KEINETH

BY

JANE D. ABBOTT

TO ALL THE LITTLE GIRLS I KNOW THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I. KEINETH'S WORLD CHANGES

II. KEINETH DECIDES

III. OVERLOOK

IV. KEINETH WRITES TO HER FATHER

V. PILOT COMES TO OVERLOOK

VI. THE MUSIC THE FAIRIES PUT IN HER FINGERS

VII. ALICE RUNS AWAY

VIII. A PAGE FROM HISTORY

IX. THE CAPTIVE MAIDEN

X. PILOT IN DISGRACE

XI. PILOT WINS A HOME

XII. A LETTER FROM DADDY

XIII. CAMPING

XIV. THE TENNIS TOURNAMENT

XV. NOT ON THE PROGRAM

XVI. AUNT JOSEPHINE

XVII. SCHOOL DAYS

XVIII. CHRISTMAS

XIX. WHEN THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT WORKED OVERTIME. 

XX. SHADOWS

XXI. PILOT GOES AWAY

XXII. KEINBTH'S GIFT

XXIII. SURPRISES

XXIV. MR. PRESIDENT

XXV. THE CASTLE OF DREAMS

CHAPTER I

KEINETH'S WORLD CHANGES

Keineth Randolph's world seemed suddenly to be turning upside down!

For the past three days there had been no lessons. Keineth had lessonsinstead of going to school. She had them sometimes with Madame Henri, or "Tante" as she called her, and sometimes with her father. If the sunwas very inviting in the morning, lessons would wait until afternoon;or, if, sitting straight and still in the big room her father calledhis study, Keineth found it impossible to think of the book before her, Tante would say in her prim voice:

"Dreaming, cherie?" and add, "the books will wait!"

Or, if father was hearing the lessons, he would toss aside the book andbeckon to Keineth to sit on his knee. Then he would tell a story. Itwould be, perhaps, something about India or they would travel togetherthrough Norway; or it would be Custer's fight with the Indians or thewanderings of the Acadians through the English Colonies in America, asportrayed in Longfellow's Evangeline. 

But for three days Keineth had had neither lessons nor stories--she hadnot even wanted to go out into the park to walk. For her dear Tante, with a very sad face, was packing her trunks and boxes, and Daddy hadgone out of town. 

To-morrow the little woman was going to sail on a Norwegian boat forEurope. The trip seemed to Keineth to be particularly unusual becauseTante and Daddy had talked so much about it and Tante had waited untilDaddy had gotten her some papers which would take her safely intoEurope. So much talk and the important papers made it seem as thoughshe was going very far away. Perhaps she did not expect to come back toAmerica--she stopped so often in her work to kiss Keineth!

Keineth could not remember her own mother, she had died when Keinethwas three years old; and as far back as she could remember Tante hadalways taken care of her. These three, the golden-haired delicatechild, the serious-faced Belgian gentlewoman, who had given up aposition in one of New York's schools to go into John Randolph'shousehold, and the father himself, living for his work and hisdaughter, led what might seem to others a very strange life. The manhad kept his home in the old brick house on Washington Square in lowerNew York even after the other houses in the square around it graduallychanged from pleasant, neat homes to shabby boarding-houses or roominghouses with broken windows and railless steps; to dusty lofts; tocellars where Jews kept and sorted over their filthy rags; to dingyattic spaces where artists made their studios, turning queer, dilapidated corners into what they called their homes. The third storyof the Randolph house had been let for "light housekeeping apartments";Keineth herself had helped tack the little black and gilt sign at thedoor. The tenants used the side door that let into the brick-pavedalley. Keineth had always felt a great pride in their home--it wasalways neatly painted, their steps shone, and there were no paperscollected behind their iron gratings. Even across the park she couldsee the bright geraniums blooming in the windows under Madame Henri'sloving care. 

Keineth and Tante had two big sleeping rooms facing the square andDaddy had a smaller room in the back. Dora, the colored maid who keptthe house in order and cooked breakfast and lunch, went away at night. The rooms were very large, with high ceilings. The windows were longand narrow and hung with heavy, dusty curtains. The furniture was veryold and very dull and dark, but Keineth loved the great chairs intowhich she could curl herself and read for hours at a time. 

There were few children in the square for her to play with. Next doorwas an Italian family with eight girls and boys, and Keineth sometimesjoined them in the park. Their father kept a fruit stall in thebasement on one of the streets running off from the square. Francesca, one of the girls, sang very sweetly, often standing on the corner ofthe square and singing Italian folk-songs until she had gathered quitea crowd around her and had collected considerable money. Keineth lovedto listen to her. But Daddy had asked Keineth never to go alone outsideof the square nor out of sight of the windows of their own home, andKeineth, all her life, had always wanted to do exactly as her fatherasked her. 

The evenings to Keineth were the happiest, for, after his work wasfinished, Daddy always took her out somewhere for dinner. Sometimesthey would go into queer, small places; rooms lighted by gas-jets, where they ate on bare tables from off thick white plates. She wouldsit very quietly listening while her father talked to the people hemet. It seemed to her that her father knew everybody. Other times theywould go up town on the bus, Keineth clinging tightly to her father'shand all the way, and they would find a corner in a brightly lightedhotel dining-room, where the silver and glass sparkled before Keineth'seyes, where an orchestra, hidden behind big palms, played wonderfulmusic as they ate, where the air was sweet with the fragrance offlowers like Joe Massey's stall on the square, and where all the womenwere pretty and wore soft furs over shimmering dresses of lovelycolors. Sometimes Tante went with them, looking very prim in hertailor-made suit of gray woolen cloth and her small gray hat. On thesepicnic dinners, as Daddy called them, Daddy was always in rollickingspirits, keeping up such a torrent of nonsense that Keineth was oftenquite exhausted from laughing. Then, when they were back in the oldhouse, Daddy would pull his big chair close to the lamp, Tante wouldtake her knitting from the basket in which it was always neatly laid, and Keineth would sit down at the piano to play for her father "whatthe fairies put in her fingers. " This had been a little game betweenthem for a long time--ever since her music lessons with Madame Henrihad begun. 

Now--as the child sat balanced on the edge of an old rocker watchingTante tenderly and carefully placing her books into a heavy box--shefelt that this beloved order of things was changing before her eyes. For, with Tante gone, who was to take care of her? And heavy on thechild's heart lay the fear that it might be Aunt Josephine. 

Aunt Josephine was her very own aunt, her father's sister, and lived ina very pretentious home at the other end of the city, overlooking theHudson River. At a very early age Keineth had guessed that AuntJosephine did not approve of the way her Daddy lived; of the tenants onthe third floor; of the sign at the door; of Tante and thehappy-go-lucky lessons; and most of all, her intimacy with the Italianchildren. Twice a year Keineth and her Daddy spent a Sunday with AuntJosephine, and Keineth could always tell by the way Daddy clasped herhand and ran down the steps that he was very glad when the day was overand they could go home. However, Aunt Josephine was pretty and worelovely clothes like the women in the big hotels uptown and was reallyfond of Daddy, so that Keineth loved her--but she did not want to livewith her!

"Why do you go away from us?" Keineth asked Madame Henri for thehundredth time. 

The little woman dropped a book to kiss the child--also for thehundredth time. 

"I have an old mother, and a sister, and six nephews and nieces overthere--they need me now, more than you do, cherie!"

Keineth knew that she was very unhappy and refrained from asking hermore questions. Daddy had read to her of the suffering in Europe as aresult of the great war, but it seemed hard to picture prim Tante inthe midst of it--perhaps working in the fields and factories, as Daddysaid some of the women and children were doing. Tante had read themparts of a letter telling of the wounding of her sister's husband atthe battle front and of his death in an English 'hospital, but that hadseemed so very far away that Keineth had not thought much about it. Nowit seemed nearer as she pictured the six little nephews and nieces, thepoor old grandmother--perhaps all hungry and homeless! Keineth suddenlythought how good it was of Tante to leave their comfortable home andtheir jolly dinners and Dora's steaming pancakes to go back to Belgiumto help!

Then--as if the whole day was not queer and different enough, Keinethsuddenly heard her father's quick step on the stairway. He had said hewould not be home until that night! She sprang to the door in time torush into his arms as he came down the hallway. He kissed her, on hernose and eyes, as was his way, but when he lifted his face Keineth sawthat it was very serious, which was not at all like Daddy. 

"Run out in the park for a little while, dear. I must talk to MadameHenri!"

The sun was shining very brightly on the pavements of the streets. Thelittle leaves on the trees were quivering with new life and the birdswere chirping loudly and busily in the branches, fussing over theirhousekeeping. But Keineth's heart was too heavy to respond! She walkedaround and around the square, staring miserably at the people whopassed her and always keeping in sight of the long windows where thepink geraniums shone in the spring sunlight. 

Suddenly her heart dropped to her very toes and she had a great deal oftrouble keeping the tears back from her eyes, for a very bright yellowmotor car had stopped at their door, and Keineth knew that it was AuntJosephine!

CHAPTER II

KEINETH DECIDES

Keineth waited what seemed to her hours; then retraced her steps to thehouse and walked very quietly into the hall. Daddy heard the door closebehind her and called to her from the study. He was sitting at hisdesk, tapping the pad before him with the point of a pencil AuntJosephine sat on the old horse-hair sofa, looking very excited, andTante, a pile of books still clasped in her arm and a smudge of dustacross her straight features, stood near the window. 

"I think it's high time you used a little sense in the way you bring upthat child, John. You'll ruin her!"

Keineth's father smiled across at Keineth as much as to say: "Nevermind, dear, " but he listened gravely as his sister went on:

"I think it's the best thing that could happen--Madame Henri going awayand you called on this trip--"

"Wait a moment, Josephine; Keineth does not know yet--"

"Daddy!" cried the child, running to him. 

"Just a moment, dear, " he whispered, as he drew her between his kneesand laid his cheek against her hair. 

Aunt Josephine looked very much in earnest. Keineth could not remembera time when she had seemed more concerned over hers and Daddy'swelfare!

"Now I can take Keineth with me until July. Then when I go on thatyachting cruise she can go to some camp in the mountains--there areever so many good ones. And next fall I can put her into a school. She's too old to go on living as you are living. "

Now the world had turned upside down! Keineth pressed suddenly close toher father. He tightened the clasp of her arm. 

"Wait a moment, sister. We have two or three days to talk this over. Imust get Madame Henri safely started and then Keineth and I will makeour plans. " As he said this he squeezed the child's hand. "You'reawfully good to offer to take my little girl and I know you'd try yourbest to make her happy. " He stepped toward the door. Aunt Josephinerose, too. 

"Well, you'd better follow my advice, " she said crisply. She almostalways concluded their interviews in this manner when they had to dowith Daddy's household. This time she stopped on her way to the door toplace her hands on Keineth's shoulders and let her eyes sweep Keineth'slittle face. 

"I'd make an up-to-date child of her, John. She's got her mother's eyesbut the Randolph features. With a little grooming she'd make a beauty. And the first thing I'd do would be to put a decent frock on her!"

Keineth knew that Aunt Josephine meant to be kind but, hurt at hercriticism, she drew away from her aunt's clasp. As her aunt and fatherwent out she looked down wonderingly at the simple blue serge she wore. Tante had always had her dresses made at a little shop on lower FifthAvenue and Keineth had always thought them very nice. 

Madame Henri, muttering to herself, went out of the room. Keineth stoodvery still until her father came back. He shut the door and went to hisdesk. She ran to him and hid her face on his shoulder. 

"Daddy--are you--going away?"

"Yes, child--I must. "

"For all summer? For all winter?"

"Yes, dear. I think it may be a year. "

"Daddy--" began Keineth, then stopped short to hide her face. Fathermust not see her cry!

"I'll make a little picture for you, dear. This country of ours is likea great big house. It's like all the homes all over the United Statesput into one. And it must be tended just as we'd tend our own littlehome--it must be kept in repair. It must be kept clean and have prettyspots, just like Madame Henri's geraniums! And it must be guarded, too, from those who would break in and steal what belongs in the home--ortear it down and make a ruin of it! And it must know its neighbors andwork with them to keep everything peaceful and tidy about the wholestreet of nations! Don't you remember how I had to argue with SignoraFerocci to make her clean up her back alley?"

They both laughed together over the recollection of their efforts topersuade their next-door neighbor of the joys of cleanliness!

"Every person, big and small, should do his part toward thehome-keeping of this big land of ours. And I have been asked to do aservice. Soldiers can't do it all, my dear--only a very small part ofit! There are a great many others--men like myself--who are going outover the world to work for the Stars and Stripes. And when I have beenasked to go on a mission for our country that is very important, eventhough it takes me very far and keeps me away a very long time, I amsure my loyal little American girl will be the first to bid me go!"

Keineth's eyes were quite dry now and were very bright. She sat up verystraight. She had entirely forgotten herself. 

"Will you wear a uniform, Daddy?"

"Oh, dear me, no--my work is not of that sort, In fact, I must go aboutin the quietest manner possible. I cannot even tell my little girlwhere I am going. "

"You mean it's a secret?" the child cried. 

"Yes, until I return. I must ask you to tell no one that I have gonefor the government. We may fail--the newspapers must not know yet. Everyone must think I am simply travelling. "

Keineth was silent and perplexed. It did not occur to her to ask herfather why she could not go with him. He had often gone away before andshe had always stayed in the old house with Tante. But it had neverbeen for a whole year!

Suddenly she cried out: "I'll be very brave, but--oh, Daddy!"

He laughed, although he held her very close. 

"Do you think, my dear, I would go away until I felt very certain thatyou were going to be happy? I'm not sure how well you'd like it at AuntJosephine's--it would be very different. Still--you'd have that Frenchmaid of hers for a nurse and go out with her and Fido for his walk andride in the yellow motor and have all kinds of frilled dresses andfeathered hats--" He was imitating Aunt Josephine's voice in a veryfunny manner that made Keineth laugh. 

Keineth thought very quickly of all the things she loved to do that sheknew Aunt Josephine would not allow her to do, but she did not want tospeak of them, for it might make her Daddy unhappy. Her father went on, more seriously:

"But I have another plan. I will tell you about It and you may choosebetween that and Aunt Josephine's. " (Keineth suddenly felt very grownup. ) "Coming up from Washington I ran into Mr. William Lee, an oldfriend of mine--a man I knew in college. I used to think the world ofhim. I hadn't seen him for fifteen years! He lives in the western partof the state. I knew Mrs. Lee, too, --she was a friend of your mother'sand they were very fond of one another. We talked for a long time overold times. He showed me kodak pictures of his children--he has four. Doyou know what I thought when I looked at them?"

"What, Daddy?"

"That I was cheating my little girl out of a great deal that everychild has a right to--the pure joy of giving. When I looked at thoseyoungsters of his--husky, bare-armed, round-cheeked children, I knewthey were getting a lot of happiness you'd never know in this littlecorner of ours--the kind of happiness you can only have when you areyoung. " Keineth was puzzled. "What do you mean, Daddy?"

"Oh, running, jumping, swimming--tennis--baseball! Why, the knowingother children well--even the quarrelling, " he stopped, frowning. "Ihad it all when I was little and here I am cheating you. Aunt Josephineis right when she says I'm not fair to you--but I don't think you'd getit even with her!"

"But I don't know anything about all those things, Daddy. "

"That's just it! You can learn, though. I told Mr. Lee that I had to goaway, and about you, and he asked me if I wouldn't let you go to themfor the year. They have a summer home on the shore of Lake Erie andalmost live out-of-doors. I said no at first--it seemed too much to askof them, but he persisted and wouldn't take no for an answer. He iscoming here to-night to talk it over. I think now--it might be thething to do. Mrs. Lee loved your mother very, very dearly, and I knowwould be very good to you. "

He gently lifted her down from off his knee, which meant that he hadwork to do and that Keineth must leave the room. She sought out Tanteupstairs. The good woman had closed her last box and was dressed readyto start on her long trip, although the boat would not leave until thenext day. She was knitting, so Keineth took a book and sat near thewindow pretending to read. Her eyes wandered off the page and her poorlittle mind was busy at work trying to decide which she would dislikethe least--living with Aunt Josephine and walking with Fido and theFrench maid and going to a strange camp and a strange school, or goingoff to a strange place and living among strange people and playingstrange games! She wanted dreadfully to cry, but Tante was so quiet andso miserable, and Daddy was so serious that she could not add in anyway to what seemed to trouble them. 

So--although Francesca, the little Italian singer, was skipping rope onthe pavement below the window, and a robin was calling lustily to itsmate in a nearby horse-chestnut tree, and a vender was peddling hiswares down the street in a voice that sounded like a slow-pealing bell, poor Keineth felt as if she could never be really happy again! Thatnight Daddy and Keineth went uptown for dinner. In one of the hotelsthey met Mr. Lee. Keineth's heart was pounding with dread beneath herneat serge dress and she was almost afraid to look at the man. But whenhe took her hand in his and spoke in a kindly voice, she ventured atimid glance and saw a big man, taller and heavier than her father, with a jolly smile and eyes that laughed from under their shaggyeyebrows. Then she felt that she liked him--and the more because he hadsuch an affectionate way of laying his hand on her father's shoulder. 

While they talked together Mr. Lee watched her very closely. Once hesaid to her father:

"My wife will love the little girl--she is so like her mother!" Therehad been a long silence then, and Keineth had seen the look in herfather's eyes that meant his thoughts were back in the past. Later Mr. Lee had added: "Why, John--you won't know the child after a summer withus--those cheeks will all be roses and her little body plump. And howthe kiddies will love her!"

Keineth had been shown the kodak pictures and had studied them closely. The very big girl was Barbara, who was seventeen. The boy was Billy, aged fourteen. Peggy was Keineth's age--twelve, and the little one, Alice, was eight. They all wore middy blouses in the picture and Peggyand Alice were barefooted. Keineth thought, as she looked at theirlaughing faces, that they were very unlike any children she had everseen anywhere. 

They took Mr. Lee to their home. Keineth played on the piano forthem--not her own fairy things, but a simple little piece she hadlearned with much precision from Madame Henri. Then she and Tante wentupstairs. Daddy had whispered to her as she kissed him good-night:

"You must decide yourself, dear!"

Keineth had thought that when she was quite alone in her bedroom shewould cry, for then it would disturb no one and she really had a greatdeal to cry about. But Madame Henri lingered a long time by her bed, standing close to it with a very white face. Finally she knelt besideit and laid her cheek against Keineth's hands. Keineth felt hot tearswhich surprised her, for she did not know that Tante knew how to cry. Then Tante began to pray--a queer sort of prayer, all broken: "Oh, God, oh, God, keep this little girl safe from the things that hurt! Keep allthe little ones! Why should they suffer? Where is your mercy?" Then shesaid a great deal in French so fast that Keineth could not understandher and finally, sobbing violently, she rushed out of the room, leavingKeineth very disturbed. She thought that poor Tante must love her verymuch and she supposed the prayer was for the little children in Europewho were starving, as well as for her--Keineth Randolph! Madame Henri'sgood heart so moved her that she jumped out of bed to kneel beside itand add what she had forgotten in her concern over herself!

"God bless dear, dear Tante and keep her safe!"

Then, feeling very excited, Keineth went to sleep without crying anddreamed of running barefooted with Peggy through fields all white withdaisies, while in the distance at a fence like the rail fences inpictures, stood Aunt Josephine's awful French maid with Fido under herarm, screaming at her in French. 

So vivid seemed the dream that it awakened Keineth. She listened for amoment. She could hear the click of her father's typewriter. Shepressed the button that lighted her bed lamp, found her slippers andstole noiselessly downstairs. Never in her whole life had she disturbedher Daddy when he was writing, but now she did not even rap--she pushedthe door open and ran to him. 

"Daddy, Daddy--" she cried as though still pursued by the screamingFrench maid. "Please--I'd rather go to the Lee's!"

CHAPTER III

OVERLOOK

"The next station is Fairview, Keineth--watch out for the kiddies, "said Mr. Lee, rising from the car seat. 

Keineth had been sitting for a half hour with her nose flattenedagainst the car window, not seeing at all the fields and farmhousesthat flew past her, but trying to picture what Peggy would be like!Keineth was very excited and a little tired from the night in thesleeper; she was fighting back the thought that she would not see Daddyfor a long, long time. Daddy had gone with them to the station thenight before, and had helped her undress in the queer little shelf hecalled a berth and had himself pulled the blankets close around herchin and kissed her again and again. 

"Little soldier--right face, " he whispered--and Keineth knew that hemeant she should be very brave over it all. Then he had hurried off thetrain, for the conductor was shouting: "All aboard----" and Keineth, peeping from under her curtain for a last look, had seen his tallfigure go down the dimly-lighted platform. 

The engine whistled and slowed down. Keineth took up the new bag whichhad been Aunt Josephine's present to her, and followed Mr. Lee to thedoor. Around the corner of his arm she saw a freckled-faced boy runningclose to the car step, and beyond him two little girls. 

The taller of the two must, of course, be Peggy! Keineth saw abob-headed, slim child of about her own height, brown as a berry. 

"Dad--Dad, " they cried, running forward as Mr. Lee stepped down fromthe train almost strangled in Billy's hug. In their joy at seeing theirfather the girls did not notice Keineth, who stood shyly back, wishingthe ground would open and swallow her up. 

But the ground under the station platform was unusually solid! In amoment Keineth felt three pairs of eyes upon her as Mr. Lee turned andsaid:

"Here is the little stranger I have brought with me. "

"Hello, " said Peggy, smiling. Alice smiled, too, but hung back alittle, and Billy swept a critical glance over Keineth's city-cladlittle figure. Mr. Lee, holding Alice's hand in his, was walking towardan automobile in which sat the eldest daughter. 

"I'm awfully glad you came, " began Peggy as the children followed. "It'll be such fun!"

"Is this Keineth?" cried the girl in the automobile, jumping out togreet her father. Keineth had pictured Barbara as quite a younglady--she had always thought seventeen very old--but Barbara wasdressed in a blue skirt and a middy blouse like Peggy's and wore herhair in a long, thick braid. She had her father's kind eyes and thefriendliness of their glance warmed poor little Keineth's homesicksoul. She gave the child a little pat on the shoulder. 

"We're just awfully glad you're here, " she said, taking Keineth's bag. Then, to her father: "We didn't think Genevieve would run! She's beenacting awful--but we just made her crawl up here to meet you. "

"Genevieve's the name of the automobile, " giggled Peggy as the smallergirls cuddled into the back seat. Billy rode on the running board andBarbara took the steering wheel. 

"Mother's fine, " Barbara was saying while, at the same time, Billy waspouring into his father's ear a great deal of information concerninghis wireless. Peggy in breathless, excited words was pointing out tothe bewildered Keineth the sights of Fairview. 

Genevieve, with many puffs and snorts and queer noises from under herbonnet, crawled gallantly along the smooth road, up a hill, turned inbetween two stone posts and stopped. Down the steps ran a woman whoseemed to Keineth only a little older than Barbara, She kissed Mr. Lee, then, pushing the eager children aside, turned to Keineth. 

"Here she is, mother, " called out Peggy, drawing Keineth forward. 

Mrs. Lee took Keineth in her arms and held her very close for a moment. When she released her she put her hand under Keineth's chin to lift herface. 

"It's like seeing your mother again, " she laughed, although there was aqueer little catch in her voice. 

"You'll be Peggy's twin, " she added, starting up the steps. "Bring intheir bags, Billy. Barb--let's give Dad a nice hot cup of coffee!Peggy, you make Keineth perfectly at home. "

Keineth took off her hat and coat. Very willingly Peggy took her incharge. 

"I'll show you the garden, " she said. 

"Let's go down to the beach!" cried Alice, following. 

"Do you want to see my wireless set?" invited Billy. 

"Billy thinks that's the only interesting thing about Overlook!"

"Wait a moment, children, " suggested Mrs. Lee to them, "one thing at atime! Keineth is tired, perhaps. Take her upstairs, Peggy, and let herslip on a blouse and your old serge bloomers--then go outside andplay!"

Overlook really wasn't like a house at all--Keineth had never seenanything quite like it. There was one big living-room with a verandarunning around it and with big doors opening from three sides upon theveranda so that the room itself was just like out-of-doors. One end ofthe veranda was enclosed in glass and used as a dining-room. Flowers inboxes were on the sills of the windows and over them the sun streamedthrough chintz-curtained windows. Upstairs were two rooms over theliving-rooms, and opening from these were screened sleeping porches, with rows of little cots. Peggy explained that the rooms were used asdressing-rooms and that each one of the family had a little chest ofdrawers for their own clothes and that mother had brought the oak onein the corner out from town for Keineth's use. 

"But where do you sleep when it rains?" cried Keineth. 

"Oh, out there, " laughed Peggy; "you see, the roof slants down so farthat it keeps out the rain. That's your cot--between Barb's and mine. "

Keineth caught a glimpse of a great blue stretch of water glistening inthe bright sunlight a quarter of a mile away. 

"Oh--is that the lake?" she exclaimed, eagerly. 

"Yes--we'll go down to the beach in a little while. Can you swim?Mother will teach you--she taught each one of us. I'm going to try forthe life-saving medal this year! We have sport contests at the club inAugust. Can you play tennis?" Keineth said no. Peggy's manner becamejust a little patronizing. "Oh, it's easy to learn, though it'll takeyou quite awhile to serve a good ball, but you can practice with Alice. Can you play golf?"

"My Daddy can. "

"Well, you can walk around the links with Billy and me. Barbara plays adandy game--she can beat Dad all to pieces. Let's go down now and seethe garden. "

Beyond the neatly-kept lawn with its bricked walks bordered withnasturtium beds was the stretch of garden in which the children hadtheir individual beds. Peggy explained to Keineth that Billy this yearhad planted his bed to radishes and onions; that she had put in herseed in a pattern of her own designing which, when she separated theweeds from the flowers would look like a splendid combination of a newmoon and the Big Dipper. Barbara and Alice had planted asters andsnapdragon because mother liked them for the house. Back of the flowerbeds was a patch of young corn, and behind that the vegetable gardenwhich supplied the table. At one side of the garden was the barn wherepoor Genevieve was now resting her rickety bones, and next to that wasa shed. 

Billy was busy at work repairing the door of the shed. As the girlscame in sight he waved to them. They started on a run. 

"Let's give Ken a ride on Gypsy, " he called out. He dropped his hammer, disappeared in the barn and came out leading a shaggy pony. 

