The girls gazed in wide-eyed surprise at their prostrate companion, and
then, as they saw that she was not hurt, their sense of humor broke
bounds, and they burst into merry peals of laughter, for she did look so
comical sitting there with that "Where--am--I?" sort of look on her face.
But the Sport was too excited to mind bumps or laughter as she jumped up
and peered above her head. "The rope has broken!" she exclaimed
irritably. "Oh, if I could only get hold of that broken end up there,"
her eyes leaped quickly around the barn, "I could ring the bell again.
Oh, there's a ladder!" With an alert spring she had grabbed it and then
began to drag it under the tower.
The girls by this time had recovered from their unwonted merriment, and,
feeling somewhat ashamed of leaving the Sport to work unaided, rushed to
her assistance. They soon had the ladder resting against a broad beam
that ran across the barn directly under the tower where the broken piece
of rope still swung.
Up the ladder climbed Edith, high to the top, but alas, she was just a
few inches short of touching the swaying rope, which she now perceived
was fastened to a chain that hung from the bell.
"Oh, what will you do?" cried Helen, as the two girls stretched their
necks almost off their shoulders to see if there was not some way out of
the difficulty.
"I know what I will do," exclaimed the Sport suddenly. "I will climb up
on the beam, walk a few steps, and then I can reach it."
"You will fall!" exclaimed Nathalie in nervous fear.
"Oh, no, she won't," called out Helen hastily. "You don't know Edith;
that's an easy feat for her, for she's a regular acrobat. But, Edith, be
careful!" she finished, with sudden anxiety, as she saw the girl climb
up on the beam and then lift herself upright.
Nathalie, with her breath held, watched Edith for a moment, and then as
she saw her reach out to catch the dangling rope, she closed her eyes,
thrilled in every nerve with silent terror for fear she would miss her
footing.
But she didn't, for when Nathalie opened her eyes just for a hurried
peep, she saw Edith with the rope in her hand. The next instant she had
bent to her task and a loud "Clang! Clang!" rang sharply out.
"One, two, three!" a moment's pause, then, "One, two, three!" Twice this
was repeated as the girls stood waiting below with their eyes fixed on
the ringer's every movement; Helen, fearful that she would become
reckless and reach too far, while Nathalie obeyed an impulse she could
not define and just watched in nervous tension.
Ah, she had dropped her arms and was looking down at the girls. "What
are you standing there for, ninnies?" she emphasized with a stamp of her
foot that sent a shiver of horror through Nathalie's wildly beating
heart. "Why don't you go and get the engine out?"
"Oh, so we can," rejoined Helen quickly. "I never thought! Come, you
help me!" catching Nathalie by the arm.
Nathalie turned and followed Helen, who had swiftly run to the
fire-engine, a newly painted affair, a box on wheels, standing in the
rear of the fire-house. With an alert spring she was close at Helen's
heels, and in a moment more had grabbed one of the two ropes tied to the
front axle. Helen, who stood with the other rope in her hand, now cried,
"Quick, let's run it out to the road!"
It rolled easily, and the two girls were just about to wheel it through
the open door, when a man in a red shirt, leather hat, and his trousers
tucked into his rubber boots dashed hurriedly up to them.
"Where's the fire?" he panted. With heated face and eyes bulging
excitement he seized the rope from Nathalie's hand, and the next minute,
with Helen's help, had run the engine out into the road.
"The Methodist church is on fire!" yelled the Sport from her high perch
on the beam, but there was no need to say more, for several other men
had arrived, all in red shirts and firemen's helmets, while others were
seen racing from all directions towards the fire-house. In a few
moments' time a crowd had collected, each one bent in lending a hand,
and all shouting with full vocal power as if they thought--so it seemed
to Nathalie--their shouts would put out the fire.
In the midst of this clamorous din, another rubber-booted individual
appeared, not only in fireman's regalia, but with a big brass trumpet.
On this he blew a mighty blast, and then with much gesticulation
bellowed his orders to the men.
A final order from the chief, as the man with the trumpet proved to be,
and the six or eight men holding the ropes of the engine started at
breakneck speed down the hill. They were followed by a crowd of shouting
men, women, hooting boys, and crying children, each one frenzied with
excitement and with the avowed purpose of being first at the fire.
The girls, for by this time Edith had descended from her perilous perch,
stood silent and watched the engine whiz down the slope leading to the
town, the red-shirted firemen in front of it shouting angrily in their
endeavors to stop the rear men from pushing it down on their heels too
rapidly.
But Edith, who was never still two minutes if there was anything going
on, with a wild, "Hoopla, I'm going to see the fire!" started in the
wake of the hooting mob, running at a speed that soon made her one of
the rank and file that went plunging down the hill.
Helen's eyes followed the flying figure, and then, with a "Come on,
don't let the Sport outdo us!" she was racing after her. Nathalie,
bewildered by this strange and novel experience that had leaped into her
life, stood still, uncertain what to do. She felt a sudden abhorrence of
mingling with the fire-crazed crowd that surged before her. Brought up
to keep away from these spectacular affairs of the city, she felt she
would be transgressing all laws of decorum if she followed her friends.
But the impulse to do as the other Pioneers did spurred her on, and with
a quick leap forward she cast all conventionalities to the wind, and
started on a dead run to catch up with Helen.
The girls were too quick for her and she arrived in front of the church
only to make one more of a densely packed crowd of fire-seekers standing
opposite the burning building, wild-eyed and weirdly pale from the
reflection of the flaming tongues of red, which darted upward with a
licking greediness that made the wooden building crack and snap under
their devouring greed.
