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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/32310-h.zip b/32310-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..393c5d1 --- /dev/null +++ b/32310-h.zip diff --git a/32310-h/32310-h.htm b/32310-h/32310-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..502e282 --- /dev/null +++ b/32310-h/32310-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7010 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Dorothy at Oak Knowe, by Evelyn Raymond</title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + td {vertical-align: top;} + + hr.large {width: 65%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + + div.centered {text-align:center;} /*work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 1 */ + div.centered table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; text-align:left;} /* work around for IE problem part 2 */ + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + font-size: 108%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + .bbox2 {border: none;} + .centerbox {width: 55%; /* heading box */ + margin: 0 auto; + text-align: center; + padding: 1em;} + .centerbox2 {width: 10em; /* heading box */ + margin: 0 auto; + text-align: center;} + .gap {margin-top: 4em;} + .jpg {border: solid 2px;} + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .right {text-align: right;} + .caption {font-weight: bold; font-size: 90%;} + .ispace {margin-top: 1.5em;} + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + hr.full { width: 100%; + margin-top: 3em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + height: 4px; + border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #000000; + clear: both; } + pre {font-size: 75%;} + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Dorothy at Oak Knowe, by Evelyn Raymond</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Dorothy at Oak Knowe</p> +<p>Author: Evelyn Raymond</p> +<p>Release Date: May 9, 2010 [eBook #32310]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOROTHY AT OAK KNOWE***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by D Alexander<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h1>DOROTHY</h1> +<h2>AT OAK KNOWE</h2> + +<h4>BY</h4> +<h3>EVELYN RAYMOND</h3> + +<p class="gap"> </p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 42px;"> +<img src="images/i001.jpg" width="42" height="46" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class="gap"> </p> + +<h4>NEW YORK</h4> +<h3>HURST & CO., <span class="smcap">Inc.</span></h3> +<h4>PUBLISHERS</h4> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<div class="centerbox bbox"><h3>THE</h3> +<h2>DOROTHY BOOKS</h2> + +<h4>By EVELYN RAYMOND</h4> + +<p>These stories of an American girl by an American author have made +“Dorothy” a household synonym for all that is fascinating. Truth and +realism are stamped on every page. The interest never flags, and is +ofttimes intense. No more happy choice can be made for gift books, so +sure are they to win approval and please not only the young in years, +but also “grown-ups” who are young in heart and spirit.</p> + +<div class="centerbox2 bbox2"><p><b>Dorothy</b><br /> +<b>Dorothy at Skyrie</b><br /> +<b>Dorothy’s Schooling</b><br /> +<b>Dorothy’s Travels</b><br /> +<b>Dorothy’s House Party</b><br /> +<b>Dorothy in California</b><br /> +<b>Dorothy on a Ranch</b><br /> +<b>Dorothy’s House Boat</b><br /> +<b>Dorothy at Oak Knowe</b><br /> +<b>Dorothy’s Triumph</b><br /> +<b>Dorothy’s Tour</b></p></div></div> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1910, by<br /> +The Platt & Peck Co.</span></p> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 319px;"> +<img src="images/i003.jpg" class="jpg" width="319" height="500" alt="“EVER RIDE IN AN OX-CART”?" title="" /> +<span class="caption">“EVER RIDE IN AN OX-CART”?<br /> +<span style="margin-right: 9em;"><small><i>Dorothy at Oak Knowe.</i></small></span></span> +</div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="70%" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="1" summary="CONTENTS"> + +<tr> +<td align="right"><small>CHAPTER</small></td> +<td align="left"> </td> +<td align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">I.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">On the Road to Oak Knowe</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_9">9</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">II.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Unfortunate Beginnings</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">III.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Peers and Commons</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">IV.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Gilpins Have a Party</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">V.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Fright of Millikins-Pillikins</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_69">69</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">VI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">At the Fall of the Maiden’s Bath</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">VII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">All Hallow Eve Festivities</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_102">102</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">VIII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Peer and Commoner</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_117">117</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">IX.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Night that Followed</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_133">133</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">X.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Open Confession is Good for the Soul</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_148">148</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">What Came with the Snow and Ice</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_164">164</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">John Gilpin Joins the Sport</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_182">182</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XIII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Bad Day for John Gilpin</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_193">193</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XIV.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Explanations are in Order</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_206">206</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XV.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Mrs. Jarley Entertains</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_221">221</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XVI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Perplexing Problem of Life</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_232">232</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XVI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Commencement; and Conclusion</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_249">249</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="DOROTHY_AT_OAK_KNOWE" id="DOROTHY_AT_OAK_KNOWE"></a>DOROTHY AT OAK KNOWE</h2> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>ON THE ROAD TO OAK KNOWE</h3> + +<p>“This way for the Queen!”</p> + +<p>“Here you are for the Duke of Connaught! Right this way!”</p> + +<p>“Want the Metropole, Miss?”</p> + +<p>“Room there, stupid! She’s from the States—any fool could see that! +I’m from your hotel, little lady, the American. Your luggage, Miss, +allow me?”</p> + +<p>If Dorothy’s hands hadn’t been too full, she would have clapped them +over her ears, to drown the cries of the hackmen who swarmed about her +as she stepped from the train at the railway station in Toronto. As it +was, she clung desperately to her bag and shawlstrap, which the man +from the American hotel seemed bound to seize, whether or no.</p> + +<p>But her heart sank and it was a forlorn little girl, indeed, who +looked anxiously around seeking some face on which might be a smile of +welcome. But nobody paid any attention to her, except the obstreperous +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>hackmen, and in a sudden fright she let fall the tears she had so +bravely kept back until then. It had been a long and lonely journey, +but she had been assured that she would be promptly met and cared for +when it ended. Now, amid all the throng of travelers and those who +awaited them, not one was looking for a “dark haired girl in navy +blue” and the tears fell faster as she cried aloud:</p> + +<p>“Oh! what shall I do! What shall I do!”</p> + +<p>Even the hackmen had forsaken her in pursuit of other, more promising +patrons. The short autumn day was at its close and in the growing +darkness her fright increased and her usual common sense left her. +But, as she spoke, a hand was laid upon her shoulder and a rather +gruff voice demanded:</p> + +<p>“Why, little stranger, what’s a-troublin’ ye?”</p> + +<p>Dorothy winked her tears away and looked up into the face of an old +man, whose gray beard swept his breast while his head was entirely +bald. He wore a long blue smock, carried an ox-goad in one hand and a +canvas bag in the other. He looked as kind as he was homely and +Dorothy answered quickly:</p> + +<p>“I’m lost, I guess. Or forgotten, and that’s just as bad! I—I—”</p> + +<p>“Lost? Right here in this town? Well, that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>couldn’t hardly be. Though +I own it’s a biggish place. But if you be, I’ll see to it that you get +found again, immediate. First start—who be ye?”</p> + +<p>“I’m Dorothy Calvert, from Baltimore. I came to the Oak Knowe School +for Girls. Somebody was to meet me. Nobody has and—and—I don’t know +what to do.”</p> + +<p>John Gilpin whistled and exclaimed:</p> + +<p>“No! Never! I saw at a glance you was no Cannuck! The little maids we +raise in our Province have redder cheeks ’an yours. An’ we don’t let +’em go traversin’ round the universe without their mothers or +leastways nurses to look after ’em. But bless my soul, you’ve fell +into safe hands. I know old Oak Knowe well. No better school in the +whole Empire nor that. Moresomever, there’s been some miscarry betwixt +your folks and the Lady Principal or she’d never let you come to this +pass. But my road lies same as yours. I’ll just step-an’-fetch my oxen +and head ’em straight for home. We’ll get to the School in next to no +time. Leastways, betwixt now and bedding-bell—they ring it about +half-past nine.”</p> + +<p>“Is it so far? Why, it must be hours till then!”</p> + +<p>At the cheerful sound of this old teamster’s voice Dorothy forgot her +fear. She didn’t stop to reflect that she should have waited quietly +in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>station till somebody called for her, nor that she might have +telephoned to her teachers to announce her arrival. All she realized +was that here was a friend in need and that he was a quaintly +interesting person.</p> + +<p>“’Tis a matter of some miles, lassie, and my old oxen are no electric +tram. Slow and sure’s their motto and what’s an hour, more or less, in +a little girl’s lifetime? You got a box?”</p> + +<p>Dorothy glanced at the rug and magazine, tightly strapped together, +and at the handbag she had set down upon the platform and replied:</p> + +<p>“No, Mr.—I don’t know your name yet—I haven’t now. I had one, but I +ate the lunch out of it and tossed it from the car window.”</p> + +<p>The old man stared as if she had spoken nonsense, but informed her:</p> + +<p>“Gilpin’s my name. John Gilpin; but my dame says I’m no descendant of +him that took that famous ride as is in the story books. I’m too slow, +Dame says. But is all your clothes in that satchel?”</p> + +<p>It was Dorothy’s turn to stare and to laugh.</p> + +<p>“Oh! no, indeed! They’re in my trunk. Here is my check. Number 70777. +I put that down in my little notebook, though it’s easy to remember.”</p> + +<p>“Humph! I’ve heard that in the States they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>call a box a ‘trunk,’ +same’s if it was an elephant. Well, give me the check. I’ll just +step-an’-fetch it and we’ll be jogging.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Gilpin took the check and lumbered away, dragging one leg stiffly +as if he could not bend the knee, while Dorothy’s spirits rose as she +watched him. After all, this was a real adventure; and when it was +over and she was safe at her fine school, she could write all about it +to the friends at home. Thinking about them, she forgot how long John +Gilpin tarried and roused from her reverie with a start when his +hearty voice, guiding his oxen, came around the corner of the station.</p> + +<p>“Here we be, lassie! Ever ride in an ox-cart? Ever see a neater yoke +o’ cattle? That’s an unco big box for a small maid to own and hefty, +to boot. Step right in, for it’s gathering clouds, I see, and we can’t +have that tidy dress of yours get spoiled while it’s new.”</p> + +<p>It was easy to “step in” to the low-hung vehicle and Dorothy nestled +against her new friend on his spring-seat forward; all the back part +of the wagon being filled with empty barrels and her own trunk.</p> + +<p>It had been some sort of holiday in the city and the streets were gay +with flags and bunting, causing Dorothy to exclaim:</p> + +<p>“Why, it’s just like Halifax, that time Earl Grey was coming! It’s +just as English as that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>was—even more so, for I don’t see Old Glory +anywhere, and there I did.”</p> + +<p>Old John turned his bare, bald head toward her and demanded:</p> + +<p>“What do you know about Halifax? Or the Governor General? I thought +you was United States.”</p> + +<p>“So I am, so I am! But people may travel once in a while, mayn’t they? +I can tell you lots about Halifax, even though I was there but a +little while. That was on a vacation journey and it was delight-ful!”</p> + +<p>Then, finding the farmer so interested, Dorothy eagerly recited the +story of her “Travels” and their happy ending at her rightful home at +Deerhurst and in the love of her Great-Aunt Betty.</p> + +<p>“Sounds like a story book, now don’t it! And to think after all that +the old lady should be willin’ to despatch you up here to our +Province, just to get a mite of education. Should ha’ thought there +be institooshuns of learning nigher hand ’an Oak Knowe, where she +could ha’ clapped eyes on ye, now and again. She—”</p> + +<p>“Oh! don’t misjudge my darling aunt! She hated to have me come as +badly as I hated to leave her; but, though I’ve never been really ill, +she fancied that this climate would make me very, very <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>strong. +Besides, the minister who founded Oak Knowe—he was a bishop, I +believe—was one of her girlhood friends, and so she chose it for +that, too. Anyway, to her who has traveled so much, Canada and +Maryland seem but a little way apart.”</p> + +<p>“That’s right, lassie. That’s right. Be loyal to your friends, whether +they be right or wrong. An’ talk about travel, there beant many +corners of this earth that I haven’t took a glance at. I’ve not always +been a farmer, though you mightn’t think it now.”</p> + +<p>They had passed out of the city streets into the open country, the +oxen swaying and pacing sedately along, as if it mattered nothing how +late they might reach home. To pass the time, Dorothy asked the old +man to talk about his own travels, and he promptly answered:</p> + +<p>“In course, and obleeged for anybody to care to listen. Dame has heard +my yarns so often, she scoffs ’em; but I’ve seen a power o’ things in +my day, a power o’ things. I was born in Lunnon, raised in Glasgo’, +run away to Liverpool and shipped afore the mast. From sailor I turned +soldier under Chinese Gordon—Ah! the man he wus! Miner, constable, me +Lord’s butler, then his cook, and now, at the fag end of my days, +settled down to be my Dame’s right-hand-man. She was a likely <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>widow, +coming from England to take up land here, and I met her aboard ship, +last time I crossed seas. Didn’t take us long to strike a bargain. She +needed a man to till her farm; I needed a good woman to mend me and do +for me, for I was that tired of rovin’—my hearties! We get along +well. We get along prime. I do the talking and her does the thinking. +She’s that uncommon thing—a silent woman. Like to hear how I come +nigh-hand to death along of a devil fish? Want to feel your hair +rise on end and your arms get reg’lar goose-fleshy? Makes me nigh +get that way myself, every time I recall—Whist! If that ain’t +thunder I’m a-dreamin’, sure! Thunder this season of the year! Now +that’s fair ridic’lous. But mentionin’ devil fish, yon comes one +them red go-devils, Dame calls ’em, as squawkin’, blazing-eyed +automobeelyers—comin’ this minute. No marvel natur’ gets topsy-turvy +with them wild things ramsaging round. But, quick, lassie! Do your +young eyes see something or somebody lying beyond in the middle of the +road?”</p> + +<p>The old man checked his garrulous tongue to rise and peer into the +darkness, while Dorothy sprang to her feet beside him, straining her +own eyes to follow his pointing finger.</p> + +<p>“There is, there is! Looks like a man or boy <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>or bicycle or something +and that horrid car is coming right toward it! Make ’em stop! Holloa! +Loud, loud, for they don’t see him! they’ll run over him—he’ll be +killed!”</p> + +<p>But still the gay occupants of the car observed nothing; till at last +a fiercer shriek from Dorothy sounded above their laughter and +instantly hushed it, while the driver of the machine looked curiously +at the cart which the wise oxen, perceiving their own danger, had +drawn out of harm on the roadside. But the stop had been too late. +Though the motor was swerved aside, it had already collided with the +objects in its path, and it was in a terrified silence that the +merrymakers descended from it.</p> + +<p>But even old John had been quicker than they and was now bending above +the lad crushed beneath the forward wheels of this hated “go-devil.”</p> + +<p>“Oh! my poor lad! Oh! my sunny Robin!” he groaned: then in a fury of +anger at the great machine, tried his strength to lift it from its +victim.</p> + +<p>Fortunately there were several men in the party, and the car well +equipped against mischance, and so it was swiftly forced away, while +the farmer again stooped over the motionless lad beneath and tenderly +raised him in his arms. For a moment the group gathered about the pair +believed that the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>boy was dead; then a low moan from his white lips +mingled with the lamentations of John Gilpin and brought relief to +everyone.</p> + +<p>Again came flashes of lightning and the growls of thunder, and the +owner of the car exclaimed:</p> + +<p>“Lay the boy in the motor and we’ll get him to a hospital at once. +Maybe he isn’t so badly hurt as seems. Pile up the cushions, somebody, +and give him to me, old man. I’m stronger than you and better used to +sick folks. Doctor Winston is my name.”</p> + +<p>“The more shame to you then for what you’ve done this night!” hotly +retorted old John, clasping his burden the closer and moving slowly +toward his own humble cart.</p> + +<p>“Idiot! Don’t put him in that shaky wagon. Delay may cost his life. +Hospital’s the place and the car is swiftest!” cried another of the +gentlemen, indignantly. “Of course we’ll see to it that he has the +best of care with no expense spared.”</p> + +<p>As if he had not heard, old John still moved away, quietly ordering +Dorothy:</p> + +<p>“Undo that shawl of yours. Roll them barrels out of the wagon. Take +off your jacket and make a piller of it. Spread the shawl out and +cover him with part of it whilst I lay him down. Poor little Robin! +The ‘only son of his mother and she was a widow.’”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p><p>Dorothy was glad to obey this strange old man who had been so genial +and was now so stern, and it relieved her distress to be doing +something to help. But as she tried to roll the barrels out, a hand +fell on her arm and the doctor said:</p> + +<p>“I’ll do that, Miss. They’re too heavy for you. I wish you persuade +your grandfather to trust me with this poor boy. It would be so much +better.”</p> + +<p>“He isn’t my grandfather. I don’t know him—I mean he was taking me—”</p> + +<p>But her words fell upon deaf ears, apparently. Having sent the empty +barrels flying where they would, the doctor had now taken the pile of +cushions somebody had brought him and arranged them on the wagon +bottom. Next he calmly relieved John Gilpin of the injured boy and +laid him gently down. Shaking out Dorothy’s thick steamer rug, her +“shawl,” he carefully covered Robin and, sitting down beside him, +ordered:</p> + +<p>“Drive on, farmer! Chauffeur, follow with the car. Lady Jane, the +medicine case. To the nearest house at once.”</p> + +<p>There was no resisting the firm authority of the physician and John +Gilpin climbed meekly to his seat and at his urgent “gee-ho” the oxen +started onward at a steady gait. But despite his anxiety there was a +satisfaction in their owner’s mind that the “nearest house” would be +his own and that it <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>would be his capable “Dame” who would care for +Robin and not a hospital nurse.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Dorothy seemed forgotten both by the people who had returned +to their car and Mr. Gilpin; so, fearing that she would be left alone +by the roadside, she sprang upon the end of the cart and sat there, +her feet dangling over its edge.</p> + +<p>Now, indeed, her adventure was proving anything but amusing. What +would Aunt Betty think of her heedless action? Or her dear guardian, +Seth Winters, the “learned Blacksmith,” wisest of men, whom the reader +of this series will recall in “Dorothy’s Schooling.” Would she ever +reach Oak Knowe, and how would this escapade be regarded there?</p> + +<p>Into her troubled thoughts now broke a sound of pain, that drove +everything save pity from her mind. The rain was now falling fast and +drenching her new clothes, but her anxiety was only that the injured +boy should not get wet and she was glad that her rug was so thick and +warm. It had been a parting gift from her “House-Boat” guests and held +almost sacred as a memento of their happy trip together.</p> + +<p>But now the oxen were turning into a lane. She could dimly see the +hedgerows on either side, that now and then the lightning flashes +showed more plainly; and, after a time, something big and white +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>seemed to block their way. A moment more and the white obstruction +proved to be a cottage with a lamp shining through its window. Then a +door opened and a woman’s voice called cheerily:</p> + +<p>“Welcome home, my man! You’re late the night. Met you up with any +trouble? Didn’t the apples sell well?”</p> + +<p>“More trouble than you dream, Dame, and I’ve fetched it for you to +share. Light the bedroom to once. ’Tis the dead—or dyin’—is here.”</p> + +<p>Without a word the woman turned away, moving heavily because of her +great size, and an inner door opened, showing a comfortable bed, its +covers already invitingly spread back. Lighting more candles the dame +stood quietly aside, waiting her unexpected guest.</p> + +<p>The doctor brought the boy in, still wrapped in the rug and, tossing +that to the floor, gently laid him down. John followed close behind, +announcing:</p> + +<p>“’Tis Robin, Dame, our bonny Robin of the Glen. The heart of the +mother will break. He—”</p> + +<p>“Help here. Hot water, please. More light. An old sheet for bandages. +Don’t dally. Undress him, Lady Jane.”</p> + +<p>“But, doctor, I’m afraid!” objected that lady who, partly from +curiosity, partly to avoid the rain, had followed the physician into +the house.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p><p>Indeed, all the motoring party had now swarmed into the kitchen, +intending to be quiet yet really chattering noisily, and some of them +sniffing covetously the odors from a great pot of soup, steaming away +on the stove. But nobody was quite ready to respond to the doctor’s +appeals for help, even Mrs. Gilpin being confused and stupid before +these strangers who had taken possession of her home.</p> + +<p>As for old John, he could simply stand and stare at the unconscious +lad on the bed, too dazed and grieved to be of any use whatever.</p> + +<p>Not so Dorothy, who had entered with the rest and who noticed Dr. +Winston’s impatience—who knew that a hospital was where his patient +should be and not this ill-equipped cottage. Throwing off her dripping +jacket, she cried:</p> + +<p>“I’ll help.”</p> + +<p>A teakettle was singing beside the soup-pot on the stove and a dishpan +was hanging near. To empty the kettle into the pan and to carry it to +the chair beside the bed was an instant’s task. Then, seizing the +upper sheet and using her teeth for scissors, she swiftly tore it into +strips; and by this time the dame had regained her own presence of +mind.</p> + +<p>Without troubling to ask who Dorothy was or how she came to be there, +she now took charge of things, saying:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p><p>“You’ll find clean towels in that chest of drawers. Fetch the doctor a +pile. Shears are yon in that work-basket. You’re spry on your feet as +I can’t be, but I do know how to take the clothes off this poor Robin. +My, what’s this he clenches so tight in hand? One of them telegraph +letters ’tis his errand to deliver. All over the countryside the +laddie rode on his wheel to earn the bit money would pay his mother’s +rent. Brave, bonny lad that he was!”</p> + +<p>Gently releasing the telegram from his fingers, Mrs. Gilpin held it up +for the doctor to see.</p> + +<p>“For Oak Knowe. Open it, little girl, and read if it’s important.”</p> + +<p>She obeyed, but her voice trembled as she read. It was the belated +message that announced her own coming and the hour of her arrival. It +explained why she had not been met at the station, but she felt both +shocked and guilty as she exclaimed:</p> + +<p>“Oh! it is my fault! It’s all my fault that he is killed! Just about +me it happened! What shall I do—what shall I do?”</p> + +<p>“Stop that sort of talk and see how your dead boy stares at you! Look +well, Robin, you see a real live Yankee girl!”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>UNFORTUNATE BEGINNINGS</h3> + +<p>Even the most cultured Lady Principals do not enjoy being roused from +their slumbers, an hour after midnight, by the tooting of a motor car +beneath their bedroom windows. It was annoying to have to dress again +and descend to a dimly-lighted reception room to receive a new pupil +who had missed a train, on the route, and misdirected her telegram. +Nor was there anything prepossessing about this especial girl, whose +clothes steamed with moisture and whose travel-soiled cheeks were +streaked by raindrops and tears. So it was small wonder that Dorothy’s +reception by Miss Muriel Tross-Kingdon was decidedly cool and crisp.</p> + +<p>“This is really unprecedented, Miss Calvert. I cannot understand how +any young lady, whose friends consider her intelligent enough to +travel alone, could have made such stupid blunders, as you have. At +the point where you knew you were to change trains, why did you not +keep watch and inquire for direction?”</p> + +<p>“Well, you see there was a military parade and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>the soldiers looked so +queer in their red uniforms and their funny little caps on the sides +of their heads that—that—that I forgot. I mean the timetable told +the right hour, course, but the first train was behind and so—and +so—”</p> + +<p>It was a very lame excuse and Dolly knew it. But it was the truth and +as such she gave it.</p> + +<p>Miss Tross-Kingdon made no reply. Inwardly she was commenting upon +Dorothy’s pronunciation of certain words, which was wholly at fault +according to English custom, and realizing that here was the first +fault to be corrected in her new pupil.</p> + +<p>Dorothy’s heart sank. Uncle Seth’s last advice to her had been:</p> + +<p>“Whenever you feel blue, just wave your flag of high courage and march +ahead. Don’t stop to think! March, march, march—toward the better +time that will surely come.”</p> + +<p>But that high-courage flag hung limply now and she felt she could +never again wave it at all. But, fortunately, the Lady Principal now +rose to terminate the interview. Touching an electric bell for the +maid on night duty, she said:</p> + +<p>“It is very late and you are tired. Dawkins will show you to your +cubicle and assist you in undressing. You may omit your bath, +to-night, and are allowed an extra hour of sleep in the morning. Where +are your suit case and hand bag?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p><p>Dorothy rose, as the lady did, but a fresh feeling of guilt made her +eyes fall as she murmured:</p> + +<p>“I—don’t—know.”</p> + +<p>“Don’t know!” echoed the Lady Principal, in amazement. Then directing +Dawkins to supply what was needed, she returned to her interrupted +repose, while Dorothy wearily followed the stern-faced maid; being +cautioned, meanwhile:</p> + +<p>“Do not dare to make a noise and arouse the young ladies.”</p> + +<p>Yet arrived at the cubicle, or small division of the great dormitory +which had been assigned her, Dorothy realized that Dawkins was kinder +than she looked. For presently she was being undressed, her face and +hands sponged with cool water, and herself reclothed with the freshest +of gowns. Then she was bodily lifted into the dainty little bed as if +she were a baby.</p> + +<p>This unexpected gentleness touched her heart and, flinging her arms +about the maid’s neck, she sobbed:</p> + +<p>“Oh! do be good to me! I am so desolate!”</p> + +<p>“Whist, child! We must no be wakin’ the troublesome girls around. And +sure the lonesomeness’ll pass, like the dew afore sun, once you get a +good sleep and meet up with your mates. Good night, child, and sleep +well.”</p> + +<p>Then, since there was nobody to witness her <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>unusual demonstration, +maid Dawkins stooped and kissed the tired eyes of her new charge, and +went quietly away.</p> + +<p>But there had been one observer of this caress. Peeping from her own +compartment stood a girl whose keen eyes had noticed everything, and +who felt she could scarcely wait until morning to spread the news. +Creeping back to her own bed, she lay long awake, thinking the matter +over. For this schoolgirl, who rejoiced in the title of the Honorable +Gwendolyn Borst-Kennard, had a deal of curiosity that was wholly +roused now.</p> + +<p>“Never saw old Dawkins kiss anybody. Dawkins, of all creatures! Never +knew a new girl come at this time of night—and she certainly was new. +And she hadn’t any clothes, I know, because that was one of the school +hampers Dawkins had. Must be somebody very poor. I wonder who! +Maybe—for goodness sake! Maybe she’s some relation to old Dawk! Else +why should she kiss her? Humph! I thought this was a school for young +ladies, not for the poor relations of servants. There’s one thing +certain, mamma will never allow me to remain where there are paupers. +Never in this world. Neither would Lord Christopher let Marjorie. No, +indeed. So will Miss Tross-Kingdon find out. Why! one charity pupil at +Oak Knowe would ruin it! Anyhow, I mean to hurry <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>round in the morning +and warn all my set against noticing the beggar and what our set does +surely goes. Mamma gets odd notions about things, sometimes, like +saying I must sleep in this old dormitory instead of having a private +room, and that I have silly feelings about rank. Wanted the Lady +Principal to make me more democratic: but even she couldn’t wish me to +sleep among paupers. Heigho! I wish it was morning! But I’ll take a +nap now and that will pass the time.”</p> + +<p>Exhausted by the long journey she had taken, and by the startling +events of the night, unconscious Dorothy slept calmly on, little +dreaming of Gwendolyn’s fancies about her; nor did she wake till long +after all her dormitory mates had dressed and gone below to breakfast. +When she did arouse it was to wonder about this strange place in which +she found herself and at an elfish-looking child perched on the foot +of her little bed, staring at her with wide eyes and keen impatience, +and who greeted her first movement with the exclamation:</p> + +<p>“Well, old sleepy-head, I thought you never would wake up! Who are +you, anyway, and what makes you stay in cubicle so long after +breakfast? Won’t you catch a lecture, though! I wouldn’t be in your +shoes for a sovereign!”</p> + +<p>“Don’t believe you could be in them. You’re so small they fall off,” +answered Dorothy laughing.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p><p>“No, they wouldn’t. I tie them on. If I wanted to. Who are you? +When you come? How dare you stay in bed so?”</p> + +<p>Dolly laughed again. She had fallen asleep convinced that she could +never laugh again, so tired and homesick had she been. But now, +refreshed by rest and with the sunlight streaming through the windows, +the world seemed a very different place. Besides, there was something +so winning about this inquisitive little maid, that the stranger’s +heart was comforted that she had found a friend already.</p> + +<p>“Well, dearie, I suppose I dare because Miss Tross-Kingdon—”</p> + +<p>“Did she say you could? Isn’t that odd! She’s my aunt. I haven’t any +folks ’cept her, I’m a norphan. I’m Millikins-Pillikins, my brother +Hugh calls me; and the girls, too. But I’m not, really. I’m Grace +Adelaide Victoria Tross-Kingdon. That’s my truly name. Nobody could +call me all that, could they? Wouldn’t be time. Auntie Princie calls +me just plain ‘darling’ or ‘dear.’ I’m a Minim. I don’t have to do +lessons and things. I’m in the ‘kindy.’ Auntie Princie doesn’t approve +of a kindergarten in this School for Young Ladies; but it’s a +speriment the Board of Directioners wanted to try. Them’s the +gentlemen auntie has to mind. Fancy! My great big grown-up Auntie +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>Prin having to mind them, same’s I have to mind her! My Lord Bishop, +he’s the head Directioner, but he’s the jolliest! I just love him! He +knew my papa and mamma before they got drowned in the sea. My brother +Hugh lives with the Bishop and writes things for him. They call him a +seckeratary. He gets money for doing it. Think of that! Sometimes he +gives me pennies and even six-pences. Sometimes—not often. You see he +wants to earn enough to buy a cottage for him and me. I’m to be the +lady of it—the mistress! Fancy! But Auntie Princie says I have lots +to learn before then. I will have to make his bread, ’cause he won’t +have money enough to keep me and a cook, too. I’ll have to have a +housemaid to help me, but you know housemaids never do the cooking. +But say, girl, you haven’t told me your name yet?”</p> + +<p>Dorothy sat up in bed and drew the child toward her:</p> + +<p>“My dear, you haven’t given me a chance yet, you’ve been so busy +telling me who you are. But I’ve enjoyed it and I thank you for coming +to wake me up. Now I must get up and dress. Maybe you will show me to +the bathroom, though I don’t like to go about in this way.”</p> + +<p>“That’s a school nightie you’ve got on. Where’s your bath robe?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p><p>“In my trunk.”</p> + +<p>“Where’s your trunk?”</p> + +<p>“I suppose it’s at John Gilpin’s house. That is, if he didn’t throw it +out of the cart with the empty barrels.”</p> + +<p>“Why did he throw out the barrels?”</p> + +<p>“To make a place for Robin to lie on.”</p> + +<p>“What Robin?”</p> + +<p>“The messenger boy who was hurt. He was bringing my telegram and he +fainted and fell and the motor car—but I mustn’t stop now to talk. I +must get dressed.”</p> + +<p>“Couldn’t you talk without stopping? I could.”</p> + +<p>“I believe you, child. Will you show me?”</p> + +<p>“Of course—if you’ll tell the rest. Wait. If you want a robe I’ll get +Gwendolyn’s. It’s right yonder.”</p> + +<p>So it happened that the first act of the supposed charity pupil was to +borrow a garment of the very girl who had so misjudged her, and who +entered the dormitory just as Dorothy was leaving it for the lavatory.</p> + +<p>Curiosity had sent Gwendolyn and Laura Griswold, her chum and +“shadow,” back to this apartment at this unusual hour, but at sight of +Dorothy disappearing toward the bath wearing Gwendolyn’s robe, its +owner forgot her curiosity in indignation. Stopping short, midway the +great room, she clasped <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>her hands in a tragic manner and demanded of +Laura:</p> + +<p>“Did you ever in your life see anything so cool as that? The impudent +girl! How dare she? I wonder what else she’s taken! And that +mischievous little Pill with her. That child’s the nuisance of this +school. Even if she is Lady Principal’s niece, she shouldn’t be given +the liberty she has. But I’ll report.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, indeed, I’d report!” echoed Laura. “First, have to sleep in the +school things; then help herself to yours. It’s simply outrageous. Why +not go right away? It’s recess and Miss Tross-Kingdon has no class.”</p> + +<p>“She has worse. The Bishop’s in the reception-room, and Dr. Winston, +too. They were all talking very fast and I wanted to stop and listen. +But I didn’t quite dare, for she was facing the door and might see me. +But I did hear the Bishop say that if she was a Calvert she could +hardly fail to be all right. She came of good stock—none better. I +wondered who he meant; but Lady Principal saw me looking in and asked +me if ‘I wished anything?’ Hateful woman! She has the most +disagreeable manners!”</p> + +<p>“Never mind. Anyway, let’s go tell her!” advised Laura, and the pair +departed.</p> + +<p>However, the electric bell rang just then, announcing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>that recess was +over and the telling had to be postponed to a better season. A few +moments later a maid came to say that as soon as Dorothy was ready the +Lady Principal would receive her in the west parlor. But she might +stop in the breakfast-room on the way, where a dish of cereal and a +bowl of hot milk was awaiting her. The maid added to the “Little +Pill”:</p> + +<p>“As for you, Miss Grace, the Minims are ready for their calisthenics +and your teacher wants you.”</p> + +<p>“But I don’t want her. I want to go with Dolly.”</p> + +<p>“You’re too big a girl for dolls, Miss Grace, and quite big enough to +obey orders.”</p> + +<p>Grace’s sharp little face darkened and she made a mocking grimace to +the maid, retorting:</p> + +<p>“You don’t know anything, Dora Bond! You don’t know that the Dolly I +play with is this new girl. I shall go with her. I hate them +exercises. They make my back ache. I’m excused to-day, anyhow. I heard +Auntie Princie tell a lady how I wasn’t a bit strong and that she had +to indulge me a lot. I shall do as I please. I shall go where I like. +I shall, so, old Bondy! So there!”</p> + +<p>Dorothy was surprised by the unpleasant expression which had settled +on the little girl’s face, but said nothing. Following Bond’s +direction, she hurried through a long hall to a sunshiny +breakfast-room and the simple meal prepared for her. She <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>hastily +drank the milk, but had no appetite for the cereal. Her heart was in a +flutter of anxiety about the coming interview with Miss Tross-Kingdon. +She had at once disliked and feared that lady, on the night before, +and felt that her present appearance, in a rain-spotted frock and with +her hair so hastily brushed, must only add to the sternness of this +unknown Lady Principal.</p> + +<p>However, the clinging hand of Millikins-Pillikins gave a little +comfort. She didn’t feel quite so lonely and timid with the child +beside her and, as she made her graceful curtsey at the open door, all +her fear vanished and she became once more the self-possessed Dorothy +of old. For, rising and crossing the room to meet her was her +acquaintance of the night, who had brought her to Oak Knowe in his own +car from John Gilpin’s cottage.</p> + +<p>With extended hands he grasped hers and, turning to Miss Muriel, +remarked:</p> + +<p>“Any time you need a nurse, madam, just call upon this little lady. +She was the best helper I had last night. Quick and quiet and +intelligent. She must train herself for that vocation when she is +older.”</p> + +<p>The color flew to Dorothy’s cheeks and she flashed him a grateful +smile, for the kind words that so soothed her homesick heart.</p> + +<p>The other gentleman in the room did not rise, but <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>held out a +beckoning hand and, with another curtsey to Doctor Winston, Dorothy +excused herself to him and obeyed the summons. This other was a +venerable man with a queer-shaped cap upon his white head and wearing +knee breeches and gaiters, which made the young American remember some +pictures of old Continental statesmen.</p> + +<p>“So this is my old friend Betty Calvert’s child, is it? Well, well! +You’re as like her as possible—yet only her great-niece. Ha, hum! +Little lady, you carry me straight back to the days of my boyhood, +when my parents came from England—strangers to your Baltimore. But we +were not strangers for long. There’s a distant blood relation between +our house and yours and we youngsters found in beautiful Bellevieu a +second home. So you must remember that, since your aunt has done me +the honor to send you away up here to this school of mine—of ours, I +should say—you have come to another home just as I did then. Dear +little Betty! What a mischief she was! Are you mischievous, too, I +wonder?”</p> + +<p>Then he turned to the Lady Principal, warning her:</p> + +<p>“Look out for this little miss, Miss Tross-Kingdon! She looks as meek +as a lamb, just now, but blood will tell and she’ll bear watching, I +believe.”</p> + +<p>The dear old man had drawn Dorothy close to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>his side and was smiling +upon her in a manner to win the heart of any girl and to cure her of +her homesickness—at least for the time being. When he released her, +he rose to depart, resuming for a moment the business talk with the +Lady Principal, which Dorothy’s entrance had interrupted. Both she and +the doctor also arose and stood respectfully waiting till the Bishop +disappeared. Then said Dr. Winston:</p> + +<p>“You’ll like to hear about your boy patient, I suppose, Miss Calvert. +Well, I think he’s all right, or will be as soon as his bones and +bruises mend. What I suspect is that the brave lad is about +half-starved—or was. He’s in danger of being overfed now, since he +has fallen into Dame Gilpin’s hands.”</p> + +<p>“Half-starved, sir? How dreadful!” cried Dorothy, while Miss +Tross-Kingdon exclaimed: “Can that be possible!”</p> + +<p>“Quite possible, indeed. His mother is a widow and very frail, old +John tells me. Her husband was a carpenter who worked in town and was +trying to pay for the little place he’d bought out here in the +suburbs, hoping the open-air life might cure her. She’d gone into +chicken and flower culture, thinking she could help in the payment. +They were proud of Robin, the ‘brightest, merriest, best boy in the +Glen,’ John claims, and had somehow <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>got a second-hand bicycle for him +to ride into school for the ‘grand eddication’ they wanted he should +have. Then the father died and Robin got a position as messenger boy. +Every cent he earned he gave his mother and she took in sewing. They +ate just as little as they could and the result has been disastrous. A +growing boy can’t work all day and half the night, sometimes, on a +diet of bread and water. So last night he fainted on his trip and fell +off his wheel in the middle of the road. Then I came speeding along +toward home and smashed them both up. But it’s an ill wind that blows +nobody good and the lad’s accident may turn out his blessing. Dorothy +and I and the Dame have mended a collar bone and a couple of ribs and +my ambitious young ‘Mercury’ is laid up for repairs. John +‘step-and-fetched’ the mother, Mrs. Locke, and she, too, will get some +rest and nourishment. She’s worrying a good deal, but has no need. +Plucky little Robin will soon be chirping again, ‘fine as silk.’ +Maybe, after school hours, Miss Tross-Kingdon will permit me to take +Dorothy with me in the car to visit her patient. May I, Madam?”</p> + +<p>The Lady Principal did not look pleased. The Bishop’s and the doctor’s +treatment of the new pupil had really softened her heart toward the +girl, but she was a stickler for “rules” and “discipline,” <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>and +remembered that this was not the day on which her “young ladies” were +allowed to pay visits.</p> + +<p>“Thank you, Doctor Winston, but I am obliged to decline the invitation +for to-day. She has entered Oak Knowe some time after the opening of +term and must pass examination, that I may understand for which Form +she is best fitted. Nor have I yet been advised of such houses as her +guardians desire her to visit. Commonly, the young ladies of Oak Knowe +do not consort with laborers and messenger boys. But I thank you for +your courtesy toward her; and, as that is the bell for my class in +Greek, I must beg you to excuse me and I wish you good morning, Dr. +Winston. Come, Miss Calvert, I will have your examination begin at +once. Make your obeisance to the doctor.”</p> + +<p>Dolly’s heart sank. Why should she be made to feel so guilty and +insignificant? Still, as she turned to follow the teacher, she +obediently saluted the physician and, glancing up into his face, +saw—was it possible that he winked?</p> + +<p>Though she felt as she were going to be tried for her life, this sight +so surprised her, that she giggled hysterically and thus irreverently +followed the haughty instructress out of the room. So doing, she added +one more to the list of misdemeanors that lady had already placed +against her account.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>PEERS AND COMMONS</h3> + +<p>Along the hall down which Dorothy followed the Lady Principal were +many doors opening into small class rooms. Each class was under its +especial teacher, its number being limited to ten students. It was the +policy of the school that by this division better instruction could be +given each pupil, and Dorothy wondered to which of these groups—if +any—she would be assigned. Another hall and other class rooms joined +the first and longer one, at a right angle, and here Miss Muriel +paused, directing:</p> + +<p>“Proceed down this corridor till you reach the parlor at its end. +There you will find Miss Hexam awaiting you. She will test your +scholarship and report to me. Do not fail to answer her questions +promptly and distinctly. I observe that you do not enunciate well. You +slur some of your words and clip the endings from your participles. To +say ‘hopin’’ or ‘runnin’’ is execrable. Also, there is no such word as +‘daown’ or ‘araoun’.’”</p> + +<p>Dorothy’s temper rose. She had done nothing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>right, it seemed, since +she had arrived at this “school for criticism,” as she termed it, and +now said pertly:</p> + +<p>“I reckon that’s the Southern way of talking. I noticed that the +Bishop didn’t bother about his ‘gs’ and he had the same twang that all +do down home. He must have lived there a right smart time when he was +little.”</p> + +<p>“Many things are permissible in a cultured old gentleman which are not +in an ignorant and forward girl. You came here for your own +improvement. I shall see that you attain it; or, if you fail in this +after a reasonable trial, you cannot be retained. That rule is plainly +stated in our circular. I will bid you good morning until I send for +you.”</p> + +<p>Poor Dorothy fairly withered under this sternness that she felt was +unjust, but she felt, also, that she had been impertinent, and running +after Miss Muriel, as she moved away, she caught the lady’s sleeve, +imploring:</p> + +<p>“Please don’t think I’m all bad, Miss Tross-Kingdon! I’ve been +heedless and saucy, but I didn’t mean it—not for badness. Please wait +and try me and I <i>will</i> ‘improve,’ as you said. Please, please! It +would break Aunt Betty’s heart if she thought I wasn’t good and—and +I’m so unhappy! Please forgive me.”</p> + +<p>The dark eyes, lifted so appealingly, filled with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>tears which their +owner bravely restrained, and the Lady Principal was touched by this +self-control. Also, under all her sternness, she was just.</p> + +<p>“Certainly, Dorothy, your apology is sufficient. Now go at once to +Miss Hexam and do yourself credit. If you have studied music, another +person will examine you in that.”</p> + +<p>Impulsively Dorothy caught the lady’s hand and kissed it; and, +fortunately, did not observe that dainty person wipe off the caress +with her handkerchief.</p> + +<p>Then summoning her courage, the new pupil hurried to the end parlor +and entered it as she had been taught. But the “den of inquisition,” +as some of the girls had named it, proved anything but that to +Dorothy.</p> + +<p>“The Inquisitor” was a lovely, white-haired woman, clothed in soft +white wool, and smiling so gently toward the trembling girl that all +fear instantly left her.</p> + +<p>“So this is Dorothy Calvert, our little maid from Dixie. You’ll find a +wide difference between your Southland and our Province, but I hope +you’ll find the change a pleasant one. Take this chair before the +fire. You’ll find it comfortable. I love these autumn days, when a +blazing log can keep us warm. It’s so fragrant and cheerful and far +more romantic than a coil of steam pipe. Have a biscuit, dear?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p><p>Miss Hexam motioned to a low wicker chair, which some girls had +declared a “chair of torture,” but which suited Dorothy exactly, for +it was own mate to her own little reading chair “at home.” Almost she +could have kissed it for its likeness, but was allowed no time for +foolishness. The homely little treat of the simple crackers banished +all shyness and the dreaded “exam” proved really but a social visit, +the girl not dreaming that under this friendly talk was a careful +probing of her own character and attainments. Nor did she understand +just then how greatly her answers pleased the gentle “Inquisitor.”</p> + +<p>“You want me to ‘begin at the beginning’? Why, that’s a long way back, +when I was a mere midget. A baby only a year and a half old. Papa and +mamma died away out west, but, of course, I didn’t know that then. I +didn’t know anything, I reckon, except how to make Mother Martha +trouble. My father was Aunt Betty’s nephew and she didn’t like his +marrying mamma. I don’t know why; only Ephraim says ‘Miss Betty was +allays full o’ notions same’s a aig’s full o’ meat.’ Ephy’s Aunt +Betty’s ‘boy,’ about as old as she is—something over eighty. Nobody +knows just auntie’s real age, except Ephraim and Dinah. They’ve lived +with her always and treat her now just as if she were a child. It’s +too funny for words, sometimes, to hear the three <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>of them argue over +some thing or trifle. She’ll let them go a certain length; then all at +once she’ll put on her dignity and they fairly begin to tremble. She’s +mistress then and they’re her servants, but I do believe either one +would die to prolong her life. Dinah says: ‘’Pears lak death an’ dyin’ +nebah gwine come nigh my Miss Betty Calvert.’ And she’s just right. +Everybody thinks my darling aunt is the sweetest, most wonderful woman +in the world. But I beg your pardon. I didn’t mean to talk so much and +hinder your examination.”</p> + +<p>“Oh! that is all right. I love to hear your story that you’ve left off +at its beginning. You’re only a ‘baby’ so far, you know.”</p> + +<p>“Well, if you like. When my father died, my mother felt that she would +die, too, and she couldn’t bear to leave me alone. So she just sent me +to Aunt Betty. But she felt, auntie did, that she couldn’t be bothered +with a ‘squalling baby,’ nor could she cast me off, really. ’Cause she +was my real great-aunt and my nearest relation and was rich enough to +do what she liked in a money way. Besides, she wanted me to be raised +real sensible. So she picked out a splendid couple she knew and had me +left on their doorstep. She had pinned to my clothes that my name was +‘Dorothy C.’ Their name began with ‘C,’ too, so they guessed I was +meant for them to keep, because they hadn’t <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>any other child. What a +lot I’m talking! Do you want to hear any more? Won’t the Lady +Principal be angry if I don’t get examined?”</p> + +<p>“I will make that all right, Dorothy, and I am greatly interested. +It’s ‘like a story out of a book,’ as the Minims say. Go on, please.”</p> + +<p>“Well, these dear people took care of me till I was a real big girl. I +love them dearly. He was a postman and he walked too much. So he had +to lose his position with lameness and he’s never gotten over it, +though he’s better now. He has a position in a sanitarium for other +lame folks and Mother Martha is the housekeeper, or matron, there. +Uncle Seth Winters, who knows so much that he is called the ‘Learned +Blacksmith,’ is my guardian. He and Aunt Betty have been dearest +friends ever since they were little. They call each other cousin, +though they’re no kin at all, any more than he’s my uncle. He was my +first teacher at his ‘school in the woods,’ but felt I ought to go to +a school for girls. So I went to the Rhinelander Academy and he stayed +at his smithy on the mountain, near Mother Martha’s little farm and +Aunt Betty’s big one, and one vacation auntie told me who I was and +took me home to live with her; and she liked Oak Knowe because the +Bishop is her lifelong friend. She has had my name on the list waiting +for a vacancy for a long, long time; so it’s a terrible pity <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>I should +have been horrid, and offended the Lady Principal.”</p> + +<p>“Let us hope she is not seriously offended, dear, nor have you told me +what the offense is. But bear in mind, Dorothy, that she is at the +head of a great and famous institution and must strictly live up to +its standards and keep her pupils to their duty. But she is absolutely +just, as you will learn in time.</p> + +<p>“I feel like hearing music, to-day, but get very little. All our +practice rooms are sound-deadened. Do you play at all, on any +instrument, or sing?”</p> + +<p>“A little of both, when I’m at home. Not well in either, though Aunt +Betty loves my violin and my little songs. If I had it here, I would +try for you, if you’d like. But it’s in my trunk, my ‘box,’ Mr. Gilpin +called it.”</p> + +<p>Miss Hexam smiled and, opening a little secretary, took out an old +Cremona, explaining:</p> + +<p>“This was my brother’s, who died when I was young. He was a master of +it, had many pupils. I allow few to touch it, but I’d be pleased to +have you, if you would like.”</p> + +<p>“Would you? May I?” asked Dorothy, handling it reverently for its +sacredness to this loving old sister. And, after she had tuned it, as +reverently for its own sake. It was a rare old instrument of sweetest +tone and almost unconsciously Dorothy tried one theme after another +upon it while <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>Miss Hexam leaned back in her chair listening and +motionless.</p> + +<p>Into that playing the young musician put all the love and homesickness +of her own heart. It seemed as if she were back at Deerhurst, with the +Great Danes lying on the rug at her feet and dear Aunt Betty resting +before the fire. Then, when memory threatened to bring the tears she +was determined should not fall, she stopped, laid the violin silently +upon the table and slipped out of the room, leaving Miss Hexam still +motionless in her chair.</p> + +<p>But she would have been surprised had she looked back into the +“inquisition chamber” a few moments later to see the “inquisitor” +arouse, seize a sheet of paper and rapidly write a few lines upon it. +But the few lines were important. They gave a synopsis of Dorothy’s +scholarship and accomplishments, and unerringly assigned her to “Form +IVb, class of Miss Aldrich.”</p> + +<p>The “terrible exam” was over and Dorothy hadn’t known a thing about +it!</p> + +<p>Outside that little parlor another surprise awaited her. A crowd of +girls was racing madly down the hall, the foremost looking backward as +she ran and roughly colliding with Dorothy; with the result that both +fell; while the others, following in such speed, were unable to check +in time to prevent their tumbling over the first pair. Then such +shrieks of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>laughter rang out that the teachers in the nearby +classrooms came to their doors in haste.</p> + +<p>Even they were obliged to smile over the heap of girls and the tangle +of legs and arms as the fallen ones strove to extricate themselves. +They were all in gymnasium-costume and were bound for a side door of +the building which led by a short cut to the gymnasium in the Annex.</p> + +<p>This was Dorothy’s introduction to the “Commons,” the largest and +wildest “set” in the great school. They were all daughters of good +families but of no “rank” or titles; and there was an abiding +opposition among them to the “Peers,” the smaller “set” of aristocrats +to which the Honorable Gwendolyn Borst-Kennard and Lady Marjorie +Lancaster belonged. Mostly the “Commons” were a rollicking company, +going to the extreme limits of behavior where any fun promised to +follow, yet mostly keeping just safely within rules. Their escapades +kept the faculty in considerable anxiety as to what they would do +next, yet their very gayety was the life of Oak Knowe and even the +Lady Principal was secretly fonder of them than of the more dignified +“Peers.”</p> + +<p>As they now scrambled to their feet, she who had run against Dorothy +heartily apologized, yet paused half-way in that apology to stare and +remark:</p> + +<p>“Why, heigho, there! I thought you were a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>Minim, you’re so little. +But I fancy you’re a newcomer whom I don’t know. Please explain; are +you ‘Peer’ or ‘Lower House’?”</p> + +<p>Dorothy laughed:</p> + +<p>“‘Lower House,’ I thought when you knocked me down, whatever that may +be.”</p> + +<p>“It means—is your father an Earl? or your mother a Duchess? Have you +an Honorable amongst you? You hold your curly head as if you might +have all three!”</p> + +<p>All the girls had now gathered about the stranger whom their leader +was so unceremoniously quizzing and were eagerly inspecting her, but +somehow Dorothy did not resent the scrutiny. There were big girls and +little ones, fat girls and thin ones, plain and pretty, but each so +good-natured looking and so friendly in her curiosity that Dolly’s own +spirits rose in response to their liveliness.</p> + +<p>“No, indeed! I’m just a plain American girl and prouder of that than +of any title in the world. You see, all of <i>us</i> are queens in our own +right!” answered the newcomer, promptly.</p> + +<p>“Well, come on then; you belong to us and we all belong to the queen. +Queen, what shall we call you? Where do you hail from?”</p> + +<p>“My home is in Baltimore, and my name is Dorothy Calvert.”</p> + +<p>“Then you must be a sort of ‘Peer’ after all. I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>hate history, but I +remember about that, for Lord Baltimore and Calvert are the same +thing, I fancy. I’m sorry. I hoped you belonged to our ‘set’ and +weren’t an aristocrat.”</p> + +<p>“But I’m not, I’m not!” protested Dorothy. “I do belong to you, I want +to because you look so friendly and I need friends dreadfully. I’m so +lonely, or I was. I’ve just come, you know.”</p> + +<p>“Have you been ‘inquisitioned’ yet?”</p> + +<p>“I don’t understand.”</p> + +<p>The questioner explained, and Dorothy exclaimed:</p> + +<p>“Oh! I think that’s cruel! Miss Hexam is perfectly lovely!”</p> + +<p>“So do we think, course, and she doesn’t mind the nickname. It was +first given her by a silly Seventh Form girl who thought she was all +ready for the University yet failed to pass even a Fifth Form exam. I +guess you’ll not be put to study to-day, so best come over to the gym +with us. What stunts can you do?”</p> + +<p>“None. But I’ve told you my name and you haven’t told yours. Thank +you, though, for asking me. I’m so glad to go.”</p> + +<p>“Oh! you poor little lonesome Queen Baltimore! I’m Winifred Christie; +this freckle face is Fannie Dimock; Annie Dow wears that blue bow in +her hair; Florita Sheraton is the fat one; Ernesta <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>Smith the thin; +Bessie Walters—well, no need to point out Bessie. She’s the nimblest +girl in the gym. We here extend the freedom of the Lower House; and +all in favor of grabbing this Yankee into our set before the other set +catches her, say—Aye!”</p> + +<p>“Aye—aye—aye!” endorsed the motion and Dorothy clapped her hands +over her ears, to keep out the ear-splitting shouts. How these girls +dared make such an uproar amazed her; but she did not yet know that in +the “long recess,” now passing, much liberty was permitted and that a +noise which did not interfere with study hours was not reprimanded.</p> + +<p>“It’s the overflow of natural spirits and inevitable in the young,” +was one of the Bishop’s beliefs, and not even the Lady Principal +disputed his authority.</p> + +<p>“Come on, Queenie, and be put through your paces!” cried Winifred, +throwing her arm around Dorothy’s shoulders and forcibly racing her +out of doors and across the lawn toward the gymnasium.</p> + +<p>But arrived there only one or two of the group attempted any exercise. +The rest settled around Dorothy, whom the athletic Winifred had tossed +upward upon the back of the wooden horse, and, with her arms folded +upon the newcomer’s knees, this leader of the “Commons” proceeded to +cross-question her victim.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;"> +<img src="images/i047.jpg" class="jpg ispace" width="320" height="500" alt="“PROCEEDED TO CROSS-QUESTION HER VICTIM.”" title="" /> +<span class="caption">“PROCEEDED TO CROSS-QUESTION HER VICTIM.”<br /> +<span style="margin-right: 9em;"><small><i>Dorothy at Oak Knowe.</i></small></span></span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p><p>“It’s the cast-iron rule of our set to find out everything about +anybody we receive into it. Begin at the date of your birth and +proceed in a seemly manner until you come up to date. Where were you +born? What sort of baby were you—good, bad, or indifferent? Begin!”</p> + +<p>Entering into the spirit of the thing Dorothy gave her simple life +history in a few sentences. But when the questions came as to the +events of the last few days her face grew serious and her voice +faltered.</p> + +<p>“Why did I come to Oak Knowe alone? Because there was nobody to come +with me. That is, Dinah or Ephraim, who might have come, couldn’t be +trusted to go back alone. My dearest girl friend, Molly Breckenridge, +had been enrolled here and we expected to come together, but the +Judge’s health suddenly broke down and he was ordered to California +and couldn’t part with her. Uncle Seth wasn’t well. He’s my guardian +and Aunt Betty’s friend. She’s my great aunt who takes care of me but +she wouldn’t leave Uncle Seth, even if he’s not our kin at all, though +we call him so. Jim Barlow is tutoring in a boys’ school and; well, +Aunt Betty said I could perfectly well and safely travel alone. I was +put into the conductor’s care when I started from Baltimore and he +passed me along to the next one, and they’ve all <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>been splendid to me. +There’d have been no mistakes if I hadn’t been careless myself. But I +was. I missed a train I should have taken and didn’t send the telegram +I ought at the right time and there was nobody at the station to meet +me and—and—”</p> + +<p>“The idea! A girl like you, traveling all the way from Baltimore to +Toronto without a maid or any grown-up to take care of her! That’s the +strangest thing I ever heard. Weren’t you just awfully scared all the +time?” asked Florita Sheraton, amazed. “An English girl would have +been in a blue funk every minute of the time.”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know anything about a blue or other colored funk, but every +well-bred American girl can take care of herself if she chooses. If +she ‘loses her head’ she gets into trouble right away. I lost mine +last night and went riding off at dark with a strange old man, who +said he’d bring me here, instead of stepping into the telegraph office +and wiring the Lady Principal. Then all I’d have had to do would be to +wait for her to send for me, and after all it wasn’t the old man who +brought me, it was Dr. Winston in his motor. He called here this +morning and asked me to ride back with him and see Robin, but Miss +Tross-Kingdon wouldn’t let me.”</p> + +<p>“Course she wouldn’t. She never lets anybody <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>do anything she wants +to, if she can help it. Hateful old thing!” remarked Bessie Walters; +at which the others laughed and Annie Dow inquired, “Who is Robin?”</p> + +<p>Dorothy told the story of last night, her new acquaintances listening +intently, and Winifred commenting:</p> + +<p>“If you aren’t the very luckiest girl in the world! Why I never had an +adventure in my life, yet I’m ages older than you.”</p> + +<p>At this a shout of derision rose, and Fannie Dimock exclaimed:</p> + +<p>“Don’t believe that, Queen Baltimore. There’s scarcely a day passes +that she isn’t in some scrape or other. Why, last term, she was in +disgrace so often I really believed she wouldn’t be allowed to come +back.”</p> + +<p>“Oh! little things like that don’t count. But—” she stopped speaking +so abruptly and such an earnest expression settled on her face that a +mate remarked:</p> + +<p>“Look! There’s something brewing this minute! Look out, Win, what you +do! Don’t mix any of us up in your schemes. I don’t want any more +extras so soon again;” then explained to Dorothy that “extras” were +some difficult lessons any culprit was obliged to learn.</p> + +<p>Just then came the bell for mid-day luncheon, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>and all the Commons +except Winifred answered the summons promptly. But she lingered +behind, detaining Dorothy till the others were out of hearing, and +then suggested something to her which made her clap her hands in +delight. For the secret thus imparted seemed the simplest thing +possible and one in which, to Dolly’s ignorance of Oak Knowe rules, +was entirely right.</p> + +<p>Arm in arm, the new friends entered the dining-room and Winifred +marched Dorothy steadily forward to a seat at her own table, just +opposite that occupied by some of the other “set,” with the Honorable +Gwendolyn among them. Dolly glanced across and nodded, but that titled +young person returned the nod with a stare so intent and contemptuous +that the color flashed to the stranger’s face and her eyes fell as if +she were in guilt. Yet she couldn’t guess why, nor why she should be +relieved when there arose a sudden diversion outside the doorway +toward which everybody turned their eyes.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>THE GILPINS HAVE A PARTY</h3> + +<p>The young ladies of Oak Knowe went out for their afternoon exercise +for the half hour before supper. Those who had been long at the school +were allowed to roam about the spacious grounds without a teacher, but +newcomers, or those who wished to go further afield, were always +attended by one.</p> + +<p>Most of Winifred’s motherless life had been passed at Oak Knowe, even +few of her vacations elsewhere. Her father was a very wealthy man, of +large affairs which carried him often from the Province, to England or +countries further away, so that his home was seldom opened. But to +compensate his daughter for this state of things he had arranged with +the authorities that her school life should be made as homelike as +possible. She had her own private room with a tiny parlor and private +bath adjoining. She was allowed to entertain her schoolmates there as +she would have done in her father’s house; always, of course, within +the limits set by the faculty.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p><p>But Winifred cared little for all this unusual luxury. She rarely +asked for any money “banked” with the Lady Principal beyond the +twenty-five cents a week which any pupil might spend; and she liked +the common parlor far better than her own richly furnished one. +Nothing hurt her feelings more than to have her mates refer to her +wealth or to treat her differently from the poorest pupil.</p> + +<p>But there were times when she enjoyed her privileges to the utmost, +and that first day of Dorothy’s life at Oak Knowe was one such. Not +having been “in disgrace” for a week at least she confidently asked +permission to entertain the newcomer in her rooms, “Just we two by +ourselves. She’s lonely and I like her. Please, Miss Tross-Kingdon.”</p> + +<p>“You’ll be quiet, Winifred, and keep out of mischief?” asked the Lady +Principal, with more gentleness than ordinary. It was natural that she +should feel great interest in the girl she had almost reared and whose +own power for good or ill Winifred herself could not yet comprehend.</p> + +<p>“Ah, now, Miss Muriel, you know I will! Why, surely, I’ve been as good +for a whole week as if I were a kindergarten Minim. You should trust +me more. I read the other day that people are just what you think they +are. So, whatever you <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>want me to be, please just think I <i>am</i> and +I’ll be it!” and the audacious creature actually dabbed a kiss on the +Lady Principal’s own cheek.</p> + +<p>“Wheedler! Well, I’ll try to fancy you’re a saint, but I’m not so +fanciful about this Dorothy Calvert. She’s a pretty little thing and +my Grace made friends with her at once and the Bishop says she is of +good blood. That counts, of course, but she seems to me a little +headstrong and very stupid. I don’t yet understand how Miss Hexam came +to put her into so high a Form. However, I know that she is very +homesick, as all new pupils are, so you may entertain her if you wish. +A maid shall send you in a tray and you are excused from school +supper; but see to it, Winifred, that you use your influence aright. +The more favored a person is in this world the more that individual +should watch her own actions.”</p> + +<p>Winifred thanked the teacher and backed out of the room as if in the +presence of royalty itself. This action in itself was offensive to the +teacher but was one she could hardly criticise; nor did she guess +that, once out of sight, the “wheedler” should first stamp her foot +and exclaim:</p> + +<p>“I’m sick to death of hearing about my ‘influence’ and being an +‘individual.’ Makes me feel like a spider, that time the German count +came to visit Father and called his attention to ‘that individual +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>crawling down the wall.’ He meant ‘one, a solitary thing.’ But I’m no +‘solitary’ just because Father has a little money. I often wish he +hadn’t a pound, especially when some of the ‘Peers’ try to make me +believe he is at least a ‘Sir’.”</p> + +<p>Then hurrying to Dorothy she danced about in delight at her success.</p> + +<p>“Yes, she says you may come, and she’s sure to send us in a fine +supper. Miss Muriel Tross-Kingdon never does a thing by halves, not +even a lecture on ‘individual influence.’ Queen Baltimore, aren’t you +glad you’re poor?”</p> + +<p>“Neither glad nor sorry, Winifred, because I’m neither rich nor poor. +Anyway neither of us can help being just as we are, I reckon.”</p> + +<p>“Come on, though, and hurry up. ‘If it were done, when ’tis done, then +’twere well it were done quickly,’” quoted Winifred, whose class +reading just then was “Macbeth”; and seizing the smaller girl whirled +merrily down the hall.</p> + +<p>Five minutes later, with hats and jackets on, they joined the other +pupils out of doors. To Dorothy it seemed the beautiful grounds were +alive with all sorts and conditions of girls, pacing rapidly up and +down, “sprinting” to warm themselves against the chill of the coming +evening, playing tennis for the brief half-hour, or racing one another +from point to point. There were girls so many and so <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>various, from +Seventh Form young ladies to the wee little Minims, that Dolly +wondered if she would ever know them all or feel herself a member of +the great company.</p> + +<p>But Winifred gave her little time to gaze about her.</p> + +<p>“Oh! don’t bother with them now. Our way is that lower gate, and it’s +a good bit of a distance, I hope you’re a good walker.”</p> + +<p>“Pretty good, I reckon,” answered Dolly falling into step with the +taller girl and hurrying forward at even a swifter pace.</p> + +<p>“But, begging your pardon, that’s no way. We Canadians learn +pedestrianism—whew! what a long word!—just as we learn our letters. +Begin very slowly at first. Then when your muscles are limbered, walk +faster—and faster—and faster! Till it seems as if your legs swing up +and down of their own accord, just like machines. It’s wonderful then +how little you tire and how far you can go. Slack up a bit and I’ll +show you.”</p> + +<p>Absorbed in this new lesson Dorothy scarcely noticed when they left +Oak Knowe limits and struck out along a country lane, with hedgerows +at either side; nor when having climbed a stile they set out across a +plowed field, till her feet grew heavy with the soil they gathered.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p><p>“Oh! dear! What mud! Why do you walk in it, Winifred?”</p> + +<p>“It’s the shortest road. Here’s a stone. Stop a bit and scrape it +off—as I do. See?” answered the other, calmly illustrating her +advice.</p> + +<p>“But I don’t like it. My shoes will be ruined!” wailed Dolly who was +always finical about “dirt.”</p> + +<p>“Humph! Haven’t you another pair? But they ought to be—such +flimsy-wimpsy affairs! Look at mine. A bit of mud more or less can’t +hurt them and it’s the boot-boy’s business to clean them.”</p> + +<p>The English girl held forth a good sized foot clad in a still larger +shoe of calfskin, which though soiled with the clay had not absorbed +much of its moisture: while the finer affairs of Dorothy’s were +already wet through, making her uncomfortable.</p> + +<p>“I couldn’t walk in such heavy boots. And it’s raining again. It +rained last night. Does it rain every day in Canada? We ought to go +back. Do let’s, and try this some other time. I reckon this will +finish my new suit, entirely.”</p> + +<p>Winifred put her arms akimbo and stared at her new friend. Then burst +into a hearty laugh over Dorothy’s disgusted face.</p> + +<p>“Ha, ha, ha! And ‘I reckon,’ little southerner, that you’ll be a more +sensible girl after you’ve lived up here a while. The idea of turning +back <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>because it rains! absurd! Why, it’s fine, just fine! The Lady +Principal will overhaul your fair-weather-clothes and see that you get +some fit to stand anything. This homespun suit of mine couldn’t get +wet through if it tried! But I shan’t stand here, in the middle of a +plowed field, and let it try. Come on. Its the States against the +Province! Who’ll win?”</p> + +<p>“I will! For old Maryland and the President!” cried Dorothy, and +valiantly strode forward again.</p> + +<p>“For our Province and the King!” shouted the Canadian; and after that +neither spoke, till the long walk ended before the cottage door of old +John Gilpin and his dame. There Winifred gave a smart tap to the panel +and holding her hand toward Dorothy, cried:</p> + +<p>“Quits, Queen Baltimore! We’ll call it even and I’ll never doubt your +pluck again. But you certainly must get some decent clothes—if I have +to buy them myself!”</p> + +<p>Then the door opened and there stood old John, peering from the +lamp-lighted room into the twilight without. After a second he +recognized Dorothy and drew her in, exclaiming joyfully:</p> + +<p>“Why, Dame, ’tis our little lass herself! Her of the night last spent +and the helping hand! Step ben, step ben, and t’other miss with ye. +You’re surely welcome as the flowers in spring.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p><p>Mrs. Gilpin came ponderously forward, a smile on her big but comely +face, and silently greeted both visitors, while her more nimble +husband promptly “step-an’-fetched” the best chairs in the room and +placed them before the fire.</p> + +<p>“Dry yourselves, lassies, whilst I tell the Robin you’ve come to see +him. He’ll be that proud, poor laddie, to have Oak Knowe young ladies +pay him that honor! and he’s mending fine, mending fine, doctor says. +The mother—”</p> + +<p>He disappeared within that inner chamber still talking and as happy +now as he had seemed sorrowful when Dorothy parted from him on the +night before. Then he had anticipated nothing less than death for the +boy he loved, despite the doctor’s assurance to the contrary. He came +back leading a woman by the hand, as protectingly as if she had been a +child, and introduced her as:</p> + +<p>“The bit mother hersel’! Look at her well. Isn’t she the very sight +and image of Robin, the lad? And mind how she’s pickin’ up already. +Just one day of good victuals and Dame’s cossetting and the pink’s +streamin’ back to her cheeks. Please the good Lord they’ll never get +that thin again whilst I have my ox-team to haul with and the Dame’s +good land to till. I’ll just step-an’-fetch the rocker out—”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p><p>At that point in his remarks the Dame laid a hand on his shoulder, +saying:</p> + +<p>“That’ll do, John Gilpin. Just brew a cup of tea. I’ll tell the lad.”</p> + +<p>Winifred was amused at this wifely reprimand, but no offense seemed +meant nor taken. The farmer stopped talking and deftly made the tea +from the boiling kettle, added a couple of plates to the waiting +supper table, and drew from the oven a mighty dish of baked beans that +might have been cooked in Yankee-land, and flanked this by a Yorkshire +pudding.</p> + +<p>“Oh! how nice that smells!” cried Dorothy, springing up to add the +knives and forks from the dresser; while Winifred clapped her hands in +a pretended ecstasy and sniffed the savory odors, admitting: “I’m as +hungry as hungry! And this beats any supper I asked for at Oak Knowe. +I hope they’ll want us to stay!”</p> + +<p>Her frankness made timid little Mrs. Locke smile as she had not been +able to do since she had known of Robin’s accident, and smiling was +good for her. Indeed, the whole atmosphere of this simple, comfortable +home was good for her, and the high spirits of these three young +people delightful to her care-burdened heart.</p> + +<p>For, presently, it was the three—not least of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>these her idol, her +Robin! Dorothy had followed the Dame into the boy’s room and Winifred +had promptly followed her; and because he was the sunny-hearted lad +which the farmer had claimed him to be, he put all thought of his own +pain or trouble out of mind, and laughed with the two girls at their +awkward attempts at feeding him from the tray on the stand beside the +bed. Having to lie flat upon his back he could still use one arm and +could have fed himself fairly well. But this his visitors would not +allow; and he was obliged to submit when Winifred, playfully +struggling with Dolly for “My time now!” thrust a spoon into his ear +instead of his mouth.</p> + +<p>The truth was that under the girl’s assumed indifference to the fact +that she was breaking rules by “visiting without permission” lay a +feeling of guilt. “Double guilt” she knew, because she had imposed +upon Dorothy’s ignorance by stating that during “exercise hour” any +long resident pupil was free to go where she chose. This was true, but +only in a measure. What was not true was that so distant a point as +John Gilpin’s cottage should be chosen, much less entered without +permission.</p> + +<p>But curiosity had been too strong for her and she had resented, on +Dorothy’s account, the refusal of Dr. Winston’s invitation in the +morning. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>Besides, she argued with her own conscience:</p> + +<p>“We’re excused from school supper and free to entertain each other in +my room till chapel. What difference does it make, and who will know? +To-morrow, I’ll go and ’fess to Miss Muriel and if she is displeased +I’ll take my punishment, whatever it is, without a word. Anyhow, Dolly +can’t be punished for what she doesn’t know is wrong.”