ON THE BRINK OF DISCOVERY
The three girls and their boy friends remained at the farm until Dr. Pevy
had set the bad fracture that Hunchie had suffered and the poor little man
had been made as comfortable as he could be made at the time. He had been
badly shaken in falling so far at the barn, and the surgeon declared he
would be confined to his bed for some weeks.
"And oo's to take care of Ida Bellethorne, I ask you?" demanded Hunchie
faintly. "Mr. Bolter hexpects me to give hundivided hattention to 'er."
"She shall have the best of care," said Candace, the farmer, warmly. "A
mare like her ought to be bedded down in roses. The way she took this
little girl over the drifts was a caution. She is some horse, she is! We
will give her the best of attention, Hunchie, never you fear."
The cockney was so much troubled about his charge that he seemed to have
forgotten Ida Bellethorne, the girl. But Betty heard him say one thing to
Ida before they left.
"You ought to be 'appy, Miss Ida, even if the mare was sold. She brought a
good price, and ev'rybody about Bellethorne Park knows as Mr. Bellethorne
give 'er to you when she was a filly. I 'ope you'll come to see us
again--me and the mare."
"I surely will, Hunchie," said the English girl.
But when they came out of the house and bade the family good-bye, Betty
saw that Ida was very grave. Hunchie's words seemed to have been
significant.
It was late in the afternoon when the quintette arrived at Mountain Camp.
Mrs. Canary had expressed some anxiety about them, but Uncle Dick had
scouted any peril that might threaten the young folks. He admitted that he
had overlooked some possibilities when he heard the full account of their
adventures--and especially of his niece's adventures--at the dinner table.
"I declare, Betty," he said with some little exasperation, "I believe if
you were locked inside a trunk with only gimlet holes to breathe through
you would manage to get into trouble."
"I think I'd be in trouble fast enough in that case," answered Betty,
laughing.
"I don't know," said Louise thoughtfully. "Locked up in a box, you really
couldn't get into much harm, Betty."
"Sure she could get into trouble," declared Bobby. "Bees could crawl in
through the gimlet holes and sting her."
"I'd like to have seen her jumping that fire on horseback," sighed Libbie.
"It must have been wonderful!"
Mr. Gordon looked rather disturbed as he stared at his niece.
"That's exactly what I shouldn't want to see her do," he said. "I do not
know what I am going to do if, as she gets older, she grows more
energetic," he added to Mr. and Mrs. Canary. "Betty is more than a handful
for a poor bachelor uncle, I do believe!"
He forbade any more excursions away from the camp after that unless the
excursionists took some adult person with them. He went himself to Candace
Farm to see Hunchie Slattery; but he took only Ida Bellethorne with him.
They went on their snowshoes. During this trip Mr. Gordon won the abiding
confidence of the girl.
Meanwhile the youthful visitors at Mountain Camp allowed no hour to be
idle. There was always something to do, and what one could not think of in
the way of fun another could.
Mr. Canary's men had smoothed a coasting course down the hillside to the
lake not a quarter of a mile from the Overlook. There was a nest of
toboggans in one of the outhouses. Tobogganing afforded the nine young
people much sport.
For the others insisted that Ida Bellethorne share in all their good
times. She declared she never would get Libbie's blouse done in time; but
Libbie said that she could finish it afterward and send it on to
Shadyside. Just now the main thing was to crowd as much fun as possible
into the remaining days of their vacation.
The young folks from Fairfields were paired off very nicely; but they did
not let Ida feel that she was a "fifth wheel," and she really had a good
time. These snow-sports were so unfamiliar to her that she enjoyed them
the more keenly.
"I do think these boys are so nice," she said to Betty as they climbed the
hill from the lakeshore, dragging the toboggan behind them by its rope.
"Of course they're nice," said the loyal Betty. "Especially Bob Henderson.
He's just like a brother to me. If he wasn't nice to you I should scold
him--that I should, Ida."
"I never can repay you for your kindness," sighed the English girl, quite
serious of visage. "And your uncle, too."
Betty flashed her a penetrating look and was on the verge of speaking of
something that she, at least, considered of much importance. Then she
hesitated. Ida had never mentioned the possibility of Betty's having
dropped anything in Mrs. Staples' store. Betty shut her lips tight again
and waited. If Ida did know anything about her lost locket, Betty wanted
the English girl to speak of it first.
They went in to dress for dinner that afternoon just before a change in
the weather. A storm had been threatening for some hours, and flakes of
snow began to drift down before they left the slide.
"Let's dress up in our best, girls," Louise said gaily. "Put on our best
bibs and tuckers. Make it a gala occasion. Teddy, be sure and scrub behind
your ears, naughty boy!"
"I feel as though I ought to be in rompers the way you talk," said the
Tucker twin, but he laughed.
The boys ran off to "primp," and what the girls did to make themselves
lovely, Libbie said "was a caution!" One after the other they came into
Betty's and Bobby's room and pirouetted to show their finery. Ida had been
decked out very nicely by her friends, and her outfit did not seem shabby
in the least.
But the English girl noted one thing about Betty, and it puzzled her. The
other girls from Shadyside School wore their pieces of jewelry while Betty
displayed not a single trinket. As the other girls were hurrying out to
join the boys and descend to the big hall, Ida held Betty back.
"Where is it, Betty?" she asked. "Don't you wear it at all? Are you
afraid of losing it again?"
"What do you mean?" asked Betty, her heart pounding suddenly and her eyes
growing brighter. Ida Bellethorne placed her hand upon Betty's chest,
looking at her closely as she asked the question:
"Didn't Mrs. Staples give it to you? That beautiful locket, you know.
Aren't you allowed to wear it?"