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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4acb3b0 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #67077 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/67077) diff --git a/old/67077-0.txt b/old/67077-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 1033dd4..0000000 --- a/old/67077-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7874 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Barbara Hale: A Doctor's Daughter, by -Lillian Garis - -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 -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Barbara Hale: A Doctor's Daughter - -Author: Lillian Garis - -Illustrator: J. M. Foster - -Release Date: January 2, 2022 [eBook #67077] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at - https://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BARBARA HALE: A DOCTOR'S -DAUGHTER *** - - - - - - BARBARA HALE: A DOCTOR’S DAUGHTER - - - - -[Illustration: “OH,” GASPED BABS, “I DIDN’T KNOW——”] - - - - - BARBARA HALE: - A DOCTOR’S DAUGHTER - - By - LILIAN GARIS - - Author of - “BARBARA HALE AND COZETTE,” “CONNIE LORING’S - AMBITION,” “JOAN: JUST GIRL,” “GLORIA: A - GIRL AND HER DAD,” “GLORIA AT - BOARDING SCHOOL,” ETC. - - ILLUSTRATED BY - J. M. FOSTER - - GROSSET & DUNLAP - PUBLISHERS NEW YORK - - Made in the United States of America - - - - - Books by Lilian Garis - - Joan: Just Girl - Joan’s Garden of Adventure - Gloria: A Girl and Her Dad - Gloria at Boarding School - Connie Loring’s Ambition - Connie Loring’s Dilemma - Barbara Hale: A Doctor’s Daughter - Barbara Hale and Cozette - - Copyright, 1926, by - GROSSET & DUNLAP - - - - - CONTENTS - - I Sea Sands and Somersaults - II When the Day Arrived - III Her Father’s Daughter - IV On Her Way - V Billows the Beautiful - VI The Accident - VII Nicky and Vicky - VIII Clothes - IX Suspicions - X How Girls Choose Chums - XI The Midnight Ride - XII Dumped but Not Discouraged - XIII Crazy Quilts Galore - XIV A Honeysuckle Secret - XV The Santa Maria - XVI When a Girl Thinks Hard - XVII The Loss - XVIII Suspicions - XIX News from Nicky - XX Fighting It Out - XXI Brighter but Not Quite Clear - XXII Washington Answers - XXIII Prolonging the Agony - XXIV Scouts in the Wood - XXV A Revelation - XXVI Tumbling In - - - - -BARBARA HALE: A DOCTOR’S DAUGHTER - - -CHAPTER I - -SEA SANDS AND SOMERSAULTS - - -They dug their heels deeper into the white sand. As they were bare -heels there seemed to be nothing else to do with them. - -“I think it’s simply a wonderful idea,” Louise St. Clair reiterated, -“only, I can’t just see how you are going to feed us all for three -whole days, Cara.” - -“Feed you! Dear child, that’s the easiest part of it. Lottie adores -feeding the hungry. But what bothers me is what I can do to keep you -all happy.” Cara Burke, who had never been called Caroline, took her -heels out of the sand and stuck them up in the sunshine. She was so -strictly modern and so much up to date that her own personal schedule -must have been eons ahead of the time marked on the pretty calendars -sent around by M. Helmer, the butcher. - -“A house party is bound to make us all so happy we’ll never want to go -home, Cara,” declared Esther Deane, she with a new boyish bob hair-cut -that she couldn’t keep her hands off. “I’d like to fetch my trunk, if -we only lived a few blocks farther away.” - -“Fetch it; there’re bushels of room out in the garage,” responded Cara -mischievously. “But you know, children, my list isn’t filled yet. I -have just got to have Barbara Hale.” - -“Barbara Hale!” Both girls exclaimed in perfect unison. - -“Yes.” Cara squatted on her bare feet now and showed signs of -conflict. “I want her. I like her. She’s so different, she’s sure to -be good fun.” - -“Good fun!” Esther almost sneered. “About as funny as a Latin exam, -I’d guess. She looks different, and she is different. But at a house -party! Cara, you’re crazy.” - -“So they say,” agreed Cara dryly. “But I’m going to ask her, just the -same.” - -“She’ll never leave that dad of hers,” declared Louise. “You know he’s -some kind of a queer doctor and they say she’s going to be a nurse.” - -“He’s a bacteriologist,” Esther informed her friends, with that very -definite tone always peculiarly Esther’s when she knew anything so -worth while as that. - -“Well,” drawled Cara, “Dudley says she’s a peach, and while he’s not -to come to the party he might just look in and——” - -“And poor us! We may have to rival a peach,” moaned Louise. “I do wish -you wouldn’t, Cara,” she pleaded again. “Honestly, I am afraid of -anything so high and mighty as Barbara Hale.” - -“Why should she be so high and mighty?” challenged Cara. “She’s no -older than we are.” - -“She’s past fifteen, I should think,” guessed Esther. - -“I suppose she is, for she was in first year high last summer when we -came back to Sea Cosset; I remember that,” agreed Cara quite amicably. -Cara wasn’t merely pretty, she was lively always, and her brown eyes -managed her entire face so capably one never noticed the little -irregularity of her other features. Every one said Cara Burke was “all -eyes” and her eyes were lovely. - -“It’s queer how every one thinks Barbara is so wonderful,” Esther was -determined to find fault. “She just acts like an old lady, it seems to -me.” - -“Esther Phester! How dare you!” mocked Cara. “Now, you’re being -jealous. You see, it’s like this. There are lots of wise old ladies -but a wise young lady is different.” - -“You talk rather wise yourself and you’re not so old,” retorted -Louise. - -“I am old. I love to be. Children are a pest, so please don’t act so -childish, girls,” Cara in turn retorted. “You’re both perfectly lovely -when you talk sensibly, so let’s decide how we are going to get the -wily Barbara to our house party. Any suggestions?” - -Persons just sauntering along for a rather late swim attracted their -attention, and for the time being Barbara Hale was apparently -forgotten. New and odd bathing suits were ever interesting to the -girls, and those at the moment being displayed were certainly novel if -not actually new. - -“How can red-headed girls wear that howling yellow?” commented Louise. -“She looks like a gasoline sign.” Her own hair favored the red tints, -what there was of it. - -“That tango is worse,” declared Esther. “They must be strangers.” - -“Just wandered down from the other beach, I guess,” Cara said -indifferently. She was never as much interested in strangers as were -her two friends. - -Settling down again to finish their sunning, for they had had their -swim some time earlier, the subject of Barbara Hale was once more -introduced. - -“I don’t see that you girls are helping me out very much with my guest -list,” Cara reminded them. “You know I am bound to have Barbara. Now, -I’ll offer a prize for the best suggestion. How shall I invite her?” - -“Why not ‘hail’ her down here?” Louise suggested. - -“Now, Louie; that’s being too smart; to pun on Barbara’s name,” -answered Cara. “The fact is, or isn’t it? Does she come down here, -ever?” - -“It isn’t, she doesn’t. You don’t catch that smart girl wasting her -time on the beach.” As Esther said this she seemed to enjoy the saying -of it. - -“I’d like to know, Essie,” drawled Cara, using the little name Esther -detested, “what have _you_ against Barbara Hale?” - -“I!” How much she made of the smallest word! As if the idea were -preposterous. - -“Yes, you. Every time I mention Barbara you just seethe up.” Cara -tossed up a shower of sand that slipped through her fingers in little -streams—what was left of the shower did that. If, as she said, Esther -did dislike Barbara, surely she, Cara, must have liked her, decidedly. - -Esther didn’t try to answer the charge. They were, all three of them, -just at that stage of young girlhood that might be called the mimic -stage. They said smart things, or tried to say them, because older -girls acted that way. True, the older girls never deigned to associate -with Cara, and her “set.” Just “kids” they were still being -inelegantly styled. But girls in second year high do feel rather -important, and at this particular new summer season the three girls on -the beach at Sea Cosset were not one whit less important—in their own -way—than Elinor Towle, Katherine Barrett and Melinde Trainor, all over -twenty, and now sitting on the same cozy little beach nearer the -water. Merely degrees of difference separated them, but there seemed -nothing essentially different between the two groups. - -And to make the comparison still closer, here was Cara planning to -give a house party. - -“I don’t care what any one says,” Louise spoke up rather like a small -girl again, “it’s a perfectly darling idea. Even if we all do live -around here; what difference would a train ride make in a house -party?” - -“None; not a speck,” confirmed Esther, both the girls bracing Cara up -in her resolve to give the party and worrying secretly lest she back -out. - -“Except,” chimed in Cara, “that when they come a distance they have to -stay. If you girls get bored to death you could even sneak home in -your nighties,” she wound up, turning a very good hand-spring to prove -why she was such a fine basketball player. - -“No danger of _us_ sneaking home, Cara,” declared Louise. “I’m just -crazy about the idea. And I know there are a lot of girls jealous -because you didn’t ask them,” she flattered the prospective hostess. - -“Really!” Cara reversed the hand-spring and threw up a veritable -desert sandstorm with the turn. “The only reason I have asked just -five,” she panted, settling again, “is because mother would only let -me have three rooms.” - -“Just imagine having _three_ rooms for company!” gasped Esther. “I’m -lucky to get an extra cot in my own room and the attic privilege while -we’re down here. But _you_ can invite a whole tribe to stay days with -you.” - -“Now girls!” spoke Cara, sighing a little as if in despair at their -attitude, “don’t get the idea that a big house and a flock of servants -make a lot of fun. They don’t. We had better times when we camped in a -lovely wide-open bungalow out on the bluff, where you didn’t dare -leave the front door open without danger of blowing out at the back -door. Oh me, oh my!” she sighed. “Them was the days! When I ate -molasses cookies without fear of fatness. But we are not getting at -the important point of asking Barbara. Haven’t you anything else to -propose? It will be time to dress before we decide a single thing.” - -“Why not call on her? She’s not anything to be afraid of, is she?” -This was Esther, of course. - -“No.” Cara paused, thoughtfully. “But she is, I know, a busy girl, and -one doesn’t want to ‘bust’ in on a high-brow just as she’s in the act -of discovering some scientific—oh, whatever it is they discover, you -know,” she floundered. “Besides, it would look so important if I -called. As if my party was really going to be a party instead of a -row. I’m sure it will end in a row, you know,” Cara was prettiest when -she laughed. - -“Cara Burke! You just want to make believe it isn’t going to be -wonderful when you know very well it is,” pouted Louise. “But if you -want Barbara Hale so badly, I’ll manage somehow to see her, and I’ll -ask her if you want me to.” - -“Want you to! I’d _love_ you to. I just want Barbara, well, for more -than one reason, but _one_ is because Dud declares she wouldn’t bother -with such silly little things as he claims we are. I want to show -him.” - -“Oh, that’s it.” Esther’s lip curled and she was now acting very grown -up indeed. - -“Does Dud know Barbara?” Louise wanted to know. - -“That’s just it. She’s sort of, what he calls, elusive. They just know -her enough to be curious about her.” - -“I don’t think she’s so wonderfully pretty,” commented Esther again. -“And I’m certain sure she’s not rich!” - -“Esther Phester!” cried out Cara in mock despair. “There you go. Rich! -That isn’t what counts at all, not with boys like Dud, anyway. _They_ -like girls who keep them guessing.” - -“Oh, Barbara Hale can do that well enough,” scoffed Esther. “Isn’t she -keeping us guessing?” - -“Just because she keeps to herself,” retorted Cara. “Now, that’s just -why I’m so crazy to know her. There must be a reason for her, oh, you -know,” again stumbled Cara, who wanted to say there must have been a -reason for Barbara’s aloofness, or was it reticence? - -“Since you are so keen about it Cara, I’ll do my best,” offered -Louise. “You know, her father is a sort of doctor and has some of the -awfully rich folks on his list.” - -“Rich!” moaned Cara. She seemed to loathe the word. They were starting -off towards the boardwalk along which a slim line of girls and boys -were already winding their way towards the road. It was almost lunch -time. - -Just as the girls came to within a few feet of the roadway a small car -drew up and from it sprang two persons. - -“Look!” gasped Louise. “There she is now!” - -“Is that—Barbara!” exclaimed Cara in an undertone, for the two in -bathing suits—a young girl and a young man—were racing along through -the sands quite close to them. - -“Yes,” answered Esther and Louise in one voice. - -“Isn’t she stunning in a bathing suit?” continued the entranced Cara. -“She must be dandy at athletics.” The two figures under scrutiny were -now far enough away to be out of possible reach of the girls’ voices. -Barbara Hale was wearing the regulation blue bathing suit with white -stripes around the long Jersey and a loose sash flew along after her -as she ran towards the ocean. She was trying to adjust her rubber cap -as she went, and was just now crowding into it a closely bobbed head, -chestnut in color, that beautiful brown that glows and glistens and -lights up so wonderfully in the sunshine. Barbara was as slender and -straight as an Indian. Her limbs were innocent of stockings or socks, -for girls under sixteen were not now trying to be prim at Sea Cosset, -that is, girls like Barbara. - -“But who can the good-looking boy be?” Louise wondered. “Isn’t he -just—just——” - -“Not lovely,” warned Cara. “Please don’t call him anything so silly as -that. He’s fine looking, just great. Whew! Look at those two strike -out!” - -Dots on the waves were all that could now be seen of the two who were -ducking in and out of the crest, but the girls still watched as if -fascinated. - -“Better ask him to the party, Cara,” suggested Esther. “I’ll bet all -the girls would want to stay if he were around.” - -“I’ll tell you what I’ll do,” proposed the wily Cara. “I’ll tell -Dudley I’ll have Barbara to the party if he manages to fetch along the -good-looking boy. I’ve just decided to give a dance. Why shouldn’t we -have a dance?” she asked simply, with one of those sudden strokes of -social genius she was especially noted for. - -“A dance!” echoed Louise, in ecstasy. She did clasp her hands but -caught herself just in time to save that foolish expression Cara was -sure to call saintly. Louise was very apt to clasp her hands, throw -one of those heavenly looks out of her gray eyes, and altogether -affect quite a pose when anything suddenly pleased her. - -“Yes, a dance,” Cara repeated. “We are grown up enough for that, -although we couldn’t, of course, ask the boys to the house party. They -_could_ come in to the dance.” - -“Just look at Barbara Hale now,” suggested Esther. The figures were -shaking themselves out of the waves, and as the girls watched they saw -Barbara put her two hands on a big post that supported the ropes, and -vault over as easily as did her companion following her. “Don’t you -suppose he’s her cousin?” Esther asked, innocently. - -“Not necessarily,” replied Cara. “But if we don’t make a break for -lunch——” They made the break. - - - - - CHAPTER II - - WHEN THE DAY ARRIVED - - -Between that day at the beach and the day set for the first session to -the house party, Cara all but backed out several times. It was rather -absurd, to ask five girls to week-end at her lovely big home, the -Billows, to bring clothes enough for three days and to stay for almost -that length of time, when they all lived near enough to run home if -their mothers should call them—on the telephone. - -But from the time that Cara mentioned the brilliant idea to Louise and -Esther, she was not allowed to change her mind. There is not a great -deal of excitement for girls of their ages at little sea-coast towns, -and the prospects of a house party were far too precious to -relinquish. - -Mrs. Burke, Cara’s mother, was rather pleased that her athletic -daughter thought of anything so socially refining, for, as a rule, -Cara cared very little for the amenities. She liked, very much better, -to row their boat on the lake that always seemed to envy the wild -little wavelets that flew about the ocean’s edge, or she might stay on -the golf links all day with her dad, who believed in golf for girls as -well as for boys, and there was only Dudley at Burke’s to share honors -with his sister Cara. - -So now that the day of the party was actually at hand, Cara felt like -“laughing her head off,” as she described her unusual emotions. - -“If it wasn’t that I just made this chance to get acquainted with -Barbara Hale, Moma,” (she always called her mother Moma because it -means soft, in Celtic,) “I would be apt to think myself silly. But -it’s worth while to meet Barbara.” - -“Why is she so difficult and desirable?” asked Mrs. Burke, who might -be Moma or “soft” to her daughter, but as a woman seemed quite the -opposite. She was capable of formality, fine, dignified yet lovely -with just that charm that all mothers should possess. - -“Well,” replied Cara to her question, as she settled a final bunch of -snap-dragons on the long davenport table in the living-room, “to tell -you the truth, Moma, she’s a bit mysterious.” - -“A girl—mysterious; how?” - -“Oh, in a lot of ways. I couldn’t just tell you, darling, but they’re -plenty. Wait until you meet her,” she promised archly. “I’m sure you -will call her perfect; I believe all the grown-ups do. She’s said to -be so sensible.” - -“Not too sensible, I hope,” qualified Mrs. Burke, who liked girls to -be girls and not Minervas. - -“No. My own idea is that the sensible stuff is just a pose to keep the -girls away. She’s not cranky, I know that. I met her at the Community -Club last week,” continued Cara, who was now donning her white sport -coat, preparing for a race in town. “At any rate, Moma, I’m sure it -will do me a lot of good to know her,” she just nipped a make-believe -kiss on her mother’s cheek. “She might inspire me with a little -sense.” - -“Oh, you’re not so bad, my dear,” replied the proud mother, surveying -Cara affectionately. “But I am really anxious to meet the paragon.” - -A half-hour later Cara was being surrounded at the post office; the -girls who were shortly to be her guests formed the circle. She had -just told them that Barbara was coming. - -“How ever did you get her?” demanded Louise. - -“As easy as easy,” teased Cara. “All I did was just give the operator -the number and Barbara answered.” Cara was plainly proud of the -conquest. - -“And she said she’d come? Right off?” asked Esther in uncovered -surprise. - -“Said she would _love_ to, not what you might call exactly ‘right off’ -but after her father had urged her to. He calls her Babs and they seem -to be great chums,” Cara finished, trying to break away from the party -and reach her mail-box. - -“Oh, they are,” agreed Louise. “That’s just what makes her so -different. She’s always chumming with her father. Isn’t that queer?” - -“Not so very,” said Cara dryly. “Dad and I are pretty good chums. But -I’ve got to rush or I won’t be at the front door to greet you when you -arrive,” and she did break away this time. - -“Cara!” called Lida Bent, a new girl in Sea Cosset, “shall we really -bring our suit-cases?” - -“Just as you like,” answered Cara, mischievously stepping back to make -her remarks safe for Lida’s ears only. “If you want to carry your -pajamas on your arm _I_ have no objection. There really isn’t any -obligation to carry suit-cases.” - -“Now Cara,” blushed little Lida who was a dainty blonde and blushed -prettily, “you know I don’t mean that.” - -“Well, Lida, you may bring a steamer trunk if you like,” joked Cara, -“only be sure to come. That’s the big idea,” and Cara Burke, the -heroine of the day with a house party only a few hours off, clutched -her bundle of morning mail as she escaped from her admiring friends. - -Cara was always such a lark, they each and all were sure to be -thinking, and to give this affair simply sealed that opinion. - -Louise, Esther, and Lida sauntered off with their own post office -material, but this today seemed less interesting than usual. - -“I didn’t know whether to fetch my corduroy or silk robe,” said -Louise. “If we go romping around I suppose the silk——” - -“Will be too thin,” Esther finished laughingly. “You’re lucky, Louie, -to have two down with you. Mother just won’t allow any duplicates in -my clothes. She hates baggage so.” - -“A robe?” repeated Lida. “Why, I hadn’t thought of that. Of course we -must fetch robes,” she repeated showing alarm that the idea had almost -escaped her. - -“That’s mostly what a house party is for,” Louise continued. “To show -off our pretty things. Although,” she hurried to atone for the -possible boast, “I don’t pretend to have _pretty_ things, they’re -just—just useful of course,” she ended trying hard to be sensible. - -“There’s Ruth!” exclaimed Esther, as a girl with a big box turned a -corner and walked towards them. “I’ll bet _she’s_ got a new robe. Look -at that box.” - -“’Low girls!” called out Ruth Harrison, a tall girl who walked with a -swinging stride. “I had to go shopping the last minute, and I’m dead. -Whew! It’s hot carrying bundles,” and she took off her hat to prove -it. - -“A new robe? We were just talking about robes,” said Esther. “It’s -hard to know whether we ought to fetch bungalow aprons or—or ulsters. -Cara may have some kind of a midnight parade on, she’s such a joker.” - -“Robe!” repeated Ruth. “Say, I never thought of a robe. This is a new -party dress; Cara told me about the dance only yesterday. But a robe!” -Ruth look dismayed. Her frank, eager face was suddenly changed into a -question mark. What should she do about a new robe? She had one, of -course, but probably not one worthy of Cara’s party. - -“Don’t bother,” suggested Louise, noticing Ruth’s perplexity, “you can -just duck in and out——” - -“Ye-ah! While you all parade. I can see that. But do you mean to tell -me I’ve got to wear my Indian blanket? It’s one I had at camp and I -love it——” - -“Why don’t you? That would be fun,” spoke up Louise, brightly. - -“The very thing and I’ll bring—— But never mind the details,” Ruth -suddenly drew up, getting a better grip on her box. “I’ll be there -with my blanket. I’ve got to rush. I want an ocean bath first.” - -“Isn’t she funny?” remarked Lida, as Ruth dashed off. - -“She’d love a thing forever, even an Indian blanket,” said Louise, -rather complimentary to Ruth. - -“And an ocean bath today! Just as if she couldn’t have that every -day,” murmured Esther as they were again on their way. - -“I hope she didn’t get a rose-colored dress, that’s my color,” went on -Louise. “And if two of us were dressed alike at that small party we’d -look like twins or something,” she finished, tittering happily at the -idea. - -“Ruth is so much, so sort of—a lot,” Esther ventured, “she’s almost -twins herself. But here’s where we part. Be ready at three and we’ll -all go in our big car.” - -“In style,” added Lida. “It’s lovely you have a big car, Esther.” - -“And a good-natured mother,” added Louise. “I suppose she gave up -something, to drive for us this lovely afternoon.” - -“She was glad to give it up,” confessed Esther, “for it’s a meeting on -the summer exhibit. I can’t see why towns always have to do summer -things that keep folks so busy.” - -“Because there are not enough folks to do things in winter,” said -little Lida quietly. “Mother’s on a committee and she thinks it’s -going to be fine.” - -“I guess they’ve got all our mothers on,” grumbled Louise. “But we -always have to have something every summer. Well, good-bye for a -while,” as they reached the little dividing park, “and I’ll be ready, -Esther.” - -“Don’t forget your robe,” called out Esther jokingly, for their robes -had suddenly become an all-important item in the house-party -programme. - - - - - CHAPTER III - - HER FATHER’S DAUGHTER - - -In a house that hid behind friendly old trees cuddled in trumpet vines -and tender, little trailing things, Barbara Hale and her father, Dr. -Winthrop Hale, lived. It was just off the road that stretched into the -newly settled summer place called by the land developers Sea Cosset. A -fanciful name indeed, and its choice had caused much discussion, for -as every one with access to a dictionary soon discovered, cosset means -pet and is usually applied to a little lamb. - -“Sea Lamb,” scoffed the old sailors who brought their nets in from the -ocean at the road’s turn. - -“Why didn’t they call it ‘the kid,’ and be done with it,” Thom Merrill -wanted to know. Thom had sold all his land to the enterprising -development company, and now he had nothing else to do but criticize -their choice of name for the new colony. - -“But you’re all wrong,” declared Mary-Louise Trainor, who was the -“bookiest” woman in the county. “We chose the name because it -literally means that the sea fondles, loves, yes if you like——” she -flung this defiantly into Thom Merrill’s red face—“the sea _pets_ the -land at this pretty little point, and Sea Cosset is a perfectly ideal -name.” - -“Sure is,” agreed Thom, chuckling so audibly that Mary-Louise turned -away in evident disgust at that memorable meeting held three years ago -last spring. Then Sea Cosset was cut away from the surrounding -territory by its fancy name, a number of pretty bungalows, the land -agents’ promise to build more “of any design desired as fast as they -would be applied for,” not to mention all the other well-advertised -improvements of a new summer place as compared with its well-seasoned, -comfortable old town of Landing. - -Strange that all of this would have anything to do with Cara Burke’s -house party. But it had, for Barbara Hale and her beloved “Dads,” the -doctor, were this very day admitting they should have sold their land, -or some of it, to that company that developed Sea Cosset. - -“Then, my dear Babs,” said father, regretfully, “you might have -afforded proper things for your party.” - -“But I don’t need them, really, Dads; I’ve got lots of clothes,” -protested the daughter. “It’s just that these different affairs -require different things.” - -Which explanation meant not a thing, in the way of an explanation, for -it plainly stated that Barbara Hale did not have things ready for a -house party. - -On the floor of her quaintly old-fashioned bedroom, Barbara was now -packing her suit-case. And only the suit-case that lay there -helplessly could have seen or understood the expression on her face, -for the bag had more than once witnessed that same look as Barbara -leaned over, putting things in and taking them out, anxiously. - -“She’s worried but she’s brave,” would have been the verdict could the -leather case have spoken. - -“But she’s plucky and she’ll never never give in to silly little -clothes,” the comb and brush might easily have confided to each other. - -“And you don’t know, Dads, what a perfectly stunning pair of pajamas I -have,” the girl leaning over the bag spoke up finally. “You know, dear -old Mrs. Seaman sent them to me for Christmas; wasn’t that lucky?” - -“It was,” replied the tall, thin man sullenly. “And if it hadn’t been -for dear old Mrs. Seaman,” he was adding irony to every word, “I -suppose you wouldn’t have that perfectly stunning pair of slippers, -either.” More irony, more sarcasm, and teams of bitterness sharpened -Dr. Hale’s words. He was blaming himself, only, and was therefore free -to be as cruel as he wished about it. - -“Dads,” coaxed Barbara, jumping up from her packing and confronting -the ogre, “you’re being mean.” She was standing there before him in -her big white bungalow apron—this was _her_ idea of a practical -bathrobe—and her eyes, always the deepest blue, were now so truly -violet that their shadows were almost purple. - -Certainly Barbara had a remarkable face—every feature matched up so -perfectly—but the two most striking were her pallor, for one of her -type, which she left untinted; and the deep violet of her eyes. She -looked foreign or rather classic, with a firmness about her expression -hardly fair to her youth. Her nose was very straight with that -sculptured curve at her nostrils that made one think of a Greek -statue—or a young colt, depending entirely upon Barbara’s mood. - -Just now she was being the colt, and Dr. Hale, her indulgent father, -was well aware of that mood. - -“We should have sold off some of our land, Babs,” he repeated, coming -back to her door and intoning the words like a verdict for some one -doomed. - -“We should not, Dads,” she contradicted. “Just because I haven’t a few -brand new rags for a silly little party, you stand there bewailing our -misery.” Her words were serious enough but her tone was bantering. -Barbara was determined to cheer up the gloomy man before her. - -“Well, all right,” he conceded, tapping his fingers impatiently on her -door jamb and thereby drawing one’s attention to its shabby paint. -“But I’m glad you’re going. Do you good,” he pronounced, again in that -judicial tone. - -“Maybe,” scoffed Barbara. “But I wouldn’t have gone a single step if -it hadn’t been for that Cara Burke.” Barbara ignored her packing -completely now. “She’s the nicest girl, Dads, really a thoroughbred. I -just couldn’t refuse her.” The inference was plainly that she -preferred to have refused even Cara. - -“And why should you refuse?” demanded Dr. Hale. “Look here, Babs,” he -spoke a little sharply. “Do you know this won’t do? I won’t have folks -talking about you as if I—as if I were depriving you of—of -everything.” - -“Dadykins!” Barbara burst out, and all the pallor of her face was now -dyed with an angry flush. “Who has said that? Whose business is it -what we do or how we live? Just because I _want_ to keep to myself -more than other girls do, they think I’m being deprived of—of what?” -she ended bitterly, and it was easy to see now that she was very much -her father’s daughter. - -“There now, don’t get excited,” placated the doctor. “I’m sure _no_ -one was talking about us, dear. Do hurry your packing,” he urged -anxiously. “Dora has lunch ready and we must not get _her_ wrought -up,” he ended wearily. “Dora’s our stand-by,” he pointed out -emphatically. - -“But it does make me so mad, Dad,” Barbara echoed. “To have folks -always slurring——” - -“But they were _not_, dear.” He raised his voice irritably. “I merely -guessed that they might.” - -Still in her bungalow apron and with her arms bare, Barbara answered -Dora’s call to lunch. She was excited. Not on account of her father’s -words, which really had amounted to nothing unusual, but because she -had to go to that party. And she hadn’t the right things to wear. - -The little meal was not, apparently, being much appreciated, for both -Barbara and her father were entirely preoccupied, as Dora passed from -one to the other the slighted food. - -Suddenly the jangling telephone startled them. - -“I’ll go,” offered Barbara. “Take your tea, Dads.” - -It was Cara Burke calling. - -“Yes, yes,” Barbara answered. “That’s awfully good of you, Cara, but I -am honestly on the point of sending my very late regrets. I really -should not have accepted.” - -“Why Barbara!” almost shrieked Cara at the other end of the wire but -the telephone voice was of course, pouring into Barbara’s ear, “I just -couldn’t have the party without you. You’ve got to come. Don’t mind -about the little dance,” went on distracted Cara. “I shouldn’t have -told you only I thought you would want to know.” - -“I do, Cara. And it’s lovely of you to call me up.” Barbara hesitated. -Cara had just called her to say there would be a little dance and she -might want to fetch something different for it. And that had added to -Barbara’s misery, for what had she different to take? - -Long and ardent pleas and protestations were coming over the wire, for -Cara had counted much upon the presence of Barbara at her party, but -now, at the last moment, the much-desired one was hesitating. - -There was no questioning the sincerity of Cara Burke. Unspoiled by all -her advantages, she was so worth-while a girl that Barbara found it -very difficult indeed to ignore her advances. - -“It’s so good of you,” Barbara repeated. “But you see, I——” she -paused, and instantly Cara filled the gap. - -“You know, my brother Dudley thinks you and your friend Glenn are just -about right,” Cara chuckled, “and he promised to get Glenn to come to -our little dance if _I_ could get you to come to the party.” - -“Really!” laughed Barbara. “Glenn’s an awful stick—I mean he’s what we -call a real stude, student you know,” Barbara explained. “But is he -going?” - -“Dud says he is, and that’s why you really couldn’t disappoint me; now -could you, Barbara?” - -“After all that? It would be ungrateful I know, Cara. But clothes—” - -“I understand perfectly, Babs,” Cara was saying, using the endearing -name with telling effect. “You don’t pay much attention to clothes. -Couldn’t I lend you a little dress? You are just about my size and -I’ve so many useless frocks that mother loves to buy. Wouldn’t you -wear one just out of charity? It would really be a blessing to air the -stuff.” - -What could Barbara say to such an impulsive, generous girl? Well, that -was just what she did say, and when she finally left the phone and -returned to the table, her face had lost its look of perplexity. - -“Well, Dads,” she exclaimed, beaming so merrily that her dark eyes -threatened to ignite, “I guess I’m in for it now. Cara is bound to -play me up, although why she’s so keen I can’t see.” - -“I can,” replied her father grimly. “And look here, Barbara Hale,” he -continued, using her name to emphasize his seriousness, “I’m glad -you’re going. It’s highly important that you should go. It’s all very -well to be a high-brow——” - -“High-brow! Me, a high-brow?” - -“Exactly. What do you think a good student ever becomes if not -intelligent?” - -“But I want to know—just certain things——” - -“Exactly again. That’s just how one becomes a high-brow. If you had -scattered interests, Babs dear, it would be different. But when one -concentrates one achieves.” - -“Daddy, don’t you want me to study?” Barbara’s voice was pleading, her -eyes misty. - -“Yes, daughter, of course I do,” replied the father, himself softening -his tone until it matched Barbara’s. “But this summer I want you to go -out with your friends. In fact, I want you to promise me that you will -set aside everything in the way of study for this summer.” He went -over to where she stood and put his hands upon her shoulders so that -his look completely encompassed her. “You are so like your mother now, -my dear——” - -“And mother loved the same things I do,” quickly defended Barbara, in -turn putting her hands on his shoulders. - -“Yes, but not at your age,” he argued. - -A silence fell between them. The man whose shoulders were straight as -a soldier’s, in spite of his bending over with constant research work, -was now thinking of Barbara’s mother. She was gone. Her devotion to -nursing during the war had cost her her life with the deadly influenza -then ravaging the camps among America’s flower of youth. She had been -a nurse, just as Barbara was now determined to be, and the research -work in bacteriology, which was Dr. Hale’s chosen field, had been as -fascinating to her as it now threatened to become to Barbara. - -“Do you mean, Dads, that we shouldn’t do any more experiments this -summer?” his daughter asked gently. - -“I do, dear. This must be your play season. I’ve got plenty to do -single-handed. I’ll miss your help, of course——” he hurried to -interject, “but you must promise me, right this minute, to fall in -line with the girls and boys——” - -“And fall out of line—with you!” Barbara’s arms went quickly about his -neck and so the promise was given. - -“And this is splendid, this affair today,” her father continued, when -he recovered his composure. “I only wish you had a lot of pretty -things——” - -“I have, slathers of them,” she fibbed bravely. But no mention was -made of Cara’s offer of the extra party dress. - -Nor did she bother to tell her dad that Glenn Gaynor was expected to -be at the party. Glenn was the attractive youth who figured so -prominently in Barbara’s appearance on the beach, when Cara and her -girl friends stood at a safe distance, thrilled in admiration. - -One hour more—and then she must be at Billows. - - - - - CHAPTER IV - - ON HER WAY - - -“Just for a lark,” Barbara told herself, “I’ll take the old cap and -gown. We are sure to dress up after we undress, and I really haven’t a -decent robe.” - -A robe! If she only could have known how this particular item had -bothered the other girls, especially Ruth Harrison. The cap and gown -which Barbara had decided to take, “just for a lark,” were sent her -last winter by Marjorie Ellis who achieved them in a brief stay at -college and wanted to forget she had ever heard the word. Marjorie -hated college now, she had been so homesick while away in Connecticut, -that she absolutely refused to return at mid-years, and because she -knew Barbara would love even to play at being a collegian, Marjorie -sent her the mortar-board hat and the big black cape, they poetically -call a gown. - -Often had Barbara dressed up in the college clothes, especially at -night when she would parade around in the enfolding comfort of that -soft, black robe. It was this habit, no doubt, that gave her the idea -of fetching the costume to Cara’s party. This and the necessity of -having something to throw on over her pajamas—how lucky that she had -the pajamas! - -Packed at last and her misgivings quieted, Barbara ventured a look at -herself in the old-fashioned mirror that hung between her room and the -sitting-room. - -“I guess I’ll do,” she told the reflection. It showed a tall, finely -formed girl, with a head held high—Barbara’s head couldn’t get enough -of sky gazing—and wearing a sport suit that Dora, the maid of all -work, had helped her make. - -“Good material and not a bad fit,” the girl secretly commented, for -the natty little jacket was made of bright green flannel, and the -skirt of white flannel had a matching stripe of green. Her blouse was -white, bought ready made, and a little white felt hat had been picked -up at Asbury Park; not picked up on the beach, however, but at a -bargain counter very late last fall. So that the costume was quite -complete and decidedly effective. - -Of course Barbara’s hair was bobbed, and because of a little ripple -that huddled around her ears the bronzed, glossy tresses framed her -face in a most attractive way. Barbara seemed dark and her blue eyes -were often taken for brown. Her brown hair might be called brunette, -if one didn’t see the bronze tones that came in certain lights. - -And she wore her clothes well. That was why her own amateur efforts, -supplemented by the not unwilling but always protesting Dora, usually -turned out well. So she had no fear for the effect of her sport dress -upon her arrival at Cara’s party; it was the robe and the party dress -and other accessories that bothered her somewhat. - -“Cara’s car is coming out this way, Dads,” she told her father as she -picked up her bag, “so they’re going to stop for me.” - -“That’s fine,” her father replied. “Cara’s a nice girl——” - -“There’s a knock; I’ll answer,” Barbara interrupted, hurrying to the -side door. “Oh, it’s Nicky and his sister Vicky,” she presently -explained, for she could see the two Italian children through the -glass door; Nickolas and Victoria. - -“Don’t bother with them,” her father ordered irritably. “I wish those -children would stop coming around here.” - -“They’ve got some eggs to sell——” - -“We don’t need any eggs——” - -“Oh, Dads, the poor youngsters have only three eggs to sell and we’ve -got to buy them from them,” insisted Barbara, opening her purse with -its precious party money in it to give Nicky twenty cents in return -for three eggs “just laid.” - -“And how’s granny?” Barbara asked the black-eyed children. - -“Fine,” said Nicky. - -“She ain’t either, she’s sick,” declared Vicky. - -“Well, run along,” ordered the smiling Barbara, “I’m going out——” - -“Say,” Nicky squeezed in, “do you want an ole candlestick? I’ve got -one fer half a dollar.” - -“No, I guess not.” Barbara was becoming impatient. “Run along; here’s -my car,” for the toot from Cara’s car was sounding along the drive. - -“It’s a swell candlestick,” Nicky argued. “I could get a dollar fer it -in Asbury.” - -“Better go in there and sell it then,” almost thundered Dr. Hale, if -ever he did speak in a thunderous tone, which he didn’t, quite, “and -don’t fetch any more eggs here——” - -“Dads!” pleaded Barbara. “Let them come. Poor little things——” - -But Nicky and Vicky were off, scampering as if Dr. Hale had threatened -them with a shot-gun. - -“Good-bye, Dads,” called back Barbara. “Be sure to phone me——” - -“I shall—not,” replied her father, sending the first two words after -Barbara, and blowing the last one against the hall mantel. He would -not phone Barbara, not unless there was very urgent need to do so, and -there appeared to be no prospect of the latter contingency, just then. - -Dora came forth from the pantry, two eggs in one hand and one in the -other. Her long face was longer than usual, and her faded eyes seemed -about to lose their jell and melt into a little puddle of colorless -mucilage. - -“There’s the eggs,” she intoned, as if any one could have mistaken -them for tomatoes. - -“Yes,” echoed Dr. Hale, “I see. But I wish those youngsters would -peddle eggs some place else. They’re a nuisance.” - -“Sure are,” agreed Dora, “and I don’t think Barbara ought to have them -trap’sin’ around here at all.” - -Dr. Hale eyed Dora sharply. It was surprising how much audacity a few -months’ overdue wages could incite. But he had no idea of telling this -to Dora. - -“Yes, sir,” she went on, putting one of the twin eggs in the hand with -the singleton, “they’re a thieving gang, them Eytalians.” - -“But those children aren’t thieves, Dora,” the doctor found courage to -say, “and their folks are poor but deserving, I understand.” - -“You understand _that_ from Barbara,” Dora retorted adding “sir” when -she realized how impertinent the answer really was. “She’s too good -hearted. I’ve told her time and again, and there was a report that -them Eytalians put a bomb in the hotel——” - -“Tut—tut!” checked up the doctor, smiling in a way, but not in a -cheerful way. “That old hotel burned itself down when it swallowed a -big spark from the trains it must have been very weary listening to. -The old Mansion House wasn’t bombed by any one, Italian nor others. It -just got tired standing there useless and deserted. It was once a -merry place, Dora. Many a happy time I had at the Mansion House—before -I got to studying bugs, you know,” he explained, moving off towards -his study. - -Dora too moved off, she towards the kitchen. - -“Well,” she called as she went, “what I’m saying is that Barbara is -too fond of trashy folks. And now that she’s going out in society she -ought to know better!” - -If Barbara could only have heard that. - -“Going out in society!” - -And her reputation endangered by taking up with trashy folks, -especially Nicky and Vicky who sold junk candlesticks and new-laid -eggs! - -In his study Dr. Hale did not at once turn to the unfinished -experiment that lay in the tubes before him. He was thinking that Dora -was right, in spite of her brusque way of stating the case. There had -been very unpleasant rumors current all over Sea Cosset upon more than -one occasion, when suspicious fires brought out the volunteer fireman -and when daring thefts called for action from the limited police -force. - -The “Eytalians”, as Dora and others called all the foreigners who were -huddled in a few old barracks over by the tracks, were not only -suspected but openly blamed, and the Marcusi family, to which Nickolas -and Victoria belonged, were doubly charged with the crimes, because -their father was known to be in prison. He had belonged to a gang, it -was said, and he couldn’t get away because he was almost a cripple. -For years he had tended the railroad gates, and one day he dashed -under the gates to let a horse out before the train hit him. That was -what happened to Nick’s father’s leg. - -But at his shanty alongside the track some men plotted one night, and -whether he was to blame or not, when the midnight train jumped the -track because it couldn’t escape the ties that had been piled up to -derail it, Nickolas Marcusi was found guilty of aiding the plotters. -He had protested his innocence, of course, but to have the railroad’s -property damaged and many lives endangered by a plot actually planned -on the railroad itself, seemed too daring to countenance. So Nick -Marcusi went to prison and was still there when little Nick and his -smaller sister sold Barbara Hale three fresh eggs for her father’s -dinner. - -Dr. Hale was pondering all of this now. He had been sorry for the -one-legged gateman; had even tried to intervene for him at court, but -people about the sea-coast town were bitter. They despised foreigners, -although none of their own class would have tended a railroad gate and -risked a life to save a fractious horse. - -It was this daring deed that had so enthused Barbara, and she was -determined never to turn from her door little Nicky and Vicky—not for -Dora nor for a dozen like her! She would buy every egg they brought; -she couldn’t often buy the junk the children uncovered at the dump, -but she had given them fifty cents once for an old pewter mug. - -“Heigh-o!” sighed Dr. Hale, turning finally to his test tubes. “It’s a -hard road for the poor to travel, but harder still for the more -unfortunate.” - -He was seeing little Victoria’s face “all eyes” as he spoke harshly -about the eggs. He was remembering little Nicky’s flying feet as the -children scurried off, and he was not blaming Barbara for her interest -in the picturesque youngsters. - -“There’s something fascinating about the genuine,” the doctor pursued -secretly, “and even a genuine ragamuffin has charm.” - -The clock in the lower hall chimed four. Barbara would be at the party -now, and he was so glad she had gone. Twice Dora had called up the -back stairs to ask if he wanted dinner earlier as Barbara would not be -home, once she had asked if he would like the eggs “cuddled”, she -meant coddled, of course, and he said he would. And he even conceded a -half-hour in favor of Dora’s earlier meal so that she could go to the -beach to see the fish boats come in. - -Also, there had been two telephone calls to jerk him out of his -reverie, and already he was missing Barbara. - -And now the door-bell! - -“Might as well put work aside for today!” the doctor told himself, for -while Dora was preparing a meal she never deigned to answer the door. - -“Hey there!” came a shout through the hall. “May I come up?” - -“Yes, come along. Glad you are nobody else,” called back Doctor Hale, -while Glenn Gaynor was already dashing up the stairs. - -“Barbara gone?” he asked sharply, as if hoping she wasn’t and knowing -she was. - -“Yes, went long ago,” answered the doctor. “You’re going to the dance, -I hear.” - -“Oh, I don’t know.” The boy, who was so big and good-looking that he -might well have been called a young man, tossed his cap down -impatiently, and folded his brown arms to keep them out of mischief. -“I hate these affairs——” - -“Now, see here, Glenn,” said the doctor, in that unmistakable voice -that starts a lecture, “all work and no play, you know——” - -“Yes sir, I know,” Glenn cut in. “But when a fellow starts they run -him to death, and I just can’t see these house parties.” - -“Why go then?” complacently asked the older man. - -“Promised Babs, promised Dud and promised his sister, Cara,” admitted -the complaining youth. “A silly little party, with giggling girls just -out of grammar school——” - -“Oh, really now, Glenn,” laughed Dr. Hale, “they’re better than that. -They are, I believe high school sophs. And besides—look who is giving -this party!” - -“Oh, yes _I_ know,” Glenn almost sneered, “the rich de Burkes,” this -was a pure mockery, “at Billows, seaside residence of—oh, darn!” he -broke off suddenly. “I came over to buy Babs off. I’ve got tickets for -the Music Festival tomorrow night and—I’m due at a—dance!” - -Glenn’s discomfiture was so boyish it was positively laughable, and -Dr. Hale was enjoying it. - -“Look out, boy,” he warned. “That’s just the way a colt acts when he -sees a lasso!” - -“Lasso! What do you mean, sir?” - -“That you may have a better time at the dance than you anticipate,” -replied Dr. Hale slowly but not solemnly. - - - - - CHAPTER V - - BILLOWS THE BEAUTIFUL - - -Imagine trees, so many beautiful trees that they made canopies, -tunnels and softest green shelters fit for fairies, for elves and for -lovely little children. Outside and beyond this grove, imagine a -carpet so green that the sky threw shadows upon it in futile jealousy, -gardens so gorgeous that butterflies fluttered over the blooms, -bewildered and confused in their temptations and then—just beyond and -yet within all of this, think of a House Beautiful! - -That was Billows, the summer home of Cara Burke. - -A great iron fence raised its palings outside the farthermost borders -of the estate. But only the ocean and the ocean drive were thus -separated, for acres and acres were shut in behind the iron fence, and -one couldn’t find the gates unless one knew where to look for them. -Greenery everywhere. - -Yes, they were very rich, the Burkes, but no one could call them -“stuck up,” not even the most jealous, or most narrow-minded person at -Sea Cosset, who was generally supposed to be old Sarah Jenkins, who -sold peppermints and never stopped talking. - -And here at the Billows, Cara Burke was holding her first house party, -while among those present was Barbara Hale. - -“Cara, you should be dressed and down here now,” her mother warned -from the alcove near the stairs. “The girls are coming——” - -“You do the honors, Moma,” called back Cara, in a voice quite -pardonable if she was a little distance off. “That’s just Louise and -Esther——” - -No pompous butler barred the way, for the massive doors were open wide -and the laughter of young girls was echoing clear up to Cara’s -dressing-room, while Sniffy, the black poodle, bumped himself down the -stairs to find out what it was all about. - -“Come right along, girls,” Mrs. Burke welcomed the first arrivals, -Esther, Louise, and Lida. “Cara will be down directly.” - -The girls hesitated, overwhelmed by the beauty of the flowers and soft -lights. They were already familiar with the house and its luxurious -furnishings, but the urns and vases filled with blooms beneath the -silken floor lamps made the rooms look like a scene from some gorgeous -theatrical set. - -“I waited for Ruth,” Esther was saying, “but she didn’t come over. -Then we drove over there and she was gone, in a taxi, her mother -said.” - -“Here she is now!” proclaimed Louise, for the rollicking Ruth was -tripping up the stone steps, suit-case dangling by her. - -“’Low girls!” she called out. “I missed you! But I got the worth of my -money from old Taxi-Dermot,” she declared, “I made him drive me down -along the ocean, and then—so that every one might see me, I directed -him to drive past the tennis court——” - -“Here’s Cara,” interrupted Louise. “Ruth, you didn’t shake hands with -Mrs. Burke,” she whispered to the obstreperous Ruth, although Mrs. -Burke had by now disappeared, leaving the scene to Cara and Sniffy. - -Greetings and exclamations peculiar to girls who are only growing up -and think they have already grown up, were being perfunctorily -exchanged, when Cara’s car, almost noiselessly, rolled up the drive, -and then a shadow appeared in the doorway. This time it was the -Burke’s chauffeur, Dixon, and the suit-case he primly placed in the -hall, over near the carved wooden settee, was none other than Barbara -Hale’s. - -“Oh, here’s Barbara!” exclaimed Cara, happily, rushing forward to -greet the latest and last arrival, Barbara, in her green and white -sport suit with the close-fitting white felt hat. - -Cara gushed and gurgled, saying every pleasant thing she could think -of and all but kissing Barbara, but it seemed as if all the joy was -between those two. The other girls had fallen back a little, into a -group of their own, and just then Barbara wondered if she were going -to be treated as an interloper, an outsider. - -Were they not glad to meet her? - -“Girls!” called out Cara, “you all know Barbara, don’t you? We met her -at the committee meeting, you know,” she pointed out breathlessly. -“Barbara, this is Louise, and Lida, and you must know Ruth? Ruth -Harrison——” - -“Oh yes, I know Ruth,” interrupted the embarrassed Barbara, for she -was feeling the same old catch in her breath which she always -experienced when meeting a lot of strange girls. - -But presently the ice was broken and the waters of sociability oozed -along, if a little halting, when Esther blocked their way with her -little snowball about Barbara being “a stranger in Sea Cosset, if she -did live only just across the line.” - -Of course Esther had to say that. “Just across the line”, as if a few -scrub pines and a couple of wild fields could really make any -difference in climate or territory. But one place was ordinary, -Landing, the other exclusive, Sea Cosset. - -Were they going to snub her? Cara’s profuse welcome seemed to Barbara -a little strained, as if Cara were trying to cover up something. Only -Ruth Harrison attempted to put Barbara at her ease and she undertook -to criticize clothes. - -“Now, that’s what I call a nifty little costume,” spoke out Ruth -without an attempt at politeness. “Wherever did you get a rig like -that, Barbara?” - -Wherever did she get it? Barbara winced a little, then burst out -laughing. - -“No use trying to put on airs,” she declared gaily. “This is home-made -and the cook helped me out.” - -After that they all “joined in the chorus.” Every one told about where -her clothes were bought, (if not actually quoting the prices) and -there was more joy over a bargain—it was Ruth’s sport stockings -two-ninety-eight, regular four dollars—than over the wonderful lace -tracery on the side of Louise’s really lovely tub-silk dress. - -Clothes! And Barbara would barely trust herself to utter the tricky -little word! - -“But are we all here?” Cara presently asked, for they were still -hanging around the door, as if the arrival had not been completed. - -Ruth counted six and that was all expected. - -“Then let’s get the bags put away and go outside,” proposed Cara. -“Since you haven’t been travelling——” - -“But we have!” joked Ruth. “Didn’t I make the Taxi-Dermot drive me all -over the world in his rattle-box?” - -“Then perhaps _you_ want to change,” suggested Cara in the same joking -manner. “You must be worn out, Ruthie dear,” she mocked. “I’ll have my -maid help you into a warm baa-th——” - -“You will not! I’ve been in the ocean and if I don’t walk straight -I’ll spoil something, for my ears are leaking the briny,” chuckled -Ruth, merrily. - -Barbara was merely looking on and listening. She felt out of place, -even awkward, but she knew how to affect poise even if she didn’t feel -it. Yes, she had needed the companionship of girls; there was no -denying that, she was secretly willing to admit. - -Up the stairs they raced, suit-cases banging along with them, while -Sniffy, the poodle, turned up his little black nose and went the other -way. The Burkes might not have been of the class picturesquely called -“high-hat” which is the newer word for high-toned, but Sniffy was -worse than that. He was snobby. _He_ hadn’t any use for giggling girls -and he gruntily resented their invasion of the beautiful Billows. - -“I was going to have a drawing for room-mates,” Cara told the girls -who were now all gathered in her gold and green room. “But honestly, -girls, I just——” - -“Oh, we know you want Barbara——” - -“Babs,” corrected Cara. “We’re going to call you Babs, aren’t we?” she -asked the girl who was lost in admiration of a marine scene that hung -between the two latticed windows. - -“Let’s get out while it’s so lovely——” suggested Esther, and in that -little suggestion one might have noticed that Esther was adroitly -managing to divert attention from Babs. For which Babs was thankful, -although Esther could not possibly have known that. - -Suit-cases unpacked and room-mates assigned, presently they were -racing off to the tennis court although apparently no one was going to -play. - -“Too hot,” was the verdict on that suggestion, but it was more likely -too much trouble; and besides, Esther and Louise at least were not -dressed for tennis. - -It was all very unreal to Barbara. These beautiful grounds, the gaily -dressed girls, so care-free, so frivolous and more than anything else, -so girlish. It must be fine to feel free from anxiety. There were -Dora’s wages due, and Dr. Hale’s bills not coming in promptly, there -were the cultures for experiments to be paid for and they were so -expensive. And now, if her father was determined to shut her help out, -that would mean also the loss of Glenn Gaynor’s assistance, for he -worked with Barbara, enjoying the experiments and calling them fun -when they worked them out together. He would hardly enjoy Dr. Hale’s -professional methods; what boy, working alone, would? - -Words are halting and inadequate to express the mental flashes that -pictured all this in Barbara’s mind, for it came as clearly and as -quickly as the penetrating gleams of the late afternoon sunshine, as -they shot through indifferent clouds. Not even the insistence of the -girls’ laughter nor Cara’s challenge to knocking up balls, could -disguise the reality of the worries she had tried and failed to leave -behind her at home. - -And clothes! Clothes! How they mocked her now! She who could sally -forth triumphantly in a skirt, unhemmed (frayed out for effect!); in a -sweater that Dora made for the church fair and it didn’t sell, in a -hat—no, without a hat. Around home and in her unhampered outdoor life -all of this and even worse was all right, rather individual and by no -means a hardship. But now, here with these daintily dressed girls, of -whom even the careless Ruth Harrison admitted paying two dollars and a -half for sport stockings, here Barbara fully realized her shabbiness. - -They were seated on the low, white Roman benches, and Cara, who was -wearing a simple but lovely white flannel, had just jumped up to bat a -few balls over or under the net. Glad of a chance to relieve her -misgivings with some positive action, Barbara quickly followed, and -these two girls were again apart from the others, rather -unintentionally. - -“I told you,” remarked Esther to Louise. - -“What?” demanded Louise. - -“What? Why that,” pointing to the flying figures at the tennis net. - -“Well, what of it? Cara asked _us_ to play, didn’t she?” Louise was -not going to let a small thing like Cara’s open preference for Barbara -spoil her good time. - -“Isn’t she wonderfully athletic?” pointed out Lida. She meant Barbara -and she meant the remark to be a compliment. - -“Oh, yes.” Esther’s eyebrows went up quizzically. - -“Whew!” whistled Ruth Harrison. “Look at that jump! And _we_ sit here -like bumps on logs. Say girls, if we’re not going to ‘bust’ our new -clothes doing that, we had better find something else to do. As a -grandstand this bench isn’t big enough,” and she tried to push Louise -off at the other end. - -It was presently agreed that the non-players should go down to the -lake. The lake was accessible from one end of the grounds, and when -Ruth called out the glad news to Cara, she, Cara, insisted upon going -too. - -That her other guests were missing her while she batted balls with -Barbara, Cara easily guessed, but as they planned a boat ride Barbara -hesitated. - -“I just love this exercise and really need it,” she demurred. “Let me -play around here and you go along for your sail,” she entreated Cara. - -“And leave you all alone?” sang out little Lida. - -“All by my loney,” laughed Barbara. “Don’t worry about me, I’m all -right,” and she continued to bat balls against the high wire net that -served to keep them within bounds. - -[Illustration: “OH!” GASPED BARBARA. “IT’S NICKY! AND HE’S HURT!”] - -Cara hesitated. “I am determined to let every girl do just as she -pleases,” she remarked. “But I hate to leave you alone, Babs.” - -“Please do,” begged Barbara. “I’m having a wonderful time,” and she -sprang for a ball that tried to escape her racket, while Ruth again -shouted merrily in applause. - -Cara, Lida, Ruth, Louise and Esther, comprising the entire house party -with Barbara excepted, started off along the winding path to the lake. -Unconsciously Barbara sighed. It was good to be left alone. - - - - - CHAPTER VI - - THE ACCIDENT - - -She should not have come. Somehow she didn’t seem to belong. For a -single second Barbara considered flight. A glance towards the freedom -of the road made the girl feel like a prisoner within those fairy-like -grounds. - -Then: “How silly!” her better judgment prompted, “when you know Cara -wants you and the other girls—well, who could blame them for thinking -one different when one felt different, acted differently, and was -different?” - -“Dad and Dora are just about now talking of the fun I’m having,” she -reflected, as a cynical little titter rippled over her lips. But -presently the racket again swung into action, and from the lake beyond -the grove floated back gales of laughter. Those girls knew how to have -a good time. _They_ knew how to play. - -“Born that way, I suppose,” Barbara continued to reason, “while I was -born with a genius for a father and an angel for a mother. No wonder -I’m different,” she decided, her sense of humor at least being all of -its kind that any girl could wish for. - -That so-called saving, sense of humor! Well, if it didn’t actually -save one it helped a lot. Barbara Hale was perfectly willing to admit -that fact at this very moment. - -Bing! Biff! Bat! How the balls flew! And how her muscular young arm -served that delicately strung racket, as finely adjusted as a precious -violin and probably as well beloved by its proud possessor. - -But the racket didn’t belong to Barbara. Cara had snatched it up from -a bench and handed it to her when they entered the court. Now, Barbara -paused to note the burnt-in letters the racket was marked with; Dudley -Burke. Yes, it belonged to Cara’s brother, Dud, and he had a local -reputation as a crack tennis player. Naturally interested in sports, -she was also interested in its advocates, and as if her thoughts had -gone by wireless, at this instant a boy’s whistle sounded through the -shrubbery. - -Barbara started guiltily. Why? All alone in the strange grounds, a -stranger—what would the girls say if they should come along? Perhaps -that she had stayed behind them just for this chance. But she had not, -of course. The wish to be alone had prompted her, only that. But now, -here was Dudley Burke. She knew it before she saw him, and being -essentially honest she admitted, secretly, that she was glad he had -come! - -“Hello!” came a cheery greeting from between the mulberry trees. -“Where’s Cara?” - -“Gone to the lake,” Barbara replied easily, for the boy was not -exactly a stranger to her. She had met him with Glenn at the hotel -tennis match. - -“Practicing?” - -“With your racket——” - -“Oh, help yourself. Plenty of them spoiling around here. Feel like a -little game?” - -Barbara’s face was being transformed from that brooding serious -picture of a few moments ago, to the image of a pretty girl, blushing -happily and responding naturally to the comradeship offered her. - -What if she did prefer boys to girls? Or if she thought she did? -Wasn’t Glenn the best playmate a girl ever had? So generously -understanding and so free from petty criticism, was Glenn. - -“I’m afraid I shouldn’t be on the court in these shoes,” she answered -Dudley, while she thought of so many other things. “They have heels——” - -“Never mind the heels,” he interrupted. “This will be rolled tomorrow, -besides those are little heels,” he finished, not knowing that the -better word might have been “low” for heels. - -Dudley was like Cara, good-looking in a very general way and with that -same easy gracefulness that made Cara so attractive. But his hair! -Red! The very reddest-red, bleached a little now by the summer sun, -but red for all that. He should have had blue eyes, but Barbara wasn’t -wondering about the color of his eyes—although Cara always called them -green—she wasn’t wondering about anything, as a matter of fact, she -was just deciding. - -Queer, how easy it was for her to fall into comradeship with a boy. -Dudley Burke wasn’t guessing at the price of her shoes, or her -stockings or wondering where she got “that rig.” But he was curious to -know how she sprinted like any fellow would, and how she put up such a -good game of tennis, anyway. - -Tennis surely is the game for boys and girls, and these two were -throwing so much energy and enthusiasm into it they could not help -getting proportionate enjoyment from it. Time passed quickly, too -quickly for both of them. Then, suddenly Barbara remembered she had -promised to follow the girls to the lake. - -“I’m afraid I’ll have to stop,” she said reluctantly, panting a -little. “This is lots of fun, but I promised to meet the girls——” - -“Oh, yes,” drawled the boy, shaking his head in mockery. “This here -house party, of course——” He did a few tricks with his racket then -sprang around to get Barbara’s jacket which she had left on the bench. - -“Oh, let me show you something,” he exclaimed, as he reached for his -own coat. “Mother’s ‘nuts’ on old junk, and look what I just bought!” -He was holding up an old candlestick. - -“Why,” faltered Barbara, “isn’t that—wherever did you get that?” she -asked quickly altering the original form of her question. - -“Couple of kids. It’s brass.” He was rubbing the tarnished metal with -his handkerchief. “Two funny little Dagoes waylaid me down the road. -Suppose they snibbied it——” - -“Nicky and Vicky wouldn’t steal anything.” - -“Nicky and Vicky! Do you know the youngsters?” - -“They sell fresh eggs,” Barbara hastily explained, instantly -regretting her thoughtless defense of the two little Italians. But for -some reason, which she could not have named, she felt that the -children needed defending. - -Dudley was toying with the queer old candlestick. - -“Well, this isn’t so bad, and Mother has what Sis calls a junk -complex. Funny how those kids pick up things.” - -“They really search in the dumps, you know,” Barbara interrupted. She -was just seeing Nicky and Vicky searching in the dump and how they -must have rejoiced when they had discovered the candlestick. - -“Yes.” Dudley hesitated, then added: “I gave them a whole ‘buck’ for -this, but they only asked a half-dollar. They looked as if they needed -a lot more.” He tossed his head to one side boyishly as he said that. - -“They do.” Barbara replied quickly. “Their father is—in prison, you -know. He used to be gate-keeper at the tracks over at Stonybend, and -he got in some trouble, which lots of people think he had nothing to -do with. Dad says it’s an outrage for the state to take a man from his -family and leave a poor woman to support them.” Her voice was seething -with indignation, as any reference to that story always made her -angry. - -“So it is. The poor kids! No wonder they have to dig in the dumps. I -wish I’d given them more money——” - -A sudden shrill of voices checked Dudley’s remarks. Along the winding -path a flutter of light dresses broke through the greenery. There -seemed to be some excitement. - -“Here come the girls and—what’s the matter?” Barbara exclaimed, for -the girls were coming back and some one with them was crying! - -“Some youngster——” Dudley barely said before he was hurrying to meet -Cara and her companions. - -“Oh!” gasped Barbara. “It’s Nicky! And he’s hurt!” - -Between Cara and Ruth, Nicky was being led along, splotches of ugly -red staining a bandage that had been wound around the little fellow’s -wrist. He was not crying, but his sister Vicky was. She was in the -charge of Louise and Esther, who vainly tried to assure the frightened -child that her brother would be all right, and that she shouldn’t cry -so. - -“What happened?” Dudley asked as quickly as his question could be -heard, for every one seemed to be talking at once. - -“He fell into the lake and cut his arm on some glass,” Cara replied. -“I’m glad you’re here, Dud——” - -“Oh, it ain’t nauthin’” protested the boy bravely. “I often get cut——” - -“But not like this,” Cara insisted. “He had better have it dressed. We -were just coming in when we saw him——” - -“I’d be home now——” - -“A good thing you didn’t go home, Nicky,” Barbara told him -authoritatively. “You might scare your granny to death with all that -blood.” - -“Oh, she isn’t scary.” The boy was wincing with pain, and the pallor -of suffering made his dark eyes look strangely old and unreal in his -small sharp face. - -Dudley sort of brushed the girls aside and now had his arm around -Nicky. - -“We’ll see a doctor, kid,” he said kindly. “Then there’ll be no -come-back——” - -“I don’t want no doctor,” the boy exclaimed excitedly. - -“He won’t hurt you,” assured Dudley trying to inspire courage. - -“’T’aint the hurt. I’m not afraid, but——” - -Barbara guessed why the boy feared any one who might seem to be an -official; even a doctor had some authority, and she quickly understood -Nicky’s fear. His father had been taken away by officials, and he had -not been allowed to come back. How could the child be expected to -forget that dreadful scene that had left them worse off than if they -had been orphans? - -“I’ll tell you,” Barbara exclaimed, “we’ll go see my dad. You know -him, Nicky, and he’s a good doctor——” - -“But Dr. Landes is just at the corner,” Louise tried to suggest. “Why -not go to him?” - -“It won’t take but a few minutes to run over to Dr. Hale’s,” Dudley -decided. “And my car is in the drive. What about Little Sister?” He -referred to Vicky who by now had ceased her wailing. - -“I’m going to give Little Sister some ice-cream,” Cara announced -brightly. “Won’t that be nice?” - -Vicky seemed to think it would be, so she allowed herself to be led -towards the house, while Dudley and Barbara took the wounded boy to -the auto. - -“Sure I’m not goin’ to no strange doctor?” the child questioned before -he would set foot into the pretty little sport car with the “rumble -seat” in the back. Barbara was to occupy that place, while Dudley and -Nickolas rode in front. - -“We’re going to my house,” Barbara answered him frankly. “You don’t -think I’d fool you?” - -“No; I guess not, you wouldn’t. But this don’t hurt much. Who’s going -to brung Vicky home?” - -“She’ll get a car ride too,” replied Dudley, supposing that would be -cheering news. - -“But no strangers don’t dast fetch her home!” cried the boy quivering -with excitement. - -“Why?” asked Dudley. - -“Can’t no strangers go to our house,” the boy protested. His -excitement was alarming, for the bandage around his hand was now -dripping blood. - -“Oh, look!” cried Barbara, “how your hand bleeds! You must keep quiet. -Here, take this——” - -“Wait a minute: I have some cheesecloth in the back of the car,” said -Dudley, pulling into the curb so that he might stop the car. When he -stepped out to get the cheesecloth from under the rumble seat, he -whispered to Barbara: - -“Seems to have something to hide at his house.” - -“Oh, that’s because of the trouble—his father you know,” she also -whispered. The cheesecloth had already been cut in convenient duster -sizes so that it was no trouble to wind a few of the spotless pieces -around Nicky’s wounded hand. - -Settled once more, upon Barbara’s assurance that they would go -straight back to Billows and get Vicky just as soon as the cut was -dressed, again Dudley turned his car towards the homestead and office -of Dr. Hale. - - - - - CHAPTER VII - - NICKY AND VICKY - - -Nicky wasn’t a bit afraid of Dr. Hale. He scarcely flinched as the -deep cut was washed and dressed, Barbara acting as nurse and Dora -acting foolishly. - -She couldn’t see why Barbara had to bother with those “young uns,” and -she didn’t see, anyhow, why Barbara had to leave the party “on account -of a boy’s cut hand.” - -Because Dudley was present, although he was too well-bred to show his -amusement, for Dora did “take on” as no maid would be expected to do, -out of her place and all that, yet Barbara could not safely ask her to -desist. Such rashness, Barbara feared, might precipitate something -worse, as Dora was always “free with her tongue.” - -Quiet and dignified, Dr. Hale took care of his little patient and what -Dora lacked in giving the home the stamp of order, surely he, -personally, supplied with his courtliness. - -Dudley was keenly interested in the laboratory equipment, as Barbara -told him to look things over while he waited, and he expressed the -wish of coming in with Glenn some day, to see how things worked. - -Finally the wound was all fixed up, and Dr. Hale asked Nicky how it -felt. - -“Fine,” he replied, smiling now in evident relief. - -“How did you do it?” Barbara asked. - -“Duckin’,” replied Nicky. - -“What for?” Dudley wanted to know. - -“Fer the half-dollar you gim-me.” - -“Oh, you lost your candlestick money?” Barbara exclaimed. - -“Yes; Vicky wanted to see the picture on it and she dropped it in. I -got to be goin’.” Nicky was again getting anxious about the little -sister. - -“Yes, we’re going,” Dudley told him, meanwhile saying good-bye to Dr. -Hale. But Barbara had suddenly disappeared. - -She had dashed up to her own room, and was standing with her back to -the door, as if that would shut out everything else. - -“I don’t want to go back,” she sighed. “I hate girls’ parties and——” -She never gave in to such emotion, she wouldn’t cry about anything so -unimportant and yet—her eyes were brimming! - -“Clothes, clothes!” she fairly bit at the words. “All girls care for -is clothes.” And this was a frank confession that she too cared a lot -about clothes, else why was she being so upset over them? - -“And they’ll probably say I just wanted to run off this way in -Dudley’s car.” Another unpleasant thought, but there might have been a -good reason behind it, for Louise and Esther had both called after -her. They had been joking of course, and while their words were -something about not “running away or going on too long a ride,” it -would have been stupid not to understand just what they meant. They -were teasing her about playing tennis, first, and going car riding, -second, with Dudley. - -“I’ll just show them how much I care about their old party,” Barbara -pouted, sliding down into her comfortable arm chair. “Poverty suits -me—when it’s my own.” - -Her eyes reluctantly swept the room with its uncompromising -shabbiness. Perhaps within her eyes the picture of those other rooms, -Cara’s, refused to be obliterated; at any rate, her things had never -before looked so ugly, so old, so faded, and so—so hateful. They -almost made her shiver. That dresser with brass handles, when they -might easily have been changed for glass. And a mantelpiece! As if a -mantel were of any possible beauty or use! - -“Barbara! Babs!” - -Her father calling. “Dear Dads!” This was not a sigh of self-pity. “It -isn’t his fault. I wonder why brains, real brains are sold so cheap? -Yes, Dad,” she answered, patting her face with the powder puff, “I’m -coming.” She was on her feet again and going back to the party. Of -course she would _have_ to go. Nicky’s accident had seemed like a -temporary release, but she must go back to Cara’s. - -Nicky! - -Why was he fearful of Dudley Burke or any stranger going to his place? -Yes, he must have something to hide. - -“And I’ll just see that he hides it,” Barbara determined bitterly, as -if Nicky’s troubles were so like her own, and as if he too had a right -to protect himself from strangers’ interference. - -But what was he hiding? She wondered, as she tried to cover up the -signs of her rebellion, tried to recapture the expression of happiness -which she had shed when she slammed the door of her room. - -Well, she would go, but she was going to hate everything. Cara was -lovely and not really a “goody-goody,” patronizing kind of girl. She -did like Cara. And her brother too, was splendid. He could play -tennis; perhaps they would have a game after dinner. - -But the other girls probably wouldn’t want to play. And she, Barbara, -must not ignore all the conventions. - -“I’ll be down in one moment!” she called again. - -Nicky was already out in the car. What a little fighter he was! How -the children of the poor do learn to fight for their own! He was bound -to go for little Vicky and to bring her home himself. No auto ride -would lure him from what he believed was his duty; not Nicky. - -Another little squeezing hug for her father and a call to Dora and -Barbara sprang into the rumble seat of Dudley’s car. - -“We’re going for little sister,” he told her, tossing his red head to -one side in that characteristic gesture with which she was already -familiar. “Guess she’ll have her ice-cream finished now. But Nicky -must have some too.” - -“I couldn’t wait. I gotta hurry up. Never mind the ice-cream,” bravely -renounced the boy. - -“We’ll put it in a—a pail,” declared Dudley laughingly. “You’ve got to -have some ice-cream after all your trouble, boy. We’ll see to that.” - -“’T’aint no trouble. Don’t hurt hardly a bit,” he protested again, as -if ashamed of the trouble he was making for others. - -“And I’ll bet you didn’t get the half-dollar?” Dudley pressed further. - -“Nope, I didn’t.” - -“Then we must fix that up, too. You ought to hear the stories of -deep-sea diving about some boys in other countries.” Dudley was trying -to be entertaining. “They just throw money in the water, folks do, to -see the fellows dive after it.” - -“I know,” answered Nicky. - -“Perhaps you’ve seen pictures of it in magazines,” ventured Barbara. - -“Yeah, I did. My father used to get lots of magazines from the train -men.” - -There was silence for a time after that. Likely both Barbara and -Dudley were blaming the state for having cut off even that opportunity -for poor little Nicky. It hadn’t been much; just cast-off magazines, -but they must have been educating, and they must have given real -pleasure to the Italian gate-keeper’s family. But now he was in -prison, just because he had been in company with bad men. But the -public must be protected, although Barbara was not reasonable enough, -just then, to think of that. - -“We don’t have to ride home,” mumbled Nicky, as Dudley turned his car -in under the towering trees that arched the roadway to Billows. “We -can walk just as well.” - -“But why not ride?” demanded Dudley. “That’s what this little bus is -for.” - -“I’ll tell you,” chimed in Barbara. “We’ll drive you as far as the -tracks and you can walk home from there. Then, if your grandmother -sees you coming she won’t be frightened as she might be if she saw you -coming in a car.” - -“Ye-ah, that’s right, that’ll be fine,” brightened Nicky, shifting -around in the seat and plainly showing by his general brightness of -manner what a relief that suggestion had brought him. “Ye-ah, that’ll -be fine,” he repeated more than once, kicking the car with his very -dirty bare feet, his joy seeming to affect his very toes. - -“All right,” assented Dudley, “you’re boss. We’ll dump you anywhere -you say. And oh, wait,” he slipped his hand into his pocket, “here’s a -dollar to make up for your ducking and your cutting. And if you find -any more fancy junk let me know.” - -Nicky’s good luck seemed to be increasing, and he smiled broadly as he -used his left hand to tuck the dollar bill into some sort of pocket. -Queer, Barbara thought, how little boys can depend upon pockets in -such tattered clothing, but somehow the pockets always did prove -reliable. Who ever heard of a real _boy_ losing money? - -They found little sister ready to relinquish her hold on the ice-cream -spoon, and to open her other hand to allow the cake crumbs to trickle -through her brown fingers upon the plate Cara had set before her. - -All the girls were gathered around the child, for Cara and Ruth had -managed to get her talking and she had furnished them with quite an -entertainment. They asked her all sorts of foolish questions, and even -the cynical Esther did find cause for a good laugh when Victoria, aged -four and a half years, tried to tell them what she learned at -school—in her one week’s attendance there, just before school closed. -It wasn’t anything like any one else had ever learned, according to -Vicky. And even this little tot also appeared worried about her home, -and kept asking for Nicky, constantly. When she finally understood -that he was back from the doctor’s and ready to take her home, no -amount of coaxing could get a reply from her. - -“Goin’ home,” was her declaration. “Me and Nicky. Nobody else.” - -Cara and the other girls had attached no significance to their -insistence that “nobody else” should go along, but when Dudley offered -to put her in the car she pulled back and shouted: - -“You can’t go to our house!” - -Even Barbara laughed and tried to assure her that only Nicky was to -take her home. Nicky called out that it was “all right, come along and -hurry up,” but even then it took considerable persuading to get her -into the auto. - -“Hey there, Babs!” called Ruth good-naturedly, “why can’t some of the -rest of us play nurse?” - -“Yes,” chimed in Louise, “why can’t we take a ride?” - -“That’s the way with a girl who gets into a nice little sport car,” -Ruth continued to jokingly bewail, “she won’t get out. Here _I_ could -fit in there just as well as not.” - -“Oh, come along,” interrupted Dudley. “I’ve got to get back.” - -“And Babs might just as well finish the job,” Cara declared, perhaps a -little anxious to have the “job” finished, for it was certainly very -greatly interfering with her party. - -Finally Dudley gave warning that he was ready and going to start, and -then they were off. - -Barbara held little Vicky in the back seat and its box-like -arrangement at first appeared to frighten the child. She seemed to -think it would snap shut on them, but again her brother’s words of -assurance quieted her fears. - -“Only to the track,” Nicky reminded Dudley as they neared the -crossing. “Ain’t far from there.” - -“All right, kid,” replied the boy driving, “we’ll dump you wherever -you say.” - -“And don’t worry,” said Barbara emphatically, “no one is going to your -house, Nicky. We don’t even know where you live.” - -“Sure,” said Nicky, his face beaming happily, as his friend Barbara -Hale offered him the positive assurance that he might hide away from -her and from her well-meaning friends. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - - CLOTHES - - -On their way back, naturally Dudley talked of the Italian children. - -“What do you suppose those youngsters are so worried about? Seemed to -be dreadfully afraid that we would find out something; didn’t they?” -he asked Babs. - -“Yes. But, after all, don’t you think people do spy dreadfully upon -poor folks, if they happen to be interested in them?” Barbara -returned. - -“Spy?” Dudley seemed to resent that. - -“Oh, you know what I mean,” Barbara quickly drew back. “I mean they -think they have to know all about the people they help. I’ve often -seen that, when we had a sewing circle and gave aprons to poor women, -the women of the sewing circle almost wanted a report upon every time -the old aprons were worn.” Barbara could not hide her dislike for the -prying social service sort. - -Dudley laughed at that. “I suppose they are nosey,” he said merrily, -“when they give away a few pennies they seem to think they have a -right to butt in on everything. Well, I’ve got to say, I am a bit -curious just the same. Those youngsters _know_. They learn a lot -because they need to know it.” - -“Dad says every creature is like that. Animals have developed all -their traits through necessity,” Barbara answered seriously. - -“You know a lot too,” laughed the boy. “Not that _you_ need to.” This -was sort of an apology. - -“Oh, but I do,” insisted Barbara, in turn laughing at the idea. -“Knowledge is power, you know.” - -“Yes—maybe.” He paused as he swung his car around a corner. “You know -I lost on your coming to this party,” he continued presently. “I bet -you wouldn’t come.” - -“Too bad I came.” - -“Oh, no. Glad I lost, really, I’m awfully glad you came.” He was -wagging that red head of his like an animated signal light. “You see, -Cara is an awfully good sport.” - -“I know that.” - -“Oh say! I’m getting myself in trouble,” he laughed again. “I mean, -she’s better and more than just a sister to a fellow; she’s a whole -family.” - -They were almost within sight of Billows and Barbara noticed that -Dudley had slowed down. He seemed to be enjoying himself. - -“You see,” he pursued, “the girls all think you’re sort of different.” - -“Why?” Barbara asked so suddenly and so frankly that Dudley’s cheeks -flared. He couldn’t have been blushing, yet his face certainly had -gone red. - -“Oh,” he faltered, “I suppose because you don’t run around a lot. And -then, you are so fond of study.” - -“I hate it,” flung back Barbara, unconsciously shifting her position, -which was alongside of him since Nicky’s departure. - -“I mean, studying with your father.” - -“That isn’t studying at all; it’s just experimenting. Don’t you like -to experiment?” - -“Sometimes and with some things!” He sang that out in a way that meant -he liked a lark, liked fun, and liked to try out things that gave him -any fun in their trying. - -But whether intentionally or not, he had admitted to Barbara the -general opinion held of her. She was different; Cara called it -elusive, Esther would have said it was stand-offish and Louise had -been heard to declare that Barbara Hale was just plain “stuck up.” - -But Barbara knew. She might have had all of these various -personalities but she alone knew just why she was different. And she -wasn’t telling Dudley Burke, either. Not that he had an idea of -expecting such a confidence, but she had come to Cara’s party and he -rejoiced in that fact. She felt sort of tricked into an unpleasant -situation. - -“It’s too bad,” she remarked presently, “that Nicky’s accident had to -take so much time. It must have spoiled all Cara’s fun this -afternoon.” - -“But it hasn’t mine,” blurted out Dudley. “I’d rather drive around -with a boy’s cut-up arm than to stick around——” - -“With girls!” - -“I didn’t mean that.” - -“You—certainly did.” - -“All right then, with _some_ girls.” - -“I won’t have you talk about my friends,” Barbara was laughing but not -willing to understand the boy as he wanted her to. - -“And _you_ love them too, don’t you?” Dudley could play her evasion -game quite as well as she could do it herself. - -“Why, of course I like the girls!” she flung back with so much fervor -that any one could see she was fearing a suspicion. She didn’t want -Dudley to think she was so unsocial as not to care for her new -companions. - -The boy continued to tease. He brought up the subject of her -preference for Glenn Gaynor. - -“Glenn’s more to your taste, I guess,” he remarked with assumed -indifference. “He knows something; girls are mostly dumb-bells.” - -“Now Dudley, you don’t want to scrap, do you? I told you I _liked_ the -girls.” Certainly as a boy _he_ was frank. - -“Well, anyhow,” he drawled. “I’m awfully glad you came, for I don’t -like them—all.” - -There was neither any use for nor time for further arguments. They -were rolling down the drive, and the girls waiting for them were -squealing things about Babs being mean to stay away, and the whole -thing looking like a put-up job, so they managed to make known. - -Barbara expected all this, for indeed it did look queer for her to -have been away from the girls practically all the afternoon. But Cara -made peace by hastily managing to get all the other girls, excluding -Barbara, into the little car. Two were assigned to the front seat with -Dud, and three in the rumble seat. Then she made Dudley give them a -ride. - -“Anywhere,” she urged. “Just for a ride,” and the brother understood -that she was trying to please the girls by having him “show them off -around town.” - -“You can play with Sniffy,” she laughingly told Barbara, as once more -the little car left the grounds, this time the driver reluctantly -turning towards the ocean. - -“I’ve got to dress for dinner, you know,” he reminded Cara, as he -picked up speed “and——” - -“Oh, we just want a whiff of ocean breeze,” she cut him short, while -the giggling girls each hoped that her particular friends in Sea -Cosset would see her as they flew. - -Barbara entered the big house and turned at once to the room assigned -her. She felt very dusty and upset and therefore needed freshing up. -Also, she welcomed the chance to privately arrange her things, -although she was determined not to feel self-conscious about her -clothes. - -Clothes! - -The word was like a stone wall against which she was continually -bumping her head. There seemed no escape from it, and to the girl who -so lately had positively ignored the word when it loomed up in capital -letters, the sudden necessity of taking it seriously was very -discomforting. Barbara hated to feel limited by her appearance. Not -that she didn’t love pretty things, but because she felt them beyond -her reach. She was obliged to build up some other real interest, and -that had come to her as she naturally developed an aptitude for -helping her father. - -Bugs, germs, cultures, and the other symbols of bacteriology meant -more to Barbara than frocks, hats, and articles of dainty apparel, -dear to the heart of every normal girl. - -She was simply sacrificing her natural inclinations to those forced -upon her. But being a girl, almost care-free and decidedly courageous, -Barbara Hale hardly knew that she was making any sacrifice at all. - -In Cara’s lovely green and gold room now, she had no intention of -analyzing the situation. But somehow now that she was here she -actually felt she liked it. - -A little chuckle escaped her as she took from her bag the student’s -gown and the black cap. Her best stockings, the new pair called -“atmosphere” had been packed into the cap. - -“Silly to bring it,” she reflected, “but I had to have something.” She -shook out the robe and surveyed the mortar-board hat critically. - -An extra clothes’ tree had been placed by her bed (one of the twins), -just where she would be sure to understand that the articles hung upon -it were intended for her. - -Thoughtful Cara! A beautiful lavender cloud of georgette proved to be -a party dress. Barbara touched it gingerly and then, since the mute -thing didn’t bite her, she became more familiar with it and examined -it, closely. - -How lovely! Shaded lavender from orchid to purple with a golden silk -slip to throw the colors out. There was also a soft gray skirt with a -pearl-gray blouse and a velveteen short coat of jade green. - -“But the girls would know,” she was thinking when she espied a note -pinned to the skirt. It was from Cara, of course, and it hinted that -Bab’s aunt in New York had surprised her with a box of lovely things. -This was the excuse suggested as Bab’s explanation if the girls seemed -suspicious. - -“Why not?” Cara had asked naïvely in her note. “You could have an aunt -in New York, couldn’t you? And she could send you things?” - -A twinge of hurt pride pricked Barbara at the idea. Cara was just a -jolly fun-loving girl, who believed it perfectly fair and square to -defend any reasonable situation with a reasonable excuse; but then it -was not Cara who was being defended. It was easy to do it for some one -else, but would she herself have accepted it? - -No, Barbara did not love clothes well enough to go to much trouble for -them. She was afraid she wouldn’t have much fun in Cara’s finery, -although it was certainly lovely. But neither would she feel right to -refuse and hurt Cara. Which would be worse? To hurt her own pride or -to hurt Cara’s generosity? - -“Oh, clothes!” she repeated again, “what a nuisance they are, either -to have or to need! They’re not really of such importance and yet we -are so proud we feel we must be all decked out like the poor helpless -Christmas trees. Everything must dazzle us or we don’t want it,” she -reflected cynically. - -The room about her was beautiful indeed, soft and soothing in its -tones of gold and green, with no trifling objects stuck around to -offend the best taste. But except for a small row of books held by two -painted book-ends (from Italy) there was nothing in the whole room to -indicate mental personality. Cara was not reflected in her room. - -Barbara’s room at home was old-fashioned, shabby, even cluttered with -books and bookish attributes, but it fairly shouted the name and -personality of Barbara Hale. Cara’s was the work of an expert -decorator; Barbara’s the result of her own individuality. - -Shaking out the few garments upon which so much seemed to depend, -Barbara hurried now to change for dinner. She would wear the little -tub silk, its yellow and black stripes were vivid enough to be -especially summery, and although it was home-made, she felt there -could be nothing wrong with it. Its simplicity saved it from -complications. - -“I suppose the other girls will wear more fancy things,” Babs -reasoned, “but this is all right.” So the striped tub silk was chosen -as a dinner dress, and, just as Barbara had expected, it proved to be -all right. - -The girls were back from their ride and now made a merry, if somewhat -noisy, entrance. - -“Easy to tell there is a boy within hearing,” was Barbara’s sly -reflection, for the way the girls giggled and chattered indicated an -audience. They never would have taken so much trouble merely to amuse -themselves. - -“Oh, Babs!” called out Cara. “You missed it, we went slumming down the -railroad way.” - -“Slumming!” repeated Barbara, a sudden fear taking possession of her. -Could they have sought out the little Italians to whom she had -promised no interference? “Whatever did you go down the railroad for?” -she asked breathlessly. - -“Just for fun,” prattled Cara. “The girls wanted Dud to take them -where he took you, and he bet they wouldn’t enjoy the ride.” Cara was -peeling off her things and preparing to put on something pretty for -dinner. Barbara hardly knew how to question her without exciting -suspicion, but she just had to know whether or not those “giddy -things” had bothered poor little Nicky. - -“Did you see the—Italian children?” Barbara finally managed to ask in -a tone she hoped was natural. - -“I should say we did see them!” chanted Cara. “And say, Babs, they’re -the funniest kids——” - -“Why? How are they funny?” - -“Because they are trying to hide something in that shack of theirs,” -declared Cara. “They ran out, that is the boy did when he saw Dud’s -car, but quick as he saw _you_ were not in it, he turned and raced -back, shut the funny old door with a bang, and pulled down the shades -with the pictures on them. You would have thought we were the wicked -old landlord going to turn them out for their rent,” concluded Cara, -innocently. - -“But why did Dud drive up there? He heard me tell Nicky we wouldn’t -bother them,” faltered the anxious Barbara. - -“Why shouldn’t he? It’s a public place. But Babs,” said Cara, suddenly -noticing the effect of her words, “what’s the matter? Was there a -reason why we shouldn’t have gone there?” - -“Oh, no, of course not. I just hated to frighten those children,” Babs -answered as lightly as she could. “You know how much excitement a -fancy looking car still creates in that sort of district. About like -an ambulance,” she finished laughing a little, with evident effort. - -“Worse. The children were like bees around us. I never knew what -slumming in my own town could amount to,” said Cara. “But Babs, aren’t -you going to be a lamb and wear some of my useless things for me?” She -had been noticing the untouched garments on the little clothes’ tree, -and now ventured the question. - -“Oh yes, of course I am, and thank you loads, Cara,” replied Barbara -impulsively. “But just this evening I felt I might be better -understood if I wore—the common garden variety.” In this speech -Barbara had to tactfully refuse to wear the loaned garments. - -“That’s a real sweet little dress and looks lovely on you,” Cara in -turn declared. “As a matter of fact, Babs, we can’t always buy that -charming simplicity. It’s just perfect and makes _you_ stand out -instead of hiding you.” - -“No, it is not popular enough to warrant the trade making it,” laughed -Barbara, as they both turned to finish their dressing. - -And now the worry about Nicky was superseding the more common worry -about clothes. - - - - - CHAPTER IX - - SUSPICIONS - - -The dinner party was spoiled for Barbara. All she could think of was -Nicky slamming his door in the face of those thoughtless girls who -wanted to go slumming. As if the habits and homes of the poor should -furnish them with amusement! - -And she could imagine little Vicky jerking down the shades, the shades -with the funny pictures on. But she could not quite imagine what might -be the real cause of their alarm. All this seemed more than mere -suspicion of those in the more agreeable walks of life. - -Cara’s family had given her the exclusive use of the big dining-room -for her party, and not even Dudley was present at dinner. The girls -would, no doubt, have been delighted to have had a few boys present, -but Cara had other ideas. She would give the first meal to the girls -as they do it at college, except, of course, that the college menu -could in no way compare to the Billows. - -Two waitresses glided about attending to, and even anticipating, the -girls’ slightest wish, and Barbara was glad to feel at home amid their -ministrations. - -“Not a question of clothes now,” she prompted herself, noticing more -than one of the girls were showing some nervousness. - -Cara easily led the conversation, but Louise and Esther would revert -to the slumming party. That seemed to them to be the real event of the -day. - -“Babs, you should have been along,” said Louise, a little pointedly. -“I know you just _love_ that little Italian.” - -“But Nicky was really hurt this afternoon,” Babs contended. “I can’t -see how you forgot that. They are human, just as we are, and his folks -probably were just as alarmed about his cut arm as ours might have -been. Arms and cuts run about the same, I should think,” she said -sharply. - -“Oh, those people don’t mind cuts,” flung back Esther Deane -disdainfully, and in total disregard of the impropriety of talking of -“cuts” at a dinner table. “They just flourish knives the way some -people point their fingers.” - -“Esther!” exclaimed Cara, in unassumed surprise. “You really mustn’t -speak so of——” - -“Babs’ pets,” interrupted Ruth Harrison, who was the one girl who -could say a thing like that unintentionally. She did not mean to hurt -Babs, but the whole conversation was hurting her. She resented the -girls’ sneering at the children whom she had become fond of through -sympathy. Also she felt like something of an outcast herself, for she -did not belong to this indifferent leisure class. She had been working -and earning money for two years outside of school-time, even if it -were such work as might be termed professional. - -“Nicky sells junk and we sell bugs,” she had reminded her father, when -he too had objected to her interest in the Italians. - -“But you’ll find they are hiding black handers in that shack,” -persisted Ruth, who would not look Cara’s way and therefore could not -see the warnings she was flashing from her eyes at her. - -It had been a wonderful dinner, from the ruby bouillon to the snowy -sherbet, but to Babs the food was merely incidental. She was annoyed, -mad she would call it. Why had Dudley taken the girls over the -railroad when there were endless other beautiful drives to be enjoyed? - -The noisy arrival of a car load of boys, including Dudley and Dick -Landers who had dined at the Club, cut short the girls’ dinner—which -was a real charity, for the meal had been dragging along like a -box-party picnic. - -“We’re all going to the movies,” Cara announced. “That may not be a -very original way to spend a house-party evening, but there’s a -wonderful picture at the Ritz and the boys will take us.” - -“Great!” gurgled Lida Bent. She hadn’t said much all during dinner, -and one might have suspected she was being disappointed in Cara’s -party. Lida was a pretty blonde, addicted to fancy dressing, and -perhaps the fact that she was so beautifully “dolled up” in pale blue -with creamy lace inserts, and was wearing shaded blue stockings—the -most expensive sort—and all that, might easily account for her joy -when Cara imparted the glad tidings of the boys and the movies. - -As they hurried from the dining-room Dudley pinched Barbara’s arm. It -was a signal. He wanted to speak to her. - -She answered with a defiant look. He would have to explain to her why -he had taken the girls to Nicky’s. - -“Jump in my car when you’re ready,” he said very quietly while she -hesitated. - -“Isn’t Glenn here?” she asked presently. It was clear to her that she -should not desert an old friend like Glenn for one so new as Dudley. - -“Yes, but Cara’s taking the big car and he will go with the crowd. -I’ve got to take mine,” Dudley added, as an excuse for asking Barbara. -“If you want to ask another girl there’s lots of room, of course.” He -drawled that “of course” in open mockery. Why take on another girl? - -“All right,” replied Barbara. “I’ll ask Ruth.” - -Now this was the very thing she didn’t want to do, because Ruth’s -presence would prevent her private talk with Dudley, but she was -annoyed. She was ready to quarrel with Dudley. He had heard all she -said to little Nicky, and he could not have helped understanding her -promise _not_ to go to his house. - -“I suppose you’re sore,” the boy made a chance to say, “but it wasn’t -my fault.” - -“No? I suppose your car knew the way so well it skidded right along -over the tracks.” - -Dudley looked at her sharply. This was a new Babs. She was sharp and -bitter as a boy would have been. And scrappy. - -“Oh, say!” he exclaimed, his own eyes flashing defiantly. “I told you -I could explain.” - -“Got to go,” Babs reminded him, for the other girls were actually -coming down the stairs and she had not yet gone up. Also she didn’t -want to hear his excuse. - -It seemed as if Dudley’s bright-red hair always took part in his -emotions. Perhaps it pricked him or tickled him, or something, for he -ran his fingers through it and spoiled it so far as the part went, -unmarking a beautiful straight line of curls that began at his -forehead and made a border right over the top of his head. Boys hate -curly hair, but girls love it—even on boys. - -Babs was smiling as she left him. She liked to punish boys, and her -first inclination was to “cut him,” to refuse to ride with him. Only -her own selfish determination to find out more about the slumming -party prompted her acceptance of his invitation. - -“Oh, hello there Babs,” sang out a familiar voice as she was almost up -the stairs. - -“Hello Glenn!” she answered happily. It was so good to see Glenn; he -always understood everything. - -“See you later,” he added, and she knew what that meant. It meant that -he expected to be with her at the movie party. He surely thought she -would ride out with the crowd in the big car; how could he guess -Dudley had asked her to go in his? - -Cara was down and alongside of Glenn before Babs could think further. -Of course, the girls had all been “crazy” to know Glenn. And he was -good-looking. A little catch pinched her throat as she saw Cara hurry -the boy out with her. Glenn could drive any car. No doubt he would -drive Cara’s. And he was——Oh, pshaw! why fuss? Of course Glenn and -Cara were perfectly suited to be chums. He was charming. Perhaps Babs -had never given him credit for half of his good points. But then, with -her he was merely some one interested in bacteriology, while with Cara -a good-looking, well-mannered boy could become a wonderful pal. She -had time for palship. - -But he, Glenn, was Babs’ chum. They had worked and played together. - -“Coming?” It was Dudley calling her. - -“Just a moment—I must find Ruth,” replied Babs, trying to clear her -mind from its petty jealousies. - -“Ruth’s in the other car. But here’s Dick; we’ll grab him for a -chaperon,” proposed Dudley, just as Dick Landers swung himself over -the porch rail and announced to Dud that he was making himself late -and they wouldn’t see the “funny-picture” if he didn’t “get a move -on.” - -Dick was another nice boy. Babs saw at a glance how brown he was, how -slow and easy going he was, and she also noticed he drawled and -dragged and sang his words. - -“From the South,” she was deciding, as Dudley introduced Dick Landers -from “Geo-gia.” - -It was the funniest thing how Babs persistently got herself in with -the boys without having any idea of leaving the girls. Here she was -again with the two boys for company and no girl. Would the girls -believe her when she would tell them she had expected to have Ruth -along? - -The big car with all the others had gone on ahead, and now Babs was -following in the little roadster with Dick on one side of her and -Dudley on the other. Here again she found herself perfectly at ease, -just as she had with two waitresses hovering around her at the table. -After all it was pleasant to be so situated. - -The boys were jolly companions, each trying to outdo the other at -saying smart things. They teased as boys always do, and when Babs -admitted under Dud’s severe fire of questions, that she did like -little Italian “Kids” who sold junk, and that she was “sore” because -the other girls had followed her tracks that afternoon and had gone to -look for more junk; then Dick relieved the strain by telling wonderful -tales about the old “junk” down “Sauth.” - -“Best old andirons,” he insisted, “the funny old black iron stuff -mostly. But of c’ose there’s lots of brasses, too.” - -“Did the girls want to go to Nicky’s to buy stuff?” Babs interrupted -the Southern story to ask Dudley. “Why should they do a thing like -that?” - -“Oh, you know what girls are when they get a notion in their heads,” -he evaded. “I’ll tell you about it when you’re in better humor, Babs,” -he ended just as they pulled up to the curb to enter the motion -picture theater. - -Ruth came to the rescue. She left the other girls and boys—there were -two boys, Glenn Gaynor and Andrew Norton—and skipped along to where -Babs stood waiting. - -“Heard you wanted me along, Babs,” Ruth said merrily, “and I’ll say I -wanted to be along.” She gave a significant glance with a sly chuckle -at the Southern boy. “I’ll bet you had a fine time.” - -“Yes, I just missed you,” Babs interrupted her, making tight hold of -Ruth’s arm. “But don’t escape me now. I want to ask you something.” - -There was no getting away from it; Babs felt more and more guilty. She -could not get the picture of those frightened Italian children out of -her mind, and to think that _she_ had promised and that her friend -should have almost immediately have done the very thing she had -promised not to do. Babs had told Nicky that they would not go near -his home, that they would go no further than the tracks, where he -insisted upon leaving Dud’s car. Then, according to the scraps of -information that Babs had gleaned, the girls had deliberately gone -across the tracks, down the little alley-way and for all she knew -right up to Nicky’s door. They had even seen the pictures on the queer -paper window shades. - -The party occupied almost a full row of chairs in the theater, and -Ruth was next to Babs on one side with Dick next her on the other. -Between every pause Babs tried to ask Ruth a question, but since -talking while a film is being shown is impossibly impolite, she made -little headway with obtaining an explanation. - -“But what difference did it make?” Ruth blurted out. “Why shouldn’t we -go there?” - -“Because, when Nicky got his arm hurt and we took him home,” Babs -whispered, “I promised we wouldn’t go there again. You know his folks -are awfully bitter since they took his father away.” - -“Oh.” Ruth added no comment. She was sure to believe and understand -Babs, for Ruth Harrison was neither jealous nor suspicious. - -The picture was interesting enough to evoke peals of laughter from all -those about her, but Babs could not center her attention upon it. When -a small boy with his “tattered dog” was shown, she saw Nicky, the big -pleading eyes of the screen child accusing her of betraying a child’s -trust. - -“That’s what makes it so horribly mean,” she kept thinking. “He -trusted _me_, and, of course, he’ll think it was all my fault.” - -Just then Ruth nudged her, very insistently. - -“Say, Babs,” she whispered, “no fooling, there is something mighty -queer about those Italians. I’ll tell you what _I_ think when I get a -chance.” - -But the chance could not be made during scraps of such whispered -conversation as the two girls were having in a crowded “movie” house. - - - - - CHAPTER X - - HOW GIRLS CHOOSE CHUMS - - -When the girls had quite exhausted all their powers of teasing Babs -for again going off with the boys—just as she knew they would—she -decided to ride to the ice-cream place in the big car, and she also -decided to sit in the back with all the girls. - -“Take your boys,” Babs told them, in imitation of their own manner. -“For my part I’m just dying for a chat with you girls. Don’t you -realize I’ve hardly become acquainted yet?” This last was said in a -comical mimicking way, just as if she were some one of real importance -who had been so busy with a whole lot of social affairs that she -really couldn’t reach all the friends who were—perhaps?—pining for her -attention. - -“Oh, we know all about that,” replied Louise. “It must be an awful -bore to be so popular.” Louise was not being sarcastic, just flippant -this time. - -“And the peasants—those bothersome Italians——” Esther Dean remarked. -“Babs dear, you really should not mingle so freely with the gentry.” - -“The gentry? You mean the bourgeois——” broke in Ruth. - -“Hey, hey!” called back Glenn Gaynor from the front seat. “What is -this, anyway, a test or something? Where are we going? That’s what _I_ -want to know.” He was driving. - -“We’re going to Hill’s, of course,” answered Cara. “And if we don’t go -straight there we’ll never find a place to sit down, to say nothing of -getting a dish of ice-cream.” - -It was a wonderful summer evening, and behind the rose-covered lattice -that so beautifully screened Hill’s ice-cream tables, the girls and -boys of Cara Burke’s party thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Babs almost -forgot little Nicky’s troubles, as she laughed and chatted and “showed -off” to her very best advantage, her one regret being that her father -didn’t happen along to the drug-store that evening to see how well she -was doing. - -After all it was lovely to be in a girl’s world. She was surprised to -find how jolly it was, so much better than being alone and thinking -about “bugs,” the term she usually applied to the bacteriological -germs her father kept himself so busily occupied with. - -“Different in one day,” she thought, for Babs was sure to think. She -had a habit of analyzing things within and without, and she was not -deceiving herself now. All that “difference” which people would insist -upon ascribing to her was no difference at all. It was merely a matter -of environment. When alone with her father, with Glenn for a -student-companion she was one sort of Babs, but when surrounded by -happy young friends, such as were with her now, she was decidedly -another sort. - -“Enjoying yourself, Babs?” Cara made chance to ask. She sat at the -next table with Dick and Louise and had been watching Babs. - -“Wonderfully,” replied Babs, smiling that Cara could have so easily -divined her thoughts. But, as a matter of fact, Barbara’s expression -just then was easy enough to interpret. She was smiling happily all -over her face. - -Persons passing in and out also smiled and whispered. It was “Cara -Burke’s party”, they might have been heard to remark, and Babs was not -the only one of the party proud to be in her particular place. It was -well worth while to be there. - -“And I didn’t want to come,” Barbara secretly charged herself. “I -would never have known what I missed.” - -When they reached home the boys delayed for a while out on the big -white porch. It was then that Dudley spoke privately to Babs, after -managing to get her apart from the others. - -“Listen,” he implored. “I’ve got to tell you. I know you’re sore——” - -“What _did_ you take the girls there for?” she broke in sharply. She -was referring, of course, to their slumming and the Italian children. - -“But the girls were saying such crazy things about the kids,” Dudley -protested. “You never heard such rot.” - -“What—rot?” - -“About some black handers being hidden in that shack.” - -Barbara’s mark of contempt was not quite a word—a mere suggestion of -one. - -“As if that nonsense should have made you forget your promise,” she -presently continued bitterly. - -“I didn’t forget it.” - -“No?” Again that seething scorn. Babs knew how to use her voice when -she wanted to be sarcastic. - -“Oh, say!” The boy was despairing of making her understand him. “Just -wait until I tell you. You see, Louise or Esther, I don’t know which -began to—well, to suggest that little Nicky was one of a gang. Oh, it -was so silly, Babs, I just got mad and drove them over there to prove -they were crazy.” Dudley Burke could be just as independent as Barbara -Hale. - -“Did you prove it?” sarcasm again. - -“I tell you, honestly, I thought I was doing a good thing. I thought -we would just run over there and I’d whistle for Nicky, and when he -came out I’d ask him if he had any more candlesticks for sale,” Dudley -explained, simply. - -His distress and his sincerity broke down Babs’ fighting spirit. How -could _she_ blame him? He had actually tried to do something to help -the little Italians. He could not have guessed at her unreasonable -fears. - -“Oh, I know, Dud,” she said more pleasantly, “and I believe you. You -would not—make fun of them.” - -“Make fun of them? I should say not. Those youngsters are smart, and -they’re—well, they’ve got a lot of our kind of kids beat,” he ended, -his selection of words having nothing to do with his loyalty to the -Italians. - -“And I know it’s queer of me to act so cut up about it,” Babs -admitted. “You would think that _I_ were trying to hide something -too.” - -“I wouldn’t, but maybe some others would,” Dud rejoined, rather -hurriedly for the girls were calling them insistently. - -“But say, Dud,” Babs began again, “did the children really act -suspicious?” - -“I should say they did. The way they snapped those old shades down. -It’s a wonder they didn’t pull them off their springs.” - -“I didn’t suppose they were more than just timid,” Babs continued. -“You know how foreigners are. They have an idea the whole world is -their enemy, I guess.” - -“Not youngsters who go to American schools; they know better. No, -Babs, I don’t believe it was just scare, it was alarm. They were -afraid we would go to the door, although they slammed it good and -hard, you just bet,” Dudley declared emphatically. - -“But others must go there——” - -“They stick by their own kind though, clannish, I mean,” the boy -explained. “If there really was something to hide in that house I’ll -bet the whole neighborhood would help them to hide it.” - -“But what could it be?” - -“Haven’t an idea. But, of course, Nicky will come around again. He’ll -count me a good customer for his junk.” Dud laughed outright at the -idea. - -“And here we have been getting the girls after us again,” laughed Babs -in her turn. “Isn’t it dreadful the way I’ve been running off with you -today? I’ll never hear the end of it.” - -“Good thing to give them something to gab about,” Dud flung over his -shoulder as the girls and boys flocked around them, pretending all -sorts of punishment for their delay in joining in the general fun. - -Dudley was so nice, Babs had to admit later, when quiet was descending -upon the Burke household. - -“Just as nice as Glenn,” she reasoned, “but perhaps all boys were -almost as nice when they had had such chances of refinement and -environment.” - -And the girls? Still a little stubborn on that point, Babs was not -willing to pay her own sex such a sweeping compliment. The girls were -“nice” of course, much nicer than she had ever given them credit for -being, but they were “show-offs” just the same. If they hadn’t been -they would never have gone down into the Italian district. - -And if Esther and Louise were not always picking flaws in folks’ -affairs they wouldn’t have told and retold the silly stories about -poor Nicky’s father, who was locked up in jail. The idea of even -suspecting that he might have escaped and might be in hiding there, -was absurd. As if his house would not have been searched, had he -escaped. And who ever said he had escaped, anyhow? - -Cara was returning from her bathroom now and she was wearing the -loveliest yellow silk gown. It had little flutings of blue ribbons and -there were blue-birds embroidered on it, just as if they had flown -there. - -Babs had not yet undressed, but the sight of Cara recalled her own -robe—the hideous black cloth college gown! However could she take that -out? How explain her idea of the dormitory masquerade? How could she -make a joke of it, anyway? - -“I left some robes in the rooms,” Cara said indifferently. “I thought -the girls would hardly bring any, just around the corner.” This was -Cara’s way of doing kindness without display. - -And this was Barbara’s chance to mention the college gown. She -hesitated. Pride was stronger than reason with her, and she didn’t -know that all her boasted frankness about her humble place in life, -about her home-made clothes, her own-made hats, her preference for -study instead of for play—all this was merely humoring her pride. And -yet it had been brave of her to accept and make the most of her -position. Thousands of girls might consider her “well off,” and very -fortunate because, compared to themselves, she was fortunate. Compared -to Cara Burke she was _poor_. Of course it was all merely a matter of -what one compared with. - -Barbara watched Cara brush her hair. It was bobbed, of course, but -lovely and glossy, crow black, and it encased Cara’s head like a -sculptured cap. - -“Your hair is lovely,” Babs said as she watched her. “Aren’t you -dreadfully tired of curls?” - -“Well, since I’ve never had any I suppose I’m not really tired of -them, but I do think the boys have the best of us in the matter of -hair styles.” She paused in her brushing to make a better part. “If we -just got used to ourselves fixed up more simply I suppose we would -like ourselves quite as well.” - -“Surely we would,” chimed in Babs. “It’s only training. Our eyes -expect certain effects and we feel we must humor our eyes.” - -Cara laid her brush down on the dressing table and swung around to -face Barbara. - -“You know an awful lot, don’t you Babs?” she said. Her tone was filled -with admiration. - -“Why, no I don’t, Cara. About lots of things I am terribly—ignorant.” - -“I mean in your way of thinking things out. Dud says you’re as smart -as a boy, and that from Dud is—something!” - -Babs laughed. “To be as smart as a boy, as smart as some boys wouldn’t -mean a lot; would it, Cara?” she countered. - -“No. But _he_ meant, of course, as smart as a smart boy——” - -“Smarter than a smart boy?” - -“Just let’s call it smart,” suggested Cara, but there was a -seriousness about her manner that did not chime in with her words. -Cara Burke was evidently trying to understand Barbara Hale. - -Barbara was merely beginning to undress. She had never been so poky. -She felt very unreal. All, or at least most of the things, she had -planned to do she wasn’t doing, and she hated to change her mind. -Pride again ruled her, for in the “making up of her mind” to anything, -Barbara was what would be commonly called stubborn. She didn’t call it -that; she considered it weak and foolish to be changeable. All of -which must be explained to explain Barbara. - -“But, just the same,” Cara continued speaking after a short pause, -“_you_ are smart.” - -Barbara sighed. “Cara,” she sort of whispered for she was feeling -queer, “I’m not really. Because I do things I am called upon to do I -may seem different. But it isn’t that. It’s just because I am -differently situated.” - -Cara jumped up and coming over to where Barbara was sitting, on one of -the ivory twin beds, threw her arms around her. - -“We’re going to be chums, aren’t we, Babs?” she said warmly. “You may -not admit you’re smart, but I think you are, and I’ve always longed to -be chums with a girl like you.” - -“Like me?” Barbara could feel her face burn. She was not at all what -this lovely, simple-minded, frankly honest girl was thinking her to -be. She wasn’t smart, she wasn’t different, she wasn’t “high-brow,” -she was only a poser, one who was pretending. “Cara, I’m afraid you -are going to be dreadfully disappointed in me,” she managed to say -finally. “I’m not really anything but plain stubborn.” - -“Babs!” exclaimed Cara, bestowing upon her more and more girlish -admiration. “Do you know I planned this little party just to get -acquainted with you?” - -“You didn’t, really!” - -“Yes I did,” pursued the girl in that golden robe. “I even bet with -Dud that I could get you to come.” - -“And now that you’ve got me here, what have I brought you?” Babs’ -deep-blue eyes were as soft as velvet violets, as she, in turn, gazed -lovingly at Cara Burke. - -“Oh, a lot. You couldn’t understand, of course, Babs, but you must -have noticed how jealous all the other girls were. I’m sure they have -been talking about it all night or they would have been at our door. -Here they come now.” - -And at the unmistakable sounds of suppressed merry-making (it was -almost midnight) Babs jumped up, and without giving herself a second -for any silly consideration, she got into the black cap and gown. - -The girls were knocking at the door. - - - - - CHAPTER XI - - THE MIDNIGHT RIDE - - -Cara had scurried off and Babs was hiding behind the door, as she -opened it. Giggling and spluttering in their hilarity they tumbled in, -the Indian girl, in full regalia, leading the raid. - -“Ee-yah! Gum-bow-wah, Minne-ha-ha, See-la,” chanted the one posing as -the Indian. She was Ruth Harrison, of course, for it was Ruth who had -so quickly decided upon the masquerade when she met the girls that -afternoon. She hadn’t remembered about a pretty robe, so she turned -the matter into a joke. This was the result of it. - -“Approach, Daughter of the Sun,” spoke Barbara, stepping out from her -hiding and assuming the pose of a very majestic Portia. - -“Oh, how stunning! Barbara! Are you really a college girl?” exclaimed -Louise, surprised and awed at the spectacle in a genuine college cap -and gown. Barbara did indeed look like a young college girl, and her -dignified personality seeming to add inches to her classic height as -she stood before them. - -“Wonderful!” Esther chimed in, while Lida seemed spellbound. Ruth, the -erstwhile Indian maiden, went stamping around, uttering guttural -sounds more like grunts and groans, however, than like anything -Indian. Lida, in her heavenly blue, chosen to suit her pale blondness, -was scarcely more noticeable than an unlighted candle, as she stood -by. But on the whole the girls in their much-talked-of “robes” made -quite a little chorus. - -“Where’s Cara?” some one asked while the group lined up in mock ballet -fashion. - -“Yes, where is she?” pressed Louise. They seemed to be expecting -something interesting from Cara. - -“She was here a minute ago,” Babs replied. - -Just then the door opened again and in walked—a bride! - -“Oh, how lovely. How wonderful!” - -After the first burst of admiration they all stood around speechless, -for Cara was gowned in the full bridal outfit of a very old-fashioned -style, the skirt of her “silk muslin” dress standing out as if it were -very stiffly starched (but it was the sort of organdie that held it -so)—and her waist! - -“How in the world did you get into it?” asked Lida. - -“I didn’t—Lottie put me into it. She has taken care of the chest that -has held this make-up for years. It was my grandmother’s,” Cara told -her guests proudly, pirouetting around to show off to better -advantage. - -“But the veil?” Louise was fingering the tulle mesh that floated from -Cara’s black head. How she held it in over her “bob” was rather -mysterious. - -“Grandmother’s also,” Cara told the admiring girls. “Aren’t these -little sleeves sweet?” - -Up to this time Cara had not seen Babs in the college costume, nor had -she seen Ruth in the Indian outfit, for these two particular stars had -managed to keep in the background while the bride was being inspected. -But she espied them both now! And she fairly gasped in astonishment. - -“How ever did you do it?” she demanded. “I thought I had the original -masquerade idea.” - -“Ideas go in flocks,” laughed Babs. “Why don’t you cheer for our Alma -Mater?” - -“Oh, girls!” breathed Esther. “Aren’t we dreadful? It must be past -midnight and we certainly aren’t whispering.” - -“No need to,” replied Cara in full voice. “We have this end of the -house to ourselves and we’re having a party. But do let me see you, -Babs, a real, honest-to-goodness cap and gown! Any one can be a -bride——” - -“I don’t know about that,” interrupted Louise. “We would have to have -a man to be a bride——” - -“Oh, Weasy! How literal! I mean this sort of bride, of course,” -insisted Cara, sailing around so that her veil flew out in a lovely -silken cloud. - -“Oh, let’s have a show!” proposed Ruth. “I’ll be—who’ll I be?” she -floundered, feeling a little uncertain on her Indian lore. - -“Ruth Harrison! That Indian robe is just too darling!” cooed Cara. -“And your feathers! I think you girls were mighty smart to think of -our midnight frolic.” - -“But what a pity the boys couldn’t see us?” sighed Esther, about -half-way in earnest. - -“The boys—see you! In that butterfly thing with—you got anything under -it?” asked Louise, innocently. - -“Louise St. Clair!” gasped Esther, pretending to be terribly shocked. -“I’d have you know I’m fully garbed,” and she tossed off the pretty -robe to display a still lovelier set of blue silk pajamas. Reasonably, -Esther was pleased to have so good a chance to display her pretty -things, for as Ruth might say “the fairies who see things while we -sleep may love them, but they’re awfully quiet about it.” - -“Let’s have a march,” proposed Babs. “Cara, you lead and I’ll be the -magistrate who is to perform the ceremony.” - -This was fun. The girls in the pretty robes were acting as -bridesmaids, the Indian Girl was the groom, while Portia in her severe -black robe (and the mortar-board cap was actually becoming to Babs) -stood judiciously upon a low stool, her book in her hand statuesquely, -and her face molded into an appropriate expression of severity. - -In turn each of them tried to hum a march, but the time would jumble -into a foxtrot or into some other undignified dance time. - -“Oh, I know,” exclaimed Lida. “It’s ‘Yes, We Have No Bananas!’ Try -that.” - -“Bananas!” squealed Louise. “March to that! Why it’s wooden legged! A -hop skip and jump. Lida Bent, that’s the one best foxtrot.” - -“I thought——” - -“What’s that?” Ruth interrupted Lida. “I heard something.” - -“So did I,” breathed Cara in a hushed voice. She seemed frightened -suddenly, for the noise was too unmistakably close by. - -“Oh! A man is—groaning!” - -“Hark!” - -They huddled together in a far corner away from the window that opened -on a little upper porch. No one spoke. They certainly had heard a very -queer noise, all of them. - -“Some one is calling,” Babs insisted, moving as if to answer the call. - -“Calling! It’s past twelve o’clock,” replied Cara. - -“And a storm is coming. Hear the thunder,” gasped Esther, shuddering -in her fright. - -Again came the call; surely it was a call, but what a hoarse awful -voice intoned it! - -“Oh!” cried Lida in real terror, for just at that moment something had -hit the window. - -“Maybe Dudley and the boys are playing tricks,” suggested Babs, -brightly. - -“No, Mother had his promise they wouldn’t play any tricks, late,” Cara -insisted. “No, Dud would _never_ throw things at the window. He knows -better than to do that.” - -“Well, some one _is_ throwing things at the window,” Babs insisted, -“and _I’m_ going to see who it is.” - -“You mustn’t, Babs,” Louise implored the girl who had separated -herself from the shrinking group and was moving towards the window. - -But she did move towards it, nevertheless. - -“I can see the lighthouse flash its light,” she declared. “I guess -they’re getting ready for the storm. Oh!” Babs sprang back just as -something landed on the porch. It was heavier than the things thrown -before, and as it crossed the window-sill the girls could see it was a -stick. It almost sailed in the open window and did disarrange the soft -curtains with its pointed end that rested over the sill. - -“We’ll have to call some one,” Cara insisted, forgetting all about her -bridal costume as the other girls also had forgotten how they were -clothed. - -“Hey there! Are ye all dead!” - -A man’s voice! Close at the window! So close the girls could not now -feel safe to cross in front of the window to open the door to call. - -“Oh, mercy!” groaned Louise. “He’ll be in the room in a minute! What -ever shall we do?” - -“Keep still!” - -“I see him——” - -“Oh!” shrieked Lida. “A big black face——” - -“Say there! Let me in! Are ye all dead! I’m in a hurry!” This command -came through the window in a gruff, heavy voice. - -“Some one wants something,” Babs declared. “We had better speak to -him!” - -“Oh, don’t please,” begged Ruth, who was apparently more frightened -than the others, although this was unusual for Ruth. - -“We must,” declared Babs. “There’s no danger with all of us together.” - -“But he may be crazy——” - -“Will you push that window up?” the voice was ordering gruffly. - -And the order came from a man who now stood in clear view. His face -was not pleasant—it was old and weather-beaten, and he was wearing one -of those queer hats known as S’ou’-westers. - -“Looks like a fisherman,” Cara said more confidently. - -But a sudden thrusting up of the window-pane no longer left time for -speculation. The next moment the girls gazed amazedly at an old man in -the garb of a seaman, and Babs, at least, instantly recognized him as -Davy Quiller, the lighthouse keeper. - -“Davy!” she gasped. “What ever do you want here?” - -“I want oil, lamp oil, and I’ve got to get it,” thundered the -intruder. “I knew you were up ’cause I could see you per’radin’ -around. And the rest of this house must be dead ’cordin’ to the way -they sleep. I’ve been a-poundin’ on every winder an’ door. And I -couldn’t wait another minute. Got any kerosene oil on these premises?” - -Babs and Cara understood. The lighthouse tender had to have oil for -his light, and he was justified in seeking it even under these unusual -circumstances. - -“I don’t believe we ever use oil here,” Cara spoke up. “But I’ll find -out,” she hurried towards the door to call a servant. - -“Mighty sorry to spoil your—show,” the old man muttered. “But I had to -get in here. I’ll get right down again and wait outside. ’T’ain’t any -harder than walking downstairs,” and he was stepping over the rail, -down to the first porch with the alacrity of a much younger man. -Captain Davy Quiller was “no slouch.” - -By now the household had been pretty well aroused, and the girls, who -had merely fancy robes on, were scurrying to get into something more -presentable. Cara in her bridal attire and Babs in her collegiate -outfit however, seemed little concerned about their personal -appearance. They sensed an emergency, and that at the lighthouse, so -their search for lamp oil was added to that of Captain Quiller’s. Ruth -Harrison, the Indian girl, was another who felt dressed enough for -appearance on the porch, so that when the big arc light was flashed -on, as most of the Burke household assembled beneath it, Babs, Cara -and Ruth made a striking picture. Among those present were Dudley -Burke and Dick Landers, his house guest, and of course the boys -immediately set up “a howl” when they beheld “the show.” - -“Keep still!” ordered Cara severely. “Don’t be silly. We’ve got to get -oil. Captain Quiller, where do they keep oil around here?” she asked -competently. - -“That’s just it, they don’t,” the seaman replied. “Of course I always -get my supply from the station, but something went wrong with their -delivery this week. I thought I had plenty for a couple of more -nights, mistook an empty for a full can—but this afternoon I found out -my blunder,” he admitted, “and I have a little fellow runs messages -for me. I’d trust him with my hat,” the captain declared firmly, his -hat being a very important possession of his, “I can’t see what -happened to him! Well, I must be a-running,” he wound up, turning to -leave. - -“We’ll take you around in the car,” Dudley promptly offered. “Just you -wait a minute, ’till I—hitch up.” - -“I suppose it would be quicker,” admitted the captain. “But you see -that storm a’comin’?” he asked Mr. Burke, as if the gentleman of the -house was entitled to some attention. - -“Yes; looks like a hummer,” Mr. Burke replied. - -“An’ it’s blacker out there,” pointing toward the sea, “than ’tis in -here,” the captain declared. “’An my light’s the Eye of the Lord to -the sailors,” he said, lowering his voice reverently. - -Dudley had hurried off for the car but Dick tarried on the porch, -joking with the girls about their “show”, that they hadn’t invited the -boys to see. Babs and Cara were standing aside with the grown-ups. - -“We can go along,” Cara said quietly to Babs. - -“But how about the other girls?” Babs inquired. - -“They wouldn’t want to go, but, of course, I’ll ask them,” Cara -replied, and she did so promptly. - -“No, I guess not,” Louise answered. “Looks as if the storm was almost -here and _I’m_ scared to death of thunder-storms.” - -So were Lida and Esther, they said, but Ruth agreed to go with Cara -and Babs, so it happened that those most fantastically attired piled -into the touring car, after Captain Quiller. - -Babs, being almost fully dressed, just went along in the college robe, -at Cara’s suggestion, and Cara actually kept on the bridal dress, -because she declared it was too much trouble to get it off, merely -throwing a light cape over her shoulders and tossing the bridal veil -at Louise as she dashed off. The veil rested comically over Louise’s -head and gave the girls on the porch something to joke about as those -in the car rumbled off. - -“I sense an adventure,” predicted Babs, hopefully. “It seems to me, -Cara, you should remember your house party.” - -“And call it ‘The Midnight Race for Lighthouse Oil.’ I will,” agreed -Cara, while Dudley and the seaman discussed the problem of finding oil -at that hour of the night. - -Then a vivid flash of lightning followed by a splitting clap of -thunder silenced them all. - - - - - CHAPTER XII - - DUMPED BUT NOT DISCOURAGED - - -The blackness of the night made the lightning flashes all the more -terrifying. Dudley took a firm grip on his steering wheel, while the -girls shuddered. - -“Pretty slick lightnin’,” muttered Captain Quiller, “an’ my light -hasn’t oil enough to keep her goin’ long.” - -“And you think you can get it over at the little Italian store?” -Dudley asked. “How in the world can we expect to wake the store man -up? I imagine an Italian store-keeper might be a pretty good sleeper.” - -“Might at that,” agreed the captain. “But we sailors have to trust an -awful lot to luck. Somethin’s sure to turn up. Ain’t no countin’ on -what it’ll be.” - -Flash after flash of lightning slashed through the blackness. Cara, as -the olden time bride, and Babs as the collegian, holding between them -the frightened Indian girl, Ruth—as if an Indian girl ever would be -frightened of a thunderstorm—clung more closely to one another in real -fear. Suddenly Babs jerked aside from the others. The car was scarcely -moving along a narrow turn and she clutched Cara’s arm excitedly. - -“I see a light in those bushes!” she exclaimed. “Look! Over there by -that white birch tree!” - -The headlights of the big car threw out such a glare that it was easy -enough to distinguish objects along the way. Dudley slowed his car -down as Babs cried out. - -“Yes, that’s somethin’. Mebby some ’un’ hurt,” the captain suggested. - -“Hey! Hey!” came a shrill call. “Over here, by the ditch!” - -“That’s a boy,” declared Dudley promptly. - -“Yes, and it sounds like _our_ boy,” added Babs, already on the car -step ready to go in search of who ever was calling. - -“You mean——” - -“I mean Nicky. Hey! That you Nicky!” She called out loudly, for -thunder claps still continued to roar through the night with -terrifying frequency. - -“Ye-ah!” came the answer. “That’s me! I’m—I’m stuck!” - -Even the bride in her white silk muslin gown, over which a flying cape -did very little to protect it from the rain, ran towards the eye of -light in the blackness and the clue of direction given by the boy’s -voice. - -“Look out for deep cuts,” the captain warned them. He, of course, was -armed with his unfailing lantern, and as he warned the others he swept -the light on their uncertain path. - -“Oh!” Ruth cried out, “I’ve lost my moccasin!” - -“Moccasin!” repeated Dudley. “How could you expect to keep those -things on?” - -“I didn’t expect to. I knew I’d lose them,” replied Ruth undaunted. -“I’ve got to go back to the car. This is too muddy for my poor feet.” - -“All right,” Cara agreed. “You can make it and we won’t be far away. -We’ve got to get to the boy quickly.” - -As a matter of fact, Babs was almost there. She had trudged on ahead, -breathless to reach the boy who, she felt, must again have met with an -accident. No boy, especially Nicky, would be in such a plight if he -had not been disabled. - -“Here, over here,” the boy called again. “Can you see my light?” - -“Yes, we’re coming. Hold your horses,” called back Dudley, for they -were almost up to the spot from which a bull’s eye light could be seen -through the undergrowth. - -Then they found him. The poor little chap! - -“Well, I’ll be jiggered!” exclaimed the captain. - -“I couldn’t get there with your oil, Cap,” sighed the boy. “I lost me -way, and—look at me!” - -They did, all of them. Under the gleam of the captain’s light they -looked at him. - -“Poor little chap!” repeated Babs. She was the first to recover her -composure sufficiently to begin at the bushes. She was trying to tear -them away from the crouched little figure. - -Presently all of them, including the captain, were at those bushes, -tearing, pulling, breaking, until the tangle was cleared away. - -“An’ ye tried to get me the oil, Nick,” the captain said, as he put -his big friendly hand out to the boy. “I knew you would.” - -“Yeh, and I would have too, only fer me busted arm,” Nicky proclaimed -stoutly scrambling to his feet. - -“You were trying to ride that old wheel, hold a heavy can of oil and -find your way in this storm,” Dudley reasoned astoundedly. “It’s a -wonder you even have your voice left,” he concluded as a big boy -would. - -“’Bout all,” Captain Quiller added. “A youngster like Nicky ain’t got -no special fightin’ force to boast of, only his spirit. He’s got the -spunk, ain’t you Nick?” - -“Oh, that ain’t nawthin’,” deprecated the boy, from whose clothing -Babs and Cara were still dragging bits of briars and dried sticks. -“Don’t spill the oil,” he protested, for the old bicycle was prone -against the oil can and the least movement of it might spill the -precious fluid. - -“We got to hustle at that,” Captain Quiller reminded them. “I kin see -the light a-goin’ an’ the storm’s about spent. But ole Pete’ll be in a -canipshun fit. He figgered he jest about knowed I couldn’t get any oil -an’ we’d be out o’ luck then,” he admitted dryly. - -“But you have got it,” Barbara said proudly. She was holding up the -can in proof. - -“I’ll get the car,” Dudley said. “See, here’s a pretty good road -around the jungle. I’ll be back in a jiff.” - -“What a wonderful little boy!” Cara took time now to exclaim. She was -now beginning to understand what it was that Barbara so greatly -admired in the little Italian. Captain Quiller had called it spunk. - -“I’d have got there,” said Nicky stoutly, half apologizing for his -predicament, “if my light didn’t go on the blink. Fer jest a minute it -danced. An’ that was when I took this header.” - -Ruth had been shouting all sorts of questions from the car but no one -had time to answer her. Now she was coming along with Dudley. As the -strong headlights of the big car caught the group standing waiting a -remarkable picture was presented. - -“Oh,” squealed Ruth to Dudley. “Just look!” - -There stood Cara in the white dress, which shone plainly beneath the -cape, Nicky next with his bandaged arm and tattered clothing, his -black hair making streaks on his forehead and seeming to hide so much -of his small face. On the other side of him, and insisting on holding -on to him was Babs in her college gown, and somehow still managing to -keep on her head that ridiculous mortar-board cap. Of course it was -fitting on her bobbed head pretty closely. And Captain Quiller was -actually standing just back of them, his lantern held high above their -heads. The can of oil securely held in the other hand could not be -seen but he knew it was there and he had a “strangle hold” on it. - -No wonder Ruth exclaimed at the picture. It was fit for a “movie set” -with unlimited possibilities in the subtitle. - -But the lighthouse tender was impatient to be off with the oil for his -lamp, and it took all of them but a few minutes to get into the car, -while Dudley then expertly drove through the uncertain roads made more -uncertain by the ravages of the heavy summer shower. - -A tantalizing drizzle kept up and the night was still bitterly black, -but Nicky was safe in the car now, Captain Quiller had his oil and the -girls had had their adventure. - -Babs was so glad to have been in the rescuing party. - -“Whatever would you have done,” she asked Nicky, “if we had not found -you?” - -“Some one would of,” the boy replied with the supreme confidence of -his years. - -“But you were hurt, again,” Cara comforted. “You’ve had an awful lot -of bad luck today, Nickolas, haven’t you?” - -“Not so much,” he answered. He was alive after all, and that seemed -good luck to Nicky. - -“What’s hurt worst this time?” Dudley made a chance to call back. - -“Nothin’,” Nicky said, as Dudley knew he would. - -“But you got a spill in the ditch?” - -“Sure.” - -“And you couldn’t get out?” - -“Nope.” - -“Then what held you down?” - -“Me ankle. It got twisted I guess,” Nicky reluctantly admitted. - -“Does your ankle hurt?” asked Babs, solicitously. - -“Not much it don’t. It’s gettin’ better.” - -“But you didn’t spill my oil, son,” Captain Quiller assured him -proudly. “I knowed you wouldn’t. Ain’t never failed me yet, Nick, you -haven’t. An’ if you was older——” - -“If he was older!” It was Babs who repeated the phrase. A sudden -vision swept before her. The light, the harbor light belonged to the -government. Nicky had risked his life to bring oil to the lighthouse -keeper! And Nicky so badly needed government influence, for his -father! - -“Oh, Captain!” she gasped. “Isn’t Nicky really a hero?” - -“Bettcher life he is!” replied the captain. - -“And heroes get recognition from—from the government—don’t they?” She -could hardly speak coherently, she was so excited. - -“Sometimes, sometimes,” said Captain Quiller. “But here we are, and -here’s Pete a-waitin’. Here you are Pete!” he called out lustily as -they drew up in the heavy sand to reach the lighthouse landing. -“Here’s you oil. Needin’ it bad, ain’t yer?” - -“She’s jest a-flickerin’,” called back Pete. “’Bout ready to flicker -out too. Where’s your can?” - -“Right here. There you be,” declared the captain, handing out the oil -can. “An’ if it hadn’t been for friend Nicky, we’d never have got it, -neither.” - -But Pete had grasped the handle of the oil can and was going towards -the tower, without showing the least interest in what Captain Quiller -was saying. All he wanted was the oil and he had got that. - -The lighthouse was one of those built upon land—upon a strip of land -that extended into the sea like a peninsula. On the end of this strip -a tower was built of lattice work construction, and from the top of -this tower The Light could be seen far enough out at sea to save -mariners from the sand strips that would easily ground their craft. - -“No use invitin’ you in jest now, I suppose,” Captain Quiller remarked -politely, “and I suppose you’re goin’ to take young Nick home, ain’t -y’u?” - -[Illustration: “I SUPPOSE YOU’RE GOIN’ TO TAKE NICK HOME, AIN’T Y’U?” -CAPTAIN QUILLER REMARKED.] - -“Certainly we are,” both Cara and Babs exclaimed. Then Babs said with -a little laugh, “We’ve been taking Nicky home _all_ day, it seems to -me.” - -But the boy was tugging at her arm, and she guessed why. - -“Those others,” the little fellow muttered, “they came this -afternoon.” - -“I know,” whispered Babs, “but it’s all right, they were just driving -around——” - -“Our way?” He couldn’t believe that. His voice said so. - -“We were looking for candlesticks,” Cara chimed in. “Like those you -sold to my brother.” - -“I can get more,” answered Nicky brightly. Evidently the lure of -selling the trinkets was enough to restore his confidence in Babs’ -friends. - -“Yes,” gushed Cara, taking advantage of the opportunity to cheer him -up, and likewise to cheer Babs, “we want a lot of odd things and -perhaps you can get them for us,” she suggested happily. - -“I could,” declared Nicky. And now Babs knew that he no longer blamed -her. He was just thinking of selling things and could not be thinking -of her breach of his confidence. - -She wanted so much to throw her arms around him and just squeeze love -into his starved little childhood. She wanted to shout out in that -dark night that he had risked his life to get oil for the lighthouse, -she wanted to comfort that hurt little foot, even to fondle that -injured hand—oh, if only she could do all or any of this! - -But instead she must sit there quietly as the car rolled along, and -perhaps Nicky would insist again on being let down “this side of the -track.” - -“Whatever are you sighing for, Babs?” Ruth asked in astonishment. “Are -you sick—or something?” - -“Oh no: was I sighing?” - -“Yep, you was,” came so unexpectedly from little Nicky that everyone -laughed. - -“That’s right, Nick,” said Dudley, “we fellows have got to stick -together. So I’ll dump the girls at home and we’ll finish our ride in -peace.” - -“Sure,” agreed Nicky, and again a problem was solved. - - - - - CHAPTER XIII - - CRAZY QUILTS GALORE - - -The party was over. It had been a delightful experience for Babs, and -despite her natural opposition to that social life to which she felt -alien, she had to admit that it “did her good.” - -She admitted this at the constant reiteration of Dora, who just kept -saying that the party “done Barbara good,” until Barbara chimed in to -break the monotony. - -“Put some life in her,” then Dora varied her chant, and at that Dr. -Hale took up the refrain and declared that it certainly had. - -But life at the old-fashioned home did not now seem quite the same to -Barbara. Everything seemed so shabby; she scarcely felt brave enough -to invite her new friends in to see her, although their curiosity -would amply have repaid her and would easily have compensated for the -lack of luxury. - -“Not just yet,” Babs replied to her father’s suggestion. “Wait until I -get things fixed up a little.” - -But a new interest was now claiming the time and attention of Sea -Cosset folks. A real Old Home Week was being inaugurated, and Babs was -asked to head the girls’ committee. - -“Because,” said Miss Mary-Louise Trainor, “she knows something. She -takes more books out of the library than any other girl in the place.” -Miss Trainor told the women’s committee that and so Babs had been -asked. She could not refuse; her father pointed out the fact to her, -that because the Hales were a part of the sea-coast town, and living -“over the line in Landing” did not make her exempt from obligation to -help with this affair. She was a native, one who lived there winter -and summer, and what did the summer girls know about Old Home Week -anyhow? - -So Babs had reluctantly consented with reservations. She wouldn’t boss -anybody and she wouldn’t work at night. She wanted her evenings to do -as she pleased with them, and if the “show” was to hold forth of -nights the women would have to “tend it,” she pointed out, reasonably -enough. - -The old Stillwell place was selected for the exhibit, as quaint an old -homestead as could be found in the entire county. Then the women’s -committee decided that all sorts of old-time handiwork would be taken -in the collection, and that meant that quilts were going to receive a -tremendous boom. - -All one could hear was “quilts”; every one seemed to have a collection -of at least one, and those who didn’t own one knew just where they -could borrow one. So a quilt deluge was threatened. - -Candlesticks were probably next in point of popularity, and Barbara -knew something about them. She knew that Nicky could supply a pair, -beautifully carved in new or old wood, for he had done so when Cara -offered him her patronage. Who carved them or where he got them was as -mysterious to Babs as to the other girls, and boys too, for that -matter, for Babs had insisted upon leaving the Italians to themselves. - -“If we want to try their candlesticks, all right,” she said simply but -finally. “I don’t see what business it is of ours _where_ they get -them from.” - -“Neither do I,” agreed Cara stoutly, “for we know very well they don’t -steal them. Who would have things like that anyway? They have simply -been made to fill our order,” she concluded sagely. - -This was all settled shortly after the windup of the house party. Then -little Nicky had taken Cara’s order, and the delivery of the quaintly -carved wooden candlesticks, tinted with softly blended colors that -reminded one of the Italian painters, was made within an incredibly -short time. - -Even Babs marvelled at the workmanship. It was too fine to be made by -some unskilled Italian, and when she tactfully asked Nicky who did -make them, he became so excited he could scarcely answer. - -“A friend,” was all he said. Babs knew better than to press her -question. Cara declared frankly she didn’t care who made them, she was -so glad to get them. - -“Even if that famous black hander whom the girls are always hinting -about, is hidden in the Marcusi shack,” she protested stoutly, “I -don’t give a rap. The candlesticks are the quaintest things I’ve ever -seen and I’ll give Nicky all the orders he’ll take for more. I want -them for Christmas presents,” declared Cara. - -Cara and Babs were alone on the beach. The morning was hot and sultry -and only a few vagrant clouds gave hope of stirring up a breeze of -relief. The girls had already become chums, as Cara had intended and -perhaps as Babs had feared—because she considered herself too busy to -have a real chum. At least, she thought she felt that way about it. - -But she very soon discovered what a foolish notion that was, for a -girl like Cara helped her. She did exactly what Dora said she would -do—“put some life in Barbara.” - -And now that they were really companions, Babs just wondered how she -used to get along, all alone or with Glenn Gaynor. Glenn too had -changed his habits, and was having a wonderful time going around with -Dudley Burke. - -“Hope it doesn’t rain,” Cara remarked as the girls made for their -bath-houses. “Because you know, Babs, this afternoon——” - -“Oh, yes, I know. We’re to have a tiresome old meeting,” grumbled -Babs. “Why do old ladies so _love_ to get things up for _young_ -ladies? Why can’t they manage their own old patchwork show?” - -“They can, dear,” cooed Cara. “But then they’d miss the fun of making -_us_ do something. That’s their chiefest joy, you know,” she ended -laughingly. - -“Yes, I know. Well, I’m only doing what I have to do because I have -to,” Babs declared, still in a grumbling mood. “Dads again, you know.” - -“And Nicky,” Cara reminded her companion. “You know, Babbsy, you -_must_ show Nicky’s candlesticks.” - -“No, I don’t think I will,” Babs surprised her friend by saying. -“Women aren’t like us. They would demand to know who made them, and -that would, or might,” she corrected herself, “bring trouble to -Nicky.” - -“Oh, Babs!” exclaimed Cara, in real surprise. “You don’t mean to say -you wouldn’t. Not show those darling little candlesticks,” she -repeated. “Why, they would be sure to win a prize,” Cara faltered in -disappointment. - -“I know they are lovely and I don’t suppose any handicraft work there -will be better done,” Babs replied. “But somehow, Cara, I know those -poor folks are trying to hide some trouble. And I’d be a queer friend -if I drew attention to it.” - -“Attention—to what?” - -“To the Unknown.” - -“Unknown?” - -“Yes. We know perfectly well that whoever makes those candlesticks is -hiding—is unknown,” Barbara admitted. “I’d love to know all about them -but it really isn’t my business, is it?” she said rather than asked. - -“Do you really believe, Babs, that a mysterious person is being hidden -by—by Nicky’s mother?” Cara almost gasped. - -“Yes, I do,” replied Babs decidedly. - -“It couldn’t be—be their father!” - -“I don’t see how he could have escaped and then hide there,” Barbara -continued, as if trying to reason the matter out. “That would be too -easy.” - -“Yes, wouldn’t it?” agreed Cara. “And—the carving is really very fine. -Mother has seen much of that work. She travelled all over Europe last -year to finish up her sight-seeing, you know,” Cara made clear. - -“Yes?” Babs answered abstractedly. She was not thinking of -sight-seeing or Europe either. - -“And she says,” continued the enthused Cara, “that this Italian work -is really very good indeed.” - -“Dad says so too. But I must hurry to dress,” Babs reminded herself. -“No matter how we feel about the old ladies’ quilting bee, I suppose -we’ve got to show up, much as we hate to.” - -At this the girls separated, as their bath-houses were at different -ends of the small pavilion, but when each emerged, dressed and ready -to ride home in the small car that Cara had just obtained a license to -drive, their conversation was resumed. - -“You see,” Barbara pointed out, “how dreadful it would be if anything -that we did would draw attention to this thing. I just couldn’t stand -that.” - -“But how could little Nicky come to harm?” Cara wanted to know. “He -surely is innocent, and besides, isn’t something going to be done to -reward him for risking his life to get oil to the lighthouse?” - -“I hope so. I have written to Washington; Dad told me how to do it. -But I suppose they get so many such letters I may never get a reply,” -said Babs, a little dispiritedly. - -“I don’t see why not!” Cara never could see why any one would slight -Barbara. “I’m sure we pay enough taxes to have a secretary answer such -letters,” she fumed, indignantly. - -“Oh, I suppose I’ll get a letter-form answer, maybe, the kind they -grind out of machines, you know. But it would be lovely——” Babs -stopped, made a queer face and choked back a laugh. - -“A secret, eh?” surmised Cara. “Not even telling me?” - -“I don’t want to seem silly, Cara, so if you don’t mind I’ll wait to -tell you _when_ I get my official answer. _When_ I do,” she repeated, -quizzically. - -“Want Nicky made official messenger to the president, or something -like that?” Cara started in to guess. - -“No fair guessing,” Babs checked her. “And besides, perhaps I -shouldn’t have written at all. Who am _I_, to address the Secretary of -State.” - -“You are just as important as any one else, I guess,” Cara defended -promptly. - -“But Captain Quiller is in the government employ, and Nicky got the -oil for _him_,” Babs reminded her. - -“Yes, maybe all that’s true, but Captain Quiller doesn’t love Nicky as -you do.” - -“He does, really Cara. He came over to see Dad right after it all -happened, and what he didn’t say in praise of Nicky merely stuck in -his throat. He just raved about him.” - -“Then why don’t you take a chance to show off his candlesticks and get -the women raving too?” - -“Oh, women!” deplored Babs. “They want to know everything. I wouldn’t -wonder but they would go right down among the Italians and offer to -give them lessons in making macaroni. They couldn’t imagine the -foreign women knowing anything, I suppose. No Cara, please don’t say -anything about it. I’ll have to wait and see how things turn out. I -can’t, just can’t take a chance on hurting poor little Nicky and -Vicky.” - -“All right, girl,” Cara answered gaily. “Here you are,” and she pulled -up expertly to the side steps of Babs’ old homestead. “See you later. -I’ll call——” - -“Dad will be driving out, thanks Cara,” Barbara interrupted her in her -offer. “We have to go out in the family car once in a while you know, -or folks might think we pawned it,” she finished, trying to joke about -the old car that Dr. Hale drove around in. It went, and that was all -that he could ask of any car, according to him. - -Later that day these same two girls entered enthusiastically into the -plans for the exhibit. No one could have guessed they were not “heart -and soul with the project” which was the way Miss Mary-Louise Trainor -said every one ought to be for establishing a Community House. - -“Might as well have some fun out of it,” Cara told Barbara. - -“Might better,” Barbara agreed with Cara. - -“But the crazy quilts; are we supposed to go crazy over them? Aren’t -they hideous?” - -“We’re apt to go crazy over them,” Barbara continued in the same -bantering strain. “Ought to call this a Crazy Show.” - -“Judging from the way some of the women are acting,” Cara whispered, -for the girls were busy sorting the goods arriving, “we’ll be lucky if -it doesn’t turn out to be a prize-fight.” - -“That would be fun; let us hope for it. I heard Mrs. Trout tell Mrs. -Clayton that her quilt would have to be shown on the old table over -there.” - -“And that’s the family table of the Brownell’s, older than Age itself, -I believe,” Cara continued to whisper. “I doubt if they’ll allow any -quilt upon its sacred surface.” - -“That’s why we may hope for a prize-fight,” said Barbara, hurrying to -the door to take from the hands of Mrs. Mary Ann Smalley a glass case -of utterly impossible wax flowers. - -A flock of girls, all on the girls’ committee, and expected to work -under the directions of Cara and Barbara, arrived just in time. - -“We don’t dare put the wax flowers on the floor,” said Cara to Esther, -“but where can we put them?” - -“Better get a carpenter to make a long table for us——” - -“My flowers must have a proper setting,” Mrs. Mary Ann Smalley -interrupted Cara. “That table over there——” - -“That’s the famous Brownell table,” Cara said, smiling that this one -table with its elaborate carvings should be in such great demand. - -“Well, I don’t care whose it is, it’s just made for my wax flowers,” -insisted the excited exhibitor, just as Mrs. Nathaniel Brownell -herself fluttered in. - -Then, as Babs put it, the fight was on. - - - - - CHAPTER XIV - - A HONEYSUCKLE SECRET - - -“I don’t see why not,” panted Mrs. Smalley to Mrs. Brownell. She was -holding in her trembling hands the huge glass case of waxed passion -flowers, and every time the case shook even a little in her trembling -hands, the flowers would shed a few hunks of wax. It was so very old, -you see, and wax is wax. - -“The reason why I don’t wish anything placed upon _our_ table,” -replied the elegant Mrs. Brownell, using all her social powers in an -effort to appear polite, “is because of the exquisite grain of the -wood. Just look at that,” she begged the excited Mrs. Smalley. - -“Yes, I see,” said Mrs. Smalley blindly, for she couldn’t have seen -over that glass case, and besides, she wasn’t looking that way. “But -they are both of the same period,” she pointed out as if she knew. - -“Same period!” gasped Mrs. Brownell. “Why!” She pronounced that “why” -as if it were composed of two syllables—“why-eeh!” And then she could -hardly speak from sheer disdain. “Our table,” she continued to orate, -“is of the very early American period, but you know, _dear_ Mrs. -Smalley, wax flowers are not even classified.” - -“What did I tell you?” said Babs to Cara. “Here’s the fight we were -hoping for, right upon our heads. Ruth,” she called ever so lightly, -for Ruth was actually staring at the women with unhidden glee. “Ruth, -will you please—do something!” - -“What,” drawled Ruth, her mouth staying open as if she hated to miss -anything by closing it. “What can I do, Babs?” she finally managed to -ask, still watching the women. - -“You can grab a few things from the ladies as they enter,” Babs -suggested. She too was having a good time, for the table-wax-flower -dispute was still going strong. - -“They’re actually taking sides,” Cara chuckled. “There are three with -Mrs. Smalley and four with Mrs. Brownell. Babs, you can’t expect us to -work while this is going on.” - -“I don’t, I know better. But here comes another glass case. Looks like -somebody’s dead head of hair tangled up into snarls they call -flowers.” - -“Dead head of hair!” gasped Louise. - -“Yes. Don’t you know they used to make flowers out of the hair of the -dear, dead departed?” Babs continued, chuckling. - -“Horrors!” exclaimed Louise. - -“Exactly. And this is going to be a horrible show. Oh, Mrs. -Dickerson,” Babs chirped gaily to the latest arrival in the glass case -department, “what a perfectly beautiful case of flowers!” and she -clasped her hands ecstatically. “Do give it to Esther to place for -you. Here, Esther,” and the happy lady with the monstrosity turned -beamingly upon Esther. So _that_ glass case changed hands promptly. - -“You girls are so—so smart,” whined little Mrs. Dickerson, “to take -hold so, so fine.” She had a lot of trouble with her adjectives. “We -knowed you would. That’s why we picked out Barbara Hale. She’s so, so -smart,” declared the flustered lady, casting fond glances upon Esther -who was almost petrified with her task of “placing” the hair flowers -somewhere “to advantage.” - -“How’s the fight coming along?” Cara sidled up to ask Babs. - -“Mrs. Brownell _may_ have her table removed if the chairman doesn’t -soon arrive. It seems a table is a table, and folks are bound to set -things on it,” said Babs, almost laughing outright at the absurdity of -the situation. - -“Cricky!” exclaimed Cara, using her father’s favorite expletive, “what -on earth is this coming?” - -“Looks like a portable bath-tub,” replied Babs as Mrs. Ricketts, the -fattest woman one could possibly imagine being able to carry anything -except fat, puffed up the steps, her arms encircling like a balloon -auto tire, a great, big dish. - -“My tureen,” she exhaled. “Nothing like this in your collection, I’ll -say. It’s been in our family for more than one hundred years. Where -can I set it down? It’s awfully heavy!” - -“Yes, it must be,” readily agreed Ruth, who was in line to accept the -big dish. “I wonder where we can put it.” - -“On that table. Just the place. It will show off beautifully there. -Set it right down——” - -“But I’m afraid we can’t, Mrs. Ricketts,” Cara just caught her. -“That’s Mrs. Brownell’s table and she wants it left clear to show the -grain of the wood.” - -“Grain of the wood!” repeated the stout lady deridingly. “As if a big -table like that could take up room with nothing on it. Here, I’ll put -my tureen on it, and if Mrs. Brownell——” - -“Yes?” The little word came from Mrs. Brownell’s lips. “Your dish is -really antique. What a pity it is cracked,” and she