</p> + +<p>So, feeling that she “was in for it, anyway” Winifred’s mood grew +reckless and she “let herself go” to a positive hilarity.</p> + +<p>Dorothy watched and listened in surprise but soon caught her +schoolmate’s spirit, and jested and laughed as merrily as she. Even +Robin tried to match their funny remarks with odd stories of his own +and after a little time, when he had eaten as much as they could make +him, began to sing a long rigmarole, of innumerable verses, that began +with the same words and ended midway each verse, only to resume. It +was all something about the king and the queen and the “hull r’yal +famblely” which Dorothy promptly capped with an improved version of +Yankee Doodle.</p> + +<p>Whereupon, the absurd jumble and discord of the two contrasting tunes +proved too much for old John’s gravity. Springing up from his chair in +the outer room he seized his fiddle from its shelf and scraped away on +a tune of his own. For his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>fiddle was his great delight and his one +resort at times when his wife silenced his voluble tongue.</p> + +<p>The old fiddle was sadly out of tune and Dorothy couldn’t endure that. +Running to him she begged him:</p> + +<p>“Oh! do stop that, please, please! Here, let me take and get it into +shape. You make me cringe, you squawk so!”</p> + +<p>“You fix it? you, lassie! Well, if that don’t beat the Dutch! What +else do they l’arn children over in the States? Leave ’em to go +sky-larkin’ round the country in railway carriages all by themsel’s, +and how to help doctors set broken bones, and how to fiddle a +tune—Stars an’ Garters! What next? Here, child, take her and make her +hum!”</p> + +<p>Presently, the preliminary squeaks and discords, incident to “tuning +up,” were over and Dorothy began a simple melody that made all her +hearers quietly listen. One after another the familiar things which +Aunt Betty and her guardian loved best came into her mind; and +remembering the beloved scenes where she had last played them, her +feeling of homesickness and longing made her render them so movingly +that soon the little widow was crying and Robin’s sensitive face +showed signs of his own tears following hers.</p> + +<p>The tempting supper had remained untouched <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>thus far. But now the +sight of his guests’ emotion, and a warning huskiness in his own +throat, brought John Gilpin to his feet.</p> + +<p>“This isn’t no mournin’ party, little miss, and you quit, you quit +that right square off. Understand? Something lively’s more to this +occasion than all that solemcholy ‘Old Lang Synin’,’ or ‘Wearin’ Awa’’ +business. Touch us off a ‘Highland Fling,’ and if that t’other girl, +was gigglin’ so a few minutes gone, ’ll do me the honor”—here the old +fellow bowed low to Winifred—“I’ll show you how the figger should be +danced. I can cut a pigeon-wing yet, with the supplest.”</p> + +<p>Away rolled the table into the further corner of the room: even the +Dame merely moving her own chair aside. For she had watched the +widow’s face and grieved to see it growing sad again, where a little +while before it had been cheerful.</p> + +<p>Dorothy understood, and swiftly changed from the “Land O’ the Leal” to +the gay dance melody demanded. Then laughter came back, for it was so +funny to see the farmer’s exaggerated flourish as he bowed again to +Winifred and gallantly led her to the middle of the kitchen floor, now +cleared for action.</p> + +<p>Then followed the merriest jig that ever was danced in that old +cottage, or many another. The cuts and the capers, the flings and +pigeon-wings <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>that bald-headed John Gilpin displayed were little short +of marvelous. Forgotten was the dragging foot that now soared as high +as the other, while perspiration streamed from his wrinkled face, +flushed to an apoplectic crimson by this violent exercise.</p> + +<p>Winifred was no whit behind. Away flung her jacket and then her hat. +Off flew the farmer’s smock, always worn for a coat and to protect the +homespun suit beneath. The pace grew mad and madder, following the +movement of the old fiddle which Dorothy played to its swiftest. +Robin’s blue eyes grew big with wonder and he whistled his liveliest, +to keep up with the wild antics he could see in the outer room.</p> + +<p>Nobody heard a knock upon the door, repeated until patience ceased, +and then it softly opened. A full moment the visitor waited there, +gazing upon this orgy of motion; then with an ultra flourish of her +skirts Winifred faced about and beheld—the Lady Principal!</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>THE FRIGHT OF MILLIKINS-PILLIKINS</h3> + +<p>For another moment there was utter silence in the cottage. Even the +Dame’s calmness forsook her, the absurd performance of her bald-headed +husband making her ashamed of him. She had seen the Lady Principal +passing along the road beyond the lane but had never met her so +closely, and she felt that the mistress of Oak Knowe was high above +common mortals.</p> + +<p>However, as the flush died out of Miss Tross-Kingdon’s face Mrs. +Gilpin’s ordinary manner returned and she advanced in welcome.</p> + +<p>“You do us proud, madam, by this call. Pray come in and be seated.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, yes, do!” cried John, interrupting. “I’ll just step-an’-fetch +the arm-chair out o’ Robin’s room. ’Twas carried there for his mother +to rest in. She—”</p> + +<p>The mortified old fellow was vainly trying to put back the smock he +had so recklessly discarded and without which he never felt fully +dressed. He hated a coat and wore one only on Sundays, at church. But +his frantic efforts to don this garment <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>but added to his own +discomfiture, for he slipped it on backwards, the buttons behind, +grimacing fiercely at his failure to fasten them.</p> + +<p>One glance toward him set all the young folks laughing, he looked so +comical, and even the dignified caller was forced to smile.</p> + +<p>“Don’t see what’s so terrible funny as to send ye all into a +tee-hee’s-nest! but if so be <i>you</i> do, why giggle away and get shut of +it!” testily cried the poor old man. To have been caught “making a +fool of himself” was a “bitter pill” for him to swallow; having always +prided himself upon his correct deportment.</p> + +<p>It was, as usual, the portly Dame who came to his relief, reminding:</p> + +<p>“There, husband, that will do.”</p> + +<p>Then she quietly drew the smock over his head and slipped it back in +proper guise. With this upon him his composure returned, and he +apologized to Miss Tross-Kingdon as any gentleman might have done.</p> + +<p>“Sorry to have kep’ you standing so long, lady, but I’ll +step-an’-fetch—”</p> + +<p>However he was spared that necessity. Dorothy had heard and understood +that the best chair in the house must be placed at the caller’s +service and had as promptly brought it. For a moment Miss +Tross-Kingdon still stood as if she would decline, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>till, seeing the +disappointment on her host’s face, she accepted it with:</p> + +<p>“Thank you. My errand could easily have been done without so troubling +you. I came to see if you have any more of that variety of apples that +you sent us last time. The <i>chef</i> declares they are the finest yet. +Have you?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, lady, I’ve got a few bar’ls left. Leastwise, my Dame has. She +can speak for hersel’, if so be she wants to part with ’em. I heard +her say she meant to keep ’em for our own winter use. But—”</p> + +<p>“That will do, John. Bring a pan from the further bin and show Miss +Tross-Kingdon. Maybe she’ll like them just as well.”</p> + +<p>“All right, wife. I’ll step-an’-fetch ’em to oncet.”</p> + +<p>So this obedient husband went out, his lame foot once more dragging +heavily behind him, and he managing as he departed to pass by Dorothy +and firmly clutch her sleeve, as he hoarsely whispered:</p> + +<p>“Did you ever see the beat! In your mortal ’arthly life, did ye? Well, +I’m ashamed to the marrer of my bones to be caught cavortin’ round +like the donkey I was. Come on down suller with me and I’ll get the +apples. But carry ’em back—I shan’t. Not this night. That +woman—lady, I mean—has got eyes like gimlets and the less she bores +’em into old John Gilpin the better he’ll like <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>it. Worst is, what’ll +dame think? She won’t say much. She’s a rare silent woman, dame is, +but she can do a power of thinking. Oh! hum!”</p> + +<p>So it happened that Dorothy returned to the kitchen, fairly staggering +under the weight of the biggest pan of apples that the farmer could +find. Mrs. Gilpin took them from her and showed them to the Lady +Principal, who was inwardly disappointed at the failure of her visit. +But the business was speedily concluded and, rising, she bade Mrs. +Gilpin good evening. The only notice she bestowed upon her runaway +pupils was to offer:</p> + +<p>“If your visit is ended, young ladies, you may return to Oak Knowe in +my carriage.”</p> + +<p>Dorothy did not yet know how serious an offense she had committed and +merely thought that the Lady Principal was “stiffer” even than usual; +not once speaking again until the school was reached. Then, as she +moved away ignoring Winifred entirely, she bade Dorothy:</p> + +<p>“Go to your dormitory, take a warm bath, and dress yourself freshly +all through. Your luggage has been unpacked and arranged in your +wardrobe. Put on one of your wool gowns for the evening, and come to +Assembly Hall. We are to have a lecture and concert, beginning at +eight. Punctual attendance required.”</p> + +<p>“She acts and looks as if we had done something <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>dreadful, but I can’t +guess what,” said Dorothy, perplexed.</p> + +<p>“Lucky for you that you can’t! Your ignorance of school rules may save +you this time, but it can’t save me. One of the hardest things about +it is, that you and I will be prohibited each other’s ‘society’ for +nobody knows how long. I’m a wild black sheep, who’s led a little +lamb—that’s you—astray. It was fun—<i>was</i> fun, mind you, but—but +it’s all over for Winifred!”</p> + +<p>“Win, you darling, what do you mean?” demanded Dolly, throwing her +arms about her new friend’s neck in great distress.</p> + +<p>“I mean exactly what I say. I’m an old offender, I’ve been there +before and ought to know better. I did like you so! Well, never mind! +The milk is spilled and no use crying about it!”</p> + +<p>Dorothy was surprised to see tears suddenly fill Winifred’s eyes and +to feel her clinging arms gently loosened. Under all her affected +indifference, the girl was evidently suffering, but as evidently +resented having sympathy shown her; so the new pupil made no further +comment, but asked:</p> + +<p>“Do we have supper before that lecture? and should I dress before the +supper?”</p> + +<p>“Huh! There’ll be no supper for you nor me this night! And I’m just +ravenous hungry! Why was I such a fool as to dance that jig instead of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>eating that pudding and beans? Yorkshire pudding’s just delicious, if +it’s made right, and the Dame’s looked better even than our <i>chef’s</i>. +If one could only look ahead in this world, how wise one would be, +’specially in the matter of suppers! Well, good-by, Queenie, with +aching heart from you I part; when shall we meet again? Ah! me! When?”</p> + +<p>With a gesture of despair, half-comical, half-serious, the older girl +dashed down the corridor and Dorothy turned slowly toward her own +little room. There she found her luggage unpacked, her frocks and +shoes neatly arranged in the wardrobe, underclothing in the small +bureau, her toilet things on the tiny dressing table, and the fresh +suit she had been asked to put on spread out upon the bed.</p> + +<p>It was all very cosy and comfortable, or would have been if she hadn’t +been so hungry. However, she had hardly begun undressing before +Dawkins appeared with a small tray of sandwiches and milk, explaining:</p> + +<p>“Supper’s long past, Miss Dorothy, but the Principal bade me bring +this. Also, if there’s time before lecture, you are to go to her +private parlor to speak with her. I’ll help you and ’twill make the +time seem shorter.”</p> + +<p>“Thank you, Dawkins, that’s sweet and kind of you; but—but I don’t +feel any great hurry about <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>dressing. Maybe Miss Tross-Kingdon’ll be +better-natured—I mean not so cross—Oh! dear, you know what I mean, +don’t you, dear Dawkins?”</p> + +<p>“Sure, lassie, I know you have a deal more fear of the Lady Principal +’an you need. She’s that just kind of a person one can always trust.”</p> + +<p>“I reckon I don’t like ‘just’ people. I like ’em real plain <i>kind</i>. +I—I don’t like to be found fault with.”</p> + +<p>“Few folks do so like; especially them as deserves it. But you will +love Miss Muriel better ’an anybody at Oak Knowe afore the year’s out. +Only them that has lived with her knows her. I do know. A better woman +never trod shoe leather, and so you’ll find. Now, you’ve no time to +waste.”</p> + +<p>Nor was any wasted, though Dorothy would gladly have postponed the +Principal’s further acquaintance till another day. She found the lady +waiting and herself welcomed by a gracious word and smile. Motioning +to a low seat beside her own chair, Miss Muriel began:</p> + +<p>“You are looking vastly improved, Dorothy, since you’ve taken off your +rain-soaked clothes. I hope you haven’t taken cold. Have you felt any +chill?”</p> + +<p>“Thank you, Miss Tross-Kingdon, none at all. Winifred says I will soon +get used to rain, and she doesn’t mind it in the least. She says she +likes it.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p><p>The Lady Principal’s expression altered to one of sadness rather than +anger, at the mention of the other girl, but she did not criticise her +in words.</p> + +<p>“My dear little Dorothy, I sent for you to explain some things about +Oak Knowe which you do not understand. We try to make our rules as few +and lenient as possible, but such as do exist we rigidly enforce. +Where there are three hundred resident and day pupils gathered under +one roof, there is need for regular discipline, and, in general, we +have little trouble. What we do have sometimes comes from ignorance, +as in your case to-night. Your taking so long a walk without a +chaperon, and paying a social visit without permission, was a direct +trespass upon our authority. So, to prevent any future mistakes, I +have prepared you a list of what you may and may not do. Keep this +little notebook by you until you have grown familiar with Oak Knowe +life. Also, you will find copies of our regulations posted in several +places upon the walls.</p> + +<p>“And now that we have finished ‘business’ for the present, let us talk +of something pleasanter. Tell me about that ‘Aunt Betty’ of yours, +whom our good Bishop lauds so highly.”</p> + +<p>Vastly relieved that the dreaded “scolding” had been so mild and Miss +Tross-Kingdon so really kind, Dorothy eagerly obeyed, and was +delighted to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>see a real interest in this wonderful aunt showing in +the teacher’s face.</p> + +<p>But her enthusiastic description of Mrs. Calvert was rudely +interrupted by a childish scream and little Millikins-Pillikins flying +wildly into the room, to spring into Miss Muriel’s lap and hide her +face on the lady’s shoulder, begging:</p> + +<p>“Don’t you let him! Don’t you let him! Oh! Auntie, don’t you!”</p> + +<p>“Why, darling, what is this? What sent you out of bed, just in your +nightgown? What has frightened you?”</p> + +<p>“The debbil!”</p> + +<p>“Grace! What wicked word is that you speak?”</p> + +<p>“It was, <i>it was!</i> I seen him! He come—set on my feet—an’—an’—Oh! +Auntie Prin, you hold me close. ’Cause he was a talkin’ debbil. He +come to cotch me—he said it, yes he did.”</p> + +<p>Miss Tross-Kingdon was as perplexed as horrified. That little Grace, +her orphan niece and the dearest thing in life to her, should speak +like this and be in such a state was most amazing.</p> + +<p>For a few seconds she did hold the little one “close” and in silence, +tenderly stroking the small body and folding her own light shawl about +it, and gradually its trembling ceased, the shuddering sobs grew +fainter and fewer and the exhausted little maid fell fast asleep. Just +then the clock on the mantel <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>chimed for eight and Miss Muriel’s place +was in assembly, on the platform with the famous lecturer who had come +to do her great school honor. She must go and at once.</p> + +<p>Dorothy, watching, saw the struggle in the aunt’s mind depicted on her +face. With a tender clasp of the little one she put her own desire +aside and turned to duty; and the girl’s own heart warmed to the +stately woman as she had not believed it ever could.</p> + +<p>Dawkins had prophesied: “You’ll love Miss Muriel, once you know her,” +but Dorothy had not believed her. Yet here it was coming true already!</p> + +<p>“Dorothy, will you please ring for a maid to look after Grace? Wake +up, darling, Auntie Prin must go.”</p> + +<p>The child roused as her aunt spoke, but when she attempted to put her +down and rise, the frantic screams broke out afresh, nor would she +submit to be lifted by the maid who promptly came. Miss Muriel’s bell +was not one to be neglected!</p> + +<p>“No, no, no! I shan’t—I won’t—the deb—”</p> + +<p>“Not that word, sweetheart, never again!” warned the Lady Principal, +laying her finger on Grace’s lips. “Go nicely now with Dora, and make +no trouble.”</p> + +<p>“No, no, no!” still screamed Grace: her flushed face and feverish +appearance sending fresh alarm to her aunt’s heart.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p><p>“Why, look here, Millikins! I’m Dorothy. The ‘sleepy-head’ you came to +wake up this morning. Won’t you go with <i>me</i>, dear? If Auntie Prin +says ‘yes,’ I’ll take you back to bed, and if you’ll show me where.”</p> + +<p>Millikins looked long and steadily at Dolly’s appealing arms, then +slowly crept into them.</p> + +<p>“Pretty! Millikins’ll go with pretty Dorothy!”</p> + +<p>So they went away, indeed a “pretty” sight to the anxious aunt. +Dorothy’s white gown and scarlet ribbons transformed her from the +rain-and-mud-bespattered girl of a few hours before, while her loving +interest in the frightened child banished all fear and homesickness +from her own mobile face.</p> + +<p>Little Grace’s room was a small one opening off from Miss Muriel’s, +and as soon as the lecture was over and she was free, she took Dr. +Winston with her to see the child. Her dark little face was still very +flushed, but she was asleep, Dorothy also. The girl had drawn a chair +close to the child’s cot and sat there with an arm protectingly thrown +over her charge: and now a fresh anxiety rose in the Lady Principal’s +heart.</p> + +<p>“Oh! Doctor, what if it should be something contagious? I don’t see +why I didn’t think of that before. Besides, I sacrificed Miss +Calvert’s opportunity to hear the lecture for Grace’s sake. How could +I have been so thoughtless!”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p><p>“Well, Madam, I suppose because you are human as well as a +schoolma’am, and love for your niece stronger than training. But don’t +distress yourself. I doubt if this is anything more than a fit of +indigestion. That would account, also, for the imaginary visit of a +goblin, which terrified the little one. However, it might be well to +isolate Miss Dorothy for a day or so, in case anything serious +develops.”</p> + +<p>By that time Dorothy was awake and sat up listening to this +conversation; and when the doctor explained to her that this isolation +meant that she must live quite apart from the schoolmates she so +desired to know, she was bitterly disappointed.</p> + +<p>“I haven’t been here more than twenty-four hours, yet it seems as if +more unpleasant things have happened than could anywhere else in a +lifetime,” she complained to Dawkins, who had come to arrange another +cot for her to use and to bring the needed articles from her own +little cubicle.</p> + +<p>“Ah, lassie! When you’ve lived as long as me you’ll learn ’t a +‘lifetime’ is a goodish long spell: and if so be you can’t mix with +your mates for a little few days, more’s the blessing that’s yours, +alongside as you’ll be of the Lady Principal. Now, say your prayers +and hop into this fine bed I’ve fixed for you, and off to Noddle +Island quick as wink. Good night and sleep well.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p><p>Surely our Dorothy had the gift of winning hearts, and other Oak Knowe +girls with whom Dawkins exchanged scant speech would have been +astonished by the kindly gossip with this newcomer. Also, the maid’s +belief that Dorothy’s intercourse with the Lady Principal would be +delightful was well founded. Miss Muriel was grateful to her pupil for +her patience with troublesome Grace, and regretful that her isolation +from her mates had come about in just this wise.</p> + +<p>However, Dr. Winston had been right. Millikins-Pillikins had been +allowed the run of the house and, like most children, found its +kitchen its most attractive place. There her sharp tongue and amusing +capers furnished amusement for the servants, who rewarded her with all +sorts of “treats” and sweetmeats. The result was natural, but what was +not so natural was her persistent declaration that she had been +visited by an evil spirit.</p> + +<p>“I did so see him, Auntie Princie! He had big whitey eyes, and his +head was all red—”</p> + +<p>“No more, darling. Say no more. Just play with your blocks. See what +sort of house you can build, or—”</p> + +<p>“Auntie Prin, I do <i>hate</i> blocks! And you don’t believe me. Did +Millikins ever tell you a wrong story in her whole life?”</p> + +<p>“No, darling, not to my knowledge. I’m proud <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>to know you are a very +truthful little girl. But even such can <i>dream</i> queer things. Ask +Dorothy to play for you and me. You know this is the last day she’ll +be shut up here and I’d like to hear some music.”</p> + +<p>Dorothy laid down her book and went to fetch her violin, but the +self-willed Grace would have none of that. Stamping her foot, she +imperiously cried:</p> + +<p>“No, no, no! She shall come with me and seek that old debbil. She +shall so. He had hornses and his face—”</p> + +<p>“Grace Adelaide Tross-Kingdon! if you disobey me again by mentioning +that subject, I shall send for the Bishop and brother Hugh and see +what they can do with you. Do you want to be disgraced before them?”</p> + +<p>The little girl pondered that question seriously. She could not +understand why telling the truth should disgrace anybody. She loved +the Bishop and fairly idolized her big brother Hugh. Her Aunt Muriel +was more angry with the child than ever before in her short life and +Millikins fully realized this fact.</p> + +<p>“I’m sorry, Auntie Prin. I’m sorrier than ever was. I hate them two +should think I was bad and I wish—I wish you wouldn’t not for to tell +’em. I isn’t bad, you only think so. ’Cause it’s the truthiest truth, +I <i>did</i> see him. He had—”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p><p>Miss Tross-Kingdon held up a warning hand and her face was sterner +than any pupil had ever seen it. Such would have quailed before it, +but Millikins-Pillikins quailed not at all. Rising from the carpet, +where she had been sitting, she planted her sturdy legs apart, folded +her arms behind her and unflinchingly regarded her aunt. The midget’s +defiant attitude made Dorothy turn her head to hide a smile, while the +little girl reiterated:</p> + +<p>“I did see him. I have to tell the truth all times. You said so and I +have to mind. I did see that debbil. He lives in this house. When my +brother Hugh comes, he shall go with me to hunt which room he lives +in, and the Bishop shall preach at him the goodest and hardest he can. +This isn’t no badness, dear, angry Auntie Prin; it is the truthiest +truth and when you see him, too, you’ll believe it. If Hugh would +come—”</p> + +<p>Miss Tross-Kingdon leaned back in her chair and threw out her hand in +a gesture of despair. What made her darling so incorrigible?</p> + +<p>“Oh! I wish he would come, I certainly wish he would! This thing is +beyond me or anything in my experience. I almost begin to believe that +Bible days have returned and you are possessed of the evil spirit.”</p> + +<p>Millikins-Pillikins returned to her play in supreme indifference. She +knew what she knew. Couldn’t <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>a body believe one’s own eyes? Didn’t +the <i>chef</i> often say that “Seeing is believing,” when the scullery +maid stole the raisins and he found them in her pocket? She couldn’t +help Auntie Prin being stupid; and—</p> + +<p>“Oh, oh, oh! Hughie’s come! Hughie’s come! Oh! you darling brother +boy, let’s go and seek that debbil!”</p> + +<p>The youth who entered and into whose arms his little sister had +sprung, held her away from him and gasped. Then answered merrily:</p> + +<p>“That gentleman doesn’t belong in good society, kiddie. It’s not good +form even to mention him. I’d rather go the other way.”</p> + +<p>Then he set her gently down and turned to acknowledge his aunt’s +introduction to Dorothy. He was well used to meeting the Oak Knowe +girls, but wondered a little at finding one at this hour in the Lady +Principal’s private parlor. As he opened his lips to address some +courteous remark to her, a shriek of utter terror rang through the +house and a housemaid burst unceremoniously in, white and almost +breathless, yet managing to say:</p> + +<p>“Oh! Ma’am, I’m leavin’—I’m leavin’ the now! Sure, ’tis a haunted +house and Satan hisself dwells in it!”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>AT THE FALL OF THE MAIDEN’S BATH</h3> + +<p>There had, indeed, been strange happenings at Oak Knowe. Beginning on +that first day of Dorothy’s life there, with the crash outside the +dining-room door. That had been caused by the tripping and falling +with a loaded tray of one of the best waitresses employed. Afterward +it was discovered that a wire had been stretched across the doorway, +low down near to the floor, and not easily noticeable in the dim +passage. Who had done this thing?</p> + +<p>Miss Tross-Kingdon paid scant attention to the incident, apparently, +although she caused a very thorough investigation to be secretly made. +Nothing came of it.</p> + +<p>Matters went so wrong in the servants’ quarters that they became +demoralized and several threatened to leave. Thefts from one and +another were frequent; yet as often the missing article was found in +some unusual place where, as Dawkins declared:</p> + +<p>“Nobody but a crazy person would ha’ puttin’ it.”</p> + +<p>One morning the <i>chef’s</i> spotless marble molding-board <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>was found +decorated by a death’s-head and bones, done in red paint, and his +angry accusations of his fellow-workers brought the Lady Principal to +the kitchen to restore peace. But peace did not last long. The head +laundress, who personally “did up” the finest pieces in “the wash,” +found her pile of them deluged with blueing, so that her work had to +be done all over again. These were but samples of the strange +happenings; and though most of the servants had been so long at Oak +Knowe that they considered it their real home, some of the most loyal +to its interests felt they couldn’t endure this state of things much +longer.</p> + +<p>Then had come the fright of little Grace, followed by that of the +housemaid, whom no arguments could calm, and who rushed out of Miss +Muriel’s parlor as she rushed into it, departing that hour for good +and all and to spread far and near ill reports of the great school.</p> + +<p>However, after that day nothing further happened. At a secret meeting +of the faculty it was decided to take no outward notice of these +disturbances, but to keep silent watch until such a time as the +culprit, or culprits, should betray themselves.</p> + +<p>“He or she is bound to do so, after a time. There’s always a hitch +somewhere in such mischievous schemes and nothing worse than mortal +hands has performed this ‘witch work,’” said the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>Bishop calmly, +though vexed that such foolishness could be found at his beloved Oak +Knowe.</p> + +<p>Then for many days the disturbances ceased.</p> + +<p>Dorothy fell into the daily life of the school with all her heart, +making friends with her mates in her own Form and even with some of +the older girls. Best of all, she had lost all fear of the Lady +Principal, whose heart she had won by her devotion to little +Millikins. She even begged forgiveness for Winifred, against whom the +teacher still felt some resentment; saying to Dolly:</p> + +<p>“It isn’t what she did—in itself—so much as her broken trust. She +has been with me so long, she has been taught so constantly, that I +feel indignant at her deception. Anything but deception, Dorothy. +Remember that a treacherous person is more to be feared than an openly +wicked one.”</p> + +<p>“But, dear Miss Muriel, Winifred will never cheat again. Never, I +know. She won’t go off bounds a step now, even though her +‘restriction’s’ taken off. And she keeps away from me till she makes +me feel dreadfully. Says she doesn’t want to ‘contaminate’ and get me +into trouble again. Please let her go nutting this afternoon with Miss +Aldrich’s class.”</p> + +<p>“Very well. She may go.”</p> + +<p>“One thing more, Miss Tross-Kingdon. When may I, may we, go to see +Robin?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p><p>The lady smiled. A sudden memory of the scene upon which she had +entered that rainy evening of her first visit to the cottage amused +her, and she answered graciously:</p> + +<p>“Probably on Saturday, if you wish. Though I am still doubtful whether +your guardians would approve.”</p> + +<p>“I can answer for them, dear Miss Muriel. They are just the kind that +would like me to go. Some of Aunt Betty’s dearest friends are very +poor. She finds them honester and more generous than the rich ones. As +for darling Uncle Seth, he learned to be a regular blacksmith, just so +he could live among them on ‘even terms,’ he said. Yet he’s the +wisest, best man in all the world.”</p> + +<p>In the Lady Principal’s private opinion he was also the most +eccentric; but she did not dash Dorothy’s enthusiasm further than to +say:</p> + +<p>“To me it seems wisest to content one’s self with the station in which +one has been born. To step aside from the normal path in life—”</p> + +<p>Foreseeing a “lecture,” Dorothy interrupted:</p> + +<p>“Beg pardon, Miss Muriel, but there’s Win yonder this minute, walking +with her head down as if she were worrying. She thought her father was +coming home next week and he isn’t, and she’s so disappointed. She’s +reading his letter over again. She said, when I asked her why she was +so blue, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>that it didn’t seem like home here any longer with you +offended, and he wasn’t coming, and she had no real home anywhere. Oh! +you needn’t be afraid of darling Win doing anything crooked again. Do +love her and take her back into your trust, and may I go now to tell +her she can go nutting and about Saturday, and may I hurry up?”</p> + +<p>Without waiting an instant longer, Dorothy took permission for granted +and ran out of the house. In reality, she had grieved far more over +Winifred’s punishment, by being kept on bounds and denied some other +privileges, than that lively young person had herself.</p> + +<p>Winifred was ashamed, but she wasn’t unhappy. Only now this letter of +her father’s, and the longing to see him, had sobered her greatly. Yet +she was ready enough for the next amusement that might offer and +looked up eagerly as Dorothy ran towards her across the lawn, crying:</p> + +<p>“Don’t look so forlorn, Win! We can go—you can go—”</p> + +<p>“They can go!” finished the other, her mood quickly changing at sight +of Dorothy’s beaming face. “Where can they go, how can they go, when +can they go, Teacher?”</p> + +<p>“Nutting, with Miss Aldrich’s class. On their feet. With baskets and +bags and the boot-boy with poles to thresh the trees and carry the +nuts! and on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>Saturday to old John’s cottage to hear the Robin sing!”</p> + +<p>“Oh! do you mean it? Do you? Then I know I’m all right with Miss +Muriel again and I must go and thank her.”</p> + +<p>Away hurried the impulsive girl and in the Lady Principal’s room was +presently an interview that was delightful to both. For in her heart, +beneath a cold manner, Miss Tross-Kingdon kept a warm love for this +wild pupil of hers; and was as ready to believe in Winifred’s promises +as the girl was to make them.</p> + +<p>The late autumn day was uncommonly fine. Not only Miss Aldrich, but +most of the other teachers, were to take their classes to a distant +forest on their annual nutting excursion, from which, this year, +Winifred had felt she would be excluded. Miss Aldrich was not her own +class director, but the girls in it were her especial friends and +belonged to her gymnasium class. They were all “Commons,” except +Marjorie Lancaster, a gentle little “Peer,” whom haughty Gwendolyn +kept well reminded of her rank.</p> + +<p>“I don’t like your being so chummy with those girls, and, worst of +all, with that Dorothy Calvert. She’s a pert sort of girl, with no +manner at all. Why, Marjorie, I’ve seen her leaning against the Bishop +just as if he were a post! <i>The Bishop</i>, mind you!”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p><p>“Well, if he wanted her to, what harm, Gwen? Somebody said he knew her +people over in the States and that’s why she was sent away up here to +his school. I like her ever so much. She’s so full of fun and so +willing to help a girl, any girl, with her lessons. She learns so easy +and I’m so stupid!” protested Marjorie, who was, indeed, more noted +for her failures than her successes at recitations.</p> + +<p>“But I don’t like it. If you must have an intimate, why not choose her +from ‘our set’?”</p> + +<p>“The ‘Commons’ are lots jollier. They’re not all the time thinking +about their clothes, or who’s higher ranked than another. I’m thankful +I belong with the Aldrich ten. We have splendid times.”</p> + +<p>Gwendolyn sighed. She found it very difficult to keep many of her +“set” up to their duty as peers of the realm. “Class distinction” fell +from her nimble tongue a dozen times a day in reprimands to other +“Peers” who would hobnob with untitled schoolmates despite all she +could do; and now to preserve Marjorie from mingling too much with the +“Commons,” she declared:</p> + +<p>“Well, if you won’t come with us, I shall go with you. My director +will let me. She always does let me do about as I like. She’s lots +more agreeable than the Lady Principal, who ought to appreciate what I +try to do for the good of the school. When <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>I told her how Florita +Sheraton had complained she just couldn’t get enough to eat here, she +was cross as two sticks and said: ‘Gwendolyn, if you are a real +Honorable, you’ll not descend to tale-bearing!’ Hateful thing. And she +comes of a titled family, too, somebody said. Yes, I’m sure my teacher +will let me.”</p> + +<p>“Even a worm will turn,” and mild little Marjorie murmured under her +breath:</p> + +<p>“I wish she wouldn’t! But, of course, she will, ’cause it’s the +easiest way to get along. Yet you’ll spoil sport—sure!”</p> + +<p>But the Honorable Gwendolyn Borst-Kennard was already moving away to +announce her intention to her greatly relieved director. For it was +usually the case, that wherever this young aristocrat went, trouble +followed; for, like the ‘twelfth juryman,’ she never could understand +why the ‘eleven contrary ones’ didn’t agree with <i>him</i>.</p> + +<p>Nobody stayed at Oak Knowe, that day, who was able to join this +outing: and when nearly three hundred girls take the road, they are a +goodly sight worth seeing. Each had been provided with her own little +parcel of lunch packed in the small basket that was to be carried home +full of nuts, and each carried a stout alpenstock, such as the +experienced teachers had found a help on their pupils’ long walks.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p><p>“A walk that is less than five miles long is no walk at all for +healthy girls,” had been Dr. Winston’s remark; adding, for the Lady +Principal’s ear alone: “That’ll take the kinks out of them and they’ll +give you less trouble, skylarking. Teach them the art of walking and +let them go!”</p> + +<p>To escape Gwendolyn, Marjorie had hurried to the fore of her “Ten” and +slipped her arm into Winifred’s, who had expected Dorothy instead. But +she couldn’t refuse Marjorie’s pleading:</p> + +<p>“Don’t look like you didn’t want me, Winnie dear. Gwen is bound so to +take care of me and I don’t need her care. I don’t see any difference +between you ‘Commons’ and we ‘Peers’ except that you’re nicer.”</p> + +<p>“Why, of course, I want you, Marjorie. Can you see Dorothy Calvert +anywhere behind? It’s so narrow here and the hedge so thick I can’t +look back.”</p> + +<p>From her outer place and lower height Marjorie could stoop and peer +around the curve, and gleefully cried:</p> + +<p>“Of all things! The girls have paired off so as to leave Gwen and +Dolly together at the very end! Another class is so close behind they +can’t change very well and I wonder what Gwendolyn will do!”</p> + +<p>“I’m sorry for Dolly, but she’ll get on. Gwen has pretended not to see +her so many times that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>Dorothy can hardly put up with it. Under all +her good nature she has a hot temper. You’d ought to have seen her +pitch into one of the scullery boys for tormenting a cat. And she said +once that she’d make Gwendolyn like her yet or know the reason why. +Now’s her chance to try it! It’s all that silly imagination of Gwen’s +that makes her act so. Made up her mind that Dolly is a ‘charity’ +girl, when anybody with common sense would know better. There are some +at Oak Knowe, course: we all know that, for it’s one of the Bishop’s +notions he must give any girl an education who wants it and can’t pay +for it. But I don’t know which ones are; do you?”</p> + +<p>“No, indeed! And if I did, I’d never let them know I knew.”</p> + +<p>“Of course you wouldn’t. No gentlewoman would, except that stuck-up +Gwen. Her mother, Lady Jane’s so different. She’s almost as jolly and +simple as her brother, Dr. Winston. But her Honorable young daughter +just makes me tired! Peek again. What are they doing now?”</p> + +<p>“The ‘Peer’ is walking like a soldier on parade, stiff as can be, +thumping her alpenstock up and down plumpety-plump, hard as nails. But +Dorothy seems to be chattering away like a good one!”</p> + +<p>Winifred stooped and peered between the bobbing rows of girls and +branches of trees and caught Dorothy’s <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>eye, to whom she beckoned: +“Forward!” But Dorothy smilingly signaled “No!”</p> + +<p>“Well, <i>one</i> of that pair is happy, but it isn’t Lady Jane’s daughter! +I fancy we’d best leave them to ‘fight it out on that line,’” decided +Winifred, facing about again. “I know Queen Baltimore will down +Honorable England at the end.”</p> + +<p>Despite her own stiffness, Dorothy’s continued chatter at last began +to interest Gwendolyn, and the perfect good nature with which she +accepted the marked coldness of the haughty girl to make her ashamed. +Also, she was surprised to see how the girl from the States enjoyed +the novelty of everything Canadian. The wild flowers especially +interested her, and Gwendolyn was compelled to admire the stranger’s +love and knowledge of growing things.</p> + +<p>With more decency than she had hitherto shown, she finally asked:</p> + +<p>“However did you come to know so much botany, Miss Calvert?”</p> + +<p>“Why, my Uncle Seth, the Blacksmith, taught me; he lived in the woods +and loved them to that degree—my heart! he would no sooner hurt a +plant than a person! He was that way. Some people are, who make +friends of little things. And he was so happy, always, in his smithy +under the Great Tree, which people from all the countryside came to +see, it was so monstrous big. Oh! I wish you <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>could see dear Uncle +Seth, sitting at the smithy door, reading or talking to the blacksmith +inside at the anvil, a man who worked for him and adored him.”</p> + +<p>The Honorable Gwendolyn stiffened again, and walked along in freezing +silence. She would have joined some other girl ahead, but none invited +her, and she was too proud to beg for a place beside those who should +have felt it an honor to have her. Besides, pride kept her to her +place in the rear.</p> + +<p>“Huh! I’ll show this Yankee farrier’s niece that I am above caring who +is near me. But it’s horrid to be forced into such a position and I +wish I hadn’t come. Goodness! how her tongue runs! And now what freak +sets her ‘Oh-ing!’ and ‘Ah-ing!’ that style?” ran Gwendolyn’s +thoughts, and she showed her annoyance by asking:</p> + +<p>“Miss Calvert, will you oblige me by not screaming quite so loud? It’s +wretched form and gets on my nerves, for I’m not used to that sort of +thing.”</p> + +<p>“Neither am I!” laughed Dorothy; “but you see, I never saw anything so +lovely as that glimpse before. I couldn’t help crying out—we came +upon it so suddenly. Do see yonder!”</p> + +<p>Her finger pointed westward, then was promptly drawn back, as she +admitted:</p> + +<p>“Pointing is ‘bad form,’ too, I’ve been taught. But do look—do look! +It’s just like fairyland!”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p><p>Gwendolyn did look, though rather against her will, and paused, as +charmed as Dorothy, but in a quieter fashion. She was a considerable +artist and her gift in painting her one great talent. Oddly enough, +too, she cared less for the praise of others than for the delight of +handling her brush.</p> + +<p>Beyond, a sudden break in the thick wood revealed a tumbling +waterfall, descending from a cliff by almost regular steps into a +sunlit pool below. Bordering it on both sides were trees of gorgeous +coloring and mountain ashes laden with their brilliant berries; while +a shimmering vapor rose from the pool beneath, half veiling the little +cascade, foaming white upon the rocks.</p> + +<p>For a moment Gwendolyn regarded the scene in silence but with shining +eyes and parted lips. Then she exclaimed:</p> + +<p>“The very spot we’ve searched for so often and never found! ‘The +Maiden’s Bath,’ it’s called. I’ve heard about it so much. The story is +that there was an Indian girl so lovely and pure that it was thought a +mortal sin for mortal eyes to look upon her. She had devoted herself +to the service of the Great Spirit and, to reward her, He formed this +beautiful Bath for her use alone, hid it so deep in the heart of the +forest that no one could find it but she. There was but one trail +which led to it and—we’ve found it, we’ve found it! Hurry up! Come.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p><p>Dorothy stared. Here seemed a new Gwendolyn, whose tongue ran quite as +rapidly as her own had ever done, and whose haughty face was now +transformed by eager delight. As the young artist ran forward toward +the spot, Dolly noticed that no other girl was in sight. They two had +turned a little aside from the smoother path which the rest had taken, +Dorothy following the lure of some new wild flower and Gwendolyn +stiffly following her. Only a minute before the chatter and laughter +of many girls had filled the air; now, save for their own footsteps on +the fallen leaves, there was no sound.</p> + +<p>“I wonder where the rest are! Did you see which way they went, +Gwendolyn?”</p> + +<p>“No. I didn’t notice. But they’re just around the next turn, I fancy. +Oh! to think I’ve found the Bath at last. I must make a little sketch +of it and come back as soon as I can with my color box. How the studio +girls will envy me! Every time we’ve been in these woods we’ve +searched for it and now to come upon it all at once, never dreaming, +makes me proud! But—<i>don’t you tell</i>. I’d begun something else for +next exhibition, but I shall drop that and do this. I’ll get leave to +do it in my recreation hours in some empty class room, and bring it +out as a surprise. I wish I’d found it alone. I wish nobody knew it +but me. It must be kept a secret—so don’t you dare to tell. Come on.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p><p>“Huh! I reckon if you’ll stick to facts, it was I—not you—who found +it. I don’t see why I should keep it secret. It doesn’t belong to +either of us, it belongs to the whole world. I wish everybody who +loves beauty could enjoy it,” answered Dorothy, warmly.</p> + +<p>“Well, go tell then, tattle-tale! You might know a common girl like +you would be hateful to her betters, if she got a chance!” retorted +Gwendolyn, angrily.</p> + +<p>It rose to Dorothy’s lips to respond: “Tattle-tale and mischief-maker +is what all the girls know <i>you</i> are!” but she kept the hard words +back, “counting ten” vigorously, and also listening for some sound of +her now invisible schoolmates. She wasn’t a timid girl, but the +silence of this deep forest startled her, nor looking around could she +discover by what path they had come to this place.</p> + +<p>Then Gwendolyn was hurrying forward, carrying the pocket-pad and +pencil without which she went nowhere, and careless of everything but +to get her sketch. So Dorothy followed, forgetting her resentment in +watching her companion. To see Gwen’s head turning this way, then +that, squinting her eyes and holding her pencil before them, measuring +distance thus and seeking the “right light,” interested the watcher +for the time.</p> + +<p>Finally, the artist had secured a point which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>suited her and, seating +herself, rapidly drew a picture of one view. She worked so deftly and +confidently, that Dorothy’s only feeling now was one of admiration.</p> + +<p>Then a new position was sought and another sketch made, but Gwen +permitted no talk between them.</p> + +<p>“I can’t work and talk, too; please be still, can’t you?” she asked, +looking up from her work.</p> + +<p>And again the real earnestness of the girl she disliked made Dorothy +obedient, again rising to follow while Gwen chose another view still, +high up near the top of the wonderful cascade. Her face had grown pink +and animated and her eyes glowed with enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>“I shall paint that misty-veil with a glaze of ultramarine. There +should be an underwash of madder, and maybe terre verte. Oh! if I can +only make it look one atom as I see it! We must come here again and +again, you and I, Miss Calvert, and you must—you simply <i>must</i> keep +the secret of our finding till after I’ve exhibited my picture.”</p> + +<p>“All right. How long will it be before we can go find the others? you +know we can’t gather any nuts right here. I don’t see a single nut +tree.”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know how long I shall be, and why care about nuts while we +can have—this?” returned Gwen, indifferently.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p><p>“Very well, I guess I’ll take a nap. Seems terrible close in this +shut-in nook and my walk has made me sleepy. I reckon I’ll take a nap. +Wake me up when you get through.”</p> + +<p>So saying, Dorothy curled down upon a mass of mighty ferns, laid her +head on her arm and went to sleep. For how long she never knew, but +her awakening was sudden and startling. She had been roused from a +dream of Bellevieu, her Baltimore home, and of dear Aunt Betty feeding +her pets, the Great Danes.</p> + +<p>Brushing the slumber from her eyes, she gazed about her, wondering for +an instant, where she was. Then—that frantic shriek again:</p> + +<p>“Help! Help! I’m dr—”</p> + +<p>The cry died in a gurgle and Dorothy sprang to her feet in terror. She +had warned Gwendolyn not to take that high seat so close to that +slippery rock, from beneath which the cascade began its downward flow.</p> + +<p>“If you fall, it will be straight into the pool. Do be careful, Gwen, +how you move.”</p> + +<p>But the warning had been useless—Gwendolyn was already in the pool.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>ALL HALLOW EVE FESTIVITIES</h3> + +<p>“I’m going to choose Queen Bess! I’ve made a lovely ruff, stands away +up above my head. And Mrs. Archibald, the matron, has bought me four +yards of chintz that might be brocade—if it was!” said Florita +Sheraton, from the gymnasium floor, hugging her arms for warmth.</p> + +<p>“Four yards! That’ll never go around you, Fatty!” declared Fanny +Dimock, with playful frankness.</p> + +<p>“Well, it’ll have to go as far as it may, then. It cost twenty cents. +That left five only for the white and gilt paper for my ruff and +crown.”</p> + +<p>“Was Queen Elizabeth fat?” asked Dorothy, from her now favorite perch +upon the high wooden horse.</p> + +<p>“What does that matter, whether she were or not? The plot is to act +like a Queen when once you get her clothes on,” observed Winifred, +judicially. “I wonder if you can do that, Flo. Or if it needs another +yard of cloth to make you real stately—she ought to have a train, +oughtn’t <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>she—I might lend you another sixpence. If Miss Muriel would +let me.”</p> + +<p>“Don’t ask for it, Win. You’ve done so splendidly ever since—”</p> + +<p>“That time I didn’t! Well, I’d rather not ask for it. Twenty-five +cents was the limit she set.”</p> + +<p>“Wants to stimulate our ingenuity, maybe, to see how well we can dress +on twenty-five cents a week!” laughed Ernesta Smith, who had no +ingenuity at all. “If it weren’t for Dolly here, I’d have to give it +up, but she’s fixed me a lovely, spooky rig that’ll just make you all +goose-fleshy.”</p> + +<p>“What is it? Tell,” begged the others, but Ernesta shook her head. +“No, indeedy! It’s the chance of my life to create an impression and I +shan’t spoil it beforehand. It’ll be all the more stunning because I’m +such a bean-pole. Dorothy says that Florrie and I must walk together +in the parade.”</p> + +<p>“Oh! I hope it will be a grand success!” cried Winifred, seizing +Bessie Walters and going through a lively calisthenic exercise with +her. “We’ve always wanted to have a Hallowe’en Party, but the faculty +have never before said yes. It’s all Dorothy’s doings that we have it +now.”</p> + +<p>A shadow fell over Dolly’s bright face. It was quite true that she had +suggested this little festivity to the good Bishop. She had told him +other things <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>as well which hurt him to hear and made him the more +willing to consent to any bit of gayety she might propose. She had +said:</p> + +<p>“There is somebody in this school that doesn’t like me. Yes, dear +Bishop, it’s true; though I don’t know who and I’ve tried to be +friendly to everybody. That is to all I know. The high-up Form girls +don’t appear to see me at all, though they’re friendly enough with +lots of the other younger ones. I heard Edna Ross-Ross saying to +another that all the strange, horrid things that had happened at Oak +Knowe this autumn began with my coming. She’d been told that I was a +charity scholar, belonging to one of the servants. She didn’t object +to charity girls, so long as she knew they were of <i>good</i> family, but +she drew the line at <i>servants’</i> families. She said that Gwendolyn had +heard you, yourself, tell Miss Tross-Kingdon that I was mischievous +and she must look out for me.”</p> + +<p>“My dear, my dear! Surely no fair-minded girl could have so +misunderstood me, even admitting that I did say that—which I fail to +remember. As to that silly notion about the ‘haunting’ business, Betty +Calvert’s niece should be able to laugh at that. Absurd, absurd! Now +tell me again what your fancy is about this Hallowe’en Party.”</p> + +<p>“Why, sir, things can’t be done without folks do them, can they?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p><p>“That’s a poser; but I’ll grant your premises. Proceed with the +argument,” answered the old gentleman, merrily.</p> + +<p>“Well, I thought, somehow, that if everybody was allowed to dress in +character and wear some sort of a mask, the one who had played such +pranks and frightened Grace and the maids might be found out. If +anybody in this house owns such a mask as that horrid one and is mean +enough to scare little girls, he or she wouldn’t lose so good a chance +of scaring a lot more. Don’t you think so? And—and—there’s something +else I ought to tell, but am afraid. Miss Muriel gets so stern every +time the thing is mentioned that I put it off and off. I can tell you +though, if you wish.”</p> + +<p>“Certainly, I wish you would.”</p> + +<p>The gentleman’s face had grown as serious now, and almost as stern, as +the Lady Principal’s at similar times; and Dorothy gave a sigh to +bolster her own courage as she gravely announced:</p> + +<p>“When I took out my white shoes to wear them last evening, there was a +skull and cross-bones on each one, done with red paint: and the tube +of vermilion had been taken from my own oil color box. Now—what do +you think of that?”</p> + +<p>Her listener pursed his lips in a silent whistle, which indicated +great amazement in a man like him, but he said nothing. Only, for a +moment he drew <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>the girl to him and looked searchingly into her brown +eyes. But they looked back at him with a clear, straightforward gaze +that pleased him and made him exclaim:</p> + +<p>“Well, little Betty—whom you always seem to me—we’re in a scrape +worthy of old Bellevieu. We’ve got to get out of it, somehow. You try +your scheme of playing masked detective first. If you fail in proving +our innocence and some other youngster’s roguery, I’ll tackle the +matter myself. For this nonsense is hurtful to Oak Knowe. That I am +compelled to admit. ‘Behold how great a matter a little fire +kindleth.’ A miserable rumor started has wide-spread effect. I could +preach you a sermon on that topic, but I won’t. Run along back to your +mates and try it. Just whisper ‘Hallowe’en Party’ to any one of them +and see if every girl at Oak Knowe doesn’t know beforehand that after +chapel, to-night, the Lady Principal will announce this intended +event. Now, good day, my dear ‘Betty,’ and for the present, to oblige +me, just put those decorated shoes out of sight.”</p> + +<p>This talk had been two days before: and with the Lady Principal’s +announcement of the affair had been coupled the decision:</p> + +<p>“Those of you young ladies that have no costume suitable may expend +their week’s allowance in material for one. Of course, this restricts +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>expense to utmost simplicity. No one may run in debt, nor borrow +more than suggestions from her neighbors. Under these conditions I +hope you will have the happy time you anticipate.”</p> + +<p>So they were dismissed in gay spirits, to gather in groups everywhere +to discuss costumes and the possibility of evolving a fetching one at +the modest cost of a quarter dollar. By the afternoon following, most +of the preparations had been made. Some of the maids had lent a hand +to the sewing and the good-natured matron had planned and purchased +and cut till her arms ached. But she had entered into the spirit of +the occasion as heartily as any girl of them all; and the sixth and +seventh Form students, who rather fancied themselves too grown-up for +such frivolity, had willingly helped the preparations of the lower +school pupils.</p> + +<p>Only one who might have enjoyed the fun was out of it. Gwendolyn was +in the hospital, in the furthest west wing: for the time being a +nervous and physical wreck from her experience at the Maiden’s Bath. +Even yet nobody dared speak to her of that terrible time, for it made +her so hysterical; and for some reason she shrank from Dorothy’s +visits of inquiry and sympathy more than from any other’s. But this +seemed ungrateful to Lady Jane, her mother, now in residence at the +school to care for and be near her daughter. She <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>determined this +“nonsense” must be overcome and had especially begged Dolly to come to +the sick room, dressed for the party, and to relate in detail all that +had happened on that dreadful day.</p> + +<p>So Dorothy had slipped away from her mates, to oblige Lady Jane, but +dreading to meet the girl she had saved, yet who still seemed to +dislike her. She wore her gipsy costume of scarlet, a little costume +that she had worn at home at a similar party, and a dainty scarlet +mask would be added later on. She looked so graceful and winsome, as +she tapped at the door, that Lady Jane exclaimed as she admitted her:</p> + +<p>“Why, you darling! What a picture you have made of yourself! I must +give you a good kiss—two of them! One for myself and Gwen and one for +the Aunt Betty you love.”</p> + +<p>Then the lady led her in to the low chair beside Gwen’s bed, with a +tenderness so motherly that Dorothy lost all feeling of awkwardness +with the sick girl.</p> + +<p>“Now, my child, I must hear every detail of that afternoon. My darling +daughter is really much better. I want her to get over this dread of +what is past, and safely so. I’m sure your story of the matter will +help her to think of it calmly.”</p> + +<p>She waited for Dorothy to begin, and at last she <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>did, making as light +of the affair as of an ordinary playground happening.</p> + +<p>“Why, it wasn’t anything. Really, it wasn’t, except that Gwen took +such a cold and grieved so because other folks had to find where the +hidden cascade was. She just got so eager with her drawing that she +didn’t notice how close she got to the edge of the rock. If I had +stayed awake, instead of going to sleep, I should have seen and caught +her before she slipped. I can’t forgive myself for that.”</p> + +<p>The Lady Jane shook a protesting head.</p> + +<p>“That was no fault in you, Dorothy. Go on.”</p> + +<p>“When I waked up, she was in the water, and she didn’t understand how +to get out. She couldn’t swim, you know, but I can. So, course, I just +jumped in and caught her. There was a big branch bent down low and I +caught hold of that. She caught hold of me, but not both my arms, and +so—so—I could pull us both out.”</p> + +<p>Dorothy did not add that her arm had been so strained she could not +yet use it without pain.</p> + +<p>“Oh! thank God for you, my dear!” cried the mother, laying her hand +upon Gwendolyn’s shoulder, who had turned toward the wall and lay with +her face hidden. “And after that? Somebody said you stripped off your +own jacket and wrapped it around her.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p><p>“It wasn’t as nice as hers, but you see she was cold, and I thought +she wouldn’t mind for once. I borrowed her bathrobe once and she +didn’t like it, and now she’d borrowed my jacket and didn’t like that, +I suppose.”</p> + +<p>“Like it! Doubtless it helped to save her life, too, or her from +pneumonia. Oh! if you hadn’t been there! If—” sobbed the mother.</p> + +<p>“But there wasn’t any ‘if,’ Lady Jane; ’cause if I hadn’t seen the +falls and made her see them, too, she wouldn’t have been near hand. If +she’d gone with the girl she wanted to, nothing at all would have +happened. Some way it got mixed up so she had to walk with me and +that’s all. Only once we got out of the water onto the ground, I +started yelling, and I must have done it terrible loud. Else Mr. Hugh +wouldn’t have heard me and followed my yells. He’d gone long past us, +hunting with his gun, and he heard me and came hurrying to where the +sound was. So he just put his coat around her and made her get up and +walk. He had to speak to her real cross before she would, she was so +dazed and mis’able. But she did at last, and he knew all those woods +by heart. And the directions of them, which way was north, or south, +or all ways.</p> + +<p>“It was a right smart road he took for roughness, so that sometimes we +girls stumbled and fell, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>but he wouldn’t stop. He kept telling us +that, and saying: ‘Only a little further now!’ though it did seem to +the end of the world. And by and by we came out of the woods to a +level road, and after a time to a little farmhouse. Mr. Hugh made the +farmer hitch up his horse mighty quick and wrap us in blankets and +drove us home—fast as fast. And, that’s all. I’m sorry Gwendolyn took +such a cold and I hope when she gets well she’ll forgive me for going +to sleep that time. And, please, Lady Jane, may I go now? Some of the +girls are waiting for me, ’cause they want me in the parade.”</p> + +<p>“Surely, my dear: and thank you for telling me so long a story. I +wanted it at first hands and I wanted Gwendolyn to hear it, too. Good +night and a happy, happy evening. It’s really your own party, I hear; +begged by yourself from the Bishop for your schoolmates’ pleasure. I +trust the lion’s share of that pleasure may be your own.”</p> + +<p>As Dorothy left the room, with her graceful farewell curtsey, the girl +on the bed turned back toward her mother and lifted a tear-wet face.</p> + +<p>“Why, Gwen, dearest, surely she didn’t make you nervous again, did +she? She described your accident so simply and in such a matter of +course way. She seemed to blame the whole matter on herself; first her +discovery of the waterfall, then her falling asleep. She is a brave, +unselfish girl. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>Hoping you ‘would forgive’ her—for saving your +life!”</p> + +<p>“Oh, mother, don’t! You can’t guess how that hurts me. ‘Forgive her’! +Can she ever in this world forgive me!” And again the invalid’s face +was hidden in the covers, while her body shook with sobs; that +convinced Lady Jane that nobody, not even her anxious self, knew how +seriously ill her daughter was.</p> + +<p>“My child, my child, don’t grieve so! It is all past and gone. I made +a mistake in forcing you to meet the companion of your disaster and +hearing the story from her, but please do forget it for my sake. You +are well—or soon will be; and the sooner you gain some strength, +you’ll be as happy as ever.”</p> + +<p>“I shall never be happy again—never. I want to go away from here. I +never want to see Oak Knowe again!” wailed Gwendolyn with fresh tears.</p> + +<p>“Go away? Why, darling, you have always been happier here than in any +other place. At home you complain of your brothers, and you think my +home rules harder than the Lady Principal’s. Besides, I’ve just +settled the boys at school and with you here, I felt free to make all +my plans for a winter abroad. Don’t be nonsensical. Don’t spoil +everything by foolishness concerning an accident that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>ended so well. +I don’t understand you, dearest, I certainly do not.”</p> + +<p>Assembly Hall had been cleared for the entertainment. Most of the +chairs had been removed, only a row of them being left around the +walls for the benefit of the invited guests. These were the friends +and patrons of the school from the near by city and from the country +houses round about.</p> + +<p>Conspicuous among these was old John Gilpin in his Sunday suit, his +long beard brushed till each hair hung smooth and separate, his bald +head polished till it shone, and himself the most ill at ease of all +the company. Beside him sat the little widow, Robin’s mother; without +whom, John had declared, he would “not stir hand nor hoof” toward any +such frivolity, and the good Dame abetting him in the matter. She had +said:</p> + +<p>“No, Mrs. Locke, no more he shall. I can’t go, it’s bread-settin’ +night, and with my being so unwieldy and awkward like—I’d ruther by +far stay home. Robin will be all right. The dear lad’s become the very +apple of my eye and I e’enamost dread his gettin’ well enough to go to +work again. A bit of nonsense, like this of Dorothy’s gettin’-up, ’ll +do you more good nor medicine. I’ve said my say and leave it said. If +John could go in his clean smock, he’d be all right, even to face that +Lady <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>Principal that caught him cavortin’ like a silly calf. But +’twould be an obligement to me if you’d go along and keep him in +countenance.”</p> + +<p>Of course, Mrs. Locke could do no less for a neighbor who had so +befriended her and Robin: so here she was, looking as much the lady in +her cheap black gown as any richer woman there. Also, so absorbed she +was in keeping old John from trying to “cut and run,” or doing +anything else that would have mortified his wife.</p> + +<p>The Lady Principal had herself hesitated somewhat before the cottagers +were invited, fearing their presence would be offensive to more +aristocratic guests, but the good Bishop had heartily endorsed +Dorothy’s plea for them and she accepted his decision.</p> + +<p>In any case, she need not have feared. For suddenly there sounded from +the distance the wailing of a violin, so weird and suggestive of +uncanny things, that all talking ceased and all eyes turned toward the +wide entrance doors, through which the masqueraders must come. +Everything within the great room had been arranged with due attention +to “effect.” In its center a great “witches’ caldron” hung suspended +from three poles, and a lantern hung above it, where the bobbing for +apples would take place. Dishes of salt, witch-cakes of meal, +jack-o’-lanterns dimly lighted, odors of brimstone, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>daubs of +phosphorus here and there—in fact, everything that the imaginations +of the maskers could conceive, or reading suggest as fit for +Hallowe’en, had been prepared.</p> + +<p>The doleful music drew nearer and nearer and as the lights in the Hall +went out, leaving only the pale glimmer of the lanterns, even the most +indifferent guests felt a little thrill run through their nerves. Then +the doors slowly opened and there came through them a ghostly company +that seemed endless. From head to foot each “ghost” was draped in +white, even the extended hand which held a lighted taper was gloved in +white, and the whole procession moved slowly to the dirge which the +unseen musicians played.</p> + +<p>After a circuit of the great room, they began a curious dance which, +in reality, was a calisthenic movement familiar to the everyday life +of these young actors, but, as now performed, seemed weird and +nerve-trying even to themselves. Its effect upon others was even more +powerful and upon John Gilpin, to send him into a shivering fit that +alarmed Mrs. Locke.</p> + +<p>“Why, Mr. Gilpin, what’s the matter? Are you ill?”</p> + +<p>“Seems if—seems if—my last hour’s come! Needn’t tell +me—them’s—just—just plain schoolgirls! They—they’re spooks right +out the graveyard, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>sure as preachin’ and I wish—I hadn’t come! And +there’s no end of ’em! And it means—somethin’ terr’ble! I wish—do +you suppose—Ain’t there a winder some’ers nigh? Is this Hall high up? +Could I—could I climb out it?”</p> + +<p>The poor little widow was growing very nervous herself. Her +companion’s positive terror was infecting her and she felt that if +this were her promised “fun” she’d had quite enough of it, and would +be as glad as he to desert the gathering.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the movement changed. The slowly circling ghosts fell into +step with the altered music, which, still a wailing minor, grew fast +and faster, until with a crash its mad measure ended. At that instant, +and before the lights were turned on, came another most peculiar +sound. It was like the patter of small hoofs, the “ih-ih-ihing” of +some terrified beast; and all ears were strained to listen while +through those open doors came bounding and leaping, as if to escape +its own self—What?</p> + +<p>From her perch on Dr. Winston’s knees, Miss Millikins-Pillikins +identified it as:</p> + +<p>“The debbil! The debbil!”</p> + +<p>Old John sprang to his feet and shrieked, while, as if attracted by +his cry, the horrible object made straight for him and with one +vicious thrust of its dreadful head knocked him down.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>PEER AND COMMONER</h3> + +<p>The lights flashed out. The ghostly wrappings fell from the figures +which had been halted by the sudden apparition that had selected poor +John Gilpin as its victim, though, in knocking him down it had knocked +common sense back into his head. For as he lay sprawled on the floor +the thrusts of that demoniac head continued and now, instead of +frightening, angered him. For there was something familiar in the +action of his assailant. Recovering his breath, he sat up and seized +the horns that were prodding his Sunday suit, and yelled:</p> + +<p>“Quit that, Baal, you old rascal! Dressin’ up like the Old Boy, be ye? +Well, you never could ha’ picked out a closer fit! But I’ll strip ye +bare—you cantankerous old goat, you Baal!”</p> + +<p>Away flew the mask of the evil spirit which some ingenious hand had +fastened to the animal’s head, and up rose such a shout of laughter as +made the great room ring. The recent “ghosts” swarmed about the pair, +still in masks and costumes, and a lively chase of Baal followed.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p><p>The goat had broken away from the irate old man, as soon as might be, +and John had risen stiffly to his feet. But his bashfulness was past. +Also, his lameness was again forgotten, as one masquerader after +another whirled about him, catching his coat skirts or his arm and +laughingly daring him:</p> + +<p>“Guess who I am!”</p> + +<p>He didn’t even try, but entered into the fun with as great zest as any +youngster present, and it must be admitted, making a greater noise +than any. Around and around the great hall sped the goat, somebody +having mischievously closed the doors to prevent its escape; and +across and about chased the merrymakers, tossing off their masks to +see and careless now who guessed their identity.</p> + +<p>“Baal!” “Baal here!” “Who owns him? Where did he come from?” “What +makes him so slippery? I wonder if he’s been greased!”</p> + +<p>At last answered the farmer:</p> + +<p>“I guess I could tell you who owns him, but I’d better not. I don’t +want to get nobody into trouble, much as he deserves it.”</p> + +<p>“‘He?’ Is it a ‘he’ then and not one of the girls?” demanded Winifred.</p> + +<p>But he did not inform her, merely asking when it would be time to bob +for apples.</p> + +<p>“Because I know they’re prime. They come out <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>Dame’s choisest bar’l. +Grew on a tree she’ll let nobody touch, not even me.”</p> + +<p>“Apples! Apples! My turn first!” cried Florita Sheraton, stooping her +fat body above the “caldron” into which some of the fruit had been +tossed. But she failed, of course, her frantic efforts to plant her +white teeth in any one of the apples resulting only in the wetting of +her paper crown and ruff, as well as the ripping of her hastily made +“robe.” Then the others crowded around the great kettle, good +naturedly pushing first comers aside while but a few succeeded in +obtaining a prize. Old John was one of these; so gay and lively that +the audience found him the most amusing feature of the entertainment.</p> + +<p>Till finally Mrs. Locke gained courage to cross to his side and +whisper something in his ear; at which he looked, abashed and with a +furtive glance in the direction of the Lady Principal, he murmured:</p> + +<p>“Right you be. I ’low I’ve forgot myself and I’m afraid she’d blush to +see me so cuttin’ up again. And too, I clean forgot that bag! I’ll +step-an’-fetch it right away.”</p> + +<p>With his disappearance half the noise and nonsense ended, but more +than satisfaction greeted his return, with Jack, the boot-boy, in +close attendance. The latter bore in each hand a jug of freshly made +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>sweet cider but his expression was not a happy one, and he kept a +watchful eye upon the old man he followed. The latter carried two +baskets; one heavy with well cracked nuts, the other as light with its +heap of white popped corn. Bowing low to the Lady Principal he +remarked:</p> + +<p>“With your permission, Ma’am;” then set the articles down beside the +“caldron,” clapping his hands to attract the schoolgirls’ attention +and bid them gather around his “treat” to enjoy it. Then, stumbling +over a fallen mask, he sternly ordered Jack:</p> + +<p>“Get to work and clear these things up, and don’t you forget to save +Baal’s, for, likely, ’twill be needed again.”</p> + +<p>At which the boot-boy’s face turned crimson, though that might have +come from stooping.</p> + +<p>Nobody waited a second invitation to enjoy the good things that John’s +thoughtfulness had provided; but, sitting on the floor around his +baskets, they made him act the host in dispensing fair portions to +all, a maid having quickly brought plates, nutpicks and cups for their +service.</p> + +<p>After the feast followed games and dances galore, till the hour grew +late for schoolgirls, and the Bishop begged:</p> + +<p>“Before we part, my children, please give us a little music. A song +from the Minims, a bit from <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>the Sevenths on the piano, and a violin +melody from our girl from the South. For it is she, really, who is +responsible for this delightful party. Now she has coaxed us into +trying it once, I propose that we make Hallowe’en an annual junketing +affair, and—All in favor of so doing say ‘Aye.’”</p> + +<p>After which the “Ayes” and hand claps were so deafening, that the good +man bowed his head as if before a storm. Then the room quieted and the +music followed; but when it came to Dorothy’s turn she was nowhere to +be seen. Girlish cries for “Queenie!” “Miss Dixie!” “Dolly! Dolly +Doodles!” “Miss Calvert to the front!” failed to bring her.</p> + +<p>“Gone to ‘step-an’-fetch’ her fiddle—or Mr. Gilpin’s, maybe!” +suggested Winifred, with a mischievous glance at the old man who sat +on the floor in the midst of the girls, gay now as any of them and +still urging them to take “just a han’ful more” of the nuts he had +been at such pains to crack for them.</p> + +<p>But neither Dorothy nor “fiddle” appeared; and the festivities came to +a close without her.</p> + +<p>“Queer where Queenie went to!” said Florita, walking along the hall +toward her dormitory, “and as queer, too, where that goat came from.”</p> + +<p>“Seemed to be an old acquaintance of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>farmer’s, didn’t it? He +called it ‘Baal,’ as if that was its name; and wasn’t it too funny for +words? to see him chasing after it, catching it and letting it slip +away so, till Jack caught it and led it away. From the way he acted I +believe <i>he</i> was the one who owns it and rigged it up so,” said +Ernesta, beside her.</p> + +<p>“Well, no matter. I’m so sleepy I can hardly keep my eyes open! But +what a glorious time we’ve had; and what a mess Assembly Hall is in.”</p> + +<p>“Who cares? We’re had the fun and now Jack and the scullery boy will +have to put it in order for us. Matron’ll see to that. Good night.”</p> + +<p>They parted, each entering her own cubicle and each wondering somewhat +why Dorothy did not come to hers. Commonly she was the most prompt of +all in retiring and this was long past the usual hour. Could they have +seen her at that moment their surprise would have been even greater.</p> + +<p>Long before, while the feast was at its height, the girl had quietly +slipped away.</p> + +<p>Despite the fun she had so heartily enjoyed, thoughts of the visit to +Gwendolyn’s sick room, which she had made just before it, kept coming +into her mind: and her thoughts running thus:</p> + +<p>“Gwen was ill, she really was, although Lady Jane seemed to think her +only whimsical. She <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>looked so unhappy and maybe partly because she +couldn’t be in this first Hallowe’en party. It was too bad. I felt as +if she must come and when I said so to Winnie she just laughed and +answered: ‘Serves her right. Gwendolyn has always felt herself the top +of the heap, that nothing could go on just right if she didn’t boss +the job. Now she’ll find out that a little “Commoner” like you can do +what no “Peer” ever did. Don’t go worrying over that girl, Queen +Baltimore. A lesson or two like this will do her good. She’d be as +nice as anybody if it wasn’t for her wretched stuck-up-ness. Miss +Muriel says it’s no harm to be proud if it’s pride of the right sort. +But pride of rank—Huh! How can anybody help where they’re born or who +their parents are? Don’t you be silly, too, Dorothy Calvert, and pity +somebody who’d resent the pity. I never knew a girl like you. You make +me provoked. Never have a really, truly good time because you happen +to know of somebody else that isn’t having it. I say again: If the +Honorable Gwendolyn Borst-Kennard feels bad because she isn’t in this +racket I’m downright glad of it. She has spoiled lots of good times +for other girls and ‘turn about’s fair play.’”</p> + +<p>“Now, Winnie dear, your ‘bark is worse than your bite’ if I can quote +maxims, too. In your heart, down deep, you’re just as sorry for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>poor +Gwen as I am. Only you won’t admit it.”</p> + +<p>“Well, if you think so, all right. You’re a stubborn little thing and +once you take a notion into your brain nobody can take it out. ‘Where +are you going, my pretty maid? I’m going a studying, sir, she said;’” +and tossing an airy kiss in Dorothy’s direction, ran swiftly away.</p> + +<p>Yet events proved that, as Winifred had argued, Dorothy’s opinion did +not alter. Neither could she be sorry for anyone without trying to +help them in some way.</p> + +<p>The simple country treat of nuts, popped corn, and cider had proved +enjoyable to other schoolmates—why shouldn’t it to Gwendolyn? She’d +try it, anyway. So, unnoticed by those around her, Dolly heaped her +own plate with the good things, placing a tumbler of cider in the +middle and hurried away, or rather glided away, so gently she moved +until she reached the doorway. There she ran as swiftly down the long +hall toward the west wing and Gwendolyn’s room in it.</p> + +<p>Tapping at the door Lady Jane soon opened it, but with finger on lip +requesting silence. But she smiled as she recognized who stood there +and at the plate of goodies Dorothy had brought. Then she gently drew +her in, nodding toward the cot where her daughter seemed asleep.</p> + +<p>She was not, however, but had been lying still, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>thinking of many +things and among them her present visitor. She was not surprised to +see her and this time was not pained. It seemed to the imaginative +invalid that her own thoughts had compelled Dorothy to come, in +response to them.</p> + +<p>“I’m awake, Mamma. You needn’t keep so quiet.”</p> + +<p>“Are you, dearest? Well, that’s good; for here has come our little +maid with something tempting for your appetite. A share of the +Hallowe’en treat, is it, Dorothy?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, Lady Jane, and it’s something different from what we often have. +The farmer, Mr. Gilpin, brought it for us girls and I couldn’t bear—I +mean I thought Gwendolyn should have—might like, her share, even +if—if <i>I</i> brought it. I’m sorry the plate is a cracked one, but you +see there were so many needed and the maids brought what they could +find handiest, I suppose. But—the glass of cider is all right. That’s +from the regular table and—and it’s really very sweet and nice.”</p> + +<p>Now that she had come poor Dorothy wished that she hadn’t. Lady Jane +seemed pleased enough and had promptly turned on a stronger light +which clearly showed the face of the girl on the bed. She could talk +readily enough to the mother but whenever she glanced toward Gwendolyn +her tongue faltered and hesitated woefully. It seemed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>as if the sick +girl’s eyes were still hard and forbidding and their steady stare made +her uncomfortable. So she did not speak to the invalid and was +promptly retreating when Gwendolyn suddenly asked, yet with apparent +effort:</p> + +<p>“Mamma, will you please go away for a few minutes? I’ve—I’ve got to +speak to Dorothy—alone.”</p> + +<p>“Why, certainly, dearest, if you think you’re strong enough. But +wouldn’t you better wait another day? Wouldn’t I be able to talk for +you?”</p> + +<p>“No, no. Oh! no, no. Nobody but I can—Please go—go quick!”</p> + +<p>“‘Stand not upon the order of your going but go at once!’” quoted Lady +Jane, jestingly.</p> + +<p>But she failed to make her daughter smile and went away, warning:</p> + +<p>“Don’t talk of that accident again to-night, girls.”