diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/63455-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/63455-0.txt | 7877 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 7877 deletions
diff --git a/old/63455-0.txt b/old/63455-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 0add61d..0000000 --- a/old/63455-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7877 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Vanishing Comrade, by Ethel Cook Eliot - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Vanishing Comrade - A Mystery Story for Girls - -Author: Ethel Cook Eliot - -Release Date: October 14, 2020 [EBook #63455] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VANISHING COMRADE *** - - - - -Produced by Stephen Hutcheson and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - [Illustration: _Was it Kate Marshall? She scarcely knew._] - - YOUNG MODERNS BOOKSHELF - - - - - THE - VANISHING COMRADE - _A Mystery Story for Girls_ - - - BY - ETHEL COOK ELIOT - - [Illustration: Young Moderns Book Shelf] - - An unusual mystery about a strange orchard house with a brave girl who - finally straightens things out - - - The Sun Dial Press, Inc. - NEW YORK - - 1937 - THE SUN DIAL PRESS, INC. - CL - - COPYRIGHT, 1924, BY - DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - - PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES - AT - THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N.Y. - - - AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED - TO - MY SISTER HELEN - - - - - CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - I. Great Aunt Katherine Commands 1 - II. The Boy in the Flowery, Dragony Picture Frame 19 - III. The Comrade Does Not Appear 30 - IV. Little Orchard House, Beware! 44 - V. Kate Makes Up a Face 59 - VI. “I Will Pay for It” 69 - VII. “Even So——” 86 - VIII. Kate Meets a Detective 92 - IX. Something of Fairy in It 106 - X. In the Mirror 116 - XI. Kate Takes the Helm 135 - XII. The Special Delivery 149 - XIII. “You Thief!” 160 - XIV. The Stranger in the Garden 174 - XV. Kate on Guard 194 - XVI. One End of the String 204 - XVII. Into the Orchard House 219 - XVIII. The Last Room 236 - XIX. Elsie Confides 249 - XX. A Farewell in the Dark 261 - XXI. Like the Stars 269 - - - - - THE - VANISHING COMRADE - - - [Illustration: “_Orchard house, beware! Aunt Katherine’s nieces are - here._”] - - - - - The Vanishing Comrade - - - - - CHAPTER I - GREAT AUNT KATHERINE COMMANDS - - -Two boys and a girl climbed down out of the bus from Middletown when it -made its final stop in front of the summer hotel at the head of Broad -Street. The boys, between them, were carrying the girl’s books and a -goodly number of their own, for they were returning from the last -session of the school year. To-morrow summer holidays would begin. They -nodded a friendly good-bye to the driver and started off up the steep -little elm-roofed street that sloped directly up to Ashland College, an -institution for girls, perched on the highest plateau of this hill town. -The boys’ father was a professor in that college and the girl’s mother -an instructor. But in spite of their privilege of living in the lap of -learning these young people had to take a daily nine-mile bus ride down -into the bigger village of Middletown if they themselves were to get -college preparation. - -The boys were twins. They were tall and spare, even for boys of sixteen, -and seemed all angles. They had thick thatches of auburn hair, whimsical -faces, and generous, clear-cut mouths. The girl was sturdy, slightly -square in build, with brown, straight bobbed hair. The bobbed hair was -parted at the side and brushed away in a wing from her forehead, and -this gave her a boyish, ready look. Her eyes were hazel and very clear -and confident in their level glance, but when she smiled, as she did -often, they crinkled up into mere slits of eyes, because they were -slightly narrow to begin with, and then she seemed oddly Puckish. Her -mouth was wide and her lips rather full, but for all of that, because of -its uptilted corners, it was really a very nice mouth. She trudged along -now between her two friends, the corners of her mouth more uptilted than -usual. - -“Oh, I’m so glad it’s vacation! At last!” she was saying. “Mother and I -are going to have just the nicest summer. We’re going to take long walks -we never took, make a new vegetable garden, and eat almost every one of -our meals out-of-doors when it isn’t raining. We may even if it does -rain! When will your tennis court be done?” - -“We’re going to get right at it to-morrow morning,” Sam Hart, the twin -on her left, answered. “It ought to be finished by the middle of July or -sooner if they’ll let us borrow the roller from the Hotel. Then if your -mother is as patient as usual with us, we may be champions ourselves -before the summer’s over.” - -“She’s crazy to play,” Kate assured them. “But she says we must remember -she hasn’t touched a racket in years and that you have to keep in -practice to be any good at tennis. It was seventeen years ago she won -that cup at the Oakdale Country Club.” - -“She must have begun playing when she was in creepers,” Sam exclaimed. -“I thought it was a regular cup, a real and regular tournament affair.” - -“It was, of course. And she was nineteen, foolish.” - -“She’s thirty-six now then.” Lee did the arithmetic. “It’s funny that, -being so old as all that, she has always seemed just one of us. Where -did you ever get such a mother, Kate?” - -“Oh, I took my time about choosing,” Kate answered, apparently -seriously. “I didn’t snatch at the first thing offered. I said ‘better -not have any mother at all than one who isn’t magnificent.’ So I kept my -head and refused to consider anything commonplace. You know the result, -gentlemen.” - -The boys did not bother to respond even with a laugh. They were used to -Kate’s nonsense. - -But now in their climb up the steep elm-shaded street they had reached -the college campus on the “Heights” and Professor Hart’s house set into -its corner. - -“I’ll take my books,” Kate said. “Thanks for carrying ’em. If I do a lot -of weeding in the court, perhaps it’ll pay you a little for having been -such good pack-horses for me all this year.” - -But Sam shook his head at the outstretched hands. “I’m coming on with -you,” he declared. “How about you, Lee?” - -“Me, too,” Lee responded. “Wait a second till I pitch these things on to -the piazza.” - -But Kate protested. “No, don’t. It’s almost supper time. The bus was -late. We’ll be busy, Mother and I. Come after supper, instead, and help -us decide where the new garden is to be. Perhaps mother will play Mah -Jong with us.” - -There was nothing to do but agree when Kate took a dictatorial tone. The -boys meekly gave a pile of books into her arms and turned in at their -own walk. - -Kate’s mouth kept its uptilted corners as she went on alone, humming to -herself and thinking pleasant thoughts. She skirted the forsaken campus -a little way and then took a short-cut across its lawns. She knew that -the last student had left to-day, and there would be no “grass police” -to shoo her back to the paths. - -“It’s great having all the girls gone,” she mused. “Now I shall have a -little of Mother to myself again.” - -Kate was justified in her pleasure in the girls’ departure, for those -older girls did take an unconscionable amount of Katherine Marshall’s -time and thought. Of course, Katherine had to teach them, Kate -realized—that was how she earned their living. But she did not -understand why, outside of classroom hours, they need be always -underfoot. Kate was proud of her mother’s popularity, but often -exasperated by it, too; for those older girls never by any chance paid -any attention to Kate herself. They were polite, of course, but most -perfunctorily; it was her mother they came to see and on her least word -and motion they hung almost with bated breath. The truth was that these -indifferent, superior girls, always present and never of any use to her, -turned the college year for Katherine into a loneliness that even her -mother scarcely realized. - -There were the Hart boys, of course, always. But boys cannot take the -place of a girl comrade. Kate’s mother was all the girl comrade she had. -That was why she had not let the boys come with her now. For once, she -would be sure to find her mother alone, and the hour would take on, for -Kate, something of the nature of a reunion. - -The house she now approached, across the street from the campus to which -it turned its low and vine-hung back, had formerly been a barn. The -college had made it over for Kate’s mother into a charming cottage which -despite its turned back was still part of the college property. Kate -found her mother sitting on the little garden bench at the side of the -big double doors that had once been the carriage entrance and now stood -open all spring and summer facing the hazy valley. Her cheek was resting -on her hand and the expression in her eyes was a very far-away one, a -farther away than the valley one. But she became very present when she -heard Kate’s step. - -“Oh, Kate, I thought you would never come!” she exclaimed. “Read this -letter.” She picked it up from the bench beside her and handed it to -Kate. “It’s from your Great Aunt Katherine!” - -“What! Again?” - -Why Kate exclaimed “Again” would be hard to say, for within her memory -Great Aunt Katherine had only written her mother once before, and that -was all of two years ago! That letter had been to tell of the sudden -death of a semi-relative, a woman of whom, until that time, Kate had -never heard. Would this have news of another death? It must be something -of importance that had wrung a second letter from Great Aunt Katherine. - -Flinging her books on the grass, and following them herself to sit at -her mother’s feet, Kate opened the smooth, thick, creamy sheet and read: - - My dear Katherine: - - I am asking you to send your daughter Katherine to spend the month of - July with me here in my Oakdale house. Unexpected business in Boston - is keeping me from my usual trip abroad this summer. I do not know - whether I told you when acquainting you with Gloria’s tragic death - that her daughter was left without home or protection of any sort and - that I proposed to take her in. But such was the case. Naturally, ever - since, the child has been peculiarly lonely here in Oakdale. And now - that she no longer has her day school in Boston to occupy her, the - situation is a really trying one. It has occurred to me that Elsie and - your Katherine are very nearly of an age, both fifteen, and that they - might find themselves companionable. So I am asking you to forget old - grievances, as I shall, and send your daughter to me for a month’s - visit. I shall plan parties and theatres and good times for them, and - promise you that it will be every bit as gay as it was when you were a - young girl here, and not too independent then to let your aunt give - herself pleasure by planning for yours. I have looked up trains and - find that by leaving Middletown at one o’clock, Katherine, with only - one change, will arrive in the South Station in Boston at six-fifteen. - I shall expect her on that train Saturday of this week, and Bertha, - Elsie’s maid, will meet her and bring her out here in time for dinner. - If for any reason that is not a convenient train for Katherine to - take, will you please wire me what time she _will_ arrive? - Sincerely, - Aunt Katherine. - -Kate looked up at her mother, dazed. “Just like that!” she exclaimed. -“Does Great Aunt Katherine expect us to obey her just like that?” - -Katherine was grave. “Yes, she has always done things like this. That’s -been the trouble. And when things don’t go exactly as she has commanded -that they should, she is at first unbelieving and then furious.” - -“Hm. And who is Elsie?” - -“Elsie is Nick’s little girl, and a sort of foster-niece to Aunt -Katherine now, I suppose.” - -“It was Nick’s wife who was killed in the automobile accident in France, -wasn’t it? But why haven’t you told me about her, about this Elsie? I’ve -always wanted a cousin so, Mother!” - -“Well, she isn’t exactly a cousin, you know. But even so, if Nick and I -hadn’t quarrelled, if we had stayed as we were, in the course of things -you would have known each other and perhaps have been very dear friends. -It would have been natural.” - -“Oh, Mother—quarrels! When you are so lovely, how have people quarrelled -with you so? It’s a—_paradox_. Now don’t say I’ve used the wrong -word!—But here’s more, more to the letter!” - -Kate had turned the letter over and discovered a postscript on the back. -Katherine, who had missed it, bent down, and they read it cheek to -cheek. - - P.S. I will add, for this will perhaps make your acceptance the - quicker to come to, that Nicholas’s name is never mentioned here, - either by me or the servants, or even Elsie herself. So that end of - things need cause you no anxiety. Elsie is a charming, well-mannered - child. - -That paragraph had not been intended for Kate’s eyes. Katherine -understood that at once, but it was all that she did understand about -it. She frowned, puzzled. - -“Notice how she says ‘Make your acceptance quicker to come to’,” Kate -pointed out sharply. “She takes it for granted you’ll come to it, -apparently. If there is any question, it’s only one of time. But why -isn’t Nick’s name mentioned?” - -Katherine shrugged. “I am afraid she must have quarrelled with him, too, -just as she did with your father and me. But if that’s so it must be -terrible for both of them, since he owes her so much and she counted on -him so to make up for Father and me and later you, Kate, and everything! -How could he quarrel with her? Why, he should have put up with -anything!” - -Katherine’s cheek was again on her hand. Her face was all puzzle. “And -why should Elsie be lonely in Oakdale?” she went on aloud, but almost to -herself now. “Oakdale is quite a gay little place, and I know very well -there are plenty of young people there. Some of them are children of -friends of mine, friends I haven’t seen since I was married. Why, there -are even the Denton children, just next door to Aunt Katherine’s! It’s -all very mysterious, Elsie’s being lonely.” - -But mystery where Great Aunt Katherine was concerned was no new thing to -Kate. Whenever she thought about Aunt Katherine at all it was always to -wonder. Why should her mother be estranged so entirely from her only -living relative, this aunt for whom she had been named, and who had been -a second mother to her after her own mother had died, when she was a -very little girl? Kate could never understand that situation. Katherine -was so peculiarly gentle and forgiving and lovable! How could any one -stay angry with her? - -Last year, when Kate was fourteen, Katherine had tried to explain things -to her a little. She had said then that Great Aunt Katherine’s money was -the cause of the feud. Only it was not the usual trouble that money -makes in families. It was not that Aunt Katherine was selfish or proud. -It was—oh, absurdity—that she was over-generous! She expected to force -her generosity on her family whether they wanted it or not. It had begun -with Kate’s Grandfather Frazier. He and Great Aunt Katherine were -half-brother and sister. When Katherine was about Kate’s age now, -Grandfather Frazier had failed in business and the very same month Great -Aunt Katherine had inherited a fortune from an uncle on her mother’s -side. Until that turn of fortune’s wheel Aunt Katherine had been a -school teacher living with her half-brother and giving her spare time to -mothering her namesake niece. When she woke up one morning to find -herself a wealthy—a very wealthy—woman, she immediately decreed that her -brother should share the good fortune with her just as she had for so -long shared his home with him and his child. But Grandfather Frazier’s -pride forbade him to acquiesce in that. The uncle was not his uncle, and -it was not only his pride but his sense of propriety that influenced him -in his firm decision not to accept one cent from Aunt Katherine. All -that he would allow her to do to help his financial situation was to buy -the house from him in which they were living so that with the money he -might pay his debts. Thereafter he insisted that she was his landlady -and he made a fetish until the month of his death of being on time with -the absurdly small rent. - -Aunt Katherine had built herself a large and mansionlike house on part -of the land that went with her brother’s little house. And since he -distinctly limited her in the things she might do for his daughter, she -adopted, suddenly and to every one’s amazement, a poor young boy, with -no background whatever, who had been brought up in a “Home,” and who at -the time of her discovering him was working in a factory. She prepared -him herself for college, sent him to Harvard, and thrust him, almost -head first, into the “younger set” in Oakdale. He had married Gloria, a -beautiful young Bostonian but with no especial “connections.” That was -all that Kate knew of him, except for this late knowledge that he had a -daughter. - -Kate could understand her grandfather’s pride, dimly. But her mother’s -case was not so clear to her, not quite. Her mother had married a rising -young diplomat, a man of supposedly some wealth and assuredly fine -ancestry. But on his death, not long after Kate’s birth, it was -discovered that there was not a cent to which the young widowed mother -could lay claim. Katherine had never explained to Kate how this had -happened. She hardly knew herself perhaps, because the processes of Wall -Street were a maze to her. Almost gleefully, Aunt Katherine had seized -upon this opportunity to offer her niece a home with her and a -substantial allowance so that she might feel independent in that home. -Katherine had refused point blank. And Aunt Katherine, now very -sensitive on the subject of rejected generosities, had made a clean -break with her namesake, washed her hands, and dropped her out of her -life, much as one might drop a thistle that had pricked too -unreasonably. - -Katherine, determined to earn her own and her little daughter’s way, had -obtained an instructorship here at Ashland College, worked hard and -happily ever since, and gloried in her independence. - -The whole reason for this choice of poverty and hard work Katherine had -not told Kate. But she had hinted that there was a very deep reason and -one that justified her. Sometime, perhaps, she would disclose it. -Meanwhile, Kate gave all this little thought, and was only brooding over -it now because of the letter in her hand. - -After a minute she said firmly, “If Great Aunt Katherine thinks I’m -going to leave you here alone on this deserted hill-top for a whole -month of our precious vacation, she has a surprise in store. Shall we -write or wire our regrets, Mother?” - -“We’d better write,” Katherine answered, getting up suddenly and -beginning in an unusually energetic way to pull up weeds from the -lily-of-the-valley bed under the window. “I shall write that Saturday is -too soon, for there must be some preparation on our part for such a -visit. By next Tuesday, though, I should think you could be ready.” - -Kate turned her head to follow her mother with amazed eyes. “You don’t -mean I’m to go, Mother?” - -“Yes, I want you to go. I want you very much to go. Aunt Katherine -apparently needs you. I think, though, she must be drawing on her -imagination a bit as to the loneliness of Oakdale for Elsie, especially -since she herself says there will be parties and good times for you. You -can’t have parties without young people! Even so, her saying she needs -you makes our acceptance not only dignified but imperative.” - -“But to leave you here alone! How could I ever do that? What are you -thinking of?” - -Katherine laughed at her daughter then. She was extraordinarily pretty -when she laughed, startlingly pretty. But when she sobered, as she was -bound to do too quickly, she was quite different, still lovely but not -startling. Her face, sober, was intensely earnest. She had a rather -square and strong chin but with wide, melting gray eyes to offset it. -Her dark curly hair, which when undone came just to her shoulders, could -be held in place at her neck with only a shell pin or two, it was so -amenable in its curly crispness. Her cheeks and little slim hands were -tanned, but with healthy colour showing through, making her, Kate often -said, exactly the colour of a golden peach. She was slim and very -graceful and not tall. - -But in spite of all Katherine’s loveliness and feminine charm, the -impression one gained from her was one of over-earnestness, a fire of -intense purpose steadily, even fiercely burning under the outwardly gay -and light manner. - -Now she was laughing. “Why shouldn’t you leave me alone?” she asked. -“And I won’t be so alone, either. The Harts are staying. The boys will -be my protectors and my playfellows both. I’ve been a fortunate woman -all these years to have two such boys as well as my girl! And three -mornings a week, you know, I shall be busy helping Mr. Hart with his -cataloguing.... Now we shall have to collect all our wits and think -about suitable clothes for you.” - -Kate’s heart began to beat. When she had read the letter she had not let -herself even contemplate what going would mean, not for an instant; for -she had not dreamed her mother would so fall in with Aunt Katherine’s -plan. But since she had fallen in with it, since she wanted her to -go—well, it was very exciting! For the first time she might have for a -comrade a girl, a girl of her own age, a chum! For if Elsie, that -stranger unheard of until a few minutes ago, was lonely, What was she, -Kate Marshall? Oh, she would surely be gladder of Elsie than Elsie could -possibly be of her! - -She went to the border of the lily-of-the-valley bed and began weeding -beside her mother. - -“I don’t see what we’ll do about clothes,” she said a little -tremulously, not yet really believing in this new vista that seemed -opening before her, like the valley there, at her very feet. “If I do -go, I suppose Aunt Katherine will expect me to dress for breakfast and -dinner and supper and in between times in that splendid house of hers.” - -“No, not quite so bad as that; but she certainly will want you to -have—let’s see—two ordinary gingham dresses, a little dinner frock, a -party frock, a white dress for church, a sport coat and hat, a garden -hat, a street hat, a street suit, a——” - -But Kate interrupted this list with a quick laugh. “She’ll want in vain, -then. Let’s get down to business and just discuss the must-be’s, if I -_am_ to be a pig and go and leave you here alone for July with a -vacation on your hands.” - -Katherine straightened up, brushing the soil from her fingers. Her quick -ear had caught a joyous lilt in the voice and laugh that to an ordinary -ear would have sounded merely dry. Her own heart leapt in sympathy with -Kate’s. - -“Fortunately there’s my pink organdie. That must do for dinners,” the -mother began, counting on her earth-stained fingers. - -“Pardon, Mother darling, _my_ pink organdie. It’s been mine for over a -year. Why will you go on calling things yours for years and years and -years after they have descended? There’s _my_ pink organdie then. It’ll -have to do for church and for parties and for summer best just as it -would if I were here. Two gingham dresses almost new. The blue -flannel—but that will be too warm and scratchy for July, I’m afraid. Oh, -Mother, that’s just all. I simply can’t go to Great Aunt Katherine’s, -and I’ll never know Elsie!” - -“Of course you can. Haven’t we always found a way to do the things we -really wanted? Wait a minute. There’s my new white linen. I shall fix -that for you. But your gingham dresses will never do, not for Oakdale. -Never!” - -“You’re not to give your white linen to me. It’s the prettiest thing -you’ve got.” - -“Hush! It will make a charming street suit. It will need a black silk -tie and a patent-leather belt. I can _see_ you in it.” - -“You can, but you won’t!” But when Kate saw her mother’s dazed, puzzled -little frown that invariably met her rare impertinences, she relented. -“Oh, Mother,” she cried, “if I’m to have your very best things added to -mine, of course I shall be perfectly fixed. It will be a regular -trousseau.” - -“I don’t need anything but these old smocks, staying here,” Katherine -insisted. “And that’s exactly what I shall do, give you everything of -mine that can possibly be of any use. For once in your life you are -going to have just an ordinary young girl good time. And if you and -Elsie do hit it off, perhaps Aunt Katherine will consent to her coming -back with you for the rest of the vacation. Come, let’s spread all our -possibilities out on the beds and see what there is!” - -“Yes, after we’ve pared the potatoes for supper,” Kate agreed, trying -desperately to hold on to her last shreds of casualness and poise. “We -had better have supper to-night, I suppose, whether I go to Great Aunt -Katherine’s or not. It must be six o’clock now.” - -Katherine threw an arm across Kate’s shoulder as they went through the -big door. “How fortunate it is,” she said, not for the first time, “that -I have such a steady, common-sensible little girl!” - -But Kate would not abide her own hypocrisy. - -“Oh, Mother, don’t make me feel cheap!” she exclaimed. “You know -perfectly well that I’m just bursting with excitement, only I’m ashamed -to show it, for it’s you who are going to be left at home doing just the -same old things and seeing just the same old people and everything.” - -“But I’m happy doing just that,” Katherine hurried to assure her. “Why, -you yourself, Kate, have been looking forward to your vacation here and -planning it with such pleasure!” - -“Ye—es. But that was before this came. Now I don’t see how I could bear -the thought of just staying here! Now that I’m going to have pretty -clothes and go to parties and meet some boys and girls, and have a girl -chum of my own—why, what I was so looking forward to doesn’t seem -anything at all. I’ve suddenly waked up, and there’s a big door open -right in front of me, bigger than our funny old front door! I’m going -through it, right into such fun! Only I’m leaving you behind. That isn’t -fair.” - -Katherine was quick to understand. Kate’s whole mood was as real to her -as though it were her own. She said, “But don’t you see, dear, I _had_ -all that fun a thousand times over when I was a girl. Aunt Katherine -gave me parties galore and took me to the theatre as often as Father -would let her and there was anything worth seeing. And now that you are -to have some of that life for a month, I am delighted. I only wish Aunt -Katherine had asked you sooner. I have truly always hoped she would. -Only, I suppose, she thought I was like Father and wouldn’t accept -things for you any more than for myself. And oh, Katie dear, do try to -be patient with Aunt Katherine, no matter what she does or says! Perhaps -you will make up a little to her for what I have taken away.” - -They stood now in the kitchen, facing each other. Suddenly Kate laughed, -her nicest laugh that screwed up her eyes into slits and turned her into -a Puck. “Let’s put off supper then,” she cried. “Stodgy old suppers we -can have any night. Let’s get out all the clothes we’ve got and just -plan. I’m not going to let you touch any of your good ones for me. I’m -truly not. But there may be some old things we’ve forgotten.” - -“Now you’re really common-sensible, my dear,” Katherine affirmed. -“Before it was only pretend common-sensibleness.” - -And arm-in-arm, without one look at the kitchen clock which now was -pointing to all of quarter past six, they went through the funny, merry -little barn house toward the bedrooms. - - - - - CHAPTER II - THE BOY IN THE FLOWERY, DRAGONY PICTURE FRAME - - -During the next few days of hurried preparation for the visit the Hart -boys found themselves almost entirely left out of the life in the little -barn house, the house that ordinarily served as a second home for them. - -“No time for boys to-day,” Kate would call out crisply when they -appeared at windows or door. “Woman’s business is afoot. We’re too busy -even to look at you.” - -And Katherine, who was usually so much more easily beguiled and quick to -see their side in any argument, for once echoed Kate and upheld her in -her determination to stick to the tasks they had set themselves. - -In spite of all Kate’s protests, Katherine’s new white linen was ripped -to pieces and remade for the traveller into a jaunty street suit. With a -black tie and narrow black patent-leather belt, when it was finished it -looked as though it might have come from some fashionable shop in New -York. Kate could not help being delighted. The pink organdie, which had -done Kate duty for best all last summer, and Katherine for best for -several summers before that, was now freshened with new lace and -decorated with narrow black velvet ribbon. It was not only becoming, but -quite up-to-date, and when it was finished and Kate surveyed herself in -it in the glass, standing on a chair to see it all, they both decided -that Kate would be able to put clothes definitely out of her mind when -she was wearing it, for it was quite appropriate for all the occasions -it was destined to grace. - -And finally, Katherine’s pretty bedroom was robbed of its month-old -chintz curtains which, under her magic, in the space of two days only, -became two simple but unique and pretty morning dresses for Kate. Now -all that remained to be thought of in the way of clothes was the -travelling suit. - -“My navy blue silk will do perfectly,” Kate said. “If I’m a little -careful, it won’t hurt it any, and next winter it will be as good as -ever for your teas and things, Mother, unless I’ve quite grown out of -it. Anyway, travelling won’t spoil it.” - -When that was agreed upon it naturally followed that Katherine’s new -spring hat must go with it; for it was a little navy blue silk hat, -light and small and quite fascinating. - -“What you’ll ever do for a hat I don’t see,” Kate worried. - -“Never mind about me,” Katherine told her nonchalantly. “Here on this -hill-top anything does so long as it gives a shade. And if ever I go -down to Middletown I can wear your black tam.” - -In the silk dress and hat and with her last spring’s blue cape with its -orange silk lining Kate felt prepared to meet the eyes of even Elsie’s -maid with equanimity. But imagine a girl of fifteen having a lady’s -maid! - -Katherine thought that was just a glorified title for nurse, probably. -But Kate protested that. A nurse for a girl of fifteen would be even -more absurd than a maid. Well, Katherine was sure Aunt Katherine herself -wouldn’t have a maid. She was a New Englander with all a true New -Englander’s scorn of self-indulgence. But she probably did need someone -to keep Elsie mended and possibly to be a sort of chaperon for her, too; -for Aunt Katherine, since her inheritance, had interested herself in -social and charitable work and was a very busy and even an important -woman. - -The two had endless conversations about Aunt Katherine and the -adventures awaiting Kate. And Katherine talked more than she had ever -talked before about her own girlhood in Oakdale and the little orchard -house where she had always lived and where she had been so happy. - -“If it isn’t rented you must go into it,” she told Kate. And then she -described the rooms for her and all the important events that had -happened in them. Aunt Katherine’s big newer house she hardly spoke of -at all, for Kate herself was so soon to see it and know all its corners. - -All the planning and sewing and the long intimate conversations about -Katherine’s girlhood and bits of family history that Kate had never -heard before, kept her right up to the eve of departure occupied and -excited. But as bedtime approached that night she began to be shaken by -unexpected qualms. She had never before been away from her mother for -even one night and they had always _shared_ adventure. That now she was -actually to go off by herself into an adventure of her own seemed -unnatural and almost impossible. - -They were sitting on the bench out beside the big front doors, breathing -in all the cool night air they could after the last hot and rather -hurried day. Their faces were only palely visible to each other in the -starlight. They had been silent for many minutes when Kate said -suddenly, and a little huskily, “Mother, may I take the picture of the -boy in the silver, flowery, dragony picture frame along to Oakdale with -me to-morrow? He’s a sort of talisman of mine.” - -Katherine was used to Kate’s abruptnesses and seldom showed surprise at -anything anyway. But now she did show surprise, and the voice that -answered Kate quivered with more than surprise. - -“The silvery, flowery, dragony picture frame? And the boy? What do you -know of him, Kate?” - -“Why, he’s always been in the little top drawer of your desk. He’s -_always_ been there. I’ve never told you how much he meant to me. I’ve -made it a secret. But I’ve known him just about as long as I can -remember. I was an awfully little girl and had to climb on to a chair at -first to see him. But I didn’t climb to look often. I saved it -for—magic. When something dreadful happened, when I was punished or -lessons were just too hateful, or you were late coming home, then I’d -climb up and look at that boy in the frame for comfort. I think it would -be very comfortable to have it with me along with your picture, Mother.” - -Katherine did not answer this for some time. She stayed as still as a -graven image in the starlight. Finally, without moving at all, and in a -voice as cool as starlight, she asked, “But why did you make it a -secret? I don’t understand a bit. I didn’t know you even knew there was -a little upper drawer. It’s almost hidden, and there is a secret about -the catch. You have to work it just so.” - -“Yes, I know. And I can’t remember how or exactly when I discovered how -to work it. At first, I do remember, it was just the frame I loved. It -is a little wonder of a frame! The silver was so shining, and then the -flowers and the fruit _and_ the dragons are all so enchanting. I traced -the dragons with my finger over and over and played they were alive. I -thought it was too mysterious and lovely, all of it! It fascinated me in -a way I could never tell you.” - -Katherine remained silent and Kate went on: “It was only when I was -older I began to look at the picture and feel about that so strangely. I -discovered what a wonderful face that boy has. I pretended he was the -Sandman, the one who gave me my dreams at night. I always had such -wonderful dreams, Mother! Remember?” - -Katherine did not answer, and Kate felt somehow impelled to go on. She -was surprising herself in this account of past childish imaginings. She -had never thought about it in words like this before. - -“He’d be just the person to have made those dreams for me. His face said -he knew them all and thousands and thousands more! Then, when I got -older I forgot about his being the Sandman, and anyway, my dreams -stopped being wonderful and were just silly. Then I called him the -‘Understander.’ When I especially wanted an understander I’d open the -secret drawer—I could do it without climbing on a chair by then—and -there he was, looking up at me out of the dragons and the fruit and the -flowers with _understanding_. - -“It was all just a notion, of course. Oh, am I talking nonsense, Mother? -And was it nonsense to keep it so secret and all, always?” - -Katherine answered emphatically, “No. Not nonsense a bit. Only -surprisingly—intuitive. For, Kate, he is just the sort of person who -_could_ have made up those wonderful dreams you used to have. And he -was—and is still, I suppose—just a perfect understander. That is his -quality. And it is startling to me, all you have said, for he has been a -sort of a talisman to me, too, all these years. I’ve looked at him, at -the picture, when _I_ needed understanding. And that is surprising in -itself, for once, when he was just the age he is in that picture, the -very week the picture was taken, I did him a wrong, a great wrong. We -quarrelled. Since then I have never seen or heard from him.” - -Kate turned upon her mother with real exasperation at this disclosure. -“Oh, Mother! How could you! Another quarrel!” - -Katherine said nothing, and Kate instantly softened. She felt that she -had wounded her mother; and that was a dreadful thing to have happened -on this their last night! It was in an apologizing tone and humbly that -she asked then, “And may I take him with me to-morrow?” - -“No, I think you’d better not. Let him stay just where he is, in the -secret drawer. I may need his magic more than you while you are away.” - -So her mother wasn’t really hurt at all, or cross. She had spoken -lightly, even airily. Kate sighed her relief. “I’m not asking you who -the boy is, notice?” she spoke as lightly as her mother. “It might spoil -the magic if I knew a human name for him. And I don’t believe you ever -did him a wrong, either. For one thing, I don’t believe any one could do -him a wrong. And you never did any one a wrong, anyway. I know it. -You’re too dear and kind.— Look at those fireflies out there. Watch me -catch one!” - -Kate suddenly jumped up and ran away into the summer evening. Katherine -stayed still on the bench, watching her quick motions, her leaps and -runs and turns. “It’s very like a dance,” she thought. “Only there -should be music.” And she began humming softly. - - * * * * * * * * - -Kate slept that night with the twinges of premature homesickness dulled -by fatigue. And when morning came with the last bustle and scurry, any -doubts that still lingered back in her mind were lost in the glamour of -the adventure whose day had at last arrived. - -“I’m going to take ‘The King of the Fairies’ with me to read on the -train, Mother,” she called from her bedroom where she was putting the -very last things into her bag. - -Katherine came to stand in the doorway, a partly spread piece of bread -for a sandwich for Kate’s luncheon in her hand. “But you know ‘The King -of the Fairies’ by heart,” she said. “Why not take the mystery story Sam -and Lee gave you?” - -“I’ve packed that. I believe you want ‘The King of the Fairies’ -yourself, just as you want the picture!” Kate said, teasingly. - -“Perhaps I do. It’s without exception the nicest thing that has happened -to us this year, I think. Bring it back safely, for I shall certainly -read it again before the summer’s through. Suppose we had been so -foolish as to decide we couldn’t afford it that day we stumbled on it in -the bookshop and were lost at the first paragraph!” - -Kate gasped at such a supposing. “I simply can’t imagine having missed -it, never read it, can you? If that had happened, well, everything would -be different. It has made so many things different, hasn’t it—reading -it?” - -“Yes, for us both, I think. That’s why I am sure it is a great book, -because it does make such a difference to you, having read it or not. -And I understand your wanting it with you to-day. Try to get Aunt -Katherine to read it, if you can. She has enough literary appreciation -to realize its beauty, and the rest of it, what it does to you—well, it -wouldn’t hurt to have it do a little of that to her, too!” - -At that minute Sam and Lee whistled from the road, out at the back of -the house, and in a second they were around and in at the big front door -calling for Kate’s bag and anything that was to be carried. Katherine -hurried to finish the sandwiches and tie up the lunch, Kate gave her -hair a last boyish, brisk brushing, put on her hat, took her cape on her -arm, and they were off, hurrying down to Broad Street and the bus there -waiting the minute of starting in front of the Hotel. - -“Don’t let your father work Mother too hard on that old catalogue,” Kate -besought the boys. “And do write me sometimes about everything, the -tennis court and all.” - -Sam and Lee promised that they would take turns writing, much as they -disliked it, and Kate should not lack for news. “And bring Elsie back -with you to repay us,” they commanded. “The Hotel has let us borrow the -roller, and the court will be in fine shape. We’ll be all practised up, -too. You’d better do some practising yourself while you’re there. Elsie -is probably a shark, anyway.” - -They reached the bus in good time and stood chattering a few minutes -before the bus driver facetiously sang out, “All aboard!” Kate was the -only passenger that morning. One quick hug and kiss passed between -mother and daughter while Sam put in the suitcase and Lee dropped “The -King of the Fairies” and the box of lunch in at the window. The busman -himself had climbed into his seat and was sitting with his back to them. -The Hotel piazza was deserted for the minute. There was no one besides -themselves on the street. Sam kissed Kate on one cheek, and Lee kissed -her on the other, quick, sound, affectionate, brotherly kisses. The -driver blew his horn twice just to make sure no traveller was belated in -the Hotel, started his engine, and the adventurer was off. - -Kate stood in the little vestibule, hanging to the door and looking back -as long as she could see the three people she was leaving. Katherine was -between the boys, hatless, in a blue smocked dress; she was waving and -blowing kisses. She looked like a sister to the boys, and not even an -older sister from the distance of the speeding bus. Then the vehicle -jerked around a corner and Kate sat down, faced about the way they were -going, and contemplated her own immediate future. - -In school she had often sat watching the big clock over the blackboard -in the front of the room; just before the minute hand reached the hour -it had a way of suddenly jerking itself ahead with a little click. That -was what had happened on the instant of parting from her mother—time, -somehow, or at least her place in time, had jerked suddenly and -unexpectedly ahead. Now the hour must be striking, she reflected -whimsically, and she was at the beginning of a new one. So much the -better. She expected it to be a wholly fascinating hour, and Elsie the -unknown comrade was waiting in it. - - - - - CHAPTER III - THE COMRADE DOES NOT APPEAR - - -Although Kate kept her book “The King of the Fairies” on her lap in bus -and trains, she did not look into its pages at all. Still it had its -meaning and its use on the journey. It was something well known and -dearly loved going with her into strangeness and uncertainty. Its purple -cloth binding spoke to her through the tail of her eye even when she was -most busy taking in the fleeting landscape. One would have thought her a -seasoned traveller and a very well-poised person if he had seen her -sitting so still, her hands lightly touching the closed book, her gaze -missing little of interest in country and town as the train rushed -along. But in reality her mind was as busy as the spinning wheels, and -her thoughts ranged everywhere from the commonplace to the inspired; and -as for her emotions, they were in a whir. - -But the thought that recurred over and over and from which she never -entirely escaped during the whole five hours of travel was this: was any -one else in the world so happy and elated as she? People she saw looking -from windows, people working in factories, people working in meadows, -people walking on streets—how dull and uneventful their present hour was -compared to her present hour! And the Hart boys back at home! How could -they bear the commonplaceness of going on in the same spot all summer, -doing the same things, and seeing the same people! And only one week ago -she herself had been more than contented, happily expectant even, when -she was facing just such a summer! - -Of course, she wondered about Elsie a lot. In fact, she scarcely thought -of Great Aunt Katherine at all. Would Elsie meet her at the South -Station in Boston? Great Aunt Katherine’s letter had said Elsie’s maid -would meet her. But surely Elsie herself would be there, too. Kate, for -a minute, imagined herself in Elsie’s place, eagerly waiting among the -crowds at the great terminal for the appearance of the new friend, -wondering and speculating about her, just as Kate herself was wondering -and speculating about Elsie. - -The journey seemed very short. Kate could not believe they were actually -in Boston until the conductor coming through assured her that in less -than two minutes they would be in. But for Kate the next two minutes -seemed longer than all the rest of the journey put together. She sat on -the edge of the seat, one hand grasping the handle of her suitcase, the -other clutching “The King of the Fairies.” And even in her tense -excitement the long-drawn-outness of those two minutes made her think -about the King of the Fairies and what he had taught, or rather shown, -the girl and boy in the book about _time_—what a mysterious thing it -was, quite man-made and not real. She could well believe it now. -However, even that two minutes came to an end, as such eternities will. - -At the train steps there were “red caps” galore clamouring for baggage -to carry, and a pushing crowd of passengers who had poured down from the -long line of coaches. Kate shook her head as a matter of course to the -porters, and marched along, her rather heavy leather bag, marked with -the initials K. M. in white chalk, in one hand, the book and her -purse—not a very good balance—in the other. No one could come out into -the train shed to meet you, Kate remembered now from the two or three -times she had been in that station with her mother. Well, Elsie would be -up at the entrance, standing on tiptoes, looking off over heads until -their eyes met. How should they know each other? No special arrangement -had been made to insure Kate’s being recognized. But Katherine had said, -“Don’t worry. Aunt Katherine’s not one to bungle anything. She or Elsie -or the maid, probably all three, will spot you at once. And if they -don’t, all you have to do is to find a telephone booth and call up the -Oakdale house.” And now, coming up through the shed, straining her eyes -toward the gate, Kate had not the slightest doubt that the minute her -eyes met Elsie’s eyes they would know each other. She had lived in -anticipation of this minute now so steadily for so long that she would -feel confident of picking Elsie out in a crowd of a thousand girls all -of the same age. - -But she was getting near the gate and still she had seen no one that -might be Elsie. Then, walking on tiptoes for a second, a difficult feat -when you are as loaded down as she was, she did see a girl standing a -little way back from the gate and watching the passengers with impatient -eagerness as they came through. For an instant the eyes of the two girls -met. Kate went suddenly, unexpectedly shy at that encounter. But -instantly an inner Kate squared her shoulders, in a way the inner Kate -had, and forbade the outer Kate to tremble. And when Kate, in a flash, -had restored herself to herself, she knew that the girl waiting there -was certainly not Elsie; she was too utterly different from anything she -had imagined about her. There! She was right. The girl had greeted the -woman just ahead of Kate and they hurried off together talking volubly. -Kate drew a relieved sigh. She never could have liked that overdressed -girl as well as she knew she was going to like Elsie. They would never -have become chums and comrades. - -But now she