DOROTHY 
 BROOKE'S 
 VACATION 
 
 a 
 
 FRANCES 
 
 CAMPBf 
 
 SPARHAWK
 
 a, p.
 
 BOOKS BY 
 FRANCES C. SPARHAWK 
 
 DOROTHY BROOKE'S SCHOOL DAYS 
 Illustrated, 8vo, {loth. $1,50 
 
 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 Illustrated, 8vo, cloth, 
 
 LIFE OF LINCOLN FOR BOYS 
 
 Illustrated, 12 mo, cloth . ?J cents 
 
 THOMAS Y. CROWELL & COMPANY 
 NEW YORK
 
 UNIV. OF CALIF. LIBRARY. LOS ANGELED
 
 Dorothy Brooke's 
 Vacation 
 
 BY 
 
 FRANCES CAMPBELL SPARHAWK 
 
 Author of '" Dorothy Brooke's School Days" 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS BY 
 FRANK T. MERRILL 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO. 
 
 PUBLISHERS
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1910, 
 
 BY THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO. 
 Second Edition
 
 To 
 A. L. R. AND A. R. L.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. A YEAR-OLD PROMISE I 
 
 II. PLANNING 12 
 
 III. SHALL SHE BAR HER OUT? .... 22 
 
 IV. OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY . . 33 
 V. SOUNDS IN THE NIGHT 43 
 
 VI. Two PERFECT DAYS 52 
 
 VII. A PICNIC AND A DISASTER . , . . 64 
 
 VIII. DISTRESSING NEWS ...... 75 
 
 IX. RESCUE AND REWARD . . . .. , 87 
 
 X. WHAT DOROTHY DARED ..... 99 
 
 XL A RAINY DAY . ...... 107 
 
 XII. WHERE WAS THE MOTOR CAR? . . ; 117 
 
 XIII. A TINY WANDERER ... ... 129 
 
 XIV. BRAVELY DONE ! . . . . . . . 141 
 
 XV. ANXIETIES 154 
 
 XVI. KEEN WITS . . . * - - l66 
 
 XVII. How REX PUT IT 180 
 
 XVIII. HONK! HONK! 193 
 
 XIX. PRISCY SPEAKS 205 
 
 XX. A FRANTIC MOTHER 217 
 
 XXI. FACE TO FACE AGAIN 227
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XXII. NED SIDES WITH DOROTHY ...... 239 
 
 XXIII. A GOOD DAY'S WORK . . ... ;., m 251 
 
 XXIV. JIMMY HAS AN IDEA . . . . ,. . 261 
 XXV. "TAKING IT FOR GRANTED" . ... . 273 
 
 XXVI. DOROTHY'S LETTER . . ..:..,. 291 
 
 XXVII. A GREAT EXCITEMENT . . . . . 296 
 
 XXVIII. MONSIEUR L'IMPREVU 305 
 
 XXIX. VICTORY , ... 314 
 
 XXX. READY FOR WORK AGAIN .... 325
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 " OH, YOU LOOK COMFORTABLE ENOUGH " Frontispiece 
 
 PAGE 
 "ARE YOU QUITE SURE THAT NO ACCIDENT WILL 
 
 HAPPEN ? " 36 
 
 A PRIZE FOR THE VIVISECTIONIST 80 
 
 DOROTHY KNELT BESIDE JIMMY ...... 148 
 
 CATCHING UP BAB, HE PLACED HER UPON HIS 
 
 SHOULDER 202 
 
 CERTAINLY HE WAS NO STRANGER TO HER . . 236 
 
 DEEPLY OCCUPIED WITH THE PLAY . . . . . 252 
 
 "On, NO, NO! DON'T GO! I BEG YOU WILL NOT 
 
 GO UP" 304
 
 Dorothy Brooke's Vacation 
 
 A YEAR-OLD , PROMISE 
 
 To Dorothy Brooke that June morning it seemed 
 more summer out in the hammock under the big elms 
 than anywhere else. On her right the lawn, still 
 fresh with frequent rains, stretched away in sunshine 
 broken by the shadows of great trees, until in the dis- 
 tance the land dipped and then rose again, climbing 
 to hills on the horizon. Where it dipped, a rivulet 
 made its way through brakes and sedgy grasses from 
 the distant lake revealed by the flash of its waters in 
 the sunlight, to the river seen from the terrace of the 
 stately and beautiful house which stood on the rising 
 ground behind the elms. The driveway winding up 
 from the road, at every turn opened a vista to delight 
 the eye. 
 
 To Dorothy, after her long absence, her home had 
 never seemed so full of charm, nor her loved ones 
 quite so dear. The odor of the pine needles came to 
 her inspiringly from the group of trees near by, the 
 breath of roses floated over from the garden beside 
 the house, and the sky as she gazed up at it through 
 the softly moving leaves over her head had never 
 looked to her so blue. Her dark eyes were full of the
 
 2 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 sunshine of her heart as happy memories of simple 
 pleasures mingled with visions of the future as bril- 
 liant as the light and as warm and joyous as the 
 season. 
 
 Suddenly, the clear notes of a song-sparrow sounded 
 in a maple near by and the exquisite tones of a wood 
 thrush took up the challenge. 
 
 Dorothy lilted a few notes after each, and then 
 lay listening to songs much more perfect than she 
 could make them. These notes brought her memories 
 of the most brilliant and successful day of her past 
 school year, of the crowd of girls who had shared her 
 triumph, and the audience who had so heartily ap- 
 plauded it. With the serene assurance of youth, she 
 decided that in days to come there should be many 
 more such triumphs. 
 
 A very different sound rudely interrupted her bril- 
 liant fancies. " Honk ! honk ! " hooted a motor car 
 coming up the road. " Honk ! honk ! " it hooted once 
 more as it turned in at the gate, its noisy energy 
 lending a not unpleasant human element to the still 
 life of the scene. Dorothy lifted her head and caught 
 glimpses of the car as it bowled up the driveway. 
 
 " He's come back early," ran her thoughts. " I 
 wonder if he got hungry? Motoring is awfully hun- 
 gry work." And with a smile she tried to return to 
 her day dreams. 
 
 But visions of the ideal had been hopelessly shat- 
 tered by the blatant reality of a motor-car hoot, the 
 songs of the birds had ceased, and Dorothy's thoughts 
 turned to the present and as to how she could get the
 
 A YEAR-OLD PROMISE 3 
 
 most fun out of her vacation ; and, especially, how she 
 was going to make her coming guests enjoy it best. 
 As she was deep in plans of drive and sail and picnic 
 and party, a joyous bark was borne toward her, and 
 a great dog, still uttering his delight at having learned 
 the whereabouts of his young mistress, pushed up 
 under her hand and with his big paws upstretched 
 threatened to tip her out of the hammock. 
 
 "Come and help me plan, Nemo," she laughed, 
 patting him. " Now, down, down, sir, like a fine 
 fellow, and speak whenever you have a good idea." 
 
 "And may I speak, too, whenever I have a good 
 idea ? Then I shall talk all the time," laughed a voice, 
 as its owner came leisurely down the path from the 
 house, following his four-footed companion. 
 
 " Oh, Rex, how lovely ! Do come and help me 
 plan; and I'll give you half the hammock." And 
 the speaker's beautiful hand upreared and her feet 
 sought the ground with an agility which proved mind 
 and muscles in good order. 
 
 " No, no ; ' keep yer settinY as old Farmer Moody 
 (used to say." And the newcomer tipped the willing 
 Dorothy back into her luxurious pose and seated him- 
 self on the root of the elm tree next her hammock, 
 and leaning against its trunk, sent a quizzical glance 
 at his sister. "Well, what now, Dbro?" he asked. 
 "Yesterday it was unpacking and putting to rights 
 after your arrival of the night before. I thought 
 you were going to rest to-day." 
 
 "And, pray, what am I doing now?" 
 
 " Oh, you look comfortable enough. But you must
 
 4 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 be hard up for ideas when you ask Nemo to con- 
 tribute." 
 
 The girl's laugh rang out musically. " That shows 
 my thoughts were not deep," she returned. " But, I 
 assure you, they're important. I was trying to study 
 out the best things to do to entertain the girls." 
 
 " Oh, the girls ! " Rex Brooke's tone was indiffer- 
 ent enough; but he shot a keen glance at his sister's 
 face as it turned toward him. It was a face good 
 to look upon, full of strength and sweetness, with 
 energy, or mirth, or strong emotion varying its ex- 
 pression and giving new charm to features in them- 
 selves fine. The delicate nose, not too small for char- 
 acter and showing both a spirit of daring and a lit- 
 erary taste; the mouth with its lovely curves, full, 
 yet not too full to tighten at need into that decision 
 which had carried its owner through the few trials 
 which had thus far befallen her; the chin round and 
 firm; the hair brown with golden lights in the sun- 
 shine and waving a little on a noble brow; the com- 
 plexion clear and fine, yet one on which the sun had 
 often lingered lovingly, and the eyes dark brown, very 
 clear, bright without a hint of sharpness, quick to 
 sparkle with mirth or soften to tenderness, or, if need 
 be, to command with power. " What girls, Doro ? " 
 Rex went on, as her eyes fastened themselves upon 
 his with amusement. 
 
 " No, no, Rex. That won't pass muster. You 
 only want to hear me say the names over again to 
 be sure that the one you want is among them. Out 
 with it, now."
 
 A YEAR-OLD PROMISE 5 
 
 He laughed. " It's too funny you think I'm afraid 
 to mention the fine-looking girl who is so capable and 
 so musical and engineered your play to its success; 
 she's the one I mean. Her name is ' Bromley/ isn't 
 it?" 
 
 "Correct!" retorted Dorothy, assuming a school- 
 marm air. " I'm glad you like her, Rex." 
 
 " And who are the others ? " he asked. " You said 
 'girls/" 
 
 " Priscy Pell, my room-mate, you remember. She's 
 a year younger than I am; but Lulu Bromley is five 
 months older, and Grace Longley two months older 
 than I. Priscy is the daughter of the famous Colonel 
 Pell. That may sound pleasant, but it's not consid- 
 ering what her father has been to her." 
 
 "What has he been, Doro?" 
 
 " Nothing except the man to foot her bills." 
 
 "Well, now, that's something. A good many 
 women would think it a great deal." 
 
 But there was no mirth in the look that Dorothy 
 fastened upon him. 
 
 " What if that was all our father was to us, Rex ? " 
 she cried. " We might do as we pleased if we didn't 
 bother him?" 
 
 "Whew! As bad as that! Why, she must be a 
 regular guy and he's ashamed of her. Is she, now? 
 Are you bringing a girl like that here, with Miss 
 Bromley?" 
 
 " So, Priscy Pell may be good enough to be my 
 room-mate for months, but she's not good enough to 
 visit with Lulu Bromley."
 
 6 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 " You're too sharp, Doro. I'm only trying to get 
 it out of you why her father treats her so? Step- 
 mother in the case?" 
 
 " Yes," said his sister. " But he treated her badly 
 before the step-mother existed." 
 
 "She was being thought about though, I imagine. 
 Well, that's the fairy-tale girl wicked step-mother, 
 and so forth. Only Priscy's not beautiful like all 
 abused girls in fairy tales." 
 
 "Mr. Norcross doesn't think her a 'guy* by any 
 means," retorted Dorothy with a flash in her eyes. 
 
 "Oho! Is that the one? I've seen her. The girl 
 with auburn hair? The one we met at the exhibition? 
 Why, she's a swell! What's out with her?" 
 
 " She's out of a home, poor little thing. And I 
 want her to have the best time she can here this 
 summer and not think of her father once. Don't 
 mention him to her, will you ? " 
 
 " No, indeed ! " said Rex, who was very good- 
 hearted, and who, if he had not quite so many brains 
 as his sister, had enough to get on very well in the 
 world. "I'll pretend she comes from the fishermen 
 Pells whom we found that year at Long Branch, you 
 remember." 
 
 Dorothy laughed with him at the memory of the 
 old, slab-sided fisherman and his queer family who a 
 few years before had added to their entertainment at 
 a summer hotel. " She will never know them," pur- 
 sued Rex, " and it will save her feelings, you see. 
 It's embarrassing to treat a girl as if she hadn't a 
 father, when she has."
 
 A YEAR-OLD PROMISE 7 
 
 " I wish I knew which is the teasing planet, Rex 
 Brooke ; you were born under it. But I'll trust you." 
 And her gaze turned with loving confidence upon the 
 young fellow, who was over three years her senior; 
 for Dorothy was not quite sixteen and Rex would be 
 twenty on his next birthday, nine months off. Also, 
 he had been at college a year, which made him a 
 good deal wiser, in his sister's estimation, than was 
 she who had studied even harder at school. But col- 
 lege was coming to her, too, some day, or, rather, she 
 was going to it. " You don't ask me who the other 
 girl is ? " she said the next moment. 
 
 "I know. It's the amiable, delectable, infallible, 
 irresistible Grace, sister of the wonderful genius who 
 helped you out with your play for the exhibition." 
 
 " Yes, he did ! And he's going to help me out with 
 other plays some day, Rex, however you laugh at 
 him ! " cried Dorothy, her face flushing and her eyes 
 flashing. " We're going to write plays together some 
 time, when I'm wise enough for it." 
 
 Her hearer whistled. " Has it got so far as that? " 
 he asked with a real interest in his tone. 
 
 " Everybody says he has done wonderfully for his 
 age," went on Dorothy. " He's only about eighteen. 
 He hasn't produced any plays yet, of course; but he 
 has written some good ones, better judges than I say 
 so. And if you were proud of me at exhibition as 
 you said you ought to be grateful to him." 
 
 "I don't believe I am," returned the other. "It's 
 not a great favor to help you; anybody who had the 
 chance would be glad to do it. And then, if you're
 
 8 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 going in for gratitude, Doro, how about the sweet 
 singer of Hosmer Hall Miss Bromley and all the 
 girls she trained for your play?" 
 
 " I'm not anxious as to your failing in gratitude to 
 her," laughed his sister. 
 
 "When are they coming?" pursued the other. 
 
 "Priscy comes first, in ten days; then Lulu, less 
 than a week later, and Grace Longley the day after 
 Lulu." 
 
 " How considerate in them not to come all together ! 
 Three such charmers all in a bunch would floor your 
 poor, light-headed brother! Now, I shall be able to 
 brace up, taking them separately. I wish Miss Brom- 
 ley were going to have the first week. But then, per- 
 haps by the time she arrives Priscy will have out- 
 rivalled her." 
 
 " Why can't you keep in earnest five minutes to- 
 gether?" 
 
 "I am in earnest. Who knows?" 
 
 "Then be enough in earnest to go over with me 
 some of the things we can do to entertain the girls. 
 You see, we're all so well acquainted you'll get so 
 in five minutes' talk, you always do with people; it's 
 not as if we had strangers and didn't know where to 
 
 put them " Suddenly, her whole manner changed. 
 
 "Oh, Rex Brooke, what have I done! What have I 
 done ! " she cried in distress. " I forgot everything 
 about it until this minute when I said there would be 
 no stranger. Last summer when mother and I were 
 boarding at the Hewes farm, I invited Rose Hewes to 
 make me a week's visit early this summer she can't
 
 A YEAR-OLD PROMISE 9 
 
 come the last of the season. I promised to write and 
 invite her, that is, to set the time, mother said I might, 
 and I pitied the poor thing, she had to work so hard 
 and now she will be the stranger, the interloper ! " 
 
 " I should say so ! Little scullery maid, isn't she ? 
 What possessed you, Doro? Your philanthropy ran 
 away with you ! I'm afraid it will a good many times 
 in your life, my child. What! Going in to consult 
 the mater? Then, you're done for. She'll never let 
 you off a bargain; she believes like the man in the 
 Bible who swears to his own hurt and changes not. 
 Well, go and have it over and the visit over, 
 too." 
 
 For Dorothy had sprung up, her face flushed and 
 tears of disappointment in her eyes; and promising 
 to return, she sped up the path into the house. 
 
 To Mrs. Brooke on the veranda with a guest who 
 was spending a few days with her, Dorothy stated 
 her forgotten promise and her dismay at it and at 
 the unwelcome element that would, she feared, do 
 much to spoil the enjoyment of her other guests. 
 " She is very nice, a dear, good girl," she explained 
 to her mother's guest; "but the others don't know 
 her at all." 
 
 " A promise made a whole year ago ! " cried the 
 guest. " What nonsense to think of keeping it, Doro- 
 thy! Let it slide, my dear." A flash of scorn, in- 
 stantly suppressed, shot into the girl's eyes. " She 
 will think you have forgotten it," continued the 
 speaker ; " and perhaps she has by this time." 
 
 Dorothy remembered too well the glow of delight
 
 JO DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 in the girl's face at the promise to imagine that she 
 had forgotten it. Her mother looked up. 
 
 " It won't spoil Rose Hewes' enjoyment to have the 
 other girls here," she said quietly. " And if you want 
 a part of their visit for yourself and them alone, why 
 not ask Rose to come in two or three days? You 
 may be sure she has been expecting the invitation. 
 You spoke to her of asking her for a week, didn't 
 you?" 
 
 Dorothy assented; and running up to her own 
 room, she scribbled her invitation and dropped it into 
 the box in the hall, to be posted by the coachman 
 when he drove into town for Mr. Brooke. 
 
 " I've been and gone and done it ! " she reported 
 to Rex as she returned with slow steps to the ham- 
 mock. 
 
 "And, no doubt, your mind is relieved," he an- 
 swered. "It was funny the mater hadn't remem- 
 bered it." 
 
 " She had. But she thought I would come to it 
 without being nagged; if I had not, she would have 
 reminded me." 
 
 " Not a doubt of it, Doro. Well, you've done your 
 duty ; everybody says there's great joy in that. Any- 
 way, one doesn't like to get out of things by crawling. 
 We'll put the little scullery maid in the swim, and see 
 what she will do." 
 
 But after Dorothy had left him, he made a wry 
 face. 
 
 Three days later he handed his sister a letter from 
 the mail just arrived. "Now let us hear when the
 
 A YEAR-OLD PROMISE II 
 
 little scullery maid is to come upon the scene," he 
 said. 
 
 " She's not to come at all," announced Dorothy. 
 " She is so sorry so very sorry that she can't come." 
 
 " Hurrah ! " shouted Rex. " Now, let's get on with 
 our plans." 
 
 Dorothy was afraid that her heart echoed his re- 
 joicing. But she seemed to see poor Rose's sad face 
 before her all day. 
 
 Then she forgot it in anticipations of her own 
 pleasure.
 
 II 
 
 PLANNING 
 
 " Miss BROMLEY is the prettiest," said Olive, Doro- 
 thy's thirteen-year-old sister. 
 
 "Don't know about her being prettiest," retorted 
 Harry. "Just look at Miss Pell when she laughs; 
 she has the cunningest dimples you ever saw, and she 
 likes fun as well as Dorothy does." 
 
 " 'F they'd let us talk slang in this family," re- 
 turned Olive with a laugh, "I'd say Dorothy and 
 Priscy made a team. But every once in a while a 
 sad look comes into her face; then she sends it away 
 again, quick." 
 
 "Oh, hers is so little, it doesn't count," said the 
 boy. " Miss Knowles is the one for the dumps. Just 
 look at her whenever nobody's making fun or she 
 isn't trying to be funny herself. I saw her one day 
 out under the pine trees, and she was downright cry- 
 ing. What's the matter with her, Olive?" 
 
 " I b'lieve she's in love with somebody who's gone 
 off. Mamma was telling Dorothy, but she stopped 
 when I came in ; perhaps she thinks I'd tell." 
 
 "Oh, no, I guess she thinks you're too young," 
 returned Harry, who, being the youngest of the fam- 
 ily, and only ten, felt somewhat out of things and 
 liked to remind Olive that she ranked with him in- 
 stead of with the grown-ups. 
 
 12
 
 PLANNING 13 
 
 " Pooh ! " answered the other with a toss of her 
 head. " In two years I shall be as old as Dorothy 
 when she went off to boarding school, and I shall go, 
 too; it isn't that. Maybe she'd said all she had to 
 say. Anyway, I'm sorry for Miss Knowles; it must 
 be awfully hard to be in love and not have the man 
 round; and she's pretty and sweet; but she's awfully 
 queer sometimes." 
 
 " If you talk of sweet," cried Harry, " I'll tell you 
 who's the loveliest one here next to our Doro, of 
 course it's that dear Grace Longley. Do you know 
 what she did yesterday? I wanted to go on an auto 
 ride the worst way, somehow, when I saw the others 
 going; it got into my head, so, I s'pose I showed it. 
 And, someway, Miss Longley I call her * Grace ' 
 caught on. She wouldn't go, though I knew she'd 
 been expecting to; she said she'd rather go fishing 
 with me in the creek if I'd like. Like! So Miss 
 Knowles took her place, and Grace and I had the 
 jolliest time all the morning." 
 
 " Did you catch any fish ? " inquired practical Olive. 
 
 " N o," admitted Harry. " But it was fun all the 
 same ; and when we were waiting for the fish to bite, 
 she told me stories; she told me lovely things about 
 Dorothy. Olive, I really think she loves her very 
 much. And then in the afternoon, you know, Rex 
 took us both a good spin. Do you s'pose she told 
 him?" 
 
 " Rex is a fair guesser himself," laughed the girl. 
 " But, Harry, I can see Dorothy is worried ; she's 
 afraid the girls won't have a good enough time; she
 
 14 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 wants to get up something new, and she can't think 
 of anything to suit her." 
 
 "Pooh! pooh!" retorted Harry. "Nothing the 
 matter with her brains ! Rex says if you try too hard, 
 you don't get there. Perhaps she's doing that. Rex 
 laughed at her and told her she was hunting an idea 
 too hard this hot weather. But she'll catch it," he 
 asserted confidently. 
 
 He was right, although, as he had not dreamed of 
 doing, he himself assisted in the capture. 
 
 That same hot evening early in July a gay party sat 
 on the great veranda in the moonlight. They were 
 none the less merry because Judge Brooke and his 
 wife were there and sometimes led in the fun. Rex on 
 the upper step, his head against the pillar, looked up 
 as he talked, now at Grace Longley, now at Lulu 
 Bromley, as they sat above him. Grace turned every 
 now and then to the two youngest of the party as 
 these sat on the floor of the veranda, Olive resting 
 against the railing and Harry's arm on her shoulder. 
 Priscy Pell at a little distance was talking vivaciously 
 to Mrs. Brooke, and Miss Knowles and the Judge 
 were listening. Dorothy was beyond and apart. 
 Lively talk and banter and laughter went on for a 
 while, and then Rex cried: 
 
 "What's the matter with you, Doro? You've not 
 spoken a word for ten minutes. It must be very se- 
 rious." 
 
 Dorothy's smile, caught as the moonlight shone on 
 her face, was perfunctory, and she still said nothing. 
 
 " She is asking the question that the little girl in
 
 PLANNING 15 
 
 Victor Hugo's story did, only with a change in the 
 tense," laughed her father. And he told of the two 
 little school girls who had been studying their history 
 lesson. At last one handed her book to the other. 
 " ( Ask me a question anywhere/ she said, ' and I can 
 answer it/ The other little girl looked thoughtfully 
 down the list of questions, then she turned to her 
 companion. 'What happened next?' she asked. 
 Dorothy is varying this to the future tense, as I said, 
 and asking : ' What is going to happen next ? ' ' 
 
 As laughter over the judge's story subsided: 
 " Why don't you take a great big auto ride, a big, big 
 one, and be done with it ? " cried Harry, whose dream 
 of pleasure was somewhat like Puck's girdle round 
 the earth in forty minutes. 
 
 Dorothy sprang up. " The very thing, Harry, you 
 brilliant boy ! We'll have a motor-car trip ! " 
 
 "A trip in my machine ! " laughed Rex. 
 
 " To give you the great privilege of taking us ! " 
 retorted his sister. "I mean, we'll go if mother and 
 father will say 'yes/ and Rex will take us." 
 
 " Your father does if your mother will go with 
 you," returned Mr. Brooke. 
 
 " It's a splendid idea ! " the girl went on, warming 
 with the quick -coming suggestions it had brought her. 
 " We should need two motor cars, but we could keep 
 together and be one party all the time. And we could 
 go well, where can we go? But it's easy to decide 
 that." 
 
 "Anywhere over the hills and far away," piped 
 Harry, elated that his thought had been appreciated.
 
 16 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 " And when shall we start, Rex ? Can't you go 
 straight off?" inquired Dorothy. 
 
 " Not to-night, Doro." 
 
 " No, Mr. Tease ; but in a day or two, as soon as 
 father or you can find a suitable motor car and 
 chauffeur." 
 
 " I'm afraid you're off a little too soon, Dorothy," 
 interrupted Mrs. Brooke. "I'm very sorry, indeed, 
 that I can't go on such an excursion this summer; it 
 would be delightful." 
 
 " And it would do you so much good, mamma," 
 cried Olive unselfishly, for she hated to have her 
 mother away from home. 
 
 " But it would be hardly the thing to run off and 
 leave our guests to take care of themselves," returned 
 Mrs. Brooke; "and the house will be more or less 
 full all summer; some of your father's friends are 
 coming, and some of mine. If it were not for that, 
 I should enjoy a trip very much." 
 
 "Why not go all day excursions and come home 
 at night ? " suggested the judge, watching regretfully 
 the falling of his daughter's countenance. 
 
 But Dorothy shook her head, and Rex cried : " We 
 should be like a child tied with a string and pulled 
 back by the nurse every time it had got to the end of 
 its tether no fun at all! Harry has the right of it. 
 It's ' over the hills and far away.' ' 
 
 " Perhaps, if you would like it," began Grace tim- 
 idly, "seeing that no other chaperon had been pro- 
 posed, my mother might go with us; I don't know 
 about our having guests quite yet ; she and papa were
 
 PLANNING 17 
 
 going on a pleasure trip, but he had to go out West 
 suddenly on business. So, perhaps, mamma would 
 go with us, if you want her." 
 
 " If we want her! " cried Dorothy in delight. 
 " Why, Grace, it would be perfectly lovely if you 
 think," she added anxiously, " we all wouldn't be too 
 much for her ? We're pretty gay, you know, when we 
 get started." 
 
 "If mamma comes, she'll bring the car, I think," 
 said Grace. "Our own chauffeur is on his vacation. 
 But the substitute drives well, only we don't like him 
 much, I don't know why." 
 
 " Oh, the not liking him doesn't count," said Rex, 
 " if he knows his business. We'll keep him in 
 order." 
 
 " But if your father is away, that will leave your 
 brother all alone," said Dorothy. 
 
 " No ! no ! that won't do. She must bring him 
 along," declared Rex. 
 
 " And where shall we go ? " began Dorothy. 
 
 " First find out if you are to go at all," said her 
 father. " Don't waste time looking up routes you 
 may not need." 
 
 " I don't agree with you, papa," said his eldest 
 daughter. " I like the old proverb, ' Get thy spindle 
 and thy distaff ready/ I think that does help bring 
 on the flax. And then, don't you think that if we 
 ask Mrs. Longley to go with us, we ought to give 
 her some idea where we are going?" 
 
 "Whether you are to head for the North Pole or 
 the Tropics? Yes, on the whole, you're right, Doro-
 
 i8 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 thy; it will be a good idea to plan out the route and 
 the time of absence, in a general way, at least." 
 
 " Then, as my letter to Mrs. Longley will go by the 
 first mail in the morning," said Mrs. Brooke, " this is 
 the time to decide upon the outlines of your trip, if 
 you take one." 
 
 An animated and, at moments, a very vigorous dis- 
 cussion followed. Rex, as having had most experi- 
 ence in roads and motoring, had, as Priscy put it, a 
 two-count vote. But the wishes of the guests were 
 consulted, with the understanding that Mrs. Longley, 
 if she went, was to modify as she saw fit. 
 
 " I don't care where it is, so long as I'm on the 
 move," announced Harry. " But I s'pose Olive and 
 I don't count ; we're too young. Anyway, Olive, we'll 
 be just right when they're all too old. I guess I'll 
 go off to bed. It's too aggravating. Good-night, 
 everybody. Don't dream of upsets." And the boy 
 took himself off. 
 
 But Olive stayed by; if she could not go, at least 
 she could listen; and, somehow, she felt more grown- 
 up when Harry was away. 
 
 The directions of the North Pole and of the Tropics 
 were canvassed. But neither was chosen. Priscy 
 proposed a constant turn to the right on all roads, 
 wherever that course might lead. But the suggestion 
 was vetoed. The predominance of opinion inclined to 
 the westward rather than toward the coast ; the roads 
 were good, the scenery fine, and although the trav- 
 elers intended to keep off the line of fashionable 
 travel, they would find stopping-places at comfortable
 
 PLANNING 19 
 
 hotels, and there would be mountain views and all the 
 climbing they would wish for. 
 
 The invitation sent, everybody waited with anxiety 
 for Mrs. Longley's answer. The evening of the sec- 
 ond day it arrived. She accepted. Ned also was de- 
 lighted to come ; but he asked permission to bring his 
 friend, Jimmy Reid, who had been working hard and 
 needed a change. If there was not room in the motor 
 car, the two would come on their motor cycles and 
 accompany the others. 
 
 " But there will be room enough in the car," de- 
 clared Dorothy who was not fond of the sound of 
 a motor cycle and who also thought that if Ned were 
 with them there would be opportunity for some of 
 the planning of future work that was in her mind, 
 even in her play time. " Rex's motor car holds four 
 and Mrs. Longley's six," she went on ; " and we have 
 Mrs. Longley, Miss Knowles" for Mrs. Brooke had 
 wished Miss Knowles, her guest, to go in her place 
 "we four girls, Rex and the chauffeur. That leaves 
 places for the two boys." 
 
 And this arrangement was made with Mrs. Long- 
 ley. 
 
 But the route and those invited and the second car 
 did not include everything to be planned for. There 
 were " the et ceteras," as Dorothy called them. What 
 Grace needed, her mother would bring. But both 
 Lulu and Priscy required a heavier outside garment 
 than they had brought for a summer visit ; and Doro- 
 thy declared that something taut on one's head was 
 a great comfort. They were to carry very little lug-
 
 20 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 gage underwear, duplicate veils in case of loss, 
 plenty of pocket handkerchiefs, Rex asserted, because 
 they might take cold in the mountains, or find any- 
 thing at which to weep, and something suitable for 
 evening wear at a hotel. Dorothy could get on with 
 a big suit case, and there were some to loan the other 
 girls. Miss Knowles, however, was sure she must 
 have a trunk to carry all the things she might need 
 and not have in a week or ten days' trip. A little 
 dressing sacque was not enough, something might 
 happen so that she would need a long, thick kimono, 
 and she would take one, also a walking suit, besides 
 the suit she wore, a second evening gown and other 
 things which Dorothy and the rest voted nuisances on 
 such a journey and left behind. 
 
 " She'll be just like that all through," whispered 
 Priscy to Lulu who nodded back a swift glance of 
 amusement and a gesture of prescience, not amuse- 
 ment at all, as to what such a spirit as accompani- 
 ment on the trip would mean. 
 
 The time of preparation sped by and after two more 
 days they would be off. The following evening Mrs. 
 Longley and the boys were to arrive. Mrs. Brooke 
 had decided that she must have at least a full day in 
 which to entertain her guests at Brookehurst ; so that 
 on the second morning after this one at hand they 
 were to be off. Thus far everything had gone with 
 delightful smoothness, and the weather, although hot, 
 was not unbearably hot. Then toward the hills the 
 breezes would freshen. It seemed to Dorothy that 
 there were to be no " outs."
 
 PLANNING 21 
 
 But that same evening, as the party were again 
 grouped on the veranda where they caught the south 
 wind, Rex came with the mail. 
 
 " Three letters for you, Doro," he said. 
 
 As Dorothy ran into the house to read them by the 
 light, a glance at the handwriting and postmark of 
 one made her heart sink. 
 
 It sank still lower as she read it. 
 
 "What's the matter, Doro?" asked her brother, 
 looking up from finishing his own letters. 
 
 " Rose Hewes has written to say that now she can 
 come," returned the girl dolefully. 
 
 " Pooh ! You can settle that easily enough. She 
 didn't come when she was asked ; and now she can't. 
 That's all you need say to the little scullery maid, 
 mingling in your regrets to soften refusal. Of course, 
 she can't come now. One thing there's no room for 
 her ; both cars will be full. Oh, don't worry over that, 
 Doro." 
 
 And Rex marched, off to the veranda to inform 
 the others of Miss Hewes' latest exhibition of man- 
 ners, leaving Dorothy still standing silently gazing at 
 the letter and seeing in it a picture invisible to the 
 others.
 
 Ill 
 
 SHALL SHE BAR HER OUT? 
 
 REX stepped out upon the veranda in a wrathful 
 frame of mind. 
 
 "The little scul Miss Rose Hewes," he began, 
 " has just written that she can come now to make 
 that visit, and will arrive to-morrow evening, unless 
 Dorothy sends her word to the contrary. Of course, 
 Dorothy will send her word I should think so ! Miss 
 Hewes refused the invitation when it was given, and 
 there's the end of it. She shows what she is that she 
 doesn't know better than to come now. I told Doro 
 the story of the man who invited an acquaintance to 
 dinner for a certain day. The other said he was very 
 sorry he couldn't come that day; but he would come 
 the next. ' I'll be hanged if you do! ' retorted the in- 
 viter. I rubbed it in," added Rex. As he spoke, he 
 turned and gazed through the window at his sister 
 still standing with the letter in her hand. "Doro's 
 always thinking of the other fellow," he said. " In 
 this case, however, there are several other fellows, and 
 to my mind Miss Hewes might as well shed tears of 
 disappointment not to come as we to have her. Then, 
 the places in the motor cars are all filled. I told 
 Doro so." He turned to his mother. "Mater, don't 
 let that girl get into the soft spot in Doro's heart. 
 
 22
 
 SHALL SHE BAR HER OUT? 23 
 
 We can't have a scul a stranger spoiling our fun. 
 Doro said so herself I mean, she said before that 
 she was glad the girl couldn't come; or she looked 
 it." 
 
 " Of course, she couldn't expect to come now," 
 chimed in Miss Knowles, " because the party is made 
 up." 
 
 " Seats all engaged ; she didn't speak soon enough," 
 added Olive who if she was not to be of the party, 
 was well in at the planning of it. 
 
 Not much was said ; but it was evident to Dorothy, 
 when at last she joined the group, that Rex had told 
 the news and that there was a subdued discomfort 
 and even annoyance at the idea of the stranger. The 
 guests could, of course, have put in no plea for Miss 
 Hewes; but Dorothy felt that there was more than 
 mere forbearance, that they sided with Rex. She was 
 not disposed to discuss the matter at the moment. 
 
 "But you must do something immediately, or she 
 will be upon us ! " cried her brother. 
 
 " Yes, I know," returned Dorothy. " But I shall 
 sleep upon it. I know that I must telegraph some- 
 thing in the morning." As she spoke, she glanced at 
 her mother, wishing that Mrs. Brooke would speak. 
 But the latter sat silent in the shadow that lay only 
 the darker for the bands of electric light streaming 
 from the windows on each side of it. Whatever opin- 
 ion she had was not given. Rex tried to pursue the 
 subject; but Dorothy was so unwilling to talk about 
 it that he desisted. 
 
 They came back to the question of their route
 
 24 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 which, although planned out in the general course, had 
 still details to be considered. Judge Brooke gave 
 many points of interest and was especially well in- 
 formed as to the hotels they were to stop at a mat- 
 ter that, plainly, gave Miss Knowles some little anx- 
 iety. Anxiety was normal with her Rex had con- 
 fided to Lulu Bromley the previous day a statement 
 a trifle unjust to Miss Knowles, yet having in it a 
 spice of truth. 
 
 As Dorothy bade her mother good-night, she said 
 to her softly: "What do you think, mother?" 
 
 "The matter is for you to decide, little comrade," 
 returned Mrs. Brooke, giving her daughter the pet 
 name by which she often called her when the two 
 were alone together; for she and this eldest daughter 
 had always been companionable. 
 
 "Yes, I know, mother. But your little comrade 
 would be glad to know which way you would walk ? " 
 
 "I hope the way that I should be glad of after- 
 ward," returned the other; and would say nothing 
 further. 
 
 That evening while Grace was brushing out her 
 hair for the night, there came a knock at her door. 
 " May I come in ? " asked Dorothy. 
 
 " When are you not welcome? " returned her friend. 
 "Take this chair and I'll have my braids done in a 
 moment." 
 
 " I've come to talk it over with you," said Dorothy. 
 " I never forget that your advice, if you'd been there 
 to give it, would have been the only right one in all 
 the school when mother was so ill and I wanted to
 
 SHALL SHE BAR HER OUT? 25 
 
 go to her, you remember and since then I have al- 
 ways had confidence in your judgment. You see, if 
 I wanted poor Rose Hewes and believed that she 
 would be an acquisition to our party, it would be plain 
 sailing. Or if I were the only one to be considered 
 I'd let her come in a moment. But I don't want to 
 spoil the trip for the others. And yet " 
 
 " Who is Miss Hewes, Dorothy? I never heard of 
 her before." 
 
 " She's the daughter of the house where mother 
 and I boarded for a month last summer when the 
 doctor said mother needed perfect rest and would 
 not be able to get it at a hotel; he didn't want her 
 to take a cottage anywhere and go to housekeeping; 
 he said she must have no responsibilities of any kind 
 for a time. So, we went to the Hewes farm. Of 
 course, it was very quiet ; but it was pleasant. There 
 were only four other boarders, but they were elderly 
 people, all except Miss Knowles ; that is where mother 
 became acquainted with her ; she considered me a child 
 and didn't notice me much. It didn't trouble me." 
 And Dorothy laughed a little. " Rose and I were a 
 good deal together when Rose had any time that she 
 could call her own. But, Grace, she had to work 
 harder than any maid we ever had in this house; 
 sometimes she would look so tired; and one evening 
 yes, more than once I found her crying. She 
 said she didn't know what the matter was, but mother 
 said it was sheer fatigue. They had no servant, only 
 a woman who came certain days to wash and scrub; 
 Mrs. Hewes and Rose did all the rest of the work
 
 26 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 for six boarders. Mother was indignant ; she said the 
 boarders paid enough to have the farmer hire help. 
 I'm sure he had money enough besides; but he was 
 miserly, and he was working his wife and daughter 
 to death, mother told him so one day. But he's a 
 pachyderm ; he said we were spoiling the girl. Rose 
 and I used to read together sometimes; she is fond 
 of reading. Then she was always noticing the fine 
 views and how the clouds would change the land- 
 scape." 
 
 "She must be an interesting girl, Dorothy." 
 " If she weren't so afraid to talk, Grace. It's silly 
 for Americans to talk nonsense about class," she 
 added ; " and some of the first people in the land have 
 been farmers and farmers' children. But Rose shows 
 at times that she has not been well educated; she has 
 had so few opportunities, although she's bright 
 enough. I think, too, she is ambitious, but, of course, 
 I couldn't ask her if she wanted to know things I 
 saw she had no chance to learn. But one day, after 
 she had been crying the evening before, mother said 
 I might tell her I was going to invite her to come 
 to visit me for a week this summer. I ought to have 
 written before vacation, to give her time. But so 
 many things happened in school, you know, and there 
 was so much to think about when I came home that 
 I nearly forgot her. Then, when I did write she 
 couldn't come; and I'm afraid I was mean enough, 
 Grace, to be glad ; I didn't want her with you and the 
 others; I didn't want to have to leave you ever and 
 entertain her I mean, leave talking with you, you
 
 SHALL SHE BAR HER OUT? 27 
 
 know when being with you was such a pleasure. 
 And now you know how it is. Rex is right on gen- 
 eral principles. But " Dorothy paused; then, 
 
 leaning forward, she laid her hand upon her friend's. 
 " Grace," she said, " if you had only seen her face 
 when I told her last summer that I was going to in- 
 vite her! The coming was a year off; but the delight 
 of it shone in her eyes like sunshine. It wasn't her 
 fault, you may be sure, that she couldn't come the 
 very day I asked her this year. They wouldn't let 
 her; they had more boarders, I suppose, and she had 
 to be just what Rex calls her a little scullery maid. 
 I'm wicked enough to wish she hadn't written just 
 now. But I can't get it out of my head how it would 
 seem to her a bit out of paradise to go on an auto- 
 mobile trip, and would tide her over a good many 
 hard places to come in her life. When she has to 
 scrub pots and pans she would seem to see again in 
 her mind the grand country she passed through with 
 us, and nobody would appreciate it more. And when 
 the boarders are top-lofty with her as some of them 
 used to be she will remember how this summer she 
 went about and was waited upon herself, like the best 
 of them ; it will do her good. And, Grace," she added, 
 her own eyes growing moist, " I keep seeing her sad 
 face when I say 'no/ and the tears in her blue eyes, 
 and I seem to hear over and over, what she said to 
 me one day, I remember it because it was the only 
 word of complaint she ever uttered : ' You work, but 
 you never have to drudge,' she said so pathetically ; ' I 
 don't mind working, I expect to; but there's never
 
 28 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 any let-up; if only I could have a little fun some- 
 times, like other girls/ Now you see what I mean 
 about this trip being a paradise to her. She's just too 
 much for me, Grace, when I think about her. I know 
 you wouldn't mind a a stranger who didn't always 
 talk as we do and I believe I don't care whether the 
 others mind or not. I " 
 
 " Why, Dorothy, everybody who knew about it 
 would be glad to have her ! " cried Grace, her own 
 eyes growing suspiciously bright. 
 
 " But, you see, if Rose should go with us, your 
 brother and Jimmy Reid will have to come on their 
 cycles. As Rex says, there won't be room for us all 
 in the motor cars. I should have to telephone the 
 first thing in the morning. Would your mother mind 
 the change?" 
 
 " I'm not sure she wouldn't prefer it/' laughed the 
 other. "Jimmy is restless, he's so active; he likes to 
 take side excursions and explore." 
 
 " Then the cycle would give him a good chance," 
 returned Dorothy, relieved. 
 
 She stayed a while talking with Grace before bid- 
 ding her good-night. Afterward she sat by the win- 
 dow in her own room to think things over once more, 
 and make sure that she was right. Then she went to 
 dreamland. 
 
 "I heard the telephone early this morning, Dorci," 
 said Rex at the breakfast table : " ' Please' give me ' 
 I lost what it was you wanted; I suspect I went off 
 to sleep; then I waked up again just in time to hear: 
 'Yes, thank you. I'm glad it will not be an incon-
 
 SHALL SHE BAR HER OUT? 29 
 
 venience. I'll explain when I see you; I'm so sorry 
 to ask you.' I thought you must be telling Miss 
 Hewes you were so sorry she thought of coming now ! 
 I was so pleased to hear it, I turned over and had 
 another nap." Dorothy smiled, but said nothing. 
 "And in spite of the morning nap, I thought I was 
 up early," pursued Rex. " But when I looked out of 
 my window, there were you, Doro, flying down to the 
 stables with a paper in your hand. What was wanted, 
 I wonder?" 
 
 " It concerns you, and all of us, to know," returned 
 the girl. " I got Reuben to drive me into town, and 
 sent off a telegram. I went myself, because I wanted 
 to make sure that the telegram wouldn't be laid over, 
 as they sometimes are at the offices." 
 
 " Good ! good ! " cried Rex. " Three cheers ! You 
 telegraphed to the to Miss Hewes, not to come, no 
 room for her deep regret ! " 
 
 " I telegraphed to Miss Hewes to bring something 
 warm to wear, for we were going on an auto trip," 
 returned Dorothy, growing a little pale, but meeting 
 the looks of the company composedly. 
 
 "Indeed! Then I suppose she's to take my place 
 and drive. There is no other for her." 
 
 But Rex was only teasing, and his sister knew it 
 as she looked into his eyes. " Grace's brother and his 
 friend are to come on their motor cycles," she an- 
 swered. " That's what I was telephoning Mrs-. Long- 
 ley about this morning; I Was afraid a telegram 
 wouldn't be put through soon enough. Rose has no 
 telephone," she added.
 
 30 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 "You're a good business woman, Dorothy," said 
 her father. But it was not until that night that he 
 found opportunity to say to his wife : " I'm glad our 
 Dorothy is not a snob, Olivia. It was good you left 
 her alone; her instincts are true; she's a little lady." 
 
 " She is very much of one," answered his wife with 
 a smile. " Dorothy is large-natured," she went on. 
 " It's vanity, you know, that is the snob ; for in its 
 heart it knows itself no more able to stand alone than 
 a rag doll and clutches at the props of public opinion. 
 But Dorothy is proud ; she is able to stand on her own 
 feet on her own ground." 
 
 Her listener nodded approvingly. "That trait is 
 worth a thousand airs and graces," he returned. 
 
 " I think that our eldest daughter has some of the 
 graces besides," answered his wife. 
 
 " You know what I think of her," he said. " I only 
 hope she won't find out the whole of it ; I'm afraid it 
 might be too much for her." 
 
 " I'm not sure about that. She would take the ad- 
 miration as being all love for her; and she is one 
 whom love stimulates to her best." 
 
 Lulu confided to Grace that Dorothy must have 
 been acting up to her motto that she had in her room 
 at school: 
 
 " Not what we give, but what we share." 
 
 Late in the afternoon Mrs. Longley arrived with 
 a fine motor car and the substitute chauffeur whom 
 none of the family liked as well as the permanent 
 one, but who had the advantage of knowing the roads
 
 SHALL SHE BAR HER OUT? 31 
 
 well, since his home had been in the region through 
 which they were to pass on a part of their journey. 
 Ned and Jimmy Reid appeared soon after the motor 
 car, very warm, and glad to arrive; for it had been 
 quick work to get the cycles ready at the short notice 
 of Dorothy's telephone. She fancied that Jimmy 
 Reid was pleased at the change in the program. Ned 
 was very courteous ; but rather more quiet than usual. 
 
 The next day he explained that there were some 
 things that the cycles needed which they must get 
 before starting; and he and Jimmy, piloted by Rex, 
 went into town, as the suburbanites called the neigh- 
 boring city. 
 
 Rose Hewes arrived two hours after the others. 
 Dorothy drove to the station in town to meet her, tak- 
 ing Priscy who begged to accompany her. Rose 
 proved a very pretty girl of eighteen, but painfully 
 shy. Dorothy saw that she was watching the others 
 carefully, and she spoke so little that she made no 
 bad slip in her grammar. But all her timidity could 
 not keep the light of happy anticipation out of her 
 eyes, and her young hostess, reading it, was more 
 than ever assured that she had done the right thing. 
 
 " She's too frightened to eat, poor little soul ! " com- 
 mented Rex who treated her with a courtesy that 
 Dorothy had confidently expected of him. 
 
 Walking out to the pines with Dorothy that morn- 
 ing before the arrivals, Priscy said to her: "That's 
 the way you did to me." 
 
 " If Rose would only turn out like you ! " answered 
 the other with a sigh.
 
 32 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 Late that same evening Pell-Mell who for the mo- 
 ment was standing alone with Dorothy put an arm 
 about her, and leaning her head on her friend's 
 shoulder, confided : " She's quite an improvement on 
 me, Dorothy! " 
 
 Dorothy turned upon the speaker with a laugh. 
 " You amusing child ! " she whispered with the pro- 
 tectingness of her year's seniority, and gave Priscy a 
 hug. " It would be difficult to improve on you, Pell- 
 Mell," she said.
 
 IV 
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY 
 
 " A DAY for out of doors ! " said Mrs. Brooke, com- 
 ing into her daughter's room the morning of the start. 
 
 " Oh, mother, is it late ? Have I overslept ? " cried 
 Dorothy, springing up. " There were so many things 
 to see to yesterday, I didn't get to bed very early, and 
 I've slept like a log." 
 
 " Oh, no, like a child," returned Mrs. Brooke. " But 
 you're not late. I was awake and I came in to have 
 five minutes' talk and to give you my good-by here, 
 all by ourselves, little comrade." 
 
 Mrs. Brooke seated herself, and Dorothy came and 
 knelt beside her with arms thrown around her mother 
 and looking up into the face bending over her own. 
 " That's just like you, mother," she said. " I know I 
 shall have a lovely time; but I shall miss you every 
 day, and I shall wonder if you are having a good time, 
 too, and shall hope that you're not overdoing and that 
 I wasn't wrong to leave you with so much on your 
 hands when I can do a little something to help out, 
 you know." 
 
 " No, little comrade, you are doing right. It makes 
 me happy to think of you." 
 
 " Then, think of me a great deal ! " laughed Doro- 
 thy with a tenderness in her tones as she lifted herself 
 to meet the lips that bent to her own. 
 
 33
 
 34 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 " I've not come to preach to you to be careful, or to 
 be kind, or to do one thing and another," said Mrs. 
 Brooke. "I know you'll do your best; but just to 
 have you for a minute all to myself." Suddenly, her 
 grasp of her daughter tightened. "I pray God to 
 bring you back to me in safety, little comrade." 
 
 "And I!" whispered Dorothy. 
 
 Then they began to talk of the last arrangements 
 for the start. 
 
 " I like Mrs. Longley as much as you do, Dorothy," 
 said Mrs. Brooke. "You couldn't go with anybody 
 better." 
 
 "Only one, mother." 
 
 " No, not excepting one, little comrade." 
 
 "There we must agree to differ," answered the 
 other with a smile. 
 
 "What's the matter with Nemo?" asked Dorothy 
 as her quick ears detected an unwonted sound. 
 
 " He's shut up in the stable," volunteered Harry 
 who that morning seemed in evidence everywhere and 
 more than once had made himself of use. He was 
 rather solemn as he watched the preparations for de- 
 parture; but Rex had whispered him a word of com- 
 fort, that by and by he would take him and Olive a 
 whole long day's spin. They would take Nemo who 
 was now howling his heart out because he could not 
 go with the travelers, would start in the early morn- 
 ing, would stop at some fine hotels for lunch and for 
 dinner, and not come home until late in the evening. 
 The children knew they were going to be happy, for
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY 35 
 
 Rex kept his promises. But Harry confided to his 
 younger sister that, somehow, happiness to-day seemed 
 more than thinking about having it to-morrow, and, 
 all the same, he wished he was going that morning. 
 
 " So do I," returned Olive. " But I wouldn't have 
 them know it for the world ; I have a little pride." 
 
 " I s'pose pride keeps a stiff upper lip," commented 
 Harry looking at her. 
 
 Mrs. Longley's motor car was brought up to the 
 door first. The whole family was grouped on the 
 steps and under the porte-cochere; the judge had 
 waited for a later train that he might see the travelers 
 off; Mrs. Brooke beside him was holding Mrs. Long- 
 ley's hand and listening to the latter's warm expres- 
 sions of the pleasure of her day at Brookehurst; the 
 children had been standing so close to the car that 
 their father's hand had pulled them back; and a little 
 withdrawn, but well in evidence, stood the three maids 
 commenting in undertones to one another. Nobody 
 forgot to bid them good-by, and Dorothy whispered 
 with a gravity behind her smile: "I know you'll all 
 take good care of mother." 
 
 "That we will, Miss Dorothy," answered Bella, 
 the cook, as spokeswoman, noticing with pride, that 
 although they were all pretty girls as she afterward 
 told the others, "not one of 'em was so lovely in the 
 face and so altogether illigant," as the daughter of 
 the house in which Bella had lived since Dorothy was 
 a little child who used to hold fast to her finger and 
 be led about. 
 
 Mr. Brooke helped Mrs. Longley into her motor
 
 36 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 car, a very handsome limousine, invisible green in 
 color, which was to take the lead and stood in advance 
 of the other. He bade her farewell with a cordial 
 echo of his wife's wish that before long they might 
 see her again at their home ; then, with a smile he gave 
 his hand to Priscy Pell who sprang in beside her. Next 
 came Rose Hewes and Dorothy; the seat with the 
 chauffeur was unoccupied. The car moved on a few 
 rods and stood waiting for the second one to be rilled. 
 Miss Knowles and Grace Longley, Lulu Bromley and 
 Rex were to be the occupants of his car. 
 
 As the machine stood panting to be off, Rex held 
 out his hand to Miss Knowles to help her in. 
 
 But she drew back. "One moment," she began. 
 "Are you quite sure, Mr. Brooke, that no accident 
 will happen, that everything everything is all 
 right?" 
 
 " Why, Miss Knowles, you didn't say anything yes- 
 terday when you went for four hours ! " cried Harry. 
 
 " Be quiet ! " said his father sternly. The boy sub- 
 sided, while Rex answered : 
 
 "It is so far as I know, Miss Knowles. I've been 
 over the machine three times to make as sure as I can ; 
 nobody can do more than that." 
 
 " Of course not. But these things are so very dan- 
 gerous, you know." 
 
 " Sure, an' she wants to be ridin' in the other 
 machine, do yer see ? " whispered Bella to her compan- 
 ions. " That has a top to it, an' she thinks it's f oiner 
 than Mr. Rex's that he told me was the color of a 
 dove, an' good enough for anybody."
 
 "ARE YOU QUITE SURE THAT NO ACCIDENT WILL 
 HAPPEN?"
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY 37 
 
 " All luxuries have their cost," the young man was 
 answering courteously. " Yet, considering the im- 
 mense increase in the amount of travel, I believe that 
 life to-day, even when one is traveling, is as safe as in 
 old times, if not safer than it was then. I'll cer- 
 tainly do my best to bring you back sound in life and 
 limb." Again he held out his hand to her: surely, 
 she would be ready to get in by this time. 
 
 But she was not. " You're a trained chauffeur, Mr. 
 Brooke?" she questioned. "You have your certifi- 
 cate?" she asked, still hesitating. 
 
 " Oh, Miss Knowles, you ought to take out an acci- 
 dent policy, in case you get killed ! " cried Olive going 
 close to the other in her eagerness. 
 
 But this time a sharp pull brought her to the foot 
 of the steps. " If either one of you speak again, you 
 shall go into the house immediately," said a voice so 
 authoritative that for the moment she dared not even 
 look up. 
 
 " Certainly, Miss Knowles, I have my certificate," 
 Rex was answering. " Shall I get it and show it to 
 you?" 
 
 " Oh, no ! no ! of course not, Mr. Brooke ! But 
 the machine is numbered, of course in case we run 
 over anybody, you know? To be sure, though, it has 
 to be," she reminded herself aloud. 
 
 " Oh, I'm not enough of a chauffeur for that ! " he 
 retorted. " I never ran over anybody not even a 
 hen!" At the moment he was a step behind Miss 
 Knowles, and as he spoke he gave a quick glance at 
 Lulu Bromley standing demurely by.
 
 38 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 " Oh, no ! no ! of course not ! " Miss Knowles has- 
 tened to assure him. "I'm certain you're all right." 
 But she still stood surveying the motor car with an 
 eye that was as critical as her ignorance of the ma- 
 chine would allow. " I see you have the extra tire in 
 case of need," she added. 
 
 "Yes, indeed!" returned Rex gravely. 
 
 And at last Miss Knowles permitted herself to be 
 helped in. She took the back seat in state with Grace 
 Longley beside her ; and Lulu took the place beside the 
 driver. 
 
 " We have a seat here for Monsieur L'Imprevu ! " 
 called back Dorothy, " I wonder who he'll be ? * Mon- 
 sieur L'Imprevu ' is * Mr. Unexpected,' " she explained 
 in an undertone to Rose. " Good-by, everybody," she 
 added the next moment. " Tell poor Nemo how sorry 
 I am he can't come hello ! what's that ? " For on 
 the instant that the wheels were about to turn, some- 
 thing plumped into her lap. "One of Olive's old 
 slippers! No! on my word, a new one! Harry's 
 joke! I thought he was hugging his jacket pretty 
 well for a warm morning ! " And she tossed it back 
 with a flourish just as they were off. " Dear chil- 
 dren!" she said to Rose. "I wish we could have 
 taken them ! They never make trouble." 
 
 " You could if I had not come with you," returned 
 the other, to Dorothy's amazement. 
 
 " Oh, Rose, you've not ousted the children. Don't 
 think that for a moment," she cried. " My mother 
 would not have thought it best anyway to have them 
 come- Ned Longley and Jimmy Reid would have
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY 39 
 
 come in the motor car, that's all. We are glad you 
 are here." And she smiled into the brightening face 
 turned wistfully up to her own. 
 
 " My father said you wouldn't want me after I had 
 said ' no,' " confided Rose, " and I'd better stay at 
 home and make myself useful. But " 
 
 " But you did quite right to come. Look at 
 those hills in the distance, and the river, and those 
 soft clouds against the blue sky and think how much 
 we are to see, and tell me if you're not glad you 
 came? I am," she repeated. 
 
 The girl's face flushed as she turned her eyes from 
 the landscape which she had already been studying and 
 fixed them upon her young hostess. "I'm glad for 
 more than that," she answered. " It's people makes 
 things look best," she added. 
 
 Suddenly, Dorothy sprang to her feet, and laid a 
 hand of authority on the chauffeur's shoulder. " Stop ! 
 stop ! " she cried. " You'll run over that dog ! Stop 
 this instant ! " 
 
 "I've whistled to him, and if he hasn't got out of 
 the way, that's his lookout," returned the man sul- 
 lenly. Yet he slackened pace at once. 
 
 As he did so the girl turned to Mrs. Longley. " I 
 know you'll forgive me," she said. " But where you 
 are sitting I knew you couldn't see the danger." 
 
 " I thank you ! " cried the other. The car came 
 almost to a halt; and the dog which had been lying 
 as if asleep in the middle of the road he was a 
 heavy old creature waddled into the bushes on the 
 roadside and disappeared. At the time nothing more
 
 40 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 was said. But when the party stopped for luncheon, 
 Dorothy heard the chauffeur answer Mrs. Longley in 
 a sullen tone that he would do the best he could. One 
 was expected to have a care about people ; but animals 
 must look after themselves. 
 
