"Sit right there in a row in front of me, so that I may have a good look
at you, young ladies. Now, tell me all of your names. This one I know:
Mistress Elinor Butler, an American Princess. Wilhelmina Campbell? Ah,
you are the brave young woman who saves people's lives, Anne Starbuck
Brown? You're Irish, my dear, I can tell by your blue eyes and your
pretty, impudent face. Mary Anastasia Price? Those eyes of yours, my
child, are too earnest and serious for this wicked world."
Mrs. Paxton-Steele had left her room this morning for the first time
since the explosion, and the two Edwards, her grandsons, as like as two
peas in a pod, had pushed her rolling chair down to the beach. Then she
had sent her man servant scurrying back to the hotel with her
compliments to the Motor Maids--and would they do her the pleasure of
calling on her that morning on the sands?
Her tongue was still quite thick and her head shook a little as she
spoke, but the old eagle sat as erect as ever, the brim of her garden
hat flapping up and down in the breeze as it always had.
The girls felt sorry for the aged woman whose early life had been filled
with sorrows and disappointments and her last years poisoned by scheming
relatives who desired her money.
"So these are the Motor Maids," went on Mrs. Paxton-Steele. "Do you
know, my dears, why I asked you to spend one of your golden hours with a
stricken old woman like me? It is because I want to thank you. You have
taught me the second great lesson of my life. The first one I learned
when I was a young woman. The second one now comes to me on the brink of
the grave.
"A vain, cruel, stupid bully! A selfish old woman, eh?"
Elinor flushed. How disrespectful those words seemed to her now!
But the old eagle chuckled to herself.
"I have certainly been all those things," she continued, "and I want to
thank you, Mistress Elinor, for speaking out your mind. You might have
added blind, too. I have been blind--blind.
"My poor boys who have been dead so long, have been restored to me in
their own sons, and I am very happy."
Here she paused and closed her eyes to hide the tears which had welled
into them.
"Yes, I am happy," she went on. "They are fine boys, both of them. And
all of this I owe to the Motor Maids. You have done what I could not do.
You have righted a great wrong and reunited a broken, scattered family.
"I am glad--yes, proud, that my new grandchildren are half American. And
now give me your hand, each one of you, and run along and play. I am old
and tired, but, thank God, I am still alive and able to enjoy this last
blessing of my life."
One by one the four girls bowed their heads over the hand of the broken
old eagle, pretending not to notice the two tears which trickled down
her furrowed cheeks.
They smiled at the two Edwards, who stood like sentinels at the side of
her chair, waved a gay salutation to Virginia and Georgiana coming
toward them arm in arm, and all but collided with Mr. Ignatius Donahue
following behind at a slower pace.
"Where are you running away to, my pretty maids?" he cried, spreading
out his arms playfully to block their passage.
"This is our last day at Palm Beach, you know," answered Billie. "We
leave for home to-night, and we are going to ride out in the Comet to
say good-bye to the Duffys."
"And we are to have no more jolly picnics?" he asked.
"Not unless you come to West Haven, Mr. Donahue, and let us take you on
a Comet picnic to Seven League Island."
Mr. Donahue looked at them with that humorous, quizzical expression that
they remembered to have noticed in his photograph.
"I'm going to have a picnic party myself in a few months," he said, "and
if that picnic comes off, you may see a private car backed upon a side
track in West Haven, and you will know, if you do, that at the happiest
period of my life I have come to spend a day with the four nice girls
who helped to bring it about."
"Why, what does he mean?" asked Elinor, as they hurried on to the hotel.
"I think he means he is going to marry Mrs. l'Estrange," answered
Billie. "He has brought a big osteopath down here to see her and
something's being put to rights in her spine. She's expected to get
perfectly well, Virginia told me."
"But how did we bring anything about?"
"I can't say, unless it was the Comet, bless him, that got us to the
burning house in time to save her life."
The red car was waiting for them when they reached the hotel, and Miss
Campbell, also, on the piazza, her peach-blossom face framed in the
familiar motor veil of sky blue.
Presently they rolled swiftly away toward the home of their good
friends, the Duffys, and in the memories of all who saw them start on
that bright morning, there was left no happier impression of Florida's
holiday glory than the light in the faces of the four Motor Maids.
If the girls themselves could have seen, stretching far into the future,
the road of experience and adventure over which the Comet was to take
them, their faces would have been aglow with anticipation as well as
with present pleasure. For the way that they were next to travel is one
that each and all should know, and even if you can go in no other party,
we are sure that you will enjoy following "The Motor Maids Across the
Continent," in the story of their next trip.
