a fur robe hanging over the high-back -seat) to the old house which they had visited on the day previous.</p> -<p>But they were agreed that their president was the most fitting member to -accompany so important a personage as the principal of Vine Haven, and -they all flocked into her room, to help her dress for the occasion. -Sally, as a token of her undying devotion, brought in her beautiful -white fur boa and muff and begged Virginia to wear them. “They’ll keep -you so warm and will remind you of me. Mrs. Martin won’t mind your -borrowing them, I am sure.”</p> -<p>“Thank you, ever so much, dear. They are just lovely. I have never had -furs. You see, we don’t need them in Arizona, for, though it is very -cold early in the morning and in the late afternoon, even in February it -is pleasant and warm during the middle of the day.”</p> -<p>When at last Virg had been well bundled, with the aid of loving hands, -she impulsively gave them all a French kiss, as Madame La Fleur had -taught them to do, which was a mere touch of the lips on first one cheek -and then on the other. At the door she turned to laughingly call. “One -might think that I was starting for Arizona, instead of merely to the -village of Vine Haven.”</p> -<p>Then, when a chorus of merry good-byes had followed her as she tripped -down the broad front stairs she found herself wondering if she wished -she were starting for her beloved desert home. “Only four months more,” -she assured herself when she felt the clutch of homesickness that the -merest thought of them all so far away, brought to her heart.</p> -<p>Micky was driving the white team, and Virginia noticed that at times he -shivered. His overcoat, it was very evident, had been cut down from an -old one of his father’s and it was threadbare in places, while in others -it was badly in need of repair. Almost unconsciously Virginia made a -mental note of this.</p> -<p>Mrs. Martin, sitting by the side of the tall, bright-eyed maiden, smiled -at her lovingly. “Virginia,” she said, “I feel like a school girl -playing truant, don’t you?”</p> -<p>“I feel eager, as though something very interesting was about to -happen.” Then, with renewed interest, Virg continued: “Oh, Mrs. Martin, -do tell me more about those unfortunate daughters of the eccentric old -sea captain.”</p> -<p>“You are right. They were, indeed, unfortunate. Eleanora’s husband, -whose name was Mr. Craven, I believe, disappeared a year after the birth -of their child, and the disappointed young mother took back her father’s -name. Since then she has supported them both, doing settlement work in -Boston.</p> -<p>“Dorinda was heard from until her son was eight. That was 10 years ago. -After that the letters sent to her by Eleanora were returned, unopened, -and on them was often written in a strange foreign hand, ‘Address -unknown.’”</p> -<p>“And so what became of the sister to whom she was so devoted and to that -sister’s son, the mother of your friend Eleanor never knew?”</p> -<p>When Micky turned in at the drive between the high hedge on the side -farthest from town the door of the old house was thrown open and a truly -beautiful young girl appeared. Although her skin was olive in hue, a -ruddy color glowed beneath it, and her eyes were a soft, dreamy brown, -while long curls, held together at her neck with a bright-colored ribbon -bow, hung to her waist.</p> -<p>Her expression brightened when she saw who their early morning visitors -were and she darted within, probably to tell her mother who was -arriving, but she was back in the open door by the time that Mrs. Martin -and Virginia were ascending the well-shoveled front porch.</p> -<p>“And so you are my Eleanora’s little daughter,” the older woman said, -graciously holding out her gloved hand to the girl. “I was sorry not to -see you when you and your mother were here two summers ago. The last -time I saw you, I think, was when you were seven.”</p> -<p>“Oh, I just know that you are Mrs. Martin,” the girl said eagerly, while -Virginia hastened to apologize. “Pardon me for not having introduced -you, Mrs. Martin. You did not tell me, that is, I really supposed that -you were well acquainted.”</p> -<p>The older woman smiled back at the tall girl who was following her. “I -should be,” she said. Then, hearing her name spoken, she hastened into -the large, homey living room, where the mother of Eleanor awaited them. -“It was so good of you to come.” There were sudden tears in the eyes of -the little woman, who was not yet strong. “It always makes me think of -the old days, when I return here,” Mrs. Burgess continued, when they -were seated about the wide, cheerful hearth. “I’ve been wondering so -much about Dorinda.” Then, hopefully: “Mrs. Martin, you haven’t heard, -have you? I know how much Dorinda cared for you, and I thought perhaps—”</p> -<p>But the principal of Vine Haven was shaking her head. “No, Eleanora, I -never heard. That is, not more recently than you have. My last letter -was when the little boy was eight.”</p> -<p>“They were on some island near Australia then,” Mrs. Burgess said, “but -though I have written to the American consul, I have never received -information that would lead to a knowledge of Dorinda’s whereabouts. I -now believe that she is dead. I wish we might find her poor boy, if he -is still living.”</p> -<p>“Don’t give up hope, Eleanora,” Mrs. Martin said. “I feel sure that you -will find him some day. Now, there is another matter of which I wish to -speak.”</p> -<p>Mrs. Burgess looked up with interest when the principal of Vine Haven -said that she had made that early morning visit with some definite -object in mind.</p> -<p>The older woman placed a hand, from which the glove had been removed, -upon the slim white one that was lying on the arm of her chair.</p> -<p>“Eleanora,” Mrs. Martin’s voice was tenderly sincere, “you have had a -great deal of trouble and misfortune and I do wish you would permit me -to help you.”</p> -<p>According to a pre-arranged plan, Virginia had suggested that Eleanor -show her about the old house, and so the two older women were alone.</p> -<p>“Help me?” Mrs. Burgess repeated. “Really, I don’t need help, though I -truly appreciate your thought of me.”</p> -<p>It was very hard for Mrs. Martin to suggest that the proud younger woman -accept what she believed would be charity. In fact, she just couldn’t do -it. Then an inspiration came to aid her. Only the day before the teacher -of the very youngest girls had asked for a leave of absence for two -months, as she was needed in her home near Boston. Not waiting to think -out a plan, Mrs. Martin said hurriedly:</p> -<p>“Eleanora, I began in the wrong way. I meant, that I have a request to -make which will greatly aid me, if you will grant it.”</p> -<p>There was just a bit of a suspicious expression in the eyes that were -lifted inquiringly.</p> -<p>“Why, Mrs. Martin, how could I aid you?” the younger woman asked.</p> -<p>“In this way.” The principal’s mind was now fully made up. “Miss Rose, -my girl teacher, has asked for a leave of absence, and I would like your -Eleanor to assist me in her place if you are willing.”</p> -<p>Again there were tears in the listener’s eyes and she held the hand of -her long-ago teacher and friend in a closer clasp. “Mrs. Martin,” she -said, “I understand. You are offering my dear little girl an opportunity -to receive an education where her mother spent many happy hours, and -that free of tuition, but——”</p> -<p>“Don’t say ‘but’ Eleanora. Don’t you see that your daughter would be -earning her tuition if she spent a few hours each day with the primary -girls?”</p> -<p>The younger woman could not trust herself to speak, but her eyes were -lifted gratefully. In her heart there was a sob. “Oh, how lonely she -would be in Boston’s tenement district without her girl’s bright face -awaiting her after each long hard day spent helping the miserable and -the poor.”</p> -<p>“But it’s my Eleanor’s chance,” another thought reminded her. “I had -mine, and I will not deprive her.”</p> -<p>A tap upon the door interrupted. Then a merry voice called through a -crack: “Have you two finished telling your secrets? The big house is so -damp and cold, we’re most frozen.”</p> -<p>Mrs. Martin looked inquiringly at the younger woman, who had not voiced -her decision. “Yes, come in, darling, and get warm by the fire. I have -some wonderful news for you.”</p> -<p>“Mother-mine, what?” The girl’s face was radiant. “Granddad’s hidden -fortune hasn’t been found, has it?”</p> -<p>Mrs. Burgess shook her head. “And never will be,” was her response. -“This is something real. Mrs. Martin is offering you a term’s tuition at -the Vine Haven Boarding School in exchange for a few hours a day of your -time to be spent teaching the very little girls in the primary class.”</p> -<p>Mrs. Martin noted Virginia’s quick glance of surprise, but the others -did not. Then the girl from the West correctly figured out just what had -happened, and turned to see how Eleanor would receive the news. Not as -she had expected, for, dropping on the stool at her mother’s feet, she -clasped her hand, as she said, “Though in one way I’d like to go to Vine -Haven better than anything I could do, I just couldn’t leave you. Why, -Mother-Mine, who would live with you in our tiny apartment? Who would -have ready for you the things you ought to eat when you come home each -night so tired after helping poor women who do not know how to help -themselves and their babies. I just couldn’t do it, Mother-Mine. I -couldn’t be happy knowing that you needed me.” Then rising, the girl -impulsively held out both hands to Mrs. Martin. “Thank you though. Thank -you more than words can tell. I’ve just longed to go to Vine Haven -Seminary and, perhaps, some time I may be able to, but I can’t leave -mother now, for, you see, she isn’t well, and I want her to need me.”</p> -<p>They had all risen and the visitors were about to leave, when sleigh -bells were heard, and Eleanor skipped once more to the front door to see -who the new arrival might be.</p> -<p>“Why, it’s Doctor Warren! Has he come for us so soon, Mother, do you -suppose? We weren’t expecting to return for another fortnight, were we?” -Before Mrs. Burgess could reply, the good man bustled in. “Well, well,” -he said when he saw visitors, “I’m glad to find that you are not lonely. -Don’t hurry away,” he held out a detaining hand when introductions had -been made, “Mrs. Martin, since you are so old a friend of my patient, I -may need your aid in persuading her to do something upon which my heart -is set. She’s stubborn, Mrs. Burgess is, as perhaps you know, but she -has always said that if the time ever came when she could help my wife, -she’d be glad to do it.”</p> -<p>Here Mrs. Burgess interrupted. “Of course I shall keep that promise. -What do you want me to do?”</p> -<p>The good man fairly beamed. “That wife of mine wishes to spend a few -months abroad, Italy and the like, and she insists that you are the -companion she wants with her, and she simply won’t take no for an -answer. It will do more to restore your health than anything else can -and now all that remains is to decide what our little Eleanor is to do -in the meantime. I have thought—”</p> -<p>“Oh, Doctor Warren,” the girl leaped forward and caught the hands of -their old friend. “I’m disposed of for I am to be a sort of a teaching -pupil for the rest of the term at the Vine Haven Seminary.”</p> -<p>“Fine! In the words of Billy Shakespeare, ‘All’s well that ends well.’”</p> -<p>And so the matter was evidently decided although Mrs. Burgess had said -not one word.</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chIX' title='Winona’s Decision'>CHAPTER IX<br />WINONA’S DECISION</h2> -</div> -<p>When Virginia returned to Vine Haven, she found the girls in the library -for the mid-morning free half hour. As soon as Mrs. Martin had closed -the door of her study, they flocked about their favorite begging her to -tell them just what happened. Betsy taking their president by the arm -led her into the long attractive room where the walls were lined with -books, pictures and small statues.</p> -<p>“We were sure you’d be coming back about now,” Sally said as she skipped -along by the side of her beloved one, “and so we have been poking the -fire to keep it bright.”</p> -<p>Betsy teased. “Sally hasn’t much faith in those furs that she loaned -you. She has been so afraid that you would come home frozen, it being so -cold today.”</p> -<p>“I wasn’t cold,” Virg turned a grateful glance at the doll-like girl who -was always hovering near her, “but I know someone who was.”</p> -<p>“My goodness me, it couldn’t have been Mrs. Martin,” Betsy declared. -“She was almost hidden in that adorable long fur coat of hers. It must -have cost a million dollars, unless her grandfather was a seal diver.”</p> -<p>“They don’t dive to catch seals,” Megsy said, correctingly. “You’re -thinking of pearls.”</p> -<p>Sally giggled. “I’d hate to wear a string of pearls instead of a fur boa -on a day like this.”</p> -<p>“But enlighten us; who was cold in your party?” Barbara brought the -subject back to its point of digression.</p> -<p>“Micky was, and that set me to thinking of our plan. You know we said, -since we are so grateful to him for having come out in that bitterly -cold storm the other night to rescue us, that we would chip together and -buy him something. Well, I believe the thing he needs most is a warm -winter overcoat.”</p> -<p>“Hurray for you, Virg! That’s a spiffy idea! I’m for it! Lessee! I have -at least fifty cents left after buying chocolate-chews and sweet -pickles.” This, of course, from twinkling-eyed Betsy.</p> -<p>“I’m the moneyed person in this party,” Babs said with pretended pride, -“for dad sent me ten dollars extra on my month’s allowance, and it just -came today. That shall go toward the new coat.”</p> -<p>“We’ll all chip in, but do let’s talk fast, for, in three minutes and -two seconds our free period will be over.” Margaret indeed was talking -so rapidly that her words sounded jumbled. “We’re wild to know what -happened over at the old Burgess place.”</p> -<p>“But I couldn’t possibly tell it all to you in three minutes, for the -two seconds are already gone, but this much I can say. Eleanor Burgess -is coming, not as a guest but as a teaching pupil, so there will not be -anything to keep secret after all.”</p> -<p>“Hurray! That’s jolly fine! I hope there’s a mystery about her that I -can solve.” These comments were laughingly called back over the -shoulders of the three departing girls for right on time the gong had -pealed in the main corridor bidding them to return to their classes.</p> -<p>Virginia walked slowly upstairs to the room which she shared with -Winona. She was thinking of the Manuscript Magazine. Eleanor had told -her that she would rather write than eat Charlotte Russe and that that -was saying a good deal as she adored that particular kind of dessert, -but had always been too poor to have it except on very rare occasions -such as birthdays or Christmas. “I’m just sure we’ll all love her, and -how I do hope one of her stories will do for this month’s magazine.” -Virginia opened the door to the corner room and then stopped and stared -within.</p> -<p>What she saw aroused her curiosity.</p> -<p>“Winona, where are you going? Why are you packing? You haven’t had bad -news from home, have you?” This last because of an open letter on the -table which lay as though it had been hastily dropped as soon as it had -been read.</p> -<p>The tall, graceful Indian girl stood up and turned to smile with her -usual calm expression undisturbed.</p> -<p>“It’s strange, isn’t it,” she said, “how very much can happen in a very -little time? Just after you left this morning a telegram came from my -brother, Strong Heart, which had been sent from Red Riverton. In it he -told me that there was an epidemic in our village and that he was in -town trying to find a physician who would be willing to go so far out on -the desert and remain until all danger was over. ‘Do not come yet. Night -letter will follow,’ that telegram stated. Of course I began at once to -pack, believing that I might want to start West at any moment, but when -the night letter came, my sister, Glad Song wrote that help had been -obtained and that I need not come. I will read what she has written: -‘Winona, several of our little ones passed from our village before we -could obtain help. We no longer believe in our old medicine man and -there is no one in our midst who knows about first aid measures. I have -been wishing that you might learn something of these things before you -return to us.’”</p> -<p>The Indian girl looked up, her dark eyes glowing with a new resolve. -“You remember White Lily, that day just after the Christmas holidays -when I told you that I felt that there must be some real mission in life -for each of us?”</p> -<p>Virginia nodded: “Yes, I remember.”</p> -<p>“And you agreed. I recall that you said if we each held the finding of -that mission as a definite goal, we would be led to it, and now,” the -dark face was radiant, “this is what I may do for my father’s people. I -shall go away to another school, White Lily, where I can learn the ways -of preventing epidemics.”</p> -<p>How tall and straight, like an arrow, the Indian girl stood, and, in her -eyes there was that far-away expression as though she were seeing a -vision. Virginia thought of Joan d’Arc. That same expression was often -pictured in the eyes of young women who were inspired with a high -purpose and in whose hearts there was a noble resolve.</p> -<p>“Where shall you go, Winona?” This was no time for sentimental regrets -that the friends were to be parted, their plans changed.</p> -<p>“I do not know. I shall speak with Mrs. Martin. She will know best how -to advise me. I will go to her now.”</p> -<p>When Winona was gone, Virginia removed her wraps and sat before the -fireplace, thinking. It was but a half hour before lunch and there was -not time to attend any of the morning classes.</p> -<p>“Dear, wonderful Winona,” the girl from the West was thinking, “she has -found her life work and she will accomplish it, whatever the obstacles -may be that will arise in her path.” Then with a little sigh, Virginia -thought of her own future. What did it hold for her? What worthwhile -thing was she to do? Of course she would return to her beloved desert, -but who was there that she could really benefit with what she had -learned, as Winona would benefit her father’s remnant of a tribe? In a -flash there came to the girl a picture in the fire. For three long years -the little school house near the sand hills, which she and Winona had -attended when they were younger, had been deserted. The storms had blown -the sand high over the door-sill and the drifts, on the side toward -which the wind most frequently blew were even up to the windows. Such a -sad, forlorn little place it was!</p> -<p>And it could not be reopened. A teacher could not be hired by the State -because there were only six pupils to attend it. The three little Mahoys -and another three little scraggly unkempt children belonging to a dry -rancher over in Wild Hog Canon. Six children who were to grow up without -the rudiments of knowledge because the Board of Education would not hire -a teacher for that little desert school unless there were eight pupils.</p> -<p>Though she did not know it, the same light was burning deep in the eyes -of Virginia that she had noted a few moments before in the dark orbs of -her friend. “I, even I, am responsible for those six forlorn little -babies,” she was thinking. “They are my mission. Surely the State will -permit a self-appointed teacher, whom they will not have to pay, to at -least use the little schoolhouse that is nearly hidden in sand drifts.</p> -<p>“Brother Peyton, Uncle Tex, Rusty Pete and the rest will gladly have a -shoveling roundup and clear away the sand from the windows and doors. It -will be a cheerful little room, flooded with sunlight and filled with -color and hope and happiness.”</p> -<p>Virginia’s thoughts were interrupted by the return of Winona. “Strange -things are happening,” was her immediate remark. “Mrs. Martin had a -folder this morning from a hospital training school, and in it Mrs. -Martin is asked to send the name of any girl who might wish to take the -three months practical nursing course.</p> -<p>“I said that I would gladly take it, and, that there might be no delay, -Mrs. Martin called up the hospital on long distance and she was asked to -send me at once as one applicant for the term just beginning had been -unable to take the work at present.”</p> -<p>Virginia gladly assisted her friend to pack and that very afternoon the -Indian girl left the school before the other pupils even knew what was -happening.</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chX' title='A New Goal'>CHAPTER X<br />A NEW GOAL</h2> -</div> -<p>Virginia was alone in her room. It looked barren on the side which had -been occupied by Winona’s bright blankets and reed baskets of quaint -design. The Indian maiden had begged Virginia to permit her to leave her -side of the room untouched, knowing how much the girl from the West -enjoyed having about her the things that suggested the desert, but Virg -had insisted that Winona would much more need them in the plain -white-walled room in the hospital school.</p> -<p>As Virginia glanced around she was conscious of being more homesick than -ever. “But four months isn’t an eternity, and I do love it here,” she -had just concluded when there came a tapping on her door.</p> -<p>Betsy Clossen’s merry face peeped in through the crack which she had -opened. “Are visitors wanted or diswanted?” she inquired.</p> -<p>“We’re improvising words tonight,” Megsy, who closely followed, informed -the lonely occupant.</p> -<p>“Yes, indeed, you’re all wanted. Do come right in. I don’t have to study -just this minute, and it isn’t well for me to be alone, for if I am long -I’m liable to do what my roommate did.”</p> -<p>“What, Virg! You wouldn’t pack up and go to a hospital, would you?” -Margaret looked alarmed.</p> -<p>“No, but I might pack up and go to the desert. Not to stay, but just to -peep in and see what brother and Uncle Tex are doing. They’re sitting in -front of the fireplace now, I suppose, and Rusty Pete, perhaps, is there -talking over the work for tomorrow.”</p> -<p>“And my brother, Peyton, may have ridden over to V. M. to spend the -night,” Babs said. “He wrote me that he often does that, when he has -business to attend to in Douglas. It would be too far to make the round -trip in one day, and so he stops with Malcolm.”</p> -<p>While the girls were talking there came a timid knock.</p> -<p>“Come in,” was Virginia’s hospitable invitation. The door opened and -Dicky Taylor stood on the threshold.</p> -<p>“Hello there, Dicky bird. What’s the big idea? Why not walk in?” This -from Betsy.</p> -<p>“I wasn’t sure you wanted me.” The girl entered and closed the door. -“You see, I don’t belong to your little club-group, and I don’t want to -intrude, but ever since I went over to the Burgess place with Micky I’ve -had such an interest in that nice girl and I hoped you would tell me -what happened next.”</p> -<p>There was a little wistful expression in the eyes of the pretty young -girl and Virginia hastened to say: “We haven’t a club, really, Dicky. I -mean not one that shuts anyone out who wants to come in. I’m not at all -sure but that we might have asked you to meet with us Saturday evenings -for our lesson reviews, that being our main object, only we thought that -you belonged to the Cora-Dora Troupe and that its activities and your -lemonade teas took all of your free time.”</p> -<p>“It’s a curious thing.” Dicky had seated herself at Virg’s invitation, -and she spoke with unwonted seriousness. “I can’t understand it myself. -Last year I was perfectly contented with the nonsense and pranks that -the twins are always thinking up, but this year I feel—well, I don’t -know as I can express it. I’ll say sort of dissatisfied, as though I -were mentally hungry. Oh, I don’t know exactly what I do mean, but I -feel it. A restlessness that the Cora-Dora Troupe and the teas do not -seem to satisfy. And it just came to me recently that the something I -want, you girls have. Even Babs is lots different this year. She seems -to have a definite aim.”</p> -<p>Virginia looked up brightly. “That’s it, dear! That is the whole secret -of content, I do believe. Having a definite aim and every day making -some progress, however little, toward it.” Then with a glance about at -all of them: “You want to know just what happened to change Winona’s -plans, so I will tell you.”</p> -<p>When the little tale had been told, Virginia said with a queer little -smile: “Shall I tell you my new goal? Or rather the only one which I -have definitely formed?”</p> -<p>“Oh, yes, please do!” It was little Sally who spoke. She had never even -thought that a goal in life was necessary. She nestled a bit nearer to -the speaker and listened with her baby-blue eyes intently watching.</p> -<p>Then Virginia told of the little deserted schoolhouse, “It must be very -lonely, for it’s many a year since its door was closed and locked for -the last time. I suppose it has stood there through the long sunny days -and the long windy or rainy days, wondering why the eight laughing, -happy little children never came again, and the rickety shed back of it -wonders perhaps why eight little burros are no longer tied in its -shelter.”</p> -<p>“I remember that little drifted-in schoolhouse, Virg,” Margaret said -softly. “I rode by there alone one day, and I dimly recall having -thought that it must be lonesome, though I haven’t the imagination that -you have, and oh! I do think it is just wonderful of you to want to give -some of your free time to teaching those babies. Maybe I will be able to -help. That is, if I am there.”</p> -<p>“If you are there?” Virginia’s tone held a surprised query. “Dear, -adopted sister of mine, where else would you be but with us on V. M.? -Don’t you know that my brother Malcolm is your guardian and that our -home is always to be your home, that is, if you want to go back with me? -Of course, you will soon be free to choose your own way of living. -Perhaps you’d rather stay in the East?”</p> -<p>“Oh, no, indeed. I want more than words can tell to go back home with -you and to live forever with my sister Virginia and my brother -Malcolm—if they want me.” Then with a little laugh she turned eyes in -which there were tears to look at the listening group. “Girls, forgive -me, please! I know I’m depressing everybody. I was just feeling so sort -of useless and all alone.”</p> -<p>“Oh, you’re useful enough, Megsy. Cut out worrying about that,” Barbara -retorted gayly. “Didn’t you sew seven buttons on undergarments for me -just in time to save me from being pounced on by Miss Snoopins? And -didn’t she happen around five minutes after you had put up your needle -to examine my work basket? ‘Mees Barbara,’ she remarked, and her voice -was almost human, ‘this is the first time I have ever found your -undergarments neatly mended.’ Honestly, I thought by her manner that she -was disappointed. So don’t ever say you aren’t useful, Margaret -Selover.”</p> -<p>“What I want to know,” Betsy put in irrelevantly “is, when Eleanor -Burgess is going to honor this seminary with her presence and with whom -she is going to room.”</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXI' title='A New Pupil Arrives'>CHAPTER XI<br />A NEW PUPIL ARRIVES</h2> -</div> -<p>But after all there was no mystery concerning the time when Eleanor -Burgess was to arrive at the seminary, for she appeared, bag and -baggage, on the second day after the visit which Mrs. Martin and -Virginia had made to the supposedly deserted house.</p> -<p>The physician’s wife was eager to get away from the wet, cold, Boston -winter and into the golden, warm climate of southern Italy, and as she -had no friend whose companionship she more enjoyed than that of the -overweary mother of Eleanor Burgess, she was happy indeed when she heard -that her dream-plan was to become a realization and that, within a -fortnight.</p> -<p>Mrs. Warren accompanied her husband from Boston on his return trip, two -days later, and after having taken Eleanor to the seminary, the -luxurious automobile, with its non-skid tires that defied snow-banks, -bore the three older people away to the city and left a girl whose heart -was filled with mingled sentiments of gladness and sorrow.</p> -<p>It would be a long, long while, she knew, before the mother, who was -dearest in all the world to her, would return. But she was more content -as she pictured what that mother would look like after three months of -carefree existence, just resting and basking under sunny Italian skies.</p> -<p>“What wonderful friends the Warrens are to us,” the girl thought as she -lifted the knocker of quaint design. The door was opened by the -pleasant-faced Delia, and Mrs. Martin, chancing to leave her office at -that moment, held out both hands to the newcomer.</p> -<p>“Dear Eleanor,” she said, “how glad I am that you came today. Little -Miss Rose is impatient to be away, but she wanted to remain until she -could explain to you about her babies, all of whom she loves, as she is -sure that you will, also. But first you must go to your room.”</p> -<p>The principal noted an eager brightening of the girl’s face as she -looked up inquiringly. “Are you wondering with whom you are to room?” -Mrs. Martin asked.</p> -<p>“I was hoping that it might be with Virginia Davis, but I suppose that -someone else is with her.”