adjusted her -silver-framed glasses to see the crack more clearly. - -“Cracked!” Mrs. Ricketts wore no glasses but she had very penetrating -eyes, and she fairly glared at her old soup tureen as she repeated -Mrs. Brownell’s charge against it. “It is no such thing—cracked!” - -“Aren’t these cracks?” Nothing could ruffle the magnificent Mrs. -Brownell. She had poise. - -“No. They are merely tissue scratches. We had an opinion——” - -But the argument was lost on the girls. They didn’t care a whoopee -about tissue scratches, or cracks on ugly old soup tureens. What they -were interested in was the fight, according to Cara. - -“And I’ll bet the table wins,” she told Esther. “It’s quite a table, -isn’t it?” - -“Quite a soup tureen, too,” replied Esther, “and Mrs. Ricketts is -bigger than Mrs. Brownell.” - -It was fun, after all, to be on the girls’ committee, for not only -were the exhibits the queerest old things imaginable, but the women -who brought the articles were queer, and if not always old, at least -not _very_ young. - -And they took so much pride in the heirlooms that the Home Exhibit -afforded them a rare treat, indeed. Mrs. Brownell’s table and Mrs. -Rickett’s soup tureen were merely samples of the goods contributed, -but it was the needlework and the quilts that formed the bulk and real -problem of the exhibit. - -“Where’ll I hang this?” Louise would call out, holding up as much as -she could manage of a red and white log-cabin quilt. - -Then the owner would start in giving orders. She would want it hung -“just so” over the balustrade. - -“But the silk quilts and handwoven portieres are to hang over the -balustrade,” Miss Trainor would insist. “Mrs. Winters arranged all -that.” Mrs. Winters was general chairman and certainly should have -been on hand on this afternoon; but she wasn’t. - -“These tidies,” pleaded quiet little Lida, quite helplessly, “where -can we show the tidies?” - -“We’ve simply got to have a special place for the small handwork,” -Cara said sensibly. “We’ll drown in tidies and center-pieces if we -don’t. Dad would send a carpenter over to fix up a nice rack, with -hooks that couldn’t tear. Where’s Babs?” - -“Yes, where is Babs?” joined in a number of the girls, for Barbara -being chairman of the girls’ committee, and the girls being in charge -of all the ladder climbing and the dusting of the old nooks and -cobwebby corners—to say nothing of taking the goods from the loving -hands of the lenders—they certainly expected Barbara to be around all -the time and in every place at once. - -But just now she could not be found. The Stillwell House on the ocean -front, chosen as the most suitable and convenient place to hold the -summer exhibit, contained plenty of rooms and was built like a -farm-house, with the entire first-floor rooms connecting by wide -doorways and passages. The house had not been used as a summer home -for a number of years, and those of the pretty little colony who -understood values, considered the quaint place as a possible public -library and Community Center for Sea Cosset. - -Miss Mary-Louise Trainor had planned the Home Exhibit mainly to -interest people in such a plan, and she knew perfectly well that one -of the best ways of obtaining real publicity for a scheme is to have a -girls’ committee work on it. The girls will talk, they will tell -everybody everything interesting, and if it was a wonderful old place, -which the Stillwell place really was, the girls could be depended upon -to let everybody know it. - -“But where’s Babs?” Louise asked impatiently. “I just don’t know what -to do with this pewter teapot.” - -“She won’t know either,” pointed out Ruth. “Stick it over on the -spinet.” - -“And have my head taken off by Miss Douglass. That’s her spinet,” -declared Louise. - -“Now Cara has disappeared,” groaned Ruth. “Let’s go and see what’s -going on. I know they went out on the back porch.” She was whispering -this. “Let’s sneak out and surprise them.” - -But Louise and Ruth could not sneak out and leave Esther and Lida -alone to battle with the exhibits. So they turned to help Lida while -Cara and Babs were still lost to the work and workers of the room. - -The back porch of the old house was entirely screened in with high -sweet-fern bushes, that one growing green that thrives on sandy soil -and in a salty atmosphere. So thick were these bushes that the porch -was almost dark behind them, and when Cara tiptoed out she was easily -able to reach the little square extension, and hide there without -being seen. - -“Some one is with her!” Cara was almost saying, for Babs was talking -earnestly to some one at the other end of the porch. - -“A boy! And he’s crying!” Cara crouched down guiltily for she felt she -was seeing and listening to something very, very secret. - -Babs spoke, but the boy sobbed. He was actually crying, and that was a -remarkable thing for Nicky to do. - -Cara could see it was Nicky who was with Babs, although the boy’s form -was almost entirely shrouded in the heavy vines that clambered all -over the end of the porch. - -Then a child’s voice, heavy with sobs, called out too loud to be -unheard by any one on that porch. - -“But I’ve got to. I tell you we must have it. I’ve got to——” - -“Hush!” checked Babs. “They’ll hear you. Don’t worry, Nicky, it will -be all right. You can trust us, can’t you?” - -“Yes, I can trust you,” came the reluctant answer. - -“And no one will know you came,” said Babs very softly, but her voice -was perfectly distinct to the other girl in her uncomfortable hiding -place. - -“I’ve got to get back,” Cara told herself. “I must not let them know I -was here.” She just slipped quietly over the rail, between the big -bushes, and when Babs, her face strangely flushed, came back to her -tasks at the show-room, Cara was just folding up another quilt and -forcing little squeaks of pretended admiration, so that Mrs. Baker -would be pleased. - -But what was the matter with Nicky? - -What was he and Babs hiding? - -Why was that brave little fellow sobbing so heavily? - -A queer sort of secret for girls, this seemed to be, but Cara could -not possibly disclose her part in it, and she knew perfectly well that -Babs was not likely to say anything about hers. - - - - - CHAPTER XV - - THE SANTA MARIA - - -That incident, simple as it seemed to be, immediately cast its spell -over the two girls. Barbara was so upset by it, whatever it was, that -she could hardly keep her mind on the quilts and tidies. Cara simply -sat down in one of the big rockers—it was there for exhibition -purposes only—and she declared she wasn’t going to do another thing. -Louise and Ruth were so curious they didn’t know what they were doing, -so that the girls’ committee became suddenly very inefficient. - -“It’s too late to do anything else anyhow,” Cara declared. “Let’s go -home.” - -To this all gladly agreed, all but Barbara. She insisted upon staying -until her father called for her, but her real motive was to fix things -up quietly when her willing but excited companions had gone. Every one -wanted to help, but so many around merely lent confusion, and, as -chairman, Barbara felt a certain responsibility. - -So it happened she was still waiting and all alone when Miss Davis—the -twin Miss Davis—came along trying to hide something beneath the folds -of her old-fashioned black cape. - -“I brought it in spite of her,” she confided to Barbara. “Sister -Tillie is such a crank. But I was determined to show it.” - -“Yes?” replied Barbara questioningly. - -“Our great-grandfather made it,” she went on, meanwhile bringing forth -from its hiding place a small wooden ship model. - -“Yes, it is lovely. And it’s priceless. It’s a model that was made in -a war prison, and we have had all sorts of offers to sell it, but, of -course, we would never part with it. You see, I’m so proud of it I -just couldn’t miss the chance to show it off.” - -[Illustration: “YES, IT IS LOVELY, AND IT’S PRICELESS.”] - -“I don’t blame you,” said Babs, still gazing with spellbound -admiration at the little model. It was quite small but perfect in -every detail. - -“But Tillie is different. We’re twins, you know,” confessed little -Miss Davis, “but never were two sisters more unlike. We never agree on -anything. Where can we put the model so that it will be sure to be -safe?” - -“That’s a serious question,” answered Babs. “I wish all the ladies -hadn’t gone. Some of them should have taken charge of this.” - -“I’d trust your judgment further than I would theirs,” said Miss Davis -generously. They had placed the model on the little spinet and it -looked splendidly there. - -“You see, Tillie wouldn’t agree that I should fetch it, but it’s as -much mine as hers, and I was determined to get it here. As a matter of -fact, she doesn’t know I did bring it,” confessed Miss Isabel Davis -the other twin. - -“Then, aren’t you afraid it will make trouble between you?” Barbara -suggested. - -“No doubt of it. But I don’t care about that,” Miss Davis insisted. -“If I gave in in everything where’d I be? Now, let’s see where we -could hide this. I wouldn’t dare to leave it on that spinet over -night.” - -“We’re going to have a watchman after dark,” Barbara informed little -Miss Davis. “That is, the man in the next cottage has agreed to watch -for us after he brings in his fish nets. He’s a fisherman, you know.” - -“I’ve heard one did take that old place, but he’s a stranger around -here, isn’t he?” - -“The ladies seem to know him. They’ve bought fish from him and say -he’s very reliable,” Barbara answered. “But I must hurry. Father will -be here for me soon. Where will we hide the little galleon?” - -“I’ve been looking around——” - -“Here!” she exclaimed. “There’s a little cubby-hole built in the -bricks back of this Dutch oven. It ought to be safe there.” - -“Yes. That’s fine. You put it in. It will surely be safe there,” -agreed Miss Davis, only too gladly. - -Barbara picked the model up carefully and carried it over to the -hearth. Then she turned on the little electric candle light that -spread a soft glow over the dark bricks, opened the door of the closet -and still more carefully set the war-time trophy within. Neither she -nor Miss Davis spoke while all this was going on, for somehow she felt -the importance of secrecy. - -Then, just as Barbara turned to switch off the light, they both heard -a noise. - -“Some one at the window!” gasped Miss Davis. - -“Yes, I heard some one,” admitted Barbara, “and it couldn’t have been -Dad.” - -But Miss Davis was at the door before Barbara had finished. - -“There he goes,” she exclaimed. “And he’s that little Italian boy. The -one whose father is in prison. Do you suppose he saw us?” - -“Yes, that’s Nicky,” added Barbara, for she too was at the door and -she could see little Nicky scampering along the sandy beach in full -sight. “We don’t need to worry about him. He’s perfectly honest.” - -“Land sakes, I hope so,” sighed Miss Davis. “For if anything happened -to the _Santa Maria_ I might as well never go back home. I couldn’t -live a day under the roof with Tillie. She’s so fond of it. Perhaps, -after all, I did wrong to fetch it,” she appeared to relent. - -“If you feel that way about it you can come and get it again -tomorrow,” suggested Babs, quite weary of the whole affair. “But I’m -sure it would be lovely to have it in the exhibit. You know, the idea -is to get materials that may be used in a little museum here -eventually,” she explained. - -“That’s just what I thought. And the _Santa Maria_ belongs in a -museum,” declared Miss Davis. “It’s perfectly foolish to have it -locked up in our old cabinet. Yes, I’ll leave it and talk it over with -Tillie. She’s as changeable as the wind, and perhaps I can talk her -around. There’s that boy stopping at the fisherman’s place,” she -interrupted herself. “He must know him.” - -“Very likely, for Nicky knows the lighthouse keeper and others around -here. He’s a busy little fellow and runs errands, you know,” concluded -Barbara. “Well, here’s Dad. I just have to lock this door—everything -else is locked. Won’t you ride out with us, Miss Davis?” she invited -the small woman who was really very agreeable, and eager to help -Barbara with the locking up or anything else left to be done. - -“I’d be glad to, for I am tired,” admitted Miss Davis. “You see, I had -to wait so late to get rid of Tillie. She was going in town all -afternoon but I thought she’d never get started.” - -Dr. Hale was waiting now, and it took but a few minutes for Babs and -Miss Davis to climb into the car. - -“Everything all right, daughter?” he asked solicitously, after -greeting the guest. - -“Oh, yes, Dads, all right,” Barbara replied a little wearily. “Miss -Davis and I have a secret, something really wonderful to exhibit and -we had quite a time hiding it,” she told her father briefly. - -He laughed at that. “I don’t imagine the pirates will come ashore -tonight,” he joked. “It is too beautifully clear for their black -deeds, so I guess your treasure will be safe,” he ended pleasantly. - -“Oh, there’s little Nicky, Dads,” Barbara exclaimed, as Nicky did -emerge from behind some boxes that were piled at the side of the -fisherman’s cottage. “I must speak to him.” - -Dr. Hale pulled his car up as short as his brakes allowed, and Nicky -stood for a few moments as if waiting for them to reach him. Then, -suddenly and without a cause which could be thought of by Barbara, he -turned, ducked behind the boxes again and was as completely out of -sight as if they had never seen him. - -“I wonder what he did that for?” Babs exclaimed in astonishment. - -“He didn’t want to see you, evidently,” replied Dr. Hale, throwing his -car into gear again. - -“Those youngsters can’t be depended upon,” said Miss Davis sagely. -“They have no one to teach them anything so they pick up what is -wrong.” - -“Not Nicky,” defended Barbara. “He’s a fine little fellow.” - -“Do you know him so well?” queried the woman, in surprise. - -“Yes, I do,” stoutly declared Barbara. “And I know him to be—just -splendid,” she finished, after an agitated pause. - -“You see, Miss Davis,” said Dr. Hale politely, “my daughter is -something of a philanthropist. She is always doing something for the -neglected ones,” and he continued to talk in that strain for some -minutes. But Barbara was not hearing a word he said. - -She was wondering what was the matter with Nicky. Long before Miss -Davis spoke of hearing a noise around the Community House, Barbara had -caught a glimpse of Nicky. He was evidently trying to find out whom -she was talking to, and he must have seen both her and Miss Davis with -the little model craft, and also he must have seen where they hid it. - -“But that couldn’t make any difference,” Barbara told herself, for she -would even have trusted Nicky to do the hiding if he had been there, -in the long old-fashioned room when she pried open the cupboard door. - -“And so you and Miss Davis have a state secret,” the doctor -interrupted her thoughts, as he pulled up to the porch of Miss Davis’ -cottage. - -“Yes,” said Barbara simply. She couldn’t seem to find her tongue, as -Dora might have said. - -“Don’t talk about secrets around here,” whispered Miss Davis, for her -sister Tillie was just then coming to the door to see who might be -arriving. - -On the way home the doctor noticed Babs’ distraction. - -“Anything go wrong with the show, girlie?” he asked gaily. - -“Oh, no, why?” evaded Babs. - -“You seem to have an awful lot on your mind for the first day,” -replied her father. - -“I have,” admitted Babs, still inattentive. - -“I hope you are not going to have worries about the thing,” he said -more decidedly, for none knew better than he that only worry could -bring that blank look to his daughter’s face. - -“Indeed I am not,” declared Barbara, now beginning to see what he -meant. “We had a lot of fun. You should see some of the junk the -ladies brought in and fought over.” - -“Fought over?” - -“Yes, where the stuff should be put, you know. Mrs. Brownell brought -or had sent a really fine old table and it seemed as if everybody -wanted her particular article put on that table.” This was quite a -satisfactory speech for Babs under the circumstances. - -“I can imagine what a fuss a lot of women would make over heirlooms,” -the doctor commented. “What are we entering?” - -“Why, what could we enter?” Babs repeated in surprise. “What heirlooms -have we?” - -“Take a look in the attic tomorrow,” her father replied laconically. -“You may find something worth while.” Dr. Hale was being reflective. -He seemed to know about the attic. - -“All right Dads, I will,” Barbara agreed brightly. “It would be nice -for us to have something to show. You have lived here longer than most -of the _new_ people,” she pointed out as they left the car in the -garage and together walked up to their house. - -“We have lived here for some time, Babs,” her father said rather -solemnly. “But I just wonder if this place isn’t a little too big for -just you and me?” - -“Dads!” - -“Oh, I don’t mean this year,” he hurried to reassure her, “but—well, -don’t let’s think about it, Bobolink,” and he threw his arm fondly -around her. “Think about your funny old ladies and their funny old -home week,” he counselled, anxious to divert her attention. - -But Babs couldn’t think about those things at all. - - - - - CHAPTER XVI - - WHEN A GIRL THINKS HARD - - -She just couldn’t get Nicky off her mind. Even the fun of sorting out -the old heirlooms was not enough to blot out her anxiety. - -“I believe now,” she admitted, “that it isn’t the best thing for a -girl to get too interested in strangers: we can never understand them, -especially those of other nationalities.” - -But Nicky was so interesting, and he seemed to be so abused. It was -this instinct of sympathy, so natural to all generous girls, that was -leading Barbara into tangled paths. - -First, she had bought the old candlesticks, then Dudley Burke bought a -pair. That was on the day that Nicky hurt his hand and all the other -suspicious things happened, none of which had yet been explained. - -But it was the fancy wood carving on the book-ends that Cara bought -that excited the most interest. The wood had been freshly carved, but -by whom? Who could be the artist and where was he hidden and why? - -Barbara never suspected Nicky of any trickery, however, and she had -maintained perfect confidence in him until now. Now she too was being -forced to question. What did he mean by that plea for money made to -her this very afternoon? Why did he need five dollars so urgently? And -if he did need it, why could he not tell her what it was needed for? - -She didn’t like the little boy sneaking around after her, and sneaking -was the only word applicable to his peculiar methods. Even generous -Cara was warning her these days that you can’t trust strangers too -far, especially those clever little boys. - -The happenings of that afternoon were vividly pictured now to Barbara, -while she sat in her room, pondering. It was evening again, and with -quiet hours spread out before her a perfect race of happenings dashed -in and out of her perturbed mind. - -Nicky, always Nicky, but why? - -“Of course I’ve never had a sister or a brother,” she reasoned, “and -perhaps I’ve needed one. And Nicky is so interesting and so sort of -mysterious.” - -But when he climbed over the rail of the back porch at the Community -House that afternoon, and managed, as only he could manage, to get -Babs’ attention, she was bothered. She didn’t want the girls to know -about that, and of course she did not know that Cara had overheard -anything. It was better for her that she did not, for that would have -added greatly to her anxieties. - -It had all happened so quickly. He came back after she explained to -him why she could not exhibit the lovely candlesticks, and naturally, -he was heart-broken about that. But she insisted he would have to tell -who carved them if she put them in the show-room. He protested he -could not do that, no, never, not for anything, and so he had gone -away a very sorrowful little boy, taking back the precious pair of -candlesticks in the home-made oilcloth covering. - -And the queerest part of it was he insisted they could not be sold, as -much as he and his folks needed money, he couldn’t sell those -candlesticks. They were beautifully carved and beautifully tinted, but -Barbara was too anxious to get rid of Nicky to examine them very -closely. - -He came back a little later and begged that she would give him five -dollars. He said he simply had to have it, and strange to say he was -so excited he could not keep his voice down. It was then that Cara -overheard him sobbing and pleading, and it was then that Barbara tried -to scold and reason with him. - -Why should he bother her so? Hadn’t she done all she could for him? -And from whom would or could she borrow five dollars at a few moments’ -notice? - -“But you’re my friend, ain’t you?” he pointed out reasonably enough, -“and I’ve got to have it.” - -“Have you no other friends?” Barbara had asked him then. - -“Sure,” was Nicky’s reply. “But I did borrow from them.” - -“Do you borrow—a lot?” - -“Have to,” Nicky had replied easily. “But I’m goin’-a pay it back -soon. I kin work soon, Captain Quiller says he’ll give me a job.” - -“Captain Quiller?” - -There had not been time there on the porch to recall Captain Quiller’s -interest in Nicky, but Barbara vividly remembered that night in the -storm, when the little boy had fallen by the roadside from his -broken-down “bike,” with that precious can of oil propped up against a -mudhill so that it couldn’t spill. - -“And Nicky deserves recognition for that,” Barbara was now telling -herself. “I do wish I would get an answer to my letter from -Washington.” - -Conflicting thoughts! First worry about the little Italian boy, then a -secret rejoicing in his bravery. Barbara didn’t realize that this was -unusual for a girl of her years, that most girls would not have given -a second thought to these matters. But she _was_ different, she had -been trained, or had trained herself, to think seriously, and so she -was but following her natural bent. She wasn’t old-fashioned, she was -simply wise. - -Meanwhile the other girls were being frankly suspicious. Nothing could -persuade them that a criminal of some sort wasn’t being hidden in the -little shack that served to shelter Nicky’s family. That was, perhaps, -natural enough, when every one knew that the gate-keeper, Marcusi, had -been put in jail, and the girls had seen, with their own eyes, how -wildly excited those within the house acted when strangers approached. - -Then this fine wood carving; who was doing that and why wouldn’t Nicky -tell? - -Only the feeling of loyalty to Barbara kept the other girls subdued in -expressing _their_ opinions. She wouldn’t tolerate a word against -Nicky, and so they talked secretly, only. - -But they watched, with keen interest, the course of events. - -“I can’t see what she finds worth bothering with in those Italians,” -would likely be Louise’s answer. - -Barbara’s attitude was defiant. She would have nothing said about -Nicky. Cara alone dared to suggest to her that one just can’t -understand strange children. But even Cara could not deter her. Nor -could her father, no, not even the bossy Dora, who had no business to -order Barbara to give up her interest in “those youngsters.” - -But this afternoon something had happened that had influenced Barbara. -Nicky had run away from her. He must have seen her wave to him to come -up to the car, when Dr. Hale was driving her and Miss Davis home, and -he had scurried off behind those old boxes like a—like a—no, Babs -wouldn’t say it; she wouldn’t even think it. Nicky must have had some -good reason for that suspicious act. - -Tonight she tried to read; there was her favorite magazine that had -just come by mail, but she could find nothing to interest her in its -usually fascinating pages. - -“If I had had a little brother,” she was thinking, “I should have -liked his eyes to be like Nicky’s. They’re such an agate brown, like -my best marbles,” she concluded. - -That gave her a new idea. Where was that bag of marbles? She had -always kept them, loved to count them and shoot them on the old -braided rug that Dora insisted was best in front of Barbara’s bed. - -As the idea came to her she jumped up and she rummaged in the drawer -of her stand, where her things least in use were stored, and after -going to the very bottom several times she unearthed the little -gingham bag. The marbles in it seemed to caress her fingers as she -held them even through the gingham cover; she had always loved to play -marbles. - -Down on the rug she squatted again and set the agates on the faded -blue line. Then, just as she used to do when she was ten years old, -and even as young as six years old, she began to play. - -Knock! Knock! she hit the brown “real.” - -It flew off the rug and rolled boldly over the wood floor but Babs -didn’t go after it. She picked another shooter from the little pool of -marbles she had spilled out and took aim at a little brown “migg.” - -“Now Miggsy,” she said aloud, for no one could have heard her, “I’ve -got to get you.” - -But her aim was not true and the “migg” never moved. - -She tried again and hit the pretty blue “glassy.” Squatting back -against her heels Barbara laughed merrily. - -“Just like Nicky,” she was thinking. “Little and brown and defiant. -That’s the reason he’s so interesting,” and she took another shot at -the migg. - -Over the floor rolled noisily a number of the agates, but the smallest -one of all still escaped, that is, it took but a few turns and still -stuck to the rug. - -“Guess I’ve forgotten how to shoot,” Barbara concluded, gathering up -the marbles and dropping them one by one into the bag. “I’ll give -these to Nicky.” - -The jangling of the telephone disturbed her. She hurried down stairs -to answer the call. - -“Yes, this is Babs. Hello Cara! What’s the excitement?” was what she -said into the transmitter. - -After a very brief pause Babs’ voice was heard answering again. - -“I couldn’t go up again tonight. No, I didn’t know they were going to -do anything tonight. Well, I’m glad you were there to represent us. I -got enough of it this afternoon.” Babs again. - -It was Cara talking, of course, and she had told Babs that she had -just been down to the Community House. That some of the ladies went -down to fix things up, and when Cara and Dorothy Blair, one of the -older girls, were passing and saw the lights, they went in. - -“And say, Babs,” Cara began again over the wire, in that way that -means something particular is going to be disclosed. “If I were you -I’d tell Nicky not to come around there any more. You know how fussy -those old ladies are about the family junk.” - -“Oh yes, I know,” Babs readily agreed, and her toes working nervously -up and down in her slippers didn’t show over the telephone, of course. - -“Not that _he_ isn’t all right,” continued Cara, thoughtfully, “but -just because he’s a small boy, you know.” - -“I don’t want him to come around,” Babs quietly declared. “There are -too many little things there, and if anything gets mislaid the women -would be sure to blame it on the boys.” - -“Coming down early in the morning?” Cara asked next. - -“I suppose I’ll have to,” Babs answered. “We’ll be expected to do -everything from polishing furniture to darning Civil War socks, I -suppose,” she added laughing lightly. - -“I’ll call for you about nine, shall I?” Cara asked. - -“I’ll be ready, and thanks, Cara, for calling.” - -“Anything happen after we left?” pursued Cara just to keep the wire -busy. - -“No, that is not anything much.” The secret of Miss Davis’ ship model -could not be told over the phone, Babs had promptly decided. And -because of its importance and Miss Davis’ indecision concerning the -real displaying of the model, Babs felt the least said about it to any -one, the better. And that meant that she wouldn’t say anything about -it to any one. - -So the girls talked a few minutes longer, and then reluctantly hung up -their respective receivers. - -Cara always cheered Babs up. She had a way of dispelling the little -fears that would unconsciously steal in upon the other girl, and the -very sound of her laughing voice, the very indifferent, easy way in -which she so naturally pointed out that Nicky Marcusi shouldn’t be -seen around the Community House, unless he was with some one who might -later come in to see the exhibit, sort of broke up Babs’ unaccountable -fit of anxiety. - -“I won’t have any little boys running around there while I’m in -charge,” she decided as she again reached her own room and prepared -for bed. “There’s no telling what youngsters might do and just think -it smart.” - -But Nicky so seldom had any boys with him, or he was so seldom with -other boys that this newest argument didn’t seem quite sincere. - -“And besides that,” Babs was thinking not exactly out loud but loud -enough for her own secret use, “I’m not going to take any more -responsibility there. It’s the women’s affair and they must manage it. -I feel as if I had done enough already with their old moth-eaten -delaine quilts,” and she took her bag of marbles from the center of -her bed where she had dropped them when the telephone rang, and after -tossing them up a few times to catch them like a bean bag, she finally -settled down to read the despised magazine. - - - - - CHAPTER XVII - - THE LOSS - - -Barbara couldn’t believe it; Miss Davis’ model was gone! Stolen from -the Dutch oven and no one had seen them hide it there. That is, no one -but Nicky. - -It was not yet nine o’clock next morning when Miss Davis came around -and told Barbara. She had decided not to oppose her sister and went -out to the Community House to get the family heirloom: and it was -gone! - -Early as it was some of the ladies were already there, and she made -straight for the oven without telling them what she was going for. - -“I almost fainted,” she told Barbara, not being far from a faint even -then, “when I opened that cubby-hole door and saw the place empty I -just screamed.” - -“Gone!” Barbara repeated incredulously. “Who could have found it?” - -“Well, you know,” sobbed Miss Davis, “there were youngsters watching -in that window, and we’ve got to find that Italian boy right away, -before he has a chance to sell it.” - -“You mean Nickolas Marcusi?” - -“I mean that little fellow who shot out in the road before us and then -scurried off like a rat,” replied the woman bitterly. “Mean to say -that wasn’t a guilty thing to do?” - -“I couldn’t think that boy guilty of doing anything dishonorable,” -Barbara retorted, “I’ve known him to be too fine a little fellow.” - -“Fine little fellows can fool you, my girl,” snapped the woman who was -still fanning herself with her hat although the morning was -delightfully cool. “Sometimes they think it’s fun to be brave, and -they think it smart to be able to steal things.” - -“Nicky wouldn’t steal anything,” wailed Barbara. She never cried; but -if she had been given to tears they would have flooded her eyes then. -To call Nicky a thief! - -“Well, come along and let’s see if we can find him,” ordered Miss -Davis, for her tone was too emphatic to be otherwise termed. “No -telling what a boy might do with a boat like that. He might put it on -a string in the ocean. Oh, mercy me! What an unlucky woman I am? Why -did I go against Tillie?” She sobbed again, and there was no denying -the genuineness of her grief. - -Dr. Hale was out and Dora seemed out of reach, which was fortunate for -Barbara. She would not have had them hear of her trouble for anything. - -“I’ll be ready in a minute, Miss Davis,” she told her caller. “We’ll -go over to the pavilion and I’ll phone Cara Burke. She’ll drive me out -to where the Italians live, but there really isn’t any use of your -coming. It’s an awful place to go.” She didn’t want Miss Davis to go. -She felt her presence would have hindered her greatly in her search -for Nicky. - -“But _I_ must go,” insisted the woman. “I wouldn’t wait any place, I’m -too nervous,” and she almost pulled the brim off her hat in an attempt -to get it on her head. “Yes, I’ll go right along. I’ve got to keep -moving. You’ve no idea what it means to me. Why, we were offered a -pile of money for that little model, but, of course, we wouldn’t think -of selling it. Oh, dear,” and she jabbed her handkerchief against her -cheek, “why ever did I do such a thing! Pride, just foolish pride. -Wanted to show it off. Well, this is what I get for it.” - -She talked and talked, and Barbara was almost as nervous as was the -woman herself. If her father should come back he would have to hear -all the story, and if Dora came back she would listen to every word -that she could catch. - -“Come on, Miss Davis,” said Barbara, squatting her little felt hat on -her head without even knowing she was doing it. “Of course I’m awfully -sorry, terribly. But still, I can’t feel it is my fault; I just -followed your advice you know, and it was my idea that you shouldn’t -have left the model there.” - -“Oh, I know it. Don’t make me feel worse——” - -“I don’t want you to feel any worse, you know that, Miss Davis,” -Barbara interrupted, for indeed she was very sorry enough for the -poor, distressed little lady. “I merely want it to be understood that -I didn’t and couldn’t take the responsibility of any goods left there. -We girls are only supposed to do the things that the ladies tell us to -do. You see, we are merely a sub-committee.” - -“But, thank goodness, you were there and that I didn’t confide in any -of the women,” exclaimed Miss Davis. “If I had told that to a single -woman, Tillie would be dying of grief now. Women can’t keep anything -to themselves,” she declared a little surprisingly, under the -circumstances. - -“Don’t you suppose your sister will miss it from the cabinet?” - -“No, not for this week, because she left for Blueberry Corners this -very morning. That’s the only comfort. If I’ll only be able to get it -back before _she_ gets back. Do hurry, dear. I don’t know what I’m -saying I’m so upset. I hope I wasn’t cross to you?” - -“Oh, no, not at all, Miss Davis,” Babs assured her. “I can easily -understand how you feel. And I feel dreadfully about it too. Somehow I -couldn’t sleep last night and I didn’t know why. Come along, I’m -ready,” and they went off, Babs dropping a note on her father’s desk -as she went. - -Cara met them before they reached the corner. The original plan was to -have Cara call at the house, but because of Miss Davis’ excited state -of mind, and the constant danger of Dora overhearing her, Babs had -hurried out before the appointed time. She knew she would meet Cara -before she turned into Landing. - -“Hop right in,” was Cara’s cheerful greeting. Then she paused to give -Babs a chance to introduce the stranger. - -“And if you don’t mind, Cara,” Babs continued after the brief -introduction, “we’ll drive out to the Italian settlement. We want to -see Nicky.” - -“Nicky!” Cara’s tone was in dispute. She meant to convey again to Babs -her opposition to her constant interest in the Italians. - -“Yes, and it’s very important,” put in Miss Davis before Babs could -answer. “In fact we’ve _got_ to find him.” - -“Oh,” said Cara in bewilderment. This was something new, she -understood now; something new, but what? - -Babs took her place in the front seat of the auto beside Cara, and -while Miss Davis was settling herself in the back seat, managed to -whisper enough to Cara to give the very least inkling of the matter. - -“Something we lost,” she said, “and maybe Nicky has seen it. He was -there yesterday when we were closing up.” - -“Oh,” said Cara again, and then she drove on. - -Miss Davis seemed suddenly to have become speechless. Perhaps it was -exhaustion, for she must have labored under a heavy strain since -discovering the loss of the model, but, at any rate, she was now -drooping in the back seat of Cara’s car as if “every friend in the -world had deserted her”; that was the way her attitude impressed the -girls. - -They tried to talk casually but it was a failure as far as Babs was -concerned, and when the usual group of urchins surrounded their car, -when it was stopped as near to Nicky’s house as Babs wanted Cara to -drive, it was a discouraged girl who alighted. Barbara Hale was sorry -she had ever bothered about these little foreigners, yet, quickly as -that thought darted through her mind, there came another. - -What about Nicky saving the lighthouse lamp from darkness during that -awful storm? What other boy of his age would have been as brave as he -had been then? - -“I’ll run over and see if he’s around,” she told Cara and Miss Davis, -in real fear that Miss Davis would insist upon going with her. “I’ll -be back in a few minutes.” - -Over the rough tracks she stumbled. Everything seemed horrid. The air -was thick with smoke, there were odors of all kinds, from factory -fumes to puddles from rain, left standing in hidden places where even -the sun couldn’t find them. - -And as she hurried along her opinion of all this had suddenly changed. -Yesterday she would have pitied those poor people living in such a -disordered place, but today she pitied herself that she had to go -through there. - -“If I only hadn’t been so foolish,” she kept thinking. “And I’ve -missed a lot of good times this summer just by this.” - -Presently she called to a group of children. And their answer brought -Babs to a sudden stop. - -“You don’t mean that the Marcusis have moved away?” she repeated in -surprise. - -“Yes, Mam, lit out last night,” a small boy told her. “Guess they -hadda skip,” he added impishly. - -“They did not either,” defended another. “Some one took sick or -somthin’.” - -But Barbara had to be sure. She could not believe that those people -were gone, without letting her know. But why should they have let her -know? - -She stumbled on farther, the children tagging along at her heels, -saying all sorts of foolish things about Nicky’s family. - -But she paid little attention to them, although her ears at least -heard every word they said. - -“Yep, they didn’t pay the milk-man either,” one saucy little fellow -gaily announced. “An’ the old man’s in jail so they can’t do nawthin’ -to him——” - -“Shut up, you Tony, your folks ain’t such a much. Whata you knockin’ -about?” - -“Oh, run along about your business,” ordered Barbara sharply turning -unexpectedly around and facing them. “You don’t have to come with me. -I didn’t ask you to.” - -“Beat it, fellers,” the big boy took up the cause. “She don’t want -you. I’ll show her the house.” - -“Maybe you think she wants _you_, Smarty Leganto,” came back a -challenge for the chivalrous one. “She knows the place, don’t she? But -they ain’t anybody in it. They’s moved, we told you.” - -It was no use. She couldn’t get rid of them. So she hurried along and -was now in front of that place likely called a house, by the man who -owned it, but was merely a shack to all other eyes. - -The windows were raised, the hideously pictured curtains were not to -be seen, and the door stood wide open. - -“Now you see,” came a taunt from the crowd. “They’s gone, ain’t they? -What did we tell you? Now, ain’t they gone?” - -“Oh, do stop,” begged Barbara. “Of course they are gone. But why -shouldn’t they move if they wanted to?” This was by no means a -question, rather it was a declaration. She was trying to answer her -own question. “Why shouldn’t this family move if they wanted to?” - -It takes so little to make excitement for such children as those -surrounding her, that even the difference in their clothes and hers, -the fact that she came in a car, and the still more surprising fact -that she should evince interest in a family like Nicky’s, served to -give the youngsters a wonderful time. And in spite of her protests -they were bound to make the most of it. And they did. - -As she turned back to the car she wondered what she would say to Miss -Davis. If only she had not come along with them Babs might have told -the whole story to Cara, and together they could have thought up -something to do about it. Even a little delay would have helped so -much. But there Miss Davis sat in the car, her head out the side, -waiting eagerly for Babs’ return. - -“I just can’t tell her they have moved,” Babs decided quickly, “not -just yet. I’ll say there was no one in.” - -“All out!” exclaimed Miss Davis, just as Barbara knew she would. “But -we’ve got to find that boy——” - -“I’ll come back with Cara in a little while,” Babs interrupted. “You -see, those people have to work, even the children, and it’s pretty -early to expect to find them around home.” - -“But that boy,” (how Barbara wished she would not so persistently -attack Nicky) “he must be around some place. It seems to me I have met -him along the road every day this summer but just today,” wailed Miss -Davis. - -“Don’t worry,” Cara ventured to remark. “We know how to find the -youngsters; don’t we Babs?” and she shot a look at Babs that was -infinitely comforting. - -“Yes,” the other girl replied, already seated beside Cara. “We know -the haunts. I guess we’ll have to go over to the Community House now,” -she proposed. “I’m supposed to be around there some time this -morning.” - -“Then drop me off home, please,” begged the still perturbed little -woman. “I couldn’t go over there again, that is, not just now,” she -hurried to modify, lest Cara might suspect she was really in distress -about something. - -Just as if Cara didn’t. - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII - - SUSPICIONS - - -No sooner had they deposited Miss Davis at her front gate than Cara -turned to Babs. - -“Now see here, Sister,” she began facetiously, “you’ve got to tell me -all about this. What’s on your mind?” - -“Of course, Cara, I intend to tell you. I’ve just been waiting for a -chance,” answered Babs, sullenly. - -“Well, here’s your chance. Go ahead and tell. And judging from the -look on your alabaster face it needs to be told. Honestly Babs, you -look years older since yesterday. Nobody murdered, I hope?” - -Babs laughed, but it was a sickly little laugh, and had nothing to do -with merriment. - -“No, not murder exactly,” Babs replied after an embarrassed pause. -“But you know how seriously those old ladies take their family -heirlooms.” - -“Yes.” - -“And you know the Davis ladies are twins.” - -“Yes.” - -“Well, one twinnie wanted to show a family piece and the other twinnie -objected,” Babs continued, in a voice as even as a tape line put -through the phonograph. - -“She would. All twinnies are that way. Go ahead,” proposed Cara a -little impatiently. - -Barbara sighed. She had secretly gone over the details of the loss so -often since Miss Davis came this morning, that her weary brain fairly -pricked in dismay at encountering the subject in word form. - -“Miss Davis brought a little ship model, one of those old-time -murderous, pirate-prisoner sailing things,” she began bravely, “and it -has disappeared.” - -“Disappeared! Do you mean the famous Davis model of Columbus’ _Santa -Maria_?” Cara almost stopped her car unconsciously, in surprise. - -“Yes,” said Babs, from tightened lips. - -“Oh, how dreadful! How did it disappear? How could it, I mean?” - -“I don’t know,” Babs flared back this time. “You don’t suppose I _do_ -know, do you, Cara?” - -“Oh, I didn’t mean that, Babs; of course you don’t know,” Cara sort of -apologized. “But I thought you might have some idea. Here we are. -Going to stay long? I’ve got to drive Mother to the village——” - -“Don’t think of coming for me, Cara,” Babs interrupted as she stepped -out of the car in front of the Community House. “I need the walk back -home. I’m not going to stay long, either,” she declared, “for I don’t -see a lot of fun in sorting this truck. Of course, we’ve promised, and -we’ve got to help,” she recalled, “but it’s women’s work; we do better -in swimming this time of year.” - -“We certainly do, Babs,” Cara promptly agreed. “But you haven’t -unburdened your soul.” She had a merry way of making things easier. -Most of Babs’ troubles seemed to take wings when Cara Burke blew her -breath at them. But this was different. It wouldn’t go. It couldn’t go -when each step added weight to the worry. - -Nicky was gone! - -“You know,” Babs almost whispered to Cara, for she had one foot on the -running board and that brought her very close to Cara’s ear, “you -know,” she repeated, “Nicky’s folks have moved.” - -“I guessed that,” Cara answered. - -“Why?” - -“Because I heard him begging you for money yesterday on the porch. -Don’t look so alarmed. I went out looking for you and heard him almost -sobbing for some money,” said Cara. - -“Who heard us?” Another shock for Babs. - -“Oh, don’t look so panicky,” smiled Cara. “I didn’t hear anything -important. Those youngsters are always after money and there was -nothing strange in Nicky’s wanting some. I suppose he wanted it to -help out with the moving.” - -“I suppose so,” agreed Babs. Once again Cara vanquished a bugbear. -What harm had there been in Nicky’s asking for money, after all? - -“What did the girls say?” Babs asked evenly. “Were they looking for -me?” - -“Oh, you know what _they_ would say. Well, that’s what they said. But -Babs, old girl, you just better jump in here again and ride around -with me,” Cara proposed. “You don’t look a bit like Old Home Week and -you shouldn’t go in there. That’s a girl,” she chanted, for Babs was -stepping back into the car. “Now, sit close to your old friend and -pour out the whole horrible tale. How did the _Santa Maria_ disappear? -Who was around when you left last night?” - -Babs felt a little gasp catch at her throat. That was it. Who was -around? - -“Just Miss Davis and I were there,” she began, but her sigh meant more -than her words. - -“Babs ducky,” pleaded Cara ever so kindly, “don’t you think you will -feel better when you tell me? You can trust me, can’t you?” - -That appeal stirred a new emotion in Barbara Hale. - -“Of course I can, Cara,” she answered instantly, “and you likely know -exactly what is worrying me. I’m afraid Nicky took that model!” - -“Oh, Babs! He couldn’t. Not Nicky!” - -“You’re a love to have such confidence in him, Cara. That helps.” Babs -showed her relief. “There must be a good reason for such confidence as -we have. But the poor little fellow! You see, how it looks; his -wanting money so badly, and then—this.” - -Cara glanced at her wrist watch. “I’ve got an hour before time to go -for Mother,” she said, “so let’s go down to the beach. The brisk air -will whip us up a little. We’re fagged,” she said smilingly, -“especially you. Like old ladies who need catnip tea.” - -A few minutes later they were discussing Nicky’s flight earnestly, and -with a determined effort to help him. - -“But how can we ever find him?” lamented Babs. “You know how queer -those Italians are. If we just ask a question about where the Marcusis -have moved to they’ll suspect we are enemies and they’ll do everything -to hide their tracks. What on earth can we do?” Babs wondered and -wondered. - -“Are you sure no other boy was with him when he peeked in the window?” -Cara questioned. - -“Not sure; I couldn’t see well for it was nearly dark. But you know he -is almost always alone.” - -“Yes; poor kid, he doesn’t get much chance to play, I guess,” Cara -replied. “Seems as if he is either selling junk or falling off -bicycles. You never got any reply from Washington about his heroism, -did you?” - -“No. If only I did that might help,” sighed Babs. “But Cara, I can’t -help thinking that Nicky looked guilty when he bolted out before Dad’s -car. Even Miss Davis noticed that.” - -“Oh, Miss Davis!” scoffed Cara. “She’d be sure to think that. But it -doesn’t mean a thing. Babs, I’m sure Nicky wouldn’t go off without -leaving some word for you. He’s too smart to forget you.” - -“Why?” asked Babs innocently. - -“Why? Because he idolizes you. Because he thinks you are his guardian -angel. Don’t you know the girls even said your father was going to -adopt him?” - -“Cara Burke!” That left Babs speechless. - -“Yes, indeed they did,” Cara repeated. “And it wouldn’t be a bad idea. -Can you believe that Dud asked Dad if _we_ couldn’t take him? Dud is -just crazy about the youngster. And maybe you didn’t know that Dud -took him and his old bike and the oil can all the way over to -Breakintake to have a real photograph made. He declared he was going -to send it to some news syndicate——” - -“For gracious sake!” exclaimed Babs. “He didn’t!” - -“He did, too. You don’t know what a hustler my brother is,” wound up -Cara, proudly. - -“Well,” gasped Babs, brightening at all this good news, “I guess I do -know how smart Dud is, Cara. Didn’t I spend hours racing around in his -good little car when I should have been doing other things at your -house party?” - -“You certainly did,” laughed Cara. They were cheered up considerably -now. - -“And just imagine the girls thinking that we, Dad and I, could take -Nicky,” Babs went on. “They evidently don’t know how poor we are,” she -said, as if glad to say it, as if she feared giving Cara a false -impression of her own humble circumstances. - -“Poor! indeed! You’re rich in a lot of things, Babs,” spoke up Cara. -“And if you wanted to take Nicky you would soon find out what a real -help he could be.” - -“I wish I had taken him—last night,” declared Babs, tossing her head -to one side so far that her hair came tumbling down like a curtain -over one eye. “But it’s too late to make wishes; what we have got to -do is to make plans. You see, Cara, it would be so much better if we -could get hold of Nicky right away, because Miss Davis’ twin sister -Tillie is away. If we could find him, somehow I feel we would find the -_Santa Maria_.” - -“You don’t think he took it?” - -“No, I don’t. But I feel he would know something about it,” Babs -insisted. - -“So do I: I might as well admit that,” Cara promptly added. “But say, -Babs, did you ever find out anything at all about who did the -beautiful wood carving?” - -“No, I didn’t.” - -“It must have been done in Nicky’s home.” - -“Why? He could have gone out for it, some place.” - -“Hardly. Because one morning Dud went around to the house and gave the -whistle he had learned to call Nicky with. When Nicky answered him his -sweater pockets were filled with fine wood shavings. Dud said he kept -playing with the shavings and smelling of their sandalwood odor. There -wasn’t a doubt about it they came straight from Nicky’s house.” - -“That’s very queer,” Babs pondered. “No one but a man could do such -skilled work, and who could the man be? That family is helped by the -town, you know. They have no real means of support, since their father -was taken from them.” - -“Well, I’ve got to go now,” Cara decided after a glance at her watch. -“Mother is coming over to the club, the Community House of course. She -has spent the morning digging up family relics. Hope she hasn’t -unearthed any of my love letters,” the girl chuckled. “They _would_ be -worth exhibiting.” - -“Or any of your early attempts at art,” added Babs. “They’d make quite -a showing if Mrs. Brownell would let you put them on easels on her old -mahogany table.” - -“Oh, that old table! Wasn’t it too funny how they fought about it -yesterday? I suppose it will be the spinet today. Really that spinet -is worth fighting over,” Cara added thoughtfully. “It is a genuine -antique.” - -“Don’t let’s talk about antiques,” begged Babs. “It gives me the -shivers, after the ship model. But say, Cara, I’ve a notion to go to -Captain Quiller. He ought to know where the Marcusis would be apt to -go to.” - -“Bright idea,” agreed Cara, swinging an arm around her companion. -“I’ll take you after lunch. Don’t worry in the meantime. I’ll drop in -and see if Miss Davis is alive yet.” Cara would do anything and -everything to help Babs. - -“All right, thanks a lot. I don’t know what I’d do without you, Cara,” -said Babs, affectionately. “You see, I’ve lost Glenn.” - -“Yes _I_ see,” chuckled Cara. “He runs around with Dud and sometimes -they condescend to let me hitch on. But girls are best; aren’t they, -Babby?” - -“Yes _they_ are, Cara. See what I did by chumming with even a little -fellow. I’d give a whole lot this very minute to forget Nicky -Marcusi.” - -“You wouldn’t!” - -“No, I don’t suppose I would either,” amended Babs. “And besides, we -have a mystery to ferret out. Who carved the candlesticks?” - -“A noble soul whoever he is,” declared Cara, “for Mother declares no -one else could have done that work, and Mother always knows—about -candlesticks,” said Cara slyly. - -“But the boat,” sighed Babs as they were again taking their seats in -the auto. “Why will twins inherit valuable war-time convict-prison-made -models?” - -“Because, being twins they had to inherit something silly,” laughed -Cara. “But let’s hope for good news from Captain Quiller. Dad thinks -he’s a rare old character. He goes down to the lighthouse often just -to talk with him. I’ll tell you, Babby, we started something at that -famous house party, didn’t we?” - -“A lot,” agreed Babs. She threw out her arms yawning with relief. “I -do feel better,” she said with a smothered sigh. “You have no idea how -blue I was.” - -“Haven’t I? Didn’t I suspect murder? Say, Babs, you can show more -moods in your face than a whole movie show. You ought to go into the -movies,” she joked. “You wouldn’t have to do a thing but look and then -keep on looking, differently.” - -They were able to joke now, even Babs was almost like herself again. -But it was no easy matter to feel cheerful and also feel somewhat -responsible for the loss of that precious model. - -Not that Barbara had had anything directly to do with it, but because -she had opposed everybody in keeping up her interest in the little -Italian. And just now it certainly looked pretty black for Nickolas -Marcusi Junior’s reputation. - -“Trouble is,” said Cara without hinting at what she was going to talk -about, “if they found Nicky has had anything to do with that they’ll -just grab him up and clap him in a reform school.” - -“Oh, Cara, they wouldn’t!” exclaimed Babs in real terror. - -“Well, that’s what I think they might do,” said Cara, regretting -instantly her careless remark. “Of course, with such good friends as -your father and my father and Captain Quiller he might have a better -chance.” - -“Cara, it would be simply terrible if the State should take that boy -from his mother after having taken the father. Oh, we must hurry to -Captain Quiller,” wailed Babs. “Miss Davis is so nervous she might go -to old Chief Morgan, and he doesn’t know any more about police work -than the ugly old stupid yellow dog that hounds his heels.” - -“I’m sorry I said that, Babs,” confessed Cara, seeing how newly -excited Babs had become. “There is no reason in the world to worry -about Nicky. Why shouldn’t he move away if his mother wanted to?” - -“I try to feel that way, Cara, but I suppose—oh well, we’ll see what -the Captain says. I’ll be ready any time you are.” - -“About two,” said Cara, and then they both saw Dora waiting on the -porch—waiting with a letter in her outstretched hand. - - - - - CHAPTER XIX - - NEWS FROM NICKY - - -“I thought you’d never come,” grumbled Dora, holding the letter -expectantly towards Barbara. “Here.” - -“Why Dora, you didn’t have to stand waiting for me just because a -letter came, did you?” Babs could not refrain from that much of a -rebuke. - -“Oh, no, of course I didn’t,” sighed Dora. “But that’s me, always -worrying about other folks’ business.” - -“What is there to worry about?” again Babs questioned. She was -purposely holding that soiled envelope without attempting to open it. -The scrawl on its flap was positive proof that the message, whatever -it might be, was sent by Nicky. - -“Worry about?” repeated the maid sourly. She was watching furtively -and, there wasn’t a doubt of it, she expected to find out what was in -that letter. “The way them Eytalians run around this place——” - -“What Italians?” asked Babs impatiently. She too was anxious to know -what was in the letter, but she had no idea of opening it just then. - -“Them children, that old Nick, or what ever it is you call him. He -raced up that path——” - -“Running?” - -“Runnin’?” Dora would repeat every word. “’Course not, runnin’, but on -an old forlorn bicycle that he let drop right on my cucumber vines.” - -“That’s too bad,” said Babs meaning it. - -“And it’s no easy job to raise cucumbers and keep them from the bugs, -let alone to get a cuke off them, and then have some one ‘bust’ in and -destroy them.” Dora was mad. - -Barbara was on her way upstairs now, but she turned around sharply. - -“Did he really destroy your cucumber vine, Dora?” she asked sharply. - -“No, he didn’t. Do you think I’d be fool enough to let him? But it -wasn’t his fault. I just caught him in time. And I guess I gave him a -piece of my mind that he won’t forget in a hurry——” - -But Barbara didn’t wait for all that. She was in her room, the little -brass bolt slipped across the door, and she was now opening the -letter. - -Scrawled over the front was the address: - -“Miss Barbara Hail” ... She laughed at that, “Hail”, she repeated. -“I’ll have to show that to Cara.” - -And like one so anxious to learn something that he dreads to know, she -was hesitating. Finally she thrust a nail file under the much -befingered envelope flap and took out the page of old-fashioned, -heavily lined paper. She read: “Dear Friend, Wear goin’ away, gotta -go. I’ll tell you later. I didn’t steal the boat, and can’t tell you -that either just now. Thank you, Nickolas Marcusi Junior.” - -“He didn’t steal the boat! I knew he didn’t,” she rejoiced. “Oh, I am -so glad——” - -Again and again she read the scrawled, badly spelled lines. But he -didn’t steal the boat and that was all she cared about. - -Instinctively she went over to her dressing table, pulled out the -small drawer in which she kept all her best beloved letters, and was -about to place Nicky’s welcome news in there, when she looked again at -the dirty smudges upon the paper. - -“But it’s precious,” she decided, taking a clean plain envelope from -her own box and slipping the other into it. Then she placed the newest -addition to her important collection in with the others. - -What a weight had suddenly been lifted from her heart! She had not -realized it was so heavy until it was gone, and now she felt so -different, so happy, so light hearted! She would almost have told Dora -the news, only, of course, Dora would not have understood it. - -But she must tell Cara at once. Down to the telephone she flew, and in -a way that only she and Cara could have understood, she promptly -managed to transmit the wonderful news. - -“And I must go over to Miss Davis just as soon as we can after lunch,” -she panted. “I knew he didn’t,” she repeated again, guarding her words -so that no other listener than Cara could have understood them. - -“I never thought so either,” Cara was answering. “Yes, I’ll call for -you early. Good-bye, I’m awfully glad.” - -But the girls were so rejoiced to receive those scant, scrawled words, -that they had not realized how little they could really mean to any -one but themselves. Nicky said he hadn’t stolen the boat and that was -enough for Barbara, but who else would believe him? Would Miss Davis? - -And he had plainly intimated that he knew all about it being stolen; -how did he know that? And why couldn’t he tell why they had moved away -so secretly? - -Just a glimmer of this phase of the situation slowly devolved upon -Babs, as she flew about happily, taking up her tasks which she had so -suddenly allowed to accumulate. Even her room had not been made up, -when Miss Davis came early that morning with the bad news. But now -Babs was fixing things up, without really knowing she was doing -anything. It was no trouble at all to straighten her row of books—they -always seemed to fall over without having been touched—and she even -dusted the mirror and the hand mirror, folded her towels. Oh, she -could do anything now, she felt so much better. - -But how did he know that model had been stolen? - -Babs took the letter from the drawer and read it again, as if she -could thereby penetrate the mind that had written those words. - -“Can’t tell you that either just now,” she read after having read the -previously written sentence, about his not having stolen the boat. And -she wondered and wondered why he couldn’t tell? Why could he not have -dropped a hint? But, of course, he must have been in a great hurry, -and it was good of him to make that attempt to reach her, Barbara -tried to satisfy herself. - -“One would think I had stolen the old boat,” she laughed ever so -lightly. “And imagine the girls thinking that we would want to adopt a -little Italian boy! How quaint! as Lida would say,” and Barbara’s -thoughts raced from one end of the subject to the other, but never did -they seem willing to take up a different subject. - -At lunch Dr. Hale had something to say. - -“Do you know, Babs,” he began gently, “that you have been neglecting -me?” - -“Why, Dads!” she exclaimed, affection pouring out with the words. - -“Yes. You know I suggested that you dig up something for _us_ to show -in that fair, or whatever it is you are holding, and I haven’t heard a -word about your digging.” - -“I know, Dads,” Barbara replied quickly. “But I’ve been—so busy.” She -was very meek now. - -Dora’s faded eyes were alive enough to flash her a significant -challenge at that, but Babs pretended not to have seen. - -“Oh, I know you have been busy,” her father agreed. “But you see, Babs -dear, _we_ should be represented. So I got up there in the attic -myself this morning, and _I_ found something,” he proclaimed proudly. - -“You did, Daddy? What?” - -“You shan’t know until you have finished your lunch. You ought to eat -that nice fresh egg,” he reminded the girl who had pushed the egg -aside. - -“I don’t think it is fresh, that is not very fresh,” Babs stated. “But -I don’t care for eggs anyhow,” she added. - -“Not fresh?” Dora was on hand now, “Why they’ve just came,” she -declared, as if her kitchen pride had been greatly insulted. - -“Don’t we get any more from Babs’ little Michael Angelo?” the doctor -asked playfully, meaning Nicky, of course. - -“No,” Babs answered. “Nicky’s folks have moved away,” she felt -constrained to add. - -And that brought on a discussion into which Dora forced her opinions. -Dr. Hale was not very much interested, but he tolerated the others as -they hit back and forth in their retorting remarks, for Dora could not -be expected to speak pleasantly of the “Eytalians.” - -Not that the maid was always disagreeable; indeed she was not. She was -as “good as gold,” almost always. Even Barbara would be glad to -testify to that. But what “riled her” was Barbara stooping to bother -with those foreigners. - -But finally Babs arose from the table, and the doctor followed. - -“What did you find in the attic, Dads?” she begged to know, as arm in -arm they went, as they did after every meal however humble, into the -sitting-room. - -“Guess?” he teased. - -“Oh, how could I?” murmured the girl. She gave his arm an extra tug -and fell upon the arm of his big chair as he dropped into it. - -“Well,” he drawled, just to tantalize her, “it’s small and it’s -square——” - -“A little footstool, the worsted embroidered one?” she guessed. - -“Nopey. It’s something to hang up.” - -“An old picture, of course. I knew we had some Currier and Ives -prints,” she continued, “and I should have looked them up. Where did -you hide it, Dad?” - -“Not a picture, dear, but what they called a sampler. I suppose it -means a sample-er because it’s made up of sample letters.” - -“A sampler? Really Dad! Where is it?” Babs demanded impatiently. “I -have never seen one in the attic.” - -“Well, it was there. In an old trunk; the one with the hobbed-nail -cover, you know. But you don’t spend as much time in the attic as I -imagine some girls do, Babby. Guess your old dad keeps you too busy -with his bugs,” the doctor murmured. - -“You don’t either Dad. _Where_ is that sampler?” - -“Just give me a chance and I’ll get it,” the doctor answered, as if he -had not had plenty of chance. - -But at last he left his chair and went over to the old walnut -bookcase. From the bottom, where the stained-glass door hid the big -shelves, he drew out the old heirloom. - -“It was your great-great grandmother’s,” he told his daughter, “and -it’s pretty old. I wonder it hasn’t fallen apart,” he reasoned, as he -held the little mahogany frame at arm’s length for his daughter’s -inspection. - -“How quaint!” she exclaimed, without realizing she was using the term -the girls always joked Lida about. “Isn’t it finely embroidered?” - -“I thought you would like it,” her father said, a ring of satisfaction -in his tone. “Well, I was talking to David Hunt this morning, our -honorable mayor you know, and he’s all keyed up over your Community -House show. He says there isn’t a doubt but the place will be given to -the borough now. I guess Mary-Louise Trainor knew what she was doing -when she started her Old Home Week. She got all the women interested -with their patchwork quilts,” the doctor chuckled, “and then she got -you girls busy. What this old beach doesn’t know about heirlooms and -family skeletons when the show is over won’t be worth knowing,” he -finished jokingly. - -But Barbara was looking intently at the sampler. So this had been the -delicate handwork of the great-great grandmother. The faded silks and -worsteds still held enough color to show the glory that had been woven -into the letters, the symbols, and the flaring peacock. - -“And I hate to sew or embroider,” Barbara said aloud, “so I guess I -don’t take after grandmother. Here’s her name in the corner. ‘Mary -Nelson, age 16 years 1831,’” she read. “That’s almost one hundred -years ago.” - -“Yes. The Nelsons were proud old stock, Babs,” her father told her. -“And I always thought you were about one hundredth of one per cent -Nelson,” he laughed. “But go get slicked up. I’m going over to that -show myself this afternoon, and we can both take the sampler. I -promised Dave Hunt I’d look in, and he asked me to be there at -two-thirty this afternoon. Seems he expects some other old settlers to -go there and greet the ladies, and he wants to include me.” - -“Oh, that will be fine,” said Barbara, feeling that it wouldn’t be -anything of the kind. For proud as she was of her professional father, -and glad and happy as she might be to bring that sampler to the -Community House, she had other plans for the afternoon. She was going -out with Cara to Miss Davis’ house to tell her that Nicky hadn’t -stolen the ship. After that they were both going down to the -lighthouse to see Captain Quiller, and they hoped he might know -something of the Marcusis’ whereabouts. - -But how could Barbara refuse to go to the Community House with her -father when he was so sure she would be delighted to go? - -He saw her hesitate. “Unless you have some better plans,” he said -then. “If you have, of course——” - -“Nothing could be better than going with you, Dad,” she told him, “but -I did promise to go—some place with Cara.” - -“Oh, that’s all right, of course,” the doctor quickly replied. “I’m -always glad to have you go any place with Cara,” he added. “She’s a -fine girl and she has done you a heap of good.” He ran his hand under -her chin at that, in a way he had of bringing her face up to look into -his own. - -“You’re better this afternoon,” he continued. “Thought you had -something on your mind this morning but I see it’s all right now,” he -ended, in that unerring way some fathers and all mothers seem to -possess. “Then, you’ll turn in the sampler, of course?” he questioned. -“It wouldn’t look just the thing for a doctor of bacteriology to -contribute, would it?” - -“Certainly I’ll take it, Dad. And I’ll get there before you leave, I -hope,” said Barbara, feeling guilty that she was failing him in his -laudable pride, while she was following her own selfish interest in -trying to ferret out the suspicion that had fallen upon an obscure -Italian boy. - -She knew it wasn’t just being generous to Nicky; that her interest in -him was a gratification of her love of adventure. - -And she realized again that as a girl she was—different. - - - - - CHAPTER XX - - FIGHTING IT OUT - - -As might have been expected Cara went into ecstasies over the old -sampler. - -“You ought to bring it right in,” she counselled Babs. “They’ll have a -real honest-to-goodness opening this afternoon with speeches and all, -and you should have the Nelson sampler there for folks to inspect. -Besides, Babs,” she pointed out, “it was so wonderful of your father -to unearth it. He’s a perfect peach,” she went on, without once taking -her brown eyes off the little framed sampler she was holding. - -“And I feel like a criminal not to have gone in the old show with -him,” Babs confessed. “Oh, Cara,” she exclaimed impatiently, “haven’t -I been an idiot?” - -“Well, maybe,” agreed her chum laughingly, “but you’re a different -sort of idiot from the common garden variety. Let’s go. Where to? Want -to peek in and see if the old Davis twin is still breathing?” - -“I think I had better,” demurred Babs. “Surely she’ll believe Nicky is -innocent. But suppose she shouldn’t?” - -“Well, if you ask me,” remarked Cara, in that funny way she had of -saying slangy things prettily, “I’d say she surely will believe him -guilty. She’s got to have somebody guilty because the boat is gone, -you know,” Cara finished, sagely. - -“Oh, yes; I know that,” agreed Babs, “but it isn’t Nicky.” - -“I hope not,” Cara answered her briefly. - -They drove along the sea-shore road, both silent for a few moments. -This was unusual for these two girls, who always had so much to say to -each other, but both were very busy thinking. - -Presently they sighted the little house which made a home for the -Davis twins. It was quaint, and had a row of latticed rose-bushes in -front where every body else kept their porch, and the porch was a side -“stoop,” square and comfy looking. The Misses Davis were known for -their good taste, and the inherited boat model may have favorably -influenced it. - -Babs jumped out of the car. “Doesn’t seem to be any one around,” she -remarked as she left Cara. - -No one was at home, they soon found out, and after vain attempts to -get a response for her knocks, Babs returned to the car. - -“I hope she isn’t dead in there all alone,” she remarked facetiously. -She was anxious about the worried little woman, but not to the point -so carelessly expressed. - -“No danger. Only the good die of lost boat models,” Cara said, keeping -up the feeble joke. “We can go right over to the Community House now, -can’t we?” - -“I suppose so,” sighed Barbara. “But I wish I could get a word in with -Miss Davis. She may go talking around, and you see, she couldn’t -mention Nicky’s name without mentioning mine.” - -“That is a nuisance,” her friend agreed. “Did you tell your father?” -Cara asked suddenly. - -“No.” - -“You didn’t?” - -“No. It is about the first thing of importance that I have ever kept -from him, too. Makes me feel guilty,” Babs confessed. “Let’s go down -to the old show and I’ll deliver the grandmother fancy work. That -ought to help,” she tried to joke, but there was little mirth in the -effort. - -A line of cars blackened the edge of the road as the girls came upon -the scene. - -“Folks getting here early,” said Cara. “You better hurry in with the -sampler, Babs, or you won’t find a spare nail left to hang it on. Oh, -there are the girls!” she exclaimed, for the other girls were waiting -outside the strip of land that was too near the ocean to grow good -grass, so it really could not be called a lawn. “Hello there!” she -called to them. - -They waved in answer and still waited. They were Louise, Esther and -Lida; Ruth was not with them. - -Both Cara and Barbara noticed how they waited; that they did not run -towards the car as they usually did. Neither remarked this, but they -both understood. Then, as Barbara was almost up to the group, and Cara -was a few steps back of her, she saw what the girls meant. - -They were not very keen on greeting her! - -They were actually holding back from speaking to her, slighting her -and ignoring her. - -Cara must have seen this also, for she sprang into the embarrassing -gap as she was sure to do. - -“Think we were not coming?” she asked cheerfully. - -“No, we weren’t worrying,” Louise said very, very evenly. “We are not -going to be on the girls’ committee any more, so we just waited to -tell you.” She said this to Barbara but was too constrained to use -Barbara’s name. Every word seemed icy cold. - -“Why, what’s the matter?” Barbara asked, naturally. - -“Oh, nothing much,” evaded Louise, “but I for one don’t care to serve -on the committee.” Her lip was curled in unmistakable scorn, and the -other girls, while saying nothing, were looking just as Louise looked, -disdainful. - -“Did anything happen?” Cara asked, for once unable to laugh off -trouble. - -“Well, yes there did,” Esther condescended to reply. “Miss Davis came -around here just as _we_ came. She said lots of mean things about the -girls’ committee not watching things, and we’re not going to take any -of that stuff,” scoffed Esther. “We don’t have to.” - -“Watching things? What’s gone?” Barbara asked, she had to find out -whether or not the girls knew about the boat model; of course, she -feared they did. - -“Miss Davis wouldn’t say just what,” Louise answered. “But _something_ -has been stolen. The idea! Just as if we could have or should have -been around here early in the morning. Come on girls, I’m going,” she -finished crisply, and with an unmistakable look towards Barbara. She -did achieve a little smile when Cara looked her way, however. They -always favored Cara. - -“Of course, go if you want to,” flared back Babs. “There’s no reason -why you shouldn’t. But if anything is stolen I can’t see why it would -be blamed on—us,” she declared. She was going to say “blamed on you” -but she changed it to include herself. - -“Well, she did blame us and you’re chairman so I suppose you’ll have -to fight it out with her.” Again Louise avoided using Babs’ name as -she said this. - -“Of course it’s that little Italian that tags around after you,” -Esther put in. “And Miss Davis says she’ll clap him in a reform school -if she lays her eyes on him,” was the way Esther wound that up. Just -as if the reform school should include Babs, if justice were really -doled out according to Esther’s ideas. - -Babs was too indignant to answer. She stood there, digging her -slippers into the sand and biting her lip. Her face was white and set -in strained lines, and she knew, herself, that if she spoke just then -she would say something that she might regret. - -So she swung around sharply and left the girls, Cara standing there -with them. - -Crowds were coming in now, and she, Barbara Hale, who had been chosen -to head the girls’ work was being left alone, to her own resources and -misery, and the women, and even the mayor, perhaps, would talk to her -about all they had done, praise their work. How absurd! - -She hoped her father wasn’t there. That would add to her humiliation. -And even more than this, she hoped Miss Davis was nowhere about. - -“The Italian boy who always tags after me,” she thought bitterly. -“Yes, that’s it. Those girls won’t have anything to do with me or -anyone else unless we keep away from——” - -She couldn’t say the word that was already upon her lips. She couldn’t -call the poor “scum.” That would have been beneath her. But in her -anger she could not help blaming the girls for their narrowness. - -Why could they not have stuck together and proved to Miss Davis that -harmony was always reliable? - -Her white face burned now and her eyes felt sightless, as she entered -the house. How devastating anger can be? How it poisons, and how it -hurts! - -“Those snobs!” she was thinking. “Cutting me like that. They were glad -of a chance, of course. As if I cared.” - -But she did care, a lot. She was so indignant she could not direct her -thoughts. She just couldn’t think straight. - -Entering the room she immediately espied her father. - -“Daddy!” she called out. “I’ve brought our heirloom. Come along while -I give it to the chairman.” - -Her father clutched her arm contentedly. And Babs was, as always, -immensely proud of him. He did not “mix up much” according to popular -opinion, but he was always to be depended upon when anything -educational was astir. - -Babs was dragging him along through the crowd. Folks were smiling and -bowing to them, for everybody knew, or knew of, Dr. Winthrop Hale. - -“Here, over here, Dad,” marshalled Barbara, as gaily as she could -manage to be. - -She gave one vigorous push through a close tangle in the crowd, and -emerged in front of the chairman; she had been going after the hat she -recognized as belonging to Mrs. Frederick Winters. - -And standing with Mrs. Winters was little Miss Davis. She was so short -Barbara could not have seen her until she was right alongside of her. - -For a moment Babs felt too panicky to speak. And what could she say -with her father standing there smiling? His hat in his hand made him -look quite professional, Babs knew, for it was a soft gray hat and he -carried it like the gentleman he was. - -But Miss Davis! - -“Oh, Miss Davis!” burst out Babs without knowing she was going -to. “Just see what we have brought. Daddy found it in the attic.” -She was chattering like a squirrel. “Isn’t it wonderful? My -great-great-grandmother Nelson’s!” - -“Nelson’s!” exclaimed Miss Davis. “Nelson of Massachusetts! Why Dr. -Hale! You don’t tell me you are related to Mary Nelson?” - -“My great-grandmother, Madam,” said the doctor proudly, bringing the -gray hat in and out suavely. - -“And my great-grandmother’s first cousin! There! I knew there was some -bond between us, Barbara!” Miss Davis declared excitedly, getting hold -of Barbara’s arm and squeezing it with more vigor than might have been -expected, even after Babs had felt the first decided squeeze. - -“Oh, how wonderful!” trilled the girl. Her exclamation had a twofold -meaning, and one fold applied to her relief that the other matter was -not being brought up before her father. - -“Now let those girls cut,” she was thinking. “I guess I can have some -friends of my own, and relations even. Think of it! An enemy, one to -be feared, to turn out some precious relation. All through a faded old -sampler!” - -The relief was like the snapping of a string somewhere in Babs’ -make-up, for she would have danced around if there had been room. As -it was, she couldn’t budge without stepping on somebody’s feet. - -Her father and the chairman, Mrs. Winters, were quickly engaged in -conversation, and the sampler was in the chairman’s hands when Babs -managed to drag Miss Davis away. - -“I must speak to you,” she whispered, timidly. - -“Did you get it?” breathed Miss Davis hopefully. - -“No; but I know something about it.” - -“Oh, do you!” - -Instantly Barbara regretted the way she had said that. Miss Davis -thought “knowing something about it” would mean much more than it did. - -They finally reached a spot where they could speak privately, without -being overheard. - -“What is it?” begged Miss Davis. - -“He, Nicky, didn’t take it,” Babs answered quickly. - -“Then who did?” - -“I don’t know. He says in a note he wrote me that he couldn’t tell -just then. Of course he will when I see him.” - -Miss Davis’s face dropped like a faded flower falling from its stem. - -“My dear child,” she murmured, “this is awful. I felt sure you had -recovered it, you were so cheerful.” - -“But I am sure now that you will get it,” insisted Barbara. “I know I -can depend upon Nicky, and if it hadn’t been for Father wanting to -fetch in the sampler this afternoon I might have found him. But you -see,” she pointed out affectionately, “I really couldn’t disappoint -Dad. He so seldom takes an interest in things like this.” - -“Yes, you couldn’t disappoint a man like your father, Barbara. He’s -one of Nature’s noblemen,” Miss Davis declared fervently. “And I’m -simply delighted to find that we can claim a relationship.” Her faded -eyes sought Barbara’s and they tried to smile, but her lips, her mouth -merely twitched. She was suffering in her anxiety. - -Instinctively Barbara put out her hand and pressed the slender -fingers, that seemed so nervously restless upon the silken cord -gathering in the little lady’s bag. - -“I’m so sorry about it, Miss Davis,” Barbara murmured, “but I’m -perfectly sure it will be all right. There’s something we can’t even -guess, some reason why we can’t find it. But I’m sure it’s safe or -Nicky would never have written the note the way he did.” - -“What did he say?” asked Miss Davis in a very tiny voice. - -Babs told her. She dwelled upon the especial significance of every -meager word. - -“And you see, Miss Davis,” she pointed out, “Nicky is really very -wise. He has had to learn such a lot in those few years of his, that -he’s as wise as a boy much older.” - -“Yes; I can understand that,” assented the other. “But—he may be -wayward.” - -“Oh, he isn’t really.” Barbara was thinking of the girls and their -hateful gossip about a reform school. “He just does everything for his -mother,” she said jerkily. “And he’s the best boy——” - -“I was speaking to Mr. Thornton confidentially this morning,” Miss -Davis said. “You know he has charge of wayward children——” - -“But Nicky isn’t wayward, not a bit,” defended Babs, nervously. - -“Well, I hope not. But Mr. Thornton said it was best for such children -to be where they would _have_ to learn right from wrong——” - -“Oh, Miss Davis! But Nicky knows!” Babs gasped a little too loud, for -folks around her turned sharply to see why any one would be so -excited. - -“The mayor is speaking,” said a voice like vinegar right into -Barbara’s surprised right ear. - -Her silence then was resolute. - - - - - CHAPTER XXI - - BRIGHTER BUT NOT QUITE CLEAR - - -So that was what the girls meant when they spoke of the threatened -reform school. Miss Davis had not burst out in anger, as Babs had -imagined she might have done. How different things were after all. -Perhaps it was foolish to get so excited. But the girls seemed so -hateful. That was what hurt so. They just enjoyed cutting her, Barbara -was quickly thinking, and in doing so she was again building up a wall -of imagination that might be all wrong; just as she had been wrong -about the reform school. - -It had