</p> + +<p>“That’s exactly what I must talk about, Mamma, but you mustn’t care.”</p> + +<p>Lady Jane’s heart was anxious as she closed the door behind her and +she would have been amazed had she heard Gwendolyn’s exclamation:</p> + +<p>“I’ve been a wicked girl! Oh, Dorothy! I’ve been so mean to you! And +all the time you show me kindness. Are you trying to ‘heap coals’ on +my head?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p><p>“‘Heap coals?’” echoed Dolly, at first not comprehending; then she +laughed. “I couldn’t do that. I have none to ‘heap’ and I’d be horrid +if I tried. What do you mean?”</p> + +<p>“It began the night you came. I made up things about you in my mind +and then told them to our ‘set’ for facts. I’d—I’d had trouble with +the ‘set’ because they would not remember about—about keeping +ourselves apart from those who hadn’t titles. I felt we ought to +remember; that if our England had made ‘classes’ we ought to help her, +loyally. That was the first feeling, way down deep. Then—then I don’t +get liked as I want to be, because I can’t help knowing things about +other girls and if they break the rules I felt I ought to tell the +teachers. Somehow, even they don’t like that; for the Lady Principal +about as plain as called me ‘tale-bearer.’ I hate—oh! I do hate to +tell you all this! But I can’t help it. Something inside me makes me, +but I’m so miserable!”</p> + +<p>She looked the fact she stated and Dorothy’s sympathy was won, so that +she begged:</p> + +<p>“Don’t do it, then. Just get well and—and carry no more tales and +you’ll be happy right away.”</p> + +<p>“It’s easy to talk—for you, maybe. For me, I’d almost rather die than +own I’ve been at fault—if <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>it wasn’t for that horrid, sick sort of +feeling inside me.”</p> + +<p>In spite of herself the listener laughed, for Gwendolyn had laid her +hands upon her stomach as if locating the seat of her misery. She +asked merrily:</p> + +<p>“Is it there we keep our consciences? I never knew before and am glad +to find out.”</p> + +<p>But Gwendolyn didn’t laugh. She was an odd sort of girl, and always +desperately earnest in whatever she undertook. She had made up her +mind she must confess to the “Commoner” the things she had done +against her; she was sincerely sorry for them now, but she couldn’t +make that confession gracefully. She caught her breath as if before a +plunge into cold water and then blurted out:</p> + +<p>“I told ‘our set’ that you were Dawkins’s niece! I said you were a +disgrace to the school and one of us would have to leave it. But Mamma +wouldn’t take <i>me</i> and I couldn’t make <i>you</i> go. I got mad and +jealous. Everybody liked you, except the girls I’d influenced. The +Bishop petted you—he never notices me. Miss Tross-Kingdon treats you +almost as lovingly as she does Millikins-Pillikins. All the servants +smile on you and nobody is afraid of you as everybody is of me. +Dawkins, and sometimes even Mamma, accuses me of a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>‘sharp tongue’ +that makes enemies. But, somehow, I can’t help it. And the worst +is—one can’t get back the things one has said and done, no matter how +she tries. Then you went and saved my life!”</p> + +<p>At this, the strange girl covered her face and began to cry, while +Dorothy stared at her, too surprised to speak. Until the tears changed +to sobs and Gwendolyn shook with the stress of her emotion. Then, +fearing serious results, Dorothy forgot everything except that here +was someone in distress which she must soothe. Down on her knees she +went, flung her arms around the shaking shoulders, and pleaded:</p> + +<p>“Well, you poor dear, can’t you be glad of that? Even if you can never +like me isn’t it good to be alive? Aren’t you grateful that somebody +who could swim, even poor I, was at the pool to help you out of it +that day? Forget it, do forget it, and get well and happy right away. +I’ll keep away from you as far as I can and you must forgive me for +coming here again just now.”</p> + +<p>“Forgive you? Forgive you! Oh! Dorothy Calvert, can you, will you ever +forgive me? After all my meanness to you, could you make yourself like +me just a little?”</p> + +<p>Gwendolyn’s own arms had now closed in eager entreaty about the girl +she had injured. Her pride <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>was humbled at last and completely. But +there was no need of further speech between them. They clung together +in their suddenly awakened affection, at peace and so happy that +neither felt it possible they had ever been at odds.</p> + +<p>When, at last, Dorothy drew back and rose, Gwen still clung to her +hand, and penitently said:</p> + +<p>“But that isn’t all. There’s a lot more to tell that, maybe, will make +you despise me worse than ever. I’ve done—”</p> + +<p>“No matter what, dearest. You’ve talked quite enough for to-night and +Dorothy should be in bed. Bid one another good night, my dears, and +meet again to-morrow;” interrupted Lady Jane, who had quietly +returned.</p> + +<p>So Dorothy departed, and with a happier heart than she had had since +her coming to Oak Knowe; for now there was nobody there with whom she +was at discord.</p> + +<p>But—was there not?</p> + +<p>Gayly tripping down the long corridor, humming a merry air and hoping +that she hadn’t yet broken the retiring-rule, she stopped short on the +way. Something or somebody was far ahead of her, moving with utmost +caution against noise, yet himself, or itself, making a peculiar +rat-a-tat-tat upon the polished boards.</p> + +<p>Instantly Dorothy hushed her light song and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>slackened her steps. The +passage was dimly lighted for it was rarely used, leading as it did to +the distant servants’ quarters and ending in a great drying-room above +the laundry. Even this drying-room was almost given up to the storage +of trunks and other things, the laundry itself being more convenient +for all its requirements.</p> + +<p>Rumors came back to her of the burglaries which the kitchen-folk had +declared had been frequent of late, none more serious than the loss of +a dinner provided and the strange rifling of safes and cupboard. Such +had happened weeks before, then apparently ceased; but they had begun +again of late; with added rumors of strange noises heard at night, and +in the quieter hours of the day.</p> + +<p>The faculty had tried to keep these fresh rumors from the pupils’ +ears, but they had leaked out. Yet no real investigation had been +made. It was a busy household, both above and below stairs; and as is +usual, what is “everybody’s business is nobody’s” and things were left +to run their course.</p> + +<p>But now, was the burglar real? And had Dorothy come suddenly upon his +track? If she only could find out!</p> + +<p>Without fear of consequences to herself and forgetful of that +retiring-rule she tip-toed noiselessly in the wake of whatever was in +advance, and so came at last to the door of the drying-room. It <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>stood +ajar and whatever had preceded her passed beyond it as the girl came +to it.</p> + +<p>She also entered, curiosity setting every nerve a-tingle, yet she +still unafraid. Stepping behind the open door she waited what next, +and trying to accustom her eyes to the absolute darkness of the place. +The long row of windows on the outer wall were covered by wooden +shutters, as she had noticed from the ground, and with them closed the +only light which could enter came through a small scuttle, or skylight +in the center of the ceiling.</p> + +<p>From her retreat behind the door she listened breathlessly. The +rat-a-tat-tat had died away in the distance, whither she now dared not +follow because of the darkness; and presently she heard a noise like +the slipping of boards in a cattle shed.</p> + +<p>Then footsteps returning, swiftly and softly, as of one in bare or +stockinged feet. There was a rush past her, the door to which she +clung was snatched from her and shut with a bang. This sound went +through her with a thrill, and vividly there arose the memory of a +night long past when she had been imprisoned in an empty barn, by the +wild freak of an old acquaintance of the mountain, and half-witted +Peter Piper for sole companion. Then swiftly she felt her way back +along the door till her hand was on its lock—which she could not +move. Here was a situation suitable, indeed, for any Hallowe’en!</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>THE NIGHT THAT FOLLOWED</h3> + +<p>It was long past the hour when, on ordinary nights, Oak Knowe would +have been in darkness, relieved only by a glimmer here and there, at +the head of some stairway, and in absolute stillness.</p> + +<p>But the Hallowe’en party had made everything give way and the servants +were up late, putting the great Assembly Hall into the spotless order +required for the routine of the next day.</p> + +<p>Nut shells and scattered pop corn, apple-skins that had been tossed +over the merrymakers’ shoulders to see what initial might be formed, +broken masks that had been discarded, fragments of the flimsy +costumes, splashes of spilled cider, scattered crumbs and misplaced +furniture, made Dawkins and her aids lift hands in dismay as, armed +with brooms and scrubbing brushes they came to “clear up.”</p> + +<p>“Clear up, indeed! Never was such a mess as this since ever I set foot +at Oak Knowe. After the sweepin’ the scrubbin’; and after the +scrubbin’ the polishin’, and the chair fetchin’ and—my heart! ’Tis +the dear bit lassie she is, but may I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>be further afore Dorothy Dixie +gets up another Hallowe’en prank!” grumbled Dawkins, yet with a tender +smile on her lips, remembering the thousand and one trifles which the +willing girl had done for her.</p> + +<p>For Dawkins was growing old. Under her maid’s cap the hair was thin +and gray, and stooping to pick up things the girls had carelessly +thrown down was no longer an easy task.</p> + +<p>The rules against carelessness were stringent enough and fairly well +obeyed, yet among three hundred lively girls some rules were bound to +be ignored. But from the first, as soon as she understood them, +Dorothy had been obedient to all these rules; and it was Dawkins’s +pride, when showing visitors through the building to point to Dolly’s +cubicle as a model. Here was never an article left out of place; +because not only school regulations but real affection for the maid, +who had been her first friend at Oak Knowe, made Dorothy “take care.”</p> + +<p>Then busy at their tasks, the workers talked of the evening’s events +and laughingly recalled the incident of the goat, which they had +witnessed from the upper gallery; a place prepared for them by the +good Bishop’s orders, that nobody at his great school should be +prohibited from enjoying a sight of the pupils’ frequent +entertainments.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p><p>“But sure, ’tis that lad, Jack, which frets me as one not belongin’ to +Oak Knowe,” said Dora, with conviction.</p> + +<p>“Not belonging? Why, woman alive, he’s been here longer nor yourself. +’Twas his mother that’s gone, was cook here before the <i>chef</i> and pity +for his orphaned state the reason he’s stayed since. But I own ye, +he’s not been bettered by his summers off, when the school’s not +keepin’ and him let work for any farmer round. I note he’s a bit more +prankish an’ disobliging, every fall when he comes back. For some +curious reason—I can’t dream what—he’s been terrible chummy with +Miss Gwendolyn. Don’t that beat all?” said Dawkins whirling her brush.</p> + +<p>“I don’t know—I don’t really know as ’tis. He’s forever drawing +pictures round of every created thing, and she’s come across him doin’ +it. She’s that crazy for drawing herself that she’s likely took an +int’rest in him. I heard her puttin’ notions in his head, once, +tellin’ him how ’t some the greatest painters ever lived had been born +just peasants like him.”</p> + +<p>“Huh! Was that what made him so top-lofty and up-steppin’? When I told +him he didn’t half clean the young ladies’ shoes, tossin’ his head +like the simpleton he is, and saucin’ back as how he wouldn’t be a +boot-boy all his life. I’d find out one <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>these days whom I’d been +tongue-lashin’ so long and’d be ashamed to look him in the face. Huh!” +added another maid.</p> + +<p>“Well, why bother with such as him, when we’ve all this to finish, and +me to go yet to my dormitory to see if all’s right with my young +ladies,” answered Dawkins and silence fell, till the task was done and +the great room in the perfect order required for the morning.</p> + +<p>Then away to her task above hurried good Dawkins and coming to +Dorothy’s cubicle found its bed still untouched and its light brightly +burning. The maid stared and gasped. What did this mean? Had harm +befallen her favorite?</p> + +<p>Then she smiled at her own fears. Of course, Dorothy was in the room +with little Grace, where the cot once prepared for her still remained +because the child had so begged; in “hopes I’ll be sick some more and +Dolly’ll come again.” So Dawkins turned off the light and hurried to +her reclining chair in the outer hall, where she usually spent the +hours of her watch.</p> + +<p>But no sooner had she settled herself there than all her uneasiness +returned. Twisting and turning on her cushions she fretted:</p> + +<p>“I don’t see what’s got into this chair, the night! Seems if I can’t +get a comfortable spot in it anywhere. Maybe, it’s ’cause I’m extra +tired. Hallowe’en <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>pranks are fun for the time but there’s a deal hard +work goes along with ’em. Or any other company fixings, for that +matter. I wonder was the little Grace scared again, by that ridic’lous +goat? Is that why Dorothy went with her? Where’d the beast come from, +anyway? And who invited it to the masquerade? Not the good Bishop, +I’ll be bound. Now, what does make me so uneasy! Sure there’s nought +wrong with dear little Dixie. How could there be under this safe +roof?”</p> + +<p>But the longer Dawkins pondered the matter the more restless she grew; +till, at last, she felt she must satisfy her mind, even at the cost of +disturbing the Lady Principal; and a moment later tapped at her door, +asking softly:</p> + +<p>“Are you awake, Miss Muriel? It’s Dawkins.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, Dawkins, come in. I’ve not been able to sleep yet. I suppose the +evening’s care and excitement has tired me too much. What is it you +want? Anything wrong in the dormitory?”</p> + +<p>“Well, not to say wrong—or so I hope. I just stepped here to ask is +Miss Dorothy Calvert staying the night?”</p> + +<p>“Staying with Grace? No, indeed, the child has been asleep for hours: +perfectly satisfied now that I and so many others have seen the +apparition she had, and so proved her the truthful little creature +she’d always been.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p><p>That seemed a very long answer to impatient Dawkins and she clipped it +short by asking:</p> + +<p>“Then, Ma’am, where do you suppose she is?”</p> + +<p>“What? Do you mean that she isn’t in her own place?”</p> + +<p>“No, Ma’am, nor sign of her; and it’s terr’ble strange, ’pears to me. +I don’t like the look of it, Ma’am, I do not.”</p> + +<p>“Pooh! don’t make a mystery out of it, my good woman!” replied Miss +Tross-Kingdon, yet with a curious flutter in her usually stern voice. +Then she considered the matter for a moment, finally directing:</p> + +<p>“Go to the hospital wing and ask if she’s there with Gwendolyn. She’s +been so sorry for the girl and I noticed her slipping out of Assembly +with a plate full of the things Mr. Gilpin brought. I don’t remember +her coming back, but she was certainly absent when her violin was +asked for. Doubtless, you’ll find her there, but be careful not to +rouse any of the young ladies. Then come back and report.”</p> + +<p>Dawkins tip-toed away, glad that she had told her anxiety to her +mistress. But she was back from her errand before it seemed possible +she could be, her face white and her limbs trembling with fear of—she +knew not what!</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p><p>“If it was any girl but her, Ma’am! That keeps the rules better nor +any other here!”</p> + +<p>“Hush, good Dawkins. She’s all right somewhere, as we shall soon +discover. We’ll go below and look in all the rooms, in case she might +be ill, or locked in some of them.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, yes, Ma’am, we’ll look. Ill she might really be after all them +nuts an’ trash, but locked in she can’t be, since never a lock is +turned in this whole house. Sure the Bishop wouldn’t so permit, seeing +that if it fired any time them that was locked up could not so easy +get out. And me the last one down, to leave all in the good order you +like.”</p> + +<p>“Step softly still, Dawkins. It would take very little to start a +panic among our many girls should they hear that anything was amiss.”</p> + +<p>Each took a candle from the rack in the hall and by the soft light of +these began their search below, not daring to flash on the electric +lights whose brilliance might possibly arouse the sleepers in the +house. Dawkins observed that the Lady Principal, walking ahead, was +shaking, either with cold or nervousness, and, as for herself, her +teeth were fairly chattering.</p> + +<p>Of course their search proved useless. Nowhere in any of those first +floor rooms was any trace of the missing girl. Even closets were +examined while <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>Dawkins peered behind the furniture and curtains, her +heart growing heavier each moment.</p> + +<p>Neither mistress nor maid spoke now, though the former led the way +upwards again and silently inspected the dormitories on each floor. +Also, she looked into each private room of the older and wealthier +pupils, but the result was the same—Dorothy had as completely +disappeared as if she had been bodily swallowed up.</p> + +<p>Then the aid of the other maids and, even of a few teachers was +secured, although that the school work might go on regularly the next +day, not many of these latter were disturbed.</p> + +<p>At daybreak, when the servants began to gather in the great kitchen, +each to begin his daily tasks, the Lady Principal surprised them by +her appearance among them. In the briefest and quietest manner +possible she told them what had happened and begged their help in the +search.</p> + +<p>But she was unprepared for the result. A housemaid threw up her hands +in wild excitement, crying: “’Tis ten long years I’ve served Oak Knowe +but my day is past! Her that went some syne was the wise one. I’ll not +tarry longer to risk the health o’ me soul in a house that’s haunted +by imps!”</p> + +<p>“Nor me! Him that’s snatched off to his wicked place the sweet, purty +gell, of the willin’ word an’ friendly smile, ’ll no long spare such +as me! A fine <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>collectin’ ground for the Evil One is so big a school +as this. I’m leavin’ the dustin’ to such as can do it, but I’m off, +Ma’am, and better times for ye, I’m sure!” cried another superstitious +creature.</p> + +<p>This was plain mutiny. For a moment the lady’s heart sank at the +prospect before her, for the panic would spread if not instantly +quelled, and there were three hundred hungry girls awaiting +breakfast—and breakfast but one feature of the case. Should these +servants leave, to spread their untrue tales, new ones would be almost +impossible to obtain. Then, summoning her authority, she demanded:</p> + +<p>“Silence and attention from all of you. I shall telephone for the +constabulary, and any person who leaves Oak Knowe before Miss Calvert +is found will leave it for the lock-up. The housemaids are excused +from ordinary duties and are to assist the <i>chef</i> in preparing +breakfast. The rest of you, who have retained your common sense, are +to spread yourselves about the house and grounds, and through every +outbuilding till some one of you shall find the girl you all have +loved. Leave before then? I am ashamed of your hard hearts.”</p> + +<p>With stately dignity the mistress left the kitchen and a much subdued +force of helpers behind her. That threat of “the constabulary” was an +argument not to be defied.</p> + +<p>“Worst of it is, she meant it. Lady Principal <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>never says a thing she +doesn’t mean. So—Well, I suppose I’ll have to stay, then, for who +wants to get took up? But it’s hard on a workin’ woman ’t she can’t do +as she likes,” muttered the first deserter and set about her duties. +Also, as did she so did the others.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile how had the night passed with the imprisoned Dorothy? At +first with greater anger than fear; anger against the unknown person +who had shut that door upon her. Then she thought:</p> + +<p>“But of course he didn’t know, whoever it was. I’m sure it was a man +or boy, afraid, maybe, to make a noise account of its being late. Yet +what a fix I’m in! Nobody will know or come to let me out till Dawkins +goes her rounds and that’ll be very, very late, on account of her +clearing up the mess we made down in Assembly. My! what a fine time we +had! And how perfectly grand that Gwendolyn and I should be friends at +last. She kissed me. Gwendolyn Borst-Kennard kissed me! It’s worth +even being shut up here alone, behind that spring-locked door, just to +be friends. I’m so sleepy. I wish I could find something to put around +me and I’d lie right down on this floor and take a nap till somebody +lets me out.”</p> + +<p>Then she remembered that once she had heard Dawkins telling another +maid that there were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>“plenty more blankets in the old drying-room if +her ‘beds’ needed ’em;” and maybe she could find some if she tried.</p> + +<p>“This is the very darkest place could ever be, seems if! ouch! that +hurt!” said the prisoner aloud, to bolster her own courage, and as she +stumbled against a trunk that bruised her ankle. “I’ll take more +care.”</p> + +<p>So she did: reasoning that people generally piled things against a +wall, that is, in such a place, for greater convenience. With +outstretched hands she felt her way and at last was rewarded by +finding the blankets she sought. Here, too, were folded several cots, +that were needed at times, like Commencement, when many strangers were +at Oak Knowe. But she didn’t trouble to set up one of these, even if +she could have done so in that gloom. But a blanket she could manage, +and beside the cots she could feel a heap of them. In a very few +minutes she had pulled down several of these and spread them on the +floor; and a little later had wrapped them about her and was sound +asleep—“as a bug in a rug, like Dawkins says,” her last, untroubled +thought. So, though a prisoner, for many hours she slumbered +peacefully.</p> + +<p>Down in the breakfast-room matters went on as usual. Or if many of the +girls and a few of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>pupils seemed unduly sleepy, that was natural +enough, considering the frivolities and late hours of the night +before.</p> + +<p>Even the Lady Principal, sitting calmly in her accustomed place, +looked very pale and tired; and Winifred, observing this, whispered to +her neighbor:</p> + +<p>“I don’t believe we’ll get another party very soon. Just look at Miss +Tross-Kingdon. She’s as white as a ghost and so nervous she can hardly +sit still. I never saw her that way before. The way she keeps glancing +toward the doors, half-scared every time she hears a noise, is queer. +I wonder if she’s expecting somebody!”</p> + +<p>“Likely somebody’s late and she’s waiting to say: ‘Miss’—whoever it +is—‘your excuse, please?’ I wonder who ’twill be! and say, look at +the Aldrich ten—can you see Dorothy?”</p> + +<p>Winifred glanced around and answered, with real surprise: “Why, she’s +absent! If it were I nobody’d be astonished, ’cause I always have the +same excuse: ‘Overslept.’ But Dolly? Oh! I hope she isn’t sick!”</p> + +<p>And immediately the meal was over, Winifred hurried to the Lady +Principal and asked:</p> + +<p>“Please, Miss Muriel, can you tell me, is Dorothy Calvert ill?”</p> + +<p>“Excuse me, Winifred, I am extremely busy,” <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>returned Miss +Tross-Kingdon, and hurried away as if she were afraid of being +questioned further.</p> + +<p>Naturally, Winifred was surprised, for despite her sternness the Lady +Principal was invariably courteous; and putting “two and two together” +she decided that Dorothy was in trouble of some sort and began a +systematic inquiry of all she met concerning her. But nobody had seen +the girl or knew anything about her; yet the questioner’s anxiety +promptly influenced others and by the time school session was called +there was a wide-spread belief that some dreadful thing had befallen +the southerner, and small attention was paid to lessons.</p> + +<p>It was not until the middle of the morning that Jack-boot-boy appeared +in the kitchen, from his room in an outside building, where the men +servants slept. He was greeted by reproofs for his tardiness and the +news of Dorothy’s disappearance.</p> + +<p>“Lost? Lost, you say? How can she be right here in this house? Why, I +saw her around all evening. It was her own party, wasn’t it? or hers +was the first notion of it. Huh! That’s the queerest! S’pose the +faculty’ll offer a reward? Jiminy cricket! Wish they would! I bet I’d +find her. Why, sir, I’d make a first rate detective, I would. I’ve +been readin’ up on that thing an’ I don’t know <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>but it would pay me +better’n paintin’, even if I am a ‘born artist,’ as Miss Gwendolyn +says.”</p> + +<p>“Born nincompoop! That’s what you are, and the all-conceitedest +lazybones ’t ever trod shoe leather! Dragging out of bed this time o’ +day, and not a shoe cleaned—in my dormitory, anyway!” retorted +Dawkins, in disgust.</p> + +<p>“Huh! old woman, what’s the matter with you? And why ain’t you <i>in</i> +bed, ’stead of out of it? I thought all you night-owls went to bed +when the rest of us got up. You need sleep, you do, for I never knowed +you crosser’n you be now—which is sayin’ consid’able!”</p> + +<p>Dawkins was cross, there was no denying that, for her nerves were +sadly shaken by her fears for the girl she had learned to love so +dearly.</p> + +<p>“You get about your business, boy, at once; without tarryin’ to pass +remarks upon your betters;” and she made a vicious dash toward him as +if to strike him. He knew this was only pretence, and sidled toward +her, mockingly, then, as she raised her hand again—this time with +more decision—he cowered aside and made a rush out of the kitchen.</p> + +<p>“Well, that’s odd! The first time I ever knew that boy to turn down +his breakfast!” remarked the <i>chef</i>, pointing to a heaped up plate at +the back of the range. “Well, I shan’t keep it any longer. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>He’ll have +the better appetite for dinner, ha, ha!”</p> + +<p>Jack’s unusual indifference to good food was due to a sound he had +overheard. It came from somewhere above and passed unnoticed by all +but him, but set him running to a distant stairway which led from “the +old laundry” to the drying-loft above: and a sigh of satisfaction +escaped him as he saw that the door of this was shut.</p> + +<p>“Lucky for me, that is! I was afraid they’d been looking here for that +Calvert girl, but they haven’t, ’cause the lock ain’t broke and the +key’s in my pocket,” said he, in a habit he had of talking to himself.</p> + +<p>The noise beyond the door increased, and worried him, and he hurriedly +sought the key where he usually carried it. The door could be, and had +been, closed by a spring, but it needed that key to open it, as he had +boastingly remembered. Unhappy lad! In not one of his many and ragged +pockets could that key now be found! While in the great room beyond +the noise grew loud, and louder, with each passing second and surely +would soon be heard by all the house. Under the circumstances nobody +would hesitate to break that hateful lock to learn the racket’s cause; +yet what would happen to him when this was discovered?</p> + +<p>What, indeed! Yet, strangely enough, in all his trepidation there was +no thought of Dorothy.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>OPEN CONFESSION IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL</h3> + +<p>A housemaid, passing through the disused “old laundry” on the ground +floor, as a short-cut toward the newer one in a detached building, +heard a strange noise in the drying-room overhead, and paused to +listen. This was unusual. In ordinary the loft was never entered, +nowadays, except by some slippered maid, or Michael with a trunk.</p> + +<p>Setting down her basket of soiled linen she put her hands on her hips +and stood motionless, intently listening. Dorothy? Could it be +Dorothy? Impossible! No living girl could make all that racket; +yet—was that a scream? Was it laughter—terror—wild animal—or what?</p> + +<p>Away she sped; her nimble feet pausing not an instant on the way, no +matter with whom she collided nor whom her excited face frightened, +and still breathlessly running came into the great Assembly Hall. +There Miss Tross-Kingdon had, by the advice of the Bishop, gathered +the whole school; to tell them as quietly as she could of Dorothy’s +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>disappearance and to cross-examine them as to what anyone could +remember about her on the evening before.</p> + +<p>For the sorrowful fact could no longer be hidden—Dorothy Calvert was +gone and could not be found.</p> + +<p>On the faces of those three hundred girls was consternation and grief; +in their young hearts a memory of the “spookish” things which had +happened of late, but that had not before disturbed them; and now, at +the excited entrance of the maid, a shiver ran over the whole company. +Here was news! Nothing less could explain this unceremonious +disturbance. Even Miss Muriel’s face turned paler than it had been, +could that have been possible and without a word she waited for the +maid to speak.</p> + +<p>“Oh! Lady Principal! Let somebody come! The drying-loft! +screams—boards dragging—or trunks—or murder doing—maybe! Let +somebody go quick—Michael—a man—men—Somebody quick!”</p> + +<p>Exhausted by her own excitement, the maid sank upon the nearest chair, +her hand on her heart, and herself unable to add another word. Miss +Tross-Kingdon rose, trembling so that she could hardly walk, and made +her way out of the room. In an instant every assembled schoolgirl was +on her feet, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>speeding toward the far west wing and the great loft, +dreading yet eager to see what would there be revealed.</p> + +<p>Still anxious on his own account, but from a far different cause, and +still listening at the closed door with wonder at what seemed going on +behind it, was Jack, the boot-boy. At the approach of the excited +girls, he lifted his ear from the keyhole and looked behind him, to +find himself trapped, as it were, at this end of the narrow passage by +the multitude which swarmed about him, feverishly demanding:</p> + +<p>“Boy, what is it? What is it? Is Dorothy in there? Is Dorothy found?”</p> + +<p>“Is Dorothy—”</p> + +<p>Poor Jack! This was the worst yet! At full comprehension of what that +question meant, even he turned pale and his lips stuttered:</p> + +<p>“I—I—dunno—I—Jiminy cricket!”</p> + +<p>He must get out of that! He must—he must! Before that door was opened +he must escape!</p> + +<p>Frantically he tried to force his way backward through the crowd which +penned him in, but could make little progress; even that being +suddenly cut off by a strong hand laid on his shoulder and the <i>chef</i> +forcing into his hand a stout crowbar, and ordering:</p> + +<p>“Help to break her down!” at the same instant <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>Michael, the porter, +pressing to his side armed with an ax. “Now, all together!” cried he, +and whether or no, Jack was compelled to aid in the work of breaking +in.</p> + +<p>But it was short work, indeed, and the crowd surged through the +opening in terror of what they might behold—only to have that terror +changed into shouts of hilarious delight.</p> + +<p>For there was Dorothy! not one whit the worse for her brief +imprisonment and happily unconscious of the anxiety which that had +caused to others. And there was Baal, the goat! Careering about the +place, dragging behind him a board to which he had been tied and was +unable to dislodge. The room was fairly lighted now by the sun +streaming through the skylight, and Baal had been having a glorious +time chasing Dorothy about the great room, from spot to spot, +gleefully trying to butt her with his horns, leaping over piles of +empty trunks, and in general making such a ridiculous—if sometimes +dangerous—spectacle of himself, that Dorothy, also, had had a merry +time.</p> + +<p>“Oh! you darling, you darling!” “Dolly Doodles, how came you here!” +“Why did you do it? You’ve scared us all almost to death!” “The Bishop +has gone into town to start detectives on your track!” “The Lady +Principal—Here she is now! you’ve made her positively ill, and as for +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>Dawkins, they say she had completely collapsed and lies on her chair +moaning all the time.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, oh! How dreadful! And how sorry I am! I never dreamed; oh! dear +Miss Muriel, do believe me—listen, listen!”</p> + +<p>The lady sat down on a trunk and drew the girl to her. Her only +feeling now was one of intensest gratitude, but she remembered how all +the others had shared her anxiety and bade her recovered pupil tell +the story so that all might hear. It was very simple, as has been +seen, and needs no repetition here, ending with the heartfelt +declaration:</p> + +<p>“That cures me of playing detective ever again! I was so anxious to +stop all that silly talk about evil spirits and after all the only +such around Oak Knowe was Baal!”</p> + +<p>“But how Baal, and why? And most of all how came he here in the +house?” demanded Miss Tross-Kingdon, looking from one to another; +until her eye was arrested by the expression of Jack, the boot-boy’s +face. That was so funny she smiled, seeing it, and asked him:</p> + +<p>“Can’t you explain this, Jack?”</p> + +<p>“Uh—er—Ah! Wull—wull, yes, Ma’am, I allow ’t I might. I mean ’t I +can. Er—sho!—Course, I’ll have to. Wull—wull—You see, Miss Lady +Principal, how as last summer, after <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>school was took in, I hired +myself out to work for old John Gilpin an’ he had a goat. Dame didn’t +hanker for it no great; said it et up things an’ got into places where +’twarn’t wanted and she adwised him, that is to say she told him, how +’t he must get rid of it. He got rid of it onto me. I hadn’t got +nobody belongin’ and we’ve been first rate friends, Baal and me.”</p> + +<p>This was evidenced by the quietude of the animal, now lying at the +boot-boy’s feet in affectionate confidence, and refreshing itself with +a nap, after its hilarious exercise.</p> + +<p>“Strange that we didn’t know he was on our grounds, for I did not. +Where have you kept him, Jack, and how?”</p> + +<p>The lad flushed and fidgetted but dared not refuse to reply. He had +been too long under the authority of Miss Tross-Kingdon for that, to +whose good offices his mother had left him when she died.</p> + +<p>“Wull—Wull—”</p> + +<p>“Kindly stop ‘wulling’ and reply. It is nearly lunch time and Dorothy +has had no breakfast.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, Miss Muriel, please but I have. When I waked up after I’d slept +so long it was real light, so I went poking around to see if I could +find another door that would open, or any way out; and I came to a +queer place away yonder at the end; and I heard the funniest +noise—‘ih-ih-ih—Ah-umph!’ <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>something like that. Then I knew it was +the goat, that I’d heard pat-pat-pattering along the hall last night +and that I’d followed. And I guessed it was Jack, instead of a +burglar, who’d rushed past me and locked me in. I was mighty glad to +see anybody, even a goat, and I opened the gate to the place and Baal +jumped out. He was tied to that board—he’d pulled it off the gate, +and was as glad to see me as I was him. That little sort of cupboard, +or cubby-hole, had lots of excelsior in it; I guess it had come around +crockery or something, and that was where Baal slept. There was a tin +box there, too, and I opened it. I was glad enough then! For it was +half full of cakes and apples and a lemon pie, that you call a +‘Christchurch’ up here in Canada; and before I knew it Baal had his +nose in the box, like he was used to eating out of it, and I had to +slap his nose to make him let me have a share. So I’m not hungry and +all I care is that I have made you all so worried.”</p> + +<p>But already that was almost forgotten, though Miss Muriel’s curiosity +was not yet satisfied.</p> + +<p>“Jack, are you in the habit of keeping that animal here, in this +room?”</p> + +<p>“Yes—yes, Ma’am; times I am. Other times he stays in the old shed +down by the brook. Most of the men knew I had him; Michael did, +anyhow. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>He never said nothing again’ it;” answered the boy, +defiantly, trying to shift responsibility to the old porter, the most +trusted servant of the house.</p> + +<p>“No, I cannot imagine Michael meddling with you and your foolishness; +and for a lad who’s lived so long at a great school, I wonder to hear +such bad grammar from your lips. How did you get Baal into this room +without being detected in it?”</p> + +<p>“Why, Ma’am, that was easy as preachin’. That back end, outside steps, +what leads up from the ground for carrying up wet clothes, it used to +be. He comes up that way, for goats can climb any place. Leastwise, +Baal can, and the door’s never locked no more, ’cause I lost the key;” +answered Jack, who was now the center of attention and proud of the +fact.</p> + +<p>“Very well, Jack. That will do. Kindly see to it that Baal is +permanently removed from Oak Knowe, and—” She paused for a moment, as +if about to add more, then quietly moved away, with Dorothy beside her +and all her now happy flock following.</p> + +<p>Never before had the laughter and chatter of her girls sounded so +musical in her ears, nor her own heart been lighter than now, in its +rebound from her recent anxiety. She wasn’t pleased with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>Jack, the +boot-boy; decidedly she was not pleased. She had not been since his +return from his summer’s work, for he had not improved either in +industry or behavior. She had not liked the strange interest which +Gwendolyn had taken in his slight gift for drawing, which that +enthusiastic young artist called “remarkable,” but which this more +experienced instructor knew would never amount to anything.</p> + +<p>Yet that was a matter which could wait. Meanwhile, here was a broken +day, with everybody still so excited that lessons would be merely +wasted effort; so, after she had sent Dorothy to put on her ordinary +school dress, she informed the various classes that no more work was +required that day and that after lunch there would be half-holiday for +all her pupils.</p> + +<p>“Hurrah! Hurrah! Three cheers for Dolly and may she soon get lost +again!” shouted Winifred, and, for once, was not rebuked because of +unladylike manners.</p> + +<p>Left to himself, Jack regarded his beloved Baal, in keen distress.</p> + +<p>“Said you’d got to go, did she? Well, if you go I do, too. Anyhow I’m +sick to death of cleaning nasty girls’, or nasty shoes o’ a lot o’ +girls—ary way you put it. Boot-boy, Baal! Think o’ that. If that +ain’t a re—restrick-erated life for a artist, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>like Miss Gwen says I +am; or uther a dectective gentleman—I’d like to know. No, sir, Baal! +We’ll quit an’ we’ll do it to once. Maybe they won’t feel sorry when +they find me gone an’ my place empty to the table! Maybe them girls +that laughed when that old schoolmarm was a pitchin’ into me afore all +them giggling creatures, maybe they won’t feel bad, a-lookin’ at that +hull row of shoes outside cubicle doors waiting to be cleaned and not +one touched toward it! Huh! It’ll do all them ’ristocratics good to +have to clean ’em themselves. All but Miss Gwendolyn. She’s the +likeliest one of the hull three hundred. I hate—I kinder hate to +leave her. ‘Artists has kindred souls,’ she said once when she was +showin’ me how to draw that skull. Who can tell? I might get to be +more famouser’n her, smart as she is; an’ I might grow up, and her +too, and I might come to her house—or is it a turreted castle?—an’ I +might take my fa—famousness an’ offer it to her to marry me! And +then, when her folks couldn’t hardly believe that I was I, and her old +boot-boy, maybe they’d say ‘Yes, take her, my son! I’m proud to +welcome into our ’ristocraticy one that has riz from a boot-boy to our +rank!’ Many a story-book tells o’ such doings, an’ what’s in them +ought to be true. Good for ’t I can buy ’em cheap. The Bishop caught +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>me reading one once and preached me a reg’lar sermon about it. Said +that such kind of literatoor had ruined many a simple fellow and would +me if I kep’ on. But even Bishops don’t know everything, though I +allow he’s a grand old man. I kind of sorter hate to leave Oak Knowe +on his account, he takes such an int’rest in me. But he’ll get over +it. He’ll have to, for we’re going, Baal an’ me, out of this house +where we’re wastin’ our sweetness on the desert air. My jiminy +cricket! If a boy that can paint pictures and recite poetry like I +can, can’t rise above shoe-cleanin’ and get on in this world—I’d like +to know the reason why! Come, Baal! I’ll strap my clothes in a bundle, +shake the dust of old Oak Knowe offen me, and hie away to seek my +fortune—and your’n.”</p> + +<p>Nobody interfering, Jack proceeded to put this plan into action; but +it was curious that, as he reached the limits of Oak Knowe grounds, he +turned and looked back on the big, many-windowed house, and at the +throngs of happy girls who were at “recreation” on the well-kept +lawns. A sort of sob rose in his throat and there was a strange +sinking in his stomach that made him most uncomfortable. He couldn’t +tell that this was “homesickness,” and he tried to forget it in +bitterness against those whom he was deserting.</p> + +<p>“They don’t care, none of ’em! Not a single <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>mite does anyone of them +’ristocratics care what becomes of—of poor Jack, the boot-boy! Come +on, Baal! If we don’t start our seekin’ pretty quick—Why jiminy +cricket I shall be snivellin’!”</p> + +<p>Saying this, the self-exiled lad gripped the goat’s leading strap and +set out at a furious pace down the long road toward the distant city. +He had a dime novel in one pocket, an English sixpence in another—And +what was this?</p> + +<p>“My soul! If there ain’t the key to that old door they broke in to see +what was racketing round so! I wonder if I ought to take it back? +Baal, what say? That cubby of our’n wasn’t so bad. You know, Baal, I +wouldn’t like to be a thief—not a reg’lar thief that’d steal a key. +Course I wouldn’t. Anyhow, I’ve left, I’ve quit. I’m seekin’ my +fortune—understand? Whew! The wind’s risin’. I allow there’s going to +be a storm. I wish—Old Dawkins used to say: ‘Better take two thoughts +to a thing!’ an’ maybe, maybe, if I’d ha’ waited a spell afore—I mean +I wouldn’t ha’ started fortune-seekin’ till to-morrow and the storm +over. Anyhow, I’ve really started, though! And if things don’t happen +to my mind, I can show ’em what an honest boy I am by takin’ back that +key. Come on, Baal, do come on! What in creation makes you drag so on +that strap and keep lookin’ back? Come on, I say!”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p><p>Then, both helping and hindering one another, the lad and his pet +passed out of sight and for many a day were seen no more in that +locality.</p> + +<p>Yet the strange events of that memorable day were not all over. At +study hour, that evening, came another surprise—a visit to her mates +of the invalid Gwendolyn. From some of them she received only a silent +nod of welcome; but Laura, Marjorie, and Dorothy sprang to meet her +with one accord, and Winifred followed Dorothy’s example after a +second’s hesitation.</p> + +<p>“Oh, Gwen! How glad we are to have you back! Are you sure you’re quite +strong enough to come?” questioned Marjorie, while less judicious +Laura exclaimed:</p> + +<p>“But you can’t guess what you’ve missed! We’ve had the greatest scare +ever was in this school! You’d ought to have come down sooner. What do +you think it was that happened? Guess—quick—right away! Or I can’t +wait to tell! I’ll tell anyhow! Dorothy was lost and everybody feared +she had been killed! Yes, Gwen, lost all the long night through and +had to sleep with the goat and—”</p> + +<p>Gwendolyn’s face was pale from her confinement in the sick room but it +grew paler now, and catching Dorothy’s hand she cried out:</p> + +<p>“Oh! what if I had been too late!”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p><p>Nobody understood her, not even Dorothy herself, who merely guessed +that Gwen was referring to their interview of the night before; but +she didn’t know this proud girl fully, nor the peculiar nature of that +pride which, once aroused, compelled her to do what she most shrank +from. As Dorothy pushed a chair forward, Gwendolyn shook her head.</p> + +<p>“Thank you, but not yet. I’ve got something to say—that all of you +must hear.”</p> + +<p>Of course, everybody was astonished by this speech and every eye +turned toward the young “Peer” who was about to prove herself of noble +“rank” as never in all her life before.</p> + +<p>Dorothy began to suspect what might be coming and by a silent clasp of +Gwendolyn’s waist and a protesting shake of her head tried to prevent +her saying more.</p> + +<p>But Gwendolyn as silently put aside the appealing arm and folding her +own arms stood rigidly erect. It wouldn’t have been the real Gwen if +she hadn’t assumed this rather dramatic pose, which she had mentally +rehearsed many times that day. Also, she had chosen this quiet hour +and place as the most effective for her purpose, and she had almost +coerced Lady Jane into letting her come.</p> + +<p>“Schoolmates and friends, I want to confess to you the meanest things +that ever were done at dear <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>Oak Knowe. From the moment she came here +I disliked Dorothy Calvert and was jealous of her. In less than a week +she had won Miss Muriel’s heart as well as that of almost everybody +else. I thought I could drive her out of the school, if I made the +rest of you hate her, too. I’d begun to teach the boot-boy to draw, +having once seen him attempting it. I painted him a death’s head for a +copy, and gave him my pocket-money to buy a mask of the Evil One.”</p> + +<p>“Oh! Gwendolyn how dared you? You horrid, wicked girl!” cried gentle +Marjorie, moved from her gentleness for once.</p> + +<p>“Well, I’ll say this much in justice to myself. That thing went +further than I meant, which was only to have him put pictures of it +around in different places. He’d told me about keeping a goat in the +old drying-room, and of course he couldn’t always keep it still. The +kitchen folks put the pictures and the goat’s noises together and +declared the house was haunted. I told the maids that they might lay +that all to the new scholar from the States, and a lot of them +believed me.”</p> + +<p>Even loyal Laura now shrank aside from her paragon, simply horrified. +She had helped to spread the rumor that Dorothy was a niece of +Dawkins, but she had done no worse than that. It had been left to Jack-boot-boy +to finish the contemptible <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>acts. He got phosphorus from the +laboratory, paint from any convenient color box, and his first success +as a terrifier had been in the case of Millikins-Pillikins, at whose +bed he had appeared—with the results that have been told. He it had +been who had frightened the maid into leaving, and had spread +consternation in the kitchen.</p> + +<p>“And in all these things he did, I helped him. I planned some of them +but he always went ahead and thought worse ones out. Yet nobody, +except the simpletons below stairs, believed it was Dorothy who had +‘bewitched’ the house,” concluded that part of Gwendolyn’s confession.</p> + +<p>Yet still she stood there, firmly facing the contempt on the faces of +her schoolmates, knowing that that was less hard to bear than her own +self-reproach had been. And presently she went on:</p> + +<p>“Then came that affair at the Maiden’s Bath. Dorothy Calvert, whom I +still hated, saved my life—while she might have lost her own. What I +have suffered since, knowing this and how bravely she had borne all my +hatefulness and had sacrificed herself for me—You must guess that. I +can’t tell it. But last night I made myself beg her pardon in private +as I now beg it before you all. May I yet have the chance to do to her +as she has done to me! Dorothy Calvert—will you forgive me?”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>WHAT CAME WITH THE SNOW AND ICE</h3> + +<p>After that memorable week of Hallowe’en, affairs at Oak Knowe settled +into their ordinary smooth running. That week had brought to all the +school a surfeit of excitement so that all were glad of quiet and +peace.</p> + +<p>“The classes have never made such even, rapid progress before, in all +the years I’ve been here;” said the Lady Principal to the good Bishop. +“Things are almost ominously quiet and I almost dread to have +Christmas time approach. All the young ladies get more interested then +in gift-preparing and anticipations of vacations at home than in +school routine. I hate to have that interrupted so soon again.”</p> + +<p>The Bishop laughed.</p> + +<p>“My dear Miss Muriel, you take life too seriously. Upheavals are good +for us. Our lives would grow stagnant without them.”</p> + +<p>“Beg pardon, but I can’t fancy affairs at Oak Knowe ever being +stagnant! Nor do I see, as you seem to, any fine results from the +happenings of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>Hallow week. One of the ill results is—I cannot find a +competent boot-boy. That makes you smile again, but I assure you it is +no trifle in a large establishment like this, with it the rule that +every pupil must walk the muddy road each day. The maids will do the +work, of course, but they grumble. I do wish the ground would freeze +or some good boy offer his services.”</p> + +<p>A rattling of the window panes and a sound of rising wind sent the +Bishop to the window:</p> + +<p>“Well, Miss Tross-Kingdon, one of your wishes is already coming true. +There’s a blizzard coming—surely. Flakes are already falling and I’m +glad the double sashes are in place on this north side the building, +and that Michael has seen to having the toboggan slide put in order. I +prophesy that within a few days all the young folks will be +tobogganing at a glorious rate. That’s one of the things I’m thankful +for—having been born in Canada where I could slide with the best!”</p> + +<p>He turned about and the lady smiled at his boyish enthusiasm. He was a +man who never felt old, despite his venerable white head, but as he +moved again toward the fire and Dorothy entered the room a shadow +crossed his face. He had sent for her because within his pocket lay a +letter he knew she ought to have, yet greatly disliked to give her. +All the mail matter coming to the Oak Knowe girls <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>passed first +through their instructors’ hands, though it was a rare occasion when +such was not promptly delivered.</p> + +<p>This letter the Bishop had read as usual, but it had not pleased him. +It was signed by one James Barlow, evidently a very old friend of +Dorothy’s, and was written with a boyish assumption of authority that +was most objectionable, the Bishop thought. It stated that Mr. Seth +Winters was very ill and that Mrs. Calvert was breaking down from +grief and anxiety concerning him; and that, in the writer’s opinion, +Dorothy’s duty lay at home and not in getting an education away up +there in Canada. “Anybody who really wishes to learn can do that +anywhere,” was the conclusion of this rather stilted epistle.</p> + +<p>Now when his favorite came in, happy and eager to greet him, he +suddenly decided that he would keep that letter to himself for a time, +until he had written to some other of the girl’s friends and found out +more about the matter.</p> + +<p>“Did you send for me, dear Bishop?”</p> + +<p>“Well, yes, little girl, I did. There was something I wanted to talk +to you about, but I’ve changed my mind and decided to put it off for +the present;” he answered with a kindly smile that was less bright +than usual. So that the sensitive girl was alarmed and asked:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p><p>“Is it something that I’ve done but ought not?”</p> + +<p>“Bless your bonny face, no, indeed. No, Miss Betty the second, I have +no fault to find with you. Rather I am greatly delighted by all your +reports. Just look out of window a minute—what do you see?”</p> + +<p>Dorothy still wondered why she had been summoned, but looked out as +she had been bidden.</p> + +<p>“Why, it’s snowing! My, how fast, and how all of a sudden! When we +were out for exercise the sun was shining bright.”</p> + +<p>“The sun is always shining, dear child, even though clouds of trouble +often obscure it. Always remember that, little Dorothy, no matter what +happens.”</p> + +<p>Then he dropped what the schoolgirls called his “preachy manner” and +asked:</p> + +<p>“How do you like tobogganing?”</p> + +<p>“Why—why, of course I don’t know. I’ve never even seen a toboggan, +except in pictures. They looked lovely.”</p> + +<p>“Lovely? I should say, but the real thing far lovelier. Miss +Tross-Kingdon, here, knows my opinion of tobogganing. The finest sport +there is and one that you unfortunate southerners cannot enjoy in your +native land. Up here we have everything delightful, ha, ha! But you’ll +have to be equipped for the fun right away. Will you see <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>to it, Miss +Muriel, that Dorothy has a toboggan rig provided? For Michael will +have the slides ready, you may be sure. He was born a deal further +north even than this and snow-and-ice is his native element. Why, the +honest old fellow can show several prizes he won, in his younger days, +for skating, ice-boating, tobogganing, and the like. I always feel +safe when Michael is on hand at the slide to look after his ‘young +leddies.’</p> + +<p>“Now, I must go. I have a service in town, to-night, and if I don’t +hurry I’ll be caught in this blizzard. You run along, ‘Betty’ and +spread the news of the grand times coming.”</p> + +<p>With a gentle pat of the little hand he held he thus dismissed her, +and inspired by his talk of the—to her—novel sport, she ran happily +away, forgetful already of anything more serious.</p> + +<p>“Oh! girls! the Bishop says we’ll soon have tobogganing!” she cried, +joining a group gathered about a great wood fire in the library.</p> + +<p>“Oh! goody! I was looking at my new suit this very morning. Mother’s +had such a pretty one made for me, a blanket suit of baby blue with +everything to match—mittens and cap and all! I’m just wild to wear +it!” answered Fanny Dimock, running to the window to peer out.</p> + +<p>“To-morrow’s half-holiday. Let’s all go help Michael to get the slides +ready!”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p><p>“Of course—if the storm will let us out! Oh glorious!” said Ernesta +Smith flying to Fanny’s side, and trying to see through the great +flakes, fast packing against the pane and hiding the view without.</p> + +<p>But this only increased the gayety within. Electric lights flashed +out, girl after girl ran to fetch her own coasting suit and to spread +it before the eyes of her mates.</p> + +<p>“Oh! aren’t they the sweetest things!” exclaimed the delighted +Dorothy; “the very prettiest clothes I ever saw!”</p> + +<p>Indeed they did make a fine show of color, heaped here and there, +their soft, thick texture assuring perfect protection from cold. Reds +and greens, pinks and blues, and snowy white; some fresh from the +makers’ hands, some showing the hard wear of former winters; yet all +made after the Oak Knowe pattern. A roomy pair of pantaloons, to draw +over the ordinary clothing from the waist down, ended in +stocking-shaped feet, fitted for warm wool overshoes. The tunic fell +below the knees and ended above in a pointed hood, and mittens were +made fast to the sleeves.</p> + +<p>“Lovely, but isn’t it terribly clumsy?” asked Dorothy, more closely +examining one costume.</p> + +<p>“Let’s show her! Let’s have an Indian dance! Hurry up, everybody, and +dress!”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p><p>In a jiffy every girl who owned a costume got into it and the place +was transformed. For somebody flew to the piano and struck up a lively +waltz, and away went the girls, catching one another for partner—no +matter who—whirling and circling, twisting bodies about, arms +overhead, as in a regular calisthenic figure—till Dorothy was amazed. +For what looked so thick and clumsy was too soft and yielding to +hinder grace.</p> + +<p>In the midst of the mirth, the portieres were lifted and Gwendolyn +came in. It was unfortunate that just then the music ended with a +crash and that the whirling circles paused. For it looked as if her +coming had stopped the fun, though this was far from true.</p> + +<p>Ever since that day of her open confession her schoolmates had +regarded her with greater respect than ever before. Most of them +realized how hard that confession had been for so haughty a girl, and +except for her own manner, many would have shown her marked affection.</p> + +<p>When she had ceased speaking on that day an awkward silence followed. +If she had expected hand-claps or applause she failed to get either. +The listeners were too surprised to know what to do, and there was +just as much pride in the young “Peer’s” bearing as of old. After a +moment of waiting she had stalked away and all chance for applause was +gone.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p><p>But she had returned to her regular classes the next morning and mixed +with the girls at recreation more familiarly than she had formerly +done; yet still that stiffness remained.</p> + +<p>For half-minute, Gwendolyn hesitated just within the entrance, then +forced herself to advance toward the fireplace and stand there warming +herself.</p> + +<p>“It’s getting very cold,” she remarked by way of breaking the +unpleasant silence.</p> + +<p>“Yes, isn’t it!” returned Winifred; adding under her breath: “Inside +this room, anyway.”</p> + +<p>“We’re warm enough, dressed up like this,” said Marjorie, pleasantly. +“Dorothy says that the Bishop thinks we’ll have tobogganing in a day +or two, if the snow holds. She’s never seen a toboggan nor how we +dress for the sport, and we brought in our togs to show her. She +thinks they look too clumsy for words, so we’ve just been showing her +that we can move as easily in them as without them. But—my! It’s made +us so warm!”</p> + +<p>Gwendolyn turned toward Dorothy with a smile intended to be cordial, +and asked:</p> + +<p>“Is that so, indeed? Then I suppose you’ll have to get a rig like ours +if you want to try the slide.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, I suppose so. The Bishop asked the Lady Principal to get me one, +but I don’t suppose she can right away. Nobody could go shopping in +such weather, and I suppose they have to be bought in town.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p><p>“The blankets are bought there, but usually the suits are made at home +before we come; or else by the matron and some of the maids here. I—”</p> + +<p>A look of keener interest had come into her face, but she said nothing +further and a moment later went out again.</p> + +<p>As the portieres fell together behind her, Winifred threw up her hands +in comic despair.</p> + +<p>“Whatever is the matter with that girl? or with <i>me</i>—or <i>you</i>—or +<i>you</i>!” pointing to one and another around her. “She wants to be +friendly—and so do we! But there’s something wrong and I don’t know +what.”</p> + +<p>“I do,” said a sweet-faced “Seventher,” who had been quietly studying +during all this noise. “Poor Gwendolyn is sorry but isn’t one bit +humble. She’s absolutely just and has done what she believed right. +But it hasn’t helped her much. She’s fully as proud as she ever was, +and the only way we can help her is by loving her. We’ve <i>got</i> to love +her or she’ll grow harder than ever.”</p> + +<p>“You can’t make love as you’d make a—a pin-cushion!” returned Florita +Sheraton, holding up, to illustrate, a Christmas gift she was +embroidering.</p> + +<p>Dorothy listened to this talk, her own heart upbraiding her for her +failure to “love” Gwen. She liked her greatly and admired her courage +more.</p> + +<p>“Win, let’s you and me try and see if that is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>true, what Florita +says. Maybe love can be ‘made’ after all;” she whispered to her +friend.</p> + +<p>“Huh! That’ll be a harder job than algebra! I shall fail in both.”</p> + +<p>“I reckon I shall, too, but we can try—all the same. That won’t hurt +either one of us and I’m awfully sorry for her, she must be so +lonesome.”</p> + +<p>“‘Pity is akin to love!’ You’ve taken the first step in your climb +toward Gwen’s top-lofty heart!” quoted Winifred. “Climb away and I’ll +boost you as well as I can. I—”</p> + +<p>“Miss Dorothy Calvert, the Lady Principal would like to see you in her +own parlor;” said a maid, appearing at the door.</p> + +<p>“What now? You seem to be greatly in demand, to-day, by the powers +that be, I hope it isn’t a lecture the Bishop passed on to her to +deliver,” said Florita as Dorothy rose to obey.</p> + +<p>But whatever fear Dolly felt of any such matter was banished by her +first glance into her teacher’s face. Miss Muriel had never looked +kinder nor better pleased than then, as, holding up a pair of +beautiful white blankets she said:</p> + +<p>“How will these do for the toboggan suit the Bishop wished me to get +for you?”</p> + +<p>“Oh! Miss Muriel! Are those for me and so soon? Why, it’s only an hour +ago, or not much more, since he spoke of it, and how could anybody <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>go +to town and back in that little while, in such a storm?”</p> + +<p>“That wasn’t necessary. These were in the house. Do you like them?”</p> + +<p>“Like them! They’re the softest, thickest, prettiest things! I never +saw any so fine, even at Aunt Betty’s Bellevieu. Do you think I ought +to have them? Wouldn’t cheaper ones answer for messing around in the +snow?”</p> + +<p>“The question of expense is all right, dear, and we’re fortunate to +have the material on hand. Mrs. Archibald will be here, directly, to +take your measurements. Ah! here she is now.”</p> + +<p>This was something delightfully different from any “lecture,” and even +Miss Muriel talked more and in higher spirits than usual; till Dorothy +asked:</p> + +<p>“Do you love tobogganing, too, Miss Tross-Kingdon?”</p> + +<p>“No, my dear, I’m afraid of it. My heart is rather weak and the swift +motion is bad for it. But I love to see others happy and some things +have happened, to-day, which have greatly pleased me. But you must +talk sliding with Mrs. Archibald. Dignified as she is, she’ll show you +what a true Canadian can do, give her a bit of ice and a hill.”</p> + +<p>The matron laughed and nodded.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span></p><p>“May the day be long before I tire of my nation’s sport! I’m even +worse than Michael, who’s almost daft on the subject.”</p> + +<p>Then she grew busy with her measurings and clippings, declaring: “It +just makes me feel bad to put scissors into such splendid blankets as +these. You’ll be as proud as Punch, when I dress you out in the +handsomest costume ever shot down Oak Knowe slide!”</p> + +<p>“Oh! I wish Aunt Betty could see it, too. She does so love nice +things!”</p> + +<p>When Mrs. Archibald and her willing helpers had completed her task and +Dolly was arrayed in her snow-suit she made, indeed, “the picture” +which Dawkins called her.</p> + +<p>For the weather proved what the Bishop had foretold. The snow fell +deep and heavy, “just right for packing,” Michael said, on the great +wooden slide whose further end rose to a dizzy height and from whose +lower one a second timbered “hill” rose and descended.</p> + +<p>If the toboggan was in good working order, the momentum gained in the +descent of the first would carry the toboggans up and over the second; +and nothing could have been in finer condition than these on that next +Saturday morning when the sport was to begin. The depression between +the two slides was over a small lake, or pond, now <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>solidly frozen and +covered with snow; except in spots where the ice had been cut for +filling the Oak Knowe ice-houses. Into one of these holes Michael and +his force had plunged a long hose pipe, and a pump had been contrived +to throw water upward over the slide.</p> + +<p>On the night before men had been stationed on the slide, at intervals, +to distribute this water over the whole incline, the intense cold +causing it to freeze the instant it fell; and so well they understood +their business they had soon rendered it a perfectly smooth slide of +ice from top to bottom. A little hand-railed stairway, for the ascent +of the tobogganers, was built into the timbers of the toboggan, or +incline, itself; and it was by this that they climbed back to the top +after each descent, dragging their toboggans behind them. At the +further side of the lake, close to its bank, great blazing fires were +built, where the merry makers could warm themselves, or rest on the +benches placed around.</p> + +<p>Large as some of the toboggans were they were also light and easily +carried, some capable of holding a half-dozen girls—“packed close.” +Yet some sleds could seat but two, and these were the handsomest of +all. They belonged to the girls who had grown proficient in the sport +and able to take care of themselves; while some man of the household +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>always acted as guide on the larger sleds and for the younger pupils.</p> + +<p>When Dorothy came out of the great building, that Saturday holiday, +she thought the whole scene was truly fairyland. The evergreens were +loaded to the ground with their burden of snow, the wide lawns were +dazzlingly bright, and the sun shone brilliantly.</p> + +<p>“Who’re you going to slide with, Dolly? On Michael’s sled? I guess the +Lady Principal will say so, because you’re so new to it. Will you be +afraid?”</p> + +<p>“Why should I be afraid? I used to slide down the mountain side when I +lived at Skyrie. What makes you laugh, Winifred? This won’t be very +different, will it?”</p> + +<p>“Wait till you try it! It’s perfectly glorious but it isn’t just the +same as sliding down a hill, where a body can stop and step off any +time. You can’t step off a toboggan, unless you want to get killed.”</p> + +<p>Dorothy was frightened and surprised, and quickly asked:</p> + +<p>“How can anybody call that ‘sport’ which is as dangerous as that? What +do you mean? I reckon I won’t go. I’ll just watch you.”</p> + +<p>It was Winifred’s turn to stare, but she was also disappointed.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p><p>“Oh! you little ‘Fraid-Cat,’ I thought you were never afraid of +anything. That’s why I liked you. One why—and there are other +whys—but don’t you back out in this. Don’t you dare. When you’ve got +that be-a-u-tiful rig and a be-a-u-tiful toboggan to match. I’d hate +to blush for you, Queen Baltimore!”</p> + +<p>“I have no toboggan, Winnie, dear. You know that. I was wondering +who’d take me on theirs—if—if I try it at all.”</p> + +<p>Winifred rushed to the other side of the porch and came flying back, +carrying over her head a toboggan, so light and finely polished that +it shone; also a lovely cushion of pink and white dragged from one +hand. This fitted the flat bottom of the sled and was held in place, +when used, by silver catches. The whole toboggan was of this one +polished board, curving upward in front according to the most approved +form, pink tassels floating from its corners that pink silk cords held +in their place. Across this curving front was stenciled in pink: +“Dorothy Calvert.”</p> + +<p>“There, girlie, what do you say to that? Isn’t it marked plainly +enough? Didn’t you know about it before? Why all we girls have been +just wild with envy of you, ever since we saw it among the others.”</p> + +<p>Dorothy almost caught her breath. It certainly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>was a beauty, that +toboggan! But how came she to have it?</p> + +<p>“What do you mean, Winifred Christie? Do you suppose the Bishop has +had it made, or bought it, for me? Looks as if it had cost a lot. And +Aunt Betty has lost so much money she can’t afford to pay for extra +things—not very high ones—”</p> + +<p>“Quit borrowing trouble, Queenie! Who cares where it came from or how +much it cost? Here it is with your own name on it and if you’re too +big a goose to use it, I shall just borrow it myself. So there you +are. There isn’t a girl here but wouldn’t be glad to have first ride +on it. Am I invited?” and Winifred poked a saucy face under her +friend’s hood.</p> + +<p>“Am I?” asked Florita Sheraton, coaxingly throwing her arms around +Dolly.</p> + +<p>“Oh! get away, Flo! You’re too big! You’d split the thing in two!” +said Ernesta, pulling away her chum’s arms. “Just look at me, Dolly +Doodles! Just see how nice and thin I am! Why I’m a feather’s weight +to Flo, and I’m one of the best tobogganers at Oak Knowe. Sure. Ask +Mrs. Archibald herself, for here she comes all ready for her share of +the fun!”</p> + +<p>“Yes, yes, lassie, you’re a fair one at the sport now and give some +promise o’ winning the cup yet!” answered the matron, joining the +girls <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>and looking as fit and full of life as any of them.</p> + +<p>“Hear! Hear! Hurrah for ’Nesta! Three cheers for the champion cup +winner!”</p> + +<p>“And three times three for the girl Dolly chooses to share her first +slide on the new toboggan!” cried somebody, while a dozen laughing +faces were thrust forward and as many hands tapped on the breasts of +the pleaders, signifying: “Choose me!”</p> + +<p>The Bishop was already on hand, looking almost a giant in his +mufflers, and as full of glee as the youngest there. The lady +Principal, in her furs, had also joined the group, for though she did +not try the slides, she loved to watch the enjoyment of the others, +from a warm seat beside the bonfire.</p> + +<p>While Dorothy hesitated in her choice, looking from one to another of +the merry, pleading faces about her, Gwendolyn Borst-Kennard stood a +little apart, watching with keen interest the little scene before her, +while the elder members of the group also exchanged some interested +glances.</p> + +<p>“Count us! Count us! That’s fair! Begin: ‘Intry, mintry, outry, corn; +wire, brier, apple, thorn. Roly, poly, dimble-dee;—O—U—T spells Out +goes SHE!’”</p> + +<p>Over and over, they laughingly repeated the nonsense-jingle, each girl +whom the final “she” designated stepping meekly back with pretended +chagrin, while the “counting out” went on without <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>her. The game +promised to be so long that the matron begged:</p> + +<p>“Do settle it soon, young ladies! We’re wasting precious time.”</p> + +<p>Dorothy laughed and still undecided, happened to glance toward +Gwendolyn, who had made no appeal for preference, and called out:</p> + +<p>“Gwen, dear, will you give me my first lesson? I choose Gwendolyn!”</p> + +<p>It was good to see the flush of happiness steal into Gwen’s face and +to see the smile she flashed toward Dorothy. Stepping forward she +said:</p> + +<p>“Thank you, dear. I do appreciate this in you, and you needn’t be +afraid. The Lady Principal knows I can manage a toboggan fairly well, +and this of yours seems to be an exact copy of my own that I’ve used +so long.”</p> + +<p>Other cheers followed this and in a moment the whole party had spread +over the white grounds leading to the great slide, the good Bishop +following more slowly with the other “grown-ups,” and softly clapping +his mittened hands.</p> + +<p>“Good! Fine! I like that. Dorothy has ignorantly done the one right +thing. If she could only guess the secret which lies under all how +thankful she would be that she made this choice and no other.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>JOHN GILPIN JOINS THE SPORT</h3> + +<p>Old Michael stood on the wide platform at the top of the slide, his +face aglow with eagerness, and his whole manner altered to boyish +gayety. His great toboggan was perched on the angle of the incline, +like a bird poised for flight, while he was bidding his company to: +“Get on, ladies! Get on and let’s be off!”</p> + +<p>Behind and around him were the other men employees of Oak Knowe, and +every one of them, except the <i>chef</i>, enthusiastic over the coming +sport. But he, unhappy mortal, preferred the warmth of his kitchen +fire to this shivery pastime and had only entered into it to escape +the gibing tongues of the other servants. Yet in point of costume he +could “hold his head up with the best”; and the fact that he could, in +this respect even outshine his comrades was some compensation for his +cold-pinched toes.</p> + +<p>The platform was crowded with toboggans and girls; the air rang with +jest and laughter; with girlish squeals of pretended fear; and cries +of: “Don’t crowd!” or: “Sit close, sit close!”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p><p>“Sit close” they did; the blanketed legs of each tobogganer pressed +forward on either side of the girl in front, and all hands clasping +the small rod that ran along the sides of the toboggan.</p> + +<p>The slide had been built wide enough for two of the sleds abreast, and +one side was usually left to the smaller ones of the experienced +girls, who could be trusted to safely manage their own light craft.</p> + +<p>To Michael and the matron was always accorded the honor of first slide +on the right while the “best singles” coasted alongside on the left. +That morning, by tacit consent, the new “Dorothy Calvert” was poised +beside the big “Oak Knowe” and the Honorable Gwendolyn Borst-Kennard +was a proud and happy girl, indeed, as she took her place upon it as +guide and protector of ignorant Dorothy.</p> + +<p>“She chose me of her own accord! I do believe she begins to really +love me. Oh! it’s so nice to be just free and happy with her as the +others are!” thought Gwen, as she took her own place and directed her +mate just how to sit and act. Adding a final:</p> + +<p>“Don’t you be one bit afraid. I never had an accident sliding and I’ve +always done it every winter since I can remember. We’re off! Bow your +head a little and—keep—your—mouth—shut!”</p> + +<p>There wasn’t time! Dorothy felt a little quiver run through the thing +on which she sat and a wild <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>rush through icy air! That was all! They +had reached the bottom of the first slide and began to fly upward over +the other before she realized a thing. Gwen hadn’t even finished her +directions before they had “arrived!”</p> + +<p>The Southerner was too amazed, for a second, to even step off the +toboggan, but Gwendolyn caught her up, gave her a hearty kiss and hug, +and demanded:</p> + +<p>“Well! Here we are! How do you like it! We’ve beat! We’ve beat!”</p> + +<p>Dorothy rubbed her eyes. So they had, for at that instant the big Oak +Knowe fetched up beside them, and its occupants stepped or tumbled +off, throwing up their hands and cheering:</p> + +<p>“Three cheers for the Dorothy Calvert! Queen of the Slide for all This +Year!”</p> + +<p>And liveliest among the cheerers was the once so dignified young +“Peer,” the Honorable Gwen. Dorothy looking into her beaming face and +hearing her happy voice could scarce believe this to be the same girl +she had hitherto known. But she had scant time to think for here they +came, thick and fast, toboggan after toboggan, Seventh Form girls and +Minims, teachers and pupils, the Bishop and the <i>chef</i>, maids and +men-servants, the matron and old Michael—all in high spirits, all +apparently talking at once and so many demanding <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>of “Miss Dixie” how +she liked it, that she could answer nobody.</p> + +<p>Then the Bishop pushed back her tasseled hood and smiled into her +shining eyes:</p> + +<p>“Well little ‘Betty the Second,’ can you beat that down at old +Baltimore? What do you think now? Isn’t it fine—fine? Doesn’t it make +you feel you’re a bird of the air? Ah! it’s grand—grand. Just tell me +you like it and I’ll let you go.”</p> + +<p>“I—Yes—I reckon I do! I hadn’t time to think. We hadn’t started, and +we were here.”</p> + +<p>“Up we go. Try her again!” cried one, and the climb back to the top +promptly began, the men carrying the heavier sleds, the girls their +lighter ones, Gwendolyn and Dorothy their own between them. Then the +fun all over again; the jests at awkward starts, the cheers at +skillful ones, the laughter and good will, till all felt the +exhilaration of the moment and every care was forgotten.</p> + +<p>Many a slide was taken and now Dorothy could answer when asked did she +like it:</p> + +<p>“It’s just grand, as the Bishop said. At first I could hardly breathe +and I was dizzy. Now I do as Gwen tells me and I love it! I should +like to stay out here all day!”</p> + +<p>“Wait till dinner-time! Then you’ll be ready enough to go in. +Tobogganing is the hungriest <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>work—or play—there can possibly be!” +said Gwendolyn, pirouetting about on the ice as gracefully as on a +waxed floor, the merriest, happiest girl in all that throng. Not only +Dorothy but many another observed her with surprise. This was a new +Gwen, not the stand-offish sort of creature who had once so haughtily +scorned all their fun. She had always tobogganed, every year that she +had been in that school, but she had never enjoyed it like this; and +again as the Bishop regarded her, he nodded his head in satisfaction +and said to the matron:</p> + +<p>“I told you so. I knew it. Do a kindness to somebody and it will +return to yourself in happiness a thousand fold.”</p> + +<p>“Thanks, dear Bishop! I’ll try to remember,” merrily answered she; +noticing that Gwendolyn had drawn near enough to hear, and taking this +little preachment to herself to prevent Gwendolyn’s doing so. She was +so pleased by sight of the girl’s present happiness that she wished +nothing to cloud it, and believing herself discussed would certainly +offend proud, sensitive Gwen.</p> + +<p>Almost two hours had passed, and a few were beginning to tire of the +really arduous sport, with its upward climb, so out of proportion to +the swift descent; when suddenly fresh shouts of laughter rang out +from the high platform and those <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>ascending made haste to join the +others at the top.</p> + +<p>There stood old John Gilpin and Robin, the latter’s young bones now +sound and strong again, and himself much the better for his sojourn at +the cottage with his enforced rest and abundance of good food.</p> + +<p>“Well, well! How be ye all? Hearty, you look, and reg’lar circus +pictures in them warm duds! Good day to your Reverence, Bishop, and I +hope I see you in good health. My humble respects, your Reverence, and +I thought as how I’d just step up and ask your Reverence might my lad +here and me have a try on your slide. I thought—why, sir, the talk +on’t has spread way into town a’ready, sir, and there’ll be more +beggars nor me seekin’ use on’t, your Reverence—”</p> + +<p>The prelate’s hearty laughter rang out on the frosty air, a sound +delightful to hear, so full it was of genial humanity, and he grasped +the hand of the old teamster as warmly as he would that of a far +wealthier man.</p> + +<p>“Man to man, John, we’re all in the same boat to-day. Drop the +formality and welcome to the sport. But what sort of sled is this, +man? Looks rather rough, doesn’t it? Sure you could manage it on this +steep incline?”</p> + +<p>John bridled and Robin looked disappointed. Expectations of the +toboggan-slide’s being made <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>ready had filled his head, and he and the +old man had toiled for hours to make the sled at which the Bishop +looked so doubtfully.