 "' Not while you drive my car," Dorothy heard Mrs. 
 Longley answer him with a sternness that she had not 
 caught in her voice before. From the moment she 
 had looked at him, Dorothy could not endure that 
 chauffeur ; her quick instincts had told her not to trust 
 him. But he must be all right, even if he were only a 
 substitute, or he would not be driving Mrs. Longley's 
 car. Yet that morning her thoughts turned with satis- 
 faction to Ned and Jimmy ; it was good that Rex was 
 not the only man on hand in case anything should go 
 wrong. But what could, if the chauffeur drove well? 
 As she was watching him, he threw a glance at her 
 which she caught. " How angry he is with me ! " she 
 thought; and then forgot him. 
 
 That July morning the sighing of the wind in the 
 pines overhead made only a soft minor accompani- 
 ment to the merry laughter that floated up as the com- 
 pany sat on the pine needles the only needles rec- 
 ommended for such a purpose and discussed one 
 of Bella's best luncheons, and the cook's experience in 
 that line had been large in the Brooke family where 
 throughout the summer out-of-door excursions were 
 many. That day the air had a breath of freshness, 
 and the sound of running water in the brook in the 
 hollow a hint of coolness; they rested for a while 
 under the trees.
 
 OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY 41 
 
 Jimmy Reid threw himself down at the feet of 
 Grace and Dorothy who were eating their egg sand- 
 wiches with Spartan sauce. "I chose tongue," he 
 said holding up his sandwich. "You see, that's a 
 commodity I haven't enough of!" After which re- 
 mark he set himself to prove the contrary, and suc- 
 ceeded in amusing his listeners so well that others 
 joined the group. 
 
 He was somewhat short of stature, and slender, 
 which made him look younger than he was. Years 
 ago Grace had won his undying allegiance by asserting 
 stoutly that his hair was auburn, and not red, as the 
 boys called it. It waved slightly and was really a 
 good color, although in certain lights open to the 
 allegation of his critics. His blue eyes had a twinkle 
 of fun in them, his nose, more for use than beauty, 
 had a keenness of perception of both physical odors 
 and moral obliquities, and his humorous mouth could 
 close tightly enough to hold fast the secrets it wished 
 to retain. As he talked he shot a glance every now 
 and then at the young man who, seated on the opposite 
 side of the circle, was frowningly eating his full share 
 of the good things before them. " What's the matter 
 with Manson ? " he asked himself. " I'll have an eye 
 on him." But this was one of the opinions that his 
 lips held within their own doors. 
 
 The afternoon spin went on without more incident 
 than the unfolding of the magnificent panorama of 
 scenery in an undulating country. The travelers from 
 their cars looked up at the hills around glowing in 
 the sunshine that burned on their summits, or shad-
 
 42 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 owed by the soft darkness of passing clouds; or 
 again, from some valley they climbed the side of one 
 of these hills, not too steep, and looked down into the 
 sweeps of field and orchard, of village nestling in the 
 valley, or city built upon the plain and stretching an 
 arm toward the heights behind it. Streams, and here 
 and there a lake lent the charm which water alone 
 can give to a landscape. 
 
 It was twilight when they arrived at a great house 
 set in the hills, commanding a view of the surrounding 
 country that in daylight or moonlight was extensive 
 and that in the half light had a fascination that held 
 Rose Hewes spellbound as she gazed upon it. Rex, 
 sent by his sister, joined her as she stood forgetting 
 where she was and her companions. 
 
 " You'll spoil your eyes, Miss Hewes," he laughed. 
 And they turned and went into the hotel. " I do hope 
 the people here haven't eaten up everything," he added 
 with a prosaicness destined to bring Rose to earth. 
 " I'm as hungry as a hawk. And I hope everybody 
 will be ready to start early to-morrow in the best of the 
 day."
 
 SOUNDS IN THE NIGHT 
 
 THAT evening in the hotel Lulu, Grace, Priscy and 
 Rose all sat about on chairs or bed in Dorothy's room 
 talking over the day. They decided that nothing re- 
 markable had happened; but the decision involved a 
 good deal of discussion of things not remarkable, yet 
 sometimes amusing. Rose hazarded several sentences 
 and her face as she sat listening to the droll hits made 
 by the others was a satisfaction to Dorothy who felt 
 again that she had done right to invite her. The girl 
 did not talk so badly, after all when she said any- 
 thing! 
 
 As they were sitting there a hairpin fell out of 
 Priscy's head. Replacing it she said with a laugh that 
 Jimmy Reid's hair was quite as red as her own. 
 
 Grace took up the remark at once. " Red hair 
 means pluck, Pell-Mell," she said; "and you have 
 plenty of it. So has Jimmy. I wish you could have 
 seen him when he first came to our house. Ned was 
 lying on a couch coughing, coughing, as he did then 
 all the time ; he had been very ill and he couldn't seem 
 to get well again. None of us quite knew whether he 
 was still really ill and Jimmy cured him by putting 
 his own energy into him and making him grow well 
 because he believed he could, or whether Ned had 
 really recovered and couldn't believe it himself, he felt 
 
 43
 
 44 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 so weak, and thought he couldn't get about again. Any- 
 way, he lay on the couch all the time when he wasn't 
 in bed, and read and coughed. And when he was car- 
 ried down stairs for a drive he kept on coughing. He 
 would never drive long, for he said it hurt him. But 
 whatever he was doing he always coughed, so the doc- 
 tors said he must go South that winter. Mamma 
 was about ready to take him when one day Ned who 
 was moped to death and yet didn't want to see any- 
 body, began to watch a little fellow marching through 
 the pouring rain and dancing his big umbrella over 
 his head as he ran up the door-steps of the different 
 houses. From his window Ned could see far down the 
 street. When the boy was going past our house Ned 
 insisted that our man should bring him upstairs. Papa 
 was out, of course, at that hour, and mamma wasn't 
 at home either that day, and you know when Ned 
 makes up his mind, it is hard to say * no ' to him, and 
 our man had no right to do it. So, Jimmy was 
 marched up to Ned's room. It doesn't take boys long 
 to get acquainted not so long as it does girls, I 
 think, and soon the two were talkiing away as Ned 
 had not talked for weeks and weeks. The man who 
 waited on him told us about it, and he declared that 
 Ned didn't cough so much, for all he talked. The 
 boys were in different divisions of school, which was 
 the reason they had not been acquainted before. 
 Jimmy was as full of health as Ned was of illness. 
 When Ned told of his going South, Jimmy thought 
 it would be fine to see the world ; but Ned wanted to 
 get well and stay at home. I can't begin to tell all
 
 SOUNDS IN THE NIGHT 45 
 
 the talks and things that went on, only everybody 
 saw that Ned was more interested in things and that 
 he didn't cough nearly so much. One day, however, 
 none of us will ever forget. The boys were too young 
 for motor cycles, Ned was only eleven and Jimmy is a 
 year younger than he, and the motor cycles were not 
 used so much then. But Ned had a fine bicycle up 
 in the stable loft rusting out for want of use. But 
 Jimmy had outgrown his little one and he couldn't 
 have another, for his father's business partner had run 
 away with a lot of money, and so Mr. Reid had failed 
 and there wasn't a dollar to spare to buy Jimmy a 
 bicycle. The poor little fellow wanted one dreadfully. 
 Mamma let Jimmy keep coming, for he certainly did 
 cheer up Ned, and the boys talked so much about ball 
 games and all kinds of out-of-door sports that Ned 
 got wild to get out again. This day I'm speaking of 
 he made the man bring his bicycle round to the front 
 gate, so that he could at least look at it. Then he made 
 Jimmy try it. That was another time when every- 
 body but the servants were out of the house for a 
 while. Ned had begun to walk around the room; he 
 had been wabbly at first, but he was getting steadier. 
 He stood at the window and saw Jimmy come back in 
 fine style. Every nerve in Ned tingled to be a real, 
 out-of-door boy once more. He ran downstairs hold- 
 ing tight on to the banisters with Jo that was the 
 man calling after him at every step, and met 
 Jimmy at the door. ' I'm going to have a turn ! ' he 
 cried, and went down the steps and the path to the 
 sidewalk and managed to get on to his bicycle. Jimmy
 
 46 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 was after him and begged him not to try it; but he 
 would. The pedals turned very slowly at first; then 
 he got under way and off he went. ' You go back 
 upstairs and wait for me/ he called to Jimmy. At 
 first thought Jimmy tried to keep up with the bicycle ; 
 but after a little he couldn't begin to do it. So, he 
 waited with his heart in his mouth. Ned didn't come 
 back. But mamma came home; and then papa 
 and wasn't there a circus ! Some boys would have run 
 away before papa came home ; but Jimmy wasn't that 
 kind of boy ; and then, he was too anxious about Ned. 
 At last it began to grow dusk, and there was still no 
 sign of him. Jimmy thought papa had a policeman 
 round the corner to nab him for doing injury to his 
 son ; but he wouldn't have run off if he could ; he was 
 going to see Ned home. At last when everybody 
 was wild and papa was going to send out to search, 
 up the road came a bicycle at a good pace, nearer and 
 nearer and stopped at our gate. Off got Ned and 
 walked all alone and pretty straight up the path and 
 into the house. He threw himself down on the lounge 
 with a happy sigh. * I'm tired enough,' he said. ' But 
 I'm all right; I'm like the other fellows again. And 
 there's the boy that's cured me.' So, that's the way 
 we became acquainted with Jimmy. Afterward we 
 found out that papa and his father went to school 
 together when they were boys in the country." 
 
 "You haven't finished the story, Grace," said 
 Dorothy quietly when exclamations had subsided. 
 "You haven't told that Jimmy got his bicycle. I 
 know he did."
 
 SOUNDS IN THE NIGHT 47 
 
 Grace laughed a little. " He didn't want to take 
 it at first," she answered. " He said it was good 
 enough to see Ned well. Papa had to make him see 
 how much less the best bicycle was than a trip down 
 South, and how much good it would do us all if he 
 would go on cycling with Ned. The boys are so fond 
 of one another," she added. " Jimmy is very bright 
 and amusing when you come to know him." 
 
 Priscy laughed. "We don't have to be told that, 
 Grace," she said. 
 
 After the other girls had gone to bed and were 
 fast asleep, Dorothy lay looking out upon the stars 
 framed in her window marching by in their wondrous 
 and endless procession, to the dwellers on the earth as 
 silent in their motion as many another mystery of the 
 universe. Yet who can tell what sounds vibrate 
 through the spaces as the stars roll in their orbits? 
 "When the morning stars sang together," Dorothy 
 quoted softly to herself. 
 
 A noise in the house brought her back to earth, and 
 she went over the incidents of the day with a sense of 
 responsibility that belonged to her as hostess ; Rex was 
 splendid help, but she must take her share. Thus far, 
 things had gone well. She laughed a little as she 
 recalled how funny it had been when in the woods 
 Ned had marched around carrying Bella's richest cake 
 and offering everybody a piece of " delicious, sweet 
 brown bread ! " " Well ! it looks like brown bread," 
 he had declared when they had all shouted at him; 
 "it has no raisins or anything in it, how was I to 
 know? " " Only, don't tell Bella," Dorothy had pleaded
 
 48 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 with tears of laughter in her eyes. Ned had been very 
 good, she thought; but, somehow, he had not seemed 
 quite satisfied. She was so sorry for it, but she had 
 done her best for everybody. Perhaps, however, he 
 was thinking up some plot; that was so hard to do 
 when it came to details that it made everyone restless. 
 How much Ned and Grace thought of Jimmy! It was 
 no wonder. And how much Jimmy thought of them. 
 
 What was the connecting link between Jimmy Reid 
 and the chauffeur unless because she had noticed 
 the former watching the man? But whatever it was, 
 she went to sleep thinking of the dog which the car 
 had nearly run over, and the creature appeared in her 
 dreams, always in trouble of some kind, and always 
 from the chauffeur, and she was trying to rescue him. 
 But she had not yet succeeded when a sound awoke 
 her. Like all sounds in dreams, it could not be placed 
 on first awakening and she lay waiting for it to be re- 
 peated. There it was again a short, angry bark 
 followed by a growl, and men's voices under her win- 
 dow. The first morning twilight had come. Dor- 
 othy listened. The sounds were repeated, and the 
 voices continued. The men spoke too audibly and 
 held their ground too confidently to be burglars ; they 
 must belong to the hotel workers, probably were hos- 
 tlers whom the dog had roused. 
 
 The barks went on in crescendo and the growls 
 grew more loud and frequent. Then the voices were 
 raised and Dorothy thought that she heard the word 
 " shoot." She threw on a wrap and knelt by the win- 
 dow listening. It could not be possible that was the
 
 SOUNDS IN THE NIGHT 49 
 
 dog they had passed in the road miles back ; he never 
 could have waddled so far. There seemed to her 
 something familiar in the bark ; but then all large dogs 
 in anger and excitement had probably somewhat the 
 same tone; she wished that she could see the animal. 
 She leaned out of the window to catch a glimpse of 
 him ; but her room looked on the roof of the veranda 
 and the men were either under this roof, or so close 
 that she could see nothing ; they seemed to be holding 
 the dog. But this time she caught clearly the sugges- 
 tion to shoot. 
 
 " No ! no ! Don't shoot him ! " she called impul- 
 sively. " Perhaps he belongs to some one here and 
 has followed. Wait! I'll call my brother." 
 
 The men sprang into view and looked up, amazed. 
 
 But Dorothy had left the window and getting into 
 her slippers, had unlocked her door and crossed the 
 corridor, a strange suspicion growing into certainty 
 in her mind. For no sooner had the dog heard her 
 voice than the quality of his barks changed ; he uttered 
 what humanly would be called a shout of joy and 
 burst into a succession of these that threatened to wake 
 every sleeper near who had thus far been oblivious to 
 his tumult. In an instant Dorothy was knocking on 
 her brother's door. " Rex ! Rex ! " she called. 
 " Rex ! " still louder. No answer. She pounded now 
 in place of knocking; she shook the door. Still no 
 answer. She called louder yet, and shook again, and 
 rattled the knob. As she turned this, the door flew 
 open ; it was not locked. 
 
 " Well! What in Oh, Doro, what do you want?
 
 'So DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 What's the matter ? " cried a voice shaking itself from 
 sleep as the girl bent over the bed, a hand on each 
 of the sleeper's shoulders. 
 
 "Wake up! Wake up, Rex! There's a dog down 
 here under my window, and " 
 
 " A dog ! Well, what have we to do with it ? " 
 
 " But the men are talking about shooting it, and 
 Rex, I think he knows my voice." 
 
 " What ! " cried the other, wide awake at last. " You 
 
 think ? Oh, nonsense, Doro! That's one of your 
 
 imaginations. You're always having them because 
 you write stories." 
 
 " Oh, Rex dear, won't you go down and see ? " 
 
 "Yes, I'll go down and see the minute you'll get 
 back into your own room and let me get up. And 
 shut your door now, and lock it. I'll see after the 
 dog. It's just your notion though." 
 
 Dorothy skipped back into her room and pushed to 
 her door. But she did not lock it; she did not even 
 turn the knob; she dressed herself in hot haste and 
 listened for Rex. When she heard him pull to his 
 door and march along the corridor, she smiled in satis- 
 faction, and closed her own door from the outside. 
 
 Rex ran downstairs and out upon the veranda. The 
 two men who had heard his footsteps waited for his 
 coming. Not so the dog who as soon as Rex's foot 
 had touched the threshold of the hall door, freed 
 himself and bounded to him and then after a brief 
 and vigorous greeting, passed him and sprang with a 
 bark of delight upon some one behind him. 
 
 Rex turned. "Dorothy! What are you doing 
 here?"
 
 SOUNDS IN THE NIGHT 51 
 
 For answer she dropped down on the lowest step 
 of the stairs and put her arms around Nemo's neck. 
 "You naughty, naughty dog!" she cried, hugging 
 him. " Yes, you're very naughty indeed very 
 naughty to have slipped out of your collar and chain 
 but you're awfully smart to have followed us all 
 this way! And how dusty you are! And how tired 
 and hungry you must be ! " 
 
 "Great punishment you're giving a dog so dis- 
 obedient as he has been ! " cried the young man looking 
 on, half annoyed, and half amused. 
 
 "I know it, Rex. But then, he came because he 
 loved us ; and he is a part of home, I can't help being 
 glad to see him." 
 
 " So it appears," returned the other dryly. 
 
 "Are you going to take him into your room, 
 Rex? Or shall I?" questioned the girl looking a bit 
 ashamed of herself but not desisting from her occu- 
 pation. 
 
 "7 will when you've finished your embraces." 
 The men had disappeared, growling over the slum- 
 bers they had lost, until something passing from Rex's 
 hand into theirs had set them broadly smiling. 
 
 As he turned back to her, Dorothy rose and pushed 
 Nemo gently away. " I'll go and dress," she said to 
 her brother. " I can't get asleep again." Looking 
 back as she ran upstairs, she laughed over her 
 shoulder, " I sha'n't have to wash my face this morn- 
 ing; Nemo's done it thoroughly for me! Naughty 
 dog!"
 
 VI 
 
 TWO PERFECT DAYS 
 
 " LOOK at him ! " cried Rex. " Even the conscious- 
 ness of guilt is washed off of him ! I'll show you ; for 
 animals are like people, they don't feel too badly when 
 they're able to eat." 
 
 He tossed a piece of bread to Nemo who caught it 
 deftly in his mouth, gulped it down and was ready for 
 more. But he did not need it; for, thanks to a gen- 
 erous tip from Rex, the dog had been washed and 
 combed and well fed and was now anxiously awaiting 
 the next move. It was not clear, however, that he 
 was not conscious of having done something out of 
 the way ; for as Rex spoke, the animal left his side and 
 sat himself down close to Dorothy, his eyes looking 
 up into hers with both affection and anxiety in their 
 gaze. 
 
 "Isn't he a beauty naughty dog?" asked the 
 girl giving the very handsome collie an appreciative 
 pat. 
 
 "That's it, Dorothy! Pat away! You're spoiling 
 the fellow; he knows as well as we do I can tell 
 now by his eyes that he has done very wrong in- 
 deed; only, he doesn't care." And Rex shook his 
 head disapprovingly at the dog. Nemo's head drooped 
 and he cast an imploring glance at the speaker. " In- 
 deed, you do, sir," Rex went on. " And that sister of 
 
 52
 
 TWO PERFECT DAYS '53 
 
 mine is doing her level best to spoil you and suc- 
 ceeding, too." 
 
 "Is patting more detrimental than feeding?" in- 
 quired Ned turning his eyes from Dorothy to her 
 brother. 
 
 " Feeding is a necessity," retorted Rex, and added : 
 " We're here for fun, Longley ; and we can't get it if 
 everybody has to be consistent ; I help to spoil Nemo, 
 and take it out in scolding Doro. That makes things 
 even." 
 
 The others laughed. The party were taking an 
 early breakfast and were almost alone in the dining- 
 room and quite by themselves at the table to which 
 they had been assigned. They had seated themselves 
 by no special arrangement, but each as he or she en- 
 tered the dining-room took the place preferred, unless 
 some one else had chosen it first. Mrs. Longley had the 
 head of the table, Rex was on one side, and Miss 
 Knowles on the other; Lulu further down the table 
 was talking to Jimmy who amused her much ; Dorothy 
 had Rose on one side and Grace on the other. Priscy 
 taking the vacant place on Rose's other hand, was talk- 
 ing to her merrily, secretly rejoicing as she did so that 
 she herself had never found it difficult to talk. 
 
 "We ought not to expect too much in July, Ned 
 or at any time," agreed Mrs. Longley. 
 
 "I don't see how he ever found his way to us," 
 said Grace. " It was awfully clever in him." 
 
 " Yes, it was," returned Dorothy eagerly. " It was 
 naughty to run away, but, as Grace says, it was really 
 brilliant in him to find us at all at this distance. And
 
 54 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 the poor fellow must have run nearly the whole night 
 to catch up with us, even when we went so slowly." 
 And again she patted Nemo who still sat gazing up 
 at her with unmistakable gratitude. " I can't help 
 liking ability," she added. 
 
 " You'd like to hang a medal tied with a red rib- 
 bon round his neck," smiled Ned looking at Dorothy 
 who sat opposite. 
 
 " You know by experience," returned the girl, " that 
 I like to take my punishments softened by rewards 
 when I have to take them at all." 
 
 " That's what you deserve," he answered. 
 
 "The punishments, or the rewards?" questioned 
 Dorothy. 
 
 " I was considering the latter ; but the others may 
 have to come in, in modified form, on very rare occa- 
 sions," he laughed. 
 
 " Caution is one of Ned's characteristics," observed 
 his mother smiling. 
 
 "/ 'm not cautious, certainly," returned Dorothy, 
 " when I hand in themes plays, for instance," she 
 added referring to an incident of school life the pre- 
 vious year in which Ned Longley, miles away and 
 quite unaware, had been in a measure concerned and 
 in which he had openly helped on the reward. But 
 her smile faded in another thought upon which she 
 was silent a wonder what his mother had meant 
 in attributing caution to Ned? For the girl had a 
 memory of him when his strongest characteristic had 
 been daring, even to recklessness, but splendid, because 
 it was to save others.
 
 TWO PERFECT DAYS 55 
 
 "Nemo, when you had a good home, why didn't 
 you stay in it?" questioned Rex with real vexation 
 in his tones. 
 
 " A somewhat personal remark to make to us all ! " 
 retorted his sister. 
 
 There followed a lively discussion as to what was 
 to be done with the dog. Everybody, even Rose 
 Hewes, put in a word, except Dorothy who sat silent, 
 glancing now and then at Nemo who still remained 
 with his head against her knee and his eyes fixed on 
 her face. 
 
 " Look at him ! " cried Priscy. 
 
 " Well, Doro," said Rex at last, " how long are 
 you going to reserve your opinion ? Out with it." 
 
 "I was waiting to hear somebody 'else say it," re- 
 turned the girl. " There is only one thing that we 
 can do take him home again, and tie him with a 
 tighter collar and a stronger chain this time." 
 
 A shout of incredulity and protest arose. " What ! " 
 they all cried. " Go back ! Return all that distance ! 
 Lose two days of the trip ! Never ! " Nobody save the 
 maker of it approved of that suggestion. 
 
 "He's not as obedient as he ought to be; and I'm 
 afraid something will happen to him," explained 
 Dorothy. " I should feel better to have him safe at 
 home." 
 
 ' Then, you'll have to content yourself with feeling 
 well, without * feeling better/ I'm sorry to say," cried 
 Rex. " For we don't for a moment think of return- 
 ing. It's absurd even to imagine it! There's only 
 one choice, and I leave it to you to make it: Shall
 
 56 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 we billet Nemo here and leave him, to pick him up on 
 our return ? Or shall we take him with us ? " 
 
 "Oh, we'll take him with us by all means," she 
 answered. "We may want to return by a different 
 route. I am foolish about him, I know," she added. 
 "Of course, he will be all right." 
 
 " ' Of course, he will be all right,' " echoed another 
 speaker whose words were none the less significant 
 because they were not audible. " So, the dog's hers ? 
 She's silly over him, just like these uppish folks ; I hate 
 her ! Yes, ' of course, the dog will be all right,' " he 
 reiterated. There was malice in his tones and the 
 eyes fixed upon Dorothy were full of strong dislike; 
 she had been the means of procuring him a sharp rep- 
 rimand, and what he called debts of revenge he never 
 failed to pay when he could. For the shadow that 
 for an instant darkened one and then another of 
 the windows looking out upon the veranda was 
 that of the chauffeur. Mrs. Longley, perceiving it, 
 looked up. 
 
 " Manson is all ready for us," said Rex also catch- 
 ing sight of the passer-by. " I must say he works 
 hard to keep the car in order," he added. " He break- 
 fasted at I don't know what unearthly hour and 
 pitched in, and he has been at it ever since." 
 
 "I dare say we shall learn to like him; I suppose 
 we ought to," said Grace in an undertone to Jimmy as 
 they arose from the table. 
 
 " I don't see any obligation. I never shall like him." 
 returned the other in the same key. " But it's not 
 my business."
 
 TWO PERFECT DAYS 57 
 
 " I'm glad though, that you and Ned will be around 
 if anything should go wrong," pursued Grace. " It's 
 hard to get hold of anyone for just a time. Our own 
 chauffeur, you know, is fine, and, in essentials, a gen- 
 tleman." 
 
 " And this one is neither, Grace. But he knows how 
 to drive, and that's the only thing of consequence." 
 Some day Jimmy might change his mind as to "the 
 only thing of consequence " in the chauffeur. But at 
 present there was nothing tangibly wrong, and the 
 day was too delightful, the scenery too beautiful and 
 the company too gay and harmonious to allow one to 
 dwell upon possibilities of evil. 
 
 " Behold Monsieur LTmprevu ! " announced Mrs. 
 Longley. And as she entered her car, she pointed to 
 Nemo already occupying a seat in front with an air 
 of triumph that set them all laughing. 
 
 " He rides like the best," said Ned ; " and doesn't 
 care how many he runs over." 
 
 The dog looked from one merry face to another 
 and gave a quick bark. 
 
 "Oh, don't laugh at him!" cried Grace. "See 
 him hang his head. It is said that animals mind ridi- 
 cule even more than we do. Once I made a cockatoo 
 furiously angry with me by laughing at him for swing- 
 ing himself to sleep so drolly. I never thought of hurt- 
 ing the poor creature's feelings." 
 
 "That you didn't, Grace!" said Dorothy. "But 
 Nemo is all right now, even to his collar." For from 
 somewhere Ned had fished up a pierced coin, strung 
 it on a cord and running a ribbon which Dorothy had
 
 58 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 supplied through this cord, had hung the whole around 
 Nemo's neck. 
 
 " Anyway, you're worth a quarter, old fellow ! " 
 declared Rex examining the coin. " I suppose that's 
 his medal, Longley? He looks proud enough of 
 it." 
 
 Dorothy said nothing. But as she took her place 
 in the car, she rested her hand for a moment on the 
 head of her pet and thought how good it was in Ned 
 to have taken all that trouble ; he iiad pretended it was 
 a joke; but she knew he had done it to make her feel 
 more comfortable because Nemo was so far from home 
 without his collar. 
 
 The sky was perfect, with only clouds enough to 
 give the beauties of light and shade to the landscape ; 
 the air was deliciously fresh when the sweep of the 
 motor cars set it in more vigorous motion about them ; 
 the country through which they passed would have 
 aroused enthusiasm in jaded travelers. The chauffeur 
 took his place on the seat beside Nemo and as he did 
 so glanced at the dog. The animal responded by a low 
 growl. Dorothy glanced significantly at Priscy be- 
 hind the man's back, and her eyes said : " Nemo 
 doesn't like him, either." 
 
 " I don't wonder ! " flashed back Pell-Mell's glance 
 and shrug. 
 
 Then they were off, to the accompaniment of cheers 
 and waving of handkerchiefs from the other boarders 
 at the hotel who by this time had assembled on the 
 veranda to watch the start; and voices 'were raised 
 in praise of the beautiful collie.
 
 TWO PERFECT DAYS 59 
 
 " Nemo's forgotten your laughing at him, now 
 that he has received so many compliments," declared 
 Dorothy as the cars spun down the hill and bowled 
 over a splendid road. 
 
 " It sounds well to talk of taking untraveled paths 
 and seeing new landscapes and making all kinds of 
 .interesting discoveries," declared Rex. " But when 
 you go motoring, you don't want to do any such 
 things; you want to go where other autos run, to 
 make sure the road is good. We can stand a short 
 cut now and then and swallow a little dust; but we 
 don't want to have to live on it." 
 
 They found a comfortable hotel where they lunched. 
 Priscy, however, persisted in calling it "a wayside 
 inn " ; she said that things tasted better and the place 
 looked better for an air of romance thrown over it, 
 and it didn't cost anything." 
 
 " Indeed, it does ! " retorted Ned. " It costs a great 
 stretch of imagination." 
 
 " Good exercise for you, then ! " commented Doro- 
 thy, as riding beside the car, he talked merrily to its 
 inmates. 
 
 " Fine for you, JVIiss Brooke ! " called Jimmy from 
 the other side. " His imagination will get stiff for 
 want of exercise if you don't wake him up. You 
 can't guess what a sleepy fellow he is ! " 
 
 "You're not making as much noise in the world 
 as I thought you would do," said Dorothy laughing 
 at Ned's puzzled expression. " I mean," she added, 
 "that neither of your cycles makes the horrible clat- 
 tering I expected." And she turned to Jimmy.
 
 60 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 " The best is never the noisiest, you know," he 
 answered. 
 
 "Between you, you've spoile'd my retort," cried 
 Ned. " I was going to say I was waiting for your 
 help, Dorothy, to make the noise in the world." 
 
 " It strikes me," called out Rex who as they were 
 laughing had brought his car alongside in the broad- 
 ened road, " that if you two fellows pose as outriders, 
 you take great liberties for an escort. Mighty im- 
 pertinent outriders ! " 
 
 " He says that because you've deserted us and de- 
 voted yourselves to the other car," explained Lulu 
 Bromley. 
 
 "We ought to be one and one," returned Jimmy, 
 falling back as Rex's car dropped to the rear again 
 and taking his place beside Grace. 
 
 " Oh, dear ! " warned Miss Knowles anxiously. 
 " Why don't you run more regularly ? You go dodg- 
 ing about so, you'll have an accident, surely. I keep 
 trembling in my boots to see you." 
 
 " How loose her boots must get ! " commented Rex 
 very low to Lulu. 
 
 But she dared answer him only by a swift glance 
 of amusement ; Miss Knowles was too near for words. 
 In another moment, however, Lulu heard Grace's 
 sweet voice striving to allay the other's anxieties. 
 
 The motor cars rolled on through a country so 
 beautiful that for a time Lulu sat silent in the delight 
 of it. Rex watched her, remembering the things 
 which Dorothy had told him about this interesting 
 girl beside him with her highbred air and the repose
 
 TWO PERFECT DAYS 61 
 
 of leisure in her attitude. He understood that she 
 rested well because she could work well; for Doro- 
 thy with no mention of her own efforts to help her, 
 had spoken at home of Lulu's hard struggle to main- 
 tain herself at school the previous year when the 
 greater part of the money for her school expenses had 
 been withdrawn and of how excellently she had suc- 
 ceeded; but that now matters had changed for the 
 better and Lulu was free to devote herself to study 
 alone; yet that she would still do outside work and 
 thus be enabled to send her brother to college when 
 that time should come. Rex admired her courage and 
 her devotion to the little fellow whom he hoped she 
 would one day have reason to be proud of. He 
 admired, too, the slender grace of her figure, the 
 strength and intelligence in her face which heightened 
 the charm of her fine features and delicate coloring; 
 and her keen enjoyment of the drive and the scene 
 delighted him. The silence lasted for some time. Lulu 
 seemed to have forgotten her companion, until as they 
 turned into the road leading along the banks of the 
 beautiful river of which they had caught glimpses as 
 they had drawn nearer to it, she turned to him. 
 
 " With such a day and such a scene, and such a car 
 gliding with the very ideal of motion, what more 
 can one want ? " she asked. " Aren't you perfectly 
 happy, Mr. Brooke?" She looked so herself as she 
 spoke. 
 
 "And a girl like Miss Bromley to enjoy it with 
 me," he added, smiling at her. 
 
 "'A girl like Miss Bromley'? Who is she?".
 
 62 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 she echoed lightly. " I should like to see my double 
 just out of curiosity." 
 
 " You never will ! " he said responding with quick 
 perception to her mood. " Miss Bromley's equal does 
 not exist." His manner allowed her to accept the 
 speech in the spirit of banter and to answer it in the 
 same, although she felt a ring of earnestness in his 
 tones. After a few more jesting words, she returned 
 to the view before her, and to a merry talk upon im- 
 personal subjects. 
 
 The river with its many windings which in places 
 made it broaden as if it were a lake, the wooded bank 
 on the opposite shore with glimpses of paths strewn 
 with pine needles and towered over by giant trees as 
 if grown in the forest primeval, the shining of the 
 rippling water, as in its miles it narrowed toward its 
 source, and at last the lake from which it flowed with 
 the gleaming sand of its shores and here and there its 
 pebbly coves which seemed made for the beaching of 
 the row boats and sail boats which dotted its surface ; 
 the succory by the roadside, blue as the heavens and 
 here and there a touch of goldenrod, as if, having 
 arrived too early, it yet determined to hold its own 
 against the day when the fields should glow with it 
 the world in view, from the hills on the far-off 
 horizon to the hard road beneath the wheels, all over- 
 arched by a cloudless sky made the hours of the drive 
 a delight to be long remembered. The car in front of 
 Rex's slackened speed and Mrs. Longley called back 
 that such miles of joy as these were going too fast; 
 and both cars bowled along at a pace so leisurely that
 
 TWO PERFECT DAYS 63 
 
 the occupants of a car scorching past and throwing 
 dust into their faces glanced back to see what was the 
 matter with these " snails " ? 
 
 That night the travelers found a pleasant stopping- 
 place. Another day followed that one, duplicating it 
 in many happy ways, the scenery different, for they 
 were upon a gradual but almost constant ascent, yet 
 always beautiful. At the end of this day the party 
 drew up at a large house among the hills but fronting 
 an opening in these so that it commanded a magnifi- 
 cent view of the surrounding country. 
 
 " You've chosen the very spot to stay over a day 
 in, Mrs. Longley ! " said Dorothy as they stood on 
 the steps of the veranda waiting for the others to join 
 them. " And it would not be hard to stay more than 
 a day if only we had the time."
 
 A PICNIC AND A DISASTER 
 
 JIMMY REID between his bites of sandwich stood 
 watching Rose Hewes with curiosity. What was she 
 doing? She had quite forgotten her luncheon, and 
 she sat with her back to the others and her eyes riveted 
 upon the landscape. It was a delightful spot under 
 the pine trees and the view looking out over the beauti- 
 ful country was really grand, he told himself. But 
 was she studying it? Did she enjoy it as much as 
 that ? He walked over to Dorothy. 
 
 " Look at Miss Hewes," he said to her in an under- 
 tone. " She makes me think of the newspaper story 
 of the young lady just arrived in Venice, and full of 
 enthusiasm. She wrote home: 'Here I am at my 
 window looking out on the Grand Canal drinking it 
 all in!'" 
 
 Dorothy laughed. "But Rose is the most appre- 
 ciative of us all," she said. 
 
 " She's afraid to talk, or else she would have some- 
 thing to say about it," returned Jimmy. " But, all 
 the same, she'll be hungry by and by if she doesn't 
 remember to eat something now." 
 
 Dorothy nodded and smiled her thanks at him as 
 she handed him a plate to pass to her guest. " Rose, 
 do have one of these delicious cakes," she said. " You 
 
 64
 
 A PICNIC AND A DISASTER 65 
 
 don't know how good they are; you are not eating 
 anything." 
 
 The girl, suddenly conscious of her abstraction, 
 blushed crimson and seized upon the cake with an 
 avidity which came from her embarrassment. Then 
 she looked about her as if to atone for former in- 
 difference, and began to pass the dainties to one and 
 another. She did it so quickly and so deftly that 
 Miss Knowles whispered to Mrs. Longley : " She has 
 had practice waiting table at her own home." 
 
 Rose did not catch her words, but she felt the tenor 
 of the speech. Later, she confided to Dorothy : " I 
 never care a bit if I have waited on you and Mrs. 
 Brooke ; but I grow hot all over when I remember how 
 I had to wait on Miss Knowles." 
 
 " If you never do anything more to be ashamed of 
 than that, Rose Hewes, you will make all your friends 
 proud of you," laughed the other. 
 
 "You hunt for amusement, old fellow; but when 
 luncheon comes, you're sure to be on hand eh, 
 Nemo ? " said Rex as the dog came bounding over 
 the grass and turned his gaze anxiously from the 
 speaker to Dorothy. " He is trying to find out which 
 of us has most of what he wants," laughed the young 
 man. " Go to your mistress, sir; I'm busy eat- 
 ing!" 
 
 "Yes, come here, old fellow," cried Dorothy. "I'll 
 begin the feast for you, sweetmeats first, like the Jap- 
 anese. It's such fun to see him eat these caramels," 
 she said addressing the company. " Do look, every- 
 body. The dear thing gets his teeth all stuck up so
 
 66 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 that he can hardly move his jaws though he's the 
 very funniest with molasses candy he keeps shak- 
 ing his head and grunting, and I imagine that at last 
 he sucks it ; for, after a while he gets free and always 
 comes back for more." 
 
 As she spoke, some instinct made her turn her head 
 to the left. There, coming along the path from the 
 wood was the chauffeur with his eyes fixed on Nemo 
 and on the box of candy in Dorothy's hand. 
 
 She held it toward him. " Come and get some 
 candy, Mr. Manson," she said. " And there's plenty 
 of luncheon for you ; you must be hungry if you have 
 been walking all the morning." 
 
 After an instant's hesitation the young man came 
 forward saying that he had taken a long walk through 
 the woods, he liked scenery. He would be glad of a 
 bite, for he should be half starved by the time he got 
 back to the hotel. 
 
 " I hope he found scenery in the woods ! " murmured 
 Lulu to Mrs. Longley. 
 
 As Manson stood making an inroad upon the good 
 things offered to him, he watched the dog who after 
 a hasty bite for this was not his usual time for 
 eating, had begun his gambols again. Nemo liked to 
 drive in a motor car, "like folks"; he enjoyed his 
 treatment, for petting suited him exactly. But al- 
 though not quite so wildly jubilant as he had been the 
 previous day when he had seemed to plan to exercise 
 to the full every muscle in his body cramped by hours 
 in the motor car, he was yet full of spirits and found 
 it impossible to keep still more than a few moments
 
 A PICNIC AND A DISASTER 67 
 
 at a time. Now, after coming back again to Dorothy 
 for candy which he devoured more speedily than usual, 
 he ran around the company, barking with delight and 
 landed with his fore paws on Dorothy's shoulders, 
 almost knocking her over. 
 
 "Behave, sir! " cried Rex. 
 
 "Oh, he's just happy," said the girl. "I like to 
 see him frisk ; he's making up for lost time." 
 
 As she spoke, a peculiar expression crossed the face 
 of the chauffeur. As Nemo came toward him, he 
 whistled, and the dog approached and allowed himself 
 to be patted. 
 
 "Ah! he has made friends with Nemo. That's 
 good ! " thought the girl. 
 
 But the next moment the creature was off again, 
 greeting vigorously one and another. 
 
 "Oh, don't let him jump on me!" cried Miss 
 Knowles shrinking. "I I like dogs on the 
 ground, of course. But I hope he won't jump on me ; 
 he's so big, you know." 
 
 Nemo, however, immediately showed this not to be 
 at all his purpose by disappearing at full speed after 
 something he had seen, or thought he had seen in 
 the bushes. 
 
 " Children, as I live ! Where did they spring 
 from ? " cried Dorothy. The chauffeur with voluble 
 thanks had disappeared in the direction of the hotel, 
 saying that he was enjoying his holiday. For the 
 party had decided to walk instead of driving home 
 from the foot of the cliff where they were picknicking 
 and to explore some places of interest which they
 
 68 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 had not reached the previous day; and Mrs. Longley, 
 an enthusiastic botanist, wanted to gather a few more 
 specimens of the flora of the neighborhood. 
 
 "Wherever they sprang from, they're ready for 
 candy, I'll warrant," laughed Rex as the two little 
 ragged fellows, cordially invited, stood before Doro- 
 thy, and with thanks much less voluble but more sin- 
 cere than the chauffeur's received and devoured the 
 remaining contents of the box of candy, together with 
 other remnants of the feast. This done, they dis- 
 appeared as unexpectedly as they came. 
 
 " Where can they have vanished ! " exclaimed Mrs. 
 Longley. 
 
 "They live round here somewhere, you'd find on 
 investigation," said Jimmy. 
 
 " No, I do believe they're brownies," declared 
 Priscy. " Only, brownies always do something." 
 
 " Didn't they eat as if that was the business of life ? " 
 laughed Ned. 
 
 "Yes; but Priscy's right; they ought to do some- 
 thing if they are real brownies," persisted Dor- 
 othy. 
 
 The day was clear, and at that altitude, for they 
 were now in the foothills of the mountains, not too 
 warm. After the rest on the top of the cliff where 
 Rose was not the only one who delighted in the ex- 
 panse of valley, wood and mountain lake spread out 
 before them, they came down the steep path, the young 
 men especially solicitous that nobody's foot should 
 turn in the descent, and everybody gathering such 
 'flowers as Mrs. Longley would like best. So they went
 
 A PICNIC AND A DISASTER 69 
 
 on through pastures where blueberries in tempting 
 abundance clustered on the low bushes at their feet 
 and caused many a detour when one and another spied 
 an especially tempting bush and left it with hands 
 full of the sweet berries and outstretched to offer these 
 to the others. Here the beautiful dog with his in- 
 telligent eyes, his too intrusive paws and his waving 
 plume of a tail, seemed not in one place at a time, but 
 in every place at once. 
 
 Thus they went on to the woods, and sat down 
 there to rest and finish the fruit which they did not 
 want to carry further. 
 
 " I never expected to see mamma take the stump ! " 
 cried Ned as Mrs. Longley amidst the laughter of the 
 young people, seated herself on all that had been left 
 standing of one of the forest giants and gathered her 
 flowers more compactly a somewhat difficult mat- 
 ter considering the additions which the others were 
 constantly making to her collection. 
 
 " Ned, what time is it ? " she said at last. And, find- 
 ing the hour later than they had thought, she rose in 
 haste, and, still in haste, went along the wooded path 
 that led to the road down which they must still walk 
 a mile to the hotel. It was in this wooded path that 
 the catastrophe happened. The long loop of a trailing 
 vine with both ends rooted in the ground, caught Mrs. 
 Longley's foot as she hurried forward. She discovered 
 it all too late by her foot being held fast while she 
 was flung to the ground. 
 
 Grace beside her mother uttered a cry of conster- 
 nation ; but she could not raise her until Dorothy and
 
 70 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 Rose from behind came running up and the others in 
 advance hearing the calls, rushed to the rescue. 
 
 Mrs. Longley had twisted her ankle in her fall ; she 
 could not put the injured foot to the ground, and as 
 she stood supported, she grew so pale with pain that 
 Dorothy feared she would faint. The girl ran to the 
 picnic basket. There was a little water left in the 
 water bottle; this she poured into a tumbler and ran 
 to give to her. With what was left Dorothy moistened 
 her handkerchief and laid it against Mrs. Longley's 
 forehead and face. 
 
 " How you always know what to do, Dorothy," 
 sighed Grace who had been too frightened to do more 
 than stand with an arm about her mother. 
 
 " I had a long experience when my mother was ill 
 last winter, you remember, Grace. See, she is better 
 now," the speaker went on watching Mrs. Longley. 
 " She will be all right when we get back to the hotel." 
 
 But this was no easy task. Ned and Rex made a 
 chair by crossing hands and the injured lady with an 
 arm about the shoulder of each, was borne along the 
 forest path, here and there so narrow as to require 
 skill to make the passage three abreast and always 
 slippery with the pine needles. But at last the young 
 men placed her in safety upon a bank by the road- 
 side. 
 
 " I'll run and get my car," volunteered Rex. 
 " There's no knowing what has become of your chauf- 
 feur ; he had the day, didn't he ? " 
 
 " Yes," answered Mrs. Longley. " You are so 
 kind." The tone and the quick acceptance assured
 
 A PICNIC AND A DISASTER 71 
 
 Rex that she was suffering much. In another instant 
 he was off and lost to sight in a bend in the road. 
 
 " Is the pain very bad, mamma dear ? " asked Grace, 
 her eyes full of tears as she bent over her mother. 
 
 " It can be borne," answered Mrs. Longley, speak- 
 ing as if even words were too much exertion, for she 
 needed all her strength to repress her moans. 
 
 Priscy Pell dropped on her knees beside her, and 
 taking her hands smoothed them with that gentle 
 touch which Dorothy knew so well could soothe pain 
 where it could not cure it. Mrs. Longley, who at 
 first had felt that she could not endure the restraint 
 of any touch without losing the self-control she was 
 struggling so hard to maintain, soon found that 
 Priscy helped her to this, and with her eyes thanked 
 the girl for the loving service. 
 
 "I'm so awfully, awfully sorry," mourned Miss 
 Knowles. " I do pity you so. I wish I could do 
 something for you. It was too bad you hurried so; 
 you remember I had just been telling you about my 
 friend who slipped on the ice and broke her arm." 
 
 " There was no ice here," responded Mrs. Longley, 
 the quiver of a smile on her face. 
 
 "Oh, no, no. But then, of course, one may slip 
 on anything." 
 
 " Even common sense ! " muttered Dorothy in an 
 aside to Grace, who nodded back in silence. 
 
 " Wouldn't it ease your foot to put it up ? Can't I 
 lift it up for you?" pursued Miss Knowles, full of a 
 real sympathy that could find no way of relieving it- 
 self.
 
 72 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 Mrs. Longley winced at the bare suggestion as she 
 thanked her. "Only keep Nemo away," she added 
 hastily, as the dog seemed about to bound toward her. 
 
 " I could do anything else," returned the other as 
 Dorothy with a sharp command to Nemo seized him 
 and pulled him back. 
 
 It seemed impossible that Rex could have gone that 
 distance, got out his machine and returned in the time 
 he did. 
 
 While the two young men were placing Mrs. Long- 
 ley in the car a thing difficult to do without causing 
 her exquisite pain, for by this time her ankle was very 
 badly swollen Dorothy succeeded in getting Nemo 
 upon the front seat, where he perched himself aloft 
 with an air of importance. Rex was to drive, Grace 
 and Dorothy to accompany Mrs. Longley to see that 
 everything was made right for her when she arrived ; 
 the others were to walk. Grace was beside her 
 mother and Dorothy just springing in beside Rex 
 when Nemo saw something move in the bushes by 
 the roadside. In an instant he was out of the car 
 and off. 
 
 For a single moment Dorothy paused in dismay ; he 
 would wander off, he would be lost. But a suppressed 
 groan from Mrs. Longley decided her that she could 
 not wait even a minute for the dog. " Will you bring 
 him"? " she begged Ned, who was beside the car. 
 
 " Yes, yes, we'll bring him ! " answered the whole 
 party in chorus. And the motor car was off at half 
 speed, not to jar Mrs. Longley. 
 
 As soon as the sufferer had been carried to her
 
 A PICNIC AND A DISASTER 73 
 
 room, Rex was off for the doctor. This time the car 
 did not go at half speed. 
 
 It was more than two hours before Mrs. Longley 
 had been made as comfortable as possible under the 
 circumstances, which was not saying much, for she 
 still suffered a great deal. But as there was then 
 nothing more for Dorothy to do, and Grace wished 
 to stay with her mother, as her friend could well un- 
 derstand, the latter looked up Rex. 
 
 "You found Nemo?" she questioned anxiously. 
 
 " Not yet. But I'm going to. How is Mrs. Long- 
 ley? What has she done to her ankle?" 
 
 " Sprained it, the doctor says worse than if she 
 had broken it by some fractures, not as bad as by 
 others, however. So, we must take comfort." 
 
 " How long a business is it going to be ? " 
 
 "A week or tea days under the most favorable 
 conditions." 
 
 " That means we stay here." 
 
 "Of course, it does, Rex. That's a small part of 
 the disaster. The pain for poor Mrs. Longley is 
 dreadful. I'm glad this place is so good," added the 
 girl. " There are ever so many interesting things we 
 can do here as she is getting better." 
 
 " Yes, indeed ! ever and ever so many ! " mim- 
 icked her brother. "I think," he added, "that 
 I'll " He stopped. 
 
 "That you will what, Rex?" 
 
 "Oh, nothing to-night. Just go to bed as soon as 
 you can have you had anything to eat? Or has 
 Grace?"
 
 74 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 " Yes, she had something brought up with her 
 tnother's dinner. I'm just going to the table." 
 
 " It's so late I'm afraid you won't get anything. 
 I'll go with you." 
 
 " Oh, thank you, Rex ! I should be so glad." 
 
 "Umph! You queer girl! You wouldn't have 
 asked me." 
 
 " I'm not ' a beggar born ! ' " she quoted, smiling up 
 at him. 
 
 Priscy and Lulu and Ned came up at the moment 
 and joined them, to keep Dorothy company as she ate 
 her dinner. 
 
 " You'll sit up and watch for Nemo ? " she said to 
 her brother the last thing as she bade him good-night. 
 
 " And I'll sit up with him until the dog comes in," 
 declared Ned. " I did my best to bring him home 
 with us/* he added. " But he was after a chipmunk, 
 I suppose; as we came past the wood we saw him 
 away off in a field out of reach of our voices and he 
 wouldn't have minded us anyway racing along at the 
 top of his speed. We had waited until it was getting 
 late, and then I left Jimmy to come home with the 
 rest and tried an hour longer to get Nemo, but he 
 would not answer my call. The others sauntered all 
 the way here, hoping he would join them." 
 
 "Oh, he'll come in all right this evening, Doro; he 
 always does, you know. Don't worry ; go to bed and 
 to sleep, and leave him to Longley and me," said Rex. 
 
 But there was still another on the lookout for Nemo 
 another of whose watching the two on the hotel 
 veranda that evening knew nothing.
 
 VIII 
 
 DISTRESSING NEWS 
 
 DOROTHY did not sleep well. She was distressed 
 about Mrs. Longley. Although the physician had 
 given assurance that the sprain was not serious if 
 properly cared for, it was bad enough to have to suffer 
 as she was doing. Then, it would have been so good 
 to have been able to hear from Rex himself that it 
 was all right with Nemo. But in this hotel her 
 brother's room was at a great distance from her own, 
 and she had to take the dog's safety on faith. 
 
 The next morning she was downstairs early. Rex 
 also wanted to be assured of what he told himself he 
 already knew certainly, so that before the others ap- 
 peared the brother and sister met on the veranda. As 
 Rex greeted her he seemed to be looking behind her, 
 yet it was Dorothy who first asked the question. 
 
 "Where is Nemo?" she said. 
 
 " Why, they told me he had come in and gone up- 
 stairs, and I took it for granted he had gone to your 
 room and you had taken him in." 
 
 "And he's not been in all night!" cried the girl 
 pale with dismay. "Oh, Rex, why didn't you tell 
 me sooner? Why didn't you wait for him?" 
 
 "Longley and I sat out there until after twelve 
 o'clock. Then the clerk came and told us he had seen 
 
 75
 
 7 6 
 
 a big dog, which he was quite sure was ours, come 
 into the hall from a side door and go upstairs; from 
 what he said of him, I was sure it was Nemo. It 
 seemed strange he should not have come to us; still, 
 I thought it was all right; so we went to bed. It 
 is only since I came down this morning that I found 
 that another great dog arrived with a party of four 
 in a motor car last evening." 
 
 "And that was the dog the clerk saw going up- 
 stairs ! " exclaimed Dorothy. " Oh, Rex ! Rex ! what 
 
 has become of Nemo? I wish " Then she 
 
 stopped. Her brother, too, loved the dog, and this 
 was not the time to reproach him with having re- 
 fused to turn back with Nemo; no one but she herself 
 had wanted to do that. 
 
 " Oh, he'll turn up all right, Doro," said the young 
 man with an air of more assurance than he felt. 
 " Don't you remember how once he was gone twenty- 
 four hours, and he came back all right? Directly 
 after breakfast I'll go and look for him." 
 
 " Yes ; and I will, too," returned the girl. 
 
 "Yes, and we'll all go," said a voice behind her; 
 and there was Ned with, for Rex, a face of concern, 
 which, however, as Dorothy's eyes fastened upon him, 
 he turned to a smile of security as to Nemo's safety. 
 
 " Oh, thank you, Ned," she answered. " I'm sure 
 you will help. How soon will breakfast be ready, I 
 wonder? I've been to see your mother this morning," 
 she added. "Grace wouldn't let me stay with her 
 last night I think though, it was more your mother 
 who refused, I shouldn't have minded Grace. Mrs.
 
 DISTRESSING NEWS 77 
 
 Longley said this morning that she had rested better 
 than she had expected; she had a good deal of pain, 
 but she was prepared for that ; and she said that now 
 if there was any difference from last night in the pain, 
 it was less rather than more; you know, she always 
 makes the best of things. I can't even now wish she 
 hadn't come with us," said Dorothy; "but I'm so 
 grieved for this." 
 
 " So is everybody, I know," he answered. " But 
 I don't feel anxious. I'm sure she is safe in bed; 
 so, I'm giving my thoughts at this moment to the dog." 
 
 " Rex will take the motor car, and we'll go every- 
 where," she said. 
 
 " We'll take both cars," returned Ned. " And we 
 will all go except Grace who will stay with mamma, 
 and perhaps, Miss Knowles who may help her and can't 
 help us. -But we won't go everywhere, because we'll 
 find him long before we've been so far. I'll tell Man- 
 son to be ready in half an hour." 
 
 " Oh, thank you ! " cried Dorothy. " And I'll order 
 breakfast, and see if the others are not nearly ready 
 for it?" 
 
 Before turning away to go into the house she bent 
 earnest looks in every direction and sent her call which, 
 hitherto, Nemo had always heeded, in search of the 
 missing dog but with no result. As she stood there, 
 her bright young face pale and troubled, her eyes heavy 
 with unshed tears, a face in the distance peered 
 through the trees and eyes watched her with satis- 
 fied amusement. She would watch a long time, said 
 the gazer to himself, before that beautiful creature
 
 78 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 would bound upon her in answer ; she would call long 
 and wait in vain for the bark of joyous response that 
 would never come. Good enough for her! And the 
 eyes caught themselves back from their gloating, and 
 the face withdrew from its pressure against the leafy 
 screen in time to escape discovery. 
 
 It was a hard and sad day's work; for no search 
 and no calling and whistling discovered any sign of 
 Nemo. The chauffeur as one who had lived in the re- 
 gion and knew the country, directed the search, and 
 he swept a wide tract. More than once Jimmy 
 watched him, his eyes narrowing as he did so. But 
 he could not determine whether the ghost of a smile 
 which from time to time he saw hovering about Man- 
 son's lips came from his inward contempt of their 
 making such ado about a dog, or whether he had some 
 secret cause of amusement. Once he asked him sud- 
 denly : 
 
 " Don't you know anything about him, Manson ? 
 It seems as if he must have come back near the hotel, 
 anyway." 
 
 "Have no more idea than you have where he is 
 now," returned the chauffeur. " How should I have ? 
 He isn't fond of me ; he wouldn't come to me." 
 
 "That's true," said Dorothy. "He'd have been 
 more likely to come directly to the hotel if he had 
 been near here. How far he must have wandered 
 away ! " 
 
 " Them hunting dogs isn't reliable," observed Man- 
 son; "they go off after everything, and there's no 
 knowing where they'll bring up."
 
 DISTRESSING NEWS 79 
 
 Yet from time to time Jimmy still studied the man 
 suspiciously; but his suspicions were wide of the 
 terrible truth. 
 
 The chauffeur proposed this road and that one, and 
 they traveled slowly, searching and calling. Every 
 now and then the cars stopped by the side of woods, 
 and Rex, Ned and Jimmy beat the bushes well in 
 these. But in vain. Manson was never tired of mak- 
 ing suggestions, and he took the searchers a circuit 
 of many miles. But no one had seen or heard of a 
 dog like the one described. 
 
 If they had expected to find Nemo, they should 
 have searched much earlier, and in a different place. 
 
 For, some time before Rex and Ned had established 
 their watch, the dog had come out upon the road at 
 a distance from the hotel and, trotting along toward 
 it, had been intercepted by the sound of a familiar 
 voice and the odor of raw meat. While eating the 
 piece thrown to him, a collar had been slipped over 
 his head and fastened to this collar was a strong chain. 
 This in the hand of a vigorous man had drawn him 
 slowly, and with care not to awaken his resentment, 
 out of the course that he was choosing, and after a 
 time into the woods again and in the general direction 
 of the cliff on which the picnic had been held. Here 
 when restraint had grown irksome to the dog and his 
 leader become one whose domination he resented, an- 
 other piece of meat for a while conquered his reluc- 
 tance and he had allowed himself to be led on, reas- 
 sured now and then by the familiar voice. When the 
 meat gave out, molasses candy had been offered to
 
 8o DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 him and accepted readily. This occupied him for 
 quite a time. 
 
 Meanwhile, he had been going on at the speed of 
 a good walker still through the woods ; but these were 
 not thick and the moon was bright. After a while 
 he had grown very tired of being led and had pulled 
 hard at his chain; but the hand that held him had 
 only taken tighter grasp and Nemo had gone on up a 
 steep and steeper path and through woods now grown 
 more dense, until his leader had stopped before a house 
 in a cleared space where stumps of trees and the 
 general roughness of the ground seemed to declare 
 the place to be only a temporary residence. As Nemo 
 uttered a sharp bark the door opened and a man came 
 out. 
 
 " Here he is at last ! " said he holding the chain. 
 
 *' What a splendid specimen ! " cried the other. 
 " I'm delighted with him ; he's worth what I promised 
 you for him and that's more than I can say of my 
 specimens in general. I never had such a big one 
 before. Bring him along," he added; "we'll tie him 
 up here for the night." 
 
 Nemo was now uttering sharp barks and the long 
 growls with which these ended uplifted his lip and 
 showed two immense rows of gleaming teeth. The 
 speaker glanced at them with what seemed to his ob- 
 server anxiety as he pointed to an outbuilding a few 
 rods from the house and, without touching the dog, 
 allowed the other to precede him. 
 
 "You'd better make him sure," said the one who 
 had brought him.
 
 A PRIZE FOR THE VIVISECTIONIST.
 
 DISTRESSING NEWS 81 
 
 "Certainly. And I shall have to get somebody to 
 manage him with me to-morrow," returned the other 
 as he took the chain thrust into his hand and began to 
 fasten Nemo securely to a ring in the wall of this 
 building from the further corner of which came sounds 
 which checked Nemo's barks in fear sounds of some 
 creature in pain. 
 
 As the man busied himself with securing the chain, 
 the beautiful, almost human eyes of the dog fastened 
 themselves upon his face with a look of question and 
 pleading full of pathos. 
 
