IN HER FATHER’S HOME.
Toward the middle of September, Mrs. Thorne and Sidney were sitting in
Mrs. Thorne’s luxuriously furnished sitting room upstairs, waiting.
Sidney, near the windows in front, suddenly exclaimed, “Here they are!
Oh, Mother, what shall we do now?”
The Thorne car passed the front of the house, in the street, and went
into the drive at the side. Sidney watched and presently saw the erect
figure, that followed Mr. Thorne across the lawn with the springing
step that Shirley had mentioned. Sidney could not see his face very
well and they both disappeared near the entrance. Now the chauffeur
brought a little baggage.
Mrs. Thorne was answering Sidney’s question. “When your father has
had Dr. Harcourt shown to his room, and he has had an opportunity to
refresh himself and dress for dinner, he will be directed to the
library, where I shall probably be by that time, with your father.
Then, after we have had a little talk, you will be sent for, and I
think that we shall let you meet Dr. Harcourt by yourself. I am sure
that _I_ do not want to be there.”
“Mother is glad that Mrs. Harcourt did not come,” thought Sidney, and
to tell the truth she thought that her real mother had taken the proper
course. It was Sidney’s place to go to her mother, just as it was
proper for Dr. Harcourt to come at his earliest opportunity. But the
Thornes had invited them both.
As Mrs. Thorne had said, she joined her husband in the library as
soon as she thought it advisable. Dr. Harcourt, properly conducted
by a servant, made his appearance, when he was suitably prepared for
the occasion, and met Mrs. Thorne, rather particularly gowned for
the occasion. Any details, however, were wasted on Dr. Harcourt, who
thought her a pretty, attractive, refined woman but was incapable of
being impressed with more. Indeed, the girls and faculty women of his
university were accustomed to the same sort of thing, and evening dress
was no novelty to the professor.
The talk which had been begun by the gentlemen on their way from the
station was continued. Mr. and Mrs. Thorne were very much relieved to
note that Dr. Harcourt had no wish to upset existing arrangements at
present, if at all. “Unusual things have often a way of disposing of
themselves,” said he. “Suppose we wait to see what ideas develop. My
wife and I hope that our daughter will like us. That is the extent of
our hope at present. We are so utterly surprised, you know, in spite
of Shirley’s having written about the resemblance. It is gratifying to
know that we have another daughter, and my wife’s heart is yearning
to see her. Our home is open to her, like our hearts, but a young
girl with her home and training here, her love yours,--it must be
bewildering, indeed.”
Mrs. Thorne was gratified to hear such sentiments and to see what a
distinguished looking gentleman the professor was. To him she suggested
that they withdraw for a little while and send his daughter to him.
“Very well,” said he. “That would probably be less embarrassing to her.”
Sidney, too, had taken great care with her toilet. Her stylish little
frock became her, and she had a pathetic smile for her father as she
crossed the room to meet him. He rose, laying a book on the table by
him, and took several steps toward her.
“Why,” said he, with a puzzled, half-believing look, “this is not
Shirley, by any chance?”
“No, sir; this is Sidney.”
Sidney had dreaded this meeting. Would her father, perhaps fold her in
his arms and weep over her? How she would hate that! But so would this
father. With kind eyes he looked down at her, holding her cold hand
that had been held out to meet his. “My dear child, to think that we
have been missing your life with us all these years. Come, sit down
by me for a few moments. As I have been telling your--parents, it is
a bewildering situation, but I assure you that neither your affection
nor a choice of homes will be forced on you. We must think out what is
best. We shall try to enter into our daughter’s life without making her
unhappy.”
“Oh, you are like Shirley, aren’t you?” said Sidney, trying to realize
that this was her father. More than one student had been put at his
ease by the kind understanding of this professor. It was impossible
that his own daughter should not like him.
“Am I? In what way?”
“Thinking what is good for everybody, as she says.”
“Habit, I suppose,” said Dr. Harcourt, with a smile. “We deal with
problems in the faculty. But this is a new one. Some good fairy has
changed one daughter into two, while we were away. Shall we not be
happy over it?”
