Dorothy Dale

“ Dorothy made a comical "squat" to add more finish, and then the two girls, feeling better for having opened the safety valve of physical exertion to "let off" mental exuberance, sat down to talk it over quietly.
"Are you perfectly positive, certain, sure, that it's just you, Dorothy Dale, and no fairy or mermaid," began Tavia, settling herself among the cushions on Major Dale's sofa. "Of all the delicious, delectable things! To have a rich, old uncle die 'way off in India, where you don't even have to make your nose red at his funeral. ”

“ There are Dorothy Dales in almost every home—but we have not written their story yet. The “Home Girl” is one of the great unwritten volumes that writers hold so sacred in their hearts, scarcely is pen or paper deemed worthy to make the picture.
But we are telling one Dorothy’s story, that those who read may see the others by reflection.
In the library at the Cedars sat the group—Major Dale and his sister, Mrs. White, Lawyer Pierce, and Dorothy with Miette. They were now to learn the story of the real Miette—from the lips of her attorney. ”

“ The series of eleven previous stories about Dorothy, Tavia, and their friends began with “Dorothy Dale: A Girl of To-day,” some years before the date of this present narrative. At that time Dorothy was living with her father, Major Frank Dale, a Civil War veteran, who owned and edited the Bugle, a newspaper published in Dalton, a small town in New York State.
Then Major Dale’s livelihood and that of the family, consisting of Dorothy and her small brothers, Joe and Roger, depended upon the success of the Bugle. ”

“ Young ladies old enough——”
“And their names?”
“Misses Travers and Dale.”
64 “Tavia Travers!” gasped the older lady. “Of course! Who else would have invented such a perfectly ridiculous thing as introducing pigs into the school room?”
“I knew you would be amazed, madam.”
“Not at all,” the principal hastened to say. “Nothing Tavia ever does surprises me. But the other—not Dorothy Dale?”
“Yes, Miss Dale.”
“Oh, Miss Olaine! there must be some mistake there. I know Dorothy so well,” said Mrs. Pangborn, gravely. “The two are always together; but I am sure that whatever Dorothy told you was true. ”

“ The reader may be sure that all Tavia said was to Dorothy’s glory. She had little need to explain to Garry Knapp what a beautiful character Dorothy Dale possessed. Tavia had told about Dorothy’s family, her Aunt Winnie’s wealth, the fortunes Major Dale now possessed both in the East and West, and the fact that when Dorothy came of age, at twenty-one, she would be wealthy in her own right. She had said all this to a young man who was struggling along as a cowpuncher on a Western ranch, and whose patrimony was a piece of rundown land that he could sell but for a song, as he admitted himself. ”

“ Dorothy Dale said earnestly, “will give him the start in business life he needs. I know he has it in him to make good. He can expect no fortune from his uncle in Alaska, who is angry with him; he will never hear to using any of my money to help bring success; but in this way he will have his chance. I believe he will be independent in a few years.”
“And, meanwhile, what of you?” cried her aunt.
“I shall be waiting for him,” replied Dorothy with a smile that Tavia, had she seen it, would have pronounced “seraphic.”
“Major! did you ever hear of such talk from a girl?” gasped Aunt Winnie. ”

“ 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. ”

“ She did not let her mind dwell upon this state of affairs; she could not and retain that calm expected of Dorothy Dale by the rest of the family at The Cedars. It is what is expected of us that we accomplish, after all. She had never [Pg 236] been in the habit of giving away to her feelings, even as a schoolgirl. Much more was expected of her now.
The older people about her were, of course, sympathetic. She would have been glad to get away from them for that very reason. Whenever Tavia looked at her Dorothy saw commiseration in her eyes. So, too, with Aunt Winnie and the major. ”

“ If ever in her life, Dorothy Dale showed desperate courage at this moment. She kept straight on—whirling the burning branch to make the sparks fly—and dashed up to the bulky object which had so terrified her and her chum.
It was a good sized boulder imbedded in the earth at the edge of the forest. Its face was split and scarred; two bits of mica in its front had caught and reflected the firelight, and so looked like a pair of staring eyes. This was the dreadful beast of prey that had held them in durance for an hour and a half! ”