Spying Edith a few feet away, she hastily pushed through the jam of
people to her side, only to hear her scream frantically, "Look out,
Nathalie!" But the warning came too late, for a shower of water had
already struck her in the back with terrific force, almost bowling her
over. Ugh! it was running down her back with such icy spray that she
screamed aloud, and then shrank back as jeering laughter from those
standing by greeted her mishap.
But their merriment was short-lived, as the water deluge came again and
Nathalie saw the contortions that shot from face to face of her
neighbors as with shrill cries they tried to dodge to one side in their
frantic endeavors to escape. In the midst of the confusion some one
suddenly bellowed, "Run for your lives, the hose has burst!"
There were more shouts of dismay from the crowd of struggling, fighting
figures, and then they had scattered. Edith by this time had grabbed
Nathalie by the hand and in a moment or so she was safe on a neighboring
porch.
"O dear, what will they do?" lamented Edith. "That hose is the only one
in town!" For a few moments it looked as if not only the church but the
parsonage and the adjacent buildings were to fall victims to the blazing
flames that swept upward and outward with shooting jets between tall
columns of black rolling smoke.
"They are going to form a bucket brigade!" shouted Edith suddenly into
Nathalie's ear. The words had barely passed her lips when she dropped
her companion's cold fingers, and was racing with a crowd of men, women,
and boys towards a pond a short distance away.
Nathalie stood still and gazed with suppressed excitement at this new
development of the fire-crazed people. It seemed to her as if every one
in Westport must have owned a bucket from the number of people that
sped--as if magic swept--towards the pond, where a long line of human
beings, with a deftness and quickness that amazed her, were already
passing buckets from one to the other and then on to the firemen who
formed a line across the road in front of the church.
Each fireman would grab a bucket, pass it on to his mate, who in turn
passed it on to the next one, and so on, until its contents had been
splashed on the seething flames. Then just as quickly it was shoved by
way of another line back to the pond to be filled again and once more
hurried on its journey of rescue.
"Come, get busy!" some one suddenly yelled at this crisis. "They are
forming another line at the pump!" Nathalie swung about to see Fred
Tyson holding out to her an empty bucket. The unexpectedness of this new
demand upon her overwrought nerves tempted her to scurry to parts
unknown, as she backed away from Fred with the startled exclamation, "O
dear, no!"
Fred, realizing how she felt, looked down at her with a reassuring smile
as he answered, "Come, you must help; you are a Pioneer--it will be a
fine experience for you!" Nathalie, without a word, grabbed the bucket
and in another second was running swiftly by the side of this new friend
as he guided her to the pump.
An hour later Nathalie appeared at the corner of the street leading to
her home. Weary, bedraggled, sooted from head to foot, and with gleaming
beads of perspiration running over her face, she was still jubilant. She
had been to a real fire, and, what is more, had helped to put it out.
For the buckets had done their work, and although the church stood a
framework of glowing embers, the parsonage and other buildings had been
saved.
She was so glad when she saw she was nearing her home, that, as she
informed Fred, who had accompanied her, she felt like dancing a jig on
her head from sheer joy, although she was not only tired to the verge of
distraction, but faint from hunger.
"Oh, and there's Mother! I guess she's been almost worried to death,"
she exclaimed as she spied her mother standing on the veranda anxiously
peering down the path.
"Well, I guess she has been almost worried to death!" exclaimed a voice,
as a white-robed figure stepped out from the shadows of the trees on the
lawn.
It was Lucille. "If it hadn't been for me, Nathalie Page," she
emphasized with upheld finger, "your mother would have been down to the
fire herself. She was sure you were the first one burned to death. Why,
you ought to be ashamed of yourself, Nathalie Page!" she averred
indignantly.
But there was no need to lecture Nathalie further, for her heart had
been thumping violently in nervous dread all the way home, and she was
already scurrying up the walk to the stoop. "Oh, Mother," she panted,
"did you think something dreadful had happened to me?"
"Well, I was quite nervous about you for a time," replied her mother
rather cheerily for one who had been almost worried to death, as she put
her arm around the tired girl. "Lucille obligingly started to look for
you, and met Dr. Homer, who said you were all right, helping put the
fire out as a bucket maiden. But, my dear, you are all wet, and hungry,
too, I'll warrant."
"You just believe I am," cried Nathalie. "But, oh, Mother, I have had
such an adventurous day! Do let me have something to eat, for I'm just
about starved, but, O dear, where's Fred Tyson; he came home with me?"
Fred was all right, having the cosiest of chats with Lucille--whom all
men adored from youth to old age--as they walked up the path to the
veranda. Would he come in and have supper? Why, he guessed he would, for
he hadn't had a mouthful since noon.
"By the Lord Harry, is that you, Blue Robin?" spoke a voice from the
couch as Nathalie ushered Fred into the hall. "Gee, but you are as black
as a colored 'pusson,'" quoth Dick, as he rose from the couch and
hobbled towards her.
It was a most exciting supper, eagerly devoured by Fred and Nathalie, as
between bites, with glowing eyes, each one told of her or his
experience. Nathalie told of the ringing of the fire bell, the exploits
of the Sport, and how she did duty at the pump.
"Oh, Mother, it has just been a regular red-letter day!" she cried at
length, "and I'm never again going to despise Edith Whiton for being
sporty, for if it hadn't been for her, I just believe the whole town
would have burned down!"
The second day after the fire was a Pioneer Rally day, a Camp Fund day
it had been called, for it was at this meeting that the Pioneers were to
decide upon the entertainments they proposed having in order to raise
the money to pay the cost of two or three weeks at camp that summer. One
or two affairs had been held during the winter and spring, so that a
small nucleus had been banked, but if this was not increased the hearts
of the Pioneers would be "wrung with woe," as the Sport had put it.
