The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Motor Maids by Palm and Pine, by Katherine Stokes This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The Motor Maids by Palm and Pine Author: Katherine Stokes Release Date: June 3, 2011 [eBook #36320] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MOTOR MAIDS BY PALM AND PINE*** E-text prepared by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) WHEN THE TRAIN STOPPED AT THE PALM BEACH STATION, THERE WAS THE COMET WAITING FOR THEM.—Page 14. THE MOTOR MAIDS BY PALM AND PINE BY KATHERINE STOKES AUTHOR OF “THE MOTOR MAIDS’ SCHOOL DAYS,” ETC. M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY CHICAGO—NEW YORK Copyright, 1911, BY HURST & COMPANY Made in U. S. A. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. To the Sunny South 5 II. Making New Acquaintances 19 III. Timothy’s Drowning 37 IV. A Race and What Came of It 50 V. The Two Edwards 64 VI. The Gray Motor Car 79 VII. The Coward 94 VIII. Mr. Duffy Gives a Party 111 IX. The Bullfrog and the Pollywog 128 X. The Song of the Motor 138 XI. The Orange Grove 150 XII. An Unwished Wish 161 XIII. In the Deep Woods 173 XIV. The Mocking Bird 186 XV. Out of the Wilderness 196 XVI. Mrs. L’Estrange 208 XVII. A Morning Call 220 XVIII. It’s an Ill Wind 234 XIX. A Passage at Arms 246 XX. The Hand of Destiny 258 XXI. Picnicking Under the Pines 270 XXII. The Last of the House of Troubles 280 XXIII. Explanations 291 XXIV. So Endeth the Second Lesson 298 The Motor Maids by Palm and Pine CHAPTER I.—TO THE SUNNY SOUTH. The Atlantic Ocean and the breadth of Europe including half of Russia lay between Mr. Duncan Campbell and his daughter, Wilhelmina. But that did not prevent Mr. Campbell from thinking of numerous delightful surprises for Billie and her three friends in West Haven. Sometimes it was a mere scrawl of a note hastily written at some small way station, saying: “Here’s a check for my Billie-girl. Treat your friends to ice-cream sodas and take ’em to the theater. Don’t forget your old Dad.” Sometimes the surprise took the form of queer foreign-looking packages addressed to “the Misses Campbell, Butler, Brown and Price,” containing strange articles made by the peasants in the far-away land. He sent them each a Cossack costume with high red boots and red sashes. But some three weeks before the Easter holidays came the best surprise of all. “I believe the Comet needs a change of air,” wrote Mr. Campbell. “A fine automobile must have as careful handling as a thoroughbred horse, or, for that matter, a thoroughbred young lady. What does my Billie-girl say to an Easter trip to Florida with Cousin Helen as guardian angel and Nan and Nell and Moll for company and the Comet for just his own sweet self?” Mr. Campbell, who received long, intimate letters from his daughter once a week, felt that he knew the girls almost as well as she did, and he would call them by abbreviated, pet names in spite of Billie’s remonstrances. “It so happens,” the letter continued, “that my old friend, Ignatius Donahue, who holds the small, unimportant, poorly-paid position of vice-president of an insignificant railroad, not knowing that I was digging trenches in Russia, has offered me the use of his private car, including kitchen stove, chef and other necessities. I have answered that I accept the invitation, not for self, but for daughter and friends and Comet; which latter must have free transportation on first-class fast-going freight, or he is no friend of mine. You will be hearing from Ignatius now pretty soon. Your old dad will be answerable for all other expenses, including hotel and-so-forth and if the and-so-forth is bigger than the hotel bill, he’ll never even chirp. Life is short and time is fleeting and young girls must go South in the winter when they have a chance.” 5 6 7 So, that is how the Motor Maids happened to be the four busiest young women in West Haven—what with those abominable High School examinations which always came about this time, and the getting together of a Palm Beach wardrobe. And that is also how, one cold wet day at the end of March, they found themselves lolling in big comfortable chairs in Mr. Donahue’s private car while the train whizzed southward. It had been a bustle and a rush at the last moment and they were glad to leave West Haven, which was a dreary, misty little place at that time of the year. Miss Campbell leaned back in her wicker chair and regarded her four charges proudly. How neat they looked in their pretty traveling suits and new spring hats! “I am so glad they are young girls and not young ladies,” she was thinking, when her meditations were interrupted by Sam, the colored chef and porter combined, whose arms were laden with packages. “Why, what are you bringing us, Sam?” asked the little lady with some curiosity. “With Mr. Donahue’s compliments, ma’am, and he hopes the ladies won’t git hungry and bored on the journey,” replied Sam, depositing the packages on a chair and drawing it up within Miss Campbell’s reach. “Dear me, children,” she exclaimed excitedly, “look what this nice man has sent us. I feel like a girl again myself. A beautiful bunch of violets apiece——” “And a big box of candy,” exclaimed Nancy Brown. “And all the latest magazines,” added Billie Campbell, laughing. “What a dear he is,” finished Elinor Butler, fastening on her violets with a long lavender pin; while Mary Price gave her own violets a passionate little squeeze. “I hopes,” went on Sam, shifting from one foot to the other, “I hopes the ladies ain’t goin’ to eat so much candy they won’t have no appetite for they dinner. We g’wine have spring chicken to-night, an’ fresh green peas an’ new asparagrass, an’ strawbe’ies. I’d be mighty sorry if de ladies don’ leave no space for my dinner. Marse Donahue he don’ kill de fatted ca’f fo’ dis here ’casion.” “Sam, we’ll close the candy box this minute,” said Miss Campbell. “And you needn’t bring us any tea this afternoon. You need feel no uneasiness about your spring chickens and your new peas. I shall write to Mr. Donahue myself as soon as I get to Palm Beach and thank him for his kindness.” “He’s a very nice gemman, he is that,” observed Sam. “Is