“ In "Dorothy Dale's Great Secret," the third of the series, there is shown what it means for a girl to be allowed too much liberty; to grow ambitious before she has grown wise; to act imprudently, and then to have to suffer the consequences.
It was Tavia who ran away to go on the stage, it was Dorothy who found her and brought her back. And Dorothy kept her "secret," though what it cost her only she knew.
The book immediately preceding this volume, entitled "Dorothy Dale and her Chums," tells the story of Dorothy, Tavia, Urania, a gypsy girl, and Miette, a little French lass. ”

“ Therefore, it is told in “Dorothy Dale in the West,” how Aunt Winnie White, Dorothy’s two cousins, Ned and Nat, and herself with Tavia, go far from North Birchland and mingle with the miners, and other Western characters to be found on and about the Hardin property, including a cowboy named Lance Petterby, who shows unmistakable signs of being devoted to Tavia. Indeed, after the party return to the East, Lance writes to Tavia and the latter’s apparent predilection for the cowboy somewhat troubles Dorothy. ”

“ Lookut!” cried Roger in the background, suddenly observing the tableau. “What do you know about Dorothy and Garry Knapp doing it too?”
“Gee!” growled Joe, in disgust. “It must be [Pg 248] catching. Tavia and old Nat will get it. Come on away, Roger. Huh! they don’t even know we’re on earth.”
And it was some time before Dorothy Dale and “that cowboy person” awoke to the fact that they were alone and it was a much longer time still before they started back for The Cedars, hand in hand. ”

“ In a certain way it ages a girl to be left motherless as Dorothy Dale had been. She had been obliged to “play mother” herself so early that her maternal instincts were strongly and early developed.
Until the Dale family had come away from Dalton to live with Aunt Winnie at The Cedars, Dorothy had exercised her motherly oversight in the little family. Indeed, Roger scarcely knew any other mother than Dorothy, and Joe had almost forgotten her who had passed away soon after Roger was born. ”

“ He shuffled to the other foot and said, without raising his eyes:
“I don’t know nothin’ about Joe, honest I don’t, Miss Dale. If he’s disappeared I’m sure sorry, but I don’t know nothin’ about him.”
For a moment Dorothy was nonplused. The Italian’s protestations seemed sincere enough, and yet——
“Don’t believe him,” whispered Tavia in her ear. “He has a shuffling foot and a shifty eye. A wicked combination—take it from one who knows!”
THE BOY DODGED IN FRONT OF THE AUTOMOBILE WITH DOROTHY AT HIS HEELS.
“Dorothy Dale to the Rescue.” ”

“ So, inside of a week, Tavia was “conditioned.” Each black mark that she had against her in deportment had to be “worked off” before the end of the half, or she could not graduate.
And in seeking to shield her chum again from the consequences of her folly, Dorothy found herself conditioned, too. Mrs. Pangborn demanded her presence in the office, and for almost the first time in her career at Glenwood, Dorothy Dale found herself at odds with the kind principal of the school. ”

“ Dorothy was now almost as greatly mystified as she had been when the woman on the train spoke of Tavia. But Miss Allen went to wait on another customer, and when Dorothy had finally succeeded in selecting some trinkets she left the counter with Miss Allen's words ringing in her ears.
"Whatever does it all mean?" she asked herself. It was some time before she had her answer.
CHAPTER X THE THORNS OF A HOLLY WREATH
"Loafing is not resting; labor is the grindstone of life's dull edges," quoted Dorothy Dale on the evening of her return from the city. ”

“ A cute little lamb to fleece!”
“And a nice fat, succulent one,” added Stanley Blake, in a voice neither of the girls recognized. It had a cold, mean quality that made Dorothy shiver, though the dining room was hot.
She glanced at Tavia and saw the look of bewilderment and horror on her face. Tavia had “caught on” at last. She was beginning to find that Dorothy’s aversion to these two men had been founded on something very much more real than a whim.
“THEY ARE TALKING OF GARRY,” SHE EXPLAINED, IN A TENSE WHISPER.
“Dorothy Dale to the Rescue.” ”