</p> + +<p>“Well, your Reverence—I mean—you without the Reverence—” here the +Bishop smiled and Robin giggled, thereby causing his host to turn +about with a frown. “You see, sir, Robin’s always been hearin’ about +your toboggan up here to Oak Knowe and’s been just plumb crazy—”</p> + +<p>At this point the shy lad pulled John’s coat, silently begging him to +leave him out of the talk; but the farmer had been annoyed by Robin’s +ill-timed giggle, and testily inquired:</p> + +<p>“Well, sir, ain’t that so? Didn’t you pester the life clean out o’ me +till I said I’d try? Hey?”</p> + +<p>“Y-yes,” meekly assented the boy; then catching a glimpse of Dorothy +and Winifred and their beckoning nods he slipped away to them. To him +Dorothy proudly exhibited her beautiful toboggan, explaining its fine +construction with a glibness that fitted an “old tobogganer” better +than this beginner at the sport. Gwen’s face beamed again, listening +to her, as if she felt a more personal pride in the sled than even +Dorothy herself. She even unbent so far from her pride of rank as to +suggest:</p> + +<p>“If you’ll let me borrow it and he’d like to go, I’ll take Robin down +once, to show him how smoothly it runs.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p><p>Robin’s eyes sparkled. He wasn’t shy with girls, but only when he felt +himself made too conspicuous by his host’s talk.</p> + +<p>“Would you? Could she? May she?” he cried, teetering about on his +ragged shoes in an ecstasy of delight.</p> + +<p>Dolly laughed and clapped her hands.</p> + +<p>“Verily, she should, would, can, and may! laddie boy. But where’s your +jacket? I mean your other one? It’s so cold, you’ll freeze in that +thin one.”</p> + +<p>By the color which came to the lad’s cheek Dolly realized that she had +asked a “leading question,” but Robin’s dismay lasted only an instant; +then he laughed merrily at the “good joke,” and answered:</p> + +<p>“Well, you see, Miss Dorothy, my ‘other one’ is at some tailor’s shop +in town. I haven’t had a chance yet to choose one, let alone pay for +it! But what matter? ’Tisn’t winter all the year and who wears +top-coats in summer? Did she really mean it?”</p> + +<p>Gwendolyn proved that she “really meant it” by pushing the “Dorothy +Calvert” into position and nodding to him that she was ready.</p> + +<p>“All right! Let her go!” he responded to her silent invitation and +away they went, as ill-matched a pair as might have been found. But he +had a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>boy’s fearlessness and love of adventure; and even on that +swift descent his gay whistling floated back to those above.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, John Gilpin was explaining with considerable pride, +yet thankful that the Bishop was out of hearing on his own +downward-speeding toboggan:</p> + +<p>“You see, lassie, how’t Robin was dead set to come. Said he knew so +good a man as his Reverence wouldn’t say ‘No’ to us, and just kept +teasin’ at me till we stepped-an’-fetched a lot of staves come off a +hogshead. So I fastened ’em together on the insides—See? And we’ve +shaved an’ shaved, an’ glass-scraped ’em on ’tother till they’ll never +hurt no slide ’t ever was iced. The Bishop seemed terr’ble afraid I’d +rough up his track with it, but it’s a poor track that water won’t +freeze smooth again; so if we do happen to scratch it a mite, I’ll +step-an’-fetch a few buckets o’ water and fix it up again. And say, +girlie, where’s that Jack, boot-boy? And Baal? I ain’t seen hide nor +hair of ary one this long spell, an’ I allow I kind of sorter miss +’em. He used to give the dame the fidgets with his yarns of what he’s +goin to be an’ do, time comes, but me an’ him got on fairly +well—fairly. As for that goat, he was the amusingest little creatur’ +’t ever jumped a fence, even if we did fight most of the time. Hah, +hum! I’ve noticed more’n <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>once that the folks or things you quarrel +with are the ones you miss most, once they’re gone.”</p> + +<p>“We haven’t seen Jack since that time he locked me in the drying-room. +He ran away, I reckon, and took Baal with him. And it’s just like you +say: nobody liked him much, and he was always in disgrace with +somebody, but I heard the Lady Principal say, only yesterday, that she +actually believed she missed that worthless boot-boy more than any +other servant who might have left.”</p> + +<p>“Well, now, Dorothy, don’t that beat all? That book-l’arned lady just +agreein’ with me! I often tell Dame ’t I know more’n she thinks I do, +but all she’ll answer to that is: ‘John, that’ll do.’ A rare silent +woman is my Dame but a powerful thinker. Hello! Here they come back +again. Robin! Robin! Look-a-here! You didn’t bamboozle me into makin’ +our sled and climbin’ this height just to leave me go for a passel o’ +silly girls! No, siree! You come and slide with me right to once. I +set out to go a-tobogganin’ an’ I’m goin’. So none of your backslidin’ +now!”</p> + +<p>“All right, Mr. Gilpin, here am I! And I do hope it won’t be any true +<i>back</i> sliding we shall do on this thing. You’d ought to have put a +little handrail on the sides like I told you there always was; but—”</p> + +<p>“But that’ll do, Robin. In my young days knee-high <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>boys didn’t know +more’n their elders. That’ll do!”</p> + +<p>The old farmer’s imitation of his wife’s manner seemed very funny to +all the young folks, but his anxiety was evident, as he glanced from +his own hand-made “toboggan” to the professional ones of the others. +Upon his was not even the slight rod to hold on by and the least jar +might send him off upon the ice. Peering down, it seemed to him that +glazed descent was a straight road to a pit of perdition and his old +heart sank within him.</p> + +<p>But—He had set out to go tobogganing and go he would, if he perished +doing it. Dame had besought him with real tears not to risk his old +bones in such a foolhardy sport, and he had loftily assured her that +“what his Reverence can do I can do. Me and him was born in the same +year, I’ve heard my mother tell, and it’s a pity if I can’t ekal him!”</p> + +<p>Moreover, there were all these youngsters makin’ eyes at him, plumb +ready to laugh, and thinkin’ he’d back out. Back out? He? John Gilpin? +Never!</p> + +<p>“Come on, Robin! Let’s start!”</p> + +<p>Gwendolyn and Dorothy were also ready to “start” upon what they +intended should be their last descent of that morning. Alas! it proved +to be! Five seconds later such a scream of terror rent the air that +the hearts of all who heard it chilled in horror.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>A BAD DAY FOR JOHN GILPIN</h3> + +<p>What had happened!</p> + +<p>Those who were sliding down that icy incline could not stop to see, +and those who were on the ground below covered their eyes that they +might not. Yet opened them again to stare helplessly at the dangling +figure of a girl outside that terrible slide. For in a moment, when +the clutching fingers must unclose, the poor child must drop to +destruction. That was inevitable.</p> + +<p>Then they saw it was Dorothy, who hung thus, suspended between life +and death. Dorothy in her white and pink, the daintiest darling of +them all, who had so enjoyed her first—and last!—day at this sport.</p> + +<p>Fresh shudders ran through the onlookers as they realized this and the +Lady Principal sank down in a faint. Then another groan escaped +them—the merest possibility of hope.</p> + +<p>Behold! The girl did not fall! Another’s small hand reached over the +low side of the toboggan and clutched the blanket-covered shoulder of +the imperiled <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>child. Another hand! the other shoulder, and hope grew +stronger. Someone had caught the falling Dorothy—she and her +would-be-rescuer were now moving—moving—slowly downward along the +very edge—one swaying perilously with the motion, the other wholly +unseen save for those outstretched hands, with their death-fast grip +upon the snowy wool.</p> + +<p>Down—down! And faster now! Till the hands of the tallest watchers +could reach and clasp the feet, then the whole precious little body of +“Miss Dixie,” their favorite from the Southland.</p> + +<p>But even then, as strong arms drew her into their safe shelter, the +small hands which had supported her to safety clung still so tight +that only the Bishop’s could loose their clasp.</p> + +<p>“Gwendolyn! You brave, sweet girl! Let go—let go. It’s all right +now—Dorothy did not fall—You saved her life. Look up, my daughter. +Don’t faint now when all is over. Look up, you noble child, and hear +me tell you: Dorothy is safe and it is you who saved her life. At the +risk of your own you saved her life.”</p> + +<p>Clasped close in his fatherly arms, Gwendolyn shuddered but obeyed and +looked up into the Bishop’s face.</p> + +<p>“Say that again. Please. Say that again—very slow—if it’s the—the +truth.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 319px;"> +<img src="images/i192.jpg" class="ispace jpg" width="319" height="500" alt="“SOMEONE HAD CAUGHT THE FALLING GIRL.”" title="" /> +<span class="caption">“SOMEONE HAD CAUGHT THE FALLING GIRL.”<br /> +<span style="margin-right: 9em;"><small><i>Dorothy at Oak Knowe.</i></small></span></span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span></p><p>“Gwendolyn, I tell you now, in the presence of God and these +witnesses, it has been your precious privilege to save a human life, +by your swift thought and determined action you have saved the life of +Dorothy Calvert, and God bless you for it.”</p> + +<p>“Then we are quits!”</p> + +<p>For another moment after she had said those words she still rested +quietly where she was, then slowly rose and looked about her.</p> + +<p>Dorothy had been in the greater peril of the two, yet more unconscious +of it. She had not seen how high above the ground she hung, nor how +directly beneath was the lake with the thinly frozen spots whence the +thicker ice had been cut for the ice-houses; nor how there were heaped +up rocks bordering the water, left as nature had designed to beautify +the scene.</p> + +<p>She was the quickest to recover her great fright and she was wholly +unhurt. Her really greater wonder was that poor Miss Muriel should +happen to faint away just then.</p> + +<p>“I’m glad she did, though, if it won’t make her ill, ’cause then she +didn’t see me dangling, like I must have, and get scared for that. +Likely she stayed out doors too long. She isn’t very strong and it’s +mighty cold, I think.”</p> + +<p>So they hurried her indoors, Gwendolyn with her, yet neither of them +allowed to discuss the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>affair until they were both warmly dressed in +ordinary clothes and set down to a cute little lunch table, “all for +your two selves,” Nora explained: “And to eat all these warm things +and drink hot coffee—as much of it as you like. It was Miss Muriel +herself who said that!”</p> + +<p>This was a treat indeed. Coffee at any meal was kept for a special +treat, but to have unlimited portions of it was what Dolly called “a +step beyond.”</p> + +<p>Curious glances, but smiling and tender, came often their way, from +other tables in the room, yet the sport, and happily ended hazard of +the morning had given to every girl a fine appetite, so that, for +once, knives and forks were more busily employed than tongues.</p> + +<p>Neither did the two heroines of the recent tragic episode feel much +like speech. Now that it was all over and they could think about it +more clearly their hearts were filled with the solemnity of what had +happened; and Gwendolyn said all that was needed for both, when once +laying her hand on Dorothy’s she whispered:</p> + +<p>“You saved my life—the Bishop says that I saved yours. After that +we’re even and we must love each other all our lives.”</p> + +<p>“Oh! we must, we must! And I do, I shall!” returned Dorothy, with +tears rising.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p><p>Then this festive little lunch dispatched, they were captured by their +schoolmates and led triumphantly into the cheerful library, the scene +of all their confabs, and Winifred demanded:</p> + +<p>“Now, in the name of all the Oak Knowe girls, I demand a detailed +history of what happened. Begin at the beginning and don’t either of +you dare to skip a single moment of the time from where you started +down the old toboggan alongside of John Gilpin and that boy. I fancy +if the tale were properly told his ride would outdo that of his +namesake of old times. Dorothy Calvert, begin.”</p> + +<p>“Why, dear, I don’t know what to say, except that, as you say, we +started. My lovely toboggan went beautifully, as it had all the time, +but theirs didn’t act right. I believe that the old man was scared so +that he couldn’t do a thing except meddle with Robin, who doesn’t know +much more about sliding than I do, or did. He—”</p> + +<p>“I saw he was getting on the wrong side, right behind you two, as we +shot past on ours,” interrupted Serena Huntington, “and we both called +out: ‘steer! steer right!’ but I suppose they didn’t hear or +understand. We were so far down then that I don’t know.”</p> + +<p>“Gwen, dear, you tell the rest,” begged Dorothy, cuddling up to the +girl she now so dearly loved.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span></p><p>It wasn’t often that Gwendolyn was called to the front like this, but +she found it very pleasant; so readily took up the tale where Dorothy +left it, “at the very beginning” as “Dixie” laughingly declared.</p> + +<p>“It seems as if there was nothing to tell—it was all so quick—it +just happened! Half way down, it must have been, the farmer’s sled hit +ours. That scared me, too, and I called, just as Serena had, and as +everybody on the slide was doing as they passed: ‘Steer right!’ I +guess that only confused the poor old man, for he kept bobbing into us +and that hindered our getting away from him ourselves.</p> + +<p>“Next I knew, Dolly was off the sled and over the edge of the slide, +clinging to it for her life. I knew she couldn’t hold on long and so I +rolled off and grabbed her. Then we began to slide and I knew somebody +was trying to help by pushing us downward toward the bottom. I don’t +know who that was. I don’t know anything clearly. It was all like a +flash—I guessed we would be killed—I shut my eyes and—that’s all.”</p> + +<p>To break the too suggestive silence which followed with its hint of a +different, sorrowful ending, Florita Sheraton exclaimed:</p> + +<p>“I know who did that pushing! It was our little Robin Adair, or +whatever his name is. Fact. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>That home-made toboggan of his came to +grief. The old man has told me. He’s out in the kitchen now warming up +his bruises. You see, there wasn’t anything to hang on by, on the +sides. He had scorned Robin’s advice to nail something on and he +nearly ground his fingers off holding on by the flat bottom. It went +so swift—his fingers ached so—he yanked them out from under—Robin +screeched—they ran into you—they both tumbled off—Robin lodged +against you but John Gilpin rode to the bottom—thus wise!”</p> + +<p>Florita illustrated by rolling one hand over and under the other; and +thus, in fact, had John Gilpin taken his first toboggan slide.</p> + +<p>Laughter showed that the tension of excitement which had held these +schoolgirls all that day had yielded to ordinary feelings, and now +most of them went away for study or practicing, leaving Dorothy and +Gwendolyn alone. After a moment, they also left the library, bound +kitchenwards, to visit old John and see if Robin were still +thereabouts.</p> + +<p>“I wish there were something I could do for that boy,” said Gwen. “I +feel so grateful to him for helping us and he looked so poor. Do you +suppose, Dolly, if Mamma offered him money for that new coat he jested +about, that he would be offended.”</p> + +<p>“Of course, Gwen, I don’t know about <i>him</i>. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>You never can tell about +other folks, but Uncle Seth thinks it’s a mighty safe rule ‘to put +yourself in his place’; and if I were in Robin’s I’d be ‘mad as a +hatter’ to have money offered me for doing a little thing like that. +Wouldn’t you?”</p> + +<p>“Why, yes, Dorothy, of course I would. The idea! But I’m rich, or my +people are, which is the same thing. But he’s poor. His feelings may +not, cannot, be the same as our sort have.”</p> + +<p>“Why can’t they? I don’t like to have you think that way. You ought +not. Gwen you must not. For that will make us break friendship square +off. I’m not poor Dawkins’s niece, though I might be much worse off +than that, but once I was ‘poor’ like Robin. I was a deserted baby, +adopted by a poor letter carrier. Now, what do you think of that? +Can’t I have nice feelings same as you? And am I a bit better—in +myself—because in reality I belonged to a rich old family, than I was +when I washed dishes in Mother Martha’s kitchen? Tell me that, before +we go one step further.”</p> + +<p>Dorothy had stopped short in the hall and faced about, anxiously +studying the face of this “Peer,” who had now become so dear to her.</p> + +<p>Gwendolyn’s face was a puzzle; as, for a time, the old opinions and +the new struggled within her. But the struggle was brief. Her pride, +her justice, and now her love, won the victory.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p><p>“No, you darling, brave little thing, you are not. Whatever you are +you were born such, and I love you, I love you. If I’d only been born +in the States I’d have had no silly notions.”</p> + +<p>“Don’t you believe that, Gwen. Aunt Betty says that human nature is +the same all the world over. You’d have been just as much of a snob if +you’d been ‘raised in ol’ Ferginny’ as you are here. Oh! my! I didn’t +mean that. I meant—You must understand what I mean!”</p> + +<p>A flush of mortification at her too plain speaking made Dorothy hide +her face, but her hands were swiftly pulled down and a kiss left in +their place.</p> + +<p>“Don’t you fret, Queenie! It’s taken lots of Mamma’s plain speaking to +keep me half-way decent to others less rich than I, and I’m afraid +it’ll take lots of yours, too, to put the finishing touches to that +lesson. Come on. We love each other now, and love puts everything +right. Come on. Let’s find that Robin and see what we can do for him +without hurting his feelings.”</p> + +<p>“Oh! yes, come, let’s hurry! But first to the Lady Principal. Maybe we +can help them both. Won’t that be fine?”</p> + +<p>But they were not to help Robin just then. A groan from the servants’ +parlor, a pleasant room opening from the kitchen, arrested their +attention and made them pause to listen. Punctuated by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>other sounds, +a querulous voice was complaining:</p> + +<p>“Seems if there warn’t a hull spot left on my old body that ain’t +bruised sore as a bile. Why, sir, when I fell off that blamed sled +we’d tinkered up”—groan—“I didn’t know anything. Just slid—an’ +slid—an’ rolled over and over, never realizin’ which side of me was +topmost till I fetched up—kerwhack! to the very bottom. Seemed as if +I’d fell out o’ the sky into the bottomless pit. Oh! dear!”</p> + +<p>Dawkins’s voice it was that answered him, both pitying and teasing him +in the same breath:</p> + +<p>“I’m sure it’s sorry I am, Mr. Gilpin, for what’s befell; but for a +man that’s lived in a tobogganing country ever since he was born, you +begun rather late in life to learn the sport. Why—”</p> + +<p>“Ain’t no older’n the Bishop! Can’t one man do same’s t’other, I’d +like to know, Mis’ Dawkins?”</p> + +<p>“Seems not;” laughed the maid. “But, here, take this cup of hot +spearmint tea. ’Twill warm your old bones and help ’em to mend; an’ +next time you start playin’ children’s game—why don’t! And for +goodness’ sake, John, quit groanin’! Takin’ on like that don’t help +any and I tell you fair and square I’ve had about all the strain put +on my nerves, to-day, ’t I can bear. What was your bit of a roll down +that smooth ice compared to what our girls went through?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p><p>“Has you got any nuts in your pockets? Has you?” broke in +Millikins-Pillikins, who had been a patient listener to the confab +between the farmer and the nurse till she could wait no longer. Never +had the old man come to Oak Knowe without some dainty for the little +girl and she expected such now.</p> + +<p>“No, sissy, I haven’t. I dunno as I’ve got a pocket left. I dunno +nothing, except—except—What’ll SHE say when I go home all lamed up +like this! Oh! hum! Seems if I was possessed to ha’ done it, and so +she thought. But ’twas Robin’s fault. If Robin hadn’t beset me so I’d +never thought of it. Leastwise, not to go the length I did. If +I’d—But there! What’s the use? But one thing’s sure. I’ll get shut of +that boy, see if I don’t. He’s well now an’ why should I go to +harboring <i>reptiles</i> in my buzzum? Tell me that if ye can! <i>Reptiles.</i> +That’s what he was, a-teasin’ an’ misleadin’ a poor old man into +destruction. Huh! I’ll make it warm for him—trust John Gilpin for +that!”</p> + +<p>Dawkins had long since departed, unable to bear the old man’s +lamentations, and leaving the cup, or pot, of hot tea on the table +beside him. But little Grace couldn’t tear herself away. She lingered, +first hoping for the nuts she craved, and later in wonder about the +“<i>reptile</i>” he said was in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>his bosom. There were big books full of +pictures in the library, that Auntie Prin sometimes let her see. She +loved to have them opened on the rug and lie down beside them to study +them. She knew what “reptiles” were. That was the very one of all the +Natural History books with the blue bindings that she liked best, it +was so delightfully crawly and sent such funny little thrills all +through her. If a picture could do that what might not the real thing +do!</p> + +<p>“Show it to me, please, Mr. Gilpin. I never saw a reptile in all my +whole life long! Never!”</p> + +<p>The farmer had paid scant attention to her chatter; indeed, he +scarcely heard it, his mind being wholly engrossed now with +what his dame would say to him, on his return home; and in his +absent-mindedness he reached out for the drink good Dawkins had +left him and put the pot to his lips taking a great draught.</p> + +<p>An instant later the pot flew out of his hand and he sprang to his +feet, clutching frantically at his bosom and yelling as if he were +stung. For the contents of the pot were boiling hot and he had scalded +his throat most painfully.</p> + +<p>But wide-eyed little Grace did not understand his wild action, as, +still clutching his shirt front, he hurled the pot far from him. Of +course, the “reptile” was biting! That must be why he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>screeched so, +and now all her desire for a personal acquaintance with such a +creature vanished. She must get as far away from it as possible before +it appeared on the surface of his smock and, darting doorward, was +just in time to receive the pot and what was left in it upon her curly +head. Down she dropped as if she had been shot, and Dorothy entering +was just in time to see her fall. The scene apparently explained +itself. The angry face of the old man, his arm still rigid, in the +gesture of hurling, the fallen child and the broken pot—who could +guess that it was horror at his uncalculated deed which kept him in +that pose?</p> + +<p>Not Dorothy, who caught up little Grace and turned a furious face upon +poor John, crying out in fierce contempt:</p> + +<p>“Oh! you horrible old man! First you tried to kill me and now you have +killed her!”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>EXPLANATIONS ARE IN ORDER</h3> + +<p>Dorothy ran straight to the Lady Principal’s room, too horrified by +what she imagined was the case to pause on the way and too excited to +feel the heavy burden she carried.</p> + +<p>Nobody met her to stop her or inquire what had happened. Gwendolyn had +been called to join her mother and had seen nothing of the incident, +and Dorothy burst into the pretty parlor—only to find it empty. +Laying Millikins down on the couch she started to find help, but was +promptly called back by the child herself.</p> + +<p>“Where you going, Dolly Doodles? What you carry me for, running so?”</p> + +<p>“Why—why—darling—can you <i>speak</i>? Are you <i>alive</i>? Oh! you +dear—you dear! I thought you were killed!” cried the relieved girl +kneeling beside the couch and hugging the astonished little one.</p> + +<p>“Why for can’t I speak, Dorothy? Why for can’t I be alive? The +‘reptile’ didn’t bite me, it bited <i>him</i>. That’s why he hollered so +and flung <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>things. See, Dolly, I’m all wet with smelly stuff like +‘meddy’ some kind, that Dawkins made him. And what you think? Soon’s +he started drinking it the ‘reptile’ must not have liked it and must +have bited him to make him stop—‘Ou-u-c-ch!’ Just like that he said +it, an’ course I runned, an’ the tea-pot flew, an’ I fell down, and +you come, grabbed me and said things, and—and—But the reptile didn’t +get Gracie, did it? No it didn’t, ’cause I runned like anything, and +’cause you come, and—Say, Dolly! I guess I’d rather see ’em in the +book. I guess I don’t want to get acquainted with no live ones like I +thought I did. No, sir!”</p> + +<p>“What in the world do you mean, Baby? Whatever are you talking about? +Oh! you mischief, you gave poor Dolly such a fright when you fell down +like that!”</p> + +<p>“Why, Dolly Doodles, how funny! I fall down lots of times. Some days I +fall down two-ten-five times, and sometimes I’d cry, but Auntie Prin +don’t like that. She’ll say right off: ‘There, Millikins, I wouldn’t +bother to do that. You haven’t hurt the floor any.’ So course I stop. +’Cause if I had hurted the floor she’d let me cry a lot. She said so, +once. Mr. Gilpin didn’t have a single nut in his pockets. He said so. +And he talked awful funny! Not as if to me at all, so must ha’ been to +the ‘reptile’ in his ‘buzzum.’ Do ‘reptiles’ <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>buzz, Dolly, same as +sting-bees do? And wouldn’t you rather carry nuts in your pockets for +such nice little girls as me, than crawly things inside your smock to +bite you? I think a smock’s the funniest kind of clothes, and Mr. +Gilpin’s the funniest kind of man inside ’em. Don’t you?”</p> + +<p>“If either one can match you for funniness, you midget, I’ll lose my +guess. Seems if this had been the ‘funniest’ kind of day ever was. But +I’ll give you up till you get ready to explain your ‘reptile’ talk. +Changing the subject, did you get a slide to-day?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, lots of them. What do think? I didn’t have anybody give me a +nice new toboggan with my name on it, like you had; so the Bishop he +told Auntie Prin that he’d look out for me this year same’s he did +last year. I hadn’t grown so much bigger, he thought. Course he’s +terrible big and I’m terrible little, so all he does is tuck me inside +his great toboggan coat. Buttons it right around me—this way—so I +never could slip out, could I? And I don’t have to hold on at all he +holds on for me and Auntie’s not afraid, that way. Don’t you think it +was terrible nice for Gwendolyn to give you your things?”</p> + +<p>“What things, dear? Gwen has given me nothing that I know of. Is this +another mystery of yours?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span></p><p>“It isn’t not no mystery, I don’t know what them are, except when +girls like you get lost right in their own houses and don’t get found +again right soon. But I know ‘secrets.’ Secrets are what the one you +have ’em about don’t get told. That was a secret about your things, +Gwen said. You didn’t get told, did you?”</p> + +<p>“I have a suspicion that I’m being told now,” answered Dorothy, +soberly. “Suppose you finish the telling, dear, while we are airing +the subject. What are the things you’re talking about?”</p> + +<p>“Why, aren’t you stupid, Dolly? About the be-a-u-tiful blankets were +made into your suit. Auntie said they were the handsomest ever was. +Lady Jane had bought ’em to have new things made for Gwen, ’cause Lady +Jane’s going far away across the ocean and she wanted to provide every +single thing Gwen might want. In case anything happened to Gwen’s old +one.</p> + +<p>“So Gwen said, no, she didn’t need ’em and you did. She guessed your +folks hadn’t much money, she’d overheard the Bishop say so. That’s the +way she knows everything is ’cause she always ‘overhears.’ I told +Auntie Prin that I thought that was terrible nice, and I’d like to +learn overhearing; and she sauced me back the funniest! My! she did! +Said if she ever caught me overhearing I’d be put to bed with nothing +but bread and water to eat, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>until I forgot the art. Just like that +she said it! Seems if overhearing is badness. She does so want +Gwendolyn to be really noble. Auntie Prin thinks it noble for Gwen to +give up her blankets and to have that be-a-u-tiful toboggan bought for +you with your name on it. You aren’t real poor, are you, Dolly? Not +like the beggar folks come ‘tramping’ by and has ‘victuals’ given to +them? Bishop says all little girls must be good to the poor. That’s +when he wants me to put my pennies in my Mite Box for the little +heathen. I don’t so much care about the heathen and Hugh—”</p> + +<p>But Dorothy suddenly put the child down, knowing that once started +upon the theme of “Brother Hugh” the little sister’s talk was endless. +And she was deeply troubled.</p> + +<p>She had altogether forgotten John Gilpin and the accusation she had +hurled at him. Nothing now remained in her mind but thoughts of +Gwendolyn’s rich gifts and indignation against her. Why had she done +it? As a sort of payment for Dorothy’s assistance at the Maiden’s +Bath?</p> + +<p>Meeting Miss Muriel in the hall she cried:</p> + +<p>“Oh! my dear lady, I am in such trouble! May I talk to you a moment?”</p> + +<p>“Certainly, Dorothy. Come this way. Surely there can be nothing +further have happened to you, to-day.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p><p>Safe in the shelter and privacy of a small classroom, Dorothy told her +story into wise and loving ears; and to be comforted at once.</p> + +<p>“You are all wrong, Dorothy. I am sure that there was no such thought +as payment for any deed of yours in poor Gwendolyn’s mind. You have +been invariably kind to her in every way possible; and until this +chance came she had found none in which to show you that she realized +this and loved you for it. Why, my dear, if you could have seen her +happiness when I told her it was a beautiful thing for her to do, you +would certainly have understood her and been glad to give her the +chance she was glad to take. It is often harder to accept favors than +to bestow them. It takes more grace. Now, dear, let’s call that ‘ghost +laid,’ as Dawkins says. Hunt up Gwen, tell her how grateful you are to +her for her rich, unselfish gifts, and—do it with a real Dorothy +face; not with any hint of offended pride—which is not natural to it! +And go at once, then drop the subject and forget it. We were all so +thankful that you chose her this morning without knowing.”</p> + +<p>Back came the smiles as Miss Muriel hoped to see them, and away sped +Dorothy to put the good advice in practice; and five minutes later +Gwendolyn was the happiest girl at Oak Knowe, because <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>her gifts had +been ascribed to real affection only.</p> + +<p>“Now, Gwen, that we’ve settled <i>that</i>, let’s go and see what we can do +for Robin. Heigho, Winifred! you’re just in time to aid a worthy +cause—Come on to Lady Principal!”</p> + +<p>“Exactly whither I was bound!” waving a letter overhead. “Going +a-begging, my dears, if you please!” she returned, clasping Gwen’s +waist on one side to walk three abreast. A trivial action in itself +but delightful to the “Peer,” showing that this free-spoken “Commoner” +no longer regarded her as “stand-offish” but “just one of the crowd.”</p> + +<p>“Begging for what, Win?”</p> + +<p>“That’s a secret!”</p> + +<p>“Pooh! You might as well tell. Secrets always get found out. I’ve just +discovered one—by way of chattering Millikins-Pillikins. Guess it.”</p> + +<p>“I couldn’t, Dolly, I’m too full of my own. As for that child’s +talk—but half of it has sense.”</p> + +<p>“So I thought, too, listening to her. But <i>half did</i> have sense and +that is—Who do you think gave me my beautiful toboggan things?”</p> + +<p>“Why, your Aunt Betty, I suppose, since she does everything else for +you,” answered Winifred promptly. “Anyhow, don’t waste time on +guesses—Tell!”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p><p>Then she glanced up into Gwendolyn’s face and saw how happy it was, +and hastily added:</p> + +<p>“No, you needn’t tell, after all, I know. It was Gwen, here, the +big-hearted dear old thing! She’s the only girl at Oak Knowe who’s +rich enough and generous enough to do such a splendid thing.”</p> + +<p>“Good for you, Win, you guessed right at once!” answered Dolly trying +to clap her hands but unable to loosen them from her comrades’ clasp. +“Now for yours!”</p> + +<p>“Wait till we get to the ‘audience chamber’! Come on.”</p> + +<p>But even yet they were hindered. In the distance, down at the end of +the hall, Dorothy caught sight of Mr. Gilpin, evidently just departing +from the house. A more dejected figure could scarcely be imagined, nor +a more ludicrous one, as he limped toward the entrance, hands on hips +and himself bent forward forlornly. Below his rough top-coat which he +had discarded on his arrival, hung the tatters of his smock that had +been worn to ribbons by his roll down the slide.</p> + +<p>Nobody knew what had become of his own old beaver hat, but a light +colored derby, which the <i>chef</i> had loaned him, sat rakishly over one +ear, in size too small for the whole top of his bald head.</p> + +<p>“Looks as if he had two foreheads!” said Winifred, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>who couldn’t help +laughing at his comical appearance, with part of his baldness showing +at front and back of the borrowed hat.</p> + +<p>Dorothy laughed, too, yet felt a guilty regret at the way she had +spoken to him. She had accused him of “trying to kill her” as well as +Gwen and little Grace; but he “kill anything”? Wicked, even to say +that.</p> + +<p>“There goes John Gilpin, and, girls, I must speak to him. Come—I +can’t let him go that way!”</p> + +<p>As his “good foot” crossed the threshold Dorothy’s hand was on his +shoulder and her voice begging:</p> + +<p>“Oh! please, Mr. Gilpin! Do forgive that horrible thing I said! I +didn’t know, I didn’t understand, I didn’t mean it—I thought—it +looked—Do come back just a minute and let me explain.”</p> + +<p>The old fellow turned and gazed into her pleading eyes, but at first +scarcely heard her.</p> + +<p>“Why, ’tis the little maid! hersel’ that was cryin’ that night on the +big railway platform. The night that Robin lad was anigh kilt. +Something’s mixed up in me head. What’s it, lassie, you want?”</p> + +<p>“I want your forgiveness, Mr. Gilpin. When I saw Gracie on the floor +and the broken pot beside her I thought—you’d—you’d tried—and +account of your sled hitting Gwen and me—Do come in and rest. You’re +worse hurt than anybody <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>thought, I’m afraid. There, there, that’s +right. Come back and rest till the team goes into town for the +Saturday night’s supplies. It always goes you know, and Michael will +get the driver to drop you at your own door. I’m sure he will.”</p> + +<p>Obediently, he allowed her to lead him back into the hall and to seat +him on the settle beside the radiator. The warmth of that and the +comfort of three sympathetic girls soon restored his wandering wits +and he was as ready to talk as they to listen.</p> + +<p>“You do forgive, don’t you, dear old John?”</p> + +<p>“Sure, lassie, there’s nought about forgiveness, uther side. It was a +bit misunderstandin’ was all. The wee woman a-pleadin’ for treats out +of pocket, and me thinkin’ hard o’ Robin, for coaxin’ an old man to +make a fool of hissel’. Me feeling that minute as if ’twas all his +fault and thinking I’d cherished a snake, a reptile, in my buzzum, and +sayin’ it out loud, likes I have a bad habit of doing.</p> + +<p>“Silly I was, not remembering how’t a child takes all things literal. +Ha, ha, ha! To think it! When I scalded mysel’ with the hot tea the +bairnie should fancy I yelled at a sarpent’s bite! Sure, I could split +my sides a-laughin’ but for the hurt I gave her. How is she doin’, +lass? I’ve waited this long spell for someone to pass by and give me +the word, but nobody has. Leastwise, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>them that passes has no mind for +old John in his dumps.”</p> + +<p>“Why, Mr. Gilpin, she wasn’t hurt at all; and it’s just as you said. +She thought you had a real snake in your clothes and it had bitten +you. She’s all right now, right as can be; and so will you be as soon +as you get home and into your wife’s good care. She—”</p> + +<p>“Ah, my Dorothy! ’Tis she I dread. Not a word’ll she say, like enough, +but the look she will give to my silly face—Hmm. She’s a rare silent +woman is my Dame, but she can do a power o’ thinkin’.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, she can, and the first thing she’ll think is how glad she is to +have her husband back again, safe and sound.”</p> + +<p>“Aye, but Dorothy, hark ye! I’m safe, I’ll grant ye that; but—sound? +’Tis different letters spells that word. Sound? I’ll no’ be that for +weeks to come!” and the poor fellow, who certainly had been badly +bruised and lucky to have escaped broken bones, sighed profoundly.</p> + +<p>Winifred had an inspiration.</p> + +<p>“Speaking of Robins, suppose we write her a round-robin letter? Right +here and now, on the back of this letter of Father’s? It’s a grand +good letter for me and we’ll write so nicely of you, Mr. John, that +it’ll be a good one for her, too.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p><p>“Will ye? A real letter explainin’ about the accident, when the +lassie’s toboggan got in our way and we got that mixed ’twas nigh the +death of the lot? Dame’d be proud enough to get that letter. Sure, I +believe ’twould set her thinkin’ of other things, and she’ll be liker +to overlook my foolishness.”</p> + +<p>They all laughed at the crafty manner in which he shipped his +responsibility for the accident from his shoulders to theirs; but +Winifred plumped herself down on the settle beside him and, using it +for a desk, concocted an amusing story of the whole day’s happenings. +The other girls had less of the gift of writing, but each added a few +words and signed her name with a flourish. Altogether it was a +wonderful document, so the farmer thought, as Winifred tore that +half-sheet from her father’s letter, folded it in a fantastic way and +gave it him.</p> + +<p>Indeed, he was so pleased with it and so anxious to get it into his +wife’s hands that, after turning it over and about, in admiration of +the “true lover’s knot” into which Win had folded it, he rose to go +away. All his stiffness was forgotten, he almost neglected to drag his +lame foot, he firmly declined to stay for supper or any ride with the +Oak Knowe team, so completely had the kindness of the three girls +cured him.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span></p><p>“A letter for the Dame! Sure she’ll be the proud woman the night, and +maybe she’ll think I’d more sense after all. I don’t mind she’d ary +letter come before since we was married. Good night, young ladies. +Tell the bit woman ’t next time there’ll be nuts in me pockets, all +right, and no fear for her o’ more snakes. Good-by.”</p> + +<p>They watched him down the path, fairly strutting in his pride over the +note which a mere whim on Winifred’s part had suggested, and Dorothy +exclaimed:</p> + +<p>“What a dear, simple old soul he is! That a tiny thing like that could +make so happy. I believe he was more delighted with that half-sheet of +your paper than you are with your father’s other half.”</p> + +<p>Winifred caught the others about the waist and whirled them indoors +again, first gleefully kissing her father’s bit of writing and asking:</p> + +<p>“Think so? Then he’s the gladdest person in the world, to-night. +Oh—ee!”</p> + +<p>“Well, Win, you can be glad without squeezing the breath out of a +body, can’t you? Heigho, Robin! Where’d you come from?” said Dolly, as +the boy came suddenly upon them from a side hall.</p> + +<p>“Why, from the kitchen. The folks there made me eat a lot of good +stuff and a woman—I guess <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>it was the housekeeper—she made me put on +some of the men’s clothes while she took my knickers and mended them. +I’d torn them all to flinders on that slide, or old botched up sled, +and she said I was a sight. I was, too. She was awful kind. She made +me tell all about Mother and my getting hurt and everything. But she +said I ought to go right away and find Mr. Gilpin and get friends with +him again. Isn’t it funny? He blames <i>me</i> for all that happened and +for teasing him to make that wretched sled, yet, sir, if you’ll +believe me he was the one spoke of it first. True! Said he’d never had +a toboggan ride in all his life, long as that was, because he hadn’t +anybody to go with him. But ‘he’d admire’ to have just one before he +died—”</p> + +<p>“He had it, didn’t he?” laughed Winifred.</p> + +<p>“He had a hard time getting Mrs. Gilpin’s consent. She treats him as +if he were a little boy, worse’n Mother does me, but he doesn’t get +mad at all. He thinks she’s the most wonderful woman in the world, but +I must find him and put myself right with him before we go home and +tackle her. He’ll need my help then more’n he did makin’ that beastly +sled! It was awful—really awful—the way he went rolling down that +icy slide, but to save my life I can’t help laughing when I think of +it. Can you?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span></p><p>At the lad’s absurd movements, as he now pictured John’s remarkable +“ride” they all laughed; but suddenly Dorothy demanded:</p> + +<p>“You sit right down yonder on that settle and wait for me. You can’t +find Mr. Gilpin, now, he’s far on the road home. But there’s something +I must ask Miss Tross-Kingdon—”</p> + +<p>“No! You don’t ask Miss Tross-Kingdon one single thing till I’ve had +my ask first, Dorothy Calvert! Here I’m nearly crazy, trying to hold +in my secret, and—”</p> + +<p>“I claim my chance too! I’ve a petition of my own if you please and +let the first to arrive win!” shouted Gwendolyn, speeding after the +other two toward the “audience chamber.”</p> + +<p>Thus deserted, Robin laughed and curled up on the bench to wait; while +the Lady Principal’s sanctum was boisterously invaded by three +petitioners, forgetful of the required decorum, and each trying to +forestall the others, with her:</p> + +<p>“Oh! Miss Muriel, may I—?” “Please, Miss Tross-Kingdon, my +father’s—”</p> + +<p>“Hear me first, dear Lady Principal, before he gets away. Can—”</p> + +<p>But the Lady Principal merely clapped her hands over her ears and +ordered:</p> + +<p>“One at a time. Count twenty.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>MRS. JARLEY ENTERTAINS</h3> + +<p>“I’ve counted! And I beg pardon for rushing in here like that. But I +was afraid the others had favors to ask and I wanted to get mine in +first!” said Gwendolyn, after the brief pause Miss Tross-Kingdon had +suggested.</p> + +<p>“Oh! you sweet, unselfish thing!” mocked Winifred, “your favor can’t +be half as fine as mine—”</p> + +<p>“Nor mine! Oh! do please let me speak first, for fear he gets away!” +begged Dorothy, eagerly.</p> + +<p>“First come first served, Dolly, please!” coaxed Gwendolyn and the +teacher nodded to her to speak.</p> + +<p>“Mine’s for next Saturday. Mrs. Jarley’s Wax Works are to be in town +and Mamma says if you’ll allow I may invite the whole school to go. +She’ll have big sleighs sent out for us and will let us have supper at +the hotel where she stops. May we go?”</p> + +<p>“Wait a moment, Gwendolyn. Did you say the ‘whole school’?”</p> + +<p>Each year Lady Jane had allowed her daughter to entertain her +schoolmates in some such manner but the number had, heretofore, been +limited to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>“Peers” only. Such a wholesale invitation as this required +some explanation.</p> + +<p>Gwendolyn’s eyes fell and her cheek flushed, while the other girls +listened in wondering delight for her answer, which came after some +hesitation. But came frankly at last in the girl’s own manner.</p> + +<p>“I’m ashamed now of the silly notions I used to have. I wanted to do +something which would prove that I am; so instead of picking out a few +of what we called ‘our set’ I want every girl at Oak Knowe to join us. +You’ll understand, of course, that there will be no expense to +anybody. It’s Mamma’s farewell treat to us girls, before she goes +abroad. May she and I give it?”</p> + +<p>“Indeed, you may, Gwendolyn, if the Bishop approves. With the +understanding that no lessons are neglected. The winter is about over. +Spring exams are near, and ‘Honors’ or even ‘Distinction’ will not be +won without hard work.”</p> + +<p>“Thank you, Miss Muriel. May I go now and ask the Bishop, then tell +the girls?”</p> + +<p>“Certainly,” and there was an expression of greater pleasure on the +lady’s face than on that of Gwendolyn’s even.</p> + +<p>Winifred executed what she called a “war dance” as Gwen disappeared, +crying:</p> + +<p>“That’s what I call a wholesale burying of the hatchet! That +‘Honorable’ young woman is distinguishing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>herself. Don’t you think +so, Miss Muriel?”</p> + +<p>“I am pleased. I am very pleased. Gwendolyn has surely dropped her +foolishness and I’m proud of her. It’s so much safer for anyone to be +normal, without fads or fancies—”</p> + +<p>“Oh! come now, you dear Schoolma’am! Never mind the pretty talk just +this minute, ’cause I can’t wait to tell you—Father’s coming—my +Father is coming and a proper good time with him! If you’ll only +remember I wasn’t saucy then—A girl you’d raised to hand, like me, +couldn’t really be saucy, could she? And—and please just wait a +minute. Please let me talk first. Because <i>I</i> can’t ask <i>everybody</i>, +but my darling Father means just as well as Lady Jane. His invite is +only for a dozen—round baker’s dozen, to take a trip in his car to +Montreal and visit the Ice Palace! Think of that! The beautiful Ice +Palace that I’ve never seen in all my life. If you’ll say ‘yes,’ if +you’ll be the picker out of ’em, besides yourself and Miss Hexam and +Dawkins—Oh! dear! You three grown-ups take off three from my +dozen-thirteen! But there’ll be ten left, any way, and please say yes +and how many days we may be gone and—Oh! I love you, Miss Muriel, you +know I do!”</p> + +<p>The lady Principal calmly loosened Winifred’s clasping arms, and +smilingly looked into the sparkling, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>pleading eyes before her. Who +could be stern with the whimsical child she had cared for during so +many years, and under whose apparently saucy manner, lay a deep love +and respect? She did not enlighten the pleader on the fact that this +was no new thing she had just heard; nor that there had been written +communications passing between Mr. Christie and the Bishop with +consent already won. But she put her answer off by saying:</p> + +<p>“We’ll see about it, Winifred: and I’m glad there was nobody save +Dorothy here to see you so misbehave! But if we go, and if the +selection is left to me, I may not please you; for I should choose +those whose record for good conduct is highest and whose preparation +for exams is most complete.”</p> + +<p>Winifred wrinkled her brows. Of course she, as hostess couldn’t be +counted either out or in, but she knew without telling that but few of +her own class-ten would be allowed to go. They were the jolliest “ten” +at Oak Knowe and oftener in disgrace about lessons than free from it.</p> + +<p>“Oh! dear! I do wish we’d dreamed this treat was coming! I’d have +forced the ‘Aldriches’ to study as hard as they played—if—if I had +to do it at the point of my mahl-stick. I guess it’ll be a lesson to +them.”</p> + +<p>“I trust it will, dear, but Dorothy has waited all <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>this time. Three +little maids with three little wishes, regular fairy-tale like, and +two of them granted already. What’s yours, Dorothy?”</p> + +<p>Since listening to the others’ requests, her own seemed very simple, +almost foolish; but she answered promptly:</p> + +<p>“I want to get you a boot-boy.”</p> + +<p>Winifred laughed.</p> + +<p>“Hey, Dolly! To switch off from a private-car-ice-palace-trip into a +boot-boy’s jacket is funny enough. Who’s the candidate you’re +electioneering for?”</p> + +<p>Miss Muriel hushed Winifred’s nonsense which had gone far enough and +was due, she knew, to the girl’s wild delight over her father’s +promised visit.</p> + +<p>“If you could find a good one for me, Dorothy, you would certainly be +doing me a favor, not I one for you. Whom do you mean?”</p> + +<p>“Robin Locke, Miss Tross-Kingdon. He’s so very poor.”</p> + +<p>“Poverty isn’t always a recommendation for usefulness. Is he old +enough? Is it that lad who came with Mr. Gilpin?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, Miss Muriel. He’s just the loveliest boy I’ve seen in Canada—”</p> + +<p>“The <i>only</i> one, except Jack!” interrupted Winifred.</p> + +<p>“It was because of me and my carelessness he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>got hurt and broke +himself. He was carrying my telegram that I ought to have sent long +before and he was so starved he fell off his bicycle and always ever +since I’ve wished I could help him some way and he’d have such a nice +home here and he wouldn’t bring in goats, and his mother could do +things to help and I thought maybe he could do the shoes and other +things would be easier than what he did and could be a golf-boy for +the Bishop when the time comes and it’s pretty near and—”</p> + +<p>“There, Dorothy, take your breath, and put a comma or two into your +sentences. Then we’ll talk about this project of yours. Where’s Robin +now?”</p> + +<p>“Right out on the settle this minute waiting—if he hasn’t gone +away—May I—”</p> + +<p>“Yes, honey, step-an’-fetch him!” laughed Winifred again, “he’s used +to that sort of talk.”</p> + +<p>Away flashed Dorothy and now, at a really serious rebuke from the Lady +Principal, Winifred sobered her lively spirits to be an interested +witness of the coming interview, as Dorothy came speeding back, +literally dragging the shy Robin behind her.</p> + +<p>But, as before, the presence of other young folks and Miss Muriel’s +first question put him at his ease.</p> + +<p>“Robin, are you willing to work rather hard, in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>a good home, for your +mother and to provide one for her, too?”</p> + +<p>“Why, of course, Ma’am. That’s what I was a-doin’ when I fell off. +Goody! Wouldn’t I? Did you ever see my mother, lady?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, Robin, at our Hallowe’en Party,” answered Miss Tross-Kingdon, +smiling into the beautiful, animated face of this loyal son.</p> + +<p>“You’d like her, Ma’am, you couldn’t help it. She’s ‘the sweetest +thing in the garden,’ Father used to say, and he knew. She feels bad +now, thinking we’ve been so long at the farmer’s ’cause she don’t see +how ’t we ever can pay them. And the doctor, too. Oh! Ma’am, did you +hear tell of such a place? Do you think I could get it?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, lad, I did hear of just such, for Dorothy told me. It’s right +here at Oak Knowe. The work is to pick up row after row of girls’ +shoes, standing over night outside their bedroom doors and to blacken +them, or whiten them, as the case might be, and to have them +punctually back in place, in time for their owners to put on. Cleaning +boots isn’t such a difficult task as it is a tedious one. The maids +complain that it’s more tiresome than scrubbing, and a boy I knew grew +very careless about his work. If I asked you and your mother to come +here to live, would you get tired? Or would she dislike to help care +for the linen mending? Of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>course, you would be paid a fair wage as +well as she. What do you think?”</p> + +<p>What Robin thought was evident: for away he ran to Dorothy’s side and +catching her hand kissed it over and over.</p> + +<p>“Oh! you dear, good girl! It was you who helped the doctor set my +bones, it was you who let me slide on your new toboggan, and it’s you +who’ve ‘spoke for me’ to this lady. Oh! I do thank you. And now I’m +not afraid to go back and see Mr. Gilpin. He was so vexed with me +because he thought—May I go now, Ma’am? and when do you want us, +Mother and me?”</p> + +<p>“To-morrow morning, at daybreak. Will you be here?”</p> + +<p>“Will I not? Oh! good-by. I must go quick! and tell my Mother that she +needn’t worry any more. Oh! how glad I am!”</p> + +<p>With a bow toward Miss Tross-Kingdon and a gay wave of his hand toward +the girls, he vanished from the room, fairly running down the corridor +and whistling as he went. The rules of Oak Knowe had yet all to be +learned but it certainly was a cheerful “noise in halls” to which they +listened now.</p> + +<p>“And that’s another ‘link’ in life, such as Uncle Seth was always +watching for. If I hadn’t delayed that telegram and he hadn’t fallen +down and—everything <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>else that happened—Robin would never have had +such a lovely chance,” said Dorothy proudly.</p> + +<p>“That’s a dangerous doctrine, Dorothy. It’s fine to see the ‘links’ +you speak of, but not at all fine to do evil that good may come. I’d +rather have you believe that this same good might have come to the lad +without your own first mistake. But it’s time for studying Sunday +lessons and you must go.”</p> + +<p>“Catch me studying ‘links’ for things, Dolly, if it gets a body +lectured. Dear Lady Principal does so love to cap her kindnesses with +‘a few remarks.’ There’s a soft side and a hard side to that woman, +and a middle sort of schoolma’amy side between. She can’t help it, +poor thing, and mostly her soft side was in front just now.</p> + +<p>“Think of it! Wax Works and Ice Palaces all in one term! I do just +hope Mrs. Jarley’ll have a lot of real blood-curdling ‘figgers’ to +look at and not all miminy-piminy ones. Well, good night, honey, I’m +off to be as good as gold.”</p> + +<p>Every pupil at Oak Knowe, in the week that followed, tried to be “as +good as gold,” for a pleasure such as Lady Jane proposed to give the +school was as welcome to the highest Form as to the lowest Minims, and +the result was that none was left out of the party—not one.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span></p><p>It was all perfectly arranged, even the weather conspiring to further +the good time, with a beautifully clear day and the air turned mild, +with a promise of the coming spring. The snow was beginning to waste, +yet the sleighing held fine and the city stables had been ransacked to +obtain the most gorgeous outfits with the safest drivers.</p> + +<p>Thirty handsome sleighs with their floating plumes and luxurious +robes, drawn by thirty spans of beautiful horses was the alluring +procession which entered Oak Knowe grounds on the eventful Saturday; +and three hundred happy girls, each in her best attire piled into +them. Yes, and one small boy! For who could bear to leave behind that +one last child of the great family? And a boy who in but a week’s time +had learned to clean shoes so well and promptly?</p> + +<p>So clad in his new suit, of the school’s uniform, “Such as all we men +folks wear”—as he had proudly explained to his mother when he first +appeared in this before her—and with a warm top-coat and cap to +match, the happy youngster rode in the leading sleigh in which sat +Lady Jane herself.</p> + +<p>Of how those happy young folks took possession of the exhibition hall, +that had been reserved for them; and smiled or shuddered over the +lifelike images of famous men and women; and finally tore themselves +away from the glib tongue of the exhibitor <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>and his fascinating +show—all this any schoolgirl reader can picture for herself.</p> + +<p>Then of the dinner at the great hotel, in a beautiful room also +reserved that they might indulge their appetites as hunger craved +without fear or observation of other guests: the slow drive about the +city, and the swift drive home—with not one whit of the gayety dimmed +by any untoward accident.</p> + +<p>“Oh! it’s been a perfect success! Nothing has happened that should +not, and I believe that I’ve been the happiest girl of all! But such a +crowd of them. Better count your flock, Miss Tross-Kingdon, maybe, and +see if any are missing;” said Lady Jane as she stepped down at the Oak +Knowe door.</p> + +<p>“I don’t see how there could be, under your care, my Lady, but I’ll +call a mental roll.”</p> + +<p>So she did. But the roll was not perfect. Two were missing. Why?</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>A PERPLEXING PROBLEM OF LIFE</h3> + +<p>Miss Tross-Kingdon entered Miss Hexam’s room, looking so disturbed +that the latter asked:</p> + +<p>“Why, Muriel, what is the matter?”</p> + +<p>They two were of kin and called each other by their first names.</p> + +<p>“Matter enough, Wilda. I’m worried and angry. And to think it should +happen while the Bishop is away on that trip of his to the States!”</p> + +<p>“Tell me,” urged the gentle little woman, pushing a chair forward into +which the Lady Principal wearily dropped.</p> + +<p>“It’s that Dorothy Calvert. She’s lost herself again!”</p> + +<p>“She has a knack of doing that! But she’ll be found.”</p> + +<p>“Maybe. Worst is she’s taken another with her. Robin, the new +boot-boy.”</p> + +<p>Miss Hexam laughed:</p> + +<p>“Well, I admit that is the greater loss just now! Girls are plentiful +enough at Oak Knowe but boot-boys are scarce. And this Robin was a +paragon, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>wasn’t he? Also, I thought Dorothy was away up toward the +‘good conduct medal,’ as well as ‘distinction’ in music. I don’t see +why she should do so foolish a thing as you say and lessen her chances +for the prize.”</p> + +<p>“Wilda, you don’t understand how serious it is. It was one thing to +have it happen in this house but it’s night now and she away in a +strange city. I declare I almost wish she’d never come at all.”</p> + +<p>For a moment Miss Hexam said no more. She knew that Miss Muriel loved +the missing girl with sincere affection and was extremely proud of her +great progress in her studies. All the school had readily conceded +that in her own Form Dorothy stood highest, and would certainly win +the “honors” of that Form. When the Principal had rested quietly a +while longer she asked:</p> + +<p>“Now tell me all about it, Muriel.”</p> + +<p>“Nobody missed her, but, she did not come home with the rest. I’ve +’phoned to the police to look for for her and the boy, but it’s a +disgrace to the school to have to do such a thing. Besides, Robin’s +mother is half wild about him and declares she must walk into town to +seek him.”</p> + +<p>“You’re foolish, the pair of you. Stop and reason. Robin is thoroughly +familiar with the city and suburbs, from his messenger-boy experience. +Dorothy is blessed with a fair share of common <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>sense. If they +wandered away somewhere, they’ll soon wander back again when they +realize what they have done. I’m sorry you stirred up the police and +they should be warned to keep the matter quiet.”</p> + +<p>“Oh! they have been,” answered the weary Lady Principal. “It does +seem, lately, that every good time we allow the girls ends in +disaster.”</p> + +<p>“Never mind. You go to bed. You’ve done all you can till morning.”</p> + +<p>Miss Muriel did go away but only to spend the night in watching along +with Lady Jane in the library, the latter deeply regretting that she +had ever suggested this outing and, like the Lady Principal, both +sorry and angry over its ending.</p> + +<p>Dorothy had ridden to the exhibition in the very last sleigh of all, +as Robin had in the first, and when they all left the hotel after +dinner he had lingered beside her while she waited for the other teams +to drive on and her own to come up.</p> + +<p>This took a long time, there was so much ado in settling so many girls +to the satisfaction of all; and looking backward he saw that there +would still be a delay of several moments.</p> + +<p>“I say, Dorothy, come on. I want to show you where we used to live +before my father died. We’ll be back in plenty time. It’s the dearest +little house, with only two rooms in it; but after we <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>left it nobody +lived there and it’s all gone to pieces. Makes me feel bad but I’d +like to show you. Just down that block and around a side street. Come +on. What’s the use standing here?”</p> + +<p>“Sure we can be back in time, Robin?”</p> + +<p>“Certain. Cross my heart. I’m telling you the truth. It’s only a step +or so.”</p> + +<p>“Well, then, let’s hurry.”</p> + +<p>Hurry they did, he whistling as usual, until they came to a narrow +alley that had used to be open but had now been closed by a great pile +of lumber, impossible for them to climb.</p> + +<p>“Oh! pshaw! Somebody must be going to build here. But never mind. Our +house was right yonder, we can go another way.”</p> + +<p>His interest as well as hers in exploring “new places,” made them +forget everything else; and when, at last, they came to Robin’s old +home a full half-hour had passed.</p> + +<p>It was, indeed, a sorry place. Broken windows, hanging doors and +shutters, chimney fallen, and doorstep gone. Nobody occupied it now +except, possibly, a passing tramp or the street gamin who had +destroyed it.</p> + +<p>“My! I’m glad my Mother can’t see it now. She never has since we moved +down to our cottage in the glen. It would break her dear heart, for my +father built it when they were first married. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>That was the kitchen, +that the bedroom—Hark! What’s that?”</p> + +<p>“Sounded like a cat.”</p> + +<p>“Didn’t to me. Cats are squealier’n that was. I wonder if anybody or +thing is in there now. If I had time I’d go and see.”</p> + +<p>“Robin, wouldn’t you be afraid?”</p> + +<p>“Afraid? Afraid to go into my own house, that was, that my father +built with his own hands? Huh! What do you take me for? I’d as soon go +in there as eat my din—Hello! There certainly—”</p> + +<p>They put their heads close to the paneless window and listened +intently. That was a human groan. That was a curious patter of small +hoofs—Dorothy had heard just such a sound before. That surely was a +most familiar wail:</p> + +<p>“Oh, Baal! My jiminy cricket!”</p> + +<p>“Jiminy cricket yourself, Jack-boot-boy! What you doing in my house? +I’m living in yours—I mean I’m boot-boy now. How are you?” cried +Robin, through the window.</p> + +<p>“Who’m you? Have you got anything to eat? Quick! Have you?”</p> + +<p>The voice which put the question was surely Jack’s but oddly weak and +tremulous. Dorothy answered:</p> + +<p>“Not here, Jack, course. Are you hungry?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span></p><p>“Starvin’! Starvin’! I ain’t touched food nor drink this two days. Oh! +Have you?”</p> + +<p>Daylight was already fading and street lights flashing out but this +by-way of the town had no such break to the darkness. Robin was over +the rickety threshold in an instant and Dorothy quickly followed. +Neither had now any thought save for the boy within and his suffering.</p> + +<p>They found him lying on a pile of old rags or pieces of discarded +burlap which he had picked up on the streets, or that some former +lodger in the room had gathered. Beside him was Baal, bleating +piteously, as if he, too, were starving. The reason for this was +evident when Robin stumbled over a rope by which the animal was +fastened to the window sash; else he might have strolled abroad and +foraged for himself.</p> + +<p>But if Robin fell he was up in a second and with the instincts of a +city bred boy knew just what to do and how to do it.</p> + +<p>“Got any money, Dorothy?”</p> + +<p>“Yes. Twenty-five cents, my week’s allowance.”</p> + +<p>“I’ve got ten. Mother said I might keep that much out of my week’s +wages. Give it here. I’ll be back in a minute.”</p> + +<p>He was gone and Dorothy dropped down on the dusty floor beside Jack +and asked his story. He <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>told it readily enough, as far as willingness +went, but his speech lagged for once and from sheer lack of strength.</p> + +<p>“I left—seeking my fortune. It warn’t so easy as I thought it would +be. I’ve hired for odd jobs, held horses, run arrants, helped ’round +taverns, but didn’t get no place for steady. Trouble was, folks don’t +take no great to Baal. They’d put with him a spell, treat him real +decent till he’d up and butt somebody over—then his dough was cooked. +The worse he was used the better I liked him, though I’d ha’ sold him +for money if I could, I’ve been hungry so much the time. And that +right here, Dorothy, <i>in a town full o’ victuals</i>! Just chock full. +See ’em in the winders, see ’em in the markets, on wagons—and every +created place, but not a speck for me. But I got along, I’d ha’ made +out, if I hadn’t et somethin’ made me dretful sick. It was somethin’ +in a can I picked up out a garbage pail, some sort o’ fish I guess, +and I’ve been terr’ble ever since. What’d he go for? Why don’t he come +back?”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know. I reckon he went for food. How did you keep warm in +here, if this is where you lived?”</p> + +<p>“Didn’t keep warm. How could I? I ain’t been warm, not real clean +through, since the last night I slep’ in my nice bed at Oak Knowe.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p><p>“Why didn’t you come back? Or go to the railway stations? They are +always heated, I reckon.”</p> + +<p>“Did. Turned me out. Lemme stay a spell but then turned me out. Said I +better go to the poorhouse but—won’t that boy never come!”</p> + +<p>“He’s coming now, Jack,” she answered and was almost as glad as he of +the fact.</p> + +<p>Robin came whistling in, good cheer in the very sound.</p> + +<p>“Here you are neighbor! Candle and matches—two cents. Pint of +milk—three. Drink it down while I light up!”</p> + +<p>Jack grabbed the milk bottle with both hands and drained it; then fell +back again with a groan.</p> + +<p>“’T hurts my stummick! Hurts my stummick awful!”</p> + +<p>“Never mind. I’ll turn Baal loose and let him find something outside. +A likely supper of tin cans and old shoes’ll set him up to a T. Scoot, +Baal!”</p> + +<p>The goat was glad enough to go, apparently, yet in a moment came +bleating back to his master. Dorothy thought that was pathetic but +Robin declared it disgusting.</p> + +<p>“Clear out, you old heathen, and hunt your supper—”</p> + +<p>“Oh! don’t be cruel to the loving creature, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>Robin! Suppose he should +get lost?” begged Dorothy.</p> + +<p>“Lost? You can’t lose Baal, don’t you fret. Look-a-here, boy! here’s a +sandwich! Come from the best place in town. I know it. Give the +biggest slice for the least money. Can’t tell me anything about that, +for I’ve been nigh starved myself too often in this same old town. +What? You don’t want it? Can’t eat it? Then what do you want?”</p> + +<p>Provoked that his efforts to please Jack failed so fully, Robin +whistled again, but not at all merrily this time; for he had at last +begun to think of his own predicament and Dorothy’s. Here they were +stranded in town, Oak Knowe so far away, night fast falling and, +doubtless, a stern reprimand due—should they ever reach that happy +haven again.</p> + +<p>“Robin, I do believe he is sick. Real, terrible sick. It wasn’t just +starving ailed him. Do you s’pose we could get a doctor to him?”</p> + +<p>“To this shanty? No, I don’t. But if he’s sick, there’s hospitals. +Slathers of ’em. Hurray! There’s the one that Dr. Winston is head of. +There’s an emergency ward there and free ones—and it’s the very +checker!”</p> + +<p>Jack had ceased moaning and lay very still. So <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>still that they were +both frightened and Dolly asked:</p> + +<p>“How can we get him there, if they would take him in? He’s terrible +heavy to carry.”</p> + +<p>Even dimly seen by the light of the flickering candle struck on the +floor, Dorothy thought the pose of superiority Robin now affected the +funniest thing, and was not offended when he answered with lofty +scorn:</p> + +<p>“Carry him? I should say not. We couldn’t and we won’t. I’ll just step +to the corner and ring up an ambulance. I know the name. You stay +here. I’ll meet it when it comes and don’t get scared when the gong +clangs to get out of the way.”</p> + +<p>Dorothy’s own life in a southern city returned to her now and she +remembered some of its advantages which Robin had spoken of. So she +was not at all frightened when she heard the ambulance come into the +street beyond the alley, which was too narrow for it to enter, nor +when two men in hospital uniforms appeared at the door of the room. +They had lanterns and a stretcher and at once placed poor Jack upon it +and hurried away.</p> + +<p>They needed not to ask questions for Robin had followed them and was +glibly explaining all he knew of the “case” and the rest which he had +guessed.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span></p><p>“Ate spoiled fish out of a garbage can, did he? So you think it’s +ptomaine poisoning, do you Doctor Jack-o’-my-thumb? Well, I shouldn’t +be surprised if your diagnosis is correct. Steady now, mate, this is +a—Hello! What’s that?”</p> + +<p>“That” proved to be Baal, returned to inquire what was being done to +his master by prodding the orderly’s legs with his horns, so that the +stretcher nearly fell out of his hand.</p> + +<p>Baal got his answer by way of a vicious kick which landed him out of +reach and permitted the men to carry their burden quickly away. Left +behind, the pair of young Samaritans stared for an instant at one +another, dismayed at their own delay.</p> + +<p>It was Dorothy who came to a decision:</p> + +<p>“We’ve done as bad as we could and as good. Seems awful queer how it +all happened. Now we must go home. Can we get a carriage anywhere and +would it take us back without any money to pay it? Would Miss +Tross-Kingdon pay it, do you think? The Bishop would but he’s gone +traveling.”</p> + +<p>Leaving their candle still flickering on the floor they anxiously left +the shanty; and it may be stated here, for the guidance of other +careless ones that there was an item in the next morning’s paper +stating that a certain “old rookery had been burned <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>down during the +night; origin of fire unknown; a benefit to the city for it had long +been infested by hoboes and tramps.” To which of these classes poor +Jack belonged it did not state; but either one was a far call to the +“great artist” he had said he would become.</p> + +<p>There were cabs in plenty to be seen and, probably, to be hired; but +they did not summon one. A vision of Miss Tross-Kingdon’s face at its +sternest rose before Dorothy and she dared not venture on the lady’s +generosity. Another thought came, a far happier one:</p> + +<p>“I’ll tell you! Let’s follow Jack. Maybe Dr. Winston would be there or +somebody would know about us—if we told—and would telephone to Oak +Knowe what trouble we’re in. For it is trouble now, Robin Locke, and +you needn’t say it isn’t. You’re scared almost to death and so am I. I +wish—I wish I’d never heard of a Wax Works, so there!”</p> + +<p>Robin stopped and turned her face up to the light of a street lamp +they were passing and saw tears in her eyes. That was the oddest thing +for her to cry—right here in this familiar city where were railway +stations plenty in which they might wait till morning and somebody +came. But, softened as her tears made him, he couldn’t yet quite +forget that he was the man of the party.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p><p>“It’s an awful long ways to that Hospital, and I’ve got five cents +left. We can go in anywhere and I can ’phone for myself. No need to +bother any doctors or nurses.”</p> + +<p>Opposition to her wishes dried her tears.</p> + +<p>“Well, I am going to Dr. Winston’s hospital. I’d like you to go with +me and show me the way but if you won’t the policemen I meet will do +it. I’m going right now.”</p> + +<p>That conquered this small Canadian gentleman, and he answered:</p> + +<p>“All right. I’ll show you. Only don’t you dare to be crying when you +get there.”</p> + +<p>She wasn’t. It proved a long walk but help loomed at the end of it and +the youngsters scarcely felt fatigue in the prospect of this. Also, +the help proved to be just what they most desired. For there was Dr. +Winston himself, making his night visit to a very ill patient and +almost ready to depart in his car which stood waiting at the door.</p> + +<p>Dorothy remembered how little gentlewomen should conduct themselves +when paying visits; so after inquiring of the white-clad orderly who +admitted her if Dr. Winston was there, and being told that he was, she +took her empty purse from her pocket and sent up her card. She would +have written Robin’s name below hers if she had had a pencil or—had +thought about it.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p><p>The tiny card was placed upon a little silver salver and borne away +with all the dignity possible; but there was more amazement than +dignity in the good doctor’s reception of it. Another moment he was +below, buttoning his top-coat as he came and demanding with a smile +that was rather anxious:</p> + +<p>“To what am I indebted for the pleasure of this visit, Miss Dorothy +Calvert?”</p> + +<p>But the tears were still too near the girl’s eyes for her to meet jest +with jest. She could only hold out her arms, like the lonely, +frightened child she was and he promptly clasped her in his own.</p> + +<p>Then “tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,” ran a little bell in the Oak Knowe +library and over the telephone wire rang the doctor’s hearty voice.</p> + +<p>“Be at rest, Miss Muriel. Your runaways are found and I’ll motor them +home in a jiffy!”</p> + +<p>This was so joyful a message that Lady Jane and the Lady Principal +promptly fell upon one another’s neck and wept a few womanly tears. +Then Miss Tross-Kingdon released herself, exclaiming:</p> + +<p>“Oh! those dreadful police. Why did I violate the privacy of Oak Knowe +by setting them to search? I must recall the order right away—if I +can!”</p> + +<p>Self-blame doesn’t tend toward anybody’s good <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>nature and the head of +Oak Knowe School for Young Ladies had been sorely tried. Also, her +offense had come from the very girl she trusted most and was, +therefore, the more difficult to forgive. So clothing herself in all +her dignity, she was simply the Lady Principal and nothing more, when +for a second time the quiet of her domain was broken by the honk-honk +of an automobile, the door opened and Dorothy and Robin walked in. The +doctor had laughingly declared that he couldn’t enter with them—he +was afraid! But though it was really only lack of time that prevented +him so doing, their own spirits were now so low that they caught the +infection of his remark—if not his spirit—and visibly trembled.</p> + +<p>This was a sign of guilt and caught Miss Muriel’s eye at once.</p> + +<p>“What is the explanation of this, Dorothy? Robin?”</p> + +<p>Dorothy had been pondering that explanation on the swift ride home. +Dr. Winston had called them the Good Samaritans and seemed pleased +with them. Maybe Miss Muriel would think so, too.</p> + +<p>“We stayed to see—we had to be what he said. Good little +Samaritans—”</p> + +<p>“Humph! If that is some new game you have invented, please never to +play it again. Your <span style="white-space: nowrap;">duty—”</span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span></p><p>“Why, Lady Principal, you wouldn’t have us ‘pass by on the other +side,’ would you? To-morrow’s lesson—”</p> + +<p>But there was no softening in Miss Muriel’s eye, and indignant Robin +flashed out:</p> + +<p>“Well—well—you needn’t blame <i>her</i>. You needn’t blame a <i>girl</i>—when +it was all my fault! I coaxed her or she wouldn’t ha’ done it!”</p> + +<p>This was such a manly, loyal reversion of the old story of Adam and +Eve that Lady Jane laughed and would have clapped her hands in pride +of her small compatriot. But she refrained and chose the wiser course +of slipping away unseen.</p> + +<p>“Robin! you forget yourself! I have given you a home here but I have +not given you license to be insolent or disobedient. You have been +both. Your mother is somewhere on the road to town, looking for you.”</p> + +<p>But it happened she was not. Dr. Winston had espied a lone woman +dragging herself citywards and had stopped to give her a lift. Then, +learning who she was and her errand, had promptly turned about and +conveyed her also home; so she was back in their own rooms almost as +soon as her boy was and able to soothe his wrath as only mothers can.</p> + +<p>But upon poor Dorothy fell the full force of her teacher’s +indignation.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span></p><p>“Dorothy, I would not have believed it possible for you so willfully +to disappoint me. Go to your dormitory and to bed at once. You cannot +go off bounds again till Easter holidays. Good night.”</p> + +<p>Dorothy obeyed in silence. She could think of many things to say but +she could not say them. Even to anxious Dawkins who would have +welcomed her warmly and ministered loving comfort she could only say:</p> + +<p>“Good night. It’s such a mixed up world. It was good to help Jack, the +doctor said; and it was wrong, Miss Tross-Kingdon said; and—and—I’m +so tired! Oh! if I could only see Aunt Betty!”</p> + +<p>With that last homesick cry, she laid her head on her pillow, and +being a perfectly healthy girl—fell fast asleep.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h3>COMMENCEMENT; AND CONCLUSION</h3> + +<p>Dorothy in disgrace! That seemed an incredible thing to her +schoolmates, who had hitherto believed “Dixie” to be the one great +favorite of all.</p> + +<p>However, she could never speak of the matter to anybody, except the +Bishop when he came home from his southern journey and the news he had +to bring her was so far more important and saddening that a short +confinement “on bounds” seemed actually trivial. For Uncle Seth was +dead. The dear guardian and wise counselor would greet her no more. At +first her grief seemed unbearable; but the good Bishop took her into +his own home for a little time and she came back to Oak Knowe somewhat +comforted for her loss.</p> + +<p>Besides she had had a little talk with Miss Tross-Kingdon, and there +was again sweet peace and confidence between them. Miss Muriel now +helped the girl in her work, inciting her ambition and keeping her so +well employed that she had little time to sit and grieve.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span></p><p>Indeed, the spirit of ambition was in everyone’s heart. Easter +holidays were past, spring exams proved fairly satisfactory with much +yet to be accomplished before Commencement came. So the weeks fairly +flew, the outdoor recreations changing with the seasons, and Dorothy +learning the games of cricket and golf, which were new to her and +which she described in her letters home as “adorably fascinating and +English.” Tennis and basket-ball were not so new. She had played these +at the Rhinelander Academy, the first private school she had ever +attended; but for even these familiar sports she spared little time.</p> + +<p>“It does seem as if the minutes weren’t half as long as they were in +the winter, Winifred! There’s so much, so much I want to finish and +the time so short. Why, it’s the middle of June already, and +Commencement on the twenty-first. Only six days for us to be together, +dear!” cried Dorothy in the music room with her violin on her lap, and +her friend whirling about on the piano stool.</p> + +<p>They were “programmed” for a duet, the most difficult they had ever +undertaken, and were resting for the moment from their practicing +while Dorothy’s thoughts ran back over the year that was past.</p> + +<p>“Such a lot of things have happened. So many bad ones that have turned +out good. Maybe, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>best of all was Jack-boot-boy’s running away and +our finding him. It gave Robin and me a rather unhappy time, but it’s +turned out fine for him, because as he says: ‘It’s knocked the +nonsense out of me.’”