At the sound of the nickname carelessly bestowed upon her Keineth drewin her breath quickly. Right at that moment she wanted more thananything else in the world that these children should not think she wasa bit different from them! Already her plain serge dress had been hungaway and she was in a blouse and bloomers like Peggy's!

"I don't know, " began Peggy doubtfully. 

"Oh, please, let me have a ride, " broke in Keineth in a voice she triedto make as careless as Billy's own. 

"We always ride Gypsy bareback--climb up here on these boxes!"

Keineth stepped upon the boxes, Billy wheeled the pony around andKeineth bravely swung one leg over the pony's back, taking the halterin her hand as she did so. Billy gave the pony a sound slap on theshoulder and off they flew!

Never in her life had Keineth been on a horse's back, but she hadcaught the challenge in Billy's laughing eyes and her soul flamed withdaring. She clenched her teeth tightly and, because she was in mortalterror of slipping off from the pony, she gripped her knees with allher might against his shaggy sides. In a funny little gallop--very likea rocking horse--he circled the house, while from the shed Billy andPeggy shouted to her encouragingly. 

Keineth's first ride would have ended triumphantly if she had not laidher hand ever so lightly on a certain spot in Gypsy's neck! For Gypsy, having reached an age when he was of no further use in their business, had been bought a year before from a circus company by Mr. Lee andtaken to Overlook, and at the time of the purchase no one had explainedto Mr. Lee that Gypsy's training had included quietly throwing theclown from her back in a way which had always won screams of laughterfrom the spectators and that the little act came at the moment when theclown touched a certain spot on her neck! All the young Lees had riddenGypsy but had not happened to discover this little trick. But Keineth, just as she had safely passed the kitchen door and was galloping towardthe shed, suddenly felt herself flying over Gypsy's head! Her fall wasbroken by a pile of sand which had been hauled up from the beach forthe garden. Keineth was more startled than hurt, though she felt alittle stunned and lay for a moment very still. 

"Oh, are you hurt?" cried Peggy, running quickly to her with Billy ather heels. 

"Oh, I s'pose she'll cry and bring mother out!" Keineth heard Billy saybehind Peggy's back. 

Keineth's cheeks were very red. She stood up quickly and, though for amoment everything danced before her eyes, she managed to laugh andspeak in a queer voice she scarcely recognized as her own. 

"'Course I'm not hurt! A little fall like that!" she brushed the sandfrom her blouse. 

"Peggy, " cried Billy, joyfully, "she's a real scout!" and Keineth knewthen that she was one of them. 

Even Peggy's tone was different. "Let's ask mother if we can't go downto the beach before lunch!" she called out over her shoulder, startinghouseward on a run. 

That night a very tired little girl crept into her cot betweenBarbara's and Peggy's. Alice was already asleep on the other side ofPeggy. Barbara was still on the veranda talking with her mother andfather. A soft land breeze, all sweet with garden smells, fanned theirfaces as the girls lay there. What a day it had been to Keineth--shehad played in the sand, waded in the warm shallows of the lake, racedwith Peggy and Alice through the fields all white with daisies and hadgathered great bunches of the pretty flowers! She thought, as she laythere watching the little stars peeping under the edge of the roof, that she had never been so happy in her life! She loved Overlook andall the Lees--and Peggy, best of all. 

In whispers, reaching out from their cots to clasp hands, she and Peggyopened their hearts to one another. She told Peggy all about poor, niceTante and about the old house and Francesca Ferocci and Aunt Josephineand Fido and the French maid, and the tenants on the third floor andher Daddy--who'd gone away on a secret. Peggy, very sleepily picturedwhat they'd do on the morrow and the day after and the day after that. Later, when Mrs. Lee went her rounds, as she always did, tucking acover under each loved chin, she found Keineth's fair curls very closeto Peggy's round bobbed head and their hands still clasping. 

CHAPTER IV

KEINETH WRITES TO HER FATHER

My dear, dear, dearest Daddy, I have decided to write down all my thoughts and send them to you justlike the diry Tante used to keep in her brown book that had the lock onit, then she would lose the key and ring her hands and think Dinah hadtaken it, then she would find it under her burow cover where she hadhidden it all the time. I am trying to be a good soldier. It was veryhard at first, I could not keep myself from thinking all the time ofyou and Tante and our happy home where it must be all dark and dustynow like it was after we had been in the mountains with Aunt Josephine, only worse. I do love it here, but it is not a bit like anything I haveever seen at home or riding with Aunt Josephine. It is like a house andlike we were living right out doors, for there are so many windows andwe sleep in a big room just with a roof. I sleep right next to Peggy;we always talk before we go to sleep, which is lots of fun, only Peggynever listens until I finish. I say good-night to a big bright starbecose I pretend that star is shining down where you are writingsomewhere and maybe will tell you that your little girl is sayinggoodnight. Way off toward the end of the sky there is a funny littlestar that is very hard to see, and I say goodnight to that for Tantebecose she is so far away, too, Barbara helped me find on the map whereshe had gone and Mr. Lee said poor thing. I do wish I knew if she wasunhappy. 

We live downstairs in a great big room and eat there and everything, itseems just as if flowers grew right in it, for there are boxes of themat the windows and on the veranda, and Aunt Nellie puts big bunches ofthem all around the room and Peggy has a bird that lives in a whitecage in the window and sings all the time, I guess becose the sunshines on him. The furniture is not gold at all like Aunt Josephine'sand it is not big like we have at home and there are only one or tworugs and the floor shines; Aunt Nellie does not fuss when we childrenmove things around and we have lots of fun. There is a big fireplacemade of rocks Billy says they pulled up from the beach. One time Mr. Lee lighted some big logs in it and we all sat round and told terriblestorys of pirates and things we made up most, but Billy could think ofthe worst and Mr. Lee and Aunt Nellie sat with us and told some justlike they were children, too. Sometimes Aunt Nellie seems just like agirl, she is so jolly, she is not a bit like Aunt Josephine, though Iam sure Aunt Josephine is a very nice lady and I don't mean that Idon't love her, only Aunt Nellie kisses me as if she liked too and doesnot just peck my cheek. Last week she brought me home some lovly middybloses like Peggy wears, and I play in bloomers all day and put on awhite skirt for supper; Mr. Lee says Peggy and I look like twins. Auntie brought me a bathing suit, too, and a tennis raket Peggy says isbetter than hers. She folded away all my hair ribbons, she said wewould not bother with them in the country. Barbara wears middy bloses, too, but she cannot wear bloomers becose she is too old though she doesnot look old or grownup. She is going away to school in the fall andAuntie and she are getting her close ready. Alice is just a little girland is some fun, although she crys real often Peggy says she isspoiled. Auntie says she will outgrow that and that Peggy cryed just asmuch when she was like Alice is. I wish I could see you becose I wouldlike to ask you many questions about when I was a little girl. I amsure if I had a little sister like Alice I would try and be more politethan Peggy is, but Peggy says that families are all like that. Billy isawful. I do not think I like him very much. He says the queerest wordsand acts rude and rough. Tante would not like his manners at all. I amashamed becose I do not like him becose Auntie loves him dearly and sheonly laughs when I think she will punish him; he does not read booksand his English is bad like Dinah's and he teses Peggy and Alice andeats very fast and talks with food in his mouth. I shall try to likehim. 

There are no sidewalks at Mr. Lee's house; they have pebble paths withflowers here instead of sidewalks and a dirt road; it is just like thereal country and there are daisies in the fields, Peggy says they donot call them lots. The grass is greener than in the Square at home. All the children have gardens. Peggy says I may have half of her's andI have a hoe and rake all my own. Billy Is going to sell hisvegertables becose he wants to buy a new sending set for his wireless. I like the pony, though I do not like to ride it after the first timewhen I fell off, though it did not hurt me at all and I was not evenfrightened. 

To-morrow we are going into the lake for a swim, although I will haveto learn, but Peggy says that it is easy only I must stay away fromBilly or he will duck me. I shall try and not be afraid becose I amsure you would be ashamed of me if I acted frightened. It will be funto put on my new bathing suit. Auntie taught Barbara and Peggy to swim. Peggy is going to try and win the medal this year, and Barbara says shewill becose she swims so well. 

I will try and remember to write to Aunt Josephine like I promised Iwould becose she is my aunt, but I will not know what to tell herbecose there is not anything in Overlook that is like what she has andshe might not like what I tell her and scold us. I am sure she would beangry if I told her that once a week Auntie lets us girls cook thesupper and we cook just what we please and surprise them, and Barbaraputs down on a paper everything we use and how much it costs, and aftersupper she gives it to Mr. Lee and we talk about it. Tomorrow is ournight. Oh I wish you were here, Daddy, it is such fun only it is verylonely without a father. I try to do all the things that Peggy does, though I can't do them as well, but I will tell you in this diry how Iimprove as I intend to do. I have not any book to keep my thoughts in, but I will send them to you whenever I write them. Please excuse myspelling for I am sure no one should have to look in a dickshunary whenthey are writing thoughts. Tante never did. I love you and I am sendinga million kisses with this letter. 

Your little soldier daugghter, Keineth Randolph. 

 * * * * *

Dear Mr. President of the United States:

Please send the letter I put in the envelope to my father. He isworking for the Stars and Stripes somewhere, he said he could not tellme where becose it was a secret. He is a soldier, but he is one ofthose that do not wear any uniform. I am sure you will know where he isbecose you are the President of our Country. I would like to know, too, very much where he is becose it is lonesome without him, for my fatheris the only family I have. But my father said I must be a littlesoldier. You know he just means me to do my duty and to like Overlookand everybody and to do what they do, but it makes me feel better topretend that I am a soldier like he is and like all your soldiers. Thank you if you send my letter to my father and much love. 

Yours truly, Keineth Randolph. 

P. S. --Aunt Josephine says postscripts are not good form, but I forgotto say that my father's name is John Randolph, of Washington Square, New York. This was the letter over which Keineth, curled in a chair atthe writing-desk, had labored for a long time, finishing it at last toher satisfaction. Slipping it into an envelope with the letter she hadwritten to her father she sealed it hastily, anxious to have itaddressed and mailed before Peggy and Billy returned from the golfclub. 

Over on the window seat Barbara sat sewing, watching Keineth withamused eyes; for Keineth had been writing with the dictionary open ather elbow and had stopped very often to consult it as to the spellingof a word. 

"Very different from Peggy, " thought Barbara. 

Aware after a little that Keineth's face wore a perplexed frown, shesaid to her:

"Can I help you, Ken?"

"If you'll just tell me how to address a letter to the President, please. "

"The President! What President?"

"The President of the United States. "

"Good gracious--" Barbara, dropping her sewing, stared at Keineth inamazement. "I thought--no wonder you're using a dictionary! I am sure Iwould, too! But--" Keineth broke in hastily. "You see I have beenwriting a sort of diary, about everything I think and do, to send to myfather, but I don't know where he is because he has gone away on amission for our country and it has to be kept a secret, but Ithought--" Her voice broke a little and she held the letter tightly inher hands. 

Barbara, feeling how close the tears were to Keineth's bright eyes, crossed quickly to her side. 

"Oh, I see!" she said briskly. "What a splendid idea! Of course thePresident will know where he is and will send it to him. Let methink--we learned all that in school and had to address make-believeletters to him--" Taking a sheet of paper she wrote in large letters:

 Honorable Woodrow Wilson, White House, Washington, D. C. 

"It looks too simple for the President--it ought to have moreflourishes to it and titles and things, shouldn't it, Ken? You copy itand we'll walk straight down to the post office and mail it so that itwill go on to-night's train. " Tears were far from Keineth's eyes as shewalked by Barbara's side down the white road between the fields ofdaisies and buttercups. The little cloud of loneliness that had for abrief time threatened her sky had disappeared and she was again alight-hearted little girl, eagerly awaiting the happy things that eachnew day at Overlook seemed to bring to her. 

CHAPTER V

PILOT COMES TO OVERLOOK

"This is the third time in a week that Billy's been late for dinner, "said Mrs. Lee, looking from Billy's empty place at the table to hisfather's face. 

Mr. Lee was serving the steaming chicken and biscuits that Nora hadplaced on the table. 

"He asked me if he could go to the fair at Middletown! He wanted hisnext week's allowance. "

"William, " and Mrs. Lee's gentle voice was stern, "you do spoil thatboy dreadfully!"

"He's with Jim Archer!" Peggy put in. She knew that her mother did notlike Jim Archer. 

"Billy's with him a lot, " added Barbara. 

"He teases us girls all the time, too, Mother! He put June bugs in mybed last night!" cried Alice. 

"Billy is certainly in all wrong just now, " answered Mr. Lee with atwinkle in his eyes. 

"But _do_ you think these fairs are quite the places for boys likeBilly and Jim Archer--alone?" asked Mrs. Lee with a troubled look. "Heshould have been home long ago! They must have ridden their wheels!"

"Don't worry, little mother! Billy will come home tired and hungry andnone the worse for the fair! Why, when I was a boy I never missed afair anywhere around and always walked, too! _They_ used to be realfairs--nothing like them these days!"

The children knew that when their father began his "when I was a boy, "it could mean a story if there was a little coaxing!

"Oh, tell us a story!" Alice cried. 

"Please do!" added Keineth. It would make them all forget to feel crosstoward Billy!

So, chuckling a little under his breath, Mr. Lee began:

"Down in our village old Cy Addington had a calf he'd entered in theCounty Fair. He'd set his heart on that calf's winning a prize--all theother farmers had told him it would. It was black as jet with just alittle white mark on its fore quarter. He tended that calf like a babyand spent hours at a time getting it all in shape for the Fair. Well, the night before the Fair opened two boys--bad boys they were--stolethat calf out of its shed, took it off in some woods where they had alantern and a can of paint hidden under a log. What do you think theydid? Painted the animal white--snow white--every bit of him! Then theytook him to the graveyard and tied him to a tombstone!"

"Oh, Daddy, how dreadful!" cried Alice. 

"Then what happened?" demanded Keineth and Peggy in one voice. 

"Well, a lot of things happened, and they happened fast! Miss CymanthaJones, a nervous spinster, was walking home from Widow Markham'shouse--rather late, but she'd been caring for the widow through a sickspell. And Miss Cymantha saw that calf jumping around among thetombstones and thought it was a ghost! She let out such screams that itbrought Charley, the old sexton, running to the door in his nightshirt, and he saw the calf, and Miss Cymantha scuttling down the roadscreaming and holding her skirts high so's she could run faster, and Iguess he thought it was the resurrection itself, for what did he do butring the bell and the folks all thought it was a fire and came rushingout in all kinds of clothes! Then Cy Addington found his precious calfand the neighbors had an indignation meeting right then and there andthe ones who had the most clothes on started out to find the offendersand some of the others went in to quiet Miss Cymantha, and a few othersput the sexton to bed and locked him in so that he couldn't give anymore alarms!"

"But what happened to the boys?"

"Oh, when the crowd was the most excited they just climbed over awoodshed into the house and by the time the volunteers were lined up togo to find them they were sound asleep!"

"Who were they, Father? Were they boys you knew?" asked Peggy. 

Mr. Lee laughed down the length of the table and Peggy caught theanswering smile in her mother's eyes. 

"Oh, I know--I know! It was you, Daddy, " she cried, running from herchair to kiss the back of his head. 

"Come, dear, sit down! William, if you were that sort of a boy what canwe expect of Billy? Hark--isn't that his whistle?" She stepped eagerlyto the door, the girls close behind her. 

"He's all right--he always whistles when he's happy!"

"It is he!" cried Mrs. Lee, going down the steps. "And what in theworld is he bringing with him!"

For Billy, covered with dust, guiding his bicycle with one hand, waswalking leisurely up the road leading with an air of pride edgedslightly by a disturbing doubt, a dirty, weary-eyed dog!

"A dog--of all things!" cried Barbara, "_Where'd_ you get it?" demanded Peggy eagerly. 

The family stood on the bottom step and eyed Billy's treasure. The dogseemed to have no doubt as to his welcome, for in his desire to greethis adopted family he strained at the slender leash with which Billyheld him. 

"Whose dog is it, Billy, " asked Mrs. Lee. 

"I bought him for a dollar!" Billy glanced questioningly at his mother. He had heard her declare ever so often that she would not allow along-haired dog in the house! And this new pet had a very long, shaggy, dirty hide! Peggy was on her knees with both arms around the dog'sneck. 

"Just see him shake hands!" Alice was crying. 

But the quiet of Mrs. Lee's manner disturbed Billy. "I think you'dbetter come into the house and see if Nora has saved you any supper. After you have finished we will hear about the dog. "

"Let me hold him, please, Billy!" begged Peggy. Keineth stood a littleapart. She was not yet sure that she wanted a closer acquaintance withthe newcomer. She had known few dogs; her father had always warned herto leave the stray dogs that she met on the street quite alone--and shehad detested Aunt Josephine's silky poodle! But this poor scrap waswagging his stubby tail and looking at her in a coaxing manner thatsaid plainly, "Let's be friends!"

Within the house Billy was cramming down biscuits and chicken gravywith an enjoyment that covered the concern he felt at his mother'sattitude. When he could speak for the food in his mouth he told her ofthe crowds at the fair. But with the last mouthful of custard piebolted he went straight to the point: "Can I keep him, Mother?"

She rose and, with Billy following, went out upon the veranda. At sightof his new master the dog broke away from Peggy and leaped upon him, his big paws on Billy's shoulders. 

"Can't I keep him, Mummy?" he asked, pleadingly, looking from hismother to his father. 

"Mummy, this is such a lovely dog--" implored Alice, the June bugsforgotten. 

"And we'll take care of him, " added Peggy. 

Billy put one arm around the dog's neck. 

"I guess when you hear the story 'bout him you'll let him stay, " hesaid solemnly. 

"Tell us, son, " Mr. Lee joined in for the first time. 

So Billy stood before them to plead for his dog. 

"Jim and I got to the Fair, 'nd he told me to wait outside and he'dscout around and see if he couldn't find his uncle who had a showinside, 'cause Jim thought maybe his uncle could get us in for nothingand we'd have more money to spend. It was awful hot and I went over andsat under the trees across the road and watched the people come. All ofa sudden I heard a dog cry, and over near one of the other trees was aman that looked like a tramp trying to make a dog go ahead and kickinghim awful 'cause the dog wouldn't go! The dog would cry and then theman'd kick him again and swear awful. Well, I was mad--I gave thatwhistle that Rex used to know and the dog sort of listened, then Iwhistled harder and the dog made a jump and broke his string and ranlike a flash right to me just's if he knew I was a friend! The man cameafter him, swearing harder than ever. But I just took the dog and stoodright up and I said to him: 'You don't know how to treat a dog!' Ithought maybe he'd hit me, he looked so mad, but I went on talking realfast. I said, 'He's a lot like a dog I know--what'll you sell him for?'Because I'd sort o' decided he'd stolen him and might be glad to getrid of him, you see! And the man said, 'How much'll you give?' and Itold him I'd give a dollar, and he reached out for the string and said, 'That ain't enough, ' and I said, 'That's all I've got, ' and just thatminute a policeman came along towards us and he said quick, 'He'syours, ' and I gave him my dollar and you ought to have seen him beatit!"

Upon the rest of the story Billy touched lightly--how, his dollar gone, he had had no money with-which to buy his way into the fair; how Jim, returning from an unsuccessful search for the uncle and finding Billyand the dog under the tree, had, disgusted by Billy's extravagance, left him there, bidding him wait! But later Jim had relented and hadtreated Billy to an ice-cream cone from the tent near the gate. ThenJim had started for home and Billy had walked the five miles betweenMiddletown and Overlook, pushing the bicycle and leading the tired dog. 

"And I never saw the Fair at all, " he finished, breathless from hisstory. 

"Well, Mother--don't you think Billy deserves the dog?" said Mr. Leewhen Billy had finished. And Keineth whispered, "Goody, goody!"

Mrs. Lee laughed. "I will say that he may stay here on trial--whilewe're in the country. But, oh, dear--I had hoped we'd never haveanother dog--and of all things, a long-haired dog!"

"Jim Archer said he was an Airedale, " broke in Billy, proudly strokingthe dirty head. "Pretty cheap for a dollar, I think!"

"Let's name him, " cried Alice eagerly. "I think you'd better bathe himfirst, " chuckled Mr. Lee. Then, turning to his wife, "You know I thinkit is a valuable dog! The fellow must have stolen him!"

In triumph Billy and Peggy led the newcomer towards the pump for hisbath, while Keineth went in search of soap and a sponge. Over the baththey discussed names and, as it looked as though they could not agree, they decided that, because Keineth was a visitor, she should select thename. 

And after a little thought she called him Pilot. 

"Pilot Lee, " said Peggy, squeezing a spongeful of water over the dog'shead. 

An hour later a very tired boy was sleeping soundly, while on the floorbeside his cot lay the dog--his warm muzzle faithfully snuggled againstBilly's dusty shoe. 

CHAPTER VI

THE MUSIC THE FAIRIES PUT IN HER FINGERS

On the shaded corner of the wide veranda Mrs. Lee sat makingbuttonholes in a blouse for Billy, humming as she worked. Occasionallyshe patted the crisp cloth in her hand as though she loved this task ofstitching for her youngsters. About her quiet reigned; broken now andthen by Peggy's bird in its cage and the far-off sound of the gasolinemower on the golf course. 

Suddenly Barbara came around the corner of the house, like a rose, inher fresh pink gingham. In her hand she swung a putter. 

"Off for the golf links, dear?" Mrs. Lee asked, glancing with prideover the straight, slim figure of the girl. 

"Yes, Mother, Carol Day and I play off our match this afternoon. If Ibeat her I'll win those candlesticks--"

"They will look very pretty on your dresser, " smiled Mrs. Lee. "I knowwhat you mean, Mother--that I'm just playing for the candlesticks aloneand I'm not at all, for when I do win one I sort of hate taking aprize. But I would like to beat Carol because she does play such a goodgame!"

"That's the spirit, Bab. Where are the little girls?"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about, Mother, " Barbara, balancingherself on the arm of a chair, tapped her toe with the putter. "Peggyand Alice have gone off to Molly Sawyer's and they've left Keinethhome. I don't think they're treating her a bit nicely!"

"Why didn't she go with them?"

"I don't think Peggy asked her to go. She and Molly were going to playtennis on the Sawyer courts with Joan Crate, a girl that's out herefrom town, and Keineth felt left out. Peggy told her she couldn't playwell enough to play with them and that it spoiled a game playing withbeginners, anyway!"

Mrs. Lee stitched in silence. Barbara went on:

"And I heard Billy the other day teasing her about her father. Helaughed at her when she said her father was a soldier, only the kindthat didn't wear a uniform, and he told her there weren't any soldierslike that! I think you ought to speak to the children, Mother. "

"Never mind, Bab, those things will straighten themselves. Peggy mustbe more considerate and patient and I will tell Billy something aboutKeineth's father--Billy will be interested. We may some day have reasonto be very proud of knowing him, for he may become a very great man, besides doing an immense good for this country of ours. Run along, dear, to your game and good luck to you!"

Barbara kissed the top of her head and hurried away. Mrs. Lee sat onalone, her hands idly clasped over the blouse in her lap. It was herway to puzzle out these little problems quietly. 

Suddenly across the June stillness came the sound of exquisite music;clear, thrilling notes, unreal--fairylike! Almost hesitatingly Mrs. Leeturned as though she expected to see a fairy sprite in gauzy robesapproaching her from the shadows of the house! She rose and crepttoward the window. No sprite was there--only Keineth sitting before thepiano, her small hands softly touching the keys as though by magic shedrew the melody from them. Across her fair head fell a slanting bar ofsunlight. To this her eyes were raised in rapt contentment. 

From the window Mrs. Lee watched and listened. There seemed to be nobeginning or end to the melody--it ran on and on, now plaintive, like asmall voice crying--now full of laughter with a happy note like that ofa bird. 

"Child--" Mrs. Lee stepped through the long window into the room. Keineth turned quickly. 

"I didn't know--anyone was here, " she said, shyly. 

But Mrs. Lee scarcely heard her. She had clasped her arms about thesmall form and was holding it very close. 

"I was just playing--what the fairies put in my fingers, " Keinethexplained from the depths of Mrs. Lee's embrace. 

"They are fairy fingers indeed, " laughed Mrs. Lee. "Let us sit downhere together and you must tell me all about it. Who taught you to playlike that, child?"

"No one--like that. Madame Henri always gave me lessons. They were verystupid and I hated having to practice. But every evening, when we'd sittogether, I'd play to Daddy the music that came into my fingers. Sometimes he'd stand by the piano until I was finished and then he'dkiss my fingers and say 'fairy fingers', only Tante used to snore soloudly, poor thing. "

"And you love music?"

"Oh--most of anything in the world. Sometimes Daddy would take me tothe big opera house to hear music and it seemed, when I heard it, asthough I was floating right away. Then we'd go home and I'd make upmore music and tell them a story on the piano and sometimes Daddy couldguess the story almost. Tante used to shake her head and Daddy wouldsay, 'Leave her alone--she knows more than we do. ' I don't know what hemeant, but some day I shall study hard and try to be a great musician. Daddy said-I should-only he said I must wait until my body grew asstrong as my spirit. "

"Keineth, my dear, do you know what a precious trust has been givenyou? God gives to some of His children great gifts--they are in trustfor Him! You must care for it and guard it and keep it and see that itis bestowed generously upon many! Music is one of the most preciousthings in this world--and to create it is a great power!"

Keineth, with puzzled eyes, tried to understand. Mrs. Lee patted herhand. 

"How your mother would have loved to hear what these fingers can do!She had a nature that was like a song in its sweetness. But your fatheris right; before all else you must build up this little body of yours!"

"What did he mean, Aunt Nellie?"

"He wants you to run and play games and grow strong. And you must notbe discouraged and unhappy if you can't keep up just yet with Peggy andBilly and the others. Remember, while they've been racing their legsoff you've been doing other things. If Peggy _can_ beat you at tennis, you just ask her to play one of her pieces for you! Poor Peg, herfingers are all thumbs! Everything evens up in this funny world, child. "

"You're so wonderful, Aunt Nellie! I did fed as if Peggy didn't like mebecause I couldn't do things as well as she can, but if she'll help melearn to swim real well and beat Billy just once at tennis, I'll helpher with her music!"