</p> -<p>Mrs. Martin had planned giving Eleanor the Tower Room, which was still -unoccupied, but she recalled its remoteness, and fearing that Eleanor -might be lonely there, she at once decided to go to Virginia and ask if -she would like the new pupil to take Winona’s place until that maiden -might return, if, indeed, she came back at all.</p> -<p>Excusing herself, Mrs. Martin went to one of the classrooms and stepped -within. After consulting a moment with Virginia, she returned, saying -with her kindly smile, “Your wish is to be granted.” Then to Delia, -“Will you go with Miss Burgess to the southeast corner room?”</p> -<p>Virginia could hardly wait until the class was dismissed to hasten -upstairs and greet her new roommate. Eleanor was standing at the window -which overlooked the sea when she heard the door open. She turned -quickly and walked toward the girl who had entered, hands outstretched. -“Isn’t it all wonderful,” she exclaimed, “and just like a story in a -book? Mother is to have the rest and change that she needs, and I am to -have my opportunity to learn to write and draw, and be independent at -the same time.” Then leaning over impulsively she kissed Virg as she -said sincerely. “It was mighty nice of you to let me be your roommate.”</p> -<p>“Eleanor,” Virginia said, “I’m just looking forward to our free -evenings. We both like the same things and that, I am sure, is the -secret of true comradeship.”</p> -<p>That afternoon the new teacher of the primary pupils began her duties, -and she reported, when she returned to Apple Blossom lane, that she just -adored the babies (there were five of them, and the oldest was seven, -while the youngest was but four and a half), and if only she could have -a letter from her mother every other day, at least, she was sure that -she would be the happiest girl in all the school.</p> -<p>At the afternoon free period Virginia threw Winona’s warm-colored -blanket over her head, for it had been a parting gift from the Indian -maid to her schoolmate of many years, and, with a bundle of papers under -her arm, she followed the path that was shoveled deep between snow -banks, until it reached the shelter of the grove, and there, in many -places, were pine needles on the ground that was but slightly covered -with snow.</p> -<p>Miss Torrence was eagerly awaiting the editress of The Manuscript -Magazine. “Herein lies our only hope,” Virginia said when her English -teacher had led her in to the sunny little den where she spent many -hours planning lessons for the girls, reading or writing. Now and then a -poem by Miss Torrence appeared in a current magazine, to the delight of -her girls.</p> -<p>The teacher smiled as she took the bundle of papers.</p> -<p>“Three stories and two poems, you say; and from them we may choose -material for our first Manuscript Magazine? Thank you for bringing them. -I will let you know tomorrow, Virginia, what I think of them.”</p> -<p>The girl, as was her wont, stopped a moment in the sunny living room to -chat with the dear little old lady who liked nothing better than to have -one of the pupils from the seminary tell her of their merry or busy -life. “It gives me something pleasant to think over for quite a time,” -she often said. But best of all, she liked to have Virginia visit with -her, and then their talk was not of the school, but of the desert, and -the little old lady’s eyes would glow as she would retell, time and -again, the story of her journey across the plains with her father and -mother in a prairie schooner. And Virginia would listen, at each -telling, as though it were the first time she had heard it.</p> -<p>“She is such a nice girl,” the old lady would invariably tell her -daughter, when Virg was gone. “I like the others, but some way I like -her best.”</p> -<p>“Virginia is unselfish. She is sincerely interested in whatever -interests others, and few girls are that,” Miss Torrence would reply.</p> -<p>At that same time Kathryn Von Wellering had called a meeting of her -“Exclusive Three.”</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXII' title='The Exclusive Three'>CHAPTER XII<br />THE EXCLUSIVE THREE</h2> -</div> -<p>Kathryn von Wellering was lying back in her luxuriously upholstered -reclining chair reading a novel with a title, which would have won the -disapproval of Miss Snoopins if she had been able to find its hiding -place, which, as yet, she had not.</p> -<p>The tall, dark girl, whose truly beautiful face was marred by a hard, -selfish expression, unusual in one so young (for Kathryn was but -sixteen), sat up when there came a light tap on her door.</p> -<p>“Come in,” she called languidly as she reached toward a small table -nearby and took a chocolate from an elaborately beribboned box. “You’re -five minutes late,” she addressed the two girls who had entered in a -petulant manner.</p> -<p>Belle Wiley, plump, pretty, with wavy light hair, and clear hazel eyes, -was followed by Anne Peterson who was tall and willowy, but whose -yellowish eyes held an expression which suggested that she was not -sincere. These girls were fifteen years of age, and, though their -fathers were not as wealthy as Kathryn’s, she had chosen them to take -the places of the two former members of “The Exclusive Three.” It was -hard to understand why the pleasant-faced Belle Wiley was an admirer of -Kathryn’s, but Anne Petersen was undeniably a girl whom their leader -would choose as a comrade.</p> -<p>“Why did you call a meeting today, Kathryn?” Belle inquired. She -remained standing, although Anne had at once seated herself among the -soft pillows on a deep comfortable chair, and had helped herself to -candy, not waiting to be asked.</p> -<p>Kathryn Von Wellering lifted her dark eyebrows and shrugged her -shoulders. “Should the dictates of a leader be questioned?” she -inquired.</p> -<p>She turned toward the girl who was seated, and Anne at once replied. -“I’ll say not. You may send for me at any old time. Whatever you’re -scheming, you may count on me, old dear, I’m game.”</p> -<p>“That’s what I call loyalty.” Kathryn smiled, though she ended it with -an almost cynical lifting of one eyebrow. Then to Belle, who was still -lingering near the door, she said impatiently, “For goodness sakes, sit -down! What’s the big idea anyway, of seeming to be in such a rush? You -haven’t a pressing engagement in some other part of the school, have -you?”</p> -<p>“Probably she’s going to squeal your whole plan to that teacher’s -darling, Virginia Davis.” This rather sarcastically, while the speaker -helped herself to another candy.</p> -<p>Kathryn’s expression was not a pleasant one. “Belle Wiley,” she said, -threateningly, “if you tell, I’ll——well, be warned in time. Now sit down -and behave! Have a chocolate. You certainly need sweetening!”</p> -<p>The girl addressed, reluctantly seated herself and their leader leaned -forward to say with an intensity which she seldom gave to anything. “I -hate her! I simply hate that upstart from the desert. And what’s more, I -hate all of her friends.”</p> -<p>Belle interrupted. She was seeing the girl whom she had idealized as she -truly was, for the first time, although she had had disconcerting -glimpses since Kathryn began trying to win the editorship.</p> -<p>She now said, “I can’t understand why you hate Virginia Davis. I was -talking with Dicky Taylor today. We stood next each other in gym, and -she told me that Virginia doesn’t want to be editor and would be pleased -if someone else had it, but Miss Torrence insists that she keep it.”</p> -<p>“Well, when Miss Torrence finds that the first copy of the magazine is a -failure, perhaps she will be glad to let me have the place. She said, -herself, that my story was one of the very best submitted.”</p> -<p>Anne Petersen laughed as though at a joke that amused her, but Belle -sitting on the very edge of her chair, blurted out with, “Yes, but you -know as well as we do, that the story you submitted was not original.”</p> -<p>Kathryn’s eyes flashed dangerously, then she nearly closed them and -regarded the rebellious member narrowly. “You are mistaken, Miss Wiley. -My contribution was original, as all of my compositions have been since -I entered this school.”</p> -<p>“Yes, original, I’ll agree,” Belle hurried on fearlessly, “but not -original by you.”</p> -<p>“Oh, I say, cut out the wrangle. What’s the big idea, Belle? Where did -you unearth a conscience?” This from Anne, who had put her prettily -slippered feet on a stool and was looking at them admiringly. “Say, -Kathryn, old dear, those were spiffy silk hose that you gave me. I wish -my padre had money enough to buy silk things for me, but he thinks -paying my tuition is all that is necessary.”</p> -<p>Then with a questioning glance at Belle. “Where are the silk stockings -Kathryn gave you? I thought you were mighty pleased yesterday when you -received them.”</p> -<p>Belle flushed and put her hand in the deep pocket of her dark blue -school dress. She drew out a small, neatly wrapped bundle. This she -placed on the table. “I can’t accept them,” she declared. “I thought at -first that they were meant merely as a gift of friendship, but, when I -got to thinking it over, I knew they were meant to pay me for having -been untrue to myself.”</p> -<p>“Hi-ho! Hear the young preacher! Any wings started?” Anne’s taunt was -interrupted by a now thoroughly angry Kathryn. “Belle Wiley,” she said, -“for the past month you’ve been hanging around my room, morning, noon -and night, telling me how much you admired me and hoping that some day -there’d be something you could do to show me how much you liked me, and -now, the very first thing I ask you to do, you act up in this way.”</p> -<p>“But it wasn’t right. It wasn’t honest; the thing you asked me to do.”</p> -<p>“Indeed? I merely asked you to write so poor a story that Miss Torrence -would find it unfit to use in the first copy of The Manuscript Magazine. -You did it. Nobody could have written a poorer one.”</p> -<p>Anne stopped munching chocolates. Leaning forward, she said: “And, of -course, since we had done that simple little thing for Kathy, she wanted -to show her appreciation in some nice way and she gave us each a pair of -silk stockings. I call that a mighty fine friend to have, myself.”</p> -<p>Belle rose as though she were about to go. “I’m sorry, Kathryn,” and -there was a little break in her voice. “I hate to be a piker and I know -you both believe that I am, but until today, I didn’t see things in the -right light. I did love you, Kathryn, and when you care for anybody, -don’t you understand, it’s awfully hard for you to believe that—,” she -hesitated miserably, but bravely kept on, “that your ideal is not on the -square. When I came in here and found you copying the story you -submitted for the contest, I just couldn’t believe my eyes. You said at -first it was a story you had written long ago, but afterwards you -confided to us that you were on easy street, for a cousin of yours in -Boston who was a crack at composition, sent one every week for you to -read and—”</p> -<p>Kathryn pretended to yawn. “Please bring the sermon to an end. I’m glad -to have found out in time just how unworthy a friend you are, Belle. -Goodness, it scares me, when I realize how near I came to letting you in -on the reason for which I called this meeting. Please close the door -after you as you leave.” The words were calm, but there was a glint in -the dark, half-closed eyes that was threatening. Belle knew that she had -been dismissed. At the door she turned to repeat, “I’m sorry, Kathryn, -but I can’t——”</p> -<p>“Just be careful what you say and do,” was the warning that followed the -retreating girl. She heard the key turn in the lock, then she went to -her room to sob out her disappointment in her friend.</p> -<p>“Well, this is what comes of taking one of the common people into your -confidence.” Kathryn walked to the window when she had locked the door -and looked out at a snow-covered campus. “I knew, of course, that -Belle’s father was a tradesman, and, out of this seminary, I most -certainly would not have associated with her.” Anne winced. Her own -father’s profession was not one followed by aristocrats. He conducted a -pool room in the Middle West. How she hoped Kathryn knew nothing of -this.</p> -<p>“What is your father’s—er—occupation?” Anne feared business would sound -too crude.</p> -<p>Kathryn replied without turning around, “He is a Wall Street financier.” -High sounding surely, but meaning nothing to the listener.</p> -<p>“Oh, don’t mind, Belle.” Anne was searching through the box to find a -candy of the kind she liked best. “There’s one thing about her, and that -is, you can count on her not to squeal. She’s dropped out of this thing -because—well, because, you know, it isn’t honest. Some girls are queer -that way, they’d rather be honest than wear silk stockings.” Anne was -again admiring her silk-covered ankles.</p> -<p>She did not see the scornful turn to Kathryn’s thin lips. “I did not -consider myself dishonest, Miss Petersen,” she said coldly.</p> -<p>Anne laughed. “Gracious guns, Kathy! Don’t put on any high and mighty -airs with me. I don’t care how many compositions of your cousin’s you -copy, but I repeat, Belle is right, it <i>isn’t</i> considered honest.”</p> -<p>“I didn’t say that story was original by me,” Kathryn retorted. “I wrote -in the upper left hand corner, as Miss Torrence has requested. ‘This is -an original story written by Kathryn Von Wellering. This story was -original by my cousin and the handwriting was mine.’”</p> -<p>Anne sat up and opened her yellowish eyes wide, as though in surprise.</p> -<p>“Say, Kathryn, are you trying to convince yourself, or me, that black is -white? ’Tisn’t necessary at all, as I stated before. It is black, clear -through, you and I know it, just as well as Belle knew it, only we -aren’t worrying about it. For Pat’s sake forget it, and proceed with the -meeting. I came here (though I’m supposed to be practicing), because I -understood that you had something important to say. If you have, spiel -along, for I’ve got to be down in the music room in five minutes. That’s -when Miss King looks in to see if I’m on duty. Luckily for me Esther -Dorset wanted to practice half an hour longer, but the time’s most up.”</p> -<p>Kathryn regarded the speaker through half-closed eyes as was her custom. -“I suppose you call that honest.”</p> -<p>“Me? Not at all! I knew if that piano was silent, Miss King would be -down there in two minutes to see why I wasn’t practicing, but with -Esther running scales as she is, I’ll get the credit, don’t you see, old -dear? Hurry on now, what is it you wanted to say?”</p> -<p>Kathryn had seated herself but instead of speaking she looked into the -fire. At length she said, “When people aren’t honest, you can’t be sure -that you can trust them.” Then with a sudden quick glance, “You and I -aren’t sure we can trust each other, are we?”</p> -<p>“Not at all!” agreed Anne. “But I’d trust Belle with anything. She’s a -mighty fine little girl, Belle is.” Then rising and stretching -languidly—“Well, so long, guess you’ve changed your mind about coming -out with your plan.”</p> -<p>Kathryn made an impatient gesture. “Sit down. Since you’ve been so frank -with me, telling me just what I am, at least I’ll ask your advice.”</p> -<p>Anne dropped into her chair again as she said, “You flatter me, old -dear, but make it snappy. I do want to get in half an hour at the -piano.”</p> -<p>Kathryn was still looking in the fire. “I thought,” she began, “that -when you two girls handed in such poor compositions it would be too late -to get others for this month’s Manuscript Magazine, but today I hear -that a new pupil has arrived who has submitted three stories and two -poems and that Miss Torrence is delighted with them.”</p> -<p>“Well, what next? You didn’t call a meeting merely to tell us that.” -Anne glanced at her wrist watch.</p> -<p>“No, of course not.” Kathryn’s dark eyes searched her friend’s face.</p> -<p>“This is the night the teachers assemble in Mrs. Martin’s office for -their Faculty Meetings.”</p> -<p>“Yes, so it is. But I’m still in the dark.” Anne looked somewhat -interested, and even more curious.</p> -<p>“Dark? That’s what it will be, for there isn’t a moon, and, what’s more, -the clouds are so heavy, it will probably snow.”</p> -<p>“Which means?” Anne couldn’t imagine what Kathryn was planning. “Which -means that you and I could slip over to Pine Cabin while Miss Torrence -is here and—well—it wouldn’t be hard to get in her study window. I heard -her say last week that the lock is broken but that she wasn’t afraid.”</p> -<p>Anne looked more puzzled than shocked. “What would we do in her study? -She hasn’t anything I want.”</p> -<p>“Stupid! She has all of the contributions for the magazine in her desk. -I saw them there today when I went to return a book.”</p> -<p>“Oh-h! Light is dawning. You want to get them?”</p> -<p>“Yes, and burn them. Then where will their Manuscript Magazine be for -this month?” Anne had risen. She hesitated before replying. Kathryn saw -this. Going to her dresser, she picked up a bracelet set with blue -stones. “Here, you may have it.” Anne’s expression was hard for the -watcher to interpret. The yellowish eyes were admiring the sparkle deep -in the stones. Kathryn breathed a sigh of relief when Anne slipped on -the bracelet. “Thanks, old dear,” she said. “I’ll drop in about eight.”</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXIII' title='The Heart of Anne'>CHAPTER XIII<br />THE HEART OF ANNE</h2> -</div> -<p>Kathryn von Wellering had been right in her prophecy. It was indeed a -dark night. The clouds had gathered in denseness through the late hours -of the afternoon and a chilling wet wind swept from the sea.</p> -<p>Miss Torrence hesitated about going to the faculty meeting. Her mother -was not well. She had not been strong enough to get about since the -winter set in, and of late she seemed weaker than usual.</p> -<p>“I wouldn’t leave you tonight, little mother,” the young teacher said, -“if it were not that a very important matter is to be discussed. I’ll -leave a low light burning in my study; one nearer than that might keep -you awake, and I do want you to sleep and then you will not miss me.”</p> -<p>“It’s all right, daughter. Don’t mind me. I’ll just lie here and -remember pleasant things that happened in the long ago. I’m not afraid.”</p> -<p>Miss Torrence leaned over the bed and kissed the sweet face of the -little old lady that looked up at her wistfully from under a beribboned -night cap. “Be sure to take your umbrella and wear your rubbers.”</p> -<p>The young teacher smiled as she went out. Ever since she was a small -girl starting to kindergarten, this thoughtful mother had asked, “Are -you sure you have a clean handkerchief, daughter?”</p> -<p>The wind caught at the umbrella the moment it was raised, just beyond -the shelter of the grove, and it had to be closed again, but, although -there was a fine mist-like snow in the air, it was not wet enough to -drench her. Gathering the flying folds of her cloak closely about her, -Miss Torrence hastened to the basement entrance of the school, and soon -appeared in the upper corridor and went at once toward the door of the -principal’s office. Two girls stood in front of the blackboard on which -was written in big white letters, “Honor Roll.”</p> -<p>“Good evening, Miss Torrence.” One of them spoke in an unusually -friendly manner.</p> -<p>“Good evening, Kathryn,” was the kindly given reply. “Are you and Anne -searching for your names? She who will, can be on the Honor Roll, you -know.”</p> -<p>“Oh, no indeed! We weren’t expecting to be on it. We were rather -surprised, though, to find that Barbara Wente’s name is here.”</p> -<p>“It was put up today. I am so glad.” The young teacher smiled again and -entered the office from which, when the door was momentarily open, the -girls could hear the hum of voices.</p> -<p>“It’s going to be a long session, I’m thinking,” Kathryn said in a low -voice. “Now that we are sure that Miss Torrence is here, let’s go at -once to Pine Cabin.”</p> -<p>Anne Petersen hesitated. She lifted her hand at that moment to adjust -her hair and the glint of the blue stones caught her eyes.</p> -<p>“Very well, lead the way,” was what she said.</p> -<p>Kathryn went upstairs to her room and Anne accompanied her. Earlier in -the evening she had left there her warm cloak and tam. “Wait until we -are sure the games are started in the gym,” Kathryn warned, “then, with -the teachers all occupied, we can slip out of the side door without -attracting attention.”</p> -<p>This was indeed easily accomplished, and they were soon breasting the -wet cold wind that swept in from the sea.</p> -<p>As they neared the Pine Cabin Kathryn whispered: “There’s a low light -burning in the study. That’s good for us. We can see at once where the -papers are and we won’t stumble over things.”</p> -<p>“I hope the old lady is asleep,” said Anne. “I heard Miss Torrence say -only last week that her mother is so frail now that she has to carry her -from the chair she sits in all day to bed at night.”</p> -<p>“What do I care about her? Be quiet, will you? I’ll lift the window and -we will have no trouble stepping in from this porch ledge.”</p> -<p>Kathryn was right. The lock to the window had been broken and as Miss -Torrence had no fear of thieves, she had not called the gardener to -repair it. The window creaked slightly as it was lifted, and the girls -waited, listening breathlessly, before they stepped inside.</p> -<p>They were not the only ones who heard it. The little old lady in the -adjoining room had also heard.</p> -<p>“Daughter, is that you? Have you come back?” a tremulous voice called.</p> -<p>Anne darted a quick look at her companion, and motioned her to be -absolutely quiet. The little old lady sank back on her pillow believing -the sound to have been caused by the rising wind. When the voice was not -heard again, Kathryn began to search through the desk. The bundle of -manuscripts that she had seen, when she had that afternoon returned a -book to Miss Torrence, was not in evidence.</p> -<p>In her impatience she was not as quiet as she might have been. “You’ll -frighten the little old lady,” Anne Petersen whispered.</p> -<p>“What do I care. She can’t walk! She’ll never be able to tell who was -here,” was Kathryn’s cold reply.</p> -<p>Anne’s glance at her friend was scornful. “Do you mean to tell me, -Kathryn Von Wellering, that you don’t care whether you frighten that -little old lady to death or not? You’d sneak away, would you, and leave -her all alone here unable to get up and terrorized for the long hour -before her daughter gets back?”</p> -<p>Luckily the moaning of the wind made it impossible for the little old -lady to hear this whispered conversation.</p> -<p>Kathryn’s lips curled, but before she could reply, her searching eyes -discovered the manuscripts tied in a neat bundle. They were ready to be -given to Virginia on the morrow. Seizing them, the girl climbed through -the window, upsetting, as she did so, a flower pot that was on the sill. -It fell to the floor with a crash.</p> -<p>At that moment they heard a pitiful, frightened cry from the room -occupied by the frail, elderly mother of Miss Torrence.</p> -<p>Anne Petersen turned, her eyes flashing. “Kathryn Von Wellering,” she -said, “I’m going back there and comfort that poor little old lady. I -have a grandmother of my own at home and I wouldn’t want her to be -treated in this way. You are the most heartless girl I have ever known. -Here, take your bracelet; take it or I’ll throw it in the snow.”</p> -<p>Kathryn caught the arm of the other and tried to drag her toward the -school, but Anne shook herself free. “Coward,” she said, “all you are -afraid of is that I’ll squeal on you. Don’t you worry. I won’t. And -don’t you ever speak to me again. I’m through.”</p> -<p>Turning, she walked around to the front of the cabin and entered the -door. She heard the pitiful sobbing of the little old lady.</p> -<p>“Mrs. Torrence,” she called reassuringly, “don’t be frightened. It’s -just one of the girls from the school. I—I had a sort of a headache, and -I—I came out to let the cool night air—” For the first time in her -fifteen years Anne felt a scorn for lying. She wished she could tell the -truth, but she couldn’t. She had promised Kathryn she wouldn’t squeal.</p> -<p>“Who is it? Which one of the girls, and what was it fell?” came the -faint voice, but Anne noted with relief that the fear was gone.</p> -<p>She walked to the door of the bedroom and switched on the light. “I’m -Anne Petersen,” she said. “You haven’t seen me before. I haven’t been -over to Pine Cabin, but I heard you call out and so I came in.”</p> -<p>“Well, it was ever so nice of you, my dear. My daughter never will lock -the doors. She says there is no one who wants to come in, for harm, and -I suppose she is right. I thought I heard something fall in the house, -but like as not it was something just outside that the wind blew down.”</p> -<p>It was plain that the little old lady was trying to assure herself that -all was well, but as Anne went nearer she could see that she was -shivering. “You’re cold, aren’t you?” she asked kindly.</p> -<p>“Yes, I tried to get up but I couldn’t.”</p> -<p>“Well, I’ll cover you more, then I’ll make you a warm drink. I’m going -to stay with you till Miss Torrence comes.” The girl had made this -sudden decision. She knew that, brave as the little old lady was trying -to be, she had been greatly frightened.</p> -<p>A frail hand reached out and a grateful glance assured the girl that she -was right.</p> -<p>“Oh, how kind you are! I’ll tell my daughter. She’ll be so pleased. -Somehow she didn’t want to leave me alone tonight. The wind makes me -lonesome-like, when she’s gone.”</p> -<p>“I know. It makes me lonesome sometimes, too, for my mother. She didn’t -live many years after I came. Grandmother brought me up and she tried to -teach me to be good—but—I guess I’ve failed.”</p> -<p>The frail hand patted the arm of the girl. “Dearie, how can you say that -when you’re being so kind to me? I wish all girls were as good and as -thoughtful of old folks as you are.”</p> -<p>Anne hurried to the kitchen. She could not understand why tears had -come. She lighted the fire, and, finding there a pan of broth, she -heated it. Then lifting the little old lady she gave it to her. A few -moments later a clock in the study struck eight. “I think I’ll go now,” -Anne said, rising. “Miss Torrence will be here directly.”</p> -<p>“Of course, dear girl, go right along. That warm broth has made me so -sleepy I’ll be drowsing when daughter gets here. Promise you’ll come and -see me again. Next to Virginia Davis I like you best of any of the -girls.”</p> -<p>“I promise,” Anne said as she kissed the little old lady, who was so -like her own grandmother. Then she slipped away.</p> -<p>Miss Torrence had to bend her head to battle through the snowstorm that -was beating down upon the campus when she emerged from the basement door -and so it was, when she entered the little grove, that she did not see a -dark figure standing close to a tree trunk and almost hidden by low -growth of pines.</p> -<p>Nor did she enter her mother’s room, for the even, quiet breathing -assured her that the little old lady was fast asleep.</p> -<p>Miss Torrence was unusually tired and so she turned out the low light in -the den without glancing around. It was not until the next morning, -while she and her mother were at breakfast, that she heard the story of -a visitor.</p> -<p>“I don’t recollect what her name was, daughter, but she was the nicest, -kindest girl. I’m sure she must be one of your favorites up at the -school. Something had frightened me. I don’t like to tell it, being as -you say I fancy things, but I did think that I heard the window open in -your study and then, by and by, something fell, crash, but pretty soon -this nice girl came and told me the wind outside was blowing things -around pretty much.”</p> -<p>Miss Torrence looked both troubled and puzzled. She knew what her mother -did not, that the pupils of Vine Haven Seminary were not permitted to -leave the school after dark, and surely no one would choose a wet, cold, -blustery night to take a walk on the ocean cliff.</p> -<p>As soon as she had her mother settled in a comfortable chair in the bow -window, where boxes of ferns and flowers were growing, and a canary in a -cage sang cheerily, Miss Torrence went at once to her den. Her first -glance revealed the fallen flower pot; her second the rummaged desk. At -that moment there came a rapping on the front door and the young teacher -hastened into the living room, troubled and perplexed, to answer the -summons.</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXIV' title='Finding the Culprit'>CHAPTER XIV<br />FINDING THE CULPRIT</h2> -</div> -<p>When Miss Torrence opened the door, half expecting to see the mysterious -visitor of the night before, she beheld instead the editor of the -Manuscript Magazine.</p> -<p>“Oh, Virginia, I am so glad you came. Mother-mine, if you will excuse -us, I would like to take Virginia at once to my study, as it is nearly -time for us to go up to the school, and I have much to discuss with -her.”</p> -<p>“Of course, daughter. Is it about the Manuscript Magazine? I’m sure it -will be a nice one, with such a nice girl for an editor.” Then when they -had started away the little old lady recalled them to add: “Daughter, -ask Virginia who she thinks it was came to visit me last night. She was -such a dear girl, I want to see her again, and thank her for being so -kind to me. She said I reminded her of her own grandmother, and when she -kissed me good-by I know she was crying.”