he a young man, Sam?” asked Nancy, with young girl curiosity. “He ain’t to say young or old, Missy. He don’ took his stan’ on the dividin’ line an’ thar he stan’.” “How long has he been standing there, Sam?” put in Elinor. “I knowed the gemman twenty years an’ he ain’t never stepped off yit.” The private car rang with their cheerful laughter. “He must be a wonderful man,” said Miss Campbell. “I wish he would teach me his secret.” “His secret is, ma’am, he ain’t never got married and had no fambly troubles to age his countenance,” answered Sam. “But,” cried Miss Campbell, “I’ve never been married either, and I’m white-haired and infirm.” “You infirm, ma’am! You de youngest one in de lot,” answered the colored man, turning his frankly admiring gaze on the pretty little lady as he backed down the car, grinning, and disappeared in his own quarters. “You see, Cousin,” said Billie, patting Miss Campbell’s cheek, “you must never try to make people believe again that you are old. You are a pretty young lady gone gray before her time.” It was plain that Mr. Ignatius Donahue was very much pleased with the arrangements he had made with his old friend, Duncan Campbell. All along the journey he had fresh surprises for his five guests. At one place came a big basket of fruit; at another station a colored woman climbed on the train and presented each of them with a splendid magnolia in full bloom, that filled the car with its fragrance. “With Mr. Donahue’s compliments, ma’am; an’ he says he hopes the ladies is enjoyin’ they selves,” she added as she gave Miss Campbell the largest blossom in the bunch. “Dear, dear,” cried Miss Campbell. “One would think Mr. Donahue were taking this journey with us. He is so attentive. Is he anywhere around here?” “No, ma’am,” interrupted Sam, with a warning look at the colored woman. “Marse Donahue, he jes’ give orders and specs ’em to be kerried out like he says.” “I feel as if Mr. Donahue were a sort of spirit always hovering near us,” said Billie, when the two colored people had disappeared, “a kind of guardian angel. I wish papa had told us something about him.” “A very substantial spirit,” observed Miss Campbell, “showering upon us all these gifts of fruits and flowers and candy.” “What does Mr. Donahue look like, Sam,” Nancy asked the colored man later. “Is he tall and thin?” “No, ma’am; he ain’t what you might call tall. An’ he ain’t short neither. “Medium, then?” “Not jes’ exactly mejum, neither, ma’am.” “Go way, Sam. You don’t know what he is. I don’t believe you ever saw Mr. Donahue.” “Ain’t I don’ tol’ you I knowed Marse Donahue twenty years? But I couldn’t paint no picture of him, Missy.” “What color is his hair, Sam?” asked Mary. “It ain’t white an’ it ain’t black, neither, Missy.” 8 9 10 11 12 13 Miss Campbell herself joined in the laughter which Sam’s reply raised and they asked no more questions about Mr. Donahue’s appearance. But the magnolias were not the last token from their mysterious host, who seemed to have arranged everything with the greatest care and forethought. When the train stopped at the Palm Beach station, there was the Comet waiting for them like a faithful steed. The red motor had been shipped nearly a week before, and the sight of his cheerful face was like meeting an old friend. “Sam, you just give Mr. Donahue my compliments,” exclaimed Billie, patting the Comet affectionately, “and tell him that next to my father he’s the nicest man I ever knew, or rather didn’t know, because I haven’t met him yet.” Sam bowed and scraped and grinned in the familiar manner of his race as he helped the ladies into the car. A young chauffeur was at the wheel, and Billie and Nancy crowded into the front seat beside him while the others sat in the back as usual. For a long time the train had been passing through a flat country, monotonous with palm trees and undergrowth, and now they seemed to have broken into fairyland. The air was laden with the scent of flowers and the sound of music floated to them in the stillness. “The concert in Cocoanut Grove,” explained the chauffeur to Nancy and Billie. “Are we in heaven?” asked Mary Price, dreamily. “It will be three weeks of heaven, I hope, my child,” answered Miss Campbell, patting the young girl’s hand. Those of you who have read the first volume of this series will recall how Mary Price had been made the victim of a cruel conspiracy a few months before, during which only the faith of her friends and a strange combination of circumstances prevented her from being branded as a thief. The unhappiness and anxiety which she had endured during that trying time, followed by months of hard study, had sapped her strength, and Mary more than any of the Motor Maids needed this change to a southern climate. “This is Lake Worth,” observed the chauffeur, pointing to a beautiful placid body of water, the little waves of which lapped the shores so softly that the whir of the motor engine seemed out of place in that quiet spot. For the first time, the girls noticed the chauffeur. He seemed very young to be running a machine; although Billie did not reflect that she herself was not much past the sixteenth goal; but then she ran her own machine, and he was a public chauffeur. He was a handsome boy with black hair and blue eyes and he spoke with a soft, beautiful accent. Billie was about to ask him a question, when they drew up in front of the great hotel where their rooms had been engaged for days in advance. A curious thing happened in connection with their chauffeur while the Motor Maids and Miss Campbell stood in a group at the hotel desk waiting for the busy clerk to give them his attention. The boy had gallantly helped them out of the car, carried in their suitcases and satchels and placed them in a pile, and Miss Campbell had extended her hand with the usual tip, when a muscular-looking man with smooth face and burnsides, touched the chauffeur respectfully on the shoulder. “I beg your pardon, Mr. Edward,” he said in a low voice, “your grandmother is waiting to see you.” “My grandmother waiting to see me?” repeated the chauffeur with amazement. The English servant, for that was evidently what he was, gave him a long and searching look and stepped backward with a puzzled expression on his face. “You’ve made a mistake, I reckon,” said the boy, smiling gently. “Beg pardon, sir,” replied the man and moved quickly away. Miss Campbell, who liked the looks of Edward, as he by a curious coincidence happened also to be named, and was taken with his quiet, respectful manners, engaged him on the spot to be their chauffeur and guide, since they were unfamiliar with the roads. “I can run a motor-boat, too, ma’am,” he said. And that was another reason for taking him into their service; for they had planned to take many a sail on the placid waters of Lake Worth and to picnic along those verdant shores. CHAPTER II.