“ THE FLY IN THE AMBER
“Oh, Dorothy!” cried Tavia.
Jennie, with a shudder, buried her face in her hands.
Joe and Roger Dale were fairly flying down the hill, and would endeavor to stop by collision with the same lump of frozen earth that had previously been their bulwark.
“See! Ned! Nat!” cried Dorothy again. “We must stop them!”
But how stop the boys already rushing down hill on their coaster? It seemed an impossible feat.
The White brothers dropped the towline of the big sled and scrambled along the slippery slope toward the edge of the gully. ”

“ What's the use of being girls if we can't be——"
"Idiots!" added Dorothy, and she wondered why she so strongly opposed Tavia. "I'll tell you, Tavia, this business of chatting with strange young men is nothing less than foolish. I can't see where it becomes funny."
"It begins," said Tavia, balancing her pencil on her third finger, "at the point where Dorothy Dale turns preacher. A poor sermon is absolutely—funny."
"Thank you," returned Dorothy, without recovering her good nature, "but you must remember, Tavia, that we are leaving Glenwood in two days." ”

“ Dorothy sighed again. “Why is it that boys want always to kill?”
“So’s to eat,” Joe said bluntly. “You know yourself, Dorothy Dale, that you like partridge on toast and rabbit stew.”
She laughed at them. “I shall go hungry, then, I’m afraid, as far as you boys are concerned.”
“Of course we can’t get any game if we don’t have a dog. Brindle couldn’t jump a flea,” growled Joe.
“Say! the big fellows used to have lots more [Pg 103] pets than we’ve got,” complained Roger, referring to Ned and Nat. ”

“ Martin, Aunt Libby, and to them she was indeed as kind and loving as any aunt could be.
Dorothy had an aunt, Mrs. Winthrop White, of North Birchland in summer, and of the city in winter, a woman of social importance, as well as being a most lovable and charming lady personally. A visit of Dorothy and Tavia to the Cedars, Mrs. White's country place, as related in "Dorothy Dale," was full of incidents, and in the present volume we shall become still better acquainted with the family, which included Mrs. White's two sons, Ned and Nat, both young men well worth knowing. ”

“ Young men and more often young girls allow themselves to become engaged with little thought for the future. Garry was not that kind. Suppose Dorothy Dale did accept his attentions and was willing to wait for him until he could win out in some line of industrial endeavor that would afford the competence that he believed he should possess before marrying a girl used to the luxuries Dorothy was used to, Garry Knapp felt it would be wrong to accept the sacrifice. ”

“ Hurra! Hurroo!” shouted the girls, forgetting all dignity in face of such a treat.
And on the hills of Glenwood, in three big sleighs, with Jake leading in the Glenwood, its plumes flying, let us leave our friends, to meet them again, in another volume, to be called, “Dorothy Dale in the City.”
“Well, ‘all is well that ends well,’” murmured240 Tavia, as they flew along the snowy road, the sleighbells jingling merrily.
“Yes, and I am glad of it,” answered Dorothy. “But poor Jean, I am so sorry for her!”
“We all are,” came from Edna. ”

“ It took but a second for Major Dale to locate the spot, and but a moment longer to have the candle lighted.
Then they could see Urania! And they could see that place!
“Oh, you poor, dear child!” sobbed Dorothy. “Why did you not let me know?”
The dark eyes flashed and Urania showed she was not yet too weak to smile.
“And it is all safe?” she asked, wearily.
“All entirely safe,” answered Major Dale. “But you are not safe here. It is a wonder you have lived—hurry! We must get across the swamp quickly to reach the road before it is dangerously dark.”
“Can you walk?” asked Dorothy, anxiously. ”

“ Dorothy and Tavia were to go, although neither expected to take the lake bath, for Dorothy was firm in her resolve to stay with Tavia, and so forego one of her favorite pastimes, for Dorothy Dale was counted an excellent swimmer.
[64]
In high glee the party started off, under the chaperonage of Miss Higley, and even those pupils who insisted that she was “a bear” were forced to admit that, on this occasion, she was “as meek as a lamb.” The fact was that Miss Higley loved swimming, and knew she was expert at the exercise. So the promised sport was especially welcome to her. ”