herself was outside the gate. She suddenly realized that her -suitcase was very heavy and put it down. Simultaneously she looked -around confidently for a friendly, welcoming face, for the eyes of the -new comrade. There was no such face, no such eyes. But she did become -aware of a youngish woman, in a very smart gray tailored suit and -Parisian looking black hat with a gray wing, bearing directly down upon -her. She was certainly too young to be Great Aunt Katherine; but it was -hard to believe that such smartness and apparent distinction could -belong to a maid. - -“Miss Marshall?” - -“Yes, I’m Kate Marshall. And you?” - -“Bertha, Miss Elsie’s maid.” She turned toward a middle-aged round -little Irishman in brown livery. “Timothy,” she said, “it’s her.” Alas, -for the distinction of the black toque! - -Timothy stepped briskly forward and picked up Kate’s suitcase, touching -his cap, but giving her a quick, keenly interested glance at the same -time. “Your trunk checks, if you please, Miss?” he said, holding out his -free hand for them. - -“Why, there isn’t a trunk. The suitcase is all.” - -“Didn’t the trunk catch this train?” Bertha asked, and added in a -commiserating tone, “Service is wretched—Miss Frazier says so.” - -“I didn’t have any trunk at all. The suitcase holds everything.” - -Bertha’s ejaculation of surprise was suddenly turned into a flow of -tactful words. “All the better, all the better. That makes things very -simple, very simple. We’ve only to go out to the automobile then, and -we’ll be in Oakdale in no time.” - -Little round Timothy led the way with the bag and book, Kate followed -him, and Bertha came behind her. She was not used to walking in -processions like this, and she felt distinctly strange and lonely. But -the thought that Elsie might be waiting in the car braced her up. Even -so she couldn’t imagine why Elsie hadn’t come in and been the first to -greet her at the gate. If she were Elsie she would never sit calmly -waiting out in the car. - -But the car was empty. It was a very handsome, big, luxurious affair, -painted a light glossy brown, the very shade of Timothy’s uniform. It -had a long, low body, much shining nickel plate, windshields before the -back seat as well as the front, and Great Aunt Katherine Frazier’s -monogram in silver on the door. - -Timothy held back the monogrammed door while Kate stepped in. Then he -slid into the driver’s seat, leaving Bertha to follow him. So there was -Kate bobbing around on the wide back seat that was richly though -slipperily upholstered in smooth leather. Her baggage was in front with -the servants. She had not even the cherished book to sustain her. She -wondered, a little whimsically, that they had let her carry her purse. - -Where was Elsie? Kate gave herself up to speculation as they crawled -through the crowded city streets. They crawled, but it was smooth and -beautiful crawling, for Timothy was an artist among chauffeurs. Kate -looked all around her interestedly and happily in spite of the sharpness -of her disappointment at Elsie’s absence. But although it was exciting -and stimulating to her to be moving through the streets of the big city -she realized the heat uncomfortably and, used to her high hill air, was -over-conscious of the unsavoury odours that met her on every side. She -unbuttoned and threw back her cape and resisted just in time an impulse -to lift her hat from her head by the crown, the way a boy does, and toss -it into a corner of the seat so that her head might be a little cooler. -But another inclination she did not resist in time. She leaned forward -and spoke to Bertha over the windshield: “Elsie, Miss Elsie, couldn’t -she come? Is she well?” she asked. - -What an idiotic question! Why was she always saying things so abruptly, -things she hardly meant to say! Bertha turned her smooth, -distinguished-looking profile. “She is very well. She will be at -dinner.” - -Now they were out of the city and they gained speed; but they gained -almost without Kate’s noticing, for the car was so luxurious and Timothy -was such an artist. But when she observed how the trees and fences and -houses were beginning to rush by she braced her feet against the nickel -footrail and laid her arm along the padded armrest. She leaned back, -relaxed. She began to feel that she quite belonged in the car, as though -such conveniences had always been at her service, almost as though -private chauffeurs and ladies’ maids were an everyday matter. Or was she -dramatizing herself? Anyway, it was fun and very, very new. She hoped -there would be time to write her mother all about it to-night. She -profoundly wished the Hart boys could see her! - -But Bertha had turned her smooth profile again. “We are just entering -Oakdale,” she informed her, speaking impersonally, so decorously that it -might have been to the air. And instantly Kate’s composure and assurance -were shivered, her relaxed muscles tensed themselves, her mind became -just one big question mark. - -Oakdale was a charming suburb. Most of the houses seemed to have lawns -and gardens that justified the name of “grounds,” and wealth spoke on -every side, but in a tone of good taste and often even beauty. Elms and -maples lined the street down which the adventurer’s chariot was bowling. - -Oh, which house, which house was Great Aunt Katherine’s? Would Elsie be -standing in the doorway? Would Kate know the house by that? Or would she -be at a window, or keeping a watch for them on some garden wall? - -They suddenly swerved from the main residential street and rolled down a -delightful lane bordered by older, more mellowed houses. At the very end -of the lane, before a large white house with green blinds, the car came -to a stop. What a gracious, dignified house it was, and every bit as -imposing and mansionlike as Kate’s mother had described it. There were -balconies gay with plants and hanging vines, tall windows, and an -absence of anything ambiguous or superfluous. The wide front door, with -its shining brass knocker and rows of potted plants at either side, was -approached by a dozen or so wide, shallow stone stairs bordered by tall -blue larkspur and a golden bell-shaped flower for which Kate did not -know the name. The steps were almost upon the lane, but Kate knew that -there were extensive “grounds” at the back, and somewhere there the -little orchard house. - -No Elsie stood at the top of those stone steps or came running around -the house from the gardens at the sound of the stopping car. Not even -Aunt Katherine made an appearance. Timothy held open the automobile -door, Bertha took the suitcase and book, and Kate, with a “Thank you,” -to Timothy, started off on the last stage of her journey, that of the -climb of the stone steps to her aunt’s front door. Bertha followed close -behind. Kate wondered whether she should ring the bell, or wait and let -Bertha ring it for her. Or would Bertha open the door and they go in -without ringing? Oh, dear! Why hadn’t she asked her mother more -explicitly about correct usage when there is a lady’s maid at your -heels? But then, perhaps Mother couldn’t have helped her much, for -certainly Mother had never been so attended. And then the inner Kate -asserted herself. “Don’t be a silly,” it said. “How can it matter which -of you rings the doorbell?—and certainly you’re not going to go in -without ringing. Bertha’s hands are too full either to ring the bell or -open the door. Ring.” - -But before her finger had time to reach the button, the door swung open -before her as though by magic and Kate stepped in. A maid had opened the -door and now stood half-concealed behind it with her face properly -vacant. Kate, when she discovered her, gave her a nod and a faint “Thank -you.” Then she stood still in the hall, looking about for her aunt. She -had almost given up Elsie for the present; but surely her aunt would -come now from some part of the house hurrying to greet her with -hospitality and show her her room. - -But Bertha had no such idea. _She_ did not look about as though -expecting any one. “I will lead the way,” she offered, “if you please. -There are a good many turns.” And still carrying Kate’s suitcase she -walked off up the narrow strip of thick gray velvety material that -carpeted the polished stairs. Kate followed. It was a very complicated -house, she decided, as they went through doors, down unexpected -passages, up steps, and finally around a sharp turn, around two turns, -up two steps, and Bertha threw open a door. There Bertha stood back for -Kate to pass in ahead of her. - -The bedroom that had been assigned to her was exquisitely lovely. It was -a little room of beautiful proportions facing the “grounds.” So much -care had been spent on its decorations and furnishings that one never -thought of all the money that had been spent _with_ the care. Its three -long windows, their sills almost on the floor, opened out on to a -flowery balcony hung above the garden. The windows were wide open now -because of the heat and stood back against the walls like doors. The -finest of spiderweb lace was gathered against the panes, and at their -sides hung opal-coloured curtains of very soft silk. The same colour, in -heavier silk, was used in the spread for the narrow ivory bed, with its -painted crimson ramblers at footboard and top. There was a low reading -table by the bed and in the centre of it a little crystal lamp with an -opal shade. Across from the bed and table stood an ivory dressing table -reflecting the balcony’s brilliant plants in its three hinged mirrors. -An ivory-coloured chair with a low back and three legs was placed before -the dressing table. On one creamy wall hung LePage’s “Joan of Arc,” and -on the opposite wall a painting of a little girl with streaming hair -leaping across a bright flower bed. Through a door with long crystal -mirrors panelled into either side Kate glimpsed a white bathroom with a -huge porcelain tub with shining taps and a rack hung thick with wide, -creamy towels. - -“What a heavenly room!” she exclaimed, enraptured. “Is it mine?” - -“Yes, this is your bedroom.” Bertha spoke almost deprecatingly of it. -“But there is a sitting-room just across the hall. It is Miss Elsie’s, -but while you are here Miss Frazier says you are to share it. That is -much more comfortable.” - -Kate went directly to a window, hoping to find the orchard house in its -view. She was not disappointed. Beyond lawns and flower gardens there -was the old orchard with its gnarled, twisted trees, and back among the -trees the outlines of a little gray house. Kate was quite moved by this -her first glimpse of her mother’s home. - -Bertha came up behind, and now was engaged in unbuttoning her cape for -her and taking off her hat. But Kate was almost unconscious of these -ministrations. She was unconscious, too, when Bertha turned to unpacking -her bag. - -“There won’t be time for you to change to-night, Miss Frazier said,” -Bertha was informing her. “So we’ll just wash you up a bit and brush -your hair. Miss Frazier said you were to go down directly, and there’s -the first gong anyway.” - -A musical note was sounding through the house. - -Reluctantly, Kate turned from the window. Bertha followed her into the -bathroom, filled the bowl for her with water, and then stood at hand -with soap and a towel. For one wild instant Kate wondered whether Bertha -meant to wash her face for her! She had a definite feeling of relief -when she put the soap and the towel down at the side of the bowl and -left her alone. Quickly and efficiently Kate removed the grime of -travel. When she went back into her room Bertha was standing by the -dressing table, brush in hand. - -Kate sat down on the three-legged chair. She thought she had never -looked into clearer mirrors than the three hinged ones before her. -“Please, I can brush my own hair, it’s so short. I would rather.” Just a -few quick strokes, a poke or two, and the bobbed hair with the wing -brushed across the forehead was perfectly tidy and crisp. - -“I’ll take you to the top of the stairs,” Bertha offered. “You mayn’t -have noticed the way very carefully as we came along.” - -“No, I am not sure I could find it. But tell me first, where does that -door, the other door, in the bathroom go?” - -“Oh, that’s Miss Elsie’s door.” - -“Miss Elsie’s room! So near! Oh, do you suppose she’s in there?” - -“Why, I don’t know. I dressed her for dinner before starting to town for -you. She’s more probably downstairs. Dinner is served three minutes -after that first gong.” - -Kate gave one more glance toward the door that now had become of so much -interest to her, before following Bertha. She was glad that she and -Elsie were to sleep so near each other. Why, it was a suite of rooms -they had. There was something splendid about occupying a suite of rooms. -And there was even a sitting-room for them across the hall. How jolly it -was and how independent! But where was Elsie? - -Kate thanked Bertha when she had been guided to the top of the -staircase. “Am I just to go down?” she asked, a little timidly. - -“Why, yes. Miss Frazier will be in the drawing-room. It’s at the left. -You can’t miss it.” - -Bertha faded discreetly back as she spoke, into the shadows of the upper -hall, leaving Kate suddenly to her own resources. But after an instant’s -hesitation, during which the inner indomitable Kate was summoned up, she -passed quietly and with dignity down the gray velvet stair carpet. - - - - - CHAPTER IV - LITTLE ORCHARD HOUSE, BEWARE! - - -The drawing-room extended for almost half the length of the big house. -It was the largest room that Kate had ever seen or imagined outside of a -castle. Just at first she could not discover her aunt in it. But soon -her glance found her sitting down at the farthest end near one of the -French doors that stood wide open into the garden. Her head was turned -away, but the shape and pose of that head and the way she sat in her -chair, with a book but not reading, reminded Kate sharply and poignantly -of her mother. Why hadn’t Katherine warned her that they were so much -alike? - -She went toward her softly because of her shyness, her feet hardly -making a sound on the Persian rugs, past the tables and divans and -lamps. It was seven o’clock of a July evening now, and the shadows lent -a lovely charm to the big room that was peculiarly charming even in -broadest daylight. Kate felt as she went toward her aunt that she was -walking in a dream. And it was a very nice dream, too, for that glimpse -of the likeness of her aunt to her mother had reassured her completely. -All her previous ideas of her aunt were swept away, and the -anticipations of this visit, which for a little had been dampened, now -returned with fresh life. - -Miss Frazier turned as Kate came near. Hastily she put her book, still -open as Kate’s mother would have, on a table at her hand and rose. She -kissed Kate with warmth and dignity and then held her off, the tips of -her fingers on her shoulders. - -“You’re not one bit like your mother,” she affirmed. “Not one least -bit.” - -“Don’t accuse me,” Kate said, laughing. “I would have been if I could, -of course. But wouldn’t it have been rather confusing to have had three -of us so much alike? The names are confusing enough.” - -If someone could have told Kate an hour—no, two minutes—ago that on -first meeting her aunt she would speak so easily, so without -self-consciousness, she would not have believed. She had expected to be -constrained, awkward. But then she had never expected Aunt Katherine to -be so agreeable as she apparently was. - -Aunt Katherine was smiling quite brilliantly. Kate had instantly touched -and pleased her. “Does it really seem to you that I am anything like -your mother?” - -Kate nodded. But even as she nodded, she saw the difference suddenly. -Aunt Katherine was taller, of course; but that was not it. Her firm, -squarish chin was not neutralized by melting gray eyes as Katherine’s -was. Aunt Katherine’s eyes were dark and their expression echoed the -strong chin; it was a sure expression, penetrating and above all -intellectual. And the lines about the mouth and eyes were lines that -Katherine would never have at any age. They were lines of loneliness and -trouble. - -Even as Kate was thinking all this—lightning-quick thinking it was, of -course—she saw the lines deepen and the mouth and eyes harden -perceptibly. “It is past dinner time. Didn’t Elsie come down with you?” -The hardening was not for Kate’s tardiness; it was for Elsie’s. - -“I haven’t seen her. I don’t believe she was in her room or she would -have heard me.” - -“Haven’t seen Elsie? That is strange! She must be in the orchard or -somewhere, and not realize the time.” - -Aunt Katherine moved to the garden door, her hand still on Kate’s -shoulder. “There she comes now, from the orchard.” - -They stepped over the sill and waited for Elsie on the stone flags -outside. She was floating through the gardens directly from the orchard. -Floating is a better word for it than hurrying because she was such a -light and airy creature and above all so graceful. Her approach was -almost in the nature of a dance. She was dressed in white, a narrow belt -of periwinkle blue at the low waistline. - -It was evident when she came nearer that she had not seen the two -waiting for her. Her eyes were dropped a little and she was smiling! -There was a radiance of happiness about her. At first, in this -impression of her, happiness was even more obvious than prettiness. But -she was pretty, too, quite enchantingly pretty. Kate, who was not pretty -herself, loved it all the more in others. Her appreciation always leapt -to meet it. - -Elsie was slim, with a fairy grace of face and figure. Her hair, a net -of sunlight even now in the growing dusk, was tied at her neck, and its -curls straying on her shoulders and at her cheeks shone like fairy gold. -Her face was delicately moulded and faintly tinted. It was her chin that -struck Kate most. It was an elfin, whimsically pointed chin. In fact, -she was such an exquisite creature that Kate, standing there waiting for -the instant when she should look up and their eyes meet, felt as though -her own sturdy young body belonged to another world. - -But Elsie was so absorbed in her happiness that she did not raise her -eyes until she was almost upon them. It was Aunt Katherine’s voice that -recalled her, and she stopped short a few feet from where they were -standing. “Well, Elsie?” - -Then at last the eyes of the destined comrades met! Kate was smiling, -the corners of her mouth uptilted little wings. Her whole face spoke her -delight in Elsie’s extraordinary prettiness and her own expectation of -comradeship. No one could have missed what her look meant. But Elsie’s -response was a strange one. Instantly the elfin smile vanished, the -elfin chin became set, the pretty face and violet eyes hardened. But she -took the few remaining steps forward and gave Kate her hand. In a -correctly polite but delicately cool way she said, “How do you do?” - -Aunt Katherine showed some chagrin at that tone. “This is your cousin, -Elsie,” she said. “You are not going to stand on any formality with a -cousin who has come for the express purpose of being cousinly. Dinner -was announced some minutes ago. Let us go in.” - -But what had happened to Kate? She hardly knew herself. She had turned -sick, physically sick and faint, when Elsie had looked at her so coolly -and indifferently. No one had ever treated her so in all her life -before. She had had spats, of course, with her contemporaries, now and -then. There had been days when either Sam or Lee or some girl in school -refused to speak to her. There had been angry glances, sharp words. But -she had never been treated like this. Nothing before had ever turned her -_sick_. - -As they moved down the long drawing-room and across the hall to the -dining-room Kate asked herself desperately whether she had imagined it -all. Could she have heard Elsie’s voice aright? Was the cool, hard -glance from Elsie’s eyes insultingly indifferent? How could it be? Why -should it be? What had she done? She had done just nothing at all. There -was no reason in the world for Elsie to hate or despise her. And so, -fortified by her reason and by the wise inner Kate that never wholly -forsook her, Kate decided before they reached the dining-room that it -_had_ been imagination—partly, anyway. Elsie might not have liked her -looks at first, but she had no reason to hate her. - -Even so, she did not have the courage to look directly at Elsie when -they were finally seated at the table. They were in high-backed carved -Italian chairs at a narrow, long, black, much-oiled table. In the centre -of the table two marvellously beautiful water lilies floated in an -enormous shallow jade bowl. The napkin that Kate half unfolded in her -lap was monogrammed damask and very luxurious to her fingers’ touch. The -dinner was simple, as simple as the dinners to which Kate was accustomed -at home, but it was served with such dignity by a lacy-capped and -aproned waitress that before they were finished with the prune-whip -dessert Kate felt they had banqueted. - -Very early in the meal Kate learned that she need not avoid looking -directly at Elsie, for Elsie’s own eyes were averted. Apparently she was -languidly interested in the portraits on the opposite wall. At any rate, -her gaze was always just a little above Kate’s head or to the right or -left of her shoulder. When Aunt Katherine spoke to her she looked at her -as she replied. But aside from those polite and clearly spoken answers, -she contributed nothing to the conversation. - -In contrast to Elsie Aunt Katherine was giving her whole mind to being -entertaining and making Kate feel at home. She drew her out about the -life in Ashland, the barn that had so ingeniously been turned into a -house, Kate’s school in Middletown, the Hart boys, their mother and -father, the life at Ashland College, everything that concerned Katherine -and Kate. Although Kate hardly realized it, during the course of that -first meal she had given her aunt a pretty complete picture of her -background, and incidentally of herself. - -Just as the finger bowls were brought in Aunt Katherine said, “The -little orchard house beyond the garden was your Grandfather Frazier’s, -you know, Kate. You will want to explore it, I imagine. To-morrow at -breakfast I shall give you the key.” - -Kate was delighted. “Oh, may I go into it? Mother wasn’t at all sure it -wouldn’t be rented. She wanted me to see it if I possibly could, and -tell her all about it.” - -“Of course it’s not rented. It is too much part of my grounds, -altogether too connected with everything here. A family there would be -intolerable. And besides, I consider that the house belongs to your -mother. It is only waiting for her.” - -But now the eyes of the two girls did meet for the second time. Kate -gasped. Fear and anger spoke in Elsie’s direct stare. And Kate was sure -she was not imagining now—all the delicate tint had been swept from -Elsie’s face. She was pale. - -They got up at that minute and followed Aunt Katherine from the -dining-room. Elsie turned her head away as they walked. But Kate was too -curious now to be definitely unhappy. She wanted only to know the reason -of Elsie’s behaviour. And she surprised herself more than a little by -finding herself drawn to the sulky, ungracious, frightened girl. Nothing -was at all the way she had dreamed it and expected it, it is true. But -in some ways it was better. Elsie was more of a _person_ than her dreams -had made her, and friendship with her, if only they ever did become -friends, might be quite wonderful. Kate did not think this out. It was -just her feeling. - -In the drawing-room Aunt Katherine sat down at her reading table and -picked up her book. “It is after eight,” she told the girls, “and I’m -sure Kate should go to bed early. But you may walk in the garden -together a little first.” - -Now Kate glimpsed the Aunt Katherine of tradition. Neither she nor Elsie -had any thought but to obey the command. They went out together to walk -in the garden. “Just like that,” Kate said to herself, inwardly smiling. -But there was no rebellion in her thought. She distinctly liked Aunt -Katherine and was ready to take commands from her. And this command was -particularly welcome. Now Elsie _must_ unbend! Now they must find each -other. - -For a minute they walked in silence and then Kate said, “Let’s go into -the apple orchard. I want to see my mother’s house nearer. Do you know I -can hardly wait until morning when I shall see it inside, too. Mother -has told me so much about it!” - -“It isn’t your mother’s house,” Elsie answered quite unexpectedly. “It’s -Aunt Katherine’s. And there’s nothing to see in the dark. Just a little -old gray house with weeds in the front walk. Even the road to it is all -grown over with grass now, for no one goes there ever.” - -“I want to see it all the same. It’s where my mother and my grandmother -and my grandfather lived. I’m going whether you come or not.” - -“Oh, all right,” Elsie acquiesced, sulkily. “But a lot you’ll see in the -dark.” - -It was just as Elsie had said. It was a little old gray house set down -in the centre of the apple orchard with no road leading to it. And weeds -stood high in the gravel front walk. - -“Why, it’s a fairy house by starlight!” Kate exclaimed, quite forgetting -Elsie’s mood in her own. - -Elsie spoke in a rather high voice then, a voice that carried all -through the orchard: “If it is a fairy house,” she called, “Fairies, -beware! Orchard house, beware! If there are fairies in the house put out -all lights, hurry away. Aunt Katherine’s nieces are here and Aunt -Katherine doesn’t want the house occupied.” - -Kate was surprised but quickly pleased, too. Elsie had entered into a -game whole-heartedly. Perhaps she was just an ordinary girl, after all! -Perhaps she had been imagining absurd things about her. This Elsie -calling out into the starry dimness, warning the little house of their -approach, was Elsie as she should be, with her fairy-gold curls and -elfin chin. - -Kate involuntarily drew nearer to her. And then she raised her voice and -called in her turn to the little orchard house. “But Aunt Katherine’s -not here,” she called. “She is deep in a deep book. So light all your -lights, if you wish, look out of your windows, open your doors. Little -enchanted house, wake up!” - -She was laughing as she finished and holding Elsie’s hand, for she was -quite carried away by her own fancy. This was the kind of nonsense she -loved, and the little house did seem alive and awake. She _felt_ it -responding there in its dim starlight! - -Elsie allowed her hand to be held. But she cried, softly, but still in a -carrying voice, “No, no, no. Don’t look out! Don’t wake up. There are -two of us here. Two. Not one!” - -And then the girls stood silent. The game had become so real that Kate -would not have been at all astonished to see fairy lights at the -windows, to hear windows opening and fairy laughter. But she heard -nothing except the crickets in the uncut grass and Elsie’s hurried -breathing. - -“Come,” she whispered. “Let’s go all around the house”—and off she -started, still holding Elsie’s hand. Elsie could only go, too. And at -the back of the house, the side that was in view only of the orchard and -vacant fields beyond, Kate noticed two windows wide open in the second -story. - -“Does Aunt Katherine let those windows stay open like that?” she asked, -curiously. “Those are the windows in the study. I know from Mother’s -telling. Suppose it should rain to-night? It must be an oversight. Let’s -go back and get the key from Aunt Katherine now to-night and close them -for her. Won’t it be fun to go in by starlight, just we two alone!” - -Elsie shook her head violently and pulled her hand away at the same -time. There was a break in her voice almost as though she were in danger -of bursting into tears. - -“You needn’t go being a busybody the very first hour you are here,” she -exclaimed. “I guess Aunt doesn’t need your advice about such things. -Come away. Come out of the orchard.” - -Kate followed her, nonplussed, at sea. “What is the matter?” she -demanded. “What are you afraid of, Elsie Frazier?” Then, stopping -suddenly, “What was that? Listen!” Surely a door had closed softly up -there in the room with the windows open! - -“What was what?” - -“Didn’t you hear?” - -“No, of course I didn’t hear anything.” - -“A door closed up there.” - -“Nonsense! How could a door close up there?” - -“Well, it did. I heard it just as plain. But perhaps it was a breeze -that closed it. Only I don’t feel any breeze.” - -“It must have been a breeze.” - -“Well, it was a _careful_ breeze. It shut the door ever so gently. Quite -as though a door knob was turned. Oh, Elsie, do you suppose it is -fairies—or something weird?” - -“I don’t suppose anything. And Aunt Katherine will be expecting us in. -Come.” - -As they went Kate turned to look back several times at the orchard -house. But no fairy lights twinkled for her in the windows, no doors or -windows opened, no fairy stood on the doorstone beckoning her back. It -was just a little old gray house in an orchard. But even so Kate felt it -_alive_, awake somehow. Elsie could not spoil her feeling about it. - -Just outside the lighted drawing-room Elsie turned about and faced Kate. -She was not quite so tall and she was slighter. But her whole body was -drawn up with extraordinary force and her face, in spite of its delicate -elfin quality, was determined. - -“Kate Marshall,” she said in a quiet tone, “you’re not to say one word -to Aunt Katherine about those windows. Not one single word! And what’s -more, you’re not to use the key that she will give you to-morrow. It’s -not your mother’s house any more. You’ll only be disappointed. There’s -nothing of her in there at all. I shall hate you and hate you and HATE -you if you use that key. You’ve got to promise me.” - -Kate did not flinch before this unexpected attack. But she was amazed. -“Of course I sha’n’t promise you,” she contradicted. “You’re a silly to -think you can make me. What’s the matter with you, anyway?” - -Elsie still looked at her, but her firmness, her determination melted. -Her lips trembled. Unshed tears glistened in her eyes. When she spoke -her tone was changed completely. “Please, please,” she besought Kate. -“You are just a girl even if you are—well, even if you are Kate -Marshall. Please promise me that you’ll wait a week before exploring the -orchard house. After that I won’t care. Go and live in it, if you like. -But just for a week, promise me.” - -“No, I won’t promise.” But Kate was softening. “I won’t promise. But -perhaps, since you care so much, I won’t go in to-morrow or the next -day. Perhaps I’ll stay away a week. Only I think you’ll have to tell me -_why_.” - -But Elsie shook her head. “I can’t tell you why. You’ll know for -yourself within a few days. You’ve promised?” - -“I have not promised. And I think you ought to explain to me. Are you -sure you won’t? I’m a pretty good person at keeping a secret. If I knew, -I _might_ promise.” - -Elsie shook her head. Kate saw the tears still glistening in her eyes. -She felt brutal to have made a fairy cry! - -“Don’t, don’t cry,” she begged softly. “I won’t use the key to-morrow, -anyway. I promise you that. And I’ll tell you before I do use it. I -don’t see why I shouldn’t put it off for a week if you care so much. I’m -not a pig.” - -“And you won’t even prowl around the orchard house during that week?” - -Kate, instantly forgetting her momentary pity, grew hot. “I never prowl. -What a nasty word!” - -“You prowled to-night.” - -“I didn’t. We were playing a game with the house. I’m going in.” - -With high-held head, flaming cheeks, and bright eyes Kate stepped into -the drawing-room. Elsie was at her side, cool, calm, no trace of recent -tears. In spite of Kate’s flash of real anger Elsie was well satisfied -with the outcome of their “walk in the garden.” For she felt that Kate -would be one to keep her word. Elsie might breathe freely, for a day -more at any rate, and not live in hourly terror of the discovery of her -secret, and the secret of the orchard house. - -Aunt Katherine had been watching them through the glass of the long -door. She smiled, apparently well pleased, as they came in now. She -said, “I am glad that you are getting acquainted. You should have a very -nice month together, you two. Kate must be tired, and I advise you both -to go right to bed. Breakfast is at quarter to eight.” - -“She was watching us while we talked at the door,” Elsie whispered as -they went up the stairs. “She thought we couldn’t leave off talking. She -imagines we’re bosom friends already.” - -But Kate walked on up with a set face. She did not trouble to answer. - - - - - CHAPTER V - KATE MAKES UP A FACE - - -As they neared their doors Elsie said, “Please tell Bertha if she’s in -your room that I shall be in the sitting-room when she’s through helping -you. I’m going right to bed then.” - -She stopped with her hand on the knob. “Wouldn’t you like to see the -sitting-room? It’s yours, too, now.” - -Kate looked in as Elsie opened the door and stood back. Now she knew why -Bertha had said that room was more “comfortable” than her bedroom. In -contrast to it her bedroom was almost nun-like. There were deep chairs -upholstered in gay cretonne, cretonne with parrots and poppies and birds -of paradise glowing against its yellow background. There was even a -little lounge, heaped with yellow pillows, drawn up under the windows. -In the centre of the room stood a square cherry-wood reading table, and -the walls were almost lined with bookshelves already about one third -filled with books. On the table stood a glass bowl filled with red -roses. A Japanese floor lamp cast a mellow light over everything. In one -corner a practical old Governor Winthrop desk with many drawers and a -wide writing leaf drew Kate’s eyes. Imagine having a desk like that just -for one’s own! - -But she did not show her appreciation of the room. She simply glanced -about it, as Elsie seemed to expect her to, and then muttering a crusty -“good-night” crossed the hall to her own room. - -Bertha was waiting for her there. Evidently Aunt Katherine had -instructed her that Kate would retire early. The opal lamp by the bed -was shedding its delicate radiance through the room, the bed was turned -down, Kate’s dressing gown and nightgown were spread across its foot, -and her bedroom slippers stood near at hand. Her bag had long since been -unpacked and put away. The “King of the Fairies” and the mystery -story—Sam and Lee’s gift—lay on the bed table under the lamp. - -Kate was very glad of her own cool, clear little room. She liked it -better than all that colour and ease across the hall. And in any case -she would never be able to share that other room with Elsie. She -determined not to go into it at all—no, not even to look over the books! - -“Miss Elsie is in the sitting-room,” she told Bertha. “She said to tell -you that when you were ready she would go to bed. I don’t need any help, -truly.” - -“Sha’n’t I even brush your hair, Miss Kate? That is so restful.” - -“You’ve unpacked for me. Thank you very much. My short hair doesn’t need -much brushing.” - -So, reluctantly, for Miss Frazier had requested her to attend to both -girls equally, Bertha took her dismissal. In a minute Kate heard voices -on the other side of Elsie’s door. Then Elsie opened the door and looked -in through the bathroom. - -“Aunt Katherine says we’re to leave these doors open,” she informed -Kate, calmly. “That is so you won’t be lonely.” - -Kate nodded an “all right.” But to herself she said, “I’d be a heap less -lonely if you’d close the door and I’d never see your face again.” - -She undressed well out of sight of Elsie’s room. When she was in -nightgown, dressing robe, and slippers, she sat down on the three-legged -ivory stool, before the hinged mirrors, brush in hand. She was surprised -by the expression of her own face as it looked back at her grimly out of -the glass. All its humour, its _charm_, was gone. She was just a rather -plain young girl. And as she looked at this disenchanted reflection it -suddenly went misty and blurred. She saw tears rising in its eyes. - -With an angry hand she dashed them away and stuck out her tongue at the -blurred face in the mirror. Then came her own laugh, the eyes crinkling -to slits, the mouth freed from its set lines and lifting wings in a -smile. - -“Idiot,” she whispered. “To cry about her! She’s a stuck-up little pig, -but you needn’t become a grouchy glum just for that. Be yourself in -spite of her.” - -But as she went toward the windows to push them a little farther back, -for the night was a warm and beautiful one, she turned her head and -looked through the open doors into Elsie’s room. Elsie was sitting -before her own dressing table, a replica of Kate’s. She was in an -exquisitely soft-looking pink dressing gown edged about the neck and the -long flowing sleeves with swansdown. Bertha stood behind her, brushing -her curls with long, even strokes. The eyes of the two girls met in -Elsie’s glass. Flashingly, Kate was glad she had made up a face and got -it over with; otherwise she would certainly have made up just the same -face now, at Elsie, before thinking. - -The pairs of eyes held each other in the glass for an instant. It must -have been something deceiving in the twin lights glowing at either side -of Elsie’s mirror, or in the glass itself, Kate decided afterward, but -for that instant it seemed that a _comrade_ had looked questioningly out -of the mirror at her! But the hidden comrade, if such it was, vanished -even before Kate had time to turn away. - -What a delicious bed Aunt Katherine had given her! She delighted in its -scented linen and light covers. She punched the fluffy pillows up into a -bolster, slipped out of her dressing gown and in between the smooth, -lavender-scented sheets. Sitting there against the pillows she took “The -King of the Fairies” on to her knee. She couldn’t sleep quite yet, she -knew. Why, at home she seldom went to bed before her mother, and now it -was not yet nine. The very sight, even the feeling of this book in her -hands filled her with a happy stir deep in the far wells of imagination. -She opened it casually. Any place would do since she already knew it -practically by heart. The very sight of the smooth, clearly printed -pages with their wide margins freed her. She was ready for space now and -clear, disentangled adventurings into light. - -Although the book was titled “The King of the Fairies” it was not at all -a fairy story for children. Kate had only just reached the age when it -could be cared about. It began with a girl and a boy quarrelling on a -fence in a meadow. It was a real quarrel, a horrid quarrel with hot and -sharp and bitter words. But it is interrupted by a tramp happening by. -He asks them a direction and they stop their recriminations for the time -to point him his way scornfully. Accepting their directions he still -tarries a while to ask them if they themselves don’t want some pointing. -Then the story, the marvellous story begins. He points to an elder bush -and asks them what it is. They tell him glibly. Then he gets on to the -fence between them and with his eyes level with theirs asks them to look -again. Everything is changed for the girl and boy in that instant. They -begin seeing as the tramp sees. They are in Paradise or Fairyland: the -author himself makes no clear distinction. But the elder bush is now -much more than an elder bush. And the meadow is full of a life the girl -and boy had never suspected. There are other beings moving in it, fairy -beings, perhaps. Not only is the invisible made visible to the girl and -boy seeing as the tramp sees, but the, until then at least, partly -visible—the brook, the trees, the very stones and the elder bush—are -seen to have more _life_ than could be suspected. And all colours are -changed, too. The boy and girl are seeing things in a new spectrum. - -Finally the three get down from the fence and wander about in this -Fairyland that has always been here truly but is only now seen. The book -is their day in the meadow. And when you have turned the last page you -do not remember it as a _book_. You remember it as a day in Fairyland or -Paradise—or as a day on which you saw things clear. And you never doubt -for a minute that the author himself is one who has certainly seen like -that. Perhaps he only saw it in a flash, but he did see for himself and -with his own eyes. - -In the end the boy and girl return to the fence and the tramp departs on -the way they had pointed out to him. But as he goes, he turns about when -he gets to the elder bush and they realize in that last glance from his -eyes that he is the King of the Fairies. Then as he turns again and -walks on, as long as he is in their sight, he is simply a common tramp. - -But their quarrel has dropped for ever dead between them. A boy and a -girl who have actually walked in Fairyland together and seen things -clear have nothing to quarrel about, and so long as they both shall live -can have nothing to quarrel about again. - -And though they had surely seen things clear for a whole day in the -meadow—the sun had risen to the meridian and gone down into the west -while they wandered—now when they look at each other there is no -indication that a minute has passed. The sun is where it was at the -height of their quarrel! And so it appears that the tramp’s arrival and -stay and departure and their whole day in the meadow was squeezed into -perhaps one straight meeting of their eyes as they quarrelled. - -But they do not spend themselves in wonder. This boy and girl are -Wisdom’s own children, in spite of the momentary silliness that had -plunged them head-first into the darkness of an enmity; they accept the -gods’ gifts. And for a boy and a girl who have spent a day in Fairyland -together, or for that matter only spent a minute there together, the -gods’ gift is marriage. - -Katherine, when she had finished the book, had said that it was the most -perfect love story she had ever read; she wished she were rich enough to -give it to all the lovers she knew. And she said, too, that the author -must be a very wonderful person, a great man in some field of life. -Perhaps that was why he had not signed his name to the work. - -As Kate read now, the conversation between Elsie and Bertha in the next -room was a humming undertone to her thoughts. She could not have caught -their words if she had listened. But she had no inclination to listen. -She was moving in a world where quarrels and bitter feelings were an -impossibility. She was seeing things through the eyes of the King of the -Fairies. She was in the meadows that she knew at home, feeling the -larger life there that the King of the Fairies had made known to her. -She was standing, tall, in the body of an elm tree, spreading with its -leaves to the sun, feeling with its roots into the vibrating ground. - -Suddenly a voice came to her. It was a long way she rushed back to find -the voice. Bertha was standing beside her bed. - -“Shall I turn out your light, Miss Kate? Or do you wish to read?” - -Kate did not know that Bertha had come into the room at all. Elsie’s -light was out, and if the doors through must be left open, Kate’s light -would disturb her. Of course she must put out her light and try to -sleep. She was on the verge of saying, “I will put out my own light, -thanks,” but the meadow from which she had rushed back had, oddly enough -as some might think, put her into more perfect harmony with her own -restricted four walls. So she said, “You may put the light out, thank -you.” And she did not even smile to herself when Bertha bent over the -table and pulled at the little chain that was much nearer Kate’s reach -than hers. She accepted the service naturally, since such acceptance was -Aunt Katherine’s wish and the purpose of Bertha’s presence here. - -“Good-night,” Bertha spoke out of the sudden darkness. - -“Good-night,” Kate answered. Then soft footfalls, and she was alone in -the room. - -But though “The King of the Fairies” had done a good deal for Kate it -had not had time to do enough to make her call a “good-night” to Elsie. -Suppose Aunt Katherine knew the two girls were going to sleep without a -word to each other! - -From her bed, now that the room was dark, Kate could see the dim apple -orchard under starlight. She rose on her elbow and strained her eyes for -the outlines of the little orchard house. She found it by hard looking. -How mysterious, how lonely, still how alive out there it stood. And she -_had_ heard a door close softly, just as though a door knob had turned -as they stood below those open back windows. And why were those windows -open? Elsie knew, Kate was sure. The little orchard house harboured some -secret of Elsie’s. - -But what was that! Kate sat up in bed and bent toward the window, her -eyes straining. A light, flickering, was moving down through the house! -Kate watched it as it went by several windows, breathless. Soon it -disappeared altogether, and a second after Kate thought she heard the -front door of the little orchard house softly closing, or opening; but -that must have been fancy, for the orchard house was much too far away -for a sound of that quality to carry to her. - -As she curled down into bed again her eyes crinkled with her smile in -the darkness. Well, here was mystery. She would write Sam and Lee that -she would save their mystery story for duller times. Now she was living -in one! - - - - - CHAPTER VI - “I WILL PAY FOR IT” - - -Kate was waked next morning by Elsie moving about in her room. She -opened her eyes quickly and sat up. To her surprise Elsie was dressed -and ready for the day. She looked as fresh as the July morning in a blue -and white gingham, white sport shoes and stockings. Her hair was pinned -up at her ears, and that made her look older but not less pretty than -last night. - -Kate was not a girl to wake up with a grudge on a morning like this, or -on any morning, in fact. So she sang out now, “Hello!” - -But Elsie, apparently, had not been mellowed by sleep. She responded to -the “hello” with a nod. Then, much to Kate’s surprise, she came directly -to the bed and picked up “The King of the Fairies” from the table there. - -“Bertha told me you had borrowed my book,” she said. “I don’t mind your -borrowing books. But I think you ought to ask. And Aunt Katherine didn’t -give me this one. I’m going to read outdoors before breakfast, and I -want ‘The King of the Fairies,’ if you don’t mind.” - -Kate laughed. “It’s my copy, not yours,” she said. “Mother and I gave it -to each other last Easter. It’s a perfectly great book, Mother thinks, -and I brought it with me here because I love it so.” - -Elsie was standing directly in the gilded morning sunlight. Kate had -just waked up and her eyes were still a little dazed from sleep. That -may account for her seeing again, flashingly, the comrade she had -surprised in the mirror last night. Surely Elsie’s whole being in that -flash radiated comradeship. And there was something more. Kate could not -remember, but sometime in her life—it felt a long time ago—she had -exchanged glances with that golden comrade! Or had it been just a vivid -dream she had had, or perhaps only the ideal she had set up in her mind -of the perfect comrade? - -But Elsie almost instantly moved out of the sunlight nearer the bed, and -everything was as before. - -“Please pardon me,” she said coldly. “I don’t know why it never entered -my head that you might have a copy of your own. That was stupid of me. -I’ll see you at breakfast.” - -“So it is still on,” Kate told herself, as Elsie left the room. “She -hates me. She hates me just awfully. And that was awfully rude about the -book, even if it had been hers! How _could_ she be so rude—to a _guest?