—MAKING NEW ACQUAINTANCES. “Mr. Ignatius Donahue’s compliments, and will the ladies take a ride in his motor-boat this afternoon? Mr. Donahue is sorry he cannot go too, but a business engagement prevents his being at Palm Beach.” This was the message brought to Miss Campbell the morning after their arrival at Palm Beach. The bearer of the message was Edward, the young chauffeur, who stood at a respectful distance while she read the note. “But if Mr. Donahue isn’t here, how did the note come?” asked Miss Campbell, much mystified. “I can’t say, ma’am,” replied Edward, turning his face away so that they could not see the smile which twitched the corners of his mouth. “Perhaps he telegraphed it,” observed Billie. “But it’s written on note paper,” replied Miss Campbell, rather irritably. “Would you like to go, girls?” “Oh, yes,” chorused the four voices. “Very well, Edward, there seems no one to tell it to but you. We shall accept the invitation with pleasure. It would be absurd, I suppose, to telegraph this important communication to Mr. Donahue at Kamschatka or Boston or wherever he is, but he is very kind to offer us his boat and you may expect us on the pier this afternoon at four. Is that a good time for sailing?” 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 “Yes, ma’am,” replied Edward, withdrawing down the corridor just as the door of an adjoining room opened and an angry voice cried: “How dare you meddle with anything in this room? Leave it instantly.” Some one replied in a low musical voice, “I am very sorry. I was only looking at a picture. I noticed a likeness——” “You are here to clean up and not to notice. You are a servant and not a visitor. Another time and you will be reported. You may go.” At this point a girl was thrust out into the hall so roughly that she fell on her knees. It was only a chambermaid, and perhaps she was accustomed to being spoken to harshly, although she did not appear to be, for she covered her face with her hands and crouched against the wall. “How could any one be so brutal?” exclaimed Billie indignantly as she ran to the trembling little figure and helped her to her feet. “Won’t you come into our room until you calm down? It was cruel to have spoken to you so roughly.” The door opened again and an old woman stood on the threshold, leaning on a cane. There was something rather regal in her appearance, in spite of her plain black dress and grotesque-looking old garden hat with its flapping brim which half concealed her face. “Don’t interfere, young woman,” said the formidable-looking personage. “Young American girls are far too impertinent.” Billie, who all her life had been the champion of the oppressed, was not frightened by the glare from the old woman’s steely blue eyes. She made no reply, however. Her father had taught her never to engage in a battle of words if she could possibly avoid it, especially with an older person. Putting her arm around the little chambermaid’s waist, she drew her into Miss Campbell’s room and closed the door. The other girls who had been silent witnesses of the scene gathered around them. “What a dreadful old person,” Billie burst out at last, giving vent to her indignant feelings, when the girl staggered and almost fell on the floor. “Oh, the poor dear is fainting,” cried Miss Campbell, hurrying to the dressing-table for her smelling salts, while the others quickly lifted the little maid to the bed. They opened her dress at the throat and moistened her lips with water and performed the numberless little services a woman, with any kindly sympathy in her nature, will never withhold from another woman who needs her help. “She is much too young and pretty to be a servant,” observed Miss Campbell, looking down with pity into the white, tired face of the chambermaid, who appeared hardly older than her own girls, although her fluffy blond hair was drawn up into a knot on top of her head. Presently the color came back to her face, and she opened her eyes which were large and very deep blue. “Are you better now?” asked Billie, waving a palm-leaf fan gently over her head. The girl sat up and looked about her in bewilderment. “Where am I?” she asked. Then her eyes caught Billie’s kind gray ones and memory came back to her. “It was so good of you to take my part and so stupid of me to faint! I was frightened, I suppose, and a little tired. I must be going, now,” she looked toward the door uneasily. “It would be dreadful to lose my place on the first day I began to work.” “But you are not going back to work when you are ill, child?” exclaimed Miss Campbell. “I’m afraid I must. It will be only a few hours more. I am off at twelve. My work isn’t hard. I only sort and distribute the fresh linen,” she added with a note of apology in her voice, which was soft and beautiful. The girls were struck also with her lady- like manner. They could see that she was not accustomed to being a maid because she never said, “Yes, Miss,” and “No, Miss,” like the usual chambermaid. But they were too polite to ask any questions, and presently she withdrew without their knowing much more about her than they had at first. But they soon forgot the chambermaid and her troubles in the joys of Palm Beach. Probably nobody in the world can have a better time than four intimate young friends on a pleasure trip, and many admiring glances were turned in the direction of the Motor Maids as they sat in a row on the hotel veranda after breakfast, while Miss Campbell composed a letter in the writing- room. They