  Arrangements at Tahawus cabin were to be readjusted to meet the approach of Christmas guests, especially as the household was a strictly feminine one and a number of the guests were masculine. Captain Burton would come up from Washington city to be with his wife for a few days, if not the entire length of the holiday. Dan Webster with his mother and sister, Peggy, intended spending several weeks. Mrs. Webster had been unable to see her sister except for a few days since her return from Europe. Peggy Webster desired a rest and a farewell holiday with her group of Camp Fire girls before her marriage to Ralph Merritt. Therefore Ralph was to be a few days at the cabin but was not to remain the entire length of Peggy’s stay. A third visitor, who had not the excuse of family relationship, was David Hale, a young American whom the Camp Fire girls met originally in France during the days of the Peace Conference. At that time he had been an especial friend of Bettina Graham’s and of the French girl, Marguerite Arnot, but later on both girls had lost sight of him, since Bettina only answered his letters occasionally and he had never written Marguerite. However, he had returned to the United States with the closing of his work as secretary to a prominent member of the Peace Council and since had lived in Washington city. Through a note of introduction from Bettina he had met her mother and father, and he and Mrs. Graham had become fast friends. Indeed, for a number of years Betty Graham had held a small court of young men about her in Washington, to whom she represented their ideal of what a gracious and beautiful woman should be. The situation always had amused her husband and friends, and Bettina openly declared that she cherished not the faintest hope of becoming her mother’s rival. As a matter of fact, she was not especially popular. So she was scarcely surprised, and not in the least annoyed, upon arriving at the conclusion that her mother had supplanted her in David Hale’s friendship. True, she had liked him in France, where they seemed to have many points of congeniality! But some little time had passed since then and other interests had interfered with her original impression. Nevertheless, she was glad to accept her mother’s suggestion that they ask David Hale to make one of their Christmas house party. The other girls had liked him, Miss Patricia had treated him with marked favor, and there was little doubt that he would add to everybody’s pleasure. Now and then Bettina had wondered if Marguerite Arnot were homesick or regretted leaving her own country for the United States. True, she had said nothing to suggest this, yet she was as reserved as Bettina herself! Moreover, so far she had not in any way been thrown upon her own resources, part of her time in America she had spent with her mother and herself and the rest with Miss Patricia Lord. After the Camp Fire winter was over her future was less assured unless she should choose to remain in Washington city with them. Undoubtedly Marguerite had proved extremely useful to her mother with her pretty, quiet manner and her gift for sewing. Yet her position in their household had been a little difficult, due more to Marguerite’s shyness and her refusal to take part in the social life of Washington as their friend, which was the position she and her mother both wished Marguerite to accept. So Bettina, recalling the fact that Marguerite Arnot had in her quiet fashion displayed pleasure in David Hale’s acquaintance, regarded this as another reason to be pleased with his appearance at the Christmas house party. During the weeks she and Marguerite were in Washington city, they had been able to see David Hale only once, as he chanced to be west at the time on official business. Never before had Bettina thought of herself in the light of a matchmaker, so, secretly, she was amused by her present point of view. Marguerite Arnot and David Hale were her friends and one always possessed the right to wish happiness for one’s friends. Now the Adirondack woods in their winter cloak were like fairyland, so wonderful that Bettina, had she not been sure she was proof against romance, must have felt their romantic influence. She did feel their inspiration and their beauty every hour of the day. But Bettina had arranged a future for herself in which an ordinary romance played no part, and by ordinary romance she meant the eternal romance of youth. Dr. and Mrs. Ashton, Alice’s and Sally’s parents, were to arrive from Boston, bringing with them a distant cousin, a youth of about nineteen or twenty whom neither girl had seen in a number of years. One change in their household arrangements upon which the Camp Fire guardian and Mrs. Graham both insisted was that during the holiday season some one be secured to assist with the domestic work, else with so many additional people to be cared for, the girls would be worn out and have little time for pleasure. Mrs. Burton had another reason which she did not choose to make public. She dreaded the added strain upon Miss Patricia, who in spite of her wonderful vigor and energy would doubtless wear herself to the breaking point and be extremely difficult in consequence. At the close of her reconstruction work in France to which she had devoted herself she had reached England in a state of nervous and physical exhaustion. However, after a few weeks of travel and rest she had entirely recovered. Notwithstanding, Mrs. Burton could not refrain from worrying over Miss Patricia’s unfailing care of her, in which she seemed unwilling to allow any one else to share. Any human being with less tact than Mrs. Graham would long since have met with Miss Patricia’s disapproval. She did manage, however, to spend several hours each day with her friend without incurring Miss Patricia’s anger, and in small ways, never in more important ones, to relieve the older woman’s constant vigilance. As a matter of fact, Betty Graham was a decided favorite