Shirley sat with shining eyes and glowing cheeks, turning over the
leaves of the magazines with trembling fingers, but unable to read
anything, for the joy of what was before her. A real automobile ride!
The first she had ever had! And it was to include George and Carol!
How wonderful! And how kind in him, how thoughtful, to take his own
sister, and hers, and so make the trip perfectly conventional and
proper! What a nice face he had! What fine eyes! He didn't seem in
the least like the young society man she knew he must be from the
frequent mention she had noticed of his name in the papers. He was a
real gentleman, a real nobleman! There were such. It was nice to know
of them now and then, even though they did move in a different orbit
from the one where she had been set. It gave her a happier feeling
about the universe just to have seen how nice a man could be to a poor
little nobody when he didn't have to. For of course it couldn't be
anything to him to rent that barn--at ten dollars a month! That was
ridiculous! Could it be that he was thinking her an object of charity?
That he felt sorry for her and made the price merely nominal? She
couldn't have that. It wasn't right nor honest, and--it wasn't
respectable! That was the way unprincipled men did when they wanted to
humor foolish little dolls of girls. Could it be that he thought of
her in any such way?
Her cheeks flamed hotly and her eyes flashed. She sat up very straight
indeed, and began to tremble. How was it she had not thought of such a
thing before? Her mother had warned her to be careful about having
anything to do with strange men, except in the most distant business
way; and here had she been telling him frankly all the private affairs
of the family and letting him make plans for her. How had it happened?
What must he think of her? This came of trying to keep a secret from
mother. She might have known it was wrong, and yet the case was so
desperate and mother so likely to worry about any new and
unconventional suggestion. It had seemed right. But of course it
wasn't right for her to fall in that way and allow him to take them all
in his car. She must put a stop to it somehow. She must go in the
trolley if she went at all. She wasn't sure but she had better call
the whole thing off and tell him they couldn't live in a barn, that she
had changed her mind. It would be so dreadful if he had taken her for
one of those girls who wanted to attract the attention of a young man!
In the midst of her perturbed thoughts the door opened and Sidney
Graham walked in again. His fine, clean-cut face and clear eyes
instantly dispelled her fears again. His bearing was dignified and
respectful, and there was something in the very tone of his voice as he
spoke to her that restored her confidence in him and in his impression
of her. Her half-formed intention of rising and declining to take the
ride with him fled, and she sat quietly looking at the pictures in the
magazine with unseeing eyes.
"I hope you will find something to interest you for a few minutes,"
young Graham said pleasantly. "It won't be long, but there are one or
two matters I promised father I would attend to before I left this
afternoon. There is an article in that other magazine under your hand
there about beautifying country homes, bungalows, and the like. It may
give you some ideas about the old barn. I shouldn't wonder if a few
flowers and vines might do a whole lot."
He found the place in the magazine, and left her again; and strangely
enough she became absorbed in the article because her imagination
immediately set to work thinking how glorious it would be to have a few
flowers growing where Doris could go out and water them and pick them.
She grew so interested in the remarks about what flowers would grow
best in the open and which were easiest to care for that she got out
her little pencil and notebook that were in her coat-pocket, and began
to copy some of the lists. Then suddenly the door opened again, and
Graham returned with George.
The boy stopped short on the threshold, startled, a white wave of
apprehension passing over his face. He did not speak. The boy-habit
of silence and self-control in a crisis was upon him. He looked with
apprehension from one to the other.
Shirley jumped to her feet.
"Oh, George, I'm so glad you could come! This is Mr. Graham. He has
been kind enough to offer to take us in his car to see a place we can
rent for the summer, and it was through his suggestion that Mr. Farwell
let you off for the afternoon."
There was a sudden relaxing of the tenseness in the young face and a
sigh of relief in the tone as the boy answered:
"Aw, gee! That's great! Thanks awfully for the holiday. They don't
come my way often. It'll be great to have a ride in a car, too. Some
lark, eh, Shirley?"
The boy warmed to the subject with the friendly grasp the young man
gave him, and Shirley could see her brother had made a good impression;
for young Graham was smiling appreciatively, showing all his even white
teeth just as if he enjoyed the boy's offhand way of talking.
"I'm going to leave you here for ten minutes more until I talk with a
man out here in the office. Then we will go," said young Graham, and
hurried away again.
"Gee, Shirley!" said the boy, flinging himself down luxuriously in a
big leather chair. "Gee! You certainly did give me some start! I
thought mother was worse, or you'd got arrested, or lost your job, or
something, finding you here in a strange office. Some class to this,
isn't there? Look at the thickness of that rug!" and he kicked the
thick Turkish carpet happily. "Say, he must have some coin! Who is
the guy, anyway? How'd ya get onto the tip? You don't think he's
handing out Vanderbilt residences at fifteen a month, do you?"
"Listen, George. I must talk fast because he may come back any minute.
Yesterday I got a half-holiday, and instead of going home I thought I'd
go out and hunt a house. I took the Glenside trolley; and, when we got
out past the city, I heard two men talking about a place we were
passing. It was a great big, beautiful stone barn. They told who
owned it, and said a lot about its having such a splendid spring of
water beside it. It was a beautiful place, George; and I couldn't help
thinking what a thing it would be for mother to be out in the country
this summer, and what a wonderful house that would make----"
"We couldn't live in a barn, Shirl!" said the boy, aghast.
"Wait, George. Listen. Just you don't say that till you see it. It's
the biggest barn you ever saw, and I guess it hasn't been used for a
barn in a long time. I got out of the trolley on the way back, and
went in. It is just enormous, and we could screen off rooms and live
like princes. It has a great big front door, and we could have a
hammock under the tree; and there's a brook to fish in, and a big third
story with hay in it. I guess it's what they call in books a hay-loft.
It's great."
"Gee!" was all the electrified George could utter. "Oh, gee!"
"It is on a little hill with the loveliest tree in front of it, and
right on the trolley line. We'd have to start a little earlier in the
morning; but I wouldn't mind, would you?"
"Naw!" said George, "but could we walk that far?"
"No, we'd have to ride, but the rent is so much lower it would pay our
carfare."
"Gee!" said George again, "isn't that great? And is this the guy that
owns it?"
"Yes, or at least he and his father do. He's been very kind. He's
taking all this trouble to take us out in his car to-day to make sure
if there is anything that needs to be done for our comfort there. He
certainly is an unusual man for a landlord."
"He sure is, Shirley. I guess mebbe he has a case on you the way he
looks at you."
"George!" said Shirley severely, the red staining her cheeks and her
eyes flashing angrily. "George! That was a _dreadful_ thing for you
to say. If you ever even think a thing like that again, I won't have
anything to do with him or the place. We'll just stay in the city all
summer. I suppose perhaps that would be better, anyway."
Shirley got up and began to button her coat haughtily, as if she were
going out that minute.
"Aw, gee, Shirley! I was just kidding. Can't you take a joke? This
thing must be getting on your nerves. I never saw you so touchy."
"It certainly is getting on my nerves to have you say a thing like
that, George."
Shirley's tone was still severe.
"Aw, cut the grouch, Shirley. I tell you I was just kidding. 'Course
he's a good guy. He probably thinks you're cross-eyed, knock-kneed----"
"George!" Shirley started for the door; but the irrepressible George
saw it was time to stop, and he put out an arm with muscles that were
iron-like from many wrestlings and ball-games with his fellow laborers
at the store.
"Now, Shirley, cut the comedy. That guy'll be coming back next, and
you don't want to have him ask what's the matter, do you? He certainly
is some fine guy. I wouldn't like to embarrass him, would you? He's a
peach of a looker. Say, Shirley, what do you figure mother's going to
say about this?"
Shirley turned, half mollified.
"That's just what I want to ask you, George. I don't want to tell
mother until it's all fixed up and we can show it to her. You know it
will sound a great deal worse to talk about living in a barn than it
will to go in and see it all fixed up with rugs and curtains and
screens and the piano and a couch, and the supper-table set, and the
sun setting outside the open door, and a bird singing in the tree."
"Gee! Shirley, wouldn't that be some class? Say, Shirley, don't let's
tell her! Let's just make her say she'll trust the moving to us to
surprise her. Can't you kid her along and make her willing for that?"
"Why, that was what I was thinking. If you think there's no danger she
will be disappointed and sorry, and think we ought to have done
something else."
"What else could we do? Say, Shirley, it would be great to sleep in
the hay-loft!"
"We could just tell her we were coming out in the country for the
summer to camp in a nice place where it was safe and comfortable, and
then we would have plenty of time to look around for the right kind of
a house for next winter."
"That's the dope, Shirley! You give her that. She'll fall for that,
sure thing. She'll like the country. At least, if it's like what you
say it is."
"Well, you wait till you see it."
"Have you told Carol?" asked George, suddenly sobering. Carol was his
twin sister, inseparable chum, and companion when he was at home.
"No," said Shirley, "I haven't had a chance; but Mr. Graham suggested
we drive around by the school and get her. Then she can see how she
likes it, too; and, if Carol thinks so, we'll get mother not to ask any
questions, but just trust to us."
"Gee! That guy's great. He's got a head on him. Some lark, what?"
"Yes, he's been very kind," said Shirley. "At first I told him I
couldn't let him take so much trouble for us, but he said he was going
to take his sister out for a ride----"
"A girl! Aw, gee! I'm going to beat it!" George stopped in his eager
walk back and forth across the office, and seized his old faded cap.
"George, stop! You mustn't be impolite. Besides, I think she's only a
very little girl, probably like Doris. He called her his 'kid sister.'"
"H'm! You can't tell. I ain't going to run any risks. I better beat
it."
But George's further intentions were suddenly brought to a finish by
the entrance of Mr. Sidney Graham.
"Well, Miss Hollister," he said with a smile, "we are ready at last.
