[Illustration: The popovers had popped just right.
(_Frontis_) (_The Carter Girls' Mysterious Neighbors_)]
THE CARTER GIRLS'
MYSTERIOUS NEIGHBORS
By NELL SPEED
AUTHOR OF
"The Molly Brown Series," "The Tucker
Twins Series," etc.
[Illustration]
A. L. BURT COMPANY
Publishers New York
Printed in U. S. A.
Copyright, 1931
BY
HURST & COMPANY
MADE IN U. S. A.
Contents
I. EN ROUTE TO THE FARM 7
II. THE LANDLADIES AND A NEW ACQUAINTANCE 19
III. THE COUNT 38
IV. GRANTLY 56
V. VALHALLA 63
VI. CHLOE 76
VII. BOBBY'S BLAME PAY 90
VIII. SATURDAY 107
IX. GOLDILOCKS' CHAIRS 118
X. NOVEMBER 133
XI. PARADISE 153
XII. HERZ 167
XIII. GOOSE STEPPING 189
XIV. AN EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY 197
XV. BLACK SOCIALISM 211
XVI. DRESSING FOR THE BALL 221
XVII. THE BALL 231
XVIII. ANGEL'S FOOD 247
XIX. A LITTLE LEARNING 255
XX. IN THE MEANTIME 262
XXI. THE FLAMING SWORD 272
XXII. A NEAT TRICK 287
XXIII. VISITORS AT PRESTON 294
XXIV. THE CARRIER PIGEON 308
The Carter Girls' Mysterious Neighbors
CHAPTER I
EN ROUTE TO THE FARM
"How I hate being poor!" exclaimed Helen Carter, looking ruefully at her
darned glove.
"Me, too!" echoed the younger sister, Lucy.
"Shh! Father will hear you," admonished Douglas.
"Nobody can hear above the rattle of this horrid old day coach,"
declared Helen. "There is something about the odor of a common coach
that has spent its life hauling commuters from home to work--from work
to home, that sickens me," and Helen's sensitive nostrils quivered in
disgust.
"I'm sorry, dear; I know it is all so hard on you," said Douglas.
"Not a bit harder on me than it is on you."
"Not a bit!" from Lucy.
"I think it must be," smiled Douglas. "I have an idea Nature did not
intend me to ride in Pullmans. I am really just as comfortable in a
day coach and I think they are lots more airy and better ventilated.
What do you think about it, Nan?"
"Oh, I like 'em--such interesting types," drawled Nan. "You get to your
destination sooner, too, as the Pullman is always hitched onto the back
end of the train."
"I can't see anything very interesting in commuters, I must say,"
laughed Helen, "but Nan was always easy to please."
"Yes, Nan is our philosopher," said Douglas.
"Well, since Lucy and I are to join the army of commuters it would be
foolish of us not to find them interesting. Don't you remember Mrs.
Doasyouwouldbedoneby? If we find them interesting maybe they will return
the compliment."
"Yes, and I remember Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid, too," declared Douglas,
exchanging a sly glance with Helen.
The two older sisters could not help seeing that a nice looking boy
sitting across the aisle had already found something to interest him in
the dreamy brown eyes of one courageous commuter to be. His own grey
eyes were twinkling with merriment. Evidently the rattle of the despised
coach had not drowned the conversation so far as he was concerned. He
had made some pretense of studying, but Latin Comp. was deadly dull in
comparison with the chatter of the Carter girls.
The Carters were _en route_ to their winter quarters, chosen after much
discussion and misgivings as the best place they could find for all
concerned. The doctor had pronounced the ultimatum: Mr. Carter must be
in the country for another year at least and he must have no business
worries. He must live out-of-doors as much as possible and no matter
how perplexing the problems that in the natural course of events would
arise in a household, they were not to be brought to the master of that
household. As Mrs. Carter had determined many weeks before to play the
rôle of a lily of the field, announcing herself as a semi-invalid, who
was to be loved and cherished and waited on but not to be worried, it
meant that Douglas, as oldest child, must be mother and father as well.
Hers was the thankless task of telling her sisters what they must and
must not do, and curbing the extravagance that would break out now and
then in spots. Small wonder that it was the case, as, up to a few months
before this, lavish expenditure had been the rule in the Carter family
rather than the exception.
They had spent a wonderful summer running a week-end boarding camp on
the side of a mountain in Albemarle County. It had been a remarkable
thing for these young girls to have undertaken and accomplished, all
untrained as they were. But when their father's nervous breakdown came
and the realization that there was no more money in the family till, and
none likely to be there unless they could earn it, right manfully they
put their young shoulders to the wheel and with a long push and a strong
push and a push all together they got their wagon, if not hitched to a
star, at least moving along the highroad of life and making some
progress.
Dr. George Wright, the nerve specialist who had undertaken Mr. Carter's
cure, had been invaluable in their search for the proper place in which
to spend the winter, this winter that was to put the keystone in their
father's recovery. Such a place was not easy to find, as it must be near
enough to Richmond for Nan and Lucy to go to school. That was one time
when Douglas put her foot down most emphatically. The two younger girls
were quite willing to follow in their sister Helen's footsteps and
"quiturate," but Douglas knew that they must be held to their tasks.
She bitterly regretted her own inability to continue her education, as
college had been her dream, and she also deplored the fact that Helen
was not able to spend the one more year at school necessary for her
graduation. As for Helen, not having to go to school was the one bright
spot for her in the whole sordid business, at least she had boldly
declared such was the case.
