COLINETTE OF REDMOON
 
 Colinette of Redmoon 
 
 BY 
 
 F. RONEY WEIR 
 
 Author of "Merry Andrew" 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY 
 PUBLISHERS
 
 Copyright, 1921, 
 BY SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY 
 
 (INCOBPOBATED)
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 2138741 '
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 FOR hours the train rumbled steadily through a series 
 of wonderful pictures. Not of rocks, rivers and tower- 
 ing mountains, but of stretches of green meadows bor- 
 dered by woodlands; of spotted cattle standing in shallow 
 brooks; of farmers loading hay, or of farmers' wives 
 hanging glistening washings to dry in the June-scented 
 wind. Here a tangle-legged colt cavorted beside its quiet 
 mother, and there a shepherd dog sprawled on a back 
 doorstep, surrounded by her clumsy but huggable litter. 
 There were many young and happy things visible from 
 the steadily moving train. 
 
 There were young things aboard the train also; two 
 girls of nearly the same age, and that, perhaps, fourteen 
 years. 
 
 The larger of the two was tall for her years with the 
 consequent ungainliness of overgrowth. She was, evi- 
 dently, used to travel, and very much bored by this par- 
 ticular journey. Although she and her mother had 
 lunched in the dining-car before it was detached at Mill- 
 town, she bought shelled pecans, oranges and candy of 
 the train boy when he brought them through the car. 
 She lolled against her mother, made frequent visits to the 
 water-cooler with her own little silver cup, returning with
 
 2 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 dripping tribute not wanted and therefore not appreciated. 
 Her neck was long and pretty and her pale blue eyes 
 rather prominent. Her mother admonished her often. 
 
 " Do sit down and read your book, Gertie. No, I 
 don't care for any water. Yes, fifteen minutes after 
 three. I think so. You may if you like, but be careful. 
 I shouldn't think you'd want to stand out there. The 
 dust is frightful." 
 
 The other fourteen-year-old was a smaller and quieter 
 child. Her reddish braids were wound around her head 
 and nearly concealed by an ugly little mushroom-shaped 
 hat and a worn black ribbon bow. Not one in the car 
 could have told the color of her eyes, she kept them 
 turned so persistently toward the window. Once the con- 
 ductor came through the car and bent above her with a 
 question. She replied quietly to whatever it was he had 
 asked, returning immediately to her window. 
 
 The girl traveling with her mother wished she knew 
 what the conductor had said to the " red-haired girl," 
 and if the girl was taking the trip all alone. She wished 
 the conductor would come and talk to her and her 
 mother anything to break the monotony of the long 
 car ride. There were very few passengers in the car 
 none at all interesting except that lonely-looking little 
 girl. Presently she had both her wishes granted, the 
 conductor did come to her seat. 
 
 " You git off at Redmoon, I think, ma'am ? " 
 
 " Why, yes," answered Gertie's mother in surprise. 
 
 " Well, do you know if there is a woman living in your 
 town by the name of Susan Card? " 
 
 " Yes, Mrs, Susan Card lives up west of the railroad
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 3 
 
 I used to go to school with her children, John and Susan. 
 But John Card left town a long while ago " 
 
 " Yes ; well, he's dead and that's his girl over there. 
 She's going to your town to live with her grandmother. 
 Her father's been dead a good many years but her mother 
 only died last week. I thought I'd find out if her story 
 was straight and if there was a Susan Card livin' in Red- 
 moon." 
 
 Two feminine heads flopped and two pairs of curious 
 eyes fastened themselves on the red-gold braids of the 
 girl who still gazed out of the window. 
 
 " The Susan Card I went to school with has been mar- 
 ried twice. She was left a widow with one child and for 
 her second husband she married a widower with two " 
 
 " Yes ; well, I'm much obliged. I just wanted to find 
 out if the girl was givin' me straight goods about her 
 grandmother and all. I guess she is. You see, she 
 boarded the train without any ticket or money or bag- 
 gage. By good rights I should have put her off at Mill- 
 town, but I've got one of my own about her age, and I'm 
 easy, and so I brought her on through." 
 
 " Mrs. Dunlap's Susan is in my room at school," volun- 
 teered Gertie with an important twirk of her neck. 
 " They call her Susan Dunlap, but her real name is Susan 
 Taylor" 
 
 " Yes, well, I thought I'd ask you. I knew you got 
 off at Redmoon." He went back to the red-haired girl, 
 who turned a distinctly disinterested glance in the direc- 
 tion of Gertie and her mother. The eyes of the two 
 girls met. Those of Gertie conveyed the scorn of a well- 
 to-do child for one obliged to beat her way on a train.
 
 4 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 The eyes of the other expressed an absolute lack of inter- 
 est, as if the conductor had said, " Yonder are two steps 
 in the road to your grandmother's. You will find them 
 useful on your way." 
 
 When the train pulled into Redmoon and the passen- 
 gers alighted the girl with the braids did not ask Gertie 
 or Gertie's mother to direct her to her grandmother's. 
 She asked the station master who came with her to the 
 door of the station and pointed south along the track 
 over which she had just traveled. He was still giving 
 directions when Mr. Calkins, Gertie's father, the leading 
 merchant of Redmoon, arrived in his car to take his wife 
 and daughter home. 
 
 The Card girl walked south on the railroad to Brown 
 Street, where she turned west, as the station master had 
 directed. She moved with a gliding step which got her 
 over the ground rapidly. The man at the station had 
 said that she would pass a deserted old hotel which 
 faced on a cross street, and after that she would be 
 able to see the roof of her grandmother's house, which 
 stood on a hill a block further on. 
 
 The sun shone with a level glare straight into her eyes. 
 It was nearly six o'clock, and men were hurrying home 
 from work. A boy with a baseball bat over his shoulder 
 stared at her sharply as he turned north on the street 
 which ended in front of the ruined hotel. 
 
 And now her heart did skip a beat, for there, on the 
 top of the little hill of which the station master had 
 spoken she could see the roof of her grandmother's 
 house, little and low, as he had described it, with a row 
 of sweet peas at the edge of the porch.
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 5 
 
 The perfume of the peas greeted the traveler as she 
 paused on the porch to peer into the open front door. 
 She saw a room with a rag carpet on the floor, a center- 
 table, a carpet lounge in one corner, and a whatnot in 
 another. On the whatnot were photographs framed in 
 celluloid. One of these pictured faces she recognized 
 and a queer expression came into her eyes. A red plush 
 rocking-chair bore a tidy on its back ; a sprightly sprigged 
 paper was on the walls and coarse Nottingham lace cur- 
 tains at the windows ; a room common to Redmoon dwel- 
 lers, but novel enough to the child standing so curiously 
 on its threshold. To the right the bedroom door stood 
 open, disclosing a bed covered by a calico quilt of ornate 
 design and " shams " fastened squarely upright over the 
 pillows. She could see, also, a washstand with towel 
 racks at either side, and on it a white washbowl and 
 pitcher and a long white soapdish with a white acorn on 
 the lid for a handle. 
 
 Now that her eyes had taken in all there was to see, 
 she became conscious of a ravishing smell of warmed-over 
 potatoes frying in butter back somewhere in the house. 
 It brought poignantly to mind the whiff which had ac- 
 companied " Gertie " and her mother on their return from 
 the dining car five hours earlier. She delayed no longer 
 but stepped back upon the porch and sounded a sharp 
 summons on the door. A woman appeared immediately 
 at the kitchen door. She was a large, strong-looking 
 woman of fifty-odd years, with dark hair untouched with 
 gray, and a long, homely though kindly face. She was 
 dressed in a neat black-and-white calico, and carried a
 
 6 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 buttery knife in her hand. The girl with the red braids 
 stepped into the parlor and her lips trembled. 
 
 " Are you my grandmother? " she almost whispered. 
 
 The woman with the buttery knife stared in a dazed 
 way, her mouth dropping open, her small black eyes 
 popping under the stress of some powerful emotion. 
 And during that voiceless instant the child before her 
 cowered like a guilty thing, her little body fairly seem- 
 ing to shrivel under the strain of the suspense. 
 
 Then the woman cried out, " For mercy sakes ! John's 
 girl! " and the next moment the buttery knife was stick- 
 ing straight out at the child's back as the child sobbed 
 in the woman's arms. 
 
 " And so she sent you after all," said Mrs. Card. 
 " She thought she would, and then she didn't, and we 
 wrote and she didn't answer, and we supposed she had 
 changed her mind and wasn't goin' to send you at all and 
 now after all this time she has sent you! Well, well! 
 How did she come to put off sending you for so long? " 
 
 " She is dead," replied the child. 
 
 " You don't mean it ! " cried Mrs. Card, grasping the 
 thin arms of the little girl again and giving her an excited 
 shake. " You don't mean to say that your ma is why, 
 when did she ? " 
 
 " Last week." The girl was calm now when her 
 grandmother expected tears and lamentations. 
 
 "You poor little thing!" She was fairly devouring 
 the child with her eyes and although she would have re- 
 sented the inference even from her own mind, she was 
 experiencing a great gladness at the child's news. 
 
 " Well, now let's not say any more about it until after
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 7 
 
 supper," she advised. " You're here home, with your 
 own gram'ma, and you're goin' to stay right here home 
 always. Now come out and wash your hands and face 
 an' set right up. I mercy sakes, I hope the potatoes 
 ain't burned to a crisp ! Well, they're pretty brown, but 
 I guess they ain't spoiled." 
 
 " Please, where did you say I shall find the bathroom, 
 grandmother ? " 
 
 " Bless you, I ain't got no bathroom. You just slip 
 off your hat and wash right here in the kitchen where 
 your pa used to wash when he was a boy my, my ! 
 Poor John ! And to think that you are John's baby girl ! 
 What's your name, dear? " 
 
 " Didn't my mother tell you my name when she wrote 
 you the letter? " 
 
 " No, she didn't," owned Mrs. Card. " She said that 
 you was a well, a sickly little thing, and that she 
 didn't see how she was goin' to provide for you because 
 she wasn't well herself, but she never mentioned your 
 name. I sort of surmised it was Susan." 
 
 "Why?" asked the child, carefully drying her hands 
 on the roller towel. 
 
 " Well, all our folks name their baby girls Susan 
 mostly. My name is Susan, and your aunt's name is 
 Susan, and your cousin's name is Susan three of 
 us." 
 
 " Then it's lucky they didn't name me Susan because 
 three Susans in the same family are enough; don't you 
 think so, grandmother ? " 
 
 How sweetly she spoke that word, " grandmother " ; 
 Mrs. Card felt a strange thrill at her heart as if an angel
 
 8 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 child had come to claim relationship with her. She liked 
 the way that little thing said " grandmother." She had 
 been " gram'ma " always to her other grandchildren. 
 
 " Well, maybe so," she admitted, although she had 
 never thought of it in that way. 
 
 " My name," said the girl slowly, " is Colinette." 
 
 " Colinette ! " repeated Mrs. Card, " well, mercy sakes, 
 what a funny name ! Any idea who it's after? " 
 
 " I don't think it's after anybody ; I just suppose they 
 saw it in a newspaper and sort of liked it." 
 
 " That's a queer way to name a child. I don't believe 
 your pa named you; he'd never have picked out a name 
 like that. Do you like it? " 
 
 "Yes, I like it," owned Colinette. "What do you 
 think my father would have named me, grandmother?" 
 
 " Why, I s'pose he'd 'a' called you Susan after his ma 
 and sister, or else Mary that was your ma's name, 
 wasn't it? He always spoke of her in his letters as 
 ' Mayme,' which, I s'pose, is short for Mary." 
 
 "If you would rather, I suppose I could be called 
 Susan Susan the Fourth, as the kings are, you know," 
 suggested Colinette. 
 
 " Bless you, child, that wouldn't do at all. If your 
 parents named you Colinette and called you Colinette, 
 why it's nobody else's business to change it, and espe- 
 cially if you like it. It don't make a mite of difference 
 what a little girl's name is anyhow; it's how a little girl 
 behaves herself, whether she's good or bad that's what 
 counts." 
 
 Colinette was still polishing her hands carefully with 
 the coarse towel. She kept her eyes lowered and seemed
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 9 
 
 to be turning over her grandmother's last statement in 
 her mind very seriously. 
 
 Mrs. Card put another blue plate on the table opposite 
 her own, and later sat in mild astonishment to see her 
 " sickly " 'grandchild eat. The eggs, bread and butter, 
 fried potatoes, and apple jelly disappeared like magic, 
 followed by a generous slab of gingercake and two glasses 
 of milk. Mrs. Card was impressed by her grandchild's 
 table manners. She herself ate with her knife, dipped 
 her bread into her tea and buttered it afterwards. If 
 Colinette had stood up and reached across the table for 
 something she should have admonished her mildly, as it 
 is the duty of older persons to admonish the young. She 
 would have said, " Child alive, don't do that way. Don't 
 be so horsey! " But Colinette did nothing of the kind, 
 and Mrs. Card even found herself a little in awe of 
 John's girl before the meal was finished. 
 
 " If I'd 'a' dreamed you was comin' I'd V had some- 
 thing real good for supper," she apologized. 
 
 " Don't you like me very well, grandmother ? '' 
 
 " Like you! What do you mean? " 
 
 "If you had had any better supper than this I should 
 have eaten myself to death. You see, I was very hungry. 
 I didn't have anything to eat on the train, and traveling 
 makes one so hungry." 
 
 "You poor little thing! And half sick, too!" ex- 
 claimed Mrs. Gard. 
 
 " No, I wasn't sick ; I felt perfectly well. Arid oh, 
 such lovely things as I saw all along the way! Little 
 green places with lakes in them all brown around the 
 edges and sky blue in the middle. And once a whole
 
 10 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 hedge of green-growing stuff with a splash of scarlet 
 flowers against it just as if a painter had dabbled a brush 
 and done this way." She illustrated with a wild sweep 
 of her arm. " And then " She paused and leaned 
 her head against the back of her chair. She yawned 
 guardedly behind her hand, then roused herself to new 
 effort. " And then, in another place, there were three 
 three " her voice trailed off i-nto silence. 
 
 Mrs. Card glanced at her in alarm. Her head had 
 fallen to one side, her eyes were closed. 
 
 " Mercy sake ! " breathed Mrs. Card, " she's goin' into 
 a spell! They wrote that she was rickety, and I s'pose 
 this is the way it takes 'em." 
 
 She shook Colinette gently and Colinette opened 
 startled eyes beautiful eyes of an indescribable color, 
 dark, and shadowed by long lashes. 
 
 " Oh, please excuse me," she begged, " but I couldn't 
 help it. I won't again. Don't punish me, I why, it is 
 you, isn't it, grandmother ! I had forgotten " 
 
 " Of course, you couldn't help it, dear. You're just 
 beat out. Now come, where's your satchel? Did you 
 leave it on the porch? We'll just git you into your 
 nightie and into bed as soon as ever we can. I wanted 
 you to tell me all about well, everything, but you're 
 too sick to talk tonight. Tomorrow will be time enough. 
 Where did you put your bundle or satchel, or whatever 
 you brought your things in ? " 
 
 Colinette looked up at her grandmother with a drowsy 
 smile. 
 
 " I left it on the train, I'm afraid." 
 
 " On the train ! Now that's too bad. What did you
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 11 
 
 have in it; anything that you cared much about besides 
 your clothes? Your mother's picture, or something like 
 that?" 
 
 "Oh, yes," Colinette admitted, "I did have my 
 mother's picture." 
 
 " Well, maybe that will help us to git it back. I'll 
 help you to bed and then I'll run over and see what your 
 Uncle Luther Dunlap can do about it. He may be able 
 to see somebody at the depot " 
 
 Colinette was not listening; she was breathing regu- 
 larly. 
 
 " The sooner I git that youngone into bed the better," 
 decided Mrs. Card. She brought her own best night- 
 gown and opened the front room bed, the one which had 
 looked so inviting to Colinette at her first peep into her 
 grandmother's home. A few minutes later Colinette lay 
 sleeping soundly although the west was still golden. 
 
 Mrs. Card opened the window and a rush of sweetpea 
 fragrance filled the room. She gazed down at the sleeper 
 in a sort of bewildered ecstasy. A rush of love swept 
 her soul. John's little girl! John's! She had loved 
 him fondly and mourned him fiercely although more or 
 less alone and in secret. For John had been something 
 of a reproach to the family, not having stayed and made 
 a place for himself in the community where he had 
 been born. Instead he had wandered off and had al- 
 lowed long months to elapse between letters home, months 
 during which his mother had been obliged to own to 
 inquiring friends and relatives that she didn't know 
 whether John was in Texas or Idaho; whether he was 
 working at his trade or " running on the railroad." And
 
 12 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 then, to cap his misdemeanors, he had married a woman 
 of an alien faith. He had promised to bring his wife 
 home to get acquainted with home folks, but had not 
 done so and his mother's unspoken belief was that John's 
 wife was not a person to be proud of. Of that, how- 
 ever, she had no proof and was glad that she had none. 
 When the baby was born he had written one short letter 
 to say that the mother was doing nicely, but that the 
 child was puny and they feared they were not going to 
 be able to keep her. A long silence followed, broken 
 by a letter from the wife formally announcing John's 
 death and her own hurried departure to the home of her 
 people. This letter, giving no address and but few par- 
 ticulars, seemed to shut a door violently between Susan 
 Card and her son's family; to intimate that the writer 
 wished no further communication with the Cards. 
 
 And there had been her daughter Susan's troubles to 
 fill Mrs. Card's mind; the coming of the baby Susan, the 
 death of John Taylor, the first husband, and Susan's 
 rather hasty marriage to Luther Dunlap and the conse- 
 quent cares and anxieties of Susan's stepmothering 
 Luther's two boys and Luther's step fathering of little 
 Susan. For whatever might be said of Luther Dunlap 
 as a father, he was not an unmitigated success as hus- 
 band, stepfather and son-in-law. Both Susan Card and 
 Susan Dunlap had realized long ago that Mr. Dunlap's 
 motive in marrying the Widow Taylor had no romantic 
 incentive, but had come about in order to provide the 
 Dunlap family with well-cooked food, comfortable quar- 
 ters in which to live, and a competent, cheap, and patient 
 nurse in case of illness. Mr. Dunlap and his boys had
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 13 
 
 kept Susan the first and Susan the second pretty busy 
 during the years of silence following the letter which 
 told of John Card's death, while little Susan the third 
 had found her only comfort and relaxation under her 
 Grandmother Card's lowly roof. After a number of 
 years another letter had arrived from Mrs. John Card 
 stating that she and her immediate family felt that it 
 was high time that " John's folks should wake up " so 
 the letter was worded and do something for John's 
 sickly child. The child wasn't " right " the letter stated. 
 She was " rickety " and the mother must have help in 
 caring for her. It would be the graceful thing, the letter 
 hinted, for John's mother or sister to take the child and 
 care for her as long as she lived, thus leaving the child's 
 mother free to make her own living. 
 
 Against the freely proffered advice of her son-in-law 
 and his sister's family, the Pickenses, Susan Card had 
 sent, not only for the little girl but for the mother also 
 to come to her had given minute directions how the 
 mother and child were to travel to .Redmoon, and how 
 they were to find her house on their arrival. She had 
 made homely and happy preparations for receiving them, 
 but they had not come nor written, and Susan was led 
 to believe that John's wife had never intended to come, 
 but had written in a sort of spite to put her to unneces- 
 sary trouble, or out of curiosity to see if the Cards had 
 any feeling for her or for her child. 
 
 At intervals Susan had written futile letters, then put 
 the matter out of her mind so far as possible. 
 
 " And now this is the answer," she said aloud, looking 
 down at the bright braids on the pillow and the face of
 
 1 4 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 the sleeping child. Rickety ! What a pity ! A girl had 
 hard enough time getting through the world without hav- 
 ing to carry a load of rickets or fits or anything of that 
 kind. Poor little thing ! " And Dunlap and the boys 
 ain't going to make things any easier for her nuther. 
 The boys make life a burden to young Susan, what'll 
 they do to this one? I must stand by her as well as I 
 can without kickin' up a rumpus with Susan's family 
 of course, I coudn't do that. And there I was feeling 
 hard at this child's poor mother for not answering my 
 letters and she so sick she just couldn't, and now she's 
 dead and has sent her little girl as her answer. Poor 
 thing! Poor thing! Well, I must stand steady."
 
 II 
 
 SUSAN CARD carried the lamp into the parlor and stood 
 before the celluloid-framed photographs. 
 
 " Not a bit like him ; not a bit," she murmured. " It 
 would have been nice if she had had his eyes, or any- 
 way his ears, but she ain't got a look like him." A 
 disinterested person, gazing over Susan's shoulder at 
 her son's photograph, might not have agreed with her as 
 to the desirability of inheriting John's ears. " She must 
 be all mother," Susan decided, and turned to the other 
 photograph, a small, poorly-finished picture of John's 
 bride, the only one John had ever sent to her. She 
 sighed again. " Poor thing ! And me blaming her, and 
 she struggling to take care of John's sickly child, and 
 sinking down under the burden. Well, the only way I 
 can make it up to her now is to do the best I can for her 
 little girl. May the Lord help me ! " 
 
 She left the lighted lamp on the parlor table and went 
 across the street to break the news to her daughter's 
 family. Before she reached the door she heard Dun- 
 lap's stentorian voice commanding someone to " Open 
 wider! Wider!" She found Luther, swab in hand, ad- 
 ministering treatment to his youngest son, Elmer, his 
 wife solicitously hovering over the two, holding the cup 
 containing the solution. Young Susan was carrying the 
 
 is
 
 16 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 supper things into the kitchen. She beamed on her 
 grandmother as the latter appeared in the doorway. 
 
 " Whatever is the matter here? " demanded Mrs. Card. 
 
 The family answered in concert, " Mumps." 
 
 " Oh dear ! " lamented Mrs. Card. " Can mumps be 
 carried? " 
 
 Elmer pushed away his father's swabbing fingers, his 
 face showing alarm. 
 
 " Can't they, pa? Can't they? " 
 
 " Wha'd'yeh mean ? What you talkin' about ? Open 
 up your mouth, now ! " 
 
 " Can't the mumps be carried? I've got 'em, ain't I? 
 And if I've got 'em I've got to carry 'em, ain't I? " 
 
 Mrs. Card explained. " I was afraid I might carry 
 'em to the little girl over to my house." She spoke to 
 her daughter, knowing that she would find sympathy, at 
 least, if not help in that direction. " John's little girl 
 has come." 
 
 " John's girl ! " exclaimed the entire Dunlap family in 
 unison. 
 
 " When did she come ? " demanded Dunlap. 
 
 " Tonight. She's over in my best bed asleep. I must 
 go right back. She might wake up and feel afraid 
 finding herself alone in a strange place." 
 
 " John's girl ! " repeated Susan Dunlap, " Well, well ! " 
 
 " Humph ! " grunted Dunlap. " What you goin' to 
 do with her? ' 
 
 " Do with her? Take care of her, of course. Her 
 mother is dead " 
 
 Everybody exclaimed again, and young Susan came 
 and stood in the kitchen door with the meat platter in
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 17 
 
 her hand to hear the news. She was large for her age 
 and too plump, with flaming red cheeks and black hair 
 and eyes. 
 
 " Go 'long with that platter ! " commanded her step- 
 father. 
 
 " Why, Susan, you might break it," chided her mother, 
 in her usual weak echo of her husband's authority. 
 
 " Now open your mouth, Elmer ! " Mr. Dunlap be- 
 gan to swab where he had left off. " Hold that cup up 
 somewhere near so I can git at it," he admonished his 
 wife, who started nervously and held the cup too near. 
 She was a thin, sallow woman, with a high, bulging fore- 
 head, from which she rolled her hair backward and up- 
 ward in an unbecoming bolster. There were gray threads 
 showing in the bolster, and hollows under her cheek 
 bones as from lack of teeth. Her small dark eyes shone 
 through large-lensed spectacles. A stranger might well 
 have taken her for Susan Card's sister rather than for 
 her daughter. 
 
 " Let's see-e ; didn't the letter say the youngone was 
 rickety? " Dunlap held his swab poised while he glared 
 at his mother-in-law, his son's mouth meanwhile resem- 
 bling that of a yearning young robin. 
 
 " Yes, it did," admitted Susan Card anxiously. " Do 
 you know anything about how the rickets affects a per- 
 son?" 
 
 " I do." Luther Dunlap never admitted ignorance in 
 any matter, whether medical, theological or scientific. 
 " I know all about the rickets. Person with 'em eats 
 everything that's set before 'em " 
 
 " Yeah, she's got 'em all right," sighed Mrs. Card.
 
 i8 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 " But never grows, has fits and faintin' spells." 
 
 "Poor little thing!" mourned his wife, while Mrs. 
 Card's face puckered with sympathetic distress. 
 
 " Open your mouth now, Elmer, or I'll slap you ! 
 Never grow, never know nothin'," he went on, " and 
 after awhile git kinder doty an' just set. You see, 
 Mother Card, you can't do for a youngone like that. 
 Best thing is to pack her right off to the county house. 
 You can make affidavit that you ain't able to take carfe 
 of her and they'll be obleeged to take her." 
 
 " I think I heard somewhere that their bones git soft 
 didn't we hear that somewhere, Luther?" asked Mrs. 
 Dunlap timidly, " and as they grow up they gii crooked? 
 Isn't that what someone told us, Luther? " 
 
 Luther did not take the trouble to answer. He was 
 about to finish with his medical ministrations. Elmer, 
 swabbed and swathed, sat in a tousled huddle. 
 
 " That's the only thing for you to do," he wound up, 
 handing over to his wife the cup and swab and brushing 
 off his fingers much as he was advising his mother-in- 
 law to hand John's girl over to be looked after by the 
 county. 
 
 " Poor little thing! " murmured Mrs. Dunlap. "And 
 poor John! And so his wife is dead, too. Well, well! " 
 
 " How old is the youngone? " asked Dunlap. 
 
 " I don't know exactly," owned Mrs. Card, " but of 
 course we know by the letter that she is a little younger 
 than your Susan. She seems a good deal younger ; she's 
 so small not much more'n half as big as Susan." 
 
 " Poor sick little thing! " sighed Mrs. Dunlap again. 
 
 " Yes, there it is, you see. They never grow them
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 19 
 
 rickety youngones well, you'll have to git rid of her." 
 
 "Oh, no; I shall keep her." 
 
 " Why, you can't keep her, Mother Card. Have a 
 little sense. She'd never be anything but a drag on 
 you." 
 
 "I don't suppose she will, but I'm goin' to keep her 
 just the same. I'm a goin' to stand by her." 
 
 " Now, see here, Mother Card, you ain't a goin' to do 
 anything of the kind. If you ain't got any common 
 sense to use why somebody else has got to use some for 
 you. I'll take that youngone tomorrow and hustle her 
 right down to Jacksonville to the county house where she 
 belongs " 
 
 " No, Luther, I'm a goin' to keep John's little girl, I 
 don't care what anybody says " 
 
 The outer door swung open to admit the Pickenses. 
 Susan Card at that moment would rather have seen al- 
 most any other person in the world than " Rinthy Pick- 
 ens." Rinthy was one of the nice women whom nobody 
 wants to see when in sickness or in trouble. She was 
 embarrassingly capable. She had a large waist, a small 
 nose and an exasperating smile; a smile which intimated 
 to the feminine beholder that she, Amarinthy Pickens, 
 had her preserving and house-cleaning and fall sewing 
 all done, and done to perfection, and that if others were 
 remiss in these matters it was due to their own inade- 
 quacy or worse. 
 
 Mrs. Pickens was quite a leader in " above-the-rail- 
 road " circles. As to those who dwelt in the more aris- 
 tocratic part of the town below the railroad, she ignored 
 them altogether. She believed, and expressed her be-
 
 20 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 lief freely, that her house was the nearest to perfection 
 of any in Redmoon, being just what a house should be, 
 inside and out; that Waldo Pick ens was the keenest 
 business man in either town or country; that her daugh- 
 ter, Helen, was not only the brightest intellectual}', but 
 the best-looking of all the children who went to the Red- 
 moon school. Feeling as she did, Amarinthy Pickens 
 was an extremely contented but unpopular woman. She 
 lacked the faculty of imparting content and self-satisfac- 
 tion to those with whom she came in contact. A body 
 felt an uneasy sensation as soon as she came into the 
 room. If that body happened to be a woman, she went 
 over her own costume mentally, hoping her shoes were 
 properly blacked and tied, her back hair in order, her 
 bag and umbrella just as they should be. 
 
 Rinthy Pickens approved of the Dunlaps because they 
 were related to her, but she was always severe and sar- 
 castic toward Susan Card. She poked fun openly at 
 Susan Card's whatnot, celluloid- framed pictures, rag 
 carpets, and even the hedge of sweet peas " right spang 
 up against the front porch ! " 
 
 She came sailing into her brother's house clothed 
 armored would be a better word in her usual assur- 
 ance, and accompanied by the keenest business man and 
 the handsomest daughter in the country. The three 
 Susans quailed, as they always quailed, before Aunt 
 Rinthy Pickens' absolute proficiency. Each Susan 
 quailed in her own way and for her own reasons. Susan 
 Card, because she felt sure that Rinthy Pickens and 
 Rinthy's husband, Waldo Pickens, would side with 
 Rinthy's brother Luther against her keeping John's girl
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 21 
 
 and she was aware of the strong influence Rinthy's 
 opinion had upon Luther's decisions Susan the mother 
 quailed because of the untidiness of the room; and Susan 
 the daughter through fear of Aunt Rinthy's decision in 
 favor of sending the rickety little cousin away before 
 giving a body a chance even to see her. 
 
 The Pickenses heard the news of Elmer's attack of the 
 mumps, and of the coming of John Card's girl almost 
 before they were settled in the chairs which young Susan 
 had brought from the parlor. Elmer was distinctly irri- 
 tated by the lightness with which his affliction was passed 
 over in the face of the more exciting event. There was 
 nothing unusual in Elmer's having something; if not the 
 mumps or the whooping-cough, then a cut finger or a 
 smashed toe. 
 
 " John's girl ! For goodness' sakes ! And rickety, 
 you say?" Mrs. Pickens' smile was one of complete 
 gratification. 
 
 Luther Dunlap stated his attitude toward " Mother 
 Card tryin' to do for that kind of a youngone." 
 
 " We're afraid it's going to be too much for mother," 
 ventured Susan Dunlap from where she sat gingerly on 
 the edge of a kitchen chair, her knotty, work-distorted 
 hands clasped tightly in her lap. She could distinctly 
 see a layer of dust on the rungs of her parlor chair in 
 which Wado Pickens sat enthroned. She hoped Rinthy 
 could not see it from where she sat. " Do you think 
 it will be an awful care, Rinthy? " 
 
 " Well, don't ask me," said Rinthy. " Never having 
 had a rickety child, I can't tell you anything about it. 
 My youngone, thank goodness, was perfectly healthy and
 
 22 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 always has been. What does she look like, Gram'ma 
 Card? Don't know as I ever saw a rickety person. 
 Mother dead, eh? She was a Catholic, wa'n't she? I 
 thought I heard that John married a Catholic. Well, of 
 course, you must do as you see fit about keepin' her, but 
 I should say that Luther's right about sending her away." 
 
 "Why, of course!" acquiesced Waldo Pickens, "you 
 ain't in any condition to keep a sick child; you're an old 
 woman one foot in the grave. You'll be passin' in 
 your checks before long an' then where'll she be? Of 
 course, if you feel to leave her suthin' in your will " 
 Waldo Pickens' specialty was reminding people of the 
 shortness of life. Mrs. Card had known before ever he 
 had opened his mouth just what he would say. 
 
 " How old is she? " inquired Mrs. Pickens. 
 
 " Just a little younger than Susan." 
 
 " About Helen's age, then. Helen was fourteen her 
 last birthday." 
 
 " When is her birthday ? " asked Helen. 
 
 " I don't know the date," said Mrs. Card reluctantly. 
 " I didn't talk with her very much. She went right to 
 bed as soon as she got through supper." 
 
 " Well, didn't she have any papers, or a Bible, or some- 
 thing in her grip? " 
 
 " She lost her grip on the train." 
 
 " Well, that was a pretty piece of business, sendin' a 
 halfwit like that off on a train alone," declared Waldo 
 Pickens with a snort. Susan Card resented the appella- 
 tion, but remonstrated only feebly, saying that " The child 
 didn't look nor act like a halfwit by any manner o' means,
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 23 
 
 although she did seem sick, and she was little for her 
 age." 
 
 Luther Dunlap, as well as his son, was out of patience 
 at the large amount of conversation evoked by the com- 
 ing of John's girl and the small amount by Elmer's case 
 of mumps. Elmer was thirsty and Susan was sent to 
 the kitchen for water ; his knees were cold ; his stepmother 
 brought a blanket and spread it over his lap. He was 
 savage at his Aunt Rinthy's description of Helen's 
 patience under a similar affliction. There was no love 
 lost between Elmer and his Aunt Rinthy even in hours 
 of health. 
 
 " I must run home," said Susan Card. " If she should 
 wake up all alone in the house she'd be scared into fi 
 she'd be scared to find herself all alone." 
 
 Mrs. Pickens got up. " I'll step over with Gram'ma 
 Gard, Waldo. You and Helen can stop for me when 
 you come along." 
 
 " Oh, mama, let me (go with you," pleaded Helen. " I 
 never saw anybody who had the rickets." 
 
 " I don't think it would be best to disturb her," ob- 
 jected Mrs. Gard. " She was sleeping like the dead when 
 I left her." 
 
 " Well, I guess she won't wake up then," said Rinthy 
 Pickens scornfully, " an' if she does, it won't hurt her. 
 Come along, Helen, if you want to." 
 
 Young Susan looked wistfully from the kitchen door, 
 a dish towel dangling from her hands. She would have 
 liked to go with her cousin to see the sleeping stranger, 
 but she knew that she would not be allowed to do so
 
 24 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 because her dishes were not done, so she did not put her- 
 self to the trouble of asking. 
 
 Susan Gard stepped softly into her best bedroom fol- 
 lowed by Rinthy Pickens and Helen, but Colinette had 
 turned over with her face to the wall and there was noth- 
 ing to see save a quantity of reddish hair half unbraided, 
 the outline of a thin cheek and a pretty ear. 
 
 " Shake her a little," suggested Rinthy. " She'll turn 
 over then without waking up." 
 
 Susan Gard glared at her indignantly. " I sha'n't do 
 anything of the kind, Rinthy. You'll have plenty of 
 chance to see her because I'm a goin' to bring her up." 
 
 " Even if she is crooked? " 
 
 " The crookeder she is the more she needs her gran'- 
 ma's help." 
 
 " I should have thought you could have seen whether 
 she was crooked or not when she first come," said Rinthy. 
 
 " I didn't notice any crookedness about her, and it 
 don't make any difference how crooked she is, or how 
 sick, or how homely, her old grandmother is goin' to stand 
 by her." 
 
 " What if she sticks to the Catholic church? Would 
 you want her 'round if she insists on goin' to mass e very- 
 Sunday?" 
 
 " I sha'n't let that make a bit of difference so long as 
 she stays a good little girl. I s'pose she will want to be a 
 Catholic; her mother was one." 
 
 " Well, my sakes ! Gram'ma Gard, you are the f ool- 
 ishest woman in this town if you put up with anything 
 like that " 
 
 " There, we're wakin' her up talkin' so loud," whis-
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 25 
 
 pered Mrs. Card, and made as if to brush her visitors 
 out into the parlor. Mrs. Pickens refused to be brushed, 
 but fortunately a step on the porch announced Mr. Pickens 
 and she went out to open the door for him. 
 
 " Come, come," urged Waldo Pickens, " we've got to 
 be gittin' home." 
 
 " I'm coming down tomorrow to see her when she's 
 awake," said Helen, as the Pickenses were leaving, and 
 Mrs. Card murmured a reluctant invitation and with a 
 sigh of relief, closed the door after them. 
 
 She had not needed Rinthy Pickens' warning to make 
 her realize the responsibility she had assumed, but Rinthy 
 could never know of the glowing spot of comfort in 
 her heart at the thought of that warm little bundle 
 of humanity curled up in the middle of her best bed. 
 John's little girl, growing up under her eyes, getting to 
 look more and more like John every day she lived. Per- 
 haps in some ways even better than John. John had been 
 a very honest boy, but a little dull to learn; not half as 
 quick as poor Susan. Susan had taken after her mother, 
 John after his father. But both the children had been 
 as healthy as the general run of children. This poor 
 child must have inherited the rickets from her mother. 
 
 Mrs. Card held the lamp in one hand and the picture 
 of John's wife in the other while she studied the round 
 face with its set, photographic smile, nose flaring widely 
 at the nostrils, small almost beadily small eyes look- 
 ing through wide-lensed glasses. The hair may have 
 been red, but looked black in the picture. 
 
 What a mystery it all was! Here was she, John's 
 mother, hoping the child would grow to look like her
 
 26 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 father, while somewhere else in the world there might 
 be, or must have been, a mother who would have pre- 
 ferred the little one to look like the woman in this pic- 
 ture. And what had John seen in this face to love and 
 admire? And if John had admired it, why could not 
 she? Oh, the narrowness of human love! Not capable 
 of reaching out beyond its own. Rinthy Pickens, for in- 
 stance, was rather proud of Luther Dunlap because Luther 
 was her brother, but Rinthy was always criticising Susan ; 
 her housekeeping, her way with her step-children, her 
 way with her own child, just because Susan was not of 
 her blood and Luther was. And she, Susan Card, was 
 not a whit broader or more charitable. She had strained 
 every grandmotherly ligament in her heart to give the 
 same affection to Luther Dunlap's boys that she had 
 given to young Susan, and she knew very well that she 
 had failed. Robert, the elder, was so so and Elmer, 
 the younger, was well There was no use standing 
 here before the whatnot all night trying to solve the 
 great riddle of life and death and the power of loving. 
 Mrs. Card hastily blew out her light and took her be- 
 wilderment to the Lord in prayer before she went to rest. 
 She dreaded the morning ; dreaded Colinette's awakening, 
 sick, perhaps, and crooked, surely crooked, with one poor 
 little shoulder or hip hunching upward more and more 
 every day under the influence of that terrible disease; 
 and she having to stand the coarse, unkind remarks of 
 Rinthy Pickens and Waldo Pickens, and the stares of 
 the school children and all oh dear well, God would 
 help them to bear it because, for some mysterious reason, 
 it was all a part of his great pattern.
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 27 
 
 But then again, why did it have to be poor John's little 
 girl instead of Rinthy Pickens' Helen Oh, good gra- 
 cious, where was she drifting? She certainly must pray 
 again. She did. She prayed for more charity, more 
 patience to see Rinthy and Waldo Pickens and Luther 
 and Luther's boys more nearly as God must see them, 
 really kindly, well-meaning neighbors and friends, not 
 to be blamed nor despired for their little failings and 
 their lack of insight that was it lack of insight; 
 that was what made Rinthy Pickens say such provoking 
 things. It was because she didn't know any better. 
 And it was just as cruel to blame her for her inability 
 to think straight as it would be to blame little Colinettc 
 for her inability to walk straight, that is, supposing the 
 rickets got in their devastating work to that extent. 
 
 Susan Card's last waking thought was of Old Man 
 Klatz's wheel chair. What had the Klatzes done with it 
 after the old man died, she wondered. Shoved it up into 
 the garret, undoubtedly. So if little Colinette should get 
 so bad that 
 
 Her first waking sensation was one of terrified sur- 
 prise at the sight which met her eyes.
 
 Ill 
 
 It was long past Mrs. Card's hour for rising, and the 
 morning light flooded over a figure dancing wildly in 
 the middle of her rag carpet. The figure consisted prin- 
 cipally of nightgown and flying red hair. The night- 
 gown was reefed into bellying folds above a pair of thin, 
 twinkling legs. 
 
 During the night the unfamiliar name had slipped Mrs. 
 Card's memory, and she sat up in bed gasping, " Susan, 
 Susan, what are you a doing? " 
 
 An impishly solemn little face looked forth from the 
 red-and-white whirl. " Exercising a little, grandmother. 
 And are you going to call me Susan, after all? Susan 
 the Fourth?" 
 
 " Why, no, child; of course not; you're goin' to keep 
 the name your ma gave you." 
 
 " If you would rather call me Susan, I don't mind." 
 
 " No, no ; you are why, you are Little Colinette." 
 
 Colinette ran to the bed and threw her arms around 
 her grandmother and kissed her passionately. " I don't 
 care what you call me so long as you love me. And 
 you're going to love me as long as I am a good little 
 girl, for you said so last night to that old grandmother, 
 who was that old witch who came into the house and 
 said I was crooked ? " 
 
 Mrs. Card choked, and had quite a fit of coughing. 
 
 28
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 29 
 
 "That wasn't a witch; that was your Cousin Susan's 
 Aunt Amarinthy Pickens. We call her Aunt Rinthy for 
 short." 
 
 " Susan's aunt, but not my aunt ; that's nice." 
 
 "What?" 
 
 " I mean it's nice that Susan has aunts. They're nice 
 aunts are." 
 
 " You mustn't hold a grudge against Aunt Rinthy 
 Pickens for saying well, what she did say last night, 
 and what she wouldn't have said if she'd a known you 
 was awake." 
 
 " That I was crooked ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " I don't hold a grudge, because what she said is true; 
 I am." 
 
 " You poor little thing ! Why, I never noticed it at 
 all." 
 
 " No, you can't can't notice it from the outside. 
 I'm all right on the outside." 
 
 " Of course you are. And now don't you worry one 
 bit." 
 
 " I don't worry very much, grandmother. And that 
 Rinthy woman said one thing that isn't so; she said that 
 I would get crookeder and crookeder. I don't believe I 
 shall " 
 
 " Of course, you don't. You just be a good girl, eat 
 all you want, and rest lots, and say your prayers regu- 
 lar" 
 
 ' That's a pretty good thing for a crooked person to 
 do, isn't it ? " 
 
 ' 'Deed an' indeed it is. Now go and dress and we'll
 
 30 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 have our breakfast in a jiffy. After breakfast we're 
 goin' down town to buy you a couple of good everyday 
 dresses and some nice aprons." 
 
 As they were about to sit down to breakfast Mrs. Card 
 inquired, " Them your best shoes that you've got on ? " 
 
 " Yes, grandmother." 
 
 "Of course, your everyday shoes was in your satchel, 
 wa'n't they?" 
 
 " Yes, grandmother." 
 
 " Oh, here is Uncle Waldo. Now maybe he'll go to 
 the depot to try to git some trace of your satchel. Come 
 on in, Waldo." The invitation was superfluous ; Pickens 
 was already in. " Won't you draw up an' have a cup of 
 coffee? " 
 
 Mr. Pickens did not seem to think it necessary to re- 
 spond ; he merely " drew up " and sat waiting for Mrs. 
 Card, who had gone to the cupboard for another cup 
 and saucer. He fixed his gaze upon Colinette with a dis- 
 concerting steadiness. 
 
 " So this is John's girl, eh? " he inquired, much as he 
 would have asked if this was John's new coat. 
 
 " Yes, this is John's girl." A sudden pride warmed 
 Mrs. Card's tones, a pride resented by the father of " the 
 smartest girl west of the railroad." 
 
 "What's your name?" he inquired bruskly. 
 
 " Colinette." The voice was low and musical, the def- 
 erential quality in the tone pleasing too pleasing to 
 satisfy Waldo Pickens. He would have preferred John 
 Card's daughter to be of a boisterous turn; one who 
 might be advised to " take a lesson from Helen. Helen 
 knew how to act like a lady."
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 31 
 
 "Remember your father?" 
 
 " No, sir." 
 
 "Humph! Remember your mother?" 
 
 " Why, of course, Waldo. Her mother, you remem- 
 ber " Mrs. Card had returned to the table and was 
 pouring his coffee. 
 
 " Oh, yes ; died last week, you said last night. I re- 
 member. Did she suffer much?" 
 
 " Waldo, I ain't talked to Colinette about that yet. 
 We'll feel more like talking that over after after 
 awhile ; after we've got sort of settled like." Mrs. Card 
 fairly trembled with apprehension. It was cruel to probe 
 among a child's tangled heartstrings in this way a poor 
 little stranger in a strange place with a great grief still 
 fresh in her memory. Susan Card changed the current 
 of conversation into more cheerful channels. 
 
 " We're going down town this morning to buy some 
 new gingham dresses and some aprons. Colinette lost 
 all her things on the train ; lost her satchel, you see." 
 
 " Lost her satchel ! How did that happen ? Some- 
 body steal it off yeh, or did you come off like a boob an' 
 forgit it?" 
 
 " I came off like a boob and forgot it," owned Colinette 
 in such a ladylike tone that one might have inferred that 
 coming off like a boob and forgetting one's baggage was 
 a very graceful thing to do. Pickens was surprised at 
 the girl's ready acceptance of a suggestion he had not 
 meant to be complimentary. He could not think of any- 
 thing more cutting to say than, " Well, my land ! " 
 
 " I wish you could go round by the depot and inquire 
 if they couldn't git it at the end of the road, or some-
 
 32 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 thing," suggested Mrs. Card, " I don't s'pose we'll ever see 
 hide or hair of it again." 
 
 " 'Course not," said Mr. Pickens, " never in the 
 world." 
 
 " You see the poor child started out all alone so and 
 not used to travelin' " 
 
 " Well, I'll bet Helen wouldn't have lost her satchel. 
 She's the best hand to take care of her things I ever see 
 in my life. I've never known her to leave her hat an* 
 coat layin' round on chairs an' things. Her ma is a 
 pretty good hand to keep things straight but, by gracious, 
 Helen goes her one better. Now if she had been in your 
 place," he turned to Colinette, " she'd a had one hand on 
 that satchel, you bettcha, and nobody would have got it 
 away from her, that's certain." 
 
 " Well, Waldo, if you should happen to be round by 
 the depot, and it wouldn't put you out too much, you 
 might inquire about it." 
 
 " Way to do," said Pickens, " is to wire in to the gen- 
 eral office in the city. It'll be in the Lost-and-Found 
 department. I don't know as I want to spare the price 
 of a telegram to make up for somebody else's careless- 
 ness." 
 
 " Oh, I'd expect to pay for the telegram, of course," 
 Mrs. Gard assured him. 
 
 " What fur a lookin' satchel was it ? " asked Pickens, 
 " and was there enough in it to pay for so much trouble? " 
 
 " It was yellow with rope handles. There were just 
 a few old things in it. I don't think it would pay you to 
 telegraph about it, grandmother. 
 
 " I should say not ! " snorted Waldo Pickens. " You
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 33 
 
 might better take the money the telegram would cost 
 and buy new stuff." 
 
 " I guess that would be best," owned Mrs. Card. 
 " We're goin' down this morning to buy some things just 
 as soon as I git the work done up." She rose and began 
 hastily to> clear the table. " You needn't help with the 
 dishes; you take those shears that hang there under the 
 looking-glass and go an' cut the sweetpeas. That'll help 
 me as much as anything you can do," she told her grand- 
 daughter. " You've got your hair combed all nice an' 
 tidy, so it won't take you long to git ready." Mrs. Card 
 spoke of Colinette's hair in order to draw Waldo's atten- 
 tion to its beauty. Waldo's attention was drawn. 
 
 " Funny that John's girl should have red hair. The 
 way I remember John was as black as a crow, like all 
 the Cards. Did your mother have red hair?" 
 
 " No, sir; rusty brown." 
 
 "Humph!" said Mr. Pickens. 
 
 " But her sisters all had red hair," added Colinette. 
 
 " I want to know ! " cried Mrs. Card, caught at once 
 in a mesh of interest. 
 
 " How many sisters did your mother have ? " asked 
 Waldo Pickens. 
 
 " Eleven." 
 
 "Eleven! My Peters!" 
 
 " Eleven ! " cried Mrs. Gard, " now ain't that wonder- 
 ful ! You see," she said, turning to Pickens, " I never 
 knew anything about John's wife or her folks. Ain't it a 
 pity ! Dear suz ! Eleven, and all red-headed ! " 
 
 After Waldo Pickens had inquired minutely as to Coli- 
 nette's standing in school (receiving unsatisfactory and
 
 34 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 evasive answers) and had recounted Helen's triumphs in 
 educational lines, warning Colinette that she would have 
 " to make tracks to keep up with Helen," he went away 
 and Colinette went out to gather the sweetpeas. She 
 put the pink ones together, and the lavender, and the 
 purple, tucking the white ones in between the pinks and 
 the purples. The magenta blossoms she made into a 
 separate cluster with a mist of green leaves to soften 
 their garishness. Her grandmother came out bringing 
 a little three-legged stool. 
 
 " Why, got 'em picked already ? I was going to tell 
 you to set on this stool on the edge of the porch and 
 move it along as you picked. It's easier to pick 'em 
 that way. My, they're pretty this morning; you've 
 bunched 'em so pretty. I never thought of putting 'em 
 together or I mean separate or, rather, together that 
 way." 
 
 They carried them in and Colinette helped her grand- 
 mother finish the dishes in spite of that lady's protesta- 
 tions. 
 
 " I don't want you to git all beat out before we even 
 start for town. You must remember," she warned, " we 
 ain't in the city, to ride plumb to the store door; we've 
 got to walk pretty near a mile before we begin to buy 
 at all." 
 
 " Oh, grandmother, I'm as stout as a lion," said Coli- 
 nette. " You'll see how strong I am." 
 
 " I know, dear, but after all, you ain't strong. You've 
 got to be petted and fed and rested up and then you'll 
 git over this trouble of yours. Maybe we'd better drop 
 in an' see Dr. Merton about it today while we're down
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 35 
 
 town " Colinette uttered an exclamation of dismay. 
 
 "Oh, no, no, grandmother; I'm well now. You see 
 last night's rest and my good supper and breakfast have 
 have cured me. I don't need a doctor." 
 
 " My poor little girl, two good meals and one night's 
 rest don't always cure a case of inherited rickets. We'll 
 let the doctor go today. But Dr. Merton is a good man. 
 You'll like him real well." 
 
 Colinette put on her ugly little mushroom hat. It 
 shut down over her dazzling braids like a candle extin- 
 guisher, at the same time enhancing the beauty of her 
 somber eyes. 
 
 " Here's your cousin Susan come over to git ac- 
 quainted," said Mrs. Card, and Susan advanced almost 
 sullenly to shake hands with her new relative. There 
 was a hint of disapproval toward the rival who had come 
 so suddenly into her grandmother's affections. The two 
 girls shook hands soberly. Colinette's eyes lingered an 
 instant upon her cousin's face as for some Masonic sign 
 of their common girlhood, but Susan ignored the ap- 
 peal. She remained cold. 
 
 " We are just starting down to buy some dresses and 
 things for Colinette ; don't you want to come with us ? " 
 invited Mrs. Card. She was tenderer than usual to 
 Susan because of that inordinate pride in John's girl 
 which had come to life so fiercely in her heart. Her 
 love for John's little girl must not be allowed to inter- 
 fere with her love for Susan's little girl; Susan's poor 
 little Susan who had always had such a hard time with 
 Luther's children. Mrs. Card hoped fervently that 
 Susan and Colinette would be friends.
 
 36 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 Susan went with her cousin and grandmother first to 
 " The Railroad Store " where Mrs. Card had an account. 
 Here Mrs. Gard bought a pair of shoes for each grand- 
 daughter, and an injudicious clerk mentioned the fact 
 that one girl got twice as much for her money as the 
 other one did. This hurt Susan, who had already envied 
 Colinette her slender, quick little feet. 
 
 The railroad emporium was a low-roofed building with 
 two entrances, one of which led to the grocery depart- 
 ment canned tomatoes, beans, the toothsome sardine; 
 the other brought the seeker straight to the drygoods 
 counter, where were displayed a great many pieces of 
 calico and a few rolls of woolen goods of the commoner 
 kinds, straw hats for the farmer boys, overalls and coarse 
 socks for the men who worked in the windmill factory. 
 Susan Gard seldom went beyond the Railroad Store for 
 her simple needs. Today, however, she was going down 
 to Calkins' big store. Colinette was to have the benefit 
 of a larger assortment from which to choose. 
 
 At Calkins' a difference of opinion occurred between 
 Colinette and her grandmother in the matter of dress 
 material. Mrs. Gard favored a bright pink, Colinette 
 preferred a stripe in soft tan and green. At the crucial 
 moment the proprietor's wife and daughter entered the 
 store, the latter wearing a dress of the identical pink 
 favored by Mrs. Gard. Colinette started as she recog- 
 nized her traveling companions of the day before. They 
 saw Colinette and bore down upon her and her grand- 
 mother with the air of assured position which small-town 
 society folk are wont to display. 
 
 "How-de-do, Mrs. Gard?" greeted the store-keeper's
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 37 
 
 lady with a patronizing air. " I see your granddaughter 
 found you. The conductor came and asked me about 
 you yesterday on the train. He said he had a girl aboard 
 who had no baggage and no money to pay for her ride. 
 He said she was going to her grandmother's in Redmoon 
 and he wanted to make sure that she had a grandmother 
 in Redmoon." 
 
 " Yes, John's girl," said Mrs. Card, with that indefin- 
 able air of pride which she had displayed before when 
 speaking of Colinette. " But the conductor is mistaken 
 about her not havin' any baggage; she had a satchel, but 
 she forgot it and left it on the train. A funny-looking 
 satchel, I should think by her description; yellow with 
 rope handles didn't you say it was, Colinette? I 
 should have thought you would have noticed it. In fact, 
 I should have thought anybody would have noticed a 
 queer looking satchel like that." 
 
 Gertie Calkins tittered in a suppressed, ladylike way; 
 Mrs. Card grew somewhat confused under the unbeliev- 
 ing stare of Mrs. Calkins; Susan Dunlap turned a fiery 
 red and shifted her weight from one foot to the other; 
 Colinette alone remained calm. 
 
 " I think, grandmother," she said, entirely ignoring the 
 question of baggage, " I think I would rather have my 
 dress from this piece, if you don't mind." She indicated 
 the green and tan, at the same time letting her glance 
 travel over the front breadth, the white vest, collar and 
 sleeves of the pink dress in front of her. This deliberate 
 slight to her gown gave Gertie Calkins something else to 
 think of besides strange-looking traveling bags. 
 
 " Evidently you don't admire Gertie's taste," said Mrs.
 
 38 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 Calkins and laughed dryly. " When Gertie selected that 
 piece she tried to make her papa promise not to sell an- 
 other dress off from it, at least not to any girl who would 
 be going to the South School, but he would not promise. 
 And I suppose you will go to the West School for awhile 
 anyway, won't you? You are little." 
 
 " I don't know," said Colinette, " but it doesn't make 
 any difference because grandmother will get me the other 
 dress, I am sure." She surveyed Gertie Calkins from 
 head to foot with a sober, appraising gaze. 
 
 " You see, grandmother, a girl with nice dark hair can 
 wear a magenta dress, but a red-haired girl would look 
 dreadfully in that color." And then she turned calmly 
 back to the tan and green stripe, leaving Gertie Calkins 
 undecided as to whether she had been affronted or com- 
 plimented, and also a good deal amazed at such a dis- 
 play of self-assurance in one who was destined to live 
 above the railroad.
 
