At long last came four o’clock. Dr. Prescott walked down the big, winding stairway of the castle-like structure that she had transformed from a run-down neglected dwelling into a boarding school for girls. She was proud of the school, proud of the work she had done there. She looked up. Why, she was proud of every big beam that supported the high ceilings!
As she entered the long reception room with its lovely bouquets of fresh spring flowers and was greeted by Rhoda Hammond, she had a momentary twinge of regret. “The girls were getting so much older! Today,” and she smiled a little to herself as the thought crossed her mind, “they were acting especially grown-up.” She looked down at the lovely corsage of sweet-smelling violets on her gray dress and touched them tenderly. They were a gift, a thoughtful one, from the girls who had planned the party. Now, as she circulated among them all and felt the excitement that there was in the room, she was glad that shehad a secret too. She looked across the room and caught Professor Krenner’s eye. He smiled and nodded. How nice everything seemed!
Meanwhile Bess and Rhoda and Laura were conferring near a big silver tea tray. There were piles of dainty sandwiches on it, olives and pickles and salted nuts, a plate of lemon slices with whole cloves in the center of each, a bowl of sugar cubes with lovely silver tongs projecting from it, a graceful silver pitcher filled with cream, and, off to one side, pretty cups and saucers were stacked, waiting to be used.
“Oh, I wish Nan would come,” Bess exclaimed.
“She’ll be here any minute now,” Rhoda answered, “and when she comes—”
But the sentence was never finished, for just at that moment Nan, accompanied by Mrs. Bagley, appeared in the doorway, and with one accord everyone called, “Surprise!”
It was a moment such as Nan had never experienced before. She seemed stunned, unable entirely to comprehend what was happening. Then, as all her friends came forward, smiled and shook her hand and Dr. Beulah leaned over and kissed her, she seemed to regain her composure. But she admitted later in private to Bess that she hardly knew all afternoon what she said or what had been said to her.
There were one or two things, however, that did stand out clearly in her mind.
Before the tea was poured, Laura, as chairman of the gift committee, called her to her side, and, in the name of all those present, put three boxes in her hands and told her to open them. From the first, Nan pulled forth a gay corsage of daffodils which Bess promptly pinned to her shoulder. How pretty they looked there! So yellow and bright! Nan looked down at them, seeming for a moment to forget her other gifts.
Bess prodded her. So did Laura. Nan murmured a pardon and picked up another box. It was the largest of the three, much longer and wider than the first and was tied with a big perky bow which Nan proceeded to untie, oh, so slowly, it seemed to her friends, for in her confusion her fingers fumbled over the knot. Finally, however, the ribbon was off, the cover removed, the tissue paper pulled aside, and Nan drew forth a lovely long satin negligee, more beautiful than any she had ever seen.
“How lovely!” she exclaimed and buried her face for a second in its softness, for she was so happy that she was almost crying. Then she looked out at all the faces watching her.
“Oh, I thank you, many times I thank you,” she said, before she looked down at the robeagain. It was hard to tear her eyes away from it. But at another prod from Bess, she looked down at the third package on the table near her. “Could it be——?” She opened it and pulled forth the cleverest pair of little bedroom slippers! Everything was just perfect!
Nan smiled shyly at her friends. “What could she say?” In the pause that followed, Dr. Prescott came to her rescue, moved over closer to her, and, standing between her and Bess, she spoke.
“May I have the attention of all of you, for a moment?”
Immediately, everyone was quiet, expectantly waiting.
“What was coming?” The question was in everyone’s mind. The girls looked at Dr. Beulah and then at one another, as a million answers rushed through their heads.
She smiled reassuringly into their puzzled faces, seemed about to speak, but then paused as though to choose her words carefully. Finally, she began.
“I don’t know as I have ever,” she said, “been prouder of Lakeview Hall and all it stands for than I have today, and today somehow marks a turning point in its history.
“You all know that my life has been bound up in the fortunes of this place for some yearsnow. When I first came here, there were about twenty-five girls registered. We taught a little French, some music, fine needlework, literature, and something of the social graces. Walking was about the most strenuous of the sports for girls in those days. Hiking was unheard of, for young ladies, I mean. It was considered quite the thing to grow pale and to faint on the slightest provocation, that is, if the young lady did it gracefully.
“Nan here would have been quite out of place in that old school with her bobbed hair, her keen enjoyment of all the sports, and her interest in Professor Krenner’s class in architectural drawing.”
The girls laughed. Although the course had been listed in Lakeview Hall’s catalogue ever since Professor Krenner joined the faculty, Nan had been the first to actually elect the subject. The story of how and why she did had long ago become a campus joke as those who have read "Nan Sherwood at Lakeview Hall" are well aware.
Now, for the first time Nan herself began to see how really queer that listing “Architectural Drawing” must have looked when it first appeared on the catalogue. She giggled, as she thought of young women with long dresses that trailed along the gravel paths of the campus taking such a serious course.
Sharing the joke with Dr. Beulah, she smiled up at her.
“Yes, Nan would have been quite out of place there,” Dr. Beulah repeated. “Not one among those twenty-five girls was trained to take care of herself. Here, today in the very hall where they sometimes gathered for their lessons in “The Social Graces” and practiced entering and leaving the room, using that door over there,” she said, nodding toward the doorway from which Nan had first viewed the surprise party, “you girls of the modern day have planned a party for one of your number who has had more adventures than those girls had ever dreamed or read about.
“Whereas they walked, danced some, and fainted most expertly, you go boating, hiking, horseback riding, and, in the winter, sleighing. You play basketball and volleyball and golf. How they would envy you! Now, your party is for one among you who is going to Europe. There, all sorts of adventures await her. Just as Nan cannot imagine what these will be, just as I could not have twenty years ago imagined this big school with its two hundred self-reliant girls, you young ladies in planning this party had no conception of what a big thing was going to happen to you shortly.
