The days that followed were crammed full of both business and pleasure. Dorothy rose each morning, buoyant with eager hope that all would go well, and went to bed each night, rejoicing in the fact that in the main it had done so.
There was plenty of work to do; but it was cheerfully done, and many hands made it light, and comparatively easy. There were many small worries and anxieties, but they were overcome by perseverance and determination.
The Dorrance pride was inherent in all four children, and having set their hand to the plough, not only were they unwilling to turn back, but they were determined to make the best possible furrow. Although Dorothy was at the helm, and all important matters were referred to her, yet the others had their appointed tasks and did them each day, promptly and well.
Now that the Domain had assumed more of the character of a hotel, the Dorrances saw less of their boarders, socially. Also the large dining-room was used, and the guests seated in families at various tables. This gave a far more hotel-like air to the house, and though perhaps not quite as pleasant, it seemed to Dorothy the right thing to do.
The Faulkners were ideal boarders; the Van Arsdales, though more exacting, were just and considerate; but the Blacks, as Leicester expressed it, were a caution.
Mrs. Black was a continual and never-pausing fusser. Mr. Black remained two days to get them settled, and then returned to the city. Immediately after his departure, Mrs. Black insisted on changing her room.
"I didn't want to bother my husband about it," she said to Dorothy, "for he thinks I'm so fickle-minded; but truly, it isn't that. You see, the sun gets around to this room at just half-past three, and that's the time I'm always taking my nap, and so of course it wakes me up. Now you see, I can't stand that,—when I came up here for rest and recuperation. And so, my dear Miss Dorrance, if you don't mind, I'll just take some other room. I'm sure you have plenty of them, and if that big, strong Mr. Hickox will help move my things, I'm sure it will be no trouble at all. Perhaps your sister Fairy will look after the children a little bit, while Celestine and Lisa assist me. The baby is asleep, and perhaps she won't waken, but if she does, would Miss Lilian mind holding her for just a little while? or she might take her out in her baby-carriage for a bit of a ride. I'm sorry to be troublesome, but you see for yourself, I really can't help it."
If Mrs. Black reallywassorry to be troublesome, she must have been sorry most of the time. For she was everlastingly making changes of some sort, or desiring attention from somebody, and she quite imposed on the good nature of the younger Dorrances, by begging them to take care of her children upon all too frequent occasions. Once, even Leicester was surprised to find himself wheeling Montmorency up and down the veranda, while Mrs. Black finished a letter to go in the mail.
The Van Arsdale ladies also were under the calm, but imperious sway of their fragile-looking niece. It was nothing unusual to see Miss Marcia and Miss Amanda each holding one of the fretful children, and making frantic endeavors to amuse their young relatives. The nurses were competent, but Mrs. Black so often had errands for them that their young charges were frequently in the care of other people.
Dorothy talked this matter over with Mrs. Faulkner, and as usual was wisely counseled by that lady. She advised, that in so far as Lilian and Fairy wished to play with the Black children, they should do so; but in no way were they under obligation to assist Mrs. Black in the care of her little ones. And, if she requested this at times when the girls had duties to perform, or indeed at a time when they wished to take their recreation, Mrs. Faulkner said they were perfectly justified in asking Mrs. Black to excuse them.
Dorothy told this to her sisters, who were thereby much relieved; for though fond of the children, they did not, as Lilian said, wish to be pushing around those Black babies in perambulators from morning till night. But somehow the babies caused a great deal of commotion, and Dorothy began to understand why boarding-house keepers preferred grown people.
One day as the Dorrance girls sat on the veranda, Celestine came running to them, wringing her hands, after her French method of showing great dismay, and exclaiming:
"Mees Sylvie,—she have fallen into ze lake!"
"What!" exclaimed the three girls at once, jumping up, and running towards the lake; "where did she fall in? How did it happen?"
"Non, non,—not zat way! zis a-way," and Celestine started down a path that did not lead towards the lake. "I have pull her out; she is not drown,—but she is,—oh, so ver' soil,—so, vat you say,—muddy, oh, so much muddy!"
