E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Emmy, and the Project Gutenberg Online
Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)
Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
file which includes the original illustrations.
See 25578-h.htm or 25578-h.zip:
(https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/5/7/25578/25578-h/25578-h.htm)
or
(https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/5/7/25578/25578-h.zip)
THE SUNBRIDGE GIRLS AT SIX STAR RANCH
by
ELEANOR STUART
Illustrated by Frank J. Murch
[Illustration: "REDDY WAS RIGHT THERE EVERY TIME"
(_See page 113_)]
[Illustration]
Boston L. C. Page &
Company Publishers
Copyright, 1913
by L. C. Page & Company
(Incorporated)
All rights reserved
First Impression, April, 1913
Second Impression, January, 1914
The Colonial Press
C. H. Simonds & Co., Boston, U. S. A.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. AUNT SOPHRONIA 1
II. PLANS FOR TEXAS 12
III. THE COMING OF GENEVIEVE 28
IV. ON THE WAY 44
V. THE BOYS PREPARE A WELCOME 61
VI. CORDELIA SEES A COWBOY 72
VII. THE RANCH HOUSE 86
VIII. THE MISTRESS OF THE SIX STAR RANCH 99
IX. REDDY AND THE BRONCHO 110
X. CORDELIA GOES TO CHURCH 121
XI. QUENTINA 137
XII. THE OPENING OF A BARREL 157
XIII. THE PRAIRIE--AND MOONLIGHT 171
XIV. A MAN AND A MYSTERY 185
XV. THE ALAMO 201
XVI. TILLY CROSSES BRIDGES 215
XVII. "BERTHA'S ACCIDENT" 225
XVIII. THE GOLDEN HOURS 235
XIX. HERMIT JOE 248
XX. THE NEW BOY 260
XXI. GENEVIEVE LEARNS SOMETHING NOT IN BOOKS 278
XXII. A TEXAS "MISSIONARY" 296
XXIII. GENEVIEVE GOES TO BOSTON 307
XXIV. A BROWN DRESS FOR ELSIE 324
XXV. "WHEN SUNBRIDGE WENT TO TEXAS" 339
XXVI. A GOOD-BY PARTY 349
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
"REDDY WAS RIGHT THERE EVERY TIME" (_See page 113_) _Frontispiece_
"A TALL, SLENDER GIRL ... APPEARED AT A CAR DOOR" 30
"'FOLLOW ME--QUICK!' HE ORDERED" 181
"'THERE, NOW--LOOK!' SHE ADDED" 207
"'HOW DO YOU DO, MR. OLIVER HOLMES,' SHE BEGAN" 265
"IT WOULD BE SOMETHING OF A WALK, THE WOMAN SAID, AS
SHE GAVE DIRECTIONS" 320
The Sunbridge Girls at Six Star Ranch
CHAPTER I
AUNT SOPHRONIA
The Reverend Thomas Wilson's sister, Miss Sophronia, had come to
Sunbridge on a Tuesday evening late in June to make her brother's family
a long-promised visit. But it was not until the next morning that she
heard something that sent her to her sister-in-law in a burst of
astonishment almost too great for words.
"For pity's sake, Mary, what is this I hear?" she demanded. "Edith
insists that her cousin, Cordelia, is going to Texas next week--to
Texas!--_Cordelia!_"
"Yes, she is, Sophronia," replied the minister's wife, trying to make
her answer sound as cheerful and commonplace as she could, and as if
Texas were in the next room. (It was something of a trial to Mrs.
Thomas Wilson that her husband's sister could not seem to understand
that she, a minister's wife for eighteen years and the mother of five
children, ought to know what was proper and right for her orphaned niece
to do--at least fully as much as should a spinster, who had never
brought up anything but four cats and a parrot!) "Edith is quite right.
Cordelia is going to Texas next week."
"But, Mary, are you crazy? To let a child like that go all the way from
here to Texas--one would think New Hampshire and Texas were twenty miles
apart!"
Mrs. Wilson sighed a little wearily.
"Cordelia isn't exactly a child, Sophronia, you must remember that. She
was sixteen last November; and she's very self-reliant and capable for
her age, too. Besides, she isn't going alone, you know."
"Alone!" exclaimed Miss Sophronia. "Mary, surely, the rest that Edith
said isn't true! Those other girls aren't going, too, are they?--Elsie
Martin, and that flyaway Tilly Mack, and all?"
"I think they are, Sophronia."
"Well, of all the crazy things anybody ever heard of!" almost groaned
the lady. "Mary, what _are_ you thinking of?"
"I'm thinking of Cordelia," returned the minister's wife, with a spirit
that was as sudden as it was unusual. "Sophronia, for twelve years, ever
since she came to me, Cordelia has been just a Big Sister in the
family; and she's had to fetch and carry and trot and run her little
legs off for one after another of the children, as well as for her uncle
and me. You _know_ how good she is, and how conscientious. You know how
anxious she always is to do exactly right. She's never had a playday,
and I'm sure she deserves one if ever a girl did! Vacations to her have
never meant anything but more care and more time for housework."