were entirely unconscious of the attention they attracted, however, so interested were they in watching the rippling waters of Lake Worth already dotted with white sails. Groups of people, dressed in white, strolled about the hotel grounds or sat on garden seats under the palm trees. It was that delicious lazy time in the morning when one is on a holiday and there is only pleasure to anticipate. “Billie,” whispered Nancy, “there is that brutal old woman who was so rude to the chambermaid this morning. I honestly believe she would have struck you with her stick if you had answered a word.” “If she had,” replied Billie, laughing, “and I had cabled it to Papa, he would have taken a flying leap across the Atlantic Ocean and got here before midnight. But I really don’t think she would have dared go that far.” “Be careful, here she is upon us,” warned Elinor, and the four girls, without intending to be rude, turned their eyes toward the approaching figure. The old woman still wore her flapping garden hat tied under the chin with brown silk strings. She leaned on her cane heavily as she walked, and noticed no one until she saw the four pairs of eyes regarding her with evident curiosity. She paused in front of the group and brandished her stick in their faces. “Well, what do you think you are looking at,” she cried, “a chimpanzee or an elephant or one of your own native wild people?” “Oh, grandmamma,” cried a tall, slender girl walking at her side. “How can you talk in that way? You mortify me terribly.” And she led the old woman into the hall. 21 22 23 24 25 26 “What a fierce old party,” exclaimed a young man in white flannels, who was sitting so low in a deep chair that he appeared all legs and arms. “‘Native wild people,’” he repeated, laughing gaily. “We look like native wild people in this civilized place, don’t we?” “Now, Timothy,” said a girl sitting next to him, “she meant you, I am sure. You resemble a native wild person more than any one here, with your absurd bristling red hair.” The young man laughed good-naturedly, and the girls could not resist joining in, for Timothy might have been taken for a human porcupine any day. And that was how the Motor Maids came to make friends with Timothy Peppercorn, whose ridiculous name and funny appearance never failed to set them laughing. “But who is this old lady?” asked the girl who had spoken to Timothy, and whom they came to know later as Miss Genevieve Martin of Kentucky. “I don’t know,” answered Billie, smiling. “I’ve only seen her once before, and the meeting wasn’t very friendly then.” “Did she beat you with her stick?” asked Timothy Peppercorn. “If I had said anything, she would have tapped me on the head with the gold knob, I believe, but I kept very still.” “What happened?” asked Miss Martin, turning to Elinor who was nearest her. Elinor related the story of the poor little chambermaid or “linen sorter,” as she was careful to call her. “What a brutal old wretch!” exclaimed the other indignantly. “Does she expect to teach manners to Americans by treating them like this? “Timothy, run quick and look at the hotel register and see who she is.” Timothy gathered his loose frame together and rose to his feet. He was really not so tall as he appeared when sitting, but he seemed all arms and legs like a grand-daddy-long-legs. “After I come back, will you have that swim?” he demanded. The girl nodded her head gaily. “No one can ever resist that funny red-headed boy,” she exclaimed to the others. “I don’t know quite what it is about him. He is really one of the best natured creatures alive, and he has had a great deal to make him unhappy, too, but he is always in a good humor.” “What has happened to him?” asked Nancy, who had a childish curiosity and was still young enough to ask questions. “His mother and his brother and sister have all died of consumption. Timothy would be delicate, too, but he is determined not to be, and when he finishes college he is going to be an engineer and live out of doors.” “We are engineers,” put in Billie, “Papa and I and it’s the nicest work in the world.” Miss Martin laughed. She had taken a tremendous fancy to these four nice young girls who seemed so unaffected and natural. But Timothy returned before she could reply. “The military lady in the flap-brimmed hat,” he announced, “is registered as Mrs. Paxton-Steele. The meek young person at her side is Miss Georgiana Paxton, and there appear to be also in the family Edward Paxton and Clarence Paxton, all of England.” “Steele is a good name for such a stern old personage,” said Genevieve. “Well, ‘her is naught to we, nor we to she,’” added Timothy, “so let’s go in bathing and forget all about her.” “Are you sure you feel strong enough, Timothy?” asked his friend, looking at him critically. “Of course I do, Genie,” answered the boy, flushing as red as his ruddy upstanding hair. “But I don’t want to lose my new friends just as I have made them,” continued the charming girl, changing the subject quickly and smiling into Billie’s face. “Perhaps you will go with us?” “Oh, may we?” cried Billie and Nancy in one voice. Mary and Elinor were no swimmers. “Where are your mammas, then, so that I may ask permission first?” demanded Miss Martin. “We haven’t but one with us and she’s a cousin, but here she is,” replied Billie. Miss Martin had the easy gracious manners of the South and she never permitted any one in her company to feel awkward or strange for long. She introduced herself and her friend, Timothy Peppercorn, to Miss Campbell simply and gracefully, and after a moment’s pleasant chat she had learned Miss Campbell’s name and the names of the four girls, and the swimming party was arranged. “How quickly things do happen once they begin,” thought Billie, as she ran lightly into the surf where they chose to bathe instead of going to the pool which most people preferred. “If old Mrs. Paxton-Steele, of England, hadn’t been so quarrelsome with the chambermaid this morning, we should never have stared at her on the piazza. She would probably have passed us by without noticing us at all. Then, we should not have made friends with Miss Martin and that funny Timothy-boy, and no one would