“Why, I believe we could be,--Father.”
“Thank you, my child.” Dr. Harcourt seemed to be affected by Sidney’s
sweet way of addressing him. He paused for a moment. “Now, I can not
be here long. I must go back to the university to-morrow. But your
mother sends you her love and wants you to come to us, for a visit, or
to stay. She wanted to see you, but could not quite bring herself to
meet you here. Then I want to have a talk with you, either to-night
or to-morrow morning, to learn something of how you feel in regard
to this, and to know what are your ambitions;--you can guess how
interested I am in everything concerning you.”
“Yes, sir. I am not sure that I have any big ambitions, like Shirley,
but it may do me good to think about it. I _will_ go to see my mother,
and you, and the university,--and I am glad that you understand how a
girl would feel with two fathers and two mothers. But you can scarcely
know how thankful I was after having been nearly distracted, to find
that my _real_ father is you!”
Sidney was making a fine impression of sincerity upon her father.
After one or two more references to the chief subject of thought,
Dr. Harcourt suggested that Sidney summon Mr. and Mrs. Thorne. From
that time on, through dinner and for a large part of the evening, a
strange evening to Sidney who sat to listen, the conversation turned on
general matters, national, local, business, the university where Dr.
Harcourt taught, the results of his trip, the interests of the Thornes.
And after Sidney had gone to her room, Dr. Harcourt took pains to
express his feeling over the fact that a home of such “high ideals” had
been provided for his little unknown child, who fell into such dangers.
It was like Dr. Harcourt not even to think of the evidences of wealth
around him.
Shirley, at home, and a sober mother of a daughter whom she had never
seen, thought of that Chicago meeting; but Shirley was too full of
her entrance as a freshman in the university to worry about Sidney.
Everything would be all right now, or soon. Of course Sidney would love
her very own parents. Didn’t she know her twin?
Not long after Dr. Harcourt’s hurried Chicago trip, Sidney, chaperoned
by Miss Standish, visited her father and mother. Miss Standish, after
her first disappointment, had taken a great interest. She met and
heartily approved the new father, Dr. Harcourt, thinking Sidney very
fortunate in her family. She looked up the Thornes and the Harcourts and
the Dudleys again until Sidney begged for mercy at the array of names
and facts. “Never mind,” said her great-aunt, “some day you will be
interested again; and I am sure to find Miss Dudley keenly interested
and well informed about our New England families.” She noted Sidney’s
inward excitement as they drew near the pretty little college town,
and she was very much alive herself to every impression of people and
environment. Neither of them came in a critical attitude.
Gently and affectionately Mrs. Harcourt welcomed her daughter, trying
not to disturb the poise which Sidney strove to maintain. But when it
came to the point, neither could help being somewhat shaken by all that
it had involved. It was a softer and sweeter Sidney than Shirley had
first known, who came on to the home which should always have been hers.
A decided stir in the student circle was made by the sudden and
unheralded appearance of “Shirley Harcourt’s twin.” Dr. Harcourt longed
to put Sidney into college with Shirley, but he saw that she was not
physically as strong and after a long talk with her, he gave up the
idea for the present.
There was plenty of fun, for Shirley’s friends flocked in at her
invitation. Sidney was admired and made much of till she told Shirley
that her head would be quite turned. She had not been unaccustomed
to admiration, but this gay yet earnest group of university girls
and boys, most of them older than herself, made a new and attractive
feature. She noted their respect toward her father and the grace with
which her mother managed the various situations. There was one maid,
who spent the day and went away at night, but the home was full of
books and things that spoke of taste and culture if not of wealth. Too
bad that such dear people could not have both, Sidney thought, and she
helped Shirley or her mother in little ways while she was there, trying
to learn. Shirley understood.
Mac Holland had surprised Shirley by bringing Hope to the university
with him. Mac and Dick were full of fraternity affairs just now, for
Dick had engineered Mac’s pledging, “before any of the other frats got
hold of him.”