</p> -<p>“Yes, mother, I will,” the young teacher promised. Then, when they had -entered the study, she carefully closed the door and turned a troubled -face toward her companion.</p> -<p>“Virginia,” she said in a voice very unlike her own, “some one of the -girls climbed in this window last night and carried away the bundle of -manuscripts that I had tied up to give to you this morning. In going -out, she must have hastened, or perhaps she had not noticed the flower -pot.” Miss Torrence pointed at the floor where it lay, its pieces -scattered and the small flowering plant withering.</p> -<p>“Who could it have been?” But even as she spoke, the girl knew that but -one pupil in Vine Haven desired to prevent the appearance that week, of -the Manuscript Magazine.</p> -<p>“I am almost convinced,” Miss Torrence told her, “that the culprit is -Kathryn Von Wellering. I am sure that you are also, but I hardly know -how to proceed with an inquiry into the matter.”</p> -<p>“There is nothing here that would identify her?” Virg glanced about the -small den.</p> -<p>“No, I looked, but I haven’t been outside yet. It wasn’t snowing when I -returned, and so perhaps their footprints may still be visible.”</p> -<p>Together they slipped out a back door that they might not arouse the -curiosity of the little old lady who, sitting in the living room, was -partly dozing in the sun.</p> -<p>“It must have snowed in the night,” Virginia, in the lead, called over -her shoulder, “for there isn’t a trace of a footprint beneath this -window.”</p> -<p>Miss Torrence sighed. “I especially regret this, for Eleanor Burgess -told me that she had no other copy of her stories, and I assured her -that need cause her no alarm, as nothing could happen to them while they -were in either my possession or with you. I am sure that she treasured -them, and now, without doubt, whoever stole them has destroyed them.”</p> -<p>“Shall we take Eleanor into our confidence?” the girl asked.</p> -<p>“Not quite yet. I shall go at once to Mrs. Martin and ask just what she -would wish me to do to start an investigation. I do not want to openly -accuse one of her pupils, and perhaps have that girl leave the school. -It is all very unfortunate.”</p> -<p>They bade the little old lady good-by, and walked slowly through the -grove and toward the seminary. It was a gloriously clear day. The -freshly fallen snow on the pine branches sparkled and gleamed, while the -blue-gray waves of the ocean danced and sang, it would seem, for very -joy. It was the first time the sun had shone in weeks and nature was -glad. But even the brightness about them could not lighten the load on -the hearts of Miss Torrence and Virginia.</p> -<p>The girl went to her class, but Miss Torrence arranged with Miss King to -relieve her for at least ten minutes.</p> -<p>Mrs. Martin looked up wonderingly when a tap sounded on her office door. -It was 9, and teachers and pupils were usually in the classrooms; but -then it might be the housekeeper or even Patrick needing advice.</p> -<p>When the door opened and the young teacher entered, Mrs. Martin -exclaimed: “Something is wrong. I can tell by your expression. Be -seated, Miss Torrence.”</p> -<p>“I would rather stand. The telling will take but a moment and Miss King, -who is with my girls, is due in the music room.”</p> -<p>In as few words as possible, the story was told.</p> -<p>“Why, this is unbelievable!” Mrs. Martin was shocked and amazed. “My -natural conclusion is, as was yours, that Kathryn Von Wellering is the -only girl who has a personal interest in the destruction of those -manuscripts. You say that Anne Petersen was with her when you first -arrived last evening?”</p> -<p>“Yes, they were standing in front of the Honor Roll, pretending to scan -it, but I now believe that they were waiting to be sure that I was -coming to the meeting, as they naturally would not wish to go to Pine -Cabin if I were there.”</p> -<p>“I have noted of late that Belle Wiley and Anne Petersen are often with -Kathryn Von Wellering, and I have regretted it, especially in the case -of Belle, who is a dear little girl, and I cannot but deplore the -influence of Kathryn, whose mother thinks of nothing but society and -whose father, I fear, enriches himself at the expense of the poor. I -have been told that he is a conscienceless Wall Street broker. I regret -that I accepted Kathryn as a pupil, and if it seems best, Miss Torrence, -for the good of the other girls, I will write her mother asking her to -send for her daughter.”</p> -<p>Then rising, Mrs. Martin stood for a thoughtful moment gazing out at the -snow-covered world. At last, turning toward the waiting teacher, she -said: “Kathryn, Anne and Belle are all in your 9 o’clock class, are they -not?”</p> -<p>“Yes, Mrs. Martin. That is, they should be. If they are not there this -morning, shall I send Virginia in to tell you?”</p> -<p>“Yes, if you will,” the principal replied. “If she does not come almost -at once, I will know that those three girls are to be with you for one -hour.” Then she added: “Do not permit them to leave the class during -that period, Miss Torrence. I shall send for Miss Buell, and ask her to -thoroughly search the rooms occupied by those three pupils.”</p> -<p>The young teacher took her departure and five moments later, as Virginia -had not appeared, Mrs. Martin rang for the member of her faculty who had -charge of the rooms and the corridors. Popularly she was known among the -girls as “Miss Snoopins.”</p> -<p>“Miss Buell,” Mrs. Martin had drawn her within the office and closed the -door, “I want you, with all speed, to search first Kathryn Von -Wellering’s room, then Anne Petersen’s, and if you have not found a -package of manuscripts in either, you may look in Belle Wiley’s room. I -can trust you to be speedy and discreet.”</p> -<p>Miss Buell sniffed. “Well, I certainly hope I’ll find whatever evidence -it is you want in that disagreeable Von Wellering girl’s room. She -treats folks as if they weren’t human, but that little Belle Wiley, why, -Mrs. Martin, she’s a sweet, innocent little lamb. She never tries to -hide things or play tricks on me the way the others do, or at least some -of them.”</p> -<p>Mrs. Martin, knowing that Miss Buell’s weakness was loquacity, dismissed -her, and then sat down at her desk, supposedly to attend to business -matters, but she found her thoughts often wandering. She was indeed more -troubled because of what had happened than either Miss Torrence or Miss -Buell realized. “She who steals a composition will steal anything else -she desires. It is the act, and not the article, which proclaims one a -thief.”</p> -<p>Not more than fifteen minutes had passed when the principal heard -footsteps descending the stairs, and so rapidly, though quietly, did -they approach her door, that she believed, and correctly that Miss -Snoopins had been successful in her search.</p> -<p>Mrs. Martin had the door open before Miss Buell could rap. That thin -angular woman entered, her eyes fairly glittering with the joy of having -accomplished her errand.</p> -<p>“I found ’em,” she announced, “and what’s curious, maybe, I found two of -’em.”</p> -<p>“Why, how could you, Miss Buell, when only one package of manuscripts -was missing.” The principal was puzzled indeed, for at that moment from -beneath her copious gingham apron, Miss Snoopins did produce two bundles -of compositions. These she laid on the desk, saying, as she pointed at -one accusingly. “That was in the bottom of Kathryn Von Wellering’s trunk -and it was plain she was trying to hide it, for she had a tray over it -so at first glance it would look like that was the bottom and no use to -look farther, but I was bent on finding evidence and——”</p> -<p>Mrs. Martin looked disappointed. “But these are old compositions, I -judge, and not the ones for which we are searching. This other package -is more like it. Where did you find that?”</p> -<p>“In Anne Petersen’s room and the queer thing about it was that it wasn’t -hidden at all. It was lying right on the floor inside of her door. That -one wasn’t hard to find. It didn’t——”</p> -<p>The principal interrupted. “Miss Buell,” she said, “will you kindly ask -Miss King to again relieve Miss Torrence and you need not return.”</p> -<p>Mrs. Martin pretended not to notice the disappointment plainly portrayed -in the other woman’s thin face. “Then that’s all you want me to do?” she -lingered in the open door.</p> -<p>“Yes, thank you, Miss Buell. You have helped us immeasurably.”</p> -<p>Almost at once Miss Torrence entered the office and found Mrs. Martin -examining the two packages which she had not untied.</p> -<p>“This is the one that I lost,” she identified unhesitatingly. Then -glancing up questionably. “You say that it was found lying on the floor -just inside of Anne Petersen’s room. That is curious! What do you make -of it?”</p> -<p>“I haven’t decided as yet. But this much I am sure. Belle is not -involved. I am glad of that.”</p> -<p>Then, as she noted that the young teacher seemed to be greatly -interested in the manuscripts found in Kathryn’s trunk, the principal -inquired, “What are they, Miss Torrence?”</p> -<p>“Stories, poems and other compositions written by a cousin of Kathryn’s, -it would seem, who is attending a girls’ school in Boston. They are the -same in subject matter which Kathryn has been handing in week after -week, writing upon them, as is our custom, ‘original stories written by -Kathryn Von Wellering.’”</p> -<p>“That decides the matter, for, whether or not she or Anne Petersen -entered your cabin last night, Kathryn can no longer remain as a pupil -in this school. I shall write her mother today asking her to send for -her daughter.”</p> -<p>Miss Torrence looked thoughtful, then said, “The blame for the package -stolen from my den has, of course, been placed upon Anne Petersen. -Mother told me that the girl who visited the cabin was most tender to -her, quieting her fear and heating broth to warm her when she was -chilled from having attempted to arise. That never could have been -Kathryn, nor, am I sure that it could have been Anne. Although I have -sometimes thought that Anne assumed an indifference and heartlessness -that might not be real. What shall we do?”</p> -<p>“If it were Anne who was so kind to your mother, then there is something -in her nature that we can work upon. It might do more harm to her -character to dismiss her, than to keep her for a time. I wish, Miss -Torrence, that, at the close of your class, you would bring those two -girls to my office.”</p> -<p>The pupils of the 9-to-10 class of rhetoric had been puzzled by the -frequency with which Miss King had relieved their teacher during the one -short hour. Only Kathryn and Anne were suspicious of the real nature of -the interruptions. The former tried to leave at once, when the gong in -the corridor announced a 15-minute free period, but Miss Torrence was -watchful. “Kathryn Von Wellering and Anne Petersen will remain in their -seats while the others pass out, if you please.”</p> -<p>Kathryn was inclined to make a break and run for her room when Miss -Torrence asked them to accompany her to the office of the principal.</p> -<p>The young teacher noticed the difference in the behavior of the two -girls. Anne seemed composed and there was a new determination in her -face.</p> -<p>Kathryn, with an attempt at bravado, was nevertheless the one whose -manner betrayed guilt.</p> -<p>The girls were closely watched when the packages were pointed out to -them, no explanation being given. It was plain that Anne was not in the -least troubled until she was informed where the stolen manuscript had -been found. “In my room?” she repeated with such genuine surprise and -amazement that Mrs. Martin heard herself saying with conviction, “Yes, -Anne; but they were thrown there just after you left, by Kathryn, -without doubt; as she wished to place the entire blame upon you.”</p> -<p>Anne shrugged slightly, and seemed to be her old indifferent self. She -had in that moment recalled her promise of the night before, when she -had said: “Coward! All you are afraid of is that I will squeal. Well, I -won’t, but I don’t want you ever again to speak to me. I’m through!”</p> -<p>“This other package of compositions, Kathryn, was found in your trunk -and—”</p> -<p>The girl angrily interrupted the speaker. “Mrs. Martin, what right has -anyone to look in my trunk and take out of it something belonging to -me?”</p> -<p>Mrs. Martin found it hard to speak calmly. “We reserve the right to read -all letters and search where we will. This is stated in the seminary -folders and is read by the mothers of the pupils before they choose this -school for their daughters to attend, and, as for stealing—what did you -call it, Kathryn, when at night you entered Miss Torrence’s home and -took something which did not belong to you?”</p> -<p>“I didn’t take it,” the girl flared. “You just said that you found it in -that—that tattling girl’s room.”</p> -<p>“Anne has not tattled.” The principal’s voice was hard now. “Kathryn, go -to your room at once and begin your packing. I shall wire your mother to -meet the afternoon train, as you will be on it.”</p> -<p>Anne Petersen expected to hear more of the incident, but it was -evidently closed. Miss Torrence had taken an opportunity to thank the -girl for her kindness to her mother, adding that she would make that -frail invalid most happy if she could find time, now and then, to call -upon her, and, to her own surprise, the girl soon found the moments that -she spent in the bow window with the little old lady (who reminded her -so much of her own grandmother) were among the happiest of her day.</p> -<p>There she often met Virginia Davis. Too, she promised to write the very -best story that she could for the second edition of the Manuscript -Magazine, and she said that she would ask Belle Wiley to do the same.</p> -<p>With the departure of Kathryn Von Wellering, the large front room was -left vacant, and, as the two small rooms occupied by Anne and Belle were -on the north side of the school, and cold in winter, Mrs. Martin asked -them if they would like to be roommates and share the large, sunny room, -formerly occupied by Kathryn.</p> -<p>Mrs. Martin and Miss Torrence had been right. Anne Petersen, who had -scorned lying, even when she had resorted to it, developed into one of -the finest girls in the seminary; one whom every teacher could trust.</p> -<p>This was partly due to the something within herself, it is true, but -also to the loving influence of the little old lady in Pine Cabin and to -the roommate who believed in her.</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXV' title='The Manuscript Magazine'>CHAPTER XV<br />THE MANUSCRIPT MAGAZINE</h2> -</div> -<p>The Manuscript Magazine was a great success. All of the girls who stood -E in penmanship (and that meant excellent) volunteered to assist in -copying the stories that were to be bound together in magazine form.</p> -<p>When it was completed the new editor was invited to read it in assembly -from the title page to the last period, and a most enthusiastic applause -followed. Many a girl, listening, was inspired to do better work in -English, that before the close of the school year she might have one of -her stories in the Manuscript Magazine.</p> -<p>Virginia, flushed and happy, because of the success of her efforts, left -the gym where the forty-five pupils of the school had been assembled, -and with her were her own particular friends, members of the Study Club.</p> -<p>They were all clattering at once. “I told you so,” Babs was saying. “A -thousand times you would have given up the editorship if we would have -permitted you to do so.”</p> -<p>“I think it was a jim-cracky fine get-up,” Betsy declared, walking -backwards in front of the group that was on its way to “The Sign of the -Tea Kettle,” where Dicky Taylor was to dispense a real treat—not the -usual lemonade, she had whispered mysteriously, but something different, -and extra, and with permission, so there would be no fear of a -visitation from Miss Snoopins.</p> -<p>Dicky was hurried right up to her room after the reading of The -Manuscript Magazine, so when the group had reached the upper corridor -she threw the door open to greet them before Betsy had had time to tap.</p> -<p>“I am so glad that Dora and Cora have gone to the city with their father -professor. I would hate to leave them out and hurt their feelings, but -since you have invited me to become a member of your club I would rather -just have our own group.”</p> -<p>The guests flocked into the sun-flooded room, which was filled with -mementos of many a merry occasion. There were paddles crossed upon the -walls.</p> -<p>“Oh, girls, didn’t I have the time of my young life when Tom and I spent -a summer on Hide-Away Lake? We each had a canoe and I became as skillful -as—as Minnehaha, if I do say so, as I shouldn’t.”</p> -<p>“You’ll have to show me!” Betsy began to tease, when Dicky whirled -around and pointed at the wall, where a long row of mounted kodak -pictures reached almost to the floor from somewhere up near the ceiling. -“A kodak can’t lie!” she retorted. “Put on your specs, and behold.” The -girls crowded around the panel of pictures, and many an amusing remark -was uttered. “Say! Dicky made a fine boy in those hiking trousers.”</p> -<p>“Lookee, will you? Here she is having a canoe race with a good-looking -boy.”</p> -<p>“They’re near enough alike to be twins.”</p> -<p>While her guests were so intent upon the pictures the little hostess, in -another part of the room, was busily occupied behind a screen. A moment -later she removed this and rang a tiny silver bell. The girls whirled to -behold a table on which were seven plates of ice cream and a big dish -heaped with little cakes.</p> -<p>“I say, this is some class!”</p> -<p>“Spiffy! That’s what I call it.”</p> -<p>“Here you, Babs, stop edging around to where the biggest piece is. I had -my eye on that one myself.”</p> -<p>“Betsy, be quiet! What would Miss King think of our manners?”</p> -<p>“Oh, alas and alack! There are place cards, and so there’s no picking a -piece after all.”</p> -<p>“The truth of the matter is, I cut the ice cream brick by rule, and each -one of the pieces is two inches thick.”</p> -<p>“It’s delicious, Dicky,” Virginia said, “and I especially appreciate it -after having read aloud for so long.”</p> -<p>Silence reigned for at least five minutes that the treat might be -enjoyed to the full, then, when the dishes had been cleared away, Virg -offered to stay and wash them, but Dicky shook her head.</p> -<p>“What?” she inquired in mock dismay. “Do you think that we would permit -the president of our club to wash the dishes? No, indeed! I choose Betsy -Clossen and Barbara Wente to assist me. Moreover, I heard you say you -were due at Pine Cabin at 4:30, and it’s five minutes of that time now.”</p> -<p>Betsy moaned and groaned when she found that she had been elected to -wash dishes, but Babs cheerfully accepted. The other girls went their -various ways, some to do reference in the library, Sally to take a -lesson on a beautiful gilded harp which her mother had recently sent to -the school, and which was the joy of all of the girls, though none but -the professor who came from Boston once a week could play upon it.</p> -<p>“Little Sally, she do well,” the long-haired foreigner had assured Mrs. -Martin. “She has ze ear. More than some! Zat Betsy, she has no ear.”</p> -<p>It chanced that Babs had been passing through the lower corridor at the -time, and as she dried dishes she took the opportunity to tease Betsy -about her missing member.</p> -<p>“You can’t make me mad telling me that. I warned my dad that I never -would make a musician, but he said that he wasn’t going to leave a stone -unturned to try to make me into something.”</p> -<p>“Poor man! He’s doomed to bitter disappointment,” Babs began, then -suddenly whirled and gave her friend a hug. “I love you!” she said. “I -wouldn’t have you different, not for anything, so now!”</p> -<p>“Say, old dear!” Betsy shook out her drying cloth, “Just for that I’ll -give you the nuttiest piece of ice cream or cake or fudge that turns up -at the next treat.”</p> -<p>“Sh! Footsteps approach!” Dicky held up a dripping finger.</p> -<p>Delia, the maid, was at the door. “Is Miss Barbara Wente here? There’s a -young gentleman in the library to see her, and Mrs. Martin said that she -could go down without a chaperone.”</p> -<p>“Oh! ho! ho! Babs has a beau!” Betsy began to tease when Delia had gone, -but Barbara, crimson of cheek, had darted to her own room, to tidy up.</p> -<p>A very solemn-faced lad in the blue and gold uniform of Drexel Academy -awaited Barbara in the library of Vine Haven Seminary.</p> -<p>“Benjy,” the girl hurried forward with hands outstretched, “what has -happened? You look—is it sad? Is your mother no better?”</p> -<p>The lad had risen when Babs entered. When they were seated he said, “I -fear not. My mother has not been well for months and Harry writes that -unless she is better soon he will send for me, as Mums so often talks of -how happy she will be when this term is over and I can return home.” -Then, as he glanced out of the window and saw that snow was beginning to -fall, he added, almost wistfully, “Spring seems a long way off, doesn’t -it?”</p> -<p>“But it isn’t Benjy. Tomorrow will be the first day of March. This is -probably to be the last snowstorm, and then, you know, after a few days -of sun and rain, how soon the leaves and flowers appear. Strength seems -to come with the spring, so please don’t worry more than you can help.”</p> -<p>The boy looked up brightly. “I knew seeing you would make me feel -better. I wanted to come over last week when I first had the letter from -Harry, but I couldn’t. We were so busy over at Drexel. Even today I had -little hope of coming until Dean Craig asked if one of the boys wished -to drive with him to Vine Haven. We came over in his own private cutter -with that thoroughbred horse that fairly flew.”</p> -<p>Barbara looked around curiously. “Is Dean Craig here? I haven’t seen -him.”</p> -<p>“Oh, no, he isn’t in the seminary. He let me out and then drove down to -the cabin in the Pine Grove. He is interested in the Manuscript Magazine -that your Miss Torrence planned and he came to see about starting some -such thing in our English class.” Then he smiled in his frank boyish -way. “Maybe the Dean is a bit interested in Miss Torrence herself. Is -she young and attractive?”</p> -<p>“Oh, isn’t she though?” Babs was enthusiastic. “She’s the sweetest, -dearest, lovablest young teacher in this school. Mrs. Martin is a -darling, but of course she is elderly.” Then, as she suddenly thought of -something, the impulsive girl exclaimed. “Here comes Virg from Pine -Cabin this very minute. Wouldn’t you like to see her, Benjy? She just -loves to see people who are her neighbors out on the desert. Sometimes -she gets powerfully homesick.”</p> -<p>A slight expression of disappointment crossed the face of the boy. He -had called just to see Babs, whom he thought the sweetest, prettiest -girl in all the world, but since she was eagerly awaiting his reply, and -expecting it to be in the affirmative, he could do not less than say, -“Why, yes, of course I would like to see Virginia.”</p> -<p>Barbara was already skipping to the long French window near which Virg -was passing. Lifting the sash, she called, “Benjy’s here and he’d just -love to see you a minute.”</p> -<p>Virginia soon appeared, although she well knew that Babs had exaggerated -the lad’s desire to see her.</p> -<p>Throwing back her Papago blanket of many colors on which snow flakes, -lightly fallen, quickly melted, she advanced, her hand outstretched. -“Benjy, but it’s good to see someone from home!” Then, standing back, -she looked him over admiringly. “You don’t resemble a cowboy or a sheep -herder much, do you?”</p> -<p>The boy was about to protest that he had no such ambition, when Babs -exclaimed, “Oh, but he will, won’t you, Benjy, next summer when we are -all together on the desert? I’d rather look like a real cowgirl than -anything else.”</p> -<p>The listeners smiled as they gazed at the dainty, Dresden China girl -whose gold and pink and white prettiness suggested a fairy queen far -more than a rough-riding cowgirl.</p> -<p>“We often wish to be what we aren’t,” Virginia began, then turned -brightly to Benjy to exclaim: “Dean Craig arrived at Pine Cabin while I -was there, and he was so interested in the Manuscript Magazine. He asked -if he might borrow our one lone copy, and he said that, if we would -trust it to him, next week he would send it back, and that it would be -accompanied by as many more copies as we might request.”</p> -<p>Babs’ eyes were round and inquiring. “What is he going to do; set Benjy -and the other boys to copying it, do you suppose?”</p> -<p>The lad laughed. “Indeed not. Drexel Academy is now the proud possessor -of a printing press and your Manuscript Magazine will be the first thing -in book form that we have made.”</p> -<p>“Virg, won’t you be the proudest ever to see your name printed after -your story?” Then turning to the lad, Babs prattled, “Oh, Benjy, be sure -to read Virg’s story. It’s about the desert and it’s the best ever.”</p> -<p>“I know that I shall enjoy it,” the boy rose as he spoke, for, around -the circling drive a cutter, drawn by a high-stepping horse appeared. -“Oh, isn’t it a beauty—Virg, see how proudly it holds its head? Wouldn’t -you and Megsy and I love to have horses like that one out on the -desert?”</p> -<p>“I wouldn’t give my Comrade for any horse on this earth,” Virginia -replied. “He saved my brother’s life, you know.”</p> -<p>Then when the good-bys had been said, and Virginia had departed, Barbara -lingered to say earnestly, “If you have news that saddens you, Benjy, -come right over and see me. You haven’t an own sister and so let’s -pretend that I am one.” The lad gave the girl’s hand a grateful -pressure.</p> -<p>“Thank you, Barbara,” he said, “I feel heaps more hopeful, somehow, that -I did.”</p> -<p>Betsy had planned teasing Babs unmercifully, but, when she saw the -thoughtful, almost sad expression on the girl’s face when she came -upstairs she changed her mind and kissed her lovingly instead.</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXVI' title='A Spring Ride'>CHAPTER XVI<br />A SPRING RIDE</h2> -</div> -<p>It was nearly the middle of March before a big bundle of printed -Manuscript Magazines appeared at Vine Haven. Dean Craig did not bring it -himself as the melting snow and frequent rains had made the cross -country roads almost impassible, and so he had sent it by express, via -Boston, which greatly lengthened its journey. Micky O’Brien was sent to -the village to obtain it and great was the excitement in the library of -the seminary when Miss Torrence assembled all the girls who were chiefly -interested to be present at the official opening of the bundle.</p> -<p>“Oh Virg, doesn’t your name look perfectly scrumptious on the cover? -‘The Manuscript Magazine, edited by Virginia Davis!’ Wouldn’t I feel all -spiffed up if my name were in it anywhere, even in the teeniest, tiniest -print way off in a corner somewhere.”</p> -<p>Miss Torrence smiled indulgently at the girl who felt that English as -the King spoke it, was not expressive enough to embody the sentiments of -an American school girl. “Keen stuff! Oh, I mean it’s a very nice -magazine.” Betsy actually looked embarrassed, but Miss Torrence was at -that moment saying to Virginia, “You wanted one copy to send to Eleanor -Pettes, didn’t you? And one for Winona?”</p> -<p>“And, oh, I would love to have one to send to my brother Malcolm.”</p> -<p>“Of course, so you shall. Dean Craig wrote a little letter which told of -the coming of the magazines that he would leave the type set until he -received a message from us telling if we need more copies.”</p> -<p>“Isn’t he the nicest man?” Barbara, the ever impulsive, exclaimed; then -she wondered why Miss Torrence’s cheeks were suddenly like roses.</p> -<p>“I like him,” was the reply. Then, as a gong, pealing through the -school, told that lunch hour was approaching, the magazines were divided -and away the girls trooped to the upper corridor to prepare for the noon -meal.</p> -<p>“Did you notice Miss Torrence blushing when we mentioned the Dean?” -Sally asked her roommate when Sweet Pickle Alley had been reached.</p> -<p>“Me? Nope, my belovedest! I have a mind above such things. I was -sniffing the air just then trying to decide what savory thing was being -prepared in the kitchen.”</p> -<p>“Oh, Betsy, you are so tantalizing.”</p> -<p>“And I decided that it was liver and bacon. If I am right, will you give -me your share, Sal, old dear?”</p> -<p>That particular dish, as all the girls knew, was Betsy’s favorite.</p> -<p>“Goodness no, much as I don’t like it, I’m too hungry to give it away if -that’s all there is.” But the menu that noon was of quite a different -nature. However, Betsy always ate anything that was provided with a -relish. “Girls,” she confided, “Micky told me that the postman has -bronchial fiditis and that he is to drive into town this afternoon and -get the mail. It being Saturday and sunny, I thought perhaps we might -get permission to ride in with him.”</p> -<p>“I’d like that all right,” Barbara smiled. “I was just wishing I could -go out in this sparkling air and not get my feet wet.”</p> -<p>Mrs. Martin was glad to permit them to accompany the gardener’s boy and -an hour after lunch, the school bus started down the hill road, filled -almost to overflowing with laughing, singing, joyous girls, who felt -that the holiday spirit was abroad.