"A fine idea, Keineth! And then sometimes, when Peggy perhaps wants todo something that you don't care about, I will help you write down themusic you play. Some day we will surprise them all--you and I will havea secret!"

Keineth clapped her hands eagerly. "Oh, I have wished I could! It'll besuch fun! I'll send it to my father! You _are_ wonderful, Aunt Nellie. "The child threw her arms about Mrs. Lee's neck in a burst of joy. 

"Remember, now! No discouraged heart because you can't get a ball overthe net or stand on your head in the water!"

That evening an east wind blowing up with a fine, driving rain, gave anexcuse for a fire in the big fireplace. And as they sat around it;Alice on the arm of her mother's chair, Barbara close to her father, alittle silent, because Carol Day _had_ beaten her; Peggy and Keineth onthe floor side by side, and Billy and his dog sprawled near the door, Mrs. Lee told the children the story of the little boy who went eachday to his attic room to play on the old piano there; how one day, thesound of the music reaching the ears of people below, they crept one byone to the dark stairway to listen. Then in wonder they brought othersand even more. These foolish folk thought it was a spirit who came tothe attic room and made the music, but finally one of them crept closerand opened the door and found the little boy!

"I know, Mother, " cried Barbara, "it was Mozart!"

"Yes, it was Mozart, who, when he grew older, made music that will lastas long as this world. Keineth, will you play for us, dear?"

Keineth, with a very red face, walked bravely to the piano. But herheart was happy and her fingers tingled with the music she felt. Withthe firelight dancing across the darkened room it seemed like the oldlibrary at home and as if Daddy must be sitting close to her withMadame Henri nodding in her chair near the window!

They were silent when she had finished. Barbara sighed-as though themusic had made her sad; Billy said something under his breath thatsounded like "Gee!" and Mrs. Lee patted Peggy's hand. She had foundtime for a little talk with Peggy about Keineth. 

"Oh, I think you're wonderful!" Peggy cried now to Keineth, running toher and linking her hand in Keineth's arm. "I wish I could play one bitas well as that----"

After the children had gone to bed Mr. And Mrs. Lee sat for a long timein the room lighted only by the flames of the fire. Somehow the musicseemed to linger about them. 

"Isn't this world funny, William--" Mrs. Lee stared into the blaze. "Ifthat child had not lived that funny, lonely life in that big house withno one but the queer governess, that gift of hers might never havedeveloped! I wonder what the future may have in store for her?"

"Above all--let us hope--health and happiness!"

CHAPTER VII

ALICE RUNS AWAY

"I've got something to show you all, " Billy announced at the luncheontable. He wore the satisfied air of one who has accomplished somethinglong desired. 

"What've you got?" Peggy answered promptly. 

"Guess!" Billy fixed his attention upon his plate in a tantalizing way. 

"Oh, I know--it's a new sending set! I guessed first!"

"You didn't guess, either! I'll bet you saw Joe Gary bring it!"

"What is a sending set?" asked Keineth. 

"I'll show you afterwards, " Billy answered, with a kindness meant tocrush Peggy. 

Mr. Lee broke in: "But I thought you had to save three dollars morebefore you could buy one--"

Billy flushed. "Well, this ain't exactly mine--yet, Dad! Joe Gary madeit and he's going to make another and he says I can use this one untilI want to buy it or at least for a while. I have that dollar I wassaving and my onions and radishes. "

"Good gracious!" Barbara laughed, "I suppose we'll live on onions andradishes three times a day. "

Mr. Lee turned to Billy. "Don't you think, son, it might be better towait until you have the money to pay Joe? And a little more practice?"

"Billy's always spending money on all those foolish things, " Barbaraput in. "He doesn't seem to want to save and help you!"

"Well, say, don't you think those things are foolish! You read allsorts of things how wireless messages save people--"

"On sinking ships, yes!"

"Well, lots of other ways, too!" Billy's face blazed with wrath. "I'lljust show you some time!"

"Molly Sawyer's brother knows a boy who is a wireless operator in theCanadian Army and sends messages from trees!"

"And if I have a little more practice I can try the troop exams nextwinter and get a certificate!"

"Billy, " broke in his mother, "run over to Mrs. Clark's and tell Aliceto come home at once. Nora rang the bell for her but she did not hear. "

"Why, Mother, " said Peggy, suddenly alarmed, "Janet Clark was with usthis morning!"

Janet Clark was Alice's closest playmate. The two families lived inadjoining houses. Mrs. Lee had returned to the house at noon and Norahad told her that she had last seen Alice running through the gatebetween the two gardens. 

It was only a worried moment before Billy came home to say that Alicehad not been there that morning! It was not like Alice to be long awayfrom home. Mrs. Lee, hiding her concern, directed the children to scourthe neighborhood. 

Not until they had come back from the club and beach and neighboringhouses and reported no sign of her did the mother and father openlyexpress alarm. The children saw a look come into their mother's facethat it had never worn before! Like a shock its agony pierced into eachchild's heart! Very white, Billy rushed off to enlist the services ofhis boy friends for a thorough search of the beach. Barbara, with herfather, started in the motor for Middletown. "I will stay here near thetelephone, " Mrs. Lee had said in answer to her husband's quick, concerned look. 

Peggy came running down the stairs. 

"Her bathing suit is gone, Mammy, and her pink apron--"

"And her penny bank is broken!" Keineth held out in her hands thepieces of the china pig which had held Alice's collection of pennies. "It's all broken!" and, miserably, Keineth looked down at thefragments. 

"We will find her, " said Mrs. Lee, bravely, putting an arm about eachchild. "You girlies must stay with me and help me. "

From Middletown Mr. Lee telephoned that they had found a clue. A childanswering Alice's description had stopped at a small candy store andhad purchased a selection of lolly-pops. She had paid for them inpennies. Someone in the store had seen her climb upon a trolley carbound for the city. Mr. Lee and Barbara were going on to the city. 

But at dusk they returned with no further news. In the crowd at thecity station no one had seen the child! And Billy and his boy friendshad found no trace upon the beach!

"The police are working, " the children heard their father say. ThenMrs. Lee suddenly sank limp against his arm and he led her away. 

"Courage--courage!" they heard him whispering. 

Nora laid a tempting meal upon the table and carried it away, for noone could eat a mouthful. Peggy had run to her room, where Keinethfound her-her face buried deep in her pillow. 

"Oh, " she sobbed, "I've been so mean to Allie lots of times and maybeshe's dead somewhere and I can't ever tell her--"

Keineth could offer small comfort, but the two locked their arms tightabout one another and listened as though in the gathering darkness theymight hear Alice's dear voice. 

Mr. Lee had rushed off again to the city after a whispered word toBarbara to stay close to her mother. Billy, his heart breaking, hiseyes burning with the tears which his boyish pride would not allow himto show, and feeling the bitterness of his youth and his uselessness, slowly mounted the stairs to the corner of the attic which was his ownparticular den. The nickel of his beloved wireless apparatus gleamed athim through the darkness. Like a flash a hope sprang into his heart!Snatching up the phone he placed it upon his head, then ticked off hismessage, with call after call, in every direction!

Now and then someone picked up his words--an unsatisfactory answerwould come back. However, finding relief in doing something, Billyrepeated his calls; listening intently for any answer. 

Just as to his mind vividly came the picture of Alice's hurt face, when, that very morning, he had roughly taken from her his old stampbook, his own call came through the air. Every nerve in his bodytingled a response! It was Freddie Murdock--they had often talked backand forth across the lake from where, on the Canadian shore, FreddieMurdock's father had a cottage. And the words that Freddie was sendingto him by the waves of the air were: "Sister found--all right!"

Shouting the good news Billy rushed three steps at a time down thestairs straight into his mother's arms! She clung to him, burying theboy's face, down which the tears were streaming, close to her heart. 

And while they clung together, crying and half laughing, Barbarareached her father on the telephone to tell him how Alice had beenfound!

Two hours later Genevieve brought the little truant home. Mrs. Leecarried her off for a warm bath and bed, while Nora, her eyes very redwith weeping, fixed her a bowl of hot milk toast. 

"I coaxed the story from her, " Mr. Lee told his wife and Barbara later;"that child wanted to see Midway Beach! Do you remember how hard shebegged to go with the Clarks when they went over and how unreasonableshe thought we were in refusing? Well, she just made up her mind to goalone. She took her bathing suit and her pennies. She walked from hereto Middletown, took the trolley there for the city. On the trolley shesaw a party of picnickers headed for Midway Beach and she just walkedalong with them. It was very simple. She watched the merry-go-roundsand spent all her pennies! When it began to grow dark she laid down onthe beach and fell asleep. They found her there, later, after youngMurdock had given the alarm of a child lost! She didn't seem to befrightened until they handed her over to a policeman to take her backto the city; then the seriousness of her runaway must have come to her. I do not think you will have to worry that she will do it again. "

Up in her cot Alice lay wide awake. Beside her Peggy and Keineth, exhausted by their anxiety, were breathing heavily. Below Alice couldhear voices that she knew were her father's and mother's. She wishedawfully that her mother would come to her! With a child's instinct shehad read on her mother's face the suffering she had caused. Suddenlyshe felt terribly alone--perhaps none of them would love her now orwant her back. She had been so very, very naughty. She clutched theblanket with frightened fingers. 

The voices ceased below and in a moment Alice saw her mother's facebending over her. With a little cry she threw her arms about the dearneck. 

"Oh, Mammy, Mammy, " she cried, in a passion of sobs, "say you loveme--say you want me back! I don't ever, ever, ever want to go awayalone! I thought it would be fun--I didn't think I was so naughty. Holdme close, Mammy----" exhausted, she hid her face. 

"Oh, my dear--my baby, " the mother breathed in comfort and forgiveness, and the loving arms did not relax their hold until the child was fastasleep. 

"I think, Billy, " said Mr. Lee, the next morning, "the family willpresent to you with their compliments the finest sending set we canfind!"

"And aren't they useful?" Billy cried in just triumph. 

CHAPTER VIII

A PAGE FROM HISTORY

For several days a peaceful quiet reigned at Overlook. Little Alicedogged her mother's footsteps, as though she could not bear onemoment's separation; Barbara spent the greater part of her time at thegolf club, coming home each day glowing with enthusiasm over the gameand fired with a hope of winning the women's championship title. Billyhad no thought for anything but the new sending set which his fatherhad ordered for him and which Joe Gary was helping him to install. Keineth, under Peggy's tutorage, was faithfully practicing at tennis, spending much time volleying balls back and forth across the net andtrying to understand the technic of the game. Then each afternoon camea delicious dip into the lake, when Mrs. Lee would patiently instructKeineth in swimming. They were gloriously happy days--seeming verycare-free after the hours of agonizing concern over Alice; days thatbrought new color into the young faces and an added glow into thebright eyes. 

"Does Keineth know how we spend the Fourth of July?" Billy asked oneevening. 

"I hate firecrackers!" Keineth shuddered. "We always went away over theFourth to a little place out on Long Island. "

"We just have balloons and Roman candles in the evening because theyare not dangerous, " Peggy explained. 

"And then on the Fourth we always make our visit to Grandma Sparks. "

"Who is she?" asked Keineth. She had never heard them speak of GrandmaSparks. 

"Father calls her a page out of history. "

"Every man that had ever lived in her family has served his country--"

"She isn't really our grandmother. Just a dear friend. "

Barbara explained further: "She has the most interesting little oldhome about two miles from here. Part of it is over one hundred yearsold! She lives there all alone. And her house is filled with the mostwonderful furniture--queer chairs and great big beds with posts that goto the ceiling and one has to step on little stepladders to get intothem, only no one ever does because she lives there all alone. She hassome plates that Lafayette ate from and a cup that George Washingtondrank out of--"

"And the funniest toys--a doll that belonged to her grandmother and ismade of wood and painted, with a queer silk dress, all ruffles! Shealways lets me play with it. "

"And her great-great-grandmother, when she was a little girl, held anarch with some other children, at Trenton, for Washington to passthrough when he went by horse to New York for his first inauguration. They all wore white and the arch was covered with roses. Grandma Sparksloves to tell of it and how Washington patted her great-great-grandmotheron the head! If you ask her to tell you the story she will be veryhappy, Keineth. "

"I like her guns best--" cried Billy. "She's got all kinds of guns andthings they used way back in the Revolution!"

"And she has a roomful of books and letters from great people that herancestors collected. Why, Father says that she would be very rich ifshe'd sell the papers she has, but she will not part with a thing!Mother says she just lives in the past and she'd rather starve than totake money for one of her relics!"

"I'd rather have the money, you bet, " muttered Billy. 

"I wouldn't--I think it must be wonderful to have a letter that wasreally written and signed by President Lincoln himself, " Barbaradeclared. 

"I'm awfully glad we're going there, " said Keineth eagerly. 

"Let's ask her to tell us about how her brother dug his way out ofAndersonville Prison! She'll show us the broken knife, Ken!"

"Why, Billy, she's told us that story dozens of times--let's ask for anew one!" To Keineth: "After she gives us gingerbread and milk andlittle tarts she tells us a story while we all sit under the appletree!"

"And say, she can make the best tarts!" interrupted Billy. "Oh, I wishthe Fourth would hurry and come!" echoed Keineth. It did come--aglorious sunny morning! Billy's bugle wakened them at a very earlyhour. Before breakfast the children, with Mr. And Mrs. Lee, circledabout the flag pole on the lawn, and, while Billy slowly pulled theStars and Stripes to the top, in chorus they repeated the oath ofallegiance to their flag. Keineth--her eyes turned upward, suddenlyfelt a rush of loneliness for her father. A little prayer formed on herlips to the flag she was honoring. "Please take care of him wherever heis!"

At noon, in Genevieve, they started merrily off for Grandma Sparks! Inher mind Keineth had drawn a picture of a stately Colonial house, withgreat pillars, such as she had sometimes seen while driving with AuntJosephine. Great was her surprise when Billy turned into a grass-growndriveway which led past a broken-down gate and stopped at the door ofa weather-gray house; its walls almost concealed by the vines growingfrom ground to gable and even rambling over the patched roof. At thedoor of the house stood a noble apple tree, spreading its branches inloving protection over the old stone steps which led to the threshold. 

Through the small-paned window Grandma Sparks had been watching forthem. She came out quickly; a tiny figure in a dress as gray andweather-beaten as the house itself, a cap covering her white head. Herhands were stretched out in eager welcome and her smile seemed toembrace them all at once. 

"Well--well--well, " was all she could say. 

Keineth felt suddenly as though this quaint little lady had indeedstepped out of one of her own dusty old books--she could not be a part, possibly, of their busy world! And while the others talked sheexamined, with unconcealed interest, the queer heavy furniture, thecolored prints on the walls and the old spinnet in the corner. Billywas already taking down the guns and Alice sat rocking the doll. 

Keineth was shown the picture of the great-great-grandmother who hadheld the arch and was told the story; she saw the plates and the cupand the broken knife. They unfolded the flags that had been in thefamily for generations and reread the letters that Mrs. Sparks kept ina heavy mahogany box. One of them--most treasured of all--had beenwritten to her mother in praise of her brother's bravery on thebattlefield under action, and was signed "A. Lincoln. "

"My greatest grief in life, " the little old lady said, holding theletter close to her heart, "is that I have no son who may for hisgeneration serve his country, if they need him!"

Afterwards Barbara told Keineth that Mrs. Sparks had once had a littleboy who had been born a cripple and died when he was twelve years old. 

While Barbara and Peggy were busy spreading a picnic--table under theapple tree, Keineth told Grandma Sparks of her own father and how hehad gone away to serve his country, too; but that it was a secret andno one knew he was a soldier because he wore no uniform. 

"The truest hearts aren't always under a uniform, my dear, " and the oldlady patted Keineth's hand. "The service that is done quietly and withno beating of drums is the hardest service to do!" After thepicnic--and the picnic _had_ included the gingerbread and tarts andpatties that Barbara had described and which the dear old lady hadspent hours in preparing--they grouped themselves under the apple tree;Grandma in the old rocker Billy had brought from the house. 

"Not about Andersonville, please, " begged Peggy. "Why, I know that byheart! A new one!"

"Something about the war, " Billy urged. 

Barbara interrupted, shuddering. "No--no! I can't bear to think thereis a war right now--"

"Child--I had thought that never again in my lifetime would this worldknow a war! We have much to learn, yet--we are not ready for a lastingpeace. But it will come!"

"That's what my father says--we must all learn to live like families ina nice street, " added Keineth gravely. 

"Oh, well--if the girls can't stand a story about the war, tell ussomething about the early settlers! I like adventure--if I'd lived inthose days you bet I'd have discovered something!" "I remember, " musedthe old lady, "a story my father used to tell! We have the papers aboutit somewhere. Let me think--it was about a trading post on the Ohio anda captive maiden brought there by the Indians!"

Billy threw his cap in the air. 

"Indians! Hooray!"

CHAPTER IX

THE CAPTIVE MAIDEN

Grandma Sparks folded her hands contentedly in her lap and fastened hereyes upon the distant tree-tops. 

"Years and years ago, when this land was a vast forest, a band ofCanadian and French soldiers and traders made their way through thewilderness to the banks of the Ohio where they built a small fort andstarted a trading post. The land was rich about them and they were sooncarrying on a prosperous trade with the Indians who came to the fort. Though these Indians were friendly the soldiers had made the fort asstrong as possible, for they knew that no one could tell at what momentthey might be attacked! Sometimes weeks and months would pass when noIndian would come their way; then some of the traders would journeyback along the trail with their wealth, leaving the others at the fortto guard it. 

"In their number was a soldier who had once escaped from England; hadgone into France and from there to Canada, all because he had made theKing angry! Everyone in England thought he was dead. After years oflonely wandering he had joined the little band of adventurers when theystarted for the West--as they called it in those days! He was a queerman, for he seldom talked to his fellows, but they knew he was braveand would give up his life for any one of them! They called himRobert--no one knew his other name, nor ever asked. 

"It was the custom at the trading post to treat the Indians with greatpoliteness. Sometimes great chiefs came to the fort and then thesoldiers and traders acted as though they were entertaining the King ofEngland. 

"One early morning a sentry called out to his fellows that Indians wereapproaching. The soldiers quickly made all preparations for theirreception. The commanding officer went forward with some of his men tomeet them. The Indian band was led by a chief--a, great, tall fellowwith a kingly bearing, and behind him another Indian carried in hisarms the limp form of a white girl. 

"Briefly the chief explained that the girl was hurt; that they, thewhite men, must care for her! Where they had found her--what horriblethings might have happened before they made her captive no one couldknow, for an Indian never tells and the white men knew better than toask! The girl was carried into shelter and laid upon a rough woodenbed. It was Robert, the outlaw, who helped unwind the covers that boundher. 

"In astonishment the soldiers beheld the face of a beautifulgirl--waxen white in her unconsciousness. Silently the Indians let thewhite medicine-man care for their captive. She had been so terriblyhurt that for days she lay as though dead! While the soldiersentertained the Indians, the medicine-man and Robert worked night andday to save the young life. 

"Having finished trading with the white men the Indians prepared toreturn to their village, which, they told the white men, was far awaytoward the setting sun. The girl was too ill to be moved; so, with afew words, the Indian Chief told the officer of the fort that soon theywould return for the girl--whom he claimed as his squaw--and that ifill befell her, or, on their return, she was gone--a dozen scalps hewould take in turn! The officer could do no more than promise that theIndian's captive would be well guarded. 

"And every white man of them knew that as surely as the sun sets theIndian would return for the girl whom he claimed as his squaw, and thatif she was not there for him to take, twelve of them would pay withtheir lives!

"The weeks went on and the girl grew well and strong, but, because ofher horrible accident, could remember nothing of her past. She was likean angel to the rough traders and soldiers; going about among them inthe simple robe they had fashioned for her of skins and sacking, withher fair hair lying over her shoulders and her eyes as blue as the verysky. And because she could not tell them her name they called herAngele. 

"One day a message was brought to their fort telling of war in theColonies--that the English were fighting the French and that all Canadawould be swept with flame and blood! Almost to a man they said theywould go back to fight. One among them did not speak--it was Robert!Though he had fled from England never to return, he could not lift hishand against her. And someone must stay with Angele!

"By the camp fire they talked it over. It was decided that four of themwould remain at the fort until the chieftain came to claim his captive. One of these would be Robert; the other three would be chosen by lot. 

"So while the others went home along the trail over which they hadcome, the four guarded the little fort for Angele's sake. Three of themgave little thought to that time when the Indian chief would come forthe girl--to them, it simply meant that their guard would be ended andthat they, too, might return--but Robert went about with a heavy heart, for, as the days passed, it seemed to him more and more impossible togive the girl into a life of bondage! Under the stars he vowed thatbefore he would do that he would run his knife deep into her heart, andpay with his own life. 

"Angele's contentment was terribly shattered one evening when, atsundown, three Indians came to the fort. At the sight of them sheuttered a terrible scream and fled into hiding. They said they had beenwandering over the country and had come to the fort quite by chance andonly sought a friendly shelter for the night, but the sight of theirbrown bodies and dark faces had shocked the girl's mind in such a wayas to bring back the memory of everything that had happened to her andhers at the hands of these red men. Robert found her crouched in acorner weeping in terror. To him she told her story; how the littleband of people, once happy families in the land of Acadia, roaming insearch of a home, had been surprised by an attack of Indians; howbefore her very eyes every soul of them had been killed and she alonehad been spared because the chief wanted her for his squaw! They hadcarried her away with them; for days they had travelled through strangeforests, for hours at a time she was scarcely conscious. Then, attempting escape, she had received the blow from a tomahawk that hadhurt her so cruelly. It was a terrible story. Robert listened to theend and then, taking her two hands and holding them close to his heart, told her solemnly that never would she be given again to the Indians!

"But he did not tell her of his vow, for suddenly he knew that lifewould be very, very happy if he could escape from the fort with her andgo back to the Colonies!

"The three Indians, before departing, had told of an entire tribe theyhad overtaken only a little way off, decked out as if for a greatceremony and led by a chieftain! Robert well knew who they were. Ifthey were to escape it must be before the dawn of another day!

"That night--quietly, that Angele might not be frightened--the mentalked together over the fire. Robert unfolded a plan. The others muststart eastward immediately along the river trail. Then as soon as themoon had gone down, he and Angele would go in the bark canoe the menhad built--paddle as far eastward as they could, then make for theshelter of the forests. 

"The others were eager to escape--for they knew now that the man Robertwould never give up the girl, and they loved their own scalps! Theyhastily gathered together what they wanted to take with them and stolefrom the fort. During their idle days they had dug an undergroundpassage from the fort to the river; through this they escaped quicklyto the trail. 

"Robert wakened Angele and told her of his plan. She said not a word, but by the fire in her eyes Robert knew what escape meant to her. Then, gently, he asked her if--when they had found safety in the Colonies--she would go with him to a priest to be married, and for answer sheturned and kissed him upon his hand. 

"While Robert loaded the canoe which he found at the river bank nearthe opening of the rough tunnel, Angele joyfully made her fewpreparations for the long journey. 

"Before leaving the fort Robert gave to Angele a small knife, tellingher that if they were captured she must use it quickly to end her ownlife! He then carefully barred every possible entrance, knowing thatthough the Indians could beat these down or fire the entire place, itwould mean some delay in their pursuit and give them a little starttoward safety. 

"Just as the moon disappeared and a heavy darkness enveloped them theypushed away from shore. But as they started down the river a horriblewhoop split the air! Angele pressed her hands tight to her mouth tostill her scream of terror. With a mighty stroke Robert paddled formidstream. But just as he did so an arrow shot past Angele and burieditself in the soft part of his leg!

"The three Indians who had come and gone in such friendly fashion werenot of the far-off tribe they claimed to be, but had been sent on aheadby the chieftain to see how things were at the fort. They had gone backand told their story and the chieftain, expecting that some escapemight be attempted, had planned to surprise the fort in the night. 

"His flesh stinging with the wound of the arrow, Robert lifted hismusket and fired quickly. Years before, in his own country, he had beenhonored by his King for his good marksmanship, but it was God whoguided that aim through the darkness, for it shot straight into thevery heart of the chieftain! While, in confusion, the Indians gatheredabout their fallen chief, Robert, with Angele fainting at his feet, wassoon lost in the kindly darkness of the river--paddling eastward!"

"Oh, were they saved?" cried Peggy, drawing a long breath. 

"Yes. Days afterward they reached a fort where they found a priest whomarried them. And they lived happy, useful lives in a settlement inPennsylvania. Some records of the fort where the priest married themtell the whole story--they're right in the house, " and Grandma noddedher head proudly toward the open door. 

"Didn't I tell you she was like a page out of history?" Barbara askedKeineth as they drove homeward. 

"You just feel as if you were an American History book, beginning withthe discovery of America, " laughed Peggy. 

"If I was a history book I'd leave out dates and the Cabots--I nevercan get 'em straight, " Billy chimed. 

"There must be lots and lots of stories about brave men that were neverput in books, " Keineth added thoughtfully. 

Peggy yawned widely. "Well, I'm glad I'm not that poor captive maidenand just plain Peggy Lee of Overlook!"

"And I'm gladder still that mother is sure to have ice cream fordinner!"

This, of course, from Billy. 

CHAPTER X

PILOT IN DISGRACE

"Anyone might think that this was Friday the thirteenth, " growledBilly. "I broke my fishing rod and I've lost my knife and Jim Archerstepped on a nail and can't go on a hike this afternoon--"

Billy's curious talk never failed to interest Keineth. She knew that itwas not Friday and it was not the thirteenth and wondered what Billyever meant! But she never asked him; something in the scornfulsuperiority with which Billy treated all girls made Keineth very shywith him. She wished they might be better friends, for she felt verysure that it would be great fun to share with him the excitingadventures Billy seemed always to find! Vaguely she wondered what shecould do that might put her on an equal footing with thisfreckled-faced lad who was, after all, only two years older than shewas!

"Jim stepped on the nail yesterday--what's that got to do with to-day!"Peggy answered teasingly, "Well, we were going to hike to-day, " Billyexplained, too doleful to indulge in retort. "And all the other fellowsare doing something else. "

"Billy--Billy, " called Alice from around the corner. "Just see what Ifound!" She ran toward them, holding in her hand a dirty, ragged pieceof leather. 

"Where'd you find that?" demanded Billy, taking it from her. "It's--why, jiminy crickets--it's one of my best shoes!"

Billy meant that it had been!