_ -She is afraid of me, too. She is afraid I will discover the secret of -the orchard house. Why, perhaps she doesn’t hate me, personally at all. -Mayn’t it be just fear that makes her like that? For she has no reason -to hate me, and of course if she has some secret in the orchard house -she has every reason to think I may discover it. For I do mean to -explore it thoroughly when I get around to it.” - -Somehow the conviction she had come to, that fear rather than personal -dislike was ruling Elsie’s conduct, comforted her. Moreover, it was a -perfect morning—sunshine, a light breeze at the curtains, birds -carolling (how had she ever slept through the noise those birds were -making?) and the room pervaded by flower scents from balcony and -gardens. It was with a light heart, then, that Kate allowed Bertha to -run her bath, lay out her clothes, and finally even brush the bobbed -hair. Such unneeded service seemed absurd to Kate, but it was in the -order of this household, and some fresh sweetness she had brought from -sleep made her eager to harmonize herself as much as possible with the -world she had come back to. But even so, in a minute when Bertha’s back -was turned, Kate grabbed the brush from the dressing table and gave a -quick, surreptitious stroke that turned the bang Bertha had created into -a wing across her brows; for Bertha, experienced lady’s maid as she was, -had not caught the knack of _that_ so quickly. - -It was with a heart as bright as the morning that Kate finally went down -the long stairs just as the soft-toned gong was sounding. There was no -sign of breakfast being laid in the dining-room, so she wandered about -the house, in and out of the rooms she had only glimpsed through open -doors last night. - -Everything was quite beautiful. Kate knew that Aunt Katherine had once -been determined to “go in for art seriously.” But at that time money had -been lacking for such a design, and she had with keen disappointment -submitted to fate and become a school teacher. When wealth had suddenly -come to her everyone thought she would, of course, take up study with -some great master and become an artist. But this never came about. -Perhaps the first disappointment had been too keen; perhaps in giving up -her hope so definitely she had made it impossible for herself ever to -renew it under any conditions. But now, wandering about these rooms that -Aunt Katherine had made, Kate realized that she had turned artist in a -way. Instead of painting on canvas she had created beauty in her -environment. For her home was like a warmly painted picture with -beautiful lights and shadows. And Kate soon felt as though she were -walking around in a picture. The morning sunshine outside was its great -gilded frame. That was how the utter silence and absence of human beings -in these big downstairs rooms explained itself to her fancy; somehow she -had walked into a picture painted by her great aunt, a picture hung up -somewhere in an enormous gilded frame. This fancy stirred her -imagination and she pretended so hard to herself that it became quite -real. - -That is why she almost started when she finally did hear voices and the -clink of china. Coming out of the picture into everyday life, suddenly -like that, was something of a jar. And she was probably late for -breakfast wherever it was being served. She hurried her steps and found -Aunt Katherine and Elsie already at the meal. They were sitting at a -little table under a peach tree growing up between the flags of a -terrace just outside a sunny breakfast-room. How delightful! Kate was -glad now to step down out of the picture. - -Aunt Katherine greeted her with a welcoming smile. And having just -stepped down out of Aunt Katherine’s picture Kate felt that she -understood her, that they were very close to each other really. How -different, and how pleasantly different, Great Aunt Katherine was -proving herself from Kate’s preconceived ideas of her. - -Kate took the little garden chair waiting for her and unfolded her -napkin. Coffee was percolating visibly in two large glass globes set one -on top of the other before Aunt Katherine. The silver sugar bowl and -cream pitcher turned all the sunlight that found them into a million -diamond sparkles. A half grapefruit with ice snuggled about it was at -Kate’s place. Kate lifted the slender pointed spoon made just for -grapefruit, and gratefully tasted the tart pulp and juice. - -“Elsie might have shown you the way,” Aunt Katherine was saying. “I -thought of course you would come down together.” - -“I am sorry I was late. But it was fun wandering around in the house -trying to find you.” And then Kate told them all about how she had felt -herself in a picture. - -Aunt Katherine was pleased. “Was it really like that to you, my house?” -she asked. - -“Oh, yes! and more so than I know how to say. Most of the windows and -doors open, the glimpses of tree branches and flowers and sky, the light -and shade in the rooms, all the flowers in vases in surprising places, -the colours of everything, the hangings——” - -Kate stopped, embarrassed by her own enthusiasm, or perhaps discomfited -by Elsie’s cool gaze. But she had said more than enough to give Aunt -Katherine very real and deep pleasure. - -“Then I see,” she told Kate, “why you did not mind wandering about alone -or our seeming inhospitality. And I think your dress, my dear, fitted -into the picture. It is a very poetic dress.” - -Kate flushed with pleasure. “Mother would love to hear you say that,” -she said. “We made it out of the new chintz curtains in her bedroom. You -see I had to have some dresses, and there were the curtains. Mother -thought——” - -But at mention of her mother Kate saw in morning light what she had -failed to see last night in lamplight: the deepening of pain lines -around Aunt Katherine’s eyes and mouth, a cloud of pain somehow in her -face. So she broke off her account of Katherine’s ingenuity. - -“I’m glad you like it,” she finished lamely. - -“I have brought you the key to the orchard house,” Aunt Katherine said, -as though it were a matter she would like to be done with quickly. -“Elsie will show you all over it and around it. Then I have an errand at -the post office I wish you girls would do for me. I have a very busy -morning ahead. The car is at your disposal this morning, and I should -think you would take a good long ride. It is really too warm to do -anything more energetic. At least, it promises to be a very warm day.” - -Kate looked at the key which Aunt Katherine had handed her. It was an -old-fashioned brass key, clumsy and heavy but not too big to go into her -pocket. When she had tucked it away there she raised defiant eyes to -Elsie. But her defiance suddenly turned to pity. Elsie looked so -troubled! - -Aunt Katherine with a word of apology to the girls picked up the mail -now lying at her place and began reading the one or two personal letters -she found among the circulars, pleas for charity, and advertisements. -Kate leaned toward Elsie and said quickly and softly, “Don’t worry. -You’re safe to-day and to-morrow, too, and for as long as you mind, I -guess. If I see the little house sometime, what does it matter when?” - -Elsie nodded to signify that she had caught the very low words, and her -face cleared. - -“Ungrateful thing! She might at least have thanked me,” Kate reflected. - -But very soon she learned that Elsie was thanking her for that impulsive -gesture of generosity in her own way. When they joined each other in the -big car that was waiting for them at the door, half an hour later, Elsie -was plainly trying to force herself to be friendly and natural. But -since this friendliness was forced, Kate’s response to it was of -necessity forced, too. Oh, how different everything was turning out -between these two girls from the way Kate had dreamed it! - -“Don’t you think Oakdale is pretty?” Elsie asked. “People care so much -about their gardens. And then the streets are all so wide and shady, and -where they aren’t wide they are just little lanes like ours that end -perhaps in a gate or an open meadow. Those endings of streets seem -romantic to me always.” - -“Yes, I think they are romantic,” Kate agreed. “And when your lane -turned all the away around and ended in the orchard, that must have been -awfully romantic. I wonder why Aunt Katherine ever let the grass grow -over it so that it got lost, the end of the lane!” - -Something in Elsie’s restrained silence at this remark made Kate realize -that she had blundered. Oh, dear! She hadn’t meant to. Truly! She tried -to explain. - -“You see it was my mother’s house, Elsie. You can’t know what fun it is -to imagine your mother a little girl, to see for the first time the -house where she was born and the places where she played. Everything -about your mother’s childhood—well, there’s a kind of mystery about it.” - -Elsie deliberately turned away her face. “Oh, I’m sorry. What an idiot I -am! I had forgotten about your mother! How could I be such a—brute!” - -Elsie looked at Timothy’s back steadily. “Don’t be so sorry as all -that,” she replied coolly and without any apparent emotion in her voice. -“My mother was killed in an automobile accident in France two years ago. -But I never knew her, anyway. When I was at home she was usually -somewhere else, at house-parties or sanitariums, or abroad. And I was -only home for holidays. She sent me off to boarding school when I was -eight. Her being dead hasn’t made much difference to me. I was terribly -sorry for her when they told me, that was all. She was so pretty, and -too young-seeming to be a mother. And she would have hated dying! -Sometimes I _ache_ for her when I think of that. But that’s all.” - -“Oh, how can you! How can you speak about a dead mother like that!” -Kate’s heart was crying. But she only said, after a second: “There are -lots of jolly-looking girls and boys in this town. Do you know them all? -They keep looking at us, but you never speak. Don’t you _see_ people? -Mother’s like that. She’s so absent minded.” - -But even this was an unfortunate subject. Unlucky Kate! - -“I know who most of them are but of course I don’t know them socially.” - -This was amazing. “Why not?” - -But here all Elsie’s attempt at friendliness broke down. She turned on -Kate a tigerish face. “Yes, why not?” she almost hissed. “You know very -well, Kate Marshall, why not. Here’s the post office.” - -Kate was shocked. “Well, I certainly _don’t_ know ‘why not’,” she -contradicted. “I haven’t the least idea—unless you treat them in the -rude, horrid way you treat me.” - -The car had drawn up to the curb and come to a stand-still before the -pride of Oakdale’s civic life, its white marble post office built on the -lines of a Greek temple. Elsie’s only answer to Kate’s denial was a -shrug. - -“Have you letters? And are there any errands?” - -Timothy stood on the sidewalk asking for orders. - -Elsie stood up quickly. “I’ll post the letters myself,” she answered -him. Kate noticed for the first time a package that Elsie was carrying. -Across the top the word “Manuscript” was written in a round hand, and -the address was that of a publishing house and caught Kate’s attention -because it was the same publishing house that had brought out “The King -of the Fairies.” Kate read the large round black handwriting quite -mechanically and without any motive of curiosity as Elsie stepped past -her out of the car. - -When Elsie was halfway up the post-office steps she turned and ran back -to the curb. “Tell me,” she said, “didn’t Aunt Katherine ask us to do -something for her? I’ve quite forgotten what it was.” - -“Yes. A dollar book of stamps and ten special deliveries. She gave you -the money.” - -“Oh, thanks. Good for your memory.” - -“What is she sending to those publishers?” Kate found herself wondering -when the spinning glass doors had closed on her “cousin.” “There was a -special delivery stamp on it, too. And it filled her mind so full that -she quite forgot Aunt’s errands. Can Elsie be trying to _write_? Oh, -wouldn’t that be exciting!” - -“Now Holt and Holt’s,” Elsie ordered Timothy when she returned to the -car. - -“Holt and Holt’s is a grocery store. I noticed it as we came by,” Kate -said. “I didn’t hear Aunt Katherine say anything about groceries.” - -“Of course not. Julia, the cook, attends to all that over the telephone. -This is my errand. Do you mind?” - -Kate refused to rise to the sarcasm in Elsie’s “Do you mind?” - -But at the grocers’ she said, “I think I’ll come, too, and stretch my -legs.” - -“All right.” But Kate distinctly felt that Elsie did not at all like the -idea of having her companionship in the store. However, her pride would -not let her turn back now, of course. - -Elsie’s order was given briskly: “A head of crisp Iceland lettuce,” she -said, “a small bottle of salad oil, genuine Italian, half a pound of -almonds, half a dozen eggs, and the smallest loaf of bread you have. Oh, -yes, and a pound of flour, if you sell so little.” - -“Thanks,” said the young clerk who had written the order down in his -book. - -But Elsie waited. He looked at her inquiringly. “Anything more?” - -“No. But I want what I ordered.” - -“I thought we’d send it, of course. It will be quite a load.” - -“No. Please do the things up and put them into my car for me. How much -is it all?” - -“Oh, that’s all right. You’re Miss Frazier, aren’t you? You folks have a -charge account here.” - -“However, I want to pay for these things myself. Do not by any means put -them on Miss Frazier’s account.” Elsie spoke primly but with flushed -cheeks that contradicted her outward composure. - -“Thought I’d just tell you. Yesterday when you came in and paid for -things Mr. Holt said there must be some mistake.” - -“There is no mistake. And will you please put the box of eggs in a bag? -Not just tie them with a string like that!” - -“We’re going up your way, miss, in about ten minutes. Why don’t we take -’em?” - -But Elsie shook her head, biting her lips with annoyance at the young -man’s persistence. She commanded him to put the things into the car. - -“To the Bookshop now,” she ordered Timothy as they started again. - -At the Bookshop Kate did not speak of getting out, though it certainly -attracted her more than the grocery store. But Elsie herself turned at -the door. “Don’t you want to come, too, Kate?” she called. “It’s an -awfully cunning little place.” - -Kate and her mother were always drawn by bookshops wherever they found -them, and they spent in them during the course of a year a sum that it -would have taken no budget expert to see was all out of proportion to -their income. But then, Katherine always said when the subject of -“budgeting” came up that it was as foolish to make rules about the -spending of money as it would be to make rules about the spending of -time. It was a matter for the individual, strictly. Kate followed Elsie -eagerly, now. - -It was such a little shop that Kate, although she immediately gravitated -toward a table of books that interested her particularly, could not -avoid hearing Elsie’s conversation with the Bookshop woman. - -“Have you Havelock Ellis’s ‘Dance of Life’?” she asked. - -“Yes, a new order has just come in. I knew Miss Frazier wanted it and I -was sending it up first thing this afternoon. Would you like to take -it?” - -“Yes, I’ll take one for my aunt, if she ordered it. I’ll take two. One -is for myself, and I will pay for it.” - -“Your aunt always charges. Sha’n’t I charge them both?” - -“No, I will pay for it. How much is it?” - -“Four dollars.” - -“Four dollars! Oh, dear! So much?” - -The woman was very obliging. “Why not charge it?” she suggested again, -for Elsie was looking woefully into her purse. - -“No. Let me think a minute. Well, I won’t buy it to-day.” - -Elsie’s face had so fallen, she was so obviously disappointed, that Kate -went over to her. “I have money,” she offered. “Five dollars. You can -borrow from me.” - -But as she spoke her glance quite unconsciously fell upon the purse -opened in Elsie’s hand. A little roll of crisp bills lay there for any -one to see, amounting surely to more than four dollars. - -“No, thanks.” Elsie replied, snapping the purse shut. “Let’s go home.” - -Kate turned it over quickly as they went back to the car. Why had Elsie -acted, as she certainly had acted, as though she did not have four -dollars in her purse when it was perfectly plain that she had more? And -why did she want the book, anyway? Katherine had bought that book less -than a week ago, and Kate had had an opportunity to look into it to find -what of interest there might be for herself. She had found nothing. It -was decidedly a book for adults, a rather deep book, and, to Kate’s -mind, a dull book. But perhaps Elsie only wanted it to give away. -Anyway, she would ask no questions. It was none of her business. - -Timothy showed distinct surprise at Elsie’s nonchalant “Home, Timothy.” -And Kate understood his surprise. Aunt Katherine had given them the car -for the morning and Timothy was all prepared to start off on a long -drive. But Elsie had apparently forgotten about this in her worry over -the book. And Kate had no impulse to remind her. If things were only as -one might expect them to be, not all so strangely mysterious and -unpleasant, a car at her disposal and a comrade on a beautiful summer -morning like this would have seemed the height of pleasure. But such a -ride with Elsie would certainly be no fun, and she did not think until -it was too late that she alone with Timothy might start off on an -exploring adventure. - -When they got out of the car in front of their own door, Timothy, as a -matter of course, expected to take the packages from the grocery store -around to the servants’ entrance. But Elsie held out her hands for them. -He relinquished them to her, plainly puzzled. Surely they were -groceries! - -When the two girls stood together in the big front hall Kate said -briefly: “Good-bye. I’m going out into the garden.” - -“Wait on the terrace outside the drawing-room and I’ll come with you,” -Elsie responded, very unexpectedly. “First I’ll just run up to my room -with these bundles. I know a lot about the kinds of flowers and things -in the garden. Let me show it all to you.” - -Kate was almost dazed by this suggestion. She had certainly been made to -feel that Elsie was only too eager to get rid of her company. She stood -where she had been left, wondering. - -Why had Elsie taken lettuce and oil and bread and eggs and flour and -nuts up to her room? What could she ever do with them up there? - -“I’ll not ask her about it,” she promised herself, “just not a thing. -But I shall write to Mother and the boys this morning. I won’t tell -Mother how horrid Elsie is being, though. She would be too disappointed -for me. And I’m really not having such a bad time as it might sound. But -I’ll tell the boys just everything. They will be as mystified as I am. -And to think I was dissatisfied with them for chums and wanted a _girl_! -I’ll appreciate them when I get back, that’s certain. Oh, of course! Why -didn’t I think at first! Elsie doesn’t trust me in the garden alone! -That’s why she wants to come with me. She is afraid I won’t keep my -promise. She’s afraid I will go ‘prowling’ around the orchard house. I -just wish I hadn’t promised not to use the key. It would be something to -do with this morning she’s spoiled. And something to write Mother about. -And it might explain some of the mystery. There _was_ a light last -night. I saw it plain enough. The boys will be interested in all that. -How soon can I expect letters from home, I wonder?” - -With these thoughts Kate went out through the cool, shady drawing-room -and on to the terrace. There in the shade of some trellised wisteria she -sat down on a garden bench to wait for Elsie. - - - - - CHAPTER VII - “EVEN SO——” - - -Elsie was a very long time in coming. As the minutes dragged themselves -along Kate’s cheeks began to get hot even before she realized that she -was angry. But after she had waited so long that she was convinced Elsie -was not coming at all she got up with a shrug. Any one who knew Kate -would have seen at once that she was in no ordinary mood; for shrugs or -any such Latin methods of self-expression were quite foreign to this -girl, New England bred. - -She went up to her room for paper. Now was the time to write to her -mother and Sam and Lee. Certainly she had enough to tell them! - -The door to the sitting-room across the hall was standing open and a -glance assured Kate that it was empty. And while she did not actually -look into Elsie’s room she heard no sound and felt that Elsie was not -there. But she had no idea where Bertha had put the writing paper when -she unpacked the suitcase and the envelopes and stamps. She searched -through the drawers of the dressing table. But there were only her -ribbons, her handkerchiefs, her underclothes arranged artistically. No -sign of paper or fountain pen. So, although she had meant never to go -into the sitting-room, she was forced to now. Her writing materials must -be in the desk there. - -She found them at once. And now being in the room, she took the occasion -to look all about. It was the jolliest place imaginable for a girl to -call her own! And since the morning had grown rather oppressively hot it -was a refuge, too; for there was a breeze on this side of the house and -it was the coolest spot Kate had found herself in that morning. Tree -shadows stood on the walls, and leaf shadows shook in a green, cool -light. It would be very nice to sit here and write. But Kate could not -bring herself to do it. She reminded herself that this was Elsie’s desk -and room, and therefore hateful. - -Picking up her own property she hurried out and down the stairs. Once in -the garden she made directly for the apple orchard. She would allow -herself to walk along the edge viewing the orchard house from that -angle. If Elsie called that prowling, let her! As she walked she felt -the brass key in her pocket. But though now her whole mind was on the -house and her desire to go into it, it never entered her head to break -her promise. Elsie certainly deserved her anger, but revengeful thinking -was quite outside of Kate’s mentality. - -When she had walked the whole length of the orchard she came to a low, -broad hedge that marked the termination of Aunt Katherine’s grounds. -Near it she sat down, not in the orchard but in its shade, and placing -her block of paper on her knee began to write. - -“Dearest Mother”:—And then so suddenly that it startled her, tears -blotted the two words. At the same minute she heard running feet. Kate -winked fast and furiously and looked up. Elsie was standing over her. -She was flushed from running in the heat and her eyes were very bright -and soft. Again she was radiating happiness as on Kate’s first glimpse -of her. On her arm swung a straw basket and one hand held a pair of -shining shears. Kate felt that she would rather die on the spot than let -Elsie guess that she was crying. But if Elsie saw the tears she showed -no sign. - -“I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner, and that I asked you to wait.” She -spoke in a conciliatory tone. “Truly I’m not so rude as I seemed. But I -had an unexpected opportunity to attend to something that needed -attention and there wasn’t time to run down and tell you. It had to be -done quickly. But now I’m ready. I thought as we walked around I’d cut -some flowers for our rooms. Aunt Katherine likes me to keep my vases -filled.” - -Now it was Kate who was cold and distant. Her shame in her tears made -that necessary. “I’m writing to my mother,” she answered. “And I don’t -need to be entertained a bit. Some other time I’ll help you with the -flowers.” - -Elsie’s glow flickered and went out. “Very well,” she said, and turned -away sharply to cut some nasturtiums growing around the foot of an apple -tree. - -But just as she turned there came a shout from over the hedge. A boy -older than themselves, in fact a young man of seventeen probably, had -come to the tennis court, only a few paces beyond the hedge, with a -racket and balls in his hand. He was calling to a girl on the steps of -the piazza of the house next door. “Hurry up,” he shouted. “Come on.” - -“Yes. Just a minute.” The girl was bending over on the steps, tying her -shoe perhaps. In a minute she had come bounding down the long slope of -the lawn and joined her brother. - -Kate looked at them interestedly. “Who are they?” she asked of Elsie. -Elsie gave her the information without turning. “That’s Rose Denton and -her brother Jack. And they’d ask you to play, probably, if they saw you, -and I weren’t here. They just barely speak to me.” - -“Barely speak to you? And they live right next door?” - -“Yes, queer, isn’t it!” The voice above the nasturtiums was sarcastic. -“Only get yourself noticed and you’ll soon know them. Hope you have a -good time.” - -Elsie straightened up, adjusted her basket on her arm, and moved away. -But Kate called after her, her voice shaking with anger, “I don’t know -why you are so queer, Elsie Frazier, or why you haven’t friends. But -while I’m visiting you it isn’t likely I’d play with people who won’t -play with you, no matter how much they asked me. That’s that.” - -Elsie turned and walked backward now. “Well, Kate Marshall, I’m afraid -you’ll have just a horrid month then,” she prophesied. And with a -strange, almost strangled little laugh she whirled about and was really -off with her basket and shears. - -Kate watched her as she went, floating toward the gardens across the -smooth lawn. “She walks like a dryad,” she thought, “and she looks like -a Dorothy Lathrop fairy.” Then she smiled a little woefully at her own -fancy. “She may look like a fairy but she’s a horrid, stuck-up thing -just the same,” she reminded herself. - -But she found relief for her overcharged emotions when she came to the -compositions of her letter to the Hart boys. There she described Elsie -just as she was and had behaved. Not one unpleasant thing that Elsie had -done was forgotten. Perhaps it was rather horrid of Kate to complain so -unrestrainedly and set down so much criticism. But she did not give that -a thought—not then. When the letter was finished and in its envelope she -pulled it out again to add a postscript. - - P. S. It’s all true what I have told you about Elsie Frazier, every - bit. But _even so_, I don’t hate her and now that I’ve written about - her I’m not even angry any more. She’s hardly said a friendly word or - acted a bit as you would expect her to to a guest, but even so if she - only were nice to me I’d be quite crazy about her. That isn’t just - because she’s so pretty, either. I don’t know why I feel that way, but - I do. She’s exactly the sort of chum I’ve always imagined having some - day. And there’s one thing good I can tell you about her. She likes - “The King of the Fairies,” I think. Anyway, she owns it. So what do - you make of it all? And what about the light in the orchard house? And - why do you suppose Elsie is so set against my using the key? And why - did she buy those groceries and take them up to her room? Don’t tell - Mother a word I’ve told you about how mean Elsie is. _She_ must think - I’m having a _lovely_ time—at least, until I know whether I can stick - it out or not. K.M. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - KATE MEETS A DETECTIVE - - -When Kate came to luncheon that day she was surprised to see a letter -lying at her place. So soon? Why, she had not been here a day yet! - -“It’s not your mother’s handwriting,” Aunt Katherine said, a little -curiously. - -“No, it’s from the boys. Oh, I’m so glad!” - -“The boys?” - -“Yes, I told you about them last night, you know. The twins. The Harts. -How jolly of them to write me so soon!” - -“But what can they have to tell you since yesterday?” - -“It will be all about Mother, and much better than a letter from her -herself because she doesn’t know how to tell about herself, you know. -She’s always so silent on that subject. Do you mind, Aunt, if I just -open it and peek?” - -“Of course, my dear, read it. Elsie and I will excuse you.” - -But there was almost no letter inside. There was one paragraph in the -exact centre of a big square sheet of yellow notepaper, written in a -script so small and round and legible that it was almost print like. But -the very wide margins were bordered with a series of pen sketches that -told a story in its progressive action something in the way a moving -picture does. It was the story of a picnic the Harts had arranged for -yesterday afternoon with Katherine the guest of honour. Professor Hart, -in an endeavour to rescue the lunch basket which had fallen into a -brook, had evidently fallen in after it. That perhaps was the high mark -in the artist’s work. But the picnic had been chock full of adventure -one could see at a glance; and Lee’s quick humour and real art had -turned even the worst mishaps into fun. - -The paragraph was in Sam’s hand, and began: “Dear Kate, if you are well -it is well. We also are well.” Apparently he had nothing whatsoever to -say, but he said it cheerfully. - -Kate crinkled up her eyes and laughed so wholeheartedly over the -nonsense that she felt herself rude. She passed the paper to Aunt -Katherine. “You will see that I can’t help it,” she explained. - -And Aunt Katherine, after she had studied the pictures a few seconds and -skimmed the paragraph, laughed, too, a light, genuinely amused laugh. -“It’s not only funny, though,” she insisted, “it’s artistic. Which boy -drew these pictures?” - -“Lee. He’s always sketching. He means to be a real artist.” - -“I think he is that already. All he needs now is study. I would say he -has a future if he has the will to stick to it.” - -Aunt Katherine now handed the letter to Elsie and turned back to Kate to -remark: “Your mother, on accepting my invitation for you, mentioned the -fact that you were lonely, in need of friends as much as Elsie. But I -don’t see how any one could be more companionable or amusing than these -boys, from your descriptions and this letter.” - -Kate glowed at Aunt Katherine’s appreciation of Sam and Lee. “Oh, Mother -meant _girl_ friends. There just doesn’t happen to be any one near my -age in Ashland. And while boys are all right, they aren’t exactly the -same.” - -Elsie had lost some of her indifference and coldness over the letter. -She was almost smiling, in fact. Now she was actually smiling. Kate -beamed. This was certainly the most natural minute and the happiest -since her arrival. She blessed the Hart boys for having created it. - -But Aunt Katherine was surprised when it developed that the girls had -not been exploring the countryside in the car that morning. - -“Didn’t you use Timothy at all?” she asked. - -“Just for errands in the town. Kate wrote letters and I picked and -arranged flowers, and read ‘The King of the Fairies.’” - -“One would think, Elsie, you possessed only one book. When are you going -to finish with ‘The King of the Fairies’?” - -“Oh, I don’t know.” Elsie’s tone had fallen suddenly into sulkiness. - -But though Aunt Katherine did not seem to notice the sudden chilling of -the atmosphere, Kate did and spoke quickly, a trifle nervously. - -“Haven’t you read ‘The King of the Fairies,’ Aunt Katherine?” - -“Why, no. It’s a fairy story, a child’s book. It surprises me that -Elsie, a big girl of fifteen, finds it so fascinating.” - -“Mother finds it fascinating, too,” Kate hurried to assure her. “And I -know it just about by heart. Mother keeps saying it’s the most beautiful -love story she ever read. And even the boys like it. They felt just the -way you do about its title. But once they got into it they couldn’t -stop. If you read it yourself you’d see why.” - -Kate was fairly radiant with her enthusiasm about this book. Her aunt -smiled into her eager eyes. “I shall certainly look it over, then,” she -promised. “It must be an unusual book to inspire such loyalty.” - -“I’ll bring my copy down and put it on your reading table right after -luncheon.” - -“You have a copy with you! It _must_ be a favourite! Thank you, Kate.” - -But Elsie did not offer a word to this topic. She sat, colder than ever, -looking at the wall to the right of Kate’s shoulder. - -“As Timothy hasn’t been working this morning, I think I shall have him -take me in to Boston this afternoon,” Aunt Katherine said, as she helped -the girls to lemon ice which had just been set before her in a frosted -bowl. “Driving is about the coolest thing one can do to-day. Will either -or both of you come with me?” - -“Oh, yes. _I_ should love to.” Kate was secretly relieved that with this -promise she would not be thrown alone with Elsie again that afternoon. -And she was even more relieved when Elsie said, “I don’t believe I’ll -go, thank you, Aunt Katherine. I shall read or do something here.” - -As Kate was on her way up to get her hat for the drive she was stopped -at the stair-turning by a woman who had come through a door connecting -with a different staircase. She was a middle-aged, plump person with -graying curly hair, in a starched black and white print dress, almost -entirely concealed by a crisp white apron. It was the cook, Julia. - -“How do you do, Miss Kate,” she said, hurriedly, and almost in a -whisper. “Excuse me, but I just had to ask how is your blessed mother? -Miss Frazier never tells us anything at all. She ain’t sick or anything, -is she, and that’s why you’re here?” - -Kate reassured her. “But did you know Mother?” she asked. - -“Of course. We all did, ’cept Isadora. She’s new since. Your mother was -for ever in and out of the house and we all loved her. Didn’t she ever -tell you the time she broke her arm falling on the kitchen stairs? And -she never cried, if you’ll believe me. Only moaned just a bit, even when -the doctor come and fixed it. Miss Frazier was away and old Mr. Frazier, -too. So I had to manage. Didn’t she ever tell you?” - -Kate had to admit that she had never heard the story. - -“Well, she wan’t one to talk about herself, she wan’t. Always interested -in _you_ and sort of forgot herself like.” - -Kate nodded at that. Evidently Julia did know her mother. - -“And you say she’s perfectly well? We’ll all be grateful for that.” - -Aunt Katherine’s voice came up to them from the hall at this point. She -was talking to Elsie. As quickly as she had appeared, Julia whisked -about and was out of the door through which she had come. But quick as a -wink, and almost as if by magic, before she vanished she had produced -from somewhere a gingerbread man and pushed it into Kate’s hand. - -Kate looked at the gift, amused, when Julia was gone. “She couldn’t have -realized how old I am,” she thought, smiling. “She thinks I’m just -Mother’s ‘child.’” Up in her room she hid it under her pillow. - - * * * * * * * * - -It was pleasant speeding along with her aunt toward Boston, creating -their own breeze as they went through the hot July afternoon. - -“Now tell me, Kate,” Aunt Katherine questioned her abruptly as soon as -they were on their way. “Are you and Elsie getting on well? Are you -becoming friends?” - -This was difficult for Kate. She hesitated. “I don’t think Elsie likes -me,” she said finally. “She tries to be—polite, I think.” - -“Not like you? Nonsense! How could she help liking you?” - -Kate laughed. “I suppose you _can’t_ like everybody,” she said modestly. -“But Elsie doesn’t seem to like very many people. That boy and girl next -door—she doesn’t play with them.” - -“Oh, Rose and Jack Denton. You know the reason for the coldness there, -of course. But you are quite different.” - -“No, I don’t know the reason. Why hasn’t she friends here? I don’t know -anything. She hasn’t explained at all.” - -Aunt Katherine showed real surprise. “Do you mean your mother hasn’t -told you why things are difficult for Elsie? Is she as ashamed as that? -Well, she feels even more strongly than I had suspected then.” - -Bitterness and sorrow had settled on Aunt Katherine’s features. - -“I don’t think Mother knew anything to tell me,” Kate protested. “Why -are things difficult for Elsie?” - -“If your mother hasn’t told you, she wouldn’t want _me_ to. That is -certain. But I am surprised she let you come, feeling so. However, since -she did let you come, and you have no prejudice, Elsie has no business -to include you in her rages. You are the one person in the world she -should be friendly with and grateful to. And, you know, I am sure she -exaggerates other people’s attitude, anyway. The young people would be -friendly enough if she would only go halfway.” - -Aunt Katherine put her hand on Kate’s arm and continued earnestly: “That -is one reason why I wanted you to come so much, to help us break the -ice. Friday I am giving a party in your honour, Kate, an informal little -dance.” - -Kate clasped her hands. For a minute she forgot all the mystery that had -gone before in her aunt’s speech. - -“A dance! Oh, Aunt Katherine, how beautiful of you!” To herself she -added, “Glory, glory! Already things are beginning to happen just as -Mother said they would.” - -“I have asked fifteen boys and thirteen girls. _They have all, every -one, accepted!_ If that doesn’t prove how mistaken Elsie is, I am a very -foolish woman.” - -“Elsie hasn’t mentioned the party to me,” Kate wondered aloud. - -“No. I haven’t told her anything about it yet. I wanted you here and -established first. I hoped that once you and she were having a happy, -gay time together, she would soften, feel more in the mood. Most of the -young people I have asked she had met when visiting me during school -vacations. She was very popular with them before—well, before. But there -are a few new families who have come to Oakdale since—well, since.” - -“Before what? Since what?” If it was rude of Kate, she could not help -it. It was all too mystifying. - -“But that’s just what I can’t tell you, since Katherine hasn’t. Only, -your not knowing makes it a bit complicated. No, I’m not sure of that. -It may make everything more simple, more natural. But tell me, can’t you -be friends with Elsie? She needs your friendship and companionship more -than you can guess, my dear.” - -“I’m sorry. Perhaps we shall be friends yet. But she does act awfully -_queer_. Oh, it’s mean of me to talk about her so. Perhaps I’ve done -something. Perhaps there’s a reason.” - -“Well, she’s a strange child. Strange! But she used to be different. I -always thought she seemed a little lost and lonely, you know. That was -mostly because of her mother—no mother at all, in reality. Just a -butterfly. In spite of that Elsie was agreeable and tender once. Quite a -dear. But since she has come to live with me she has been entirely a -changed person. You must believe, though, Kate, that there is no more -reason for her to be unfriendly toward you than there is for her to be -unfriendly toward me. And I am speaking truly when I say there has -hardly been a friendly moment between us since she came into my home. -She is polite, beautifully polite. I suppose that absurd fashionable -boarding school she was sent to taught her manners. But it goes no -deeper. How do _you_ feel about it? Is there anything unkind or wrong in -the way I treat Elsie? Have you noticed anything in the brief time you -have been here?” - -Kate was amazed to have Aunt Katherine so appealing to her. All barriers -were down between them. They were talking as two girls might, or two -women. - -“Nothing unkind, of course! I don’t know how you could be kinder. But, -Aunt Katherine, do you truly like Elsie? It may be that she _feels_, in -spite of your kindness, that you just don’t like her.” - -“Does it seem that way to you?” - -“No—perhaps not. But there is something in your voice when you speak to -her—a difference. I don’t know how to express it. If you truly don’t -like her, perhaps you can’t help showing it a little.” - -Aunt Katherine said no more for a while. But she was thinking. “It’s -queer,” she said finally, “very queer, the way I am talking to you. I am -treating you as though you were your mother almost. And you are like -your mother, in deep ways. Only you are franker, more open. You say -right out the things that she might think but wouldn’t say. Well, and -since I am saying things right out, too—I _don’t_ like Elsie. You are -right there. I tried to. But I simply couldn’t. She is too unnatural, -too cold and heartless, and perhaps self-seeking. The irony of it is -that she is all I have left to love, the only person in the world who -needs me now—or, rather, the only person who will let herself use me. -But I can’t like her.” - -Kate was embarrassed at this revelation, and at the same time deeply -sorry for her aunt. For the present the subject dropped between them. - - * * * * * * * * - -In Boston Kate looked about her with the greatest interest as the car -crept through the crowded business section. She had been in Boston -before on brief holiday visits with her mother, stopping at little -boarding houses, and spending most of the time in art galleries or the -Museum or on trolley rides to places of historical interest. But now she -was seeing it from a new angle, leisurely and in comfort. There was no -jostling, no hurrying, no aching feet. - -They drew up to a curb in Boylston Street. Timothy got out and came -around for orders. “Go up and ask Mr. O’Brien to come down to the car, -Timothy. Tell him I have only a minute.” - -Almost at once a spruce, energetic-looking young man stood at the car -door, his straw hat in his hand. - -“Wouldn’t it be better to have our interview, no matter how brief, in my -office, Miss Frazier?” he suggested deferentially. - -Miss Frazier shook her head with decision. “No. I just want to ask you -one question. Is there any news?” - -Mr. O’Brien glanced toward Kate significantly. - -“This is my niece,” Miss Frazier informed him but not at all in the way -of an introduction. “Tell me, have you the slightest news?” - -“Nothing that is very certain. We have a new clue, perhaps. But I cannot -go into that before your niece, Miss Frazier.” - -“Oh, this is not Elsie. It’s another niece, a blood relation. And I do -not intend to climb those stairs to your office. You can surely give me -some hint.” - -“There is an elevator. You forget.” - -“No matter. I am not going up. Be quick, please. Naturally, I am -impatient.” - -Kate was certainly catching a glimpse now of the bossy Aunt Katherine of -tradition. - -“Well, we just have an idea. We should like to know whether your other -niece, Miss Elsie, ever comes into Boston alone. Has she been in this -week, say?” - -“Why, no. Certainly not. Bertha, her maid, is with her when I am not. -She is a chaperon as well as a maid. I trust her. She happens to be a -very remarkable woman for a servant.” - -“Miss Elsie does come in, then, without you sometimes? Is she planning -to come soon again?” - -“Why, yes. But what this has to do with the business I can’t see. I’m -sending her in to-morrow with her maid and Miss Kate to buy party frocks -and see ‘The Blue Bird.’” - -“Excellent!” Mr. O’Brien seemed much pleased. “Will they go directly to -the store?” - -“Yes, Pearl’s. A modiste on Beacon Street.” - -“Very good. May I have one word in your ear?” - -“I see no reason.” But Miss Frazier leaned a little toward the insistent -young man while he lowered his voice so that Kate did not catch one word -of what he said. - -Her aunt laughed, amused apparently. “Much good that will do you. I have -told you, Mr. O’Brien, there is not a chance in the world that Miss -Elsie knows any more than we do.” - -“However, you do not object?” - -“No. Except that it is a foolish waste of time.” - -“We shall not lose time through it, I assure you. Other members of my -staff are working on other clues. Precious few there are, though.” - -“If that is all I will say ‘good afternoon,’ then.” Miss Frazier settled -back in her seat. “You will call me up, of course, the minute there is -anything definite.” - -“Of course. But does Miss Elsie often answer the telephone?” - -“Sometimes. Very seldom. I tell you, Mr. O’Brien, there is no rhyme or -reason to your suspicions in that direction.” - -“Even so, Miss Frazier, I beg you to adjure Miss Kate here to secrecy. -She should, on no condition, tell Miss Elsie one word she has heard.” - -Miss Frazier nodded, glancing at Kate. Kate’s return look carried her -promise. “I shall hope for something more definite when next I hear from -you, Mr. O’Brien. Good afternoon. Home, Timothy.” - -Mr. O’Brien stood on the curb while the big car pulled out. There was a -troubled, displeased expression on his face, Kate thought. She knew that -he resented very much the interview not having been more private. - -“Is he a detective?” she asked her aunt curiously. - -“Yes, a private detective, and a very good one. But perhaps he is right, -Kate, and you had better forget all about him. If he is doing the job I -suppose he has a right to do it in his own way.” - -A private detective! And what had a detective to suspect of Elsie! But -Kate took her aunt’s hint and asked no more questions. - -Their way home took them by the Green Shutter Tea Room, a quaint little -place built by a stream in a grove of maples. The tables were set out -under the trees. Aunt Katherine suggested that they stop. And when they -were seated opposite each other at a little round green table, their -order given, they smiled at each other contentedly, like friends of long -standing. - - - - - CHAPTER IX - SOMETHING OF FAIRY IN IT - - -“You haven’t told me a word about how you like the orchard house!” Aunt -Katherine said. “Did you go all over it? The study is really the nicest -room. Did you like that? And did you see your mother’s old playroom?” - -Kate hesitated to confess to her aunt that she had not been near the -orchard house. It might involve Elsie too much. She remembered Elsie’s -plea last night. So she hesitated, feeling her cheeks redden. But after -an instant she said, “I think I shall save it for a day when there isn’t -so much to do. It’s a darling house, but I haven’t been in.” - -“After the party on Thursday I am hoping that all your days here will be -full of things to do, yours and Elsie’s, too. She will begin to have the -life of other girls again. For myself I have hardly cared a bit. I had -rather grown away from my old friends, anyway, and larger interests, or -at least more impersonal interests, have been absorbing me of late -years. But now I’m pocketing my pride for Elsie’s sake, and going more -than halfway toward reconciliations.... Madame Pearl, the woman to whom -I am sending you to-morrow for frocks, is an artist in her way. You two -girls must choose dresses that not only become yourselves but go well -together.” - -For Kate all the puzzling hints that ran through her aunt’s conversation -were forgotten in this new subject. “But Mother and I thought my pink -organdie would do for a party, if you gave one. You haven’t seen it. I -shall wear it for dinner to-night.” - -“No, I haven’t seen it, but I am sure it is very dainty and pretty. Even -so, this is to be Elsie’s first real party, and her first real party -frock. And it will be more appropriate for you to have dresses that -match in a way, or contrast with each other artistically. You _will_ let -me give you such a gift, won’t you, Kate?” - -There was surprising entreaty in Aunt Katherine’s