"Whatever is it, mother?" asked Robin anxiously.
For Mrs. Vaughan's face was quite pale with worry as she stood on the
bank while they rowed towards her. "Don't pull right in," she said.
"Though I suppose it doesn't matter out of doors. It's---- Better
not, perhaps, under the circumstances. Stay there--on the water, and
I'll talk to you from here."
"Why! What--ever----!" The eyes of the three grew large and round.
Then an awful idea struck Peter. "Mother, you don't mean to say that
anything's happened. You talk as though we'd got the Plague!
Whatever is it?" He racked his brain to think of some possible
horror. "Well, it isn't that the Lennoxes have wired to say that
they can't come, for, if so----!"
"It's--worse." Mrs. Vaughan laughed ruefully. "One of them has
arrived. It's--Dick; but--oh, he's _covered_ with spots! Came out
in the train, so he says; and, poor boy, he's feeling pretty bad, I
think. It's certain to be something infectious, particularly as
Donald--so Dick says--has been kept at home for a day or two, because
this morning he woke up with a terrible headache, and wasn't well
enough to travel."
"Measles! Well, we've had them!" said
Robin hopefully.
"So have they. I greatly fear that it's scarlet fever. The poor boy
is terribly annoyed with himself for coming, but how could they think
of such a thing as scarlet fever? No; I pity his mother--so far
away--as much as I pity myself. I've sent for Dr. Greig, and, in the
meantime, you had better all three stay over on the Island for tea.
Get Gardener's wife to give you some, and explain to her. I'm so
sorry, dears, that all this has just happened when you had planned
such a happy time."
"Sorry for _us_! It's _you_--and Dick, of course," said Robin.
"Cheero, mother; let us help. Scouts know all about First Aid!"
"So do Guides," added Jan quickly.
"First Aid is not needed for scarlet fever. None of you have had it,
you know; and there's your exam. ahead, Robin. You can't run risks.
No, I only called you to tell you; for you must keep out of the way
till the Doctor's told me definitely what it is. I'll blow the horn
again as soon as I've news." Their mother waved her hand and was
gone.
"Wheww!" said Robin; and they rowed in silence to the other side of
the water. In an instant their castle of hopes was in bits, and
their holiday seemed spoilt. "If I wasn't a Scout I'd feel inclined
to--jolly well----!" Peter vented his feelings in kicking up a huge
clod of turf as he stepped ashore.
"And if I wasn't a Guide, I'd----" Jan's voice sounded pretty near to
tears.
"No cousins--or as bad as none; perhaps worse, for Mother'll be
worked to death," continued Peter; "all our ripping preparations
spoilt! No camp----!"
"Steady on!" called Robin; he could have grumbled a bit himself,
easily enough, but he wasn't going to. He had been thinking hard
instead, and he broke out suddenly: "I've got an idea. No, I won't
say what it is till I know if it's needed. Don't give up hopes of
the camp yet, and let's go meanwhile and ask Brownie about tea."
The gardener's house, to which they turned their steps rather
dejectedly, was a very old stone cottage, as old as the Chase itself.
It had been used for generations as the home of one or other of the
keepers, having been built in a convenient place, so it was said, for
the operations of possible river-poachers to be watched. Old Brown
the gardener, though he had been in the service of the family all his
life, had only lived in the cottage for about fifteen years. With
the fall of the family fortunes the outdoor as well as the indoor
staff of the Chase had been reduced, and at present he was a regular
handy-man, the only man, indeed, about the place. His wife welcomed
the three comfortably enough; and under the soothing influence of
Brownie's scones and home-made jam their spirits began to rise. By
the time the "third cup" stage was reached they were able at last to
unburden themselves to their kind-hearted listener.
"We'd expected such _lots_ of fun when the Lennoxes came," said Peter.
"Sure, my dear," said Brownie, nodding commiseratingly.
"They're sure to be jolly, you see, being relations!" said Jan
ingenuously; "and besides"--heedless of a warning touch from Robin,
who didn't believe in talking over family matters, she went on
confidingly--"we somehow hoped they might know what the mystery is.
You know, Brownie, at least, but I don't suppose you've ever thought
about it----"
"_Have_ you?" asked Peter suddenly, as the old woman did not answer,
but rose busily to poke the fire.
"Sure, my dear, and having been in service at the House before ever I
married Brown----" began the old body a little confusedly.
"I say," Robin broke in, "look here, Jan and Peter. And, Brownie,
I'm not sure----"
"There's the horn!" interrupted Peter suddenly. The clear sound came
faintly over the water.
"Aye, the horn it is, sure enough," said Brownie in a relieved voice,
"and hadn't you better be going to see?"
But she spoke to an empty kitchen: the three were gone. Down to the
water's side they raced, and were just pushing off when their mother
began to call to them. "You needn't come over; I can speak from
here. Yes, it _is_ what I feared. Dr. Greig says there's no mistake
about it. And Donald says that there was a case in his form at
school. Now, what I'm to do with you I don't know."
"Mother," began Robin, "listen; I know a tremendously good way out of
the difficulty."
"What is it?" inquired Mrs. Vaughan.
"It's nothing more nor less than the camp!" said Robin; "and, if
you'll stay there for an instant, I'll row over and tell you what I
mean."