After the usual formalities of the Rally were over, Mrs. Morrow called
the names of those who for some meritorious act or word were to receive
badges of merit. To Nathalie's astonishment her name was called, and at
a shove from Helen the dazed girl went forward, and received three white
stars, one for suggesting the search-party and sticking to her colors in
the face of discouragement, another for telling stories to Rosy, and the
last for planning and getting up the Story Club. She received the stars,
Mrs. Morrow explained, as badges of merit were not given until a Pioneer
had passed all tests and was a member of the first order.
The Sport received two badges--being a first class Pioneer--one for
winning a contest in wigwagging, and another for ringing the bell for
the church fire. Helen was also the recipient of a badge for her
planning and excellent supervision of the Flower hike, while the Scribe
received one for her skill in editing the "Pioneer," which had come to
be a journal not only of news, but of information.
"And now," cried their Director, as she finished distributing the
badges, "I am going to talk about the Camping Fund. As you all know, we
must have one or two entertainments to raise money for that purpose.
Several ideas have been submitted in compliance with my request for
suggestions from the girls, but unfortunately, while a number are very
good, only a few will suit our purpose. There is one, however, that is
both patriotic and colonial, but it would require a large lawn and I am
at a loss what to say about it. I think you all understand that the
Pioneer who suggests the best entertainment, although her name is to be
kept secret until the end of the season, is to receive some kind of a
reward."
"Could we not ask Mrs. Van Vorst again if she would let us have her
grounds?" ventured Louise Gaynor somewhat timidly, realizing that the
lady in question was not in favor with the Pioneers because of her
rather eccentric ways.
"Well, I should say not!" broke in Edith. "She has refused two or three
times already, and if there is an insane person there--" She stopped
abruptly, rebuked by a warning look from Mrs. Morrow.
"No, I do not think I would bother Mrs. Van Vorst again," said that
lady. "But suppose I name a committee to see if they cannot scour the
town and find a lawn." Helen, Louise, and Nathalie were then named to
perform this duty.
During this discussion Nathalie's eyes had sparkled with suppressed
emotion as she remembered her visit to the gray house, accompanied by an
overwhelming desire to tell what she knew. Oh, wouldn't it create a
sensation? But she had given her word, and like the Spartan boy,
although desire was gnawing at her vitals, she kept still and smiled in
evident ease.
"There is another entertainment that has been suggested," continued the
Director. "It is an excellent idea for it will put you all to work
thinking. It is to be called Pioneer Stunts, which means that each one
of you is to be responsible for a recitation, a tableau, a song, a
playlet, in fact anything that is colonial or pioneer in character. Each
Pioneer is to work out her own idea, and all ideas are to be kept secret
until after the performance, when a vote will be taken as to the best
stunt--that is, the best idea, and the stunt acted the best--and then the
name of the author will be revealed."
The girls received this notice with applause, and each one immediately
began to suggest one thing and another until warned by Mrs. Morrow again
that the ideas were to remain secrets. After some further discussion it
was decided to have the Pioneer Stunts the first part of June, at Seton
Hall, Mrs. Morrow suggesting that the girls make it a Rose party and
serve ice-cream and strawberries on the lawn.
Nathalie came home very enthusiastic about the Pioneer Stunt
entertainment, and immediately set to work to jot down the idea that had
come to her at the Rally. In the midst of writing her mother joined her
and sat down to sew.
"Oh, Mother," exclaimed the girl happily, "I'm awfully busy."
"And working very hard, I see," interposed Mrs. Page, smiling at her
daughter's animated face, as she patted the sunburned arm resting on the
table.
"Yes," replied Nathalie, "I have an awful lot to do." And then she told
about the entertainment, and what she was planning. With a long drawn
sigh she cried, "Oh, Mumsie, I'm learning a terrible lot of useful
things."
"I see you are," assented her mother, "and I am proud of you."
"Oh, but they have not been a bit easy!" The girl's face grew grave.
"Sometimes I have thought I would have to give right up, but I haven't,"
she added with an emphatic little nod. And then for the first time she
told her mother about the motto, "I Can," and what a great help she had
found it.
"Yes, Daughter, every little thing Miss I Can has helped you to do has
been an overcome."
"Indeed they have been overcomes," assented the girl with another
emphatic shake of her brown head. "Washing dishes--oh, how I used to hate
that job--now I don't mind it so much; cooking, telling stories to Rosy,
going to the fire, yes, and even getting up the Story Club. I have just
braced up, and then the first thing I knew, presto! the job was done!
"Yes, they have all been overcomes," repeated Nathalie, "but it will be
all right if I only manage to earn--" She paused abruptly, suddenly
remembering, as she saw the lines of worry about her mother's mouth,
that she and Dick had pledged themselves not to talk about his
operation, or to hint that they were trying to save in any way for it.
They had both been troubled when they realized that when an anxiety was
mentioned her mother's face lost its happy look and she became sad and
worried.
"Yes," added Mrs. Page, not noticing Nathalie's sudden pause, "I have
been watching you for some time grappling with these try-outs that have
come into your life, but I have said nothing, for I wanted to see if you
or they would conquer."
"Oh, you dear Mumsie," cried Nathalie joyously, jumping up and giving
her mother a good hug. "Do you know, I felt dreadfully the other day to
think you had not said one word of praise; not that I want to be praised
all the time, but still a word now and then comes in handy, you know;
makes one feel so goody-goody." This was said laughingly.
Nathalie could not help feeling encouraged after this comforting talk
with her mother; she felt as if she had conquered the whole world, that
there was nothing she could not overcome. But the next morning such a
big overcome, or try-out, as her mother had expressed it, appeared, that
it sufficed to lessen the glory of her former victories.
Lucille was ill; she had retired to her bed with a fit of indigestion,
and the planning for the Pioneer Stunt, the survey work that Nathalie
and her committee were to do, all had to be laid aside as she was
instituted head nurse in her cousin's room.