“While you have been whispering and plottingamong yourselves looking forward to this day which is being so successful, I, too, have been fostering a few secrets.”
At this Bess looked over at Nan. There was an I-told-you-so gleam in her eye. Nan nodded quickly. They were both thinking of their conversation of a few days ago in the corridor, both remembering their disappointing encounter with the old mailman. They turned their eyes back toward Dr. Beulah’s face. How sweet she looked! Nan sighed. If she would only hurry and get to the point of her talk! Nan felt that she simply could not wait any longer.
“Nan’s parents,” Dr. Beulah continued, “felt that they wanted her to go to Europe under the chaperonage of some responsible person, and so, several months ago they wrote to me.”
This was news to Nan, and she was all attention as Dr. Beulah went on.
“I made inquiries of the schools and colleges which offer conducted tours and was about to recommend that Nan join a party from a girls’ school on the Hudson that was going to England. However, before the letter was written to Mr. and Mrs. Sherwood, Grace Mason’s mother asked me a question that has changed everyone’s plans.”
Rhoda Hammond put a reassuring arm aroundGrace, who blushed slightly as all eyes were turned on her.
“She and Mr. Mason,” the head of the school explained, “wondered whether it would be possible for me to recommend a girls’ camp for Grace to stay in for the summer. Well, one thing led to another, and before the week was out Professor Krenner and I were in conference behind closed doors.
“As a result, plans have been definitely made,” her voice was clear and firm in spite of the excitement in it, “for a whole party of you to go to England this spring to see the king and queen crowned in London!”
There was a murmur of surprise in the room as Dr. Prescott made her announcement. She raised her hand to quiet it and waited a moment before she went on.
“Much as I would have liked to have all of you go,” she continued finally to the expectant girls before her, “that was impossible. So, it was necessary to choose those girls who have been outstanding in one way or another since they have been here at school. Another year, there will be more of you able to go, for I hope on this trip to be able to establish contacts that will make exchange scholarships between Lakeview Hall and similar schools abroad, possible. Therefore, to those who have that keen desire to make the trip, to be explorers too, and do not find their names on the list which I shall read presently, I want to say, ‘Don’t be too disappointed.’
“Most of you are younger than the girls who have been chosen, and your opportunity will come when you are a little older. Then you may profit by the experiences that we shall have on this firsttrip, yes, and by our mistakes too, for, in a sense, we shall be explorers setting out for strange countries. We are going to find out for sure whether the things we have been reading and hearing about for these many years are true. We are going to see whether, if we board a boat in New York and sail east, we really come to a continent called Europe on our maps.
“Those of you who follow after, will but verify our findings and will have as strange and wonderful experiences then, as we shall have now. So, again I say, you will not be the girls I think you are, if you do not, after the list is read, rally round those girls who are going. Help them all you can. There is much to do between now and the time they sail, and they and the school will need your help.
“Now after conferences with your parents and teachers, I have chosen and secured permission for the following six girls to go: Nan Sherwood, Amelia Boggs, Grace Mason—”
The room was tense with suspense as she paused to clear her throat, for she was excited too, almost as excited as the girls themselves.
“Rhoda Hammond—” She smiled over at the girl, for she was fond of this proud southern girl, so different, she thought, than the rest of her brood.
“Laura Polk and—”
Nan put her arm around Bess’ shoulder. The same question was in both their minds. Could it be possible that Bess’ name was not on the list?
“Elizabeth—Harley!”
The room was in a hubbub. Nan was kissing Bess and Bess kissing Nan; Rhoda, shaking hands with Laura; Laura, telling Grace not to cry; Dr. Beulah Prescott, looking as though her customary serenity was most difficult to maintain; and Professor Krenner was smiling his kindly smile on all of them.
Everyone shook hands with everyone else and the girls that weren’t going were so lifted up by the excitement that they hardly knew who was going and who was not. In the commotion, Rhoda somehow or other managed to pour the tea, and Amelia, Bess, Nan, Laura, and Grace to pass the sandwiches and olives and pickles and cakes and nuts and candies, but no one, as Rhoda dolefully remarked afterwards, knew what they were eating.
“The refreshment committee could have served mounds of spinach,” she said, “instead of molded boats of ice-cream, and no one would have been the wiser.” Maybe so. At any rate, the little round sandwiches, the long narrow sandwiches, and the sandwiches shaped like balls and coveredwith cheese, were all eaten to the last crumb. The olives, pickles, and nuts disappeared. Finally, the ice cream and fancy cakes were all gobbled up, too, so that when the matron of the Hall had the maid wheel out the tea-wagon, none of Rhoda’s refreshments were left.
It was quite the nicest party Lakeview Hall had ever had. That night no one slept very soundly, least of all the six girls on Corridor Four who were going to England for the Coronation of the King and Queen.
All rules, Dr. Prescott, had wisely said, would be suspended for the one night. Though Mrs. Cupp shook her head lugubriously over the “goings on”, at ten o’clock that night Laura, Grace, Amelia and Rhoda found themselves by one accord collected in Bess and Nan’s room.
“What if it’s all a dream?” Rhoda asked as they lounged about on the day-bed and in the easy chairs. “What if we awaken tomorrow and find that none of it’s true, that it is as we thought when we planned the party in the first place? What if we find that only Nan is going after all?”
“That wouldn’t be a dream. That would be a nightmare,” Laura answered. “The thing I can’t understand is, how I managed to get in under the wire. I was never more surprised in all my life than I was when she read my name. Imagine me,the red-headed cyclone from nowhere, going to Europe. Even my well-known imagination fails at the prospect. I can believe some of my own stories quicker than this one that the powers that be have thought up. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction. I never thought that I would live,” she said as though she was at least a hundred, “to see the day when I would admit that.”
“Nor did I either,” Nan said contentedly. How pleased she was that all her friends were going! “Remember the night we sat up like this in this very room and talked of going to Florida. We thought nothing could be so grand as that! Now the whole lot and caboodle of us,” she went on inelegantly, “are going on a little jaunt over to Europe.”
