Annie Roe Carr

“ Think of seeing two hundred millionaires all in one place, instead of only a dozen!"
"If you break in, Bess, you may get into trouble," said Walter, with a twinkle in his eye. "What if several of the millionaires proposed to you at once? You wouldn't know which one to take, you know you wouldn't."
"Then I wouldn't take any of them," announced the girl from Tillbury promptly.
"What, throw a real millionaire overboard?" and Walter gave a pretended gasp.
"Of course. A millionaire might be nice to look at and very hateful to live with," and Bess flung back her head as if that settled it. ”

“ There was a chorus of joyous exclamations from the girls, as they rose to their feet and noted how far out they were on the lake.
"What a perfectly lovely sled!" exclaimed Rhoda Hammond. "I never had such a ride as that in my life."
"You darling!" said Nan impulsively, as she patted the wheel of her treasure.
"The other girls will have to go some to come anywhere near that mark," bubbled Bess.
"Linda will be green with jealousy," laughed Laura. "She thinks that that Gay Girl of hers is the fastest thing that ever wore runners." ”

“ And every day that passes of this kind of weather makes it thicker and stronger."
"My, but that's a comfort," remarked Laura. "I'd hate to have this young life of mine cut off just when it's so full of promise."
"How Laura hates herself," put in Bess Harley.
"You're perfectly safe, Laura," Nan assured her. "Only the good die young, you know."
The professor's kindly eyes twinkled as he looked from one to the other of the rosy-cheeked, sparkling-eyed girls, bubbling over with fun and vitality. ”

“ Nan asked, looking up at them with shining eyes. "Isn't it wonderful to be able to make somebody just a little bit happier because they have met you?"
"Maybe that's why we are all so happy," said Bess gaily, flinging her arms about her chum. "Because we have you, Nan Sherwood."
"Now with Nan's villains and Linda off our minds," drawled Rhoda, sinking lazily down into the depths of a big chair, "we ought to be able to enjoy ourselves."
"Will we!" cried Grace softly. "Just you watch us!"
The next morning they started back for Palm Beach. ”

“ Nan interrupted with a chuckle. "Papa Sherwood says that if all the men had hair like the movie heroes they would have to spend all their energy growing it and wouldn't have time to attend to their brains. And then where would their millions be?"
"Well," said Bess, unable to find an answer to this queer question, yet still indignant, nevertheless, "you needn't go to work to spoil all my illusions. I don't believe you have a speck of romance anywhere about you, Nan Sherwood." ”

“ For a while after that the happy girls forgot to talk and sat staring contentedly out at the flying landscape while the train pounded on heavily over the rails, singing its everlasting "catch 'em up, catch 'em up, catch 'em up."
Then suddenly Bess spoke, taking up the conversation where they had left it.
"If all we are going to find at Palm Beach is bald men and fussy women," she said, "I must say I don't see how we are going to have much fun."
"Oh, don't be such a silly," laughed Nan. "Of course we are going to find something else. There's the ocean and the palm trees. ”

“ It was a wonderful journey, that one to Jacksonville, and one the girls never forgot. At first the weather was unpleasant, cold and blowy, but toward the afternoon of the second day the gentle winds of the south fanned them with their welcoming breath, and heavy wraps began to feel burdensome.
At first the girls had been afraid that they would become seasick and had wondered what they would do should such a weakness overtake them.
"I know I'll just lie down and die, if I get sick on this steamer," Bess had declared.
"Oh, no, you won't, Bess," Nan had made reply. ”

“ With wild shouts and much laughter the race around the campus was on.
Nan won "by a nose," as Laura rather slangily put it, and the girls, glowing and breathless, looked like anything else than confessed law-breakers doing penance.
The sight of their happy faces was too much for Linda, who, with Cora, was passing them, drawing the Gay Girl and carrying their skates over their shoulders.
"Some people try mighty hard to show that they're having a good time," she remarked to her companion. ”

“ Nan replied and got to her feet.
"Maybe those men——"
"Hush! If they are outside the door they may hear you, Bess."
With caution the two girls tiptoed to first one door and then the other and peered out.
In the cabin only a porter sleeping in an armchair was to be seen, while out on the deck not a soul was in sight.
"You must have been dreaming, Nan," said Bess, yawning. "Come, let us try to get some more rest before morning."
Nan was not satisfied and looked all around the stateroom, thinking a mouse might be wandering around. But no mouse was found, and at last both girls retired again. ”

“ I'll be glad when this trip is over, I'll tell you that."
"So will I," said Bess morosely. "But I'll be gladder still when you get rid of those old papers of Mrs. Bragley's—if that is what they are after."
"The one thing that makes me feel good," said Nan thoughtfully, as if speaking to herself, "is that the papers must be worth something or these horrid men wouldn't be so anxious to get them back. Maybe we shall find that poor Mrs. Bragley is a rich woman yet." ”

“ In a twinkling two motionless forms lay in Nan's bed. Rhoda had switched off the light, and the high backs of chairs and sofa hid crouching figures, while the almost too regular breathing of the supposed sleepers was the only sound to be heard when the door opened and the severe and angular form of Mrs. Cupp stood outlined in the dim light from the corridor. ”

“ The weather had seemed uncomfortably warm at the hotel, but when they reached the beach the girls were surprised to find that they felt chilly.
"Goodness!" said Bess with a shiver, "I think I will let you girls go in and I'll stay here. Experience has taught me that the beautiful green ocean about these parts isn't always as balmy and warm as it's reported to be."
"No, you don't," said Nan decidedly. "You know very well it spoils all the fun if one of us backs out. Come on, Rhoda, you take the other arm. ”

