Lilian Garis

“ Whereat Rosa actually sprang upon the foot with the injured ankle, hugging her father so impulsively that Nancy instantly decided she was just like Ted.
Is there anything lovelier than the calm after the storm? Arm in arm Rosa and Nancy sauntered off, their happy laughter ringing through old Fernlode, their voices blending in genuine affection until reaching the water’s edge, Rosa showed Nancy how she “megaphoned” down the lake to No Man’s Land, a little island, desolate and alone. Nancy did the phoning by cupping her hands and shouting in the weird way that always provokes an echo. ”

“ After seeing the folks off for Europe—Nancy and Rosa went over to Mount Major, where Mr. and Mrs. Fernell took the New York train—the remaining hours seemed too few in which to crowd all the things Rosa had planned to do.
The injured foot was all but forgotten. Never was a girl livelier than Rosa, more enthusiastic nor more expectant—for the great times ahead. But through all her plans, it seemed to Nancy, a vein of mystery ran. ”

“ But Rosa, it is queer, the way you act about that girl.” She just couldn’t say Orilla.
“Nan-cee.” Rosa had both her arms around the pouting cousin. “You’re not jealous! You see—oh, you see I haven’t had any body else; not anybody, and Orilla has been kind to me—”
“Even Gar doesn’t like her,” flung back Nancy.
“No, that’s so. He hates her. But then you see, I’ve been an awful nuisance to Gar on account of it all.”
“How—a nuisance?”
“Nancy Brandon, you’re what my dad calls an idealist!” exclaimed Rosa, bubbling back into her usual jolly mood. “Know what that is? ”

“ She was older than her brother, much older than Rosa, and somehow this fact brought relief to Nancy, who was fearing things she couldn’t quite define. It seemed safer, however, to have an older girl along, and when Dell Durand jumped into the car and added her part to the fun of driving through the woods, up and down hills, in and out of sly curves that often brought Nancy’s breath up sharply, she talked to Nancy in the sensible, intelligent way that she, Nancy, was most accustomed to. ”

“ Orilla continued after a pause. “You’re what they call an idealist, aren’t you?”
“No, I don’t think I am,” faltered Nancy. “Why should I be?”
“Because you’re so square. I’ve read about girls like you. They always want everything just right, no tricks nor sneaking. I knew that night when you tried on that cape that you were doing something for Rosa.”
“Why? How did you know?”
“You looked it. When a girl is sneaking she doesn’t flare up and get mad the way you did,” went on the surprising Orilla and Nancy knew better than to prolong the discussion by any arguments. ”

“ If Rosa had been rebellious and uncertain in her conduct, her friends Gar and Dell were just the opposite, it seemed to Nancy. Waiting now a few minutes for Gar to return with his motor boat, Nancy tried to keep down her anxieties by building her courage upon the assistance of Gar, and as he presently hailed her from the landing, she saw that his sister Dell was with him.
“Two heads are better than one,” he said simply, as Nancy stepped into the launch. ”

“ Nancy kept asking herself. “And why ever does she bother with that girl?”
Meanwhile Gar, from his place at the wheel, could be heard questioning Rosa. She was sitting in front because that position was deemed the easiest riding, and now, as they all sped off toward Fernlode, some of the terrors of the accident seemed lifted.
“No fooling now, Rosa,” Gar was saying, “how did that happen? You can’t fool me—”
“Gar Durand! How does a broken leg ever happen? It just breaks, doesn’t it?” evaded Rosa. ”

“ Remember, I don’t want to have you lost in the New Hampshire forests, you know.”
Rosa fairly glowed under her father’s interest and affection. Sitting by the window and watching this play, Nancy realized what Rosa’s father meant to her—just what Nancy’s mother meant to Nancy.
“We don’t know until we are away from it,” she reasoned, choking back the wave of home-sickness that threatened to creep over her. “I don’t see why Rosa thinks she is left out of everything; that she is too fat to be happy,” went on Nancy’s deliberation. “Her father just idolizes her.” ”

“ The appeal Orilla had silently given her, with that glance from her deep-set eyes, seemed to Nancy too pathetic to be made light of. And perhaps the spark of light in the woodland, away out there where nothing but low, scrubby pine trees grew, had something to do with Orilla’s secret. At any rate this was no time to discuss it. Confusion forbade.
“We’ll be in before it hits us,” called Gar gayly, surveying the racing storm clouds.
“And a good thing for us,” added his sister, “for even this launch is not altogether safe in a real lake hurricane.” ”

“ Miss Geary and Dell found each other mutually attractive, their taste for work among children being alike, so that they not only took care of the little ones but had an exceptionally fine time doing so.
“Just look at Margot’s face. She hasn’t room for all the smiles,” Nancy took time to say to Rosa. She was on the lemonade staff and Thomas, the butler, had made the drink pink, “just to make the young ones think of a circus,” he explained. That may have accounted for the rush at Nancy’s booth, a kitchen table draped with the ends of the vines that formed a canopy above. ”