 IV 
 
 " You are a queer girl, Colinette," declared Susan Dun- 
 lap as the two girls strolled homeward laden with pack- 
 ages. Mrs. Card had sent them on ahead while she went 
 to make a call on " Sister Kize." 
 
 " What do you mean by queer? " asked Colinette. 
 
 " I don't know whether I like you or not," owned Susan 
 bluntly. 
 
 " I am sorry," said Colinette softly, " because I know 
 that I love you." 
 
 Susan gasped. No one had ever said such things to 
 her before. She knew, of course, that her mother and 
 her grandmother loved her knew by actions, not by 
 words. But to be told out and out that somebody loved 
 her, and that somebody a person to whom you had de- 
 cided to talk pretty plainly pretty disagreeably, in fact 
 was disconcerting. 
 
 " One thing sure, gram'ma won't like you if " 
 
 "If what? " asked Colinette. 
 
 "If she catches you telling lies." 
 
 Susan expected a garrulous explanation from her new 
 cousin, but none was forthcoming. Colinette neither con- 
 fessed nor denied the accusation. 
 
 " When she was just a young girl gram'ma adopted a 
 motto to go by all her life," went on Susan. " When 
 she was just a young girl like us." 
 
 39
 
 40 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 " What was the motto? " 
 
 " Honesty is the Best Policy. She told me about it a 
 long time ago and she advised me to choose a motto 
 and live by it all my life." 
 
 "Did you?" 
 
 " No. I couldn't think of one, so I just hitched onto 
 gram'ma's; it's good enough for anybody." 
 
 " Yes, it's a good one," owned Colinette, " but it 
 doesn't get you anywhere." 
 
 " Well, my goodness ! Maybe you know a better 
 one." 
 
 " I don't think mine is any better than grand- 
 mother's; it's more common than hers. More people 
 live by it. It is : When you Want a Thing Very Much, 
 Go After It." 
 
 Susan laughed. " Well, I guess that's all right as far 
 as it goes, but you need to hitch gram'ma's onto the tail 
 of it." 
 
 " Does grandmother always live up to her motto? " 
 
 " Yes, ma'm, she does ; and she hasn't much use for 
 folks who live by your motto unless they are honest in 
 the bargain. Anyhow it's silly to tell useless lies." 
 
 " Yes, it is," owned Colinette, " and I'm trying to stop 
 that." 
 
 " For instance, telling gram'ma that the satchel that 
 you lost was yellow with rope handles " 
 
 " I never told grandmother that ; I told your Uncle 
 Pickens that." 
 
 " What made you do it? " 
 
 " Your Uncle Pickens is the kind that makes a person 
 lie to them naturally ; don't you think so ? "
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 41 
 
 Susan squealed with laughter, dropped one package 
 and then another. They were mounting the railroad ap- 
 proach. One of the bundles ambled gaily along the edge, 
 then plumped into the weeds below the approach. Coli- 
 nette went after it with a bound. 
 
 "Oh, don't!" cried Susan, "Don't go down there! 
 There's poison ivy in that weedy tangle ! " 
 
 But Colinette held the recovered package aloft just as 
 a boy came whistling up the opposite side of the ap- 
 proach. He stared hard at Colinette emerging from the 
 thicket. 
 
 " You'll have a nice mug on you about tomorrow," he 
 predicted, and grinned broadly. 
 
 " Poison ivy ; that's why ! " scolded Susan. " I told 
 you not to go down there." 
 
 " Well, I shouldn't if I'd seen this boy coming. I 
 would have asked him to get the bundle for us." 
 
 "Me? Me?" exclaimed the boy, "You think for a 
 minute I'd get down into that nest of poison ivy? Well, 
 not that anybody is aware of ! " 
 
 " Coward ! " murmured Colinette so softly that neither 
 the boy nor Susan could believe they had heard aright. 
 
 "What's that?" demanded the boy, " Wha'd'yeh call 
 me?" 
 
 " Oh, come along ! " exclaimed Susan all in a disturbed 
 flutter, and Colinette obeyed, leaving the boy standing 
 on the railroad track staring after them, his ears red with 
 suppressed wrath. 
 
 " You've got a whole lot to learn if you are to get along 
 in Redmoon," grumbled Susan as soon as the boy's head 
 had disappeared on the other side of the railroad ap-
 
 42 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 proach. " Do you know who that was ? That was Jeff 
 Plummet." 
 
 " Oh," breathed Colinette, and Susan felt that at last 
 Colinette was duly impressed. 
 
 " Yes, Jeff Plummer. And you've made him mad by 
 calling him a coward. Jeff Plummer is far from being 
 a coward, let me tell you. He's the best baseball pitcher 
 in town." 
 
 " Oh," murmured Colinette again, " do you have to be 
 brave to be that ?" 
 
 " You know better than that, Colinette ; you know you 
 don't really have to be brave to be a baseball pitcher. 
 But Jeff isn't a coward anyway." 
 
 " He was afraid of poison ivy." 
 
 " Well, it stands anyone in hand to be afraid of poison 
 ivy. Ain't you afraid of poison ivy? " 
 
 " I don't know anything about it," confessed Colinette. 
 " I have never heard of it before." 
 
 " I'll bet you'll swell up like a toad after flopping 
 around that way down there under that sidewalk." Coli- 
 nette did not seem to be worried. " That's where the 
 Plummers live." Susan shifted a bundle to the right. 
 
 " In that tumbledown old house ? " 
 
 " Goodness, no. That tumbledown old house is the 
 old Pettingill Hotel. It's haunted!," she added with awe. 
 " It used to be a dreadfully wicked place years ago when 
 the town was new. There was a murder committed 
 there. And then whoever owned it couldn't rent it for a 
 hotel, it had such a bad name, and the town grew away 
 from it went down below the railroad more, and it 
 was too big for just a house to live in, and so, I don't
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 43 
 
 know just why, but it has been empty and tumbledown 
 ever since I can remember. That is Plummer's house to 
 the north of it. Plummer's house faces on the next 
 street. It's grand when you see it from the front. The 
 only nice house really nice, you know west of the 
 railroad. The Brackleys built it, but they live in a fine 
 place, a regular palace, down in the tony part of town 
 now. They are awfully tony; a good deal more so than 
 the Calkinses that you saw in the store today. Old 
 Mr. and Mrs. Brackley are dead now and their son mar- 
 ried Mr. Neal's daughter, Alice Neal. Ma says Alice 
 Neal was the prettiest little thing you ever saw. Old Neal 
 was owner of the pump factory and as rich as mud 
 why, your father and my mother used to go to school with 
 Alice Neal and Richard Brackley and Gertie Calkins' 
 mother. And now they're all grown up and got grown- 
 up children of their own." 
 
 Colinette sighed. "It's sort of sad, isn't it?" 
 
 " Sad ? Why, I don't know," said Susan, who had 
 never looked at it in that light before, " Why is> it 
 sad?" 
 
 "Oh I can't explain it, but once this street belonged 
 to those young folks ; this, and all the streets in this town. 
 Now they're grown up and sad and gone away and an- 
 other crowd of young folks and children own the streets 
 with never a thought of " 
 
 " My goodness, Colinette, you almost make me cry ! 
 You talk like some old women. Don't think of the old 
 folks, think of the young folks." 
 
 " You and that Jeff Plummer?" 
 
 Susan grew red and giggled coyly. " Yes, but you
 
 44 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 needn't couple us together, because Jeff Plummer 
 wouldn't look at me. He goes with the Morning 
 Glory crowd ; not with any old cheap above-the -railroad 
 boys and girls, you needn't think for a minute." 
 
 "He's an above-the-railroad boy himself, isn't he?" 
 
 " Oh well, yes ; but the Morning Glory girls take him 
 into their bunch because his father's rich and he is such 
 a big gun on the ball team and because he's so hand- 
 some. Don't you think he's handsome?" 
 
 Colinette seemed to be trying to recall Jeff Plummer's 
 features. 
 
 " He's rather small." 
 
 " Oh, well, if you like great spraddling boys you'll 
 fall dead in love with Villie Klatz who lives next door 
 to us ; he's bigger'n a barn. The Klatzes are Germans and 
 his mother calls him ' Villie,' so all the boys call him 
 Villie." 
 
 " His ears are large and red." Colinette was still 
 thinking of Jeff Plummer, not of Villie Klatz. Susan 
 understood. 
 
 " Of course his ears are red; that comes from playing 
 ball in the hot sun. I just now told you that he was the 
 best pitcher in Redmoon." 
 
 " A little pitcher with large ears," mused Colinette. 
 
 "What?" 
 
 " Nothing. Just something silly that I happened to 
 think of." They had come opposite the ruined Pettingill 
 House and Colinette paused to gaze across the street at 
 it. Susan thought she was looking past it at the Plum- 
 mer residence. 
 
 " It's real pretty and fixed up when you see it from
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 45 
 
 the front. Of course from the back it doesn't show at 
 all because the old Pettingill House hides it." 
 
 " Let's go over there," said Colinette suddenly. 
 
 " Why Mrs. Plummer might not be home, and be- 
 sides " 
 
 " I don't mean into Plummers', I mean into the old 
 hotel. I have never been in a haunted house and I al- 
 ways wanted to go into one." 
 
 Susan nearly dropped her packages again in her as- 
 tonishment. 
 
 " Why, Colinette Card, you're the silliest thing I ever 
 heard of ! Into the old Pettingill House? I wouldn't go 
 in there for a thousand dollars! Nobody ever goes in 
 there. It's horrible in there. Why, even the boys don't 
 go near it!" 
 
 " I see they have broken out all the panes of the win- 
 dows which aren't boarded up or closed by shutters." 
 
 " Oh, well, they can stand over here across the street 
 and fling stones, but they don't go in. Why, they don't 
 even go by on that side of the street. Nobody does. Ma 
 says Mrs. Plummer told somebody, I don't remember 
 who, that the old place had always been a nuisance to 
 them, for when Jeff was a little fellow and would natu- 
 rally have played on the back end of their own lot, he 
 never did, because of the old hotel coming right smack 
 up against it as it does." 
 
 " Coward ! " sighed Colinette. 
 
 " You are making out that you are awful brave, Coli- 
 nette, but I bet if it came right down to a trial you 
 wouldn't even dare go over on that side of the street 
 alone. Of course, I don't suppose Jeff Plummer is really
 
 46 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 afraid now that he has grown up, but just the same he 
 doesn't hang round the old Pettingill House, you may 
 be sure. And my brothers would no more go into that 
 dark old haunted place than they would jump into the 
 well. Even Rob wouldn't." 
 
 Colinette absent-mindedly thrust the packages she car- 
 ried upon those already in Susan's arms. 
 
 " I'm going over," she said, and went. Susan pleaded 
 against it. She called after her cousin that she would see 
 something horrible or hear something horrible ; that there 
 were noises heard in that old building nights oh, awful 
 cries and moans and gurglings and oaths. But she had 
 her trouble for nothing. Colinette had already passed 
 within the rickety paling fence, a task easily accom- 
 plished, although the gate proper was nailed up. The 
 house faced the cross street with many shuttered win- 
 dows looking blindly toward the west. Its rather pre- 
 tentious front entrance was near the north portion of the 
 west front. The kitchen wing stretched toward the 
 south and another wing toward the east. In agony Susan 
 saw Colinette mount to the sill of the empty kitchen win- 
 dow frame and disappear within. She called but there 
 was no response. She looked longingly up and down 
 the street for help. If only somebody somebody with 
 authority would appear and command Colinette to 
 come out. She longed for the sight of her grand- 
 mother's sturdy figure coming up over the railroad. But, 
 no, her grandmother would not leave Sister Kize's for 
 an hour yet. A loud crash sounded inside the haunted 
 house. Susan began to whimper. She put all her bun- 
 dles down upon the sidewalk as if she intended to go to
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 47 
 
 Colinette's rescue, but knew that she would not could 
 not bring herself to go. She was alternately crying and 
 scolding when she caught sight of a shoe, a leg, a navy 
 blue petticoat at the sashless window Colinette, alive, 
 intact, coming out into the sunlight once more. She 
 wore a very sober expression, but that was nothing; she 
 was always sober. Susan had yet to learn that Colinette 
 serious was Colinette up to mischief. 
 
 Susan ceased her weeping, but speeded up with her 
 scolding. After she had finished with an indignant per- 
 oration, she let her curiosity have full sway. 
 
 " Well, what's in the old rathole anyhow ?" 
 
 Colinette stooped for her quota of packages. " First 
 I climbed in through the window " 
 
 " I don't need to be told that." 
 
 " And got into the kitchen. There was a dirty spot 
 where a cookstove had once stood, and that was about all. 
 A door led into the main part of the house, but that was 
 locked and I couldn't get in. I thought I should have to 
 come out without seeing the rest of the place, but just 
 then I noticed a trap door. I had a dreadful time lifting 
 it, but I got it up at last and it fell over with a bang. But 
 I saw that it led to the cellar stairs so I went down " 
 
 " For all the world ! " cried out Susan. " You went 
 down cellar? Ain't you afraid of anything?" 
 
 " Yes, there is one thing I am afraid of." 
 
 " Well, do tell me what it is." 
 
 " Never mind that now. I'll tell you, maybe, some- 
 time. Well, I came up through a blind sort of door 
 under the front stairs into the main hall. It's an awfully 
 interesting place. From the hall I went into every room
 
 48 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 in the house, upstairs and down Susan, what is the 
 building which stands in the Plummers' yard right close 
 up to the Plummers' back fence? " 
 
 "That? Oh, that's the Plummer storehouse now, I 
 suppose. It used to be Richard Brackley's studio when 
 he was a boy. His father built it for him think of 
 it a whole building just for a boy. He's an artist 
 now, you know ; makes pictures for the magazines in New 
 York and some other big cities. He still lives here in 
 Redmoon when he is really home, but he is gone a good 
 deal of the time. But his wife and boy stay here a good 
 deal. You ought to see the Brackley place. It's awfully 
 grand and swell and all. I've got some of his pictures 
 that I cut out of some old magazines." 
 
 "Oh, Susan!" 
 
 " Why, yes. If it wasn't that you'd catch the mumps 
 you could come in with me now and I'd take you up- 
 stairs and show them to you." 
 
 "Oh, Susan!" 
 
 " Goodness me, what's the matter ? They ain't any- 
 thing so grand just magazine pictures. But you 
 mustn't come in till Elmer gits over his mumps. And 
 then you must come over and see ma. Just think, she's 
 your own aunt, and you've been here a day and a night 
 and haven't seen her yet your own aunt. She is your 
 only aunt, ain't she ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Colinette absent-mindedly, ignoring en- 
 tirely for a moment that brigade of red-haired relatives to 
 which she had confessed earlier in the day. 
 
 " But, of course, you mustn't come in now or you'll 
 get 'em," warned Susan, her foot on her own sidewalk.
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 49 
 
 " The pictures ? " 
 
 " No, the mumps." 
 
 " Oh, I'm not afraid, and I do want to see those 
 pictures." 
 
 " Well, if gram'ma scolds you mustn't blame me." 
 
 Mrs. Dunlap came and kissed Colinette and turned her 
 face up to scrutinize it closely. 
 
 " Don't look a bit like John," she said. " He was so 
 dark. John's little girl! Well, well! Have you had 
 the mumps ? " 
 
 From the corner of the sitting-room Elmer glared out 
 at the newcomer. He was rather formidable-looking 
 with his hair sticking every which way, his chops swollen 
 unbecomingly and the bandage which swathed them 
 sprouting in two horns at the top of his head. They 
 might well have been horns if acting in a wholly satanic 
 manner would cause the growth of such excrescences, for 
 when Elmer suffered he saw to it that the Dunlap family 
 suffered with him. His hatred for life and its attendant 
 maladies, especially the mumps, was apparent in his ex- 
 pression. His stepmother had been having a trying 
 morning. 
 
 " I didn't suppose mother would want you to come in 
 here on account of Elmer's being sick." 
 
 " I think I have had the mumps," said Colinette, " so 
 I'm not afraid. Susan and I are going upstairs to see 
 something of hers " 
 
 " Ah, ha, ha, ha! " bleated the invalid so suddenly that 
 Colinette was afraid he was going out of his mind. 
 
 " Oh, well, if you've had the mumps you are perfectly 
 safe and may come and shake hands with Elmer," said
 
 50 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 Mrs. Dunlap. " Elmer, this is your new cousin, Coli- 
 nette." 
 
 The greeting did not take place, however ; Elmer not of- 
 fering his hand to be shaken, and Colinette feeling that 
 she could get along very well without it. At times her 
 imperturbable seriousness took on an air of vacuity, dis- 
 concerting to the one she fixed her gaze upon, and mis- 
 leading as to her own quickness of intellect. Her vague 
 stare gave the impression of utter emptiness gazing at 
 nothing. It did so now. 
 
 " She ain't my cousin," growled Elmer, believing that 
 to be the most efficacious way of making his stepmother 
 cringe ; " no relation to us Dunlaps a-tall ! " 
 
 Colinette's gaze spoke of almost entire lack of interest 
 other than a mild curiosity. She would have looked that 
 way if she had been contemplating some stuffed specimen 
 in a museum; a specimen more remarkable for peculiar- 
 ity than for beauty. Her mouth dropped open slightly; 
 her eyelids drooped in her vague bewilderment, her very 
 flaccid interest. Elmer could not have told the reason 
 but her expression maddened him. Susan went upstairs 
 and Colinette followed, with the air of moving on to the 
 next exhibit in the hope of finding something more at- 
 tractive. 
 
 Before she had reached Susan that young person gave 
 a cry of anger almost of despair. Colinette found 
 her in a litter of doll clothes, holding a defaced and dam- 
 aged doll in front of her with an air wholly tragic. It 
 was a jointed, all- wood doll which once must have been 
 very pretty. Now it was a ludicrous object. It had been 
 successfully scalped, and around its eyes some one had
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 51 
 
 gouged the paint in circles to imitate a pair of enormous 
 spectacles. 
 
 Susan tumbled into the middle of her bed and wailed 
 in sorrow, while Colinette held the doll in a bewildered 
 manner. 
 
 " Was it yours ? " she inquired gently. 
 
 " Yes, it was ! And it was pretty ! Gram'ma gave it 
 to me one Christmas a long time ago, and I I loved it ! 
 I've kept it always and made clothes for it such cun- 
 ning little dresses and things and I meant to keep it 
 always, I don't care what anybody says! Oh dear, oh 
 dear! It was just fun to make dresses for a pretty little 
 thing like that. He's done it, the low-lived, miserable " 
 She buried her face again and gave way to grief. 
 
 Colinette picked up a dishevelled wig and attempted to 
 replace it. " Don't cry, Susan," she soothed, " I can fix 
 this doll so that it will be pretty again sometime. 
 Don't cry." 
 
 " No, you can't ; and why should you ? I'm too old to 
 care for dolls any more anyway. Everybody says I am. 
 They say I ought to be ashamed." 
 
 " I am not," said Colinette. 
 
 Susan sat up and stared at Colinette. " Do you like 
 dolls?" 
 
 " I never had one in my life, but I think I should have 
 liked this one if I had seen her when she was pretty." 
 
 Susan sobbed. " See, she can stand up and sit down 
 and everything. And all the little things that I made 
 for her oh, dear ! " 
 
 " What makes you let your brothers come into your 
 room ? "
 
 52 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 " They have to come back and forth through this room 
 every time they go to their own. Ain't it horrid ! You 
 see, the room beyond this one has a nice south window 
 and is light and kind of big and roomy. Elmer liked it 
 best and pa said the boys ought to have the big room any- 
 way because there were two of them and only one of me 
 and so I had to take this little dark den, which is nothing 
 but a hall anyway with the stairs coming up in the 
 center." 
 
 " And they meddle with your things and destroy 
 them?" 
 
 " Well, not my real things, of course, my clothes or 
 such, but poor little Rosey everybody says I no busi- 
 ness to keep a doll now that I'm grown up. Pa says so, 
 and Aunt Rinthy makes fun of me, and Elmer knows that 
 I won't kick about what happens to her not before 
 folks and so he takes delight in destroying her. See? 
 He has been through all my things here this morning 
 while I was gone." 
 
 "This the boys' room?" Colinette had stepped into 
 the larger room. 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " What are those things on the shelf? " 
 
 Susan's indignation broke forth again. 
 
 " Banks ! Baby-boy banks ! that's what they are ! 
 This is Rob's and this is Elmer's. They laugh at me and 
 poke fun and call me baby for loving the doll that 
 gram'ma gave me, but they keep those horrid-looking 
 things and think they're smart. They put all their money 
 in there. Rob saves his, but Elmer spends a good deal of
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 53 
 
 his. But he has a lot left always. See how heavy his 
 bank is." Susan took Elmer's bank from the shelf, and 
 Colinette took it from her and balanced it in her own 
 hand. Susan was right; it was quite heavy.
 
 IT was nearly a week later that the great robbery on 
 upper Brown Street occurred. Mrs. Card and Colinette 
 were at breakfast when hurrying feet struck their little 
 shaky front porch and imperative knuckles demanded ad- 
 mittance. It was Rob Dunlap, his blond hair blown 
 about in the wind, his blue eyes popping with excite- 
 ment. 
 
 " Our house is bust into an' we've been robbed ! " he 
 shouted. " I'm goin' on up to tell Uncle Waldo's folks ! " 
 
 Mrs. Card hurried in to get some of the particulars, 
 but Rob was already far up the street on his way to the 
 Pickens' place. Mrs. Card and Colinette hurried across 
 the road to ascertain the extent of the loss. 
 
 The Klatzes from next door were already there and 
 the Dunlap house was in an uproar. Villie Klatz, who 
 worked for Waldo Pickens, came racing down presently, 
 followed soon after by Waldo Pickens, Rinthy and Helen. 
 Rob meanwhile rushed down the hill to notify Plummer's 
 folks. 
 
 " They must have got in through the pantry window/' 
 explained Luther Dunlap for the third time, " for I 
 locked the kitchen door myself last night before I went 
 to bed." 
 
 " Well, if that wouldn't beat you! " ejaculated Waldo 
 
 54
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 55 
 
 Pickens. " When did you find out that you'd been 
 robbed?" 
 
 " Rob missed a tin bank of his that always stands on 
 a shelf upstairs in his room. Then Elmer took a look for 
 his bank an', lo and behold, that was gone, too. They 
 come a ravin' downstairs hollerin' at Susan and my wife 
 to know what they had done with the banks, and then 
 I took a look around the room and I could see right off 
 that somebody had been in. Things were scuffed around 
 here and there as if somebody had been huntin' 'em 
 over. That dish cupboard over there stood wide open, 
 and there was dusty tracks on the carpet." 
 
 " Dusty tracks ain't any sign in your house, Luther," 
 tittered Rinthy Pickens. " You and the boys are pretty 
 good at makin' dusty tracks yourselves. Ain't that so, 
 Susan?" 
 
 " Yes, but wait," went on Luther, impressively, then 
 paused, for Rob had brought Mr. Plummer and Jeff. 
 For the benefit of the late arrivals, he backed up in his 
 recital as far as the dusty tracks, going over the details 
 from that point even more minutely than before. 
 
 At sight of Jeff Plummer young Susan ran away into 
 the back yard. Because of the excitement she was not 
 half dressed; had not even combed her hair. To reach 
 the stairs she would have been obliged to pass through the 
 sitting room where the callers were, and so, although she 
 longed to stay and hear her stepfather explain every- 
 thing over again, she sought refuge in the back yard. 
 She envied Colinette all combed, braided, and neat as 
 a pin in her new calico dress and little white apron, put 
 on that morning for the first time.
 
 56 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 None of the Plummers had ever been in the Dunlap 
 house before, Even the Pickenses were impressed by 
 the presence of Mr. Plummer and his son. Mr. Plum- 
 mer was a commission merchant. He bought wheat, live 
 stock, and other farm products. The Plummer ware- 
 houses and stockyards were an important feature in Red- 
 moon business activities. He employed a stenographer, 
 had pale fat hands, and wore a seal ring on his little 
 finger. 
 
 Luther Dunlap arrived at the nub of his story and pro- 
 duced Exhibit A. It consisted of Elmer's rifled bank. 
 Exhibit B was Rob's safety deposit receptacle intact. 
 
 " Both of 'em on the porch," went on Luther Dunlap. 
 " Now I'll tell you how Rob's money come to be saved : 
 About three o'clock I heard a noise, and I jumped out of 
 bed. I heard a scuttling around the east side of the 
 house and then I heard something jingle on the porch. 
 I yelled ' who's there ? ' and then somebody ran down 
 the front walk out onto the sidewalk." 
 
 " Why, Luther, and I never heard you at all ! " ex- 
 claimed his wife contritely. 
 
 " No, you were sleeping like a stone when I went back 
 to bed," said Dunlap loftily. 
 
 " Well, I've been broken of my rest so much of late 
 Elmer's bein' sick," began Mrs. Dunlap, then stopped, 
 realizing that no one was paying the least attention to her 
 or caring to hear of her broken rest. 
 
 "How much was there in the bank?" inquired Mr. 
 Plummer in a brusk, business-like tone which gave the 
 impression of impatience that he, who handled large sums
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 57 
 
 of money, should have been disturbed because the Dun- 
 lap boy's toy bank had been robbed. 
 
 Elmer did not know exactly how much money there 
 had been in his bank, but he was sure it had been some- 
 thing over five dollars. 
 
 " There's over ten in mine," boasted Rob. 
 
 " Oh, my! " sneered Jeff Plummer, " what are you go- 
 ing to do with so much money? " 
 
 " I'm goin' to buy a fiddle with it," said Rob. 
 
 " Well, I just guess you ain't," said his father. " It's 
 goin' toward your fall suit. You wouldn't have had it 
 any more'n Elmer's got his if I hadn't jumped out of 
 bed and yelled ' Who's there ? ' You see the feller was 
 out there on the porch pryin' the banks open when I 
 heard him " 
 
 " Let's see the bank," said Plummer. He took the bat- 
 tered thing and turned it over with a critical eye. His 
 hands looked whiter and fatter than usual and the gold 
 in the setting of his seal ring shone obtrusively. " This 
 wasn't pried open," he announced, " this was hacked to 
 pieces with an axe. It wasn't split with one blow, either ; 
 the fellow who opened this bank hacked at it for some 
 time before he got what he was after. I should have 
 thought some one would have heard the blows if they 
 were delivered on your porch." 
 
 " He must have laid it out on the sod," said Luther. 
 
 Plummer turned the bank over again and examined all 
 sides carefully. " No, he had it on some hard surface. 
 See? It is burnished here in spots where it came in 
 contact with some hard substance, like a plank, when the
 
 58 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 blows fell. But there is no soil or grass on it." He put 
 it down on the sitting-room table and brushed off the 
 tips of his fat fingers daintily. Elmer gazed at his ruined 
 property despairingly. 
 
 Jeff edged around to Colinette whom he greeted with, 
 " Hello, Poison Ivy." 
 
 " Hello," responded Colinette as if she had answered 
 to that name all her life. Helen Pickens coyly insinu- 
 ated herself between Jeff and Colinette. 
 
 " I saw you at the ball game the other day," she said 
 and smiled at him sweetly. 
 
 " Did you? Well, you didn't have to have goggles to 
 see me with, did you ? " 
 
 She burst into laughter wholly out of proportion to the 
 joke. 
 
 " Don't anybody have to have glasses to see you at a 
 ball game, I guess, Jeff." 
 
 Colinette was regarding him with that careless gaze of 
 non-interest. 
 
 " Why didn't you capture the robber ; you're so 
 brave? " Jeff demanded of her, ignoring Helen. 
 
 " I am only a little girl. It takes big brave men 
 like you to capture robbers." 
 
 " Awh, does it!" sneered Jeff, and could not, for the 
 life of him, think of anything else to say. 
 
 " I toght I herdt somebodty browling aboudt," testi- 
 fied Mrs. Klatz, and they all went out into the back yard 
 where they saw nothing mysterious except a calico apron 
 snapping briskly around the corner as Susan once more 
 escaped and ran through the sitting room and upstairs 
 to comb her hair.
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 59 
 
 " Well," said Mr. Plummer, " I'll send Smithers up. 
 Come, Jeff." Smithers was the sheriff. 
 
 In due time Smithers arrived. He asked imprudent 
 questions as to hired help, neighbors, members of the 
 family; he fixed Elmer with a baleful eye, inquiring very 
 minutely as to where he had been the day before, how 
 much money he had had in the toy bank and what he had 
 intended to do with it. Before he went, the reporter of 
 the Redmoon Times came to get particulars of the 
 burglary. Mr. Plummer had notified him of the event. 
 
 One of the greatest bits of injustice connected with the 
 affair occurred when Luther Dunlap made John open 
 his bank and divide evenly with Elmer. 
 
 " Just because your bank come back whole and Elmer's 
 comes back busted is no reason why you shouldn't give 
 him half. It might have been your bank instead of his 
 that was rifled." 
 
 "If it had been you wouldn't have made Elmer divvy 
 up with me, an' you know you wouldn't ! " whined Rob. 
 
 " That don't make no difference," said his father; and 
 so the unjust arrangement was carried into effect. 
 
 Mrs. Card locked the house doors and windows very 
 carefully that night. 
 
 " Don't want any thieves in here," she told her grand- 
 daughter cheerfully. 
 
 "If you had that thief right here in this room, what 
 would you do with him, grandmother?" asked Colinette. 
 " Would you hand him over to Mr. Smithers to take to 
 jail?" 
 
 Mrs. Card reflected. 
 
 " I'd pray for him first."
 
 60 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Because I'd feel awful sorry for him." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Don't you know, child, that of all folks in the world 
 a thief is most to be pitied? Of all folks in the world 
 except, perhaps, a liar. But one is apt to be 'tother; a 
 thief is naturally a liar and a liar often turns into a thief, 
 and neither one is ever happy. They're to be pitied." 
 
 " Because they are afraid of getting caught? " 
 
 " Not so much that as something inside of 'em ; they 
 never feel satisfied with themselves." 
 
 " Never, grandmother? " 
 
 "Well, if they do it's a pretty bad symptom; a sinner 
 who is satisfied with himself is in a bad way. He needs 
 the prayers of Christian people to wake him up to where 
 he stands. We will kneel right down here you an' me, 
 Colinette before we go to bed, and send up a little 
 prayer for that poor uneasy thief wherever he is. If he 
 ain't uneasy, we'll pray that the Lord make him uneasy 
 now, before he goes any further in his evil ways." 
 
 The two knelt, side by side in the parlor and Susan 
 Card prayed fervently for the misguided soul who was 
 going about a peaceful little town causing trouble and 
 loss in order to enjoy the fruits of the labor of others. 
 After the prayer she waited to see her granddaughter in 
 bed, all slim and white and angel-like in her little new 
 night-gown, her long red-gold braids, newly brushed and 
 plaited, shimmering on the pillow. Then she kissed her 
 good night and warned her not to be afraid of burglars 
 or any other evil thing, because she was God's child and 
 in His keeping.
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 61 
 
 Colinette lay listening to the pleasant bedtime sounds 
 of her grandmother's preparations for rest; the rattle of a 
 kitchen chair being pushed back against the wall, the 
 grate of the key in the lock of the back door, the flashing 
 out of the last glimmer of light, the complaint of a faulty 
 spring in her grandmother's bed. In the silence which 
 followed the rustle of the sweetpea vines against the post 
 could be heard distinctly, also the barking of a faraway 
 dog, and the puffing and slipping and trying again of a 
 freight train making the grade. 
 
 For a long twenty minutes Colinette lay waiting, her 
 senses on the alert, then she rose and went silently through 
 the parlor and kitchen to the door of her grandmother's 
 bedroom where she stood a long time listening to the 
 regular and heavy breathing within. When fully assured 
 that her grandmother was fast asleep for the night, she 
 returned to her own room and dressed and unlocked the 
 front door. In spite of the greatest caution, the lock 
 clicked as it shot back. Colinette awaited results, her 
 hand on the door knob. Silence reigned over all the 
 house. She opened the door cautiously, not being able 
 to remember whether or not it creaked in opening. It 
 did not, and she closed it behind her successfully. 
 
 For one keen moment she waited in the shadow of the 
 porch to detect any sounds of footsteps, either coming up 
 or going down, on Brown Street, before she ventured 
 forth. There were none. Not many persons traveled 
 through this part of the town at this hour of the night. 
 Once on the sidewalk she fairly flew down the hill to the 
 east, crossed the side street like a shadow and disap- 
 peared in the old Pettingill House, not by way of the
 
 62 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 empty kitchen window casing as before, but through the 
 big front door which now opened readily to her hand. 
 
 Mrs. Card was awakened by a great pounding on her 
 front door. She sprang out of bed. She saw at once 
 that she had overslept and that it was after her usual 
 time of rising. There was a great rivalry between 
 Colinette and herself as to who should waken first, " grate 
 down the kitchen stove " and start the breakfast fire. 
 For the last three mornings Colinette had beaten her, and 
 at first she thought the noise which had awakened her 
 was the " grating " process. But it was her daughter 
 Susan demanding admittance. 
 
 "What's the matter, Susan?" she called out as she 
 scrambled into her slippers and went over in her mind 
 the short list of remaining infectious diseases which El- 
 mer had not yet developed, " Somebody sick ? " She 
 had the door open by this time and Mrs. Dunlap had 
 blown in, a veritable whirlwind of excitement. 
 
 " Funny thing has happened over to our house," she 
 began breathlessly, " I had to rush over and tell you. I 
 got up to build the fire and I found this on the steps." 
 She placed the paper parcel which, she had brought on 
 the parlor table and opened it impressively. It con- 
 tained silver half dollars, quarters, dimes and nickels. 
 
 " And this one word scrawled on the outside of the 
 package," said Susan. 
 
 " Well, my goodness ! " exclaimed Mrs. Card, bending 
 to read the word which was, " Bank." 
 
 " It's Elmer's money brought back," said Mrs. Dunlap. 
 
 Mrs. Card went in and shook Colinette who was sleep- 
 ing soundly. " Wake up," she called excitedly, " Wake
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 63 
 
 up, and hear the news! The burglar has brought back 
 Elmer's money! " 
 
 Colinette rolled over and met her grandmother's agita- 
 tion with a sleepy babyish smile. 
 
 " Have you grated down the stove and built the fire?" 
 she asked. 
 
 " No, your Aunt Susan is here to tell us about the 
 money." 
 
 Colinette uncoiled herself, sprang out of bed and ran 
 out into the kitchen to forestall her grandmother in build- 
 ing the fire, while Susan Dunlap went back to break the 
 good tidings to her own family. 
 
 After breakfast Colinette and her grandmother went 
 across the road to assist in the rejoicing. They found 
 the Dunlaps in a turmoil. Elmer had refused to refund 
 the half of the contents of Rob's bank which had been 
 bestowed upon him to soothe his sorrow at the loss of 
 his own savings. 
 
 "Now I want this jawin' stopped!" demanded their 
 father. " And I don't want another word said about this 
 money bein' brought back, either. I don't see, Susan, 
 what made you canter round the neighborhood with the 
 news even before you had told your own folks." 
 
 Susan was properly humiliated. " I just told ma." 
 
 " Yes, and she an' John's girl will peddle it from Dan 
 to Beersheba ! " 
 
 " We shan't peddle anything you don't want peddled, 
 Luther," replied Mrs. Card with a hurt expression. " I 
 don't see, though, why you don't want it told; you made 
 an awful fuss when it was taken called in all the 
 neighbors " ,
 
 64 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 "That's a different thing," said Luther loftily. 
 " When I was robbed I called in my neighbors to warn 
 'em, but today the piece about the robbery is goin' to 
 come out in the Times, and Elmer's picture and all. If 
 they git wind of the money's bein' brought back they 
 won't consider it a robber a-tall, and they won't print the 
 piece. So you folks just shut up about the money's 
 comin' back and all will be well." 
 
 " But how do you suppose the robber came to repent 
 and bring it back?" asked his wife. 
 
 " It's plain enough why he brought it back," said Mr. 
 Dunlap, pompously: "he was afraid I had recognized 
 him and would have him traced down. He heard me call 
 out, ' Who's there ? ' and he didn't know but I had seen 
 him and knew who he was, and so he just naturally 
 brought the money back." 
 
 " Well, it's my money, every bit of it," said Elmer 
 triumphantly, " and Rob ain't going to have a penny 
 What you doin'?" he demanded suddenly of Colinette 
 who had been fussing with pencil and paper as she sat 
 by the table. The paper was that in which the silver 
 had come home. It was soiled and crumpled but when 
 she held it up Rob and young Susan burst into wild 
 laughter. On it was a sketch of Elmer taken as Coli- 
 nette had first seen him, his chops swollen, the knotted 
 bandage sprouting in two stiff donkey ears above his 
 head. It was labeled: 
 
 ELMER DUNLAP'S PICTURE IN THE TIMES. 
 The boy who made money by losing money.
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 65 
 
 Elmer tried to snatch the paper, but Rob, who was 
 taller, held it out of his reach until his father commanded 
 him to give it up. Elmer rent it in pieces as soon as it 
 was in his hands, glaring at Colinette meanwhile. It was 
 dreadful to have a girl like this in the family who could 
 do such things and who dare do them ! He had heard 
 Susan say that there was only one thing in the world 
 that Colinette was afraid of. He meant to find out what 
 that one thing was. If it was snakes, he'd get one if he 
 had to buy it of a circus. It might be cats, or grass- 
 hoppers or niggers. He would have given half his 
 newly-recovered fortune to know for sure. If ever he 
 did find out he would pay her back good and plenty!
 
 VI 
 
 RINTHY PICKENS came down to her brother's one 
 morning to borrow the Redmoon Times. The Pickenses 
 seldom borrowed of the Dtmlaps ; they had no need to do 
 so, having most of the little necessities and contrivances 
 which go to make housekeeping easy. Susan Dunlap, 
 on the other hand, borrowed a great deal from the 
 Pickeneses ; the meat-chopper when she would make hash ; 
 the roaster on occasions other than holidays when Rin- 
 thy was apt to need it herself (Rinthy never loaned 
 things needed for the comfort of her own family) ; a 
 bodkin for drawing tape, a flatiron, a hammer, or a hoe. 
 Susan was only too glad to accommodate Rinthy, and 
 bustled about to find the wanted paper. When at last it 
 was safely tucked under Aunt Rinthy's arm as she stood 
 warming the doorknob preparatory to her departure, 
 Susan deftly intimated that if Rinthy was not going to 
 use her quilting- frames that afternoon she would be glad 
 of them as she had a comforter to tie off. 
 
 Rinthy replied that she should not be using them that 
 afternoon, but should want them very soon tomorrow, 
 or next day at the latest. Susan thanked her and said the 
 girls would be right up after the frames, because although 
 Elmer had recovered from his illness sufficiently to eat 
 three surprising meals a day with occasional lunches in 
 between, he was not well enough to do chores or run 
 errands. 
 
 66
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 67 
 
 Young Susan was delighted, and went tripping over to 
 her grandmother's to ask Colinette to help her bring down 
 the frames that afternoon. In fact, young Susan was 
 reaching a point where she was happier in the society of 
 her new cousin than in that of any one else. Aunt 
 Rinthy Pickens did not approve of this attitude. 
 
 " If I was in your place, Susan," she said to her sister- 
 in-law, " I'd put a stop to Susan's running after John's 
 girl the way she does, and bein' bossed around by 
 her." 
 
 " Oh, Colinette ain't a bit bossy," protested Mrs. Dun- 
 lap. " She's as quiet as a little mouse." 
 
 " But Susan's always tagging after her. And she 
 tries to hold her mouth just like Colinette holds hers, 
 and to look at you in that far-off imperdent way that 
 Colinette does, as if you was the dirt under her feet. It's 
 an awful habit; I wouldn't want Helen to git it. Now 
 for instance, you've never been nicknamed in your life 
 and your mother before you was never nicknamed and 
 your girl never was till that little snippit come along and 
 calls her ' Sue ' ! Now everybody's beginnin' to call her 
 Sue, I notice. Even Helen did the other day. I set my 
 foot right down. Says I, ' She was baptized Susan, an' 
 you see that you call her Susan. Don't you go to fol- 
 lerin' off after John Card's pauper grandchild as the 
 rest of the family are doin', like a flock of wooley sheep 
 after their leader." 
 
 " Oh, I don't think Colinette tries to be a leader or 
 anything like that," protested Mrs. Dunlap. " She's a 
 real nice little girl and so quick and capable why, you've 
 no idea! Ma says she don't see how she ever got along
 
 68 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 without her. She goes down town on errands, splits the 
 kindling, builds the fire, washes the dishes " 
 
 " Well, my sakes ! don't Helen do all that and more 
 too? But Susan never comes near our house any more. 
 She used to run up now and then to talk things over with 
 Helen; things that girls are interested in, music and so 
 on but never any more." 
 
 "Of course Susan ain't so much interested in music as 
 Helen is. She ain't had Helen's advantages, and not hav- 
 ing any instrument as Helen has " 
 
 " Well, I should think she'd like to hear Helen play, 
 and talk about her music and so on. What is so much 
 more interesting in Colinette, I'd like to know? What 
 does Colinette talk about that's so much more interestin' 
 than what Helen talks about?" 
 
 " I don't see myself. Susan does seem to be a good 
 deal taken with Colinette. But I'm sure there is no 
 harm in their talk whatever it is about. Ma seems to 
 think that Colinette is just about all right." 
 
 " Do you want me to tell you something? " asked Mrs. 
 Pickens with her most impressive smile. " Your mother 
 is gittin' to be downright doty where that youngone is 
 concerned. She's showin' signs of second childhood. 
 Waldo said so the other day. Says Waldo, * I should 
 think Susan Dunlap would be pretty disgusted with her 
 mother for putting John's girl plump into her girl's place.' 
 Says Waldo, * She's fixin' to leave what property she's got 
 to John's girl instead of to Susan's girl as she should 
 leave it.' " 
 
 " So far as that is concerned," said Susan uneasily, 
 " ma ain't got property enough all told to quarrel over
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 69 
 
 just that little old house and lot and a few hundreds out at 
 interest for a rainy day. And besides, my mother is a 
 strong, healthy woman; she may outlive both the girls, 
 you can't tell. Anyhow, she's got years and years ahead 
 of her yet, I hope." Susan paused, and then added with 
 an apologetic smile, " Ma says that Waldo is always pre- 
 paring for her funeral, and that she don't feel to need any 
 such preparations yet a spell." 
 
 Rinthy Pickens jerked her head and smiled in a way 
 she had when she was not pleased. 
 
 " I guess Susan Card will find out that years is years, 
 whether she wants to live or not. And, anyhow, you've 
 got a tamer disposition than I have if you can just set 
 and see John's girl eat your mother up, soles, heels, 
 breastpin an' backcomb! And Susan, too. Far as 
 Helen's concerned, I ain't goin' to have her playin' sheep 
 to John's girl, nor forty John's girls! Of course if you'd 
 ruther your mother would spend what little she's got on 
 John's girl than on yours where it belongs, why, of course, 
 I ain't got a word to say. There's something else I can't 
 understand, now, while we're talkin' things over. I 
 thought your mother said that John's wife wrote that 
 the youngone was rickety." 
 
 " She did." 
 
 " Well, now, that there youngone ain't what I call rick- 
 ety. I never see a straighter back or quicker legs in my 
 life." 
 
 " That's what ma says," admitted Susan, " and she's 
 tickled to death over it. She says it is because she didn't 
 have the right sort of food and exercise before she came 
 here. She says the only trouble is to keep Colinette from
 
 70 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 overdoin'. She says she never did see such an energetic 
 little body in her life; she just wants to do an' do. Only 
 thing she can't do is to sew. She never touches a needle. 
 But she takes a lead pencil and draws the most comical 
 pictures " Susan stopped to chuckle over the remem- 
 brance " she's got Elmer plain buffaloed that way ; 
 drawin' him in different positions." 
 
 "Buffaloed, what do you mean by buffaloed?" 
 
 " Well, that's an expression that Rob uses ; it means 
 sort of beat." 
 
 Rinthy Pickens was highly displeased. " Well, now, 
 if I was Luther I bet I wouldn't stand for that." 
 
 " There ain't any harm in it as I know of, and she 
 never does it unless Elmer is sort of overbearing to 
 Sue I mean, Susan. Elmer is apt to be a little hector- 
 ing; you know that yourself, Rinthy. You've said your- 
 self that you didn't want him around your place because 
 he's so mean and hectoring to Helen. Now didn't you 
 say that, Rinthy? Well, he's the same only more so to 
 Colinette and Sue I mean, Susan, so Colinette has 
 thought up a way to get even " Mrs. Dunlap stopped 
 and giggled reminiscently. " They're awful funny pic- 
 tures that she makes. The other day Elmer got roaring 
 mad at some little fool thing, and you know how his 
 eyes bulge out and his hair gits tousled when he's real 
 good and mad. Well, with about three strokes of her 
 pencil Colinette drew him on a piece of smooth board 
 that Luther was unwarping behind the kitchen stove 
 honestly, it was the funniest thing you ever saw. Sue 
 and I just had to duck to keep from snorting right out. 
 Elmer was so mad he split the board up and shoved
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 71 
 
 it into the stove, and when his father come home and 
 found his board destroyed, why he was mad." 
 
 " Nice silly business ! " commented Rinthy Pickens, 
 smiling broadly. "If I'd been in Luther's place I'd a 
 boxed her ears till they rung." 
 
 Susan hastened to conciliate Mrs. Pickens. 
 
 " Yes, she hadn't any business to do such a thing as 
 long as she knows how touchy Elmer is. And now since 
 he has been sick he's more so than ever." 
 
 If Aunt Rinthy had heard the conversation between 
 the two girls on their way to her house after the quilt- 
 ing frames that afternoon she would have felt fully justi- 
 fied in warning her sister-in-law as she had done. 
 
 " Now," said Susan, " tell me the secret that you whis- 
 pered that you had to tell me when I went over to your 
 house this morning." 
 
 " I didn't say I would tell you the secret ; I said I would 
 show you a secret." 
 
 "What's the difference?" 
 
 " There is a great deal of difference." 
 
 " Tell me what it is." 
 
 " Not here. You will have to come where I want you 
 to come before I can show it to you." 
 
 "If you mean to tole me into that old Pettingill House, 
 Colinette, I will not go ! " 
 
 " You will have to come there with me if I show you 
 the secret." 
 
 " Well, I won't, so that settles it. In the first place, I 
 don't think it is honest to go prowling around through 
 other folks' houses."
 
 72 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 " But it's so so fascinating ; a haunted hotel, where 
 other folks daren't go." 
 
 " It may be to you, but it isn't to me. I hate shud- 
 dery things." 
 
 " Then you shall never know the secret." 
 
 " I'll bet it don't amount to anything. You have just 
 cooked it up to tole me in there. You ain't afraid to 
 go anywhere. You would stand right in front of the 
 cars and let 'em run you down. But I don't think that 
 sort of courage is anything to brag of." 
 
 " Neither do I." 
 
 " Well, do you think it is anything to brag of not to 
 be afraid to go prowling through a ratty, old tumble- 
 down place like the old Pettingill House? " 
 
 " No, and I have never bragged of it, have I?" 
 
 " No, but you bragged about not being afraid of any- 
 thing in the world except just one thing. Now, what is 
 that one thing, Colinette? Elmer says he would like to 
 find out what that one thing is ; he says he'd see to it that 
 you got a plenty of it whatever it is. If it is snakes or 
 gun-firing or tramps or whatever. I wish you would 
 tell me what it is that you are afraid of, although I'd 
 never tell Elmer you may bank on that." 
 
 " I know you wouldn't, Sue." 
 
 " Then tell me. Just out of curiosity, I would cer- 
 tainly like to know." 
 
 " I will tell you down in the Pettingill House, and no- 
 where else! " 
 
 " Then I shall never know," snapped Susan, " for I tell 
 you right now, you shall never coax me into Pettingill's 
 not ever. I'm too big a coward to go into that spooky
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 73 
 
 old place and I'm honest enough to own it. Besides there 
 isn't any sense in my going in there, and there isn't any 
 sense in your going in there, so now! Ma says I let 
 you lead me round as if you had a halter on my neck, 
 but I guess if she knew about this Pettingill matter she 
 would change her mind." 
 
 Colinette said nothing. They were in sight of the 
 Pickens residence now and instinctively Susan slackened 
 her pace, hoping to gain her point about the secret. How 
 exasperating Colinette could be! 
 
 " I don't believe the secret amounts to anything any- 
 how. Does it now? Own up, Colinette, that there isn't 
 any secret at all, and that you just made believe there was 
 to tole me into that old ghost house. Does it now? 
 Does it really amount to a single thing? " 
 
 " It's the most perfectly lovely secret I ever knew of 
 in all my life," breathed Colinette softly. 
 
 " Then I think you're as mean as you can be not to 
 tell it to me whether I go into the Pettingill House with 
 you or not ! " stormed Susan. 
 
 " I never will," said Colinette, still softly, and Susan 
 was really awed because she knew this decision to be 
 final, and that unless she yielded to her cousin's wish she 
 should be obliged to walk her dreary path through life in 
 utter ignorance of " the loveliest secret on earth," 
 
 " I've got a secret too," she declared with a pout. 
 
 Colinette said nothing. 
 
 " Don't you care to hear my secret ? " 
 
 " I know it already," said Colinette. 
 
 Susan was startled. " You do not know it." 
 
 " Yes, I do."
 
 74 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 "Did Elmer tell you?" 
 
 Colinette shook her head. 
 
 " Suppose I should say that I wouldn't tell you my 
 secret unless you went up to the top of Uncle Luther's 
 windmill out yonder and hung from the platform by your 
 toes, head downwards ? " 
 
 " If I didn't already know the secret perhaps I might 
 doit." 
 
 " I'll bet you would, Colinette Card I just bet you 
 would right before everybody! You're an awful 
 girl." 
 
 Colinette sighed. There seemed nothing to be said, 
 and if there had been there would have been no time in 
 which to say it, for they had already passed the Pickens 
 place. 
 
 One always passed the Pickens place before entering. 
 Immediately in front of the house was an ornamental 
 fence and a gate from which a path led up to a seldom- 
 used front door. Just beyond the house, fence, and gate 
 the farm gate stood open always and through this you 
 found your way through the west shed-room directly 
 into the living room. The Pickens farm lay broad and 
 smiling to the west, the house being the last on upper 
 Brown Street. The living room was large and bare with 
 an air of salt pork, potatoes boiled with their skins on, 
 and hired men eating hurriedly with their knives from an 
 oilcloth-covered table. 
 
 The parlor was different. Here Waldo Pickens had 
 given his wife free rein, and as Rinthy had looked into 
 other parlors she felt competent to assume the task of 
 furnishing it correctly. She had never been in the Brack-
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 75 
 
 ley parlor but she knew there was a piano because one 
 could see that from the street. Mrs. Brackley was, of 
 course, the last word in the matter of house furnishing 
 and style and culture. Mrs. Plummer patterned her par- 
 lor after the Calkins' parlor, which was a frank copy of 
 the Brackley parlor. This brought the Brackley scheme 
 of furnishing well within the reach of the best above-the- 
 railroad families who followed suit in so far as they 
 deemed the Brackley inventory desirable. As to books, 
 portfolios of music lying around on chairs, unframed oil 
 pictures, pet cats, dogs, tennis racquets, golf bags, leather 
 driving coats, and the eternal clutter of vases and bowls 
 filled with weeds and flowers, as reported of Alice Brack- 
 ley's domain, these were not to be tolerated by any tidy 
 housewife who did her own work. It was all right for 
 Mrs. Brackley who had two hired girls and a man about 
 the place to wait on her. Therefore, Rinthy Pickens used 
 her own judgment in the matter of furnishing, and she 
 often asserted that, if she did say it herself, she believed 
 her parlor was as well furnished as any in town. 
 
 The center of Rinthy's parlor was covered by a sad- 
 colored rug in the center of which stood a " li'bry " table 
 with a shelf underneath and a " runner " crossing it the 
 short way. The wall and woodwork were all of a deathly 
 whiteness against which in harsh contrast gleamed Helen's 
 ebony piano. Helen did her practicing in the summer 
 time as there had never been a fire lighted in the parlor. 
 Rinthy said Helen could learn all there was to learn about 
 music in the summer time without mussing up the best 
 room with a fire. Enlarged photographs of Waldo 
 Pickens, Rinthy herself, and Helen in different stages of
 
 76 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 her development, adorned the walls, together with small 
 photographs of the same subjects, the Dtmlap boys and 
 some Kansas cousins on the top of the piano. Rinthy 
 dreamed of some day having a real dining-room like the 
 Plummers', with a monumental sideboard, dining-table 
 with dropsical legs, and a large painting of dead ducks or 
 fish in a basket almost covering one side wall, but as long 
 as they farmed two hundred acres and were obliged to 
 have great clumpy hired men with number ten workshoes 
 underneath the table and blue jean elbows above, why, 
 a dining-room with any style to it was wholly out of the 
 question. 
 
 " The frames are in the barn," said Mrs. Pickens. 
 " Willie Klatz will get 'em down for you. You run out 
 and ask him while Susan comes in. I want her to hear 
 Helen's new piece, ' The Coming of Spring.' It's per- 
 fectly beautiful." 
 
 " We'll both go to the barn for the frames and then 
 come in to hear the piece afterwards," said Susan. 
 " Colinette likes music almost better than I do." 
 
 " Villie " Klatz was delighted to get the quilting frames 
 out of the barn loft for Susan Dunlap, whom he admired 
 more every day. 
 
 " That little Coronet girl of old Mis' Card's was aw- 
 ful pretty, too," he reflected as he brought out the frames. 
 Villie was seventeen, an age when a boy adores girls but 
 is deathly afraid of them. Villie had good reason to be 
 afraid of girls, who usually poked fun at him. 
 
 " If you don't need 'em till night, I'll fetch 'em," he 
 promised.
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 77 
 
 " And while you bring us the quilting frames who'll 
 do the milking? " asked Susan. 
 
 " Ho, I come after that," said Villie, " or before. It 
 don't take so long to run four quiltin' sticks down to 
 Dunlap's yet." 
 
 And so it happened that after hearing " The Coming 
 of Spring," the girls took their departure untrammeled 
 by quilting frames. 
 
 " That was a cold backward spring," remarked Coli- 
 nette, as they passed out of the Pickens' gate. 
 
 Susan giggled. " You are the funniest girl, Colinette. 
 I wonder every day how you will get along at our 
 school. You're so sort of different and so good look- 
 ing I shouldn't wonder if you got an invitation to join 
 the Morning Glories." 
 
 "The Morning Glories? What is that?" 
 
 " The Morning Glory Club. Nobody belongs but 
 the swells the very swellest of the swells, you might 
 say; Gertie Calkins, Lila Merton and Lizzie Smith." 
 
 " Does your Cousin Helen belong? " 
 
 " No, Helen would give everything she owns to be a 
 Morning Glory, but she never will be. No girl who lives 
 above the railroad has ever been asked to join. My, but 
 Helen would be jealous if you should get into the M. 
 G. C. But you won't. No, Gram'ma Card's poor 
 no, you haven't a chance in a thousand even if you are 
 pretty, and well, sometimes witty." 
 
 " I don't think I would join if they should ask me." 
 