"Never mind the mud if the child isn't drowned," cried Lilian; "but this is not the way to the lake. You said she fell in the lake."
"Not ze gran' lake, mees, but ze small lake,—ze ver' small, p'tit lake."
"Oh, she means nothing but a mud-puddle!" cried Fairy, who had run ahead of the rest, and found Sylvia lying on the grass, chuckling with laughter, while her pretty clothes were a mass of mud and wet.
"I falled in!" she cried, gleefully; "I failed in all myself, when C'lestine wasn't looking. Ain't I a funny dirl?"
"No, I don't think it's funny," began Dorothy, and then she paused, realizing that it was not her duty to reprimand Mrs. Black's children, and, too, Sylvia certainly did look funny. Not only her white dress, but her face and hands, and her dainty white slippers and stockings were bespattered with brown mud, and Lilian said that she looked like a chocolate éclair.
Another day, Celestine approached Dorothy with the pleasing news that, "Master Montmorency, he must have upsetted the blanc-mange."
Dorothy flew to verify this statement, and found that the son of the house of Black had indeed overturned a large dish of Bavarian cream, which Kathleen had made for that evening's dessert. It had been set out on the back porch to cool, and though protected by a wire screen cover, the enterprising youth had succeeded in wrecking the whole affair.
Dorothy's record for good-nature was seriously menaced by this mischievous prank, and she would probably have told Mrs. Black her honest opinion of the transgressing infant; but Kathleen's view of the case disarmed her.
"Whisht, now, darlint," said the big peace-maker, "niver you mind. I'll whishk up another bowl full in a minute, shure. The shpalpeen didn't mane anny harrum. Troth, he's nothin' but a baby. Wasn't ye wan yersilf wanst? Go 'long wid ye, now, and lave me to me wurruk."
This Dorothy was glad enough to do, and she walked away, feeling that Kathleen had taught her a lesson in making allowance for the unconsciousness of a child's wrongdoing.
When she reached the west veranda she found the whole family and all the guests gathered there in a great state of excitement.
Following Lilian's pointing finger with her eyes, she saw Mary, the parrot, perched calmly on a high limb of an evergreen-tree.
"How did she get out?" cried Dorothy, aghast.
"Sylvia opened the cage door," answered Lilian, "when no one was looking,—and Mary just walked out. You should have seen her climbing that tree. She went up branch by branch."
The parrot looked triumphantly down at the crowd, and remarked, "Mary is high up; Mary is very high up."
"Come down, Mary," said Dorothy, beseechingly; "come down, Mary,—pretty Mary,—come down to Dorothy."
"Hurrah for Dorothy!" cried the parrot,—"hurrah for Sylvia! hurrah for the Dorrance Domain!"
This last cheer had been taught to Mary by Leicester, after many long and patient lessons, and never before had Mary spoken it so plainly and distinctly.
By this time the Van Arsdale ladies were in tears; Fairy, too, was weeping, for she felt sure Mary would fly away and never come back. The Black children required very little encouragement to start their lachrymal glands, and seeing the others' tears, immediately began to howl in various keys.
"Don't cry, don't cry!" said Mary, from her high perch.
"Come down, Mary," said Dorothy, coaxingly, and showing an apple and a cracker which she had procured; "come down and get your dinner."
But no urgings would induce the bird to come down. She cocked her eye wickedly, and hurrahed for everybody in turn, but utterly refused to descend.
"Ach, donnerblitzen!" exclaimed German Lisa. "Denn du bist ein dumkopf! Kommst du jetz hinein!"
"Ciel! what a bird it is!" wailed Celestine, wringing her hands; "ah, Marie, belle Marie, come down, cherie!"
But the French coaxing, and the German scolding had no more effect on Mary than the weeping of the Van Arsdale ladies and the screaming of the children. She fluttered her wings, and seemed about to depart. Then she would look at them again, and with her exasperating winks, would hurrah enthusiastically.
