Sheila Pat

“ Pat, feeling now as though she had always belonged to Troop Six, asked, humbly, "if plain Eagles might not have just five?" and helped herself as she spoke!
The girls walked home together, a merry troop! Peggy Lee and Keineth Randolph turned after a few blocks; as Pat, Renée and Sheila went on Pat slipped her hand through Sheila's arm.
She had been deeply impressed by Sheila's modesty of manner. She was certain if she had been awarded such high honor she would have strutted like a peacock!
"Doesn't it feel grand to be a Golden Eaglet?" she asked Sheila solemnly. ”

“ Sheila Pat suggested, "I think Tommy would like to come, too."
"We'll ask him."
That afternoon Sheila Pat was ready first.
"Nell, may I go and ask Tommy?"
"All right, only don't dawdle."
Sheila Pat trotted off.
Mrs. Barclay hesitated; she looked worried.
"Please may he come?" Sheila Pat repeated.
"I should like him to go, dear, but—but—" Suddenly she bent down and kissed the serious little face passionately. "Be good to him, Sheila Pat! He isn't strong—he has a good deal to bear. Sometimes he gets into a bad temper, because he can't be quite like other boys. To-day he won't speak. ”

“ He looked at the Atom's excited face, her bright eyes, and talked quietly to Nell. Then he went.
For a quarter of an hour Sheila Pat studied her precious book.
Then Sarah appeared with a petition from Herr Schmidt for just a "beep at the little Miss Sheila."
He came in, laboriously tiptoeing, beaming.
"Ze poor little invalid! You are better, hein?"
Sheila Pat was very tired.
"I'm quite well, thank you," she responded, her manner exceedingly grown-up.
"There's only one thing about her that troubles us, Herr Schmidt," laughed Nell. "She's so good! She takes her medicine without a grimace! ”

“ Afterwards Pat told Sheila that one thing she always liked about Aunt Pen was that she treated a person as though that person knew something!
And Pat never dreamed that it was not her own mental processes that, after a few words, arrived at the conclusion that she and Renée must content themselves with just trying to do what they were qualified to do!
"Renée is too young to be employed even for any part of a day in a store--we have a law that forbids it! And you, Pat, could scarcely sell enough Beauty Packages in what spare time you have to replace the shoe leather you'd wear out!" ”

“ And Sheila Quinn, a head taller than even Pat, her black hair neatly braided in two tight pigtails reaching almost to her waist, her face and form showing the vigor gained from healthy exercise and simple living, had something both of Patricia's winsomeness, Renée's quiet poise and a happy contentment all of her own which came from the Quinn philosophy of "just make the best of everything, sweetness, there's sure to be some sunshine somewhere!" ”

“ In these khaki clad youngsters strong characters were in the building, "that anyone could depend upon" as Sheila had put it!
"Sheila, I know something un-us-u-al is going to happen!" whispered Peggy Lee, leaning across Pat and Renée. The Eagle patrol had grouped together, sitting cross-legged on the floor. "When Capt. Ricky looks like that she's got some grand surprise----"
"Maybe it's an overnight hike! We take our ponchos and blankets and dog-tents and sleep outdoors!" ”

“ Pat was silent for a moment. Then going to her Daddy she laid her cheek coaxingly against his arm.
"Daddy, as long as there are so many going--and weddings are jollier when there are a lot of people--can't we take Sheila, too? She's never been any further from the city than Hill-top and she's always so contented and happy and's never teasing for things the way I am! Just think how she'd look when she saw the ocean! I have so much more fun than she does, Daddy, I'd just as soon stay home if she could go in my place!" ”

“ Sheila, rolled it tightly into a firm pillow. Renée had returned with Aunt Pen's package and she and Patricia commenced tearing it into strips. Their fingers, eager though they were, made awkward work of it.
"Let me do it! You hold his leg," exclaimed Sheila. She tore off strips two inches wide. Then she neatly covered the woolen scarf with a wider piece. Renée and Pat, deeply concerned, leaned over the dog and watched. Pat held the injured leg and Renée gently stroked the dog's head.
"Isn't he a darling?" cried Pat. "I just hate Watkins for hurting him!" ”