 Susan chortled in derision. " Yes, I'd laugh ! You'd 
 join if you had a chance, but you won't get the chance, 
 so you can rest easy."
 
 78 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 " Why don't we start a club of our own we folks 
 above the railroad ? " 
 
 Susan curled a scornful lip. "Who'd be in it?" 
 
 " You and I and your brothers " 
 
 " My brothers wouldn't join, and if they did they'd 
 just spoil everything." 
 
 " There's Helen Pickens and Villie Klatz " 
 
 "Villie Klatz! Uncle Waldo's hired man! The M. 
 G.'s would laugh themselves to death. Why, they 
 wouldn't ask anything better. They love to gather in 
 corners and poke fun at the cheap scholars." 
 
 "If the cheap scholars had a club of their own they 
 could stand in the left-over corners and laugh at the 
 Morning Glories." 
 
 " Much the Morning Glories would care about that. 
 It would be like the mouse laughing at the cat. The 
 Morning Glories have the money; they can dress up and 
 look pretty ; they can go to dancing school and are lovely 
 dancers. Neal Brackley is going to stay in Redmoon and 
 go to our school this winter. They'll ask him to join 
 the M. C.'s and he will, of course. He's the swellest boy 
 in town. His folks are rich and he is a fine musician and 
 a lovely dancer." 
 
 " Fine dressing and good dancing, then, is what gets 
 you into the Morning Glory Club ? " 
 
 " They don't just put it that way," admitted Susan. 
 
 " But they don't have to be extra good nor extra smart 
 nor extra brave? " 
 
 " Why, no, of course not." 
 
 " Then we'll organize our club on those lines. To be a 
 Morning Glory you must be extra rich, extra good look-
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 79 
 
 ing and extra graceful; to belong to our club you will 
 have to be extra smart, extra brave, and extra good." 
 
 " You can't do it, Colinette. Extra smart would cut 
 out Villie and Gusta Klatz and Helen Pickens; extra 
 brave would cut out Rob Dunlap and me; extra good 
 would cut out " She paused, and Colinette finished : 
 
 " Elmer and me. But at least it would be something 
 worth working for, wouldn't it ? " 
 
 Susan owned that it would if it were possible, but she 
 doubted. 
 
 " Turn it the other way around," argued Colinette. 
 " You think I am extra brave " 
 
 " I know you are. Any girl that dared to " 
 
 " Very well, then ; I'm brave, but not good " 
 
 " Oh, Colinette, you know I was joking " 
 
 " It's all right, Sue ; I'm not finding fault. Now, you 
 are good, but not brave, and none of us is the least bit 
 smart. Now what do you say to getting up a club to 
 make me better, and you braver, and all of us smarter? " 
 
 Susan laughed. " Well, but you are the funniest girl! 
 Who shall you ask first?" 
 
 ' You, of course. You and I will be the first " 
 
 " Yes, the charter members ; that's what Lila Merton 
 and Gertie Calkins are in the Morning Glories. They 
 started the thing and so they are the charter members." 
 
 " Yes, that's it charter members." 
 
 " You will be the president, Colinette." 
 
 "The president?" 
 
 "Why, yes; a 'club has to have a president Gertie 
 Calkins is president of the " 
 
 " But you see that is why I don't want to call the
 
 8o COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 head of our club the president. Suppose we say leader." 
 "Oh, that won't do; only gangs have leaders." 
 " We'll settle that when we organize," suggested Coli- 
 nette, and Susan acquiesced. 
 
 " But it will all fall through anyway," Susan added 
 pessimistically. " You won't get anybody to stick." 
 "You'll stick, won't you, Sue?" 
 " Oh, I'll stick fast enough. But just you and me 
 won't be a club." 
 
 " Yes, we will, provided you follow the leader." 
 " I'll follow all right." 
 " Then we'll meet tomorrow to organize." 
 " All right. Where, at gram'ma's, or at our house? " 
 " Sue, you know there isn't an inch of grandmother's 
 house where one can say a word that won't be heard in 
 every other inch. And this club or gang must be 
 secret oh, to be very, very secret will be half the 
 fun. We must organize in a very secret place." 
 
 " Of course," agreed Susan again, now wholly alive to 
 the exciting nature of the plot, " of course. Where shall 
 it be?" 
 
 " Tomorrow night at the Pettingill Hotel." 
 With her finger in her ears as from sheer horror at 
 the suggestion, Susan ran up the walk to her own door, 
 while Colinette paced slowly up to explain the absence 
 of the quilting frames to Mrs. Card who came out to in- 
 quire.
 
 VII 
 
 Now that Colinette had gained her point she could 
 hardly wait the hour for the secret meeting. She had 
 schemed long and systematically for this outcome; just 
 to get Susan into the old Pettingill House to share with 
 her the " lovely secret " which was too good to keep all 
 to herself. The idea of a club of adventure of which she 
 would be the head interested her immensely. For this 
 reason it seemed almost unbearable to have Mrs. Card 
 announce that while she and Susan had been gone Sister 
 Kize had been up to ask Mrs. Gard if she could spare Coli- 
 nette the next day to stay with Mr Kize's mother while 
 she and her husband drove over to Milltown to buy a 
 new carpet. Mrs. Gard would have enjoyed going her- 
 self, but there was that crate of peaches to be put up, and 
 Susan's comforter to be tied off, and tied off in a hurry, 
 too, if Aunt Rinthy was to have the frames back the 
 next day. It was noticeable that whenever Susan Dun- 
 lap borrowed the quilting frames Aunt Rinthy was sure 
 to need them the very next day. Mrs. Gard had prom- 
 ised Mrs. Kize to send Colinette. 
 
 " You will have a real good time," Mrs. Gard assured 
 her. " Grarn'ma Kize is a very interesting talker. She 
 used to be a great missionary worker. I always do enjoy 
 a visit With her so much. She can tell you more about 
 missionaries how many there are in Korea and India 
 
 81
 
 82 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 and other outlandish places, than anybody I ever met. 
 You'll have a real nice visit, Colinette." 
 
 Colinette swallowed her disappointment and said 
 meekly, " Yes, grandmother." 
 
 During the evening she made an excuse to get over to 
 the Dunlaps' place to notify Susan. She found Villie 
 Klatz there. He had brought down the quilting frames 
 and was staying for a one-sided chat with Susan. El- 
 mer was present and Rob, and Colinette saw how little 
 chance there was for communicating privately with 
 Susan. She decided to leave a note which would con- 
 vey the fact of the unavoidable postponement of the meet- 
 ing, a note which Susan alone would understand. She 
 scribbled such a message on the margin of a newspaper 
 under the baleful glare of Elmer's mistrustful eyes. 
 When Colinette used a pencil Elmer looked for carica- 
 tures. 
 
 She rolled the torn scrap into a ball and attempted to 
 toss it into Susan's lap. It fell short, and Elmer and 
 Susan both lunged for it where it rolled on the floor. 
 Elmer secured it and read it aloud to the assembled com- 
 pany: 
 
 " The secret will have to wait until the next day after 
 tomorrow. Kize's." 
 
 It was all the space there had been on which to ex- 
 plain. 
 
 " Ah, ha, miss ; you're up to some mischief ! " tri- 
 umphed Elmer. "Ma, they're up to some mischief! 
 Next day after tomorrow ! I'll bet I'm goin' to find out 
 what your old secret is ! I'll find out, see if I don't ! " 
 
 Susan made a wry face.
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 83 
 
 " Girls no business getting up secrets," declared El- 
 mer. " Girls can't keep secrets, anyway." 
 
 At Mrs. Kize's the long day dragged on with Colinette 
 reading missionary reports and statistics aloud to old 
 Mrs. Kize. This programme was varied by periods of 
 conversation consisting mostly of sharp questions by old 
 Mrs. Kize who had heard that Colinette' s mother be- 
 longed to a church of which she, Mrs. Kize, did not ap- 
 prove, and polite, almost diffident, answers on Colinette's 
 part. 
 
 At twelve o'clock the two ate lunch together. Colinette 
 brought the pale butter from the basement and it was so 
 nice and hard that it would not spread on the pale bread 
 at all. At home Colinette did not drink tea, but she felt 
 justified in partaking of the beverage brewed by old Mrs. 
 Kize, believing, and rightly, that it would not affect the 
 nerves of a baby. At six they sat down to another meal 
 of pale bread and butter, tea, pale yellow cake and dried- 
 apple sauce, after which Colinette washed up the supper 
 things nicely, dreaming, meanwhile, of daring adventure 
 in deserted houses, mysterious disclosures and rapturous 
 surprises. It was well that old Mrs. Kize could not see 
 into the brain of her young companion, else she might 
 have concluded that missionary work was needing to be 
 done in her own kitchen. But she saw only a quiet little 
 girl seriously drying coarse blue plates and really getting 
 them into their rightful places in the cupboard.. 
 
 As they were finishing the dishes " Brother and Sister 
 Kize " arrived, some two hours earlier than had been 
 expected, tired, hungry, but in triumphant possession of 
 the new carpet. They gave up going to prayer-meeting
 
 84 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 and greatly to her satisfaction, Colinette was started off 
 alone. 
 
 It was quite dark in the center of the blocks, but at 
 every corner a street lamp did its best to lighten the 
 gloom. To a girl who is not afraid of the dark, or of 
 those dire things which sometimes come out of it, the 
 walk was much more enjoyable than it would have been 
 tucked under old Mrs. Kize's arm listening to a final 
 summing up of Foreign Missions statistics. 
 
 It was early for prayer-meeting, and Colinette was glad 
 because of a certain enterprise she had always meant to 
 carry out at her earliest opportunity. She wished to see 
 the inside of the much-discussed Brackley house just 
 a peep to satisfy a burning curiosity. Mrs. Calkins had 
 told Mrs. Plummer, and Mrs. Plummer Mrs. Rinthy 
 Pickens and Susan Dunlap, and Susan Dunlap had told 
 Colinette's grandmother that the rug in the center of the 
 Brackley living-room cost three thousand dollars. It fol- 
 lowed logically that the rug must be beautiful daz- 
 zlingly beautiful. Colinette loved beauty, especially the 
 beauty of color. She resolved to give herself a treat. 
 She would feast her eyes on that rug for the space of five 
 or ten minutes. 
 
 The Brackley house was old, but of the type which 
 gathers beauty with every passing year. Through the 
 front windows to the east of the entrance came an un- 
 certain leaping light as from an open fire; the dining 
 room windows to the west showed the bright and steady 
 glare of electricity, but with these Colinette had nothing 
 to do; she had never heard the price of the dining-room 
 rug mentioned.
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 85 
 
 In the flame-lit room some one was playing the piano. 
 Colinette did not know the name of the selection which 
 was being played; she knew only that the sound of it filled 
 her with the wild spirit of adventure and the recklessness 
 which leads to adventure. She flitted around the corner 
 and mounted the broad steps which led to the wide east- 
 ern veranda. From this point of vantage she had an un- 
 obstructed view of the Brackley living-room and felt 
 justified in the risk she was taking. 
 
 Before Colinette had entered her grandmother's low 
 door for the first time she had never seen a room like her 
 grandmother's parlor. She loved it because it was her 
 grandmother's; but she knew, without Aunt Rinthy 
 Pickens's sneering remarks about it, that there was noth- 
 ing really artistic in it. Neither had she ever seen a room 
 like this Brackley room, save in wild dreams. Yes, the 
 rug was beautiful! The firelight caught certain spots 
 in it which gleamed forth like clusters of jewels, burning 
 bright coral, sapphire, emerald ; it struck out accent 
 points of gold on the frame of the painting above the 
 piano, and under its deceiving play the subject of the 
 picture, a figure in white collar and wrist frills, moved 
 gently against a dim background. 
 
 And the boy at the piano! He was a handsome boy; 
 but it was not the beauty of the face as it bent above the 
 flying fingers, but rather the concentration of it which 
 fascinated Colinette. This boy was doing something 
 wonderful ; somethhing he loved to do ; something he had 
 worked long hours to be able to do. He was accomplish- 
 ing something ; he was absorbed triumphant ; a dweller 
 in the soul's world of achievement where great happiness
 
 86 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 is to be found ! And surrounded by all this beauty ! All 
 these glowing and changing glints of brightness; these 
 dull, deep, pulsing shadows Oh, color, color! Coli- 
 nette clasped her hands in ecstasy. And sound 
 music the mystery of it! The wild sweet madness 
 of it! 
 
 She pressed so close to the pane that she almost touched 
 it. She lost all sense of time in contemplation of that 
 region of delight. She forgot prayer-meeting, and her 
 grandmother's possible anxiety. She gave free rein to 
 an imagination led hither and yon by the changing mel- 
 ody. She was rushing across a plain riding a high white 
 horse, her hair flying in the sunset wind ; she was dancing 
 with gipsies on a reaching moor; some of them were 
 singing, and three black crows circled in the half light 
 above their heads. The music dropped to a wailing la- 
 ment. There was death death in a dim town. A 
 cathedral bell was tolling tolling the Sisters were at 
 prayer 
 
 Suddenly a door opened directly facing Colinette. It 
 let in a square of brilliant light, and in the center of the 
 square stood a lovely white-haired woman who gave a 
 startled exclamation at sight of her peering there. The 
 boy wheeled about upon the piano stool, gazed squarely 
 into Colinette's eyes, then made a dash for the hall door. 
 Colinette flew like the wind down to the street and was 
 off in the direction of the church where she had been due 
 some time before. She heard the pounding of the boy's 
 feet as he pursued her. This was adventure ! This was 
 exhilaration !
 
 COLIXETTE OF REDMOOX 87 
 
 Once the boy called out, " Jeff! Oh, Jeff ! " and Coli- 
 nette was glad to learn that the boy was laboring under a 
 misapprehension as to the identity of the one he pur- 
 sued. He thought it some comrade of his own who had 
 been playing the part of Peeping Tom. But when she 
 plunged under the street-lamp at the next corner the boy 
 would discover that the culprit was a girL She could 
 see, also, the demure, toddling figures of two elderly per- 
 sons on their way to prayer-meeting. It would never do 
 to pass them at her present rate of speed and enter the 
 church door in plain sight of them as well as of her 
 pursuer. Under cover of a pair of ornamental shrubs 
 she left the sidewalk and disappeared in the fastnesses of 
 a shadowy yard. An ominous rustle, a snarl ending in 
 a snappy, disagreeable bark, accelerated her passage 
 through this yard in a cornerwise course and landed her, 
 safe but trembling, well up the dark side street. From 
 this distance she saw the boy cross the street and knew 
 that she had escaped. 
 
 She pressed her hands to her lips to stifle her excited 
 laughter, leaning against a tree and drawing long breaths. 
 Oh, but this was a lark! This was adventure pure and 
 simple! But there was prayer-meeting just around the 
 corner, and grandmother wondering why she did not 
 come. And where, meanwhile was the boy? Waiting 
 at the church door to nab her? She must avoid such a 
 happening. 
 
 The snarling dog was still voicing his objections to 
 catercornenvise travel across his yard. There might be 
 more of his kind somewhere along the length of the alley
 
 88 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 which separated deep gardens and which would eventu- 
 ally bring her to the railroad track, but she must take 
 the risk. 
 
 She reached the track, followed north to the street, 
 then stepped demurely churchward. Even if the boy 
 were to meet her now face to face he could have no sus- 
 picions of a quiet young person minding her own business 
 and going in an entirely opposite direction from that 
 taken by the culprit whom he had been following. She 
 was almost sure that she saw the dim figure of a watcher 
 standing across the street from the church, but she looked 
 straight ahead, mounted the church steps leisurely, and a 
 moment later sat pressed lovingly against her grand- 
 mother's coat sleeve, gazing with innocent young eyes at 
 the minister who was speaking when she came in. Her 
 heart was still beating rapidly from her long run, but her 
 mind was filled with a great peace and a satisfying con- 
 tentment. How good it was to be here in prayer- 
 meeting with the comforting feel of grandmother's arm 
 against her own! Aunt Susan in the far corner of the 
 seat, Cousin Susan bobbing surreptitiously back and forth 
 to catch her eye around grandmother's intervening toque, 
 and up in front that good preacher saying kind and com- 
 forting words. Adventure was all right in its place 
 and schemes, and surprises, which were a bit unlawful, 
 but while one of the sisters prayed for America and 
 many, many far-off lands, lands whose inhabitants still 
 bowed down to wood and stone, Colinette, kneeling close 
 to her grandmother, and entirely hidden between the high 
 pews, sent up a heartfelt prayer of thanksgiving for these 
 three dear relatives here in the seat with her. Even more
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 89 
 
 fervently she prayed that God would help her to curb a 
 dreadful predilection for lawlessness which rose so 
 strongly within her. So strongly, indeed, that it might 
 lead to the estrangement of these beloved relatives. Be- 
 fore she had come to live with her grandmother she had 
 known children who had no homes of their own ; no place 
 in all the world where they belonged; where there were 
 hearts to love them, to feel sorry when they were sorry 
 and glad when they were glad. It was wonderful 
 this bond of love between relatives. To have such a 
 sweet, kind grandmother and such a cousin as Susan 
 Dunlap why, any girl ought to be thankful. And 
 Colinette was deeply thankful. While a weak voice far 
 back in a distant pew prayed for grace to bear the bur- 
 dens of life, Colinette was formulating in her mind the 
 different things she would be willing to do for her grand- 
 mother and for Sue. She would risk her life gladly to 
 save theirs she was sure of that; she would willingly 
 go hungry if that were necessary to their being fed; she 
 would wear old, dark-brown clothes that they might 
 revel in lovely pinks and blues, but would she be will- 
 ing, for their sake, to give up any of her wild, adven- 
 turous schemes; schemes which smacked so strongly of 
 insubordination ? Her grandmother had said that all she 
 required of Colinette in payment for her home was that 
 she should be a good girl. Would grandmother con- 
 sider peeping into strange windows being good? And 
 this magnificent, this dazzling secret which was to be re- 
 vealed to Susan tomorrow and which wasn't just well 
 altogether within lawful bounds oh, dear! and yet 
 was not so very wicked. No, much as she loved her
 
 90 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 grandmother, she could not be good to the extent of fore- 
 going that secret. 
 
 " Grandmother," she asked softly, atfer they had left 
 the two Susans and crossed the street to their own door, 
 " how can a person tell when she is being good or being 
 bad?" 
 
 " My conscience tells me," said grandmother. 
 
 " But you are never bad anyway. It is just perfectly 
 natural and easy for you to be good. Now, I am more 
 sort of complicated. I sort of slip right off a good 
 step on to a step below, and then on to another step be- 
 low that, and then the first I know I'm bad." 
 
 " As soon as you notice you're a slipping, climb back," 
 advised grandmother. "Climb, and pray! That's the 
 only way. And it ain't so easy for me to keep on the top 
 step nuther. I bump off every now and then f eelin' 
 mad at Luther Dunlap for well his sort of selfish 
 way with the Susans and a f eelin' of envy for Rinthy 
 Pickens' fine parlor. I do love rich things in a parlor but 
 of course I can't ever have 'em. And when all's said an' 
 done they ain't really necessary to happiness. And then 
 she brags so about Helen; her clothes an' her musical 
 education an' all them things that money gives, and that 
 I'd like to be able to give to you and Susan but never 
 can why, as I say, first thing I know I'm goin' bumpty- 
 te-bump down to a step that's built of selfishness, envy an' 
 false pride. Then I take it to the Lord in prayer and be- 
 gin to scramble back onto the higher step. There ain't no 
 excuse for me not to scramble back, nuther ; no excuse for 
 me to say, ' why, I never noticed when I slipped off that 
 step a-tall. I thought I was standin' safe enough, and I
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 91 
 
 ain't sure now that I ain't standin' on the top step in- 
 stead of the third down.' 
 
 " The minute you begin to pray over the matter it gits 
 clear enough to you what step you're on. You may git to 
 feeling that the lower step where you are standing is an 
 awful comfortable one nice and broad, and you can 
 see more landscape from it, and so on. That's the way 
 a good many folks excuse themselves for not bein' what 
 they should be. They say they are broader- footed and 
 that lower step is more suitable for them to stand on ; let 
 the narrow-soled folks stand on that high, cramped little 
 top step. But I tell you, such folks don't pray over their 
 slippings for fear they will be guided. They pray about 
 things a good way off and forgit their own needs." 
 
 " Yes," admitted Colinette absently. 
 
 " That step idea of yours is real pretty, Colinette," said 
 her grandmother admiringly. 
 
 " Yes," assented Colinette, still absently. 
 
 " Did you think that out all by yourself ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Well now, I call that smart. I'll bet Helen Pickens 
 never would have thought that out in the world, and she's 
 had so much schoolin' too." 
 
 Colinette laughed. They were in their own home by 
 this time hanging up their things. Colinette kissed her 
 grandmother good-night and went to her room where she 
 dutifully said her prayers, but without a word in regard 
 to the wonderful secret of the next day.
 
 VIII 
 
 FRIDAY afternoons Mrs. Card usually did the week's 
 marketing. Occasionally Colinette went with her, but 
 on this particular Friday she and Susan were going over 
 to Seedy's Woods; at least they had asked permission to 
 do so. In the morning Colinette ran across the road, her 
 short apron fluttering in the breeze. In the pocket of 
 the fluttering apron she carried a note sealed fast and ad- 
 dressed to " Sue." When she fluttered back again the 
 note was no lonjger in the pocket. Now as her grand- 
 mother put the finishing touches to her preparations for 
 her trip to market, Colinette hovered anxiously in her 
 grandmother's bedroom in the vicinity of the window. 
 The window overlooked the back yard, and presently 
 Colinette caught sight of the object for which she watched 
 a boy's cap, showing spasmodically behind the barn 
 of the neighbor to the north, disappearing amongst a 
 clump of cherry trees, gleaming dimly from underneath 
 the flowering currant bush which marked the northeast 
 corner of the Card property. In order to be in such a 
 position the owner of the cap must be fairly on all fours. 
 In this port of safety the boy hesitated so long that the 
 girl at the window grew nervous. Mrs. Card was all 
 ready to start. 
 
 " Now, hadn't you better git your hat and you and 
 Susan start on your picnic so as to git back early? " sug- 
 
 92
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 93 
 
 gested Mrs. Card. " You'd better come along with me 
 over to your Aunt Susan's right now so I can lock up 
 the house for good." 
 
 "I am not just ready, please, grandmother," 
 pleaded Colinette, " I haven't finished putting up my 
 part of the lunch peanut butter sandwiches and a cup 
 of jelly; don't you remember? " 
 
 " Well, hurry, child ; and I'll step along for I'm going 
 down to Mrs. Kize's for a few minutes after I git the 
 meat." 
 
 " Good-by, grandmother." 
 
 " Good-by." 
 
 Colinette had never considered her grandmother slow; 
 in fact, Mrs. Card was very energetic in her movements, 
 but today it seemed as if she would never get started. 
 She was still lingering at the front door calling back ad- 
 vice and instructions in regard to the thickness of the 
 sandwiches and their wrappings when the boy's cap came 
 with startling suddenness into the open, its wearer in a 
 crouching position, evidently believing that he would be 
 less conspicuous in that attitude, made a swift spurt 
 across the cabbage patch, bisected the strawberry planta- 
 tion, and disappeared in the Gard woodshed. The 
 wearer of the cap had given one sweeping glare at the 
 back door and kitchen window to make sure he was not 
 observed. To Mrs. Card's innocently curtained bed- 
 room window he had given no thought. 
 
 Her grandmother having now started on her comfor- 
 table way down town Colinette glided out to the wood- 
 shed door, thrust the staple through the heavy bolt, 
 dropped the padlock into place and snapped the lock.
 
 94 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 Mrs. Card's woodshed was a veritable fortress for se- 
 curity. In winter time it served as a storehouse for 
 smoked hams, an occasional quarter of beef, fruit, and 
 mincemeat, each in its proper season. Colinette returned 
 to the kitchen with a satisfied little sigh and began to 
 make the sandwiches. She finished them and shortly 
 after her grandmother's toque disappeared over the rail- 
 road, locked the front door, thrust the key into its usual 
 hidingplace under the front porch and tripped across 
 to meet Susan who had been watching from her own 
 window and came out to meet her. 
 
 Susan was plainly anxious. She tried to account for 
 her anxiety by explaining her worry over Elmer's prob- 
 able proceedings. 
 
 " I don't know where he went," she said, " but he 
 skipped out somewhere over an hour ago, and I'll bet 
 anything he's watching us. He is just bound to find 
 out what we are up to. He told Rob and he told pa 
 that us girls were up to some mischief or other. I just 
 expected pa would order me to stay home all afternoon, 
 but ma told pa that we were just going for a walk over 
 to Seedy's Woods. Then she asked me what we was 
 up to; what the secret was that Elmer was so worked 
 up over. I told her I didn't know until after you told 
 me." 
 
 " That was an unlucky note that I wrote that day," 
 owned Colinette. 
 
 " Yes, that note gave the whole thing away, and I 
 don't think we'd better try to " 
 
 " Did you get the note I carried over to your house 
 this morning?" asked Colinette.
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 95 
 
 " Why, no," mourned Susan. " Where did you leave 
 it?" 
 
 " Under the lamp on the front room table." 
 
 " Oh, my goodness ! I'll bet you anything Elmer 
 Dunlap's got it!" 
 
 " No danger of that ; I put it in an envelope, sealed 
 it up tight and addressed it to you." 
 
 " Well, do you think that would make any difference 
 to Elmer if he wanted to find out what was in it? Why 
 didn't you give it to me out in the kitchen? Ma never 
 would have made any fuss or asked what was in it or 
 anything. What did you say in the note ? " 
 
 " I wrote : 
 
 "'Sue: Meet me (well, I told you where to meet 
 me) and I will tell you the secret.' 
 
 " I think you will find it under the lamp still when you 
 get home." 
 
 " I suppose I will." 
 
 They were approaching the old Pettingill House. 
 Even in the bright sunlight of a late August afternoon it 
 seemed sinister. 
 
 "Oh, Colinette, I just don't dare go in!" whimpered 
 Susan. 
 
 " Remember the lovely secret." 
 
 " I don't believe it amounts to any more than my secret 
 does and that's just nothing at all." 
 
 " I know what it is your secret." 
 
 " What is my secret then, if you're so smart? " 
 
 " Somebody has swiped Rosey." 
 
 " Why, Colinette Card, how did you find out ? Did 
 ma tell you ? "
 
 96 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 " No." 
 
 "Elmer, then?" 
 
 " No, Elmer couldn't tell me, because Elmer didn't 
 know it." 
 
 " Awh, Colinette, what are you talking about ! Elmer 
 took her! Rob wouldn't bother to steal a doll." 
 
 " There are other folks in the world besides Rob and 
 Elmer Dunlap." 
 
 " Yes, but no one mean enough to go and run rings 
 around a poor doll's eyes and then carry her off oh, 
 please, Colinette, let me off my promise to go into that 
 old rathole with you! Won't you please, Colinette?" 
 
 Colinette shook her head determinedly and took a 
 firm hold of her cousin's arm. 
 
 The Pettingill House was peculiarly easy of access 
 without the probability of the visitors being observed. 
 Across the side street, which it faced, stood what had 
 once been the great barn belonging to the hotel. It was 
 used for drying tobacco now, and as the crop was still 
 in the field there was small chance of being seen from 
 that quarter. The Plummer place to the north was ef- 
 fectually screened by the building which had once been 
 Richard Brackley's studio and was now the Plummer 
 storehouse. To the east the lots were vacant down to 
 the railroad embankment. Across Brown Street to the 
 south stretched a pasture where no eyes save those of a 
 few village cows were apt to take notice. The only 
 house east of the Dunlap place on West Brown Street 
 stood across the street cornerwise from the old hotel, 
 but it had been empty for a long time and all the lights 
 in the windows were broken. Of course there was a
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 97 
 
 chance of a workman in the barn sent to adjust poles for 
 the coming crop of tobacco; or of Jeff Plummer using 
 the cross street as he did at infrequent intervals ; or boys 
 might be crossing the pasture or walking on the rail- 
 road ; some of the dwellers on West Brown Street might 
 be going to or coming from town; but it is safe to say 
 that if any such observers had thought they saw girls 
 going into the old hotel or even boys they would 
 not have believed that they had seen aright, so unsavory 
 was the reputation acquired by the old place during the 
 passing years. 
 
 But in spite of these facts Colinette paused warily and 
 looked about her before they crossed the street, then, 
 rinding everything as still as a sleeping town, she dove 
 toward her goal, towing her frightened cousin in her 
 wake as a small tug brings a sailing vessel into port. Be- 
 fore Susan had time to gasp, the gloomy front door had 
 closed behind her, and she was in the hall of the haunted 
 house. 
 
 Before her rose a flight of stairs up which in times 
 past all sorts of feet had wandered. Now the dust lay 
 thick upon them undisturbed save by the passing of one 
 pair of slender feet. 
 
 Colinette did not lead her guest up the stairs. Instead 
 she sought a soul-searing, hair-raising black nook un- 
 derneath them, opened a door and dragged the trembling 
 Susan cellarward. 
 
 " Nothing down here except empty boxes and barrels," 
 she assured her cousin, " not even a rat. A rat would 
 starve to death down here." 
 
 They were groping their way over a cellar floor which.
 
 98 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 to Susan's overwrought imagination, seemed the size of 
 Walker's cow pasture or even larger. They reached its 
 limit at last and paused in front of a stubborn-looking 
 stone wall. 
 
 " This is the north wall," said Colinette in a tone which 
 intimated that the fact was of great importance. 
 
 Susan was suffering terribly from fright. " Well, 
 what of it?" she snapped. " Colinette, let's get out of 
 this horrid place ! Whatever did you drag me down here 
 for? Just to scare me to death; that's what you did it 
 for, and you have done it just plum scared me to 
 death! I'm shaking just shaking! And you are as 
 mean as you can be ! You want to show off ! You ain't 
 afraid of anything! You'd go into a lion's den to 
 show off! But I am afraid. I never pretended to be 
 brave, and I'm going and you can't stop me ! " 
 
 Susan made a lunge to put her threat into execution 
 and Susan's weight was in her favor in the matter of 
 lunging. But Colinette dragged her back determinedly. 
 
 " Oh, Susan, don't go now ! Oh, Susan, you prom- 
 ised you know you promised ! There isn't a thing in 
 this cellar to hurt you not a single thing ! And, Susan, 
 the secret is down here; the lovely secret! It's there in 
 the north wall. Now come; I'll show you." 
 
 "If gram'ma knew we were down here in this old 
 Pettingill cellar she'd give us both a good whipping; I 
 know she would!" stormed Susan. "And, oh, my! if 
 pa should find out " 
 
 Colinette had released Susan's arm in order to man- 
 ipulate the door of a musty old cupboard which stood
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 99 
 
 stark against the north wall like a square ghost. The 
 whole cupboard swung inward on rusty hinges reveal- 
 ing a black emptiness beyond. Once more Colinette 
 grasped her cousin's arm with a viselike grip, and it was 
 well for the working out of her plan that she did so, for 
 Susan's revolt was by this time threatening to become a 
 stampede. 
 
 " There's nothing in here ! It's a hall just a little 
 dark hall which takes you through to something else ! 
 Oh, don't be so silly, Sue! Do you think I would coax 
 you into anythhing dreadful? It's a little hall see?" 
 
 " See ! I can't see anything ! Nobody could see any- 
 thing in here ! It's as black as a a black cat ! " 
 
 Even if she could have freed herself of her cousin's 
 clutching fingers she would not now have dared to find 
 her way out alone. They arrived at another wall or par- 
 tition; she heard Colinette undoing another latch. She 
 was led into another cellar a basement, rather, for it 
 was of cement and wanly illuminated by a high-up oblong 
 window. In front of this small window greenery shim- 
 mered and the wild thought intruded itself into Susan's 
 brain of trying, through this window, to win back to the 
 world once more. She knew at once how vain was such 
 a hope. Colinette might be able to squeeze through an 
 opening of that size, but not Susan. 
 
 Still towing Susan, Colinette mounted a short pair of 
 stairs and a moment later they entered what seemed after 
 their late gloomy voyage, a veritable fairyland ; a room at 
 the least twenty feet square, with windows on two sides, 
 and a door which looked as if it might possibly lead to
 
 ioo COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 liberty. Susan gazed through a window into a luxurious 
 potato field, across which, in the distance, she discerned 
 the railroad embankment. 
 
 " There's a railroad ! " she breathed. 
 
 "Of course," Colinette assured her, " that's our rail- 
 road. Why, Susan, you must be just all turned around." 
 
 " Yes, I am, and who wouldn't be turned around after 
 crawling all around and under this old ghost house ! " 
 
 " But this isn't the ghost house at all ; this is Plum- 
 mers' storehouse." 
 
 " Plummers' why, Colinette Card, what have you 
 done! You've broken into other folks' property! 
 You're a burglar ! " 
 
 " But I don't believe Plummers' folks use this place at 
 all. I can't for the life of me see why they shouldn't, 
 but I don't believe they do." 
 
 Susan, in her great relief at being, no matter how un- 
 lawfully, clear of the Pettingill House, began to look 
 about her. Through the western window nodded a bunch 
 of cosmos, and above them the sun shone in pleasantly, 
 lying in streaks along the dusty floor. In one corner of 
 the room stood an old-fashioned musical instrument a 
 melodion, Susan guessed it to be. It was closed, and on 
 its polished top stood something which fairly made her 
 gasp Rosey ! Rosey restored to more than her orig- 
 inal beauty ; hair, complexion costume. 
 
 " Rosey ! " she breathed, approaching the doll slowly ; 
 " Rosey with her rings off ! Colinette, did you do it ? " 
 
 " Yes, I did it. I painted her and fixed her up but 
 Elmer paid for it." 
 
 "Elmer!"
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 101 
 
 " He doesn't know it. I took the money out of his 
 bank. Of course if you have a mind to, you can tell 
 him and hand over Rosey to be scratched up and spoiled 
 again, but I wouldn't if I were you; I'd keep her all 
 nice and lovely as she is now." 
 
 " But where, Colinette ; where ? " 
 
 " Here in Plummers' storehouse. I don't think they 
 use this place. We could put her in a box up on those 
 shelves with all those other boxes, and if they did come in 
 they wouldn't be apt to notice. There is dust an inch 
 thick on all those boxes, but no finger marks or fresh- 
 looking spots as if the boxes had been opened lately." 
 
 " What's in the other boxes ? " 
 
 " Queer things ; butterflies, beetles, and look over 
 yonder on that shelf. At first I thought they were cans 
 of fruit. They are pickled snakes ! " 
 
 " Oh-o-o-o-o ! " shuddered Susan, and approached 
 with appropriate gestures of horror for a closer view. 
 As she stood, neck extended, mind wholly absorbed in 
 contemplation of a mottled scaly substance; well pre- 
 served as to texture and color where it pressed against the 
 side of the glass jar, Colinette was attacked by an unholy 
 temptation and yielded. She softly laid the tips of 
 two cold fingers on the back of Susan's neck, and the 
 next moment wished she hadn't. A howl of terror rent 
 the air. 
 
 Colinette saw her mistake at once and scuttled for the 
 door which led to the basement stairs, as usual dragging 
 Susan with her. 
 
 " Rosey's left ! Rosey's left ! " hissed Susan in a 
 frenzy of maternal regret.
 
 102 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 " Ssh-h-h-h ! " hissed Colinette in return. " What 
 made you scream out that way, Susan? I'm afraid 
 you've spoiled everything! I don't see how the Plum- 
 mers could help hearing such a yelp as that. And in their 
 storehouse. They'll come boiling out to investigate 
 Hush, I hear somebody now ! " She stood holding the 
 secret door ajar. A mouldy odor crept out of the dark 
 little passageway and floated through the basement. 
 
 " You'd no business to tickle my neck cold, like that 
 and me looking at snakes ! Ugh ! It was your fault that 
 I yelled out. I wish you'd shut that door; I'm just as 
 afraid of that black hole as I am of the Plummers!" 
 Colinette closed the door softly and they stood in silence 
 for a long five minutes. 
 
 " Doesn't seem to be anything stirring up there," whis- 
 pered Colinette. " You stay down here ready to plunge 
 into the passageway and I'll go up and reconnoiter " 
 
 " Not much ! Colinette, you think I'm going to stay 
 down here at the mouth of this old black hole all alone? 
 You'd hear another yelp worse than the first one and 
 Cousin Sue would be lying in a fit scared plum to death ! " 
 
 They waited awhile longer, then both crept back up 
 the narrow stairs filled with to Colinette delicious 
 tremors of excitement, to Susan, genuine spasms of suf- 
 fering as they imagined the terrors which might await 
 them in the room above : Jeff Plummer, or his father with 
 the sheriff to drag them off to jail for housebreaking. 
 Or somebody pointing a revolver through that eastern 
 window demanding what the matter was and who was 
 being murdered. 
 
 Colinette opened the door at the head of the stairs
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 103 
 
 and peered forth, then emerged and beckoned to Susan 
 to follow. 
 
 Everything bore an air of peaceful, unruffled security. 
 The western sunlight lay along the floor in a broad reas- 
 suring band of gold. On the old melodion stood Rosey, 
 one hand extended, a smile of happiness on her restored 
 countenance, her hair, lovely, thick and golden, framing 
 her serene little face becomingly. 
 
 The girls peered cautiously from the east window and 
 from the west, arriving very logically at a state of secu- 
 rity far beyond anything they had felt before. 
 
 "If that didn't rouse the Plummers nothing will," con- 
 cluded Colinette. " And isn't it a jolly place, and the 
 most wonderful secret you ever heard of that pas- 
 sageway underground from the old Pettingill House cel- 
 lar to the basement under this building? " 
 
 Now that her nerves were regaining their wonted calm- 
 ness, Susan admitted enthusiastically that it was a 
 wonderful arrangement. 
 
 They went about carefully poking into drygoods boxes 
 and opening cases and cupboards. They found wooden 
 threshing machines, unpainted, but mellowed by time; 
 there were skates and bicycle tires and baseball mitts; 
 there were boxes of books of a Wild West tendency. 
 Susan declared it to be her opinion that this was not a 
 storehouse which belonged to the entire Plummer family 
 but to Jeff Plummer exclusively, and that any minute 
 he might descend upon them like a wolf on the fold. And 
 how would they feel then caught prowling in Jeff 
 Plummer's storehouse! Why, her stepfather would sim- 
 ply beat the life out of her.
 
 104 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 "If this is Jeff Plummer's storehouse he doesn't use it 
 any more," said Colinette. " I have been coming here for 
 three weeks, listening and dodging and running for the 
 cellar, and in all that time no one else has been here. To 
 begin with, look at that door; not only locked from the 
 outside, but bolted twice from the inside. That door 
 hasn't been opened for a long time. No, whoever uses 
 this storehouse gets in here the same way that we get in, 
 through the cellar of the old hotel." 
 
 Susan took Rosey up tenderly and gazed at her in a 
 flood of admiration. 
 
 " Come now, tell me all about everything," she de- 
 manded. 
 
 "All right, I will," agreed Colinette, "but first let's 
 set out the feast, and while we eat, I'll tell you well, 
 everything."
 
 COLINETTE cleared a little homemade table of its load 
 of boxes, brought it out into the sunlight and covered it 
 with a napkin. In putting out her nut sandwiches, ap- 
 ples, cookies, and the wad of fruitcake which Susan had 
 brought securely tied in a napkin and stuffed into her 
 apron pocket, she discovered that they had nothing to 
 drink. 
 
 " I'll just skip across the road and get a can of water 
 from that empty house," said Colinette. 
 
 "Alone?" Susan was horrified again. "And I pre- 
 sume that can is the one Jeff Plummer caught his snakes 
 in." 
 
 " I'll rinse it," promised Colinette and ran away in 
 the midst of Susan's protests against being left alone. 
 She was back in a moment with a dripping can. 
 
 " And you didn't see anything horrible on your way 
 in or out?" questioned Susan anxiously, helping her- 
 self to a sandwich. 
 
 " Yes, I did see something horrible." 
 
 "Oh, dear!" whimpered Susan with her mouth full 
 of sandwich, " and we've either got to break one of these 
 windows to get out or else go through that horrible place 
 again ! " 
 
 " There isn't anything horrible in that old hotel, 
 never, Sue ; it's the safest place in town because boys and 
 
 105
 
 106 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 tramps don't dare come into it. What I saw was grand- 
 mother's toque coming into sight over the railroad track. 
 I made time getting across the road, I can tell you, with 
 my can- just a slopping. I don't see what's bringing her 
 home so early. She intended to go round and call on 
 Mrs. Kize, and that always takes time. I wish Mrs. 
 Kize would try to be at home when grandmother goes to 
 call on her." 
 
 " Do you realize, Colinette, that gram'ma would be 
 awful mad if she knew what you've been up to break- 
 ing into Plummers' ? " 
 
 " I know it." Colinette looked distressed. Susan 
 took another sandwich. 
 
 " I guess I'm eating more than my share of the lunch. 
 Why don't you pitch in and eat and not sit and sigh and 
 look sorry that way? Are you sorry for what you've 
 done?" 
 
 " I am always honestly sorry after I have done some- 
 thing that I know would displease (grandmother; but 
 still I go right on and do something worse yet 
 something that is so much fun to do that I just can't 
 help doing it." 
 
 " Well, what makes you act so, then ? " said Susan 
 sanctimoniously, and helped herself to the third cookie. 
 
 " One just gets led on from bad to worse," owned 
 Colinette contritely, with her first sandwich in her fin- 
 gers still untasted. " And yet, I think the last part of 
 this Rosey plan isn't as bad as the first part was. For 
 I was the burglar who burgled Elmer's bank." 
 
 " Why, Colinette Card ! Colinette Card ! you broke 
 into our house in the night and "
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 107 
 
 " Oh, no, I didn't ; I took both the banks the day you 
 asked me to come upstairs with you to see Mr. Brackley's 
 pictures and we discovered Rosey all spoiled. I didn't 
 know which bank belonged to Elmer and which to Rob, 
 so I stole them both. I intended from the first to put 
 Rob's bank back, but I never intended to put a penny of 
 Elmer's money back. I intended to buy you a great, 
 lovely, new doll and some stuff to make clothes for it, 
 but I looked in every store in Redmoon and there isn't 
 a doll in town as pretty and lifelike and sort of up- 
 standing as Rosey is. So I bought oil paints enough to 
 fix up Rosey, some remnants to make things for her, and 
 another doll with a pretty wig which would fit Rosey 
 See? I scalped her to fix up Rosey." Colinette took 
 down a box from the shelf, a box with something familiar 
 in its appearance, and produced the despoiled one to- 
 gether with her own thimble, scissors, needlebook and 
 sundry scraps of silk, bits of lace, gauze, and snippets 
 of lawn. 
 
 "You made the clothes for Rosey too, Colinette?" 
 Colinette admitted the deed with a solemn nod. 
 
 " Bat you told gram'ma that you didn't know how to 
 sew." 
 
 " That was when I first came," owned Colinette con- 
 tritely, " I don't tell grandmother out and out whop- 
 pers any more; I sort of get round things. I'm that 
 much better than I was at first anyway. And if I had 
 it to do over again I wouldn't steal Elmer's bank and 
 smash it with the axe in our woodshed as I did; al- 
 though he deserved to lose his money, he had spoiled your 
 Rosey that you loved. It was worse, too, being a
 
 io8 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 grownup girl's doll; if you had been little your mother 
 or grandmother would have got you another. But a 
 young lady this way " 
 
 "That's just it," broke in Susan. "A big girl like 
 me isn't supposed to care for dolls any more. But I do. 
 Oh, I just love her! " She went over and kissed Rosey 
 rapturously. Colinette trembled for Rosey 's brand new 
 complexion, but Sus?.n's delight compensated her in a 
 great measure for her anxieties in regard to her own 
 sins. 
 
 " I've got just loads of things for her," went on Susan, 
 " but I have to keep them stuffed around in places where 
 he can't find them; in ma's closet; in the rag-bag; under 
 the bureau and everywhere. I just love to make 'em, 
 don't you?" 
 
 " No, I don't like to sew." 
 
 " And so you told gram'ma you couldn't ; why, 
 Colinette ! " 
 
 " I hope you won't tell grandmother that, Sue." 
 
 " I should say I wouldn't ! What do you think I am, 
 an ungrateful huzzy? I want you to tell me all about the 
 burglary and everything. I won't tell. Indeed, I love 
 you too much for that." 
 
 A lovely smile illumined Colinette's face. She went 
 round the little table and laid her peachy cheek for one 
 fleeting moment against Susan's rougher, redder one. 
 
 " I'll tell you all about it, Sue. As I have already told 
 you, I stole both the banks that first afternoon, but I 
 couldn't get hold of Rosey nor of any of Rosey's 
 clothes " 
 
 " But, Colinette, I don't see how that can be ; pa said
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 109 
 
 he heard the burglar breaking open the banks on the front 
 porch, and he frightened him so that he didn't get to 
 break open Rob's bank " 
 
 " Yes well, Uncle Luther says things besides his 
 prayers sometimes. Grandmother thinks so, too. He 
 surely didn't hear the burglar who took the banks because 
 that was me ; and he didn't scare him so that he brought 
 any banks back either." 
 
 " I guess the sheriff did that," said Susan. 
 
 " No, the sheriff only made me laugh. It was grand- 
 mother who made me bring back the money, all that I 
 hadn't spent for paints and things and that other doll." 
 
 " Gran-ma ! did she know what you had done ? " 
 
 " Well, Sue, I believe she did. She prayed for the 
 burglar that night she and I. She made me pray with 
 her for the poor benighted burglar who never could be 
 happy, she said. It was pretty bad, Sue. She warned 
 me to lock the door because she didn't want any burglars 
 in there, and the burglar right in there with her all the 
 time. I'm afraid if I hadn't already got Rosey's hair 
 and the paint for her face she might have had to go 
 bald and ringed around the eyes to the end of her life. 
 You see, I didn't look at it in the same light that grand- 
 mother did. Elmer had spoiled your doll and I didn't 
 think it any sin to make him pay for it. I knew that 
 Uncle Luther wouldn't make him, and Aunt Susan 
 couldn't, so I thought I'd stagger in and make him pay 
 and pay dearly. But when I found out how she felt 
 about it I could have died of shame. I waited until she 
 was safe in bed and snoring, then I stole out and came 
 down here where I had the old banks hidden "
 
 no COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 " You you don't mean you came down Oh, 
 mercy me ! In the night ! In the cellar ! " 
 
 " Yes. Nothing happened. I just popped in here, 
 got the banks, put 'em on your porch and crawled home 
 to bed; and the only thing that I was afraid of the whole 
 time was that grandmother would find out and not love 
 me any more. Sue, that's the one thing in this world 
 that I'm afraid of!" 
 
 Susan sat staring at her cousin. To her naturally 
 obedient and well-ordered mind Colinette was incompre- 
 hensible. Afraid of only one thing in the world, and 
 that one thing losing her grandmother's love ! 
 
 " Why Colinette," she breathed at last, " if you should 
 set fire to the meeting-house, gram'ma would forgive you 
 and love you. She might cry " 
 
 " I shall never make her cry if I can help it," said Coli- 
 nette softly. 
 
 " Well, you do take frightful chances." 
 
 " I'm afraid I do. I wish you'd help me not to, Sue; 
 will you? " 
 
 " Sort of whistle when I see you going wrong the way 
 the Scotchman does in the piece they elocute in school; 
 the one where he says ' You may whustle an' whustle ; 
 but I'll not take off another inch'?" 
 
 " That's the idea, Sue. It seems awfully easy for you 
 and grandmother to be good and awfully hard for me. 
 You don't seem to be tempted the way I am. I hated to 
 sew and when grandmother asked me if I could, I just 
 naturally said I couldn't, and so I haven't had to." 
 
 " How did you come to be able to do such lovely
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 111 
 
 things ? " Susan went over and examined Rosey's cloth- 
 ing minutely. 
 
 " Where I went to school, before I came to live with 
 grandmother, they made me sew, sew, sew, all the time." 
 Colinette made a gesture of disgust. " They taught me 
 to hem and to fell and to buttonhole-stitch, to blind 
 stitch and to embroider. There was some good in that 
 because of the color in the silks Oh, but I love 
 color! Oh, but I love it! The color of the lake under 
 a storm you never saw it, did you, Sue ? All black 
 purple, with white hissing waves; the color of sunsets 
 why, once I saw the sunset from a tower, high, high up. 
 I shall never forget how the purple mist over the town 
 turned into red, and higher up into golden green and 
 then into blue Oh ! And the trees in the park and in 
 the broad streets 
 
 " But I never had lessons in color. I wanted them bad 
 enough. They did let me sketch a good deal." 
 
 " Who were 'they'?" 
 
 " Why, the teachers where I went to school. But 
 they said that I was poor and would have to earn my 
 own living and so they taught me to sew and to scrub 
 and to tend sick folks and children oh, let's not talk 
 about it; it makes me blue to think back." 
 
 " Oh, I wish you'd go on," coaxed Susan, disappointed, 
 " and tell all about your school and your home and what 
 you used to do " 
 
 " No," Colinette broke in, " I don't like to think about 
 it. I want to forget it all." 
 
 " Gram'ma said that it was natural that you should
 
 112 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 want to forget it for awhile when your sorrow for your 
 mother was so fresh." 
 
 "Did she say that?" 
 
 " Yes. But she thought after you had had a little 
 time to find yourself you'd be willing to talk more than 
 you ever had yet." 
 
 " When did she say all this? " 
 
 " One day over to our house. Aunt Rinthy was pry- 
 ing into your affairs, and gram'ma would say, * I've never 
 questioned the child,' and Aunt Rinthy would say, ' Well, 
 you ought to; you ought to make her tell you all about 
 her mother's last sickness, and all about her mother's 
 family, and so on.' " 
 
 Colinette smiled. "If Aunt Rinthy ever questions me 
 about things she'll get a funny story." 
 
 " You wouldn't lie to her, would you, Colinette ? " 
 
 " I shan't lie to grandmother when she questions me." 
 
 They divided up the last cookie and cleared away all 
 signs of the feast, then fell to admiring Rosey once more. 
 
 " She looks like a little actress on a stage, doesn't she? " 
 said Colinette. A new thought struck her. " I wish we 
 had a lot more like her ; we'd dress them up like actresses 
 and actors and make a little theatre oh, wouldn't it 
 be fun to make their costumes blend and to paint scenery, 
 and to write a play ! I wish we might ! " 
 
 Such heights of artistic effort were beyond anything 
 Susan had ever dreamed of. 
 
 " We never could, though." 
 
 " We could if we wanted to hard enough. You can 
 do almost anything you want to do if you want to 
 hard enough."
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 113 
 
 " Oh, no, you can't either," said Susan loftily. " You 
 and I want to make a little stage and a play and dress a 
 lot of dolls like Rosey, but we can't do it." 
 
 The light of a new scheme was dawning in Colinette's 
 eyes. 
 
 " We could do it," she declared, " and it would be more 
 fun than anything! We have the place here to work 
 out the plan without being bothered. We have one little 
 actress already, and we have brains and hands to work 
 with Susan, Susan, I've got it all in my mind! " She 
 began to skip about the room like mad. " I've got it all 
 right here in my head! Let's do it. It will be some- 
 thing to work for; something to scheme for; something 
 beautiful and daring and and full of color!" 
 
 " Theatres are wicked," objected Susan. 
 
 " Not doll theatres." 
 
 " Well, you can make even a doll theatre wicked if you 
 steal money to buy the dolls and things to make the show 
 with." 
 
 " We won't steal the money ; we'll earn it or bor- 
 row it." 
 
 " But a show is no good unless somebody comes to 
 see it. There has to be a churchful of folks to make a 
 show worth anything. But I'd love to do it, Colinette. 
 I could make the clothes maybe not as nice as this 
 petticoat and little dress are made why, isn't she just 
 the darlingest little Rosey in the world? I never saw 
 another as pretty as she is." 
 
 " I saw them advertised in an old magazine up at your 
 Aunt Rinthy Pickenses' that day," said Colinette. " If 
 

 
 114 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 we could only get the money we could send right to the 
 factory for them." 
 
 " But how could you get them without anybody finding 
 out?" 
 
 " It would be hard, but that would be part of the fun. 
 I love schemes and secrets ; don't you ? " 
 
 Susan said she did not care very much for schemes 
 and secrets, but she liked what they brought about. She 
 didn't believe, however, that it could be done. The boys 
 would find out about it, they would poke fun at it and 
 like as not tell it at school and make a laughing stock of 
 them both great big girls, really young ladies play- 
 ing with dolls ! 
 
 " It's a little different," said Colinette. "If we just 
 sat down and sang Bye-lo Baby Bunting like little girls 
 why then they might laugh; but a little theatre; some- 
 thing pretty and quaint oh, it would be grand ! " 
 
 " But we should have to crawl back and forth under- 
 ground to this place " objected Susan. 
 
 " That's where the fun would come in." Colinette 
 was brilliant in her enthusiasm. Susan had never seen 
 her so pretty. And the plan fascinated Susan greatly 
 also. She brought up lion after lion, planting them in 
 the path, always hoping Colinette would slay them, and 
 Colinette met and overcame them one by one. 
 
 Jeff Plummer would come in here after some of his 
 things and discover the plot. 
 
 Evidently Jeff Plummer had ceased to care for the 
 things cached in this place, because he had not been inside 
 this room for weeks and could not get in without using 
 the underground passage.
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 115 
 
 A doll theatre like the one outlined had never yet been 
 made, at least Susan had never- heard of such a one. 
 
 Well, there was a good deal of credit in doing some- 
 thing no one had ever done before, wasn't there? That 
 was what had made Christopher Columbus famous, and 
 Benjamin Franklin, and all those great ones. 
 
 It would be cold weather pretty soon, and they couldn't 
 come here. 
 
 There was a stove and a pipe and a chimney. 
 
 "But the smoke," said Susan. "What would the 
 Plummers think to see smoke coming out of their store- 
 house chimney? " 
 
 This was a big lion. This was a sizable beast. Coli- 
 nette decided to take this one home and slaughter it at 
 her leisure. 
 
 " And any amount of fuel in that old Pettingill cellar, 
 too; boxes and barrels and chunks of real wood all cut 
 and stacked. What a pity ! " she sighed. " But it isn't 
 cold weather yet," she added, " so why fret about that ? " 
 
 " I don't think we are hurting anybody by making a 
 playhouse of this place so long as we don't meddle with 
 things," said Colinette. " And I haven't snooped about 
 much. It's more fun snooping when you have some- 
 body with you. And anyhow we mustn't meddle; that's 
 where the wrong would come in." 
 
 Susan believed that might be the case, so they resolved 
 not to " snoop." They held to this resolution as much 
 as five minutes, then 
 
 " What is that tall frame-like thing over there by the 
 stove?" asked Susan. 
 
 " That's a painter's easel, and a lovely one, too," Coli-
 
 li6 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 **^ 
 
 nette informed her. " See? You can run the picture 
 you are working on up to any height by turning this 
 crank; you can tip it with this rod." She struck an atti- 
 tude before it and began to paint largely, with an imag- 
 inary brush. 
 
 " How have you found out all this if you haven't 
 snooped ? " demanded Susan. 
 
 Colinette did not answer. She had just evolved a new 
 theory. 
 