have suggested this glorious morning swim.” She plunged under the foamy crest of a cool green wave, rose breast high on another, shook herself like a young water spaniel and made for the raft with long overhand strokes. Swimming was a real accomplishment with Billie, although her father, who had brought her up very much as he would have reared a son, had not taught her this particularly boyish pastime. She had learned to swim at the age of five from an old peasant woman in a village on the coast of Brittany, where they had spent a summer. These old fisherwomen were the only swimming masters on that sequestered beach. Billie could still remember with something of a shiver the ancient, gnarled creature with her skirts tucked up about her wrinkled limbs, who, standing waist-high in the water, had taught her the first strokes. Hard as it had seemed at the time, she had never ceased to be thankful for those early lessons. 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 “My, but you’re a corker,” exclaimed Timothy Peppercorn, breathlessly. “I thought Genevieve was pretty good, but you’re the best I have ever seen.” “Thank you,” answered Billie, as she swung herself on the raft. Many other swimmers dotted the surf that morning and groups of people in light clothes sat about on the shining strand. Splendid palm trees and poincianas made a cool green background to the lovely shore, and Billie half closed her eyes as she lay on the raft, so as to make a picture she might carry in her mind always. She had not noticed that Timothy was too winded to hoist himself on the raft. Her attention was presently attracted by a frolicking group of swimmers coming toward the raft. In the midst of them, puffing and snorting like a Triton, was a jolly big fat man whom they called Duffy. Mr. Duffy had a red rubber ball—not much redder or rounder indeed than his own face—which he was tossing ahead of them on the water while the others raced to get it. “Let’s get in the game,” called Timothy as the ball skipped toward them over the waves. Billie dived off the raft and came up just where she had seen the ball strike, but some one seized it and tossed it a score of yards away. There is always a swimmer in a water party who does reckless and dangerous things. This time it was the individual who had seized the ball before Billie could get it. One by one the other swimmers left off chasing and made for shore. Mr. Duffy, turning his immense frame over, floated away on his back in happy oblivion. But the stranger, pitching the ball again as far as he could send it, challenged Timothy to race for it. It was in vain that Genevieve, who had at that moment reached the raft, protested and looked coldly at the man whose back was turned. Timothy darted off in the water while the two girls watched his red head uneasily as it rose and fell on the white- tipped waves. Both swimmers reached the ball at the same moment, struggled over it, and then that reckless, inhuman stranger tossed it further out to sea. “Idiots!” cried Genevieve, beating her hands helplessly together as she sat on the side of the raft. All the other swimmers had gone ashore now and were making for the bath houses, while loiterers on the beach were scattering to the tennis courts and golf links or the morning concert in Cocoanut Grove. Suddenly Billie saw the strange man throw up both hands with a loud cry, which sounded very much like “Sharks!” and start to shore as fast as he could go. “Oh! Oh!” cried Genevieve, covering her face with her hands. Some twenty yards beyond Timothy they could just make out the ugly square nose and upstanding fin of a big fish sticking above the water. “Hurry, Timothy, hurry,” called the girl in an agony of anxiety. “I’m all right,” he answered faintly, but each movement seemed to be weaker than the last and suddenly he sank beneath the waves. While Genevieve was calling for help toward the now almost empty beach, Billie made a running dive off the raft, and with long, clean strokes, swam for the red head which appeared on the surface once more. CHAPTER III.—TIMOTHY’S DROWNING. When one is swimming in a great hurry minutes change to hours and yards to miles, and to a small human speck in the ocean the sky overhead appears like an immense arc. As the eyes of the human speck follow the horizon line, many things seem to be happening in the circular zone which girdles the whole world. It was only an instant that Billie had turned her eyes away from Timothy’s head, and yet in that moment she saw first the shark, more frightened than they were, making for the open sea; then a seagull swooping down on the water. Then she saw Genevieve standing irresolutely on the raft; next a line of sea, and finally the reckless stranger who had enticed Timothy to race for the ball and left him to his fate. He was still swimming desperately, as if a whole army of sharks was at his heels. “Coward,” thought Billie, as she cut through the waves as neatly and swiftly as the prow of a little ship. She was swimming on one side, far down, making a wide circular motion with her right arm. As she neared the struggling boy, she called out cheerfully: “All right, Timothy. Keep up a minute. I’m almost there.” He tried to smile, and beat the water feebly in a last effort to save himself. But when she was almost at arm’s-length distance, he sank again. Billie dived under, caught him by his stiff red hair and pulled him to the surface. Loungers on a beach are not apt to notice what is really going on among the bathers. A man has been drowned in sight of a hundred spectators and no one knew that anything had happened. So it was with the group of people lying on the sand. They had not even looked seaward for ten minutes, and were as oblivious to the fact that a struggle for life was taking place in the water, as if they had been sitting in an inland meadow. Once again, Genevieve called weakly: “Help, help!” but her voice was lost in the sound of the surf as it broke on the shore. Then, at last, seeing she could not attract anybody’s attention, she jumped into the water and began swimming slowly out toward Timothy and Billie. But she was frightened, and fright in deep water