“ If you will be such a baby, I shall have to come and get your bath ready myself."
"Y-you all have cold s-sponges!" sulked Sheila Pat, with chattering teeth.
"And so will you when you've grown bigger and stronger. Didn't Dr. McCarthy tell you so?"
"Is it s-strong? Feel my muscles! I j-just love icy-c-cold baths!"
"You look as if you do!"
"I think you're v-very rude, Nell O'Brien!" The Atom, after this dignified retort, relapsed into a cold silence.
"Now go and get Molly up, there's a good Atom," Nell said when Sheila Pat was clothed. "I can hear she's not moving." ”

“ It seems strange to me that I am as near to the United States here in Jamaica, or almost as near, as one in London is to one in Dublin; and yet one might as well be ten thousand leagues distant for all it means to her one loves in the United States. Yes, dear Sheila, I love you, and I would tear out the heart of the world for you. I bathe my whole being in your beauty and your charm. I hunger for you—to stand beside you, to listen to your voice, to dip my prison fingers into the pure cauldron of your soul and feel my own soul expand. ”

“ Sheila knew that the blood was mantling in her cheeks; that her heart was full of joy; that her whole frame so tingled with life and spirit that, had she been in Borva, she would have challenged her deerhound to a race, and fled down the side of the hill with him to the small bay of white sand below the house. She did not pause for a minute when she reached the hotel. She went up the steps, opened the door, and entered the square hall. There was an odor of tobacco in the place, and several gentlemen standing about rather confused her, for she had to glance at them in looking for a waiter. ”

“ Sheila only sighed. “I do not wish them to be altered,” she said by and by, with her eyes growing pensive; “all I know is, that I could not live the same life. And you—you seemed to be happier up in the Highlands than you have ever been since.”
“Well, you see, a man ought to be happy when he is enjoying a holiday in the country along with the girl he is engaged to. But if I had lived all my life killing salmon and shooting wild duck, I should have grown up an ignorant boor, with no more sense of—”
He stopped for he saw that the girl was thinking of her father. ”

“ The gray ghost of the Queen of Sheba's face was raised a moment from her manger while she looked at him inquiringly, blowing softly through her nostrils the while.
"You're all right, anyway," said Tunis, chuckling as he closed the barn door. "You've got a friend for life."
He went on to the kitchen door. Inside he could hear the bustle of Sheila's swift feet, the croon of Prudence's gentle voice, and then a mighty "A-choon!" as Cap'n Ira relieved his pent-up feelings.
"Don't let them fish cakes burn, gal," the old man drawled. "If Tunis ain't here mighty quick he can eat his cold. Oh! ”

“ And now it was Sheila’s turn to look a bit embarrassed and color, and appear uncertain whether to be vexed or pleased, when her husband himself broke in in his usual impetuous fashion: “I say, Ingram, don’t be a fool! Of course you must call her Sheila—unless when there are people here, and then you must please yourself. Why, the poor girl has enough of strange things and names about her already. ”

“ There iss no day at all Sheila will not be out some time or other; and she is never so well as in the hard weather, when she will be out always in the snow and the frost, and hef plenty of exercise and amusement.”
“She is not often ailing, I suppose?” said Lavender.
“She is as strong as a young pony, that’s what Sheila is,” said her father, proudly. “And there’s no one in the island will run so fast, or walk so long without tiring, or carry things from the shore as she will—not one.” ”

“ She thought it was her father calling to her, and she rose with a cry of joy. For one wild moment she fancied that outside were all the people she knew—Duncan and Scarlett and Mairi—and that she was once more at home, with the sea all around her, and the salt, cold air.
"Sheila, I want to speak to you."
It was her husband. She went to the door, opened it, and stood there penitent and with downcast face.
"Come, you must not be silly," he said with some kindness in his voice. "You have had no dinner. You must be hungry." ”

“ But don't you remember any neighbor that lived near you there in Boston that had a gal something like this crazy one that come here?"
"I swan!" ejaculated Cap'n Ira. "You're coming out strong, old woman, I do say."
Sheila could only shake her head.
"Why, see," said Prudence, encouraged by her husband's commendation, "there might have been a neighbor woman that Sarah—your mother, you know, Ida May—was close acquainted with. Maybe she used to talk with this neighbor a good deal about her young days, and how she lived down here. You know women often gossip that way." ”

“ Sheila did not wish to enter into any controversy about the habits of her husband, so she said: “I hope you will see him before he goes, Mrs. Lavender. He is very anxious to know how you are, and I am glad to find you looking so well. You do not look like an invalid at all.”
“Oh, I’m not going to die yet,” said the little dried old woman, with the harsh voice, the staring eyes, and the tightly twisted gray hair. ”

“ When Sheila's attention wandered away from the talk of her companions she could not help listening for the sound of the waves; and as there was no such message coming to her from the great wooded plain without, her fancy took her away across that mighty country she had traveled through, and carried her up to the island of Loch Roag, until she almost fancied she could smell the peat-smoke in the night-air, and listen to the sea, and hear her father pacing up and down the gravel outside the house, perhaps thinking of her as she was thinking of him. ”

“ He took no notice of her tears.
"Every step must be taken to find her," he said shortly, "and to place her in a place of safety. It is terrible to think of a girl like that alone in the world, and," he added, as he turned to look at Sheila, "it is sad indeed to think that she is placed in this condition by one who has all the good things of life around her. I am disappointed in you, Sheila. But I must go and see what can be done."
Peter ordered his cart and drove at once to the carpenter's shop and asked for the address of the young man who had put up the platform at the Court for the concert. ”

“ Ingram belonged to a very good family,” said Sheila, quietly.
“That is so. But each man is responsible for his own manners; and as all the society he sees consists of a cat and some wooden pipes in a couple of dingy rooms in Sloane Street, you can’t expect him not to make an ass of himself.”
“I have never seen him make himself ridiculous; I do not think it possible,” said Sheila, with a certain precision of speech which Lavender had got to know meant much. “But that is a matter for himself. Perhaps you will tell me what I am to do when I meet him at Mrs. Kavanagh’s house.” ”

“ Is she crazy?"
"Crazy ain't no name for it," her husband rejoined. "Her top-hamper is all askew, I cal'late. I never see the beat."
But just now Sheila could not endure any discussion of the strange girl. She rose as quickly as she had seated herself.
"I must fix supper," she said briskly. "You sit still, Aunt Prudence. You're flustered, I can see. There is nothing for you to do."
"That's right," put in Cap'n Ira. "Get a bite ready against Tunis comes back. He'll want something fillin' after handling that crazy gal." ”

“ Lavender, indeed, was much cooler than he was, and said, with an affectation of carelessness, “I am sorry you should vex yourself so much about Sheila. One would think you had had the ambition yourself, at some time or other, to play the part of husband to her; and doubtless then you would have made sure that all her idle fancies were gratified. As it is, I was about to relieve you from the trouble of further explanation by saying that I am quite competent to manage my own affairs, and that if Sheila has any complaint to make she must make it to me.” ”

“ Sheila was so exhausted by her labors as editress, directress, and actress that she had yawned even in the midst of her prettiest thank-yous for the praise she battened on. On the way she clung to her father’s hand in a sleep-walking drowse, and lurched into him until he caught her into his bosom and carried her home and up the stairs to her bed. She slept while her mother undressed her, and there was no waking her to her prayers. Even in her heavy slumbers she fell into an attitude of such grace that it seemed almost conscious.
Roger and Polly looked at her and smiled ”

“ To burden her with rules and regulations of conduct would be to produce the very catastrophes he wished to avoid. Where no attempt is made, failure is impossible; and he was meanwhile well content that Sheila should simply appear as Sheila, even although she might draw in a chair for a guest, or so far forget her dignity as to pour out some wine for her husband.
“After all, Sheila,” said Lavender, “hadn’t I better begin and tell Ingram about your surprise and delight when you came near Oban and saw the tall hotels and the trees? ”