 " Jeff Plummer never painted, did he, Sue ? Did you 
 ever hear of Jeff Plummer painting anything? Did you 
 ever hear of his father painting anything? Did you 
 ever hear of any Plummer painting pictures?" 
 
 " I never did." 
 
 " Well, then, don't you see ? These things have been 
 left here all these years! These things belong to the 
 Brackleys to that young chap who painted here. He 
 just left them snakes, butterflies and all because he 
 didn't want them any more; and the Plummers don't 
 want them, and don't use the building, and it just stands 
 here going to waste. Like enough there are brushes and 
 tubes of oil paints and Oh, Sue, let's open that chest 
 over yonder and see what's in it ! " 
 
 Five minutes later the contents of the chest were spread 
 pretty evenly over the surrounding floor space. There 
 were brushes, fitch and bristle; there was sketching can- 
 vas on small stretchers; there was one roll of fine 
 twilled canvas of an attractive creamy hue; there were 
 two different-sized palettes, and a palette-knife; there 
 were colored studies and torn and soiled copies of an 
 art journal, out of print this many a year, but to Coli-
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 117 
 
 nette, more fascinating than story books. Suscn thought 
 her spasms of rapture out of all proportion to the find. 
 
 " Everything is sticky and soiled, and the paints seem 
 to be dried up," she murmured, " and besides they don't 
 belong to us. We mustn't try to use 'em." 
 
 " Don't you see," Colinette explained, " they have been 
 thrown away. Nobody uses them, nobody wants them, 
 and nobody will care if we use them." 
 
 " That may be so, Colinette, but if you use these things 
 it's my opinion that you will be going by your rule in- 
 stead of by gram'ma's. It will be : 'If you want some- 
 thing awful bad go after it,' instead of ' Honesty is the 
 best policy.' ' 
 
 Colinette was silent, but she fairly caressed the tempt- 
 ing articles as she replaced them in the chest and Susan 
 was convinced of the ultimate destiny of the materials. 
 
 "Look at the sun!" Susan exclaimed sharply, "We 
 must get out of here ! " They hustled Rosey into her 
 box, Susan voiced her objections to the tunnel and ghost 
 house much weaker now however and after a pre- 
 liminary scrutiny of Brown Street, they stepped forth 
 safely between the going westward of Waldo Pickens and 
 the going eastward of Gusta Klatz. 
 
 " Now remember, Sue. this secret must be kept no 
 matter what happens," warned Colinette. 
 
 " But suppose they ask right out and out, ' Where have 
 you been ? ' 
 
 " That's easy. Where have you been ? Where did 
 you ask permission to go, and where did you go? You 
 asked to go on a picnic, didn't you, to Seedy's Woods? 
 Well, you went on a picnic. ' To Seedy's Woods ? ' ask
 
 ii8 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 the folks. ' No, we didn't go clear right into Seedy's 
 Woods,' you own up, * we ate our lunch this side of 
 Seedy's Woods/ Is there any lie there?" 
 
 Susan was worried, although somewhat convinced. 
 
 " No, there doesn't seem to be any lie there and 
 yet" 
 
 " Susan, this .secret must be kept ! You promised me 
 that you would keep it, and a broken promise is a thou- 
 sand times worse than a lie." 
 
 Susan brightened. "If the worst comes to the worst," 
 she decided contentedly, " I'll tell 'em that I promised 
 you not to tell, and I'll stick to it and send 'em to you." 
 
 " That's right," agreed Colinette, " you send them to 
 me. I can get around any of your family; it's grand- 
 mother I'm worrying about, because I won't tell lies to 
 grandmother, not for the best old secret in the world ! " 
 
 Before they reached the front walk of the Dunlap 
 house there was no doubt in the mind of either girl 
 that " the worst was about to come to the worst." The 
 Dunlap front door opened and the entire Dunlap family, 
 reinforced by Waldo and Rinthy Pickens and Mrs. Card, 
 boiled out to meet them.
 
 X. 
 
 " Now I want to know where you've been, an' what 
 you've been a doin' ! " demanded Luther Dunlap in the 
 tone of voice which always struck terror to the souls of 
 his wife and step-daughter. Susan fairly crumpled with 
 fear and shrank close to the side of Colinette. That 
 young person seemed not so much frightened as sur- 
 prised. 
 
 "Where have you been!" she repeated. "Been? 
 Why don't you ask grandmother and Aunt Susan ? They 
 know where we have been. They told us we might go." 
 This frank and innocent confession on the part of the 
 head culprit was not a fitting sendoff for the part Uncle 
 Luther had determined to play. 
 
 " Told you you could go! " he repeated inanely. 
 
 "Why, yes, Uncle Luther; of course. Didn't you, 
 grandmother ? Didn't you tell us we could go to Seedy's 
 Woods on a picnic? " 
 
 " I did," witnessed Mrs. Card with much decision. It 
 was her opinion that there was too much fuss being made 
 over a trifling matter. 
 
 "If you had permission to go what did you lock Elmer 
 up in your grandmother's woodshed for? What right 
 had you to do such a thing? " Mr. Dunlap's anger rose 
 at the thought of the misdemeanor. His eyes bulged 
 with the strength of his feelings. Colinette turned eyes
 
 120 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 which also bulged in the direction of the wronged Elmer. 
 
 "In grandmother's woodshed?" she murmured, vis- 
 ibly bewildered, "In grandmother's woodshed? Why, 
 Elmer, were you in grandmother's woodshed when we 
 left home today grandmother and I ? And what in the 
 world were you doing in grandmother's woodshed ? And 
 why didn't you call out when you heard me locking up? 
 You knew that we always lock up the woodshed and 
 the house when we go away. Why, for pity's sake! 
 And who let you out? " 
 
 " Nobody let me out ! " Elmer blurted forth. 
 
 " Then you must be in there yet," ventured Colinette, 
 and Susan gulped down a snicker. 
 
 " I mean nobody let me out till gram'ma come home 
 just a little while ago!" 
 
 " There, I told you so, Luther," soothed Mrs. Card, 
 seconded by Mrs. Dunlap, who, it seemed, had also " told 
 him so," but had been disregarded. 
 
 " Didn't you intend to lock Elmer up in the wood- 
 shed?" questioned Aunt Rinthy Pickens, with her most 
 disagreeable smile. 
 
 " Oh, she didn't; I know she didn't," witnessed Susan 
 promptly and innocently, " because when we started for 
 the picnic we wondered if he wouldn't tag along." 
 
 " And so you locked him up in the woodshed ! " Luther 
 was regaining his momentum, lost during Colinette's tes- 
 timony. 
 
 " I ? " There was a disdainful quaver at the corners 
 of Colinette's mouth. " Do you think, Uncle Luther, 
 that I am big enough and strong enough to drag a great 
 boy like Elmer into a woodshed and lock him in? If he
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 121 
 
 happened to be in the woodshed when I locked the door 
 and never called out or anything, I don't see how I was 
 to know. And what were you doing in our woodshed 
 anyhow, Elmer?" 
 
 Elmer's explanation was not especially satisfactory, 
 and his father saved him the necessity of finishing it. 
 
 " Don't make any difference what Elmer was doin' in 
 the woodshed; if it comes to that I guess he's got about 
 as much business in that woodshed as you have " 
 
 Mrs. Card was not in the habit of disputing her son- 
 in-law, but in this matter she felt that he was exceeding 
 his authority to a degree not to be put up with. 
 
 " You are mistaken, Luther. Elmer don't cut an' pile 
 the kindlin' in that woodshed, and she does; he don't 
 bring in the coal an' the potatoes. She does ! " 
 
 " She she wrote a note to Susan an' put it under 
 the lampmat on the settin'-room table. She said she had 
 a big secret an' Susan was to go over to her woodshed 
 about three o'clock " 
 
 " A secret ! woodshed " Colinette was to all ap- 
 pearances floundering in a perfect fog of misunderstand- 
 ing in regard to the note. Suddenly she remembered. 
 
 " Oh o o o h! I know ; it was about the 
 sparrow's nest, Susan." She turned upon Elmer sav- 
 agely. " That note was in an envelope and sealed and 
 addressed to Susan. What business had you opening 
 it?" 
 
 " I think," said Aunt Rinthy Pickens, " we just better 
 hush up about the hull business. Elmer hadn't any busi- 
 ness in the woodshed, an' Colinette hadn't any business 
 with secrets. It don't become little girls to have secrets,
 
 122 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 even about birds' nests. If Helen had secrets she 
 wouldn't tell her ma I'd look into the matter with a 
 switch ! " 
 
 " No, an' our girls didn't use to have 'em till after 
 John's girl come here to live," said Luther Dunlap, " and 
 now it seems as if the dickens is to pay the whole time! " 
 
 " If I felt that John's girl wasn't havin' a good influ- 
 ence over my girl I'd fix that pretty quick," said Mrs. 
 Pickens, and smiled from ear to ear. " I'd just nat'chully 
 forbid them havin' anything to say to each other. I 
 guess that would fix things." 
 
 " Well, seems to me we've found out that we've all 
 been makin' a big fuss over nothing," said Mrs. Card, 
 more ruffled than her relatives had ever seen her before. 
 " John Card was a good boy, and it's natural for Cards 
 to behave themselves, say what you will. It kind of runs 
 in the blood. Fact is, sometimes I have thought they 
 was too meek to stick up for their rights. I know John 
 was, and I don't think John's girl could be anything but 
 good if she tried. So, Luther, don't you fret about her 
 spoilin' Susan. You just keep a hitch on Elmer and 
 teach him to kind of keep his fingers out of things which 
 ain't any affairs of his. Come on now, Colinette, you've 
 cleared your skirts pretty well I think; we must go 
 home an' git some supper." 
 
 It was a new angle on Mrs. Card's disposition thus 
 suddenly brought to view. Luther Dunlap had dom- 
 ineered over her and her two Susans for so long that he 
 could scarcely believe his ears at this declaration of in- 
 dependence. He stood speechless, watching Susan Card 
 and her grand-daughter disappear into their own house.
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 123 
 
 " Well, I never see the beat of that! " declared Rinthy 
 Pickens, smiling as if she were viewing some rare pic- 
 ture, while her brother came slowly out of his trance. 
 " She can just wrap Gram'ma Card round her little finger, 
 can't she? And you, too, Susan. I never saw such a 
 gump as you are over that girl. Why don't you ever 
 come up to see Helen and hear her play? She's got a 
 bran new piece, an', act'chlly, her music teacher says that 
 she never saw a girl that " 
 
 " Well, I want my supper ! " her brother broke in im- 
 politely. His interest in Helen's music was slight. 
 
 Before the meal progressed very far Gusta Klatz ar- 
 rived breathless. 
 
 " I went clear over to Seedy's grove, but I couldn't see 
 nothing of Why, Susan, are you home?" 
 
 " Then you must have gone right by the place where 
 we ate our lunch," said Susan. " We had an aw'ful good 
 time. I wish you had been there, Gusta." 
 
 " Why didn't you ask Helen to go ? " smiled Rinthy 
 Pickens. 
 
 " I s'pose they thought you wouldn't have wanted her 
 to go with John's girl," said Mrs. Dunlap, and again 
 Luther Dunlap was startled. Was it possible that John 
 Card's girl had come into the family to upset all order 
 and authority? Was her baleful and wholly intangible 
 influence affecting even his meek wife? 
 
 " I can see where you are comin' off at in regards to 
 Gram'ma Card's property," said Waldo Pickens, nodding 
 and winking wisely. " John's girl will git every cent 
 of it, now you mark my words. I see it sticking out like 
 a sore thumb. Best thing you can do is to persuade her
 
 124 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 to make her will before things go any farther. Woman 
 of her age is liable to drop off any old day an' then 
 where'll you be! " 
 
 " Grandmother," said Colinette that night, " you 
 mustn't depend on my being good just because my 
 father was good. I think I must have must have 
 taken after my mother. It's very hard for me to be 
 good." 
 
 " I do think it is harder for some folks to be good than 
 it is for others," owned Mrs. Card. " Not that I don't 
 suppose for one minute that your mother wasn't just as 
 good as your father. She must have been good or John 
 Wouldn't have taken a notion to her. John never was 
 much of a hand to go with folks that wa'n't good. Yes, 
 it may be harder work for some of us to be good than 
 it is for others, but when we begin to realize our badness 
 there is some hope for us. And we all know where to 
 go for help." 
 
 Colinette mused long and deeply that night over her 
 grandmother's words, and she lingered at her bedside a 
 long time before being able to make up her mind whether 
 or not she should do as her grandmother advised and 
 ask in her prayers to be made good. At last she went to 
 bed without saying her prayers at all. She was ashamed 
 to ask God for something she did not want. There 
 would be no use; He could read her heart. She had a 
 great mind to get up, go to her grandmother's bed and 
 lay the whole case before her. If it were not for the 
 fact that she had insisted upon Susan's absolute secrecy 
 she would have done so. She did not believe that what 
 she and Susan were doing was so very wicked at the
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 125 
 
 worst. Her conscience was clear so far as the old Pettin- 
 gill House was concerned, the secret passage, the Plum- 
 mer storehouse; in fact, everything up to that seductive 
 box of colors. That was where the powers of darkness 
 were threatening her. To use those paints would be 
 theft, there was no dodging that fact. 
 
 For an hour after she had drawn the covers over her 
 she was still awake and going over the matter in her 
 mind. Suddenly she sat up in bed and clasped her hands 
 in the joy of a great relief. 
 
 " Flake white, vermillion, madder lake, yellow ochre 
 I have them all left over from the painting of Rosey ! 
 A tube of permanent blue, one of cobalt, cadmium, black, 
 and one of Indian red is all I need to paint almost any- 
 thing ! I'll use those old window blinds out in the wood- 
 shed and borrow the brushes and palette-knife why a 
 dollar will buy all that I need and if I can't earn a dollar 
 I am a weak sister! " 
 
 She climbed out of bed, knelt down, said her prayers, 
 climbed back again and was asleep in five minutes. 
 
 The next day her grandmother was astonished at the 
 work she did. She flashed about the kitchen washing 
 up the dishes, and while her grandmother made dough- 
 nuts she cleaned the parlor, handling the precious things 
 on the whatnot so deftly and daintily that Mrs. Gard 
 paused fork in hand to admire her progress. Her own 
 room, her grandmother's, the front porch and the back 
 steps were gone over and shone with cleanliness and 
 order. Then with her grandmother's consent she went 
 across to Susan's house to ask if Susan might walk down 
 to the library with her.
 
 126 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 " Certainly Susan may go," said Susan's mother with 
 so much decision that Colinette was surprised. 
 
 " We've had flurries over at our house," Susan con- 
 fided to her cousin. " My mother read the riot act to 
 pa last night. She said that all my life I'd been put upon 
 and abused by the Dunlap boys, and hereafter she wasn't 
 going to stand it. She said she had been a good mother 
 to his boys and done for them as a mother should, but 
 she didn't consider that he had done as much toward being 
 a father to me as he might have. I was out behind the 
 house and the south bedroom window was open and I 
 heard her say that. He said that all this fuss had come 
 about through John's girl coming here to live. Ma said 
 John's girl had nothing to do with it. He said that you 
 just had gram'ma hypnotized." 
 
 " He's mistaken," said Colinette soberly, " But grand- 
 mother has me hypnotized if being hypnotized means one 
 person doing just about what another person wants them 
 to do. And that's what it means, doesn't it? Shall we 
 pop in and take a look at Rosey? " 
 
 Colinette was surprised at the readiness with which 
 Susan acquiesced to this suggestion. Already she seemed 
 to have lost a great deal of her dread of the old Pettingill 
 place, so surely does familiarity breed contempt. 
 
 They found Rosey safe and smiling. They took her 
 from her box and stood her on the melodion top and 
 admired her lifelike poses. 
 
 " I'm going to make her a lot of new clothes," declared 
 her owner enthusiastically. 
 
 " I wish she had a little chair to sit in and a table 
 to lay a little book on," said Colinette.
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 127 
 
 " Villie Klatz could make them; he's as handy as any- 
 thing with tools." 
 
 The light of speculation shone in Colinette's eyes. 
 
 " Is the Morning Glory Club composed entirely of 
 girls? " she asked. 
 
 "Oh, no; they have boys, too." 
 
 " We shall have boys, too, then, in our above-the-rail- 
 road club." 
 
 " Are you going to call it the Above-the-Railroad 
 Club?" 
 
 " I don't think so; that name is sort of of common. 
 Our club is going to be the most uncommon club that 
 ever was." 
 
 " You'll fail up on that, Colinette. You can't make an 
 uncommon thing out of common material, and that's all 
 you will have to work with awful common material." 
 
 " They make lovely china dishes out of clay. I think 
 if we have lots of mystery and daring and exciting ad- 
 ventures in it that it will be different." 
 
 " You might have all that if you could get some of 
 the big boys to join." 
 
 " Let's ask Villie Klatz." 
 
 " Oh, Villie Klatz ! " Susan's tone was scornful. 
 
 "Who then?" 
 
 " Well, if you want daring and er, adventure and 
 all, you might ask Jeff Plummer. Only I know that Jeff 
 Plummer would never fuss around with a lot of little 
 girls playing with dolls. Jeff Plummer is almost a man 
 grown. He's a good deal older than Villie Klatz, al- 
 though he isn't as sort of coarse and big as Villie 
 Klatz,"
 
 128 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 " Our club isn't going to be a beauty show if I can 
 help it," said Colinette. " We are not going to invite 
 the fair ; we want the brave. Let's fix up a fearful initia- 
 tion ! We'll have a club motto " 
 
 " Why not yours : 'If You Want Anything Very 
 Much, Go After It'?" 
 
 "Why, that's the very thing! If you want Why, 
 Sue, that is just what our club will stand for getting 
 what we want. Let's ask Gusta and Villie Klatz to join, 
 and your brothers " 
 
 " Oh, they never would." 
 . " And Helen Pickens." 
 
 "And Jeff Plummer " 
 
 " Let me see-e-e ; that would make eight, about all we 
 should want. Could you see some of them, Sue? And 
 which ones would you rather ask ? " 
 
 "I won't ask Villie Klatz!" 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 " He's always standing and gazing at me makes me 
 sick!" 
 
 " I'll ask Villie, then, and you ask Gusta and " 
 
 " I'll ask Jeff Plummer if you want me to." 
 
 " That will be nice ; you know him better than I 
 do." 
 
 " But I won't ask Bob and Elmer." 
 
 " All right. You choose the ones you'd rather ask 
 and I'll take what's left. Perhaps we'd better ask only 
 two at a time yes, I'm sure that will be best, because 
 we can't initiate but one at a time." 
 
 They decided on the two Klatzes as their first venture, 
 Susan to approach Gusta, Colinette, Gusta's brother.
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 129 
 
 Two days later Susan went across the road to report to 
 her chief. She found Mrs. Card giving Colinette a les- 
 son in needlework. 
 
 " Never see anybody learn to use a needle so quick 
 in my life! " triumphed Mrs. Card. " I tell you, Susan, 
 if she shoots ahead with her school affairs as fast as she 
 does with her dressmakin', you girls will have to make 
 the gravel fly to keep up with her you an' Helen. 
 Susan's always been handy with her needle, too," Mrs. 
 Card explained to Colinette, and Susan wondered how 
 her cousin could look so sober and so innocent. 
 
 " I am going to make grandmother a whole dress as 
 soon as as I can sew well enough," said Colinette, fold- 
 ing her work carefully. 
 
 " She's going up to Pickenses on an errand for me ; 
 why don't you go with her? " 
 
 Susan could not go, but she walked with her up the 
 road a little way. 
 
 " Gusta'll join," she announced, " but she wants to 
 know the name of the club that she is going to join. I 
 told her that we hadn't named it yet. She wanted to 
 know if it was going to be like the Morning Glory Club. 
 I said I thought so " 
 
 " It isn't," said Colinette, " it's going to be altogether 
 different. It's going to stand for bravery and ambi- 
 tion." 
 
 "Oh!" 
 
 " It's going to be very secret and exciting sort of 
 why like bandits, or highway robbers " 
 
 " Oh, goodness ! I don't believe Gusta will like that 
 at all! Gusta likes fashion magazines and crochet better
 
 130 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 than anything else. Did you ever hear of a bandit who 
 liked to crochet? " 
 
 " No, but if we make a sewing society of it do you 
 think Villie Klatz will ever learn to crochet ? Now there 
 you have it, Sue." 
 
 " Yes, and you can't make that kind of a club success- 
 ful," objected Susan. " You've got to have a club made 
 up of members who like to do the same things. If a 
 crochet club, why then let it be a crochet club; if a pirate 
 gang, why pirates it is " 
 
 " Oh, here comes Villie now," cut in Colinette. " Run 
 along back and let me talk with him alone." 
 
 Susan ran readily enough. 
 
 "Wat made her run?" inquired Villie with a hurt 
 expression, looking straight over Colinette' s head at the 
 figure now nearing her own steps. 
 
 " She ran away so that I could talk to you alone, 
 Villie," explained Colinette. Villie looked resigned, but 
 not pleased. 
 
 " Well, go on." 
 
 " Villie, is there something you want more than any- 
 thing else in the world ? " 
 
 "Huh?" 
 
 " Is there something you long for, but have never been 
 able to get ? " 
 
 " Uh-huh," owned Villie shyly. 
 
 " Well, now, you're just the boy we want. We are 
 getting up a club " 
 
 "Huh?" 
 
 " A club ; a society a gang, perhaps would be a bet- 
 ter word "
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 131 
 
 " Oh, I see," said Villie, " that there Morning Glory 
 Club; I know now what you mean. I guess you'll have 
 to excoose me " 
 
 " Ours is going to stand for everything that the Morn- 
 ing Glory Club doesn't stand for. We aren't going to 
 dress up and dance and be fine and all that ; we are going 
 to be sort of pirates; sort of robbers, but perfectly 
 honest " 
 
 " Why, I never heard of such a thing! " declared hon- 
 est Villie Klatz, now thoroughly at sea, 
 
 " What I mean is this " : Colinette paused and searched 
 her mind for the key with which to unlock Villie's mind 
 and deliver the message. " What makes you like to read 
 detective stories, and ghost stories, and pirate stories?" 
 
 Villie now searched his mind for the answer. 
 
 " It isn't because you like the murder part, or the rob- 
 bery, is it ? " 
 
 " No, I guess it ain't." Villie was open enough to 
 conviction if this pretty golden girl could explain satis- 
 factorily. 
 
 " No, of course it isn't. It's because you like the ex- 
 citement of it the descriptions of dark nights and dar- 
 ing men who go all scrooched over, like this ! " Coli- 
 nette assumed a conventional sleuth attitude. 
 
 "Ye-ah! I guess that's it," declared Villie, contem- 
 plating this feminine crook with admiration. 
 
 " Well, we're going to have all that in our club. We 
 are going to meet secretly in a fearful place " 
 
 "Gosh!" breathed Villie. 
 
 "The initiation is going to be frightful!" Villie 
 was beginning to be interested. " Shall you be afraid? "
 
 132 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 "Me? Oh, no." 
 
 " Then we want you to be a member. The test of 
 membership in our club is to be, first, bravery; next, 
 ambition. You've got to be brave to get into the club 
 and after you are in, you must be ambitious." 
 
 " I don't yust git that last," owned Villie. 
 
 " Well, you must want something very much, and go 
 after it. That's to be the club's motto if you want a 
 certain thing, go after it. That means work and scheme 
 and save to get it. And," Colinette added with a happy 
 inspiration, " you must take a solemn vow to help all the 
 other members of the club to get what they are working 
 for." 
 
 " I'd do that," promised Villie. 
 
 " Now, what is to be your ambition ? " 
 
 "Havel got to tell it?" 
 
 " No, you haven't got to, Villie ; only I thought I 
 might be better able to help you if I knew of course, 
 we mustn't have any dishonest ambition." 
 
 " Well, this will be the funniest pirates' club I ever 
 seen," owned Villie with a chuckle. " But I don't want 
 anything bad like that. I'll tell you, Cullinette, if you 
 won't never tell." 
 
 " I won't tell anybody, Villie." 
 
 " Well, then, I would got an ambition to be Susan's 
 feller." 
 
 For a moment Colinette was startled into dumbness. 
 She stood gazing at Villie without speaking. Then she 
 said very gently, " I'm afraid Susan I'm afraid she 
 likes somebody else better, Villie." 
 
 " I was afraid of that myself," owned Villie.
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 133 
 
 "Yes," said Colinette sadly. "Couldn't you pick 
 out something sort of not so complicated to be- 
 gin with? " 
 
 "Oh, yes," sighed Villie, "I'd like a box of good 
 tools first rate." 
 
 " Now that's something like," Colinette assured him. 
 " That fits in with the club ambition a good deal better. 
 Susan and I are ambitious to get up a dolls' theatre " 
 
 " Is she goin' to belong? " Villie showed his delight. 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " She ain't goin' to be the boss of it, is she ? " 
 
 " No, I think I shall be the boss for awhile," confessed 
 Colinette. 
 
 " Well, you can count me in," promised Villie. 
 
 " Thank you, Villie. And Gusta is going to belong, 
 too. What is her great ambition, Villie; do you know? " 
 
 " Oh, things to go on, I guess," said Villie, and they 
 parted without Colinette being sure in her mind as to 
 what Villie meant by his sister's ambition being " for 
 things to go on." 
 
 Colinette also forgot to deliver her grandmother's mes- 
 sage, which was to ask if Villie could come to their 
 house and spade up the strawberry bed within the next 
 two or three days. She mended that fault, however, by 
 a hard run, which enabled her to overtake Villie two 
 blocks beyond the railroad track, where she delivered the 
 message. 
 
 " Say, now, what's the name of this here pirates' 
 club? " demanded Villie, and Colinette could only prom- 
 ise that the name would be revealed at the initiation.
 
 XI 
 
 COLINETTE waited until the masculine members of the 
 Dunlap family went their several ways, then she ran 
 across the road and " hoo-hooed " for Susan, who came 
 out, dish-towel in hand, and with a look of expectation. 
 Nowadays when Colinette came running over this way 
 there was always something to expect. 
 
 " News ! " announced Colinette. 
 
 " Come on in," invited Susan eagerly. " Ma's just 
 starting for your house; we'll be all alone and you can 
 tell me while I finish the dishes. I've got news for you, 
 too; good news." 
 
 " Oh, lovely ! What's your news ? " 
 
 " Wait till ma goes." When her mother had gone 
 Susan told her news. " You remember that your birth- 
 day is pretty soon, now, don't you, Colinette? " A slow 
 pink crept into Colinette's cheeks. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Well, gram'ma is going to give you a grand present." 
 
 "Money?" breathed Colinette hopefully. Nothing 
 would be more acceptable just now when her necessities 
 in connection with the club and theatre were pressing 
 upon her. 
 
 " Oh, better than money." Colinette sobered. 
 
 " I would rather have money than anything else just 
 
 134
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 135 
 
 now. Is it another dress ? I really don't need any more 
 clothes." 
 
 " It ain't anything to wear; it's better than that." 
 
 " Dear grandmother ! I shall love it whatever it is be- 
 cause she gives it to me." 
 
 " You're an awful good girl, Colinette." 
 
 " I ? Oh, no, Sue. I'm so bad I just have to keep 
 holding myself in all the time. I'll begin to want to do 
 something like getting up this pirate club, or this doll 
 theatre, and after I'm so interested and so excited over 
 it that I can't sleep nights, I find out it's wicked. Then 
 I sort of hint it to grandmother and she makes me pray 
 over it. And it simply rubs the fun all out of the pirate 
 business praying about it. Grandmother never ques- 
 tions or delves into my secrets and makes me tell and 
 then scolds me. She just takes it for granted that I 
 want to be good if I only know how, and that I'll know 
 how if I ask to be guided. I think she is the most won- 
 derful woman in the whole world! " 
 
 " Now ain't it queer ! You think she is wonderful, 
 and my father is always calling her ' a foolish old woman.' 
 Why, he thinks she just don't know anything. So do the 
 Pickenses." 
 
 Colinette's eyes grew suddenly dark. She drew in her 
 lips and snatched up the dish-towel. " I'll dry them," 
 she said in a voice freighted with emotion. For a 
 time she even forgot the news which she had come with 
 so much swiftness to tell. Then 
 
 " Oh, I found some lovely things down town yester- 
 day just lovely! I brought them over to show you." 
 She dried her hands carefully and took a little box from
 
 136 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 her pocket, took off the lid and Susan peeped at the con- 
 tents. " Twelve ! " breathed Colinette. " One with 
 green eyes, and bigger than the rest." 
 
 The twelve were enameled pins in the shape of bats. 
 They were black with red garnet eyes, all save one, whose 
 emerald orbs were somewhat larger than the others and 
 very brilliant and striking. Their impish little faces were 
 well defined for such small space as the designer had had 
 at his disposal. 
 
 " They are to be our club badges," explained Colinette. 
 " It all came to me the moment I saw them in the jeweler's 
 window. I went in and asked about them. He had just 
 got them in and hadn't sold a one. He had just the even 
 dozen and I took them all." 
 
 " How much were they? " 
 
 " Five dollars." 
 
 " Five Why, Colinette Card, where did you get 
 the money? " 
 
 " I didn't have any money. The jeweler trusted 
 me." 
 
 " Why-e-e-e, Colinette, gram'ma will be so mad at you 
 she'll whip you ! And where will you get the five dollars 
 to pay the jeweler? " 
 
 " That's why I hoped grandmother's birthday present 
 would be money." 
 
 " It isn't money, but it cost money. Or they cost 
 money; there are two of 'em." 
 
 " I don't need two of anything," mused Colinette. 
 " Maybe I can sell one of them to the Pickenses, or to 
 somebody." 
 
 " No, you can't. They cost gram'ma more than five
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 137 
 
 dollars, but nobody in the world would give you five 
 cents apiece for them. But you will be just ticked clean 
 to death with them. Ma thinks you will be, too." 
 
 " Oh, shoes ! " guessed Colinette. 
 
 " No ; and shoes wouldn't cost five dollars and more I 
 should hope. And now you've gone and run in debt to 
 the jeweler." 
 
 " But don't you see, Sue, we just had to have them. 
 Why it was wonderful! The minute my eye lighted on 
 them in the window I said, ' We must have 'em.' And 
 here they are, the whole twelve of them, and one differ- 
 ent from the rest and prettier that's for the leader. 
 The name of the club will be 'The Bats'; see? Short 
 and sort of fits us. We swing about nights through the 
 dark ; we dart ; we fly ; we bewilder people ; they look for 
 us and we are gone, but we know what we want, and 
 we go after it. It all came to me as I stood there at the 
 jeweler's counter, and I wouldn't have let these pins go, 
 nor had him sell one to somebody else for worlds ! " She 
 closed the box with a caressing motion and clasped it 
 lovingly in her hands before she put it back in her pocket 
 and resumed the drying of Susan's dishes. 
 
 " I've thought out the name and the initiation rites 
 and everything. Oh, it's going to be fun of the wildest 
 kind!" 
 
 " But I don't believe there will be any club at all," per- 
 sisted Susan. 
 
 "Yes, there will." Colinette set the dried milk jug 
 down with great precision and almost unnecessary gen- 
 tleness. 
 
 " Well, Jeff Plummer won't join. I asked him, and he
 
 138 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 turned his nose up and said ' Daw ! What do I want to 
 join clubs for! ' 
 
 " There are other boys besides Jeff Plummer." 
 
 " Boys are all alike ; they will stick to baseball and foot- 
 ball and things like that, but clubs and things, and Sunday 
 schools and anything good, why they just don't have 
 any use for 'em." 
 
 " We don't have to have boys in the Bats' Club ; there 
 are girls enough." 
 
 " Girls are worse than boys; they don't stick, either." 
 
 " We will begin anyhow. You and I belong already, 
 and Villie and Gusta Klatz have promised and are just 
 bubbling to be initiated. That makes almost half as 
 many as you say are in the Morning Glory Club." 
 
 " The Morning Glories don't want any more in their 
 club. They say they are very exclusive ! " Susan mi- 
 micked. " They could have fifty if they wanted 'em. 
 Why, Helen Pickens would give the two thumbs right off 
 her hands even to be asked. So would every gir.l in 
 school yes, and every boy, too." 
 
 " Does the Brackley boy belong? " 
 
 " Neal Brackley wasn't here last year, but Rob says 
 he heard that he is going to stay this winter and go to 
 our school, so of course he'll belong." 
 
 " We'll get him first." 
 
 " Colinette, you've got a whole lot to learn that ain't 
 in your grammar and algebra when you go to our school. 
 Why, do you think that Neal Brackley would mix up with 
 the Cards and Dunlaps and Klatzes? He's high toned, 
 you must remember; not in the Dunlap and Pickens 
 clawss, don't you know. Mama Brackley is awful swag-
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 139 
 
 ger. She has diamonds and wears silk dresses every day, 
 and Papa Brackley is an awtist in N' Yo'k. They are 
 way, way up above the Calkinses and Mertons even, say 
 nothing about the folks who live above the railroad. 
 Imagine Neal Brackley with his lovely piano hands be- 
 longing to a club with Villie Klatz and me ! " Susan 
 cackled harshly. 
 
 Colinette threw one arm around her cousin's neck and 
 allowed the drying towel to hang down her back. 
 
 " Anybddy could be proud to belong to any old club 
 with you, Sue Dunlap. You are good and grand, just 
 like grandmother." 
 
 Susan giggled. " Oh, you think so now, but you wait 
 till you begin to go to school; you'll find out then what 
 an old hayseed crowd your relations are. Why, what 
 sort of school did you go to in the city, Colinette, that 
 you don't know all about Morning Glory Clubs and rings 
 and snubs and snobs and all that ? " 
 
 " I never went to public school in the city," said Coli- 
 nette, and immediately changed the subject. She began 
 again about " The Bats." 
 
 " We don't need to be piano-fingered to belong to The 
 Bats; but the members will have to be brave and ambi- 
 tious; and you and I and Villie Klatz are that. I don't 
 know about Gusta and Helen Pickens." 
 
 Later in the day Colinette came over to Susan's house 
 again. This time Susan was in the garden digging pota- 
 toes for supper. Elmer, who had been home for two 
 hours, had eaten a great piece out of a pie meant for the 
 evening meal and now sprawled on the lounge reading 
 the sporting page of the village paper.
 
 140 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 " Grandmother says that if I make her new calico dress 
 without a single mistake she will give me as much as she 
 would have had to give Mrs. Smith for making it, be- 
 sides buying the pattern. That will be three dollars." 
 
 " And you can do it ; I know that," said Susan. 
 
 " Yes, I can do it, but oh, dear ! I shall always have 
 to do sewing after this, and I just hate to sew." 
 
 " I don't," said Susan. " I only wish I didn't have to 
 do any work more disagreeable than sewing." She jabbed 
 the potato fork into a fresh hill and cleared away the 
 dead tops. The potatoes rolled out, creamy white and 
 dry. 
 
 " Why don't Rob do this; or Elmer? " 
 
 " Yes, why ! Because ma can't make 'em, and pa 
 won't! Elmer never dug a potato in his life and never 
 will. Rob has now and then. Rob is off working some- 
 where today at something or other. Pa told him he'd got 
 to earn enough to resole his shoes or else he could go 
 barefoot to school this fall. I just dread school begin- 
 ning!" 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Because I've got to wear the same old dress that I 
 wore all last winter. It's too small for me, and it's got 
 gravy spots and paint spots and thin spots all over it from 
 neck to hem." 
 
 " Now don't fret about that, Sue ; we'll see what we 
 can do with it before school begins." 
 
 " You ought to see the cloth Aunt Rinthy carried home 
 today for Helen's new school dress. Gray, and just 
 lovely ! And grandmother will see to it that you have 
 something decent to wear, you may be sure of that.
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 141 
 
 You'll all look respectable but me, and as usual, I'll show 
 up the first day of school the same big, black, clumsy, 
 ragged spotted bundle of junk that I always have! " 
 
 Colinette made no reply, but there came a strange look 
 in her eyes, a look almost of suffering. If Susan had 
 not been so busy with the last hill of potatoes she must 
 have noticed it; it was so pronounced. 
 
 " And I talked with Helen today about her ambitions," 
 went on Susan. " She can't join The Bats ; she don't want 
 anything on earth. She says her folks get her every- 
 thing she needs or wants even before she knows she 
 wants it. She says they got her her new piano even 
 before she knew she wanted one at all. And her glasses 
 she never dreamed she wanted glasses, and they got 
 'em for her. And her gold pencil, and her breastpin, 
 and her mesh bag, and her teeth filled oh, just every- 
 thing. The only thing she wants that she can't get is a 
 little pale morning glory pin; she can't get that." 
 
 " She shall have instead a nice little red-eyed black bat ; 
 it's quainter than a morning glory." 
 
 " She wouldn't stoop to it. And besides, she ain't qual- 
 ified in any particular. She's a big coward why, what 
 do you think she would do if she was to wake up and 
 find herself inside the old Pettingill house? She'd blow 
 up that's what she'd do ! " 
 
 Colinette had a long confidential talk with her grand- 
 mother that night, and the subject of the conversation 
 was school dresses. And in the end Mrs. Card allowed 
 herself to be persuaded that between the four of them, 
 Aunt Susan, Cousin Susan, Colinette and herself, they 
 could buy some pretty b~own-and-tan plaid for collar,
 
 1 4 2 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 cuffs and patch pockets, and make over the despised 
 brown dress of Susan's into something that Susan would 
 not be ashamed to wear among her mates. 
 
 " You see," argued Colinette, " Sue is large and sort 
 of dark; she needs to be dressed better than I do. A 
 little reddish thing like me can wear almost any old rag 
 of a dress. Sue is really a pretty girl. Let's fix her up 
 so that Gertie Calkins herself won't look any better." 
 
 There were tears of pride in Mrs. Card's eyes after the 
 pattern books had been put away and Colinette had gone 
 about the kitchen work. 
 
 " Just like her father," sighed Mrs. Card, " always 
 thinkin' of others before herself. She ain't got the Card 
 complexion, but she's got the Card disposition, or, at 
 least, some part of it." And then she sat thinking a long 
 time. She realized that, much as she longed for Coli- 
 nette to be like John, she was not altogether like him 
 not altogether. That queer rope-handled satchel had 
 never come to light, nor had any one of those eleven red- 
 headed maternal aunts been heard from. Mrs. Card 
 doubted the existence of the entire family. 
 
 After Colinette was abed and asleep that night Mrs. 
 Card drew forth from behind the whatnot a large square 
 package. It contained two pictures poorly done in 
 crayon, and framed in coarsely painted white frames 
 picked out with gilt. These she bore gently to Colinette's 
 room and hung on hooks which had been already pre- 
 pared for them. 
 
 Colinette, sitting up in bed the next morning, rubbed 
 her eyes in amazement. One of the pictures was of a man, 
 gaunt, large-eared, square-headed, somewhat dull; the
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 143 
 
 other of a woman, round-faced, black-eyed, with a bulb- 
 ous, self-satisfied nose and a set, meaningless, photographic 
 smile. She wore glasses, a choker collar and beads. 
 
 Colinette's eyes grew suddenly dark as was their wont 
 under strong emotion, her lips were compressed into an 
 angry line, her face unnaturally pale. She got out of 
 bed noiselessly, pulled on her right shoe, took the woman's 
 picture down from the wall and deliberately stamped a 
 hole through the middle of it. She tore out the hook 
 which had supported it and then before the crash of glass 
 and pine backing had brought Mrs. Card to see what 
 was the matter, she had kicked off the devastating shoe 
 and was back in bed, covered to the ears and whispering 
 fiercely, " I just couldn't ! All through the years to come ! 
 I just couldn't!" 
 
 " Oh, my sakes ! " cried Mrs. Card, " your mother's 
 picture busted all to bits ! My, oh my ! ain't it too bad! " 
 
 Colinette sat up in bed as if just awakened. She had 
 regained her composure; in fact, her face showed just 
 the amount of startled amazement which that of a person 
 aroused from sound sleep by a crash of splintering glass 
 might be expected to exhibit. 
 
 " Ain't it too bad ! " repeated Mrs. Card. " They was 
 your birthday present. I had 'em done by a man who 
 come round and took 'em to the city to enlarge. I can't 
 see how it happened I thought I saw to it that them 
 hooks was solid " She examined the hole in the 
 plaster from which the hook had been torn, and then 
 turned again to the shattered picture. " It wouldn't have 
 been so bad if it had been John's picture, because I've 
 got another photograph of him, but hers got spoiled some-
 
 144 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 how when they was doin' the work on it. The man felt 
 dreadful about it, and offered to throw in her frame for 
 nothing, but I wouldn't let him. I got both the pictures 
 done for nothing; all I had to pay for was the frames. 
 I knew you would be so glad to have your dear pa an' 
 ma looking down at you every morning when you first 
 waked up. Of course, you was too young to know your 
 pa, but I knew your mother's picture would be a great 
 comfort to you." 
 
 Colinette reached up and drew her grandmother's face 
 down to hers. 
 
 " Don't you care, grandmother ! Don't you care ! I've 
 got you, alive and well and hearty; that's worth all the 
 pictures in the world. Now don't you care. And your 
 boy's picture is up there all safe and nice and I'm 
 awfully grateful to you." 
 
 " You remember what day this is, I s'pose ? " 
 
 " My birthday, isn't it ? " 
 
 ' Yes, and dear, dear, all spoiled ! " She released 
 herself from Colinette's clinging arms and bent once 
 more above the shattered picture. " Well, that's the fun- 
 niest break I ever see.. It must have sort of hit on one 
 corner " 
 
 ' Yes, it must have hit on one corner," Colinette agreed 
 hastily, " and sort of sort of exploded." 
 
 After breakfast Mrs. Dunlap and Susan came over 
 and heard the news of the accident with suitable aston- 
 ishment and condolences. Colinette was not in the room 
 when they arrived and Susan found her in the woodshed 
 trying to glue up a gouge in the leather of her right shoe, 
 which looked as if it might have been cut by broken glass.
 
 XII 
 
 THE next week was a busy one indeed in the Dunlap 
 and Card households; busier than the older members 
 dreamed of. In the first part of it Mrs. Card's dress 
 was finished with such skill and neatness as to astonish 
 that good lady. Aunt Rinthy Pickens was obliged to 
 own that " it was the most becomin' thing Gram' ma Card 
 had ever had on her back." She would hardly credit 
 the story of Colinette's having made it almost entirely 
 alone. 
 
 " I never see anybody learn to sew so quick in my 
 life," asserted Mrs. Card, holding the garment aloft for 
 the inspection of the assembled family. Susan snorted, 
 and buried her nose in her handkerchief, while Colinette 
 groaned inwardly, anticipating what lay before her in the 
 light of her newly discovered ability. 
 
 Thursday night the first real meeting of " The Bats " 
 took place in the secret club room. Villie Klatz was 
 initiated, and although a good deal startled, went through 
 the performance like a stoic. Gusta, however, was not 
 so calm, and certain noises issued from the old haunted 
 hotel which might well have given color to the legends 
 regarding the place in the mind of some chance passerby. 
 
 Colinette allowed Villie to pay a dolla-r for his own 
 club badge and his sister's, but she would take nothing 
 from Susan, because Susan had furnished the lamp. 
 
 i45
 
 146 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 Friday evening Rob Dunlap and Helen Pickens were 
 initiated, much to Susan's astonishment. These recruits 
 had come in through the labors of Colinette, who in- 
 trigued Rob by talking of the fiddle which he had been 
 yearning for and of a place to practice where no one 
 would mind the noise, and of a place to cache said riddle 
 away from meddling brotherly fingers. Helen had been 
 cajoled, flattered coerced, it might almost be said 
 by a will stronger than her own. She had also been 
 basely deceived as to the place of meeting, otherwise ap- 
 peals would have been in vain. Perhaps the novelty of 
 taking a step without the dominating guidance of her 
 mother attracted Helen, although in doing it she merely 
 passed from one domination to another. But there was 
 something invigorating in the change. 
 
 With the admission of these two members the badge 
 debt was cancelled, and " The Bats " became an assured 
 fact. 
 
 As chief of " the swarm " so they designated their 
 association Colinette wore the green-eyed bat, and was 
 known as " The Green-eyed One." It was the intention 
 of the club to gather in Elmer Dunlap and one or two 
 others before the beginning of school, but for several 
 reasons they did not. In the first place Rob and Susan 
 were sure that no one could succeed in coaxing Elmer 
 into a place where he was likely to be frightened, and 
 that if he managed to stand the strain of initiation, he 
 would not live up to his vows and keep the secrets of the 
 organization. 
 
 " And the very life of this business is the wicked 
 secrecy of it," Colinette told Susan.
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 147 
 
 One night, by means of the prearranged signals, the 
 Green-eyed One called a special meeting. These meet- 
 ings usually took place between dusk and dark, just when 
 nature's bats are in the habit of disporting themselves; 
 darting here and there on the lookout for their evening 
 meal. The Green-eyed One had news, and a proposition 
 to make. The janitor's job at the church was going beg- 
 ging. Why not elect a figurehead, one of the boys prefer- 
 ably, and then the entire swarm divide up both the work 
 and the wages ? This was agreed upon, and a week later 
 when Villie Klatz became nominal janitor, each Bat 
 promised to perform a certain amount of labor, and re- 
 ceive hi= or her share of the spoils. This influx of needed 
 funds gave the doll theatre a great impetus. The dolls 
 were ordered by express, the package duly received by 
 Villie Klatz and conveyed to the scene of their future 
 triumphs. The two boy Bats disdained this childish 
 branch of the organization; they were satisfied with the 
 mystic meetings, the conjuring up of new horrors to add 
 to the initiation rites, and the rather boastful reports of 
 how they were coming on in their separate and individual 
 plans for " going after " what they wanted. Rob never 
 passed the music store these days without going in to 
 gaze with anticipatory yearnings at certain yellow-backed 
 beauties, one of which would in time be his very own, 
 tucked under his own chin, and producing the wails dear 
 to the heart of the student of violin music. Sometimes 
 he sat up in bed and filled Elmer with curiosity by ex- 
 tending one arm, wriggling his fingers wildly, meanwhile 
 sawing with the other arm. 
 
 Villie manufactured a square frame which screwed to-
 
 148 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 gether at its eight corners and rested on a platform table- 
 high from the floor. It could be reduced to an incon- 
 spicuous pile of sticks at almost an instant's notice. This 
 was to serve as the framework of the theatre, which had 
 by this time become so greatly endeared to the heart of 
 the Green-eyed One and her companions that they were 
 determined to salvage it at any time when The Bats might 
 be routed from their hidingplace by the strong arm of 
 authority and sent homeless into an unsympathetic world. 
 
 Villie had the advantage of Rob in that every time the 
 janitor's salary was divided he hurried to the hardware 
 store and bought a new tool. First a Disston saw, next 
 a plane, a Yankee drill, a fine and accurate square. 
 Sometimes he worked in the Pickens's barn, but later on 
 set up a veritable carpenter shop in an upstairs room of 
 the old hotel where he manufactured stage properties ac- 
 cording to the directions and under the supervision of the 
 Green-eyed One. Each of the four girls owned two of 
 the dolls and for a time the rivalry ran high as to whose 
 dolls were the prettiest and the best dressed. Susan made 
 most of the clothes, developing as she did so a passionate 
 affection for the little wooden actresses. Gusta and 
 Helen almost came to blows over the respective charms 
 of theii wards. 
 
 At last the night of the first play arrived. The stage 
 stood by mysteriously draped in curtains made from 
 horse blankets furnished by Helen Pickens. The illumin- 
 ation was woefully inadequate Susan's purloined lamp 
 but the story, written and recited by the Green-eyed 
 One, was dramatic in the extreme and the little characters 
 really lifelike posed before scenes which Colinette had
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 149 
 
 painted on Mrs. Card's discarded window blinds. The 
 audience of four, Villie, Gusta, Helen and Rob, voted the 
 effort a success although a character fainted now and 
 then where no such event was marked in the prompt book, 
 and the stage was so dark that one discerned the scenery 
 with difficulty. The play, however, was all too short, 
 and the author, stage manager, and audience alike re- 
 gretted the fact that they dare not linger to talk the mat- 
 ter over for fear of exciting suspicion at their several 
 homes. 
 
 The play occurred on Thursday night, because on that 
 night the feminine members of the involved families 
 usually attended prayer-meeting and the masculine mem- 
 bers were easily satisfied with some such meek announce- 
 ment as, " I am going over to Colinette's a minute," or, 
 " up to Helen's," or, " over to Gusta's." Of course both 
 Villie Klatz and Rob Dunlap had arrived at that most 
 longed-for age when the small-town boy goes " out " and 
 " down " and stays as late as he pleases, " so long as he 
 gets in by nine." 
 
 " Getting shut of Elmer " was Rob's greatest problem. 
 
 It was remarkable, the shifts he was obliged to em- 
 ploy to be rid of that persistent brother until he had a 
 mind to withdraw his objections and allow the Green- 
 eyed One to have her way and take Elmer into the 
 " swarm." 
 
 These were busy and happy days for Colinette. Per- 
 haps if she had found more leisure she might have 
 dreaded more the beginning of school with its new prob- 
 lems, social and educational, awaiting her. But what 
 with the dusky flittings of " The Bats," the writing of a
 
 150 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 new play and the painting of new scenery, the gathering 
 and threshing the bean crop, harvesting the sweet peas 
 and other flower seeds, washing dishes, and, more im- 
 portant than all, designing and making over Susan's 
 brown dress, she really came bump up against the first 
 day of school without a tremor. 
 
 Even that first day, intended by the Morning Glories 
 to show " that new girl from above the railroad her 
 place once and for all " was so colored for Colinette by 
 the fact that Susan's dress was the smartest and most 
 up-to-date dress in the school room, that she really over- 
 looked the Morning Glories entirely until reminded of 
 their existence and her own supposed inferiority by over- 
 hearing Gertie Calkins designate her " the waif." 
 
 Another straw to show the direction of the wind was 
 the sudden coolness of Helen Pickens, Helen, whose 
 mother had lately mourned the fact that " she seemed 
 possessed to stick around John's girl all the time ! " That 
 she was " getting worse than Susan Taylor on that 
 score!" When Mrs. Pickens spoke disparagingly of 
 young Susan she always gave her her own name. 
 
 " You see where Helen stands, don't you? " demanded 
 Susan scornfully as the two walked home alone from that 
 first day of school. "Nice one she is, ain't she to 
 stick to her friends and sister club members ! You mark 
 me, Colinette, she'll come handing in her bat badge one of 
 these days ! She'll twist her mouth in that sanctimonious 
 way of hers and say that she doesn't think the Bats are 
 nice! Or some other excuse, and then she'll resign and 
 probably bleat out all our club secrets, where we meet 
 and everything. Then Mr. Plummer will forbid us hold-
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 151 
 
 ing meetings in his storehouse any more, and the whole 
 club will blow up." 
 
 Colinette shrugged her shoulders. 
 
 " We'll get some new members in, no doubt. And 
 Helen hasn't resigned yet; let's not cross the bridge till 
 we reach it." 
 
 Before the end of the first month of school, however, 
 The Bats were called upon to cross the bridge of Helen's 
 resignation. It came about through her failing to re- 
 spond to " the high call " for a meeting. Villie Klatz 
 had run across a whistle with two distinct notes, one high, 
 the other extremely high. It struck Villie as appro- 
 priate for the calling together of Bats. 
 
 " You know," explained Villie, " a real bat he squeaks 
 up so high you can't almost hear him yet," and he pre- 
 sented the whistle to the Green-eyed One. 
 
 " If you call high, we'll come," said Villie. " If you 
 call awful high, we'll come sure and come in a hurry." 
 
 During a certain noon hour Gertrude Calkins and two 
 or three of her most faithful followers and club mem- 
 bers were as usual gathered in a close knot by the front 
 entrance. A dozen boys or more, among whom were 
 Neal Brackley, Jeff Plummer, Villie Klatz and Elmer 
 Dunlap were also on the front walk holding what might 
 be called a baseball wrangle as Susan Dunlap and 
 Colinette arrived after having been home for lunch. 
 
 As they came into the school yard a wild cackling broke 
 out among the Morning Glory girls, and Lila Merton 
 called out, " Oh, Neal, Gertie Calkins has something in 
 her hand which you would be wild to see if you knew 
 what it was! "
 
 152 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 " Oh, you mean thing! " piped Gertie Calkins, darting 
 from the group. " How dare you tell ! Now he'll take 
 it way from me by force; the great strong Oh, you 
 shan't have it ! You shan't ! " for Neal Brackley had ac- 
 cepted the very obvious challenge. 
 
 The two bent and swayed in the struggle, Gertie 
 squeaking for Lila to " come and save her, or Lizzie Wil- 
 liams, or anybody ! " 
 
 Suddenly she threw the disputed object a wad of 
 writing paper forth upon the walk, crying out for 
 " somebody to save it! " 
 
 It fell at Colinette's feet. She caught it up and was 
 off like a rocket, Neal Brackley in hot pursuit. 
 
 Her intention had been merely to thread her way be- 
 tween the pupils in a mazy hair-and-hounds tangle, reach 
 Gertie Calkins' side and restore her property. But Neal 
 doubled upon her so dexterously that he nearly caught 
 her. In the jumble she passed the crumpled paper into 
 the fist of Villie Klatz with the injunction to " Keep 
 it! " The transfer was seen by a dozen pupils, but not 
 by Neal Brackley. Around the schoolhouse went 
 Colinette, fluttering just beyond the reach of the boy's 
 fingers, both laughing, both red-faced, persistent, and en- 
 joying the race. Colinette ran out upon the walk, head- 
 ing around the block. Neal followed. At the angle of 
 the street farthest from the school house Neal stumbled, 
 stopped, sat down heavily upon a stone coping and 
 grasped his ankle with both hands. He turned a wry 
 face to Colinette who came back at once. 
 
 "Hurt?" she asked. Neal groaned, and Colinette 
 threw prudence to the wind and ran back to him.
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 153 
 
 " Ah, ha ! Miss Butterfly ! " he triumphed, catching 
 her by the wrist, " I'll trouble you for my paper, or 
 whatever it was that Gertie wanted me to see." 
 
 Colinette regarded him with startled eyes. 
 
 41 Do you really think she wanted you to see it ? " 
 
 " Of course she did; that's a girl's way." 
 
 " Oh. I didn't know." 
 
 " Awh, come off ! You did know ; you would have 
 done the same thing." 
 
 "I? Never!" 
 
 Neal laughed hectoringly. " Oh, yes, you would ; you 
 would have done it just the same way." 
 
 " Susan wouldn't." 
 
 "Susan?" 
 
 " My cousin, Susan Dunlap." 
 
 " Susan is a wonderful girl, then." 
 
 " Susan is a wonderful girl, but this school doesn't 
 seem to know it." 
 
 " I'm not to blame for that. I'm new in this school." 
 
 " How badly is your ankle hurt? " 
 
 " Just bad enough to trap you." He stood up and 
 " clogged " a few steps, still keeping his hold upon 
 Colinette's wrist. 
 
 " Please let me go ; I haven't got your paper. I slipped 
 it to Villie Klatz as I ran past." 
 
 "To Villie Klatz? Oh, well, Gertie has it by this 
 time then, and I'll have to scuffle for it again when I get 
 back." 
 