“Yes,” Laura laughed and tried to yawn, “it’s all in a day’s work.”
“The thing that tickles me,” Bess spoke up at last, she had been quite silent since the party, unable yet to accept the fact that she was, after all, going to Europe with her chum, “is the way Dr. Beulah kept my name until last. Did you see the twinkle in her eye when she finally read it off? I almost died of suspense when she said ‘Elizabeth’ and then hesitated for so long before she said ‘Harley’.”
“I did, too,” Nan said. “Really, Bess, if yourname hadn’t been on that list with all the others I would have wept bitter tears with you. I don’t believe I could have gone without you.”
“Nan, do you mean that, honestly?” Bess asked.
“Honest and truly,” Nan reiterated. “But, girls,” she cried suddenly to them all, “there’s something I know that none of you do.”
“What is it?” they all chorused.
“Oh, I don’t know whether I ought to tell or not,” Nan teased.
“Nan Sherwood,” Bess threatened, “if you don’t break right down and tell us at once I’ll—I’ll—I’ll throw this pillow at you.” With this, she picked up one big soft pillow and raised her arm as though to pitch it right at Nan.
“I’ll give up,” Nan capitulated amid much laughter. “Do you know,” she said slowly and solemnly as though to give her words greater weight, “That Professor Krenner is going to Europe, too, this summer, that he will be in London when we are, and that he will take us on some of the sight-seeing tours that we are to take?”
“Oh, that’s nothing,” Grace Mason depreciated. “I know something better, that none of you know. My mother and father are going to London and they are going to meet us there beforewe leave! What’s more, they are going to take Walter with them!”
Nan blushed. She had been secretly wondering whether or not Walter was going to get a chance to go to Europe this summer. She had been reluctant to ask Grace, because she hated so to be teased. Now she tried to be nonchalant about it.
“Oh, that’s nice,” she said, trying to act very much disinterested. The girls exchanged significant glances.
“Yes,isn’tit,” they emphasized.
Nan was dying to ask how it happened that Walter was going and who it was that had told Grace, but she didn’t dare to ask any questions. She held her peace and hoped that someone else would solve the riddle.
For a few moments, no one said anything. It was like a mutual conspiracy to tantalize Nan, but after a while, Bess’ own curiosity got the better of her. “How do you know, Grace,” she asked, “surely no mail has come through to you lately?”
“Not a particle!” Grace exploded. “But Dr. Beulah says that everyone has been so busy with these plans, writing back and forth, checking and rechecking on details, that there was no time to write just ordinary letters. It was she who told me that dad is going over on business and thatWalter and mother are going along with him. Why, I’m almost as pleased as Nan,” she tormented her friend further, though she was secretly pleased that Nan liked her brother so much.
“But tell me, Nan,” she begged. “What were you and Dr. Beulah talking about so earnestly in the corner over your tea. I wanted like everything to interrupt, but even though everything was so informal that no less a person than Mrs. Cupp condescended to congratulate us, I hesitated to break in on one of Dr. Beulah’s tete-à-tetes. I hope she doesn’t scare the life out of me, while we are away. Imagine, being with her every day, eating—you do eat on a boat, don’t you?—at her table, walking the deck with her, and perhaps even sharing your cabin with her!”
Nan laughed heartily at Grace’s last exclamation. “Why, Grace Mason,” she burst forth, after she had wiped her eyes with her handkerchief, “If you were dressed in clothes instead of those pajamas, I’d take you by the ear right now and march you straight over to Dr. Beulah’s apartment and introduce her to you. She doesn’t bite. She’s one of the nicest, if not the very nicest, person I have ever known. I can’t imagine a pleasanter person in all this wide world to take us on this trip.
“She was telling me,” she added as an afterthoughtand in answer to Grace’s question, “that we are to go over on a steamship line that will land us in Glasgow, for we are to stop first at Emberon. It seems some distant relatives of mine want to be the first to welcome us when we land.”
“What fun!” Bess exclaimed. “All the words about going sound like magic, don’t they? Sailing, walking on deck, landing, and passports and visas and going through customs. Do you know,” she admitted, “it almost scares me, when I think of all the strange new things that are going to happen. Why, we will be foreigners in a strange country!” she ended in amazement.
“Yes, and I hope they don’t treat us as we treat them sometimes,” Nan added.
“Well, they hadn’t better,” Bess retorted indignantly, as all the girls joined heartily in laughing at her. Bess laughed too, when she realized what she had said, “What I mean is—”
“Never mind, Bessie,” Nan comforted. “We know you are not as rude as you sound, and that you don’t mean half of what you say,” she ended teasingly.
“Oh, I don’t care what you say,” Bess returned nobly, “I feel so happy that I am going to be on that boat with all of you that there is nothing that you could say that would bother me.”
“Not even,” Laura goaded her, “the statementthat we are going over cabin class while Linda Riggs is going first class on the same boat.”
“It’s not true,” Bess denied without thinking.
“Of course it isn’t, Bess,” Rhoda looked reprovingly across at Laura. “No one has heard a thing about Linda for months now. She might just as well be living in another world so far as we are concerned.”
“I wish she was.” Bess pouted somewhat as she made the statement. The truth was that she was secretly triumphant at the thought that if Linda was going to Europe, she was too. She half hoped that somewhere they would meet, that sometime she would be able to embarrass Linda as Linda had frequently, in the past embarrassed her. But even as the thought crossed her mind, Nan whisked it away by saying, “I wonder what it will all be like!”
“Oh, Nan, there’s so much to do before we go that I sometimes think we never will get started!” Bess exclaimed to her roommate one morning several weeks later.
She was sitting on the floor sorting a boxful of things she had been saving for her memory book and was holding the dance program of the Grand Guard Ball they had attended during their first year at Lakeview, when she spoke.
Nan did not answer.
