Laura Dent Crane

“ Earlier in the evening Mollie and Barbara had stood with their hands tight together, watching the men and women enter the great reception room to speak to their host and hostess.
“Diamonds,” whispered Mollie to Bab, “seem as plentiful as the strawberries we gathered for the hotel people this summer. We didn’t dream, then, that we were coming to Newport! Isn’t my Mrs. Cartwright the most beautiful of them all?” wound up the loyal child.
Mrs. Cartwright wore a white satin gown, with a diamond star in the tulle of her bodice. ”

“ Miss Sallie made Ruth sit down again, as her niece was almost too weak to stand. After listening in silence to Ruth’s story, Aunt Sallie held out her hand to Mr. Cartwright. “My brother and I can never thank you, and I shall not attempt it. Ruth means all our world.” Then she turned to Barbara, and gathered her in her arms. “My child,” she said, “you are the bravest girl I ever knew.” Miss Stuart choked, and could say no more.
“Do you remember, Bab,” asked Mollie, when Barbara was safe in her own bed, “how once you said you would one day repay Ruth and Mr. Stuart for their kindness to us? ”

“ Yet in spite of the quiet, Barbara was not resting. Her heart was beating fast with the excitement of this wonderful evening, and her tiny feet in the pink silk slippers still kept time to the last waltz she had danced with Hugh.
The conservatory door, leading into the garden, was open. Barbara saw Mrs. Post, Governor Post, Harry Townsend and a woman in a gold-colored brocade enter the conservatory and stop to talk for a few minutes. They had not noticed Barbara nor did she feel it was quite proper to interrupt them, as she did not know the strange woman who was with them. ”

“ Grace broke in, just to see what Bab would say. But Bab wouldn’t answer. “I don’t know what I would do,” she ended.
“Anyhow,” said Miss Ruth, from her position of dignity on the chauffeur’s seat, “I should be allowed to vote on laws for motor cars, as long as I can run a machine without a man.”
“My dear Ruth,” interposed Miss Sallie at last, “I beg of you, don’t vote in my lifetime. Girls, in my day, would never have dreamed of such a thing.” ”

“ I don’t see why you should care.”
“Oh, but I do care,” retorted Bab. “She has been horrid and stuck up, but she hasn’t done Mollie and me any real harm, and she is my cousin. Her father is my mother’s brother. Uncle Ralph has never been very fond of us, nor has he come to see us very much, but he looks after mother’s money. I don’t suppose,” wound up Barbara, thoughtfully, “he would do us any wrong. I shouldn’t like Gladys to get into trouble.”
“What has kept you children so long?” asked Grace, as Ralph and Barbara appeared on Mrs. Cartwright’s veranda. ”

“ While Mollie and Barbara were saying their good-byes on their little veranda there was equal excitement at the big hotel.
Before breakfast Ruth had gone out to the garage with her arm in her father’s.
“I want to see with my own eyes, Dad,” she said, “that the machine is all right. Isn’t it well that I have a taste for mechanics, even though I am a girl? Suppose I hadn’t studied all those automobile books with you until I could say them backwards, and hadn’t helped you over all the accidents—you never would have let me go on this heavenly trip, would you? ”

“ Everyone joined in the laugh at Mollie’s expense.
“Some one to see you in the library, miss,” announced Susan, the parlor maid. “She says she’d like to see you alone, first, and she’d rather not give her name.”
“Then you are not to go one step, Barbara Thurston,” said Miss Stuart in the voice the girls knew had to be obeyed. “There is no telling who it is waiting for you, nor what her intentions may be toward you. You’d go if you thought you’d be murdered the next minute. I never saw a girl like you. I will go myself,” announced Miss Sallie. ”

“ Mollie said, trying to stuff her curls under her motor cap and to rub the dust from her rosy cheeks with a tiny pocket handkerchief as they sped up Broadway, “I might be dreadfully embarrassed arriving at the Waldorf looking the way I do, if I were not in a motor car, but riding in an automobile makes one feel so awfully swell that nothing matters. Isn’t it lovely just to feel important for once? You know it is, Bab, and you needn’t say no! It’s silly to pretend.”
Miss Sallie was again on the border of slumberland, so that Mollie and Barbara could have their low-voiced talk. ”