</p> + +<p>“The Dame will let no more creep in. Old John told me how it was. Soon +as Dr. Winston told him where Jack was, at that hospital, he said to +his wife: ‘I’m going to see him.’ Then that ‘rare silent woman’ spoke +her mind. ‘Husband, that’ll do. I’ll ride yon, on the cart, to fetch +him home here to our cottage. The doctor says he’s well enough to +leave that place. I’ll get him bound out to me till he’s twenty-one. +Then I’ll let him go to ‘seek’ that ‘fortune’ he yearns for, with a +new suit of clothes on his back and a hundred dollars in his pocket. +That’s the law and I’ve took him in hand.”</p> + +<p>“So he’s settled and done for, for a long time to come. It’s just fine +for him, they’ll treat him like a son—Baal can live his days out in a +pen—and Jack will grow up better fitted for his own station in life, +as you Canadians say. Down in the States we believe that folks make +their own ‘stations’; don’t find them hanging around their necks when +they are born. Why I know a boy who was—”</p> + +<p>“There, Dolly Doodles! Don’t get started on that subject. I know him +by heart. One remarkable <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>creature named James Barlow, who couldn’t +spell till you taught him and now has aspirations toward a college +professorship. By the letters he writes, I should judge him to be a +horrible prig. I wish I could see him once. I’d make him bow his lofty +head; you’d find out!”</p> + +<p>Dorothy pulled a letter from her pocket and tossed it into her +friend’s hands.</p> + +<p>“You’ll soon have a chance. Read that.”</p> + +<p>“Oh! may I?”</p> + +<p>But the reading was brief and an expression of great disappointment +came to Winifred’s face.</p> + +<p>“Oh, Dorothy! How horrid!”</p> + +<p>“Yes, dear. I felt so, too, at first. Now all I feel is a wish to be +through so I can hurry home to dear Aunt Betty who must need me +dreadfully, or she’d never disappoint us like this.”</p> + +<p>“It was such a beautiful plan. We should have had such a lovely time. +Ah! here comes Gwen. Girl, what do you think? Mrs. Calvert isn’t well +enough to come to Canada, after all, and Dorothy has got to go home. +When it’s all fixed, too. Father’s freed himself from business for +three delightful months, and we three, with her were to go jaunting +about all over the country in his private car, and Dorothy to learn +that Canada beats the States all to pieces.”</p> + +<p>Gwendolyn shared the disappointment. That <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>trio had been dubbed by +their mates as the “Inseparables” and the love between them all was +now deep and sincere.</p> + +<p>“Read it aloud, Gwen. Maybe there’s a chance yet, that I overlooked. I +was so mad I couldn’t half see that upstart’s writing—not after the +first few words. He doesn’t mince matters, does he?”</p> + +<p>The letter ran thus:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“<span class="smcap">Dear Dorothy</span>:</p> + +<p>“Mrs. Calvert will not be able to come to Canada to meet +you. She is not ill in bed but she needs you here. Dinah is +taking care of her now, and Ephraim and I have decided that +it is best for us two to come to Oak Knowe to fetch you +home. Of course, you could come alone, as you went, but I’m +at leisure now, and have laid aside enough from my year’s +earnings to pay the expenses of us all; and Ephraim wants to +go for you. He says ‘it ain’ fitten fo’ no young lady lak my +li’l Miss to go trabbelin’ erbout de country widout her own +serbant-boy to take care ob her. Mah Miss Betty was clean +bewitchted, erlowin’ hit in de fust place, but she’s laid up +an’ ole Eph, he ain’ gwine hab no mo’ such foolishness.’</p> + +<p>“Those are his own words and lately—Well, I don’t like to +go against that old man’s wishes. So he and I will be on +hand by the twenty-first of June <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>and I expect can get put +up somewhere, though I’m ignorant as to what they do with +negroes in Canada.</p> + +<p class="right">“<span style="margin-right: 3em;">Faithfully,</span><br /> + +<span style="margin-right: 2em;">“<span class="smcap">Jim</span>.”</span></p></div> + +<p>“Negroes! Negroes? Why, is that Ephraim a negro?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, indeed. As black as ink, almost, with the finest white head—of +wool! Not quite so thick and curly as your ‘barristers’ wear, but +handsome, I think. It represents so many, many years of faithful +service. That dear old man has taken care of Aunt Betty ever since she +was a child, and does so still. Nobody knows his real age, but it’s +one proof of his devotion to her that he’ll take this long journey +just because he remembers what’s ‘fitten,’ even if she has grown +careless about it. You see, it’s Uncle Seth’s death that must have +changed her so,” said Dorothy, musingly, with her eyes on the floor.</p> + +<p>The other two exchanged pitying glances, and it rose to Winifred’s +lips to say:</p> + +<p>“But she let you come alone in the fall and he wasn’t dead then;” but +she refrained. She knew, for Dolly had told her, that all that winter +Dorothy’s home letters had not seemed quite the same as they had used, +during other separations from her aunt; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>and that many of them had +been written for Mrs. Calvert by various friends of the old lady’s, +“just to oblige.” Never before had the sprightly Mrs. Betty shrunk +from writing her own letters; and, indeed, had done so often enough +during the early winter to prevent Dorothy’s suspicion of anything +amiss.</p> + +<p>“Auntie dear, is so old, you know girls, that of course she does need +me. Besides she’s been all over the world and seen everything, so +there’s really ‘nothing new under the sun’ for her. That’s why this +junketing around we’d planned so finely, doesn’t appeal to her as it +does to us,” said Dorothy, at last, lifting her violin to her shoulder +and rising to her feet. “Shall we try it again, Win? And, Gwen, dear, +have you finished your picture yet for the exhibition?”</p> + +<p>“Just finished, Dolly. And I forgot my errand here. Miss Muriel sent +me to tell you girls that the dressmaker was in the sewing-room, +giving last fittings to our frocks. She wants us to go there right +after practice hour, for we must not lose our turn. I wanted to wear +that beautiful one Mamma sent me from Paris but ‘No’ was the word. +‘There will be no change in our custom. Each girl will wear a plain +white lawn Commencement frock, untrimmed, and with no decoration +except a sash of each Form’s colors.’ So there we are, same old +six-pences, and dowds I think, every one of us.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span></p><p>But when those few days intervening had passed and great Oak Knowe +was alight with its hundreds of daintily robed girls, there was not a +single “dowd” among them; nor one, whether unknown “charity” scholar +or otherwise who felt envy of any difference between themselves or +others.</p> + +<p>“What a glorious day! What crowds are here and coming. Assembly +and all the rooms near it will be packed closer than ever! Oh! +I’m so happy I can’t keep still! No more lessons, no more +early-to-bed-and-rise business for three delightful months! There’s +father! There he is—right in the front row of guests’ seats. Right +amongst the ‘Peers,’ where he belongs by right!” cried Winifred, +turning Dorothy’s head around that she might see the object of her own +great excitement. “See, see! He’s looking our way. He’s discovered us! +And he’s awfully disappointed about you. He never forgave Miss +Tross-Kingdon that she wouldn’t let you take that Ice Palace trip +with us, just because you’d broken a few rules. But never you mind, +darling. Though this is the end of Oak Knowe for us together, it isn’t +the end of the world—nor time. Father shall bring me to you, he +shall, indeed! Just think how it would help my education to visit the +States! But, hark! The bugle is blowing—fall into line!”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span></p><p>From their peep-hole in the hall Dorothy, also, could see the guests +taking seats; and clutching Winifred’s sleeve, whispered:</p> + +<p>“Look! Look! Away there at the back of Assembly, close to the +door—that’s Jim! That’s Ephy! Oh! isn’t it good to see them? For no +matter now, I’m not without my own home folks any more than the rest +of you. After banquet I’ll introduce you if I get a chance.”</p> + +<p>Then they fell into the line of white clad girls, and to the strains +of a march played by the Seventh Form graduates, three hundred bright +faced maidens—large and small—filed to their places in Assembly for +their last appearance all together.</p> + +<p>It was a Commencement like multitudes of others; with the usual eager +interest in guessing who’d be prize winners. The most highly valued +prize of each year at Oak Knowe was the gold medal for improvement in +conduct. Who would get it? Looking back the “Inseparables” could think +of nobody who’d shown marked advance along that line; Winifred +remarking, complacently:</p> + +<p>“I think we’re all about as good as can be, anyway. ’Cause we’re not +allowed to be anything else.”</p> + +<p>“I know who’s improved most, though. I hope—Oh! I hope she’ll get +it!”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span></p><p>And when the announcement was made she did! Said the Bishop, who +conferred the diplomas and prizes:</p> + +<p>“The Improvement Gold Medal, the highest honor our faculty can bestow, +is this year awarded to—” Here the speaker paused just long enough to +whet the curiosity of those eager girls—“To the Honorable Gwendolyn +Borst-Kennard. Will she kindly advance and receive it?”</p> + +<p>Never was “honor girl” more deeply moved, surprised, and grateful than +this once so haughty “Peer,” now humble at heart as the meekest +“Charity” present, and never such deafening cheers and hand-claps +greeted the recipient of that coveted prize.</p> + +<p>Other lesser prizes followed: to Winifred’s surprise, she had gained +“Distinction” in physical culture; Florita in mathematics; and a new +“Distinction” was announced for that year—“To Miss Dorothy Calvert +for uniform courtesy,” and one that she valued less: a gold star for +advancement in music.</p> + +<p>“Two prizes, Dolly Doodles! You ought to should give poor Gracie one, +you should. ’Tis not nice for one girl to have two, but my Auntie +Prin, she couldn’t help it. She told the Bishop you’d always been a +beautiful behaver, an’ she must. Now, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>it’s all over, and I’m glad. +I’m so tired and hungry. Come to banquet.”</p> + +<p>After all it was the same as most Commencements the world over, with +its joys and its anticipations. What of the latter’s realization? In +Dorothy’s case at least the telling thereof is not for this time or +place; but all is duly related in a new story and a new volume which +tells of <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/28221">“Dorothy’s Triumph.”</a> But there was that year one innovation +at the banquet, that farewell feast of all the school together. For +the company was but just seated when there stalked majestically into +the great hall an old negro in livery.</p> + +<p>Pulling his forelock respectfully toward the Bishop, bowing and +scraping his foot as his Miss Betty had long ago taught him, he +marched straight to his Miss Dorothy’s chair and took his stand behind +it. He took no notice when turning her head she flashed a rather +frightened smile in his direction, nor did either of them speak. But +she glanced over to the head of the table and received an approving +nod from her beloved Bishop; whose own heart felt a thrill of happy +memory as he beheld this scene. So, away back in boyhood’s days, in +the dining-room at beautiful Bellevieu, had this same white-headed +“boy” served those he had loved and lost.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span></p><p>To him it was pathetic; to other observers, a novelty and curiosity; +but to Dorothy and Ephraim themselves, after that first minute, a mere +matter of course. Looking over that great table, the girl’s face grew +thoughtful. She had come among all these a stranger; she was leaving +them a friend with everyone. The days that were coming might be happy, +might be sorry; yet she was not alone. Old Ephraim stood behind her, +faithful to the end; and out in the hall waited James Barlow, also +faithful and full of the courage of young life and great ambition. No, +she was not alone, whatever came or had come; and, after all, it was +sweet to be going back to the familiar places and the familiar +friends. So, the banquet at its end, by a nod from the Bishop, she +drew her violin from under the table and rising in her place played +sweetly and joyfully that forever well loved melody of “Home, Sweet +Home.”</p> + +<p>One by one, or in groups, the company melted away. Each to her new +life of joy or sorrow or as general, both intermingled.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<p> </p> +<h3><span class="smcap">Transcriber’s Note:</span></h3> + +<p>Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters’ errors; otherwise, +every effort has been made to remain true to the author’s words and +intent.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOROTHY AT OAK KNOWE***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 32310-h.txt or 32310-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/2/3/1/32310">http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/3/1/32310</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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 + + + + + +Title: Dorothy at Oak Knowe + + +Author: Evelyn Raymond + + + +Release Date: May 9, 2010 [eBook #32310] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOROTHY AT OAK KNOWE*** + + +E-text prepared by D Alexander and the Project Gutenberg Online +Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 32310-h.htm or 32310-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32310/32310-h/32310-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32310/32310-h.zip) + + + + + +DOROTHY AT OAK KNOWE + +by + +EVELYN RAYMOND + + + + + + + +New York +Hurst & Co., Inc. +Publishers + + + * * * * * + +THE DOROTHY BOOKS + +By EVELYN RAYMOND + + +These stories of an American girl by an American author have made +"Dorothy" a household synonym for all that is fascinating. Truth and +realism are stamped on every page. The interest never flags, and is +ofttimes intense. No more happy choice can be made for gift books, so +sure are they to win approval and please not only the young in years, +but also "grown-ups" who are young in heart and spirit. + + Dorothy + Dorothy at Skyrie + Dorothy's Schooling + Dorothy's Travels + Dorothy's House Party + Dorothy in California + Dorothy on a Ranch + Dorothy's House Boat + Dorothy at Oak Knowe + Dorothy's Triumph + Dorothy's Tour + + COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY + THE PLATT & PECK CO. + + * * * * * + + + +[Illustration: "EVER RIDE IN AN OX-CART"? _Dorothy at Oak Knowe._] + + + + + CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. ON THE ROAD TO OAK KNOWE 9 + + II. UNFORTUNATE BEGINNINGS 24 + + III. PEERS AND COMMONS 39 + + IV. THE GILPINS HAVE A PARTY 55 + + V. THE FRIGHT OF MILLIKINS-PILLIKINS 69 + + VI. AT THE FALL OF THE MAIDEN'S BATH 85 + + VII. ALL HALLOW EVE FESTIVITIES 102 + + VIII. PEER AND COMMONER 117 + + IX. THE NIGHT THAT FOLLOWED 133 + + X. OPEN CONFESSION IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL 148 + + XI. WHAT CAME WITH THE SNOW AND ICE 164 + + XII. JOHN GILPIN JOINS THE SPORT 182 + + XIII. A BAD DAY FOR JOHN GILPIN 193 + + XIV. EXPLANATIONS ARE IN ORDER 206 + + XV. MRS. JARLEY ENTERTAINS 221 + + XVI. A PERPLEXING PROBLEM OF LIFE 232 + + XVII. COMMENCEMENT; AND CONCLUSION 249 + + + + +DOROTHY AT OAK KNOWE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +ON THE ROAD TO OAK KNOWE + + +"This way for the Queen!" + +"Here you are for the Duke of Connaught! Right this way!" + +"Want the Metropole, Miss?" + +"Room there, stupid! She's from the States--any fool could see that! +I'm from your hotel, little lady, the American. Your luggage, Miss, +allow me?" + +If Dorothy's hands hadn't been too full, she would have clapped them +over her ears, to drown the cries of the hackmen who swarmed about her +as she stepped from the train at the railway station in Toronto. As it +was, she clung desperately to her bag and shawlstrap, which the man +from the American hotel seemed bound to seize, whether or no. + +But her heart sank and it was a forlorn little girl, indeed, who +looked anxiously around seeking some face on which might be a smile of +welcome. But nobody paid any attention to her, except the obstreperous +hackmen, and in a sudden fright she let fall the tears she had so +bravely kept back until then. It had been a long and lonely journey, +but she had been assured that she would be promptly met and cared for +when it ended. Now, amid all the throng of travelers and those who +awaited them, not one was looking for a "dark haired girl in navy +blue" and the tears fell faster as she cried aloud: + +"Oh! what shall I do! What shall I do!" + +Even the hackmen had forsaken her in pursuit of other, more promising +patrons. The short autumn day was at its close and in the growing +darkness her fright increased and her usual common sense left her. +But, as she spoke, a hand was laid upon her shoulder and a rather +gruff voice demanded: + +"Why, little stranger, what's a-troublin' ye?" + +Dorothy winked her tears away and looked up into the face of an old +man, whose gray beard swept his breast while his head was entirely +bald. He wore a long blue smock, carried an ox-goad in one hand and a +canvas bag in the other. He looked as kind as he was homely and +Dorothy answered quickly: + +"I'm lost, I guess. Or forgotten, and that's just as bad! I--I--" + +"Lost? Right here in this town? Well, that couldn't hardly be. Though +I own it's a biggish place. But if you be, I'll see to it that you get +found again, immediate. First start--who be ye?" + +"I'm Dorothy Calvert, from Baltimore. I came to the Oak Knowe School +for Girls. Somebody was to meet me. Nobody has and--and--I don't know +what to do." + +John Gilpin whistled and exclaimed: + +"No! Never! I saw at a glance you was no Cannuck! The little maids +we raise in our Province have redder cheeks 'an yours. An' we don't +let 'em go traversin' round the universe without their mothers or +leastways nurses to look after 'em. But bless my soul, you've fell +into safe hands. I know old Oak Knowe well. No better school in the +whole Empire nor that. Moresomever, there's been some miscarry betwixt +your folks and the Lady Principal or she'd never let you come to this +pass. But my road lies same as yours. I'll just step-an'-fetch my oxen +and head 'em straight for home. We'll get to the School in next to no +time. Leastways, betwixt now and bedding-bell--they ring it about +half-past nine." + +"Is it so far? Why, it must be hours till then!" + +At the cheerful sound of this old teamster's voice Dorothy forgot her +fear. She didn't stop to reflect that she should have waited quietly +in the station till somebody called for her, nor that she might have +telephoned to her teachers to announce her arrival. All she realized +was that here was a friend in need and that he was a quaintly +interesting person. + +"'Tis a matter of some miles, lassie, and my old oxen are no electric +tram. Slow and sure's their motto and what's an hour, more or less, in +a little girl's lifetime? You got a box?" + +Dorothy glanced at the rug and magazine, tightly strapped together, +and at the handbag she had set down upon the platform and replied: + +"No, Mr.--I don't know your name yet--I haven't now. I had one, but I +ate the lunch out of it and tossed it from the car window." + +The old man stared as if she had spoken nonsense, but informed her: + +"Gilpin's my name. John Gilpin; but my dame says I'm no descendant of +him that took that famous ride as is in the story books. I'm too slow, +Dame says. But is all your clothes in that satchel?" + +It was Dorothy's turn to stare and to laugh. + +"Oh! no, indeed! They're in my trunk. Here is my check. Number 70777. +I put that down in my little notebook, though it's easy to remember." + +"Humph! I've heard that in the States they call a box a 'trunk,' +same's if it was an elephant. Well, give me the check. I'll just +step-an'-fetch it and we'll be jogging." + +Mr. Gilpin took the check and lumbered away, dragging one leg stiffly +as if he could not bend the knee, while Dorothy's spirits rose as she +watched him. After all, this was a real adventure; and when it was +over and she was safe at her fine school, she could write all about it +to the friends at home. Thinking about them, she forgot how long John +Gilpin tarried and roused from her reverie with a start when his +hearty voice, guiding his oxen, came around the corner of the station. + +"Here we be, lassie! Ever ride in an ox-cart? Ever see a neater yoke +o' cattle? That's an unco big box for a small maid to own and hefty, +to boot. Step right in, for it's gathering clouds, I see, and we can't +have that tidy dress of yours get spoiled while it's new." + +It was easy to "step in" to the low-hung vehicle and Dorothy nestled +against her new friend on his spring-seat forward; all the back part +of the wagon being filled with empty barrels and her own trunk. + +It had been some sort of holiday in the city and the streets were gay +with flags and bunting, causing Dorothy to exclaim: + +"Why, it's just like Halifax, that time Earl Grey was coming! It's +just as English as that was--even more so, for I don't see Old Glory +anywhere, and there I did." + +Old John turned his bare, bald head toward her and demanded: + +"What do you know about Halifax? Or the Governor General? I thought +you was United States." + +"So I am, so I am! But people may travel once in a while, mayn't they? +I can tell you lots about Halifax, even though I was there but a +little while. That was on a vacation journey and it was delight-ful!" + +Then, finding the farmer so interested, Dorothy eagerly recited the +story of her "Travels" and their happy ending at her rightful home at +Deerhurst and in the love of her Great-Aunt Betty. + +"Sounds like a story book, now don't it! And to think after all +that the old lady should be willin' to despatch you up here to our +Province, just to get a mite of education. Should ha' thought there'd +be institooshuns of learning nigher hand 'an Oak Knowe, where she +could ha' clapped eyes on ye, now and again. She--" + +"Oh! don't misjudge my darling aunt! She hated to have me come as +badly as I hated to leave her; but, though I've never been really ill, +she fancied that this climate would make me very, very strong. +Besides, the minister who founded Oak Knowe--he was a bishop, I +believe--was one of her girlhood friends, and so she chose it for +that, too. Anyway, to her who has traveled so much, Canada and +Maryland seem but a little way apart." + +"That's right, lassie. That's right. Be loyal to your friends, whether +they be right or wrong. An' talk about travel, there beant many +corners of this earth that I haven't took a glance at. I've not always +been a farmer, though you mightn't think it now." + +They had passed out of the city streets into the open country, the +oxen swaying and pacing sedately along, as if it mattered nothing how +late they might reach home. To pass the time, Dorothy asked the old +man to talk about his own travels, and he promptly answered: + +"In course, and obleeged for anybody to care to listen. Dame has heard +my yarns so often, she scoffs 'em; but I've seen a power o' things in +my day, a power o' things. I was born in Lunnon, raised in Glasgo', +run away to Liverpool and shipped afore the mast. From sailor I turned +soldier under Chinese Gordon--Ah! the man he wus! Miner, constable, me +Lord's butler, then his cook, and now, at the fag end of my days, +settled down to be my Dame's right-hand-man. She was a likely widow, +coming from England to take up land here, and I met her aboard ship, +last time I crossed seas. Didn't take us long to strike a bargain. She +needed a man to till her farm; I needed a good woman to mend me and do +for me, for I was that tired of rovin'--my hearties! We get along +well. We get along prime. I do the talking and her does the thinking. +She's that uncommon thing--a silent woman. Like to hear how I come +nigh-hand to death along of a devil fish? Want to feel your hair +rise on end and your arms get reg'lar goose-fleshy? Makes me nigh +get that way myself, every time I recall--Whist! If that ain't +thunder I'm a-dreamin', sure! Thunder this season of the year! Now +that's fair ridic'lous. But mentionin' devil fish, yon comes one +them red go-devils, Dame calls 'em, as squawkin', blazing-eyed +automobeelyers--comin' this minute. No marvel natur' gets topsy-turvy +with them wild things ramsaging round. But, quick, lassie! Do your +young eyes see something or somebody lying beyond in the middle of the +road?" + +The old man checked his garrulous tongue to rise and peer into the +darkness, while Dorothy sprang to her feet beside him, straining her +own eyes to follow his pointing finger. + +"There is, there is! Looks like a man or boy or bicycle or something +and that horrid car is coming right toward it! Make 'em stop! Holloa! +Loud, loud, for they don't see him! they'll run over him--he'll be +killed!" + +But still the gay occupants of the car observed nothing; till at +last a fiercer shriek from Dorothy sounded above their laughter and +instantly hushed it, while the driver of the machine looked curiously +at the cart which the wise oxen, perceiving their own danger, had +drawn out of harm on the roadside. But the stop had been too late. +Though the motor was swerved aside, it had already collided with the +objects in its path, and it was in a terrified silence that the +merrymakers descended from it. + +But even old John had been quicker than they and was now bending above +the lad crushed beneath the forward wheels of this hated "go-devil." + +"Oh! my poor lad! Oh! my sunny Robin!" he groaned: then in a fury of +anger at the great machine, tried his strength to lift it from its +victim. + +Fortunately there were several men in the party, and the car well +equipped against mischance, and so it was swiftly forced away, while +the farmer again stooped over the motionless lad beneath and tenderly +raised him in his arms. For a moment the group gathered about the pair +believed that the boy was dead; then a low moan from his white lips +mingled with the lamentations of John Gilpin and brought relief to +everyone. + +Again came flashes of lightning and the growls of thunder, and the +owner of the car exclaimed: + +"Lay the boy in the motor and we'll get him to a hospital at once. +Maybe he isn't so badly hurt as seems. Pile up the cushions, somebody, +and give him to me, old man. I'm stronger than you and better used to +sick folks. Doctor Winston is my name." + +"The more shame to you then for what you've done this night!" hotly +retorted old John, clasping his burden the closer and moving slowly +toward his own humble cart. + +"Idiot! Don't put him in that shaky wagon. Delay may cost his life. +Hospital's the place and the car is swiftest!" cried another of the +gentlemen, indignantly. "Of course we'll see to it that he has the +best of care with no expense spared." + +As if he had not heard, old John still moved away, quietly ordering +Dorothy: + +"Undo that shawl of yours. Roll them barrels out of the wagon. Take +off your jacket and make a piller of it. Spread the shawl out and +cover him with part of it whilst I lay him down. Poor little Robin! +The 'only son of his mother and she was a widow.'" + +Dorothy was glad to obey this strange old man who had been so genial +and was now so stern, and it relieved her distress to be doing +something to help. But as she tried to roll the barrels out, a hand +fell on her arm and the doctor said: + +"I'll do that, Miss. They're too heavy for you. I wish you'd persuade +your grandfather to trust me with this poor boy. It would be so much +better." + +"He isn't my grandfather. I don't know him--I mean he was taking me--" + +But her words fell upon deaf ears, apparently. Having sent the empty +barrels flying where they would, the doctor had now taken the pile of +cushions somebody had brought him and arranged them on the wagon +bottom. Next he calmly relieved John Gilpin of the injured boy and +laid him gently down. Shaking out Dorothy's thick steamer rug, her +"shawl," he carefully covered Robin and, sitting down beside him, +ordered: + +"Drive on, farmer! Chauffeur, follow with the car. Lady Jane, the +medicine case. To the nearest house at once." + +There was no resisting the firm authority of the physician and John +Gilpin climbed meekly to his seat and at his urgent "gee-ho" the oxen +started onward at a steady gait. But despite his anxiety there was a +satisfaction in their owner's mind that the "nearest house" would be +his own and that it would be his capable "Dame" who would care for +Robin and not a hospital nurse. + +Meanwhile Dorothy seemed forgotten both by the people who had returned +to their car and Mr. Gilpin; so, fearing that she would be left alone +by the roadside, she sprang upon the end of the cart and sat there, +her feet dangling over its edge. + +Now, indeed, her adventure was proving anything but amusing. What +would Aunt Betty think of her heedless action? Or her dear guardian, +Seth Winters, the "learned Blacksmith," wisest of men, whom the reader +of this series will recall in "Dorothy's Schooling." Would she ever +reach Oak Knowe, and how would this escapade be regarded there? + +Into her troubled thoughts now broke a sound of pain, that drove +everything save pity from her mind. The rain was now falling fast and +drenching her new clothes, but her anxiety was only that the injured +boy should not get wet and she was glad that her rug was so thick and +warm. It had been a parting gift from her "House-Boat" guests and held +almost sacred as a memento of their happy trip together. + +But now the oxen were turning into a lane. She could dimly see the +hedgerows on either side, that now and then the lightning flashes +showed more plainly; and, after a time, something big and white +seemed to block their way. A moment more and the white obstruction +proved to be a cottage with a lamp shining through its window. Then +a door opened and a woman's voice called cheerily: + +"Welcome home, my man! You're late the night. Met you up with any +trouble? Didn't the apples sell well?" + +"More trouble than you dream, Dame, and I've fetched it for you to +share. Light the bedroom to once. 'Tis the dead--or dyin'--is here." + +Without a word the woman turned away, moving heavily because of her +great size, and an inner door opened, showing a comfortable bed, its +covers already invitingly spread back. Lighting more candles the dame +stood quietly aside, waiting her unexpected guest. + +The doctor brought the boy in, still wrapped in the rug and, tossing +that to the floor, gently laid him down. John followed close behind, +announcing: + +"'Tis Robin, Dame, our bonny Robin of the Glen. The heart of the +mother will break. He--" + +"Help here. Hot water, please. More light. An old sheet for bandages. +Don't dally. Undress him, Lady Jane." + +"But, doctor, I'm afraid!" objected that lady who, partly from +curiosity, partly to avoid the rain, had followed the physician into +the house. + +Indeed, all the motoring party had now swarmed into the kitchen, +intending to be quiet yet really chattering noisily, and some of them +sniffing covetously the odors from a great pot of soup, steaming away +on the stove. But nobody was quite ready to respond to the doctor's +appeals for help, even Mrs. Gilpin being confused and stupid before +these strangers who had taken possession of her home. + +As for old John, he could simply stand and stare at the unconscious +lad on the bed, too dazed and grieved to be of any use whatever. + +Not so Dorothy, who had entered with the rest and who noticed Dr. +Winston's impatience--who knew that a hospital was where his patient +should be and not this ill-equipped cottage. Throwing off her dripping +jacket, she cried: + +"I'll help." + +A teakettle was singing beside the soup-pot on the stove and a dishpan +was hanging near. To empty the kettle into the pan and to carry it to +the chair beside the bed was an instant's task. Then, seizing the +upper sheet and using her teeth for scissors, she swiftly tore it into +strips; and by this time the dame had regained her own presence of +mind. + +Without troubling to ask who Dorothy was or how she came to be there, +she now took charge of things, saying: + +"You'll find clean towels in that chest of drawers. Fetch the doctor a +pile. Shears are yon in that work-basket. You're spry on your feet as +I can't be, but I do know how to take the clothes off this poor Robin. +My, what's this he clenches so tight in hand? One of them telegraph +letters 'tis his errand to deliver. All over the countryside the +laddie rode on his wheel to earn the bit money would pay his mother's +rent. Brave, bonny lad that he was!" + +Gently releasing the telegram from his fingers, Mrs. Gilpin held it up +for the doctor to see. + +"For Oak Knowe. Open it, little girl, and read if it's important." + +She obeyed, but her voice trembled as she read. It was the belated +message that announced her own coming and the hour of her arrival. It +explained why she had not been met at the station, but she felt both +shocked and guilty as she exclaimed: + +"Oh! it is my fault! It's all my fault that he is killed! Just about +me it happened! What shall I do--what shall I do?" + +"Stop that sort of talk and see how your dead boy stares at you! Look +well, Robin, you see a real live Yankee girl!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +UNFORTUNATE BEGINNINGS + + +Even the most cultured Lady Principals do not enjoy being roused from +their slumbers, an hour after midnight, by the tooting of a motor car +beneath their bedroom windows. It was annoying to have to dress again +and descend to a dimly-lighted reception room to receive a new pupil +who had missed a train, on the route, and misdirected her telegram. +Nor was there anything prepossessing about this especial girl, whose +clothes steamed with moisture and whose travel-soiled cheeks were +streaked by raindrops and tears. So it was small wonder that Dorothy's +reception by Miss Muriel Tross-Kingdon was decidedly cool and crisp. + +"This is really unprecedented, Miss Calvert. I cannot understand how +any young lady, whose friends consider her intelligent enough to +travel alone, could have made such stupid blunders, as you have. At +the point where you knew you were to change trains, why did you not +keep watch and inquire for direction?" + +"Well, you see there was a military parade and the soldiers looked so +queer in their red uniforms and their funny little caps on the sides +of their heads that--that--that I forgot. I mean the timetable told +the right hour, course, but the first train was behind and so--and +so--" + +It was a very lame excuse and Dolly knew it. But it was the truth and +as such she gave it. + +Miss Tross-Kingdon made no reply. Inwardly she was commenting upon +Dorothy's pronunciation of certain words, which was wholly at fault +according to English custom, and realizing that here was the first +fault to be corrected in her new pupil. + +Dorothy's heart sank. Uncle Seth's last advice to her had been: + +"Whenever you feel blue, just wave your flag of high courage and march +ahead. Don't stop to think! March, march, march--toward the better +time that will surely come." + +But that high-courage flag hung limply now and she felt she could +never again wave it at all. But, fortunately, the Lady Principal now +rose to terminate the interview. Touching an electric bell for the +maid on night duty, she said: + +"It is very late and you are tired. Dawkins will show you to your +cubicle and assist you in undressing. You may omit your bath, +to-night, and are allowed an extra hour of sleep in the morning. Where +are your suit case and hand bag?" + +Dorothy rose, as the lady did, but a fresh feeling of guilt made her +eyes fall as she murmured: + +"I--don't--know." + +"Don't know!" echoed the Lady Principal, in amazement. Then directing +Dawkins to supply what was needed, she returned to her interrupted +repose, while Dorothy wearily followed the stern-faced maid; being +cautioned, meanwhile: + +"Do not dare to make a noise and arouse the young ladies." + +Yet arrived at the cubicle, or small division of the great dormitory +which had been assigned her, Dorothy realized that Dawkins was kinder +than she looked. For presently she was being undressed, her face and +hands sponged with cool water, and herself reclothed with the freshest +of gowns. Then she was bodily lifted into the dainty little bed as if +she were a baby. + +This unexpected gentleness touched her heart and, flinging her arms +about the maid's neck, she sobbed: + +"Oh! do be good to me! I am so desolate!" + +"Whist, child! We must no be wakin' the troublesome girls around. And +sure the lonesomeness'll pass, like the dew afore sun, once you get a +good sleep and meet up with your mates. Good night, child, and sleep +well." + +Then, since there was nobody to witness her unusual demonstration, +maid Dawkins stooped and kissed the tired eyes of her new charge, and +went quietly away. + +But there had been one observer of this caress. Peeping from her own +compartment stood a girl whose keen eyes had noticed everything, and +who felt she could scarcely wait until morning to spread the news. +Creeping back to her own bed, she lay long awake, thinking the matter +over. For this schoolgirl, who rejoiced in the title of the Honorable +Gwendolyn Borst-Kennard, had a deal of curiosity that was wholly +roused now. + +"Never saw old Dawkins kiss anybody. Dawkins, of all creatures! Never +knew a new girl come at this time of night--and she certainly was new. +And she hadn't any clothes, I know, because that was one of the school +hampers Dawkins had. Must be somebody very poor. I wonder who! +Maybe--for goodness sake! Maybe she's some relation to old Dawk! Else +why should she kiss her? Humph! I thought this was a school for young +ladies, not for the poor relations of servants. There's one thing +certain, mamma will never allow me to remain where there are paupers. +Never in this world. Neither would Lord Christopher let Marjorie. No, +indeed. So will Miss Tross-Kingdon find out. Why! one charity pupil at +Oak Knowe would ruin it! Anyhow, I mean to hurry round in the morning +and warn all my set against noticing the beggar and what our set does +surely goes. Mamma gets odd notions about things, sometimes, like +saying I must sleep in this old dormitory instead of having a private +room, and that I have silly feelings about rank. Wanted the Lady +Principal to make me more democratic: but even she couldn't wish me to +sleep among paupers. Heigho! I wish it was morning! But I'll take a +nap now and that will pass the time." + +Exhausted by the long journey she had taken, and by the startling +events of the night, unconscious Dorothy slept calmly on, little +dreaming of Gwendolyn's fancies about her; nor did she wake till long +after all her dormitory mates had dressed and gone below to breakfast. +When she did arouse it was to wonder about this strange place in which +she found herself and at an elfish-looking child perched on the foot +of her little bed, staring at her with wide eyes and keen impatience, +and who greeted her first movement with the exclamation: + +"Well, old sleepy-head, I thought you never would wake up! Who are +you, anyway, and what makes you stay in cubicle so long after +breakfast? Won't you catch a lecture, though! I wouldn't be in your +shoes for a sovereign!" + +"Don't believe you could be in them. You're so small they'd fall off," +answered Dorothy laughing. + +"No, they wouldn't. I'd tie them on. If I wanted to. Who are you? +When'd you come? How dare you stay in bed so?" + +Dolly laughed again. She had fallen asleep convinced that she could +never laugh again, so tired and homesick had she been. But now, +refreshed by rest and with the sunlight streaming through the windows, +the world seemed a very different place. Besides, there was something +so winning about this inquisitive little maid, that the stranger's +heart was comforted that she had found a friend already. + +"Well, dearie, I suppose I dare because Miss Tross-Kingdon--" + +"Did she say you could? Isn't that odd! She's my aunt. I haven't any +folks 'cept her, I'm a norphan. I'm Millikins-Pillikins, my brother +Hugh calls me; and the girls, too. But I'm not, really. I'm Grace +Adelaide Victoria Tross-Kingdon. That's my truly name. Nobody could +call me all that, could they? Wouldn't be time. Auntie Princie calls +me just plain 'darling' or 'dear.' I'm a Minim. I don't have to do +lessons and things. I'm in the 'kindy.' Auntie Princie doesn't approve +of a kindergarten in this School for Young Ladies; but it's a +speriment the Board of Directioners wanted to try. Them's the +gentlemen auntie has to mind. Fancy! My great big grown-up Auntie +Prin having to mind them, same's I have to mind her! My Lord Bishop, +he's the head Directioner, but he's the jolliest! I just love him! He +knew my papa and mamma before they got drowned in the sea. My brother +Hugh lives with the Bishop and writes things for him. They call him a +seckeratary. He gets money for doing it. Think of that! Sometimes he +gives me pennies and even six-pences. Sometimes--not often. You see he +wants to earn enough to buy a cottage for him and me. I'm to be the +lady of it--the mistress! Fancy! But Auntie Princie says I have lots +to learn before then. I will have to make his bread, 'cause he won't +have money enough to keep me and a cook, too. I'll have to have a +housemaid to help me, but you know housemaids never do the cooking. +But say, girl, you haven't told me your name yet?" + +Dorothy sat up in bed and drew the child toward her: + +"My dear, you haven't given me a chance yet, you've been so busy +telling me who you are. But I've enjoyed it and I thank you for coming +to wake me up. Now I must get up and dress. Maybe you will show me to +the bathroom, though I don't like to go about in this way." + +"That's a school nightie you've got on. Where's your bath robe?" + +"In my trunk." + +"Where's your trunk?" + +"I suppose it's at John Gilpin's house. That is, if he didn't throw it +out of the cart with the empty barrels." + +"Why did he throw out the barrels?" + +"To make a place for Robin to lie on." + +"What Robin?" + +"The messenger boy who was hurt. He was bringing my telegram and he +fainted and fell and the motor car--but I mustn't stop now to talk. I +must get dressed." + +"Couldn't you talk without stopping? I could." + +"I believe you, child. Will you show me?" + +"Of course--if you'll tell the rest. Wait. If you want a robe I'll get +Gwendolyn's. It's right yonder." + +So it happened that the first act of the supposed charity pupil was to +borrow a garment of the very girl who had so misjudged her, and who +entered the dormitory just as Dorothy was leaving it for the lavatory. + +Curiosity had sent Gwendolyn and Laura Griswold, her chum and +"shadow," back to this apartment at this unusual hour, but at sight of +Dorothy disappearing toward the bath wearing Gwendolyn's robe, its +owner forgot her curiosity in indignation. Stopping short, midway the +great room, she clasped her hands in a tragic manner and demanded of +Laura: + +"Did you ever in your life see anything so cool as that? The impudent +girl! How dare she? I wonder what else she's taken! And that +mischievous little Pill with her. That child's the nuisance of this +school. Even if she is Lady Principal's niece, she shouldn't be given +the liberty she has. But I'll report." + +"Yes, indeed, I'd report!" echoed Laura. "First, have to sleep in the +school things; then help herself to yours. It's simply outrageous. Why +not go right away? It's recess and Miss Tross-Kingdon has no class." + +"She has worse. The Bishop's in the reception-room, and Dr. Winston, +too. They were all talking very fast and I wanted to stop and listen. +But I didn't quite dare, for she was facing the door and might see me. +But I did hear the Bishop say that if she was a Calvert she could +hardly fail to be all right. She came of good stock--none better. I +wondered who he meant; but Lady Principal saw me looking in and asked +me if 'I wished anything?' Hateful woman! She has the most +disagreeable manners!" + +"Never mind. Anyway, let's go tell her!" advised Laura, and the pair +departed. + +However, the electric bell rang just then, announcing that recess was +over and the telling had to be postponed to a better season. A few +moments later a maid came to say that as soon as Dorothy was ready the +Lady Principal would receive her in the west parlor. But she might +stop in the breakfast-room on the way, where a dish of cereal and a +bowl of hot milk was awaiting her. The maid added to the "Little +Pill": + +"As for you, Miss Grace, the Minims are ready for their calisthenics +and your teacher wants you." + +"But I don't want her. I want to go with Dolly." + +"You're too big a girl for dolls, Miss Grace, and quite big enough to +obey orders." + +Grace's sharp little face darkened and she made a mocking grimace to +the maid, retorting: + +"You don't know anything, Dora Bond! You don't know that the Dolly I +play with is this new girl. I shall go with her. I hate them +exercises. They make my back ache. I'm excused to-day, anyhow. I heard +Auntie Princie tell a lady how I wasn't a bit strong and that she had +to indulge me a lot. I shall do as I please. I shall go where I like. +I shall, so, old Bondy! So there!" + +Dorothy was surprised by the unpleasant expression which had +settled on the little girl's face, but said nothing. Following +Bond's direction, she hurried through a long hall to a sunshiny +breakfast-room and the simple meal prepared for her. She hastily +drank the milk, but had no appetite for the cereal. Her heart was in a +flutter of anxiety about the coming interview with Miss Tross-Kingdon. +She had at once disliked and feared that lady, on the night before, +and felt that her present appearance, in a rain-spotted frock and with +her hair so hastily brushed, must only add to the sternness of this +unknown Lady Principal. + +However, the clinging hand of Millikins-Pillikins gave a little +comfort. She didn't feel quite so lonely and timid with the child +beside her and, as she made her graceful curtsey at the open door, all +her fear vanished and she became once more the self-possessed Dorothy +of old. For, rising and crossing the room to meet her was her +acquaintance of the night, who had brought her to Oak Knowe in his own +car from John Gilpin's cottage. + +With extended hands he grasped hers and, turning to Miss Muriel, +remarked: + +"Any time you need a nurse, madam, just call upon this little lady. +She was the best helper I had last night. Quick and quiet and +intelligent. She must train herself for that vocation when she is +older." + +The color flew to Dorothy's cheeks and she flashed him a grateful +smile, for the kind words that so soothed her homesick heart. + +The other gentleman in the room did not rise, but held out a +beckoning hand and, with another curtsey to Doctor Winston, Dorothy +excused herself to him and obeyed the summons. This other was a +venerable man with a queer-shaped cap upon his white head and wearing +knee breeches and gaiters, which made the young American remember some +pictures of old Continental statesmen. + +"So this is my old friend Betty Calvert's child, is it? Well, well! +You're as like her as possible--yet only her great-niece. Ha, hum! +Little lady, you carry me straight back to the days of my boyhood, +when my parents came from England--strangers to your Baltimore. But we +were not strangers for long. There's a distant blood relation between +our house and yours and we youngsters found in beautiful Bellevieu a +second home. So you must remember that, since your aunt has done me +the honor to send you away up here to this school of mine--of ours, I +should say--you have come to another home just as I did then. Dear +little Betty! What a mischief she was! Are you mischievous, too, I +wonder?" + +Then he turned to the Lady Principal, warning her: + +"Look out for this little miss, Miss Tross-Kingdon! She looks as meek +as a lamb, just now, but blood will tell and she'll bear watching, I +believe." + +The dear old man had drawn Dorothy close to his side and was smiling +upon her in a manner to win the heart of any girl and to cure her of +her homesickness--at least for the time being. When he released her, +he rose to depart, resuming for a moment the business talk with the +Lady Principal, which Dorothy's entrance had interrupted. Both she and +the doctor also arose and stood respectfully waiting till the Bishop +disappeared. Then said Dr. Winston: + +"You'll like to hear about your boy patient, I suppose, Miss Calvert. +Well, I think he's all right, or will be as soon as his bones +and bruises mend. What I suspect is that the brave lad is about +half-starved--or was. He's in danger of being overfed now, since he +has fallen into Dame Gilpin's hands." + +"Half-starved, sir? How dreadful!" cried Dorothy, while Miss +Tross-Kingdon exclaimed: "Can that be possible!" + +"Quite possible, indeed. His mother is a widow and very frail, old +John tells me. Her husband was a carpenter who worked in town and was +trying to pay for the little place he'd bought out here in the +suburbs, hoping the open-air life might cure her. She'd gone into +chicken and flower culture, thinking she could help in the payment. +They were proud of Robin, the 'brightest, merriest, best boy in the +Glen,' John claims, and had somehow got a second-hand bicycle for him +to ride into school for the 'grand eddication' they wanted he should +have. Then the father died and Robin got a position as messenger boy. +Every cent he earned he gave his mother and she took in sewing. They +ate just as little as they could and the result has been disastrous. A +growing boy can't work all day and half the night, sometimes, on a +diet of bread and water. So last night he fainted on his trip and fell +off his wheel in the middle of the road. Then I came speeding along +toward home and smashed them both up. But it's an ill wind that blows +nobody good and the lad's accident may turn out his blessing. Dorothy +and I and the Dame have mended a collar bone and a couple of ribs +and my ambitious young 'Mercury' is laid up for repairs. John +'step-and-fetched' the mother, Mrs. Locke, and she, too, will get some +rest and nourishment. She's worrying a good deal, but has no need. +Plucky little Robin will soon be chirping again, 'fine as silk.' +Maybe, after school hours, Miss Tross-Kingdon will permit me to take +Dorothy with me in the car to visit her patient. May I, Madam?" + +The Lady Principal did not look pleased. The Bishop's and the doctor's +treatment of the new pupil had really softened her heart toward the +girl, but she was a stickler for "rules" and "discipline," and +remembered that this was not the day on which her "young ladies" were +allowed to pay visits. + +"Thank you, Doctor Winston, but I am obliged to decline the invitation +for to-day. She has entered Oak Knowe some time after the opening of +term and must pass examination, that I may understand for which Form +she is best fitted. Nor have I yet been advised of such houses as her +guardians desire her to visit. Commonly, the young ladies of Oak Knowe +do not consort with laborers and messenger boys. But I thank you for +your courtesy toward her; and, as that is the bell for my class in +Greek, I must beg you to excuse me and I wish you good morning, Dr. +Winston. Come, Miss Calvert, I will have your examination begin at +once. Make your obeisance to the doctor." + +Dolly's heart sank. Why should she be made to feel so guilty and +insignificant? Still, as she turned to follow the teacher, she +obediently saluted the physician and, glancing up into his face, +saw--was it possible that he winked? + +Though she felt as she were going to be tried for her life, this sight +so surprised her, that she giggled hysterically and thus irreverently +followed the haughty instructress out of the room. So doing, she added +one more to the list of misdemeanors that lady had already placed +against her account. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +PEERS AND COMMONS + + +Along the hall down which Dorothy followed the Lady Principal were +many doors opening into small class rooms. Each class was under its +especial teacher, its number being limited to ten students. It was the +policy of the school that by this division better instruction could be +given each pupil, and Dorothy wondered to which of these groups--if +any--she would be assigned. Another hall and other class rooms joined +the first and longer one, at a right angle, and here Miss Muriel +paused, directing: + +"Proceed down this corridor till you reach the parlor at its end. +There you will find Miss Hexam awaiting you. She will test your +scholarship and report to me. Do not fail to answer her questions +promptly and distinctly. I observe that you do not enunciate well. You +slur some of your words and clip the endings from your participles. To +say 'hopin'' or 'runnin'' is execrable. Also, there is no such word as +'daown' or 'araoun'.'" + +Dorothy's temper rose. She had done nothing right, it seemed, since +she had arrived at this "school for criticism," as she termed it, and +now said pertly: + +"I reckon that's the Southern way of talking. I noticed that the +Bishop didn't bother about his 'gs' and he had the same twang that all +do down home. He must have lived there a right smart time when he was +little." + +"Many things are permissible in a cultured old gentleman which are +not in an ignorant and forward girl. You came here for your own +improvement. I shall see that you attain it; or, if you fail in this +after a reasonable trial, you cannot be retained. That rule is plainly +stated in our circular. I will bid you good morning until I send for +you." + +Poor Dorothy fairly withered under this sternness that she felt was +unjust, but she felt, also, that she had been impertinent, and running +after Miss Muriel, as she moved away, she caught the lady's sleeve, +imploring: + +"Please don't think I'm all bad, Miss Tross-Kingdon! I've been +heedless and saucy, but I didn't mean it--not for badness. Please wait +and try me and I _will_ 'improve,' as you said. Please, please! It +would break Aunt Betty's heart if she thought I wasn't good and--and +I'm so unhappy! Please forgive me." + +The dark eyes, lifted so appealingly, filled with tears which their +owner bravely restrained, and the Lady Principal was touched by this +self-control. Also, under all her sternness, she was just. + +"Certainly, Dorothy, your apology is sufficient. Now go at once to +Miss Hexam and do yourself credit. If you have studied music, another +person will examine you in that." + +Impulsively Dorothy caught the lady's hand and kissed it; and, +fortunately, did not observe that dainty person wipe off the caress +with her handkerchief. + +Then summoning her courage, the new pupil hurried to the end parlor +and entered it as she had been taught. But the "den of inquisition," +as some of the girls had named it, proved anything but that to +Dorothy. + +"The Inquisitor" was a lovely, white-haired woman, clothed in soft +white wool, and smiling so gently toward the trembling girl that all +fear instantly left her. + +"So this is Dorothy Calvert, our little maid from Dixie. You'll find a +wide difference between your Southland and our Province, but I hope +you'll find the change a pleasant one. Take this chair before the +fire. You'll find it comfortable. I love these autumn days, when a +blazing log can keep us warm. It's so fragrant and cheerful and far +more romantic than a coil of steam pipe. Have a biscuit, dear?" + +Miss Hexam motioned to a low wicker chair, which some girls had +declared a "chair of torture," but which suited Dorothy exactly, for +it was own mate to her own little reading chair "at home." Almost she +could have kissed it for its likeness, but was allowed no time for +foolishness. The homely little treat of the simple crackers banished +all shyness and the dreaded "exam" proved really but a social visit, +the girl not dreaming that under this friendly talk was a careful +probing of her own character and attainments. Nor did she understand +just then how greatly her answers pleased the gentle "Inquisitor." + +"You want me to 'begin at the beginning'? Why, that's a long way back, +when I was a mere midget. A baby only a year and a half old. Papa and +mamma died away out west, but, of course, I didn't know that then. I +didn't know anything, I reckon, except how to make Mother Martha +trouble. My father was Aunt Betty's nephew and she didn't like his +marrying mamma. I don't know why; only Ephraim says 'Miss Betty was +allays full o' notions same's a aig's full o' meat.' Ephy's Aunt +Betty's 'boy,' about as old as she is--something over eighty. Nobody +knows just auntie's real age, except Ephraim and Dinah. They've lived +with her always and treat her now just as if she were a child. It's +too funny for words, sometimes, to hear the three of them argue over +some thing or trifle. She'll let them go a certain length; then all at +once she'll put on her dignity and they fairly begin to tremble. She's +mistress then and they're her servants, but I do believe either one +would die to prolong her life. Dinah says: ''Pears lak death an' dyin' +nebah gwine come nigh my Miss Betty Calvert.' And she's just right. +Everybody thinks my darling aunt is the sweetest, most wonderful woman +in the world. But I beg your pardon. I didn't mean to talk so much and +hinder your examination." + +"Oh! that is all right. I love to hear your story that you've left off +at its beginning. You're only a 'baby' so far, you know." + +"Well, if you like. When my father died, my mother felt that she would +die, too, and she couldn't bear to leave me alone. So she just sent me +to Aunt Betty. But she felt, auntie did, that she couldn't be bothered +with a 'squalling baby,' nor could she cast me off, really. 'Cause she +was my real great-aunt and my nearest relation and was rich enough to +do what she liked in a money way. Besides, she wanted me to be raised +real sensible. So she picked out a splendid couple she knew and had me +left on their doorstep. She had pinned to my clothes that my name was +'Dorothy C.' Their name began with 'C,' too, so they guessed I was +meant for them to keep, because they hadn't any other child. What a +lot I'm talking! Do you want to hear any more? Won't the Lady +Principal be angry if I don't get examined?" + +"I will make that all right, Dorothy, and I am greatly interested. +It's 'like a story out of a book,' as the Minims say. Go on, please." + +"Well, these dear people took care of me till I was a real big girl. I +love them dearly. He was a postman and he walked too much. So he had +to lose his position with lameness and he's never gotten over it, +though he's better now. He has a position in a sanitarium for other +lame folks and Mother Martha is the housekeeper, or matron, there. +Uncle Seth Winters, who knows so much that he is called the 'Learned +Blacksmith,' is my guardian. He and Aunt Betty have been dearest +friends ever since they were little. They call each other cousin, +though they're no kin at all, any more than he's my uncle. He was my +first teacher at his 'school in the woods,' but felt I ought to go to +a school for girls. So I went to the Rhinelander Academy and he stayed +at his smithy on the mountain, near Mother Martha's little farm and +Aunt Betty's big one, and one vacation auntie told me who I was and +took me home to live with her; and she liked Oak Knowe because the +Bishop is her lifelong friend. She has had my name on the list waiting +for a vacancy for a long, long time; so it's a terrible pity I should +have been horrid, and offended the Lady Principal." + +"Let us hope she is not seriously offended, dear, nor have you told me +what the offense is. But bear in mind, Dorothy, that she is at the +head of a great and famous institution and must strictly live up to +its standards and keep her pupils to their duty. But she is absolutely +just, as you will learn in time. + +"I feel like hearing music, to-day, but get very little. All our +practice rooms are sound-deadened. Do you play at all, on any +instrument, or sing?" + +"A little of both, when I'm at home. Not well in either, though Aunt +Betty loves my violin and my little songs. If I had it here, I would +try for you, if you'd like. But it's in my trunk, my 'box,' Mr. Gilpin +called it." + +Miss Hexam smiled and, opening a little secretary, took out an old +Cremona, explaining: + +"This was my brother's, who died when I was young. He was a master of +it, had many pupils. I allow few to touch it, but I'd be pleased to +have you, if you would like." + +"Would you? May I?" asked Dorothy, handling it reverently for its +sacredness to this loving old sister. And, after she had tuned it, as +reverently for its own sake. It was a rare old instrument of sweetest +tone and almost unconsciously Dorothy tried one theme after another +upon it while Miss Hexam leaned back in her chair listening and +motionless. + +Into that playing the young musician put all the love and homesickness +of her own heart. It seemed as if she were back at Deerhurst, with the +Great Danes lying on the rug at her feet and dear Aunt Betty resting +before the fire. Then, when memory threatened to bring the tears she +was determined should not fall, she stopped, laid the violin silently +upon the table and slipped out of the room, leaving Miss Hexam still +motionless in her chair. + +But she would have been surprised had she looked back into the +"inquisition chamber" a few moments later to see the "inquisitor" +arouse, seize a sheet of paper and rapidly write a few lines upon it. +But the few lines were important. They gave a synopsis of Dorothy's +scholarship and accomplishments, and unerringly assigned her to "Form +IVb, class of Miss Aldrich." + +The "terrible exam" was over and Dorothy hadn't known a thing about +it! + +Outside that little parlor another surprise awaited her. A crowd of +girls was racing madly down the hall, the foremost looking backward as +she ran and roughly colliding with Dorothy; with the result that both +fell; while the others, following in such speed, were unable to check +in time to prevent their tumbling over the first pair. Then such +shrieks of laughter rang out that the teachers in the nearby +classrooms came to their doors in haste. + +Even they were obliged to smile over the heap of girls and the tangle +of legs and arms as the fallen ones strove to extricate themselves. +They were all in gymnasium-costume and were bound for a side door of +the building which led by a short cut to the gymnasium in the Annex. + +This was Dorothy's introduction to the "Commons," the largest and +wildest "set" in the great school. They were all daughters of good +families but of no "rank" or titles; and there was an abiding +opposition among them to the "Peers," the smaller "set" of aristocrats +to which the Honorable Gwendolyn Borst-Kennard and Lady Marjorie +Lancaster belonged. Mostly the "Commons" were a rollicking company, +going to the extreme limits of behavior where any fun promised to +follow, yet mostly keeping just safely within rules. Their escapades +kept the faculty in considerable anxiety as to what they would do +next, yet their very gayety was the life of Oak Knowe and even the +Lady Principal was secretly fonder of them than of the more dignified +"Peers." + +As they now scrambled to their feet, she who had run against Dorothy +heartily apologized, yet paused half-way in that apology to stare and +remark: + +"Why, heigho, there! I thought you were a Minim, you're so little. +But I fancy you're a newcomer whom I don't know. Please explain; are +you 'Peer' or 'Lower House'?" + +Dorothy laughed: + +"'Lower House,' I thought when you knocked me down, whatever that may +be." + +"It means--is your father an Earl? or your mother a Duchess? Have you +an Honorable amongst you? You hold your curly head as if you might +have all three!" + +All the girls had now gathered about the stranger whom their leader +was so unceremoniously quizzing and were eagerly inspecting her, but +somehow Dorothy did not resent the scrutiny. There were big girls and +little ones, fat girls and thin ones, plain and pretty, but each so +good-natured looking and so friendly in her curiosity that Dolly's own +spirits rose in response to their liveliness. + +"No, indeed! I'm just a plain American girl and prouder of that than +of any title in the world. You see, all of _us_ are queens in our own +right!" answered the newcomer, promptly. + +"Well, come on then; you belong to us and we all belong to the queen. +Queen, what shall we call you? Where do you hail from?" + +"My home is in Baltimore, and my name is Dorothy Calvert." + +"Then you must be a sort of 'Peer' after all. I hate history, but I +remember about that, for Lord Baltimore and Calvert are the same +thing, I fancy. I'm sorry. I hoped you belonged to our 'set' and +weren't an aristocrat." + +"But I'm not, I'm not!" protested Dorothy. "I do belong to you, I want +to because you look so friendly and I need friends dreadfully. I'm so +lonely, or I was. I've just come, you know." + +"Have you been 'inquisitioned' yet?" + +"I don't understand." + +The questioner explained, and Dorothy exclaimed: + +"Oh! I think that's cruel! Miss Hexam is perfectly lovely!" + +"So do we think, course, and she doesn't mind the nickname. It was +first given her by a silly Seventh Form girl who thought she was all +ready for the University yet failed to pass even a Fifth Form exam. I +guess you'll not be put to study to-day, so best come over to the gym +with us. What stunts can you do?" + +"None. But I've told you my name and you haven't told yours. Thank +you, though, for asking me. I'm so glad to go." + +"Oh! you poor little lonesome Queen Baltimore! I'm Winifred Christie; +this freckle face is Fannie Dimock; Annie Dow wears that blue bow in +her hair; Florita Sheraton is the fat one; Ernesta Smith the thin; +Bessie Walters--well, no need to point out Bessie. She's the nimblest +girl in the gym. We here extend the freedom of the Lower House; and +all in favor of grabbing this Yankee into our set before the other set +catches her, say--Aye!" + +"Aye--aye--aye!" endorsed the motion and Dorothy clapped her hands +over her ears, to keep out the ear-splitting shouts. How these girls +dared make such an uproar amazed her; but she did not yet know that in +the "long recess," now passing, much liberty was permitted and that a +noise which did not interfere with study hours was not reprimanded. + +"It's the overflow of natural spirits and inevitable in the young," +was one of the Bishop's beliefs, and not even the Lady Principal +disputed his authority. + +"Come on, Queenie, and be put through your paces!" cried Winifred, +throwing her arm around Dorothy's shoulders and forcibly racing her +out of doors and across the lawn toward the gymnasium. + +But arrived there only one or two of the group attempted any exercise. +The rest settled around Dorothy, whom the athletic Winifred had tossed +upward upon the back of the wooden horse, and, with her arms folded +upon the newcomer's knees, this leader of the "Commons" proceeded to +cross-question her victim. + + [Illustration: "PROCEEDED TO CROSS-QUESTION HER VICTIM." _Dorothy at + Oak Knowe._] + +"It's the cast-iron rule of our set to find out everything about +anybody we receive into it. Begin at the date of your birth and +proceed in a seemly manner until you come up to date. Where were you +born? What sort of baby were you--good, bad, or indifferent? Begin!" + +Entering into the spirit of the thing Dorothy gave her simple life +history in a few sentences. But when the questions came as to the +events of the last few days her face grew serious and her voice +faltered. + +"Why did I come to Oak Knowe alone? Because there was nobody to come +with me. That is, Dinah or Ephraim, who might have come, couldn't be +trusted to go back alone. My dearest girl friend, Molly Breckenridge, +had been enrolled here and we expected to come together, but the +Judge's health suddenly broke down and he was ordered to California +and couldn't part with her. Uncle Seth wasn't well. He's my guardian +and Aunt Betty's friend. She's my great aunt who takes care of me but +she wouldn't leave Uncle Seth, even if he's not our kin at all, though +we call him so. Jim Barlow is tutoring in a boys' school and; well, +Aunt Betty said I could perfectly well and safely travel alone. I was +put into the conductor's care when I started from Baltimore and he +passed me along to the next one, and they've all been splendid to me. +There'd have been no mistakes if I hadn't been careless myself. But I +was. I missed a train I should have taken and didn't send the telegram +I ought at the right time and there was nobody at the station to meet +me and--and--" + +"The idea! A girl like you, traveling all the way from Baltimore to +Toronto without a maid or any grown-up to take care of her! That's the +strangest thing I ever heard. Weren't you just awfully scared all the +time?" asked Florita Sheraton, amazed. "An English girl would have +been in a blue funk every minute of the time." + +"I don't know anything about a blue or other colored funk, but every +well-bred American girl can take care of herself if she chooses. If +she 'loses her head' she gets into trouble right away. I lost mine +last night and went riding off at dark with a strange old man, who +said he'd bring me here, instead of stepping into the telegraph office +and wiring the Lady Principal. Then all I'd have had to do would be to +wait for her to send for me, and after all it wasn't the old man who +brought me, it was Dr. Winston in his motor. He called here this +morning and asked me to ride back with him and see Robin, but Miss +Tross-Kingdon wouldn't let me." + +"Course she wouldn't. She never lets anybody do anything she wants +to, if she can help it. Hateful old thing!" remarked Bessie Walters; +at which the others laughed and Annie Dow inquired, "Who is Robin?" + +Dorothy told the story of last night, her new acquaintances listening +intently, and Winifred commenting: + +"If you aren't the very luckiest girl in the world! Why I never had an +adventure in my life, yet I'm ages older than you." + +At this a shout of derision rose, and Fannie Dimock exclaimed: + +"Don't believe that, Queen Baltimore. There's scarcely a day passes +that she isn't in some scrape or other. Why, last term, she was in +disgrace so often I really believed she wouldn't be allowed to come +back." + +"Oh! little things like that don't count. But--" she stopped speaking +so abruptly and such an earnest expression settled on her face that a +mate remarked: + +"Look! There's something brewing this minute! Look out, Win, what you +do! Don't mix any of us up in your schemes. I don't want any more +extras so soon again;" then explained to Dorothy that "extras" were +some difficult lessons any culprit was obliged to learn. + +Just then came the bell for mid-day luncheon, and all the Commons +except Winifred answered the summons promptly. But she lingered +behind, detaining Dorothy till the others were out of hearing, and +then suggested something to her which made her clap her hands in +delight. For the secret thus imparted seemed the simplest thing +possible and one in which, to Dolly's ignorance of Oak Knowe rules, +was entirely right. + +Arm in arm, the new friends entered the dining-room and Winifred +marched Dorothy steadily forward to a seat at her own table, just +opposite that occupied by some of the other "set," with the Honorable +Gwendolyn among them. Dolly glanced across and nodded, but that titled +young person returned the nod with a stare so intent and contemptuous +that the color flashed to the stranger's face and her eyes fell as if +she were in guilt. Yet she couldn't guess why, nor why she should be +relieved when there arose a sudden diversion outside the doorway +toward which everybody turned their eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE GILPINS HAVE A PARTY + + +The young ladies of Oak Knowe went out for their afternoon exercise +for the half hour before supper. Those who had been long at the school +were allowed to roam about the spacious grounds without a teacher, but +newcomers, or those who wished to go further afield, were always +attended by one. + +Most of Winifred's motherless life had been passed at Oak Knowe, even +few of her vacations elsewhere. Her father was a very wealthy man, of +large affairs which carried him often from the Province, to England or +countries further away, so that his home was seldom opened. But to +compensate his daughter for this state of things he had arranged with +the authorities that her school life should be made as homelike as +possible. She had her own private room with a tiny parlor and private +bath adjoining. She was allowed to entertain her schoolmates there as +she would have done in her father's house; always, of course, within +the limits set by the faculty. + +But Winifred cared little for all this unusual luxury. She rarely +asked for any money "banked" with the Lady Principal beyond the +twenty-five cents a week which any pupil might spend; and she liked +the common parlor far better than her own richly furnished one. +Nothing hurt her feelings more than to have her mates refer to her +wealth or to treat her differently from the poorest pupil. + +But there were times when she enjoyed her privileges to the utmost, +and that first day of Dorothy's life at Oak Knowe was one such. Not +having been "in disgrace" for a week at least she confidently asked +permission to entertain the newcomer in her rooms, "Just we two by +ourselves. She's lonely and I like her. Please, Miss Tross-Kingdon." + +"You'll be quiet, Winifred, and keep out of mischief?" asked the Lady +Principal, with more gentleness than ordinary. It was natural that she +should feel great interest in the girl she had almost reared and whose +own power for good or ill Winifred herself could not yet comprehend. + +"Ah, now, Miss Muriel, you know I will! Why, surely, I've been as good +for a whole week as if I were a kindergarten Minim. You should trust +me more. I read the other day that people are just what you think they +are. So, whatever you want me to be, please just think I _am_ and +I'll be it!" and the audacious creature actually dabbed a kiss on the +Lady Principal's own cheek. + +"Wheedler! Well, I'll try to fancy you're a saint, but I'm not so +fanciful about this Dorothy Calvert. She's a pretty little thing and +my Grace made friends with her at once and the Bishop says she is of +good blood. That counts, of course, but she seems to me a little +headstrong and very stupid. I don't yet understand how Miss Hexam came +to put her into so high a Form. However, I know that she is very +homesick, as all new pupils are, so you may entertain her if you wish. +A maid shall send you in a tray and you are excused from school +supper; but see to it, Winifred, that you use your influence aright. +The more favored a person is in this world the more that individual +should watch her own actions." + +Winifred thanked the teacher and backed out of the room as if in the +presence of royalty itself. This action in itself was offensive to the +teacher but was one she could hardly criticise; nor did she guess +that, once out of sight, the "wheedler" should first stamp her foot +and exclaim: + +"I'm sick to death of hearing about my 'influence' and being an +'individual.' Makes me feel like a spider, that time the German count +came to visit Father and called his attention to 'that individual +crawling down the wall.' He meant 'one, a solitary thing.' But I'm no +'solitary' just because Father has a little money. I often wish he +hadn't a pound, especially when some of the 'Peers' try to make me +believe he is at least a 'Sir'." + +Then hurrying to Dorothy she danced about in delight at her success. + +"Yes, she says you may come, and she's sure to send us in a fine +supper. Miss Muriel Tross-Kingdon never does a thing by halves, not +even a lecture on 'individual influence.' Queen Baltimore, aren't you +glad you're poor?" + +"Neither glad nor sorry, Winifred, because I'm neither rich nor poor. +Anyway neither of us can help being just as we are, I reckon." + +"Come on, though, and hurry up. 'If it were done, when 'tis done, then +'twere well it were done quickly,'" quoted Winifred, whose class +reading just then was "Macbeth"; and seizing the smaller girl whirled +merrily down the hall. + +Five minutes later, with hats and jackets on, they joined the other +pupils out of doors. To Dorothy it seemed the beautiful grounds were +alive with all sorts and conditions of girls, pacing rapidly up and +down, "sprinting" to warm themselves against the chill of the coming +evening, playing tennis for the brief half-hour, or racing one another +from point to point. There were girls so many and so various, from +Seventh Form young ladies to the wee little Minims, that Dolly +wondered if she would ever know them all or feel herself a member of +the great company. + +But Winifred gave her little time to gaze about her. + +"Oh! don't bother with them now. Our way is that lower gate, and it's +a good bit of a distance, I hope you're a good walker." + +"Pretty good, I reckon," answered Dolly falling into step with the +taller girl and hurrying forward at even a swifter pace. + +"But, begging your pardon, that's no way. We Canadians learn +pedestrianism--whew! what a long word!