I'm sorry to have kept you waiting so long; but there was something
wrong with one of my tires, and the chauffeur had to run around to the
garage. Come on, George," he said to the boy, who hung shyly behind
now, wary of any lurking female who might be haunting the path. "Guess
you'll have to sit in the front seat with me, and help me drive. The
chauffeur has to go back and drive for mother. She has to go to some
tea or other."
George suddenly forgot the possible girl, and followed his new hero to
the elevator with a swelling soul. What would the other fellows at the
store think of him? A whole half-holiday, an automobile-ride, and a
chance to sit in the front and learn to drive! But all he said was:
"Aw, gee! Yes, sure thing!"
The strange girl suddenly loomed on his consciousness again as they
emerged from the elevator and came out on the street. She was sitting
in the great back seat alone, arrayed in a big blue velvet coat the
color of her eyes, and George felt at once all hands and feet. She was
a slender wisp of a thing about Carol's age, with a lily complexion and
a wealth of gold hair caught in a blue veil. She smiled very prettily
when her brother introduced her as "Elizabeth." There was nothing
snobbish or disagreeable about her, but that blue velvet coat suddenly
made George conscious of his own common attire, and gave Shirley a pang
of dismay at her own little shabby suit.
However, Sidney Graham soon covered all differences in the attire of
his guests by insisting that they should don the two long blanket coats
that he handed them; and somehow when George was seated in the big
leather front seat, with that great handsome coat around his shoulders,
he did not much mind the blue velvet girl behind him, and mentally
resolved to earn enough to get Carol a coat like it some day; only
Carol's should be pink or red to go with her black eyes and pink cheeks.
After all, it was Shirley, not George, who felt embarrassment over the
strange girl and wished she had not come. She was vexed with herself
for it, too. It was foolish to let a child no older than Carol fluster
her so, but the thought of a long ride alone on that back seat with the
dainty young girl actually frightened her.
But Elizabeth was not frightened. She had been brought up in the
society atmosphere, and was at home with people always, everywhere.
She tucked the robes about her guest, helped Shirley button the big,
soft dark-blue coat about her, remarking that it got awfully chilly
when they were going; and somehow before Shirley had been able to think
of a single word to say in response the conversation seemed to be
moving along easily without her aid.
"Sid says we're going to pick up your sister from her school. I'm so
glad! How old is she? About my age? Won't that be delightful? I'm
rather lonesome this spring because all my friends are in school. I've
been away at boarding-school, and got the measles. Wasn't that too
silly for a great big girl like me? And the doctor said I couldn't
study any more this spring on account of my eyes. It's terribly
lonesome. I've been home six weeks now, and I don't know what to do
with myself. What's your sister's name? Carol? Carol Hollister?
That's a pretty name! Is she the only sister you have? A baby sister?
How sweet! What's her name? Oh, I think Doris is the cutest name
ever. Doris Hollister. Why don't we go and get Doris? Wouldn't she
like to ride, too? Oh, it's too bad your mother is ill; but of course
she wouldn't want to stay all alone in the house without some of her
family."
Elizabeth was tactful. She knew at a glance that trained nurses and
servants could not be plentiful in a family where the young people wore
such plain, old-style garments. She gave no hint of such a thought,
however.
"That's your brother," she went on, nodding toward George. "I've got
another brother, but he's seventeen and away at college, so I don't see
much of him. Sid's very good to me when he has time, and often he
takes me to ride. We're awfully jolly chums, Sid and I. Is this the
school where your sister goes? She's in high school, then. The third
year? My! She must be bright. I've only finished my second. Does
she know she's going with us? What fun to be called out of school by a
surprise! Oh, I just know I'm going to like her."
Shirley sat dumb with amazement, and listened to the eager gush of the
lively girl, wondered what shy Carol would say, trying to rouse herself
to answer the young questioner in the same spirit in which she asked
questions.
George came out with Carol in a very short time, Carol struggling into
her coat and trying to straighten her hat, while George mumbled in her
ear as he helped her clumsily:
"Some baby doll out there! Kid, you better preen your feathers. She's
been gassing with Shirley to beat the band I couldn't hear all they
said, but she asked a lot about you. You should worry! Hold up your
head, and don't flicker an eyelash. You're as good as she is any day,
if you don't look all dolled up like a new saloon. But she's some
looker! Pretty as a red wagon! Her brother's a peach of a fellow.
He's going to let me run the car when we get out of the city limit; and
say! Shirley says for me to tell you we're going out to look at a barn
where we're going to move this summer, and you're not to say a word
about it's being a barn. See? Get onto that sky-blue-pink satin scarf
she's got around her head? Ain't she some chicken, though?"
"Hush, George! She'll hear you!" murmured Carol in dismay. "What do
you mean about a barn? How could we live in a barn?"
"You just shut up and saw wood, kid, and you'll see. Shirley thinks
she's got onto something pretty good."
Then Carol was introduced to the beautiful blue-velvet girl and sat
down beside her, wrapped in a soft furry cloak of garnet, to be whirled
away into a fairy-land of wonder.