 But his jailer never even glanced at them. " Can't 
 you come to-morrow and help me ? " he asked the man 
 who had brought Nemo. " I'll pay you well for it." 
 
 " No, you bet I can't ! " returned the other. " I've 
 run risk enough now to have my head taken off for 
 it 'f only they could do it ! And, besides, I've some 
 other business on hand." A chuckle followed the 
 latter remark. " No, you bet I can't come," he re- 
 peated. "I'm in deep enough now." 
 
 "It's all right, isn't it?" inquired the listener, more 
 as a matter of form than with real interest. 
 
 "You bet it's all right!" retorted Nemo's guide. 
 " Don't go poking your nose into what don't belong 
 to you to mind." 
 
 "That I won't!" laughed the other. "Trust me 
 for that! Specimens are hard enough to come by 
 in this out-of-the-world spot. But this one is fine for 
 work! " he added more to himself than his companion. 
 "Is he hungry?" he asked with sudden recollection 
 pointing over his shoulder as he turned away.
 
 82 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 " Not much ! " laughed the other. " But it wouldn't 
 do no harm to water him. You'll see then he's all 
 right." 
 
 The purchaser of Nemo filled a pail with water and 
 set it down before the dog who drank eagerly. " Yes, 
 I see he's all right," said the new owner, " only, he has 
 a temper. But one can't expect everything ; he'll make 
 the best specimen I've ever got hold of will stand the 
 most investigation, that's the way we put it, we say 
 we ' investigate ' them ; it sounds more agreeable than 
 the other word which some fools object to." 
 
 " Fools they are ! " retorted the first man as he fol- 
 lowed on into the house and received with great satis- 
 faction his pay for his evening's work. 
 
 " You'd rather have low denominations small bills, 
 you say ? " demanded the other as he handed him a 
 sizable roll. "Count the money now, and sign this 
 receipt." 
 
 But the receiver backed away. " Oh, no ! " he cried, 
 " I won't sign anything no, no, I won't have my name 
 mixed up in this. You've got your dog an' I've got 
 my money, and that's enough." 
 
 " You will certainly sign the receipt for that money 
 or you won't leave the house with it." And the 
 speaker caught up something as small as a toy lying 
 on his desk and turned it upon the refuser. 
 
 The latter shivered. He could not travel so fast 
 as could the shot from that pistol. He was in the 
 depths of the woods, far away from help; and the 
 money he must have. Slowly he approached the paper 
 lying on the table for him and looked it over.
 
 DISTRESSING NEWS 83 
 
 "Oh, you haven't mentioned the dog; you've just 
 said 'specimen,'" he remarked; and, as if satisfied, 
 he dipped his pen several times into the ink in the man- 
 ner of one unwonted to much use of the former, 
 wrote his name, and turned away. Then he hesi- 
 tated, turned back and took up the pen again. " I'll 
 be square," he said. " I hain't put my own name 
 down there. Make me out another paper and I'll put 
 it down right." And he reached out his hand for the 
 paper which he had pushed across the table. 
 
 But the other took up the first receipt and tearing 
 it into bits, threw it into the waste basket. "Yes, 
 I'll do that," he said, and writing another, pushed it 
 across the table again. This the man signed, and de- 
 parted. The man who had bought the dog looked 
 thoughtfully for a moment after the vanishing figure. 
 "I can't tell which time he fooled me," he muttered. 
 " But, on the whole, I'd as lieves not know." 
 
 That evening Ned seated himself beside Dorothy 
 on the veranda steps. His eyes and voice were full 
 of sympathy. "We'll begin over again to-morrow 
 morning," he said ; " and then we will be sure to find 
 him. I suppose somebody saw him wandering about 
 and took possession of him. You know, dogs have 
 been shut up in barns sometimes, and it has kept them 
 from worse things." 
 
 " But we asked everybody we could find yesterday," 
 she answered, not looking up at him, for her eyes 
 were full of tears. He knew it. " I I think I'll go 
 and sit with your mother a while now," she said.
 
 84 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 "I've been away from her all day. But she under- 
 stands why." 
 
 "Indeed, she does. Remember, Dorothy, we have 
 a pet dog," he went on. " We all know exactly how 
 you feel ; but don't be discouraged. ' To-morrow 
 brings another day/ " he quoted. 
 
 "Yes, and it will bring a good day," said Priscy, 
 as she spoke putting her arms about Dorothy's neck, 
 and dropping to the seat on the other side. 
 
 The following morning breakfast was a perfunctory 
 meal to several of the young people; and they were 
 all standing on the veranda waiting for Manson to 
 bring up the car, and for Rex who had just started 
 for the garage. But when half way there he turned 
 back with two boys at his heels. As they drew nearer, 
 Jimmy looked at them critically; they were the boys 
 who had appeared at the picnic and whom Dorothy 
 had fed with caramels and other good things. 
 
 " These boys want to see ' the lady what owns the 
 big dog/ " began Rex. " I've not stopped to ask more ; 
 we'll share the news if they have any. Now, young- 
 sters, go ahead." 
 
 But the little fellows had sighted Dorothy even 
 before she sprang to her feet and went toward them. 
 "Can you tell me anything of the big dog?" she 
 asked trying to keep her voice steady. " Have you 
 seen him? Where is he? Take me to him, boys, 
 this moment; and you shall have more than candy. 
 Oh, don't keep me waiting!" she cried as the boys 
 stood looking up at her then glancing at one another. 
 " Don't you see I want him now ? " she insisted.
 
 DISTRESSING NEWS 85 
 
 " I guess p'raps you won't want him now, missis," 
 returned the elder of the two, having with his eyes 
 consulted his companion. " 'Cause I guess by this 
 time there won't anybody want to see him." 
 
 Dorothy turned so pale that Rex who had joined 
 her put an arm about her ; she did for an instant lean 
 heavily against him; but she was not of the fainting 
 kind, and she must know about Nemo. In another 
 moment she had controlled her trembling ; but her hand 
 grasped his arm with a tenseness that showed what 
 the self-control cost her. "Go on!" she cried to 
 the children. " Go on ! " 
 
 At the sharp decision of her tone they told how they 
 had from their home that morning heard the distant 
 barking of a dog. "We knew he was barking real 
 loud, only we was so far away," said the elder ; " an' 
 we follered the noise till we come to the place the man 
 has what stays here in the summer an' does the queer 
 things. Out in his barn there was a dog a-howlin'. 
 We peeped in, an' we seed 'twas the dog you was 
 feedin' with candy that day you give us some up on 
 the cliff. As we was watchin', the man come out; 
 so we hid. He unhitched him and took him into the 
 house. But first he give him somethin' to eat an* 
 then he was quiet and stupid like. Say, missis, did 
 you put him there ? We guessed p'raps you was fond 
 of him, like you seemed that day. An* this is the 
 man what cuts up dogs an' things, ties 'em onto a 
 board an' cuts 'em up by bits, yer know. Anyway, 
 we thought we'd tell yer about it." 
 
 Dorothy's every nerve was quivering, every muscle
 
 86 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 tense. No tears ! No instant to waste ! She gripped 
 the older boy by the hand. " Show me where the man 
 lives," she said. "Run! Run! Run your fastest! 
 Come this instant ! Which way ? " 
 
 But the boy stopped a moment to answer Ned. 
 " It's a good two mile through the woods," he said. 
 "You can't take them autos no road, you have to 
 walk." But he had no chance to tell him more; for, 
 still gripping the boy's hand, Dorothy was off, hurry- 
 ing his swift feet. " P'raps you can't see him, missis. 
 P'raps he's all cut up by this time," volunteered the 
 child glancing with pitying comprehension at her set 
 face. 
 
 " Don't wait to speak ! " she cried. " Go on ! Go 
 on!" 
 
 Grace and Miss Knowles were with Mrs. Longley. 
 The others all followed Dorothy as fast as they could, 
 with no word, but with looks among themselves of 
 pity and dread for her. 
 
 Dorothy had only one thought Nemo in the hands 
 of a vivisectionist ! 
 
 " Faster ! Faster ! " she cried to the child beside her 
 as they tore along the woodland path, slipping, slid- 
 ing, but never slackening pace.
 
 IX 
 
 RESCUE AND REWARD 
 
 "WHAT a strong- fellow he is!" exclaimed Mr. 
 Splinter examining his purchase with great satisfac- 
 tion the morning after Nemo's arrival. "Doesn't 
 like his quarters ! " he laughed as the dog strained his 
 utmost at his chain. " Been used to better, no doubt ! 
 Do your utmost, my good fellow, you won't get off 
 from that chain until you get something you'll like 
 less!" 
 
 As he spoke, a cruel smile spread over his face. 
 Mr. Splinter always assured himself that he was work- 
 ing in the interests of science and that his labors, 
 arduous as they were, did good to his fellow-men; 
 he was deaf to assurances of scholars much more 
 learned than he would ever be that the boasted bene- 
 fits were largely mere boasts unsupported by evidence, 
 and that no appreciable gain in results had followed a 
 method of such barbarity. Moreover, practice had 
 blunted his never keen sensibilities; he now preferred 
 operating without choloform, as a few had always 
 done; he believed that results were better, or he told 
 himself he believed this; at any rate it was much less 
 trouble and expense, and as to the agony to its help- 
 less victims what did he care for that ? That morn- 
 ing as he stood looking at Nemo, already in his mind's 
 
 87
 
 88 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 eye he saw the dog on the operating table, enduring 
 torture while the skilful knife found its way into the 
 mysteries of his organism, or pretended to do so. 
 
 "Hello! my good fellow!" he called. "I've 
 brought you your breakfast. Don't make such a bark- 
 ing! Shut up! Shut up! Your time hasn't come 
 yet ; I'm too busy to touch you to-day ; we'll see about 
 you bright and early to-morrow. I do wish Simmons 
 was here," he muttered looking with a certain dread 
 at Nemo's size and strength ; " that fellow will be 
 hard to tackle; but he'll reward me all the better." 
 Nemo sniffed at the coarse food, turned away from 
 it and resumed his audible complaints, tugging vio- 
 lently and vainly at his chain. He wondered that no 
 one heeded his cries which usually he had only to begin 
 faintly to bring the whole Brooke family to the spot 
 to learn what had happened. " Stop that infernal 
 howling!" roared Mr. Splinter as Nemo's barking 
 went on still more loudly; and as his voice only irri- 
 tated the dog the more, he grew angry himself. " Stop 
 that noise this instant or I'll give you a good beat- 
 ing ! " he raged, putting his face down to Nemo's. 
 
 But he drew it back hastily. For the dog uttering 
 a furious growl, made a spring at him the full length 
 of his chain, curling his upper lip and displaying two 
 rows of glittering teeth set in jaws that opened and 
 closed like a vice. 
 
 "Oh! oh! This won't do!" ejaculated Mr. 
 Splinter retreating to a safe distance, his eyes still 
 fixed as in fascination upon the furious dog. In that 
 position, he reviewed the situation in monologue.
 
 RESCUE AND REWARD 89 
 
 "For the best results," he muttered, "the law is: 
 'Keep the subject as far as possible in a calm and 
 natural state up to the opening of the experiments. 
 Most unlucky that Simmons is away; I never needed 
 an assistant more or as much. I would wait over 
 a day, or even two, for him; but he won't be back 
 for a week, and that's too long; too much might hap- 
 pen. And besides, I should be out of work. I can 
 get rabbits and other small fry in the woods; but I 
 have long wanted a big dog, and I must make the best 
 of him yes, the very best. When once I get you, 
 sir, you won't howl only because you can't! So, 
 make the most of it now if you will. As to your 
 breakfast, you'll eat what I give you, or if you prefer, 
 nothing. What do I care? I suppose I shall have 
 to give him some meat to-night though," he added as 
 he turned away, " to keep him from getting too fero- 
 cious with hunger that won't do." 
 
 All that long day poor Nemo saw no other human 
 face, nor even Mr. Splinter's again until after dark 
 the vivisectionist came in bringing meat of much better 
 quality which the dog was too hungry to refuse. With 
 this and plenty of fresh water he was left to himself 
 for that night. 
 
 For a time the howling ceased ; the dog was probably 
 asleep. But very early the following morning it be- 
 gan again; and it was this that the boys whose home 
 was not far from the cliff of the picnic, and thus, no 
 great distance as the crow flies from Splinter's sum- 
 mer laboratory, had heard so persistently that they had 
 investigated. They had discovered that the dog des-
 
 90 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 tined to vivisection belonged to that lovely- faced lady 
 who had given them candy and so much of it. She 
 should at least be informed that her pet was in trouble. 
 
 "Anyways," commented the younger one, "she 
 don't look like she wanted her dog cut up." 
 
 " Not much ! " responded the other. " I guess that 
 feller trapped him, like as he does rabbits and things." 
 
 Hiding in the barn until they perceived that Splinter 
 had quieted the dog and was occupied undoing his 
 chain, they had slipped out and fled to Dorothy. 
 
 The vivisectionist felt himself above the work of 
 securing his victims upon the operating table; the as- 
 sistant was accustomed to do this with occasional 
 slight aid from himself. In the present case, however, 
 there was nothing else to be done ; and he set to work 
 with such promptness that by the time poor Nemo had 
 fully aroused from the effects of the drug given to 
 quiet him, he found himself so firmly strapped to the 
 operating table that any motion whatever beyond mov- 
 ing his eyes was impossible to him; at the same time 
 the gag in his mouth was so tight as to prevent more 
 than a low moaning. 
 
 Was the beautiful creature, so full of fidelity and 
 affection, wondering in his artless canine mind as he 
 lay there what had become of all the friends who until 
 now had seemed to woo his love with love, but now 
 had left him all alone with enemies who were going 
 to do with him he knew not what, only that the terror 
 of it was making his heart beat against the cords which 
 bound him so hard that they seemed to be cutting 
 through him whenever he made the least struggle to
 
 RESCUE AND REWARD 91 
 
 move? Mr. Splinter's hand passing over him made 
 this all the worse ; but he had no power even to growl 
 his horror of the touch. 
 
 "The fellow will have to quiet down a bit," said 
 the vivisectionist, talking to himself as he had a habit 
 of doing. "And I must rest awhile until my hand 
 is steady. It was no fun tackling that creature all 
 by myself; I did it though. When Simmons finds it 
 out, he won't put on airs any more as being so neces- 
 sary to me. Ha ! ha ! ha ! " 
 
 After a time Nemo's panting grew less, although 
 he was in too much fear and pain to rest. His quick 
 ears were strained to the utmost for a sound of familiar 
 footsteps and voices. But there was nothing noth- 
 ing! 
 
 Splinter was in haste to begin; his time was too 
 valuable to waste. 
 
 "Ah, yes, now he has quieted down a good deal," 
 he muttered to himself; and again he passed his hand 
 over the dog's side. As he did so Nemo uttered what 
 all his efforts could make only a stifled moan. It 
 seemed as if he swelled out against this fearful and 
 oppressing hand until he would have burst his cords 
 had they been only a little less strong. " Um ! " com- 
 mented Splinter, " immensely fierce. But it won't 
 hurt us ! " he smiled. 
 
 He went to his case; chose his instruments with 
 care ; examined their edges ; and smilingly approached 
 his victim. 
 
 "The first thing," he said, still in his low mono- 
 logue, " is to strip off the flesh here and lay bare this
 
 92 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 great muscle. Much more will follow; he will live 
 several days ; I shall work every day upon him. But 
 first of all, I must shave off the hair from his side." 
 He laid down his instrument, and taking up a razor, 
 did this. 
 
 The scion of science as he called himself thrilled 
 to exultation at his task, and going back to the in- 
 strument, he took it up again, sought the desired place 
 with exactitude ; and then the glittering steel, first care- 
 fully poised in the air, descended. 
 
 Agony spoke in the watching eyes of the dumb and 
 motionless creature awaiting it. 
 
 Near and nearer, but still too far away, raced the 
 swift feet of Nemo's rescuers. They could not in- 
 terpose between the frightful weapon and the help- 
 less victim. It seemed to Dorothy that she was run- 
 ning in a dream where something constantly held her 
 back ; yet she sped so fast that Rex and Ned had ado 
 to keep up with her and even the children were put 
 to their mettle. When less than half a mile remained 
 to go Rex's hand was for an instant on her shoul- 
 der. 
 
 "We shall go first, Doro," he said as Ned sped 
 past her. Then her brother released her again and 
 also darted on ahead. They must learn first what 
 Dorothy was to meet. 
 
 They were all yet quite a distance from his house, 
 however, when Splinter's hand armed with its deadly 
 steel, descended with a straight aim. 
 
 But it did not reach its victim.
 
 RESCUE AND REWARD 93 
 
 Midway, it wavered, halted and turned itself help- 
 lessly against the empty air! 
 
 For his wrist had been caught in an iron grasp. 
 Through the doorway had one rushed in and at a 
 single leap, caught and struck upward the down-rush- 
 ing arm. 
 
 "Hands off!" cried a stern voice. "A dog lost 
 hereabouts! Are you the thief? Or the receiver of 
 stolen goods? Prove property at once. Hold off 
 until you do." 
 
 Splinter, thus masterfully set upon, did what any 
 other man in like case would have done he resisted. 
 His free hand struck out at the man who was holding 
 his other in such a grip; its blow was only warded 
 off by the skill of the stranger. "L'et me alone!" 
 he cried. 
 
 "Let us stop this horse play," said the first voice. 
 "Lay down that thing and let me speak to you. I 
 am a follower of science; but, thank Heaven! not a 
 slaughterer of the innocents." 
 
 "Sir!" exclaimed Splinter resentfully. But as it 
 was evident that he could not immediately go on with 
 his intended occupation, he laid down the instrument 
 close beside Nemo and turned flashing eyes upon the 
 interrupter. 
 
 " Permit me," said the newcomer. And releas- 
 ing Splinter, he took up this knife and placed it care- 
 fully in the case lying on another table. "The dog 
 is still so terrified," he explained ; " let us reassure him 
 a little. Poor fellow ! poor fellow ! " And he passed 
 a gentle hand over Nemo's quivering body, patted his
 
 94 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 head softly, and said a few soothing words. Then 
 he turned to Splinter who was watching with the secret 
 suggestion that if he had an assistant like this man, 
 work would be much easier. But the stranger was, 
 evidently, a person of better position than his own, 
 the vivisectionist recognized the authority in his tone ; 
 it was this to which he had yielded as much as to the 
 other's request to him to delay until they had talked 
 over the matter. "I arrived at the hotel late last 
 night," said the stranger. " I also brought a dog with 
 me and learned there that a very valuable one had been 
 lost. This morning while Mrs. my wife was still 
 sleeping, I took a stroll, and my walk brought me 
 here, in time, I am convinced, to save you from an 
 act having consequences most unpleasant to you. I 
 cannot identify the dog, for I have never seen him 
 before; but, shortly, you will find that I am right. 
 Under the circumstances, you ought to know who I 
 am." And he handed the other his card. 
 
 As Splinter read the bit of pasteboard his face 
 lighted, his manner changed to a welcome almost ful- 
 some; he could not express his delight at meeting so 
 distinguished a man; he should be only too glad to 
 prove to him that, although vivisectionists had a bad 
 name among ignorant people, of course they were 
 scrupulous in obeying the law in regard to the method 
 of acquiring their subjects for experiments. He had 
 bought this dog and paid a high price for it. If he 
 had taken the person who sold it to him to be honest, 
 when he was not 
 
 'A sound of many rushing feet interrupted him.
 
 RESCUE AND REWARD 95 
 
 The door was flung open, and Ned and Rex leaping 
 in, threw a hasty glance at the table on which lay 
 Nemo. 
 
 "Come, Dorothy!" they called to the girl already 
 at their back; and they made way for her as with a 
 stifled cry she ran to the dog and flung her arms 
 about him and rested her head on his but only for a 
 moment. 
 
 " Unbind him, Rex ! " she cried, her eyes ablaze. 
 
 But Ned was the quicker; he caught up the razor. 
 "Still, Nemo ! still !" he ordered. The noble dog 
 with an absolute faith never stirred a muscle as the 
 keen steel not forged for ropes and tanned hides 
 severed his bonds as if they had been gossamer, and 
 turned its edge in doing it. The next moment the 
 dog was free as air. 
 
 He sprang upon Dorothy with barks of rapture and 
 greeted Rex and Ned with warmth. Then, suddenly, 
 his expression changed, and with a deep, menacing 
 growl, he sprang at Splinter. In that instant the man 
 comprehended his deserts all at once the dog and 
 he had changed places; he was terrified. 
 
 Rex and Ned both fell upon Nemo to drag him 
 back; the stranger also sprang forward. Splinter 
 cringed backward his utmost and put up his arm 
 to ward off the dog from his throat. But Nemo had 
 caught them all at unawares; his mouth was open, 
 his gleaming teeth about to set themselves deep in his 
 enemy's flesh when Dorothy's hand thrust itself into 
 his mouth and held him by the tongue ; her other hand 
 clasped on his head, drew him backward; and the
 
 96 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 ring of power and command in her voice subdued 
 the dumb brute who loved her. 
 
 But in another instant a hand closed over hers and 
 intercepted between it and the dog's teeth. " How 
 dare you do such a thing, Dorothy ! " cried Ned. And 
 with his other hand he pulled hers away without 
 roughness to Nemo. 
 
 " It's fine for you to talk to me about daring ! " she 
 retorted. " Haven't I seen you " 
 
 Suddenly, she stopped and set herself to soothing 
 the revengeful animal. It was not the time or the 
 place to remind Ned how he had once held his own 
 life lightly for others; it was no business of hers to 
 remind him of that at all; it was only a memory of 
 her own. 
 
 "Well!" cried the stranger when Nemo's collar 
 and chain furnished to Splinter by the person who had 
 brought him had been found and the dog was held 
 in leash by his mistress "well ! I take it, Mr. Splin- 
 ter, you need no further evidence that your proposed 
 victim was not sent you by the freewill of his owners ! " 
 
 The vivisectionist was thankful that matters had not 
 gone further and was profuse in apologies. It was 
 while he was making these that the others of the party 
 who had been outrun by their fleeter companions ap- 
 peared. 
 
 As they were all leaving the house, Dorothy lifted 
 her beautiful eyes to the face of the stranger, not 
 trying to hide the tears in them. " I can never thank 
 you enough for saving Nemo to us," she said to him. 
 "It was a miracle that brought you here."
 
 RESCUE AND REWARD 97 
 
 " I owe you far, far more than you owe me," he 
 returned with an earnestness deeper than courtesy. 
 Then his tone changed and he added lightly : " It was 
 more than a miracle that brought me here, Miss 
 Brooke; two miracles did it. There they stand." 
 And he pointed to the two boys who had hitherto stood 
 amazed spectators of the scene before them. 
 
 But at this reference to themselves, the older 
 cried : " Yes, missis, we met him and we told him we 
 was a-goin' fur you, but he'd better hurry up an* git 
 here, 'cause you mightn't be in time." 
 
 The girl turned and held out a hand to -each. " You 
 must come back to the hotel with me," she said. " But 
 why didn't you say that you had told this gentleman ? " 
 
 "You didn't give me no time to tell nothin'," said 
 the little fellow. 
 
 "I'm afraid I didn't," answered Dorothy. "You 
 see, I was in such a hurry ! " 
 
 " You bet ! " returned the other. 
 
 "Yes; come along to the hotel," cried Ned; "and 
 you shall have the best dinner you ever had." 
 
 " Oh, oh ! " cried the children. " An' ice-cream, 
 too, like big picnics ? " 
 
 " Yes, indeed ! " laughed Ned. " Ice-cream until 
 you say you don't want any more oh, dear! what if 
 they shouldn't have it to-day?" he whispered aside 
 to Lulu. 
 
 " They always do," she answered encouragingly. 
 
 " And you shall have more than ice-cream, boys," 
 declared Rex. " Come on." 
 
 It was when the children were sitting with sighs
 
 98 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 of repletion before their fourth saucer of ice-cream 
 which they bitterly regretted that they could not finish, 
 that Dorothy said : " Those boys are good little fel- 
 lows, or they would never have done what they have. 
 Food and a little money are not all we ought to give 
 them. They would go to school here in the village if 
 they had decent clothes; I've asked them." 
 
 "I'll take them to the swellest tailor in A ," 
 
 laughed Rex, naming the nearest city; "and then 
 they'll have an auto ride thrown in. How would you 
 like that, my men?" 
 
 And this was what really happened to them. 
 
 " After all, Dorothy, they were brownies," said 
 Rose Hewes. "They did something." 
 
 That evening Priscy was very silent. For, the 
 stranger who had saved Nemo from the clutches of 
 Mr. Splinter and whom everybody else had greeted 
 with so much respect was Colonel Pell her own 
 father.
 
 X 
 
 WHAT DOROTHY DARED 
 
 "DiD you notice how she greeted him?" asked 
 Lulu Bromley. " Or were you too busy with Nemo ? " 
 
 " Did I notice ! " echoed Dorothy. " It seems, Lulu, 
 as if I'd been thinking of nothing else since. I know 
 he deserved it ; all those years of coldness and neglect 
 of her count. But we don't always like to be around 
 when people get their deserts. And it often happens 
 that they get them after they're sorry for what they've 
 done and want to begin over again the right way." 
 
 " But I'm not sure he would have been sorry if 
 Priscy had been left as she was when she came to 
 school," returned Lulu " if you had not taken her in 
 hand, Dorothy, and brought out the best in her, as 
 you did." 
 
 "And how as to what you did yourself, Lulu? It 
 was wonderful." 
 
 " Oh, well ; that was different. I coached her talk- 
 ing, and she paid me handsomely for it " 
 
 "What you did for her was worth that," inter- 
 rupted the other. " She began to talk well almost at 
 once ; I don't see how you managed it." 
 
 " Let me go on," said Lulu. " I coached her for 
 money, as I said. But you took her to your hearth 
 and home that means, your room for love ; not for 
 
 99
 
 ioo DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 love of her, but for love of being lovely yourself," she 
 ended with a smile which shone through a mist in her 
 eyes. 
 
 " It turned out well," said Dorothy. " Nobody de- 
 serves to be loved more than Pell-Mell although some 
 do as much, Lulu, remember that! And Priscy is 
 bright and sometimes witty; she would shine in so- 
 ciety." 
 
 "Exactly what her step-mother thinks!" cried the 
 other. " And she's dying to get hold of her and show 
 her off and make her own house more attractive. I 
 perceived that the few minutes I saw them together. 
 I can't say I'm anxious to have her succeed." 
 
 "That's not it at all," said Dorothy. "But my 
 own father is so much to me, I do want Pell-Mell's 
 to be something to her, Lulu. You know how it is." 
 
 "Oh, yes! I wouldn't change fathers," returned 
 the other " not though Colonel Pell is so famous and 
 gives Priscy ever so much money to spend, and mine 
 can't even support me at present. But then, he loves 
 Harold and me, Dorothy ; and he always has." 
 
 "How could he help it?" retorted her friend put- 
 ting her arm about Lulu and giving her an affectionate 
 squeeze as the two sat together on a bench on the 
 side veranda of the hotel. "There was nobody 
 about I looked," she added, laughing. 
 
 "Priscy was surprised to find him at that man's, 
 of course," said Lulu returning to the subject that 
 interested them both. " But I could see that she was 
 very much pleased at the part he had played in sav- 
 ing Nemo. Her face flushed all over; you didn't see
 
 WHAT DOROTHY DARED 101 
 
 it, you were so busy with Nemo just then. I think 
 she wanted to thank him; but she wouldn't. She 
 listened to every word you said to him. And she 
 heard his answer, too, when he thanked you." 
 
 "But," answered Dorothy, "I saw through every- 
 thing else going on that she would scarcely take his 
 hand when he held it out to her, and that when she 
 said : ' How do you do ? ' in answer to his cordial greet- 
 ing, she would not add : ' father/ and she didn't like 
 to say: 'Colonel Pell'; so, she said nothing." 
 
 " But she carried it off well ; she's the pluckiest little 
 thing ! " declared Lulu. 
 
 " Now and then one doesn't need pluck," retorted 
 Dorothy. " Something else would do better." 
 
 " A little of your graciousness ! " laughed Lulu. 
 Yet she spoke in earnest. "You're right, Dorothy," 
 she said the next moment. " But what are you going 
 to do about it?" 
 
 " I don't know," returned the girl. " I wish " 
 
 " Miss Bromley," called Rex from the steps, " do 
 come and play tennis. Come on, Doro; you needn't 
 hug Nemo so very close. He's learned his lesson ; he 
 won't go off again for one day, at least. Now, 
 come." 
 
 " Not quite yet, thank you, Rex. I want to think 
 about something a little first something I ought to 
 do." 
 
 "Oh, do you? A story, or a drama? Well, be 
 sure you make it good. You'll come, Miss Bromley ? " 
 he repeated. 
 
 "I'd like to play," said the girl rising. "You
 
 102 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 don't mind, Dorothy?" she added. "I'll stay if you 
 
 do." 
 
 " Oh, no, no," cried Dorothy. " Go, by all means." 
 
 " She wants to be by herself. Genius burns," whis- 
 pered Rex smiling at his companion as the two walked 
 off. 
 
 Dorothy did want to be left alone; she did have 
 something to study upon. But it was not story, or 
 drama ; it was something in real life very real to her. 
 She thought as she sat there puzzling over it, that 
 things in real life were much more difficult to settle 
 than in stories ; one could manage characters, to a cer- 
 tain extent ; but as to people, one couldn't often man- 
 age them. 
 
 Some one came out of the front door of the hotel 
 and walking along the veranda, turned the corner to 
 the smaller one more shady and quiet. Indeed, at 
 the moment only one person was there a girl seated 
 on one of the benches, her arm about the neck of the 
 great dog who sat at her knee, his head in her lap, 
 his eyes upon her face, as if in the sight of that were 
 all the delight he desired. But, evidently, Dorothy 
 was not thinking about him at the moment; her head 
 was bent, her eyes looking into space in which she 
 saw the vision of whatever occupied her thoughts. 
 
 The newcomer stood watching her with a pleasure 
 that lighted his face. " What a beautiful girl ! What 
 a good girl ! " he said to himself. The words of the 
 old song came into his mind: * Tender and true' 
 yes, Dorothy. Brooke was in character * tender and 
 true ' ; he knew much more about her than she dreamed
 
 WHAT DOROTHY DARED 103 
 
 of. The blind professor, one of the principals of Hos- 
 mer Hall where she had been a pupil for the past year, 
 had sketched her character in few words through her 
 school year's work, and in this sketch the listener had 
 perceived his own debt to her. 
 
 After watching her a moment that afternoon he 
 went nearer and spoke to her, a reverence in his heart 
 underlying the lightness of his tone. "And so, you 
 have him fast, Miss Brooke," he said, nodding toward 
 the dog ; " and he doesn't seem to want to get away ; 
 he won't do it again, I feel sure." 
 
 Dorothy looked up with a start. It is always sur- 
 prising to be suddenly addressed by the person in one's 
 thoughts at the moment. " Oh, Colonel Pell ! " she 
 cried coloring with eagerness and embarrassment in the 
 purpose on which she was set. " I'm glad to see you ; 
 I I wanted to thank you again for what you did 
 for me for us all to-day. You cannot realize what 
 it is to us." 
 
 " I think I can," he said smiling down at her as he 
 stood beside her. "You see, I've had pet dogs my- 
 self." 
 
 " Oh, yes, I see," answered Dorothy. But it was 
 so evident that she had not finished that he still stood 
 watching her in silence, waiting. " I want to thank 
 you," she said again ; " and I want to say something 
 else to you. But I'm afraid I can't talk to you stand 
 ing there. I have to look up to you anyway, you see ; 
 and that makes it too much. Would you mind sitting 
 down a moment?" 
 
 " I certainly don't see how you can look up to me
 
 104 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 you ! " he answered gravely. " But I should mind 
 sitting down beside you very much; it would give 
 me great pleasure. Take your time about whatever 
 you have to say," he added. " There is not the least 
 haste." 
 
 " Thank you," said the girl, and she looked at him 
 without speaking further ; her glance spoke the delicacy 
 that shrank from taking what might seem a forward 
 part in a matter that belonged to his own deep ex- 
 perience. 
 
 "It's about my daughter? It's about Priscilla?" 
 he questioned at last. 
 
 " Oh, yes, Colonel Pell ! " cried Dorothy, her face 
 flushing from brow to chin. "It is about Priscy. 
 You know, you've seen so little of her of late. I want 
 you to understand her ; she is very reserved as to show- 
 ing affection, unless she is very well acquainted in- 
 deed. She talks and laughs and is so full of bright- 
 ness and wit." And Dorothy gave him in some de- 
 tail incidents of Pell-Mell's keenness of apprehension 
 and quickness of retort. 
 
 "Like her Aunt Priscilla," he said. "I see that." 
 
 "And she was so good to me when I was ill in 
 school not even the doctor did as much for me as 
 she did; he said so. And she petted me," Dorothy 
 went on. " But she is like all the people we love 
 best ; when she really cares, it's very hard for her to 
 say so." 
 
 " It's not difficult, however, for her to make it plain 
 when she does not care," he retorted with bitterness. 
 
 A look of distress came into Dorothy's face. Twice
 
 WHAT DOROTHY DARED 105 
 
 she tried to answer him and stopped. " Oh, Colonel 
 Pell," she cried at last, lifting tear-dimmed eyes to 
 his face, "don't speak so, I beg of you! Don't speak 
 so of your own dear daughter! She has a heart as 
 true as steel; and so loving and beautiful." 
 
 The man sat looking at her a moment in silence. 
 In his second marriage, although he liked his wife well 
 enough, he told himself, both had thought more of 
 ambition than of sentiment. He had admired her 
 stately presence, her high family which more than 
 matched his own; she had appreciated the satisfaction 
 of being the wife of so famous a man of science. 
 She was still quite satisfied, except that access of fame 
 of any kind was always to be desired. But for him- 
 self, he had come to realize that a charming daughter 
 who would love him would certainly add much to life. 
 An intuition of how beautiful Dorothy's own home 
 life must be came to him as he watched her. It 
 was to this girl's heart "tender and true," he said 
 to himself again, that his own daughter's had re- 
 sponded. Was it any wonder? 
 
 " Her heart may be beautiful ; but she has no place 
 in it for her father," he answered at last with a grave 
 sadness that revealed more of himself to his listener 
 than he imagined. 
 
 She turned upon him with a kindling light in her 
 face. " You decide too soon, Colonel Pell ! " she cried 
 with the authority of truth in her tones. Her voice, 
 her movements were vibrating with eagerness. He 
 did care ! It should come right. " What science do 
 you study in which results come before the labor?"
 
 106 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 she questioned hotly. " And what science do you find 
 worthy of more trouble to win than your daughter's 
 heart?" 
 
 "None, Miss Brooke," he answered her. 
 
 She believed his look and tone. "And, Colonel 
 Pell, you are a soldier," she urged. " What would 
 you think of a general who marched away from a 
 city that he ought to enter and never laid siege to it, 
 never even fired a shot? Oh, I hope you'll forgive 
 me ! " she cried suddenly, overcome by the sense of her 
 boldness. His look assured her. " I had to speak, 
 for Priscy's sake and for yours, too," she added. 
 The next moment she flashed a sudden glance at him. 
 " Don't be too sure she doesn't care ! " she cried. 
 
 Then, her task over, she sat trembling. For this 
 tall, stern man was not one to be lightly counselled. 
 
 His face flushed at her last words, and his eyes 
 lighted. For a little time he was silent. Then he 
 said: "A siege sometimes takes long to win. All 
 I can ask is to be as brave a soldier as you are, Miss 
 Brooke. Words cannot thank you. Be sure I shall 
 remember." He took her hand, bent and touched it 
 reverently with his lips. 
 
 The next instant he had gone with a bow for 
 several of Dorothy's companions who came talking 
 and laughing up the path toward him. Priscy was 
 among them. Her young face grew stern at the 
 sight of him. 
 
 " How much you are like your Aunt Priscilla," he 
 said to her lightly as he passed her with a smile, not 
 waiting for glance or word from her in reply.
 
 XI 
 
 A RAINY DAY 
 
 JIMMY REID stood at the window looking out. It 
 poured in torrents it seemed as if the skies had 
 opened. An excursion of any kind that day was out 
 of the question; whatever amusement was to be had 
 must be found indoors. This gave Jimmy all the 
 more time to study upon a matter which the others had 
 not seemed to consider, but which, the more he thought 
 about it, the more it came to him as something that 
 needed to be settled. 
 
 How did Nemo get to the vivisectionist's? Mr. 
 Splinter had shown his receipt proving that he had 
 bought and paid for the dog; and since Nemo was 
 still uninjured, Rex had reimbursed Splinter. No- 
 body knew who " William Rolf e " the signer of the 
 receipt was. He was, evidently, a man who had 
 picked up Nemo somewhere and made use of him to 
 get money out of. Nobody thought any more about 
 him, except Jimmy who was not satisfied to let things 
 go; he had his suspicions. But as yet he had not 
 voiced them ; he had no right to do it without at least 
 some scrap of proof. As he stood there at the office 
 window, some one came in muffled in a raincoat, and 
 a voice said to him : " Do you happen to know where 
 Mr. Longley is ? " 
 
 107
 
 io8 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 " Over there reading his letters," returned Jimmy 
 briefly, going back to his occupation. 
 
 "What is it, Manson?" asked Ned looking up. 
 
 " I was sure you wouldn't want the auto to-day," 
 said Manson approaching. "So, I thought 'twould 
 
 be a good time to go to A to get something she 
 
 needs ; she doesn't run quite right. She'll go slow ; but 
 if you ever wanted to get a spurt on her, you couldn't 
 do it noways as she is now. I thought we'd better 
 have it fixed so if 'twas needed, we could do it all 
 right." 
 
 "What it is you need?" asked Ned. 
 
 Manson explained at some length that it was a dif- 
 ferent lever. " And I'd like to do some errands my- 
 self," he added, seeing Ned hesitate. "And if any 
 of the ladies or gentlemen wanted to get anything, 
 I'd be happy to oblige them; I'm a good shopper," he 
 smiled. 
 
 "Thank you," returned Ned. "But I don't think 
 there's anything this morning. I know the ladies 
 would prefer to do their own shopping; and I think 
 
 we all should, too. And we shall be going to A 
 
 ourselves soon ; so, we won't trouble you. But if you 
 like, you may go and do your own errands ; we shall 
 not want the car to-day unless it should clear; and 
 I suppose you will be back in good season ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes, sir, yes, to be sure. Shall I get the dog's 
 collar marked to-day? It might be safer, you know," 
 he added, as Ned hesitated. " If he went off again, 
 you see? " 
 
 "I will ask his master," said Ned "or his mis-
 
 A RAINY DAY 109 
 
 tress." It was Dorothy whom he found first. Yes; 
 she would be glad to have it done immediately. 
 
 "And shall I get the lever? " pursued the chauffeur, 
 receiving the collar with a covert smile. 
 
 " Ye es, you might," said Ned. " And pay for it, 
 and bring the receipt to me; I'll make it right with 
 you." 
 
 "Of course, sir, I wouldn't leave that," returned 
 the chauffeur with an air of grievance. And he went 
 out again. 
 
 Almost the next moment they saw him starting 
 down the hill. 
 
 " He took your consent for granted, Ned," said 
 Jimmy. " He was all ready." 
 
 "Well, why not?" asked the other. "We can't 
 use him to-day. What good would he do hanging 
 round?" 
 
 "None at all I'm sure!" muttered Jimmy under 
 his breath. 
 
 "What's that?" cried Ned. 
 
 "Oh, nothing," returned his friend, catching the 
 clerk's eye upon him. " I was only talking to myself 
 in the interesting way I have sometimes; the remark 
 was meant for nobody's ears but mine." 
 
 " You know you never do that," laughed the other. 
 But he did not press his question. 
 
 The party that morning broke up into groups ; and 
 each group amused itself in its own way. Grace and 
 Miss Knowles, and, for a while, Dorothy were in 
 Mrs. Longley's room. She was doing finely, and se- 
 cretly welcomed the rain, which gave her the society
 
 i io DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 of all her party at different times without making her 
 feel the self-reproach of keeping them from out-of- 
 door enjoyments. Soon after breakfast Rex carried 
 off Lulu and Priscy and Jimmy to the bowling alley. 
 In an hour Ned came into his mother's room, and 
 after a while suggested to Dorothy that this would be 
 an excellent time to do a little collaborating. 
 
 " Rex said, you remember," he added, " that we 
 ought to be able to entertain the company." 
 
 " But I want to see your mother," pleaded the girl. 
 
 " Oh, go, my dear," said Mrs. Longley. " As Ned 
 says, it is a ' first-class ' opportunity to work Ned, I 
 do wish you'd leave off slang," she added, smiling 
 up at him as he stood beside her. 
 
 " Oh, if I left it all off, mamma," he retorted, " the 
 professors might let me into college on the exams; 
 but the fellows never would stand me." 
 
 His mother joined in the laugh. Then she asked : 
 "Where is Rose?" 
 
 " In her room working over something ; I don't 
 know what," said Dorothy. " She wouldn't open the 
 door more than, a crack ; she said she was very busy. 
 But she seemed happy about it, so I let her alone." 
 
 And the two "dramatists," as Rex dubbed them, 
 walked off and found a quiet corner somewhere, 
 where they worked very industriously for quite a 
 while. Ned wanted to rest from their labors and 
 talk long before he ventured ; but he knew that Doro- 
 thy believed in carrying out the purpose which had 
 been announced. 
 
 As he looked at her that morning, he said to him-
 
 A RAINY DAY in 
 
 self that Dorothy had beauty; but so had other girls; 
 that was not all; indeed, it was only a small part of 
 her charm. It was not what Dorothy Brooke had, 
 but what she was, that he delighted in. 
 
 He said nothing of the kind to her, however, but 
 told her instead that they, really, ought to do consider- 
 able work together; because all the others wanted 
 them to have something on hand for entertainment, if 
 there should come another rainy day while his mother 
 was tied up with her ankle. And then, it was a fine 
 chance to practice on an audience. But first there was 
 a good deal to be planned and written. "And, you 
 know, we've not done anything yet, the weather has 
 been so beautiful," he finished. 
 
 "You're not sorry for the beautiful weather?" she 
 asked, smiling and so sure he would say " no " that 
 he could not help saying it. And in a sense, he 
 meant it. It was only when he and Dorothy were 
 intent on their plot that he enjoyed himself so much 
 he was ready to think gray skies better than blue ones. 
 
 Rex had opportunity that morning for a long talk 
 with Lulu Bromley. He found more and more things 
 in her to admire ; she was the best of company, as he 
 had told himself many times before. But a girl like 
 Lulu would be sure to be a favorite anywhere. Lulu 
 laughed and joked with him as gayly as he wished. 
 But whether she were really interested in him, as he 
 hoped, he could not in the least discover. 
 
 But for all that, both found things very pleasant. 
 They had a discussion as to the possibility of Priscy 
 and her father becoming reconciled. Rex was opti-
 
 ii2 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 mistic; but Lulu, who knew her better, thought it 
 was doubtful. 
 
 When they had arrived at this point, they came 
 upon Dorothy and Ned ensconced in a corner of the 
 veranda which they still had all to themselves. 
 
 " Plot laid out ? " demanded Rex. 
 
 "Yes, indeed," responded Ned. "We're hard at 
 work upon the characters." 
 
 " You should say * dramatis personse,' " corrected 
 Lulu. 
 
 " On the ' dramatis persona?/ then. We've got Rex 
 to a ' T ' ; and we are struggling to embalm in amber 
 Miss Bromley's most captivating mannerisms ! " 
 
 " What a saucy boy ! " laughed Lulu. " It shall be 
 the struggle of my life to pay you back." 
 
 "Dorothy was all ready to do Miss Knowles up 
 brown," pursued Ned. " But since yesterday, when 
 we came home and she rushed upon her with open 
 arms and sobbed out she was 'so-o g-lad the po-or 
 creature was n-ot viv-i-sected ! ' Dorothy has wilted ; 
 she can't see anything in her to mimic! Too bad!" 
 
 " I say, it is too bad ! " echoed Rex. " I must say 
 she's a fine subject." 
 
 Then Jimmy sauntered up, and Rose Hewes came 
 quietly down the stairs and out of doors ; finally, Miss 
 Knowles herself appeared; and the topic of conversa- 
 tion was changed. 
 
 "You can't go to-day!" cried Manson, a dark 
 scowl gathering on his face as, springing from the 
 motor car, he ran up the steps of a handsome house
 
 A RAINY DAY 113 
 
 in the suburbs of A to greet a girl who had just 
 
 opened the door to him. " And why can't you 
 when this is the day that suits me best of all, and 
 gives us all the extra time to get off without dis- 
 covery? Why not, I'd like to know? We shall be 
 miles and miles from here before they wake up to 
 look for their machine; I've got the start on them; 
 an' I mean to keep it. Say you're going to take a 
 little spin with me, and come along." 
 
 " Have you got the license ? " asked Delia Watson. 
 "You know you can't be married without a license." 
 
 " I know that, goosie," he answered, giving her a 
 chuck under the chin. "I'm goin' to get that all 
 right. I'll go for it now, an' come back for you. 
 By that time you'll have all your best things put up 
 to bring along." 
 
 "You think it's easy to git off, George. But it 
 ain't. She watches me all the time to see if I take 
 good care of the baby." 
 
 "The brat!" 
 
 " Oh, she's a dear little thing, an' I wouldn't have 
 any harm come to her. But I can't git off without 
 her now an' I don't want to take her with me," she 
 laughed. " Mrs. Ridgeway's writing letters and pack- 
 ing, an' I expect every minute she'll send down for 
 me to look after baby. I just ran down because I 
 saw the auto and knew 'twas you." 
 
 " Then you don't mean to come with me at all ? " 
 asked the chauffeur sulkily. "I won't make a fool of 
 myself getting a marriage license if we're not goin' to 
 be married! "
 
 ii4 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 " Oh, we are ! " cried Delia eagerly. " But, say, 
 George, just listen to me. We can do it to-morrow. 
 She's " 
 
 " You mean, you can do it to-morrow. But how 
 about me ? It'll be mighty risky gettin' down here to- 
 morrow again. I'd have to scoot for it, and I mightn't 
 git off anyway. No, you'll have to do it to- 
 day." 
 
 Delia thought a moment. Then she said : " She's 
 goin' away to-morrow by train, to see somebody; I 
 b'lieve it's her husband's mother who's very sick, or 
 she wouldn't leave the baby an' she's goin' to leave 
 me in charge of her. So, then I can git off ; she won't 
 be here to watch me. She goes off in an early train. 
 You go an' git the license now; and come for me to- 
 morrow mornin'. I'll be good an' ready then. An' 
 I'll have time to git my things together." 
 
 " You can do it now just as well ; an* we'll get the 
 license as we go I'm not goin' to slip you up on 
 that, Delia. But I tell you, I don't know how things'll 
 be to-morrow. Some of them fellers are round blaz- 
 ing early in the morning, poking their noses into 
 everything. So, if you won't do it to-day, it may slip 
 up to-morrow. I don't want it to, you know; but I 
 have to be careful." 
 
 Again the girl stood a moment in thought. " If I 
 run off to-day," she said at last, "I shall lose my 
 month's wages, George. To-morrow morning is the 
 time for paying me." 
 
 "Whew! That's something to think of," he said. 
 
 " You know father don't want me to marry you,"
 
 A RAINY DAY 115 
 
 she added : " an' he won't help us out ; an' my money 
 will help." 
 
 " Should say it would ! Then, when we've got off 
 far enough, I'll sell the auto; that'll do something 
 handsome for us, it's a dandy machine. And, Delia, 
 they don't suspect one thing about my sellin' the dog 
 to that vivisection man. I heard 'em talking it over. 
 Now they've got him back the fool was so silly he 
 didn't go to work fast enough, so he lost him now 
 they've got him back, as I was sayin', they'll never 
 take the trouble to find out who did it. An', any- 
 way, if things go well to-morrow, I shan't care." 
 
 " No, indeed ! " smiled Delia, looking complacently 
 at the other's crafty face. "You're real smart, 
 George." 
 
 George beamed upon her. " But she won't forget 
 the pay to-morrow in her rush ? " he asked a few min- 
 utes later, looking very anxious. 
 
 " She never does no matter what happens ; it's 
 always ready for me when I come in to take baby in 
 the mornin'; she never lets her sleep anywhere but 
 in her little bed right beside her. Oh, don't worry 
 about her forgettin'; keep your worry for somethin' 
 that needs it. But I guess nothin' will; you're so 
 smart," she repeated ; " you fix things up well ; they 
 won't slump. Won't father be mad?" 
 
 They both laughed. 
 
 "Delia! Delia! where are you? I want you this 
 moment," called a voice from the floor above. 
 
 " There she is now ! I've got to go ! " cried the 
 girl. " She's left me alone longer 'n I thought she
 
 ii6 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 would. Yes, m'm, I'm comin' this minute," she called 
 back. "Good-by, George. Get the license an' come 
 back for me early to-morrow." 
 
 " I'll get the license all right. An' I'll come back, 
 you may be sure, if I can get here!" he retorted. 
 
 " Come ! Come, Delia ! " called the voice again. 
 
 " Yes, m'm, this minute ! " And the girl shut the 
 front door, for she had been standing with Manson in 
 the vestibule, and ran upstairs with a false excuse on 
 her lips as she met her mistress about to come down 
 to learn what was keeping the maid. 
 
 The chauffeur sprang into the car and drove off 
 smiling. For he was more confident of eluding his 
 employers than he had confessed.
 
 XII 
 
 WHERE WAS THE MOTOR CAR? 
 
 THE next morning was radiant the sky cloudless, 
 the earth, with dust freshly washed from every leaf 
 and twig and glistening with dew, a vision of beauty. 
 Dorothy, passing out to the upper veranda upon which 
 her door opened, stood looking down a vista between 
 the mountains into a valley rich with fruit and grain 
 and beautiful with sweep of green fields shaded with 
 oak and maple and the graceful elm. The morning 
 mist rising between the hills and lying in the valley 
 softened the landscape with a translucent glow as the 
 sun's rays shot down upon it. 
 
 Dorothy, taking deep breaths of the exhilarating 
 air, forgot everything in her delight at living and 
 gazing on such a morning, when a hand was laid upon 
 hers, a head rested a moment on her shoulder, and 
 a troubled voice said : 
 
 "Good-morning, Dorothy, dear. I just had to 
 come to speak to you a minute." 
 
 "A good many minutes, I hope," returned Doro- 
 thy, kissing her. " But what's the matter, Pell- 
 Mell?" 
 
 " Only the same old thing. I do wish they'd go 
 away. It makes it so hard for me to be always meet- 
 ing them; and sometimes I think my father tries to 
 do it." 
 
 "7
 
 ii8 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 "I don't blame him at all," returned the other. 
 " If I had a daughter as lovely as Pell-Mell, I should 
 be trying to meet her all the time." 
 
 Priscy gave her a startled glance. " But he only 
 does it to tease me," she answered. "He wants to 
 make me show that I care for the way he has treated 
 me; he would enjoy that." 
 
 "I'm sure that is not the reason, Pell-Mell. I'm 
 sure he is really sorry for it himself. How can he 
 help being sorry? " 
 
 " He doesn't say so. He only tries to be pleasant 
 and patronizing, not to have other people know, and 
 to seem all right with Mrs. Pell." 
 
 " Priscy, I'm sure you are wrong ! " cried Dorothy, 
 trembling between the sense of honor which forbade 
 her to speak of what had passed between Colonel Pell 
 and herself and her eager desire to have Priscy feel 
 kindly toward her father. " I'm sure you are 
 wrong " she began again, when the opening of a 
 door at the end of the veranda caught her ear, and 
 in another moment Mrs. Pell, in an irreproachable 
 toilet, had stepped from her room and was approach- 
 ing them with smiling haste. 
 
 " I'm glad to find you here," she said to Priscy 
 after a cordial greeting to Dorothy and a few words 
 to both on the weather and other general subjects. 
 " Won't you let us borrow your guest for to-day, Miss 
 Brooke?" and she turned again to the latter. "We 
 are going for an all-day run and I want my step- 
 daughter very much to go with us." 
 
 The second Mrs. Pell was, certainly, a woman of
 
 WHERE WAS THE MOTOR CAR? 119 
 
 great elegance of manner and carriage; she was a 
 little haughty, and it became her; her graciousness to 
 Priscy showed all the more in contrast. 
 
 " I shall be " began Dorothy. She was about 
 
 to consent with secret joy and politely spoken regrets 
 at losing Pell-Mell for the day, but Priscy inter- 
 rupted her. 
 
 " Thank you, Mrs. Pell," she answered. " But we 
 arranged last evening for a run to-day if the weather 
 was good, and it will be better to do as we have 
 planned." 
 
 Mrs. Pell eyed her keenly, superciliously. "You 
 would prefer to go with Miss Brooke?" she asked. 
 As Dorothy said afterward, her tone was icy enough 
 to make one shiver. 
 
 " Yes, Mrs. Pell, I should," answered Priscy with 
 a haughtiness equal to her own. 
 
 The lady turned without another word and swept 
 back to her own room. 
 
 As the two girls listened to the shutting of her door, 
 Dorothy began : " Oh, Pell-Mell, you did very wrong. 
 You ought " 
 
 But Pell-Mell was sobbing in her arms, and it was 
 impossible to scold her then. 
 
 Directly afterward Grace appeared. 
 
 The sobs ceased, the tears were driven back, and at 
 the breakfast table no one was gayer than Priscy. 
 
 Mrs. Pell, who had volunteered to "tackle Pris- 
 cilla," returning to her husband, announced to him 
 that his daughter was an ungrateful, insolent girl, and 
 that she Mrs. Pell would wash her hands of her.
 
 120 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 "The only criticism on that remark," he retorted, 
 " is that you can't wash your hands of what never 
 was on them ; and you took good care that my daugh- 
 ter never should be." 
 
 Mrs. Pell was unusually amiable all day. It had 
 been made evident to her before that time that her 
 husband's displeasure had a very cutting edge. 
 
 At the after-breakfast discussion of the Brooke 
 party as to route and time of starting, the latter was 
 postponed until toward noon in the hope that Mrs. 
 Longley would be able to take a short run and be the 
 better for it. This delay relieved Rex from the imme- 
 diate necessity of telling Ned that the car was not in 
 the garage and the chauffeur was not to be found. 
 Probably the latter, who had been working over the 
 car the previous afternoon, arranging to his satisfac- 
 tion the lever that Ned had consented to buy for it, 
 had taken a short run early, to see if all was in order 
 for the day's work ; he would, no doubt, return before 
 the others learned of his absence. Rex himself went 
 off to test his own car which he suspected of needing 
 a little work upon it. He thought that on his return 
 it would be time enough to tell Longley, in case Man- 
 son were still absent. 
 
 But when he came back Ned and Jimmy had gone 
 
 off on their motor cycles to A , to do a few 
 
 errands and return long enough before luncheon to 
 take Ned's mother out for a short turn all that she 
 could bear at first. Before starting, the boys had 
 asked if anybody had any commissions for them in 
 the city. Grace wanted Ned to buy her a pair of
 
 WHERE WAS THE MOTOR CAR? 121 
 
 gloves ; she could not find a pair that she thought she 
 had brought with her. She gave him the quality, the 
 number, and the color. 
 
 " It looks all very simple, Grace," teased Jimmy. 
 "But who knows it won't turn out as serious as 
 Beauty's roses in 'Beauty and the Beast/ which, you 
 know, almost cost her father his life?" 
 
 " Ned's not my father ! " retorted Grace, laughing. 
 "And I'm not Beauty! So, your comparison won't 
 hold." 
 
 " Part of it will ! " nodded Jimmy looking at her 
 with a laugh. 
 
 The boys went off in fine spirits. Rex, finding them 
 gone, still said nothing about the missing chauffeur 
 and car; these would be sure to turn up all right be- 
 fore they were needed; he knew that this borrowing 
 of the car without leave was a way which some chauf- 
 feurs had. Mrs. Longley was not well enough to be 
 made anxious, especially if there was no need of it, 
 and he could not trouble Grace. 
 
 As more and more time went by, however, he was 
 sorry that he had not sponken to Longley, for neither 
 machine nor man appeared. 
 
 That morning Manson breakfasted very early, say- 
 ing that he had work to do on the machine, and then 
 disappeared into the garage. But he came out again 
 almost at once and glided down the hill so smoothly 
 in the fine and nearly noiseless car that none of the 
 busy servants noticed him as he sped past the hotel. 
 Once out of sight of it, he scorched his best.
 
 122 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 At that speed it was not long before he drew up 
 
 at a garage in A , where he left the machine while 
 
 he attended to a little necessary business in the city 
 preparatory to his next move. It was still a trifle 
 before the time appointed for him to appear at Mrs. 
 Ridgeway's house. 
 
 " Delia," that lady was saying to her maid, " this is 
 the cloak to use for baby ; she won't need the embroid- 
 ered one while I'm away, unless Professor Griswold 
 takes her out driving. If he does, he'll take you to 
 look after her, and she may wear her best things; 
 my brother won't notice, but I shall feel it's right. 
 I know that you are a reliable girl," the mistress went 
 on ; " but it's a great responsibility to be left in sole 
 charge Bab is so delicate, you know. I'm always 
 afraid of another attack of croup like the last one 
 when she was so very ill. Dear! dear!" sighed the 
 young mamma. " But when my husband's mother is 
 not expected to live, and he has sent for me, I must 
 go. It may be a week; we can't tell. But you'll be 
 faithful, Delia?" 
 
 "Oh, yes, m'm, yes, indeed!" returned Delia hid- 
 ing a smile by turning away to bring Mrs. Ridgeway 
 the key of her trunk. 
 
 "You see, my brother, Professor Griswold, will 
 stay in the house while we are away. To be sure, he 
 never sees anything; he wouldn't know, I suppose, 
 whether you put a wrap on Bab or not, if the day was 
 cool. But then, Delia, you mustn't depend on his not 
 seeing things; for these absent-minded people some- 
 times open their eyes wide when nobody expects it.
 