takes the form of a creeping, all-pervading exhaustion. Once she turned and tried to go back to the raft, but the strong current carried her along faster than she could swim. It was all she could do now to keep her own head above water, and she forgot Billie and Timothy and everything in the world but her determination to stay on top. 34 35 36 37 38 39 In the meantime, Billie, with Timothy in tow, was also in the grip of the current. “Take your own time, Billie,” she heard her own voice saying, and she half smiled when she remembered how often she had heard her father use those very words in the early days of her swimming. “I can’t keep this up forever,” her thoughts continued, as her arm began to feel numb and the pressure became almost unbearable. It had not come into her head that she could let Timothy go and save herself. Her father had had his own peculiar ideas in bringing up his little daughter, and it was a very courageous heart that now thumped and thumped in her athletic young frame. One hand still gripped Timothy’s hair while with the other she paddled gently and let herself drift along. Hours seemed to pass. It was really only a few minutes. Billie closed her eyes. “I’m so tired, Papa,” she whispered. “Don’t think I’m a coward if I——” Bump! Straight they drifted into something large and soft and yielding. It was Mr. Duffy whose enormous frame was floating on the water like an empty cask. “Br-r-r!” he spluttered, as his head went under and came up again. It was impossible to sink that vast bulk of human frame. Billie had just sense enough to call out as he struggled to see what had collided with him: “Keep on floating—we’re—almost—drowning.” “Hey, hey! Little girl, tired out, are you? Hold on tight. Why, you’ve got a boy there.” “Yes,” gurgled Billie. “He’s about all—in—don’t move—I must rest.” Timothy opened his eyes. “Did I faint?” he asked in a weak, shaky voice. “Something like it,” called Mr. Duffy. “Hold on, boy, and don’t talk.” At last Billie’s arm was relieved of the weight which had grown so heavy that she thought every moment it would break. But she had kept Timothy’s nose above the water line, and she breathed a sigh of satisfaction. “What’s that! What’s that on my foot?” demanded Mr. Duffy, not daring to move and unable to see over the hemisphere of his portly frame. Billie looked up mechanically. In her relief and weariness, she had really forgotten that Genevieve existed in the world, and there was her new friend clinging desperately to the fat man’s foot and breathing hard. Billy could hardly keep from laughing! What a funny picture they must make to the people on shore: a big whale surrounded by small fry; or an ocean liner being pushed seaward by three little tugs. “It’s just another tired swimmer,” she answered at last. Mr. Duffy’s round, good-natured face wrinkled into a delightful smile. “I seem to be a sort of general life-preserver,” he exclaimed. “Do the people on land think we are playing a game? Why doesn’t somebody come out and help this poor boy before we float on out to sea?” “I’m awfully sorry, but we’re too tired to call for help,” said Billie, apologetically. “Of course you are, little girl. But you’ve done a brave thing, so don’t reproach yourself and don’t be frightened any of you. I’m going to send out one of my chest notes.” With that, Mr. Duffy roared out “Help, help!” in such deep bass tones that the ocean fairly rocked with the sound. Just as he called, Billie noticed a girl run up to the group of people on the beach and point toward the sea. It was Georgiana Paxton, she was almost certain. Two men in white flannels, taking off their coats as they ran, dashed into the surf. As they swam, they appeared like two great white fish leaping out of the water. Presently they came alongside the human flotilla and swimming to the other side of Mr. Duffy’s huge frame, paused for breath. “What’s the matter?” asked one. “Matter?” cried Mr. Duffy with half-comic irritation. “Let go of me. Do you think I’m the strong Turk who lifts a dozen people at once? There’s a poor boy would have drowned if it hadn’t been for this brave young lady, and there’s another young lady about to go under, and you sitting on the beach playing mumbly-peg when human life is at stake! If I hadn’t been an animated cork there’d have been three drownings this morning. Get busy and look alive.” “I’m all right,” said Billie, as one of the young men swam toward her. “Look after the others please.” It was Genevieve and Timothy who were towed ashore while Billie and Mr. Duffy slowly followed the rescuing party, swimming side by side and chatting as if they had been old friends. “I’m glad there’s a happy ending to this little story,” gurgled the fat man, moving easily along in the water like a man walking on shore. “I am, too,” answered Billie, pillowing her cheek on a green wave and propelling herself gently toward shore. She felt as if she could swim forever now; so much has the state of mind to do with swimming. “You are a brave girl,” went on Mr. Duffy. “How far had you towed the boy?” “I don’t know. Not as far as it seemed, I suppose. The current kept us going. All I had to do was to hold his head above water.” “Wasn’t he the boy who raced for the rubber ball?” “Yes.” “What became of the other fellow, the one who threw the ball,” demanded Mr. Duffy, looking out seaward as if he expected to see him also struggling in the waves. “He was frightened at a shark and swam in. I suppose he thought Timothy was coming, too. But he needn’t have made such a fuss. The shark was one of the scary kind.” “The low contemptible coward! Did he leave you to look after that drowning boy?” 40 41 42 43 44 45 “He didn’t know Timothy was drowning, you see,” said Billie, trying to be just. But they had reached the shore now and there was no time to argue about it. A crowd of people had surrounded Timothy, who was still weak and exhausted. Billie and Mr. Duffy hurried up the beach to the bath houses. “Would you know that cowardly fellow again if you were to see him?” he asked, when they had reached the pavilion. “No,” she answered, “I never saw anything but the back of his head when he swam ashore.” Nancy appeared at the