THE ARRIVAL OF THE GIRL
A sweet-faced girl, very attractive but with a sad and anxious
expression, descended from the Pullman and brightened as she found her
friends standing with outstretched arms to greet her.
"Oh, Maud!" cried Patsy, usurping the first hug, "how glad I am to see
you again!"
Beth looked in Maud Stanton's face and forbore to speak as she embraced
her friend. Then Jones shook both hands of the new arrival and Uncle
John kissed her with the same tenderness he showed his own nieces.
This reception seemed to cheer Maud Stanton immensely. She even smiled
during the drive to Willing Square--a winning, gracious smile that would
have caused her to be instantly recognized in almost any community of
our vast country; for this beautiful young girl was a famous motion
picture actress, possessing qualities that had endeared her to every
patron of the better class photo-dramas.
At first she had been forced to adopt this occupation by the stern
necessity of earning a livelihood, and under the careful guidance of her
aunt--Mrs. Jane Montrose, a widow who had at one time been a favorite in
New York social circles--Maud and her sister Florence had applied
themselves so intelligently to their art that their compensation had
become liberal enough to enable them to save a modest competence.
One cause of surprise at Maud's sudden journey east was the fact that
her services were in eager demand by the managers of the best producing
companies on the Pacific Coast, where nearly all the American pictures
are now made. Another cause for surprise was that she came alone,
leaving her Aunt Jane and her sister Flo--usually her inseparable
companion--in Los Angeles.
But they did not question her until the cosy home at Willing Square was
reached, luncheon served and Maud installed in the "Guest Room." Then
the three girls had "a good, long talk" and presently came trooping
into the library to enlighten Uncle John and Ajo.
"Oh, Uncle! What do you think?" cried Patsy. "Maud is going to the war!"
"The war!" echoed Mr. Merrick in a bewildered voice. "What on earth
can--"
"She is going to be a nurse," explained Beth, a soft glow of enthusiasm
mantling her pretty face. "Isn't it splendid, Uncle!"
"H-m," said Uncle John, regarding the girl with wonder. "It is certainly
a--a--surprising venture."
"But--see here, Maud--it's mighty dangerous," protested young Jones.
"It's a tremendous undertaking, and--what can one girl do in the midst
of all those horrors?"
Maud seated herself quietly between them. Her face was grave and
thoughtful.
"I have had to answer many such arguments before now, as you may
suspect," she began in even tones, "but the fact that I am here, well on
my journey, is proof that I have convinced my aunt, my sister and all my
western friends that I am at least determined on my mission, whether it
be wise or foolish. I do not think I shall incur danger by caring for
the wounded; the Red Cross is highly respected everywhere, these days."
"The Red Cross?" quoth Uncle John.
"Yes; I shall wear the Red Cross," she continued. "You know that I am a
trained nurse; it was part of my education before--before--"
"I had not known that until now," said Mr. Merrick, "but I am glad you
have had that training. Beth began a course at the school here, but I
took her away to Europe before she graduated. However, I wish more girls
could be trained for nursing, as it is a more useful and admirable
accomplishment than most of them now acquire."
"Fox-Trots and Bunny-Hugs, for instance," said Patricia with fine
disdain.
"Patsy is a splendid nurse," declared Ajo, with a grateful look toward
that chubby miss.
"But untrained," she answered laughingly. "It was just common sense that
enabled me to cure your malady, Ajo. I couldn't bandage a cut or a
bullet wound to save me."
"Fortunately," said Maud, "I have a diploma which will gain for me the
endorsement of the American Red Cross Society. I am counting on that to
enable me to get an appointment at the seat of war, where I can be of
most use."
"Where will you go?" asked the boy. "To Germany, Austria, Russia,
Belgium, or--"
"I shall go to France," she replied. "I speak French, but understand
little of German, although once I studied the language."
"Are you fully resolved upon this course, Maud?" asked Mr. Merrick in a
tone of regret.
"Fully decided, sir. I am going to Washington to-morrow, to get my
credentials, and then I shall take the first steamer to Europe."
There was no use arguing with Maud Stanton when she assumed that tone.
It was neither obstinate nor defiant, yet it conveyed a quiet resolve
that was unanswerable.
For a time they sat in silence, musing on the many phases of this
curious project; then Beth came to Mr. Merrick's side and asked
pleadingly:
"May I go with her, Uncle?"
"Great Scott!" he exclaimed, with a nervous jump. "_You_, Beth?"
"Yes, Uncle. I so long to be of help to those poor fellows who are
being so cruelly sacrificed; and I know I can soothe much suffering, if
I have the opportunity."
He stared at her, not knowing what to reply. This quaint little man was
so erratic himself, in his sudden resolves and eccentric actions, that
he could scarcely quarrel with his niece for imitating an example he had
frequently set. Still, he was shrewd enough to comprehend the reckless
daring of the proposition.
"Two unprotected girls in the midst of war and carnage, surrounded by
foreigners, inspired to noble sacrifice through ignorance and
inexperience, and hardly old enough to travel alone from Hoboken to
Brooklyn! Why, the thing's absurd," he said.
"Quite impractical," added Ajo, nodding wisely. "You're both too pretty,
my dears, to undertake such an adventure. Why, the wounded men would all
fall in love with their nurses and follow you back to America in a
flock; and that might put a stop to the war for lack of men to fight
it."
