LOOKING AHEAD
Ruth had become quite excited over the prospect of the coming party. Of
course, not as excited as Agnes, but sufficiently so to become more like
her oldtime self.
She went about with a smile on her lips and a gleam in her eyes that had
been missing of late. Agnes hinted that she must have some particular
reason for being so "chipper."
"Somebody's coming you like, Ruthie Kenway!" the next oldest sister
declared.
For once Ruth did not deny the accusation. She merely blushed faintly
and said nothing.
Friday afternoon was a particularly busy time for Ruth. She found some
things had been forgotten and she went down town to attend to them. She
walked, and in coming back, hastening up Main Street, at the corner of
the avenue that gave a glimpse of the railroad station, she came face to
face with the queer old gentleman of the green umbrella!
"Ha!" ejaculated the old man, stopping abruptly. "So! I find you at
last, do I?"
"Ye-yes, sir," stammered Ruth.
To tell the truth, he looked so fierce, he had such a hawklike eye, and
he spoke so harshly that he fairly frightened the oldest Corner House
girl. She felt as though he must think she had been hiding from him
purposely.
"I was in your town here once before looking for you. You were not to be
found," he said.
"Ye-yes, sir," admitted Ruth. "I guess I was out that day."
"Out? I didn't know where to hunt for you," growled the old man, shaking
the green umbrella and looking as fierce, Ruth thought, as though he
might like to shake her in the same way.
"Ye-yes, sir," she stammered.
"Don't say that again!" roared the stranger. "Speak sensibly. Or are you
as big a fool as most other females!"
At that Ruth grew rather piqued. She regained her self-possession and
began to study the old man.
"I'm not sure how foolish you consider all women to be, sir," she said.
"Perhaps I am merely an average girl."
"No. I'll be bound you've more sense than some," he grumbled. "Otherwise
you wouldn't have pulled me back from that train. I'd have been run over
like enough."
"I'm glad you think I helped you," said Ruth simply.
"Heh? What are you glad for?"
"Because I like to have people feel grateful to me and like me,"
confessed Ruth frankly.
"Hey-day!" exclaimed the old gentleman. "Here's plainness of speech. I
suppose you think I am rich and that I have come to reward you?"
"I thought you had come to thank me, not insult me," the girl said, with
dignity. "You cannot give me money."
"You are a wealthy girl, then?"
"We have all the money we shall ever need," said Ruth. "It really does
not matter, does it, sir? If you have thanked me sufficiently, I will go
on."
"Hoity-toity!" he snarled. "You are one of these very smart modern
girls, I see. And wealthy, too? Where do you live?"
"I am going home now, sir. You know where I live," said Ruth in
surprise.
"Heh? I'll go with you. I want to talk with your folks."
"I really do not understand your object. I have no parents, sir," said
Ruth, a little angry by this time. "If you wish to see our lawyer--"
"Haven't you anybody?"
"I have sisters and an aunt and a guardian--our lawyer," said Ruth not
at all pleased to be obliged to satisfy the curiosity of the old man
with the green umbrella.
He walked on beside her and there really seemed no way to escape him.
She thought it strange that he cared to come to the house again, having
already been there once and interviewed Mrs. MacCall.
When they came in sight of the old Corner House Ruth heard the old
gentleman utter an exclamation as though he recognized it. Then, when
she stopped at the gate he demanded:
"So you live here?"
"Of course I do," Ruth replied rather sharply for her.
She opened the gate and passed through. She did not ask him to enter;
but he came in just the same, green umbrella and all. He walked beside
her up the path and up the steps to the door. Then as she turned to face
him he grumbled:
"So I suppose you're going to tell me that you are Ruth Kenway?"
"That is my name, sir."
"Humph! So, the boy _has_ got some sense, after all," muttered the old
man.
Ruth suddenly felt that there was a deep meaning in the old man's look
and a reason for his curiosity. She asked faintly:
"What boy, sir? Whom do you mean?"
"That whippersnapper, Luke Shepard."