"Oh, Mother," she moaned dolefully, as she kissed her mother good-night,
"Lucille has been dreadfully cross; nothing pleases her. It has been,
'Oh, Nathalie, don't let that wind blow on me! Didn't I tell you I don't
like rice pudding! Oh, you're the slowest poke!' Oh, Mother--" there was
a lump in the girl's throat, "if I hadn't felt so humiliated at being
spoken to in that way, I just believe I would have given her a good
shaking."
"Never mind, Nathalie," replied Mrs. Page consolingly, "just remember it
is another overcome and have patience. She will soon be herself again,
you know she has been terribly upset, as she expected to spend a few
days with her friend and she is disappointed."
"Of course, no one ever had a disappointment but Lucille!" exclaimed
Nathalie irritably.
"Nathalie!" reproved her mother, with a quick glance at the girl.
"Oh, well, it's so, Mumsie," replied her daughter with the tears very
near the surface, and then with another kiss she hurried to her bed.
"Have you got your Stunt written?" inquired Helen a few days later from
her window as Nathalie sat writing on the veranda. She held her hand up
and flourished a couple of typewritten pages as she spoke.
"No, I'm discouraged," Nathalie lowered her voice. "Lucille has been
ill, and I have been kept awfully busy waiting on her. Then when I
finally managed to get time to go to the library to get some dates, I
lost the whole thing."
"What--the idea?"
"Yes, the idea, and everything. I had been in the library some time and
had just finished. I did not discover my loss until I was almost home,
so I hurried back, but the librarian knew nothing about it. I hunted
until I was distracted, and then I came home; so that is the end of
that. This morning I am trying to think up another one."
"Couldn't you remember it?" questioned Helen concernedly.
"No, I tried to, but I've been so busy it has just flown away."
"Well, you are a lucky girl to have brains enough to have more than one
idea in your head to write up. You should have seen the Sport; she was
over here last night, the picture of unadulterated woe, for she could
not even scare up one idea. She hung around trying to get some
suggestions from me, but I just told her she would have to do her own
work. She's the best ever when it comes to anything in the way of
sports, or any activity, but she will not use her brains. She has a few,
at least."
"If she would spend more time reading instead of--" Nathalie stopped with
slightly reddened face, for here was another overcome to win. She was
thoughtless at times, never having been disciplined, and so, without
meaning any harm, she was apt to express her opinion too freely about
the people around her. "Oh, well," she ended lamely, "she is a good
Sport; if it hadn't been for her the other night the town would have
burned down."
"That's true," laughed Helen good-naturedly, and then with a wave of her
typewritten pages she disappeared from the window, as Nathalie turned
and with a dimpling face greeted Dr. Morrow, who had just driven up to
visit Lucille.
"You haven't come to see me this time," she suggested archly.
"Oh, it's half and half this time, Blue Robin, for I have come to
ask--oh, it is a message from the princess." The doctor lowered his voice
cautiously as he noted Dick at the other end of the veranda. "She wants
to know if you will make her another visit."
Nathalie's bright face sobered and an embarrassed silence followed as
she vainly tried to think of something that would excuse her from the
unpleasantness of having her eyes blindfolded again.
"Why, yes, I would like to go, only you see I am very busy just now,
helping Mother and doing Pioneer work, and--"
"Yes, I see," interrupted the doctor somewhat coldly, with a keen glance
at Nathalie's downcast face. "Then I will tell her you are busy."
"Oh, don't say that," cried the girl in desperation. "It
sounds--well--tell her I will come some time later." She felt the blood
rush to her face.
"Oh, I'll manage to make her understand somehow," answered the doctor.
Nathalie sensed a note of disappointment in his voice, and then without
further parley he hurried up the stairs to Lucille.
"Mother," questioned Nathalie a few minutes later, for she had confided
to her all about the adventure at the gray house, "do you think I ought
to visit the princess again?" She then told what had transpired between
her and the doctor.
"You must be your own judge, Nathalie," replied Mrs. Page slowly. "I
agree with you that it is a foolish thing for the child's mother to ask
you to visit her in this way, but perhaps she may be induced to change
her mind. But, after all, Nathalie, it is a small thing to
overcome"--Mrs. Page emphasized the word--"when you can give the little
girl so much pleasure by going."
"O dear!" thought Nathalie, as she stood waiting for the doctor to come
down-stairs a moment or so later, "it does seem that since I have become
a Pioneer I am just overcoming things all the time. Funny, but these
things never troubled me before." "Oh, Doctor," she exclaimed eagerly,
as that gentleman's genial face appeared in the doorway, "I have changed
my mind, and if you like I will go with you to see the princess."
An hour later Nathalie was greeted with a cry of delight from her new
friend, who clapped her hands and called, "Oh, Mother, she has come!"
Nathalie, imprisoned behind the muffler, rejoiced at heart to think she
had won another overcome.
"How do you do?" spoke Mrs. Van Vorst's low voice, and then the girl's
hand was taken in a cordial clasp. "It is so good of you to come; oh, if
you could only realize the joy you have brought into my child's life,
and mine, too!" she added quickly.
"I am very glad," replied Nathalie simply, as Mrs. Van Vorst led her to
a seat by the couch.
"Here, sit by me--no, not on that chair," commanded her Royal Highness.
Nathalie felt a tug at her skirt, she was jerked suddenly down, and then
two arms were thrown around her neck. A hand touched her face, softly at
first, and then with a loud, "There, you are not going to sit with that
horrid thing on your face again, I just hate it!" there came a sudden
wrench, something gave way, the blinders were on the floor, and Nathalie
was looking at the face of the princess with free, untrammeled eyes!