"If she'll only stay there long enough, perhaps I can lasso her," said Leicester, running in the house for a string.
"No," said Mr. Faulkner, who followed him in, "I'm afraid that would frighten her; but if you had a butterfly net, with a very long handle, we might catch her with that."
"Just the thing," said Leicester; "and there is one in the storeroom; I remember seeing it there."
He brought it, but the handle was not long enough; so Mr. Faulkner proposed that they try placing a ladder against another tree near by, and then from the top of that, endeavor to reach the bird with a net.
Mary watched the proceedings with great interest. "Catch Mary!" she cried; "catch pretty Mary!"
"You bet we will!" cried Leicester, and when the ladder was adjusted he climbed to the top of it, carrying the long-handled net with him.
They all thought the bird would be frightened at the net and fly away, or at least attempt to do so.
But she seemed to think it a game in which she played an important part, and she sat quietly on the branch, occasionally remarking, "Catch Mary, pretty Mary!"
With a sure aim, Leicester pushed the net towards the bird and brought it down over her head, then with a dextrous twist, he turned it upside down, with the bird in it, and lowered it carefully to Mr. Faulkner, who was standing below. At this unexpected indignity, Mary set up a ferocious squawking, the Black children redoubled their yells, and the Dorrance children cheered with delight.
Mary was taken from the net, unharmed, and restored to her happy mistress, who determined to send to town at once for a padlock for the cage door.
But though commotions such as these were of frequent, almost daily occurrence; yet when they were not such as to interfere with the routine of her household management, Dorothy did not allow them to worry her.
Although usually busy all the morning, she found many spare hours for rest and recreation in the afternoon; and the evenings were always delightful. The Black children were then safely in bed, and could make no trouble. The Dorrances were at liberty to be by themselves, or with their boarders, as they wished.
As Mr. Faulkner played the guitar, and Leicester could pick a little on the mandolin, and as they all could sing,—or fancied they could,—there were often very jolly concerts on the veranda, or, on moonlight evenings, out in the boat.
Mr. Black came up every week, and when he discovered the array of musical talent already there, he brought his banjo, and added greatly to the fun. Sometimes on rainy evenings, they would all congregate in the great empty ballroom, and play merry games. On such occasions, the Blacks and Faulkners seemed almost as young, and nearly as noisy as the Dorrances.
One day Leicester came to Dorothy, with a letter.
"Jack Harris has just written me," he said, "and he wants to come up here and board for a month; what do you think?"
"Let him come, by all means," said Dorothy, heartily; "he won't be a bit of extra trouble, and if he will pay our regular rates I shall be glad to have him. The Dorrance Domain is now a fully established summer hotel; and we are prepared to receive all who apply."
It was nearly a week after Leicester had written to Jack Harris, telling him that he might come up and board at the hotel, when, one afternoon, the Dorrance children heard queer sounds coming up from the direction of the dock.
All four ran to look over the rail of the upper landing, and saw a strange-looking craft anchored at the dock. On the dock were two boys and Mr. Hickox; the latter gentleman apparently much excited and interested.
"It's Jack Harris!" cried Leicester, "and another fellow with him; and, oh, I say, girls, they've got a motor-boat!"
"What's a motor-boat?" cried Fairy; but as all four were then flying down the steps at a rapid speed, nobody answered her.
Wondering who the second boy could be, and filled with delightful curiosity as to the wonderful motor-boat, the Dorrances reached the dock with astonishing rapidity.
"Hi, Jack," cried Leicester, "thought you were coming up by train. What a dandy boat! Yours?"
"No," said Jack, whipping off his cap, and shaking hands with Dorothy; "it belongs to my chum here, Bob Irwin. I've brought him along, Dorothy, and I hope you can take us both in. Less said you had plenty of room. I would have written, but Bob only decided to come at the last minute, and we were so busy and excited getting the boat off, that I forgot to telegraph, though I meant to do so."