dark eyes, and fear, -too. Would Kate be simply an echo of her mother? Would she rise up in -pride and say, “No charity, thanks”? - -Meanwhile, Kate was thinking rapidly. She had no idea whatever whether -her mother would want her to accept a party frock from Aunt Katherine or -not. But quickly she decided that her mother would want her to speak for -herself now, that this was a matter between herself and her aunt. - -“Of course I shall love to have a party dress,” she exclaimed. “Oh, but -you are good to me, Aunt Katherine! And it will be my first as well as -Elsie’s.” - -Miss Frazier flushed, pleasure all out of proportion to the event, -seemingly, shining from her eyes. She said “Thank you, my dear,” in as -heartfelt accents as though Kate herself were the donor. - -Kate laughed at that, her eyes crinkling, and after the laugh her mouth -still stayed tilted up at the corners. “Oh, I’m so excited,” she -exclaimed. “But aren’t you going to Boston with us, to Madame Pearl’s, -to help us choose?” - -“No, I think not. Bertha has excellent taste, and Madame Pearl herself -would not make a mistake. And I think that the more I am out of it the -better the chance is that you and Elsie will find each other. A day -together, shopping, lunching at my club, and seeing ‘The Blue Bird’ -afterward ought to give two girls all the opportunity they need to get -over any strangeness.” - -“‘The Blue Bird’! Well, it’s just as Mother said it would be, wonderful -things galore! Oh, dear! I wish she could know this minute that I’m to -see ‘The Blue Bird’! We’ve read it, of course. But to see it! I shall -write her again to-night—and the boys, too.” - -Kate was sitting with clasped hands, her hazel eyes narrowed and golden -with light. She was almost little-girlish in her excitement and -pleasure, and of course the corners of her mouth were uptilted at their -most winged angle. Aunt Katherine, watching her, thought, “She is better -than pretty, this grand-niece of mine. She is fascinating. Just to look -at her stirs your imagination.” - -But she said, “Eat your toast before it is cold, I advise you. And don’t -neglect the marmalade. It is unusually good marmalade they serve here at -the Green Shutter.” - -And so Kate came to earth. “But such a nice earth!” she said to herself. - -Before they had finished their tea, Aunt Katherine rose to a pitch of -confidences that surprised herself. But it was just exactly as though in -Kate she had found a friend, a friend to whom she was able to open her -heart. At this moment in her life Miss Frazier needed this sort of a -confidante badly. They were talking about Elsie again and her coldness -and indifference to Kate. - -“There is one obvious explanation for it,” Aunt Katherine said. “I can -think of no other. She may be jealous. She may have been jealous from -the first minute of your arrival.” - -Kate was too surprised to think at all. “Jealous—_of me_? Why?” - -“That you might take her place with me, cheat her somehow of what she -apparently considers hers. She sees, as you have guessed, that I do not -like her. May she not be all the more jealous of you just because of -that?” - -“Oh, no, no, no.” Kate was thinking clearly again. “She isn’t horrid -like that. I know it. She’s too beautiful and lovely. There’s something -about her that makes any such idea just impossible. She mayn’t like me, -and I may be cross with her, but for all that—for all that I know she’s -not a _mean_ person, Aunt Katherine.” - -Kate was amazed herself at having so suddenly become Elsie’s champion. -Loyalty to that strange girl had apparently been born in her all in a -second. Or was it loyalty only to the comrade she had glimpsed -flashingly, once in the mirror last night, and once in sunshine this -morning? Whatever it was to, it was very real and staunch. - -Aunt Katherine’s face lightened remarkably. “You may be right, and I -earnestly hope you are,” she said. “For if Elsie were unfriendly toward -you for any such reason—well, it would be the last straw, the very -last.” - -As they spun along toward home through the cooling air, Miss Frazier’s -expression grew happier and happier. Kate had done for her what she -could not do for herself: lightened real suspicions, and eased her -heart. - -It was almost dinner time when they arrived. If Kate was to don her pink -organdie she would have to hurry. She raced up the stairs and found -Bertha in her room waiting for her. - -“You have only ten minutes, Miss Kate,” she warned. “Your bath is set.” - -A glance showed Kate the pink organdie freshly pressed, crisp and cool, -hung over a chair back, and the white slip to go under it on the bed. -Her pumps were set down by the dressing table and some fresh stockings -near on a stool. Two baths a day! How comfortable! Kate, still aglow -with her afternoon, had quite forgotten her self-consciousness with this -lady’s maid. - -“Has Miss Elsie dressed?” she asked. - -Bertha answered rather worriedly: “No, and none of us have seen her all -afternoon. I do wish she would come up. I can’t think how she’s been -amusing herself, or where.” - -Kate herself began to wonder, when she had had her bath and was freshly -dressed. “There’s the gong!” she exclaimed. - -But simultaneously with the note of the gong Elsie’s door slammed and -there she was in the bathroom door. - -“I’m late,” she called, but not at all ruefully. “No time to dress, -Bertha. Hello, Kate.” - -“You’ll have to wash your face, whether there’s time or not,” Bertha -assured her. “And your hair, it’s a sight! Where did you get like that?” - -Elsie laughed, elfin laughter. “Never mind where. And you aren’t my -nurse. You’re my tiring-woman. Bear that in mind, Mrs. Bertha.” - -Bertha’s worried face changed into a beaming one. Elsie in such good -spirits! That was the best that Bertha asked of life, Kate intuitively -felt. - -But it was true enough. Elsie very much needed washing and brushing. Her -nose and forehead were beaded with little drops of perspiration, her -cheeks were a burning red, as though she had been sitting over a fire, -or perhaps long in the sun, and there were smudges of what looked like -flour on chin and arms. As for her hair, it was all in little damp curls -across her brow and over her ears: one side had come completely undone, -and showered down on to her shoulder. - -“I can’t for the life of me see how you ever got in such a mess,” Bertha -murmured happily as she officiated in Elsie’s hurried cleaning up. “You -might just as well be a cook in a kitchen! But, oh, dear! What’s that -burn?” - -“It is horrid, isn’t it?” Elsie agreed. - -“Well, I think you need a nurse more than a lady’s maid! Did Julia let -you get near the stove on this broiling day? Here’s some olive oil.” - -After another minute of scurrying Elsie appeared in Kate’s door. “It was -nice of you to wait for me,” she said. “But I’m afraid I’ve made you -late.” - -Aunt Katherine lifted her brows when she saw Elsie still in her blue and -white morning dress. But the fact that the girls had come in together, -actually arm-in-arm, made up for much. In fact, it put Aunt Katherine -into a light and gay mood. Things were beginning to go as she had -planned now. At dinner she told Elsie about the party set for Friday -night. And Elsie, who herself was in a gay spirit, thanked her aunt -prettily for everything—the coming party, the promised frock, and the -seats for “The Blue Bird.” - -“Why, she is a human being, after all,” Kate admitted. “This morning and -last night seems like some dream I had about her.” And Kate opened her -hazel eyes a little wider now as she looked at Elsie across the table. -She was on the watch for the reappearance of the vanishing comrade. - -That evening again Miss Frazier sent the girls to walk in the garden. -She herself settled down in the big winged chair under her especial -reading lamp and picked up “The King of the Fairies,” which Kate had not -forgotten to place there. - -The orchard drew all Kate’s attention once they were out in the growing -starlight. She looked toward it often as they paced back and forth on -the garden paths. At first she talked to Elsie about her afternoon, the -ride, and the Green Shutter Tea Room. But Elsie, though she listened -with interest, and even took pains to ask questions, in return gave Kate -no information as to how _she_ had spent the hours. Even so, Elsie was -so completely changed that finally Kate had the hardihood to tell her -laughingly about the light she had seen in the orchard house last night -before falling to sleep. - -“I am sure I saw the light. But of course I couldn’t have heard the -door,” she finished. “That must have been imagination, for sound doesn’t -carry like that.” - -But at this mention of the orchard house Elsie’s new manner fell from -her as though she had dropped a cloak. She stiffened as they walked and -her voice took on restraint. - -“If you imagined the sound of the door, why wasn’t the light -imagination, too?” she asked reasonably. “Or it may have been fireflies -in the trees. See them now.” - -It was true enough. Over in the orchard fireflies were twinkling, almost -in clouds. - -“It wasn’t like firefly light, just the same.” - -“Well, you were almost asleep, weren’t you? It was probably fireflies -and sleepiness all mixed up.” - -Kate did not acknowledge that she was impressed by this reasoning. But -deep in her mind she was. - -“And you’re not to tell Aunt Katherine about the light. Promise me that. -She would go investigating then. You’ve got to promise.” - -Kate’s quick temper flashed up and ruined the new relation between them -at Elsie’s brusque command. - -“I haven’t got to promise. Why do you think you can boss me like that?” - -Elsie’s answer to that was a tossed head. “I’m going in,” she said -shortly. - -“_I’m_ not.” Kate sat down abruptly in a garden chair they were passing. -When Elsie had gone on Kate bit her lip, hard, hard to keep back the -tears. “Now I’ve spoiled everything,” she accused herself bitterly. “Why -did I have to go talking about the orchard house at all? Everything was -so jolly, so right at last! Elsie was beginning to be more than decent. -What an idiot I am!” - -She leaned her head down upon the arm of the chair. Then the inner, more -tranquil Kate came forward. “Think about the King of the Fairies,” she -said. “Look as he looked, see as he saw. Perhaps if you do, all this -trouble will dissolve in light. Get above the quarrel.” - -And as she sat curled up there, she tried hard to follow the inner -Kate’s directions. She tried to look at the orchard with the different -seeing. If she followed the King of the Fairies’ directions, mightn’t -she see the _all_ of things as the girl and boy on the fence had seen -the all? She stayed very still, and watched, expectantly. - -Elsie came back to her, silent as a shadow. It was almost as though she -could read Kate’s thoughts; for she knelt down by her on the dewy grass, -and putting her face quite close to Kate’s said in a low voice, but -earnestly: “I’ll tell you this much, Kate Marshall, _there is something -fairyish about that little orchard house_. If things fairyish show to -you around it or in it, it is because they _are there_. This is no lie. -I cross my heart. But you aren’t wanted there. And unless you are very -mean you will keep your promise to me and not go near.” - -Then Elsie floated away, and was lost to Kate in the garden shadows, -like a fairyish thing herself. - -Kate started up. Had she dreamed Elsie’s coming back, and her words? She -had been in such a _different_ state of mind trying to see as the King -of the Fairies saw, that she hardly knew. Anyway, big girl of fifteen -that she was, she began looking again toward the orchard house with -deepened expectancy. - - - - - CHAPTER X - IN THE MIRROR - - -If Elsie had thought to tease or bewilder Kate in the garden last night -by asserting that fairies actually had something to do with the orchard -house she would have been disappointed now if she could read Kate’s mind -as she lay awake in the early morning. A sense of something exciting in -the day had waked her before dawn. The excitement, of course, was the -party frock that Aunt Katherine had promised her, and “The Blue Bird.” - -“I can hardly believe that I am going to have such a wonderful day,” she -thought. “Is it really happening to me? Will the morning ever come?” - -She had no idea what time it was but she could see that the sky was -beginning to lighten. She felt that she could never go to sleep again -and she felt very hungry. Ah-ha! She remembered the gingerbread man -under her pillow. She had put it there simply to hide it and meaning to -get rid of it somehow without Elsie or Bertha seeing. She had not -thought she would ever want to eat it! It was too childish. But now she -pulled it out, and leaning up on her elbow ate every last crumb. - -This elbow position brought the orchard into her view, or rather its -growing outlines in the approaching dawn. She recalled last night and -Elsie’s emphatic assurance that fairies somehow had a hand in the -mystery. Perhaps most other girls of fifteen would simply have laughed -at Elsie and not for an instant accepted it as a possibility, fairies -not entering into their scheme of things. But fairies did enter into -Kate’s scheme of things and always had. There she was different. But -there was a reason for her difference. - -When she was a little girl of seven she had seen what she thought was a -fairy; and it had made such an impression on her mind that when she grew -older and came to the age of doubt she simply went on knowing. She had -seen what she had seen, and that was all there was to it. Moreover, her -mother had seen it, too, or something like it. It was hardly likely that -both of them could have been utterly deceived. - -It happened when she and Katherine had gone for a walk on a June -Saturday. They started very early in the morning and walked very far, -for a seven-year-old. But it was Saturday and they were both free, Kate -from the lessons which her mother set her, and Katherine from teaching. -And it was June. So they did not seem to get tired a bit, but walked and -walked, and explored. Toward noon they came to a high meadow hilltop. -There they lay down, flat on their backs among the Queen Anne’s lace, -buttercups, and daisies, their arms across their eyes, their faces -turned directly up toward the sun. It was luncheon time, but they did -not care. The sunshine soaking into them and the smell of warm grass and -earth were better than food. - -They lay still for a long time, not even speaking to each other. Perhaps -the little Kate slept. And they thought of getting up and starting for -home only when the sun in the sky told Katherine that it must be past -two o’clock. - -Halfway down the hill pasture stood a little beach wood. They took their -way through that because it looked so cool and inviting, and because -Katherine knew there was a spring there among some rocks where they -could get long, satisfying drinks of cold water. It was there they saw -the fairy. They saw her just as they came out of the bright sunlight -into the green, cool shade of the wood and stood above the water. She -was at the other side of the spring facing them. She was looking down at -her reflection in the water, not at all aware of their approach. - -Kate saw her as a lovely girl in a floating green garment. Her feet and -arms were bare and shining and it was their shining that made Kate know, -even in that first instant before the fairy had glanced up, that she was -unearthly. Kate and Katherine stood as still as the leaves on the trees -in that still wood, awed and entranced. Then the little Kate whispered -“Mother!” and pointed. At that whisper the fairy lifted her eyes. Kate -saw the surprise in her eyes and a dawning—something; was it -friendliness, or a smile? There was not time to know; for the fairy -flashed backward and up on to a stone behind her across which the -sunlight fell. And there she was lost in the sunlight. They simply could -not see her any more. - -But Kate had never forgotten that instant when they stood looking at the -fairy while she was plain to view. And she had never forgotten the -expression on her mother’s face after the fairy had vanished. It was -such a delighted expression, so startlingly _satisfied_. - -But that night, in talking it over, it came out that mother and daughter -had not seen exactly the same thing. Katherine was sure that the being -who had stood looking down at the spring was taller than human, grander, -with a more tranquil, noble face, And her garment, she said, was the -colour of sunlight, not green at all. Little Kate protested that. No, -she was just a slim girl and her garment was green. Why, Kate remembered -exactly how it hung almost to her bare ankles, without fluttering or -motion in that still wood. The golden gown Katherine had seen had blown -back, she said, as in a strong wind, although she herself felt no breath -of air. - -The end of their discussion came to this. Katherine said it might be -that the sun in the high meadow together with their having had no -luncheon had made them see not quite true. When they came suddenly into -the cool, green shaded wood out of the glare their eyes played them -tricks. What seemed like a person standing above the spring may have -been simply an effect of sunlight striking through leaves. - -“You remember, don’t you,” Katherine had ended, “how she vanished into -sunlight when you said ‘Mother’? Well——” - -And Katherine had left it at that. “Well——” But she had warned little -Kate not to talk about it. - -“People will think I had no business letting you go without luncheon -so,” she gave as her reason, laughingly. - -But just because she had promised Katherine that she would not talk -about having seen a fairy, Kate had thought about it all the more. And -she never went into a cool wood out of hot sunlight without hoping to -surprise a fairy again. What she had seen she had seen, and that was all -there was to it! - -So now to Kate the thought that fairies might somehow be connected with -the little orchard house did not seem at all an impossibility. Elsie -certainly had not acted or looked as though she were lying. And it was -perfectly true that from the minute Kate herself had first caught sight -of the orchard house she had felt that there was something very special -about it—more special than just the fact that it was the house where her -mother had been born and grown up and married. When Elsie called out -“Fairies, beware! Orchard House, beware!” Kate had been pricked with the -feeling of listening ears. She had felt somehow that the warning was -truly heard and taken. - -She stretched now to her full length between her scented sheets. “I do -wish the dawn would hurry up and dawn!” she thought. “The minute it’s a -bit light enough I’ll get up, take a cold bath, dress, and get out into -the orchard. If fairies are there, dawn ought to be as easy a time to -see them as any. I’ll keep my promise about the key. But I’ve a perfect -right in the orchard.” - -She fell asleep then and dreamed about the orchard house. The King of -the Fairies was there, waiting for her on the doorstep. She sat down -beside him and at once began to see things different, to see them, as -the King of the Fairies said, “whole.” There was a lot to the -dream—colour, adventure, and music, and above all, the sight of things -“whole.” But Kate, when she woke, had quite lost it. The dream had -become just tag ends of brightness left floating in her mind. - - * * * * * * * * - -To her surprise morning was fully established, birds were singing in -high chorus, and water was running loudly into the tub! - -Bertha appeared in the bathroom door. “Miss Elsie got ahead of us,” she -informed Kate brightly. “She must have been quieter than a mouse to have -had her bath and all and not waked you. Now I suppose she’s out in the -orchard or somewhere. It’s a beautiful day.” - -Oh, well, Kate did not allow herself to be downcast at having missed -dawn in the orchard. Not a bit of it. What a day it was to be! The -frock, “The Blue Bird,” the whole day in Boston with Elsie, and Aunt -Katherine so friendly! - -At her place at the little breakfast table under the peach tree she -found a letter from her mother. She snatched it up and tore it open, -hoping she could get at least the heart out of it before Aunt Katherine -and Elsie should appear. - -But she had hardly read the first sentence before Miss Frazier came out -through the breakfast-room and Elsie floated from the direction of the -orchard. Kate was too absorbed to be aware of the approach of either -until she heard Elsie exclaim, “Letters! Oh, is there one for me?” - -Aunt Katherine’s tone was surprisingly sharp when she answered, “You -never get letters, Elsie. You have hardly had one in the last year.” - -“That’s unfair,” Kate thought hotly. “Aunt thinks she’s jealous even of -my mail. And all the time she’s probably expecting an answer to that -special delivery she sent yesterday.” - -But in spite of the edge in Miss Frazier’s voice Elsie apparently was -not at all dashed. To Kate’s curious eyes she looked just exactly as one -might who had been skylarking with fairies in the orchard all early -morning. She was ready to laugh, ready to talk, ready to be friendly. -Kate was profoundly glad, for this kind of an Elsie argued well for the -day they were to have in Boston together. - -They went by train because Miss Frazier herself had uses for the car. -Bertha was again dressed in her correct gray tailored suit. “Looking -like an aunt herself,” Kate thought. Kate wore the blue silk dress she -had travelled in and the smart little hat that was really her mother’s. -The white linen would have done beautifully if they had not been going -to the theatre; but even though they were to sit in the balcony—seats -were sold out so far ahead that this was the best Aunt Katherine had -been able to do for them—Kate thought the white linen would hardly be -appropriate for that, and Bertha had agreed with her. Elsie, when she -appeared, quite took Kate’s breath away. She was so lovely, but so much -older looking than she had been in her house clothes. She was dressed in -a straight little three-piece silk suit of olive green. The rolling -collar was tied by a jaunty orange bow, and on the low belt of the dress -the same colour was embroidered in a conventional flower pattern. The -coat hung loosely and very full, hooked together only at the collar. The -hat was a limp dark brown straw with olive-green and orange embroidery -all around the crown. Elsie had pinned her curls up over her ears, and -her hair was a soft crushed aura under the hat. She looked very much -like a city girl but as though the city might have been New York or -Paris rather than Boston. - -Kate gasped a little, and in her secret heart was very glad she herself -had decided on her silk. For a little while she was constrained with -Elsie, as though Elsie had in fact become older suddenly just because -she looked older. - -As they came through the gates at their terminal in Boston Kate noticed -a young man in a slouch brown hat, a polka-dotted brown tie, and very -shining pointed brown shoes, standing about as though expecting someone -to meet him from the train on which they had come in. Perhaps Kate -noticed him so particularly because he seemed to be noticing them so -particularly, especially Elsie. For the first time that morning she -remembered Mr. O’Brien, the detective. Was this one of his men, and was -he going to “shadow” them to-day? Kate was sure of it when out of the -tail of her eye she saw him wheel and follow at a little distance as -they moved toward the taxi stand. He stood prepared to take the next cab -that should move into position as theirs moved out. Kate hardly -understood her own emotions at that moment. Her cheeks were hot and her -knees shook a little. She was resentful for Elsie. Why was she being -shadowed by a detective as though she were a criminal? Why had Aunt -Katherine let this happen? - -Madame Pearl’s establishment was a narrow three-story house on Beacon -Street. “Madame Pearl” was engraved on a plate above the bell, nothing -more. A daintily capped and aproned maid answered their ring. She knew -their names before they had given them. - -“It is the Misses Frazier,” she said, speaking with a distinct accent. -“You have an engagement, and Madame Pearl is expecting. Please come this -way.” - -The front door opened directly into a long narrow room, panelled in -ivory, decorated with wreathed cupids and flowers. The floor was cool -gray and the hangings at the long windows at the end of the room were -gray, too, silvery. But under their feet were warm-coloured Persian rugs -of the most beautiful shades and designs. There were little tables in -the room with magazines and books scattered on them, a few easy chairs, -and two long divans. In one corner by the window there was an exquisite -little writing desk of Italian workmanship. On this stood a vase of very -red roses. - -Kate glanced about with surprised eyes. But Elsie, who had been here -before with Aunt Katherine, nonchalantly followed the maid who was -guiding them. Kate had expected to find herself in a shop. But there was -no evidence of things for sale here. And they had an appointment! -Whoever heard of having an appointment in a shop? - -The maid stood back at the foot of a narrow spiral staircase at the back -of the room. The girls and Bertha ascended. - -Still no sign of a shop, or dresses for sale. This long upper room was -simply a boudoir with chaises-longues, mirrors, and flowers. Madame -Pearl swept to meet them. She was a regal little lady in trailing gray -chiffon. The gown had long flowing sleeves that just escaped the floor. -Miss Frazier had told Kate at breakfast that morning that Madame Pearl -was really a Russian princess who had escaped at the time of the -Revolution and in just a few years had made a fortune with this shop. -Her real name was Olga Schwankovsky. So Kate looked at her with intense -curiosity now. But where was the shop? - -“Miss Frazier has telephoned,” Madame Pearl said in the sweetest of -voices and almost perfect accent. “You young ladies are to have party -dresses, your first party dresses. Very simple, very chic, youthful. We -must not hurry but give time to it and consideration. If you will be so -kind as to come this way——” - -“This way” was all down the room to a wider alcove, walled on the street -by big plate-glass windows and on the two other sides by huge, perfect -mirrors. - -There Madame Pearl asked them to be seated. She herself sat comfortably -among cushions on a little lounge. She inquired as to their favourite -colours. From that the conversation expanded to their other tastes, to -books, music. Elsie told about their plan for the afternoon. - -“You are to see ‘The Blue Bird’!” Madame Pearl exclaimed. “That will be -an experience. I myself saw it when I was about your age—its first -production at the Moscow Art Theatre. I had never dreamed anything could -be so beautiful. You will think so, too.” Then she added, sighing a -little, “But it cannot be quite the same. Stanislavsky produced it as it -never could be produced by another. It was superb.” - -“You saw it, there, when it was given in Moscow that first time?” Elsie -breathed, sitting on the very edge of her chair, her cheeks pink with -excitement. “That was wonderful. I know, for my fa——” She stopped, bit -her lip, and continued: “Someone showed me photographs of the stage sets -and costumes once. I am wondering if it will be anything like that -here.” - -“I don’t know,” Madame Pearl replied. “But I tell you frankly I am not -going to see. For the memory of our Art Theatre production is too vivid -for me to want to expose it to any comparison. It was done with a -richness, a depth, a true sense of mysticism—— What shall I say? It was -so free of sentimentality. I confess I do not care to see it attempted -again. It had an effect on me, that play. An effect that is lasting, -that runs through—how shall I say?—my life.” - -Elsie nodded and looked at Kate. She said, “Yes, we understand. ‘The -King of the Fairies’ is like that, too.” - -Kate’s heart leapt. At last those two girls had met face to face, -comrades on common ground. - -“‘The King of the Fairies,’” Madame Pearl murmured, reflectively. “Ah, -yes. I have heard of that book. Published last year. Very beautiful, I -have heard. And literary people are surprised because it is so popular. -They alone, when they discovered it, expected to appreciate it and -enjoy. They are a little annoyed that children and simple people and the -unliterary love it, too, that it is a ‘best seller.’ I have guessed, -though I have not yet read it, that that book must tap some deep wells -of truth that all humanity knows, even the simple. I have a theory about -art——” - -There the beautiful voice ceased abruptly. Madame Pearl rose, smiling -enigmatically. “This is not choosing frocks, is it?” she said. “But -while we have chattered I have studied your types. I have not been idle. -Shall we begin with the one of which I am the least sure? That is Miss -Kate. We may have to try several frocks before we are suited for you. -But I think we shall begin with an orange crêpe.” - -Madame Pearl touched a button in the wall and almost instantly a maid -appeared, not the one who had answered the door, but identically -dressed. She was young and pretty and very quick in all her motions. -Kate found a screen placed around her almost before she knew what was -happening. It was a light folding screen made of gray silk and bamboo -and embroidered with oriental flowers. Bertha hastened to disrobe her. -Then she came forth and stood ready to try on before one of the huge -mirrors. - -Panels in the wall were slid back and the little maid brought the -dresses from their hiding places one by one. Bertha and the little maid -slipped them over her head, fastened them, turned her around lightly by -the shoulders. Then everyone looked at Madame Pearl. She was sitting on -her couch again, her eyes intent. She studied Kate as an artist studies -his picture. And to every frock, when it was on and Kate had been turned -quite around once or twice, she shook her head decidedly. None of them, -not one would do. - -Kate herself could not see why. There was not one that was positively -unbecoming, and three or four had been quite lovely. She was growing -dazed and tired. The sparkle and colour of the frocks heaped about her -on chairs and thrown over the screen was almost too much for her eyes. -She thought of the Arabian Nights and imagined herself a young princess -of Arabia being decked for her wedding. But even as the corners of her -mouth lifted with this dream she was startled by an exclamation from -Madame Pearl. - -“At last! It is perfect!” - -Kate turned to herself in the mirror. - -But was it Kate Marshall at all? She scarcely knew. - -The frock was yellow, of softest satin, the color of a crocus. At the -rounded neck it was gathered softly to a narrow border of tiny -pearl-white and blue blossoms made in satin. At the low waistline the -satin was gathered again at a girdle of the same exquisitely fashioned -flowers, four wreaths of them loosely twined. The skirt swung out from -this girdle very full and straight, stopping just a little above the -ankles, quite the longest skirt Kate had ever had. The border of the -skirt was cut in deep, sharp scallops showing an underskirt below of -foaming, creamy lace. - -“Do you like it?” Madame Pearl asked, interestedly. Kate was looking at -herself without speaking. - -“I couldn’t help liking it,” Kate replied. “It’s beautiful. But—it -doesn’t look exactly as though we belonged—it and I together! It is -fluffy! So delicate!” - -“That’s the fault of your hair, the short bob,” Madame Pearl assured -her. “There must be a cap.” She gave directions to the maid. “The silver -cap with the star points. Yes, the one from Riis’s. Deep cream -stockings. And the pumps—but I see you know which pumps that frock must -have yourself. I think they will fit, too. Fetch them.” - -The maid whisked away to return in a minute with silk stockings, satin -slippers, and a silver cap. - -“Your feet first,” Madame Pearl said, quite excitedly. “The cap we will -leave for the finishing touch. Then you shall see.” - -Again, almost in a daze, Kate vanished behind the painted screen -accompanied by both Bertha and the maid. Each of them dressed a foot, -and it was done in a minute. The pumps were an exact fit. They were -creamy satin embroidered in deeper creamy-coloured flowers. At the side -of each a small diamond-shaped crystal buckle caught the light in many -facets. The heels were low. - -Kate was troubled. “My aunt is only giving me the frock,” she said. “She -didn’t mention slippers and things. I’ve some perfectly good black -patent-leather pumps, anyway.” - -“Black pumps! With that frock!” - -Madame Pearl gazed at her in horror. Bertha hurriedly interposed, “Miss -Frazier impressed it on me that the costumes were to be complete.” - -Then Madame Pearl arose from the couch and herself set the silver cap on -Kate’s head. It was a saucy affair fashioned in crisp silver lace with -five star points radiating from its crown. The cap was indeed the -finishing touch. It accomplished almost a transformation. - -“Why, I’m _pretty_, awfully pretty!” Kate exclaimed to herself, gazing -into the mirror. But then more modestly, she added, “Any one would be in -that fascinating cap.” - -So Kate was ready for the party! Let it come! - -And now it was Elsie’s turn. But Madame Pearl had no trouble in fitting -Elsie to just the right frock. In fact, she had decided which it must be -in the first minutes while they sat discussing “The Blue Bird.” Elsie -was not “difficult.” Madame Pearl whispered to the maid, who scurried -away. She returned bearing over her arm a cloud of green chiffon. While -Kate was being dressed behind her screen Elsie was put into this green -creation behind another similar screen. She appeared before Kate was -done. - -Her frock was simplicity itself, just straight lengths of green chiffon -falling straight away from her slim shoulders. As she moved back and -forth in front of the mirror her draperies floated about her like -filmiest clouds. When she stood still they fell straight and sheer -almost to her ankles. Madame Pearl signalled and the maid took the pins -from Elsie’s curls and they tumbled, a shower of sunlight. - -The effect was perfect. Madame Pearl breathed softly: “I am satisfied. -Exquisitely.” She determined that white kid sandals, sandals in the -Greek style, were the footwear the frock required. She had them, too, -stored somewhere behind those secret panels. The maid hurried off, and -Elsie in preparation for her return slipped off the black patent-leather -sandals she was wearing, and out of her stockings. - -At the same time Madame Pearl moved to the big windows. “The light is -glaring,” she murmured, “and it is unreasonably hot.” Untying a cord at -the side of the sash she let down green inner blinds. Elsie rose, and -stood in her bare feet facing herself meditatively in the mirror. At -that instant Kate came from behind her screen. - -“Oh!” It was almost a shriek. Kate actually reeled against Bertha who -was following her and clutched for support. Bertha led her to the couch. -“Water, a glass of cold water quickly,” Madame Pearl commanded the -little maid. Elsie ran to Kate and knelt before her, taking her hands. -“Kate, Kate,” she called as though Kate were running away from her. - -But Kate was not a girl to faint easily. She straightened up now and -took a deep breath. “It’s only the way you looked in the glass, Elsie,” -she explained, shakily. “The room just went spinning when I saw you.” - -“‘The way she looked in the glass!’” Madame Pearl cast a hurried glance -toward the big mirror that now reflected only Kate’s array of discarded -dresses, a few tables and chairs. - -But Kate explained further, looking at Elsie wanly: “You were the -fairy—the fairy that Mother and I saw by the pool that day. You were the -fairy exactly, even the expression on your face when you looked at me! -And the green light——” - -Madame Pearl laughed. “The green light is only because I pulled the -blind. But you are right, Miss Elsie does look exactly like some fairy, -some wood fairy. Perfection.” - -“No, not some fairy, _the fairy_. I have remembered perfectly.” - -Madame Pearl spoke to Bertha aside, but Kate heard well enough. “It was -the heat, and she was tired from trying on. She ought to lie down.” Then -she turned her attention to Elsie’s sandals. - -But Elsie kept looking back over her shoulder at Kate, resting on the -sofa—questioningly. She was speculating: “Had Kate taken her hint of -fairies in the orchard house seriously? Was it so much on her mind that -she was imagining things? Or had Kate once really seen a fairy, and -Elsie in the mirror had reminded her?” - -When they left the shop and stood on the step looking about for a taxi -Elsie asked Kate eagerly, “Did you really see a fairy once? Where? -When?” - -“Yes, Mother and I. But we both saw it differently. And now—now, how -could it have been a fairy? Why, it was _you_. But I promised Mother not -to talk about it.” - -At the mention of Kate’s mother the cold look came back to Elsie’s face. -She turned away with feigned indifference while Bertha lifted her hand -to summon a taxi. - - - - - CHAPTER XI - KATE TAKES THE HELM - - -But the taxi driver Bertha had signalled shook his head, giving a -sidewise jerk toward the back of his cab to indicate that he had a fare. -There was the young man of the brown hat and polka-dotted tie looking -away as though he was not one bit aware of them and smoking a cigarette. - -“Well, why do they stand still, then!” Bertha complained. “How could I -know!” - -Almost at once, however, another taxi came cruising up the hill, and -they were soon in, whirling away toward Miss Frazier’s club. It was now -almost one o’clock, and they were quite ready for luncheon. - -Though Kate did not actually lean out to see whether the detective’s -taxi was following, she felt quite sure that it was. “And he’ll be -wherever we go all day,” she reflected. “What does he expect us to do—or -Elsie, rather? What _could_ she do with Bertha and me along, anyway? -It’s all just too curious! And I don’t like it a bit. It makes me angry -for Elsie. It isn’t fair to her! I wonder what Mother and the boys would -think if they knew I was riding around Boston to-day, buying gorgeous -clothes, conversing with princesses, almost fainting, and being shadowed -by a detective! - -Both girls, lunching in Miss Frazier’s club, felt themselves quite -emancipated, really adult! Elsie wrote out their orders on a little pad -tendered by a gray-clad waitress, and acted hostess throughout. Kate -very much admired her worldly air, her poise and decision, and the way -she knew the French names for things. Apparently she was quite -accustomed to such complicated menus. Kate was proud of Elsie, proud and -stirred. Aunt Katherine herself could not have conducted things better. - -They discussed Madame Pearl and her establishment. They were both -enchanted by her, and full of surmises about her life. Miss Frazier had -told them that people knew very little about Madame Pearl’s experiences -during the Revolution and her escape, because she meant to keep out of -the papers. That was why she had taken the name Madame Pearl, and did -not want to be known as a princess at all, except to a few trusted -customers, or rather patients. - -“She prescribes clothes just as a doctor prescribes pills, Aunt -Katherine says,” Elsie remarked, laughing. - -“I think my dress is too wonderful,” Kate sighed. “But do you know I am -afraid Mother won’t want me to wear it to high-school dances next -winter, if I go to any. She will say it’s too grand, I’m sure.” - -In time, however, they left the topic of clothes and launched into -discussion of “The Blue Bird.” Both had read it, but in quite different -ways. Kate had read for the story, and Elsie to fit it to the -photographs she had seen of its first production in Moscow. In fact, -this was typical of these two girls. They had enthusiasm for the same -things, but approached them from different angles. That was why, when -they found themselves talking freely, the air fairly sparkled between -them. They opened new avenues of thought to each other, took each -other’s old ideas and spun them like balls, showing new sides and -colours. They were animated. They leaned toward each other over the -table, their faces alive and bright with thinking. Bertha remained -mostly silent, enjoying her luncheon and the interested and appreciative -glances that were turned from every direction upon her charges. - -Luncheon went on slow feet because of conversation’s wings. But they did -not in any way neglect it. It was a most delicious meal, and quite a -complicated one, because Miss Frazier had given Elsie carte blanche and -told her to make it just as splendid as she pleased. After the ice they -had a demitasse. Neither of the girls was accustomed to coffee, but this -was a special day and they would do special things. Besides, the -waitress seemed to expect it of them. It tasted horrible. But each made -a brave effort and drank down the tiny portion without grimacing. - -Now for the theatre! - -At the door of the club a footman summoned a taxi for them. As Kate went -down the steps and got in she looked all about for signs of the -detective but saw none. However, they were in a crowded section, taxis -and autos moving in two rivers, one north, one south, and the sidewalks -were two more rivers—rivers of human beings. That polka-dotted young man -might well have his eye on them from some station in that flow of life -and Kate never be aware. - -Elsie had the theatre tickets in her purse, and took them out now to be -sure about them. “They’re in the third row in the first balcony,” she -said. “Aunt Katherine thought they weren’t very good, but I am sure they -are. Why, it will be even better than as though we were ’way up front -downstairs. We will get all the effects better. Don’t you think so?” But -she asked a trifle anxiously, as though trying to console herself. - -Kate agreed, though to speak truth she knew very little indeed about the -theatre and could hardly be considered a judge in any way. Both girls -were glowing with anticipation and excitement. Kate felt that it was all -simply too wonderful to be true. Her heart was almost breaking with -happiness—at least, that is what she told herself was the matter with -it. It certainly was pounding. - -But arrived in the palace of gold decoration and purple plush which was -the theatre, and ushered to their seats, there was an unpleasant -surprise. One of the seats was directly behind a large ornate post! -Whoever sat there would have to do a great deal of craning and -stretching to see the stage at all, and not for one instant would she be -able to see its entirety. - -“Don’t you bother,” Bertha reassured them, concealing her own deep -disappointment. “Of course I shall sit there. It’s only a pity it’s -between you.” - -Now Elsie showed a new side of her character to Kate, and a side that -she had not suspected. “Don’t be silly,” she told Bertha -emphatically—but not rudely, merely affectionately—“Of course we shall -take turns. I shall have the post for half the time and you the other. -But it’s mean, just the same.” - -“And I, too—I shall certainly take my turn,” Kate threw in. “But I think -it is mean, and a cheat, too!” - -“No, you are the guest,” Elsie said firmly. “You are to sit at the end -and stay there. Go in now and I’ll follow.” - -But Kate did not pass in. She stood frowning. “It isn’t fair,” she -insisted. “They had no business to sell Aunt Katherine that seat.” - -Bertha shrugged. “Of course it’s unfair,” she whispered, “but there’s -nothing to do about it.” She was bothered by the attention they were -beginning to attract. She wished Kate would go in and sit down. - -“Then we ought to complain,” Kate insisted, still blocking up the aisle. - -“To whom?” Bertha asked. Her tone said _she_ would have nothing to do -with it. - -Elsie murmured quickly, “Oh, let’s not,” and gave Kate a slight push. -She, too, was conscious of their conspicuous situation. “_I couldn’t_.” - -Kate, too, knew that they were attracting the attention of many people. -All the more she was determined not to accept the injustice of that post -seat meekly. They were early; the curtain would not go up for ten -minutes. The orchestra was only just coming into the pit. - -“You go in and sit down. But give me the ticket stubs. I’ll make them -fix this up.” Kate did not whisper or even lower her voice. She spoke -calmly, with assurance. Underneath she was as diffident as the other -two, but hers was not a nature to tolerate such injustice supinely. - -Elsie, with one quick, surprised glance, thrust the stubs into this -country cousin’s hand, and Kate was off up the steep aisle, bent on -business. When she had pushed her way through the incoming crowds out -into the upper foyer the first thing she saw was the detective, leaning -against the wall trying to look unconcerned and as though he belonged -there. In spite of the crowds their eyes happened to meet. Kate’s cool -look said, “So you are here.” Then she turned away and fought her -passage down the stairs. - -The young man scowled. Well, this was not the niece he was to watch. She -had light curls, and his chief had said she would be wearing a green -silk suit. Even so this bobbed-haired one was of the party. He was -troubled by her movements. What was she leaving her seat for? Where was -she going? He really ought to find out, but, on the other hand, if he -forsook his post here he might miss Miss Elsie if she should come out. -No, he must stay, but it was annoying all the same. - -At the box office they were turning people away. “No seats left,” Kate -heard on every side. But that did not stop her. “They can put a chair in -the aisle,” she thought. “They _must_ do something. People should have -what they pay for.” - -But the man at the ticket window gave her no hope. “All sold out,” he -assured her before she had had time to say a word. When he heard her -complaint he merely said, “Well, we’ll give you your money back. I could -sell that post seat a hundred times over in the next five minutes. All -you need is to _lean_ a little. Where’s your stub?” - -“I don’t want the money,” Kate protested. “I want to see the play. It -was a cheat, selling a seat like that. I want another one. In fact, I -want three other seats, for we have to sit together.” - -The man laughed, much amused at that. And several by-standers laughed, -too. Kate’s cheeks fired. - -“Where can I find the manager?” she asked, straightening her spine and -looking hard at the amused young man. - -The man strangled his laugh and pointed across the lobby to a door -marked “Private.” “There, if he’s in. Much good it’ll do you.” - -As Kate left the window and crossed to the door indicated she heard -several titters. That made her determination deeper. She knocked firmly -right in the middle of the word “Private.” - -As she got no answer to her knocking she followed her usual course when -uncertain, or embarrassed—abrupt action. In this instance she simply -opened the door and stepped in. She did this in exactly the way she -often spoke when she had no intention of speaking. A man turned from a -window where he was leaning looking down into the crowded street -watching the people flooding to “The Blue Bird.” He was a youngish man -with nice lines around