</p> -<p>“Watch out for a first robin!” Betsy shouted.</p> -<p>“Or violets,” Barbara sniffed the warm earthy, fragrant air. “I just -know there are some over yonder in that ferny dell.”</p> -<p>“More likely we’d find them in that sunny sheltered meadow or some fence -corner.”</p> -<p>When the town was reached, the girls tried to be more sedate. When the -bus stopped at the post-office they could not decide which one should -have the honor of going in to inquire for the mail, with Micky, who, of -course, would be needed to carry out the pouch. Since they all wished to -be the one selected, Betsy cried, “Let’s compromise and all go.”</p> -<p>This they did, tumbling out of the bus with such a merry rush that old -“Si” Peters, who for years had sat all day long on the bench in front of -the post-office, leaned forward on his cane and chuckled, although he -chewed faster than ever, if such a feat were possible.</p> -<p>Betsy nudged Babs, as she nodded toward the old man who was a town -character. “See how his chin beard points up,” she whispered. “Honest -Injun, I believe he’s going to speak to us.”</p> -<p>Nor was she wrong. “Good-day, gals! Be ye all from the seminary up top -the hill?” he inquired pleasantly.</p> -<p>“Yes, we are,” Virginia replied kindly. Virginia was always kind to -everyone whom she met of whatever station.</p> -<p>“Waal now, as nice a parcel o’ gals as ever I did see,” they heard him -muttering as they trooped in to the general store bent on spending part -of their hoarded allowance for striped bags full of candy.</p> -<p>The mail pouch was unusually bulky, and, as the girls rode back up the -hill, they amused themselves by guessing which of them was to receive a -letter. Suddenly, just as they reached the crest and were about to turn -in between the seminary gates, Betsy Clossen gave a cry of joy, and -leaped to her feet pointing. “See, there it is! Quick! Everybody wish on -the first robin.”</p> -<p>A flash of red from a tree near, and a familiar, though startled note, -confirmed Betsy’s remark. “I wish to pass A 1 in every subject on the -spring exams,” Sally surprised them all by remarking.</p> -<p>“Oh, I say, Sal, wish for something that could happen.”</p> -<p>“Stick to it, Sally, you’ve improved worlds since Virg has been playing -tutor.” This from Babs.</p> -<p>“I wish my mother may find Aunt Dorinda,” Eleanor began, when the bus -stopped under the seminary portico and ten eager girls followed Micky as -he carried the pouch (which might contain a letter for them) up the -steps and into the school.</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXVII' title='The Heart of Miss Snoopins'>CHAPTER XVII<br />THE HEART OF MISS SNOOPINS</h2> -</div> -<p>“Miss Snoopins is almost human sometimes, isn’t she?” Betsy exclaimed as -the girls, having received their mail, trooped upstairs to their rooms. -“She actually smiled when Miss King called her and gave her a letter. I -do believe it’s the first she’s had this term.”</p> -<p>“Maybe it was only a bill, after all. I don’t think there’s anyone on -this green earth who would care to write to her.”</p> -<p>“Oh, Betsy!” Virginia protested. “There is someone to love everybody.”</p> -<p>“You’ll have to prove it to me. I don’t believe—”</p> -<p>“Sh!” Megsy cautioned. She was last in line, and turning, she saw that -Miss Buell had started up the stairway and feared that she might -overhear. They proceeded toward the southeast wing almost in silence and -were indeed surprised to hear Miss Snoopins’ voice, close back of them, -saying: “Miss Virginia, can you spare time to come to my room? I’d like -your help for a few moments.”</p> -<p>“Indeed I can, Miss Buell. I have an hour of free time, and I shall be -glad to give it to you.”</p> -<p>Excusing herself, the girl turned down a narrow hallway at the end of -which was the small room occupied by the monitress of the rooms and -corridors. The thin, angular woman was plainly excited. On her usually -sallow face two red spots burned. She drew forward a stiff-backed chair.</p> -<p>“Oh, Miss Virginia,” she said, “I just had to tell someone—or—” She was -plainly unable to complete the sentence, and so Virg said kindly:</p> -<p>“You have had good news, from some relative perhaps? I shall be glad to -hear about it.” But she was interrupted with: “No, ’tisn’t a relative. -Leastwise not by blood. I haven’t any of those.” Then eagerly: “There is -a way, isn’t there, by going to law or something by which folks can be -made into real relations, if they aren’t born so?”</p> -<p>“Why, yes, Miss Buell. Neighbors of ours on the desert adopted a boy and -then he was their very own.”</p> -<p>The eyes, that the girls had called green, were like wells of happiness. -“That’s what I wanted to know. Of course I could have asked Mrs. Martin, -but she’d have discouraged me, like as not, saying I had all I could do -to save up a bit for my old age.” Then, opening the envelope, she handed -the wondering girl a kodak picture. “That’s little Terry!”</p> -<p>Tears sprang to the eyes of Virginia, “Oh, Miss Buell,” she said, “that -poor little twisted body, but what a beautiful face he has! It makes me -think of a painting I saw in the Boston cathedral when Miss Torrence -took us up there for Christmas service. It’s just as though his little -soul were singing songs of praise.”</p> -<p>Tears, all unheeded, fell down the sallow cheeks of the woman, who had -been called unloved and unloving. “I believe he is! I sometimes think -little Terry lives in a world the rest of us can’t see.”</p> -<p>“Tell me about him. Is it Terry whom you wish to adopt?”</p> -<p>Miss Buell nodded. “I was under-housekeeper at the Boston orphanage two -years ago, and this little fellow—he was five then—was brought in. He -was found on the steps in a basket after dark and the matron said they -couldn’t keep him. He was so twisted she thought he’d need a nurse all -the time, and what was more, when he came to the age to be homed out, -there wouldn’t be anybody that would want him. Well, it was decided that -he would have to be sent somewhere else, but it being late evening they -had to keep him till they could find where he could be taken. What to do -with him that night troubled the matron. Then ’twas I stepped up and -said I’d keep him in my room and be glad to. He was in awful pain all -night, the little fellow was, and though he didn’t cry out loud, he kept -up a pitiful moaning, and his eyes looked scared, as though somebody’d -hit him for it. But when I picked him up and held him close in my arms, -he seemed to feel better, and by and by he went to sleep, but I didn’t -lay him down. I just held him there all night, and though my arms ached, -there was a warm feeling in my heart. I just knew that it was love. The -next morning, the matron said the proper authorities were coming to get -him. I kept watching and when I saw the hard-faced woman in a blue -uniform who came I just up and told that matron that I was going to keep -the little fellow myself. The next day I was to leave there, anyway, so -I took Terry with me and I asked in the city where was the place that -crooked babies were made straight. They told me about a hospital. It -cost a lot to have Terry taken in there, but I left him, and I’ve sent -them all the money I’ve made here every month up to now.</p> -<p>“They’ve done lots for that little fellow. He can walk some, and the -nurses are teaching him to read and write. The doctor tells me if I can -leave him there five years more he’ll be about like other boys, -excepting that he’ll always have to wear braces.”</p> -<p>“And are you going to try to keep him there for five more years, Miss -Buell?” Virginia felt awed in the presence of such complete -self-sacrifice.</p> -<p>The thin woman’s face brightened. “Of course I am, but first I want to -have Terry made into an own relation. Then when the time is up I’m going -to take him back to my father’s old farm. That’s mine, clear, and Terry -and I’ll make it into a home.”</p> -<p>Then the woman rose.</p> -<p>“Thanks,” she said, “for coming in, but I’ve kept this shut up inside -myself for so long I just wanted to tell somebody about Terry.”</p> -<p>“Thank you for telling me,” the girl replied, and then as she left the -small room she suddenly recalled a joking conversation of the girls on -the day she had arrived at Vine Haven. Babs had been telling about Miss -Snoopins and had called her “heartless,” but Virginia had declared that -everyone had a heart, and Margaret had prophesied that if Miss Snoopins -had one, Virginia would find it. How she did wish she could tell the -girls. Some day perhaps she would be given permission to do so. The -others looked up wonderingly as she entered.</p> -<p>All Virginia said was: “I have found the heart of Miss Buell, and this -much I will tell you, there is no one in this school who is living a -life of greater self-sacrifice.”</p> -<p>The girls, who had gathered in the corner room occupied by Margaret and -Babs, were indeed surprised to hear that Virginia had found the heart of -Miss Snoopins. But, since that maiden did not feel that she had a right -to tell the sweet, sad story, they soon forgot about it in recounting -their own news items that had arrived in the same mail pouch.</p> -<p>“Peyton is ever so eager to have us come home,” Babs exclaimed as she -glanced back at the open letter which she had been reading aloud when -Virginia’s entrance had interrupted. “Shall I go on?”</p> -<p>“Oh, yes, indeed, please do.” The girl, whose home had always been on -the desert (more than any of the others), was eager to have news from -there.</p> -<p>“Begin over again, Babs.” Megsy was on the window seat with her -roommate. “Then Virg will better understand just what is happening in -her home country.”</p> -<p>And so Babs read. “Dear sister and friends:</p> -<p>“Malcolm and I have just returned from a ride to the north. We have been -hunting for cows with young calves that we might drive them in and brand -them before they fell into the hands of rustlers. We were told that a -bunch of cattle from V. M. had been seen not far south of the Wilson -ranch and so we rode up there after them. We despaired of finding them, -and were turning back to the south when that little Mexican chap with -the long name, Francisco Quintano Mendoza, appeared. He seemed to rise -right up out of the chaparral on that little wild broncho of his and he -galloped toward us shouting frantically.</p> -<p>“We turned our horses and waited. He told us in broken English that -Harry had sent him to herd our little bunch of stray cattle until he had -an opportunity to drive them to V. M. and that he had them safe in a -nearby hollow. Just at that moment Harry appeared coming down the canyon -trail, and, as we had not seen him since Christmas, we were indeed glad -to hear his news and have an opportunity to thank him for having -protected our strays.</p> -<p>“Hal looked troubled. He is worried about his mother, but don’t mention -it to Benjy. They want him to finish out his year at Drexel if possible. -He certainly is a fine chap. He inquired about you girls, but especially -about Winona. He seems to greatly admire that Indian friend of yours.</p> -<p>“It took us a day and a night to return to the ranch belonging to -Barbara and Peyton Wente. Sis, I’ll ’fess up that I haven’t done a thing -to the inside of that old house. I’m leaving it all for you to change to -suit yourself.</p> -<p>“Malcolm said to tell Virginia that Uncle Tex spends most of his time -this spring planning a surprise for his beloved ‘gal.’”</p> -<p>“Dear old man,” Virg said when Babs paused. “I wonder what it can be -that he is making for me.”</p> -<p>“Only two months more and then you will know.”</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXVIII' title='A Busy April'>CHAPTER XVIII<br />A BUSY APRIL</h2> -</div> -<p>The month of April was a busy one in Vine Haven Seminary.</p> -<p>“Virg, what have you done to Sally MacLean?” Betsy inquired one Saturday -morning. “I just now asked her to go for a hike with me and hunt for -wild flowers. It’s such a perfectly scrumptious day, so shiny and blue, -but no, she just wouldn’t budge. And of all the stupid things that I -left her doing, you never could guess.”</p> -<p>“Oh yes, I could,” the older girl replied, smiling at the piquant-faced -little maid in a cherry colored sport coat and tam, who stood in her -open door. “I am almost certain that Sally is translating Latin, because -we are going to review the entire term’s work on the Saturday mornings -in April. Better join us.”</p> -<p>“Me?” Betsy pretended to groan. “May the saints help the two of you. -What in the world is old Sal trying to do? Get her name on the Honor -Roll?”</p> -<p>“I hope so.”</p> -<p>“Well, it’s a lost hope. She never could do it.”</p> -<p>“I’m not so sure of that,” Megsy, who sat by an open window with her -mending, smiled across at the speaker, “I did it and so did Babs.”</p> -<p>“Well, it’s me as isn’t even trying for it. Good! There’s Dicky Taylor.” -With a farewell wave of her hand, Betsy skipped down the corridor -calling, “I say, Dick, Virg hasn’t hoodooed you into trying for the -Honor Roll, has she? Put on your hiking togs and come out with me.”</p> -<p>The other girl hesitated. “I don’t suppose I could make the grade,” she -confessed, “but I’d heaps like to try. Our president said that nothing -would please her more than to have the names of every member of our -little study club on the Honor Roll before the closing exercises. I hate -to acknowledge that I haven’t the brains or the perseverance that even -Sentimental Sally possesses.”</p> -<p>Betsy entered “The Sign of the Tea Kettle,” and sat on the arm of a -chair as she watched Dicky get out her books, pad and pencil.</p> -<p>“Are you going to dig into geometry on a spiffy Saturday morning like -this?” she inquired.</p> -<p>“That’s my plan, old dear.” Dicky’s words were merry, but it was plain -that her intentions were serious.</p> -<p>“If confessions are good for the soul, I’ll confide to you, belovedest. -That one subject is my Waterloo. My name might decorate the blackboard -in the lower corridor, if I could make head or tail out of geometry, but -I can’t! I’m nutty when it comes to that subject.”</p> -<p>Dicky Taylor’s face brightened. “I was just that way about it at first. -I didn’t think I ever could understand it, but when I knew I had to, or -fail, I asked Miss King if I might stay after class and ask her a few -questions, and, what do you think, it came to me all in a flash, sort -of, and I believe I could make it clear to you, Betsy, if you have time -to spare.”</p> -<p>The cherry colored tam was tossed on a chair and the sport coat was -removed. Then Betsy locked the door. “I don’t want any of the bunch to -catch me studying when I’ve kidded them all for doing it, but mind you, -Dicky, even if I do dig in a while this morning, I’m not trying for the -Honor Roll.”</p> -<p>Half an hour later there came a tap on the closed door. Betsy motioned -Dicky to keep quiet. Then a voice outside said, “Dick and Bets went for -a hike I think.” It was Sally who was speaking. Dora Crowell replied, “I -wanted her to play singles with me. You come, will you Sal?” but that -little maid shook her head and continued on her way to the room of Virg.</p> -<p>When the gong bidding the girls prepare for lunch rang, Betsy sprang up. -“Dick,” she pleaded, “don’t you tell a soul that I studied geom all this -morning. They’d think I was getting dippy, or that I was trying for the -Honor Roll. Stuff and nonsense! I wouldn’t have my name seen on it. No -siree! ’Tisn’t sour grapes,” she retorted when her companion began to -tease.</p> -<p>She opened the door to go to Sweet Pickle Alley and prepare for the noon -meal, but she had lingered too long. A swarm of girls appeared without. -“Oh, no,” Babs shouted. “Here’s Betsy back from her hike.”</p> -<p>“Did you find any wild flowers?”</p> -<p>“You’ve been up to mischief. You look as though we’d caught you in the -act of stealing sheep.”</p> -<p>Betsy broke through the group of tormentors and ran to her room. Hastily -she tidied her hair, then joined the procession of girls who, two by -two, under the surveillance of Miss King, were descending the wide -stairway to the basement dining room.</p> -<p>As they passed the blackboard in the lower hall near the door of the -principal’s office, Betsy whispered, “Look at Babs admiring her own -name.”</p> -<p>“That’s something you’ll never be able to do.” The speaker was Ethel -Cummins, a girl whom Betsy especially disliked. Instantly she flared. -“Indeed, is that so? Well, I’ll have you know that my name is to be on -that board before the closing exercises.”</p> -<p>“Silence, young ladies, if you please!” Miss King was peering over her -glasses as she looked back along the line to try to discover the -offender but Betsy was at that moment passing with her head held high -and a new determination plainly discernable on her usually laughing -face.</p> -<p>How pleased her old dad would be if she could make the grade, she was -thinking. “Erase the ‘if’” she told herself as she recalled how her -father had often said, “Perseverance spells success, little daughter, -just remember that. Choose a goal! Go straight toward it and count every -failure as a spur to greater endeavor.”</p> -<p>But before that month was up, Betsy had many a moment of doubt.</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXIX' title='Spring Vacation'>CHAPTER XIX<br />SPRING VACATION</h2> -</div> -<p>The two weeks’ vacation, which usually came at Easter time, had been -postponed until May, the reason being that Mrs. Martin wished to visit -Washington for a fortnight and attend the wedding of a favorite niece.</p> -<p>There was great excitement among the girls whose homes were not far -away, as they packed their suitcases; often skipping from one room to -another to tell some joyous plan they had in store for them. The brother -of Dicky Taylor had written of a jolly house party they were to have in -their summer home. “Mother is going with us and all of our eight -cousins, so you can just bank on a dandy time.”</p> -<p>Then there was a postscript. “Mums said for you to bring along the -twins, if you wish, and that will make ten. They’ll keep things lively.”</p> -<p style='text-align:right; font-variant: small-caps;'>“Your Buddy.”</p> -<p>Cora and Dora were indeed more pleased with this invitation than Dicky -was. “It’s a curious thing,” she confided to Virginia. “Last year I just -begged Mumsie to let me bring the Crowell girls home for the spring -vacation and she said, ‘Some other time, dear.’ Mums has remembered her -promise and now I’d heaps rather have you or some of your crowd. I still -like the twins, but their antics don’t amuse me the way they did last -year. I seem to have outgrown them, just as one does—well—dolls and -toys.”</p> -<p>“I understand, dear,” the older girl said. “But suppose you think of it -in a different way. Cora and Dora have had no home-life, I understand, -since they were babies and that was too long ago for them to remember. -They have been kept summer and winter in Vine Haven Seminary since they -were four, and I am sure a fortnight in a real home will give them more -happiness than it could any of the rest of us.”</p> -<p>“I know it will,” Dicky agreed brightly, “and I’ll try to think of it -that way. Their father-professor never pays them any real attention. -When he does come to see them during the Sunday afternoon visiting hour, -he always tells them about his scientific discoveries. Dora declares she -feels smothered when he is gone.”</p> -<p>Great was the hustle and bustle, as the hour approached for the bus to -take the first load of pupils to the station. The five girls whose homes -were too far away to be visited for so short a vacation, were on the -front porch to wave good-by to those who were departing.</p> -<p>“I say but I’m sorry for you, old dears!” Cora put her head out of a -window of the retreating bus to call.</p> -<p>“Don’t cry your eyes out with loneliness for us.” Dora’s merry face -appeared beside that of her twin.</p> -<p>“We’ll try to endure the separation,” Betsy Clossen replied. Then as the -stage was too far away for further conversation, even though carried on -in shouting voices, the six girls on the porch turned and looked at one -another.</p> -<p>“Well, we’re here because we’re here,” Babs sang out. “Now the next -thing is, what shall we do to while away the tedium (as the story books -say), of the next two weeks?”</p> -<p>“With all of the teachers gone, like mice of fiction, we ought to do -very much as we wish.” Betsy swung herself up on the rail of the porch.</p> -<p>“I’m so glad Miss Torrence’s mother was strong enough to ride in that -comfortable closed car of her brother’s to visit his nice home in -Boston. She has three little grandchildren there and she has been so -eager to see them.” Virginia had seated herself on the top step of the -wide front porch, and, leaning back, she breathed deeply of the warm -fragrance-laden air.</p> -<p>“What a glorious day it is!” she said, smiling up at Margaret who stood -at her side. “Do see our wonderful apple orchard. Isn’t it just like a -floating cloud of blossoms? I don’t wonder that birds like to build -their nests in those great old branches, Hark! Hear one of them singing -as though he would burst his throat and just for the joy of living.”</p> -<p>“Oh, good! Here comes the postman.” Sally who had been sitting on the -step lower than her idol, looked up glowingly.</p> -<p>A two-wheeled cart was turning in between the high gates and a thin, -wiry horse was drawing the queer little equipage up the wide circling -drive, in what the girls thought a most provoking leisurely manner.</p> -<p>The pleasant-faced postman beamed out from under his leather visor. -“What, ho!” he called, when the horse had stopped under the portico. “Be -you all that’s left out of the hurly-burly crowd of you?”</p> -<p>The girls trooped down the steps and surrounded the vehicle. Babs -climbed up on the small step to peer into the opened bag, while Betsy -attempted to leap up on the back board from the ground.</p> -<p>“Yes, we’re all that’s left and we need twice as many letters to console -us,” she remarked, when the feat had been accomplished.</p> -<p>“Wall, it does seem like thar’s an extra big batch this here mornin’. -Where’s that Miss King, teacher, who allays takes the mail pouch. I’ve -orders, you know, to just give it to her or her representative. That’s -what Mis’ Martin said, slow-like and plain as anything. Now what I’m -wantin’ to know, is any of you gals that representative?”</p> -<p>It was easy to see that the elderly rural postman was proud of his -ability to use that word of many syllables.</p> -<p>At that moment, Mrs. Dorsey, the general housekeeper of the school -appeared. “Just fetch that pouch right in here, Mr. Peters. I’ll appoint -Virginia Davis as mail custodian until Miss King gets back, so -hereafter, if I’m not handy to find, just give it to her.”</p> -<p>The elderly man climbed the steps of the porch and there deposited the -pouch. Virginia looked up at the open door to ask Mrs. Dorsey if she -wished to sort the contents, but that middle-aged woman had bustled -away, for, during vacation, the cook and maid had been permitted to -leave, and so Mrs. Dorsey was busy preparing the lunch.</p> -<p>“Well, Virg, I guess it’s up to you to do the honors.” Betsy, kneeling -down, opened the pouch and peered within, as she chanted:</p> -<p style='text-indent:0; margin:1em auto 1em 2em'> -“Leather bag, what do you hold?<br /> -Messages more dear than gold?”<br /> -</p> -<p>Whirling, she pointed at Babs, who, knowing what was expected, quickly -said:</p> -<p style='text-indent:0; margin:1em auto 1em 2em'> -“Leather bag, please yield for me<br /> -A letter from my brother P.”<br /> -</p> -<p>Turning quickly, she pointed at Margaret.</p> -<p>That maiden actually blushed. She had been wishing that the bag would -contain a letter, all for her very own self from her guardian, Malcolm -Davis whom she greatly admired, but she would not put this in a rhyme, -and so she said:</p> -<p style='text-indent:0; margin:1em auto 1em 2em'> -“Leather bag, surely you’ve guessed,<br /> -I want a letter from the West.”<br /> -</p> -<p>Then she pointed at Sally:</p> -<p style='text-indent:0; margin:1em auto 1em 2em'> -“Leather bag, please give to me<br /> -A letter from someone over the sea.”<br /> -</p> -<p>The other girls looked their puzzled surprise at this request, as they -had never heard that Sally had relations on the other side of the ocean.</p> -<p>“Suffering cats, Sally! You don’t mean you wish you could have a letter -from Donald Dearing, do you? He has gone to France to be with his dad, -and whose photograph you used to have.”</p> -<p>The pretty girl’s denial was vehement. “Not at all,” she declared. “I -had to have something to rhyme with me and so I said sea.”</p> -<p>Eleanor was saying with an eagerness that could not be hidden:</p> -<p style='text-indent:0; margin:1em auto 1em 2em'> -“Leather bag, more than any other,<br /> -Give me a letter from my mother.”<br /> -</p> -<p>“Betsy, for cricket’s sake, don’t begin that Round Robin Rhyme game -again when we are in such a terrific hurry, because, according to its -rule, we can’t do anything else until it’s been around.”</p> -<p>Virginia, having emptied the pouch, lifted a packet of letters. “Most of -these seem to be for Mrs. Martin. I’ll put them in on her desk,” she -said, suiting the action to the word.</p> -<p>Another pack was taken from the pouch. “Gimme one. Please, gimme one!” -Betsy and Babs clamored with hands outstretched.</p> -<p>“Well, here is one for Miss Barbara.”</p> -<p>“Hurray, it’s from Peyton!” that maiden squealed. Adding, “Betsy, that -rhyme must have been magic, for, see, I got just what I wished for.”</p> -<p>But there was no letters at all for Margaret, but there was a very plump -one from the West for Virginia. Too, there was a foreign looking -envelope addressed to Eleanor Burgess, and Sally received a letter from -her doting mother.</p> -<p>The empty pouch was hung in its customary place by the door of the -principal’s office, for, into it, all outgoing letters were to be -dropped. Then, on the day following, when Mr. Peters brought more mail, -he would take that pouch from its hook and start the letters on their -journeys to widely separated destinations.</p> -<p>Eleanor, who was eager to be all alone when she read this pen-visit from -her mother, excused herself and went down the steps and sat on a rustic -bench in the blossoming orchard.</p> -<p>Sally and Betsy went to their own Sweet Pickle Alley, while the other -three girls sauntered down toward the cliff to read the letter from the -desert. Although there was no especially exciting news either from -Peyton or Malcolm, it meant much to those three girls to be transported -even in imagination to V. M. ranch.</p> -<p>When the letters had been read, they sat in a row on the top of the -steep cliff gazing down at the even roll of the waves far beneath them, -for, as the tide was low, the surf was not crashing against the rocks.</p> -<p>Suddenly there was a growling noise in the underbrush back of them.</p> -<p>They all looked around almost startled, but it was Betsy Clossen’s -mischievous face that peered out at them.</p> -<p>The girls sprang up and surrounded the bushes. Sally was also there in -hiding. “It’s nearly lunch time,” Betsy announced. “Come on, let’s get -Eleanor and storm the kitchen. Mrs. Dorsey likes me, and I’m going to -ask her to let me have two helpings of dessert.”</p> -<p>The five girls had started walking slowly back toward the orchard. “She -will probably refer the matter to Virginia,” Margaret said, to tease.</p> -<p>Eleanor looked up from the bench, where she was seated, when she heard -merry voices nearing. Her eyes were aglow with happiness. “Girls,” she -cried. “Think of it! Mother-mine is now so well and strong that she can -walk miles and feel no especial fatigue.” Then, she added, as she joined -them, “Poor little mother has had one real disappointment. She was so in -hopes that when she reached the land across the sea, she might hear -something of her sister Dorinda, or of her son. She did learn that my -aunt’s husband died many years ago, but that was merely from a report -about foreign missionaries. It made no mention of the wife or son. Of -course mother is the guest of Mrs. Warren and so she cannot visit the -places where her sister’s husband had lived. If only we could find the -fortune which my grandfather Burgess hid, then mother would never have -to work any more and she could search the world over for her lost -sister.”</p> -<p>“What?” Betsy leaped forward, her very expression an interrogation. “Is -there a fortune hidden around here somewhere? Lead me to the place and -I’ll dig it up.”</p> -<p>The others laughed. “So would we all, if we knew the place.”</p> -<p>“Say, that would be a spiffy way to spend this two weeks’ vacation. -Let’s hunt for Captain Burgess’ buried treasure.”</p> -<p>“It would be a waste of time,” Eleanor said. “Mother, of course, has had -experts search for it, and the final decision was that Grandfather was -wandering in his mind when he wrote that and that he had hidden nothing -at all.”</p> -<p>“Another fond hope blasted,” Betsy, the would-be detective said with so -comically dismal an expression that the others laughed.