“Nan, aren’t you listening to what I say?” she asked without looking up. She flourished the dance program in the air. “Doesn’t this bring up memories though,” she said half wistfully. “When I remember what a jewel Walter was that night, I’m almost jealous,” she went on.
Again there was no answer. Bess looked up.
“Why, Nan Sherwood, whatever is the matter?” she cried when she saw the expression on Nan’s face. Dropping the things in her lap on the floor, she got up and went over to the day-bed where Nan was reading a letter.
“Nan, tell me,” she urged. “Don’t sit therelooking as though the bottom had dropped out of everything. What’s happened?”
“Oh, don’t be silly,” Nan forced a smile, “I just received a letter from home and it made me homesick. That’s all.”
“You homesick!” Bess didn’t believe a word of it.
“Yes,” Nan reiterated rather crossly, “I began to think how far away we are going and how seldom it is we see our parents these days. It made me sad for a while.”
Bess accepted the explanation without further comment. She knew that it wasn’t altogether true, just as she knew that it would be utterly impossible to drag the real facts from Nan at the moment. However, she determined not to forget the incident. But despite her resolve, it was not until several weeks later when they were on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean that the subject was reopened. Then it was not Bess who reopened it, but a set of very peculiar circumstances.
Now, to further divert Bess’ attention, Nan put her letter away, most carefully, and began to busy herself about the room. So, they were both sorting out their belongings when Grace broke in on them.
“What do you think?” She was breathless with excitement for she had run all the way from themail boxes where she had read the letter she was now waving in her hand, “I’ve just had a letter from home and mother and dad say that you should all come to Chicago with me for a few days during the holidays.
“They say that it is almost necessary,” she continued as she noted the doubtful look on Nan’s face and Bess’ too. “Because you can take care of your passports and visas much easier there than from Freeling.
“Mother says further,” and Grace turned to her letter to read directly from that,
“‘Dad and I have at last given Walter our consent to take his car along with him. He wants to so much! We feel that since it might be the only time he ever makes the trip that we will let him do as he wishes in so far as possible. So you and the girls may plan on taking a few side trips to Stratford-on-Avon, Canterbury, Eton, Windsor, and wherever else you have a mind to go by auto—that is, and this always holds true, if Dr. Prescott is willing. You are to be in her hands entirely, you know.
“‘Now, don’t fail to keep in touch with me, Grace. I want to know at every step how your plans are progressing.“‘My love,“‘Mother.’”
“Isn’t—that——just———grand!” Bess was the first to speak after the letter was finished. “Oh, Grace, your mother and dad are so good to us. Think of it, Nan, we will be able to take some drives over the lovely English countryside in the spring of the year.”
“I am,” Nan answered quietly, though inside she was really more excited than Bess. She liked Walter’s car and had already had some pleasant drives in it. Now, she could see herself in imagination skimming over the English roads. “By the way,” she turned to Grace, “when is it Walter will be crossing?”
“Oh, not until several weeks after we do,” Grace answered. “Dad’s going to be busy until well into April. But we’ll all be together for the coronation, I am sure. Did I tell you this? Mother says someplace at the beginning of her letter that a business acquaintance of Dad’s has written that we may watch the procession go by from his offices. It seems he is right down in Piccadilly and has an ideal location. The King and Queen and all of them will pass right by there on their way to Westminster from Buckingham Palace to be crowned. Then, they will pass by, too, on their way back. Why, dad says that if we bought such seats, we would have to pay at least a hundred dollars apiece!”
“Oh, Grace, what would we do without you!” Nan exclaimed. “That’s the biggest piece of news yet! Dr. Prescott has been having trouble getting good seats for us, I know, for we put in our bid so late. I wrote to the solicitors in Edinburgh who handled mother’s inheritance just the other day to find out whether anything could be done. It will be almost a month before I can possibly hear, and I was so afraid that it would be too late! Now, you have settled the problem entirely.”
Grace blushed. She adored Nan. Praise from her sent her spirits skyward. Now she returned to her original question. “Will you stop in Chicago at the beginning or the end of the vacation,” she persisted.
“Oh, at the end,” Nan capitulated. “I couldn’t possibly stop at the beginning, I am that anxious to get home and see Momsey! There are at least a million questions I want to ask her about all of this. I wish the Easter vacation was twice as long as it is and that it was going to begin tomorrow. Then I wish that we were leaving the day after vacation ends. Oh, girls, I sometimes feel I’m going to burst!
“If you only knew how much I’ve wanted to see all those places Momsey and Papa wrote about when they were over in Scotland a year or so ago! They tell me that the old castle that belongedto the ancient Lairds of Emberon is a queer spooky old place. Most of it is not in use anymore, but there are a few rooms that have never been closed. These are the ones that are to be ours for the time we stay there. Sounds thrilling, doesn’t it?”
“Thrilling!” Bess took up the word. “Why, there’s nothing like this trip ever happened to us before!”
“What are you people cooking up now?” It was Laura’s voice that broke in on them. “I declare, sometimes I think I’d better move my trunk and belongings right into this room. Then I’d be on the spot when things happened.”
“My sentiments exactly,” Rhoda chimed in as she entered.
“Late as usual,” Laura observed as Amelia also came in. “Now tell us what we’ve been missing.”
“Oh, we’re all to stop at Grace’s in Chicago before we come back to school. Her mother has a whole list of things that can best be done from there.” Bess couldn’t wait for Grace to extend the invitation.
“Yes, that’s the truth,” Nan verified Bess’ statement. “Now you’d all better clear out of here,” she laughed. “I love every hair of your funny heads, but I can’t accomplish a thing whenyou’re around. Do you realize that after all, we’re at school, and that trip or no trip, we’ve got to get through with exams before we leave?”
The girls sobered up at once.
“Ooh Nan, don’t bring them up,” Laura begged. “I just remembered that I faithfully promised the French Prof that I’d prepare my lesson for tomorrow. She declared today that she was utterly disgusted with the assignments I had been handing in. Poor thing! I have been trying her patience.”