"Oh!" Ruth exclaimed. "_You are Neighbor!_"
So that is why Luke, coming half an hour later to this very front door,
spied the green umbrella and Mr. Henry Northrup's great overshoes
standing together on the porch of the old Corner House.
Luke did not know at first whether it would be best to ring the bell or
to run. He wavered for several minutes, undecided. Then suddenly Neale
O'Neil, rounding the corner of the house, caught sight of him.
"Hullo!" shouted the ex-circus boy. "Lost, strayed, or stolen? The girls
have been looking for you. Your sister is here already."
"Sh!" whispered Luke, beckoning frantically. "Somebody else is here,
too."
"Crickey, yes! You know the old chap? Northrup's his name. He looks as
hard as nails, but our Ruth's got him feeding out of her hand already.
Oh, Ruth is some charmer!"
Luke fairly fell up against Neale.
"Charmed Neighbor?" he gasped. "Then Aunt Lorena's right! The world _is_
coming to an end."
Of course, it did not! At least, not just then. But when Luke presented
himself in the sitting-room of the old Corner House and found Mr.
Northrup and Ruth in quiet conversation, the young man felt that he must
be walking in a dream.
"You here, Neighbor?" he said, rather shakingly.
"Why, yes," said Mr. Northrup calmly. "You see, Miss Ruth is rather a
friend of mine. Ahem! At least, she did me a favor some time ago, and in
hunting her up to thank her, I find that she is a very dear friend of
your sister and yourself, Luke."
"Er--yes?" questioned Luke, still a little tremulous in his speech.
"Ahem!" said Mr. Northrup again, staring hard at the young man. "Your
friend Miss Ruth has invited me to remain to dinner and meet her sisters
and--ahem!--the rest of her family. I hope you have no objection, Luke?"
with sarcasm.
"Oh, no, Neighbor! Oh, no, indeed!" Luke hastened to say.
To the amazement of Luke and Cecile Shepard Mr. Northrup appeared very
well indeed at dinner that night in the Corner House. They learned he
could be very entertaining if he wished; that he had not forgotten how
to interest women if he had been a recluse for so long; and that even
Tess and Dot found something about him to admire. The former said
afterward that Mr. Northrup had a voice like a distant drum; Dot said he
had a "noble looking forehead," meaning that it was very high and bald.
Mr. Northrup and Aunt Sarah were wonderfully polite to each other. Mrs.
MacCall had her suspicions of the old gentleman, remembering the
umbrella and the occasion of his first call when, she considered, he had
entered the house under false pretenses.
Luke went to the evening train with his old friend, and Mr. Northrup's
mellowed spirit remained with him--for the time at least.
"She is a smart girl, Luke. I always thought you had a little good
sense in your makeup, and I believe you've proved it. But remember,
boy," added the man, shaking an admonitory finger at him, "remember,
you're to stick to your fancy. No changing around from one girl to
another. If you dare to I'll disown you-- I'll disown you just as I said
I should if you hadn't picked out the girl you have."
"Good gracious, Neighbor!" gasped the young man, "I--I don't even know
if Ruth will have me."
"Huh! You don't? Well, young man," said the old gentleman in disgust at
Luke's dilatoriness, "_I do!_"
Perhaps Mr. Henry Northrup's very positiveness upon this point spurred
Luke to find an opportunity during this week-end visit to the old Corner
House to open his heart to Ruth. In return the girl was frank enough to
tell him just how glad she was that he had acted as he had before
knowing that Neighbor would approve.
"For of course, Luke, money doesn't have to enter the question at all.
Nevertheless, I know you will desire to be established in some business
before we are really _serious_ about this thing."
"Serious, Ruth!" exclaimed the young man. "Well-- I don't know. Seems to
me I've never been really serious about anything in my life before."
Though she spoke so very cautiously about their understanding, Ruth
Kenway sent Luke back to college Sunday evening knowing that she
coincided with his plans and hopes perfectly.