On Saturday evening, after a big athletic rally, a roomful of young
friends were eating pine-apple ice and cake at Dr. Harcourt’s when
Shirley called Sidney’s attention to Miss Dudley and Miss Standish.
Sidney had been helping Shirley serve the guests and they were about to
offer a pretty plate each to the great-aunts. “Wait,” laughed Shirley.
“Aunt Anne is on the Dudleys.”
The two bright-eyed, modern women were sitting together on the large
davenport under a tall lamp. Several books lay around them and they
were so absorbed in their conversation that they scarcely noticed the
chatting students around them.
“Hear ’em?” asked Shirley again.
“Yes,” returned Sidney. “Auntie is laying it off about the Standishes
and the Thornes. It’s all right now. The last obstacle is removed!”
Yet it was not with the superficial phases of family and ancestry that
Miss Dudley and Miss Standish were dealing. Pleasantly they accepted
the plates from the pretty girls so strangely duplicated and continued
their conversation after the girls had left them.
Soberly Miss Dudley followed them with her eyes. “What,” she asked, “do
you think will be the result of this discovery?”
“I do not know,” as seriously Miss Standish made answer. “I am
impressed with Dr. Harcourt’s attitude of not forcing Sidney to a
decision and, in general, of not hurrying matters.”
“In this whole bewildering disclosure it has been hardest for Eleanor,
I think.”
“You mean Mrs. Harcourt, I suppose. Yes, it would be.”
“To us it is like having two Shirleys. My first impulses are to say
that Sidney should come to her mother to stay. Eleanor wants her.”
“You have not seen Mr. and Mrs. Thorne, and you have no idea what a
blank it would leave in their home.”
“That is what my nephew considers, together with gratitude that his
child came into such a fortunate environment. Sidney will go back to
Chicago now, knowing and appreciating her own father and mother. Dr.
Harcourt is trusting Mr. and Mrs. Thorne to see that she is not carried
away by any merely social life. They are too broad-minded and just, he
says, to be selfish about Sidney’s relation to us. I like his opinion
that this cannot be adjusted in a moment, and that none of us must make
a tragedy out of a discovery which should be a happy one.”
“It _is_ a happy one,” began Miss Standish, “rather than a blank about
Sidney’s origin.” But just then the two girls came bringing Mrs.
Harcourt between them from the regions of the kitchen and pantry.
Removing a book or two from the way, they put her into the comfort of
the davenport, by Miss Dudley and Miss Standish. “Not another thing do
you do, Mother,” said Sidney, with smiling decision. “Lean back on the
cushions now and be served by your daughters! Come on, Shirley.”
With a glance of understanding, the two girls started away, followed
immediately by Dick, Mac, and another university lad, who sprang up to
assist in the last servings.
The somewhat weary but content faculty wife leaned back with a sigh
and a smile. “I enjoy my two daughters,” she said, “and I only wish
that this could be permanent. But we must be very wise just now. That
Shirley and Sidney know each other so well and have felt drawn to each
other is one of the happiest circumstances. I consider it providential
that they were sent to the same school.”
“So do I,” returned Miss Standish, who might have been pardoned for
some regrets. “Happy days in the new relations are before both of them;
and the expectancy of their own adventures, in such a life as they
shall make for themselves out of their opportunities, is theirs, just
as it was before.”
The girls themselves put problems out of their minds, after Sidney had
confided her present plans to Shirley: “I’m going back to Chicago,
Shirley,” she said, “and let my other mother do what she wants to do
about the ‘debut,’ in the winter or spring. But I’ll not disappoint
_our_ mother and father by giving up study and improvement so early.
Could you stand it, Shirley, to have _me_ come to _your_ school?”
“It would be a pity if I couldn’t!” warmly exclaimed Shirley.
“I think that I may come, then, next year. Luckily I did pretty well
in Latin and I want to take some courses under my very own father. I’m
_very_ proud of him. After my other mother gets used to the idea, it
will be almost like letting me go away to school as before.