"Don't be silly, Ajo," said Patsy, severely. "I've decided to go with
Maud and Beth, and you know very well that the sight of my freckled face
would certainly chill any romance that might arise."
"That's nonsense, Patsy!"
"Then you consider me beautiful, Uncle John?"
"I mean it's nonsense about your going with Maud and Beth. I won't allow
it."
"Oh, Uncle! You know I can twine you around my little finger, if I
choose. So don't, for goodness' sake, start a rumpus by trying to set
your will against mine."
"Then side with me, dear. I'm quite right, I assure you."
"You're always right, Nunkie, dear," she cried, giving him a resounding
smack of a kiss on his chubby cheek as she sat on the arm of his chair,
"but I'm going with the girls, just the same, and you may as well make
up your mind to it."
Uncle John coughed. He left his chair and trotted up and down the room a
moment. Then he carefully adjusted his spectacles, took a long look at
Patsy's face, and heaved a deep sigh of resignation.
"Thank goodness, that's settled," said Patsy cheerfully.
Uncle John turned to the boy, saying dismally:
"I've done everything in my power for these girls, and now they defy me.
They've declared a thousand times they love me, and yet they'd trot off
to bandage a lot of unknown foreigners and leave me alone to worry my
heart out."
"Why don't you go along?" asked Jones. "I'm going."
"You!"
"Of course. I've a suspicion our girls have the right instinct, sir--the
tender, womanly instinct that makes us love them. At any rate, I'm going
to stand by them. It strikes me as the noblest and grandest idea a girl
ever conceived, and if anything could draw me closer to these three
young ladies, who had me pretty well snared before, it is this very
proposition."
"I don't see why," muttered Uncle John, wavering.
"I'll tell you why, sir. For themselves, they have all the good things
of life at their command. They could bask in luxury to the end of their
days, if they so desired. Yet their wonderful womanly sympathy goes out
to the helpless and suffering--the victims of the cruellest war the
world has ever known--and they promptly propose to sacrifice their ease
and brave whatever dangers may befall, that they may relieve to some
extent the pain and agony of those wounded and dying fellow creatures."
"Foreigners," said Uncle John weakly.
"Human beings," said the boy.
Patsy marched over to Ajo and gave him a sturdy whack upon the back that
nearly knocked him over.
"The spirit of John Paul Jones still goes marching on!" she cried. "My
boy, you're the right stuff, and I'm glad I doctored you."
He smiled, looking from one to another of the three girls questioningly.
"Then I'm to go along?" he asked.
"We shall be grateful," answered Maud, after a moment's hesitation.
"This is all very sudden to me, for I had planned to go alone."
"That wouldn't do at all," asserted Uncle John briskly. "I'm astonished
and--and grieved--that my nieces should want to go with you, but perhaps
the trip will prove interesting. Tell me what steamer you want to catch,
Maud, and I'll reserve rooms for our entire party."
"No," said Jones, "don't do it, sir."
"Why not?"
"There's the _Arabella_. Let's use her."
"To cross the ocean?"
"She has done that before. It will assist our enterprise, I'm sure, to
have our own boat. These are troublous times on the high seas."
Patsy clapped her hands gleefully.
"That's it; a hospital ship!" she exclaimed.
They regarded her with various expressions: startled, doubtful,
admiring, approving. Presently, with added thought on the matter, the
approval became unanimous.
"It's an amazing suggestion," said Maud, her eyes sparkling.
"Think how greatly it will extend our usefulness," said Beth.
Uncle John was again trotting up and down the room, this time in a
state of barely repressed excitement.
"The very thing!" he cried. "Clever, practical,
and--eh--eh--tremendously interesting. Now, then, listen carefully--all
of you! It's up to you, Jones, to accompany Maud on the night express to
Washington. Get the Red Cross Society to back our scheme and supply us
with proper credentials. The _Arabella_ must be rated as a hospital ship
and our party endorsed as a distinct private branch of the Red
Cross--what they call a 'unit.' I'll give you a letter to our senator
and he will look after our passports and all necessary papers. I--I
helped elect him, you know. And while you're gone it shall be my
business to fit the ship with all the supplies we shall need to promote
our mission of mercy."
"I'll share the expense," proposed the boy.
"No, you won't. You've done enough in furnishing the ship and crew. I'll
attend to the rest."
"And Beth and I will be Uncle John's assistants," said Patsy. "We shall
want heaps of lint and bandages, drugs and liniments and--"
"And, above all, a doctor," advised Ajo. "One of the mates on my yacht,
Kelsey by name, is a half-way physician, having studied medicine in his
youth and practiced it on the crew for the last dozen years; but what we
really need on a hospital ship is a bang-up surgeon."
"This promises to become an expensive undertaking," remarked Maud, with
a sigh. "Perhaps it will be better to let me go alone, as I originally
expected to do. But, if we take along the hospital ship, do not be
extravagant, Mr. Merrick, in equipping it. I feel that I have been the
innocent cause of drawing you all into this venture and I do not want it
to prove a hardship to my friends."
"All right, Maud," returned Uncle John, with a cheerful grin, "I'll try
to economize, now that you've warned me."
Ajo smiled and Patsy Doyle laughed outright. They knew it would not
inconvenience the little rich man, in the slightest degree, to fit out a
dozen hospital ships.