been a wonderful opening at the Community House. Speeches were -made by many prominent men and women interested in the development of -the Community House plan, and of course, a tribute had been paid to -the girls’ part in the affair. Best of all Barbara Hale stood there, -right beside her proud father, and heard her own name called out as a -most efficient young chairman. There was some satisfaction in that. - -How much that made up for! Barbara hadn’t realized that she cared -until the glory was being all swept away, when the girls threatened to -resign. But all the same, she saw them there now with Cara as cheer -leader, and they did clap their hands in the applause that followed -the calling out of her name. So perhaps they were sorry for their -spite. She was glad of that too. Another surprise for her. Miss Davis -stood beside her and had her kindly arm around Barbara’s waist. This, -no doubt, had helped change the girls’ opinion. Or maybe it wasn’t -changed either way, as she had feared. - -Well, at any rate, things looked brighter. The family sampler was -placed among the things to be selected in the final issue of prizes, -and none of the other girls had brought any heirlooms in. Cara talked -of loaning a very old Chinese print, but she decided it might not be -understood so she didn’t bring it in after all. - -“Might think the laundry man gave it to us for Christmas,” she joked -when Babs urged her to fetch it. “No, I don’t think I will. It -wouldn’t jibe in with Mrs. Brownell’s early American table.” This of -course had become the standard joke of the entire exhibit. The table -set the style. If it didn’t go with the table it wouldn’t go with the -show, was the way Cara argued, humorously. - -So that Babs had fared very well after all, and she cared because her -father cared. Now folks would not speak of her as a girl deprived of a -girl’s pleasures, because she had to help her father in his laboratory -work. - -Everything was bustle and confusion when Cara slipped around through a -little pantry door, came up the back way, and grabbed Barbara. - -“It’s all right,” she whispered. “The girls are all over their huff. -We shouldn’t have kept them so long waiting. That’s enough to make -anybody mad.” - -“Oh, I don’t care,” Babs answered, somewhat truthfully for she was -feeling very brave now. “We’ve finished our work, anyway. The women -will take charge now.” - -“But you’re not going to—to keep it up, are you Babs?” asked Cara, -anxiously. - -“You mean—the scrap?” - -“Yes. Really, they are sorry.” - -“They ought to be,” Babs retorted. “Why should they blame me?” - -“Oh, you know what kids they are,” laughed Cara. “Come on. I’m going -for a soda. I’m choked. Come along. Want to fetch your daddy?” - -“I guess he’s riding with Mr. Hunt,” Babs answered. “Let’s go. I’m -smothered,” and bidding a quick good-bye to the newly found relation, -Miss Isabel Davis, Barbara hurried along with Cara. - -The soda was refreshing. They sipped it leisurely in Hills, both girls -a little tired and one girl, Babs, a little anxious. - -“If only old Captain Quiller knows where Nicky may have gone,” she -said, “I feel positive we will be able to clear everything up. -Wherever do you suppose the old model went to, anyway?” she asked -again, for the question was constantly recurring to her. - -“If I could guess that,” Cara answered, “I would be smart. Look who’s -coming!” she broke off suddenly. “There’s Dud and Glenn.” - -“’Low there!” sang out Cara’s brother as he espied them. “Where on -earth did you two hail from? I had an idea you were in Europe or some -such town. Haven’t seen you——” - -“For a month of blue moons,” Babs supplied. “Hello Glenn! Where have -_you_ been? Forgotten where Dr. Hale lives?” she joked, for her friend -Glenn had rather deserted her lately. - -“Nopey. I haven’t. But you girls are always so goshed busy a fellow -doesn’t dare bust in,” Glenn replied. “Have more soda, or a lolly-pop -or sumthin’? Just to be sociable, do,” he urged, for the girls had -pushed their almost empty glasses aside. - -“Couldn’t possibly,” Cara answered. - -“Nor I,” declared Babs. “The best I could do to oblige would be to -accept a box of nice two-toned writing paper, Glenn; that is if you -insist, of course.” - -“Well, we’ll get to the writing paper after the soda,” Glenn replied -dryly. “How do you like our new coats of tan? Dud has had me out at -dawn running up and down the beach, training you know,” he explained. -The girl with the paper cap, and gingham apron, and cheerful smile had -taken the boys’ order. She must have loved to serve soda the way she -smiled at those boys. - -They joked and chatted until Babs wondered if the hour planned for her -visit to the lighthouse would be all used up, there at Hills. It was -pleasant to meet the boys again, and they were going to camp, a -military training camp, late in the summer, so that they too had much -to talk about. But she could not spare the time. - -Glenn and Dudley had become great friends; just as great as Babs and -Cara; that was evident. - -“And oh, say!” sang out Dudley suddenly. “Know what?” - -“No, what?” answered Babs punning on his exclamation. - -“Our little Nicky brought me the corkingest little wooden mug, all -carved in queer birds and little beasties——” - -“When?” interrupted Babs eagerly. - -“When what? Birds or beasties?” asked Dudley. - -“Oh, when did he bring them, silly?” Cara asked her brother. She -understood Babs’ eagerness. - -“Well,” drawled Dudley, as a boy will when he knows a girl is anxious, -“to be exact——” He looked at his watch. - -“Please tell me when he came, Dud?” Babs asked frankly. “I’ve lost -track of Nicky and I must find him.” - -“Oh; that’s different,” replied the boy. “Well, he came this morning -while Glenn and I were knocking up some wonderful tennis. He crawled -through the hedge and I imagine he swam the brook. He looked just -about like something that had swum a brook when the brook was being -swept out. He can look too funny, that youngster.” - -“Did he say anything about having moved?” Barbara asked impatiently. - -“Nary a word. But say, Babs, they don’t move, they flit, like the -birds. And a good thing too. Lucky dogs! Everybody ought to flit -instead of moving. Remember when we last moved, little sister?” - -“Oh, forget it,” answered Cara. “Don’t try to remember it. But say -Dud, listen. _Where_ has Nicky flitted to? That’s the great question.” - -“How should I know? He just plunked the wooden thing under my nose and -I plunked a dollar bill in his fist, and there you are!” Dudley could -be brief and expressive at times. - -“Let’s go, Cara,” urged Babs. “I really must go, you know,” she -insisted. - -“Oh, say,” interrupted Glenn. “Who was going to eat that box of -writing paper? Call the waiter. Here!” this was to a boy who stood -grinning behind the counter. “Where’s your best stationery——” - -“If you are going to treat us, Glenn,” Cara cut in, “let’s select our -own. Do, please. Come along Babs. We’ll teach him not to be rash. -We’ll buy the very best,” and laughingly, she led Babs to the pretty -glass counter in the very back of the store where all sorts of -attractive things in stationery and powder boxes were gaudily -displayed. - -A little later, armed each with a magazine that Dudley insisted upon -buying them, and the gold-edged blue-lined writing paper that Glenn -gladly paid for, they finally made their escape. - -“Do let’s rush along,” begged Babs. “We must get to the lighthouse -before supper-time and I suppose they eat at six o’clock sharp, -government time,” she suggested gaily. “Oh, Cara, I am feeling better -every minute, aren’t you?” - -“Yes, it’s the soda, the writing paper and the magazine. All cheerful -little things,” Cara answered, starting her car. “But say, Babby, did -you have any sort of inspiration when Dud told about _more_ wood -carving?” - -“No, Cara, why?” asked Babs, breathlessly. - -“I did.” - -“You did. What?” - -“I thought maybe, just maybe you know, that the boat model was -borrowed for a model.” - -“I don’t know what you mean.” - -“You are not usually so stupid, Babby dear,” sighed Cara. “Can’t you -see? It wouldn’t really be stealing if friend Nicky took the little -boat for some one to copy, would it?” - -“Cara!” - -“Now, would it?” - -“Not stealing,” said Babs slowly. “But who would want to copy it?” - -“Stupid again. Whoever does the beautiful carving, of course.” - -“Oh.” Babs fell into silence after that. She had not thought of such a -possibility and it sort of staggered her. - -“Copy the model?” she said finally. - -“Why not?” pressed Cara. “It was worth copying, wasn’t it?” - -“It certainly was. Cara, you’re a wonder. I never would have thought -of such a thing,” Babs declared still a little jerky. - -“Oh, yes, you would. I didn’t give you time. But don’t build your -hopes too high, dear. I may be all wrong,” drawled Cara. - -“I hope you’re all right,” said Babs fervently. Then she stared hard -ahead, as the car cut its way through the heavy sand. She was -wondering. Nicky said he hadn’t taken the model—no, he said he hadn’t -stolen it. - -“And wasn’t it queer,” Cara broke in on her thoughts, “that he, Nicky, -should fetch Dud another piece? Whoever cuts those out must be an -expert,” she promptly decided. - -“Yes,” said Babs abstractedly. - -“And Nicky’s like Hop-o-My-Thumb,” she added. “We just about get on -his track when he—hops.” - -“Yes,” said Babs again. - -“If I said you were handsome would you say yes, Babs?” - -“Yes,” said her companion. Then they both burst out laughing. - -“I knew I’d catch you. Well, you’re not handsome, not when you pucker -up your forehead that way, anyhow. Now, here we are on our way to the -lighthouse, and here’s where we get out and walk,” she went on. “I -suppose we’ll have to wait until morning if the captain is trimming -his lamp,” she finished, locking her car and then following Babs -through the deep sand to the little path that led along the beach to -the lighthouse. - -A big, shaggy, friendly dog rushed out to them. - -“Captain in?” Babs asked the dog. - -“Whoo-of!” barked the animal playfully, licking Babs’ hand as an after -thought. - -“Yes, he’s in,” said Cara. “I see his foot. See it sticking out there -in the bushes?” she directed, for the porch of the lighthouse was -surrounded by a stubby growth generously called bushes, and they could -see the outlines of a shoe among them. - -There was the scuffling of a chair as the girls reached the funny -little home-made porch. - -“Well, now,” declared the captain moving in his chair but not rising. -“Here you both are! How do? See, I’ve a game leg and can’t get up,” he -explained. “Slipped on the third step the other night. Ouch!” he -groaned as he moved the “game leg” unintentionally. “There ain’t -nuthin’ worse,” he declared still groaning. - -“Hurt your foot?” Cara managed to say. “That’s too bad, Captain. You -need both your feet to climb up to the light.” - -“Don’t I though? Find a place to sit down among those books. I’ve been -readin’ my head off, me and Mac” (he patted the dog affectionately) -“and it’s tough being stuck in a chair with a pretty sea like that -rolling under your very nose.” - -“Yes, it must be,” agreed Babs. “But Captain Quiller. I’m sorry to be -in a hurry, but I have to be,” she sort of apologized. “Can you tell -me where Nicky has moved to?” - -“Moved to? You mean flew to.” (It was the same sort of expression -Dudley had used.) “They’ve gone to the woods. Didn’t you know?” - -“To the woods!” both girls exclaimed. - -“Yessir. And sensible thing to do too. The woods is just the place for -them.” And Captain Quiller brought his cane down so hard and so near -his sore foot that he groaned anyhow, although he didn’t touch it. - -“Where? What woods!” demanded Barbara impatiently. - -“Well, now. Not so easy to locate from here seein’ as how it’s some -miles back. But he’ll be here, Nicky will. He’s my stand-by now,” the -captain declared proudly. “Depend more on him than I can on Pete. -Yessir, Nick is some boy.” - -Barbara loved to hear him praise her little protégé. She didn’t -realize it, of course, but she was taking Nicky and his affairs to -heart just as grown folks take protégés and their affairs. - -“Couldn’t we find their camp?” pressed Cara. “We really want to speak -to Nicky just as soon as we can.” - -“By the time you would find him he would be due here likely,” answered -Captain Quiller. “Hope nothin’s wrong?” - -“No, not exactly,” said Babs, “just a little mixed up.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXII - - WASHINGTON ANSWERS - - -“We certainly are meeting difficulties,” remarked Cara as they left -the road to the lighthouse behind them. “Ruth would call them snags, -difficulties are different, aren’t they?” - -“But imagine the Marcusis camping in the woods,” said Babs, ignoring -frivolity. “What did the captain say about some one being sick?” - -“He didn’t say it, he caught himself in time. Seems as if there’s a -mystery in that somewhere,” said Cara more seriously. - -“Why ever should there be a mystery in a person being sick? How -silly!” - -“Well, we’ll soon know,” Cara assured her. “You can count on Captain -Quiller. We impressed him the night he scrambled in on my roof. Wasn’t -that too funny?” - -“And we had on those absurd things!” Babs recalled. “You in your -bridal robes!” - -“And you in your college robes! Say Babs, I wish you would sell me -that outfit,” Cara said suddenly. “I’d love to wear it once in a -while. I never intend to go to college, you know,” Cara admitted -indifferently, “so I’d like to pretend I had been there.” - -“Sell it to you! You can have it, I don’t want it. I always feel as if -I do want to go to college— But then,” Babs checked herself, “I may go -to a special school for science. Dad says I have a scientific turn of -mind,” she declared, laughing heartily at the very idea. - -“And now that you’ve gone in for heirlooms, samplers, etc., that -proves it,” remarked Cara dryly. - -“And gone in for twin cousins. Do you suppose Miss Davis is a sort of -shadowy cousin to me?” asked Babs. - -“Shadowy anyhow. She’s thin enough. But she’s nice. If only we can lay -hold of that miserable little Nicky and wring out of him the story of -the boat model.” - -“Cara Burke!” exclaimed Babs, rebukingly. “You stop making fun of my -adopted brother. Didn’t you say I should adopt him?” - -“Looks right now as if he would be the adopted son of Captain -Quiller,” went on Cara, for both girls were in that mood that made -them feel like saying silly things and laughing at them, as if they -were the very best jokes they had ever heard. - -“I’m glad you have nothing more important to do than to drive me -around, Cara,” Babs remarked as she jumped out of the car. This was -Babs’ way of thanking her chum for her continuous attention. - -“So am I,” chirped Cara. “Think what fun I’d miss if I did have -something more important to do.” - -But presently she was gone, and Babs was running up the little patched -stone walk, a walk made of pieces of stone just scattered in the grass -at step lengths, so that one always wanted to play a game as she raced -along them. Babs called them her broken trail, and she always jumped -hardest on the big pointed stone that looked like a gray shawl in the -thick green grass. - -She was almost happy. Things were promising to clear up. She and Cara -were going to the lighthouse exactly at eight o’clock. It would still -be daylight at that time, but Captain Quiller said Nicky would come -then to light his lamp, so high up in the tower that the glow could be -seen like a little candlelight’s flicker, to warn seamen away from the -dangerous point of sand. Once touching that sand-bar a craft would be -aground, and the light was to mark this danger and save it from such -peril. - -Babs, hurrying on, had not quite reached the porch of her own home -now, but she could plainly see the inescapable Dora standing waiting -for her. - -And she held another letter in her hand! - -“What?” exclaimed Babs, ready to roar at the humor of it, “not another -letter, Dora?” - -“Yes,” replied Dora solemnly, holding out a big envelope, “and it even -hasn’t a stamp on it. Marked ‘official business.’” One would think it -were a death notice the way Dora intoned that. - -“Oh!” cried Babs grabbing the paper from her hands. “Quick, give it to -me! I know——” - -“Don’t scratch me like that,” snapped Dora. “Surely, your old Aunt -hasn’t died and left you that money——” - -“What Aunt? What money?” Babs didn’t know what she was saying, and she -didn’t care. She had the letter and was making tracks for the secrecy -of her own room. - -Poor Dora! Disappointed again! Barbara Hale was not the girl she used -to be. There had been a time when she read her letters under Dora’s -very eyes. But now—— - -Up in her room Barbara was reading that letter from Washington, in a -perfect spasm of excitement. The spasm kept her still, and she made -her eyes read the words in spite of their rebellion. They wanted to -blink, to wink, to flicker, to flirt with the words. Eyes will act -like that when you press them too hard. - -Babs was reading. And the “letter head” was from the secretary of the -United States. It informed Miss Barbara Hale that her letter -recommending Nickolas Marcusi for bravery had been received, and an -account of the incident had been fully investigated. The little boy -was certainly worthy of official commendation, the letter stated, for -not only had he done a brave act and suffered physical pain in doing -it, but he had set an example of bravery and nobility such as boys of -this great country would do well to appreciate. “Therefore——” - -Barbara stopped reading. She wanted to know it all so badly she just -feared to find it out; she hated to have the secret a secret no -longer. Raising her violet eyes to her ceiling, always such a homely -ceiling but now seemingly heavenly, she drew in a sharp breath. - -“Nicky!” she whispered ecstatically, “you do deserve it. You have -worked so hard!” - -Again she followed the precious words. Yes, Nicky would be recommended -for bravery and the whole affair was to be brought to the attention of -the President. - -“The President!” cried out Barbara. “Hooray! Daddy! Dora! Listen!” and -now the anxiously waiting maid was to hear the news at last. - -“And Daddy isn’t home yet! Oh, dear!” wailed the excited girl. “How -shall I wait to tell him? Listen Dora.” - -“I’m listenin’,” Dora reminded her dryly. “Whatever is it? Who’s -dead?” - -“Dead? Who said any one was dead? It’s Nicky——” - -“What’s happened to him now, Nick-kee,” Dora was contemptuous. - -“Now, if you sneer at him like that I’ll not tell you a single word!” -threatened Babs, her cheeks flaming indignantly. - -“Who’s sneering, I’d like to know?” retorted Dora, just as if she -didn’t know already. - -“Well,” began Barbara, “when the government of the United States -thinks a boy is good enough and brave enough to be noticed, it seems -to me you and I,” she added this last when she remembered the overdue -wages, “you and I,” she repeated emphatically, “should at least -respect him.” - -“Yes,” said Dora, and the word really meant no. - -“Oh, all right, you don’t need to bother,” decided the excited one. -“I’m in a hurry anyhow. I hope supper is ready. I’m starved too. I’ve -got to phone Cara.” She was going toward the phone. - -“I can’t see what good a fair is if you come home starved to death -from it,” snapped Dora. “Of course, your supper is ready. Am I ever -late? Not that there ain’t enough to hinder one——” - -But Barbara was at the phone. - -“Cara, Cara!” she could be heard to exclaim. “The most wonderful news! -From Washington! About Nicky. Oh, do hurry around——” - -“Yes, a letter. It was here when I came home. Oh, here comes Dads. I -must tell him. See you in a few minutes? Yes, do hurry,” and Babs -banged the receiver on the hook and flew to the door. - -Her father was just coming up the Trail but he didn’t dance over the -stones as Babs would have done. Yet, he too liked that distracting -stone walk. One could never think of trouble when treading it; just -stones. They demanded one’s entire attention. - -Babs swung herself around her father’s neck—by her arms, of course—in -a way she had not lately been indulging in. - -“Oh, Daddykinks!” she gurgled, lips pressed to his kindly cheeks. -“News from Washington. They answered my letter——” - -“Of course they did. Why wouldn’t they?” the doctor interrupted dryly. -“Look who you are! Didn’t you get proud at the Community House this -afternoon?” He pressed her close to his mohair coat. “I did,” he -declared frankly. “With our sampler and our new relations——” - -“But this. You see this isn’t for us; it’s for Nicky. And he hasn’t -anything else. Just sit down and read it,” she begged. “Do daddy, -please.” - -“That supper you was talking about is pretty well spoiled,” put in the -grouchy Dora. “And it isn’t my fault. You understand that, I hope.” - -“Yes, we understand that and it’s all right, thank you, Dora,” spoke -up the doctor authoritatively. - -Then he and his daughter settled down deep into the big chair to enjoy -the news from Washington. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIII - - PROLONGING THE AGONY - - -A small dark figure, like a queer sort of bug, could be seen at the -top of the grating that supported Beacon Light. That was Nicky. The -girls beneath were calling to him, Captain Quiller was shouting, but -beyond meaningless little words dropped down through the spiral frame, -no answer came to their entreaties. - -They wanted him to come down. Captain Quiller insisted that the light -was all right and that he should come down. - -But he didn’t. “In a minute,” they heard him promise. “I just want to -see what’s the matter with this.” - -“With what?” demanded the captain. He was standing on that sore foot -defiantly, and his cane didn’t do much good either. “Ain’t nothin’ the -matter with that light,” he called up to the speck at the eye of the -beacon. “Come on down here! Can’t sleep up there, can you? Though he’d -like to, first rate,” the captain told the two impatient girls. “He’s -just daffy about that light.” - -But after repeated appeals, and a broad hint from Cara that she had -good news for him, Nicky paid some attention. - -“Good news?” he repeated. “What is it? Can’t you fetch it up?” - -“Fetch it up?” Babs repeated this. “Why should we?” - -“So’s you could see the light. It’s a dandy, and they’s steps. Come on -up,” he coaxed, leaning over the little railing expectantly. - -“Can you beat that?” chuckled the captain. “Wants to show you the -light. Well, you better climb up. It’s the quickest way. No good news -ain’t goin’ to get him down ’till he’s ready to come. Take them steps. -They’re all right, only don’t get dizzy,” he warned them. They were -already on their way. - -It was fun to walk up the queer steps, and Babs led the way. - -“I feel like a roof painter,” joked Cara. “Where’s our paint brushes -and tin cans?” - -But Babs was going straight up. She didn’t pause to look out over the -water as Cara was doing. - -“Why don’t you look?” Cara begged her. “Did you ever see such a -wonderful view?” - -“Haven’t time for views,” called Babs, for the noise of the ocean made -calling necessary. - -Finally, they both reached the top, and on the little platform they -found Nicky. His eyes were dancing in his head, and he was so anxious -to tell them everything about the light at once, that Babs despaired -of getting his attention at all. - -“We can see all this any time,” she insisted. “Don’t you see, Nicky, I -have a letter from Washington,” she began almost hopelessly. - -“Yeah?” spoke the boy. - -“About you.” - -“About me?” He was alarmed now. “What about me an’ Washington?” - -“Well, if you’ll just climb down I’ll tell you,” promised Babs, -determined to get him to a less distracting spot. “We’ll go first, and -you come right straight along.” - -Perhaps his alarm accounted for his final obedience, but at last he -did condescend to come down. - -And it was on Captain Quiller’s porch that Babs unfolded her story. -The setting, Cara thought, was like a scene in a play. The old captain -in the funny old armchair with a telegraph-wire glass on each chair -leg. Then Nicky—he looked like a picture that might have been found -somewhere in Europe. He was picturesquely ragged, as Cara saw him. His -brown skin toned in with the faded brown khaki garments he wore, his -one suspender doing valiant duty across his small shoulder. - -His hair was black and too long for a boy, but it curled up jauntily, -and made the little fellow look quite handsome, both girls thought. - -“You come here, son,” the captain ordered. “You’re worse than a -grasshopper. Can’t pin you down, nohow. There, you sit right here,” he -indicated the arm of the chair, and the boy awkwardly perched himself -upon it. - -Nicky’s fear at anything official had now left him. He instinctively -knew that there was nothing wrong. They wouldn’t be smiling and happy -had there been. - -Babs tried to explain about the letter but it was hard work. Smart as -the youngster was he couldn’t understand why falling off a bicycle, -with a can of kerosene oil, was anything to be proud of. - -“But you saved the light from going out,” Cara explained. “If the -light had gone out in the storm, ships might have been wrecked and -lives lost.” - -“And the _Laurania_ was just off shore,” spoke up the captain. “She’s -a millionaire’s yacht and they carry quite a crew.” He clapped his -hand on Nicky’s shoulder and it was easy to tell just how thick or -thin the boy’s old shirt was. - -“Well, anyhow,” Babs began again, “Washington has answered our letter -and maybe you’ll get a medal.” - -“A medal!” grinned Nicky. “What good is a medal?” - -“Not much, son,” agreed the captain, strange to say. “But then, it’s a -mighty good thing to have friends at Washington. There’s all-powerful -people there,” and Nicky’s shoulder again responded under Captain -Quiller’s fatherly pat. It whacked. - -“Oh, I know!” gasped Babs. “I know—something.” - -“What? Don’t choke on it. What is it?” asked Cara. - -“Perhaps I shouldn’t say it right out, but you know, we’re all your -friends, don’t you Nicky?” she began cautiously. - -“Sure.” Nicky wasted no sentiment. - -“Then, Captain Quiller, why couldn’t we ask to get Nicky’s father out? -He never did a thing wrong.” - -“Betchure life he didn’t,” proclaimed the small son, loudly and -emphatically. - -“No, he didn’t do it,” confirmed Captain Quiller. “That’s been a -shame, that has.” He avoided saying anything more definite, but they -all knew he meant it had been and still was a shame to hold Nicky’s -father in jail. - -“Then, don’t you see?” gurgled Babs. She was too excited to be -explicit. “Don’t you see, that now Washington would listen to us and -we could ask?” - -“Who’s Washington?” asked Nicky, quite practically. - -“Oh, you know I mean the officials at Washington, of course,” Babs -answered petulantly. - -“I think that’s just a wonderful idea,” declared Cara, jumping up to -get nearer her chum. “Babs, you’re too smart to live. Take care you -don’t die or something.” - -But Barbara Hale wasn’t joking; she was very much in earnest, and in -less time than she could have thought it all out, she and Captain -Quiller had come to a decision. - -Of course, Nicky and Cara got a few words in edgewise, but they were -mostly very little words and didn’t take long to say, for the way Babs -and the old captain talked was simply prodigious. - -“Aren’t you happy? Aren’t you glad, Nicky?” she demanded to know -finally, for as a matter of fact the boy wasn’t showing any enthusiasm -at all. - -“About what?” he wanted to know. Wasn’t he tantalizing? - -“That we’re going to get your father home,” Babs declared -convincingly. - -“How can you tell?” the boy cross-questioned. - -“Oh, Nicky Marcusi!” exclaimed Cara quite angrily. “You’re the -queerest duck. Don’t you see that Barbara has made the officials -commend you, and they have her name on file and they’ll read any -letter she writes them? Then, as Captain Quiller says, they’ll get a -whole lot of signatures, and they’ll investigate your father’s case. -Can’t you understand that?” - -Nicky had left the arm of the captain’s chair and was playing with the -dog’s left ear. He raised his head now, dropped the dog’s ear and -looked at Barbara. - -“I allus knowed you was smart,” he said simply, “you kin tell fresh -eggs just by touchin’ them.” - -Every one roared laughing at that, but they understood what he meant. -He meant that his first acquaintance with Barbara’s cleverness came -through his experience in the egg business. He brought her eggs to buy -and she just took them in her hand and said: - -“Yes, these are fresh.” - -That showed how smart she was, to Nicky. - -So why shouldn’t she make the Washington officials believe in his -father’s innocence after that? Surely one matter was as simple as the -other, to a small boy. - -“Well, son,” said the captain, when he had stopped puffing over the -joke, “since you don’t care for medals we’ll see what we can do for -you in pardons.” - -“He don’t have to be pardoned, because he didn’t do anything wrong,” -cried the child indignantly. He always flared up when his father’s -trouble was mentioned. - -“Well, that’s so. But anyway we’ll go ahead. Now girls, are you -satisfied?” the captain wanted to know, for Babs and Cara plainly had -something else to say. - -“Oh, yes, Captain,” Babs answered. “We really didn’t come so much -about the letter. You see, I only just now thought of—of Nicky’s -father,” she confessed. - -“I see,” said Captain Quiller, expectantly. Then he waited. - -“But there is something else,” went on Babs. “I hadn’t told _you_ -Captain, because I just didn’t get a chance to.” - -“Things did pile up pretty quickly,” he agreed. “Like a squall, when -we wouldn’t expect one,” he chuckled. He always talked of the sea even -when there was nothing to be said about it. - -“Yes. But this is different. I’ll have to ask Nicky.” Barbara said -this in apology to their host. “Nicky,” she began as severely as she -could, “I’ve got to know this very minute about that boat model. Where -is it?” - -“You can’t,” the boy answered crisply. - -“But I’ve got to! I’m nearly crazy about it. Don’t you know you’re -blamed for stealing it?” Babs blurted out. - -“I told you I didn’t.” - -Cara was whispering to the captain, so that they didn’t once interrupt -the other two. - -“I know you told me,” Barbara repeated, “but what good does that do? -Miss Davis is almost sick in bed over it, and nobody, but you and me, -knew where it was hid. Now _who_ took it?” - -“I can’t tell you yet. But I will soon,” the boy promised. This time -he showed some feeling. He was plainly sorry not to be able to oblige -this particularly good friend, by telling her how the boat model had -disappeared. - -“Soon?” exclaimed Cara, who could no longer keep quiet. “Don’t you -see, Nicky, that Barbara is really worried to death about that model?” - -“But I promised. I got to keep a promise, ain’t I, Cap?” - -“Well, that depends on what sort of promise it was. If it was a -foolish one——” the captain began. - -“It wasn’t. I got five dollars for it,” declared the youngster, -joyfully. - -“You got five dollars for it! Five dollars for hiding -somebody’s—crime!” gasped Babs. “Oh, Nicky! How could you?” - -“’Twasn’t either a crime. It’s all right. You just have to wait, -that’s all. Today’s Wednesday and you’ll know Friday. What’s the -matter with that?” Nicky wanted to know. - -“You don’t seem to understand,” pleaded Barbara, almost in despair. “I -just have to know tonight. I promised Miss Davis I’d surely tell her -tonight. Nicky, I’ll give you five dollars to give back to whoever -bought your promise. You shouldn’t have taken money for a thing like -that,” she insisted. - -“Why shouldn’t I? We had to move, didn’t we?” A boy is so literal he -can never see why girls are sentimental. - -“Now see here,” spoke up the captain. “Let’s see what’s the trouble. -You say a ship model was taken from the Community House?” - -“Yes,” answered both Cara and Babs. - -“And Nicky knows who took it?” - -“Sure I do,” and the boy was actually smiling. - -“And you promised not to tell ’till Friday?” the man continued. - -“That’s it,” declared Nicky gladly. “I can tell Friday.” - -“And you know you’re a government man now, Nick,” the captain reminded -him. “What you say you stick to. Understand that?” - -“I allus do that,” the boy spoke up a little saucily. - -“That’s the way to talk; fine,” agreed the Captain. “Now, you’ll say -that ship model is safe, O.K.?” - -“Cer-tain-ly.” A long word for Nicky. - -Captain Quiller looked at the girls whose faces were set with an -impatient, anxious expression. - -“Then, it seems to me,” he said like a judge, “you girls will have to -wait until Friday.” - -“Oh, how can we?” wailed Barbara. “Think of Miss Davis.” - -“When Bell Davis hears her _Santa Maria_ is safe,” said the seaman -decidedly, “she’ll be so glad she won’t worry about anything else. I -know Bell Davis and her ship model too,” he finished, and so the girls -were obliged to be content with that. But they were not content at -all. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIV - - SCOUTS IN THE WOOD - - -“You were wise, dear, not to press the boy further. I think he had -about as much as a small boy’s head could carry, as it was.” - -So spoke Dr. Hale to Barbara, late that night, after Barbara had told -him the whole story of her complicated interest in Nicky and his -family. She was sitting on the floor beside him, on the old braided -rug, her head against his knee so that he might stroke it -reassuringly. - -“And you’ve forgiven me for not telling you before, Dads? You see, I -knew you wouldn’t want me to bother about such things, and I felt that -once I did get into it I would have to go through with it,” she -explained. “But, you have no idea what a bother it has been. Whew!” -She blew the word out explosively. “I feel like a Sherlock Holmes.” - -“Yes, it is surprising what difficulties some poor people have to -struggle against and yet what fine characters they develop. If they -don’t get sour they are sure to remain permanently strong; sort of a -concentrated character, if you know what I mean,” her father pointed -out to her. - -“Yes, I think I understand, sort of boiled down,” she answered, -laughingly. - -“Exactly.” And they both laughed over the illustration. - -“But you see, Dad, I’ve got to find his mother and talk to her. I -couldn’t be satisfied with so small a boy’s word on all this. Besides, -there’s her husband’s pardon. I ought to talk to her about it, don’t -you think so?” - -“Yes, decidedly. Nicky is clever enough but as you say, he’s nothing -but an ignorant little boy, and it wouldn’t be right to trust too much -to him,” decided Dr. Hale. - -“You see, I couldn’t possibly say another word to him tonight after -the Washington letter and the ship model and everything,” went on -Barbara seriously. “If I had so much as asked where their camp was, -I’m sure he would have run away. He seemed to hate it all, as it was. -Bashful you know, Dads,” Barbara explained. - -“Yes, he would be. But I guess you’ve made him happy, just the same,” -her father assured her. “To get that letter from Washington would have -set some boys up proudly for the rest of their lives.” - -“Oh, you couldn’t make Nicky proud,” Babs declared. “You see, -he’s—boiled down.” This expression had become Babs’ special joke. - -When they settled down to seriousness after that, it was decided that -Babs and Cara should again visit the lighthouse and get from Captain -Quiller what directions they could in hopes of finding the camp in the -woods. - -“And I’ll go along with you,” promised her father, “for a number of -reasons.” - -But it was actually two days later before the all-important trip could -be made. The doctor had been called out of town, the captain had to -have time to make sure he was divulging no secret that should have -been withheld, and it took him a day to go out to the woods to see -Mrs. Marcusi, as he could only leave his post at a certain hour of the -afternoon. So Babs and Cara lived somehow, and Miss Davis was so -relieved to be assured her model was safe, she really was, as Cara -said, “quite sweet about it.” - -All week long the Community House “fair,” as the exhibit was being -called by the country folks, was in progress, and as Cara predicted, -the girls’ committee got together again and worked even more -enthusiastically than at first. - -It must be said in all fairness to Esther and Louise that they did all -they could to make amends for their slight to Barbara. They explained -quite frankly that their folks didn’t want them to have anything to do -with the foreigners, because, as Louise put it, “they didn’t know -anything about them.” - -This was not unreasonable, Cara made Babs see that, because summer -folks have to be careful whom they associate with. Both Cara and Babs -laughed over the foolish idea that summer folks had to be more -carefully guarded than winter folks—those who lived at Sea Cosset the -year around—but Babs was too busy with other and more important -affairs to worry over such trifles. - -Her heart was singing these days, because she was so expectant. -Something wonderful was about to happen. She was going to find out who -carved the beautiful wooden candlesticks, and why Nicky’s folks were -afraid of being known to strangers. This would surely satisfy her -thirst for adventure. - -“I feel just as if it were the day before Christmas,” she told Cara, -“and I was waiting for Santa Claus.” - -“I feel as if it were the day after Christmas,” Cara put in, “and that -he had brought me a bag of golden promises.” - -So the girls flitted from their homes to the Community House, gaily -helping the ladies with the dusting and rearranging of the articles -still left to be voted upon later; and it was all good fun. - -Mrs. Brownell’s table was awarded first prize, it had to be or she -would have gone to bed with nervous prostration. But it really was a -fine antique. As to quilts—— - -“They won’t get them all decided upon before the holidays,” Ruth -Harrison declared, “and maybe they’ll have to hold another Old Home -Week to give the prizes then.” - -The smaller articles, in which class Babs’ sampler had been placed, -were to be voted upon on the very last day, Saturday, and Miss Davis -wondered about her model. - -“You see,” she confided, “I expect sister home Friday, that’s tomorrow -night. And if ever I lay my eyes on that little boat again I don’t -think I’d risk taking it out of the house. Sometimes I’m just as -worried as ever——” - -“I’m sure it’s safe,” Barbara told her again, for times beyond -counting, “and maybe you could get it in the contest after all,” she -cheered the little lady. - -“I’d love to. It is so handsome! Well, you’ve done your best and I’m -getting more fond of you every day,” declared the dainty little Miss -Davis, with a pardonable show of affection for her little sampler -relation. - -Barbara loved that feeling of relationship, however remote it was, for -she had been much alone since her Aunt Katherine moved away out West, -and there was after that no woman but the well-meaning Dora to offer -her protection. It was all well enough to be considered different from -other girls, to have her father tell her gallantly that she was almost -as good as a boy, to have boys call her a pal and a chum and flatter -her in their favorable comparisons, not a bit like other girls; but a -girl needs a woman’s sure arm around her; sometimes. - -She wants to be told she just must not do things she insists upon -doing. In a word she cannot comfortably carry all her own -responsibility. And Barbara knew this well. She had tried it out and -found the way very lonely. It would be such fun now to have the -Twinnie Davises to run to. Cousins, she would call them of course. - -It so happened that this was the week that Dudley Burke and Glenn -Gaynor left for camp. So much always happens in the late summer. The -night before they left the boys took all the girls out, _all_ the -girls that the girls could gather up. And they had a wonderful time, -from sodas at Hills, to movies at the Ritz, after which delightful -hours were spent upon the porch of a Monmouth hotel, where the party -too young and too informal to take part, listened to the orchestra and -watched the dancing, from the great ocean-front porches. In a few more -years they might take part in this, but just this summer Mrs. Burke -was acting as chaperon and they were glad to be allowed to look on. -Otherwise the party might not have remained so late on the wonderful -hotel porch; that is, they could not have done so but for the -all-important chaperonage. - -Friday morning came at last, and they were going in search of that -camp in the woods. - -“I’m so thrilled,” Cara confessed, “I can hardly breathe. I think I -have real heart disease.” - -“Not exactly heart disease,” said Dr. Hale, “but curiosity illness. It -has a choking habit.” - -Babs, Cara, and Dr. Hale were in Cara’s touring car, and she was -driving. The dignified doctor tried to spread himself all over the -back seat; for the two girls, of course, were together in front. They -were going to Cosmo Woods. Captain Quiller had not only given them -full and detailed directions, but he had drawn them a map of the -outlying territory. - -“You could easily tell he was a sailor,” commented Barbara. “Just look -at the lines. They’re like the zone lines in an old geography.” - -It wasn’t far to Cosmo Woods but it was hard to get there. After -leaving the lovely ocean boulevard they took a strip of road that -wound around the lake. Then, they went out on a back road that cut -through a farming district. There were even some hills, uncommon for -ocean territory, and when their car would reach the top of one of -these there wouldn’t be a mark of any kind to distinguish the end of -the hill from the beginning. Such a sameness, so little variety, a few -scattered houses! Assuredly the sea-shore is lovely—just at the sea’s -shore. But not inland. - -“Let’s see that chart,” the doctor asked Barbara when Cara turned away -from the main road onto what might charitably be called a lane. “I -expect I’ll need a mariner’s compass, but let’s take a look at it -anyhow.” - -Babs handed over the penciled paper. - -“Yes, I guess this is right,” the doctor announced, after a brief -survey. “But we’ll probably soon have to get out and walk.” - -“Yes, we walk from the scrub pines,” Babs said. “And see! There they -are! They’re the only pines around. These trees are everything else, -but not pines. Why don’t they call them Scrubbys?” - -So presently the car had been parked in a little clearance, safely -locked, and the three scouts went on. - -“If we see a camp,” said Cara, after they had decided that one way was -a path newly trodden and the other wasn’t, “perhaps Babs had better go -ahead and you and I, doctor, will sort of hang behind. They may still -be so afraid they might take to the trees.” - -“Fine idea,” assented Dr. Hale, who loved the woods so thoroughly that -he seemed to care as much about a clump of ferns as about finding the -elusive Marcusis. - -Through a little tunnel of wild-grape vines they managed to pass, -while the doctor led and brushed the most impertinent brambles and -vines out of the girls’ way. - -Then Babs grasped Cara’s arm. - -“Look!” she exclaimed. “There they are! Just look!” - -“Oh, how funny!” Cara said excitedly. “Did you ever see anything—so -funny!” - -They were looking at the Italians’ camp. It was made up of three old -automobiles, or parts of automobiles that could never be expected to -turn a wheel again. For the wheels were gone. But the tops were there -and in these the little family had taken refuge. Even from the -distance where the scouts had stopped little Vicky could be seen. She -was swinging gaily on a swing made of rope, hanging from a sturdy -tree; and a very good swing it was indeed, for any little girl to -enjoy. - -A woman, whom Babs recognized as Nicky’s mother, was cooking something -over a camp kettle. The fire was set in a stone oven and appeared -mighty attractive to Dr. Hale; so he said. - -“Not a bad camp at that,” he remarked. “And the best thing in the -world for that family. Just see how they manage. Obstacles become -useful tools in their willing hands.” - -“Yes, look at the home-made tent built on to the side of that old -car,” directed Cara. “I should think it would be lovely under that.” - -“I wish I could see Nicky,” whispered Babs a little anxiously. They -were behind bushes that hid them completely from any one who might be -looking out at the camp. - -“There he is!” declared Cara. “Look! He’s doing something with that -old car, the one with wheels on.” - -“Yes, so he is,” exclaimed Babs. “Now I’ll go over and talk to him. -You stay here a few minutes.” - -“Look out for dogs,” cautioned her father. But Babs knew that the -Marcusis had no dog when she went to their place over the tracks, and -it wasn’t likely they would have one now to attract attention to their -camp in the woods. - -No, they had no dogs. - - - - - CHAPTER XXV - - A REVELATION - - -Nicky saw Babs quickly as she stepped out from the shrubbery, and he -hailed her joyfully, running towards her. - -“Hello, Miss Barbara!” he called gaily, which was pretty good for -Nicky. He had never called her “Miss Barbara” before. “Come on over! -It’s all right. You can come. Cap Quiller told my folks all about -you.” - -He was saying this as he came towards Barbara, and now he saw the -doctor and Cara. - -“They can come too,” he said, grinning happily. “Tell them to come -along.” - -But there was no need to do so for Cara was already hurrying up to -Barbara, and the doctor was not far behind her. - -“Are you sure your mother won’t mind?” Babs asked, anxiously. - -“Nope; she’s glad. We’re glad to have a doctor,” said Nicky wagging -his head. - -“Anybody sick?” asked Dr. Hale. - -“Not very. Come on. Mother sees us,” said Nicky. He was very busy with -his social duties, and seemed a little excited. - -But a few minutes later all three strangers were in front of the camp. -The old grandmother, recognizing Barbara, was busy getting them boxes -to sit on, and she appeared pleased to receive the visitors. Little -Vicky instantly ran over to Cara and grabbed her hand. Perhaps she was -remembering the ice-cream so bountifully served her at Cara’s party. - -Barbara, considering herself spokesman for the delegation, had stepped -up nearer the tent, when some one crossed before the open space inside -the canvas. - -Her heart jumped! Who could that be? It was a man, or a big boy! Could -he be Nicky’s father? - -The shadow appeared again, and this time it stopped directly in the -center of the door way. - -“Oh,” gasped Babs. “I didn’t know——” - -But she could not utter another syllable, for there stood before her a -young Italian, a young man or at least a full-grown boy. He was -handsome, that should be said at once, for Barbara had instantly -decided the point, and he was wearing a blouse of brilliant blue, and -a tam-o’-shanter hat of black velvet. So picturesque! - -More important than all this, he was holding in his hand an unfinished -wooden ship model! - -“Oh!” gasped Babs again. “I beg your pardon.” - -“It is all right,” replied the young man in splendid English. “We must -get Nickolas to introduce us. I hope your friends will come up to our -poor quarters.” He put the model down carefully and looked about for -Nicky. - -The boy was there beside them almost instantly, and Dr. Hale with Cara -had also come up to the tent. - -“He’s my cousin Ben,” began Nicky. But his mother interrupted him. - -“He is our cousin Benato,” she said, “and he is an artist. You see, he -was sick.” She too spoke English carefully, and now as she stood -beside the young man in the artist’s costume it was easy to decide -that he was her relation, for they looked much alike. - -“Sit down, sit down,” begged the polite old grandmother. She was not -going to have her boxes empty when company came like that. - -“And have you been ill, young man?” Dr. Hale asked, filling in a -rather embarrassed pause. - -“Yes, Sir,” replied Benato. “And I had to hide away. They told me I -should be sent back to Europe if I did not get cured in six months,” -the artist said. “I could not get well by the railroad, but I am -better since I came here. Would you tell me, Sir?” he asked, -indicating he wanted to know from Dr. Hale just what his condition -actually was. - -It was a relief to both Babs and Cara when Benato and Dr. Hale entered -the tent and left them to talk with Nicky. - -“The ship model——” began Babs. - -“He can make anything,” the boy interrupted proudly, “and when I told -him about the other, Miss Davis’ you know” (he stumbled over that), -“he got out his books and copied one. He is making it for you,” Nicky -told Barbara, just a little shyly. - -“For me?” exclaimed Barbara, in surprise. - -“Yes, he knows you are our friend,” attested Nicky manfully. - -“What did you say his name was? Isn’t he perfectly stunning?” Cara -coupled her questions without waiting for an answer. - -“His name is Benato Sartello, but I call him Ben,” said Nicky. “He was -awful sick at first and used to hide away. ’Fraid they would come and -take him away like they did——” - -“I know,” Barbara stopped him. She could never let the boy refer -directly to his father in jail. - -“Yes,” chimed in Cara, “they do send folks back to other countries if -they are not well when they come here. Dad had a wonderful chemist and -he was deported.” - -“But Ben is like well now,” declared Nicky quickly. - -“He no more sick ever,” added the grandmother clasping her hands -prayfully. They seemed very positive that Benato was now cured. - -“This camping is very healthy for you all,” said Babs to Nicky’s -mother. She felt ill at ease among them now, as if she had penetrated -their sanctuary without invitation, and so she couldn’t talk -naturally. - -“Yes,” said the mother, “the wood is good always, clean and—” she -looked about her gratefully—“we could be happy here if——” - -“Didn’t Nicky tell you about Washington? The government, you know?” -Babs asked eagerly then. - -“Oh, yes. That is good,” said Mrs. Marcusi. “My man did no wrong. They -take him away——” - -“But you’ll see them bring him back again,” interrupted Babs, -unwilling to let even Mrs. Marcusi talk of their trouble. “You have a -splendid boy in Nicky,” she attested fondly. - -“A very good boy. He tells me how good you are——” - -“Oh, say, Mother,” objected the boy. “That’s no good.” (He meant the -compliments, of course.) “They want to know about Ben, don’t you?” -Nicky was wiser than he realized. - -“He does such beautiful work,” began Cara immediately introducing that -interesting subject. - -“Vera fine. He could sell many pieces but he’s afraid. So Nicky take -it to you,” the mother explained. “When he’s well he can make plenty -of money.” She had wonderful brown eyes like Vicky’s, and her hair -fell about her face as in the Madonna’s pictures. Both Babs and Cara -looked at her in admiration, and wondered how it was that some women -were so beautifully brave. - -Dr. Hale was emerging from the tent now, and his face, as well as the -smile that was spread over Benato’s, told the good news before a word -was spoken. - -“Sound as a dollar,” said the doctor. “No trouble here at all.” He -swept his hand across the young man’s chest. “And this fresh air out -here is the very thing.” He was talking to Mrs. Marcusi now. “This is -good for all of you. Where ever did you get those?” he asked Nicky, -indicating the maimed automobiles being used as the family quarters. - -“We have a friend who keeps a graveyard,” said the boy. “You know, -they call them dead ones and they take all the good parts out. He gave -us the tops and—” (he turned to Babs sharply) “that was what I had to -have the five dollars for. To buy the canvas for Ben’s tent. He had to -have it,” he insisted, apparently happy that Barbara, his friend, -could understand at last about that trying complication. - -“We could get you lots of orders for carved pieces,” Cara told Benato, -“if you could make them up.” She had not addressed him directly -before, and seemed a little embarrassed at doing so now. - -“Thank you, Miss,” answered the artist. “I love to work. I came to -America to work and now I shall go out, perhaps to New York.” His -handsome face was alight with happiness. - -“Oh, no, no, no!” exclaimed both women. - -“Not to New York, Benato,” implored Mrs. Marcusi. “They might take you -away on the ship.” - -“Madam,” said Dr. Hale in his best professional tone, “I shall give -him a certificate, a paper, you know, that will protect him from -interference.” - -At that the older woman fell upon her knees and grasped the doctor’s -hand to press it to her lips. - -“T’ank you! T’ank you!” she sobbed. “Benato is vera good boy. He work -hard. He must stay——” - -“He will, he will,” Dr. Hale checked her outburst, “and we are going -to see about bringing your son back, also,” he told the old mother. -This occasioned another shower of kisses for the doctor’s hands; and -their words piled up like little firecrackers that kept popping from -Italian into a kind of English, the only kind excited old Italian -women could give utterance to. - -Benato was talking quietly to Nicky. He had his hand affectionately -upon the boy’s shoulder, and he kept urging him to do something that -Nicky was objecting to. - -Cara and Babs were watching them while Dr. Hale was talking to the -women. Finally Benato spoke. - -“Did you know that Nicky can carve also?” he asked the girls, smiling -broadly as he spoke to them. - -“Nicky carve!” both exclaimed. - -“He has talent. He helps me and he works like a man; all night if we -must hurry,” declared the cousin proudly. He seemed very fond of his -small cousin Nicky. - -“Lov-ell-ly!” breathed Cara, to whom the news brought a vision of -little Nicky as an artist. Nicky, the obscure Italian boy, whom they -had been talking about adopting. How absurd! And this splendid young -man, Benato, was the person who had been hiding behind the poverty of -the Marcusi home. And the girls talked of “black handers!” - -She could not help smiling when she thought of it all. How unfair it -is to judge people merely by appearances? What a bright future might -be in store for these two cousins! Obscure indeed! - -“And you don’t need to be afraid of the health authorities,” Dr. Hale -told Benato, turning from his talk with the women. “They are fair, you -know. They would examine you and they would find you sound. You have -done wonders with your exercise and diet. Keep it up and live out -here. When you do go to the city spend all the time you can in the -parks,” the doctor advised. “We all need the air but a boy like you -_must_ have it,” he urged most emphatically. - -“Yes sir,” replied the artist deferentially. “And I thank you. We did -not know how to reach a doctor until Nicky told us you were our -friend. You have made us all happy,” he declared, gratefully. - -There was more hand-kissing from the women, and Cara whispered to Babs -that they had better be going when she noticed the old grandmother -mopping her brown face with her browner apron. She, Cara, didn’t want -both her cheeks kissed the way foreigners do it. - -And now Babs was talking to Nicky. Of course she had to know about -Miss Davis’ model. - -“You can come right along with us,” she told the boy. “There’s plenty -of room in the car, and, Nicky, I just must tell Miss Davis as quickly -as _you_ tell me. She has been so good to wait, and you don’t know -what it has meant to her,” she pointed out sensibly. - -“Yes, I do,” the boy declared. “But I couldn’t help it. A feller’s got -to keep his word, ain’t he?” - -Babs admitted that he had, while she included in her hopes for Nicky’s -artistic training, some good, plain education in the simple lines of -grammatical English. - -Amid a perfect shower of protestations of their gratitude, the -Italians finally allowed the Americans to get into their car, while -Nicky went along to tell them about the lost ship model. For this was -Friday, and Friday he could tell. - - - - - CHAPTER XXVI - - TUMBLING IN - - -“Your sister took it,” said Nicky simply, as the whole party stood in -Miss Davis’ parlor waiting to hear. - -“My sister—took it!” Miss Isabel Davis could scarcely articulate; she -was too surprised. - -“Yep. She said _you_ wanted to show it and _she_ didn’t. She said it -was hers too, and she gave me five dollars not to tell.” This last -admission caused the boy to flush a little under his dark skin, for -the taking of that “hush money” had worried Nicky considerably. - -“And Miss Davis’s sister knew _that_ you knew where we hid it?” Babs -asked in tone, but not exactly in words. “How did she know that?” - -“Please sit down,” begged the hostess excitedly. “I am so flustered. -Sister is coming home on this train. There’s the taxi——” - -And it rumbled up to the door. - -Just what was said after that was pretty hard to keep track of -because, not only was every one talking at once but every one was so -happy each just seemed to bubble up in a perfect torrent of -excitement. - -“It was all right, wasn’t it, Sister?” the newly arrived Miss Davis, -the other twin, was asking Miss Isabel Davis, “I was too proud to have -our heirloom shown to a—mob,” she stated. “But I was wrong. You were -right,” she admitted to her sister. “It would have been an honor to -have had our _Santa Maria_ among those other heirlooms. And there was -no common crowd. I’ve read the papers every day and I hope we can get -our ship in before it closes. I’d love to have it there.” - -“You can,” said Dr. Hale. “I’ll see about that. I’m on the final -committee.” - -“But where did you hide it?” asked the dazed Miss Isabel, addressing -her sister. - -“I didn’t hide it at all,” the sister replied. “I put it just where it -belonged, in the cabinet.” - -“In the cabinet!” exclaimed Babs. “And they were blaming Nicky——” - -“In the cabinet!” repeated Miss Isabel, breathlessly, making straight -for the tall mahogany desk that had a glass compartment at the top. - -“You could have found it if you had looked, Sister,” the other twin -told her. “And you didn’t even ask me about it.” - -“I didn’t dare to, I was so worried.” Miss Isabel stood looking at the -vague lines of the ship model behind the glass door. “Well! Well! And -that was there all the time! What a foolish old woman I am!” - -“But you see, Nicky was wise after all,” put in Babs. “He got that -precious five dollars——” - -“And here’s five more.” Miss Isabel ran her hand in her pocket and -soon held out a bill. “He deserves it. I owe it to him. Take it, son, -and you’re a fine little man.” She couldn’t just think of anything -more complimentary to say, and her eyes were swimming. - -Five dollars more! That meant a lot to Nicky, and he undertook to fold -the precious bill so carefully that Cara wondered where he was going -to put it. She watched. The others were all talking again, and Nicky -noticed her interest. - -“See?” he said, taking from his magic pocket, that never leaked in -spite of his tatters, a carved peach pit. “I did that,” he admitted -shyly, opening the pit and placing the finely folded bill in the -center. - -“And I’m just telling sister about your sampler,” piped up Miss Isabel -to Babs. “And how it brought about our relationship. Isn’t this too -wonderful,” she impulsively threw her arms around Babs, “to have -cousins! We are going to be cousins——” - -“Sampler cousins,” joked Babs, who was almost as dazed as was Miss -Isabel. But she had never for a moment lost faith in Nicky, so the -establishment of his honesty did not at all surprise her. The idea of -the twins stealing their own boat model! That was funny! - -“And just wait until you see mine,” she told the ladies. “You won’t be -the only ones in _our_ family,” she stressed the pronoun, “with a -model of Columbus’ ship. _Our_ artists are making me one.” - -“And I’ll have them make me the _Pinta_,” declared Cara. “You know, -the companion ship to the _Santa Maria_.” - -“And maybe we can complete the fleet by getting me the Nina,” joined -in Dr. Hale, laughing heartily. - -“The _Santa Maria_!” said the twins. - -“The _Nina_,” said Dr. Hale. - -“And the _Pinta_,” finished Cara. - -“The whole float,” chuckled Nicky. “Sure we can make them. Ben’s good -at ship models.” - -Cara was thrilled, she admitted. - -“I never had so much fun in all my life,” she told Babs, -enthusiastically. “I just can’t wait to see the other girls’ faces -when they hear. Them and their black handers,” she choked, swinging -around toward Nicky who was at the door. - -“Here!” called out one of the twins, “you must wait for tea. It won’t -take a minute. Come back here, Nickolas——” - -“I gotta go,” sang back the boy who was waiting for nothing, neither -tea, cookies, nor even an auto ride. He was flying back to camp with -the five-dollar bill crammed into the peach pit. - -“Talk about society,” whispered Cara to Babs, as a little later they -sipped their tea from the beautiful old china cups, with the deep -garnet gold-rimmed bands, “this beats even a house party. Aren’t the -twinnies lovely?” - -“But wasn’t that a wonderful surprise? To find the model just where it -belonged, and to think that any one could ever suspect——” - -“Your Nicky,” finished Cara. “That was mean. But we knew, didn’t we?” -she insisted loyally, glancing around her happily, for the scene with -the old ladies and the doctor was what Ruth would have called -“quaint.” - -And speaking of Ruth, it was she who led the cheering squad next day -at the Community House when first prize was awarded to the Misses -Davis’ entry, the ship model of the famous old Columbus boat, the -_Santa Maria_. - -Nicky was there but no one saw him. He was perched on the piece of -lattice where the vines were so thick he had to tear them apart to -peek into the room. And if he had stirred suddenly he might have -spilled himself in, for the queer window was built high in the side -wall of the room, and it was wide open. No one could possibly have -seen Nicky—he had a grandstand seat, only he had to stand up. - -It took a long time to settle all the prizes for quilts and cushions -and lamp shades, and as Cara said, it was a real blessing they had not -thought of nightgowns. Or maybe it was Ruth who said that, but at any -rate, the girls’ department had a good laugh over the idea, for such a -show would indeed have been too funny for words. Imagine the big -muslin high-necked, long-sleeved gowns in these days of dainty silks -and cobwebby lingerie. - -“There comes your sampler,” Esther told Barbara, as one of the ladies -stepped forward with the framed sampler in her hand. - -The chairwoman, Mrs. Winters, took it and made quite a speech about -its wonderful handwork. She declared it was a magnificent sample of -early American needlework, and that it was well worthy of a first -prize. This she then awarded the blushing Barbara, and just as Barbara -turned again towards the audience a cheer, a boyish cheer, came in -through the window. - -“Hurrah!” shouted Nicky, and every one turned around. - -The next moment a boy came tumbling down! For Nicky, in his enthusiasm -had put his head in too far! - -“Land sakes!” - -“Mercy me!” - -“What’s that!” - -“A boy!” came in a succession of exclamations from the astonished -women. They scurried around as if a mouse had crawled into the room. - -“Nicky!” screamed Barbara, “look out for Mrs. Brownell’s table.” - -“I’m in me bare feet,” answered the embarrassed boy, “an’ they can’t -scratch.” - -Then Dr. Hale dragged Nicky forward—he had to drag him literally, for -the boy wanted very much to escape. He told the astonished crowd -something of the recent history of the Marcusi family and Nicky’s -brilliant prospects. - -“And you know his father,” Barbara reminded the speaker so that every -one in the room could hear her. “The Washington authorities have -promised to release Nicky’s father,” she managed to say. “They have -found him innocent,” she declared indignantly. “He never should have -been—have been taken from his family,” she insisted, as she always had -done when jail or prison might have been the word to choose. - -“Hump!” grunted Nicky, “nobody never would have knowed that if it -hadn’t a-been for you!” - -“Nicky!” Barbara tried to hush him. - -“He’s right,” sang out Cara’s voice. “Barbara Hale has been working -all summer to help this Marcusi family and we girls were so stupid we -didn’t even——” - -“You did as much as I did,” interrupted Babs, insisting upon paying -the compliment to Cara, in about the way girls insist upon paying each -other’s carfare while the conductor waits. - -But the ladies didn’t wait; they clapped. - - - END - - - - - This Isn’t All! - - Would you like to know what became of the good friends you - have made in this book? - - Would you like to read other stories continuing their - adventures and experiences, or other books quite as - entertaining by the same author? - - On the _reverse side_ of the wrapper which comes with this - book, you will find a wonderful list of stories which you - can buy at the same store where you got this book. - - Don’t throw away the Wrapper - - Use it as a handy catalog of the books you want some day - to have. But in case you do mislay it, write to the - Publishers for a complete catalog. - - - - - THE LILIAN GARIS BOOKS - - Illustrated. Every volume complete in itself. - - Among her “fan” letters Lilian Garis receives some - flattering testimonials of her girl readers’ interest in - her stories. From a class of thirty comes a vote of - twenty-five naming her as their favorite author. Perhaps - it is the element of live mystery that Mrs. Garis always - builds her stories upon, or perhaps it is because the - girls easily can translate her own sincere interest in - themselves from the stories. At any rate her books prosper - through the changing conditions of these times, giving - pleasure, satisfaction, and, incidentally, that tactful - word of inspiration, so important in literature for young - girls. Mrs. Garis prefers to call her books “juvenile - novels” and in them romance is never lacking. - - SALLY FOR SHORT - - SALLY FOUND OUT - - A GIRL CALLED TED - - TED AND TONY, TWO GIRLS OF TODAY - - CLEO’S MISTY RAINBOW - - CLEO’S CONQUEST - - BARBARA HALE - - BARBARA HALE’S MYSTERY FRIEND - (Formerly Barbara Hale and Cozette) - - NANCY BRANDON - - NANCY BRANDON’S MYSTERY - - CONNIE LORING - (Formerly Connie Loring’s Dilemma) - - CONNIE LORING’S GYPSY FRIEND - (Formerly Connie Loring’s Ambition) - - JOAN: JUST GIRL - - JOAN’S GARDEN OF ADVENTURE - - GLORIA: A GIRL AND HER DAD - - GLORIA AT BOARDING SCHOOL - - GROSSET & DUNLAP Publishers NEW YORK - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BARBARA HALE: A DOCTOR'S -DAUGHTER *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This website 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. diff --git a/old/67077-0.zip b/old/67077-0.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index cc3d310..0000000 --- a/old/67077-0.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67077-h.zip b/old/67077-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 6df0f79..0000000 --- a/old/67077-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67077-h/67077-h.htm b/old/67077-h/67077-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 55f8dba..0000000 --- a/old/67077-h/67077-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7977 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> -<head> - <meta charset="UTF-8" /> - <title>Barbara Hale: A Doctor’s Daughter—A Project Gutenberg eBook</title> - <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover" /> - <style> - body { margin-left:8%; margin-right:8%; } - p { text-indent:1.15em; margin-top:0.1em; margin-bottom:0.1em; text-align:justify; } - h2 { text-align:center; font-weight:normal; page-break-before: always; - font-size:1.0em; margin-top:3em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; } - h2.nobreak { page-break-before: avoid; } - div.section { page-break-before:always; margin-top:4em; margin-bottom:4em; } - div.chapter { page-break-before:always; margin-top:4em; margin-bottom:4em; } - table.toc {} - table { page-break-inside: avoid; width:100%; } - table.tcenter { border-collapse:collapse; padding:3px; - margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em; - margin-left:2em; } - td { vertical-align:top; } - td.c1 { text-align:right; padding-right:0.7em; } - td.c2 { font-variant:small-caps; } - div.cbline { margin-left:1.4em; text-indent:-1.4em; } - .wi001 { margin-left:15%; width:70% } - .wi002 { margin-left:15%; width:70% } - .wi003 { margin-left:15%; width:70% } - .wi004 { margin-left:15%; width:70% } - .x-ebookmaker .wi001 { margin-left:5%; width:90% } - .x-ebookmaker .wi002 { margin-left:5%; width:90% } - .x-ebookmaker .wi003 { margin-left:5%; width:90% } - .x-ebookmaker .wi004 { margin-left:5%; width:90% } - .caption { text-indent:0; padding:0.5em 0; text-align:center; font-size:smaller; } - .mt01 { margin-top:1em; } - .mb01 { margin-bottom:1em; } - </style> -</head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Barbara Hale: A Doctor's Daughter, by Lillian Garis</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Barbara Hale: A Doctor's Daughter</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Lillian Garis</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Illustrator: J. M. Foster</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: January 2, 2022 [eBook #67077]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BARBARA HALE: A DOCTOR'S DAUGHTER ***</div> - -<div class='section'> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<h1>BARBARA HALE: A DOCTOR’S DAUGHTER </h1> -</div> -<div id='i001' class='mt01 mb01 wi001'> - <img src='images/illus-001.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> -<p class='caption'>“OH,” GASPED BABS, “I DIDN’T KNOW——”</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='section'> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-size:1.5em;'>BARBARA HALE: </div> -<div style='font-size:1.4em;margin-bottom:1em;'>A DOCTOR’S DAUGHTER </div> -<div style='font-style:italic;'>By </div> -<div style='font-size:1.2em;'>LILIAN GARIS </div> -<div style='margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.5em;font-style:italic;'>Author of </div> -<div style='font-size:0.8em;'>“BARBARA HALE AND COZETTE,” “CONNIE LORING’S</div> -<div style='font-size:0.8em;'>AMBITION,” “JOAN: JUST GIRL,” “GLORIA: A</div> -<div style='font-size:0.8em;'>GIRL AND HER DAD,” “GLORIA AT</div> -<div style='font-size:0.8em;margin-bottom:2.0em;'>BOARDING SCHOOL,” ETC.</div> -<div style='font-size:0.9em;'>ILLUSTRATED BY </div> -<div style='font-size:1.2em;margin-bottom:2.0em;'>J. M. FOSTER</div> -<div>GROSSET & DUNLAP</div> -<div>PUBLISHERS    NEW YORK</div> -<div style='font-size:0.9em;margin-top:1em;'>Made in the United States of America </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='section'> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='margin-bottom:1em;'>Books by Lilian Garis </div> -</div> -<div style='text-align:center; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto'> -<div style='display:inline-block; text-align:left;'> -<div class='cbline' style='font-size:0.9em;'>Joan: Just Girl</div> -<div class='cbline' style='font-size:0.9em;'>Joan’s Garden of Adventure</div> -<div class='cbline' style='font-size:0.9em;'>Gloria: A Girl and Her Dad</div> -<div class='cbline' style='font-size:0.9em;'>Gloria at Boarding School</div> -<div class='cbline' style='font-size:0.9em;'>Connie Loring’s Ambition</div> -<div class='cbline' style='font-size:0.9em;'>Connie Loring’s Dilemma</div> -<div class='cbline' style='font-size:0.9em;'>Barbara Hale: A Doctor’s Daughter</div> -<div class='cbline' style='font-size:0.9em;margin-bottom:1em;'>Barbara Hale and Cozette</div> -</div> -</div> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-size:0.9em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Copyright, 1926, by</span> </div> -<div>GROSSET & DUNLAP</div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='section'> - -<div style='text-align:center'>CONTENTS</div> -<table class='toc tcenter' style='margin-bottom:3em'> -<tbody> - <tr><td class='c1'>I</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chI'>Sea Sands and Somersaults</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>II</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chII'>When the Day Arrived</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>III</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chIII'>Her Father’s Daughter</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>IV</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chIV'>On Her Way</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>V</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chV'>Billows the Beautiful</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>VI</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chVI'>The Accident</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>VII</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chVII'>Nicky and Vicky</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>VIII</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chVIII'>Clothes</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>IX</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chIX'>Suspicions</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>X</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chX'>How Girls Choose Chums</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>XI</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chXI'>The Midnight Ride</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>XII</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chXII'>Dumped but Not Discouraged</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>XIII</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chXIII'>Crazy Quilts Galore</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>XIV</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chXIV'>A Honeysuckle Secret</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>XV</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chXV'>The Santa Maria</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>XVI</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chXVI'>When a Girl Thinks Hard</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>XVII</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chXVII'>The Loss</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>XVIII</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chXVIII'>Suspicions</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>XIX</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chXIX'>News from Nicky</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>XX</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chXX'>Fighting It Out</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>XXI</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chXXI'>Brighter but Not Quite Clear</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>XXII</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chXXII'>Washington Answers</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>XXIII</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chXXIII'>Prolonging the Agony</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>XXIV</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chXXIV'>Scouts in the Wood</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>XXV</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chXXV'>A Revelation</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>XXVI</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chXXVI'>Tumbling In</a></td></tr> -</tbody> -</table> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' title='I—Sea Sands and Somersaults' id='chI'> - <span style='font-size:1.4em;'>BARBARA HALE: A DOCTOR’S DAUGHTER</span><br/><br/> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER I</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.1em'>SEA SANDS AND SOMERSAULTS</span> -</h2> -<p>They dug their heels deeper into the white sand. As they were bare -heels there seemed to be nothing else to do with them.</p> - -<p>“I think it’s simply a wonderful idea,” Louise St. Clair reiterated, -“only, I can’t just see how you are going to feed us all for three -whole days, Cara.”</p> - -<p>“Feed you! Dear child, that’s the easiest part of it. Lottie adores -feeding the hungry. But what bothers me is what I can do to keep you -all happy.” Cara Burke, who had never been called Caroline, took her -heels out of the sand and stuck them up in the sunshine. She was so -strictly modern and so much up to date that her own personal schedule -must have been eons ahead of the time marked on the pretty calendars -sent around by M. Helmer, the butcher.</p> - -<p>“A house party is bound to make us all so happy we’ll never want to go -home, Cara,” declared Esther Deane, she with a new boyish bob hair-cut -that she couldn’t keep her hands off. “I’d like to fetch my trunk, if -we only lived a few blocks farther away.”</p> - -<p>“Fetch it; there’re bushels of room out in the garage,” responded Cara -mischievously. “But you know, children, my list isn’t filled yet. I -have just got to have Barbara Hale.”</p> - -<p>“Barbara Hale!” Both girls exclaimed in perfect unison.</p> - -<p>“Yes.” Cara squatted on her bare feet now and showed signs of -conflict. “I want her. I like her. She’s so different, she’s sure to -be good fun.”</p> - -<p>“Good fun!” Esther almost sneered. “About as funny as a Latin exam, -I’d guess. She looks different, and she is different. But at a house -party! Cara, you’re crazy.”</p> - -<p>“So they say,” agreed Cara dryly. “But I’m going to ask her, just the -same.”</p> - -<p>“She’ll never leave that dad of hers,” declared Louise. “You know he’s -some kind of a queer doctor and they say she’s going to be a nurse.”</p> - -<p>“He’s a bacteriologist,” Esther informed her friends, with that very -definite tone always peculiarly Esther’s when she knew anything so -worth while as that.</p> - -<p>“Well,” drawled Cara, “Dudley says she’s a peach, and while he’s not -to come to the party he might just look in and——”</p> - -<p>“And poor us! We may have to rival a peach,” moaned Louise. “I do wish -you wouldn’t, Cara,” she pleaded again. “Honestly, I am afraid of -anything so high and mighty as Barbara Hale.”</p> - -<p>“Why should she be so high and mighty?” challenged Cara. “She’s no -older than we are.”</p> - -<p>“She’s past fifteen, I should think,” guessed Esther.</p> - -<p>“I suppose she is, for she was in first year high last summer when we -came back to Sea Cosset; I remember that,” agreed Cara quite amicably. -Cara wasn’t merely pretty, she was lively always, and her brown eyes -managed her entire face so capably one never noticed the little -irregularity of her other features. Every one said Cara Burke was “all -eyes” and her eyes were lovely.</p> - -<p>“It’s queer how every one thinks Barbara is so wonderful,” Esther was -determined to find fault. “She just acts like an old lady, it seems to -me.”</p> - -<p>“Esther Phester! How dare you!” mocked Cara. “Now, you’re being -jealous. You see, it’s like this. There are lots of wise old ladies -but a wise young lady is different.”</p> - -<p>“You talk rather wise yourself and you’re not so old,” retorted -Louise.</p> - -<p>“I am old. I love to be. Children are a pest, so please don’t act so -childish, girls,” Cara in turn retorted. “You’re both perfectly lovely -when you talk sensibly, so let’s decide how we are going to get the -wily Barbara to our house party. Any suggestions?”</p> - -<p>Persons just sauntering along for a rather late swim attracted their -attention, and for the time being Barbara Hale was apparently -forgotten. New and odd bathing suits were ever interesting to the -girls, and those at the moment being displayed were certainly novel if -not actually new.</p> - -<p>“How can red-headed girls wear that howling yellow?” commented Louise. -“She looks like a gasoline sign.” Her own hair favored the red tints, -what there was of it.</p> - -<p>“That tango is worse,” declared Esther. “They must be strangers.”</p> - -<p>“Just wandered down from the other beach, I guess,” Cara said -indifferently. She was never as much interested in strangers as were -her two friends.</p> - -<p>Settling down again to finish their sunning, for they had had their -swim some time earlier, the subject of Barbara Hale was once more -introduced.</p> - -<p>“I don’t see that you girls are helping me out very much with my guest -list,” Cara reminded them. “You know I am bound to have Barbara. Now, -I’ll offer a prize for the best suggestion. How shall I invite her?”</p> - -<p>“Why not ‘hail’ her down here?” Louise suggested.</p> - -<p>“Now, Louie; that’s being too smart; to pun on Barbara’s name,” -answered Cara. “The fact is, or isn’t it? Does she come down here, -ever?”</p> - -<p>“It isn’t, she doesn’t. You don’t catch that smart girl wasting her -time on the beach.” As Esther said this she seemed to enjoy the saying -of it.</p> - -<p>“I’d like to know, Essie,” drawled Cara, using the little name Esther -detested, “what have <i>you</i> against Barbara Hale?”</p> - -<p>“I!” How much she made of the smallest word! As if the idea were -preposterous.</p> - -<p>“Yes, you. Every time I mention Barbara you just seethe up.” Cara -tossed up a shower of sand that slipped through her fingers in little -streams—what was left of the shower did that. If, as she said, Esther -did dislike Barbara, surely she, Cara, must have liked her, decidedly.</p> - -<p>Esther didn’t try to answer the charge. They were, all three of them, -just at that stage of young girlhood that might be called the mimic -stage. They said smart things, or tried to say them, because older -girls acted that way. True, the older girls never deigned to associate -with Cara, and her “set.” Just “kids” they were still being -inelegantly styled. But girls in second year high do feel rather -important, and at this particular new summer season the three girls on -the beach at Sea Cosset were not one whit less important—in their own -way—than Elinor Towle, Katherine Barrett and Melinde Trainor, all over -twenty, and now sitting on the same cozy little beach nearer the -water. Merely degrees of difference separated them, but there seemed -nothing essentially different between the two groups.