“ Smart girls are a pest and, as you say, unpopular,” replied Rosa. “That’s one blessing in my favor. But don’t let’s fight about it,” concluded Rosa. “Hurry along. We’ve got to get three cars, you know.”
The two girls were wearing their simplest frocks, out of consideration for the coming visitors, but Nancy in her candy-stripe with the red bindings and red belt, and Rosa in her blue chambray, to match her eyes, looked pretty enough and well dressed enough for any picnic. ”

“ I’m going to miss dad and I want to be with him all I can—now.”
“Then you go talk to him, Rosa,” urged Nancy, considerately. “I’ve got some things to do. You won’t mind. You see, I must write mother at once, so that she’ll get it almost as soon as she reaches London.”
“Give her my love,” said Rosa, as the cousins parted on the porch.
On the little table in her room Nancy found a gift from Betty, a beautiful rainbow chiffon scarf, and also a big box of candy from her Uncle Frederic. She loved the scarf; it was beautiful, and would blend with any and every costume. ”

“ In fact, I suppose I don’t really love it now, but last summer we had a cooking class at our little cottage, and really, Rosa, you have no idea how much fun there is in learning things with a lot of jolly girls.”
“I’d rather boys,” said contrary Rosa, “I’d like to learn to chop down trees and load guns and fish—”
“Yes, of course,” agreed Nancy, “but, you see, I knew all that. Ted and I are regular campers-out, and we’ve done almost everything woodsy. Mother loves it too, so we’ve spent more time on hikes and in camps than we ever have under civilized roofs.” ”

“ And you see, Nancy, you can’t realize the curse of being fat.”
A peal of laughter from the amused Nancy checked this.
“You can’t really mean it, Rosa,” she said.42 “Being fat isn’t anything. You’re just growing, and you won’t always be so—so stout,” the visitor assured her cousin, kindly.
“No, you just bet I won’t, not if I know it,” declared Rosa, who even then chewed a chocolate drop. “I’m going to get thin while the folks are in Europe. Wait until you see Betty, then you’ll understand. She’s just eel-ly, and she loves slippery clothes, the shimmery-shimmery kind. ”

“ To which Rosa did not risk a reply, for the quarrelsome Orilla was at her elbow directing the gleaning in no uncertain tones.
But it was not so easy to suppress Gar. He wasn’t afraid of Orilla Rigney, and he was willing to let folks know it.
“Now, that’s enough,” he decided sharply. “We’re not going to take another stick. If you want to chop down trees, Orilla, why don’t you hire help? Or why don’t you choose a woods nearer civilization?” ”

“ It had passed quickly for Nancy, although at first her visit had threatened to be dull, monotonous and even a little unpleasant. But as soon as the conflict between Rosa and Orilla became of concern to her, just so promptly did her own days at Fernlode become absorbingly interesting.
Rosa’s worry over a few extra pounds of fat now seemed simply babyish, but so it is with most personal appearance worries. They may mean much to a sensitive girl, but to others they are usually accepted as they should be, as matters of small importance. It is character that always matters most. ”

“ Nancy was curious and a little anxious, for Orilla,227 while assuming friendship, still had that queer, furtive look in her eyes, and her face was surely unnaturally flushed.
“Have you been working too hard, Orilla?” Nancy asked kindly. “You aren’t strong and you shouldn’t—”
“I’m strong as an ox,” interrupted the girl. “That’s because I live out doors. I was sick once, and since I cured myself no one has interfered with my ways.”
This, thought Nancy, must be why Orilla’s mother allowed her to do as she pleased. But even so, she surely might have saved her daughter from wood chopping! ”

“ They finally went to a dance at Sunset Hotel, and Rosa wore the blue cape. It was a perfect evening and everyone was so happy that even the sight of the cape upon Rosa’s shoulders failed to bring regret to Nancy. Four car loads of young folks from their summer homes paraded down the hillside road at nine o’clock. It seemed late to Nancy, but she knew better than to say so.
“The hotel children have the ball-room from eight until nine,” Dell had explained, “then the young folks swarm in. Don’t worry about being too young, Nancy. You look like a young lady in that stunning rig.” ”

“ No girl can grow up alone and be healthy, mentally. To be sure, she has had her school friends, but you see, my dear,” again the deep sounding sigh, “it has been rather hard for her to make friends. She’s so sensitive about her size. Why, one girl at school last year just followed Rosa around, she was so fond of her. But the child just thought she was seeking favors.”
Margot, with this confidence and her apparent love for Rosa, had suddenly taken a new hold on Nancy’s affections. After all, it is a woman a girl needs, Nancy was determining, and to her at that very moment—Margot was the woman. ”