Mrs. Wilson paused for breath, then went on with renewed vigor.
"When this chance came up, Tom and I thought at first, of course, just
as you did, that it was quite out of the question; but--well, we decided
to let her go. And I haven't been sorry a minute since. She's Tom's only
brother's child, but we've never been able to do much for her, as you
know. We can let her have this chance, though. And she's so happy--dear
child!"
"But what is it? How did it happen? Who's going? Edith's story sounded
so absurd to me I could make precious little out of it. She insisted
that the 'Happy X's' were going."
The minister's wife smiled.
"It's the girls' 'Hexagon Club,' Sophronia. They call themselves the
'Happy Hexagons.' There are six of them."
"Humph!" commented Miss Sophronia. "Who are they--besides Cordelia?"
"Bertha Brown, Tilly Mack, Alma Lane, Elsie Martin, and Genevieve
Hartley."
"And _who_?" frowned Miss Sophronia at the last name.
"Genevieve Hartley. She is the little Texas girl. It is to her ranch
they are going."
"_Her_ ranch!"
"Well--her father's."
"But who is she? What's she doing here?"
"She's been going to school this winter. She's at the Kennedys'."
"A Texas ranch-girl at the Kennedys'! Why, they're _nice_ people!"
exclaimed Miss Sophronia, opening wide her eyes.
Mrs. Wilson laughed now outright.
"You'd better not let Miss Genevieve hear you say 'nice' in that tone of
voice--and in just that connection, Sophronia," she warned her.
"Genevieve might think you meant to insinuate that there weren't any
_nice_ people in Texas--and she's very fond of Texas!"
Miss Sophronia smiled grimly.
"Well, I don't mean that, of course. Still, a ranch must be sort of wild
and--and mustangy, seems to me; and I was thinking of the Kennedys,
especially Miss Jane Chick. Imagine saying 'wild' and 'Miss Jane' in the
same breath!"
"Yes, I know," smiled Mrs. Wilson; "and I guess Genevieve has been
something of a trial--in a way; though they love her dearly--both of
them. She's a very lovable girl. But she _is_ heedless and thoughtless;
and, of course, she wasn't at all used to our ways here in the East. Her
mother died when she was eight years old; since then she has been
brought up by her father on the ranch. She blew into Sunbridge last
August like a veritable breeze from her own prairies--and the Kennedy
home isn't used to breezes--especially Miss Jane. I imagine Genevieve
did stir things up a little there all winter--though she has improved a
great deal since she came."
"But why did she come in the first place?"
Mrs. Wilson smiled oddly.
"That's the best part of it," she said. "It seems that last April, when
Mrs. Kennedy and Miss Chick were on their way home from California, they
stopped in Houston, Texas, a few days, and there they met John Hartley
and his daughter, Genevieve. It appears they had known him years ago
when they were 'the Chick girls,' and he came to Sunbridge to visit
relatives. I've heard it whispered that he was actually a bit in love
with one of them, though I never heard whether it was Miss Jane, or the
one who is now the Widow Kennedy. However that may be, he was delighted
to see them in Texas, report says, and to introduce to them his
daughter, Genevieve."
"But that doesn't explain how the girl came here," frowned Miss
Sophronia.
"No, but I will," smiled her sister-in-law. "Fond and proud as Mr.
Hartley very plainly was of his daughter, it did not take Mrs. Kennedy
long to see that he was very much disturbed at the sort of life she was
living at the ranch. That is, he felt that the time had come now when
she needed something that only school, young girl friends, and
gently-bred women could give her; yet he could not bear the thought of
sending her off alone to an ordinary boarding school. Then is when Mrs.
Kennedy arose to the occasion; and very quickly it was settled that
Genevieve should come here to her in Sunbridge for school this last
winter--which she did, and Mrs. Kennedy has been a veritable mother to
her ever since. She calls her 'Aunt Julia.'"
"Hm-m; very fine, I'm sure," murmured Miss Sophronia, a little shortly.
"And now she's asked these girls home with her--the whole lot of them!"
"Yes; and they're crazy over it--as you'd know they would be."
Miss Sophronia sniffed audibly.
"Humph! It's the parents that are crazy, I'm thinking," she corrected.
"Imagine it--six scatter-brained children, and all the way to Texas!
Mary!"
"Oh, but the father is in the East here, on business and he goes back
with them," conciliated Mrs. Wilson, hastily. "Besides, Mrs. Kennedy is
going, too."
Miss Sophronia raised her eyebrows.
"Well, I can't say I envy her the thing she's undertaken. Imagine _my_
attempting to chaperon six crazy girls all the way from New Hampshire to
Texas--and then on a ranch for nobody knows how long after that!"