with Aunt Patricia and had been for a number of years. Many times she was heard to announce that she wished Polly Burton were possessed of an equal amount of sweetness and good judgment. Moreover, Miss Patricia really recognized the claim of the friendship older than her own, and although now and then suffering twinges of jealousy, usually kept them to herself. Yet even Aunt Patricia had not protested against the instalment of some one to help with the Christmas festivities, provided a suitable person could be discovered. And the good fortune in the situation was that Miss Patricia made the discovery herself. David Murray, who helped with the outside work and cared for the furnace, was an old bachelor living in a small cabin a mile or more away and yet the closest neighbor to the Camp Fire girls. Old David was as much of a character in his way as Miss Patricia in hers, disliking the feminine sex with greater intensity than Miss Patricia bestowed upon his, as Miss Patricia’s dislike of men never had been satisfactorily proven save by her spinsterhood. Some time before David had confided to Miss Patricia that a letter from his half sister, Elspeth, had informed him of the fact that she was tired of “working out” and was coming to live with him. He did not wish her society and had stated the fact plainly. “Yet knowin’ the ways of women, Miss Patricia, if she has made up her mind to it, she’ll come. She knows a man can’t set a woman outside his door to freeze weather like this even if he has a mind to.” A few weeks later with all her possessions Elspeth arrived and finding her brother away, had pushed open the door. There she was upon his return making herself thoroughly at home. However, the cottage was small and David was “dour”, so Elspeth was soon willing to make friends with the Camp Fire girls and to agree to come and live with them at Christmas time. She and Miss Patricia were even a little alike, since one was of Scotch descent and the other Irish. Miss Patricia promised to leave the cooking and housekeeping to Elspeth and the Camp Fire girls, so long as nothing interfered with her care of Mrs. Burton, which, after all, consisted largely in seeing that she ate and slept more than she wished and was in the fresh air whenever it was possible. Mrs. Burton had pleaded for a little more freedom during the holidays and had her request denied with the threat that the house party itself should be abandoned unless she agreed to follow her usual rÉgime. So the big cabin before the arrival of the Christmas guests was filled with the odors of cooking and cleaning and the smell of evergreens. The arrangement was that the married people and Camp Fire girls should live in the big house and the smallest of the cabins and the other be devoted to Dan Webster, David Hale, and Philip Stead, the unknown cousin of Alice and Sally Ashton. Mrs. Graham had suggested that Allan Drain be invited to spend a few days at the cabin rather than be forced to return to his own home when he was sharing their amusements. But as no one had met the proposal with any enthusiasm she had said nothing more. Her own desire was to make up to the young fellow in any possible way for the loss for which she felt increasingly responsible. Captain Burton was to arrive before any other member of the house party. Instead of trusting to an automobile or a sleigh that might be had at Saranac, the nearest village, old David drove over to meet his train, due at about five o’clock in the afternoon. At six o’clock every light in Tahawus cabin was burning brightly, a fire in the living-room roared and crackled like imprisoned music, dinner was in fullest preparation. In the drawing-room Mrs. Burton, Mrs. Graham and Miss Patricia were dressed and waiting with every now and then one of the Camp Fire girls flitting in and out with a question or a piece of information. A few days later and the cabin would be overflowing with guests. For this reason the Camp Fire guardian had wished her husband to appear before any one else. Between half-past six and seven he could be looked for at the cabin, as the drive from Saranac occupied something more than an hour. But at seven o’clock Captain Burton had not come; at half-past seven Miss Patricia insisted that dinner be served and Captain Burton’s set aside. At eight o’clock she demanded that Mrs. Burton go to her room and lie down. Undoubtedly Captain Burton’s train had been delayed. Evidently David was still awaiting him. After half an hour of protest, as Miss Patricia remained firm and Mrs. Graham added her persuasions to Aunt Patricia’s commands, the Camp Fire guardian finally did retire, appreciating that she would be in a better state to receive her husband and wishing him to see at once how much she had improved. A little after nine it chanced that the half dozen Camp Fire girls were in the living-room alone, Bettina playing softly on the piano and Chitty imitating the notes with her flute-like voice, when they heard the noise of David and the sleigh approaching. Fearing that their Camp Fire guardian might be disappointed in case something had prevented Captain Burton’s arrival, Bettina and Alice Ashton ran into the hall opening the door before there was an outside noise. The next moment Captain Burton strode in. He was not alone; accompanying him was a girl wrapped in a shabby gray cloak and with a warm scarf tied about her head partly concealing her face. “Where is Polly? I must see her at once. We had a wreck on the road and a storm also delayed us. Bettina, will you and Alice please look after Miss Temple, Juliet Temple, and persuade her to eat dinner and go to bed. I’ll introduce you to each other more satisfactorily in the morning.” If Bettina and Alice were startled and none too pleased by an unexpected guest under the present conditions, they were too kind to show their attitude, observing that the strange girl looked completely exhausted. |
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