“ Try as she might, Nan could not get him to alter his decision, and finally gave up the attempt in despair.
"Grace and Bess will be furious," she said.
"Let them," he answered recklessly. "There are plenty of other fellows around. See that moon over there? Say, Nan, I have a bully idea."
They were standing in one corner of the veranda of the Royal Poinciana. The veranda looked strangely deserted that night, the dance being at its height in the ballroom within, and it being still a little early for the inevitable drifting of couples from the heat of the ballroom to the cool breezes of the porch. ”

“ For goodness' sake, Nan!" she exclaimed as her chum switched her suitcase from one hand to the other, so that it would be between Bess and herself, "don't bump that bag into me—especially right behind the knees. You are apt to make me sit down suddenly."
"You couldn't. There's too much of a crowd," laughed Nan, then added in a lower tone, while her eyes nervously searched the crowd about her: "Please help me to look out for my bag, honey. ”

“ I declare, if I ever hear her say another word against you, Nancy Sherwood, I shall just have to kill her, that's all."
"Well, I must say I do wish she would stay home where she belongs," said Nan with a troubled frown. "Wherever we go she seems sure to turn up and spoil everything—or try to. I wonder if Cora is with her," she added. "I didn't see her at the dock."
"Humph, you don't think she would be at the dock, do you?" asked Walter, joining in the conversation. "Cora is a regular lady's maid to Linda now, so Grace says. She must be a funny kind of girl to stand for that sort of thing." ”

“ But what fun it would have been, to see Nan Sherwood up in court for manslaughter."
Just at that moment Bess Harley, who had gone up to her room for a handkerchief, came down the stairs and heard the spiteful remark. Shocked and indignant, she said angrily:
"Of course, Linda Riggs, I know what makes you say those horrid things about Nan. It's because she beat you in the race yesterday. And that wasn't the last time, either. She'll always beat you, because she's worth a dozen of you." ”

“ Why, if I had lost this bag I never would have dared face Mrs. Bragley again. Never in this wide world!"
"I wish Mrs. Bragley were in Guinea," said Bess crossly. "She and her old papers are just about going to spoil our trip. They are making you as nervous as a cat."
"Sh-h, Bess, not so loud," cautioned Nan, as they stepped upon the deck of the Dorian and handed over the tickets which Papa Sherwood had secured for them.
It was perhaps fortunate for the girls' peace of mind that they did not notice two men who were closely behind them. ”

“ At any other time the girls would have been tremendously pleased about going to New York. But now, with the even more wonderful prospect of Florida looming up, New York appealed to them simply as a means to an end.
"It's that fat man at the end," hissed Bess in Nan's ear. "He's holding up the whole procession. What's he talking about, anyway?"
"Sh-h," whispered Nan. "He may hear you. Are you sure you have everything, honey?" she added, making a mental count of Bess's belongings to make certain that her careless chum had left nothing behind. ”

“ The girls tiptoed into the little room at the right and saw that Mrs. Bragley was not asleep. As they approached the bed she greeted them with a faint smile.
"It's too bad that you should have all this trouble," she said. "Here I've gone and spoiled all your afternoon's fun just because I was too slow and stupid to get out of your way."
"It wasn't your fault at all," declared Bess warmly. "I know I'd have been scared stiff if I'd seen that sled bearing down upon me. The thing we're grateful for is that you weren't killed." ”

“ As the girls emerged from the long, tunnel-like entrance into the bright sunshine of the dock they quickened their steps instinctively. The steamship [Pg 132] Dorian, which was to carry them to Florida, was already waiting for the passengers.
Nan had never seen a harbor like this before, and she gazed with fascinated eyes out over the glistening water, dotted thickly with craft of all sizes and descriptions. ”

“ If it was any other place than Palm Beach, I wouldn't even think about dress. But it's such a very swell place, you know, girls, and I don't want to feel out of place while I'm there. Of course you know how I feel."
"Sure we do," Laura assured her. "But I'll guarantee that with what you have and what you'll be able to add, you'll feel very much in it, even at Palm Beach."
"And now, ladies," said Rhoda, "that the all-important subject of dress is disposed of, I move that Nan pass around for our refreshment those fine Florida oranges I see on the table there." ”

“ Piling the basket on the sled that they had brought with them, they started gaily off, dragging it behind them.
After they had covered half the distance a voice hailed them, and Walter came dashing up behind them in his cutter. Reining in the spirited horse he was driving, he cried:
"Jump in, girls. It's a dandy day for a spin."
But they laughingly refused.
"Too many of us for that cutter," said Rhoda. "We'd make an awful load."
"And we don't want any men around anyway, to-day," laughed Bess.
Walter heard, but he saw only Nan's glowing face. ”

“ It doesn't seem right that so many people should have everything and others have little else than work and worry. Those people at Palm Beach have wealth, luxury, everything to make life splendid, while others have so little. Things certainly are uneven in this world. Take Mrs. Bragley, for instance."
"I tell you what we'll do, girls," said Grace impulsively. "We'll make a spread for Mrs. Bragley as well as for ourselves."
"Fine!" ejaculated Rhoda. ”

“ I only wish the holidays were four weeks long instead of two."
"How are you ever coming back after two weeks of that sort of life?" asked Laura. "If I were only lucky enough once to get there I'd never want to come back."
"Just think of what fun you can have there," remarked Bess Harley. "I suppose you'll play tennis. What joy to be able to play tennis and get your nose sunburned in the middle of winter. Think of you playing tennis in Palm Beach sunshine while we are shivering around fires."
[Pg 45]
"And golf?" suggested Nan.
"Not that," laughed Grace. "I don't know a mashie from a cleek." ”

“ There would have been little dissent from Rhoda's verdict, for Linda had few real friends among the girls of Lakeview Hall. She was purse-proud and vulgar, and, though her money gave her a certain prestige among the shallow and unthinking, she lacked the qualities of mind and heart to endear herself to any one. ”