 " No, she will not have it. Villie Klatz will (give that 
 paper up to no one but me." 
 
 "Are you such great chums you and Villie ? "
 
 154 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 " Well, Villie Klatz and I belong to the same " she 
 hesitated a moment over the word " gang " and then fin- 
 ished " club." 
 
 " Say ! I'm interested in this. Jeff Plummer told me 
 there was a club of some kind up in his neighbor- 
 hood." 
 
 " What did Jeff Plummer say about the club up in 
 his neighborhood ? " 
 
 " He said a girl asked him to join, but he wouldn't." 
 
 "Yes, that is so; Susan asked him, but he wouldn't." 
 
 "And Villie Klatz belongs, you say?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Well, tell us all about it." 
 
 "Let go of my wrist and I will tell you all that I 
 am free to tell you." 
 
 " If I let go you'll skip out again. I don't want the 
 boys to know that a girl can outrun me. They call me 
 sissy once in a while now 1 ,." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Oh, I don't play very good ball, you know ; I play 
 the piano instead. But tell me about your club. I'll 
 join." 
 
 "If you are really a sissy boy you couldn't join our 
 club." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " You couldn't stand the initiation rites. They're 
 frightful!" 
 
 " Fri what do you mean? " 
 
 " Scareful." 
 
 "Good! I'm bound to join now." 
 
 " You mean if the club votes to have you join."
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 155 
 
 " Oh, everybody can't trickle in, eh ? " 
 
 " No, you have to possess certain qualities in order 
 to get in." 
 
 "What, for instance?" 
 
 " You have to be brave, to begin with." 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " And ambitious. Please let go of my wrist. I prom- 
 ise not to run away nor to tell back in the school yard 
 that you didn't overtake me." He let her go. 
 
 " Now tell me all about that club of yours. Has it 
 anything to do with this Morning Glory Club that the 
 girls are after me to join? " 
 
 " Nothing." Colinette set her lips in a rigid line. " In 
 fact, if you join the Morning Glory Club that cuts you 
 out of ours." 
 
 " What's the name of your club? " 
 
 " We are The Bats, because we meet at night in secret 
 places." 
 
 " Say, I'm plum crazy over this business. Jeff Plum- 
 mer is going to join the Morning Glories; I'll coax him 
 out of it and have him join " 
 
 "Jeff Plummer isn't eligible for The Bats; he's been 
 asked to join and refused. It's too late for Jeff Plum- 
 mer." 
 
 " But you would like me, wouldn't you ? " 
 
 " I'll take in your name tonight." 
 
 " All right. But mind, I shall be sore if the initiation 
 isn't up to the advertisement." 
 
 " You mean scareful enough? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Don't worry. There's the bell." She jumped up
 
 156 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 from the stone coping where she had been sitting. " We 
 must go." 
 
 " Jeff Plummer told me that you were the only girl 
 in this town who wasn't afraid of anything." 
 
 " Jeff Plummer is mistaken; I am afraid of some things 
 one thing in particular." 
 
 " Tell me what it is." 
 
 Colinette shook her head. 
 
 The pupils were flowing into the school entrance when 
 the two arrived, but the knot of Morning Glories were 
 still outside and in a bad temper. Gertie Calkins ap- 
 proached Colinette with fire in her eyes. 
 
 " Will you please tell that big big lout ! to give me 
 my paper? I saw you give it to him after you ran off 
 with it." 
 
 Colinette' s eyes narrowed under dusky lashes. She 
 smiled up at Villie Klatz, who stood like a stone image, 
 impervious alike to teasing protests from the girls and 
 threats from the boys. 
 
 "Thank you, Villie." She held out her little hand 
 and the wad of paper plumped into it at once. 
 
 " I tole 'em I'd give it to Colinette an' to nobody else," 
 announced Villie triumphantly. 
 
 Colinette handed the crumpled bit over to the presi- 
 dent of the Morning Glories, her mien that of a scorn- 
 ful princess. 
 
 " I'll thank you, Miss, not to butt into our affairs after 
 this ! " Gertie threw at her. 
 
 " I hope you'll excuse me," returned Colinette. " I 
 didn't know that, all the time, you wanted Neal Brackley 
 to see the paper. I thought you meant what you said;
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 157 
 
 that you didn't want him to see it. I am sorry that I 
 interfered." 
 
 That night the Green-eyed One sounded the High Call 
 for The Bats to assemble in extra session for the purpose 
 of voting on Neal Brackley's name as a candidate for 
 membership.
 
 XIII 
 
 THE Morning Glory Club met the same night on which 
 the " high call " was sounded above the railroad. The 
 majority of the members did not know of the meeting, 
 but this was immaterial; the club was not particularly 
 democratic. In fact, it was exceedingly autocratic. 
 Gertie Calkins, with Lila Morton and Lizzie Williams 
 as her faithful henchmen, were really the Morning Glory 
 Club. The remaining members were only notified when 
 a collection was to be taken up to defray the expenses 
 of one of their frequent social affairs, and, when Gertie 
 thought best, were allowed to attend metings. But when 
 real business was to be transacted the committee carried 
 the burden alone. 
 
 On this night there was very particular business to be 
 looked after. The three girls met in the Calkins parlor, 
 a pretentious, well-kept room, where everything was 
 strictly up to date and just as it should be; where a fire 
 never shone in the ornate grate; where no one ever 
 glanced at the dun-colored reproductions of Burne Jones' 
 " Youth," " Sir Galahad," and the wickedly-smiling 
 " Mona Lisa," which adorned the walls, nor touched the 
 shining teeth of the grand piano. This room was really 
 a parlor, but the Calkinses did not call it by that old- 
 fashioned name, and would have resented its being called 
 so by others. 
 
 " Wasn't it dreadful the way our grandmothers did," 
 
 158
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 159 
 
 Mrs. Calkins would say in talking with members of her 
 bridge club, " to set aside a room which was never opened 
 save when there was a death or wedding in the family? 
 I can remember how musty such rooms smelled." 
 
 Mrs. Calkins' " living-room " did not smell musty, but 
 it always smelled of varnish, as if the piano and the white 
 enamel paint had been newly gone over. The phono- 
 graph was in the dining-room, and a worn leather chair 
 where Mr. Calkins " flopped down " to read the paper, 
 but the family really lived upstairs in the bedrooms ; the 
 living-room belonged exclusively to chance callers, Mrs. 
 Calkins' bridge club, and the Morning Glories. 
 
 "Well, ain't it the limit!" breathed Gertie, and both 
 the other girls heartily agreed with their chief that " it 
 was the limit ! " 
 
 Lila Merton was a soft pretty little thing with large 
 blue eyes, a rosebud mouth and a slight lisp. She was 
 the daughter of the Redmoon physician. 'Lizzie Smith's 
 widowed mother was the town's dressmaker, and Lizzie's 
 prestige in the Morning Glory Club came through her 
 advance knowledge of " what was going to be worn," and 
 her willingness to adapt herself to the wishes of her supe- 
 rior. She was as nearly colorless in physical makeup 
 and disposition as a girl could be and retain any indi- 
 viduality at all. She was pale as to complexion, lips, 
 hair, eyes, and taste in dress, but like all such, she had 
 deep within herself a pallid cold demon of jealousy and 
 envy. 
 
 " I don't think Neal Brackley showed off very well 
 mixing up with that above-the-railroad crowd," lisped 
 Lila.
 
 160 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 " Oh, Neal ! Neal's a boy ! " returned Gertie. 
 
 " M-m-m-m-m," breathed Lizzie Smith. 
 
 "Wasn't it the limit, the way that girl butted in?" 
 demanded Gertie again. 
 
 " I'll say it was," agreed Lila. 
 
 " M-m-m-m-m ! " murmured Lizzie. 
 
 " And wait, girls ; you don't "know the worst." Gertie 
 lowered her voice impressively. " She's trying to get up 
 a rival club; a club of folks who live above the rail- 
 road!" 
 
 " Well, you should worry ; with Villie Klatz and that 
 Dunlap crowd in it, I presume. It'll be just funny, that's 
 all." 
 
 " But wait till I tell you ! They asked Jeff Plummer 
 to join imagine!" All three girls laughed, Lizzie 
 Smith allowing her " M-m-m-m " to rise into a ladylike 
 little shriek. 
 
 " And Jeff refused, of course? " 
 
 " Yes, but " Gertie paused to give her next announce- 
 ment due weight " they asked Neal Brackley, and he 
 is going to! " 
 
 " M-m-m-m ! " shrieked Lizzie. 
 
 " You don't mean it ! " Lila was properly impressed. 
 " I wish we had gone to him during vacation and got 
 him into the M. G.'s. Oh, we must have Neal; his 
 mother, you know, and his music and his dancing " 
 
 " Of course, we'll have him sooner or later, but I 
 don't want to give her the satisfaction of " 
 
 " No-o-o-o." 
 
 "M-m-m-m!" Lizzie managed to throw into her
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 161 
 
 gentle purr a solemn negative quality which always 
 pleased her superior. 
 
 " Girls, we must break up that crowd ! " 
 
 The others agreed to this readily enough and awaited 
 further suggestions as to how the breaking was to be 
 accomplished. 
 
 " We must do something stunning something new ! " 
 
 Everybody agreed again, but here their ideas hung 
 fire in a bunch, and they decided to consult the rest of 
 the club. Someone among them might be able to think 
 of something brilliant to do. 
 
 At this point in the discussion Lizzie Smith made a 
 suggestion which, in itself distasteful to her associates, 
 loomed as a possible necessity. 
 
 " You might ask a couple of their leaders to join us. 
 No one has ever yet refused to be a Morning Glory when 
 they have been asked." 
 
 Lila Merton cried out against such a measure. Above- 
 the-railroaders let into the M. G.'s; horrors! But the 
 idea had taken hold of Gertie. 
 
 " We'd better do it," she announced. " If we don't 
 want them, after awhile we can ask them to resign. 
 We'll invite the Gard girl and that Helen Pickens " 
 
 " Is Helen Pickens a member of this new club? " 
 
 " I don't know; but we can ask her, and if she is, we 
 can make her a Morning Glory for awhile, anyhow. 
 I dare say she is one of the leaders. Her father is as 
 rich as mud, and she has always been hanging after us 
 and trying to bore into the M. G.'s. She couldn't, so 
 now I presume she and this Gard girl have made up to
 
 162 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 start a club of their own. If only they'd stay in their 
 own territory nobody would kick, but Neal Brack- 
 ley!" 
 
 "Rotten!" said Lila. 
 
 " M-m-m-m ! " purred Lizzie with a curling lip. 
 
 Helen Pickens did not respond to " the high call " that 
 night, and the Green-eyed One was informed of her rea- 
 son for failing to do so at the night's meeting of The 
 Bats. The members came silently slipping through the 
 old hotel entrance, down the cellar stairs, through the 
 tunnel and basement of the storehouse into the club 
 room proper. A heavy horse-blanket hung at either win- 
 dow, effectually shutting in the none too brilliant light 
 of the one small lamp. First Villie and Gusta Klatz, 
 then Susan and Rob Dunlap; lastly the Green-eyed One, 
 who promptly called the club to order. Against the north 
 wall of the club room stood the miniature theatre, the 
 dark folds of the front curtain swaying mysteriously as 
 if the eight lifelike little actors hidden behind its folds 
 were quietly moving about like live persons. When a 
 play was in progress the table which supported the frame- 
 work was moved out against the east window so that it 
 faced the long way of the room. In that position there 
 would have been room for twenty-five persons to see the 
 play, Colinette had said wistfully on the occasion of the 
 second performance as she gazed at the regulation au- 
 dience of four. It was her part to run the curtain and 
 read the play, while Susan, behind the scene, posed the 
 dolls in tableaux. 
 
 "Where's Helen?" asked Colinette.
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 163 
 
 " She ain't a comin'." Villie Klatz handed in the 
 news regretfully. " I don't believe she's goin' to belong 
 any more." 
 
 " She stood around and soaked in everything that was 
 said about you yesterday when you were chasing after 
 Gertie Calkins' property," scolded Susan, " and she's 
 afraid if she associates with you, or with her own cousins 
 and neighbors it's going to injure her standing in society." 
 
 " Well, let her go to thunder! " growled Rob Dunlap. 
 
 " Ye-ah ! I say so, too," said Villie. 
 
 " Order ! " commanded the Green-eyed One, but her 
 heart was heavy. She had counted on Helen's surprise 
 and delight at the news she had for the club. 
 
 " I think she will be all right after I have talked with 
 her tomorrow, especially after she hears the news. Neal 
 Brackley wants to join The Bats. He asked me to take 
 in his name." A murmur of discreet applause arose. 
 " All in favor of Neal Brackley for a member give the 
 high call." The vote was unanimous. 
 
 "Jeff Plummer would like to reconsider his refusal 
 and come in. All in favor of Jeff Plummer " 
 
 Villie voted no immediately. So did Rob. Both girls 
 voted for Jeff to be admitted. This threw the decision 
 into the hands of the Green-eyed One, who said she would 
 take the matter under consideration. 
 
 " Neal Brackley says he hopes the initiation is fright- 
 ful. He says if it isn't just awfully fearful he shall be 
 disappointed. Let's see to it, Brothers of the Night, 
 that he is not disappointed. If any of you can think of 
 some frightful things that are not in our initiation rite 
 now, let me know. We shall take in the new member
 
 164 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 next Wednesday night. Helen promised to bring two 
 more lamps tonight, so that we could have better lighting 
 on our stage, but I suppose we can manage to get along 
 with the same old light." 
 
 After the regular meeting was adjourned the club fell 
 to discussing informally the same old question as to 
 whether or not Elmer Dunlap was to be admitted as a 
 member. Elmer was the great obstacle in the flight of 
 The Bats. Elmer, who did not go to lodge, to prayer 
 meeting nor to bed in any reasonable time. If he were 
 to be admitted to membership the necessity of dodging 
 him would be done away with, but as usual, the meeting 
 closed without coming to a decision. 
 
 The next day Helen Pickens was seen in animated con- 
 versation with two of the Morning Glories, and on the 
 way home handed in her formal resignation from The 
 Bats. 
 
 "Oh, Helen!" remonstrated Susan, "when we were 
 just getting everything fixed up so lovely, and when " 
 She stopped short at a vigorous sign for silence from 
 the Green-eyed One. 
 
 "What's your reason for leaving The Bats?" de- 
 manded Colinette. 
 
 "If you want to know," Helen tossed her head and 
 pursed her mouth in her most provoking manner, " I've 
 been invited to join the M. G.'s, and I'm going to." 
 
 " What will you do with poor little Roxelana and Con- 
 stance?" These were the names of the two jointed 
 actresses which belonged personally to Helen. 
 
 " Oh, you may have the dolls ; I've lost interest in them 
 anyway. It was child's play and nothing else."
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 165 
 
 As a desperate measure the Green-eyed One gave her 
 consent to the telling Helen about Neal Brackley. Helen 
 would not believe that Neal Brackley would join an 
 above-the-railroad club. 
 
 " You'll see," she told her cousin, " Neal Brackley is 
 going to join the Morning Glory Club. So is Jeff Plum- 
 mer. We're going to give a grand show this winter 
 a concert. Gertie says they want me to play either a 
 piano solo or a duet with Nea well, anyhow, with some- 
 body. It's to be a real entertainment; not a lot of dolls in 
 a make-believe theatre." 
 
 " I suppose, then, you won't furnish the two extra 
 lamps ? " asked Colinette sadly. 
 
 " I don't know why I should, seeing that I'm not going 
 to belong any more." 
 
 " And the blankets at the windows ; you'll want to 
 take them, too, I suppose ? " 
 
 "I think so. You see, they're dad's; I just loaned 
 them to The Bats." 
 
 " All right. Villie will carry them home after the 
 next meeting." 
 
 It was a blow to the Green-eyed One this backslid- 
 ing of the member best fitted to fill the many wants of 
 the club. 
 
 " But remember this, Helen Pickens, the secrets you 
 vowed to keep must be kept just the same, even if you 
 are not a Bat any more; you know that, I suppose? " 
 
 " Oh, I shan't care to tell any of my crowd about The 
 Bats, you may be sure. I only hope they won't hear from 
 anybody else that I ever was one and bought jointed 
 dolls and broke into deserted houses that didn't belong
 
 166 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 to me why, my goodness ! it was terrible. And if my 
 mother ever dreamed I had done such things I don't 
 know what she would do to me." 
 
 " She will never know from any of us, you may be 
 sure of that," promised Colinette. 
 
 " You will give up the Bat Club now anyway, won't 
 you? I don't see how you can manage without blankets 
 at the windows to keep the light from showing." 
 
 " Are your father's horse-blankets the only blankets in 
 the world?" demanded Colinette coldly. Helen did not 
 reply to this. 
 
 " Maybe gram'ma will lend us some bed-quilts," sighed 
 Susan. She was in the depths of a great disappoint- 
 ment. Not that she cared so deeply for the fate which 
 seemed to threaten The Bats, but she could see how it hurt 
 Colinette, and whatever hurt Colinette hurt Susan. And 
 it had been a world of fun making the stage costumes 
 for Rosey and Inez and the rest oh, a world of fun. 
 And the dolls had been so safe from Elmer's destructive 
 ringers. 
 
 " I wish," faltered Helen. 
 
 " Out with it," encouraged her cousin bruskly. She 
 was afraid Helen was going to demand the return of 
 that piece of pink silk lining of which Rosey's newest 
 stage costume had just been made. But it was not the 
 pink silk that Helen asked for. 
 
 " I wish you girls would promise me never to tell any 
 of my crowd Gertie or Neal or Jeff or Lila that I 
 ever belonged to that er barn club, with hired men 
 like Villie " 
 
 " Don't say a word against Villie Klatz not to me
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 167 
 
 anyway, Helen. Villie Klatz is a gentleman if ever 
 there was one. Don't ever say one word to me against 
 Villie!" 
 
 Helen sneered. " Gertie said yesterday at school that 
 she could see that you stood in pretty solid with that big 
 Dutchman. It was that which made me sick of The 
 Bats " 
 
 " Yes, very well. Villie is grand and good, but Villie 
 doesn't care the flip of his little finger about me or you 
 either. He is in love deeply in love with somebody 
 else." 
 
 Susan's face was flaming. She managed to step close 
 to her cousin and give her a vicious dig in the ribs. She 
 knew where Villie's preference lay, but Helen did not. 
 
 "How very interesting!" smirked Helen, adjusting 
 her glasses with a thin, clean hand: " Now you promise 
 again not to tell on me, and I promise I vow again, 
 never to reveal any Bat secrets. But if you take my 
 advice, girls, you will break up the Bat Club, or, at least, 
 meet respectably and in daylight." 
 
 " And call ourselves Mountain Daisies, or Spring Prim- 
 roses, or something like that, I suppose. Thank you for 
 the advice. Now I will take your pin, please." 
 
 " Oh, must I give that up ? " 
 
 :( You won't want to wear more than one club badge 
 at a time, will you? And tomorrow you will have one of 
 those fadey little flowers, I presume." 
 
 " I presume I shall," said Helen complacently, and un- 
 pinned the bat from the underside of her collar where she 
 wore it according to the usage of the club. 
 
 When the Morning Glories questioned Helen in regard
 
 168 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 to " that above-the-railroad club " as they called it, never 
 having heard the real name, she denied any knowledge of 
 such a club. 'When Lila Merton and Gertie Calkins 
 learned that she knew nothing of the rival club their 
 interest in Helen's music waned and they left her coldly 
 to seek Colinette Card. Helen looked on at the interview 
 which took place at recess. She saw Gertie and Lila and 
 Lizzie Williams gathered about Colinette; she saw them 
 fawning, even as they had fawned upon her yesterday, 
 and she knew very well what was being said; she saw 
 Colinette regarding them with that detached, far-away 
 look which she herself knew so well, that chilly stare 
 which bespoke an absent-minded lack of interest. It was 
 a very disagreeable look. She saw Colinette turn up 
 her belt and display the pin which she wore upon the 
 underside. Helen trembled. Was Colinette actually 
 showing them her Bat badge ? Was she owning that she 
 was a Bat, and would she keep the secret of Helen's hav- 
 ing been one that was, supposing they should ask her 
 right out ? And what could Colinette and Susan Dunlap 
 be thinking of to persist in keeping up the Bat Club in 
 the face of all that had happened? 
 
 She saw Colinette shake her head and make a motion 
 as if to move away from the group which seemed to 
 persist in surrounding and holding her. ! She saw Coli- 
 nette take her pencil and little drawing pad from her 
 pocket. When Colinette did that she was usually angry. 
 Gertie, Lila or Lizzie would appear on that pad shortly 
 and at a disadvantage. That was Colinette's way of 
 protecting herself against enemies of superior physical 
 strength who tried to hold her against her will.
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 169 
 
 The bell rang with Helen's curiosity unassuaged. She 
 took her seat with a great uneasiness tugging at her 
 heart. Could it be that the Morning Glories were going 
 .to take Colinette into their club, too? She hoped not. 
 It would cut her own triumph in half to share it with 
 Colinette. She had imagined that she had been asked 
 LO become a member because her father had money and 
 she could play the piano. But Colinette ! Why, she had 
 heard Gertie Calkins call Colinette " the waif! " ; she had 
 heard that a number of times. And Colinette was a 
 waif. She had no money; that is, none to speak of. 
 Mrs. Card was poor; no clothes, no standing of any sort, 
 and she lived above the railroad oh, no, she had been 
 mistaken; there was no reason why the Morning Glories 
 should invite Colinette into their select circle.
 
 XIV 
 
 " I SHAN'T be home very early tonight ; I'm going to 
 join some sort of club," Neal Brackley told his pretty 
 little mother. 
 
 " What sort of club is it, Neal, dear? I do hope there 
 is no harm in it; no mischief, or anything of that sort. 
 You must tell your mothe? 1 every bit about it when you 
 do come in. Remember how hard it is for mommie to 
 look after you without your father's help. Put on your 
 muffler; the nights are beginning to be quite cool. A 
 club, you say. Well, perhaps if you find me asleep when 
 you come in you had better not waken me. My first nap 
 is always my best." 
 
 " All right, dear. Good-by." He took her face be- 
 tween his palms, lover-like, and kissed her. She was a 
 very pretty little mother, and a very silly one, with her 
 crown of prematurely white hair, her baby-blue eyes, 
 and her pink-and-white complexion. Neal petted and 
 humored and flattered her, even as his father did, but 
 as to obeying her he did not know the meaning of 
 the word obey. 
 
 His mother preserved a fiction that Neal's father, 
 when home, required strict obedience, but in truth, Neal 
 ruled them both in a quiet despotic although benevolent 
 manner without being conscious that he did so. At an 
 early age the boy had recognized the inherent childishness 
 
 170
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 171 
 
 in both of his parents. His mother would always be 
 the little girl; spoiled, exacting, never consistent for two 
 hours at a stretch. His father was different. With his 
 boyishness went a certain lovableness, a comradery, which 
 appealed to his son's heart's best affections and wove a 
 bond between them undreamed of by the mother. 
 
 Neal clipped swiftly along the back street in the direc- 
 tion of the railroad. He was filled with a pleasurable 
 curiosity as to " what those above-the-railroad kids in- 
 tended to do with him that evening." Something ridicu- 
 lous and laughable no doubt. He liked that pretty little 
 Card girl with her deep, solemn eyes, her bright hair and 
 her sober lips. She was a queer, pretty little thing. 
 When she was grown up and through school she would 
 be just like his mother, frivolous and fond of dress and 
 - well empty-headed. Although, of course, mother 
 wasn't just exactly empty-headed, but Oh, hello! 
 Here he was at the Plummer corner where he had been 
 told to wait. 
 
 He wondered why he was to wait on Plummer' s cor- 
 ner ; Jeff wasn't to be in this lark. He was glad to hang 
 round Plummer's corner. The Plummer house was where 
 his dear old dad had spent his colorful boyhood; and that 
 not so very many years ago either. 
 
 He went a little way around the corner in order to 
 gaze up at the western bay which jutted out from the 
 second story. That had been his father's room. There 
 he had climbed out upon the roof of the verandah night 
 after night and slid down the waterpipes just for the 
 fun of doing something lawless something mysterious 
 and uncommon. Pity of it was that his family would
 
 172 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 have offered no objections to his walking straight out 
 of the front door and staying out until he saw fit to 
 come home. He had never stayed out very late nor done 
 wild or wicked things. In fact, he enjoyed himself most 
 back in the studio which his father had built for his 
 exclusive use at the south line of the lot and built all 
 wrong, not having consulted the one most concerned in 
 the matter of windows. 
 
 Neal wondered what the Plummers kept in his father's 
 old studio. Chicken feed perhaps, if they kept chickens; 
 or garden tools the rakes and the lawn-mowers. He 
 ventured a little farther away from the corner proper in 
 order to see the outlines of the building, massing in and 
 losing themselves in the shadows of the old hotel which 
 stood so close to it on the adjoining lot. 
 
 There was really not much to be seen. It was dark, 
 and a wet wind was blowing up from the southwest. It 
 swept down the side street with a chilly promise of rain. 
 
 A dark figure loomed before Neal actually loomed, 
 because whoever it was stood a half head taller than Neal 
 himself. 
 
 " This way," muttered the newcomer mysteriously, and 
 a tingle of something delightfully like fear ran through 
 Neal's veins. 
 
 The person propelling him with so much vigor switched 
 him off to the left and through a gaping black door be- 
 fore he had time to realize where he was. A whisper 
 in his ear announced : 
 
 " We give you ten minutes alone fo make up your 
 mind whether you want to go through with this business 
 or give it up."
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 173 
 
 Neal started to deny any impulse to give up, but in 
 the midst of his denial, heard a door close and knew that 
 he was alone. 
 
 He stood quite still where his unseen guide had left 
 him, and although he would not have owned as much 
 even to himself, he was not quite at his ease. He realized 
 that he was in the old haunted hotel house of darkness 
 and mystery. He was alone, and at first, the silence, like 
 the darkness, was perfect. A moment later he discerned at 
 what seemed an unaccountable distance the faint square of 
 a window looking out into the night, and even as he gazed 
 it darkened and he heard the splash of angry rain against 
 it and the wind whistled eerily. He decided to move in 
 the direction of the window and started to do so, but 
 something cold and flabby struck him in the face. He 
 threw out both hands without encountering anything. 
 
 Again that flabby touch, and this time his inquiring 
 hand grasped an object of such uncanny suggestions that 
 he let go quickly and, whatever it was, swung away into 
 the darkness. Again he started in the direction of the 
 window and again came in contact with that intangible 
 something in the reaching depths of the room. 
 
 He succeeded in grasping it this time, but let go again 
 immediately as he recognized what it was a bat ! He 
 distinctly felt its leathery wings, spread upon prickly, 
 umbrella-like spines ; its uncanny furry little body, and he 
 threw it from him in disgust. It escaped, but came back 
 again, bumping his cheek fearlessly. He dodged back 
 and forth to avoid it, and felt it clawing on the back 
 of his neck. He snatched at it, secured it this time, and 
 knew that it was no bat, but a great, hairy spider.
 
 174 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 He uttered an exclamation of horror and cold sweat 
 oozed out on his forehead. Then his better judgment 
 coming to his aid, he stood perfectly still and was troubled 
 no more. After awhile he put forth a hand which en- 
 countered an object in midair, hairy, spiney disgust- 
 ing. He pulled it and it seemed to avoid his clutch and 
 to spring forward. He tried again with the same re- 
 sult. Then he laughed softly. 
 
 " Rubber ! " he murmured. " Pretty cute ! Suspended 
 by rubber cords. Well, they made me sweat all right " 
 
 " Neal Brackley." 
 
 He started. The whisperer must have been light of 
 foot to be able to get so near without making any noise. 
 But the wind and rain were now making a good deal of 
 disturbance outside which well might have prevented 
 a footfall from being heard. 
 
 " Are you still anxious to become a Brother of the 
 Night?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Will you keep the secrets? " 
 
 " I will." 
 
 " You solemnly vow this ? " 
 
 " I do." 
 
 " I will take you to the haunted room to stand the test 
 of the terrible tale." A hand sought his, a smaller one 
 than that which had thrust him into this gloomy place. 
 He was sure that this hand belonged to a girl, but he could 
 see nothing. 
 
 They moved slowly over an uneven floor. A door 
 opened, letting them through into another room. They 
 crept up a stair, through a draughty hall and through
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 175 
 
 another door which closed behind them with a decided 
 click; a click which reminded the victim of the noise of 
 a trap shutting iron jaws together. 
 
 A box was thrust with some force against the calves 
 of his legs, and he sat down upon it without in the least 
 intending to sit down. The room was in darkness and 
 in silence save for the noise made by the storm outside. 
 But he had a feeling that there were others in the room 
 beside himself and his guide. 
 
 His guide sighed heavily, and the sigh was echoed 
 from all corners of the room. 
 
 " Ssh-h-h, do not speak," whispered the voice in his 
 ear. 
 
 " I didn't/' remonstrated Neal, slightly ruffled. 
 
 " This is the Haunted Chamber," went on the whisper- 
 ing voice. " One night long ago a man went to bed in 
 this room. People were dancing downstairs. The man 
 could hear the music and the feet of the dancers." (Sighs 
 from the darkness, and a whimpering noise as of girls 
 weeping.) "The man was just dropping to sleep " 
 ("Now comes the murder," thought Neal, and braced 
 himself for the horrible details.) "when he felt icy fin- 
 gers fumbling over his face." 
 
 The effect of this recital was considerably heightened 
 by the touch of an ice-cold hand upon his own cheek at 
 that moment. He started up with a smothered exclama- 
 tion. 
 
 " Sh-h-h ! " hissed the voice, and Neal subsided again. 
 The whispered tale went on. 
 
 " He tried to grasp the cold hand. He did grasp it 
 by the wrist. He ran his hand to the elbow and
 
 176 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 there the arm ended! There was no body belonging to 
 the arm!" 
 
 The cold fingers were on NeaFs forehead again. He 
 too grasped the wrist belonging to the fingers; instinc- 
 tively he followed the haunted man's example and ran his 
 hand up the arm as far as the elbow, where the arm 
 ended. There had been no body belonging to the arm 
 which had troubled the haunted man, there was no body 
 belonging to this arm. It fell heavily, lifelessly into the 
 boy's grasp. Struck with horror he hurled the object 
 from his hand and heard it strike a distant wall and fall 
 to the floor. The room was filled with fearful noises 
 groans and stifled shrieks. Neal felt like shrieking him- 
 self. Over somewhere in a far corner a girl began to 
 whimper quite naturally that, " if they didn't quit this 
 she was going to faint ! " It reassured him this little 
 human touch of reality. 
 
 " I will now take you to the mysterious cellar the 
 terrible cellar ! " promised the whispering voice, and Xeal 
 admitted to himself that he wished the initiation 
 were over. 
 
 With his mind filled with the ghostly tale he was led 
 into a hall once more, down a flight of stairs, through 
 innumerable rooms whose doors squeaked upon rust) 
 hinges, down another flight of rickety steps into the dank 
 atmosphere of a cellar. He heard steps going, he heard 
 steps coming, while his guide stood very still holding his 
 hand. The touch of that hand had a comfortable feel, 
 and when it was suddenly withdrawn, Xeal felt as if it 
 had pushed him off a dock into fathoms of black water.
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 177 
 
 " Go find a door! " the voice commanded close to his 
 ear. " If you can't find a door you will have to stay here 
 forever and ever! " 
 
 " Oh, no I won't," replied Neal confidently and feeling 
 very much like retaliating now on this club which had 
 at his request made its initiation rites fearful enough to 
 please the most exacting candidate, " I'll go right back up 
 the stairs and out that way " 
 
 " Don't fall into the open well ! " warned a sepulchral 
 .voice from somewhere above his head. 
 
 "Where are you?" demanded Neal. There was no 
 response. He swung his arms hoping to come in con- 
 tact with some human being, but there was no one near 
 him. He began to wander in the hope of locating the 
 stairs. He stamped about quite recklessly in order to 
 prove his entire disbelief in the reality of the open well 
 theory, and yet the picture of an open well yawning at 
 his feet was ever present in his mind as he stumbled 
 about in a vain search for the stairs. He fell over in- 
 numerable obstacles, stopping repeatedly to learn their 
 nature. He identified a pair of carpenter's horses, a 
 woodpile, many drygoods boxes, barrels, and once some- 
 thing which he decided to be a swinging churn. Then 
 his hands encountered a stone wall something tangible 
 at least and correspondingly comfortable. 
 
 Well, his captors had instructed him to hunt for a 
 door; he had taken it upon himself to disobey and search 
 for the stairs instead. He had not succeeded in having 
 his own way; he would now try theirs. He began to 
 scrub along the stones hunting eagerly for the suggested
 
 178 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 door. He ran into a long table, or carpenter's bench in 
 one section and a little farther on into a cupboard built 
 against the wall. 
 
 He proceeded hopefully until after he had tallied up 
 the fourth corner. 
 
 " Now," he muttered, " I have been clear around and 
 there is no door. They are kidding me." But he stum- 
 bled on, past the carpenter's bench again, and knew he 
 was in line for the cupboard, when a breath, a whiff of 
 earthy air struck his face. He thought of the open 
 well, and as he did so his groping hands lost the stones 
 and struck into space. He thrust forth a cautious foot 
 expecting to find the rim of the well, but the solid earth 
 was still underneath it. He stretched out his arms and 
 found a wall of earth on either side. Then he advanced 
 cautiously inch by inch and came at last plump against a 
 wooden barrier. The door at last !
 
 XV 
 
 THIS must be the door at the end of a tunnel which 
 had not been in existence on his first excursion around 
 the cellar. There was no latch or other fastening, but 
 when he pushed against the barrier it gave way slowly 
 and he found himself face to face with Villie Klatz. 
 Villie held a dim little lamp in his hand and laughed in 
 a welcoming way. 
 
 " I yess you got tru all right," he said. " I yess now 
 you're a good Bat. Come on up an' the Green-eyed One, 
 our boss, vill tell you the rest w'at you got to do." He 
 led the way up the little stairs, stopping to remark to Neal 
 who followed him, " Ain'dt it fun yet? " 
 
 It was astonishing what an illumination two oil lamps 
 made after all that darkness and mystery. All five Bats 
 shook hands with him, congratulated him and welcomed 
 him into the organization. 
 
 " You pulled it off all right," he assured Colinette. 
 " It's scarey enough ; and the worst of the outfit was 
 Villie's whooping up about that open well. I stood the 
 leather bats and the wax-thread spiders and the ghost 
 stories pretty well, but to wander round in a perfectly 
 dark cellar expecting every minute to go bumping from 
 stone to stone till I struck bottom fifty feet below Say, 
 Villie, did you think up that idea yourself? " 
 
 Villie grinned. 
 
 179
 
 i8o COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 " Is there really a well ? " 
 
 " I don't know ; there may be," said Villie. 
 
 " And where are we now ? Honestly, I'm so fuddled 
 why, this must be It is ! " 
 
 " Yes, it is," owned Colinette. 
 
 " Do the Plummers " 
 
 "No, they don't; and we don't want 'em to. When 
 the Plummers find out we'll have to move. That's why 
 we were glad Jeff refused to join; he might have told 
 and Mr. Plummer might have " Neal was not listen- 
 ing. 
 
 " So this is the studio father's father built for him, 
 with the windows all wrong and not enough of 'em!" 
 Neal took down a jar holding a preserved snake. He 
 held it gingerly. " Ugh ! This wasn't father's idea ; this 
 was another boy's collection. Father let him keep it here 
 in his den because his mother that is, the other boy's 
 mother, wouldn't have it about the house. And what's 
 in the big box behind the bedquilt? " 
 
 Susan was hurt. This was exactly what she had ex- 
 pected from this smart boy from below-the-railroad. 
 
 " That," said Colinette with dignity, " is not a bed- 
 quilt ; it's a horse-blanket that is, it was. It is now a 
 drop curtain and this is a theatre." She swept the gray 
 folds aside disclosing Susan's Rosey, Helen's Kitty 
 Candle, Gusta's Constance Malone, and her own beloved 
 Narka LaRick, all in appropriate Colonial costume, posed 
 before a backdrop representing a harvest field. Directly 
 behind the little people were " stocks " of grain, while 
 the cut stubble swept back and back to a horizon, misty 
 with summer, broken by faraway clumps of trees and
 
 faintly discerned fences. A pink farmhouse 
 point of contrast in the distance. The painted side scen- 
 ery and drop cloths took up the scheme and carried it for- 
 ward to the proscenium which framed it in. 
 
 Colinette held one of the lamps on one side, Susan 
 held another at the opposite side. The faces of both 
 girls were anxious. 
 
 " Great ! ' came the verdict at last. " Who made it? " 
 
 Colinette put down the lamp and drew the curtains. 
 Susan disappeared behind the theatre. 
 
 " We all did," explained Colinette eagerly. " We've 
 been working at it a long time." 
 
 ' \ ..o painted the scenery? " 
 
 " I did, and Villie made the properties you'll see 
 L.ose in a m.nute and Susan made the costumes " 
 
 " V. here did you get such nifty dolls? " 
 
 " We don't call them dolls," corrected Colinette, 
 " You see, they're really not dolls, they are actresses. 
 This is the Kitty Candle Unmoving Picture Company. 
 Zach of us girls bought two actresses well, Susan had 
 one of hers a long time ago yes, Susan's character was 
 really a doll. When Susan was young she played with 
 her as little girls really play with dolls. Her name was 
 Rosey, and it was she who put us in mind of this theatre 
 business; she looked so like a real little person standing 
 up and dancing. Once in the city I saw a puppet show, 
 but this is much better." 
 
 " There's a whole story to it," explained Villie. 
 " Culinette she made it up and, honest, Susan she shanges 
 'em around so fast that you'd most forgit that they ain't 
 doin' it themselves There; see? Ain'dt that cunnins' ? "
 
 i82 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 The curtain opened on an interior. A high-posted bed 
 with a comfortable roll to its edge and plump white 
 pillows just discernible behind flowered curtains. (" Old 
 summer dress of grandmohter's," Colinette explained. 
 Villie held the lamp which Susan had relinquished.) 
 There was a fireplace with a fowling piece hanging above 
 and an oven door at the side; a high-backed chair, a 
 braided rug and a hooded cradle. 
 
 " Great ! " repeated Neal. 
 
 "If only the lights were stronger," lamented Colinette. 
 " It's prettier in the daytime when you can see the colors." 
 
 " Great ! " Neal's artistic sense was fully alive to the 
 achievement. 
 
 " Say off the whole story and shange 'em round quick 
 the way you done before," commanded Villie, greatly 
 elated by the effect the show was having on " the tony 
 boy from below-the-railroad." 
 
 " No, we haven't time," said a voice from the green 
 room, and the back drop rolled up to disclose Susan, 
 gigantic in comparison with the scale established by the 
 dolls and properties on the stage, " I'm nervous now for 
 fear my folks are home and looking for me." 
 
 " Oh, do give the whole play," begged Neal. But the 
 girls would not consent. Susan was already putting each 
 actor into its own box and closing up the theatre. 
 
 " Next meeting we will give the whole show and tell 
 you how we made the things," promised Colinette. 
 " Part of the paint I bought, and part we got from the 
 bottom of half-dried-up house-paint cans. The canvas 
 isn't canvas at all, but old window blinds and a good deal 
 of it is very rotten."
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 183 
 
 " Gracious ! What couldn't you have done with real 
 canvas, paints and brushes " 
 
 " I had real brushes," owned Colinette. " I borrowed 
 them." 
 
 " My father would like you," said Neal, " he'd think 
 you were a whirlwind. He'd get busy and help you 
 out in great shape." 
 
 " He has already," said Colinette, with a sheepish little 
 
 smile. " I think I'm almost sure he had loaned me 
 
 ^ 
 
 his brushes unconsciously, you know." 
 
 Everybody laughed, Villie so loud that Susan " Ssh- 
 h-h-hed " for silence. Colinette dragged out the paint 
 box and displayed its contents. 
 
 "I've kept the brushes all in good shape; never left 
 them to stiffen up " 
 
 " Why, when father comes home and I tell him about 
 this " began Neal, but was cuf short by a storm of 
 indignant protests. Tell his father? Didn't he remem- 
 ber his vows? He must tell nobody! He must not 
 mention the word Bat except to- someone who might be- 
 come a member of the club! 
 
 " It's a shame, though," he grumbled, " father would 
 enjoy this. Father's just a big kid Gee! I'd like to 
 help initiate father ! " 
 
 " AVe must wind up this meeting and git ! " said Susan. 
 " Now explain, oh, Green-eyed One, about the watch- 
 word, the High Call, and the price of the pin, and then 
 let's go along home." 
 
 The Green-eyed One proceeded to make these cryptic 
 matters plain to the newly initiated Bat. They also ex-
 
 184 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 plained that they did not call Colinette the Green-eyed 
 One because her eyes were green. 
 
 " They are, though," Neal interrupted them to remark, 
 " Dark green, like the sea in a storm." 
 
 But The Bats insisted that had nothing to do with the 
 title. Susan's eyes were black, yet sometime she would 
 be the Green-eyed One ; and Bob's eyes and Villie's were 
 both sort of buttermilky. 
 
 " And your eyes " Colinette peered at him as he 
 stood grinning, " well, I can't tell in this light." 
 
 " Veil, they're good enough already," said Villie 
 largely. 
 
 Neal was instructed as to the wearing of his badge 
 always concealed under the lapel of his coat; not openly 
 and glaringly as the blue morning glories were worn, be- 
 cause he was a Brother of the Night, secret, wicked 
 dreadful! That was the idea of the club; to get all the 
 fun of being secret and wicked and dreadful without 
 really being any one of the three, Colinette explained, and 
 Xeal voted the idea a tip-top one. 
 
 And the watchword of the club was Ambition. To be 
 a member of the club in good standing a Bat must have 
 at least one absorbing ambition ; an ambition to do some- 
 thing; to be something; to have something. They were 
 to tell that ambition freely to club members and each and 
 every Bat was under obligation to further that ambition 
 so far as lay in his or her power. They had taken one 
 member who had owned at the time of her entrance that 
 she did not have one ungratified desire. Her membership 
 had been a failure and she had left the club. 
 
 " And after all she did have one ambition," said Susan,
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 185 
 
 " Her ambition was to be a Morning Glory, so now let 
 her gratify it." 
 
 " Susan's and my ambition has been this little theatre 
 so far," explained Colinette. " Gusta's is a back-comb 
 with jewels in it; Villie's a complete toolchest whole 
 set of chisels, you know ; Rob's is a fiddle." 
 
 "A fiddle?" asked Neal. 
 
 " And of course, money for some lessons. He has 
 always wanted a fiddle, but his father doesn't approve of 
 the" noise of the practice around the house." 
 
 " I'll give you my fiddle," said Neal. " I have quite 
 a nice one that I shall never use in the world. My ambi- 
 tion is to play the piano well enough so that folks will 
 sit still in rows in a big theatre and listen will really 
 pay money to hear me play. So you see, I shall never 
 have any time to monkey with a fiddle." 
 
 Rob looked dazed by his sudden stroke of fortune. 
 He had not heretofore been a particularly enthusiastic 
 Bat. Susan put a damper on his enthusiasm. 
 
 " Pa won't let you have it round the house, you know 
 he wouldn't, and Elmer would fool with it and break 
 it, and Gram'ma Gard thinks fiddles are wicked because 
 folks play dance music on 'em." 
 
 " What's the matter with stabling the thing right 
 here?" suggested Neal. 
 
 "Yes, why not?" seconded Rob. "You've got your 
 dawl-baby theatre and Villie's accumulatin' chisels; why 
 can't I" 
 
 " And I can give you first aid treatment," promised 
 Neal, " right here in this building." 
 
 " But the noise," objected Susan.
 
 i86 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 "Well, it's supposed to be haunted anyhow, isn't it?" 
 demanded Neal. And so the matter was settled. The 
 High Call was then explained, Neal pinned his badge on 
 the under side of his coat lapel and parted from the 
 swarm well pleased with the night's adventures. 
 
 Elmer was at home alone when the girls arrived. He 
 was in a bad humor. 
 
 " Where you been? " he demanded suspiciously. 
 
 " Everywhere," answered Colinette. 
 
 " No, you ain't, for I just been there." The girls both 
 laughed. " I come down from Aunt Rinthy's there 
 wasn't any fun there; Helen was grouchy and wouldn't 
 play dominoes so I come home and you wasn't here, 
 an' you wasn't over to gram'ma's, for I went over there, 
 an' you wasn't over to Klatzes, for I went over there " 
 
 " We've been spending the evening with Neal Brack- 
 ley," said Colinette, and Susan gasped. 
 
 " Helen said you was up to something and she knew 
 what, but she dassent tell," accused Elmer vindictively. 
 Again Susan gasped. 
 
 " Helen was stringing you, I guess," said Colinette 
 calmly, and took off her dripping cloak. " Come on ; 
 I'll play you a game of dominoes until grandmother 
 comes." 
 
 But Elmer would not play dominoes with Colinette. 
 He had never enjoyed playing dominoes with Colinette. 
 
 All the next day at school Helen avoided her cousins. 
 She even hurried at night so as not to be obliged to walk 
 home with them. 
 
 " She's going to give the whole thing away ; you can 
 see that plain enough," predicted Susan.
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 187 
 
 A night or two after this Helen and her mother spent 
 the evening at the Dunlaps'. Susan suffered a few mis- 
 givings when she caught sight of her aunt's flat face 
 framed in a protecting shawl. 
 
 " Cold enough tonight to snow," shuddered Aunt 
 Rinthy, giving Mrs. Dunlap her shawl and hunching her 
 shoulders over the stove. 
 
 Susan brought chairs from the front room where there 
 was no fire. Mrs. Pickens took one but Helen wavered ; 
 she had received a peremptory signal from her cousin to 
 follow her into the kitchen. 
 
 "Where was you folks the other night?" inquired 
 Aunt Rinthy with a smile so broad that Susan quaked. 
 
 "What night?" 
 
 "The night of the Odd Fellows' supper; the night it 
 rained so and Elmer was supposed to spend the evening 
 up to our place? " 
 
 " Oh, we were round," answered Susan vaguely, and 
 glared at Helen. Aunt Rinthy's smile widened. Helen 
 looked severely innocent. 
 
 " Elmer couldn't find you when he come home. He 
 said you wa'n't to gram'ma's with Colinette, nor to 
 Klatzes'." 
 
 " Now, Susan, where was you ? Tell your Aunt 
 Rinthy," commanded Mrs. Dunlap of her daughter. 
 
 " Oh, dodging Elmer," responded Susan scornfully. 
 
 Mrs. Dunlap turned to Aunt Rinthy with a little purs- 
 ing of the lips. 
 
 . " The boys always plague Susan so, she's spent a good 
 part of her life hiding away from 'em." 
 
 Aunt Rinthy's smile faded a bit.
 
 i88 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 " Wasn't Colinette with yeh? " 
 
 "When?" 
 
 " When? Why, the other night; the night I'm talkin' 
 about." 
 
 Susan deliberated at length. "The other night?" 
 
 " I know she was," said Mrs. Pickens, " because Elmer 
 said you both come in drippin' wet." 
 
 " Oh, yes ! " cried Susan, delighted to have been set 
 right, " Oh, yes, Colinette was with me that night ; I re- 
 member now. Better not leave your rubbers there, Aunt 
 Rinthy, you'll have the toes curling right up. Awful hot 
 there." Aunt Rinthy sprang to rescue her property, and 
 her brother coming in with the evening paper just then, 
 Susan escaped to the kitchen towing Helen in her wake. 
 
 " You've been telling ! " she hissed. 
 
 " I have not ! " retorted Helen. 
 
 " Well, you'd better not ; we won't stand for it." 
 
 " Are you going to try to keep that thing up ? " 
 
 " That thing? You mean The Bats? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " We are." 
 
 " What will you do when the weather gets so cold 
 you can't stand it to meet in " 
 
 " Hush up ! " commanded Susan. " Name no names 
 and no places, if you please. When it gets too cold to 
 meet in our regular place we shall probably flit around 
 somewhere else, or wait till spring. Bats go to sleep in 
 the winter time anyway." 
 
 "If you go to sleep till warm weather comes in the 
 spring you'll never wake up again as Bats, believe me.
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 189 
 
 And, meantime, I want ma's lamp and pa's blankets 
 back, if you please." 
 
 " They're back already," said Susan haughtily. 
 " They're in your father's barn this minute. And you 
 ask Villie Klatz for the three dollars you paid for the 
 dolls; he's got it. We sent it to you by him the other 
 night." 
 
 Helen's surprise was genuine. She started to say 
 something in reply, but her mother's voice rose in the 
 sitting-room. 
 
 " Have you heard the news ? " She was addressing 
 the elder Dunlaps. " Helen's been invited into high so- 
 ciety. She's been invited to join the Morning Glory 
 Club. Gertie Calkins is the head of it, you know, and " 
 
 Susan stepped to the door. " Oh," she said, " so has 
 Colinette." 
 
 Four voices cried out together, " Colinette ! " 
 
 :< Yes, Gertie Calkins and Lila Merton asked her way 
 along last week." 
 
 " Well, my land ! " exclaimed Mrs. Pickens. " I don't 
 see how Colinette can train in that crowd. Who'd dress 
 her, I'd like to know; Gram'ma Card can't. Gram'ma 
 Gard is goin' to have all she can do to keep herself 
 dressed, let alone " 
 
 " Oh, Gram'ma Gard won't have to do anything 
 extra," replied Susan, " because Colinette ain't going to 
 bother 'em. She turned 'em down flat ! "
 
 XVI 
 
 DURING the following week a very serious interview 
 took place between the " above-the-railroad " cousins. 
 Helen was again solemnly warned as to what would 
 happen if she allowed herself to be coaxed or driven into 
 divulging any of the secrets of the Brothers of the Night. 
 
 " And no stirring up Elmer to tag and make trouble, 
 either," warned Susan. This warning, however, had 
 come a little late; Elmer was keenly alive to the fact 
 that something was going on without his knowledge or 
 approval. A persistent rumor floated through the school 
 of the existence of a secret society, and the very fact 
 that it was secret and no one able to trace it or its doings, 
 made it the subject of excited conjecture. When Gertie 
 Calkins came out flatly and asked Neal Brackley if he had 
 joined, and Neal flapped back the lapel of his coat dis- 
 closing the mysterious emblem, the news flew like wild- 
 fire and Neal was beset with questions, to all of which 
 he gave the same reply, " I'm sw r orn to keep mum." 
 
 Jeff Plummer, who had been the most insistent, sud- 
 denly ceased to question, and came out with a Morning 
 Glory badge pinned conspicuously on his sweater. Helen 
 Pickens also wore a Morning Glory badge and assumed 
 airs of superiority on the few occasions when she came 
 in contact with her old-time companions. She followed 
 a system of aloofness, walking home from school alone 
 
 190
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 191 
 
 after the rest had gone. She kept the secrets of her dis- 
 carded club, however, coldly informing Elmer that she 
 knew nothing about the movements of Colinette and the 
 others, and that if he wanted to find out what they were 
 up to he would have to do so through his own exertions. 
 
 Meanwhile, she was not satisfied with her new affilia- 
 tion. She wore the Morning Glory badge, to be sure, but 
 found to her dismay that when she attempted to join a 
 knot of M. G.'s, of which Gertie Calkins and Lila Merton 
 formed the center, the knot undid itself as it were, and 
 became nonexistent. Even the less important members 
 had scant time to bestow upon a member who was even 
 less important than themselves. They, one and all, were 
 too busy trying to work their own way upwards. 
 
 But Helen hoped much from the coming entertainment 
 of which the club members talked every day. It was to 
 be far beyond anything ever attempted as yet either by 
 the school or by the club. It was not yet decided just 
 what the nature of it was to be, but it must be something 
 new; something novel and extremely fetching. 
 
 The Bats, meanwhile, through a stroke of luck, had 
 been enabled to restore their clubroom and theatre which 
 had been stripped by Helen's withdrawal. Neal Brack- 
 ley would have furnished lamps, curtains and all without 
 remuneration. His mother's garret was fairly burst- 
 ing with material of all sorts, he declared. But this The 
 Bats would not allow, although they did accept curtains 
 for the windows and for the theatre. 
 
 The night on which they gave the entire play for Neal's 
 benefit both Susan and Colinette felt the professional 
 thrill which comes from an e.xtra full house. It was a
 
 192 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 pleasure to manipulate the rich, soft-hanging garnet cur- 
 tains in place of the stiff gray horse-blankets which re- 
 fused to draw back far enough or to stay back after they 
 were drawn, and were not particularly effective as a frame 
 for the scenes. The glory of the new curtains added 
 wonderfully to the harvest picture and to the Colonial 
 interior. 
 
 " But I do wish we might have electricity on that out- 
 fit," mused Neal. " I wonder, Villie, if you and I 
 couldn't steal a wire across from the pole on the cor- 
 ner" 
 
 " No, no." Villie put his foot down decidedly. 
 " How do you s'pose the Plummers would say, ' Hello, 
 how is that wire coming on our storehouse ? ' 
 
 " No, no," seconded Colinette, " that would be carry- 
 ing things too far." 
 
 "If we get two more lamps," said Susan, " it will be 
 light enough. And you can say what you please, we 
 can't hope to keep this secret forever. Folks are going 
 to find out about this clubhouse and rout us out of here. 
 Why, just suppose our curtains should get shoved aside 
 ever so little at one of our windows and the Plummers 
 should see our light shining out; we'd be invited to get 
 out of here in a hurry. That is why I was in favor of 
 getting Jeff into this crowd. He could have said, ' Why, 
 yes, I let 'em meet in our storehouse,' and everything 
 would have been all right. But none of you agreed with 
 me and it's too late now, for he's an N. G., as Colinette 
 called 'em one day." 
 
 Neal chuckled. " You'd have to soften your initiation 
 rites before you would get Jeff Plummer through; he's
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 193 
 
 the biggest coward that I know. He comes home by 
 way of Main Street because he hates to cross the rail- 
 road embankment alone after dark." 
 
 " Haw, haw ! " laughed Villie Klatz, glancing trium- 
 phantly at Susan, " I know why. One night Rob Dun- 
 lap an' I saw Jeff comin' an' I got down on all four so, 
 an' Rob he got down on all four an' put his coat up over 
 my back, an' we looked like something awful fierce, I 
 bet. And we made a groan as loud as we could an' 
 wallered in the grass, an' Jeff he lit out a yellin'. Great 
 big man like he is too, an' a ball pitcher." 
 
 " I don't think that was smart," said Susan disapprov- 
 ingly, and although Neal was convulsed with laughter 
 Villie repented having told the adventure. 
 
 " I know it wasn't smart," he confessed, " an' I 
 wouldn't do it again. Why, it might run a feller crazy 
 such a fierce lookin' thing as we was an' such a 
 groanin' kind of noise." 
 
 One night Colinette hurried home from school, her 
 mind full of the new play she was writing. It was diffi- 
 cult to find any time at all for this work ; what with help- 
 ing grandmother with the dishes and the kindling, doing 
 her evening school work, and occasionally attending a 
 shivery Bat meeting the nights were getting too cold 
 for these to occur often there was really not a minute 
 for play writing. It was Thursday night, the night Coli- 
 nette usually went with her grandmother to prayer meet- 
 ing. She decided to beg off, stay at home, skip the 
 algebra, and put in a precious hour on the third act. Her 
 aunt and cousin would be going to meeting so her grand- 
 mother would have company.
 
