Margaret Penrose

“ Oh, Aunt Winnie, you can not realize how much Tavia has always been to me!” and Dorothy dropped her head in her hands to hide the expression of sincere grief that marked her face.
“Well, child, there is absolutely no need to worry. No doubt Tavia is snugly home at this moment, with her own, little, old-fashioned mother—or even out in Buffalo enjoying the visit to her mother’s friends. To sit down and imagine all sorts of horrible things—why, Dorothy, it is very unlike you!” ”

“ AN AUTOMOBILE RIDE
“There is one thing perfectly delightful about boarding schools,” declared Tavia, “when the term closes we can go away, and leave it in another world. Now, at Dalton, we would have to see the old schoolhouse every time we went to Daly’s for a pound of butter, a loaf of bread—and oh, yes! I almost forgot! Mom said we could get some bologna. Whew! Don’t your mouth water, Dorothy? We always did get good bologna at Daly’s!”
“Bologna!” echoed Dorothy. “As if the young ladies of Glenwood School would disgrace their appetites with such vulgar fare!” ”

“ It was when the blind man sat alone at his door step, with his sightless eyes raised pitifully to the inviting sunset, that the pretty Katherine came skipping into view across the footlights.
Instinctively Nat reached out and, without being observed grasped Dorothy’s hand. “How like Tavia!” he mused, while Dorothy actually seemed to stop breathing. From that moment to the very end of the play Nat and Dorothy shared the same thought—it might be Tavia. ”

“ I only wanted to make a name for myself—to gratify my ambition—I wanted to earn money to get back to school—you know we had no more—”
“You poor darling!” whispered Dorothy. “Was that it? Don’t worry so. No one will ever know. I have not told even Nat, and we will keep it a secret between us forever. Do come with me, dear,” as Tavia appeared to look brighter. “I must get to North Birchland to-night—Oh, if you ever knew the time I had getting away from the boys!” ”

“ ON THE LAWN
“When I was a very small girl,” exclaimed Mollie Richards, otherwise known as Dick, “I used to hope I would die young so I could escape the tooth-filling process, but here I am, doing these dreadful exams, and I haven’t died yet.”
“Never despair,” quoted Rose-Mary. “The worst is yet to come.”
“Cheer up, fellows,” lisped little Nita Brandt, “We’ve been promised a clam-bake when it’s all over.”
“Yes, I fancy it will be all over with me when that clam-bake arrives,” sighed Edna Black. “Since Tavia has ‘turned turtle’ I don’t even have the fun of sneezing for exercise.” ”

“ These words came to Dorothy like a blow—something long dreaded but materialized at last—in spite of hopes and promises.
“Oh, Aunt Winnie!” exclaimed Dorothy with a sigh, “you don’t really think Tavia would do anything wrong?”
[107]
“No, that I do not, my dear,” promptly answered Mrs. White. “A thing is not wrong unless we intend to make it so. But Tavia has a queer idea of right and wrong. You know she has had no home discipline—no training in character building. She has grown to be as good as she is through the commonest law of nature—she was born good. ”

“ No one could have destroyed their love and friendship for each other without so displacing their personalities as to make the matter one of serious consequences.
Many other girls had coveted Dorothy’s love; some had even tried to obtain it by false stories, or greatly exaggerated accounts of Tavia’s frolics. But Dorothy loved Tavia, and believed in her, so all attempts to destroy her faith were futile. And it was this faith, when the time came, that inspired Dorothy Dale to keep the Great Secret. ”

“ To leave Dalton and the common school life—to enter the walks of city uncertainties—to become part of the great, grinding machine of human hardships—that machine which is always willing to stop its terrific speed long enough to gather into its cogs and meshes the life of an innocent young girl. ”

“ Was ever there such a blessed boy as Nat? Here he had nicely explained all Dorothy’s troubles and in the simplest manner possible. How splendid boy cousins are, thought Dorothy. They have such a power of sympathy for girls—better than brothers—if girls would only allow them to exercise it—in a cousinly way.
Or did Nat know of Dorothy’s deliberate visit to the little actress who had played Katherine? ”