“ There is too much doing in Newport. And, you know, we’ve only about a week longer to stay. What a wonderful time we have had!”
“Let’s see what we have ahead of us,” pondered Mollie. “The only especially big things we know about are the tennis tourney and the ball after it. Then Miss Ruth Stuart and Mr. Hugh Post are to win a silver cup, in order to spread more luster upon the reputation of the automobile girls at Newport. Bab helped pull Ruth out of an abyss! The two girls held up a burglar! Ruth is a famous tennis champion! Only you and I are no good, Grace. What can we do for our country?” ”

“ Indeed, I shall ask Ruth if you may go back in the automobile with us, and I am sure, if Miss Stuart thinks there is room enough, Ruth will be delighted to have you. She is always the dearest, most generous girl in the world,” said Bab, her face glowing with the enthusiasm she always felt in speaking of Ruth.
“Now,” she continued, “do come on upstairs and take off your hat. You must stay to lunch with us. Oh, no; you needn’t be afraid of Miss 249 Stuart. She won’t be unkind to you; she’s a perfect dear! She’ll just be awfully sorry for you, when you tell her how badly you feel. ”

“ Cartwright gave Mollie’s hand a squeeze. “Tell Barbara I am sorry if I was too hard on her, but I don’t like scenes!”
“I wish I could get an excuse to pummel that Harry Townsend!” muttered Ralph indignantly to Hugh, when the girls had gone home. “I can’t take it out on Gladys, for she’s a girl. That Townsend fellow’s nothing but a sneak. He just stands round and smiles and says nothing, until he puts me in a rage!”
“Oh, don’t fight, Ralph,” Hugh protested. “I hate that Townsend man, though, as much as you do. He is too infernally polite, for one thing, and he walks on his tiptoes. ”

“ You know Miss Sallie hates to refuse Ruth anything. Consequently we will be ‘among those present’ at Mrs. Erwin’s ball whether Miss Gladys approves or not.”
“I just wish I could tell my lovely Mrs. Cartwright how mean Gladys is,” said Mollie. “She would not ask her to her charity fair.”
“Please don’t say anything, Mollie,” pleaded Barbara, taking her tennis racquet from the bed. She had already answered Ralph’s impatient whistle 124 from the garden below. “It won’t do any good for us to be horrid to Gladys in return; it will only make us seem as hateful as she is. ”

“ Tennis is the only really important thing. Hurrah for Miss Ruth Stuart, 226 the famous girl champion!” cried Barbara, then suddenly sobered down. The two girls had been in the wildest spirits all day. Indeed, Miss Sallie had sent them into the same room to dress, in order to get rid of them.
“What is the matter, Bab?” said Ruth, turning round to look into her friend’s face.
“I’ve a confession to make to you. In my heart of hearts, way down underneath, I am kind of sneakingly sorry for Harry Townsend. I know he is a rogue and everything that’s wicked. ”

“ There was a little attic over the cottage, and it almost belonged to Barbara. Up there she used to study her lessons, write poetry, and dream of the wonderful things she hoped to do in order to make mother and Mollie rich.
Barbara skipped over to the trunk, where they kept odds and ends of faded finery, gifts from rich cousins who sent their cast-off clothes to the 43 little girls. “This is like Pandora’s chest,” laughed Barbara to herself. “It looks as if everything, now, has gone out of it, except Hope.”
Bump! bang! crash! the chandelier shivered over Mrs. Thurston and Mollie’s heads. ”

“ I’ll wager you would be. Father says that when people are not too sure of themselves before a thing happens, they are likely to be brave at the critical minute.”
The car was going down a hill with a steep incline. Ruth’s hand was on the brake. Biff! Biff! Bang! Bang! A cannon ball seemed to have exploded under them. Miss Sallie sat up very straight, with an expression of great dignity; Grace and Mollie gave little screams, and Barbara looked as though she were willing to be defended if anything very dreadful had happened.
Only Ruth dared laugh. “You’re not killed, girls,” she said. ”

“ But Mollie was calling Bab to look at her gift. Mrs. Cartwright, who sat next her favorite of the girls, had pinned a little, pearl butterfly in the lace yoke of Mollie’s gown. Ruth and Grace were each rejoicing in their gifts, silver pins 254 representing tennis racquets, their souvenirs of the luncheon and their month’s stay in Newport.
“It has been just too lovely!” said Mollie to Mrs. Post, as she bade her good-night. “Yes, we start for home the first thing in the morning. In a few days there will be no more ‘Automobile Girls,’” she ended with a sigh. ”

