A Mutual Friend
DURING the blissful summer that Jean, Bettie, Mabel, and Marjory had
spent in Dandelion Cottage, and before the coming of Henrietta, the
little girls had frequently found themselves in need of real money for
their make-believe housekeeping. In order to procure the needed funds,
they had rented a room to a charming young woman named Miss Blossom.
Miss Blossom's father, an organ tuner by profession, visited many towns
in the course of a year. In July, while the castaways were still in
camp, some portion of the Presbyterian organ in Lakeville went wrong;
and skilful Mr. Blossom, summoned to that town to repair it, was
accompanied by his very pleasant daughter. Of course the very first
thing she did was to ask for her young friends.
"We've only three days to spend here," said she, "but I _should_ like
to see those darling girls--I've thought of them so many, many times."
"Suppose," said Mrs. Bennett, to whom Miss Blossom had appealed, "you
go to Mr. Saunders--he may be sending things up."
"Mr. William Saunders?" queried the young woman, with interest. "Oh--I
met him when I was here last summer. Thank you--I'll get father to take
me to his office this noon."
So that is how it happened that the ever-useful Saunders, who had
been commissioned to supply Laddie-Billy with a wardrobe, loaded Miss
Blossom aboard Captain Berry's launch that very afternoon. And then,
feeling certain that the pleasant and very pretty young woman would
be lonely with no one but the captain for company, Mr. Saunders added
himself to the load.
The castaways, always eager for the arrival of parcels from home, were
all on the beach to welcome the unexpected visitors. Even Billy, who
declared that he had never felt better in his life, was part of the
sunburnt group.
"I know," lamented Billy, "that those clothes'll be too small--I've
grown a foot since Mr. Black measured me three days ago."
"Oh, not a whole foot," protested Mrs. Crane, eying her patient with
pride. "But I do think you're a credit to my nursing."
"It isn't everybody," beamed Billy, "that has such a fine nurse--shall
I help with that boat, Mr. Black?"
"No, Dave'll take her out."
"Why!" cried Marjory, "there are _people_ getting into Captain Berry's
skiff."
"I think," said Jean, a moment later, "that the man is Mr. Saunders;
but I don't know the lady--I can't see her face."
"She looks young," said Marjory, with a sigh of relief. "Too young to
be Aunty Jane. Just at first--Ugh! I was scared--Oh! It's----"
"Why!" cried Billy, springing suddenly to his feet and rushing straight
toward the landing place, "it's Miss Blossom!"
"Miss Blossom!" gasped Jean, gazing in open-eyed amazement at the
others.
"Miss Blossom!" echoed Mabel.
"Miss Blossom!" breathed Bettie. "Oh! Look at Billy! It really _is_
Miss Blossom, and he knows her!"
It certainly looked as if Billy, the unknown castaway, had found a
friend; for, not waiting for the boat to land, he had rushed into the
water (it was shallow, you remember, for a long distance) and had
seized the surprised young woman in a bearlike hug.
"Miss Blossom! Miss Blossom!" he cried, hopefully. "What _is_ my name?"
"Why, my dear Laddie," returned the overwhelmed (and almost overturned)
young woman, "what does all this mean? Never before was I so warmly
greeted by any young man. Is this--Oh, I _see_. You're the sick and
shipwrecked boy that Mr. Saunders--but _you're_ not sick!"
"Not any more," gasped excited Billy, still with an arm about Miss
Blossom, as if fearful she might escape. "But I can't remember
anything. Tell me, quick--where did I come from?--who am I? I know
_you_. I pumped the organ for you--a big church--you played--Oh, tell
me, _tell_ me."
"Wait," pleaded Miss Blossom, "until we're on shore--you'll surely tip
us over."
"All right," agreed Billy, reluctantly. But so great was his eagerness
to get his friend ashore that he got behind the boat and pushed.
"Now," demanded excited Billy, the moment Miss Blossom was out of the
boat, "what's the rest of my name? Laddie--Laddie _what_?"
"I don't know," confessed Miss Blossom, coloring with chagrin.
"Honestly I don't, Laddie. You see, so many boys have pumped organs for
us that I don't always remember even their _first_ names."
"But," panted Billy, with a catch in his throat, "surely you'll
remember the name of the town?"
"No--o," faltered Miss Blossom, "I'm afraid I don't. I remember your
face and your very bright hair--I can _see_ that bright head bobbing
up and down in the light of a stained glass window--but I _don't_
know which town or even which state I saw you in. But don't worry,
Laddie-boy. My father has a list of all the organs he has ever mended.
