Billie

“ It was not till they were entering the grim old door of the grim old house that they thought again of Billie's new discovery—the trunk that jingled.
"Goodness! how could we ever have forgotten it?" cried Billie as she, with Violet and Laura, fairly flew up the stairs, leaving the bewildered boys to follow them.
"Now what's up?" asked Teddy, as he came into the room where the girls had left their treasure. "So many things are happening all at once that it's enough to make a fellow's brain reel."
"It all depends on the brain," said Billie, looking up at him with a twinkle in her eye. ”

“ When Billie heard the story, she was so angry with Mrs. St. Clair and Miss Gray and Fannie Alta that she took an imaginary aim and pitched both shoes across the room with all her force.
“Oh, my dear, my dear,” she cried, throwing her arms about her friend’s neck with affectionate fervor, “you have at least one devoted friend who will stand by you through everything.”
Mary was touched by Billie’s devotion and by and by the two girls dropped off to sleep in spite of their troubled hearts. ”

“ His faithful soul was afraid she had called him.
“Only talking to myself, Billiken,” she said, smiling at him. “Why, even you, Billie—I am your little world, your sun and your moon and your stars, but you like me to stroke and pat you. Oh, Billie! I must be first with someone. I don’t belong to anyone really, not of my own free will, and I want to so much, so much. I’m not strong enough to stand alone. I don’t want to stand alone.”
She was first with Frank, the only thing that mattered in his life. ”

“ Her eyes avoided Billie’s direct look, whether from shyness or sullenness, it was impossible to tell.
Billie, painfully conscious of all her cuts and bruises, went up to the girl and held out her hand.
“Whether you like it or not, I’m going to thank25 you. My life doesn’t mean a lot to you probably,” with a whimsical smile, “but it does to me and I am very properly grateful for it. How you can climb!” she added with genuine admiration. “If I could scale the side of a cliff like that, I wouldn’t care whether I could solve a problem in algebra or not.” ”

“ Billie was conscious of thinking.
"Well, let's go up," urged Laura, as Billie showed no inclination to move. "We might as well get the agony over with."
"All right, come on," cried Billie, running ahead of them and taking two steps at a time. "As Dad says: 'A coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave man only one.'"
The end of this quotation brought them to the porch, and Billie looked for the bell. ”

“ They were standing just outside the store where their last purchases had been made when Billie, looking down the street, gave a cry of delight.
“Look who’s coming!” she exclaimed.
“It’s the boys!” cried Vi. “Mercy, girls, we might just as well have spent the rest of our money, the boys will treat us to the ice cream.”
“Goodness, Vi! do you want to spend your money whether you get anything you really need or wish for or not?” inquired Billie, with a little gasp.
“What in the world is money for if not to spend?” asked Vi, making big and innocent eyes at Billie. ”

“ Gilligan, the gleam deepening in her eyes.
"But how did you catch it?" asked Violet, for the girls, all except Billie, who had originated the idea, were as much in the dark as the boys.
"With a trap," said Billie, her own eyes beginning to sparkle.
"But who thought of it?" Violet insisted, ignoring the sarcasm.
"You see before you the girl who invented it," said Billie with a chuckle.
"Great pumpkins, another inventor!" groaned Ferd, and sent them off into a spasm of laughter.
"Oh, tell us about it, Billie," Laura entreated. "You can be the most aggravating thing!" ”

“ Billie, suddenly realizing this, spoke aloud, and Laura and Violet jumped nervously.
"What's the matter with us?" Billie asked, her voice sounding strangely loud and unnatural even to herself in the hushed stillness all about. "We never used to be so awfully quiet. ”

“ Billie was given no opportunity to comment on this peculiar observation for at the moment Vi and Laura dashed in from the woods, rushed to Billie and flung their arms about her. They had come by the woods path “around Robin Hood’s barn” and had reached her as soon as possible.
“Oh-h, look out! Don’t hug so tightly, darlings. I’m—to put it mildly—sensitive. Yes, I’m alive—as you see. No there are no bones broken—I think. But I’ll have to soak in arnica to-night. Bruises—hundreds of ’em. But I’m not complaining. I know how lucky I am just to be alive!” ”