 WHERE WAS THE MOTOR CAR? 123 
 
 So, I shall be sure to know exactly what you do with 
 baby. You'll write me about her every day; you'll 
 find paper and stamps here on my desk. Oh, and here 
 are your wages. I've put in a trifle more for a 
 gift to you; I feel sure you will be so good to 
 baby." 
 
 " Indeed, I wouldn't hurt her for the world, m'm," 
 declared Delia, expressing her thanks. "An* all I'm 
 a-goin' to do is to let her alone," she added to her- 
 self " that's no harm. There'll be lots after a good 
 place like this." Then she said aloud in an injured 
 tone : " An' if I hadn't taken good care of her, would 
 I be here now?" 
 
 " Of course, of course, you've taken excellent care 
 of her, Delia," answered her mistress soothingly. 
 "You must not think I don't know you're capable; 
 or, as you say, you would not be here. But I can't 
 help being nervous. You know, children of Bab's 
 age after they've learned to walk and are still so little, 
 are into everything and so much harder to take care 
 of than babies in arms; they're always trying to run 
 away, and falling down and hurting themselves if 
 they are not faithfully watched all the time." 
 
 " I know that well enough," responded the girl 
 dryly. 
 
 " That's why I'm so anxious," went on Mrs. Ridge- 
 way. "But I'm sure I've said enough to have you 
 very careful. And you'll not leave her at all, will 
 you?" 
 
 At that moment Bab awakened from her nap and 
 the girl was spared the need of reply. She disap-
 
 I2 4 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 peared into the next room, and at once came back 
 with the little one crowing upon her shoulder. 
 
 Mrs. Ridgeway looked at the child through a mist 
 of tears. " If only mother didn't have to be kept so 
 very quiet, I'd take you both with me," she said. 
 "But I'm just nervous and upset; my poor husband 
 is so fond of his mother, I feel for him so much. 
 After all, the separation from baby is only for a 
 few days, and you're very fond of her yourself, 
 Delia?" 
 
 "That I am, m'm," returned the other. 
 
 The mother took her little one in her arms as she 
 gave further orders. She noticed with satisfaction 
 Delia's obligingness and her more than usual readi- 
 ness and cheerfulness; the girl had never appeared so 
 capable, she thought with relief. " Mamma's bless- 
 ing ! " she whispered to her baby. " I know she will 
 be good to you." The cook would see that everybody 
 had plenty to eat; and the second girl would relieve 
 Delia from every duty but attendance upon the child. 
 
 The professor came to escort his sister to the train, 
 and her last view of her home as she drove away was 
 of the maid standing in the open door with the baby 
 in her arms. 
 
 " I didn't think she ever would git off ! " commented 
 Delia as she ran down the steps and looked up and 
 down the quiet street. " Now, the sooner I git out 
 of this, the better. Why doesn't George come? Oh, 
 there he is! Now I've got to hurry. It's no matter 
 how long he keeps me waiting; he's always in a rush 
 when he gits here."
 
 WHERE WAS THE MOTOR CAR? 125 
 
 With a signal to Manson that she would soon be 
 back, she ran into the house, and placing Bab on the 
 floor in Mrs. Ridgeway's room which the second girl 
 was putting to rights, she began : " Say, Nell, I'm 
 a-goin' autoin' with a rale smart feller, and I shall be 
 gone all the mornin'. Take good care of the baby, 
 and when I come back, I'll give you some of the candy 
 he'll treat me to, an* a new necktie. Say, now, you 
 will, won't you?" 
 
 "Oh, yes," answered Nell, a girl as good-natured 
 as she was forgetful. "Just leave her there an* I'll 
 see after her; she'll be all right." 
 
 " And I'll give you the things just as soon as I git 
 back," repeated Delia. She laughed to herself all the 
 way up to her own room. 
 
 "When I git back ha! ha! ha!" she chuckled. 
 " Hope Nell won't git too tired waitin'. Hope she'll 
 have somethin' afore she gits it out of me ! " 
 
 Then with all possible haste she attired herself in 
 her best, put on her hat as the easiest way of carrying 
 it, threw her wrap over her arm, picked up her dress- 
 suit case, and ran down again to Nell. 
 
 " My eye ! But you do look fine ! " commented the 
 other. 
 
 "Mr. Bennett is a-goin' to let me stop an* leave 
 these old duds at my father's," she announced, swing- 
 ing the case as she entered the room. There's some 
 candy her uncle buys for her ; Mrs. Ridgeway lets her 
 eat it ; it's in that drawer. 'Twill keep her quiet if she 
 begins to fuss." She stooped over the child and kissed 
 her. " Good-by, Bab ; be a good baby," she said.
 
 126 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 " An' good-by, Nell ; I'm a-goin' to have a day of it, 
 I can tell you autoin' like the best!" Then she 
 added another word, and ran downstairs with a laugh. 
 She was still laughing as she sprang into the car. 
 " I told 'em not to expect me till evenin'," she said ; 
 "to look out for me then!" 
 
 Manson roared. " Good for you ! " he said. 
 "Evening! We'll be miles enough off before that 
 time," he added slapping his hand on the side of the 
 car. " She's a dandy, I can tell you. We won't poke 
 the way the old lady made me do! We're not made 
 that way ! I've fixed her up to scorch. But we'll git 
 married first. I've found a little fellow that don't 
 ask too many questions. You see, the thing is to be 
 off in a hurry before they set out after us. We'll go 
 to the minister's ; then we'll drive on quietly I don't 
 want a bob after me. Then, when we git out into 
 the country we'll let out! I reckon we can. drive 
 two days hard, and then sell the auto." 
 
 " I wish we could keep it," sighed the girl, nestling 
 into the cushions with a sense of luxury. 
 
 "What'll we have to live on while I'm looking up 
 a job?" he said. "Then, anyway, it's not safe. They 
 might find out about us some time." 
 
 "We won't wait any longer for the boys," said 
 Grace. "It's time for mamma to start if she is to 
 go out to-day at all. Will you ask your brother, 
 please, Dorothy, to send round our car? And tell 
 Mr. Manson to look it over very carefully, to make 
 sure that everything is right."
 
 WHERE WAS THE MOTOR CAR? 127 
 
 " With pleasure ! " answered Dorothy, and went 
 upon the errand directly. 
 
 But when she came back, she made an excuse to 
 get Grace out of her mother's room. She looked pale. 
 " Don't be anxious, dear," she began. " But Rex says 
 that the chauffeur and the car have been gone the 
 whole morning and have not come home yet. He 
 must have taken a long spin. It will be all right. I 
 only wanted to explain why your mother will have 
 to go in Rex's car instead of her own. That will be 
 up in a minute." 
 
 But Mrs. Longley was afraid to attempt Rex's car, 
 which was less easy to enter than her own. 
 
 At luncheon conversation dragged. Everybody was 
 anxious the boys not yet returned, and no car, no 
 chauffeur, although they all believed that these would 
 soon appear. 
 
 Afterward Rex proposed to take his car and go for 
 a spin. He invited Lulu and Dorothy and Miss Hewes 
 to accompany him. But Rose was nowhere to be 
 found; she had had an early breakfast; she had not 
 come to luncheon; she had not yet appeared. The 
 waitress had seen her directly after her breakfast go- 
 ing toward the woods with a big package under her 
 arm. 
 
 When this information was brought to Mrs. Long- 
 ley, she turned pale. A dreadful suspicion flashed 
 through her mind. But she said nothing. She would 
 never speak of it unless it should prove true then, 
 every one would have to know it. 
 
 Miss Knowles took Rose's place in the car.
 
 128 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 " Let us go to meet Longley and Reid," said Rex. 
 " They must be far on the way home by this time ; 
 for they ought to have been here before now.'* 
 
 "It certainly must be Grace's gloves that kept 
 them," said Lulu, laughing.
 
 XIII 
 
 A TINY WANDERER 
 
 " WHERE'S Bab ? " asked Professor Griswold, com- 
 ing into the house after seeing his sister upon the 
 train. " I have five minutes for her before I go to 
 work. Bring her to me, please." 
 
 He did not notice that Nell was not the usual nurse 
 as she came into the library with the baby toddling 
 beside hen He caught up the child who from the 
 moment she had seen him had been dancing and shout- 
 ing with delight. The only reason why Mrs. Ridge- 
 way had consented to leave her baby at all had been 
 her conviction that if Bab was safe anywhere, it was 
 with her Uncle John. He worshipped even her tiny 
 toes that as he swung her aloft and tossed her that 
 morning were kicking him so vigorously as she 
 laughed and crowed with happiness. 
 
 He laughed, too, and then sighed inaudibly. He 
 was remembering that once he had dreamed of wife 
 and child of his own. But that wife must be the 
 woman he loved; and she had parted from him in 
 anger years ago ah, well, it was over. He no longer 
 dreamed of happiness ; and, awake, he was glad of the 
 privilege of his sister's home in which he was always 
 so welcome ; and of a niece who was the very prettiest 
 baby in the world certainly, the brightest and dearest. 
 
 129
 
 I 3 o DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 " Wait, nurse," he said ; " you must take her away in 
 a minute ; I have work this morning. Just one game 
 first Hello, Bab! What's in my pocket? What is 
 it? Oh, you little witch! Look at her, nurse!" 
 And he showed Bab's tiny, dimpled fist thrust into 
 the pocket into which he always put that bit of fresh- 
 est and purest candy that absorbed in work as he 
 was he never forgot to buy on his way to Bab. 
 
 Professor Griswold, instructor in a well-known 
 college, was tall and fair with light hair which in 
 mustache and beard had a golden tinge. His blue 
 eyes had often a distant look, as if his thoughts were 
 very far away from any object before his vision ; and 
 this was so frequently the case that his sister and his 
 intimate friends never expected him to know many of 
 the things going on before his face. But what she 
 had said of him was true; for when he did wake up 
 to his surroundings, these same dreamy eyes had a 
 keenness that it was in vain to try to deceive. He 
 was a handsome man, with a sadness in his face in 
 repose, but gay enough when, in congenial society, he 
 cast aside for a time this sorrow of his life, no less 
 deep because he never referred to it. It sometimes 
 seemed to him that the most congenial society in 
 which he ever found himself was that of his little 
 niece, Bab, with her charming prattle. 
 
 " What's she going to do all day without mamma?" 
 he questioned as he held her in his arms. 
 
 "Mamma! mamma!" repeated the child, looking 
 about her and putting out her lip to whimper. 
 
 "Dear! dear! What a stupid creature a man is! "
 
 A TINY WANDERER 131 
 
 exclaimed the professor. " To think, nurse, of my 
 reminding the little one of her mother! No, no, pet, 
 it's all right. Nurse will take good care of her and 
 play games all day long when the little one is awake. 
 Now one good romp ! Catch me, Bab ! " 
 
 And, putting the child on the floor, he made as if 
 to run away from her, delighting as much as she did 
 in her toddling efforts to catch him, in her clutchings 
 at him and her squeals of triumph when at last she 
 did capture him, and, once more in his arms, he 
 gazed into her beautiful eyes, kissed the rosy lips, felt 
 the warm clasp of the little hands and heard the coo- 
 ing voice calling : " Bab 'ouves 'ou, unc, unc ! " 
 
 Then time was up ; the game was over ; now it must 
 be work. He gave the baby to Nell with injunctions 
 to be very careful of her, and still with no recogni- 
 tion that Nell was not the real nurse. She would 
 not tell him. As she said later to the cook, she 
 "wasn't goin' to blab of Delia's havin' a good time, 
 as if she grudged it to her." 
 
 So the professor, having told Nell to shut the li- 
 brary door behind her, sat down at the desk and took 
 up his papers. He was soon deep in an abstruse in- 
 vestigation in which he forgot his surroundings and 
 only came out to luncheon after the third summons. 
 At the table even Bab's blandishments could not draw 
 him wholly out of his abstraction; and directly after 
 luncheon he left the house, saying that he should be 
 back to dinner. 
 
 The whole morning Nell devoted herself to Bab. 
 It was not a hard task, for the girl was fond of chil-
 
 i 3 2 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 dren. But at last she grew tired of the constant strain 
 of having to find something to amuse the active baby. 
 More than fatigue, however, made her weary of her 
 new occupation. During Bab's nap she had picked up 
 a novel lent her by one of her friends ; she had found 
 it very exciting, and she grudged the time given from 
 it to the child. After luncheon she said that she was 
 going out under the trees in the field opposite the 
 house. She would take the baby. Would the cook 
 mind the door for her ? Then she picked up Bab and 
 disappeared. Nearly all Mrs. Ridgeway's friends 
 were out of town at that season, for she had remained 
 at home until her husband's business should permit 
 him to accompany her to the seashore; and no one 
 came the whole afternoon. 
 
 " Now, sit down here by me like a good child," said 
 Nell, glad that the baby had always liked her. " Eat 
 your candy and don't bother. Yes, you can pick all 
 the flowers you want to," she added, as the little hand 
 reached out and grasped the stem of a daisy. " Now, 
 go ahead, and don't bother me ; I'm busy." And open- 
 ing her book, she was soon lost to the outside 
 world. 
 
 Once or twice, indeed, at first, she looked up to 
 find that Bab had followed her permission too liter- 
 ally and was diligently plucking every flower she could 
 grasp and crawling out to those beyond her reach. 
 "Oh, you bother!" she cried; and, jumping up, she 
 seized Bab and set her down again beside herself. 
 'There! Keep still, can't you?" she said in a per- 
 emptory tone. "You've made me lose my place now,
 
 A TINY WANDERER 133 
 
 an' it's so interestin' I can't breathe till I see how it's 
 comin' out." With that, she thrust into Bab's hand a 
 large piece of the candy that Delia had shown her 
 and which she had brought to secure herself a quiet 
 hour, and then went back to her novel. This time 
 she became so utterly absorbed in it that she left Bab 
 quite to herself. 
 
 The child was so active that she could do much to 
 amuse herself when anything of interest was before 
 her; and this great, open field starred with daisies and 
 buttercups and sweet with clover blooms was a rich 
 mine to her. She lifted herself upon her unsteady 
 feet and looked about her. Before moving, she put 
 the candy to her mouth and sucked hard at the dainty 
 sweet. Then, still grasping the unfinished stick of 
 candy, she started forward a few steps and grabbed a 
 clover-head. 
 
 " Ugh ! " she grunted, and pulled hard. 
 
 Off came the clover bloom, nearly upsetting Bab 
 as it yielded. But the child recovered herself and 
 stood a moment gazing with satisfaction at her prize. 
 Then in front of her she saw another bloom, even 
 bigger. She threw down the first and secured the 
 other. Then she stopped for another suck of the 
 candy. The little teeth bit off a good-sized piece and 
 she stood munching it and looking with satisfaction 
 at the field before her. It probably appeared to her 
 baby mind that the world was before her where to 
 choose. But she began to perceive that she could not 
 hold her candy and pick flowers at the same time ; for 
 she needed both hands for the latter. Her mouth was
 
 I 3 4 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 full of sweets and for the moment she did not want 
 more. She toddled back to Nell and tossed the candy 
 into her lap. " 'Ou hold dat ! " she said ; and the 
 sticky mass fell on Nell's book. 
 
 "Oh! oh! you little nuisance!" cried the girl im- 
 patiently ; and taking it up with the tips of her fingers, 
 she laid it on the grass beside her. Bab would not 
 wander far, she reasoned ; she would be sure to come 
 back for her candy. So, Nell went on with her book 
 which every moment grew more exciting. 
 
 Bab went toddling back to her flowers. Now, she 
 pulled off the pretty clover-heads with ease, and some- 
 times she secured stem enough to hold in one tiny 
 hand. And when she had as many as the small fin- 
 gers could grasp, there were always others further 
 on that looked prettier to her as ungathered treas- 
 ures do to older people. She would let fall the flow- 
 ers she had been holding in her hands and reach out 
 for those waving on their stems in the summer sun- 
 shine, and these just before her always looked the 
 very biggest and best. Moreover, Bab could never 
 make up her baby mind whether she liked clovers, or 
 daisies, or buttercups the very best of all ; she had to 
 keep picking and looking at them over and over to' 
 decide; she was very certain, however, that she loved 
 them all. It was true that the child was remarkably 
 fond of flowers ; else she would long before have- tired 
 of her occupation and gone back to Nell for some 
 fresh amusement. 
 
 The little coos and croons of delight that greeted 
 her winsome prizes grew more and more distant as
 
 A TINY WANDERER 135 
 
 she wandered further off in the great field. Once, 
 indeed, Nell did look up, and seeing her safely amus- 
 ing herself and noticing that a rail fence which Bab 
 could not climb stretched across the further side of 
 the meadow, lost the momentary anxiety she had felt 
 and returned to her reading. In fact, from that time 
 she lost thought of Bab altogether. She had never 
 taken care of children, and had no sense of responsi- 
 bility in regard to this one who was Delia's charge, 
 and not hers. By and by she must feed her and put 
 her to bed, and that would be the end of her nurse's 
 duties. But the hour for that was a long way off, 
 and Nell was not one to be troubled about future 
 duties. 
 
 Time went by. The girl read on. Bab, busy and 
 happy, wandered on. 
 
 " Pooty fowers ! Pooty fowers ! " babbled the 
 child. " Bab 'ouves fowers ! " 
 
 But her soft cries of delight were unheard by the 
 reader living in the world of her novel. 
 
 Nell had been right in believing that the baby could 
 not climb over the rail fence at the further end of 
 the field. But she had underrated the ingenuity and 
 persistence of the little one in struggling to secure the 
 prize on which she had set her heart. This was a 
 beautiful daisy growing just beyond the fence, and, as 
 the wind waved it, nodding its head in an invitation 
 to come and take it, irresistible to Bab. She grasped 
 the centre rail with one hand and reached with all her 
 little length of arm through the fence. But the arm 
 was too short and the charming daisy still nodded un-
 
 136 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 plucked. Most children under such circumstances 
 would have summoned the nurse by screams of dis- 
 appointment But Bab was energetic and daring ; she 
 had not arrived at the point where she believed the 
 flower quite out of her reach, or she would probably 
 have remembered Nell and appealed to her. 
 
 She tried reaching under the lower rail; and she 
 stretched so far that she tumbled down. The ground 
 was soft and cushioned with grass and the tumble did 
 not hurt her. As she lay there she could look up at 
 the daisy still nodding and nodding, as if it were say- 
 ing : " Come and take me." Then she found out 
 what had never occurred to Nell that if she could 
 not climb over the fence, or reach through it, she could 
 very well roll under it. In a moment she was on the 
 further side. Then she rose to her little feet, and in 
 another moment the daisy was in her hand. She cooed 
 and cooed her triumph and delight. Another one was 
 beyond, and that, too, she picked. 
 
 That brought her within a few yards of an embank- 
 ment, which rose with a gradual slope about six feet. 
 Bab plumped down in the grass at the foot of this 
 embankment to rest, and sat gazing up at it. To her 
 little vision it was a high hill, and she was filled with 
 wonder as to what was on the top of it. Soon she 
 got on her feet again and began to climb it. She had 
 taken only two steps on the slope, however, when she 
 found that it was too hard for her, and she began to 
 call out to Nell to come to her. 
 
 "Ou turn take me! Ou turn! Ou turn!" she 
 shouted with all her baby strength.
 
 A TINY WANDERER 137 
 
 But it was in vain that she screamed and sobbed, 
 and screamed many times more. A few minutes be- 
 fore this, it had suddenly occurred to Nell that an- 
 other girl had told her that she might come to see 
 her that afternoon; therefore Nell had jumped up in 
 haste and gone into the house. Between thought of 
 her possible visitor and her still great absorption in 
 her book, she had completely forgotten Bab. 
 
 On the top of this enbankment which Bab was so 
 eager to mount ran four shining steel rails stretching 
 far out of sight eastward and westward. It was a 
 bad time to forget a baby when she was at the foot 
 of this embankment and struggling to find out what 
 was on top. After Bab had called and sobbed for a 
 while, hidden by the tall grass from the road between 
 the opposite side of the field and her home, she grew 
 angry at being neglected she whose wishes had al- 
 ways been granted as soon as expressed or guessed 
 at. She stamped her tiny foot and wrath gave her 
 fresh courage. " I dess I do my ownsef ! " she cried. 
 And, dropping on her hands and knees, she began to 
 crawl up the embankment. 
 
 This was very hard work, and more than once the 
 child screamed out : " Ou turn, take me, ou bad dirl ! 
 Ou turn now ! Mamma ! mamma ! " But when no- 
 body came, Bab kept on climbing, until, at last, she 
 flung herself down on the ground at the top. " I'se 
 here look, mamma ! " she cried. Then, frightened at 
 her loneliness, yet too tired to move further, she 
 sighed: "Bab tired! Bab so tired!" Beyond the 
 railroad track, down the embankment on the other
 
 138 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 side, were more flowers. " Powers ! fowers ! " she 
 cried ; and her baby hands reached out. But she could 
 not cross to them. " Fse seepy ! " she cooed. " Mamma, 
 where is ou? I want mamma." 
 
 But even this desire could not keep the weary eyes 
 from closing. She sank like a kitten that falls asleep 
 at play ; and she, too, fell asleep where she dropped. 
 
 Had the sun been out, the rails would have been 
 hot and the child would of herself have drawn back 
 from her terrible position. But a scud had come up; 
 it had grown cold and the warmth of the sand was 
 pleasant to her. The tiny hand that could find no 
 other hand into which to nestle itself, clutched fast 
 hold of the great steel rail over which the little form 
 had curled itself; and it was only a minute before 
 Bab was asleep. 
 
 What a place for a baby to have been forgotten 
 with the express train due on that track in ten minutes ! 
 
 Delia had been married and was miles and miles 
 away, skimming along the roads in Mrs. Longley's 
 car, with never a thought of her deserted charge ; the 
 cook believed Bab with the second girl ; Nell was still 
 absorbed in her story; nobody saw Bab, or dreamed 
 where she was; not a wagon, or a carriage traveled 
 the road crossing the track at some little distance be- 
 yond ; only a motor car flew by, too intent upon speed 
 and pleasure to heed anything beside its path. 
 
 Bab was alone unless the angels were watching 
 her! 
 
 " Nell, bring down the baby to have her supper ;
 
 A TINY WANDERER 139 
 
 it's time she was abed!" shouted the cook upstairs 
 to save herself a tramp; for the house was empty, 
 except for these two. 
 
 Nell sprang up, and her book with its unread pages 
 dropped to the floor. " The baby ! " she cried. " The 
 baby! Land o' pity! Where is she?" 
 
 In leaps and bounds she ran down the two flights 
 from her own room to the kitchen and stood before 
 the cook, gasping out : " The baby ! Where -is she ? 
 I declare, I forgot everything about her! I left her 
 out in the field picking flowers. She must be right 
 there now. Come and help me find her. Land o' pity ! 
 Whatever shall I do ? " The front door screen swung 
 open and clanged to on its spring, and Nell was al- 
 ready across the road and searching the field fran- 
 tically, calling at the top of her voice : " Bab ! Bab ! 
 Baby, where are you ? " 
 
 Up and down the large field she ran, peering 
 through the tall grass, more perplexed and distressed 
 every moment that brought no answering call and no 
 sight of Bab. Nell would not have had anything 
 happen to the baby for the world. But what could 
 have happened? Once she fixed her eyes with a 
 shudder upon the long lines of railroad. But she saw 
 nothing, nor any evidence of disaster. And then, how 
 could Bab ever have got over the fence? No; she 
 must be asleep somewhere in the field. The cook had 
 joined in the search. For several minutes each ran 
 hither and thither in different directions, between 
 them covering the ground well. Then they stopped 
 to consult, too anxious for the moment for Margaret
 
 140 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 to give vent to more than a touch of the storm of 
 vituperation which burst from her later; for she was 
 very fond of Bab. 
 
 " Don't wait to scold now," entreated Nell as the 
 other began. " Save up till we've found Bab. I'm 
 nearly out of my head with her lost, an' the professor 
 comin' in any time and not findin' her. It's my place 
 gone, anyway. An' that ain't the worst of it I'm 
 worried about the little thing. But then, she must 
 be right round here somewhere." 
 
 " The professor comin' any minute ! " echoed Mar- 
 garet. " Worse luck, he isn't ! He sent word he was 
 called out of town sudden, and wouldn't be back till 
 to-morrow mornin', an' to take good care of Bab. 
 Yes, worse luck, Nell. If he was here, he'd help us." 
 
 For a moment the two women looked into each 
 other's faces in silence; and then the search began 
 again. The field and the road, the track, and even 
 the field beyond it were in darkness when they de- 
 sisted and returned to the house; everywhere they 
 had sought in vain. Nell was sobbing; but for all 
 that the other did not "spare her. " I don't care what 
 you say," retorted the girl hotly at last " I'm cryin' 
 for the baby. You don't think the cars went over 
 her? No! I know she's stolen. I shall tell the pro- 
 fessor so. It's all that horrid Delia because she hasn't 
 come home yet."
 
 XIV 
 
 BRAVELY DONE ! 
 
 "WHY, Jimmy, what ails you? These are good 
 enough. Grace will never haggle over a shade when 
 the color is so near. Let's take these." 
 
 " You sha'n't do it, Ned. Grace ought to have the 
 color she wants for her gloves if " 
 
 " Even if it isn't in A ? " 
 
 " Oh, it is if we take the trouble to find it." 
 
 " But the other errands have taken more time than 
 we counted on; we are late now." Neither boy in- 
 tended to quarrel with the other ; but each was angry. 
 Ned knew that the color they were looking at was 
 near enough the required shade to suit Grace; he 
 understood his sister, and he was sure that she would 
 be better pleased to have them return in season to 
 give his mother a drive than spend so much time in 
 laboring for a perfect match. But Jimmy had set his 
 heart on her having exactly what she wanted; and 
 Ned told himself that his friend was a very trying 
 fellow sometimes. 
 
 He gave in to him, however, enough to go to sev- 
 eral other shops; but he was not amiable about it. 
 
 Thus, before the errands had been done, the boys 
 were between two and three hours behind the time 
 that they had planned to set out on their return. 
 
 141
 
 I 4 2 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 They would miss luncheon at the hotel; so they 
 waited to take it in A . 
 
 "What's the reason that you always feel pleas- 
 anter after dinner? " laughed Jimmy as they rose from 
 the table. 
 
 "I suspect one reason why you feel better," re- 
 torted Ned, "is that you got what you were after in 
 the gloves, and though you wouldn't say a word about 
 it for the world, you know I shall tell Grace." 
 
 Jimmy shook his head. " No, indeed, you must not 
 do any such thing," he answered. " It's not worth it." 
 But his tone was not a strenuous protest against Ned's 
 reporting his endeavors. 
 
 They set off at a fair pace. But if Mrs. Longley 
 had gone to drive that day, this must have been long 
 before their return; so, there was no especial haste on 
 the run back to their friends, and they went along 
 talking amicably; for although Ned was somewhat 
 quick-tempered, he was noble-spirited and never 
 sulked over not getting his own way when he per- 
 ceived that another's had been better. In this case 
 he was glad that Jimmy had persevered and succeeded 
 where he would not have had the patience; and in 
 any event they would have returned too late for the 
 drive. 
 
 As they rode, the boys commented more freely on 
 persons and incidents than they had been able to do 
 in the midst of a party where the very individual com- 
 mented on might chance to be coming round a corner 
 toward them at the moment they were speaking. 
 " Rex Brooke is an all-round fellow," declared
 
 BRAVELY DONE! 143 
 
 Jimmy. " No nonsense about him no airs. And as 
 for fun, it's working like yeast in him all the time." 
 
 Ned laughed. " I never heard such a comparison," 
 he said ; " but it's rather good for you, Jimmy ! " 
 
 " Oh, of course for me ! " retorted the other. " I'm 
 not a budding author, with a book of synonyms in 
 my trunk oh, I'm not going to betray you." 
 
 " Betray me ! To whom ? You know it, Grace 
 knows it, and, it may be, all of you, if you mean 
 that. And Dorothy complimented me on my bright- 
 ness in thinking to bring it; she wanted a word or 
 two herself. I'm not as bright as Brooke ; but I don't 
 put on any more airs, Reid." Ned's tone was so ag- 
 grieved that Jimmy shouted. 
 
 " Ha ! ha ! ha ! " he cried. " I've really teased you ! 
 De-lighted!" 
 
 The other joined in his laugh. 
 
 " I admire Colonel Pell," said Ned. " I never saw 
 a man so famous as he is so ready for fun. When 
 he's with us and he seems to like to be round when 
 we're sitting out in the evening he's just one of us." 
 
 " Or more so ! " suggested Jimmy. 
 
 "Yes or younger still, as you say. I don't see 
 how Priscy, for all he neglected her when he was so 
 busy and didn't know anything about her, can keep 
 
 on disliking him so now or Ned broke off and 
 
 turned sharply upon his companion with a question in 
 his face which finished his sentence. 
 
 Jimmy nodded emphatically. " That's exactly what 
 7 think does she?" he said to the other's unspoken 
 suggestion. "You'll see."
 
 144 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 So the talk drifted on about one and another, and 
 a few miles reeled themselves off in pleasant fashion. 
 
 But the motor car and its occupants had started to 
 meet them long before they left the city. 
 
 "How beautiful it is here!" cried Dorothy as, 
 after a long spin, they reached the brow of a hill 
 where the view, although still that of field and tree 
 and distant mountain, suggested by the character of 
 its houses and gardens the proximity of a city rather 
 than a farming district. " Slow here, Rex, please. 
 
 That must be A off in the distance to the left. 
 
 We must be coming into one of the suburban towns." 
 
 "A can't be more than ten miles off now; do 
 
 you think it is, Mr. Brooke?" asked Lulu. 
 
 " I'm sure it's not," cried Miss Knowles. " I for- 
 get the name of this place," she added; "but it has 
 a familiar look; it seems as if I had heard it." 
 
 " Yes, I should say we were about ten miles out of 
 the city," answered Rex, glancing at his questioner. 
 
 " We ought not to go really into A , lest we 
 
 should miss the fellows coming out by another street. 
 We ought to keep on the main road." 
 
 ;< There they are now, I'm sure ! " cried Dorothy. 
 " Go more slowly for a minute, Rex. Yes, I'm quite 
 sure it's they; and they are making good time, too." 
 
 The others confirmed her belief, and, with the car 
 stopped, they sat watching. Then Dorothy's eyes 
 turned to the railroad which at the foot of the hill 
 and some distance beyond them crossed the road. 
 
 "What's that on the track? Oh, nothing, of
 
 BRAVELY DONE! 145 
 
 course ! " she answered herself. The long straight 
 lines of rails converging 1 to a vanishing point had a 
 fascination for her. " Let us wait here for the boys, 
 Rex," she said, as she still gazed at them. " Listen ! " 
 she added after a few moments. " There comes the 
 train! See the smoke just beyond the curve. Now 
 it's just coming into sight a long train, too." 
 
 "Where's the gate-man? Do you suppose he's 
 asleep?" exclaimed Miss Knowles. 
 
 "Whew! He isn't there!" said Rex. 
 
 *' I hope they'll see the train ! " said Dorothy. 
 "How fast it's rushing! Even though it's far off 
 and facing us, I can see that." Suddenly, she leaned 
 forward. "Oh! Oh!" She sprang to her feet with 
 a cry of horror, leaning still further forward with 
 white face and straining eyes. " Look I Look! What's 
 that on the track down there? It's moving! A child! 
 A baby!'' 
 
 She was about to spring out when that instant Rex, 
 pushing her back into her seat, started the car at full 
 speed down the long hill, stopping sharply at the 
 crossing. 
 
 The next instant he had leaped out, sprung across 
 the track, and was rushing at the top of his speed to- 
 ward the child whom the noise had wakened. As he 
 sped, he signalled with all his might, and the sharp 
 whistle: "Down brakes!" answered him. In an- 
 other moment there sounded the great, leaping throbs 
 of the mighty engine panting to rush on but clutched 
 in the iron grasp which in time would master it. In 
 time it would master it yes. But there was no time
 
 146 
 
 no chance ! Rex saw that, at best, it could not stop 
 until a part of the train had passed over the spot where 
 the baby lay. He was a great runner, but he could not 
 get there first. Yet creeping with horror, he still 
 rushed on, when : " Hist ! Room ! " came from behind 
 him; and along the narrow way between track and 
 embankment came the rush of wheels, not running 
 flying ! 
 
 Before he realized that it had passed him, it was 
 far on the way toward the child. 
 
 Following, still signalling, he watched, breathless, 
 the terrible race between train and cycle, one struggling 
 in vain to stop^ in season, the other speeding as if 
 winged the Angel of Death, and the shining Angel 
 of Deliverance! 
 
 If anything should give way at that breakneck speed ! 
 If he should fall! Rex struggled in vain to lessen 
 the fast-widening distance between himself and the 
 rider. All at once, he saw this rider leap and the 
 empty cycle run curving and topple down the embank- 
 ment At the same instant something small and white 
 was tossed over the bank and lay there just beyond the 
 cycle. The rider he could not see. Was he under 
 those terrible wheels ? Rex turned sick with horror. 
 
 But now he was crowded to the very verge of the 
 embankment as the long train swept past him. He 
 saw the engineer who had been watching from his 
 cab, lean far out, gazing down. Rex had expected him 
 to stop; but instead there came the signal: "Off 
 brakes!" and he perceived that the train was begin- 
 ning to gather speed again. It was monstrous to de-
 
 BRAVELY DONE! 147 
 
 sert a victim so! Rex threw himself on the ground 
 and looked along the line where, close beside the rails, 
 he had last seen the flying figure of the cycler. There 
 it lay, motionless as death. At that distance he could 
 not tell how the giant wheels had crushed it or a part 
 of it for one hand and foot stretched out some way 
 free of the rails. 
 
 Avoiding the touch of the cars, Rex rose again and 
 ran on toward this motionless figure by the track, 
 appalled at what he should find there. But before 
 he reached it, another cycle sped past him, and Jimmy 
 Reid flinging himself off, knelt by the prostrate form 
 beyond which the train had now passed. Running 
 steps and panting breaths behind him showed that the 
 whole party was following. 
 
 " His left foot is so close to the rail, I don't see 
 how the wheels could have helped crushing it," said 
 Jimmy as Rex came up. 
 
 " And look at his elbow ! " exclaimed the latter. 
 " It seems as if that must have been struck. Has he 
 been hit ? He is so white and still." 
 
 " Bring water ! " called Jimmy. And Rex echoed 
 the call to those behind who would save the time his 
 run back would take. Miss -Knowles, last and nearest 
 the gate-house, too excited to comprehend what had 
 been asked of her, came on as if she had not heard 
 him. But Lulu in advance of her turned and ran back. 
 The next moment she came out of the house bringing 
 a pail half full of water that she had caught up there. 
 Rex flew to meet and relieve her of it and to rush 
 forward with his burden.
 
 148 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 Dorothy knelt beside Jimmy as he laid his hand on 
 Ned's heart. Oh, what a mercy, she thought, that 
 Grace was not there! But would Grace's lips have 
 trembled more than her own were doing, or her heart 
 have beaten with more suffocating throbs ? " Is he is 
 he living?" she faltered. 
 
 "His heart beats," returned Jimmy. "But it 
 doesn't amount to much. I think he's faint, dear old 
 fellow!" 
 
 " I'll bathe his face and wrists," said Dorothy with a 
 deep breath of relief as she drew out her handkerchief 
 and refrained from hurrying Rex with the water when 
 he was already doing his utmost. 
 
 Ned was, certainly, somewhat faint. But with the 
 strength of youth and aided by the voices about him, 
 he had already begun to revive, and was about to open 
 his eyes when Dorothy spoke. But he was so sure that 
 he should feel infinitely better after she had bathed his 
 face and wrists, that he still kept his eyes closed until 
 he could look up into her face pale with anxiety, 
 searching his own with eager solicitude. 
 
 " Thank you ! " he whispered softly ; for he really 
 had not fully recovered the breath which had been 
 almost shaken out of him. 
 
 She turned to Jimmy, her face flooded with joy. 
 "Oh, look! Listen!" she cried. Then the tears 
 came. But she checked them. " Oh, Ned," she whis- 
 pered back, " what a wonderful thing to do ! " 
 
 " It was a close shave," he answered smiling up at 
 her, and speaking audibly now to the others also who 
 had gathered about him. "After I had grabbed the
 
 DOROTHY KNELT BESIDE JIMMY.
 
 BRAVELY DONE! 149 
 
 baby off the rail, there was no chance to get out my- 
 self. If I had lifted my head, it would have been 
 knocked into pudding. The only thing was to lie 
 still after I had managed to pull off the rail. I suspect 
 I had to keep still anyway," he added; "there didn't 
 seem to be anything left of me. The Lord knows how 
 I got out of it I don't," he added reverently. " If the 
 youngster had crawled to the further rail, 'twould have 
 been up with both of us. No not a scratch on me, 
 except what the sand clawed into my hand when I fell 
 off on purpose ! How has the kid fared ? " 
 
 Ned had been lifted to the edge of the embankment 
 and was sitting up, a little dizzy and not a little weak, 
 but gathering strength as the minutes went by. 
 
 Meanwhile, Lulu and Miss Knowles had run down 
 the embankment and picked up Bab who by this time 
 was giving evidence that her lungs, at least, were un- 
 injured and that she was determined to be attended to, 
 now that there was some one on hand to do it. Lulu 
 lifted her up tenderly and succeeded in soothing her a 
 little. 
 
 " I don't believe she's hurt," she called as Rex stood 
 watching. 
 
 " Do let me have her, please," said Miss Knowles, 
 suiting the action to the word and taking Bab out of 
 Lulu's arms. "I'm more used to children than you 
 are." 
 
 " Mamma ! mamma ! " cried Bab looking about her 
 and then staring with baby intentness into the face 
 looking down upon her a pretty face and a very kind 
 one. She yielded herself to the arms enfolding her
 
 150 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 with gentle firmness. " Mamma ! mamma ! " she 
 whimpered a few times, and then hid her little face 
 against Miss Knowles' shoulder. 
 
 " Some one has said that everybody has some handle 
 by which to be lifted," whispered Rex in an aside to 
 Lulu who her work thus taken from her stood look- 
 ing on. " But who would have imagined baby-tend- 
 ing would have been the fussy Miss Knowles' handle? 
 Yet, I suppose that's one thing which makes life inter- 
 esting; you can't tell what is going to turn up I 
 should* think you couldn't ! " he added with a sudden 
 change of tone. " I always thought Longley a fine 
 fellow ; but he's no end of a hero." 
 
 " Indeed, he is ! " cried Lulu, her eyes shining. 
 " And a good many heroes could not have done what 
 he has, no matter how much they had tried to. How 
 he flashed past ! How every move told ! " 
 
 "She looks really pretty, doesn't she?" asked Rex, 
 his eyes on Miss Knowles who was coming carefully 
 up the embankment, Bab still in her arms. And he 
 went to her aid. 
 
 " What a pretty child ! " cried Ned, as, leaning heav- 
 ily on Jimmy's arm, although he assumed that he did 
 it merely to please his friend, he walked on with the 
 others to the car. It took some time to get there ; for 
 Ned was much shaken up, although he would not 
 own it. 
 
 After they were seated, Ned behind with Miss 
 Knowles and Bab, Dorothy and Lulu in front with 
 Rex, and Jimmy on his cycle and wheeling Ned's cycle, 
 Miss Knowles suggested that he take the injured cycle
 
 BRAVELY DONE! 151 
 
 to the repair shop at once, while they would seek for 
 the child's home and relieve its distressed parents. 
 
 Jimmy flushed scarlet with anger at her utter in- 
 difference to Ned's need of attention and was about to 
 express his mind, when the car just starting suddenly 
 stopped, and Rex, springing out, came to the side and 
 held out his hand to Miss Knowles. 
 
 She looked at him in amazement. " I don't under- 
 stand," she said. 
 
 " I'm here to allow you to carry out your propo- 
 sition, Miss Knowles, in your own person. Let me 
 help you and the child out and then you can go your- 
 self in search of its parents. Look about for them 
 until dark and then come up by train. Telephone to 
 me from the station and I'll run over for you in 
 the car. Come," And he persistently held out his 
 hand. 
 
 " What ! I, alone ? " said the lady, shrinking back. 
 
 "Certainly, Miss Knowles. You are the only per- 
 son who puts any anxiety this child's parents may 
 feel if they can feel anything after leaving a baby 
 as this one was left who puts that, I say, before 
 any thought of the immediate needs of the splendid 
 fellow to whose daring and skill the baby owes her 
 life. Longley can scarcely hold his head up, hard as 
 he is trying to do it. All the rest of us will take 
 him home and look after him first. The evening 
 papers will advertise the child and we can restore it 
 in the morning, and perhaps telephone to-night." 
 
 *" Splendid! splendid ?" cried Lulu in an aside to 
 Dorothy whose eyes were flashing with excitement and
 
 I 5 2 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 approval. "I do like somebody who can strike out 
 from the shoulder." 
 
 Dorothy's glance and the pressure of her hand 
 answered Lulu. Then she turned herself about on the 
 seat. " My brother is right, Miss Knowles," she cried. 
 " Decide this minute, please ; for we're going to start 
 the next." 
 
 " Indeed ! I really didn't know," sighed that lady 
 repentantly. "I wouldn't for the world have Ned 
 Longley miss anything he needs. He seemed so well 
 recovered, I didn't understand. Of course, we will 
 all go on at once." 
 
 " That's just the trouble with her," Jimmy said later 
 to Grace; "she doesn't understand; she thinks the 
 world runs her way. If only she'd wake up." 
 
 Ned's earnest protestations that he was well enough, 
 and that they ought to seek the child's home imme- 
 diately went for nothing, and they all set out for the 
 hotel, Jimmy declaring that a night's anxiety would 
 do such people good and that this was all it would be. 
 
 On the homeward drive she cooed, to Bab who 
 whimpered back, and, finally, went to sleep, when Miss 
 Knowles covered her with her own wrap and sat si- 
 lent, scarcely daring to breathe lest the baby should 
 arouse. 
 
 Ned sighed as he alighted at the hotel door. 
 
 "You're glad to get home?" questioned Dorothy 
 looking at him anxiously. " You are ill ? " 
 
 " Oh, no, not ill," he smiled at her. " But home is 
 always a good place to reach." 
 
 "I'm so glad you have your mother to look after
 
 BRAVELY DONE! 153 
 
 you," she answered him " and Jimmy," she added 
 as the latter took his arm and led him upstairs, in 
 spite of Ned's protests that he was quite able to take 
 care of himself. 
 
 " If he had been, he wouldn't have accepted help," 
 she said to Lulu who stood by. " Come, Miss 
 Knowles," she added; "we must show Mrs. Longley 
 Ned's* find/"
 
 XV 
 
 ANXIETIES 
 
 " REID," said Ned turning on his pillow ; for, con- 
 fessing to a " tremendous headache " and a soreness in 
 all his bones, he had been induced to go to bed, " what 
 time did Manson come back ? " 
 
 " Oh, don't mind about Manson now," returned the 
 other soothingly. " Don't think of anything just go 
 to sleep." 
 
 But Ned, looking sharply at his friend, repeated 
 the question. As the latter hesitated for a moment, 
 he lifted his head and faced Jimmy. " He has not 
 come home at all, has he, Reid ? Tell me." 
 
 " N o, not yet," admitted Jimmy. " But it's not 
 late ; he will be here, of course. I wish you would go 
 to sleep." 
 
 " There's no ' of course ' about it ; he won't be here. 
 He had no permission to use the motor car at all to- 
 day. He's cleared out with it stolen it ! You know 
 that don't you ? " he insisted, as the other was silent. 
 
 " It does look like that," admitted Jimmy reluc- 
 tantly. " But I dare say we shall find that he " 
 
 " We shall not find that he has done anything dif- 
 ferent! " retorted Ned. " If you want more evidence, 
 last night the fellow asked me for an advance ; he had 
 
 154
 
 ANXIETIES 155 
 
 a long rigmarole of explanations that I didn't half 
 listen to, and fool that I was ! I gave it to him." 
 
 " Whew ! " whistled Jimmy. 
 
 "And my father's car that I promised him to take 
 care of ! It's an awfully expensive <?ne, Reid." 
 
 " One knows that by looking at it," said Jimmy. 
 " But you can't do anything to-night, old fellow. You'll 
 have to have a night's sleep, anyway. Perhaps Man- 
 son will turn up this evening." 
 
 "No, he won't," reiterated Ned. "I never liked 
 that fellow; he's sly. I shall have to go after him 
 and I'll start this minute." He sprang up and stood 
 on the floor, balancing himself unsteadily for a mo- 
 ment. Then he dropped back and flung himself on the 
 bed again. " I'm too dizzy to stand," he admitted re- 
 luctantly. " I'm afraid I can't chase thieves very fast. 
 I'll try it to-morrow." 
 
 " Why not leave it to me ? " asked Jimmy. " I shall 
 be delighted to try, if you will give me permission." 
 
 " Take all the permission you want, and go ahead," 
 answered Ned. 
 
 "Do you really mean it? May I pitch in just as I 
 want to ? " 
 
 " The harder your pitch in, the better provided 
 you hit Manson the knave ! " 
 
 " Thank you." 
 
 The other laughed. " I should say it was : ' Thank 
 you! ' " he answered. 
 
 " But I mustn't have you on my mind," said Jimmy. 
 " Promise me you will go to sleep."
 
 156 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 " I promise you I'll try," returned Ned. 
 
 And Jimmy left him. 
 
 Mrs. Longley had begun to walk about a little, but 
 had not yet tried the stairs. Had she gone to drive 
 that day, Ned or. Rex would have carried her down. 
 Her sitting-room had become the gathering place of 
 all the party when news was to be told, or plans were 
 to be discussed. That afternoon she listened with tears 
 in her eyes and a heart of joy to the story of her son's 
 gallant deed. As Lulu and Dorothy were finishing the 
 account, Miss Knowles walked in with Bab in her 
 arms indeed, she had scarcely allowed the child out 
 of them. Others also were fond of children, but no 
 one had interfered with her monopoly. " Isn't she 
 a beauty?" she asked, holding her off for Mrs. Long- 
 ley to gaze upon. 
 
 " Yes. Bring her to me, please," said that lady. 
 
 " Oh, I'm afraid she'll cry with strangers," returned 
 Miss Knowles, approaching slowly. 
 
 "What are you?" laughed Dorothy. And she 
 watched the transfer from the other's reluctant arms 
 to Mrs. Longley's lap where the little one, turning 
 hither and thither with the pathetic little whimper: 
 " Mamma ! mamma ! " at last nestled into the loving 
 clasp and seemed fairly content. 
 
 Miss Knowles sat down beside her, claiming a part 
 of her attention. " Her mamma's heart must be ach- 
 ing," she said. 
 
 "We will try to relieve it as soon as possible," 
 answered Mrs. Longley. " But I think you were right 
 not to wander about A this afternoon on a wild
 
 ANXIETIES 157 
 
 goose chase. Then, it's possible she would have gone 
 to the* wrong home." 
 
 " I don't understand how," said Miss Knowles. 
 
 "Children have been kidnapped for reward, Anna, 
 as we all know; and this little one might have been 
 claimed so." 
 
 " But she'd have known her own home, Mrs. Long- 
 ley," persisted the other ; " she would have laughed 
 when she had reached it, instead of crying." 
 
 " My experience is that it's a little hard to predict 
 when a baby will laugh, and not cry," answered Mrs. 
 Longley looking politely amused. 
 
 " She will, certainly, cry if I don't get her some- 
 thing to eat," said Miss Knowles. And she carried 
 the little one off, cooing to her as she went. 
 
 It was then that Jimmy Reid came in to get from 
 Mrs. Longley also the permission that he had received 
 from Ned. He could not and he ought not to keep 
 the continued absence of chauffeur and car from her. 
 He found that she would be only too glad of all the 
 help that he could give her. But they would have to 
 call in the police, would they not? 
 
 " Oh, yes, indeed ! " said Jimmy. And he was off. 
 
 As the door closed behind him, Mrs. Longley turned 
 to her daughter. 
 
 " Grace, where is Rose Hewes ? " she asked. " You 
 said she was not at luncheon. Have you seen her 
 this afternoon?" 
 
 When Grace knew nothing about her, Dorothy 
 volunteered to see if she was in her room. But she 
 returned promptly, saying that she was not ; for there
 
 158 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 had been no reply to the knock on her door. " Where 
 can she be ? " wondered Dorothy. " What is it, Mrs. 
 Longley? Why do you look so strangely? Is any- 
 thing wrong? I shall have to know if there is; I 
 brought Rose here." 
 
 Still, Mrs. Longley hesitated to offer to the three 
 young girls watching her the suggestion which had 
 made her own face pale and her eyes strained and 
 which at the moment occupied her far more than the 
 possible loss of the motor car. She answered ambigu- 
 ously : " Yes, I'm afraid she has wandered off some- 
 where and something has happened to her. Don't you 
 three girls want to go out to look for her a little? 
 Where is Priscy?" 
 
 " She was sitting on one of the benches of the ve- . 
 randa as we came past," said Dorothy. " She looked 
 as if she wanted to join us. But Colonel Pell was, 
 evidently, telling her some story and she didn't like to 
 do it. We only nodded, not to interrupt them. Priscy 
 is in her right place, Mrs. Longley," she said with the 
 air of one sure of sympathy. " They would have come 
 to us if they had seen us arrive with Ned disabled, 
 and Bab," she added at the other's assent ; " but they 
 were away off on the end veranda. I only looked to 
 see if, possibly, Rose was there. You don't mind be- 
 ing left alone?" 
 
 " No, indeed ! And, girls, I wouldn't say anything 
 about Rose quite yet; you'll probably find her, and 
 it's not best to make a mystery about her absence. 
 Look around a little in the direction in which she went 
 away this morning ; but be sure you do not go far from
 
 ANXIETIES 159 
 
 the house. And come back to me soon; I shall want 
 to hear." 
 
 Left alone, Mrs. Longley's face grew still more 
 grave. " Rose Hewes and that chauffeur ! " she mur- 
 mured. " Both gone ! Is it possible that they have 
 gone together? The man I always disliked. And 
 what do I know of the girl ? She, certainly, looks the 
 last one who would go on an all-day excursion 
 with a man like that, and in a car borrowed without 
 leave although that she might not have known. Or 
 has she gone off with him permanently married the 
 fellow? She has been by herself a good many hours, 
 in her own room as we believed. Instead of that, has 
 she been listening to Manson? I can't believe it 
 and yet, it looks so both gone at the same time and 
 where? Have I been an unfaithful guardian? My 
 accident has perhaps wrought more ill than the loss 
 of our car, and that's bad enough. We may get that 
 back, however. But Rose ! " 
 
 A knock at the door brought Priscy. Mrs. Longley 
 was glad of an interruption to her own troubled 
 thoughts. 
 
 " Colonel my father has let me free at last," said 
 the girl. " He is really entertaining though ; he has 
 been telling me stories of army life." But even lightly 
 as she spoke, her listener saw a shadow fall across her 
 face. In that talk had been no mention of her mother, 
 no allusion to her, or to his former neglect of herself. 
 Priscy was sensitively alive to the broad results which 
 came from his trained and alert mind and his wide 
 experience of life; she enjoyed his finely modulated
 
 160 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 voice and felt the subtle charm of his bearing and man- 
 ner, the keenness of his wit and the grace of his utter- 
 ance; he won from her a reluctant admiration, and 
 she had a certain pride in him, even while she knew 
 that she was as far as ever from forgiving him. " He 
 is a gentleman as much as Dorothy's father is," 
 thought the girl ; " he knows as well how to behave 
 but his heart is so different ! " And the dignity and 
 distance of her manner as she thanked him for her 
 pleasure in listening to his stories chilled him. 
 
 As she left him, he looked after her with an 
 expression that few had ever seen in Colonel Pell's 
 eyes. 
 
 " Can I ever do it? " he asked himself. " Poor child ! 
 She is as proud as all the Pells rolled into one and 
 as unforgiving ! But the citadel of her young heart is 
 well worth capturing." Priscy had no idea of her own 
 charm and of how she made her father's heart ache to 
 win back the right of nature his daughter's love 
 which he had once cast away as worthless. He under- 
 stood as he sat there brooding over the past after she 
 had gone, that there is no relation in life more beauti- 
 ful than the bond between father and daughter when 
 it fulfills its possibilities. "How happy I should be 
 with her for my own dear daughter," ran his thoughts. 
 ' The downhill of life would be on the southern slope 
 with plenty of sunshine! Ah, well, perhaps, some 
 day." Then there flashed into his mind the old prov- 
 erb : He that will not when he may, when he would, 
 he shall have nay." But he thrust it back. " Pshaw ! " 
 he cried impatiently. " What nonsense! Am I in my
 
 ANXIETIES 161 
 
 dotage to go quoting old saws? At any rate, the siege 
 shall last as long as I live." 
 
 Mrs. Longley and Priscy had talked quietly for per- 
 haps half an hour, the former trying to hide the 
 anxiety that would listen for every sound, when brisk 
 steps in the hall approaching her door made them both 
 sit silent in expectation. The knock was perfunctory, 
 and permission to enter was, it is feared, taken for 
 granted, the door was flung open so suddenly. 
 
 " That's the way I used to get into a room," smiled 
 Priscy to herself. " I never expected to see Dorothy 
 do it." 
 
 " Send us out searching again, Mrs. Longley ! " 
 cried Dorothy. " We are good hunters ; we've run a 
 genius to earth. Geniuses don't grow on every bush 
 only on a rose-bush, isn't it, Rose?" And she half 
 led, half pushed into the room a blushing girl who had 
 not a word to say for herself. 
 
 " I admire your mixed metaphor running to earth 
 and growing on bushes ! " laughed Lulu. 
 
 " Who cares for mixed metaphor ! Rose is a genius ! 
 Colonel Pell says so. We found him down on the 
 veranda, and we showed him her painting. That's 
 what she's been doing the sly creature ! shutting her 
 door and keeping us all out of the fun! And she 
 went off to the cliff this morning; you were getting 
 well and she thought we might not have many more 
 fine days here, we should be going away so soon. She 
 forgot all about luncheon and the rest of us, I 
 suspect. Then she thought it must be very late; but 
 that was not until she had finished her picture. You'll
 
 never guess what it is; I'm so astonished. Please 
 show it, Lulu." 
 
 Here Lulu who had been carrying it from the time 
 of its showing to Colonel Pell, displayed a portrait of 
 Dorothy done in water colors. But it was not alone 
 the face and figure of Dorothy; the background was 
 the rock on which the girl had sat that day of the pic- 
 nic and in the distance was a hint of the view as seen 
 from there. And Dorothy was in action ; Nemo stood 
 beside her watching and ready to spring for the bit 
 which the girl was holding off as she smiled at him 
 and was about to fling. 
 
 "Isn't it fine?" asked Lulu. 
 
 " Very," answered Mrs. Longley earnestly. 
 
 " It's not only a portrait, it's a picture ! " cried Doro- 
 thy. "I don't care about its being mine I mean, 
 I'm delighted at that, of course but the great thing 
 is that she painted anybody so. Colonel Pell says 
 it has plenty of faults, but more promises. What 
 made you think of doing it that way, Rose ? " 
 
 " I've been reading ' Sir Joshua Reynolds' Lec- 
 tures,' " said the girl. " I don't know enough to make 
 Dorothy historical, or any of those Greek people, the 
 goddesses and like them, you know. But when she 
 put herself so the other day, I knew it was the way to 
 paint her." 
 
 " That's what Rose was doing the day of the picnic 
 when she wouldn't eat anything! " cried Lulu. " She 
 was so full of genius, she had no thought for cake." 
 
 " I was planning it out that day," answered Rose. 
 " And I've been painting in my room when you girls
 
 ANXIETIES .163 
 
 thought I was so secret. Then, to-day was so 
 beautiful, I wanted the lights and shadows; and be- 
 sides, when I was working here I was always so afraid 
 somebody would come and find me out. But up there 
 it was so quiet, I forgot how late it was, I forgot 
 about luncheon. I hope you weren't worried about 
 me, Mrs. Longley? It was naughty not to tell you 
 where I was going, if I didn't tell for what." 
 
 " I'm so proud of you, Rose ! " cried Dorothy, hap- 
 pily, taking away Mrs. Longley's need of reply. 
 " Some day you'll go off to Paris to study." 
 
 The girl's face flushed with joy; and then the light 
 died out of it. 
 
 " My father will never send me," she said. " He 
 could do it; he's not poor. But he would say it was 
 waste of money. My father likes to keep his money," 
 she added. 
 
 " Who gave you your lessons, Rose ? " asked Mrs. 
 Longley. After her first glad cry of relief and her 
 first exclamation of surprise and pleasure in Rose's 
 achievement, she had sat silent. She was so thankful 
 to have been wrong in her suspicions ; but so ashamed 
 that she had doubted the girl. She would have been 
 so much wiser to have trusted Rose Hewes more and 
 that chauffeur less and much kinder also, which 
 would have amounted to the same thing, for kindness 
 is a large part of wisdom. 
 
 " Oh, yes ; do tell mamma about that ! " cried Grace. 
 
 " It was a boarder at our house after Mrs. Brooke 
 and Dorothy went away last summer." And Rose 
 named a well-known artist. "She found out how fond
 
 164 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 of pictures I was, and she gave me lessons all the time 
 she was with us, nearly two months. Then, when 
 she went away, she gave me paper and colors and 
 brushes oh, ever so many. I did a little sewing for 
 her, and she pretended I had earned all the things; 
 but I know I didn't begin to. She said she was glad 
 to help anybody who loved art as she did, and she said 
 I truly loved it," added Rose. "She said I could 
 paint," announced the girl modestly. " So, I keep on 
 trying." 
 
 " Colonel Pell was sure you would do great things 
 some day," cried Dorothy, her mind already made up 
 to have a hand in helping Rose to her opportunity. 
 Dorothy would consult her staunch ally in all such 
 things and her wise counsellor in right methods her 
 mother. But at present she said nothing. There are 
 things that one can do better first and talk about after- 
 ward. 
 