 194 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 Steps sounded on the front walk and Colinette ran to 
 open the door to Susan and her mother. But her smile 
 faded as she looked into Susan's eyes. Susan had been 
 crying, and Susan's mother had the distressed and har- 
 ried expression she often wore when husband and boys 
 were troublesome. 
 
 " I'll be ready in a minute," called Mrs. Card from the 
 depths of her bedroom. " Come on out into the kitchen 
 and set down. There's a good fire here an' I can talk 
 while I hook my dress. Are you all ready, Colinette?" 
 
 " I think, grandmother, if you don't mind, I'll stay at 
 home tonight. I have my algebra lesson to get and 
 some writing to do." 
 
 " Oh, you better come along to meeting. You didn't 
 go last time, you remember." 
 
 Colinette remembered very well. It had been the night 
 of the great triumph of the Kitty Candle Unmoving Pic- 
 ture Company before Neal Brackley. 
 
 " I'm afraid, mother, we've got a couple of disobedient 
 girls on our hands," began Mrs. Dunlap with a quaver in 
 her voice. " I can't make 'em out; I hope you can." 
 
 Mrs. Gard came forth with her black skirt around her 
 neck on its way down to its proper place. 
 
 " Why, Susan, what do you mean ? " 
 
 Young Susan began to sniff and fumble for her hand- 
 kerchief. A crinkle of fear ran along Colinette's nerves, 
 but she remained outwardly calm. Her Aunt Susan ad- 
 dressed her accusation entirely to her own daughter, but 
 in words which included her niece as well. 
 
 " Susan always used to be willin' to tell her ma where
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 195 
 
 she went always willin' and anxious to tell her ma. 
 She don't seem to be so any more. It seems she was 
 away from home all the time we was gone to lodge 
 meetin' last night, and I s'posed she was over here with 
 Colinette. But it seems she wasn't; and she wasn't up 
 to Pickenses, and she wasn't over to Klatzes. Now where 
 was she? When I ask her she cries and won't say a 
 word. Her pa says there's got to be a stop put to this 
 sort of business. He says that hereafter, she can't go 
 anywhere without some older person goes along. He 
 lays all the trouble to Colinette, and he says the girls 
 can't go out anywhere any more without either you or I 
 go with 'em." 
 
 Mrs. Card slipped her skirt down into place and hooked 
 it deftly. Then she proceeded to put on her waist. 
 
 " Well, I don't s'pose Colinette would object to havin' 
 you or me go wherever she went if we wanted to go, 
 would you, Colinette ? " 
 
 Colinette stirred uneasily and some of the sheets of 
 paper upon which she had been writing slid from her 
 lap and scattered over the floor. Mrs. Card picked them 
 up and restored them to their owner while she awaited 
 the answer to her question. 
 
 " We I might go places where it wouldn't be 
 easy or or interesting for you or Aunt Susan to go." 
 
 Everybody in the room was startled at the evasion. 
 
 " Susan," said Mrs. Dunlap solemnly, " where was you 
 last Wednesday night?" 
 
 Susan mumbled the answer she had given often be- 
 fore the pre-arranged answer, which she knew would
 
 196 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 have satisfied her mother and grandmother, as it always 
 had satisfied them, were it not for Elmer's activities in the 
 role of detective. 
 
 " With Colinette." 
 
 " And if we'd ask Colinette she'd say she was with 
 you," went on Mrs. Dunlap severely. Here Mrs. Card 
 took a hand in the trial. She was fully dressed now and 
 ready for prayer meeting. 
 
 " You say you want to stay home tonight, Colinette ? 
 What was your object in wanting to stay home alone? " 
 
 " I wanted to write," answered Colinette, greatly re- 
 lieved. 
 
 " What you writin' ? " 
 
 " A dialogue." 
 
 " Very well ; you stay home an' write your dialogue, 
 and when we come back from meetin' you and I will 
 have a long talk about this matter a long talk all alone 
 by ourselves. You'll probably have time after you git 
 your dialogue done to think this other matter over. 
 You will have time, here all alone by yourself, to take 
 it to the Lord in prayer. I guess that will do you more 
 good than it would to go to meeting tonight. Then 
 when I come home we'll talk about it. Now come folks, 
 we got to trot along or we'll be late." 
 
 Susan cast an agonized look at her partner in crime 
 as she followed her elders out of doors, and Colinette 
 managed to smile encouragingly although herself sorely 
 bewildered and beset. 
 
 .Whatever happened, there were two sins which she 
 would not commit: She would not tell lies to her dear 
 grandmother, and she would not break her promise of
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 197 
 
 secrecy to The Bats. How were these obligations to be 
 brought into harmony? 
 
 One thing must be attended to, and it had better be 
 done tonight, for if her grandmother insisted upon her 
 staying in, it might be a long time before she dared 
 visit the clubroom again. She had left the characters 
 posed for the first act in the new drama. Narka LaRick 
 in the costume of a young Irishman, just entering the 
 low door; Constance Malone, as the old Irish mother of 
 the heroine, bending above the toy kettle hanging upon 
 the crane in just the loveliest lifelikest little fireplace ever 
 made from blocks, bagging, and dabs of paint ; Rosey, in 
 her short red dress and little black brogans, and in her 
 hands the letter which was to tell her mother that she was 
 going to America. As Colinette very well knew, she 
 still stood patiently by the dear little table with the fatal 
 letter in her hands. None of The Bats would molest the 
 tableau, but the always dreaded Plummer raid might 
 occur during the long interval before the High Call 
 sounded again, and what would become of the poor little 
 members of the Kitty Candle Company then? Colinette 
 decided to slip down and put the little actors into their 
 respective boxes and get them up on the shelves where 
 they would be less conspicuous in case of trouble. 
 
 She hurried, for it would be dreadful for the prayer- 
 meeting folks to get home and find her out. As she 
 opened the kitchen door a wind from the north swept 
 across the garden, caught the shawl which she had thrown 
 over her head more for disguise than for warmth, and 
 whirled it about her. She shivered. Winter was surely 
 on its way. It would really be uncomfortable in the
 
 198 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 Plummer storehouse on such a night. Perhaps it would 
 be better for Bats to go to sleep until spring. 
 
 Well, if they must, why of course they must; although 
 there was the chance of their never waking up again, 
 even as Helen Pickens had prophesied. However, such 
 an arrangement would simplify the dreaded interview 
 with her grandmother. 
 
 Colinette thrust forth a hand. Yes, there was snow in 
 the air. This decided matters. There must be no foot- 
 prints on the walk which led from the sidewalk to the 
 door of the haunted hotel. It was well she had started 
 out as she did. 
 
 As Colinette drew the big door of the Pettingill House 
 shut behind her she experienced the delicious thrill of 
 adventure. The storm made such lovely eerie sounds 
 about the place both inside and out. Shutters thumped 
 and rattled; chimneys moaned. Something upstairs 
 sounded almost as if a person were shuffling about the 
 chamber in carpet slippers. Colinette wished heartily 
 that she did believe just a little bit in ghosts. How dis- 
 agreeable it was not to be afraid of anything ! However, 
 she must hurry, do her errand and get away, for the 
 ground would soon be white. 
 
 She groped her way through the cellars, located the 
 lamp, made sure of the windows that no gleam should 
 steal forth, and placed it before the velvet curtains, 
 imagining herself one who knew nothing about the play 
 and seeing the tableau for the first time. Then she 
 opened the curtains. 
 
 She could hardly believe her eyes. The Irish boy, hero 
 of the play and brave to recklessness brave as Coli-
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 199 
 
 nette herself was discovered climbing up the throat of 
 the chimney. There was a look of fear on his little 
 wooden face, or so it seemed to his owner. Behind him 
 crowded Sheelah, (Rosey) and her mother, their faces 
 not visible, but their attitudes indicative of extreme ter- 
 ror. Old Mrs. Glassus, the rag doll, was the funniest of 
 all, for she had fallen over a chair, and nothing was to 
 be seen of her except her heels waving in air. 
 
 Colinette had wished to be startled, and now she was 
 startled quite thoroughly. She glanced fearfully about 
 the room, expecting to see Jeff Plummer's face appear 
 from behind the big easel. She took the lamp and went 
 about peering into corners, but apparently everything 
 was as the club had left it at its last meeting. 
 
 None of The Bats would do this unless it was Rob 
 Dunlap, and Rob was not in the habit of coming to the 
 place alone. Rob's characteristics did not include reck- 
 less bravery amongst them. 
 
 There was but one logical conclusion very logical 
 indeed and that was that Jeff Plummer had paid a 
 belated visit to his long-neglected storehouse, and dis- 
 covering its occupants, played this rather clever practical 
 joke upon them. 
 
 She examined the dolls carefully. Not a bit of harm 
 had been done to costumes, complexions or wigs. That 
 at least was rather fine of Jeff. One could not have 
 blamed him, no matter what vengeance he had seen fit 
 to wreck on these little trespassers upon his preserves. 
 He had merely taken this good-natured way of informing 
 his tenants that they were discovered. 
 
 Colinette decided not to pack the dolls away, but to
 
 200 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 play up to the spirit of the jest. She armed Kinney 
 Kelley, the hero, with a billet of wood and set him in an 
 attitude of defense in front of the little green door at the 
 back of the stage. He looked very dangerous in this 
 pose, with his cropped yellow wig sticking out roughly 
 from underneath his Irish hat, his knees bent ready for 
 conflict, and his shillalah poised for a blow. The old 
 woman held the skillet aloft, and Sheelah, the leading 
 lady, was armed with a spoon. Jeff Plummer should 
 see that The Bats could appreciate a harmless joke. Mrs. 
 Glassus, being homemade and not jointed, glared stiffly 
 from behind the table. Colinette then blew out the lamp 
 and scuttled away home as fast as she could. She 
 dreaded the interview with her grandmother, but longed 
 for one with Susan to get Susan's opinion as to who had 
 disarranged the Kitty Candle Company so scandalously. 
 But she did not see Susan that night at all, and the 
 interview with her grandmother was so unsatisfactory 
 and so sorrowful that she went to bed feeling that she 
 should have almost been glad if the mysterious practical 
 joker had destroyed both the dolls and the theatre. 
 
 " I thought you kind of liked gram'ma," Mrs. Card 
 had said with a tremor in her voice. 
 
 " Grandmother, I love you better than you were ever 
 loved before by anyone!" cried Colinette, and went and 
 put her arms around her grandmother's neck and pressed 
 her cheek against her grandmother's. 
 
 " But you don't love me well enough to answer my 
 questions. I says to your Aunt Susan on the way down 
 tonight, ' Well, don't you fret about them girls ; Colinette 
 will tell me all about what they have been up to, an','
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 201 
 
 says I, ' she thinks too much of her old granny to do 
 anything she'd be ashamed to tell her about.' But it 
 seems I got to own up beat after all." 
 
 Colinette was very pale and miserable-looking, but she 
 showed no signs of weakening. 
 
 " Did you do as I asked you to ; did you pray over it ? " 
 
 "I will tonight," promised Colinette. 
 
 " Why, Colinette ! Here alone all the evening and still 
 didn't even do that much." Mrs. Card rose and put Coli- 
 nette away from her gently. " Well, better git to bed 
 now. It's late." 
 
 Before Colinette got into bed she prayed fervently, but 
 rather hopelessly. She did not see how the Lord could 
 get her out of the tangle of intrigue and secrecy in which 
 she had wound herself unless she gave up The Bats en- 
 tirely and confessed herself a housebreaker. She was 
 very unhappy and, worse yet, knew that she had made 
 her grandmother unhappy also. 
 
 The next morning the subject was not mentioned either 
 at the breakfast table or while she and her grandmother 
 washed the dishes. Her grandmother kissed her good-by 
 as usual when she started for school. 
 
 " How did you make out with gram'ma?" demanded 
 Susan anxiously, as they crossed the railroad on the way 
 to school. 
 
 " Not very well," owned Colinette mournfully. 
 
 "You didn't tell her, then?" 
 
 "Sue!" 
 
 " Well, of course, I knew you wouldn't. But you 
 wait till pa gits hold of it; things will begin to rustle 
 round our ears then, I bet. And it all comes about
 
 202 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 through Elmer's meddling! You look as if you'd had 
 a fit of sickness, Colinette. 
 
 " Yes," said Colinette absently, and then proceeded 
 to tell Susan of her discovery in the theatre the night 
 before. 
 
 " One of the boys, for a joke." 
 
 " Never ; Rob wouldn't dare go spooking round in 
 that place alone; I'm sure he wouldn't. And you know 
 that Villie wouldn't do a thing like that." 
 
 " No, Villie wouldn't, but don't you suppose Neal 
 Brackley would just for a good-natured joke, you 
 know ? It really was awfully funny." Colinette laughed 
 at the remembrance. " There I had them all posed so 
 sensibly, the old woman tending the supper fire, Sheelah 
 looking so sweet and shy with the letter in her hand, 
 Kinney Kelley so grave and manly in the door, and when 
 I found them they were all tumbling over each other to 
 get up the chimney. Honestly that little Kinney 's face 
 was just full of fear. I suppose it was the way he had 
 his head twisted over his shoulder that made his expres- 
 sion seemed changed so. It was really funny, Sue; you 
 would have laughed yourself." 
 
 " You should have put them all away or brought them 
 home with you. Oh, I'm afraid we'll never see Rosey 
 again! " 
 
 " The reason I think Neal did it was because they 
 were not hurt the least bit; not in the least. They were 
 just posed in that funny way. I examined the locks on 
 windows and doors; they had not been touched. Who- 
 ever did it got in the same way that we get in." 
 
 " Well, if Neal Brackley did it, I for one think it a
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 203 
 
 mighty poor joke!" scolded Susan. "We can tell the 
 minute we step into the schoolroom; if he did it he'll 
 look over at us and grin." 
 
 " I hope it was Neal," sighed Colinette. " If it wasn't, 
 why then of course it was Jeff Plummer." 
 
 " But Neal Brackley says Jeff Plummer is too big a 
 coward to range around through the old Pettingill 
 House." 
 
 " Neal Brackley may have underrated Jeff's brav- 
 ery," said Colinette. " That tunnel from the Pettingill 
 House cellar to the Plummer storehouse is the work of 
 boys, not of Jeff himself, necessarily, but I'll warrant you 
 Jeff Plummer knows of the tunnel." 
 
 " We'll just watch Mr. Jeff Plummer, too, then, and 
 I'll bet you before night we'll find out who did it," boasted 
 Susan. 
 
 But in this she was mistaken. Neal Brackley was not 
 at school that day. Someone said he was sick. And 
 Jeff Plummer sat on the small of his back, as usual, 
 with the same blank countenance which he always dis- 
 played during study hours, utterly oblivious to the fact 
 that his every expression was being noted by two pairs 
 of keen eyes, one pair black and admiring, the other 
 " deep green, like the waters of a lake under a storm," 
 and not at all admiring. 
 
 And that night something so serious happened to Coli- 
 nette that she promptly forgot Jeff Plummer, Neal Brack- 
 ley, the Kittv Candle Company, and all that pertained 
 thereunto.
 
 XVII 
 
 THE threatened snow had not come in any very great 
 quantities, and what there was of it had blown into cold 
 little streaks at the edges of the walks, against fences, 
 and in the ridges of Walker's pasture and along the run. 
 But the wind still persisted, and the mercury went stead- 
 ily downward all day. 
 
 When the three girls came over the railroad embank- 
 ment and the north wind caught them squarely, it nearly 
 swept them off their feet. Susan and Gusta squealed 
 with youthful merriment and all three broke into a run 
 down the embankment. 
 
 It had been an unhappy day for Colinette, and wick- 
 edly long as such days are apt to be. She could hardly 
 wait for the last bell which would set her free to go 
 home to her grandmother and make her peace with her, 
 at least so far as a naughty and disobedient girl could 
 make peace. She thought of a dozen little things she 
 should do to please her grandmother and win her to 
 forget fulness of the one thing she would not could 
 not do. 
 
 Down the hill to meet them carne Susan's mother, the 
 shawl over her head and her skirts flapping in the wind 
 until she had the appearance of flying toward them. At 
 sight of her aunt blowing down upon them this way 
 
 204
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 205 
 
 Colinette's heart sank. Something- was wrong; of that 
 she was sure before her aunt opened her mouth. 
 
 " Colinette, your gram 'ma don't want you to come home 
 tonight. You are to go on up to Aunt Rinthy's and stay 
 there." 
 
 Colinette trembled. 
 
 " Yes, Aunt Susan," she faltered, " but before I go I 
 must speak to to her just a minute " 
 
 " No, you can't speak to your grandmother even for a 
 minute. You'll probably know why tomorrow, but to- 
 night you mind what your gram'ma tells you and go along 
 up to Aunt Rinthy's." Mrs. Dunlap was visibly troubled. 
 
 " Why don't you tell us what is the matter, ma? " de- 
 manded Susan. " Is gram'ma mad at Colinette, or sick, 
 or what is the matter? " 
 
 " We don't exactly know what the matter is, but we 
 do know that gram'ma has told Colinette to go on up to 
 Aunt Rinthy's, and to stay there tonight and until she 
 hears from her." 
 
 It had come, then. Grandmother was tired of her. 
 She meant to send her away for good and had taken 
 this method to soften the blow somewhat. Tomorrow, 
 after grandmother had made arrangements, she would 
 come up to the Pickenses and tell them what she had de- 
 cided upon. 
 
 Oh, that dear little gray house with the sweet pea 
 vines, mere ghosts now, still clinging to the wire sup- 
 ports across the front of the porch, and whipping in the 
 bitter wind! And the lilac bush at the east bedroom 
 window; that, too, was bending before the blast. 
 
 Colinette felt almost too weak to face the wind clear
 
 206 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 to the Pickens' farmhouse. Twice she gazed yearningly 
 back, hoping to see her grandmother at the west parlor 
 window. But there was no sign of her. Of course, 
 there would not be. Grandmother would not wish to 
 see Colinette wave and not return the signal. She would 
 not wish to make such a sign of amity with tomorrow's 
 separation in view. 
 
 Aunt Rinthy herself opened the shedroom door for 
 Colinette. 
 
 "Pretty cold, ain't you?" she inquired. "Come on 
 in." 
 
 No o'ne was in the kitchen except Helen, who was lay- 
 ing the table for supper. There were potatoes and par- 
 snips and beef boiling on the cookstove. The smell of 
 them made Colinette feel ill. Helen looked at her pity- 
 ingly, Colinette thought, and greeted her as if they had 
 not been in the same schoolroom all day long. She went 
 on putting the knives and forks beside the plates on the 
 table. She hummed a little tune as she worked. 
 
 " Lay your things in the other room," instructed Aunt 
 Rinthy Pickens. Colinette obeyed. The chill of the 
 " other room " struck to her very heart. She was weak 
 with cold and sorrow. She came back into the kitchen 
 and sank into a chair by the west window. In a dull 
 misery she counted the plates on the table five of them. 
 One for Mr. Pickens, one for Mrs. Pickens, one for 
 Helen, one for Villie Klatz one for her. She went 
 over the list two or three times. And she should have 
 to sit up to the table and take potatoes and parsnips on 
 her plate and pretend to eat ! In loathing she turned her 
 gaze to the wind-swept fields.
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 207 
 
 Ploughed land, every ridge outlined with white. One, 
 two, three fences running north and south one, two, 
 three fences all running north and south if only she 
 could keep her hands from trembling ! She did not want 
 Helen and Aunt Rinthy Pickens to see how she was suf- 
 fering. Of course, they both knew that she deserved to 
 suffer, but, just the same, she did not want them to see. 
 She wanted to go bravely, just as Marie Antoinette had 
 gone bravely, to her doom; and Lady Jane Gray, and 
 other brave ones all along the world. 
 
 How the little bushes there by the fence writhed and 
 bent and whipped, bent and whirled and straightened in 
 time to catch the next blast ! 
 
 " You'd better come up nearer the fire," suggested 
 Mrs. Pickens, and Colinette rose mechanically to obey, 
 her eyes still upon those writhing little bushes out by 
 the road fence. The smell of the boiling beef grew 
 stronger grew unbearable ; the wind had entered the 
 kitchen and was swaying her even as it swayed the little 
 bushes, the table began to whirl, the cookstove pirouetted 
 out of its place with a jauntiness unbecoming in an article 
 of furniture of so staid a nature 
 
 Colinette' s last conscious thought was one of shame 
 that she could not even emulate Marie Antoinette in 
 heroism, but instead was crinkling down under trouble 
 like any other common creature. 
 
 The smell of boiling beef was still in the air when she 
 came to herself again, but mixed with it were other smells, 
 noticeably that of camphor. She was conscious, but weak 
 very weak, and so she did not open her eyes at once. 
 She heard Aunt Rinthy Pickens say, " I s'pose it's one of
 
 208 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 them rickety fits, an' I s'pose she has 'em right along an' 
 Gram'ma Gard don't tell anybody about 'em." 
 
 " Oh, no, ma, she does not have fits of any kind," 
 Helen declared. " She's just scared for fear something's 
 the matter with her gram'ma." 
 
 " Thought you said she never got scared at anything," 
 retorted a masculine voice. Mr. Pickens had evidently 
 come in during Colinette's unconsciousness. 
 
 He took up one of her hands. " Cold as ice," he re- 
 ported. " Guess she's goin' to croak. I'll go out and 
 send Villie for the doctor." 
 
 " Villie ain't through milkin' yet," objected the ever 
 thrifty Mrs. Pickens. " I guess she'll come out of it all 
 right. If it's some kind of a fit they always come out 
 of 'em, and if it's just a faint, why of course she'll come 
 out." 
 
 " Looks to me as if she was a goner," persisted Pickens. 
 "If she should happen to croak it'd be a good thing for 
 Dunlap's Susan; she'd git what there is of Gram'ma 
 Card's property, while if she don't " A smothering 
 rag saturated with camphor was clapped over Colinette's 
 nose. She gasped and struggled faintly. 
 
 " She's comin' out all right," announced Mrs. Pickens. 
 " What did you make out about the tramp ? " 
 
 " They got him an' took him to the pesthouse, an' 
 they've quarantined Gram'ma Card's house. She's got 
 to stay to home for fourteen days, an' then, if she comes 
 down with it an' she probably will why, she'll have 
 a nice time of it. I don't know of anybody in this town 
 who would hire out to nurse a smallpox patient. She'll 
 have to stick it out alone. If the tramp's out by the
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 209 
 
 time she comes down I s'pose Doc. Merton will make 
 her go to the pesthouse. The tramp' 11 probably be out 
 by the time she comes down. I guess it'll learn her not 
 to be so brash to take in tramps just because they shiver 
 and complain of the cold." 
 
 " Elmer says she told Susan Dunlap that whatever 
 happens, she wants John's girl kept strictly away from 
 there; says she don't want Colinette's beautiful face all 
 spoiled with smallpox pits." Aunt Rinthy's tone ex- 
 pressed sarcasm. 
 
 " Pooh ! " snorted Waldo Pickens. 
 
 Colinette opened her eyes. She smiled up at Mrs. 
 Pickens. In her heart was a great and heavenly joy. 
 She closed her eyes again while she thanked heaven de- 
 voutly fervently. How little they knew how little 
 they knew what joy they had brought to her by their 
 gossip above her head! Why, they had brought back 
 to her the love of life; the zest of it, all the keen desire 
 to do and to dare. She sat up and wheeled her feet off 
 of the lounge. 
 
 " Do you feel better ? " inquired Mrs. Pickens and 
 Helen in a breath. 
 
 " Oh, I'm all right now, thank you. Just one of my 
 
 er rickets. I have them all the time. And when 
 I come out of them I often bite " Mrs. Pickens and 
 her husband drew back instinctively. Colinette laughed 
 weakly and Helen declared, " It isn't so; she's just fool- 
 ing. I asked gram'ma Card and she said she never had 
 
 had the rickets, or anything like that." 
 
 " You needn't think Gram'ma Card would own to it 
 if she did," said Waldo Pickens,
 
 210 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 " No, indeed," said Colinette, " Grandmother Card is 
 a dreadful liar " 
 
 " Oh, oh ! " cried out Helen and her mother in chorus. 
 Colinette laughed again and shook her head as if the joke 
 were almost more than she could bear. She got upon 
 her feet. 
 
 " Will you please bring me my coat out of the parlor, 
 Helen? I feel cold." This was not true. The warm 
 pulse of life and the love of life was throbbing in her 
 veins. 
 
 "Here; wrap up in this." Aunt Rinthy threw her 
 own soft gray shawl about Colinette. 
 
 " Thank you. You are good, but my handkerchief is 
 in my coat pocket." 
 
 Helen brought the coat and Colinette took it, working 
 toward the door as she did so. Villie Klatz came in with 
 the milking pails at that moment, creating a diversion. 
 Colinette slipped into the coat and out of the door in a 
 flash. 
 
 Someone called loudly and authoritatively after her 
 from the open door, but she did not heed. She felt light 
 light like a cloud, or a feather. The wind revived 
 her wonderfully the wind, and her new-found hope, 
 and she raced down the hill, blown in the direction of 
 her grandmother's house. The sun was down, but the 
 cold glory of it still spread over the bitter fields. It 
 flashed from the western window of the little gray house, 
 lighting it up as from a great fire within. 
 
 If Mrs. Card had seen her coming thus, like a feather 
 in the wind, she would have locked the door against her 
 in her anxiety to keep her safe from the danger which
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 211 
 
 threatened herself. But Mrs. Card was getting her own 
 lone supper, and the first she knew somebody's arms were 
 round her neck, and somebody was sobbing out love and 
 fealty upon her breast. 
 
 " Do you think I'd stay up there, and you down here 
 alone and sick and why, grandmother, how could you 
 do it ! send me off up to that horrid place and nearly 
 kill me ! They'll be coming after me, but don't let them 
 get me oh, don't, grandmother, because it won't do 
 any good; I'll run away again and again and come back 
 to you! 
 
 " What if I do get the smallpox? We'll have it here 
 in this little house together, and I'll take care of you 
 and you'll take care of me, and we'll have a good time 
 yes, I hear them coming Oh, don't let them get me 
 back!" 
 
 In her excitement and confusion, grandmother prom- 
 ised. 
 
 She need not have done so. It was only Villie Klatz 
 at the door to bear a Pickens message to the effect that 
 Colinette, having entered the stricken house and laid her- 
 self liable to the contagion, would not be welcomed again 
 at their home. They didn't want to get it. 
 
 Villie would have entered, but Mrs. Card drove him 
 away. 
 
 " I'll come over an' put the coal an' vood on the back 
 step every night yet," he promised recklessly. 
 
 " Not unless we are both sick at once, Villie," Coli- 
 nette called after him. "The Pickenses would catch 
 if nothing else the rickets, if you came around this 
 house. It might lose you your place. If we need help
 
 212 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 I'll give you a signal of some sort. And now, grand- 
 mother, let's have something to eat before I drop again, 
 for I am as weak as a kitten. Do you know what I did 
 up at Pickenses? Why, I fainted away." 
 
 " You poor little thing! " 
 
 " And when I came to, Aunt Rinthy was wondering if 
 I wasn't in a fit, and whether I didn't have them often 
 and you kept it a secret." 
 
 Mrs. Card opened her mouth to say something, then 
 closed it again suddenly. 
 
 " I'll have to go and say my prayers, I guess, before 
 we talk about this any more." 
 
 " Oh, but not before supper, I hope, grandmother; I'm 
 starving. What were you intending to have for tea 
 oh, was that all ? Why, you would have starved to death 
 if I hadn't run home. Suppose I fry an egg apiece, and 
 let's have a cup of jelly, just to celebrate ; shall we ? You 
 don't know how gone I am. The Pickenses noticed it 
 how gone I was when I started for home tonight." 
 
 " Mercy, child, I should think we could have an egg 
 apiece, an' some jelly, an' we'll have some of them cookies 
 that's down cellar in the jar. An' bring up some plum 
 preserves. I've got a can of dried beef here in the pantry ; 
 I'll open that an' make some nice butter gravy on it. We 
 may both die of the smallpox, bufwe ain't goin' to starve 
 to death before we do." 
 
 " But you were planning to have just that crust of 
 bread and some cold potato for your supper, grand- 
 mother." 
 
 "To tell the truth, Colinette, I was sort of down in 
 my mind. Not so much about myself as about you.
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 213 
 
 You see, I wanted Dunlap's folks to take you in over 
 there, and Susan wanted you to come. But Luther set 
 his foot right down that you should not come there. He 
 says an' he's got more or less reason for it, too, 
 Colinette, we mustn't forgit that he says he don't like 
 your influence over Susan. He says Susan has always 
 been such an obedient girl till well, till you come, and 
 now he says she's gittin' awful headset." 
 
 " Yes, grandmother," owned Colinette soberly. 
 
 " He says she'll do things you tell her to do, an' go 
 places you coax her to go, an' no matter whether he or 
 her mother want her to go or not, she goes. * Just let 
 John's girl wiggle her little finger,' says Luther, ' an' off 
 goes Susan like a shot.' And says he, ' Rob's gittin' 
 about as bad as Susan is about tagging around after 
 John's girl.' And says Luther, ' the Klatz boy an' girl 
 are right at her beck an' call, too.' Says he, ' I found 
 out that to be the case through Elmer.' Says Luther, 
 ' Elmer seems to be the only one of the bunch who has 
 got mind enough of his own to run his own gait/ ' 
 
 " Well, they won't be apt to run after me very much 
 for the next two or three weeks anyway," smiled Coli- 
 nette, " and maybe by that time they'll all get over it. 
 And, please, grandmother, so long as it makes us both 
 so unhappy, let's not talk about it. Let's just try to 
 have a real good time while we are having the small- 
 pox." 
 
 Mrs. Gard did not promise in so many words, but the 
 subject of Colinette' s disobedience was not mentioned 
 during the entire time of the quarantine. 
 
 The day after the flight from the Pickenses the doctor
 
 214 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 came and vaccinated them both, and then followed a quiet 
 but happy week, broken only by Susan's bulletins of news 
 from school, tucked under the front walk every night 
 after dark. A number of pupils were at home sick with 
 the grip. Among those, Neal Brackley, somewhat recon- 
 ciled by the fact that his father was making a flying visit 
 home. The preparations for the big entertainment to be 
 given for the benefit of the school library were held up 
 indefinitely because Gertie Calkins was a sufferer also. 
 The tramp who had caused all the trouble was getting 
 on as well as could be expected out at the pesthouse all 
 by himself. There was good skating now on the mill- 
 pond, where one of the Closkey youngones had fallen 
 and broken his wrist. If Colinette wanted anything she 
 was to print it big and stick it in the front window and 
 Susan would try to get it, if it were anything in reason. 
 
 During the latter part of the first week that Colinette 
 and her grandmother remained prisoners, as soon as the 
 weather had moderated sufficiently the snow set in. For 
 three days the storm raged and Colinette was wild to 
 get out. She was obliged to content herself with draw- 
 ing a picture of the Pickens's hen-house and barnyard 
 under drifting snow. Mrs. Card thought it wonderful, 
 the way Colinette brought out the movement of the snow, 
 the misty atmosphere, the dim trees seen through the 
 storm, the long roof line of the hen-house from which 
 the snow blew in a straight line ; but she could not under- 
 stand why the back of the Pickens's place had been chosen 
 upon which to expend such art. 
 
 Colinette could not have told herself. She only knew 
 that the low hen-house with its row of little dark win-
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 215 
 
 dows, the stable with its shanty roof and the gable of 
 the barn showing above it, all dimly seen through the 
 flying snow, were more interesting than the front of the 
 Pickens house could have been. 
 
 After the two of them had finished the mending, and 
 tried out a number of new cooking recipes, Colinette sug- 
 gested that she read all the books in the house aloud while 
 her grandmother finished a bedquilt of intricate pattern, 
 began some years before and laid away for want of time 
 to work upon it. Grandmother agreed, and Colinette 
 started in. It took a disappointingly short time, grand- 
 mother's shelf of books not even being the regulation five 
 feet in length as recommended by Professor Eliott. 
 
 They began with three vivid-colored official volumes 
 which had comprised the entire library of grandmother's 
 husband. It is safe to say that they had never been read 
 before, and even safer to presume that they would never 
 be read again, unless they passed into the possession of 
 a different family. A grateful change was a bound num- 
 ber of The Ladies' Repository, containing steel engrav- 
 ings of landscapes, ladies in voluminous crinoline, and 
 reverend clergymen in side whiskers. The sketches of 
 the lives and labors of the last mentioned would have 
 been of more interest to old Mrs. Kize than to either 
 Colinette or her grandmother. Still more interesting was 
 a bound number of Peter sen's Magazine for 1871, con- 
 taining a serial story by Mrs. Ann S. Stevens, music by 
 Claribel, and patterns for felt penwipers and embroidered 
 edgings. There was a book of sketches by T. S. Arthur, 
 Speeches in Congress by J. R. Giddings, and " Wesley's 
 Notes Upon the New Testament " all of equal interest
 
 216 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 to Colinette. She tried to be fair in the reading it 
 being her own suggestion to take the collection entire 
 but grandmother acknowledged that it was surprising 
 how soon a body could get through a great big book if 
 one kept right at it. She was not alive to the art of 
 skipping a half page at a time and hiding the gaps. 
 
 Colinette was grinding along on page 509 of the Gid- 
 dings Speeches one afternoon, turning, now and then, a 
 wistful eye down snowy Brown Street to catch the first 
 glimpse of Villie Klatz on his way from school. He al- 
 ways waved an encouraging hand and in a few moments 
 the girls would come in sight, with wind-blown skirts 
 and wraps, stamping gaily up the hill, the snow squeaking 
 under their heels. Gusta and Helen would hurry out of 
 sight, both having a great horror of contagion, but Susan, 
 although she had been forbidden to cross the road, would 
 stand for a minute or two telegraphing such news as 
 could be made intelligible by signs. 
 
 " ' But it is said that the Democratic party if defeated 
 again by the anti-slavery party as they were in 1848 will 
 disband ' " read Colinette, then jumped, for someone 
 had thrown a shower of snow against the window. Neal 
 Brackley was grinning up at her from the walk. He 
 was already halfway to the porch. He carried a long, 
 mysterious-looking package. 
 
 "May I come in?" he asked, and Colinette shook a 
 vigorous head. 
 
 " You haven't got it yet, have you? " 
 
 " No, but you can't come in." 
 
 " Nice way to treat a chap the first time he calls." 
 
 Colinette smiled at him, waving a hand over his head
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 217 
 
 at Susan, who was signaling from her side of the road. 
 
 Neal scribbled something on a paper and tucked it 
 under the string around the long package which he car- 
 ried, put the package on the porch with the shouted mes- 
 sage " For you," and ran away down the hill, waving 
 back at Colinette as long as she could see him. 
 
 The message scribbled on the slip of paper was to ex- 
 plain that the canvas was cut in the proper shape and 
 sizes for the new set of scenery for the Kitty Candle 
 Company's new play; that the four smaller pieces were 
 merely for practice work. 
 
 In this box also were fifteen lovely tubes of oil paints, 
 all new and shiny, a complete set of brushes, bottle of 
 dryer, " turps," palette-knife, and more fascinating than 
 all, a curly-maple palette, smooth as satin and hard as 
 bone. 
 
 Colinette did not exclaim or cry out in her joy as her 
 Cousin Susan would have done. She stood quiet, spell- 
 bound, a little pale, and when she raised her eyes to her 
 grandmother's face they were as Neal Brackley had de- 
 scribed them, " so very dark in their greenness that they 
 were like the lake under a storm." 
 
 " Grandmother," breathed Colinette, " do you mind if 
 we leave the Giddings book of Speeches without know- 
 ing how it comes out ? I I'm going to be awfully 
 busy from now on." 
 
 Eventually they decided that Mrs. Card was to finish 
 the Speeches while Colinette painted. 
 
 Mrs. Gard suggested that Colinette copy her father's 
 photograph on the large piece of canvas, a request which 
 Colinette gently but firmly refused to grant, knowing as
 
 218 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 she did that this large piece was designed for the back 
 drop of the second act of the new play, and that it must 
 show forth a long, lonely road winding away over barren 
 hills under a lowering sky. Her mind was busy with 
 different objects to introduce to make the road more 
 lonely, more far-reaching and hopeless; a clump of 
 stunted trees in the middle distance, a bog to the right, 
 a stone wall to the left. For it was up that long road 
 that poor old Molly O'Driscoll was to travel, carrying 
 her personal effects in a small red bundle. 
 
 The remembrance of it all made Colinette long to see 
 the Kitty Candle Company once more, and making the 
 excuse to her grandmother that she must have a mouthful 
 of fresh air, she said that after dark she meant to take a 
 run down Brown Street as far as the railroad and back, 
 Uncle Luther or no Uncle Luther. 
 
 "If he meets me coming or going he'll just have to 
 hold his breath till I run by," she said. 
 
 She did not meet her uncle nor anyone else on her 
 way to the Pettingill House. The snow lay white under 
 a cold white moon. It crisped pleasantly under foot. 
 She was thinking how best to disguise the footprints she 
 must make in it on the short walk from the side street 
 to the old house, the key to which she held ready for 
 instant use when she should arrive. 
 
 When she came opposite the door she saw plainly by 
 the light of .the moon tracks in the snow leading up to the 
 building. She stooped to examine them. They were 
 large for Neal's and small for Villie Klatz's. And the 
 queer feature was that there were no returning footprints. 
 The man then, whoever he was, must still be within.
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 219 
 
 Instead of the proper fear and caution which a young 
 girl should have felt at these danger signals, Colinette's 
 perverse spirit sprang to meet adventure. She did use 
 caution in turning the key noiselessly in the door. Still 
 cautiously but determinedly she followed the old route, 
 expecting every moment to stumble over something 
 something which did not belong in that place, for she 
 remembered with shuddering that there were no foot- 
 prints pointing streetward. 
 
 Her shock met her after she had reached the Plummer 
 store-house.
 
 XVIII 
 
 ONCE more Kinney Kelley was showing the white 
 feather leading the way incontinently up the chimney, 
 head over shoulder, arms outstretched as in flight, while 
 behind him crowded Molly O'Driscoll, Rosey, and Kitty 
 Candle, with old Mrs. Glassus, as usual, lying stiffly 
 across a chair, utter helplessness in every line of her 
 jointless figure. 
 
 Colinette hastily swept the little characters into their 
 boxes, put out the light and scuttled for home. Matters 
 in the storehouse were too perplexing for her to solve 
 in haste. She must have time to think it over alone. 
 
 That night Mrs. Card was quite ill, and the next morn- 
 ing Colinette was herself far from well. They braced 
 themselves for the worst, which was, after all, only the 
 vaccine working. 
 
 The remainder of the quarantine time passed busily 
 and gaily, Mrs. Card's interest and delight in the big pic- 
 ture being only second to that of the artist herself. The 
 two side pieces were not so satisfying. Viewing them as 
 works of art and not as scenery, Mrs. Card declared 
 them " pretty dauby, with not enough in 'em." 
 
 To distract her attention from the emptiness of the 
 side scenes, Colinette attempted to paint her grand- 
 mother's portrait on one of the smaller pieces of canvas. 
 She posed her subject in front of the whatnot, the fam- 
 
 220
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 221 
 
 ily album in her hand open at John's photograph. Al- 
 though seen upside down, any one could recognize it. 
 
 " And will you look at me! " cried Mrs. Card in fatu- 
 ous delight, " settin' there as natural as life ! And the 
 colors in that tablecloth, an' the pattern in the window- 
 curtains just showin' up wonderful. But you've kinder 
 left out this other eye of mine altogether, ain't you? " 
 
 Colinette explained that as she sat facing her grand- 
 mother, with the light coming from the back and from 
 the right side, she saw only shadow on that side of her 
 grandmother's face, and therefore she must not paint in 
 features which she did not see. 
 
 " And this eye's got a cateract, or something, in it. I 
 ain't got that, I hope. I mean this here three-cornered 
 white splash in my eye." 
 
 Colinette tried to illustrate with a brown pitcher 
 tried to make her grandmother see the square of white 
 light on the rounding body. But in this she failed ; Mrs. 
 Card could not be made to see the little distorted window 
 on the side of the brown jug. 
 
 "If I were to paint the pitcher I would paint in a 
 little crooked window right here on the side," explained 
 Colinette. 
 
 " I don't see why," objected Mrs. Card, " they ain't 
 no window in the side of that pitcher, so why should 
 you paint one there? " 
 
 " But as I see it, there is a little square window in 
 the side of the pitcher," persisted Colinette. " And 
 there is a brown shadow on the table cast there by the 
 brown jug. And if there were roses or daffodils in the 
 pitcher there would be a yellow or a pink shadow too."
 
 222 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 " Well, you wait and see what Aunt Rinthy Pickens 
 will say when she sees this picture. She'll say, ' Well, 
 Gram'ma Gard, you're a goin' blind, ain't yeh? In this 
 picture you've got a cataract.' She can't find any fault 
 with the whatnot, though; ain't it just as lifelike as it 
 can be? I'd bring it out plainer though, Colinette; it's so 
 dim the way you've got it. Paint 'er in strong." 
 
 "No, grandmother; if I painted it in any stronger it 
 would look as if it rested right on your back instead of 
 being tucked in behind you." 
 
 " Well, it certainly is wonderful," Mrs. Gard admitted. 
 " Wherever did you learn to do such wonderful 
 things ? " 
 
 Colinette threw down her brush and rose with a sigh. 
 
 " I never have learned, grandmother, and I never shall 
 learn, I suppose. A real artist would laugh himself to 
 death at these pictures ; they are just daubs mere daubs. 
 But I believe I could learn if I had the chance. I love 
 it! I would like to paint a beautiful woman in a green 
 clinging dress a dress so thin that the cool creamy 
 color of her arms shows through the sleeves of her dress. 
 She would sit in a dull-colored chair, and the reflections 
 of the chair and of her dress would show on the polished 
 floor. She would have black, black hair, like Susan's, 
 and there would be blue-gray shadows in it haven't you 
 ever noticed blue-gray shadows in Susan's hair? " 
 
 " I've noticed dust on it sometimes when she's been 
 a-sweeping carpets." 
 
 Colinette sighed and changed the subject of conversa- 
 tion. Her grandmother could not see the little window 
 in the pitcher's side, nor the blue-gray shadows in Susan's
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 223 
 
 hair and no one would ever be able to make her see them. 
 And yet they were so apparent to the eyes of her grand- 
 daughter they, and the purple shadows on a field of 
 snow, and the grays the ravishing grays in the back- 
 ground of a snow storm, and the seven distinct shades in 
 the cover of an old book bound in brown leather. Grand- 
 mother Card, Aunt Rinthy Pickens even Susan, saw 
 but one brown on the book cover, one white in the field. 
 
 Well, everybody to his taste; Susan could make lovely 
 things with needle, thread and scissors, and grandmother 
 could make bread and cake better than anyone else on 
 earth. And more than that, grandmother could make a 
 warm place in her heart for those she loved. She could 
 pray to God to forgive her enemies and those which 
 despite fully used her she could pray for them and really 
 mean it. 
 
 The little note which Neal Brackley had tucked under 
 the twine which bound the package of artist's materials 
 contained two mysterious lines without beginning or end : 
 
 " As soon as you get out, give the high call. News 
 about clubroom." 
 
 It was after the Christmas vacation before Colinette 
 went back to school, and on that very day she gave the 
 High Call. That night the swarm gathered and not one 
 member was missing. It was of necessity a short meet- 
 ing which, because of Neal Brackley 's news, ended in 
 something resembling an Indian powwow. At this meet- 
 ing two new names were proposed for membership. The 
 first of the two was so overpowering, so weighty, that 
 the other, presented by the Green-eyed One herself, slipped 
 by without any questions being asked. This last was
 
 224 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 the name of S. Watson. After the meeting broke up 
 Colinette did not stop even to say good night to Susan, 
 but ran home as fast as she could. 
 
 Mrs. Gard was setting the pancakes for breakfast when 
 Colinette came dancing into the kitchen. 
 
 " Well," said Mrs. Gard, flop-flopping away at the 
 pancake batter, " what's your Aunt Susan up to tonight? " 
 
 " I don't know, grandmother ; I haven't even been to 
 Aunt Susan's house at all; I've been away somewhere 
 else." 
 
 A look of apprehension swept across her grandmother's 
 face. She had hoped this ghost of secrecy which had 
 haunted the neighborhood had been laid for good by the 
 smallpox scare. 
 
 " But I've something lovely to tell you, grandmother 
 just lovely ! I can tell everything now just every- 
 thing; and I shall promise not to have any more secrets 
 which I can't tell you. Come into the parlor while I 
 tell you." 
 
 Ever since the quarantine had begun the Cards had 
 used the parlor with what Aunt Rinthy Pickens had con- 
 sidered wasteful, prodigality. 
 
 The interview in the parlor was long and earnest, 
 broken repeatedly with exclamations of disapproval, won- 
 derment, and deep surprise on the part of Mrs. Gard. 
 Toward the end she protested loudly against some meas- 
 ure which was being urged upon her by her grand- 
 daughter. But the dullest of listeners might have dis- 
 cerned a weakening in the tone of her protestations and 
 have judged, correctly, that the girl was winning her 
 point.
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 225 
 
 " I can't see what moves you to do such things," de- 
 clared Mrs. Card, when the interview was at an end and 
 she had taken up the lamp to go back to the kitchen. 
 
 " It is very queer," owned Colinette, but rather blithely. 
 She could afford to be blithe now that she had won her 
 argument so completely. " Yes, it's funny. I seem to 
 be a sort of of natural born sneak. It is such hard 
 work for me to be honest." 
 
 " It do seem queer," reiterated Mrs. Card with more 
 earnestness than elegance, " your pa was never a bit that 
 way. He was so honest why, sometimes I used to 
 think folks took advantage of John just on account of 
 his honesty." 
 
 " Yes," murmured Colinette in a happy absence of 
 mind, " you can be too honest for your own good some- 
 times." 
 
 But Mrs. Card would not allow this to stand. 
 
 " No, that thought is one of the stumbling-blocks that 
 Satan puts in our path," she said. " That's one of the 
 ways he takes to get us to slip off the step of truth an' 
 down one notch onto the steps of prevarication." 
 
 " Maybe it is," owned Colinette hastily in order to 
 divert her grandmother's thoughts from serious matters, 
 and presently they were undressing together by the kitchen 
 stove and laughing like two girls. 
 
 The new members of the Bat Club were not initiated 
 on the same night. Neal Brackley's candidate was ad- 
 mitted first and suffered all the horrors of the initiation 
 rites which he himself had endured with a few more 
 added for good measure. It was the biggest lark the 
 club had ever enjoyed up to that time. In fact, it was
 
 226 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 the cause of so much illy-concealed laughter, so many 
 innuendoes and broken sentences among the members of 
 the organization at school the next day that the attention 
 of the unfortunates who belonged neither to The Bats 
 nor to the Morning Glories was somewhat distracted 
 from the hitherto absorbing subject of the coming Morn- 
 ing Glory entertainment. 
 
 The particulars as to the nature of this entertainment 
 were being kept secret, the only information afforded by 
 the managers was in praise of its great originality. It 
 was to be the most strikingly original affair the town 
 had ever seen. Lila Merton whispered lispingly to Gertie 
 Calkins, Jeff Plummer, and other favored ones within 
 the ring. She and Gertie formed themselves into a com- 
 mittee to approach Neal Brackley once more. They 
 wanted so much to put him down for a piano solo. Neal 
 thanked them profusely, reiterating his pleasure at the 
 honor of being asked. 
 
 " But " he hesitated, " our own club may put on an 
 entertainment after the M. G.'s have pulled off theirs." 
 This announcement created a sensation, not only among 
 the Morning Glories, but among The Bats as well, who, 
 up to this time, had not dreamed of such a thing. 
 
 " And why not? " demanded one of the new members 
 (who was a daring Bat if ever there was one). " Why 
 not stand behind Kitty Candle and her company and 
 give the show in the hall for the benefit of the school 
 library. It is cowardly to let the poor weak Morning 
 Glories carry the burden of that school library debt all 
 alone." Thus was the ball set rolling for the public 
 appearance of Rosey as leading lady in the grand drama
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 227 
 
 of "Molly O'Driscoll's Dream," written by Colinette 
 Card and produced under her management. These were 
 details as carefully guarded as were those of the rival 
 attraction. 
 
 Nor was there complete harmony within the club. If 
 one of the newly admitted members was unusually reck- 
 less, the other was correspondingly conservative, raising 
 well-grounded objections to the entire arrangement. 
 
 " I understood you to say, Colinette, that the paper 
 you was writin' on so long was a dialogue. Mr. Dick, 
 Brackley calls it a play. Now you know I don't believe 
 in plays." 
 
 " Well, grandmother, it can't really be a play because 
 the little characters don't speak the words; I have to do 
 all that myself." 
 
 " Um-m-m-m yes," hesitated grandmother, " but can 
 you really call it a dialogue when the actors are all 
 wooden-headed and as dumb as oysters? " 
 
 " Why then it is just a story, illustrated by tableaux," 
 explained Colinette, and Mrs. Card was obliged to be 
 satisfied with that definition. 
 
 After The Bats had fully decided to come into the open 
 with a rival entertainment of their own, and the an- 
 nouncement had been made, it followed that the entire 
 interest of the club centered in the little theatre. It also 
 followed very naturally that they were not so careful 
 as to their comings and their goings as in the past. They 
 still entered and left their club-room by way of the Pet- 
 tingill cellar, although there was really no need, for the 
 bolts and bars of the western storehouse door had been 
 removed and there was no reason why the members
 
 228 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 should not use that door to reach the street at any time 
 they wished save in deference to the wishes of the Green- 
 eyed One, who pleaded for the more unhandy but ro- 
 mantic road through the haunted house. She said what 
 use was there in being a Bat and then walking into and 
 out of the place of meeting like a flock of chickens into 
 the door of a hen-house in broad daylight, stepping high 
 and clucking noisily. Why, they might better rechristen 
 themselves The Busy Scratcher Club and wear for the 
 club emblem a white chicken-feather in their hair. And 
 so the members continued to drop, one by one or at most 
 two by two, into the dusk of the old Pettingill door and 
 disappear noiselessly from sight. 
 
 Waldo Pickens, stepping townward one evening rather 
 later than usual, saw his brother-in-law's door open, heard 
 John Card's girl bid her Aunt Susan good night and 
 promise to send her Susan home in good time. 
 
 " Now I'll see whether they go to Granrma Card's, or 
 hike off sum'mers else," said Mr. Pickens to himself. 
 And before the two girls had left the Dunlap porch and 
 had the glare of the lamplight out of their eyes, he was 
 safely ensconced among the tangle of lilac shrubs to the 
 east of Mrs. Card's house. 
 
 Here he beheld exactly what he had expected to be- 
 hold; the girls did not go into Mrs. Card's house, but 
 walked away talking recklessly of, " the old woman going 
 up the hill with her back toward you." 
 
 What old woman going up a hill with her back toward 
 you? Why, who but Susan Card, of course. And she, 
 the blind, simple old mummy, thinking this girl of John's
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 229 
 
 such a wonder! Perhaps she wouldn't think John's girl 
 such a wonder when she heard what he would soon have 
 to tell her! 
 
 He tried to make himself look as much like a lilac as 
 possible and succeeded so well that the girls walked past 
 him without seeing him and still discussing " the old 
 woman," went on down the hill. 
 
 " Ah-ha ! " hissed Mr. Pickens melodramatically, 
 " now I've got yeh ! " 
 
 A moment later he suffered an optical illusion. He 
 thought he saw the two walk north on the Plummer cross 
 street, and then why, if it had not been utterly im- 
 possible, he should have thought that he saw them turn 
 in through the broken palings of the fence which still 
 surrounded the old Pettingill House. 
 
 He turned and made his breathless way back to Luther 
 Dunlap's place. He did not even stop to knock, but 
 burst in upon the family with startling abruptness. Mr. 
 Dunlap and his wife sat alone beside a glowing coal- 
 stove. Luther had just removed his shoes and was wrig- 
 gling comfortable stockinged toes before the fire. Susan 
 Dunlap was mending clothes. 
 
 "Where's your youngones?" demanded Pickens in 
 such a tragic voice that Susan jumped up with a nervous 
 little exclamation. 
 
 " Why, Elmer's to bed with a sore throat " 
 
 "Well, you've got more'n Elmer, ain't yeh?" 
 
 " Rob's gone down to the library," said Luther, " and 
 Susan's over to Mother Card's with " 
 
 " All you know about where Susan is ! " Pickens's hour
 
 230 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 of triumph had come. " You put on your shoes and 
 we'll go over to Gram'ma Card's and see if Susan is 
 there or not." 
 
 " Why, of course, she's there," whispered Mrs. Dunlap 
 tremblingly, putting socks away in her mending basket 
 and preparing to make one of the searching party. 
 
 " You just stay right here, Susan; we don't want you 
 along a-tall," said Pickens. Luther was drawing on his 
 shoes. 
 
 " I've had just about enough trouble with that girl of 
 yours, Susan," he declared, glaring at his wife. " Seems 
 funny, me with two boys who never give any trouble, an' 
 you with one girl that you nor your mother neither nor 
 the hull family can't manage. Hereafter after supper 
 she stays right strictly under this roof! You hear me? " 
 
 " Yes, Luther," replied Mrs. Dunlap contritely. She 
 hoped that when they found Susan with Colinette over 
 at her mother's, either reading or studying or engaged in 
 some other harmless occupation, as she felt sure that 
 they would, the edict would be withdrawn or, at least, 
 softened. 
 
 But they did not find Susan at her grandmother's. 
 Neither did they find Mrs. Card herself. The house was 
 dark and locked. 
 
 " You go back an' git your lantern," said Pickens. " I 
 know where they be ; they're in the old Pettingill House." 
 
 " Nonsense ! " said Dunlap, " them girls wouldn't 
 dare go into that old rathole alone at night. Why, you'd 
 hate to go in there yourself." 
 
 " Pshaw !" said Pickens, " I ain't a coward if you are, 
 Luther."
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 231 
 
 " I ain't any more a coward than you are, and not 
 runnin' a farm, I don't have any need of a lantern and 
 so don't own one. And what do we want of a lantern 
 anyhow? Come on down and we'll soon convince you 
 that you're out of your reckonin'. I don't see what put 
 such a notion into your head anyway. But whatever 
 way it turns out, I'll see to it that Susan's girl don't run 
 round with John's girl any more." 
 
 The two reached the old house and stood among the 
 rattling pickets of the fence. A clammy silence brooded 
 over the place; the chamber windows stared darkly like 
 sinister old eyes seven of them on that front alone. 
 
 " It's queer this old wreck standing here all these 
 years," mused Luther Dunlap. 
 
 " I s'pose the taxes have et it up years ago," said Waldo 
 Pickens. "If real estate was worth anything in this 
 town I s'pose a man might git this corner on a tax title. 
 This old barracks could be torn down and a rentable 
 house built out of the lumber " 
 
 " Well, why don't you go in? " Dunlap interrupted his 
 brother-in-law to ask. 
 