CHAPTER XV--A CHAPTER OF SURPRISES
Nathalie gave a gasp of relief. Oh, it was good to be rid of that
horrible black handkerchief! Then her blinders faded into the past as
she became aware of the eyes that were gazing into hers, blue ones with
violet shadows, fringed by long black lashes!
The eyes were set in the face of a girl about fourteen, that had,
notwithstanding the pain-tired mouth with its lines of petulance, a
winsome sweetness about it which partly atoned for a jagged crimson scar
running across one end of the forehead, partly hidden by short, curly
hair which was boyishly parted on one side.
But the blue eyes were gleeful just at this moment, as if their owner
was proud of her deftness in slipping off the handkerchief. She clapped
her hands and cried, "Oh, aren't you glad to get rid of that horrid
black thing?"
Raising herself on her elbow she drew Nathalie's face down to hers and
whispered, "Don't say a word to Mother, but it was all arranged--the
doctor and I managed it--let Mother think it was an accident." Before
Nathalie could remonstrate the princess called out with a merry trill in
her voice, "Oh, Mother! come quick, Miss Page's blinders have fallen
off!"
Nathalie flushed in embarrassed silence as she heard Mrs. Van Vorst's
step hurrying to the couch. O dear, what should she do? It certainly was
awkward to have to deceive her. Oh, if the doctor would--but as she
turned around to face the lady in question she saw that the doctor was
not there.
"The doctor has gone, he had an important call to make," spoke Mrs. Van
Vorst hurriedly, as she came towards the girls and saw Nathalie's look
of distress. "But never mind, Miss Page, it is all right," she cried
reassuringly. "It was a shame to keep you muffled up like that--just for
a whim--but if you could understand!" She looked down at Nathalie
apologetically.
"I should say it was a whim," broke in the princess, "and it just serves
you right, too, for making her do it. Now Miss Page will go away and
tell every one what a horrible-looking thing I am, and it will be all
your fault because you are so afraid any one will see me, just as if I
was a monster of some sort! Oh, Nathalie--can't I call you Nathalie?--the
doctor told me your name, and then you know you are not so much older
than I am."
"I'm sixteen," answered Nathalie readily, glad to turn the conversation
from the blinders, for she saw that Mrs. Van Vorst was greatly
perturbed.
"Oh, Nita, don't talk that way to Mother," cried Mrs. Van Vorst in a
pained voice. "You know, dear, I only did what I thought was right, and
it was to save you, people talk so!"
"I don't care if they do," broke in Nita angrily. "I have as much right
in this world as they have, even if I am ugly-looking with this scar and
hump, they needn't look at me!"
Nathalie started, for as the girl spoke she deliberately threw off a
soft white shawl that had been thrown about her shoulders. With a sudden
feeling of deep pity Nathalie recognized that the princess was a
hump-back!
"Oh, you won't hate me now, will you?" pleaded Nita suddenly, as she saw
Nathalie's start of surprise, "just because I'm humped like a camel."
She caught the girl's hand in hers and clung to it with piteous appeal
in her blue eyes.
"Oh, no," returned shocked Nathalie. "Why, I think you are lovely, even
if you are--" But the word was left unsaid, as Nathalie, with sudden
impulse, stooped forward and kissed the red lips.
Before she could raise herself, frightened at her own boldness, two arms
were flung around her neck and Nathalie was squeezed so hard that she
thought she would smother. "Oh, I just love you!" said Nita's stifled
voice from her shoulder, "and I'm going to keep you with me all the
time. Oh, Mother," she wailed beseechingly, lifting her head, but still
keeping Nathalie a prisoner, "won't you buy her?"
"Buy her!" repeated her mother, who during this affectionate outburst
had stood silently by, a pleased smile struggling with an expression of
dismay at the girl's rudeness. "Why, Nita, she is not a horse to be
bought and sold."
"Well, I wish she was then," said the child, for she was but that,
dropping her arms from Nathalie's neck and lying back with sudden
exhaustion.
"Oh, she is going to faint," cried dismayed Nathalie, while the mother
rushed to the dresser for the smelling salts. But when she attempted to
hold the bottle to Nita's nose, she pushed her mother's hand away
crying, "Take that horrid thing away, and get out of the room; I want
Nathalie to myself!"
And the Mystic, the woman always shrouded in gray, who looked at her
neighbors with a cold, formal stare of aversion, meekly obeyed. She went
softly out of the room and closed the door after her in obedience to her
daughter's sharp cry, "Do you hear? Shut the door!"
Something within Nathalie burst its bounds, she could not sit there
another minute and hear the girl talk like that to her mother. "Oh,
don't speak to your mother like that, she is so good to you!" the girl's
voice trembled.
"How do you know she is good?" retorted Nita, after a short pause of
surprise at this merited rebuke.
"Why--why--because her face shows it," stammered Nathalie, "and then, why
she is your mother, and if I should talk to my mother like that, why--I
should expect her to die then and there."
"Why?" persisted the voice.
"Because it would hurt her so,--" Nathalie labored, she hated to
preach--"to think I could be so disrespectful to her, and ill-bred."
"Well, your mother isn't my mother; your mother didn't shut you up in a
dark room so that you tried to get away."
"Nita!" came in a pain-stricken voice, "don't talk that way!"
Nathalie turned to see Mrs. Van Vorst standing in the doorway, her face
drawn and lined. "I was coming in to ask--oh, Miss Page, will you come in
here a moment? I should like to speak to you."
Nathalie arose quickly, her heart overflowing with pity for this poor
mother who was only too surely paying the penalty of neglect and anger.
"Oh, Mrs. Van Vorst," she cried hastily, "do not mind your daughter, she
doesn't mean to hurt you, she--I think she is just spoiled, you know."
By this time Nathalie had followed Mrs. Van Vorst into the adjoining
room, a sun-parlor, whose glass windows looked down upon a terraced
garden, green with trees and gorgeous with multicolored flowers,
surrounded by low rolling hillocks or mounds.
Nita, as Nathalie left the room, began to vent her displeasure in
shrill, angry shrieks, but her mother, with set, rigid lips, closed the
door softly, and then turning towards Nathalie began to speak, brokenly,
between deep-drawn breaths.
"Oh, I have been foolish--I am afraid--in letting you come to see Nita,
but oh, it is so hard for her, shut up in this house, with only me and
the servants. So when the doctor was telling us about you, Nita pleaded
so to have you come, and I foolishly yielded. But oh, Miss Page, do not,
I beg of you, repeat what you have seen or heard, don't mind what Nita
says about me, it is not true; as you said she does not mean all she
says." The tears were rolling down Mrs. Van Vorst's face.
"Oh, Mrs. Van Vorst," exclaimed Nathalie, tears misting in her eyes in
sympathy with the lady's grief, "I know how you feel, but it is all
right. I think you are both lovely, I am sure I have nothing to tell; of
course, I know that your daughter does not mean what she says, she's
just spoiled." A sudden thought came to the girl. "Don't you think if
you were to let her see people--that is girls of her own age--that she
would be better? Oh, I am sure she would," broke from the girl
impetuously, "and it would make her so happy!"
"Do you really think so?" inquired Mrs. Van Vorst with a note of hope in
her voice. "Would it not hurt her when people said rude things about
her?"
"But no one would say rude things about her," persisted Nathalie
determinedly. "Every one would love her--she's a dear, so
sweet-looking--and then she would soon get over her spoiled ways; she
would learn by seeing that other girls act differently." Nathalie felt
that she had spoken incoherently, but oh, it did seem such a shame!
"I don't know about that," replied Mrs. Van Vorst, her face hardening
again to the same impenetrable mask that had puzzled Nathalie the first
time she met her. "Well, we will not discuss it now--we'll see how things
turn out--only, Miss Page," she grew stiff and formal, although a note in
her voice betrayed that she was battling with her emotion, "I should
like to ask you again to keep silent a little longer, not to tell--how
foolish I was--" she broke off suddenly, and then she added, "of course,
you have a right to tell; but let me explain that what Nita says is not
true, she likes to tease me into getting her way. Sit down--oh--she has
fallen asleep." Mrs. Van Vorst opened the door softly and then closed
it. "She always does when she cries that way."
"Yes, I have been foolish," she reiterated, "but I am not a criminal,
and it is not altogether pride, because I have a deformed child, that
makes me keep her secluded. It is because I want to save her, I would
give my life for her happiness, but I can't--" there was a hopeless wail
to her voice. "That is my punishment!" And then, as if reminded of what
she wanted to tell Nathalie, she continued more calmly, "It is true that
I shut Nita in a dark room. I punished her--she has always had those
temper spells--I never knew what to do with her. Some one told me I was
too easy with her, so I put her in the room and when she stopped crying
I thought she had fallen asleep, but oh, she tried to get out, she said
some one was chasing her, and climbed out on the shed and fell off the
roof! She broke--her back!" Mrs. Van Vorst buried her face in her hands,
but although no sounds came, Nathalie could see the convulsive shivers
that shook her frame.
The girl was dumb. What could she say? It was awful! Oh, but if she
didn't say something she would be boo-hooing herself in a minute. "But
that was not your fault," she cried with sudden inspiration. "It was
right for you to punish her. Oh, Mrs. Van Vorst, I should consider it
just an accident that you could not help."
Mrs. Van Vorst lifted her face and gazed at the girl with wide,
appealing eyes. "Oh, do you think that? If I could be led to believe I
was not to blame! For years I have suffered the tortures of hell, doing
penance."
"Yes, and making yourself and your daughter miserable!" Nathalie spoke
boldly, she couldn't help it, the words came of themselves as it seemed
to her. "But, Mrs. Van Vorst, look at it in another way, perhaps I
should not speak this way to you, for I am just a girl, but I feel so
sorry for you, and Nita, it does seem such a shame to shut her off from
all pleasure just because an unfortunate thing happened. Why, Mrs.
Morrow says we should regard trouble like clouds that we can't blow away
unless we fill the atmosphere with sunshine." Nathalie came to a sudden
stop, afraid she had gone beyond her depth. But in a moment she added,
"Oh, if you would just think of it as an accident! Try to make Nita
happy, and then you will be happy, and forget all about it!"
Mrs. Van Vorst's eyes grew moist as she cried impulsively, "Oh, you are
a dear girl to talk to me this way. I shall always remember it, always.
Yes, you are right, I have been miserable and have been making my poor
child so. Oh, I have been wrong!"
Before Nathalie could answer, Nita's voice was heard shrilly crying,
"Mother, I want Nathalie!"
"I am coming," cried the girl, hurrying into the room and up to the
couch. "Did you have a nice little nap?" she asked cheerily, as she
patted the girl's hand that lay inertly on the coverlid.
"Oh, I just dropped off, I always get so tired when I cry."
"But why do you cry then?" questioned practical Nathalie.
"Why--oh, I cried because Mamma took you away from me, and now you will
be going soon, and I won't have had time to talk to you at all."
"Oh, yes you will," replied her companion, glancing at the clock. "It is
only eleven, I sha'n't go for another hour, so start right in and talk."
"But I don't want to talk," came the contrary answer. "I want to hear
you talk. Please tell me about the Girl Pioneers. Did you go on the
wild-flower hike?"
"Oh, yes!" was the answer; and then Nathalie's tongue flew as she told
about the hike, the different things they did, how she had learned to
blaze a trail, what a delightful companion Dr. Homer had proved, how she
lighted the fire with only one match, about the Tike's escapade, and the
flower legends.
"Oh, but the fire, I must tell you about the fire and the bucket
brigade!" she cried, and then followed that exciting story with all its
climaxes, and what fun it had proved, although, as the girl confessed,
she had been tempted to run away several times.
"I just wish I could have seen it all!" exclaimed Nita regretfully, as
Nathalie paused for a rest. "I should have liked to go on that flower
hike, and the flower legends, can't you tell them to me? I just love
flowers!"
"Why yes, perhaps I can," nodded the Story Lady. And then in a moment
she was animatedly telling about the Forget-me-not lover, the Dandelion
legend, and then last of all about the spring goddess who brought the
arbutus.
"What are you going to do next?" inquired her listener as Nathalie's
flower stories ended.
"We are all busy now getting up entertainments; that is, we are thinking
up ideas for the Pioneer Stunts. You know, we are anxious to make money
for our Camp Fund, and--"
"Camp Fund! what is that?" inquired the girl interestedly.
"Why, the Pioneers, that is the Bluebirds, the Bob Whites, and the
Orioles, are going camping this summer, probably in August, or as soon
as we can raise the money. There are sixteen Pioneers going. Oh, I am
sure we shall have a dandy time! We are to sleep in tents, but there
will be a house or something for the dining room and kitchen, that is,
if we can get them."
"Where are you going to get the tents to sleep in?"
"Helen and I are to make our own tent, Fred Tyson is going to help us.
It will take an awfully long time, we are to begin next week. The other
tents, well, some of the girls have their own and then we shall borrow
one or two. Of course, you know, each girl will have to pay her expenses
to camp and back, but all the other expenses are expected to come out of
the Fund, so you see we shall have a lot of work to do. We are to charge
admission to the Pioneer Stunts." And then Nathalie told of the novel
way they were to get ideas, and how each girl was to keep her idea a
secret until after the vote had been taken as to the best Stunt the
night of the performance.
"Have you got your idea yet?" inquired Nita eagerly. "Oh, I just bet
your idea will be the best one of all!"
"Oh, no," answered Nathalie modestly, "far from it! I am awfully worried
for fear it will be a terrible failure." And then she told how she had
lost her idea and was writing up another one.
"Well, after you have the Stunts, what are you going to have?" demanded
Nita eagerly.
"We want to have a flag drill, that is, if we can get the ground for it,
as we want to have it in the open. Oh, it will be the loveliest thing!
The girls are to be Daughters of Liberty and carry banners, the little
flags used by the different States and soldiers before and during the
revolution, before we had the Stars and Stripes. Oh, did I tell you that
all of our entertainments have to be either colonial or patriotic, that
is, something that happened in or belonged to the early days of the
nation, when all the people were pioneers, or the children of pioneers?"
"When are you going to have the flag drill? Oh, how I should like to see
it!"
"I have rattled on so fast I forgot to say that--why--we are not sure
about that, for, you see, we have got to get a lawn, or grounds that
would be suitable." Her face reddened, for she suddenly remembered that
it was Mrs. Van Vorst's lawn that the girls had wanted, and that she had
refused to let them have it.
"You see," she explained awkwardly, "we want a place where the people
can see us, and then we want to have booths decorated with our
colors--they are Red, White, and Blue, you know--so we can sell ice-cream.
Each table is to be named after one of the thirteen States; but there, I
don't believe we can have it."
"Mamma, come here quick," called Nita imperiously, sitting up and
peering into the sun parlor where her mother was seated sewing, "I want
you to hear about the Flag Drill, and oh, Mother, won't you let me see
it? Oh, please, Mother, I can go all muffled up, no one will see me,"
pleaded the girlish voice pathetically.
Mrs. Van Vorst bent over and softly stroked the golden head as she
cried, "Now dear, don't get excited! Mother will do all she can for
you."
"You tell _her_ about it!" broke from Nita hurriedly, as she pulled at
Nathalie's gown. Then falling back on the couch she exclaimed with
determination, "But I'm going to see it, Mother, yes I am!"
Somewhat hesitatingly Nathalie began, but in a moment, perceiving that
her listener was much interested, she launched forth and told about the
Flag Drill in all its details.
"And you are going to use the money you make for your Camping Fund?"
inquired Nita's mother as Nathalie finished.
Nathalie nodded, "That is, if we can get the right place to hold it--oh--"
she flushed again and then grew suddenly silent.
"Did not one of the Pioneers ask me if I would let them have my lawn in
the rear of the house?"
Before embarrassed Nathalie could answer, Nita interposed excitedly,
"Our lawn? Oh, let them have it, Mamma, let them have it, and then I can
see it from the window, and no one will see me, oh, say yes, Mamma!"
Nathalie's eyes looked dismay as she heard Nita's wailing request. Of
course Mrs. Van Vorst would refuse, but suppose she should think that
she had urged Nita to ask her?
"Why, I suppose they could," answered Mrs. Van Vorst slowly. "Then, as
you say, you could see it from the window, Nita; yes the Pioneers can
have it!"
"Oh, do you really mean it?" exclaimed Nathalie, almost as excited as
Nita. "The girls will be just crazy with joy--and--oh, isn't it funny? I
was one of a committee of three to find a place, and--"
"Well, you will not have to look any further," replied Mrs. Van Vorst.
"If my lawn suits, take it, child. I am sure I am only too glad to do
anything for the brave girl who has been so kind to my Nita as to come
here and make her happy."
"That is lovely of you," rejoined the Pioneer, her eyes glowing, "and
can we have it this month, the fourteenth? That is Flag Day, you know,
and we wanted to have it then."
