Private Litrar 
 
 Tvansas City, Missouri 
 
 rill 
 
 g||i=:||[===H|[=]|[[
 
 CAMP ARCADY
 
 The Rejected Picture.
 
 CAMP ARCADY 
 
 The story of four girls, and some others, 
 who "kept house" in a New York "flat" 
 
 FLOY CAMPBELL 
 
 Richard G. Badger f? Co. 
 
 BOSTON MDCCCC
 
 COPYRIGHT 1899 BY 
 
 RICHARD G. BADGER & Co. 
 
 All Rights Reserved
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 The First Evening in Camp .... 1 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 The Winter's Work opens .... 31 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Christmas Festivities 59 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 New Year's Trials 73 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Sid has Adventures '. 97 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Sid's Baby 115 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 The Camp's Last Frolic 137
 
 THE ILLUSTRATIONS 
 BY THE AUTHOR 
 
 The Rejected Picture . . . Frontispiece 
 
 The New Arrival . . . facing page 1 2 
 
 Maud at Work .... " "32 
 
 Raphaelina " "88 
 
 The Baby " " 1 16 
 
 The Final Talk .... " "156
 
 THE FIRST EVENING IN CAMP
 
 CAMP ARCADY 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 THE FIRST EVENING IN CAMP. 
 
 a "\>T OST time for Raphael to be 
 
 jL T Aback with the new girl, Saint." 
 
 The speaker was lounging on a couch 
 
 in a New York studio. The clear north 
 
 light, falling from above, showed her 
 
 lazy, graceful figure, and the restless turn 
 
 of her brown head, and hazel eyes. 
 
 Her companion, a sweet, dark-eyed 
 little woman, looked up from her book. 
 
 ** That's Raphael's step now," she 
 said, rising to open the door. 
 
 The two women who entered could
 
 12 Camp Arcady 
 
 scarcely have been in greater contrast. 
 One was tall, dark-skinned, with straight 
 black brows above burning dark eyes, and 
 a strong, almost masculine chin, contra- 
 dicted by a sensitive mouth. The other 
 was small and girlish, with fair curling 
 hair and a fresh young face, pink with 
 the flush of healthful country life. 
 
 "This is Miss Hastings, girls," said 
 the tall woman, formally presenting her 
 companion. " Miss Hastings, this is Miss 
 Welch," with a nod toward the bright- 
 faced girl on the couch. 
 
 41 Better known," broke in the person 
 indicated, "as Sarah Siddons Siddy, for 
 short on account of histrionic aspira- 
 tions. You don't know the first prin- 
 ciples of introduction, Raphael. Let me 
 take charge of Miss Hastings. This, 
 Miss Hastings, is Cecilia Howard, known
 
 Camp Arcady 13 
 
 as Saint Cecilia. You will hear speci- 
 mens of her music later, and realize the 
 appropriateness of her name. This tall 
 and solemn creature who brought you 
 from the station is Elizabeth Danton ; 
 community name, Raphaelina. Her 
 masterpieces adorn the walls about you," 
 with a dramatic wave of the hand. 
 " You, with the three just introduced, 
 form the community, the Big Four, who 
 encamp together for the winter. What 
 shall we call you in the Council Tent of 
 Camp Arcady ? " 
 
 The poor little maiden looked with 
 bewildered eyes from the group of girls to 
 the strange surroundings of the studio. 
 
 "I I my name is Maud," she 
 stammered. 
 
 " Maudie it is, then, until we find one 
 that fits you better. Saint, take Maudie
 
 14 Camp Arcady 
 
 to your room, and fix her for tea. Raphy, 
 your locks are in wild and inartistic dis- 
 order. I'll have tea on in half a jiffy : 
 it's been waiting for you two. Now run 
 on, children, and get tidy." And Miss 
 Welch, Sarah Siddons, Siddy, for short, 
 whisked briskly out of the room. 
 
 Cecilia held out a kind little hand to 
 Maud, who stood helplessly where Sid 
 had left her, looking half frightened and 
 wholly bewildered. 
 
 " I hope we shall be the best of 
 friends," she said gently, " and shall 
 make you feel that you have a home and 
 a family in this human wilderness. We'll 
 try to make your winter pleasant. Do 
 you think we can ? " And she smiled 
 her friendliest smile. 
 
 u Now," she added, " I must l fix you 
 for tea,' according to Sid's orders. Let
 
 Camp Arcady i 
 
 me take your hat and cape, and brush 
 your hair back a little so. Yes, Sid, 
 we're coming." 
 
 Sid was standing at the door, ringing a 
 big bell, and calling vigorously, 
 
 " Tea ! tea ! tea ! la-a-st call for tea in 
 the dining ca-a-a-r ! " 
 
 Elizabeth was already at the table, 
 giving it the finishing touches. Very 
 inviting it looked, with the queer bits of 
 china gathered from odd corners for their 
 artistic value in " still lifes," the teaset 
 of old britannia ware (that had been u my 
 great-grandmother's wedding present," 
 Sid proudly explained), the bread-and- 
 butter as artistically thin as the plate that 
 held it, and the chops of a golden brown 
 that couldn't have been improved. 
 
 Cecilia poured the fragrant tea, 
 Elizabeth watching silently, while Sid
 
 1 6 Camp Arcady 
 
 did " the general waiting," seeing that 
 Maud's plate was well supplied with 
 bread and meat, and her mind with in- 
 formation. 
 
 " I'm glad you're to be with us, 
 Maudie," she began, as she distributed 
 chops. " Raphy will help you lots with 
 your art studies, and the Saint will be real 
 motherly and sweet, and I oh, I'll see 
 that things don't get much slower in New 
 York than they are in Kansas. I usually 
 manage to make them pretty lively," she 
 added with a laugh. 
 
 " How true that is, my dear Sid ! " 
 sighed Cecilia, with mock resignation ; 
 while silent Elizabeth's eyes looked, it 
 seemed to Maud, through and through the 
 new art student. 
 
 " And I know you'll like our house- 
 keeping," went on Sid. " It is such fun !
 
 Camp Arcady 17 
 
 You see this house was once the abode of 
 Wealth and Fashion (with large capital 
 letters), and these mansard rooms were 
 the servants' quarters ; and horrid stuffy 
 things they were, too, the rooms, not 
 the servants, I mean. But Wealth and 
 Fashion moved up town long ago, and 
 shops took possession of the basement 
 and the first floor, doctors and lawyers 
 have the second and third floors, and we 
 have the mansard. They took out the 
 north slope of the roof, and put in a sky- 
 light ; and there are two fine studios for 
 Raphy and the Saint. And just think, 
 the whole floor four rooms and a hall 
 doesn't cost us any more than a single 
 up-town studio ! And it's the nicest 
 place to keep house ! This is kitchen- 
 and-dining-room, you see. Here's the 
 cook-stove behind the Japanese screen.
 
 1 8 Camp Arcady 
 
 Isn't it a dear ? And that dry-goods box 
 is a kitchen table and cupboard combined ; 
 and this fire-escape balcony is our ice- 
 box, where we keep our milk and butter, 
 and oh, I'm just wild to have you get 
 through supper and show you the funny 
 cooking things, the dishpan and the 
 spider and " 
 
 "Sid, Sid," interrupted Cecilia, "do 
 let poor Maud rest. You must have for- 
 gotten that she just came from the train. 
 I'm going to take her right away and 
 help her unpack, and then make her lie 
 down and rest. Come, dear." 
 
 " But she must sign the constitution 
 and by-laws first," said Sid. " There it 
 is, tacked above the household purse, 
 Maud." 
 
 Maud went to look at the document 
 indicated. It read as follows :
 
 Camp Arcady 19 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND B^-LAWS 
 
 or THK 
 COMMUNITY OF CAMP ARCADY. 
 
 ARTICLE I. This community shall consist 
 of four persons. 
 
 ARTICLE II. The officers shall be Presi- 
 dent, Vice- President, Secretary, and Treas- 
 urer. There shall be four incumbents to each 
 office, all having equal voice in matters of 
 interest. 
 
 ARTICLE III. The purse below shall be 
 the Camp Treasury, and into it every member 
 shall put, during each month, the sum of seven- 
 teen dollars ($17), said sum to be used: (ist) 
 to pay rent for the camp dwelling ; (2d) to 
 pay the marketing bills; (sd) for "wash 
 ladies" and "scrub" ditto. 
 
 If there is a deficit, each member shall be 
 taxed one dollar to make up the same. If 
 there is a surplus, it shall be used to treat the
 
 2O Camp Arcady 
 
 crowd to a concert, opera, ice-cream, or other 
 worthy object. 
 
 To which we, the undersigned, do hereby 
 
 Signed and subscribed, 
 
 SARAH SIDDONS. 
 SAINT(?) CECILIA. 
 RAPHAELINA. 
 
 " There's a space left for you, Maud ; 
 and here's a pencil," said Sid. 
 
 Maud wrote her name at the end of the 
 column, laughing. " Just think of a 
 society of four persons having sixteen 
 officers ! " 
 
 " You see," Cecil explained gravely, 
 " a society must have officers and we 
 didn't want any jealousy over these 
 things, so we fixed it that way." 
 
 " And it works beautifully," added Sid. 
 " Here," rapping on the table with a
 
 Camp Arcady 21 
 
 knife, " I call the meeting to order, and 
 move that, as this is our first tea together, 
 we all tell our plans for the winter, and 
 next spring, before we break up, compare 
 the results with our hopes. Come now, 
 I'll break the ice for you bashful ones. 
 I'm going to get a position as understudy 
 of some Shakspearian actress ; and by next 
 spring I'm going to star it myself and 
 have all New York at the feet of the 
 rising genius of the day, Miss Marguerite 
 Welch (known more commonly to her 
 friends as Sid). Now, Saint : " and Sid 
 subsided with a gay laugh and a funny 
 little dramatic pose. 
 
 The other three joined in the merri- 
 mentj for Sid's aspirations were the camp 
 joke. 
 
 " I ? " said Cecilia. " I might ask Sid 
 for a place in the orchestra of her theatre,
 
 22 Camp Arcady 
 
 but my dreams are much more modest. 
 I only want a good class, say about 
 twenty pupils, and a reputation as the 
 best music-teacher in town. That's all !" 
 
 " Not bad," said Sid, critically, " not 
 bad at all. Now, Raph ? " 
 
 Elizabeth's eyes were smiling, but she 
 spoke soberly. 
 
 " I have only one aim," she said, " to 
 paint honestly, to respect my work, to let 
 nothing pass from my studio that I can 
 possibly improve, and to leave the result 
 in stronger hands." 
 
 The last words were spoken in a lower, 
 reverent tone, that made Cecilia give 
 Elizabeth's hand a sympathetic squeeze 
 under the table ; while Sid said complain- 
 ingly : 
 
 u Dear me, Raphael, you make me 
 feel like a church. 'Tisn't agreeable.
 
 Camp Arcady 23 
 
 Break the spell, Maud. I hope your aims 
 are a trifle more ambitious than our poor, 
 low ones." 
 
 " I haven't any special aim," said 
 Maud, " except that I want to work hard, 
 and try to do so well that the folks will 
 be proud of me. I don't want to disap- 
 point them," she added, her thoughts 
 going back to the dear people in the little 
 house out West so far away now. 
 
 " That's a very lovely aim," said Ce- 
 cilia, " and I know you will not disappoint 
 them. Your mother will be proud of 
 your brave efforts, whether you ever be- 
 come famous or not. Mothers always 
 are." 
 
 The girls were silent a moment. Sid 
 was thinking of the mother she had never 
 known, wondering whether she would 
 have loved that real mother more than
 
 24 Camp Arcady 
 
 her step-mother, "who is so kind I just 
 long to love her, but I can't," she told 
 Cecil. " She is kind because she doesn't 
 love me, and that hurts her conscience." 
 
 Cecilia was thinking very tenderly 
 of the gentle, placid woman in the 
 cottage on the Hudson, the sweet 
 saint who had said, " Go to thy work, 
 daughter, if thee feels called ; but do not 
 forget that only a true, pure heart and a 
 helpful hand are real success. And when 
 thee is tired of the struggle, my child, re- 
 member that here is home." 
 
 And Elizabeth thought how, when she 
 started for Paris, her mother kissed her at 
 the cry of "All ashore!" and said: 
 "Work, Elizabeth. Work hard, and 
 think of your work as something holy, 
 not to be insulted by half-hearted effort. 
 You have the power that means responsi-
 
 Camp Arcady 25 
 
 bility, and I trust you. O my child, my 
 child ! " 
 
 The Dantons were not an effusive 
 family. They were proud and con- 
 strained. That kiss was almost the first 
 Elizabeth could remember receiving from 
 her mother, and it was the last ; for a letter 
 from home that waited for her in Paris 
 told her of her mother's death. 
 
 " But you must stay and study," her 
 father wrote. " She wished it to be so, 
 and her wishes shall be sacred to us both." 
 
 So Elizabeth had stayed four years. 
 Then came news of her father's death. 
 " Overwork and heart-failure," said the 
 letter that recalled her to New York. 
 
 " Come, let's do the unpacking and 
 cleaning up," said Sid, at last, jumping to 
 her feet with an impatient shake of her
 
 26 Camp Arcady 
 
 shoulders as if to rid herself of unpleasant 
 thoughts. " Saint, go and help Maudie 
 with her trunk, will you ? Raph, I 
 popped some corn in your chafing-dish 
 this afternoon, and you'd better clean it. 
 I'll 'tend to the dishes. Go on, all of 
 you. Shoo ! sho-o-o ! " And she drove 
 them out of the room, with much flapping 
 of her apron. 
 
 Busy over that most fascinating of all 
 tasks, unpacking, Maud and Cecil soon 
 became quite confidential ; and Maud told 
 the motherly little woman that she was 
 dreadfully afraid of Elizabeth. " She is 
 so tall and solemn and dark, and her eyes 
 look like caverns with fires 'way back in 
 the shadows ; but Sid is the funniest girl I 
 ever saw," she said. 
 