"Pilot!" the children cried, looking at one another. 

"That's what mother used to scold about Rex doing, " Peggy recalled. 

"Why couldn't he eat my old ones!" groaned Billy, throwing the leatheroff into some bushes. He felt troubled--he remembered that he had leftthe shoes out on the floor of his dressing room. It was all his fault, but Pilot would be blamed!

"What can we do?" asked Keineth, sensing a tragedy. 

"I don't care anything about the shoes, " answered Billy, "'cause I'djust as soon wear these old ones as not--what d' I care about shoes?But mother'll say that we can't keep the dog!"

"He's only on trial--" Peggy broke in sadly. 

"If you girls could keep it a secret we'd give Pilot another chance--"

"Alice is sure to tell! She can't keep anything!"

"I can keep a secret! You just try me!"

"Well, then, " Billy lowered his voice mysteriously, "not a word! Youjust cross your hearts that you won't tell a word! We'll give Pilotanother chance!"

Solemnly the three girls crossed their hearts. Billy went off then insearch of some amusement of his liking, leaving them with the burden ofthe secret. 

It weighed upon them through the day. And the more heavily when at noontime the cook from Clark's tapped upon the kitchen door and reportedwith great indignation that "jes' while her back was turned a minutethat there dog had stolen her leg she was about to be carvin' and hadgone off with it like he was possessed. "

"Your leg--well, now!" cried Nora, all sympathy. "Faith--not my _own_leg, but a leg of lamb!" wept the other, "and what the mistress will bea sayin' I don't know!"

"Where is that dog?" Mrs. Lee had sternly asked of the children. No oneknew. Keineth and Peggy exchanged troubled glances and then fixedfrowning eyes upon Alice. 

"It really is very foolish in us to keep him, " Mrs. Lee went on. "Probably this is just the beginning of the annoyances he will cause!"

"He tramples down the flowers terribly, " Barbara complained. 

Mr. Lee caught the anxious look in Billy's eyes. 

"Well, well, Mother, perhaps Billy will keep a closer watch on his dogafter this!"

Billy promised with suspicious readiness. "Mr. Sawyer says Pilot's avaluable dog, " he told them. "And we ought not to give a valuable dogaway, anyway!"

"We'll see, " Mrs. Lee concluded. 

But that evening Pilot sealed his own doom!

For, as the children were playing croquet near the veranda, he camerunning across the lawn and triumphantly dropped at Billy's feet abeautiful gold fish, quite dead!

"Oh--oh--oh!" screamed Alice. 

"It's from Sawyer's pond!" cried Peggy on her knees. 

"The poor little thing. " Keineth lifted it. "It's dead!"

"It's their new Japanese gold fish, " added Barbara, who, with Mrs. Lee, had come down the steps from the veranda. "You'll have to pay for this, Billy!"

"I think this is the last straw, " said Mrs. Lee sternly, turning to herhusband. 

"Oh, Mammy, he couldn't help it--they swim round and he thinks they areplaying!" Peggy implored. 

Pilot, standing back, his tail wagging slowly, regarded them withwondering, disappointed eyes. He had felt so very proud of his fish andnow his family seemed to look upon him with displeasure. 

"And I can tell the secret now, " cried Alice, "we weren't going totell--he ate one of Billy's _best_ shoes!"

"You just wait!" cried Billy. Peggy turned a terrible face upon Alice. "We'll never, never, never tell anything to the tell-baby again!" shehissed. "Will we, Ken?"

"I guess I knew it first, " Alice whimpered. 

"It was my fault--I left them out, Mother! And I'd just as soon wear myold shoes!" Billy turned pleadingly to his mother. 

"I am sure you would, " she smiled, "but nevertheless I must be firmabout this dog. He is a nuisance and will be an expense. By the time wehave paid the Clarks for their lamb and the Sawyers for their goldfishand bought you a pair of shoes the damages against Pilot will have runup to a nice little sum!"

"But, Mother, you can take it out of my allowance!"

"That will not guard against other things of this same sort happening. No, my son, I do not like to make you unhappy, but we must get rid ofthe dog. Please say no more about it. Day after to-morrow we'll sendhim into the city with the vegetable man. "

Mrs. Lee turned back to the veranda. When she spoke with that tone inher voice the children never answered. Peggy, linking her arm inKeineth's, turned an angry shoulder upon Alice. Billy blinked his eyesvery fast to clear them of the tears that had gathered in spite ofhimself, threw his arm about the dog's neck and led him away to somehiding place where, secure from intrusion, he could pour out hisrebellious heart to his pet. 

"There's no use staying angry at Alice!" Keineth protested in a lowtone to Peggy as they walked away. She felt sorry for the little girlstanding at a little distance irresolutely swinging a croquet mallet. "It was her secret, anyway and Aunt Nellie would have found out aboutthe shoe some time. Perhaps we were wrong not to tell her at first. "

"You always stand up for everybody, " Peggy complained, droppingKeineth's arm in vexation. But Peggy's sunny nature could not longcarry a grudge of any kind. She had made a solemn vow, too, that shewould never be unkind to Alice again! And there _would_ be just timebefore dark to play one more game of croquet!

"Will you play, Allie? You can have red and play last, " she cried. "Come on, Ken!"

CHAPTER XI

PILOT WINS A HOME

"What a horrid day!" with a wide yawn Peggy threw the stocking she wasdarning into the basket. "I wish mother wouldn't make me wearstockings--then I wouldn't have any holes!"

"I wish the sun would shine, " Alice chimed, disconsolately. 

"If mother were here, she would say that we must make our ownsunshine, " Barbara laughed. She was folding carefully the whiteundergarment she had finished making for her college "trousseau"--asher father called it. 

"Well, it seems as if everything goes wrong all at once, " Peggy refusedto be cheered. The children knew she was thinking of Pilot. Pilot'sdisgrace and sentence hung like a gloomy cloud over their hearts. 

"Who'd believe you could think so much of a dog?" Keineth frowned asshe pondered the thought. "I used to think Aunt Josephine was so sillyover Fido. I am sure Fido was never as nice as our Pilot, but I supposeAunt Josephine thinks he's much nicer. Once he swallowed a paper ofneedles from Aunt Josephine's work basket and she almost fainted, andCeleste had to call a doctor for her and another for the dog and theysent the dog to a hospital. Then Aunt Josephine blamed Celeste and toldher she must leave at once and Celeste had hysterics, for you see she'dbeen with my aunt since she was very young and they had to send for thedoctor again for Celeste. "

"Oh, how funny!" laughed Peggy, though Keineth's face was very serious. 

"Then Aunt Josephine felt sorry and forgave Celeste and they called upthe next day from the hospital to say that Fido was very well and thatneedles seemed to agree with him. But Aunt Josephine worried for weeksand weeks over him. "

"Pilot would know better than to eat needles, " Alice broke inscornfully. 

"Yes--he likes shoes and goldfish, " Barbara finished. "Where's Billy?"

From the mother to the smallest of them they felt sorry for Billy. For, though Billy had said not a word concerning the fate of his pet, thehurt look in his eyes betrayed the sorrow he felt. No one knew where hewas--he had disappeared quietly after breakfast. And Pilot was withhim. 

"No tennis or golf to-day, " grieved Barbara, going to the window. 

"Anyway we can swim, " cried Peggy. 

"In the rain?" asked Keineth, astonished. 

"Why, of course, silly! Wouldn't we get wet, anyway?"

Keineth's face colored. Peggy went on with a toss of her head: "And Isimply must practice swimming under water to-day--the contest isn'tvery far off. You can't expect me to help you out to the rock, Ken, you'll have to play in shallow water!"

Keineth's soul smarted under this humiliation. The rock was the goalaround which their fun centred. It was twenty yards out from shore andits broad, flat surface gave room for six of them to stand upon it atone time. As around it the water was five feet deep, it was necessaryfor one of the children to help Keineth reach it. Then, while theothers practiced all the feats known to the fish world, Keineth alwaysstood carefully in its centre, head and shoulders above the water'ssurface and watched them with interest and admiration, tinged withenvy. 

To conceal the tremble in her voice Keineth had now to swallow veryquickly. "All right, Peggy, " was all she answered and Peggy never knewhow deeply her careless words had hurt her. 

Keineth _had_ grown discouraged with her swimming. Somehow it was soeasy when some one was with her, but she could never seem to muster thecourage to dive off into the water the way the others did. And Daddywould be so disappointed!

Mrs. Lee had given her careful instruction in the stroke--perhaps ifshe was alone, away from Billy's roguish glance and the terror of hiscatching her ankle under water, she might feel more confidence. 

This thought still lingered in her mind when, in the afternoon, theywent to the beach. Billy was already in the water; the faithful Pilotwas digging on the beach for dog treasures. Because of the drizzlingrain Mrs. Lee had not come down. 

While Barbara and Peggy were racing under water Keineth found it veryeasy to slip away. She chose a spot where a bend of the shore concealedher. She stood knee-deep in the water, going through the movements ofthe arm stroke, with a careful one, two, three. She put her small teethtightly together--she _would_ have confidence, she _would_ go outdeeper, throw herself calmly into the water in Peggy-fashion and swimoff, one, two, three! She _would_ remember to breathe easily and keepher arms under the surface of the water!

There was an indomitable will in the child. She _did_ throw herself in, and, counting one, two, three, forgot her usual gasp of fright;suddenly it seemed natural and as if she had always done it! She felt adelicious joy in the ease with which her stroke carried her aheadthrough the water. She wished Billy might see her now! Then, exhaustedby her effort, triumphant and happy, she reached for a footing on thebottom. Her toe could not find it! With a cry of terror she threw herarms wildly upward, involuntarily seeking for some hold! Then sheslipped, slipped down, fathoms and fathoms it seemed--a dreadfulchoking gripped her, like tight arms upon her chest! She tried to call, but the water only made a fearful gurgle in her throat! She wanted herfather--_he'd_ stop that terrible pain in her chest and take that gripfrom her throat!

Suddenly she felt very, very tired and as if she would sleep when thepain was gone. Her body lifted slowly; her hand, flung upward, grippedsomething soft but firm in her clutch--the water splashed about her!She thought it was her father! He was pulling her away, then she seemedto go to sleep. 

When consciousness returned, Keineth found herself lying upon the beachwrapped in Barbara's raincoat. Peggy was crying and Barbara, her facevery white, was rubbing her hand. On her other side knelt Billy, therain dripping from his bare arms, his face flushed as though fromviolent exercise. Behind him stood Pete, the man of all work in thecommunity, who had been drawing gravel from the beach. 

"Darling!" cried Barbara. "Oh, are you all right?"

Keineth slowly looked all around. _Had_ it been some dream, then--wasn't her Daddy there at all? Barbara had slipped an arm underher head and was folding it higher. It helped her breathe. 

"What was it?" Keineth managed to whisper. "I'd never, never, neverhave forgiven myself, " Barbara was crying now. 

"You almost drowned, " Peggy explained. Now that the danger was over shebegan to enjoy the excitement. 

"And Pilot saved you!" Billy cried. 

"We had just missed you and Billy had started up the shore when weheard your cry!"

"And it didn't take that dog two seconds to get out to you! Just say heisn't human!"

"I thought it was Daddy, " Keineth whispered. 

"What, dear?" Barbara had not caught the words. "You must keep veryquiet, Ken. And Billy's had his first aid case!"

Pete clapped Billy on the shoulder. "Wal, I jes' calculate now that itwas them gim-cracks Billy here put you through, missy, that brung youto!"

"I always wondered if I could do it, " Billy said with pardonable pride, "and, say, that'll mean a medal from the troop!"

Alice had run home to tell Mrs. Lee of the accident. Together they hadhurried down to the beach. With Pete's help they lifted Keineth to thegravel wagon and, like a triumphal procession, moved slowly homeward. Mrs. Lee immediately tucked Keineth into bed with hot water bottles andblankets to check the chill that was creeping over her. 

"She'll be all right, I am sure, " Mrs. Lee whispered to the anxiouschildren. Later the doctor came, left some powders and patted Keinethon the head. "A good sleep and quiet will fix up those nerves O. K. Then forget all about it. "

He was quite right; the next morning Keineth, quite as well as ever, joined the family at breakfast. Though Mrs. Lee had warned them not tomention the accident to Keineth unnecessarily, Mr. Lee did pinch hercheek and say: "You lost your head, didn't you, little sport? If you'djust kept your arms down, now--but, if you go exploring strange beachesagain you'll remember, won't you?"

Peggy and Keineth, moved by a feeling of intense relief, suddenlycaught hands under the table. For into both hearts had come the fearthat Keineth's mishap might end the swimming for the summer! AndKeineth had not forgotten that, though it had ended sadly, for a verybrief time she _had_ mastered the stroke. Mrs. Lee smiled down thetable. "And I think Pilot has won a home! Except for him--" she stoppedsuddenly, her eyes bright with tears. "William, bring home the finestcollar you can find and to-night we will decorate our dog with all duehonor!"

CHAPTER XII

A LETTER FROM DADDY

"KEN--a letter!"

Billy rushed toward the garden waving a large square envelope over hishead. 

Keineth and Peggy were weeding their flower bed. Keineth dropped herhoe quickly to seize the letter. 

"It's from Washington, and it's got a seal on it like the seal of theUnited States!" exclaimed Billy. 

"Oh, let me see!" cried Peggy. 

Keineth had taken the letter. Looking from one to the other, she heldit close to her. 

"I--I can't--it's from the President, I guess--" A wave ofembarrassment seized her and she stopped short, wishing that she mightrun away with her treasure. 

"The President--writing to you! Oh, say--" Billy snorted in derision. 

Peggy, offended at Keineth's shyness, turned her back upon her. "Idon't want to see your letter, anyway, " she said ungraciously. 

"Oh, please--I'd love to show it, only--I promised--" Then, as Peggygave no sign of relenting, Keineth walked slowly toward the house withher letter. 

"I think Keineth's mean to have secrets, " and Peggy dug her hoesavagely into the ground. "She acts so mysterious about her father andI'll bet it isn't anything at all!"

"But that letter _was_ from the President, I guess! Gee whiz, think ofgetting a letter really from him! I wish I was Ken!"

"It's nothing! Anyone can be President--I mean, any man!"

"Just the same, mother told me that some day we would be very proud ofknowing Keineth's father. She wouldn't tell me any more. I'll bet itwould be awful interesting to know him! There's something certainlyqueer about how no one knows where he is! I guess I'll ask Ken to tellme just a little bit. I can keep a secret. "

"Well, you can know her old secret for all I care, " and Peggy startedfor the barn. Billy did not follow. He had thought of a plan. He wouldchallenge Ken to a game of tennis. And he would let her beat him. Thenhe'd ask her very casually about her father and promise, on his scout'shonor, not to tell a soul! The plan seemed good. He'd wait for her tocome down. 

In her room Keineth had opened the large white envelope. From insideshe drew a sheet of paper upon which were written a few lines, and withit a blue envelope of very thin paper, addressed in her father'sfamiliar handwriting. With a little cry she caught it up and kissed itagain and again. Before she broke its seal she read what was written onthe sheet which had enclosed it. 

The few lines were signed "Faithfully, Woodrow Wilson. " They began, "Mydear little soldier girl, " and they told her that it was with greatpleasure he had forwarded her letter to her father and now returned toher its answer. He called it an honor to serve them both and expressedthe hope that some day he might make her acquaintance and tell her howdeeply he admired and respected her father. 

Keineth merely glanced at the lines. What mattered it to her that theyhad been written by the President of the United States! Did she nothold tightly in her fingers a letter from her Daddy?

"My precious child, " it began. Keineth had suddenly to brush her eyesin order to see the letters. "Your letter found me at one of my manystopping places. It brought to me a breath of home. I shut myself in myroom and read and reread it, and it seemed to bring back the old roomand the chair that could always hold us both. I could hear your voice, too. I miss you terribly, little girl, but I thank God daily that youare well and happy and with good friends. 

"I have travelled through many lands of which I will have much to tellyou. I have been in the Far East--poor Tante would have wept with joyover the beauty of the Flowery Kingdom. I have bowed before enoughemperors and kings to make my poor back ache. Do you remember how youused to rub the kinks out of it? I have spent hours and hours with thegreat men of the world. I have seen wonderful beauty and glorioussunshine. (How I'd like to ship some of it to old New York. ) And I haveseen ugly things, too. We shall have great times when we are togetheragain, childy, telling one another the stories of these days we havebeen parted. You shall tell me something first and then I will tellyou. It will take us hours and days and weeks. 

"Now I am going in my wanderings to other lands that are black with thehorror of war. I shall have to witness the suffering it brings to thehomes and I will be more glad than I can tell that my baby is far fromits pain. 

"I have learned in these wanderings of mine that it is in the childrenthis old world must place its trust. That if they want a bettergovernment they must give to the little ones all that is pure and cleanand honest and good and see to it that they are happy. I feel likeshouting it from the housetops--'Make them happy!' It doesn't takemuch. 

"I feel your big, wondering eyes on mine--you do not understand! Ah, well, girlie, all I mean is--romp and play--build up a strong littlebody for that heart of yours--see things that are clean and good, andwhatever the game is--play square!

"We cannot be grateful enough to the dear Lees for all they are doingfor us. Try and return their kindness with loyalty. I will write laterto Mrs. Lee in regard to the plans for the fall. Do whatever she thinksbest. You will stay with them until I return. Just when that will be Icannot tell now, but you must be brave. Your courage helps me, too, mydear. 

"Sometimes, when my day's work is done and I can put it from my mind, Iclose my eyes and dream--dream of the little home we will build when Ireturn: build--not in the old Square, that is gone except tomemory--but in some sunny, open spot where we can live and worktogether and lead useful lives. It is a beautiful castle as I see it inmy dreams--and beautiful with love. 

"I will send this letter with other papers to Washington and they willforward it to you. 

"Good-by, little soldier--I salute you, my General. 

"God keep you for

"DADDY. "

The words rang through Keineth's heart like a song. She longed to pourout her joy in music, but Billy's voice came to her from below. 

"Ken, Ken. "

"Yes, Billy. " "Come on, I'll play tennis with you! Bet you can beat me, too!"

Keineth suddenly remembered Peggy's and Billy's rudeness. Perhaps Billywas trying to make amends. She really wanted to be alone with herletter a little longer, but if Billy wanted her to play! She feltproud, too, that he had asked her. 

Billy found less difficulty than he had anticipated in letting Keinethwin the set. In fact, deep in his heart, he was not sure he had "let"her. For Keineth, fired with the joy within her, played brilliantly, flying over the court like a winged creature, returning Billy's serveswith a surprising quickness and strength that completely broke down hisboyish confidence in himself. 

"Thanks awfully--that _was_ fun, " Keineth said as they sank down undera tree for a moment's rest. 

Though his plan had worked very well so far, Billy now felt at a lossto know how he ought to proceed. So, accepting her thanks with a briefnod, he bolted straight to the point. 

"Say, Ken, if you'll tell me about your father I promise on my scout'shonor not to tell a soul! And you ought to tell me anyway, for didn'tmy dog save your life, and didn't I give you first aid or you might'vedied!"

"Oh, Billy!" Keineth cried, then stopped short. Her heart warmed toBilly--they seemed almost like pals now! He had preferred playingtennis with her than going off somewhere with the boys. And she didwant more than anything else right then to talk about her daddy; totell how great he was and how he was visiting courts of Eastern lands. And she wanted to show Billy the letter from the President, it was inher pocket. And she knew if Billy said he'd never tell that he wouldnot. 

But a soldier never swerves from duty and had not her father called herhis "General"?

"I--I can't, Billy, " she finished. 

There was something so final in her voice and in the set of her lipsthat Billy, red with rage, rose quickly to his feet. 

"I'll bet you haven't got any secret and you're just making up to besmart and I'll get even with you, baby! And you didn't beat me playingtennis, for I let you, anyway! You wait--" and, vengefully, Billystrode away, leaving an unhappy little girl sitting alone under thetree. Peggy met Billy on the road. Peggy was in search of Keineth. Hernature was too happy to long nurse a grievance. She didn't care ifKeineth did have a secret! And she had wonderful news, too!

But Billy's morose bearing stirred her curiosity. 

"Did she tell you, Billy?" she asked. 

"I'll bet she hasn't got any secret that's worth knowing! And sheneedn't say she beat me at tennis, either. "

"Oh, Billy Lee, you let her beat so's she'd tell you! I'm just _glad_she didn't! I guess girls never tell anything they've promised notto--even if they are girls!"

In great scorn she ran from the disconsolate Billy. She had spiedKeineth alone under the tree. 

"Ken--Ken! Great news!" Peggy rushed toward her. "We are going campingwith Ricky--you and me--next week! Hurray!"

CHAPTER XIII

CAMPING

Keineth learned that Ricky was Peggy's gymnasium teacher. Her real namewas Fredericka Grimball, but to "her girls" she was always known asRicky. The camp was among the hills ten miles from Fairview. And duringthe vacation months Ricky took her girls there in groups of twenty. With their play she gave them instruction in scoutcraft. 

"We go for tramps into the woods and she tells us stories of the birdsand trees. I never knew until she told me that there are male andfemale trees, and flowers and all the things that grow; did you knowit, Ken? And we found a weasel, last summer--it was almost tame. We'regoing to learn signalling, too; perhaps this winter Ricky will let usform a troop and join the Girl Scouts. "

Keineth, with wide-open eyes, was trying to follow Peggy's incoherentdescription of the camp life they were to begin on the morrow. Back inher mind was a tiny doubt as to whether she would enjoy twentygirls--all strangers! But she would fight this shyness and do whateverPeggy did. 

"We sleep right out of doors when it is clear. The woods smell so goodand there are all sorts of funny sounds as if all the bugs and thingswere having parties. "

"Oh-h, I wonder if I'll like it!" and Keineth shivered with pleasurabledread. 

"We paddle in canoes on a little lake that's like a mill-pond. It'sawfully shallow and the water is so clear you can see right through it, and we ride horseback, too! I'm a patrol leader, " Peggy finished withpride. She folded the last middy blouse neatly into a wicker suitcase. Their luggage consisted of bloomers, blouses, bathing-suits andblankets. 

"Easy to remember--all B's, " Mrs. Lee had laughed. 

Mr. Lee drove them to the camp. "Come back with some muscle in thesearms of yours and a few more freckles on your nose, " he said toKeineth, pinching her cheek affectionately. 

"Camp Wachita"--the girls had nicknamed it Camp Wish-no-more--wasnestled in the hills with the tiny lake at its front door and a densewoodland at its back. Sleeping tents were built in a semicircle aboutthe central building, in which were the living-rooms. On a grassy levelstretch close to the water was the out-of-door gymnasium and beyondthat the boathouse and dock to which several gaily-painted canoes werefastened. 

The family at Camp Wachita consisted of Martha Washington Jones, thecolored cook; Bonsey, her twelve-year-old son, who very occasionallymade himself useful about the camp; Captain O'Leary, a Spanish WarVeteran by title and by occupation caretaker of the horses and boats;Miky, the little Irish terrier, and Jim Crow, who had been brought, thesummer before, to the camp hospital from the woodland to receive firstaid for a broken wing, and had refused to leave the family. 

Keineth had little difficulty in making friends with the other girls. There seemed to be among them such a jolly spirit of comradeship thatshe found it very easy to call them Jessie and Nellie and Kate, andnever once wondered at their quickly adopting Peggy's familiar "Ken. "She thought that Peggy must have known them all very well and wassurprised when Peggy told her that there were only three of her friendsamong them. 

"But we're all Ricky's girls, you see, " she explained, as though thatwas all that was necessary to create a firm bond of loyalty andfriendship among them. 

"Ricky, " this captain of girls, was a tall, straight, broad-shoulderedwoman of twenty-five. The sunniness of her smile, the firmness of herjaw and the all-understanding warmth of her dark eyes told of thecharacter which made her a leader of others and a spirit beloved amongthem all. 

Each new day of the camp life brought to Keineth some new experience, thrilling in its strangeness to the little girl. She had learned tolove going to sleep with the great, star-lit vault of the skyenveloping her; the singing of the "bugs, " as Peggy had put it, wasfairy music to her ears; she had conquered her first terror of theshell-like canoes and now could paddle with confidence, even venturingalone upon the shallow water. And to her own surprise she was enjoyingthe companionship of the other girls!

Among them was one named Stella Maybeck. Stella was not an attractivegirl--she was too tall and too thin, her voice was loud and her mannersa little careless. She had big, dark eyes with a hungry look in theirdepths. She adored Ricky and showed a preference for Keineth's company. At first Keineth felt a little repelled by the girl's rough ways, butgradually she grew to feel that beneath them was a warm, kind heart andthat it was, perhaps, shyness that often made Stella's mannerdisagreeable. 

They walked together on the tramps into the woods and Keineth enjoyedthe fund of knowledge the other girl seemed to have concerning all thelittle woodland creatures and their ways. 

"I don't see why you like to be with Stella Maybeck, " Peggy had said toher one day. "I think she is horrid!" she finished unkindly. 

"Why, Peggy!" Keineth frowned. It was very unfair in Peggy to speak inthis way concerning one of the other girls. Keineth did not suspectthat perhaps a little jealousy prompted Peggy's ungraciousness. 

This little cloud was to grow over the whole camp. And in the secondweek Ricky's girls learned a lesson of greater value to them than allthe scoutcraft they loved. 

Twice a week the vegetable man came to the camp with fruit andvegetables. These the girls placed in the storehouse, one of themcarefully checking off the purchases as they did so. One morning someoranges were reported missing. Ricky paid little attention to theincident. The next day one of the girls came to her and announced thata ring had been taken from her sleeping tent. Although disturbed, MissGrimball gently rebuked the girl for having disobeyed the camp rules inbringing jewelry to it and sent her away, bidding her speak to no oneof her loss. 

Then Miss Grimballs silver purse containing ten dollars in bills wastaken from her desk!

Like a flash the story spread through the camp. The girls gathered inan excited group. Keineth and Stella, with arms locked, stood together. From the other side of the group Peggy saw them. The jealousy that hadbeen slumbering within her heart suddenly gripped her. 

"Well, I think I could guess who did it, all right, and I just thinkit's a shame for anyone like that to I dare to come to Ricky's camp!"It was not necessary to do more than fix her gaze indignantly uponStella Maybeck. With a little gasp Stella turned and ran into her tent. The others pressed closer to Peggy. 