Bob Irwin was a big, jolly-looking boy, of about seventeen or eighteen, and his smile was so broad and comprehensive that the Dorrances felt acquainted at once.
"Indeed we have plenty of room," said Dorothy, answering young Irwin's greeting; "and we're very glad to have you both,—and your boat too," she added, still looking with a sort of fascination at the trim little affair.
"She is a jolly little craft," said Bob Irwin, frankly; "I've only had her a few weeks. I named herShooting Star, because she goes like one. We came all the way up from Jersey City by the canal."
"All the way!" exclaimed Lilian; "what fun you must have had coming through the locks!"
"Well yes,—but there were so many of them. The planes were worse, though;Shooting Stardidn't take to those kindly at all. However, we're here; and if you'll keep us, we'll all have a good deal of fun on this lake."
"I didn't know you could come all the way by canal," said Leicester. "Are they willing to open the locks for you?"
"Oh, Bob's uncle is a Grand High Mogul or something in the canal company, and he gave us a permit. I tell you it was great fun; the boat goes like a greased arrow."
"Would you like to go for a little spin around the lake, now, all of you?" asked Bob.
"No,—not now," said Dorothy, looking at her watch. "We'd love to, but it is too near dinner-time for us to go now. You know, as hotel proprietors, we have duties to attend to at scheduled hours; and we must be found at our posts."
Though said with apparent carelessness, this was really a brave bit of self-denial on Dorothy's part. For she was eager to try the pretty boat, and, too, there was nearly a half hour before her presence at the hotel was actually necessary.
But she had learned by experience that to go out on the lake was a proceeding which could not be accurately timed, and she knew that her duty pointed towards keeping on the safe side. Beside this, she must have another room put in readiness, for she had expected only Jack.
"But Idowant to go out in the motor-boater," cried Fairy, dancing around the dock, and waving her arms. "Will you take us some other time, Mr. Bob?"
"Indeed I will," said Bob, heartily; "and anyway, it's just as well to take our traps up now, and get settled."
"Hickox is your man," said that long individual, suddenly interrupting his own investigation of the marvelous boat. "Hickox'll cart your truck up the hill. Where might it be?"
"Here you are," and Bob sprang into theShooting Starand tossed out three suit cases and a lot of odds and ends of luggage. "But we fellows can carry them up."
"No, sir, no, sir; Hickox'll look after things. It'll be all right."
Jack laughed at the familiar phrases, and Bob Irwin looked on with amusement while Mr. Hickox stowed the things in his queer-looking cart.
"And this is for you and your sisters, Miss Dorothy," said Bob, as he emerged with a final parcel.
There was no mistaking the contents of the neatly tied up box of candy; but it was of such a size that it nearly took the girls' breath away.
"Oh, thank you," cried Dorothy, dimpling with smiles. "I haven't had a speck of New York candy since I've been here. And the Woodville gum-drops are so highly colored and so stiff inside, that they're not a bit of fun."
"They were made summer before last, too," said Leicester; "they ought to be sold as antiques."
"A whole big box of candy for our very own!" cried Fairy; "oh, that's better than the promoter-boat, or whatever you call it. And part of the candy ismyvery own, isn't it, Mr. Bob?"
"Yes, indeed; to do whatever you like with."
"Then I shall give half of my share to Mrs. Hickox. She'll besosurprised. I don't believe she ever saw any real choklits or butter-cuppers."
Leicester carried the precious box, and the six children climbed the steps to the Dorrance Domain. Naturally, Fairy reached the top first, and ran up the veranda steps, shouting, "Oh, grannymother! we've got two new boarders, and they came in an automobile-ship, and they brought a bushel of candy, real splendiferous New York candy,—and his name is Bob!"
Grandma Dorrance had always liked Leicester's friend Jack, and she willingly extended her welcome to the pleasant-faced Bob.
The two boys were a decided addition to the gayety of the Dorrance Domain.