</p> - -<p>And to make the comparison still closer, here was Cara planning to -give a house party.</p> - -<p>“I don’t care what any one says,” Louise spoke up rather like a small -girl again, “it’s a perfectly darling idea. Even if we all do live -around here; what difference would a train ride make in a house -party?”</p> - -<p>“None; not a speck,” confirmed Esther, both the girls bracing Cara up -in her resolve to give the party and worrying secretly lest she back -out.</p> - -<p>“Except,” chimed in Cara, “that when they come a distance they have to -stay. If you girls get bored to death you could even sneak home in -your nighties,” she wound up, turning a very good hand-spring to prove -why she was such a fine basketball player.</p> - -<p>“No danger of <i>us</i> sneaking home, Cara,” declared Louise. “I’m just -crazy about the idea. And I know there are a lot of girls jealous -because you didn’t ask them,” she flattered the prospective hostess.</p> - -<p>“Really!” Cara reversed the hand-spring and threw up a veritable -desert sandstorm with the turn. “The only reason I have asked just -five,” she panted, settling again, “is because mother would only let -me have three rooms.”</p> - -<p>“Just imagine having <i>three</i> rooms for company!” gasped Esther. “I’m -lucky to get an extra cot in my own room and the attic privilege while -we’re down here. But <i>you</i> can invite a whole tribe to stay days with -you.”</p> - -<p>“Now girls!” spoke Cara, sighing a little as if in despair at their -attitude, “don’t get the idea that a big house and a flock of servants -make a lot of fun. They don’t. We had better times when we camped in a -lovely wide-open bungalow out on the bluff, where you didn’t dare -leave the front door open without danger of blowing out at the back -door. Oh me, oh my!” she sighed. “Them was the days! When I ate -molasses cookies without fear of fatness. But we are not getting at -the important point of asking Barbara. Haven’t you anything else to -propose? It will be time to dress before we decide a single thing.”</p> - -<p>“Why not call on her? She’s not anything to be afraid of, is she?” -This was Esther, of course.</p> - -<p>“No.” Cara paused, thoughtfully. “But she is, I know, a busy girl, and -one doesn’t want to ‘bust’ in on a high-brow just as she’s in the act -of discovering some scientific—oh, whatever it is they discover, you -know,” she floundered. “Besides, it would look so important if I -called. As if my party was really going to be a party instead of a -row. I’m sure it will end in a row, you know,” Cara was prettiest when -she laughed.</p> - -<p>“Cara Burke! You just want to make believe it isn’t going to be -wonderful when you know very well it is,” pouted Louise. “But if you -want Barbara Hale so badly, I’ll manage somehow to see her, and I’ll -ask her if you want me to.”</p> - -<p>“Want you to! I’d <i>love</i> you to. I just want Barbara, well, for more -than one reason, but <i>one</i> is because Dud declares she wouldn’t bother -with such silly little things as he claims we are. I want to show -him.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, that’s it.” Esther’s lip curled and she was now acting very grown -up indeed.</p> - -<p>“Does Dud know Barbara?” Louise wanted to know.</p> - -<p>“That’s just it. She’s sort of, what he calls, elusive. They just know -her enough to be curious about her.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t think she’s so wonderfully pretty,” commented Esther again. -“And I’m certain sure she’s not rich!”</p> - -<p>“Esther Phester!” cried out Cara in mock despair. “There you go. Rich! -That isn’t what counts at all, not with boys like Dud, anyway. <i>They</i> -like girls who keep them guessing.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Barbara Hale can do that well enough,” scoffed Esther. “Isn’t she -keeping us guessing?”</p> - -<p>“Just because she keeps to herself,” retorted Cara. “Now, that’s just -why I’m so crazy to know her. There must be a reason for her, oh, you -know,” again stumbled Cara, who wanted to say there must have been a -reason for Barbara’s aloofness, or was it reticence?</p> - -<p>“Since you are so keen about it Cara, I’ll do my best,” offered -Louise. “You know, her father is a sort of doctor and has some of the -awfully rich folks on his list.”</p> - -<p>“Rich!” moaned Cara. She seemed to loathe the word. They were starting -off towards the boardwalk along which a slim line of girls and boys -were already winding their way towards the road. It was almost lunch -time.</p> - -<p>Just as the girls came to within a few feet of the roadway a small car -drew up and from it sprang two persons.</p> - -<p>“Look!” gasped Louise. “There she is now!”</p> - -<p>“Is that—Barbara!” exclaimed Cara in an undertone, for the two in -bathing suits—a young girl and a young man—were racing along through -the sands quite close to them.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” answered Esther and Louise in one voice.</p> - -<p>“Isn’t she stunning in a bathing suit?” continued the entranced Cara. -“She must be dandy at athletics.” The two figures under scrutiny were -now far enough away to be out of possible reach of the girls’ voices. -Barbara Hale was wearing the regulation blue bathing suit with white -stripes around the long Jersey and a loose sash flew along after her -as she ran towards the ocean. She was trying to adjust her rubber cap -as she went, and was just now crowding into it a closely bobbed head, -chestnut in color, that beautiful brown that glows and glistens and -lights up so wonderfully in the sunshine. Barbara was as slender and -straight as an Indian. Her limbs were innocent of stockings or socks, -for girls under sixteen were not now trying to be prim at Sea Cosset, -that is, girls like Barbara.</p> - -<p>“But who can the good-looking boy be?” Louise wondered. “Isn’t he -just—just——”</p> - -<p>“Not lovely,” warned Cara. “Please don’t call him anything so silly as -that. He’s fine looking, just great. Whew! Look at those two strike -out!”</p> - -<p>Dots on the waves were all that could now be seen of the two who were -ducking in and out of the crest, but the girls still watched as if -fascinated.</p> - -<p>“Better ask him to the party, Cara,” suggested Esther. “I’ll bet all -the girls would want to stay if he were around.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell you what I’ll do,” proposed the wily Cara. “I’ll tell -Dudley I’ll have Barbara to the party if he manages to fetch along the -good-looking boy. I’ve just decided to give a dance. Why shouldn’t we -have a dance?” she asked simply, with one of those sudden strokes of -social genius she was especially noted for.</p> - -<p>“A dance!” echoed Louise, in ecstasy. She did clasp her hands but -caught herself just in time to save that foolish expression Cara was -sure to call saintly. Louise was very apt to clasp her hands, throw -one of those heavenly looks out of her gray eyes, and altogether -affect quite a pose when anything suddenly pleased her.</p> - -<p>“Yes, a dance,” Cara repeated. “We are grown up enough for that, -although we couldn’t, of course, ask the boys to the house party. They -<i>could</i> come in to the dance.”</p> - -<p>“Just look at Barbara Hale now,” suggested Esther. The figures were -shaking themselves out of the waves, and as the girls watched they saw -Barbara put her two hands on a big post that supported the ropes, and -vault over as easily as did her companion following her. “Don’t you -suppose he’s her cousin?” Esther asked, innocently.</p> - -<p>“Not necessarily,” replied Cara. “But if we don’t make a break for -lunch——” They made the break.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chII' title='II—When the Day Arrived'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER II</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.1em'>WHEN THE DAY ARRIVED</span> -</h2> -<p>Between that day at the beach and the day set for the first session to -the house party, Cara all but backed out several times. It was rather -absurd, to ask five girls to week-end at her lovely big home, the -Billows, to bring clothes enough for three days and to stay for almost -that length of time, when they all lived near enough to run home if -their mothers should call them—on the telephone.</p> - -<p>But from the time that Cara mentioned the brilliant idea to Louise and -Esther, she was not allowed to change her mind. There is not a great -deal of excitement for girls of their ages at little sea-coast towns, -and the prospects of a house party were far too precious to -relinquish.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Burke, Cara’s mother, was rather pleased that her athletic -daughter thought of anything so socially refining, for, as a rule, -Cara cared very little for the amenities. She liked, very much better, -to row their boat on the lake that always seemed to envy the wild -little wavelets that flew about the ocean’s edge, or she might stay on -the golf links all day with her dad, who believed in golf for girls as -well as for boys, and there was only Dudley at Burke’s to share honors -with his sister Cara.</p> - -<p>So now that the day of the party was actually at hand, Cara felt like -“laughing her head off,” as she described her unusual emotions.</p> - -<p>“If it wasn’t that I just made this chance to get acquainted with -Barbara Hale, Moma,” (she always called her mother Moma because it -means soft, in Celtic,) “I would be apt to think myself silly. But -it’s worth while to meet Barbara.”</p> - -<p>“Why is she so difficult and desirable?” asked Mrs. Burke, who might -be Moma or “soft” to her daughter, but as a woman seemed quite the -opposite. She was capable of formality, fine, dignified yet lovely -with just that charm that all mothers should possess.</p> - -<p>“Well,” replied Cara to her question, as she settled a final bunch of -snap-dragons on the long davenport table in the living-room, “to tell -you the truth, Moma, she’s a bit mysterious.”</p> - -<p>“A girl—mysterious; how?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, in a lot of ways. I couldn’t just tell you, darling, but they’re -plenty. Wait until you meet her,” she promised archly. “I’m sure you -will call her perfect; I believe all the grown-ups do. She’s said to -be so sensible.”</p> - -<p>“Not too sensible, I hope,” qualified Mrs. Burke, who liked girls to -be girls and not Minervas.</p> - -<p>“No. My own idea is that the sensible stuff is just a pose to keep the -girls away. She’s not cranky, I know that. I met her at the Community -Club last week,” continued Cara, who was now donning her white sport -coat, preparing for a race in town. “At any rate, Moma, I’m sure it -will do me a lot of good to know her,” she just nipped a make-believe -kiss on her mother’s cheek. “She might inspire me with a little -sense.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, you’re not so bad, my dear,” replied the proud mother, surveying -Cara affectionately. “But I am really anxious to meet the paragon.”</p> - -<p>A half-hour later Cara was being surrounded at the post office; the -girls who were shortly to be her guests formed the circle. She had -just told them that Barbara was coming.</p> - -<p>“How ever did you get her?” demanded Louise.</p> - -<p>“As easy as easy,” teased Cara. “All I did was just give the operator -the number and Barbara answered.” Cara was plainly proud of the -conquest.</p> - -<p>“And she said she’d come? Right off?” asked Esther in uncovered -surprise.</p> - -<p>“Said she would <i>love</i> to, not what you might call exactly ‘right off’ -but after her father had urged her to. He calls her Babs and they seem -to be great chums,” Cara finished, trying to break away from the party -and reach her mail-box.</p> - -<p>“Oh, they are,” agreed Louise. “That’s just what makes her so -different. She’s always chumming with her father. Isn’t that queer?”</p> - -<p>“Not so very,” said Cara dryly. “Dad and I are pretty good chums. But -I’ve got to rush or I won’t be at the front door to greet you when you -arrive,” and she did break away this time.</p> - -<p>“Cara!” called Lida Bent, a new girl in Sea Cosset, “shall we really -bring our suit-cases?”</p> - -<p>“Just as you like,” answered Cara, mischievously stepping back to make -her remarks safe for Lida’s ears only. “If you want to carry your -pajamas on your arm <i>I</i> have no objection. There really isn’t any -obligation to carry suit-cases.”</p> - -<p>“Now Cara,” blushed little Lida who was a dainty blonde and blushed -prettily, “you know I don’t mean that.”</p> - -<p>“Well, Lida, you may bring a steamer trunk if you like,” joked Cara, -“only be sure to come. That’s the big idea,” and Cara Burke, the -heroine of the day with a house party only a few hours off, clutched -her bundle of morning mail as she escaped from her admiring friends.</p> - -<p>Cara was always such a lark, they each and all were sure to be -thinking, and to give this affair simply sealed that opinion.</p> - -<p>Louise, Esther, and Lida sauntered off with their own post office -material, but this today seemed less interesting than usual.</p> - -<p>“I didn’t know whether to fetch my corduroy or silk robe,” said -Louise. “If we go romping around I suppose the silk——”</p> - -<p>“Will be too thin,” Esther finished laughingly. “You’re lucky, Louie, -to have two down with you. Mother just won’t allow any duplicates in -my clothes. She hates baggage so.”</p> - -<p>“A robe?” repeated Lida. “Why, I hadn’t thought of that. Of course we -must fetch robes,” she repeated showing alarm that the idea had almost -escaped her.</p> - -<p>“That’s mostly what a house party is for,” Louise continued. “To show -off our pretty things. Although,” she hurried to atone for the -possible boast, “I don’t pretend to have <i>pretty</i> things, they’re -just—just useful of course,” she ended trying hard to be sensible.</p> - -<p>“There’s Ruth!” exclaimed Esther, as a girl with a big box turned a -corner and walked towards them. “I’ll bet <i>she’s</i> got a new robe. Look -at that box.”</p> - -<p>“’Low girls!” called out Ruth Harrison, a tall girl who walked with a -swinging stride. “I had to go shopping the last minute, and I’m dead. -Whew! It’s hot carrying bundles,” and she took off her hat to prove -it.</p> - -<p>“A new robe? We were just talking about robes,” said Esther. “It’s -hard to know whether we ought to fetch bungalow aprons or—or ulsters. -Cara may have some kind of a midnight parade on, she’s such a joker.”</p> - -<p>“Robe!” repeated Ruth. “Say, I never thought of a robe. This is a new -party dress; Cara told me about the dance only yesterday. But a robe!” -Ruth look dismayed. Her frank, eager face was suddenly changed into a -question mark. What should she do about a new robe? She had one, of -course, but probably not one worthy of Cara’s party.</p> - -<p>“Don’t bother,” suggested Louise, noticing Ruth’s perplexity, “you can -just duck in and out——”</p> - -<p>“Ye-ah! While you all parade. I can see that. But do you mean to tell -me I’ve got to wear my Indian blanket? It’s one I had at camp and I -love it——”</p> - -<p>“Why don’t you? That would be fun,” spoke up Louise, brightly.</p> - -<p>“The very thing and I’ll bring—— But never mind the details,” Ruth -suddenly drew up, getting a better grip on her box. “I’ll be there -with my blanket. I’ve got to rush. I want an ocean bath first.”</p> - -<p>“Isn’t she funny?” remarked Lida, as Ruth dashed off.</p> - -<p>“She’d love a thing forever, even an Indian blanket,” said Louise, -rather complimentary to Ruth.</p> - -<p>“And an ocean bath today! Just as if she couldn’t have that every -day,” murmured Esther as they were again on their way.</p> - -<p>“I hope she didn’t get a rose-colored dress, that’s my color,” went on -Louise. “And if two of us were dressed alike at that small party we’d -look like twins or something,” she finished, tittering happily at the -idea.</p> - -<p>“Ruth is so much, so sort of—a lot,” Esther ventured, “she’s almost -twins herself. But here’s where we part. Be ready at three and we’ll -all go in our big car.”</p> - -<p>“In style,” added Lida. “It’s lovely you have a big car, Esther.”</p> - -<p>“And a good-natured mother,” added Louise. “I suppose she gave up -something, to drive for us this lovely afternoon.”</p> - -<p>“She was glad to give it up,” confessed Esther, “for it’s a meeting on -the summer exhibit. I can’t see why towns always have to do summer -things that keep folks so busy.”</p> - -<p>“Because there are not enough folks to do things in winter,” said -little Lida quietly. “Mother’s on a committee and she thinks it’s -going to be fine.”</p> - -<p>“I guess they’ve got all our mothers on,” grumbled Louise. “But we -always have to have something every summer. Well, good-bye for a -while,” as they reached the little dividing park, “and I’ll be ready, -Esther.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t forget your robe,” called out Esther jokingly, for their robes -had suddenly become an all-important item in the house-party -programme.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chIII' title='III—Her Father’s Daughter'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER III</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.1em'>HER FATHER’S DAUGHTER</span> -</h2> -<p>In a house that hid behind friendly old trees cuddled in trumpet vines -and tender, little trailing things, Barbara Hale and her father, Dr. -Winthrop Hale, lived. It was just off the road that stretched into the -newly settled summer place called by the land developers Sea Cosset. A -fanciful name indeed, and its choice had caused much discussion, for -as every one with access to a dictionary soon discovered, cosset means -pet and is usually applied to a little lamb.</p> - -<p>“Sea Lamb,” scoffed the old sailors who brought their nets in from the -ocean at the road’s turn.</p> - -<p>“Why didn’t they call it ‘the kid,’ and be done with it,” Thom Merrill -wanted to know. Thom had sold all his land to the enterprising -development company, and now he had nothing else to do but criticize -their choice of name for the new colony.</p> - -<p>“But you’re all wrong,” declared Mary-Louise Trainor, who was the -“bookiest” woman in the county. “We chose the name because it -literally means that the sea fondles, loves, yes if you like——” she -flung this defiantly into Thom Merrill’s red face—“the sea <i>pets</i> the -land at this pretty little point, and Sea Cosset is a perfectly ideal -name.”</p> - -<p>“Sure is,” agreed Thom, chuckling so audibly that Mary-Louise turned -away in evident disgust at that memorable meeting held three years ago -last spring. Then Sea Cosset was cut away from the surrounding -territory by its fancy name, a number of pretty bungalows, the land -agents’ promise to build more “of any design desired as fast as they -would be applied for,” not to mention all the other well-advertised -improvements of a new summer place as compared with its well-seasoned, -comfortable old town of Landing.</p> - -<p>Strange that all of this would have anything to do with Cara Burke’s -house party. But it had, for Barbara Hale and her beloved “Dads,” the -doctor, were this very day admitting they should have sold their land, -or some of it, to that company that developed Sea Cosset.</p> - -<p>“Then, my dear Babs,” said father, regretfully, “you might have -afforded proper things for your party.”</p> - -<p>“But I don’t need them, really, Dads; I’ve got lots of clothes,” -protested the daughter. “It’s just that these different affairs -require different things.”</p> - -<p>Which explanation meant not a thing, in the way of an explanation, for -it plainly stated that Barbara Hale did not have things ready for a -house party.</p> - -<p>On the floor of her quaintly old-fashioned bedroom, Barbara was now -packing her suit-case. And only the suit-case that lay there -helplessly could have seen or understood the expression on her face, -for the bag had more than once witnessed that same look as Barbara -leaned over, putting things in and taking them out, anxiously.</p> - -<p>“She’s worried but she’s brave,” would have been the verdict could the -leather case have spoken.</p> - -<p>“But she’s plucky and she’ll never never give in to silly little -clothes,” the comb and brush might easily have confided to each other.</p> - -<p>“And you don’t know, Dads, what a perfectly stunning pair of pajamas I -have,” the girl leaning over the bag spoke up finally. “You know, dear -old Mrs. Seaman sent them to me for Christmas; wasn’t that lucky?”</p> - -<p>“It was,” replied the tall, thin man sullenly. “And if it hadn’t been -for dear old Mrs. Seaman,” he was adding irony to every word, “I -suppose you wouldn’t have that perfectly stunning pair of slippers, -either.” More irony, more sarcasm, and teams of bitterness sharpened -Dr. Hale’s words. He was blaming himself, only, and was therefore free -to be as cruel as he wished about it.</p> - -<p>“Dads,” coaxed Barbara, jumping up from her packing and confronting -the ogre, “you’re being mean.” She was standing there before him in -her big white bungalow apron—this was <i>her</i> idea of a practical -bathrobe—and her eyes, always the deepest blue, were now so truly -violet that their shadows were almost purple.</p> - -<p>Certainly Barbara had a remarkable face—every feature matched up so -perfectly—but the two most striking were her pallor, for one of her -type, which she left untinted; and the deep violet of her eyes. She -looked foreign or rather classic, with a firmness about her expression -hardly fair to her youth. Her nose was very straight with that -sculptured curve at her nostrils that made one think of a Greek -statue—or a young colt, depending entirely upon Barbara’s mood.</p> - -<p>Just now she was being the colt, and Dr. Hale, her indulgent father, -was well aware of that mood.</p> - -<p>“We should have sold off some of our land, Babs,” he repeated, coming -back to her door and intoning the words like a verdict for some one -doomed.</p> - -<p>“We should not, Dads,” she contradicted. “Just because I haven’t a few -brand new rags for a silly little party, you stand there bewailing our -misery.” Her words were serious enough but her tone was bantering. -Barbara was determined to cheer up the gloomy man before her.</p> - -<p>“Well, all right,” he conceded, tapping his fingers impatiently on her -door jamb and thereby drawing one’s attention to its shabby paint. -“But I’m glad you’re going. Do you good,” he pronounced, again in that -judicial tone.</p> - -<p>“Maybe,” scoffed Barbara. “But I wouldn’t have gone a single step if -it hadn’t been for that Cara Burke.” Barbara ignored her packing -completely now. “She’s the nicest girl, Dads, really a thoroughbred. I -just couldn’t refuse her.” The inference was plainly that she -preferred to have refused even Cara.</p> - -<p>“And why should you refuse?” demanded Dr. Hale. “Look here, Babs,” he -spoke a little sharply. “Do you know this won’t do? I won’t have folks -talking about you as if I—as if I were depriving you of—of -everything.”</p> - -<p>“Dadykins!” Barbara burst out, and all the pallor of her face was now -dyed with an angry flush. “Who has said that? Whose business is it -what we do or how we live? Just because I <i>want</i> to keep to myself -more than other girls do, they think I’m being deprived of—of what?” -she ended bitterly, and it was easy to see now that she was very much -her father’s daughter.</p> - -<p>“There now, don’t get excited,” placated the doctor. “I’m sure <i>no</i> -one was talking about us, dear. Do hurry your packing,” he urged -anxiously. “Dora has lunch ready and we must not get <i>her</i> wrought -up,” he ended wearily. “Dora’s our stand-by,” he pointed out -emphatically.</p> - -<p>“But it does make me so mad, Dad,” Barbara echoed. “To have folks -always slurring——”</p> - -<p>“But they were <i>not</i>, dear.” He raised his voice irritably. “I merely -guessed that they might.”</p> - -<p>Still in her bungalow apron and with her arms bare, Barbara answered -Dora’s call to lunch. She was excited. Not on account of her father’s -words, which really had amounted to nothing unusual, but because she -had to go to that party. And she hadn’t the right things to wear.</p> - -<p>The little meal was not, apparently, being much appreciated, for both -Barbara and her father were entirely preoccupied, as Dora passed from -one to the other the slighted food.</p> - -<p>Suddenly the jangling telephone startled them.</p> - -<p>“I’ll go,” offered Barbara. “Take your tea, Dads.”</p> - -<p>It was Cara Burke calling.</p> - -<p>“Yes, yes,” Barbara answered. “That’s awfully good of you, Cara, but I -am honestly on the point of sending my very late regrets. I really -should not have accepted.”</p> - -<p>“Why Barbara!” almost shrieked Cara at the other end of the wire but -the telephone voice was of course, pouring into Barbara’s ear, “I just -couldn’t have the party without you. You’ve got to come. Don’t mind -about the little dance,” went on distracted Cara. “I shouldn’t have -told you only I thought you would want to know.”</p> - -<p>“I do, Cara. And it’s lovely of you to call me up.” Barbara hesitated. -Cara had just called her to say there would be a little dance and she -might want to fetch something different for it. And that had added to -Barbara’s misery, for what had she different to take?</p> - -<p>Long and ardent pleas and protestations were coming over the wire, for -Cara had counted much upon the presence of Barbara at her party, but -now, at the last moment, the much-desired one was hesitating.</p> - -<p>There was no questioning the sincerity of Cara Burke. Unspoiled by all -her advantages, she was so worth-while a girl that Barbara found it -very difficult indeed to ignore her advances.</p> - -<p>“It’s so good of you,” Barbara repeated. “But you see, I——” she -paused, and instantly Cara filled the gap.</p> - -<p>“You know, my brother Dudley thinks you and your friend Glenn are just -about right,” Cara chuckled, “and he promised to get Glenn to come to -our little dance if <i>I</i> could get you to come to the party.”</p> - -<p>“Really!” laughed Barbara. “Glenn’s an awful stick—I mean he’s what we -call a real stude, student you know,” Barbara explained. “But is he -going?”</p> - -<p>“Dud says he is, and that’s why you really couldn’t disappoint me; now -could you, Barbara?”</p> - -<p>“After all that? It would be ungrateful I know, Cara. But clothes—”</p> - -<p>“I understand perfectly, Babs,” Cara was saying, using the endearing -name with telling effect. “You don’t pay much attention to clothes. -Couldn’t I lend you a little dress? You are just about my size and -I’ve so many useless frocks that mother loves to buy. Wouldn’t you -wear one just out of charity? It would really be a blessing to air the -stuff.”</p> - -<p>What could Barbara say to such an impulsive, generous girl? Well, that -was just what she did say, and when she finally left the phone and -returned to the table, her face had lost its look of perplexity.</p> - -<p>“Well, Dads,” she exclaimed, beaming so merrily that her dark eyes -threatened to ignite, “I guess I’m in for it now. Cara is bound to -play me up, although why she’s so keen I can’t see.”</p> - -<p>“I can,” replied her father grimly. “And look here, Barbara Hale,” he -continued, using her name to emphasize his seriousness, “I’m glad -you’re going. It’s highly important that you should go. It’s all very -well to be a high-brow——”</p> - -<p>“High-brow! Me, a high-brow?”</p> - -<p>“Exactly. What do you think a good student ever becomes if not -intelligent?”</p> - -<p>“But I want to know—just certain things——”</p> - -<p>“Exactly again. That’s just how one becomes a high-brow. If you had -scattered interests, Babs dear, it would be different. But when one -concentrates one achieves.”</p> - -<p>“Daddy, don’t you want me to study?” Barbara’s voice was pleading, her -eyes misty.</p> - -<p>“Yes, daughter, of course I do,” replied the father, himself softening -his tone until it matched Barbara’s. “But this summer I want you to go -out with your friends. In fact, I want you to promise me that you will -set aside everything in the way of study for this summer.” He went -over to where she stood and put his hands upon her shoulders so that -his look completely encompassed her. “You are so like your mother now, -my dear——”</p> - -<p>“And mother loved the same things I do,” quickly defended Barbara, in -turn putting her hands on his shoulders.</p> - -<p>“Yes, but not at your age,” he argued.</p> - -<p>A silence fell between them. The man whose shoulders were straight as -a soldier’s, in spite of his bending over with constant research work, -was now thinking of Barbara’s mother. She was gone. Her devotion to -nursing during the war had cost her her life with the deadly influenza -then ravaging the camps among America’s flower of youth. She had been -a nurse, just as Barbara was now determined to be, and the research -work in bacteriology, which was Dr. Hale’s chosen field, had been as -fascinating to her as it now threatened to become to Barbara.</p> - -<p>“Do you mean, Dads, that we shouldn’t do any more experiments this -summer?” his daughter asked gently.</p> - -<p>“I do, dear. This must be your play season. I’ve got plenty to do -single-handed. I’ll miss your help, of course——” he hurried to -interject, “but you must promise me, right this minute, to fall in -line with the girls and boys——”</p> - -<p>“And fall out of line—with you!” Barbara’s arms went quickly about his -neck and so the promise was given.</p> - -<p>“And this is splendid, this affair today,” her father continued, when -he recovered his composure. “I only wish you had a lot of pretty -things——”</p> - -<p>“I have, slathers of them,” she fibbed bravely. But no mention was -made of Cara’s offer of the extra party dress.</p> - -<p>Nor did she bother to tell her dad that Glenn Gaynor was expected to -be at the party. Glenn was the attractive youth who figured so -prominently in Barbara’s appearance on the beach, when Cara and her -girl friends stood at a safe distance, thrilled in admiration.</p> - -<p>One hour more—and then she must be at Billows.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chIV' title='IV—On Her Way'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER IV</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.1em'>ON HER WAY</span> -</h2> -<p>“Just for a lark,” Barbara told herself, “I’ll take the old cap and -gown. We are sure to dress up after we undress, and I really haven’t a -decent robe.”</p> - -<p>A robe! If she only could have known how this particular item had -bothered the other girls, especially Ruth Harrison. The cap and gown -which Barbara had decided to take, “just for a lark,” were sent her -last winter by Marjorie Ellis who achieved them in a brief stay at -college and wanted to forget she had ever heard the word. Marjorie -hated college now, she had been so homesick while away in Connecticut, -that she absolutely refused to return at mid-years, and because she -knew Barbara would love even to play at being a collegian, Marjorie -sent her the mortar-board hat and the big black cape, they poetically -call a gown.</p> - -<p>Often had Barbara dressed up in the college clothes, especially at -night when she would parade around in the enfolding comfort of that -soft, black robe. It was this habit, no doubt, that gave her the idea -of fetching the costume to Cara’s party. This and the necessity of -having something to throw on over her pajamas—how lucky that she had -the pajamas!</p> - -<p>Packed at last and her misgivings quieted, Barbara ventured a look at -herself in the old-fashioned mirror that hung between her room and the -sitting-room.</p> - -<p>“I guess I’ll do,” she told the reflection. It showed a tall, finely -formed girl, with a head held high—Barbara’s head couldn’t get enough -of sky gazing—and wearing a sport suit that Dora, the maid of all -work, had helped her make.</p> - -<p>“Good material and not a bad fit,” the girl secretly commented, for -the natty little jacket was made of bright green flannel, and the -skirt of white flannel had a matching stripe of green. Her blouse was -white, bought ready made, and a little white felt hat had been picked -up at Asbury Park; not picked up on the beach, however, but at a -bargain counter very late last fall. So that the costume was quite -complete and decidedly effective.</p> - -<p>Of course Barbara’s hair was bobbed, and because of a little ripple -that huddled around her ears the bronzed, glossy tresses framed her -face in a most attractive way. Barbara seemed dark and her blue eyes -were often taken for brown. Her brown hair might be called brunette, -if one didn’t see the bronze tones that came in certain lights.</p> - -<p>And she wore her clothes well. That was why her own amateur efforts, -supplemented by the not unwilling but always protesting Dora, usually -turned out well. So she had no fear for the effect of her sport dress -upon her arrival at Cara’s party; it was the robe and the party dress -and other accessories that bothered her somewhat.</p> - -<p>“Cara’s car is coming out this way, Dads,” she told her father as she -picked up her bag, “so they’re going to stop for me.”</p> - -<p>“That’s fine,” her father replied. “Cara’s a nice girl——”</p> - -<p>“There’s a knock; I’ll answer,” Barbara interrupted, hurrying to the -side door. “Oh, it’s Nicky and his sister Vicky,” she presently -explained, for she could see the two Italian children through the -glass door; Nickolas and Victoria.</p> - -<p>“Don’t bother with them,” her father ordered irritably. “I wish those -children would stop coming around here.”</p> - -<p>“They’ve got some eggs to sell——”</p> - -<p>“We don’t need any eggs——”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Dads, the poor youngsters have only three eggs to sell and we’ve -got to buy them from them,” insisted Barbara, opening her purse with -its precious party money in it to give Nicky twenty cents in return -for three eggs “just laid.”</p> - -<p>“And how’s granny?” Barbara asked the black-eyed children.</p> - -<p>“Fine,” said Nicky.</p> - -<p>“She ain’t either, she’s sick,” declared Vicky.</p> - -<p>“Well, run along,” ordered the smiling Barbara, “I’m going out——”</p> - -<p>“Say,” Nicky squeezed in, “do you want an ole candlestick? I’ve got -one fer half a dollar.”</p> - -<p>“No, I guess not.” Barbara was becoming impatient. “Run along; here’s -my car,” for the toot from Cara’s car was sounding along the drive.</p> - -<p>“It’s a swell candlestick,” Nicky argued. “I could get a dollar fer it -in Asbury.”</p> - -<p>“Better go in there and sell it then,” almost thundered Dr. Hale, if -ever he did speak in a thunderous tone, which he didn’t, quite, “and -don’t fetch any more eggs here——”</p> - -<p>“Dads!” pleaded Barbara. “Let them come. Poor little things——”</p> - -<p>But Nicky and Vicky were off, scampering as if Dr. Hale had threatened -them with a shot-gun.</p> - -<p>“Good-bye, Dads,” called back Barbara. “Be sure to phone me——”</p> - -<p>“I shall—not,” replied her father, sending the first two words after -Barbara, and blowing the last one against the hall mantel. He would -not phone Barbara, not unless there was very urgent need to do so, and -there appeared to be no prospect of the latter contingency, just then.</p> - -<p>Dora came forth from the pantry, two eggs in one hand and one in the -other. Her long face was longer than usual, and her faded eyes seemed -about to lose their jell and melt into a little puddle of colorless -mucilage.</p> - -<p>“There’s the eggs,” she intoned, as if any one could have mistaken -them for tomatoes.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” echoed Dr. Hale, “I see. But I wish those youngsters would -peddle eggs some place else. They’re a nuisance.”</p> - -<p>“Sure are,” agreed Dora, “and I don’t think Barbara ought to have them -trap’sin’ around here at all.”</p> - -<p>Dr. Hale eyed Dora sharply. It was surprising how much audacity a few -months’ overdue wages could incite. But he had no idea of telling this -to Dora.</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir,” she went on, putting one of the twin eggs in the hand with -the singleton, “they’re a thieving gang, them Eytalians.”</p> - -<p>“But those children aren’t thieves, Dora,” the doctor found courage to -say, “and their folks are poor but deserving, I understand.”</p> - -<p>“You understand <i>that</i> from Barbara,” Dora retorted adding “sir” when -she realized how impertinent the answer really was. “She’s too good -hearted. I’ve told her time and again, and there was a report that -them Eytalians put a bomb in the hotel——”</p> - -<p>“Tut—tut!” checked up the doctor, smiling in a way, but not in a -cheerful way. “That old hotel burned itself down when it swallowed a -big spark from the trains it must have been very weary listening to. -The old Mansion House wasn’t bombed by any one, Italian nor others. It -just got tired standing there useless and deserted. It was once a -merry place, Dora. Many a happy time I had at the Mansion House—before -I got to studying bugs, you know,” he explained, moving off towards -his study.</p> - -<p>Dora too moved off, she towards the kitchen.</p> - -<p>“Well,” she called as she went, “what I’m saying is that Barbara is -too fond of trashy folks. And now that she’s going out in society she -ought to know better!”</p> - -<p>If Barbara could only have heard that.</p> - -<p>“Going out in society!”</p> - -<p>And her reputation endangered by taking up with trashy folks, -especially Nicky and Vicky who sold junk candlesticks and new-laid -eggs!</p> - -<p>In his study Dr. Hale did not at once turn to the unfinished -experiment that lay in the tubes before him. He was thinking that Dora -was right, in spite of her brusque way of stating the case. There had -been very unpleasant rumors current all over Sea Cosset upon more than -one occasion, when suspicious fires brought out the volunteer fireman -and when daring thefts called for action from the limited police -force.</p> - -<p>The “Eytalians”, as Dora and others called all the foreigners who were -huddled in a few old barracks over by the tracks, were not only -suspected but openly blamed, and the Marcusi family, to which Nickolas -and Victoria belonged, were doubly charged with the crimes, because -their father was known to be in prison. He had belonged to a gang, it -was said, and he couldn’t get away because he was almost a cripple. -For years he had tended the railroad gates, and one day he dashed -under the gates to let a horse out before the train hit him. That was -what happened to Nick’s father’s leg.</p> - -<p>But at his shanty alongside the track some men plotted one night, and -whether he was to blame or not, when the midnight train jumped the -track because it couldn’t escape the ties that had been piled up to -derail it, Nickolas Marcusi was found guilty of aiding the plotters. -He had protested his innocence, of course, but to have the railroad’s -property damaged and many lives endangered by a plot actually planned -on the railroad itself, seemed too daring to countenance. So Nick -Marcusi went to prison and was still there when little Nick and his -smaller sister sold Barbara Hale three fresh eggs for her father’s -dinner.</p> - -<p>Dr. Hale was pondering all of this now. He had been sorry for the -one-legged gateman; had even tried to intervene for him at court, but -people about the sea-coast town were bitter. They despised foreigners, -although none of their own class would have tended a railroad gate and -risked a life to save a fractious horse.</p> - -<p>It was this daring deed that had so enthused Barbara, and she was -determined never to turn from her door little Nicky and Vicky—not for -Dora nor for a dozen like her! She would buy every egg they brought; -she couldn’t often buy the junk the children uncovered at the dump, -but she had given them fifty cents once for an old pewter mug.</p> - -<p>“Heigh-o!” sighed Dr. Hale, turning finally to his test tubes. “It’s a -hard road for the poor to travel, but harder still for the more -unfortunate.”</p> - -<p>He was seeing little Victoria’s face “all eyes” as he spoke harshly -about the eggs. He was remembering little Nicky’s flying feet as the -children scurried off, and he was not blaming Barbara for her interest -in the picturesque youngsters.</p> - -<p>“There’s something fascinating about the genuine,” the doctor pursued -secretly, “and even a genuine ragamuffin has charm.”</p> - -<p>The clock in the lower hall chimed four. Barbara would be at the party -now, and he was so glad she had gone. Twice Dora had called up the -back stairs to ask if he wanted dinner earlier as Barbara would not be -home, once she had asked if he would like the eggs “cuddled”, she -meant coddled, of course, and he said he would. And he even conceded a -half-hour in favor of Dora’s earlier meal so that she could go to the -beach to see the fish boats come in.</p> - -<p>Also, there had been two telephone calls to jerk him out of his -reverie, and already he was missing Barbara.</p> - -<p>And now the door-bell!</p> - -<p>“Might as well put work aside for today!” the doctor told himself, for -while Dora was preparing a meal she never deigned to answer the door.</p> - -<p>“Hey there!” came a shout through the hall. “May I come up?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, come along. Glad you are nobody else,” called back Doctor Hale, -while Glenn Gaynor was already dashing up the stairs.</p> - -<p>“Barbara gone?” he asked sharply, as if hoping she wasn’t and knowing -she was.</p> - -<p>“Yes, went long ago,” answered the doctor. “You’re going to the dance, -I hear.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I don’t know.” The boy, who was so big and good-looking that he -might well have been called a young man, tossed his cap down -impatiently, and folded his brown arms to keep them out of mischief. -“I hate these affairs——”</p> - -<p>“Now, see here, Glenn,” said the doctor, in that unmistakable voice -that starts a lecture, “all work and no play, you know——”</p> - -<p>“Yes sir, I know,” Glenn cut in. “But when a fellow starts they run -him to death, and I just can’t see these house parties.”</p> - -<p>“Why go then?” complacently asked the older man.</p> - -<p>“Promised Babs, promised Dud and promised his sister, Cara,” admitted -the complaining youth. “A silly little party, with giggling girls just -out of grammar school——”</p> - -<p>“Oh, really now, Glenn,” laughed Dr. Hale, “they’re better than that. -They are, I believe high school sophs. And besides—look who is giving -this party!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes <i>I</i> know,” Glenn almost sneered, “the rich de Burkes,” this -was a pure mockery, “at Billows, seaside residence of—oh, darn!” he -broke off suddenly. “I came over to buy Babs off. I’ve got tickets for -the Music Festival tomorrow night and—I’m due at a—dance!”</p> - -<p>Glenn’s discomfiture was so boyish it was positively laughable, and -Dr. Hale was enjoying it.</p> - -<p>“Look out, boy,” he warned. “That’s just the way a colt acts when he -sees a lasso!”</p> - -<p>“Lasso! What do you mean, sir?”</p> - -<p>“That you may have a better time at the dance than you anticipate,” -replied Dr. Hale slowly but not solemnly.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chV' title='V—Billows the Beautiful'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER V</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.1em'>BILLOWS THE BEAUTIFUL</span> -</h2> -<p>Imagine trees, so many beautiful trees that they made canopies, -tunnels and softest green shelters fit for fairies, for elves and for -lovely little children. Outside and beyond this grove, imagine a -carpet so green that the sky threw shadows upon it in futile jealousy, -gardens so gorgeous that butterflies fluttered over the blooms, -bewildered and confused in their temptations and then—just beyond and -yet within all of this, think of a House Beautiful!</p> - -<p>That was Billows, the summer home of Cara Burke.</p> - -<p>A great iron fence raised its palings outside the farthermost borders -of the estate. But only the ocean and the ocean drive were thus -separated, for acres and acres were shut in behind the iron fence, and -one couldn’t find the gates unless one knew where to look for them. -Greenery everywhere.</p> - -<p>Yes, they were very rich, the Burkes, but no one could call them -“stuck up,” not even the most jealous, or most narrow-minded person at -Sea Cosset, who was generally supposed to be old Sarah Jenkins, who -sold peppermints and never stopped talking.</p> - -<p>And here at the Billows, Cara Burke was holding her first house party, -while among those present was Barbara Hale.</p> - -<p>“Cara, you should be dressed and down here now,” her mother warned -from the alcove near the stairs. “The girls are coming——”</p> - -<p>“You do the honors, Moma,” called back Cara, in a voice quite -pardonable if she was a little distance off. “That’s just Louise and -Esther——”</p> - -<p>No pompous butler barred the way, for the massive doors were open wide -and the laughter of young girls was echoing clear up to Cara’s -dressing-room, while Sniffy, the black poodle, bumped himself down the -stairs to find out what it was all about.</p> - -<p>“Come right along, girls,” Mrs. Burke welcomed the first arrivals, -Esther, Louise, and Lida. “Cara will be down directly.”</p> - -<p>The girls hesitated, overwhelmed by the beauty of the flowers and soft -lights. They were already familiar with the house and its luxurious -furnishings, but the urns and vases filled with blooms beneath the -silken floor lamps made the rooms look like a scene from some gorgeous -theatrical set.</p> - -<p>“I waited for Ruth,” Esther was saying, “but she didn’t come over. -Then we drove over there and she was gone, in a taxi, her mother -said.”</p> - -<p>“Here she is now!” proclaimed Louise, for the rollicking Ruth was -tripping up the stone steps, suit-case dangling by her.</p> - -<p>“’Low girls!” she called out. “I missed you! But I got the worth of my -money from old Taxi-Dermot,” she declared, “I made him drive me down -along the ocean, and then—so that every one might see me, I directed -him to drive past the tennis court——”</p> - -<p>“Here’s Cara,” interrupted Louise. “Ruth, you didn’t shake hands with -Mrs. Burke,” she whispered to the obstreperous Ruth, although Mrs. -Burke had by now disappeared, leaving the scene to Cara and Sniffy.</p> - -<p>Greetings and exclamations peculiar to girls who are only growing up -and think they have already grown up, were being perfunctorily -exchanged, when Cara’s car, almost noiselessly, rolled up the drive, -and then a shadow appeared in the doorway. This time it was the -Burke’s chauffeur, Dixon, and the suit-case he primly placed in the -hall, over near the carved wooden settee, was none other than Barbara -Hale’s.</p> - -<p>“Oh, here’s Barbara!” exclaimed Cara, happily, rushing forward to -greet the latest and last arrival, Barbara, in her green and white -sport suit with the close-fitting white felt hat.</p> - -<p>Cara gushed and gurgled, saying every pleasant thing she could think -of and all but kissing Barbara, but it seemed as if all the joy was -between those two. The other girls had fallen back a little, into a -group of their own, and just then Barbara wondered if she were going -to be treated as an interloper, an outsider.</p> - -<p>Were they not glad to meet her?</p> - -<p>“Girls!” called out Cara, “you all know Barbara, don’t you? We met her -at the committee meeting, you know,” she pointed out breathlessly. -“Barbara, this is Louise, and Lida, and you must know Ruth? Ruth -Harrison——”</p> - -<p>“Oh yes, I know Ruth,” interrupted the embarrassed Barbara, for she -was feeling the same old catch in her breath which she always -experienced when meeting a lot of strange girls.</p> - -<p>But presently the ice was broken and the waters of sociability oozed -along, if a little halting, when Esther blocked their way with her -little snowball about Barbara being “a stranger in Sea Cosset, if she -did live only just across the line.”</p> - -<p>Of course Esther had to say that. “Just across the line”, as if a few -scrub pines and a couple of wild fields could really make any -difference in climate or territory. But one place was ordinary, -Landing, the other exclusive, Sea Cosset.</p> - -<p>Were they going to snub her? Cara’s profuse welcome seemed to Barbara -a little strained, as if Cara were trying to cover up something. Only -Ruth Harrison attempted to put Barbara at her ease and she undertook -to criticize clothes.</p> - -<p>“Now, that’s what I call a nifty little costume,” spoke out Ruth -without an attempt at politeness. “Wherever did you get a rig like -that, Barbara?”</p> - -<p>Wherever did she get it? Barbara winced a little, then burst out -laughing.</p> - -<p>“No use trying to put on airs,” she declared gaily. “This is home-made -and the cook helped me out.”</p> - -<p>After that they all “joined in the chorus.” Every one told about where -her clothes were bought, (if not actually quoting the prices) and -there was more joy over a bargain—it was Ruth’s sport stockings -two-ninety-eight, regular four dollars—than over the wonderful lace -tracery on the side of Louise’s really lovely tub-silk dress.</p> - -<p>Clothes! And Barbara would barely trust herself to utter the tricky -little word!</p> - -<p>“But are we all here?” Cara presently asked, for they were still -hanging around the door, as if the arrival had not been completed.</p> - -<p>Ruth counted six and that was all expected.</p> - -<p>“Then let’s get the bags put away and go outside,” proposed Cara. -“Since you haven’t been travelling——”</p> - -<p>“But we have!” joked Ruth. “Didn’t I make the Taxi-Dermot drive me all -over the world in his rattle-box?”</p> - -<p>“Then perhaps <i>you</i> want to change,” suggested Cara in the same joking -manner. “You must be worn out, Ruthie dear,” she mocked. “I’ll have my -maid help you into a warm baa-th——”</p> - -<p>“You will not! I’ve been in the ocean and if I don’t walk straight -I’ll spoil something, for my ears are leaking the briny,” chuckled -Ruth, merrily.</p> - -<p>Barbara was merely looking on and listening. She felt out of place, -even awkward, but she knew how to affect poise even if she didn’t feel -it. Yes, she had needed the companionship of girls; there was no -denying that, she was secretly willing to admit.</p> - -<p>Up the stairs they raced, suit-cases banging along with them, while -Sniffy, the poodle, turned up his little black nose and went the other -way. The Burkes might not have been of the class picturesquely called -“high-hat” which is the newer word for high-toned, but Sniffy was -worse than that. He was snobby. <i>He</i> hadn’t any use for giggling girls -and he gruntily resented their invasion of the beautiful Billows.</p> - -<p>“I was going to have a drawing for room-mates,” Cara told the girls -who were now all gathered in her gold and green room. “But honestly, -girls, I just——”</p> - -<p>“Oh, we know you want Barbara——”</p> - -<p>“Babs,” corrected Cara. “We’re going to call you Babs, aren’t we?” she -asked the girl who was lost in admiration of a marine scene that hung -between the two latticed windows.</p> - -<p>“Let’s get out while it’s so lovely——” suggested Esther, and in that -little suggestion one might have noticed that Esther was adroitly -managing to divert attention from Babs. For which Babs was thankful, -although Esther could not possibly have known that.</p> - -<p>Suit-cases unpacked and room-mates assigned, presently they were -racing off to the tennis court although apparently no one was going to -play.</p> - -<p>“Too hot,” was the verdict on that suggestion, but it was more likely -too much trouble; and besides, Esther and Louise at least were not -dressed for tennis.</p> - -<p>It was all very unreal to Barbara. These beautiful grounds, the gaily -dressed girls, so care-free, so frivolous and more than anything else, -so girlish. It must be fine to feel free from anxiety. There were -Dora’s wages due, and Dr. Hale’s bills not coming in promptly, there -were the cultures for experiments to be paid for and they were so -expensive. And now, if her father was determined to shut her help out, -that would mean also the loss of Glenn Gaynor’s assistance, for he -worked with Barbara, enjoying the experiments and calling them fun -when they worked them out together. He would hardly enjoy Dr. Hale’s -professional methods; what boy, working alone, would?</p> - -<p>Words are halting and inadequate to express the mental flashes that -pictured all this in Barbara’s mind, for it came as clearly and as -quickly as the penetrating gleams of the late afternoon sunshine, as -they shot through indifferent clouds. Not even the insistence of the -girls’ laughter nor Cara’s challenge to knocking up balls, could -disguise the reality of the worries she had tried and failed to leave -behind her at home.</p> - -<p>And clothes! Clothes! How they mocked her now! She who could sally -forth triumphantly in a skirt, unhemmed (frayed out for effect!); in a -sweater that Dora made for the church fair and it didn’t sell, in a -hat—no, without a hat. Around home and in her unhampered outdoor life -all of this and even worse was all right, rather individual and by no -means a hardship. But now, here with these daintily dressed girls, of -whom even the careless Ruth Harrison admitted paying two dollars and a -half for sport stockings, here Barbara fully realized her shabbiness.</p> - -<p>They were seated on the low, white Roman benches, and Cara, who was -wearing a simple but lovely white flannel, had just jumped up to bat a -few balls over or under the net. Glad of a chance to relieve her -misgivings with some positive action, Barbara quickly followed, and -these two girls were again apart from the others, rather -unintentionally.</p> - -<p>“I told you,” remarked Esther to Louise.</p> - -<p>“What?” demanded Louise.</p> - -<p>“What? Why that,” pointing to the flying figures at the tennis net.</p> - -<p>“Well, what of it? Cara asked <i>us</i> to play, didn’t she?” Louise was -not going to let a small thing like Cara’s open preference for Barbara -spoil her good time.</p> - -<p>“Isn’t she wonderfully athletic?” pointed out Lida. She meant Barbara -and she meant the remark to be a compliment.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes.” Esther’s eyebrows went up quizzically.</p> - -<p>“Whew!” whistled Ruth Harrison. “Look at that jump! And <i>we</i> sit here -like bumps on logs. Say girls, if we’re not going to ‘bust’ our new -clothes doing that, we had better find something else to do. As a -grandstand this bench isn’t big enough,” and she tried to push Louise -off at the other end.</p> - -<p>It was presently agreed that the non-players should go down to the -lake. The lake was accessible from one end of the grounds, and when -Ruth called out the glad news to Cara, she, Cara, insisted upon going -too.</p> - -<p>That her other guests were missing her while she batted balls with -Barbara, Cara easily guessed, but as they planned a boat ride Barbara -hesitated.</p> - -<p>“I just love this exercise and really need it,” she demurred. “Let me -play around here and you go along for your sail,” she entreated Cara.</p> - -<p>“And leave you all alone?” sang out little Lida.</p> - -<p>“All by my loney,” laughed Barbara. “Don’t worry about me, I’m all -right,” and she continued to bat balls against the high wire net that -served to keep them within bounds.</p> - -<div id='i002' class='mt01 mb01 wi002'> - <img src='images/illus-002.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> -<p class='caption'>“OH!” GASPED BARBARA. “IT’S NICKY! AND HE’S HURT!”</p> -</div> -<p>Cara hesitated. “I am determined to let every girl do just as she -pleases,” she remarked. “But I hate to leave you alone, Babs.”</p> - -<p>“Please do,” begged Barbara. “I’m having a wonderful time,” and she -sprang for a ball that tried to escape her racket, while Ruth again -shouted merrily in applause.</p> - -<p>Cara, Lida, Ruth, Louise and Esther, comprising the entire house party -with Barbara excepted, started off along the winding path to the lake. -Unconsciously Barbara sighed. It was good to be left alone.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chVI' title='VI—The Accident'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER VI</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.1em'>THE ACCIDENT</span> -</h2> -<p>She should not have come. Somehow she didn’t seem to belong. For a -single second Barbara considered flight. A glance towards the freedom -of the road made the girl feel like a prisoner within those fairy-like -grounds.</p> - -<p>Then: “How silly!” her better judgment prompted, “when you know Cara -wants you and the other girls—well, who could blame them for thinking -one different when one felt different, acted differently, and was -different?”</p> - -<p>“Dad and Dora are just about now talking of the fun I’m having,” she -reflected, as a cynical little titter rippled over her lips. But -presently the racket again swung into action, and from the lake beyond -the grove floated back gales of laughter. Those girls knew how to have -a good time. <i>They</i> knew how to play.</p> - -<p>“Born that way, I suppose,” Barbara continued to reason, “while I was -born with a genius for a father and an angel for a mother. No wonder -I’m different,” she decided, her sense of humor at least being all of -its kind that any girl could wish for.</p> - -<p>That so-called saving, sense of humor! Well, if it didn’t actually -save one it helped a lot. Barbara Hale was perfectly willing to admit -that fact at this very moment.</p> - -<p>Bing! Biff! Bat! How the balls flew! And how her muscular young arm -served that delicately strung racket, as finely adjusted as a precious -violin and probably as well beloved by its proud possessor.</p> - -<p>But the racket didn’t belong to Barbara. Cara had snatched it up from -a bench and handed it to her when they entered the court. Now, Barbara -paused to note the burnt-in letters the racket was marked with; Dudley -Burke. Yes, it belonged to Cara’s brother, Dud, and he had a local -reputation as a crack tennis player. Naturally interested in sports, -she was also interested in its advocates, and as if her thoughts had -gone by wireless, at this instant a boy’s whistle sounded through the -shrubbery.</p> - -<p>Barbara started guiltily. Why? All alone in the strange grounds, a -stranger—what would the girls say if they should come along? Perhaps -that she had stayed behind them just for this chance. But she had not, -of course. The wish to be alone had prompted her, only that. But now, -here was Dudley Burke. She knew it before she saw him, and being -essentially honest she admitted, secretly, that she was glad he had -come!</p> - -<p>“Hello!” came a cheery greeting from between the mulberry trees. -“Where’s Cara?”</p> - -<p>“Gone to the lake,” Barbara replied easily, for the boy was not -exactly a stranger to her. She had met him with Glenn at the hotel -tennis match.</p> - -<p>“Practicing?”</p> - -<p>“With your racket——”</p> - -<p>“Oh, help yourself. Plenty of them spoiling around here. Feel like a -little game?”</p> - -<p>Barbara’s face was being transformed from that brooding serious -picture of a few moments ago, to the image of a pretty girl, blushing -happily and responding naturally to the comradeship offered her.</p> - -<p>What if she did prefer boys to girls? Or if she thought she did? -Wasn’t Glenn the best playmate a girl ever had? So generously -understanding and so free from petty criticism, was Glenn.</p> - -<p>“I’m afraid I shouldn’t be on the court in these shoes,” she answered -Dudley, while she thought of so many other things. “They have heels——”</p> - -<p>“Never mind the heels,” he interrupted. “This will be rolled tomorrow, -besides those are little heels,” he finished, not knowing that the -better word might have been “low” for heels.</p> - -<p>Dudley was like Cara, good-looking in a very general way and with that -same easy gracefulness that made Cara so attractive. But his hair! -Red! The very reddest-red, bleached a little now by the summer sun, -but red for all that. He should have had blue eyes, but Barbara wasn’t -wondering about the color of his eyes—although Cara always called them -green—she wasn’t wondering about anything, as a matter of fact, she -was just deciding.</p> - -<p>Queer, how easy it was for her to fall into comradeship with a boy. -Dudley Burke wasn’t guessing at the price of her shoes, or her -stockings or wondering where she got “that rig.” But he was curious to -know how she sprinted like any fellow would, and how she put up such a -good game of tennis, anyway.</p> - -<p>Tennis surely is the game for boys and girls, and these two were -throwing so much energy and enthusiasm into it they could not help -getting proportionate enjoyment from it. Time passed quickly, too -quickly for both of them. Then, suddenly Barbara remembered she had -promised to follow the girls to the lake.</p> - -<p>“I’m afraid I’ll have to stop,” she said reluctantly, panting a -little. “This is lots of fun, but I promised to meet the girls——”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes,” drawled the boy, shaking his head in mockery. “This here -house party, of course——” He did a few tricks with his racket then -sprang around to get Barbara’s jacket which she had left on the bench.</p> - -<p>“Oh, let me show you something,” he exclaimed, as he reached for his -own coat. “Mother’s ‘nuts’ on old junk, and look what I just bought!” -He was holding up an old candlestick.</p> - -<p>“Why,” faltered Barbara, “isn’t that—wherever did you get that?” she -asked quickly altering the original form of her question.</p> - -<p>“Couple of kids. It’s brass.” He was rubbing the tarnished metal with -his handkerchief. “Two funny little Dagoes waylaid me down the road. -Suppose they snibbied it——”</p> - -<p>“Nicky and Vicky wouldn’t steal anything.”</p> - -<p>“Nicky and Vicky! Do you know the youngsters?”</p> - -<p>“They sell fresh eggs,” Barbara hastily explained, instantly -regretting her thoughtless defense of the two little Italians. But for -some reason, which she could not have named, she felt that the -children needed defending.</p> - -<p>Dudley was toying with the queer old candlestick.</p> - -<p>“Well, this isn’t so bad, and Mother has what Sis calls a junk -complex. Funny how those kids pick up things.”</p> - -<p>“They really search in the dumps, you know,” Barbara interrupted. She -was just seeing Nicky and Vicky searching in the dump and how they -must have rejoiced when they had discovered the candlestick.</p> - -<p>“Yes.” Dudley hesitated, then added: “I gave them a whole ‘buck’ for -this, but they only asked a half-dollar. They looked as if they needed -a lot more.” He tossed his head to one side boyishly as he said that.</p> - -<p>“They do.” Barbara replied quickly. “Their father is—in prison, you -know. He used to be gate-keeper at the tracks over at Stonybend, and -he got in some trouble, which lots of people think he had nothing to -do with. Dad says it’s an outrage for the state to take a man from his -family and leave a poor woman to support them.” Her voice was seething -with indignation, as any reference to that story always made her -angry.</p> - -<p>“So it is. The poor kids! No wonder they have to dig in the dumps. I -wish I’d given them more money——”</p> - -<p>A sudden shrill of voices checked Dudley’s remarks. Along the winding -path a flutter of light dresses broke through the greenery. There -seemed to be some excitement.</p> - -<p>“Here come the girls and—what’s the matter?” Barbara exclaimed, for -the girls were coming back and some one with them was crying!</p> - -<p>“Some youngster——” Dudley barely said before he was hurrying to meet -Cara and her companions.</p> - -<p>“Oh!” gasped Barbara. “It’s Nicky! And he’s hurt!”</p> - -<p>Between Cara and Ruth, Nicky was being led along, splotches of ugly -red staining a bandage that had been wound around the little fellow’s -wrist. He was not crying, but his sister Vicky was. She was in the -charge of Louise and Esther, who vainly tried to assure the frightened -child that her brother would be all right, and that she shouldn’t cry -so.</p> - -<p>“What happened?” Dudley asked as quickly as his question could be -heard, for every one seemed to be talking at once.</p> - -<p>“He fell into the lake and cut his arm on some glass,” Cara replied. -“I’m glad you’re here, Dud——”</p> - -<p>“Oh, it ain’t nauthin’” protested the boy bravely. “I often get cut——”</p> - -<p>“But not like this,” Cara insisted. “He had better have it dressed. We -were just coming in when we saw him——”</p> - -<p>“I’d be home now——”</p> - -<p>“A good thing you didn’t go home, Nicky,” Barbara told him -authoritatively. “You might scare your granny to death with all that -blood.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, she isn’t scary.” The boy was wincing with pain, and the pallor -of suffering made his dark eyes look strangely old and unreal in his -small sharp face.</p> - -<p>Dudley sort of brushed the girls aside and now had his arm around -Nicky.</p> - -<p>“We’ll see a doctor, kid,” he said kindly. “Then there’ll be no -come-back——”</p> - -<p>“I don’t want no doctor,” the boy exclaimed excitedly.</p> - -<p>“He won’t hurt you,” assured Dudley trying to inspire courage.</p> - -<p>“’T’aint the hurt. I’m not afraid, but——”</p> - -<p>Barbara guessed why the boy feared any one who might seem to be an -official; even a doctor had some authority, and she quickly understood -Nicky’s fear. His father had been taken away by officials, and he had -not been allowed to come back. How could the child be expected to -forget that dreadful scene that had left them worse off than if they -had been orphans?</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell you,” Barbara exclaimed, “we’ll go see my dad. You know -him, Nicky, and he’s a good doctor——”</p> - -<p>“But Dr. Landes is just at the corner,” Louise tried to suggest. “Why -not go to him?”</p> - -<p>“It won’t take but a few minutes to run over to Dr. Hale’s,” Dudley -decided. “And my car is in the drive. What about Little Sister?” He -referred to Vicky who by now had ceased her wailing.</p> - -<p>“I’m going to give Little Sister some ice-cream,” Cara announced -brightly. “Won’t that be nice?”</p> - -<p>Vicky seemed to think it would be, so she allowed herself to be led -towards the house, while Dudley and Barbara took the wounded boy to -the auto.</p> - -<p>“Sure I’m not goin’ to no strange doctor?” the child questioned before -he would set foot into the pretty little sport car with the “rumble -seat” in the back. Barbara was to occupy that place, while Dudley and -Nickolas rode in front.</p> - -<p>“We’re going to my house,” Barbara answered him frankly. “You don’t -think I’d fool you?”</p> - -<p>“No; I guess not, you wouldn’t. But this don’t hurt much. Who’s going -to brung Vicky home?”</p> - -<p>“She’ll get a car ride too,” replied Dudley, supposing that would be -cheering news.</p> - -<p>“But no strangers don’t dast fetch her home!” cried the boy quivering -with excitement.</p> - -<p>“Why?” asked Dudley.</p> - -<p>“Can’t no strangers go to our house,” the boy protested. His -excitement was alarming, for the bandage around his hand was now -dripping blood.</p> - -<p>“Oh, look!” cried Barbara, “how your hand bleeds! You must keep quiet. -Here, take this——”</p> - -<p>“Wait a minute: I have some cheesecloth in the back of the car,” said -Dudley, pulling into the curb so that he might stop the car. When he -stepped out to get the cheesecloth from under the rumble seat, he -whispered to Barbara:</p> - -<p>“Seems to have something to hide at his house.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, that’s because of the trouble—his father you know,” she also -whispered. The cheesecloth had already been cut in convenient duster -sizes so that it was no trouble to wind a few of the spotless pieces -around Nicky’s wounded hand.</p> - -<p>Settled once more, upon Barbara’s assurance that they would go -straight back to Billows and get Vicky just as soon as the cut was -dressed, again Dudley turned his car towards the homestead and office -of Dr. Hale.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chVII' title='VII—Nicky and Vicky'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER VII</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.1em'>NICKY AND VICKY</span> -</h2> -<p>Nicky wasn’t a bit afraid of Dr. Hale. He scarcely flinched as the -deep cut was washed and dressed, Barbara acting as nurse and Dora -acting foolishly.</p> - -<p>She couldn’t see why Barbara had to bother with those “young uns,” and -she didn’t see, anyhow, why Barbara had to leave the party “on account -of a boy’s cut hand.”</p> - -<p>Because Dudley was present, although he was too well-bred to show his -amusement, for Dora did “take on” as no maid would be expected to do, -out of her place and all that, yet Barbara could not safely ask her to -desist. Such rashness, Barbara feared, might precipitate something -worse, as Dora was always “free with her tongue.”</p> - -<p>Quiet and dignified, Dr. Hale took care of his little patient and what -Dora lacked in giving the home the stamp of order, surely he, -personally, supplied with his courtliness.</p> - -<p>Dudley was keenly interested in the laboratory equipment, as Barbara -told him to look things over while he waited, and he expressed the -wish of coming in with Glenn some day, to see how things worked.</p> - -<p>Finally the wound was all fixed up, and Dr. Hale asked Nicky how it -felt.</p> - -<p>“Fine,” he replied, smiling now in evident relief.</p> - -<p>“How did you do it?” Barbara asked.</p> - -<p>“Duckin’,” replied Nicky.</p> - -<p>“What for?” Dudley wanted to know.</p> - -<p>“Fer the half-dollar you gim-me.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, you lost your candlestick money?” Barbara exclaimed.</p> - -<p>“Yes; Vicky wanted to see the picture on it and she dropped it in. I -got to be goin’.” Nicky was again getting anxious about the little -sister.</p> - -<p>“Yes, we’re going,” Dudley told him, meanwhile saying good-bye to Dr. -Hale. But Barbara had suddenly disappeared.</p> - -<p>She had dashed up to her own room, and was standing with her back to -the door, as if that would shut out everything else.</p> - -<p>“I don’t want to go back,” she sighed. “I hate girls’ parties and——” -She never gave in to such emotion, she wouldn’t cry about anything so -unimportant and yet—her eyes were brimming!</p> - -<p>“Clothes, clothes!” she fairly bit at the words. “All girls care for -is clothes.” And this was a frank confession that she too cared a lot -about clothes, else why was she being so upset over them?</p> - -<p>“And they’ll probably say I just wanted to run off this way in -Dudley’s car.” Another unpleasant thought, but there might have been a -good reason behind it, for Louise and Esther had both called after -her. They had been joking of course, and while their words were -something about not “running away or going on too long a ride,” it -would have been stupid not to understand just what they meant. They -were teasing her about playing tennis, first, and going car riding, -second, with Dudley.</p> - -<p>“I’ll just show them how much I care about their old party,” Barbara -pouted, sliding down into her comfortable arm chair. “Poverty suits -me—when it’s my own.”</p> - -<p>Her eyes reluctantly swept the room with its uncompromising -shabbiness. Perhaps within her eyes the picture of those other rooms, -Cara’s, refused to be obliterated; at any rate, her things had never -before looked so ugly, so old, so faded, and so—so hateful. They -almost made her shiver. That dresser with brass handles, when they -might easily have been changed for glass. And a mantelpiece! As if a -mantel were of any possible beauty or use!</p> - -<p>“Barbara! Babs!”</p> - -<p>Her father calling. “Dear Dads!” This was not a sigh of self-pity. “It -isn’t his fault. I wonder why brains, real brains are sold so cheap? -Yes, Dad,” she answered, patting her face with the powder puff, “I’m -coming.” She was on her feet again and going back to the party. Of -course she would <i>have</i> to go. Nicky’s accident had seemed like a -temporary release, but she must go back to Cara’s.</p> - -<p>Nicky!</p> - -<p>Why was he fearful of Dudley Burke or any stranger going to his place? -Yes, he must have something to hide.</p> - -<p>“And I’ll just see that he hides it,” Barbara determined bitterly, as -if Nicky’s troubles were so like her own, and as if he too had a right -to protect himself from strangers’ interference.</p> - -<p>But what was he hiding? She wondered, as she tried to cover up the -signs of her rebellion, tried to recapture the expression of happiness -which she had shed when she slammed the door of her room.</p> - -<p>Well, she would go, but she was going to hate everything. Cara was -lovely and not really a “goody-goody,” patronizing kind of girl. She -did like Cara. And her brother too, was splendid. He could play -tennis; perhaps they would have a game after dinner.</p> - -<p>But the other girls probably wouldn’t want to play. And she, Barbara, -must not ignore all the conventions.</p> - -<p>“I’ll be down in one moment!” she called again.</p> - -<p>Nicky was already out in the car. What a little fighter he was! How -the children of the poor do learn to fight for their own! He was bound -to go for little Vicky and to bring her home himself. No auto ride -would lure him from what he believed was his duty; not Nicky.</p> - -<p>Another little squeezing hug for her father and a call to Dora and -Barbara sprang into the rumble seat of Dudley’s car.</p> - -<p>“We’re going for little sister,” he told her, tossing his red head to -one side in that characteristic gesture with which she was already -familiar. “Guess she’ll have her ice-cream finished now. But Nicky -must have some too.”</p> - -<p>“I couldn’t wait. I gotta hurry up. Never mind the ice-cream,” bravely -renounced the boy.</p> - -<p>“We’ll put it in a—a pail,” declared Dudley laughingly. “You’ve got to -have some ice-cream after all your trouble, boy. We’ll see to that.”</p> - -<p>“’T’aint no trouble. Don’t hurt hardly a bit,” he protested again, as -if ashamed of the trouble he was making for others.</p> - -<p>“And I’ll bet you didn’t get the half-dollar?” Dudley pressed further.</p> - -<p>“Nope, I didn’t.”</p> - -<p>“Then we must fix that up, too. You ought to hear the stories of -deep-sea diving about some boys in other countries.” Dudley was trying -to be entertaining. “They just throw money in the water, folks do, to -see the fellows dive after it.”</p> - -<p>“I know,” answered Nicky.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps you’ve seen pictures of it in magazines,” ventured Barbara.</p> - -<p>“Yeah, I did. My father used to get lots of magazines from the train -men.”</p> - -<p>There was silence for a time after that. Likely both Barbara and -Dudley were blaming the state for having cut off even that opportunity -for poor little Nicky. It hadn’t been much; just cast-off magazines, -but they must have been educating, and they must have given real -pleasure to the Italian gate-keeper’s family. But now he was in -prison, just because he had been in company with bad men. But the -public must be protected, although Barbara was not reasonable enough, -just then, to think of that.</p> - -<p>“We don’t have to ride home,” mumbled Nicky, as Dudley turned his car -in under the towering trees that arched the roadway to Billows. “We -can walk just as well.”</p> - -<p>“But why not ride?” demanded Dudley. “That’s what this little bus is -for.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell you,” chimed in Barbara. “We’ll drive you as far as the -tracks and you can walk home from there. Then, if your grandmother -sees you coming she won’t be frightened as she might be if she saw you -coming in a car.”</p> - -<p>“Ye-ah, that’s right, that’ll be fine,” brightened Nicky, shifting -around in the seat and plainly showing by his general brightness of -manner what a relief that suggestion had brought him. “Ye-ah, that’ll -be fine,” he repeated more than once, kicking the car with his very -dirty bare feet, his joy seeming to affect his very toes.</p> - -<p>“All right,” assented Dudley, “you’re boss. We’ll dump you anywhere -you say. And oh, wait,” he slipped his hand into his pocket, “here’s a -dollar to make up for your ducking and your cutting. And if you find -any more fancy junk let me know.”</p> - -<p>Nicky’s good luck seemed to be increasing, and he smiled broadly as he -used his left hand to tuck the dollar bill into some sort of pocket. -Queer, Barbara thought, how little boys can depend upon pockets in -such tattered clothing, but somehow the pockets always did prove -reliable. Who ever heard of a real <i>boy</i> losing money?</p> - -<p>They found little sister ready to relinquish her hold on the ice-cream -spoon, and to open her other hand to allow the cake crumbs to trickle -through her brown fingers upon the plate Cara had set before her.</p> - -<p>All the girls were gathered around the child, for Cara and Ruth had -managed to get her talking and she had furnished them with quite an -entertainment. They asked her all sorts of foolish questions, and even -the cynical Esther did find cause for a good laugh when Victoria, aged -four and a half years, tried to tell them what she learned at -school—in her one week’s attendance there, just before school closed. -It wasn’t anything like any one else had ever learned, according to -Vicky. And even this little tot also appeared worried about her home, -and kept asking for Nicky, constantly. When she finally understood -that he was back from the doctor’s and ready to take her home, no -amount of coaxing could get a reply from her.</p> - -<p>“Goin’ home,” was her declaration. “Me and Nicky. Nobody else.”</p> - -<p>Cara and the other girls had attached no significance to their -insistence that “nobody else” should go along, but when Dudley offered -to put her in the car she pulled back and shouted:</p> - -<p>“You can’t go to our house!”</p> - -<p>Even Barbara laughed and tried to assure her that only Nicky was to -take her home. Nicky called out that it was “all right, come along and -hurry up,” but even then it took considerable persuading to get her -into the auto.</p> - -<p>“Hey there, Babs!” called Ruth good-naturedly, “why can’t some of the -rest of us play nurse?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” chimed in Louise, “why can’t we take a ride?”</p> - -<p>“That’s the way with a girl who gets into a nice little sport car,” -Ruth continued to jokingly bewail, “she won’t get out. Here <i>I</i> could -fit in there just as well as not.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, come along,” interrupted Dudley. “I’ve got to get back.”</p> - -<p>“And Babs might just as well finish the job,” Cara declared, perhaps a -little anxious to have the “job” finished, for it was certainly very -greatly interfering with her party.</p> - -<p>Finally Dudley gave warning that he was ready and going to start, and -then they were off.</p> - -<p>Barbara held little Vicky in the back seat and its box-like -arrangement at first appeared to frighten the child. She seemed to -think it would snap shut on them, but again her brother’s words of -assurance quieted her fears.</p> - -<p>“Only to the track,” Nicky reminded Dudley as they neared the -crossing. “Ain’t far from there.”</p> - -<p>“All right, kid,” replied the boy driving, “we’ll dump you wherever -you say.”</p> - -<p>“And don’t worry,” said Barbara emphatically, “no one is going to your -house, Nicky. We don’t even know where you live.”</p> - -<p>“Sure,” said Nicky, his face beaming happily, as his friend Barbara -Hale offered him the positive assurance that he might hide away from -her and from her well-meaning friends.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chVIII' title='VIII—Clothes'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER VIII</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.1em'>CLOTHES</span> -</h2> -<p>On their way back, naturally Dudley talked of the Italian children.</p> - -<p>“What do you suppose those youngsters are so worried about? Seemed to -be dreadfully afraid that we would find out something; didn’t they?” -he asked Babs.</p> - -<p>“Yes. But, after all, don’t you think people do spy dreadfully upon -poor folks, if they happen to be interested in them?” Barbara -returned.</p> - -<p>“Spy?” Dudley seemed to resent that.</p> - -<p>“Oh, you know what I mean,” Barbara quickly drew back. “I mean they -think they have to know all about the people they help. I’ve often -seen that, when we had a sewing circle and gave aprons to poor women, -the women of the sewing circle almost wanted a report upon every time -the old aprons were worn.” Barbara could not hide her dislike for the -prying social service sort.</p> - -<p>Dudley laughed at that. “I suppose they are nosey,” he said merrily, -“when they give away a few pennies they seem to think they have a -right to butt in on everything. Well, I’ve got to say, I am a bit -curious just the same. Those youngsters <i>know</i>. They learn a lot -because they need to know it.”</p> - -<p>“Dad says every creature is like that. Animals have developed all -their traits through necessity,” Barbara answered seriously.</p> - -<p>“You know a lot too,” laughed the boy. “Not that <i>you</i> need to.” This -was sort of an apology.</p> - -<p>“Oh, but I do,” insisted Barbara, in turn laughing at the idea. -“Knowledge is power, you know.”</p> - -<p>“Yes—maybe.” He paused as he swung his car around a corner. “You know -I lost on your coming to this party,” he continued presently. “I bet -you wouldn’t come.”</p> - -<p>“Too bad I came.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, no. Glad I lost, really, I’m awfully glad you came.” He was -wagging that red head of his like an animated signal light. “You see, -Cara is an awfully good sport.”</p> - -<p>“I know that.”</p> - -<p>“Oh say! I’m getting myself in trouble,” he laughed again. “I mean, -she’s better and more than just a sister to a fellow; she’s a whole -family.”</p> - -<p>They were almost within sight of Billows and Barbara noticed that -Dudley had slowed down. He seemed to be enjoying himself.</p> - -<p>“You see,” he pursued, “the girls all think you’re sort of different.”