"Have it whenever you like, my dear. I will tell Peter to have the grass
mowed, and if he can help you in any way in arranging the tables or
anything, I shall be delighted to let you have his services."
"Oh, that will be the delightfulest thing!" The girl's face radiated
sunshine. "It seems just too lovely to be true!"
But the surprise Nathalie held in store for the Pioneers was almost
forgotten in the surprise that awaited her when after saying good-by to
Nita, Mrs. Van Vorst met her at the foot of the staircase and asked if
she would not come into the reception-room a minute.
"I wanted to speak to you on a little matter of business," the lady
explained somewhat hesitatingly. Nathalie, wondering what terrible thing
she had done or said, followed her silently into the room, where she
again spied her Chinese friend, the mandarin, grinning at her from the
cabinet.
"I have been thinking it over, Miss Page--"
"O dear," thought poor Nathalie, "she is going to change her mind about
the drill!"
"And I wanted to know--of course this is a business proposition--" she
paused. "You have given so much pleasure to Nita, I thought perhaps you
might be willing to come regularly every day, say for a couple of
hours."
"Oh, Mrs. Van Vorst," cried relieved Nathalie, "that would be just fine!
I should be only too glad, but you know, I have things to do for Mother,
we haven't any maid at present."
"But would it not pay you to give up these things, or let some one else
do them? It would only be two hours in the morning," there was a
persuasive note in her voice, "and of course I would pay you enough to
make it worth your while, and oh, I would give anything to bring joy
into--"
She stopped, for there was something in the girl's wide opened eyes that
made her hesitate.
"Oh, I would not like to take money just for talking to Nita--that would
hardly be fair--" Nathalie floundered desperately, for something brought
Dick and his operation to her mind, and she did want so badly to earn
money. She caught her breath sharply, opened her mouth, and then said,
"Why, I don't know, I will see what Mother says and let you know."
"That will be just the thing," was the reply. "You can drop me a note as
soon as you decide, for Nita will be anxious, and then we will want to
fix the days and times. If you can make up your mind to do this for me,
Miss Page, I shall feel so indebted to you!"
As Nathalie flew post-haste towards home she heard the chug of an
automobile and looked up in time to see Dr. Morrow sweep past in his
car. But he, too, had eyes, and a moment later had backed his car and
was asking Nathalie if she would like a ride home. The girl was only too
pleased to accept, as she was fairly brimming over with impatience to
tell some one her two surprises. They had not gone far before the story
was out, and the doctor had heard everything.
"Well now, I call that luck," declared the doctor, "and of course you
said you would accept Mrs. Van Vorst's offer?"
"Why, no," answered the girl hesitatingly, "I should love to do it, but
I don't know that I ought to take money for it."
"And why not?" queried Dr. Morrow with some surprise. "Isn't money as
much to you as to other people?"
"Oh, yes," laughed honest Nathalie; "of course I would like the money, I
am just dying to earn money for Dick." The girl stopped with frightened
eyes; oh, what was she going to tell? "But then it doesn't seem exactly
right to take money just for talking, and I don't know how Mother would
feel about it, she might feel badly." Nathalie choked, and her eyes
filled with tears as she remembered how hard it was for her mother to
think of even Dick earning money when he was so helpless.
"You haven't got to if you don't want to, little Blue Robin," declared
her friend, who perhaps suspected how things were. "But I tell you what,
friend Nathalie--" emphatically--"if I had a nice little voice like a
certain Robin I know, with big brown eyes, and knew how to use those big
eyes and that sweet little tru-al-lee of a voice by telling people
stories, or talking to them--it's all the same--well, I'd waste no time in
accepting that offer. And then, too, see what pleasure it would bring
Nita and her mother, too, for that matter. Of course, I'm a man and look
at things from a commercial point of view; ah, here we are!" And then
with a cheery farewell the doctor helped the girl out of the car and
Nathalie walked slowly up the path.
To Nathalie's surprise, her mother thought as the doctor did about the
matter. She was not hurt at all, but overjoyed to think that Nathalie
was clever enough to earn money that way.
"Why, Nathalie," she mused, pleasantly, "you can do lots of things with
the money you earn. It probably won't be much, but it will give you
pin-money, and a few necessities. Perhaps it will pay your way to camp!"
"Now, Mumsie," laughed the girl with a trill of glee in her voice,
"remember about counting your chicks before they're hatched!"
She turned and ran swiftly up-stairs, and after imparting her good news
to Dick, she sat down and penned her note to Mrs. Van Vorst, all her
doubts and fears at rest. And she knew what she would do with the money,
it came like a flash into her mind as she looked up and saw Dick
plodding through an official-looking document.
After the note was mailed, there were just a few minutes left to run
over and tell Mrs. Morrow what had transpired in regard to the lawn for
the Flag Drill, and to announce, with joy shining in every feature, that
they could have the drill on the fourteenth. Then came a few minutes at
Helen's, where the news was also told, two surprises, Nathalie declared,
after she had unburdened herself to that young lady of the many things
she had been bottling up for the last few weeks.
But Nathalie's day of surprises was to bear more fruit, for about five
o'clock the postman delivered a package by parcel post, a big box that
had a very mysterious look about it. "I don't see what it can be?" she
soliloquized, as she looked at the address. And then, "Oh, Mother, do
you know where the scissors are?" as she found that her fingers were too
unsteady with haste to untie the string.
Dick, however, after hearing her excited outcry, had whipped out a
penknife. There was a zip, the string was off, the box slipped out of
the paper, and then the girl, with radiant, mystified eyes, was looking
down at a Pioneer uniform, a jaunty little affair, with its red tie and
red-banded hat to complete the outfit.
"Don't stand there and gape at it any longer, Nathalie," imperiously
voiced Dick, with an odd gleam in his eyes. "Look at the card and see
who sent it!"