“And I and I and I,” they all chorused.
“Now, get out!” Nan laughed, but never-the-less achieved firmness.
“Well, guess we’d better take the hint.” Laura started for the door and the others followed. “Bet I get a better French grade than any of you, tomorrow,” she challenged, just before the door was closed behind them with an air of finality.
“Such people!” Nan laughed to Bess when they were once more alone. “There’s one thing I’m sure of—”
“And that?” Bess looked up.
“Mrs. Cupp is going to be so happy when the bus drives away from the entrance of this school carrying all of us and our baggage, that, if she were human at all, she’d dance a little jig of joy.”
Bess giggled. “If I thought she’d do that I’d almost be willing to stay, for that would be something worth seeing.”
“Bess, there are so many things worth seeing,” Nan took up the end of the sentence seriously, “that I wish I were quintuplets so that I could be in at least five places at once.”
“You and me, too,” Bess agreed, “but just now the one me that is here is going to buckle down to work. Those exams are no joke.”
So the two girls took out their books, and before long there was no sound to be heard in the room but the ticking of the clock and the occasional turning of a page. They studied until the signal came, “Lights out!”
“Welcome to our city!” It was Walter’s hearty voice greeting Nan and Bess as their train pulled into the busy Chicago station.
Nan caught her breath. How nice he looked! How much older he seemed. She smiled up at him.
“You seem to have a habit of meeting us at stations,” she remarked. They all laughed, remembering Nan and Bess’ first entrance into Freeling, their first ride with Walter and Linda Riggs’ consequent anger.
“And you seem to have a habit of going places,” Walter returned as he smiled back at them. How pretty they looked! How much older they seemed! How pink Nan’s cheeks were! Could it be that she was embarrassed? The very same thoughts that were running through Nan’s mind were running through his. They both felt easier when Grace, Amelia, Laura, and Rhoda descended on them.
“Come on, you old pokes,” Grace said. “We’ve got things to do.”
“Yes,” Amelia contributed her bit, “and we’relate already.” With this she looked meaningly at her latest acquisition—a new wristwatch.
“What, another?” Laura appeared to be stunned at the information.
“Yes, funny,” Amelia wrinkled up her nose at her friend. “It was a going away present from my dad. Don’t you like it?”
The girls all crowded round to see. It was a pretty little thing, small and oblong and tailored looking and it went quite perfectly with the pretty tailored suit that Amelia was wearing. She turned it so they could see her initials on the back and the date, all engraved in Old English style.
Now as they crowded into the Mason town car and were whisked away to the big Mason home, they compared notes on their visits. Nan and Bess had been to four—no less than four—bon voyage parties, and they were laden with all sorts of gifts from their friends and former class-mates at Tillbury High School. Rhoda was the proud possessor of new luggage, the gift of cowboys on her Dad’s ranch. Amelia had her watch, Grace a sizable check to do with as she pleased on her trip. And Laura had the greatest surprise of all.
She had had her bright red hair curled so that it was like a soft halo all around her pert little face! “Turn around,” the girls commanded when she took her hat off.
“It looks just darling, Laura,” Bess said.
“Perfectly lovely,” Nan agreed. “You’ll be the belle of the boat.”
“Do you really like it?” Laura sounded just a little worried as she looked at them. “Do you think that Dr. Prescott will approve?” she asked Nan anxiously.
“Of course she will,” Nan answered confidently. “Why Laura,” she said, turning her friend’s head around so that she could get a side view again, “you’ve changed from an ugly duckling to a pretty young lady. I don’t see how Dr. Prescott could possibly object.”
Laura grinned roguishly. “Do you know, when I look into the mirror, I hardly recognize myself, but then when I open my mouth and hear what comes out, I’m perfectly sure that I haven’t changed a bit. Then I feel utterly discouraged.” She looked as woeful as possible, when she finished the sentence, but nothing could disguise the fact that Laura and the whole crowd of Lakeview Hall students were on top of the world. It was a merry bunch that tumbled out of the car and into the Mason home.
In no time at all, they had unpacked, washed, changed their clothes and were coming down the broad stairway together for lunch. They stopped midway.
“Whose voice is that?” Bess whispered the question.
“Could it be—” Nan paused to listen again,—“Dr. Beulah?”
“I’m afraid it is,” Grace laughed. “In the excitement, I forgot entirely to tell you. Mother asked her to stop on her way back to school, too, and we are all to go together this afternoon for our passports.”
“Hey, come here!” It was Nan’s whisper again, arresting Laura who had tried to retreat up the stairway as soon as she heard Dr. Beulah. Nan caught her by the arm. “You can’t do that,” she said, “You’ve got to face the music sometime.”
“Just give me a little time,” Laura entreated. “This is too unexpected. Let me have time to think up something to say.”
“Then you would be in trouble.” Nan started down the stairs. “Come on, brace up,” she whispered.
At that moment, Mrs. Mason heard them all and came to the stairway. “Come, girls,” she called. “Lunch is ready.”
Nan held fast to Laura’s arm and advanced into the room.
Dr. Prescott looked up at their entrance. “Why, Nan, how well you are looking.”
“And—Laura! Why, Laura Polk!”
Laura looked sheepish and blushed, but for once no words came forth. Dr. Prescott looked at her thoughtfully. Finally, the verdict came.
“Well—” she said slowly, but with a bright gleam in her eye. “I must admit that though I have always been opposed to artificial curls, you look very charming, Laura, and I don’t blame you a bit for doing it. Now, turn around so that I can see the back.”
Laura turned.
“Yes, it is indeed—charming, very becoming to you,” she repeated. “Don’t you like it, girls?” she nodded toward the others and in the general conversation that followed, Laura regained her composure.
Lunch was followed by a conference in the Mason library. Then they were all whisked off to the photographers to have passport pictures taken. Each one was taken into a small room, seated on a chair, and told to look straight into the camera. In a second it was all over.