</p> - -<p>“Why?” Barbara asked so suddenly and so frankly that Dudley’s cheeks -flared. He couldn’t have been blushing, yet his face certainly had -gone red.</p> - -<p>“Oh,” he faltered, “I suppose because you don’t run around a lot. And -then, you are so fond of study.”</p> - -<p>“I hate it,” flung back Barbara, unconsciously shifting her position, -which was alongside of him since Nicky’s departure.</p> - -<p>“I mean, studying with your father.”</p> - -<p>“That isn’t studying at all; it’s just experimenting. Don’t you like -to experiment?”</p> - -<p>“Sometimes and with some things!” He sang that out in a way that meant -he liked a lark, liked fun, and liked to try out things that gave him -any fun in their trying.</p> - -<p>But whether intentionally or not, he had admitted to Barbara the -general opinion held of her. She was different; Cara called it -elusive, Esther would have said it was stand-offish and Louise had -been heard to declare that Barbara Hale was just plain “stuck up.”</p> - -<p>But Barbara knew. She might have had all of these various -personalities but she alone knew just why she was different. And she -wasn’t telling Dudley Burke, either. Not that he had an idea of -expecting such a confidence, but she had come to Cara’s party and he -rejoiced in that fact. She felt sort of tricked into an unpleasant -situation.</p> - -<p>“It’s too bad,” she remarked presently, “that Nicky’s accident had to -take so much time. It must have spoiled all Cara’s fun this -afternoon.”</p> - -<p>“But it hasn’t mine,” blurted out Dudley. “I’d rather drive around -with a boy’s cut-up arm than to stick around——”</p> - -<p>“With girls!”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t mean that.”</p> - -<p>“You—certainly did.”</p> - -<p>“All right then, with <i>some</i> girls.”</p> - -<p>“I won’t have you talk about my friends,” Barbara was laughing but not -willing to understand the boy as he wanted her to.</p> - -<p>“And <i>you</i> love them too, don’t you?” Dudley could play her evasion -game quite as well as she could do it herself.</p> - -<p>“Why, of course I like the girls!” she flung back with so much fervor -that any one could see she was fearing a suspicion. She didn’t want -Dudley to think she was so unsocial as not to care for her new -companions.</p> - -<p>The boy continued to tease. He brought up the subject of her -preference for Glenn Gaynor.</p> - -<p>“Glenn’s more to your taste, I guess,” he remarked with assumed -indifference. “He knows something; girls are mostly dumb-bells.”</p> - -<p>“Now Dudley, you don’t want to scrap, do you? I told you I <i>liked</i> the -girls.” Certainly as a boy <i>he</i> was frank.</p> - -<p>“Well, anyhow,” he drawled. “I’m awfully glad you came, for I don’t -like them—all.”</p> - -<p>There was neither any use for nor time for further arguments. They -were rolling down the drive, and the girls waiting for them were -squealing things about Babs being mean to stay away, and the whole -thing looking like a put-up job, so they managed to make known.</p> - -<p>Barbara expected all this, for indeed it did look queer for her to -have been away from the girls practically all the afternoon. But Cara -made peace by hastily managing to get all the other girls, excluding -Barbara, into the little car. Two were assigned to the front seat with -Dud, and three in the rumble seat. Then she made Dudley give them a -ride.</p> - -<p>“Anywhere,” she urged. “Just for a ride,” and the brother understood -that she was trying to please the girls by having him “show them off -around town.”</p> - -<p>“You can play with Sniffy,” she laughingly told Barbara, as once more -the little car left the grounds, this time the driver reluctantly -turning towards the ocean.</p> - -<p>“I’ve got to dress for dinner, you know,” he reminded Cara, as he -picked up speed “and——”</p> - -<p>“Oh, we just want a whiff of ocean breeze,” she cut him short, while -the giggling girls each hoped that her particular friends in Sea -Cosset would see her as they flew.</p> - -<p>Barbara entered the big house and turned at once to the room assigned -her. She felt very dusty and upset and therefore needed freshing up. -Also, she welcomed the chance to privately arrange her things, -although she was determined not to feel self-conscious about her -clothes.</p> - -<p>Clothes!</p> - -<p>The word was like a stone wall against which she was continually -bumping her head. There seemed no escape from it, and to the girl who -so lately had positively ignored the word when it loomed up in capital -letters, the sudden necessity of taking it seriously was very -discomforting. Barbara hated to feel limited by her appearance. Not -that she didn’t love pretty things, but because she felt them beyond -her reach. She was obliged to build up some other real interest, and -that had come to her as she naturally developed an aptitude for -helping her father.</p> - -<p>Bugs, germs, cultures, and the other symbols of bacteriology meant -more to Barbara than frocks, hats, and articles of dainty apparel, -dear to the heart of every normal girl.</p> - -<p>She was simply sacrificing her natural inclinations to those forced -upon her. But being a girl, almost care-free and decidedly courageous, -Barbara Hale hardly knew that she was making any sacrifice at all.</p> - -<p>In Cara’s lovely green and gold room now, she had no intention of -analyzing the situation. But somehow now that she was here she -actually felt she liked it.</p> - -<p>A little chuckle escaped her as she took from her bag the student’s -gown and the black cap. Her best stockings, the new pair called -“atmosphere” had been packed into the cap.</p> - -<p>“Silly to bring it,” she reflected, “but I had to have something.” She -shook out the robe and surveyed the mortar-board hat critically.</p> - -<p>An extra clothes’ tree had been placed by her bed (one of the twins), -just where she would be sure to understand that the articles hung upon -it were intended for her.</p> - -<p>Thoughtful Cara! A beautiful lavender cloud of georgette proved to be -a party dress. Barbara touched it gingerly and then, since the mute -thing didn’t bite her, she became more familiar with it and examined -it, closely.</p> - -<p>How lovely! Shaded lavender from orchid to purple with a golden silk -slip to throw the colors out. There was also a soft gray skirt with a -pearl-gray blouse and a velveteen short coat of jade green.</p> - -<p>“But the girls would know,” she was thinking when she espied a note -pinned to the skirt. It was from Cara, of course, and it hinted that -Bab’s aunt in New York had surprised her with a box of lovely things. -This was the excuse suggested as Bab’s explanation if the girls seemed -suspicious.</p> - -<p>“Why not?” Cara had asked naïvely in her note. “You could have an aunt -in New York, couldn’t you? And she could send you things?”</p> - -<p>A twinge of hurt pride pricked Barbara at the idea. Cara was just a -jolly fun-loving girl, who believed it perfectly fair and square to -defend any reasonable situation with a reasonable excuse; but then it -was not Cara who was being defended. It was easy to do it for some one -else, but would she herself have accepted it?</p> - -<p>No, Barbara did not love clothes well enough to go to much trouble for -them. She was afraid she wouldn’t have much fun in Cara’s finery, -although it was certainly lovely. But neither would she feel right to -refuse and hurt Cara. Which would be worse? To hurt her own pride or -to hurt Cara’s generosity?</p> - -<p>“Oh, clothes!” she repeated again, “what a nuisance they are, either -to have or to need! They’re not really of such importance and yet we -are so proud we feel we must be all decked out like the poor helpless -Christmas trees. Everything must dazzle us or we don’t want it,” she -reflected cynically.</p> - -<p>The room about her was beautiful indeed, soft and soothing in its -tones of gold and green, with no trifling objects stuck around to -offend the best taste. But except for a small row of books held by two -painted book-ends (from Italy) there was nothing in the whole room to -indicate mental personality. Cara was not reflected in her room.</p> - -<p>Barbara’s room at home was old-fashioned, shabby, even cluttered with -books and bookish attributes, but it fairly shouted the name and -personality of Barbara Hale. Cara’s was the work of an expert -decorator; Barbara’s the result of her own individuality.</p> - -<p>Shaking out the few garments upon which so much seemed to depend, -Barbara hurried now to change for dinner. She would wear the little -tub silk, its yellow and black stripes were vivid enough to be -especially summery, and although it was home-made, she felt there -could be nothing wrong with it. Its simplicity saved it from -complications.</p> - -<p>“I suppose the other girls will wear more fancy things,” Babs -reasoned, “but this is all right.” So the striped tub silk was chosen -as a dinner dress, and, just as Barbara had expected, it proved to be -all right.</p> - -<p>The girls were back from their ride and now made a merry, if somewhat -noisy, entrance.</p> - -<p>“Easy to tell there is a boy within hearing,” was Barbara’s sly -reflection, for the way the girls giggled and chattered indicated an -audience. They never would have taken so much trouble merely to amuse -themselves.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Babs!” called out Cara. “You missed it, we went slumming down the -railroad way.”</p> - -<p>“Slumming!” repeated Barbara, a sudden fear taking possession of her. -Could they have sought out the little Italians to whom she had -promised no interference? “Whatever did you go down the railroad for?” -she asked breathlessly.</p> - -<p>“Just for fun,” prattled Cara. “The girls wanted Dud to take them -where he took you, and he bet they wouldn’t enjoy the ride.” Cara was -peeling off her things and preparing to put on something pretty for -dinner. Barbara hardly knew how to question her without exciting -suspicion, but she just had to know whether or not those “giddy -things” had bothered poor little Nicky.</p> - -<p>“Did you see the—Italian children?” Barbara finally managed to ask in -a tone she hoped was natural.</p> - -<p>“I should say we did see them!” chanted Cara. “And say, Babs, they’re -the funniest kids——”</p> - -<p>“Why? How are they funny?”</p> - -<p>“Because they are trying to hide something in that shack of theirs,” -declared Cara. “They ran out, that is the boy did when he saw Dud’s -car, but quick as he saw <i>you</i> were not in it, he turned and raced -back, shut the funny old door with a bang, and pulled down the shades -with the pictures on them. You would have thought we were the wicked -old landlord going to turn them out for their rent,” concluded Cara, -innocently.</p> - -<p>“But why did Dud drive up there? He heard me tell Nicky we wouldn’t -bother them,” faltered the anxious Barbara.</p> - -<p>“Why shouldn’t he? It’s a public place. But Babs,” said Cara, suddenly -noticing the effect of her words, “what’s the matter? Was there a -reason why we shouldn’t have gone there?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, no, of course not. I just hated to frighten those children,” Babs -answered as lightly as she could. “You know how much excitement a -fancy looking car still creates in that sort of district. About like -an ambulance,” she finished laughing a little, with evident effort.</p> - -<p>“Worse. The children were like bees around us. I never knew what -slumming in my own town could amount to,” said Cara. “But Babs, aren’t -you going to be a lamb and wear some of my useless things for me?” She -had been noticing the untouched garments on the little clothes’ tree, -and now ventured the question.</p> - -<p>“Oh yes, of course I am, and thank you loads, Cara,” replied Barbara -impulsively. “But just this evening I felt I might be better -understood if I wore—the common garden variety.” In this speech -Barbara had to tactfully refuse to wear the loaned garments.</p> - -<p>“That’s a real sweet little dress and looks lovely on you,” Cara in -turn declared. “As a matter of fact, Babs, we can’t always buy that -charming simplicity. It’s just perfect and makes <i>you</i> stand out -instead of hiding you.”</p> - -<p>“No, it is not popular enough to warrant the trade making it,” laughed -Barbara, as they both turned to finish their dressing.</p> - -<p>And now the worry about Nicky was superseding the more common worry -about clothes.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chIX' title='IX—Suspicions'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER IX</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.1em'>SUSPICIONS</span> -</h2> -<p>The dinner party was spoiled for Barbara. All she could think of was -Nicky slamming his door in the face of those thoughtless girls who -wanted to go slumming. As if the habits and homes of the poor should -furnish them with amusement!</p> - -<p>And she could imagine little Vicky jerking down the shades, the shades -with the funny pictures on. But she could not quite imagine what might -be the real cause of their alarm. All this seemed more than mere -suspicion of those in the more agreeable walks of life.</p> - -<p>Cara’s family had given her the exclusive use of the big dining-room -for her party, and not even Dudley was present at dinner. The girls -would, no doubt, have been delighted to have had a few boys present, -but Cara had other ideas. She would give the first meal to the girls -as they do it at college, except, of course, that the college menu -could in no way compare to the Billows.</p> - -<p>Two waitresses glided about attending to, and even anticipating, the -girls’ slightest wish, and Barbara was glad to feel at home amid their -ministrations.</p> - -<p>“Not a question of clothes now,” she prompted herself, noticing more -than one of the girls were showing some nervousness.</p> - -<p>Cara easily led the conversation, but Louise and Esther would revert -to the slumming party. That seemed to them to be the real event of the -day.</p> - -<p>“Babs, you should have been along,” said Louise, a little pointedly. -“I know you just <i>love</i> that little Italian.”</p> - -<p>“But Nicky was really hurt this afternoon,” Babs contended. “I can’t -see how you forgot that. They are human, just as we are, and his folks -probably were just as alarmed about his cut arm as ours might have -been. Arms and cuts run about the same, I should think,” she said -sharply.</p> - -<p>“Oh, those people don’t mind cuts,” flung back Esther Deane -disdainfully, and in total disregard of the impropriety of talking of -“cuts” at a dinner table. “They just flourish knives the way some -people point their fingers.”</p> - -<p>“Esther!” exclaimed Cara, in unassumed surprise. “You really mustn’t -speak so of——”</p> - -<p>“Babs’ pets,” interrupted Ruth Harrison, who was the one girl who -could say a thing like that unintentionally. She did not mean to hurt -Babs, but the whole conversation was hurting her. She resented the -girls’ sneering at the children whom she had become fond of through -sympathy. Also she felt like something of an outcast herself, for she -did not belong to this indifferent leisure class. She had been working -and earning money for two years outside of school-time, even if it -were such work as might be termed professional.</p> - -<p>“Nicky sells junk and we sell bugs,” she had reminded her father, when -he too had objected to her interest in the Italians.</p> - -<p>“But you’ll find they are hiding black handers in that shack,” -persisted Ruth, who would not look Cara’s way and therefore could not -see the warnings she was flashing from her eyes at her.</p> - -<p>It had been a wonderful dinner, from the ruby bouillon to the snowy -sherbet, but to Babs the food was merely incidental. She was annoyed, -mad she would call it. Why had Dudley taken the girls over the -railroad when there were endless other beautiful drives to be enjoyed?</p> - -<p>The noisy arrival of a car load of boys, including Dudley and Dick -Landers who had dined at the Club, cut short the girls’ dinner—which -was a real charity, for the meal had been dragging along like a -box-party picnic.</p> - -<p>“We’re all going to the movies,” Cara announced. “That may not be a -very original way to spend a house-party evening, but there’s a -wonderful picture at the Ritz and the boys will take us.”</p> - -<p>“Great!” gurgled Lida Bent. She hadn’t said much all during dinner, -and one might have suspected she was being disappointed in Cara’s -party. Lida was a pretty blonde, addicted to fancy dressing, and -perhaps the fact that she was so beautifully “dolled up” in pale blue -with creamy lace inserts, and was wearing shaded blue stockings—the -most expensive sort—and all that, might easily account for her joy -when Cara imparted the glad tidings of the boys and the movies.</p> - -<p>As they hurried from the dining-room Dudley pinched Barbara’s arm. It -was a signal. He wanted to speak to her.</p> - -<p>She answered with a defiant look. He would have to explain to her why -he had taken the girls to Nicky’s.</p> - -<p>“Jump in my car when you’re ready,” he said very quietly while she -hesitated.</p> - -<p>“Isn’t Glenn here?” she asked presently. It was clear to her that she -should not desert an old friend like Glenn for one so new as Dudley.</p> - -<p>“Yes, but Cara’s taking the big car and he will go with the crowd. -I’ve got to take mine,” Dudley added, as an excuse for asking Barbara. -“If you want to ask another girl there’s lots of room, of course.” He -drawled that “of course” in open mockery. Why take on another girl?</p> - -<p>“All right,” replied Barbara. “I’ll ask Ruth.”</p> - -<p>Now this was the very thing she didn’t want to do, because Ruth’s -presence would prevent her private talk with Dudley, but she was -annoyed. She was ready to quarrel with Dudley. He had heard all she -said to little Nicky, and he could not have helped understanding her -promise <i>not</i> to go to his house.</p> - -<p>“I suppose you’re sore,” the boy made a chance to say, “but it wasn’t -my fault.”</p> - -<p>“No? I suppose your car knew the way so well it skidded right along -over the tracks.”</p> - -<p>Dudley looked at her sharply. This was a new Babs. She was sharp and -bitter as a boy would have been. And scrappy.</p> - -<p>“Oh, say!” he exclaimed, his own eyes flashing defiantly. “I told you -I could explain.”</p> - -<p>“Got to go,” Babs reminded him, for the other girls were actually -coming down the stairs and she had not yet gone up. Also she didn’t -want to hear his excuse.</p> - -<p>It seemed as if Dudley’s bright-red hair always took part in his -emotions. Perhaps it pricked him or tickled him, or something, for he -ran his fingers through it and spoiled it so far as the part went, -unmarking a beautiful straight line of curls that began at his -forehead and made a border right over the top of his head. Boys hate -curly hair, but girls love it—even on boys.</p> - -<p>Babs was smiling as she left him. She liked to punish boys, and her -first inclination was to “cut him,” to refuse to ride with him. Only -her own selfish determination to find out more about the slumming -party prompted her acceptance of his invitation.</p> - -<p>“Oh, hello there Babs,” sang out a familiar voice as she was almost up -the stairs.</p> - -<p>“Hello Glenn!” she answered happily. It was so good to see Glenn; he -always understood everything.</p> - -<p>“See you later,” he added, and she knew what that meant. It meant that -he expected to be with her at the movie party. He surely thought she -would ride out with the crowd in the big car; how could he guess -Dudley had asked her to go in his?</p> - -<p>Cara was down and alongside of Glenn before Babs could think further. -Of course, the girls had all been “crazy” to know Glenn. And he was -good-looking. A little catch pinched her throat as she saw Cara hurry -the boy out with her. Glenn could drive any car. No doubt he would -drive Cara’s. And he was——Oh, pshaw! why fuss? Of course Glenn and -Cara were perfectly suited to be chums. He was charming. Perhaps Babs -had never given him credit for half of his good points. But then, with -her he was merely some one interested in bacteriology, while with Cara -a good-looking, well-mannered boy could become a wonderful pal. She -had time for palship.</p> - -<p>But he, Glenn, was Babs’ chum. They had worked and played together.</p> - -<p>“Coming?” It was Dudley calling her.</p> - -<p>“Just a moment—I must find Ruth,” replied Babs, trying to clear her -mind from its petty jealousies.</p> - -<p>“Ruth’s in the other car. But here’s Dick; we’ll grab him for a -chaperon,” proposed Dudley, just as Dick Landers swung himself over -the porch rail and announced to Dud that he was making himself late -and they wouldn’t see the “funny-picture” if he didn’t “get a move -on.”</p> - -<p>Dick was another nice boy. Babs saw at a glance how brown he was, how -slow and easy going he was, and she also noticed he drawled and -dragged and sang his words.</p> - -<p>“From the South,” she was deciding, as Dudley introduced Dick Landers -from “Geo-gia.”</p> - -<p>It was the funniest thing how Babs persistently got herself in with -the boys without having any idea of leaving the girls. Here she was -again with the two boys for company and no girl. Would the girls -believe her when she would tell them she had expected to have Ruth -along?</p> - -<p>The big car with all the others had gone on ahead, and now Babs was -following in the little roadster with Dick on one side of her and -Dudley on the other. Here again she found herself perfectly at ease, -just as she had with two waitresses hovering around her at the table. -After all it was pleasant to be so situated.</p> - -<p>The boys were jolly companions, each trying to outdo the other at -saying smart things. They teased as boys always do, and when Babs -admitted under Dud’s severe fire of questions, that she did like -little Italian “Kids” who sold junk, and that she was “sore” because -the other girls had followed her tracks that afternoon and had gone to -look for more junk; then Dick relieved the strain by telling wonderful -tales about the old “junk” down “Sauth.”</p> - -<p>“Best old andirons,” he insisted, “the funny old black iron stuff -mostly. But of c’ose there’s lots of brasses, too.”</p> - -<p>“Did the girls want to go to Nicky’s to buy stuff?” Babs interrupted -the Southern story to ask Dudley. “Why should they do a thing like -that?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, you know what girls are when they get a notion in their heads,” -he evaded. “I’ll tell you about it when you’re in better humor, Babs,” -he ended just as they pulled up to the curb to enter the motion -picture theater.</p> - -<p>Ruth came to the rescue. She left the other girls and boys—there were -two boys, Glenn Gaynor and Andrew Norton—and skipped along to where -Babs stood waiting.</p> - -<p>“Heard you wanted me along, Babs,” Ruth said merrily, “and I’ll say I -wanted to be along.” She gave a significant glance with a sly chuckle -at the Southern boy. “I’ll bet you had a fine time.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I just missed you,” Babs interrupted her, making tight hold of -Ruth’s arm. “But don’t escape me now. I want to ask you something.”</p> - -<p>There was no getting away from it; Babs felt more and more guilty. She -could not get the picture of those frightened Italian children out of -her mind, and to think that <i>she</i> had promised and that her friend -should have almost immediately have done the very thing she had -promised not to do. Babs had told Nicky that they would not go near -his home, that they would go no further than the tracks, where he -insisted upon leaving Dud’s car. Then, according to the scraps of -information that Babs had gleaned, the girls had deliberately gone -across the tracks, down the little alley-way and for all she knew -right up to Nicky’s door. They had even seen the pictures on the queer -paper window shades.</p> - -<p>The party occupied almost a full row of chairs in the theater, and -Ruth was next to Babs on one side with Dick next her on the other. -Between every pause Babs tried to ask Ruth a question, but since -talking while a film is being shown is impossibly impolite, she made -little headway with obtaining an explanation.</p> - -<p>“But what difference did it make?” Ruth blurted out. “Why shouldn’t we -go there?”</p> - -<p>“Because, when Nicky got his arm hurt and we took him home,” Babs -whispered, “I promised we wouldn’t go there again. You know his folks -are awfully bitter since they took his father away.”</p> - -<p>“Oh.” Ruth added no comment. She was sure to believe and understand -Babs, for Ruth Harrison was neither jealous nor suspicious.</p> - -<p>The picture was interesting enough to evoke peals of laughter from all -those about her, but Babs could not center her attention upon it. When -a small boy with his “tattered dog” was shown, she saw Nicky, the big -pleading eyes of the screen child accusing her of betraying a child’s -trust.</p> - -<p>“That’s what makes it so horribly mean,” she kept thinking. “He -trusted <i>me</i>, and, of course, he’ll think it was all my fault.”</p> - -<p>Just then Ruth nudged her, very insistently.</p> - -<p>“Say, Babs,” she whispered, “no fooling, there is something mighty -queer about those Italians. I’ll tell you what <i>I</i> think when I get a -chance.”</p> - -<p>But the chance could not be made during scraps of such whispered -conversation as the two girls were having in a crowded “movie” house.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chX' title='X—How Girls Choose Chums'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER X</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.1em'>HOW GIRLS CHOOSE CHUMS</span> -</h2> -<p>When the girls had quite exhausted all their powers of teasing Babs -for again going off with the boys—just as she knew they would—she -decided to ride to the ice-cream place in the big car, and she also -decided to sit in the back with all the girls.</p> - -<p>“Take your boys,” Babs told them, in imitation of their own manner. -“For my part I’m just dying for a chat with you girls. Don’t you -realize I’ve hardly become acquainted yet?” This last was said in a -comical mimicking way, just as if she were some one of real importance -who had been so busy with a whole lot of social affairs that she -really couldn’t reach all the friends who were—perhaps?—pining for her -attention.</p> - -<p>“Oh, we know all about that,” replied Louise. “It must be an awful -bore to be so popular.” Louise was not being sarcastic, just flippant -this time.</p> - -<p>“And the peasants—those bothersome Italians——” Esther Dean remarked. -“Babs dear, you really should not mingle so freely with the gentry.”</p> - -<p>“The gentry? You mean the bourgeois——” broke in Ruth.</p> - -<p>“Hey, hey!” called back Glenn Gaynor from the front seat. “What is -this, anyway, a test or something? Where are we going? That’s what <i>I</i> -want to know.” He was driving.</p> - -<p>“We’re going to Hill’s, of course,” answered Cara. “And if we don’t go -straight there we’ll never find a place to sit down, to say nothing of -getting a dish of ice-cream.”</p> - -<p>It was a wonderful summer evening, and behind the rose-covered lattice -that so beautifully screened Hill’s ice-cream tables, the girls and -boys of Cara Burke’s party thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Babs almost -forgot little Nicky’s troubles, as she laughed and chatted and “showed -off” to her very best advantage, her one regret being that her father -didn’t happen along to the drug-store that evening to see how well she -was doing.</p> - -<p>After all it was lovely to be in a girl’s world. She was surprised to -find how jolly it was, so much better than being alone and thinking -about “bugs,” the term she usually applied to the bacteriological -germs her father kept himself so busily occupied with.</p> - -<p>“Different in one day,” she thought, for Babs was sure to think. She -had a habit of analyzing things within and without, and she was not -deceiving herself now. All that “difference” which people would insist -upon ascribing to her was no difference at all. It was merely a matter -of environment. When alone with her father, with Glenn for a -student-companion she was one sort of Babs, but when surrounded by -happy young friends, such as were with her now, she was decidedly -another sort.</p> - -<p>“Enjoying yourself, Babs?” Cara made chance to ask. She sat at the -next table with Dick and Louise and had been watching Babs.</p> - -<p>“Wonderfully,” replied Babs, smiling that Cara could have so easily -divined her thoughts. But, as a matter of fact, Barbara’s expression -just then was easy enough to interpret. She was smiling happily all -over her face.</p> - -<p>Persons passing in and out also smiled and whispered. It was “Cara -Burke’s party”, they might have been heard to remark, and Babs was not -the only one of the party proud to be in her particular place. It was -well worth while to be there.</p> - -<p>“And I didn’t want to come,” Barbara secretly charged herself. “I -would never have known what I missed.”</p> - -<p>When they reached home the boys delayed for a while out on the big -white porch. It was then that Dudley spoke privately to Babs, after -managing to get her apart from the others.</p> - -<p>“Listen,” he implored. “I’ve got to tell you. I know you’re sore——”</p> - -<p>“What <i>did</i> you take the girls there for?” she broke in sharply. She -was referring, of course, to their slumming and the Italian children.</p> - -<p>“But the girls were saying such crazy things about the kids,” Dudley -protested. “You never heard such rot.”</p> - -<p>“What—rot?”</p> - -<p>“About some black handers being hidden in that shack.”</p> - -<p>Barbara’s mark of contempt was not quite a word—a mere suggestion of -one.</p> - -<p>“As if that nonsense should have made you forget your promise,” she -presently continued bitterly.</p> - -<p>“I didn’t forget it.”</p> - -<p>“No?” Again that seething scorn. Babs knew how to use her voice when -she wanted to be sarcastic.</p> - -<p>“Oh, say!” The boy was despairing of making her understand him. “Just -wait until I tell you. You see, Louise or Esther, I don’t know which -began to—well, to suggest that little Nicky was one of a gang. Oh, it -was so silly, Babs, I just got mad and drove them over there to prove -they were crazy.” Dudley Burke could be just as independent as Barbara -Hale.</p> - -<p>“Did you prove it?” sarcasm again.</p> - -<p>“I tell you, honestly, I thought I was doing a good thing. I thought -we would just run over there and I’d whistle for Nicky, and when he -came out I’d ask him if he had any more candlesticks for sale,” Dudley -explained, simply.</p> - -<p>His distress and his sincerity broke down Babs’ fighting spirit. How -could <i>she</i> blame him? He had actually tried to do something to help -the little Italians. He could not have guessed at her unreasonable -fears.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I know, Dud,” she said more pleasantly, “and I believe you. You -would not—make fun of them.”</p> - -<p>“Make fun of them? I should say not. Those youngsters are smart, and -they’re—well, they’ve got a lot of our kind of kids beat,” he ended, -his selection of words having nothing to do with his loyalty to the -Italians.</p> - -<p>“And I know it’s queer of me to act so cut up about it,” Babs -admitted. “You would think that <i>I</i> were trying to hide something -too.”</p> - -<p>“I wouldn’t, but maybe some others would,” Dud rejoined, rather -hurriedly for the girls were calling them insistently.</p> - -<p>“But say, Dud,” Babs began again, “did the children really act -suspicious?”</p> - -<p>“I should say they did. The way they snapped those old shades down. -It’s a wonder they didn’t pull them off their springs.”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t suppose they were more than just timid,” Babs continued. -“You know how foreigners are. They have an idea the whole world is -their enemy, I guess.”</p> - -<p>“Not youngsters who go to American schools; they know better. No, -Babs, I don’t believe it was just scare, it was alarm. They were -afraid we would go to the door, although they slammed it good and -hard, you just bet,” Dudley declared emphatically.</p> - -<p>“But others must go there——”</p> - -<p>“They stick by their own kind though, clannish, I mean,” the boy -explained. “If there really was something to hide in that house I’ll -bet the whole neighborhood would help them to hide it.”</p> - -<p>“But what could it be?”</p> - -<p>“Haven’t an idea. But, of course, Nicky will come around again. He’ll -count me a good customer for his junk.” Dud laughed outright at the -idea.</p> - -<p>“And here we have been getting the girls after us again,” laughed Babs -in her turn. “Isn’t it dreadful the way I’ve been running off with you -today? I’ll never hear the end of it.”</p> - -<p>“Good thing to give them something to gab about,” Dud flung over his -shoulder as the girls and boys flocked around them, pretending all -sorts of punishment for their delay in joining in the general fun.</p> - -<p>Dudley was so nice, Babs had to admit later, when quiet was descending -upon the Burke household.</p> - -<p>“Just as nice as Glenn,” she reasoned, “but perhaps all boys were -almost as nice when they had had such chances of refinement and -environment.”</p> - -<p>And the girls? Still a little stubborn on that point, Babs was not -willing to pay her own sex such a sweeping compliment. The girls were -“nice” of course, much nicer than she had ever given them credit for -being, but they were “show-offs” just the same. If they hadn’t been -they would never have gone down into the Italian district.</p> - -<p>And if Esther and Louise were not always picking flaws in folks’ -affairs they wouldn’t have told and retold the silly stories about -poor Nicky’s father, who was locked up in jail. The idea of even -suspecting that he might have escaped and might be in hiding there, -was absurd. As if his house would not have been searched, had he -escaped. And who ever said he had escaped, anyhow?</p> - -<p>Cara was returning from her bathroom now and she was wearing the -loveliest yellow silk gown. It had little flutings of blue ribbons and -there were blue-birds embroidered on it, just as if they had flown -there.</p> - -<p>Babs had not yet undressed, but the sight of Cara recalled her own -robe—the hideous black cloth college gown! However could she take that -out? How explain her idea of the dormitory masquerade? How could she -make a joke of it, anyway?</p> - -<p>“I left some robes in the rooms,” Cara said indifferently. “I thought -the girls would hardly bring any, just around the corner.” This was -Cara’s way of doing kindness without display.</p> - -<p>And this was Barbara’s chance to mention the college gown. She -hesitated. Pride was stronger than reason with her, and she didn’t -know that all her boasted frankness about her humble place in life, -about her home-made clothes, her own-made hats, her preference for -study instead of for play—all this was merely humoring her pride. And -yet it had been brave of her to accept and make the most of her -position. Thousands of girls might consider her “well off,” and very -fortunate because, compared to themselves, she was fortunate. Compared -to Cara Burke she was <i>poor</i>. Of course it was all merely a matter of -what one compared with.</p> - -<p>Barbara watched Cara brush her hair. It was bobbed, of course, but -lovely and glossy, crow black, and it encased Cara’s head like a -sculptured cap.</p> - -<p>“Your hair is lovely,” Babs said as she watched her. “Aren’t you -dreadfully tired of curls?”</p> - -<p>“Well, since I’ve never had any I suppose I’m not really tired of -them, but I do think the boys have the best of us in the matter of -hair styles.” She paused in her brushing to make a better part. “If we -just got used to ourselves fixed up more simply I suppose we would -like ourselves quite as well.”</p> - -<p>“Surely we would,” chimed in Babs. “It’s only training. Our eyes -expect certain effects and we feel we must humor our eyes.”</p> - -<p>Cara laid her brush down on the dressing table and swung around to -face Barbara.</p> - -<p>“You know an awful lot, don’t you Babs?” she said. Her tone was filled -with admiration.</p> - -<p>“Why, no I don’t, Cara. About lots of things I am terribly—ignorant.”</p> - -<p>“I mean in your way of thinking things out. Dud says you’re as smart -as a boy, and that from Dud is—something!”</p> - -<p>Babs laughed. “To be as smart as a boy, as smart as some boys wouldn’t -mean a lot; would it, Cara?” she countered.</p> - -<p>“No. But <i>he</i> meant, of course, as smart as a smart boy——”</p> - -<p>“Smarter than a smart boy?”</p> - -<p>“Just let’s call it smart,” suggested Cara, but there was a -seriousness about her manner that did not chime in with her words. -Cara Burke was evidently trying to understand Barbara Hale.</p> - -<p>Barbara was merely beginning to undress. She had never been so poky. -She felt very unreal. All, or at least most of the things, she had -planned to do she wasn’t doing, and she hated to change her mind. -Pride again ruled her, for in the “making up of her mind” to anything, -Barbara was what would be commonly called stubborn. She didn’t call it -that; she considered it weak and foolish to be changeable. All of -which must be explained to explain Barbara.</p> - -<p>“But, just the same,” Cara continued speaking after a short pause, -“<i>you</i> are smart.”</p> - -<p>Barbara sighed. “Cara,” she sort of whispered for she was feeling -queer, “I’m not really. Because I do things I am called upon to do I -may seem different. But it isn’t that. It’s just because I am -differently situated.”</p> - -<p>Cara jumped up and coming over to where Barbara was sitting, on one of -the ivory twin beds, threw her arms around her.</p> - -<p>“We’re going to be chums, aren’t we, Babs?” she said warmly. “You may -not admit you’re smart, but I think you are, and I’ve always longed to -be chums with a girl like you.”</p> - -<p>“Like me?” Barbara could feel her face burn. She was not at all what -this lovely, simple-minded, frankly honest girl was thinking her to -be. She wasn’t smart, she wasn’t different, she wasn’t “high-brow,” -she was only a poser, one who was pretending. “Cara, I’m afraid you -are going to be dreadfully disappointed in me,” she managed to say -finally. “I’m not really anything but plain stubborn.”</p> - -<p>“Babs!” exclaimed Cara, bestowing upon her more and more girlish -admiration. “Do you know I planned this little party just to get -acquainted with you?”</p> - -<p>“You didn’t, really!”</p> - -<p>“Yes I did,” pursued the girl in that golden robe. “I even bet with -Dud that I could get you to come.”</p> - -<p>“And now that you’ve got me here, what have I brought you?” Babs’ -deep-blue eyes were as soft as velvet violets, as she, in turn, gazed -lovingly at Cara Burke.</p> - -<p>“Oh, a lot. You couldn’t understand, of course, Babs, but you must -have noticed how jealous all the other girls were. I’m sure they have -been talking about it all night or they would have been at our door. -Here they come now.”</p> - -<p>And at the unmistakable sounds of suppressed merry-making (it was -almost midnight) Babs jumped up, and without giving herself a second -for any silly consideration, she got into the black cap and gown.</p> - -<p>The girls were knocking at the door.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chXI' title='XI—The Midnight Ride'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER XI</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.1em'>THE MIDNIGHT RIDE</span> -</h2> -<p>Cara had scurried off and Babs was hiding behind the door, as she -opened it. Giggling and spluttering in their hilarity they tumbled in, -the Indian girl, in full regalia, leading the raid.</p> - -<p>“Ee-yah! Gum-bow-wah, Minne-ha-ha, See-la,” chanted the one posing as -the Indian. She was Ruth Harrison, of course, for it was Ruth who had -so quickly decided upon the masquerade when she met the girls that -afternoon. She hadn’t remembered about a pretty robe, so she turned -the matter into a joke. This was the result of it.</p> - -<p>“Approach, Daughter of the Sun,” spoke Barbara, stepping out from her -hiding and assuming the pose of a very majestic Portia.</p> - -<p>“Oh, how stunning! Barbara! Are you really a college girl?” exclaimed -Louise, surprised and awed at the spectacle in a genuine college cap -and gown. Barbara did indeed look like a young college girl, and her -dignified personality seeming to add inches to her classic height as -she stood before them.</p> - -<p>“Wonderful!” Esther chimed in, while Lida seemed spellbound. Ruth, the -erstwhile Indian maiden, went stamping around, uttering guttural -sounds more like grunts and groans, however, than like anything -Indian. Lida, in her heavenly blue, chosen to suit her pale blondness, -was scarcely more noticeable than an unlighted candle, as she stood -by. But on the whole the girls in their much-talked-of “robes” made -quite a little chorus.</p> - -<p>“Where’s Cara?” some one asked while the group lined up in mock ballet -fashion.</p> - -<p>“Yes, where is she?” pressed Louise. They seemed to be expecting -something interesting from Cara.</p> - -<p>“She was here a minute ago,” Babs replied.</p> - -<p>Just then the door opened again and in walked—a bride!</p> - -<p>“Oh, how lovely. How wonderful!”</p> - -<p>After the first burst of admiration they all stood around speechless, -for Cara was gowned in the full bridal outfit of a very old-fashioned -style, the skirt of her “silk muslin” dress standing out as if it were -very stiffly starched (but it was the sort of organdie that held it -so)—and her waist!</p> - -<p>“How in the world did you get into it?” asked Lida.</p> - -<p>“I didn’t—Lottie put me into it. She has taken care of the chest that -has held this make-up for years. It was my grandmother’s,” Cara told -her guests proudly, pirouetting around to show off to better -advantage.</p> - -<p>“But the veil?” Louise was fingering the tulle mesh that floated from -Cara’s black head. How she held it in over her “bob” was rather -mysterious.</p> - -<p>“Grandmother’s also,” Cara told the admiring girls. “Aren’t these -little sleeves sweet?”</p> - -<p>Up to this time Cara had not seen Babs in the college costume, nor had -she seen Ruth in the Indian outfit, for these two particular stars had -managed to keep in the background while the bride was being inspected. -But she espied them both now! And she fairly gasped in astonishment.</p> - -<p>“How ever did you do it?” she demanded. “I thought I had the original -masquerade idea.”</p> - -<p>“Ideas go in flocks,” laughed Babs. “Why don’t you cheer for our Alma -Mater?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, girls!” breathed Esther. “Aren’t we dreadful? It must be past -midnight and we certainly aren’t whispering.”</p> - -<p>“No need to,” replied Cara in full voice. “We have this end of the -house to ourselves and we’re having a party. But do let me see you, -Babs, a real, honest-to-goodness cap and gown! Any one can be a -bride——”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know about that,” interrupted Louise. “We would have to have -a man to be a bride——”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Weasy! How literal! I mean this sort of bride, of course,” -insisted Cara, sailing around so that her veil flew out in a lovely -silken cloud.</p> - -<p>“Oh, let’s have a show!” proposed Ruth. “I’ll be—who’ll I be?” she -floundered, feeling a little uncertain on her Indian lore.</p> - -<p>“Ruth Harrison! That Indian robe is just too darling!” cooed Cara. -“And your feathers! I think you girls were mighty smart to think of -our midnight frolic.”</p> - -<p>“But what a pity the boys couldn’t see us?” sighed Esther, about -half-way in earnest.</p> - -<p>“The boys—see you! In that butterfly thing with—you got anything under -it?” asked Louise, innocently.</p> - -<p>“Louise St. Clair!” gasped Esther, pretending to be terribly shocked. -“I’d have you know I’m fully garbed,” and she tossed off the pretty -robe to display a still lovelier set of blue silk pajamas. Reasonably, -Esther was pleased to have so good a chance to display her pretty -things, for as Ruth might say “the fairies who see things while we -sleep may love them, but they’re awfully quiet about it.”</p> - -<p>“Let’s have a march,” proposed Babs. “Cara, you lead and I’ll be the -magistrate who is to perform the ceremony.”</p> - -<p>This was fun. The girls in the pretty robes were acting as -bridesmaids, the Indian Girl was the groom, while Portia in her severe -black robe (and the mortar-board cap was actually becoming to Babs) -stood judiciously upon a low stool, her book in her hand statuesquely, -and her face molded into an appropriate expression of severity.</p> - -<p>In turn each of them tried to hum a march, but the time would jumble -into a foxtrot or into some other undignified dance time.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I know,” exclaimed Lida. “It’s ‘Yes, We Have No Bananas!’ Try -that.”</p> - -<p>“Bananas!” squealed Louise. “March to that! Why it’s wooden legged! A -hop skip and jump. Lida Bent, that’s the one best foxtrot.”</p> - -<p>“I thought——”</p> - -<p>“What’s that?” Ruth interrupted Lida. “I heard something.”</p> - -<p>“So did I,” breathed Cara in a hushed voice. She seemed frightened -suddenly, for the noise was too unmistakably close by.</p> - -<p>“Oh! A man is—groaning!”</p> - -<p>“Hark!”</p> - -<p>They huddled together in a far corner away from the window that opened -on a little upper porch. No one spoke. They certainly had heard a very -queer noise, all of them.</p> - -<p>“Some one is calling,” Babs insisted, moving as if to answer the call.</p> - -<p>“Calling! It’s past twelve o’clock,” replied Cara.</p> - -<p>“And a storm is coming. Hear the thunder,” gasped Esther, shuddering -in her fright.</p> - -<p>Again came the call; surely it was a call, but what a hoarse awful -voice intoned it!</p> - -<p>“Oh!” cried Lida in real terror, for just at that moment something had -hit the window.</p> - -<p>“Maybe Dudley and the boys are playing tricks,” suggested Babs, -brightly.</p> - -<p>“No, Mother had his promise they wouldn’t play any tricks, late,” Cara -insisted. “No, Dud would <i>never</i> throw things at the window. He knows -better than to do that.”</p> - -<p>“Well, some one <i>is</i> throwing things at the window,” Babs insisted, -“and <i>I’m</i> going to see who it is.”</p> - -<p>“You mustn’t, Babs,” Louise implored the girl who had separated -herself from the shrinking group and was moving towards the window.</p> - -<p>But she did move towards it, nevertheless.</p> - -<p>“I can see the lighthouse flash its light,” she declared. “I guess -they’re getting ready for the storm. Oh!” Babs sprang back just as -something landed on the porch. It was heavier than the things thrown -before, and as it crossed the window-sill the girls could see it was a -stick. It almost sailed in the open window and did disarrange the soft -curtains with its pointed end that rested over the sill.</p> - -<p>“We’ll have to call some one,” Cara insisted, forgetting all about her -bridal costume as the other girls also had forgotten how they were -clothed.</p> - -<p>“Hey there! Are ye all dead!”</p> - -<p>A man’s voice! Close at the window! So close the girls could not now -feel safe to cross in front of the window to open the door to call.</p> - -<p>“Oh, mercy!” groaned Louise. “He’ll be in the room in a minute! What -ever shall we do?”</p> - -<p>“Keep still!”</p> - -<p>“I see him——”</p> - -<p>“Oh!” shrieked Lida. “A big black face——”</p> - -<p>“Say there! Let me in! Are ye all dead! I’m in a hurry!” This command -came through the window in a gruff, heavy voice.</p> - -<p>“Some one wants something,” Babs declared. “We had better speak to -him!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, don’t please,” begged Ruth, who was apparently more frightened -than the others, although this was unusual for Ruth.</p> - -<p>“We must,” declared Babs. “There’s no danger with all of us together.”</p> - -<p>“But he may be crazy——”</p> - -<p>“Will you push that window up?” the voice was ordering gruffly.</p> - -<p>And the order came from a man who now stood in clear view. His face -was not pleasant—it was old and weather-beaten, and he was wearing one -of those queer hats known as S’ou’-westers.</p> - -<p>“Looks like a fisherman,” Cara said more confidently.</p> - -<p>But a sudden thrusting up of the window-pane no longer left time for -speculation. The next moment the girls gazed amazedly at an old man in -the garb of a seaman, and Babs, at least, instantly recognized him as -Davy Quiller, the lighthouse keeper.</p> - -<p>“Davy!” she gasped. “What ever do you want here?”</p> - -<p>“I want oil, lamp oil, and I’ve got to get it,” thundered the -intruder. “I knew you were up ’cause I could see you per’radin’ -around. And the rest of this house must be dead ’cordin’ to the way -they sleep. I’ve been a-poundin’ on every winder an’ door. And I -couldn’t wait another minute. Got any kerosene oil on these premises?”</p> - -<p>Babs and Cara understood. The lighthouse tender had to have oil for -his light, and he was justified in seeking it even under these unusual -circumstances.</p> - -<p>“I don’t believe we ever use oil here,” Cara spoke up. “But I’ll find -out,” she hurried towards the door to call a servant.</p> - -<p>“Mighty sorry to spoil your—show,” the old man muttered. “But I had to -get in here. I’ll get right down again and wait outside. ’T’ain’t any -harder than walking downstairs,” and he was stepping over the rail, -down to the first porch with the alacrity of a much younger man. -Captain Davy Quiller was “no slouch.”</p> - -<p>By now the household had been pretty well aroused, and the girls, who -had merely fancy robes on, were scurrying to get into something more -presentable. Cara in her bridal attire and Babs in her collegiate -outfit however, seemed little concerned about their personal -appearance. They sensed an emergency, and that at the lighthouse, so -their search for lamp oil was added to that of Captain Quiller’s. Ruth -Harrison, the Indian girl, was another who felt dressed enough for -appearance on the porch, so that when the big arc light was flashed -on, as most of the Burke household assembled beneath it, Babs, Cara -and Ruth made a striking picture. Among those present were Dudley -Burke and Dick Landers, his house guest, and of course the boys -immediately set up “a howl” when they beheld “the show.”</p> - -<p>“Keep still!” ordered Cara severely. “Don’t be silly. We’ve got to get -oil. Captain Quiller, where do they keep oil around here?” she asked -competently.</p> - -<p>“That’s just it, they don’t,” the seaman replied. “Of course I always -get my supply from the station, but something went wrong with their -delivery this week. I thought I had plenty for a couple of more -nights, mistook an empty for a full can—but this afternoon I found out -my blunder,” he admitted, “and I have a little fellow runs messages -for me. I’d trust him with my hat,” the captain declared firmly, his -hat being a very important possession of his, “I can’t see what -happened to him! Well, I must be a-running,” he wound up, turning to -leave.</p> - -<p>“We’ll take you around in the car,” Dudley promptly offered. “Just you -wait a minute, ’till I—hitch up.”</p> - -<p>“I suppose it would be quicker,” admitted the captain. “But you see -that storm a’comin’?” he asked Mr. Burke, as if the gentleman of the -house was entitled to some attention.</p> - -<p>“Yes; looks like a hummer,” Mr. Burke replied.</p> - -<p>“An’ it’s blacker out there,” pointing toward the sea, “than ’tis in -here,” the captain declared. “’An my light’s the Eye of the Lord to -the sailors,” he said, lowering his voice reverently.</p> - -<p>Dudley had hurried off for the car but Dick tarried on the porch, -joking with the girls about their “show”, that they hadn’t invited the -boys to see. Babs and Cara were standing aside with the grown-ups.</p> - -<p>“We can go along,” Cara said quietly to Babs.</p> - -<p>“But how about the other girls?” Babs inquired.</p> - -<p>“They wouldn’t want to go, but, of course, I’ll ask them,” Cara -replied, and she did so promptly.</p> - -<p>“No, I guess not,” Louise answered. “Looks as if the storm was almost -here and <i>I’m</i> scared to death of thunder-storms.”</p> - -<p>So were Lida and Esther, they said, but Ruth agreed to go with Cara -and Babs, so it happened that those most fantastically attired piled -into the touring car, after Captain Quiller.</p> - -<p>Babs, being almost fully dressed, just went along in the college robe, -at Cara’s suggestion, and Cara actually kept on the bridal dress, -because she declared it was too much trouble to get it off, merely -throwing a light cape over her shoulders and tossing the bridal veil -at Louise as she dashed off. The veil rested comically over Louise’s -head and gave the girls on the porch something to joke about as those -in the car rumbled off.</p> - -<p>“I sense an adventure,” predicted Babs, hopefully. “It seems to me, -Cara, you should remember your house party.”</p> - -<p>“And call it ‘The Midnight Race for Lighthouse Oil.’ I will,” agreed -Cara, while Dudley and the seaman discussed the problem of finding oil -at that hour of the night.</p> - -<p>Then a vivid flash of lightning followed by a splitting clap of -thunder silenced them all.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chXII' title='XII—Dumped but Not Discouraged'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER XII</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.1em'>DUMPED BUT NOT DISCOURAGED</span> -</h2> -<p>The blackness of the night made the lightning flashes all the more -terrifying. Dudley took a firm grip on his steering wheel, while the -girls shuddered.</p> - -<p>“Pretty slick lightnin’,” muttered Captain Quiller, “an’ my light -hasn’t oil enough to keep her goin’ long.”</p> - -<p>“And you think you can get it over at the little Italian store?” -Dudley asked. “How in the world can we expect to wake the store man -up? I imagine an Italian store-keeper might be a pretty good sleeper.”</p> - -<p>“Might at that,” agreed the captain. “But we sailors have to trust an -awful lot to luck. Somethin’s sure to turn up. Ain’t no countin’ on -what it’ll be.”</p> - -<p>Flash after flash of lightning slashed through the blackness. Cara, as -the olden time bride, and Babs as the collegian, holding between them -the frightened Indian girl, Ruth—as if an Indian girl ever would be -frightened of a thunderstorm—clung more closely to one another in real -fear. Suddenly Babs jerked aside from the others. The car was scarcely -moving along a narrow turn and she clutched Cara’s arm excitedly.</p> - -<p>“I see a light in those bushes!” she exclaimed. “Look! Over there by -that white birch tree!”</p> - -<p>The headlights of the big car threw out such a glare that it was easy -enough to distinguish objects along the way. Dudley slowed his car -down as Babs cried out.</p> - -<p>“Yes, that’s somethin’. Mebby some ’un’ hurt,” the captain suggested.</p> - -<p>“Hey! Hey!” came a shrill call. “Over here, by the ditch!”</p> - -<p>“That’s a boy,” declared Dudley promptly.</p> - -<p>“Yes, and it sounds like <i>our</i> boy,” added Babs, already on the car -step ready to go in search of who ever was calling.</p> - -<p>“You mean——”</p> - -<p>“I mean Nicky. Hey! That you Nicky!” She called out loudly, for -thunder claps still continued to roar through the night with -terrifying frequency.</p> - -<p>“Ye-ah!” came the answer. “That’s me! I’m—I’m stuck!”</p> - -<p>Even the bride in her white silk muslin gown, over which a flying cape -did very little to protect it from the rain, ran towards the eye of -light in the blackness and the clue of direction given by the boy’s -voice.</p> - -<p>“Look out for deep cuts,” the captain warned them. He, of course, was -armed with his unfailing lantern, and as he warned the others he swept -the light on their uncertain path.</p> - -<p>“Oh!” Ruth cried out, “I’ve lost my moccasin!”</p> - -<p>“Moccasin!” repeated Dudley. “How could you expect to keep those -things on?”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t expect to. I knew I’d lose them,” replied Ruth undaunted. -“I’ve got to go back to the car. This is too muddy for my poor feet.”</p> - -<p>“All right,” Cara agreed. “You can make it and we won’t be far away. -We’ve got to get to the boy quickly.”</p> - -<p>As a matter of fact, Babs was almost there. She had trudged on ahead, -breathless to reach the boy who, she felt, must again have met with an -accident. No boy, especially Nicky, would be in such a plight if he -had not been disabled.</p> - -<p>“Here, over here,” the boy called again. “Can you see my light?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, we’re coming. Hold your horses,” called back Dudley, for they -were almost up to the spot from which a bull’s eye light could be seen -through the undergrowth.</p> - -<p>Then they found him. The poor little chap!</p> - -<p>“Well, I’ll be jiggered!” exclaimed the captain.</p> - -<p>“I couldn’t get there with your oil, Cap,” sighed the boy. “I lost me -way, and—look at me!”</p> - -<p>They did, all of them. Under the gleam of the captain’s light they -looked at him.</p> - -<p>“Poor little chap!” repeated Babs. She was the first to recover her -composure sufficiently to begin at the bushes. She was trying to tear -them away from the crouched little figure.</p> - -<p>Presently all of them, including the captain, were at those bushes, -tearing, pulling, breaking, until the tangle was cleared away.</p> - -<p>“An’ ye tried to get me the oil, Nick,” the captain said, as he put -his big friendly hand out to the boy. “I knew you would.”</p> - -<p>“Yeh, and I would have too, only fer me busted arm,” Nicky proclaimed -stoutly scrambling to his feet.</p> - -<p>“You were trying to ride that old wheel, hold a heavy can of oil and -find your way in this storm,” Dudley reasoned astoundedly. “It’s a -wonder you even have your voice left,” he concluded as a big boy -would.</p> - -<p>“’Bout all,” Captain Quiller added. “A youngster like Nicky ain’t got -no special fightin’ force to boast of, only his spirit. He’s got the -spunk, ain’t you Nick?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, that ain’t nawthin’,” deprecated the boy, from whose clothing -Babs and Cara were still dragging bits of briars and dried sticks. -“Don’t spill the oil,” he protested, for the old bicycle was prone -against the oil can and the least movement of it might spill the -precious fluid.</p> - -<p>“We got to hustle at that,” Captain Quiller reminded them. “I kin see -the light a-goin’ an’ the storm’s about spent. But ole Pete’ll be in a -canipshun fit. He figgered he jest about knowed I couldn’t get any oil -an’ we’d be out o’ luck then,” he admitted dryly.</p> - -<p>“But you have got it,” Barbara said proudly. She was holding up the -can in proof.</p> - -<p>“I’ll get the car,” Dudley said. “See, here’s a pretty good road -around the jungle. I’ll be back in a jiff.”</p> - -<p>“What a wonderful little boy!” Cara took time now to exclaim. She was -now beginning to understand what it was that Barbara so greatly -admired in the little Italian. Captain Quiller had called it spunk.</p> - -<p>“I’d have got there,” said Nicky stoutly, half apologizing for his -predicament, “if my light didn’t go on the blink. Fer jest a minute it -danced. An’ that was when I took this header.”</p> - -<p>Ruth had been shouting all sorts of questions from the car but no one -had time to answer her. Now she was coming along with Dudley. As the -strong headlights of the big car caught the group standing waiting a -remarkable picture was presented.</p> - -<p>“Oh,” squealed Ruth to Dudley. “Just look!”</p> - -<p>There stood Cara in the white dress, which shone plainly beneath the -cape, Nicky next with his bandaged arm and tattered clothing, his -black hair making streaks on his forehead and seeming to hide so much -of his small face. On the other side of him, and insisting on holding -on to him was Babs in her college gown, and somehow still managing to -keep on her head that ridiculous mortar-board cap. Of course it was -fitting on her bobbed head pretty closely. And Captain Quiller was -actually standing just back of them, his lantern held high above their -heads. The can of oil securely held in the other hand could not be -seen but he knew it was there and he had a “strangle hold” on it.</p> - -<p>No wonder Ruth exclaimed at the picture. It was fit for a “movie set” -with unlimited possibilities in the subtitle.</p> - -<p>But the lighthouse tender was impatient to be off with the oil for his -lamp, and it took all of them but a few minutes to get into the car, -while Dudley then expertly drove through the uncertain roads made more -uncertain by the ravages of the heavy summer shower.</p> - -<p>A tantalizing drizzle kept up and the night was still bitterly black, -but Nicky was safe in the car now, Captain Quiller had his oil and the -girls had had their adventure.</p> - -<p>Babs was so glad to have been in the rescuing party.</p> - -<p>“Whatever would you have done,” she asked Nicky, “if we had not found -you?”</p> - -<p>“Some one would of,” the boy replied with the supreme confidence of -his years.</p> - -<p>“But you were hurt, again,” Cara comforted. “You’ve had an awful lot -of bad luck today, Nickolas, haven’t you?”</p> - -<p>“Not so much,” he answered. He was alive after all, and that seemed -good luck to Nicky.</p> - -<p>“What’s hurt worst this time?” Dudley made a chance to call back.</p> - -<p>“Nothin’,” Nicky said, as Dudley knew he would.</p> - -<p>“But you got a spill in the ditch?”</p> - -<p>“Sure.”</p> - -<p>“And you couldn’t get out?”</p> - -<p>“Nope.”</p> - -<p>“Then what held you down?”</p> - -<p>“Me ankle. It got twisted I guess,” Nicky reluctantly admitted.</p> - -<p>“Does your ankle hurt?” asked Babs, solicitously.</p> - -<p>“Not much it don’t. It’s gettin’ better.”</p> - -<p>“But you didn’t spill my oil, son,” Captain Quiller assured him -proudly. “I knowed you wouldn’t. Ain’t never failed me yet, Nick, you -haven’t. An’ if you was older——”</p> - -<p>“If he was older!” It was Babs who repeated the phrase. A sudden -vision swept before her. The light, the harbor light belonged to the -government. Nicky had risked his life to bring oil to the lighthouse -keeper! And Nicky so badly needed government influence, for his -father!</p> - -<p>“Oh, Captain!” she gasped. “Isn’t Nicky really a hero?”</p> - -<p>“Bettcher life he is!” replied the captain.</p> - -<p>“And heroes get recognition from—from the government—don’t they?” She -could hardly speak coherently, she was so excited.</p> - -<p>“Sometimes, sometimes,” said Captain Quiller. “But here we are, and -here’s Pete a-waitin’. Here you are Pete!” he called out lustily as -they drew up in the heavy sand to reach the lighthouse landing. -“Here’s you oil. Needin’ it bad, ain’t yer?”</p> - -<p>“She’s jest a-flickerin’,” called back Pete. “’Bout ready to flicker -out too. Where’s your can?”</p> - -<p>“Right here. There you be,” declared the captain, handing out the oil -can. “An’ if it hadn’t been for friend Nicky, we’d never have got it, -neither.”</p> - -<p>But Pete had grasped the handle of the oil can and was going towards -the tower, without showing the least interest in what Captain Quiller -was saying. All he wanted was the oil and he had got that.</p> - -<p>The lighthouse was one of those built upon land—upon a strip of land -that extended into the sea like a peninsula. On the end of this strip -a tower was built of lattice work construction, and from the top of -this tower The Light could be seen far enough out at sea to save -mariners from the sand strips that would easily ground their craft.</p> - -<p>“No use invitin’ you in jest now, I suppose,” Captain Quiller remarked -politely, “and I suppose you’re goin’ to take young Nick home, ain’t -y’u?”</p> - -<div id='i003' class='mt01 mb01 wi003'> - <img src='images/illus-003.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> -<p class='caption'>“I SUPPOSE YOU’RE GOIN’ TO TAKE NICK HOME, AIN’T Y’U?” CAPTAIN QUILLER REMARKED.</p> -</div> -<p>“Certainly we are,” both Cara and Babs exclaimed. Then Babs said with -a little laugh, “We’ve been taking Nicky home <i>all</i> day, it seems to -me.”</p> - -<p>But the boy was tugging at her arm, and she guessed why.</p> - -<p>“Those others,” the little fellow muttered, “they came this -afternoon.”</p> - -<p>“I know,” whispered Babs, “but it’s all right, they were just driving -around——”</p> - -<p>“Our way?” He couldn’t believe that. His voice said so.</p> - -<p>“We were looking for candlesticks,” Cara chimed in. “Like those you -sold to my brother.”</p> - -<p>“I can get more,” answered Nicky brightly. Evidently the lure of -selling the trinkets was enough to restore his confidence in Babs’ -friends.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” gushed Cara, taking advantage of the opportunity to cheer him -up, and likewise to cheer Babs, “we want a lot of odd things and -perhaps you can get them for us,” she suggested happily.</p> - -<p>“I could,” declared Nicky. And now Babs knew that he no longer blamed -her. He was just thinking of selling things and could not be thinking -of her breach of his confidence.</p> - -<p>She wanted so much to throw her arms around him and just squeeze love -into his starved little childhood. She wanted to shout out in that -dark night that he had risked his life to get oil for the lighthouse, -she wanted to comfort that hurt little foot, even to fondle that -injured hand—oh, if only she could do all or any of this!</p> - -<p>But instead she must sit there quietly as the car rolled along, and -perhaps Nicky would insist again on being let down “this side of the -track.”</p> - -<p>“Whatever are you sighing for, Babs?” Ruth asked in astonishment. “Are -you sick—or something?”</p> - -<p>“Oh no: was I sighing?”</p> - -<p>“Yep, you was,” came so unexpectedly from little Nicky that everyone -laughed.</p> - -<p>“That’s right, Nick,” said Dudley, “we fellows have got to stick -together. So I’ll dump the girls at home and we’ll finish our ride in -peace.”</p> - -<p>“Sure,” agreed Nicky, and again a problem was solved.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chXIII' title='XIII—Crazy Quilts Galore'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER XIII</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.1em'>CRAZY QUILTS GALORE</span> -</h2> -<p>The party was over. It had been a delightful experience for Babs, and -despite her natural opposition to that social life to which she felt -alien, she had to admit that it “did her good.”</p> - -<p>She admitted this at the constant reiteration of Dora, who just kept -saying that the party “done Barbara good,” until Barbara chimed in to -break the monotony.</p> - -<p>“Put some life in her,” then Dora varied her chant, and at that Dr. -Hale took up the refrain and declared that it certainly had.</p> - -<p>But life at the old-fashioned home did not now seem quite the same to -Barbara. Everything seemed so shabby; she scarcely felt brave enough -to invite her new friends in to see her, although their curiosity -would amply have repaid her and would easily have compensated for the -lack of luxury.</p> - -<p>“Not just yet,” Babs replied to her father’s suggestion. “Wait until I -get things fixed up a little.”</p> - -<p>But a new interest was now claiming the time and attention of Sea -Cosset folks. A real Old Home Week was being inaugurated, and Babs was -asked to head the girls’ committee.</p> - -<p>“Because,” said Miss Mary-Louise Trainor, “she knows something. She -takes more books out of the library than any other girl in the place.” -Miss Trainor told the women’s committee that and so Babs had been -asked. She could not refuse; her father pointed out the fact to her, -that because the Hales were a part of the sea-coast town, and living -“over the line in Landing” did not make her exempt from obligation to -help with this affair. She was a native, one who lived there winter -and summer, and what did the summer girls know about Old Home Week -anyhow?</p> - -<p>So Babs had reluctantly consented with reservations. She wouldn’t boss -anybody and she wouldn’t work at night. She wanted her evenings to do -as she pleased with them, and if the “show” was to hold forth of -nights the women would have to “tend it,” she pointed out, reasonably -enough.</p> - -<p>The old Stillwell place was selected for the exhibit, as quaint an old -homestead as could be found in the entire county. Then the women’s -committee decided that all sorts of old-time handiwork would be taken -in the collection, and that meant that quilts were going to receive a -tremendous boom.</p> - -<p>All one could hear was “quilts”; every one seemed to have a collection -of at least one, and those who didn’t own one knew just where they -could borrow one. So a quilt deluge was threatened.</p> - -<p>Candlesticks were probably next in point of popularity, and Barbara -knew something about them. She knew that Nicky could supply a pair, -beautifully carved in new or old wood, for he had done so when Cara -offered him her patronage. Who carved them or where he got them was as -mysterious to Babs as to the other girls, and boys too, for that -matter, for Babs had insisted upon leaving the Italians to themselves.</p> - -<p>“If we want to try their candlesticks, all right,” she said simply but -finally. “I don’t see what business it is of ours <i>where</i> they get -them from.”</p> - -<p>“Neither do I,” agreed Cara stoutly, “for we know very well they don’t -steal them. Who would have things like that anyway? They have simply -been made to fill our order,” she concluded sagely.</p> - -<p>This was all settled shortly after the windup of the house party. Then -little Nicky had taken Cara’s order, and the delivery of the quaintly -carved wooden candlesticks, tinted with softly blended colors that -reminded one of the Italian painters, was made within an incredibly -short time.</p> - -<p>Even Babs marvelled at the workmanship. It was too fine to be made by -some unskilled Italian, and when she tactfully asked Nicky who did -make them, he became so excited he could scarcely answer.</p> - -<p>“A friend,” was all he said. Babs knew better than to press her -question. Cara declared frankly she didn’t care who made them, she was -so glad to get them.</p> - -<p>“Even if that famous black hander whom the girls are always hinting -about, is hidden in the Marcusi shack,” she protested stoutly, “I -don’t give a rap. The candlesticks are the quaintest things I’ve ever -seen and I’ll give Nicky all the orders he’ll take for more. I want -them for Christmas presents,” declared Cara.</p> - -<p>Cara and Babs were alone on the beach. The morning was hot and sultry -and only a few vagrant clouds gave hope of stirring up a breeze of -relief. The girls had already become chums, as Cara had intended and -perhaps as Babs had feared—because she considered herself too busy to -have a real chum. At least, she thought she felt that way about it.</p> - -<p>But she very soon discovered what a foolish notion that was, for a -girl like Cara helped her. She did exactly what Dora said she would -do—“put some life in Barbara.”</p> - -<p>And now that they were really companions, Babs just wondered how she -used to get along, all alone or with Glenn Gaynor. Glenn too had -changed his habits, and was having a wonderful time going around with -Dudley Burke.</p> - -<p>“Hope it doesn’t rain,” Cara remarked as the girls made for their -bath-houses. “Because you know, Babs, this afternoon——”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, I know. We’re to have a tiresome old meeting,” grumbled -Babs. “Why do old ladies so <i>love</i> to get things up for <i>young</i> -ladies? Why can’t they manage their own old patchwork show?”</p> - -<p>“They can, dear,” cooed Cara. “But then they’d miss the fun of making -<i>us</i> do something. That’s their chiefest joy, you know,” she ended -laughingly.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I know. Well, I’m only doing what I have to do because I have -to,” Babs declared, still in a grumbling mood. “Dads again, you know.”</p> - -<p>“And Nicky,” Cara reminded her companion. “You know, Babbsy, you -<i>must</i> show Nicky’s candlesticks.”</p> - -<p>“No, I don’t think I will,” Babs surprised her friend by saying. -“Women aren’t like us. They would demand to know who made them, and -that would, or might,” she corrected herself, “bring trouble to -Nicky.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Babs!” exclaimed Cara, in real surprise. “You don’t mean to say -you wouldn’t. Not show those darling little candlesticks,” she -repeated. “Why, they would be sure to win a prize,” Cara faltered in -disappointment.</p> - -<p>“I know they are lovely and I don’t suppose any handicraft work there -will be better done,” Babs replied. “But somehow, Cara, I know those -poor folks are trying to hide some trouble. And I’d be a queer friend -if I drew attention to it.”</p> - -<p>“Attention—to what?”</p> - -<p>“To the Unknown.”</p> - -<p>“Unknown?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. We know perfectly well that whoever makes those candlesticks is -hiding—is unknown,” Barbara admitted. “I’d love to know all about them -but it really isn’t my business, is it?” she said rather than asked.</p> - -<p>“Do you really believe, Babs, that a mysterious person is being hidden -by—by Nicky’s mother?” Cara almost gasped.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I do,” replied Babs decidedly.</p> - -<p>“It couldn’t be—be their father!”</p> - -<p>“I don’t see how he could have escaped and then hide there,” Barbara -continued, as if trying to reason the matter out. “That would be too -easy.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, wouldn’t it?” agreed Cara. “And—the carving is really very fine. -Mother has seen much of that work. She travelled all over Europe last -year to finish up her sight-seeing, you know,” Cara made clear.</p> - -<p>“Yes?” Babs answered abstractedly. She was not thinking of -sight-seeing or Europe either.</p> - -<p>“And she says,” continued the enthused Cara, “that this Italian work -is really very good indeed.”</p> - -<p>“Dad says so too. But I must hurry to dress,” Babs reminded herself. -“No matter how we feel about the old ladies’ quilting bee, I suppose -we’ve got to show up, much as we hate to.”</p> - -<p>At this the girls separated, as their bath-houses were at different -ends of the small pavilion, but when each emerged, dressed and ready -to ride home in the small car that Cara had just obtained a license to -drive, their conversation was resumed.</p> - -<p>“You see,” Barbara pointed out, “how dreadful it would be if anything -that we did would draw attention to this thing. I just couldn’t stand -that.”</p> - -<p>“But how could little Nicky come to harm?” Cara wanted to know. “He -surely is innocent, and besides, isn’t something going to be done to -reward him for risking his life to get oil to the lighthouse?”</p> - -<p>“I hope so. I have written to Washington; Dad told me how to do it. -But I suppose they get so many such letters I may never get a reply,” -said Babs, a little dispiritedly.</p> - -<p>“I don’t see why not!” Cara never could see why any one would slight -Barbara. “I’m sure we pay enough taxes to have a secretary answer such -letters,” she fumed, indignantly.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I suppose I’ll get a letter-form answer, maybe, the kind they -grind out of machines, you know. But it would be lovely——” Babs -stopped, made a queer face and choked back a laugh.</p> - -<p>“A secret, eh?” surmised Cara. “Not even telling me?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t want to seem silly, Cara, so if you don’t mind I’ll wait to -tell you <i>when</i> I get my official answer. <i>When</i> I do,” she repeated, -quizzically.</p> - -<p>“Want Nicky made official messenger to the president, or something -like that?” Cara started in to guess.</p> - -<p>“No fair guessing,” Babs checked her. “And besides, perhaps I -shouldn’t have written at all. Who am <i>I</i>, to address the Secretary of -State.”</p> - -<p>“You are just as important as any one else, I guess,” Cara defended -promptly.</p> - -<p>“But Captain Quiller is in the government employ, and Nicky got the -oil for <i>him</i>,” Babs reminded her.</p> - -<p>“Yes, maybe all that’s true, but Captain Quiller doesn’t love Nicky as -you do.”</p> - -<p>“He does, really Cara. He came over to see Dad right after it all -happened, and what he didn’t say in praise of Nicky merely stuck in -his throat. He just raved about him.”</p> - -<p>“Then why don’t you take a chance to show off his candlesticks and get -the women raving too?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, women!” deplored Babs. “They want to know everything. I wouldn’t -wonder but they would go right down among the Italians and offer to -give them lessons in making macaroni. They couldn’t imagine the -foreign women knowing anything, I suppose. No Cara, please don’t say -anything about it. I’ll have to wait and see how things turn out. I -can’t, just can’t take a chance on hurting poor little Nicky and -Vicky.”</p> - -<p>“All right, girl,” Cara answered gaily. “Here you are,” and she pulled -up expertly to the side steps of Babs’ old homestead. “See you later. -I’ll call——”</p> - -<p>“Dad will be driving out, thanks Cara,” Barbara interrupted her in her -offer. “We have to go out in the family car once in a while you know, -or folks might think we pawned it,” she finished, trying to joke about -the old car that Dr. Hale drove around in. It went, and that was all -that he could ask of any car, according to him.</p> - -<p>Later that day these same two girls entered enthusiastically into the -plans for the exhibit. No one could have guessed they were not “heart -and soul with the project” which was the way Miss Mary-Louise Trainor -said every one ought to be for establishing a Community House.</p> - -<p>“Might as well have some fun out of it,” Cara told Barbara.</p> - -<p>“Might better,” Barbara agreed with Cara.</p> - -<p>“But the crazy quilts; are we supposed to go crazy over them? Aren’t -they hideous?”</p> - -<p>“We’re apt to go crazy over them,” Barbara continued in the same -bantering strain. “Ought to call this a Crazy Show.”</p> - -<p>“Judging from the way some of the women are acting,” Cara whispered, -for the girls were busy sorting the goods arriving, “we’ll be lucky if -it doesn’t turn out to be a prize-fight.”</p> - -<p>“That would be fun; let us hope for it. I heard Mrs. Trout tell Mrs. -Clayton that her quilt would have to be shown on the old table over -there.”</p> - -<p>“And that’s the family table of the Brownell’s, older than Age itself, -I believe,” Cara continued to whisper. “I doubt if they’ll allow any -quilt upon its sacred surface.”</p> - -<p>“That’s why we may hope for a prize-fight,” said Barbara, hurrying to -the door to take from the hands of Mrs. Mary Ann Smalley a glass case -of utterly impossible wax flowers.</p> - -<p>A flock of girls, all on the girls’ committee, and expected to work -under the directions of Cara and Barbara, arrived just in time.</p> - -<p>“We don’t dare put the wax flowers on the floor,” said Cara to Esther, -“but where can we put them?”</p> - -<p>“Better get a carpenter to make a long table for us——”</p> - -<p>“My flowers must have a proper setting,” Mrs. Mary Ann Smalley -interrupted Cara. “That table over there——”</p> - -<p>“That’s the famous Brownell table,” Cara said, smiling that this one -table with its elaborate carvings should be in such great demand.</p> - -<p>“Well, I don’t care whose it is, it’s just made for my wax flowers,” -insisted the excited exhibitor, just as Mrs. Nathaniel Brownell -herself fluttered in.</p> - -<p>Then, as Babs put it, the fight was on.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chXIV' title='XIV—A Honeysuckle Secret'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER XIV</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.1em'>A HONEYSUCKLE SECRET</span> -</h2> -<p>“I don’t see why not,” panted Mrs. Smalley to Mrs. Brownell. She was -holding in her trembling hands the huge glass case of waxed passion -flowers, and every time the case shook even a little in her trembling -hands, the flowers would shed a few hunks of wax. It was so very old, -you see, and wax is wax.</p> - -<p>“The reason why I don’t wish anything placed upon <i>our</i> table,” -replied the elegant Mrs. Brownell, using all her social powers in an -effort to appear polite, “is because of the exquisite grain of the -wood. Just look at that,” she begged the excited Mrs. Smalley.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I see,” said Mrs. Smalley blindly, for she couldn’t have seen -over that glass case, and besides, she wasn’t looking that way. “But -they are both of the same period,” she pointed out as if she knew.</p> - -<p>“Same period!” gasped Mrs. Brownell. “Why!” She pronounced that “why” -as if it were composed of two syllables—“why-eeh!” And then she could -hardly speak from sheer disdain. “Our table,” she continued to orate, -“is of the very early American period, but you know, <i>dear</i> Mrs. -Smalley, wax flowers are not even classified.”</p> - -<p>“What did I tell you?” said Babs to Cara. “Here’s the fight we were -hoping for, right upon our heads. Ruth,” she called ever so lightly, -for Ruth was actually staring at the women with unhidden glee. “Ruth, -will you please—do something!”</p> - -<p>“What,” drawled Ruth, her mouth staying open as if she hated to miss -anything by closing it. “What can I do, Babs?” she finally managed to -ask, still watching the women.</p> - -<p>“You can grab a few things from the ladies as they enter,” Babs -suggested. She too was having a good time, for the table-wax-flower -dispute was still going strong.</p> - -<p>“They’re actually taking sides,” Cara chuckled. “There are three with -Mrs. Smalley and four with Mrs. Brownell. Babs, you can’t expect us to -work while this is going on.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t, I know better. But here comes another glass case. Looks like -somebody’s dead head of hair tangled up into snarls they call -flowers.”