"I can't imagine--_your_ doing it, Sophronia," rejoined the minister's
wife, demurely. And at the meaning emphasis and the twinkle in her eye,
Miss Sophronia sniffed again audibly.
"When do they go?" she asked in her stiffest manner.
"The first day of July."
"Indeed! Very fine, I'm sure. Still--I've been thinking of the expense.
Of course, for a minister--"
Mrs. Wilson bit her lip. After a moment she filled the pause that her
sister-in-law had left.
"I understand, of course, what you mean, Sophronia," she acknowledged.
"And ministers' families don't have much money for Texas trips, I'll
own. As it happens, however, the trip will cost the young people
nothing. Mr. Hartley very kindly bears all the expenses."
"He does?"
"Yes. He declares he shall be in the girls' debt even then. You see,
last winter Genevieve sprained her ankle, and was shut up for weeks in
the house. It was a very bad sprain, and naturally it came pretty hard
on such an active, outdoor girl as she is. Mrs. Kennedy says she thinks
Genevieve and all the rest of them would have gone wild if it hadn't
been for the girls. One or more of them was there every day. Then is
when they formed their Hexagon Club. It was worth everything to
Genevieve, as you can imagine; and Mr. Hartley declares that nothing he
can ever do will half repay them. Besides, he wants Genevieve to be with
nice girls all she can--she's had so little of girls' society. So he's
asked them to go as his guests."
"Dear me! Well, he must have some money!"
"He has. Mrs. Kennedy says he is a man of independent means, and he has
no one but Genevieve to spend his money on. So, as for this trip--in his
whole-hearted, generous Western fashion, he pays all the bills himself."
"Hm-m; very kind, I'm sure," admitted Miss Sophronia, grudgingly. "Well,
I'm glad, at least, that it doesn't cost you anything."
There was a moment's silence, then Mrs. Wilson said, apologetically:
"I'm sorry, Sophronia, but I'm afraid you'll have to stand it till the
children go--and there'll be something to stand, too; for it's 'Texas,
Texas, Texas,' from morning till night, everywhere. Genevieve herself
is in New Jersey visiting friends, but that doesn't seem to make any
difference. The whole town is wildly excited over the trip. I found even
little Mrs. Miller, the dressmaker, yesterday poring over an old atlas
spread out on her cutting-table.
"'I was just a-lookin' up where Texas was,' she explained when she saw
me. 'My! only think of havin' folks go all that distance--folks I know,
I mean. I'm sure I'd never dare to go--or let my girl.'"
"Very sensible woman, I'm sure," remarked Miss Sophronia.
Mrs. Wilson smiled; but she went on imperturbably.
"Even the little tots haven't escaped infection. Imagine my sensations
Sunday when Bettie Barker, the primmest Miss Propriety in my infant
class, asked: 'Please, Mis' Wilson, what is a broncho, and how do you
bust 'em?'"
This, indeed, was too much for even Miss Sophronia's gravity. Her lips
twitched and relaxed in a broad smile.
"Well, upon my word!" she ejaculated, as she rose to her feet to go
up-stairs to her room. "Upon my word!"
An hour later, in that same room, Mrs. Wilson, going in to place some
fresh towels upon the rack, found a huge book spread open on Miss
Sophronia's bed. The book was number seven in the Reverend Thomas
Wilson's most comprehensive encyclopedia; and it was open at the word
"Texas."
Mrs. Wilson smiled and went out, closing the door softly behind her.
It was, indeed, as Mrs. Wilson had said, "Texas, Texas, Texas,"
everywhere throughout the town. Old atlases were brought down from
attics, and old geographies were dug out of trunks. Even the
dictionaries showed smudges in the T's where not over-clean fingers had
turned hurried pages for possible information. The library was besieged
at all hours, particularly by the Happy Hexagons, for they, of course,
were the storm-center of the whole thing.
Ordinarily the club met but once a week; now they met daily--even in the
absence of their beloved president, Genevieve. Heretofore they had met
usually in the parsonage; now they met in the grove back of the
schoolhouse.
"It seems more appropriate, somehow," Elsie had declared; "more sort of
airy and--Texasy!"
"Yes; and we want to get used to space--wide, wide space! Genevieve says
it's all space," Bertha Brown had answered, with a far-reaching fling of
her arms.
"Ouch! Bertha! Just be sure you've got the space, then, before you get
used to it," retorted Tilly, aggrievedly, straightening her hat which
had been knocked awry by one of the wide-flung arms.
The Happy Hexagons met, of course, to study Texas, and to talk Texas;
though, as Bertha Brown's brother, Charlie, somewhat impertinently
declared, they did not need to meet to _talk_ Texas--they did that
without any meeting! All of which merely meant, of course, retaliated
the girls, that Charlie was jealous because he also could not go to
Texas.