bath-house door. She had been dressing during the last fifteen minutes and had missed “Timothy’s drowning,” as the girls always called it afterwards. “Oh, Billie,” she cried to her friend who was hastening toward her, “I have just had such a fright!” “I hoped you had missed it, Nancy,” interrupted Billie. “Then you saw it, too?” “Saw it? I was in it.” “In the fight?” demanded Nancy. “We are talking about different things, Nancy. What is it you saw?” “I saw that terrible old English lady, what’s-her-name, Mrs. Paxton-Steele, beat a boy with her stick! She took him by the arm and beat him well across the back, and called him ‘Low, dastardly coward,’ and he howled like a whipped dog, and when I said ‘Oh, don’t,’ she turned on me and I thought she was going to hit me with her stick, too.” “That must have been the boy who threw the ball,” cried Billie. “I’m glad some one punished him. What did he look like?” “How could I tell? He was all dripping wet in a bathing-suit, and his face was turned away.” In a few words and with very modest allusions concerning her connection with the saving of Timothy Peppercorn, Billie described the accident to Nancy. “That is the reason why I asked you what the boy looked like, Nancy. I just wanted to see which of all the men in this hotel he was,” Billie added, after she had finished the story. “Oh, Billie,” cried her friend, putting her arms around Billie’s neck, “you are the bravest, finest girl in the whole world.” “But it was that nice fat Mr. Duffy who saved us all, child. Go hug him.” “Don’t belittle your brave deeds,” said Nancy, “and don’t try to excuse that cowardly man who called out ‘sharks!’” As the two girls disappeared into the pavilion, a young man about seventeen emerged from one of the alleys. He was tall and well-built with handsome, regular features and brown hair, but there was an angry flush on his face and a snarl on his weak, rather effeminate mouth. He did not leave the pavilion, but waited until Nancy and Billie came out of the bath-house, and as they walked arm in arm down the corridor, he took a long look at their two faces and followed slowly after them, his hands in his pockets. “Little cats!” he ejaculated, as he turned toward the hotel, “I’ll get even with them yet.” Miss Campbell and the other girls were sitting in big wicker chairs on the piazza. They, too, had heard nothing of Timothy’s drowning, and were laughing and chatting together while they absorbed iced fruit drinks through long straws. “My dear children,” cried Miss Campbell, “how long you have been. Here are some delicious lemonades especially ordered for us by that mysterious individual, Mr. Ignatius Donahue. I really wish he would come forth from his hiding-place. He reminds me of an attentive ghost.” CHAPTER IV.—A RACE AND WHAT CAME OF IT. “I feel rather badly about leaving the poor old Comet in his stable all day,” observed Billie, who had taken a long rest after her adventure in the water that morning and was enjoying a trip in the Firefly, Mr. Donahue’s motor-boat. “He will be wondering why you brought him down if you use his rival the very first afternoon,” said Elinor. They were skimming over the blue water of Lake Worth, which was dotted with every kind of pleasure craft imaginable. The shores of Palm Beach shimmered gold in the afternoon sunshine and across the lake came the faint sound of music from the band in the Grove. “Any kind of machine is glad to take a rest, my dear, human or otherwise,” put in Miss Campbell. “No doubt the Comet is well pleased to stop whirring and whirling for awhile and stay quietly in the garage.” “You see how real our motor car is to us,” said Billie to Edward, who was running the boat. “We feel toward him just as we should toward any faithful animal, a horse or a dog——” “Or a cat,” put in Mary, who loved cats to the exclusion of all other dumb creatures. “I could never love a cat the same as a horse or a dog or a motor car,” cried Billie with enthusiasm. “Now, I’ve planted my affections on a canary bird,” said Elinor, “and I wouldn’t exchange him for the finest cat in seven kingdoms. He is always in a good humor. He sings and carols all day long and his little heart palpitates with joy when I let him hop out and perch on my finger.” Edward’s face lighted up. He had been listening silently to the chatter of the young girls while he guided the boat somewhat nearer the beautiful tropical shores which bordered the lake, and slowed down so that they could have a passing glimpse of this fairyland. “We have a bird,” he said presently. “I’d feel mighty bad if anything should ever happen to him. He’s the finest little fellow 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 you ever saw.” “What kind is he?” asked Elinor with polite interest. “A mocking bird.” “A mocking bird?” repeated Billie. “How I should love to hear one sing! What is he like?” “He’s a beautiful brown,” returned Edward, warming to the subject. “His tail and wings are tipped with white and he has a white breast. His little eyes are so bright and black, they see everything that happens. He knows he can sing, too. He’s just as proud of it as we are. He’s a wonder, I can tell you, and he is as fond of us as we are of him. I found him when he was little. His wing was broken and he had fallen out of the nest. His name is Dick and he’s just like a member of the family.” “What a dear little fellow!” cried Billie. “I would like to have him hop on my finger and look at me with his shiny little black eyes. Do you live near Palm Beach, Edward? Couldn’t we motor over and see him some time?” There was a whirring noise behind them. The boy turned quickly without answering and looked back. Another motor-boat was coming toward them at a clipping rate. “Would you like a little race?” he asked, rather wistfully. “I know that boat, and ours can beat it, if that’s the same fellow who ran it the other day.” “Wouldn’t it be dangerous?” asked Miss Campbell, smiling indulgently in spite of her objections. The Motor Maids exchanged amused glances. They had long had a secret conviction that there was nothing the little lady enjoyed more than to sit on the back seat of the Comet and close her eyes, while