</p> -<p>Then, just as they were about to enter the basement door, she whirled to -announce: “Well, upon this much I am determined. Since we are members of -The Adventure Club, we are going to start out this afternoon in search -of an adventure.” They were all amused by Betsy’s nonsense, though they -little dreamed that a real adventure awaited them that very afternoon.</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXX' title='Red Feather Guide'>CHAPTER XX<br />RED FEATHER GUIDE</h2> -</div> -<p>Luckily Mrs. Martin had told Mrs. Dorsey, the housekeeper, to give the -six girls who were to remain in the seminary during the short vacation, -all the liberty they wished, permitting them to go on long hikes on -condition that they would return in time for the evening meal.</p> -<p>Directly after lunch, following Betsy’s suggestion, they donned their -khaki hiking suits and started out, the would-be detective in their -lead.</p> -<p>Suddenly she whirled about, and, holding up a staff which she had found -when they passed through the grove, she announced in a mock-solemn tone: -“Members of our adventurous band, we are setting forth without a plan, -except to go where-ere we will and do what-ere we wish as long as our -hearts find no wrong in it.”</p> -<p>They had left the school grounds and were following a trail that had, at -one time been made, it would seem, by pastured cattle.</p> -<p>“If we follow this path, we will come out in some farmer’s barnyard, -methinks,” Barbara put in. “And surely that would not be an adventure.”</p> -<p>“Oh, goodness, gracious! Don’t do that, please! I’d rather meet a -three-headed dragon any day than a cow.” Sally looked so truly terrified -that her companions laughed. All but Virg, who slipped an arm through -that of the youngest member of their band. “If you had grown up with -cattle as I did on the desert, you wouldn’t mind them in the least. I -never heard of a cow attacking anyone unless, indeed, someone tried to -take away its calf.”</p> -<p>They had reached the brow of a meadowland knoll, and Margaret, looking -over, announced: “Babs is right! There is a farm directly below here and -this trail leads right to the neat red barn.”</p> -<p>Betsy, with a little squeal of joy, pounced upon something that was -caught in a bush. “Lookee!” she called. “Here is a scarlet feather -fallen from some bird of passage. I have an idea! Let’s toss it to the -air again; let it fly away in the breeze, and follow where it leads.”</p> -<p>As she spoke, the little red plume went soaring, and, as the breeze was -a brisk one, it took the girls on a merry chase, for the little feather -followed no trail, but led them through wiry grass and stubbly bushes -away from both school and farm, and toward the sea.</p> -<p>“We’ve never been in this direction before,” Margaret announced, when -the feather dropped to the ground and the girls paused to rest. “That, -in itself, is an adventure, I think, don’t you?”</p> -<p>“I certainly do,” Babs replied. “I’ve often wondered what lay beyond -that rocky promintory over there. We can see it from our window. I think -since we are so near, it would be all right for us to climb to the top -of it and see what lies beyond.”</p> -<p>“I can pretty nearly tell you,” Betsy said, as she picked up the little -red feather. “A stretch of sandy beach, rocky cliffs and nothing more.”</p> -<p>It was a hard steep climb that the girls had when they endeavored to -scale the almost perpendicular side of the promintory which jutted from -the mainland out into the shining blue sea.</p> -<p>Sally, more frail than the others, soon gave out and sank down on the -rocks to rest. Eleanor and Barbara leaped back to help her. “Maybe I’d -ought to have stayed at school,” the youngest girl said. “Maybe you’d -have had a better adventure without me.”</p> -<p>“Of course not,” Virginia protested as she seated herself beside the -other. “It’s only two-thirty and We are not going anywhere in -particular.”</p> -<p>But even as she spoke Virginia had a strange feeling as though she had -said something which was untrue. She could not in the least understand -it.</p> -<p>The unwearied Betsy did not wish to rest. “On the alert,” she called. -“Hist! Dids’t hear a noise on the other side of the cliff? I believe -something or someone must be there. You all get your breath, while I -climb up and look over.”</p> -<p>“I’m rested now!” Sally smiled gratefully up at Virginia. “Let’s all go -on.”</p> -<div class='figcenter' style='width:80%; max-width:457px;'> -<img src='images/illus-190.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%;height:auto;' /> -<p class='caption'>When the top was reached ... all they saw was a long deserted stretch of beach and a boat.</p> -</div> -<p>When the top was reached the girls peered over and how Betsy did hope -that something mysterious would be revealed, but, all that they saw was -a long deserted stretch of beach and a boat, evidently a fishing smack, -which seemed to be anchored near a dilapidated dock.</p> -<p>“No adventure in sight,” sighed Betsy. “That feather was not a good -prognosticator.”</p> -<p>“Hear! Hear!” teased Barbara. “Wouldn’t Miss Torrence be pleased as -Punch if she knew that Betsy could use a word of more than one -syllable?”</p> -<p>“Not that any of us know whether she used it correctly or not,” she -added, laughingly, to conciliate her bristling friend.</p> -<p>“What shall we do now?” Virg inquired. “Since there is nary an adventure -below us on the beach, shall we retrace our steps?”</p> -<p>“It’s only three by my little wrist watch,” Margaret put in. “Don’t -let’s give up searching for an adventure quite so soon. Betsy, where’s -that feather guide of yours?”</p> -<p>“Here it is, and there it goes.” The little red plume again sailed in -the air, then slowly fluttered downwards, A brisk breeze caught it, and -the gleaming bit of red fairly rushed toward the broken old dock.</p> -<p>“Whizzle! Lookee! Will you? If it hasn’t boarded that fishing smack. -Who’s game to go down and take a look at the old boat?”</p> -<p>Sally, who dreaded nothing more than to be considered a doll-baby by -Betsy, was the first to reply with a courage she did not feel. “I am,” -she said, “if Virg thinks we ought to.”</p> -<p>But there was no time for the oldest girl to give the matter a deciding -thought, for Betsy, with Babs closely following, was already fairly -sliding down the seaward side of the promintory.</p> -<p>“Watch me, I’m a whiz at this sort of thing!” Betsy looked over her -shoulder to call. Unfortunately for the boaster, when she was not -watching, she stepped on a rolling stone, and went scudding the -remaining way to the beach at a terrifying rate. Luckily she had not far -to go. She sprang up, to Virginia’s relief, and laughingly called, -“Rather the worse for bumps, maybe, but what’s an adventure without a -mishap?”</p> -<p>Again, as she heard that word, there was in the heart of the oldest -girl, a strange warning premonition.</p> -<p>“I think we’d better follow the beach until we come to a road leading -into town and go back to the seminary,” she said, addressing Margaret, -especially, for she could always depend upon her adopted sister to -second her suggestions.</p> -<p>“Aw, I say! Let’s play the game! We said we’d follow the little red -feather and it went aboard that old boat. I’d like to take a peek at -it.”</p> -<p>They were starting across the beach and toward the water, when Margaret -touched Virginia’s arm and whispered, “Look over in the shelter of the -cliff. There’s a little old cabin. Maybe the fisherman who owns the boat -lives in it.”</p> -<p>“Maybe,” Virg replied, “but it looks to me as though it had been long -vacant.”</p> -<p>They reached the little dock, which was sheltered from the pounding surf -by a projection of the rocky promintory. Betsy was walking carefully out -on the tottering beams and rotting cross boards.</p> -<p>“Watch your step, if you never did before,” she sang out warningly. This -caution was not needed for, most carefully the six girls proceeded Virg -holding the arm of Sally.</p> -<p>Betsy, ever in the lead, had reached the part of the dock against which -the boat was bumping.</p> -<p>Eleanor looked at it curiously. “Is it anchored or tied?” she inquired.</p> -<p>“Anchored, I should say,” Margaret replied. “Don’t you see the rope -hanging over the stern and into the water!”</p> -<p>“Of course.” Betsy was climbing over the low rail, “All aboard, that’s -going aboard.”</p> -<p>She was closely followed by Barbara and Eleanor, then Megsy climbed -over, and Sally; last of all, Virginia, though much against her better -judgment.</p> -<p>“We mustn’t stay more than a moment,” she told them.</p> -<p>“We won’t,” this cheerfully from Betsy. “Lookee! There’s a sure enough -cabin below decks.” She was peering down into the dark hold. “I suppose -the fisherman who lives in the cabin under the cliff has just returned -from a fishing trip. He anchored his boat here while he went in to town -to sell his catch.” Then twinkling her eyes at Sally, she said, “I dare -you to go alone down in that dark hole.”</p> -<p>“Well, I <i>won’t</i> take the dare,” the youngest girl retorted with some -show of spirit.</p> -<p>“I will.” Babs was descending the rickety stairs even as she spoke, and -Betsy clattered down after her.</p> -<p>“Oh, lookee! Here are two funny bunks that fold up against the walls,” -Betsy sang out to the girls who were still on deck, “Oh, I say, be game, -kids. Come on down and see what a fishing boat looks like. You may never -have another chance.”</p> -<p>So Virginia and the other two girls descended. It took several moments -for their eyes to become used to the dusk. Then. “Here are life -preservers, but they’re all crumbling to pieces. Even a drowning rat -wouldn’t find them much use,” Babs remarked.</p> -<p>“Hark!” Virginia held up a finger and they all listened.</p> -<p>“What’s that swishing sound, do you suppose?” Her questioning glance was -directed toward Margaret.</p> -<p>“The wind must be rising,” that maiden replied. “We’d better get out of -the boat. I’ve had adventure enough for one day.”</p> -<p>“Seems to me I hear a queer kind of a scraping noise,” Sally said.</p> -<p>Betsy was the first up on deck, then she called down the hatchway in -alarm. “Girls! Girls! Come quick. What do you suppose has happened? The -anchor must have broken off for we are drifting out to sea.”</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXI' title='An Unexpected Cruise'>CHAPTER XXI<br />AN UNEXPECTED CRUISE</h2> -</div> -<p>It was indeed as Betsy had said. “Oh, Virginia, what shall we do?” Sally -clung to the oldest girl, her baby-blue eyes wide with terror.</p> -<p>The president of The Adventure Club was as frightened as were the -others, but she said with assumed calm, “Let us remember what Mrs. -Martin has often told us. When an emergency arises, try to think -clearly, and a way out of the trouble will be found. Now, whatever we -do, don’t let’s lose our heads.”</p> -<p>“I’m holding on to mine,” the irrepressible Betsy said gaily, suiting -the action to the words. Virg continued, “We have all had first aid -training, but unfortunately Miss King never foresaw that we would be set -afloat in a boat at sea.”</p> -<p>“Of course one should put on life belts,” Eleanor remarked, “but those -that we found were but crumbling cork.”</p> -<p>Because of the outgoing tide the boat was being rapidly carried away -from shore. Virginia eagerly scanned the receding beach, then the cliff, -but not a sign of life was to be seen. In the far distance she could see -the tower of the seminary but that was at least two miles away.</p> -<p>The other girls were watching her, feeling sure that she would find some -way out of their trouble. “We might shout, all together, and wave our -colored sweater coats, but I don’t believe anyone would see or hear,” -Margaret suggested.</p> -<p>It was then that Eleanor noticed that there were no sails. “Girls,” she -exclaimed in dismay. “I was going to suggest that we put up the sails -and return to the shore, but there aren’t any. It’s just a dismantled -old hulk set afloat to sink, or fall to pieces. The incoming tide washed -it against that dilapidated old dock, and the outgoing tide is now -taking it to sea.”</p> -<p>“And taking us with it!” wailed Barbara.</p> -<p>The six girls seated themselves on the benches under the rails and -looked at each other in despair. Suddenly Betsy laughed. Her friends -always said that she would laugh at her own funeral.</p> -<p>“Well, anyway,” she announced, “we’re having what we wished for. The -Adventure Club is having an adventure.”</p> -<p>Virginia, being the oldest girl and president of the club, felt that she -was really responsible for all that had happened. “I ought to have -insisted that we go back when I first felt—well—as though something was -going to happen—something tragic.”</p> -<p>Margaret looked up with interest. “Virg, did you feel that way? So did -I, but I didn’t want to spoil Betsy’s fun by grumping about her plan.”</p> -<p>“I’ll take the blame, that is, I mean, with Mrs. Martin,” that maiden -said meekly, then added with her inevitable desire to tease. “Sally is -the only one of us who is ready to die. She knows how to play a harp.”</p> -<p>“What time is it, Megs?” Virg asked, then added, as the thought came to -her, “You’d better wind your watch, dear. We’d feel so helpless if it -ran down.”</p> -<p>“If Winona were with us, she could tell time by the sun,” Babs -volunteered. “She gave me a few lessons. Wait a minute till I try.” -Then, a second later, she continued. “The month being May, I believe -that it is now about four o’clock, since it is dark at seven.”</p> -<p>“Right you are! It is two minutes to four.” Megsy was winding her wrist -watch as she spoke.</p> -<p>Luckily the old fishing smack had no water in the hold, and so, unsafe -as it looked, it evidently did not leak.</p> -<p>“Which is one comfort, surely,” Barbara remarked.</p> -<p>The boat had drifted beyond the shelter of the out-jutting promintory, -and an increasing land breeze was blowing them steadily out to sea.</p> -<p>The gentle, even roll of the waves rocked the boat and poor little Sally -was the first to become pale and ill. This added to their anxiety. -Virginia insisted that the youngest girl lie down upon the deck. With -her own sweater, she made a rolled pillow while Megsy offered her -sweater coat for a covering.</p> -<p>For a long hour the fishing smack slowly drifted. Suddenly Betsy gave a -cry of joy. “Lookee! Look yonder! Surely that is a steamer. Let’s all -stand up on the seats and wave something. Maybe they will see us through -their glasses and come to our rescue.”</p> -<p>This they did, but the steamer, plying its way, many miles out at sea, -did not veer from its course and soon disappeared in the fog that was -slowly creeping shoreward.</p> -<p>“Virg, I don’t believe I can keep calm much longer,” Barbara said, -turning toward the oldest girl, a pretty face that quivered. “I—I feel -so terribly frightened deep inside.”</p> -<p>“I know, dear, but we <i>must</i> keep up our spirits. It won’t help in the -least for us to cry, or get panicky. We want to be able to think clearly -if the time comes to act.” Virginia held the hand of Babs in a tight, -comforting clasp. “My theory is that when the tide turns we will drift -back to the shore again. We must help each other by trying to be brave. -When something has really happened, it will be time enough to give up -hope.”</p> -<p>“Virg, you’re a wonder!” Eleanor said admiringly. “I, for one, shall not -give up hope until you do.”</p> -<p>A grateful glance was the only reply the speaker received, and she was -satisfied. But, during the hour that followed, it was very hard for -Virginia to keep the younger girls brave and hopeful, for a dense wet -fog settled about them, and the setting sun, after glaring red like a -ball of fire in the mist, sank, leaving the unwilling voyagers hungry, -cold and altogether miserable.</p> -<p>“Girls,” Virginia said in a tone of authority, “I want you all to go -down in the hold. At least it is sheltered there from this wet wind. I -will stay on deck and watch for the light of a steamer.”</p> -<p>Margaret and Eleanor protested. “Let three go down and three remain on -watch for a few hours, then change about as real sailors do,” Megsy -suggested.</p> -<p>“Please let me do it my way.” Virginia’s voice sounded so imploring that -the other girls went below decks, and, letting down the two old bunks, -they huddled upon them to keep warm.</p> -<p>Betsy, bent on keeping up the spirits of her comrades, began to sing, -but Babs hushed her. “Don’t!” she begged. “You’ll make me cry.”</p> -<p>“I’ll tell you what,” Betsy stopped singing to suggest, “let’s each take -a turn at crying, while one of us counts fifty. A girl always thinks she -has to cry, and the sooner we get the tears spilled out, and done with, -the better. Now Babs, one, two, three.”</p> -<p>Betsy’s monotonous recital of the numbers ended abruptly for Babs had -laughingly clapped her hand over the mouth of her tormentor.</p> -<p>“I’m not going to cry, really. None of us are. We’d be ashamed to, with -Virg so brave, up there all alone on deck.”</p> -<p>For a while they were silent. The swish of the water against the sides -of the boat had a lulling sound, and, one by one, the girls made -themselves as comfortable as was possible under the circumstances, and -went to sleep.</p> -<p>Meanwhile, Virginia, alone on the deck, knelt down in silent, -strength-giving prayer. A fog-horn, from somewhere, sounded dismally at -intervals. Margaret, unable to sleep long, soon slipped up on the deck, -and, groping her way toward her friend, she sat close beside her and -reached for her hand and so they sat, waiting, watching as the dark -hours slowly passed.</p> -<p>New hope crept into the heart of Virginia with the coming of the dawn.</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXII' title='Land—but Where?'>CHAPTER XXII<br />LAND—BUT WHERE?</h2> -</div> -<p>With the grey of the dawn, the fog again drifted out to sea and the sun -arose in a glory of flaming color.</p> -<p>“Isn’t it wonderful?” Virg said to the pale, weary girl at her side. -“The God who has created the sun and the stars, and keeps them in their -places, can also take care of us and I know that he will.” Then she -added very softly, “I wish the other girls might sleep longer, for, if -they waken, they will be hungry and we have nothing to give them.”</p> -<p>“I suppose poor Mrs. Dorsey is frantic because we have not returned,” -said Megsy, also in a whisper. “I am truly sorry for her, but I do hope -that she won’t wire Mrs. Martin and spoil her long planned vacation.”</p> -<p>“No fear of that, for, directly after the wedding, Mrs. Martin was to go -with her brother and sister on an automobile trip visiting many -interesting places, and, returning with them to Vine Haven at the close -of the vacation. I heard her tell Mrs. Dorsey not to try to forward her -mail as she would have no definite address. However, Mrs. Dorsey will, -of course, notify the town authorities and they will begin to search for -us, but they will not dream that we are lost at sea since we started out -to hike across country.”</p> -<p>For a moment Margaret silently watched the East. Then she said: “Virg, -if it weren’t for the real danger that we are in, I would be glad to -have this opportunity of seeing such a wonderful sunrise. The very water -seems to be of molten gold.”</p> -<p>“It is awe-inspiring,” the older girl replied. “I feel as though we were -in the very presence of the Creator.”</p> -<p>A bank of shining mist was just ahead of them. “It is the very same that -I have seen from Pine Cabin,” Virg remarked, “and dear old Mrs. Torrence -often said that she believed it to be an island, which looked misty -because of the distance, and once, when the air was unusually clear, I -actually believed that I could see its rocky outlines.”</p> -<p>The two girls, who so loved each other, walked toward the bow of the old -boat, and with eyes shaded, gazed ahead through the shimmering air.</p> -<p>“We must have drifted far in those long hours of the night,” Margaret -said. “We have much to be thankful for that we did not run upon a -shoal.” Suddenly the speaker clutched the arm of her companion. “Virg, -after all, we must be drifting back toward the shore. See, there is land -in that cloud of mist. Can’t you see it? I can plainly make out trees -and rocks.”</p> -<p>“It is indeed land,” Virginia replied, a prayer of gratitude in her -heart, “but not the land that we left yesterday, and, what is more, I -believe it is an island. A very long one, it would seem, but I think -that I can see both ends of it.” Then after a moment. “Oh, I’m so afraid -that we are going to drift beyond it.”</p> -<p>At that moment Barbara appeared on deck, and, noting the excited faces -of her two friends, she asked eagerly, “What has happened?”</p> -<p>When she heard that Virginia was afraid that they would not drift to the -island, Babs exclaimed, “Girls, surely there is a rudder! Peyton taught -me how to steer his sail-boat the year before he left home.” Even as she -spoke, she was hurrying to the stern. The rudder handle was swinging -aimlessly.</p> -<p>At Barbara’s firm touch, the boat responded and swung around, heading in -the direction toward which Virginia was pointing.</p> -<p>The other girls appeared on deck and were overjoyed to see land, which, -as the sun rose higher, and the fog lifted, was plainly discernable, not -more than an eighth of a mile ahead of them.</p> -<p>They were soon near enough to see that it was a large, rocky island with -a densely wooded hill rising high in the middle of it. Too, there was a -long stretch of deserted beach shining white in the sun.</p> -<p>“I don’t see anyone about,” Eleanor said, making field glasses of her -hands, “but then it is very early. Perhaps the inhabitants are not yet -astir.”</p> -<p>“Megsy, stand in the bow, will you?” the girl at the rudder called. -“Sometimes, as one nears land, there are almost hidden shoals. Keep a -close watch ahead, and, if you do see one, motion which way I am to -steer.”</p> -<p>Eleanor joined Margaret in the bow of the boat and they gazed anxiously -into the water, over which the boat was slowly drifting. Suddenly Megsy -waved frantically to the left. Barbara pushed on the rudder with all her -strength, but it was too late, The boat slid up on a wide flat submerged -shoal.</p> -<p>There was a cry of alarm from the younger girls, but Virginia calmed -them. After looking into the water, she said, “We are in no immediate -danger. Now, let us think calmly just what may happen and what we would -better do.”</p> -<p>“I was noticing, when we let down the bunks in the hold, that the boards -were loose. I think we would better each get one to cling to, if we -found ourselves in the water.” This from the thoughtful Eleanor.</p> -<p>“I agree with you,” Virginia said, “for although we seem to be -well-grounded, it is very probable that a hole has been made in the -bottom of the boat. If larger waves come in, we will be lifted from the -shoal, the hold will fill with water and the boat will sink.”</p> -<p>Even Sally, relieved because the rocking motion had ceased, went with -the others below decks. They soon reappeared dragging boards, one at a -time. They were not as easy to procure as had been supposed. Indeed, -within the hour that followed, only three had been brought up on deck. -It was then that Eleanor made a discovery. “The water is leaving the -shoal,” she announced. “Before many minutes I do believe that we will be -high and dry.”</p> -<p>Almost breathlessly the six girls leaned over the rail and watched the -shoal.</p> -<p>“The tide has turned,” Virginia said. “It does, you know, every twelve -hours, and it is just about that long since we started out on this -voyage.”</p> -<p>Margaret, who had been intensely gazing at the shore, now exclaimed: -“Girls, do you know what I think? I believe that we are stranded on the -outer edge of a shoal that goes right up to the island, and that, in a -few moments, it will be above water. Then we can land.”</p> -<p>Fifteen minutes later Margaret’s prophecy was fulfilled. Virginia -rejoiced at this, for they would all be able to desert the craft, which -she no longer considered a safe haven.</p> -<p>“I’ll climb over first,” Betsy volunteered, “and if I can walk to the -shore without slipping in the briny deep, the rest of you may safely -follow. First of all, let’s remove our shoes and stockings.”</p> -<p>Virginia remained in the boat until all the others had climbed out and -were well on their way to the shore. Margaret, standing on the shoal, -was waiting for her, when suddenly she uttered a cry of alarm.</p> -<p>“Virg! Hurry up, quick! The boat is slipping out with the tide.”</p> -<p>And so it surely was. Lightened of nearly all its load, the old hulk was -once again afloat. Virginia leaped over the rail and was caught by -Margaret’s outstretched hands. They had to cling to each other a moment -to regain their balance. Betsy, having heard the cry, ran back toward -them.</p> -<p>“The boat!” she ejaculated. “Why, it’s sailing away! Lookee!”</p> -<p>The other two girls nodded. “We know it well enough,” Megsy informed -her. “Our darling Virg nearly sailed away on it.”</p> -<p>“Don’t tell the others, please,” the oldest girl pleaded. “Since all is -well, there is no need to trouble them.”</p> -<p>They were nearing the shore when Barbara, who was sitting there, pointed -excitedly back of them. “Girls! See what we’ve escaped.” Virginia, -Margaret and Betsy looked back of them and beheld the old hulk slowly -sinking in the deep water beyond the shoal.</p> -<p>“Talk of adventure! I never heard of so much outside of a book!” Barbara -declared. “That’s what might be labeled a ‘hair breadth escape.’”</p> -<p>Virginia looked about her. “Well, at least we can’t drown here,” she -said, “for, instead of water, we have a wide deserted beach, rocky -cliffs and a dense woodland.”</p> -<p>“But we may be eaten by cannibals.” It was the first time that Sally had -ventured a remark since landing.</p> -<p>“Luckily there are none in these civilized parts,” Babs replied. “Now, -girls,” she continued, “let’s hold a council and decide what we are to -eat for breakfast.”</p> -<p>“Goodness, yes, let’s! I’d almost as soon drown as starve.” This from -Betsy, who, having seated herself on a rock, was putting on her shoes -and stockings. The others did likewise. Megsy, saying dolefully the -while, “We might hold twenty councils, but pray, how would that procure -us anything to eat?”</p> -<p>“There may be a fisherman living on this island.” Virg hoped she was a -prophet, but was almost convinced that she was not. The island was too -remote to be accessible to the markets.</p> -<p>Betsy, again on her feet, put one finger against her forehead as though -in deep thought. “Idea!” she then sang out.</p> -<p>“Let’s hear it, old dear.” Babs felt her spirits greatly restored now -that her feet were on dry land.</p> -<p>“When I was a little kid I read ‘Swiss Family Robinson’ seven times and -I now recall a few of the ways that were resorted to for the obtaining -of sustenance.”</p> -<p>“Shooting stars, Betsy! You must have swallowed the book whole when you -finished reading it. You talk just like it.” It was of course Babs who -was taunting her friend.</p> -<p>“I did!” Betsy solemnly looked about. “If the worst comes to the worst, -we can build a house in a tree, the way they did, and—”</p> -<p>“Begin on the eats, old dear. What did the Swiss family do when they -were hungry?”</p> -<p>“They—er—” It was plain Betsy’s memory needed considerable searching.</p> -<p>“Oh, yes, they dug clams.” This, with a sudden brightening expression on -her piquant, freckled face. Then she laughed as she confessed, “I -haven’t the vaguest notion how it was done.”</p> -<p>“I have!” Barbara was glad that she and Peyton had spent a summer on the -coast when they were a boy and girl. “First you hunt around for a little -air-bubbly-hole on the sand at low tide and then dig down and get the -clam.”</p> -<p>“Just so easy!” Betsy laughed. “Come on, everybody. Hunt for air holes.”</p> -<p>But it wasn’t so easy after all. Now and then one of their number would -leap toward what seemed to be an air-hole, dig frantically; then give up -as a clam was not revealed.</p> -<p>“I’ve heard of stranded travelers living for quite a time on birds’ -eggs.” It was Eleanor who made this suggestion.</p> -<p>“Well, I, for one, can climb trees.” Betsy started to race toward the -woods, and the others followed, but once among the great old trees, they -paused.</p> -<p>“I haven’t seen a sign of a footprint of any kind,” Virginia remarked, -“so I conclude that we have this island very much to ourselves.”</p> -<p>But Virginia was mistaken for at least one dweller of the island was -crouched in a nearby tangle of bushes and a pair of dark eyes watched -every move made by the six invaders.</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXIII' title='Fair Explorers'>CHAPTER XXIII<br />FAIR EXPLORERS</h2> -</div> -<p>Into the pleasant woods the girls went, Betsy, of course, in the lead. -Sometimes there were open places among the trees where they could walk -easily, but, at other times, they came to tangles of bushes that were -very difficult to break through.</p> -<p>Suddenly the leader paused and held up a warning finger. “Hst!” she -whispered in the dramatic way she seemed to enjoy, “I thought I heard -sort of a rustling noise in the bushes over there.”</p> -<p>“It might be snakes—” Barbara began, when Sally uttered a piercing -scream. “I stepped on one! I know I did!” she was screaming -hysterically.