 " Tain't my girl that's lost." 
 
 " But it's you that's makin' the holler." 
 
 ' Tell you what we'd better do ; we'd better step into 
 Plummer's an' see if he ain't got a lantern." 
 
 " I don't want to make a neighborhood talk out of this 
 matter," objected Dunlap. " One thing, I don't believe 
 you know what you're talkin' about. I don't believe them 
 girls would even dare walk along this side street after 
 dark, let alone goin' into this place. And another thing, 
 wherever Susan Taylor is, it's the last time she goes
 
 232 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 there! After this she washes the dishes after supper 
 and then she goes to bed " 
 
 A terrifying noise sounded within the old house; a 
 swift and horrid rushing as of some dire and resistless 
 force followed by crashing and rending sounds as of a 
 conflict between giants, then groans and mutterings. 
 The sounds were those of a person in great pain, or in 
 extreme anguish of mind.
 
 XIX 
 
 LUTHER DUNLAP, who stood nearest the fence, turned 
 to run, but his foot slipped on the uneven walk and he 
 went down with a "whoosh!" Pickens leapfrogged 
 over him, literally rolling to the sidewalk and landing at 
 the feet of Susan Dunlap who, with a shawl whipped 
 over her head, had disobeyed her husband's commands to 
 stay at home, and followed the investigators in order to 
 learn the worst. She gave a little squeak of horror, 
 grasped Pickens by the coat-collar and tried with all her 
 might to drag him to an upright position. 
 
 The noise inside of the hotel was really Villie Klatz 
 pounding up the cellar stairs, through the main hall and 
 up the chamber stairs on his hurried way to his car- 
 penter shop in one of the upper rooms. He had for- 
 gotten to bring down a lovely vista of a hallway which 
 would appear as a doorway in what was known in the 
 Kitty Candle Company as " the American Scene." 
 There were also three boulders secured in the Pickens 
 oatfield and designed to roughen the foreground of " the 
 lonely Irish road " which poor, evicted Molly O'Driscoll 
 must travel. The stage was waiting, and in his haste 
 at the top of the stairs Villie had lost overboard, not 
 only two of the boulders, but the door-frame as well. 
 The latter had seemed to hit every corner on its way 
 down with splintering effect. Villie's muttered regrets 
 
 233
 
 234 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 at its destruction had added the last touch of horror to 
 the sounds borne to the ears of the rescuers outside. 
 Such noises, coming from an avowedly haunted hotel 
 would tangle stronger nerves than those of Waldo Pick- 
 ens and Luther Dunlap. 
 
 " Oh, dear! " groaned Dunlap, " you've busted my leg, 
 I'm afraid!" 
 
 " I've busted your leg I ? Whad'yeh. mean I 
 busted your leg ! " stormed Pickens. " You nearly 
 busted my head layin' down there on the walk that- 
 a-way scared to death at nothin' ! " 
 
 " Are you hurt bad, Luther ? " whimpered Susan Dun- 
 lap, dropping Pickens and going to the assistance of her 
 husband. 
 
 " Yes, I be ! " he answered, but he got upon his feet 
 and limped hastily in the direction of home, leaning 
 heavily on his wife's bony little shoulder. He paused 
 to advise his brother-in-law : 
 
 " You go on in an' investigate, Pickens ; you ain't 
 afraid of nothin', you remember." 
 
 Pickens stood puffing with anger, watching the pro- 
 gress of his relatives toward home, one moment resolv- 
 ing to follow his inclination and run after them, the next 
 deciding to wait awhile and make them believe he had 
 really gone into the Pettingill House. 
 
 He walked northward on the side street until he came 
 opposite the Plummer storehouse. Here an unusual 
 sight attracted him. It was nothing so peculiar, but he 
 had never seen it before a long, perpendicular streak 
 of light shining from the storehouse window. He de- 
 tested Marcus Plummer with his superior airs, his seal
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 235 
 
 ring and patterned waistcoat; his stenographer and his 
 air of having more money and knowing more about the 
 ways of moneyed men than anyone else above the rail- 
 road or of any one else in town for that matter, even 
 the banker. It was not to save Marcus Plummer from 
 being robbed that he was about to draw his attention 
 to the fact of there being a light in his storehouse; it 
 was to convince that gentleman that he, Waldo Pickens, 
 was awake to what was going on in the neighborhood. 
 He rang the Plummer front door bell loudly. Marcus 
 Plummer himself opened the door. 
 
 " Good evening," said Waldo Pickens with an air of 
 importance. 
 
 " Good evening," returned Marcus Plummer, with an 
 air not a whit less important. 
 
 " I wondered if you knew there was a light in your 
 storehouse. I've never noticed a light in there before 
 and I didn't know but what " 
 
 " My store Oh, yes ; I know what you mean. Well, 
 you see, that isn't my storehouse never has been, that's 
 Dick Brackley's storehouse. Brackley reserved that end 
 of the lot and the building on it when he sold me the 
 place. Yes, I never owned that part of the lot. They're 
 in there rehearsing some sort of a play, I guess, or so 
 my boy says." 
 
 "Your boy in it?" 
 
 " No, I think not. I think the Brackley boy is in it, 
 though, and the Dunlap children, and a number of young 
 folks from around here above the railroad." 
 
 " Oh," said Waldo Pickens, " I didn't know. Well, 
 good evening."
 
 236 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 " Good evening." The door slammed with unseemly 
 promptitude, leaving Waldo so full of his discovery 
 that he did not even resent Plummer's immaculate hand 
 with its seal ring. He hurried right up to the Dunlap 
 house with his news. He found Luther with his feet 
 to the stove once more but not nearly so comfortable as 
 he had been on the occasion of the first call. Susan was 
 bathing a swollen shin with arnica. 
 
 " You go down there an' tell that girl to come along 
 home ! " roared Dunlap after hearing Pickens' report. 
 
 " Yes, indeed," seconded Mrs. Dunlap, " you tell her, 
 Waldo, that her ma wants her to come right along home ! 
 She has no business to go into any such fixings without 
 telling us." 
 
 " An' she never would have done it if it hadn't been 
 for John Card's girl," added Dunlap, " and hereafter I 
 want you to make it your business, Susan, to keep her 
 strictly away from John's girl yes, an' from Mother 
 Card as well. Mother Card has got to be such a gump 
 where John's girl is concerned that a person can't depend 
 on her at all." 
 
 " You bet you've struck it just right now," agreed 
 Waldo Pickens. " For instance, where is she tonight ? 
 Off gaddin' round to some of the church folks' houses an' 
 her grand-childern runnin' wild if I wasn't in the neigh- 
 borhood to round 'em up an' watch what they was doin'. 
 Practicin' plays ! Humph ! Nice silly business ! I 
 guess if she knew what they was up to she'd feel pretty 
 green. But mark you, that girl will be able to pull the 
 wool over her eyes; she'll tell her she wasn't practicin' 
 plays and your mother'll believe her." His hand was
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 237 
 
 on the door to leave but he turned back to inquire, " Have 
 you ever looked into the matter of her will as I told you 
 to, to see whether she's goin' to leave her property to 
 your girl, where it belongs, or to John's girl, where it 
 don't belong?" 
 
 Luther stirred his injured leg uneasily. He had done 
 so, but he did not care to have his wife know it. She 
 did not approve of his anticipating her mother's death 
 with so much complacence. 
 
 " Time enough for such matters later on," he said. 
 " You go on down an' tell Susan to come home this 
 minute." 
 
 Armed with absolute authority, Waldo performed his 
 mission. In twenty minutes he handed in his report to 
 the Dunlaps. 
 
 " I went down an' knocked," said Pickens. " Some- 
 body sung out, ' Who's there ? ' Says I, ' Susan Dunlap's 
 ma wants her to come straight home ! ' Who do you 
 s'pose opened the door for me? Mr. Dick Brackley of 
 Noo York!" 
 
 " Dick Brackley ! " exclaimed the Dunlaps in unison. 
 
 " Yes, Dick Brackley ! An' I stepped inside an' there 
 set Gusta and Villie Klatz, an' your Rob that you thought 
 was down to the library all so fast, and the Brackley boy, 
 and who else do you think? Why, Gram'ma Card 
 as big as life! " 
 
 " Ma?'" gasped Mrs. Dunlap. 
 
 " Yes, Ma ! Colinette was up in front sayin' off some 
 tomfoolery, and Susan was in behind a big box with 
 some kind of a curtain hangin' in front of it an' two 
 lamps on a table. She comes out and asks what the mat-
 
 238 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 ter was, an' said she'd be along up in a few minutes. 
 Says Mr. Dick Brackley, ' Anybody sick ? ' Says I, ' No, 
 but somebody's mad.' ' Well/ says he, ' tell Miss Su- 
 san's father we'll be up in a few minutes.' ' 
 
 " ' We ' ? Dick Brackley ? " cried Mrs. Dunlap in con- 
 sternation, " Luther, put on your sock, quick ! " 
 
 " I won't put on my sock for the king of England! " 
 declared Mr. Dunlap, " let alone Dick Brackley! " 
 
 Mrs. Dunlap rushed about straightening things and 
 had time to put on a fresh apron before they came 
 eight of them, young and old culprits together, to en- 
 deavor to propitiate the Dunlaps. 
 
 " We have come to explain," began Mr. Richard Brack- 
 ley, who constituted himself spokesman. " These young- 
 sters got up a club which they called The Bats " 
 
 " Yeh," sneered Luther Dunlap. " Set some chairs, 
 Susan." 
 
 " John Card's girl, here, discovered the tunnel which 
 her father and I dug from the cellar of the old Pettin- 
 gill House, under the stone pavement to the basement of 
 my studio when we were going to school together. They 
 started a secret society in my studio, and my boy Neal 
 joined it. Interesting, don't you think so, Mr. Dunlap? " 
 
 " I don't know as it's particularly interestin for chil- 
 dern to disobey their parents. Put some more arnica 
 on my leg, Susan, an' wrap it up." Mrs. Dunlap did as 
 she was bidden. 
 
 " Had an accident ? " inquired Brackley solicitously. 
 
 " Yea-h." 
 
 " Too bad. Well, as I was saying, I didn't know a 
 thing about the invasion of my studio until I took a
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 239 
 
 fancy to come up above the railroad and investigate my 
 holdings in this end of the town. I had bolted the studio 
 door on the inside and knew that the only way into the 
 building was through the tunnel in the cellar of the old 
 Pettingill House. I bought the Pettingill property years 
 ago just because of that tunnel. Well, when I came up 
 into the studio I found the cunningest little theatre es- 
 tablished there " 
 
 " Theatre ! " exclaimed several voices. 
 
 " It's nothin' but dolls," explained Mrs. Card anxiously. 
 
 " Dolls in tableaux," said Colinette in a voice scarcely 
 above a whisper. 
 
 " It's the most charming, colorful little thing you ever 
 saw," declared Brackley enthusiastically, " and the girls 
 got it up all by themselves." 
 
 " Yes," broke in Neal, " and we're going to give it 
 right after the Morning Glories give their show. You 
 see, Colinette tells the story and Susan poses the 
 dolls " 
 
 " Susan ain't goin' to have anything more to do with 
 it," announced Mr. Dunlap with an exasperating air of 
 finality. He put his bandaged foot on the floor carefully. 
 
 " Oh, now, Dunlap ! " expostulated Brackley. " Such 
 a ruling would spoil the scheme. You wouldn't do that 
 I'm sure, after all the labor the young folks have ex- 
 pended on the thing." 
 
 " I don't p'pose to have my family go into the show 
 business. They never have, an' they ain't a gunto ! " 
 
 " Awh, Paw " began Rob, but Dunlap turned upon 
 him fiercely. 
 
 " You git yourself out of here to bed ! " he commanded,
 
 240 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 and The Bats were presently weakened by the loss of 
 one member. 
 
 "If Mother Card wants to let John's girl lead her 
 round by the nose, it ain't any of my business ; I ain't got 
 no authority over John Card's girl. If I had, she'd a 
 been walkin' the chalk long before this, I can tell you." 
 
 " Boo-hoo-hoo! " burst out Susan, and her step- father 
 sent her after Rob. 
 
 " You git to bed now ! Right off now ! I don't want 
 to hear no more of this goins-on! " Susan disappeared, 
 sobbing. " I'm master in my own family yet a spell, 
 thank goodness ! " Dunlap glared at the Brackleys. 
 Neal sat with a distressed look upon his face, until, hap- 
 pening to glance across where Colinette's hands fluttered 
 as she sketched absently on the back of the play manu- 
 script which she had brought home for revision, he emit- 
 ted a snort which he tried unsuccessfully to turn into a 
 sneeze. They were all there in minute sketches; his 
 father, pleading wildly, he, himself, looking cowed and 
 beaten, Susan dissolved in tears, Waldo Pickens, Luther 
 Dunlap (in the center and worked out with great detail) 
 Villie, Gusta, and Mrs. Card, in a jumbled, scarcely- 
 indicated group of among-others-present in the back- 
 ground. By a treacherous sleight-of-hand Neal pos- 
 sessed himself of the sketch much to Colinette's discom- 
 fiture. 
 
 " We are sorry," Mr. Brackley was saying, and rose 
 to go. Mrs. Card, with a sympathetic glance at her 
 Susan, got up also. She was sorry too, for she knew 
 upon whose slender shoulders the weight of Luther Dun- 
 lap's displeasure would fall.
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 241 
 
 " Ever since John Card's girl come to live with 
 Gram'ma Card there's been trouble in this neighborhood," 
 declared Waldo Pickens. " You bet my girl don't have 
 nothin' to do with John's girl." 
 
 " And neither will ours after this," promised Dunlap. 
 
 " Oh, Luther! " remonstrated his wife. 
 
 " I mean it," returned Luther. " Just as Waldo says, 
 she's kicked up trouble all along the street." 
 
 " Well, Colinette, seems we ain't got any friends in 
 this family; we'd better go along home," said Mrs. Card. 
 "I'll say this before I go, though, Luther: Colinette 
 never has been a disobedient girl. She ain't been dis- 
 obedient in this Bat business, not a bit of it. The 
 Calkins girl and some others got up a club in school that 
 was turrible select wouldn't take in anybody but the 
 tonics in town. Colinette got up a club of her own, and 
 it was all right. Where she was wrong was in breaking 
 into what she supposed was the Plummer storehouse. 
 As it turns out, it wasn't; and she told me the hull 
 scheme and asked me to join her secret society, and to 
 please her I did join. I sent my name in as S. Watson, 
 and they all thought it was a big joke when they found 
 out who S. Watson was. 
 
 " Colinette and I ain't goin' to stick around where we 
 ain't wanted; but, Susan, I want you to come over to 
 your ma's just as you always have. Come, Colinette." 
 
 " Ah-ha," triumphed Waldo Pickens, " that's exactly 
 what Miss Colinette wants! She wants you to drop 
 your two Susans, root an' branch, so you'll leave your 
 property all to her! " 
 
 Mrs. Card stared at him a moment, then burst out
 
 242 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 laughing, but when she turned to Colinette she ceased 
 laughing. There was something tragic in the girl's face. 
 Mrs. Card went and laid a caressing hand on her hair. 
 
 " Colinette, dear," she said, " don't mind your Uncle 
 Waldo Pickens ; he'd oughta been an undertaker ; he's so 
 fond of buryin' folks. He's been buryin' me every week 
 for the last fifteen year. Come on now, let's git home, 
 say our prayers and git to bed. Good-night, all." 
 
 Richard Brackley bowed low, as if the queen were 
 passing. 
 
 " Good-night, Mrs. Card. You have reason to be 
 proud of John's little girl, very proud indeed. Good- 
 night, Colinette. Don't worry about the Kitty Candle 
 Company; we'll pull the show off in spite of everything. 
 Ventures of this sort always have their ups and downs. 
 The name of Kitty Candle will be on everybody's tongue 
 in this town a week from now." 
 
 He turned to Susan Dunlap as the door closed behind 
 Mrs. Card, her grand-daughter and the two young 
 Klatzes. " Your brother's little daughter is a genius, 
 Susan. I know that if John Card were alive he would 
 be proud of her. I am sure that you will see the day 
 when you are proud because she is your niece. She is 
 going to be a beauty in time, but that is a small part of it. 
 She has a talent a passion, for form and color. Your 
 whole family " the slight wave of his hand included 
 not only the Dunlap family entire together with Mrs. 
 Gard, but all of the Pickenses as well " will be proud 
 of her some day. You ought to get together all of 
 you and put her through the best art school in New 
 York City. Come, Neal, we will go."
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 243 
 
 He went away leaving a partially paralyzed trio around 
 the coal-stove. Waldo Pickens was the first to recover 
 speech. 
 
 "Genius!" he exploded, "Art school! All of us! 
 Why, that Dick Brackley is crazy! Who is this here 
 Kitty Candle, I wonder? " 
 
 " I wonder," sighed Mrs. Dunlap. " I never heard of 
 her before." 
 
 Richard Brackley had given voice to his justifiable 
 indignation. He had told the truth to Colinette's rela- 
 tives, but he had struck the wrong note. To tell the 
 father of Helen Pickens that Colinette Card was a beauty 
 and a genius was a grave mistake. Waldo Pickens proud 
 of anybody except his own daughter? What could the 
 man be thinking of? 
 
 When Aunt Rinthy heard her husband's account of the 
 night's doings she could scarcely credit it. The old Pet- 
 tingill House ? Mercy me ! A genius ? Good pity ! A 
 beauty? What in the name of the land of liberty was 
 the matter with Dick Brackley? 
 
 " Why, she's red-headed! " screamed Aunt Rinthy. 
 " She's undersized ! She's she's Waldo, did you 
 tell Dick Brackley that she's rickety? I guess that'd a 
 held him!" 
 
 Colinette seemed to be crushed. Mrs. Gard could not 
 understand why her grand-daughter, usually so brave and 
 so ready to pick up a difficulty or a failure, turn it to a 
 new angle and to ultimate success, should be so " beaten- 
 like." 
 
 " I s'pose poor Susan's out of it," she conceded as she 
 shook down the base-burner, " but don't fret about the
 
 244 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 dialogue (Mrs. Card systematically named the Kdtty 
 Candle show a dialogue) if Gusta can't manage the doll- 
 babies fix 'em in place, you know I can and I will. 
 Now don't you fret." 
 
 " I'm not fretting about the show the dialogue 
 but" 
 
 " But what, dear?" urged her grandmother. 
 
 " I'm worried about what Uncle Waldo Pickens said 
 about about you getting to like me better than you 
 do Sue. You must never do that, grandmother, never. 
 Because I should feel like a a wicked thing if my 
 coming to live with you made any difference to Sue. 
 Poor Sue, who has hard enough times the best way you 
 can fix it." 
 
 " That's all foolishness," scolded Mrs. Card. " Waldo 
 Pickens had to think up something to hurt you an' me an' 
 both the Susans together, and he hit on about the best 
 thing he could invent well, I guess I'd better go an' 
 say my prayers! Satan certainly has got a weepon in 
 Waldo Pickens when he wants to beat me. Yes, I'd 
 better keep still on the hull subject till I've asked help to 
 skate over it. But I will say, Colinette, Waldo Pickens 
 is one of the biggest, shaggiest lions in my upward path 
 an' allers has been! Him an' Rinthy with that set smile 
 of hers well, we won't talk any more about it tonight. 
 And tomorrow you an' me will go down and you show 
 me how to set the dolls. I'm in hopes if Luther senses 
 that he can't break up the dialogue he'll relent an' let 
 Susan help after all. But we can't depend on it; we've 
 got to git ready for the dialogue just as if Susan Dunlap 
 wasn't in this country."
 
 XX 
 
 SUCH was Mrs. Card's anxiety to further the fortunes 
 of the Kitty Candle Unmoving Picture Company that 
 she spent hours alone in the Brackley studio manipulat- 
 ing puppets. Success depended greatly upon the deftness 
 with which the fifty odd tableaux were presented in course 
 of the story. Another element of success would be the 
 surprise with which the audience would first see the dolls. 
 Mr. Richard Brackley, who had taken the performance 
 under his especial supervision, laid great stress on this, 
 therefore great secrecy must be maintained. The public 
 must be kept in the dark as to the identity of Kitty 
 Candle and her company. 
 
 Helen Pickens knew. Helen Pickens could have told 
 if she had thought it worth while. But Helen had given 
 a solemn promise not to tell and she kept her promise. 
 To Lila Merton and Gertie Calkins she had denied any 
 knowledge of The Bats or their activities. These two 
 facts kept her silent even through her father's vaunted 
 investigations and her mother's critical arraignment of 
 Colinette and Mrs. Card. She was very busy also. The 
 Morning Glories had failed in many of their features 
 which were to make their entertainment unique in the 
 annals of Redmoon. They had contemplated a minstrel 
 show, but had given it up because of " the horrid black- 
 ing up." If Neal Brackley had been " half-way decent," 
 
 245
 
 246 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 they would have tried a play, but Jeff Plummer, the only 
 boy in school at all personable as a leading man was 
 stronger on the diamond than he was on the stage. In 
 fact, although he might have looked the part acceptably, 
 he could not commit the lines, or would not; and those 
 he did manage to remember he spoke so lifelessly and 
 without the necessary conception of their meaning that 
 the play was abandoned as hopeless. This brought the 
 last possible date of the performance so fatally near that 
 there was no time to prepare anything more extraordi- 
 nary than a mixed musical programme, left to the dis- 
 cretion of the few who were willing to expend enough 
 labor for even this meager result. 
 
 The entertainment was given on a Friday night, and 
 the most enthusiastic patron could not conscientiously 
 vote it a success. The conversation among the perform- 
 ers at school the following week consisted mostly of ex- 
 cuses for their several failures. Three of the members 
 of the ladies' quartette agreed that " Gertie Calkins should 
 have known better than to try to sing the first soprano 
 part ; she couldn't sing up to F without flatting ! " 
 
 Gertie laid the break-down to " Helen Pickens's wooden 
 accompaniment." Jeff Plummer, who was billed to give 
 a very laughable black- faced number, suffered stage fright 
 at the eleventh hour and bolted, leaving a deplorable gap 
 in the programme. Lila Merton's pathetic little recita- 
 tion could not be heard beyond the first row, even if 
 it had been finished. It was not finished owing to the 
 fact of Lila's getting mixed in the lines just where the 
 tragedy began. But she had managed to get off the 
 stage gracefully and she had looked very pretty and. very
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 247 
 
 much frightened and had the sympathy of the audience 
 from the first; said audience, not having heard much 
 of the selection, remained in ignorance of the fact that 
 it had been defrauded of the last quarter of the effort, 
 and applauded generously. 
 
 Helen Pickens was the only performer who went on 
 and on to the bitter end and got no thanks for it. She 
 played the piece which Colinette had named " The Back- 
 ward Spring," and in comparison with Lila Merton's per- 
 formance and the applause vouchsafed that unfinished 
 effort, deserved more than the feeble and short-lived 
 demonstration accorded her. Aunt Rinthy was fully 
 justified in her assertion that " kissin' went by favor " ; 
 that " Helen had worked and Helen had accomplished ; 
 but because she lived above the railroad the " smarties 
 of the town set down on her! " 
 
 A certain picture remained in the mind of Mrs. Pickens 
 for many a day after the concert. It was that of Mr. 
 Richard Brackley's frantic clapping when Helen's 
 " Spring " had run its weary length and Helen was leav- 
 ing the stage. 
 
 "If he'd a had his way," she told her daughter, " you 
 could have played your other piece all right. He clapped 
 an' clapped an' clapped. But that little white-headed 
 snippit of a wife of his'n never touched her hands to- 
 gether not once. I watched her ! " 
 
 At the close of the entertainment Neal Brackley came 
 before the curtain and announced another to be given 
 a week from that night. It was to be a play given by 
 the Kitty Candle Unmoving Picture Company, under the 
 management of a club known as The Bats.
 
 248 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 The announcement created quite a sensation. Who 
 were The Bats ? Who was Kitty Candle ? These ques- 
 tions were frequent as the audience passed out of the 
 hall. 
 
 " Neal Brackley, what are you going to try to do ? " 
 challenged Gertie Calkins on the Monday morning after 
 the Morning Glory concert. 
 
 " Can't tell yet," laughed Neal. 
 
 " But, really, tell me, Neal; who is going to perform? 
 Is Colinette Gard going to be Kitty Candle ? She'd make 
 a good candle; her hair is red. Is she going to be Kitty 
 Candle?" 
 
 " Oh, no." 
 
 "Well, who is, then?" 
 
 "Who is what?" 
 
 " Going to be Kitty Candle? " 
 
 " Why, Kitty Candle is going to be very much her- 
 self." 
 
 " Is she a real actress ? " 
 
 " You bet." 
 
 "Is she pretty?" 
 
 " Pretty as a doll." 
 
 " Did your father get her? " 
 
 " Father? Oh, no, but father admires her very much." 
 
 " Doesn't Colinette Gard have any part ? " 
 
 " Oh why yes ; Colinette is the biggest part of the 
 show. But wait till you see for yourself." 
 
 " Oh, I'm not coming. I'm sick of shows." 
 
 " Naturally." 
 
 "What's that?" 
 
 "I just asked you, actually? Like that, you know."
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 249 
 
 " Awh, yes, you did ! You said ' naturally.' You 
 meant that naturally I would be sick of shows because 
 ours was such a frost. Oh, you needn't excuse yourself, 
 Mr. Neal Brackley; we all know it was a frost. And 
 do you want me to tell you why it was a frost? " 
 
 " Oh, I know ; you didn't work at it hard enough to 
 make it a success." 
 
 " You don't mean to tell me, Mr. Neal Brackley ! Lila, 
 come here! Do you know what he says? That our 
 show fizzled up because we didn't work at it hard enough. 
 What do you think of that? " 
 
 " Our show was not a fizzle," pouted Lila. 
 
 " Oh, do say that again ! I love to hear you say 
 * fizzle ' that way, you know, with the corners all 
 rounded off." 
 
 " I'll tell you why our show was a fizzle," stormed 
 Gertie, " Your old Bat Club was the reason. If you 
 and Colinette Card had joined us and we had all worked 
 together we might have got up one respectable entertain- 
 ment instead of two fizzles ! " 
 
 " Oh, give us poor Brothers of the Night a chance," 
 begged Neal. " Give us the benefit of the doubt. We 
 have a week yet to strut round in before we go down 
 to defeat with the rest of you." 
 
 " That wooden-fingered Helen Pickens can't play ac- 
 companiments," continued Gertie. " She ruined our 
 quartette " 
 
 "Awh, come off, Gertie; we ruined it ourselves," cut 
 in Lila. " You flatted and I sharped. Saint Cecelia 
 herself cquldn't have played an accompaniment to such a 
 noise."
 
 250 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 All day Friday the Brothers of the Night were in their 
 places at school. The only Bat who showed the least 
 nervousness was Susan Dunlap, who had no part in the 
 performance whatever. For days preceding the enter- 
 tainment she had feared an edict from her step-father 
 forbidding her to attend. Elmer talked about the show 
 a good deal, dangling it before his father's mental vision 
 continually. But Elmer was due to catch something, 
 having had a longer respite than usual from contagious 
 diseases. Elmer came down with the Dutch measles and 
 was, virtually, cut off from his kind during the days 
 immediately preceding the play. Even Waldo Pickens 
 was called away to serve on the jury for that week and 
 was absent at the county seat. Aunt Rinthy was extra 
 busy with painters, getting ready for her yearly plunge 
 into unseasonable house-cleaning, which would enable her 
 to finish before any of her neighbors began and then sit 
 through their struggles and brag about it. Thus, Friday 
 evening, Susan actually found herself curled in the corner 
 of a seat in the middle of the opera house, seventh row 
 back. She congratulated herself heartily that her step- 
 father had forgotten to forbid her to attend, and even 
 more heartily that she was down there in the semi-gloom 
 of the audience-room instead of up behind that mysteri- 
 ous swaying curtain waiting to be devoured by the raven- 
 ous wolves who would soon fill the seats about her. 
 
 She shuddered when she thought of Rosey. Suppose 
 Gram'ma Card shouldn't brace Rosey's little wooden legs 
 just as they should be braced on their little tin standard, 
 and Rosey should topple over with her head in the fire- 
 place, her petticoats fluttering in plain sight and her
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 251 
 
 little tin platter on edge like a cart wheel, the most con- 
 spicuous article on the stage? It was bound to happen 
 to some of the dolls. It always had, even with the great- 
 est care in posing them. She did hope Rosey would not 
 be the victim. 
 
 Of course, Rosey would remain serene, but she, Rosey's 
 doting owner, she was almost sure that she should " yelp 
 right out! " 
 
 Susan did not know of the weights of sheet lead de- 
 signed by Mr. Brackley to fit the original platters and 
 which would make such accidents improbable. 
 
 The house began to fill. How ridiculous that all these 
 people should come to see those dolls of Colinette's and 
 hers. Oh, dear ! she wished that Colinette had not been 
 led into such foolishness! What if they all laughed at 
 Colinette's poor little story, and hissed when she came out 
 to tell the second part of it? 
 
 There were the Tabbs, and the Magridges, and Lizzie 
 Smith and her mother. And there came the Calkinses 
 oh, how Susan did wish that Rosey had never put 
 Colinette in mind of 
 
 And there was Jeff Plummer and Lila Merton right 
 up near the front Oh, poor Colinette ! And poor 
 Rosey ! 
 
 Everybody in town was there. Villie Klatz was tak- 
 ing tickets at the door; Rob was one of the ushers, Mr. 
 Brackley the other. Mr. Brackley serving as usher gave 
 a tone to the whole proceeding. He greeted everybody 
 as if he were his dearest friend for whom he had been 
 waiting up to that time. Mr. Calkins called to him twice 
 to bend down and receive some facetious communica-
 
 252 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 tion; the banker, Mr. Day, chuckled and joked as he was 
 being packed into his seat. He held Dick Brackley to 
 introduce him to a stranger who had come as his guest. 
 The banker ; think of it ! come to see poor Colinette, and 
 poor Rosey ! 
 
 Susan's hands trembled where they lay in her lap. 
 She changed their position, and when the outer curtain 
 suddenly rolled up disclosing another of dull crimson 
 velvet, she drew in her breath sharply and held it a long 
 time. She could discern the square of velvet in the 
 center which she knew would open soon on the first act. 
 
 The house was very full, and across, on the other side 
 
 Susan could hardly believe that she was seeing straight 
 
 if there wasn't Uncle Waldo Pickens, Helen, and Aunt 
 Rinthy herself, smiling broadly in hopes of another fail- 
 ure. Aunt Rinthy gazed frequently at Mrs. Brackley's 
 serenely beautiful face under its crown of white hair. 
 
 Neal Brackley came from behind the curtain and sat 
 down at the piano. Susan thought that he looked like a 
 young prince. A ripple of curiosity and approval ran 
 over the audience. This was the first time that Red- 
 moon had had the opportunity to hear him play. He was 
 a little pale and a little nervous, with a nice, appealing 
 boyishness, Susan thought, but his playing was wonder- 
 ful. He was realizing his ambition as voiced on the occa- 
 sion of his entering The Bats; he was " playing to rows 
 and rows of people who had paid real money to hear 
 him," and he was playing well. 
 
 Before the applause had died entirely away a brilliant 
 circle of light flashed upon the left of the velvet curtain 
 and in the middle of it stood Colinette, bowing and smil-
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 253 
 
 ing. She wore a little straight plain slip of a dress made 
 from the green satin lining of an old cloak which Mrs. 
 Card had treasured for years. Susan recognized that 
 lining at once although the dress was a surprise. She 
 had wondered what Colinette would wear. Among the 
 bright braids of Colinette's hair shone five rose geranium 
 leaves, and on the front of her dress a bat spread black 
 enamel wings and winked its green eyes. 
 
 Colinette began immediately to tell the story of poor 
 Molly O'Driscoll and her young daughter, Sheelah. She 
 used the rich brogue of the west of Ireland skilfully, and 
 in the manner of one who, in some past time, had been 
 literally soaked in it. Susan was not surprised at her 
 cousin's skill in this; she knew of it before. 
 
 The small curtains glided back to disclose the first 
 tableau, and the audience broke into a storm of applause. 
 It was so new, so unexpected, so life-like and so very, 
 very little. The interior of the old cabin, the fireplace 
 of stone with the wee kettle swung over a turf fire. 
 (Susan could hardly credit the fire under that little 
 kettle. Richard Brackley had built that fire with a red 
 electric bulb and some red tissue paper.) The table held 
 two small porridge dishes and a pitcher filled so the 
 audience learned from the story with goat's milk ready 
 for the humble evening meal when Sheelah the daughter 
 came home. 
 
 The door at the back of the stage stood open and 
 through it the audience looked out upon a long road which 
 mounted a " knockawn " and was bordered on one side 
 by a dark Irish bog. 
 
 Over the kettle bent an old woman, and the story, al-
 
 254 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 ways progressing, told of the old woman's hopes and 
 fears, small comforts and great poverty, and, more than 
 all, her great pride in, and love for, her daughter, Shee- 
 lah. 
 
 Sheelah appeared, as beautiful in her red peasant dress 
 as any little leading lady could be, with no hint of the 
 dreadful scratches which had once on a time disfigured 
 her face. On her arm she carried a basket from which 
 she took a newspaper telling of " the great marriage, 
 dade an' indade," of Bridy McDermott, her former play- 
 mate, who had gone " across the slitherin' say " to Amer- 
 ica some years before and who now wanted Sheelah to 
 better her own condition by seeking the land of promise. 
 
 The tableaux appeared so frequently that the audience 
 was wholly absorbed in the scene, listening to the story 
 with no consciousness of the teller. 
 
 Through the heart-breaking scene of Sheelah's avowal 
 of her intention to go to America and leave her mother 
 and her young sweetheart, Kinney Kelley; through the 
 last meal together ; through the packing and the farewells, 
 and the coming of Kinney Kelley with the little Irish 
 ass and cart to carry away Sheelah's baggage; and the 
 last scene of the first act, the old mother asleep in the 
 chimney-corner beside an ashen hearth, the door stand- 
 ing ajar and the pigs and chickens taking possession of 
 the cheerless hut, the story wound its way without a 
 break. This tableau closed the first act and the audience 
 caught its breath and realized that the little green-clad 
 story-teller was no longer on the stage, but that Neal 
 Brackley had struck into a medley of American airs, ring- 
 ing the changes rapidly through " Suvvanee River,"
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 255 
 
 "Hot Time," "Hail Columbia" and "Marching 
 Through Georgia." 
 
 In America Sheelah, prosperous and forgetful of her 
 old mother, walked in wonderful gowns and sat down at 
 rich tables in beautiful and bewildering rooms. (Susan 
 had not dreamed of their beauty under properly maneu- 
 vered electricity.) In the Plummer storehouse they had 
 not seemed to bear out Colinette's descriptions. 
 
 Before the last act Mr. Richard Brackley came before 
 the curtain and explained that the play was the work of 
 the young girl who had read it. Not only had she writ- 
 ten the story and recited it with sufficient skill to make 
 the audience lose sight of her in her story, but she had, 
 also, designed and painted the scenery. 
 
 " In fact," Mr. Brackley concluded, " Miss Colinette 
 Card is the whole show." He led her forth, smiling, 
 and the audience stamped its approval. She ran back of 
 the curtain and came out again immediately dragging on 
 a very reluctant and bewildered grandmother with one 
 hand, and Villie Klatz with the other. Mrs. Card car- 
 ried, clasped to her bosom, Kitty Candle and old Mrs. 
 Glassus. 
 
 The audience fairly rose at them. Mrs. Brackley in 
 her enthusiasm, stood up and reached two shapely hands 
 toward the stage crying out, " Oh, isn't she a little dar- 
 ling! A perfect little darling! " 
 
 Aunt Rinthy Pickens, although on the other side of 
 the hall, saw this demonstration and knew that Mrs. 
 Brackley was not referring to Kitty Candle. 
 
 The last act showed Molly O'Driscoll in the same posi- 
 tion in which the curtain had closed her in at the end of
 
 256 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 the first sleeping, with her head against the stones of 
 the chimney, while the pig and chickens ravaged her pan 
 and her kettle. The now wholly sympathetic crowd real- 
 ized that the American scene was merely Molly's dream; 
 that Sheelah had not deserted her old mother in fact, 
 had not gone to America "at all at all," but was to 
 marry Kinney Kelley and take Molly and all back with 
 Bridy McDermott, who had come for her old mother 
 (played by Mrs. Glassus, the jointless one) to the land 
 of plenty. The play ended with a wild Irish jig, danced 
 to wild Irish music and shown forth by rapidly changing 
 tableaux which demanded the greatest activity and dex- 
 terity on the part of Grandmother Gard, ably assisted as 
 she was by Villie Klatz and Mr. Dick Brackley. 
 
 "Oh, I must have her! I really must!" cried Mrs. 
 Brackley as she laid aside her wraps after her return 
 from the theatre. 
 
 Her husband laughed. 
 
 " I'm thinking you would have hard work to pry her 
 away from her grandmother." 
 
 " But can't we do something for her? Make a party, 
 or buy her some lovely things, or oh, something, to 
 show her how much we think of her? " 
 
 "Whom would you ask to the party, mother?" de- 
 manded Neal. 
 
 " Oh, all the nice girls and boys in Redmoon the 
 very best, you know." 
 
 " Would you leave out Villie and Gusta Klatz, and the 
 Dunlaps, and " 
 
 " Oh, the Dunlaps they are so so and the 
 Klatzes are "
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 257' 
 
 " Ah-ha, my dear mommie, if you think Colinette Gard 
 is snob enough to thank you for a party that was too fine 
 for the Dunlaps, Klatzes and her grandmother, Mrs. Gard, 
 you have another guess coming." 
 
 " Why don't you send her to New York for a year or 
 two in the art schools, Alice?" suggested Brackley. 
 
 "Oh, Richard, may I?" 
 
 " To be sure. I'll back you to any length in that," he 
 told her. 
 
 " You're off again, my dear parents, and take it from 
 me, she isn't a snob, neither is she a pauper. If you 
 should propose sending her to school she would give you 
 that salty little stare of hers I know that stare ; it's the 
 kind she uses to keep you in your place she'd stare 
 soberly at you and make you believe you were sort of 
 going crazy, don't you know." Neal was youthfully 
 scornful of his mother's density in regard to Colinette 
 Gard. 
 
 " And if she should say yes, her grandmother would 
 say no. You mustn't curl up your little nose at Mrs. 
 Susan Gard, mother. She's a winner is grandmother, 
 and a lady through and through." 
 
 " You are a dear boy, to speak so kindly of a a " 
 
 " No I am not. Mrs. Gard has spoken kindly of me 
 two or three times ; I'm merely returning the compliment. 
 In fact, Mrs. Gard had the charity to say that I played 
 well tonight, something which none of my own family 
 seemed to have noticed." 
 
 His mother went across the room to him and kissed 
 and flattered him, enlarging upon the fact of his looking
 
 258 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 well rather than of his playing well, flattery which Neal, 
 with a gesture of impatience, refused to accept. 
 
 " You might do this, Alice," suggested Brackley, " you 
 might call on Mrs. Card in a friendly and neighborly way, 
 and mention what you would do for Colinette if Colinette 
 were your daughter. Then, if Mrs. Card shows any 
 enthusiasm, you might mention casually that you are to be 
 in New York at least part of the time and would take the 
 girl under your wing " 
 
 " I'll go up tomorrow ! " declared Mrs. Brackley en- 
 thusiastically. Then she kissed " her boys " and tripped 
 off to bed. 
 
 " She'll forget all about it before tomorrow," laughed 
 Brackley as the door closed behind his pretty wife. 
 
 " No, she won't," returned his son, " because I shan't 
 let her."
 
 XXI 
 
 THE pronounced success of the Kitty Candle Unmov- 
 ing Picture Company's entertainment had its effect on a 
 number of Redmoon citizens. It forever broke the as- 
 cendency of the Morning Glories in the younger set. To 
 wear a shining enamel bat on the lapel of the coat was 
 the honor most eagerly sought after. A number of 
 persons fell deeply in love with Colinette Card. Prom- 
 inent among these were Mrs. Brackley, Helen Pickens, 
 Lila Merton and Jeff Plummer. 
 
 It became noised abroad not through Colinette' s or 
 her grandmother's telling that the Brackleys had of- 
 fered to give Colinette two years of study in the New 
 York art schools, but that she and her grandmother had 
 refused to accept the offer. The information was al- 
 ways added that Mrs. Card herself would send Colinette 
 to study art in New York. 
 
 When Waldo Pickens heard this rumor he went im- 
 mediately to interview Susan Gard. He said he could 
 not believe that she would be that foolish unless he heard 
 it from her own lips. 
 
 " Don't you know that it'll clean you out ? Take every 
 cent that you've got in the world?" 
 
 Mrs. Card replied that she supposed it would, but, 
 just the same she was going to do her duty by John's 
 girl. 
 
 " And what about your duty to Susan's girl ? " bel- 
 
 259
 
 260 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 lowed Pickens, and knew the moment after that he had 
 made a hit. 
 
 He went away leaving Susan Gard sorely troubled. 
 
 Pickens had an especial and personal grievance against 
 John's girl. Through her officiousness in bringing the 
 Klatz boy into the limelight, Marcus Plummer had taken 
 notice of him and had offered him big wages to work in 
 his grain elevators. It was provoking to lose a cheap, 
 dependable hired man in such a manner. 
 
 It was remarkable how Villie Klatz improved in ap- 
 pearance and speech during the following summer. Once 
 he had told the Green-eyed One his great ambition, and 
 whenever he had a chance to talk with her alone he still 
 mentioned it freely, for he knew that his blushing secret 
 would be kept sacredly. 
 
 "If you want Susan to like you you must talk and 
 dress like the gentleman you really are," Colinette had 
 said to him during a confidential chat. " Lots of boys 
 and men dress and look as if they amounted to something 
 when they don't; while a real man, like you, Villie, goes 
 slouching along saying ' Already yet,' and wearing farmer 
 clothes on Sundays, and nobody dreams how fine and 
 brave you are on the inside. Now if I were a boy, and 
 had a nice flat back and broad shoulders like yours, I 
 wouldn't lope off this way." Colinette illustrated, and 
 Villie roared with laughter. 
 
 " My goodness, Colinette, do I go like that ? " 
 
 " Yes, you do. And if you ever expect the girls to 
 like you you must brace up and stop it. And you must 
 be a little more like your sister Gusta and care for ' things 
 that go on.' "
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 261 
 
 Villie took these suggestions kindly and profited by 
 them. 
 
 Twice during the year the Kitty Candle Company per- 
 formed to crowded houses, but although the plays were 
 more elaborate, and given with the same amount of care, 
 because of the lack of the surprise element they were not 
 altogether as successful as the first had been. It was like 
 telling a joke for the second and third time. The public 
 enjoyed it, but they knew what was coming. And then 
 the Brackleys went away to be gone a long time, and 
 without Neal the company languished. The studio, Mr. 
 Brackley said, was to be used as a clubhouse for The 
 Bats, theatre for the Kitty Candle Company, and most 
 especially for a studio in which Colinette was to work 
 until the time came for her to go East to study. 
 
 " It is your best road to independence," he told her 
 during their last interview. " Work at your drawing and 
 painting whenever you can, get through school here in 
 Redmoon as soon as possible, and write us when you 
 come to the city. Mrs. Brackley and I will see that you 
 get settled and started properly at your work there." 
 
 The year after the Brackleys left was to have been a 
 year of triumph for Colinette; a year which was to have 
 opened the door of the world to her. She and her grand- 
 mother had lived small had economized in every pos- 
 sible way. 
 
 " We skimp, but we have a good time," she told Susan, 
 as they sat one day chatting on the sagging porch of the 
 little gray house. It was three o'clock in the afternoon, 
 and Colinette was going down town to shop for her fall 
 hat, the hat she would wear to New York, for she would
 
 262 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 be gone now in less than a month. Susan and Mrs. Card 
 had both planned to go with her on this pleasant and mo- 
 mentous occasion, but Mrs. Kize had sent for grand- 
 mother in the morning to spend the day, and Aunt Rinthy 
 Pickens had, the week before, fallen down cellar and 
 broken her arm and had asked Susan to help out for a 
 week or two. This particular day Susan had slipped 
 away between the noon dishes and supper-planning for 
 five minutes' chat with her cousin. 
 
 " And I shall pay grandmother back every cent and 
 good big interest to boot when I get started," went on 
 Colinette, pursuing the subject upon which they had been 
 talking. 
 
 " Oh, gram'ma doesn't count that you owe her any- 
 thing. She couldn't live without you, Colinette," said 
 Susan. 
 
 " She would have got along well enough if I had never 
 come," said Colinette sadly. " Sometimes I think it 
 would have been better for her if " 
 
 " To have lived all alone in this little gray house and 
 work all alone in her garden and gone to prayer meeting 
 alone " 
 
 " You and Aunt Susan go to prayer meeting with her." 
 
 " But think how proud she is of you." 
 
 " She is proud of you, too. You are her grand-daugh- 
 ter as well as I am." 
 
 " But I am big and homely and of no account at all." 
 
 " Don't talk like that, Sue," begged Colinette, " it makes 
 me feel dreadfully blue, as if why, as if I were tak- 
 ing something which belonged by right to you." 
 
 Susan laughed.
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 263 
 
 " You are a goose, Colinette, for a person who is really 
 as smart as you are." 
 
 But Colinette remained troubled. 
 
 " Gram'ma's greatest moments are when she comes over 
 to our house or goes up to Aunt Rinthy's, and brags about 
 what you are going to do in New York." 
 
 "Brags, Sue? Grandmother doesn't brag." 
 
 " Well, perhaps it isn't bragging exactly ; perhaps I 
 might better call it anticipating. Whatever it is, it drives 
 Aunt Rinthy nearly crazy. She and Uncle Waldo 
 yes, and father too have what you might call Colinette 
 sociables, when they sit and count up the cost of art 
 education in New York. Aunt Rinthy is especially busy 
 now that you are getting ready to go and are spending 
 real money on clothes." 
 
 " I haven't spent much yet, you know that, Sue." 
 
 " Of course, I know it," laughed Susan, " nobody bet- 
 ter, when I have helped make your two dresses, the only 
 two you will have." 
 
 Colinette rose and brushed her skirts. 
 
 " I suppose I must be going. I think I shall get just 
 a frame and make my hat myself." 
 
 " Oh, do! " exclaimed Susan. 
 
 " I hate to do it." 
 
 " Oh, Colinette, I'll do it for you ; my fingers just itch 
 to get at it!" 
 
 " Would you like to make hats for a living? " 
 
 " Would I? Well, I should say I would! " 
 
 " It would be horrible to me. Well, if you want to 
 help me I will see what I can do in the way of a hat- 
 shape. If Mrs. Chedder hasn't anything that is pretty
 
 264 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 I may wear my old hat and get the new one in the city." 
 
 " Oh, I do hope you won't do that. I do hope you'll 
 find something at Chedders so I can see it. I'm afraid, 
 though. Mrs. Chedder is always slow in getting her fall 
 stock and it is early yet." 
 
 " Well, I shall see. And I must hurry or I shan't get in 
 my hour's work at the studio before supper. Good-by." 
 
 Colinette did not hurry. She even took time to go 
 around by the Brackley house, closed and lifeless-looking 
 now. Mrs. Brackley's cordial little letter was at home 
 in her writing-box this very minute. It gave minute in- 
 structions about how to proceed in case any chance pre- 
 vented them meeting at the station. 
 
 She wondered if Neal would be at home, and if his 
 school experiences had changed him, or if he would still 
 be the jolly good comrade of the old Bat days. She knew 
 how boys did change, and get smart and mannish and 
 grown up and horrid after they went to the kind of 
 school to which Neal had been going. 
 
 He had written a number of gay funny letters ad- 
 dressed to her, but to be read to the assembled Bats, in 
 which he always encouraged Rob in the matter of his 
 violin practice. Rob could now play " Oh, Lady, Art 
 Thou Sleeping ? " with as much rapidity as that composi- 
 tion required. It was quite a triumph. 
 
 Colinette sighed as she walked slowly past the great 
 house with its closed shutters. No matter what good 
 times awaited her in the city, they would not be the 
 Redmoon good times. If she saw Neal at all and it 
 was not likely that she should he would be a grown-up 
 Neal, not the boy, the good Brother of the Night whom
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 265 
 
 she had known here in this house and up and down this 
 street and up at the studio. 
 
 At Mrs. Chedder's Colinette found 'Lizzie Smith try- 
 ing on pale gray sailors. The shop was full of women 
 wandering about with no one to wait upon them save one 
 small apprentice girl. 
 
 Lizzie gave her little squeak of delighted surprise when 
 Colinette came in. 
 
 " Isn't it too bad," she murmured, with her usual 
 gesture of deep regret, " Mrs. Chedder is sick in bed 
 again." 
 
 Colinette expressed her sympathy. Lizzie bent to her 
 in a confidential manner: 
 
 " She just sent the girl to ask me to come into the back 
 room to see her. She wants to sell out to mama. She 
 wants mama to buy her out and combine this business 
 with her own. Dress-making and millinery go so well 
 together, she says." Lizzie drew down her chin in the 
 sarcastic little grimace Colinette knew so well. 
 " And will your mother buy her out? " 
 The drawing down of the chin again and a slight roll- 
 ing of the pale plue eyes. 
 
 " Certainly not ; mama has all the business and more 
 too than she can attend to now. And besides, a thousand 
 dollars is too much for this business." 
 " She is the only milliner in Redmoon." 
 " People go to Milltown for their hats." 
 " Perhaps they wouldn't if you and your mother " 
 " I ? " Lizzie gave a ladylike little scream. " I will 
 never be either a milliner or a dressmaker. I dislike them 
 both very much. I intend to teach."
 
 266 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 Colinette tried on the gray sailor which Lizzie had 
 just discarded. She did not care for it. She thought 
 best to postpone her purchase until the millinery shop 
 was in less of a tangle. 
 
 She walked homewards in a thoughtful mood. At the 
 door of the studio Susan was waiting for her. There 
 were signs of a storm in her cousin's face. 
 
 " Well," began Susan, " it's all settled about me." 
 
 "Settled? What do you mean?" asked Colinette 
 bending to unlock the studio door. She ushered Susan 
 in. 
 
 The studio had changed very much in appearance since 
 the day Colinette first came into it through the secret 
 passage. All the lumber had been cleared away. Even 
 the curtains and different sets of scenery belonging to the 
 little theatre were securely packed in two big boxes, frame 
 and all. A sense of space pervaded the big room of 
 space and beauty. The easel in the middle of the floor 
 held a half-finished study in oils; the melodion stood 
 open showing yellow ivory keys and an ornate music 
 rack. Rob Dunlap's violin hung above it. There were 
 flowered curtains at the windows, and three large com- 
 fortable chairs in the center of the room, drawn together 
 as if for confidential chats. The collection of moths, 
 jars of pickled reptiles, uncompleted models of ships and 
 steam threshers which had cumbered the shelves had dis- 
 appeared. 
 
 Susan plumped into one of the big chairs and began to 
 sob. Colinette drew up another. 
 
 " Now tell me all about it," she commanded, and Susan 
 began :
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 267 
 
 " When I left you today I ran over a minute to see 
 ma. Pa was there. I didn't know he was there or I 
 shouldn't have gone in at all. Well, it seems that he ran 
 out of work this afternoon and had stopped to call on 
 Aunt Rinthy on his way down home he's fixing the 
 Beckmans' barn and Aunt Rinthy complained to him 
 about my work. Said great strong thing like me, and 
 yet I couldn't do out a washing as quickly as Helen could, 
 nor as nice. Says that now my school days are over I 
 ought to be taught to work. She told pa she would 
 give me two dollars a week and teach me to do housework 
 and to keep a house as my mother never could teach me 
 because she had never been taught herself. Ain't it hor- 
 rid? And I've got to do it, for pa says I can't live at 
 home any more. He says I've lazed around long enough. 
 He says that he's workin' like a slave to provide for his 
 family and that Rob and I must git out and hustle for 
 ourselves after this. He says Aunt Rinthy is as good 
 as she can be to take me on and learn me that's what 
 he called it, learnin' me ! I hate him ! " Susan paused 
 for some expression of sympathy, but none came and so 
 she went on: 
 
 " There's nothing ahead of me except to be Aunt 
 Rinthy's hired girl for a year or so, and then somebody 
 else's hired girl, and after awhile I'll marry some big 
 clumsy farmer like Villie Klatz, and have a lot of big 
 homely girls just like me, who will go out to be hired 
 girls as soon as they are big enough ! " She paused 
 again, sobbing now and then in a hopeless manner. She 
 looked over at Colinette, who sat huddled in a chair so 
 much too large for her that she reminded Susan of the
 
 268 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 doll Rosey, flung there to await the pleasure of real 
 folks. 
 
 And yet there was a difference; Rosey always smiled, 
 Rosey was always calm no matter what happened. Rosey 
 had smiled with her mouth even while gazing out through 
 those disfiguring rings which Elmer had scratched about 
 her eyes. Colinette was not smiling ; Colinette was stern- 
 looking terribly white and stern-looking. Somehow, 
 although she had not spoken since Susan had begun to 
 unfold her grievance, Susan knew that she had not ap- 
 pealed for sympathy in vain. She felt a sudden great 
 buoyancy, as if she had been drowning in a sea of dish- 
 water and Colinette was about to throw her a golden 
 rope of rescue. 
 
 And yet what could Colinette do against Aunt Rinthy 
 Pickens, her stepfather, and fate itself Colinette; just 
 a helpless little girl herself? 
 
 There was a queer little clock on the studio wall. It 
 was just a cheap little alarm clock for which Villie Klatz 
 had carved a frame and apron so that it resembled some 
 wonderful antiqute work of art. It could be heard clack- 
 ing away as the two cousins sat in silence. Susan shiv- 
 ered and glanced up at it. 
 
 " I've got to go," she said. " If I should be late with 
 the Pickens' supper I'd catch gowdy ! " 
 
 " Wait a minute," commanded Colinette, and Susan 
 sank back. 
 
 "Well, hurry up, Colinette; if you've got anything to 
 say, say it quick, because I've got to skip." 
 
 " How would you like to go into business with me? " 
 
 " The Show business? "
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 269 
 
 " No, the millinery business." 
 
 " Oh, you mean for the dolls. Don't be silly." 
 
 " No, I mean for grown folks Mrs. Calkins, Mrs. 
 Brackley, Mrs. Plummer?" 
 
 Susan was impatient. " It's no time for being funny." 
 
 " Why don't you answer my question ? " 
 
 " Oh, I'll answer you; I'll say yes, yes, yes! " 
 
 " And do you mean yes, yes, yes? " 
 
 " Yes, yes, yes, I do look at that ratty little clock ! 
 Good-by. Shall you be down here after supper? Maybe 
 I'll sneak down again for a minute." 
 
 "No, I don't think I shall paint after supper; it will 
 be too cold." 
 
 " All right, then. Good-by." Susan fairly flew out 
 of the building and up the hill in the direction of Aunt 
 Rinthy's. 
 