 It was time to dress for dinner. When the girls had 
 sped away to their rooms, Grace waited to nestle be- 
 side her mother for a moment "How lovely you 
 always are, mamma ! " she said. " How sweetly you 
 spoke to Rose." 
 
 " Oh, no, Grace," answered Mrs. Longley, " I'm 
 very far indeed from being lovely. I I don't think 
 I was sweet to Rose; I've not given her the credit 
 she deserves." It would have been a relief to have 
 confessed to Grace her fault and her sorrow over her 
 injustice. But she could not; for she would not put 
 into her daughter's mind the suggestion of the thing 
 of which she had so cruelly suspected Rose. " Oh,
 
 ANXIETIES 165 
 
 no, no, you must not say that of me, dear child," she 
 entreated. 
 
 " But I shall," the daughter called back over her 
 shoulder as she hurried away. " You're coming down 
 stairs, remember, to-morrow, or the next day. How 
 happy we shall be ! " 
 
 Then Mrs. Longley began to think about the miss- 
 ing motor car and chauffeur.
 
 XVI 
 
 KEEN WITS 
 
 JIMMY ran down to the office and began to study 
 
 the directory of A . He must get the repair shops. 
 
 Something might have happened to the machine. If 
 so, he should find it at one of these. Manson must not 
 be accused without presumptive evidence, at least. 
 Then he took the addresses of the public garages. 
 While he was doing this, the telephone bell rang and 
 Rex was summoned. 
 
 " I should say it was time," the latter responded to 
 the unknown message, speaking so audibly that, with- 
 out stopping his ears, Jimmy could not help hearing; 
 and, certainly, there was no secret business. "I'm 
 glad of it," Rex went on. " What have you been 
 doing all this while ? " The inaudible reply was given 
 at some length. "Oh, that's it," said Rex. "You 
 must have had a lark ! We're very quiet up here ; we 
 need enlivening. Good material for fun, though. 
 Yes, yes, yes, I see. Then, it's to-morrow, if you 
 don't break down. Well don't. Yes, yes, good-by." 
 
 " What is Brooke up to ? Who's coming to-mor- 
 row?" wondered his listener. " No business of mine. 
 But if there are more fellows after the Brooke pattern, 
 we'll have some fun, sure enough ! " 
 
 Rex put up the receiver and turned away. Then he 
 
 1 66
 
 KEEN WITS 167 
 
 saw Jimmy. " Hello ! Reid," he said coming up to 
 him. " That's a bit of a surprise of mine, you know." 
 
 " I won't spoil it," answered Jimmy smiling at him. 
 
 "Not if you know that," said Rex returning the 
 smile. Then he looked at the other's occupation. 
 " How is Longley? " he asked, his face grave. " That 
 was a wonderful thing he did and I'm inclined to 
 think if the Lord hadn't helped him out, he would 
 never have pulled through it." 
 
 "That's what I believe," said the other quietly. 
 " He's pretty well shaken up," he added ; " but he 
 doesn't seem to be really hurt in any way." 
 
 Rex expressed his satisfaction. Then he said : 
 " That motor-car business looks black to me." 
 
 " The fellow got an advance on his wages out of 
 Longley on some pretext; that makes it look blacker," 
 asserted Jimmy. 
 
 Rex whistled. "Ah, then there's not a doubt. 
 What's Longley going to do?" 
 
 " He's gone to bed because he couldn't do anything 
 else, and I hope he is going to sleep, that's the only 
 thing he is fit for just now. I promised to do what I 
 could toward looking up the car." 
 
 "I've no doubt you will do a good deal, Reid. 
 You're that kind. But you will have to call in the 
 police. May I ask if you're on the hunt now?" 
 
 Jimmy told him; and requested him if he was not 
 busy, to wait and listen to whatever information might 
 be forthcoming. 
 
 It was necessary to call up only one repair shop; 
 for the one to which Manson had previously carried
 
 i68 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 the motor car answered that he had been there that 
 very morning and had had the machine thoroughly 
 examined. It was right in every particular, and, the 
 machinist believed, ready for a month's good wear 
 without anything more serious happening than the 
 puncturing of a tire. 
 
 A number of garages were questioned before the 
 one in which the Longley motor car had been placed 
 was discovered. As nearly as could be learned, it had 
 been taken out at about the time it was at the shop. 
 
 " Oh, I forgot one thing ! " cried Jimmy. " I must 
 call up again. I hope they have not closed." 
 
 No ; but they were about to close and were annoyed 
 at being detained. " Anybody with the young man 
 that had the machine you were speaking of, you want 
 to know ? Hold the line." Then after a moment came 
 back the answer : " Yes, a girl was with him." 
 
 " Ah, ha ! " said Rex when Jimmy reported. " Not 
 a doubt he's stolen it. But the girl will make him 
 easier to trace. Now, what ? " 
 
 " The police," answered the other. " I don't believe 
 I could do anything by going down to-night, or I 
 would go." 
 
 "Indeed, you couldn't. They'll send word around, 
 and to-morrow we'll be likely to get some news. A 
 machine like that is not so easily hidden." 
 
 " I know," said Jimmy. " But what I'm afraid of 
 is that he will get off a good distance and then sell the 
 machine, and that while we are on the road after it, 
 it may be quietly reposing in some fine garage by the 
 way."
 
 KEEN WITS 169 
 
 " You're a born detective, Reid ! " cried the other. 
 " The most likely thing, too. I should never have 
 thought of it, though." 
 
 " Oh, yes, you would, Brooke, to-morrow, after you 
 had thought it over as I've been doing." 
 
 " Or perhaps the day after." 
 
 But Jimmy held up his finger for silence. They 
 were speaking to him from the police station. The boy 
 told his story concisely, and answered clearly the 
 questions put to him. After a few minutes he thanked 
 the man at the other end of the line, hung up the 
 receiver, and turned to Rex. 
 
 " They'll send on word ahead and keep a sharp look- 
 out, they say," he announced. " It's lucky the car 
 has a number likely to make everybody who sees it 
 remember it four * threes ' in a row, you recollect. 
 We shall hear in the morning, if they have any 
 news." 
 
 The following morning Ned coming down to break- 
 fast, found at his plate a note from Jimmy : 
 
 "Dear old Fellow," it ran, "I'm off to A , on 
 
 the hunt after a man and a machine. I didn't speak 
 to you, for I thought you were asleep and hope you 
 will be all right. I'm going to hobnob with the police ; 
 so don't worry about me, even if I don't come home 
 early. Yours, J. R. " 
 
 Rex had wanted* very much to take Jimmy to A 
 
 in his car and help him in the search for Manson and
 
 i 7 o DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 the machine. But Jimmy had represented to him that, 
 much as he also wanted it, it would leave Ned who 
 might not be fit for much the whole day, as the only 
 man to call upon in case Mrs. Longley, or the girls, 
 should need anything. " And then, your friends are 
 coming," he added, smiling. 
 
 "That's not the least matter; they can take care of 
 themselves for a few hours. But the other consider- 
 ation counts, Reid. I won't go with you." 
 
 So, he only came down early and breakfasted with 
 Jimmy and saw him off. "Good luck to you," he 
 called. " And I think you'll have it." 
 
 Reid sped his utmost and reached the city in good 
 season. 
 
 No news yet at the police station ! 
 
 At both the garage and the repair shop he supple- 
 mented by personal inquiries his previous questions 
 by telephone. At the former place he learned some- 
 thing new. But at the other, by persistence and a 
 bill passed quietly into the hand of the man who had 
 gone to the sidewalk and talked with Manson, he 
 gained an important bit of information. For the man 
 had overheard Manson say to the girl as he got into 
 the car again : " Now, we'll go an' be spliced." " That's 
 so," the girl had answered, giggling. And then they 
 were off. 
 
 " You didn't hear him say where they were going ? " 
 demanded Jimmy anxiously. 
 
 The other sneeered. " No! He didn't give himself 
 away to that extent," he retorted. " I should think 
 he'd done it enough without. You'll have to find that
 
 KEEN WITS 171 
 
 out for yourself," he went on less gruffly as his grasp 
 tightened on the bill in his hand; and he indicated to 
 Jimmy the direction that the car had taken on leaving 
 the shop. 
 
 An older person than the young inquirer, or a boy 
 less in earnest would have quailed before the stupen- 
 dous task of discovering what minister if any had 
 married Manson and the girl? When Ned asked him 
 afterward why he had done it, Jimmy answered that 
 if Manson had married her, she would still be with 
 him and they could be more easily traced than if he 
 had only taken her out for a spin and brought her 
 home at night. In that case, he would have been 
 
 somewhere in A in the evening, and he would not 
 
 be so far away by the next morning. But he had not 
 spent the night in the city ; or the car would have been 
 traced. 
 
 So, with the directory and the telephone Jimmy set 
 to work. The ministers who the day previous had 
 married nobody required no interviewing and the boy 
 dropped them with a sigh of relief and an apology for 
 having given them the trouble of answering his call. 
 But he began to think that those who had performed 
 the marriage ceremony the preceding day were legion. 
 Five of these answered his questions politely and 
 satisfied him that they had had nothing to do with the 
 chauffeur whom he was in search of. The sixth was 
 inquisitive in his turn, and when Jimmy felt that he 
 had told enough of his story to bring him the infor- 
 mation he wanted, the other growled out: " Why do 
 you bother a busy man like me with this stuff? Go to
 
 172 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 the city derk. Ask him to took op the records; it's 
 his business." 
 
 "* Oh, thank you for the suggestion ! " cried Jimmy 
 so warmly that the growling voice moderated. 
 
 "Don't want to be disobliging," it said; "bat this 
 is the tenth time I've been called up from my acimu, 
 and Fm afraid my people will find it oat. Yes, yes, 
 you're welcome. Good-morning." 
 
 Jimmy flashed up the receiver and darted off. 
 "What a dunderhead you are, Reid!" he muttered 
 as he whirled along toward the fountainhead of in- 
 formation. "Wouldn't people hoot at your methods? 
 Xever mind: IT1 get there!" 
 
 " Yes ; George Manson and Delia Watson were mar- 
 ried the day before at eleven o'clock." 
 
 Then Jimmy rode to the minister's house ; the latter 
 would give him more points face to face than when 
 questioned through a tube. But the clergyman had 
 started that morning on his vacation one reason for 
 his promptness in sending in his record. 
 
 Half an hour later Jimmy and a policeman in plain 
 clothes were being driven in a motor car along the 
 road which inquiry had shown that Manson had taken 
 the previous day. How long he had kept it they would 
 have to learn as they went on. 
 
 "Don't let on to that feller what we're after," the 
 policeman had whispered to Jimmy as the hired auto- 
 mobile and chauffeur came up. "Manson was born 
 here; we don't know his friends. If that choffef knows 
 our biz, he may give him the tip." 
 
 They bowled along for hoars, stopping every now
 
 KEEN WITS 173 
 
 and then to make inquiries, and finding' that they were 
 stifl on die right track. "There's hick in odd num- 
 bers," muttered Jimmy's companion ; " an* three's good 
 in odds, so I've heard; an* as for four of them threes, 
 why, I take it, it's some like a four-leaved clover. I 
 used to find lots of 'em when I was a little shaver." 
 
 " And did they bring yon lock?" questioned Jimmy, 
 willing to beguile the time. 
 
 A broad smile irradiated the other's face. " Well, 
 new, I ain't complainm'/* he said. " A good wife an* 
 six fine children if I sez it that shouldn't an' some- 
 thin' to pot down their throats an' on their backs 
 yes, I reckon the four-leaved clovers, or somethin' else, 
 did bring' me rack." 
 
 " What are you after?" asked the chauffeur at last, 
 turning about to die two behind him. 
 
 "Well tell you when we git it! " retorted the pofice- 
 man, giving Jimmy a look. 
 
 "Oh, I only thought,'' said the other with an in- 
 jured air, "if yon was after anything; or anybody, 
 I might help you look, an* be accommodatin' that's 
 aH." And he turned back again with a scowl. "If 
 it's only fun you're after, go ahead.*' 
 
 The policeman nudged Jimmy. But the latter 
 answered the chauffeur courteously: "Thank yon; 
 you are very kind. If there is anything- you can do 
 to help out, we shall be glad to ask yon. But at pres- 
 ent there is nothing; except to make the best time the 
 law allows." 
 
 The motor car was a good one. But it would hare 
 been long in overtaking that which Hanson drove
 
 174 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 without scruple as to speed, had it not been for two 
 delays. Neither was a punctured tire, nor any accident 
 to the car it was Delia to whom one delay was due. 
 On the previous day they had gone not far from a 
 hundred miles, in spite of the girl's having insisted 
 upon waiting to announce her marriage to two of her 
 
 friends in A , and had reached a respectable hotel 
 
 in another city, taken their evening meal and spent 
 the night. Manson had wanted an early start the next 
 morning. But Delia had declared that she had always 
 had to get up early, that she hated it, and was going 
 to take her time on her wedding trip. Manson growled, 
 and at last succeeded in effecting a compromise satis- 
 factory to neither. They were two hours too late, 
 he declared, when the car stood throbbing at the 
 door. 
 
 But this was only a beginning of troubles. Delia 
 had need of a new traveling suit, she asserted. They 
 would just ride slowly through the shopping district 
 of the city, and, as they passed, she could glance into 
 the windows and see if there was anything she liked ; 
 it would not take five minutes more, certainly, not 
 over ten; and what did that count? She saw, how- 
 ever, so many suits which she did not want to pass 
 by without closer look and some that she spent much 
 time in debating whether she would or would not 
 take, that by the time she had made her selection three 
 hours had gone by, and they went to a restaurant for 
 luncheon before starting. When fairly off, however, 
 they made good time* so good that Manson felt quite 
 safe in drawing up for the night af a small hotel well
 
 KEEN WITS 175 
 
 on to seventy miles from their last stopping place. 
 The town was off the main artery of travel and he 
 felt secure. He reflected also that, anyway, there 
 were only boys to track him. What could they 
 do? 
 
 In the morning there came to him an opportunity 
 which he believed it wise not to neglect a chance to 
 sell the motor car. He was too shrewd to pretend 
 that a car like that was his own; he announced him- 
 self as the chauffeur of a gentleman who had sud- 
 denly lost his money and had sent him around the 
 country to sell the automobile on commission. The 
 would-be purchaser examined the machine with 
 care, and the more he examined, the more he ad- 
 mired it. 
 
 " There's one thing about it I especially like," he 
 said, as they stood together beside it, " that's the num- 
 ber. It would be hard to steal and run off with that 
 number ' three, three, three, three ' it's a security 
 in itself." 
 
 " Yes, indeed, it is, sir," returned the chauffeur, 
 keeping the tremble out of his voice and giving Delia 
 a look which checked her giggle. 
 
 There was a long discussion over the prize, which 
 made Manson sure that the gentleman thought seri- 
 ously of buying. When this had been finally settled, 
 the purchaser said that he would go into the hotel and 
 telephone to his wife to come to meet him by an earlier 
 train than they had arranged, if she could. At any 
 rate, he would do nothing until she had seen the ma- 
 chine; but he felt confident that she would like it as
 
 176 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 much as he did. If she did, would Manson take the 
 car home for him ? 
 
 Then the chauffeur made a bold stroke. He would 
 be out of a place when the motor car was sold, he 
 said. If the purchaser had no one else in view, why 
 could he not take him for chauffeur, provided there 
 was a cottage on his place, or near, where he could 
 live with his wife ? They had been married only two 
 days ; this was their wedding trip. 
 
 Then the gentleman turned himself about and 
 looked smilingly at Delia who, foreseeing many fu- 
 ture spins in this same car, smiled and simpered. " Ah, 
 indeed ! " he answered. " Perhaps we can make a 
 place for her in the house, if she would like ? One of 
 our maids is going away. But everything depends 
 upon my wife." 
 
 No, the lady could not come before the time orig- 
 inally set, which was directly after luncheon. 
 
 "Thus far, luck has been good to us; we'll have 
 to trust to it a little further," Manson said to Delia 
 as they waited. " If they come after the car, he'll have 
 to stand it; I'll clear out and give you the tip where 
 to follow. But it will be all right." 
 
 He took the precaution, however, to place the car 
 with its number backed away from the road. 
 
 The previous evening Jimmy and his companions, 
 still on the track of Manson, spent the night at the 
 same hotel that he had done twenty-four hours earlier. 
 
 "I know a cop in this city," said the policeman; 
 "and I'll find out if he has seen anything of four 
 'threes'? He returned, saying that the motor car
 
 KEEN WITS 177 
 
 had gone up the main street about one o'clock that 
 day. " They're not more than half a day ahead, un- 
 less they ran a part of the night, and I don't believe 
 they had sense enough," he announced. Jimmy, mean- 
 while, had telephoned to Ned that all was well thus 
 far; they had not come to the end yet. 
 
 They were off early the next morning, following 
 up inquiries as to the car in front of them; indeed, 
 in the opinion of tl\e policeman, they made unneces- 
 sary inquiries. "Who's bossing this business?" he 
 asked once with a touch of brusqueness. 
 
 " I am," returned Jimmy with a prompt decision 
 that settled the matter. 
 
 Manson thought himself acute to have turned off 
 the main line of travel. But where motor cars were 
 few, people stared at them and remembered them. 
 Manson was cleaning the car, and Delia sitting beside 
 him was picturing their successful venture and what 
 they would do with the money from the sale, when 
 Jimmy and his companions drove up. 
 
 Manson, pale and terrified, yet stood his ground. 
 "Good-morning," he said with effort. "We've had 
 a fine spin, my wife and me. Allow me to introduce 
 Mrs. Manson, Mr. Reid." Jimmy bowed and turned 
 back to the speaker. " We've had a delightful wed- 
 ding trip," Manson went on " the only way we could 
 get one. I hope we haven't inconvenienced Mr. Long- 
 ley? We're just going back to tell him about it and 
 ask him to forgive us for borrowing the auto with- 
 out leave. I wanted my little girl to have a little 
 fun, you know. One day he'll understand how it
 
 178 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 seems to do the same thing, you see." He added with 
 a nervous laugh: " Just a little joy ride, you see." 
 
 Jimmy stood a moment irresolute. He did not be- 
 lieve Manson. Yet he had nothing to prove that the 
 fellow was not speaking the truth, and he really wished 
 that he were. He made no answer. 
 
 " The luggage is all in, Delia ? " questioned Man- 
 son. She nodded assent; she was too frightened to 
 speak; she did not know who these strangers were, 
 but she was afraid of them because she perceived that 
 George was. " We will follow you, or go on ahead, 
 just as you prefer," added Manson, gaining courage 
 with his apparent immunity. Who could say that he 
 had intended anything more than he had confessed? 
 " Come, Delia," he said, holding out his hand to her 
 to help her in. "We've had our fun; we'll go back 
 now." 
 
 " No ; not that way " began Jimmy. 
 
 But at the moment a voice behind interrupted. 
 " Newman," it said, " the more I think of it, the more 
 sure I feel that my wife will want me to buy that ma- 
 chine of you at the price we have agreed upon. I 
 have the option, you know, until she comes up. That's 
 what you said, you remember." 
 
 The would-be purchaser had scented possible rivals 
 and had come out to secure himself. 
 
 " Was this machine offered you for sale, may I 
 ask, sir?" inquired Jimmy in his suavest tones. 
 
 " Indeed, it was, sir," answered the gentleman with 
 decision ; " and the bargain is made, and only waiting 
 the approval of my wife."
 
 KEEN WITS 179 
 
 " I'm sorry to disappoint you ; but it's a stolen ma- 
 chine," returned the boy. " And " 
 
 " No, yer don't ! Stop that trick ! " cried the police- 
 man, suddenly springing forward and seizing Manson, 
 who had leaped into the car and was reaching out 
 his hand to the lever.
 
 XVII 
 
 HOW REX PUT IT 
 
 " JIMMY is off after Manson and the car," said Ned 
 at breakfast the morning after the rescue of Bab, and 
 he read aloud the note at his plate. He was pale and 
 languid, but he declared himself " all right." After 
 a moment's silence, he said : " I ought to have gone 
 with him. I intended to go. He has taken all my 
 work upon his own shoulders just like Reid. I'll 
 follow him though oh, I forgot that my cycle is 
 useless. But I can get a motor car here." 
 
 " Hold off, Longley, until you can get into touch 
 by telephone," said Rex, " or you'll be all day hunt- 
 ing Reid instead of the chauffeur. 
 
 "Yes, that's true," said Ned. But he still looked 
 restless and troubled. 
 
 The others, however, were in fine humor. The 
 motor car was being chased, and would be recovered 
 in some way, no doubt, and, what was far more im- 
 portant, the hero of yesterday had received no in- 
 juries, and if not yet quite himself again, was in a 
 fair way to become so. Talks and walks, and perhaps 
 a turn in Rex's car were all that they could plan for 
 the day; nobody wanted to be far from the telephone 
 and possible news from Jimmy. They had, though, 
 forgotten for the moment one fruitful source of en- 
 
 180
 
 HOW REX PUT IT 181 
 
 tertainment. They were reminded of it as they sat 
 at breakfast by a laughing baby voice at the door, and 
 there, coming down the long room, was Miss Knowles 
 with Bab in her arms cooing and talking in baby 
 fashion. 
 
 " Mamma says she must be nearly two years old," 
 said Grace, watching the child as Miss Knowles took 
 her place with it in her lap. Bab belonged at the 
 children's table. But as she had no nurse and was a 
 lost baby and " a transient," the rules had been relaxed 
 in her case. 
 
 "Good-morning, baby!" cried a chorus of voices. 
 
 " Hush ! I'm afraid you'll frighten her," said Miss 
 Knowles. 
 
 " Dah ! dah ! " returned Bab, looking about her and 
 stretching out a hand toward Miss Knowles' knife 
 which lay conveniently near. 
 
 " No, no, darling," said the latter, removing it with 
 alacrity. " No, no ; it will hurt baby." 
 
 "Dah! dah!" answered Bab, and seized her nap- 
 kin, hurling it to the floor by an energetic thrust of 
 the tiny fist. 
 
 "Why, Dah-dah, you've had your breakfast; you 
 must let me have mine." 
 
 "The plate will go next!" cried Rex, who, as has 
 been said, had breakfasted with Jimmy and was now 
 sitting with the rest "for company." He added: 
 "Let me take her, Miss Knowles, and give you a 
 chance to eat something." And before the other could 
 frame refusal or remonstrance, he had caught up the 
 child from her lap. " I'm used to it," he said. " I've
 
 182 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 served an apprenticeship with our children. Hi ! Dah- 
 dah! This is your uncle. Don't you know your 
 uncle ? " And he danced around the table with the 
 baby crowing on his shoulder. 
 
 "Unc! unc! "cried Bab. 
 
 " I believe you've hit it, Brooke ! " cried Ned. " She 
 has an uncle, evidently." 
 
 " And you must look just like him ! " exclaimed 
 Priscy. At which speech they all laughed. 
 
 "Unc what, Dah-dah?" asked Ned. "If only 
 she would give us a hint of the other name," he 
 said. 
 
 " Baby, what's your name ? " questioned Rex, hold- 
 ing her high in air with strong arms and gazing up 
 into the little face looking down at him in perfect 
 confidence. 
 
 " Dah ! dah ! " repeated the child. 
 
 "Isn't she a little beauty?" he said, marching 
 around the table with her on his shoulder. " Here, 
 Doro, look at her. If I'm her uncle, you must be her 
 aunt. Speak to your Aunt Doro, Dah-dah." He 
 held her down and the little fist grabbed Dorothy's 
 hair. 
 
 "O h!" said the girl laughingly disentangling 
 herself and kissing the dimpled, childish fist. 
 
 " Mamma ! mamma ! " cried Bab. " I wants 
 mamma ! " 
 
 " Your mamma by adoption is eating breakfast and 
 can't be disturbed ; and the other mamma is we don't 
 quite know at present where she is, probably weep- 
 ing for Dah-dah."
 
 HOW REX PUT IT 183 
 
 "Yes, and it's cruel!" protested Miss Knowles, 
 setting down her coffee cup hastily. "That poor 
 woman must be found and told." 
 
 " Longley," said Rex, " there's not a word of a lost 
 
 baby in any of the morning papers from A , and 
 
 there was nothing in last evening's papers. Dah-dah 
 is the prisoner, not exactly of your sword and lance, 
 but of your prowess, certainly; and to you, as knight- 
 errant, belongs the disposition of her. What shall be 
 done? Shall we advertise her?" 
 
 " Yes, indeed ! " cried Ned. " I wish you would 
 at once." 
 
 "// Well! I have got myself into business! I 
 was suggesting to authors and dramatists, and so 
 forth, the resources of the press. I never wrote an 
 advertisement in my life but the one that I gave Reid 
 this morning as a suggestion merely. I don't think 
 he will use it." 
 
 "Oh, what was it?" asked Lulu, looking up with 
 interest. 
 
 Rex laughed. " A great work of genius. I gave 
 the make and number of the car and added : * Stolen ! 
 Reward for information leading to its recovery. Ad- 
 dress : E. L.' ; and then this hotel." 
 
 " I hope Jimmy will use it," said Ned. " Just go 
 ahead now, please, Brooke, and describe Dah-dah as 
 graphically." 
 
 " Oh, no ! no ! you mustn't describe her. That's not 
 the way at all ! " cried Miss Knowles. " Don't you 
 see, anybody can get hold of her then; she'll be kid- 
 napped, as Mrs. Longley suggested."
 
 184 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 "Mamma only said it might have been so if we 
 had gone about the city offering her anywhere," 
 amended Grace. " She wasn't speaking of advertis- 
 ing." 
 
 " But I am," said Miss Knowles. " She must be 
 advertised, of course. But the advertisement must 
 be worded with great care." 
 
 " You're the one to do it, Miss Knowles," asserted 
 the young man. "You know how a hundred times 
 better than I do." 
 
 "If I take care of Bab, I do my full part," re- 
 turned that lady. "I don't know anything about ad- 
 vertisements." 
 
 " Yes, she does more than she's asked to do," mur- 
 mured Dorothy to Rose, who returned her an appre- 
 ciative smile. 
 
 " Then, we'll settle it in family conclave," said Rex. 
 " * Lost, strayed or stolen, a charming baby, age about 
 two years, who calls herself " Dah-dah " ; wears white 
 with blue ribbons ' ' 
 
 " I put on the blue ribbons this morning," inter- 
 rupted Miss Knowles. " Her pink bows were all 
 mussed and soiled." 
 
 " Not strange ! " commented Ned. " I suppose my 
 hands did it when I grabbed her." 
 
 "It's nice to have fun; but there are times when 
 one should be serious," retorted the lady severely. 
 
 The young people glanced at one another and 
 pulled down their faces ; the only trouble was the dif- 
 ficulty of their staying put. 
 
 " Well, we'll blue pencil the blue ribbons," went on
 
 HOW REX PUT IT 185 
 
 Rex. "The white is all right, is it not? And the 
 blue comes in the eyes. Height, weight we can find 
 out those golden hair, and skin white as milk, like 
 all the fairy princesses ; we must be accurate, or how 
 is her mamma to recognize her?" 
 
 " No ! No ! you mustn't tell those things. Anybody 
 can claim her then. You must tell only as little as 
 possible, enough to give a clue to the one on the 
 watch, don't you see ? " The speaker was vehement, 
 and held out her hands for Bab. 
 
 But Rex could not have seen her; for he turned 
 and dropped the child into Lulu's lap. Then, sitting 
 down, he propped his head on his hands, the picture 
 of despair. " Upon my word," he said, " it's worse 
 to write an advertisement about a baby than to write 
 a play now, isn't it, Longley? I never saw Doro 
 in such a fix. Go away and leave me, good people 
 all ; see if the spirit will move in solitude." 
 
 "If you want solitude, you'll have to go seek it," 
 laughed Lulu. " In another minute they'll come here 
 to clear the table." 
 
 Rex lifted his bowed head a few inches and looked 
 at her. 
 
 " I agree with the man who remarked that he liked 
 to have somebody to whom to say that solitude hath 
 charms," he retorted. " Mayn't I say it to you, Miss 
 Bromley?" 
 
 "Another time, perhaps," she answered joining 
 in the general laugh. "Now Dorothy and I have 
 an errand to do." 
 
 "Can't I help? " he asked. " You and Doro could
 
 i86 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 do the talking and I could walk silently along by your 
 side meditating on my baby advertisement." 
 
 " Oh, could you, Rex ! " cried his sister. And the 
 others echoed her laugh. 
 
 " We're going to see some people not far from here 
 whom we've heard of," explained Lulu. " I'm afraid 
 that three might embarrass them. And then, it will 
 take us some time." 
 
 " In that case I couldn't go great regrets ! / have 
 something to do also. Oh, it's not the literary work." 
 
 When Rex found Ned by himself, he said to him: 
 " Longley, I wanted very much to be in the hunt for 
 the chauffeur, to help out all I could. But Reid 
 wouldn't let me take him down to A this morn- 
 ing." And he repeated Jimmy's admonition. "You 
 see," he said, " we would have been certain to be gone 
 the whole day and perhaps into the night; and it 
 would never have done. Nobody knew how you'd 
 turn up this morning. If you will take my advice. I 
 would wait until you hear from Reid; you will 
 delay him if he has to wait your getting there; 
 or if he goes on without you, perhaps he'd like to put 
 it through, since he has begun." 
 
 "Thank you, Brooke," answered the other. "It's 
 only fair that he should; I wouldn't spoil his 
 game." 
 
 " You needn't tell me that, Longley. I'd go and try 
 to look up Dah-dah's cruel relatives but for the same 
 reason. But there's your cycle to be looked after. I 
 can do that. Let me give you a run on the train, it's 
 only six miles off, and you can ship your machine to
 
 HOW REX PUT IT 187 
 
 the repair shop by express. You'll save time on send- 
 ing it from here." 
 
 Ned gladly accepted the offer. As they drove up 
 to the hotel on their return, they saw Colonel Pell on 
 the veranda with Dorothy and Lulu, who had just 
 come in from their walk. 
 
 " Do come and try that experiment about solitude," 
 begged Rex of the latter. " I'll bring you back in half 
 an hour by my watch." 
 
 " Is your watch slow ? " asked the girl, smiling up 
 at him teasingly, and yet hesitating. 
 
 " No correct time. Do come." 
 
 And Lulu went. 
 
 Colonel Pell had turned to Ned and spoken to 
 him a few tactful words of appreciation of his deed 
 of daring. 
 
 " Such things come to be done sometimes," answered 
 the other; "and then the way opens up." 
 
 Colonel Pell began to question him about Manson 
 and the missing motor car. He would be only too 
 glad if he could do the least thing to help, he said; 
 and he remarked that he had always thought the 
 chauffeur had a sly look. By this time Ned finding 
 himself included, had taken a seat beside Dorothy 
 and the colonel, and the conversation from the feats 
 and freaks of motor cars and their drivers had wan- 
 dered to other subjects interesting to all three, when 
 sailing along the veranda with stately grace came 
 Mrs. Pell. 
 
 After greeting the young people, she said to her 
 husband : " My dear, we are having a warm dispute
 
 188 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 in the parlor as to the merits of monoplanes and bi- 
 planes. Mr. Harris and Dr. Kendrick are getting a 
 little too hot over it. They want you as umpire. I've 
 been looking for you everywhere. I thought you 
 were working." 
 
 "I have been," returned Colonel Pell. "Then I 
 strolled out for a rest, and I'm enjoying it very much. 
 I can't be umpire, Charlotte, over a matter that no 
 rules have yet been laid down on. Do excuse me, 
 please. Say I don't know. It's just hot enough to 
 fly if one had wings ready made; but it's too warm 
 to go into the business of making them. Say I don't 
 know," he repeated. 
 
 Mrs. Pell was too well-bred to utter the wrath that 
 flashed in her eyes. " Ha ! ha ! you don't know ! " she 
 echoed, and her laugh had a challenge in it. " His 
 wife is quite well aware that, in spite of his modesty, 
 Colonel Pell is not a man who does not know things 
 that he is expected to know." 
 
 The colonel rose. "Oh, well," he said, "neither I 
 nor anybody else can be sure of a point not yet estab- 
 lished. I have my opinion, certainly; but the matter 
 has not yet arrived at a stage where even an expert 
 may be considered infallible. But lead on, Char- 
 lotte ; I'll do my best." And with a word to the others, 
 he strolled along in the wake of his wife who having 
 won her point, graciously apologized for taking Colo- 
 nel Pell from the charming young people whose society 
 she enjoyed as thoroughly as he did. 
 
 Dorothy looked after them. Then she turned to 
 Ned. " He smothered his sigh well, but I heard it,"
 
 HOW REX PUT IT 189 
 
 she said. " I hope he will get Priscy some day, poor 
 man!" 
 
 Ned did not answer. He was watching her, and 
 thinking of her devotion to her friend. Yet behind his 
 thought of her was another thought which he was 
 struggling to express to her. At last, he said : 
 
 " I wish people wouldn't speak to me about about 
 yesterday as Colonel Pell did just now. A great 
 force swept into me like an electric current and carried 
 me through it. It was not I; it was God I know 
 it." 
 
 " So do I," returned Dorothy softly. 
 
 " But to keep saying that it sounds like cant," he 
 said. 
 
 " I think many people feel as you do about it," 
 answered the girl. "But then, we have to welcome 
 God's messengers that do His service as you did 
 then. It was wonderful. Now that you are safe, I'm 
 so glad that you were chosen." As she spoke her 
 earnest eyes as they met his gravely carried that assur- 
 ance of confidence in him which made him glad. 
 
 After a moment he said : " I'm glad you under- 
 stand." 
 
 " I do," she answered him. 
 
 For a few moments they were silent, both looking 
 at the beautiful sweep of mountain and sky flooded 
 with summer sunshine. 
 
 " Such a day seems to make one richer," said Doro- 
 thy at last. " I like better the mountains, or the ocean 
 whichever one I happen to be with," she added 
 smiling.
 
 190 
 
 " Your heart is big enough to take in both," retorted 
 Ned. 
 
 They laughed. "I wonder what news you'll have 
 of your motor car," said the girl. They talked of 
 this, and of what part of the proposed route would 
 probably have to be cut out by the delay here, Doro- 
 thy asserting that everybody but " poor Mrs. Long- 
 ley" had enjoyed the delay, except for its cause. 
 
 " Oh, no, there's one other exception to the enjoy- 
 ment," said Ned ; " and here he comes," as Nemo came 
 running up the hill and pushed his head into Dorothy's 
 lap. " His hair is growing finely," he added as she 
 caressed her pet. 
 
 They were still sitting there when Rex and Lulu 
 came up. The former sprang out, and giving one 
 hand to Lulu to help her alight, pulled out his watch 
 with the other. 
 
 " Twenty-nine minutes ! " he announced. " One 
 minute to spare ! Sha'n't we use that up, Miss Brom- 
 ley?" 
 
 *' No, indeed ! Put it out at interest ! " she retorted 
 joining the others on the veranda. 
 
 " And now for the tug of war ! " said Rex. " I 
 refer to the baby advertisement. I'm going to dis- 
 appear and set my wits whirring Miss Bromley has 
 been sharpening them. In half an hour I expect to re- 
 turn with the great deed accomplished. See that you 
 are all assembled I say, to criticise; but I mean to 
 applaud." 
 
 And Rex disappeared. 
 
 It was a short half-hour when he returned. "Oh,
 
 HOW REX PUT IT 191 
 
 you've beaten them in," he said with a satisfied nod 
 when he saw that Ned had collected the others as 
 audience. 
 
 " We are waiting to be thrilled," said Lulu. 
 
 "Here, little one," began Rex, giving the baby a 
 bit of candy be had bought in the hotel store for her. 
 
 "This is bribery and corruption, I know; but she 
 must be satisfied. And now, Dah-dah, how will this 
 do? If you are pleased, the rest ought to be." And 
 from a slip in his hand he read : 
 
 ; ' Found : Something small and movable of great 
 value. Owner may take possession by proving prop- 
 erty and paying charges.' 
 
 How's that?" 
 
 " But you've not told what is lost ! " cried Miss 
 Knowles. 
 
 " But you didn't want me to," retorted Rex. " You 
 were afraid somebody would put in a false claim." 
 
 " I know. But now I'm afraid that nobody will put 
 in any claim at all. You've not made it plain." 
 
 The young fellow sighed audibly. "I thought you 
 never ought to clear up things until the last chapter," 
 he said. " That's what they do in our family." 
 
 " Really, I'm sure you've not been explicit enough," 
 said Dorothy. 
 
 " ( Et tu, Brute! ' " cried Rex, wheeling round upon 
 his sister. 
 
 "Yes, you must make it over," declared Miss 
 Knowles. " The poor mamma must understand."
 
 192 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 "You've made no allowance for the intuitions of 
 a mamma's heart," retorted Rex. "And, anyway, 
 'twill have to stand, for I've sent it off to all the 
 daily papers in A ." 
 
 Smiles in the audience mingled with the protesta- 
 tions of Bab's self-constituted guardian. 
 
 " That's rich ! " cried Ned in an aside to Priscy 
 whose dancing eyes gave him an appreciative reply. 
 " But it won't do, I'm afraid. We must make things 
 clearer if it does not answer." 
 
 " I expected at least to be thanked," resumed Rex. 
 
 T 
 
 A sound on the gravel of the driveway made him 
 turn suddenly.
 
 xvnr 
 
 HONK! HONK! 
 
 " AH, HA ! " he cried in affected astonishment watch- 
 ing a motor car as it swept up to the steps. " On my 
 word, they look familiar! Why! That you, old fel- 
 lows? How did you happen to arrive just in the 
 nick of time to pass judgment on my poor efforts 
 which are having hard luck?" While talking he had 
 run down the steps and was shaking hands vigorously 
 with the newcomers. " Now, we will institute a 
 court of arbitration," he declared when the first words 
 of greeting had been exchanged. " Miss Knowles and 
 I will be pleaders Doro, you're out because you've 
 already expressed your opinion " 
 
 " Against you ! " interposed Lulu. 
 
 "The unkindest cut of all!" he quoted glancing 
 at her. " Mr. Norcross, Miss Knowles ; and Messrs. 
 Winder and Raynor, Miss Knowles we sometimes 
 call them wind and rain; and I've known them to 
 raise a storm to justify their names." 
 
 " You see, we are here at last ! " laughed Raynor. 
 
 Rex shrugged his shoulders and glanced at his sis- 
 ter. 
 
 Norcross after acknowledging his first introduction, 
 had made his way up to Priscy whom he had met the 
 previous winter when he had motored over from col- 
 lege to Hosmer Hall with Rex to see his sister. 
 
 193
 
 194 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 " Ah, Miss Pell ! " he exclaimed. " It's delightful to 
 find you here. Every time I see you, the vision grows 
 more charming; one ought to stay away a good while 
 at that rate if only one could; but the fact is, one 
 simply can't do it." And he held out his hand to her. 
 
 Priscy regarded him with unflinching eyes in which 
 was a touch of amusement. " How do you do, Mr. 
 Norcross?" she said. "You've entertained me too 
 well to have me forget you; I'm glad to see you." 
 And she took the proffered hand. 
 
 " Let me present my friends, Winder and Raynor," 
 he said the next moment. "Brooke has given them 
 one of their aliases; but a more common one and 
 equally deserved is ' the Long and the Short of it.' ' 
 As he spoke, the tall Winder made his best bow, and 
 the diminutive Raynor bent with a grace which his 
 well-knit figure could excellently express. He was 
 so finely proportioned that when not beside other 
 men, he appeared taller than he actually was. 
 
 Both exchanged a running fire of small talk with 
 Miss Pell for a few minutes. Then Raynor's eye was 
 caught by Dorothy's graceful height and he moved to- 
 ward her. Winder soon found himself between Miss 
 Bromley and Miss Hewes where he remained for some 
 time well contented that is, he remained until Rex's 
 voice called upon the company in defense of his adver- 
 tisement. By this time Norcross was occupied in try- 
 ing to convince Miss Pell that he was the most de- 
 lightful of fellows. 
 
 It was at the same time that Colonel Pell having 
 settled to the best of his ability the vexed question of
 
 HONK! HONK! 195 
 
 monoplane and bi-plane and shaken himself free of a 
 discussion made tiresome by its arguers, wandered 
 to the parlor window. He refrained from joining the 
 group of young people in which he saw the strangers ; 
 but as he watched for a full minute the byplay between 
 Norcross and Priscy, and read the unveiled admiration 
 in the young man's eyes bent upon her, and warmed 
 with gratitude at the girl's proud reserve through all 
 her fun, the state of affairs between his daughter 
 and himself came home to him with the sharpest 
 pain he had yet felt ; his brows knitted with it, and as 
 he finally turned away for he did not wish to be 
 observed he understood better than ever that his 
 little daughter who could have no mother's care, stood 
 sadly in need of a father's. He admired Priscy's reti- 
 cence, so like the Pells, he told himself. He could 
 not have chosen for her friends so admirable as she 
 herself had won in Dorothy and the others, Still, 
 none of them had authority over her. And who was 
 this fellow? Yet whoever he was, at the best, Pris- 
 cilla was much too young; her father must have her 
 for himself for a while ; she must have her opportunity 
 to be a daughter before she should be won by a lover. 
 Suddenly, girlhood seemed sacred to him. That siege 
 which Dorothy Brooke had enjoined upon him should 
 be pushed more desperately than ever. He glanced 
 at the latter as she stood speaking to her brother's 
 guests, for such, in a sense, she had perceived that 
 they were, and as he turned away, his frown was still 
 deep. He did not like these newcomers. 
 
 " Now, attention ! " Rex called insistently. " I
 
 196 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 think this advertisement is very striking." And after 
 a brief explanation of the situation, he read the notice 
 with an air of pride. "What's the matter with it?" 
 he asked turning to his audience who had suspended 
 conversation to listen. 
 
 " It is very striking," commented Raynor. " But it 
 strikes me that it strikes in the wrong place." 
 
 "In what place?" 
 
 " I should have said ' in the wrong places/ Now, 
 'something small and movable of great value/ No- 
 body calls a child something small and movable of 
 great value. We apply that to jewels." 
 
 " Oh, you'll get a black mark in your history, Ray- 
 nor." 
 
 " Indeed ! That's what you do yourself, Brooke 
 get black marks in your history, or you would if they 
 marked at all," flashed back the other. 
 
 " I'm sure Cornelia did ; she called her children her 
 jewels," went on Rex, too well accustomed to Ray- 
 nor's style of retort to heed it. 
 
 "Oh, to be sure if you motor back to Roman 
 days," admitted Raynor. 
 
 "Yes; it was of her I was thinking; I must have 
 been," pursued Rex. " That's the way Dah-dah's 
 mamma will feel, I'm confident; that's why I thought 
 it would attract her attention. Oh, I know what I'm 
 about. Now, what's the other strike in the wrong 
 place?" 
 
 " Proving property and paying charges," pro- 
 nounced Raynor. "What an absurd way to speak 
 of a child!"
 
 HONK! HONK! 197 
 
 " But you said just now that according to the first 
 part of the advertisement, it was a jewel; and that 
 fits jewels exactly. I tell you I'm all right. Come, 
 Norcross, give me a puff. Authors like puffs." 
 
 " I was thinking/' answered the young man, " that 
 the best way to clear up the tangle between jewels 
 and babies would be to have you stand in turn before 
 the different newspaper offices with the infant on your 
 shoulder, after the manner of the figures of Indians 
 at cigar stores. That would make plain what you 
 did mean." 
 
 A flash of anger shot into Rex's eyes. But the next 
 moment he laughed, and catching up Bab, placed her 
 on his shoulder in a pose so attractive that an involun- 
 tary exclamation of pleasure went through the group. 
 The young man and the little child were all the more 
 charming when Bab looking up into the face of her 
 captor, stroked his cheek and said : " Unc ! Unc ! " 
 
 "That's the second time she's said it. You, cer- 
 tainly, do remind her of a relative of hers," said 
 Lulu. 
 
 " But what has Longley to say to all this?" ques- 
 tioned Norcross. " It seems to me he ought to have 
 a voice." 
 
 " Oh, no ; he has his vote with the rest of you," 
 retorted Rex; "and that's all he is entitled to. He 
 saved the child's life, and that's enough for him." 
 
 " And when am I going to have a chance to speak? " 
 questioned Miss Knowles. 
 
 " I do ask your pardon," cried the young man peni- 
 tently. " I forgot that there was more than my side.
 
 198 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 You should have begun, by all means. We are 
 silent." 
 
 But, even then, she was not allowed to put in her 
 plea. For Bab set up a piteous wail, and when Rex 
 in place of returning her, strove to comfort her, Miss 
 Knowles remembered that the dear little thing was 
 hungry, and disappeared leading Bab. At the door she 
 looked over her shoulder to declare that she cared for 
 only one thing to have Bab's parents found. 
 
 "Yes, I was wondering," returned Rex as a part- 
 ing shot, " if, instead of ' found ' I shouldn't have said 
 * lost ' and advertised for papa and mamma ? The 
 baby is found, anyway; it's the others who are miss- 
 ing." 
 
 Dorothy stood watching her brother, enjoying his 
 fun and proud of his cleverness and good temper. 
 But she saw that Ned, although amused, was no't 
 satisfied, and said so to him. 
 
 " It's very bright indeed," he answered ; " but, 
 thanks to Miss Knowles, it's not plain. But there must 
 be a call for Dah-dah in to-morrow morning's papers. 
 
 Too bad there was nobody to go to A about her 
 
 to-day. There shall be to-morrow. There is some- 
 thing odd about this affair." 
 
 Toward noon of the day following Rex's telephon- 
 ing his advertisement to the dailies of A and his 
 
 arranging to have the answers forwarded to Ned 
 whose initials he had signed to the advertisement, he 
 came into the office as Ned springing from a motor 
 car at the hotel door ran in for his mail.
 
 HONK! HONK! 199 
 
 " Hello, Longley ! Where on earth have you been 
 all the morning?" he called. 
 
 " I ran down to A to look up Dah-dah's record 
 
 and especially her parents. But I could find 
 nothing." 
 
 " You must have started at peep of dawn ! " 
 
 " I had an early breakfast. I'm worried about the 
 little thing. And so is mamma." 
 
 " I saw that she was. I suppose the only reason 
 why you didn't go yesterday was because you were 
 physically unable to do it." 
 
 " I suppose it was," said the other receiving his 
 mail. 
 
 "Well! You've a stack of letters," cried 1 Rex. 
 " There may be something about lost babies among 
 them." 
 
 " Some replies," answered the latter, opening them. 
 " But no information. Nobody has hit it." 
 
 "All private and confidential?" questioned Nor- 
 cross approaching. " I should like to know what 
 they made out of Brooke's enigma." 
 
 " So should I," said Rex, " if I should not be con- 
 sidered prying and impertinent." 
 
 Ned looked up from the last reply and laughed. 
 " Hardly ! " he returned, " about a matter which con- 
 cerns us all. Everybody all of us, I mean should 
 hear them ; but there's nothing here that we want." 
 
 " ' All of us/ " announced Rex, " are in the east par- 
 lor with your mother." 
 
 "Come then," said Ned. And the young fellows 
 joined the group about Mrs. Longley. The morning
 
 200 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 had been showery and everyone had been hoping that 
 after luncheon it would clear. 
 
 " Several answers about ' something small and of 
 great value/ " began Ned. " Would you like to hear 
 them?" 
 
 " Of course not!" laughed Priscy. "How can you 
 keep us waiting?" 
 
 " ' Dear Sir/ says the first one I opened, ' I have 
 lost something small and of great value a diamond 
 stick pin. But as I lost it two months ago and have 
 advertised in vain, I despaired of ever hearing of it. 
 If it is this to which you refer (advertisement en- 
 closed), I am ready to prove property and pay all rea- 
 sonable charges/ ' 
 
 " I've been wanting to get rid of an old paste thing 
 given me as a mark of especial regard," declared Win- 
 der. " I couldn't have a better opportunity. I might 
 make a little out of the transaction, as the pin cost me 
 nothing. How would you do it, Longley?" 
 
 "As you like it," retorted Ned turning with a 
 laugh to the second answer. Yet, although he joined 
 in the fun, he was far from feeling gleeful at re- 
 ceiving no news of Bab. 
 
 "This one says," he went on, "that he dropped 
 a roll of bills three days ago, and hopes that we have 
 found it. He's not sure of the exact amount; origi- 
 nally, it was three hundred dollars; but his wife had 
 asked him for some money and he had taken out a 
 part and handed to her without counting how much 
 it was ; she must know, however, but he could not get 
 her now by telephone, she had gone out; as soon as
 
 HONK! HONK! 201 
 
 he went home he would go over her part with her 
 and let us know as soon as he heard from us, how 
 much it was that in some way he had pulled out of 
 
 his pocket in the street in A , and we had picked 
 
 up!" 
 
 " Ha ! ha ! ha ! " roared Raynor. " Wives with their 
 inaccuracies are mighty convenient sometimes ha! 
 ha!" The others laughed as heartily, if not as 
 noisily. 
 
 "Another is looking up some lost papers of value 
 and hopes we have found them," said Ned. And he 
 read the third response. " ' These papers, small, mov- 
 able and of great value, have something to do with a 
 will case,' the note says." 
 
 " What a lark ! " cried Raynor. " He must think 
 you lighted on a lawyer's green bag." 
 
 Here Bab interrupted by running up to Rex. " Up 
 on ou holder ! Up on ou holder ! " she pleaded, purs- 
 ing up her little face to cry if her pleadings were not 
 answered. 
 
 " This thing small and movable and of great value 
 has something to do with a will case, sure enough 
 or a case of will!" said the young fellow swinging 
 the child to his shoulder and dancing her there until 
 she ^creamed with delight. " Come, Dah-dah, tell 
 us your name. There! Listen! She doesn't say 
 ' Dah ' ; she says, ' Bah-bah ! ' " he asserted as the little 
 one responded. 
 
 "Unc! unc !" she added. "Oumyunc! Pooty 
 unc!" And she patted Rex's face, while a roar of 
 laughter from his college mates caused him to color
 
 202 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 with vexation. He set the child down with hasty 
 gentleness and slipped to the outside of the circle. 
 
 "Brooke bears a striking resemblance to the un- 
 known uncle," asserted Winder. " We all perceive 
 that must be so, Miss Hewes." He glanced admir- 
 ingly at Rose who sat beside Mrs. Longley and busied 
 herself with fancy work. He had heard that she was 
 an artist and he thought her extremely pretty, which 
 was true, and he was considering how pleasant it 
 would be to teach her to find him fascinating, as in 
 his heart he believed that he really was. 
 
 "Is there anything more in the note?" asked Ned's 
 mother as the latter turned back to it. " That sounds 
 to me genuine." 
 
 "Yes; a little more. The writer says that these 
 papers have among them a just will which would 
 overthrow an earlier one founded on a mistake. He 
 believed that they had been stolen, for the sake of this 
 will, and he is very thankful if we have them. He 
 adds a string of names by which to verify the docu- 
 ments." 
 
 " How I wish we did have them ! " cried Dorothy. 
 " How fine it would be to set matters straight. A 
 will case ! That would interest papa." 
 
 " Papa ! " echoed Bab. " Mamma ! " she cried jiext. 
 " Bab wants majnma." 
 
 " There ! " cried Rose. " I understood that. Her 
 name is * Bab/ ' 
 
 "Bab what?" said Priscy. "What's Bab's other 
 name, baby? Bab Bab what?" 
 
 But nothing came out of the silence of expectation
 
 CATCHING UP BAB, HE PLACED HER UPON HIS SHOULDER.
 
 HONK! HONK! 203 
 
 that fell upon the group except the child's reiterated 
 " Unc ! unc ! " as she turned back again to Rex. 
 
 " Her first name is ' Bab,' and she's fond of her 
 uncle especially, when he's Brooke," asserted Ray- 
 nor. "And having gained so much, let us take her 
 home!" 
 
 " Any more letters ? " asked Dorothy. 
 
 "A lady has lost her chatelaine; a gentleman, an 
 amethyst seal; another, a ring." And Ned ran 
 through a list of articles of a similar nature. 
 
 " You see, Brooke," cried Norcross, " nobody has 
 a glimmer of an idea what you meant." 
 
 " Too bad there are no bright people in the world," 
 said Rex tranquilly. 
 
 " Don't be too sure of that," retorted Ned. " Here 
 is one letter saying that by the small thing being 
 movable, the writer believes it must be a little child ! " 
 
 " Ha ! ha ! Norcross ! There you are. I'm glad 
 I'm not too deep for anybody to fathom." 
 
 " On the contrary " began Winder. 
 
 "Was that a man, or a woman, Ned?" asked his 
 mother. 
 
 " A woman," he answered glancing at the signature. 
 " But we're not any nearer the riddle of who this baby 
 is; and this is the second day since she was lost. I 
 never heard of anything so strange." 
 
 "You see, you needn't be afraid of her being kid- 
 napped, Miss Knowles," said Rex. " Nobody wants 
 her." 
 
 The lady shut her mouth in a firm line and made no 
 response. But she resolved that Bab should not go
 
 204 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 begging not even if she were to carry out a 
 plan which had come to her more than once, namely, 
 to adopt the child herself. It was surprising how 
 much the care of the little thing improved her. 
 
 That afternoon Ned received a message by tele- 
 phone from Jimmy.
 
 XIX 
 
 PRISCY SPEAKS 
 
 THAT evening Ned wrote to his father. 
 
 " I wonder where you are to-night ? " he began. " It 
 makes you seem so out of chatting distance to remem- 
 ber that this may find you in Chicago, or may have 
 to be forwarded much further on. 
 
 " My most important news is that to-day mamma 
 came downstairs for the first time since her accident. 
 She still limps a very little ; but the doctor thinks that 
 she will get over that soon if she is very careful; in- 
 deed, he emphasizes that, for he is so anxious she 
 should feel no after-effects of her fall ; so, he has kept 
 her from using her foot, except lately a very little, on 
 a level. 
 
 " When she came down, the girls had a great 
 bouquet of wild flowers on a stand beside her chair, 
 and there was one specimen new to her. I think she 
 was as much delighted with that as with being down- 
 stairs again. Dorothy you remember Miss Brooke 
 who visited Grace last winter? was eager to pro- 
 claim that it was Rose Hewes, the budrfing artist 
 Grace wrote you about, who found the specimen. I 
 never saw anybody who enjoys hearing other people 
 praised more than Dorothy does. She is a fine friend 
 for Grace. 
 
 205
 
 206 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 "Three college friends of Brooke's have arrived; 
 so, you may imagine we're a merry set. I don't like 
 any of them as well as I do him, and I shouldn't, if 
 I had known them twice as long; indeed, one the 
 short fellow I actually dislike. But, taken all to- 
 gether, they certainly make it lively. 
 
 "You know, we always believed Reid had a good 
 deal in him. Some of it has come out. We've been 
 having quite a circus here. I have waited to tell you 
 until I had something further to say something bet- 
 ter, I hoped. Now I have it thanks to Jimmy ! The 
 other day Manson ran off with the motor car." Here 
 followed a full account of the affair. " Reid went 
 after him, and has captured both car and chauffeur," 
 
 wrote Ned. " He is bringing them back to A , also 
 
 a young woman whom Manson has just married and 
 was taking on her wedding trip in your car. Jimmy 
 telephoned the news of the capture late this afternoon, 
 and asked what he should do when they all got back to 
 
 A again? Of course, it was impossible to get at 
 
 you; and mamma and I had to decide. Manson was 
 in the act of selling the machine when he was caught 
 pretending to the purchaser that he was doing it on 
 commission for the owner. But he had not actually 
 done it, that is, he had not delivered the car. And 
 there was the poor little girl who, of course, knew 
 nothing of the truth. As we had the motor car back 
 in good condition, it seemed best to let Manson go, 
 especially, on account of Mrs. Manson. There is one 
 thing more to tell you in this connection. It was 
 stupid in me to do it, since from the first I did not
 
 PRISCY SPEAKS 207 
 
 have a good opinion of the fellow; but I advanced 
 Manson a part of his wages the very day before he 
 went off, because he begged the favor of me ; he had 
 a plausible story which ought not to have imposed 
 upon me, and he borrowed the car in the rain and 
 came back with it. I saw him that night; but not 
 again. But as I did it, I'll foot the loss, if you say 
 so; only, if you do say so, I shall be glad if I may 
 make it up in instalments. Somehow, when one goes 
 pleasuring, there are always so many things to spend 
 money for. I gave Manson bills instead of a check, 
 and I knew that he would deny the whole thing to 
 me, as he did to Reid, for I had had no witness. So 
 I didn't spend time .over it, but telephoned Jimmy to 
 say that I presented it to the bride as a wedding gift! 
 Poor little thing ! She will need that and a great deal 
 more before she has lived long with Manson. 
 
 " Now we are out of a chauffeur. I have wired 
 Gardner; we have a pull on him because he recom- 
 mended Manson, and we'll have him if we can. I 
 told him subject to your approval that if he would 
 come to us now, he should finish out his vacation 
 later. He may be away from home at present and 
 not get word at once. But I think that we shall hear 
 in a few days at most ; and mamma is not quite ready 
 to start yet. When we do start, for her sake we 
 ought to have our own man, if possible. 
 
 " Grace said she wrote you about the baby on the 
 track. I was a little jarred. That's why we could 
 not look up the baby's home at once ; and why Jimmy 
 went after Manson without letting me know when he
 
 208 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 started. We put an advertisement for the lost baby 
 
 in every daily in A , I should have said for the 
 
 ' found ' baby. But we all think it very strange that 
 we can't find yet any notice of the loss of a baby in 
 any of the city papers. Mamma and all the others say 
 that it is a child of persons well off, because its fine 
 clothes give evidence of that. But, poor little mite, 
 nobody seems to want it, except one of our party, 
 Miss Knowles, who guards it day and night with 
 dragon-like devotion, so that the rest of us have to 
 get glimpses of it as we can and it's the prettiest and 
 brightest little creature. ' Dah-dah,' or ' Bah-bah,' she 
 calls herself or that's the nearest that we can get 
 to her name. She talks a good deal in her way ; but 
 she cannot speak plainly, and we cannot get any help 
 out of her. 
 