“Then I can be with _our_ mother and father, see how it goes to be a
faculty daughter along with you, and cover myself with glory to my own
dad!”
“Noble ambition!” laughed Shirley, “the sooner the better, Sidney. Be
sure to tell him that before you go.”
“Perhaps I will,--and that if I am going away, I am also coming back.”
THE END
THE STRANGE LIKENESS
By Harriet Pyne Grove
Classmates in a girls’ school on the shores of Lake Michigan, Shirley
Harcourt, from an eastern state, and Sidney Thorne, whose home is in
Chicago, bear a remarkable resemblance to each other. At first they
resent the likeness, but afterwards become very good friends, and often
wonder about their lineage. At last Sidney discovers she is an adopted
child, and her foster father traces her parentage very carefully to
find she is indeed the twin sister of Shirley.
~ SAALFIELD BOOKS ~
BOYS FICTION
SUBMARINE BOYS SERIES
_The Submarine Boys on Duty_
_The Submarine Boys’ Trial Trip_
_The Submarine Boys and the Middies_
NORTHLAND SERIES
_Dick Kent, Fur Trader_
_Dick Kent with the Malemute Mail_
_Dick Kent on Special Duty_
BLACK RIDER SERIES
_In the Camp of the Black Rider_
_The Mystery at Lake Retreat_
_Tom Blake’s Mysterious Adventure_
GIRLS FICTION
MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS SERIES
_The Meadow-Brook Girls Across Country_
_The Meadow-Brook Girls Afloat_
_The Meadow-Brook Girls in the Hills_
LINDA CARLTON SERIES
_Linda Carlton, Air Pilot_
_Linda Carlton’s Ocean Flight_
_Linda Carlton’s Island Adventure_
ADVENTURE GIRLS SERIES
_The Adventure Girls at K-Bar-O_
_The Adventure Girls in the Air_
_The Adventure Girls at Happiness House_
Transcriber’s Note:
The table of Contents has been added by the transcriber.
Punctuation has been standardised. Hyphenation and spelling have been
retained as they appear in the original publication. Changes have been
made as follows:
Page 24
know that the profesors _changed to_
know that the professors
Page 39
the two girls stepped in _changed to_
the three girls stepped in
Page 46
shivered Dulcian Porter _changed to_
shivered Dulcina Porter
Page 67
to do anything by make up her bed _changed to_
to do anything but make up her bed
Page 83
and its mahagony finish _changed to_
and its mahogany finish
Page 92
guessed at from my expeience _changed to_
guessed at from my experience
Page 93
you get an impession _changed to_
you get an impression
Page 94
have had no touble _changed to_
have had no trouble
Page 94
The dean, Miss Iving _changed to_
The dean, Miss Irving
Page 113
Do you mind tellling who _changed to_
Do you mind telling who
Page 123
How would the freshmen lika to be _changed to_
How would the freshmen like to be
Page 127
did not see any one that loked like _changed to_
did not see any one that looked like
Page 127
As autumn, she wore a wreath of _changed to_
As Autumn, she wore a wreath of
Page 134
she peferred to be _changed to_
she preferred to be
Page 143
but intead of the usual _changed to_
but instead of the usual
Page 146
she probaby _changed to_
she probably
Page 148
blue negligée _changed to_
blue negligé
Page 170
extending her daintly gloved _changed to_
extending her daintily gloved
Page 172
abroad on some archaelogical expedition _changed to_
abroad on some archæalogical expedition
Page 172
than she had exepected _changed to_
than she had expected
Page 172
Sidney it attracted to you _changed to_
Sidney is attracted to you
Page 179
know how stange it seemed _changed to_
know how strange it seemed
Page 182
Dulce Porter, Hope’s _changed to_
Dulcie Porter, Hope’s
Page 191
I put it in the one of the envelopes _changed to_
I put it in one of the envelopes
Page 200
thought Hope was first _changed to_
though Hope was first
Page 222
so far as the Thorne’s _changed to_
so far as the Thornes
Page 226
and met Mrs. Harcourt _changed to_
and met Mrs. Thorne