THE CHOICE
At four o'clock in the afternoon Mr. Fenton sent a large motor car to
the Girl Scout camp to bear Kara, Miss Mason, Lucy Martin and any
other girls who chose to ride to the place under discussion as the
site to be chosen for the Greek pageant.
The spot lay midway between the two camps.
Earlier in the afternoon Miss Frean had started off with the girls who
preferred the hike.
Walking steadily without pausing for rest, before the others they
arrived at the proposed place.
When the signal was given to halt, Tory Drew dropped down on the
ground and in the fashion supposed to be best for meditation sat
looking about her.
Several of the other girls followed her example, while Miss Frean
remained standing with three or four companions. They preferred to
command a wider view of their surroundings.
They had reached the source of the stream of water which ended in the
small lake before the camp in Beechwood Forest.
Here the water was fairly deep but the stream of no great width. On
one side was a small clearing with a grove of trees not far away.
Where the Girl Scouts stood at present the open space was larger. A
dozen yards away a country road connected with the state road that ran
through the village of Westhaven.
Beyond were a rim of blue hills.
"I would not be surprised if we conclude this is the proper location,"
Miss Frean said reflectively. "There is the disadvantage of being so
far from Westhaven. We shall have to transport the scenery and
costumes out here and make arrangements for the audience to be seated.
Yet the place itself is rarely lovely."
Tory looked at her beseechingly.
"The place is ideal. Please don't say a word against it. Uncle Richard
insists that the early Greeks possessed a greater love of the
beautiful than we possess. Yet surely this spot would have pleased
them!
"Our tableaux can be shown on the other side of the water. The
audience can be seated on this side. The distance will add to the
illusion. The Palace of Odysseus with the courtyard in front where
most of the scenes will take place, can be constructed in front of the
grove of trees. Odysseus can land on what is supposed to be the island
of the Sea-Kings from a Greek galley rowed up the stream. And I shall
appear with my maidens who come down to the banks to wash the imperial
clothes of my royal family. Until the moment to appear before the
audience the players can be concealed beyond the trees."
Closing her eyes and clasping her hands ecstatically together, Tory
exclaimed:
"Can you not see the entire scene, the beauty and glamour, what Uncle
Richard calls the Greek spirit that we are to portray?"
Joan Peters laughed and shook her head.
"No, Tory dear, I am afraid not. We cannot all see it, although I must
only speak for myself. Can't you appreciate that we are not all
possessed of the artistic temperament and gifted with the power of
seeing visions? I am a humdrum person who has to be shown."
Joan moved away to join another group.
"Tory, yours is a fortunate gift, I am not pretending to deny it.
There are times when I envy you. Still, dear, some of us before we can
behold the completed masterpiece, are obliged to consider how we can
get a sufficient number of chairs out here to permit the audience to
be seated comfortably," Memory Frean interposed.
The girl looked at her half challengingly.
"I am not so unpractical as you may think. Uncle Richard and I drove
out here a few days ago and discussed the very problem of how to seat
our audience. He promised to have any number of chairs sent out at his
expense. We can guess the number required by the tickets we shall
sell. I have an idea our audience will be very large. After paying for
our costumes and scenery there will still be a good deal of money to
be divided between the Boy Scout Troop and our own."
"A noteworthy conclusion, Tory. I am glad you have made the necessary
decisions and arrangements without waiting for the other arrivals. A
confusion of tongues just adds to a confusion of ideas," Lance McClain
remarked, jumping from his bicycle and unexpectedly joining the small
group.
Apparently he had ridden on ahead of his Scout Troop.
He turned now and greeted Miss Frean.
Then he came over toward Tory.
"I don't wish to be teased, Lance. Of course I have not made any
decision and nothing positive can be decided until the vote is taken.
I have only been entertaining myself by dreaming that this is to be
the chosen site. I can see a mental picture that is very wonderful."
Lance shook his head and laughed.
"I am not wishing to be disagreeable, Tory. Of course this is the
ideal spot. It takes you and me to recognize the fact."
For some reason neither of them understood, Victoria Drew and Lance
McClain usually argued unimportant issues and agreed upon the
important ones.
From a little distance beyond, the rest of the Boy Scout Troop could
now be seen approaching.
"Yes, Don will be here in a little while, Tory. Don't you and Dorothy
worry. I rode over because the camp doctor thought I wasn't in very
good shape. I am not in high favor at camp at present, so I thought
I'd do what I was told on this occasion," Lance remarked.