--just as we learn our letters. +Begin very slowly at first. Then when your muscles are limbered, walk +faster--and faster--and faster! Till it seems as if your legs swing up +and down of their own accord, just like machines. It's wonderful then +how little you tire and how far you can go. Slack up a bit and I'll +show you." + +Absorbed in this new lesson Dorothy scarcely noticed when they left +Oak Knowe limits and struck out along a country lane, with hedgerows +at either side; nor when having climbed a stile they set out across a +plowed field, till her feet grew heavy with the soil they gathered. + +"Oh! dear! What mud! Why do you walk in it, Winifred?" + +"It's the shortest road. Here's a stone. Stop a bit and scrape it +off--as I do. See?" answered the other, calmly illustrating her +advice. + +"But I don't like it. My shoes will be ruined!" wailed Dolly who was +always finical about "dirt." + +"Humph! Haven't you another pair? But they ought to be--such +flimsy-wimpsy affairs! Look at mine. A bit of mud more or less can't +hurt them and it's the boot-boy's business to clean them." + +The English girl held forth a good sized foot clad in a still larger +shoe of calfskin, which though soiled with the clay had not absorbed +much of its moisture: while the finer affairs of Dorothy's were +already wet through, making her uncomfortable. + +"I couldn't walk in such heavy boots. And it's raining again. It +rained last night. Does it rain every day in Canada? We ought to go +back. Do let's, and try this some other time. I reckon this will +finish my new suit, entirely." + +Winifred put her arms akimbo and stared at her new friend. Then burst +into a hearty laugh over Dorothy's disgusted face. + +"Ha, ha, ha! And 'I reckon,' little southerner, that you'll be a more +sensible girl after you've lived up here a while. The idea of turning +back because it rains! absurd! Why, it's fine, just fine! The Lady +Principal will overhaul your fair-weather-clothes and see that you get +some fit to stand anything. This homespun suit of mine couldn't get +wet through if it tried! But I shan't stand here, in the middle of a +plowed field, and let it try. Come on. Its the States against the +Province! Who'll win?" + +"I will! For old Maryland and the President!" cried Dorothy, and +valiantly strode forward again. + +"For our Province and the King!" shouted the Canadian; and after that +neither spoke, till the long walk ended before the cottage door of old +John Gilpin and his dame. There Winifred gave a smart tap to the panel +and holding her hand toward Dorothy, cried: + +"Quits, Queen Baltimore! We'll call it even and I'll never doubt your +pluck again. But you certainly must get some decent clothes--if I have +to buy them myself!" + +Then the door opened and there stood old John, peering from the +lamp-lighted room into the twilight without. After a second he +recognized Dorothy and drew her in, exclaiming joyfully: + +"Why, Dame, 'tis our little lass herself! Her of the night last spent +and the helping hand! Step ben, step ben, and 'tother miss with ye. +You're surely welcome as the flowers in spring." + +Mrs. Gilpin came ponderously forward, a smile on her big but comely +face, and silently greeted both visitors, while her more nimble +husband promptly "step-an'-fetched" the best chairs in the room and +placed them before the fire. + +"Dry yourselves, lassies, whilst I tell the Robin you've come to see +him. He'll be that proud, poor laddie, to have Oak Knowe young ladies +pay him that honor! and he's mending fine, mending fine, doctor says. +The mother--" + +He disappeared within that inner chamber still talking and as happy +now as he had seemed sorrowful when Dorothy parted from him on the +night before. Then he had anticipated nothing less than death for the +boy he loved, despite the doctor's assurance to the contrary. He came +back leading a woman by the hand, as protectingly as if she had been a +child, and introduced her as: + +"The bit mother hersel'! Look at her well. Isn't she the very sight +and image of Robin, the lad? And mind how she's pickin' up already. +Just one day of good victuals and Dame's cossetting and the pink's +streamin' back to her cheeks. Please the good Lord they'll never get +that thin again whilst I have my ox-team to haul with and the Dame's +good land to till. I'll just step-an'-fetch the rocker out--" + +At that point in his remarks the Dame laid a hand on his shoulder, +saying: + +"That'll do, John Gilpin. Just brew a cup of tea. I'll tell the lad." + +Winifred was amused at this wifely reprimand, but no offense seemed +meant nor taken. The farmer stopped talking and deftly made the tea +from the boiling kettle, added a couple of plates to the waiting +supper table, and drew from the oven a mighty dish of baked beans that +might have been cooked in Yankee-land, and flanked this by a Yorkshire +pudding. + +"Oh! how nice that smells!" cried Dorothy, springing up to add the +knives and forks from the dresser; while Winifred clapped her hands in +a pretended ecstasy and sniffed the savory odors, admitting: "I'm as +hungry as hungry! And this beats any supper I asked for at Oak Knowe. +I hope they'll want us to stay!" + +Her frankness made timid little Mrs. Locke smile as she had not been +able to do since she had known of Robin's accident, and smiling was +good for her. Indeed, the whole atmosphere of this simple, comfortable +home was good for her, and the high spirits of these three young +people delightful to her care-burdened heart. + +For, presently, it was the three--not least of these her idol, her +Robin! Dorothy had followed the Dame into the boy's room and Winifred +had promptly followed her; and because he was the sunny-hearted lad +which the farmer had claimed him to be, he put all thought of his own +pain or trouble out of mind, and laughed with the two girls at their +awkward attempts at feeding him from the tray on the stand beside the +bed. Having to lie flat upon his back he could still use one arm and +could have fed himself fairly well. But this his visitors would not +allow; and he was obliged to submit when Winifred, playfully +struggling with Dolly for "My time now!" thrust a spoon into his ear +instead of his mouth. + +The truth was that under the girl's assumed indifference to the fact +that she was breaking rules by "visiting without permission" lay a +feeling of guilt. "Double guilt" she knew, because she had imposed +upon Dorothy's ignorance by stating that during "exercise hour" any +long resident pupil was free to go where she chose. This was true, but +only in a measure. What was not true was that so distant a point as +John Gilpin's cottage should be chosen, much less entered without +permission. + +But curiosity had been too strong for her and she had resented, on +Dorothy's account, the refusal of Dr. Winston's invitation in the +morning. Besides, she argued with her own conscience: + +"We're excused from school supper and free to entertain each other in +my room till chapel. What difference does it make, and who will know? +To-morrow, I'll go and 'fess to Miss Muriel and if she is displeased +I'll take my punishment, whatever it is, without a word. Anyhow, Dolly +can't be punished for what she doesn't know is wrong." + +So, feeling that she "was in for it, anyway" Winifred's mood grew +reckless and she "let herself go" to a positive hilarity. + +Dorothy watched and listened in surprise but soon caught her +schoolmate's spirit, and jested and laughed as merrily as she. Even +Robin tried to match their funny remarks with odd stories of his own +and after a little time, when he had eaten as much as they could make +him, began to sing a long rigmarole, of innumerable verses, that began +with the same words and ended midway each verse, only to resume. It +was all something about the king and the queen and the "hull r'yal +famblely" which Dorothy promptly capped with an improved version of +Yankee Doodle. + +Whereupon, the absurd jumble and discord of the two contrasting tunes +proved too much for old John's gravity. Springing up from his chair in +the outer room he seized his fiddle from its shelf and scraped away on +a tune of his own. For his fiddle was his great delight and his one +resort at times when his wife silenced his voluble tongue. + +The old fiddle was sadly out of tune and Dorothy couldn't endure that. +Running to him she begged him: + +"Oh! do stop that, please, please! Here, let me take and get it into +shape. You make me cringe, you squawk so!" + +"You fix it? you, lassie! Well, if that don't beat the Dutch! What +else do they l'arn children over in the States? Leave 'em to go +sky-larkin' round the country in railway carriages all by themsel's, +and how to help doctors set broken bones, and how to fiddle a +tune--Stars an' Garters! What next? Here, child, take her and make her +hum!" + +Presently, the preliminary squeaks and discords, incident to "tuning +up," were over and Dorothy began a simple melody that made all her +hearers quietly listen. One after another the familiar things which +Aunt Betty and her guardian loved best came into her mind; and +remembering the beloved scenes where she had last played them, her +feeling of homesickness and longing made her render them so movingly +that soon the little widow was crying and Robin's sensitive face +showed signs of his own tears following hers. + +The tempting supper had remained untouched thus far. But now the +sight of his guests' emotion, and a warning huskiness in his own +throat, brought John Gilpin to his feet. + +"This isn't no mournin' party, little miss, and you quit, you quit +that right square off. Understand? Something lively's more to this +occasion than all that solemcholy 'Old Lang Synin', 'or 'Wearin' Awa'' +business. Touch us off a 'Highland Fling,' and if that t'other girl, +was gigglin' so a few minutes gone, 'll do me the honor"--here the old +fellow bowed low to Winifred--"I'll show you how the figger should be +danced. I can cut a pigeon-wing yet, with the supplest." + +Away rolled the table into the further corner of the room: even the +Dame merely moving her own chair aside. For she had watched the +widow's face and grieved to see it growing sad again, where a little +while before it had been cheerful. + +Dorothy understood, and swiftly changed from the "Land O' the Leal" to +the gay dance melody demanded. Then laughter came back, for it was so +funny to see the farmer's exaggerated flourish as he bowed again to +Winifred and gallantly led her to the middle of the kitchen floor, now +cleared for action. + +Then followed the merriest jig that ever was danced in that old +cottage, or many another. The cuts and the capers, the flings and +pigeon-wings that bald-headed John Gilpin displayed were little short +of marvelous. Forgotten was the dragging foot that now soared as high +as the other, while perspiration streamed from his wrinkled face, +flushed to an apoplectic crimson by this violent exercise. + +Winifred was no whit behind. Away flung her jacket and then her hat. +Off flew the farmer's smock, always worn for a coat and to protect the +homespun suit beneath. The pace grew mad and madder, following the +movement of the old fiddle which Dorothy played to its swiftest. +Robin's blue eyes grew big with wonder and he whistled his liveliest, +to keep up with the wild antics he could see in the outer room. + +Nobody heard a knock upon the door, repeated until patience ceased, +and then it softly opened. A full moment the visitor waited there, +gazing upon this orgy of motion; then with an ultra flourish of her +skirts Winifred faced about and beheld--the Lady Principal! + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE FRIGHT OF MILLIKINS-PILLIKINS + + +For another moment there was utter silence in the cottage. Even the +Dame's calmness forsook her, the absurd performance of her bald-headed +husband making her ashamed of him. She had seen the Lady Principal +passing along the road beyond the lane but had never met her so +closely, and she felt that the mistress of Oak Knowe was high above +common mortals. + +However, as the flush died out of Miss Tross-Kingdon's face Mrs. +Gilpin's ordinary manner returned and she advanced in welcome. + +"You do us proud, madam, by this call. Pray come in and be seated." + +"Yes, yes, do!" cried John, interrupting. "I'll just step-an'-fetch +the arm-chair out o' Robin's room. 'Twas carried there for his mother +to rest in. She--" + +The mortified old fellow was vainly trying to put back the smock he +had so recklessly discarded and without which he never felt fully +dressed. He hated a coat and wore one only on Sundays, at church. But +his frantic efforts to don this garment but added to his own +discomfiture, for he slipped it on backwards, the buttons behind, +grimacing fiercely at his failure to fasten them. + +One glance toward him set all the young folks laughing, he looked so +comical, and even the dignified caller was forced to smile. + +"Don't see what's so terrible funny as to send ye all into a +tee-hee's-nest! but if so be _you_ do, why giggle away and get shut of +it!" testily cried the poor old man. To have been caught "making a +fool of himself" was a "bitter pill" for him to swallow; having always +prided himself upon his correct deportment. + +It was, as usual, the portly Dame who came to his relief, reminding: + +"There, husband, that will do." + +Then she quietly drew the smock over his head and slipped it back in +proper guise. With this upon him his composure returned, and he +apologized to Miss Tross-Kingdon as any gentleman might have done. + +"Sorry to have kep' you standing so long, lady, but I'll +step-an'-fetch--" + +However he was spared that necessity. Dorothy had heard and +understood that the best chair in the house must be placed at the +caller's service and had as promptly brought it. For a moment Miss +Tross-Kingdon still stood as if she would decline, till, seeing +the disappointment on her host's face, she accepted it with: + +"Thank you. My errand could easily have been done without so troubling +you. I came to see if you have any more of that variety of apples that +you sent us last time. The _chef_ declares they are the finest yet. +Have you?" + +"Yes, lady, I've got a few bar'ls left. Leastwise, my Dame has. She +can speak for hersel', if so be she wants to part with 'em. I heard +her say she meant to keep 'em for our own winter use. But--" + +"That will do, John. Bring a pan from the further bin and show Miss +Tross-Kingdon. Maybe she'll like them just as well." + +"All right, wife. I'll step-an'-fetch 'em to oncet." + +So this obedient husband went out, his lame foot once more dragging +heavily behind him, and he managing as he departed to pass by Dorothy +and firmly clutch her sleeve, as he hoarsely whispered: + +"Did you ever see the beat! In your mortal 'arthly life, did ye? Well, +I'm ashamed to the marrer of my bones to be caught cavortin' round +like the donkey I was. Come on down suller with me and I'll get +the apples. But carry 'em back--I shan't. Not this night. That +woman--lady, I mean--has got eyes like gimlets and the less she bores +'em into old John Gilpin the better he'll like it. Worst is, what'll +dame think? She won't say much. She's a rare silent woman, dame is, +but she can do a power of thinking. Oh! hum!" + +So it happened that Dorothy returned to the kitchen, fairly staggering +under the weight of the biggest pan of apples that the farmer could +find. Mrs. Gilpin took them from her and showed them to the Lady +Principal, who was inwardly disappointed at the failure of her visit. +But the business was speedily concluded and, rising, she bade Mrs. +Gilpin good evening. The only notice she bestowed upon her runaway +pupils was to offer: + +"If your visit is ended, young ladies, you may return to Oak Knowe in +my carriage." + +Dorothy did not yet know how serious an offense she had committed and +merely thought that the Lady Principal was "stiffer" even than usual; +not once speaking again until the school was reached. Then, as she +moved away ignoring Winifred entirely, she bade Dorothy: + +"Go to your dormitory, take a warm bath, and dress yourself freshly +all through. Your luggage has been unpacked and arranged in your +wardrobe. Put on one of your wool gowns for the evening, and come to +Assembly Hall. We are to have a lecture and concert, beginning at +eight. Punctual attendance required." + +"She acts and looks as if we had done something dreadful, but I can't +guess what," said Dorothy, perplexed. + +"Lucky for you that you can't! Your ignorance of school rules may save +you this time, but it can't save me. One of the hardest things about +it is, that you and I will be prohibited each other's 'society' for +nobody knows how long. I'm a wild black sheep, who's led a little +lamb--that's you--astray. It was fun--_was_ fun, mind you, but--but +it's all over for Winifred!" + +"Win, you darling, what do you mean?" demanded Dolly, throwing her +arms about her new friend's neck in great distress. + +"I mean exactly what I say. I'm an old offender, I've been there +before and ought to know better. I did like you so! Well, never mind! +The milk is spilled and no use crying about it!" + +Dorothy was surprised to see tears suddenly fill Winifred's eyes and +to feel her clinging arms gently loosened. Under all her affected +indifference, the girl was evidently suffering, but as evidently +resented having sympathy shown her; so the new pupil made no further +comment, but asked: + +"Do we have supper before that lecture? and should I dress before the +supper?" + +"Huh! There'll be no supper for you nor me this night! And I'm just +ravenous hungry! Why was I such a fool as to dance that jig instead of +eating that pudding and beans? Yorkshire pudding's just delicious, if +it's made right, and the Dame's looked better even than our _chef's_. +If one could only look ahead in this world, how wise one would be, +'specially in the matter of suppers! Well, good-by, Queenie, with +aching heart from you I part; when shall we meet again? Ah! me! When?" + +With a gesture of despair, half-comical, half-serious, the older girl +dashed down the corridor and Dorothy turned slowly toward her own +little room. There she found her luggage unpacked, her frocks and +shoes neatly arranged in the wardrobe, underclothing in the small +bureau, her toilet things on the tiny dressing table, and the fresh +suit she had been asked to put on spread out upon the bed. + +It was all very cosy and comfortable, or would have been if she hadn't +been so hungry. However, she had hardly begun undressing before +Dawkins appeared with a small tray of sandwiches and milk, explaining: + +"Supper's long past, Miss Dorothy, but the Principal bade me bring +this. Also, if there's time before lecture, you are to go to her +private parlor to speak with her. I'll help you and 'twill make the +time seem shorter." + +"Thank you, Dawkins, that's sweet and kind of you; but--but I don't +feel any great hurry about dressing. Maybe Miss Tross-Kingdon'll be +better-natured--I mean not so cross--Oh! dear, you know what I mean, +don't you, dear Dawkins?" + +"Sure, lassie, I know you have a deal more fear of the Lady Principal +'an you need. She's that just kind of a person one can always trust." + +"I reckon I don't like 'just' people. I like 'em real plain _kind_. +I--I don't like to be found fault with." + +"Few folks do so like; especially them as deserves it. But you will +love Miss Muriel better 'an anybody at Oak Knowe afore the year's out. +Only them that has lived with her knows her. I do know. A better woman +never trod shoe leather, and so you'll find. Now, you've no time to +waste." + +Nor was any wasted, though Dorothy would gladly have postponed the +Principal's further acquaintance till another day. She found the lady +waiting and herself welcomed by a gracious word and smile. Motioning +to a low seat beside her own chair, Miss Muriel began: + +"You are looking vastly improved, Dorothy, since you've taken off your +rain-soaked clothes. I hope you haven't taken cold. Have you felt any +chill?" + +"Thank you, Miss Tross-Kingdon, none at all. Winifred says I will soon +get used to rain, and she doesn't mind it in the least. She says she +likes it." + +The Lady Principal's expression altered to one of sadness rather than +anger, at the mention of the other girl, but she did not criticise her +in words. + +"My dear little Dorothy, I sent for you to explain some things about +Oak Knowe which you do not understand. We try to make our rules as few +and lenient as possible, but such as do exist we rigidly enforce. +Where there are three hundred resident and day pupils gathered under +one roof, there is need for regular discipline, and, in general, we +have little trouble. What we do have sometimes comes from ignorance, +as in your case to-night. Your taking so long a walk without a +chaperon, and paying a social visit without permission, was a direct +trespass upon our authority. So, to prevent any future mistakes, I +have prepared you a list of what you may and may not do. Keep this +little notebook by you until you have grown familiar with Oak Knowe +life. Also, you will find copies of our regulations posted in several +places upon the walls. + +"And now that we have finished 'business' for the present, let us talk +of something pleasanter. Tell me about that 'Aunt Betty' of yours, +whom our good Bishop lauds so highly." + +Vastly relieved that the dreaded "scolding" had been so mild and Miss +Tross-Kingdon so really kind, Dorothy eagerly obeyed, and was +delighted to see a real interest in this wonderful aunt showing in +the teacher's face. + +But her enthusiastic description of Mrs. Calvert was rudely +interrupted by a childish scream and little Millikins-Pillikins flying +wildly into the room, to spring into Miss Muriel's lap and hide her +face on the lady's shoulder, begging: + +"Don't you let him! Don't you let him! Oh! Auntie, don't you!" + +"Why, darling, what is this? What sent you out of bed, just in your +nightgown? What has frightened you?" + +"The debbil!" + +"Grace! What wicked word is that you speak?" + +"It was, _it was!_ I seen him! He come--set on my feet--an'--an'--Oh! +Auntie Prin, you hold me close. 'Cause he was a talkin' debbil. He +come to cotch me--he said it, yes he did." + +Miss Tross-Kingdon was as perplexed as horrified. That little Grace, +her orphan niece and the dearest thing in life to her, should speak +like this and be in such a state was most amazing. + +For a few seconds she did hold the little one "close" and in silence, +tenderly stroking the small body and folding her own light shawl about +it, and gradually its trembling ceased, the shuddering sobs grew +fainter and fewer and the exhausted little maid fell fast asleep. Just +then the clock on the mantel chimed for eight and Miss Muriel's place +was in assembly, on the platform with the famous lecturer who had come +to do her great school honor. She must go and at once. + +Dorothy, watching, saw the struggle in the aunt's mind depicted on her +face. With a tender clasp of the little one she put her own desire +aside and turned to duty; and the girl's own heart warmed to the +stately woman as she had not believed it ever could. + +Dawkins had prophesied: "You'll love Miss Muriel, once you know her," +but Dorothy had not believed her. Yet here it was coming true already! + +"Dorothy, will you please ring for a maid to look after Grace? Wake +up, darling, Auntie Prin must go." + +The child roused as her aunt spoke, but when she attempted to put her +down and rise, the frantic screams broke out afresh, nor would she +submit to be lifted by the maid who promptly came. Miss Muriel's bell +was not one to be neglected! + +"No, no, no! I shan't--I won't--the deb--" + +"Not that word, sweetheart, never again!" warned the Lady Principal, +laying her finger on Grace's lips. "Go nicely now with Dora, and make +no trouble." + +"No, no, no!" still screamed Grace: her flushed face and feverish +appearance sending fresh alarm to her aunt's heart. + +"Why, look here, Millikins! I'm Dorothy. The 'sleepy-head' you came to +wake up this morning. Won't you go with _me_, dear? If Auntie Prin +says 'yes,' I'll take you back to bed, and if you'll show me where." + +Millikins looked long and steadily at Dolly's appealing arms, then +slowly crept into them. + +"Pretty! Millikins'll go with pretty Dorothy!" + +So they went away, indeed a "pretty" sight to the anxious aunt. +Dorothy's white gown and scarlet ribbons transformed her from the +rain-and-mud-bespattered girl of a few hours before, while her loving +interest in the frightened child banished all fear and homesickness +from her own mobile face. + +Little Grace's room was a small one opening off from Miss Muriel's, +and as soon as the lecture was over and she was free, she took Dr. +Winston with her to see the child. Her dark little face was still very +flushed, but she was asleep, Dorothy also. The girl had drawn a chair +close to the child's cot and sat there with an arm protectingly thrown +over her charge: and now a fresh anxiety rose in the Lady Principal's +heart. + +"Oh! Doctor, what if it should be something contagious? I don't see +why I didn't think of that before. Besides, I sacrificed Miss +Calvert's opportunity to hear the lecture for Grace's sake. How could +I have been so thoughtless!" + +"Well, Madam, I suppose because you are human as well as a +schoolma'am, and love for your niece stronger than training. But don't +distress yourself. I doubt if this is anything more than a fit of +indigestion. That would account, also, for the imaginary visit of a +goblin, which terrified the little one. However, it might be well to +isolate Miss Dorothy for a day or so, in case anything serious +develops." + +By that time Dorothy was awake and sat up listening to this +conversation; and when the doctor explained to her that this isolation +meant that she must live quite apart from the schoolmates she so +desired to know, she was bitterly disappointed. + +"I haven't been here more than twenty-four hours, yet it seems as if +more unpleasant things have happened than could anywhere else in a +lifetime," she complained to Dawkins, who had come to arrange another +cot for her to use and to bring the needed articles from her own +little cubicle. + +"Ah, lassie! When you've lived as long as me you'll learn 't a +'lifetime' is a goodish long spell: and if so be you can't mix with +your mates for a little few days, more's the blessing that's yours, +alongside as you'll be of the Lady Principal. Now, say your prayers +and hop into this fine bed I've fixed for you, and off to Noddle +Island quick as wink. Good night and sleep well." + +Surely our Dorothy had the gift of winning hearts, and other Oak Knowe +girls with whom Dawkins exchanged scant speech would have been +astonished by the kindly gossip with this newcomer. Also, the maid's +belief that Dorothy's intercourse with the Lady Principal would be +delightful was well founded. Miss Muriel was grateful to her pupil for +her patience with troublesome Grace, and regretful that her isolation +from her mates had come about in just this wise. + +However, Dr. Winston had been right. Millikins-Pillikins had been +allowed the run of the house and, like most children, found its +kitchen its most attractive place. There her sharp tongue and amusing +capers furnished amusement for the servants, who rewarded her with all +sorts of "treats" and sweetmeats. The result was natural, but what was +not so natural was her persistent declaration that she had been +visited by an evil spirit. + +"I did so see him, Auntie Princie! He had big whitey eyes, and his +head was all red--" + +"No more, darling. Say no more. Just play with your blocks. See what +sort of house you can build, or--" + +"Auntie Prin, I do _hate_ blocks! And you don't believe me. Did +Millikins ever tell you a wrong story in her whole life?" + +"No, darling, not to my knowledge. I'm proud to know you are a very +truthful little girl. But even such can _dream_ queer things. Ask +Dorothy to play for you and me. You know this is the last day she'll +be shut up here and I'd like to hear some music." + +Dorothy laid down her book and went to fetch her violin, but the +self-willed Grace would have none of that. Stamping her foot, she +imperiously cried: + +"No, no, no! She shall come with me and seek that old debbil. She +shall so. He had hornses and his face--" + +"Grace Adelaide Tross-Kingdon! if you disobey me again by mentioning +that subject, I shall send for the Bishop and brother Hugh and see +what they can do with you. Do you want to be disgraced before them?" + +The little girl pondered that question seriously. She could not +understand why telling the truth should disgrace anybody. She loved +the Bishop and fairly idolized her big brother Hugh. Her Aunt Muriel +was more angry with the child than ever before in her short life and +Millikins fully realized this fact. + +"I'm sorry, Auntie Prin. I'm sorrier than ever was. I hate them two +should think I was bad and I wish--I wish you wouldn't not for to tell +'em. I isn't bad, you only think so. 'Cause it's the truthiest truth, +I _did_ see him. He had--" + +Miss Tross-Kingdon held up a warning hand and her face was sterner +than any pupil had ever seen it. Such would have quailed before it, +but Millikins-Pillikins quailed not at all. Rising from the carpet, +where she had been sitting, she planted her sturdy legs apart, folded +her arms behind her and unflinchingly regarded her aunt. The midget's +defiant attitude made Dorothy turn her head to hide a smile, while the +little girl reiterated: + +"I did see him. I have to tell the truth all times. You said so and I +have to mind. I did see that debbil. He lives in this house. When my +brother Hugh comes, he shall go with me to hunt which room he lives +in, and the Bishop shall preach at him the goodest and hardest he can. +This isn't no badness, dear, angry Auntie Prin; it is the truthiest +truth and when you see him, too, you'll believe it. If Hugh would +come--" + +Miss Tross-Kingdon leaned back in her chair and threw out her hand in +a gesture of despair. What made her darling so incorrigible? + +"Oh! I wish he would come, I certainly wish he would! This thing is +beyond me or anything in my experience. I almost begin to believe that +Bible days have returned and you are possessed of the evil spirit." + +Millikins-Pillikins returned to her play in supreme indifference. She +knew what she knew. Couldn't a body believe one's own eyes? Didn't +the _chef_ often say that "Seeing is believing," when the scullery +maid stole the raisins and he found them in her pocket? She couldn't +help Auntie Prin being stupid; and-- + +"Oh, oh, oh! Hughie's come! Hughie's come! Oh! you darling brother +boy, let's go and seek that debbil!" + +The youth who entered and into whose arms his little sister had +sprung, held her away from him and gasped. Then answered merrily: + +"That gentleman doesn't belong in good society, kiddie. It's not good +form even to mention him. I'd rather go the other way." + +Then he set her gently down and turned to acknowledge his aunt's +introduction to Dorothy. He was well used to meeting the Oak Knowe +girls, but wondered a little at finding one at this hour in the Lady +Principal's private parlor. As he opened his lips to address some +courteous remark to her, a shriek of utter terror rang through the +house and a housemaid burst unceremoniously in, white and almost +breathless, yet managing to say: + +"Oh! Ma'am, I'm leavin'--I'm leavin' the now! Sure, 'tis a haunted +house and Satan hisself dwells in it!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +AT THE FALL OF THE MAIDEN'S BATH + + +There had, indeed, been strange happenings at Oak Knowe. Beginning on +that first day of Dorothy's life there, with the crash outside the +dining-room door. That had been caused by the tripping and falling +with a loaded tray of one of the best waitresses employed. Afterward +it was discovered that a wire had been stretched across the doorway, +low down near to the floor, and not easily noticeable in the dim +passage. Who had done this thing? + +Miss Tross-Kingdon paid scant attention to the incident, apparently, +although she caused a very thorough investigation to be secretly made. +Nothing came of it. + +Matters went so wrong in the servants' quarters that they became +demoralized and several threatened to leave. Thefts from one and +another were frequent; yet as often the missing article was found in +some unusual place where, as Dawkins declared: + +"Nobody but a crazy person would ha' puttin' it." + +One morning the _chef's_ spotless marble molding-board was found +decorated by a death's-head and bones, done in red paint, and his +angry accusations of his fellow-workers brought the Lady Principal to +the kitchen to restore peace. But peace did not last long. The head +laundress, who personally "did up" the finest pieces in "the wash," +found her pile of them deluged with blueing, so that her work had to +be done all over again. These were but samples of the strange +happenings; and though most of the servants had been so long at Oak +Knowe that they considered it their real home, some of the most loyal +to its interests felt they couldn't endure this state of things much +longer. + +Then had come the fright of little Grace, followed by that of the +housemaid, whom no arguments could calm, and who rushed out of Miss +Muriel's parlor as she rushed into it, departing that hour for good +and all and to spread far and near ill reports of the great school. + +However, after that day nothing further happened. At a secret meeting +of the faculty it was decided to take no outward notice of these +disturbances, but to keep silent watch until such a time as the +culprit, or culprits, should betray themselves. + +"He or she is bound to do so, after a time. There's always a hitch +somewhere in such mischievous schemes and nothing worse than mortal +hands has performed this 'witch work,'" said the Bishop calmly, +though vexed that such foolishness could be found at his beloved Oak +Knowe. + +Then for many days the disturbances ceased. + +Dorothy fell into the daily life of the school with all her heart, +making friends with her mates in her own Form and even with some of +the older girls. Best of all, she had lost all fear of the Lady +Principal, whose heart she had won by her devotion to little +Millikins. She even begged forgiveness for Winifred, against whom the +teacher still felt some resentment; saying to Dolly: + +"It isn't what she did--in itself--so much as her broken trust. She +has been with me so long, she has been taught so constantly, that I +feel indignant at her deception. Anything but deception, Dorothy. +Remember that a treacherous person is more to be feared than an openly +wicked one." + +"But, dear Miss Muriel, Winifred will never cheat again. Never, +I know. She won't go off bounds a step now, even though her +'restriction's' taken off. And she keeps away from me till she makes +me feel dreadfully. Says she doesn't want to 'contaminate' and get +me into trouble again. Please let her go nutting this afternoon with +Miss Aldrich's class." + +"Very well. She may go." + +"One thing more, Miss Tross-Kingdon. When may I, may we, go to see +Robin?" + +The lady smiled. A sudden memory of the scene upon which she had +entered that rainy evening of her first visit to the cottage amused +her, and she answered graciously: + +"Probably on Saturday, if you wish. Though I am still doubtful whether +your guardians would approve." + +"I can answer for them, dear Miss Muriel. They are just the kind that +would like me to go. Some of Aunt Betty's dearest friends are very +poor. She finds them honester and more generous than the rich ones. As +for darling Uncle Seth, he learned to be a regular blacksmith, just so +he could live among them on 'even terms,' he said. Yet he's the +wisest, best man in all the world." + +In the Lady Principal's private opinion he was also the most +eccentric; but she did not dash Dorothy's enthusiasm further than to +say: + +"To me it seems wisest to content one's self with the station in which +one has been born. To step aside from the normal path in life--" + +Foreseeing a "lecture," Dorothy interrupted: + +"Beg pardon, Miss Muriel, but there's Win yonder this minute, walking +with her head down as if she were worrying. She thought her father was +coming home next week and he isn't, and she's so disappointed. She's +reading his letter over again. She said, when I asked her why she was +so blue, that it didn't seem like home here any longer with you +offended, and he wasn't coming, and she had no real home anywhere. Oh! +you needn't be afraid of darling Win doing anything crooked again. Do +love her and take her back into your trust, and may I go now to tell +her she can go nutting and about Saturday, and may I hurry up?" + +Without waiting an instant longer, Dorothy took permission for granted +and ran out of the house. In reality, she had grieved far more over +Winifred's punishment, by being kept on bounds and denied some other +privileges, than that lively young person had herself. + +Winifred was ashamed, but she wasn't unhappy. Only now this letter of +her father's, and the longing to see him, had sobered her greatly. Yet +she was ready enough for the next amusement that might offer and +looked up eagerly as Dorothy ran towards her across the lawn, crying: + +"Don't look so forlorn, Win! We can go--you can go--" + +"They can go!" finished the other, her mood quickly changing at sight +of Dorothy's beaming face. "Where can they go, how can they go, when +can they go, Teacher?" + +"Nutting, with Miss Aldrich's class. On their feet. With baskets and +bags and the boot-boy with poles to thresh the trees and carry the +nuts! and on Saturday to old John's cottage to hear the Robin sing!" + +"Oh! do you mean it? Do you? Then I know I'm all right with Miss +Muriel again and I must go and thank her." + +Away hurried the impulsive girl and in the Lady Principal's room was +presently an interview that was delightful to both. For in her heart, +beneath a cold manner, Miss Tross-Kingdon kept a warm love for this +wild pupil of hers; and was as ready to believe in Winifred's promises +as the girl was to make them. + +The late autumn day was uncommonly fine. Not only Miss Aldrich, but +most of the other teachers, were to take their classes to a distant +forest on their annual nutting excursion, from which, this year, +Winifred had felt she would be excluded. Miss Aldrich was not her own +class director, but the girls in it were her especial friends and +belonged to her gymnasium class. They were all "Commons," except +Marjorie Lancaster, a gentle little "Peer," whom haughty Gwendolyn +kept well reminded of her rank. + +"I don't like your being so chummy with those girls, and, worst of +all, with that Dorothy Calvert. She's a pert sort of girl, with no +manner at all. Why, Marjorie, I've seen her leaning against the Bishop +just as if he were a post! _The Bishop_, mind you!" + +"Well, if he wanted her to, what harm, Gwen? Somebody said he knew her +people over in the States and that's why she was sent away up here to +his school. I like her ever so much. She's so full of fun and so +willing to help a girl, any girl, with her lessons. She learns so easy +and I'm so stupid!" protested Marjorie, who was, indeed, more noted +for her failures than her successes at recitations. + +"But I don't like it. If you must have an intimate, why not choose her +from 'our set'?" + +"The 'Commons' are lots jollier. They're not all the time thinking +about their clothes, or who's higher ranked than another. I'm thankful +I belong with the Aldrich ten. We have splendid times." + +Gwendolyn sighed. She found it very difficult to keep many of her +"set" up to their duty as peers of the realm. "Class distinction" fell +from her nimble tongue a dozen times a day in reprimands to other +"Peers" who would hobnob with untitled schoolmates despite all she +could do; and now to preserve Marjorie from mingling too much with the +"Commons," she declared: + +"Well, if you won't come with us, I shall go with you. My director +will let me. She always does let me do about as I like. She's lots +more agreeable than the Lady Principal, who ought to appreciate what I +try to do for the good of the school. When I told her how Florita +Sheraton had complained she just couldn't get enough to eat here, she +was cross as two sticks and said: 'Gwendolyn, if you are a real +Honorable, you'll not descend to tale-bearing!' Hateful thing. And she +comes of a titled family, too, somebody said. Yes, I'm sure my teacher +will let me." + +"Even a worm will turn," and mild little Marjorie murmured under her +breath: + +"I wish she wouldn't! But, of course, she will, 'cause it's the +easiest way to get along. Yet you'll spoil sport--sure!" + +But the Honorable Gwendolyn Borst-Kennard was already moving away to +announce her intention to her greatly relieved director. For it was +usually the case, that wherever this young aristocrat went, trouble +followed; for, like the 'twelfth juryman,' she never could understand +why the 'eleven contrary ones' didn't agree with _him_. + +Nobody stayed at Oak Knowe, that day, who was able to join this +outing: and when nearly three hundred girls take the road, they are a +goodly sight worth seeing. Each had been provided with her own little +parcel of lunch packed in the small basket that was to be carried home +full of nuts, and each carried a stout alpenstock, such as the +experienced teachers had found a help on their pupils' long walks. + +"A walk that is less than five miles long is no walk at all for +healthy girls," had been Dr. Winston's remark; adding, for the Lady +Principal's ear alone: "That'll take the kinks out of them and they'll +give you less trouble, skylarking. Teach them the art of walking and +let them go!" + +To escape Gwendolyn, Marjorie had hurried to the fore of her "Ten" and +slipped her arm into Winifred's, who had expected Dorothy instead. But +she couldn't refuse Marjorie's pleading: + +"Don't look like you didn't want me, Winnie dear. Gwen is bound so to +take care of me and I don't need her care. I don't see any difference +between you 'Commons' and we 'Peers' except that you're nicer." + +"Why, of course, I want you, Marjorie. Can you see Dorothy Calvert +anywhere behind? It's so narrow here and the hedge so thick I can't +look back." + +From her outer place and lower height Marjorie could stoop and peer +around the curve, and gleefully cried: + +"Of all things! The girls have paired off so as to leave Gwen and +Dolly together at the very end! Another class is so close behind they +can't change very well and I wonder what Gwendolyn will do!" + +"I'm sorry for Dolly, but she'll get on. Gwen has pretended not to see +her so many times that Dorothy can hardly put up with it. Under all +her good nature she has a hot temper. You'd ought to have seen her +pitch into one of the scullery boys for tormenting a cat. And she said +once that she'd make Gwendolyn like her yet or know the reason why. +Now's her chance to try it! It's all that silly imagination of Gwen's +that makes her act so. Made up her mind that Dolly is a 'charity' +girl, when anybody with common sense would know better. There are some +at Oak Knowe, course: we all know that, for it's one of the Bishop's +notions he must give any girl an education who wants it and can't pay +for it. But I don't know which ones are; do you?" + +"No, indeed! And if I did, I'd never let them know I knew." + +"Of course you wouldn't. No gentlewoman would, except that stuck-up +Gwen. Her mother, Lady Jane's so different. She's almost as jolly and +simple as her brother, Dr. Winston. But her Honorable young daughter +just makes me tired! Peek again. What are they doing now?" + +"The 'Peer' is walking like a soldier on parade, stiff as can be, +thumping her alpenstock up and down plumpety-plump, hard as nails. But +Dorothy seems to be chattering away like a good one!" + +Winifred stooped and peered between the bobbing rows of girls and +branches of trees and caught Dorothy's eye, to whom she beckoned: +"Forward!" But Dorothy smilingly signaled "No!" + +"Well, _one_ of that pair is happy, but it isn't Lady Jane's daughter! +I fancy we'd best leave them to 'fight it out on that line,'" decided +Winifred, facing about again. "I know Queen Baltimore will down +Honorable England at the end." + +Despite her own stiffness, Dorothy's continued chatter at last began +to interest Gwendolyn, and the perfect good nature with which she +accepted the marked coldness of the haughty girl to make her ashamed. +Also, she was surprised to see how the girl from the States enjoyed +the novelty of everything Canadian. The wild flowers especially +interested her, and Gwendolyn was compelled to admire the stranger's +love and knowledge of growing things. + +With more decency than she had hitherto shown, she finally asked: + +"However did you come to know so much botany, Miss Calvert?" + +"Why, my Uncle Seth, the Blacksmith, taught me; he lived in the woods +and loved them to that degree--my heart! he would no sooner hurt a +plant than a person! He was that way. Some people are, who make +friends of little things. And he was so happy, always, in his smithy +under the Great Tree, which people from all the countryside came to +see, it was so monstrous big. Oh! I wish you could see dear Uncle +Seth, sitting at the smithy door, reading or talking to the blacksmith +inside at the anvil, a man who worked for him and adored him." + +The Honorable Gwendolyn stiffened again, and walked along in freezing +silence. She would have joined some other girl ahead, but none invited +her, and she was too proud to beg for a place beside those who should +have felt it an honor to have her. Besides, pride kept her to her +place in the rear. + +"Huh! I'll show this Yankee farrier's niece that I am above caring who +is near me. But it's horrid to be forced into such a position and I +wish I hadn't come. Goodness! how her tongue runs! And now what freak +sets her 'Oh-ing!' and 'Ah-ing!' that style?" ran Gwendolyn's +thoughts, and she showed her annoyance by asking: + +"Miss Calvert, will you oblige me by not screaming quite so loud? It's +wretched form and gets on my nerves, for I'm not used to that sort of +thing." + +"Neither am I!" laughed Dorothy; "but you see, I never saw anything +so lovely as that glimpse before. I couldn't help crying out--we came +upon it so suddenly. Do see yonder!" + +Her finger pointed westward, then was promptly drawn back, as she +admitted: + +"Pointing is 'bad form,' too, I've been taught. But do look--do look! +It's just like fairyland!" + +Gwendolyn did look, though rather against her will, and paused, as +charmed as Dorothy, but in a quieter fashion. She was a considerable +artist and her gift in painting her one great talent. Oddly enough, +too, she cared less for the praise of others than for the delight of +handling her brush. + +Beyond, a sudden break in the thick wood revealed a tumbling +waterfall, descending from a cliff by almost regular steps into a +sunlit pool below. Bordering it on both sides were trees of gorgeous +coloring and mountain ashes laden with their brilliant berries; while +a shimmering vapor rose from the pool beneath, half veiling the little +cascade, foaming white upon the rocks. + +For a moment Gwendolyn regarded the scene in silence but with shining +eyes and parted lips. Then she exclaimed: + +"The very spot we've searched for so often and never found! 'The +Maiden's Bath,' it's called. I've heard about it so much. The story is +that there was an Indian girl so lovely and pure that it was thought a +mortal sin for mortal eyes to look upon her. She had devoted herself +to the service of the Great Spirit and, to reward her, He formed this +beautiful Bath for her use alone, hid it so deep in the heart of the +forest that no one could find it but she. There was but one trail +which led to it and--we've found it, we've found it! Hurry up! Come." + +Dorothy stared. Here seemed a new Gwendolyn, whose tongue ran quite as +rapidly as her own had ever done, and whose haughty face was now +transformed by eager delight. As the young artist ran forward toward +the spot, Dolly noticed that no other girl was in sight. They two had +turned a little aside from the smoother path which the rest had taken, +Dorothy following the lure of some new wild flower and Gwendolyn +stiffly following her. Only a minute before the chatter and laughter +of many girls had filled the air; now, save for their own footsteps on +the fallen leaves, there was no sound. + +"I wonder where the rest are! Did you see which way they went, +Gwendolyn?" + +"No. I didn't notice. But they're just around the next turn, I fancy. +Oh! to think I've found the Bath at last. I must make a little sketch +of it and come back as soon as I can with my color box. How the studio +girls will envy me! Every time we've been in these woods we've +searched for it and now to come upon it all at once, never dreaming, +makes me proud! But--_don't you tell_. I'd begun something else for +next exhibition, but I shall drop that and do this. I'll get leave to +do it in my recreation hours in some empty class room, and bring it +out as a surprise. I wish I'd found it alone. I wish nobody knew it +but me. It must be kept a secret--so don't you dare to tell. Come on." + +"Huh! I reckon if you'll stick to facts, it was I--not you--who found +it. I don't see why I should keep it secret. It doesn't belong to +either of us, it belongs to the whole world. I wish everybody who +loves beauty could enjoy it," answered Dorothy, warmly. + +"Well, go tell then, tattle-tale! You might know a common girl like +you would be hateful to her betters, if she got a chance!" retorted +Gwendolyn, angrily. + +It rose to Dorothy's lips to respond: "Tattle-tale and mischief-maker +is what all the girls know _you_ are!" but she kept the hard words +back, "counting ten" vigorously, and also listening for some sound of +her now invisible schoolmates. She wasn't a timid girl, but the +silence of this deep forest startled her, nor looking around could she +discover by what path they had come to this place. + +Then Gwendolyn was hurrying forward, carrying the pocket-pad and +pencil without which she went nowhere, and careless of everything but +to get her sketch. So Dorothy followed, forgetting her resentment in +watching her companion. To see Gwen's head turning this way, then +that, squinting her eyes and holding her pencil before them, measuring +distance thus and seeking the "right light," interested the watcher +for the time. + +Finally, the artist had secured a point which suited her and, seating +herself, rapidly drew a picture of one view. She worked so deftly and +confidently, that Dorothy's only feeling now was one of admiration. + +Then a new position was sought and another sketch made, but Gwen +permitted no talk between them. + +"I can't work and talk, too; please be still, can't you?" she asked, +looking up from her work. + +And again the real earnestness of the girl she disliked made Dorothy +obedient, again rising to follow while Gwen chose another view still, +high up near the top of the wonderful cascade. Her face had grown pink +and animated and her eyes glowed with enthusiasm. + +"I shall paint that misty-veil with a glaze of ultramarine. There +should be an underwash of madder, and maybe terre verte. Oh! if I can +only make it look one atom as I see it! We must come here again and +again, you and I, Miss Calvert, and you must--you simply _must_ keep +the secret of our finding till after I've exhibited my picture." + +"All right. How long will it be before we can go find the others? you +know we can't gather any nuts right here. I don't see a single nut +tree." + +"I don't know how long I shall be, and why care about nuts while we +can have--this?" returned Gwen, indifferently. + +"Very well, I guess I'll take a nap. Seems terrible close in this +shut-in nook and my walk has made me sleepy. I reckon I'll take a nap. +Wake me up when you get through." + +So saying, Dorothy curled down upon a mass of mighty ferns, laid her +head on her arm and went to sleep. For how long she never knew, but +her awakening was sudden and startling. She had been roused from a +dream of Bellevieu, her Baltimore home, and of dear Aunt Betty feeding +her pets, the Great Danes. + +Brushing the slumber from her eyes, she gazed about her, wondering for +an instant, where she was. Then--that frantic shriek again: + +"Help! Help! I'm dr--" + +The cry died in a gurgle and Dorothy sprang to her feet in terror. She +had warned Gwendolyn not to take that high seat so close to that +slippery rock, from beneath which the cascade began its downward flow. + +"If you fall, it will be straight into the pool. Do be careful, Gwen, +how you move." + +But the warning had been useless--Gwendolyn was already in the pool. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +ALL HALLOW EVE FESTIVITIES + + +"I'm going to choose Queen Bess! I've made a lovely ruff, stands away +up above my head. And Mrs. Archibald, the matron, has bought me four +yards of chintz that might be brocade--if it was!" said Florita +Sheraton, from the gymnasium floor, hugging her arms for warmth. + +"Four yards! That'll never go around you, Fatty!" declared Fanny +Dimock, with playful frankness. + +"Well, it'll have to go as far as it may, then. It cost twenty cents. +That left five only for the white and gilt paper for my ruff and +crown." + +"Was Queen Elizabeth fat?" asked Dorothy, from her now favorite perch +upon the high wooden horse. + +"What does that matter, whether she were or not? The plot is to act +like a Queen when once you get her clothes on," observed Winifred, +judicially. "I wonder if you can do that, Flo. Or if it needs another +yard of cloth to make you real stately--she ought to have a train, +oughtn't she--I might lend you another sixpence. If Miss Muriel would +let me." + +"Don't ask for it, Win. You've done so splendidly ever since--" + +"That time I didn't! Well, I'd rather not ask for it. Twenty-five +cents was the limit she set." + +"Wants to stimulate our ingenuity, maybe, to see how well we can dress +on twenty-five cents a week!" laughed Ernesta Smith, who had no +ingenuity at all. "If it weren't for Dolly here, I'd have to give it +up, but she's fixed me a lovely, spooky rig that'll just make you all +goose-fleshy." + +"What is it? Tell," begged the others, but Ernesta shook her head. +"No, indeedy! It's the chance of my life to create an impression and I +shan't spoil it beforehand. It'll be all the more stunning because I'm +such a bean-pole. Dorothy says that Florrie and I must walk together +in the parade." + +"Oh! I hope it will be a grand success!" cried Winifred, seizing +Bessie Walters and going through a lively calisthenic exercise with +her. "We've always wanted to have a Hallowe'en Party, but the faculty +have never before said yes. It's all Dorothy's doings that we have it +now." + +A shadow fell over Dolly's bright face. It was quite true that she had +suggested this little festivity to the good Bishop. She had told him +other things as well which hurt him to hear and made him the more +willing to consent to any bit of gayety she might propose. She had +said: + +"There is somebody in this school that doesn't like me. Yes, dear +Bishop, it's true; though I don't know who and I've tried to be +friendly to everybody. That is to all I know. The high-up Form girls +don't appear to see me at all, though they're friendly enough with +lots of the other younger ones. I heard Edna Ross-Ross saying to +another that all the strange, horrid things that had happened at Oak +Knowe this autumn began with my coming. She'd been told that I was a +charity scholar, belonging to one of the servants. She didn't object +to charity girls, so long as she knew they were of _good_ family, but +she drew the line at _servants'_ families. She said that Gwendolyn had +heard you, yourself, tell Miss Tross-Kingdon that I was mischievous +and she must look out for me." + +"My dear, my dear! Surely no fair-minded girl could have so +misunderstood me, even admitting that I did say that--which I fail to +remember. As to that silly notion about the 'haunting' business, Betty +Calvert's niece should be able to laugh at that. Absurd, absurd! Now +tell me again what your fancy is about this Hallowe'en Party." + +"Why, sir, things can't be done without folks do them, can they?" + +"That's a poser; but I'll grant your premises. Proceed with the +argument," answered the old gentleman, merrily. + +"Well, I thought, somehow, that if everybody was allowed to dress in +character and wear some sort of a mask, the one who had played such +pranks and frightened Grace and the maids might be found out. If +anybody in this house owns such a mask as that horrid one and is mean +enough to scare little girls, he or she wouldn't lose so good a chance +of scaring a lot more. Don't you think so? And--and--there's something +else I ought to tell, but am afraid. Miss Muriel gets so stern every +time the thing is mentioned that I put it off and off. I can tell you +though, if you wish." + +"Certainly, I wish you would." + +The gentleman's face had grown as serious now, and almost as stern, as +the Lady Principal's at similar times; and Dorothy gave a sigh to +bolster her own courage as she gravely announced: + +"When I took out my white shoes to wear them last evening, there was a +skull and cross-bones on each one, done with red paint: and the tube +of vermilion had been taken from my own oil color box. Now--what do +you think of that?" + +Her listener pursed his lips in a silent whistle, which indicated +great amazement in a man like him, but he said nothing. Only, for a +moment he drew the girl to him and looked searchingly into her brown +eyes. But they looked back at him with a clear, straightforward gaze +that pleased him and made him exclaim: + +"Well, little Betty--whom you always seem to me--we're in a scrape +worthy of old Bellevieu. We've got to get out of it, somehow. You try +your scheme of playing masked detective first. If you fail in proving +our innocence and some other youngster's roguery, I'll tackle the +matter myself. For this nonsense is hurtful to Oak Knowe. That I am +compelled to admit. 'Behold how great a matter a little fire +kindleth.' A miserable rumor started has wide-spread effect. I could +preach you a sermon on that topic, but I won't. Run along back to your +mates and try it. Just whisper 'Hallowe'en Party' to any one of them +and see if every girl at Oak Knowe doesn't know beforehand that after +chapel, to-night, the Lady Principal will announce this intended +event. Now, good day, my dear 'Betty,' and for the present, to oblige +me, just put those decorated shoes out of sight." + +This talk had been two days before: and with the Lady Principal's +announcement of the affair had been coupled the decision: + +"Those of you young ladies that have no costume suitable may expend +their week's allowance in material for one. Of course, this restricts +the expense to utmost simplicity. No one may run in debt, nor borrow +more than suggestions from her neighbors. Under these conditions I +hope you will have the happy time you anticipate." + +So they were dismissed in gay spirits, to gather in groups everywhere +to discuss costumes and the possibility of evolving a fetching one at +the modest cost of a quarter dollar. By the afternoon following, most +of the preparations had been made. Some of the maids had lent a hand +to the sewing and the good-natured matron had planned and purchased +and cut till her arms ached. But she had entered into the spirit of +the occasion as heartily as any girl of them all; and the sixth and +seventh Form students, who rather fancied themselves too grown-up for +such frivolity, had willingly helped the preparations of the lower +school pupils. + +Only one who might have enjoyed the fun was out of it. Gwendolyn was +in the hospital, in the furthest west wing: for the time being a +nervous and physical wreck from her experience at the Maiden's Bath. +Even yet nobody dared speak to her of that terrible time, for it made +her so hysterical; and for some reason she shrank from Dorothy's +visits of inquiry and sympathy more than from any other's. But this +seemed ungrateful to Lady Jane, her mother, now in residence at the +school to care for and be near her daughter. She determined this +"nonsense" must be overcome and had especially begged Dolly to come to +the sick room, dressed for the party, and to relate in detail all that +had happened on that dreadful day. + +So Dorothy had slipped away from her mates, to oblige Lady Jane, but +dreading to meet the girl she had saved, yet who still seemed to +dislike her. She wore her gipsy costume of scarlet, a little costume +that she had worn at home at a similar party, and a dainty scarlet +mask would be added later on. She looked so graceful and winsome, as +she tapped at the door, that Lady Jane exclaimed as she admitted her: + +"Why, you darling! What a picture you have made of yourself! I must +give you a good kiss--two of them! One for myself and Gwen and one for +the Aunt Betty you love." + +Then the lady led her in to the low chair beside Gwen's bed, with a +tenderness so motherly that Dorothy lost all feeling of awkwardness +with the sick girl. + +"Now, my child, I must hear every detail of that afternoon. My darling +daughter is really much better. I want her to get over this dread of +what is past, and safely so. I'm sure your story of the matter will +help her to think of it calmly." + +She waited for Dorothy to begin, and at last she did, making as light +of the affair as of an ordinary playground happening. + +"Why, it wasn't anything. Really, it wasn't, except that Gwen took +such a cold and grieved so because other folks had to find where the +hidden cascade was. She just got so eager with her drawing that she +didn't notice how close she got to the edge of the rock. If I had +stayed awake, instead of going to sleep, I should have seen and caught +her before she slipped. I can't forgive myself for that." + +The Lady Jane shook a protesting head. + +"That was no fault in you, Dorothy. Go on." + +"When I waked up, she was in the water, and she didn't understand how +to get out. She couldn't swim, you know, but I can. So, course, I just +jumped in and caught her. There was a big branch bent down low and I +caught hold of that. She caught hold of me, but not both my arms, and +so--so--I could pull us both out." + +Dorothy did not add that her arm had been so strained she could not +yet use it without pain. + +"Oh! thank God for you, my dear!" cried the mother, laying her hand +upon Gwendolyn's shoulder, who had turned toward the wall and lay with +her face hidden. "And after that? Somebody said you stripped off your +own jacket and wrapped it around her." + +"It wasn't as nice as hers, but you see she was cold, and I thought +she wouldn't mind for once. I borrowed her bathrobe once and she +didn't like it, and now she'd borrowed my jacket and didn't like that, +I suppose." + +"Like it! Doubtless it helped to save her life, too, or her from +pneumonia. Oh! if you hadn't been there! If--" sobbed the mother. + +"But there wasn't any 'if,' Lady Jane; 'cause if I hadn't seen the +falls and made her see them, too, she wouldn't have been near hand. If +she'd gone with the girl she wanted to, nothing at all would have +happened. Some way it got mixed up so she had to walk with me and +that's all. Only once we got out of the water onto the ground, I +started yelling, and I must have done it terrible loud. Else Mr. Hugh +wouldn't have heard me and followed my yells. He'd gone long past us, +hunting with his gun, and he heard me and came hurrying to where the +sound was. So he just put his coat around her and made her get up and +walk. He had to speak to her real cross before she would, she was so +dazed and mis'able. But she did at last, and he knew all those woods +by heart. And the directions of them, which way was north, or south, +or all ways. + +"It was a right smart road he took for roughness, so that sometimes we +girls stumbled and fell, but he wouldn't stop. He kept telling us +that, and saying: 'Only a little further now!' though it did seem to +the end of the world. And by and by we came out of the woods to a +level road, and after a time to a little farmhouse. Mr. Hugh made the +farmer hitch up his horse mighty quick and wrap us in blankets and +drove us home--fast as fast. And, that's all. I'm sorry Gwendolyn took +such a cold and I hope when she gets well she'll forgive me for going +to sleep that time. And, please, Lady Jane, may I go now? Some of the +girls are waiting for me, 'cause they want me in the parade." + +"Surely, my dear: and thank you for telling me so long a story. I +wanted it at first hands and I wanted Gwendolyn to hear it, too. Good +night and a happy, happy evening. It's really your own party, I hear; +begged by yourself from the Bishop for your schoolmates' pleasure. I +trust the lion's share of that pleasure may be your own." + +As Dorothy left the room, with her graceful farewell curtsey, the girl +on the bed turned back toward her mother and lifted a tear-wet face. + +"Why, Gwen, dearest, surely she didn't make you nervous again, did +she? She described your accident so simply and in such a matter of +course way. She seemed to blame the whole matter on herself; first her +discovery of the waterfall, then her falling asleep. She is a brave, +unselfish girl. Hoping you 'would forgive' her--for saving your +life!" + +"Oh, mother, don't! You can't guess how that hurts me. 'Forgive her'! +Can she ever in this world forgive me!" And again the invalid's face +was hidden in the covers, while her body shook with sobs; that +convinced Lady Jane that nobody, not even her anxious self, knew how +seriously ill her daughter was. + +"My child, my child, don't grieve so! It is all past and gone. I made +a mistake in forcing you to meet the companion of your disaster and +hearing the story from her, but please do forget it for my sake. You +are well--or soon will be; and the sooner you gain some strength, +you'll be as happy as ever." + +"I shall never be happy again--never. I want to go away from here. I +never want to see Oak Knowe again!" wailed Gwendolyn with fresh tears. + +"Go away? Why, darling, you have always been happier here than in any +other place. At home you complain of your brothers, and you think my +home rules harder than the Lady Principal's. Besides, I've just +settled the boys at school and with you here, I felt free to make all +my plans for a winter abroad. Don't be nonsensical. Don't spoil +everything by foolishness concerning an accident that ended so well. +I don't understand you, dearest, I certainly do not." + +Assembly Hall had been cleared for the entertainment. Most of the +chairs had been removed, only a row of them being left around the +walls for the benefit of the invited guests. These were the friends +and patrons of the school from the near by city and from the country +houses round about. + +Conspicuous among these was old John Gilpin in his Sunday suit, his +long beard brushed till each hair hung smooth and separate, his bald +head polished till it shone, and himself the most ill at ease of all +the company. Beside him sat the little widow, Robin's mother; without +whom, John had declared, he would "not stir hand nor hoof" toward any +such frivolity, and the good Dame abetting him in the matter. She had +said: + +"No, Mrs. Locke, no more he shall. I can't go, it's bread-settin' +night, and with my being so unwieldy and awkward like--I'd ruther by +far stay home. Robin will be all right. The dear lad's become the very +apple of my eye and I e'enamost dread his gettin' well enough to go to +work again. A bit of nonsense, like this of Dorothy's gettin'-up, 'll +do you more good nor medicine. I've said my say and leave it said. If +John could go in his clean smock, he'd be all right, even to face that +Lady Principal that caught him cavortin' like a silly calf. But +'twould be an obligement to me if you'd go along and keep him in +countenance." + +Of course, Mrs. Locke could do no less for a neighbor who had so +befriended her and Robin: so here she was, looking as much the lady in +her cheap black gown as any richer woman there. Also, so absorbed she +was in keeping old John from trying to "cut and run," or doing +anything else that would have mortified his wife. + +The Lady Principal had herself hesitated somewhat before the cottagers +were invited, fearing their presence would be offensive to more +aristocratic guests, but the good Bishop had heartily endorsed +Dorothy's plea for them and she accepted his decision. + +In any case, she need not have feared. For suddenly there sounded from +the distance the wailing of a violin, so weird and suggestive of +uncanny things, that all talking ceased and all eyes turned toward the +wide entrance doors, through which the masqueraders must come. +Everything within the great room had been arranged with due attention +to "effect." In its center a great "witches' caldron" hung suspended +from three poles, and a lantern hung above it, where the bobbing for +apples would take place. Dishes of salt, witch-cakes of meal, +jack-o'-lanterns dimly lighted, odors of brimstone, daubs of +phosphorus here and there--in fact, everything that the imaginations +of the maskers could conceive, or reading suggest as fit for +Hallowe'en, had been prepared. + +The doleful music drew nearer and nearer and as the lights in the Hall +went out, leaving only the pale glimmer of the lanterns, even the most +indifferent guests felt a little thrill run through their nerves. Then +the doors slowly opened and there came through them a ghostly company +that seemed endless. From head to foot each "ghost" was draped in +white, even the extended hand which held a lighted taper was gloved in +white, and the whole procession moved slowly to the dirge which the +unseen musicians played. + +After a circuit of the great room, they began a curious dance which, +in reality, was a calisthenic movement familiar to the everyday life +of these young actors, but, as now performed, seemed weird and +nerve-trying even to themselves. Its effect upon others was even more +powerful and upon John Gilpin, to send him into a shivering fit that +alarmed Mrs. Locke. + +"Why, Mr. Gilpin, what's the matter? Are you ill?" + +"Seems if--seems if--my last hour's come! Needn't tell +me--them's--just--just plain schoolgirls! They--they're spooks right +out the graveyard, sure as preachin' and I wish--I hadn't come! And +there's no end of 'em! And it means--somethin' terr'ble! I wish--do +you suppose--Ain't there a winder some'ers nigh? Is this Hall high up? +Could I--could I climb out it?" + +The poor little widow was growing very nervous herself. Her +companion's positive terror was infecting her and she felt that if +this were her promised "fun" she'd had quite enough of it, and would +be as glad as he to desert the gathering. + +Suddenly the movement changed. The slowly circling ghosts fell into +step with the altered music, which, still a wailing minor, grew fast +and faster, until with a crash its mad measure ended. At that instant, +and before the lights were turned on, came another most peculiar +sound. It was like the patter of small hoofs, the "ih-ih-ihing" of +some terrified beast; and all ears were strained to listen while +through those open doors came bounding and leaping, as if to escape +its own self--What? + +From her perch on Dr. Winston's knees, Miss Millikins-Pillikins +identified it as: + +"The debbil! The debbil!" + +Old John sprang to his feet and shrieked, while, as if attracted by +his cry, the horrible object made straight for him and with one +vicious thrust of its dreadful head knocked him down. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +PEER AND COMMONER + + +The lights flashed out. The ghostly wrappings fell from the figures +which had been halted by the sudden apparition that had selected poor +John Gilpin as its victim, though, in knocking him down it had knocked +common sense back into his head. For as he lay sprawled on the floor +the thrusts of that demoniac head continued and now, instead of +frightening, angered him. For there was something familiar in the +action of his assailant. Recovering his breath, he sat up and seized +the horns that were prodding his Sunday suit, and yelled: + +"Quit that, Baal, you old rascal! Dressin' up like the Old Boy, be ye? +Well, you never could ha' picked out a closer fit! But I'll strip ye +bare--you cantankerous old goat, you Baal!" + +Away flew the mask of the evil spirit which some ingenious hand had +fastened to the animal's head, and up rose such a shout of laughter as +made the great room ring. The recent "ghosts" swarmed about the pair, +still in masks and costumes, and a lively chase of Baal followed. + +The goat had broken away from the irate old man, as soon as might be, +and John had risen stiffly to his feet. But his bashfulness was past. +Also, his lameness was again forgotten, as one masquerader after +another whirled about him, catching his coat skirts or his arm and +laughingly daring him: + +"Guess who I am!" + +He didn't even try, but entered into the fun with as great zest as any +youngster present, and it must be admitted, making a greater noise +than any. Around and around the great hall sped the goat, somebody +having mischievously closed the doors to prevent its escape; and +across and about chased the merrymakers, tossing off their masks to +see and careless now who guessed their identity. + +"Baal!" "Baal here!" "Who owns him? Where did he come from?" "What +makes him so slippery? I wonder if he's been greased!" + +At last answered the farmer: + +"I guess I could tell you who owns him, but I'd better not. I don't +want to get nobody into trouble, much as he deserves it." + +"'He?' Is it a 'he' then and not one of the girls?" demanded Winifred. + +But he did not inform her, merely asking when it would be time to bob +for apples. + +"Because I know they're prime. They come out Dame's choisest bar'l. +Grew on a tree she'll let nobody touch, not even me." + +"Apples! Apples! My turn first!" cried Florita Sheraton, stooping her +fat body above the "caldron" into which some of the fruit had been +tossed. But she failed, of course, her frantic efforts to plant her +white teeth in any one of the apples resulting only in the wetting of +her paper crown and ruff, as well as the ripping of her hastily made +"robe." Then the others crowded around the great kettle, good +naturedly pushing first comers aside while but a few succeeded in +obtaining a prize. Old John was one of these; so gay and lively that +the audience found him the most amusing feature of the entertainment. + +Till finally Mrs. Locke gained courage to cross to his side and +whisper something in his ear; at which he looked, abashed and with a +furtive glance in the direction of the Lady Principal, he murmured: + +"Right you be. I 'low I've forgot myself and I'm afraid she'd blush to +see me so cuttin' up again. And too, I clean forgot that bag! I'll +step-an'-fetch it right away." + +With his disappearance half the noise and nonsense ended, but more +than satisfaction greeted his return, with Jack, the boot-boy, in +close attendance. The latter bore in each hand a jug of freshly made +sweet cider but his expression was not a happy one, and he kept a +watchful eye upon the old man he followed. The latter carried two +baskets; one heavy with well cracked nuts, the other as light with its +heap of white popped corn. Bowing low to the Lady Principal he +remarked: + +"With your permission, Ma'am;" then set the articles down beside the +"caldron," clapping his hands to attract the schoolgirls' attention +and bid them gather around his "treat" to enjoy it. Then, stumbling +over a fallen mask, he sternly ordered Jack: + +"Get to work and clear these things up, and don't you forget to save +Baal's, for, likely, 'twill be needed again." + +At which the boot-boy's face turned crimson, though that might have +come from stooping. + +Nobody waited a second invitation to enjoy the good things that John's +thoughtfulness had provided; but, sitting on the floor around his +baskets, they made him act the host in dispensing fair portions to +all, a maid having quickly brought plates, nutpicks and cups for their +service. + +After the feast followed games and dances galore, till the hour grew +late for schoolgirls, and the Bishop begged: + +"Before we part, my children, please give us a little music. A song +from the Minims, a bit from the Sevenths on the piano, and a violin +melody from our girl from the South. For it is she, really, who is +responsible for this delightful party. Now she has coaxed us into +trying it once, I propose that we make Hallowe'en an annual junketing +affair, and--All in favor of so doing say 'Aye.'" + +After which the "Ayes" and hand claps were so deafening, that the good +man bowed his head as if before a storm. Then the room quieted and the +music followed; but when it came to Dorothy's turn she was nowhere to +be seen. Girlish cries for "Queenie!" "Miss Dixie!" "Dolly! Dolly +Doodles!" "Miss Calvert to the front!" failed to bring her. + +"Gone to 'step-an'-fetch' her fiddle--or Mr. Gilpin's, maybe!" +suggested Winifred, with a mischievous glance at the old man who sat +on the floor in the midst of the girls, gay now as any of them and +still urging them to take "just a han'ful more" of the nuts he had +been at such pains to crack for them. + +But neither Dorothy nor "fiddle" appeared; and the festivities came to +a close without her. + +"Queer where Queenie went to!" said Florita, walking along the hall +toward her dormitory, "and as queer, too, where that goat came from." + +"Seemed to be an old acquaintance of the farmer's, didn't it? He +called it 'Baal,' as if that was its name; and wasn't it too funny for +words? to see him chasing after it, catching it and letting it slip +away so, till Jack caught it and led it away. From the way he acted I +believe _he_ was the one who owns it and rigged it up so," said +Ernesta, beside her. + +"Well, no matter. I'm so sleepy I can hardly keep my eyes open! But +what a glorious time we've had; and what a mess Assembly Hall is in." + +"Who cares? We're had the fun and now Jack and the scullery boy will +have to put it in order for us. Matron'll see to that. Good night." + +They parted, each entering her own cubicle and each wondering somewhat +why Dorothy did not come to hers. Commonly she was the most prompt of +all in retiring and this was long past the usual hour. Could they have +seen her at that moment their surprise would have been even greater. + +Long before, while the feast was at its height, the girl had quietly +slipped away. + +Despite the fun she had so heartily enjoyed, thoughts of the visit to +Gwendolyn's sick room, which she had made just before it, kept coming +into her mind: and her thoughts running thus: + +"Gwen was ill, she really was, although Lady Jane seemed to think her +only whimsical. She looked so unhappy and maybe partly because she +couldn't be in this first Hallowe'en party. It was too bad. I felt as +if she must come and when I said so to Winnie she just laughed and +answered: 'Serves her right. Gwendolyn has always felt herself the top +of the heap, that nothing could go on just right if she didn't boss +the job. Now she'll find out that a little "Commoner" like you can do +what no "Peer" ever did. Don't go worrying over that girl, Queen +Baltimore. A lesson or two like this will do her good. She'd be as +nice as anybody if it wasn't for her wretched stuck-up-ness. Miss +Muriel says it's no harm to be proud if it's pride of the right sort. +But pride of rank--Huh! How can anybody help where they're born or who +their parents are? Don't you be silly, too, Dorothy Calvert, and pity +somebody who'd resent the pity. I never knew a girl like you. You make +me provoked. Never have a really, truly good time because you happen +to know of somebody else that isn't having it. I say again: If the +Honorable Gwendolyn Borst-Kennard feels bad because she isn't in this +racket I'm downright glad of it. She has spoiled lots of good times +for other girls and 'turn about's fair play.'" + +"Now, Winnie dear, your 'bark is worse than your bite' if I can quote +maxims, too. In your heart, down deep, you're just as sorry for poor +Gwen as I am. Only you won't admit it." + +"Well, if you think so, all right. You're a stubborn little thing and +once you take a notion into your brain nobody can take it out. 