“ The joys and sorrows of the Billie person had small place in her mind.
But Kit took him into the kitchen and gave him a big square of gingerbread with whipped cream on it, and listened to him plan out the future without a single word of depreciation or discouragement. The world was golden, and Fortune had handed him a lighted flambeau and told him to take his place with the other Greek lads and race for the prize.
"I just know you'll win out, Billie," she told him confidently, when she said good-bye on the back steps. "Come down any time and we'll help you out on your studies." ”

“ Billie turned her attention to her agent. She seemed to belong to the same type as Smith's and Van Emmon's; otherwise she was certainly much more active, much more interested in her surroundings, and possessed of a far more powerful machine. She was continually changing her direction; and Billie soon congratulated herself upon her luck. Beyond a doubt, this party was no mere slave to orders; it was she who gave the orders.
Before one minute had passed she was approached by a Sanusian in a big, clumsy looking machine. ”

“ He was too small and too much bewildered to tell them what his name was so they called him Billie. He was adopted by one of the river men and soon grew to be a strong and vigorous boy. He was a good worker. Part of his work was to carry loads of wood to the boat. His adopted father used to attract the attention of strangers and say proudly. "See Billie, there, pack wood." Having no other name than Billie, they fell into the way of calling him Billie Packwood. He grew to manhood, settled on the James River where he married and raised his family. ”

“ Why, Laura," with a touch of excitement, "did you notice those funny old chairs and things? They're really very pretty, and they are surely very old. I shouldn't wonder—"
"Oh, Billie," cried Violet rapturously, "do you suppose you could get real money for them? If you could," she added with the air of a martyr that made the girls laugh, "it would be worth even braving the ghosts for."
"You don't really believe that silly thing, do you?" asked Billie, turning back into the hall. "It's all in a foolish old man's imagination." ”

“ For a moment her classmates stared at Billie blankly. They had all but forgotten about the invention. Somehow, Mrs. Haddon’s tale of a nearly won fortune had seemed unreal and vague to them—almost like a fairy story. And now here was Billie bringing it all up again and even talking about finding that knitting machine model!
“If it doesn’t always take you to think up impossible things, Billie Bradley,” said Vi.
“Just the same,” Laura spoke up unexpectedly, “you must admit that lots of times Billie has done what we would think was impossible to do.” ”

“ Vi whispered to Billie, as Miss Ada Dill opened the dormitory door and a lovely girl with very pink cheeks and very black hair stopped for a word with the teacher and then hurried past the girls on her way downstairs. "I wonder who she is."
"If she's as nice as she is pretty," Billie whispered back, "she'll be all right." ”

“ Billie watched him as he struggled through the drifts, and suddenly she was aware of an overwhelming desire to sit down where she was and cry.
“But that wouldn’t do any good,” she told herself sharply, “even if this place does look more lonely than a desert. If we don’t get where it’s warm pretty soon we’ll turn into icicles ourselves, I guess.”
The wind had become stronger and more biting, and Billie’s teeth had begun to chatter. She was glad when Teddy floundered back to her, the rope of his sled looped over one arm. ”

“ Although her chums understood Billie’s attitude and, in their own way, sympathized with it, no attempt was made to underestimate the dire effect of Billie’s temporary indisposition upon their hope of victory in the fall tennis tournament, now close at hand.
“It isn’t only Billie who may be defeated. It’s our whole crowd that’ll go down in the crash—at least, our pride will crash,” sighed Vi to Laura one day. ”

“ Billie looked a little uncertain herself, but suddenly there floated across her vision a shabby, odd, little trunk, filled to the brim with old coins and postage stamps. Then she laughed.
"After this morning," she said, "I'm not afraid of anything. The luck's all on our side!"
CHAPTER V AMANDA'S SURPRISE
Billie was right about their luck, for they reached home without further mishap. And it was with great relief the boys and girls later saw the precious trunk safely deposited in Billie's attic. ”