* * * * * *
Girls Banner Series
A desirable assortment of books for girls, by standard and favorite
authors. Each title is complete and unabridged. Printed on a good
quality of paper from large, clear type and bound in cloth. Each book is
wrapped in a special multi-colored jacket.
1. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland _Carroll_
2. Alice Through the Looking Glass _Carroll_
3. Campfire Girls on a Long Hike _Francis_
4. Daddy's Girl _Meade_
5. Dog of Flanders, A _Ouida_
6. Elsie Dinsmore _Finley_
7. Ethel Hollister's 1st summer as a Campfire Girl _Benson_
8. Ethel Hollister's 2nd summer as a Campfire Girl _Benson_
9. Faith Gartney's Girlhood _Whitney_
10. Four Little Mischiefs _Mulholland_
11. Polly, A New Fashioned Girl _Meade_
12. World of Girls _Meade_
For Sale by all Booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of 40 cents
M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY
701-733 S. DEARBORN STREET :: CHICAGO
* * * * * *
Victory Boy Scout Series
Stories by a writer who possesses a thorough knowledge of this subject.
Handsomely bound in cloth; colored jacket wrapper.
1. The Campfires of the Wolf Patrol
2. Woodcraft; or, How a Patrol Leader Made Good
3. Pathfinder; or, the Missing Tenderfoot
4. Great Hike; or, The Pride of Khaki Troop
5. Endurance Test; or, How Clear Grit Won the Day
6. Under Canvas; or, the Search for the Carteret Ghost
7. Storm-bound; or, a Vacation among the Snow Drifts
8. Afloat; or, Adventures on Watery Trails
9. Tenderfoot Squad; or, Camping at Raccoon Bluff
10. Boy Scouts in an Airship
11. Boy Scout Electricians; or, the Hidden Dynamo
12. Boy Scouts on Open Plains
For Sale by all Booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of 40 cents
M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY
701-733 S. DEARBORN STREET :: CHICAGO
* * * * * *
The Boys' Elite Series
12mo, cloth. Price 75c each.
Contains an attractive assortment of books for boys by standard and
favorite authors. Printed from large, clear type on a superior quality
of paper, bound in a superior quality of binders' cloth, ornamented with
illustrated original designs on covers stamped in colors from unique and
appropriate dies. Each book wrapped in attractive jacket.
1. Cudjo's Cave, _Trowbridge_
2. Green Mountain Boys,
3. Life of Kit Carson, _Edward L. Ellis_
4. Tom Westlake's Golden Luck, _Perry Newberry_
5. Tony Keating's Surprises, _Mrs. G. R. Alden (Pansy)_
6. Tour of the World in 80 Days, _Jules Verne_
The Girls' Elite Series
12mo, cloth. Price 75c each.
Contains an assortment of attractive and desirable books for girls by
standard and favorite authors. The books are printed on a good quality
of paper in large clear type. Each title is complete and unabridged.
Bound in clothene, ornamented on the sides and back with attractive
illustrative designs and the title stamped on front and back.
1. Bee and the Butterfly, _Lucy Foster Madison_
2. Dixie School Girl, _Gabrielle E. Jackson_
3. Girls of Mount Morris, _Amanda Douglas_
4. Hope's Messenger, _Gabrielle E. Jackson_
5. The Little Aunt, _Marion Ames Taggart_
6. A Modern Cinderella, _Amanda Douglas_
For sale by all Booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of 75c
M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY
701-733 S. DEARBORN STREET :: CHICAGO
* * * * * *
Radio Boys Series
1. Radio Boys in the Secret Service; or, Cast Away on an Iceberg, _Frank
Honeywell_
2. Radio Boys on the Thousand Islands; or, The Yankee Canadian Wireless
Trail, _Frank Honeywell_
3. Radio Boys in the Flying Service; or, Held for Ransom by Mexican
Bandits, _J. W. Duffield_
4. Radio Boys Under the Sea; or, The Hunt for the Sunken Treasure, _J.
W. Duffield_
5. Radio Boys Cronies; or, Bill Brown's Radio, _Wayne Whipple_
6. Radio Boys Loyalty; or, Bill Brown Listens In, _Wayne Whipple_
Peggy Parson's Series
By Annabel Sharp
A popular and charming series of Girl's books dealing in an interesting
and fascinating manner with the the life and adventures of Girlhood so
dear to all Girls from eight to fourteen years of age. Printed from
large clear type on superior quality paper, multicolor jacket. Bound in
cloth.
1. Peggy Parson Hampton Freshman
2. Peggy Parson at Prep School
For sale by all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt of 75c.
M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY
701-733 S. DEARBORN STREET :: CHICAGO