WALKER DEPARTS
However, it was Bess who sought Nan out, and that before Grace had
barely had time to finish divulging her bit of news.
"What did I tell you?" Bess greeted Nan as soon as she could find her.
"What do you mean?" Nan retorted.
"I mean that talk we had some time ago up in your room."
"What talk?" Nan pretended to have forgotten.
"You know as well as I," Bess responded impatiently. "I mean that talk
about Walker and Alice. It was nice, but it's all over now."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that Walker talked to your cousin sometime yesterday, that your
cousin was simply furious, and that Walker Jamieson has left, never to
return!"
"Oh, Bess, don't get romantic about it," Nan said abruptly. "Now get
your breath and tell me actually what you know."
"I have," Bess insisted. "Walker wanted to marry Alice and Adair
MacKenzie said 'no!' Walker left without saying goodby to anyone and
nobody knows when he is going to return if at all. Alice has gone to her
room, and everybody in the house is all broken up, except the old
housekeeper. All she does is shake her head and say 'You just wait. This
will all be all right in the end. Young people are too hasty.'
"Imagine that!" Bess ran on indignantly. "She says young people are too
hasty, when all the trouble here is caused by Mr. MacKenzie and he
certainly isn't young!"
"Elizabeth Harley, you be careful!" Nan warned her friend. "You don't
know for sure whether what you are saying is true or not. You'll have
everybody in trouble if you don't watch out."
"But Nan, I could just cry," Bess protested. "He is such a nice person
and so is she. And now it's all spoiled."
"Hush, Bess," Nan spoke more softly now. Then she looked over at Walter
as though begging him to leave them for a few moments which he did.
"Now, see here," she spoke sternly to Bess when he disappeared. "If
there is anything at all in what you say, and I doubt it, there is
nothing in the world to be gained by crying and talking and
interfering."
"I'm not interfering!" Bess was indignant.
"Well, then talking about it," Nan corrected herself. "We can't do
anything about it except sit around and wait. I don't believe that
Walker has gone away for the reason you say he has at all, and if he
has, he'll be back."
"Well, if he hasn't gone away for that reason, why has he gone at all?"
Bess demanded.
"You can't tell," Nan answered lamely. Why was it, she thought, that she
was forever running into the secret that she had promised Walker she
would keep. She had done the same thing ten minutes ago with Walter. Now
she was doing it with her best friend. "You've just got to wait and find
out," she added.
"Come on, Bess," she made a decided effort to change the subject, "let's
go in and get the camera. I want to take some pictures of the boys.
Anyway we are neglecting them by staying out here like this."
"Neglecting them!" Bess exclaimed. "They've done nothing all day but sit
around and loaf. They're a lazy bunch, and we all had such high hopes."
She let her sentence die away tragically.
"Why," she wrinkled up her nose at Nan, as she spoke, "are boys in
general so dumb? Oh, Walter's all right, but all the rest are just like
bumps on a log."
"No, they aren't," Nan denied. "Don't you remember last night when they
were all out there below our balconies? You didn't think they were bumps
on a log then, did you?"
Bess shook her head and her eyes shone. "No, that was grand," she said.
"But today, they just don't do anything."
"Maybe they think that we're neglecting them?" Nan suggested.
"Well, let them," Bess flounced away from Nan and into the house.
Nan looked bewilderedly after her. "What can be wrong with Bess," she
asked herself and then did go after her camera. If Bess didn't want any
pictures of the visitors, she did.
A few hours later, after an afternoon siesta and a long cool refreshing
drink of fruit juices beneath the palms of the courtyard, everyone felt
better. Alice's eyes were red and swollen with crying, but she made an
appearance. Adair MacKenzie was even more terse than usual, but he was
kinder too. And Bess who had but three hours before found the boys so
disagreeable now was surrounded by them. She was telling them in low
tones of the donkey episode of the day before.
It was all very cheerful and pleasant despite the emptiness that was
felt because of Walker's absence. However, no one mentioned his name. In
fact, he might have remained away from the hacienda, away from Alice,
indefinitely, if it hadn't been for Adair himself, Adair and Nan.
"Well, well, girls, how do you like your new home now?" Adair MacKenzie
was feeling somewhat talkative after his long refreshing drink of
loganberry juice. "A pretty nice place, isn't it?" He looked about
himself with a satisfied sort of appreciation. Adair MacKenzie for all
of his Scotch blood and his leanings toward economy really liked the
good things of life. This southern home pleased him.
"It's grand, Cousin Adair," Nan answered for them all. "Perfectly grand.
There's only one thing that's lacking."
"And that?"
"We're missing Rhoda. She was so excited about the plans to come down
here that she could hardly contain herself, and now we won't see her all
summer. We won't see her until we get back to school in the fall."
"Who said you wouldn't?" Adair asked suddenly. "Don't jump to
conclusions like that. Just to show you how wrong you are--you're
leaving tomorrow morning by plane to visit with this Hammond girl over
the week end, and then if it's at all possible, she is to come back with
you to stay here for a week or two. Now, how's that?"