they took a breathlessly swift run up the Cliff Road at West Haven. “I don’t think it would be dangerous, ma’am,” replied Edward. “This is a dandy little boat if it is handled properly.” “And you’re sure you know how to handle it, Edward?” “Certainly, ma’am. I’ve raced in it before and raced this other boat, too.” “Did you win the race, Edward?” “Yes, ma’am,” replied the boy earnestly. “I have no objections to trying it again, then, Edward,” said Miss Campbell, “only don’t upset us in the water, whatever you do.” The girls laughed happily. Who could be solemn in this magical place where everything was beautiful? The sky, the water, the land, even the faces of the most ordinary human beings were glorified by the bewitching atmosphere. “You are a precious little sport, cousin,” cried Billie, kissing her relative on her peach-blossom cheek, “with all your baby- blue eyes and your laces and frills, you enjoy a race as much as any of us.” “And why not, my child? I’m not a stock or a stone always to stay planted in one spot and never to have any good times.” The other boat had come alongside of them now. “Want to race?” called out the young man at the engine, who by the way was the same person who had called Nancy and Billie “cats” that very morning in the bathing pavilion. “All right,” answered Edward. “We’ll start now if your friend will give the signal, and race to the little house on the shore.” There were two other people in the boat, one a boy who sat in the stern. He wore smoked glasses and his hat was pulled well down over his face. The other was a girl. “Why, it’s the same girl who was walking this morning with the terrible old English lady,” whispered Nancy. “Her name is Georgiana Paxton.” But no one replied, for the boy with the smoked glasses had called out: “One—two—three—off you go,” and the two boats had shot out over the water. It was glorious fun skimming along the lake in the pretty little craft. Shores flew past and sail boats and canoes were left far behind. The other boat kept well ahead of them for awhile. Over the noise of its chugging engine they could hear the scornful laugh of the young man who was running it. “What an impolite person,” observed Miss Campbell. “There is nothing ridiculous about any of us, I hope.” “He’s laughing because he thinks he’s going to beat us,” said Edward over his shoulder. “But wait and see what happens when we beat him. We are almost at the goal now.” Gradually the Firefly began to get up speed, and chug and work as the other boat would, it could not keep abreast of the graceful swift-moving craft which shot ahead and presently slowed up just opposite the knock-kneed, rickety little boat- house on the shore. The girls were standing up, and Miss Campbell was waving her handkerchief in her enjoyment and excitement. “It was thrilling,” she cried. “I have never actually been in a race before, and how beautiful to be the winner. If I had known there was going to be a race I should have offered a prize for us to win, ourselves. The young man should never have laughed. It is unlucky to laugh before a race is decided.” At that moment the other boat came up. “The race was not a fair one,” exclaimed the young man, whose name we will presently find is Clarence Paxton. He was frowning and biting his lips angrily. “What was wrong about it, I’d like to know?” demanded Edward. “You had the start of at least half a minute.” Edward’s blue eyes took on a steely look. “You are mistaken,” he said quietly. “I tell you I am not mistaken,” began the other, when Miss Campbell interfered. 53 54 55 56 57 58 “Edward,” she said, in her gentlest and most charming manner, “this would be a good place to land and have our tea. Perhaps these young people will join us.” The girl in the other boat turned toward her gratefully. “Oh, thank you,” she said, “we should love to.” “That will be very nice,” answered Miss Campbell. “An excellent way to celebrate a well-fought battle,” she added, blinking her blue eyes a little mischievously. “It will be impossible, Georgiana,” said Clarence, “I have an engagement at the hotel at five o’clock.” “An engagement!” she exclaimed. “Why you don’t know anyone to make an engagement with.” “Is it any of your business one way or the other?” he replied angrily. “If this young man is anxious to get back,” put in Miss Campbell, “don’t detain him, please. We shall be delighted to take you home later in our boat, if you care to come ashore, and your friend, too.” Georgiana flushed with pleasure. She was a pale thin girl with a rather plain face and sad dark eyes. “I should love to come,” she said, looking wistfully at the Motor Maids. “I have no friends here.” “Will you come, too?” asked Miss Campbell hospitably of the boy who wore glasses. “Do come, Edward,” cried Georgiana, and the other Edward started at hearing his name called out. The boy took off his slouch hat diffidently. “Are you sure there will be room in the boat?” he asked. “Plenty,” said the other Edward. “I believe I will come,” he said with a shy eagerness that the girls noticed at once. “Take your friends ashore,” commanded Miss Campbell sternly to Clarence, “and then you need not trouble about them further. They will be our guests.” Clarence obeyed sheepishly, and as the two boats pointed toward the beach, Miss Campbell remarked: “The only way to avoid a quarrel with that singular young man was to ask them all to tea. But I’m sure if it gives them any pleasure it is well worth the trouble.” Presently they found themselves on a smooth beach, just back of which in a little hollow was a lovely grove of palm trees. “What a perfect place for a picnic,” cried Elinor. “Do the fairies dance here by moonlight, I wonder?” “Isn’t it sweet?” cried Mary, clasping her hands rapturously. The prow of the other boat then grounded on the beach and the boy and girl jumped out so eagerly, that it was plain to be seen they were glad to get rid of the ill-natured Clarence. “I can’t tell you how much pleasure this will give us,” said Georgiana to Miss Campbell, a slight tremble in her voice. “It gives me a great deal of pleasure, too, I’m sure,” replied the other cordially. “Your name is——” “Georgiana Paxton,...