“Don’t they look just awful!” Bess exclaimed when she saw hers. “Why, they can’t use that thing to identify me. I won’t even admit that I posed for that.” She laughed.
“But will you look at mine!” this from Laura. “I look like—like—”
“Like Puck,” Nan supplied the word which Laura was searching for. “Imagine the trouble we’ll have dragging you past immigration officials and through customs. We’ll have to explain to every officer we meet, ‘No, this isn’t Puck. This is Laura Polk.’ And they’ll look at you and make marks in their notebooks. Then they’ll talk among themselves and debate as to whether or not they should lock you up in a dark dungeon.”
“That’s the girl, Nan.” Laura commended her friend, “And if they hear you they’ll lock you up with me. The United States Government will protest—”
“Oh, no, it won’t,” Amelia cut in. “It will send word to keep you locked up, two such crazy loons! Now, if we don’t get a move on, the Passport Agent’s office will be closed and none of us will ever be able to even leave the country!”
“What’s this about not leaving the country?” Dr. Prescott came into the room from an inner office.
“Oh, we were just teasing Laura,” Nan explained, “about her passport photo. They are all really very poor, Dr. Prescott. Do you think that they will be all right?” Nan was genuinely worried.
Dr. Prescott smiled at her. “Don’t fret, dear,”she reassured her. “Everything will be quite all right, I’m sure.”
It seemed so. They went to the Passport Agent’s office, stopped at a bank to find out about foreign money, to tea—“so that we can get used to having it in England in the middle of the afternoon,” Grace explained.
Before they parted so that each might do her own errands, Dr. Prescott called Nan aside. “Will you do something for me, Nan,” she asked.
“Of course.” Nan was all eagerness. It was an honor to be asked to help Dr. Prescott.
“Will you stop at the travel agent’s on Madison Avenue and pick up the portfolio of maps and time-tables he is holding there for me? You can’t miss the place, it’s near the Wrigley Building, and it has a huge revolving globe of the world in the window. It won’t take you long, and it might be an interesting place to stop.”
How interesting and upsetting this errand would be—neither could know as Nan waved good-bye to her friends and went off adventuring by herself. Just as Dr. Prescott had said, she couldn’t miss the Wrigley Building, nor the window with the revolving globe. She stood for a second watching it, watching North and South America, the Atlantic Ocean, Europe and Africa, Asia and Australia, the Pacific Ocean merge, oneinto the other, as the ball moved around. Then she tore herself away, opened the door, and went in.
There, standing at a long counter talking to the agent, was Linda Riggs, proud and superior looking as usual! Nan gasped. Linda turned, and the two faced one another.
“Why, Linda!” Nan spoke first, but Linda looked her up and down, stared into her face coldly and most rudely, and then, without saying a word, turned her back.
Nan tried to cover up her confusion, as she went forward to claim Dr. Prescott’s folio. Could she have made a mistake? She looked again. No, no one could mistake the angle of that up-turned chin.
“I’ll take the cabin on the upper deck,” she heard Linda say in her slow affected way. “I want the very best cabin you have,” she said, talking a little louder so that Nan couldn’t help but hear. “I always like the best of everything.”
It was really disgusting to hear the girl talk. Everyone in the office looked up at her. She might have been a pretty girl, but instead she looked over-dressed, haughty, and artificial. Two or three in the room laughed to themselves and turned away. They did not even like to look at her. Others shook their heads. Nan tried not to payany attention. She wanted to get out of the office as soon as possible. She asked for Dr. Prescott’s package quietly and would have gone without even looking at Linda again, but that girl’s own words stopped her.
“I beg your pardon,” she heard Linda saying to one of the agents, “but who is that girl that is leaving now. It—seems that I have seen her someplace before. Oh, yes, she is the one who was caught shoplifting in a Chicago department store.” She said it loudly so that everyone could hear.
Nan stopped. They couldn’t say that about her. It wasn’t true! She knew it, and so did Linda. Everyone who has read “Nan Sherwood’s Winter Holidays” knows it. But here Linda was, declaring it was true in front of a whole crowd of strange people!
Nan wanted to protest, but the agent who had given her Dr. Prescott’s package spoke quietly. “If I were you,” he said, for he knew that what Linda was telling was a lie, “I’d say nothing. Here, let me help you.” He took her by the arm and escorted her to the door. “Don’t let it bother you,” he said as she went out.
Linda turned and followed Nan with her eyes. “What strange people,” she drawled, “onemeets.” No one paid any attention. They had liked Nan.
Outside, Nan held the package close to her side and lost herself in the crowd. It had been hard, not answering Linda, but by keeping still, she had won the day. Now, as she walked along Madison Avenue thinking of what had happened, she remembered Linda’s first statement, “I want a cabin on the upper deck, the best you have.”
As she thought of it, she breathed a short prayer. “Please don’t let Linda be on the same boat with us,” it said.
“Ticket—passport—traveller’s checks—baggage tags—trunk keys.” Nan checked them off on her list as she put them into her purse. “There, Bess,” she said, turning to her friend, “everything is done, and I’m all ready, absolutely all ready to go. And you?”
The two girls were standing in their room in Lakeview Hall as Nan asked the question. They were both dressed in tweed coats and matching felt hats. Around them stood their baggage, waiting for the school janitor to take it down to the school bus. It was the day of all days, the day on which they were leaving for Europe.
Bess looked bewildered as Nan put the question to her. “I—I—I—guess so. I guess I’m all ready,” she answered. “Do you know, I’m so excited that I hardly know whether I’m going or coming. I can’t remember what I packed and what I didn’t pack. I don’t know—why, I don’t even know where my baggage keys are!” she exclaimed as she began to look frantically around the room. “What will I do?”
Already she was moving pillows, looking under books, in the corners of chairs, and around the floor. Nan joined the hunt and when Laura, a few seconds later, stuck her head in the doorway, they were both turning the room upside down in search of the keys.