'Where +are you going, my pretty maid? I'm going a studying, sir, she said;'" +and tossing an airy kiss in Dorothy's direction, ran swiftly away. + +Yet events proved that, as Winifred had argued, Dorothy's opinion did +not alter. Neither could she be sorry for anyone without trying to +help them in some way. + +The simple country treat of nuts, popped corn, and cider had proved +enjoyable to other schoolmates--why shouldn't it to Gwendolyn? She'd +try it, anyway. So, unnoticed by those around her, Dolly heaped her +own plate with the good things, placing a tumbler of cider in the +middle and hurried away, or rather glided away, so gently she moved +until she reached the doorway. There she ran as swiftly down the long +hall toward the west wing and Gwendolyn's room in it. + +Tapping at the door Lady Jane soon opened it, but with finger on lip +requesting silence. But she smiled as she recognized who stood there +and at the plate of goodies Dorothy had brought. Then she gently drew +her in, nodding toward the cot where her daughter seemed asleep. + +She was not, however, but had been lying still, thinking of many +things and among them her present visitor. She was not surprised to +see her and this time was not pained. It seemed to the imaginative +invalid that her own thoughts had compelled Dorothy to come, in +response to them. + +"I'm awake, Mamma. You needn't keep so quiet." + +"Are you, dearest? Well, that's good; for here has come our little +maid with something tempting for your appetite. A share of the +Hallowe'en treat, is it, Dorothy?" + +"Yes, Lady Jane, and it's something different from what we often have. +The farmer, Mr. Gilpin, brought it for us girls and I couldn't bear--I +mean I thought Gwendolyn should have--might like, her share, even +if--if _I_ brought it. I'm sorry the plate is a cracked one, but you +see there were so many needed and the maids brought what they could +find handiest, I suppose. But--the glass of cider is all right. That's +from the regular table and--and it's really very sweet and nice." + +Now that she had come poor Dorothy wished that she hadn't. Lady Jane +seemed pleased enough and had promptly turned on a stronger light +which clearly showed the face of the girl on the bed. She could talk +readily enough to the mother but whenever she glanced toward Gwendolyn +her tongue faltered and hesitated woefully. It seemed as if the sick +girl's eyes were still hard and forbidding and their steady stare made +her uncomfortable. So she did not speak to the invalid and was +promptly retreating when Gwendolyn suddenly asked, yet with apparent +effort: + +"Mamma, will you please go away for a few minutes? I've--I've got to +speak to Dorothy--alone." + +"Why, certainly, dearest, if you think you're strong enough. But +wouldn't you better wait another day? Wouldn't I be able to talk for +you?" + +"No, no. Oh! no, no. Nobody but I can--Please go--go quick!" + +"'Stand not upon the order of your going but go at once!'" quoted Lady +Jane, jestingly. + +But she failed to make her daughter smile and went away, warning: + +"Don't talk of that accident again to-night, girls." + +"That's exactly what I must talk about, Mamma, but you mustn't care." + +Lady Jane's heart was anxious as she closed the door behind her and +she would have been amazed had she heard Gwendolyn's exclamation: + +"I've been a wicked girl! Oh, Dorothy! I've been so mean to you! And +all the time you show me kindness. Are you trying to 'heap coals' on +my head?" + +"'Heap coals?'" echoed Dolly, at first not comprehending; then she +laughed. "I couldn't do that. I have none to 'heap' and I'd be horrid +if I tried. What do you mean?" + +"It began the night you came. I made up things about you in my mind +and then told them to our 'set' for facts. I'd--I'd had trouble with +the 'set' because they would not remember about--about keeping +ourselves apart from those who hadn't titles. I felt we ought to +remember; that if our England had made 'classes' we ought to help her, +loyally. That was the first feeling, way down deep. Then--then I don't +get liked as I want to be, because I can't help knowing things about +other girls and if they break the rules I felt I ought to tell the +teachers. Somehow, even they don't like that; for the Lady Principal +about as plain as called me 'tale-bearer.' I hate--oh! I do hate to +tell you all this! But I can't help it. Something inside me makes me, +but I'm so miserable!" + +She looked the fact she stated and Dorothy's sympathy was won, so that +she begged: + +"Don't do it, then. Just get well and--and carry no more tales and +you'll be happy right away." + +"It's easy to talk--for you, maybe. For me, I'd almost rather die than +own I've been at fault--if it wasn't for that horrid, sick sort of +feeling inside me." + +In spite of herself the listener laughed, for Gwendolyn had laid her +hands upon her stomach as if locating the seat of her misery. She +asked merrily: + +"Is it there we keep our consciences? I never knew before and am glad +to find out." + +But Gwendolyn didn't laugh. She was an odd sort of girl, and always +desperately earnest in whatever she undertook. She had made up her +mind she must confess to the "Commoner" the things she had done +against her; she was sincerely sorry for them now, but she couldn't +make that confession gracefully. She caught her breath as if before a +plunge into cold water and then blurted out: + +"I told 'our set' that you were Dawkins's niece! I said you were a +disgrace to the school and one of us would have to leave it. But Mamma +wouldn't take _me_ and I couldn't make _you_ go. I got mad and +jealous. Everybody liked you, except the girls I'd influenced. The +Bishop petted you--he never notices me. Miss Tross-Kingdon treats you +almost as lovingly as she does Millikins-Pillikins. All the servants +smile on you and nobody is afraid of you as everybody is of me. +Dawkins, and sometimes even Mamma, accuses me of a 'sharp tongue' +that makes enemies. But, somehow, I can't help it. And the worst +is--one can't get back the things one has said and done, no matter how +she tries. Then you went and saved my life!" + +At this, the strange girl covered her face and began to cry, while +Dorothy stared at her, too surprised to speak. Until the tears changed +to sobs and Gwendolyn shook with the stress of her emotion. Then, +fearing serious results, Dorothy forgot everything except that here +was someone in distress which she must soothe. Down on her knees she +went, flung her arms around the shaking shoulders, and pleaded: + +"Well, you poor dear, can't you be glad of that? Even if you can never +like me isn't it good to be alive? Aren't you grateful that somebody +who could swim, even poor I, was at the pool to help you out of it +that day? Forget it, do forget it, and get well and happy right away. +I'll keep away from you as far as I can and you must forgive me for +coming here again just now." + +"Forgive you? Forgive you! Oh! Dorothy Calvert, can you, will you ever +forgive me? After all my meanness to you, could you make yourself like +me just a little?" + +Gwendolyn's own arms had now closed in eager entreaty about the girl +she had injured. Her pride was humbled at last and completely. But +there was no need of further speech between them. They clung together +in their suddenly awakened affection, at peace and so happy that +neither felt it possible they had ever been at odds. + +When, at last, Dorothy drew back and rose, Gwen still clung to her +hand, and penitently said: + +"But that isn't all. There's a lot more to tell that, maybe, will make +you despise me worse than ever. I've done--" + +"No matter what, dearest. You've talked quite enough for to-night and +Dorothy should be in bed. Bid one another good night, my dears, and +meet again to-morrow;" interrupted Lady Jane, who had quietly +returned. + +So Dorothy departed, and with a happier heart than she had had since +her coming to Oak Knowe; for now there was nobody there with whom she +was at discord. + +But--was there not? + +Gayly tripping down the long corridor, humming a merry air and hoping +that she hadn't yet broken the retiring-rule, she stopped short on the +way. Something or somebody was far ahead of her, moving with utmost +caution against noise, yet himself, or itself, making a peculiar +rat-a-tat-tat upon the polished boards. + +Instantly Dorothy hushed her light song and slackened her steps. The +passage was dimly lighted for it was rarely used, leading as it did to +the distant servants' quarters and ending in a great drying-room above +the laundry. Even this drying-room was almost given up to the storage +of trunks and other things, the laundry itself being more convenient +for all its requirements. + +Rumors came back to her of the burglaries which the kitchen-folk had +declared had been frequent of late, none more serious than the loss of +a dinner provided and the strange rifling of safes and cupboard. Such +had happened weeks before, then apparently ceased; but they had begun +again of late; with added rumors of strange noises heard at night, and +in the quieter hours of the day. + +The faculty had tried to keep these fresh rumors from the pupils' +ears, but they had leaked out. Yet no real investigation had been +made. It was a busy household, both above and below stairs; and as is +usual, what is "everybody's business is nobody's" and things were left +to run their course. + +But now, was the burglar real? And had Dorothy come suddenly upon his +track? If she only could find out! + +Without fear of consequences to herself and forgetful of that +retiring-rule she tip-toed noiselessly in the wake of whatever was in +advance, and so came at last to the door of the drying-room. It stood +ajar and whatever had preceded her passed beyond it as the girl came +to it. + +She also entered, curiosity setting every nerve a-tingle, yet she +still unafraid. Stepping behind the open door she waited what next, +and trying to accustom her eyes to the absolute darkness of the place. +The long row of windows on the outer wall were covered by wooden +shutters, as she had noticed from the ground, and with them closed the +only light which could enter came through a small scuttle, or skylight +in the center of the ceiling. + +From her retreat behind the door she listened breathlessly. The +rat-a-tat-tat had died away in the distance, whither she now dared not +follow because of the darkness; and presently she heard a noise like +the slipping of boards in a cattle shed. + +Then footsteps returning, swiftly and softly, as of one in bare or +stockinged feet. There was a rush past her, the door to which she +clung was snatched from her and shut with a bang. This sound went +through her with a thrill, and vividly there arose the memory of a +night long past when she had been imprisoned in an empty barn, by the +wild freak of an old acquaintance of the mountain, and half-witted +Peter Piper for sole companion. Then swiftly she felt her way back +along the door till her hand was on its lock--which she could not +move. Here was a situation suitable, indeed, for any Hallowe'en! + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE NIGHT THAT FOLLOWED + + +It was long past the hour when, on ordinary nights, Oak Knowe would +have been in darkness, relieved only by a glimmer here and there, at +the head of some stairway, and in absolute stillness. + +But the Hallowe'en party had made everything give way and the servants +were up late, putting the great Assembly Hall into the spotless order +required for the routine of the next day. + +Nut shells and scattered pop corn, apple-skins that had been tossed +over the merrymakers' shoulders to see what initial might be formed, +broken masks that had been discarded, fragments of the flimsy +costumes, splashes of spilled cider, scattered crumbs and misplaced +furniture, made Dawkins and her aids lift hands in dismay as, armed +with brooms and scrubbing brushes they came to "clear up." + +"Clear up, indeed! Never was such a mess as this since ever I set foot +at Oak Knowe. After the sweepin' the scrubbin'; and after the +scrubbin' the polishin', and the chair fetchin' and--my heart! 'Tis +the dear bit lassie she is, but may I be further afore Dorothy Dixie +gets up another Hallowe'en prank!" grumbled Dawkins, yet with a tender +smile on her lips, remembering the thousand and one trifles which the +willing girl had done for her. + +For Dawkins was growing old. Under her maid's cap the hair was thin +and gray, and stooping to pick up things the girls had carelessly +thrown down was no longer an easy task. + +The rules against carelessness were stringent enough and fairly well +obeyed, yet among three hundred lively girls some rules were bound to +be ignored. But from the first, as soon as she understood them, +Dorothy had been obedient to all these rules; and it was Dawkins's +pride, when showing visitors through the building to point to Dolly's +cubicle as a model. Here was never an article left out of place; +because not only school regulations but real affection for the maid, +who had been her first friend at Oak Knowe, made Dorothy "take care." + +Then busy at their tasks, the workers talked of the evening's events +and laughingly recalled the incident of the goat, which they had +witnessed from the upper gallery; a place prepared for them by the +good Bishop's orders, that nobody at his great school should be +prohibited from enjoying a sight of the pupils' frequent +entertainments. + +"But sure, 'tis that lad, Jack, which frets me as one not belongin' to +Oak Knowe," said Dora, with conviction. + +"Not belonging? Why, woman alive, he's been here longer nor yourself. +'Twas his mother that's gone, was cook here before the _chef_ and pity +for his orphaned state the reason he's stayed since. But I own ye, +he's not been bettered by his summers off, when the school's not +keepin' and him let work for any farmer round. I note he's a bit more +prankish an' disobliging, every fall when he comes back. For some +curious reason--I can't dream what--he's been terrible chummy with +Miss Gwendolyn. Don't that beat all?" said Dawkins whirling her brush. + +"I don't know--I don't really know as 'tis. He's forever drawing +pictures round of every created thing, and she's come across him doin' +it. She's that crazy for drawing herself that she's likely took an +int'rest in him. I heard her puttin' notions in his head, once, +tellin' him how 't some the greatest painters ever lived had been born +just peasants like him." + +"Huh! Was that what made him so top-lofty and up-steppin'? When I told +him he didn't half clean the young ladies' shoes, tossin' his head +like the simpleton he is, and saucin' back as how he wouldn't be a +boot-boy all his life. I'd find out one these days whom I'd been +tongue-lashin' so long and'd be ashamed to look him in the face. Huh!" +added another maid. + +"Well, why bother with such as him, when we've all this to finish, and +me to go yet to my dormitory to see if all's right with my young +ladies," answered Dawkins and silence fell, till the task was done and +the great room in the perfect order required for the morning. + +Then away to her task above hurried good Dawkins and coming to +Dorothy's cubicle found its bed still untouched and its light brightly +burning. The maid stared and gasped. What did this mean? Had harm +befallen her favorite? + +Then she smiled at her own fears. Of course, Dorothy was in the room +with little Grace, where the cot once prepared for her still remained +because the child had so begged; in "hopes I'll be sick some more and +Dolly'll come again." So Dawkins turned off the light and hurried to +her reclining chair in the outer hall, where she usually spent the +hours of her watch. + +But no sooner had she settled herself there than all her uneasiness +returned. Twisting and turning on her cushions she fretted: + +"I don't see what's got into this chair, the night! Seems if I can't +get a comfortable spot in it anywhere. Maybe, it's 'cause I'm extra +tired. Hallowe'en pranks are fun for the time but there's a deal hard +work goes along with 'em. Or any other company fixings, for that +matter. I wonder was the little Grace scared again, by that ridic'lous +goat? Is that why Dorothy went with her? Where'd the beast come from, +anyway? And who invited it to the masquerade? Not the good Bishop, +I'll be bound. Now, what does make me so uneasy! Sure there's nought +wrong with dear little Dixie. How could there be under this safe +roof?" + +But the longer Dawkins pondered the matter the more restless she grew; +till, at last, she felt she must satisfy her mind, even at the cost of +disturbing the Lady Principal; and a moment later tapped at her door, +asking softly: + +"Are you awake, Miss Muriel? It's Dawkins." + +"Yes, Dawkins, come in. I've not been able to sleep yet. I suppose the +evening's care and excitement has tired me too much. What is it you +want? Anything wrong in the dormitory?" + +"Well, not to say wrong--or so I hope. I just stepped here to ask is +Miss Dorothy Calvert staying the night?" + +"Staying with Grace? No, indeed, the child has been asleep for hours: +perfectly satisfied now that I and so many others have seen the +apparition she had, and so proved her the truthful little creature +she'd always been." + +That seemed a very long answer to impatient Dawkins and she clipped it +short by asking: + +"Then, Ma'am, where do you suppose she is?" + +"What? Do you mean that she isn't in her own place?" + +"No, Ma'am, nor sign of her; and it's terr'ble strange, 'pears to me. +I don't like the look of it, Ma'am, I do not." + +"Pooh! don't make a mystery out of it, my good woman!" replied Miss +Tross-Kingdon, yet with a curious flutter in her usually stern voice. +Then she considered the matter for a moment, finally directing: + +"Go to the hospital wing and ask if she's there with Gwendolyn. She's +been so sorry for the girl and I noticed her slipping out of Assembly +with a plate full of the things Mr. Gilpin brought. I don't remember +her coming back, but she was certainly absent when her violin was +asked for. Doubtless, you'll find her there, but be careful not to +rouse any of the young ladies. Then come back and report." + +Dawkins tip-toed away, glad that she had told her anxiety to her +mistress. But she was back from her errand before it seemed possible +she could be, her face white and her limbs trembling with fear of--she +knew not what! + +"If it was any girl but her, Ma'am! That keeps the rules better nor +any other here!" + +"Hush, good Dawkins. She's all right somewhere, as we shall soon +discover. We'll go below and look in all the rooms, in case she might +be ill, or locked in some of them." + +"Yes, yes, Ma'am, we'll look. Ill she might really be after all them +nuts an' trash, but locked in she can't be, since never a lock is +turned in this whole house. Sure the Bishop wouldn't so permit, seeing +that if it fired any time them that was locked up could not so easy +get out. And me the last one down, to leave all in the good order you +like." + +"Step softly still, Dawkins. It would take very little to start a +panic among our many girls should they hear that anything was amiss." + +Each took a candle from the rack in the hall and by the soft light of +these began their search below, not daring to flash on the electric +lights whose brilliance might possibly arouse the sleepers in the +house. Dawkins observed that the Lady Principal, walking ahead, was +shaking, either with cold or nervousness, and, as for herself, her +teeth were fairly chattering. + +Of course their search proved useless. Nowhere in any of those first +floor rooms was any trace of the missing girl. Even closets were +examined while Dawkins peered behind the furniture and curtains, her +heart growing heavier each moment. + +Neither mistress nor maid spoke now, though the former led the way +upwards again and silently inspected the dormitories on each floor. +Also, she looked into each private room of the older and wealthier +pupils, but the result was the same--Dorothy had as completely +disappeared as if she had been bodily swallowed up. + +Then the aid of the other maids and, even of a few teachers was +secured, although that the school work might go on regularly the next +day, not many of these latter were disturbed. + +At daybreak, when the servants began to gather in the great kitchen, +each to begin his daily tasks, the Lady Principal surprised them by +her appearance among them. In the briefest and quietest manner +possible she told them what had happened and begged their help in the +search. + +But she was unprepared for the result. A housemaid threw up her hands +in wild excitement, crying: "'Tis ten long years I've served Oak Knowe +but my day is past! Her that went some syne was the wise one. I'll not +tarry longer to risk the health o' me soul in a house that's haunted +by imps!" + +"Nor me! Him that's snatched off to his wicked place the sweet, purty +gell, of the willin' word an' friendly smile, 'll no long spare such +as me! A fine collectin' ground for the Evil One is so big a school +as this. I'm leavin' the dustin' to such as can do it, but I'm off, +Ma'am, and better times for ye, I'm sure!" cried another superstitious +creature. + +This was plain mutiny. For a moment the lady's heart sank at the +prospect before her, for the panic would spread if not instantly +quelled, and there were three hundred hungry girls awaiting +breakfast--and breakfast but one feature of the case. Should these +servants leave, to spread their untrue tales, new ones would be almost +impossible to obtain. Then, summoning her authority, she demanded: + +"Silence and attention from all of you. I shall telephone for the +constabulary, and any person who leaves Oak Knowe before Miss Calvert +is found will leave it for the lock-up. The housemaids are excused +from ordinary duties and are to assist the _chef_ in preparing +breakfast. The rest of you, who have retained your common sense, are +to spread yourselves about the house and grounds, and through every +outbuilding till some one of you shall find the girl you all have +loved. Leave before then? I am ashamed of your hard hearts." + +With stately dignity the mistress left the kitchen and a much subdued +force of helpers behind her. That threat of "the constabulary" was an +argument not to be defied. + +"Worst of it is, she meant it. Lady Principal never says a thing she +doesn't mean. So--Well, I suppose I'll have to stay, then, for who +wants to get took up? But it's hard on a workin' woman 't she can't do +as she likes," muttered the first deserter and set about her duties. +Also, as did she so did the others. + +Meanwhile how had the night passed with the imprisoned Dorothy? At +first with greater anger than fear; anger against the unknown person +who had shut that door upon her. Then she thought: + +"But of course he didn't know, whoever it was. I'm sure it was a man +or boy, afraid, maybe, to make a noise account of its being late. Yet +what a fix I'm in! Nobody will know or come to let me out till Dawkins +goes her rounds and that'll be very, very late, on account of her +clearing up the mess we made down in Assembly. My! what a fine time we +had! And how perfectly grand that Gwendolyn and I should be friends at +last. She kissed me. Gwendolyn Borst-Kennard kissed me! It's worth +even being shut up here alone, behind that spring-locked door, just to +be friends. I'm so sleepy. I wish I could find something to put around +me and I'd lie right down on this floor and take a nap till somebody +lets me out." + +Then she remembered that once she had heard Dawkins telling another +maid that there were "plenty more blankets in the old drying-room if +her 'beds' needed 'em;" and maybe she could find some if she tried. + +"This is the very darkest place could ever be, seems if! ouch! that +hurt!" said the prisoner aloud, to bolster her own courage, and as she +stumbled against a trunk that bruised her ankle. "I'll take more +care." + +So she did: reasoning that people generally piled things against a +wall, that is, in such a place, for greater convenience. With +outstretched hands she felt her way and at last was rewarded by +finding the blankets she sought. Here, too, were folded several cots, +that were needed at times, like Commencement, when many strangers were +at Oak Knowe. But she didn't trouble to set up one of these, even if +she could have done so in that gloom. But a blanket she could manage, +and beside the cots she could feel a heap of them. In a very few +minutes she had pulled down several of these and spread them on the +floor; and a little later had wrapped them about her and was sound +asleep--"as a bug in a rug, like Dawkins says," her last, untroubled +thought. So, though a prisoner, for many hours she slumbered +peacefully. + +Down in the breakfast-room matters went on as usual. Or if many of the +girls and a few of the pupils seemed unduly sleepy, that was natural +enough, considering the frivolities and late hours of the night +before. + +Even the Lady Principal, sitting calmly in her accustomed place, +looked very pale and tired; and Winifred, observing this, whispered to +her neighbor: + +"I don't believe we'll get another party very soon. Just look at Miss +Tross-Kingdon. She's as white as a ghost and so nervous she can hardly +sit still. I never saw her that way before. The way she keeps glancing +toward the doors, half-scared every time she hears a noise, is queer. +I wonder if she's expecting somebody!" + +"Likely somebody's late and she's waiting to say: 'Miss'--whoever it +is--'your excuse, please?' I wonder who 'twill be! and say, look at +the Aldrich ten--can you see Dorothy?" + +Winifred glanced around and answered, with real surprise: "Why, she's +absent! If it were I nobody'd be astonished, 'cause I always have the +same excuse: 'Overslept.' But Dolly? Oh! I hope she isn't sick!" + +And immediately the meal was over, Winifred hurried to the Lady +Principal and asked: + +"Please, Miss Muriel, can you tell me, is Dorothy Calvert ill?" + +"Excuse me, Winifred, I am extremely busy," returned Miss +Tross-Kingdon, and hurried away as if she were afraid of being +questioned further. + +Naturally, Winifred was surprised, for despite her sternness the Lady +Principal was invariably courteous; and putting "two and two together" +she decided that Dorothy was in trouble of some sort and began a +systematic inquiry of all she met concerning her. But nobody had seen +the girl or knew anything about her; yet the questioner's anxiety +promptly influenced others and by the time school session was called +there was a wide-spread belief that some dreadful thing had befallen +the southerner, and small attention was paid to lessons. + +It was not until the middle of the morning that Jack-boot-boy appeared +in the kitchen, from his room in an outside building, where the men +servants slept. He was greeted by reproofs for his tardiness and the +news of Dorothy's disappearance. + +"Lost? Lost, you say? How can she be right here in this house? Why, I +saw her around all evening. It was her own party, wasn't it? or hers +was the first notion of it. Huh! That's the queerest! S'pose the +faculty'll offer a reward? Jiminy cricket! Wish they would! I bet I'd +find her. Why, sir, I'd make a first rate detective, I would. I've +been readin' up on that thing an' I don't know but it would pay me +better'n paintin', even if I am a 'born artist,' as Miss Gwendolyn +says." + +"Born nincompoop! That's what you are, and the all-conceitedest +lazybones 't ever trod shoe leather! Dragging out of bed this time o' +day, and not a shoe cleaned--in my dormitory, anyway!" retorted +Dawkins, in disgust. + +"Huh! old woman, what's the matter with you? And why ain't you _in_ +bed, 'stead of out of it? I thought all you night-owls went to bed +when the rest of us got up. You need sleep, you do, for I never knowed +you crosser'n you be now--which is sayin' consid'able!" + +Dawkins was cross, there was no denying that, for her nerves were +sadly shaken by her fears for the girl she had learned to love so +dearly. + +"You get about your business, boy, at once; without tarryin' to pass +remarks upon your betters;" and she made a vicious dash toward him as +if to strike him. He knew this was only pretence, and sidled toward +her, mockingly, then, as she raised her hand again--this time with +more decision--he cowered aside and made a rush out of the kitchen. + +"Well, that's odd! The first time I ever knew that boy to turn down +his breakfast!" remarked the _chef_, pointing to a heaped up plate at +the back of the range. "Well, I shan't keep it any longer. He'll have +the better appetite for dinner, ha, ha!" + +Jack's unusual indifference to good food was due to a sound he had +overheard. It came from somewhere above and passed unnoticed by all +but him, but set him running to a distant stairway which led from "the +old laundry" to the drying-loft above: and a sigh of satisfaction +escaped him as he saw that the door of this was shut. + +"Lucky for me, that is! I was afraid they'd been looking here for that +Calvert girl, but they haven't, 'cause the lock ain't broke and the +key's in my pocket," said he, in a habit he had of talking to himself. + +The noise beyond the door increased, and worried him, and he hurriedly +sought the key where he usually carried it. The door could be, and had +been, closed by a spring, but it needed that key to open it, as he had +boastingly remembered. Unhappy lad! In not one of his many and ragged +pockets could that key now be found! While in the great room beyond +the noise grew loud, and louder, with each passing second and surely +would soon be heard by all the house. Under the circumstances nobody +would hesitate to break that hateful lock to learn the racket's cause; +yet what would happen to him when this was discovered? + +What, indeed! Yet, strangely enough, in all his trepidation there was +no thought of Dorothy. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +OPEN CONFESSION IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL + + +A housemaid, passing through the disused "old laundry" on the ground +floor, as a short-cut toward the newer one in a detached building, +heard a strange noise in the drying-room overhead, and paused to +listen. This was unusual. In ordinary the loft was never entered, +nowadays, except by some slippered maid, or Michael with a trunk. + +Setting down her basket of soiled linen she put her hands on her hips +and stood motionless, intently listening. Dorothy? Could it be +Dorothy? Impossible! No living girl could make all that racket; +yet--was that a scream? Was it laughter--terror--wild animal--or what? + +Away she sped; her nimble feet pausing not an instant on the way, no +matter with whom she collided nor whom her excited face frightened, +and still breathlessly running came into the great Assembly Hall. +There Miss Tross-Kingdon had, by the advice of the Bishop, gathered +the whole school; to tell them as quietly as she could of Dorothy's +disappearance and to cross-examine them as to what anyone could +remember about her on the evening before. + +For the sorrowful fact could no longer be hidden--Dorothy Calvert was +gone and could not be found. + +On the faces of those three hundred girls was consternation and grief; +in their young hearts a memory of the "spookish" things which had +happened of late, but that had not before disturbed them; and now, at +the excited entrance of the maid, a shiver ran over the whole company. +Here was news! Nothing less could explain this unceremonious +disturbance. Even Miss Muriel's face turned paler than it had been, +could that have been possible and without a word she waited for the +maid to speak. + +"Oh! Lady Principal! Let somebody come! The drying-loft! +screams--boards dragging--or trunks--or murder doing--maybe! Let +somebody go quick--Michael--a man--men--Somebody quick!" + +Exhausted by her own excitement, the maid sank upon the nearest chair, +her hand on her heart, and herself unable to add another word. Miss +Tross-Kingdon rose, trembling so that she could hardly walk, and made +her way out of the room. In an instant every assembled schoolgirl was +on her feet, speeding toward the far west wing and the great loft, +dreading yet eager to see what would there be revealed. + +Still anxious on his own account, but from a far different cause, and +still listening at the closed door with wonder at what seemed going on +behind it, was Jack, the boot-boy. At the approach of the excited +girls, he lifted his ear from the keyhole and looked behind him, to +find himself trapped, as it were, at this end of the narrow passage by +the multitude which swarmed about him, feverishly demanding: + +"Boy, what is it? What is it? Is Dorothy in there? Is Dorothy found?" + +"Is Dorothy--" + +Poor Jack! This was the worst yet! At full comprehension of what that +question meant, even he turned pale and his lips stuttered: + +"I--I--dunno--I--Jiminy cricket!" + +He must get out of that! He must--he must! Before that door was opened +he must escape! + +Frantically he tried to force his way backward through the crowd which +penned him in, but could make little progress; even that being +suddenly cut off by a strong hand laid on his shoulder and the _chef_ +forcing into his hand a stout crowbar, and ordering: + +"Help to break her down!" at the same instant Michael, the porter, +pressing to his side armed with an ax. "Now, all together!" cried he, +and whether or no, Jack was compelled to aid in the work of breaking +in. + +But it was short work, indeed, and the crowd surged through the +opening in terror of what they might behold--only to have that terror +changed into shouts of hilarious delight. + +For there was Dorothy! not one whit the worse for her brief +imprisonment and happily unconscious of the anxiety which that had +caused to others. And there was Baal, the goat! Careering about the +place, dragging behind him a board to which he had been tied and was +unable to dislodge. The room was fairly lighted now by the sun +streaming through the skylight, and Baal had been having a glorious +time chasing Dorothy about the great room, from spot to spot, +gleefully trying to butt her with his horns, leaping over piles of +empty trunks, and in general making such a ridiculous--if sometimes +dangerous--spectacle of himself, that Dorothy, also, had had a merry +time. + +"Oh! you darling, you darling!" "Dolly Doodles, how came you here!" +"Why did you do it? You've scared us all almost to death!" "The Bishop +has gone into town to start detectives on your track!" "The Lady +Principal--Here she is now! you've made her positively ill, and as for +Dawkins, they say she had completely collapsed and lies on her chair +moaning all the time." + +"Oh, oh! How dreadful! And how sorry I am! I never dreamed; oh! dear +Miss Muriel, do believe me--listen, listen!" + +The lady sat down on a trunk and drew the girl to her. Her only +feeling now was one of intensest gratitude, but she remembered how all +the others had shared her anxiety and bade her recovered pupil tell +the story so that all might hear. It was very simple, as has been +seen, and needs no repetition here, ending with the heartfelt +declaration: + +"That cures me of playing detective ever again! I was so anxious to +stop all that silly talk about evil spirits and after all the only +such around Oak Knowe was Baal!" + +"But how Baal, and why? And most of all how came he here in the +house?" demanded Miss Tross-Kingdon, looking from one to another; +until her eye was arrested by the expression of Jack, the boot-boy's +face. That was so funny she smiled, seeing it, and asked him: + +"Can't you explain this, Jack?" + +"Uh--er--Ah! Wull--wull, yes, Ma'am, I allow 't I might. I mean 't I +can. Er--sho!--Course, I'll have to. Wull--wull--You see, Miss Lady +Principal, how as last summer, after school was took in, I hired +myself out to work for old John Gilpin an' he had a goat. Dame didn't +hanker for it no great; said it et up things an' got into places where +'twarn't wanted and she adwised him, that is to say she told him, how +'t he must get rid of it. He got rid of it onto me. I hadn't got +nobody belongin' and we've been first rate friends, Baal and me." + +This was evidenced by the quietude of the animal, now lying at the +boot-boy's feet in affectionate confidence, and refreshing itself with +a nap, after its hilarious exercise. + +"Strange that we didn't know he was on our grounds, for I did not. +Where have you kept him, Jack, and how?" + +The lad flushed and fidgetted but dared not refuse to reply. He had +been too long under the authority of Miss Tross-Kingdon for that, to +whose good offices his mother had left him when she died. + +"Wull--Wull--" + +"Kindly stop 'wulling' and reply. It is nearly lunch time and Dorothy +has had no breakfast." + +"Yes, Miss Muriel, please but I have. When I waked up after I'd slept +so long it was real light, so I went poking around to see if I could +find another door that would open, or any way out; and I came to a +queer place away yonder at the end; and I heard the funniest +noise--'ih-ih-ih--Ah-umph!' something like that. Then I knew it was +the goat, that I'd heard pat-pat-pattering along the hall last night +and that I'd followed. And I guessed it was Jack, instead of a +burglar, who'd rushed past me and locked me in. I was mighty glad to +see anybody, even a goat, and I opened the gate to the place and Baal +jumped out. He was tied to that board--he'd pulled it off the gate, +and was as glad to see me as I was him. That little sort of cupboard, +or cubby-hole, had lots of excelsior in it; I guess it had come around +crockery or something, and that was where Baal slept. There was a tin +box there, too, and I opened it. I was glad enough then! For it was +half full of cakes and apples and a lemon pie, that you call a +'Christchurch' up here in Canada; and before I knew it Baal had his +nose in the box, like he was used to eating out of it, and I had to +slap his nose to make him let me have a share. So I'm not hungry and +all I care is that I have made you all so worried." + +But already that was almost forgotten, though Miss Muriel's curiosity +was not yet satisfied. + +"Jack, are you in the habit of keeping that animal here, in this +room?" + +"Yes--yes, Ma'am; times I am. Other times he stays in the old +shed down by the brook. Most of the men knew I had him; Michael +did, anyhow. He never said nothing again' it;" answered the boy, +defiantly, trying to shift responsibility to the old porter, the +most trusted servant of the house. + +"No, I cannot imagine Michael meddling with you and your foolishness; +and for a lad who's lived so long at a great school, I wonder to hear +such bad grammar from your lips. How did you get Baal into this room +without being detected in it?" + +"Why, Ma'am, that was easy as preachin'. That back end, outside steps, +what leads up from the ground for carrying up wet clothes, it used to +be. He comes up that way, for goats can climb any place. Leastwise, +Baal can, and the door's never locked no more, 'cause I lost the key;" +answered Jack, who was now the center of attention and proud of the +fact. + +"Very well, Jack. That will do. Kindly see to it that Baal is +permanently removed from Oak Knowe, and--" She paused for a moment, as +if about to add more, then quietly moved away, with Dorothy beside her +and all her now happy flock following. + +Never before had the laughter and chatter of her girls sounded so +musical in her ears, nor her own heart been lighter than now, in its +rebound from her recent anxiety. She wasn't pleased with Jack, the +boot-boy; decidedly she was not pleased. She had not been since his +return from his summer's work, for he had not improved either in +industry or behavior. She had not liked the strange interest which +Gwendolyn had taken in his slight gift for drawing, which that +enthusiastic young artist called "remarkable," but which this more +experienced instructor knew would never amount to anything. + +Yet that was a matter which could wait. Meanwhile, here was a broken +day, with everybody still so excited that lessons would be merely +wasted effort; so, after she had sent Dorothy to put on her ordinary +school dress, she informed the various classes that no more work was +required that day and that after lunch there would be half-holiday for +all her pupils. + +"Hurrah! Hurrah! Three cheers for Dolly and may she soon get lost +again!" shouted Winifred, and, for once, was not rebuked because of +unladylike manners. + +Left to himself, Jack regarded his beloved Baal, in keen distress. + +"Said you'd got to go, did she? Well, if you go I do, too. Anyhow I'm +sick to death of cleaning nasty girls', or nasty shoes o' a lot o' +girls--ary way you put it. Boot-boy, Baal! Think o' that. If that +ain't a re--restrick-erated life for a artist, like Miss Gwen says I +am; or uther a dectective gentleman--I'd like to know. No, sir, Baal! +We'll quit an' we'll do it to once. Maybe they won't feel sorry when +they find me gone an' my place empty to the table! Maybe them girls +that laughed when that old schoolmarm was a pitchin' into me afore all +them giggling creatures, maybe they won't feel bad, a-lookin' at that +hull row of shoes outside cubicle doors waiting to be cleaned and not +one touched toward it! Huh! It'll do all them 'ristocratics good to +have to clean 'em themselves. All but Miss Gwendolyn. She's the +likeliest one of the hull three hundred. I hate--I kinder hate to +leave her. 'Artists has kindred souls,' she said once when she was +showin' me how to draw that skull. Who can tell? I might get to be +more famouser'n her, smart as she is; an' I might grow up, and her +too, and I might come to her house--or is it a turreted castle?--an' I +might take my fa--famousness an' offer it to her to marry me! And +then, when her folks couldn't hardly believe that I was I, and her old +boot-boy, maybe they'd say 'Yes, take her, my son! I'm proud to +welcome into our 'ristocraticy one that has riz from a boot-boy to our +rank!' Many a story-book tells o' such doings, an' what's in them +ought to be true. Good for 't I can buy 'em cheap. The Bishop caught +me reading one once and preached me a reg'lar sermon about it. Said +that such kind of literatoor had ruined many a simple fellow and would +me if I kep' on. But even Bishops don't know everything, though I +allow he's a grand old man. I kind of sorter hate to leave Oak Knowe +on his account, he takes such an int'rest in me. But he'll get over +it. He'll have to, for we're going, Baal an' me, out of this house +where we're wastin' our sweetness on the desert air. My jiminy +cricket! If a boy that can paint pictures and recite poetry like I +can, can't rise above shoe-cleanin' and get on in this world--I'd like +to know the reason why! Come, Baal! I'll strap my clothes in a bundle, +shake the dust of old Oak Knowe offen me, and hie away to seek my +fortune--and your'n." + +Nobody interfering, Jack proceeded to put this plan into action; but +it was curious that, as he reached the limits of Oak Knowe grounds, he +turned and looked back on the big, many-windowed house, and at the +throngs of happy girls who were at "recreation" on the well-kept +lawns. A sort of sob rose in his throat and there was a strange +sinking in his stomach that made him most uncomfortable. He couldn't +tell that this was "homesickness," and he tried to forget it in +bitterness against those whom he was deserting. + +"They don't care, none of 'em! Not a single mite does anyone of them +'ristocratics care what becomes of--of poor Jack, the boot-boy! Come +on, Baal! If we don't start our seekin' pretty quick--Why jiminy +cricket I shall be snivellin'!" + +Saying this, the self-exiled lad gripped the goat's leading strap and +set out at a furious pace down the long road toward the distant city. +He had a dime novel in one pocket, an English sixpence in another--And +what was this? + +"My soul! If there ain't the key to that old door they broke in to see +what was racketing round so! I wonder if I ought to take it back? +Baal, what say? That cubby of our'n wasn't so bad. You know, Baal, I +wouldn't like to be a thief--not a reg'lar thief that'd steal a key. +Course I wouldn't. Anyhow, I've left, I've quit. I'm seekin' my +fortune--understand? Whew! The wind's risin'. I allow there's going to +be a storm. I wish--Old Dawkins used to say: 'Better take two thoughts +to a thing!' an' maybe, maybe, if I'd ha' waited a spell afore--I mean +I wouldn't ha' started fortune-seekin' till to-morrow and the storm +over. Anyhow, I've really started, though! And if things don't happen +to my mind, I can show 'em what an honest boy I am by takin' back that +key. Come on, Baal, do come on! What in creation makes you drag so on +that strap and keep lookin' back? Come on, I say!" + +Then, both helping and hindering one another, the lad and his pet +passed out of sight and for many a day were seen no more in that +locality. + +Yet the strange events of that memorable day were not all over. At +study hour, that evening, came another surprise--a visit to her mates +of the invalid Gwendolyn. From some of them she received only a silent +nod of welcome; but Laura, Marjorie, and Dorothy sprang to meet her +with one accord, and Winifred followed Dorothy's example after a +second's hesitation. + +"Oh, Gwen! How glad we are to have you back! Are you sure you're quite +strong enough to come?" questioned Marjorie, while less judicious +Laura exclaimed: + +"But you can't guess what you've missed! We've had the greatest scare +ever was in this school! You'd ought to have come down sooner. What do +you think it was that happened? Guess--quick--right away! Or I can't +wait to tell! I'll tell anyhow! Dorothy was lost and everybody feared +she had been killed! Yes, Gwen, lost all the long night through and +had to sleep with the goat and--" + +Gwendolyn's face was pale from her confinement in the sick room but it +grew paler now, and catching Dorothy's hand she cried out: + +"Oh! what if I had been too late!" + +Nobody understood her, not even Dorothy herself, who merely guessed +that Gwen was referring to their interview of the night before; but +she didn't know this proud girl fully, nor the peculiar nature of that +pride which, once aroused, compelled her to do what she most shrank +from. As Dorothy pushed a chair forward, Gwendolyn shook her head. + +"Thank you, but not yet. I've got something to say--that all of you +must hear." + +Of course, everybody was astonished by this speech and every eye +turned toward the young "Peer" who was about to prove herself of noble +"rank" as never in all her life before. + +Dorothy began to suspect what might be coming and by a silent clasp of +Gwendolyn's waist and a protesting shake of her head tried to prevent +her saying more. + +But Gwendolyn as silently put aside the appealing arm and folding her +own arms stood rigidly erect. It wouldn't have been the real Gwen if +she hadn't assumed this rather dramatic pose, which she had mentally +rehearsed many times that day. Also, she had chosen this quiet hour +and place as the most effective for her purpose, and she had almost +coerced Lady Jane into letting her come. + +"Schoolmates and friends, I want to confess to you the meanest things +that ever were done at dear Oak Knowe. From the moment she came here +I disliked Dorothy Calvert and was jealous of her. In less than a week +she had won Miss Muriel's heart as well as that of almost everybody +else. I thought I could drive her out of the school, if I made the +rest of you hate her, too. I'd begun to teach the boot-boy to draw, +having once seen him attempting it. I painted him a death's head for a +copy, and gave him my pocket-money to buy a mask of the Evil One." + +"Oh! Gwendolyn how dared you? You horrid, wicked girl!" cried gentle +Marjorie, moved from her gentleness for once. + +"Well, I'll say this much in justice to myself. That thing went +further than I meant, which was only to have him put pictures of it +around in different places. He'd told me about keeping a goat in the +old drying-room, and of course he couldn't always keep it still. The +kitchen folks put the pictures and the goat's noises together and +declared the house was haunted. I told the maids that they might lay +that all to the new scholar from the States, and a lot of them +believed me." + +Even loyal Laura now shrank aside from her paragon, simply horrified. +She had helped to spread the rumor that Dorothy was a niece of +Dawkins, but she had done no worse than that. It had been left to +Jack-boot-boy to finish the contemptible acts. He got phosphorus from +the laboratory, paint from any convenient color box, and his first +success as a terrifier had been in the case of Millikins-Pillikins, at +whose bed he had appeared--with the results that have been told. He +it had been who had frightened the maid into leaving, and had spread +consternation in the kitchen. + +"And in all these things he did, I helped him. I planned some of them +but he always went ahead and thought worse ones out. Yet nobody, +except the simpletons below stairs, believed it was Dorothy who had +'bewitched' the house," concluded that part of Gwendolyn's confession. + +Yet still she stood there, firmly facing the contempt on the faces of +her schoolmates, knowing that that was less hard to bear than her own +self-reproach had been. And presently she went on: + +"Then came that affair at the Maiden's Bath. Dorothy Calvert, whom I +still hated, saved my life--while she might have lost her own. What I +have suffered since, knowing this and how bravely she had borne all my +hatefulness and had sacrificed herself for me--You must guess that. I +can't tell it. But last night I made myself beg her pardon in private +as I now beg it before you all. May I yet have the chance to do to her +as she has done to me! Dorothy Calvert--will you forgive me?" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +WHAT CAME WITH THE SNOW AND ICE + + +After that memorable week of Hallowe'en, affairs at Oak Knowe settled +into their ordinary smooth running. That week had brought to all the +school a surfeit of excitement so that all were glad of quiet and +peace. + +"The classes have never made such even, rapid progress before, in all +the years I've been here;" said the Lady Principal to the good Bishop. +"Things are almost ominously quiet and I almost dread to have +Christmas time approach. All the young ladies get more interested then +in gift-preparing and anticipations of vacations at home than in +school routine. I hate to have that interrupted so soon again." + +The Bishop laughed. + +"My dear Miss Muriel, you take life too seriously. Upheavals are good +for us. Our lives would grow stagnant without them." + +"Beg pardon, but I can't fancy affairs at Oak Knowe ever being +stagnant! Nor do I see, as you seem to, any fine results from the +happenings of Hallow week. One of the ill results is--I cannot find a +competent boot-boy. That makes you smile again, but I assure you it is +no trifle in a large establishment like this, with it the rule that +every pupil must walk the muddy road each day. The maids will do the +work, of course, but they grumble. I do wish the ground would freeze +or some good boy offer his services." + +A rattling of the window panes and a sound of rising wind sent the +Bishop to the window: + +"Well, Miss Tross-Kingdon, one of your wishes is already coming true. +There's a blizzard coming--surely. Flakes are already falling and I'm +glad the double sashes are in place on this north side the building, +and that Michael has seen to having the toboggan slide put in order. +I prophesy that within a few days all the young folks will be +tobogganing at a glorious rate. That's one of the things I'm thankful +for--having been born in Canada where I could slide with the best!" + +He turned about and the lady smiled at his boyish enthusiasm. He was a +man who never felt old, despite his venerable white head, but as he +moved again toward the fire and Dorothy entered the room a shadow +crossed his face. He had sent for her because within his pocket lay a +letter he knew she ought to have, yet greatly disliked to give her. +All the mail matter coming to the Oak Knowe girls passed first +through their instructors' hands, though it was a rare occasion when +such was not promptly delivered. + +This letter the Bishop had read as usual, but it had not pleased him. +It was signed by one James Barlow, evidently a very old friend of +Dorothy's, and was written with a boyish assumption of authority that +was most objectionable, the Bishop thought. It stated that Mr. Seth +Winters was very ill and that Mrs. Calvert was breaking down from +grief and anxiety concerning him; and that, in the writer's opinion, +Dorothy's duty lay at home and not in getting an education away up +there in Canada. "Anybody who really wishes to learn can do that +anywhere," was the conclusion of this rather stilted epistle. + +Now when his favorite came in, happy and eager to greet him, he +suddenly decided that he would keep that letter to himself for a time, +until he had written to some other of the girl's friends and found out +more about the matter. + +"Did you send for me, dear Bishop?" + +"Well, yes, little girl, I did. There was something I wanted to talk +to you about, but I've changed my mind and decided to put it off for +the present;" he answered with a kindly smile that was less bright +than usual. So that the sensitive girl was alarmed and asked: + +"Is it something that I've done but ought not?" + +"Bless your bonny face, no, indeed. No, Miss Betty the second, I have +no fault to find with you. Rather I am greatly delighted by all your +reports. Just look out of window a minute--what do you see?" + +Dorothy still wondered why she had been summoned, but looked out as +she had been bidden. + +"Why, it's snowing! My, how fast, and how all of a sudden! When we +were out for exercise the sun was shining bright." + +"The sun is always shining, dear child, even though clouds of trouble +often obscure it. Always remember that, little Dorothy, no matter what +happens." + +Then he dropped what the schoolgirls called his "preachy manner" and +asked: + +"How do you like tobogganing?" + +"Why--why, of course I don't know. I've never even seen a toboggan, +except in pictures. They looked lovely." + +"Lovely? I should say, but the real thing far lovelier. Miss +Tross-Kingdon, here, knows my opinion of tobogganing. The finest sport +there is and one that you unfortunate southerners cannot enjoy in your +native land. Up here we have everything delightful, ha, ha! But you'll +have to be equipped for the fun right away. Will you see to it, Miss +Muriel, that Dorothy has a toboggan rig provided? For Michael will +have the slides ready, you may be sure. He was born a deal further +north even than this and snow-and-ice is his native element. Why, the +honest old fellow can show several prizes he won, in his younger days, +for skating, ice-boating, tobogganing, and the like. I always feel +safe when Michael is on hand at the slide to look after his 'young +leddies.' + +"Now, I must go. I have a service in town, to-night, and if I don't +hurry I'll be caught in this blizzard. You run along, 'Betty' and +spread the news of the grand times coming." + +With a gentle pat of the little hand he held he thus dismissed her, +and inspired by his talk of the--to her--novel sport, she ran happily +away, forgetful already of anything more serious. + +"Oh! girls! the Bishop says we'll soon have tobogganing!" she cried, +joining a group gathered about a great wood fire in the library. + +"Oh! goody! I was looking at my new suit this very morning. Mother's +had such a pretty one made for me, a blanket suit of baby blue with +everything to match--mittens and cap and all! I'm just wild to wear +it!" answered Fanny Dimock, running to the window to peer out. + +"To-morrow's half-holiday. Let's all go help Michael to get the slides +ready!" + +"Of course--if the storm will let us out! Oh glorious!" said Ernesta +Smith flying to Fanny's side, and trying to see through the great +flakes, fast packing against the pane and hiding the view without. + +But this only increased the gayety within. Electric lights flashed +out, girl after girl ran to fetch her own coasting suit and to spread +it before the eyes of her mates. + +"Oh! aren't they the sweetest things!" exclaimed the delighted +Dorothy; "the very prettiest clothes I ever saw!" + +Indeed they did make a fine show of color, heaped here and there, +their soft, thick texture assuring perfect protection from cold. Reds +and greens, pinks and blues, and snowy white; some fresh from the +makers' hands, some showing the hard wear of former winters; yet +all made after the Oak Knowe pattern. A roomy pair of pantaloons, +to draw over the ordinary clothing from the waist down, ended in +stocking-shaped feet, fitted for warm wool overshoes. The tunic fell +below the knees and ended above in a pointed hood, and mittens were +made fast to the sleeves. + +"Lovely, but isn't it terribly clumsy?" asked Dorothy, more closely +examining one costume. + +"Let's show her! Let's have an Indian dance! Hurry up, everybody, and +dress!" + +In a jiffy every girl who owned a costume got into it and the place +was transformed. For somebody flew to the piano and struck up a lively +waltz, and away went the girls, catching one another for partner--no +matter who--whirling and circling, twisting bodies about, arms +overhead, as in a regular calisthenic figure--till Dorothy was amazed. +For what looked so thick and clumsy was too soft and yielding to +hinder grace. + +In the midst of the mirth, the portieres were lifted and Gwendolyn +came in. It was unfortunate that just then the music ended with a +crash and that the whirling circles paused. For it looked as if her +coming had stopped the fun, though this was far from true. + +Ever since that day of her open confession her schoolmates had +regarded her with greater respect than ever before. Most of them +realized how hard that confession had been for so haughty a girl, and +except for her own manner, many would have shown her marked affection. + +When she had ceased speaking on that day an awkward silence followed. +If she had expected hand-claps or applause she failed to get either. +The listeners were too surprised to know what to do, and there was +just as much pride in the young "Peer's" bearing as of old. After a +moment of waiting she had stalked away and all chance for applause was +gone. + +But she had returned to her regular classes the next morning and mixed +with the girls at recreation more familiarly than she had formerly +done; yet still that stiffness remained. + +For half-minute, Gwendolyn hesitated just within the entrance, then +forced herself to advance toward the fireplace and stand there warming +herself. + +"It's getting very cold," she remarked by way of breaking the +unpleasant silence. + +"Yes, isn't it!" returned Winifred; adding under her breath: "Inside +this room, anyway." + +"We're warm enough, dressed up like this," said Marjorie, pleasantly. +"Dorothy says that the Bishop thinks we'll have tobogganing in a day +or two, if the snow holds. She's never seen a toboggan nor how we +dress for the sport, and we brought in our togs to show her. She +thinks they look too clumsy for words, so we've just been showing her +that we can move as easily in them as without them. But--my! It's made +us so warm!" + +Gwendolyn turned toward Dorothy with a smile intended to be cordial, +and asked: + +"Is that so, indeed? Then I suppose you'll have to get a rig like ours +if you want to try the slide." + +"Yes, I suppose so. The Bishop asked the Lady Principal to get me one, +but I don't suppose she can right away. Nobody could go shopping in +such weather, and I suppose they have to be bought in town." + +"The blankets are bought there, but usually the suits are made at home +before we come; or else by the matron and some of the maids here. I--" + +A look of keener interest had come into her face, but she said nothing +further and a moment later went out again. + +As the portieres fell together behind her, Winifred threw up her hands +in comic despair. + +"Whatever is the matter with that girl? or with _me_--or _you_--or +_you_!" pointing to one and another around her. "She wants to be +friendly--and so do we! But there's something wrong and I don't know +what." + +"I do," said a sweet-faced "Seventher," who had been quietly studying +during all this noise. "Poor Gwendolyn is sorry but isn't one bit +humble. She's absolutely just and has done what she believed right. +But it hasn't helped her much. She's fully as proud as she ever was, +and the only way we can help her is by loving her. We've _got_ to love +her or she'll grow harder than ever." + +"You can't make love as you'd make a--a pin-cushion!" returned Florita +Sheraton, holding up, to illustrate, a Christmas gift she was +embroidering. + +Dorothy listened to this talk, her own heart upbraiding her for her +failure to "love" Gwen. She liked her greatly and admired her courage +more. + +"Win, let's you and me try and see if that is true, what Florita +says. Maybe love can be 'made' after all;" she whispered to her +friend. + +"Huh! That'll be a harder job than algebra! I shall fail in both." + +"I reckon I shall, too, but we can try--all the same. That won't hurt +either one of us and I'm awfully sorry for her, she must be so +lonesome." + +"'Pity is akin to love!' You've taken the first step in your climb +toward Gwen's top-lofty heart!" quoted Winifred. "Climb away and I'll +boost you as well as I can. I--" + +"Miss Dorothy Calvert, the Lady Principal would like to see you in her +own parlor;" said a maid, appearing at the door. + +"What now? You seem to be greatly in demand, to-day, by the powers +that be, I hope it isn't a lecture the Bishop passed on to her to +deliver," said Florita as Dorothy rose to obey. + +But whatever fear Dolly felt of any such matter was banished by her +first glance into her teacher's face. Miss Muriel had never looked +kinder nor better pleased than then, as, holding up a pair of +beautiful white blankets she said: + +"How will these do for the toboggan suit the Bishop wished me to get +for you?" + +"Oh! Miss Muriel! Are those for me and so soon? Why, it's only an hour +ago, or not much more, since he spoke of it, and how could anybody go +to town and back in that little while, in such a storm?" + +"That wasn't necessary. These were in the house. Do you like them?" + +"Like them! They're the softest, thickest, prettiest things! I never +saw any so fine, even at Aunt Betty's Bellevieu. Do you think I ought +to have them? Wouldn't cheaper ones answer for messing around in the +snow?" + +"The question of expense is all right, dear, and we're fortunate to +have the material on hand. Mrs. Archibald will be here, directly, to +take your measurements. Ah! here she is now." + +This was something delightfully different from any "lecture," and even +Miss Muriel talked more and in higher spirits than usual; till Dorothy +asked: + +"Do you love tobogganing, too, Miss Tross-Kingdon?" + +"No, my dear, I'm afraid of it. My heart is rather weak and the swift +motion is bad for it. But I love to see others happy and some things +have happened, to-day, which have greatly pleased me. But you must +talk sliding with Mrs. Archibald. Dignified as she is, she'll show you +what a true Canadian can do, give her a bit of ice and a hill." + +The matron laughed and nodded. + +"May the day be long before I tire of my nation's sport! I'm even +worse than Michael, who's almost daft on the subject." + +Then she grew busy with her measurings and clippings, declaring: "It +just makes me feel bad to put scissors into such splendid blankets as +these. You'll be as proud as Punch, when I dress you out in the +handsomest costume ever shot down Oak Knowe slide!" + +"Oh! I wish Aunt Betty could see it, too. She does so love nice +things!" + +When Mrs. Archibald and her willing helpers had completed her task and +Dolly was arrayed in her snow-suit she made, indeed, "the picture" +which Dawkins called her. + +For the weather proved what the Bishop had foretold. The snow fell +deep and heavy, "just right for packing," Michael said, on the great +wooden slide whose further end rose to a dizzy height and from whose +lower one a second timbered "hill" rose and descended. + +If the toboggan was in good working order, the momentum gained in the +descent of the first would carry the toboggans up and over the second; +and nothing could have been in finer condition than these on that next +Saturday morning when the sport was to begin. The depression between +the two slides was over a small lake, or pond, now solidly frozen and +covered with snow; except in spots where the ice had been cut for +filling the Oak Knowe ice-houses. Into one of these holes Michael and +his force had plunged a long hose pipe, and a pump had been contrived +to throw water upward over the slide. + +On the night before men had been stationed on the slide, at intervals, +to distribute this water over the whole incline, the intense cold +causing it to freeze the instant it fell; and so well they understood +their business they had soon rendered it a perfectly smooth slide of +ice from top to bottom. A little hand-railed stairway, for the ascent +of the tobogganers, was built into the timbers of the toboggan, or +incline, itself; and it was by this that they climbed back to the top +after each descent, dragging their toboggans behind them. At the +further side of the lake, close to its bank, great blazing fires were +built, where the merry makers could warm themselves, or rest on the +benches placed around. + +Large as some of the toboggans were they were also light and easily +carried, some capable of holding a half-dozen girls--"packed close." +Yet some sleds could seat but two, and these were the handsomest of +all. They belonged to the girls who had grown proficient in the sport +and able to take care of themselves; while some man of the household +always acted as guide on the larger sleds and for the younger pupils. + +When Dorothy came out of the great building, that Saturday holiday, +she thought the whole scene was truly fairyland. The evergreens were +loaded to the ground with their burden of snow, the wide lawns were +dazzlingly bright, and the sun shone brilliantly. + +"Who're you going to slide with, Dolly? On Michael's sled? I guess the +Lady Principal will say so, because you're so new to it. Will you be +afraid?" + +"Why should I be afraid? I used to slide down the mountain side when I +lived at Skyrie. What makes you laugh, Winifred? This won't be very +different, will it?" + +"Wait till you try it! It's perfectly glorious but it isn't just the +same as sliding down a hill, where a body can stop and step off any +time. You can't step off a toboggan, unless you want to get killed." + +Dorothy was frightened and surprised, and quickly asked: + +"How can anybody call that 'sport' which is as dangerous as that? What +do you mean? I reckon I won't go. I'll just watch you." + +It was Winifred's turn to stare, but she was also disappointed. + +"Oh! you little 'Fraid-Cat,' I thought you were never afraid of +anything. That's why I liked you. One why--and there are other +whys--but don't you back out in this. Don't you dare. When you've got +that be-a-u-tiful rig and a be-a-u-tiful toboggan to match. I'd hate +to blush for you, Queen Baltimore!" + +"I have no toboggan, Winnie, dear. You know that. I was wondering +who'd take me on theirs--if--if I try it at all." + +Winifred rushed to the other side of the porch and came flying back, +carrying over her head a toboggan, so light and finely polished that +it shone; also a lovely cushion of pink and white dragged from one +hand. This fitted the flat bottom of the sled and was held in place, +when used, by silver catches. The whole toboggan was of this one +polished board, curving upward in front according to the most approved +form, pink tassels floating from its corners that pink silk cords held +in their place. Across this curving front was stenciled in pink: +"Dorothy Calvert." + +"There, girlie, what do you say to that? Isn't it marked plainly +enough? Didn't you know about it before? Why all we girls have been +just wild with envy of you, ever since we saw it among the others." + +Dorothy almost caught her breath. It certainly was a beauty, that +toboggan! But how came she to have it? + +"What do you mean, Winifred Christie? Do you suppose the Bishop has +had it made, or bought it, for me? Looks as if it had cost a lot. And +Aunt Betty has lost so much money she can't afford to pay for extra +things--not very high ones--" + +"Quit borrowing trouble, Queenie! Who cares where it came from or how +much it cost? Here it is with your own name on it and if you're too +big a goose to use it, I shall just borrow it myself. So there you +are. There isn't a girl here but wouldn't be glad to have first ride +on it. Am I invited?" and Winifred poked a saucy face under her +friend's hood. + +"Am I?" asked Florita Sheraton, coaxingly throwing her arms around +Dolly. + +"Oh! get away, Flo! You're too big! You'd split the thing in two!" +said Ernesta, pulling away her chum's arms. "Just look at me, Dolly +Doodles! Just see how nice and thin I am! Why I'm a feather's weight +to Flo, and I'm one of the best tobogganers at Oak Knowe. Sure. Ask +Mrs. Archibald herself, for here she comes all ready for her share of +the fun!" + +"Yes, yes, lassie, you're a fair one at the sport now and give some +promise o' winning the cup yet!" answered the matron, joining the +girls and looking as fit and full of life as any of them. + +"Hear! Hear! Hurrah for 'Nesta! Three cheers for the champion cup +winner!" + +"And three times three for the girl Dolly chooses to share her first +slide on the new toboggan!" cried somebody, while a dozen laughing +faces were thrust forward and as many hands tapped on the breasts of +the pleaders, signifying: "Choose me!" + +The Bishop was already on hand, looking almost a giant in his +mufflers, and as full of glee as the youngest there. The lady +Principal, in her furs, had also joined the group, for though she did +not try the slides, she loved to watch the enjoyment of the others, +from a warm seat beside the bonfire. + +While Dorothy hesitated in her choice, looking from one to another of +the merry, pleading faces about her, Gwendolyn Borst-Kennard stood a +little apart, watching with keen interest the little scene before her, +while the elder members of the group also exchanged some interested +glances. + +"Count us! Count us! That's fair! Begin: 'Intry, mintry, outry, corn; +wire, brier, apple, thorn. Roly, poly, dimble-dee;--O--U--T spells Out +goes SHE!'" + +Over and over, they laughingly repeated the nonsense-jingle, each girl +whom the final "she" designated stepping meekly back with pretended +chagrin, while the "counting out" went on without her. The game +promised to be so long that the matron begged: + +"Do settle it soon, young ladies! We're wasting precious time." + +Dorothy laughed and still undecided, happened to glance toward +Gwendolyn, who had made no appeal for preference, and called out: + +"Gwen, dear, will you give me my first lesson? I choose Gwendolyn!" + +It was good to see the flush of happiness steal into Gwen's face and +to see the smile she flashed toward Dorothy. Stepping forward she +said: + +"Thank you, dear. I do appreciate this in you, and you needn't be +afraid. The Lady Principal knows I can manage a toboggan fairly well, +and this of yours seems to be an exact copy of my own that I've used +so long." + +Other cheers followed this and in a moment the whole party had spread +over the white grounds leading to the great slide, the good Bishop +following more slowly with the other "grown-ups," and softly clapping +his mittened hands. + +"Good! Fine! I like that. Dorothy has ignorantly done the one right +thing. If she could only guess the secret which lies under all how +thankful she would be that she made this choice and no other." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +JOHN GILPIN JOINS THE SPORT + + +Old Michael stood on the wide platform at the top of the slide, his +face aglow with eagerness, and his whole manner altered to boyish +gayety. His great toboggan was perched on the angle of the incline, +like a bird poised for flight, while he was bidding his company to: +"Get on, ladies! Get on and let's be off!" + +Behind and around him were the other men employees of Oak Knowe, and +every one of them, except the _chef_, enthusiastic over the coming +sport. But he, unhappy mortal, preferred the warmth of his kitchen +fire to this shivery pastime and had only entered into it to escape +the gibing tongues of the other servants. Yet in point of costume he +could "hold his head up with the best"; and the fact that he could, in +this respect even outshine his comrades was some compensation for his +cold-pinched toes. + +The platform was crowded with toboggans and girls; the air rang with +jest and laughter; with girlish squeals of pretended fear; and cries +of: "Don't crowd!" or: "Sit close, sit close!" + +"Sit close" they did; the blanketed legs of each tobogganer pressed +forward on either side of the girl in front, and all hands clasping +the small rod that ran along the sides of the toboggan. + +The slide had been built wide enough for two of the sleds abreast, and +one side was usually left to the smaller ones of the experienced +girls, who could be trusted to safely manage their own light craft. + +To Michael and the matron was always accorded the honor of first slide +on the right while the "best singles" coasted alongside on the left. +That morning, by tacit consent, the new "Dorothy Calvert" was poised +beside the big "Oak Knowe" and the Honorable Gwendolyn Borst-Kennard +was a proud and happy girl, indeed, as she took her place upon it as +guide and protector of ignorant Dorothy. + +"She chose me of her own accord! I do believe she begins to really +love me. Oh! it's so nice to be just free and happy with her as the +others are!" thought Gwen, as she took her own place and directed her +mate just how to sit and act. Adding a final: + +"Don't you be one bit afraid. I never had an accident sliding and I've +always done it every winter since I can remember. We're off! Bow your +head a little and--keep--your--mouth--shut!" + +There wasn't time! Dorothy felt a little quiver run through the thing +on which she sat and a wild rush through icy air! That was all! They +had reached the bottom of the first slide and began to fly upward over +the other before she realized a thing. Gwen hadn't even finished her +directions before they had "arrived!" + +The Southerner was too amazed, for a second, to even step off the +toboggan, but Gwendolyn caught her up, gave her a hearty kiss and hug, +and demanded: + +"Well! Here we are! How do you like it! We've beat! We've beat!" + +Dorothy rubbed her eyes. So they had, for at that instant the big Oak +Knowe fetched up beside them, and its occupants stepped or tumbled +off, throwing up their hands and cheering: + +"Three cheers for the Dorothy Calvert! Queen of the Slide for all This +Year!" + +And liveliest among the cheerers was the once so dignified young +"Peer," the Honorable Gwen. Dorothy looking into her beaming face and +hearing her happy voice could scarce believe this to be the same girl +she had hitherto known. But she had scant time to think for here they +came, thick and fast, toboggan after toboggan, Seventh Form girls and +Minims, teachers and pupils, the Bishop and the _chef_, maids and +men-servants, the matron and old Michael--all in high spirits, all +apparently talking at once and so many demanding of "Miss Dixie" how +she liked it, that she could answer nobody. + +Then the Bishop pushed back her tasseled hood and smiled into her +shining eyes: + +"Well little 'Betty the Second,' can you beat that down at old +Baltimore? What do you think now? Isn't it fine--fine? Doesn't it make +you feel you're a bird of the air? Ah! it's grand--grand. Just tell me +you like it and I'll let you go." + +"I--Yes--I reckon I do! I hadn't time to think. We hadn't started, and +we were here." + +"Up we go. Try her again!" cried one, and the climb back to the top +promptly began, the men carrying the heavier sleds, the girls their +lighter ones, Gwendolyn and Dorothy their own between them. Then the +fun all over again; the jests at awkward starts, the cheers at +skillful ones, the laughter and good will, till all felt the +exhilaration of the moment and every care was forgotten. + +Many a slide was taken and now Dorothy could answer when asked did she +like it: + +"It's just grand, as the Bishop said. At first I could hardly breathe +and I was dizzy. Now I do as Gwen tells me and I love it! I should +like to stay out here all day!" + +"Wait till dinner-time! Then you'll be ready enough to go in. +Tobogganing is the hungriest work--or play--there can possibly be!" +said Gwendolyn, pirouetting about on the ice as gracefully as on a +waxed floor, the merriest, happiest girl in all that throng. Not only +Dorothy but many another observed her with surprise. This was a new +Gwen, not the stand-offish sort of creature who had once so haughtily +scorned all their fun. She had always tobogganed, every year that she +had been in that school, but she had never enjoyed it like this; and +again as the Bishop regarded her, he nodded his head in satisfaction +and said to the matron: + +"I told you so. I knew it. Do a kindness to somebody and it will +return to yourself in happiness a thousand fold." + +"Thanks, dear Bishop! I'll try to remember," merrily answered she; +noticing that Gwendolyn had drawn near enough to hear, and taking this +little preachment to herself to prevent Gwendolyn's doing so. She was +so pleased by sight of the girl's present happiness that she wished +nothing to cloud it, and believing herself discussed would certainly +offend proud, sensitive Gwen. + +Almost two hours had passed, and a few were beginning to tire of the +really arduous sport, with its upward climb, so out of proportion to +the swift descent; when suddenly fresh shouts of laughter rang out +from the high platform and those ascending made haste to join the +others at the top. + +There stood old John Gilpin and Robin, the latter's young bones now +sound and strong again, and himself much the better for his sojourn at +the cottage with his enforced rest and abundance of good food. + +"Well, well! How be ye all? Hearty, you look, and reg'lar circus +pictures in them warm duds! Good day to your Reverence, Bishop, and I +hope I see you in good health. My humble respects, your Reverence, and +I thought as how I'd just step up and ask your Reverence might my lad +here and me have a try on your slide. I thought--why, sir, the talk +on't has spread way into town a'ready, sir, and there'll be more +beggars nor me seekin' use on't, your Reverence--" + +The prelate's hearty laughter rang out on the frosty air, a sound +delightful to hear, so full it was of genial humanity, and he grasped +the hand of the old teamster as warmly as he would that of a far +wealthier man. + +"Man to man, John, we're all in the same boat to-day. Drop the +formality and welcome to the sport. But what sort of sled is this, +man? Looks rather rough, doesn't it? Sure you could manage it on this +steep incline?" + +John bridled and Robin looked disappointed. Expectations of the +toboggan-slide's being made ready had filled his head, and he and the +old man had toiled for hours to make the sled at which the Bishop +looked so doubtfully. + +"Well, your Reverence--I mean--you without the Reverence--" here the +Bishop smiled and Robin giggled, thereby causing his host to turn +about with a frown. "You see, sir, Robin's always been hearin' about +your toboggan up here to Oak Knowe and's been just plumb crazy--" + +At this point the shy lad pulled John's coat, silently begging him to +leave him out of the talk; but the farmer had been annoyed by Robin's +ill-timed giggle, and testily inquired: + +"Well, sir, ain't that so? Didn't you pester the life clean out o' me +till I said I'd try? Hey?" + +"Y-yes," meekly assented the boy; then catching a glimpse of Dorothy +and Winifred and their beckoning nods he slipped away to them. To him +Dorothy proudly exhibited her beautiful toboggan, explaining its fine +construction with a glibness that fitted an "old tobogganer" better +than this beginner at the sport. Gwen's face beamed again, listening +to her, as if she felt a more personal pride in the sled than even +Dorothy herself. She even unbent so far from her pride of rank as to +suggest: + +"If you'll let me borrow it and he'd like to go, I'll take Robin down +once, to show him how smoothly it runs." + +Robin's eyes sparkled. He wasn't shy with girls, but only when he felt +himself made too conspicuous by his host's talk. + +"Would you? Could she? May she?" he cried, teetering about on his +ragged shoes in an ecstasy of delight. + +Dolly laughed and clapped her hands. + +"Verily, she should, would, can, and may! laddie boy. But where's your +jacket? I mean your other one? It's so cold, you'll freeze in that +thin one." + +By the color which came to the lad's cheek Dolly realized that she had +asked a "leading question," but Robin's dismay lasted only an instant; +then he laughed merrily at the "good joke," and answered: + +"Well, you see, Miss Dorothy, my 'other one' is at some tailor's shop +in town. I haven't had a chance yet to choose one, let alone pay for +it! But what matter? 'Tisn't winter all the year and who wears +top-coats in summer? Did she really mean it?" + +Gwendolyn proved that she "really meant it" by pushing the "Dorothy +Calvert" into position and nodding to him that she was ready. + +"All right! Let her go!" he responded to her silent invitation and +away they went, as ill-matched a pair as might have been found. But he +had a boy's fearlessness and love of adventure; and even on that +swift descent his gay whistling floated back to those above. + +Meanwhile, John Gilpin was explaining with considerable pride, +yet thankful that the Bishop was out of hearing on his own +downward-speeding toboggan: + +"You see, lassie, how't Robin was dead set to come. Said he knew so +good a man as his Reverence wouldn't say 'No' to us, and just kept +teasin' at me till we stepped-an'-fetched a lot of staves come off a +hogshead. So I fastened 'em together on the insides--See? And we've +shaved an' shaved, an' glass-scraped 'em on t'other till they'll never +hurt no slide 't ever was iced. The Bishop seemed terr'ble afraid I'd +rough up his track with it, but it's a poor track that water won't +freeze smooth again; so if we do happen to scratch it a mite, I'll +step-an'-fetch a few buckets o' water and fix it up again. And say, +girlie, where's that Jack, boot-boy? And Baal? I ain't seen hide nor +hair of ary one this long spell, an' I allow I kind of sorter miss +'em. He used to give the dame the fidgets with his yarns of what +he's goin to be an' do, time comes, but me an' him got on fairly +well--fairly. As for that goat, he was the amusingest little creatur' +'t ever jumped a fence, even if we did fight most of the time. Hah, +hum! I've noticed more'n once that the folks or things you quarrel +with are the ones you miss most, once they're gone." + +"We haven't seen Jack since that time he locked me in the drying-room. +He ran away, I reckon, and took Baal with him. And it's just like +you say: nobody liked him much, and he was always in disgrace with +somebody, but I heard the Lady Principal say, only yesterday, that +she actually believed she missed that worthless boot-boy more than +any other servant who might have left." + +"Well, now, Dorothy, don't that beat all? That book-l'arned lady just +agreein' with me! I often tell Dame 't I know more'n she thinks I do, +but all she'll answer to that is: 'John, that'll do.' A rare silent +woman is my Dame but a powerful thinker. Hello! Here they come back +again. Robin! Robin! Look-a-here! You didn't bamboozle me into makin' +our sled and climbin' this height just to leave me go for a passel o' +silly girls! No, siree! You come and slide with me right to once. I +set out to go a-tobogganin' an' I'm goin'. So none of your backslidin' +now!" + +"All right, Mr. Gilpin, here am I! And I do hope it won't be any true +_back_ sliding we shall do on this thing. You'd ought to have put a +little handrail on the sides like I told you there always was; but--" + +"But that'll do, Robin. In my young days knee-high boys didn't know +more'n their elders. That'll do!" + +The old farmer's imitation of his wife's manner seemed very funny to +all the young folks, but his anxiety was evident, as he glanced from +his own hand-made "toboggan" to the professional ones of the others. +Upon his was not even the slight rod to hold on by and the least jar +might send him off upon the ice. Peering down, it seemed to him that +glazed descent was a straight road to a pit of perdition and his old +heart sank within him. + +But--He had set out to go tobogganing and go he would, if he perished +doing it. Dame had besought him with real tears not to risk his old +bones in such a foolhardy sport, and he had loftily assured her that +"what his Reverence can do I can do. Me and him was born in the same +year, I've heard my mother tell, and it's a pity if I can't ekal him!" + +Moreover, there were all these youngsters makin' eyes at him, plumb +ready to laugh, and thinkin' he'd back out. Back out? He? John Gilpin? +Never! + +"Come on, Robin! Let's start!" + +Gwendolyn and Dorothy were also ready to "start" upon what they +intended should be their last descent of that morning. Alas! it proved +to be! Five seconds later such a scream of terror rent the air that +the hearts of all who heard it chilled in horror. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A BAD DAY FOR JOHN GILPIN + + +What had happened! + +Those who were sliding down that icy incline could not stop to see, +and those who were on the ground below covered their eyes that they +might not. Yet opened them again to stare helplessly at the dangling +figure of a girl outside that terrible slide. For in a moment, when +the clutching fingers must unclose, the poor child must drop to +destruction. That was inevitable. + +Then they saw it was Dorothy, who hung thus, suspended between life +and death. Dorothy in her white and pink, the daintiest darling of +them all, who had so enjoyed her first--and last!