"Oh, do you think so?" they whispered in awed voices. 

"Peggy!" cried Keineth, imploringly. 

"I'm not going to say another word, " Peggy answered, perhaps a littlefrightened at what she had done. 

The girls waited breathlessly for Miss Grimball to take some action inthe matter. Each felt that the disgrace must be wiped from the happycamp life. 

At noon Ricky's whistle sounded. The girls assembled on the gymnasiumground. Their captain stood before them, dear-eyed, smiling at them allwith her usual confidence. Stella, with Keineth, had joined the othersand stood in the background. 

"I think you all know what has happened. I am disturbed, but I will notsuspect one of my girls. All I want to say is this--so great is mytrust in your loyalty, in your honor, and in your sense of what issquare--if one of you, through an unfortunate yielding to temptation, has taken these things that have been lost, they will be returned, because you are girls of honor. So I am not worrying. Now, please donot talk of the matter among yourselves. "

The routine of the day went on. The girls avoided Stella; only Keinethkept close to her side. Keineth longed to pour out to Stella herconfidence in her innocence and her indignation at Peggy, but a certainpride in Stella's manner forbade it; she could not find the rightwords, so she simply occasionally squeezed Stella's hand!

In this way two unhappy days passed. Then on the third morning Peggy, crossing the path leading to the kitchen, saw Jim Crow scurrying towardthe wood with a spoon in his mouth! On tip-toe she followed him. Turning off from the trail near the edge of the woodland, he stood fora moment as though listening, then dropped his treasure into the hollowtrunk of a dead tree!

And there Peggy, following the rascal, found the oranges, the ring, andRicky's silver purse!

In that moment when Peggy stood alone among the trees, the stolenthings in her hands, she learned a lesson that she could never forget!She walked slowly back to Miss Grimball's office and told her the storyof Jim and of her own unjust accusation of Stella. 

"We should have suspected Jim, the villain, " Ricky laughed. "Anotherchapter in scoutcraft, Peggy. Will you go, my dear, and tell Stella?"Then she gently put her hand upon Peggy's head, "Judge not, my dear, "and, leaning, she kissed her. 

Peggy rushed off in search of Stella. She found her sitting on thedock, a picture of misery, Keineth by her side. 

"Stella, I was a wicked, wicked girl! It was Jim Crow stole the things, and I found them in an old tree and I wouldn't blame you if you neverforgave me! I think the reason I was so horrid was because I was just_jealous_ that Ken loved you more than she did me--" For lack of breathPeggy stopped, her soul clean from her confession. 

A great joy came into Stella's dark eyes. She held out her hand andPeggy caught it in a tight grip. 

"Now I'm going to call all the girls together and tell them the wholestory and that I'm just terribly ashamed. " She ran from them, her handsto her mouth, loudly giving the call of the camp. There was greatrejoicing at Camp-Wish-no more. The cloud of suspicion had lifted. Thegirls could not be nice enough to Stella, and for the first time sheseemed to lose her shyness and awkwardness among them. Then Rickydecided that, in order to entirely forget the whole thing, they wouldgo on an all-night hike to the old mill on Cobble Hill. 

"Hooray--hooray!" went up from eager throats. 

"Three cheers for Stella!"

"Three cheers for Peggy!" they cried again. 

"Down with Jim Crow!"

That night, under the stars, Keineth snuggled close to Peggy. She hadasked to be Peggy's blanket mate. 

"You're all right, Peg, " she whispered, Billy-fashion, "and I do loveyou most of all!"

CHAPTER XIV

THE TENNIS TOURNAMENT

"Sport's Week" had begun at the Shore Club. The excitement of itgripped the Lee family. Each talked of the game in which he or she wasmost interested and no one listened to the other. Barbara, with anabsorbed air, mentally played the shots she would make when on Fridayshe would meet in the final round of match play for the championshiptitle her old foe, Carol Day. Peggy had no thought for anything but theswimming contest. Mr. Lee was chairman of the committee on arrangementsand spent most of his time at the telephone. Mrs. Lee did her part inthe decorating of the club-house and went about with her arms full ofgay bunting and her mouth full of pins. 

And Keineth shared the excitement! For she had qualified in thechildren's tennis tournament and would play in the doubles and haddrawn Billy for her partner!

It was her first real contest! Secretly she shivered with fright butoutwardly tried to appear calm like Peggy. All the day before thetennis matches began she went about with her racquet in her hand asthough to accustom her trembling fingers to its hold. 

Though Billy, since the day he had tried to make Keineth confide in himthe story of her father's absence, had maintained toward her a scornfulindifference, he had accepted her as a partner because there was noalternative. But he managed to convey to her that he considered it anunfair indignity that he should be so handicapped. And he talkedentirely of the paddling races. 

However, Keineth could not be discouraged. In her mind was one thoughtonly--they _must_ win! For, each day, in her room she was writing acareful account of all that happened to send to her Daddy, and failurecould have no part in the story. 

And in the very first match they defeated Molly Sawyer and Joe Gary!

Margaret Dale, playing with Charlie Myers had, after a hard game, beaten Grace Schuyler and Merton Day. Then Keineth and Billy playedagainst them. It was a close match; the courts were circled by aninterested crowd of onlookers. Though Billy had had to play with allhis skill to meet Charlie Myers' strength of volley, he knew thatKeineth had more than done her part, too. 

"She played way over her head, " he answered sullenly to the praise hisfamily bestowed upon her. 

One more set put them in the final match against Jim Downer and hissister Helen. A taste of victory had given to Keineth a poise thatsteadied her in her game; this matching of strength, skill andquickness--something she had never known before--had developed asurprising confidence in herself. Her joy was not in the defeat oftheir opponents, rather in her own mastery of all those things whichfor so long she had been trying to learn!

"Good luck to you, kiddies, " Mr. Lee had said to them at the breakfasttable. "Play your best and then you won't mind if you are defeated. Andif the other fellows play better, don't think up any excuses--it'ssomething to be good losers!"

In the brief moment of waiting before the final match began, Keineth, standing quietly near the courts, thought how different she was fromthe funny little girl who had come to Overlook two months before. Sheknew now what her father had meant when he had told her that that oldlife, with him and Tante in the old house, had cheated her out of theother things children had. He had been right He would be pleased, now, to know the part she was taking with the others. 

The judges called the match; Keineth caught her breath and ran on tothe court. She gave one whispered word to Billy. 

"We've _got_ to win!"

Billy had not enjoyed Keineth's sudden rise into fame. He felt lesstolerant and the old grudge flamed into being. If they won now--andeveryone said they would--they'd all think it was Keineth that had wonit. They'd make an awful fuss over her--they always did over girls--andthere'd be no living with either her or Peggy. He could throw the game, just fall down on one or two returns and no one would know thedifference! He felt very sure of winning the paddling races and whatdid he care about the tennis match, anyway?--it'd be different if theywere the real matches, but they were just for children. These thoughtsran through his mind as he swung his racquet backward and forward inthe air, a heavy scowl wrinkling his face. 

And Keineth's confident "We've got to win" had been the last drop inhis cup of annoyance. 

The first two games were slow, a little volleying and a good many"outs. " Someone called from the gallery, "Warm up!" Keineth threw herhead back with an answering smile, for she recognized Mr. Lee's voice. 

Their opponents won the third game against a thirty. That spurredKeineth; the fourth game was faster with some hot volleying and prettyreturns and won by Keineth and Billy in a quickly mounting score. Excited, Keineth did not notice that Billy had not returned one or twoballs with his usual skill. 

The next, a deuce game, was hotly contested. Her face ablaze withinterest, Keineth held her little body tensely poised on one toe, readyfor instant action. The faces of the crowd around her blurred intonothing--there seemed only left in her small world those two beyond thenet!

The next game was bewildering. Keineth played desperately, but they hadonly won thirty points when the others made the game! The set stoodfour to two in Keineth's favor, but their opponents were playingstronger with each game. 

In the seventh game Billy dropped off shamelessly. He was never quiteready. Before Keineth realized the situation the others had won and woneasily!

"Billy!" Keineth whispered imploringly. The indifferent look on Billy'sface struck terror to her heart. What _was_ the matter with him?

The next game Keineth won alone--if Billy could not play she'd play forhim! Her little teeth, clenched tight together, gleamed white throughher parted lips. The crimson of her cheeks mounted into her fair hair. 

"What a picture!" Mrs. Lee whispered to her husband. She was notthinking of the game at all. "What a spirit! Think, William, what thatcan mean in this world when the child's grown up!"

"That's just why this sort of sport is good for them, " Mr. Leewhispered back. "But what is the matter with Billy?"

That is what Keineth wondered, too. They had won five games--they_must_ win the next and set! Walking close to Billy she confronted him, her face ablaze. For just a moment they looked hard into one another'seyes; not a boy and girl, the one proudly conscious of his boyhood andtwo years' difference in age, the other a very young and all-admiringgirl--but just two mortals contesting together against two others. 

And at last they, Keineth and Billy, met on equal ground--Keineth hadproven her mettle--let Billy show his! Keineth's clear, straightforwardgaze made Billy drop his eyes in sudden shame. 

"Play square, " she said sternly. And Billy played square! Theiropponents had not a chance!

"Well, Billy did wake up, " some one said and some one else added: "Ifthey'd lost it would have been his fault. That Randolph girl played acorking game for her age!"

They had won the tennis tournament! Keineth did not enjoy half so muchthe silver cup they placed in her hands as she did Peggy's delight andMr. Lee's hearty handclasp of congratulation. The young people carriedthem off to luncheon at the club-house, where they made merry far intothe afternoon. 

That evening Billy, with a very serious face, approached his father, where he sat alone on the veranda. 

"Dad, I've withdrawn my name from the paddle races!"

"What's wrong, son?"

"I'm not a good sport--that's why, " Billy answered with his usualfrankness. "I had a sort of grudge against Keineth because she wouldn'ttell me about her father and I'd vowed to get even and I just laid downon that tennis game--until she made me ashamed!"

"But she did make you ashamed, Billy?"

"Yes--she told me to play square and I just thought then that no onewould ever have to tell me to play square more than once!"

Mr. Lee laid his arm across the boy's shoulder. 

"Laddie--these games we play teach us a lot, don't they? There issomething in them more than fun and more than the health they give!You've learned a motto to-day that you can pin on your shield when yougo out to meet the other matches life offers!"

"You can just bet I'll always try to play square! And I'm going now tofind Ken and tell her she's a brick!"

Mr. Lee watched the boy disappear. Though a smile hovered about hislips, his eyes were serious--the cigar between his fingers had quitegone out. 

"May he keep that spirit all through life, " he was thinking. 

CHAPTER XV

NOT ON THE PROGRAM!

Keineth, a little tired after the strain of the tennis match, thoughtit much more fun to watch the others. Billy had gone into the paddlingraces, and no one but Mr. Lee and Keineth knew that it was becauseKeineth had begged him--and he had won and Keineth had been the firstto examine the wrist watch he had received as an award. And on Fridaythe entire family waited eagerly near the eighteenth green of the golfcourse for Barbara and Carol Day to play up in the final game for thegolf championship!

Keineth and Peggy held hands tightly in their excitement. 

"Oh, I can tell by Barb's walk she's ahead, " Peggy cried as the twoplayers, their caddies and a small gallery, appeared around the cornerof the wood that screened the seventeenth green. 

"She was two down at the turn and Carol was playing par golf, " someonevolunteered. "What does down at the turn mean?" whispered Keineth. 

"The turn's at the end of the ninth hole and a-l-a-s, down means Barbwas behind. Pooh, she always plays better when she's down!"

A man had just returned from the fifteenth tee. 

"They were dormie at the sixteenth, " the girls heard him say. 

"What _queer_ words they do use in golf! I thought dormie was awindow!"

"Oh, Ken, " giggled Peggy, "you mean dormer and it's dormie when oneplayer is just as many holes ahead as there are more holes to play. Good gracious!" her face fell, "that means that Barbara will _have_ towin these three holes and she always slices on the eighteenth!"

"She won't this time, Peggy! That girl's like steel in a match!" a mannearby broke in. 

"She's driving first!" Billy cried. "Oh, look--look--look! P-e-ach-y!"

Breathlessly they watched the two players advance toward the green. Barbara had outdriven her opponent but she topped her second. CarolDay, playing a brassie, put her ball well up. Barbara recovered on herthird shot, carried the bunker which guarded the green twenty yardsfrom it, and laid her ball on the edge of the green. Carol's thirdcaught the top of the bunker, shot into the air and dropped back intothe sand pit!

"Oh-h!" breathed Peggy delightedly into Keineth's ear. She knew it wasthe worst bunker on the course. 

But difficulties only made Carol Day play the better. She studied theshot for several moments while Barbara and the gallery watched withtense interest. Then they saw her lift her niblick slowly, her headbent; a cloud of sand raised, the ball cleared the bunker's top, dropped upon the green, rolled a few feet and rested within an easyputt of the cup!

The gallery applauded. It was a splendid shot, one of the kind thatought to win a match for its player. Even Keineth cried out in generouspraise of the play. 

Peggy gripped Keineth's hand so hard that it hurt. 

"Steady, steady, there, Barb, " Mr. Lee muttered. Barbara walked slowlyto her ball. Her eyes were lowered, she did not glance at the familiarfaces about the green. Her next shot demanded the utmost skill, careand steadiness she could command. Of them all she was the coolest. She_must_ run down her putt to win the match!

Peggy suddenly shut her eyes that she could not see what happened. Theothers saw Barbara, with an easy movement, line her putt. The ballrolled slowly over the clipped turf, dead straight to the hole--closer, closer, hung for one fraction of a second on the rim of the cup andthen with a thud that was like music, dropped in! Barbara was thechampion of the women players of the club!

"Why, it almost made me sick. " Peggy confided to Keineth afterwards. "Iwill be a wreck when this week is over! And oh, if I can only win thelife-saving medal to-morrow! Think of it, four prizes in the Leefamily! There will be no living with us. I don't care a straw for thecups they give--it's that little bit of a bronze medal I want There'sgoing to be a man here from Washington to give it to the winner--one ofthe Volunteer Life-saving Association. And that medal's _got_ to goright here, " and defiantly she struck her hand against her breast. 

"I just can't wait, " Keineth sighed in a tragic manner. 

"The last day is most fun of all, " Peggy explained. 

"How can we ever settle down into calm living?"

"Huh--fast enough! I've got to begin reviewing English. I have acondition to make up. "

"And I want to work on my music, " cried Keineth, suddenlyconscience-smitten. 

"Mother says that to-morrow night we'll wind up with a supper on thebeach. It's lots jollier than the dinner dance at the Club and we'retoo young to go to that, anyway. Barb could go if she wanted to, butshe'd rather have the fun at the beach. We fry bacon and roast corn andmother makes cocoa and then we sing. Oh, dear, won't it be awful togrow old and not do those things?"

Together they sighed mightily at such a prospect!

For the last day of the Sports Week there was a program of fun thatbegan immediately after breakfast and lasted through the day. All theclub members gathered on the beach where gaily-decorated booths hadbeen built. From these lemonade and sandwiches were servedcontinuously. The motor boats, canoes and skiffs, their flags flying, made bright splashes of color against the green water. Stakes, toppedwith flags, marked the course for the swimming races. The judges weretaken out on one of the larger motor boats. 

Keineth had never seen anything quite like it. To her it seemed like achapter from some story and a story strange and exciting!

The committee had arranged games and races for the very littleyoungsters so that during the morning the beach front was astir withthem--bright-eyed, bobbed-haired, starched little girls and tanned, bare-legged boys, trying vainly to elude the watchful care of themothers and nurse-girls, who made a background for the pretty scene. 

The life-saving contest followed the swimming races. Four othersbesides Peggy had entered: Molly Sawyer, Helen Downer, Mary Freeman andGladys Day. 

Keineth had never watched a contest of this sort before. She cried outin alarm when she saw a man, fully dressed, at a signal totter off thedeck of the judges' motor boat. Someone next to her laughed. 

"That's just pretend--he's an expert swimmer! It's Mary Freeman's turn!Watch her!"

Keineth saw Mary detach herself from a small group, rush into the watertearing off her blouse as she did so. Then something went wrong--Maryseemed to make no headway toward the man, the judges blew a whistle, the man who had jumped overboard climbed back into the boat; there wassome laughter which others quickly frowned down. 

Peggy had drawn last place in the contest. When Keineth saw the othersfail, one after another, she glanced at Peggy with nervous anxiety. ButPeggy stood, outwardly calm, the picture of confidence, her eyesfastened upon the judges' boat, waiting for her signal. 

Another man fell overboard; to Keineth he looked like a giant! She sawPeggy spring forward--in a flash her blouse was off and she had thrownit backward over her head. She was swimming and Keineth knew that asshe swam she was unbuttoning and kicking off her shoes and her skirt. An encouraging shout went up as she moved rapidly forward, her headunder water, first one straight, strong arm, then the other, shootingout and ahead!

Off at a little distance the judges' boat was chugging. From the beachthe spectators, breathless, could see a struggle in the water. Then, where for a moment there had been nothing visible, they saw Peggy'shead; saw her making for shore swimming on her back with strong legstrokes, one arm encircling the man's head, her grip holding his chinand nostrils out of water and pinioning his arms so that his strugglescould not drag her down. 

A shout went up from the beach front--louder and louder; the motorboats blew their sirens. Keineth ran to the water's edge that she mightbe the first to greet the proud young swimmer. 

Willing hands helped Peggy pull the rescued man upon the sand where, the water dripping from her shoulders, Peggy gave "first aid. " Afterseveral moments, marked by a big, sunburned man whom Keineth learnedafterwards was the man from Washington, the victim was pronouncedsaved, rose to his feet and was the first to shake Peggy's hand!

"Why, it was so real that it seemed awful funny to see him just get uplike that, " Keineth giggled afterwards, when she had a moment alonewith her Peggy. 

"Well--it wasn't any easy thing to bring him in! Why, he struggled justas much as though he was really drowning! But, oh, Ken--Ken, I've wonmy medal!"

Later the children went back to the house to prepare the picnic. Theytrooped up the rood, an excited group; Keineth and Peggy in advance. 

As they came nearer to Overlook a strange sight met their eyes. Theystopped short. 

For there on the gravel drive, its high-powered engine snorting andpuffing, a rigid, uniformed figure at the wheel, stood Aunt Josephine'sbright yellow car!

CHAPTER XVI

AUNT JOSEPHINE

"It's Aunt Josephine!" cried Keineth. 

"Oh, dear, she'll spoil the fun!"

Keineth wished the ground would open wide and swallow her up, so deepwas her dismay. Never in her life had she so hated that yellow monsterand Kingston's rigid back! And yes, the black-robed figure in the back_was_ Celeste!

"Oh, dear, " echoed Alice. 

"Maybe she has some word from father. " The thought lent wings toKeineth's feet--she flew over the ground, Peggy following closely, amost curious sight for Aunt Josephine's eyes, with her wet bathing-suitand her blue and white bathrobe flying out behind!

No, Aunt Josephine had no news of Keineth's father! She was on a motortrip and had stopped at Fairview. She was quite the same AuntJosephine, beautifully gowned in a linen dress whose trimmings matchedthe stylish little hat she wore on her head. She rose from the wickerchair on the veranda, where she sat with Mrs. Lee, to greet thechildren. Keineth felt her critical glance wander from her to theothers even while she was answering her aunt's questions. 

Mrs. Lee read the consternation behind the children's polite greetings, for in her sweet voice she broke in:

"I have been asking Mrs. Winthrop to join us to-night in our beachfrolic--you girlies must urge her!"

"Oh, please do!" they cried together. 

Aunt Josephine did not seem to hear them. She was looking very hard atKeineth. "She does look well, " she admitted; "I suppose the quiet lifehere has been good for her. " She spoke directly to Keineth and thechild felt in her tone the mild disapproval she knew so well. "I am onmy way through to the Yellowstone, child. I thought, perhaps, I mightpick you up and take you along, but you are so freckled that you are asight!" Then, as though she recalled the beach supper and thechildren's invitation, she added, apologetically, "It is very kind, butI am a little out of the habit of such things!"

"Hateful thing--how can she be Ken's aunt!" Peggy was thinkingresentfully, for she had seen a hurt look creep into Keineth's eyes. 

Mrs. Lee's face wore its most cordial smile. She laid her hand uponAunt Josephine's arm. 

"That's just why I like to go to picnics and things--it _is_ easy toget out of the habit of fun! Do send your man away and join us! It willbe a great treat to know our Keineth's aunt a little better. "

Now what neither Keineth nor Peggy, nor even Mrs. Lee could guess wasthat beneath the folds of expensive linen and lace and dainty pleatingsof rose silk was a heart that was just hungry because--years and yearsbefore--it had forgotten "how to have fun!" The happy faces of thechildren, freckled though they were, the simplicity of the pretty home, the flowers blooming so riotously and gaily all about, the light thatlay deep in Mrs. Lee's eyes roused a longing very strange to AuntJosephine! Perhaps if she had had youngsters of her own she might neverhave been the kind of an Aunt Josephine she was--tyrannized over by aFido and a Celeste and a Kingston!

"I will come, " Aunt Josephine decided so suddenly that they werestartled. "Keineth, dear, please tell Celeste to come to me. "

Celeste was instructed to unpack a warm coat and to bring a robe. Thenshe and Kingston were told that they might drive back to town, toreturn later for Mrs. Winthrop. 

Mrs. Lee carried Aunt Josephine off to the tiny guest room while thechildren flew toward the pantry to make ready the picnic baskets. 

Vaguely Keineth felt worried, as though, in some way or other, she wasto blame for this unwelcome addition to the party. But Peggy, joiningthem in middy blouse and bloomers, reassured her in an excited whisper. 

"It'll be such fun just to see how she'll act! Oh, I do wish that funnymaid and that awful leather-man were going, too! Do you suppose she can_ever_ eat a bacon sandwich without a fork?"

But Aunt Josephine _did_ eat one without a fork and then ate another. She sat on a rock, her pretty linen all crumpled and mussed, a greatdeal of sand in her shoes, and balanced a paper plate on her lap andlaughed, a rippling jolly laugh that Keineth had never heard before. She made Keineth and Peggy sit one on each side of her and tell her ofall they had done during the summer. 

When the last marshmallow had been toasted and the pans scoured and putaway in the baskets, the picnickers gathered about the dying bonfiresfor a "sing-song. " This always included all the songs they loved best, the songs Mr. And Mrs. Lee had known in their youth and the songs ofthe present day. And Aunt Josephine's rich contralto rang above theothers. 

"Why, I haven't sung like this since I can remember, " she laughed. Thechildren were just finishing, "There's a long, long trail a-winding, into the land o' my dreams!"

In the dim light Keineth was studying her aunt's face. Perhaps she hadoften been unkind in her thoughts; she might have known that AuntJosephine must be very, very nice or she couldn't have been herfather's sister! She slipped her hand into her aunt's and felt a warmpressure return her clasp. 

When Mrs. Lee began "This is the End of a Perfect Day" the childrenknew that the fun was over. They were glad to go home, for it had beena strenuous and exciting week. 

When the good-nights were said Aunt Josephine drew Keineth toward her. 

"May I keep her up a little longer--I would like to have a littletalk. "

A dread seized Keineth's heart, for she recalled her aunt's wordsconcerning the Yellowstone. She might have to go with Aunt Josephineand Celeste and Kingston, after all. 

Aunt Josephine sat down by the lamp, very straight, the way she alwayssat when she had something important on her mind. Mrs. Lee sank backamong the pillows on the divan and Mr. Lee pulled his chair closer tothe window and lighted his pipe. 

"I cannot tell you, " Aunt Josephine began, "how glad I am to havebecome acquainted with you all. I feel better about Keineth. "

A silence followed this. Very troubled, Keineth glanced at Mrs. Lee, tofind her smiling. 

"You know I did not approve of the way my brother just turned her overto almost strangers. It seemed as if she ought to be with me. I wouldhave sent her to a camp in Maine--a very fine camp for girls--and then, perhaps had her with me at the seashore. "

Aunt Josephine paused as though waiting for Mrs. Lee to say something. And Mrs. Lee said quietly:

"I think she has been happy here. "

"I came this way intending to steal her for this Yellowstone trip, though perhaps she'd better not go. " Keineth put her hand to her faceinvoluntarily as though to cover the shameless freckles. "But I feelthat I ought to talk over with you--well, the plans for her school inthe fall. " Keineth swept a frightened glance toward Mrs. Lee. AuntJosephine went on in the voice she always used when doing her duty:"Miss Edgecombe has a very select school for girls a few blocks from mein New York. I know Miss Edgecombe well and she is holding a place openfor Keineth. I feel she is a very suitable person to train a child. Youknow, " with a tone of apology, "my brother had no sense at all inbringing up the girl! He left everything to that queer old governess. "Mrs. Lee suddenly sat up very straight on the divan, "When Keineth came to us she had to learn to be like other children. Yes, she had been shut up too much with that very good governess; herlittle brain had grown faster than her body. It's her body's turn now, the brain can wait. Mr. Randolph said that he wished her to remain withus until he returned. Keineth and I have a plan of our own for thefall, to play and work on our music. " She smiled at Keineth. 

Aunt Josephine hesitated as though she could not find the right wordsto express what she felt. "I thought it was my duty to speak to MissEdgecombe, " she said stiffly; "she is my brother's child and willprobably, some day, inherit what I have. I should like to have her withme, but, " there was a wistful ring in her voice, "I suppose she isbetter off with you. "

"The things Miss Edgecombe can teach her can wait, perhaps, " AuntNellie answered, smiling down at Keineth. "Keineth is happy in oursimple life--"

"Simple life--that's just it!" Aunt Josephine spoke rapidly, as thoughMrs. Lee had suddenly helped her to find the words she wanted. "You'reso simple that you're wonderful! You've learned to live real liveswithout all the shams that make slaves of the rest of us. Why, my lifeseems as empty as a bubble and the things I do worth just about as muchas a bubble by the side of this. " She swept her hand out toward thelamp-lighted room. "And I must have lived like this once--but I'veforgotten! I've always thought my brother queer and that governess hehad insufferable--but I guess you and he know what's best. I'm glad thechild is with you. Yes, " the wistful note crept back into her voice, "Iwould have enjoyed having her, but, she's better off, all freckled andin those absurd clothes. "

As Mrs. Winthrop drove away through the starlit night, a costly robeprotecting her from the chill of the evening, Celeste at hand forinstant service, Kingston guiding the monster car, she looked back overher shoulder at the little house outlined against the sky and sighed--alonely little sigh. 