“ Miss Dill was tall and thin with sharp black eyes and white hair drawn severely back from her forehead. She smiled when Miss Walters introduced her to the girls, but her smile reminded Billie of the smile on the face of a Chinese idol which she and her chums had come upon among the antiques of the old homestead at Cherry Corners. ”

“ Oh, Billie, who all are going to be in the party?"
"All the girls from Nellie's dorm, we four and Caroline Brant," Billie said, in a voice scarcely above a whisper.
"But I don't think Caroline will come," said Laura doubtfully. "You know she would lots rather study than go to a party. That's her idea of a good time."
For although Caroline Brant had proved a good friend to the chums, especially to Billie, they had tried in vain to draw her into their little escapades. She was what the girls usually referred to scornfully as "a grind," yet, strange to say, they all loved her. ”

“ Maybe somebody had a nose-bleed.”
“How romantic!” drawled Rose while the other girls giggled at the idea.
Their studies and the race for prizes absorbed the classmates in the days that followed and gradually the mystery, if indeed it was a mystery, faded from their minds.
Billie worked hard, and thought she was getting along finely. She commenced to grow a trifle pale, and at this Vi and Laura shook their heads.
“Don’t overdo it, Billie,” said Vi.
“No kind of prize is worth one’s health,” added Laura. ”

“ Billie smiled and shook her head.
“I’m not doing a scrap of buying for myself to-day. Everything must be for the young lady,” indicating the tongue-tied Edina. “And we want everything, from undies to hats.”
The saleswoman glanced dubiously at the dowdy figure of the girl from Oklahoma.
“Everything must be simple, but smart,” Billie continued. “A complete ensemble first of all, if you please—dress, coat, hat. We will pick out the shoes and stockings later.” ”

“ Connie and Rose Belser and Nellie Bane were on the sidelines, laughing themselves sick. And all this time,” she added resentfully, “I was dying to have a set with Billie myself.”
“Not much fun for us,” agreed Vi, with a thoughtful shake of the head. “You know Billie promised to help me with my math—I am worried about that, Laura, and with good reason—but these days she has no time for anything but Edina. Old friends don’t count.” ”

“ Billie occasionally 19 glanced over her shoulder at the sick man and each time her eyes met his, which seemed to burn like coals of fire. She had not liked the looks of the other man. His one remaining eye was much too close to his hooked nose; but the sick man appealed to her sympathies. Billie’s nature was not a suspicious one. She had encountered many people in her life, and it is only people who have lived out of the world who are apt to suspect strangers. ”

“ Campbell,” replied Richard Hook. “Miss Billie is confidential adviser to the doctor. I don’t believe he takes a step without consulting her first.”
“Wise man,” answered Billie’s father. “He’ll get some good sound advice, if not entirely professional.”
In the meantime, Billie was saying:
“Oh, doctor, what has happened? Is he conscious? Has he spoken? Does he recognize anyone?”
“How could he, child, when there is no one for him to recognize? Recollect that in coming to, the man has taken up the thread of his life of eighteen or twenty years ago. I would not trust him to see Phoebe at this point. ”

“ The girls were silent for a moment, letting this last remark of Billie’s sink in. Then it was Billie who broke the silence.
“I wonder,” she said, “how they have ever managed to get along up to this time. They must have had something to live on.”
“Why,” said Vi, wrinkling her forehead thoughtfully, “the doctor said something about Mrs. Haddon having to give up her work because of ill health. Didn’t he, Laura?”
“Yes,” said Laura, stuffing her hands deeper into her pockets. “He seems dreadfully sorry about poor little Peter. I heard him mumble something about troubles always coming in a heap.” ”

“ My name is Rose Belser, and I'm from Brighting," mentioning a town several miles the other side of North Bend.
"We're awfully glad to know you," Billie answered, with her own particular friendly smile. "I'm Beatrice Bradley, and these are my two chums, Violet Farrington and Laura Jordon. We're from North Bend."
"Glad to know you," said Rose Belser with a quick little nod of her black head. Then she curled herself on the foot of Billie's bed and proceeded to make herself at home.
"I've been staying here for the summer," she told them. "It's an awful place to spend the summer, you know. ”