“ Poor Ruth had a task on her hands. If only 81 the car had not skidded into that ugly hole, she could have managed; but it was impossible for her, with the help of all the girls, to lift the car enough to slip the new tire over the rim.
Mollie and Grace were taking Miss Sallie a little walk through the woods at the side of the road to try to make the time pass and to give Ruth a chance. Grace had winked at her slyly as they departed.
“Barbara,” Ruth said finally, in tragic tones, “I’m in a fix and I might as well confess it. I know it all comes of my boasting that I didn’t need a man. ”

“ Barbara was half way out the door. “Be careful, Molliekins,” she urged, “if you go rowing with that freshman this afternoon. Why do you want to know about Ruth’s score and mine? It’s a week before the game, and anything may happen before then. We all play pretty evenly; Hugh Post and Ralph Ewing, too.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean anything, Bab,” Mollie said, thoughtfully. “Only Ruth’s awfully anxious to play in the tournament. She’s just crazy about it.”
“Of course she is, child. So are we all, for that matter,” answered Bab. “You don’t mean——”
“I don’t mean a single thing, Bab Thurston!” ”

“ In a moment a big red touring car appeared, enveloped in dust. “Why, it looks like Ruth’s car!” exclaimed Mollie, excitedly. “Yes, I do believe that young man seated beside the chauffeur is the Mr. Townsend who was with them. Barbara——”
But Barbara was walking quickly toward the gate. A moment later the automobile stopped before it, and Harry Townsend stepped out.
“Miss Thurston,” he began, soberly, “have you lost any money?”
“Oh, yes!” burst out Mollie, who was just behind, before Barbara could speak; “two twenty-dollar gold-pieces! We’ve hunted and hunted. ”

“ We shall have dancing on the lawn, but I want you girls and a few friends to come into the house after supper. When you finish playing fortune-tellers you can slip up to my room and dress. Nobody must guess, when you come down, that you have not just arrived. Now, I positively must be off. Tell Mollie and Grace I am depending on them to act as waitresses. Gladys isn’t willing to help. She wants all her time for Harry Townsend.”
“Ruth,” said Aunt Sallie, the afternoon of the bazaar, “I really cannot permit you to go anywhere, looking as you do, even if you are wearing a disguise. ”

“ Barbara and Ralph let the rest of their friends start ahead of them. They wanted to have their walk alone.
Miss Sallie had pleaded fatigue, and remained at home. “Besides, children,” she explained, “I am much too old to take any further interest in games, ‘eyeology,’ or any other ‘ology.’”
Ralph and Barbara walked in silence down the street for several minutes. Then Bab spoke. “Tell me, Ralph, what is the matter? If you were angry with a man you would tell him what the trouble was, if he asked you. It is not fair not to be open with me because I am a girl. ”

“ The girls selected the bunches of flowers that seemed most suited to their costumes. Miss Sallie and Grace immediately decided on the white roses, Mollie chose the pink ones, looking in her pale blue dress and hat like a little Dresden shepherdess.
In some one’s garden a yellow rose bush of the old-fashioned kind must have bloomed for Bab. “Why!” uttered Miss Sallie, holding up Bab’s flowers, from which streamed a long yellow satin bow, “I have not seen these little yellow garden roses since I was a girl. See how they open out their hearts to everyone! Is that like you, Bab? ”

“ Ruth’s eyes were full of tears; Aunt Sallie’s threat to stop their trip was more than she could bear; but she was soon smiling.
“Why, Barbara Thurston,” the girls called out together, “it can’t be you!” On came Barbara, riding bareback astride an old horse, the animal’s big feet clattering, its mane and tail soaked with rain. ”

“ The letters posted, Townsend walked over to the Casino courts, where Bab and Ruth were playing tennis. He had promised Gladys to join her there. He still had some investigations he desired to make. But he walked slowly. Clever fingers must be directed by a clever brain, whether their work be good or evil. No matter how well he knew he could depend on his wonderful fingers to do their share of the work, the “boy Raffles” always thought out carefully the plan of his theft before he tried to execute it.
On Monday night, at the Casino tournament ball, he planned to make his final theft. ”