</p> - -<p>“Dead head of hair!” gasped Louise.</p> - -<p>“Yes. Don’t you know they used to make flowers out of the hair of the -dear, dead departed?” Babs continued, chuckling.</p> - -<p>“Horrors!” exclaimed Louise.</p> - -<p>“Exactly. And this is going to be a horrible show. Oh, Mrs. -Dickerson,” Babs chirped gaily to the latest arrival in the glass case -department, “what a perfectly beautiful case of flowers!” and she -clasped her hands ecstatically. “Do give it to Esther to place for -you. Here, Esther,” and the happy lady with the monstrosity turned -beamingly upon Esther. So <i>that</i> glass case changed hands promptly.</p> - -<p>“You girls are so—so smart,” whined little Mrs. Dickerson, “to take -hold so, so fine.” She had a lot of trouble with her adjectives. “We -knowed you would. That’s why we picked out Barbara Hale. She’s so, so -smart,” declared the flustered lady, casting fond glances upon Esther -who was almost petrified with her task of “placing” the hair flowers -somewhere “to advantage.”</p> - -<p>“How’s the fight coming along?” Cara sidled up to ask Babs.</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Brownell <i>may</i> have her table removed if the chairman doesn’t -soon arrive. It seems a table is a table, and folks are bound to set -things on it,” said Babs, almost laughing outright at the absurdity of -the situation.</p> - -<p>“Cricky!” exclaimed Cara, using her father’s favorite expletive, “what -on earth is this coming?”</p> - -<p>“Looks like a portable bath-tub,” replied Babs as Mrs. Ricketts, the -fattest woman one could possibly imagine being able to carry anything -except fat, puffed up the steps, her arms encircling like a balloon -auto tire, a great, big dish.</p> - -<p>“My tureen,” she exhaled. “Nothing like this in your collection, I’ll -say. It’s been in our family for more than one hundred years. Where -can I set it down? It’s awfully heavy!”</p> - -<p>“Yes, it must be,” readily agreed Ruth, who was in line to accept the -big dish. “I wonder where we can put it.”</p> - -<p>“On that table. Just the place. It will show off beautifully there. -Set it right down——”</p> - -<p>“But I’m afraid we can’t, Mrs. Ricketts,” Cara just caught her. -“That’s Mrs. Brownell’s table and she wants it left clear to show the -grain of the wood.”</p> - -<p>“Grain of the wood!” repeated the stout lady deridingly. “As if a big -table like that could take up room with nothing on it. Here, I’ll put -my tureen on it, and if Mrs. Brownell——”</p> - -<p>“Yes?” The little word came from Mrs. Brownell’s lips. “Your dish is -really antique. What a pity it is cracked,” and she adjusted her -silver-framed glasses to see the crack more clearly.</p> - -<p>“Cracked!” Mrs. Ricketts wore no glasses but she had very penetrating -eyes, and she fairly glared at her old soup tureen as she repeated -Mrs. Brownell’s charge against it. “It is no such thing—cracked!”</p> - -<p>“Aren’t these cracks?” Nothing could ruffle the magnificent Mrs. -Brownell. She had poise.</p> - -<p>“No. They are merely tissue scratches. We had an opinion——”</p> - -<p>But the argument was lost on the girls. They didn’t care a whoopee -about tissue scratches, or cracks on ugly old soup tureens. What they -were interested in was the fight, according to Cara.</p> - -<p>“And I’ll bet the table wins,” she told Esther. “It’s quite a table, -isn’t it?”</p> - -<p>“Quite a soup tureen, too,” replied Esther, “and Mrs. Ricketts is -bigger than Mrs. Brownell.”</p> - -<p>It was fun, after all, to be on the girls’ committee, for not only -were the exhibits the queerest old things imaginable, but the women -who brought the articles were queer, and if not always old, at least -not <i>very</i> young.</p> - -<p>And they took so much pride in the heirlooms that the Home Exhibit -afforded them a rare treat, indeed. Mrs. Brownell’s table and Mrs. -Rickett’s soup tureen were merely samples of the goods contributed, -but it was the needlework and the quilts that formed the bulk and real -problem of the exhibit.</p> - -<p>“Where’ll I hang this?” Louise would call out, holding up as much as -she could manage of a red and white log-cabin quilt.</p> - -<p>Then the owner would start in giving orders. She would want it hung -“just so” over the balustrade.</p> - -<p>“But the silk quilts and handwoven portieres are to hang over the -balustrade,” Miss Trainor would insist. “Mrs. Winters arranged all -that.” Mrs. Winters was general chairman and certainly should have -been on hand on this afternoon; but she wasn’t.</p> - -<p>“These tidies,” pleaded quiet little Lida, quite helplessly, “where -can we show the tidies?”</p> - -<p>“We’ve simply got to have a special place for the small handwork,” -Cara said sensibly. “We’ll drown in tidies and center-pieces if we -don’t. Dad would send a carpenter over to fix up a nice rack, with -hooks that couldn’t tear. Where’s Babs?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, where is Babs?” joined in a number of the girls, for Barbara -being chairman of the girls’ committee, and the girls being in charge -of all the ladder climbing and the dusting of the old nooks and -cobwebby corners—to say nothing of taking the goods from the loving -hands of the lenders—they certainly expected Barbara to be around all -the time and in every place at once.</p> - -<p>But just now she could not be found. The Stillwell House on the ocean -front, chosen as the most suitable and convenient place to hold the -summer exhibit, contained plenty of rooms and was built like a -farm-house, with the entire first-floor rooms connecting by wide -doorways and passages. The house had not been used as a summer home -for a number of years, and those of the pretty little colony who -understood values, considered the quaint place as a possible public -library and Community Center for Sea Cosset.</p> - -<p>Miss Mary-Louise Trainor had planned the Home Exhibit mainly to -interest people in such a plan, and she knew perfectly well that one -of the best ways of obtaining real publicity for a scheme is to have a -girls’ committee work on it. The girls will talk, they will tell -everybody everything interesting, and if it was a wonderful old place, -which the Stillwell place really was, the girls could be depended upon -to let everybody know it.</p> - -<p>“But where’s Babs?” Louise asked impatiently. “I just don’t know what -to do with this pewter teapot.”</p> - -<p>“She won’t know either,” pointed out Ruth. “Stick it over on the -spinet.”</p> - -<p>“And have my head taken off by Miss Douglass. That’s her spinet,” -declared Louise.</p> - -<p>“Now Cara has disappeared,” groaned Ruth. “Let’s go and see what’s -going on. I know they went out on the back porch.” She was whispering -this. “Let’s sneak out and surprise them.”</p> - -<p>But Louise and Ruth could not sneak out and leave Esther and Lida -alone to battle with the exhibits. So they turned to help Lida while -Cara and Babs were still lost to the work and workers of the room.</p> - -<p>The back porch of the old house was entirely screened in with high -sweet-fern bushes, that one growing green that thrives on sandy soil -and in a salty atmosphere. So thick were these bushes that the porch -was almost dark behind them, and when Cara tiptoed out she was easily -able to reach the little square extension, and hide there without -being seen.</p> - -<p>“Some one is with her!” Cara was almost saying, for Babs was talking -earnestly to some one at the other end of the porch.</p> - -<p>“A boy! And he’s crying!” Cara crouched down guiltily for she felt she -was seeing and listening to something very, very secret.</p> - -<p>Babs spoke, but the boy sobbed. He was actually crying, and that was a -remarkable thing for Nicky to do.</p> - -<p>Cara could see it was Nicky who was with Babs, although the boy’s form -was almost entirely shrouded in the heavy vines that clambered all -over the end of the porch.</p> - -<p>Then a child’s voice, heavy with sobs, called out too loud to be -unheard by any one on that porch.</p> - -<p>“But I’ve got to. I tell you we must have it. I’ve got to——”</p> - -<p>“Hush!” checked Babs. “They’ll hear you. Don’t worry, Nicky, it will -be all right. You can trust us, can’t you?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I can trust you,” came the reluctant answer.</p> - -<p>“And no one will know you came,” said Babs very softly, but her voice -was perfectly distinct to the other girl in her uncomfortable hiding -place.</p> - -<p>“I’ve got to get back,” Cara told herself. “I must not let them know I -was here.” She just slipped quietly over the rail, between the big -bushes, and when Babs, her face strangely flushed, came back to her -tasks at the show-room, Cara was just folding up another quilt and -forcing little squeaks of pretended admiration, so that Mrs. Baker -would be pleased.</p> - -<p>But what was the matter with Nicky?</p> - -<p>What was he and Babs hiding?</p> - -<p>Why was that brave little fellow sobbing so heavily?</p> - -<p>A queer sort of secret for girls, this seemed to be, but Cara could -not possibly disclose her part in it, and she knew perfectly well that -Babs was not likely to say anything about hers.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chXV' title='XV—The Santa Maria'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER XV</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.1em'>THE SANTA MARIA</span> -</h2> -<p>That incident, simple as it seemed to be, immediately cast its spell -over the two girls. Barbara was so upset by it, whatever it was, that -she could hardly keep her mind on the quilts and tidies. Cara simply -sat down in one of the big rockers—it was there for exhibition -purposes only—and she declared she wasn’t going to do another thing. -Louise and Ruth were so curious they didn’t know what they were doing, -so that the girls’ committee became suddenly very inefficient.</p> - -<p>“It’s too late to do anything else anyhow,” Cara declared. “Let’s go -home.”</p> - -<p>To this all gladly agreed, all but Barbara. She insisted upon staying -until her father called for her, but her real motive was to fix things -up quietly when her willing but excited companions had gone. Every one -wanted to help, but so many around merely lent confusion, and, as -chairman, Barbara felt a certain responsibility.</p> - -<p>So it happened she was still waiting and all alone when Miss Davis—the -twin Miss Davis—came along trying to hide something beneath the folds -of her old-fashioned black cape.</p> - -<p>“I brought it in spite of her,” she confided to Barbara. “Sister -Tillie is such a crank. But I was determined to show it.”</p> - -<p>“Yes?” replied Barbara questioningly.</p> - -<p>“Our great-grandfather made it,” she went on, meanwhile bringing forth -from its hiding place a small wooden ship model.</p> - -<p>“Yes, it is lovely. And it’s priceless. It’s a model that was made in -a war prison, and we have had all sorts of offers to sell it, but, of -course, we would never part with it. You see, I’m so proud of it I -just couldn’t miss the chance to show it off.”</p> - -<div id='i004' class='mt01 mb01 wi004'> - <img src='images/illus-004.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> -<p class='caption'>“YES, IT IS LOVELY, AND IT’S PRICELESS.”</p> -</div> -<p>“I don’t blame you,” said Babs, still gazing with spellbound -admiration at the little model. It was quite small but perfect in -every detail.</p> - -<p>“But Tillie is different. We’re twins, you know,” confessed little -Miss Davis, “but never were two sisters more unlike. We never agree on -anything. Where can we put the model so that it will be sure to be -safe?”</p> - -<p>“That’s a serious question,” answered Babs. “I wish all the ladies -hadn’t gone. Some of them should have taken charge of this.”</p> - -<p>“I’d trust your judgment further than I would theirs,” said Miss Davis -generously. They had placed the model on the little spinet and it -looked splendidly there.</p> - -<p>“You see, Tillie wouldn’t agree that I should fetch it, but it’s as -much mine as hers, and I was determined to get it here. As a matter of -fact, she doesn’t know I did bring it,” confessed Miss Isabel Davis -the other twin.</p> - -<p>“Then, aren’t you afraid it will make trouble between you?” Barbara -suggested.</p> - -<p>“No doubt of it. But I don’t care about that,” Miss Davis insisted. -“If I gave in in everything where’d I be? Now, let’s see where we -could hide this. I wouldn’t dare to leave it on that spinet over -night.”</p> - -<p>“We’re going to have a watchman after dark,” Barbara informed little -Miss Davis. “That is, the man in the next cottage has agreed to watch -for us after he brings in his fish nets. He’s a fisherman, you know.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve heard one did take that old place, but he’s a stranger around -here, isn’t he?”</p> - -<p>“The ladies seem to know him. They’ve bought fish from him and say -he’s very reliable,” Barbara answered. “But I must hurry. Father will -be here for me soon. Where will we hide the little galleon?”</p> - -<p>“I’ve been looking around——”</p> - -<p>“Here!” she exclaimed. “There’s a little cubby-hole built in the -bricks back of this Dutch oven. It ought to be safe there.”</p> - -<p>“Yes. That’s fine. You put it in. It will surely be safe there,” -agreed Miss Davis, only too gladly.</p> - -<p>Barbara picked the model up carefully and carried it over to the -hearth. Then she turned on the little electric candle light that -spread a soft glow over the dark bricks, opened the door of the closet -and still more carefully set the war-time trophy within. Neither she -nor Miss Davis spoke while all this was going on, for somehow she felt -the importance of secrecy.</p> - -<p>Then, just as Barbara turned to switch off the light, they both heard -a noise.</p> - -<p>“Some one at the window!” gasped Miss Davis.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I heard some one,” admitted Barbara, “and it couldn’t have been -Dad.”</p> - -<p>But Miss Davis was at the door before Barbara had finished.</p> - -<p>“There he goes,” she exclaimed. “And he’s that little Italian boy. The -one whose father is in prison. Do you suppose he saw us?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, that’s Nicky,” added Barbara, for she too was at the door and -she could see little Nicky scampering along the sandy beach in full -sight. “We don’t need to worry about him. He’s perfectly honest.”</p> - -<p>“Land sakes, I hope so,” sighed Miss Davis. “For if anything happened -to the <i>Santa Maria</i> I might as well never go back home. I couldn’t -live a day under the roof with Tillie. She’s so fond of it. Perhaps, -after all, I did wrong to fetch it,” she appeared to relent.</p> - -<p>“If you feel that way about it you can come and get it again -tomorrow,” suggested Babs, quite weary of the whole affair. “But I’m -sure it would be lovely to have it in the exhibit. You know, the idea -is to get materials that may be used in a little museum here -eventually,” she explained.</p> - -<p>“That’s just what I thought. And the <i>Santa Maria</i> belongs in a -museum,” declared Miss Davis. “It’s perfectly foolish to have it -locked up in our old cabinet. Yes, I’ll leave it and talk it over with -Tillie. She’s as changeable as the wind, and perhaps I can talk her -around. There’s that boy stopping at the fisherman’s place,” she -interrupted herself. “He must know him.”</p> - -<p>“Very likely, for Nicky knows the lighthouse keeper and others around -here. He’s a busy little fellow and runs errands, you know,” concluded -Barbara. “Well, here’s Dad. I just have to lock this door—everything -else is locked. Won’t you ride out with us, Miss Davis?” she invited -the small woman who was really very agreeable, and eager to help -Barbara with the locking up or anything else left to be done.</p> - -<p>“I’d be glad to, for I am tired,” admitted Miss Davis. “You see, I had -to wait so late to get rid of Tillie. She was going in town all -afternoon but I thought she’d never get started.”</p> - -<p>Dr. Hale was waiting now, and it took but a few minutes for Babs and -Miss Davis to climb into the car.</p> - -<p>“Everything all right, daughter?” he asked solicitously, after -greeting the guest.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, Dads, all right,” Barbara replied a little wearily. “Miss -Davis and I have a secret, something really wonderful to exhibit and -we had quite a time hiding it,” she told her father briefly.</p> - -<p>He laughed at that. “I don’t imagine the pirates will come ashore -tonight,” he joked. “It is too beautifully clear for their black -deeds, so I guess your treasure will be safe,” he ended pleasantly.</p> - -<p>“Oh, there’s little Nicky, Dads,” Barbara exclaimed, as Nicky did -emerge from behind some boxes that were piled at the side of the -fisherman’s cottage. “I must speak to him.”</p> - -<p>Dr. Hale pulled his car up as short as his brakes allowed, and Nicky -stood for a few moments as if waiting for them to reach him. Then, -suddenly and without a cause which could be thought of by Barbara, he -turned, ducked behind the boxes again and was as completely out of -sight as if they had never seen him.</p> - -<p>“I wonder what he did that for?” Babs exclaimed in astonishment.</p> - -<p>“He didn’t want to see you, evidently,” replied Dr. Hale, throwing his -car into gear again.</p> - -<p>“Those youngsters can’t be depended upon,” said Miss Davis sagely. -“They have no one to teach them anything so they pick up what is -wrong.”</p> - -<p>“Not Nicky,” defended Barbara. “He’s a fine little fellow.”</p> - -<p>“Do you know him so well?” queried the woman, in surprise.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I do,” stoutly declared Barbara. “And I know him to be—just -splendid,” she finished, after an agitated pause.</p> - -<p>“You see, Miss Davis,” said Dr. Hale politely, “my daughter is -something of a philanthropist. She is always doing something for the -neglected ones,” and he continued to talk in that strain for some -minutes. But Barbara was not hearing a word he said.</p> - -<p>She was wondering what was the matter with Nicky. Long before Miss -Davis spoke of hearing a noise around the Community House, Barbara had -caught a glimpse of Nicky. He was evidently trying to find out whom -she was talking to, and he must have seen both her and Miss Davis with -the little model craft, and also he must have seen where they hid it.</p> - -<p>“But that couldn’t make any difference,” Barbara told herself, for she -would even have trusted Nicky to do the hiding if he had been there, -in the long old-fashioned room when she pried open the cupboard door.</p> - -<p>“And so you and Miss Davis have a state secret,” the doctor -interrupted her thoughts, as he pulled up to the porch of Miss Davis’ -cottage.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Barbara simply. She couldn’t seem to find her tongue, as -Dora might have said.</p> - -<p>“Don’t talk about secrets around here,” whispered Miss Davis, for her -sister Tillie was just then coming to the door to see who might be -arriving.</p> - -<p>On the way home the doctor noticed Babs’ distraction.</p> - -<p>“Anything go wrong with the show, girlie?” he asked gaily.</p> - -<p>“Oh, no, why?” evaded Babs.</p> - -<p>“You seem to have an awful lot on your mind for the first day,” -replied her father.</p> - -<p>“I have,” admitted Babs, still inattentive.</p> - -<p>“I hope you are not going to have worries about the thing,” he said -more decidedly, for none knew better than he that only worry could -bring that blank look to his daughter’s face.</p> - -<p>“Indeed I am not,” declared Barbara, now beginning to see what he -meant. “We had a lot of fun. You should see some of the junk the -ladies brought in and fought over.”</p> - -<p>“Fought over?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, where the stuff should be put, you know. Mrs. Brownell brought -or had sent a really fine old table and it seemed as if everybody -wanted her particular article put on that table.” This was quite a -satisfactory speech for Babs under the circumstances.</p> - -<p>“I can imagine what a fuss a lot of women would make over heirlooms,” -the doctor commented. “What are we entering?”</p> - -<p>“Why, what could we enter?” Babs repeated in surprise. “What heirlooms -have we?”</p> - -<p>“Take a look in the attic tomorrow,” her father replied laconically. -“You may find something worth while.” Dr. Hale was being reflective. -He seemed to know about the attic.</p> - -<p>“All right Dads, I will,” Barbara agreed brightly. “It would be nice -for us to have something to show. You have lived here longer than most -of the <i>new</i> people,” she pointed out as they left the car in the -garage and together walked up to their house.</p> - -<p>“We have lived here for some time, Babs,” her father said rather -solemnly. “But I just wonder if this place isn’t a little too big for -just you and me?”</p> - -<p>“Dads!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I don’t mean this year,” he hurried to reassure her, “but—well, -don’t let’s think about it, Bobolink,” and he threw his arm fondly -around her. “Think about your funny old ladies and their funny old -home week,” he counselled, anxious to divert her attention.</p> - -<p>But Babs couldn’t think about those things at all.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chXVI' title='XVI—When a Girl Thinks Hard'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER XVI</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.1em'>WHEN A GIRL THINKS HARD</span> -</h2> -<p>She just couldn’t get Nicky off her mind. Even the fun of sorting out -the old heirlooms was not enough to blot out her anxiety.</p> - -<p>“I believe now,” she admitted, “that it isn’t the best thing for a -girl to get too interested in strangers: we can never understand them, -especially those of other nationalities.”</p> - -<p>But Nicky was so interesting, and he seemed to be so abused. It was -this instinct of sympathy, so natural to all generous girls, that was -leading Barbara into tangled paths.</p> - -<p>First, she had bought the old candlesticks, then Dudley Burke bought a -pair. That was on the day that Nicky hurt his hand and all the other -suspicious things happened, none of which had yet been explained.</p> - -<p>But it was the fancy wood carving on the book-ends that Cara bought -that excited the most interest. The wood had been freshly carved, but -by whom? Who could be the artist and where was he hidden and why?</p> - -<p>Barbara never suspected Nicky of any trickery, however, and she had -maintained perfect confidence in him until now. Now she too was being -forced to question. What did he mean by that plea for money made to -her this very afternoon? Why did he need five dollars so urgently? And -if he did need it, why could he not tell her what it was needed for?</p> - -<p>She didn’t like the little boy sneaking around after her, and sneaking -was the only word applicable to his peculiar methods. Even generous -Cara was warning her these days that you can’t trust strangers too -far, especially those clever little boys.</p> - -<p>The happenings of that afternoon were vividly pictured now to Barbara, -while she sat in her room, pondering. It was evening again, and with -quiet hours spread out before her a perfect race of happenings dashed -in and out of her perturbed mind.</p> - -<p>Nicky, always Nicky, but why?</p> - -<p>“Of course I’ve never had a sister or a brother,” she reasoned, “and -perhaps I’ve needed one. And Nicky is so interesting and so sort of -mysterious.”</p> - -<p>But when he climbed over the rail of the back porch at the Community -House that afternoon, and managed, as only he could manage, to get -Babs’ attention, she was bothered. She didn’t want the girls to know -about that, and of course she did not know that Cara had overheard -anything. It was better for her that she did not, for that would have -added greatly to her anxieties.</p> - -<p>It had all happened so quickly. He came back after she explained to -him why she could not exhibit the lovely candlesticks, and naturally, -he was heart-broken about that. But she insisted he would have to tell -who carved them if she put them in the show-room. He protested he -could not do that, no, never, not for anything, and so he had gone -away a very sorrowful little boy, taking back the precious pair of -candlesticks in the home-made oilcloth covering.</p> - -<p>And the queerest part of it was he insisted they could not be sold, as -much as he and his folks needed money, he couldn’t sell those -candlesticks. They were beautifully carved and beautifully tinted, but -Barbara was too anxious to get rid of Nicky to examine them very -closely.</p> - -<p>He came back a little later and begged that she would give him five -dollars. He said he simply had to have it, and strange to say he was -so excited he could not keep his voice down. It was then that Cara -overheard him sobbing and pleading, and it was then that Barbara tried -to scold and reason with him.</p> - -<p>Why should he bother her so? Hadn’t she done all she could for him? -And from whom would or could she borrow five dollars at a few moments’ -notice?</p> - -<p>“But you’re my friend, ain’t you?” he pointed out reasonably enough, -“and I’ve got to have it.”</p> - -<p>“Have you no other friends?” Barbara had asked him then.</p> - -<p>“Sure,” was Nicky’s reply. “But I did borrow from them.”</p> - -<p>“Do you borrow—a lot?”</p> - -<p>“Have to,” Nicky had replied easily. “But I’m goin’-a pay it back -soon. I kin work soon, Captain Quiller says he’ll give me a job.”</p> - -<p>“Captain Quiller?”</p> - -<p>There had not been time there on the porch to recall Captain Quiller’s -interest in Nicky, but Barbara vividly remembered that night in the -storm, when the little boy had fallen by the roadside from his -broken-down “bike,” with that precious can of oil propped up against a -mudhill so that it couldn’t spill.</p> - -<p>“And Nicky deserves recognition for that,” Barbara was now telling -herself. “I do wish I would get an answer to my letter from -Washington.”</p> - -<p>Conflicting thoughts! First worry about the little Italian boy, then a -secret rejoicing in his bravery. Barbara didn’t realize that this was -unusual for a girl of her years, that most girls would not have given -a second thought to these matters. But she <i>was</i> different, she had -been trained, or had trained herself, to think seriously, and so she -was but following her natural bent. She wasn’t old-fashioned, she was -simply wise.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile the other girls were being frankly suspicious. Nothing could -persuade them that a criminal of some sort wasn’t being hidden in the -little shack that served to shelter Nicky’s family. That was, perhaps, -natural enough, when every one knew that the gate-keeper, Marcusi, had -been put in jail, and the girls had seen, with their own eyes, how -wildly excited those within the house acted when strangers approached.</p> - -<p>Then this fine wood carving; who was doing that and why wouldn’t Nicky -tell?</p> - -<p>Only the feeling of loyalty to Barbara kept the other girls subdued in -expressing <i>their</i> opinions. She wouldn’t tolerate a word against -Nicky, and so they talked secretly, only.</p> - -<p>But they watched, with keen interest, the course of events.</p> - -<p>“I can’t see what she finds worth bothering with in those Italians,” -would likely be Louise’s answer.</p> - -<p>Barbara’s attitude was defiant. She would have nothing said about -Nicky. Cara alone dared to suggest to her that one just can’t -understand strange children. But even Cara could not deter her. Nor -could her father, no, not even the bossy Dora, who had no business to -order Barbara to give up her interest in “those youngsters.”</p> - -<p>But this afternoon something had happened that had influenced Barbara. -Nicky had run away from her. He must have seen her wave to him to come -up to the car, when Dr. Hale was driving her and Miss Davis home, and -he had scurried off behind those old boxes like a—like a—no, Babs -wouldn’t say it; she wouldn’t even think it. Nicky must have had some -good reason for that suspicious act.</p> - -<p>Tonight she tried to read; there was her favorite magazine that had -just come by mail, but she could find nothing to interest her in its -usually fascinating pages.</p> - -<p>“If I had had a little brother,” she was thinking, “I should have -liked his eyes to be like Nicky’s. They’re such an agate brown, like -my best marbles,” she concluded.</p> - -<p>That gave her a new idea. Where was that bag of marbles? She had -always kept them, loved to count them and shoot them on the old -braided rug that Dora insisted was best in front of Barbara’s bed.</p> - -<p>As the idea came to her she jumped up and she rummaged in the drawer -of her stand, where her things least in use were stored, and after -going to the very bottom several times she unearthed the little -gingham bag. The marbles in it seemed to caress her fingers as she -held them even through the gingham cover; she had always loved to play -marbles.</p> - -<p>Down on the rug she squatted again and set the agates on the faded -blue line. Then, just as she used to do when she was ten years old, -and even as young as six years old, she began to play.</p> - -<p>Knock! Knock! she hit the brown “real.”</p> - -<p>It flew off the rug and rolled boldly over the wood floor but Babs -didn’t go after it. She picked another shooter from the little pool of -marbles she had spilled out and took aim at a little brown “migg.”</p> - -<p>“Now Miggsy,” she said aloud, for no one could have heard her, “I’ve -got to get you.”</p> - -<p>But her aim was not true and the “migg” never moved.</p> - -<p>She tried again and hit the pretty blue “glassy.” Squatting back -against her heels Barbara laughed merrily.</p> - -<p>“Just like Nicky,” she was thinking. “Little and brown and defiant. -That’s the reason he’s so interesting,” and she took another shot at -the migg.</p> - -<p>Over the floor rolled noisily a number of the agates, but the smallest -one of all still escaped, that is, it took but a few turns and still -stuck to the rug.</p> - -<p>“Guess I’ve forgotten how to shoot,” Barbara concluded, gathering up -the marbles and dropping them one by one into the bag. “I’ll give -these to Nicky.”</p> - -<p>The jangling of the telephone disturbed her. She hurried down stairs -to answer the call.</p> - -<p>“Yes, this is Babs. Hello Cara! What’s the excitement?” was what she -said into the transmitter.</p> - -<p>After a very brief pause Babs’ voice was heard answering again.</p> - -<p>“I couldn’t go up again tonight. No, I didn’t know they were going to -do anything tonight. Well, I’m glad you were there to represent us. I -got enough of it this afternoon.” Babs again.</p> - -<p>It was Cara talking, of course, and she had told Babs that she had -just been down to the Community House. That some of the ladies went -down to fix things up, and when Cara and Dorothy Blair, one of the -older girls, were passing and saw the lights, they went in.</p> - -<p>“And say, Babs,” Cara began again over the wire, in that way that -means something particular is going to be disclosed. “If I were you -I’d tell Nicky not to come around there any more. You know how fussy -those old ladies are about the family junk.”</p> - -<p>“Oh yes, I know,” Babs readily agreed, and her toes working nervously -up and down in her slippers didn’t show over the telephone, of course.</p> - -<p>“Not that <i>he</i> isn’t all right,” continued Cara, thoughtfully, “but -just because he’s a small boy, you know.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t want him to come around,” Babs quietly declared. “There are -too many little things there, and if anything gets mislaid the women -would be sure to blame it on the boys.”</p> - -<p>“Coming down early in the morning?” Cara asked next.</p> - -<p>“I suppose I’ll have to,” Babs answered. “We’ll be expected to do -everything from polishing furniture to darning Civil War socks, I -suppose,” she added laughing lightly.</p> - -<p>“I’ll call for you about nine, shall I?” Cara asked.</p> - -<p>“I’ll be ready, and thanks, Cara, for calling.”</p> - -<p>“Anything happen after we left?” pursued Cara just to keep the wire -busy.</p> - -<p>“No, that is not anything much.” The secret of Miss Davis’ ship model -could not be told over the phone, Babs had promptly decided. And -because of its importance and Miss Davis’ indecision concerning the -real displaying of the model, Babs felt the least said about it to any -one, the better. And that meant that she wouldn’t say anything about -it to any one.</p> - -<p>So the girls talked a few minutes longer, and then reluctantly hung up -their respective receivers.</p> - -<p>Cara always cheered Babs up. She had a way of dispelling the little -fears that would unconsciously steal in upon the other girl, and the -very sound of her laughing voice, the very indifferent, easy way in -which she so naturally pointed out that Nicky Marcusi shouldn’t be -seen around the Community House, unless he was with some one who might -later come in to see the exhibit, sort of broke up Babs’ unaccountable -fit of anxiety.</p> - -<p>“I won’t have any little boys running around there while I’m in -charge,” she decided as she again reached her own room and prepared -for bed. “There’s no telling what youngsters might do and just think -it smart.”</p> - -<p>But Nicky so seldom had any boys with him, or he was so seldom with -other boys that this newest argument didn’t seem quite sincere.</p> - -<p>“And besides that,” Babs was thinking not exactly out loud but loud -enough for her own secret use, “I’m not going to take any more -responsibility there. It’s the women’s affair and they must manage it. -I feel as if I had done enough already with their old moth-eaten -delaine quilts,” and she took her bag of marbles from the center of -her bed where she had dropped them when the telephone rang, and after -tossing them up a few times to catch them like a bean bag, she finally -settled down to read the despised magazine.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chXVII' title='XVII—The Loss'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER XVII</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.1em'>THE LOSS</span> -</h2> -<p>Barbara couldn’t believe it; Miss Davis’ model was gone! Stolen from -the Dutch oven and no one had seen them hide it there. That is, no one -but Nicky.</p> - -<p>It was not yet nine o’clock next morning when Miss Davis came around -and told Barbara. She had decided not to oppose her sister and went -out to the Community House to get the family heirloom: and it was -gone!</p> - -<p>Early as it was some of the ladies were already there, and she made -straight for the oven without telling them what she was going for.</p> - -<p>“I almost fainted,” she told Barbara, not being far from a faint even -then, “when I opened that cubby-hole door and saw the place empty I -just screamed.”</p> - -<p>“Gone!” Barbara repeated incredulously. “Who could have found it?”</p> - -<p>“Well, you know,” sobbed Miss Davis, “there were youngsters watching -in that window, and we’ve got to find that Italian boy right away, -before he has a chance to sell it.”</p> - -<p>“You mean Nickolas Marcusi?”</p> - -<p>“I mean that little fellow who shot out in the road before us and then -scurried off like a rat,” replied the woman bitterly. “Mean to say -that wasn’t a guilty thing to do?”</p> - -<p>“I couldn’t think that boy guilty of doing anything dishonorable,” -Barbara retorted, “I’ve known him to be too fine a little fellow.”</p> - -<p>“Fine little fellows can fool you, my girl,” snapped the woman who was -still fanning herself with her hat although the morning was -delightfully cool. “Sometimes they think it’s fun to be brave, and -they think it smart to be able to steal things.”</p> - -<p>“Nicky wouldn’t steal anything,” wailed Barbara. She never cried; but -if she had been given to tears they would have flooded her eyes then. -To call Nicky a thief!</p> - -<p>“Well, come along and let’s see if we can find him,” ordered Miss -Davis, for her tone was too emphatic to be otherwise termed. “No -telling what a boy might do with a boat like that. He might put it on -a string in the ocean. Oh, mercy me! What an unlucky woman I am? Why -did I go against Tillie?” She sobbed again, and there was no denying -the genuineness of her grief.</p> - -<p>Dr. Hale was out and Dora seemed out of reach, which was fortunate for -Barbara. She would not have had them hear of her trouble for anything.</p> - -<p>“I’ll be ready in a minute, Miss Davis,” she told her caller. “We’ll -go over to the pavilion and I’ll phone Cara Burke. She’ll drive me out -to where the Italians live, but there really isn’t any use of your -coming. It’s an awful place to go.” She didn’t want Miss Davis to go. -She felt her presence would have hindered her greatly in her search -for Nicky.</p> - -<p>“But <i>I</i> must go,” insisted the woman. “I wouldn’t wait any place, I’m -too nervous,” and she almost pulled the brim off her hat in an attempt -to get it on her head. “Yes, I’ll go right along. I’ve got to keep -moving. You’ve no idea what it means to me. Why, we were offered a -pile of money for that little model, but, of course, we wouldn’t think -of selling it. Oh, dear,” and she jabbed her handkerchief against her -cheek, “why ever did I do such a thing! Pride, just foolish pride. -Wanted to show it off. Well, this is what I get for it.”</p> - -<p>She talked and talked, and Barbara was almost as nervous as was the -woman herself. If her father should come back he would have to hear -all the story, and if Dora came back she would listen to every word -that she could catch.</p> - -<p>“Come on, Miss Davis,” said Barbara, squatting her little felt hat on -her head without even knowing she was doing it. “Of course I’m awfully -sorry, terribly. But still, I can’t feel it is my fault; I just -followed your advice you know, and it was my idea that you shouldn’t -have left the model there.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I know it. Don’t make me feel worse——”</p> - -<p>“I don’t want you to feel any worse, you know that, Miss Davis,” -Barbara interrupted, for indeed she was very sorry enough for the -poor, distressed little lady. “I merely want it to be understood that -I didn’t and couldn’t take the responsibility of any goods left there. -We girls are only supposed to do the things that the ladies tell us to -do. You see, we are merely a sub-committee.”</p> - -<p>“But, thank goodness, you were there and that I didn’t confide in any -of the women,” exclaimed Miss Davis. “If I had told that to a single -woman, Tillie would be dying of grief now. Women can’t keep anything -to themselves,” she declared a little surprisingly, under the -circumstances.</p> - -<p>“Don’t you suppose your sister will miss it from the cabinet?”</p> - -<p>“No, not for this week, because she left for Blueberry Corners this -very morning. That’s the only comfort. If I’ll only be able to get it -back before <i>she</i> gets back. Do hurry, dear. I don’t know what I’m -saying I’m so upset. I hope I wasn’t cross to you?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, no, not at all, Miss Davis,” Babs assured her. “I can easily -understand how you feel. And I feel dreadfully about it too. Somehow I -couldn’t sleep last night and I didn’t know why. Come along, I’m -ready,” and they went off, Babs dropping a note on her father’s desk -as she went.</p> - -<p>Cara met them before they reached the corner. The original plan was to -have Cara call at the house, but because of Miss Davis’ excited state -of mind, and the constant danger of Dora overhearing her, Babs had -hurried out before the appointed time. She knew she would meet Cara -before she turned into Landing.</p> - -<p>“Hop right in,” was Cara’s cheerful greeting. Then she paused to give -Babs a chance to introduce the stranger.</p> - -<p>“And if you don’t mind, Cara,” Babs continued after the brief -introduction, “we’ll drive out to the Italian settlement. We want to -see Nicky.”</p> - -<p>“Nicky!” Cara’s tone was in dispute. She meant to convey again to Babs -her opposition to her constant interest in the Italians.</p> - -<p>“Yes, and it’s very important,” put in Miss Davis before Babs could -answer. “In fact we’ve <i>got</i> to find him.”</p> - -<p>“Oh,” said Cara in bewilderment. This was something new, she -understood now; something new, but what?</p> - -<p>Babs took her place in the front seat of the auto beside Cara, and -while Miss Davis was settling herself in the back seat, managed to -whisper enough to Cara to give the very least inkling of the matter.</p> - -<p>“Something we lost,” she said, “and maybe Nicky has seen it. He was -there yesterday when we were closing up.”</p> - -<p>“Oh,” said Cara again, and then she drove on.</p> - -<p>Miss Davis seemed suddenly to have become speechless. Perhaps it was -exhaustion, for she must have labored under a heavy strain since -discovering the loss of the model, but, at any rate, she was now -drooping in the back seat of Cara’s car as if “every friend in the -world had deserted her”; that was the way her attitude impressed the -girls.</p> - -<p>They tried to talk casually but it was a failure as far as Babs was -concerned, and when the usual group of urchins surrounded their car, -when it was stopped as near to Nicky’s house as Babs wanted Cara to -drive, it was a discouraged girl who alighted. Barbara Hale was sorry -she had ever bothered about these little foreigners, yet, quickly as -that thought darted through her mind, there came another.</p> - -<p>What about Nicky saving the lighthouse lamp from darkness during that -awful storm? What other boy of his age would have been as brave as he -had been then?</p> - -<p>“I’ll run over and see if he’s around,” she told Cara and Miss Davis, -in real fear that Miss Davis would insist upon going with her. “I’ll -be back in a few minutes.”</p> - -<p>Over the rough tracks she stumbled. Everything seemed horrid. The air -was thick with smoke, there were odors of all kinds, from factory -fumes to puddles from rain, left standing in hidden places where even -the sun couldn’t find them.</p> - -<p>And as she hurried along her opinion of all this had suddenly changed. -Yesterday she would have pitied those poor people living in such a -disordered place, but today she pitied herself that she had to go -through there.</p> - -<p>“If I only hadn’t been so foolish,” she kept thinking. “And I’ve -missed a lot of good times this summer just by this.”</p> - -<p>Presently she called to a group of children. And their answer brought -Babs to a sudden stop.</p> - -<p>“You don’t mean that the Marcusis have moved away?” she repeated in -surprise.</p> - -<p>“Yes, Mam, lit out last night,” a small boy told her. “Guess they -hadda skip,” he added impishly.</p> - -<p>“They did not either,” defended another. “Some one took sick or -somthin’.”</p> - -<p>But Barbara had to be sure. She could not believe that those people -were gone, without letting her know. But why should they have let her -know?</p> - -<p>She stumbled on farther, the children tagging along at her heels, -saying all sorts of foolish things about Nicky’s family.</p> - -<p>But she paid little attention to them, although her ears at least -heard every word they said.</p> - -<p>“Yep, they didn’t pay the milk-man either,” one saucy little fellow -gaily announced. “An’ the old man’s in jail so they can’t do nawthin’ -to him——”</p> - -<p>“Shut up, you Tony, your folks ain’t such a much. Whata you knockin’ -about?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, run along about your business,” ordered Barbara sharply turning -unexpectedly around and facing them. “You don’t have to come with me. -I didn’t ask you to.”</p> - -<p>“Beat it, fellers,” the big boy took up the cause. “She don’t want -you. I’ll show her the house.”</p> - -<p>“Maybe you think she wants <i>you</i>, Smarty Leganto,” came back a -challenge for the chivalrous one. “She knows the place, don’t she? But -they ain’t anybody in it. They’s moved, we told you.”</p> - -<p>It was no use. She couldn’t get rid of them. So she hurried along and -was now in front of that place likely called a house, by the man who -owned it, but was merely a shack to all other eyes.</p> - -<p>The windows were raised, the hideously pictured curtains were not to -be seen, and the door stood wide open.</p> - -<p>“Now you see,” came a taunt from the crowd. “They’s gone, ain’t they? -What did we tell you? Now, ain’t they gone?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, do stop,” begged Barbara. “Of course they are gone. But why -shouldn’t they move if they wanted to?” This was by no means a -question, rather it was a declaration. She was trying to answer her -own question. “Why shouldn’t this family move if they wanted to?”</p> - -<p>It takes so little to make excitement for such children as those -surrounding her, that even the difference in their clothes and hers, -the fact that she came in a car, and the still more surprising fact -that she should evince interest in a family like Nicky’s, served to -give the youngsters a wonderful time. And in spite of her protests -they were bound to make the most of it. And they did.</p> - -<p>As she turned back to the car she wondered what she would say to Miss -Davis. If only she had not come along with them Babs might have told -the whole story to Cara, and together they could have thought up -something to do about it. Even a little delay would have helped so -much. But there Miss Davis sat in the car, her head out the side, -waiting eagerly for Babs’ return.</p> - -<p>“I just can’t tell her they have moved,” Babs decided quickly, “not -just yet. I’ll say there was no one in.”</p> - -<p>“All out!” exclaimed Miss Davis, just as Barbara knew she would. “But -we’ve got to find that boy——”</p> - -<p>“I’ll come back with Cara in a little while,” Babs interrupted. “You -see, those people have to work, even the children, and it’s pretty -early to expect to find them around home.”</p> - -<p>“But that boy,” (how Barbara wished she would not so persistently -attack Nicky) “he must be around some place. It seems to me I have met -him along the road every day this summer but just today,” wailed Miss -Davis.</p> - -<p>“Don’t worry,” Cara ventured to remark. “We know how to find the -youngsters; don’t we Babs?” and she shot a look at Babs that was -infinitely comforting.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” the other girl replied, already seated beside Cara. “We know -the haunts. I guess we’ll have to go over to the Community House now,” -she proposed. “I’m supposed to be around there some time this -morning.”</p> - -<p>“Then drop me off home, please,” begged the still perturbed little -woman. “I couldn’t go over there again, that is, not just now,” she -hurried to modify, lest Cara might suspect she was really in distress -about something.</p> - -<p>Just as if Cara didn’t.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chXVIII' title='XVIII—Suspicions'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER XVIII</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.1em'>SUSPICIONS</span> -</h2> -<p>No sooner had they deposited Miss Davis at her front gate than Cara -turned to Babs.</p> - -<p>“Now see here, Sister,” she began facetiously, “you’ve got to tell me -all about this. What’s on your mind?”</p> - -<p>“Of course, Cara, I intend to tell you. I’ve just been waiting for a -chance,” answered Babs, sullenly.</p> - -<p>“Well, here’s your chance. Go ahead and tell. And judging from the -look on your alabaster face it needs to be told. Honestly Babs, you -look years older since yesterday. Nobody murdered, I hope?”</p> - -<p>Babs laughed, but it was a sickly little laugh, and had nothing to do -with merriment.</p> - -<p>“No, not murder exactly,” Babs replied after an embarrassed pause. -“But you know how seriously those old ladies take their family -heirlooms.”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“And you know the Davis ladies are twins.”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Well, one twinnie wanted to show a family piece and the other twinnie -objected,” Babs continued, in a voice as even as a tape line put -through the phonograph.</p> - -<p>“She would. All twinnies are that way. Go ahead,” proposed Cara a -little impatiently.</p> - -<p>Barbara sighed. She had secretly gone over the details of the loss so -often since Miss Davis came this morning, that her weary brain fairly -pricked in dismay at encountering the subject in word form.</p> - -<p>“Miss Davis brought a little ship model, one of those old-time -murderous, pirate-prisoner sailing things,” she began bravely, “and it -has disappeared.”</p> - -<p>“Disappeared! Do you mean the famous Davis model of Columbus’ <i>Santa -Maria</i>?” Cara almost stopped her car unconsciously, in surprise.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Babs, from tightened lips.</p> - -<p>“Oh, how dreadful! How did it disappear? How could it, I mean?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know,” Babs flared back this time. “You don’t suppose I <i>do</i> -know, do you, Cara?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I didn’t mean that, Babs; of course you don’t know,” Cara sort of -apologized. “But I thought you might have some idea. Here we are. -Going to stay long? I’ve got to drive Mother to the village——”</p> - -<p>“Don’t think of coming for me, Cara,” Babs interrupted as she stepped -out of the car in front of the Community House. “I need the walk back -home. I’m not going to stay long, either,” she declared, “for I don’t -see a lot of fun in sorting this truck. Of course, we’ve promised, and -we’ve got to help,” she recalled, “but it’s women’s work; we do better -in swimming this time of year.”</p> - -<p>“We certainly do, Babs,” Cara promptly agreed. “But you haven’t -unburdened your soul.” She had a merry way of making things easier. -Most of Babs’ troubles seemed to take wings when Cara Burke blew her -breath at them. But this was different. It wouldn’t go. It couldn’t go -when each step added weight to the worry.</p> - -<p>Nicky was gone!</p> - -<p>“You know,” Babs almost whispered to Cara, for she had one foot on the -running board and that brought her very close to Cara’s ear, “you -know,” she repeated, “Nicky’s folks have moved.”</p> - -<p>“I guessed that,” Cara answered.</p> - -<p>“Why?”</p> - -<p>“Because I heard him begging you for money yesterday on the porch. -Don’t look so alarmed. I went out looking for you and heard him almost -sobbing for some money,” said Cara.</p> - -<p>“Who heard us?” Another shock for Babs.</p> - -<p>“Oh, don’t look so panicky,” smiled Cara. “I didn’t hear anything -important. Those youngsters are always after money and there was -nothing strange in Nicky’s wanting some. I suppose he wanted it to -help out with the moving.”</p> - -<p>“I suppose so,” agreed Babs. Once again Cara vanquished a bugbear. -What harm had there been in Nicky’s asking for money, after all?</p> - -<p>“What did the girls say?” Babs asked evenly. “Were they looking for -me?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, you know what <i>they</i> would say. Well, that’s what they said. But -Babs, old girl, you just better jump in here again and ride around -with me,” Cara proposed. “You don’t look a bit like Old Home Week and -you shouldn’t go in there. That’s a girl,” she chanted, for Babs was -stepping back into the car. “Now, sit close to your old friend and -pour out the whole horrible tale. How did the <i>Santa Maria</i> disappear? -Who was around when you left last night?”</p> - -<p>Babs felt a little gasp catch at her throat. That was it. Who was -around?</p> - -<p>“Just Miss Davis and I were there,” she began, but her sigh meant more -than her words.</p> - -<p>“Babs ducky,” pleaded Cara ever so kindly, “don’t you think you will -feel better when you tell me? You can trust me, can’t you?”</p> - -<p>That appeal stirred a new emotion in Barbara Hale.</p> - -<p>“Of course I can, Cara,” she answered instantly, “and you likely know -exactly what is worrying me. I’m afraid Nicky took that model!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Babs! He couldn’t. Not Nicky!”</p> - -<p>“You’re a love to have such confidence in him, Cara. That helps.” Babs -showed her relief. “There must be a good reason for such confidence as -we have. But the poor little fellow! You see, how it looks; his -wanting money so badly, and then—this.”</p> - -<p>Cara glanced at her wrist watch. “I’ve got an hour before time to go -for Mother,” she said, “so let’s go down to the beach. The brisk air -will whip us up a little. We’re fagged,” she said smilingly, -“especially you. Like old ladies who need catnip tea.”</p> - -<p>A few minutes later they were discussing Nicky’s flight earnestly, and -with a determined effort to help him.</p> - -<p>“But how can we ever find him?” lamented Babs. “You know how queer -those Italians are. If we just ask a question about where the Marcusis -have moved to they’ll suspect we are enemies and they’ll do everything -to hide their tracks. What on earth can we do?” Babs wondered and -wondered.</p> - -<p>“Are you sure no other boy was with him when he peeked in the window?” -Cara questioned.</p> - -<p>“Not sure; I couldn’t see well for it was nearly dark. But you know he -is almost always alone.”</p> - -<p>“Yes; poor kid, he doesn’t get much chance to play, I guess,” Cara -replied. “Seems as if he is either selling junk or falling off -bicycles. You never got any reply from Washington about his heroism, -did you?”</p> - -<p>“No. If only I did that might help,” sighed Babs. “But Cara, I can’t -help thinking that Nicky looked guilty when he bolted out before Dad’s -car. Even Miss Davis noticed that.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Miss Davis!” scoffed Cara. “She’d be sure to think that. But it -doesn’t mean a thing. Babs, I’m sure Nicky wouldn’t go off without -leaving some word for you. He’s too smart to forget you.”</p> - -<p>“Why?” asked Babs innocently.</p> - -<p>“Why? Because he idolizes you. Because he thinks you are his guardian -angel. Don’t you know the girls even said your father was going to -adopt him?”</p> - -<p>“Cara Burke!” That left Babs speechless.</p> - -<p>“Yes, indeed they did,” Cara repeated. “And it wouldn’t be a bad idea. -Can you believe that Dud asked Dad if <i>we</i> couldn’t take him? Dud is -just crazy about the youngster. And maybe you didn’t know that Dud -took him and his old bike and the oil can all the way over to -Breakintake to have a real photograph made. He declared he was going -to send it to some news syndicate——”</p> - -<p>“For gracious sake!” exclaimed Babs. “He didn’t!”</p> - -<p>“He did, too. You don’t know what a hustler my brother is,” wound up -Cara, proudly.</p> - -<p>“Well,” gasped Babs, brightening at all this good news, “I guess I do -know how smart Dud is, Cara. Didn’t I spend hours racing around in his -good little car when I should have been doing other things at your -house party?”</p> - -<p>“You certainly did,” laughed Cara. They were cheered up considerably -now.</p> - -<p>“And just imagine the girls thinking that we, Dad and I, could take -Nicky,” Babs went on. “They evidently don’t know how poor we are,” she -said, as if glad to say it, as if she feared giving Cara a false -impression of her own humble circumstances.</p> - -<p>“Poor! indeed! You’re rich in a lot of things, Babs,” spoke up Cara. -“And if you wanted to take Nicky you would soon find out what a real -help he could be.”</p> - -<p>“I wish I had taken him—last night,” declared Babs, tossing her head -to one side so far that her hair came tumbling down like a curtain -over one eye. “But it’s too late to make wishes; what we have got to -do is to make plans. You see, Cara, it would be so much better if we -could get hold of Nicky right away, because Miss Davis’ twin sister -Tillie is away. If we could find him, somehow I feel we would find the -<i>Santa Maria</i>.”</p> - -<p>“You don’t think he took it?”</p> - -<p>“No, I don’t. But I feel he would know something about it,” Babs -insisted.</p> - -<p>“So do I: I might as well admit that,” Cara promptly added. “But say, -Babs, did you ever find out anything at all about who did the -beautiful wood carving?”</p> - -<p>“No, I didn’t.”</p> - -<p>“It must have been done in Nicky’s home.”</p> - -<p>“Why? He could have gone out for it, some place.”</p> - -<p>“Hardly. Because one morning Dud went around to the house and gave the -whistle he had learned to call Nicky with. When Nicky answered him his -sweater pockets were filled with fine wood shavings. Dud said he kept -playing with the shavings and smelling of their sandalwood odor. There -wasn’t a doubt about it they came straight from Nicky’s house.”</p> - -<p>“That’s very queer,” Babs pondered. “No one but a man could do such -skilled work, and who could the man be? That family is helped by the -town, you know. They have no real means of support, since their father -was taken from them.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’ve got to go now,” Cara decided after a glance at her watch. -“Mother is coming over to the club, the Community House of course. She -has spent the morning digging up family relics. Hope she hasn’t -unearthed any of my love letters,” the girl chuckled. “They <i>would</i> be -worth exhibiting.”</p> - -<p>“Or any of your early attempts at art,” added Babs. “They’d make quite -a showing if Mrs. Brownell would let you put them on easels on her old -mahogany table.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, that old table! Wasn’t it too funny how they fought about it -yesterday? I suppose it will be the spinet today. Really that spinet -is worth fighting over,” Cara added thoughtfully. “It is a genuine -antique.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t let’s talk about antiques,” begged Babs. “It gives me the -shivers, after the ship model. But say, Cara, I’ve a notion to go to -Captain Quiller. He ought to know where the Marcusis would be apt to -go to.”</p> - -<p>“Bright idea,” agreed Cara, swinging an arm around her companion. -“I’ll take you after lunch. Don’t worry in the meantime. I’ll drop in -and see if Miss Davis is alive yet.” Cara would do anything and -everything to help Babs.</p> - -<p>“All right, thanks a lot. I don’t know what I’d do without you, Cara,” -said Babs, affectionately. “You see, I’ve lost Glenn.”</p> - -<p>“Yes <i>I</i> see,” chuckled Cara. “He runs around with Dud and sometimes -they condescend to let me hitch on. But girls are best; aren’t they, -Babby?”</p> - -<p>“Yes <i>they</i> are, Cara. See what I did by chumming with even a little -fellow. I’d give a whole lot this very minute to forget Nicky -Marcusi.”</p> - -<p>“You wouldn’t!”</p> - -<p>“No, I don’t suppose I would either,” amended Babs. “And besides, we -have a mystery to ferret out. Who carved the candlesticks?”</p> - -<p>“A noble soul whoever he is,” declared Cara, “for Mother declares no -one else could have done that work, and Mother always knows—about -candlesticks,” said Cara slyly.</p> - -<p>“But the boat,” sighed Babs as they were again taking their seats in -the auto. “Why will twins inherit valuable war-time convict-prison-made -models?”</p> - -<p>“Because, being twins they had to inherit something silly,” laughed -Cara. “But let’s hope for good news from Captain Quiller. Dad thinks -he’s a rare old character. He goes down to the lighthouse often just -to talk with him. I’ll tell you, Babby, we started something at that -famous house party, didn’t we?”</p> - -<p>“A lot,” agreed Babs. She threw out her arms yawning with relief. “I -do feel better,” she said with a smothered sigh. “You have no idea how -blue I was.”</p> - -<p>“Haven’t I? Didn’t I suspect murder? Say, Babs, you can show more -moods in your face than a whole movie show. You ought to go into the -movies,” she joked. “You wouldn’t have to do a thing but look and then -keep on looking, differently.”</p> - -<p>They were able to joke now, even Babs was almost like herself again. -But it was no easy matter to feel cheerful and also feel somewhat -responsible for the loss of that precious model.</p> - -<p>Not that Barbara had had anything directly to do with it, but because -she had opposed everybody in keeping up her interest in the little -Italian. And just now it certainly looked pretty black for Nickolas -Marcusi Junior’s reputation.</p> - -<p>“Trouble is,” said Cara without hinting at what she was going to talk -about, “if they found Nicky has had anything to do with that they’ll -just grab him up and clap him in a reform school.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Cara, they wouldn’t!” exclaimed Babs in real terror.</p> - -<p>“Well, that’s what I think they might do,” said Cara, regretting -instantly her careless remark. “Of course, with such good friends as -your father and my father and Captain Quiller he might have a better -chance.”</p> - -<p>“Cara, it would be simply terrible if the State should take that boy -from his mother after having taken the father. Oh, we must hurry to -Captain Quiller,” wailed Babs. “Miss Davis is so nervous she might go -to old Chief Morgan, and he doesn’t know any more about police work -than the ugly old stupid yellow dog that hounds his heels.”</p> - -<p>“I’m sorry I said that, Babs,” confessed Cara, seeing how newly -excited Babs had become. “There is no reason in the world to worry -about Nicky. Why shouldn’t he move away if his mother wanted to?”</p> - -<p>“I try to feel that way, Cara, but I suppose—oh well, we’ll see what -the Captain says. I’ll be ready any time you are.”</p> - -<p>“About two,” said Cara, and then they both saw Dora waiting on the -porch—waiting with a letter in her outstretched hand.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chXIX' title='XIX—News from Nicky'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER XIX</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.1em'>NEWS FROM NICKY</span> -</h2> -<p>“I thought you’d never come,” grumbled Dora, holding the letter -expectantly towards Barbara. “Here.”</p> - -<p>“Why Dora, you didn’t have to stand waiting for me just because a -letter came, did you?” Babs could not refrain from that much of a -rebuke.</p> - -<p>“Oh, no, of course I didn’t,” sighed Dora. “But that’s me, always -worrying about other folks’ business.”</p> - -<p>“What is there to worry about?” again Babs questioned. She was -purposely holding that soiled envelope without attempting to open it. -The scrawl on its flap was positive proof that the message, whatever -it might be, was sent by Nicky.</p> - -<p>“Worry about?” repeated the maid sourly. She was watching furtively -and, there wasn’t a doubt of it, she expected to find out what was in -that letter. “The way them Eytalians run around this place——”</p> - -<p>“What Italians?” asked Babs impatiently. She too was anxious to know -what was in the letter, but she had no idea of opening it just then.</p> - -<p>“Them children, that old Nick, or what ever it is you call him. He -raced up that path——”</p> - -<p>“Running?”</p> - -<p>“Runnin’?” Dora would repeat every word. “’Course not, runnin’, but on -an old forlorn bicycle that he let drop right on my cucumber vines.”</p> - -<p>“That’s too bad,” said Babs meaning it.</p> - -<p>“And it’s no easy job to raise cucumbers and keep them from the bugs, -let alone to get a cuke off them, and then have some one ‘bust’ in and -destroy them.” Dora was mad.</p> - -<p>Barbara was on her way upstairs now, but she turned around sharply.</p> - -<p>“Did he really destroy your cucumber vine, Dora?” she asked sharply.</p> - -<p>“No, he didn’t. Do you think I’d be fool enough to let him? But it -wasn’t his fault. I just caught him in time. And I guess I gave him a -piece of my mind that he won’t forget in a hurry——”</p> - -<p>But Barbara didn’t wait for all that. She was in her room, the little -brass bolt slipped across the door, and she was now opening the -letter.</p> - -<p>Scrawled over the front was the address:</p> - -<p>“Miss Barbara Hail” ... She laughed at that, “Hail”, she repeated. -“I’ll have to show that to Cara.”</p> - -<p>And like one so anxious to learn something that he dreads to know, she -was hesitating. Finally she thrust a nail file under the much -befingered envelope flap and took out the page of old-fashioned, -heavily lined paper. She read: “Dear Friend, Wear goin’ away, gotta -go. I’ll tell you later. I didn’t steal the boat, and can’t tell you -that either just now. Thank you, Nickolas Marcusi Junior.”</p> - -<p>“He didn’t steal the boat! I knew he didn’t,” she rejoiced. “Oh, I am -so glad——”</p> - -<p>Again and again she read the scrawled, badly spelled lines. But he -didn’t steal the boat and that was all she cared about.</p> - -<p>Instinctively she went over to her dressing table, pulled out the -small drawer in which she kept all her best beloved letters, and was -about to place Nicky’s welcome news in there, when she looked again at -the dirty smudges upon the paper.</p> - -<p>“But it’s precious,” she decided, taking a clean plain envelope from -her own box and slipping the other into it. Then she placed the newest -addition to her important collection in with the others.</p> - -<p>What a weight had suddenly been lifted from her heart! She had not -realized it was so heavy until it was gone, and now she felt so -different, so happy, so light hearted! She would almost have told Dora -the news, only, of course, Dora would not have understood it.</p> - -<p>But she must tell Cara at once. Down to the telephone she flew, and in -a way that only she and Cara could have understood, she promptly -managed to transmit the wonderful news.</p> - -<p>“And I must go over to Miss Davis just as soon as we can after lunch,” -she panted. “I knew he didn’t,” she repeated again, guarding her words -so that no other listener than Cara could have understood them.</p> - -<p>“I never thought so either,” Cara was answering. “Yes, I’ll call for -you early. Good-bye, I’m awfully glad.”</p> - -<p>But the girls were so rejoiced to receive those scant, scrawled words, -that they had not realized how little they could really mean to any -one but themselves. Nicky said he hadn’t stolen the boat and that was -enough for Barbara, but who else would believe him? Would Miss Davis?</p> - -<p>And he had plainly intimated that he knew all about it being stolen; -how did he know that? And why couldn’t he tell why they had moved away -so secretly?</p> - -<p>Just a glimmer of this phase of the situation slowly devolved upon -Babs, as she flew about happily, taking up her tasks which she had so -suddenly allowed to accumulate. Even her room had not been made up, -when Miss Davis came early that morning with the bad news. But now -Babs was fixing things up, without really knowing she was doing -anything. It was no trouble at all to straighten her row of books—they -always seemed to fall over without having been touched—and she even -dusted the mirror and the hand mirror, folded her towels. Oh, she -could do anything now, she felt so much better.</p> - -<p>But how did he know that model had been stolen?</p> - -<p>Babs took the letter from the drawer and read it again, as if she -could thereby penetrate the mind that had written those words.</p> - -<p>“Can’t tell you that either just now,” she read after having read the -previously written sentence, about his not having stolen the boat. And -she wondered and wondered why he couldn’t tell? Why could he not have -dropped a hint? But, of course, he must have been in a great hurry, -and it was good of him to make that attempt to reach her, Barbara -tried to satisfy herself.</p> - -<p>“One would think I had stolen the old boat,” she laughed ever so -lightly. “And imagine the girls thinking that we would want to adopt a -little Italian boy! How quaint! as Lida would say,” and Barbara’s -thoughts raced from one end of the subject to the other, but never did -they seem willing to take up a different subject.</p> - -<p>At lunch Dr. Hale had something to say.</p> - -<p>“Do you know, Babs,” he began gently, “that you have been neglecting -me?”</p> - -<p>“Why, Dads!” she exclaimed, affection pouring out with the words.</p> - -<p>“Yes. You know I suggested that you dig up something for <i>us</i> to show -in that fair, or whatever it is you are holding, and I haven’t heard a -word about your digging.”</p> - -<p>“I know, Dads,” Barbara replied quickly. “But I’ve been—so busy.” She -was very meek now.</p> - -<p>Dora’s faded eyes were alive enough to flash her a significant -challenge at that, but Babs pretended not to have seen.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I know you have been busy,” her father agreed. “But you see, Babs -dear, <i>we</i> should be represented. So I got up there in the attic -myself this morning, and <i>I</i> found something,” he proclaimed proudly.</p> - -<p>“You did, Daddy? What?”</p> - -<p>“You shan’t know until you have finished your lunch. You ought to eat -that nice fresh egg,” he reminded the girl who had pushed the egg -aside.</p> - -<p>“I don’t think it is fresh, that is not very fresh,” Babs stated. “But -I don’t care for eggs anyhow,” she added.</p> - -<p>“Not fresh?” Dora was on hand now, “Why they’ve just came,” she -declared, as if her kitchen pride had been greatly insulted.</p> - -<p>“Don’t we get any more from Babs’ little Michael Angelo?” the doctor -asked playfully, meaning Nicky, of course.</p> - -<p>“No,” Babs answered. “Nicky’s folks have moved away,” she felt -constrained to add.</p> - -<p>And that brought on a discussion into which Dora forced her opinions. -Dr. Hale was not very much interested, but he tolerated the others as -they hit back and forth in their retorting remarks, for Dora could not -be expected to speak pleasantly of the “Eytalians.”</p> - -<p>Not that the maid was always disagreeable; indeed she was not. She was -as “good as gold,” almost always. Even Barbara would be glad to -testify to that. But what “riled her” was Barbara stooping to bother -with those foreigners.</p> - -<p>But finally Babs arose from the table, and the doctor followed.</p> - -<p>“What did you find in the attic, Dads?” she begged to know, as arm in -arm they went, as they did after every meal however humble, into the -sitting-room.</p> - -<p>“Guess?” he teased.</p> - -<p>“Oh, how could I?” murmured the girl. She gave his arm an extra tug -and fell upon the arm of his big chair as he dropped into it.</p> - -<p>“Well,” he drawled, just to tantalize her, “it’s small and it’s -square——”</p> - -<p>“A little footstool, the worsted embroidered one?” she guessed.</p> - -<p>“Nopey. It’s something to hang up.”</p> - -<p>“An old picture, of course. I knew we had some Currier and Ives -prints,” she continued, “and I should have looked them up. Where did -you hide it, Dad?”</p> - -<p>“Not a picture, dear, but what they called a sampler. I suppose it -means a sample-er because it’s made up of sample letters.”</p> - -<p>“A sampler? Really Dad! Where is it?” Babs demanded impatiently. “I -have never seen one in the attic.”</p> - -<p>“Well, it was there. In an old trunk; the one with the hobbed-nail -cover, you know. But you don’t spend as much time in the attic as I -imagine some girls do, Babby. Guess your old dad keeps you too busy -with his bugs,” the doctor murmured.</p> - -<p>“You don’t either Dad. <i>Where</i> is that sampler?”</p> - -<p>“Just give me a chance and I’ll get it,” the doctor answered, as if he -had not had plenty of chance.</p> - -<p>But at last he left his chair and went over to the old walnut -bookcase. From the bottom, where the stained-glass door hid the big -shelves, he drew out the old heirloom.</p> - -<p>“It was your great-great grandmother’s,” he told his daughter, “and -it’s pretty old. I wonder it hasn’t fallen apart,” he reasoned, as he -held the little mahogany frame at arm’s length for his daughter’s -inspection.</p> - -<p>“How quaint!” she exclaimed, without realizing she was using the term -the girls always joked Lida about. “Isn’t it finely embroidered?”</p> - -<p>“I thought you would like it,” her father said, a ring of satisfaction -in his tone. “Well, I was talking to David Hunt this morning, our -honorable mayor you know, and he’s all keyed up over your Community -House show. He says there isn’t a doubt but the place will be given to -the borough now. I guess Mary-Louise Trainor knew what she was doing -when she started her Old Home Week. She got all the women interested -with their patchwork quilts,” the doctor chuckled, “and then she got -you girls busy. What this old beach doesn’t know about heirlooms and -family skeletons when the show is over won’t be worth knowing,” he -finished jokingly.</p> - -<p>But Barbara was looking intently at the sampler. So this had been the -delicate handwork of the great-great grandmother. The faded silks and -worsteds still held enough color to show the glory that had been woven -into the letters, the symbols, and the flaring peacock.</p> - -<p>“And I hate to sew or embroider,” Barbara said aloud, “so I guess I -don’t take after grandmother. Here’s her name in the corner. ‘Mary -Nelson, age 16 years 1831,’” she read. “That’s almost one hundred -years ago.”</p> - -<p>“Yes. The Nelsons were proud old stock, Babs,” her father told her. -“And I always thought you were about one hundredth of one per cent -Nelson,” he laughed. “But go get slicked up. I’m going over to that -show myself this afternoon, and we can both take the sampler. I -promised Dave Hunt I’d look in, and he asked me to be there at -two-thirty this afternoon. Seems he expects some other old settlers to -go there and greet the ladies, and he wants to include me.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, that will be fine,” said Barbara, feeling that it wouldn’t be -anything of the kind. For proud as she was of her professional father, -and glad and happy as she might be to bring that sampler to the -Community House, she had other plans for the afternoon. She was going -out with Cara to Miss Davis’ house to tell her that Nicky hadn’t -stolen the ship. After that they were both going down to the -lighthouse to see Captain Quiller, and they hoped he might know -something of the Marcusis’ whereabouts.</p> - -<p>But how could Barbara refuse to go to the Community House with her -father when he was so sure she would be delighted to go?</p> - -<p>He saw her hesitate. “Unless you have some better plans,” he said -then. “If you have, of course——”</p> - -<p>“Nothing could be better than going with you, Dad,” she told him, “but -I did promise to go—some place with Cara.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, that’s all right, of course,” the doctor quickly replied. “I’m -always glad to have you go any place with Cara,” he added. “She’s a -fine girl and she has done you a heap of good.” He ran his hand under -her chin at that, in a way he had of bringing her face up to look into -his own.</p> - -<p>“You’re better this afternoon,” he continued. “Thought you had -something on your mind this morning but I see it’s all right now,” he -ended, in that unerring way some fathers and all mothers seem to -possess. “Then, you’ll turn in the sampler, of course?” he questioned. -“It wouldn’t look just the thing for a doctor of bacteriology to -contribute, would it?”</p> - -<p>“Certainly I’ll take it, Dad. And I’ll get there before you leave, I -hope,” said Barbara, feeling guilty that she was failing him in his -laudable pride, while she was following her own selfish interest in -trying to ferret out the suspicion that had fallen upon an obscure -Italian boy.</p> - -<p>She knew it wasn’t just being generous to Nicky; that her interest in -him was a gratification of her love of adventure.</p> - -<p>And she realized again that as a girl she was—different.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chXX' title='XX—Fighting It Out'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER XX</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.1em'>FIGHTING IT OUT</span> -</h2> -<p>As might have been expected Cara went into ecstasies over the old -sampler.</p> - -<p>“You ought to bring it right in,” she counselled Babs. “They’ll have a -real honest-to-goodness opening this afternoon with speeches and all, -and you should have the Nelson sampler there for folks to inspect. -Besides, Babs,” she pointed out, “it was so wonderful of your father -to unearth it. He’s a perfect peach,” she went on, without once taking -her brown eyes off the little framed sampler she was holding.</p> - -<p>“And I feel like a criminal not to have gone in the old show with -him,” Babs confessed. “Oh, Cara,” she exclaimed impatiently, “haven’t -I been an idiot?”</p> - -<p>“Well, maybe,” agreed her chum laughingly, “but you’re a different -sort of idiot from the common garden variety. Let’s go. Where to? Want -to peek in and see if the old Davis twin is still breathing?”</p> - -<p>“I think I had better,” demurred Babs. “Surely she’ll believe Nicky is -innocent. But suppose she shouldn’t?”</p> - -<p>“Well, if you ask me,” remarked Cara, in that funny way she had of -saying slangy things prettily, “I’d say she surely will believe him -guilty. She’s got to have somebody guilty because the boat is gone, -you know,” Cara finished, sagely.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes; I know that,” agreed Babs, “but it isn’t Nicky.”</p> - -<p>“I hope not,” Cara answered her briefly.</p> - -<p>They drove along the sea-shore road, both silent for a few moments. -This was unusual for these two girls, who always had so much to say to -each other, but both were very busy thinking.</p> - -<p>Presently they sighted the little house which made a home for the -Davis twins. It was quaint, and had a row of latticed rose-bushes in -front where every body else kept their porch, and the porch was a side -“stoop,” square and comfy looking. The Misses Davis were known for -their good taste, and the inherited boat model may have favorably -influenced it.</p> - -<p>Babs jumped out of the car. “Doesn’t seem to be any one around,” she -remarked as she left Cara.</p> - -<p>No one was at home, they soon found out, and after vain attempts to -get a response for her knocks, Babs returned to the car.</p> - -<p>“I hope she isn’t dead in there all alone,” she remarked facetiously. -She was anxious about the worried little woman, but not to the point -so carelessly expressed.</p> - -<p>“No danger. Only the good die of lost boat models,” Cara said, keeping -up the feeble joke. “We can go right over to the Community House now, -can’t we?”</p> - -<p>“I suppose so,” sighed Barbara. “But I wish I could get a word in with -Miss Davis. She may go talking around, and you see, she couldn’t -mention Nicky’s name without mentioning mine.”</p> - -<p>“That is a nuisance,” her friend agreed. “Did you tell your father?” -Cara asked suddenly.</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p>“You didn’t?”</p> - -<p>“No. It is about the first thing of importance that I have ever kept -from him, too. Makes me feel guilty,” Babs confessed. “Let’s go down -to the old show and I’ll deliver the grandmother fancy work. That -ought to help,” she tried to joke, but there was little mirth in the -effort.</p> - -<p>A line of cars blackened the edge of the road as the girls came upon -the scene.</p> - -<p>“Folks getting here early,” said Cara. “You better hurry in with the -sampler, Babs, or you won’t find a spare nail left to hang it on. Oh, -there are the girls!” she exclaimed, for the other girls were waiting -outside the strip of land that was too near the ocean to grow good -grass, so it really could not be called a lawn. “Hello there!” she -called to them.</p> - -<p>They waved in answer and still waited. They were Louise, Esther and -Lida; Ruth was not with them.</p> - -<p>Both Cara and Barbara noticed how they waited; that they did not run -towards the car as they usually did. Neither remarked this, but they -both understood. Then, as Barbara was almost up to the group, and Cara -was a few steps back of her, she saw what the girls meant.</p> - -<p>They were not very keen on greeting her!</p> - -<p>They were actually holding back from speaking to her, slighting her -and ignoring her.</p> - -<p>Cara must have seen this also, for she sprang into the embarrassing -gap as she was sure to do.</p> - -<p>“Think we were not coming?” she asked cheerfully.</p> - -<p>“No, we weren’t worrying,” Louise said very, very evenly. “We are not -going to be on the girls’ committee any more, so we just waited to -tell you.” She said this to Barbara but was too constrained to use -Barbara’s name. Every word seemed icy cold.</p> - -<p>“Why, what’s the matter?” Barbara asked, naturally.</p> - -<p>“Oh, nothing much,” evaded Louise, “but I for one don’t care to serve -on the committee.” Her lip was curled in unmistakable scorn, and the -other girls, while saying nothing, were looking just as Louise looked, -disdainful.</p> - -<p>“Did anything happen?” Cara asked, for once unable to laugh off -trouble.</p> - -<p>“Well, yes there did,” Esther condescended to reply. “Miss Davis came -around here just as <i>we</i> came. She said lots of mean things about the -girls’ committee not watching things, and we’re not going to take any -of that stuff,” scoffed Esther. “We don’t have to.”</p> - -<p>“Watching things? What’s gone?” Barbara asked, she had to find out -whether or not the girls knew about the boat model; of course, she -feared they did.</p> - -<p>“Miss Davis wouldn’t say just what,” Louise answered. “But <i>something</i> -has been stolen. The idea! Just as if we could have or should have -been around here early in the morning. Come on girls, I’m going,” she -finished crisply, and with an unmistakable look towards Barbara. She -did achieve a little smile when Cara looked her way, however. They -always favored Cara.</p> - -<p>“Of course, go if you want to,” flared back Babs. “There’s no reason -why you shouldn’t. But if anything is stolen I can’t see why it would -be blamed on—us,” she declared. She was going to say “blamed on you” -but she changed it to include herself.</p> - -<p>“Well, she did blame us and you’re chairman so I suppose you’ll have -to fight it out with her.” Again Louise avoided using Babs’ name as -she said this.