The party on Saturday night--the first of several evening entertainments
the girls gave that winter--was a very delightful gathering. The
visitors from out of town enjoyed themselves particularly because the
bugbear of Neighbor's opposition to Luke's desires had been dissipated.
"Lucky boy, Luke," his sister told him. "And you may thank Ruthie Kenway
for your happiness in more senses than one. It was she who charmed your
crochety old friend. No other girl could have done it."
"Don't you suppose I know that?" he asked her, with scorn.
That party, of course, was enjoyable for the smaller Corner House girls
as well as for their elders. There was nothing really good that Tess and
Dot ever missed if Ruth and Agnes had it in their power to please their
smaller sisters.
"It's most as good as having a party of our very own," sighed Tess, as
she and Dot and Sammy Pinkney sat at the head of the front stairs with
plates of ice cream and cake in their small laps.
"It's better," declared Dot. "'Cause we can just eat and eat and not
have to worry whether the others are getting enough."
"Why, Dot Kenway!" murmured Tess. "That sounds awful--awful piggish."
"Nop," said Sammy. "She's right, Tess. You see, Dot means that she
really can have a better time if there isn't anything to worry about.
Now, there was that day we went off and took a ride on that canalboat."
"Being pirates," put in Dot, with a reminiscent sigh.
"Yep," went on the philosophic Sammy. "We'd have had an awful nice day
if there'd been nothing to worry us. Wouldn't we, Dot?"
"I--I guess so," agreed the smallest Corner House girl slowly. "But just
the same, Sammy Pinkney, I'm never going to run off to be pirates with
you again. Ruthie says it isn't ladylike," she finished with an air of
"be it ever so painful, ladylike I must be."
"Humph!" sniffed Sammy, "you won't get another chance. I ain't going to
take any girl pirating when I go again. I don't want girls on a pirate
ship."
"Oh, Sammy!" said Dot, "you sound just like that Mr. Neighbor Northrup.
You know, Mr. Luke's friend. The misogynist."
"Huh!" grunted Sammy, scowling.
"But--but," Tess questioned softly, "Mr. Northrup's cured of that
disease, isn't he?"
THE END
CHARMING STORIES FOR GIRLS
The Corner House Girls Series
By GRACE BROOKS HILL
[Illustration]
Four girls from eight to fourteen years of age receive word that a rich
bachelor uncle has died, leaving them the old Corner House he occupied.
They move into it and then the fun begins. What they find and do will
provoke many a hearty laugh. Later, they enter school and make many
friends. One of these invites the girls to spend a few weeks at a
bungalow owned by her parents, and the adventures they meet with make
very interesting reading. Clean, wholesome stories of humor and
adventure, sure to appeal to all young girls.
1 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS.
2 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS AT SCHOOL.
3 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS UNDER CANVAS.
4 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS IN A PLAY.
5 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS' ODD FIND.
6 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS ON A TOUR.
7 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS GROWING UP.
8 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS SNOWBOUND.
9 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS ON A HOUSEBOAT.
10 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS AMONG THE GYPSIES.
11 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS ON PALM ISLAND.
12 THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS SOLVE A MYSTERY.
"THE POLLY" SERIES
By DOROTHY WHITEHILL
[Illustration]
Polly Pendleton is a resourceful, wide-awake American girl who goes to a
boarding school on the Hudson River some miles above New York. By her
pluck and resourcefulness, she soon makes a place for herself and this
she holds right through the course. The account of boarding school life
is faithful and pleasing and will attract every girl in her teens.
Cloth, large 12 mo. Illustrated
1 POLLY'S FIRST YEAR AT BOARDING SCHOOL
2 POLLY'S SUMMER VACATION
3 POLLY'S SENIOR YEAR AT BOARDING SCHOOL
4 POLLY SEES THE WORLD AT WAR
5 POLLY AND LOIS
6 POLLY AND BOB
7 POLLY'S RE-UNION
8 POLLY'S POLLY
BARSE & HOPKINS
Publishers
New York, N. Y.
Newark, N. J.