In a tumult of joy Keineth had thrown her arms about Mrs. Lee's neck. "Oh, I was so frightened!" she cried. "Thank you for not letting me go. I'd have just _hated_ Miss Edgecombe's--after this! And I do want tostay with Peggy!" she finished with a tight hug. Then, as they climbedthe stairs together, she said softly--without knowing why in the leastshe said it:

"Poor Aunt Josephine! It must be awful to be rich. "

CHAPTER XVII

SCHOOL DAYS

September had come, and busy days! For Overlook had to be closed, thecity home cleaned and aired and made ready; Barbara must be sent awayto college and the younger children started off in school. 

"I feel all sort of queer inside, " said Peggy, astride of a trunk, "theway you do when you hear sad songs. I wish it was always summer andnothing but play. "

"And no school, " chimed in Billy. He was on his knees packing toys. "Idon't see what good school does, anyway! If nobody went to school it'dall be the same. "

"I just hate beginning and then I love it, " cried Alice. 

"You won't love it when you get into fractions, " retorted Billy, "'course its fun down in the baby grades!" He spoke from the loftydistinction of a sub-freshman in the Technical High. Some day Billywas going to make boilers like his father. 

"I don't mind school, but it's the fuss getting things ready. I justdespise dressmakers! You wait, Ken, until mother gets after you and youstand by the hour and have Miss Harris fit you! The only fun iswatching to see how many pins she can put in her mouth withoutswallowing any. Did that governess make your clothes?"

Keineth described the funny little shop where Tante took her twice ayear. "They kept my measurements there and Tante would just look at thematerials. "

"And you never decided as to what color you wanted or had ribbons andthings?" cried Peggy wonderingly. 

Keineth's face colored a little. "Madame Henri thought plain thingsbetter, " she explained. 

"That's what mother says, but that plain things can be pretty, too. Shealways lets us choose our color because she says it trains our tastes. And this year, if I don't have a pink dress for best I'm going to makean awful fuss!" "I'd like a pink dress, " Keineth agreed shyly, "I neverhad one!"

Peggy jumped off the trunk. 

"Let's tease for pink dresses just alike; and now what do you say to alast game of tennis?"

"Make it doubles! I'll play with Alice, " cried Billy, eagerly droppinghis work. And with merry laughter they rushed away. 

To close Overlook was an almost sacred task to the Lee family. Each didhis or her part tenderly, reluctantly. Mrs. Lee and Barbara folded awaythe pretty hangings; Billy made the garden ready for the fallfertilizing, took Gyp to his winter home at a nearby farm, and put thebarn in order; the younger girls helped Nora polish and cover thekitchen utensils. 

And never had the days seemed more glorious nor inviting, filled withthe hazy September glow that turned everything into gold. 

"It's always just the nicest when we have to go to the city, " Peggycomplained sadly. They were gathered for the last time on the verandawatching the sunset. On the morrow they would return to town. Mr. Leelooked over the young faces--the tanned cheeks and the eyes glowingwith health; the straight backs and limbs strong and supple from thesummer's exercise. 

"You're a fine-looking bunch to begin the winter's work, " he laughed. "It ought to be very easy to you youngsters. "

"How lucky we are to be able to live like this, " Barbara said with alittle sigh. She was thinking as she said it that she was often goingto be very lonesome for home and this dear circle. Eager as she was tobegin her new life in college, she could not bear the breaking of thehome ties. 

And bravely she had decided she would tell no one of this heartache, for one day she had surprised her mother gently crying over the pilesof undergarments they had made ready. Mrs. Lee had tried to laugh asshe wiped away her tears. 

"I'm just foolish, darling, only it seems such a little while ago thatyou were a baby, my first baby--and here you are going off to college, away from me!"

So not for the world would Barbara have distressed her mother byshowing the ache in her own heart. In answer she had thrown her armsabout her mother's neck in a passion of affection. 

"I'll always, always, always love home best, " she vowed. 

And this would not be hard, for the Lees' home, made beautiful by loverather than wealth, was of the sort that would always be "home, " and nomatter how far one of them might travel or in what gay places linger, would always be "best of all!"

The Lees' city home was not at all like Keineth's old home in New York, nor like Aunt Josephine's pretentious house on Riverside Drive. Thoughit seemed right in the heart of the city and only a stone's throw fromthe business centre, it was on a quiet, broad street and had a littleyard of its own all around it. The house was built of wood and neededpainting, but the walks and lawns were neatly kept. Within it wassimple and roomy, with broad halls and wide windows, shaded by the elmsoutside. Its walls were brown-toned, and yellow hangings covered thewhite frilled curtains at the windows. There was one big living-room, with rows and rows of bookshelves, easy chairs and soft rugs, a worndavenport in front of the fire, tables with lamps, and books andmagazines spread out upon them in inviting disorder. There were flowershere, too, as at Overlook, and Peggy's bird had its home in the big bayof the dining-room, where he welcomed each morning's sunshine with gladsong. 

Each little girl had a room of her own, too, hung with bright chintz, with covers on the bureau and bed to match. Peggy's and Keineth's had adoor opening from one to the other. Billy with his beloved wireless andother things that Peggy called "truck" was happily established in theback of the house. 

In a twinkling the entire family was settled in the city, "just asthough we'd never been away, " Peggy declared. Then two days laterBarbara started off for college. 

The parting was merry. The girls had helped her pack her trunks;sitting on her bed they had superintended the important process of"doing up" her hair; and then had taken turns carrying to the stationthe smart patent-leather dressing-case which had been her father'sgift. Everyone smiled up to the last moment before the train pulled outof the station--then everyone coughed a great deal and Mr. Lee blew hisnose and Mrs. Lee wiped her eyes and Peggy sighed. 

"I'd hate to be grown-up, " she admitted, and as she walked away sheheld her mother's hand tightly. 

Although Barbara's going made a great gap in the little circle, everyone was too busy to grieve. School began and with it home work;there was basket-ball and dancing school and shopping, hats and shoesto buy. Miss Harris arrived for her annual visit and much time wasspent over samples and patterns. And Peggy and Keineth got their pinkdresses! Then there were old friends to see, new ones to make andrelatives to visit. In this whirl of excitement the Overlook days weresoon forgotten!

With the city life a little of Keineth's shyness had returned. She feltlost among Peggy's many friends; the hours when Peggy was in schooldragged a little. The simplicity of the Lees' city home had made herhomesick for the big house in Washington Square--for its veryemptiness! So because of this loneliness she spent hours at the pianoeagerly practicing the technic that under Tante had been so tiresome. Mrs. Lee had engaged one of the best masters in the city and Keinethwent almost daily to his funny little studio. At first she had been alittle afraid of him. He was a Pole, a round-shouldered man with longgray hair that hung over his collar and queer eyes that seemed to lookthrough and through one. But after she had heard him play she lost hershyness, for in his music she heard the voices she loved. He called her"little one, " and told her long stories of Liszt and Chopin and theother masters. "They are the people that live forever, " he would say. 

One rainy afternoon after school Peggy went to Keineth's room and foundits door shut. Peggy was cross because a cold had kept her home frombasket-ball, and she deeply resented this closed door. 

"I s'pose you're doing something you don't want me to know. " Her earhad caught the quick rustle of paper. In a moment Keineth had openedthe door, but Peggy was turning away with a toss of her head. 

"Oh, if you don't want me--"

"Please, Peg, " begged Keineth. She pulled her into the room. "I didn'tknow you were home, honest!"

Peggy glimpsed the corner of a paper half hidden under some books. Uponit were written bars of music. 

"You _have_ got a secret, " she cried excitedly, "you're writing music!Keineth Randolph, if you don't tell your very best friend, now!"

Keineth, her face scarlet, drew out the tell-tale paper. 

"It's just a little thing, " she explained shyly. "Your mother showed mehow to write last summer, but I wanted to surprise everybody. I wasgoing to tell you, though, when it was done. Peg, I'm going to try tosell it!"

"Sell it! Get real money?" cried Peggy. 

"Yes--that's what the masters did--only they were nearly alwaysstarving. 'Course I'm not, but I would like to earn some money. " "Oh, wouldn't it be fun?" Peggy caught Keineth's elbows and whirled heraround. "What would you ever do with it? But where do you sell music?And what is its name?"

"I call it 'The Castle of Dreams, '" answered Keineth with shining eyes. "And Mr. Cadowitz told me there's a music house right here in thecity--Brown and Co. "

"Let's go there together! Let's go _now!_ Mother's away and it's justthe time!"

The sore throat was forgotten. Peggy helped Keineth arrange the sheetsin a little roll and together they started forth on their secreterrand. They found the music house without any difficulty, butKeineth's courage almost failed her when she found herself confrontedby a long line of clerks. To the one who came forward she explained hererrand. She wanted to see the manager--she had some music she wished tosell!

At his amused glance her face flushed scarlet. 

"Why, you're just a kid!" he answered impudently. "Mr. Brown's prettybusy!" Then it suddenly occurred to him that it would be something likea joke on the "boss" to take these two children to his busy office. Theclerk was not overfond of the head of the firm. 

"Well, come along, " he concluded, winking at the other men. He led thetwo girls through a labyrinth of offices and up a stairway to themanager's door. 

"Two young ladies to see you!" he announced and shut the door of theoffice quickly behind him. 

Keineth, frightened, had to swallow twice before she could make asound. Then, holding the manuscript out, she explained her errand tothe manager. Tipped back in his chair he listened with a smile;however, he took the roll from her and, opening it, glanced over itindifferently. 

"Let me play it for you, " begged Keineth desperately. 

He led them into an inner room in the centre of which stood an opengrand piano. Keineth went straight to it and began to play. He listenedthrough to the end. 

"Wait a moment;" he waved her back to the stool. "I want Gregory tohear you. " The tone of his voice had changed. 

In answer to a summons Gregory came in, a thin, tired-looking man. Themanager turned to him:

"This girl has brought in some music! I want you to hear it, " and henodded to Keineth to begin. 

She played it through again while the two men held the manuscriptbetween them and read as she played. The man called Gregory noddedagain and again. His face had suddenly lost its tired look!

"Why, we've found a little gem!" Peggy heard him mutter. Then toKeineth: "What did you say your name was?" Keineth repeated it and themanager wrote it down with Mr. Lee's address. He took the sheets ofmusic, rolled them, and put them in a drawer and locked it. 

"We will consider it and let you know in a few weeks, " he said. Then heshook hands with Keineth and Peggy. "And if you write anything more, please bring it to us. "

"Oh, Peg, wouldn't it be grand if I could sell lots?" cried Keinethlater, in an ecstasy of ambition. 

"If I wasn't on the street I'd whoop, " and Peggy squeezed her friend'sarm. "Why, Ken--maybe you'll be a master!"

"And remember, don't tell a soul, Peg! Honor bright, cross your heart!"

"Honor bright, cross my heart!" Peggy promised. 

CHAPTER XVIII

CHRISTMAS

"Christmas isn't half as much fun after you don't believe in SantaClaus. " Peggy heaved a mighty sigh as she worked her needle in and outof the handkerchief she was hemstitching. "How old were you, Keineth, when you found there wasn't a Santa Claus?"

Keineth did not answer for a moment. Her shining eyes had a far-awaylook. She did not know what to say to make Peggy understand that, asfar back as she could remember, the beloved Santa and the ChristmasSpirit and her Daddy had always seemed to be one and the same person. Always on Christmas morning her father had come to her bed, helped herhurry on her slippers and robe and had carried her on his back down thelong stairway to the shadowy library where, on a table close to thefireplace, a-twinkle with tiny candles and bright with tinsel, theywould find the tree he had trimmed. She could not bear to speak of itInstead she told Peggy of the way she and her father always spentChristmas Eve; how he would take her to a funny little restaurant wherethey would eat roast pig and little Christmas cakes and then go to thestores and wander along looking into the gaily-trimmed windows. 

"You see there are ever and ever so many children near our home thatnever have any Christmas, and we used to wait for some to come and lookinto the window. Then Daddy'd invite them to go inside and pick out atoy. They'd be frightened at first, as if they couldn't believe it, butafter they'd see Daddy smile they'd look so happy and talk so fast. Daddy always told them to pick out what they'd always wanted and neverhad, and the boys most always took engines and the girls wanteddolls--dolls with eyes that'd shut and open. Daddy and I used to thinkthat was more fun than getting presents ourselves. "

Mrs. Lee had listened with much interest. Her face, as she bent it overher needle-work, was serious. 

"If I told you girlies of a family I ran across the other day, wouldyou like to help make their Christmas a little merrier?" They beggedher to tell them. 

Though Mrs. Lee never lacked time for the many demands of her familyand friends, she was a woman who went about among the poor a greatdeal. Not like Aunt Josephine, who was the president of severalcharitable societies and sent her yellow car about the poorer parts ofNew York that Kingston might bestow for her deserving aid in placeswhere she herself could not go--Mrs. Lee worked quietly, going herselfinto the homes of the sick and needy and carrying with her, besideswarm clothing and food, the comfort and cheer that she gave to her owndear ones. No one could know just how much she did, because she rarelyspoke of it. 

"These people live in a tenement down near the river. The father wascrippled in an explosion several years ago and the mother has to workto support her family. There are seven children--the oldest is fifteen. What do you think they do at Christmas--and they love Christmas justthe way you do! They take turns having presents! And one of them hasbeen very, very ill this fall, so Tim, whose turn it really is thisyear, is going to give up his Christmas for Mary. Isn't that fine inTim? Think of waiting for your turn out of seven and then giving itup. "

Peggy threw down her work. "Oh, Mother, can't we make up a jolly basketfor them all like we did for the Finnegans two years ago? And put insomething extra for Tim because he's so--so fine?"

"That's just what I wanted you to say, " and Mrs. Lee smiled at herlittle girl. "Make out a list of what you want to put in the basket andthen when you get your Christmas money you can go shopping. "

"Oh, what fun it will be to take the basket there! How old are thechildren, Mother?"

Peggy brought pencils and paper. The work was laid aside and thechildren commenced to make the list of things for the basket. Alice andBilly were consulted and agreed eagerly to their plans, Billy decidingthat he would take the money he had been saving for a new tool set andwith it buy a moving-picture machine for Tim. 

Keineth had dreaded Christmas coming without her daddy. But there wasso much to do and think about that she had no time to be unhappy. Therewas much shopping to do and the stores were so exciting. Mrs. Lee hadgiven her the same amount of spending money that Peggy had received andshe and Peggy went together to purchase the things for the basket, besides other mysterious packages to be hidden away until Christmasmorning. Then one evening there was a family council to decide justwhat they would do on Christmas. 

"We always do this, " whispered Peggy to Keineth as they sat closetogether, "and then we always do just what Alice wants us to do, 'causeshe's the baby. "

And Alice begged them all to hang up their stockings and to have atree, if it was just a teeny, weeny one!

"We'll do it, " Mr. Lee agreed, as if there had been a moment's doubt ofit. 

"I suppose we'll go on hanging up our stockings after we're dodderingold grandparents, " Mrs. Lee had laughed, though there was a suspicionof tears in her eyes. 

"Mother and Daddy just spend all their time making everything jolly forus children, " Peggy said afterwards. The children were sitting aroundthe table, their school-books before them. "I just wish we could dosomething that'd be an awful nice surprise for them. " She staredthoughtfully at the blank paper before her on which a map ought to be. 

"Let's do something on Christmas that they won't know about, " suggestedAlice. 

"What?" put in Billy. 

"Janet Clark's cousins have charades Christmas night. "

"Oh, charades are stupid!" Billy hated guessing. 

Peggy's pencil was going around in tiny circles. She was thinking veryhard. Suddenly she sprang to her feet. 

"I know! Ken, let's write a play!"

"A play!" cried the others. 

"Yes. I've got it all in my head, now. Barb will help us when she comeshome. You know Mother is going to invite Aunt Cora and Uncle TomJenkins and the Pennys over for dinner Christmas night; we'll surprisethem with the play. Marian and Ted and the Penny girls can be in it!Oh, I've always wanted to act! Won't it be _fun!"_

Peggy's enthusiasm won instant support from the others. Because Peggyand Keineth had recently attended a matinee performance of "TheMidsummer Night's Dream, " sitting in a box and wearing the new pinkdresses, Billy and Alice conceded that they knew more about plays andmust manage this. There were hours and hours then spent behind lockeddoors and Mrs. Lee could hear shrieks of laughter with Peggy's voicerising sternly above it. Now and then she caught glimpses of flyingfigures draped in pink and white, but because it was Christmas-time andthe air full of mystery, she pretended to hear and see nothing. 

Barbara returned four days before Christmas, very much of a young lady. Though her manner toward the younger children was at first a littlepatronizing, after a few hours at home it quickly gave way to theold-time comradeship. As soon as she could Peggy dragged her to herroom and read to her the lines of the play which she and Keineth hadscribbled on countless sheets of paper. Barbara promised to help. Toguard the secret the last rehearsals were held at Marian Jenkins', under Barbara's coaching; and Billy and Ted Jenkins printed theprograms on Ted's printing press. "Oh, it's going to be the best partof Christmas, " Keineth cried delightedly. 

But it was not quite the best, for on Christmas morning, after thechildren had returned from taking their basket to Tim and his family, Keineth found a cablegram from her Daddy, wishing her a merry, merryChristmas!

Somehow, after that, it seemed as if her joy was complete!

The gifts that the Lee children had found in their stockings had beenvery simple; beside them the elaborate presents that had come in a boxfrom Aunt Josephine seemed vulgar and showy, although Barbara had criedout in delight at her bracelet. To Keineth and Peggy she had sent tinywrist watches, circled with turquoise. 

"Much too lovely for children like you, " had been Mrs. Lee's comment. 

While Mrs. Lee was helping Nora prepare the dinner the children put thefinishing touches to their costumes and with much whispering arrangedthe stage for the play. The little tree around which the play must beacted had been put at one end of the long living-room; the door closeto it on the right, leading into the hall, would serve as a stageentrance. The only property needed was a rock, and by covering it witha strip of gray awning, the piano stool would look very real. 

At six o'clock Aunt Cora and Uncle Tom, Marian and Ted arrived; alittle later all the Pennys. Eighteen sat down at the table thatcreaked with the good things Mrs. Lee and Nora had prepared. Everyonetalked at once. Keineth, looking down the length of the room, deckedwith the holly the children had fastened over doors and windows, thought that nowhere could Christmas be merrier than right there at theLees! And what helped make the merriment was the comforting thoughtthat Tim and his family were eating a Christmas dinner, too!

At eight o'clock Peggy stole quietly to her mother. 

"May we children go up to the playroom, Mummy? It'd be more fun there, "she whispered. Mrs. Lee nodded. 

The playroom was really a part of the attic, partitioned off andlighted. Here the children donned the cheesecloth costumes they hadmade. There was a great deal of laughter; Peggy was giving orders toeveryone at once! Barbara sat on a trunk pinning wings to fairies'shoulders. And at the last moment Marian brought out some real make-upstuff she had borrowed!

Then Billy, in a clown's robe made out of an old pair of night-drawersand a great deal of paper, went downstairs to give out the programs. 

"Oh, do I look like a real actress?" whispered Peggy to Keineth, wildlypulling at her tinsel crown. 

"Just beautiful!" Keineth whispered back. "But oh, I'm so scared! Iknow I won't remember a _single_ line!"

CHAPTER XIX

WHEN THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT WORKED OVERTIME

Peals of laughter greeted Billy's appearance in the living-room. Theneveryone read the programs he gave them. 

"The rascals!" cried Mr. Lee, genuinely surprised. 

"Look at this, " whispered Mrs. Lee, pointing to the program. 

For at its top was printed in large letters:

WHEN THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT WORKED OVERTIME

BY

PEGGY LEE AND KEINETH RANDOLPH

And the rest of the program read:

The Time of the Play:

Christmas night after the children are supposed to have gone to bed, alittle ill from their Christmas candies, and when the grownfolks havegathered together to talk over the day and declare that it's the bestChristmas the children have ever had. 

The Place:

The living-room at home. And if possible the room should be darkened, except for the lights on the tree, but if this is not convenient itdoesn't matter in the least, for the Christmas Spirit is not afraid towalk into the most brightly-lighted room!

The Persons who are in the Play:

 The Christmas Spirit Peggy Lee The Christmas Fairies: Happyheart Keineth Randolph Peace Marian Jenkins Goodwill Sally Penny Merrylips Fanny Penny Joy Anne Penny Spirit of Childhood Alice Lee

 Jesters {William Lee, Jr. {Edward Jenkins

"I recognize Barbara's hand assisting, " laughed Mr. Lee, as he readthrough the program. 

"Sh--h!" The chatter suddenly ceased. Barbara pressed a button thatshut off all the lights excepting the twinkling bulbs on the tree. Inanother room the children sang "Silent Night. " As the last sweet notedied away, Peggy, in gauzy white with tinsel crown and wings, cameslowly into the room. She sank down upon the rock. The play had begun. _Spirit_ (yawns): Goodness me, how tired I am! (Yawns again. ) It seemsas if there are more children every Christmas. I think after to-nightI'll go to bed for a whole year! (Lifts her head suddenly and looks atthe tree. ) Why, there are no presents on the tree! It must be a partyof grownfolks! (Sighs. ) I do feel so sorry for grownfolks! They alwayshave to pretend they're having a Christmas. (Springs to her feet. )Perhaps they're here now. (Looks intently at audience. ) Yes--they are!I can always tell when grownfolks are around, because I have to work somuch harder with them. I must call my fairies. (Spirit steps towarddoor, puts her hand cup-shape to her mouth. )

 Come, oh Christmas fairies all, Answer to the Spirit's call!

(As she calls the fairies Happyheart, Merrylips, Goodwill, and Peacedance into the room, curtsey low to the Spirit and group themselvesabout her. )

_Spirit_(holds out welcoming hands): Ah, fairies, what a wonderful daythis has been! Did you fill the stockings, Happyheart?

_Happyheart:_ I've filled a million stockings!

_Spirit:_ Splendid! And you, Merrylips?

_Merrylips_: I've trimmed a million trees--small ones and big ones!

_Spirit:_ Didn't you love it? They smell so good! How went the day withyou, Goodwill?

_Goodwill:_ Oh, I've carried baskets of food until I am sure there wasnot a hungry person in the whole wide world! _Spirit:_ Tell us, Peace, of your work to-day!

_Peace:_ I have gone about since early morning putting songs inpeople's hearts!

_Spirit:_ You worked well! I have heard the music all day long!

_Merrylips_ (yawns): We're terribly tired!

_Spirit_ (sternly): Hush! Fairies must never be tired when there iswork to do! See, I have found a tree! It has these pretty lights butthere are no presents!

_Happyheart:_ Who's tree can it be?

_Spirit_: It is a tree for some grownfolks! You see the children allover the land must have been put to bed a long time ago. 

_Peace_ (nods her head): Grownfolks generally do stay up late Christmasnight!

_Happyheart:_ They get very sad wishing they were children again!

_Merrylips:_ Christmas is very hard on them, poor things!

_Spirit:_ The men talk about spending so much money and the women situp late nights stitching and stitching and complaining that they willnot give anything but cards another Christmas. 

_Merrylips:_ How foolish they are!

_Peace:_ They forget that we will help them!

_Happyheart:_ You see they don't believe in fairies! It's because theyare so old! Why, they say that some are over thirty! _Goodwill:_ As ifthat mattered!

_Spirit:_ But I do feel very sorry for them! They can scarcely rememberwhen they used to hang up their stockings! They will come and gatheraround this tree and there will be no presents!

_Happyheart_ (sits down upon stool): Oh, dear! (Drops her chin in herhand. ) Can't we do something?

_Peace:_ Let's think hard!

_Goodwill_ (sadly): Our real presents are gone. There were so manychildren this year!

_Merrylips:_ And they make out such long lists! Why, the trees wouldscarcely hold all the things!

_Spirit:_ We must do what we can to make Christmas merry for thesegrownfolks. 

_Happyheart_ (claps her hands): I can make their hearts light!

_Goodwill:_ I can make them kindly to one another!

_Merrylips:_ I can make them laugh!

_Peace:_ And I can put one of my songs in their hearts!

_Spirit_ (as others make these suggestions she turns toward the tree, deep in thought; suddenly she wheels around): Your gifts are pricelessbut, somehow, I wish we had something besides them for thesegrownfolks!

_Goodwill:_ I should like to make this a Christmas they would rememberthe year through!

_Happyheart:_ I should like to teach them to believe in fairies!

_Peace:_ Perhaps if we could fill their tree with gifts they would notforget!

_Merrylips:_ Let's ask Joy! _Spirit:_ Where is she?

_Happyheart:_ Oh, she is still working. But if we sing her song shewill come!

_Merrylips:_ Let's sing, then! (Holds up her finger. ) One, two, three!(All sing softly the Christmas Carol, "Joy to the World. " As they singJoy runs into the room. The fairies circle about her. )

_Joy_ (stepping to the foreground and stretching arms): Oh, I am sotired!

_Spirit_ (steps forward and lays her hand on Joy's shoulder): Poorlittle Joy-fairy!

_Joy:_ I've been so busy making happiness! This funny world needs somuch of it and everyone wants something different! And there were somany children! (Turns to the tree. ) What--another tree?

_Spirit:_ Yes, and we have no presents! Happyheart can make theirhearts light and Peace can give them a song, but, you know, I'd justlike to have them have some presents--like children have!

_Merrylips_ (dances a step or two): Fairy presents would be fun! Theyare more fun than real presents and can make wishes come true!

_Goodwill:_ They say grownfolks are worse than children about makingwishes, only they keep their wishes locked up!

_Happyheart:_ Wouldn't it be lovely?

_Joy:_ I know--let's call the Spirit of Childhood!

_Happyheart:_ Splendid! She will surely know a way!

_Spirit:_ How can we call her, Joy-fairy? _Joy:_ Put your fingers overyour eyes tight! (All put their fingers over their eyes. ) Now, sayafter me--"Spirit of Childhood, come at our call!"

_Chorus:_

 Spirit of Childhood, come at our call, Spirit of Childhood, come at our call!

(As they repeat this the Spirit of Childhood dances joyously into theroom and faces them. As they remove their fingers from their eyes, theybow low. )

_Chorus:_ Childhood!