Now, it must be some time within the last two years that you pumped for
us; and it is probable that we stayed with that particular organ for a
number of days, else I wouldn't have had time to learn that you were
'Laddie'--I usually call the organ-pumper 'Boy.' Now, when I've looked
at father's list, I'll pick out all the _long_ jobs, discover what
towns they were in, and perhaps Mr. Saunders, here, will write a notice
to insert in the papers that are published in those towns. Don't worry.
One of them will certainly be your town. And here are all my precious
girls patiently waiting to be hugged!"
Miss Blossom proved a most delightful visitor. The girls wanted to
keep her, Mrs. Crane urged her to stay; but Miss Blossom declared that
she owed it to Laddie-Billy to get back to Lakeville as speedily as
possible. Captain Berry, also, would remain for only two hours; but
everybody visited fast and furiously for that precious interval of
time--it went all too quickly.
"I'm quite sure," declared Miss Blossom, at parting, "that father's
list will help."
"Let me know," pleaded Billy, who had donned his becoming new clothes
without delay and happily found them sufficiently large, "if you find
anything."
"I surely will," promised Miss Blossom.
Three days later, Mr. Saunders, this time on horseback, rode into camp.
"I'm commissioned," he explained, "to say a certain word in Billy's
hearing. Where is he?"
"Getting washed for dinner," replied Henrietta, flourishing the
bread-knife toward the river.
"Don't mention my errand," said Saunders. "I'll spring it on Billy when
we're all at table--I've invited myself to dinner."
"We'll let everybody get seated before we call Billy," agreed
Henrietta. "And I'll warn the girls. You might tie your horse behind
those bushes and perhaps he won't know you're here until you speak."
Sure enough, hungry Billy plunged to his place without observing the
visitor; but when the plates were filled, Mr. Saunders suddenly leaned
forward, looked at Billy, and remarked casually: "The last time I was
in Pittsburg----"
"Pittsburg!" gasped Billy, with widening eyes. "Were you ever in
Pittsburg?"
"No," admitted Saunders, rather sheepishly. "Were you?"
"Yes!" yelled Billy, joyously waving his slice of bread.
"Two-twenty-four Jefferson Street, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; population
three hundred and twenty-one thousand. _Sure!_ I was _born_ there!
That's where I _live_."
"But how," queried Henrietta, strong in all matters geographical,
"could a person set sail from Pittsburg and be wrecked at Pete's Patch,
Upper Michigan?"
"He couldn't," replied Mr. Black.
"Nevertheless," said Saunders, "I've sent notices to all the Pittsburg
papers--what's that street number again?"
"I--I don't know," stammered Billy. "It's gone again. I guess it's
easier to think when you're not trying to."
"Jefferson Street," supplied Marjory, who had remembered.
Billy nodded. "Yes," said he, "that sounds right. But how did you guess
Pittsburg, Mr. Saunders?"
"In Mr. Blossom's note-book there was an item, under the heading
'Pittsburg,' that read: 'Paid Laddie one dollar.'"
"Wonder where it went?" said the boy, turning his empty pockets inside
out.
"By this time to-morrow," promised Saunders, "all Pittsburg will know
that a Pittsburg boy name Laddie, wrecked on Lake Superior, is alive
and well in--or near--Lakeville."
"Lost:" murmured Laddie, "a brindle pup; answers to the name of Billy.
Well, I'm awfully obliged, Mr. Saunders; and my folks--I wonder if my
folks _want_ to find me? Do you s'pose they do?"
"I'm sure of it," declared Mrs. Crane. "But if they don't, _I'll_ keep
you."
"Nobody'd ever think," sniffed Mabel, overcome with emotion, "that
_I'd_ found that boy--everybody adopting him all the time."
"You found Rosa Marie, too, didn't you?" teased Billy. "Well, I refuse
to be a twin sister to Rosa Marie."
"Who," asked Saunders, "is Rosa Marie?"
"She's a relative," remarked Mr. Black, dryly, "that Dave imported for
the express purpose of eating our berries. Dave, it seems, not only
lives here himself but entertains his relatives at our expense."
"And Peter encourages Dave in all his iniquity," added Mrs. Crane.
"And," laughed Bettie, "Mrs. Crane cooks for Dave and all his visitors."
"Well," admitted Mrs. Crane, "they'd either starve or steal if I
didn't."
"Dave," said Marjory, who had learned much of the Gurneau family
history from the friendly Indian, "has nine brothers and seven
sisters--his mother had seventeen children."
"Good gracious!" exclaimed Mr. Black, "do they _all_ live here at
times?"
"No," laughed Marjory. "Most of them are in Canada."
"Dear me," breathed Mrs. Crane, fervently, "I hope they'll stay there."