“ Dell was made custodian of a pair of the “darlingest twinnies,” two little girls in blue, and there were also with the party three older girls who assisted Miss Geary.
To attempt to describe a children’s picnic would be as futile an undertaking as trying to describe childhood itself, for every moment and each hour something so new and novel developed, in the way of fun and good times, that even a picture of a period in the merry-making failed to record its actual happy spirit. ”

“ When Dell, Gar and Paul would come over or phone over for the girls to go off to see a tennis match, go swimming in the best part of the lake, which was some little distance from their cottages, or even go berrying, which was the thing Nancy best liked to do—to all or any of this Rosa would very likely find an excuse. And then, when some obscure person with a little flivver would happen along, she would suddenly remember something very important to be procured, and dash off. ”

“ Poor mother, she has worked so hard,” Orilla sighed. “But this, having me here again, will surely make her happy.”
Dr. Easton found Orilla highly nervous, and privately he told Margot and Mrs. Rigney that the fancied injustice had so preyed upon the girl’s mind she had been unable, for the time being at least, to control her bitterness. This would now be removed and so her health would be sure to improve.
Mrs. Rigney had been brought back in the car, as the girls arranged, and in spite of her daughter’s illness they were all almost happy.
“It is her dream come true,” said Nancy to Rosa. ”

“ And he won’t let me go in a canoe even in broad daylight, unless I almost swear I’ll stay in the cove, or just hug the edge. Dad is such a darling, I never would think of breaking my word to him,” declared Rosa, her hand bruising Nancy’s arm in making the declaration.
“We do feel that way when we love folks, don’t we?” supplied Nancy. “Mother hardly asks me to promise anything, except where something might be dangerous, but it’s fun to keep a promise as well as to break it, if you just think that way. I’ve a chum who spends most of her time planning to fool folks. ”

“ Whereas, she was only a growing girl with her growth unbalanced.
The dark blue dress that Rosa was adjusting might have been a school uniform in the severity of its lines; but Rosa had declared she could only wear dark colors; that Orilla had told her so.
The longer both girls held silence against each other, the harder it was going to be to break it. Nancy was not ungenerous, but she was human, and no girl wants to “give in” when she feels herself to have been the one injured. Margot noticed this set expression, and the girls’ lack of conversation. Also, she noticed Nancy biting her lip. ”

“ It seemed so unnecessary for any one to meet her at the South Station and taxi with her over to the North Station, but there was Miss Newton, a friend who had visited the Brandons and who lived almost in Boston. With her, Nancy’s mother had arranged, both for crossing the big city and having lunch, so that there could be no possible danger in her daughter’s journey. Also, after lunch in the15 upstairs station restaurant, Miss Newton, a lively young woman who seemed just like a girl to Nancy, insisted upon making up a little box of fruit for the train journey. ”

“ Rosa questioned in surprise.
“Seems to me folks are awfully worried about what I’m going to do,” snapped Orilla. “But if you’ll all go along and take your pet with you—”
“Orilla Rigney!” called out Dell authoritatively. “What is the matter with you? Are you determined to make enemies of even those who are trying to help you?”
Nancy turned quickly to interpose, and as she caught a queer expression on Orilla’s face she hurried to answer Dell before the other could do so.
“Now, Dell, please don’t be cross,” begged Nancy with a sly glance intended for Dell alone. ”

“ Nancy tried to keep up her contention that New Hampshire ferns were not as lacy as those of Massachusetts, but the argument going on between Rosa and Gar was hard to close her ears to.
“Say!” called out Paul suddenly, kicking over a big bunch of “umbrella fungus,” “what’s going on between you two anyway? Don’t you want an umpire?”
“No,” fired back Gar, “a referee would be better. Rosa thinks because I’m an old friend she can get me into her sort of scrapes. You’ve no idea, Nancy,” he sighed playfully, “how many scrapes Rosa can get into.” ”

“ She was so happy! No one who has always been free from such an insistent worry as Rosa’s had been, can actually understand the joy of hope that a few pounds less flesh can bring. The hand of that little white scale became225 a friend, an understanding friend, and every time it pointed to a figure Rosa held her breath.
But this did not solve the mystery built around Orilla. Rosa herself was as keenly interested in that as was Nancy, in spite of her rescue from any actual need of it. Bit by bit she confided in Nancy details of the queer bargain between her and Orilla. ”

“ Ted says I preach like the umpire at a ball game.”
“You were going to show me his funny letter,”137 put in Rosa, her eagerness to change the subject not even thinly disguised. “I know you have a whole batch of them, too. You know, Dell is just crazy about that sort of thing. She wants to teach kindergarten. Just imagine!”
“She’s very intelligent,” said Nancy, falling back into her own way of saying things which had ever been a part of her home life. “Mother always says we can tell folks by the things they prefer, rather than by the company they keep.” ”