his eyes, smiling lines. But the eyes were very -keen. Whether he was truly the manager or not Kate never learned, but he -was manager enough for her purposes. She told him her grievance. He -listened respectfully without a word until she had finished. Then, still -without a word to her, he took up a telephone instrument from his desk -and spoke briskly into it: “Box office, any seats left?” he asked. -“Good, that’s fine. Give the young lady who was at your window a minute -ago one in the lower left.” He hung up and turned to Kate. - -“The house is sold out,” he informed her in a voice that was fairly -jubilant. “And they said it couldn’t be done in the States in summer!” -She felt that he wanted to dance and was constrained only by her -presence. “All except a few box seats. They come too high. You can get -yours now at the office all right. I’ve fixed it.” - -But Kate did not move to go. “There are three of us,” she explained. “We -have to stay together. We are with a chaperon. You hung up before I -could tell you.” - -The manager was dashed. He had expected gratitude. “With a chaperon? Why -isn’t she here fixing things instead of you, then?” he asked with -reason. - -“Well, she didn’t like to. She was willing to sit behind the post. She’s -really my cousin’s maid, but my aunt lets her chaperon us.” - -“Oh, I see.” There was something of humorous admiration in the manager’s -voice now. He liked Kate’s spirit. He snatched up the telephone again. -“Three seats for that lady just mentioned,” he commanded into it. “Front -ones.” - -Then Kate did thank him and smiled—her peculiar, charming smile. He -responded to it with a beam of his own. But her last words were, “It was -a cheat, wasn’t it, selling that post seat to anybody.” - -His reply was simply “Rather!” as he held the door for her. She had read -enough to know by his use of that word that he was English. He had -spoken his “rather” in the most natural, sincere way possible. - -The box-office man eyed her with respect. “Never thought you’d turn the -trick,” he said, admiringly. But Kate did not deign to answer. Suddenly -she felt her conspicuousness too keenly. She took the tickets he offered -her and fled away up the stairs, not looking at any one. - -In the upper foyer the detective was on the watch for her. He sighed -with relief when she appeared and vanished again through the swinging -doors into the balcony. Well, his “party” was safe now until after the -play. It was unfortunate that he had not been able to secure a seat -inside where he could keep his eye on them directly. When the curtain -went up he would slip in and stand in the back, of course. After all, -things were pretty satisfactory. They certainly couldn’t escape his -attention now. So far their doings had been innocent enough, all except -that little excursion of the bobbed-haired one. Had she taken a note to -someone? Perhaps he had been foolish not to follow her. - -“Seats in a box! Oh, Kate, how did you ever!” Elsie looked at Kate with -sincerest admiration shining in her eyes, and Kate felt for ever repaid -for all her effort. If Elsie had acquitted herself well at luncheon, -Kate had surely acquitted herself well here. They were equals. Comrades? - -An usher hurried toward them as they came out into the aisle. “The -curtain is about to go up,” she warned. She felt, perhaps, that they had -already made too much disturbance. - -“Yes, but we have seats down in a box,” Kate said with composure. The -usher reached her hand for the tickets. “This way, then. There are -stairs behind these curtains. If you hurry you’ll be there before the -lights go out.” - -“Ha, ha, Mr. Detective!” Kate laughed to herself as she felt her way -down the narrow, velvet-carpeted stairs. “You are losing us now. You’ll -watch up there in vain.” - -Their seats were quite perfect, almost on the stage, three chairs in the -very front of the best box in the house, three throne-like chairs with -gilded arms and cushioned backs! - -“We ought to be more dressed,” Bertha whispered, a little uneasily, as -in their conspicuous position she felt that the eyes of the whole great -audience were upon them. But Elsie laughed softly. “Who cares!” she -exclaimed. “And won’t Aunt Katherine be surprised when she hears of all -this state!” - -Music. The asbestos curtain rolling up, revealing night-coloured velvet -curtains with a huge gold shield. Lights out. The two girls, recently so -estranged, were for the hours of this play closest sisters. In Fairyland -all are friends. They gripped hands. Soon they simply sat close -together, arm-in-arm, entranced. The theatre, the huge audience, -dissolved for them in mist. The stage was not a stage. They were moving -with Mytil and Tyltyl through frightening or lovely or saddening scenes, -all equally enthralling. They were moving bodiless. They _were_ Tyltyl -and Mytil. - -Not until the very last minute of the play, when the night-coloured -curtains had drawn together for the last time and the blue bird was at -large again, perhaps somewhere in the upper reaches of the gilded -theatre, did the girls again take up their habitations in their own -minds and bodies. They looked at each other then and sighed, waking as -from a dream they had shared. Bertha was quite pale with emotion and -surreptitiously wiping away her tears. - -The first waking thought that Kate had was gratefulness that Bertha had -seen the play as it ought to be seen and not cut in two by a post, since -she cared for it so much. - -All three were almost silent on the journey to the station, wrapped in -the afterglow of the play’s thraldom. But just outside the gates of the -train shed Elsie looked all about and asked a question: “That young man -in the polka-dotted tie seems to have disappeared,” she observed. “He -was here when we came, outside of Madame Pearl’s in that taxi, in the -hallway to the club and upstairs at the theatre. What’s happened to him -now?” - -“Oh, did you notice him, too?” Kate asked, surprised. “And in the club? -I missed him there. How did he get in?” - -“He was talking to the telephone girl and watching us while we had -lunch. I saw through the door. He acted like a detective, or something. -I was going to point him out to you, and then every time I got -interested in what we were saying and forgot. What do you suppose he was -doing?” - -Kate was suddenly embarrassed. She knew very well what he was doing, but -of course she was bound not to tell. - -“He acted like a detective,” Elsie said, musingly. “Just exactly the way -they act in books.” - -“Yes. And we might have been thieves, or something,” Kate took it up. - -But at her words Elsie stiffened. Although Kate at the minute was not -looking at her she _felt_ the stiffening. And when they were established -in their coach and Kate did turn to look at Elsie she saw at once that -the comrade had vanished again! What _had_ she done? And how could she -bear it after this perfect day? Oh, no, it was not to be borne. Things -couldn’t happen like that. She leaned toward Elsie and spoke quickly, -urgently but softly. - -“Don’t get icy again,” she pleaded. “If I’ve offended you, I truly don’t -know how. And we’ve had such a splendid day of it. Deep down everything -seems to be all right with us. It’s only on top things keep going wrong. -Don’t look like that. Don’t.” - -But Elsie did not respond to Kate’s pleading. She kept on looking “like -that” and merely commented coldly, “You do say such queer things. I -don’t know what you mean.” - -And from then on Elsie, dropping all her city bearing, curled one foot -up under her on the car seat, turned her shoulder to Kate, leaned her -chin on her hand, and gazed out of the window. Kate sat biting her lips -with clutched hands. After a while, when she realized that Elsie’s “cold -shoulder” was to be permanent, she got up and crossed the aisle to sit -by herself at a window. - -“Why am I not furious with her?” she asked herself. “She has no right to -treat me like that! And I am angry, of course. But I’m not _very_ angry. -Why am I not very angry?” - -The conclusion she finally arrived at was that she couldn’t be very -angry until she understood what it was all about. There was a mystery -that needed solving. Kate felt herself destined to solve it. There was -an elation in that prospect that bore her up above the moment’s worries -and confusions. “If you’re going to live you’ve got to be willing to -suffer,” she told herself sententiously. “And certainly I am living!” -Then her eyes crinkled into their nicest Chinese smile. For Kate was -perfectly capable of being amused at herself. - - - - - CHAPTER XII - THE SPECIAL DELIVERY - - -Miss Frazier approved, and was even delighted with the frocks when she -came up to view them after breakfast next morning. - -“Shall we try them on for you?” Kate offered eagerly. - -“No, I don’t believe so. I can trust Madame Pearl, I am sure, to say -nothing of you girls yourselves! And there is a lot to be done now to -get ready for the party.” - -Miss Frazier was moving and speaking in suppressed excitement, any one -could see that. This party to her was to be a significant moment in her -own life as well as in the girls’! - -“What can we do?” Kate asked. - -“You may help me to decorate the drawing-room and hall. If I engage a -professional person he will simply load the whole place with flowers in -a set and stuffy way. Besides, this is an informal party, and we want -the decorations to be very simple and unstudied.” Then Miss Frazier -added with a twinkle in her eye, “That’s why we must study very hard and -fuss and consult.” - -Both girls laughed at that. - -“I’m expecting a man now to help Timothy move the furniture back for -dancing. As soon as they are done we can begin. The dresses are -charming, and I congratulate you.” - -Since getting into the train the afternoon before the comrade in Elsie -had not been visible. The girls had spoken to each other only in -monosyllables and with eyes usually averted. Almost as though they had -agreed upon it, however, they played up a little in the presence of -their aunt. She had been so kind to them and counted so much on the day -together to have made them friends, they had not the heart to let her -see just how things stood between them. So at dinner they had told her -of the day’s adventures vivaciously, dwelling most on their reactions to -“The Blue Bird” and the episode of the post. For some reason Elsie did -not mention the young man who had shadowed them in such an unshadowy -way. That omission surprised Kate and gave her pause. What did such -reticence mean? Aunt Katherine had been much diverted by Kate’s account -of her interview with the box-office clerk and the manager. Her comment -had been, “You are a Frazier, Kate! You have a _spine_. I imagine the -manager sensed that.” - -After dinner the three had settled to a quite exciting game of Mah Jong. -No need for Elsie and Kate to pretend friendliness then, for the game -took all their attention, and they could forget each other as persons. -After that there was a brief stroll in the garden, Aunt Katherine -walking between the girls, their arms drawn through hers. It had all -seemed very peaceful and congenial. But there had been no “good-nights” -upstairs, though in accordance with Aunt Katherine’s will the doors -stood open between the two bedrooms. - -So now, when Aunt Katherine left to attend to the moving of the -furniture, Kate turned to Bertha and said, “I shall be in the garden -over by the Dentons’ hedge, writing letters. Will you call me when Miss -Frazier is ready, Bertha?” - -Without a glance at Elsie she picked up her pad and hurried out. She -hoped that Elsie realized she was avoiding using the sitting-room and -the desk they were supposed to share; and she would not have minded -knowing that Elsie’s conscience bothered her about it. But if it did, -Elsie gave no sign. She herself simply turned away about some business -of her own. - -There was so much for Kate to tell her mother in this letter that was -interesting and wonderful! First, of course, there was Madame Pearl and -her most unique shop that didn’t look like a shop a bit. She must -describe the frocks they had chosen, or rather that Madame Pearl had -chosen for them; Kate realized now that they themselves had done no -choosing at all. Then dining in the luxurious club—she would describe -that in detail. She had never in her life had quite such a stimulating -conversation with any one before as that conversation at luncheon. She -recalled it now as an hour during which she had _thought_, and thought -rapidly, and expressed her thoughts to an attentive listener who in her -turn _thought_ and came back at her in a most provocative manner. Ideas -had spun in the air between them like iridescent bubbles, changing -colour as they turned and you viewed different sides of them. The truth -about that was that two most congenial minds had discovered each other, -and that is as exciting an adventure as there is in the world, and not -at all an ordinary one. The thing that gave this experience its final -tang was that the two minds, though comprehending each other perfectly, -worked entirely differently. It followed that for each other they had -great discoveries and surprises. Together they danced as one in figures -new to both!—Of course, Kate could not tell her mother exactly this, but -she could tell her enough so that she would understand a little what had -happened. But she must begin. - -Instead, unhygienically, she sucked the end of her pencil. - -Would Mother approve of her having accepted the party frock? That -bothered her a little. Knowing Aunt Katherine now she understood her -mother much less than ever before on these points. The dress must have -cost—no, she would not imagine what it must have cost since Aunt -Katherine had told her not to give that end of it a thought. Still, she -would describe the dress to Mother, and she could come to conclusions -for herself. - -“Dearest Mother”:—Oh, there was so much, so very much, it was quite -hopeless to write! There was the fairy in the glass. That must be told -first. There was not the slightest doubt in Kate’s mind that the two -were exactly the same, the fairy in the woods that day and the -reflection of Elsie in the mirror at Madame Pearl’s. But what its -explanation could be was unthinkable. At the time the little Kate had -seen the fairy in the woods, Elsie was only a little girl of her own -age. How, then, had Kate seen her as she would look eight years later in -a mirror in a Boston shop? It was such an unanswerable question that -Kate’s mind turned away from it. Still, not for one minute did she doubt -that the two visions had been exactly the same. What would Katherine -make of it? - -“Hello. Good morning.” Jack Denton, in white flannels, tall and -athletic, was standing the other side of the hedge, swinging his tennis -racket and smiling a friendly, frank smile. “Excuse me, but you’re Miss -Kate Marshall, aren’t you? My sister and I are coming to the party in -your honour to-night. I’m Jack Denton, and Rose will be out in a minute. -If you’ll play a set with us I’ll call up another fellow and make -doubles.” - -Kate jumped up, delighted. She went to the wall. “Good morning,” she -said. “I was just beginning a letter. But I’d love to play—that is, for -a little while, till Aunt Katherine needs me. But why don’t we just -shout for Elsie? She likes tennis, I know, and Aunt Katherine says she -plays wonderfully.” - -But Jack’s expression had changed queerly. He grew slightly red and -avoided looking directly at Kate. “No need to get any one yet,” he -objected. “Heaven knows when Rose will be out. She’s awfully pokey—slow. -Let us begin just by ourselves till she does appear, anyway. Can you -jump? Here’s a hand.” - -But Kate shook her head. “No, thanks. I don’t think I’ll play, after -all. I may be called any minute to help Aunt Katherine, and -besides—besides, it’s very warm, isn’t it?” - -Kate was looking at the pad in her hand, about to turn away. - -But Jack kept her a minute. “Oh, I say! You aren’t offended, are you? I -wouldn’t do that for anything.” - -“No, of course not.” But Kate’s negation was made only out of a spirit -of reserve and also embarrassment. “No.” - -“But you are, and I don’t wonder. Of course you’d be on your cousin’s -side. And listen. We are, too. Rose and I and all of us are, always have -been. We never could see any sense in all the hubbub. It’s just been -Grandmother and Grandmother’s friends. We all thought Elsie was great -stuff when she visited Miss Frazier before—— And we’re coming to the -party to-night, you bet. Only—at this minute Grandmother is sitting -right up there in a window where she can see the court, and it might -change her, decide her for some reason not to go to-night. She feels -that her going formally and giving in, as it were, publicly, is the -thing that’s going to turn the trick. It’s her show, sort of. If we did -it first, now, she might be just as bad as ever again, begin all over -again. Do you see?” - -“No, I don’t see,” Kate said in all truth. Jack’s explanations shed no -light whatsoever. His face had grown steadily redder as he realized that -he had simply made a mess of it. “I don’t see.” - -But even as she stood looking at Jack Denton she was smiling at herself -mentally, to hear how her voice had taken on the very timbre of Elsie’s -when she was being her most unpleasantly polite. What a copy cat she -was. Still, there was a certain satisfaction in finding herself so -successful in a self-made rôle. “All you say is just Greek to me. And I -ought to be writing my letter. Good morning.” - -She turned deliberately and sauntered back to her place in the shade of -the orchard. But Jack did not leave the wall. He stayed there watching -her, a frown gathering on his brow. When she was seated, with her back -against an apple tree trunk and her pad ready on her knee, he called -again. - -“Oh, I say,” he called. “I thought you knew everything about it all, of -course. If you don’t, it’s a shame. I just can’t be apologetic enough.” - -But Kate did not turn to him. “Go away, go away, go away,” she said, -mentally. “I don’t want to hear any more. It’s not for you to unravel -the mystery. I don’t want to know from a stranger. I feel very -indignant. Very, very indignant, and I hardly know why.” - -Kate’s silence meant as much to Jack Denton as the thoughts he could not -hear. He turned away and strolled toward the house, swinging his racket -and looking at the ground dejectedly. Kate was sorry she had been so -deliberately rude, but she simply could not call him back. She was too -really indignant, and at the same time unable to analyze her -indignation. She returned to her letter. - -But she found it very difficult to write. There was just too much ever -to begin to put on paper, in spite of this being only her third day -here! What she must do was simply tell the _facts_ and let the rest go. -The colour of the facts, all that lay underneath and over them, must -wait. The letter that finally developed was a thin affair, perfunctory -and empty of interest. Kate had never in her life felt so far from her -mother. - -The girls and Miss Frazier selected and cut flowers in the garden. They -took them in loosely on their arms and tossed them down on a damp sheet -spread on the floor just inside the drawing-room doors. Then came the -deciding on receptacles and the placing of them. It was all very -interesting, and exciting, too, for as the rooms grew in adornment Kate -felt the party itself drawing nearer and nearer. Miss Frazier seemed -very gay as they worked. She laughed and said whimsical things in a -whimsical manner. And her every touch was deft, and the result artistic. - -That morning Kate learned more about colour values and proportion than -she had ever learned in all her years of school. She had not dreamed -that so much _mind_ could be used on such an apparently simple -occupation as placing a few nasturtiums in a vase! - -What a good time they were having! Kate moved about the big drawing-room -and hall with almost dancing steps, she was so happy doing her aunt’s -intelligent bidding and seeing loveliness form before her eyes and under -her hand. And Elsie was laughing quite spontaneously at Aunt Katherine’s -humour and taking as much delight as Kate in the growing beauty of the -arrangements. - -“Someone to speak to you on the telephone, Miss Frazier.” Isadora had -come out from the telephone booth under the hall stairs. - -“Who is it, please? Always get the name, Isadora.” - -“Yes, ma’am. I always do when I can. But this gentleman won’t give his -name. Says it’s not necessary. He wants to speak to you on important -business, he says.” - -“Won’t give his name! Nonsense! Tell him, then——” But suddenly in the -middle of this command Aunt Katherine’s expression changed. “Oh, well, I -think I know now who it must be. That’s all right, Isadora.” - -Aunt Katherine dropped the yellow roses she was sorting—their wet stems -and leaves instantly spreading white spots on to the polished surface of -the little table. With a quick step she hurried toward the telephone -booth. Kate snatched up the roses and remedied the harm they had done as -well as she could with her pocket handkerchief. Then she and Elsie -simply stood idly about waiting for the doors of the telephone booth to -open and their Chieftain to reappear. For having seen Aunt Katherine -work with the flowers they knew themselves incompetent to go ahead -alone. - -As Kate leaned against the banister, and Elsie smoothed her hair before -a little gilt mirror on the wall near the door and secured the shell -pins holding it, the front-door bell suddenly rang and Isadora came into -the hall to answer it. A postman in livery standing there thrust a pad -at her mumbling, “Sign here.” - -Elsie dropped a shell pin on to the floor and rushed to Isadora. “It’s a -special delivery,” she cried. “For me?” - -Yes, it was for Elsie. She almost snatched it out of the postman’s hands -and scrawled her signature on the pad that Isadora surrendered. - -“All right,” she said, pushing the pad at the postman and the next -instant shutting the door directly in his face. Had she shoved him out? -Kate was not at all sure she hadn’t. - -Then Elsie ran through the hall with the letter hugged up under her chin -and up the stairs past Kate. “Tell Aunt Katherine I’ll be right back,” -she called as she went. But she stopped on the first landing to lean -over the banister and whisper down, “Don’t say anything about my having -had a special delivery, will you, Kate?” - -“Of course not, if you don’t want me to. It’s none of my business, is -it?” - - - - - CHAPTER XIII - “YOU THIEF!” - - -Kate was dressed and ready for the party half an hour before dinner that -night. She stood surveying herself in the long door mirror. Anticipation -had brought unusual colour that glowed even through the tan on her -cheeks, and the corners of her lips were sharply uptilted. - -“The cap is certainly a wonder worker,” she reflected. “It is magic; it -makes me pretty. That’s even better than having a cap to make you -invisible, much better!” And when she smiled at this idea the girl in -the glass smiled, too, and was fascinatingly pretty. “Oh, if Mother -could only see me! She’d hardly believe. If the picture telephone were -perfected and Aunt had one I’d spend my last cent to call Mother up.” - -All this was not so conceited as it sounds; for Kate knew perfectly well -that ordinarily she could lay no claim to prettiness, that the charm of -the person clothed in crocus-yellow satin in the mirror before her was -due to Madame Pearl’s artistic genius and the pert, star-pointed silver -cap. And when the idea came to her to go down to the kitchen and display -herself to Julia in this enchantment it was wholly for Julia’s pleasure -she intended it; she would be taking herself down in the same impersonal -way she would take a doll down to turn it round. For finery of this sort -and the kind of glamour that beautiful clothes give, she did not for a -minute associate with herself, her _very_ self. Ever since Julia had -appeared to her on the stairs, asked eager questions about her mother -and bestowed the gingerbread man on Kate, she had wanted to see her -again. It seemed so queer and unnatural to be eating the delicious meals -she cooked and ignoring her presence in the house. Wasn’t she a friend -of her mother’s? But until this minute Kate had been too shy or too -strange in the ways of her aunt’s big smoothly running establishment to -seek Julia out in the dim, distant servants’ apartments. Now, however, -in her magic cap, looking and feeling like a young princess, and also -disguised in a way, she had no hesitation about it. She felt sure that -Julia would be interested and pleased, and that Katherine, if she were -in Kate’s place, would do that very thing. But on second thought she -decided to wait until just after dinner, for this hour would surely be -about the busiest one in a cook’s day. - -She crossed the room and sat down at her dressing table again, pulling -out a drawer. She would reread a letter from Sam, a scrawl that had come -in the afternoon’s mail when she was too much occupied to give it her -full attention. She had merely glanced it down hastily and put it away -in this drawer on top of the key to the orchard house. She read it now, -bending her head and not bothering to pick it up. - -“Don’t let her befool you, Kitty. Take our word, she’s just a silly -snob. You’re worth millions of her any minute. What a figure she’d cut -in that meadow—you know, with the King of the Fairies! She just wouldn’t -be _anything_, would she? Teach her a lesson. We’d like to, Lee and I.” -There was more of the same sort; but she did not pick it up to turn the -page. There was an uneasy stirring in her heart. It hadn’t been very -decent of her, writing like that about Elsie. She could not remember now -just how she had done it, or why. She knew that both Sam and Lee must -have struggled together over the composition of this letter in reply. -They had evidently thought it a very important letter indeed, and spent -their best efforts on it. She appreciated that, and she appreciated -their hot partisanship, too. What she didn’t appreciate at this minute -was her own motives in having so called out their sympathy. And she had -better tear it up. It certainly wasn’t a letter meant for other eyes to -see. With a strange little ache in her soul somewhere, probably in her -conscience, she picked up the sheet. Then her heart stood still, and the -fingers crumpling the paper turned cold. She went queerly sick. The key -that should have lain there under the letter was gone. It was nowhere in -the drawer. And whoever had taken the key could scarcely have failed to -read the words staring there so blackly up at you, all in Sam’s -print-like script! - -Moreover—she saw it now—the thief had gone through the whole dressing -table before hitting upon this particular drawer. Everything was a -little out of place. The thief was Elsie, of course. No one else wanted -the key. Well, serve her right, then, to have read about herself! - -Kate tore the letter into shreds and dropped it back into the drawer. -Then she strode through the bathroom, and stood in Elsie’s open door. -Elsie was already decked in her fairy green frock, her curls tied -loosely at her neck in a way that Madame Pearl had begged her to wear -them. But quite regardless of her finery she was curled up in the window -seat, her sandaled feet tucked under her, looking dreamily out toward -the orchard house. She was lost in her thoughts for she did not hear or -feel Kate when she came striding across the room to stand over her. Even -in the temper she was in, Kate could not help thinking, “How unconcerned -she is about that beautiful frock! It’s as though she was born in it. -How delicate, how _fairy_ she looks!” - -Elsie started out of her reverie at Kate’s voice. - -“Give me my key,” she was saying huskily, her hand held out. - -Elsie, in spite of the suddenness of the attack, did not stir except to -turn her head. - -“What key?” - -“You know very well what key. You stole it.” - -Red scorched Elsie’s cheeks at the word “stole.” Kate rejoiced at that. -She would make it scorch even redder. “You are no better than a thief, -to hunt through my things, to read my letters. To steal, to steal, to -steal!” - -Even as Kate stormed she knew, deep where knowing still had a foothold -below the surface of her anger, that her greatest fury was at -herself—fury that there had been such a letter for Elsie to read at all, -that she had ever written the Hart boys as she had written them. But in -spite of that knowing she seemed to have no control over the superficial -Kate, the raging, furious Kate. - -“You thief! You’re no better than a thief! Give me back my key.” - -But Elsie’s response to this attack surprised Kate into a little -calmness. She stood up, clenching her hands, and facing her accuser. - -“Well, if I am a thief I am proud of it, proud, proud. So there! If you -think I’m ashamed of it you’re wrong! Call me thief all you like. I like -to be called thief. I like it. I am one. I’ve got your old key. I’ll -give it to you to-night when we come up to bed, not before. I meant to -all along. Then the orchard house will be yours, all yours. Go live in -it! I won’t care. There’s the gong.” - -But in spite of Kate’s growth in calmness her determination remained. -“Aunt Katherine gave the key to me,” she said. “It belongs to me. Give -it back this instant.” - -“If I won’t, what will you do?” - -Kate considered. “If you won’t, I’ll go right out there after dinner and -climb in at a window and explore the whole house. I’ll discover your -blessed secret whatever it is and not even wait till morning. That’s -what I’ll do.” - -Elsie stood looking at her. But something changed in her eyes. For a -flash, or was it only Kate’s wild imagining, a comrade looked out -through those clouded windows, making them in that instant clear as day, -and then vanished. _Now Kate knew what would have been the expression on -the face of the fairy in the wood that June day, eight years ago, if she -had not flashed back into the sunlight too quickly for her to catch it. -It would have been this sky-clear look of the golden comrade._ - -“Why don’t you say you’ll tell Aunt Katherine?” - -Kate looked at Elsie, amazed. Such an idea had never entered her head. -Her face said so. _Again the comrade flashed._ But it vanished quicker -than before, and this time definitely. “Well, you told your wonderful -friends, ‘The boys,’ on me. You _do_ tell, you see.” - -Kate had no answer to that. - -Elsie whirled about and went to her bed. From under her pillow she took -the key, and returning, handed it to Kate, coolly. “Here it is,” she -said, “and this is the last time I shall ever ask a favour of you, Kate -Marshall. Please don’t use it to-night.” - -Kate accepted the key. “All right,” she promised. “I won’t use it -to-night. There won’t be time, anyway, with the party and everything.” -She was not speaking to the Elsie who had asked the favour, however, but -to the vanishing comrade, invisible now, whom she had seen clear enough -in that one flash. Was that comrade within hearing, she wondered. - -“Thanks,” Elsie said, as though she meant it, and in a relieved tone. -Then she straightened. “But just the same, Kate Marshall, I shall never, -never, never, never forgive you for calling me a thief, not so long as I -live, I sha’n’t.” - -“You said you were proud of it,” Kate rather cruelly retorted. - -Elsie suddenly threw her arm across her eyes. To Kate’s dismay she was -sobbing. - -“Don’t cry, don’t cry,” she begged. “The gong rang minutes ago. Quick, -wash your eyes. For Aunt Katherine’s sake! She’s been so good to us. -Let’s go on pretending everything’s all right.” - -Masterfully, but very wretched in her heart because of this bitter -weeping of which she was the cause, Kate hurried Elsie into the -bathroom, ran some cold water into the bowl, and put a wash cloth into -her hands. “Quick, wash your eyes. For Aunt Katherine’s sake!” Kate -commanded again, and Elsie obeyed. - -Then Kate took her hand and hurried with her out through the twisted -passageways to the main front hall and down the stairs. Dinner had been -announced some time ago, and Aunt Katherine was waiting, standing and -impatient, in the drawing-room. But when she saw them hurrying and -hand-in-hand she smiled. When you have dressed for your first real party -in your first real party frock you may be expected to be a little late! - -“How lovely you are, Aunt Katherine.” Elsie gave her tribute -spontaneously in as cool a way as though the scene upstairs had never -taken place; and Kate echoed “Lovely, Aunt Katherine.” - -Miss Frazier was touched. “Thank you, my dears,” she said. “And I can -return the compliment. In fact, Madame Pearl has outdone herself!” - -Miss Frazier deserved their tribute. She was both handsome and -distinguished looking, with her graying hair done high and topped with a -jewelled comb that sent out shivers of light whenever she moved, gowned -in softest lilac-coloured silk draped with black lace, and wearing a -long black lace scarf in a most regal manner. The lilac, the green, and -the crocus-yellow figures that passed into the dining-room arm-in-arm -caused the waitress Effie the most wide-eyed admiration. - -“And they were as friendly, just as friendly as could be,” she told the -kitchen when she removed the service plates. “You’d think Miss Frazier -was their mother, she’s that affectionate. Why, it’s like a regular -family to-night!” - -Julia, handing out hot dishes, beamed. “Perhaps everything’s coming -right, after all,” she said. “Katherine’s child will shed sunshine all -about just as Katherine did.” - -Bertha, sitting at a distant table playing cards with Timothy and the -gardener, sniffed at that. “Miss Elsie is as capable of shedding -sunshine as anybody,” she said, defensively. “She’s just made of it -herself. I’m always telling you.” - -“Yes, you’re always telling. But we’re never seeing,” Julia retorted. -“Touched with melancholy, she seems to me, but as nice as you please. -Only not cheerful to have about. It’s probably her poor mother’s awful -death. Her heart’s broke.” - -Bertha shook her head. “I don’t think her heart’s broken. She’s as gay -as anything alone with me sometimes! And she’s the most generous child -living.” - -“She does funny things, though,” Timothy offered his bit. “Carrying -groceries up to her room, buying eggs and bread and stuff and paying for -’em herself. Holt told me.” - -Bertha looked at him, unbelieving. “Groceries in her room? No such -thing. Who takes care of her room, do you think? I never saw such a -thing in it. What do you mean?” - -Then Timothy related how for a week past Elsie had bought foodstuffs -every time she went to the village, and refused to give them to him to -carry around to the kitchen afterward. Julia had assured him they were -never ordered by her; so of course Miss Elsie took them to her room. -Where else could she keep them? - -Bertha would have nothing to do with that idea. Indeed, it was -impossible there could be any such food supply as Timothy described in -Elsie’s room, for Bertha knew every inch of that dainty apartment, and -kept it in order. Still, she had respect for Timothy, and could not -doubt his word when he insisted that Elsie actually had bought bread and -eggs, lettuce, oil, and nuts and brought them home with her in the car. -“What she does with ’em’s none of our business, that I can see,” she -volunteered. “Feeds the birds in the gardens and orchard perhaps. She’s -that unselfish! She’s probably even kinder to the birds than to human -beings.” - -But every one laughed at this explanation. You don’t feed birds eggs and -oil and nuts! No, there was some mystery about it. Julia had felt -mystery in the air for a week past, and not just because of Elsie’s -queer purchases and the puzzle of what became of them, either. Mystery -was simply “in the air.” Julia “_felt_” it. - -Timothy nodded his head knowingly. Timothy was Irish and very romantic. -“What can you expect?” he asked. “In a house with two young things like -that! Why, they’ve just come out of the Fairyland of their childhood, -they’re standing now on the edges of life. What can you expect but -mystery? They’re all mystery.” - -“I don’t mean that kind of mystery, Timothy,” Julia protested. “I mean -regular down-and-out _mystery_. I feel it in my bones. You wait and see -if I’m not right.” - -Effie had returned from the dining-room again. “Miss Frazier’s telling -them about Rome now,” she said. “She says she’ll take them both there -together sometime, if Miss Kate’s mother’ll let her go. She said -‘Katherine’ just as easy as though it didn’t hurt a bit and as though it -might be any name. Perhaps she wouldn’t mind our speaking it now. Things -are changing.” - -It was true. Things were changing with Miss Frazier. She sat at the head -of her table to-night a light-hearted, spirited person. And she was more -than that. She was intensely interesting. She said she meant soon to -begin to travel, really to travel and see the world. Arabia attracted -her, and all Asia. A book by a man named Ferdinand Ossendowski had -lately stimulated her roving instincts and enthralled her imagination. -Why should she not explore a totally different civilization from the one -she had been born into! She recounted some of Ossendowski’s exploits, -adventures, and escapes, and his stories of the “King of the World.” As -she talked a panorama entirely new to her listeners unrolled before -their minds’ visions. What a place this world was, what a place to be -alive in, and what a time to be alive! How the importance of personal -affairs evaporated in the face of such contemplation! The girls were as -stirred as Miss Frazier herself apparently had been stirred; they were -lifted out of themselves. They felt that the world was a challenge, that -life was a challenge—a glorious one. For the time the party, drawing so -near now, sank into insignificance. - -But Miss Frazier, looking at their eager faces, suddenly remembered. She -said, “Katherine wouldn’t let me take you to such out-of-the-way places -yet, Kate, and of course I wouldn’t want to. But when we go to Rome——” -Then she had talked about Rome and places nearer home. But in speaking -of them she touched them with a new light and interest. Kate’s dream, as -most girls’ dreams, had often been of some day going “abroad.” Such an -adventure in contemplation had always seemed the very height of -happiness to her. But now, Miss Frazier’s conversation lent travel new -glamour, for Miss Frazier was steeped in history, the history of nations -and religions and art, and her idea of travel was not simply of -adventure into lands, but into realms of imagination, and into the past. - -“Would you girls like to travel with me for a summer—perhaps next -summer?” she asked. - -Kate’s joy at such a prospect was too great to allow of words. She -simply glowed at Aunt Katherine. But Elsie suddenly turned away her -head. Somehow then, in that instant, the spell was broken. The dinner -table with the diners floated back to Miss Frazier’s house in Oakdale, -Massachusetts, and there they sat, consuming “cottage pudding” with -lemon sauce, dressed and ready for a party. - -After dinner Miss Frazier settled down, expecting to finish “The King of -the Fairies” before the guests began to arrive, leaving the girls to -amuse themselves in their own way. Elsie wandered out on to the -star-lighted terrace, looking exactly like a dreamy fairy. Kate went -with her, not speaking, and soon leaving her, to find her way around to -the kitchen door. - -The servants in their own attractive dining-room were just beginning -dinner. Kate had forgotten how many of them there would be, and was -almost overcome with embarrassment, when they all leapt to their feet -and the maids walked around her in a circle, exclaiming admiringly. “I -just wanted to show Julia the new frock Aunt Katherine gave me,” Kate -was explaining a little breathlessly. “I never seem to see you, Julia,” -she added, catching her eye at last in the group, “and I never really -thanked you for the gingerbread man and your kind inquiries about -Mother.” - -“To think,” exclaimed Julia, “of my giving you a gingerbread man! Where -were my wits? Why, you’re a young lady. But your mother liked -gingerbread even after she was a young lady.” - -“You’ll have a fine time at your party in that gown,” Isadora affirmed. -“You couldn’t help it. There’ll be nothing half so beautiful.” - -Meanwhile Bertha beamed. In a way she felt responsible for this young -vision of splendour. Hadn’t she helped choose the dress, and hadn’t she -finally put Kate into it! She was certainly involved in the display. - -Then Julia said, feelingly, “We’re all grateful to you, Miss Kate, for -bringing a party to this house again, for getting things natural. Miss -Frazier’s acting like herself now, and it’s on account of you.” - -“Why, I haven’t done anything,” Kate denied. - -But she liked their praise and their warmth, and she felt now entirely -in the mood for the party to begin. - - - - - CHAPTER XIV - THE STRANGER IN THE GARDEN - - -Soon after eight Miss Frazier stood regally in the wide hall between her -two nieces, receiving and introducing the first arrivals. They came -fluttering in at the big wide-open door—girls in shimmering, fluffy -party frocks of rainbow colours; boys, mostly in white flannels and dark -coats, but a few in tuxedos; and a thin scattering of two older -generations, these latter gray-haired grandmothers and younger -matrons—some of the mothers looking scarcely older than their own -children, in the modern manner. All was murmuring, laughter. Then the -orchestra placed back in the blue breakfast-room began tuning their -instruments. Jack Denton claimed Kate for the first dance. He danced -perfectly, much better than Kate, in fact, who had had little -experience; and all the time he kept up a stream of interesting -nonsense. Kate laughed at him and swung along more and more in harmony -with the music. How gay, how merry it all was! Elsie floated past, her -green chiffon draperies like airy wings. - -“Isn’t she lovely!” Kate exclaimed in admiration that must find voice. -“Do you know I think she is the very prettiest——” She was going to say, -“the very prettiest girl I have ever seen,” but Jack interrupted, his -brown eyes smiling down at her: “No, I wouldn’t say she’s the -_prettiest_——” - -No one in all her life had ever even insinuated that Kate was pretty -before, and the comparison that Jack indicated now was beyond -contemplating. It was the magic silver cap, of course. Suppose it should -blow off as they danced! How surprised Jack Denton would be! - -As the evening went on Kate entertained more and more the conceit that -she was masquerading in prettiness. There was no blinking the fact that -she was tremendously popular. And it obviously was not just the easy -popularity of the girl for whom the party is given. Not a bit of it. It -was spontaneous, joyous. Perhaps she realized the reality of this -popularity all the more because she had never experienced it before. At -the two or three high-school dances in Middletown which her mother had -allowed her to attend, while not being exactly a wallflower, she had not -particularly shone. There had been many minutes of suspense when she -forced a semblance of a smile to her lips and intense interest to her -eyes while she watched the more popular girls swinging by with their -partners, while all her mind was taken up with praying that Jim Walker -or Cecil Quinn would look in from the hall and notice there was a girl -there not dancing. It is true that Jim or Cecil or some other usually -did notice sometime before the dance was half over and come to her -rescue, for Kate was a good sort and everybody liked her. At those -dances Kate never counted on the Hart boys for attention, although they -were her escorts to and from; for to them Kate was no better than a -sister. They would have been glad to see her popular, and taken natural -pride to themselves in it. But it never entered their heads to be -gallant themselves. No, the high-school dances had left Kate secure in -the conviction that she would never be a success socially and in the -philosophical determination not to care. - -But to-night all that was changed. Even Elsie, perfectly beautiful as -she was, was not having the same success. She danced constantly, of -course, but often with a boy whom Kate had had to refuse. - -In an intermission a dowager-like old lady beckoned to Kate from a chair -near an open door leading out on to the terrace. Kate left Jack Denton -who at the minute was fanning her with a magazine which he had picked up -from a table for the purpose, and went to the dowager. - -“Bring a chair,” the bejewelled one commanded, “and talk to an old woman -for a minute.” - -And when Kate had drawn up a stool that stood near and sat down close to -her she said, “You are every bit as pretty as your mother was, Katherine -Marshall. Every bit!” - -Kate shook her head, laughing. “It’s just a disguise,” she affirmed, -mysteriously. - -“A disguise? What do you mean, you funny child?” - -“This cap I am wearing is a magic cap,” Kate informed her, touching its -star points ever so lightly with her finger tips. “But shh! don’t let -them hear. I will confess to you, though, that it makes me much, much -better looking than I really am, and more popular.” - -The evening had rather gone to Kate’s head. But the dowager person liked -it. She liked it very much. She tapped Kate’s shoulder with her jewelled -lorgnette. “Well, then, shall I say,” she continued quite in Kate’s -fantastic mood, “you have your mother’s prettiness to begin with, and on -top of that the magic cap has added a good bit more. But even better -than prettiness you have her spirit. She was always the belle of every -party. And often I’ve sat right here in this very chair and watched her -gliding past with the young men. Dancers did glide then, not hop and -walk. In spite of her preoccupation she always gave me a smile as she -drifted. And I was old and ugly even then.” - -“Old and ugly! Are you wearing a magic something yourself to-night, -then? Perhaps it’s your pearls that make you seem stately and lovely!” - -There was blarney in this, for while the dowager was stately enough she -certainly was not lovely in any usual sense of the word. - -But Kate was scarcely responsible. She hardly knew what she was saying; -she was simply effervescing with high spirits and a heady -self-satisfaction. - -The dowager laughed mellowly. She was not often mellow, and certainly -she had not been mellow before this evening. She had sat perfectly still -in her chair, her hands folded, with the expression of a judge in court. -Now, however, she was a judge no longer. She had slipped into the spirit -of the party, swept in on Kate’s fantasy. Miss Frazier watching, but not -appearing to watch, from a distant divan where she conversed with two or -three mothers, saw the mellowing even at that distance and was well -pleased. “Congratulations, Kate,” she said, mentally. “Congratulations, -and thank you.” - -Meanwhile the dowager was murmuring in Kate’s ear: “You are a dear! It’s -for your mother’s and your grandfather’s sake I came to-night and -persuaded my daughter to let the young people come. And now I am glad I -did.” - -Kate looked up at her. “Why for their sake? Why not come, anyway?” But -as she spoke automatically, Kate felt her lips stiffening over the -words. Indignation was suddenly welling up as it had in the garden with -Jack Denton that morning. Glamour fled away, and Kate was straightening -like a warrior. - -But the dowager hardly heard her question, and certainly did not notice -the straightening process. She went on, “I always said no good would -come of it. There’s something in good blood that tells—and in bad blood, -too. Not that we knew the blood was bad—although in time it showed it -was surely enough—just that we didn’t know anything about it! How Miss -Frazier dared, a person of her race and blood——” - -But Kate interrupted with a strained laugh. “Blood!” she wanted to -exclaim. “You make me creep. Are you Lady Macbeth’s grandmother?” But -she uttered no sound except the laugh. This was fortunate for Kate, and -remarkable restraint. She sat with lips stiffened, watching the glamour -gliding away out of her heart, out of the party. - -The dowager had paused a minute at Kate’s laugh, waiting for her to -speak. But now she continued, “Terrible risk. Everyone warned her. But -she would listen to nobody, not even to me. Now she’s trying to unmake -her bed. It’s to be hoped she sees the folly of expecting anything good -to be made out of bad blood. Environment! Pshaw! Futile!” - -Kate shivered. She looked around for a way of escape from this -murmuring, croaking person whom but a minute ago she had dubbed stately -and lovely. If she should start now and dance off on the music that was -beginning again might she outdance the spectre? Might she overtake the -glamour? There was Elsie, standing alone for the minute in the open -doorway a few steps away. Kate knew now why she had outdistanced Elsie -in popularity to-night; she knew it as she watched her, hardly aware of -thinking about it at all. Elsie was too fine, too entirely lovely in the -real meaning of the word to appeal to any but those sensitive to -loveliness in its purest essence. She did not belong to the party at -all. She belonged to the starlight beyond the lamplight, to the dim -orchard—to the orchard house! - -“Whom will you dance this with?” the dowager was inquiring in Kate’s -ear. - -“The first person that gets here,” Kate replied, quickly. But the -dowager did not take offence. Several were in the race, but a tall, -lanky youth won, a humorous creature with a happy-go-lucky bearing. When -Kate rose to dance off with him, the dowager took her hand. She smiled -up at her in the most friendly manner. “You must come to call on me -soon,” she said. “Or I will call for you and take you for a drive and -then home for tea. That will be better, I think. How is that?” - -“Thank you.” Kate managed to smile, but it was a smile her mother would -never have recognized. - -“I’ll say,” her partner informed her the minute they were out of -hearing, “you’ve made a hit. Do you know who she is? Jack Denton’s -grandmother, Mrs. Van Vorst-Smith. The social autocrat of Oakdale. -Everything will come your way now.” - -But Kate did not respond to this gay assurance. “What’s the matter?” her -partner asked, surprised. Responsiveness had been Kate’s greatest charm -all the evening, if she had only known it, not the cap. - -“Nothing. Only I’m chilly.” - -The boy whistled. “No wonder, having sat next to that old iceberg so -long. Though ’twas probably the air from the door, too. It’s lots cooler -and a storm is coming up, I think. I’d have rescued you sooner if I’d -had the nerve. She looked almost outlandishly amiable, though. What was -her line?” - -Kate shivered, a pretend shiver this time, getting her gaiety back. -“Blood! Just blood, if you will believe me. Is she an ogress as well as -a social autocrat? She discussed blood in several of its phases. Bad -blood, good blood, and talking blood. Like the singing bone, I suppose.” - -The boy laughed heartily. “She didn’t waste any time in mounting her -hobby, I’ll say. But she can’t worry you. Your blood’s all right. That’s -the word’s been going ’round ever since the invitations were out. -‘Fraziers, one of the best families in Massachusetts.’ She was probably -congratulating you and expecting a return of the compliment.” - -Kate laughed. But in spite of her new gaiety, the corners of her mouth -had quite lost their winged tilt. - -After a few more dances, supper was announced. Kate had promised Jack -Denton early in the evening that she would take supper with him. She saw -him now looking about for her. In an instant their eyes would meet and -he would hurry across to her where she stood for the minute alone. But -she suddenly realized that she was tired. She ached with too much -dancing. She would never have acknowledged this to herself, of course, -unless something had gone wrong with the evening. Hardly knowing why, -she stepped out of the door near which she was for the instant standing, -backward. That step precipitated her into a different world entirely. -The stars had disappeared behind dark, windy rain clouds. The air was -fresh, and you heard a wind and felt its edges. Kate took a deep breath. -She would stay here in the blowy dark just for a little. It wouldn’t -hurt Jack to search a minute longer. - -She moved, still backward, farther away from the lighted doorway. She -brushed against a garden chair and sat down. She leaned her head against -its high back. An impulse came to take off the magic silver cap and be -herself. Whimsically she lifted it from her head and placed it on her -knee. - -“Now you’re just Kate Marshall,” she spoke to herself, but aloud. “Just -ordinary, plain-as-day Kate Marshall. Dowagers can’t spoil anything for -you. They wouldn’t pay enough attention to you now to bother about -spoiling. All the magic that’s really your own, all that isn’t false -magic, she can’t touch. Nothing she could say could touch it.” - -Kate sighed, having finished her little heartfelt speech to herself. She -felt relieved and freshened. She had certainly cast off the dowager’s -spell. - -“That’s right. All the magic that’s your own, nobody, even a Mrs. Van -Vorst-Smith, can touch. It’s safer than the stars from troubling!” - -That was a low voice speaking directly behind her. No, it was not simply -her own thoughts, although those words might very well have been in her -mind that minute, for some of them were right out of “The King of the -Fairies.” But it had been a voice, a man’s voice. - -Slowly she turned her head. Directly behind her chair a man was -standing. She could not see his features at all, because the night was -so black, but she thought that he was hatless, and she knew he was in -dark clothes. The wind, not merely its edges, had come to earth now. Was -it flapping the borders of a long dark cape enveloping the vague figure? - -The vague figure bent down to her. Yes, it was a dark cape, blowing away -from his shoulders on the wind. It seemed as though the being himself -leaned down out of the wind. “Give this to Elsie, please,” he said, in -quite a matter-of-fact tone now. Then the wind took him. At least Kate -could not see him any more. He had stepped back among the tall lilac -bushes that bordered the terrace at that spot. - -When he was gone it was just exactly as though he had never been, except -for the folded paper that Kate found clutched in her hand. That folded -paper, however, definitely fixed him as a reality. But who could it have -been? Mr. O’Brien, the detective, crossed Kate’s mind, or one of his -assistants, that young man of the polka-dotted tie. But instantly she -laughed, though silently, at such a notion. They, neither of them, she -felt sure, would by any chance have quoted from “The King of the -Fairies” while doing business. “It’s safer than the stars from -troubling.” Had the King of the Fairies himself passed her there on the -wind? No, hardly. He wouldn’t be leaving a note for Elsie. - -Anyway, whoever it might be, he had spoken in a voice whose bidding she -was ready to follow. She rose and took the few steps between the chair -and the drawing-room door. But she stepped over the sill without hurry, -with a meditative air. The man, standing a little way in among the tall -lilac bushes, said to himself; “She’s the right stuff. Not startled or -upset. Good for Kate Marshall!” - -Jack Denton pounced upon her almost at once. “Where _have_ you been?” he -cried. “The salad I fought for and won for you has just been -commandeered by my grandmother. Now will you agree to stay put while I -dash into the fray in the dining-room again?” - -“Yes, after a minute. First I must find Elsie. I have to see her very -specially.” - -“Elsie? Haven’t laid eyes on her for some time. Give me your message and -I’ll go hunt.” - -“No, but do look around for her. I will, too, and that will save time.” - -Elsie was not to be found anywhere in all the rooms that were lighted -and open that evening on the first floor of the house. “She’s just not -down here at all, unless she’s somewhere in the servants’ wing,” Jack -finally reported when they met by chance at the foot of the stairs. - -Kate now went to her aunt who was having salad sitting between two -dowagers, one of them Kate’s dowager. “I am looking for Elsie, Aunt -Katherine,” she said. “Have you seen her recently?” - -Miss Frazier shook her head. “Not for some time. I myself have been -wondering what has become of her.” Miss Frazier’s dark eyes as she -lifted them to Kate were clouded with worried surmise. - -Mrs. Van Vorst-Smith laughed. As a laugh, it sounded a trifle unsure of -itself and uneasy for a dowager person. “I had a few words with the -child myself half an hour or so ago,” she volunteered. “Strangely -enough, she took some offence at some remarks that were meant only -kindly, and flounced off. Perhaps she is sulking somewhere about it.” - -“I am sorry, Mrs. Van Vorst-Smith, if my niece was rude to you.” But in -spite of the words Miss Frazier’s tone was not at all a sorry tone; it -was rather edged. She herself had just been submitted to some remarks of -Mrs. Van Vorst-Smith’s that were doubtless meant kindly, and as a -consequence her sympathy was all with Elsie. But even so, if Elsie were -sulking, she was undoing all that Miss Frazier’s efforts had built up in -her behalf. That was a pity. - -“Don’t apologize for the young person you call your niece,” Mrs. Van -Vorst-Smith said, suavely. “We will lay it simply at the door of the -times. There is no respect for age, say nothing of _birth_, in this -generation.” - -Miss Frazier paid slight attention to these acid remarks. She merely -said to Kate in a concerned tone, “I’d go upstairs to look for her, -Kate. Under no circumstances must the party be ruined for her by -_anybody_. Do persuade her to come back and forget any hurts she may -have received. Do your best.” - -Kate flew away on the errand, her heart rejoiced that her aunt had -answered the dowager exactly as she had. - -There was no light in the girls’ suite. “She can’t be here,” Kate -decided. But just to make absolutely certain she went through and, -fumbling for it, turned on the switch just inside Elsie’s door. - -The first thing that caught her eye under the shaded lights that -blossomed forth so obediently at the pressure of her finger was the -fairy green frock dropped in a heap exactly in the middle of the floor, -the white sandals topping it! Elsie herself was undressed and in bed! - -“Go away, go away,” she commanded, plaintively, not even looking to see -who was in the room. - -Kate stood dumbfounded. Then she remembered her aunt’s clouded, kind -eyes, and the dowager’s haughty, skeptical nose. She braced herself. “I -can’t go away,” she said softly, evenly. “Not until you get up and get -dressed and come downstairs with me. How can you treat Aunt Katherine -so?” - -“I won’t get dressed. I won’t go down again. I hate the party! It’s your -party, anyway. I’m not needed down there.” - -Was Aunt Katherine right in the theory she had put forward at the Green -Shutter Tea Room? Was Elsie simply jealous? But Kate rejected that -thought almost before it had presented itself. In fact, she caught only -the tail of it as it switched by! She spoke reasonably. - -“Yes, it’s my party so-called. But you know perfectly well that Aunt -Katherine means it even more for you. It’s so that you’ll get to be -friendly with all the girls and boys who you say hardly speak to you. My -being here was just an opportunity. Now if you vanish in the very middle -of things, how do you think that will help any of us? It will be just -unspeakable.” - -“I want to be unspeakable. Go away.” - -“Yes, perhaps you do. You are, anyway. But do you want Aunt Katherine to -be ashamed? Could you ever forgive yourself for treating her so? She -knows Mrs. Van Vorst-Smith has been rude to you, and she herself just -now has come very near being rude to Mrs. Van Vorst-Smith on your -account. Whatever all the fuss is about—honestly and truly I haven’t an -idea what it is about myself—Aunt Katherine is all for you, Elsie. She’s -your champion. You can’t go back on her now, right before everyone. It -doesn’t matter whether you’re having a good time, not a bit. If you’re -any good at all you’ll get dressed in a jiffy and go back down with me. -You can _pretend_ you’re having a good time.” - -Kate finished. Her argument had exhausted her strangely. She found -herself trembling with the intenseness of her conviction that Aunt -Katherine must be saved from all embarrassment. - -For a few minutes Elsie made no visible response to the harangue but lay -perfectly still, her eyes shut, her head turned away. Kate stood in the -middle of the room, the fairy green dress at her feet, waiting. “I’ve -done all I can,” she told herself. “Now we’ll just see whether she has -any sense at all.” - -After a space of utter stillness Elsie stirred, threw back the coverlet, -and sat up. “You’re right, I suppose,” she said, sulkily. “I’m just a -pig, that’s all. I was only thinking of myself.” - -She did not look at Kate but busied herself picking up her scattered -clothes. When Kate started to leave the room, however, she called her -back. “Do you mind helping me with these?” she asked almost humbly. “I -don’t want to ring for Bertha. Do you mind?” - -“Of course not. Let’s hurry. Everybody’ll be wondering.” - -But now when Kate’s hands were needed she was recalled to the note still -clutched in her fingers. - -“Oh, I entirely forgot,” she exclaimed, dismayed. “Here is a note for -you.” - -Elsie unfolded the paper. If she had looked miserable before, when she -had finished reading the few words on that paper she looked tragic. “Who -gave it to you? How did you get it?” - -Kate was amazed at the way petulance had turned to sorrow. - -“I don’t know who, or even exactly how,” she confessed. “I was alone for -a second on the terrace. A man appeared just out of the wind in a -blowing, long cape. He had a singing voice at first so I hardly knew -whether he was real. And he quoted ‘The King of the Fairies.’” - -Elsie nodded. Nothing in Kate’s account surprised her apparently. The -girls did not speak to each other again but silently worked together -repairing the damage done to Elsie’s hair-dressing, getting her into the -fairy green dress, and finally bathing away evidences of tears. Supper -was just about over downstairs before they were ready to descend, and -dance strains sounding. Jack had not given Kate up, however, but was -faithfully waiting for her on the stairs. - -He saw the girls the minute they appeared at the upper turning, and -bounded up several steps to meet them. “Where have you been hiding?” he -asked, laughingly, and without any signs of surprise whatever. “I’ve -managed to save some salad for you both and ices, too, here in the -window seat.” - -It was a window seat on the stairs, halfway down the first flight. “Oh, -thanks,” Kate said, heartily. “Have you had some yourself, though?” - -“Hardly likely, not until you came. Didn’t you promise to have supper -with me?” Jack looked feigned surprise and grief. - -He was certainly making their return to society easier. Girls and boys -glanced up at them rather curiously as they danced past the drawing-room -door, and a few of the mothers, sitting where they had a view of the -stairs and the landing, rather stared. But since the truants could laugh -and talk with Jack, who was acting as though their absence had been in -no way extraordinary, they had no time to be self-conscious. - -But suddenly Jack’s face went queer right in the middle of some -nonsense. It was half a laugh, half dismay that twisted his countenance. -Quick as thought, he pointed up to the second turn of the stairs. -“That’s a fine old clock!” he exclaimed. “Take me up and show it to me.” - -Why they obeyed his command so docilely—put their plates down again on -the window seat and went back up the stairs—they hardly knew. But they -did go, like lambs. And when they had turned a corner and were out of -sight of dancers and chaperons Jack stopped, not looking at the clock at -all, and dropped his eyes to Elsie’s feet. Even Elsie laughed when she -saw what he was calling attention to. In their hurry the girls had -forgotten one item, and here was Elsie ready to appear in the -drawing-room in her pink satin, swansdown-edged boudoir slippers. They -were very dainty slippers, quite fetching in fact, but they were hardly -in harmony with the fairy green frock. - -“Run back and change while Kate and I admire the clock,” Jack advised. -And Elsie ran. - -When she returned the three sat on the window seat and ate their -long-delayed supper. At first Elsie said she wasn’t hungry and couldn’t -possibly eat, but Jack laughed her out of that. Soon Rose came up to -join them, carrying her ice, and stopping to take dainty tastes as she -came. - -“This is the nicest situation of all,” she exclaimed, settling down -beside Elsie. “And what a view it offers. Why, it’s like being in a box -at the theatre. We saw you and Kate, by the way, at ‘The Blue Bird.’ We -thought it very grand of you to have a whole box to yourselves.” - -Others followed Rose, some of them with plates of ice cream. And Kate -noticed that the ices and the ice cream were in every case in a stage of -melting. She suspected then that Jack had overheard the conversation -about the missing Elsie and had collected this little band, encouraging -them to _eat slowly_. The realization of his tact and consideration -wiped out for ever any lurking indignation toward him left over from the -morning, when he had squirmed at the idea of her calling Elsie down to -play tennis. - -A few minutes later, when Miss Frazier came out into the hall with old -Mrs. Van Vorst-Smith who was leaving and seemed to require her escort, -she saw to her great surprise and relief that the very merriest part of -the party was on the stairs. There were eight or nine girls and boys -crowded about Kate and Elsie talking eagerly and interrupting themselves -with the lightest-hearted laughter. No need to worry any more now -because her girls were not on the floor dancing. This was an even better -way of getting acquainted. Mrs. Van Vorst-Smith, feeling for an instant -that she had lost the full attention of her hostess, followed her gaze -upward. Kate was looking down, and their eyes met. Then old Mrs. Van -Vorst-Smith did an amazing thing. At least, the few people who observed -it were amazed. She made the motion of “good-night” with her lips to -Kate, and _blew her a kiss_. - -Both her grandchildren stared round-eyed. “I say,” Jack whispered, “you -have certainly charmed my grandmother. What did you ever do to her?” - -He looked at Kate, wonderingly respectful, with frankest curiosity. - -When Miss Frazier returned from seeing the old lady out of the door, she -stood for a minute within hearing of the conversation on the stairs. -They were discussing “The Blue Bird” now, but presently it changed to -“The King of the Fairies,” a book they all had read, apparently. She -smiled inwardly, well pleased. “Katherine over again,” she told herself. -But she had to admit, too, that Elsie was doing her share in keeping the -subject at a high-water-mark of intelligent conversation. “Kate is -certainly having an influence,” she reflected, “an even finer influence -than I could have hoped for.” Then she passed on into the drawing-room, -trailing her black scarf more regally than ever since she was so -honestly proud of both her nieces. - -When the last guest had departed Miss Frazier took an arm of each niece -and led them toward the stairs. “It was all a great success,” she -affirmed. “And it was you girls, yourselves, who made it a success. -Kate, you were what a new girl—at least, any new girl worth her -salt—ought to be, the belle of the ball. And, Elsie, you did me more -than credit. I am, oh, so very proud of both my girls. Old maiden aunt -that I am, I felt that I had two lovely daughters. Now I advise you to -dash to bed and save all discussion of the party until morning. -Breakfast is ordered for half-past nine to-morrow, so that you may -sleep.” - -“But sha’n’t we help you close up?” Elsie offered. “I heard you tell -Isadora to go to bed.” - -“No, thank you, my dear. I am going to stay down here awhile, finishing -‘The King of the Fairies.’ I was almost at the last chapter when Mrs. -Van Vorst-Smith led the procession of arrivals. It is an enchanting -story, just as you said. Now, good-night.” - -For all its finality the “good-night” was spoken with greatest -affection. In the last few hours Aunt Katherine had flowered into a -serenely warm human being. Both Kate and Elsie realized the change in -her, and each, for a different reason, was disturbed by it; Kate because -now less than ever she understood how her mother ever could have let -such a lovely person go out of her life; and Elsie—well, that concerns -the secret of the orchard house. - - - - - CHAPTER XV - KATE ON GUARD - - -Kate was waked by the flapping of her window draperies. The rain that -had held off during the evening was upon them now, a wild, windy, heavy -rain, unusual for July. Kate heard it spattering on the floor of the -balcony and pattering on the floor inside the tall windows. This last -would never do. Much as she liked the fresh wet wind, full of garden and -damp earth smells, she must close those windows or the room would be -damaged. It was pitchy dark, and Kate could be guided only by sound and -the direction from which the wind blew. Somehow she got the big door -windows closed and fastened, simply by the sense of touch, and then -turned gratefully bedward. But she did not go back to bed that night. - -Elsie’s door had blown shut to only a crack, and light was coming -through that crack. That was perhaps none of Kate’s business, but -instantly she was concerned. She and Elsie had not said “good-night” to -each other, but parted in silence. And Kate had gone to sleep wondering -just how much Elsie was truly hurt by whatever it was that old Mrs. Van -Vorst-Smith had said to her, and wanting, but lacking the courage, to go -in and sit on the edge of her bed to talk it out and comfort her if she -could. If she had heard Elsie so much as turn in bed she would have -taken heart; but not a sound had come from the other room after the -light was out. In the end Kate had gone to sleep still undecided as to -what she ought to do. - -Now the light drew her. Perhaps Elsie had not been to sleep at all. -Perhaps she was too unhappy to sleep. Kate had no idea what time it was, -and she did not think of the time. Her only anxiety was that Elsie might -not be angry with her for trying to comfort. On bare feet she crossed -the bathroom floor and pushed at the door. - -The lamp by Elsie’s bed was burning, but she had placed her party frock -over it to dull its glow, so the room was in a queer green light. That -was what Kate noticed first. The bed was empty. But Kate found Elsie at -once, her back turned to her, and still unconscious of her presence, at -the farther end of the room bending over a suitcase which she was busy -packing. Elsie was fully dressed, even to her hat. She was wearing the -green silk of their Boston jaunt, and the same brown straw hat. It was -perfectly plain that she was running away, running away in the middle of -a black, stormy night. - -Kate pushed the door all the way open. “What are you doing?” she -whispered, loudly. - -Elsie turned upon her. She had been crying as she packed, and even in -the excitement of the moment Kate reflected how oddly tears and a set, -tragic face went with the jaunty costume with its brave flutter of -orange at the neck. - -“You belong in bed,” Elsie whispered back. “And any one can see what I’m -doing.” - -“Yes. Running away!” - -“Yes, running away. And no business of yours.” - -The warrior in Kate straightened. This was a clear call to arms. She -felt very old and wise. She certainly would never let that crying little -girl go away like this into the rain and dark night. She couldn’t expect -to walk out right under Kate’s nose! - -“Is that what the note I brought you was about?” she asked. “Was it a -plan for this?” - -“No. It was telling me _not_ to do this. But I’m going to, just the -same. He didn’t understand—he couldn’t know.” - -Elsie returned to her packing. Kate moved nearer to her. - -“Do you think I’m going to stand here and _let_ you run away right in -the middle of the night like this?” she asked, curiously. - -Elsie did not glance up at her. She simply said, “Well, what can you do -to stop me?” - -“Wake the house, of course. Call Aunt Katherine. Shout for her.” - -Elsie stared at Kate in unfeigned surprise. “You’d tell on me?” she -asked in an unbelieving tone. “I thought you weren’t like that. I -thought you were decent.” - -“I am decent. I don’t tell, not about little things, like the key. But -this is entirely different. I should certainly wake the whole house if -you tried to walk out with that suitcase.” - -“You wouldn’t.” Elsie lifted the suitcase which was filled and closed -now, and picking up her hand-bag from where it lay on the dressing -table, took a step toward the door. But Kate reached it ahead of her. - -“I’ll shout,” Kate warned. - -“Kate Marshall, please, please, please don’t!” - -“I certainly will.” - -Elsie began to cry silently and stood with her suitcase in one hand, her -bag in the other, and her face turned from Kate, ashamed of her tears. -Kate’s heart softened, but not her determination. - -“Get undressed and into bed, and promise you won’t get out again -to-night, or I shall go right to Aunt Katherine’s room now and tell -her,” Kate said firmly. - -After a moment of hesitation Elsie began to pull off her clothes -furiously. In about two minutes she was in bed, her face turned toward -the wall. In silence Kate picked up the cast-off garments Elsie had -scattered, and put them away. The green suit she hung up on a hanger in -the closet and the hat she put away in the deep hat-drawer. Then the -suitcase claimed her attention. Bertha had better not find it packed and -standing by the door in the morning. Kate unlatched it and took out the -things. “The King of the Fairies” lay at the bottom of them all, with a -little New Testament. Kate put the two books on Elsie’s bedside table -under the lamp. Still Elsie did not move or speak; she might have been -asleep for any sign she made that she knew what was occupying Kate in -the room. - -But Kate spoke to her: “You’ve burned a hole in your party dress,” she -said. - -It was true. The heat from the electric bulb had been strong enough to -scorch the flimsy material. - -“No matter,” Elsie muttered from her pillow. “I’ll never wear it again, -anyway.” - -She had not taken the trouble even to look at the damage. That told -Kate, if it still needed telling, how truly desperate Elsie was. - -“I’m going into my room,” Kate announced, after she had hung the ruined -party dress away. “But don’t think I’m going to bed, for I’m not. I -shall be sitting up, wide awake, and surely hear you if you get up -again.” - -Elsie did not answer. - -Kate did not mind that. If never before, now she certainly merited -Elsie’s wrath. Elsie had hated her before without any cause. There was a -certain comfort to Kate in knowing the cause of her present state of -mind, a certain satisfaction in no longer being scorned for nothing, but -for something. She could defend herself to herself now. - -But could she defend herself adequately? Had she really any business to -have so interfered with Elsie’s plans? Had she any reason so at a leap -to have become a dyed-in-the-wool tattletale, at least to have -threatened tattletaling? Yes, she thought she could excuse herself. She -thought she was more than justified. Even so it was a hateful business. - -Kate wrapped herself in her dressing gown and sat in a wicker chair by -her reading light. She did not dare lie in bed to think for fear she -would drop off to sleep. She gave herself up to pondering the situation, -but kept an ear cocked all the while for the slightest movement in the -other room. - -What should she do about things in the morning? Even if Elsie had failed -to get off to-night, if Aunt Katherine were left unwarned, she would -certainly plan so as not to fail the next time. Why, to-morrow morning -itself Elsie might walk out of the house and never come back. If Elsie -had any place to go to, Kate would not be so worried. But she knew that -Elsie’s mother’s family, what there was of it, was living in Europe, and -that not one member of it had ever shown the least consciousness of -Elsie’s existence. Aunt Katherine had told her about that and marvelled -at it. So Elsie had just no one to take her in if she did run away. -There was the stranger in the garden! But he had told her not to run -away. Kate was sure Elsie had spoken truth about that note. Who _was_ -the stranger in the garden? His note had turned Elsie tragic, whoever he -was. - -There was no way out of it that Kate could see but telling. Elsie must -be protected against herself. - -But half an hour’s more pondering brought Kate to the conclusion that -she would not tell _Aunt Katherine_. Her whole instinct was against -that. Aunt Katherine, charming as she was, and kind, was after all only -an aunt, and an aunt who had said herself that she simply could not like -Elsie. What Elsie needed was a _mother_. This was work for Katherine. -Kate had perfect confidence that if her mother could talk with Elsie -everything would come clear for everybody. Light suddenly dawned in -Kate’s puzzled mind. Katherine might take Elsie home with her. They -would all three go back to Ashland together, and there all would be made -right for Elsie. Once with Katherine’s arms around her shoulders, and -Katherine’s gentle, understanding eyes looking into hers, Elsie would -confide. Kate never doubted for an instant that her mother would be -overjoyed to take the beautiful, unhappy Elsie to her heart. Why, since -Aunt Katherine had failed so to make her happy, and since she did not -even like this foster-niece, it might become a permanent arrangement; -Elsie would live with them. She would be a sister! - -All this was rather wild dreaming. Kate straightened mentally and pulled -herself back to hard facts. The facts were simply that Kate could not -bring herself to the idea of delivering Elsie up to Aunt Katherine for -judgment or help, either one. Elsie needed a mother more than she needed -anything else in the world. Katherine was a mother. Katherine must come. - -And only a few hours ago Kate had felt very far away from her mother, -very independent of her! She smiled now, remembering. Well, she had -never needed her more. Sitting alone here in the sleeping house, with -rain and wind at the windows and Elsie lying hating her in the next -room, Kate _ached_ for her mother. - -She decided to write her a special delivery letter. That would bring her -day after to-morrow, or day after to-day rather, for it must be getting -toward day now. For one day Kate could stand guard over Elsie. She was -glad of her decision to write as soon as she arrived at it. It seemed -automatically to relieve her from grave responsibility. Besides, the -composition of the letter would keep her awake. - - And so, mother darling, please come on the very first train. - Your desperate Kate. - -It had been a long, full letter. She had told Katherine just everything -that had to do with Elsie and her strange behaviour from their very -first meeting. When Kate looked up from her signature she found the -night had passed; dawn was in the room, at least the gray light of a -rainy morning. - -Kate rose, stretched her cramped limbs, and yawned prodigiously. Then -she crept to Elsie’s door. Elsie was not asleep. Their eyes met. There -were dark circles under Elsie’s eyes, and her face in the gray light was -almost paper-white. The girls stared at each other silently. Then Elsie -turned her head away on the pillow. - -“How she hates me!” Kate thought, as she stole back through the -bathroom. “She’s a dreadful hater. I couldn’t hate any one that way, no -matter what they had done.” - -She turned out the light that was still burning by her bed. Then she -took a cold shower bath and dressed in a fresh dress, the second chintz -curtain one. She brushed her hair vigorously. - -“Some difference,” she reflected, “between the party Kate and the -morning-after one. Too bad I haven’t a magic cap for day-times!” - -Perhaps she needed one especially to-day. For tired, sleepless people -are rarely pretty people; and Kate’s eyes were almost as dark-rimmed as -Elsie’s. - -Her toilet completed, she stole again to Elsie’s door. Again their eyes -met. - -“If I were you I’d go to sleep,” Kate whispered. Elsie’s pallor bothered -her. But Elsie did not deign to answer. - -Kate, back in her room, with over four hours before breakfast stretching -away ahead of her, curled up on the foot of the bed with “The King of -the Fairies” in her hands. She opened it just anywhere, much as one -opens conversation with a friend just anywhere. It is the _presence_ you -want. And the presence of the soul in this book did not fail her now. -How it drove walls backward and pushed roofs skyward! And as for -out-of-doors, it made that boundless, lifting veils and veils of air -disclosing Fairyland or Paradise, in any case the realler than real. - -Kate was withdrawing from the chintz-curtained Kate on the bed. She was -rising up out of that drowsy figure. She was floating. But the flowers -from the chintz were still decking her, only they were living flowers -now, smelling all the sweeter for the rain soaking their petals. And the -birds from the chintz were with her, too, changed to living birds, -soaring, floating, drifting with her, singing shrilly in the rain. The -mysterious, many-coloured portals of sleep were opening to her far off -beyond the last lifted veil of air. - -It was nine-fifteen before she woke. - - - - - CHAPTER XVI - ONE END OF THE STRING - - -Breakfast was served in the little blue-and-white breakfast-room. A fire -burned there cheerfully in the grate, making it possible to leave the -doors open on to the rain-beaten terrace. The storms of the night had -subsided into a steady, hard downpour. - -“What a day!” Miss Frazier exclaimed when she appeared. - -Kate had come into the room just ahead of her. Moved by an impulse of -affection she went to her aunt and kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you -for that beautiful party,” she said. “It was gorgeous.” - -Miss Frazier was pleased. “Thank you, my dear, for paying back so, in -being happy about it, the little that is done for you. ‘It is more -blessed to give than to receive’ may be, but the art of receiving -graciously is a rare and beautiful accomplishment. I hope Elsie’s -experience with Mrs. Van Vorst-Smith didn’t entirely keep the evening -from being ‘gorgeous’ for her, too. Where is she?” - -“Dressing, I think.” - -At this moment Miss Frazier was summoned to the telephone. “The same -gentleman who wouldn’t give his name yesterday,” Isadora informed her. - -“Don’t wait for me, Kate. I’m not having grapefruit.” - -When Aunt Katherine returned it was plain to see that she was greatly -stirred, though trying hard to be calm and matter-of-fact. - -“I shall have to go to town,” she told Kate. “And I shall be gone all -day, probably until rather late to-night. In spite of the rain I think I -had better take the car.” - -Then Elsie came in. She sat down languidly at the breakfast table and -leaned her cheek on her hand. Everything that Effie offered she refused. - -“Aren’t you going to have any breakfast at all?” Miss Frazier asked. - -“No. I thought I could eat. But when I see things I know I can’t. I -think I’ll be excused if I may.” - -Miss Frazier looked at her keenly. “I am afraid you are ill. Come, let -me feel your forehead. Yes, it is hot. You have a temperature almost -certainly. And the shadows under your eyes! Is this what a party does to -you? What a pity that I must leave for Boston at once.” - -She turned to the maid Effie. “Effie, tell Bertha to get Doctor Hanscom -on the telephone and ask him to come over here before office hours. Then -she is to help Elsie back to bed.” - -“Bed! Oh, no. Please! Please, Aunt Katherine!” - -“Why, yes. Bed isn’t so terrible as all that! You may read or knit, -until Doctor Hanscom arrives and gives other orders, anyway. Kate will -sit with you so that you won’t be lonely. Yes, indeed, you must go to -bed.” - -Elsie was very much distressed at this turn of affairs. Kate saw dismay -in her face, and she easily guessed the reason. Of course, being tucked -up in bed and getting the attention and care of an invalid would make -running away to-day almost impossible. But there was no question of Miss -Frazier’s being obeyed. She expected obedience and she got it. - -When Elsie had left the room Miss Frazier forced herself to take up -conversation lightly and naturally for the remainder of the meal, but -Kate did not fail to notice that her fingers shook slightly as she -lifted her toast and that her dark eyes were unusually bright. Evidently -the “gentleman who will not give his name” had had some news of -importance. Kate felt confident that that gentleman was the detective, -Mr. O’Brien. - -“I finished your book last night,” Miss Frazier was saying. “I -understand your enthusiasm. It is literature and much more. The author -must have deep and even esoteric wisdom. One wonders very much who and -what he is, the author. But whoever he is, even if this book is all he -has to show, he is a great man. Has it occurred to you, Kate, how much, -how extraordinarily, like your mother, Hazel, the girl in the story, is? -It might be a direct portrait.” - -Kate laughed. “Oh, have you discovered that, too? Even Mother had to -admit it—that in looks, anyway, Hazel was exactly herself when she was -that age. But I say she is still like Hazel, old as she is!” - -“Thirty-six isn’t exactly aged, you know. One might very well keep some -remnants of looks even until then.” Aunt Katherine was smiling. “But it -is a strange coincidence how a person of the imagination can so echo a -person in life. I was fairly startled last night when I realized how -vivid the resemblance was.” - -But though Kate heard and replied to all her aunt’s remarks during that -breakfast, her mind was most of the time on other matters, and if Miss -Frazier could have known, Kate under her calm exterior was hiding a -heart as perturbed as her own. - -Kate was glad when Miss Frazier rose. She assured her that she was very -well able to amuse herself at home this rainy day, and that she would do -everything for Elsie that she could. Yes, she would see to it that she -stayed in bed! Yes, she would read to her, if Elsie felt like listening. -Yes, Aunt Katherine was not to worry. And so Miss Frazier departed, and -Kate was left virtually in charge of the house, the responsibility for -things quite hers. - -Of course, Kate knew perfectly well that Elsie would not want her to sit -with her, no need even to ask about that. And Kate must hurry to send -her telegram. Beyond the portals of sleep she had decided, or possibly -it had been decided for her, that the special delivery letter would not -make things happen quickly enough. Katherine must be wired for. She was -needed to-day. Kate had waked with this determination full-blown. But -how could she risk leaving the house now to send the wire, with Elsie in -the desperate mood that was so obvious? How could Kate be sure that -Bertha would not help Elsie to run away in her absence? Bertha adored -Elsie, and Kate herself had reason to know that when Elsie pleaded it -was easier to do her wish than not. She realized, of course, that a -telegram may be given over the telephone; but her inexperience and -shyness made her doubt her ability in such a complicated procedure. -Besides, the bill would be charged to Aunt Katherine in that case. - -“I shall just have to chance it,” she decided. “Elsie needn’t know I am -out of the house at all, and I can hurry.” She would run up to her room -and get her cape and hat as quietly as possible. She would have to slip -down into the kitchen then and borrow an umbrella from Julia. - -But Bertha, administering to Elsie, heard the door of Kate’s closet when -a surprising little gust of wind banged it shut while Kate was inside -reaching for her hat. When Kate had fumbled for the knob and opened the -door, Bertha had come into her room. At once Kate noticed that Bertha, -too, was labouring under great excitement. Her cheeks were on fire and -she was simply quivering with suppressed emotion of some sort. - -“Oh, Miss Kate,” she cried, nervously, looking at the hat in Kate’s -hand. “Are you going out?” - -Well, no help for it now. Elsie had heard, of course. But Kate was much -bothered. “Yes, on an errand. I’ll be gone almost no time at all, -though.” This she spoke loudly, meaning that Elsie should not miss it. - -“Oh, if you are really going into the village _could_ you do an errand -for Miss Elsie?” - -Ho, ho! Was this the thin ruse Elsie meant to use, to get her out of the -way? - -“Perhaps,” Kate said, noncommittally. - -“That fixes everything nicely then.” Bertha took a deep breath of -relief. “I would go myself but Miss Frazier expects me to see the doctor -when he comes, in order to report to her. And then there is all my work. -Wait a minute.” - -Bertha hurried back into Elsie’s room and Kate heard a low murmuring -between them. When she returned she had Elsie’s purse in her hand. “Here -is some money. Miss Elsie says to use only that that’s tied in the -handkerchief.” - -So! Elsie was letting her pocketbook go. Last night, Kate remembered, -Elsie had taken it when starting toward the door. And running away she -would surely need it. Kate recalled her first motion to decline the -purse and tuck the handkerchief with the coin tied in its corner into -her own. With Elsie’s pocketbook in her possession, Elsie was just so -much the safer. - -“What does she want?” - -“Half a dozen eggs. A head of lettuce. Some bread.” - -Kate stared. Bertha stared back at her, nervously. But Kate restrained -any exclamations and simply nodded. When Bertha realized that she was -not going to be questioned, relief like sunshine overspread her flushed -face. - -“And will you be as quick as possible?” she asked. - -Again Kate was pleasantly surprised. “Yes, I’ll be as quick as I can,” -she agreed. “If Elsie will promise to stay in bed until luncheon time.” - -Bertha looked at her in genuine astonishment at that. “But of course. -Miss Frazier has ordered that she spend the day in bed.” - -“No, she must promise me herself. You tell her.” - -Elsie had heard. She called out now, “Yes, I promise. And do please -hurry, Kate.” - -Kate was deeply relieved. Now she could absent herself from the house -without fear of finding Elsie flown when she returned. “And whatever you -do, Kate Marshall, and whatever they say about it, don’t let them charge -those things at the store to Aunt Katherine,” Elsie called again. - -“You haven’t an umbrella,” Bertha said, bringing her Elsie’s, a gay -green silk one with an ivory handle. “It’s a wild day for July, and I’m -not at all certain Miss Frazier would like your going out like this. If -you could only have the car—but it’s gone to town with her.” - -“Yes, I know. And you needn’t feel responsible. I have an errand on my -own account, you know.” - -But Kate did wonder much about Elsie’s errand. “I think,” she mused, -“it’s a wild-goose chase Aunt Katherine is on in town, and those -detectives, too. Where they _might_ do some good, and find some _clues_, -is right here. Who was that man in the garden? Why all this buying of -groceries? If there is a snarl of some sort that needs unravelling, and -if Elsie has anything to do with it, the end of the string is right -here. But how do I know the snarl ought to be unravelled by -detectives—that it’s any of their business? Oh, heavens! I must run to -the telegraph office. Mother is terribly needed this very minute.” - -At the Western Union Station she did not study long over the wording of -her message. Time was too precious, she felt, for even a minute’s delay, -if Katherine was to catch the noon train from Middletown. - - A mix-up here come first train nobody sick or dead Kate. - -She was aware that those ten words would worry her mother unspeakably. -But how, in the limits of a telegram (Kate had never conceived of the -possibility of a telegram being over ten words in length!), was she to -persuade her mother to take the next train if she was not to be worried? -No, the only way to make absolutely sure of her coming was to frighten -her into it. - -The man who took the message looked at Kate curiously. He knew perfectly -well who Kate was and wondered very much about the “mix-up.” He thought -Kate peculiarly self-contained for a young lady who found herself in a -situation that necessitated that message. If he had only known, however, -Kate’s calm exterior was entirely assumed. She was more excited, -perhaps, than she had ever been in her life before, and full of -presentiments of even greater excitement to come. Sending the wire, -though, was a great relief. In a few minutes Katherine herself, ’way off -in quiet Ashland, would be concerned in the affair. With Katherine once -“in it”, Kate was assured things must somehow turn out right. - -Now for those puzzling groceries. - -When she came out of Holt and Holt’s with her purchases, Jack Denton -suddenly appeared at her shoulder. He was without an umbrella, but in a -raincoat and felt hat that required none. - -“May I walk along with you?” he asked. - -Kate was very glad to see him. His high spirits brought relief from the -strain and confusion in her mind. Gallantly, and with the air of -courtesy that was so delightful in him, he took her bundles from her and -then her umbrella. With laughter and exchange of party remembrances they -started off together through the rain toward home. - -But before they had gone half the distance Jack turned serious. - -“Do you know,” he said, “at our dinner last night (Mother gave a dinner -before your dance) some of us decided to go on strike, to stand up for -our own ideas more practically against our elders. Younger generation -stuff. We all used to like Elsie tremendously, and now we are going to -treat her just exactly as though nothing had happened, if she’ll let us. -I think she will, too. She was all right last night.” - -Kate turned to look up at Jack under the umbrella. The brown eyes that -returned her look had lost their easy laughter and were earnest with the -glow of a _cause_. - -“Granny’s had her way long enough,” he continued. “Our mothers and -fathers never really cared a bit, you know. It’s just those more ancient -ones. They barely survived the shock. You see _their_ daughters and sons -had been playing around with him, and any one of their daughters might -have married him. Granny says her grandson (meaning me) is going to have -the protection her daughter didn’t have (meaning Mother). It’s really -just a joke. And we only humoured ’em because they were so rabid. Now -we’re sorry we were so soft. I wanted to tell you.” - -“I don’t understand,” Kate said, quickly. “Not one word. Can’t you -explain better? What happened that was so awful? What was the thing that -shocked them so? And what has it to do with Elsie?” - -Until this minute she had not wanted such information, when it came, to -come from outside. She had felt that to learn that way would be disloyal -of her. But now that her whole mind was turned to helping Elsie she -wanted to know all she could. She wanted to get hold of the end of the -tangle, any way, and perhaps then there would be some chance of -straightening it out. The information that Jack was apparently able to -give her would surely constitute that end; once having that in her -fingers she might unravel snarl after snarl for herself. - -Jack, however, was not prepared for her questions. He whistled, -startled. “Don’t you know what the fuss has been about?” he asked. -“Don’t you know about anything? I thought you were only pretending -yesterday.” - -“No, truly. Not a thing. Aunt Katherine was surprised that I didn’t -know, too. But she wouldn’t tell me. You tell me.” - -“Why, it doesn’t seem fair. I thought, of course, you knew. But you did -know there was something?” - -“Yes, almost the first minute I got here. Elsie acted so queerly. And -then she said she hardly knew you. And all the time there you were -living right next door. It was puzzling. Now tell me.” - -“Well, if they want you to live in ignorance it’s hardly up to me to -enlighten you, is it?” Jack was very ill at ease. - -“Your grandmother would have told me if I had let her. And Elsie herself -acts as though I knew. She has accused me several times. I’ve wired to -my mother to come. I am frightened about Elsie. She is in danger of -doing—oh, something that would be dreadful for Aunt Katherine, and for -herself, too. Aunt Katherine is away for the day. The more I know the -more I can help. Please tell me just everything you can.” - -“I hate doing that. But if it helps you to help—— Anyway, it’s only fair -to you. You ought to know what everybody else knows. Elsie’s father, -Nick Frazier, is a thief. He stole some securities, or something, from -Miss Frazier.” - -Kate did not even exclaim. She had slowed her steps for the great -revelation and was now gazing straight ahead. It took some seconds for -her to react at all to what Jack had said. - -Jack paced on beside her, protecting her from the gusty rain by -dexterous manipulations of the green silk umbrella. - -“That wouldn’t have been enough in itself to make them so rabid, -though,” he went on, worriedly. “You see they blame your aunt some. She -adopted him, you know—anyway, let him call her ‘aunt’—and took him into -her home and prepared him herself for Harvard. He wasn’t even in school. -He was working in some mill in spite of being just a kid, fourteen or -something like that, when she discovered him. He hadn’t any -family—didn’t even know who his family were, had been brought up in some -institution or other. Well, Miss Frazier treated him just as though he -belonged to her, gave him her name and everything. This is all an old -story in this village. Rose and I were brought up on it. Then when he -was in college Miss Frazier expected him to be asked everywhere to -holiday affairs here, and she gave parties in her house. She acted just -as though he were a Frazier really. The young people liked him, though -it seems he was something of a diamond in the rough, you know, ’spite of -Harvard and all. But the parents grumbled. That was our grandmothers, -you see. They only let it go on because your aunt was a Frazier and -could do almost anything, they being such a fine old New England family. -The parents always said no good would come of it, though. ‘Blood would -tell.’” - -“Yes, yes,” Kate agreed, tremulously. “That’s what your grandmother said -last night.” - -“What! Still mumbling over that? Talk about fixed ideas! When he stole -those securities—he did it while your aunt was abroad or somewhere—and -she let him go to prison for it, everybody said, ‘Now Katherine -Frazier’s learned her lesson, I guess.’ That was two years ago or more. -But then right away his wife died, and Elsie came to live here with Miss -Frazier, and Miss Frazier expected us all to treat her just as we always -had when she visited before, just as though she _were_ Miss Frazier’s -regular niece and not the daughter of a convict who doesn’t even know -his own name. That got the old folks’ goat right enough. They said -they’d tried that once on their own children. But would they let it be -perpetrated on their grandchildren? You can bet, no. And there was a -great to-do. And, well, we haven’t been exactly cordial to Elsie.” - -Kate said nothing when he stopped. Jack wondered what she was thinking. -He felt very hot and ashamed. “But that’s all past now,” he said. “Elsie -isn’t to blame. Why should she suffer?” - -“Now I’ll keep my mouth shut until she speaks,” he told himself. - -But Kate did not break the silence until they came to the foot of the -steps leading up to Miss Frazier’s front door. Then she looked up at -Jack as she took her bundles from him. “Thanks for telling me everything -like that,” she said, gravely. “I think it’s all pretty hard on Aunt -Katherine and just simply awful for Elsie. No wonder she thought I was a -beast. Why, I called her a ‘thief’ herself, and said we were being -followed by that detective as though we were thieves. Now I understand a -lot of things! I’ve—I’ve—just _wallowed_ in _breaks_. I hope my mother -gets here to-night.” - -“Do you play Mah Jong?” Jack asked quickly. “Why don’t you and Elsie -come over to play this afternoon? There’s nothing much we can do -out-of-doors.” - -“Elsie’s sick in bed, so I’m afraid we can’t. Thank you for carrying the -things—and for everything.” In spite of her perturbation she flashed her -peculiar Chinese smile when Jack raised his hat. What nice manners he -had! - -Jack himself, walking slowly back to his own door, was obviously deep in -thought. But in the midst of worrying over the ethics of what he had -done in going into all that unpleasant business with Kate, he suddenly -thought, “She isn’t nearly so pretty as last night. But it’s awfully -jolly when she smiles, and I guess when she isn’t being pestered with -sickening scandal and such stuff she smiles a lot.” - - - - - CHAPTER XVII - INTO THE ORCHARD HOUSE - - -Isadora opened the door for Kate as she came up the steps. There was a -yellow envelope in her hand. - -“A telegram for you, Miss Kate. It came just a minute ago. Oh, I do hope -there’s no bad news.” - -Kate caught a glimpse of Julia wavering at the farthest end of the hall -in shadow, and there was Effie just inside the drawing-room, -deliberately watching while she opened the envelope. - -“I’m sure it’s not bad news,” Kate informed these anxious friends of her -mother’s as she tore open the end of the envelope. “I _expected_ a -wire.” She felt some importance in saying that, and she was glad to -clear the air, for it was charged with keenest apprehension. - -Kate’s message had gone and Katherine’s reply arrived all within an -hour. Katherine had certainly not hesitated over a decision. Kate nodded -as she read and smiled. - - Am autoing to Ludlow Junction to catch back way express Oakdale - five-five whatever situation keep cool and brave in a few hours Mother - will be with you rejoiced you’re not sick. K. - -Katherine certainly had not counted the words! - -When Kate looked up, the anxious watchers had vanished, dispersed by her -smile as she read. She sat down in a chair standing against the wall. -Her arms dropped at her sides and she leaned her head against the -high-carved back of the chair, crushing a little her mother’s best hat. -For the minute she was too absorbed in her own thoughts and too -fatigued—the fatigue that is apt to come with sudden complete relief of -mind—to remember such an item as a hat. - -A step on the stair made her look up. Bertha was hurrying down, rustling -in a raincoat, a scarf tied over her head. - -“You’re here,” she exclaimed. “I saw you coming, from a window upstairs. -Are these the things?” - -Kate nodded, and Bertha took the packages and pocketbook from the floor -where Kate had carelessly dropped them to tear open her telegram. -Bearing them carefully she went away _through the drawing-room_. - -“Well, she can’t get to the kitchen that way,” Kate mused, hardly -caring. “And why the raincoat? Oh, well, What’s the use of trying to -puzzle anything out any more? Mother’s coming, Mother’s coming, Mother’s -coming!” - -After a little while, yawning and half asleep, she wandered into Aunt -Katherine’s own sitting-room—a graceful, comfortable little retreat -tucked away in an isolated corner of the big house. The outstanding -feature there was an oil painting of Kate’s mother at the age of sixteen -in a blue party frock standing against dark velvet portières. It was a -painting by Hopkinson in his earlier manner, executed with finish and -most delicate feeling. The painting was one of Miss Frazier’s most -valuable possessions, and Kate had surmised, when her aunt had shown it -to her, one of the dearest. Certainly it was a painting with a spell -over it, a spell of beauty and something besides, unnamable and -illusive. Perhaps it was the spirit of youth which the artist had with -such genius caught there, that gave it its magic. - -Kate unfolded an afghan that lay conveniently on the foot of the sofa -beneath the portrait, and curling herself up under it, settled down for -a nap. She felt perfectly safe in losing herself for the time because -Elsie had given her promise to stay in bed until luncheon. - -But at one o’clock Bertha brought down the news that the doctor had -ordered Elsie to remain in bed all afternoon, too. She was asleep now, -and Bertha thought she would sleep for several hours. Her temperature -had gone down to normal and she was comfortable. Later, when she woke, -Bertha would take her up a light meal. - -Lunching alone for Kate was a rather dreary procedure in spite of the -coziness of the breakfast-room where Miss Frazier had thoughtfully -ordered the meal served, and the merry little fire crackling on the -hearth. Kate had had a good sleep and she was now so rested in body and -mind that she could think about things with some clarity. She leaned her -elbow on the table and her chin in her hand and regarded the fire as -though it were her companion at the meal. - -Elsie’s father was a thief! How would it feel to have your father a -thief and in prison and everybody knowing it? Kate had never known a -father, so she found it difficult to put herself in Elsie’s place. But -suppose it were her mother? Oh, supposing that was too painful, and -certainly it wasn’t like that for Elsie. Perhaps Elsie cared as little -for her father as she had for her mother. (Kate had never recovered from -the horrid shock of that disclosure.) She certainly never mentioned him. -But she was not allowed to mention him. What had Aunt Katherine’s letter -said on that point? “Nick’s name is not mentioned here, either by Elsie -or the servants,”—something like that. But imagine consenting to forget -your father for _any one_! No, of course Elsie had no such devotion for -her father as Kate’s for her mother. Not likely. No use to try to -compare, then. Besides, the mere notion was altogether too painful. - -Let’s begin at the beginning, though. Why had Elsie bought bread and -eggs and lettuce and nuts which she surely had no use for herself; and -why had she been so urgent that Kate should buy more to-day? Surely she -didn’t expect to take such perishable things with her in her flight from -Aunt Katherine’s house! There had been no sign of eatables when Kate -unpacked the runaway’s suitcase last night. Oh! An idea! Had Elsie -planned to run away only as far as the orchard house, and was the food -supply stored there? Was that the mystery about the orchard house? Had -she discovered a secret room or something and was planning to live in it -like a hermit without any one’s knowing? Kate built up quite a plot -around that idea. It would be exciting and fascinating to live right -under your guardian’s nose while that guardian was scouring the country -for you. But in spite of the possibilities of this story-like mystery, -Kate finally let it go as an explanation. It was too far-fetched. - -A better solution! Had Nick, her father, escaped from prison? Elsie was -shielding him, perhaps. Why, of course, she was hiding him in the -orchard house. Kate’s heart began to hammer. Stupid, not to have thought -of that at once, just the minute Jack told her about Elsie’s father -being a thief. All the food had been for him. The book she couldn’t -afford to buy, too! She had wanted it for him. How very simple it all -was! And they were going to escape together. They would escape into -Canada or somewhere. No, vague memories of something called “extradition -papers” came to mind. They would simply hide themselves in the crowds of -some big city. They would vanish. Oh, well, from the very first Elsie -had been a vanishing comrade. When she ran away with her father she -would vanish for good. - -Now, how did the detective work into this solution of the puzzle? -Suddenly there was a snag. If Nick had escaped from prison, wouldn’t -state detectives be on his trail? Mr. O’Brien, Aunt Katherine had told -her, was a private detective. And if Nick had really escaped from prison -surely Aunt Katherine would not in any way be concerned in finding him. -That would be simply a matter for the police. - -Kate turned her eyes uneasily to the open door, almost expecting to see -a plain-clothes man spying upon her from the rain out there. But there -was only the drenched garden and beyond, the orchard, wreathed in a haze -of wet weather. - -One more snag: surely if Nick had escaped from prison it would have got -into the papers, and someone in Oakdale have seen it. Then Jack would -know, and he had not even hinted at such a thing. - -But now for the most important consideration of all: the stranger in the -garden who had given her the note for Elsie last night? Who was he, and -where did he come in? The reasonable answer was that he was Nick -himself, Elsie’s father, the thief, the man who had stolen from his own -benefactress. But Kate did not harbour this idea for the fraction of a -second. That voice was not the voice of such a one, and such a one would -hardly be quoting from “The King of the Fairies.” - -Deep down in her heart, deep beyond reason, Kate had connected that -stranger in the garden with what Elsie had said about fairies in the -orchard house. This man himself, who had given her the note, was a human -being, of course, She didn’t go so far as to think him unearthly; but he -might very well know about those fairies who “were in it somehow.” He -seemed a person who would indeed be _likely_ to know. Kate was ready to -connect that stranger with any mystery so long as it was a pleasant -mystery. With an unpleasant mystery—never. His note had told Elsie not -to run away; Elsie herself had said so. But he had known that she meant -to run away. That was apparent. Where had he come from out of the wind -last night? - -What of that light she had seen in the orchard house her first night -here? Those three open windows? That closing door in the second -story—closing as though a knob had been turned? - -Oh, there were just too many things to think of and to fit in. The -shortest cut to clearing up some of the mystery and giving her mother a -starting point to work from with Elsie when she should get here at five -o’clock to-night was to explore the orchard house now, right away. There -was her heart whacking at her sides again! Yes, but she must do it, -escaped convict or not. That was the first step to be taken. She had the -end of the string—Jack Denton had given her that—the orchard house came -next, made the first knot to be untangled. - -“No, no dessert, thank you.” You couldn’t eat with your heart hammering -like that, could you? She walked to the door. The rain was stopping, had -almost entirely stopped. The key was upstairs, back in the drawer of her -dressing table where she had replaced it after wringing it from Elsie -yesterday. If she went for it now Elsie might hear and again weep her -into a promise to keep away from the orchard house. The key had been -only a matter of form, anyway. There were always the windows. Kate was -sure they couldn’t all be locked. She would try getting in that way -before she bothered about the key. - -She glanced down at her rubber-soled canvas ties. No need for rubbers. -No need for a sweater or umbrella, either: the little showers of rain -blowing down from trees and bushes would do her chintz no harm. - -She crossed the terrace, hoping neither Elsie nor Bertha was looking -from a window overhead, and walked through the orchard straight to the -orchard house. Before trying the windows, better try the door. That was -only common sense. The latch lifted under her fingers! Had the house -always stood open like this, and all that fuss about the key! She pushed -the door softly open and went in. - -“Something to do with fairies,” Elsie had said. Kate remembered the -words as she crossed the threshold. And she felt surely as though it -might easily have something to do with fairies; she might have been -stepping into Fairyland itself for the eerie sensation that crossing the -threshold gave her. - -She left the door open behind her, and a gusty wet wind followed her -like a companion. It filled the hall with the pungent scent of the -syringa bush by the step. - -There was nothing in the hall but a little oblong table standing against -the wall at the foot of the stairs, a table with curly legs and a carved -top on which stood an empty card tray, and hung above the table was a -narrow long mirror in a gilded frame. - -Kate looked into the mirror. How many, many times it had reflected her -mother’s face. How very unlike Katherine her daughter was, hair bobbed -so straight, rather slanting narrow eyes, full lips, freckles across the -nose! Kate surveyed this image with her usual slight sense of annoyance -upon meeting it in a mirror. She imagined Katherine, a Katherine of her -own age, looking over her shoulder in the glass, their two heads -together. It was the Katherine of the portrait, dark curly head, wide -misty eyes, olive cheeks ever so delicately touched with rose. - -Oh! Had that face actually gleamed out there for an instant? Her mental -vision had been so clear that she could not be sure it had not, just for -a flash, taken actual form. - -Well, if the Katherine of sixteen years ago had joined her now and was -going to accompany her in her exploration of the orchard house, so much -the better. Kate had always longed for a girl comrade more than for -anything else in the world. Come, let’s pretend she had one at last, -Katherine at fifteen. - -First the parlour. It opened on the right. The door stuck. Kate pushed -with her knee and lifted up on the knob simultaneously. It opened -explosively. And a door up in the second story somewhere opened in -sympathy with it. Kate stood very still, listening. The jarring of the -walls was the cause, of course; but even with this explanation accepted, -it was creepy. - -The little parlour was stuffy, as all closed rooms are stuffy. But -almost at once the syringa-scented air from the open front door had -remedied that; it was so much more vital than the smell of dust and -mildew. But why think of the parlour as “little,” for by any ordinary -standards it was certainly a good-sized room. Only in comparison with -Aunt Katherine’s spacious drawing-room did Kate feel it now small and -quaint. - -The furniture was much as it had been left when Grandfather Frazier died -and the house was closed. But the books were gone from the low bookcases -that lined the walls. Those Aunt Katherine had sent to her niece, and -Kate had grown up in their company. - -The bookcases, a Franklin stove with a worn low bench in front of it, a -big square library table between the windows, some oil paintings on the -walls (Kate guessed some of these to be Aunt Katherine’s work), a -comfortable-looking but very unfashionable chintz-covered sofa, and -several very shabby, very welcoming easy chairs with deep seats and wide -arms and curving backs—that was the parlour. - -And the fifteen-year-old Katherine Frazier had gone in ahead of Kate. -She was moving about the room, poking up the fire (the fire that didn’t -exist) in the grate, throwing her school books on the sofa, reading -absorbedly curled up with her feet under her in the deepest chair by the -window, making toast at the coals in the grate while the blue teapot -kept itself warm on the stove’s top. Katherine had told Kate about this -room, how she loved it and what she did in it. Her father was there -usually in the picture, too, and often Aunt Katherine. But somehow Kate -imagined neither of them now. - -What a merry, comfortable, _spirited_ room it was. Its spirit had been -created by that dark-eyed girl. And the smell of the syringa! Now Kate -knew why her mother could never get by the syringa bush at the corner of -Professor Hart’s lawn without stopping for deep breaths when the syringa -was in flower. - -The dining-room was across the hall. The dining table was long and -narrow, the handicraft of Great-grandfather Frazier. It was curly maple -and mirror-like with the polishings of many years. Close at one end two -chairs were drawn up to it. Several more stood with their backs against -the wall. Did Grandfather Frazier and Katherine sit close together like -that at the end of the long table those years they lived alone? Kate -wondered. Yes, she was sure they did; for there was the Katherine of her -imagination pouring tea for her father and handing it to him with a -sweet, affectionate smile. No need for Nora to come in from the kitchen -to pass it. This father and daughter could reach each other. - -The kitchen failed to hold Kate’s attention. She missed Katherine there. -The young Katherine had not liked housework. Indeed, it was still a -burden to her, however gracefully she carried the burden. Perhaps that -was why Kate could not find her in the kitchen. - -If stepping across the threshold into this empty house had stirred -Kate’s imagination and made her feel the possibility of fairies hiding -somewhere in the apparent emptiness, going up the stairs stirred it even -more. - -It was a steep, rather narrow, little staircase, painted black and with -the wooden treads deeply worn by generations of feet. And right in the -very middle of her ascent, on the seventh stair, to be precise, there -happened to her a thing that had sometimes happened before but never -quite so _definitely_. She thought and felt that she had done this all -before, that she had come up these stairs on exactly the errand she was -on now; she remembered herself on this identical stair, with her hand on -this identical portion of the railing. More than that she knew exactly -what was going to happen to her when she reached the top—why shouldn’t -she know when she had experienced it all before? - -But even as she felt this and in fact knew it, her foot had left that -seventh stair and the memory had vanished. Now she only had a memory of -a memory, or to be exact not even that. She only remembered that she -_had_ remembered. The instant itself, the connection, was lost. - -She looked into the guest-room first. It was a pretty room in spite of -the absence of curtains and bedding. The furniture was painted a creamy -yellow. Katherine had painted it a few days before her marriage. By the -window there was a dainty little writing table with pens and blotters -and even ink-bottle conveniently placed. But the ink had been long -evaporated and the pens were rusty. Above the bed there hung, -passe-partouted in white, a flower-wreathed quotation. Had Aunt -Katherine or her mother painted the flowers and illuminated the letters? -The flowers were morning-glories, very realistically done, and the -quotation from “Macbeth”: “Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleave of -care.” - -“Morning-glories are incongruous with the words,” Kate mused, smiling. -She felt more sophisticated than the fifteen-year-old Katherine who had -admired this crude bit of art enough to hang it in the guest-room, who -perhaps was even herself its perpetrator. “Yes, morning-glories are -incongruous with the words.” - -“_Are they. Why?_” - -“Perhaps they aren’t,” Kate answered, aloud. She remembered her flight -that very morning toward the slowly opening many-coloured portals of -sleep. Morning-glories might very well be growing on Sleep’s walls. - -But whom had she answered? Who had spoken? No one, of course. There was -no one there _to_ speak, except Kate herself. - -On either side the hall there was another bedroom. Kate merely looked in -at their doors. One had been her mother’s, and it was entirely bare now, -for all the furniture had gone to the barn-house in Ashland years ago. -The other had been Grandfather Frazier’s room, and somehow Kate felt -that she did not want to pry there. It would be like getting acquainted -with him when his back was turned. - -Now there remained only the “playroom” and the upstairs “study”—a long -room at the back of the house, the room where the windows had stood open -that first night of Kate’s arrival—and ever since, for all she knew. -From her very first entrance into the house Kate had been _listening_ -toward this room. It was in that room she fully expected to discover -Elsie’s secret. It was really the goal of her pilgrimage through the -house. But the nearer she drew to it physically the more she drew back -mentally. She was not exactly frightened. What did not frighten Elsie -need not frighten her. It was simply uneasiness in the face of mystery. - -There was the playroom between, though. Kate was grateful to pause a -minute in the playroom. - -The playroom was down a step, through a little low door. Kate had to -bend her head to go through the door. It was the smallest room she had -ever been in, about the size of a goodly closet. Shelves were built in -all around the walls, leaving space only for the one little low window -that reached the floor. Before the shelves, strung on brass rings to -brass rods, hung dusty, faded calico curtains, yellow flowers on a blue -background. Kate pushed back a curtain, jangling all its rings. The -shelves held a jumble of toys, birds, beasts, carts, engines, and on the -top shelf a row of dolls, some broken almost beyond recognition as -dolls, but two or three still healthy bisque beauties smiling blandly -over her head at the opposite wall. - -There were three lilliputian chairs in the room, one a black rocker -painted on the back and seat with flowers and fruit. In one corner there -was a huge box of blocks, wooden building blocks that Great-grandfather -Frazier had made for Grandfather Frazier when he was a little boy. - -Kate knelt by that box, and idly began constructing a house. She had -always adored building with blocks when she was a little girl, and now -the old fascination seized her; besides, she was putting off the minute -when she would open the door of that last room. - -But as she completed the second wall of the house she turned suddenly -and looked over her shoulder. Had she heard something? A rustling, like -a dress coming down the hall and pausing at the door of the playroom? -Whom did she expect to see bending down at the low door and looking in -at her where she sat on the floor building with blocks like a little -girl? Strangely, it was not the sixteen-year-old Katherine she had been -imagining as her companion whom she pictured stooping down at that door -to look in. It was Katherine’s mother, Kate’s grandmother, who had died -when Katherine was still a little girl playing with blocks. Only she -would not look like an ordinary grandmother, of course. For she had died -when she was only twenty-four. She was a young woman, very graceful, -very gentle, lovely. - -Of course she wasn’t really there at the door, wondering who had come in -her baby’s stead to play in the playroom. Of course she wasn’t there -with a spray of syringa flower at her belt. It was just Kate’s vivid -imagination. She was sensible enough to know that. The rustling of her -dress had been the leaves of the drenched apple tree boughs against the -window pane tossed by a rainy breeze. And the syringa scent had followed -Kate up here and even down into the little playroom. - -It was a low little room, so low that Kate could but just stand up -straight in it. And it was entirely bare except for the shelves with -their treasure trove of toys, the box of blocks, and the lilliputian -chairs. But for all that the room was alive to Kate now. It was almost -giddy with life. And it was a life that did not concern her. She was an -intruder. She became uneasy as intruders are uneasy. - -But she was not driven away precipitately. She stayed long enough to -replace the blocks in their place coolly. Then, still coolly, she stood -up and went out of the playroom, closing the door softly after her. - -In the hall, however, she allowed herself to hurry. The door to the last -room, the study, was ajar. Had the figure of Kate’s imagination gone on -ahead to that room—the young mother? For an instant Kate hesitated with -her fingers on the knob. - -“Psha! What are you afraid of! Silly!” - -Downstairs, the hall door, which she had left open, blew shut with a -bang, A fresh downpour of rain rattled on the shingles just above her -head. (There was no attic above this part of the house.) Kate’s impulse -was to run down and secure at least the staying open of the front door, -so that she might have an unimpeded exit in case of panic. The door -fastened open, she would come back and have the fun of discovering for -herself Elsie’s secret which was the mystery of the orchard house. - -But Kate did not follow her impulse. Instead, she squared her shoulders, -lifted her head a little defiantly, and pushed back that last door. She -stepped in. - -“Oh! Oh!” But it was not a shriek. It was just a soft “oh! oh!” of -purest astonishment. For the room was occupied; but not by the ghost of -her grandmother. - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII - THE LAST ROOM - - -A man was sitting leaning forward over a table with his back to the -three windows, his face toward the door. His arms were spread out on the -table, his hands clasped. He leaned there waiting for something. It was -Kate for whom he had been waiting, for he had heard every movement of -hers almost since her first light step on the porch. - -Kate stood now, smiling at him across the room. Her sudden smile -following upon her amazed “Oh! Oh!” surprised him almost as much as his -being there at all surprised her. He was prepared for her being -startled, angry, accusing, anything except charmed. On the tip of his -tongue there waited a reassuring word. That was why he had not risen -when she entered; he wanted to avoid any movement that might frighten -her. But all his careful precaution was wasted. Kate was not frightened. -She was charmed, purely and simply charmed. - -“Why, you are the boy,” she exclaimed, “the boy in the dragony, flowery -picture frame!” - -But even as she spoke she realized that although it was the boy indeed, -it was the boy grown older. The crisp curly hair was clipped very short -and was almost entirely gray. And there were deep lines about his eyes -and nose and mouth. The light in the face had grown, too, that peculiar -light betokening gaiety of the spirit and sympathy. Yes, it was truly -the boy, only the boy _more so_, in spite of lines and gray hair. - -“The dragony, flowery picture frame?” he repeated after her in the voice -of the stranger in the garden. - -He had spoken. He was real. Not just another one of her fancies. - -“Yes, in the top drawer of Mother’s desk. That boy. Only excuse me, I -thought I was talking to a dream. Are you real?” - -The man laughed, a very jolly laugh, and nodded. - -“Did Mother know you would be here? Is that why she insisted that I come -into the orchard house the first minute I could?” - -He shook his head. “No, she couldn’t know I would be here.” - -He stood up then. But as he moved Kate noticed that he took special care -to stand between the windows where he could not be seen by any one who -might be in the orchard. - -“You have made a mistake,” he said. “I don’t think I can be the person -you think. My picture wouldn’t be in your mother’s desk.” - -But Kate nodded, perfectly sure of her facts. - -“Oh, yes, you are. Mother’s always had you. You’ve been our talisman for -years, both of ours. And that’s funny, for neither of us knew about the -other’s feeling until just before I came away.” - -His face had reddened. “Her talisman?” he asked, incredulously. - -“Just as much hers as mine. It was very funny. But it’s even funnier—of -course I don’t mean funny, I mean strange—that I’ve found you here.” - -“But don’t you know who I am?” the man asked. - -“Only that you’re the talisman. I don’t know your name.” - -“Exactly. Your mother didn’t want you even to know his name. Well, time -justified her. It fulfilled all their prophecies. He was a nobody first -and a convict afterward. No wonder she didn’t tell you his name.” - -Kate looked at him steadily, trying to take it in, to connect it up. He -went on: - -“Your mother didn’t tell you his name because it is the same as hers. -She is too ashamed. I am Nick Frazier. Now you know.” - -The words sounded bitter, but the man’s manner belied them. He said it -all with a friendly smile, seeming more concerned that Kate should get -things straight and not be too shocked than airing personal bitterness. -But Kate protested. - -“No, no. She did you some wrong once. That is why she couldn’t talk -about you to me. But she did say that she knew it would come right -sometime. She wouldn’t talk about it. So I mustn’t. But you know it -isn’t at all as you say. She isn’t ashamed of you at all.” - -After a minute’s thought she added, “If you’re that boy, and you are, -then she didn’t know anything about—about——” - -“That I am a thief?” - -“Yes. Jack Denton told me that this morning. Well, I’m sure she didn’t -know that. And now I remember she said she had no idea why you and Aunt -Katherine had quarrelled. She was puzzled by that in the letter asking -me to come. She didn’t even know Elsie was living here. She didn’t know -anything about you at all.” - -“Listen, Kate.” Nick spoke rapidly. “Tell your mother when you go back -all that Jack Denton told you. But tell her, too, that it isn’t so -black, not quite so black as it sounds. And tell her that all the King -of the Fairies taught those two kids in the orchard I have learned since -I went to prison. For I wrote ‘The King of the Fairies.’ I wrote it in -prison, thinking everything over. Tell her I shall never again accept -another penny from any one or let any one help me. What I took from your -aunt I’m paying back to-day with the royalties on the book. Will you -remember to tell her that?” - -Kate nodded. Yes, certainly she would remember. But her whole mind was -taken up with delight that he, the boy in the dragony, flowery picture -frame, was the author of their precious book. That was what mattered -most, in this minute, to her. - -He saw that she was not impressed with the fact of his having been a -convict. That he was her talisman come alive, and the author of “The -King of the Fairies,” both at once, was tremendous enough to wipe out -all the rest. - -“Elsie’s father wrote ‘The King of the Fairies,’ that book! And she -never told me!” - -Kate sat on the edge of the table and bombarded him with questions. He -answered them all. There were places that had puzzled even her mother in -the book. He clarified them for Kate now. “My new book is _clearer_,” he -said. “I am learning better how to say what I want to say.” - -“Your new book! There is another!” - -“Yes, it will be published this fall.” He told her about that. She was -enthralled. She clasped her hands and listened, the corners of her mouth -tilting up like wings. - -Then it was her turn to talk. Nick was the sort of person who draws you -out. In all her life Kate had never experienced such sympathy in a human -being. That was Nick’s rare gift. She told him the story of her life, -quite literally, at least, from the year she was seven, beginning with -the day of her sharpest memory when she and her mother saw the fairy by -the spring. It was very much on her mind now because of that experience -at Madame Pearl’s and she told it all to Nick in detail. “How can it be -explained?” she asked. “How could Elsie be just exactly that fairy?” - -“That’s a hard question,” he agreed. “But if there’s anything in what -these fourth dimensional experts are saying—then it might be explained -reasonably enough, even mathematically. You know they say time _is_ the -fourth dimension. Well, in that instant in the woods, they might say, -you got somehow into a four-dimension world.” - -But Kate did not understand. Nick came from his station between the -windows and sat on the edge of the table beside her, forgetting the -hypothetical somebody in the orchard, and went into the subject more -deeply. Kate followed his reasoning for a time, almost as though she -were beginning to grasp something of the meaning of it all, when, bang! -She slipped back to her first position of ignorance. She didn’t -understand a bit. - -Nick laughed. “It’s exactly the same with me,” he confessed. “I get a -little farther than you do now in grasping it perhaps, and then ‘bang!’ -just as you say, I lose the steps by which I got there. However, we can -know that science itself is working toward some such explanation for -that fairy by the spring of yours and its like.” - -“And so you don’t believe in fairies at all? I was really only looking -into the future, at Elsie as she would be years away, in that mirror of -Madame Pearl’s?” - -“Nonsense. Just because we have reason to believe that what you saw -wasn’t a fairy—since it was Elsie and couldn’t be—proves no case against -the existence of fairies. Does it? Yes, I believe in fairies right -enough, but that’s a matter of faith with me rather than reasonable -conviction.” - -It was all very fascinating. Nick led Kate’s mind a race, and she felt -as though she were “expanding.” She called it “expanding” when telling -her mother of it later. Why, Nick did to you exactly what his book did, -pushed roofs skyward and walls horizon-ward. And all the while he was so -jolly. He laughed and made you laugh often, laughter with a special -quality of joy in it. - -But suddenly, right in the midst of everything, he looked at his watch. -“Do you know, it’s after five,” he said, “and I——” - -Kate interrupted what he was about to say. “After five! Why, Mother may -be here already! I forgot about time! How could I!” - -“Your mother? Here!” - -“Yes, I telegraphed her to come.” - -Kate had quite forgotten her anxieties about Elsie, and how much she had -imagined her in need of Katherine’s sympathy and help. Now everything -came back with a rush. “I must run.” - -But Nick caught at her hand before she could run. “Kate!” he said, -excitedly. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Then he became calm, but still held -Kate back by the hand. He spoke very earnestly. - -“Bring her out here. Your aunt isn’t at home. No one need know. I must -see her. Will you bring her? Tell her it may be our very last chance to -meet ever. Tell her that and _make_ her come.” - -Kate looked into the face so suddenly become passionately earnest and -said in surprise, “But of course she will want to come.” - -But as she sped through the orchard it occurred to her that she had -solved nothing, got nowhere, or almost nowhere, in the mystery. What was -Nick doing in the orchard house? Was he a fugitive from the law? -Somehow, though she had begun to wonder again, she was not a bit -bothered. Nick was Nick. Who wanted more? - -Katherine had arrived in a taxi from the station a few minutes earlier -and presented herself anxiously at Miss Frazier’s door. She had no -trepidations about meeting her aunt now, no thought of their standing -quarrel. Her whole mind was taken up with her daughter. To say that she -was worried would be to describe her state of mind weakly. She was very -nearly frantic. She had read and reread Kate’s telegram on an average of -once every five minutes since its arrival, and in spite of all this -study was no nearer guessing at the nature of the “mix-up” than she had -been after the first reading. - -Isadora was not one of the servants who had known and loved Katherine, -and so it is not surprising that when she opened the door and saw her -standing there with her suitcase she took her for an agent. Katherine -did not enlighten Isadora as to her identity, for she wanted to see Kate -first of all, and for the present Kate only. She made this very plain, -and then walked past Isadora and into the drawing-room with such an air -that in spite of the old black velvet tam and general lack of style in -the caller’s clothes, Isadora accorded her all due respect and went in -search of Kate. - -But Kate was not to be found in the house. Would the caller wait? Yes? -Very well. Isadora withdrew with several curious backward glances. - -As soon as Isadora was out of the way Katherine went through the French -doors on to the terrace. She paced back and forth, looking toward the -orchard house. Was Kate there? Had she forgotten the time? The maid -Isadora had appeared calm and collected enough. There certainly was a -sense of peace in the house. The “mix-up” perhaps was not such a -desperate one, after all. Katherine couldn’t wait here, though, doing -nothing—not after all those hours of waiting on the train. She walked -across the terrace and down into the garden toward the orchard house. -She met Kate just at the edge of the trees. - -Kate returned her mother’s embrace and kiss almost absently. Then -Katherine held her off and looked at her. “You look all right,” she -said, breathlessly. “Kate, tell me nothing dreadful has happened. Tell -me you _are_ all right. Quick!” - -“Yes, yes. Oh, Mother, don’t look like that! I am perfectly all right. -It’s about _Elsie_. But even that’s all right now. Mother, her father is -here. Nick is in the orchard house. He wants to see you. He says it may -be the last time you ever see each other. He wants you to come right -now.” - -But if Kate’s words reassured Katherine about Kate’s safety, they flung -her into a new anxiety. “Nick? The last time? Why?” - -“Oh, I don’t know. Only come.” Kate pulled at her mother’s hand. - -Nick had come down the stairs and was waiting in the hall. When -Katherine followed Kate dazedly in, and she and Nick stood facing each -other, he exclaimed involuntarily; to him it was as though the girl of -eighteen he had known years ago had come back. In the black velvet tam, -raindrops sparkling in her hair that waved so softly at her ears and -brow, raindrops drenching her eyelashes, her face vivid with emotion, -her hands outstretched to him—why, she was as young and fresh as Kate -herself, more beautiful even than he had remembered her. - -“I must talk with you.” He was very intense and at the same time shy. - -“Yes, of course. Of course we must talk.” Katherine’s tone implied, “Why -not? Why shouldn’t we?” - -“In the parlour, then. I’ll put up a window. No, I can’t do that. -Someone in the house might see.” - -“But why shouldn’t someone see? I don’t understand.” - -“There’s air enough from the door now. Smell the syringa!” - -Katherine was standing in the window, her back to them. Kate knew it was -to hide strange tears. “The smell of the syringa did that,” she thought, -with her quick understanding where her mother was concerned. “Smells are -funny that way.” - -Nick spoke to Kate then, with gentle imperativeness. - -“Elsie will be coming out here in a minute. Yes, we are running away, if -you like. Go to her and tell her to wait. Tell her we will go surely -to-night, but she is to wait until your mother comes in. You keep her, -Kate—stay with her—_until your mother comes in_.” - -“I don’t think I could. She will be furious with me. She wouldn’t do -what I said.” - -“I’ll write her a note. She will understand that I want it.” - -He pulled an envelope from his pocket and scrawled a sentence, holding -the paper against the wall. Katherine had taken off her coat and was now -sitting in the deep chair in the window. Her tears had vanished, if -there really had been tears, and her eyes were clear as happiness -itself. - -But Kate was anxious as she hurried with the note to Elsie. If Elsie had -hated her before for interfering now she would hate her all the more. - -She was sitting on the window seat in her room, dressed in the green -silk suit and brown straw hat, a bright green raincoat thrown over a -chair back near, and the suitcase of last night at her feet. Had she -seen Kate come from the orchard house and return there with her mother? -It was obvious that she had, for the face she turned to Kate was wild -and strained. - -“What have you been doing now?” she asked as Kate came into the room. -“Who was that girl you took into the orchard house?” - -“That wasn’t a girl. It was my mother.” - -“Your mother! Why?” - -“Your father wanted to talk to her. He sent you this.” - -Elsie took the note and her face lost some of its wildness as she read. -When she looked up she was puzzled but almost serene. - -“It’s all right. We’re going away just the same,” she said. “Nothing can -stop us now. I’m only to wait until your mother comes in.” - -Kate nodded. If it was her father Elsie was running away with, she, -Kate, had no more responsibility. She didn’t see how it was fair to Aunt -Katherine or in any way right for them to do it that way, but she had no -doubt that somehow it could be explained. Once understood, there would -be no question of its rightness. So she put all that aside. - -She said, “Oh, Elsie, why didn’t you tell me your father wrote ‘The King -of the Fairies’? Your very own father!” - -“So you know now? He told you? Well, now you know, then, that I didn’t -lie. There _was_ something of fairy in the orchard house; Father had -finished his new book there. It’s all fairies.” - -“And you are going away now, for good? Before Aunt Katherine comes -back?” - -“If you will let me.” Needless to say this was spoken sarcastically. - -“But of course. Now that I’ve seen your father! No harm can come to you -now, not when you’ve got our talisman, alive, real, to look after you.” - -Elsie looked at Kate, puzzled. “What do you mean? Your talisman? You do -say the queerest things!” - -Then Kate told her about the boy in the silvery, dragony, flowery -picture frame. When she had finished, it was a new Elsie that faced her. - -“And your mother, too, felt like that?” - -“Yes, Mother, too. Why not?” - -“Why—because——” - - - - - CHAPTER XIX - ELSIE CONFIDES - - -The girls stayed there, sitting on the window seat, for over an hour, -watching for Katherine to come from the orchard. It was showering again, -sheets of rain silvering the gardens and drawing curtains of silver -magic about the orchard, swirling them all about the orchard’s borders. -There was plenty of time for the story which Elsie told haphazardly and -in broken sentences, led on