Only three girls were sufficiently near at this instant to overhear
his speech, Tory, Dorothy McClain and Louise Miller. The other girls
and Miss Frean had moved over to meet the advancing Troop.
"What are you talking about, Lance? What have you done of late to
break the camp discipline? If you don't care for your own sake, I
think you might consider how much Don and I care for your Scout
record. It was enough for you to have originated the ridiculous
excursion that resulted in the trouble between your Troop and our own
that has lasted until now. Please, please don't get into any more
mischief."
In Dorothy's tone there was something maternal. Lance alone of all her
brothers called forth this spirit in her.
"Sister of mine, you take me too seriously. I have only wandered off
from camp now and then for a stroll in the woods. I am obliged to
meditate. I have not broken any of the commandments. It is my
misfortune to be unlike other people. You have told me this a good
many times. So perhaps I am frequently misunderstood."
Lance's tone was so indifferent and teasing that Dorothy was seriously
annoyed.
"I don't mind if Louise and Tory do hear what I have been wanting a
chance to say to you, Lance. You had no right to tell Teresa Peterson
that she would be chosen to play the part of Penelope in our Greek
tableaux. She has been dreadfully disappointed and it has made things
hard for all of us."
"Teresa Peterson to play Penelope! Who says I made any such suggestion,
Dorothy? Teresa looks more like a pretty doll than the model of Greek
faithfulness and propriety."
Dorothy looked puzzled.
"Teresa told me herself, Lance. She told me she had met you two or
three times by accident and you had talked to each other for a little
while. She seemed to feel she ought to speak of it to me and to Miss
Mason. Teresa is a dear, but she isn't as clever as some of the other
girls and I don't think you would ever care to be very intimate
friends. She never could understand you as Tory and Louise do. You did
tell Teresa she was to be chosen for Penelope, didn't you?"
Lance whistled.
"I suppose so, if she insists upon it."
"Well, I wish you would stick to one story or the other, Lance,"
Dorothy protested, moving away with Tory Drew and leaving her brother
and Louise Miller together.
"I suppose there are not many things I would not forgive you, but I
never should forgive your not being truthful."
Lance and Louise remained silent a few moments after the others had
departed.
Reproachfully Louise studied the thin, eager face.
"Lance, I can guess it is in your code to protect a girl by telling a
half truth. I suppose Teresa somehow got the impression she was to be
chosen for Penelope without your having said so. She is a vain little
thing. But what I want to say is, please never hurt Dorothy in order
to protect anyone else. Perhaps she is only your sister, but she hates
deceit more than anything in the world, and you know how devoted she
is to you."
Lance frowned.
"See here, Louise, I'm not in the habit of telling fibs, so don't
preach. I am not going to have Teresa suffer any more criticism from
the rest of you girls. I have met her a few times and we have talked.
She seemed to think perhaps it was a mistake as long as our two camps
were not friendly, so I am glad she has spoken of the fact to Dorothy
and Miss Mason. I wasn't going to say anything first.
"You need not worry over Dorothy and me, Ouida. We have our scraps now
and then, but there isn't another girl I think holds a candle to her
at present, not even you or Tory.
"By the way, we ought to be special friends. We are both 'different,'
and no one ever really likes being. Dorothy says you have got some
queer idea in your head that you would like to be a naturalist. That
is almost as good as my wishing to be a musician, when we both have
our own livings to earn, the sooner the better for ourselves and
families. We aren't all Tory Drews in this world!"
Louise's earnest pale gray eyes with their dark lashes were staring
intently at her companion.
"I agree with the first part of your speech, Lance, but I really don't
understand what you mean about Tory," she returned.
"Don't you? Well, nothing important. Only Tory is one of the people
who has talent and charm and things are going to be fairly easy for
her compared to you and me. When the time comes for her to study art
she will have her chance. Most people are fond of her. At present in
our family old Don and father will do pretty much anything she asks.
So I thought maybe you and I might be kind of special friends, Ouida.
I may probably get into a scrape some day and not know the best way
out and want your help."
"You can always count on me, Lance, if for no other reason than
because you are Dorothy's favorite brother," Louise answered simply.
Observing that Miss Mason's car had arrived and several others, Lance
and Louise moved toward the newcomers.
Three members of the Boy Scout Council and three other members of the
girls had driven out with Mr. Fenton. It was rare in the history of
the Scout movement that the girls and boys should take part in the
same entertainment and the subject was being seriously considered.