 And Cecil, who was wise, told Maud 
 of Elizabeth's loneliness, of the self-re-
 
 Camp Arcady 27 
 
 pression and self-concentration that had 
 been her earliest lessons, of her passion 
 for her work, of the pride and shyness 
 that often made her seem cold ; told her 
 of Siddy's motherless childhood and un- 
 trained girlhood, of the quickness of 
 speech, followed always by an equally 
 quick repentance, of the splendid gener- 
 osity and loyalty to the right that made all 
 shortcomings as nothing. 
 
 So, when Sid rapped at the door and 
 asked if they " weren't to have their even- 
 ing warble," Maud felt that she must 
 have known the girls for years ; and there 
 was a very happy homelike feeling in her 
 heart as she stood listening to Elizabeth's 
 deep alto booming along through the clear 
 soprano of Cecil's tones, and Sid's at- 
 tempts at tenor. 
 
 And, when the singing was done, Ra-
 
 a 8 Camp Arcady 
 
 phael looked at the drawings Maud had 
 unpacked, and told her her " eye for color 
 was good, but she would have to do 
 some hard studying on line." And 
 Maud, bewildered, but undaunted, re- 
 plied, " That's just what I came here 
 for," thereby winning a grave approving 
 smile from Elizabeth, and a hearty, 
 " That's right, child ! " from Sid, accom- 
 panied by a clap on the shoulder that 
 nearly took her breath away.
 
 THE WINTER'S WORK OPENS
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 THE WINTER'S WORK OPENS. 
 
 IT took a few weeks for Maud to be- 
 come accustomed to her new sur- 
 roundings. She had started to the Art 
 School, and was somewhat humbled to 
 find that her study at home, under the 
 teacher who came twice a week to her 
 little town, counted for nothing here ; and 
 she was put on the simplest casts, 
 block hands and feet. But Elizabeth 
 said : " What does it matter ? It doesn't 
 affect your ability. It only shows you 
 where you stand. And there will be more 
 honor in working up from a low class 
 than in staying in a higher one all year," 
 a view of the case so cheering that
 
 3 2 Camp Arcady 
 
 Maud grew quite proud of the progress 
 she expected to make, and saw herself 
 reaching the life class before Christmas, 
 when the instructors observed her won- 
 derfully rapid progress. 
 
 The classes Cecilia and Elizabeth had 
 expected did not appear. The two 
 studios remained occupied day after day 
 only by their owners, a state of things 
 which rather troubled Maud, until she 
 found that Elizabeth had a regular in- 
 come from her little property. " Not 
 enough to waste in riotous living," Sid 
 explained, " but enough to struggle along 
 on in l dacent comfort ' ; and Cecil has 
 about a hundred in bank, so she is all 
 right for the present. As for me, daddy 
 sends me checks at irregular intervals. 
 They foot up anywhere from twenty to 
 seventy dollars. And, when it is twenty, I
 
 Camp Arcady 33 
 
 borrow from Cecil ; when it is seventy, I 
 pay my debts, and treat the crowd for 
 interest. So don't fret your sympathetic 
 little soul about us, girleen." 
 
 Sid and Maud had become great friends, 
 and many were the confidences that 
 passed between the two cots after the 
 lights were out for the night and the 
 other rooms silent. 
 
 Maud had discovered behind the gay, 
 bright, light-laughing girl a tender, sym- 
 pathetic heart, saddened by a childhood 
 in truth fatherless as well as motherless ; 
 for Sid's father was a man too absorbed 
 in business to think often about his little 
 daughter. 
 
 " I don't know my folks very well," 
 Sid said frankly. " Father sent me to 
 boarding-school when I was a little bit of 
 a thing, and there I stayed until I was
 
 34 Camp Arcady 
 
 eighteen. Then I went home awhile, 
 but step-mamma and I weren't congenial. 
 I hate teas and receptions. And I don't 
 think it broke my folks' hearts when I 
 wanted to come and live with Elizabeth 
 and Cecil, and study. They didn't in- 
 quire very carefully what it was I wanted 
 to study, and I fancy their hair would 
 stand on end if they knew my dramatic 
 aspirations." 
 
 Maud, whose own girlhood had been 
 so simple and healthful and sunny, found 
 this account heart-breaking in its pathos. 
 She caught the undertone of hunger for 
 affection, the sadness of a life starved 
 of all knowledge of home and home love; 
 and her heart went out to the wayward, 
 impulsive, lovable girl. Sid returned the 
 friendship with an intensity that was 
 half tragic, half comic, and restrained
 
 Camp Arcady 35 
 
 many a hasty speech that the younger 
 girl might not be shocked or troubled. 
 
 u Here's a whole stack of letters, " 
 cried Sid, toiling up the stairs from the 
 hall mail-box one morning. " Come to 
 breakfast, girls, and open them. Here's 
 Maud's regular home letter, and daddy's 
 semi-occasional note for me. A business 
 one for Raphael ; and, Cis, you have four. 
 Who are your numerous correspondents, 
 Saint ? " 
 
 " I suppose I must own up," said 
 Cecilia, glancing through one note after 
 another, and tossing them away as she 
 spoke. " My bank account had dwindled 
 to such tiny proportions that something had 
 to be done. Putting cards in the piano 
 and music stores didn't do any good. So 
 I just put an advertisement in three of
 
 36 Camp Arcady 
 
 the daily papers : * Lessons given on piano 
 and harp by me.' These seem to be the 
 results. This one is a piano circular : 
 4 The B. C. D. piano. Best tone/ etc. 
 This one wants to exchange harp lessons 
 for French. The third asks my price for 
 violin, which I can't teach. The fourth 
 is from a gentleman who asks for refer- 
 ences as to my ability, and a personal 
 interview." 
 
 " What's his name ? " demanded Sid. 
 
 " A very romantic one, Douglas 
 Cameron. I'll write to him at once. 
 Maybe he'll be the beginning of my class, 
 girls. Think of teaching a man named 
 Douglas Cameron to twang a harp ! 
 Isn't it a Scotch combination ? What's 
 your letter, Beth ? " 
 
 Elizabeth had been thoughtfully fold- 
 ing and unfolding her note ; and, as she
 
 Camp Arcady 37 
 
 looked up, Cecil saw that her face was 
 pale and somewhat troubled. 
 
 " Is it bad news ? " she asked anx- 
 iously. 
 
 u My office building burned down yes- 
 terday," answered Elizabeth. " I de- 
 pended on it for my income ; and now I 
 won't get a cent until it's rebuilt, six 
 months, at least." 
 
 " But you have your picture for the 
 Academy," said Maud. " Some one will 
 buy that, it's so splendid." 
 
 " Don't be too, sure, Maud. One is 
 never sure even of being accepted until one 
 is hung." 
 
 At this somewhat grewsome statement 
 the four faces became very grave and 
 troubled. 
 
 "Ladies," said Sid, emptying her purse 
 on the table with a dramatic flourish, and
 
 38 Camp Arcady 
 
 spreading out its contents, two keys, a 
 stub of a pencil, two dimes, and half a 
 dozen pennies, " when burdened with 
 financial anxieties, just consider my pocket- 
 book your bank and dismiss all trouble. 
 Make free with this, my wealth. 'Tis all 
 I have to give. Take it, take it freely, 
 and thank me not ! " 
 
 This munificent offer brought the 
 laugh Sid wanted to hear, and the com- 
 mittee broke up with merriment instead 
 of sadness and apprehension. 
 
 Cecil went to write to Mr. Douglas 
 Cameron, Raphael to look over her port- 
 folios and select a few studies that might 
 sell to art dealers, and Sid to carefully 
 consider ways and means, and finally 
 write to her father for " a great big 
 check in his next letter, as Christmas was 
 not far off and presents to be bought."
 
 Camp Arcady 39 
 
 Only Maud, trudging gayly off to 
 school, felt no anxiety. Elizabeth's pict- 
 ure would surely be accepted ; and, once 
 hung, it couldn't help selling, and then 
 orders would simply roll in and pile up, 
 she was sure. Elizabeth was her divinity 
 and her model ; and she had not the slight- 
 est idea what a terrible struggle life is to a 
 penniless, unknown artist in great New 
 York. 
 
 Worry never sat long on Sid's shoul- 
 ders, especially when she had a plan to 
 remove its cause. So by evening she was 
 her own gay self again. 
 
 " Cecil had a visitor to-day," she began 
 mischievously. " He was a most ro- 
 mantic-looking individual, with a yellow 
 mustache and eyes that were deeply, 
 darkly, beautifully blue. Was he the 
 prospective pupil, Cis ? Was he Douglas 
 Cameron, the renowned ? "
 
 40 Camp Arcady 
 
 Cecil nodded. " But he isn't the pupil 
 himself," she added. 
 
 " More's the pity," put in Sid. " I'd 
 feel as if a stage hero were about if he 
 stalked solemnly into the building every 
 few days." 
 
 " But he won't," answered Cecilia. 
 " It's his nephew. In fact, your musical 
 1 progeny,' my friends, is about to become 
 his nursery governess." 
 
 " Nursery governess ! Cis Howard ! " 
 " Nonsense, Cis ! The idea ! " 
 " What do you mean, Saint ? " 
 " It's this way," said Cecilia, flushing 
 at the exclamations of disapproval. "His 
 nephew is a little lame fellow, not strong 
 enough to go to school or even to have 
 regular lessons at home. He is passion- 
 ately fond of music ; and I am wanted to 
 spend the mornings with him and give
 
 Camp Arcady 41 
 
 him such lessons as will not tax his 
 strength, or read and talk with him, just 
 something to keep him employed and in- 
 terested, without tiring him out." 
 
 There was a chorus of wrathful voices 
 as Cecilia paused. 
 
 " To play sick-nurse to a child ! How 
 can you, Cis ? " 
 
 " And how about your work ? It will 
 have to suffer." 
 
 " And are you going to give up your 
 class ? " 
 
 " The class don't seem to present 
 a very great obstacle at present," said 
 Cecilia, with a funny twist of her mouth. 
 " As for playing sick-nurse, I like that, 
 you know. I am never so happy as when 
 I have some one to depend on me and be 
 petted. And I have the whole afternoon 
 to myself, with a sure income of $25,
 
 42 Camp Arcady 
 
 which, I think, is generous for the work. 
 And, if I dislike it, or find it takes too 
 much time, when I get my class, I can 
 give it up. So I'm very happy over it. 
 Now don't make me dissatisfied ! " ap- 
 pealingly. 
 
 " It's better than nothing, I suppose," 
 conceded Sid, grudgingly ; " and, when 
 Raph's picture is hung, the family pride 
 will be restored. We'll kindly allow you 
 to stick to your bargain, Cis, if you'll be 
 real good." 
 
 Unfortunately for Sid's concession, the 
 family pride suffered a new and ruder 
 shock the next week in the rejection of 
 that all-important picture. 
 
 " The idea ! " cried Sid, tenderly dusting 
 the frame of the pearl which had been 
 scorned when cast before the committee. 
 "The idea, when you've had a picture in
 
 Camp Arcady 43 
 
 the Salon, of their declining your work at 
 a miserable little provincial paint-show in 
 New York ! " 
 
 "Those adjectives don't apply, as you 
 know," said Raphael, stoically. 
 
 " But it was so strong and original," 
 sighed Cecilia. " There will be dozens 
 of things on the walls that won't com- 
 pare with it in any way." 
 
 " You overrate both me and the paint- 
 ing," said Elizabeth, patiently. Then to 
 Maud, who was fairly sobbing in her dis- 
 appointment : " Never mind, child. As 
 I told you at the first of the year, it 
 doesn't harm one to know where she 
 really stands. I can take my own medi- 
 cine." 
 
 " Your own nothing ! " snapped Sid. 
 " Don't you dare insinuate that painting 
 isn't splendid ! Those judges are a set
 
 44 Camp Arcady 
 
 of utter, unmitigated idiots ! " And she 
 flounced out of the room, muttering 
 wrathfully. 
 
 Elizabeth laughed, and after a moment 
 the two others joined her. 
 
 "She wouldn't be half so angry at 
 a slight to herself, dear, generous-hearted 
 thing ! " said Cecilia. 
 
 " You'd better go and smooth her 
 ruffled feelings, Cis," said Elizabeth. 
 " Maud, too. Maud can still the tem- 
 pest of Sid's wrath quicker than any 
 of us." 
 
 She stood smiling until the studio door 
 closed after the two, then threw herself 
 into a chair, and buried her face in her 
 hands, shivering as if with cold. 
 
 " Oh," she whispered under her 
 breath, " it would have killed BIC if they 
 had stayed a moment longer ! "
 
 Camp Arcady 45 
 
 She sat tense and quiet for a moment, 
 then drew away her hands and stared 
 painfully at the painting she had worked 
 on so lovingly. 
 
 It was a simple little scene : a woman 
 standing at the window of a farm-house, 
 at work, her head dark against the sunlit 
 field beyond ; in a spot of sunlight on the 
 floor a baby played. 
 
 "That head is not good," said Eliza- 
 beth, still in the same strained whisper. 
 " I could have painted it better. No, 
 no," suddenly stretching out her hands 
 to her work, " I could not. I gave you 
 my very best, and you are better than 
 scores that were accepted. Oh, I must 
 not cry ! The girls must not know how 
 this has hurt me." 
 
 She clenched her hands, and, forcing 
 back the tears, she rose, and paced up and
 
 46 Camp Arcady 
 
 down the room in the gathering dusk, 
 fighting her disappointment bravely, long- 
 ing bitterly for help and sympathy, but 
 too proud to show her hurt even to the 
 kindly eyes of her friends, and trying to 
 plan for the coming month as a means of 
 escape from the feeling of humiliation 
 and despair. 
 
 u I have only sold one sketch, so far, 
 to the art dealers," she pondered. " I 
 must try the art magazines. Then there 
 is illustrating; but they say comics sell 
 best, and I never could do comic things. 
 And, if it comes to the worst, there is 
 advertisement work and poster drawing. 
 I can surely get them as a last resort. I 
 will do anything, anything imtil I gain 
 a foothold, and then " Her mouth 
 
 straightened firmly, and her eyes shone 
 with renewed hope and energy.
 
 Camp Arcady 47 
 
 Each morning thereafter, when Maud 
 started to her school and Cecil to her 
 little pupil, Raphael would leave with 
 a bundle of sketches under her arm. She 
 carried paintings to every art magazine 
 she could find ; but all were " overstocked 
 with oils " or " water-colors " or " de- 
 signs," as the case might be. In the last 
 room she visited the attendant told her 
 loftily, as she handed back the paintings 
 with the usual : " We are overstocked. It 
 isn't that the work is bad, you know ; 
 and, of course, we should be glad to have 
 you try again, you know. But, you 
 know, some things might be good and 
 never take with the public with an un- 
 known name signed to 'em." 
 
 " But how is the name to be known 
 unless some one will publish it ? " medi- 
 tated puzzled Raphael. " Maybe editors
 
 48 Camp A ready 
 
 would be less particular about their illus- 
 trating. I'll try, at any rate." So she 
 hunted out some pen and ink drawings, 
 and translated a little French nursery 
 rhyme, to which she fitted other pic- 
 tures ; and these she carried to the 
 editorial rooms of a great children's mag- 
 azine. 
 
 The elevator boy directed her to the 
 counter in a great office. Thence she 
 was sent to " the fifth door on the right- 
 hand side of the hall." As she passed the 
 other doors and saw the groups of busy 
 workers, reading, writing, silent and 
 absorbed, her estimation of the magazine 
 rose and her courage sank. She was 
 tempted to turn and flee from her task, 
 but she stepped grimly on. At her re- 
 quest for the art editor she was shown to 
 Mr. Gratewell's room.
 
 Camp Arcady 49 
 
 Mr. Gratewell looked up absent- 
 mindedly from his desk. 
 
 "Eh? What?" he said. "Oh! 
 pray have a chair, madame. Can I be 
 of service to you ? " 
 
 Elizabeth flushed painfully. This lion 
 she was facing seemed to be roaring as 
 gently as any sucking dove, but she was 
 still frightened and nervous. She sat 
 down on the edge of the chair. 
 
 " I have some drawings to show you," 
 she said sternly, her fingers fumbling with 
 the cord around her little roll. 
 
 " You've tied it hard, haven't you ? " 
 said Mr. Gratewell, pleasantly. "Never 
 mind," taking it from her. " I'll cut the 
 string : we have plenty more in the office." 
 
 "To do them up again ? " asked Eliza- 
 beth, with grim humor. " That isn't an 
 encouraging comment, before you've
 
 50 Camp Arcady 
 
 examined them, too." The editor, who 
 was already absorbed in the drawings, 
 looked up, bewildered, then laughed out 
 heartily. 
 
 " It did sound a little discouraging," 
 he said ; " but maybe we can get along 
 without the string, after all. I hope 
 so, I'm sure." Me frowned at the draw- 
 ings again. 
 
 " Now these I like this song. You 
 have made a very pretty translation, and 
 the drawing is delightful. But we have 
 a stock of cradle songs that would keep 
 the magazine going two years. So I 
 can't take that. And the pen-and-inks, 
 You are a beginner at this kind of thing ? 
 Yes, I thought so. You draw very well, 
 indeed ; but your stuff wouldn't reproduce. 
 It ought to be at least four times as large 
 as you have it, and bolder. More well,
 
 Camp Arcady 5 1 
 
 if you don't mind the impertinence, I'll 
 just give you a little lesson in the practi- 
 cal use of pen-and-ink." 
 
 Mind the impertinence ? Elizabeth 
 was overwhelmed with the honor. She 
 drew up her chair, beginning to feel more 
 at ease. 
 
 " You see," continued Mr. Gratewell, 
 " we reduce these things to about one- 
 fourth of their original size. So you want 
 to make the whole thing larger, as I said ; 
 and your lines must be strong and simple, 
 like this" drawing a face with a few 
 clever pen-strokes. " But I'll show you 
 some of our regular work. You will see 
 from that what I mean." 
 
 So he conducted Elizabeth through 
 several crowded offices to a door marked 
 " No Admission." This he opened, and 
 waited for her to enter.
 
 52 Camp Arcady 
 
 "These are our original drawings," he 
 said. 
 
 He pulled out case after case of work, 
 showed her where this was good and that 
 bad, and finally, after an hour's helpful 
 talk, dismissed her with : 
 
 " We may find one of your drawings 
 useful enough to work over. I'll keep 
 them a few days, and see. And you 
 mustn't be discouraged if they all come 
 back to you, but try again. Try some 
 initial letters : they are pretty salable. 
 And oh, yes ! Try that cradle song 
 somewhere else. It is very good. I 
 wish you all possible success." 
 
 Poor Elizabeth had had many rebuffs 
 in her search for work, and had borne 
 them stoically ; but this kindness and 
 encouragement where she had expected 
 at best only hurried courtesy nearly made
 
 Camp Arcady 53 
 
 her break down. She had to bow herself 
 hastily and silently away, for fear the tears 
 would come if she spoke or lingered. 
 
 She left the song at another magazine 
 office, in charge of a liveried boy. Then, 
 tired, but happy, she went home. 
 
 " How kind he was," she thought, as 
 she obediently began to design initial 
 letters, "to give his time and thought 
 that way to an utter stranger ! I wish he 
 knew how I appreciate his kindness. I 
 used to think editors were always bears, 
 but I never will again." 
 
 " Raph ! O Raphael ! " called Sid from 
 the hall. 
 
 " What is it, Sid ? " 
 
 " Letter from father ! " said Sid, wav- 
 ing it wildly as she appeared. " Listen ! " 
 and she read from the paper in her 
 hand :
 
 54 Camp Arcady 
 
 Dear Daughter, Enclosed find twenty- 
 five dollars. I want you to get me a picture 
 for your mother's Christmas. You know more 
 about such things than I. Select one within 
 the limits of the enclosed check, and send the 
 same to me at office. 
 
 " Now have you any little thing you 
 could afford to sell for that insignificant 
 sum ? " 
 
 " I don't sell you things," said Eliza- 
 beth. " You may choose anything you 
 want in that portfolio." 
 
 " Never asked you to sell me any- 
 thing," said Sid. " It's daddy ; and 
 you've got to take the check, or I won't 
 buy of you at all." 
 
 " Very well, have it your own way," 
 responded Elizabeth, in a slightly offended 
 tone. So Sid buried herself in sketches, 
 and finally, with a shriek of delight,
 
 Camp Arcady 55 
 
 seized upon a landscape, giving Raph the 
 check and an enthusiastic hug. 
 
 " It's ten thousand times too good for 
 twenty-five dollars, though," she declared, 
 as she danced out of the room ; " and I 
 know father will be tickled to death with 
 it." Raphael contemplated the check with 
 a sigh. " I wish it hadn't come through 
 Sid," was her first proud scruple. Then, 
 " Dear girl ! she did enjoy giving it, 
 though ; and it couldn't have come in 
 better, for I was at my last dollar." 
 
 Her resignation would have been sadly 
 upset if she had heard Sid chuckle wick- 
 edly as she burned the letter, which really 
 read : 
 
 Dear Daughter, I enclose the first instal- 
 ment of your Christmas money. Do as you 
 please with it. Don't stint yourself. Will 
 send more by next mail.
 
 56 Camp Arcady 
 
 " Now I fancy," she soliloquized, " that 
 was a mighty clever piece of acting. 
 Dear, I'm glad she didn't ask to see the 
 letter ! She would sooner have cut her 
 head off than take the money if she had 
 known ! I suppose Maud would call 
 that a lie. Well, it was ; but I'm not a 
 bit properly ashamed of it," with a sudden 
 decided nod of her bright head.
 
 CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES. 
 
 "TT 7HAT shall we do for Christ- 
 T V mas, girls ? " said Sid one night, 
 yawning dismally. " We haven't had a 
 lark for ages and centuries, and we must 
 make some kind of break away from 
 this deadly stagnation "- 
 
 " Slangy creature ! " put in Maud, with 
 an affectionate pull at the brown curl 
 bobbing over Sid's forehead. 
 
 " Or we'll die of loneliness," finished 
 Sid, making an ineffectual attempt to pull 
 Maud's nose in retaliation. 
 
 " Are you going home, Cis ? or you, 
 Infant ? " 
 
 " I don't like that name," protested 
 59
 
 60 Camp Arcady 
 
 Maud, " and I won't have it. Of course, 
 I can't go home. It's too far." 
 
 Cecilia looked up, flushing. "I've had 
 a plan simmering in my head for some 
 time, girls," she said. 
 
 " Good ! Let it boil over at once," 
 cried Sid, promptly. 
 
 u But, if any of you don't like it, you 
 mustn't hesitate to say so. I won't care 
 at all." 
 
 "We'll put it to vote," said Sid. 
 " Attention, all ! Saint Cecilia has the 
 floor and a plan! " 
 
 " I didn't want to leave you three, you 
 see," began Cecilia ; " and I couldn't get 
 along without mother for Christmas. So 
 I thought we might have her down, and 
 have a real Christmas dinner, all by our- 
 selves." 
 
 u Oh, how jolly ! " cried Maud.
 
 Camp Arcady 61 
 
 " Isn't it fine ? " echoed Sid. A real 
 Christmas dinner, girls, with turkey and 
 plum pudding, and " 
 
 " But my plan isn't finished," said 
 Cecilia. " I want to have little John 
 Cameron here, too. He's all alone in 
 that big house, with only Mr. Cameron 
 and the servants ; and his lameness makes 
 him so shy that he doesn't get acquainted 
 with other children, and he has no 
 mother. And, oh ! he will have such a 
 dreary Christmas." 
 
 " He won't if we can help it ! " cried 
 Sid. " Of course, he shall come if his 
 uncle will let him, shan't he, girls ? " 
 
 The two heads nodded decidedly. 
 
 " Thank you, dears," said Cecilia, 
 beaming. " He's such a quiet little 
 mouse, I know he won't be a bother ; and 
 I do so want to give him a glimpse of
 
 62 Camp Arcady 
 
 brightness. If you could just see him, 
 as I do, so lonely in that big house, with 
 his pain and his shyness. We're poor, 
 all of us ; but we're infinitely rich com- 
 pared with that little pupil of mine, who 
 is the heir of such piles of money." 
 
 There were tears in Sid's eyes, for she 
 was always deeply touched by the loneli- 
 ness of childhood. 
 
 " I move we give the Saint a vote of 
 thanks for her splendid plan," cried 
 Maud. " All in favor of a mission to the 
 rich ? " 
 
 " I ! " and I ! " 
 
 " You're the dearest things that ever 
 lived," said Cecilia, fervently. 
 
 So it happened that Mrs. Howard came 
 down the day before Christmas, a little, 
 round, gentle woman, with soft brown 
 eyes like Cecil's, who shed an atmosphere
 
 Camp Arcady 63 
 
 of love and home about her, as she called 
 all the girls " my daughters," and kissed 
 them as tenderly as if they were indeed 
 her own. 
 
 Maud, whose hom&sickness had waxed 
 strong as the holiday season approached, 
 began to feel that Christmas away from 
 home might be less cruelly hard than she 
 had expected ; and Sid simply bowed down 
 and worshipped at " mother's " shrine. 
 
 The girls had determined to hang up 
 their stockings in the good old-fashioned 
 way, the only rule being that no gift 
 should entail an outlay of more than ten 
 cents. There was great fun on Christmas 
 Eve, when the five long stockings deco- 
 rated the three door-knobs. There was 
 much peeping from the cracks of half- 
 opened doors, dodging of ghostly figures 
 behind screens and into the kitchen to
 
 64 Camp A ready 
 
 escape encounters with other ghosts, and 
 stifled laughter as queer packages were 
 crowded into the shapeless stockings on 
 the door-knobs, adding their distortion 
 to that of other queer packages below 
 them. 
 
 Then, in the morning, the indescrib- 
 able charm of emptying the stiffly 
 crammed stockings. 
 
 There was a gingerbread man and a 
 long red and white candy cane apiece 
 from Mrs. Howard. Some " Heavenly 
 Twins " made of black yarn, with 
 stitches of red silk for eyes, nose, and 
 mouth, were fastened to the ends of 
 a long piece of red ribbon, bearing a card 
 with this legend : 
 
 "See how funny we do look, 
 As we're hanging from a book."
 
 Camp Arcady 65 
 
 Two witches made of bits of wired 
 chenille, with tissue paper cloaks and 
 hats and tooth-pick brooms, were Sid's 
 portion. A long, thin figure, that nodded 
 its head like a gloomy mandarin, and 
 showed its empty pockets, came to Eliza- 
 beth. Some peanuts painted as owls, and 
 perched on toothpicks for branches, were 
 Maud's contribution. And Elizabeth had 
 added a note of beauty in the dainty 
 water-color drawings she had given each 
 of the others. 
 
 It took a long time to get breakfast 
 that morning ; and there was so much 
 laughter over the absurd presents, and so 
 much running to see them as they lay 
 spread out on the model-stand, that the 
 dishes were not out of the way when 
 John Cameron came. 
 
 The big eyes and crooked, pitiful little
 
 66 Camp A ready 
 
 body won their way straight to the hearts 
 of all the girls. And, as for John, his de- 
 light in the queer rooms and their bright 
 occupants was unbounded. 
 
 " It's so much better than the way 
 I live ! " he said with a long breath. 
 " Oh, I wish I stayed here always ! " 
 
 He had his own gingerbread man, 
 a cane, and a funny Brownie made from 
 a cuff with a ball inside of it, so that, 
 when you put it at the top of a slanting 
 board, the ball, rolling down, made it turn 
 somersaults to the bottom, where it sat, 
 grave and unsmiling. And nothing he 
 had received in all his collection of toys 
 at home not even the splendid jack- 
 knife with four blades and a corkscrew 
 was half so charming to him as that 
 Brownie. His illness and loneliness had 
 kept him rather childish, so he did not
 
 Camp Arcady 67 
 
 realize that it was rather beneath his 
 manly dignity to enjoy so youthful a 
 toy. 
 
 The processes of getting . dinner, too, 
 were new and absorbing to him. The 
 turkey noble bird that he was had 
 proven too big for the baby stove. So 
 permission had been gained to roast him 
 in the janitor's oven, which was in the 
 back basement. But there were potatoes 
 to be prepared, and peas and celery and 
 lettuce ; and there were mayonnaise dress- 
 ing and pudding sauce to be made. And 
 John hopped excitedly from the stove, 
 with its boiling kettles, to the table 
 where Maud was beating up oil and 
 lemon juice. 
 
 And then, when all was ready for it, 
 the turkey had to be escorted out of the 
 front basement door and up the four
 
 68 Camp Arcady 
 
 flights of stairs. There was a regular 
 procession in his honor. First came Sid, 
 to open the doors ; then Mrs. Howard, 
 with the turkey in the pan, carefully cov- 
 ered with another pan to keep the bird 
 hot. Then came Maud, with a towel and 
 plate, useless, but anxious, bringing up the 
 rear. Some people on the opposite side 
 of the street stared, amazed, at the sight ; 
 and one or two startled heads popped 
 from doors as the procession passed 
 through the lower halls. But, bless you ! 
 that only made things more interesting. 
 
 And that turkey, there never was 
 such another bird ! So juicy and rich 
 and tender ! And Sid carved it with 
 the air of a perfect gentleman, which 
 added to its flavor. And the cranberry 
 jelly was done to perfection, and the 
 mashed potatoes light as a puff, and the
 
 Camp Arcady 69 
 
 plum pudding, which Mrs. Howard had 
 brought down with her from the country, 
 blazed merrily around its sprig of holly ; 
 and the girls drank each other's health and 
 John's in coffee, and were as gay and 
 excited as if it had been champagne. 
 And homesickness fled from the house, 
 affrighted. 
 
 And then they ate nuts and raisins, 
 with an occasional nibble at the candy 
 canes, while they told stories, funny or 
 pathetic, until the dusk fell. And then 
 came the singing, and John must play 
 a little Christmas carol, and pipe it out in 
 his pathetic little voice. 
 
 And, when the big carriage with its be- 
 furred coachman came for him at last, he 
 shook hands with them all round, and 
 told them his Christmas had been "just 
 great ! the jolliest day ! " And he clung
 
 yo Camp Arcady 
 
 fast to Cecil at last, and whispered : " Oh, 
 I do love you so ! You are so good to 
 me!" 
 
 And she kissed him slyly behind the 
 door, with a happy little break in her 
 voice as she said good-night. 
 
 And all the girls declared that there 
 never was a more delightful Christmas 
 than the one they had passed in those 
 four little bohemian rooms, with the 
 cheap presents and v the simple dinner.
 
 NEW YEAR'S TRIALS
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 NEW YEAR'S TRIALS. 
 
 THERE seemed a big blank in life 
 when the holiday season had passed. 
 The rooms, bereft of " mother," as 
 the girls all called Mrs. Howard, seemed 
 very empty indeed. The girls felt like 
 chickens without any warm wings to 
 hide under, now that she was gone 
 home. 
 
 Elizabeth's purse was almost empty 
 again. Her cradle song had been re- 
 turned to her, as had the pen-and-ink 
 drawings, with the kindly message : 
 " Try again. You will, with practice, 
 make a good illustrator." This filled 
 her soul with gratitude, but had no effect 
 on her empty pocket. She had written 
 73
 
 74 Camp Arcady 
 
 to her lawyer to sell her interest in that 
 unfortunate, half-rebuilt office building, 
 she had an almost insane horror of bor- 
 rowing, and meanwhile she tasted the 
 misery of being practically penniless. 
 She had not even enough for the monthly 
 contribution to the camp treasury. So 
 she put in ten dollars, and told the girls 
 that she would be busy with illustrating 
 and would not be in to dinner. Eliza- 
 beth was terribly proud, with the pride 
 that cannot share its anxieties and trials, 
 though it is ready indeed to share its joys. 
 Cecil and Maud, busy with their own 
 work, did not question her statement at 
 all ; but Sid, whose dramatic efforts had 
 not progressed beyond putting her name 
 in possession of a dramatic agency as one 
 in search of a position, half guessed how 
 matters stood.
 
 Camp Arcady 7 5 
 
 She waylaid Elizabeth one day, and 
 said, with comic distress : " Raphael, 
 daddy sent me a whole eighty this month ; 
 and I haven't a place to put it, and the 
 bank has a lofty scorn of such micro- 
 scopic sums. Won't you take care of 
 some of it until I need it ? I'd be ever 
 so much obliged." 
 
 But Elizabeth shook her head. " Shan't 
 touch it," she said. " I'm not a good 
 safe deposit." And nothing would move 
 her, to Sid's wrath and disgust. 
 
 " She hasn't any right to be so hateful 
 and selfish and proud," she soliloquized 
 resentfully. " I'd like to know what the 
 Lord put us here for, if not to let our 
 friends help us. 'Tisn't fair." 
 
 But Elizabeth remained firm. One 
 of her initial letters she sold to Mr. 
 Gratewell for two dollars. She took
 
 76 Camp Arcady 
 
 the cradle song, after at least a dollar 
 had been spent on it in postage, to a 
 queer, little, downy-mustached youth of 
 twenty, who was the sole editor of a 
 queer little magazine. 
 
 " Do they say l By-lo ' to babies when 
 they want 'em to go to sleep ? " he asked, 
 puzzled by the refrain. " I haven't any 
 of my own ; and, you see, I hardly know 
 how they do sing to 'em." 
 
 Elizabeth's lips twitched as she glanced 
 at the boyish face, but she assured him 
 that " By-lo " was very soothing to in- 
 fantile nerves. 
 
 So the youth said : " Well, I like the 
 song. I guess you can leave it. I'll 
 publish it in let me see April or 
 May. Will ten dollars be all right ? 
 We pay on publication." 
 
 Elizabeth left, feeling heartsick. She
 
 Camp Arcady 77 
 
 had only one dollar left, and April was 
 two months away. Illustrating evidently 
 would not do. She would try news- 
 paper work. So she tramped from one 
 newspaper office to another all the after- 
 noon, and received only a short " Staff's 
 full ! No vacancy ! " At last, in de- 
 spair, she stopped at the advertising win- 
 dow, and wrote, 
 
 WANTED. Work at any kind of drawing or 
 drafting, advertisement or poster designing. 
 Address E. D., care of the Morning News. 
 
 She paid thirty-five cents of her last 
 dollar for the publication of this among 
 the " professional " notices. 
 
 It was dark when she reached home. 
 Cecil was alone, playing softly. 
 
 " Maud and Sid went to the opera 
 to-night," she explained, coming to
 
 78 Camp Arcady 
 
 throw her arm around Elizabeth, who 
 dropped wearily into a chair and leaned 
 her head on her hand. " I wasn't rich 
 enough to go 'long, so I waited at home 
 for you. You are awfully late. Are you 
 all tired out, dear heart ? " 
 
 Elizabeth moved impatiently beneath 
 the loving hand ; and Cecil, realizing 
 the weariness, but not divining the hope- 
 less misery under it, moved away, add- 
 ing : " We had oyster soup for supper 
 to-night, and it was so good I saved you 
 some. I thought it would brace you 
 up when you came in, even if you 
 weren't hungry. Something hot rests 
 one, when she is tired." 
 
 Elizabeth suddenly realized that she 
 had not had a bite to eat since breakfast, 
 and that she was, indeed, ravenously 
 hungry as well as tired. She silently
 
 Camp Arcady 79 
 
 swallowed the steaming soup and the 
 orange that Cecil brought, wondering if 
 the kindly attention was due to the girl's 
 having guessed her humiliating state of 
 beggary. 
 
 Cecil set her fears at rest by saying : 
 " I'm so glad you have a position, Raphy. 
 I know you're happier so, even if it is a 
 hard one and keeps you out late. One 
 gets to be thankful for an income of even 
 a few dollars, doesn't she ? " 
 
 Then she went back to her piano and 
 her dreams, wherein a sunny mop of 
 yellow hair and a pair of mirthful blue 
 eyes held more place than she would 
 have cared to own even to herself. 
 Cecilia dreamed a great deal nowadays, or 
 she would have been quicker to read 
 Elizabeth's weary face. 
 
 The month passed on. Elizabeth
 
 8o Camp Arcady 
 
 learned, after a hard struggle, that her 
 " ad." drawings were even less acceptable 
 than her illustrations. She could not 
 letter, and her work had not the " snap 
 and attractiveness " that would " catch 
 the eye of the public." " The eye of 
 the public " began to be a nightmare to 
 her. Still, she managed to sell a few 
 designs at half-price, to be worked over 
 by professionals. 
 
 Her attempts at posters had the same 
 fate. She could not adapt herself to the 
 prevailing Beardsley craze. 
 
 Her suppers for the month had con- 
 sisted of crackers and water, eaten in 
 strict secrecy in the studio ; for her pride 
 forbade her accepting anything from the 
 girls, when she could not pay her share. 
 She let them suppose that she dined in 
 restaurants. Even Sid did not suspect the
 
 Camp Arcady 81 
 
 extent of her self-privation. She grew 
 thinner and paler, and her eyes were piti- 
 fully hollow. 
 
 " She's working too hard," soliloquized 
 Sid, the observant, thinking of her former 
 ruse. " I won't have it." 
 
 So, when Elizabeth came in one even- 
 ing, she found one of her paintings gone ; 
 and in its place on the wall were tacked 
 three ten-dollar bills. 
 
 " What does this mean ? " she de- 
 manded. 
 
 " It means," said Sid, meekly, " that 
 a lady who saw father's picture, and liked 
 it, was in to-day. Wanted a picture. 
 Said she couldn't wait until to-morrow, as 
 she was to send it to Philadelphia on the 
 5.30 train. So I took the liberty of sell- 
 ing her that, as I once heard you mention 
 thirty dollars as the price." (" I defy any
 
 82 Camp Arcady 
 
 one to find a fib in that," she added 
 mentally ; for her former subterfuge had 
 troubled her conscience, and she was try- 
 ing to keep within the limits of facts in 
 this case.) 
 
 Elizabeth took Sid by the shoulders, and 
 looked into her eyes. " That's not so," 
 she said, giving her a shake. 
 
 " It is ! " cried Sid, stoutly. " It is ! " 
 
 " What was the lady's name and ad- 
 dress ? " inquired Elizabeth, more mildly. 
 
 Sid began to blush. Oh, I I don't 
 remember exactly," she stammered. 
 She was angry with herself for this 
 show of embarrassment. 
 
 " Now that's a fib, I know," said 
 Elizabeth. "You took it. How dare 
 you, Sid Welch ? Tell me at once what 
 you have done with it, and take back this 
 money. I won't have it ! "
 
 Camp Arcady 83 
 
 " You shall ! I won't ! " cried Sid, in- 
 coherently, bursting into tears. "The 
 painting is on its way to Philadelphia. 
 And it was bought by a lady who admired 
 father's. It's a pity if you can't sell 
 me a picture as well as some cold, 
 heartless, unappreciative thing from out- 
 side. But you can't help yourself; for 
 I've got the picture, and you can't get 
 it back now." 
 
 Elizabeth looked helpless. "It isn't 
 right," she said weakly. Sobs always 
 conquered her as quickly as if she had 
 been a man. 
 
 It is ! it is ! " cried Sid. " Oh, my 
 dear, do be good to me, and let me help 
 you ! I have more than I need ; and I 
 can't see you killing yourself by inches 
 with work you hate, when I know you 
 could succeed so well if you would only
 
 84 Camp Arcady 
 
 borrow a little money. Don't be selfish 
 about it. Please don't, please ! " 
 
 Sid's arms were about Elizabeth, and 
 she was pleading with all her impassioned 
 force. And Elizabeth yielded. 
 
 " Is it selfish ? " she said wearily. 
 u Well, maybe you are right. And I can 
 pay it back when my house sells, if it 
 ever does." 
 
 " And you'll take it ? " cried Sid, dan- 
 cing like a child in her delight. " And 
 let me share until luck turns ? And paint 
 something for the spring exhibition, dear ? 
 It will get in this time, I know." 
 
 Elizabeth nodded, with a miserable little 
 smile. She was completely conquered. 
 Hunger and exhaustion had been Sid's able 
 assistants. 
 
 " Girls ! girls ! " cried Maud, rushing in. 
 " Oh, I wish we had a window that
 
 Camp Arcady 85 
 
 looked on the street ! These old skylights ! 
 Who do you think is coming down the 
 street ? " 
 
 " Who ? who ? " queried Sid, the excit- 
 able, turning her mind instantly to the 
 new subject of interest. 
 
 " It's Cecilia and Mr. Douglas 
 Cameron ! " said Maud. " And they were 
 talking so busily that they didn't see me 
 at all, though I walked along on the op- 
 posite side of the street for ever so far. 
 Doesn' that look romantic ? " 
 
 41 Don't, get nonsense into your head, 
 child," said Elizabeth, wearily, " and make 
 romances out of such commonplace cour- 
 tesies." 
 
 Maud looked a trifle resentful. 
 
 "You needn't be so lofty," she said. 
 " He has called here three times in the last 
 month, and I know "
 
 86 Camp Arcady 
 
 But the entrance of Cecil, with a pleas- 
 ant, " What do you know, Maud ? " 
 stopped the discussion. Maud and Sid 
 fled to the dining-room, where they whis- 
 pered and laughed gleefully to the accom- 
 paniment of Cecil's dreamy music. 
 
 Elizabeth, egged on by Sid, began to 
 make tentative sketches for her exhibition 
 picture. She finally found an arrangement 
 that suited her, the long, graceful figure 
 of a girl lying on a couch, teasing a parrot 
 on a perch at her feet with a peacock's 
 feather. Sid insisted on posing for her; 
 and Elizabeth could not refuse, especially 
 as Sid's bright brown hair was " quite 
 ideal " against the dull green of the sofa- 
 cushion on which her head rested. 
 
 The painting was finally finished, and 
 sent in at the last moment. And, after
 
 Camp Arcady 87 
 
 cruel weeks of waiting, it was accepted. 
 Better still, it was given one of the best 
 places on the walls and a very good 
 notice in the newspapers. 
 
 Mr. Cameron, who had become quite 
 friendly with the girls since the Christmas 
 dinner episode, was, on his earnest plea, 
 admitted to share the Camp rejoicing, and 
 to escort the girls, in their best bibs and 
 tuckers, to the private view. They stared 
 with unlimited delight at Raphael's paint- 
 ing, until the confused artist dragged them 
 away to look at work by more noted 
 people and to be introduced to famous 
 folk, whose names Maud treasured up to 
 write home to her people, that they might 
 roll them as sweet morsels under their 
 tongues. 
 
 Then they went home to the little 
 studio supper, whose crowning dish, a
 
 88 Camp Arcady 
 
 lobster in a nest of crisp green lettuce, 
 had been ordered by Sid from the " best 
 place in town, as nothing was too good 
 to celebrate Raphael's triumph." 
 
 Raphael, somewhat amused and em- 
 barrassed as well as touched, was queen 
 of the festive board, and sat at the head of 
 the table, crowned with a wreath of wax 
 olive leaves that usually adorned the 
 studio dummy. There was plenty of 
 hearty pleasure in this her first success ; 
 and there were prophecies that it was 
 only the turning of the tide of fortune, 
 which would soon flow strong her way. 
 
 Indeed, it seemed that the prophecies 
 were right ; for only the next day came a 
 caller. Elizabeth received him with due 
 dignity in her studio, where the two stayed 
 a long time. The noise of the moving of 
 pictures and the rise and fall of voices in
 
 Raphaelina.
 
 Camp Arcady 89 
 
 conversation floated out to the girls, who 
 were in Cecilia's room, dancing softly with 
 curiosity and excitement, and speculating 
 wildly on the nature of " that man's " 
 business. 
 
 " For he is rich," said Sid. " One could 
 tell that." 
 
 " And he has a splendid face," said 
 Cecil. " Such nice white hair and kindly 
 eyes ! " 
 
 " She's going to the door with him," 
 whispered Maud, kneeling to peer through 
 the keyhole. " Oh, I wish they wouldn't 
 talk so long ! " 
 
 " How beautifully he bows ! " mur- 
 mured Sid, who had taken Maud's place 
 at the keyhole. Then, as the door closed, 
 they all burst at once into the little hall. 
 Raphael was leaning against the wall, 
 looking very calm, except for the tell-tale
 
 90 Camp Arcady 
 
 brilliancy of her eyes and the tremor of 
 her hands. 
 
 " Who is he ? " " Did he give you 
 an order ? " " What did he want ? " they 
 demanded, all in one breath. 
 
 " My exhibition picture is sold," she 
 answered quietly. 
 
 With three simultaneous shrieks of 
 delight they fell upon her, wringing her 
 hand, patting her back, and talking all at 
 once in their delight. She quite disap- 
 peared for a moment under the avalanche 
 of excited girls, then emerged, dishevelled 
 and red. 
 
 " And he wants me to paint his por- 
 trait, and we're to begin Wednesday." 
 
 Another demonstrative chorus of de- 
 light. 
 
 " And he gave me a check in part pay- 
 ment," Elizabeth went on, losing her
 
 Camp Arcady 91 
 
 self-control for a moment, and waving it 
 wildly ; " and, O Sid, Sid, it will pay all 
 my debt to you, and leave me all I need 
 for months ! " 
 
 Sid flushed. " Now, Raph," she said 
 wrathfully, " you hush ! That's our 
 secret." 
 
 " No ! I shall tell them now," cried 
 Elizabeth, struggling with the fingers 
 wherewith Sid vainly tried to close her 
 mouth. " They ought to know. Girls, 
 she watched me when I was struggling so 
 and repelling all help and sympathy, 
 because I was so wickedly proud ; and 
 finally, as she couldn't do anything with 
 me by fair means, she stole actually 
 stole a picture from my walls, and left 
 some bills in its place. And she made 
 me keep them, and has given me more 
 and more, and posed for me and made me
 
 92 Camp Arcady 
 
 work for this exhibition. And that it has 
 been a success is all her doing, all. 
 And the money I can give back, but 
 what she has done " Elizabeth paused. 
 Her face was beautifully tender and 
 humble. " I can never repay you, Sid," 
 she said in a low voice. 
 
 But Sid had fled ; and the girls, follow- 
 ing her, found her in Cecil's room, with 
 her head buried in a sofa-pillow. She sat 
 up, laughing, but with a very red and 
 somewhat tear-stained face. 
 
 " O Sid, I didn't mean to ! " cried 
 Raph, in consternation, going down on 
 her knees beside her friend. " I didn't 
 think you'd mind so much ! " 
 
 " What a dramatic tableau ! " laughed 
 Sid, with a little catch in her breath. 
 u Here, cruel tyrant, I forgive you. But it 
 wasn't fair, Raphy, it really wasn't fair.
 
 Camp Arcady 93 
 
 And, as I feel somewhat tumbled up in my 
 mind with all this excitement, I'm going 
 to calm down by journeying to see about 
 a position the dramatic agent wrote me 
 about. Cecil has her class " (" Of one ! " 
 put in Cecil), " Raphael is going to be 
 rushed with portraits and things, and 
 Maud is improving each shining hour. 
 I'm the only drone in the hive, and I 
 really feel that I must reform. Good-by, 
 all." And she departed with a gay nod. 
 
 " Just like my dear, generous girl," said 
 Maud, looking affectionately after her. 
 
 " She is the best soul that ever lived," 
 said Cecil, warmly ; " but wouldn't she be 
 angry if you said so to her ? " 
 
 Raphael said nothing, but her looks 
 were eloquent.
 
 SID HAS ADVENTURES
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 SID HAS ADVENTURES. 
 
 u T T 7" ANT to hear the story of my 
 V V day's adventures, girls ? " inquired 
 Sid, as the four were lounging in the 
 studio that evening. Of course, they wel- 
 comed the suggestion with delight. It 
 was just the proper hour for tales. 
 
 " Well," Sid began, " when I left you, 
 I went to the dramatic agent to see about 
 that position ; and the D. A. referred me 
 to Mr. Duke, of the Sixth Avenue Theatre. 
 So I trotted over to Sixth Avenue. The 
 first thing Mr. Duke did was to address 
 me as l My dear ' ! I looked daggers at 
 him, but it didn't affect him in the least. 
 I suppose he's used to stage daggers, and 
 97
 
 98 Camp Arcady 
 
 thought they were that kind. He inquired 
 where I'd played before. That wilted me ; 
 and I meekly told him, l Nowhere.' 
 
 " l Hum-m, that's bad. What the mis- 
 chief did Brown mean by sending me a 
 green girl ? ' he said. ' I wanted you for 
 Evaline in my new spectacular ; but, if 
 you ain't been on before Say, let's 
 see you march, m' dear.' 
 
 " I was mad as a hornet, but I trotted 
 up and down the room ; and presently 
 he shouted : c Got it, sure enough ! I 
 guess I can give you something, after all. 
 I'll bill Nell White for Blanche's place, 
 and let you go in the chorus ! ' In the 
 chorus, indeed ! 
 
 " I'd heard I was to take the place of 
 some one who had a fall. So I said, l Is 
 Blanche the woman who was hurt ? ' 
 
 " ' Yes, m' dear,' said Mr. Duke.
 
 Camp Arcady 99 
 
 'Blanche Pradu, 'twas. Sorry to lose 
 her, too, mighty sorry : migh-ty sorry.' 
 
 " Well, it suddenly flashed over me that 
 Blanche was an old school friend of mine, 
 who had married an actor a few years ago 
 and was disowned by her family in conse- 
 quence, the old story. 
 
 "Meanwhile Mr. Duke was saying: 
 ' We may as well settle this at once, m' 
 dear. Just sign your name here. You'll 
 lead the chorus at' 
 
 " l l beg your pardon, sir,' I said loftily. 
 'You are mistaken. I have no intention 
 of leading your chorus or any chorus, nor 
 of playing at any time for a manager who 
 treats his employees with the insulting 
 familiarity you have used toward me. 
 When I go on the stage, it will be under 
 a manager who understands the conduct 
 expected from a gentleman.' And I
 
 ioo Camp Arcady 
 
 marched out with my head up high, and 
 banged the door. I heard him drop into 
 a chair, and gasp out : l Highly, tighty ! 
 Bless my soul ! ' as if my righteous 
 indignation had quite overcome him." 
 
 Sid had told her story well, mimicking 
 herself and Mr. Duke by turns ; and the 
 girls laughed heartily over the comical 
 amazement of the discomfited manager. 
 
 "I stopped," went on Sid, "just long 
 enough to get Blanche's address ; and then 
 I shook the dust of the building from my 
 shoes forever, and started to hunt her up. 
 I found her up in a miserable little tenement 
 house, where she lives with another mem- 
 ber of the l perfession.' And, girls, I 
 declare the sight of them in that horrible 
 little hole made me want to renounce the 
 stage forever." 
 
 " You, who have always been such a 
 faithful devotee of it ! " teased Maud.
 
 Camp Arcady 101 
 
 Sid pulled her long braid for punishment, 
 and went on : 
 
 " They wanted to take Blanche to the 
 hospital when she was hurt, but she 
 couldn't bear to leave her child with 
 strangers. Her husband is dead, and she 
 has nothing to depend on but her own 
 work ; and, since the accident, of course 
 that is gone. So the other members of 
 the c perfesh ' took up a collection, and 
 made quite a purse for Blanche and the 
 baby ; and that impertinent manager headed 
 the list with fifty dollars. Wasn't that 
 splendid of him ? " 
 
 "That was nice," said Maud. 
 
 " Was Blanche seriously hurt ? " asked 
 Cecilia. 
 
 u What did you do ? " queried Raphael. 
 
 " I ? Oh, nothing but talk awhile, and 
 promise to come again and see her occa-
 
 IO2 Camp Arcady 
 
 sionally. I'm afraid the hurt is rather 
 serious, Cis. They don't seem to be 
 very sure about it, and she looks badly. 
 But wasn't it lucky I found her ? I used 
 to be so fond of Blanche. She was one 
 of those soft little things every one feels 
 bound to take care of, you know." 
 
 41 Lucky for her," said Raphael, sotto 
 voce. 
 
 " Hasn't any one else a story ? " asked 
 Cecil. " I want to hear some more." 
 
 " Ladies," said Maud, bowing in imita- 
 tion of Sid's best stage manner, "be- 
 hold me ! I was promoted to heads 
 to-day ! " 
 
 " What do you mean, child ? " de- 
 manded Cecil. 
 
 " Oh, given leave to draw heads in- 
 stead of hands and feet, which I've been 
 on all winter," said Maud. " I didn't
 
 Camp Arcady 103 
 
 think it would take so long to make any 
 progress. I expected to be drawing from 
 life by this time. But c art is long, 
 and ' " 
 
 " Now, Maud ! " 
 
 " O Maud be merciful ! " 
 
 " Don't impose that antique on us, 
 Infant ! " 
 
 " I won't," said Maud, obligingly, " if 
 any one else has any news. What have 
 you done to-day, Raphael ina ? " 
 
 " Fixed my portrait canvas," replied 
 Raphael, laconically. 
 
 " You begin to-morrow, don't you ? " 
 
 Raphael nodded. 
 
 " Well, my deary," said Cecil, " may 
 your wark be a braw success, and may 
 fame and fortune be wi' ye ! " 
 
 Sid laughed. " How Scotch Cis is get- 
 ting ! " she said. " I saw a new volume
 
 IO4 Camp Arcady 
 
 of songs on her piano. So I opened it ; and 
 there was l Bonnie Leslie,' and c Scots 
 wha hae wi' Wallace bled,' and l Weel 
 may the Keel row,' and a lot of other 
 dear old ballads. Where did you get it, 
 Cis ? " 
 
 " John gave it to me," replied Cecil, 
 composedly ; " but I fancy his uncle 
 bought it." There are some fine old bag- 
 pipy airs in it. Come into my room, girls, 
 and try them." 
 
 As they followed Cecil, Maud looked 
 meaningly at Sid and raised one eyebrow 
 comically, to which peculiar telegraphic 
 signal Sid responded by a frown and a 
 violent shake of the head. 
 
 "You'll see," whispered Maud. "Just 
 wait ! "
 
 Camp Arcady 105 
 
 The days were very busy ones now in 
 Camp Arcady. Cecil and Maud were 
 away, the one with her little pupil, to 
 whom she gave more time, as her class 
 showed no sign of increasing, the other 
 working desperately at her drawing; for 
 she had expected to do so much, and 
 what she had done seemed so pitifully 
 little that it seemed to her she made no 
 progress. 
 
 Raphael was busy with her portrait ; 
 and already such is the virtue of one 
 success the number of visitors to her 
 studio had made it expedient for her to 
 institute an " at home " day. 
 
 A big upright easel and other marks of 
 prosperity appeared in her studio ; and she 
 began to take on a becoming air of cheer- 
 fulness, and to look less lean and hungry. 
 
 Sid was also much away. She said
 
 106 Camp Arcady 
 
 she had " found some work, but wouldn't 
 tell about it, not just yet." So the 
 girls perforce waited, and smiled and 
 wondered over the little mystery. 
 
 " What can keep Sid ? " said Maud, 
 anxiously, one evening, as she opened 
 the hall door for the twentieth time. 
 " Her supper has been waiting an hour, 
 and it's all spoiled. She isn't usually so 
 late." 
 
 " She went to visit that friend of 
 hers Blanche again," observed Ra- 
 phael. " She has spent most of her time 
 there for the last few weeks." 
 
 u Oh, that's her work that she talks 
 about so mysteriously, is it ? " cried 
 Maud. 
 
 " I'm just beginning to understand Sid," 
 said Cecilia, meditatively ; " and I don't 
 believe she will ever go on the stage."
 
 Camp Arcady 107 
 
 " Why not ? " 
 
 u Acting is too abstract for Sid. She 
 enjoys doing it for fun or charity ; but 
 she hasn't enough of the the oh, I 
 can't explain it, but she can't take it in a 
 cold, unimpulsive, professional spirit. Sid 
 was meant to make life brighter for 
 people just by living. She is a dear 
 sweet girl, but she hasn't the self-centred- 
 ness of an artist." 
 
 Raphael laughed at this lucid explana- 
 tion, tipped by a wholly original word. 
 
 " That's about as clear as mud, Cissy," 
 she said. 
 
 u There's Sid's step now ! " cried Maud, 
 running to the door. " My dear girl, 
 where in the world have you been ? I 
 was getting so anxious Why, Sid 
 Welch " (in a different tone), " what 
 have you got in your arms ? "
 
 io8 Camp Arcady 
 
 Sid walked over to the couch and laid 
 down her burden, whose nature was so 
 obvious as to make Maud's question 
 unnecessary, and then turned and looked 
 at the girls with a funny mixture of trep- 
 idation, defiance, and amusement in her 
 expressive face. Her eyes were red as if 
 with recent tears ; and her lips twitched as 
 though her sadness, hardly under control 
 yet, was mixed with a strong sense of 
 absurdity. 
 
 " Why why," cried Cecil, bending 
 over the couch, " it's a " 
 
 "Hush!" said Sid. "Talk lower. 
 Yes, it's a baby. And I wouldn't waken 
 it if I were you, unless you know 
 better what to do with it than I do." 
 
 " Where did you find it ? " queried 
 Elizabeth, as she touched the rosy cheek 
 softly. She spoke as if babies might be
 
 Camp Arcady 109 
 
 picked up on the streets, like stray kit- 
 tens. 
 
 " It was Blanche's," said Sid, with a 
 little sob. " She died to-day." 
 
 " Poor child ! " whispered Cecil. " Poor 
 little child ! " 
 
 " She begged me to take it to her father," 
 went on Sid. " She thought that, though 
 he would never see her after her marriage, 
 his anger couldn't extend to the little one, 
 and there was no one else to take care of 
 it. I didn't know what to do with a 
 child at all, but, when she begged me, I 
 couldn't say no ; and it made her so happy. 
 But, O my little girl, my poor little girl, 
 you have a sad heritage ! " 
 
 As Sid bent over the couch, the blue 
 eyes opened, the little hands went out 
 appealingly. She gathered the child in 
 her arms ; and, with a soft murmur of
 
 no Camp Arcady 
 
 rt Nanny Siddy," the curly head drooped 
 on her shoulder, and Baby was asleep 
 again. Sid stood for a moment, looking 
 down at her, then carried her away with 
 an expression on her face that the girls 
 had never seen there before. 
 
 The room was very silent for a little 
 while. Maud looked stealthily at Cecil, 
 and caught her wiping her eyes behind the 
 piano lid. Raphael was staring hard at 
 vacancy, with set lips. Maud, therefore, 
 thought it best to study the figures in the 
 Turkish rug with deep attention. 
 
 " She is sleeping ever so sweetly," said 
 Sid, coming back at last. " I never had a 
 baby in charge before. I didn't know how 
 they looked when they slept. They're 
 beautiful." 
 
 u She seemed pretty friendly with you. 
 She called you 4 Aunty Siddy,' " observed 
 Maud.
 
 Camp Arcady 1 1 1 
 
 " And nestled up to you as though she 
 were quite at home," added Cecil. 
 
 " She took a great fancy to me from the 
 first," said Sid. " I always thought I'd 
 like children, but I never knew enough 
 about 'em to be sure. I'm mortally afraid 
 I'll hurt their little bodies or their little 
 feelings. I don't know what to do. I'm 
 actually afraid of her. Cecil, Maud, 
 you'll have to help me, or I'll do her some 
 awful damage, I'm sure." 
 
 "You don't ask me to help," said Eliz- 
 abeth, in a ruffled tone. Whereat the 
 others laughed.
 
 SID'S BABY
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SID'S BABY. 
 
 "T"T'S Saturday, girls," said Sid, as she 
 JLstood drumming on the kitchen win- 
 dow one morning. " You're free, Cecil ; 
 Maud can take a holiday, so can Raph ; 
 and I'm constitutionally at leisure. Let's 
 take Blanche to the park." 
 
 The motion was adopted by acclamation. 
 And Maud, " like a well-conducted per- 
 son," was soon u cutting bread and butter " 
 for the lunch basket, while Sid scrubbed 
 Blanche's face, and Raph and Cecil got 
 the coats and hats. 
 
 In less time than it takes to tell it the 
 merry party piled on top of the rickety 
 stage, and started on their long, jolly, 
 
 "5
 
 1 1 6 Camp Arcady 
 
 jolty ride. It was a beautiful day. The 
 trees in the squares were in tiny leaf, 
 looking like delicate lacework against the 
 sky. Here and there a wistaria hung its 
 purple tassels up the front of some old 
 house on a side street ; and Maud, looking 
 at them with misty eyes, thought of a 
 certain little house out West. How the 
 front of it was covered last spring with 
 that tender green and purple ! She gulped 
 a little, and turned to spar desperately 
 with Sid. 
 
 They reached the park at last ; and 
 Blanchette, with shrieks of delight, made 
 excursions on the soft grass, only to run 
 hack to " Nanny Siddy " with a dandelion, 
 a blade of grass, or a tiny pebble. Sid 
 had lost the awkwardness of ignorance, as 
 the baby clung to her and would have no 
 other waiting-maid, although she gra-
 
 The Baby.
 
 Camp Arcady 117 
 
 ciously bestowed smiles on Maud and 
 Cecilia, and grave, half-awed attention on 
 Elizabeth. Nanny Siddy was hers, her 
 own ; and, when she mourned in her baby 
 way for " marmar," only Nanny Siddy 
 could comfort her. Sid accepted this with 
 comical wonder. " For I'm not the sweet 
 creature one would expect a baby to cling 
 to," she said humbly. But she soon 
 grew to feel it the most natural thing in 
 the world for a little hand to nestle in her 
 own or drag at her skirt, for a little foot 
 to follow her, and a baby voice demand a 
 hundred hourly attentions to " B'anchie " 
 or " Dollie." 
 
 " My dear, I quite like it," she said. 
 " I wish you never had invested in a 
 grandfather. They are not proper pos- 
 sessions for one so young." 
 
 When noon came, the girls spread their
 
 1 1 8 Camp Arcady 
 
 lunch on a park bench in a sequestered 
 nook ; and, having despatched it with vig- 
 orous appetites, they yielded to Blanche's 
 plea to " see ve animals," and strolled 
 slowly toward the lower end of the park. 
 
 " Why," cried Maud, suddenly, as they 
 turned into a new pathway, " there's 
 John ! " 
 
 " And Mr. Cameron," added Cecilia, 
 with a quick instinctive smoothing of her 
 ruffled locks. 
 
 The gentleman behind the wheeled 
 chair bowed and smiled, and the little boy 
 in its depths waved his hat and shouted 
 gayly. 
 
 " Hurrah ! isn't this splendid ? " he said 
 with satisfaction, as the two parties met 
 and shook hands. 
 
 " I echo John," said Mr. Cameron. 
 u I haven't seen any of you for a long
 
 Camp Arcady 119 
 
 while, not since the little celebration at 
 the beginning of Miss Danton's great- 
 ness. I hear her name on all sides now." 
 
 Blanche was formally introduced ; and, 
 instantly, to John's delight, she clam- 
 bered into the chair, and stared solemnly 
 at him as the best way of making friends. 
 
 " Where were you going ? " inquired 
 Mr. Cameron. 
 
 "Taking Baby to see the animals," 
 said Cecilia. " A day in the park isn't 
 perfect for a child without that." 
 
 "John and I were strolling aimlessly. 
 May we go with you ? and then the little 
 one can ride." 
 
 They made room for him on the path- 
 way, and walked on, talking of the beauty 
 of the day and the freshness of the park. 
 
 " But it's only a park, after all," Maud 
 sighed, " and only makes one long the
 
 iio Camp Arcady 
 
 more for some real wilds, where one can 
 pull flowers without thinking of police- 
 men, and run over acres of grass, if one 
 wants to." 
 
 "There speaks the girl of the free 
 West," said Mr. Cameron. 
 
 u Maud is tired of the flesh-pots of 
 Egypt," laughed Sid, who was walking 
 ahead, listening by turns to the chatter 
 of Blanche and John and the scarcely 
 graver conversation behind her. " Maud 
 wants forty years in the wilderness, or 
 thinks she does ; but she will tire of her 
 wilderness in a few months, and be ready 
 for the flesh-pots again." 
 
 " No, I won't," said Maud, positively. 
 "Never again." 
 
 Mr. Cameron smiled. " Look, Miss 
 Maud," he said, pointing to a tree covered 
 with tropical-looking, waxy flowers of
 
 Camp Arcady 121 
 
 pink and white. " Is there anything so 
 beautiful in your Western wilds ? " 
 
 Maud laughed, but shook her head. 
 
 " An apple-tree is sweeter," she said. 
 
 " You are loyal ; and I think you're 
 right. I have a whole orchard of apple- 
 trees up the river, a few miles ; and I 
 don't know a sight more beautiful than 
 that orchard in bloom." 
 
 Maud drew a long breath. 
 
 u Will you come and see them ? " he 
 added. 
 
 " Oh, oh ! could we ? " cried Maud. 
 4 Could we arrange it, Miss Howard ? " 
 he asked, turning to Cecilia. " I can 
 send the carriage to take you to the wharf 
 some day, when the trees are at their 
 best ; and we can go up the river in Mr. 
 Strong's launch, which is always at my 
 disposal. Mrs. Strong will go with us,
 
 122 Camp Arcady 
 
 I'm sure ; and it will be a great pleasure 
 to me," he added earnestly. 
 
 The girls looked at one another, breath- 
 less with delight ; but their radiant faces 
 left no doubt of their answer, and Mr. 
 Cameron was satisfied. 
 
 u Then it's settled," he said gayly ; 
 " and we will arrange for Thursday week 
 if you like." 
 
 They wandered through the menagerie, 
 laughed at the ungainly camels and the 
 funny monkeys, listened to the roar of the 
 lions, and threw peanuts to the deer. 
 Then Mr. Cameron bought a great bunch 
 of lilacs for Maud, and another for Blanche, 
 put the girls on the stage, and watchc.1 
 with a quizzical smile until they were out 
 of sight. 
 
 " Which do you like best, John ? " he 
 asked.
 
 Camp Arcady 123 
 
 " Miss Howard," responded John, 
 promptly. 
 
 Why ? " 
 
 " Miss Danton looks as if she could do 
 things, and Miss Welch is real nice and 
 funny, and Miss Maud is pretty ; but, some- 
 how, they aren't any of them as sweet as 
 my Miss Howard," said John, somewhat 
 at a loss to explain himself. And again Mr. 
 Cameron smiled. 
 
 "You are a lad of excellent judgment, 
 John," he said with conviction. 
 
 Cecilia was dreamy that night, Elizabeth 
 thoughtful, and Sid preoccupied. Both of 
 them watched Cecil gravely. Maud grew 
 a little tearful as she put her lilacs in water, 
 holding them against her face to hide 
 her trembling lips and whispering to their 
 fragrant petals, 
 
 " O mother, I do want you so ! "
 
 124 Camp Arcady 
 
 As for Blanche, she felt that she was 
 singing " Tinkle, tinkle, 'ittle 'tar," to a 
 very unappreciative audience. So she fell 
 asleep during the interval between the two 
 verses, with her head in Sid's lap. 
 
 The next evening Cecilia and Maud, 
 coming home together at tea-time, found 
 their small domain in confusion. Sid was 
 ramping and roaring through the hall and 
 studio, red and wrathful, shaking her fist 
 at an imaginary somebody, and calling him 
 all manner of unpleasant names. Ra- 
 phael followed her anxiously, trying to 
 soothe her ; while Blanche, who had dis- 
 covered the table set for tea, was content- 
 edly browsing over the sugar-bowl and 
 jam-pot, her countenance highly orna- 
 mented with specimens of both substances. 
 
 " What is the matter, Sid ? " asked
 
 Camp Arcady 125 
 
 Cecil, anxiously ; while Maud made a dash 
 for Blanche, just in time to save the last 
 spoonful of jam, and bore her off, shriek- 
 ing, to the wash-bowl for necessary repairs 
 to her complexion. 
 
 " Read that ! " cried Sid, flinging a ball 
 of crumpled paper at Cecil. " Oh, the 
 cold-blooded wretch ! " 
 
 Cecil dodged, caught the paper, and, 
 smoothing it out on the door, read with 
 some difficulty : 
 
 " Miss MARGUERITE WELCH : 
 
 Dear Madame, While I recognize your 
 good intention in writing to me about a child you 
 have been indiscreet enough to take charge of, 
 which child you call my grand-daughter, I 
 regret to inform you that you are mistaken. I 
 recognize no claim of any woman named Blanche 
 Pradu, nor of the child of that woman. My 
 daughter I have counted as dead for five long
 
 126 Camp Arcady 
 
 years, and I will never put it in the power of 
 any human being to make me suffer as she did. 
 I beg that you will consider this letter as 
 final. Very respectfully, 
 
 J. D. BLACKWELL. 
 
 " Is that Baby's grandfather ? " asked 
 Maud, appearing in the doorway with the 
 infant. "You don't mean he won't take 
 her ? " 
 
 " Won't even acknowledge that she 
 has any claim on him at all," cried Sid. 
 " Oh, how can a man be so cruel as to 
 cherish hatred against his dead daughter 
 or her innocent child ! " 
 
 " I can understand it," said Cecilia, 
 thoughtfully. " He loved his child self- 
 ishly, but very truly, I suppose ; and 
 when she disappointed him, and dis- 
 obeyed, he probably had some old- 
 fashioned prejudice against actors and
 
 Camp Arcady 127 
 
 acting, too, he let his anger kill all 
 the love and make him morbid, eat 
 into his mind and heart, just as a disease 
 does into the body. Oh, can't you see 
 that what he has written tortures him, 
 and that he thinks of his child always, 
 and is really half-mad with grief, poor 
 man ! " 
 
 " Poor man ! " echoed Sid, fiercely. 
 " Is he to be pitied ? " 
 
 " Yes, he is," began Cecil, firmly. 
 
 Maud thought it time to interfere, for 
 Sid's eyes were blazing. 
 
 " The wickedness of Baby's grand- 
 father is great," she said whimsically; 
 " but I can't forget that I'm hungry, and 
 the tea-table is set. Come and indulge, 
 dear people. You can argue with calmer 
 minds after a taste of the cup that 
 cheers."
 
 128 Camp Arcady 
 
 In spite of indignation and anxiety, 
 the others smiled as they followed Maud 
 to the table ; but Sid cut her meat 
 fiercely, as if it were " that man," 
 Raphael looked grave and disturbed, 
 Cecilia thoughtful, and Maud, forgetting 
 the hunger she had spoken of, ate noth- 
 ing herself while feeding Blanche, with 
 pitying tenderness, until that infant was 
 stuffed to repletion. 
 
 When the evening's work was over, 
 the community gathered for council. 
 
 " What shall we do ! " asked Raphael, 
 helplessly. 
 
 " Baby must be taken care of," said 
 Sid, " and I must see to it. I promised 
 her mother that." 
 
 " There are people near our house who 
 might like to adopt a child," said Cecilia, 
 hesitatingly. " She would have a good
 
 Camp Arcady 129 
 
 country home, and be brought up like 
 their own daughter. I'll write to mother 
 about it if you wish me to, Sid." 
 
 " Or I will write to my home, though 
 in a little town like that there are some- 
 times queer ideas about actresses' chil- 
 dren," added Maud. 
 
 Sid was lying on the rug in the calm 
 that always followed a storm with her. 
 She sat up, saying with decision : 
 
 " I won't have you folks worried to 
 death about that child. I promised her 
 mother I'd take care of her, and I shan't 
 crawl out of it by sending her away 
 among strangers. I'll adopt her my- 
 self!" 
 
 You ! " 
 
 "Sid Welch! That is great!" 
 
 " You're a proper one to bring up a 
 child ! " came with a shout of laughter 
 from her three companions,
 
 130 Camp Arcady 
 
 Sid flushed, but said firmly : " You 
 needn't laugh. I'm in earnest. It's an 
 inspiration, and this is my plan. Father 
 has a little house on Long Island, a 
 place where we never go, and it is shut 
 up most of the time. I'm going to ask 
 him to let me have the house for the 
 summer, and give me my money regu- 
 larly instead of in dabs and by fits ; and 
 I'm going to send an old woman that 
 I found on Tenth Street, wearing her 
 life out in a little sewing-room, down to 
 the place for housekeeper. I know she 
 can do it ; for I took tea with her once, 
 and her rolls and coffee were deli- 
 cious " 
 
 " Another of Sid's pensioners," put in 
 Cecil, parenthetically. " I suspected she 
 had a host of them, from the way her 
 money flew."
 
 Camp Arcady 131 
 
 Sid paid no attention to this, except to 
 blush a little, as she went on : 
 
 " So I know she could run things 
 straight, and it would be a mercy to her; 
 and I'd put it as a favor to me, so her 
 pride wouldn't be hurt. And I'll take 
 Blanchie, and get a lot of other poor 
 children to come and visit her, children 
 whose parents are too poor to send them 
 away for the summer, and too proud to 
 let 'em go on charity, and they can get a 
 breath of sea air and sunshine ; and, oh, it 
 will be jolly ! I know I'm not fit to take 
 care of a little child," humbly ; " but she 
 loves me, and I'll do my best, with my 
 old lady's help. You can laugh if you 
 want to." 
 
 Sid paused, out of breath ; for she had 
 spoken rapidly. But no one laughed. 
 No one felt like it. At last Cecilia said 
 gently :
 
 132 Camp Arcady 
 
 " Are you sure it isn't too big an 
 undertaking, Sid ? Can you carry it 
 through ? And won't it cost a great 
 deal ? " 
 
 " No," said Sid, answering the last 
 question first : " living is very cheap 
 down there ; and it won't be hard work, 
 for there is my old woman, poor thing ! 
 She needs some place to stay. And the 
 house is only a little six-room thing. So 
 I will begin on a small scale, provided, 
 always, that father will let me have it, 
 and consent to my keeping Blanche. 
 I don't think he'll object, for he doesn't 
 generally bother much about what I do. 
 He'll smile, and say to mother : l Another 
 fad of hers. Suppose we may as well 
 humor the child.' Just as I'd buy a 
 monkey on a stick for Baby." 
 
 Sid laughed, but there was a little tone
 
 Camp Arcady 133 
 
 of bitterness in the laugh which made 
 Maud look very sober. 
 
 " Never mind, Sweetheart," added Sid, 
 jumping up and pecking a little kiss at 
 her friend's cheek, to dispel the troubled 
 look that she hated to see, " I don't. I'll 
 go write to him at once, and tell him 
 about it. He's a dear good daddy, after 
 all, according to his lights." And she 
 danced out of the room.
 
 THE CAMP'S LAST FROLIC
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 THE CAMP'S LAST FROLIC. 
 
 ip, Maud ! The sky is 
 bright and clear as Spain's ! It's 
 going to be an ideal day. I'm so glad ! " 
 
 "Um-m-m," muttered Maud, drowsily. 
 
 " Lazybones ! I know what'll rouse 
 you, though," cried Sid, reaching for the 
 little pitcher of water on the window- 
 sill. Maud slumbered on, sweetly uncon- 
 scious. Sid hesitated a moment. Then 
 " douche ! " went the cold water. 
 
 "Ow! Bah! Piff! Poh ! You 
 horrid thing ! " cried Maud, as she sat up, 
 dripping like a mermaid, while Sid laughed 
 merrily. 
 
 "You did wake up at last, Missy," she 
 cried. " I thought I could rouse you."
 
 138 Camp Arcady 
 
 " Oh, yes, I'm awake ! I'll prove 
 that I'm awake ! " And Maud seized 
 the big sponge, plunged it into the 
 basin, and made a dash for Sid. Away 
 they went, into the studio, over the 
 model-stand, behind the screen, through 
 the kitchen, and finally brought up on the 
 floor under Cecil's piano, where Maud 
 scrubbed Sid's face until she begged for 
 mercy. 
 
 " What is the matter ? " asked Cecilia, 
 drowsily, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. 
 And 
 
 u What's all this row about, children ? " 
 came from a long white figure, standing 
 amazed in the doorway. 
 
 "Just Sid getting me awake," replied 
 Maud, meekly, disentangling herself from 
 her friend and from the piano legs, and 
 shaking back her long hair.
 
 Camp Arcady 139 
 
 " Do you realize, infants," said Sid, 
 from the floor, <c that it is the day we 
 are to picnic at Mr. Cameron's place 
 up the Hudson ! and that the carriage 
 will be here in just half an hour ! If I 
 weren't on hand to wake you up, and 
 shake some life into you, you might sleep 
 until doomsday. But one's efforts are 
 never appreciated." 
 
 Sid spoke in a moralizing tone, as she 
 stretched out on the rug, with her head 
 on the pedals, and looked up at the ceil- 
 ing with a martyrized expression. 
 
 "So it is!" cried Cecil, jumping up. 
 " Half an hour ? We must hurry ! " 
 
 " Better get up, Sid," advised Raphael, 
 disappearing into her room. " We haven't 
 much time." 
 
 Maud helped Sid up by the hair of her 
 head, and, dodging to escape the sponge
 
 140 Camp Arcady 
 
 flung at her, fled to her own room, 
 followed closely by her victim ; and 
 they proceeded to dress themselves and 
 Blanche, with many scuffles and shrieks 
 of laughter. 
 
 They were barely ready when Mr. 
 Cameron's haughty coachman knocked at 
 the door. 
 
 "There's the carriage, girls! Where 
 is my hat ? Maud, you tie on Blanche's 
 cap. Cis, don't prink so long. Raph 
 and I are all ready. Come on. Good- 
 morning, James. Don't you love to wait 
 for us ? " 
 
 James grinned affably as he responded, 
 
 u An' I don't know any one I'd ruther 
 wait for, Miss," which he meant for a 
 great compliment. 
 
 It was delightful to drive through the 
 cool, bright morning air up the long
 
 Camp Arcady 141 
 
 avenues, filled, at this early hour, only 
 with carts and drays ; to watch the work- 
 ingmen and the clerks hurrying to their 
 business ; and to feel the delicious freedom 
 of leisure. 
 
 When they reached the wharf, they 
 found all in readiness for them. The 
 little naphtha launch, unpicturesque, but 
 decidedly jaunty, lay alongside the quay, 
 looking like a saucy little puppy tied to a 
 very big kennel. Mr. Cameron was 
 pacing up and down, stopping now and 
 then to laugh and talk with a plump, gray- 
 haired matron, sitting with John in the 
 well-cushioned stern of the launch. 
 
 " Good-morning," he called, hurrying 
 up to help the girls out of the carriage. 
 " Now isn't this pleasant ? " 
 
 " The beautifulest blue day that could 
 ever be ! " cried Sid, enthusiastically ; but;
 
 142 Camp Arcady 
 
 sharp-eyed Maud fancied Mr. Cameron 
 was referring to something beside the 
 clear morning sky. 
 
 " I'll introduce you to Mrs. Strong 
 before you go on board," laughed their 
 host ; " for the wharf is so high and the 
 launch so low that you will have to step 
 on the cabin roof, and climb down roman- 
 tically into her arms, with the help of the 
 railing and seat. So you want to know 
 her first. Mrs. Strong, these are John's 
 Best Friends, of whom he has told you 
 so much, Miss Danton, whose painting 
 you have seen, Miss Howard, John's 
 Very Particular Friend, Miss Welch, 
 Miss Hastings, and Baby Blanche, pro- 
 tegee of the four. Now, Blanchie, you 
 go first. Hold out your arms, Mrs. 
 Strong." And he gave Baby a clever 
 toss that landed her in the ample cradle
 
 Camp Arcady 143 
 
 held up for her, where she gurgled and 
 laughed ecstatically, and begged him to 
 " do it aden." But Mrs. Strong, after a 
 hearty hug of " the dear, sweet thing," 
 passed her on to John, and turned to help 
 the others. 
 
 Raphael stepped on board sedately ; but 
 a big tug steamed past just as Mr. Cam- 
 eron helped Sid on to the cabin roof, and 
 the little launch danced on the waves in 
 the big tug's wake with a mischievous 
 vigor that made Sid wave her arms like a 
 windmill, and shriek wildly, to the edifica- 
 tion and delight of a crowd of small boys 
 who had gathered to watch the proceed- 
 ings. Sid finally righted herself, and 
 leapt to the little deck, catching her skirt 
 in the railing, giving it a shocking tear, 
 and sending her hat flying into the water, 
 whence she and John fished it, and hung
 
 144 Camp Arcady 
 
 it over the flag-staff to dry. The others 
 had meanwhile embarked without mis- 
 hap. Cecil pinned up the damaged skirt ; 
 and Sid declared " it was really better 
 than ever, being artistically draped now." 
 The little boat slowly turned and 
 headed for mid-stream. For a moment 
 the delight of looking filled them all. 
 Below, in the blue morning mists, 
 stretched the great river, widening to the 
 bay ; the wakening, shadowy city on one 
 side, the sun-touched Palisades on the 
 other. Above, to the north, the river 
 curved, clear and blue, dotted with an 
 occasional sail-boat, or a tug, dragging in 
 its wake a long serpentine trail of flat- 
 boats ; one of them, maybe, having a rude 
 living-room built on it, a woman hanging 
 out some clothes over its railings, and 
 some children dangling their bare feet
 
 Camp Arcady 145 
 
 over its edge. John and Blanche would 
 wave their hands to these little waifs 
 with gay friendliness, and the waifs would 
 wave affably back with their tattered hats 
 and shout generous greetings. 
 
 After breakfast in the little cabin, eaten 
 with keen appetites, Mr. Cameron, who 
 was in a gay, boyish mood, joined the 
 children's play with Sid and Maud. Mrs. 
 Strong cornered Elizabeth, and began to 
 talk art to her, having conceived a vast 
 admiration for the ability displayed in her 
 exhibition painting. And Cecil sat in the 
 stern, dreamily content, watching the 
 water and the sky. 
 
 Then the boat must be explored, with 
 Mrs. Strong and John for guides ; while 
 Cecil, in her comfortable nook, took care 
 of Blanche and talked to Mr. Cameron. 
 The little seven-by-ten cabin was duly
 
 146 Camp Arcady 
 
 admired, the seven-by-four kitchen ex- 
 claimed over, the tiny engine-room peered 
 into, and the steering apparatus investi- 
 gated. And Maud and Sid must try hold- 
 ing the wheel themselves, with such 
 marvellous results that Mr. Cameron and 
 the engineer came plunging out to the 
 forward deck to discover what the awful 
 darts and turns and mad evolutions of 
 the little boat meant. 
 
 Maud laughingly resigned the wheel 
 to the proper steersman ; and they all 
 returned to the forward deck, where 
 Cecil was leaning over the rail, examin- 
 ing the east bank of the river. The 
 " Sketch Book," open at the legend of 
 Sleepy Hollow, was beside her. 
 
 " We are near Irving-land," she ex- 
 plained, " so I've been getting into the 
 mood. Can you see Sunnyside, John ? "
 
 Camp Arcady 147 
 
 John pointed out the plain, friendly- 
 looking house ; and they all looked long 
 and reverentially at the roof that had 
 sheltered the kindly, gentle man who was 
 everybody's friend through all his clean 
 and sunny life. They examined Tarry- 
 town with interest, and craned their necks 
 for a glimpse of Sleepy Hollow, the 
 steeple of whose little church they could 
 just see through the trees ; and they felt, 
 somehow, that they had shaken hands 
 with the spirit of Irving, across the gulf 
 of years. 
 
 A few miles above the Hollow they 
 came to anchor (by throwing a rope 
 around a post) at a little boat-house on 
 the east bank. 
 
 " This is John's and my ancestral 
 home," said Mr. Cameron, leaping on 
 shore. " Welcome to hall and bower,
 
 148 Camp Arcady 
 
 fair ladies ! " And he handed them out 
 with a cavalier's flourish that delighted 
 Sid. 
 
 Up the broad gravelled path they 
 wandered, to the old square house, 
 through the old-fashioned gardens with 
 their budding shrubbery and their beds of 
 tulips and crocuses. Then the old colo- 
 nial mansion was explored, and Maud and 
 Elizabeth revelled in the fine old portraits 
 and the few well-chosen modern paint- 
 ings. 
 
 " You shall be represented here some 
 day, Miss Danton," laughed Mr. Cam- 
 eron ; " and I'll point to my Danton as 
 the gem of the collection." 
 
 Cecil, who loved quaint furniture even 
 better than paintings, had wandered away 
 with John and Mrs. Strong to see some 
 " dear old four-poster beds and swell
 
 Camp Arcady 149 
 
 front dressers and spindle-legged chairs 
 and things." Sid and Blanche had dis- 
 appeared. 
 
 " Gone to the orchard, I think," said 
 Mr. Cameron, " to see about the luncheon. 
 You would rather have it out under the 
 trees, wouldn't you ? " 
 
 " Indeed, we would," cried Maud. 
 " Cis ! Mrs. Strong ! John ! come on ! 
 We're going to adjourn to the orchard." 
 
 So they all trooped out into the air 
 again, and laughed to find Sid absorbed 
 and revelling in a gorgeous bed of crim- 
 son and gold tulips ; while Baby had 
 found a trough of water near by, and, 
 making a boat of her little overshoe, was 
 giving several unwilling grub-worms a 
 trip " up ve river," and getting herself 
 well splashed in the process. 
 
 Sid and Maud raced to the orchard for
 
 150 Camp Arcady 
 
 the privilege of making the coffee ; and 
 Sid, winning, set about building a tiny 
 fire, while Maud buried herself in apple- 
 blooms and delight, and scoffed at her 
 triumphant friend. 
 
 u Now I will show you," said Sid, in a 
 didactic tone, u how to make such coffee 
 as never can be tasted except in the 
 woods. Give me the pot, please, Mr. 
 Cameron, and you may touch a match to 
 my twigs, if you will ; but I'll do the 
 rest. Thank you. Cis, bring me the 
 water ! The coffee, John ! That's right. 
 Now, Raphy, just hand me one of those 
 eggs. Ah, this will be delicious ! I do 
 love to make coffee." 
 
 u One, two, three, four, five people ! 
 Does it take you all for Sid's coffee ? " 
 called Maud, as she went to help Cecilia 
 and Mrs. Strong, who, scornfully reject-
 
 Camp Arcady 151 
 
 ing the table provided for them, were set- 
 ting the luncheon out on the ground in 
 true picnic fashion. 
 
 " This is quite ideal," she added : " it is 
 more Arcadian than Camp Arcady itself. 
 Look out, Sid ! there goes your coffee ! " 
 
 Sid wildly grasped the pot, whose con- 
 tents, forgotten for the moment, were 
 gently sizzling on the coals. She rescued 
 the coffee, but at the expense of her long- 
 suffering skirt, which got a liberal douche 
 on its front that put a finishing touch to 
 it. 
 
 " Never mind," she said philosophically : 
 " the dress is now at the point where it 
 can't be hurt. ' He that is down need fear 
 no fall,' you know ; and the coffee is 
 perfect, and plenty of it left, if I do say 
 it myself, as shouldn't." And she sniffed 
 ecstatically.
 
 152 Camp Arcady 
 
 The coffee was delicious, and, reinforced 
 by the contents of Mr. Cameron's hampers, 
 made a most tempting show. John and 
 Blanche found a bond of sympathy in the 
 jelly-dish, which reposed between them ; 
 and after luncheon they wandered off 
 hand in hand to look at the puppies and 
 kittens and the doves in the big barn. 
 
 u What a chivalrous little man he is ! " 
 said Cecil, smiling. " Watch him guide 
 the little maiden's steps with his one free 
 hand, as deferentially as a knight of yore." 
 
 " I don't know how he will get along 
 without you this summer," said Mr. Cam- 
 eron, glancing from her to Mrs. Strong and 
 Raphael, Sid and Maud, who were arrang- 
 ing a quiet little game of croquet on a bit 
 of open ground across the orchard. 
 
 u He thinks a great deal of you," he 
 added, strolling quietly down over the hill 
 with Cecilia.
 
 Camp Arcadv 153 
 
 " And I of him," said Cecil, warmly. 
 " I shall miss him sadly, I know." 
 
 " You will be back next winter ? " 
 
 Cecil shook her head. " The winter 
 was an experiment for me," she said with 
 sunny patience, " and it has failed. So I 
 must try a new one." 
 
 Mr. Cameron pulled a lilac from the 
 hedge beside him, and examined it with 
 great interest. 
 
 " Miss Howard," he said, as he flung it 
 down, " John can't live without you ; 
 and neither can I. If you begin a new 
 experiment next winter, can it not be with 
 me, with me, my darling ? " 
 
 The two soft hands went out to the 
 strong brown ones, and rested there, while 
 the brown eyes gave their answer to the 
 blue. 
 
 At this interesting moment Sid looked 
 up from her ball, and said impatiently :
 
 154 Camp Arcady 
 
 " Oh, dear ! I wanted Cis and Mr. 
 Cameron to take a hand in this game with 
 us ; and I declare they've gone off with 
 Blanche and John, and the four of 'em 
 are out of sight. Well, come on, any- 
 way. Maud and I will beat you and Mrs. 
 Strong, Raphael." 
 
 Of course, as Mr. Cameron and Cecil 
 were out of sight, we can know no more 
 of what they said or did for the next hour 
 or so. But Sid and Maud had beaten 
 their opponents twice on the well-fought 
 field when the wanderers hove in sight 
 over the brow of the hill, with the two 
 children in front of them. 
 
 u Come and have a game," called Sid, 
 excitedly gesticulating. " We've beaten 
 two, and want a third. Come on." 
 
 "Too late!" called back Mr. Cameron. 
 We'll have to embark at once, to get to
 
 Camp Arcady 155 
 
 the city to-night. But I'll beat you a 
 game next time you come, Miss Sid, for 
 I shan't think this is the last time we'll 
 have a picnic on my grounds." 
 
 The little launch rocked lazily at the 
 water's edge, garlanded and laden with 
 flowers. A great bunch of apple-blooms 
 for Maud ; brilliant tulips for Sid ; for 
 Raphael, daffodils ; and, for Cecil, loads 
 of early sweet violets. 
 
 The trip home was a very silent one. 
 Sid and Maud tried to talk ; but Raphael 
 was studying the blaze of crimson and 
 purple and gold behind the western hills, 
 and the fiery reflection in the river. John 
 was asleep, with his head in Cecil's lap. 
 Mr. Cameron, at the extreme end of the 
 deck, seemed to find pleasant thoughts in 
 the glowing river ; for he smiled to himself 
 as he watched its waves. So at last every
 
 156 Camp Arcady 
 
 one sank to silence under the spell of the 
 changing sky and the gathering dusk. 
 
 The stars were bright when they 
 reached the city at last, and the impatient 
 horses were tossing their heads and 
 stamping restlessly beside the wharf. 
 
 Cordial good-nights were said ; and, 
 after the long, cool drive down town, 
 the girls, up in their own lofty nest again, 
 had a little talk. 
 
 " It seems like a fairy dream, and I've 
 just awakened," said Maud, arranging her 
 flowers in a great blue jar of Raphael's. 
 " And next week I start for home. That 
 seems like a dream, too, but so good ! " 
 
 " I do hate to tear up," said Sid, pa- 
 thetically, measuring drapery and furnit- 
 ure with her eye, as she rocked softly to 
 and fro, with Blanche nestled in her 
 arms.
 
 The Last Talk.
 
 Camp Arcady 157 
 
 " Do you remember your first evening 
 here, Maud ? " asked Cecilia. " I can 
 see you now standing there with Raphael, 
 blushing like a peony." 
 
 " How scared I was ! " laughed Maud. 
 " Raphy was so big and solemn ; and Sid, 
 poor dear, talked so fast and so hard she 
 took my breath away ; and Cecil was the 
 only refuge left. You looked like a good 
 angel to me that night, Cis." 
 
 " And the plans we told at the tea- 
 table," said Sid, smiling down on the 
 little sleeping child. " How different it 
 has all been ! " 
 
 "Miss Marguerite Welch, the rising 
 young actress of the day," quoted Maud, 
 tossing a tulip at her feet, " here's a bou- 
 quet for you." 
 
 Sid shook her head. " How foolish 
 that seems now ! " she said, trying the
 
 158 Camp Arcady 
 
 effect of the crimson cup against Baby's 
 curls. " I am no genius, as our Raphy 
 is, but, as you all do know, a common- 
 place sort of girl. Acting never was my 
 real work." 
 
 " I think you've found your real 
 work," said Cecil, gently, as she looked 
 at the pretty picture. 
 
 " I had a letter from father to-day," 
 said Sid, after a pause. " The tenderest 
 letter ! I told him about my plan, you 
 know, for the summer cottage. He said : 
 4 You shall have your cottage and income 
 just as you wish, little girl ; but first 
 come home to me. I have been too long 
 a stranger to my daughter ; and I want her 
 to forgive me for it, and to make me her 
 helper and confidant in all her generous 
 plans.' Isn't that beautiful of him ? And 
 I never thought he cared ! " And the
 
 Camp Arcady 159 
 
 bitterness that had so often shocked and 
 troubled Maud was washed away for- 
 ever in the one bright drop that fell on 
 Blanche's curls, as Sid softly kissed 
 them. 
 
 Raphael broke the little sympathetic 
 pause. 
 
 " Will you be back again next winter, 
 Maud ? " 
 
 Maud shook her head. " I've thought 
 it over," she said, earnestly, " and it isn't 
 worth the sacrifice. I might be the one 
 out of five hundred to gain fame and 
 fortune at art, but it would mean years 
 and years of such work and failure and 
 loneliness and longing as I never dreamed 
 could be. And, while I was struggling 
 here, they would be pinching and contriv- 
 ing at home to get the money for me to 
 spend, and we should all be miserable.
 
 160 Camp Arcady 
 
 Mother needs me and longs for me, and 
 my place is with her." 
 
 Cecil nodded approvingly, as Maud 
 finished with unwonted earnestness. 
 Raphael, in her shadowy corner, said 
 nothing. 
 
 "What are you going to do, Cis?" 
 asked Sid. 
 
 And then Cecilia blushed and stam- 
 mered as she said, with her face hidden 
 among her violets, 
 
 "I I will be with mother all 
 summer; and next fall I Mr. Cam- 
 eron " 
 
 " Cecilia Howard ! I suspected as 
 much ! " cried Sid ; though she had, on 
 the contrary, been most strenuous in 
 denying it. 
 
 And, " O Cecil, I'm so glad ! And 
 I know you will be happy ! Just think
 
 Camp Arcady 161 
 
 of being mistress of that beautiful big 
 house, and all the lovely things in it ! " 
 cried Maud, in girlish delight at once 
 over the romance and the more material 
 beauties of Cecil's lot. 
 
 Then for a few moments they all talked 
 at once, very fast. 
 
 " Raphael is the only one who has not 
 told her plans," said Cecil, thoughtfully, 
 after the flurry of excitement over her an- 
 nouncement had died down ; " and she is 
 the only one whose winter has brought 
 the success she planned for." 
 
 Elizabeth, who had come forward to 
 congratulate her friend, smiled a little 
 wistfully as she stroked the soft brown 
 hair. 
 
 " I don't think you would call your 
 winter a failure, Cissy," she said : " it has 
 not brought what you expected, but "
 
 1 62 Camp Arcady 
 
 "Something better far," said Cecilia, 
 softly. " Yes, dear, it has." 
 
 " And the work Sid has found to do is 
 so beautiful that I feel almost like envying 
 her success," added Raphael, with a little 
 smile for the Madonna group before her. 
 
 Sid nodded contentedly above the golden 
 head, and said with a laugh : " To continue 
 the moral reflections, here's Maud, who 
 has learned a fine lesson, to be content 
 with the simple and cheap and satisfying 
 things of life instead of struggling after 
 the unattainable. But I shall be calling 
 on you to help me with my l Refuge for 
 Young and Old ' some day, sweetheart, 
 and make a philanthropist of you, since 
 you've given up art." 
 
 Maud laughed a little. 
 
 u But what will Raph do this summer? " 
 asked Cecil.
 
 Camp Arcady 163 
 
 " Go somewhere in the country and 
 paint landscape," said Elizabeth, with a 
 patient smile, " and come back next winter 
 to my portraits and studies. I have no 
 home. So I can't follow the example of 
 you three." 
 
 There was just a little quiver in the 
 quiet tones. Cecil's hands went up to 
 clasp the two that rested on her hair. 
 
 " You shall have, dear," she cried ten- 
 derly, drawing Raphael down beside her. 
 " Come home with me. Mother will be 
 so glad ! She will love you and scold you 
 and pet you as if you belonged to her ; and 
 I'll share her with you, and you shall tramp 
 and paint as much as you like. And my 
 sister and brother will just take you right 
 to their hearts. Come with me, Raphy. 
 Do come ! " 
 
 And self-contained Raphael put her
 
 164 Camp Arcady 
 
 head down on Cecilia's lap, like a tired 
 child, and said gratefully : " How good and 
 restful that does sound ! I'll come. You 
 see," she added, with one hand out to Sid, 
 " I've learned something, too. I've learned 
 to value my loyal friends, and to be humble 
 enough to accept the kindnesses I never 
 can repay."
 
 PRINTED BY GEO. H. ELLIS 
 AT 272 CONGRESS STREET 
 BOSTON, FOR RICHARD 
 G. BADGER & CO., PUBLISHERS 
 BOSTON
 
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