by Kate’s interest, and her assurances that -now she had seen Nick she would never try to interfere with any of their -plans again. Kate’s story of the dragony, flowery picture frame had -knocked all Elsie’s guards flat, too. Her story, straightened out, was -this: - -Elsie’s earliest memory was of her father. She had fallen down the house -steps and bumped her head. Nick, her father, had appeared as by magic to -kiss the hurt away and run back into the house with her in his arms. She -remembered him bending over her, washing the bruise with cold water; -then came the smell of witch-hazel. And though this was her first -conscious memory, still the very memory itself held in it the -inevitableness of this comfort from her father; so she was used to his -ministrations. - -The next memory was convalescence after measles when she was four. She -was sitting up in a chair in a window over the street, wrapped in an -eiderdown. Her father was reading to her from “The Psalms of David.” The -words sang a beautiful song to her, especially when he came to “The Lord -is my Shepherd.” And it was very comforting to have her father sitting -there so quietly, near her, as though he meant to stay a long time. - -“But your mother?” Kate asked her. “Didn’t she read to you after -measles, too? Don’t you remember her?” - -Yes, Elsie remembered her mother, though she thought it was a later -memory, and it was never a memory of _mothering_. Gloria had hummed in -and out of the house like a humming-bird. Later, when Elsie saw a -humming-bird for the first time, she felt as she watched it exactly as -she had always felt watching her mother; and the pains that she took not -to startle the little spirit away were exactly the pains she had always -taken not to startle her mother away, when by chance she hummed near. -Gloria looked like a humming-bird, as well as acted like one. -Humming-birds fascinated Elsie, and her mother had always entranced her -with the same fascination, no more. - -But sometimes the humming-bird scolded at her father, pecked at him, -hummed all about him pecking. Then Elsie would run away, not fascinated -any more. The scolding was always about money. Gloria needed money just -as a humming-bird needs honey, and often there wasn’t enough. - -They lived in New York near Washington Square. Elsie was cared for by -nurses—such a fast-marching procession of nurses in the same chic blue -uniforms, provided by the humming-bird, that Elsie remembered them as -“nurse,” not as individuals. Her father was the constant human factor in -her life, the one person to be counted on. Gloria was merely a dash of -colour beyond the nursery door somewhere, a shrill sweet voice at the -piano, a swish of silk on the stairs. - -At eight, Elsie was sent to boarding school. But the school was in New -York, and so her father still saw her almost every day, and on Saturdays -he gave her and sometimes her friends “treats.” He took them to the -theatre or picture galleries, or for beautiful walks in Central Park. -Her mother never came to the school, but had her home once a month on -Sundays for dinner. This was a grief to Elsie, not because she felt any -need of her mother but simply because she would have been proud to show -her schoolmates what a magnificent and fashionable mother she had; also -she was humiliated by their curious questionings and pretended doubts as -to whether she had a real mother at all. But Elsie was sure that her -father was better than twenty mothers. She wouldn’t take a mother as a -gift except for show purposes. - -Kate writhed at Elsie’s harshness. “Oh, you don’t know, Elsie! Don’t -talk so! How can you? It is terrible.” - -“That’s what Ermina said when I talked to her about my mother. Ermina -was my best friend, but she didn’t stay out her first year at school. -Her mother died, and she went home for the funeral and never came back. -I knew that she loved her mother just as much as I loved my father. I -hid away in my room when they told me her mother had died. I pretended I -was sick. It was awful. But when I heard her go downstairs, at the very -last minute while they were saying ‘good-bye’ to her at the door, I -rushed down in my nightgown. I kissed her and hugged her and we cried -terribly. Miss Putnam, the principal of the school, never forgave me for -having made Ermina cry when she had been brave and not cried at all -before, and for having disgraced the school by standing in the door in -my nightgown. But I have been glad ever since. I had to say ‘good-bye’ -and that I was sorry. And I don’t think crying out loud was any worse -than the crying _inside_ that Ermina must have been doing. Do you?” - -Kate agreed with Elsie. She, too, was glad Elsie had gone to her friend -in her sorrow, even if she had waited till the last minute for the -courage. - -Vacations had been spent either at camps or at Aunt Katherine’s. When -they were spent at Aunt Katherine’s, her father was usually with her, -having a vacation, too. And those were beautiful times. - -Then, when she was twelve, came the terrible time. Nick had done badly -in business. He confided this to Elsie because Gloria only wanted happy -confidences, and besides, she was abroad, travelling with a party of -friends. There was enough to pay his debts and leave him clear to start -fresh, avoiding bankruptcy. But the debts paid, and his checking account -reduced to zero, money must come from somewhere to go on with until -business picked up. He knew a way in which two thousand dollars, if he -only had it, could overnight be turned into ten thousand. He told Elsie -about it, walking in Central Park, and said if he had only waited a -little to pay his debts, and not acted so hastily in his fear of -bankruptcy, everything would have been made right now. Aunt Katherine -would loan him the two thousand, he felt sure, if he could only explain -the nature of the speculation to her. But she was travelling somewhere -in England, and there would never be time to get into touch with her. -But he had the key to her safety vault in her Boston bank. He suddenly -told Elsie that he was going to Boston and would not see her again until -Sunday. She understood that he was going to borrow, on his own account, -two thousand dollars from Aunt Katherine overnight, trusting to her -unfailing generosity. - -Nick wrote Aunt Katherine all about it on the train as he went. From the -vault he took two thousand dollars’ worth of securities which could -easily be replaced. - -Aunt Katherine sailed for home before Nick’s troubled letter reached her -in England, and the second letter, telling how the two thousand instead -of blossoming into ten thousand had disappeared altogether, was never -sent, because just as Nick was going out of his door to post it, the -cablegram came announcing Gloria’s tragic death. That put all thoughts -of the letter out of his mind, and when he did remember it he thought he -had posted it as he meant to. It was found in the apartment months later -by the people who sublet the place furnished, and simply dropped into a -post box by them and sent to its address in England. It did not reach -Miss Frazier until six months later. - -Miss Frazier on her arrival in Boston, and after a visit to her bank, -reported the missing securities to the police. Nick’s immediate -apprehension followed. Miss Frazier was on a train bound for California -when that most amazing bit of news reached her by telegram. She was -shocked almost beyond reason, and so horrified that it was impossible -for her to find any justification for her adopted nephew. She offered -him no help and had no words for him that were not bitter ones, but she -did write to offer his “innocent child” a home with her on the condition -that she should not speak her father’s name for the term of his -imprisonment, or correspond with him while she was in her care. That -letter ended, “If I had been one half as level-headed as my niece -Katherine or Mrs. Van Vorst-Smith about you, Nicholas, I should have -protected you against such temptation, and we might have all been spared -this catastrophe.” - -In Elsie’s parting from her father he had shown her this letter. (Now -Kate knew why Elsie had grown cold always at mention of Katherine!) He -had begged her to accept her aunt’s conditions. Indeed there was nothing -else she could do, for her mother’s relations were now more estranged -from them than ever. They had not written one word, even bitter ones. - -“Oh, Elsie! That must have been dreadful, not being allowed even to -speak of your father, to act as though he were dead!” - -Elsie looked at her, her eyes black with remembered grief. “It was. I -was so lonely for him, Kate, I expected to _die_.” - -In time Nick’s two letters about the “overnight loan,” forwarded and -reforwarded, had arrived in Oakdale. Then Aunt Katherine began to -understand a little how his deed had not been so pitchy black as it had -seemed in the first shock. He had done what she had always wanted him to -do, counted on her understanding and generosity. It had been a -crime—even Nick had accepted that judgment from the very first—and an -utterly foolish and desperate deed, but now Aunt Katherine was sorry she -had not lifted a hand to keep him from paying the penalty of -imprisonment. She looked about to see what could be done, and ultimately -was able to set wheels in motion that brought about his release at the -end of two years instead of three. But she had not told Elsie. She had -not been able to bring herself to speak of Elsie’s father to her at all. - -Nick wrote Miss Frazier asking her to meet him at a certain spot on the -Common in Boston the day he was to be released. He wanted to discuss -Elsie and what they were to do about her. He knew that his appearance in -Oakdale would cause Miss Frazier painful embarrassment. He meant to -avoid that for her. But when he had waited for hours at the place he had -designated and she had not come, he had grown desperate. He was obsessed -with a fear that Elsie might be sick. Why, she might be dead, almost, -for all he knew. He had not had one word from her in two years. He -boarded a train, not stopping to leave his suitcase at a hotel or check -it in the South Station, and started for Oakdale. - -Elsie was just coming down the steps of Aunt Katherine’s house as her -father got out of the taxi he had hired to avoid being seen in Oakdale -and to gain speed to his destination. Aunt Katherine was away and most -of the servants, for it was Thursday afternoon—a week ago last Thursday. -Father and daughter had longed to be alone, unobserved by any curious -eyes. The orchard house occurred to them as the best place to talk. They -went around the house and managed to reach it, unseen, through the -gardens. They had climbed in at a window at the back. Elsie was beside -herself with happiness, and Nick was like a boy in his joy and relief -about her. - -He told Elsie that the first year in prison he had written “The King of -the Fairies.” - -“There was so much in it that he had told me about the ‘other side of -things’ and the _more_ life that even stones have that we don’t see, -that when the book was published and I looked into it at the bookshop I -knew right away it must be Father’s. He had always wanted to write. At -the very first sentence I knew. It was like a letter from him. I read it -and read it and read it. Do you wonder I didn’t want you to snatch it -for yourself that very first morning, Kate?” - -The second book was almost finished when Nick came out of prison. Only a -chapter remained. The publishers had promised an advance on the -royalties as soon as the manuscript was sent them. The first book had -already made over two thousand dollars. So the two decided, between -them, that Nick should live in the orchard house for a week, long enough -to finish the book, send it to the publishers and get their check. Then -he would leave the two thousand dollars, the earnings from the first -book, for Aunt Katherine. That was exactly what he had taken from her -vault. With the new check of five hundred dollars, he and Elsie would go -away together. He could write in the orchard house undisturbed, and -without any one’s knowing he was there. Elsie could bring him some food -now and then. But they would not run away together until he could leave -the two thousand that really belonged to Aunt Katherine behind them. - -Kate interrupted there. “But how can you! How can you treat Aunt -Katherine so?” - -“It’s this way. I’ve made Father see that she doesn’t like me. She is -awfully kind, but that’s not liking. If I vanish, it will be just a -relief to her. But she wouldn’t let me go, probably, if I told her. She -would argue and try to keep me because it was her duty. Even Father sees -that. Well, the new check has come. That was my special delivery -yesterday. Father wrote Aunt Katherine a long letter and put the two -thousand dollars in checks from his publishers into it. I’ve pinned the -letter to her pincushion for her to read when she gets back to-night. -Father hopes you’ll stay on here and your mother come back, too, and -everything be set right at last. We don’t belong in the Frazier family -at all, you know. We are sort of vagabonds, different, Father and I. -Father thinks the quarrel between Aunt Katherine and your mother was in -some way because of him. When we vanish, it will come right.” - -“Oh, but it won’t, and it wasn’t, and you aren’t. Imagine you a -vagabond!” Kate exclaimed. - -“That’s the beautiful clothes Aunt Katherine gives me. They make me look -just like anybody. But really underneath I belong in a tent or something -like that. Anyway, I’d rather tramp the country with my father than live -in a palace with any one else!” - -Kate leaned toward her, taking her hand, not timidly now but with -assurance. “So would I,” she agreed, heartily. “So would any one, he’s -so splendid and wonderful. And we are friends now, you and I, aren’t we? -Will you write to me when you have gone?” - -Tears brimmed Elsie’s eyes. “Really? Do you want me to write? Of course -I will. Let’s be best friends, chums. Even when I’m in California!” - -Kate was embarrassed by the tears, but she was enraptured, too. She was -tingling with happiness, for she was face to face with the vanishing -comrade at last. - -“Why didn’t we feel this way sooner?” she asked with reason. - -“That was my fault. I’m sorry now.” - -The girls had almost forgotten why they were watching the rain-curtained -orchard. But they were recalled sharply to the affairs of the minute by -Effie’s voice in the hall not far from their door. She was calling down -a stairway to Isadora. - -“Tell Julia Miss Frazier’s just come in and will be here for dinner, -after all.” - -The girls started. Elsie sprang to her feet. Kate still had her hand. -“Don’t worry,” she said, quickly. “I will help you to get out without -her seeing. You can go later to-night.” - -“But Father’s note! Pinned to her pincushion! She will read it now! Oh, -why did she come back!” - -“I’ll go to her room and try to get the note before she notices it,” -Kate offered. “You just wait here. I’ll do my best.” - -“It’s on top of the tall bureau against the wall between the windows. -Oh, do you suppose you _can_, Kate?” - -As Kate hurried through the passageways toward Miss Frazier’s bedroom -she wondered whether she really could. What excuse should she give for -disturbing Aunt Katherine while she was dressing? - -There was no time to think that out. Aunt Katherine called “Come,” -almost before Kate’s knuckles tapped the door. - - - - - CHAPTER XX - A FAREWELL IN THE DARK - - -Miss Frazier was sitting before her dressing table attired in a blue -silk dressing-robe. - -“Nothing the matter, Kate?” she asked, the minute that she realized it -was Kate and not one of the servants who had entered. “Bertha tells me -Elsie is better. I am glad I was able to get back for dinner, after all. -Both you and Elsie have been on my mind. Was it a dull day?” - -“No, not dull a bit.” If Aunt Katherine only knew how very far from -dull! - -Aunt Katherine put down the comb with which she had been “fluffing” her -hair. She looked at Kate questioningly. Why was her niece here, and -looking so discomfited, at the dressing hour? - -Kate had already spied the note, across the room, pinned to the -pincushion on the bureau’s top. To the corner of her eye it appeared as -big as a flag! How had Miss Frazier ever avoided seeing it? It fairly -shrieked in the room. - -“Well?” Her aunt was expecting something of her. She must say something -to make her presence reasonable. But what excuse could she ever make to -go ’way across the big room to that bureau? In this plight Kate blurted -out the news that her mother was there. - -“Your mother!” - -Aunt Katherine seemed frozen for an instant in her surprise. - -“Not exactly here, but she will be in a few minutes, I think,” Kate -stumbled on. “I wired for her to come.” - -“Why, Kate! Has anything gone wrong to-day? Elsie——” - -“No, nothing. Oh, I can’t tell you now. Will you wait a little while, -until she’s here? I can’t explain anything yet.” - -“What time is she arriving?” - -Kate put her hand into her pocket and pulled out the yellow telegram. -“Here, this tells,” she said, vaguely. Now, oh, now while Aunt Katherine -was studying out that long message was the time to rescue Elsie’s -letter. Kate made a move toward the bureau. But Miss Frazier moved with -her! Her lorgnette lay beside the pincushion! Was there ever such luck! - -She picked it up, and read, moving the glass along the paper. - -She passed over the ambiguity to her of most of the message and fastened -her attention upon the time of arrival stated there. “Five-five!” she -exclaimed. “The train must be over an hour late. More than that. It’s -half-past six now. Ring the bell, please, Kate, and tell Isadora to send -Timothy to the station. He knows your mother and will bring her up here -in the car when the train does get in. That back-way train is seldom on -schedule, but this is unusually late. Tell Isadora to have an extra -place laid, too.” - -Kate went over to the door and rang the servants’ bell there. Bertha, -not Isadora, answered. Kate stepped out into the hall and whispered -quickly, “Tell Effie to set another place. My mother will be here for -dinner.” The directions for Timothy were, of course, not given. Then -Kate went back to her aunt, with how beating a heart! - -Aunt Katherine was standing with her face turned away, reading Nick’s -letter. Kate never thought of fleeing. She stayed stock still, waiting -for the storm, and deciding that even now Aunt Katherine need not know -that Elsie had not yet gone. Kate expected something quite scenic from -her aunt’s temper. Katherine had warned her that it was rare but -devastating. - -After ages and æons, to Kate’s tense mind, Aunt Katherine folded the -letter, check and all. Then their eyes met. The one thing that the -expression in her aunt’s eyes told Kate was that she was surprised, -though _glad_, to find her still there. She stretched both her hands to -her. - -“Kate, Kate,” she said with a rising inflection of happiness in her -voice. “I’ve been all wrong, wrong about Elsie’s father, but even more -wrong about Elsie! She has proved that by running away with her father. -The blessed darling! The poor lamb!” - -Kate felt that she was on a merry-go-round of surprises. “You are glad -she has run away?” - -“How can I be anything but rejoiced!” - -Kate turned a little cold at that. “And you won’t try to stop them?” she -asked. - -“No, no need. Nick says he will give me their address as soon as they -have one. Then I shall go to them, wherever it is. I will bring them -back. Kate, she must _adore_ her father! And all the while, just because -she kept the agreement not to speak of him, I thought her indifferent to -his sufferings, and unnatural. Why, from this, she must have suffered -more than he.” Miss Frazier tapped the folded letter with her lorgnette. -“He says that when he looked in at your party and saw Elsie so -beautifully gowned, and having such a good time, his heart failed him; -he decided that he must not take her away from all this. But Elsie -herself made him see that she would never be happy anywhere but with him -no matter how poor they were. It was Elsie who insisted on this -harebrained scheme of running away! Elsie, who I thought hadn’t a grain -of spirit or affection! Why, I’m just turned topsy-turvy by it all! -Bless that poor child! And Nick wrote ‘The King of the Fairies.’ I ought -to have guessed that instantly. Bless him, I say, too, the poor, abused, -misguided poet. Do you remember St. Francis? You know he, too——” - -But Miss Frazier broke off in her song of praise. - -“You poor child, you,” she cried, meaning Kate. “This must all be a -mystery. We’ll wait till your mother is here. Then we can talk it all -over.” She hugged Kate as she spoke, much as though she herself were a -young girl in the most exuberant of spirits. - -“I shall wear my black lace,” she said, pushing Kate laughingly away -from her. “We must be gorgeous for your mother. Hurry into your pink -organdie. Why, she may be at the door this minute.” - -Thus freed, Kate flew to Elsie. Elsie was waiting, almost ill with -anxiety. “Did you manage it?” she asked. - -“No. And she has read the letter. But she is _glad_, Elsie. There’s just -to be no trouble about your getting away with your father at all.” - -“Didn’t I tell you!” Elsie exclaimed. “It’s just as I knew. She is glad -to be rid of me.” - -“We must plan quickly, though. How will you get out? It’s so dark now -you can’t see the orchard well at all. Let’s plan.” - -Bertha was there, flushed and nervous. That morning Elsie had found it -necessary to confide the secret of her father’s being in the orchard -house to Bertha, if he was to have any breakfast or lunch that day at -all. They had let the food supply get very low, she and her father, -because, until he had looked in at the party, they had expected to fly -last night. Bertha was horrified at finding herself part of the -intrigue, but there was no help for it since Elsie could always “Wind -her around her little finger.” Now, the almost distracted maid promised -to stand by Elsie until the end. It would be the end for her as well as -Elsie, for she would certainly lose her place to-morrow, and her -character with it. For if Miss Frazier did not become aware for herself -that Bertha had taken food to Nick in the orchard house this morning, -and protected Elsie from the betrayal of her plans, Bertha meant to -confess these things to her. - -The three in conclave now decided that Elsie should go, after Kate and -Miss Frazier were in the drawing-room, to the window seat on the stair -landing. There she could conceal herself behind the curtains with her -suitcase until Kate came out into the hall below, on some pretext to be -found by her, and whistled softly. The whistle would mean that Katherine -had come in and that Elsie could slip away to the orchard house -unobserved. - -All this was rather fun for Kate except for the sorry fact that when it -was over she would have lost a comrade. To help stage a real -runaway—well, it doesn’t happen every day that one may be so at the -centre of exciting events. - -With Bertha’s help Kate was dashing into her organdie while Elsie stood -in a balcony window watching the orchard. Elsie had come in to be near -Kate until the very last minute. But when a knock suddenly sounded on -Kate’s door Elsie wisely whisked away into her own room. - -“Come,” Kate called in a tremulous voice. Was it her mother? No, it was -Aunt Katherine, and very fortunate it was that Elsie had been spry in -her whisking. - -“I see you are dressed,” Miss Frazier said. “Come down, with me, then, -and we will be together in the drawing-room when your mother arrives. I -have ordered dinner delayed for her.” - -Kate thought quickly. “Just a minute,” she said. “There’s something in -Elsie’s room I need. Will you wait?” - -Kate closed the door behind her as though by accident. But Elsie was not -in the room. Kate looked all around but it was quite empty. The -vanishing comrade had vanished, physically this time. There was the -closet door. Was she hiding there? Yes, Kate heard a stir and saw dimly -through the hanging dresses—expensive dresses given Elsie by Aunt -Katherine, which she was not taking with her—Elsie herself squeezed back -against the farthest wall. Kate closed the closet door behind her and -groped her way across the dark closet. “It’s I, Kate,” she whispered -loudly. - -The girls touched hands in the dark. They hugged and kissed each other, -mostly on noses and ears, but no matter; it was a grief-stricken -parting. “Good-bye, good-bye,” they whispered, and Kate said, “Write to -me from California.” But she must hurry back before it came into Miss -Frazier’s head to follow her in here with the idea of going through -Elsie’s door into the hall. She ran back to her own room and in her -anxiety created the impression of a small cyclone appearing. - -Miss Frazier looked with some surprise on the violence of her return. -Then her eyes softened. Kate had not given thought to drying her tears. -“You mustn’t take it like this,” Aunt Katherine said, putting her arm -through Kate’s as they went down the passageways together toward the big -upper hall. “Elsie is happier than she has been in a very long time; she -is off with one of the most satisfying companions in the world. Nick -will take good care of her, infinitely better care than was ever taken -here by me, for he _knows her mind_. And oh, Kate, we mustn’t let your -mother run away with you, too. Then I _should_ be alone! You won’t be -without companionship. There are the Dentons just next door, and plenty -of others who will be wanting to know you now.” - -“But they aren’t Elsie,” Kate responded, shamelessly using her -handkerchief, as the tears would keep flooding. - - - - - CHAPTER XXI - LIKE THE STARS - - -Miss Frazier was too excitedly nervous to take up a book or knitting -when they were in the drawing-room. She wandered about, looking at the -pictures on the walls, picking up magazines from tables to stare at them -vacantly and replace them again, changing the arrangements of flowers, -and all the time she was waiting for the sound of the opening front door -and Katherine’s step in the hall. Kate was listening, too, but not in -that direction. She expected her mother to come through the gardens and -in at one of the French doors, closed now, with the rain beating against -them. Kate was so absorbed with the consciousness of Elsie waiting up on -the stair landing for her chance to escape that she forgot her mother -had no umbrella and that she might be waiting in the orchard house until -this particular shower passed. She merely wondered what was keeping her -all this time, and what would happen when she and Aunt Katherine met. -Aunt Katherine would certainly be surprised when she caught sight of the -expected traveller through the glass doors on the terrace. There would -be questions and explanations about that. Nick would have warned -Katherine, of course, not to give away the secret of his being there; -but then what _would_ she give as her explanation to Aunt Katherine? - -Would she be expecting to find Aunt Katherine here at all, though? -Wouldn’t Nick have acquainted her with the fact of Aunt Katherine’s -supposed absence? In that case Katherine, unprepared, would be hard put -to it to give any excuse for entering through the gardens from the back, -rather than by the front door, ushered in by Isadora. Kate was on -tenter-hooks. She felt that it was she herself who had caused the -muddle. But what could she have done differently? If she had told Aunt -Katherine, up in her room, that Katherine was here already, only out in -the orchard house, Aunt Katherine would certainly have gone straight out -there, and then what would have happened to Nick and Elsie? - -It was a bad ten minutes for Kate. She sat with a book open before -her—what book she never knew—her eyes glued to the page, her ears cocked -for a sound beyond the glass doors. Aunt Katherine stopped before her in -her wanderings once or twice, about to speak, but she had too much -respect for a reader to break into such obvious absorption as was -Kate’s. - -Now Miss Frazier was standing looking through the glass of one of the -doors into the rain-swept garden. Kate was seized with an idea. She must -run up to Elsie in the window seat—she must manage it without her aunt’s -noticing, now—and send Elsie to the orchard house to warn those two that -Miss Frazier had returned. After that, responsibility would be theirs. -They might fix up some scheme among them. Kate rose, softly, and took a -step toward the hall. But she was halted by an exclamation from Aunt -Katherine. - -Miss Frazier had not turned; she was still looking out through the -glass. Kate, looking, too, saw two figures just at the edge of the -orchard. It was her mother and Nick. Well, she could do nothing now. -They certainly were counting on Aunt Katherine’s absence, for they were -coming toward the house. They were running toward the house, “between -the drops,” dashing like school children. They were holding hands, and -Nick was always a step ahead, rather dragging Katherine. Oh, why hadn’t -Kate thought about an umbrella! They were laughing! Kate heard their -laughter through the glass. So did Aunt Katherine. Her face, taken at -that moment, would have made a perfect mask to personify Surprise. - -She opened the doors, and Katherine and Nick blew through them like two -drenched leaves. The rain had blurred the glass, and the running pair -had thought it was Kate standing there watching them and letting them -in. When they saw that it was Aunt Katherine they stood and simply -_stared_, with almost no expression, still gripping each other’s hands. - -Miss Frazier’s first words were unexpected ones. “Where is Elsie?” she -asked Nick. That was all, just “Where is Elsie?” as though that, for the -instant, was the thing of prime importance to her. It was Kate who could -answer, though. Timidly she said, “Elsie’s up on the stair landing.” - -“Well, that’s all right, then. I thought she might be in search of a -father in the South Station or some place. I thought, Nick, you two, you -and Elsie, had run away.” - -Nick said, “We were going to. It is Katherine who has stopped us at the -very minute.” He still held Katherine’s hand. Now he turned and looked -at her. She looked back at him. Both Aunt Katherine and Kate, seeing -what passed between their eyes, gasped. But it forewarned them, and -Katherine’s words when she spoke were only an echo of what they had -seen. - -“Nick and I are getting married, Aunt Katherine. We didn’t know you were -here, or we wouldn’t have burst in like this. We had come to tell our -children. Won’t you get Elsie, Kate?” - -“You and Nick marrying? So at last you’ve come to your senses!” That was -Aunt Katherine. - -“Yes. And oh, Aunt Katherine, she knows everything about me, and still -she wants to.” - -“Well, of course she knows everything about you. I fancy _that’s_ had -publicity enough. But if this is the way you feel, Katherine, why didn’t -you write me one word when Nick got himself into trouble? Or since? Your -silence has been as cruel as any part of it all. It said plainer than -words, ‘Like Mrs. Van Vorst-Smith, I expected this sort of thing.’” - -“Why, Aunt Katherine! How can you? If I had known Nick was in prison, -that something so terrible had happened, I should have written you right -away. No, I should have come. Trouble like that would have brought us -all together. But how could I know, when nobody told me?” Katherine’s -beautiful eyes were like a grieved, accusing child’s. “And what -hard-shelled little creatures we are! Why couldn’t my _soul_ have told -me?” - -“Don’t talk about your soul telling you.” Aunt Katherine was brusque. -“What about your eyes? Don’t you ever read the papers?” - -Katherine dropped her head. She had probably often dropped it so in the -past before her aunt. “You know,” she said, softly apologetic, “I never -did read the papers as you do, Aunt Katherine, or keep up with current -events.” - -Aunt Katherine laughed. It was a nice laugh. Kate visualized their brook -in Ashland, when the ice was dissolving under the sun in the spring. -(Yes, she did. It may seem a strange time for her mind to wander so far, -but the fact remains. She saw the brook that zigzagged through the -meadows back of their barn-house, as she had seen it last spring, its -edges still frosted with ice, but down the centre the clear, laughing -water coursing.) - -“Well, the news of Nick would hardly come under ‘current events’,” Aunt -Katherine was saying. “But I do remember now that you never did take a -proper interest in the papers. It never entered my head, though, that -you wouldn’t have learned of this from a dozen sources.” - -Kate had been backing away toward the door, meaning to go for Elsie. But -there was no need. Elsie had heard her father’s voice the minute he had -come into the drawing-room. She had stolen down into the room now, and -gripped Kate’s hand. Together the two girls moved back toward the three -who were earnestly talking, still standing near the open door with the -rain, all unobserved, discolouring the polished floor. - -Aunt Katherine was asking Katherine another question. “Why didn’t you -take Nick seventeen years ago?” she asked. “You seem sure enough of -yourself now. He wasn’t good enough for you then. Is he good enough now -after all that has happened?” - -Again Katherine cried, “How can you!” But quickly she amended it. “Yes, -you have a right. You know yourself, Aunt Katherine, what was the matter -with me. It was pride of birth, blindness, love of luxury, Mrs. Van -Vorst-Smith’s head-shakings, a jumble of folly. You know perfectly what -sort of a girl I was. But now I’m different. Now I’m nearer to being -good enough for Nick.” - -“Love of luxury!” Miss Frazier picked on that. “You want me to believe -your horrid description of yourself? If you loved luxury so much, why -have you been living as you have all these years, accepting nothing of -the luxuries I longed to give you?” - -“But I tell you I changed. At twenty-two I was different from nineteen. -I welcomed poverty then. When they told me that Kate and I had actually -nothing to live on, I was delighted.” - -“So it has been by way of penance, your hard life since?” - -“If you want to call it that. It’s been fun, too.” - -“But not fun for me.” Aunt Katherine’s eyes filled with tears. For a -person of Aunt Katherine’s character to cry openly like that was as -extraordinary a happening as though she had suddenly begun walking on -her hands. Only Katherine dared speak to her or try to offer comfort. -She put her arms around her shoulders, and led her to a chair. There she -made her sit down, and knelt by her side, leaning her head against her -arm, stroking her hand. - -“Dear, dear, Aunt Katherine. Don’t, don’t,” she besought. “We can’t bear -it. Oh, what have I done to you! What have we both done to you, Nick and -I? Forgive us, Aunt Katherine. Love us again.” - -At that, even in the midst of her tears, Aunt Katherine laughed, and as -before Kate remembered the brook. “Again!” Aunt Katherine exclaimed. -“Did you think I had ever stopped loving either of you mad children?” - -Nick nodded. “_I_ have forfeited your affection right enough. I -understand why you couldn’t meet me, Aunt Katherine, two weeks ago when -I asked you to. At least I understand now. I shouldn’t have asked it. -But how else were we to decide about Elsie?” - -Aunt Katherine looked up at her adopted nephew, remembering. “But of -course I did go to meet you,” she said. “Did you think I wouldn’t! I -read the day, though, ‘Thursday’ instead of ‘Tuesday.’ It’s not often I -blunder so stupidly. Then I made frantic efforts to locate you. But you -had vanished. There wasn’t a trace. I set private detectives to work. -To-day they took me all the way to Springfield on a wild-goose chase. -They were sure they had located you there. Clever, those detectives!” - -Aunt Katherine dried her eyes thoroughly as she spoke. She was scornful -of her tears. “That excursion has tired me,” she explained. “The -disappointment of it. I was so downhearted. Then having you suddenly -here again, right here at home, without warning, safe and happy—well, -perhaps a sphinx would cry.” - -It was Nick’s turn to kneel and rub his cheek against Aunt Katherine’s -shoulder. She lifted a hand and stroked his hair. Kate, too, got as -close to her aunt as she could. Only Elsie stood aloof, for an instant -not in any way part of the group. It was Aunt Katherine who beckoned -her, and took her hand. - -“Elsie,” she said, “I have been thinking you hard and selfish because -you kept my rule not to mention your father. I have wanted to speak with -you of him, but every time I led up to it I thought you drew away. It -seemed to me that you were suffering, not for him, but for your own -wounded vanity. Now I understand better. Perhaps, in time, you will -forgive me.” - -Then it was Elsie’s turn to cry, and she did it so whole-heartedly that -the family devoted its complete attention to calming her. - -It was later that Miss Frazier exclaimed as though she had just -remembered it: “So you two children are to be married, and Katherine -become a Frazier again! I wonder what Oakdale will say to that turn of -affairs!” - -“If you really care what they say, Aunt Katherine”—Katherine spoke -quickly—“need they know at all? Ashland society notes will hardly -penetrate here. And you’ve had quite enough to bear.” - -“Don’t think you could ever hide such a famous author as Nick has -become, with only his first book, under a bushel for long, my dear. And -as a matter of fact, quite apart from my joy that you are acting like a -sane girl at last, and for once, I shall be proud to death of the -marriage. I must call up the _Gazette_ to-morrow, before ten. You remind -me, Kate.” As well as pride there was a gleam of battle from Aunt -Katherine’s eyes. - -“And it really doesn’t matter a bit what they do say, except for you, -Aunt Katherine,” Katherine offered. “There are four of us now, four in -this family. Enough of us to stand together, I should think, and not ask -much from society.” - -“Four? Five!” Kate left Elsie’s side on the divan to perch on the arm of -her great-aunt’s chair. “Why, five of us are quite enough to start a -colony and make our own society.” - -“Bless you, dear child, for counting me in,” Miss Frazier said with -sheerest gratitude. - -“But of course, we all count you in, and there _are_ five of us,” -Katherine cried, “only we don’t want you to sacrifice too much.” And -that was the signal for a second close formation of happy people about -Aunt Katherine’s chair. - -“Sacrifice! Why, all I want in the world is my family. Don’t talk about -sacrifice!” - -It was much later that Aunt Katherine began wondering about dinner. What -had become of it? Nick and Katherine had utterly forgotten that one does -usually dine sometime before bedtime. They laughed at the suddenness of -their return to earth. - -“Ring the bell, Kate, and see if the servants are dead or asleep,” Miss -Frazier said. - -But at that instant Effie appeared in the door. She had heard Miss -Frazier’s words. “Julia put dinner off an hour,” she explained. “It’s -served now.” - -The “now,” however, was almost lost in Katherine’s sudden pounce upon -the servant and her hearty handshake. - -“Julia often takes a good deal upon herself,” Miss Frazier observed, as -linked with Katherine she led their little procession toward the -dining-room. - -And their first view of the table justified Aunt Katherine in this -criticism of Julia. The polished surface of the cherished antique was -hidden under an enormous damask cloth. But worse than that, the jade -dish with its exquisite floating blossoms had given way to a huge, and -to Miss Frazier’s mind hideous, cut-glass punch-bowl full of roses, -dozens and dozens of roses, pink, red, and yellow! - -“Why, they have made it into a festival,” Katherine cried, surveying the -effect. “Smell those roses.” - -“See them, rather,” Miss Frazier responded. “It’s the servants. They -must have known you both were here; and yes, there are two extra places -set.” - -“It’s Julia, the lamb!” Katherine declared. “Bless her dear heart. I saw -her looking from the kitchen window as we ran in. I’d go and kiss her -this second, but she wouldn’t approve of that until after dinner. -Julia’s a lion for etiquette.” - -“Please be so considerate as not to begin spoiling the servants, -Katherine.” - -Nick and Kate and Elsie looked at Aunt Katherine, surprised. But -Katherine simply answered lightly, “It’s they who spoil me.” She -accepted the tone of her aunt’s command without dismay. She knew that -the apparent sharpness had been only Aunt Katherine’s old habit of -criticism reasserting itself toward a beloved niece, who to her mind -could never possibly be anything but the child she had “brought up.” -Katherine had begun to understand her aunt to-night for the first time, -to see her in the “other light” that the King of the Fairies knew. - -“You’d better excuse yourself to wash your hands and remove that -odd-looking rain-soaked tam,” Aunt Katherine picked on her again, the -minute they were seated. “Use my bathroom, it’s the nearest. And hurry -right back, or this surprisingly sumptuous-looking soup that Julia has -provided will get cold.” - -Katherine, obediently leaving the room, looked rather like a humble -child, but Nick’s eyes, as he stood, followed as though hers might have -been the departure of an empress. - - * * * * * * * * - -Late that night the doors between the girls’ rooms blew shut in the wind -that was clearing the air of storm and rain. Never mind about the doors, -though; the spirit of Miss Frazier’s rule rather than the letter was -being kept to-night. For Kate and Elsie were curled up within whispering -distance of each other on Kate’s bed. Both were in dressing gowns; they -were supposed to have been asleep for an hour past. - -“I’ve never been abroad, or even anywhere out of New England,” Kate was -whispering. “You went with Aunt Katherine last summer. Will it be so -wonderful as I expect?” - -“We were only in England. And it will be a million times more wonderful -than then, for we shall be together. Why, two weeks from now, sooner, we -ought to be in Switzerland.” - -“And two weeks ago we had never heard of each other,” Kate added. - -“And one day ago,” Elsie took it up, “if you had told me that I would -spend the rest of the summer away from my father, travelling in Europe -with you and Aunt Katherine, I would have said you were crazy.” - -“Oh, Elsie,” Kate asked quickly, “I haven’t said anything, but is that -awfully hard for you, leaving them in Ashland, while we go so far away?” - -“Not any more awful for me to leave my father than for you to leave your -mother, I guess. Anyway, when _they_ like the plan so much, we’d be -funny daughters not to be pleased, too.” - -“You say ‘My father, your mother’—Oh, Elsie, do you realize in just a -day or two it will be ‘our father and our mother’?” - -Elsie nodded. “Yes, Kate,” she said. “You have given me a mother and I -have given you a father, and now we are a family. I feel, do you know, -as though my heart might burst!” - -“Don’t let it,” Kate warned quickly. “You’ll need it strong for climbing -the Alps! Imagine! Oh, how glorious it all is!” - -“And when we come home again and live in that funny little barn-house of -yours—I am thinking of that,” Elsie whispered. “That will be better than -travelling.” - -“The Hart boys are going to be simply flabbergasted,” Kate said, -remembering them. “They kept telling me to bring you home with me, but -they never guessed you’d be my sister when you did come.” - -“But do you think they will want to have anything to do with me?” Elsie -asked, diffidently. - -“Why not, I should like to know?” - -“Well, you see, that letter they wrote——” - -Kate’s face reddened. “What a creature I was! Of course, they will -forget all about that now. Even if you weren’t my sister and Mother’s -daughter, they’d like you awfully just the first second they saw you. -They couldn’t help it.” - -Before going to bed, finally, the girls put out the lights and went out -on to Kate’s flowery balcony to look at the clearing night. They stood -close together, their arms about each other’s shoulders, their dressing -gowns billowing in the fresh wind. Elsie lifted her face up toward the -sky. “It’s going to be a fair day to-morrow,” she affirmed. “See the -stars!” - -Kate’s face was lifted, too. “Yes,” she said. “Do you remember what the -King of the Fairies told Hazel and her lover about the magic they had -made their very own, how it’s safer than the stars from troubling? Well, -do you know, _as a family_, I think we are going to have a lot of that -magic.” - - - THE END - - - THE VANISHING COMRADE - _by Ethel Cook Eliot_ - -Kate Marshall had plenty of boys for friends and a very companionable -mother. But when she visited her interesting Great Aunt Katherine she -did hope to find in Elsie a girl comrade of her own age to share her -dreams and enthusiasms. - -However, this new comrade had a disturbing way of vanishing -unexpectedly. - -And it all centered about the orchard house, where windows were found -open, doors were found locked, and lights flickered at night. - -Parties and pretty clothes, misunderstandings and unusual mystery make -this an unusual story that girls will enjoy from start to finish. - - Another of Mrs. Eliot’s distinctive books for girls. - - - - - Transcriber’s Notes - - ---Copyright notice provided as in the original—this e-text is public - domain in the country of publication. - ---Silently corrected palpable typos; left non-standard spellings and - dialect unchanged. - ---In the text versions, delimited italics text in _underscores_ (the - HTML version reproduces the font form of the printed book.) - - - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Vanishing Comrade, by Ethel Cook Eliot - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VANISHING COMRADE *** - -***** This file should be named 63455-0.txt or 63455-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/4/5/63455/ - -Produced by Stephen Hutcheson and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this -eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook -for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, -performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given -away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks -not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the -trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country outside the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no - restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it - under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this - eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the - United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you - are located before using this ebook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The -Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the -mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its -volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous -locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt -Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to -date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and -official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -For additional contact information: - - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - |