Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
GLENLOCH GIRLS
By GRACE M. REMICK
Author of
GLENLOCH GIRLS ABROAD
GLENLOCH GIRLS' CLUB
GLENLOCH GIRLS AT CAMP WEST
ILLUSTRATED BY ADA C. WILLLAMSON
To my little cousin
KATHARINE McC. REMICK
whose unfailing interest and appreciation have helped me to write
this book.
Introduction
This is the story of a pleasant winter in the lives of some everyday
girls and boys. That doesn't sound exciting, does it? And yet, if
you stop to think, you will remember that most girls and boys live
comparatively simple lives and that it is given only to a few to
have strange adventures and do valorous deeds. Ruth Shirley, one
of the girls, expects to be very forlorn, but, finding a new home
in Glenloch, she is welcomed by the kindest of friends and becomes
a Glenloch Girl in heart and name. One of the boys is obliged to
learn the lesson of patience and courage when that which he most
prizes is taken away and he supposes it will never be regained.
Like all the rest of us, these young people have their follies and
faults. On the whole, however, they are truthful, good-natured,
peaceable young citizens, full of the business of the hour, but
beginning already to plan for the mysterious future which to them
promises so much. Those who are interested in the story of their
good times together may be glad to read in "Glenloch Girls Abroad"
how Ruth meets her father, what tidings she has from Glenloch, and
something of the new friends she makes on the other side of the
ocean. They will be interested also in the further doings of The
Social Six, as they are related in "Glenloch Girls' Club." And the
adventures and good times of "Glenloch Girls at Camp West."
GRACE M. REMICK.
CONTENTS
I. RUTH'S FATHER
II. THREE CHUMS
III. THE NEWCOMER
IV. A NEW CLUB
V. THE SOCIAL SIX
VI. BAD NEWS AND GOOD
VII. CAPS AND APRONS
VIII. CHARLOTTE'S PROBLEMS
IX. OUT OF THE SNOW
X. CHRISTMAS PRESENTS XI. ARTHUR COMES BACK
XII. LOST AND FOUND
XIII. MISS CYNTHIA
XIV. TINY ELSA
XV. PETER PAN
XVI. TELLING FORTUNES
XVII. UNCLE JERRY
XVIII. THOSE RIDICULOUS BOYS
XIX. "HOME, SWEET HOME"
ILLUSTRATIONS
"I WAS AFRAID YOU WEREN'T COMING,"
"DO YOU PROMISE TO KEEP OUR SECRETS?"
"LET ME GIVE YOU YOUR PRESENT NOW"
"IT'S VERY FINE AND BRAVE OF YOU"
IT HAPPENED AS SHE HAD WISHED
"IS YOUR LEMONADE GOOD?"
"TELL THEM YOUR NEWS"
CHAPTER I
RUTH'S FATHER
Just as the key clicked in the lock and the front door opened,
a bright face peeped over the baluster from the hall above. "Why,
papa," said a dismayed voice, "you're very early and I'm not dressed.
I wanted to be at the door to meet you tonight of all nights."
"I'm sorry I'm not welcome, Ruthie," said papa, pretending to
be very much hurt. "Shall I go out and walk up and down the block
until you are ready to receive me?"
"No, indeed, you absurd boy. I'll be down there in three minutes
and a half. Don't get interested in a book, will you, for I want
to talk with you."
"Ail right, my dear," replied papa dutifully, and Ruth flew off to
her room to put the finishing touches to her toilet.
A few minutes later she appeared in the library with flushed cheeks
and very bright eyes. "Now, Popsy, sit down here," she said, leading
him to the big armchair and sitting down in front of him. "Do you
know what day this is, sir?" she continued, trying to look very
stern.
"I think I do," he answered meekly; "it's the seventeenth of
September, I believe."
"And what day is that?" still more sternly.
"That is, why, bless my soul, so it is, that's---"
"Your birthday," finished Ruth triumphantly. "And we're going to
celebrate it just by ourselves. You aren't going out this evening,
are you, Popsy?"
"No, dear, I shall be very glad to stay at home with you. I
am afraid, though, that I shan't be a very good birthday boy, for
there are some business plans that are troubling me, and I want to
talk them over with you."
"Business plans?" said Ruth, surprised. "Why, papa, I never supposed
I could help you about business plans."
"These particular plans have so much to do with you, little girl,
that it's only fair to tell you about them before I decide. However,
we won't talk about them until after dinner, for I'm as hungry as
a bear."
"Well, do run upstairs and get ready now, for dinner will be ready
in a few minutes, and I'm dying to give you your birthday surprise."
"Dear me, I thought it was enough of a shock to have a birthday,
without more surprises. Give it to me by degrees, please, for in
my starving condition I can't bear much."
Ruth watched her father as he ran lightly up the stairs, and wondered
if any other girl had such a great, strong, handsome papa. "He's
my very best chum," she said to herself, "and sometimes he doesn't
seem a bit older than I do."
Just as the maid announced dinner, papa appeared and Ruth met him
at the foot of the stairs with a sweeping courtesy. He responded
with a ceremonious bow, and the proffer of his arm, which Ruth took
with great gravity.
"Aren't we grand?" she said in a satisfied tone. "It makes me feel
dreadfully grown up to have you treat me so politely."
"I'll stop then," laughed papa. "Fourteen is old enough, and I
don't want my girl to turn into a young lady just yet."
"Now shut your eyes, Popsy, and don't look until I get you into
your chair," said Ruth as they reached the dining-room door.
Her father obediently shut his eyes, and Ruth led him to his place
at the table. Then she slipped around to her own chair, and clapping
her hands said triumphantly, "Now look."
"Oh--o-oh!" gasped her father, almost before he had opened his
eyes. "This is truly superb. Ruth, you're an artist."
"Mary helped me do it," said Ruth, smiling at the pretty maid; "but
I planned it every bit myself. I thought I would make it a pink
and white birthday because pink is your favorite color."
Mr. Shirley looked at the pretty table with appreciative eyes. In
the centre a bowl of pink roses reflected in its shining facets
the lights of the pink candies which filled the candelabra at the
ends of the table. Broad, pink satin ribbons, with rosebuds and
maidenhair fern dropped upon them at intervals, ran from the flower
bowl in the centre to the comers of the polished table, and in front
of papa's plate was a huge birthday cake resplendent with pink and
white icing and glittering with candies.
"You don't have to eat the birthday cake first," said Ruth, as Mr.
Shirley looked somewhat apprehensively in its direction. "You see
I made it myself, and I thought I couldn't possibly wait all through
dinner for it to be put on, so I told Mary we'd make it a sort of
glorified supper, and we could have the cake to look at while we
were eating the other things."
"Do you mean to tell me that you made this gorgeous concoction
yourself?" asked papa, looking at her admiringly. "To think I should
have had such a genius in my house and not have known it."
"I've been practicing ever since the first of September," answered
Ruth proudly, "and Nora said that this one looked quite perfect.
But you mustn't take too long over your supper, for there's another
surprise coming when we are all by ourselves in the library."
"You don't say so. How can I wait until then?" said Mr. Shirley,
beginning to attack the salad with great energy.
It was a delightful birthday supper, Ruth thought, for her father
was his funniest self, and she laughed so much that she had scarcely
time to eat. The cake was a great success, and Mr. Shirley praised
the maker of it so warmly that she blushed rosily and flew around
the table to give him a hug and kiss.
"Now for surprise number two," cried Ruth as they left the table
and went into the cozy library. "Sit in the big chair, papa, and
I'll bring it to you."
Mr. Shirley waited with pretended anxiety while Ruth opened a
drawer in the desk and took out a small box. "This is for the best
of fathers and the best of chums," she said giving it to him with
a kiss.
"From the best of little daughters," he added as he opened the box.
Inside was a velvet case and opening that he found a gold locket
on which his monogram had been engraved.
"It's for you to wear on your watch-chain," said Ruth. "Now open
it."
Mr. Shirley pressed the tiny spring, and the locket flew open
disclosing two miniatures beautifully painted. One of Ruth with
merry brown eyes and brown curls tied in a knot in her neck, and the
other of a sweet-faced, tender-eyed woman whom Ruth much resembled.
"Popsy, dear," said Ruth, "I couldn't think of anything you would
like half so well as these, so I took the money Uncle Jerry sent
me last birthday and had them painted for you. Isn't it sweet of
mamma?" she added softly.
"Nothing you could have given me would have pleased me so much,"
said Mr. Shirley with an odd little choke in his voice. "Those are
the two dearest faces I could possibly see, and they shall go with
me everywhere."
"I'm so glad you like it. And now, papa, let's have the business
plans. It makes me feel very important to think that you are going
to talk business with me."
"Dear, I'm afraid it's going to make you unhappy, and I hate to
spoil our pleasant evening together. Shan't we get the birthday
safely over, and put off the business plans until tomorrow?"
"Seems to me I remember that you are always telling me something
about 'never putting off until tomorrow,' etc., etc. No, sir," she
continued with mock sternness, "I want to hear all about it."
Still her father hesitated, until Ruth said hopefully, "You
haven't lost all your money, have you? That would be so romantic
and interesting. I think I should go out as a cook, and perhaps
you could get a place as butler in the same house. If it happened
just now, though, I should have to feed them on birthday cake until
I learned to make something else."
Mr. Shirley threw back his head and laughed. "You're a good planner,
Ruthie, but I hardly think you'll be obliged to go out as a cook
just yet. I am sorry to disappoint you, but I really can't say that
I have lost any money."
"Well, then, please tell me all about it, and I'll listen very
quietly," said Ruth perching herself on the arm of the big chair.
"It's just this, little daughter," answered Mr. Shirley, putting
his arm around Ruth and drawing her closer; "it has been decided
that it will be a profitable thing for us to open a branch house
in Germany, and it is important that some member of the firm should
be over there for a year or two to start it."
"And are you the one to go?" cried Ruth, clapping her hands. "Why
should you think that would make me unhappy, when it is one of the
dreams of my life to go abroad?"
"That's just where the trouble comes, Ruthie," said her father
tenderly. "I have thought it all over carefully, and I cannot make
myself think that it would be right or wise to take you over there
with me for the first year. For six months, at least, I shall be
traveling nearly all the time, and I should neither want to take
you with me nor to leave you in a pension."
"But, father, I'd be willing to stay alone if I could only see you
once in a while," cried Ruth with quivering lips. "Or you could
get me a German governess, and----"
"Darling, I've thought over every possible plan, and it still seems
to me better for you not to go over during my first year," answered
Mr. Shirley soberly.
"Oh, papa, I can't bear it," sobbed Ruth, burying her face on her
father's shoulder. "We've been such chums for the last year, and
I can't get along without you. Besides," she said, checking her
tears and looking at him with a pitiful attempt at a smile, "when
mamma died she told me I must try to take her place and always take
care of you, and how can I if you go so far away?"
There was another burst of sobs, and all Mr. Shirley could do was
to hold her close and stroke the soft curls with a remorseful hand.
At last when it seemed to him that he could bear it no longer she
raised her tear-stained face, and said as she used to say when she
was a little girl, "I'm going to be good now, papa."
"That's my brave girl," said Mr. Shirley much relieved. "Here, let
me help you wipe your eyes, darling. You need something bigger than
that scrap of a handkerchief after such a shower."
Ruth laughed weakly as papa sopped her eyes in an unskilful but
efficacious manner. Then as she lay back in his arms quite tired
out after her storm of tears she said soberly, "Tell me all the
rest now, papa, please. What do you mean to do with me?"
"That is the hardest question of all to decide," answered Mr.
Shirley gravely. "I never realized before quite how hard it would
be to find a suitable home for such an attractive young person
as you are. If Uncle Jerry would only find a wife and settle down
within the next month you could go to him, but I'm afraid we can't
manage that."
"Within a month, papa? Must it be so soon as that?" asked Ruth,
looking at him with eyes that threatened to overflow again.
"I'm afraid it must, dear," answered Mr. Shirley. "You see the
sooner I get to Germany the better it will be for the business, and
if you and I have a hard thing to do we may as well get it over as
soon as possible."
Ruth shut her eyes for a moment and clenched her hands. She was
determined not to cry again, at least not when she was with her
father.
"You must have some plan for me in your mind, papa," she said at
last very quietly; "please tell me what it is."
"Well, dear, there are three ways out of it. You must either go to
school, have some one come and live with you here, or go to live
in the family of some one we know."
"I've always thought I should just love to go to boarding-school,"
said Ruth thoughtfully, "but now it seems to me I should hate it.
And I should simply die if you left me in this house, for I should
miss you and mamma every minute."
"That's just what I feared," said Mr. Shirley, "and as to the
boarding-school plan, there are several reasons why I should prefer
to give that up for this year. That leaves plan number three to
be considered, and today I've had what I think is a brilliant idea
regarding it."
"What is it, papa?" asked Ruth, beginning to get interested.
"It seems to me that if I leave you with any of our friends here
in Chicago you will be constantly reminded of mamma and me and will
miss us more than you would if you were in some place where we had
never been together. Just as I was thinking this all over for the
hundredth time this morning a letter came from my old college chum,
Henry Hamilton. It was largely a business letter, but at the end
he inquired for you, and said that they wished very much that they
had a daughter growing up in their family."
"Seems to me I've heard mamma speak of Mrs. Hamilton," said Ruth
musingly. "Didn't they play together when they were little girls?"
"Why, yes, of course they did. Mrs. Hamilton was Mary Ashley, and
you remember that funny story mamma used to tell you about the time
they thought they heard a burglar."
"Oh, yes, and how they went into Boston to a big fair and they lost
Mary Ashley's mother, who was taking care of them and had such a
funny time getting home," said Ruth.
"Well, I called on them the last time I went East, and found them
living not far from Boston in a very delightful home, and when that
letter reminded me of them today I thought at once that their home
would be just the place for you if they were willing to take you."
"Are there any children in the family?"
"One boy about sixteen," replied Mr. Shirley.
"Dear me! I wish he had a sister. But, papa, have you any idea that
they'll want to take a strange girl into their family for a whole
year? If they will take me I shall be so much nearer Europe, shan't
I?"
"Of course you will, darling, and I somehow have the feeling that
they'll be glad to have you with them," said Mr. Shirley. "Now
if you agree with me that it is best to try this plan, I'll write
tonight, for I'm sorry to say our plans must be made quickly."
Ruth's eyes filled with tears which she could not hide. "It all
seems so horrid to me when I think of being without you, papa,"
she said slowly, "that I can't make any choice. You'll have to do
just as you think best, and perhaps I shall learn to be brave."
Mr. Shirley hugged her tight for a moment without speaking. Then he
said tenderly, "Darling, go to bed now and try to sleep. Perhaps
in the morning things will look brighter to you. We'll talk it over
then and see what is best to be done."
Ruth kissed him and tried to smile, "Goodnight, papa; I'll be
a better chum tomorrow," she said with an effort, and then went
quickly from the room.