 "I am anxious about the little thing. I went to 
 
 A this morning ; but could find no clew. We must 
 
 get it home at once. I'm beginning to think it was 
 lost on purpose. I wanted to follow up Brooke's ad- 
 vertisement with another immediately. But I did not 
 like to be rude to him; and I was sure that every 
 paper I took up would have a call for Dah-dah. But 
 now I wish that I had not lost an hour's time. For I 
 must say I thought that the most absurd advertisement 
 that even Brooke could concoct. I did not see how 
 anybody could get anything out of it, though it was 
 very funny for a joke. 
 
 " That's the worst of Brooke and it seems to be 
 the only bad thing about him, but it's bad enough 
 his fun runs away with him and he doesn't know when
 
 PRISCY SPEAKS 209 
 
 to stop. His sister, now, has the finest sense of pro- 
 portion and of the fitness of things." 
 
 Ned by refusing Jimmy's offer to bring the party, 
 policeman and all, to be confronted by Mrs. Longley 
 and himself, had cut off the positive information con- 
 cerning Bab which Delia would gladly have given. 
 For nothing was further from her desires than injury 
 to the child, or sorrow to its mother. 
 
 " Reid has found a chauffeur to bring up the car 
 and they will be here with it about noon," announced 
 Ned coming from the telephone the following morn- 
 ing. 
 
 "Three cheers and a tiger for Reid!" cried Nor- 
 cross. "What will you add to that, Miss Pell?" He 
 was beside her as he had been since breakfast and 
 intended to be during the walk and climb of a neigh- 
 boring cliff for which the young people were start- 
 ing. 
 
 It puzzled him not a little to know what were the 
 relations between Miss Pell and her father; certainly, 
 they were not normal. Pell-Mell received the young 
 man's attentions with a nonchalance which turned to 
 somewhat more of cordiality when she perceived her 
 father's eye upon her. But Norcross with all his 
 good opinion of himself comprehended that Priscy 
 was too young to be more than amused and mildly 
 interested. That morning he bowed to Colonel Pell 
 who entered the office as the others were leaving it; 
 he fancied that Priscy had not seen her father, but he 
 could not be sure, for she turned suddenly silent and
 
 2io DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 they went on for several minutes without her answer- 
 ing her companion in more than monosyllables, and 
 sometimes not at all. Then she waked up. She, 
 certainly, could be most entertaining. 
 
 It was on her return about two hours later that her 
 father came up from a narrow path in the woods near 
 the hotel, and with greeting to the party, said to her : 
 
 " Priscilla, I want to speak to you. I trust that your 
 friends will kindly excuse you a few minutes." 
 
 As the girl silently left her companions and joined 
 him, Dorothy flushed and then grew pale with alter- 
 nate hope and fear. Would there be reconciliation ; or 
 a wider breach? Her heart lifted for an instant in a 
 prayer that things might come right between the two. 
 She recognized the authority in Colonel Pell's voice 
 and that Priscy, being his daughter, had no choice 
 but to obey. She looked after them both as they 
 turned away and the words she was saying to Rose 
 Hewes tripped for an instant. Then she recovered 
 herself and tried to keep the talk from turning upon 
 the dear friend whose welfare she had so much at 
 heart and who was going on to meet a great crisis. 
 But she could not keep herself from wondering if this 
 were another move in the siege of his daughter's heart 
 that Colonel Pell was carrying on? Was it to be a 
 summons to surrender? And would Pell-Mell do it? 
 
 Colonel Pell led the way in silence until they came 
 to a rustic seat under an elm on one of the by-paths. 
 "Let us sit here, Priscilla," he said. 
 
 Pell-Mell could not speak. She was angry; yet she 
 was awed by her father's manner. And something
 
 PRISCY SPEAKS 211 
 
 neither awe nor anger was in her heart also ; she could 
 not read it. From under her long lashes she glanced 
 at the man beside her with a sense of pride in him. 
 If only he had been different in some ways, how glad 
 she would have been to have him her father! And 
 he could be so very kind when he tried. Then she 
 recalled that the occasions when he had not tried were 
 those which had changed two lives most sadly, and 
 resentment was again uppermost in her thoughts. 
 
 She did not dream that he, too, was embarrassed; 
 that in his silence he was trying to find that gate to his 
 little daughter's heart which was the least rigidly 
 guarded. He had studied science a great deal; but 
 he had never studied girls, not even the girl-wife with 
 whom years ago he had been for a time really in love. 
 His authority had brought Priscy there in order that 
 he might speak to her uninterruptedly. He had her 
 obedience; but he wanted her love, and authority 
 would never win him that. How should he make 
 her, not his subject, but his daughter? At the mo- 
 ment his sins of coldness and neglect came back to 
 him and dimmed his vision and tied his tongue. He 
 could not see the clear path; the simple word he 
 did not know how to speak. And the longer they sat 
 there silent, the more she hardened her heart against 
 him. 
 
 " How long are you to be the guest of Miss Brooke, 
 Priscilla?" he asked finally. 
 
 " Only a week after we get back to her home," she 
 answered him. 
 
 " And then where do you go ? "
 
 212 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 " I go back to Hosmer Hall ; a few pupils stay 
 there for a part, or the whole of their vacation." 
 
 " Those who have no parents, or whose parents are 
 at a distance ? " he asked. 
 
 " I think that is it," returned Priscy. Her heart 
 was beating fast. She felt what was coming. 
 
 It came. "Your parents that is, both of them 
 are not dead," he answered. "Nor is the living one 
 at a distance. There is no reason why you should 
 return to Hosmer Hall until school opens. There is 
 no reason why you should not come from Miss 
 Brooke's home to me your father Priscilla." He 
 spoke calmly from habit and by an effort ; but he held 
 his breath as he listened for her answer. 
 
 "There is a reason why I should return to the 
 school ; why I should not come to you," said Priscy. 
 
 " What is the reason ? " he asked. 
 
 She did not reply, and he would not press her then 
 for an answer. "I believe," she said after a pause, 
 " that if I were the same ignorant, unkempt girl your 
 neglect made me, you would not want me to-day." 
 
 "I sent you to school to get the better of those 
 misfortunes, Priscilla, to the best school I knew of." 
 
 " Yes ; it was the only way you could get rid of 
 your daughter. They were good to me there," she 
 went on. "But I can read it all backward now, and 
 I see that but for Dorothy Brooke, there would have 
 been no place for me and I should never have been 
 even what I am to-day. Then, when I became 
 acquainted with the girls at the school, I found out 
 that most of them had fathers who did not think quite
 
 PRISCY SPEAKS 213 
 
 all they had to do was to pay their daughters' bills. 
 I'm grateful to you for doing that, it belongs to a 
 gentleman and I try to pay you by behaving like a 
 gentleman's daughter. But I think I can do it better 
 away from you; I keep remembering so many things 
 when I see you." 
 
 '' You are more unforgiving than even my family," 
 he said. " Have I really been so bad to you as that ? 
 It was bad enough to let you alone yes, I am ashamed 
 of it." His voice sank into silence. 
 
 "It's not for myself alone," cried Priscy. "But 
 you remember " 
 
 He flashed around at her with sudden animation. 
 " Ah ! you are angry because I have married again ! " 
 he cried. 
 
 " No, that is not so ! " cried the girl. " I know you 
 had a perfect right to marry again. I hope you will 
 be happy now. I know you never were with my 
 mother." 
 
 "Oh, yes!" he answered "very happy at first. 
 She was very beautiful and we loved one another." 
 
 Suddenly, the girl's eyes blazed. She turned upon 
 her father sharply. 
 
 " And you leave the wife you say you once loved 
 lying in an unmarked grave ! " she cried. " I can 
 never, never, never forget that. She always loved 
 you, to the very last when she knew anything. If 
 in her life, you treated her as you have treated me, 
 it was no wonder you had no influence over her." 
 
 He sighed. "Poor child! you don't understand," 
 he said. " But, Priscilla, you are mistaken. Your
 
 214 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 mother's grave is marked as that of my beloved wife. 
 It was done before you went to school." 
 
 " Before you married the second wife," revised 
 Priscy. 
 
 " Certainly," he answered gently. Possibly, this 
 had been the bar of separation. 
 
 " Oh, I am glad ! " said the girl with a sob. " She 
 was very, very wrong; but but I always felt you 
 hated us both." 
 
 " Poor little girl ! " he sighed again. " I'm afraid 
 I have been cruel." For him, admired, praised, sought 
 after, for him of whom criticism was rare and diffi- 
 dent, to have confessed so much as this was a con- 
 cession that, he felt, should have opened wide to him 
 the gates of forgiveness. As he watched the little 
 downcast face, the mouth drawn into sad and tender 
 lines, tears dropping slowly from the brimming eyes, 
 he thought that he had won. He longed to put his 
 arm about her, to draw her to him, to call her his 
 dear little daughter and kiss away the tears. If only 
 he had done it! But what he believed a wise instinct 
 withheld him. The Pells were not given to gush he 
 did not want to risk a repulse. So, he sat waiting 
 until she had recovered herself. Then he said, still 
 gently : " My dear child, tell me why you think that 
 you should not come to me and to Mrs. Pell who 
 longs to welcome you?" 
 
 Ah ! That was it ! Mrs. Pell longed to welcome her ! 
 Because the proud woman wanted a young person in 
 the house to make it more attractive to her guests, to 
 bring other young people there. Priscy recalled her
 
 PRISCY SPEAKS 215 
 
 first convictions. Here was no interest in her no 
 love ; it was all policy. Her father's heart was as cold 
 as it had always been ; he was only scheming to please 
 his wife. The girl's expression hardened so that her 
 father wondered as he watched her. 
 
 "You will be angry if I tell you," she returned 
 coldly. 
 
 " Nevertheless, say it I insist," he repeated as she 
 still hesitated. 
 
 Priscy fixed her eyes upon his face and answered: 
 "The reason is that, though everybody else admires 
 and flatters you, and I admire your learning, I don't 
 respect you; I can't forget what you have done, I 
 can't love you ; I don't believe in you." 
 
 " This is too much ! " 
 
 He was so angry that he could not say another 
 word. He, the courted, the honored, he who on cer- 
 tain subjects was appealed to from all over the world 
 he, not to be believed in by his own daughter! To 
 have humbled himself, and to be so insulted ! 
 
 He rose. 
 
 Priscy sprang up with a stifled sob; and, silently, 
 the two walked to the hotel. At the steps he lifted his 
 hat and left her. 
 
 Dorothy from her window saw the parting, and 
 her heart sank. 
 
 "May I come in?" said Priscy's voice a minute 
 later as she knocked at the door. 
 
 Sitting on the floor, her head in Dorothy's lap and 
 with the girl's gentle hand stroking her hair, Priscy 
 poured forth her story of the interview.
 
 2i6 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 " Pell-Mell, you make a great mistake," said Doro- 
 thy; and as the other looked up at her eagerly, she 
 added : " I am sure he does love you ; I have seen it." 
 
 "No! no!" said Priscy. "He is my father," she 
 sobbed; "but he only wants me for convenience. I 
 do want to love him. But I can't." 
 
 " Indeed, you can, Pell-Mell," returned Dorothy 
 confidently. She was always scrupulous not to repeat 
 what had been said to her in confidence, so that even 
 now, she did not feel at liberty to repeat to Priscy 
 what had passed between Colonel Pell and herself ; but 
 she did tell that he had spoken of her in such a way 
 that it was plain that he loved his daughter and desired 
 her affection. 
 
 "He is my father," repeated Priscy "the only 
 person very near to me I have in the world. I 
 really do so want to love him but I never can." 
 
 Dorothy stooped and touched the other's forehead 
 with her lips. 
 
 "Pell-Mell, you've begun now to love him," she 
 answered. 
 
 " Oh, I hope not ! " cried Priscy with a sob. " For 
 now he will never forgive me."
 
 XX 
 
 A FRANTIC MOTHER 
 
 "SnURE, an' is he niver comin'?" quavered Mar- 
 garet, the cook, her eyes shining through tears as 
 she gazed into the distressed face of Nell. " An' that 
 wicked Delia runnin' off till no one knows what- 
 iver's become of her, an' she the only one knowin' to 
 where Mrs. Ridgeway is to be found ! But, shure, an' 
 that may be a mercy, for what would the poor little 
 woman do with her nerves that makes her sick if 
 baby just gives a cough or two, for fear of the croup? 
 An' now oh, it's dreadful, Nell! I should think 
 you'd be out of your head with havin* been the one 
 that's all to blame." 
 
 " An* where does Delia come in then? " cried Nell 
 "bad luck to her, the lyin' cratur! But if only he 
 would come back ! " she went on, too absorbed in the 
 misfortune that had befallen them to defend herself 
 with her usual spirit 
 
 "Oh, he's no account, anyway. When you take 
 his nose out of his books, he can't see six inches 
 straight afore him!" returned the cook. "An' me 
 preparin' his meals ivery time since yisterday mornin', 
 an' niver a sight of him, an* he wint off a-Winsday 
 mornin' right after his lunch, an' here it is a-Friday 
 an' his lunch all ready an' where is the man ? " 
 
 "I'm afraid to death to see him," said Nell; "but 
 
 217
 
 218 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 for all, he's the one I want most to see. My eyes are 
 most out of my head with cryin'," she added. " But 
 it's little I'd care for that if the cryin' would a-done 
 any good. Poor little lamb, whatever can have be- 
 come of her? In the old country they'd have said 
 the fairies had stolen her. I'd say 'twas the gypsies, 
 but I ain't seen any round have you, Meg?" she 
 asked with a flash of hope. 
 
 But Margaret shook her head. " There ain't a 
 thing we can do now," she declared, "but wait for 
 that man that'll always leave the blessedest one in the 
 world that's our baby to run after a book what's 
 a book, anyway ! I niver see such a man." 
 
 "An' I niver want to again," chimed in Nell. " But 
 what's that noise? The key in the door! Oh, what 
 if it should be Mrs. Ridgeway? I'm that frightened, 
 I can't move. Run and peep, Meg." 
 
 " Here I am at last ! " said a cheerful voice as Pro- 
 fessor Griswold having let himself into the house and 
 thrown his overcoat on a chair in the hall, stood look- 
 ing at the two maids. 
 
 "An', shure, sor, ye 're a sight for sore eyes!" 
 retorted Margaret. " An' ye away all this time, an* 
 we niver know where to find ye," she added with a 
 disposition, as she put it to herself, to give it to him, 
 strong upon her. 
 
 Professor Griswold had dignity; but he was hum- 
 ble and any one might tell him his faults. As he 
 looked at the cook, reinforced by the presence of Nell, 
 he asked wonderingly : " And why should you want 
 to be told where I was? "
 
 A FRANTIC MOTHER 219 
 
 "An' why is it, do ye ask me?" cried the cook, 
 her voice gaining shrillness with her earnestness. " An', 
 shure, isn't the mistress away, an' the master. An' 
 what are we to do, shure, if anythin' happens?" 
 
 " Why," returned the professor, his eyes twinkling, 
 "what can happen with two efficient maids no, I 
 think there are three of you in the house, to look 
 after baby and everything what can happen, I say? " 
 
 " There ain't three, sir," cried Nell eagerly. " The 
 baby's nurse has run off with a young feller a-comin' 
 for her in an auto, an' me an' Meg is all that's left." 
 
 " And Bab ; you don't forget Bab," he said. 
 
 " Oh, an' shure ! " groaned Margaret, and was 
 silent, while Nell lifted tear-stained eyes to his. 
 
 The professor was startled. He woke up. 
 
 "What's wrong?" he cried. "What's the matter 
 with Bab? Speak, and don't stand glowering at me 
 without a word! What is it, Nell? What has hap- 
 pened?" 
 
 But his energy frightened them as much as his de- 
 lays had angered. 
 
 "An', shure, the little darlint," began Margaret 
 and stopped and looked at her companion who stood 
 without being able to utter a word. 
 
 " What about her ? Isn't she well ? " cried the pro- 
 fessor in dismay. 
 
 " Shure, an' we don't know, sir," said Nell jat last. 
 
 " You don't know ! " cried the man. " What's the 
 meaning of this? But you must know, of course. 
 Go and bring her to me, then go at once," he added 
 as Nell stood looking at him helplessly.
 
 220 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 " An', shure, I'll fly at the top of me speed, sir, 
 if ye'll only tell me where to go," she said. 
 
 " * Where to go? ' " echoed the professor. " Where 
 to go? WHERE TO GO! " he repeated, taking in at last 
 the full import of the words, and gasping. "You 
 mean, you don't know where to find her ? You mean, 
 she is LOST ! " 
 
 " That same," said Margaret. 
 
 The professor turned deadly pale. "When was 
 when did it happen?" he asked in a husky voice. 
 "Wednesday afternoon! And you've never told me 
 until now ! " 
 
 " Shure, where was we to git you? " retorted Mar- 
 garet. " You left us all alone with niver a word where 
 to send if you was needed. That's what I says to 
 you, sor, when you come in first." 
 
 "Oh, I see, I see," said the professor. "If I had 
 intended to be away when I left the house Wednesday, 
 I should have told you. But something sudden turned 
 up that took me out of town and kept me longer than 
 I expected and, the truth is, I forgot Mrs. Ridge- 
 way was absent. You sent word to her?" he added, 
 between hope that some one had been on the child's 
 track and dread of the effect of the news upon his 
 delicate sister. 
 
 " An', shure, sor, Delia was the only one that knew 
 where to send, an' she went off just about the time 
 you did. We've been a-prayin' the saints for you to 
 come back." 
 
 The professor groaned. "Haven't you done any- 
 thing?" he inquired sharply "advertised the child
 
 A FRANTIC MOTHER 221 
 
 in the newspapers ? told the police that she was 
 lost?" 
 
 " One of the neighbors offered to advertise for us," 
 returned Nell. "But we was afraid you wouldn't 
 like it, an' we was lookin' for you every minute, sir. 
 If we'd a-known you was to be gone so long, we'd 
 a-risked it. But we did tell the police the nex' morn- 
 in'." 
 
 "An* a friend of Nell's come straight up an' did 
 everything he could think of," explained the cook. 
 " He said they hadn't had a word about a baby bein' 
 found, an' it must be a case of kidney, I think it was 
 he called it." 
 
 " Kidnapping," returned the professor, his face, if 
 possible, more grave than ever. "But did either of 
 you look in the papers to see if a child had been 
 found?" 
 
 " That we did, sir," cried Nell ; " an' niver a thing 
 like it was there. People had found jewelry and 
 things like that, but not a word about a baby." 
 
 " I see," answered the professor, more than ever 
 convicted of the sin of absent-mindedness, and perceiv- 
 ing that this time he would have to answer for it at a 
 price too frightful to dwell upon without unnerving 
 him for action. " Tell me all about how it happened," 
 he said, turning from one to the other of the trembling 
 maids. " Don't hide anything ; for the better I know 
 exactly what took place, the more likely I am to be 
 able to trace Bab." His voice broke. 
 
 The women glanced at each other, and their look 
 said : " How he loves that baby ! "
 
 222 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 " Delia went off, sir, as I said," began Nell ; " an' 
 she asked me to take care of Bab for the day; she'd 
 be back that evenin'. Girls, you know, sir, does such 
 things for one another." 
 
 " I know," said the professor. " Go on." 
 
 Nell gave an account of her afternoon in the field, 
 shortening the time that she had really staid there, 
 and saying that she went into the house to get a 
 thicker wrap for Bab and came out again as soon as 
 she had found it, for she did not know where Delia 
 kept the baby's things. But when she returned Bab 
 had disappeared utterly. 
 
 " It does look like a case of kidnapping," said the 
 professor in answer to this garbled narrative. " Keep 
 your eyes and ears open, both of you, and I'll see 
 what can be done." 
 
 The next moment he had taken up his hat and 
 gone out again, leaving his forgotten luncheon which 
 the cook and Nell considered too good to allow to 
 spoil untasted. 
 
 As he quitted the house, he crossed the road and 
 stood looking into the field opposite and the railroad 
 beyond it. He shuddered. Then he put the thought 
 of terror out of his mind, lest it should keep him from 
 the power to do his best work in searching for the 
 child. 
 
 But in the files at the newspaper offices he found 
 no mention of any child having been run over by a 
 train, and this was consolation. The nurse had stolen 
 her for the reward, he was sure, knowing that the 
 mother would give anything to get Bab again; and
 
 A FRANTIC MOTHER 223 
 
 Delia's continued absence confirmed his belief. Thus, 
 instead of advertising in the evening papers for a child 
 lost, he put in a call to the maid who had left her 
 place suddenly and without warning, going off in an 
 automobile Wednesday, and who by returning would 
 hear something to her advantage. 
 
 "That may be the girl who ran off and married 
 Manson," laughed Ned as in a careful search of the 
 papers, he came across the professor's advertisement 
 the following morning. But how could he connect 
 this message with the advertisement for Bab which he 
 was constantly looking for? 
 
 That evening the professor was forced to telegraph 
 to his brother-in-law to break to his sister the news 
 that Bab was not quite well; not dangerous, but her 
 mother ought to know. She should hear again the 
 next morning. She must on no account come home 
 unless sent for. " I have learned nothing ; I must 
 break the news to her by degrees," he assured himself. 
 
 But in this attempt he was not successful. For at 
 three o'clock in the morning Mrs. Ridgeway arrived, 
 having taken the midnight train home the first one 
 after receiving the telegram. When she learned the 
 truth which her brother had not dared to telegraph, 
 for fear of its effect upon her, she inclined to his 
 belief as to Delia. 
 
 " Go after her ! " she cried to one and another of 
 those about her. " Look her up ! You must find her. 
 What are you all standing round here doing nothing 
 for? Give her any money everything I own. 
 What's that compared with one hour of my baby?"
 
 224 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 Her first comparative calmness due to her being 
 partially stunned by the news, over, she questioned the 
 maids, and, dwelling upon the possibilities of the rail- 
 road tracks, so close at hand, grew more and more 
 excited, until the doctor, hastily summoned, informed 
 the professor that Mrs. Ridgeway's case was serious 
 and that, unless some news of the child came soon, 
 he feared death, or insanity, for the mother. If the 
 baby was not found speedily, Mr. Ridgeway must be 
 sent for within twenty-four hours, whatever his 
 mother's condition. His place was here. 
 
 Meanwhile, a moment's rest was impossible to the 
 young mother. She demanded what the professor 
 had done? What the police had done? She insisted 
 upon seeing the papers. 
 
 " There must be some news about my baby, John," 
 she pleaded piteously. " Here ! here ! " she cried almost 
 joyously. " Listen to this ! It's in Thursday night's 
 and Friday's morning and evening editions; that 
 means business. They wouldn't do that for just 
 money, or diamonds, or anything like that! Some- 
 thing small, and very valuable, and movable ! " And 
 twice she read Rex's notice aloud. " That's a baby, 
 John. I'm a mother; I ought to know. Go and get 
 her for me now! now! Telephone the papers 
 immediately." 
 
 It was hard to have to tell her that the papers 
 would not give the address of the advertiser, but would 
 only forward all replies at once. 
 
 " I will go and see them in the morning, and ex- 
 plain," said her brother. " I'll get the address for
 
 A FRANTIC MOTHER 225 
 
 you and find Bab in the morning. Go to sleep 
 now." 
 
 " Sleep !'" she cried. " What time is it ? How 
 long before the newspaper offices open? You will be 
 there the instant they do, John ? " 
 
 "Is Bab nothing to me, Kitty?" he asked. 
 
 "Yes, yes, of course. But not as she is to me. 
 You'll be there, John?" 
 
 "If I'm alive," he answered her. 
 
 " I'm just sure that precious thing so valuable 
 can be nothing but my Bab. You'll see." 
 
 "Then you've not long to wait. Do try to rest," 
 he begged her. 
 
 " Rest ! " she shrieked. " Oh, John! Perhaps it is 
 not Bab! Then, what should I do? Then, I should 
 die." 
 
 " No, indeed ! " he answered with decision. " You 
 couldn't die. Of course, you'd have to live, to find 
 Bab. You'd try the next thing." 
 
 "What is the next thing?" she asked, fixing wild 
 eyes upon him. 
 
 But the poor professor did not know ; he made sug- 
 gestions that did not comfort her. 
 
 Thus the hours wore away, until at the first possible 
 moment he went upon his errand. 
 
 The editors, however, were not the obliging person- 
 ages he had imagined them ; they had duties to their 
 advertisers and adhered to their pledge to forward 
 answers immediately which in itself was an excep- 
 tion ; but the address they would not give. 
 
 At last, one editor, touched by the professor's story,
 
 226 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 offered to telephone for him. " It will cost you a little, 
 however," he explained. 
 
 " No matter what it costs ! " cried the professor. 
 
 " Um ! Not much head for business ! " commented 
 the other as he went to the instrument.
 
 XXI 
 
 FACE TO FACE AGAIN 
 
 "MOTHER, dear," wrote Dorothy, "I know you 
 don't object to my making up my letter in this scrappy 
 way, like a diary. For if I put down news and 
 notions as they come about, or pop into my head, 
 you get a great deal more than if I try to get every- 
 thing at once; and you get it as soon. Thursday: 
 Just now we're tied here by a threefold cord Mrs. 
 Longley who is gaining every day but not quite yet 
 able to start on our trip again, the doctor says, is one 
 strand. Then, Jimmy Reid is chasing Mrs. Longley's 
 chauffeur and is on his track, though we don't know 
 when he will get up with him that's strand number 
 two. The other one is the lack of a chauffeur. Ned 
 is going to have their own, if he can get him now. 
 But if we must be tied, we have about the best place 
 we could find to be tied in; the scenery is beautiful, 
 the company very pleasant some of it! the rooms 
 cheerful, and the table and service good. The only 
 trouble is that we get restless for want of something 
 to do, especially now that there is but one motor car. 
 
 " I told you about Ned Longley's bravery. Wasn't 
 it splendid! I shall never forget how we all felt 
 hurrying along by the track after the train had passed 
 and we didn't know what we should find. 
 
 227
 
 228 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 "Yon realty ought to see Miss Knowles with that 
 baby; she mothers it to perfection. They all laugh at 
 her; but nobody else would want to take all the trouble 
 she does; and when this afternoon the little one was 
 fll nothing of any consequence Miss Knowles was 
 perfectly devoted, and really did something for her 
 though Rose was with her, and, I imagine, did a 
 good deal of the real service. When the doctor came, 
 he said everybody had done the right thing, and Miss 
 Knowles was radiant; but Rose did not care for the 
 praise; all she wanted was to have Dah-dah, as we call 
 her, wen. 
 
 u Mother, Fm so thankful we did ask Rose, No- 
 body has been sweeter and more truly refined than she, 
 and you've no idea how quickly she has ' caught on ' 
 to little ways that perhaps she didn't fully know. And 
 then, she is a genius ! in the way to be a famous ar- 
 tist." There followed at some length a description 
 of the girl's work. " She says I may tell you that the 
 portrait of me is for you," added Dorothy. "And 
 now we must make her father give her opportunities 
 'we* means you, mother, with your faculty for 
 making people see things your way; you will just have 
 to persuade Mr. Hewes. The father is the difficulty; 
 Rose says that her mother would give her anything 
 in the world; but it's he who has the money and 
 means to keep it ! I was making Mrs. Longley laugh 
 at what you said last summer, that he had a ' nippy ' 
 nose. But, nose, or fists and they are 'grippy* 
 fee wiH have to give Rose her chance. Colonel Pell 
 says she is a real artist, but she needs no end of prac-
 
 FACE TO FACE AGAIN 229 
 
 tice. Fve set my heart on her having it she shall! 
 Now, yonTI see: Bat it* s you whom your little com- 
 rade counts on to accomplish tins and so many other 
 tilings, mother, dear. Just tefl me what you're doing, 
 and who is with yon now, and, most of all, if you are 
 all well? I there! do yon see that fine jagged down 
 the page? That's where I went to sleep writing and 
 my pen wrote on of itself evidently, it wasn't in- 
 spired! rflgotobed. Goodnight. 
 
 ef Friday: Jimmy Reid has caught the chauffeur and 
 has the car again in good order isn't he capable? He 
 will probably be here with it sometime to-morrow. 
 Rex advertised the baby in a Hind way though, we 
 all think. Thus far, no information, and no advertis- 
 ing a lost child, which we aH wonder at greatly. This 
 morning, very early, Ned went to A - to try to look 
 her up. But he had no success. Rex says if we don't 
 hear anything about the baby, Hiss Knowks wffl adopt 
 her, and be a happy woman the rest of her fife, and 
 it would be a pity to ruin such bliss! She certainly 
 has grown more thoughtful and restful in her own 
 she has had something to do. But I can 
 
 see that Ned is determined to find out where the child 
 belongs before we leave here. He's very restless about 
 it. He was talking it over with me to-day. 
 
 " Three of Rex's college friends came motoring up 
 yesterday. Mr. Noraoss whom you've heard some- 
 thing about, was highly delighted to find PeB-Mett hoe 
 and began to pay her attentions as he did last year at 
 school; he's very careful to be respectful, however, for 
 every once in a while I see Colonel Pefl gite him a
 
 230 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 look, and I'm sure Mr. Norcross sees it, too. Colonel 
 and Mrs. Pell leave here to-morrow, I hear. I can't 
 blame him for going away. Poor Priscy has not under- 
 stood him, or believed in him, and the talk between 
 them from which I hoped so much has only set them 
 further apart. The dear child half sees this now, and 
 I know she is grieving although she keeps her eyes 
 bright and her tongue keen before people. She doesn't 
 think me ' people ' though, and I know her heart aches. 
 I hoped so much. But then, you know, mother, I 
 never give up the ship. 
 
 "Mr. Winder, another of Rex's college mates I 
 won't say * friends' this time seemed greatly taken 
 with Rose. I knew he was only amusing himself, as 
 young fellows do to make the time pass more pleas- 
 antly, and so did she; he has not the brains to please 
 her, I'm sure; anyway, that was none of my affair. 
 But what makes me furious is that, to-day, when he 
 found out all about Rose that she was a farmer's 
 daughter, I mean, and hadn't had advantages, Miss 
 Knowles must have told him, nobody else would, not 
 that she meant anything, but she blunders when he 
 found out this, I was saying, you'd have thought my 
 lovely Rose was a hot coal that he had burned his 
 fingers with, he dropped her so ! It's only people who 
 have no standing themselves, as you say, mother, who 
 are afraid of being seen with people that are not swell ; 
 I've noticed that. 
 
 "The other one I mean Rex's other classmate 
 has taken a violent fancy to me to pass the time! 
 I'm beautiful, and I'm talented, and I'm altogether
 
 FACE TO FACE AGAIN 231 
 
 wonderful until I'm afraid that some day he'll find 
 out that I'm not polite! I joke with him to his heart's 
 content; it's good fun. Sometimes I'm tempted to 
 simper as if I believed him, just to see what he would 
 do next; but I can't quite make up my mind to it, 
 something keeps me back. I can see Rex watching 
 me; and then he laughs at Mr. Raynor, I think. 
 There is one thing though, that I cannot stand, and 
 will not whenever Ned Longley comes to have a talk 
 with me, Mr. Raynor glowers at him and then comes 
 and interrupts with an air as if Ned were an interloper. 
 I wanted to tell him yesterday that Mr. Longley and 
 I were talking business, only I didn't care to have 
 him know it; my work is too much to me to parade 
 it to the first person who says * good morning ' to me. 
 And really, mother, in spite of all the fun we've all 
 had on this trip, there has been something accom- 
 plished in the way of work ; for Ned and I are both in 
 dead earnest about it, and when one is, ways of doing 
 things open. We have found quiet nooks to talk over 
 plots for dramas. There has been a special reason 
 for doing it here ; when Mrs. Longley hurt her ankle, 
 she and all the others wanted us to get up something 
 to amuse them while we were waiting here. They 
 named us the dramatists and insisted on our doing it. 
 Ned said it was a good opportunity to get experience 
 in the practical part of the art; so we've been trying 
 to get a little farce into shape to act while we are 
 here. I'm frightened, and I believe he is, but he 
 would rather be shot than own it; so I smile very 
 carefully to myself at his courage there is no doubt
 
 232 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 as to his real courage and we have written out a 
 great part of a play and will have it finished in a few 
 hours' good, hard work. We've talked over who 
 could act the parts; some did not seem to fit any of 
 us; but now that Rex's friends have come, there's no 
 trouble; they know how, and they'll be too glad of 
 the fun. I suggested it to Mr. Raynor this morning, 
 and since then he takes it for granted that every 
 time Ned speaks to me we're talking over the play, 
 and up he comes and joins in. Rex says, however, 
 that Mr. Norcross is the trump card. If we do any- 
 thing, it must be in a very few days ; for we shall not 
 be here long now. In the next letter I'm going to 
 tell you the name of the farce and all I can about it; 
 but I want to have those hours of work first, so that 
 I may be sure that there is to be something, after all. 
 
 " Saturday: At last, I have some real news for you ! 
 And as soon as I have told it, I shall send off my 
 letter, not to keep you waiting. You'll be ' awfully ' 
 interested. Mother, the real * Monsieur L'Imprevu ' 
 has arrived!! 
 
 " It was so beautiful this morning I couldn't stay 
 in my room, though I did want to be quiet and think 
 up some points in the play, and other things also 
 among them, what is going to become of Priscy and 
 her father so, I waited until I thought everybody had 
 gone off on an expedition somewhere, except Grace 
 who was with her mother, and then I took a book and 
 ran down on the veranda and found a seat unoccupied 
 there were enough of those and nobody very near. 
 
 " I had a block of paper in my book and I had taken
 
 FACE TO FACE AGAIN 233 
 
 my pencil from my belt and was putting down an idea 
 that had popped into my head, when I heard a car- 
 riage drive up to the steps; it was one of the hacks 
 from the station several miles off. The arrivals here 
 come in the hotel carriages and in motor cars, and I 
 wondered who this could be. A gentleman got out 
 and told the hackman to wait. He was not young, 
 but he was not old at all getting toward middle age, 
 I should say. He was not exactly handsome, and he 
 looked very much troubled, almost bewildered; he 
 seemed to me like a person who could make up his 
 mind decidedly but had not done it then and could 
 not tell which way to make it, he was so disturbed. 
 We were always on the lookout for news of Dah-dah, 
 and something said to me : ' That's Dah-dah's father.* 
 I dropped my book and sat watching him. He saw 
 me and came up to me eagerly and yet as if he were 
 afraid that I was going to say ' no ' to his question. 
 He bowed and was really fine when he lifted his hat. 
 
 " ' Can you tell me, madam, anything about a little 
 child that we have lost? ' he began. ' We fear it has 
 been stolen; but some one here advertised a thing 
 small and very precious, and the baby's mother insists 
 that it is Bab. Do you know anything about a child 
 being found?' 
 
 "'Indeed, I do!' I cried. 'I was there by the 
 railroad track when one of our party rushed up and 
 caught it away just as the train was about to run over 
 it.' If I had wanted proof, mother, that he was a near 
 relation of Bab, I had it then; he turned pale as a 
 ghost and his hand gripped the railing as he stood star-
 
 234 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 ing at me while I told him the story of the rescue. 
 'Where is he?' he asked about Ned the moment I 
 had finished ; ' I must thank him. I know it was our 
 baby, because she was in the field/ And he gave me 
 the account of the afternoon. * And where is Bab ? ' 
 he finished looking about him as if he expected her 
 to spring up from the floor, or drop down from the 
 ceiling. I told him she was with one of our party 
 who had been entirely devoted to her and taken every 
 care of her; I thought he might as well be grateful to 
 Miss Knowles also, she deserved it. How little I 
 knew! I added that, probably, the baby was having 
 her dinner; I thought she would soon be on the ve- 
 randa ; but I would look for her. Then I asked a few 
 questions as to the child's appearance. He told me 
 her age and the color of her eyes, and I was sure that, 
 at last, Bab's parents were found though I was 
 wrong on one point, the stranger was not her father, 
 he was her uncle, her mother's brother left in charge 
 of her. On the spot I decided that I should never leave 
 anything * small and valuable ' in Professor Griswold's 
 care. But now, notice, mother, Rex's advertisement 
 did it, after all ; I'm proud of that. Dear Rex ! You 
 don't know what a comfort he is; he's so thoughtful 
 for everybody and always so amusing ! 
 
 " But I am leaving the poor professor standing 
 there by the railing. I gave him something to do 
 though, the next minute. ' You've told her mother 
 that you were coming here?' I asked him. No, he 
 had had barely time to make the train after telephon- 
 ing here. ' We never heard you had telephoned here ! '
 
 FACE TO FACE AGAIN 235 
 
 I cried ; and I found that the clerk had merely assured 
 the editor of a stray child's being here ; if the profes- 
 sor had called up any of us, or even waited for par- 
 ticulars, he would have lost his train. * Don't you 
 want to send word to her now ? ' I said. He caught 
 at the suggestion funny he hadn't thought of it him- 
 self and hurried away to the office. As he came 
 out from the office to me again, and I was going to 
 look up the child, I heard a baby voice, and there, 
 coming out upon the veranda were Miss Knowles and 
 Dah-dah, or Bab as the professor called her; they were 
 at the hall door when I saw them. The professor's 
 face was toward me and I watched them coming, she 
 holding the baby in her arms, and wondered what 
 would happen when he turned. In another moment 
 Bab stretched out her arms with a glad cry of : ' Unc ! 
 unc!' and the professor wheeled about 
 
 " Then Miss Knowles looked up at him and nearly 
 dropped the child. She set her down hurriedly and 
 stood face to face with the stranger. A great tide 
 of crimson swept over face and brow and neck, and 
 then she grew pale as ashes, her lips parted, her hands 
 pressed together, her eyes fixed upon his eyes; it 
 seemed to me that she had no power to move. Cer- 
 tainly, he was no stranger to her nor she to him, for 
 he also flushed and turned pale and words that had 
 been ready enough to me failed him as the two thus 
 stood staring at one another. She was the first to 
 recover her calmness, I've read somewhere that a 
 woman always is, and she dropped her eyes and 
 bowed to him as if she were waiting to find what he
 
 236 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 would do. He still did nothing but look at her, and 
 at last she said : * Good-morning, Professor Gris- 
 wold. You are the last person I expected to see; 
 but ' 
 
 "'But, you see, I have come after my little niece, 
 Miss Knowles,' he answered her. Not until then did 
 he stoop and gather up the baby who had been clamor- 
 ing for attention. He talked to her for a few seconds, 
 and then as Miss Knowles, paler, if possible, than 
 ever, was about to move away, I spoke. 'This is 
 the lady who has been so very, very good to Bab, 
 Professor Griswold,' I said. Perhaps there was a 
 touch of surprise in my tone, for I thought he was 
 treating her strangely, even if something had happened 
 once between them, I suppose it was a quarrel. But 
 then, one ought not to be angry forever. Or perhaps 
 he was not angry, I couldn't tell. After I had said 
 this, he turned his eyes from her face to mine; and 
 when he turned back to her again, his look was quite 
 indifferent and he thanked her very politely, but in a 
 society tone, as if she were another person from the 
 one he had been staring at with all his soul in his 
 eyes, whether in anger or in suffering, I could not 
 tell. Mother, I'm certainly looking on at a romance; 
 but it does not seem a happy one ; it seems a tragedy, 
 a wound that bleeds inwardly. I wish it could be 
 healed but it doesn't look so. 
 
 " As the professor was speaking, something made 
 me look over the railing. There on the path were 
 Ned Longley and Rex. A glance at their faces told 
 the story; they had seen everything that I had, and
 
 CERTAINLY HE WAS NO STRANGER TO HER.
 
 FACE TO FACE AGAIN 237 
 
 they guessed at all the things unseen, as I did. Ned's 
 eyes were shining with interest and amusement, and as 
 for Rex's, they were fairly dancing. Later, I should 
 hear from them both, I was sure. But in another 
 moment they were grave as judges and being presented 
 to the stranger. There were congratulations all round 
 on the finding of Bab it seems that's her name; 
 Ned was gratefully thanked, and the professor and 
 Miss Knowles did not look at each other any more 
 except when each believed the other was not looking. 
 
 " Ned insisted on Professor Griswold's staying to 
 luncheon ; he told me afterward the poor fellow didn't 
 look as if he had eaten anything since he had learned 
 that the child was lost. 
 
 " Rex arranged to motor him home if Lulu and I 
 would go with him, and if Miss Knowles would come 
 and take charge of Bab until the little one was in her 
 mamma's arms. Miss Knowles refused at first. Why 
 couldn't Miss Bromley, or Dorothy, take care of the 
 child when her uncle was with her? she asked. She 
 could not go, she had another arrangement for the 
 afternoon. But Rex declared if she would not go, he 
 would not, either; that would leave the professor and 
 the baby to the mercy of a late afternoon train. Lulu 
 and I backed up Rex by saying that we would not go 
 unless she did; and I was wicked enough to remind 
 her that until now she had thought neither of us had 
 ability to look after the baby for ten minutes at a 
 time. 'If we can't get her, I think I really will get 
 out of it, too/ Rex had muttered to me. I knew it 
 wouldn't be so bad as that, because I'm pretty well
 
 238 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 acquainted with my brother; but we all wanted to 
 see the fun and what those two people would do. In 
 the end we conquered; we all started. 
 
 "I'll tell you about it in my next letter; this one 
 must go now. Take good care of yourself, mother, 
 dear; I know you will of everybody else! Love to 
 every one, says your affectionate ' little comrade,' 
 Dorothy."
 
 XXII 
 
 NED SIDES WITH DOROTHY 
 
 "JUMP in ahead on the front seat, please, both of 
 you, and leave Miss Knowles to the professor," said 
 Rex in an undertone as he held out a hand to help 
 the girls in while wraps were being looked up for Bab. 
 When Miss Knowles appeared carrying the baby too 
 bundled up to walk, she looked with a certain con- 
 sternation at the place reserved for her and at Pro- 
 fessor Griswold who stood waiting to help her in and 
 take the seat beside her. Rex had provided for this 
 attention on the professor's part by springing in him- 
 self, and he now sat bending forward as if to see that 
 the machine was in order. The professor relieved 
 her of Bab and followed her down the steps to the 
 car. As they were about to enter, Nemo rushed for- 
 ward and with a bound landed on the floor before 
 the back seats, as there was no room for him in front. 
 
 " Get out, Nemo, you naughty dog ! Out, out this 
 minute ! " cried Dorothy. " Why, I shall have to get a 
 stick and give you a beating if you behave so ! ' 
 
 Lulu laughed as Nemo humbly retreated. But the 
 professor cried: "Oh, Miss Brooke, don't be hard 
 upon him, don't treat him so cruelly, don't beat him ! 
 He only wanted to be near you." 
 
 " Miss Brooke, don't beat your dog, I beg of you, 
 
 239
 
 2 4 o DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 too be kind to him ! " entreated Ned Longley with 
 face and voice of perfect gravity as he stood beside 
 the car until it should start. 
 
 "And you must wonder at that, Professor Gris- 
 wold that he wants to be near me," Dorothy 
 answered in a stifled tone, with a glance at Ned which 
 was almost too much for her own gravity. " No, I 
 promise you I won't beat him, since you ask me not 
 to." And she turned away, lest her face should betray 
 her sympathy with the two beside her shaking with 
 silent laughter and with Ned's eyes dancing now as 
 he watched her. 
 
 "Fine dog-beater, you Doro!" whispered Rex 
 when he could get his breath. "Mr. Literal may 
 read Greek, but he can't read faces." 
 
 Miss Knowles being by this time seated with the 
 child in her lap, murmured something about Miss 
 Brooke being fond of her dog. 
 
 " Oh, is she ? " returned the other in a tone of 
 indifference to both Dorothy and her defender. 
 
 " Arctic Circle temperature back there ! " commented 
 Lulu as the car sped on and she knew that its sound 
 would drown her voice. 
 
 " I imagine there's some internal warmth of feeling 
 though ! " returned Rex in the same key. " There's 
 something for you, Doro," he added. 
 
 " For me ! " echoed the girl. 
 
 "Yes; for you and Longley. First-class material. 
 Make a study." 
 
 " No, I've not been abroad since the summer I was 
 at the Hewes farm for the first time," they heard Miss
 
 NED SIDES WITH DOROTHY 241 
 
 Knowles answering her companion. " You were there 
 for a while, too, I remember," she went on coldly. 
 
 "Oh, yes," he replied in an equally remote tone, 
 " I was there." Then a silence. After this, another 
 perfunctory remark on one side, met by a brief reply 
 on the other; and, again, silence. 
 
 " They're keeping up too much thinking for con- 
 versation," commented Rex in the midst of his talk 
 with the two girls beside him. " I assure you it's the 
 hard thinking that does the business." 
 
 " You're evidently learned on the subject," smiled 
 Lulu. 
 
 He gave her an anxious glance. " All theory, Miss 
 Bromley," he answered; "nothing but school-boy 
 emotions to draw from except, perhaps, a touch of 
 
 Doro's imagination. But " Suddenly, he ceased 
 
 speaking and made her a signal of silence. Behind 
 them Bab was holding forth; she was not fond of 
 silences. 
 
 " Unc ! unc ! " she cried, reaching up for him to 
 take her, which he did. " Unc ! unc ! 'ou play play," 
 she repeated. Then finding that the game did not 
 come, but only a few coaxing words instead, she 
 reached up and pulled his hair. He submitted and 
 talked to her softly, but still without the romp which 
 the child desired. After a time she reached back to 
 Miss Knowles, and as she passed again into that lady's 
 keeping, Bab cooed with unusual distinctness: 
 " Auntie ! auntie ! " 
 
 At this endearment poor Miss Knowles turned scar- 
 let to her ears as she made room for the child beside
 
 242 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 her. " She couldn't say my name," she murmured, 
 " and when she said ' mamma,' it seemed to remind 
 her that her mamma was not there; so, we had to 
 give her this until her relatives were found." 
 
 " I can understand how glad you will be to be re- 
 lieved of it," he answered with an emphasis he had 
 not used before. 
 
 "The word came to her so naturally, I knew she 
 must be used to it," she ventured with a searching 
 glance at him. 
 
 But he did not turn away from Bab to look at her 
 as he answered her. " She had never used it before," 
 he said with elaborate indifference. 
 
 " She has found out that he's not married yet," 
 said Dorothy to Lulu. 
 
 Rex's quick ears caught her words. His eyes 
 gleamed with fun. "So far, they're afraid of each 
 other," he nodded. " But " 
 
 "But what?" asked his sister. 
 
 " Wait and you'll hear," he answered her. " It's 
 worth waiting for." 
 
 "The more it's worth waiting for, the less I want 
 to wait," she said. 
 
 "I'm sorry for you," he retorted. "Follow Miss 
 Bromley's discreet example." 
 
 "But she is doing the work for me," said Lulu. 
 " If she hears, I shall get the benefit of it. You see, 
 I'm deep." 
 
 " What will her mamma do when she gets her ? " 
 asked Miss Knowles returning to the safe subject of 
 Bab.
 
 NED SIDES WITH DOROTHY 243 
 
 " I'm afraid she will faint," answered the professor. 
 "She is a very nervous woman emotional. Didn't 
 I tell you of her health that summer? " he asked. " The 
 doctors were very anxious about her." 
 
 " There it is! I told you you'd hear," said Rex in 
 an undertone. "They'll hover around that summer 
 like the moths round the candle." 
 
 "Yes, I think you did," Miss Knowles was say- 
 ing-" yes, I remember." It seemed to her that some- 
 thing was always bringing up old times, however 
 hard they both tried to avoid them. Happily, Rex's 
 disrespectful comparison did not occur to her. " Is 
 she your only sister?" she added. 
 
 "My only sister and no brother. I told you this 
 but you have forgotten you see what Bab must 
 be to me." 
 
 " Indeed, I do," answered the other. " Think if you 
 had lost her ! " And she gave him again the story of 
 Ned's rescue of the child. Here she felt herself on 
 safe ground and she was more at ease and more in- 
 teresting and gave full credit to Ned for his daring. 
 Rex's side glances at his companions were expressive 
 of satisfaction. 
 
 " You know I am grateful to you for having taken 
 such care of her," said the professor, expanding a 
 little in the warmth of her narrative. " I 
 
 "Oh, that was nothing," returned Miss Knowles. 
 "She's a dear little thing; and, of course, I didn't 
 know who she was." 
 
 " Certainly not," retorted her hearer, and relapsed 
 into grim silence.
 
 244 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 When soon afterward they arrived at Mrs. Ridge- 
 way's house, he divested Bab of her wrappings, sprang 
 out of the car and with the child in his arms, stood 
 speaking his thanks and saying farewell to his hosts. 
 
 "I'm afraid she'll take cold," said Miss Knowles 
 after a moment. " She was so bundled up.'' 
 
 The professor bowed coldly and with a hasty gen- 
 eral good-by, vanished into the house. " She has had 
 enough too much, of me already," ran his thoughts. 
 
 " She is certainly stupid," said Dorothy to herself, 
 " that is, if she cares for him at all ; and I rather think 
 she does. I wish, if they do care for one another, 
 they'd be sensible. But I suppose that's too much to 
 expect. I'm coming in with you, Miss Knowles," she 
 said aloud as she changed her seat; "there's plenty 
 of room in here now." 
 
 "Yes," answered the other gathering together the 
 wraps that had beeen flung down. " Professor Gris- 
 wold is a very strange man," she added. " I used to 
 be somewhat acquainted with him sometime ago." 
 
 " I think he is very nice," said Dorothy. And the 
 subject was changed. 
 
 That evening Rex and* his friends sang college 
 songs; and Grace and Lulu and Ned gave solos and 
 duets. It was when everybody but themselves had 
 left the parlors and Dorothy who had been the accom- 
 panist sat with her hands fallen on the keys of the 
 piano, that as the company was about to break up 
 with merry good-nights, Rex said: 
 
 " Hold on a minute. About that play ; if we don't 
 have it very soon, we can't have it at all here. The
 
 NED SIDES WITH DOROTHY 245 
 
 motor car is back in good order thanks to Reid; a 
 reliable chauffeur will be here Tuesday at latest. Your 
 mother will be able to start Wednesday didn't the 
 doctor say that, Longley ? " Ned assented. " And she 
 means to do it, I heard her say so," continued Rex. 
 " This is Saturday night. We must give the affair 
 Tuesday evening at the very latest. Then, Wednes- 
 day we'll vanish in a blaze of glory." 
 
 " I'm not so sure about the blaze of glory," re- 
 torted Ned. " The thing may turn out a fizzle." 
 
 " Not if you and Dora use your opportunities," cried 
 Rex in an eager tone that caught the attention of the 
 whole party. " Do that, and the thing will make such 
 a hit that you'll be asked to bring it out in a good 
 many other places. Why, you have dramatis per- 
 sona all made to order; Mr. Literal and Miss Of- 
 Course would make the fortune of anybody who knew 
 how to use them." 
 
 Ned laughed. "I believe I've caught on to a few 
 points," he said. 
 
 " I've not a doubt of it. And so has Dorothy look 
 at her ! And we have here fellows " and he turned 
 to his classmates " who can do anything on earth in 
 the way of mimicking." 
 
 "Anything in reason, you mean, Brooke," put in 
 Norcross with assumed modesty. 
 
 " Well, we're not talking of things out of reason, 
 but of reproductions of reality. You're quite up to 
 that." 
 
 " Yes, yes," cried the college boys in chorus. 
 
 " Try us and we'll do our best," added Norcross.
 
 246 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 " That we will, and be delighted to," chimed in the 
 others. 
 
 " So, we're all right on the men," said Ned. " And 
 as to the women, I know it's in Miss Bromley, and 
 everybody else." 
 
 "Of course oh, I have it!" cried Rex. "Why 
 can't you get Miss Of-Course to take her own 
 part?" 
 
 " Ha ! ha ! I never heard of anything so good ! " 
 declared Ned. " I don't suppose though, that peo- 
 ple ever do act out themselves. But then, she won't 
 know it's herself; that'll be the joke of it." 
 
 " Exactly," returned Rex approvingly. " And the 
 professor can be done brown. We'll invite him, and 
 he'll never recognize himself either! I dare say they 
 will both enjoy the play famously and we shall." 
 
 " You'll make it a howling success, you two ! " ex- 
 claimed Norcross standing on his toes in his excite- 
 ment and giving Ned an encouraging pat on the back. 
 
 " Yes, they will, if they do as I want them to," said 
 Rex. " Found the thing on fact, and burlesque it to 
 the point of absurdity; you only want a farce, you 
 see." 
 
 "And you will give me a part, Miss Brooke," 
 pleaded Raynor edging himself toward her. 
 
 " I'll do my best, Mr. Raynor," she answered. " But 
 you know, if the thing is to be a burlesque, every- 
 body's absurdities will have to be in it, and yours, I 
 suppose, with the rest." 
 
 For an instant Raynor's brow darkened; but recol- 
 lecting that he really had no absurdities that he had
 
 NED SIDES WITH DOROTHY 247 
 
 ever been able to discover, he assented with a touch of 
 dignity, and stood listening. 
 
 "What is it you want burlesqued, Rex?" asked 
 Dorothy. 
 
 " Why, we have the story from Miss Hewes, or all 
 of it we need ; what is missing will give scope to your 
 imagination. Now, listen, everybody, to the ballad of 
 Miss Of-Course and Mr. Literal and the dramatists 
 will put in the variations: Miss Of-Course it's wise 
 not to mention names after Prof I mean, after Mr. 
 Literal had been introduced to her the previous year 
 happily, the lady was quite confidential with Miss 
 Hewes' mother had permitted the acquaintance to 
 ripen to a friendship, and the friendship to be fanned 
 into a warmer flame by a certain little blind god we 
 wot of. Since both parties are good-looking, the blind- 
 ness must have been mental, as the sequel shows. 
 When Miss Of-Course came to the house where Miss 
 Hewes was two summers ago, matters seemed about 
 to wind themselves up satisfactorily. The prof I 
 mean, Mr. Literal arrived also the following week, 
 and devoted himself assiduously to his fair neighbor; 
 there was no end of walks and drives, and boating 
 or was there any boating, Miss Hewes ? " 
 
 " No," said Rose. 
 
 " Well, never mind. They did get into deep water 
 enough after a while, that's certain. As I was saying, 
 walks and drives, and always talks, never on any 
 account were the talks omitted. So that, at last the 
 Mr. Literal came to the conclusion that it would be 
 good if he and Miss Of-Course could arrange to talk
 
 248 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 forever together; when he didn't have his classes to 
 lecture to, he could lecture to her and keep in practice." 
 
 " Rex for shame ! " cried Dorothy. 
 
 " Oh, well, I didn't mean she wasn't to do any of 
 the lecturing," admitted the young man contritely, at 
 which a shout went up in which Dorothy joined. 
 
 Ned stood watching her as she every now and then 
 glanced up at Raynor who attempted to talk to her 
 persistently; but she was so decidedly occupied with 
 the discussion of the proposed play that even he had 
 to be silent at times. He still held his place beside her, 
 however, with an air of possession that angered her, 
 until she saw the flash in Ned's eyes; then it amused 
 her ; she had not come to the point, where if one young 
 fellow spoke to her, another must look ready to chal- 
 lenge him and she was not coming to it. 
 
 Priscy was watching her earnestly as the talk went 
 on and Rex Brooke related how Mr. Literal and Miss 
 Of-Course, as he was careful to call them, had fallen 
 out over an absence of the gentleman who had gone 
 to escort a lady to her home a long day's journey. 
 As he was then just betrothed to Miss Of-Course, or 
 at least about to be so, that person believed that she 
 had a right to know who the other lady was, and why 
 he deserted Number One, even for a time, to travel 
 with Number Two? He was sure she ought to take 
 it for granted that he was right. But as she knew that 
 his sister was ill, his mother dead, and that he had 
 no first cousins so he had told her who was the 
 beautiful and mysterious lady? Miss Hewes says 
 also that Miss Of-Course had a cousin who appeared
 
 NED SIDES WITH DOROTHY 249 
 
 suddenly and was welcomed with warmth to Mr. 
 Literal's great disapproval. The uncertainty of both 
 as regarded the other became a line of separation ; the 
 line widened to a gulf, and had so remained, and would 
 always so remain. The play would emphasize the 
 folly in such a way as to make the separation wider 
 than ever. They might not see at first what was in- 
 tended; but they would inevitably see it later, and be 
 careful not to make fools of themselves again. It would 
 be a wholesome lesson for them if they ever took 
 it ; if not why, the play would be just as good. 
 
 "Then, you don't care what becomes of the pro- 
 fessor and Miss Knowles? " cried Dorothy. "You've 
 no interest in them ? " 
 
 She had meant the question for Rex. But it was 
 Norcross who answered suavely: "Very great inter- 
 est, artistically, Miss Brooke ; broken hearts make good 
 songs, you know. We shall not hurt them; we shall 
 only leave them as we found them." 
 
 " That's what I don't want to do leave them as 
 they are now, both losing the happiness of their lives 
 over a mistake, even if it is nonsense. So far as I 
 have to do with this play, it shall help them to an 
 understanding. I may not succeed; but I shall try." 
 She flung out her words defiantly, and looked at Ned 
 as she finished. 
 
 "To my mind Miss Brooke is right artistically," 
 he answered. " Don't you see that a farce must end 
 well? Nothing would spoil a comedy more than to 
 put in a tragic element. Yes," he repeated, " I am 
 sure she is right artistically as well as in another
 
 250 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 way. I'm on Miss Brooke's side. The thing will be 
 worked up so, if there is to be any play, if you will 
 accept the best we can do on the lines she has marked 
 out." 
 
 " The rest of us are not in it," growled Rex. Then 
 he laughed. " Have it your own way," he said. 
 
 Dorothy was silent, but none the less appreciative 
 of the advantage of a coadjutor who understood how 
 things should be. 
 
 (With this decision everybody said good-night.
 
 XXIII 
 
 A GOOD DAY'S WORK 
 
 " How fortunate we had chosen such a subject ; it 
 falls in so well with the suggestions we want to make 
 to those two poor lovers," said Dorothy. 
 
 " It was you who suggested the subject, you remem- 
 ber," answered Ned. 
 
 "I only told you," she said, "of somebody who 
 used to be always saying he took things for granted ; 
 and wondered if that would be a good name? You 
 caught at it and did the rest." 
 
 " I caught at it because it was so good ; and we did 
 the rest," corrected the other. 
 
 The two were sitting under a tree in the grove at 
 the side of the hotel, where they hoped that nobody 
 would interrupt them. There was very much to be 
 done that Monday morning and they wanted to be 
 undisturbed and to do it well. The play : " Taking 
 It for Granted'' had originally been along lines that 
 in a general way illustrated the very errors into which 
 the professor and Miss Knowles must have fallen. 
 Certain details could be added, and others changed 
 without tearing the play to pieces. 
 
 " But we can't put in those things like patchwork," 
 suggested Dorothy. 
 
 Her companion laughed. " We won't," he said. 
 
 251
 
 252 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 It was not unlikely that it pleased his vanity to have 
 her suggest difficulties of which he knew how to make 
 light and which his skill settled easily. His mind was 
 deeply occupied with the work before him, and Doro- 
 thy sat with her eyes upon the page in her hand, her 
 thoughts full of how to add both clever hits and 
 scenes suggestive to the two for whom she wanted the 
 play to be not only an amusement, but a lesson, and 
 she hoped an opening to reconciliation. 
 
 "We must have him travel with 'the unknown 
 lady," she said suddenly, looking up at Ned. " I can 
 see that for them things will have to be made as big 
 as a barn door." 
 
 They laughed, and Ned suggested a change in in- 
 cident which brought into prominence something 
 nearly relating to the desired circumstances, if not 
 identical. " And we can do this also," he said, mak- 
 ing another change even more pertinent. 
 
 " How quick you are ! " cried the girl. " Plots 
 come to you like machinery to inventors. I can never 
 be as clever as you are." 
 
 " And how about the conversations ? " retorted Ned. 
 "You're so quick and so strong in those; I could 
 never give the depth and sparkle that you do." 
 
 "Of course, you could," returned Dorothy, well 
 pleased at the praise. " But I propose that we stop 
 complimenting each other and fall to," she said. " Or, 
 since I like compliments of that kind quite as well 
 as chocolate caramels," she added smiling, " let's re- 
 serve them until we see what comes of this. Don't 
 you remember the saying that he who puts on his
 
 DEEPLY OCCUPIED WITH THE PLAY.
 
 A GOOD DAY'S WORK 253 
 
 harness is not to boast himself as the one who takes 
 it off? The fact is, I'm nervous over this; I'm a bit 
 afraid of the college fellows but don't tell anybody." 
 
 " Not I ! " he answered. The truth was that, as 
 Dorothy had divined, he himself was, at least, anxious 
 over these same critics. He expected to meet these 
 very fellows in college that autumn and he would 
 like immensely the blaze of glory Rex had predicted, 
 even if it were a very modest blaze. But he had no 
 intention of saying this to his companion. On the con- 
 trary, he reassured her, declaring that it ought to be 
 a stimulus to them both ; and as he spoke, his assumed 
 confidence became real. They did, as Dorothy had 
 suggested, " fall to " with a will. 
 
 The morning was half over when an interruption of 
 several of the other members of their party broke in 
 upon the collaborators most unwelcomely. 
 
 "How goes it?" cried Raynor marching up beside 
 Dorothy and standing where with a little effort he 
 might have read the lines she had been writing. She 
 did not credit him with intending to do it, but she 
 moved her paper slightly. What made him act as if 
 he had a right to do anything even overlook her 
 affairs? 
 
 " Please go away everybody ! " she cried. " We've 
 barely time to get ready for you all this afternoon, 
 anyway, and we can't waste a minute." 
 
 "She calls it wasting!" exclaimed Raynor with an 
 assumption of offense. 
 
 " I'm the one offended," retorted Dorothy. " Rex, 
 you ought to know better. What made you come?"
 
 254 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 She addressed her brother; but her glance included 
 all the others also. 
 
 " Ingrates ! " he retorted. " We came to tell you 
 that there's a small hand-printing machine here, and 
 you can get the parts all set up for us at once. They 
 use it here for menus and a few other things ; so, our 
 programmes can be done on it. There is somebody 
 here who knows how to set type, and we may borrow 
 him for a while if we'll pay for him ! Now, aren't 
 you grateful ? " 
 
 " Not in the least," returned Ned. " That youth is 
 already hard at work setting up the First Act. So, 
 you see, you can't borrow him on any account, because 
 I've done it with many thanks to you for your kind 
 intentions, let me add. And, if you'll pardon us, that's 
 the only thing we want to add just at present really, 
 Brooke." 
 
 " You're spoiling one of the best scenes in the whole 
 play!" cried Dorothy, really incensed, and showing 
 it. " Those who will know how to act the best in 
 this play will begin to act now by pretending that they 
 came here by mistake and are in a great hurry to 
 go." 
 
 "Don't quite cut the ground from under our feet, 
 or you won't leave us a leg to stand upon when we 
 orate and gyrate," laughed Norcross turning away 
 with Rex who looked back to say: "Miss Bromley 
 must have some songs, remember; and Norcross a 
 good chance to mimic somebody we can guess who 
 it is." 
 
 Dorothy had noticed that Priscy was not among
 
 A GOOD DAY'S WORK 255 
 
 the others. Since the interview with Colonel Pell, 
 and her father's departure, she had been different, 
 more quiet, and, her friend perceived, more unhappy. 
 But at that moment Dorothy had no time to think 
 even of Pell-Mell. 
 
 Two more hours of hard work brought the play 
 into a condition where, considering it as an amateur 
 performance and taking account of the skill of the 
 actors, it stood a chance of success. It required only 
 everyday dressing; and the scenery found in the hotel 
 where theatrical amusements were not unknown, could 
 be made to answer. The great difficulty was the ex- 
 ceedingly short time allowed to learn the parts; but 
 the play was short, there were a good number of parts, 
 so that no one part would be hard to memorize. 
 
 " And if they don't remember exactly what we've 
 said," added Ned as they talked the matter over, 
 " they are capable of making it up." 
 
 " Just what I'm afraid of," returned Dorothy. " I'm 
 afraid they'll swing it round out of the purpose we've 
 tried so hard to hold to." 
 
 " I don't think any one would," said Ned, " that is, 
 not enough to really matter. We must allow Norcross 
 a little freedom; I suspect that when he starts he 
 can't help fun; and that'll be all right. Don't be 
 troubled. Things will come out well. We always 
 must take a little risk in everything, you know." 
 
 Dorothy looked up at him suddenly. "I never 
 thought of it before," she answered. "But perhaps 
 it's the necessity there is for always taking a certain 
 risk in whatever we do, and the excitement of it, that
 
 256 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 develops too strongly in certain persons and makes 
 them gamblers?'* 
 
 " You go down to the heart of things sometimes," 
 said Ned. "I can't answer that." 
 Wearied, anxious, yet excited and inwardly exultant, 
 they gathered up their papers and went in to luncheon. 
 
 Copies of the play, "Taking It for Granted" hastily 
 struck off and with many typographical errors, but 
 still readable, had been handed to those who were to 
 act the parts, and the rehearsal was set for four o'clock. 
 Ned had taken care that no other copies should be 
 made, for he had watched the printer make pi of the 
 type and had taken away the copy. The actors scat- 
 tered to study their parts, promising to be on time at 
 the place appointed, which was in the woods where 
 Dorothy and Ned had spent the morning. 
 
 "It won't be like your school play, you know," 
 said Ned as coming back from a talk with the clerk in 
 the office with whom he had been arranging details for 
 the following evening, he sat down beside Dorothy 
 for a few rninutes to rest and cool off. " I mean," he 
 added, "that this time it won't; there's too much 
 hurry. I hate scrambles. But if we were to do any- 
 thing, it had to be immediately. Some day we will 
 go over it and make something out of it, I hope. The 
 plot is very simple. But don't you think it is wise 
 to begin so, and not be told to take a humbler seat ? " 
 
 "Indeed, I do," returned the girl. "But you re- 
 member what they said at school about something of 
 yours that was not simple at all, but quite intricate
 
 A GOOD DAY'S WORK 257 
 
 and had great force? Don't be too humble." She 
 paused a moment; then she said earnestly: "You 
 must never let me hold you back; if I can't do the 
 work you can drop me. Your work mustn't suffer. 
 Be sure of that." 
 
 " My work suffer because you work with me ! " he 
 
 cried. " Why don't you know " He stopped 
 
 suddenly. In another moment words would have 
 come which he must not utter now. " Don't you know," 
 he went on, by an effort speaking lightly, " that work- 
 ing with you inspires me? You bring new thoughts, 
 and the plots we go over together just bristle with 
 suggestions when I'm with you and when I think them 
 over after you've gone? It's odd you don't realize 
 it." 
 
 She was smiling at him now, her beautiful eyes 
 full of light. 
 
 " That's the way it ought to be with collaborators," 
 she said. Then she added : " But don't you know that 
 when one loves a thing as much as I do this work, 
 one is apt to get selfish about it and think only of 
 one's own pleasure and forget other people's rights ? " 
 
 " Not you ! " he retorted in a tone more earnest than 
 he realized. 
 
 Dorothy flushed a little. Then she said : " Don't 
 deteriorate into a flatterer, will you? That will 
 spoil work, and everything else. One thing I espe- 
 cially like about you is your common sense; you 
 don't treat me like a doll; but like a comrade a col- 
 laborator. Tell me everything good about my work 
 that you like ; I know I have a capacity for large doses
 
 258 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 of approval. But you know I'm often selfish; and 
 when I don't show it, I often have to fight myself 
 tooth and nail not to come out with just what I feel 
 that's Dorothy ! " 
 
 " Exactly ! " laughed the young man. " You mean 
 to say, you're not too sweet and good for human 
 nature's daily food." 
 
 "Not original, certainly," she smiled; "but apt. 
 And now I've told you not to flatter, I'll turn about 
 and ask you to do it! How do you like that song 
 made for Lulu ? " 
 
 " If I dared, I'd say it's very good," he laughed. 
 
 " She will put it to music before four o'clock. 
 You'll see." 
 
 " You are a loyal friend," Ned answered. 
 
 " I'm not successful in helping my friends in their 
 troubles," she said, thinking of Pell-Mell. 
 
 Among the last of the group to assemble at the 
 place of rehearsal Norcross sauntered up. 
 
 A laugh from Rex greeted him. "What have you 
 been doing to yourself, old man ? " he asked. 
 
 " I'm a distinguished person," replied the other giv- 
 ing a twist in exact mimicry of Professor Griswold's 
 nervous fingers to a bright scarlet necktie which he 
 had picked up, nobody knew where ; " I'm a man of 
 mark; when I appear, it's a red-letter day." 
 
 " I should say so," laughed Ned. " But " 
 
 "Oh, I'll drop it to-morrow evening; but now it's 
 an inspiration, it warms me up to the part." And 
 he continued fingering the brilliant tie. " Miss Brom-
 
 A GOOD DAY'S WORK 259 
 
 ley, come and sit here beside me, and we'll do our 
 billing and cooing, and work up to our tiffs in great 
 style. Then, we shall have to make up again, and 
 be more affectionate than ever," he went on with an 
 added emphasis as he observed Rex's frown. 
 
 " But at just about that time the thing ends," 
 retorted Lulu. 
 
 " Yes just about," he repeated, smiling at her 
 teasingly. 
 
 " Where's Nemo ? " asked Dorothy. " He will have 
 to be " 
 
 "Licked into shape, Miss Brooke that's what you 
 do with your dogs, according to the gentleman here." 
 And Raynor pointed to Norcross. 
 
 " I'm to do the licking," returned Jimmy appearing 
 with Nemo in tow. "I'll get behind the scenes and 
 pull the ropes. Nemo minds me fairly well. I think 
 I can coach him a bit." 
 
 Dorothy^ nodded at him with a smile. She had been 
 watching Pell-Mell and trying to make up her mind 
 as to the wisdom of something that she had almost 
 resolved to do. Except for the singing, she believed 
 that Priscy could have taken the leading part as well 
 as or better than Lulu. But Priscy had refused every- 
 thing except the role of Lulu's friend, which, however, 
 as the rehearsal went on, Dorothy perceived was to 
 become a spirited one in such hands. 
 
 Having so many actors " ready-made," as Ned put 
 it, the dramatists had not to cut down the number of 
 parts. Of the collegians, Raynor was the least skillful, 
 and Norcross the best perfection, indeed, if he did
 
 2<5o DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 not overdo his part and weaken the effect by too much 
 burlesque. "He's on his high horse to-day," Ned 
 assured his collaborator when she confided to him her 
 misgivings; "the freedom of the woods stirs in him. 
 But you'll see that before an audience he will tone 
 down a bit; I'm sure of it. A little exuberance is 
 fine though just what we want." 
 
 They were all walking home together after a prom- 
 ising rehearsal. Dorothy still had misgivings, how- 
 ever; but hereafter she told them to one person only 
 herself. 
 
 "We wanted Mrs. Longley's judgment. But I 
 suppose she couldn't come without bringing Miss Of- 
 Course I beg pardon, Miss Knowles," corrected 
 Rex. 
 
 But on reaching the hotel a great and pleasant sur- 
 prise awaited them. Mrs. Longley and Miss Knowles 
 were on the veranda, and with them a guest. 
 
 "Think of an angel " quoted Pell-Mell softly 
 
 with a smile at Norcross. 
 
 " Can I do ' an angel ' successfully? " he inquired. 
 
 As they all came up the steps, Dorothy separated 
 herself from the others and went to the telephone.
 
 XXIV 
 
 JIMMY HAS AN IDEA 
 
 HAPPINESS had revived Mrs. Ridgeway in a great 
 degree. But the shock of Bab's disappearance had 
 been so severe that she had not yet recovered her 
 strength sufficiently to thank in person the rescuer of 
 her child and those who had been so good to the little 
 one while she was a stray baby. She feared that her 
 brother had not done this with sufficient gratitude 
 and she questioned him more than once as to what 
 he had really said. 
 
 " You see, you're so absent-minded, John," she 
 explained. " Half the time you don't know what 
 you're saying while you're saying it, and you can never 
 tell ten minutes afterward unless it's something out 
 of a book, then I'd trust you any time. Really, now, 
 what did you say ? " she asked him for perhaps the 
 dozenth time. 
 
 "Suppose I go and try it over again?" suggested 
 Professor Griswold, " I can say I've come especially 
 to bring your messages." 
 
 " Oh, John, how good of you ! I should be so glad 
 to go myself if only I were strong enough. But if 
 you go on purpose, and so have it on your mind, I 
 know you will do it splendidly; you can. And you 
 really are unselfish when you wake up to a thing," 
 enthused his sister. 
 
 261
 
 262 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 "No, no," returned the professor decidedly. The 
 fact was that there seemed to him nothing on earth 
 which he wanted so much to do as to go again to the 
 place where he had found his small niece and thank 
 over again all the persons who had been good to her, 
 especially one. That one, he realized, should have been 
 Ned who had rescued her from death and made all 
 other kindnesses possible. But, strange to say, it was 
 not Ned, but the woman who had received him coldly 
 and parted from him still more coldly, yet whom it 
 seemed as if he would give his life to see again. And, 
 after all, what harm could that do? To her none. 
 Whatever had once been between them, and he re- 
 membered too well everything that had once been, 
 there was at present on her part absolute indifference. 
 
 In that last drive to A he had referred over and 
 
 over to the past, his heart beating fast with anxiety 
 as he waited for her response. But it had seemed to 
 him that, for all the emotion she felt, hers did not 
 beat at all. Surely, whatever had been was over and 
 done with. Then what good in reviving his old 
 pain? He had in these years been able to repress it, 
 but it had never died. For her sake he would live a 
 lonely life; he had not tried to put away the thought 
 of her ; her memory had been to him a beautiful vision, 
 for all the pain it had brought. But now when he 
 had not dreamed of meeting her, here she was. He 
 would rather suffer all that her presence brought him 
 than not see her again. 
 
 But he would not betray himself; he would keep 
 his pride. There should be no wooing, or suggestion
 
 JIMMY HAS AN IDEA 263 
 
 of it. As to feeling on her side, he assured himself 
 again that there was none, that she was not for him 
 or against him, that in any such way as he was think- 
 ing of, he no longer existed for her. Therefore, to 
 see her would trouble himself only ; and it was a hun- 
 dred times better than the torture of keeping away 
 from her when she was so near. Fate had opened 
 the way and given him a reason for going to her 
 without betraying his love to her. If in any respect 
 he deserved his sister's praise for unselfishness, it was 
 not for carrying her messages to Bab's friend ; he was 
 only too grateful for such good excuse to face once 
 more the woman he still loved. He would see her to- 
 day. He would not he could not think of to- 
 morrow. 
 
 He had joined the two ladies where he had found 
 them, each with her book. He had inquired for the 
 others of the party and had been readily persuaded to 
 await their coming to deliver his messages in person. 
 Mrs. Longley had proposed that she go and tell them 
 of his arrival which would bring them back as soon 
 as the rehearsal was over; otherwise, it was possible 
 that they might linger. She was secretly anxious to 
 go because she had been told that they wanted her 
 there, if they could get her without Miss Knowles. 
 This was her opportunity. She said that she would 
 not be gone long and Miss Knowles and the profes- 
 sor would wait here for her. 
 
 " Oh, no, we'll come, too," announced Miss Knowles 
 half rising. 
 
 " I'm afraid I can't ask you," returned Mrs. Long-
 
 264 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 ley with her most affable smile. " It's a rehearsal, you 
 see, and I'm sure that the young people would be 
 embarrassed by an audience; they don't consider me 
 anybody, you know. I'm really quite sure it wouldn't 
 do to have you come." 
 
 " We shall come if you do," retorted Miss Knowles 
 with an air of finality that caused the other to sink 
 back into her seat at once and make no further attempt 
 at any excuse to leave them to that solitude of two 
 which in certain contingencies is so desirable. 
 
 The professor had been chilled by this refusal of the 
 woman he adored to stay alone with him a few min- 
 utes. Did she think he would make love to her? 
 Nothing could be further from his thoughts; he did 
 not deserve to be distrusted. But this was what he 
 had long been by her. 
 
 He was enough a man of the world, however, to 
 conceal his chagrin and carry on with the ladies a con- 
 versation upon indifferent topics, although Mrs. Long- 
 ley who, like the young people, was on the alert for 
 evidences of the state of feeling between the two 
 detected a reserve in his manner toward Miss 
 Knowles. That lady herself was not slow to perceive 
 the same thing, and to attribute it to a determination 
 to show her that the past was indifferent, if not dis- 
 tasteful to him. He should not find her more ready 
 to recall it by word or manner. 
 
 Thus, the hours they spent together that day served 
 rather to further alienate them than to lessen the gulf 
 of separation between them. Mrs. Longley thought 
 that they could not do worse, and they might do better,
 
 JIMMY HAS AN IDEA 265 
 
 could they be left alone to settle matters. But she 
 knew that if she went away, Miss Knowles in her 
 present mood would certainly follow and leave the 
 professor to himself. So, she sat still. 
 
 But it was with great satisfaction that she finally 
 perceived coming along the path from the woods 
 Priscy Pell and Mr. Norcross, followed by all the 
 others. 
 
 Ned greeted Professor Griswold with great cor- 
 diality. " How good of you to come to see us," he 
 said to him. " How is the little one after her travels ? 
 And how is her mamma Mrs. Ridgeway, I be- 
 lieve?" 
 
 "We " began Rex coming forward to shake 
 
 hands, when Ned behind him gave his coat a twitch 
 that changed the proposed sentence to a harmless wel- 
 come. 
 
 " Don't ask him before her," he said aside a moment 
 later. " If you do, ten to one, she won't come. It's 
 a case for diplomacy. We must get him off by himself 
 somehow." 
 
 " No wonder you can make up plots ! " retorted Rex 
 in the same tone. "But I'll look out; I don't want 
 to spoil sport." 
 
 All but one insisted that the professor should stay 
 to dinner, and Rex offered to motor him to the even- 
 ing train to A . The one who did not join in 
 
 the invitation withheld what would have been more 
 to him than all the other voices together. He looked 
 toward her, hearing her silence more clearly than the 
 speech of the rest. But she was watching Rose Hewes
 
 266 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 looking at the sky warm with sunset color, and did 
 not see him, unless with that perception of the soul 
 that sees without eyes. 
 
 Yes; the professor would be happy to stay to din- 
 ner; at least, he reflected, he should see a little more 
 of her. But afterward he found that he had reckoned 
 vainly upon this; for Miss Knowles disappeared and 
 did not return until they were all at the table. 
 
 " Now, pitch in ! " said Ned as he and Rex caught 
 the last glimpse of her white gown vanishing through 
 the doorway. " Put it as strong as you like, only, you 
 know, these absent-minded people sometimes wake up 
 suddenly; they can't be trusted too far not to see 
 anything." 
 
 So, the professor was informed about the forthcom- 
 ing play, that is, he was partially informed, and 
 accepted with pleasure. He would be promptly on 
 hand the following evening, and train and convey- 
 ance were carefully arranged, Ned congratulating him- 
 self that this could be done face to face instead of by 
 telephone as they had planned, and apologizing for 
 not asking Professor Griswold to dinner the evening 
 of the play ; they would all be so busy. 
 
 "We mustn't give Miss Knowles all that time for 
 preparation," he confided later to Dorothy, who en- 
 joyed his cleverness immensely. 
 
 During dinner the professor looked at Miss 
 Knowles, if he had little opportunity to talk with her. 
 And he went home telling himself that he had one 
 more time of at least a few hours to see her if it 
 were the last, this, at any rate, would be assured.
 
 JIMMY HAS AN IDEA 267 
 
 Meantime, word was passed around among the cir- 
 cle not to let Miss Of-Course get an inkling that Mr. 
 Literal was coming; and she did not. 
 
 " Why not ? " asked Jimmy Reid that same evening. 
 " It's the very thing to do. If Dorothy doesn't know 
 it, she ought to. Why, she's sensible, Grace. Of 
 course, she'll see it. The family need the money and 
 this is the best way to get it; and it's legitimate, too, 
 or I wouldn't want to do it. I will take all the trouble, 
 whatever that is not much. I wish you'd talk with 
 her about it." 
 
 "You can do that ever so much better than I, 
 Jimmy. What does Ned say?" 
 
 " I haven't asked him ; he'll be all right, I know. 
 It's only Dorothy who may kick. But I don't think 
 she will. Just try her. Please do." Then he went 
 on with a slightly injured air which he had had ex- 
 perience was somewhat hard for Grace to resist : " I 
 thought my idea was splendid; I was proud of it; I 
 didn't know I was to be snubbed in this way and 
 by you of all people, Grace." 
 
 "Oh, Jimmy!" exclaimed the girl. "You know I 
 never snub you ; you know I always think your ideas 
 are good." 
 
 "What's that about snubbing?" inquired a voice 
 as its owner came from out of doors where he had 
 just returned with Rex from taking the professor to 
 the train, and walked up to the speakers who were 
 standing in the hall. " My sister snubbing my best 
 friend! You must have been doing something aw-
 
 268 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 fully wrong, Reid; for Grace is the embodiment of 
 charity." 
 
 " I want you to help me out," returned the boy. 
 " I've not been doing anything yet ; I'll tell you what 
 I've been proposing." And he did. 
 
 " I'm on your side," said Ned ; " and we'll give the 
 snubbing to Grace." He turned to her and said in 
 the softened tone in which he so often spoke to his 
 sister: "Grade, do run and find Dorothy and bring 
 her here. Jimmy is right," he added. "And if the 
 thing is to be done, this evening is the best time to 
 start it; we can finish up to-morrow morning what's 
 left over, which means the people we can't get at to- 
 night." 
 
 " She's in the parlor ; she's just been playing," said 
 Grace. " Now she is going to listen to Miss Wind- 
 sor's singing." And she peeped in. "I can see her 
 from here," she added. 
 
 " Well, seeing is not enough in this case. We'll 
 have to interview her straight off." 
 
 Grace disappeared obediently, and returned with 
 Dorothy in tow. 
 
 "What is it?" asked the latter. "More plots? 
 Anything wrong?" And she glanced anxiously from 
 Jimmy who stood smiling, to Ned whose eyes were 
 a trifle questioning as he watched her approach. As 
 she reached them he nodded to his companion who 
 as the projector of the proposed scheme, had the right 
 of way. 
 
 " You know the Walker family are awfully poor ? " 
 began that young diplomat.
 
 JIMMY HAS AN IDEA 269 
 
 " I do," returned the girl ; " and astonishingly igno- 
 rant, too. Rose has been trying to teach them a few 
 things about housekeeping; she's been lovely in giv- 
 ing time that she might have spent spinning over this 
 beautiful country in the sunshine." 
 
 "Miss Brooke has been giving and doing a few 
 things to help on, too," remarked the boy, eying her 
 steadily. And at Dorothy's assurance that it was 
 precious little that she had done, he added : " I think 
 you'd like to do more and I know a way." 
 
 " What is it ? " asked Dorothy, her head the least 
 bit tilted back and her eyes meeting Jimmy's with a 
 gaze not less steady, and with a touch of suspicion 
 mingled with its questioning, as if she were half 
 afraid of being trapped in some manner by the very 
 clever fellow who, evidently, wanted something of 
 her which he was not sure of getting. Then she 
 glanced at his two companions whose eyes were also 
 fixed upon her. Surely, they were not good co- 
 adjutors if Jimmy had malice in his mind. "Well, 
 what is it?" she repeated. 
 
 "A money-making scheme," he answered, smiling. 
 
 "That's all that goes down nowadays," retorted 
 Dorothy with the air of a cynic of sixty. 
 
 "We're thinking of putting it up," he said, smil- 
 ing still more broadly. " All the people here who are 
 coming to the play can well afford to pay a fair ad- 
 mission fee, and that money will give the Walkers 
 some substantial comforts." 
 
 Dorothy looked caught, as she was, on the horns of 
 a dilemma. "Yes, it would," she said hesitatingly.
 
 270 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 " But I don't think it's nice one bit to charge any one 
 for seeing that little play. We mean that in itself to 
 be a benevolent scheme," she added, with a sudden 
 smile, gone as suddenly. " It seems like professional 
 work to do this even for a good purpose and not at 
 all for ourselves." 
 
 " I thought we intended to do professional work 
 some day in fact, as soon as we could get into it," 
 asserted Ned. 
 
 " Then, I needn't ask which side you're on," said 
 Dorothy ; " and you, certainly, have half the right to 
 say what shall be." 
 
 " I waive it, as you know," he answered. " I was 
 only reminding you." 
 
 " Thank you. Let me think a minute." She stood 
 with her head bent. Suddenly, she lifted it and looked 
 at Jimmy, the corners of her mouth twitching. " How 
 much admission fee are you going to ask ? " she said. 
 
 They all laughed. "The most I can get," he re- 
 turned. " What do you say to it ? " 
 
 "Til say 'yes' if Mrs. Longley does. Please go 
 and ask her." And she turned to Ned. 
 
 He went at once to his mother whom they could 
 see in the further corner of the great parlor. 
 
 Almost immediately he came back. "That's her 
 answer," he announced, and opening his hand he dis- 
 played the price of a ticket " She gave me this," he 
 added. " I'll pass it over to the treasurer." And he 
 gave it to Jimmy. 
 
 "Since she says 'yes,' I will," declared the girl. 
 Watching Ned making his way back to them with
 
 JIMMY HAS AN IDEA 271 
 
 his message, the thought had come to her that if it 
 had been Mr. Raynor, or Mr. Winder, who had been 
 sent, she might have suspected some trick in this 
 prompt and effective reply. But, whatever his mis- 
 takes and faults, she could always trust Ned. 
 
 It turned out that Jimmy was like the person in 
 the old saw; asking advice, he had meant approba- 
 tion, and had made ready for it by having had tickets 
 printed with the name of the play and the date and 
 price of admission. It was not much of a risk, he 
 said, if they had not been used. 
 
 With a few apt words to the guests of the house 
 assembled in the parlors concerning the very needy 
 family in the neighborhood of the hotel and the state- 
 ment that the proceeds of the play were to go to this 
 family, Jimmy's tickets sold with magic swiftness, 
 until he was left with less than a dozen in hand, and 
 these, and perhaps more, were sure to go the follow- 
 ing morning to some not present that evening. This 
 was the last touch needed to popularize the play. It 
 succeeded. 
 
 A few minutes before the curtain rose, Dorothy 
 was seated in the audience beside Miss Knowles with 
 an occasional word to her and an anxious eye for 
 every comer who entered the door. 
 
 Ah ! there he was at last ! And but for her strategy, 
 there would not have been a seat anywhere near Miss 
 Knowles. Rose Hewes, one of the ushers and well 
 instructed in her duties, came up the aisle piloting 
 Professor Griswold and, apparently, looking here and 
 there for a seat for him.
 
 272 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 As they reached her, Dorothy rose and greeted the 
 professor. " Take this place," she said to him, and 
 on his refusal, added : " Really, you are not taking 
 my seat; I was only speaking to Miss Knowles a mo- 
 ment. I must go behind the scenes. I may not be 
 out again all the evening; and if I do come, I shall 
 take a seat close by the stage. So, it's you, or some- 
 body else. Why not you? Haven't you come all the 
 
 way from A just to see and hear? You ought 
 
 to have a good place. So, sit down, please. And, 
 please, excuse me." 
 
 Thus it was that side by side Miss Knowles and 
 the professor watched the play which might, or might 
 not, make its personal appeal to themselves. 
 
 As Dorothy was passing up the aisle she saw two 
 other guests enter the room. She hastened to greet 
 them, and asked Rose to give them the two seats 
 she had reserved.
 
 XXV 
 
 "TAKING IT FOR GRANTED" 
 
 ALMOST all the guests in the hotel, which was full, 
 assembled to see the play written by two young per- 
 sons whom they had met and liked, and to be acted 
 in part by collegians at whose fun they had often 
 laughed. The audience was in fine humor and ready 
 to make allowance for the work of amateurs and of 
 amateurs who had had scanty time for preparation. 
 It was a good deal to be able to go to the theatre at 
 all at the heights of a mountain resort. 
 
 So that it was under favorable auspices that there 
 was presented the comedy of: 
 
 TAKING IT FOR GRANTED 
 
 DRAMATIS PERSONS : 
 
 Mr. Graham, in love with Laura Carew. . .Mr. Norcross 
 
 Mr. Murray, in love with Kitty Parker Mr. Brooke 
 
 Mr. Vorse, Laura Carew's cousin Mr. Raynor 
 
 Mr. Sims, in love with Laura Carew Mr. Winder 
 
 Miss Laura Carew, in love with Mr. Graham 
 
 Miss Lulu Bromley 
 
 Miss Kitty Parker, in love with Mr. Graham 
 
 Miss Grace Longley 
 Miss Anna Achers, friend of Miss Laura Carew. . . 
 
 Miss Priscy Pell 
 SCENE Large summer hotel. 
 
 273
 
 274 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 ACT I 
 
 SCENE I Veranda of hotel: MR. GRAHAM and Miss 
 CAREW, in conversation: 
 
 MR. GRAHAM: I took it for granted you'd be here, 
 Miss Carew; you're always so fond of out-of-door life. 
 
 Miss CAREW (smiling) : Unless you had found me in 
 the woods, Mr. Graham. I'm so fond of the open air 
 and the country. 
 
 MR. GRAHAM (seating himself beside her) : I never 
 forget that, Miss Carew Laura ; indeed, I never forget 
 any of your tastes and likes. Your love of the country 
 is so natural and wholesome, it would be well if all were 
 like you; but of the people here, I'm sure many come 
 only because it's the fashion. I despise affectation. But 
 you are always sincere. 
 
 LAURA (casting down her eyes) : I endeavor to be, 
 Mr. Graham. 
 
 MR. GRAHAM: It's no effort to you to be true 
 Laura. 
 
 (Enter Nemo, wagging his tail and looking up at 
 Laura, who caresses him fondly, while Graham watches 
 her.) 
 
 LAURA (still patting Nemo) : What a splendid dog, 
 Mr. Graham! 
 
 MR. GRAHAM: The thought of you and of your 
 wishes is with me always; I try to do what will please 
 you. I believe you will find that in one respect, at 
 least, I have done so. 
 
 LAURA: You are very kind, Mr. Graham. But why 
 should you try to please me? There are others whose 
 fancies are much more worthy of consideration. 
 (Aside.) That ought to make him say something kind!
 
 "TAKING IT FOR GRANTED" 275 
 
 GRAHAM (with emphasis) : And who are they, 
 Laura ? 
 
 LAURA: One is the charming Miss Parker, who, I 
 can see, interests you and whom you interest, Mr. 
 Graham. (Aside.) What will he say to that? 
 
 GRAHAM : Miss Parker ! Ah ! Ye es, she is an in- 
 teresting young lady; but somewhat too vivacious for 
 my taste. 
 
 LAURA (laughing and glancing at him) : I'm afraid 
 I shall have to challenge your taste, then, Mr. Graham. 
 
 GRAHAM : If you do this, it is the height of modesty ; 
 for you must know, Miss Laura that in all respects 
 you are my taste. The more I see of you, the more 
 deeply do I feel this. (He draws nearer and gazes 
 fondly at her; there is a moment's silence; she devotes 
 herself still more affectionately to Nemo.} I shall never 
 come to feel myself worthy; I am as near that now as 
 I ever shall be. (He draws still closer and lays his hand 
 on hers, -which is not -withdrawn. With deep emotion.) 
 Laura, will you be 
 
 (Approaching -voices and steps; he pauses; both start 
 apart. Enter Mr. Murray and Miss Parker, walking 
 rapidly toward them; when she reaches the bench, Kitty 
 throws herself down beside Laura and begins to pat the 
 dog who greets her.) 
 
 KITTY: Well! I took it for granted I should find 
 you hobnobbing here. What else but hobnob can one 
 do at a summer hotel? Do look here, Mr. Murray; 
 Miss Carew is perfectly devoted to Nemo! It must be 
 a case of "love me, love my dog." (She laughs.) 
 
 LAURA (drawing back) : Your dog, Mr. Murray? 
 Oh, I didn't know. I thought 
 
 KITTY (laughing) : Ha! ha! ha! I'll wager anything 
 you thought 'twas Mr. Graham's dog come, now, didn't 
 you? (Looks at her teasingly and laughs again.)
 
 276 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 LAURA (embarrassed and angry} : I thought it was a 
 handsome dog; and I'm always fond of those. Of 
 course, I didn't know whose it was never asked, or 
 cared. 
 
 KITTY: No, indeed! A part of your fondness for 
 country pleasures! 
 
 MURRAY (to Graham} : By the way, let me congrat- 
 ulate you on your late purchase of that fine estate. It 
 was a great bargain, I hear; and it's a charming home 
 to offer any woman. (He looks with a smile at Miss 
 Carew who stares back at him in deep indignation and 
 rises as if to withdraw.} 
 
 KITTY: Oh, don't let us interrupt you, pray! We're 
 on the way to the pool I mean, the real pool, not the 
 card one! Come, Mr. Murray. (They sweep off.} 
 GRAHAM (to Laura} : Pray, sit down Laura 
 LAURA (freezingly} : Miss Carew, Mr. Graham. 
 GRAHAM (in despair} : How can I have offended 
 you? I took it for granted that you, loving the coun- 
 
 try 
 
 LAURA (indignantly} : How do you know I love the 
 country? That does to talk about! The truth is, I'm 
 fond of the city and of people who don't blunder. 
 
 GRAHAM (recoiling} : Ah ! I took it for granted you 
 understood me! 
 
 LAURA (still indignantly} : You seem to have taken 
 it for granted, sir, that you understood me altogether too 
 well! You buy your estate first, it seems, and take it 
 for granted, perhaps, that it will buy the woman ! Then 
 you boast of your purchase and make her a laughing- 
 stock! Insulting! (furiously}. 
 
 GRAHAM (humbly} : The thought of buying the 
 woman never came to me. The only thing I can do is 
 to beg her. If she bestows herself, I shall be rich. I 
 bought the estate because it came into the market and 
 would be caught up. I can sell it again any day. I
 
 "TAKING IT FOR GRANTED" 277 
 
 LAURA (somewhat mollified) : Ah ! But I wouldn't 
 hurry 
 
 GRAHAM (coming up to her as she stands) : I was 
 asking you, Miss Carew Laura! will you be 
 
 SIMS (rushing in with a tennis racquet) : Oh, come 
 on this minute! We must have two more to play! 
 
 GRAHAM (angrily) : No, thank you. One would 
 think play the object of your life! 
 
 SIMS: It is. Come on! 
 
 GRAHAM (still more angrily) : I have told you no, 
 Mr. Sims. 
 
 LAURA (smiling sweetly) : Thank you ! I'll come, 
 Mr. Sims. What a pity you are not in the mood, Mr. 
 Graham! Some law case to study up? Good-by, then. 
 (She moves off slowly.) 
 
 GRAHAM: Oh, hold on a minute! (Follows.) 
 
 LAURA (laughing) : I see, women have not a monop- 
 oly on changing their minds! Lead on, Mr. Sims. 
 
 SIMS (to Graham) : Oh, a letter for you! I nearly 
 forgot. You were absent when the mail was read off 
 in the office, so I took it for you. (Hands it to him.) 
 
 GRAHAM : Excuse me, please. (Opens and reads.) 
 
 (Enter Miss Achers with a letter.) 
 
 Miss ACHERS: For you, Laura. 
 
 LAURA: Excuse me, Mr. Sims. (Opens her letter.) 
 Ah! Good news! A dear friend coming! (Moves to 
 go off the stage.) Now for the game ! Are you coming, 
 Mr. Graham? 
 
 GRAHAM (looking up as if he had forgotten his com- 
 panions) : No. Pardon me. I find there is something 
 special to be" attended to. 
 
 (Scene ends with Graham standing in the center of 
 the stage with the letter in his hand, the others moving 
 off slowly, Laura looking back at him wonderingly.) 
 
 In the audience Professor Griswold said sadly to
 
 278 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 himself : " How strange it is that in life there are 
 so many incidents duplicated! Now, by what singu- 
 lar and unpremeditated coincidence have these young 
 people in their play hit upon the accident so fatal to 
 my happiness that letter at such a moment! Had it 
 come but a day even an hour later, I might have 
 made everything clear; so near in spirit yes, and in 
 almost the very words themselves, had I come to 
 her ! " He glanced at Miss Knowles. " But now our 
 lives are as far asunder as the poles, although at this 
 moment we are sitting side by side, but not like 
 friends, rather like strangers who chance to be at the 
 same spectacle ! " 
 
 SCENE II Time, the following afternoon. Place, the 
 same, the veranda of the hotel. Laura Miss Ackers. 
 
 LAURA: But to go off, Anna, in such a way! There 
 can be no excuse whatever, I say, NO EXCUSE! 
 
 Miss ACKERS: And I say, Laura, you can't imagine 
 everything in the world that may have happened. You 
 must take it for granted that Mr. Graham is all right. 
 I think he is ; I have confidence in him. 
 
 At this point in the play Professor Griswold bent 
 toward his companion. " What a friend she is ! " he 
 whispered to her. But Miss Knowles kept her eyes 
 fixed upon the stage and appeared not to have heard 
 him. He sighed and drew back. 
 
 LAURA (tragically} : I used to have the greatest con- 
 fidence in him, Anna.
 
 'TAKING IT FOR GRANTED" 279 
 
 Miss ACKERS: Oh, he'll make it all right when he 
 comes back; you'll see. 
 
 LAURA : He may not have the chance ! Why do you 
 want me to take so much for granted, Anna? 
 
 Miss ACKERS: Because it's often the right way. 
 
 LAURA : And, again, often it's not. So, what are you 
 going to do? 
 
 Miss ACKERS: Wait. 
 
 LAURA (tragically) : Why don't you tell me some- 
 thing easy? 
 
 Miss ACKERS: I can't think of anything easy just 
 now, Laura. But it will be easy backward I mean, 
 after it's all over. 
 
 (Enter Miss Parker and Mr. Sims.} 
 
 KITTY (excitedly}: Well! News for you this time! 
 I can tell the reason why Mr. Graham went off on the 
 train yesterday evening, and where he went, and most 
 important of all whom he went with ! (She looks at 
 Laura -who is all attention.) What do you think of 
 escorting a beautiful young lady oh, she was very 
 handsome ! on the train for hours and hours, nearly the 
 whole day? They got off at a little country place, and 
 my informant says he put her into a carriage and was 
 so attentive so devoted. Then they drove off perhaps 
 they drove to the minister's. Or, perhaps, it was a wed- 
 ding trip, a runaway match, perhaps. One never knows 
 anything about these quiet people. I 
 
 Miss ACKERS (her arm about Laura who looks very 
 pale and says not a word) : And who is your informant, 
 may I ask, Miss Parker? 
 
 KITTY (tossing her head and laughing) : My inform- 
 ant is no less a personage than Mr. Murray, who was 
 obliged to go to the city on business last evening and 
 went on the same train with Mr. Graham. It's an all- 
 night run, you remember. When Mr. Murray got out 
 in the morning, whom should he see but Mr. Graham
 
 280 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 meeting his lady-love! It happened they all took the 
 same parlor car. He says he never saw greater devo- 
 tion ; they didn't talk much ; evidently, they understood 
 each other you'd have thought so if you'd been there, 
 from his account of it, Miss Carew. And I suppose it 
 was for her he bought that fine place that we all took it 
 for granted was for quite another lady. But one never 
 can tell. (Looks at Laura and laughs.} (Aside} : If 
 I can't get him myself, it's something to see her cut 
 out! 
 
 Miss ACHERS: When did Mr. Murray return, Miss 
 Parker? 
 
 KITTY: He has not returned at all, Miss Achers! 
 
 Miss ACHERS: Not returned! Then how 
 
 KITTY: Certainly not. Nowadays one doesn't have 
 to be on the spot to hear things; don't you know that, 
 Miss Achers? You forget the telephone! (Watches 
 Anna's troubled face and laughs.) He telephoned me 
 just now. You must be much upset by my news by 
 proxy, of course! 
 
 Miss ACHERS (frigidly) : I wished only to verify, 
 Miss Parker. There are so many senseless rumors fly- 
 ing about always ; and sometimes one gets hold of them 
 most unintentionally, of course. 
 
 KITTY (angrily) : I never get hold of senseless 
 things, Miss Achers! I leave that to others who have 
 vivid imaginations and who take it for granted things 
 are intended for them estates and all that sort of thing 
 when it turns out quite the contrary. 
 
 LAURA (furiously) : If by talking about taking any- 
 thing for granted as to estates, you have the you refer 
 to me, Miss Parker, you never were more out in your 
 life. I only take for granted what my eyes assure me 
 of. 
 
 KITTY (mockingly) : And perhaps you don't believe 
 Mr. Murray's eyes, Miss Carew?
 
 "TAKING IT FOR GRANTED" 281 
 
 LAURA (scornfully} : What is it to me what Mr. 
 Murray sees, or does not see? You seem to take it for 
 granted that Mr. Graham's movements and companions 
 interest me especially? Not at all. Why should they? 
 
 KITTY (mockingly} : No; I'm sure I don't see why 
 they should. Everybody could see he's just been pass- 
 ing the time in this dull place as we all have. 
 
 LAURA (sternly and with effort} : Exactly, Miss 
 Parker as we all have although we have thought at 
 times that your interest was deeper. 
 
 KITTY (furiously} : Ha ! ha ! ha ! How very stupid ! 
 
 SIMS (approaching Laura and turning his back upon 
 Kitty} : No, I assure you, Miss Carew, not all of us. 
 (They walk slowly to the back of the stage, he talking 
 and she seeming to listen languidly and under protest. 
 He grows more earnest, until she interrupts him, -first 
 by shaking her head, and then by speaking.) 
 
 LAURA: No, no, Mr. Sims not that! Really, you 
 must not. It's taken for granted we're all joking here. 
 
 KITTY (interrupting, angry to have been left by 
 Sims} : I remember, Miss Carew, when I went to board- 
 ing school 
 
 Miss ACKERS (interrupting} : Indeed ! Miss Parker. 
 Is your memory so excellent? 
 
 KITTY (tossing her head and laughing scornfully} : 
 What a strain it is for some people even to try to be 
 witty! I remember when I went to boarding school, 
 Miss Carew, what our principal used to say to us girls 
 she was a very bright woman " Young ladies," she 
 would say, " never consider yourselves engaged until the 
 young man has said to you, * Will you be mine ? ' and 
 you have answered, ' Yes, thank you ! ' ' Ha ! ha ! ha ! 
 Wasn't that good? Ha! ha! ha! Come, Mr. Sims, 
 we're going for our walk immediately or we sha'n't get 
 back before the game begins. (Goes toward the wing, 
 followed reluctantly by Sims. There turns.} Ha! ha!
 
 282 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 ha! Wasn't it good, though? "Young ladies, never 
 think you are engaged to be married until he has said, 
 ' Will you be mine? ' " (very sentimentally) " and you've 
 answered, 'Yes, thank you!'" Ha! ha! ha! (Goes 
 off.) 
 
 LAURA (sinking into a chair, Miss Ackers supporting 
 her) : Oh, was I so wrong in taking it for granted, 
 when he almost said it? when he began to say it? 
 
 Miss ACKERS (soothingly) : No! no! (Aside.) But 
 I wish he'd finished! 
 
 In the third scene of the play, Graham returns in 
 time to escort Miss Carew to a picnic for which, a 
 few days previous, she had accepted his escort. But 
 she treats him with freezing coldness and goes with 
 Sims who tries his best to make himself irresistible. 
 Graham stays at home, and Miss Parker makes some 
 excuse to stay also. On the return of the party, Miss 
 Carew ignores him altogether. The others go away, 
 and Graham is left in a corner, out of sight, but not 
 purposely so. A stranger appears, asking for Miss 
 Carew. Laura comes running out of the house and 
 throws her arms about his neck. 
 
 "Oh, Bertram!" she cries. "How glad I am to 
 see you! I was longing for the sight of your face." 
 
 At this, Graham rises from his corner, realizing 
 that Laura had believed herself alone with the 
 stranger, and confronts the two. Then he turns to 
 her, saying that he has been an unintentional witness 
 of her greeting, that he must take it for granted that 
 she is engaged to this gentleman and that he wishes 
 her all happiness as he says farewell to her. After
 
 "TAKING IT FOR GRANTED" 283 
 
 speaking, he pauses and stands looking at her, as if 
 he were giving her opportunity to deny his charges. 
 
 But she can only stammer his word : " ' Farewell ! ' ' 
 Then, as she remembers the account of the beautiful 
 lady in the train and realizes he had intended fare- 
 well to herself in any case, her face hardens and she 
 looks sternly back at him. 
 
 " I wish you happiness ! " he says again, bows and 
 goes off without glancing back at her. 
 
 Laura stands as if turned to stone. As he disap- 
 pears, she says to herself : " It is the end ! " 
 
 The scene has also considerable by-play. 
 
 " Yes, it is the end ! " repeated Professor Griswold 
 to himself as he listened. " How true to nature are 
 the imaginations of these young people! It is won- 
 derful! For they cannot have known sorrow like 
 mine; at their age they can have had no experience 
 of such disappointment and pain; yet how it all re- 
 sembles what I know too well." He glanced at his 
 companion, who sat with her face turned to the stage 
 and her eyes well out of range of his; she was trem- 
 bling; but he did not perceive that. 
 
 " Can they really have known ? " she was question- 
 ing herself. "Is it possible this is merely guess, 
 
 or But, no, they cannot know. It shows only 
 
 that my experience is wider than I realized. I must 
 think it over later. I don't dare to dwell upon pos- 
 sibilities here and now. How much does he recog- 
 nize? But, happily, that I shall never know. How 
 close the air is here, Professor Griswold ! " She
 
 284 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 turned to him with a smile, waving her fan lan- 
 guidly. 
 
 " Either she has forgotten, or she does not care ! " 
 he thought despairingly. " In the play all will come 
 right ; it's a comedy. But the reality is tragic enough. 
 But to-night I must put on a holiday face with the 
 rest. I'm here only for amusement! They have 
 opened another window, Miss Knowles," he said to 
 her. " I hope you are cooler now. Cooler, indeed ! " 
 ran his thoughts as for a moment he looked at her 
 steadily. "Could anyone be more of an iceberg? If 
 she doesn't care, can't she even seem to remember?" 
 
 Then the curtain rose again, and he turned to the 
 Second Act. He was still interested to see how facts 
 mingled with the presentment of fancies. 
 
 The time of this act was one year later, at the same 
 season summer and at the same place. In the first 
 scene, Graham has disappeared and Sims, who has 
 wooed Laura in vain for a year, being especially 
 charmed by her singing, is about to say farewell to 
 her. Murray, still paying attentions to Kitty Parker, 
 holds a monologue whether warmed-over love is 
 worth anything, and is brought to a decision by seeing 
 Kitty in the distance talking to Sims. Yes, Kitty is 
 too fascinating to resign; her warmed-over love is 
 much better than nothing of her. He goes up to the 
 two, and on the exit of Sims assures her that some 
 dishes are really better warmed up the second day. 
 She stares at him and then bursts out laughing. He 
 tells her what he is thinking of. She is aware that 
 Sims a millionaire is out of her reach, and recall-
 
 "TAKING IT FOR GRANTED" 285 
 
 ing that Graham is out of the running, she accepts 
 Murray a little condescendingly. But he holds even 
 her condescensions charming. The scene has a spir- 
 ited conversation. 
 
 In the second and last scene of the act Laura comes 
 in with a large green lawyer's bag in her hand. The 
 talk that follows makes it plain that, on a run in a 
 motor car with others of the party, she has discov- 
 ered this bag, for which the owner has advertised. 
 The clerk of the hotel has answered the advertise- 
 ment, and the owner is coming, in fact, has already 
 come for his property. He is Mr. Alden. At the 
 moment a voice from the wings calls loudly to them 
 to come and play golf. All go out but Laura, who 
 stays to receive the owner of the bag and restore it 
 to him; he enters at the right as the others go out 
 on the left. 
 
 LAURA (aside, watching Kitty walk off with Murray} : 
 How happy she looks ! (Turns and bows to the stranger 
 without glancing at him). Mr. Alden, I believe. 
 
 GRAHAM (with agitation) : Laura! Miss Carew! I 
 had no idea you were here. 
 
 LAURA (starting and looking agitated also) : Mr. 
 Graham! Why! I supposed Mr. Alden was coming 
 for his bag? This was what the clerk told me. 
 
 GRAHAM : Yes ; so he did intend. But pressing busi- 
 ness detained him, and he asked me to come for him. 
 I'm his partner, Miss Carew. 
 
 LAURA (coldly) : Oh, I see. But oh, it's the same 
 thing, of course, Mr. Graham. What matter who comes 
 for it, so long as it gets to its owner? Here it is. 
 
 GRAHAM (taking it from her) : I thank you most
 
 286 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 heartily, Miss Carew. You cannot guess what impor- 
 tant papers are in this bag. How fortunate that it fell 
 into such hands as yours! I can't be too grateful; for 
 the papers concern us both my partner and myself. 
 
 LAURA (still coldly) : I'm glad to have been of serv- 
 ice to you, Mr. Graham although so unconsciously. 
 (He bows.) (Aside.) How pale he looks! He is 
 nothing to me ever. But I love him. I must be cour- 
 teous to him this last time. (She sits down.) Won't 
 you be seated, Mr. Graham? You have a little time be- 
 fore your train? 
 
 The professor in the audience commented to himself 
 here : " Now, that's new. There was nothing of this 
 kind in the reality. She doesn't care at all!" He 
 tried to get a glimpse of Miss Knowles' face; but it 
 was turned away from him; and he looked back at 
 the stage again. "Ah, he's going to sit down!" he 
 said. " Now, what is to happen? " And he was again 
 absorbed. 
 
 GRAHAM (to Laura) : Thank you. I have two hours 
 to wait. (Pause.) 
 
 LAURA: Beautiful weather, Mr. Graham. 
 
 GRAHAM (abstractedly): Very fine! (Pause.) I 
 must tell you, Miss Carew, that I have not intentionally 
 intruded upon you, since I understand that my presence 
 is not agreeable to you. I'm sure you will take it for 
 granted that 
 
 LAURA (laughing with embarrassment) : What am I 
 to take for granted, Mr. Graham? 
 
 GRAHAM: That I did not know you were here. 
 
 LAURA: You mean, it is disagreeable to you to meet 
 me?
 
 "TAKING IT FOR GRANTED" 287 
 
 GRAHAM (desperately): Miss Carew Laura! You 
 must have taken it for granted that I went away last 
 year because I could not bear to (He pauses.) 
 
 LAURA: Because you could not bear to see me, Mr. 
 Graham? Indeed, I was not so vain as to take any such 
 thing for granted. I thought you went away because 
 because you wanted to go ; and I think so now because 
 there was someone not here whom you wanted to meet. 
 (She turns upon him suddenly.) How about that beau- 
 tiful young lady you escorted last summer, Mr. Graham ? 
 I take it for granted that she is Mrs. Graham now? 
 (Looks at him anxiously.) 
 
 GRAHAM : Yes ; she is Mrs. Graham ; she has been so 
 for years for two years. 
 
 LAURA (drawing away from him): What! Even 
 when you were here last summer! 
 
 GRAHAM (looking bewildered) : Yes, indeed ! Why 
 not? Poor thing! But now 
 
 LAURA (with a forced laugh) : But now you think of 
 offering your attentions elsewhere, perhaps, Mr. Graham, 
 and being as gay as you were last summer, when you 
 and Miss Parker were so interested in one another? 
 No wonder, you say, " Poor thing " ! 
 
 GRAHAM (looking still more bewildered) : Yes, poor 
 thing, indeed ! She has had a very hard time so young 
 and beautiful ; and such a sad experience ! But now she 
 has in some degree recovered her spirits; and I hope 
 that she will become her natural, gay self again. I 
 
 LAURA (scornfully) : I should suppose that her gay- 
 ety and her happiness would depend upon your treat- 
 ment of her, sir! 
 
 GRAHAM (still bewildered) : I have tried to be kind 
 to her, of course. But there has been so little that I 
 could do for her, poor child ! 
 
 LAURA (laughing sarcastically) : Very little, cer- 
 tainly as you seem to look at things!
 
 288 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 GRAHAM (still puzzled} : But now although I don't 
 feel in the spirit of such things, I'm going to her wed- 
 ding next week, and 
 
 LAURA (amazed} : Going to her wedding! Going to 
 your wife's wedding! 
 
 GRAHAM (starting up}: What! My wife? My 
 wife, Laura! I have no wife, and never shall. You 
 know the one woman whom I love. And she is not Miss 
 Parker ! 
 
 LAURA (bewildered) : But that beautiful young lady 
 Mrs. Graham? 
 
 GRAHAM (smiling all over his face} : Why, she's my 
 brother's widow. Last summer he died. I took her to 
 him the day you must have heard of my traveling with 
 her. He was ill then, but we did not know how very 
 ill. Still, she was in sorrow and I did what I could for 
 her, poor thing ! I am glad she has found consolation 
 she is so young! If she were older, she could not for- 
 get so easily. (Looks at her keenly.} I took it for 
 granted that I had made myself very well understood 
 by you last summer, Laura. But perhaps 
 
 LAURA (eager and embarrassed} : How odd that you 
 are going to a wedding next week, Mr. Graham. So 
 am I. Would you like to know whose? 
 
 GRAHAM (looking suddenly distressed} : To your 
 own, Miss Carew? 
 
 LAURA (laughing} : No, indeed ! The right man 
 hasn't asked me, Mr. Graham that is I'm going to 
 Mr. Vorse's wedding. He has always been like a 
 brother to me. He is my cousin, you know; he came 
 just as you went away last year. (5^ looks at him and 
 smiles.) 
 
 GRAHAM : You should say, I went away just as he 
 came. (Pause.} Perhaps I took too much for granted 
 
 then. I thought you cared for him as (Pauses and 
 
 looks at her questioningly.)
 
 "TAKING IT FOR GRANTED" 289 
 
 LAURA (looking down, embarrassed) : You do take a 
 good deal for granted, Mr. Graham. 
 
 GRAHAM : And you also took for granted that I was 
 false to you 
 
 LAURA (hastily) : You were not bound to me, Mr. 
 Graham, 
 
 GRAHAM (looking at her reproachfully): What! 
 For lack of two words? I'll say them now and dare 
 everything " my wife ! " I had already asked you, 
 " Will you be " and somebody came. I couldn't finish. 
 I took it for granted that you would let me say the rest 
 afterward. But you never did. 
 
 LAURA (looking at him shyly) : After the story of 
 the beautiful young lady, I took it for granted that you 
 were glad you had not. 
 
 GRAHAM (taking her hand, which is not withdrawn) : 
 Laura Carew, will you be my wife? (Steps and voices.) 
 Oh, Laura, let us take nothing for granted this time 
 speak. 
 
 LAURA (steps and voices coming nearer) : Yes, Mr. 
 Graham, I will. 
 
 GRAHAM (pressing her hand and releasing it and ris- 
 ing as Murray, Sims, Miss Parker and Miss Ackers 
 enter) : How do you do, Miss Achers ? And, Miss 
 Parker, to meet you is like coming into a blaze of elec- 
 tricity, you're so brilliant. Glad to see you, Murray, 
 Sims. (They shake hands.") 
 
 KITTY (laughing): Take care, Mr. Graham! Not 
 too many compliments! Things have moved since you 
 went away so cruelly last year, in pursuit of the lovely 
 stranger, you know. If you are too flattering now, 
 you'll have to answer for it to Mr. Murray. I'm glad 
 to see you again ; and, as the next hour you may disap- 
 pear for an unlimited period, I'll take this opportunity 
 to invite you to our wedding. 
 
