INTERRUPTIONS
"Come in, girls! Grace, put your chocolates--what are left of them--over
on the mantel. Now sit down, and I'll tell you all about it."
Betty drew forward some easy chairs for her guests, who distributed
themselves about the handsome library, in more or less artistic
confusion. Betty herself took a hard, uncompromising sort of chair, of
teakwood, wonderfully carved by some dead and forgotten Chinese artist.
The seat was of red marble, and the back was inlaid with ivory, in the
shape of a grinning face.
"Do keep yourself close against it, Betty dear," begged Grace, who sat
opposite her friend. "That Chinese face positively hypnotizes me."
"Well, I want you all to be hypnotized into quietness, long enough to
listen to me," spoke Betty, with a charmingly commanding air.
Grace Ford, obediently depositing her chocolates on the mantel, save a
few which she "sequestered" for use during the talk, had tastefully
"draped" herself on a comfortable couch. Mollie, with a mind to color
effect, had seated herself in a big chair that had a flame-colored
velvet back, against which her blue-black hair showed to advantage (like
a poster girl, Betty said), while Amy, like the quiet little mouse which
she was, had stolen off into a corner, where she was half-hidden by a
palm.
"And, now to begin at the beginning," announced Betty. "Oh, I know you
will just love it at Ocean View!" and she gave a little squeal of
delight.
"I wish we were as sure of going as you are," murmured Grace, putting
out the tip of her red tongue, to absorb a drop of chocolate from a
long, slim finger.
"Just you wait," said Betty, half-mysteriously.
And while she is preparing to plunge into the details concerning the new
summer plans, I will take just a moment to tell my new readers something
about the other books of this series, and give them an idea of the girls
themselves.
In "The Outdoor Girls of Deepdale; Or, Camping and Tramping for Fun and
Health," the originating idea of the four girls was set forth. They felt
that they were spending too much time indoors, and they decided to live
more in the glorious open. They felt that they would have better health
and more fun in doing this, and events proved that they were right, at
least in part.
As for the girls themselves, they were Grace Ford, Mollie Billette,
Betty Nelson and Amy Stonington-Blackford, or _nee_ Blackford, if you
dislike the hyphen. But that latter form of name does not indicate that
Amy was married.
In the opening story Amy's name was Stonington, the ward of John and
Sarah Stonington. But there was a mystery in her past, and it was solved
when, in addition to unraveling the mystery of a five-hundred-dollar
bill, Amy found a long-lost brother, whose name was Henry Blackford.
So Amy's real name was found to be Blackford, though she continued to
live with the Stoningtons, and more than half the time her chums called
her by the name under which they had known her so long.
Amy was a girl of quiet disposition, and while she had not been
altogether happy during the time she was unable to solve the mystery
about her identity, when that problem had been cleared up she was of a
much brighter disposition. Still, the years of quiet had had their
effect on her.
Betty Nelson, often called the Little Captain, because she was such a
born leader, was the only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Nelson, the
former a rich carpet manufacturer. Betty loved, to "do things," as
witness her assumption of the summer plans of her chums.
Grace Ford was tall and slender, and often spoken of as a "Gibson" type,
by those who admire that artist's peculiar, and always charming,
conception of young womanhood. Grace lived with her father and mother,
the other member of the family being her brother Will, a hasty,
impulsive lad, whose character had, more than once, gotten him into
trouble, to the no small annoyance of Grace. Grace had one failing, if
such it can be called. She was exceedingly fond of chocolates and other
sweets, and was never without some confection in her possession.
And then there was Billy--as Mollie Billette was nicknamed. Mollie was
the daughter of a well-to-do widow, Mrs. Pauline Billette, whose French
ancestry you could guess by her name and by her appearance and manner.
Mollie was a bit French herself. There were two other children, the
funny little twins, Paul and "Dodo," as Dora called herself in her
lisping fashion. Paul and Dodo were at once the loving care and despair
of Mollie and her mother.
So much for the four chums, who were known as the Outdoor Girls.
After their activities, as set down in the first volume of this series,
they were next heard of at Rainbow Lake, where, in Betty's motor boat,
the _Gem_, they had some stirring and exciting times.
But, stirring as those times were, they were equalled, if not excelled,
when Mollie became possessed of a motor car, and took her chums on a
tour which ended only when the mystery of the haunted mansion of Shadow
Valley was solved.
Glorious days on skates and iceboats followed, when the outdoor girls
went to a winter camp. And then came a contrast when it was learned that
Mr. Stonington had purchased an orange grove in Florida, and that Amy
had the privilege of inviting her friends to spend the winter in the
Sunny South.
For what happened there I refer you to the volume dealing with our
friends' activities amid the palms. Sufficient to say that they
thoroughly enjoyed themselves. They had returned to Deepdale, their home
town on the Argono River, just as spring was budding forth.
And now, this glorious day, the four girls had met once again, and were
ready for something new, which something seemed to be offered by Betty
Nelson.
"You see it's this way, girls," went on the Little Captain, as she
explained matters. "Mother just loves the sea, and she has been wanting
a permanent place there for some time. Papa has been looking about, and
he heard of Edgemere, a beautiful big cottage, almost on the beach. He
said he would buy it if mamma liked it, and so she and I went to look at
it to-day."
"You don't mean to say you have been to Ocean View, and back, this same
day!" exclaimed Grace, in surprise.
"Yes. We went down on the first train this morning--up before the sun,
really, and we arrived before noon. It did not take us long to decide
about the cottage. Mamma and I leased it, with the privilege of buying
in the fall, if we like it. Then we came back, and on the way, in the
train, I asked mamma if I couldn't have you girls down for the summer."
"And she didn't faint at the prospect?" asked Mollie, mischievously.
"The idea!" cried Betty. "Of course not! She was delighted! So, as soon
as our train arrived, which was only a few minutes ago, I started
looking for you. As I came up from the station, leaving mamma to go home
in the car, I spied you three just turning into the candy store."
"Grace is the only one who will 'turn into' a candy store," spoke
Mollie. "She will actually turn into a drop of chocolate some day, if
she isn't careful."
"Smarty!" mocked the fair one.
"Well, I found you there, at any rate," went on Betty, "and you know the
rest; or, rather, you will when I tell you about Edgemere!"
"Edgemere--what's that?" asked Amy.
"It isn't a new kind of confection, even if Grace thinks so," laughed
Mollie.
"I--I'll throw something at you if you don't stop!" threatened the
Gibson girl, but as all she had in her hand was a chocolate, and as she
never would have devoted that to such a purpose, she once more curled up
luxuriously on the sofa.
"Edgemere--on the edge of the ocean," translated Betty. "It's the name
of our cottage. Now, girls, I'm just dying to have you see it. I brought
back some picture postcards of the place. Ocean View is the dearest,
quaintest old fishing village you can imagine. It's like Provincetown,
somewhat, only different, and----"
"What's that?" suddenly interrupted Grace.
"The boys," spoke Mollie. "As if that awful racket could be anything
else."
There sounded on the porch of the Nelson home the heavy tramp of several
feet, and the murmur of eager voices.
"Are the girls here?" someone asked.
"That's my brother, Will--bother! I suppose I have to go home," said
Grace, petulantly.
"I'll go see," offered Betty. "It sounds like more than Will."
"It is!" cried Mollie, peering under the window shade. "There's Amy's
brother, besides Allen Washburn, Roy Anderson and--oh, there's that
johnny--Percy Falconer. What in the world can have brought them all
here?"
"Natural attractions--the magnet--as the flower draws the bee--and so on
and so on," murmured Betty. "I'll ask them in," and she went to meet the
boys whose voices could now be heard in the hall.