_Childhood_ (faces audience): I am the Spirit of Childhood! I am thehappiest fairy of all! I am known all over this wide, wide world!Everybody loves me! Sometimes I am a dream, too, and I come out of thepast when it is very still and creep into old, old hearts!

_Happyheart_ (impatiently): We know all that!

_Spirit_ (steps toward Childhood): We want you to help us now, Childhood, to make Christmas merry for this party of grownfolks. 

_Childhood:_ No children? They're all grownfolks?

_Spirit:_ No children. They're all grownfolks. 

_Childhood:_ Poor things! How sad!

_Spirit:_ But they have a tree and we want to give them gifts which, because they are fairy gifts, will make their best every-day wish cometrue!

_Childhood:_ Yes-they'll think, because they are grownups, they musthave useful gifts! But they shall have fairy gifts!

_Happyheart_ (to other fairies): I told you she'd help us! _Merrylips:_And these grown folks must make a big, big wish and have it on top oftheir hearts! Then, if they carry their gifts in the bottom of theirpockets their wishes will come true!

_Childhood:_ I will call my Jesters! They are clever knaves--they willfind the gifts!

_Happyheart:_ Call them quickly!

_Childhood:_ I have to do very funny things, because I am Childhood, you know. (She dances backward and forward across the room, with merrystep; pirouettes and points finger into audience. ) Some one out theremust laugh, or the Jesters will not think we are merry. Laugh, someone, laugh! Harder! I am Childhood! Laugh with me! (As she speaks some onein the audience laughs; others join. )

_Childhood_ (runs to door):

 Jester big, jester small, Come at Childhood's merry call!

(Jesters enter--stand near door. )

_Chorus:_ Welcome--welcome!

_Childhood_ (to Jesters): Go--find and bring us the biggest Christmasstocking in the world! It must be filled with fairy gifts! (Jestershurry out. )

_Goodwill:_ How will we know which gifts to give each person?

_Childhood:_ Oh, I will look in my Book of the Past! You see I have tokeep careful records of everybody!

_Spirit:_ Why it's just like Santa Claus used to do when theold-fashioned children believed in him! _Happyheart:_ He was a fineman!

_Spirit:_ Ah, here they come!

(Enter Jesters dragging behind them an enormous Christmas stocking madeof red cambric. They give it to the Christmas Spirit, then step back tothe door. )

_Childhood_ (as others gather around the stocking): Go, Jesters, andbring me my Book of Records!

_Happyheart:_ Open it quickly! (Spirit opens stocking--all peep in. )Oh, lots and lots of gifts!

(Jester returns, gives book to Childhood who goes to the right of groupand stands next to Happyheart. )

_Childhood_ (solemnly to audience): Are all the grownups ready? Havethey got their best wish on top of their hearts?

_Happyheart:_ Is every one happy?

_Goodwill:_ Do you all feel very, very kind to one another?

_Peace:_ Do you know my songs?

_Childhood:_ Then let's have a bright light so that we may begin!

(Lights of the room flash on. )

(Spirit takes packages one by one from the stocking and reads the name. Then she holds the package while Happyheart reads from Childhood'sRecord what the book has to say of each person. After this has beenread Joy with dancing step takes the fairy package to the person named. This goes on until every one in the audience has received a gift. )

_Spirit_ (throws stocking down): The stocking is empty!

_Happyheart:_ The fairy gifts are all gone! _Childhood_ (shakes fingerat audience): But each one of you has a wish that will come true, justas sure as sure can be; for you have received a fairy gift!

_Happyheart:_ And now they will be happy!

_Goodwill_ (claps her hands together as if with a happy thought): Letus send the Jesters to bring in to them the Christmas Bowl! If theydrink our fairy brew they will never, never forget this Christmas!

_Happyheart:_ And they will always believe in the Christmas Spirit!

_Spirit:_ And in the Christmas Fairies!

_Goodwill:_ Go, Jesters, and bring in to them the Christmas Bowl!(Jesters go out quickly. )

_Spirit:_ Now, fairies, we must stop our work! We've worked overtimealready, and you know there is an eight-hour law now for fairies. 

_Merrylips:_ Yes, but we've helped these poor grownfolks! _Happyheart:_Let us say farewell to them! Now, one--two--three!

_Chorus_ (waving hands):

May the brew that we've mixed you make every heart light, MerryChristmas to all, and to all a good-night!

(Fairies dance out, followed by the Spirit. Jesters, blowing horns, enter the room, bearing a tray upon which is placed a punch bowl filledwith Nora's best cider punch. )

 * * * * *

Loud applause demanded the return of the fairies and then all gatheredin a merry group around the punch bowl while Mr. Lee toasted theyouthful cast. 

"I suspect you, Miss Bab, of a hand in those records, " he cried, shaking a finger at Barbara. A paper crown was set rakishly on hishead. 

Behind the laughter in Mrs. Lee's eyes was shining something very liketears as she drew little Alice to her. Across the brightly-crownedheads of the children her glance caught Mr. Lee's. 

"I feel as if my heart _had_ been brushed by fairy wings to-night, " shesaid with a happy sigh. 

CHAPTER XX

SHADOWS

"William, it _can't_ be true!"

Keineth, pausing on the threshold of the dining-room door, overheardthe words. Peggy and Billy had gone to school; she was starting out forher music lesson and had stopped to ask Aunt Nellie a question. Thetone of Aunt Nellie's voice, the seriousness of Mr. Lee's face, madeKeineth's heart turn cold with fear!

"Aunt Nellie. " They both turned towards her, startled. InvoluntarilyMrs. Lee slipped the newspaper she had been reading under her napkin. 

"Keineth, dear!" She held out her hand, her eyes filling with tears. 

Keineth stood quite still, looking from one to the other, and becausehe was always somewhere very close in her mind and heart she cried"Daddy!"

Mrs. Lee had a curiously helpless look, as if she scarcely knew what tosay, and with one hand she still held the paper beneath her napkin. Mr. Lee's voice was husky, he had to clear it two or three times before hecould speak, and all the while Keineth's great eyes were fastenedgravely upon him, demanding the truth. 

"It may be a false report, my dear. There's been an accident at sea, and according to the paper--"

"My daddy was in it!" cried Keineth, putting her hands to her face. "Was my daddy in it?" she demanded in a queer little voice. 

"Come here, dear, " Mrs. Lee held out her hand again, but Keineth didnot stir. 

"Was he--in--it?" she demanded again. 

"His name was listed among the passengers sailing from Liverpool, butthere may have been a mistake. "

Keineth's eyes were blazing. She walked to the table. 

"Please give me that paper, Aunt Nellie! I have a right to know what itsays!" She did not seem like the child she was as she stood there, white-faced. Her voice was very calm. Aunt Nellie handed her the paper;as she did so she said pleadingly: "Keineth, why not wait until yourUncle William has found out if it is true?" But Keineth did not hearher; she slowly unfolded the paper, stared a moment at the headlines, then, turning, rushed with it from the room. 

There it was--his name! Her finger found it and stopped, as though shecared nothing for the rest! She read the big letters of the headlines, the few words that told of the attack by a German submarine on the bigpassenger ship, of the horrible confusion of the few moments before itsank, of the wild panic of the cowardly and the splendid bravery of afew! Then: "John Randolph, of New York City, the well-known journalist, abroad on a special mission for the President of the United States, wasamong the passengers. "

Keineth, on her knees, with the paper spread out before her, read andreread the words. They sounded so final! He was gone--her daddy wasgone!

And yet--how could this happen to her in this way? She knew a little ofdeath; way back in her memory was a haunting picture of her ownmother's going, of her father's grief and the music and the flowers. And she had watched the funeral of Francesca's baby brother from behindthe geranium boxes. There had been music then, too. But this was sodifferent--just the lines in the newspaper and then nothing more, everand ever and ever! It couldn't happen like that! She was too puzzled tocry. There were so many questions she wanted to ask-how deep _was_ theocean there? Couldn't they swim? And whom could she ask who would tellher all about it?

She heard the door open, but did not turn her head. She felt AuntNellie's arms lift her, draw her head close to her breast. AuntNellie's voice was very tender. 

"Uncle William has gone to telegraph immediately to the New Yorkoffices of the steamship line. We may learn more, my dear. You must bebrave--you know how brave your father always was. "

Almost violently Keineth pushed her away. 

"I don't believe it!" she cried. Seizing the paper, she tore it intolittle bits and threw them fiercely to the floor. 

"I'll never, never, nev-er believe it! He _will_ come back!" And poorKeineth threw herself upon her bed and covered her face tight with herhands She had caught the look of deep pity on Aunt Nellie's face. AuntNellie believed it! She could not bear it!

"Please go away, " she begged through her fingers. And Aunt Nellieslipped out of the room, closing the door softly behind her. 

Keineth could shut from her eyes Aunt Nellie's pity, but she could notshut from her mind the flood of thoughts that came. Cruel thoughts, too, which her persistent "I don't believe it" failed to drive away!She had seen a picture once of a sinking ship; a great wave of waterhad engulfed it, men were clinging to its side like flies! Sheremembered it now! Remembered, too, an awful storm when, holding herdaddy's hand, she had watched from a high point of land the angry seasurging over the rocks far beneath them. It was green and black andwhite where the water hissed, and its roar had made her shiver! Thatwas the same sea! "Oh, I don't believe it!" she whispered. She had madeso many pictures in her mind of her father's home-coming--she had feltsure he would surprise her! She had thought that perhaps she might goback to the old house and find him there, or go with someone to thedock and watch his boat come in and see him waving from its deck!Perhaps she might be standing some afternoon in the living-room windowlooking down the street watching Terry light the street lamps andsuddenly see him walking towards her! And now--oh, it just couldn't betrue!

At noon Mr. Lee came home to luncheon. The newspaper report had beenconfirmed by the New York offices of the steamship company. He saidthis very gravely and slowly, as though he hated to speak the words. Peggy sat watching Keineth in a frightened sort of way; she wishedKeineth would cry so that she could put her arms around her to comforther! But Keineth only sat very still staring down at her plate. 

"I think I'll practice, Aunt Nellie, " Keineth said when the luncheonwas finished. She had to do something. She walked out of the room asshe spoke, Peggy cast an entreating look toward her mother. 

"Mummy, isn't it dreadful? What _will_ we do? She acts so queer!"

Mrs. Lee answered very slowly. "Keineth will not believe it, Peggy! Butwhen she does, when her loss comes to her, we must help her in everyway! We must make her feel how much we love her and that she is one ofus!"

"Why, what if it was our daddy, " Peggy cried. "Listen!"

For from across the hall came wonderful music--not the lesson Keinethshould be practicing, but fairy things! And happy notes, too, as thoughKeineth's own hands were trying to dispel the heavy shadows about herand give her comfort and hope!

Mr. Lee was carefully reading the report of the disaster in theafternoon paper. 

"You know it's a funny thing--no one on the boat had seen JohnRandolph! Maybe--"

"Oh, maybe he got left!" cried Billy, who all through the tragicmoments had been unusually silent. 

Suddenly the doorbell rang. Its clang startled each one of them! Themusic across the hall stopped with a crash! They heard Keineth flyingto the door. 

In a moment she returned, holding a yellow envelope in her hand. Thoughit was addressed to her she carried it to Mr. Lee. "Please read it, "she said in a trembling voice. "I think it is from Daddy! I--can't!"

Peggy crossed quickly to Keineth's side and put one arm close abouther. Mr. Lee tore open the cablegram, read the lines written in it, tried to speak and, failing, put the sheet of paper in Keineth's hands. 

"Oh!" Keineth cried. "Oh!" Something like a laugh caught in her throat. 

 Changed plans--did not sail on boat. Thank God! --JOHN RANDOLPH. 

Both of Peggy's arms flew around her now; they hugged one another andboth cried. And Aunt Nellie was crying, too, and Mr. Lee had to wipehis eyes. Billy was saying over and over, "Didn't I just have a hunch, now?"

The shadows lifted from their hearts, the children listened while Mr. Lee read to them the full account of the disaster which had stirredevery nation of the globe. Billy and Peggy asked many questions, butKeineth was very silent. There were other little girls whose fathershad gone down into the sea--her heart went out to them in deepest pity. "I feel as though this morning was weeks ago, " she said afterwards asshe and Peggy curled upon the window seat with some sewing. Fromoutside the sun was shining through the bare branches of the trees, making dancing figures on the polished floor. Keineth sighed. "It makesone realize how unhappy lots and lots of people are. "

"And it makes you feel as though you could do _anything_ to help them, "answered Peggy, staring thoughtfully out of the window where on thecity street humanity surged backward and forward in all the forms ofjoy and sorrow known by God's children. 

CHAPTER XXI

PILOT GOES AWAY

Pilot's dog-life had fallen into pleasant paths. His days were onehappy round of comfortable hours, spent close to the big fireplace orat Billy's heels. He slept on an old blanket in the hallway outside ofBilly's door. His friends were Billy's friends and their dogs--Pilotwas loyal and democratic to the end of his stubby tail. His duties werefew and pleasant--to guard his master and his master's family, to keepthe next-door cat away from his door and to inspect daily the refusebarrels in the backyards of his street. If he had a sorrow it was thathe could not go to school with the children, but he always went withthem to the corner, lifted his paw for a parting shake, watched themdisappear from sight, and trotted home to wait for the hour when theywould return. Twice daily Nora fed him choice scraps and bones which heate from a plate in the back hall, and if occasionally someone spokesharply to him or rebuked him for thoughtlessly lying upon one of thechairs or the davenport, the sting was always softened by a pat on hishead. What hardships he had had in the past had been forgotten--he hadno concern for the future!

Of course Pilot could not always understand the language his masterspoke. He read mostly by signs. So, one morning, when he saw Billy andPeggy and Keineth making preparations for some out-of-door pleasure, hestood eagerly at Billy's heels, wagging his tail to tell his masterthat he was ready, too. 

"We can't take him on the street-car, " Peggy complained. 

"And he might get lost in the woods, " Keineth added. 

Now Pilot could not know that the children were putting on heavyrubbers and warm sweaters under their coats because they were going to"hike" into the woods to see if the sap was beginning to run. And fromtheir excited remarks he could not reason that, to get to the woods, they would have to take the street-car to the city line and dogs werenot allowed on the street-cars. It was Saturday, and Saturday to Pilotmeant a whole day with Billy! So when they were quite ready he dashedahead to the door. 

"You can't go Pilot. Go back!" Billy said sternly. 

He stood very still and watched them disappear through the door, givingonly one little whimper. They did not even say good-by; he heard theirmerry voices slowly die away. Then he lay down on the floor with oneeye on the closed door. 

But even the most faithful will not wait forever. The sound of Nora'sstep coaxed him into the kitchen. It was quite nice there--the sun wasshining across the white floor and something on the stove smelled verygood. Nora was singing, too, which meant that he could coax a littleand get in her way. After a while she gave him a whole cookie--he felthappier!

A little later, having wandered several times through the empty roomsof the house and found no one, he started out of doors in search ofsome amusement. He chased the cat to the veranda roof from which sherefused to descend. He saw a friend of Billy's, so he left the cat towalk with him to the corner. He carefully examined some boxes that werepiled there, then he made friends with a stray terrier who stopped toexchange greetings with him. Pilot liked the terrier, together theytrotted down the street, block after block. 

He did not notice a big limousine car that passed and re-passed him--tohim these motor cars were of no interest excepting to keep out fromunder their wheels. But when it stopped suddenly at the curb and an oldman climbed out, calling "Jacky, Jacky!" he paused. 

The old man was beckoning to his chauffeur and talking in an excitedvoice. 

"Come and look at him! I know it's Jacky, " he was saying. 

At the name a memory stirred in Pilot's mind. He advanced slowly to theman. The man held out his hand and called again, "Jacky, " and Pilotwent to him and laid his nose in the palm of the man's hand. 

"It's Jacky, it's Jacky, " the old man cackled. "He'd always do thatwhen I called him! Look at his ears--one got torn and I had a stitchtaken in it! Look and see, Briggs, my eyes are so bad. " Briggs pushedback the hair on Pilot's ears and found the scar. The old man was veryjoyful. 

"He was stolen from me two years ago! Look on his collar, Briggs. "

Briggs read aloud the address on the collar. 

"We'll take him there right away, Briggs! Come on, Jacky, my boy!"

But Pilot considered this going a little too far--he objected, at whichthe man Briggs lifted him and placed him in the automobile. He was fartoo polite to struggle for his freedom, but he put his paws upon thedoor and barked a vigorous protest. 

Mrs. Lee had just returned from shopping and answered the bell herself. Across her mind flashed immediately the explanation of the strangegroup on her doorstep. In a few words she told the old man the story ofPilot's coming into their family. As he listened he nodded severaltimes. 

"I cared more for that dog than anything on earth, " he told her. "Hewas always with me! When he was stolen I couldn't get over it, Madam--just couldn't get over it! Felt as if I'd lost my only friend!"Mrs. Lee wished she could feel sympathetic, but she was thinking ofBilly!

"Now let him go, Briggs, and you watch him, Madam!"

Briggs released his hold of Pilot's collar, Pilot leaped upon Mrs. Leejoyfully, tore down the length of the hall and back and then stood alittle apart, eyeing suspiciously the strange group. 

"Come, Jacky, come Jacky!" cackled the old man, holding out his hand. 

And Pilot, above all else, was faithful! Slowly, reluctantly, he wenttowards the outstretched hand and laid his nose in it. 

"Always did that when I called him! See his ear, Madam--I had a stitchtaken in it when he tore it! See the scar?"

There was no doubt in Mrs. Lee's mind but that the dog belonged to theman. 

"My children are going to be heartbroken, " she commenced slowly. "Couldwe buy--"

The old man snorted angrily. "Buy Jacky? Don't you know he's a veryvaluable dog? And anyway, you haven't enough money to buy hiscompanionship from me! Your children can get another dog, Madam, butfor me there is only one Jacky!" As he spoke with fumbling fingers hedrew out a card and a dollar bill. "Pay the boy his dollar, Madam. Takehim down, Briggs. Very sorry, Madam, but good-day!"

Briggs pulled on the collar and Pilot went down the steps very slowly. He knew in his dog-mind that something was happening! He turned andlooked appealingly at Mrs. Lee. She was standing very still and was nothelping him at all! He tried to tell her to tell Billy that he had todo his duty and when this man called him Jacky he knew he had to go, but he would always love his young master best!

So when the children returned to the house, cheeks red with the wind, splashed with mud, tired and happy, there was no Pilot to greet them!

Mrs. Lee told them the story; tried to tell it in such a way that thechildren would feel sorry for the lonely old man who had been so happyat finding his dog!

But Billy raged--his high-pitched voice choking over the sob thatstruggled in his throat. He threw the dollar and the card savagely tothe floor. 

"Wouldn't you have thought the old thing would have at least givenBilly a reward!" cried Peggy indignantly. 

Though she did not answer this, Mrs. Lee smiled, as she recalled thereluctance with which the old man had extracted even the one-dollarbill from his pocket. 

"I don't want any old reward--I just want Pilot! If we hadn't gone awayand left him that old man would never have found him, " Billy wailed. 

"Couldn't we buy him, Mother?"

"The dog is worth a great deal of money. I'm afraid we could scarcelyafford it, my dear, even if the man would part with him. Billy mustlook at the thing in a sensible way. " She laid her hand on Billy'sshoulder. "Pilot will miss you as much as you do him, my son! But youhave a great many other things to make you happy and I should judgethat that old man had nothing!"

Keineth went up to her room to take off her muddy shoes. On her bureaushe found a letter Nora had placed there. In the corner of the envelopewas printed in large letters: "Brown and Company. " She tore it openwith fingers trembling with excitement. It was from the musicpublishers, telling her that they would publish her "Castle of Dreams, "and for its purchase had enclosed a check. 

And Keineth, unfolding the small slip of paper, saw written there: "TheSum of Twenty-five Dollars. "

"Peggy! Peg-gy!"

CHAPTER XXII

KEINETH'S GIFT

Twenty-five dollars! To Keineth it seemed like a fortune!

She had never thought much about money. She knew some people were verypoor--she had often felt sorry for them as she watched them near theSquare in New York. And she knew some were very rich, for AuntJosephine talked of them. She had always had all the money she wanted, because she had never wanted very much. She supposed Peggy and theothers had all they wanted, too. Each week Mr. Lee gave to each one ofthem a small allowance and whenever they managed to save anything fromthis each of them put it in her bank. Keineth supposed that the Leeswere not as rich as Aunt Josephine and not as poor as Francesca'sfamily next door to her old home, but it didn't seem to matter at all, because she did not think that the Lees wanted to be rich, anyway. Theynever talked of anything in terms of dollars and cents! Twenty-fivedollars--that seemed enough to Keineth to buy everything anyone couldwant!

Keineth and Peggy had carefully kept the precious secret of the "Castleof Dreams. " For a few weeks they had watched the mail each day, thenthe holiday fun had filled their minds and the secret was forgotten. Asthe weeks passed and Keineth heard nothing she had almost given up allhope of selling her music and her great ambitions had taken a sad fall. Peggy had urged her to consult her music master about it, but after oneor two attempts Keineth found she had not the courage. 

And now a check had come! Twenty-five whole dollars!

"Peggy! Peggy!" she called, unable to wait one moment to share the goodnews. 

It was a very excited family that listened to their story at dinnertime. Even Billy, red-eyed, forgot his own sorrow. Everyone had to holdthe check and read it! Then each one suggested some way for Keineth tospend her money!

And as is the way with all fortunes, sooner or later they become aburden! Already, even while they made merry over the check, Keineth wasbeginning to worry as to what she should do with it! Of course Mr. Leehad advised her putting it in the bank, but that did not seem like muchfun! If Daddy were at home she would buy something for him with it orshe might send it to Tante to help the poor children that weresuffering from the war. 

"Give it to the Red Cross!" Peggy suggested grandly. 

"Buy a bicycle!" said Alice, "or one of those cunning electric stovesthat we can cook on!"

"If I had it I'd buy Pilot!" put in Billy sadly. 

"I'd like to do something with it, " said Keineth slowly, "that wouldmake somebody just awfully happy, because--" She looked down the lengthof the table and realized suddenly how dear to her these Lees had grownand what this home was to her. "Because I'm so happy here!"

And even while she was speaking she decided just what she would do! Butshe would tell no one, not even Peggy!

She would buy Pilot for Billy! Mrs. Lee had said they could not affordit! What good luck that her check had come just at the right time!After dinner she searched for and found the old man's card. It wassoiled and crumpled from Billy's angry fingers. She hid it away withthe check. She must wait until Monday. 

Keineth had to ride on the street-car a very long way before shereached the address which the card gave. Then she found herself beforea great iron fence and had to ring twice before the big gate in thefence opened. It opened quite by itself and it clanged shut behind her, startling her with its noise. There seemed to be a million stepsleading to the big bronze door and her feet moved like tons of lead!She had to ring again. The door swung back and a sour-faced man in darklivery faced her. 

"Is--is Mr. Grandison at home?" she asked in a voice so strange thatshe scarcely recognized it herself. 

The sour-faced man looked very hard at her. 

"Who is it, miss?" he asked wonderingly, as though few people came tothat door for Mr. Grandison. 

"I'm Keineth Randolph. I must see him, please!" "He never sees anyone, miss, but you can go in. Only I wouldn't advise you to bother him verymuch because he's bad this morning with his rheumatism!"

He was telling her this in a whisper as he led her through the longhall. Keineth thought it quite the longest, widest hall she had everseen and she walked very fast past the big doors that opened into darkempty rooms that looked like great caverns! If a giant, bending hisgreat head, had leaped through one of the heavy door-frames she wouldhave thought it quite to be expected!

The servant drew back a door and Keineth saw a long room full of books. At the other end, close to a table, sat an old, old man. Then she sawsomething move suddenly and Pilot dashed at her from a corner andleaped upon her with great whimpering, licking her hands and face andeven her shoes. 

"What's this? Come here, Jacky! Who are you? Who let you in here?"roared the old man, glaring at Keineth. 

Keineth, terribly frightened, advanced slowly towards him, one hand onthe dog's head. "I live at the bees' where you found Pilot. We all misshim so terribly, especially Billy, that I came to buy him back!"

"You did, did you? Well, nobody has money enough to buy him. "

Keineth was so indignant at his disagreeable manner that she forgot herfright. 

"I know the Lees haven't money enough, because they have so manychildren and buy lots of things for them and give them a good time! ButI'm going to buy Pilot for them! I know Pilot couldn't be happy here, anyway, it's so--so big and horrid and you're so--cross--after having ahappy home with the Lees!"

Pilot, as though to tell her that was very true, snuggled his noseunder her arm and wagged his tail. 

"I've got twenty-five dollars, " finished Keineth triumphantly, "and Ican spend all of it because I earned it myself--writing music!"

He turned and looked hard at her. Her fury seemed to have amused him. 

"Music--you write music! A child like you!"

Keineth stepped closer to him. "Yes. Do you like music?"

The old man answered very slowly. "It was all I cared for once upon atime! Let me see your eyes!" He reached out a wrinkled hand and drewher towards him. "They are blue--like hers were! Child, years and yearsago I loved a young girl very much--and she taught me to love music!But she went out of my life and left me with nothing but loneliness!"

Keineth thought of the great empty house and felt very sorry for him. 

"What was her name?" she asked softly. 

"A pretty name--like she was!" he muttered, his eyes fastened on thechild's face. It was as if something he saw there was awakening thememories. "It was Keineth. "

"Why, that is my name!"

"Keineth--Keineth what?" he cried. 

"Keineth Randolph. "

"You are John Randolph's girl--her son's girl. "

"You mean my grandmother? That--lady--you loved was my daddy's mother?"

The old man was half laughing, half crying. He held Keineth's arms withhis trembling fingers. 

"Of course--the same blue eyes--and music! How your grandmother lovedmusic! How her fingers could play, make sounds that'd tear the heartright out of you!" He shook his head. "And she wouldn't have me--mymoney couldn't buy her! After she died I stood in the Square andwatched them take her away from the house--saw the flowers I had sentgo with her! I saw the man she had chosen instead of me walk out, too. He had two children by the hand--the little fellow was your father. Iwent away from New York then--" He drew his hands across his eyes asthough to brush away the haunting pictures. "And you're Keineth!" hefinished. 

Keineth told him of her daddy and of her coming from New York to livewith the Lees until her father returned. She had almost forgotten Pilotin her deep sympathy for this lonely old man who had loved her father'smother--and had loved her for so many, many years! But Pilot suddenlybarked!

"Pilot thinks he belongs to us because he once saved my life, " Keinethexplained, going on, then, to tell the story of her narrow escape fromdrowning. Perhaps the old man heard her, though his face still wore afar-away look as if he had not yet been able to bring himself back fromthat dear past the child's eyes had awakened. 

"And so I'd like to buy him, please, " Keineth finished, laying hercheck before him. 

For a long time the old man stared at it, while Keineth and Pilotwaited. 

"He loves you better than he does me! You're right--he wasn't happyhere--he's cried and cried! I can't keep even a dog's love! Take him. "He slowly lifted the check, read it, turned it over, folded it and putit in his pocket. 

Then Keineth felt very sorry for the old man. She felt, too, that nowin some way or other he belonged to her, though not exactly related. 

"Won't you come home to lunch with me? Then you can meet Peggy and theothers and see how glad they are to get Pilot back! They'll be awfullyglad to see you, really! Please don't be lonely any more--for--I'll beyour friend!"

He had risen slowly to his feet, towering over her. He looked down atthe bright face. Keineth slipped her hand into his. 

"Oh, please come--it'll be such fun, " and she gave his fingers acoaxing, friendly squeeze. 

The sour-faced servant muttered, "Well, I never!" under his breath, when he saw his master walk through the door to his waiting car, holding the little girl's hand and listening to her chatter with asmile! It was the strangest sight he had ever beheld in this verystrange house!

But it was a stranger sight for the Lees when the big limousine drew upat their curb and Pilot dashed from its door, followed by Keineth and avery, very old man who leaned one hand upon Keineth's shoulder. 

"Pilot!" cried Billy, who had seen them through the window. 

"And that old man!" echoed Peggy. 

In the hall Billy was on his knees with his arms around Pilot's neck. 

"Dear, dear old Pilot!" he was saying over and over. 

Mrs. Lee, concealing her amazement when Keineth quaintly introduced "myfriend, Mr. Grandison, " greeted him cordially and by her smile andgracious manner made the old man immediately feel at home. At the tableshe placed him between Keineth and Peggy, and Peggy found that he wasnot such a cross old man after all!

"It's just like a story, Ken, " she said after he had gone away andKeineth had given them an account of her morning's adventure. "You havefound a fairy grandfather! But wasn't it scrumptious to see His AgedGrandness eating hash?"

"Well, I guess Keineth's money has been well spent, " added Mrs. Lee, looking fondly at the little girl. "For I think--besides making Billyvery happy, it has opened a new life to a very lonely old man!"

"I'll never forget what Ken has done, " said Billy solemnly, as thoughhe was taking a vow. "She's just all right and I'd like to see anyonethat says she ain't!"

"Billy--your English!" pleaded his mother. 

But Keineth blushed with pleasure. She knew she had won Billy'severlasting friendship! That evening a boy brought to the door a hugepackage addressed to Miss Keineth Randolph. It was a set of beautifullybound books, "The Lives of the Masters, " and with them came a littlenote written in a queer, old-fashioned handwriting. 

May these books give instruction, inspiration and courage to one whosefeet are on the threshold. They are bought with the money youunselfishly spent to give a boy back his dog. 

Your devoted friend, WILFRED GRANDISON. 

CHAPTER XXIII

SURPRISES

"Why, I just can't believe that I'm Peggy Lee!" Peggy stood in theaisle of a sleeping car and looked up and down its length. Keineth, from her superior knowledge of sleeping cars, was pointing out to Peggyits arrangements. Both girls were dressed in new coats and hats andcarried with them the bag Aunt Josephine had given Keineth and in whichthey had packed their nightgowns and toilet articles. 

For they were starting for Washington!

Two days before Mr. Lee had come home and asked the children what wouldbe the biggest surprise they could imagine! Of course they had guessedall sorts of things and he had teased them for quite a little whileover it! Then, very quietly, he had said:

"Do you think you would like to make a little trip to Washington?"

Keineth had not been able to speak. Peggy, jumping from her chair, rushed at her father and threw both arms about his neck. 

"All of us?" she cried between hugs. 

"No, this time we'll leave mother home with Billy and Alice. Then thenext time they'll go. "

Peggy's eyes swept over Billy's and Alice's disappointed faces. 

"Oh, I wish we could all go!"

"Mother'll make it up to them, my dear. I'll wager right now all sortsof nice plans are floating around in her head. Well, can you be ready?"

"Can we--!" they cried in chorus. 

The hours then were full of excited preparations. The new clothes hadto be purchased. "Keineth may be invited to meet the President, " Mrs. Lee had laughingly explained, as she held two pretty hats, one in eachhand, and considered them carefully. 

"Oh, wouldn't that be _wonderful!_" Keineth whispered. She wanted toask him so many questions about Daddy--she would tell him that shecould keep a secret!

Billy gave them a thousand instructions. They must remember everythingthey saw to tell him! They must climb the big monument and walk up theCapitol steps and hear the echo in the rotunda of the Capitol Building. They must go to Camp Meyer and to Arlington and to Mount Vernon and besure to see Washington's swords!

"And the White House china, " Mrs. Lee added. "It must be as good as alesson in history to look at that exhibit in the White House! They'dtell the tastes of the different ones who used them! I can picturepretty Dolly Madison ordering all new china because the pattern of theold did not please her!"

Billy broke in: "I'd want to go to the Treasury Building and see allthe money and the watchmen that guard the building from littlewatch-houses! And the big machine where they destroy all the old money!Four men have keys and they go and unlock it and put the money in itand it gets ground and ground by sharp knives until it's just a pulp!And then they sell the pulp! I wish I had one of those keys!" Billy wasvery excited. 

"And I want to see the Indian Exhibit at the National Museum, " declaredPeggy. 

"You will, my dear, and a great many other things of interest. " Littlewonder that she could scarcely believe that she was Peggy Lee! As thetrain pulled away Keineth was very quiet. She was recalling how oftenher Daddy had told her of the interesting places in the NationalCapital and how often he had said, "Some day we'll go there together!"And now she was really going, but Daddy was far away. 

"Well, aren't you children going to take off your things and stayawhile?" asked Mr. Lee, coming in from a smoke on the platform. 

They laughed and began to lay aside their wraps. "I can't picturemyself sleeping on that funny little shelf, " Peggy declared. "What if Ishould roll out!"

There were a number of other people on the car. The children watchedthem closely and tried to do whatever they did. Peggy's eyes grew roundwith interest as she saw the porter deftly spread out mattresses andblankets and make cosy beds where nothing but seats had been. The girlsinsisted upon sharing the same berth and drew lots "for position, " asPeggy put it. Keineth drew the place by the window and was soon cuddledthere. And though they had declared that they were going to lie awakefor a long time watching out of the window, their heads had scarcelytouched the pillow when the motion of the train lulled them to sleep. 

Then the night would have passed like any night at home, only thatPeggy _did_ fall out of bed!

She awakened suddenly to find herself in a heap in the aisle of the carwith the brakeman, a swinging lantern in his hand, bending over her. "Well, bless my stars!" he was saying. 

It took a moment or two for Peggy to realize where she was and what hadhappened! Then, torn between a desire to laugh at herself and to crywith chagrin, she clambered back into the berth and snuggled very closeto Keineth. 

It was too funny not to tell Keineth, who had wakened, but after shetold her she made Keineth promise, crossing her heart over and over, that she would never, never, never tell Billy that Peggy had rolled outof bed!

"Where are we? It isn't a bit different from home, " the girls cried asthey stood the next morning with Mr. Lee viewing from the platform thecountry through which they were speeding. 

"This is Maryland. In just half an hour we'll be in Washington. We'llwait and eat breakfast at the hotel there. "

Mr. Lee was acting curiously excited and impatient. He looked at hiswatch several times. "On time, " the girls heard him say once ortwice--as if it made any difference. Before they were in the city hetold them to put on their wraps. 

"We'll be the first ones off, " he said. 

It was only a moment then before they had rolled into the station shed. They stepped from the train and walked a long way down between rows ofcars. A great many people seemed hurrying in every direction. There wasa dull roar echoing through the vaulted smoky space pierced by the loudvoices of the trainmen giving their orders and the occasional clang ofa bell. Then they passed through a little iron gate into the station. Keineth, clinging to Mr. Lee's arm, thought it quite the biggest placeshe had ever seen! Every step made an echo and though there were crowdsof people there did not seem to be many because there was so much room!Mr. Lee gave some checks to a porter, then stood looking up and downthe great space as though expecting to see someone. Peggy was justwhispering something in Keineth's ear when Keineth gave a clear, joyouscry. 

For there, stepping out from a little group, walking straight towardthem, a smile on his tanned face, both arms extended as though theycould not reach her quickly enough, was her dear, dear daddy!

CHAPTER XXIV

MR. PRESIDENT

Her own dear father!

Keineth had not realized until then how very dear he was to her! Sheclung to him as though she could not bear to ever lose her hold. Awoman waiting in the station was watching the little scene, and turnedaway, wiping her eyes. And Keineth did not know whether she wanted tolaugh or to cry!

So this was Mr. Lee's big surprise! He had known John Randolph was inWashington!

"This is Peggy, " Keineth managed finally to say. At which John Randolphput his arm about Peggy and kissed her, too!

Mr. Lee said something about breakfast, and Keineth's father hurriedthem into a waiting taxicab. And as they drove away Keineth was so busylooking at her father's dear face that she did not notice the Capitol, its noble dome outlined against the blue morning sky. But Peggy gave anexcited little shriek. "Oh--look--look!"

So, with her hand in her father's, Keineth saw Washington! He told thedriver to go slowly while he pointed out to them the buildings theypassed. The whole city lay bathed in sunshine that brought with it thebalminess of real springtime for which they waited so long in theNorth. Robins were singing in the trees, so gladly that Keineth thoughtthat even they must have guessed how happy she was!

Keineth and Peggy listened while John Randolph told Mr. Lee of his triphome across the ocean--how to escape the submarines of the Germans theyhad run cautiously, at half-speed, as in a fog, with look-outs postedall along the ship's decks and all lights out! Their voices were veryserious as they talked and Keineth noticed for the first time that herfather's face, under its tan, looked worn and tired, as though he hadbeen working very hard. 

But each time that his eyes came back to her face they lighted with asmile. 

"I can hardly believe that this is my little girl, " he said to Mr. Lee. "Her stay with you has done wonders for her!" And what he said was verytrue, for the year had changed Keineth from the shy-eyed, delicatechild he had left to a happy, round-cheeked, strong-limbed girl. Thepretty simple dress she wore had the becoming touch of color that Tanteused to think unsuitable, and her fair hair, drawn loosely back fromher forehead and fastened with a barrette, hung in heavy waves over hershoulders. 

At the hotel after breakfast Keineth's father opened his trunk and tookfrom it a box of gifts he had collected from every country he hadvisited. A carved box from Japan, a gay Chinese robe from Pekin, dollsof all sorts, brass plates from Egypt, embroidered scarfs fromConstantinople, coral from Italy and other treasures over which Keinethand Peggy went into ecstasies of delight!

"For us?" she cried to her father. 

He smiled--her "us" meant to him that Keineth had found at last thetrue joy of friends. 

"Divide them as you wish, my dear, " he answered. Thereupon the twogirls sat down, cross-legged upon the floor and commenced assorting thegifts into little piles--for "Aunt Nellie, " for "Barbara, " the Japanesedolls for Alice, and, of course, the carved dagger from Petrograd, forBilly! "Oh, were ever girls as happy as we are?" Peggy cried. 

Later Mr. Lee broke in upon this pleasant occupation. "If we are hereto see Washington we'd better start out! Keineth--after luncheon yourfather wants to take you for a little walk--Peggy and I will go to theNational Museum. "

So it was that Keineth, trim in her new hat and coat, found herselfearly in the afternoon walking slowly down the "Avenue of thePresidents, " holding her father's hand. They said little, each felt toohappy to talk much, time enough for the stories later. 

Suddenly through the trees of Lafayette Park, all a-quiver with theirnew spring leaves, Keineth glimpsed the stately lines of the WhiteHouse. 

She stopped short. "Daddy, is that where the President lives?"

Mr. Randolph smiled. "Yes, my dear! And we are going there now tocall--at his request!"

So Keineth was really going to see Mr. President!

She felt very excited as she walked past the policeman guarding thegates and up the winding avenue leading to the great columns before thedoor. Through the branches of the trees the sun was shining slant-wiseagainst the square-paned windows, making tiny sparks of fire. Anotherpoliceman at the door halted them. Keineth thought it too bad that thePresident of the United States should have to be guarded in thismanner--for who could want to harm him? Then they were ushered into theentrance hall, where a servant took the card Mr. Randolph offered. 

For Keineth the simple stateliness of the place had an atmosphere ofromance. Staring curiously about her she went slowly through thespacious corridors to an oval-shaped room whose walls and windows werehung in heavy blue silk. The sunlight streamed through the windowsacross the highly polished floor and glinted through the crystals ofthe great chandelier hanging from the ceiling. From between the heavyblue curtains Keineth caught a glimpse of the green lawn outside, sloping down to the stretches of the Park--all adot with dandelions. 

Her father pointed out to her the gold clock on the mantel and told herthat it had been presented by Napoleon the First to General Lafayetteand by him in turn to Washington. Then as they turned to examine thebronze vases standing on either side of the clock a quiet voicestartled them. 

"And so this is the little soldier girl!"

And there across the room, one hand extended, stood the President ofthe United States!

Keineth tried to say something, but found that her tongue would notmove. But President Wilson, not noticing her embarrassment, was shakingher hand and talking as though they were old friends. 

"Of course--after our letters--an introduction is unnecessary! I amdelighted, however, to meet in person John Randolph's daughter. "

He turned then from Keineth to her father and Keineth felt a glow ofpride in the tone of intimacy with which the President greeted herfather. 

After they had exchanged a few words he took her hand and drew hertowards a divan. 

"Let us sit down here and have a little talk. I wonder if you know, mydear girl, what a wonderful man your father is. "

Keineth smiled at this! President Wilson, patting her hand upon hisknee, went on:

"His work for us is not done, either! And I am going to ask you to helpme, Miss Keineth. I want him in my official family--I need his judgmentand advice--need it badly! If he tries to refuse me then you must makehim do what I want him to do! Wouldn't you like to live in Washington?"

"Oh--yes!" cried Keineth, then she stopped short. "But--it wouldn'thave to be a secret, would it?"

The President broke into a hearty laugh. "No, indeed, my dear!" Then, more seriously, "You were very brave to help us guard so carefully hisjourneying. It was necessary that it should be kept a secret because inevery land where he went there were bitter enemies to the work he wastrying to do--enemies who, if they had had one word of the mission uponwhich he was going about, would have done everything within their powerto defeat its purpose, even to taking his life without one moment'shesitation! Keineth, this is a funny world. It is made up of bignations and small nations and they struggle against one another like somany bad, heedless boys fighting in an alley. "

"I know!" cried Keineth, bright-eyed. "When they ought to be livinglike nice families in a quiet street, each one keeping its own yardclean from rubbish and the doorsteps washed. " She used her father'swords with careful precision. 

President Wilson turned to John Randolph. "The child has described it, exactly! What an ideal! Do you think we'll ever reach it?" Then, toKeineth, "And that is the mission that took your father abroad--to laybefore the peoples of those other lands this plan of democracy; to showthem the picture of how we all--as nations--might live as you havedescribed it, like thrifty families on a clean-kept street, some infiner houses than others, perhaps, but each one with its door-stepclean and its corners well cleared out. Well--well, in your lifetimeyou may come to it, child. And when you do--remember that the way wasopened by the message your father carried!"

They talked a little longer of things Keineth could not understand, though she listened with rapt attention while her father spoke of theEmperor of Japan and the Czar of Russia as though they were justordinary men!

President Wilson walked with them to the door; he shook hands andbegged them to come again! "I should like some day to show you aroundWashington myself, Miss Keineth, " he said, patting her shoulder. Thenas they walked out toward the street gates Keineth turned back and sawhim watching from the open door. She waved her hand impulsively and helifted his in a farewell salute. 

Keineth drew in a very deep breath: as Peggy would say, "Who _could_believe that she was little Keineth Randolph?"

CHAPTER XXV

THE CASTLE OF DREAMS

When her father suggested that they let the sightseeing wait and take awalk, Keineth was delighted. She wanted more than anything else rightthen to talk and talk and talk to her daddy! There was so much to tellhim!

"We'll have plenty of time to see all the interesting things, " Mr. Randolph said. "We'll stay here a week or two longer. " "Peggy, too?"asked Keineth. 

"Peggy, too, of course!"

"Oh, what _fun_!" cried Keineth, squeezing her father's hand with bothof hers. She fairly danced along by his side, so that he had to walkvery fast to keep up with her light feet 'Way across the Park throughthe trees they could see the waters of the Potomac gleaming blue, andbeyond the hills of Arlington. Two weeks--her eyes shone--two weekswith Daddy and Peggy!

"You know, Daddy, that Peggy is my very best friend!" Keineth said verysolemnly. She commenced to tell him of Overlook and the happy summerdays--of Stella, whom she had seen several times during the winter andhad learned to love--of Grandma Sparks and her quaint old home--of Mr. Cadowitz and the hours in his queer studio--of the Jenkins cousins andthe little Penny girls. He listened with a smile, perhaps not alwaysable to follow her excited chatter, but certain from it that Keinethhad found what he had hoped she would find when he had sent her to theLees. 

Then Keineth thought of a confession she must make. 

"Is it dreadful, Daddy, but I have forgotten to be lonesome for Tante?I am ashamed because I do not think of her oftener. Where do yousuppose she is?"

"I saw her, my dear! Think what a coincidence it was! When I was inParis one of the secretaries from the American Embassy took me aroundto visit the soup kitchens they have opened up there to feed the needychildren of the soldiers at the front. At the very first one we wentinto, a woman in charge came up to greet us--and it was good MadameHenri! I might have known she'd be doing something like that! She knewme, of course--the tears ran down her cheeks as she clasped my hand. She couldn't say a word at first. She herself took us through the placeand as it was at noontime, we stayed to see her hungry family. It was asight I'll never forget--women, shivering in ragged clothing, withbabes in their arms and gaunt, unhappy faces and eyes that looked atyou as if they were eternally asking something and afraid to ask! Mostof them had some scrap of dingy crepe somewhere about them--had losttheir men at the battle-front! And little children gulping down thehot soup as though they were starved! Tante said it was the only mealmost of them had during the day. After her work was over she and I wentinto a little room to talk. I knew she wanted to ask me about you--'herbaby, ' she called you. When I told her you were well and happy shebroke down and sobbed 'thank God!'

"She told me that her mother was dead and that her brother's wife andher little family were on a farm in northern France. When they did notneed her longer she had gone to Paris to help. 

"'Give her my love, ' she said to me--I knew she meant you. 'Keep hersafe! It is my one comfort in these terrible days that she is notsuffering! I love America--but I can never go back--my work is here!' Iknew then that until the end Madame Henri would stick to her post andhelp wherever she could do the most good. She is a noble woman!"

Keineth sighed. "It doesn't seem right to be so happy when others arenot, " she said, troubled. 

"But remember what she said--because you are happy is the one brightspot in Madame Henri's life! So it may be with others; you can alwayshelp someone. "

"You couldn't do anything else at the Lees', " broke in Keineth, "because Aunt Nellie is so kind and unselfish that we children areterribly ashamed to be anything else! Daddy--" Keineth stopped short;for the first time it crossed her mind that now that her daddy had comeback her visit at the Lees' would end. "Where will we live now, Daddy?"

He waited a moment before he answered. 

"I am going to ask you to decide that for yourself, Keineth. " Keinethremembered then the night her father had made her decide between AuntJosephine and the Lees! How hard it had been!

John Randolph led her to a bench. "Let's sit down here and talk. I'llshow you two pictures, Keineth, and you shall choose. You heard whatthe President said; he has asked me to be in his Cabinet! That is agreat honor--perhaps the highest honor that may ever come to me!"

"You'll be more than a soldier that doesn't wear a uniform?"

Her father smiled at her quaint phrasing. "Yes, much more! But, besidesthe honor and the work of the position it will mean this to us--we willhave to take a house here in Washington and live in such a way that wecan entertain many, many guests. My time will never be my own, forthere will be countless social demands besides the duties of theoffice--I will be able to spend very little time with my little girl!But she will not mind that because she will have ever so many newfriends and new things to do, too. And we're too simple to know how tolive such a life, so there's only one thing that'd happen--" Keinethwas making tiny circles in the soft grass with the toe of her shoe. Shehad listened intently, now she interrupted quickly: "Aunt Josephine!"

"Yes--Aunt Josephine would have to come down to show us how!"

For some reason Keineth did not like the picture--and yet Daddy hadsaid it was a great honor! But Aunt Josephine--

Near the Monument the Marine Band had begun its program for the firstafternoon concert of the season. A great many people had begun togather in groups on the green. The music had seemed to reach Keinethand her father as though it was all a part of the soft spring air andbeauty around them--they had scarcely heeded it as they talked! Butsuddenly a familiar note struck Keineth's ear. She lifted her headquickly. 

"Oh, listen!" she cried, clutching his arm. "Listen!"

"What is it, child?" He was startled by the look on her face. She hadsprung to her feet. 

"That--that--" she whispered as though her voice might drown out thesoft strains of the music, "that is my Castle of Dreams!" She liftedher hand to beg him not to speak until it had ended. They listenedtogether until the last note died away. 

"Beautiful, my dear, but--"

She turned shining eyes toward him. "I wrote it, " she added simply. 

"You--you--" He stared at her in such a funny way that Keineth burstout laughing. "Why, my dear--"

"Aunt Nellie taught me to write music! And I sold this! I didn't wantto tell you until I had a chance to play it for you. "

"You--wrote--that?" He seemed not able to really believe. "My littlegirl?" A world of pride warmed the tone of his voice. 

"Yes, and it's such fun putting down what comes to my fingers! Only Mr. Cadowitz says that I must learn a great deal more and practice what themasters can teach me. And Aunt Nellie says, too, that I ought to waituntil I have finished school. "

"Yes, they are right, " Mr. Lee put in. Then he caressed the smallfingers that lay in his clasp. "But, my dear little girl, what a joyfor you some day! It is a wonderful gift to tell your thoughts inmusic! When you have built up a strong body and a good mind you canwork with all your heart and soul!"

Keineth told him then the story of Pilot and Mr. Grandison. Her fatherwas deeply interested. He recalled that he had heard his father speakof him once or twice. "He must have had a very lonely life, " he added. "We must see something of him now and then, my dear!"

"Oh, he will be glad!" Keineth described the big house on the outskirtsof the city where she had gone with her check; its lonely rooms thatall his money could not make cheerful. That led her to tell of thebeautiful books and how Mr. Grandison had one day taken her and Peggyto see "Pollyanna"; of riding there in the big limousine and wearingthe precious pink dresses!

The afternoon sun was dropping. The concert had ended and the crowdswere slowly moving away. John Randolph's face wore its far-away look asthough he was dreaming things. His eyes, as he turned them uponKeineth, were very serious. 

"You know--child, we're given things in this world--good health andfortune and gifts like your music--and my writing--but I don't believewe're given them just to enjoy them ourselves! We're meant to sharethem! I haven't told you the other picture, my dear!"

"Oh, no!" cried Keineth. How could she have forgotten Aunt Josephine!

"I've had a dream, Keineth, these months that I've been gone! It's beena dream of the little home we'd make in some quiet corner where I couldwrite and you could grow and play. It'd be a simple home, but we'd havea great many friends around us. There's a lot in my head I want towrite, too--I long for time to do it! I couldn't help but think as Itravelled over almost all the lands of the globe that people are alikeafter all--only some of us have learned things faster than others andsome have a lot to learn. If those who see the vision could teach theothers--well, to live, as we said, like respectable, happy families ina peaceful street--then this world would know a brotherhood we haven'tgot now. It could come after this war--we could all be comrades, alwaysgoing forward shoulder to shoulder! I feel as if I want to write andwrite and write about it until that picture goes all over the world!Couldn't I do more for all my fellowmen that way than giving up my timeto the immense duties of a Cabinet official?" He turned a frowning facetoward Keineth, as though from this twelve-year-old girl he expectedhelp in his perplexity. 

Keineth's face was aglow. 

"Could the little home be near Peggy?"

Her father nodded. "For a while, anyway. "

"And could I go to school with Peggy?"

"Yes, I want you with your friends. "

"And you'd have time to play with me?"

"Lots of time--I'd take it! That was part of my dream. "

"Oh, Daddy, I like that picture lots best! Only--" She suddenlyrecalled what her father had said. "It would be such a great honor foryou to be in the President's Cabinet! And he told me I must make you!"

"Keineth, dear, that honor would not mean half as much to me as the joyof serving my fellowmen through my writing! We'll show the Presidentthe two pictures--I know he will understand!"

Still Keineth hesitated. "Would we--would we have to have AuntJosephine?" Then she added, as though a little ashamed, "but AuntJosephine can be awfully jolly when--she forgets. "

"Forgets what, child?"

"Oh, that--that she's so--so rich!" Keineth stammered. 

John Randolph laughed. "We'll have her part of the time and maybe wecan make her--forget. "

"You have decided, you are very sure?" he asked after a moment, and heswept his hand toward the nearby buildings of the city as though toremind her of the interesting life that might lie there. 

But Keineth's shining eyes saw a vision beyond them--long, happy dayswith Daddy and Peggy and the others; a home, too; real school days, such as she had never known in her life--perhaps another summer atFairview. 

"I'd love Washington, but--I like your dream best, Daddy!" sheanswered. 

"I knew you would! And now, kitten, what do you say to finding Peggyand her father and going somewhere to have some cakes and hotchocolate?"

Through the soft April sunlight they went towards the White House andthe thronging streets. Keineth walked quickly, eager to find Peggy andtell her everything! How glad Peg would be!

She hummed a few notes without realizing that it was a strain from herown music! She stopped suddenly and lifted laughing eyes to herfather's face. 

"Isn't it funny, Daddy? I called my music 'The Castle of Dreams'! Wewere both dreaming the same dream!"

"And we're going to have our Castle, Keineth!"