--day at this sport. + +Fresh shudders ran through the onlookers as they realized this and the +Lady Principal sank down in a faint. Then another groan escaped +them--the merest possibility of hope. + +Behold! The girl did not fall! Another's small hand reached over the +low side of the toboggan and clutched the blanket-covered shoulder of +the imperiled child. Another hand! the other shoulder, and hope grew +stronger. Someone had caught the falling Dorothy--she and her +would-be-rescuer were now moving--moving--slowly downward along the +very edge--one swaying perilously with the motion, the other wholly +unseen save for those outstretched hands, with their death-fast grip +upon the snowy wool. + +Down--down! And faster now! Till the hands of the tallest watchers +could reach and clasp the feet, then the whole precious little body of +"Miss Dixie," their favorite from the Southland. + +But even then, as strong arms drew her into their safe shelter, the +small hands which had supported her to safety clung still so tight +that only the Bishop's could loose their clasp. + +"Gwendolyn! You brave, sweet girl! Let go--let go. It's all right +now--Dorothy did not fall--You saved her life. Look up, my daughter. +Don't faint now when all is over. Look up, you noble child, and hear +me tell you: Dorothy is safe and it is you who saved her life. At the +risk of your own you saved her life." + +Clasped close in his fatherly arms, Gwendolyn shuddered but obeyed and +looked up into the Bishop's face. + +"Say that again. Please. Say that again--very slow--if it's the--the +truth." + + [Illustration: "SOMEONE HAD CAUGHT THE FALLING GIRL." _Dorothy at Oak + Knowe._] + +"Gwendolyn, I tell you now, in the presence of God and these +witnesses, it has been your precious privilege to save a human life, +by your swift thought and determined action you have saved the life of +Dorothy Calvert, and God bless you for it." + +"Then we are quits!" + +For another moment after she had said those words she still rested +quietly where she was, then slowly rose and looked about her. + +Dorothy had been in the greater peril of the two, yet more unconscious +of it. She had not seen how high above the ground she hung, nor how +directly beneath was the lake with the thinly frozen spots whence the +thicker ice had been cut for the ice-houses; nor how there were heaped +up rocks bordering the water, left as nature had designed to beautify +the scene. + +She was the quickest to recover her great fright and she was wholly +unhurt. Her really greater wonder was that poor Miss Muriel should +happen to faint away just then. + +"I'm glad she did, though, if it won't make her ill, 'cause then she +didn't see me dangling, like I must have, and get scared for that. +Likely she stayed out doors too long. She isn't very strong and it's +mighty cold, I think." + +So they hurried her indoors, Gwendolyn with her, yet neither of them +allowed to discuss the affair until they were both warmly dressed in +ordinary clothes and set down to a cute little lunch table, "all for +your two selves," Nora explained: "And to eat all these warm things +and drink hot coffee--as much of it as you like. It was Miss Muriel +herself who said that!" + +This was a treat indeed. Coffee at any meal was kept for a special +treat, but to have unlimited portions of it was what Dolly called "a +step beyond." + +Curious glances, but smiling and tender, came often their way, from +other tables in the room, yet the sport, and happily ended hazard of +the morning had given to every girl a fine appetite, so that, for +once, knives and forks were more busily employed than tongues. + +Neither did the two heroines of the recent tragic episode feel much +like speech. Now that it was all over and they could think about it +more clearly their hearts were filled with the solemnity of what had +happened; and Gwendolyn said all that was needed for both, when once +laying her hand on Dorothy's she whispered: + +"You saved my life--the Bishop says that I saved yours. After that +we're even and we must love each other all our lives." + +"Oh! we must, we must! And I do, I shall!" returned Dorothy, with +tears rising. + +Then this festive little lunch dispatched, they were captured by their +schoolmates and led triumphantly into the cheerful library, the scene +of all their confabs, and Winifred demanded: + +"Now, in the name of all the Oak Knowe girls, I demand a detailed +history of what happened. Begin at the beginning and don't either of +you dare to skip a single moment of the time from where you started +down the old toboggan alongside of John Gilpin and that boy. I fancy +if the tale were properly told his ride would outdo that of his +namesake of old times. Dorothy Calvert, begin." + +"Why, dear, I don't know what to say, except that, as you say, we +started. My lovely toboggan went beautifully, as it had all the time, +but theirs didn't act right. I believe that the old man was scared so +that he couldn't do a thing except meddle with Robin, who doesn't know +much more about sliding than I do, or did. He--" + +"I saw he was getting on the wrong side, right behind you two, as we +shot past on ours," interrupted Serena Huntington, "and we both called +out: 'steer! steer right!' but I suppose they didn't hear or +understand. We were so far down then that I don't know." + +"Gwen, dear, you tell the rest," begged Dorothy, cuddling up to the +girl she now so dearly loved. + +It wasn't often that Gwendolyn was called to the front like this, but +she found it very pleasant; so readily took up the tale where Dorothy +left it, "at the very beginning" as "Dixie" laughingly declared. + +"It seems as if there was nothing to tell--it was all so quick--it +just happened! Half way down, it must have been, the farmer's sled hit +ours. That scared me, too, and I called, just as Serena had, and as +everybody on the slide was doing as they passed: 'Steer right!' I +guess that only confused the poor old man, for he kept bobbing into us +and that hindered our getting away from him ourselves. + +"Next I knew, Dolly was off the sled and over the edge of the slide, +clinging to it for her life. I knew she couldn't hold on long and so I +rolled off and grabbed her. Then we began to slide and I knew somebody +was trying to help by pushing us downward toward the bottom. I don't +know who that was. I don't know anything clearly. It was all like a +flash--I guessed we would be killed--I shut my eyes and--that's all." + +To break the too suggestive silence which followed with its hint of a +different, sorrowful ending, Florita Sheraton exclaimed: + +"I know who did that pushing! It was our little Robin Adair, or +whatever his name is. Fact. That home-made toboggan of his came to +grief. The old man has told me. He's out in the kitchen now warming up +his bruises. You see, there wasn't anything to hang on by, on the +sides. He had scorned Robin's advice to nail something on and he +nearly ground his fingers off holding on by the flat bottom. It went +so swift--his fingers ached so--he yanked them out from under--Robin +screeched--they ran into you--they both tumbled off--Robin lodged +against you but John Gilpin rode to the bottom--thus wise!" + +Florita illustrated by rolling one hand over and under the other; and +thus, in fact, had John Gilpin taken his first toboggan slide. + +Laughter showed that the tension of excitement which had held these +schoolgirls all that day had yielded to ordinary feelings, and now +most of them went away for study or practicing, leaving Dorothy and +Gwendolyn alone. After a moment, they also left the library, bound +kitchenwards, to visit old John and see if Robin were still +thereabouts. + +"I wish there were something I could do for that boy," said Gwen. "I +feel so grateful to him for helping us and he looked so poor. Do you +suppose, Dolly, if Mamma offered him money for that new coat he jested +about, that he would be offended." + +"Of course, Gwen, I don't know about _him_. You never can tell about +other folks, but Uncle Seth thinks it's a mighty safe rule 'to put +yourself in his place'; and if I were in Robin's I'd be 'mad as a +hatter' to have money offered me for doing a little thing like that. +Wouldn't you?" + +"Why, yes, Dorothy, of course I would. The idea! But I'm rich, or my +people are, which is the same thing. But he's poor. His feelings may +not, cannot, be the same as our sort have." + +"Why can't they? I don't like to have you think that way. You ought +not. Gwen you must not. For that will make us break friendship square +off. I'm not poor Dawkins's niece, though I might be much worse off +than that, but once I was 'poor' like Robin. I was a deserted baby, +adopted by a poor letter carrier. Now, what do you think of that? +Can't I have nice feelings same as you? And am I a bit better--in +myself--because in reality I belonged to a rich old family, than I was +when I washed dishes in Mother Martha's kitchen? Tell me that, before +we go one step further." + +Dorothy had stopped short in the hall and faced about, anxiously +studying the face of this "Peer," who had now become so dear to her. + +Gwendolyn's face was a puzzle; as, for a time, the old opinions and +the new struggled within her. But the struggle was brief. Her pride, +her justice, and now her love, won the victory. + +"No, you darling, brave little thing, you are not. Whatever you are +you were born such, and I love you, I love you. If I'd only been born +in the States I'd have had no silly notions." + +"Don't you believe that, Gwen. Aunt Betty says that human nature is +the same all the world over. You'd have been just as much of a snob if +you'd been 'raised in ol' Ferginny' as you are here. Oh! my! I didn't +mean that. I meant--You must understand what I mean!" + +A flush of mortification at her too plain speaking made Dorothy hide +her face, but her hands were swiftly pulled down and a kiss left in +their place. + +"Don't you fret, Queenie! It's taken lots of Mamma's plain speaking to +keep me half-way decent to others less rich than I, and I'm afraid +it'll take lots of yours, too, to put the finishing touches to that +lesson. Come on. We love each other now, and love puts everything +right. Come on. Let's find that Robin and see what we can do for him +without hurting his feelings." + +"Oh! yes, come, let's hurry! But first to the Lady Principal. Maybe we +can help them both. Won't that be fine?" + +But they were not to help Robin just then. A groan from the servants' +parlor, a pleasant room opening from the kitchen, arrested their +attention and made them pause to listen. Punctuated by other sounds, +a querulous voice was complaining: + +"Seems if there warn't a hull spot left on my old body that ain't +bruised sore as a bile. Why, sir, when I fell off that blamed sled +we'd tinkered up"--groan--"I didn't know anything. Just slid--an' +slid--an' rolled over and over, never realizin' which side of me was +topmost till I fetched up--kerwhack! to the very bottom. Seemed as if +I'd fell out o' the sky into the bottomless pit. Oh! dear!" + +Dawkins's voice it was that answered him, both pitying and teasing him +in the same breath: + +"I'm sure it's sorry I am, Mr. Gilpin, for what's befell; but for a +man that's lived in a tobogganing country ever since he was born, you +begun rather late in life to learn the sport. Why--" + +"Ain't no older'n the Bishop! Can't one man do same's t'other, I'd +like to know, Mis' Dawkins?" + +"Seems not;" laughed the maid. "But, here, take this cup of hot +spearmint tea. 'Twill warm your old bones and help 'em to mend; an' +next time you start playin' children's game--why don't! And for +goodness' sake, John, quit groanin'! Takin' on like that don't help +any and I tell you fair and square I've had about all the strain put +on my nerves, to-day, 't I can bear. What was your bit of a roll down +that smooth ice compared to what our girls went through?" + +"Has you got any nuts in your pockets? Has you?" broke in +Millikins-Pillikins, who had been a patient listener to the confab +between the farmer and the nurse till she could wait no longer. Never +had the old man come to Oak Knowe without some dainty for the little +girl and she expected such now. + +"No, sissy, I haven't. I dunno as I've got a pocket left. I dunno +nothing, except--except--What'll SHE say when I go home all lamed up +like this! Oh! hum! Seems if I was possessed to ha' done it, and so +she thought. But 'twas Robin's fault. If Robin hadn't beset me so I'd +never thought of it. Leastwise, not to go the length I did. If +I'd--But there! What's the use? But one thing's sure. I'll get shut of +that boy, see if I don't. He's well now an' why should I go to +harboring _reptiles_ in my buzzum? Tell me that if ye can! _Reptiles._ +That's what he was, a-teasin' an' misleadin' a poor old man into +destruction. Huh! I'll make it warm for him--trust John Gilpin for +that!" + +Dawkins had long since departed, unable to bear the old man's +lamentations, and leaving the cup, or pot, of hot tea on the table +beside him. But little Grace couldn't tear herself away. She lingered, +first hoping for the nuts she craved, and later in wonder about the +"_reptile_" he said was in his bosom. There were big books full of +pictures in the library, that Auntie Prin sometimes let her see. She +loved to have them opened on the rug and lie down beside them to study +them. She knew what "reptiles" were. That was the very one of all the +Natural History books with the blue bindings that she liked best, it +was so delightfully crawly and sent such funny little thrills all +through her. If a picture could do that what might not the real thing +do! + +"Show it to me, please, Mr. Gilpin. I never saw a reptile in all my +whole life long! Never!" + +The farmer had paid scant attention to her chatter; indeed, he +scarcely heard it, his mind being wholly engrossed now with +what his dame would say to him, on his return home; and in his +absent-mindedness he reached out for the drink good Dawkins had +left him and put the pot to his lips taking a great draught. + +An instant later the pot flew out of his hand and he sprang to his +feet, clutching frantically at his bosom and yelling as if he were +stung. For the contents of the pot were boiling hot and he had scalded +his throat most painfully. + +But wide-eyed little Grace did not understand his wild action, as, +still clutching his shirt front, he hurled the pot far from him. Of +course, the "reptile" was biting! That must be why he screeched so, +and now all her desire for a personal acquaintance with such a +creature vanished. She must get as far away from it as possible before +it appeared on the surface of his smock and, darting doorward, was +just in time to receive the pot and what was left in it upon her curly +head. Down she dropped as if she had been shot, and Dorothy entering +was just in time to see her fall. The scene apparently explained +itself. The angry face of the old man, his arm still rigid, in the +gesture of hurling, the fallen child and the broken pot--who could +guess that it was horror at his uncalculated deed which kept him in +that pose? + +Not Dorothy, who caught up little Grace and turned a furious face upon +poor John, crying out in fierce contempt: + +"Oh! you horrible old man! First you tried to kill me and now you have +killed her!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +EXPLANATIONS ARE IN ORDER + + +Dorothy ran straight to the Lady Principal's room, too horrified by +what she imagined was the case to pause on the way and too excited to +feel the heavy burden she carried. + +Nobody met her to stop her or inquire what had happened. Gwendolyn had +been called to join her mother and had seen nothing of the incident, +and Dorothy burst into the pretty parlor--only to find it empty. +Laying Millikins down on the couch she started to find help, but was +promptly called back by the child herself. + +"Where you going, Dolly Doodles? What you carry me for, running so?" + +"Why--why--darling--can you _speak_? Are you _alive_? Oh! you +dear--you dear! I thought you were killed!" cried the relieved girl +kneeling beside the couch and hugging the astonished little one. + +"Why for can't I speak, Dorothy? Why for can't I be alive? The +'reptile' didn't bite me, it bited _him_. That's why he hollered so +and flung things. See, Dolly, I'm all wet with smelly stuff like +'meddy' some kind, that Dawkins made him. And what you think? Soon's +he started drinking it the 'reptile' must not have liked it and must +have bited him to make him stop--'Ou-u-c-ch!' Just like that he said +it, an' course I runned, an' the tea-pot flew, an' I fell down, and +you come, grabbed me and said things, and--and--But the reptile didn't +get Gracie, did it? No it didn't, 'cause I runned like anything, and +'cause you come, and--Say, Dolly! I guess I'd rather see 'em in the +book. I guess I don't want to get acquainted with no live ones like I +thought I did. No, sir!" + +"What in the world do you mean, Baby? Whatever are you talking about? +Oh! you mischief, you gave poor Dolly such a fright when you fell down +like that!" + +"Why, Dolly Doodles, how funny! I fall down lots of times. Some days I +fall down two-ten-five times, and sometimes I'd cry, but Auntie Prin +don't like that. She'll say right off: 'There, Millikins, I wouldn't +bother to do that. You haven't hurt the floor any.' So course I stop. +'Cause if I had hurted the floor she'd let me cry a lot. She said so, +once. Mr. Gilpin didn't have a single nut in his pockets. He said so. +And he talked awful funny! Not as if to me at all, so must ha' been to +the 'reptile' in his 'buzzum.' Do 'reptiles' buzz, Dolly, same as +sting-bees do? And wouldn't you rather carry nuts in your pockets for +such nice little girls as me, than crawly things inside your smock to +bite you? I think a smock's the funniest kind of clothes, and Mr. +Gilpin's the funniest kind of man inside 'em. Don't you?" + +"If either one can match you for funniness, you midget, I'll lose my +guess. Seems if this had been the 'funniest' kind of day ever was. But +I'll give you up till you get ready to explain your 'reptile' talk. +Changing the subject, did you get a slide to-day?" + +"Yes, lots of them. What do think? I didn't have anybody give me a +nice new toboggan with my name on it, like you had; so the Bishop he +told Auntie Prin that he'd look out for me this year same's he did +last year. I hadn't grown so much bigger, he thought. Course he's +terrible big and I'm terrible little, so all he does is tuck me inside +his great toboggan coat. Buttons it right around me--this way--so I +never could slip out, could I? And I don't have to hold on at all he +holds on for me and Auntie's not afraid, that way. Don't you think it +was terrible nice for Gwendolyn to give you your things?" + +"What things, dear? Gwen has given me nothing that I know of. Is this +another mystery of yours?" + +"It isn't not no mystery, I don't know what them are, except when +girls like you get lost right in their own houses and don't get found +again right soon. But I know 'secrets.' Secrets are what the one you +have 'em about don't get told. That was a secret about your things, +Gwen said. You didn't get told, did you?" + +"I have a suspicion that I'm being told now," answered Dorothy, +soberly. "Suppose you finish the telling, dear, while we are airing +the subject. What are the things you're talking about?" + +"Why, aren't you stupid, Dolly? About the be-a-u-tiful blankets were +made into your suit. Auntie said they were the handsomest ever was. +Lady Jane had bought 'em to have new things made for Gwen, 'cause Lady +Jane's going far away across the ocean and she wanted to provide every +single thing Gwen might want. In case anything happened to Gwen's old +one. + +"So Gwen said, no, she didn't need 'em and you did. She guessed your +folks hadn't much money, she'd overheard the Bishop say so. That's the +way she knows everything is 'cause she always 'overhears.' I told +Auntie Prin that I thought that was terrible nice, and I'd like to +learn overhearing; and she sauced me back the funniest! My! she did! +Said if she ever caught me overhearing I'd be put to bed with nothing +but bread and water to eat, until I forgot the art. Just like that +she said it! Seems if overhearing is badness. She does so want +Gwendolyn to be really noble. Auntie Prin thinks it noble for Gwen to +give up her blankets and to have that be-a-u-tiful toboggan bought for +you with your name on it. You aren't real poor, are you, Dolly? Not +like the beggar folks come 'tramping' by and has 'victuals' given to +them? Bishop says all little girls must be good to the poor. That's +when he wants me to put my pennies in my Mite Box for the little +heathen. I don't so much care about the heathen and Hugh--" + +But Dorothy suddenly put the child down, knowing that once started +upon the theme of "Brother Hugh" the little sister's talk was endless. +And she was deeply troubled. + +She had altogether forgotten John Gilpin and the accusation she had +hurled at him. Nothing now remained in her mind but thoughts of +Gwendolyn's rich gifts and indignation against her. Why had she done +it? As a sort of payment for Dorothy's assistance at the Maiden's +Bath? + +Meeting Miss Muriel in the hall she cried: + +"Oh! my dear lady, I am in such trouble! May I talk to you a moment?" + +"Certainly, Dorothy. Come this way. Surely there can be nothing +further have happened to you, to-day." + +Safe in the shelter and privacy of a small classroom, Dorothy told her +story into wise and loving ears; and to be comforted at once. + +"You are all wrong, Dorothy. I am sure that there was no such thought +as payment for any deed of yours in poor Gwendolyn's mind. You have +been invariably kind to her in every way possible; and until this +chance came she had found none in which to show you that she realized +this and loved you for it. Why, my dear, if you could have seen her +happiness when I told her it was a beautiful thing for her to do, you +would certainly have understood her and been glad to give her the +chance she was glad to take. It is often harder to accept favors than +to bestow them. It takes more grace. Now, dear, let's call that 'ghost +laid,' as Dawkins says. Hunt up Gwen, tell her how grateful you are to +her for her rich, unselfish gifts, and--do it with a real Dorothy +face; not with any hint of offended pride--which is not natural to it! +And go at once, then drop the subject and forget it. We were all so +thankful that you chose her this morning without knowing." + +Back came the smiles as Miss Muriel hoped to see them, and away sped +Dorothy to put the good advice in practice; and five minutes later +Gwendolyn was the happiest girl at Oak Knowe, because her gifts had +been ascribed to real affection only. + +"Now, Gwen, that we've settled _that_, let's go and see what we can do +for Robin. Heigho, Winifred! you're just in time to aid a worthy +cause--Come on to Lady Principal!" + +"Exactly whither I was bound!" waving a letter overhead. "Going +a-begging, my dears, if you please!" she returned, clasping Gwen's +waist on one side to walk three abreast. A trivial action in itself +but delightful to the "Peer," showing that this free-spoken "Commoner" +no longer regarded her as "stand-offish" but "just one of the crowd." + +"Begging for what, Win?" + +"That's a secret!" + +"Pooh! You might as well tell. Secrets always get found out. I've just +discovered one--by way of chattering Millikins-Pillikins. Guess it." + +"I couldn't, Dolly, I'm too full of my own. As for that child's +talk--but half of it has sense." + +"So I thought, too, listening to her. But _half did_ have sense and +that is--Who do you think gave me my beautiful toboggan things?" + +"Why, your Aunt Betty, I suppose, since she does everything else for +you," answered Winifred promptly. "Anyhow, don't waste time on +guesses--Tell!" + +Then she glanced up into Gwendolyn's face and saw how happy it was, +and hastily added: + +"No, you needn't tell, after all, I know. It was Gwen, here, the +big-hearted dear old thing! She's the only girl at Oak Knowe who's +rich enough and generous enough to do such a splendid thing." + +"Good for you, Win, you guessed right at once!" answered Dolly trying +to clap her hands but unable to loosen them from her comrades' clasp. +"Now for yours!" + +"Wait till we get to the 'audience chamber'! Come on." + +But even yet they were hindered. In the distance, down at the end of +the hall, Dorothy caught sight of Mr. Gilpin, evidently just departing +from the house. A more dejected figure could scarcely be imagined, nor +a more ludicrous one, as he limped toward the entrance, hands on hips +and himself bent forward forlornly. Below his rough top-coat which he +had discarded on his arrival, hung the tatters of his smock that had +been worn to ribbons by his roll down the slide. + +Nobody knew what had become of his own old beaver hat, but a light +colored derby, which the _chef_ had loaned him, sat rakishly over one +ear, in size too small for the whole top of his bald head. + +"Looks as if he had two foreheads!" said Winifred, who couldn't help +laughing at his comical appearance, with part of his baldness showing +at front and back of the borrowed hat. + +Dorothy laughed, too, yet felt a guilty regret at the way she had +spoken to him. She had accused him of "trying to kill her" as well as +Gwen and little Grace; but he "kill anything"? Wicked, even to say +that. + +"There goes John Gilpin, and, girls, I must speak to him. Come--I +can't let him go that way!" + +As his "good foot" crossed the threshold Dorothy's hand was on his +shoulder and her voice begging: + +"Oh! please, Mr. Gilpin! Do forgive that horrible thing I said! I +didn't know, I didn't understand, I didn't mean it--I thought--it +looked--Do come back just a minute and let me explain." + +The old fellow turned and gazed into her pleading eyes, but at first +scarcely heard her. + +"Why, 'tis the little maid! hersel' that was cryin' that night on the +big railway platform. The night that Robin lad was anigh kilt. +Something's mixed up in me head. What's it, lassie, you want?" + +"I want your forgiveness, Mr. Gilpin. When I saw Gracie on the floor +and the broken pot beside her I thought--you'd--you'd tried--and +account of your sled hitting Gwen and me--Do come in and rest. You're +worse hurt than anybody thought, I'm afraid. There, there, that's +right. Come back and rest till the team goes into town for the +Saturday night's supplies. It always goes you know, and Michael will +get the driver to drop you at your own door. I'm sure he will." + +Obediently, he allowed her to lead him back into the hall and to seat +him on the settle beside the radiator. The warmth of that and the +comfort of three sympathetic girls soon restored his wandering wits +and he was as ready to talk as they to listen. + +"You do forgive, don't you, dear old John?" + +"Sure, lassie, there's nought about forgiveness, uther side. It was a +bit misunderstandin' was all. The wee woman a-pleadin' for treats out +of pocket, and me thinkin' hard o' Robin, for coaxin' an old man to +make a fool of hissel'. Me feeling that minute as if 'twas all his +fault and thinking I'd cherished a snake, a reptile, in my buzzum, and +sayin' it out loud, likes I have a bad habit of doing. + +"Silly I was, not remembering how't a child takes all things literal. +Ha, ha, ha! To think it! When I scalded mysel' with the hot tea the +bairnie should fancy I yelled at a sarpent's bite! Sure, I could split +my sides a-laughin' but for the hurt I gave her. How is she doin', +lass? I've waited this long spell for someone to pass by and give me +the word, but nobody has. Leastwise, them that passes has no mind for +old John in his dumps." + +"Why, Mr. Gilpin, she wasn't hurt at all; and it's just as you said. +She thought you had a real snake in your clothes and it had bitten +you. She's all right now, right as can be; and so will you be as soon +as you get home and into your wife's good care. She--" + +"Ah, my Dorothy! 'Tis she I dread. Not a word'll she say, like enough, +but the look she will give to my silly face--Hmm. She's a rare silent +woman is my Dame, but she can do a power o' thinkin'." + +"Yes, she can, and the first thing she'll think is how glad she is to +have her husband back again, safe and sound." + +"Aye, but Dorothy, hark ye! I'm safe, I'll grant ye that; but--sound? +'Tis different letters spells that word. Sound? I'll no' be that for +weeks to come!" and the poor fellow, who certainly had been badly +bruised and lucky to have escaped broken bones, sighed profoundly. + +Winifred had an inspiration. + +"Speaking of Robins, suppose we write her a round-robin letter? Right +here and now, on the back of this letter of Father's? It's a grand +good letter for me and we'll write so nicely of you, Mr. John, that +it'll be a good one for her, too." + +"Will ye? A real letter explainin' about the accident, when the +lassie's toboggan got in our way and we got that mixed 'twas nigh the +death of the lot? Dame'd be proud enough to get that letter. Sure, I +believe 'twould set her thinkin' of other things, and she'll be liker +to overlook my foolishness." + +They all laughed at the crafty manner in which he shipped his +responsibility for the accident from his shoulders to theirs; but +Winifred plumped herself down on the settle beside him and, using it +for a desk, concocted an amusing story of the whole day's happenings. +The other girls had less of the gift of writing, but each added a few +words and signed her name with a flourish. Altogether it was a +wonderful document, so the farmer thought, as Winifred tore that +half-sheet from her father's letter, folded it in a fantastic way and +gave it him. + +Indeed, he was so pleased with it and so anxious to get it into his +wife's hands that, after turning it over and about, in admiration of +the "true lover's knot" into which Win had folded it, he rose to go +away. All his stiffness was forgotten, he almost neglected to drag his +lame foot, he firmly declined to stay for supper or any ride with the +Oak Knowe team, so completely had the kindness of the three girls +cured him. + +"A letter for the Dame! Sure she'll be the proud woman the night, and +maybe she'll think I'd more sense after all. I don't mind she'd ary +letter come before since we was married. Good night, young ladies. +Tell the bit woman 't next time there'll be nuts in me pockets, all +right, and no fear for her o' more snakes. Good-by." + +They watched him down the path, fairly strutting in his pride over the +note which a mere whim on Winifred's part had suggested, and Dorothy +exclaimed: + +"What a dear, simple old soul he is! That a tiny thing like that could +make so happy. I believe he was more delighted with that half-sheet of +your paper than you are with your father's other half." + +Winifred caught the others about the waist and whirled them indoors +again, first gleefully kissing her father's bit of writing and asking: + +"Think so? Then he's the gladdest person in the world, to-night. +Oh--ee!" + +"Well, Win, you can be glad without squeezing the breath out of a +body, can't you? Heigho, Robin! Where'd you come from?" said Dolly, as +the boy came suddenly upon them from a side hall. + +"Why, from the kitchen. The folks there made me eat a lot of good +stuff and a woman--I guess it was the housekeeper--she made me put on +some of the men's clothes while she took my knickers and mended them. +I'd torn them all to flinders on that slide, or old botched up sled, +and she said I was a sight. I was, too. She was awful kind. She made +me tell all about Mother and my getting hurt and everything. But she +said I ought to go right away and find Mr. Gilpin and get friends with +him again. Isn't it funny? He blames _me_ for all that happened and +for teasing him to make that wretched sled, yet, sir, if you'll +believe me he was the one spoke of it first. True! Said he'd never had +a toboggan ride in all his life, long as that was, because he hadn't +anybody to go with him. But 'he'd admire' to have just one before he +died--" + +"He had it, didn't he?" laughed Winifred. + +"He had a hard time getting Mrs. Gilpin's consent. She treats him as +if he were a little boy, worse'n Mother does me, but he doesn't get +mad at all. He thinks she's the most wonderful woman in the world, but +I must find him and put myself right with him before we go home and +tackle her. He'll need my help then more'n he did makin' that beastly +sled! It was awful--really awful--the way he went rolling down that +icy slide, but to save my life I can't help laughing when I think of +it. Can you?" + +At the lad's absurd movements, as he now pictured John's remarkable +"ride" they all laughed; but suddenly Dorothy demanded: + +"You sit right down yonder on that settle and wait for me. You can't +find Mr. Gilpin, now, he's far on the road home. But there's something +I must ask Miss Tross-Kingdon--" + +"No! You don't ask Miss Tross-Kingdon one single thing till I've had +my ask first, Dorothy Calvert! Here I'm nearly crazy, trying to hold +in my secret, and--" + +"I claim my chance too! I've a petition of my own if you please and +let the first to arrive win!" shouted Gwendolyn, speeding after the +other two toward the "audience chamber." + +Thus deserted, Robin laughed and curled up on the bench to wait; while +the Lady Principal's sanctum was boisterously invaded by three +petitioners, forgetful of the required decorum, and each trying to +forestall the others, with her: + +"Oh! Miss Muriel, may I--?" "Please, Miss Tross-Kingdon, my +father's--" + +"Hear me first, dear Lady Principal, before he gets away. Can--" + +But the Lady Principal merely clapped her hands over her ears and +ordered: + +"One at a time. Count twenty." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +MRS. JARLEY ENTERTAINS + + +"I've counted! And I beg pardon for rushing in here like that. But I +was afraid the others had favors to ask and I wanted to get mine in +first!" said Gwendolyn, after the brief pause Miss Tross-Kingdon had +suggested. + +"Oh! you sweet, unselfish thing!" mocked Winifred, "your favor can't +be half as fine as mine--" + +"Nor mine! Oh! do please let me speak first, for fear he gets away!" +begged Dorothy, eagerly. + +"First come first served, Dolly, please!" coaxed Gwendolyn and the +teacher nodded to her to speak. + +"Mine's for next Saturday. Mrs. Jarley's Wax Works are to be in town +and Mamma says if you'll allow I may invite the whole school to go. +She'll have big sleighs sent out for us and will let us have supper at +the hotel where she stops. May we go?" + +"Wait a moment, Gwendolyn. Did you say the 'whole school'?" + +Each year Lady Jane had allowed her daughter to entertain her +schoolmates in some such manner but the number had, heretofore, been +limited to "Peers" only. Such a wholesale invitation as this required +some explanation. + +Gwendolyn's eyes fell and her cheek flushed, while the other girls +listened in wondering delight for her answer, which came after some +hesitation. But came frankly at last in the girl's own manner. + +"I'm ashamed now of the silly notions I used to have. I wanted to do +something which would prove that I am; so instead of picking out a few +of what we called 'our set' I want every girl at Oak Knowe to join us. +You'll understand, of course, that there will be no expense to +anybody. It's Mamma's farewell treat to us girls, before she goes +abroad. May she and I give it?" + +"Indeed, you may, Gwendolyn, if the Bishop approves. With the +understanding that no lessons are neglected. The winter is about over. +Spring exams are near, and 'Honors' or even 'Distinction' will not be +won without hard work." + +"Thank you, Miss Muriel. May I go now and ask the Bishop, then tell +the girls?" + +"Certainly," and there was an expression of greater pleasure on the +lady's face than on that of Gwendolyn's even. + +Winifred executed what she called a "war dance" as Gwen disappeared, +crying: + +"That's what I call a wholesale burying of the hatchet! That +'Honorable' young woman is distinguishing herself. Don't you think +so, Miss Muriel?" + +"I am pleased. I am very pleased. Gwendolyn has surely dropped her +foolishness and I'm proud of her. It's so much safer for anyone to be +normal, without fads or fancies--" + +"Oh! come now, you dear Schoolma'am! Never mind the pretty talk just +this minute, 'cause I can't wait to tell you--Father's coming--my +Father is coming and a proper good time with him! If you'll only +remember I wasn't saucy then--A girl you'd raised to hand, like me, +couldn't really be saucy, could she? And--and please just wait a +minute. Please let me talk first. Because _I_ can't ask _everybody_, +but my darling Father means just as well as Lady Jane. His invite is +only for a dozen--round baker's dozen, to take a trip in his car to +Montreal and visit the Ice Palace! Think of that! The beautiful Ice +Palace that I've never seen in all my life. If you'll say 'yes,' if +you'll be the picker out of 'em, besides yourself and Miss Hexam and +Dawkins--Oh! dear! You three grown-ups take off three from my +dozen-thirteen! But there'll be ten left, any way, and please say yes +and how many days we may be gone and--Oh! I love you, Miss Muriel, you +know I do!" + +The lady Principal calmly loosened Winifred's clasping arms, and +smilingly looked into the sparkling, pleading eyes before her. Who +could be stern with the whimsical child she had cared for during so +many years, and under whose apparently saucy manner, lay a deep love +and respect? She did not enlighten the pleader on the fact that this +was no new thing she had just heard; nor that there had been written +communications passing between Mr. Christie and the Bishop with +consent already won. But she put her answer off by saying: + +"We'll see about it, Winifred: and I'm glad there was nobody save +Dorothy here to see you so misbehave! But if we go, and if the +selection is left to me, I may not please you; for I should choose +those whose record for good conduct is highest and whose preparation +for exams is most complete." + +Winifred wrinkled her brows. Of course she, as hostess couldn't be +counted either out or in, but she knew without telling that but few of +her own class-ten would be allowed to go. They were the jolliest "ten" +at Oak Knowe and oftener in disgrace about lessons than free from it. + +"Oh! dear! I do wish we'd dreamed this treat was coming! I'd have +forced the 'Aldriches' to study as hard as they played--if--if I had +to do it at the point of my mahl-stick. I guess it'll be a lesson to +them." + +"I trust it will, dear, but Dorothy has waited all this time. Three +little maids with three little wishes, regular fairy-tale like, and +two of them granted already. What's yours, Dorothy?" + +Since listening to the others' requests, her own seemed very simple, +almost foolish; but she answered promptly: + +"I want to get you a boot-boy." + +Winifred laughed. + +"Hey, Dolly! To switch off from a private-car-ice-palace-trip into a +boot-boy's jacket is funny enough. Who's the candidate you're +electioneering for?" + +Miss Muriel hushed Winifred's nonsense which had gone far enough and +was due, she knew, to the girl's wild delight over her father's +promised visit. + +"If you could find a good one for me, Dorothy, you would certainly be +doing me a favor, not I one for you. Whom do you mean?" + +"Robin Locke, Miss Tross-Kingdon. He's so very poor." + +"Poverty isn't always a recommendation for usefulness. Is he old +enough? Is it that lad who came with Mr. Gilpin?" + +"Yes, Miss Muriel. He's just the loveliest boy I've seen in Canada--" + +"The _only_ one, except Jack!" interrupted Winifred. + +"It was because of me and my carelessness he got hurt and broke +himself. He was carrying my telegram that I ought to have sent long +before and he was so starved he fell off his bicycle and always ever +since I've wished I could help him some way and he'd have such a nice +home here and he wouldn't bring in goats, and his mother could do +things to help and I thought maybe he could do the shoes and other +things would be easier than what he did and could be a golf-boy for +the Bishop when the time comes and it's pretty near and--" + +"There, Dorothy, take your breath, and put a comma or two into your +sentences. Then we'll talk about this project of yours. Where's Robin +now?" + +"Right out on the settle this minute waiting--if he hasn't gone +away--May I--" + +"Yes, honey, step-an'-fetch him!" laughed Winifred again, "he's used +to that sort of talk." + +Away flashed Dorothy and now, at a really serious rebuke from the Lady +Principal, Winifred sobered her lively spirits to be an interested +witness of the coming interview, as Dorothy came speeding back, +literally dragging the shy Robin behind her. + +But, as before, the presence of other young folks and Miss Muriel's +first question put him at his ease. + +"Robin, are you willing to work rather hard, in a good home, for your +mother and to provide one for her, too?" + +"Why, of course, Ma'am. That's what I was a-doin' when I fell off. +Goody! Wouldn't I? Did you ever see my mother, lady?" + +"Yes, Robin, at our Hallowe'en Party," answered Miss Tross-Kingdon, +smiling into the beautiful, animated face of this loyal son. + +"You'd like her, Ma'am, you couldn't help it. She's 'the sweetest +thing in the garden,' Father used to say, and he knew. She feels bad +now, thinking we've been so long at the farmer's 'cause she don't see +how 't we ever can pay them. And the doctor, too. Oh! Ma'am, did you +hear tell of such a place? Do you think I could get it?" + +"Yes, lad, I did hear of just such, for Dorothy told me. It's right +here at Oak Knowe. The work is to pick up row after row of girls' +shoes, standing over night outside their bedroom doors and to blacken +them, or whiten them, as the case might be, and to have them +punctually back in place, in time for their owners to put on. Cleaning +boots isn't such a difficult task as it is a tedious one. The maids +complain that it's more tiresome than scrubbing, and a boy I knew grew +very careless about his work. If I asked you and your mother to come +here to live, would you get tired? Or would she dislike to help care +for the linen mending? Of course, you would be paid a fair wage as +well as she. What do you think?" + +What Robin thought was evident: for away he ran to Dorothy's side and +catching her hand kissed it over and over. + +"Oh! you dear, good girl! It was you who helped the doctor set my +bones, it was you who let me slide on your new toboggan, and it's you +who've 'spoke for me' to this lady. Oh! I do thank you. And now I'm +not afraid to go back and see Mr. Gilpin. He was so vexed with me +because he thought--May I go now, Ma'am? and when do you want us, +Mother and me?" + +"To-morrow morning, at daybreak. Will you be here?" + +"Will I not? Oh! good-by. I must go quick! and tell my Mother that she +needn't worry any more. Oh! how glad I am!" + +With a bow toward Miss Tross-Kingdon and a gay wave of his hand toward +the girls, he vanished from the room, fairly running down the corridor +and whistling as he went. The rules of Oak Knowe had yet all to be +learned but it certainly was a cheerful "noise in halls" to which they +listened now. + +"And that's another 'link' in life, such as Uncle Seth was always +watching for. If I hadn't delayed that telegram and he hadn't fallen +down and--everything else that happened--Robin would never have had +such a lovely chance," said Dorothy proudly. + +"That's a dangerous doctrine, Dorothy. It's fine to see the 'links' +you speak of, but not at all fine to do evil that good may come. I'd +rather have you believe that this same good might have come to the lad +without your own first mistake. But it's time for studying Sunday +lessons and you must go." + +"Catch me studying 'links' for things, Dolly, if it gets a body +lectured. Dear Lady Principal does so love to cap her kindnesses with +'a few remarks.' There's a soft side and a hard side to that woman, +and a middle sort of schoolma'amy side between. She can't help it, +poor thing, and mostly her soft side was in front just now. + +"Think of it! Wax Works and Ice Palaces all in one term! I do just +hope Mrs. Jarley'll have a lot of real blood-curdling 'figgers' to +look at and not all miminy-piminy ones. Well, good night, honey, I'm +off to be as good as gold." + +Every pupil at Oak Knowe, in the week that followed, tried to be "as +good as gold," for a pleasure such as Lady Jane proposed to give the +school was as welcome to the highest Form as to the lowest Minims, and +the result was that none was left out of the party--not one. + +It was all perfectly arranged, even the weather conspiring to further +the good time, with a beautifully clear day and the air turned mild, +with a promise of the coming spring. The snow was beginning to waste, +yet the sleighing held fine and the city stables had been ransacked to +obtain the most gorgeous outfits with the safest drivers. + +Thirty handsome sleighs with their floating plumes and luxurious +robes, drawn by thirty spans of beautiful horses was the alluring +procession which entered Oak Knowe grounds on the eventful Saturday; +and three hundred happy girls, each in her best attire piled into +them. Yes, and one small boy! For who could bear to leave behind that +one last child of the great family? And a boy who in but a week's time +had learned to clean shoes so well and promptly? + +So clad in his new suit, of the school's uniform, "Such as all we men +folks wear"--as he had proudly explained to his mother when he first +appeared in this before her--and with a warm top-coat and cap to +match, the happy youngster rode in the leading sleigh in which sat +Lady Jane herself. + +Of how those happy young folks took possession of the exhibition hall, +that had been reserved for them; and smiled or shuddered over the +lifelike images of famous men and women; and finally tore themselves +away from the glib tongue of the exhibitor and his fascinating +show--all this any schoolgirl reader can picture for herself. + +Then of the dinner at the great hotel, in a beautiful room also +reserved that they might indulge their appetites as hunger craved +without fear or observation of other guests: the slow drive about the +city, and the swift drive home--with not one whit of the gayety dimmed +by any untoward accident. + +"Oh! it's been a perfect success! Nothing has happened that should +not, and I believe that I've been the happiest girl of all! But such a +crowd of them. Better count your flock, Miss Tross-Kingdon, maybe, and +see if any are missing;" said Lady Jane as she stepped down at the Oak +Knowe door. + +"I don't see how there could be, under your care, my Lady, but I'll +call a mental roll." + +So she did. But the roll was not perfect. Two were missing. Why? + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +A PERPLEXING PROBLEM OF LIFE + + +Miss Tross-Kingdon entered Miss Hexam's room, looking so disturbed +that the latter asked: + +"Why, Muriel, what is the matter?" + +They two were of kin and called each other by their first names. + +"Matter enough, Wilda. I'm worried and angry. And to think it should +happen while the Bishop is away on that trip of his to the States!" + +"Tell me," urged the gentle little woman, pushing a chair forward into +which the Lady Principal wearily dropped. + +"It's that Dorothy Calvert. She's lost herself again!" + +"She has a knack of doing that! But she'll be found." + +"Maybe. Worst is she's taken another with her. Robin, the new +boot-boy." + +Miss Hexam laughed: + +"Well, I admit that is the greater loss just now! Girls are plentiful +enough at Oak Knowe but boot-boys are scarce. And this Robin was a +paragon, wasn't he? Also, I thought Dorothy was away up toward the +'good conduct medal,' as well as 'distinction' in music. I don't see +why she should do so foolish a thing as you say and lessen her chances +for the prize." + +"Wilda, you don't understand how serious it is. It was one thing to +have it happen in this house but it's night now and she away in a +strange city. I declare I almost wish she'd never come at all." + +For a moment Miss Hexam said no more. She knew that Miss Muriel loved +the missing girl with sincere affection and was extremely proud of her +great progress in her studies. All the school had readily conceded +that in her own Form Dorothy stood highest, and would certainly win +the "honors" of that Form. When the Principal had rested quietly a +while longer she asked: + +"Now tell me all about it, Muriel." + +"Nobody missed her, but, she did not come home with the rest. I've +'phoned to the police to look for for her and the boy, but it's a +disgrace to the school to have to do such a thing. Besides, Robin's +mother is half wild about him and declares she must walk into town to +seek him." + +"You're foolish, the pair of you. Stop and reason. Robin is thoroughly +familiar with the city and suburbs, from his messenger-boy experience. +Dorothy is blessed with a fair share of common sense. If they +wandered away somewhere, they'll soon wander back again when they +realize what they have done. I'm sorry you stirred up the police and +they should be warned to keep the matter quiet." + +"Oh! they have been," answered the weary Lady Principal. "It does +seem, lately, that every good time we allow the girls ends in +disaster." + +"Never mind. You go to bed. You've done all you can till morning." + +Miss Muriel did go away but only to spend the night in watching along +with Lady Jane in the library, the latter deeply regretting that she +had ever suggested this outing and, like the Lady Principal, both +sorry and angry over its ending. + +Dorothy had ridden to the exhibition in the very last sleigh of all, +as Robin had in the first, and when they all left the hotel after +dinner he had lingered beside her while she waited for the other teams +to drive on and her own to come up. + +This took a long time, there was so much ado in settling so many girls +to the satisfaction of all; and looking backward he saw that there +would still be a delay of several moments. + +"I say, Dorothy, come on. I want to show you where we used to live +before my father died. We'll be back in plenty time. It's the dearest +little house, with only two rooms in it; but after we left it nobody +lived there and it's all gone to pieces. Makes me feel bad but I'd +like to show you. Just down that block and around a side street. Come +on. What's the use standing here?" + +"Sure we can be back in time, Robin?" + +"Certain. Cross my heart. I'm telling you the truth. It's only a step +or so." + +"Well, then, let's hurry." + +Hurry they did, he whistling as usual, until they came to a narrow +alley that had used to be open but had now been closed by a great pile +of lumber, impossible for them to climb. + +"Oh! pshaw! Somebody must be going to build here. But never mind. Our +house was right yonder, we can go another way." + +His interest as well as hers in exploring "new places," made them +forget everything else; and when, at last, they came to Robin's old +home a full half-hour had passed. + +It was, indeed, a sorry place. Broken windows, hanging doors and +shutters, chimney fallen, and doorstep gone. Nobody occupied it now +except, possibly, a passing tramp or the street gamin who had +destroyed it. + +"My! I'm glad my Mother can't see it now. She never has since we moved +down to our cottage in the glen. It would break her dear heart, for my +father built it when they were first married. That was the kitchen, +that the bedroom--Hark! What's that?" + +"Sounded like a cat." + +"Didn't to me. Cats are squealier'n that was. I wonder if anybody or +thing is in there now. If I had time I'd go and see." + +"Robin, wouldn't you be afraid?" + +"Afraid? Afraid to go into my own house, that was, that my father +built with his own hands? Huh! What do you take me for? I'd as soon go +in there as eat my din--Hello! There certainly--" + +They put their heads close to the paneless window and listened +intently. That was a human groan. That was a curious patter of small +hoofs--Dorothy had heard just such a sound before. That surely was a +most familiar wail: + +"Oh, Baal! My jiminy cricket!" + +"Jiminy cricket yourself, Jack-boot-boy! What you doing in my house? +I'm living in yours--I mean I'm boot-boy now. How are you?" cried +Robin, through the window. + +"Who'm you? Have you got anything to eat? Quick! Have you?" + +The voice which put the question was surely Jack's but oddly weak and +tremulous. Dorothy answered: + +"Not here, Jack, course. Are you hungry?" + +"Starvin'! Starvin'! I ain't touched food nor drink this two days. Oh! +Have you?" + +Daylight was already fading and street lights flashing out but this +by-way of the town had no such break to the darkness. Robin was over +the rickety threshold in an instant and Dorothy quickly followed. +Neither had now any thought save for the boy within and his suffering. + +They found him lying on a pile of old rags or pieces of discarded +burlap which he had picked up on the streets, or that some former +lodger in the room had gathered. Beside him was Baal, bleating +piteously, as if he, too, were starving. The reason for this was +evident when Robin stumbled over a rope by which the animal was +fastened to the window sash; else he might have strolled abroad and +foraged for himself. + +But if Robin fell he was up in a second and with the instincts of a +city bred boy knew just what to do and how to do it. + +"Got any money, Dorothy?" + +"Yes. Twenty-five cents, my week's allowance." + +"I've got ten. Mother said I might keep that much out of my week's +wages. Give it here. I'll be back in a minute." + +He was gone and Dorothy dropped down on the dusty floor beside Jack +and asked his story. He told it readily enough, as far as willingness +went, but his speech lagged for once and from sheer lack of strength. + +"I left--seeking my fortune. It warn't so easy as I thought it would +be. I've hired for odd jobs, held horses, run arrants, helped 'round +taverns, but didn't get no place for steady. Trouble was, folks don't +take no great to Baal. They'd put with him a spell, treat him real +decent till he'd up and butt somebody over--then his dough was cooked. +The worse he was used the better I liked him, though I'd ha' sold him +for money if I could, I've been hungry so much the time. And that +right here, Dorothy, _in a town full o' victuals_! Just chock full. +See 'em in the winders, see 'em in the markets, on wagons--and every +created place, but not a speck for me. But I got along, I'd ha' made +out, if I hadn't et somethin' made me dretful sick. It was somethin' +in a can I picked up out a garbage pail, some sort o' fish I guess, +and I've been terr'ble ever since. What'd he go for? Why don't he come +back?" + +"I don't know. I reckon he went for food. How did you keep warm in +here, if this is where you lived?" + +"Didn't keep warm. How could I? I ain't been warm, not real clean +through, since the last night I slep' in my nice bed at Oak Knowe." + +"Why didn't you come back? Or go to the railway stations? They are +always heated, I reckon." + +"Did. Turned me out. Lemme stay a spell but then turned me out. Said I +better go to the poorhouse but--won't that boy never come!" + +"He's coming now, Jack," she answered and was almost as glad as he of +the fact. + +Robin came whistling in, good cheer in the very sound. + +"Here you are neighbor! Candle and matches--two cents. Pint of +milk--three. Drink it down while I light up!" + +Jack grabbed the milk bottle with both hands and drained it; then fell +back again with a groan. + +"'T hurts my stummick! Hurts my stummick awful!" + +"Never mind. I'll turn Baal loose and let him find something outside. +A likely supper of tin cans and old shoes'll set him up to a T. Scoot, +Baal!" + +The goat was glad enough to go, apparently, yet in a moment came +bleating back to his master. Dorothy thought that was pathetic but +Robin declared it disgusting. + +"Clear out, you old heathen, and hunt your supper--" + +"Oh! don't be cruel to the loving creature, Robin! Suppose he should +get lost?" begged Dorothy. + +"Lost? You can't lose Baal, don't you fret. Look-a-here, boy! here's a +sandwich! Come from the best place in town. I know it. Give the +biggest slice for the least money. Can't tell me anything about that, +for I've been nigh starved myself too often in this same old town. +What? You don't want it? Can't eat it? Then what do you want?" + +Provoked that his efforts to please Jack failed so fully, Robin +whistled again, but not at all merrily this time; for he had at last +begun to think of his own predicament and Dorothy's. Here they were +stranded in town, Oak Knowe so far away, night fast falling and, +doubtless, a stern reprimand due--should they ever reach that happy +haven again. + +"Robin, I do believe he is sick. Real, terrible sick. It wasn't just +starving ailed him. Do you s'pose we could get a doctor to him?" + +"To this shanty? No, I don't. But if he's sick, there's hospitals. +Slathers of 'em. Hurray! There's the one that Dr. Winston is head of. +There's an emergency ward there and free ones--and it's the very +checker!" + +Jack had ceased moaning and lay very still. So still that they were +both frightened and Dolly asked: + +"How can we get him there, if they would take him in? He's terrible +heavy to carry." + +Even dimly seen by the light of the flickering candle struck on the +floor, Dorothy thought the pose of superiority Robin now affected the +funniest thing, and was not offended when he answered with lofty +scorn: + +"Carry him? I should say not. We couldn't and we won't. I'll just step +to the corner and ring up an ambulance. I know the name. You stay +here. I'll meet it when it comes and don't get scared when the gong +clangs to get out of the way." + +Dorothy's own life in a southern city returned to her now and she +remembered some of its advantages which Robin had spoken of. So she +was not at all frightened when she heard the ambulance come into the +street beyond the alley, which was too narrow for it to enter, nor +when two men in hospital uniforms appeared at the door of the room. +They had lanterns and a stretcher and at once placed poor Jack upon it +and hurried away. + +They needed not to ask questions for Robin had followed them and was +glibly explaining all he knew of the "case" and the rest which he had +guessed. + +"Ate spoiled fish out of a garbage can, did he? So you think it's +ptomaine poisoning, do you Doctor Jack-o'-my-thumb? Well, I shouldn't +be surprised if your diagnosis is correct. Steady now, mate, this is +a--Hello! What's that?" + +"That" proved to be Baal, returned to inquire what was being done to +his master by prodding the orderly's legs with his horns, so that the +stretcher nearly fell out of his hand. + +Baal got his answer by way of a vicious kick which landed him out of +reach and permitted the men to carry their burden quickly away. Left +behind, the pair of young Samaritans stared for an instant at one +another, dismayed at their own delay. + +It was Dorothy who came to a decision: + +"We've done as bad as we could and as good. Seems awful queer how it +all happened. Now we must go home. Can we get a carriage anywhere and +would it take us back without any money to pay it? Would Miss +Tross-Kingdon pay it, do you think? The Bishop would but he's gone +traveling." + +Leaving their candle still flickering on the floor they anxiously left +the shanty; and it may be stated here, for the guidance of other +careless ones that there was an item in the next morning's paper +stating that a certain "old rookery had been burned down during the +night; origin of fire unknown; a benefit to the city for it had long +been infested by hoboes and tramps." To which of these classes poor +Jack belonged it did not state; but either one was a far call to the +"great artist" he had said he would become. + +There were cabs in plenty to be seen and, probably, to be hired; but +they did not summon one. A vision of Miss Tross-Kingdon's face at its +sternest rose before Dorothy and she dared not venture on the lady's +generosity. Another thought came, a far happier one: + +"I'll tell you! Let's follow Jack. Maybe Dr. Winston would be there or +somebody would know about us--if we told--and would telephone to Oak +Knowe what trouble we're in. For it is trouble now, Robin Locke, and +you needn't say it isn't. You're scared almost to death and so am I. I +wish--I wish I'd never heard of a Wax Works, so there!" + +Robin stopped and turned her face up to the light of a street lamp +they were passing and saw tears in her eyes. That was the oddest thing +for her to cry--right here in this familiar city where were railway +stations plenty in which they might wait till morning and somebody +came. But, softened as her tears made him, he couldn't yet quite +forget that he was the man of the party. + +"It's an awful long ways to that Hospital, and I've got five cents +left. We can go in anywhere and I can 'phone for myself. No need to +bother any doctors or nurses." + +Opposition to her wishes dried her tears. + +"Well, I am going to Dr. Winston's hospital. I'd like you to go with +me and show me the way but if you won't the policemen I meet will do +it. I'm going right now." + +That conquered this small Canadian gentleman, and he answered: + +"All right. I'll show you. Only don't you dare to be crying when you +get there." + +She wasn't. It proved a long walk but help loomed at the end of it and +the youngsters scarcely felt fatigue in the prospect of this. Also, +the help proved to be just what they most desired. For there was Dr. +Winston himself, making his night visit to a very ill patient and +almost ready to depart in his car which stood waiting at the door. + +Dorothy remembered how little gentlewomen should conduct themselves +when paying visits; so after inquiring of the white-clad orderly who +admitted her if Dr. Winston was there, and being told that he was, she +took her empty purse from her pocket and sent up her card. She would +have written Robin's name below hers if she had had a pencil or--had +thought about it. + +The tiny card was placed upon a little silver salver and borne away +with all the dignity possible; but there was more amazement than +dignity in the good doctor's reception of it. Another moment he was +below, buttoning his top-coat as he came and demanding with a smile +that was rather anxious: + +"To what am I indebted for the pleasure of this visit, Miss Dorothy +Calvert?" + +But the tears were still too near the girl's eyes for her to meet jest +with jest. She could only hold out her arms, like the lonely, +frightened child she was and he promptly clasped her in his own. + +Then "tinkle, tinkle, tinkle," ran a little bell in the Oak Knowe +library and over the telephone wire rang the doctor's hearty voice. + +"Be at rest, Miss Muriel. Your runaways are found and I'll motor them +home in a jiffy!" + +This was so joyful a message that Lady Jane and the Lady Principal +promptly fell upon one another's neck and wept a few womanly tears. +Then Miss Tross-Kingdon released herself, exclaiming: + +"Oh! those dreadful police. Why did I violate the privacy of Oak Knowe +by setting them to search? I must recall the order right away--if I +can!" + +Self-blame doesn't tend toward anybody's good nature and the head of +Oak Knowe School for Young Ladies had been sorely tried. Also, her +offense had come from the very girl she trusted most and was, +therefore, the more difficult to forgive. So clothing herself in all +her dignity, she was simply the Lady Principal and nothing more, when +for a second time the quiet of her domain was broken by the honk-honk +of an automobile, the door opened and Dorothy and Robin walked in. The +doctor had laughingly declared that he couldn't enter with them--he +was afraid! But though it was really only lack of time that prevented +him so doing, their own spirits were now so low that they caught the +infection of his remark--if not his spirit--and visibly trembled. + +This was a sign of guilt and caught Miss Muriel's eye at once. + +"What is the explanation of this, Dorothy? Robin?" + +Dorothy had been pondering that explanation on the swift ride home. +Dr. Winston had called them the Good Samaritans and seemed pleased +with them. Maybe Miss Muriel would think so, too. + +"We stayed to see--we had to be what he said. Good little +Samaritans--" + +"Humph! If that is some new game you have invented, please never to +play it again. Your duty--" + +"Why, Lady Principal, you wouldn't have us 'pass by on the other +side,' would you? To-morrow's lesson--" + +But there was no softening in Miss Muriel's eye, and indignant Robin +flashed out: + +"Well--well--you needn't blame _her_. You needn't blame a _girl_--when +it was all my fault! I coaxed her or she wouldn't ha' done it!" + +This was such a manly, loyal reversion of the old story of Adam and +Eve that Lady Jane laughed and would have clapped her hands in pride +of her small compatriot. But she refrained and chose the wiser course +of slipping away unseen. + +"Robin! you forget yourself! I have given you a home here but I have +not given you license to be insolent or disobedient. You have been +both. Your mother is somewhere on the road to town, looking for you." + +But it happened she was not. Dr. Winston had espied a lone woman +dragging herself citywards and had stopped to give her a lift. Then, +learning who she was and her errand, had promptly turned about and +conveyed her also home; so she was back in their own rooms almost as +soon as her boy was and able to soothe his wrath as only mothers can. + +But upon poor Dorothy fell the full force of her teacher's +indignation. + +"Dorothy, I would not have believed it possible for you so willfully +to disappoint me. Go to your dormitory and to bed at once. You cannot +go off bounds again till Easter holidays. Good night." + +Dorothy obeyed in silence. She could think of many things to say but +she could not say them. Even to anxious Dawkins who would have +welcomed her warmly and ministered loving comfort she could only say: + +"Good night. It's such a mixed up world. It was good to help Jack, the +doctor said; and it was wrong, Miss Tross-Kingdon said; and--and--I'm +so tired! Oh! if I could only see Aunt Betty!" + +With that last homesick cry, she laid her head on her pillow, and +being a perfectly healthy girl--fell fast asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +COMMENCEMENT; AND CONCLUSION + + +Dorothy in disgrace! That seemed an incredible thing to her +schoolmates, who had hitherto believed "Dixie" to be the one great +favorite of all. + +However, she could never speak of the matter to anybody, except the +Bishop when he came home from his southern journey and the news he had +to bring her was so far more important and saddening that a short +confinement "on bounds" seemed actually trivial. For Uncle Seth was +dead. The dear guardian and wise counselor would greet her no more. At +first her grief seemed unbearable; but the good Bishop took her into +his own home for a little time and she came back to Oak Knowe somewhat +comforted for her loss. + +Besides she had had a little talk with Miss Tross-Kingdon, and there +was again sweet peace and confidence between them. Miss Muriel now +helped the girl in her work, inciting her ambition and keeping her so +well employed that she had little time to sit and grieve. + +Indeed, the spirit of ambition was in everyone's heart. Easter +holidays were past, spring exams proved fairly satisfactory with much +yet to be accomplished before Commencement came. So the weeks fairly +flew, the outdoor recreations changing with the seasons, and Dorothy +learning the games of cricket and golf, which were new to her and +which she described in her letters home as "adorably fascinating and +English." Tennis and basket-ball were not so new. She had played these +at the Rhinelander Academy, the first private school she had ever +attended; but for even these familiar sports she spared little time. + +"It does seem as if the minutes weren't half as long as they were in +the winter, Winifred! There's so much, so much I want to finish and +the time so short. Why, it's the middle of June already, and +Commencement on the twenty-first. Only six days for us to be together, +dear!" cried Dorothy in the music room with her violin on her lap, and +her friend whirling about on the piano stool. + +They were "programmed" for a duet, the most difficult they had ever +undertaken, and were resting for the moment from their practicing +while Dorothy's thoughts ran back over the year that was past. + +"Such a lot of things have happened. So many bad ones that have turned +out good. Maybe, the best of all was Jack-boot-boy's running away and +our finding him. It gave Robin and me a rather unhappy time, but it's +turned out fine for him, because as he says: 'It's knocked the +nonsense out of me.'" + +"The Dame will let no more creep in. Old John told me how it was. Soon +as Dr. Winston told him where Jack was, at that hospital, he said to +his wife: 'I'm going to see him.' Then that 'rare silent woman' spoke +her mind. 'Husband, that'll do. I'll ride yon, on the cart, to fetch +him home here to our cottage. The doctor says he's well enough to +leave that place. I'll get him bound out to me till he's twenty-one. +Then I'll let him go to 'seek' that 'fortune' he yearns for, with a +new suit of clothes on his back and a hundred dollars in his pocket. +That's the law and I've took him in hand." + +"So he's settled and done for, for a long time to come. It's just fine +for him, they'll treat him like a son--Baal can live his days out in a +pen--and Jack will grow up better fitted for his own station in life, +as you Canadians say. Down in the States we believe that folks make +their own 'stations'; don't find them hanging around their necks when +they are born. Why I know a boy who was--" + +"There, Dolly Doodles! Don't get started on that subject. I know him +by heart. One remarkable creature named James Barlow, who couldn't +spell till you taught him and now has aspirations toward a college +professorship. By the letters he writes, I should judge him to be a +horrible prig. I wish I could see him once. I'd make him bow his lofty +head; you'd find out!" + +Dorothy pulled a letter from her pocket and tossed it into her +friend's hands. + +"You'll soon have a chance. Read that." + +"Oh! may I?" + +But the reading was brief and an expression of great disappointment +came to Winifred's face. + +"Oh, Dorothy! How horrid!" + +"Yes, dear. I felt so, too, at first. Now all I feel is a wish to be +through so I can hurry home to dear Aunt Betty who must need me +dreadfully, or she'd never disappoint us like this." + +"It was such a beautiful plan. We should have had such a lovely time. +Ah! here comes Gwen. Girl, what do you think? Mrs. Calvert isn't well +enough to come to Canada, after all, and Dorothy has got to go home. +When it's all fixed, too. Father's freed himself from business for +three delightful months, and we three, with her were to go jaunting +about all over the country in his private car, and Dorothy to learn +that Canada beats the States all to pieces." + +Gwendolyn shared the disappointment. That trio had been dubbed by +their mates as the "Inseparables" and the love between them all was +now deep and sincere. + +"Read it aloud, Gwen. Maybe there's a chance yet, that I overlooked. I +was so mad I couldn't half see that upstart's writing--not after the +first few words. He doesn't mince matters, does he?" + +The letter ran thus: + + "DEAR DOROTHY: + + "Mrs. Calvert will not be able to come to Canada to meet + you. She is not ill in bed but she needs you here. Dinah is + taking care of her now, and Ephraim and I have decided that + it is best for us two to come to Oak Knowe to fetch you + home. Of course, you could come alone, as you went, but I'm + at leisure now, and have laid aside enough from my year's + earnings to pay the expenses of us all; and Ephraim wants to + go for you. He says 'it ain' fitten fo' no young lady lak my + li'l Miss to go trabbelin' erbout de country widout her own + serbant-boy to take care ob her. Mah Miss Betty was clean + bewitchted, erlowin' hit in de fust place, but she's laid up + an' ole Eph, he ain' gwine hab no mo' such foolishness.' + + "Those are his own words and lately--Well, I don't like to + go against that old man's wishes. So he and I will be on + hand by the twenty-first of June and I expect can get put + up somewhere, though I'm ignorant as to what they do with + negroes in Canada. + + "Faithfully, + "JIM." + +"Negroes! Negroes? Why, is that Ephraim a negro?" + +"Yes, indeed. As black as ink, almost, with the finest white head--of +wool! Not quite so thick and curly as your 'barristers' wear, but +handsome, I think. It represents so many, many years of faithful +service. That dear old man has taken care of Aunt Betty ever since she +was a child, and does so still. Nobody knows his real age, but it's +one proof of his devotion to her that he'll take this long journey +just because he remembers what's 'fitten,' even if she has grown +careless about it. You see, it's Uncle Seth's death that must have +changed her so," said Dorothy, musingly, with her eyes on the floor. + +The other two exchanged pitying glances, and it rose to Winifred's +lips to say: + +"But she let you come alone in the fall and he wasn't dead then;" but +she refrained. She knew, for Dolly had told her, that all that winter +Dorothy's home letters had not seemed quite the same as they had used, +during other separations from her aunt; and that many of them had +been written for Mrs. Calvert by various friends of the old lady's, +"just to oblige." Never before had the sprightly Mrs. Betty shrunk +from writing her own letters; and, indeed, had done so often enough +during the early winter to prevent Dorothy's suspicion of anything +amiss. + +"Auntie dear, is so old, you know girls, that of course she does need +me. Besides she's been all over the world and seen everything, so +there's really 'nothing new under the sun' for her. That's why this +junketing around we'd planned so finely, doesn't appeal to her as it +does to us," said Dorothy, at last, lifting her violin to her shoulder +and rising to her feet. "Shall we try it again, Win? And, Gwen, dear, +have you finished your picture yet for the exhibition?" + +"Just finished, Dolly. And I forgot my errand here. Miss Muriel sent +me to tell you girls that the dressmaker was in the sewing-room, +giving last fittings to our frocks. She wants us to go there right +after practice hour, for we must not lose our turn. I wanted to wear +that beautiful one Mamma sent me from Paris but 'No' was the word. +'There will be no change in our custom. Each girl will wear a plain +white lawn Commencement frock, untrimmed, and with no decoration +except a sash of each Form's colors.' So there we are, same old +six-pences, and dowds I think, every one of us." + +But when those few days intervening had passed and great Oak Knowe +was alight with its hundreds of daintily robed girls, there was not a +single "dowd" among them; nor one, whether unknown "charity" scholar +or otherwise who felt envy of any difference between themselves or +others. + +"What a glorious day! What crowds are here and coming. Assembly +and all the rooms near it will be packed closer than ever! Oh! +I'm so happy I can't keep still! No more lessons, no more +early-to-bed-and-rise business for three delightful months! There's +father! There he is--right in the front row of guests' seats. Right +amongst the 'Peers,' where he belongs by right!" cried Winifred, +turning Dorothy's head around that she might see the object of her own +great excitement. "See, see! He's looking our way. He's discovered +us! And he's awfully disappointed about you. He never forgave Miss +Tross-Kingdon that she wouldn't let you take that Ice Palace trip +with us, just because you'd broken a few rules. But never you mind, +darling. Though this is the end of Oak Knowe for us together, it isn't +the end of the world--nor time. Father shall bring me to you, he +shall, indeed! Just think how it would help my education to visit +the States! But, hark! The bugle is blowing--fall into line!" + +From their peep-hole in the hall Dorothy, also, could see the guests +taking seats; and clutching Winifred's sleeve, whispered: + +"Look! Look! Away there at the back of Assembly, close to the +door--that's Jim! That's Ephy! Oh! isn't it good to see them? For no +matter now, I'm not without my own home folks any more than the rest +of you. After banquet I'll introduce you if I get a chance." + +Then they fell into the line of white clad girls, and to the strains +of a march played by the Seventh Form graduates, three hundred bright +faced maidens--large and small--filed to their places in Assembly for +their last appearance all together. + +It was a Commencement like multitudes of others; with the usual eager +interest in guessing who'd be prize winners. The most highly valued +prize of each year at Oak Knowe was the gold medal for improvement in +conduct. Who would get it? Looking back the "Inseparables" could think +of nobody who'd shown marked advance along that line; Winifred +remarking, complacently: + +"I think we're all about as good as can be, anyway. 'Cause we're not +allowed to be anything else." + +"I know who's improved most, though. I hope--Oh! I hope she'll get +it!" + +And when the announcement was made she did! Said the Bishop, who +conferred the diplomas and prizes: + +"The Improvement Gold Medal, the highest honor our faculty can bestow, +is this year awarded to--" Here the speaker paused just long enough to +whet the curiosity of those eager girls--"To the Honorable Gwendolyn +Borst-Kennard. Will she kindly advance and receive it?" + +Never was "honor girl" more deeply moved, surprised, and grateful than +this once so haughty "Peer," now humble at heart as the meekest +"Charity" present, and never such deafening cheers and hand-claps +greeted the recipient of that coveted prize. + +Other lesser prizes followed: to Winifred's surprise, she had gained +"Distinction" in physical culture; Florita in mathematics; and a new +"Distinction" was announced for that year--"To Miss Dorothy Calvert +for uniform courtesy," and one that she valued less: a gold star for +advancement in music. + +"Two prizes, Dolly Doodles! You ought to should give poor Gracie one, +you should. 'Tis not nice for one girl to have two, but my Auntie +Prin, she couldn't help it. She told the Bishop you'd always been a +beautiful behaver, an' she must. Now, it's all over, and I'm glad. +I'm so tired and hungry. Come to banquet." + +After all it was the same as most Commencements the world over, with +its joys and its anticipations. What of the latter's realization? In +Dorothy's case at least the telling thereof is not for this time or +place; but all is duly related in a new story and a new volume which +tells of "Dorothy's Triumph." But there was that year one innovation +at the banquet, that farewell feast of all the school together. For +the company was but just seated when there stalked majestically into +the great hall an old negro in livery. + +Pulling his forelock respectfully toward the Bishop, bowing and +scraping his foot as his Miss Betty had long ago taught him, he +marched straight to his Miss Dorothy's chair and took his stand behind +it. He took no notice when turning her head she flashed a rather +frightened smile in his direction, nor did either of them speak. But +she glanced over to the head of the table and received an approving +nod from her beloved Bishop; whose own heart felt a thrill of happy +memory as he beheld this scene. So, away back in boyhood's days, in +the dining-room at beautiful Bellevieu, had this same white-headed +"boy" served those he had loved and lost. + +To him it was pathetic; to other observers, a novelty and curiosity; +but to Dorothy and Ephraim themselves, after that first minute, a mere +matter of course. Looking over that great table, the girl's face grew +thoughtful. She had come among all these a stranger; she was leaving +them a friend with everyone. The days that were coming might be happy, +might be sorry; yet she was not alone. Old Ephraim stood behind her, +faithful to the end; and out in the hall waited James Barlow, also +faithful and full of the courage of young life and great ambition. +No, she was not alone, whatever came or had come; and, after all, it +was sweet to be going back to the familiar places and the familiar +friends. So, the banquet at its end, by a nod from the Bishop, she +drew her violin from under the table and rising in her place played +sweetly and joyfully that forever well loved melody of "Home, Sweet +Home." + +One by one, or in groups, the company melted away. Each to her new +life of joy or sorrow or as general, both intermingled. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters' errors; otherwise, +every effort has been made to remain true to the author's words and +intent. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOROTHY AT OAK KNOWE*** + + +******* This file should be named 32310.txt or 32310.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/2/3/1/32310 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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