</p> - -<p>“Of course it’s that little Italian that tags around after you,” -Esther put in. “And Miss Davis says she’ll clap him in a reform school -if she lays her eyes on him,” was the way Esther wound that up. Just -as if the reform school should include Babs, if justice were really -doled out according to Esther’s ideas.</p> - -<p>Babs was too indignant to answer. She stood there, digging her -slippers into the sand and biting her lip. Her face was white and set -in strained lines, and she knew, herself, that if she spoke just then -she would say something that she might regret.</p> - -<p>So she swung around sharply and left the girls, Cara standing there -with them.</p> - -<p>Crowds were coming in now, and she, Barbara Hale, who had been chosen -to head the girls’ work was being left alone, to her own resources and -misery, and the women, and even the mayor, perhaps, would talk to her -about all they had done, praise their work. How absurd!</p> - -<p>She hoped her father wasn’t there. That would add to her humiliation. -And even more than this, she hoped Miss Davis was nowhere about.</p> - -<p>“The Italian boy who always tags after me,” she thought bitterly. -“Yes, that’s it. Those girls won’t have anything to do with me or -anyone else unless we keep away from——”</p> - -<p>She couldn’t say the word that was already upon her lips. She couldn’t -call the poor “scum.” That would have been beneath her. But in her -anger she could not help blaming the girls for their narrowness.</p> - -<p>Why could they not have stuck together and proved to Miss Davis that -harmony was always reliable?</p> - -<p>Her white face burned now and her eyes felt sightless, as she entered -the house. How devastating anger can be? How it poisons, and how it -hurts!</p> - -<p>“Those snobs!” she was thinking. “Cutting me like that. They were glad -of a chance, of course. As if I cared.”</p> - -<p>But she did care, a lot. She was so indignant she could not direct her -thoughts. She just couldn’t think straight.</p> - -<p>Entering the room she immediately espied her father.</p> - -<p>“Daddy!” she called out. “I’ve brought our heirloom. Come along while -I give it to the chairman.”</p> - -<p>Her father clutched her arm contentedly. And Babs was, as always, -immensely proud of him. He did not “mix up much” according to popular -opinion, but he was always to be depended upon when anything -educational was astir.</p> - -<p>Babs was dragging him along through the crowd. Folks were smiling and -bowing to them, for everybody knew, or knew of, Dr. Winthrop Hale.</p> - -<p>“Here, over here, Dad,” marshalled Barbara, as gaily as she could -manage to be.</p> - -<p>She gave one vigorous push through a close tangle in the crowd, and -emerged in front of the chairman; she had been going after the hat she -recognized as belonging to Mrs. Frederick Winters.</p> - -<p>And standing with Mrs. Winters was little Miss Davis. She was so short -Barbara could not have seen her until she was right alongside of her.</p> - -<p>For a moment Babs felt too panicky to speak. And what could she say -with her father standing there smiling? His hat in his hand made him -look quite professional, Babs knew, for it was a soft gray hat and he -carried it like the gentleman he was.</p> - -<p>But Miss Davis!</p> - -<p>“Oh, Miss Davis!” burst out Babs without knowing she was going -to. “Just see what we have brought. Daddy found it in the attic.” -She was chattering like a squirrel. “Isn’t it wonderful? My -great-great-grandmother Nelson’s!”</p> - -<p>“Nelson’s!” exclaimed Miss Davis. “Nelson of Massachusetts! Why Dr. -Hale! You don’t tell me you are related to Mary Nelson?”</p> - -<p>“My great-grandmother, Madam,” said the doctor proudly, bringing the -gray hat in and out suavely.</p> - -<p>“And my great-grandmother’s first cousin! There! I knew there was some -bond between us, Barbara!” Miss Davis declared excitedly, getting hold -of Barbara’s arm and squeezing it with more vigor than might have been -expected, even after Babs had felt the first decided squeeze.</p> - -<p>“Oh, how wonderful!” trilled the girl. Her exclamation had a twofold -meaning, and one fold applied to her relief that the other matter was -not being brought up before her father.</p> - -<p>“Now let those girls cut,” she was thinking. “I guess I can have some -friends of my own, and relations even. Think of it! An enemy, one to -be feared, to turn out some precious relation. All through a faded old -sampler!”</p> - -<p>The relief was like the snapping of a string somewhere in Babs’ -make-up, for she would have danced around if there had been room. As -it was, she couldn’t budge without stepping on somebody’s feet.</p> - -<p>Her father and the chairman, Mrs. Winters, were quickly engaged in -conversation, and the sampler was in the chairman’s hands when Babs -managed to drag Miss Davis away.</p> - -<p>“I must speak to you,” she whispered, timidly.</p> - -<p>“Did you get it?” breathed Miss Davis hopefully.</p> - -<p>“No; but I know something about it.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, do you!”</p> - -<p>Instantly Barbara regretted the way she had said that. Miss Davis -thought “knowing something about it” would mean much more than it did.</p> - -<p>They finally reached a spot where they could speak privately, without -being overheard.</p> - -<p>“What is it?” begged Miss Davis.</p> - -<p>“He, Nicky, didn’t take it,” Babs answered quickly.</p> - -<p>“Then who did?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know. He says in a note he wrote me that he couldn’t tell -just then. Of course he will when I see him.”</p> - -<p>Miss Davis’s face dropped like a faded flower falling from its stem.</p> - -<p>“My dear child,” she murmured, “this is awful. I felt sure you had -recovered it, you were so cheerful.”</p> - -<p>“But I am sure now that you will get it,” insisted Barbara. “I know I -can depend upon Nicky, and if it hadn’t been for Father wanting to -fetch in the sampler this afternoon I might have found him. But you -see,” she pointed out affectionately, “I really couldn’t disappoint -Dad. He so seldom takes an interest in things like this.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, you couldn’t disappoint a man like your father, Barbara. He’s -one of Nature’s noblemen,” Miss Davis declared fervently. “And I’m -simply delighted to find that we can claim a relationship.” Her faded -eyes sought Barbara’s and they tried to smile, but her lips, her mouth -merely twitched. She was suffering in her anxiety.</p> - -<p>Instinctively Barbara put out her hand and pressed the slender -fingers, that seemed so nervously restless upon the silken cord -gathering in the little lady’s bag.</p> - -<p>“I’m so sorry about it, Miss Davis,” Barbara murmured, “but I’m -perfectly sure it will be all right. There’s something we can’t even -guess, some reason why we can’t find it. But I’m sure it’s safe or -Nicky would never have written the note the way he did.”</p> - -<p>“What did he say?” asked Miss Davis in a very tiny voice.</p> - -<p>Babs told her. She dwelled upon the especial significance of every -meager word.</p> - -<p>“And you see, Miss Davis,” she pointed out, “Nicky is really very -wise. He has had to learn such a lot in those few years of his, that -he’s as wise as a boy much older.”</p> - -<p>“Yes; I can understand that,” assented the other. “But—he may be -wayward.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, he isn’t really.” Barbara was thinking of the girls and their -hateful gossip about a reform school. “He just does everything for his -mother,” she said jerkily. “And he’s the best boy——”</p> - -<p>“I was speaking to Mr. Thornton confidentially this morning,” Miss -Davis said. “You know he has charge of wayward children——”</p> - -<p>“But Nicky isn’t wayward, not a bit,” defended Babs, nervously.</p> - -<p>“Well, I hope not. But Mr. Thornton said it was best for such children -to be where they would <i>have</i> to learn right from wrong——”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Miss Davis! But Nicky knows!” Babs gasped a little too loud, for -folks around her turned sharply to see why any one would be so -excited.</p> - -<p>“The mayor is speaking,” said a voice like vinegar right into -Barbara’s surprised right ear.</p> - -<p>Her silence then was resolute.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chXXI' title='XXI—Brighter but Not Quite Clear'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER XXI</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.1em'>BRIGHTER BUT NOT QUITE CLEAR</span> -</h2> -<p>So that was what the girls meant when they spoke of the threatened -reform school. Miss Davis had not burst out in anger, as Babs had -imagined she might have done. How different things were after all. -Perhaps it was foolish to get so excited. But the girls seemed so -hateful. That was what hurt so. They just enjoyed cutting her, Barbara -was quickly thinking, and in doing so she was again building up a wall -of imagination that might be all wrong; just as she had been wrong -about the reform school.</p> - -<p>It had been a wonderful opening at the Community House. Speeches were -made by many prominent men and women interested in the development of -the Community House plan, and of course, a tribute had been paid to -the girls’ part in the affair. Best of all Barbara Hale stood there, -right beside her proud father, and heard her own name called out as a -most efficient young chairman. There was some satisfaction in that.</p> - -<p>How much that made up for! Barbara hadn’t realized that she cared -until the glory was being all swept away, when the girls threatened to -resign. But all the same, she saw them there now with Cara as cheer -leader, and they did clap their hands in the applause that followed -the calling out of her name. So perhaps they were sorry for their -spite. She was glad of that too. Another surprise for her. Miss Davis -stood beside her and had her kindly arm around Barbara’s waist. This, -no doubt, had helped change the girls’ opinion. Or maybe it wasn’t -changed either way, as she had feared.</p> - -<p>Well, at any rate, things looked brighter. The family sampler was -placed among the things to be selected in the final issue of prizes, -and none of the other girls had brought any heirlooms in. Cara talked -of loaning a very old Chinese print, but she decided it might not be -understood so she didn’t bring it in after all.</p> - -<p>“Might think the laundry man gave it to us for Christmas,” she joked -when Babs urged her to fetch it. “No, I don’t think I will. It -wouldn’t jibe in with Mrs. Brownell’s early American table.” This of -course had become the standard joke of the entire exhibit. The table -set the style. If it didn’t go with the table it wouldn’t go with the -show, was the way Cara argued, humorously.</p> - -<p>So that Babs had fared very well after all, and she cared because her -father cared. Now folks would not speak of her as a girl deprived of a -girl’s pleasures, because she had to help her father in his laboratory -work.</p> - -<p>Everything was bustle and confusion when Cara slipped around through a -little pantry door, came up the back way, and grabbed Barbara.</p> - -<p>“It’s all right,” she whispered. “The girls are all over their huff. -We shouldn’t have kept them so long waiting. That’s enough to make -anybody mad.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I don’t care,” Babs answered, somewhat truthfully for she was -feeling very brave now. “We’ve finished our work, anyway. The women -will take charge now.”</p> - -<p>“But you’re not going to—to keep it up, are you Babs?” asked Cara, -anxiously.</p> - -<p>“You mean—the scrap?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. Really, they are sorry.”</p> - -<p>“They ought to be,” Babs retorted. “Why should they blame me?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, you know what kids they are,” laughed Cara. “Come on. I’m going -for a soda. I’m choked. Come along. Want to fetch your daddy?”</p> - -<p>“I guess he’s riding with Mr. Hunt,” Babs answered. “Let’s go. I’m -smothered,” and bidding a quick good-bye to the newly found relation, -Miss Isabel Davis, Barbara hurried along with Cara.</p> - -<p>The soda was refreshing. They sipped it leisurely in Hills, both girls -a little tired and one girl, Babs, a little anxious.</p> - -<p>“If only old Captain Quiller knows where Nicky may have gone,” she -said, “I feel positive we will be able to clear everything up. -Wherever do you suppose the old model went to, anyway?” she asked -again, for the question was constantly recurring to her.</p> - -<p>“If I could guess that,” Cara answered, “I would be smart. Look who’s -coming!” she broke off suddenly. “There’s Dud and Glenn.”</p> - -<p>“’Low there!” sang out Cara’s brother as he espied them. “Where on -earth did you two hail from? I had an idea you were in Europe or some -such town. Haven’t seen you——”</p> - -<p>“For a month of blue moons,” Babs supplied. “Hello Glenn! Where have -<i>you</i> been? Forgotten where Dr. Hale lives?” she joked, for her friend -Glenn had rather deserted her lately.</p> - -<p>“Nopey. I haven’t. But you girls are always so goshed busy a fellow -doesn’t dare bust in,” Glenn replied. “Have more soda, or a lolly-pop -or sumthin’? Just to be sociable, do,” he urged, for the girls had -pushed their almost empty glasses aside.</p> - -<p>“Couldn’t possibly,” Cara answered.</p> - -<p>“Nor I,” declared Babs. “The best I could do to oblige would be to -accept a box of nice two-toned writing paper, Glenn; that is if you -insist, of course.”</p> - -<p>“Well, we’ll get to the writing paper after the soda,” Glenn replied -dryly. “How do you like our new coats of tan? Dud has had me out at -dawn running up and down the beach, training you know,” he explained. -The girl with the paper cap, and gingham apron, and cheerful smile had -taken the boys’ order. She must have loved to serve soda the way she -smiled at those boys.</p> - -<p>They joked and chatted until Babs wondered if the hour planned for her -visit to the lighthouse would be all used up, there at Hills. It was -pleasant to meet the boys again, and they were going to camp, a -military training camp, late in the summer, so that they too had much -to talk about. But she could not spare the time.</p> - -<p>Glenn and Dudley had become great friends; just as great as Babs and -Cara; that was evident.</p> - -<p>“And oh, say!” sang out Dudley suddenly. “Know what?”</p> - -<p>“No, what?” answered Babs punning on his exclamation.</p> - -<p>“Our little Nicky brought me the corkingest little wooden mug, all -carved in queer birds and little beasties——”</p> - -<p>“When?” interrupted Babs eagerly.</p> - -<p>“When what? Birds or beasties?” asked Dudley.</p> - -<p>“Oh, when did he bring them, silly?” Cara asked her brother. She -understood Babs’ eagerness.</p> - -<p>“Well,” drawled Dudley, as a boy will when he knows a girl is anxious, -“to be exact——” He looked at his watch.</p> - -<p>“Please tell me when he came, Dud?” Babs asked frankly. “I’ve lost -track of Nicky and I must find him.”</p> - -<p>“Oh; that’s different,” replied the boy. “Well, he came this morning -while Glenn and I were knocking up some wonderful tennis. He crawled -through the hedge and I imagine he swam the brook. He looked just -about like something that had swum a brook when the brook was being -swept out. He can look too funny, that youngster.”</p> - -<p>“Did he say anything about having moved?” Barbara asked impatiently.</p> - -<p>“Nary a word. But say, Babs, they don’t move, they flit, like the -birds. And a good thing too. Lucky dogs! Everybody ought to flit -instead of moving. Remember when we last moved, little sister?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, forget it,” answered Cara. “Don’t try to remember it. But say -Dud, listen. <i>Where</i> has Nicky flitted to? That’s the great question.”</p> - -<p>“How should I know? He just plunked the wooden thing under my nose and -I plunked a dollar bill in his fist, and there you are!” Dudley could -be brief and expressive at times.</p> - -<p>“Let’s go, Cara,” urged Babs. “I really must go, you know,” she -insisted.</p> - -<p>“Oh, say,” interrupted Glenn. “Who was going to eat that box of -writing paper? Call the waiter. Here!” this was to a boy who stood -grinning behind the counter. “Where’s your best stationery——”</p> - -<p>“If you are going to treat us, Glenn,” Cara cut in, “let’s select our -own. Do, please. Come along Babs. We’ll teach him not to be rash. -We’ll buy the very best,” and laughingly, she led Babs to the pretty -glass counter in the very back of the store where all sorts of -attractive things in stationery and powder boxes were gaudily -displayed.</p> - -<p>A little later, armed each with a magazine that Dudley insisted upon -buying them, and the gold-edged blue-lined writing paper that Glenn -gladly paid for, they finally made their escape.</p> - -<p>“Do let’s rush along,” begged Babs. “We must get to the lighthouse -before supper-time and I suppose they eat at six o’clock sharp, -government time,” she suggested gaily. “Oh, Cara, I am feeling better -every minute, aren’t you?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, it’s the soda, the writing paper and the magazine. All cheerful -little things,” Cara answered, starting her car. “But say, Babby, did -you have any sort of inspiration when Dud told about <i>more</i> wood -carving?”</p> - -<p>“No, Cara, why?” asked Babs, breathlessly.</p> - -<p>“I did.”</p> - -<p>“You did. What?”</p> - -<p>“I thought maybe, just maybe you know, that the boat model was -borrowed for a model.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know what you mean.”</p> - -<p>“You are not usually so stupid, Babby dear,” sighed Cara. “Can’t you -see? It wouldn’t really be stealing if friend Nicky took the little -boat for some one to copy, would it?”</p> - -<p>“Cara!”</p> - -<p>“Now, would it?”</p> - -<p>“Not stealing,” said Babs slowly. “But who would want to copy it?”</p> - -<p>“Stupid again. Whoever does the beautiful carving, of course.”</p> - -<p>“Oh.” Babs fell into silence after that. She had not thought of such a -possibility and it sort of staggered her.</p> - -<p>“Copy the model?” she said finally.</p> - -<p>“Why not?” pressed Cara. “It was worth copying, wasn’t it?”</p> - -<p>“It certainly was. Cara, you’re a wonder. I never would have thought -of such a thing,” Babs declared still a little jerky.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, you would. I didn’t give you time. But don’t build your -hopes too high, dear. I may be all wrong,” drawled Cara.</p> - -<p>“I hope you’re all right,” said Babs fervently. Then she stared hard -ahead, as the car cut its way through the heavy sand. She was -wondering. Nicky said he hadn’t taken the model—no, he said he hadn’t -stolen it.</p> - -<p>“And wasn’t it queer,” Cara broke in on her thoughts, “that he, Nicky, -should fetch Dud another piece? Whoever cuts those out must be an -expert,” she promptly decided.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Babs abstractedly.</p> - -<p>“And Nicky’s like Hop-o-My-Thumb,” she added. “We just about get on -his track when he—hops.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Babs again.</p> - -<p>“If I said you were handsome would you say yes, Babs?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said her companion. Then they both burst out laughing.</p> - -<p>“I knew I’d catch you. Well, you’re not handsome, not when you pucker -up your forehead that way, anyhow. Now, here we are on our way to the -lighthouse, and here’s where we get out and walk,” she went on. “I -suppose we’ll have to wait until morning if the captain is trimming -his lamp,” she finished, locking her car and then following Babs -through the deep sand to the little path that led along the beach to -the lighthouse.</p> - -<p>A big, shaggy, friendly dog rushed out to them.</p> - -<p>“Captain in?” Babs asked the dog.</p> - -<p>“Whoo-of!” barked the animal playfully, licking Babs’ hand as an after -thought.</p> - -<p>“Yes, he’s in,” said Cara. “I see his foot. See it sticking out there -in the bushes?” she directed, for the porch of the lighthouse was -surrounded by a stubby growth generously called bushes, and they could -see the outlines of a shoe among them.</p> - -<p>There was the scuffling of a chair as the girls reached the funny -little home-made porch.</p> - -<p>“Well, now,” declared the captain moving in his chair but not rising. -“Here you both are! How do? See, I’ve a game leg and can’t get up,” he -explained. “Slipped on the third step the other night. Ouch!” he -groaned as he moved the “game leg” unintentionally. “There ain’t -nuthin’ worse,” he declared still groaning.</p> - -<p>“Hurt your foot?” Cara managed to say. “That’s too bad, Captain. You -need both your feet to climb up to the light.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t I though? Find a place to sit down among those books. I’ve been -readin’ my head off, me and Mac” (he patted the dog affectionately) -“and it’s tough being stuck in a chair with a pretty sea like that -rolling under your very nose.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, it must be,” agreed Babs. “But Captain Quiller. I’m sorry to be -in a hurry, but I have to be,” she sort of apologized. “Can you tell -me where Nicky has moved to?”</p> - -<p>“Moved to? You mean flew to.” (It was the same sort of expression -Dudley had used.) “They’ve gone to the woods. Didn’t you know?”</p> - -<p>“To the woods!” both girls exclaimed.</p> - -<p>“Yessir. And sensible thing to do too. The woods is just the place for -them.” And Captain Quiller brought his cane down so hard and so near -his sore foot that he groaned anyhow, although he didn’t touch it.</p> - -<p>“Where? What woods!” demanded Barbara impatiently.</p> - -<p>“Well, now. Not so easy to locate from here seein’ as how it’s some -miles back. But he’ll be here, Nicky will. He’s my stand-by now,” the -captain declared proudly. “Depend more on him than I can on Pete. -Yessir, Nick is some boy.”</p> - -<p>Barbara loved to hear him praise her little protégé. She didn’t -realize it, of course, but she was taking Nicky and his affairs to -heart just as grown folks take protégés and their affairs.</p> - -<p>“Couldn’t we find their camp?” pressed Cara. “We really want to speak -to Nicky just as soon as we can.”</p> - -<p>“By the time you would find him he would be due here likely,” answered -Captain Quiller. “Hope nothin’s wrong?”</p> - -<p>“No, not exactly,” said Babs, “just a little mixed up.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chXXII' title='XXII—Washington Answers'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER XXII</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.1em'>WASHINGTON ANSWERS</span> -</h2> -<p>“We certainly are meeting difficulties,” remarked Cara as they left -the road to the lighthouse behind them. “Ruth would call them snags, -difficulties are different, aren’t they?”</p> - -<p>“But imagine the Marcusis camping in the woods,” said Babs, ignoring -frivolity. “What did the captain say about some one being sick?”</p> - -<p>“He didn’t say it, he caught himself in time. Seems as if there’s a -mystery in that somewhere,” said Cara more seriously.</p> - -<p>“Why ever should there be a mystery in a person being sick? How -silly!”</p> - -<p>“Well, we’ll soon know,” Cara assured her. “You can count on Captain -Quiller. We impressed him the night he scrambled in on my roof. Wasn’t -that too funny?”</p> - -<p>“And we had on those absurd things!” Babs recalled. “You in your -bridal robes!”</p> - -<p>“And you in your college robes! Say Babs, I wish you would sell me -that outfit,” Cara said suddenly. “I’d love to wear it once in a -while. I never intend to go to college, you know,” Cara admitted -indifferently, “so I’d like to pretend I had been there.”</p> - -<p>“Sell it to you! You can have it, I don’t want it. I always feel as if -I do want to go to college— But then,” Babs checked herself, “I may go -to a special school for science. Dad says I have a scientific turn of -mind,” she declared, laughing heartily at the very idea.</p> - -<p>“And now that you’ve gone in for heirlooms, samplers, etc., that -proves it,” remarked Cara dryly.</p> - -<p>“And gone in for twin cousins. Do you suppose Miss Davis is a sort of -shadowy cousin to me?” asked Babs.</p> - -<p>“Shadowy anyhow. She’s thin enough. But she’s nice. If only we can lay -hold of that miserable little Nicky and wring out of him the story of -the boat model.”</p> - -<p>“Cara Burke!” exclaimed Babs, rebukingly. “You stop making fun of my -adopted brother. Didn’t you say I should adopt him?”</p> - -<p>“Looks right now as if he would be the adopted son of Captain -Quiller,” went on Cara, for both girls were in that mood that made -them feel like saying silly things and laughing at them, as if they -were the very best jokes they had ever heard.</p> - -<p>“I’m glad you have nothing more important to do than to drive me -around, Cara,” Babs remarked as she jumped out of the car. This was -Babs’ way of thanking her chum for her continuous attention.</p> - -<p>“So am I,” chirped Cara. “Think what fun I’d miss if I did have -something more important to do.”</p> - -<p>But presently she was gone, and Babs was running up the little patched -stone walk, a walk made of pieces of stone just scattered in the grass -at step lengths, so that one always wanted to play a game as she raced -along them. Babs called them her broken trail, and she always jumped -hardest on the big pointed stone that looked like a gray shawl in the -thick green grass.</p> - -<p>She was almost happy. Things were promising to clear up. She and Cara -were going to the lighthouse exactly at eight o’clock. It would still -be daylight at that time, but Captain Quiller said Nicky would come -then to light his lamp, so high up in the tower that the glow could be -seen like a little candlelight’s flicker, to warn seamen away from the -dangerous point of sand. Once touching that sand-bar a craft would be -aground, and the light was to mark this danger and save it from such -peril.</p> - -<p>Babs, hurrying on, had not quite reached the porch of her own home -now, but she could plainly see the inescapable Dora standing waiting -for her.</p> - -<p>And she held another letter in her hand!</p> - -<p>“What?” exclaimed Babs, ready to roar at the humor of it, “not another -letter, Dora?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” replied Dora solemnly, holding out a big envelope, “and it even -hasn’t a stamp on it. Marked ‘official business.’” One would think it -were a death notice the way Dora intoned that.</p> - -<p>“Oh!” cried Babs grabbing the paper from her hands. “Quick, give it to -me! I know——”</p> - -<p>“Don’t scratch me like that,” snapped Dora. “Surely, your old Aunt -hasn’t died and left you that money——”</p> - -<p>“What Aunt? What money?” Babs didn’t know what she was saying, and she -didn’t care. She had the letter and was making tracks for the secrecy -of her own room.</p> - -<p>Poor Dora! Disappointed again! Barbara Hale was not the girl she used -to be. There had been a time when she read her letters under Dora’s -very eyes. But now——</p> - -<p>Up in her room Barbara was reading that letter from Washington, in a -perfect spasm of excitement. The spasm kept her still, and she made -her eyes read the words in spite of their rebellion. They wanted to -blink, to wink, to flicker, to flirt with the words. Eyes will act -like that when you press them too hard.</p> - -<p>Babs was reading. And the “letter head” was from the secretary of the -United States. It informed Miss Barbara Hale that her letter -recommending Nickolas Marcusi for bravery had been received, and an -account of the incident had been fully investigated. The little boy -was certainly worthy of official commendation, the letter stated, for -not only had he done a brave act and suffered physical pain in doing -it, but he had set an example of bravery and nobility such as boys of -this great country would do well to appreciate. “Therefore——”</p> - -<p>Barbara stopped reading. She wanted to know it all so badly she just -feared to find it out; she hated to have the secret a secret no -longer. Raising her violet eyes to her ceiling, always such a homely -ceiling but now seemingly heavenly, she drew in a sharp breath.</p> - -<p>“Nicky!” she whispered ecstatically, “you do deserve it. You have -worked so hard!”</p> - -<p>Again she followed the precious words. Yes, Nicky would be recommended -for bravery and the whole affair was to be brought to the attention of -the President.</p> - -<p>“The President!” cried out Barbara. “Hooray! Daddy! Dora! Listen!” and -now the anxiously waiting maid was to hear the news at last.</p> - -<p>“And Daddy isn’t home yet! Oh, dear!” wailed the excited girl. “How -shall I wait to tell him? Listen Dora.”</p> - -<p>“I’m listenin’,” Dora reminded her dryly. “Whatever is it? Who’s -dead?”</p> - -<p>“Dead? Who said any one was dead? It’s Nicky——”</p> - -<p>“What’s happened to him now, Nick-kee,” Dora was contemptuous.</p> - -<p>“Now, if you sneer at him like that I’ll not tell you a single word!” -threatened Babs, her cheeks flaming indignantly.</p> - -<p>“Who’s sneering, I’d like to know?” retorted Dora, just as if she -didn’t know already.</p> - -<p>“Well,” began Barbara, “when the government of the United States -thinks a boy is good enough and brave enough to be noticed, it seems -to me you and I,” she added this last when she remembered the overdue -wages, “you and I,” she repeated emphatically, “should at least -respect him.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Dora, and the word really meant no.</p> - -<p>“Oh, all right, you don’t need to bother,” decided the excited one. -“I’m in a hurry anyhow. I hope supper is ready. I’m starved too. I’ve -got to phone Cara.” She was going toward the phone.</p> - -<p>“I can’t see what good a fair is if you come home starved to death -from it,” snapped Dora. “Of course, your supper is ready. Am I ever -late? Not that there ain’t enough to hinder one——”</p> - -<p>But Barbara was at the phone.</p> - -<p>“Cara, Cara!” she could be heard to exclaim. “The most wonderful news! -From Washington! About Nicky. Oh, do hurry around——”</p> - -<p>“Yes, a letter. It was here when I came home. Oh, here comes Dads. I -must tell him. See you in a few minutes? Yes, do hurry,” and Babs -banged the receiver on the hook and flew to the door.</p> - -<p>Her father was just coming up the Trail but he didn’t dance over the -stones as Babs would have done. Yet, he too liked that distracting -stone walk. One could never think of trouble when treading it; just -stones. They demanded one’s entire attention.</p> - -<p>Babs swung herself around her father’s neck—by her arms, of course—in -a way she had not lately been indulging in.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Daddykinks!” she gurgled, lips pressed to his kindly cheeks. -“News from Washington. They answered my letter——”</p> - -<p>“Of course they did. Why wouldn’t they?” the doctor interrupted dryly. -“Look who you are! Didn’t you get proud at the Community House this -afternoon?” He pressed her close to his mohair coat. “I did,” he -declared frankly. “With our sampler and our new relations——”</p> - -<p>“But this. You see this isn’t for us; it’s for Nicky. And he hasn’t -anything else. Just sit down and read it,” she begged. “Do daddy, -please.”</p> - -<p>“That supper you was talking about is pretty well spoiled,” put in the -grouchy Dora. “And it isn’t my fault. You understand that, I hope.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, we understand that and it’s all right, thank you, Dora,” spoke -up the doctor authoritatively.</p> - -<p>Then he and his daughter settled down deep into the big chair to enjoy -the news from Washington.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chXXIII' title='XXIII—Prolonging the Agony'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER XXIII</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.1em'>PROLONGING THE AGONY</span> -</h2> -<p>A small dark figure, like a queer sort of bug, could be seen at the -top of the grating that supported Beacon Light. That was Nicky. The -girls beneath were calling to him, Captain Quiller was shouting, but -beyond meaningless little words dropped down through the spiral frame, -no answer came to their entreaties.</p> - -<p>They wanted him to come down. Captain Quiller insisted that the light -was all right and that he should come down.</p> - -<p>But he didn’t. “In a minute,” they heard him promise. “I just want to -see what’s the matter with this.”</p> - -<p>“With what?” demanded the captain. He was standing on that sore foot -defiantly, and his cane didn’t do much good either. “Ain’t nothin’ the -matter with that light,” he called up to the speck at the eye of the -beacon. “Come on down here! Can’t sleep up there, can you? Though he’d -like to, first rate,” the captain told the two impatient girls. “He’s -just daffy about that light.”</p> - -<p>But after repeated appeals, and a broad hint from Cara that she had -good news for him, Nicky paid some attention.</p> - -<p>“Good news?” he repeated. “What is it? Can’t you fetch it up?”</p> - -<p>“Fetch it up?” Babs repeated this. “Why should we?”</p> - -<p>“So’s you could see the light. It’s a dandy, and they’s steps. Come on -up,” he coaxed, leaning over the little railing expectantly.</p> - -<p>“Can you beat that?” chuckled the captain. “Wants to show you the -light. Well, you better climb up. It’s the quickest way. No good news -ain’t goin’ to get him down ’till he’s ready to come. Take them steps. -They’re all right, only don’t get dizzy,” he warned them. They were -already on their way.</p> - -<p>It was fun to walk up the queer steps, and Babs led the way.</p> - -<p>“I feel like a roof painter,” joked Cara. “Where’s our paint brushes -and tin cans?”</p> - -<p>But Babs was going straight up. She didn’t pause to look out over the -water as Cara was doing.</p> - -<p>“Why don’t you look?” Cara begged her. “Did you ever see such a -wonderful view?”</p> - -<p>“Haven’t time for views,” called Babs, for the noise of the ocean made -calling necessary.</p> - -<p>Finally, they both reached the top, and on the little platform they -found Nicky. His eyes were dancing in his head, and he was so anxious -to tell them everything about the light at once, that Babs despaired -of getting his attention at all.</p> - -<p>“We can see all this any time,” she insisted. “Don’t you see, Nicky, I -have a letter from Washington,” she began almost hopelessly.</p> - -<p>“Yeah?” spoke the boy.</p> - -<p>“About you.”</p> - -<p>“About me?” He was alarmed now. “What about me an’ Washington?”</p> - -<p>“Well, if you’ll just climb down I’ll tell you,” promised Babs, -determined to get him to a less distracting spot. “We’ll go first, and -you come right straight along.”</p> - -<p>Perhaps his alarm accounted for his final obedience, but at last he -did condescend to come down.</p> - -<p>And it was on Captain Quiller’s porch that Babs unfolded her story. -The setting, Cara thought, was like a scene in a play. The old captain -in the funny old armchair with a telegraph-wire glass on each chair -leg. Then Nicky—he looked like a picture that might have been found -somewhere in Europe. He was picturesquely ragged, as Cara saw him. His -brown skin toned in with the faded brown khaki garments he wore, his -one suspender doing valiant duty across his small shoulder.</p> - -<p>His hair was black and too long for a boy, but it curled up jauntily, -and made the little fellow look quite handsome, both girls thought.</p> - -<p>“You come here, son,” the captain ordered. “You’re worse than a -grasshopper. Can’t pin you down, nohow. There, you sit right here,” he -indicated the arm of the chair, and the boy awkwardly perched himself -upon it.</p> - -<p>Nicky’s fear at anything official had now left him. He instinctively -knew that there was nothing wrong. They wouldn’t be smiling and happy -had there been.</p> - -<p>Babs tried to explain about the letter but it was hard work. Smart as -the youngster was he couldn’t understand why falling off a bicycle, -with a can of kerosene oil, was anything to be proud of.</p> - -<p>“But you saved the light from going out,” Cara explained. “If the -light had gone out in the storm, ships might have been wrecked and -lives lost.”</p> - -<p>“And the <i>Laurania</i> was just off shore,” spoke up the captain. “She’s -a millionaire’s yacht and they carry quite a crew.” He clapped his -hand on Nicky’s shoulder and it was easy to tell just how thick or -thin the boy’s old shirt was.</p> - -<p>“Well, anyhow,” Babs began again, “Washington has answered our letter -and maybe you’ll get a medal.”</p> - -<p>“A medal!” grinned Nicky. “What good is a medal?”</p> - -<p>“Not much, son,” agreed the captain, strange to say. “But then, it’s a -mighty good thing to have friends at Washington. There’s all-powerful -people there,” and Nicky’s shoulder again responded under Captain -Quiller’s fatherly pat. It whacked.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I know!” gasped Babs. “I know—something.”</p> - -<p>“What? Don’t choke on it. What is it?” asked Cara.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps I shouldn’t say it right out, but you know, we’re all your -friends, don’t you Nicky?” she began cautiously.</p> - -<p>“Sure.” Nicky wasted no sentiment.</p> - -<p>“Then, Captain Quiller, why couldn’t we ask to get Nicky’s father out? -He never did a thing wrong.”</p> - -<p>“Betchure life he didn’t,” proclaimed the small son, loudly and -emphatically.</p> - -<p>“No, he didn’t do it,” confirmed Captain Quiller. “That’s been a -shame, that has.” He avoided saying anything more definite, but they -all knew he meant it had been and still was a shame to hold Nicky’s -father in jail.</p> - -<p>“Then, don’t you see?” gurgled Babs. She was too excited to be -explicit. “Don’t you see, that now Washington would listen to us and -we could ask?”</p> - -<p>“Who’s Washington?” asked Nicky, quite practically.</p> - -<p>“Oh, you know I mean the officials at Washington, of course,” Babs -answered petulantly.</p> - -<p>“I think that’s just a wonderful idea,” declared Cara, jumping up to -get nearer her chum. “Babs, you’re too smart to live. Take care you -don’t die or something.”</p> - -<p>But Barbara Hale wasn’t joking; she was very much in earnest, and in -less time than she could have thought it all out, she and Captain -Quiller had come to a decision.</p> - -<p>Of course, Nicky and Cara got a few words in edgewise, but they were -mostly very little words and didn’t take long to say, for the way Babs -and the old captain talked was simply prodigious.</p> - -<p>“Aren’t you happy? Aren’t you glad, Nicky?” she demanded to know -finally, for as a matter of fact the boy wasn’t showing any enthusiasm -at all.</p> - -<p>“About what?” he wanted to know. Wasn’t he tantalizing?</p> - -<p>“That we’re going to get your father home,” Babs declared -convincingly.</p> - -<p>“How can you tell?” the boy cross-questioned.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Nicky Marcusi!” exclaimed Cara quite angrily. “You’re the -queerest duck. Don’t you see that Barbara has made the officials -commend you, and they have her name on file and they’ll read any -letter she writes them? Then, as Captain Quiller says, they’ll get a -whole lot of signatures, and they’ll investigate your father’s case. -Can’t you understand that?”</p> - -<p>Nicky had left the arm of the captain’s chair and was playing with the -dog’s left ear. He raised his head now, dropped the dog’s ear and -looked at Barbara.</p> - -<p>“I allus knowed you was smart,” he said simply, “you kin tell fresh -eggs just by touchin’ them.”</p> - -<p>Every one roared laughing at that, but they understood what he meant. -He meant that his first acquaintance with Barbara’s cleverness came -through his experience in the egg business. He brought her eggs to buy -and she just took them in her hand and said:</p> - -<p>“Yes, these are fresh.”</p> - -<p>That showed how smart she was, to Nicky.</p> - -<p>So why shouldn’t she make the Washington officials believe in his -father’s innocence after that? Surely one matter was as simple as the -other, to a small boy.</p> - -<p>“Well, son,” said the captain, when he had stopped puffing over the -joke, “since you don’t care for medals we’ll see what we can do for -you in pardons.”</p> - -<p>“He don’t have to be pardoned, because he didn’t do anything wrong,” -cried the child indignantly. He always flared up when his father’s -trouble was mentioned.</p> - -<p>“Well, that’s so. But anyway we’ll go ahead. Now girls, are you -satisfied?” the captain wanted to know, for Babs and Cara plainly had -something else to say.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, Captain,” Babs answered. “We really didn’t come so much -about the letter. You see, I only just now thought of—of Nicky’s -father,” she confessed.</p> - -<p>“I see,” said Captain Quiller, expectantly. Then he waited.</p> - -<p>“But there is something else,” went on Babs. “I hadn’t told <i>you</i> -Captain, because I just didn’t get a chance to.”</p> - -<p>“Things did pile up pretty quickly,” he agreed. “Like a squall, when -we wouldn’t expect one,” he chuckled. He always talked of the sea even -when there was nothing to be said about it.</p> - -<p>“Yes. But this is different. I’ll have to ask Nicky.” Barbara said -this in apology to their host. “Nicky,” she began as severely as she -could, “I’ve got to know this very minute about that boat model. Where -is it?”</p> - -<p>“You can’t,” the boy answered crisply.</p> - -<p>“But I’ve got to! I’m nearly crazy about it. Don’t you know you’re -blamed for stealing it?” Babs blurted out.</p> - -<p>“I told you I didn’t.”</p> - -<p>Cara was whispering to the captain, so that they didn’t once interrupt -the other two.</p> - -<p>“I know you told me,” Barbara repeated, “but what good does that do? -Miss Davis is almost sick in bed over it, and nobody, but you and me, -knew where it was hid. Now <i>who</i> took it?”</p> - -<p>“I can’t tell you yet. But I will soon,” the boy promised. This time -he showed some feeling. He was plainly sorry not to be able to oblige -this particularly good friend, by telling her how the boat model had -disappeared.</p> - -<p>“Soon?” exclaimed Cara, who could no longer keep quiet. “Don’t you -see, Nicky, that Barbara is really worried to death about that model?”</p> - -<p>“But I promised. I got to keep a promise, ain’t I, Cap?”</p> - -<p>“Well, that depends on what sort of promise it was. If it was a -foolish one——” the captain began.</p> - -<p>“It wasn’t. I got five dollars for it,” declared the youngster, -joyfully.</p> - -<p>“You got five dollars for it! Five dollars for hiding -somebody’s—crime!” gasped Babs. “Oh, Nicky! How could you?”</p> - -<p>“’Twasn’t either a crime. It’s all right. You just have to wait, -that’s all. Today’s Wednesday and you’ll know Friday. What’s the -matter with that?” Nicky wanted to know.</p> - -<p>“You don’t seem to understand,” pleaded Barbara, almost in despair. “I -just have to know tonight. I promised Miss Davis I’d surely tell her -tonight. Nicky, I’ll give you five dollars to give back to whoever -bought your promise. You shouldn’t have taken money for a thing like -that,” she insisted.</p> - -<p>“Why shouldn’t I? We had to move, didn’t we?” A boy is so literal he -can never see why girls are sentimental.</p> - -<p>“Now see here,” spoke up the captain. “Let’s see what’s the trouble. -You say a ship model was taken from the Community House?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” answered both Cara and Babs.</p> - -<p>“And Nicky knows who took it?”</p> - -<p>“Sure I do,” and the boy was actually smiling.</p> - -<p>“And you promised not to tell ’till Friday?” the man continued.</p> - -<p>“That’s it,” declared Nicky gladly. “I can tell Friday.”</p> - -<p>“And you know you’re a government man now, Nick,” the captain reminded -him. “What you say you stick to. Understand that?”</p> - -<p>“I allus do that,” the boy spoke up a little saucily.</p> - -<p>“That’s the way to talk; fine,” agreed the Captain. “Now, you’ll say -that ship model is safe, O.K.?”</p> - -<p>“Cer-tain-ly.” A long word for Nicky.</p> - -<p>Captain Quiller looked at the girls whose faces were set with an -impatient, anxious expression.</p> - -<p>“Then, it seems to me,” he said like a judge, “you girls will have to -wait until Friday.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, how can we?” wailed Barbara. “Think of Miss Davis.”</p> - -<p>“When Bell Davis hears her <i>Santa Maria</i> is safe,” said the seaman -decidedly, “she’ll be so glad she won’t worry about anything else. I -know Bell Davis and her ship model too,” he finished, and so the girls -were obliged to be content with that. But they were not content at -all.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chXXIV' title='XXIV—Scouts in the Wood'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER XXIV</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.1em'>SCOUTS IN THE WOOD</span> -</h2> -<p>“You were wise, dear, not to press the boy further. I think he had -about as much as a small boy’s head could carry, as it was.”</p> - -<p>So spoke Dr. Hale to Barbara, late that night, after Barbara had told -him the whole story of her complicated interest in Nicky and his -family. She was sitting on the floor beside him, on the old braided -rug, her head against his knee so that he might stroke it -reassuringly.</p> - -<p>“And you’ve forgiven me for not telling you before, Dads? You see, I -knew you wouldn’t want me to bother about such things, and I felt that -once I did get into it I would have to go through with it,” she -explained. “But, you have no idea what a bother it has been. Whew!” -She blew the word out explosively. “I feel like a Sherlock Holmes.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, it is surprising what difficulties some poor people have to -struggle against and yet what fine characters they develop. If they -don’t get sour they are sure to remain permanently strong; sort of a -concentrated character, if you know what I mean,” her father pointed -out to her.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I think I understand, sort of boiled down,” she answered, -laughingly.</p> - -<p>“Exactly.” And they both laughed over the illustration.</p> - -<p>“But you see, Dad, I’ve got to find his mother and talk to her. I -couldn’t be satisfied with so small a boy’s word on all this. Besides, -there’s her husband’s pardon. I ought to talk to her about it, don’t -you think so?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, decidedly. Nicky is clever enough but as you say, he’s nothing -but an ignorant little boy, and it wouldn’t be right to trust too much -to him,” decided Dr. Hale.</p> - -<p>“You see, I couldn’t possibly say another word to him tonight after -the Washington letter and the ship model and everything,” went on -Barbara seriously. “If I had so much as asked where their camp was, -I’m sure he would have run away. He seemed to hate it all, as it was. -Bashful you know, Dads,” Barbara explained.</p> - -<p>“Yes, he would be. But I guess you’ve made him happy, just the same,” -her father assured her. “To get that letter from Washington would have -set some boys up proudly for the rest of their lives.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, you couldn’t make Nicky proud,” Babs declared. “You see, -he’s—boiled down.” This expression had become Babs’ special joke.</p> - -<p>When they settled down to seriousness after that, it was decided that -Babs and Cara should again visit the lighthouse and get from Captain -Quiller what directions they could in hopes of finding the camp in the -woods.</p> - -<p>“And I’ll go along with you,” promised her father, “for a number of -reasons.”</p> - -<p>But it was actually two days later before the all-important trip could -be made. The doctor had been called out of town, the captain had to -have time to make sure he was divulging no secret that should have -been withheld, and it took him a day to go out to the woods to see -Mrs. Marcusi, as he could only leave his post at a certain hour of the -afternoon. So Babs and Cara lived somehow, and Miss Davis was so -relieved to be assured her model was safe, she really was, as Cara -said, “quite sweet about it.”</p> - -<p>All week long the Community House “fair,” as the exhibit was being -called by the country folks, was in progress, and as Cara predicted, -the girls’ committee got together again and worked even more -enthusiastically than at first.</p> - -<p>It must be said in all fairness to Esther and Louise that they did all -they could to make amends for their slight to Barbara. They explained -quite frankly that their folks didn’t want them to have anything to do -with the foreigners, because, as Louise put it, “they didn’t know -anything about them.”</p> - -<p>This was not unreasonable, Cara made Babs see that, because summer -folks have to be careful whom they associate with. Both Cara and Babs -laughed over the foolish idea that summer folks had to be more -carefully guarded than winter folks—those who lived at Sea Cosset the -year around—but Babs was too busy with other and more important -affairs to worry over such trifles.</p> - -<p>Her heart was singing these days, because she was so expectant. -Something wonderful was about to happen. She was going to find out who -carved the beautiful wooden candlesticks, and why Nicky’s folks were -afraid of being known to strangers. This would surely satisfy her -thirst for adventure.</p> - -<p>“I feel just as if it were the day before Christmas,” she told Cara, -“and I was waiting for Santa Claus.”</p> - -<p>“I feel as if it were the day after Christmas,” Cara put in, “and that -he had brought me a bag of golden promises.”</p> - -<p>So the girls flitted from their homes to the Community House, gaily -helping the ladies with the dusting and rearranging of the articles -still left to be voted upon later; and it was all good fun.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Brownell’s table was awarded first prize, it had to be or she -would have gone to bed with nervous prostration. But it really was a -fine antique. As to quilts——</p> - -<p>“They won’t get them all decided upon before the holidays,” Ruth -Harrison declared, “and maybe they’ll have to hold another Old Home -Week to give the prizes then.”</p> - -<p>The smaller articles, in which class Babs’ sampler had been placed, -were to be voted upon on the very last day, Saturday, and Miss Davis -wondered about her model.</p> - -<p>“You see,” she confided, “I expect sister home Friday, that’s tomorrow -night. And if ever I lay my eyes on that little boat again I don’t -think I’d risk taking it out of the house. Sometimes I’m just as -worried as ever——”</p> - -<p>“I’m sure it’s safe,” Barbara told her again, for times beyond -counting, “and maybe you could get it in the contest after all,” she -cheered the little lady.</p> - -<p>“I’d love to. It is so handsome! Well, you’ve done your best and I’m -getting more fond of you every day,” declared the dainty little Miss -Davis, with a pardonable show of affection for her little sampler -relation.</p> - -<p>Barbara loved that feeling of relationship, however remote it was, for -she had been much alone since her Aunt Katherine moved away out West, -and there was after that no woman but the well-meaning Dora to offer -her protection. It was all well enough to be considered different from -other girls, to have her father tell her gallantly that she was almost -as good as a boy, to have boys call her a pal and a chum and flatter -her in their favorable comparisons, not a bit like other girls; but a -girl needs a woman’s sure arm around her; sometimes.</p> - -<p>She wants to be told she just must not do things she insists upon -doing. In a word she cannot comfortably carry all her own -responsibility. And Barbara knew this well. She had tried it out and -found the way very lonely. It would be such fun now to have the -Twinnie Davises to run to. Cousins, she would call them of course.</p> - -<p>It so happened that this was the week that Dudley Burke and Glenn -Gaynor left for camp. So much always happens in the late summer. The -night before they left the boys took all the girls out, <i>all</i> the -girls that the girls could gather up. And they had a wonderful time, -from sodas at Hills, to movies at the Ritz, after which delightful -hours were spent upon the porch of a Monmouth hotel, where the party -too young and too informal to take part, listened to the orchestra and -watched the dancing, from the great ocean-front porches. In a few more -years they might take part in this, but just this summer Mrs. Burke -was acting as chaperon and they were glad to be allowed to look on. -Otherwise the party might not have remained so late on the wonderful -hotel porch; that is, they could not have done so but for the -all-important chaperonage.</p> - -<p>Friday morning came at last, and they were going in search of that -camp in the woods.</p> - -<p>“I’m so thrilled,” Cara confessed, “I can hardly breathe. I think I -have real heart disease.”</p> - -<p>“Not exactly heart disease,” said Dr. Hale, “but curiosity illness. It -has a choking habit.”</p> - -<p>Babs, Cara, and Dr. Hale were in Cara’s touring car, and she was -driving. The dignified doctor tried to spread himself all over the -back seat; for the two girls, of course, were together in front. They -were going to Cosmo Woods. Captain Quiller had not only given them -full and detailed directions, but he had drawn them a map of the -outlying territory.</p> - -<p>“You could easily tell he was a sailor,” commented Barbara. “Just look -at the lines. They’re like the zone lines in an old geography.”</p> - -<p>It wasn’t far to Cosmo Woods but it was hard to get there. After -leaving the lovely ocean boulevard they took a strip of road that -wound around the lake. Then, they went out on a back road that cut -through a farming district. There were even some hills, uncommon for -ocean territory, and when their car would reach the top of one of -these there wouldn’t be a mark of any kind to distinguish the end of -the hill from the beginning. Such a sameness, so little variety, a few -scattered houses! Assuredly the sea-shore is lovely—just at the sea’s -shore. But not inland.</p> - -<p>“Let’s see that chart,” the doctor asked Barbara when Cara turned away -from the main road onto what might charitably be called a lane. “I -expect I’ll need a mariner’s compass, but let’s take a look at it -anyhow.”</p> - -<p>Babs handed over the penciled paper.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I guess this is right,” the doctor announced, after a brief -survey. “But we’ll probably soon have to get out and walk.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, we walk from the scrub pines,” Babs said. “And see! There they -are! They’re the only pines around. These trees are everything else, -but not pines. Why don’t they call them Scrubbys?”</p> - -<p>So presently the car had been parked in a little clearance, safely -locked, and the three scouts went on.</p> - -<p>“If we see a camp,” said Cara, after they had decided that one way was -a path newly trodden and the other wasn’t, “perhaps Babs had better go -ahead and you and I, doctor, will sort of hang behind. They may still -be so afraid they might take to the trees.”</p> - -<p>“Fine idea,” assented Dr. Hale, who loved the woods so thoroughly that -he seemed to care as much about a clump of ferns as about finding the -elusive Marcusis.</p> - -<p>Through a little tunnel of wild-grape vines they managed to pass, -while the doctor led and brushed the most impertinent brambles and -vines out of the girls’ way.</p> - -<p>Then Babs grasped Cara’s arm.</p> - -<p>“Look!” she exclaimed. “There they are! Just look!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, how funny!” Cara said excitedly. “Did you ever see anything—so -funny!”</p> - -<p>They were looking at the Italians’ camp. It was made up of three old -automobiles, or parts of automobiles that could never be expected to -turn a wheel again. For the wheels were gone. But the tops were there -and in these the little family had taken refuge. Even from the -distance where the scouts had stopped little Vicky could be seen. She -was swinging gaily on a swing made of rope, hanging from a sturdy -tree; and a very good swing it was indeed, for any little girl to -enjoy.</p> - -<p>A woman, whom Babs recognized as Nicky’s mother, was cooking something -over a camp kettle. The fire was set in a stone oven and appeared -mighty attractive to Dr. Hale; so he said.</p> - -<p>“Not a bad camp at that,” he remarked. “And the best thing in the -world for that family. Just see how they manage. Obstacles become -useful tools in their willing hands.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, look at the home-made tent built on to the side of that old -car,” directed Cara. “I should think it would be lovely under that.”</p> - -<p>“I wish I could see Nicky,” whispered Babs a little anxiously. They -were behind bushes that hid them completely from any one who might be -looking out at the camp.</p> - -<p>“There he is!” declared Cara. “Look! He’s doing something with that -old car, the one with wheels on.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, so he is,” exclaimed Babs. “Now I’ll go over and talk to him. -You stay here a few minutes.”</p> - -<p>“Look out for dogs,” cautioned her father. But Babs knew that the -Marcusis had no dog when she went to their place over the tracks, and -it wasn’t likely they would have one now to attract attention to their -camp in the woods.</p> - -<p>No, they had no dogs.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chXXV' title='XXV—A Revelation'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER XXV</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.1em'>A REVELATION</span> -</h2> -<p>Nicky saw Babs quickly as she stepped out from the shrubbery, and he -hailed her joyfully, running towards her.</p> - -<p>“Hello, Miss Barbara!” he called gaily, which was pretty good for -Nicky. He had never called her “Miss Barbara” before. “Come on over! -It’s all right. You can come. Cap Quiller told my folks all about -you.”</p> - -<p>He was saying this as he came towards Barbara, and now he saw the -doctor and Cara.</p> - -<p>“They can come too,” he said, grinning happily. “Tell them to come -along.”</p> - -<p>But there was no need to do so for Cara was already hurrying up to -Barbara, and the doctor was not far behind her.</p> - -<p>“Are you sure your mother won’t mind?” Babs asked, anxiously.</p> - -<p>“Nope; she’s glad. We’re glad to have a doctor,” said Nicky wagging -his head.</p> - -<p>“Anybody sick?” asked Dr. Hale.</p> - -<p>“Not very. Come on. Mother sees us,” said Nicky. He was very busy with -his social duties, and seemed a little excited.</p> - -<p>But a few minutes later all three strangers were in front of the camp. -The old grandmother, recognizing Barbara, was busy getting them boxes -to sit on, and she appeared pleased to receive the visitors. Little -Vicky instantly ran over to Cara and grabbed her hand. Perhaps she was -remembering the ice-cream so bountifully served her at Cara’s party.</p> - -<p>Barbara, considering herself spokesman for the delegation, had stepped -up nearer the tent, when some one crossed before the open space inside -the canvas.</p> - -<p>Her heart jumped! Who could that be? It was a man, or a big boy! Could -he be Nicky’s father?</p> - -<p>The shadow appeared again, and this time it stopped directly in the -center of the door way.</p> - -<p>“Oh,” gasped Babs. “I didn’t know——”</p> - -<p>But she could not utter another syllable, for there stood before her a -young Italian, a young man or at least a full-grown boy. He was -handsome, that should be said at once, for Barbara had instantly -decided the point, and he was wearing a blouse of brilliant blue, and -a tam-o’-shanter hat of black velvet. So picturesque!</p> - -<p>More important than all this, he was holding in his hand an unfinished -wooden ship model!</p> - -<p>“Oh!” gasped Babs again. “I beg your pardon.”</p> - -<p>“It is all right,” replied the young man in splendid English. “We must -get Nickolas to introduce us. I hope your friends will come up to our -poor quarters.” He put the model down carefully and looked about for -Nicky.</p> - -<p>The boy was there beside them almost instantly, and Dr. Hale with Cara -had also come up to the tent.</p> - -<p>“He’s my cousin Ben,” began Nicky. But his mother interrupted him.</p> - -<p>“He is our cousin Benato,” she said, “and he is an artist. You see, he -was sick.” She too spoke English carefully, and now as she stood -beside the young man in the artist’s costume it was easy to decide -that he was her relation, for they looked much alike.</p> - -<p>“Sit down, sit down,” begged the polite old grandmother. She was not -going to have her boxes empty when company came like that.</p> - -<p>“And have you been ill, young man?” Dr. Hale asked, filling in a -rather embarrassed pause.</p> - -<p>“Yes, Sir,” replied Benato. “And I had to hide away. They told me I -should be sent back to Europe if I did not get cured in six months,” -the artist said. “I could not get well by the railroad, but I am -better since I came here. Would you tell me, Sir?” he asked, -indicating he wanted to know from Dr. Hale just what his condition -actually was.</p> - -<p>It was a relief to both Babs and Cara when Benato and Dr. Hale entered -the tent and left them to talk with Nicky.</p> - -<p>“The ship model——” began Babs.</p> - -<p>“He can make anything,” the boy interrupted proudly, “and when I told -him about the other, Miss Davis’ you know” (he stumbled over that), -“he got out his books and copied one. He is making it for you,” Nicky -told Barbara, just a little shyly.</p> - -<p>“For me?” exclaimed Barbara, in surprise.</p> - -<p>“Yes, he knows you are our friend,” attested Nicky manfully.</p> - -<p>“What did you say his name was? Isn’t he perfectly stunning?” Cara -coupled her questions without waiting for an answer.</p> - -<p>“His name is Benato Sartello, but I call him Ben,” said Nicky. “He was -awful sick at first and used to hide away. ’Fraid they would come and -take him away like they did——”</p> - -<p>“I know,” Barbara stopped him. She could never let the boy refer -directly to his father in jail.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” chimed in Cara, “they do send folks back to other countries if -they are not well when they come here. Dad had a wonderful chemist and -he was deported.”</p> - -<p>“But Ben is like well now,” declared Nicky quickly.</p> - -<p>“He no more sick ever,” added the grandmother clasping her hands -prayfully. They seemed very positive that Benato was now cured.</p> - -<p>“This camping is very healthy for you all,” said Babs to Nicky’s -mother. She felt ill at ease among them now, as if she had penetrated -their sanctuary without invitation, and so she couldn’t talk -naturally.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said the mother, “the wood is good always, clean and—” she -looked about her gratefully—“we could be happy here if——”</p> - -<p>“Didn’t Nicky tell you about Washington? The government, you know?” -Babs asked eagerly then.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes. That is good,” said Mrs. Marcusi. “My man did no wrong. They -take him away——”</p> - -<p>“But you’ll see them bring him back again,” interrupted Babs, -unwilling to let even Mrs. Marcusi talk of their trouble. “You have a -splendid boy in Nicky,” she attested fondly.</p> - -<p>“A very good boy. He tells me how good you are——”</p> - -<p>“Oh, say, Mother,” objected the boy. “That’s no good.” (He meant the -compliments, of course.) “They want to know about Ben, don’t you?” -Nicky was wiser than he realized.</p> - -<p>“He does such beautiful work,” began Cara immediately introducing that -interesting subject.</p> - -<p>“Vera fine. He could sell many pieces but he’s afraid. So Nicky take -it to you,” the mother explained. “When he’s well he can make plenty -of money.” She had wonderful brown eyes like Vicky’s, and her hair -fell about her face as in the Madonna’s pictures. Both Babs and Cara -looked at her in admiration, and wondered how it was that some women -were so beautifully brave.</p> - -<p>Dr. Hale was emerging from the tent now, and his face, as well as the -smile that was spread over Benato’s, told the good news before a word -was spoken.</p> - -<p>“Sound as a dollar,” said the doctor. “No trouble here at all.” He -swept his hand across the young man’s chest. “And this fresh air out -here is the very thing.” He was talking to Mrs. Marcusi now. “This is -good for all of you. Where ever did you get those?” he asked Nicky, -indicating the maimed automobiles being used as the family quarters.</p> - -<p>“We have a friend who keeps a graveyard,” said the boy. “You know, -they call them dead ones and they take all the good parts out. He gave -us the tops and—” (he turned to Babs sharply) “that was what I had to -have the five dollars for. To buy the canvas for Ben’s tent. He had to -have it,” he insisted, apparently happy that Barbara, his friend, -could understand at last about that trying complication.</p> - -<p>“We could get you lots of orders for carved pieces,” Cara told Benato, -“if you could make them up.” She had not addressed him directly -before, and seemed a little embarrassed at doing so now.</p> - -<p>“Thank you, Miss,” answered the artist. “I love to work. I came to -America to work and now I shall go out, perhaps to New York.” His -handsome face was alight with happiness.</p> - -<p>“Oh, no, no, no!” exclaimed both women.</p> - -<p>“Not to New York, Benato,” implored Mrs. Marcusi. “They might take you -away on the ship.”</p> - -<p>“Madam,” said Dr. Hale in his best professional tone, “I shall give -him a certificate, a paper, you know, that will protect him from -interference.”</p> - -<p>At that the older woman fell upon her knees and grasped the doctor’s -hand to press it to her lips.</p> - -<p>“T’ank you! T’ank you!” she sobbed. “Benato is vera good boy. He work -hard. He must stay——”</p> - -<p>“He will, he will,” Dr. Hale checked her outburst, “and we are going -to see about bringing your son back, also,” he told the old mother. -This occasioned another shower of kisses for the doctor’s hands; and -their words piled up like little firecrackers that kept popping from -Italian into a kind of English, the only kind excited old Italian -women could give utterance to.</p> - -<p>Benato was talking quietly to Nicky. He had his hand affectionately -upon the boy’s shoulder, and he kept urging him to do something that -Nicky was objecting to.</p> - -<p>Cara and Babs were watching them while Dr. Hale was talking to the -women. Finally Benato spoke.</p> - -<p>“Did you know that Nicky can carve also?” he asked the girls, smiling -broadly as he spoke to them.</p> - -<p>“Nicky carve!” both exclaimed.</p> - -<p>“He has talent. He helps me and he works like a man; all night if we -must hurry,” declared the cousin proudly. He seemed very fond of his -small cousin Nicky.</p> - -<p>“Lov-ell-ly!” breathed Cara, to whom the news brought a vision of -little Nicky as an artist. Nicky, the obscure Italian boy, whom they -had been talking about adopting. How absurd! And this splendid young -man, Benato, was the person who had been hiding behind the poverty of -the Marcusi home. And the girls talked of “black handers!”</p> - -<p>She could not help smiling when she thought of it all. How unfair it -is to judge people merely by appearances? What a bright future might -be in store for these two cousins! Obscure indeed!</p> - -<p>“And you don’t need to be afraid of the health authorities,” Dr. Hale -told Benato, turning from his talk with the women. “They are fair, you -know. They would examine you and they would find you sound. You have -done wonders with your exercise and diet. Keep it up and live out -here. When you do go to the city spend all the time you can in the -parks,” the doctor advised. “We all need the air but a boy like you -<i>must</i> have it,” he urged most emphatically.</p> - -<p>“Yes sir,” replied the artist deferentially. “And I thank you. We did -not know how to reach a doctor until Nicky told us you were our -friend. You have made us all happy,” he declared, gratefully.</p> - -<p>There was more hand-kissing from the women, and Cara whispered to Babs -that they had better be going when she noticed the old grandmother -mopping her brown face with her browner apron. She, Cara, didn’t want -both her cheeks kissed the way foreigners do it.</p> - -<p>And now Babs was talking to Nicky. Of course she had to know about -Miss Davis’ model.</p> - -<p>“You can come right along with us,” she told the boy. “There’s plenty -of room in the car, and, Nicky, I just must tell Miss Davis as quickly -as <i>you</i> tell me. She has been so good to wait, and you don’t know -what it has meant to her,” she pointed out sensibly.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I do,” the boy declared. “But I couldn’t help it. A feller’s got -to keep his word, ain’t he?”</p> - -<p>Babs admitted that he had, while she included in her hopes for Nicky’s -artistic training, some good, plain education in the simple lines of -grammatical English.</p> - -<p>Amid a perfect shower of protestations of their gratitude, the -Italians finally allowed the Americans to get into their car, while -Nicky went along to tell them about the lost ship model. For this was -Friday, and Friday he could tell.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chXXVI' title='XXVI—Tumbling in'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER XXVI</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.1em'>TUMBLING IN</span> -</h2> -<p>“Your sister took it,” said Nicky simply, as the whole party stood in -Miss Davis’ parlor waiting to hear.</p> - -<p>“My sister—took it!” Miss Isabel Davis could scarcely articulate; she -was too surprised.</p> - -<p>“Yep. She said <i>you</i> wanted to show it and <i>she</i> didn’t. She said it -was hers too, and she gave me five dollars not to tell.” This last -admission caused the boy to flush a little under his dark skin, for -the taking of that “hush money” had worried Nicky considerably.</p> - -<p>“And Miss Davis’s sister knew <i>that</i> you knew where we hid it?” Babs -asked in tone, but not exactly in words. “How did she know that?”</p> - -<p>“Please sit down,” begged the hostess excitedly. “I am so flustered. -Sister is coming home on this train. There’s the taxi——”</p> - -<p>And it rumbled up to the door.</p> - -<p>Just what was said after that was pretty hard to keep track of -because, not only was every one talking at once but every one was so -happy each just seemed to bubble up in a perfect torrent of -excitement.</p> - -<p>“It was all right, wasn’t it, Sister?” the newly arrived Miss Davis, -the other twin, was asking Miss Isabel Davis, “I was too proud to have -our heirloom shown to a—mob,” she stated. “But I was wrong. You were -right,” she admitted to her sister. “It would have been an honor to -have had our <i>Santa Maria</i> among those other heirlooms. And there was -no common crowd. I’ve read the papers every day and I hope we can get -our ship in before it closes. I’d love to have it there.”</p> - -<p>“You can,” said Dr. Hale. “I’ll see about that. I’m on the final -committee.”</p> - -<p>“But where did you hide it?” asked the dazed Miss Isabel, addressing -her sister.</p> - -<p>“I didn’t hide it at all,” the sister replied. “I put it just where it -belonged, in the cabinet.”</p> - -<p>“In the cabinet!” exclaimed Babs. “And they were blaming Nicky——”</p> - -<p>“In the cabinet!” repeated Miss Isabel, breathlessly, making straight -for the tall mahogany desk that had a glass compartment at the top.</p> - -<p>“You could have found it if you had looked, Sister,” the other twin -told her. “And you didn’t even ask me about it.”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t dare to, I was so worried.” Miss Isabel stood looking at the -vague lines of the ship model behind the glass door. “Well! Well! And -that was there all the time! What a foolish old woman I am!”</p> - -<p>“But you see, Nicky was wise after all,” put in Babs. “He got that -precious five dollars——”</p> - -<p>“And here’s five more.” Miss Isabel ran her hand in her pocket and -soon held out a bill. “He deserves it. I owe it to him. Take it, son, -and you’re a fine little man.” She couldn’t just think of anything -more complimentary to say, and her eyes were swimming.</p> - -<p>Five dollars more! That meant a lot to Nicky, and he undertook to fold -the precious bill so carefully that Cara wondered where he was going -to put it. She watched. The others were all talking again, and Nicky -noticed her interest.</p> - -<p>“See?” he said, taking from his magic pocket, that never leaked in -spite of his tatters, a carved peach pit. “I did that,” he admitted -shyly, opening the pit and placing the finely folded bill in the -center.</p> - -<p>“And I’m just telling sister about your sampler,” piped up Miss Isabel -to Babs. “And how it brought about our relationship. Isn’t this too -wonderful,” she impulsively threw her arms around Babs, “to have -cousins! We are going to be cousins——”</p> - -<p>“Sampler cousins,” joked Babs, who was almost as dazed as was Miss -Isabel. But she had never for a moment lost faith in Nicky, so the -establishment of his honesty did not at all surprise her. The idea of -the twins stealing their own boat model! That was funny!</p> - -<p>“And just wait until you see mine,” she told the ladies. “You won’t be -the only ones in <i>our</i> family,” she stressed the pronoun, “with a -model of Columbus’ ship. <i>Our</i> artists are making me one.”</p> - -<p>“And I’ll have them make me the <i>Pinta</i>,” declared Cara. “You know, -the companion ship to the <i>Santa Maria</i>.”</p> - -<p>“And maybe we can complete the fleet by getting me the Nina,” joined -in Dr. Hale, laughing heartily.</p> - -<p>“The <i>Santa Maria</i>!” said the twins.</p> - -<p>“The <i>Nina</i>,” said Dr. Hale.</p> - -<p>“And the <i>Pinta</i>,” finished Cara.</p> - -<p>“The whole float,” chuckled Nicky. “Sure we can make them. Ben’s good -at ship models.”</p> - -<p>Cara was thrilled, she admitted.</p> - -<p>“I never had so much fun in all my life,” she told Babs, -enthusiastically. “I just can’t wait to see the other girls’ faces -when they hear. Them and their black handers,” she choked, swinging -around toward Nicky who was at the door.</p> - -<p>“Here!” called out one of the twins, “you must wait for tea. It won’t -take a minute. Come back here, Nickolas——”</p> - -<p>“I gotta go,” sang back the boy who was waiting for nothing, neither -tea, cookies, nor even an auto ride. He was flying back to camp with -the five-dollar bill crammed into the peach pit.</p> - -<p>“Talk about society,” whispered Cara to Babs, as a little later they -sipped their tea from the beautiful old china cups, with the deep -garnet gold-rimmed bands, “this beats even a house party. Aren’t the -twinnies lovely?”</p> - -<p>“But wasn’t that a wonderful surprise? To find the model just where it -belonged, and to think that any one could ever suspect——”</p> - -<p>“Your Nicky,” finished Cara. “That was mean. But we knew, didn’t we?” -she insisted loyally, glancing around her happily, for the scene with -the old ladies and the doctor was what Ruth would have called -“quaint.”</p> - -<p>And speaking of Ruth, it was she who led the cheering squad next day -at the Community House when first prize was awarded to the Misses -Davis’ entry, the ship model of the famous old Columbus boat, the -<i>Santa Maria</i>.</p> - -<p>Nicky was there but no one saw him. He was perched on the piece of -lattice where the vines were so thick he had to tear them apart to -peek into the room. And if he had stirred suddenly he might have -spilled himself in, for the queer window was built high in the side -wall of the room, and it was wide open. No one could possibly have -seen Nicky—he had a grandstand seat, only he had to stand up.</p> - -<p>It took a long time to settle all the prizes for quilts and cushions -and lamp shades, and as Cara said, it was a real blessing they had not -thought of nightgowns. Or maybe it was Ruth who said that, but at any -rate, the girls’ department had a good laugh over the idea, for such a -show would indeed have been too funny for words. Imagine the big -muslin high-necked, long-sleeved gowns in these days of dainty silks -and cobwebby lingerie.</p> - -<p>“There comes your sampler,” Esther told Barbara, as one of the ladies -stepped forward with the framed sampler in her hand.</p> - -<p>The chairwoman, Mrs. Winters, took it and made quite a speech about -its wonderful handwork. She declared it was a magnificent sample of -early American needlework, and that it was well worthy of a first -prize. This she then awarded the blushing Barbara, and just as Barbara -turned again towards the audience a cheer, a boyish cheer, came in -through the window.</p> - -<p>“Hurrah!” shouted Nicky, and every one turned around.</p> - -<p>The next moment a boy came tumbling down! For Nicky, in his enthusiasm -had put his head in too far!</p> - -<p>“Land sakes!”</p> - -<p>“Mercy me!”</p> - -<p>“What’s that!”</p> - -<p>“A boy!” came in a succession of exclamations from the astonished -women. They scurried around as if a mouse had crawled into the room.</p> - -<p>“Nicky!” screamed Barbara, “look out for Mrs. Brownell’s table.”</p> - -<p>“I’m in me bare feet,” answered the embarrassed boy, “an’ they can’t -scratch.”</p> - -<p>Then Dr. Hale dragged Nicky forward—he had to drag him literally, for -the boy wanted very much to escape. He told the astonished crowd -something of the recent history of the Marcusi family and Nicky’s -brilliant prospects.</p> - -<p>“And you know his father,” Barbara reminded the speaker so that every -one in the room could hear her. “The Washington authorities have -promised to release Nicky’s father,” she managed to say. “They have -found him innocent,” she declared indignantly. “He never should have -been—have been taken from his family,” she insisted, as she always had -done when jail or prison might have been the word to choose.</p> - -<p>“Hump!” grunted Nicky, “nobody never would have knowed that if it -hadn’t a-been for you!”</p> - -<p>“Nicky!” Barbara tried to hush him.</p> - -<p>“He’s right,” sang out Cara’s voice. “Barbara Hale has been working -all summer to help this Marcusi family and we girls were so stupid we -didn’t even——”</p> - -<p>“You did as much as I did,” interrupted Babs, insisting upon paying -the compliment to Cara, in about the way girls insist upon paying each -other’s carfare while the conductor waits.</p> - -<p>But the ladies didn’t wait; they clapped.</p> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-size:0.9em;margin-top:1.4em;'>END </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='section'> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-size:1.2em;font-style:italic;'>This Isn’t All! </div> -</div> -<blockquote> -<p style='text-indent:0'>Would you like to know what became of the good friends you have made -in this book?</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'>Would you like to read other stories continuing their adventures and -experiences, or other books quite as entertaining by the same author?</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'>On the <i>reverse side</i> of the wrapper which comes with this book, you -will find a wonderful list of stories which you can buy at the same -store where you got this book.</p> - -</blockquote> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-size:1.1em;font-style:italic;'>Don’t throw away the Wrapper </div> -</div> -<blockquote> -<p style='text-indent:0'>Use it as a handy catalog of the books you want some day to have. But -in case you do mislay it, write to the Publishers for a complete -catalog.</p> - -</blockquote> -</div> - -<div class='section'> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-size:1.2em;'>THE LILIAN GARIS BOOKS </div> -<div style='font-size:0.9em;'>Illustrated. Every volume complete in itself. </div> -</div> -<blockquote> -<p>Among her “fan” letters Lilian Garis receives some flattering -testimonials of her girl readers’ interest in her stories. From a -class of thirty comes a vote of twenty-five naming her as their -favorite author. Perhaps it is the element of live mystery that Mrs. -Garis always builds her stories upon, or perhaps it is because the -girls easily can translate her own sincere interest in themselves from -the stories. At any rate her books prosper through the changing -conditions of these times, giving pleasure, satisfaction, and, -incidentally, that tactful word of inspiration, so important in -literature for young girls. Mrs. Garis prefers to call her books -“juvenile novels” and in them romance is never lacking.</p> - -</blockquote> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='margin-bottom:0.3em;'>SALLY FOR SHORT </div> -<div style='margin-bottom:0.3em;'>SALLY FOUND OUT </div> -<div style='margin-bottom:0.3em;'>A GIRL CALLED TED </div> -<div style='margin-bottom:0.3em;'>TED AND TONY, TWO GIRLS OF TODAY </div> -<div style='margin-bottom:0.3em;'>CLEO’S MISTY RAINBOW </div> -<div style='margin-bottom:0.3em;'>CLEO’S CONQUEST </div> -<div style='margin-bottom:0.3em;'>BARBARA HALE </div> -<div>BARBARA HALE’S MYSTERY FRIEND</div> -<div style='font-size:0.9em;margin-bottom:0.3em;'>(Formerly Barbara Hale and Cozette) </div> -<div style='margin-bottom:0.3em;'>NANCY BRANDON </div> -<div style='margin-bottom:0.3em;'>NANCY BRANDON’S MYSTERY </div> -<div>CONNIE LORING</div> -<div style='font-size:0.9em;margin-bottom:0.3em;'>(Formerly Connie Loring’s Dilemma) </div> -<div>CONNIE LORING’S GYPSY FRIEND</div> -<div style='font-size:0.9em;margin-bottom:0.3em;'>(Formerly Connie Loring’s Ambition) </div> -<div style='margin-bottom:0.3em;'>JOAN: JUST GIRL </div> -<div style='margin-bottom:0.3em;'>JOAN’S GARDEN OF ADVENTURE </div> -<div style='margin-bottom:0.3em;'>GLORIA: A GIRL AND HER DAD </div> -<div>GLORIA AT BOARDING SCHOOL</div> -</div> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='margin-top:1em;'>GROSSET & DUNLAP <i>Publishers</i> NEW YORK </div> -</div> -</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BARBARA HALE: A DOCTOR'S DAUGHTER ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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