</p> -<p>“No, you didn’t. That’s only a big stick. Here, give it to me. I -remember now, in Swiss Family Robinson, when the boys went through dense -underbrush, they pounded the bushes ahead of them to frighten away -snakes and other wild creatures.”</p> -<p>They moved forward, but it was Virginia herself who soon called a halt. -“Girls,” she said in a very low tone, “it may be my imagination but ever -since Betty spoke, I, too, keep hearing a rustling noise back of us. It -stops when we stop, then begins again when we start on.”</p> -<p>“I believe we are being followed,” Betsy turned to say. “I remember how -tigers and things used to trail after the Robinson boys, waiting for a -good chance to spring out and eat them.”</p> -<p>At that Sally just sank right down on a stump and began to cry. Virginia -tried to comfort her. “Dear,” she said, with a pleading look at the -tormentor. “Betsy is just trying to tease. You know, Sally, as well as -we do that there are no tigers near Boston. I ought not to have -mentioned the rustle I heard. I thought it might be a squirrel or some -harmless little wood animal—”</p> -<p>“That we might catch and eat instead of its catching and eating us,” -Babs said cheerily. Then she called the command: “Procession, proceed!”</p> -<p>Virginia, the last in line, looked back when the rustle began again, but -because of the density of the leaves she could not see the little -creature that was indeed following them with bright eyes that never -permitted them to get out of sight.</p> -<p>“How imaginative we are becoming,” Barbara remarked. “That surely ought -to please Miss Torrence.”</p> -<p>“I say, Virg,” Betsy, in the lead, stopped swinging her big stick to -call, “ask me to write a story for your next Manuscript Magazine, will -you? I’ll name it ‘How six shipwrecked girls perished on a deserted -island.’”</p> -<p>“If we’re going to perish,” Sally said dismally, “I guess we won’t be -writing compositions about it.”</p> -<p>They had been climbing the wooded hill which they had seen from the boat -and when they reached a clear place on the summit, they saw far below, -on the other side, a sheltered valley-like depression which had a narrow -opening toward the sea.</p> -<p>“Oh, how picturesque this place it,” Virginia exclaimed. “If I were sure -that some day we would be rescued, I would be glad that we had had an -opportunity to visit this island.”</p> -<p>“Me, too,” Betsy chimed in ungrammatically as she delighted in doing. -Then, as she sank down on the soft mossy ground to rest, she remarked: -“Girls, we started out with the avowed purpose of hunting for the -fortune hidden by Eleanor’s grandfather, Captain Burgess, but, as an -adventure, I do believe even such a search is backed off of the map.”</p> -<p>Eleanor laughed as she leaned against a tree. “It is indeed, especially -since, as I have told you, my grandfather probably wrote that note just -to cause anxiety for those who were left. I am not at all sure that he -ever had a fortune to hide. Of course he owned the fine old place on the -County Road, and mother and her sister Dorinda had every comfort -provided for them, but they were never given any money to spend.”</p> -<p>“If there was a fortune, it would rightfully belong to your mother and -to her sister Dorinda.” Babs lying flat on the ground with her hands -clasped under her head, remarked.</p> -<p>“Yes, of course. I had a boy cousin whom I would so like to see. Mother -is trying hard to locate him. He and I would have a share in the money, -I suppose, if there were any.”</p> -<p>“Whizzle.” Betsy leaped to her feet. “Here it is mid-morning and we -haven’t had a bite to eat since yesterday noon.”</p> -<p>“I’m thirstier than I am hungry,” Barbara remarked, as they began the -descent.</p> -<p>Virginia turned her head to listen and to her unexpressed delight that -strange rustling sound which had suggested that they were being followed -was no longer to be heard.</p> -<p>“After all, it was my imagination,” she had just decided, when there was -a joyful shout from Babs, seconded by one from Betsy. They had scrambled -down into a little dell, which looked especially green and inviting, and -there they had found a spring of clear, cold water.</p> -<p>The older girls were overjoyed at this discovery, for well they knew -that one could live longer without food than without water. One by one -they knelt among the ferns to quench their thirst. Virg made a mental -note of the location of the spring that they might return to it later, -if they so desired.</p> -<p>Even Sally became more optimistic when her thirst was quenched. Betsy -and Babs were running a race down the last gentle slope of the hill, and -so they were quite a distance ahead, when the girls following saw them -stop suddenly, then Betsy dropped to her knees and began examining the -ground.</p> -<p>Leaping up, she beckoned frantically for the others to make haste. It -was plain that the two girls were much excited.</p> -<p>Eager to know the cause of it, the other four started on a run.</p> -<p>“What is it?” Virg called as soon as they were near enough. “What have -you found?”</p> -<p>For answer Betsy pointed at the black wet soil down which water from the -spring trickled. The prints of small bare feet were plainly to be seen. -After examining them for a moment, Virginia exclaimed glowingly, “It is -surely the print of a child’s foot, which means that we were right in -believing that a fisherman lives on this island. Perhaps even now, we -are near his cabin.”</p> -<p>The oldest girl sincerely hoped that the dwellers on the island might be -fisher folk, but well she knew that sometimes smugglers and even outlaws -hid among seldom frequented islands off the coast.</p> -<p>Betsy, delighted to have something to detect, was following the way the -footprints led and soon they beheld before them a sheltering wall of -rocks, and nestled close to it, as though for protection, the oddest -kind of a dwelling. It had been crudely fashioned with small logs laid -one on another, fastened to upright trees at the four corners by stout -reeds that had been procured from some swamp. The roof was thatched with -interwoven branches and a door, similarly constructed, was closed and -fastened. There were no windows to the house and the owner was evidently -away.</p> -<p>“Maybe it was made by savages,” Sally ventured. “There’s a picture -something like it in the big geography on the page that tells about the -South Sea Islands.”</p> -<p>“And there is a crude outdoor open,” Babs pointed, “and right by it are -scooped out stones and big shells as though they were cooking utensils.”</p> -<p>Virginia gazed about for a thoughtful moment, then she said, “I’m almost -inclined to think that whoever lives here has been shipwrecked like -ourselves, and so, of course, he would have to resort to primitive -methods of building and cooking.”</p> -<p>“Look!” Babs clutched Virginia in real terror. “The door of that queer -hut opened a crack. I’m just ever so sure it did, and I know that I saw -eyes peering out at us.”</p> -<p>“What if it’s some shipwrecked sailor who has gone crazy from living so -long alone?” Sally began, frightening herself more than her listeners -with her fancy.</p> -<p>“Sh! The door is opening again.” Betsy walked boldly toward the hut and -then she smiled and nodded as though she were talking to someone, as -indeed she was. “Don’t be afraid of us!” Could the girls believe their -ears. “We won’t hurt you. Come out and get acquainted.” That was what -Betsy was actually saying.</p> -<p>The door again opened, and this time it did not close and out of the -house stepped the queerest little creature imaginable.</p> -<p>“It’s a dwarf,” Sally began, but Virginia was hurrying forward.</p> -<p>“It’s a little child,” she said; and indeed it was. A small girl with a -mat of long tangled hair and a dress made of a burlap bag with openings -that had been haggled in it for arms. Her eyes were dark and very -bright.</p> -<p>“I’m not scared of you,” she said, as she walked toward the girls. “I -saw you long ago when you first came ashore. I was over there looking -for May apples. I followed after you part of the way, then I darted down -here to hoist the flag up there on the rocks. That’s to tell my brother -to come ashore quick. He won’t know what’s happened. He’ll think -something has scared me and so he’ll come in a hurry.”</p> -<p>Virginia decided that the girl was older than she had at first supposed, -and in answer to the question usually put to small children, she -unhesitatingly answered, “I’m eight, going on nine.” Then gleefully, -“Won’t brother be surprised though. He’s catching fish for our dinner.” -She started running toward the shore, then turned to inform them. “Here -he comes now. Oho, Winston! Here’s some girls.”</p> -<p>A small raft had appeared and on it a tall graceful lad was standing. -With a long stout pole he was pushing his craft toward the beach. There -he made it fast, by driving other stout sticks through the two corners -that were high and dry, then taking up a long reed on which fish were -strung, he shouldered a pole and started on a light run toward the -wondering group.</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXIV' title='The Natives'>CHAPTER XXIV<br />THE NATIVES</h2> -</div> -<p>“Are you an apparition?” the boy smilingly inquired, when he was near -enough to speak. “It is hard for me to believe my eyes.” Then, before -the girls could reply, the lad was eagerly asking, “Have you come in a -boat that is anchored nearby, and will you take little sister and me -over to the mainland?”</p> -<p>Virginia, being the oldest, stepped forward and held out her hand, -smiling in her frank, friendly way. “I wish that I might reply in the -affirmative,” she said, “but that I cannot do, for we are shipwrecked, -as I suppose you are also.” Then she told of their recent adventures, -ending with, “But I am sure that we will soon be found by the Vine Haven -authorities. This island cannot be far away, and so in time their search -ought to lead them here.”</p> -<p>“I sincerely hope that they will for all our sakes,” the boy declared, -“but before I tell you of the misadventures which led to Peggy and my -being shipwrecked, I shall cook these fish for I am sure, if you have -had nothing to eat since yesterday, that you must be nearly famished.” -Then, he added, with a smile that assured the girls that he was just the -kind of a lad Megs could depend on, he said: “Permit me to introduce my -little sister, Mistress Peggy Wentworth. My own name is Winston.”</p> -<p>Virginia then told the first name of each of the six girls. “You never -could remember so many last names, and so there is no need to tell them. -Now, what can we do to help prepare the fish?” Then Virginia hesitated. -“Although it doesn’t seem quite right for us to eat up your supplies.”</p> -<p>The boy laughed. “Luckily for us, this particular kind of a small fish -seems eager to be caught. I can get as many as I want. I’ll rig up some -more lines and we can all go fishing when our larder gets empty.”</p> -<p>“That boy has been well brought up, hasn’t he?” Eleanor said to -Margaret, when they had left the group to search for sticks for the -fire.</p> -<p>“Yes, indeed. And isn’t he good-looking?”</p> -<p>“Little Peggy would be a beauty if she were prettily dressed and had her -hair cut.”</p> -<p>At another time Sally, the pampered darling of an idolizing mother would -have scorned such coarse fare, but she ate her share at the strange -banquet which soon followed as though it were the most delicious kind of -food.</p> -<p>Luckily there was enough to satisfy even the ravenous appetites of the -guests, then each was given a large shell and told to go to the spring -for a drink. Laughingly they trooped along to the ferny dell, while -their host remained behind to bury the bones.</p> -<p>“Winston,” Margaret said, when they returned, “we are all curious to -know how you happened to be here. Will you tell us?”</p> -<p>“Yes, willingly,” was the reply, then the lad slipped an arm about his -little sister as though it were a comfort to have her close, when he -told, what the girls knew from his expression, would be a sad story. “My -father having died,” he began, “my mother, Peggy and I set sail in a -merchant ship bound for a port in the South where we were to make our -home with my father’s brother. That was last December. There were -constant storms and at last the captain told the few passengers that the -boat might flounder at any time. My first act was to fasten a life belt -about mother, who, not being well, kept to her cabin.</p> -<p>“Little sister had gone up on deck, although a gale was raging and the -waves were so high that each one seemed about to break over the deck and -engulf us. I was terrorized to see that she had made her way to the bow, -and having reached there was afraid to return. Clinging to the rail, she -turned toward me a white, pleading face. At that moment the boat tipped -so far over that the deck seemed almost perpendicular. ‘Hold fast, -Peggy!’ I shouted. I clung to a corner of the cabin until the vessel -righted. Then I ran across the unsteady deck and hastily fastened about -her the belt I had carried. As I stood up, I heard her scream. She was -pointing back of me. I turned and saw a roaring, rushing wave that -lifted its angry crest high about the deck. I knew that nothing could -save us, but instinctively I caught little sister in one arm and held -hard to the rail with my other hand. I tried to shelter her from the -torrent of water that surged over us. With tremendous force it hurled us -against the rail which instantly snapped and in another moment we were -both being whirled about in the seething water back of the boat. No one -had seen us, and, even if they had, the merchant ship could not have -been turned to come to our rescue. I still held my sister’s dress and -with the other hand I was clinging to the part of the rail which had -broken, permitting us to fall overboard. For a time we were driven along -at an almost breathless speed by the next mountainous wave. At the crest -I looked back and was glad to see that the boat had righted and still -had a chance of making port, but I have since doubted that, as surely -our mother would have had the coast searched for us. Luckily I am an -excellent swimmer. I put my sister’s arms over the rail and then swam or -floated until at last we found ourselves in calmer water. This assured -me that a harbor had been reached.</p> -<p>“My feet soon touched bottom, then, on the next wave, we rode high on -the beach, remaining there when it had receded. Since then I have had to -recall all that I have read and use a good deal of invention besides, -but we have managed to keep alive. Several times I have caught a glimpse -of what I believed might be mainland, but I never have been quite sure -enough to risk the life of my little sister by venturing out on our -small raft. It is none too securely made, as reeds are all that I had to -lash together the logs.”</p> -<p>It was very hot in the little sheltered hollow and Sally’s head was -nodding by the time that the tale was told.</p> -<p>“Poor girl,” Virg said softly, “she has been terribly frightened, but -she has been very brave, I think.”</p> -<p>“You all look tired and sleepy,” the boy rose as he spoke. “I am now -going to take Peggy out on my raft for we will need many more fish for -the evening meal. Tomorrow you may have a turn,” he assured Virginia -before she could voice the protest that he knew was coming, “but right -now I want you to all sleep, for at least two hours. Go in our house if -you wish.”</p> -<p>But Virginia declared that the warm sandy ground made a good bed. -Indeed, as soon as they saw the raft bobbing on little waves in a -sheltered harbor, they all lay down and were soon sound asleep.</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXV' title='A Search Started'>CHAPTER XXV<br />A SEARCH STARTED</h2> -</div> -<p>Meanwhile in Vine Haven Seminary a nearly frantic housekeeper had, as -Virginia had prophesied, reported to the sheriff that six girls had -started out on a hike at one o’clock of the day before and had not -returned. It was then eight in the morning. Mrs. Dorsey’s hope had been -that the girls had wandered so far from the school, that they had -decided to remain in some sheltered place and return by daylight in the -early morning.</p> -<p>Not knowing how she could reach Mrs. Martin, the poor woman had put in a -call for Drexel Academy and when Dean Craig replied, she had told the -circumstances in such a breathless, excited manner that it was hard for -him to understand just what had happened, but he did gather that Mrs. -Dorsey wished as many boys as he could spare to come at once to Vine -Haven to help the sheriff search for someone who was lost.</p> -<p>Benjy Wilson happened to pass the Dean’s office at that moment, and, -hearing his name called, he went in.</p> -<p>“Oh, Dean Craig,” he implored, “I beg of you, permit me to go. Two of -the girls, who were to remain at the school during their spring -vacation, are neighbors of mine in Arizona and I couldn’t do a thing -here not knowing what trouble they may be in.”</p> -<p>“I quite agree with you, Benjamin,” the serious young officer replied. -“Take two boys with you, any two that you believe would aid you the -most, and ride at once to Vine Haven. You may take my car, I shall not -need it.”</p> -<p>Scarcely more than an hour elapsed before the three boys dressed in -their hiking togs appeared on the wide veranda of the Vine Haven -Seminary.</p> -<p>A red-eyed, though pale housekeeper, admitted them. “I haven’t slept a -wink, nor eaten either, and I never shall, I’m thinkin’, unless we can -find those girls,” she said, when she had finished telling them all she -knew about the girls’ departure on the day before.</p> -<p>Benjy was most courteous. “Mrs. Dorsey, do not be so worried. I feel -confident that they are safe somewhere. Virginia Davis is an unusually -capable girl, as you know, and so are Margaret Selover and Barbara -Wente. I am sure they can take care of themselves in any ordinary -circumstances. Now if you will tell us in which direction they first -went when they left the school, we will start out at once in search of -them.”</p> -<p>Mrs. Dorsey felt comforted by the lad’s optimism and told all she knew, -which was very little.</p> -<p>“That Betsy Clossen, she as is always thinking up mischief, told me they -were an Adventure Club, and that they were starting out to hunt for an -adventure. I said ’twas all right as long as they were home before dark. -I stood and watched them a spell and they headed for the dairy farm over -in the valley, but, by and by, they dropped out of sight below the top -of the hill and I went on with my work.”</p> -<p>Benjy rose as did his two companions.</p> -<p>“We will start in that direction, Mrs. Dorsey. Perhaps at the dairy farm -there may be someone who saw them pass.”</p> -<p>“No,” was the doleful response. “The sheriff rode in a bit ago, just -before you came it was, and he said he and his men had been there and -everywhere in this neighborhood, for that matter, that is, everywhere -’ceptin’ over the Wall o’ Rocks Promintory. The sheriff said there was -no use looking there as school girls wouldn’t even think of trying to -climb over it. Well, I sure wish you luck. I’ll keep watching out for -you to come back. I’ll have plenty to eat waiting for you.”</p> -<p>Benjy was indeed sorry for the good woman who was so crushed by the -disappearance of the girls. As soon as the three lads were beyond the -confines of the school grounds, Benjy paused. “That Wall of Rocks -Promintory is about two miles from here,” he told his companions. “Some -of us from Drexel went there last year on a cross country hike. I -remember how very steep it was. I have little hope of finding the girls -there, and choose it merely because the sheriff mentioned that his men -had searched everywhere else.”</p> -<p>Jack Dennison and Dick Beardsley, who were the particular friends of -Benjy’s at the military academy agreed that the promintory would not -invite the ordinary schoolgirl to scale its jagged and almost -perpendicular side. When the top was reached, they stood looking down at -the beach that was gleaming in the sunlight. Jack was the first to -notice the small hut close to the base of the cliff. Smoke was rising -from the chimney and Benjy cried: “Down the trail, boys, and let’s find -out what we can from whoever may be there.”</p> -<p>The occupant of the old hut was an ancient fisherman who sat in the -shade mending nets. He looked up when he saw the three boys approaching, -and, taking his clay pipe from his mouth, he inquired: “Wall, lads, be -ye comin’ fer fish? If so, help yerselves. Had a big haul last week.”</p> -<p>Then, noting their anxious expressions, he added: “What’s up? Anything -wrong?”</p> -<p>Benjy told of the disappearance of the six girls who had started in that -general direction on a hike. Then eagerly, “You didn’t see them anywhere -around here on the beach yesterday, did you?”</p> -<p>The old man shook his head. “They might o’ been, now, for all that,” he -said. “It’s me as wasn’t here. I’ve been gone down the coast fishing the -week past.”</p> -<p>He nodded as he spoke toward the dilapidated dock, and the boys, -glancing in that direction, saw an old boat there with patched sail so -soiled that it was hard to believe that it might once have been white. -“Ye can take The Nancy and cruise along the shore, if ye think ’twill -help ye any. I won’t be wantin’ to go fishin’ again for many a day I’m -thinkin’.”</p> -<p>“Thank you,” Benjy said. “We will pay you well if we decide to accept -your offer.” Then the three lads walked slowly toward the old dock. “If -only we had some clue,” Dick was saying, when Jack leaped forward, -beckoning excitedly. “Here’s a red feather,” he cried. “Don’t you think -it might have blown off a girl’s hat?”</p> -<p>He picked it up as he spoke. “Oh, I don’t think so,” Benjy began, “and -yet, maybe it might.”</p> -<p>“There’s a brisk breeze blowing beyond the shelter of the wall of -rocks,” Dick announced. “I vote that we do take the old fisherman’s boat -and scud up and down the coast. The girls may have been stranded -somewhere by the tide. I’ve read stories like that, and they were -founded on fact.”</p> -<p>“So have I,” Benjy agreed. “It might be a good bet.”</p> -<p>And so it chanced that the three lads set sail in the old boat Nancy -just as the girls, whom they were searching, were sitting down to -partake of a fish dinner on an island which could be seen, but dimly -from the mainland.</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXVI' title='A Message Afloat'>CHAPTER XXVI<br />A MESSAGE AFLOAT</h2> -</div> -<p>The girls awakened, greatly refreshed from the nap they had taken, lying -on the warm sunny sand, while Winston and Peggy had gone fishing to -provide food for the next meal. It was two-thirty by Margaret’s faithful -wrist watch when they arose and sauntered down to the shore. They saw -the small raft returning and by the merry shouting of Peggy, they were -sure that the catch had been a large one.</p> -<p>When the queer craft had been secured on the beach, Virginia said, -“Winston, we girls were just thinking that we would like to go to the -side of the island on which we landed, make a fire or in some way -attempt to attract attention of the people on the mainland, who, we are -sure, must by this time have started out in search of us.”</p> -<p>“Righto!” the lad cried, then leaping ahead of them, he disappeared in -the hut, to soon return with a bottle, “I dug this up yesterday on the -shore and I planned using it in a way that might bring help to my sister -and me.”</p> -<p>“Oh, I know!” Betsy clapped her hands gleefully. “You planned writing a -message, enclosing it in an air-tight bottle and setting it afloat. -Wasn’t that it, Winston?”</p> -<p>“The very thing, and let’s do it now. I have a pencil,” the lad said, -producing a well-worn stub.</p> -<p>“What shall we do for paper?” Eleanor had just asked, when Margaret -answered her: “Birch bark makes the best kind of paper. I saw a tree on -the edge of the little wood.”</p> -<p>“True enough,” Winston exclaimed, as he bounded away, returning a few -moments later with a strip of bark. The message was written, placed in -the bottle and securely corked.</p> -<p>“I wish we had something to tie on the neck of the bottle to make it -more noticeable,” Virginia began when Betsy snatched a cherry-red ribbon -from her hair.</p> -<p>“The very thing!” the lad exclaimed. “Now, let’s cross the island. There -is a much shorter way than that by which you came.”</p> -<p>“Hurray for us!” the lad cried half an hour later, when they stood on -the shore near where the girls had landed. “Luck is with us! The wind -and tide are just right to carry our message rapidly toward the -mainland.”</p> -<p>Taking off his shoes and stockings, Winston waded far out on the shoal -and then he lightly tossed the bottle into the deep water beyond. It -partly sank, then rose. The wind caught in the loops of the red ribbon -bow making sails that soon carried the bobbing bottle out of their -sight.</p> -<p>“I have often made a fire on this shore at night,” Winston said, -pointing to a charred place among the rocks, “but it evidently aroused -no one’s curiosity. It is well for Peggy and for me that I studied -woodcraft when I was a Boy Scout in England and learned to make a fire -without matches,” he told them as they retraced their steps to the side -of the island on which their host and wee hostess lived.</p> -<hr class='tbk' /> -<p>In the meantime the three lads from Drexel Academy were slowly cruising -along the coast. Every now and then they would go as close as they -dared, and all three, making megaphones of their hands, would shout: -“Virginia Davis! Barbara Wente!” over and over, but only echoes from the -cliff replied. Occasionally a sea bird startled by their cries would -circle about them, but no other living thing was seen.</p> -<p>“This is a lost hope,” Benjy said, at last. “We have been cruising up -and down this coast for two hours, in fact, nearly three, and so we -might as well give up.”</p> -<p>“The wind is getting pretty brisk and since it is from the sea, we’ll -have to tack out quite a bit to make the port we started from,” Jack -said. He then pushed the rudder handle and the bow swung into the wind.</p> -<p>“We’ll have to go at least a mile out to sea,” Dick agreed, “if we make -the fisherman’s dock on one tack.”</p> -<p>“That’s hard luck,” Benjy spoke regretfully. “I hate to waste the time, -but of course we must get the old boat back. Make the best speed you -can, boys.”</p> -<p>Dick and Jack were experienced sailors, while Benjy, desert-born, knew -nothing whatever of the management of a boat.</p> -<p>For a long half hour they scudded in silence which was suddenly broken -by an exclamation from the boy at the rudder. “Hi, you, Ben! Look over -to starboard. What’s that red thing bobbing up and down.”</p> -<p>“Looks like a bottle floating this way. Turn about, can’t you, so that -we can sail close enough to pick it up?”</p> -<p>“I’m afraid I can’t make it, old man,” Jack replied. “If we swing that -way an inch more we’ll lose the wind out of our sails.”</p> -<p>They were scudding away from the bottle when Benjy shouted excitedly: -“Never mind if we do lose headway, I want to get that bottle. I believe -that red thing on it is a girl’s hair ribbon and I’d never forgive -myself if there was a message in it from Babs and the rest of them.”</p> -<p>“Well, I’ll take a tack that way, if you say so, but of course the -bottle can’t hold a message from the girls since it is sailing directly -in from somewhere out at sea. More than likely it was dropped from a -ship in distress.”</p> -<p>“Well, even so. It’s up to us to get it, whoever set it afloat.”</p> -<p>“Benjy is right,” Dick agreed. “There, now we’re making straight for -it.”</p> -<p>“Hold the boat steady,” Benjy called. “I’ll lean way over and try to -grab it when it’s near enough.”</p> -<p>But holding the boat steady with the sails flapping in an -ever-increasing wind proved to be an impossible feat.</p> -<p>“Pull on the sheet! Quick!” was Jack’s sharp command. “We’re bearing -right down on it. Gee whiz! We hit it! Now, like as not, it’s broken.”</p> -<p>But the bottle, evidently unharmed, slid around the boat and bobbed up -on the other side. Making a lunge which nearly resulted in his falling -overboard, Benjy secured the prize, and holding it up, he could plainly -see the birch bark inside which he was convinced held some message.</p> -<p>“There’s only one way to it,” Dick told him, “that’s to break the -bottle.”</p> -<p>This was easily done and the piece of birch bark fell out.</p> -<p>The three boys crowded round to try to decipher the blurred pencil -marks.</p> -<p>“It’s unbelievable!” Benjy stood up and shading his eyes, gazed out -toward the bank of mist which nearly always hung like a curtain between -the mainland and the island.</p> -<p>Then, with a whoop of joy, he shouted, “Look yonder! A fishing launch is -coming in. Let’s hire one of the men to sail The Nancy back to its dock -and the other to take us over to the island.”</p> -<p>“The very thing!” As he spoke Jack stood up and waved his coat. The -other boys did likewise, then, when they were sure that they had -attracted attention, they beckoned and shouted. The two fishermen in the -launch, believing that the boys were in trouble, decided to change their -course, and so before long, they were within speaking distance. Upon -hearing the story, they readily agreed to comply with the boys’ plans -and fifteen minutes later, the launch was headed directly for the bank -of mist, while the Nancy was tacking leisurely toward the mainland. At -that same moment, the young people on the island had made an exciting -discovery.