“Say, you two,” the red-headed girl began, “They’re coming for your trunks next. Be ready. We’ve just time to catch the train.” With this she disappeared.
They heard Rhoda’s voice down the hall. “Everybody ready? The bus is coming.”
They heard Amelia. “Grace,” she called, “Dr. Prescott says to come downstairs. It’s time to go.” She sang the words out.
But it was not until they themselves heard the chug-chug of the old school bus as it rolled up to the entrance and came to a halt that Nan discovered the keys in the most obvious place of all, the lock of the trunk itself!
Now everything was all right. Bess gave one more look at herself in the mirror. The janitor came for the luggage. The girls took one last lingering look at their room. Then they left.
The next morning they awakened in New York City to one of the most exciting days they had ever had. Everything around them was new, for none of them had ever been to this largest city in theworld before. As they came out of Grand Central Station, with porters hurrying after them with their luggage, they were caught up in a rush of people hurrying to work.
“Oh, Nan!” Bess grabbed for her friend’s arm.
“Oh, Bess!” Nan exclaimed. “Did you ever see anything like it!” Nan’s face was shining. She looked around for the rest of their crowd, caught Dr. Prescott’s eye, and smiled. It was all so new and so much fun! Dr. Prescott smiled back. But there was not time to say anything.
They piled into a big car and went threading through the heavy morning traffic, under elevated railway tracks, past tall white buildings, through narrow crowded streets, around big double decker busses, and finally rolled to a stop at the wharves.
There ship after ship was lying in the docks. There were great big ones, bigger than any hotel they had ever seen; little fishing schooners with loose sails flapping in the breeze; busy tugs nosing around; and off in the distance, a gray United States battleship was lying at anchor.
Everyone was hustling about. The place seemed one mad scramble of porters, sailors, travellers, trunks, luggage carts, and taxis depositing more and more people all the time. It seemed as though the whole United States was sailing off for foreignports. Unconsciously, the girls huddled together. Dr. Prescott looked anxiously down at her brood and realized for the first time what a task she had undertaken. Then Nan touched her arm.
“There, Dr. Prescott,” she said, “there it is, our ship.”
Sure enough, there ahead of them, riding proudly in the dock was their boat, the S. S. Lincoln. But before they could reach it, before Bess could place her foot on the gang-plank as she had been seeing herself do for weeks past, in imagination a familiar voice cried excitedly, “Here they are! Here they all are!” and they looked up into the faces of mothers and fathers and friends who had come to see them off.
Immediately the whole rush of the outside world was forgotten. Nan was in Momsy Sherwood’s arms. Rhoda was kissing her father. Amelia was assuring hers that her watch was running perfectly. Laura was off to one side talking to her mother. Grace was telling her folks all about the trip from Lakeview. Bess was declaring to her mother that she had her keys—safe. There were introductions all round and then the group made its way up the gang plank, proudly and happily and a little bit tearfully.
“Nan Sherwood—Miss Nan Sherwood——Nan Sherwood—” Gradually the fact that Nan’sname was being called sifted through the minds of the happy crowd. It was Bess who noticed it first.
“Nan, why, Nan, they’re calling your name,” she tried to get her friend’s attention. At last Nan looked up.
“A telegram for Miss Nan Sherwood,” the boy called again. Nan reached through the crowd for it.
“Miss Elizabeth Harley—Miss Harley,” the boy began calling again. So, one by one, the girls received letters and telegrams, cards and flowers and books, candy and fruit, gifts and messages from friends in Florida and Chicago and Michigan and the West where Rhoda lived, wishing them “A Safe Journey and a Happy Landing!”
Because of all the excitement, it was not until the cry rang out “All’s ashore that’s going ashore,” that Momsy and Papa Sherwood were able to warn Nan. “Now,” Papa Sherwood said, “Remember, there are—as I have told you before those at Emberon who might want to do you harm. Some there have never become reconciled to your mother’s having inherited the fortune. They might try to make trouble for you.”
“Please don’t worry,” Nan herself looked serious as she answered her father. “I’ll be most careful.”
“Careful, did you say?” Bess was at her side. “Why Mrs. Sherwood, of course we’ll be careful. We’ll all be very careful.” Then as she noted the serious expression on both Mr. and Mrs. Sherwood’s face, she stopped short. Bess looked puzzled. Somewhere in the back of her mind there was something unsolved that this reminded her of. She tried to remember, but couldn’t. It troubled her vaguely even as she kissed Mrs. Sherwood good-by. Then she forgot it, for Nan was laughing and smiling and telling her mother and dad to hurry and get off if they didn’t want to be taken along too.
Next, they were all standing at the ship’s rail, waving with hats and handkerchiefs to the crowds on shore. The ship’s orchestra was playing one last tune. Tugs pushed at the boat. Slowly and majestically, it moved away from the dock to the harbor and the open sea, carrying Nan Sherwood and her Lakeview Hall friends along with it.
“Now what?” Bess was feeling a little forlorn as the big ship gathered steam and the figures on shore faded away to nothing.
Nan turned. She had been watching the white sea gulls swooping in great arcs down over the boat, missing it, and turning to swoop again. It looked like such fun!
“I haven’t the slightest idea,” she answered, “but let’s go and find out.” She took Bess’s hand and went inside, down the elevator, through a long corridor toward their cabins.
Midway, they were stopped by a white jacketed steward. “I beg your pardon, Miss,” he addressed Bess, “but are you Miss Sherwood?”
Bess couldn’t find her tongue. Nan spoke up. “I’m Nan Sherwood,” she said, “Is there anything wrong?”
“How many pieces of baggage did you have?” he answered her question with another.
“Two,” Nan answered quickly.
“What were they?”
“A small trunk and a suitcase.”
“The color?” He was making notations on a small slip of paper.
“Brown.”
“Did you have them sent to storage or directly to your cabin?”
“To the cabin.”
“Were they properly tagged?”