 Colinette dragged out her paint-box in a mechanical 
 sort of way, took up her maulstick and put her palette 
 on her thumb. Thus equipped she stood dumbly before 
 her easel while the little clock ticked on fussily like a 
 clucking hen. She took out no colors, made no move to 
 paint ; she merely stood in a dumb misery, as if looking 
 her last on the face of a dear dead friend. The wester- 
 ing sun shot a disillusioning ray athwart the canvas 
 on the easel. In such a light it was merely a mass of 
 unmeaning daubs of colors. 
 
 Colinette slowly laid the maulstick in its place, hooked 
 the palette into the top of the color-box and closed the 
 box gently. She pushed the easel back into the corner 
 and packed the box behind it. 
 
 " Good-by, butterflies," she whispered, quoting from a
 
 270 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 sad little poem she had read but the day before. " Good- 
 by, butterflies." 
 
 She left the two chairs standing as she and Susan had 
 occupied them and with a strange air of finality, went 
 out, closing and locking the door behind her.
 
 XXII 
 
 " BUT you don't want to be a milliner ; you know you 
 don't!" wailed Mrs. Card. "You want to draw pic- 
 tures for the papers like Dick Brackley does, and to paint 
 landscapes an' faces, an' such. And Dick Brackley says 
 to me, ' Mrs. Card, it's your duty to see to it that John's 
 girl has her chance. She's a genius, that's what she is,' 
 says Dick Brackley. And I'm a goiri' to do it. I told 
 you I would, an' I'm a goin' to. Why, my goodness! 
 What's come across you? You've been as fierce as a 
 little wagon to go all the time up to now, and now, when 
 the money's all ready for you in the bank, and you got 
 your clothes pretty near ready, now you want to back 
 out ? Why, Colinette, are you crazy ? " 
 
 " But, grandmother, think of Susan ! Think of hav- 
 ing to be Aunt Rinthy Pickens' hired girl, and after that 
 somebody else's hired girl, and then, after awhile, marry- 
 ing a a great big man of some sort and having a lot 
 of great big girls who will all have to go out and be hired 
 girls in their turn." 
 
 " Well, that ain't the worst thing in the world. And 
 Susan ain't a genius like you are. And you are my grand- 
 daughter just as much as Susan is, and I can't do for 
 you both. I've only got the one thousand dollars and 
 this house. And if you're ever goin' to learn to paint, 
 Dick Brackley says it's high time you was up an' at it." 
 
 271
 
 272 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 "I shan't go, grandmother; I've changed my mind. 
 I don't want to learn to paint." 
 
 Susan Card gazed sternly at her grandchild. Her lips 
 trembled with emotion. 
 
 " Well, Waldo and Rinthy Pickens and Luther Dunlap 
 have all said that I didn't have any authority over you; 
 that you wound me right round your little finger. Now 
 they're goin' to find out that they're mistaken. You want 
 me to take that thousand dollars and set Susan up in 
 the millinery business so she won't have to be Aunt 
 Rinthy Pickens's hired girl and afterwards marry a 
 farmer and have great big daughters who will have to 
 grow up to be hired girls. Now, doin' housework ain't 
 the worst thing in the world; us Card women-folks have 
 always done it, an' done it pretty well, Aunt Rinthy Pick- 
 ens to the contrary notwithstandin'. And Susan won't 
 be obliged to marry an' have great big daughters if she 
 don't want to. Ain't anybody goin' to force Susan to 
 marry." 
 
 " Grandmother, look all around the world at the men 
 whom women marry. Can't you see that they wouldn't 
 have done it if they hadn't been forced into it by work 
 that was terrible for them, and too hard for them to do ? 
 Look at your own Susan " 
 
 A flood of red swept over Mrs. Card's cheek bones. 
 
 " You don't want our Susan to meet the same fate ; I 
 know you don't." 
 
 " You're too young to discuss these things," said Mrs. 
 Card severely. 
 
 " Susan is too young, but I am not." 
 
 " Susan's older'n you be."
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 273 
 
 " In years, but not in other ways, grandmother, 
 and you know it. Susan will always be younger than I 
 am younger and more sort of helpless." 
 
 Mrs. Card's chin, lips and hands were fluttering, but 
 her eyes burned fiercely. She was engaged in an un- 
 equal battle and she realized it fully. The steely stub- 
 bornness of that strong young spirit in the tense little 
 body, standing so undaunted, so unyielding there before 
 her, that quick brain which was able to turn her own 
 arguments back upon her so effectively, were hard to 
 combat. But she would not be conquered by a child. 
 Waldo and Luther and Rinthy should be brought to ac- 
 knowledge their mistake in this. She had allowed her- 
 self to be led by the girl she was willing to admit so 
 much, and she was not ashamed of it nor regretful even 
 now but when it came to a question of the child's own 
 good, they should find, Waldo and Rinthy and Luther, 
 that she could stand like a rock ! 
 
 Colinette had come into her life like a beautiful, color- 
 ful bird nestling under the wing of a drab and tattered 
 barnyard fowl who had known nothing beyond the sordid 
 necessities of scratching and pecking for its daily food. 
 Who could blame her for being a bit dazzled, a bit led 
 away from even good, everyday sense at times? But 
 now they should understand, and Colinette herself should 
 understand, that, although her old grandmother had 
 played her games with her, had joined her secret society, 
 and posed her dolls, and listened and laughed at her 
 drolleries when it might have been wiser to have chided 
 her, now she should find that, after all, her grandmother's 
 word was law.
 
 274 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 " You put on your hat an' go down an' git the rest of 
 your things," she commanded. She brought out her 
 purse and selected a bill from it which she handed to 
 Colinette. " Git your gloves at Calkinses', and go to 
 Mrs. Chedder's an' git you a hat of some kind. She 
 won't have anything different for two months yet, an' if 
 you are sick of it when you git to New York you can 
 buy you another one there in the city." 
 
 Colinette went to her room and came out ready for her 
 errand. She had always been in the habit of kissing 
 her grandmother before she went anywhere, even when 
 she was only going down to the studio for an afternoon's 
 work. She came now, as usual, and put her arms around 
 her grandmother's neck and kissed her. But there was 
 something strange in her kiss something terrible ; as 
 if she were bidding her farewell forever and ever. 
 
 A great fear took hold upon Mrs. Card. She caught 
 Colinette' s hands in her own and shook them almost 
 roughly. 
 
 " What makes you act so ? " she demanded. 
 " I don't know what you mean, grandmother." 
 " What makes you kiss me that way, as if as if " 
 " Don't I always kiss you when I go away ? " 
 " Well, go on, then. And don't lose your money. 
 Remember, we've got a-plenty to do what we've planned 
 to do so long, but we ain't got any to throw away; not a 
 dollar." 
 
 From the front walk Colinette turned and waved back 
 at her grandmother, and although she had done this a 
 hundred times before, the action brought again that un-
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 275 
 
 named fear, that dreadful atmosphere of final farewell, 
 which had come to her with Colinette's kiss. 
 
 " It's like a warnin' ! " Mrs. Card muttered, and went 
 out to the walk to watch Colinette out of sight. 
 
 She watched until the last glint of the girl's green hat 
 disappeared over the railroad embankment. 
 
 " Is she goin' to die ? Or is she goin' to run away ! " 
 
 Her mind rushed back to the day on which Colinette 
 had come to her unheralded, mysteriously a little mys- 
 tery herself. Deny it as earnestly as she might, in her 
 heart Mrs. Card knew this child to be a mystery. Her 
 easy prevarications, her unusual ambitions, her strong 
 likes and dislikes, the power she wielded over those of her 
 own age and her elders as well. 
 
 Waldo was right about that; everything in the neigh- 
 borhood had been more or less effected by the child's com- 
 ing. 
 
 " No more like me, or her pa, or her Cousin Susan 
 than a humming-bird is like a billy goat," murmured Mrs. 
 Card. 
 
 She went over to Susan's to " set a spell," because, 
 somehow, she could not endure to stay alone in her own 
 house through the long hours until Colinette's return. 
 
 Susan Dunlap was frying doughnuts. She was thin 
 and tired-looking. Elmer, sprawling in a kitchen chair, 
 gorged himself with cakes. His stepmother was obliged 
 to make a detour to avoid his long legs stretched ob- 
 trusively into the middle of the kitchen floor. 
 
 " Elmer," said Mrs. Card, " want to earn a quarter? " 
 
 " Don't know whether I do or not," replied Elmer,
 
 276 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 gazing with satiety at the pan of cakes. If Gram'ma 
 Card expected him to work half the afternoon digging 
 potatoes or splitting kindling-wood for a quarter, she 
 was going to get left. His time was too valuable to allow 
 of cheap work any more. He was fifteen, and man size, 
 and when he did start in to work he intended to get real 
 pay for what he condescended to do. 
 
 " Colinette has just gone to town, an' I felt kindah ner- 
 vous about her. I've had a a bad dream. I'm afraid 
 she's goin' to git hurt or or something. I want you 
 to skip along down after her. She's goin' to Calkinses' 
 to git a pair of gloves, and to the milliner's to git a hat. 
 Then she'll be comin' home. You skip on down an' 
 sort of of look after her, will you? Don't say a 
 word to her, nor to anybody that I sent you." 
 
 This job was entirely to Elmer's liking. He took the 
 quarter and " skipped." 
 
 " I'm glad you sent him off," sighed Mrs. Dunlap. 
 " He'd a been sick agin as sure as suds. He's et nine 
 of them doughnuts. When he lets himself loose on 
 doughnuts that way, it always upsets his stomach. He's 
 got a delicate stomach and always has had. He's allers 
 overet, and he's took too much medicine. Luther has 
 always poured medicine down him." 
 
 " I'd set the doughnuts away an' forbid him glaumin' 
 down so many if it was goin' to make him sick." 
 
 Susan smiled at her mother sarcastically. 
 
 " Yes, you're such a good hand to make youngones 
 mind, ma, you'd better talk ! " 
 
 " Well, it's pretty late to start in now, but I'll try my 
 hand at it." Mrs. Card jerked the calico-covered rock-
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 277 
 
 ing-chair in from the sitting room and forced her daugh- 
 ter into it. " Now you set there while I finish these 
 cakes." 
 
 Susan laughed weakly. The chair was restful to her 
 aching back and shoulders. She leaned her head against 
 it and . took off her glasses and wiped them, and then 
 she wiped tears from her eyes. 
 
 Her mother, deftly turning the golden cakes, watched 
 her uneasily. 
 
 "What's the matter, Susan?" 
 
 " Oh, I don't know ; I'm kindah run down an' beat 
 out, I guess." 
 
 " The work is too much for you, now that you don't 
 have Susan to help you." 
 
 " No, it ain't that. In a way, I'm glad Susan's gone. 
 There won't be the everlastin' jangle about what she eats, 
 and what she says and what she wears an' what she 
 does ! Luther can be awful wearin' at times. I wouldn't 
 mind Susan's bein' gone if only she didn't have to work 
 for Rinthy Pickens. The poor child has had Luther's 
 nagging to stand all the days of her life, and now she's 
 got Rinthy to drive her like a dog, an' call her a great, 
 overgrown, lazy thing!" 
 
 " Susan is big, but she ain't lazy," witnessed Susan's 
 grandmother. 
 
 " No, Susan ain't lazy," said Susan's mother. " She's 
 done work around this place that was boys' work and 
 that boys ought to have been made to do, but wasn't." 
 
 " Why don't you let her work somewhere else besides 
 at the Pickenses ? " 
 
 " Because Rinthy needs help, and Luther'd be mad if
 
 278 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 Susan went anywhere else to work. He'd never let her 
 step her foot inside home again. It's the way he pitched 
 her out last week that makes me almost crazy. I de- 
 clare, I just wished, then an' there, that I'd never married 
 the second time. If I hadn't had a child of my own 
 when I married Luther it would have been different. I've 
 tried hard not to see any difference between his an' mine, 
 but it's been uphill work, and I don't think Luther ever 
 made the slightest effort to care for my child. He just 
 boarded her because he had to and drove her round like 
 a little slave an' let his youngones abuse her. And now 
 he's turned her out for his sister to abuse an' drive 
 around. Not that I'm complaining; I don't expect Susan 
 to live a life of sloth. But workin' for Rinthy Pickens 
 is about the most slavish job I can think of! 
 
 " Luther says I've pampered Susan an' coddled her 
 just as you have pampered and coddled Colinette 
 spoilin' her, he says, and makin' her think herself too 
 smart an' fine for earthly livin'. He says Colinette works 
 you for all you're worth; that it don't make any differ- 
 ence what you say it's what she says that goes." 
 
 " Luther don't know as much about me an' Colinette 
 as he thinks he does," returned Mrs. Gard uneasily. " In 
 little things I've always humored my youngones; but in 
 big things, things that matter, I've had my own way. 
 You know that, Susan." 
 
 " I know you used to with John an' me." 
 
 " Yes, and I do with John's girl. For instance, you 
 can tell Luther that John's little girl has made up 
 her mind that she ain't goin' to study painting in New 
 York."
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 279 
 
 " For goodness' sake ! When did she take that notion? 
 I thought she was crazy to go." 
 
 " She was, but she changed her mind. She says she 
 won't go and have a good time an' learn to draw an' 
 paint while her Cousin Susan has to work in Aunt Rinthy 
 Pickens' kitchen." 
 
 " For the land's sake!" 
 
 " Yes, but I ain't goin' to have it. She's going to the 
 city to learn to paint. We've made all the arrangements, 
 and she's a goin' ! " Mrs. Card took out a quota of 
 golden brown rings and plumped in a layer of white ones. 
 She wanted, and expected, Susan to express approval of 
 her stand, but Susan remained perversely silent. 
 
 " Don't you think I'm right? " she demanded, " Eh? " 
 
 " Well " began Susan grudgingly, " in the first place, 
 Luther thinks, and so do I, that's it a big mistake for a 
 woman in your position ever to think of sending her to 
 the city to learn such a silly thing as paintin'. He says 
 there ain't no market for any such truck when you git 
 it done. He says chromos, and these enlarging photo- 
 graphs firms, have just put that stuff out of business, and 
 I think he's pretty near right on that. And then to spend 
 a thousand dollars a thousand dollars ! Why, ma, it 
 seems dreadful to us. It would seem different if you 
 was rich if you had ten thousand dollars, but only 
 having what you have got, and to spend it all learnin' 
 John's girl to do something that's all out of date 
 
 " But this new notion of Colinette's will show Luther 
 one thing : It will show Luther that he was wrong about 
 Colinette's workin' you to a fare-you-well in order to git 
 her way an' go. Says Luther, ' It's about as crazy a
 
 28o COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 thing for Mother Card to do as could be thought up, but,' 
 says he, ' John's girl knows how to fool her good and 
 plenty, and so there's no use any of us talkin' to her an' 
 trying to save her from flinging away all she's got in the 
 world.' 
 
 " They talk about it all the time him and Waldo 
 and Waldo puts Luther up to all kinds of foolishness." 
 
 "What does Waldo say?" In her resentment, Mrs. 
 Card took the last frying of cakes out before they were 
 really done and set the kettle of fat in the pantry to cool. 
 
 " Oh, Waldo says you are gettin' to an age where you 
 ain't capable of taking care of your own property. He 
 says " Susan hesitated. 
 
 " Go on," urged Mrs. Card fiercely. 
 
 " Waldo told Luther that if he was in his place and 
 married to your daughter he'd see if he couldn't do some- 
 thing about havin' a guardian appointed, or something 
 like that." 
 
 " Well, you tell your man and Waldo Pickens that 
 Susan Card is full up able to take care of her own affairs 
 yet a spell, will you, Susan? You tell 'em that Susan 
 Card is in the habit of doin' her duty when she knows 
 what that duty is. Tell 'em she done her duty by you 
 till you got somebody else to take care of you, and that 
 she done her duty by John till he went off out of her 
 way so she couldn't do anything more for him. You 
 tell 'em that Susan Gard has tried to do her duty by 
 John's little girl, who has been sent her by the Lord to 
 take care of. She is my grandchild and she's got a gift 
 such as the Lord has never seen fit to bestow on any Gard 
 before. You tell 'em, though, that she's awful pretty an'
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 281 
 
 awful headset, two things that no Card has ever been 
 before, and for them reasons she's got to be handled a 
 little different from what any Gard has ever been handled 
 before. But you tell 'em and don't forgit this, Susan 
 I want you to tell Luther this tonight, that Colinette 
 is bound to give up goin' to school in New York City. 
 She don't want to go, and says flat out that she ain't a 
 goin'. Now her poor weak-minded old gram'ma says 
 she is a goin' ! Be sure to tell 'em that this is exactly 
 how the case stands. And then tell 'em to watch 
 which way the cat jumps ! That'll tell the tale as to 
 whether Colinette rules in our house or whether I rule. 
 You tell 'em to watch ! " 
 
 Susan Dunlap said nothing. She was surprised at her 
 mother's attitude in the matter. She was also very much 
 surprised at Colinette's change of desires. They talked 
 of other matters, especially of Rinthy Pickens' overbear- 
 ing ways with Susan. 
 
 "Always Helen, Helen, Helen!" complained Mrs. 
 Dunlap. " Helen has to be held back or she works too 
 hard ; Susan has to be prodded in order to earn her keep." 
 
 They went back into the living-room and Mrs. Gard 
 peered anxiously from the east window. 
 
 " Time they was comin', I should say," she commented, 
 " It's pretty near suppertime." 
 
 Just then Elmer came into view, walking leisurely, 
 hands in pockets, mouth pursed to a nonchalant whistle. 
 Mrs. Gard met him at the sidewalk. 
 
 " Didn't see her at all," was his report. " I went to 
 Calkinses, but she hadn't been there " 
 
 " Did you say you was lookin' for her?"
 
 282 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 " Why, of course, I did. How did you s'pose I was 
 goin' to find her if I didn't ask?" He took his hands 
 out of his pockets to spread in disgust; his prominent 
 blue eyes bulged with disdain at an old woman's foolish- 
 ness. " I as't Mr. Calkins if she'd been there buyin' 
 shoes, an' he as't the clerk, an* the girl clerk as't the man 
 clerk, an' they wanted to know what the matter was, an' 
 I told 'em you'd had a bad dream an' sent me down " 
 
 " Oh, dear ! " lamented Mrs. Card. " Well, don't say 
 any more about it not to anybody, will you? Not to 
 your father nor to well, not to anybody. She probably 
 went to the milliner's first and was kept longer than she 
 expected to be " 
 
 " No, she didn't ; the milliner shop is shut up and 
 locked. I went there twice and there ain't anybody 
 there." 
 
 " Well, I'm much obliged," murmured Mrs. Card and 
 went home hurriedly. She could not account for the 
 state of her mind. Was Waldo Pickens right about her 
 being " a little off " ? Would a perfectly sane person 
 worry herself into a nervous frenzy because another per- 
 son was gone two hours longer than she was expected to 
 be gone? 
 
 Mechanically Mrs. Gard lighted the supper fire and put 
 the kettle on to boil. She made frequent trips to the east 
 window. She saw Helen Pickens and her father going 
 home to supper. Mr. Klatz came at just half past six, 
 Luther Dunlap five minutes later. It was seven o'clock 
 it was eight o'clock Mrs. Gard gave herself up en- 
 tirely now to her great terror. She drank a cup of tea, 
 blew out her light and put on her coat and hat. She
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 283 
 
 knew that something terrible had happened to Colinette, 
 and she knew as never before what a blank life would 
 be to her without John's girl. 
 
 For the first time in her experience she could not pray 
 she, who always advised those with a load of care 
 a burden of dread to take it to Him who had promised 
 to help bear pain and sorrow. It was the bitterest hour 
 of Susan Gard's life.
 
 XXIII 
 
 A STEP on the porch Colinette's step ; Mrs. Card 
 knew it by its lightness. It had a furtive lightness to- 
 night, or so it seemed to Susan Card. And Colinette did 
 not open the door in her usual manner, but hesitatingly, 
 like a naughty child sure of its punishment. Well, she 
 deserved punishment, and she should have it. 
 
 The first glad rush of pleasure at the girl's return was 
 followed in the grandmother's mind by righteous indig- 
 nation. What an afternoon and evening of misery she 
 had put in while Colinette followed out some serene plan 
 of her own. Yes, in a measure, Luther Dunlap and 
 Waldo Pickens and his wife were right, Colinette was 
 too sure of herself too sure of instant and absolute 
 forgiveness. 
 
 She was pale strangely so ; the natural droop of the 
 eyelids was accentuated until the eyes beneath seemed 
 black. 
 
 " For mercy sake, where have you been ? " demanded 
 her grandmother. She wished to give the scolding at 
 once and have it over with, and then they could eat their 
 supper in peace. 
 
 " Out to the Bedell place on the Chester road," an- 
 swered Colinette, still standing, and making no move to 
 take off her coat and hat. 
 
 284
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 285 
 
 Mrs. Card could not believe that she had heard aright. 
 
 " Out to the Bedell place? " she repeated. " Are you 
 crazy ? " 
 
 " No, I'm sane enough ; more so, I guess, than ever be- 
 fore in my life." 
 
 " Well, a pretty fuss you've kept me in all the after- 
 noon and evening, not knowin' what had become of you, 
 sendin' Elmer all over town, a runnin' hither an' yon 
 lookin' for you " 
 
 " I am sorry. Please come and sit down in the rock- 
 ing-chair and I will tell you everything." 
 
 " Go take off your things and set down yourself. If 
 you've walked clear out to Bedell's, you must be just 
 beat." 
 
 " No, I'll keep them on ; I may have to go back Oh, 
 I do hope you will send me back tonight ! " 
 
 "Tonight?" 
 
 " Yes. If you buy out Mrs. Chedder you will have 
 to do it before the twelve o'clock express goes through 
 Chester. She's going to take that train to Milltown, and 
 in Milltown there is another woman who will take over 
 the business. Mrs. Chedder is going East to be doc- 
 tored." 
 
 Mrs. Card shut her lips together firmly. For the first 
 time she was really angry at Colinette. 
 
 " You can take off your hat as soon as you like, be- 
 cause I ain't goin' to buy out a milliner store to please 
 you nor anybody else ! " 
 
 " It will make the difference to Susan between slavery 
 and independence; between misery and happiness." 
 
 " I know my own business! If I had two thousand
 
 286 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 dollars instead of one, you might talk; I ain't got, and 
 that settles it." 
 
 " In other words, if you didn't have to provide for me, 
 you could provide for Susan? " 
 
 " You can put it that way if you like it better that way. 
 I can't provide for both of you, an' I consider that my 
 obligation is greater to John's child than to Susan's, be- 
 cause Susan is alive an' able, or ought to be, to look 
 after her own child. But John is dead an' gone, an' it's 
 my first duty to look after his girl in the way I think 
 best. The Brackleys wanted to send you, but no, we 
 was too proud to take charity from the Brackleys. I said 
 I had enough to send you, and I have, an' I'm a goin' to 
 send you. Now let's not hear any more about this busi- 
 ness. I'd feel pretty cheap to have to tell Dick Brackley 
 that, after all, we'd fell down, and you was to go to work 
 in the Chedder milliner store." 
 
 Colinette raised two clenched hands against her lips 
 and gasped, " I'll have to tell you after all ! I shall have 
 to tell you! Oh, I did not want to, but I must! It's 
 your doing; yours and God's. You always say, ' pray 
 about your troubles,' and I have ; I've prayed, and this is 
 what has come of it! And I love you so ! Why, I never 
 loved anybody until I came here and loved you. But I 
 love Susan too; too well to take what belongs to her. 
 If only you had consented to buy the store for Susan, 
 and let me stay and help her get started but well 
 I shall have to tell you ! I am not John's girl I am not 
 your grand-daughter ; I'm an imposter ! I'm a sneak and 
 a liar!"
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 287 
 
 "Are you crazy?" cried out Mrs. Card again, white 
 to the lips herself now. 
 
 " No, I'm sane enough, and honest for the first time. 
 I've adopted your motto for the first. Before this I've 
 always gone by my own. John's girl died a few months 
 after they wrote you the letter asking you to take her, 
 and they didn't take the trouble themselves to let you 
 know." 
 
 Mrs. Card rocked back and forth crying out like a 
 person in mortal agony. Colinette went to her to try 
 to comfort her, but she thrust her away with something 
 resembling a blow. 
 
 " And you who and what are you, then?" 
 
 " I'm just what Gertie Calkins called me when I first 
 went to school here in Redmoon; I am a waif, picked 
 up after a train wreck. No one was able to account for 
 me and I was given over to a Catholic orphanage where 
 I was taught to read, to sew, to paint. And when I 
 was old enough they sent me out to easy places to work. 
 They tried never to send me anywhere except to respect- 
 able places." 
 
 Mrs. Gard still moaned and rocked and wrung her 
 hands. Colinette stood like a little statue before her, 
 speaking in an even, colorless voice, a voice so low that 
 an eavesdropper outside the door could not have heard 
 the confession. 
 
 " And they sent you to work for my son's wife; and 
 you worked for her, you lived with her, you came and 
 passed yourself off on me as her child, but you smashed 
 her picture when I had it fixed up and framed pretty 
 for you! "
 
 288 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 " She was a wicked woman. She put me up to the 
 fraud in the first place. She hated you, but she needed 
 money. She said I was about the age her girl would 
 have been if she had lived. She asked me if I would 
 come out to Redmoon and pass myself off for her girl, 
 and tell you a sob story and get money for her. I said 
 I would." 
 
 " Oh, Colinette ! Oh, Colinette ! " It was the olden 
 cry of "Absalom, my son, my son!" "And you was 
 willin' to do such a terrible thing! " 
 
 " Yes, I was a natural sneak and a liar until 1 
 knew you. The Sisters were good, and pious, but far 
 away. They had so many to care for. I never knew 
 anybody who was good whom I could love, until I 
 knew you and Susan." 
 
 " How do I know you are tellin' the truth now, Coli- 
 nette ? How do I know this ain't another fairy story ? " 
 
 " I need never have told you at all. I could have used 
 the money which belonged to Susan, gone to New York, 
 and let her work for Aunt Rinthy Pickens you never 
 would have known. But this chance for Susan to get 
 into a business that she would love if only you had 
 consented I would have tried to go next year ; or per- 
 haps in two years from now. I didn't want to tell oh, 
 I didn't want to have to tell! I wanted your love, and 
 Susan's ! 
 
 " Shall I go back and tell Mrs. Chedder that you will 
 buy her store ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " And then shall I go away ? " 
 
 " Yes."
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 289 
 
 Without a word Colinette turned toward the door. 
 Mrs. Card called her back. 
 
 " I want you to tell me more about my son's wife." 
 
 " Oh, why say anything more about her ? She is dead 
 now." 
 
 " I want you to tell me what made you hate her so." 
 
 " She was a bad woman. I couldn't stand it to have 
 her picture there in my bedroom always looking down at 
 me, so I destroyed it." 
 
 " What was your real name ? " 
 
 " No one ever knew or ever will know now. The 
 Sisters called me Little Red Mary, because there were so 
 many other Marys there in the orphanage." 
 
 " Why didn't you call yourself Susan, the name of the 
 poor little thing you took the place of ? " 
 
 " I didn't know that Mrs. Card's child was named 
 Susan. She told me your name, and where you lived. 
 She said that you were her first husband's mother and 
 that you were rich " 
 
 " She was married again, then? " 
 
 " Yes, it was he who shot her to death. There 
 were a lot of rough people there and they had been drink- 
 ing shots were fired I' saw her lying on the floor. 
 It was terrible ! I I can't bear even to tell you. I 
 ran out and back to the orphanage, but I didn't go in. 
 I remembered your name, and the name of the town 
 where she said you lived you see, I went by my motto 
 then, altogether; I wanted a grandmother; I wanted a 
 place to stay, a home where I would belong. I beat my 
 way on the train and came. When I found out that 
 you didn't know your grandchild's name I took one I
 
 290 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 had seen in a book because I thought it was pretty " 
 
 Mrs. Card cried out anew. 
 
 "Oh, go away!" she sobbed. "Go away! I am a 
 miserable woman! I forgot my own blood an' kin and 
 took in a stranger because she was pretty ! Because 
 she's got shining hair and peachy skin an' quick legs an' 
 feet! So I forgot my own poor, skinny, overworked 
 Susan, and her poor, big, clumsy Susan I forgot 'em 
 an' took up with a a girl who lies an' steals, an' 
 don't know who she is nor what she is! Don't know 
 her first name nor her last name Oh, oh ! " 
 
 Her voice rose in a hysterical shriek. A loud knock- 
 ing sounded on the door. Colinette looked with terror at 
 Mrs. Card, who seemed to have lost all control of her 
 feelings. She continued to cry out, and the person out- 
 side continued to pound on the door. 
 
 When Colinette had come in she had not locked the 
 door after her, and now it was thrown open to admit 
 Waldo Pickens. 
 
 " Whatever is the matter here? " he demanded. Mrs. 
 Card continued to cry out, but Colinette answered that 
 Mrs. Card was very sick, and would he please step across 
 the road and ask Aunt Susan to come over. 
 
 " I've just come from there," said Pickens, " and they 
 didn't say anything about the old woman bein' sick " 
 
 " They didn't know it," said Colinette. " Please go." 
 
 "Go! Go!" shrieked Mrs. Card in a frenzy, and 
 when he went hastily to do their errand, she got up from 
 her chair and slammed the door shut behind him. She 
 stood braced against it as if to keep out the world, and 
 held out her arms to Colinette,
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 291 
 
 " Worst of it is, I can't repent ! Worst is, I can't git 
 on without you! I think more of you than I do my own 
 soul! Colinette, come here and promise not to tell no- 
 body nobody in the world that you ain't John Card's 
 girl ! Quick, I hear 'em comin' ! " 
 
 Colinette flew into her arms. 
 
 "Grandmother! Grandmother!" she sobbed, and 
 clung to her and kissed her. 
 
 " I couldn't abide to hear you callin' me Mrs. Card ! I 
 couldn't abide to hear it ! You say you've took on some- 
 thing of my motto since you come here to live with me; 
 well, I've took on something of yours, I s'pose. I want 
 a grandchild just like you, an' I'm goin' to live an eternal 
 lie for the sake of havin' one. Colinette, I want you to 
 promise whatever happens, never to tell ! " 
 
 When Susan Dunlap and her family came rushing in, 
 Mrs. Gard sat in the red plush rocking chair, her head on 
 the center-table. Waldo Pickens had hurried home to 
 announce the joyful news of " Gram'ma Card's sudden 
 and serious illness." The Pickenses had always resented 
 Mrs. Card's continued youthfulness and perfect health. 
 When a woman got to be fifty-five, or six, she ought, as a 
 normal person, to have rheumatism, sleepless nights and 
 a sallow skin. It was ridiculous, the way " Gram'ma 
 Gard " forgot that she was getting old ! 
 
 By the time he had returned with Aunt Rinthy, flatly 
 smiling at his heels, they had put Mrs. Gard to bed with 
 a hot brick at her feet and a cold compress on her head. 
 She had refused to let them send for the doctor. With 
 Colinette's little hand in hers, Colinette's whispered pro- 
 testations of love in her ears, the frenzy of grief and
 
 292 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 rage which had obsessed her was giving place to lethargic 
 peace. She had been stricken by a terrible revelation, 
 but it was over, she knew the worst, she had nothing 
 further to fear, and the world 'her world Luther 
 Dunlap, his boys, the Pickens family would never know 
 that, after all, John Card had not been the father, and 
 she the grandmother, of a being altogether above the 
 Cards in beauty and talent. 
 
 In the midst of all the confusion of hot bricks and 
 cold compresses, Colinette was detected in bringing a 
 paper for her grandmother's signature. It was the eagle 
 eye of Waldo Pickens which did the detecting, and it 
 was he who motioned Luther to a secret conference on 
 the porch. 
 
 "Did yeh git onto that?" he hissed dramatically, 
 " Gram'ma Card signed her name to somethin' that Coli- 
 nette brought to her there in bed. A will, that's what 
 'twas! Luther, you owe it to your wife an' her girl to 
 probe this here matter to the quick. I wouldn't let John's 
 girl a mere child do me up in this business. I'd 
 brace right up to the old woman and find out what's 
 afoot!" 
 
 " I will in the morning " began Luther Dunlap, but 
 Pickens cut him short. 
 
 " That old woman won't be alive in the mornin', mark 
 yeh. When a woman who has always stumped around as 
 strong as she has is taken violent like this, she don't last 
 long. And that there Colinette is deep enough to git 
 her to sign papers at such a time ! " 
 
 " 'Twon't stand law," declared Luther in sudden con- 
 viction that his brother-in-law was right about the duplic-
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 293 
 
 ity of John's girl. " Don't worry, Waldo, it won't stand 
 law." But, nevertheless, he went in and shut everybody 
 else out of his mother-in-law's room while he questioned 
 her. 
 
 " Twa'n't no will, Luther," she answered weakly, " I'm 
 buyin' out the Chedder milliner shop for the girls, Susan 
 and Colinette. It had to be done tonight on account of 
 Mrs. Chedder's goin' away to be doctored, an' another 
 milliner standin' ready to jump into her place. I was 
 just tellin' Colinette what I was aimin' to do when I was 
 took " She stopped suddenly. What was she doing? 
 Telling lies as broad as those for which she had up- 
 braided Colinette ; as broad and much more useless. Sud- 
 denly it was borne in upon her that circumstances have a 
 great deal to do with virtue. Under certain conditions 
 it was easy to live a truthful life; under others, next to 
 impossible. 
 
 Colinette, if she had been aware of his intentions, would 
 not have allowed Luther Dunlap in her grandmother's 
 room to harry that already overtried lady. But Colinette 
 was over at the Klatzes in close and earnest conversation 
 with Villie, who, figuratively speaking, stood booted and 
 spurred like a knight of old to do her bidding, the signed 
 check in his pocket, together with a note asking for the 
 keys and a request that Mrs. Chedder send a representa- 
 tive to help with the inventory, which must begin to- 
 morrow. It would not do to let the doors of a millinery 
 establishment stand closed long at this time of the year. 
 
 "What did she say?" demanded Waldo Pickens as 
 Luther came forth from Mrs. Card's room and closed the 
 door behind him gently. There had been a change in
 
 294 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 Luther's estimation of John's girl since his interview, 
 and he could not help expressing something of his opin- 
 ion to his sister's husband. He twirked his neck know- 
 ingly. 
 
 " Eh," persisted Pickens, " was it a will ? " 
 
 " You'll probably know in the morning," was Luther's 
 cryptic answer. " That girl of John Card's has got 
 more pep than all the rest of the Cards put together." 
 
 Waldo Pickens was in a maze. He had expected 
 Luther to come forth uttering denunciations against 
 John's girl; instead he, of all persons, had turned to 
 truculent praise of her smartness. 
 
 During the two days following everything went wrong 
 with Waldo Pickens. 
 
 " That's how things stand," his wife informed him, 
 with one of her widest and flattest smiles, " she's up, 
 workin' in her garden, apparently as well as ever she was ; 
 a little pale, an' her eyes look as if she'd cried a week, but 
 outside of that there don't seem to be a thing the matter 
 with her." 
 
 This was a most provoking move on Mrs. Card's part. 
 She should have lingered in illness a week or so, and then 
 have fulfilled Waldo's prophecy. 
 
 " An', more'n that, we can tote up to the German 
 settlement after a hired girl, or else work Helen to death 
 so that her fingers will rattle like sticks on the piano; 
 because, say what you will an' do what you may, Waldo, 
 I can not cook for hired hands, take care of the cream, 
 the poultry, and keep this big house clean without help, 
 an' I ain't a-goin' to try." 
 
 " What's the matter with Susan? "
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 295 
 
 " Matter is, Susan's going to be a milliner, I want you 
 to understand. Gram'ma Card has bought out the Ched- 
 der milliner store for her two granddaughters, mind you, 
 Susan and John's girl." 
 
 " Sufferin' pancakes! If I'd known Mrs. Chedder 
 would have sold out I'd a bought the business for Helen." 
 
 " It would have been a fine thing for Helen." Mrs. 
 Pickens grinned broadly. " She could have earned money 
 in a nice ladylike way, and meanwhile kept her hands 
 in shape for her music. But you're too slow, Waldo, 
 and I'm too slow to cope with John's girl." The mo- 
 ment it slipped out of her mouth Mrs. Pickens felt that 
 that was a fine expressive word that cope. She used 
 it repeatedly to drive home her convictions, smiling mean- 
 while as at some pleasant news which she was conveying 
 to her husband. 
 
 " Lizzie Smith can't cope with John's girl. She fully 
 expected she and her mother to buy out the Chedder 
 store. I met her on the street today and she told me 
 all about it. I will say she is bitter. Says she, ' It's 
 hard to cope with a person who works in the dark like a 
 bat ! ' Says she, ' Mama an' me was see-sawing to 
 get Mrs. Chedder down to a reasonable figure when what 
 do we hear but that Mrs. Card has bought the plant for 
 Susan Dunlap and Colinette Card.' Says I, * Lizzie, 
 your mother bein' in the position she is, dressmaker to 
 the best ladies in town,' says I, * can make it pretty hard 
 ploughin' for a couple of greenhorns like Susan Dunlap 
 and John Card's girl.' Says she, ' We could do for 
 Susan Dunlap easy enough; she ain't got any style and 
 never will have, but,' says Lizzie, ' it'll be hard to cope
 
 296 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 with Colinette Card.' Says I, ' She's too young to run 
 any business successfully.' Lizzie said ' Um-m-m-m,' in 
 that way of hers, and shook her head. ' She will be hard 
 to cope with/ says she, and she is right. Helen says so, 
 too. Gram'ma Gard can't cope with her. Gram'ma Gard 
 set her mind on her goin' to New York to learn to paint. 
 She told the Dunlaps that same day that she was taken 
 sick that she was bound that Colinette should go to New 
 York, but that Colinette had changed her mind and was 
 bound she wouldn't go to New York. ' But,' says 
 Gram'ma Gard, ' you watch an' see who comes out ahead 
 this time.' Says she to the Dunlaps, ' You watch who's 
 boss in our house when I really set my foot down.' And 
 the very next day it's all over town that she's bought 
 out Mrs. Chedder and the two girls is goin' to run the 
 business. You see Gram'ma Gard couldn't cope with 
 John's girl when John's girl set her head."
 
 XXIV 
 
 FOR a time Lizzie Smith and her mother harbored seri- 
 ous intentions of opening a rival millinery establishment 
 and making a stern effort to " cope " with Colinette Card. 
 But the Chedder location being the only feasible one in 
 Redmoon, and the undeniable success of the two girls 
 during their first season, caused the Smiths to pause and 
 consider the coping probabilities very seriously and, at 
 last to give up the plan entirely. 
 
 In the spring Mrs. Brackley came floating home, serene, 
 beautiful, a year older in body, but not conscious of it, 
 and not a moment older in mind. In mind Mrs. Brack- 
 ley would always be a child. She it was who set the 
 permanent seal of success on the new millinery establish- 
 ment. She announced that nowhere had she been fitted 
 with toques so comfy and yet so ravishingly becoming. 
 She said and truly that Colinette Card had the eye 
 and the soul of an artist to design pretty things, while 
 Susan Dunlap possessed the requisite skill with the needle 
 to carry out Colinette's designs. She gave the firm an 
 open order for four hats, and when they were done cried 
 out in delight at their beauty, especially the one of gray 
 gauze with overgrown pink roses enmeshed in its cloudy 
 folds. She brought Mrs. Smith to Colinette for instruc- 
 tions in regard to colors and materials for dresses to be 
 worn with the hats. 
 
 297
 
 298 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 Colinette made sketches of the gowns and colored them 
 with swiftness and dash. This so impressed Mrs. Smith 
 that she ceased at once the campaign of disparagement 
 which she and Lizzie had been carrying on in secret 
 against the new firm. 
 
 After Mrs. Card had accepted the fact that no Card 
 had ever yet been born who was in any way out of the 
 common, she found much, if not quite all, her oldtime 
 satisfaction in living, her old comfort in prayer. 
 
 This came about after a long, heart to heart talk with 
 Colinette in which they went over all the details of the 
 strange series of coincidences which had brought them 
 together. It comforted her to think, as Colinette did, 
 that it was no sin to keep the secret so long as it was 
 not allowed in any way to interfere with the welfare of 
 the two Susans. 
 
 " You are all I have in the world, grandmother," Coli- 
 nette had said, " but I am not all that you have in the 
 world; we must not forget that. And Mrs. Card ac- 
 quiesced, but remembered with a shudder that black hour 
 when she had flung Colinette from her in anger and 
 chagrin at her disclosure that hour when the two 
 Susans were all that she had in the world. 
 
 Mrs. Brackley thought that perhaps, after all, Colinette 
 had done the wise thing in going into a settled and satis- 
 factory business in her own home town, rather than tak- 
 ing all the chances of failure in an exacting profession. 
 She herself had always longed to be a milliner; to twine 
 roses and soft gauzes and brilliant fabrics all day long 
 must be an ideal way to earn one's livelihood. 
 
 " Twining roses is a small part of the millinery busi-
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 299 
 
 ness," said Colinette ruefully. " One must twine the af- 
 fections of a difficult customer around a hat which is 
 suitable and at the same time comes within her means. 
 Or twining your temper into a hard ball, swallowing it 
 and keeping it down while Mrs. Calkins and Gertie tumble 
 your stock and tell you meanwhile how much cheaper 
 they can get things in Milltown." 
 
 But Mrs. Brackley owned to Mrs. Card that Richard 
 and Neal both considered it a great pity that Colinette 
 was not to have her chance. 
 
 " I guess Colinette has forgotten all about paintin'," 
 Mrs. Card answered. " She never goes near her paint 
 shop any more." 
 
 Jeff Plummer now divided his time between working 
 in his father's office, playing ball, and hanging about the 
 Chedder milliner shop doors evenings waiting for a chance 
 to walk home with the proprietors. He was fond of at- 
 taching Villie Klatz to the party, for he had discovered 
 by experience that Colinette always chose to walk with 
 him when Villie was along. At first he was flattered by 
 this arrangement, not knowing that she did this that 
 Villie might walk beside the girl whom he adored. 
 
 Jeff Plummer was the rock upon which the accord of 
 the two young milliners was pretty apt to split. Susan 
 was glad to have him walk home with them evenings; 
 Colinette preferred to walk without him. 
 
 " He's such a bore," she complained to Susan. 
 
 " Why is he a bore ? " Susan would retort. 
 
 " I am so tired of Home-run Baker. And I can't bear 
 to look at the moon any more ; it reminds me so much of 
 a base ball. I'm tired of hearing how Jim Murray put
 
 300 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 one in the pocket, and how Jeff himself always gets one 
 over the pan." 
 
 " What would you like him to talk about ? " 
 
 " Oh millinery, I suppose," said Colinette, with a 
 sigh. 
 
 " Yes, you would ! I believe you would as soon hear 
 about base ball as millinery." 
 
 " Anything gets monotonous at times," Colinette ad- 
 mitted. " Buckles and ribbons and straw sailors and 
 head-sizes and thirty-^five-cents-a-bunch cotton violets that 
 smell of glue all are trying, but bearable because they 
 lead up to a hundred more in the bank every now and 
 then. But, honestly, I feel the need of relaxation on 
 my way home after work hours. I don't care to take a 
 night course in our national game." 
 
 " Villie Klatz plays base ball almost as often as Jeff 
 Plummer does." 
 
 " I know, Susan, Villie talks of base ball, too, but not 
 exclusively. He told me of seeing a pond covered with 
 water-lilies the day they went to Cambria to play the 
 Blue Socks. He said as they drove by on the road the 
 smell of the lilies came up like a mist. He described a 
 hill sown with oats over behind Murdock's place. He 
 said it looked like the green plush we had in our window 
 for awhile last fall, and it made him think of us. 
 Villie says whenever he sees a golden willow with its 
 little green buds along the stems he thinks of me; and 
 whenever he sees red flowers roses or poppies or wild 
 red lilies he thinks of you." 
 
 "Piffle!" said Susan. 
 
 " Piffle or not, there's something high and fine in
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 301 
 
 Villie Klatz, while Jeff Plummer's head is made of rub- 
 ber, twine, and leather and stitched up solid." 
 
 " I guess he wouldn't be so much in love with you if 
 he knew you felt that way about his head." 
 
 " He knows ; I've told him," said Colinette, and 
 sighed. " I've told him time and time again, but he 
 doesn't seem to mind. He loves to talk about his dia- 
 mond triumphs, and I am small and feeble and can't get 
 away, and so he keeps right on talking to me." 
 
 " I guess you could get away even from Jeff Plummer 
 if you took to your heels. I guess you don't feel so bad 
 about it as you make out." 
 
 Not long after this Susan's suggestion came vividly to 
 Colinette's mind. It was on a Friday night in August. 
 Susan forgot to gather up the change from the money 
 drawer to bring home as was their custom. 
 
 " I'll go back after it," volunteered Colinette, and she 
 did. 
 
 She did not even turn on the light, but swept the silver 
 into her handbag. When she was mounting the railroad 
 embankment on her way home she caught sight of the 
 moon down at the end of Brown Street; a great harvest 
 moon, soft and full of yellow. She stood on the track 
 to watch it come up. The moon always affected her 
 strangely, gave her wild romantic tremors; brought out 
 some strain of the gipsy, the inheritance of some far- 
 back ancestor who had, perhaps, trod wild English moors. 
 She liked to dream that it was so. 
 
 She visualized a sketch: That moon, as she saw it 
 now, rising at the edge of a rolling plain (cadmium, 
 flake-white, running into ultra-marine along the horizon),
 
 302 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 luminous grays, grays that were not dauby and soggy, but 
 grays that one could walk through oh, she knew them 
 even if she could not get them in the middle distance; 
 the round tops of a gipsy caravan at rest and seen but 
 dimly ; one hardly-outlined figure stooping near a fire, the 
 fire to repeat the yellow of the moon with the added red 
 of flame, (vermillion, light-red, madder lake) the smoke 
 of the fire would mount thinly upwards more adorable 
 grays, luminous, etherial, untroubled by a breath of air 
 this would speak of the reaching silence brooding over 
 the plain. In the left foreground should stand the figure 
 of a young gipsy man, lithe but powerful with a sullen 
 face, the face alone to be illuminated. 
 
 Now how with the moon behind him Oh, of 
 course match to light cigarette. Face cruel, brooding, 
 with bluish shadows about the cheeks; slitted black eyes, 
 straight compressed lips 
 
 Oh, what was the use of dreaming; she was never to 
 paint again. 
 
 Someone was coming. The sound of his quick step- 
 ping grew near. Jeff Plummer, of course. But she was 
 not supposed to know; and it might really be a robber 
 who had heard the tinkle of the silver as she had gathered 
 it up out of the money drawer and had followed her. 
 Colinette ran as fast as her agile little feet could carry 
 her. 
 
 The man ran also, whistling to her and later calling 
 her name. The voice was not the voice of Jeff Plummer. 
 She paused and allowed her pursuer to come up with her. 
 He was laughing and panting. 
 
 " Same old stunt," he gasped, " All day the princess
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 303 
 
 ran away, all day the prince ran after. Is this the way 
 to treat a good Brother of the Night after long absence? " 
 
 She could hardly believe that Neal Brackley stood be- 
 fore her, clasping her hands and laughing down at her. 
 He was taller, he was broader why, in the moonlight 
 this way, he seemed the veriest stranger. 
 
 He tucked her hand under his arm and faced about 
 they were in front of her grandmother's house. 
 
 " Come walk a little way with me. Face the moon 
 awhile. It's a winner, isn't it? One doesn't often get a 
 chance to see it like this. It mostly clouds up when the 
 moon is due for a display of this sort." 
 
 " But Susan sent me for the money that she forgot and 
 left in the drawer. She'll worry about me." 
 
 " Tell Susan you had trouble in finding the money." 
 
 " But I don't tell whoppers any more ; I'm trying to live 
 altogether by grandmother's motto." 
 
 " Do I understand that after passing on your motto to 
 me and the rest of The Bats you've gone back on it your- 
 self?" 
 
 Colinette laughed softly. 
 
 " I think I have, Neal." 
 
 " That's what has brought me back to Redmoon." 
 With her hand held closely under his arm he was towing 
 her steadily down the hill facing the moon. " I've come 
 West purposely to have this talk with you. I was on my 
 way to your house, expecting to be obliged to lay my plan 
 before the whole tribe, Rinthy Pickens included, when 
 I saw you standing like a statue on the railroad gazing 
 at the moon. I never was more agreeably surprised in 
 my life. What were you thinking about standing
 
 304 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 there in imminent danger from wild trains, gazing up- 
 ward and outward, like that? Were you, by any chance, 
 thinking of an old comrade? " 
 
 " I was." 
 
 " Bless your little heart ! " 
 
 " I was thinking of Villie Klatz." 
 
 " Um-m-m-m, are you so much in love with 
 Villie?' 
 
 " I have always liked Villie you know that. I have 
 always flown to Villie in the hour of trouble and never 
 yet has he failed me. If it had not been for Villie's 
 strength and faithfulness and general Johnny-on-the-spot- 
 ness, we girls would not be in the millinery business this 
 moment. He raced out to the Bedell place where Mrs. 
 Chedder was waiting for the midnight train to take her 
 to the city and to another buyer." 
 
 " I have that then to lay up against Villie." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " You ought never to be in the millinery business in 
 Redmoon." 
 
 " Your mother thinks that it is much better than taking 
 chances in a profession I might never, after all, make 
 good in." 
 
 He ignored his mother's opinion entirely. 
 
 " How is your grandmother? " 
 
 " Very well indeed, thank you." 
 
 " I am glad to hear that, on her account and on ours 
 yours and mine because the success of the plan which 
 I have come to Redmoon to talk about depends almost 
 entirely on your grandmother ! " 
 
 Then, still holding her a prisoner, and still towing her
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 305 
 
 eastward facing the moon, he unfolded his plan, or rather, 
 his father's plan. 
 
 The next day the plan was divulged to Mrs. Card, who 
 said it was entirely out of the question. That was on 
 Saturday. They deemed it policy to skip Sunday, but 
 Monday the siege was renewed. Mrs. Card stood solidly 
 like an indignant stone monument. 
 
 Tuesday night she asked Colinette solemnly, " What 
 do you s'pose folks would say to your old grandma's 
 goin' on the stage ? What would the minister say ? " 
 
 " I don't know, grandmother." 
 
 " But you like the millinery business, don't you ? " 
 
 "I hate it!" 
 
 Mrs. Card groaned. She sat silent awhile. 
 
 " Do you honestly want me to do this, Colinette? " 
 
 " Mr. Brackley thinks we can earn enough in one season 
 to pay my way until I am able to make money at my 
 real work. He thinks it won't take me long to get to 
 the money-making stage because I am so apt." 
 
 Mrs. Card groaned again and went away into her bed- 
 room and shut the door. 
 
 Wednesday morning she capitulated, and Colinette 
 cried on her neck. 
 
 " I wouldn't say it before, dear, but it will make the 
 same difference to me that going into the millinery busi- 
 ness made to Susan. It will mean freedom in place of 
 slavery." 
 
 From that moment Mrs. Card was convinced that her 
 decision was the right one. She talked to the minister 
 very frankly about the matter, and to her surprise, he did 
 not object to the arrangement. The only persons who
 
 306 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 did object and give voice to their objections on every 
 possible occasion were Waldo and Rinthy Pickens and 
 Luther Dunlap. 
 
 "Heard the news?" Waldo Pickens would begin, 
 whenever or wherever he could pin a listener, " Gram'ma 
 Gard is goin' on the stage! Yes, sir! goin' into voode- 
 ville. Dick Brackley has got her an' John Card's girl a 
 job playin' that little theatre that they got up. Goin' 
 to travel all over the United States. John's girl goin' 
 to tell the story, same as she done here, old woman goin' 
 to move the riggers round behind the curtain. Dick 
 Brackley's boy is goin' along to play the piano and to 
 take care of 'em generally. I tell you what, old Susan 
 Gard hitched her wagon to a kite when she took John's 
 girl to raise! First she would be a milliner an' her 
 gran'mother said she shouldn't, but she did just the same, 
 then hurrah, up an' a comin', she's got to go on the stage 
 an' drag her gran'mother along, an' she does. Why, if 
 anybody had told me such a thing would happen I should 
 a-thought they was crazy. 
 
 " It seems she had hired Gusta Klatz to help in the 
 milliner business while she's away. The Klatzes are 
 tickled almost to death over it, so I hear." And then, if 
 he could hold his hearer a moment longer, Pickens would 
 lower his voice to a mysterious whisper and add, " Say, 
 do you know what they're booked to git every night they 
 pufform? Fifty dollars a night, by jocks! Three hun- 
 dred a week! What do you think of that! Thousand 
 dollars a month ! Four thousand dollars a season ! " 
 Waldo would wait for these figures to have their due 
 effect and then add with glee, " An' after they git it,
 
 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 307 
 
 John's girl is goin' down to Noo York to blow it all in 
 learnin' how to do oil paintin'. Something that nobody 
 cares a whoop about any more. Why, it went out of 
 date years ago. I remember when my wife was crazy 
 over paintin' butterbowls an' things. She got sick of 
 it when they went out of date. They's one of 'em out 
 in the barn now. I use it to dip scratch with for the 
 hens. Got a snow scene in the bottom of it, or used to 
 have before the scratch wore it off." 
 
 Neal and his mother went the following week, leaving 
 Mrs. Gard and Colinette to their final preparations. 
 There was a wild period of dressmaking for the troupe 
 from Mrs. Gard down to Kitty Candle herself; of re- 
 painting backdrops, side scenes, wings and flies for the 
 little theatre on more substantial material than rotten 
 window blinds. Villie Klatz made a firmer, lighter, 
 more condensible frame for the show, and he and Coli- 
 nette together designed and executed some new stage fur- 
 niture. 
 
 On the day of departure all Redmoon went down to 
 the station to see Mrs. Gard and Colinette start out " to 
 go on the stage." The most important person on the 
 platform was Luther Dunlap. He it was who carried 
 " Mother Card's " traveling bag and lifted her tenderly 
 up the steps as if she were a semi-invalid instead of the 
 hearty, happy-looking, well-dressed lady that she really 
 was. Several times during the wait for the train he had 
 mentioned " My daughter's milliner store." His wife, 
 Susan, and Gusta Klatz sobbed in their handkerchiefs and 
 made no secret of their heavy grief in parting with their 
 friends.
 
 308 COLINETTE OF REDMOON 
 
 And thus Colinette, who had drifted into Redmoon 
 nameless, friendless, homeless, left the place once more 
 to follow her destiny in new fields; left amid the fare- 
 wells of friends, both false and true, taking with her one 
 of the two she loved best on earth, leaving the other on 
 the little Redmoon station platform, waving and sobbing 
 openly and noisily as was the way of the Cards. 
 
 As the train swept across Brown Street on its way out 
 of the village Colinette wafted a silent yet tender 
 good-by to the little gray house on the hill, the old Pet- 
 tingill House Brown Street itself, which had known 
 her happy feet for four long years. Mrs. Card would 
 come back to it. It would be her place again as of old, but 
 would it ever be her own ? 
 
 A sob rose in her throat, but she suppressed it quickly 
 and turned to Mrs. Gard with a little joke about Kitty 
 Candle and her company, all stowed so safely in the bag- 
 gage car ahead. 
 
 THE END
 
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