</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXVII' title='An Indian Mound'>CHAPTER XXVII<br />AN INDIAN MOUND</h2> -</div> -<p>When the girls with Winston and Peggy had watched the bottle until its -gleaming red sails could no longer be seen, they had retraced their -steps toward the other side of the island.</p> -<p>“I feel sure that we are to be rescued before many moons,” Eleanor said.</p> -<p>“That is what Indians called a month. I go you one better than that,” -Betsy put in. “I’ll say that we’ll be back in Vine Haven before many -suns.”</p> -<p>“Speaking of Indians,” Virginia remarked, “Winston, do you suppose there -ever were Indians on this island?”</p> -<p>“I think so,” the lad replied. “In fact, one day when I was exploring, I -came upon a mound which I am confident was an Indian grave. I have often -thought I would like to go back there and dig into it. Some tribes, as -you know, buried really interesting things with their dead, believing -that the departing soul would have use of them in the world to which -they were going.”</p> -<p>“Where did you find that mound, Winston? Could we visit it now?” Eleanor -inquired. “We haven’t anything else that needs doing, have we?”</p> -<p>“No, indeed,” the lad replied. “We have fish enough for supper and for -breakfast, too, for that matter.”</p> -<p>As he talked, he led the way toward the densely wooded hill that rose in -the middle of the narrow, though long island. On the top, under old -gnarled pine trees, they came upon the mound which Winston had seen on a -former visit. It did indeed look like an Indian grave.</p> -<p>“I wish we had shovels and things,” Betsy said.</p> -<p>“I’ll tell you what!” Eleanor exclaimed. “Let’s pretend we are Indians, -really, and, of course, they would have had no utensils or implements. -Now, if they wanted to dig, what would they do?”</p> -<p>“They would find rocks, perhaps, that had been hollowed out by waves,” -Margaret had just said, when Winston leaped up from the ground where he -had been kneeling and gave a whoop, as an inspiration came to him. “You -girls wait here,” he said, “while Peggy and I run down to our hut. We -have dozens of huge shells. We’ll each bring back as many as we can -carry. They’ll make the best kind of trowels.”</p> -<p>Away the sister and brother ran and during their absence, the girls -knelt on the dry pine needles to inspect more closely the Indian grave.</p> -<p>“I wonder how long it has been here. Years and years I suppose,” Eleanor -said.</p> -<p>“If we did find interesting relics in this mound, to whom would they -belong?” Megsy inquired.</p> -<p>“Why to Winston and Peggy, I should think, since they first discovered -it.”</p> -<p>“I don’t know when I’ve met a boy I like better,” Eleanor said, seating -herself on the ground. “I felt right at once as though I had known -Winston for a long time. Don’t you like him, Virginia?”</p> -<p>“Yes, indeed.” The older girl rising had turned to look toward the -mainland. She shaded her eyes and gazed into the gleaming sunlight, but -she could not see far because of the cloud of mist.</p> -<p>“A boat might be nearly here and we could not see it,” Eleanor began, -when a shout announced that Winston and Peggy were returning.</p> -<p>The shells were indeed large and strong. One was given to each girl. -Then Winston suggested: “Suppose we work in relays. In that way we will -not all be tired at once.”</p> -<p>“You and Virginia may be the first relay,” Betsy said generously. The -older girl laughed. “No, indeed, I know you are just wild to begin to -ferret out the mystery. Suppose you and Eleanor begin. Five minutes will -be allowed each pair of diggers. Megsy, since you have a wrist watch, -you may be time-keeper.”</p> -<p>But many a five minutes had passed before much of the earth had been -removed. It was decided, because of his superior strength that Winston -might have a turn all by himself until he announced that his arm was -tired. It was then that some real headway was noticed. However, it was -Eleanor who was digging when a hard object was struck. Great was the -excitement as they all crowded around. “Maybe it’s Indian crockery. You -know what vessels and things were buried in their graves.”</p> -<p>“Be careful how you hit it, Betsy, for if it is crockery, it will surely -break,” Sally warned. But the something which they were rapidly -uncovering did not resemble anything which Indians were known to make.</p> -<p>“It’s a small copper chest,” Winston announced at last.</p> -<p>Betsy sprang to her feet and leaped about joyfully. “Oh, ho, ho!” she -cried. “This is Stevenson’s Treasure Island, I do believe.”</p> -<p>Winston’s eyes glowed with excitement as he looked over at Eleanor, who -was also digging. “I do believe Betsy is right. Of course it isn’t -<i>that</i> Treasure Island, but smugglers, at some time, may have buried -this here.”</p> -<p>Having removed the hard packed dirt from the top of the box, the lad -tried to pry it out but it was too firmly embedded. “We’ll have to be -patient and dig some more,” he said. Although the boy’s fingers were -almost numb from holding the handless implement for so long, he was so -eager to unearth the find, that he did not want to rest, but Virginia -begged him to let her take his place for a time.</p> -<p>“All righto!” he sang out as a new thought suggested itself to him. “And -I’ll break a strong staff from a tree and make a lever out of it.” He -leaped away to accomplish this, and while he was gone, the girls -redoubled their efforts.</p> -<div class='figcenter' style='width:80%; max-width:455px;'> -<img src='images/illus-242.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%;height:auto;' /> -<p class='caption'>“Girls! Girls! Call Winston. The cover moved ever so slightly.”</p> -</div> -<p>“I never in all my life dreamed that such exciting adventures ever -really happened,” Betsy was saying, when Eleanor cried: “Girls! Girls! -Call Winston. The cover moved ever so slightly. I believe if he has -found a stout stick, he could pry it off.”</p> -<p>The lad came bounding back when he heard a chorus of excited voices -shouting his name. Wedging his sharp pointed stick under the cover of -the box, he soon pried it lose. Together he and Eleanor lifted it. There -were two leather bags in the box and they were so heavy that it was with -difficulty that the lad lifted them.</p> -<p>On the inside of the copper lid was inscribed the name of the one who -had buried the treasure. The girls were sure that they knew what they -were to hear before Winston could decipher it.</p> -<p>“It’s your grandfather Burgess’ buried fortune,” Betsy told Eleanor, but -before that maiden could reply, an exclamation of amazement from the lad -caused them all to turn in his direction. “Eleanor,” he cried, “is -<i>your</i> name Burgess? Why didn’t you tell me before? My mother’s maiden -name was Dorinda Burgess.”</p> -<p>And then, as though that were not enough excitement for one hour, there -arose below them on the beach, a loud hallooing. Winston leaped to a -spot where he could look down. “Girls,” he cried, but there was no need -to call, for they were closely following him. “There is a launch -anchored just beyond the shoal and three boys have come ashore in a -dory.”</p> -<p>“It’s Benjy and two of the boys from Drexel Academy!” Barbara whirled to -hug Margaret. “Oh, girls, aren’t you glad we were shipwrecked, now that -we are to be rescued?”</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXVIII' title='In Which Many Things Happen'>CHAPTER XXVIII<br />IN WHICH MANY THINGS HAPPEN</h2> -</div> -<p>Although Winston was indeed glad that he and his small sister were being -rescued, his heart was too full of anxiety concerning his mother’s fate -to really share in the hilarious rejoicing of his companions. Not -wishing to depress them by reminding them of his possible loss, he -smiled as cheerfully as he could, whenever he was addressed, but -Virginia noticed that he held little Peggy close to him during the sail -to the mainland.</p> -<p>Luckily the wind was back of them and they did not need to delay for -frequent tacks. While the other girls were telling the story of their -unexpected voyage to their three rescuers, Eleanor managed to find a -seat near Winston. She lifted shining eyes to her new-found cousin, but -in them tears slowly gathered. Then quietly she told him the story of -her mother’s long search for her sister Dorinda, “I cannot understand,” -the lad seemed perplexed. “I know that my mother repeatedly sent letters -to a sister in America, but the name on the envelope was never Burgess.”</p> -<p>“That is true,” the reply was sadly given. “Aunt Dorinda never knew that -my father was not—well, not what a husband should be to the best woman -in the world. It was because of his unworthiness that Mumsie took back -her maiden name.”</p> -<p>“I remember that my mother wrote everywhere that she could possibly hope -to find her sister, but the letters were always returned, unopened. -Sometimes on them would be stamped: ‘Name not in directory,’ and so my -mother, grieving over the loss of my father, was even more saddened by -the fear that she had also lost her sister. Broken in health and with -very little money, we went to England where I tried to work a small -farm. I learned a lot about it, and liked it tremendously, but mother -longed to get back to her home country. It was at that time that my -father’s brother sent us money for our passage, asking us to visit him -until my mother had regained her strength. The very thought that she -might hear what had happened to her sister made it possible for mother -to undertake the voyage, but now—” The lad, visibly affected turned -away. Eleanor slipped her hand over his.</p> -<p>“Dear cousin,” she said softly, “I have a feeling, deep in my heart, -that somehow, someway, all is to be well. Let’s keep hoping until we -know.”</p> -<p>They could say no more as the mainland dock had been reached. Virginia -had glanced at Winston and realizing that he and Eleanor wished to -converse alone, she had kept the others interested and occupied. Then as -they all landed, Betsy Clossen exclaimed: “Why, if here isn’t that -little red feather that led us into all this—this—what <i>shall</i> I call -it?”</p> -<p>“A very wonderful something.” It was Eleanor who spoke. “For, because of -it, my dear cousins have been rescued.”</p> -<p>“I’m glad it all happened just as it did,” Virginia said. Then turning -to Benjy and his two companions, she held out her hand, adding: “I’m -going to be a self-appointed spokesman and thank you on behalf of us all -for your great kindness. Will you return with us to Vine Haven?”</p> -<p>“Rather, I am going to suggest that you accompany us to the village -which is reached much more easily, as the road beyond the cliff leads -directly there, and then we will take the next train back to Drexel, -while you can telephone for the school bus to come after you.”</p> -<p>This really excellent suggestion was acted upon. When the station was -reached, Benjy suggested that Winston accompany the three boys. One of -them, Jack Dennison, being the same build as the stranded youth, quietly -offered to loan him clothes until he could procure for himself the -things he needed.</p> -<p>“From there,” he told Eleanor, “I shall go directly to Boston in search -of my mother as that was the port where the boat hoped to put in to -await calmer seas.”</p> -<p>“And little Peggy shall go to Vine Haven with me.” The small girl looked -up happily and nestled confidingly close to her new-found relative.</p> -<p>It was all very mysterious to her but she accepted Eleanor -unquestioningly since her wonderful brother did.</p> -<p>Luckily the train was drawing into the station at the moment of their -arrival and so the four boys swung on up to the platform and almost -before the girls realized, they found themselves alone. Virginia at once -called up Mrs. Dorsey, who burst into tears when she learned that her -charges were safe and for several seconds she could not make herself -understood.</p> -<p>After that, in an unaccountably short time, or so it seemed, Micky -appeared with the bus. The little fellow was overjoyed to see his -beloved Babs once again. When the school was reached, the door was -thrown open and the stout and motherly Mrs. Dorsey ran down the steps, -her apron flying, her arms outstretched as though she would gather them -all into her warm embrace. “You darlings!” she sobbed, as she held close -those who were nearest. “This is the happiest moment, I guess, in the -long life of me. I was so dreading that I’d have to tell poor Mrs. -Martin that I hadn’t been worthy of the trust she’d put in me.” Then, -wiping her eyes with her apron, she added: “But do come in, you poor -tired-out creatures. I’ve been running around ever since you telephoned, -trying to get you up a good hot meal, and, as soon as you’re washed and -ready, it will be the same. Not washed, of course,” the kind woman -smiled through the tears that still came, “but anyhow ’twill be ready.”</p> -<p>Peggy, she had taken as a matter of course, not stopping to ask or -wonder how Eleanor Burgess had procured a little cousin on her strange -voyage.</p> -<p>The girls started away and had reached an upper landing when a flustered -and visibly excited housekeeper reappeared at the foot of the stairs. -“Oh, Eleanor Burgess,” she exclaimed. The girls all turned to listen. -“There’s been a phone call coming for you every little while. It’s long -distance and nobody but the operator speaks, so I don’t know who ’tis -that’s wanting you. Fearing it was your mother, I didn’t say anything -about your being lost. I just said call later, which I’m expecting they -will.”</p> -<p>“Thank you, Mrs. Dorsey.” Then Eleanor turned glowing eyes toward her -friends. “Mother has come back even sooner than she had expected, I do -believe, and probably she is sending for me to come to her in Boston. -Oh, how glad I am that she knows nothing of our recent adventure.”</p> -<p>“You’ll be glad to see her, dear, won’t you?” Virginia kissed the -flushed cheek of her friend. Then they went to their rooms to change -their dresses. Eleanor hardly knew what to put on little Peggy.</p> -<p>The queer costume of the child had escaped Mrs. Dorsey’s notice since -Betsy Clossen, who was the smallest among them, had put her sweater coat -over the little one’s shoulders and it reached nearly to her knees.</p> -<p>“I have a dress in my trunk that I long ago outgrew,” Betsy said, “but I -liked it so much I have kept it. I believe it can be taken in with -safety so that at least it won’t slip off.”</p> -<p>A merry time the roommates had washing and dressing the little maid. -They did not attempt to take the tangles out of the child’s hair. “It -will have to be cut off, but we can’t do that now,” Eleanor said, and, -even as she spoke, a familiar gong sounded through the corridors.</p> -<p>“Good! My, but I’m hungry.” Betsy skipped to the door and flung it wide -open. Outside the other girls waited and then down the front stairs they -ran in a manner that was never seen at Vine Haven when Miss King awaited -them in the lower hall.</p> -<p>Eleanor glanced toward the telephone as they passed, wondering when it -would ring again. They were descending the stairs to the dining room -when she heard its summons. “Eleanor, come quick!” Betsy shouted from -the end of the line. “It’s probably for you!”</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXIX' title='A Happy Reunion'>CHAPTER XXIX<br />A HAPPY REUNION</h2> -</div> -<p>There was no need to call twice for Eleanor bounded back and took down -the receiver. The girls had returned to the main corridor and waited -eagerly. They heard a glad cry which assured them that it was indeed -Mrs. Burgess, but they were surprised at Eleanor’s first remark. -“Mother, are you really home? I mean here at grandfather’s place? Oh, I -can’t wait to get there, and you have a surprise for me? Well, then, I -have a surprise for you! Yes, yes, Mumsie. I’ll come at once. I’ll get -Micky to take me.”</p> -<p>When the girl turned toward them, Virginia thought she had never before -seen a more glowing face. Eleanor tried to speak but choked and holding -out her arms ran to Virginia and clung to her, sobbing. Then she reached -out a hand and drew the wondering Peggy to her.</p> -<p>At that moment the mystified Mrs. Dorsey appeared at the head of the -basement stairs. “Girls, why don’t you come? Your lunch will be that -cold, ’twill be no good at all, and I took such pains making what I knew -you’d be liking.”</p> -<p>“Eleanor dear, come down with us. You and Peggy are just as hungry as we -are, and, after lunch, if Mrs. Dorsey is willing, I will accompany you -in the bus.”</p> -<p>Reluctantly the girl permitted herself to be led to the dining room but -she was so excited, so eager to be gone that she could hardly eat, but -Virginia knew that Peggy could, and she did, though she kept watching -her new cousin with big round eyes. Strange things were surely happening -and there was a vague feeling of lonesomeness in her heart. She had -never before been separated from Winston, her brother.</p> -<p>After the rather hurried meal, Micky, whom Babs had notified, drove up -with the bus and Virginia accompanied Eleanor and Peggy. The other girls -agreed that Virg was the right one to go. “For who can be a greater -comfort if the surprise should be a sad one?” Megsy asked them.</p> -<p>But it was not. It was so wonderful a surprise that it was almost hard -to believe that it had really happened.</p> -<p>When the bus stopped in front of the side door, Eleanor suggested that -Peggy stay in it with Virg, while she went alone to greet her mother. -When she bounded up the steps, the door opened and there stood, not the -frail little woman who had set sail with the doctor’s wife a few months -before, but one who radiated health and an inward joy. Instantly -Virginia, watching, knew that the surprise was not to be a sad one, and -how glad she was. Then the door closed, but almost at once it opened -again and a most excited girl leaped down the steps and raced out to the -bus. “Oh, Virg!” Eleanor cried. “Aunt Dorinda is found. Doctor Warren -found her in a hospital where she had been taken when the boat went to -pieces right in the very harbor and everyone was rescued. Oh, how I wish -Winston were here, but I’ll telephone to Drexel before he can go to -Boston. There isn’t another train out until night.”</p> -<p>Catching Peggy by the hand she ran with her into the house. Then a few -moments later returned, asking Virg if she would come in and meet her -mother and Aunt Dorinda.</p> -<p>“Not today, dear. Shall you return with us now or would you like to stay -over-night with your mother?”</p> -<p>“I’ll stay until Mrs. Martin comes back,” Eleanor said. “Phone me, won’t -you, the minute she returns?”</p> -<p>Virginia agreed that she would, and then she bade Micky drive back to -the school. The girls were waiting eagerly on the wide front porch and -when they heard what the surprise had been, the irrepressible Betsy led -the school cheer. “My, but I’m glad! I shall treasure that red feather -as long as I live!” she ended, by saying.</p> -<p>“Maybe some time in the future it may lead you on another adventure,” -Babs said.</p> -<p>“Who knows?” Betsy beamed. “But next time I hope there will be a mystery -for me to solve.”</p> -<p>“Poor little detective who never succeeds,” Babs teased.</p> -<p>For once Betsy did not retort, but she determined that before many moons -she would unearth a mystery that she could solve, nor was she wrong, -though the nature of it the merry little maid did not even guess.</p> -<hr class='tbk' /> -<p>A week later Vine Haven Seminary had settled back into its usual -routine. Mrs. Martin had returned rested and enthusiastic over the -interesting trip that she had taken. Of course Mrs. Dorsey had thought -right to tell all that had happened, and even offered to resign if Mrs. -Martin felt that she had been at fault, but the principal, who was -always just, assured the anxious matron that she was in no way at fault -nor indeed did she blame the girls.</p> -<p>Eleanor had not appeared until the morning when the first classes were -to report and then she told her friends how overjoyed Winston and his -mother had been to be reunited. “And the best of it is that the two -sisters are going to stay on grandfather’s place and make a real home of -it, and Winston’s dream has come true for he has a farm of his own to do -with whatever he wishes, and, as for Peggy, next year she is to come to -Vine Haven with me.”</p> -<p>The girls were all unusually studious during the remainder of May, for -were not the final exams near at hard, and Virg had added to her other -duties, the pleasure of editing the last Manuscript Magazine for the -year.</p> -<p>And yet there were hours, and many of them (usually at night when the -other girls were asleep), that she lay, watching the stars, and yearning -for the loved ones on the far away desert. “Would she find any changes?” -she wondered.</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXX' title='Betsy’s Secret Goal'>CHAPTER XXX<br />BETSY’S SECRET GOAL</h2> -</div> -<p>“Girls! News! News! Great news!” It was Margaret Selover who skipped -into the corner room occupied by Virg and Eleanor Burgess.</p> -<p>“Mrs. Martin just told me that Eleanor Pettes’ college closes a few days -before Vine Haven and she has written that she will come for our final -exercises. She’s ever so eager to see our last Manuscript Magazine of -the year.”</p> -<p>“Well, it’s to be a spiffy one all right. My name is going to be in it.”</p> -<p>“Oh, Betsy, I don’t believe it! Virg, she’s storying, isn’t she? You -never would print one of her doggerels, would you?”</p> -<p>The editor of the magazine laughed and actually winked at Betsy. With a -chuckle that little maid asked: “Won’t Margaret be the most surprised -person in this school when she does see the reason for my name being in -the bang-up last edition?”</p> -<p>“Maybe Virg is starting a joke column and is permitting Betsy to conduct -it.” This from Babs who had followed Margaret into the room.</p> -<p>“Me? I’m no joker. I’m the most serious-minded pusson at Vine Haven.” -Then tantalizingly, “If you tried till doomsday, you couldn’t guess why -my name is to be featured in the biggest and best Manuscript Magazine of -the year, so you might as well devote your thoughts to something -easier.”</p> -<p>“Very well.” Megsy looked inquiringly at Virginia. “Have you heard from -Winona? Is she coming here to be ready to go West with us?”</p> -<p>The girl addressed shook her head. “No, I’m sorry to say. Winona writes -that the practical nursing courses will not be completed until the last -of June and of course we cannot wait for her three weeks after our -school closes. But Winona is quite capable of crossing the country -alone. Anyone of us is now, I feel sure.”</p> -<p>“Virg,” Babs exclaimed, “what wonders you’ve worked with Sentimental -Sally! She even looks different someway. Yesterday, just to tease, one -of the girls who has a brother over at Drexel told her that Donald -Dearing has returned to that Military Academy and that she had invited -him to come to our closing party. A few months ago Sally would have -acted silly, giggled or simpered or something, but instead she merely -smiled indifferently and went right back on with her reference work. I -was in the library at the same table and that’s how I happened to hear -it.”</p> -<p>“There’s a lot to Sally. Her mother cares only for society and her chief -desire it would seem is to have her daughter learn how to be idle -gracefully. I don’t know what she will think when she finds that Sally -has actually chosen a goal toward which she is working. She plays -beautifully on the harp and since she will not need to earn money, she -is going to plan to devote part of her time to giving harp concerts in -hospitals, old folks’ homes and places where her music will bring the -most happiness.” Virginia was proud of and pleased with her protege, it -was quite evident.</p> -<p>“Betsy, you are our incorrigible member,” Megsy said to tease. “Virginia -has failed to influence you for good. You’re the only one in the study -club who hasn’t been inspired to choose a goal or try for the Honor -Roll.”</p> -<p>“Me? Goodness no. I don’t want to sprout wings yet. But if you’ll -produce a deep-dyed mystery of some kind, I’ll show you what I can do.”</p> -<p>Barbara laughed. “You remind me of the tramp who offered to shovel snow -in the summer to pay for a meal.” Then catching hold of Margaret’s arm, -she added, “Two bells. Time for you and me to go to French. -Fare-thee-well till lunch.”</p> -<p>When Virginia and Betsy were alone, the latter maid grinned her delight, -but suddenly there was an anxious cloud on her piquant face. “Virg,” she -said, “do you think I can make it? This Latin translation is powerfully -hard.” She had taken a book from her blouse where it had been hidden -while her tormentors had been in the room.</p> -<p>“I’m sure of it!” Virginia’s voice expressed her confidence. “I have a -free hour now and we’ll go over it together.”</p> -<p>The weeks that followed were indeed busy ones. Each of the older girls -in Madame La Fleur’s sewing class was to make her own dainty white dress -for the closing party, and, at almost any free hour groups of merry -maids could be seen gathered first in one room and then in another -hemming, basting and ruffling, for those little “French gowns,” as Babs -called them, were to be made every stitch of them by hand.</p> -<p>“This would have been jolly fun,” Betsy declared, “if it wasn’t for the -fact that final exams are hanging so heavily over our heads.”</p> -<p>Virg, of course, solved this problem by suggesting that one girl read -history while the others sewed. This they did and at the end of each -chapter the book was passed to someone else that the former reader might -not lose too much time from the making of her gown.</p> -<p>“I’m glad it’s the history of France,” Sally remarked during a pause in -which the book was being passed from one to another. “That seems sort of -appropriate since we are making French dresses. Madame La Fleur even had -the material sent from her brother’s shop in Paris.”</p> -<p>“It doesn’t look like mere muslin does it?” Babs held up a shimmering -length to let the sun shine through it. “It’s heaps more like gossamer, -but Dicky, do go on with the reading.”</p> -<p>“Very well. This chapter is called ‘Reaction and New Discontent.’ ‘It -was said of the Bourbons that they never forgot anything and never -learned anything.’”</p> -<p>“This is rather paradoxical, isn’t it?” Margaret began, when Betsy -teasingly interrupted. “Whizzle, Megsy! What a word! You certainly have -learned something and didn’t forget it either. Why if I could say such a -long one as that right off easy, I’d think I was ready to graduate.”</p> -<p>“Hush, Bets. Just because you aren’t trying for the Honor Roll is no -reason why the rest of us don’t want to study.” Sally spoke her thoughts -these days as independently as did the others.</p> -<p>Betsy flashed. “Just for that I’m going to finish the paragraph.” Which -she did, rattling off information about Louis eighteenth in a manner to -make several of the girls present open their eyes in amazement, but -before they could declare that they believed Betsy had a book hidden in -her sewing and was reading it, a gong called them to another task.</p> -<p>Later that day when Virginia and Betsy were having one of their secret -sessions at translating Latin, the younger girl chuckled. “That was a -close call. I almost gave away the fact that I have actually been -studying. That never would do, if it’s to be a grand -sweep-’em-off-their-feet surprise.”</p> -<p>Virginia laughed. “Betsy, you are as refreshing as one of our desert -winds, after a sultry day, when it blows down from the snowy-topped -mountains. Often I go up on the mesa, when it begins to blow, and take -gloriously deep breaths. They make one feel like a new being.”</p> -<p>Betsy had closed her book and was sitting with an almost pensive -expression on her usually merry face. “It must be wonderful to have a -real home,” she said. “Dad and I haven’t had one for years, not since -mother left. We live in hotels, you know, wherever Dad is sent. -Sometimes it’s in one big city and sometimes another. At first I thought -it was great, but after the novelty wore off I was desperately lonesome. -Then Dad sent me here to boarding school. Of course I love it, with all -of the girls for make-believe family, but, when vacation time comes and -you are all talking of going home, I do wish that Dad and I had one, -somewhere. This summer, though, will be better than most, for I have a -very nice aunt who has invited me to visit her and her two small boys at -their summer home on the sound.”</p> -<p>Then springing up, the impulsive girl gave her companion an unexpected -hug. “Virg, you’re a dear,” she exclaimed. “I don’t in the least like -the thought that after the closing party I shall never, never see you -again.”</p> -<p>The older girl was touched, for there were actually tears in the eyes -that were usually laughing. “I’ll play prophet,” she said gaily. “I will -prophecy that you will visit us all out on the desert some day. Perhaps -next year or the year after.”