 GRAHAM (beaming upon her): Congratulations! I
 
 290 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 shall be too delighted, I'm sure. And also there can- 
 not be a better opportunity than the present may I, 
 Miss Carew? (she smiles and nods) as I was saying, 
 to invite you all to our wedding Miss Carew's and 
 mine. 
 
 KITTY: Congratulations without end! Why, I took 
 it for granted 
 
 GRAHAM : Ah, Miss Parker ! " Taking it for granted " 
 has taken a back seat. 
 
 (Group: Graham and Miss Carew in center of stage; 
 Murray and Miss Parker on the right; Sims and Miss 
 Ackers on the left. Curtain falls.) 
 
 At first the professor forgot to applaud; he was so 
 occupied in thinking that even children may suggest 
 excellent points if only the play and the reality had 
 been still more similar, if only she who cared not at 
 all, did really care!
 
 XXVI 
 
 DOROTHY'S LETTER 
 
 " MOTHER dear," wrote Dorothy late that same 
 night, "I must tell you before I go to bed that in 
 one way, at least, the play was a great success 
 everybody enjoyed it, and we had as much praise as 
 we could stagger under that's a good deal, I assure 
 you! 
 
 "The college boys were all very funny; they put 
 in so many things not down on paper and made bright 
 speeches, taking off incidents of the day. In the first 
 part of the second act Lulu had a song; I wrote the 
 words and she set it to music. She rendered it beau- 
 tifully. Grace who always declared she couldn't act 
 at all, did splendidly. Priscy had only a few words to 
 say, but she managed to make those very fetching 
 and she had an immense amount of stage business; 
 she did remarkably well. I saw her father watching 
 her; I think he was proud of her. He had told me 
 when he went away where he was to be for the next 
 few days, and I had telephoned, asking him and Mrs. 
 Pell to the play. I knew it couldn't make matters 
 between him and Pell-Mell any worse, they were as 
 bad as possible now, and something might happen; 
 it gave another opportunity, at least. They are stay- 
 ing all night ; so he and Priscy may have a talk in the 
 morning who knows ? 
 
 291
 
 292 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 "But you are waiting to hear about the professor 
 and Miss Knowles so am I! I watched them the 
 whole evening when I didn't have duties behind the 
 scenes. Once or twice I saw the professor turn to 
 her with a word. But either she didn't answer, or 
 she must have thrown him a very scrubbed reply, for 
 he turned away again immediately. And once she 
 spoke to him, haughtily, I think; she seemed annoyed 
 at something. But he looked at her when parts in 
 the play hit, and I know he was interested. I've no 
 idea how much he guesses, or feels. 
 
 "But, mother, Mrs. Longley has given him a 
 chance ; she's as interested and ' romantic ' as any of 
 us, and that's one reason why I like her. It was 
 when we were talking things over after the audience 
 had gone of course, the professor is staying here to- 
 night, he couldn't get home. Miss Knowles had said 
 good-night and gone. Then Mrs. Longley came up 
 to the professor and asked him why he could not fill 
 that empty seat in the motor car; it had been wait- 
 ing all the trip for Monsieur L'Imprevu, and he was 
 Monsieur L'Imprevu! We all took the cue and 
 pitched in so that he couldn't say ' no.' I don't think 
 he wanted to. As we were talking to him, Rex 
 glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, and the 
 next moment he said: 'Professor Griswold, Mrs. 
 Longley can't make a monopoly of you. I must have 
 you in my car. I want you to see the working of it 
 still further. You remember you liked it so well on 
 the run to the train last evening.' The professor 
 hoped he would not be taking another person's place
 
 DOROTHY'S LETTER 293 
 
 if he accepted? He was at the disposal of his kind 
 hosts ; and he looked in perplexity from Mrs. Longley 
 to Rex. 'Your brother's immensely keen/ said Ned 
 in my ear, and I saw him exchange a smile of com- 
 prehension with his mother. But before she could 
 speak, Rex went on: 'I know that Miss Longley 
 would rather be in the car with her mother who, as 
 you have heard, had a severe accident recently; so, 
 I'm doing the kindest thing to her in proposing this 
 change. Isn't it so, Miss Longley?' He wheeled 
 about, and, as Grace told me afterward, looked into 
 her eyes with an expression that nearly upset her 
 gravity; for she caught on instantly that Rex wanted 
 her seat beside Miss Knowles for the professor. She 
 answered demurely that this arrangement would suit 
 her best. Rex knew that Miss Knowles would back 
 out of the party altogether rather than change her car 
 to be with the professor in Mrs. Longley's, and I don't 
 think she'd be to blame for that. As Rex went by 
 me the next minute, he whispered : ' Haven't I fixed 
 Miss Of-Course, Doro? But I made a cat's-paw of 
 poor Grace.' I gave him an approving glance. 
 * Grace is not so badly off with us/ I retorted. He 
 laughed. Isn't he a clever fellow? So, it's settled 
 
 that the professor goes to A by the very earliest 
 
 train in the morning before we're downstairs, packs 
 his dress-suit case, comes back here to lunch, and goes 
 with us. I hope he won't forget all about it! 
 
 "Pell-Mell and her father are always in my 
 thought, I'm so set upon their being reconciled. 
 Perhaps it will never happen ; but I won't believe any
 
 294 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 such thing. I suppose I'm a little doleful because the 
 dear child has just been into my room, to bid me 
 good-night all by myself. She looked into my eyes 
 so sadly. ' You dear, dear friend,' she said ; ' I see 
 just what you've done, and what you hope. But I 
 know better; I know it's too late now for anything 
 ever.' Then she put her arms about my neck and her 
 head on my shoulder and sobbed hard for a minute. I 
 hugged her back again, and, I believe, I cried a little, 
 too; it's a hard case, and I do love Priscy so much, 
 and admire the colonel so, for all that he was unkind 
 once. The next minute Priscy had recovered herself 
 and stood off, looking at me. ' You sweet child ! ' 
 she said, wiping my eyes with her handkerchief, ' you 
 sha'n't cry for me ; I'm all right. Go to sleep, and be 
 as happy as you deserve.' Only as happy as I de- 
 serve ! Oh, mother ! And she went away with a put- 
 on smile which she kept until her back was turned. 
 " Good-by, mother dear. I hope you are all well. 
 Dear love to everybody. I've had such a good time 
 but it doesn't make it any less good that I am ex- 
 pecting to see you all in a few days now. 
 "Your affectionate 
 
 " DOROTHY." 
 
 There were no excursions that last morning. Every- 
 body was to be on hand for luncheon; and directly 
 after this the Brooke party were to set out for the 
 next stopping place, at which, however, owing to the 
 delay from Mrs. Longley's accident, they would re- 
 main only over night, instead of the few days at first
 
 DOROTHY'S LETTER 295 
 
 planned. Rex's friends would start with the others 
 and continue their tour, which was in a different di- 
 rection ; and Colonel and Mrs. Pell were also to leave 
 at the same time. 
 
 So, for the few hours that they were all to be to- 
 gether, everyone did as he or she pleased. Dorothy 
 saw Priscy talking to her father after breakfast; but 
 Mrs. Pell was there also, and from a distance the 
 conversation appeared more like a perfunctory inter- 
 change of courtesies than any satisfactory talk be- 
 tween father and daughter. Indeed, Priscy said to 
 her afterward : " It's just as I told you it would be, 
 Dorothy." 
 
 Later that morning Ned and Dorothy were speak- 
 ing about the performance of the evening before and 
 suggesting how the play could be improved. 
 
 " Are you counting upon seeing our professor ? " 
 asked Dorothy suddenly. 
 
 "Counting upon it absolutely," he returned. 
 
 But when luncheon was announced, the professor 
 had not arrived. 
 
 " He's forgotten all about it," volunteered Nor- 
 cross, glancing backward at Miss Knowles, who was 
 at a safe distance. 
 
 "Indeed, I'm sure he has not!" asserted Ned. 
 " Something has delayed him. We'll suspend the 
 verdict." 
 
 " Meanwhile, we'll go and get something to eat," 
 declared Rex, as the party filed into the dining-room.
 
 XXVII 
 
 A GREAT EXCITEMENT 
 
 NED was called from luncheon to the telephone, and 
 came back with a message to his mother. " He's very 
 sorry not to be on time," he announced. " But he's 
 coming by the next train, if it will not be asking too 
 much for us to wait for him. I told him ' no.' ' 
 
 " Certainly not," said Mrs. Longley. " We shall 
 be paid for waiting." 
 
 "Why, whom are we waiting for?" inquired Miss 
 Knowles. " Who's coming? " 
 
 An instant's silence fell on the assembly. Ned had 
 blundered ; he would hear about it later. 
 
 But the next moment he turned to the questioner. 
 "It is Professor Griswold, Miss Knowles," he 
 answered her calmly, looking into her eyes as if she 
 could have no special interest in the coming. " My 
 mother has taken the greatest liking to the professor 
 we all have, for that matter and mamma invited him 
 to come on with us for a day or two." Then, per- 
 ceiving an opposition rising in the other's manner, he 
 added with great deliberation and a face of perfect 
 gravity : " She feels that it would be good for Grace, 
 and all of us, to have the benefit of his erudition, his 
 first-hand knowledge of books and his scholarly attain- 
 ments." His eyes did not waver from Miss Knowles' 
 
 296
 
 A GREAT EXCITEMENT 297 
 
 countenance, nor did a quiver of his lips betray the 
 inward mirth that was devouring him. 
 
 Dorothy took a hasty swallow of water, Priscy be- 
 gan to eat with new assiduity, Rex dropped his napkin 
 and dived under the table for it, thereby greatly shock- 
 ing the waiter who was on duty, and none of the 
 young persons dared look at one another. But Ned 
 still stood gazing with unmoved expression at Miss 
 Knowles. 
 
 " Oh, yes," she answered " to be sure. He is a 
 
 cultivated man, certainly. I didn't think " She 
 
 broke off and looked at Grace with a new perception; 
 hitherto, the latter had been in her eyes only a child; 
 but, really, she was a tall girl and pretty. Why should 
 
 not the professor be interested in her, since 
 
 " Oh, yes, certainly," she repeated ; and devoted her- 
 self to her luncheon, although without much appetite. 
 
 "I killed two birds with one stone," laughed Ned 
 afterward to Rex. " Now she won't oppose Grace and 
 the professor riding in different cars." 
 
 " I can't make up my mind whether you're born 
 a playwright, or a detective ! " retorted the other. 
 
 Since their friends would be delayed, and the parties 
 were not even going in the same direction, Norcross 
 and his two companions decided to start directly after 
 luncheon as they had all intended to do. 
 
 The motor car with the collegians was no sooner 
 out of sight than Colonel Pell turned to Mrs. Longley 
 with a statement and a suggestion. Almost directly 
 aiterward Ned who had been standing beside his
 
 298 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 mother while the colonel was talking to her came to- 
 ward the others. 
 
 " Colonel Pell has just been saying that he has had 
 news of a balloon ascension to-morrow morning," he 
 said. " He. wants to go ; and he wonders if we all 
 would not like to see it?" 
 
 "He needn't wonder," cried Rex. "He must be 
 sure we would consider it the very next best thing to 
 going up ourselves." 
 
 " I should put it higher than that," remarked Rose 
 Hewes in an amused tone that made her hearers laugh. 
 
 " So, you're not an aeronaut," said Jimmy. " You'd 
 rather paint the clouds than sail through them? " 
 
 " Well, what do you say ? " asked Ned. " Mamma 
 wants me to tell her." 
 
 " Shall we vote by acclaim to go ? " asked Jimmy 
 Reid. 
 
 His suggestion was carried. 
 
 " The colonel says," added Ned, " that the ascension 
 is to be made at ten o'clock, if the wind is favorable. 
 The place is about fifty miles from here and not over 
 twelve from his hotel. He wants us to change our pro- 
 gramme and spend the night there, all of us, as his 
 guests. Then we can start in comfort the next morn- 
 ing." Priscy looked down and smiled ; she appreciated 
 her father's doing things as they should be done, she 
 said to herself. " He says the aeronauts are scientific 
 men," Ned went on. " He knows them. They're going 
 up for scientific purposes, to study air currents and 
 other things. They start from some little village 
 I forget the name they don't want a show and a
 
 A GREAT EXCITEMENT 299 
 
 crowd. He says he has telephoned to his hotel and 
 rooms will be ready for us if we will go. We can start 
 as soon as the professor arrives ; we know the way." 
 
 " But isn't he coming with us ? " cried Dorothy. 
 
 " He says," answered Ned, " that Mrs. Pell promised 
 to spend a week with friends near here. He's going 
 to take her this afternoon, and then go to his hotel to 
 do some work, and join her the last two days I 
 suspect he doesn't like to make long visits ; men don't, 
 you know," the speaker added with an air of knowing 
 all about the matter from long experience, so that the 
 others smiled and he hastened to explain that Colonel 
 Pell would motor over with his wife to her destination 
 and run back to meet them. " He will probably catch 
 up with us before we arrive," he said, " or will be there 
 almost as soon as we are. Here is his car now and 
 here is Mrs. Pell." 
 
 " We'll have a fine time if he knows the aeronauts," 
 remarked Rex as they watched the colonel's car depart. 
 
 That evening they learned more about air travel than 
 any of them had known before. Colonel Pell was most 
 interesting, and in his charming way, as if he had 
 merely picked up such bits of information, he gave a 
 summary of the most famous attempts at aviation. 
 The inventors of the balloon, the Montgolfier brothers, 
 paper makers of the little French town of Annonay, 
 of whom most of his hearers knew a little, became in- 
 vested with a new interest as he told of their experi- 
 ments beginning with paper bags raised by the hot air 
 of a fire and arriving in about a year at a balloon sev- 
 enty-two feet in height sent off from Versailles in the
 
 300 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 presence of Louis XVI and his court. This balloon 
 rose high in air and fell half a mile from its starting 
 place ; its occupants, a sheep, a cock and a duck, were 
 unhurt. He told the story of King Louis' suggestion 
 when people clamored to have a human being make the 
 ascension; he thought that two criminals under sen- 
 tence of death should be sent up as an experiment. 
 " But the spirit of discovery, the spirit that makes 
 heroes," said Colonel Pell, " was in the brave Pilatre 
 de Rozier. You remember his reply : ' Shall vile 
 criminals have the first glory of rising into the sky?' 
 he cried. And he himself made the ascent, that time 
 and still other times in safety ; but, at last he was killed 
 in a most hazardous experiment to combine gas and 
 hot air which burst his balloon into atoms." 
 
 Colonel Pell perceiving the interests of his hearers, 
 spoke of Garnerin with his parachute ; of the Charles' 
 and Roberts' balloon ; of Lunardi's voyages ; of the in- 
 trepid Blanchard and Dr. Jeffries, who crossed the 
 English Channel in a balloon; of the adventures of 
 Green and Coxwell; of other famous aerial voyages, 
 and the excitement all over the world at the possibili- 
 ties of ballooning. But if the art had been invented 
 during the Middle Ages, he said, its inventors would 
 have been put to death as wizards, and he told how, 
 even as late as 1709, an unhappy friar for having de- 
 clared that he had invented a flying machine fell into 
 the clutches of the Inquisition and was never heard of 
 more. The colonel was especially interesting when he 
 came to speak of the progress in aeronautics from 
 Blanchard's attempt to invent dirigible balloons down 
 to the aeroplanes of to-day. He showed his listeners
 
 A GREAT EXCITEMENT 301 
 
 how in the school of aviation every inventor had bene- 
 fited by the labors and inventions of those who had 
 gone before, and that the signal successes of the 
 Wright brothers were built upon the experiments of 
 Glaisher, Gay-Lussac, Langley and hosts of other men 
 of science, rich in inventive genius. 
 
 The whole evening Priscy scarcely spoke. Dorothy 
 did not know whether to be sorry or glad at this ; it 
 certainly showed emotion in Pell-Mell. If she should 
 come to love her father, and yet had really offended 
 him too deeply for forgiveness, why 
 
 " But that must be very, very deeply if he is such a 
 father as I think him," she said to herself. " I cannot 
 imagine what will be; I do so hope things will turn 
 out right." 
 
 But Priscy did not steal into her room for a good- 
 night, all to herself, as the girl liked to put it; and 
 Dorothy went to sleep perplexed yet hoping for the 
 best which was Dorothy's way. 
 
 What was the matter? The few persons who had 
 learned of the proposed ascension were waiting at the 
 place, some in motor cars, some in carriages, or 
 wagons, and a number on foot. And there, swaying 
 as if with impatience to be off, was the great balloon 
 with many improvements of which the early aeronauts 
 had vaguely dreamed. The attendants stood ready to 
 remove the sand bags holding the beautiful creature 
 to the earth it was about to spurn. Yet, they did not 
 remove them. The director of the aerial voyage stood 
 with cloudy brow and every now and then turned an 
 impatient glance to his left, from which came nothing
 
 302 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 to reward his search. Yes, at last came a boy of fifteen 
 running with something in his hand. As he reached 
 the aeronaut, the latter snatched the note that the mes- 
 senger held out to him. The next moment he turned 
 to Colonel Pell who was standing beside him. 
 
 " Trip is all up," he said. " Adams has been taken 
 suddenly ill and can't go with me." And he handed 
 the note to the colonel. " I can't go alone," he added. 
 "I have to manage the balloon; I can't take obser- 
 vations, too. We're studying peculiarities in air cur- 
 rents, something we fancied especially marked in this 
 region. We're going high if all goes well; I mean, 
 we were; and you know, nobody better than you, 
 Colonel Pell, that we may not come down just how 
 and where we would like; it's an experiment. I am 
 interested enough to be willing to risk it; so was 
 Adams. But I don't know anybody else about here 
 
 with the skill we need, and the pluck " Suddenly 
 
 he stopped ; something in the other's face had arrested 
 him. " Surely, you don't mean that you'll go ! " he 
 exclaimed. " Why, you'd take the observations more 
 scientifically even than Adams. But " 
 
 " But what ? " asked the other. 
 
 "But there's the danger," went on the aeronaut. 
 " We'll have to think of something besides our skins. 
 Of course, I don't suggest you'd hesitate at anything 
 whatever in your own line of duty, you know. But 
 this is out of it, and any one might not care to invest 
 in the venture." 
 
 " Do you want me, Burnham ? " said Colonel Pell 
 coldly.
 
 A GREAT EXCITEMENT 303 
 
 "I should be more than delighted. I believe we 
 shall be successful and come out all right. But I 
 had to speak, you see." 
 
 The little group from whom the colonel had sep- 
 arated himself by only a few feet stood with pale 
 faces listening to this dialogue which they could not 
 help hearing distinctly. Mrs. Longley was about to 
 expostulate with him, when she glanced at Priscy. 
 Here was the one whose right it was to speak and 
 whose plea would be most effective. 
 
 The girl had come forward until she stood at her 
 father's elbow. He did not seem to see her; perhaps 
 he did not know she was there. Her face was color- 
 less; her eyes fixed upon him with a dread in their 
 intentness a horror of the danger to him of which 
 she had heard; her lips were parted and she seemed 
 struggling for words that would not come. As the 
 aeronaut accepted her father's offer with enthusiasm, 
 she put out her hand to lay it upon Colonel Pell's 
 sleeve; then, when she had all but reached him, she 
 drew it back again; she feared that he would repel 
 her, and, more than this, that he would not listen to 
 her. Yet she could not go away. 
 
 " I'll come with you, Burnham," he said. " Have 
 you the instruments here ? " And as the other assented, 
 the colonel moved nearer the balloon. 
 
 Then Priscy cried : " Oh, no ! no ! Don't go ! I beg 
 you will not go up Colonel Pell ! " 
 
 As she was speaking he had turned and looked at 
 her, and the word " father," that she had been about 
 to utter, died on her lips, killed by the steely gleam in
 
 XXVIII 
 MONSIEUR L'TMPREVU 
 
 "WHAT'S the matter with him? Why doesn't he 
 ask her, and have done with it? " inquired Rex in an 
 aside to Ned the evening before the balloon ascension, 
 when the two young men had returned from a distant 
 and covert inspection of Professor Griswold and Miss 
 Knowles seated upon one of the veranda benches where 
 the light was somewhat dim. 
 
 " How do you know he has not ? " returned the 
 latter. 
 
 " Look at them ! " said Rex for answer, pushing 
 Ned toward the window from which could be caught a 
 fair view of the pair in question. " I'm not spying, 
 Longley, you know. I just happened to walk past in 
 plain sight a few minutes ago, and they were talking 
 in audible tones, though, I must say, they both appeared 
 to be enjoying themselves." 
 
 " The ' audible tones ' may have been for your bene- 
 fit." 
 
 " I think not. I heard them from quite a distance. 
 They were on the subject of the play, however, and it 
 ought to be a straight run from that. I do wish he'd 
 hurry up. My congratulations are all in type in my 
 head, I mean and if they have to wait long, they'll be 
 sure to get knocked into pi I shall have to use the 
 ideas for something else, you see." 
 
 305
 
 3 o6 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 Ned laughed. " I think you'll have a few left over," 
 he remarked 
 
 The young men moved away again from the win- 
 dow overlooking the lovers. As Rex had said, they 
 were not spies ; they only tqok a peep once in a while, 
 to find out if things were going all right? They 
 slipped into the room with the others again, and in the 
 colonel's talk about aerial conveyances forgot for the 
 time even the hoped-for courtship, until half an hour 
 later Miss Knowles and her companion joined the 
 group in the parlors. 
 
 Rex and Ned had been right in believing that the 
 subject of the play might have suggestions encourag- 
 ing to the professor. But it was in accordance with 
 his natural humility that the first of these should bring 
 him face to face with his own mistakes. 
 
 " Those young people had a really clever idea in 
 their play," he was saying to his companion at the mo- 
 ment that Rex walked by. " We are all too prone to 
 take things for granted." 
 
 "Yes sometimes," assented Miss Knowles, her 
 face burning in the darkness as she recalled Miss Par- 
 ker's mocking speech in regard to one's taking it for 
 granted that she is engaged. For it was too true that 
 Miss Knowles had believed herself virtually engaged 
 to the man now by her side ; and that he, like the Mr. 
 Graham of the play, had been attracted by some beauty 
 of whom she knew nothing, only that she was not Pro- 
 fessor Griswold's sister-in-law ; for he had no brother. 
 He had never been bound to herself in actual words, 
 only in honor ; and he had deserted her because he had 
 preferred some one else, she told herself as she sat
 
 MONSIEUR L'IMPREVU 307 
 
 there. One did not have to take so plain a truth as 
 that for granted. 
 
 And then she heard the voice at her side saying : " I 
 took it for granted that you would remember what I 
 had told you of my cousin Edna who was brought up 
 with me like a sister." 
 
 " Your cousin ? " questioned his listener. " I never 
 heard of her before in my life, Professor Griswold. 
 But you were not bound to tell me of your cousins 
 or, indeed, of any of your friends." 
 
 "Ah! As I said, I took it for granted that I had 
 told you," he repeated. " I quite forgot you did not 
 know. You have so much to forgive me for, I wonder 
 if you can ever do it? " 
 
 " I have nothing to forgive you for," she answered, 
 her heart beating fast that he should come to asking 
 her that. " You are, certainly, free to do as you please. 
 What right have I to dictate what you shall tell me 
 or any one ? " 
 
 " Ah ! " he cried, and turned to her eagerly. " What 
 right, you say? Why, don't you know? Don't you 
 understand that " 
 
 " Oh, I beg your pardon," said a strange voice as its 
 owner came suddenly upon the two and stood looking 
 at them with disconcerting keenness. "I was trying 
 to find friends here, and thought I had found them. It 
 is so dark one can't recognize anybody convenient, 
 perhaps ! " muttered the voice trailing off into the dis- 
 tance. 
 
 "Let us go into the house," said Miss Knowles 
 rising. 
 
 " Oh, not quite yet, I beg of you," pleaded the other.
 
 308 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 But she was already moving toward the open door of 
 the hotel, and the professor followed reluctantly. 
 
 "Do you think they've settled it?" Grace asked 
 her brother as the two stood together after the 
 evening's talk with Colonel Pell. 
 
 " I hope not," returned Ned. " The poor professor 
 looks so disconsolate, that if it has been settled, it must 
 be the wrong way." 
 
 "Dear! dear! You're a comforting fellow, to be 
 sure ! " cried Grace. " Anyway, you boys will have to 
 fix it up somehow." 
 
 " Better leave it to the other boy," said Jimmy com- 
 ing up at the moment with a merry smile. 
 
 "What other boy, Jimmy?" 
 
 "Why! Cupid, to be sure!" 
 
 " How stupid I am ! " And Grace ran off to get the 
 night's sleep which, she declared, would sharpen her 
 wits. 
 
 In spite of the professor's interest in science, he had 
 heard but little of the fascinating discussion of the 
 evening. Why had Miss Knowles got up and left him 
 just as she must have known he was going to speak of 
 what was nearest in the world to him? Had she 
 really not known it? Or had she wanted to be rid of 
 it ? Back and forth in his brain or perhaps it was in 
 his heart swung these two questions, like the oscil- 
 lations of a pendulum, bringing ever nearer the in- 
 evitable hour when something would be decided. In 
 ways of wooing, the poor man, surely, was timid. Yet, 
 he was no coward; and deeper than his uncertainty 
 was the certainty that in some way he must get at
 
 MONSIEUR L'IMPREVU 309 
 
 her decision. Then he realized that this was not what 
 was troubling him, but how to make that decision 
 favorable? 
 
 He studied on it all night; and then made up his 
 mind that it must be like a mooted question in history 
 his strong point; one must secure all the data pos- 
 sible, until the desired conclusion, or at least some 
 conclusion, can be reached. 
 
 As for Miss Knowles, she did not hear a word of 
 balloons and airships; it was of her own ship alone, 
 tossed on the ocean of fate, that she thought. Neither 
 did she sleep, tortured by doubt as to whether she had 
 done wisely in not listening to what he had to say 
 when it might have been another taking for granted 
 what would never come, or by refusing to listen had 
 cut herself off from a joy that she told herself she 
 dared not dream of, and yet did dream of until the 
 little god Cupid of whose aid Jimmy had been so con- 
 fident, laughed as he shot his arrows with a sure hand. 
 
 The following morning at breakfast keen eyes 
 studied the faces of the professor and Miss Knowles. 
 
 " Professor Griswold," began Ned breaking a mo- 
 mentary silence, " nobody has asked you about our 
 little f Dah-dah,' as we thought she called herself. 
 She's all right, I hope? We all grew fond of her in 
 the few days she was a stray baby especially Miss 
 Knowles who wouldn't let her out of her sight. I 
 know she misses her, though she's brave and won't 
 own it." 
 
 " I rejoice that Bab and her mamma have found 
 each other," said Miss Knowles.
 
 3 io DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 "Yes, indeed! We know how unselfish you are," 
 agreed Ned. " But, professor, you ought to be jeal- 
 ous of Brooke here." The professor swept a quick 
 glance from Miss Knowles to the questioning Rex and 
 nearly upset the decorum of his watchers by the 
 anxiety it expressed. "Yes," the speaker went on, 
 " you must be jealous of Brooke, for Bab would call 
 him, * unc ! unc ! ' and, evidently, took him for your- 
 self." 
 
 " Oh ! " said the professor in a tone of infinite relief. 
 " I'm flattered, I'm sure." And he nodded at Rex. 
 
 " And then she called Miss Knowles * auntie, auntie/ 
 in her charming little attempts at speech," went on 
 Ned. "The rest of us she tolerated, but those two 
 she simply adored. You'd have thought more of her 
 than ever if only you had heard her ' unc ! unc ! auntie ! 
 auntie!'" 
 
 " To be sure, I should," answered the other turning 
 his gaze from Ned to fix it on " auntie " who sat 
 entirely absorbed in her breakfast which in an un- 
 accountable way was making her face very red. 
 
 Finally, she glanced up at Ned. " What a tease you 
 are ! " she remarked with a smile intended to dismiss 
 the subject. And it did from immediate discussion. 
 
 Later though, when "auntie" and the professor 
 gravitated to a seat in a quiet corner of the veranda 
 for in fair weather the veranda is the pleasantest part 
 of a summer hotel the charms of Bab formed a bond 
 of union and were discussed with an interest that made 
 the subject mutually delightful ; and, as Miss Knowles 
 assured herself, safe. She expatiated upon her affec-
 
 MONSIEUR L'IMPREVU 311 
 
 tion for Bab and her secret resolve to adopt the little 
 one sooner than have had her turned adrift. And 
 with every word she uttered her hearer was the more 
 in love with her. Indeed, they were so agreeably occu- 
 pied that it was with secret regret on the part of both 
 that the talk was broken into to accompany the others 
 to the balloon ascension. But Miss Knowles would 
 never have the professor imagine that she preferred 
 his society to a scientific entertainment. He, surely, 
 must want to go. And he had no choice but to follow 
 her lead. 
 
 On the way Jimmy bringing his cycle to Grace's 
 side, remarked that, as he had predicted, Cupid seemed 
 to be getting in a good many arrows. 
 
 " Ned helped him aim them, I suspect," laughed 
 Grace. At which Jimmy declared that human aid was 
 always acceptable. 
 
 That evening when the party were miles distant 
 from the scene of the morning, Lulu beginning to go 
 through one of the wooded paths near the house, 
 turned back suddenly. " Hush ! hush ! " she said, and 
 pushed backward those behind her until the little group 
 stood again on the steps of the hotel. 
 
 " Well, what is it ? " asked Grace. 
 
 Lulu put her finger on her lips. Then with a face 
 of delighted amusement, she said softly: 
 
 "They're down there on one of the benches under 
 the trees ; but they've forgotten the electric light. She 
 seems to be crying. But I imagine it's all right ; for 
 her head is on his shoulder and his arm is about her
 
 312 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 and he's wiping away the tears. They must be tears 
 of joy." 
 
 " Miss Bromley, did you ever weep tears of joy?" 
 asked Rex when the laughter and comment had some- 
 what subsided. 
 
 " Indeed, I did, Mr. Brooke. I remember well. It 
 was when I held in my hand the first money I ever 
 earned, and it was to help me stay at school." 
 
 There was an instant's silence. Rex's eyes had 
 never shone with a softer brightness. In another mo- 
 ment he turned away. 
 
 The betrothed lovers agreed to keep their engage- 
 ment a complete secret until the professor should be 
 about to leave the party; but it seemed to them that 
 the kindness of their friends deserved that then these 
 should be taken into confidence. 
 
 As that night the professor from his window looked 
 out upon the stars, he had no speculations as to the 
 mysteries of the planet worlds and their possible in- 
 habitants. It was rather as a lover who sees in the 
 glorious procession of the heavens his own bright star 
 of joy moving with untroubled assurance on its course 
 that he watched the majestic panorama. As he stood 
 there it seemed to him that the star of his own destiny 
 had mounted through fair skies with as little of his 
 personal volition as the sweep of the constellations. 
 
 " So easy ! " he murmured. " And I thought it in- 
 finitely difficult! Why need I have tortured myself so 
 long in douljt and pain ? " After a pause in which the 
 beauty and goodness of Miss Knowles had been raptur- 
 ously dwelt upon, he added in a burst of self-commun-
 
 MONSIEUR L'IMPREVU 313 
 
 ing : " Yet I shall always be grateful to these bright 
 children who with perfect unconsciousness of the situ- 
 ation pointed out from their own ideals the terrible 
 risks of too much taking for granted. That was my 
 stumbling block! But none except Anna will ever 
 dream of it." 
 
 And he slept the sleep of the optimist.
 
 XXIX 
 
 VICTORY 
 
 IT seemed to the young girl gazing up into the sky 
 at the fast disappearing balloon which soared until it 
 was a speck in the distance and then was lost in clouds, 
 that the mystery of these clouds would swallow it up 
 forever. She foresaw only how in its descent the 
 ocean would engulf it, or it would be dashed to pieces 
 on the rocks, or dragged with fury over the tops of 
 forest trees, in every event hurling out the inmates of 
 the car to death. 
 
 "Lost! lost!" she moaned still gazing upward 
 where now nothing of the aeronauts was to be seen. 
 Her- hand gripped Dorothy's arm thrown about her 
 and for an instant her head rested on the other's 
 shoulder, but only because a wave of faintness had! 
 come over her. When that had passed she stood erect 
 again, and would have drawn away entirely had Doro- 
 thy suffered it. 
 
 " No ! no ! Not lost by any means ! He will come 
 back to you, Pell-Mell, dear. Don't despair. I feel 
 sure 
 
 " I'm not thinking of his coming back to me" said 
 the girl in a dull tone that went to her listener's heart. 
 "That will never be. I have lost him forever. But 
 if he would come back at all and I knew he was living, 
 
 314
 
 VICTORY 315 
 
 that would be so much. But he never will I know it, 
 Dorothy." 
 
 " Indeed, you don't know any such thing, Pell-Mell. 
 It's only because you're so anxious that you think so." 
 Yet even as she spoke, she pressed Priscy to her more 
 closely, suddenly recalling the warning of the other 
 aeronaut. Yet the balloon was dirigible. 
 
 Priscy made no answer; she stood there as if she 
 had not even power to walk, until Mrs. Longley also 
 put an arm about her and with Dorothy led her to the 
 waiting motor car. 
 
 On the way back to the hotel where Colonel Pell 
 had deputed to Ned certain arrangements with the 
 manager, she did not speak, and it seemed to them all 
 kindest to leave her undisturbed, save by the troubled 
 thoughts which they could not dissipate. 
 
 As they alighted, she grasped Dorothy's arm and 
 drew her apart from the others. " I cannot wait 
 here ! " said she breathlessly. " I must go on. I must 
 see what becomes of him I must, Dorothy. I shall 
 hire a car here at the hotel. I have some money no 
 one can say that my father was not generous to me in 
 this and I shall follow on the direction that the bal- 
 loon went, so nearly as we can find out, and be as close 
 to it as I can when it comes down; if that is in the 
 ocean, I'll get a boat and go. Will you go with me, 
 Dorothy, darling?" She put her arms about her 
 friend's neck, and with a sob dropped her head on 
 Dorothy's shoulder. " I don't want to be alone," she 
 whispered. 
 
 "Why, Pell-Mell, of course, you shall not! We'll
 
 316 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 all go with you. I'm sure Mrs. Longley will say so. 
 Shall I run and ask her, dearie? Wait here a mo- 
 ment." 
 
 Dorothy was right. Everybody sympathized ; every- 
 body approved of the suggestion. Dorothy came run- 
 ning back. " We'll all be off, Pell-Mell, as soon as we 
 can pick up our things," she said; "and that can't 
 take long, you know, for we didn't unpack here." 
 
 The young men had noticed a motor car which had 
 started as soon as the balloon had begun to ascend and 
 had seemed to be following its direction; Ned and 
 Jimmy had watched it out of sight. By following the 
 same road, their party might learn somewhat of this 
 motor car, and by it of the balloon. It was worth 
 trying ; and for lack of better information they did try 
 it. It was that same evening that, wholly uncertain 
 of the fate of the balloon and with no absolute infor- 
 mation that they had been following its course, yet 
 believing this from what facts and rumors they had 
 been able to gather, they halted for the night at a 
 country hotel on their route. This place was made 
 memorable to Professor Griswold and Miss Knowles 
 by the betrothal which but for untoward accident, 
 would have taken place two years before. 
 
 While they were rejoicing in their newly found hap- 
 piness, Priscy was in her room answering in mono- 
 syllables the few solicitous and reassuring words that 
 Dorothy spoke as she sat beside the poor girl waiting 
 in misery through the long hours of the night until 
 daylight would permit the search to begin again. Priscy
 
 VICTORY 317 
 
 knew that to-morrow there would be some news. 
 What ? "I shall never see him again ! " she said at 
 last in answer to the comfort her companion strove to 
 give her. Dorothy begged to be allowed to spend the 
 night with her; she was sure that Priscy would sleep 
 little, if at all. But the latter said that she would 
 rather be alone, and at midnight Dorothy left her, with 
 Priscy's words that her father was lost ringing in her 
 ears and, in spite of her better faith, sounding to her 
 like the knell of hope. 
 
 Early the following morning Rex knocked at her 
 door. " Dress and come down," he said. " The fel- 
 lows are there ; and we want to tell you before Priscy 
 comes down what we've heard. Hurry." 
 
 " Oh, Rex, call it through the door while I'm dress- 
 ing," she said. 
 
 But the next moment she heard departing footsteps. 
 How quiet they were; and Rex was not given to 
 stealthiness. It must be something bad which Priscy 
 was not to know until it could not be kept from her, 
 or until the rumors were confirmed. She was filled 
 with dread, and creeping softly downstairs, for Priscy's 
 room was at the end of the corridor, she ran out to the 
 group standing under the elm tree at the side of the 
 house and out of sight from Pell-Mell's windows. 
 
 Jimmy came forward to greet her. " Ned was up 
 before the sun, and has been telephoning ever since," 
 he said. " They've been out all night ; they must have 
 had a fearful time of it. They are away off from a 
 telephone. Ned could not get much satisfaction. But 
 we suppose the steering gear gave out and they were
 
 318 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 afraid to come down in the night. Ned caught some- 
 thing about their being swept out to sea and then 
 driven back ; but he couldn't be sure what it was. We 
 don't think the people who told us were." 
 
 " Where is Ned ? " asked Dorothy hoping to gather 
 a few details. 
 
 "Here he comes. He went back to try again for 
 something more definite." 
 
 She went forward to meet him. " Is anybody is 
 Colonel Pell hurt?" she asked, her heart full of the 
 foreboding of his daughter's words. 
 
 " It looks bad ; but we can't find out," he answered. 
 "Colonel Pell " 
 
 At the moment they turned at a light sound to see 
 Priscy wide-eyed and intent coming toward them. 
 
 " You have news," she said. " Tell me everything." 
 He gave her the meagre news. She made neither com- 
 ment nor exclamation, but turned to Dorothy. " You 
 will go with me?" she asked. "You will take me to 
 him now?" she said to Ned. 
 
 " We'll start at once," he answered, and was turn- 
 ing away to get car and chauffeur, when Rex cried : 
 
 " No ! no ! Don't wait to ring up your man, Long- 
 ley. You and I will take them over. I'll have the 
 car here in no time. Girls, run and get your wraps. 
 Reid, will you come? And, Dorothy, leave word for 
 Mrs. Longley, please, where we've gone." 
 
 It was almost literally " in no time " that the car 
 was spinning over the road to the place at which, so 
 far as they could learn, the balloon had descended, or 
 was in some way caught in the tree-tops.
 
 VICTORY 319 
 
 When the balloon had begun to lift itself into the 
 air, Colonel Pell from its car had bent down in obedi- 
 ence to Dorothy's call and gazed into the face of his 
 daughter. 
 
 The next instant he had been swept out of the sight 
 of that imploring face which he seemed to be still 
 viewing in a startled wonder. In the instant that he 
 had seen her there had risen up before him the counte- 
 nance of her mother, the young wife once so beautiful 
 and so passionately loved. The two faces had mingled 
 into one in his vision. Then it was Priscy's which 
 remained with him. In his new insight he marvelled 
 that he who had been able to read signs in earth and 
 sky, had found his daughter's heart beyond him. Poor 
 child! He had still been cruel to her, although no 
 longer neglectful or indifferent. But the wrong had 
 been his in former negligence and indifference, and 
 his should have been the yielding as a partial atone- 
 ment. Instead, his vanity had clung to his reputation 
 in the eyes of the world which he had decided ought 
 to have earned him deference from her. It had not 
 been so; she deferred only to character. Proud and 
 true! The further the sweep of the balloon carried 
 him away from her the nearer to his heart seemed her 
 high-mindedness. He would see her again when he 
 came down. 
 
 When he came down! That might be in guise in 
 which he would seek nobody again forever. For, 
 suddenly, the warning of his companion stood out to 
 him. There were certain discoveries in regard to 
 upper air temperatures and currents and other matters
 
 320 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 at present unknown to be made, if possible, in this 
 voyage, Burnham had said discoveries that might be 
 at risk of limb, even of life. The moment before start- 
 ing, Pell in bitterness of spirit had been ready for the 
 risk, not required of him as the other had reminded 
 him. But now, in the vision of that pale, upturned 
 face with a terror in it which could only spring from 
 love for him her father life had gained a new sweet- 
 ness. The dream of taking charge of his daughter, of 
 having her affection minister to his happiness in his 
 later years, warmed his heart more than all his scien- 
 tific successes had done. If he had but known in time ! 
 
 " What is the temperature ? " asked Burnham. " We 
 must be over a mile up already. So far, the wind has 
 been lighter than I expected." 
 
 The question brought Colonel Pell back to the pres- 
 ent with its demands and its possibilities. 
 
 The sky was of the deepest blue ; the air crisp ; the 
 balloon, constantly mounting, now began to feel a 
 strong current and skimmed forward on the wings of 
 the wind. Then the voyagers passed through dense 
 masses of cloud, through snow and hail which were so 
 high up that they never fell upon the earth at all. 
 From this they rose into a stratum of warmer air 
 such as aeronauts had noted before at certain altitudes 
 coming between the two colder strata. Here they dis- 
 covered a rent in the silk, at the moment small, but 
 threatening to increase in size and bring about the col- 
 lapse of the balloon if it became large. Colonel Pell 
 seized a rope and knotting it into a kind of ratline, 
 climbed up on the rigging and thus hanging thousands
 
 VICTORY 321 
 
 of feet in air between heaven and earth, succeeded in 
 pulling the rent together and fastening it with a 
 smaller rope. 
 
 They now rose into piercing winds which increased 
 to a terrific hurricane sweeping forward their aerial 
 ship at a fearful pace. They were about four miles 
 above the earth and driving on, until they feared that 
 the ocean was beneath them. But something in the 
 steering apparatus had given way; the balloon was 
 no longer dirigible, but was at the mercy of the winds. 
 The travelers, could but hope to meet a counter cur- 
 rent on a different level and be driven back again. But 
 when, at last, this came, they were chilled to the bone, 
 wearied with the rarefied air of the great height, cut 
 off from earth by a veil of clouds that seemed to have 
 no opening, and the sun which at that altitude shone 
 upon them much longer than upon that part of the 
 earth below them, was fast sinking. Unable to see 
 anything of the earth through the clouds, unable to 
 guide the balloon in its crippled condition, or to direct 
 its descent, and ignorant whether they were over land, 
 or sea, there was nothing for them to do but remain 
 in the air until morning. So they drove on through 
 the moonless darkness which seemed to envelop them 
 like a wall of ebony; and, as they were sinking, to 
 avoid coming to earth they threw out ballast, and ris- 
 ing to a vast height once more, they sailed on. 
 
 All at once came a sound like an explosion overhead, 
 the silk of their balloon cracked violently, and the car 
 jerked as if it had dropped from its fastenings. For 
 the few moments before they realized that the expan-
 
 322 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 sion of the silk and the network in the lighter air had 
 caused this sound horrible in the stillness of space, both 
 believed that the balloon had exploded and that they 
 were rushing headlong to earth. 
 
 Burnham sprang up and would have thrown out 
 every pound of ballast left, if his companion had not 
 caught his arm. 
 
 "No! no! Not yet," he said. "Wait." And he 
 explained the noise. 
 
 Burnham sank back with an exclamation of relief; 
 and the ship of the air still drove onward through the 
 blackness and wind, the voyagers watching eagerly for 
 the early summer dawn. t 
 
 With this began their descent. 
 
 Land, and not ocean, was beneath them as they 
 came closer and closer to earth too rapidly for those 
 who could not foresee or control the place where they 
 were to alight. Houses, trees, rocks, fields seemed to 
 rise toward them, ever nearer and nearer. When the 
 spot over which they were falling seemed especially 
 perilous, they threw out ballast and rose again, but 
 not high. Once more they swept on, now in a light 
 wind, until the grapnels dragged along the upper 
 branches of the tall trees of a wood and the balloon 
 still borne onward, threatened to overturn the car and 
 hurl the inmates to ground at certain injury to limb, 
 or even life. 
 
 Then Colonel Pell sprang forward. 
 
 When Priscy and her friends arrived on the spot, 
 they were greeted by the spokesman of the eager crowd
 
 VICTORY 323 
 
 that had gathered about the edge of the wood where, 
 in one of the largest trees, the car of the aeronauts 
 was still wedged while men had rushed to secure the 
 ropes thrown out by which it could be drawn to the 
 ground. 
 
 " He cut them ropes like a flash," he announced to 
 the newcomers, " an' that there car settled in them 
 high boughs; before, it was goin' like mad an' would 
 a-tipped bottom up; an' that'd a-bin the end of them 
 fellers. 'Twas lucky Bill was round ; he stood a-watch- 
 in' when the taller one up there Pell's his name 
 yelled out to him to catch a-holt of the rope a-draggin' 
 from the balloon an' wind it round an' round the tree, 
 so as the thing couldn't git away ; 'twas plungin' like a 
 good one. An' then, jist as quick's Bill had it tight in 
 his hand sheer went the ropes the thing was a-tuggin' 
 at to pull them fellers up to the sky again; an' down 
 the basket ker-plunked inter the tree. I thought they'd 
 both of 'em be pitched to Jericho; but I s'pose they 
 have a way of holdin' onter anythin'. Anyhow, there 
 they be, safe an' sound ; an' I reckon when that there 
 basket, or car, of theirn slides down here an' it's 
 a-comin' now they won't feel bad to stretch their 
 legs on terry-firmy again ! " 
 
 As Colonel Pell stepped from the car, his eyes 
 swept the waiting crowd, and lighted upon Rex's 
 motor car on the outskirts, and empty. The occu- 
 pants had pressed well into the crowd. 
 
 And even as his foot touched the ground, Priscy 
 breaking away from her companions, ran up to him. 
 
 " Father ! " she cried then paused and looked at
 
 324 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 him anxiously. He answered her gaze by a long, 
 intent look into her uplifted eyes full of eager affection 
 yet with a growing timidity in them as if she feared he 
 would repulse her. Then, without a word, he opened 
 his arms to her, and the next moment she was folded 
 in them. 
 
 " Do you forgive me, father? " she whispered. 
 
 "Do you forgive me, my daughter?" he whispered 
 back. 
 
 "And you really love me, father at last?" she 
 whispered once more, looking up at him with shining 
 eyes. 
 
 "Earth can give me nothing dearer than my little 
 daughter's love," he breathed back softly, dropping a 
 kiss upon her hair. 
 
 " I think it's Heaven gives that," she answered. 
 
 " Yes," he said. And before releasing her, he looked 
 over her head and smiled at Dorothy who at his look 
 drew nearer. 
 
 "I owe it all to you," he said gratefully. "Your 
 soldier has captured the besieged city." 
 
 Priscy stood watching them. Then her eyes rested 
 upon her father. 
 
 He slipped his hand within her arm and, after a few 
 words with Burnham, walked with her and Dorothy 
 to the others. 
 
 " Are you going to invite me back to breakfast ? " he 
 asked with a smile as he greeted them.
 
 XXX 
 
 READY FOR WORK AGAIN 
 
 AGAIN Dorothy lay in the hammock under the trees 
 in her own home. 
 
 But now it was into the September sky full of sun- 
 shine that she looked. The delicious air mingling sum- 
 mer warmth with a hint of the vigor of the coming 
 season had in it a spirit in accordance with her own 
 mood. Her thoughts were full of the memories and 
 delights of the summer ; yet something more than play 
 was in her heart. 
 
 Again, as in June, she heard on the road and coming 
 up the driveway the " honk ! honk ! " of Rex's motor 
 car; and again, as in the early summer, her brother 
 soon afterward appeared on the pathway to her ham- 
 mock, and Nemo bounding in advance with a joyous 
 bark of greeting thrust his head up insistently under 
 Dorothy's hand. Her petting of him was the more 
 cordial as she recalled how nearly the summer had lost 
 him to them all. 
 
 " You've not told me half about your day with the 
 children," she said as he threw himself down under 
 the tree next her. " You went off in such haste the 
 next day, and I feel as if you'd hardly come home yet. 
 Olive and Harry were so patient the few days that 
 Mrs. Longley and the others were with us. I had to 
 
 325
 
 326 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 threaten to tie Lulu to make her stay with the rest," 
 she added ; " but I was bound to have her. And when 
 Colonel Pell came to escort his daughter to her own 
 home, wasn't Pell-Mell a happy girl? But tell me 
 about the children," she said again. 
 
 " They thought they were paid for the trip," said 
 Rex. " From sunrise to eleven o'clock at night they 
 enjoyed every minute. 'Twas jolly to see them, Doro. 
 The car went to perfection. We had a swell luncheon, 
 Olive ordering it. But when we came to dinner and 
 it was Harry's turn to order, I thought there wouldn't 
 be anything left in the hotel ! You ought to have seen 
 the waiter's face; I had to explain finally that it was 
 my brother's lark. Then they couldn't eat a tenth of 
 what they had; but Harry remarked it was good to 
 see how it looked. Nobody had allowed him a free 
 hand before and it would be well to wait before he 
 has it again!" laughed Rex. "They tasted as many 
 dishes as they possibly could, just for the fun of the 
 thing. I felt a little anxious as to the result the next 
 morning ; but, you know, they were both as happy as 
 larks. Olive enthuses still over the beautiful scenery 
 and the fine run and all the people they saw; and, 
 now-a-days, Harry feels quite grown up. 'Twas good 
 fun, Doro, to watch how keen they were for every- 
 thing; everything suited. You never saw better 
 babes." 
 
 "That's true," answered Dorothy answering his 
 laugh gravely. 
 
 "What a pile!" said her brother glancing at her 
 hand. " All letters ?"
 
 READY FOR WORK AGAIN 327 
 
 " Yes. I'm looking them over again out here. Did 
 mother tell you," she went on, " what a delightful let- 
 ter she had this morning from Mrs. Longley, and 
 what good babes she says you and I are, Rex ? " 
 
 " She quoted it to me," he answered. " I shall not 
 dare to breathe the rest of my life, for fear of spoiling 
 my record." 
 
 "And did she tell you about her other letter?" 
 asked Dorothy smiling up at him. 
 
 " No. What was it ? " he asked, interested. 
 
 " From Miss Knowles." 
 
 " No doubt, she's so happy billing and cooing that 
 she has to have somebody sit on her skirts to keep her 
 from flying away with the wings of a dove or in an 
 airship!" 
 
 " It's a good deal like that," said Dorothy. " But 
 there's one page I must get mother to read to you. It's 
 where Miss Knowles says that when she shall have 
 been married to the professor a year and a day, she 
 will tell him what part we * children ! ' had in their 
 reconciliation. At present he's so unconscious that he 
 philosophizes over 'the strange coincidences/ and 
 builds theories on them." 
 
 "Ha! ha! ha! I'll get the mater to read me the 
 whole letter ! " cried Rex. " It will stand by me when 
 I'm blue. Anna is a good little soul, after all; and 
 there's hope of her, now she has waked up. She im- 
 proved with the charge of Bab ; and since she and the 
 professor have settled matters, she's too happy to be 
 very fussy. But let's hear something from your pile, 
 Doro."
 
 328 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 " Here's a letter from Rose Hewes," said Dorothy. 
 "You know she is in the city studying art to her 
 heart's content and, I hear, to her teachers' content 
 also. 
 
 "'All the world has changed to me since I came 
 here to study/ she writes. ' Miss Littleton is as kind to 
 me as she was at our home. She encourages me and 
 says every word of praise must mean so much more 
 hard work, and that some day I shall do things to 
 count. How did Mrs. Brooke ever manage to get my 
 father to put his hand into his pocket and let me come 
 here? I shall never forget it. And then, if you had 
 not asked me last summer, I should not have been 
 here to-day. You helped me, too, in another way, 
 without knowing it. Now I don't care as I would have 
 done once when people round me put on airs and look 
 down on me. I know they're the trying-to-get-up peo- 
 ple, and I notice how different they are from the real 
 people, like you and the rest last summer.' ' 
 
 " ' The trying-to-get-up people ' ! " laughed Rex. " I 
 didn't think Rosy was so clever. But these quiet lit- 
 tle ones are deep." 
 
 " You're flattered," said his sister smiling at him. 
 
 " ' But when I tell him he hates flatterers ' " she 
 
 quoted. 
 
 " She is right, all the same," insisted Rex " and 
 you know it." 
 
 Dorothy made no answer. She was remembering 
 her struggle to invite Rose, and feeling that she had 
 received more than she deserved. But it was a com- 
 fort that they had been able to help her.
 
 READY FOR WORK AGAIN 329 
 
 " Any more letters to read ? " asked the other after 
 a pause. 
 
 " One from Lulu. Would you care to hear that?" 
 
 " You know I would," he answered. " Lulu is al- 
 ways worth hearing." 
 
 Lulu had gone to stay with her brother until school 
 should open again, and Harold's affairs and successes 
 filled a good portion of the letter. But there were 
 reminiscences of the summer and grateful words for 
 the Brooke family. 
 
 " She doesn't gush," he commented when Dorothy 
 had finished. " I hate gush." 
 
 His sister watched his face as she folded up the let- 
 ter again, and smiled as she answered that Lulu was 
 not of the gushing kind. 
 
 "Would you like to hear what Pell-Mell writes of 
 her step-mother ? " she asked a moment later. 
 
 "Try me," he returned briskly. 
 
 " Pell-Mell said to me before she left here," added 
 Dorothy, " that not to treat her father's wife with re- 
 spect and kindness would prove Priscy herself 'no 
 lady and a very poor Christian ' ! " 
 
 " That's fine ! " laughed Rex. " I hope she lives up 
 to it!" 
 
 "This is what she writes: 
 
 " ' My step-mother is a lady, although she's a bit stiff 
 about it; and she is really kind to me. I believe she 
 half likes me myself as well as appreciating the liveli- 
 ness of young company in a house. You see, I've just 
 discovered a papa, and he is so very charming that I 
 can't help being happy the whole day long; and I be-
 
 330 DOROTHY BROOKE'S VACATION 
 
 have as well as I can you know just how well that is, 
 Dorothy. Yesterday papa had a letter from Mr. Burn- 
 ham full of compliments for his skill and daring in the 
 balloon and for the scientific facts he had recorded 
 there. And what do you think, Dorothy, papa- said 
 when he read it to me that Mr. Burnham was wel- 
 come to the praise, since he himself had won the 
 daughter ! 'He often speaks of you. We all want to 
 see you here some day.' ' 
 
 " She's a little brick ! " commented Rex. " Any 
 more letters for me ? Or are the others all private ? " 
 
 As she surprised a look of teasing in her brother's 
 eyes, she met it with an outstretched hand. 
 
 " Wouldn't you like to see this one from Ned Long- 
 ley?" she said. "Read it yourself. I know you'll 
 never betray the plots we've been concocting. We went 
 over them together while he and Grace were here 
 with their mother. Now he suggests some changes, 
 and wants my judgment on them." 
 
 But her brother was already deep in the letter. He 
 liked the tone of it; it was that of comradeship. The 
 suggestions were of real work and not a mere vehicle 
 for the expression of personal feeling. Yet there was 
 a strong personal undercurrent of respect and con- 
 fidence. 
 
 " Longley's a fine fellow ! " he commented. 
 
 " I'm glad you like one another," said Dorothy. 
 
 As Rex rose to go, he stood looking down upon the 
 beautiful face upturned to his. 
 
 "You look as comfortable as if lying in a ham- 
 mock were the end of existence," he said with a smile.
 
 READY FOR WORK AGAIN 331 
 
 "Do you remember that school comes next week? 
 Are you ready for it?" 
 
 She lifted her head alertly and smiled back at him 
 as she answered : " I've had a delightful vacation, 
 Rex; and now I'm all ready for work again."
 
 Dorothy Brooke's School Days 
 
 BY 
 
 FRANCES CAMPBELL SPARHAWK 
 Cloth. 8vo. $1.50. Illustrations by Frank T. Merrill 
 
 " A spirited, wholesome story, which every wide-awake girl will enjoy. The 
 heroine, Dorothy, is always honest and true and interesting, though carrying out 
 her impulsive plans in a novel and sometimes headstrong way." 
 
 ELIZABETH MKRRITT GOSSE in Boston Daily Advertiser. 
 
 " I don't suppose the ' school girl ' ever dies out of the heart, however many 
 years we may live beyond that strenuous period. As to the bird part of the 
 story, I was, of course, particularly interested, and I congratulate Miss Sparhawk 
 on a very clever plot and also on what so very few achieve, a truthful account 
 of the habits of the several birds mentioned." MRS. OLIVE THORNE MILLER. 
 
 11 Dorothy Brooke is a lovable school girl with a heart large enough to take in 
 not only her schoolmates, but also the birds. . . . The story is one that should 
 be in every school library." MR. WILLIAM DUTCHER (President National 
 Audubon Society) in Bird Lore. 
 
 " Much of the charm that has made Miss Alcott's stories dear to the hearts 
 of two or three generations of girls is in a beautiful new story by Miss Sparhawk. 
 Girls, and girls' mothers, will be equally glad to get hold of ' Dorothy Brooke's 
 School Days.' . . . The story is perhaps the best girls' story in a decade." 
 San Francisco Globe 
 
 " A graphic picture of school girl life. The characters are well drawn and con- 
 sistent. Dorothy is charming; so also are Lulu and Pell-Mell. I like the book 
 very much. Its moral influence is of the best." WILLIAM A. MOWRY, LL.D. 
 
 " I've read all the author cared to tell about Dorothy, and was sorry there 
 was no more of it Indeed, I begin to think there is more of it." 
 
 AARON MARTIN CRANE. 
 
 "A most beautiful story; a book one would like to place in the hands of 
 every girl in the land." NIXON WATERMAN. 
 
 " The book is an inspiring one, showing what one girl can accomplish by tact, 
 large-heartedness and good nature." Somerville (Mass.) Journal. 
 
 " Full of the fun, frolic and tragedies of school days." Los Angeles Times. 
 
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