“ And besides, thought Dorothy suddenly, Tavia was sick during all the time of the automobile assembly.
“I can tell you more if you’ll give me money,” boldly spoke Urania. “I know all her fortune. I heard Melea tell her. I was outside the tent and I heard every word.”
“I thought that was against the practice of the Gypsies,” said Nat severely.
“Practice!” sneered the girl. “When a pretty girl comes to our camp I always listen. I like to find out what that kind think about! To see if they are different from Urania!”
“Come,” said Dorothy to Nat. “We must go. It is getting late.” ”

“ For several minutes neither girl spoke. They could hear the “miscreants” who had been out after hours creeping past their door. Every one in Glenwood should be asleep. The last hall light had just been turned out—but the girls from Dalton were still thinking.
Dorothy, usually the one to mend matters, to-night seemed sullen and resolute. Plainly Tavia was hiding something from her, and while Dorothy could bear with any amount of mistakes or impulsive little wrongdoings, she could not put up with a deliberate slight—a premeditated act of deception. ”

“ What great big boys! You can’t possibly be my little baby brother Roger. And Joe! Why he is like a real young gentleman in his tennis suit!” And Dorothy kissed her brothers over and over again, as they rode from the depot in the pony cart to the home of Aunt Winnie, “The Cedars,” at North Birchland.
“Oh, I don’t know,” drawled Joe, in his good-natured way. “You can’t complain. You’ve been doing some growing on your own account.” ”

“ Dorothy’s heart beat wildly when she fancied Tavia amid such scenes—Tavia the open-hearted girl, the little Dalton “wild flower” as Dorothy liked to call her. Surely no stage heroine could be more heroic than she had always been in her role of shedding happiness on all who came within her sphere of life.
Suddenly Rose-Mary turned to Nat and remarked:
“How Tavia would enjoy this.” She looked around on the gay scene as the theatre was filling up. “What a pity we could not bring her with us for the good time.” ”

“ And, to give Dorothy credit, she would not have been so thoughtless. But she was a different type of girl from Tavia. It was the way she had been brought up, as much as her own character, that caused this difference. Good breeding is not a virtue, it is a blessing: hence in considering such a gift we admire the fortunate possessor, just as we esteem the beauty of the cultured rose, and, naturally compare it favorably when placed next to some coarse untrained wild flower. ”

“ Just as if we were in the kindergarten! Let’s make up some excuse and go! Now, Doro, don’t look so shocked! Surely you have the right to go out with your own cousins?”
“Tavia, don’t talk such nonsense!” exclaimed Dorothy severely. “You know perfectly well we are under the school rules, and that we are in honor bound not to violate them. As if any sensible girl would risk her good standing for such an escapade!”
“What’s the ‘standing’ at Glenwood compared to the ‘sitting’ in the Fire Bird?” asked Tavia flippantly. “Besides, just think of all the jolly fellows we would meet; wouldn’t we, Nat?” ”

“ Suddenly she fancied she heard—yes—sure enough that was the toot of the Fire Bird’s horn!
“Oh, Tavia!” she called. “Here they come! Hurry! Hurry Urania! Tavia! We must all be out there together when they come up.”
At that the automobile swept up to the station in a cloud of dust. Out on the platform hurried Dorothy, Tavia and Urania, the latter smiling broadly in her new outfit.
“Well, I give up!” exclaimed Nat, the first to alight from the panting car. “If you haven’t given us a merry chase, Dorothy! We got worried after you left us and we traced you from place to place. ”

“ I do believe you are lonely for those impossible girls. What do you say to paying some of them a little visit, just to break in on your holiday?”
“Really, aunty,” protested Dorothy, “I am perfectly content. What sort of girl would I be to want to run away and leave you all after being away so long at school? No, indeed, I’ll stay right here at the beautiful Cedars, and I’ll try to be a better girl—to get rid at once of my spell of the ‘glumps’ as we used to call them at Glenwood.” ”