</p> -<p>“Virg,” the eyes now were glowing, “if such a thing could happen, I just -know that I would live happily ever after.”</p> -<p>As we know, strange things do happen.</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXXI' title='Betsy Springs a Surprise'>CHAPTER XXXI<br />BETSY SPRINGS A SURPRISE</h2> -</div> -<p>The dresses were all made and ready to be donned. One by one the girls -had descended to the laundry and under the skillful supervision of -Delia, the marvels of ruffly whiteness had been pressed. They were then -laid on the beds in the room of each seamstress and all of the -particular friends were invited in to admire. Notwithstanding the fact -that with very little difference, the dresses closely resembled each -other, individual taste had been displayed in sashes and hair ribbons. -Betsy’s cherry-red sash with long fringed ends was indeed “adorable,” as -the girls all said, and Babs was, of course, to wear blue, the color of -her eyes. Dicky always wore yellow, when a choice of color was -permitted. Virg had never had a sash, and, as she was not going to the -city to make purchases before returning home, she had decided to be -content with a muslin belt.</p> -<p>Betsy, however, had been sent for by her Dad, who was to be in Boston -over the week-end. When she returned she called a meeting of the Study -Club and presented Virginia a long box, and when that puzzled maiden -opened it, there lay the softest, silkiest sash and butterfly bow for -her hair. It was the color of lilacs and a delicate fragrance drifted up -from its folds when the delighted girl lifted the sash and placed it -about her waist.</p> -<p>“You like that color, don’t you, Virg?” Megsy asked. “I was sure that I -had heard you say that you did.”</p> -<p>“Yes, indeed. I think it is the sweetest! I had a little lilac bush out -on the desert. Mother had planted it and after she left I nursed it and -watered it, but once when I was away Uncle Tex forgot, and it dried up -and died. It had very few flowers, but I loved their color and -fragrance.” Then as a card fluttered out, Virginia read: “To our beloved -president from the members of the Saturday Evening Study Club.”</p> -<p>“Girls,” Virg exclaimed, “I don’t know what to say to thank you.”’</p> -<p>“That’s the way we feel about all the things you have done for us.” It -was Sally who spoke.</p> -<p>“Why, I haven’t done anything for any of you,” Virginia declared, -adding, with an almost tremulous smile, “except love you.”</p> -<p>“That’s it,” Margaret slipped an arm about her adopted sister. “You know -‘love sacrificeth itself.’”</p> -<p>“Girls, please don’t put me on a pedestal. You have helped me just as -much as I hope that I have helped you.”</p> -<p>“If only we have all passed our exams fairly creditably,” Dicky Taylor -began when Betsy interrupted, her eyes shining: “Girls, hark! The bus is -coming! Eleanor Pettes will be on it. She mustn’t get as far as the -front door and not have us there to greet her.”</p> -<p>Down the wide stairway the merry maids trooped, chattering gaily, for, -as this was the last day of school, all silence rules had been banished. -The bell was ringing, and Delia had appeared, but Babs beckoned her to -wait and let them open the door.</p> -<p>“Let’s all pounce out on her and shout ‘welcome belovedest,’” Betsy -suggested.</p> -<p>“All right. One—two—three—” The door was flung open, Betsy and Babs were -about to throw their arms about the girl who was expected to be on the -porch, but they stopped, and their outstretched arms dropped to their -sides, for the visitors were lads from Drexel Academy. Benjy Wilson, his -two best friends Jack Dennison and Dick Beardsley, while the fourth was -Donald Dearing. They were in their dress uniforms and looked very fine -indeed. The amazed faces of the girls puzzled the lads until the -impulsive Betsy exclaimed, “Oh, we almost hugged you! We were expecting -Eleanor Pettes. We were sure we heard the school bus.”</p> -<p>“So you did! We came up from the station on it. There was a girl on the -bus, but she saw some of her friends in the orchard and so she joined -them.” Then Benjy hurried on to explain, “Of course we know that it’s -much too early for the party guests to arrive, but if we may, we would -like to speak with Mrs. Martin. Then we are going back to town, and -return at the proper time.”</p> -<p>The principal received the lads in her office and the girls raced out to -the orchard, where they found the former editress of the Manuscript -Magazine, surrounded by seniors. She turned with outstretched hands to -greet the younger girls, and Betsy bubblingly related the narrow escape -the boys had had from being pounced upon.</p> -<p>“I can’t imagine why they came so early. I’m just ever so curious to -know why they wanted to see Mrs. Martin,” Babs said when Sally -whispered, “See, there they go now. How straight and nice they look in -their dress uniforms.”</p> -<p>Virginia noticed with pleasure that Sally had said this in the same way -that any of them would have done. She no longer simpered, and, in fact, -the girls had forgotten that they had ever called her “Sentimental -Sally.”</p> -<p>“We’re ever so excited,” Margaret confided to Eleanor Pettes as they all -turned to go in to the school. “In less than half an hour we are to -gather in the gym for assembly. Miss Torrence wanted to wait until you -arrived, and then the last Manuscript Magazine of the year is to be read -aloud.”</p> -<p>Babs skipped up to say, “Betsy insists that her name is to be in it, but -we are sure that she is joking. Composition isn’t her best subject.”</p> -<p>But a surprise awaited them.</p> -<p>There was a flutter of excitement evident among the 45 girls who were -gathered in assembly just as the clock told the hour of three. Dean -Craig, who had accompanied the boys to Vine Haven, was the only outsider -who had been invited to the reading. He sat with Mrs. Martin and the -other teachers on the raised platform at one end of the long hall.</p> -<p>Miss Torrence rose.</p> -<p>“How young she looks today,” Bess whispered to Megsy. “Sometimes she -seems real old and wise, but in that flowered muslin she looks like a -senior instead of a——”</p> -<p>“Sh! Miss Torrence is speaking.”</p> -<p>“Young ladies,” the English teacher was saying, and she smiled on them -all, “I want to thank you for your splendid co-operation which has made -it possible for us to produce a magazine of unusual excellence. Too, I -am sure that you will wish to express your gratitude to Dean Craig, who -has had his boys print fifty copies that you may each have one to keep -as a memento of this school year which is now closing. In it, on page -fifteen, you will find a list of all your names and home addresses. This -will enable you to correspond with each other, even though you may not -return to this school another year.” Miss Torrence paused to take from a -table, near, a copy of the magazine. Several of the girls took that -opportunity to lean over and whisper, “Betsy, now we know why your name -is in.”</p> -<p>For reply, that maid wrinkled her pert little nose, then turned toward -the front, for Miss Torrence was again speaking.</p> -<p>“We have with us our former editress, Eleanor Pettes, and, at your -request, she will read the opening poem which she wrote in memory of her -school days here.”</p> -<p>The English teacher seated herself and Eleanor went to the platform. Her -rather long poem told of pleasant events and friendships formed in the -three years she had spent at Vine Haven, and the girls were all glad -that they were going to have a copy of the magazine for their very own.</p> -<p>Eleanor Burgess then read her short story, and one after another of the -stories and poems followed, the young authors going to the platform as -their turns came.</p> -<p>At last Mrs. Martin rose and said smilingly, “That is all, young ladies, -you may now go to your rooms, for I am sure that you will want to rest -before dressing for the evening party.”</p> -<p>Babs leaned forward to whisper: “There, Miss Betsy, I told you that your -name wouldn’t be in, that is, not more than any of the others.” But Miss -Torrence was motioning the girls to remain seated.</p> -<p>“Pardon me, Mrs. Martin,” she said, turning toward the principal, “may I -detain the young ladies one more moment? I wish to read one item, which, -though neither a poem nor story, is, I am sure, of unusual interest. -Five names are to be added to the Honor Roll. These are Betsy Clossen, -Sally MacLean, Dicky Taylor, Anne Petersen and Eleanor Burgess.”</p> -<p>Such a hand clapping as followed. Then, at a motion for dismissal, the -girls thronged around Betsy, Sally and Dicky, congratulating and -teasing. Invariably, in response to the astonished inquiries, “How in -the world did you manage to do it?” all three replied. “Don’t ask us! -Ask Virginia!”</p> -<p>“All right. Here is the answer,” that maiden smilingly replied. “You -chose a definite goal and then kept working straight toward it just as -Mrs. Martin has always told us is the only way to attain success.”</p> -<p>“Hurrah for us!” The irrepressible Betsy sprang up on a ladder that led -to a cross-bar. There, holding by one hand, and waving her cherry-red -hair ribbon in the other, she recited gaily:</p> -<p style='text-indent:0; margin:1em auto 1em 2em'> -“Three cheers for Virginia Davis,<br /> -Who has dragged us along to success.<br /> -The very best president there ever was.<br /> -Do we love her? Well, I’ll say YES!”<br /> -</p> -<p>Virginia was pleased when her friends all joined in the cheering, and -how she wished her brother Malcolm and Uncle Tex could hear it.</p> -<p>“But I’ll soon be able to tell them all about it,” Virginia thought, -with a sudden warm glow in her heart. Then, as the merry throng had -started to ascend the basement stairs on the way to their rooms, where -they were expected to rest for an hour before dressing for the party, -she confided to the girl nearest, “Margaret, just think, in one week you -and I will be home on the wonderful desert. Are you glad?”</p> -<p>There was an unmistakable answer in the eyes that were lifted and in the -loving squeeze that the older girl felt on her arm, though no word was -spoken. Even Virginia did not guess how eager Margaret was to see her -guardian, the earnest quiet lad, Malcolm Davis.</p> -<p>At the entrance to Sweet Pickle Alley, Betsy whirled to say: “Sally and -I are going to be the belles of the party tonight, so don’t anybody dare -to speak a loud word for the next hour, being as we are going to take -our beauty nap.”</p> -<p>“You’ll need more than an hour for that——” Bess began teasingly, then -she darted for her room, followed by Margaret.</p> -<p>A very unusual silence did settle down on the upper corridor, but it was -soon broken by the stealthy opening of a door.</p> -<p>It was Margaret who on tip-toe crossed the narrow hall which the girls -called Apple Blossom Lane. Ever so lightly she tapped on the door -opposite. If Virginia were really asleep, she could not have heard, but -she was awake, sitting in the easy chair close to the open window -through which a breeze from the sea was wafting.</p> -<p>“Come in, dear,” her smile was welcoming. “I thought you planned taking -a nap.”</p> -<p>Virginia moved over, for that deep comfortable chair was wide enough for -two slender girls. “I knew that Eleanor had gone home,” Margaret began, -“directly after the reading, and, since you were alone I thought—well, I -guess I felt a little home sick. Babs is a dear, but Virg, you and -Malcolm are all the real home folks that I have. I hope we’ll never be -separated again, not even by a narrow hall.”</p> -<p>Virginia slipped her arm about her brother’s ward and the golden head -and the brown rested close together. For a time they were silent, just -content to be together. After a time Megsy spoke. “We’re not coming back -next year, are we?”</p> -<p>“No, dear. I am not. I feel that the home on the desert needs me. I want -you to come, if you wish, but I shall be glad if you are content at V. -M. with me.”</p> -<p>Impulsively Margaret turned and clung to her friend. “Oh, Virg,” she -half sobbed, “I don’t know why I have doubted. You haven’t given me any -reason to, but I sometimes thought perhaps you would rather have Eleanor -Pettes or someone older and wiser than I am for your very dearest -friend. I’ve tried to be glad but I’ve been so—so foolishly lonesome.”</p> -<p>“Why, little-big sister, I never dreamed that you felt left out. In the -very beginning, I would have chosen you for my roommate, don’t you know -that dear? But who else would have wanted to room with Winona? No one -understands her as I do, and then, there was Babs. She began at once to -prattle about your rooming together as you had done the year before.”</p> -<p>“Oh, I know I have been silly, and I’m awfully sorry, Virg. It wasn’t -that I thought you ought to like me best. I don’t think I’m anywhere -near nice enough for that, and you’re heaps wiser, but just the same I -wanted to be loved best. It’s horribly selfish, isn’t it?”</p> -<p>Virginia held her companion in a closer clasp. She was thinking of the -mother and father love that they both of them had lost.</p> -<p>“No, dear, it is not selfish for us to want our sisters and our brothers -to love us best and we do, deeply, truly, sincerely.” She kissed -Margaret and rose, for there had been a sudden stir in the corridors. -The hour of rest was over and an excited hum of voices told that the -girls were preparing to dress for the party which was one of the great -events of the school year.</p> -<p>A merry pounding on the closed door announced arrivals and before Virg -could open it, a group of laughing girls burst in unceremoniously. They -were dragging Sally whose wealth of long golden hair had been unbraided -and hung to her knees. She was wearing an exquisite pale blue silk -kimona embroidered with delicate pink flowers which her doting mother -had sent her as a gift from Paris. There were slippers to match.</p> -<p>“Virg,” Betsy Clossen cried, “isn’t our Sally a picture? If she could -appear in that tonight, wouldn’t she be the belle of the ball all -right?”</p> -<p>“If I had hair like yours Sal, I’d think life was worth living.” Dicky -Taylor perched on the arm of a chair and looked admiringly at the maid -whose cheeks were flushed and whose eyes sparkled. Breaking away from -her truly admiring tormentors, Sally darted for the door. “I may -surprise you and <i>be</i> the belle of the ball for all your teasing. Just -wait and see.”</p> -<p>“Was that a threat?” Betsy began, then chancing to glance at the clock, -she sprang up from the window seat, grabbed Dicky and Babs and pushed -them toward the door. “Only three-quarters of an hour to dress and if we -intend to outshine Sally, we’ll have to do a powerful lot of prinking.”</p> -<p>Margaret and Virginia left alone, smiled at each other. “What a merry -trio Babs, Betsy and Dicky are,” Virg said as she let down her own sunny -hair and began to brush it.</p> -<p>“Dear,” Margaret said, “you’ve done a good many things this year worth -the doing, but among the most lasting in its influence for good, I do -believe is the change that you have wrought in Sally. She used to be so -self-conscious and simpering; probably because her mother was always -asking people if they didn’t think she was a beautiful child, but now, -when we really were admiring that wonderful hair of hers, she would have -like to pummel us.”</p> -<p>“She’s a dear girl,” Virginia agreed, “and I only hope her unwise mother -will not be able to undo the good we have done. But do hurry, Megsy, if -you are to compete for the honor of being belle of the ball.”</p> -<p>“I plead not guilty. I’m going to vote for you, of course.” Then she -skipped to her room across the hall, but scarcely had she gone, when -Dicky Taylor appeared, dressed in the ruffly white gown but carrying a -long pale green hair ribbon, “Oh, I say, Virg,” she pleaded, “won’t you -have pity on a ‘pusson’ whose fingers are all thumbs? I’ve tried twenty -times to tie a beautiful butterfly bow for my crowning ornament but I -simply can’t do it.”</p> -<p>“Of course I will.” Virginia’s skillful fingers soon fashioned a -graceful bow which she pinned atop of the short dark locks. With profuse -thanks, Dicky darted away but almost at once Babs and Betsy appeared. -“Oh, I say, Virg, that’s being partial. Betsy’ll get all the votes just -because of that adorable bow. Show us how to make ours.”</p> -<p>“Better still, I’ll make them!” When the grateful girls were gone, Megsy -appeared. “Why, Virg, it’s ten minutes to dinner time and you aren’t -dressed. I was going to ask you to tie my sash, but instead I’m going to -help you.”</p> -<p>Virginia’s toilet was completed just as the supper bell rang. “There’s -to be a new way to choose the belle tonight. I wonder what it is to be,” -Betsy whispered as the excited girls trooped down to the dining room.</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXXII' title='The Belle of the Party'>CHAPTER XXXII<br />THE BELLE OF THE PARTY</h2> -</div> -<p>After dinner the girls flocked to their rooms for a last peep into -mirrors and a last adjusting of ribbon or ruffle.</p> -<p>The members of The Adventure Club were all in Dicky Taylor’s room, when -Cora and Dora Crowell darted up from the lower corridor and bouncing -into “The Sign of the Tea Kettle,” they closed the door and looked -around beamingly.</p> -<p>“We’ve found out about it,” Cora began.</p> -<p>“And we thought we’d be the first to spring it. We know you are just -dying of curiosity,” Dora seconded.</p> -<p>“They’ve all come and my, don’t they look handsome, though? Dean Craig -just ushered them into the library.”</p> -<p>“But what we don’t know is what’s in the boxes that they gave to Delia. -She took them right into Mrs. Martin’s office.”</p> -<p>“Girls, you make me dizzy. Begin at the beginning. What have you found -out?” Dicky inquired.</p> -<p>“The way the belle of the party is to be chosen. Instead of voting for -the most popular girl as we did last year, we are to vote for a boy to -lead the grand march and he is to choose the belle.” Dora was much -excited. She was far more interested in having been the first to hear -the new plan than she was in the plan itself.</p> -<p>“That’s a spiffy idea!” It was of course Betsy who had spoken.</p> -<p>“Babs and I’ll vote for Benjy Wilson. I say, girls, I wish you’d all -vote for Benjy, then the belle is sure to be chosen from our crowd.”</p> -<p>“Out with her,” Dicky cried teasingly. “Betsy’s trying to influence the -vote.”</p> -<p>“I’m crazy to know what is in the boxes,” Dora chattered on. “One was -large and round and there were six smaller ones.”</p> -<p>“I’ll bet its candy. I hope I’ll draw the big one.”</p> -<p>“Bets, there’s nothing piggy about you, is there?”</p> -<p>“Hark, footsteps approach.” Dora peeped out of the partly open door. -“It’s Miss King! Sh! Don’t let on I told.”</p> -<p>The instructress of manners and gymnastics appeared, and for once she -was actually smiling. After all, even teachers, at times, were human.</p> -<p>“Young ladies, IF you please, form a line in the upper corridor as -quickly and quietly as you can that you may not be heard by the guests -who have assembled in the library.”</p> -<p>The excited girls took their places so softly that not a rustle could -have been heard. Their cheeks were flushed, their eyes sparkled and -there was not a heart under the pretty white ruffles that was beating -normally.</p> -<p>Mrs. Martin in a gray silk gown stood in the lower corridor and the -girls courtesied as they passed her. She smiled and nodded in return and -in her heart was a warm glow of pride. Mrs. Martin loved her girls, even -the most mischievous of them.</p> -<p>The lads in their dress uniforms were standing about the big library -which had been cleared of furniture and which had crash on the floor. -Miss Torrence and Dean Craig received and introduced, but at first there -was a stiffness and shyness evident that these two were at a loss how to -overcome. “Suppose we ask our Glee Club to sing,” Dean Craig suggested. -This was done. Donald Dearing, with a truly beautiful tenor voice, sang -the solo parts and a group of lads joined in the chorus.</p> -<p>Then Sally MacLean was asked to play on her harp. She had consented to -take part in the program if her harp might be concealed by palms, but -there were a few in the big room who stood in such a position that the -palms could not hide from them the truly beautiful girl who sat at the -golden harp. These were the lads who had just been singing. Donald -Dearing, with his arms crossed, watched the all-unconscious girl as she -played, and never before had Sally played with such sympathetic feeling. -Something in the tenor voice had stirred a responsive chord in her music -loving soul and had inspired her.</p> -<p>When the first waltz was played by two of the boys from Drexel on the -piano and violin, Sally tried to slip away unobserved, but found Donald -waiting for her near the palms. “May I have this dance with you, Miss -MacLean?” he asked. Then, as they joined the others, he said softly, “My -sister, who left us, was learning to play the harp. You like music, -don’t you?”</p> -<p>“Yes,” the girl replied. “I love it. Next year mother is to take me to -Paris that I may study there?”</p> -<p>“Good,” the lad replied, brightly. “Then, perhaps, if I may I shall be -able to call on your mother and you, for my Dad is still stationed over -there and I am to spend my vacations with him. He wants me to get my -training at Drexel, because he did.”</p> -<p>Virginia glanced across the room when the dance was over and the young -people were seated. In her heart there was a glow of pride for she could -not but know her friendship had helped Sally to become the sweetly, -sensible girl that she now was, treating her boy comrade in as frank and -friendly a manner as she would a girl companion.</p> -<p>Somehow it seemed fitting that Donald Dearing should have the most votes -and everyone knew that Sally would be chosen by him as “belle.”</p> -<p>Standing at his side, that flushed and happy girl was asked to choose -three lassies to follow her in the march while Donald chose their -partners.</p> -<p>Then Dora’s curiosity was satisfied concerning the content of the boxes.</p> -<p>A large bouquet of orchids and violets was given to Sally and smaller -ones to the lucky girls who were chosen as her attendants.</p> -<p>How great was the change in Sally was made evident that night when the -guests were gone. “Shall you press the orchids and keep them to remember -Donald Dearing?” Betsy inquired as they were preparing for bed.</p> -<p>“No, indeed. I am going to give them to poor Miss Buell in the morning. -She’s been sick for two days and she hasn’t anything in her room to make -it cheerful,” was Sally’s unexpected reply.</p> -<p>Somehow Betsy couldn’t tease, but she confided to Dicky Taylor that she -felt in her bones that some day Sally would become Mrs. Donald Dearing.</p> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXXIII' title='Farewell To Vine Haven'>CHAPTER XXXIII<br />FAREWELL TO VINE HAVEN</h2> -</div> -<p>The school year was over. Trunks strapped and ready to be taken away -were piled high in the lower corridor. Girls arrayed in traveling suits, -many of them with hats already on, were hurrying about visiting each -other’s rooms to say farewell.</p> -<p>“Oh, how I do envy you all,” Betsy Clossen declared as she stood by the -window watching Babs and Megsy in their last preparations for departure.</p> -<p>“You four girls all going West together with that nice Benjy Wilson as -escort. I’d give anything if I could go, too, but Fate is certainly -against me.”</p> -<p>The usually cheerful Betsy Clossen looked so dismally doleful that -Margaret sprang up from the floor where she had been strapping a -suitcase and caught the hands of her friend as she exclaimed: “Why, -Betsy, you look as though you were about to cry. What has happened? I -thought you had such happy plans for the summer? Aren’t you going to -that nice aunt’s summer home for three months?”</p> -<p>The other girl shook her head. “I did expect to go and I was so happy -about it,” she replied, “but today Mrs. Martin had a long distance -telephone message from my uncle. The boys have scarlet fever and the -house will be quarantined for at least a month, maybe even longer.”</p> -<p>Virginia, who had appeared in the doorway, had heard and she said: “Why, -Betsy, that will leave you all alone in this big rambling old house, -won’t it, for even Mrs. Martin is going and only a caretaker is to -remain.”</p> -<p>The girl nodded and tears rolled down her cheeks, “Dad would have taken -me with him had he known, but he sailed for London last week on -business.” Then with April-like suddenness, she smiled through her tears -and exclaimed with an effort at cheerfulness, “But there, I don’t want -to sadden you all on this day which has been such a happy one. I suppose -it won’t be so very terrible when I get used to it. I can read all the -books in the library and—and—” the poor girl’s lips quivered, and -throwing her arms about Virginia, she sobbed, “but worst of all will be -nights without one of you here. I’ve tried all day to be brave, the way -you would have been, Virginia, but I guess we’re made of different -material.”</p> -<p>Virg had been thinking rapidly. “Wait here a moment,” she said. “I’ll be -back in a jiff.” Then away Virginia went, leaving her companions to -wonder where she was going and why. A moment later she tapped on the -office door of the principal. That good woman bade her enter and -Virginia said, “Mrs. Martin, would it be possible for Betsy Clossen to -visit me on the V. M. Ranch during the month that her aunt’s home is -quarantined?”</p> -<p>The older woman looked up brightly and picking up a yellow envelope, she -exclaimed, “Betsy’s aunt just wired me two hundred dollars and asked me -to send the little girl to some summer camp where I knew she would be -well cared for and happy, but nowhere in the world would Betsy be -happier, dear Virginia, than with you.” Then the principal glanced at -her watch. “Do you think that you girls could help her pack and be ready -for the second bus which leaves in one hour?”</p> -<p>“Indeed we can, Mrs. Martin, and thank you ever and ever so much. We all -love Betsy and will be ever so glad to have her with us.”</p> -<p>When she was alone, Mrs. Martin thought. “Dear girl, it is her joy to -give pleasure to others and it isn’t a pose either. It is just -Virginia.”</p> -<p>The girls were watching the open door when they heard the feet of their -returning friend dancing along the corridor.</p> -<p>“Virginia has some good news,” Margaret said brightly. “I can tell by -the way she is skipping.”</p> -<p>It was indeed marvellously good news to Betsy Clossen and to the other -girls who were going West. They wanted to dance in a ring around, but -Virg laughingly remonstrated. “Take off your hats, Megsy and Babs, and -forward march to Betsy’s room. We have fifty minutes by the clock to -pack her trunk,” she commanded.</p> -<p>“You’d better wash your face. It’s all tear stains.” Babs looked -critically at the now fairly beaming Betsy.</p> -<p>“I’ll say I’ll wash,” was the characteristic reply. “Oh, girls, aren’t -we going to have scads of fun? Of all my maddest, gladdest, -never-expected-to-come-true dreams, this is the superlativest.” Betsy -was getting into her traveling suit with little heed to which button -went where. However, so rapidly and skillfully did loving hands help -that by quarter to ten they were all in the lower corridor waiting for -the second bus.</p> -<p>“Megs, I wish you’d give me the once over,” Betsy begged. “I feel sure -some of the hooks got into the wrong eyes, and my hair actually feels -tousled.”</p> -<p>Margaret laughed. “Betsy won’t care how her hair looks when she rides -bareback out on the desert,” she said to Babs.</p> -<p>“Me? Ride bareback? Why, I’ve never even been on horseback.”</p> -<p>“Then you have a new experience ahead of you. I’ll prophecy that before -a week is out you’ll be riding the wildest broncho Malcolm has on V. -M.,” Margaret told her.</p> -<p>Just then the principal appeared and Virginia, stepping from the group, -said: “Mrs. Martin, the girls have asked me to tell you that we are most -grateful for all that you have done for us during the past year. Babs is -coming back, but Margaret and I are planning to remain with my brother.” -Then impulsively the girl added. “Mrs. Martin, won’t you come West some -day and visit us?”</p> -<p>In thinking of it afterwards Virginia could only recall that the -principal had kissed her with unusual tenderness, then the bus had -arrived, the trunk was carried out and the girls were urged by Micky to -hurry.</p> -<p>As the two big white horses turned out between the high stone gates, -Virginia looked back at the imposing building. Her mother’s wish had -been fulfilled. The daughter she so loved had been East to school, and -how Virginia hoped that she was now better fitted to fill that loved -mother’s place in the home that had been so lonely on V. M. Ranch.</p> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;'> -<div style='margin-top:1.4em;'>THE END</div> -</div> - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Virginia's Adventure Club, by Grace May North - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VIRGINIA'S ADVENTURE CLUB *** - -***** This file should be named 61987-h.htm or 61987-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/1/9/8/61987/ - -Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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