MRS. GRAY ENGAGES A SECRETARY
Grace and her two friends, Jessica and Nora, were also invited to Mrs.
Gray's luncheon the next day, after church. Grace had often taken meals
in the beautiful house on Chapel Hill, but the other girls had never
been privileged to do more than sit in the large, shady parlors while
their mothers paid an afternoon call.
It was with some excitement, therefore, that the three girls met in
front of the Catholic Church, of which Nora was a member, and strolled
up the broad street together. As they passed the little Episcopal
Chapel, which had given the hill its name, Anne Pierson joined them. She
looked grave and excited, and there was a feverish glow in her eyes.
"Anne, my child," exclaimed Grace, who always seemed much older than the
others, "how late do you study at night? I believe you are working too
hard. You look tired out."
"I'm not tired," replied Anne. "I don't mind studying. Only so much has
happened in the last few days! And now we're going to luncheon with Mrs.
Gray. I've seen her house. It's very beautiful from the outside, more
beautiful than the Nesbits', I think, because it is older and there is
such a pretty garden at the side."
"Anne," said Jessica, "we're counting on you to win the prize. There is
no reason why a rich girl like Miriam Nesbit should get it. She doesn't
need the money, in the first place; and, in the second, she's already
had enough glory to turn her head. Being beaten won't hurt her at all."
"I would rather win it," answered Anne, with passionate fervor, "than
almost anything in the world. And think of the big prize of $100! If I
could win that----" Words failed to express her enthusiasm and she
paused and clasped her hands.
"Oh, well, we won't expect that of you," replied Grace, "Nobody could be
expected to pass a perfect examination. That's an impossible
achievement."
"_I_ shall try, anyway," said Anne in a low voice.
Just then they were joined by a young man of about eighteen, who lifted
his hat politely to them.
"May I walk with you?" he asked of Grace. "You seem to be going my way
this morning."
"Certainly, David, we are going your way. We are lunching with your next
door neighbor, Mrs. Gray. But you must let me introduce you to Miss
Pierson. Anne, this is Mr. Nesbit, Miriam's brother."
Anne flushed at the mention of Miriam's name and bowed distantly to the
newcomer, who was a junior at the High School and quite grown-up to the
young freshmen.
David Nesbit, like his sister, was tall, dark and handsome; but unlike
her, he was quiet and unassuming. He, too, stood at the head of his
classes, but he was not athletic, as Miriam was, and spent most of his
time in the school laboratory, experimenting, or working at home on
engines and machinery of his own contriving.
However, there was nothing snobbish in David's attitude. He greeted Anne
as cordially as he had the others.
"We never see you now, David," continued Grace. "You are always so busy
with your inventions and contrivances. What is the latest? A flying
machine?"
"You guessed right the very first time," replied David. "It is just
that."
"Really?" laughed the girls, incredulously, while Anne's eyes grew large
with interest.
"Shall you fly around Oakdale in it?" asked Jessica.
"Oh, we are not building big ones yet," answered David. "These are
little fellows. Models, you know. The big ones may come later. Six of
the junior and senior fellows have been working on them all summer. We
started it in the manual training course. After we had learned to hammer
things out of silver, and do wood carving and a few other little useful
accomplishments, I suggested a flying machine to Professor Blitz and he
fell to it like a ripe peach. It was too late to do anything last spring
except talk, however. But we are almost ready now, after our labors this
summer."
"Ready for what?" demanded Grace. "If you are not going to fly
yourselves."
"For our exhibition. Why don't you come and see it at the gym. next
Friday night?"
"We can't. We aren't invited," answered Nora, tossing back her saucy
little curls.
"I'll invite you," said David. "This will admit four young ladies to the
High School gym.," he continued, taking out a card and writing on it,
"At 7.30 Thursday evening."
"Then everybody isn't invited?" demanded Jessica.
"No, not everybody," replied David. "Just a chosen few. And you must be
sure to come, too, Miss Pierson," he added, turning to Anne, who, all
this time, had been silently listening to the conversation.
"I should love to," she answered, giving him a grateful glance.
"I'll leave you here," said David, turning in at a graveled driveway
that led to the Nesbit house, a very large and ornate building standing
far back from the street in the midst of a well-kept lawn.
"I wish Miriam would take a few lessons in manners from her brother,"
murmured Grace, when they were out of hearing distance.
"He is certainly one of the nicest boys in High School," said Jessica.
"If he only played football!" said Grace, with a sigh.
"And danced," added Nora.
"I don't know how to dance, nor did I ever see a game of football," said
Anne.
"Meaning that Mr. David suits you, Miss Anne," said Grace teasingly.
"It was nice of him to ask me, too," was all Anne said in reply.
"How do you do, my dears?" said Mrs. Gray, a few moments later, when
John, the aged butler, ushered the girls into the long, old-fashioned
parlor. "You are most kind to come and cheer up a lonely old woman. I
shall expect you to be very gay and tell me all the gossip of the
Oakdale High School, the four of you."
"Luncheon is served, ma'am," announced John, whereat the sprightly old
lady led the way to the dining room.
Over the delicious broiled chicken and other good things they discussed
the affairs of the school, the new teacher in mathematics, Miss Leece,
who was so unpopular; the girls' principal, Miss Thompson, beloved by
all the pupils; the merits of the Freshman Basketball Team and a dozen
other schoolgirl topics that seemed to delight the ears of Mrs. Gray.
"The truth is," she said, "I believe this freshman class is going to be
one of the finest Oakdale High School has ever turned out. I have a
feeling that I shall be very proud of my new girls, and at Christmas
time I mean to do something I have never done before, if all goes well."
"Oh, do tell us what it is, Mrs. Gray," cried the girls in great
excitement.
"I mean to celebrate with the largest Christmas party that's been given
in Oakdale for many a long year. Grace, you shall manage it for me, and
all of you shall help me decorate the tree and the house. We'll invite
the freshmen boys and have a real dance with Ohlson's band for the
music."
"Oh, oh!" cried the girls ecstatically, even quiet Anne joining in the
chorus.
"By the way," went on Mrs. Gray, "do you know any girl who would like to
come up and read to me twice a week, and write my notes for me? I'm
getting to be an old woman. My eyesight is growing dim. Is there any
girl who would like to earn a little pocket money? But she must have a
sweet, soft voice, like Anne's here."
"Anne would be the very girl herself, Mrs. Gray," suggested Grace. "She
reads and recites beautifully."
"You are not sure it would trespass on your time too much, Anne?"
observed the wily old lady. "I don't want to impose on you."
Anne's face fairly radiated with happiness. Could those girls possibly
guess how much it meant to her to earn a little money! Five dollars was
to her an enormous sum, and perhaps she might earn as much as that in
time.
"Might I do it?" she exclaimed, beside herself with joy.
Grace turned her face away a moment. She felt almost ashamed of her own
comfortable prosperity. And how like Mrs. Gray it was to do a kind thing
in that way, as if Anne would be conferring a favor by accepting the
position.
"Indeed, you might, my dear. And I feel myself lucky to get the
brightest girl in her class, and maybe in Oakdale High School, to come
and entertain me twice a week."