“ Their light summer clothing seemed to make little difference to these two country girls, who had learned to swim in Dalton pond, and, in a few seconds, both had reached the spot where Edna and the teacher had disappeared.
Tavia was the first to dive, and, in a few seconds she came up with Edna, white and unconscious, in her arms.
“Hold her—while I try—for Miss Higley!” cried Dorothy, as Tavia, supporting her burden on one arm and grasped the cross bar of the chute with her other and yelled for help. ”

“ Miss Higley hastened to say, anxious to give Dorothy her due, for certainly the rescue was a matter of heroic effort, and Miss Higley, being heavy, and, at the same time, unable to help herself, gave Dorothy the most difficult of all the surprising tasks of that eventful afternoon.
“But when she sank that time—like a stone,” suggested Dick to Dorothy.
“Oh, I merely missed catching hold of a plank and I had to go down—I couldn’t keep up.”
“Certainly; why not?” put in Nita Brandt, glad to be able to say something “safe.” ”

“ White decided to learn in our own little world without spending precious time buried in colleges, forming ideas that are sure to conflict with the regular home life, and perhaps, depriving one’s family of the most precious years of a girl’s career—the time between morning and noon in the life of mortals. ”

“ Dorothy was annoyed. Was she to make her lonely trip in company with a car full of men? She had expected, when she planned her journey, that there would be other girls and ladies in the coach in which she was to travel, and that she might appeal to them in case of need. But a whole car full of men!
She looked about for the little electric call button, and, finding it in the casement at the side of the window, pressed it vigorously. It was some time before the porter responded as, all along his route, the omnipresent men claimed his attention for various services. ”

“ Finally, Dorothy felt that she must take some one into her confidence. All the nervous energy of her young nature had, for days, been so set upon that one point—to hear from Tavia—that the whole circumstance had assumed great importance. She could think of nothing else. Every hour added to her anxiety. ”

“ Oh, she wanted to start out in the world for herself. You would help her, of course, but poor Urania—she must die,” and the girl threw herself down upon the grass and buried her head in the long wet spears.
Dorothy and Nat were too surprised to answer. Surely the girl must refer to Tavia, but Tavia had never ridden out alone with Nat, not even while he was at the automobile assembly near Glenwood. And Tavia could scarcely have gone to the fortune teller’s camp.
“I say I have never taken out any girl without my mother or my cousin being along,” Nat said, sharply, recovering himself. ”

“ After a blissful two weeks’ vacation, spent together, Harry Harding and Teddy Burke again take up their work in Martin Brothers’ store. Their “year of promise” brings them many new experiences, pleasant and unpleasant, but more determined than ever to reach the goal they have set for themselves, they pass courageously and hopefully over the rough places, meeting with many surprises and exciting incidents which advance them far on the road to success. ”

“ Nat asked.
“The one my father married. They call her Melea. She has her own little girl and doesn’t care for Urania.”
“But where will you stay to-night?” inquired Dorothy, now anxious that the little Gypsy would change her mind, and run back to the camp at the foot of the hill before it would be too late—before she might be missed from her usual place.
“I was going to sleep under the bridge,” replied Urania calmly, “but when I heard you talking I came out. I love to hear pretty words.”
“Poor child,” thought Dorothy, “like a little human fawn. ”

“ Nothing!” exclaimed Nat. “I just like the lark. When you want any more sleuthing done apply at headquarters. I’m the gum-shoe man for this section,” and at that he turned his attention to the Fire Bird, while Dorothy walked thoughtfully back to the house.
Poor Dorothy! An instinctive foreboding of danger had taken possession of her now, and, try as she did to dispel it, an unmistakable voice seemed to call out to her:
“Find Tavia! She needs you, Dorothy Dale!”
“Perhaps,” thought Dorothy, “she has run away and is really with some circus troupe, as the Gypsy girl said. ”