“ It’s my delightful cousins that she adores—Mollie and Bab. I can ask one of them to inquire.”
“Oh, no,” drawled Harry, “it is not of enough importance for that.”
For the next half hour Harry devoted himself to the whims of Gladys. He could see Barbara through the window, looking pale and tired. This gave all the more reason for believing that she had not recovered from the shock of her experience on the cliffs.
The cleverest man will sometimes make a false move. Harry Townsend was tired of Gladys, weary of her whims and foolishness. ”

“ Would Barbara betray herself? Would she “give the game away?”
“Miss Thurston,” began Harry Townsend, politely, “as I shall be going away from Newport very soon, I want to have a talk with you. I must confess, that, since the night of Mrs. Erwin’s ball, I have been very angry with you. No high-minded man could endure the suggestion you made against my honor, when you asked Hugh Post to search me, so soon after his mother’s jewels had disappeared. But time has passed, and I do not now feel so wounded. ”

“ Then, with a coral ribbon sash, who knows but you may be one of the belles of a Newport party?”
Barbara flushed with pleasure over the gifts, but she looked so embarrassed at her mother’s compliment that Mollie and Grace both laughed.
“I declare,” Grace said, “you have less vanity than any girl in the world. Oh, wasn’t it fortunate I discovered your money yesterday? Just as we all jumped out of the car I heard something clink, and picked up one of your twenty dollars. Harry Townsend said he found the other tucked away in the leather of the front seat.” ”

“ She patted affectionately the nearest tire-rim of the big automobile. “Bless the ‘bubble’s’ heart,” she murmured. “He wouldn’t run away with his missus. Barbara, Mollie, this is my best friend, Mr. A. Bubble. I think you’ll get better acquainted with him before long. I wish you could come with me now, but I’m afraid neither you nor ‘Bubble’ would be quite comfortable. And you three must get along well together from the start.”
The doctor helped Ruth into the big red touring car and Gladys and Grace followed. The two men and the chauffeur crowded together in the front seat. ”

“ We think it best not to have any excitement in Newport. By the way,” went on the detective—the three young people were listening breathlessly—“the lady is not such a cool customer as you are. She confessed that she was not a countess, but a poor newspaper woman out of a job, whom you enticed down here to help you. She explained that you had been mailing letters of instruction to her by sending them on to New York and having them remailed to her here. A poor business it has been for both of you, I am thinking.”
“Ruth,” said Barbara, quickly, “it’s too awful! Let us go back to Miss Sallie!” ”

“ Bab answered.
“Then you are just the girls I am looking for,” said Mrs. Cartwright, clapping her hands. 170 “You know, I asked you, Bab, to play gypsy fortune-teller at my bazaar; now I want to ask Ruth to join you. Everyone thinks you are both laid up from your accident, and no one will suspect who you are. The plans for the bazaar are going splendidly. I think I shall make lots of money for my poor sailors. I shall have it as simple and attractive as I can—a real country fair, with booths and lemonade stands. I am going to give these jaded Newport people a taste of the simple life. ”

“ Mollie’s golden head and Barbara’s tawny one bent anxiously over the paper.
“Ruth’s such an impetuous dear! Starting off on our trip Monday does not give us time to get anything new. Mother, will you go in to town shopping for us, and then send the clothes on later? I suppose we shall be on the road some time. Ruth says we are to stop in any of the places we like, and see all the sights along the way,” continued Barbara.
Gloves, ribbons, stockings, hair ribbons, and—oh, dear, yes! A pink sash for Bab and a blue one for Mollie. Forty dollars wasn’t such a fortune after all. ”

“ You will be exhausted.”
“Here, Barbara,” said Mollie, “do try to get your breath, and let me fix up your hair.”
“No prinking!” Ralph called out. “This is business, ladies!”
The good old Casino courts never saw a finer tennis battle. Ralph and Bab played as though they had forgotten their talk in the woods that 148 day when they had tea at Mrs. Duffy’s. Ruth and Hugh were foeman worthy of their best steel.
The game stood forty-all, and it was Bab’s serve. Bab’s serves were what made her tennis remarkable. They were as swift and straight and true as a boy’s. ”