The winter was to be a busy one for Helen, as the home work was to fall
to her share. Douglas, by a great piece of good luck, had obtained a
place as teacher in a district school not far from the little farm that
had been selected as the abiding place for the Carter family during that
winter of 1916 and '17. The teacher who had been employed had been
called away by private affairs, and Douglas had fallen heir to the
position.
The train rocked and swayed and bumped on the illy-laid road-bed as our
girls sped on to their destination. Mrs. Carter in a seat across the
aisle had placed her tired head on her husband's shoulder. The poor
little lady felt in her heart of hearts that all of this going to
out-of-the-way country places to spend winter months was really absurd,
but then it was absurd to be poor anyhow, something she had not
bargained for in her scheme of existence. She had said not a word,
however, but had let Douglas and that stern Dr. Wright manage
everything. She felt about as capable of changing the plans of her
family as her youngest child, Bobby, might.
Bobby, who had spent the time on the train most advantageously, having
made friends with the brakeman and conductor, was now sitting in an
alert attitude, as his new friends had informed him that there were only
five minutes more before they would reach Grantly, their destination.
Going to the country was just what he wanted and he was preparing to
have a glorious time with no restrictions as to clean face and hands. To
be sure, he had heard that he was to go to school, but since Douglas was
to be the teacher this fact was not disturbing him much.
The summer in the mountains had done much to develop this darling of the
Carters. He no longer looked so much like an angel as when we were first
introduced to the family. His curls were close cropped now and he was
losing teeth faster than he was gaining them. If there could be such a
thing as a snaggled tooth angel perhaps that celestial being would
resemble Bobby Carter; but I am sure if that angel could have thought up
as much mischief in a week as Bobby could execute in an hour, he would
have met the fate of Lucifer and been hurled from Heaven. It may be,
though, that if Lucifer had possessed such eyes as this little boy he
would have been forgiven and might still be in his happy home. It was an
impossibility to harbor wrath against Bobby if once you looked in his
eyes. They were like brown forest pools. His sister Nan had the same
eyes and the same long curling lashes. The shape and color of their eyes
were inherited from their beautiful little mother, but the soulful
expression that the children possessed was something that came from
within and is not controlled by laws of heredity. Mrs. Carter's eyes if
they reminded one of forest pools were certainly very shallow pools.
"At last!" as the brakeman called out their station, came with a sigh of
relief from the whole family.
The station consisted of a platform and a little three-sided shed
designed to shield the traveler from the weather, if the weather did not
happen to arrive on the unprotected fourth side.
"They promised to meet us," said Douglas as she collected parcels and
umbrellas, "but I don't see a sign of them."
"Maybe they are on the other side," suggested the hopeful Nan, peering
through the window.
They weren't, however, nor anywhere in sight. Douglas and Helen looked
at each other askance. The two older girls were the only ones in the
family who had seen their future abode and they felt very responsible.
This hitch of not being met was most disconcerting. They had felt if
everything went off smoothly and well their choice of a home would be
smiled upon. First, the day they moved must be good, and this day in
October was surely perfect. The packing must be done without bustle
and confusion, and that had been accomplished. They must have a good
luncheon before leaving Richmond, and Miss Elizabeth Somerville, who had
invited them to her house, had feasted her cousins most royally, sending
them forth with well-nourished bodies and peaceful minds in consequence.
This was the first obstacle to their carefully laid plans. They were to
learn that no plan depending in any particular on the coöperation of
their landladies, the Misses Grant, would go through safely.
Miss Ella and Miss Louise Grant were joint owners of the small farm that
the glib real estate agent had persuaded Dr. Wright and our girls was
the one and only place in which the winter could be comfortably spent.
"Excellent air and water; close to schools and churches; neighborhood as
good as to be found in Virginia, and what more could be said? House one
of the old landmarks of the county; the view from the front porch quite
a famous one; R. F. D. at yard gate; commuting distance from Richmond;
roads excellent, as we have found on our way here." They had motored out
and certainly the roads had seemed very good.
The Misses Grant were all that was left of a large and at one time
influential family. They lived in a great old mansion erected in the
middle of what was at one time a vast estate but which had gradually
shrunk through generations of mortgages until now it comprised about two
thousand acres. The name of this old place was Grantly.
The farm that Helen and Douglas had rented for the year was only called
a farm by courtesy, as it had in its holding only about ten acres. It
had at one time been the home of the overseer of Grantly when that
aristocratic estate could boast an overseer. It was too humble an abode
to have a name of its own, but our girls were determined to give it a
name when they found out what would suit it. Now they stood on the
platform of the tiny station and said in their hearts that such a place,
belonging to such unreliable persons, deserved no name at all.
"Oh, I'm so sorry they haven't sent to meet us. They told me if I would
write to them they would have a carriage and a farm wagon here," wailed
Douglas.
"Why not walk?" suggested Mr. Carter. "A quarter of a mile is nothing."
"Oh, do let's walk!" exclaimed Lucy. "We can just leave the luggage
here and get someone to come back for it."
"All of you can walk," came faintly from Mrs. Carter. "Just leave me
here alone. I don't fancy anything much will happen to me."
"But Mumsy, only a quarter of a mile!" begged Lucy.
"Why, my child, I never expect to walk more than a few blocks again as
long as I live."
Mr. Carter looked pained and ended by staying with his wife while the
four girls and Bobby trooped off to find someone to send for them.
"Why does Mother say she never expects to walk more than a few blocks
again as long as she lives?" blurted out Lucy. "Is she sick? She looks
to me like she's getting fat."
"Tell her that," suggested Nan, "and I bet you she will find she can
walk a teensy little more than a few blocks."