“Why, I thought so,” Nan was completely baffled at the questions.
“Your cabin number?” He smiled at the girl now. “There’s been some confusion,” he said, “and one of the other passengers is quite excited about it. I’m trying to straighten out the difficulties.”
“648. I thought my baggage was in my cabin.” Nanwaspuzzled now.
“Of course it was,” Bess chimed in. “Your father and my father came down and checked on that to make sure before they got off the boat. I’m certain they said your baggage was there. Come let’s look.”
The two girls and the steward continued down the corridor to the cabins where the rest of the Lakeview crowd was already at work unpacking.
“Oh, here they are now.” Rhoda looked up as the two girls entered. “We were just wondering about you. The angriest looking red-headed manwe’ve ever seen was just here demanding to see Miss Sherwood.”
“He was near-sighted and slightly hunch-backed,” Laura continued. “He lifted his shoulders, puckered his brows, and peered at Rhoda as though she was either hiding you in this cabin or lying when she said that she didn’t know where you were.”
“He looked slowly around,” Grace contributed, “as though you must surely be here. I thought for a moment that he was going to open the cabinet. But he hesitated and just stared at it. I’m sure he looked right through those doors and saw that you weren’t there.” She shuddered as she remembered the man’s expression.
“Yes, and when Rhoda advanced toward that doorway, easing him gently out, you know,” Amelia too looked frightened, “his face got so red that I thought he was going to die of apoplexy.”
“Then all of a sudden he changed,” Rhoda took up the story again. “He begged our pardon, said there was some confusion about baggage, and went away to find a steward.”
Nan turned to the steward at her side. “Is that the man whose baggage you are enquiring about?” she asked.
“Answers the description perfectly, Miss.” Hewas all politeness. “If you will pardon me now, I would like to see your luggage.”
The other girls moved to one side and attempted to get their scattered belongings out of the way. The cabin was small, and they had not yet finished unpacking. Laura and Amelia, whose cabin was across the corridor left—reluctantly.
The steward stepped over the other bags in the room and went directly to Nan’s trunk. He looked at it carefully, turned it over, and examined the tag. Finally, he looked up. “I’m sorry, Miss Sherwood,” he said, “The porters have made a mistake. This luggage was meant for room 846 instead of 648. See.”
Nan stepped over the luggage, as he had done, and looked at the tag. “No,” she said, more puzzled than ever, “that isn’t my luggage. I can see now that it isn’t quite the same color, though it is the same size and shape.”
“But where is yours?” Bess asked the question that was on the tip of Nan’s tongue.
“I’ll bring it presently.” The steward picked up the bag and walked out.
“Has the great mystery been solved,” Laura asked as she and Amelia came back into the cabin.
“Well, partly,” Nan said slowly, for she was still puzzled. “I don’t see how Papa made such a mistake. I don’t understand this yet.”
“You would understand it even less, if you have seen the villain in the piece,” Laura volunteered. She liked mysteries. “If I were in your shoes,” she continued, “I wouldn’t venture out of this cabin at any time during the crossing and I wouldn’t let a morsel of food cross my lips until some one had tasted it. At night, I’d lock that porthole and bar the door, and I’d never stay alone for a second. You’re in danger, lass.” She shook her head sadly. “There’s a deep, deep plot,” she added, as she saw that Bess seemed to be believing every single word of what she was saying, “to do away with you. Only the utmost caution will ever get you over this Atlantic Ocean alive.” Her voice was deep and husky as she finished the sentence, and her eyes stared ahead as though she could see into the future.
“Oh, Laura, be still,” Nan laughed at her friend. “You have Bess believing you now, and if you are not careful, she’ll be seeing hunch-backed men disappearing into every cabin along that corridor.”
Bess said nothing. Her busy mind was remembering Papa Sherwood’s warning just before he left the boat. “There are those at Emberon,” he had said, “that might want to do you harm. Be careful!” Again, as then, she had a vague feeling that there was something that had happened in the past, something strange and mysterious, thatshe ought to remember. Again, it eluded her.
She shook herself, partly in annoyance, partly to bring herself back to the present and cabin 648. “He’s awfully slow in bringing that baggage, isn’t he?” she asked.
Amelia looked at her watch. “Yes, he’s been gone fifteen minutes,” she answered. “Maybe you had better ring for another steward, Nan. There is something queer about all of this.”
“Yes, do!” Grace urged. “I feel rather frightened.”
“Now there is no sense in getting all worked up over nothing.” Nan was the only one who really appeared calm. “Baggage often gets mixed in the boats.”
“Nan, will you please stop being calm, and do something?” Bess was working herself up into a real frenzy. “Maybe someone has stolen your luggage.”
“Then you’ll have to wear my clothes and will you ever be a sight!” This from Amelia who was fully two inches taller than Nan and much, much thinner.
“Or mine,” This for Laura who was shorter than Nan, and plumper.
“I thank you all, but I guess I’ll wear my own.” Nan stepped toward the doorway as a steward knocked.
“Miss Sherwood?” he asked. Nan opened the door.
“Why-y-y, yes,” she answered, hesitantly, for it was not the same steward who had taken the other bag away.
“Your bag, I believe,” he half questioned as he dropped it inside the doorway and left.
The girls could hardly wait until they had examined it. The number on the tag was wrong just as the mysterious visitor had said, and the bag did look much like the other.
“Nan, get your keys!” It was Laura speaking. “It looks to me as though this lock has been meddled with.”
“Right here,” Nan opened her purse.
The six girls all stooped over the bag, as Laura tried the key. “Oh, that isn’t the right one.” She was impatient at the delay.
Nan handed her another.
“Please, will you all move round so I have more light?” Laura asked. “This doesn’t seem to fit, either.”
They stood up and watched her.
“Something is wrong, Nan.” Laura moved to one side. “Here, you try.”
Nan took the key, fussed with the lock a second, pushing and pulling, until finally the case flew open.