And theShooting Starproved to be an equally desirable adjunct. Instead of rowing over to Dolan's Point each morning for the marketing, or harnessing old Dobbin and driving there, the swift little motor-boat did the errand in less than half the time, and was moreover a pleasure and delight.
Besides this there were merry excursions on the lake in the afternoons and evenings.
One day, when they had started out immediately after luncheon, and, owing to Mr. Black's expected arrival, were to have a late dinner, the six children made an exploring tour of the whole lake.
"I want to find out," said Bob, as they started off, "what feeds this lake. There must be several inlets and some of them large ones. A lake nine miles long has got to be fed by something."
"This lake is so tame it would eat out of your hand," said Leicester.
"Even so,Iwouldn't want to feed it," said Dorothy; "my present array of table boarders is quite enough for me, thank you."
"Thereisan inlet," said Lilian, "just this side of Dolan's Point. The one that has the floating bridge across it, you know."
"But that isn't enough to make any impression on this big lake," insisted Bob; "there must be two or three arms somewhere, and if there are, we'll find them to-day; for I'm going all around the shores of the lake."
So theShooting Starshot ahead, and skirted the margin of the lake for miles and miles.
But except the one at Dolan's Point, no inlet of any sort was discovered, and the round trip was completed by a crowd of mystified explorers.
"It's the queerest thing!" said Bob, whose scientific inquiries were prompted by a tenacious mind. "The water in Lake Ponetcong certainly must come from somewhere."
"I think it rains in," said Fairy, with a sage expression. "It hasn't rained much this summer, but it rained a lot when we were in New York, and I s'pose the water just stayed in."
"I think it just was here from the beginning," said Lilian, "and somehow it never got away."
"That would do for some lakes," said Dorothy; "but here, they're always letting it out through the locks; and it does seem as if it would have to be filled up again, some way."
That evening the children put the puzzling question to Mr. Faulkner. He was a great favorite with the crowd of young people, and though a scientific man, he was capable of making explanations that were entirely comprehensible to their youthful minds.
They were all interested, though perhaps Bob Irwin was more especially so, in learning that Lake Ponetcong was fed entirely by springs in its bed.
This phrase pleased the Dorrance children very much, as their sense of humor was touched by what they chose to call the spring-bed of the lake.
But Bob was more seriously interested, and listened attentively to Mr. Faulkner's description of what was an unusual, though not unprecedented phenomenon.
Sometimes Mr. and Mrs. Faulkner accompanied them on their motor-boat trips; sometimes, too, Mr. and Mrs. Black went; but the Van Arsdale ladies refused to be persuaded to risk their lives in any such mysterious contrivance.
The Black children and their nurses were taken out once, but upon their return Bob Irwin declared himself unwilling ever again to carry such an emotional and cosmopolitan crowd. The baby shrieked and yelled in English, the French nurse and German nurse shrieked in their respective languages, and the way they all jumped about was really a serious menace to safety.
There seemed to be no end to the energies or the resources of the three boys in providing pleasure and entertainment.
Jack and Bob shared Leicester's duties as a matter of course; and though Leicester protested, the others insisted on helping him in whatever he had to do. They froze ice cream, they mowed the grass, they split kindling-wood,—and they looked on these things as pastimes rather than tasks. They were big, strong, good-natured fellows, and firm friends and admirers of all the Dorrances.
Bob declared that although he drew the line at pushing the Black babies' perambulators, yet he was perfectly willing to act as Miss Mary's escort whenever desired.
One notable achievement of the boys', was a roof-garden. Jack had discovered the possibilities of the hotel roof during his earlier visit; and at his proposition it was arranged most attractively.
Small evergreen trees were brought from the woods and taken up to the roof where they were made to stand about in hedges or clusters. Rustic chairs, settees and tables were found in the storerooms, and rugs were placed about. Hammocks were swung, and over the top of all was rigged an awning, which could be rolled away if desired.
Chinese lanterns made the place gay by night, and flags and bunting formed part of the decoration.
Summer night concerts were often held here, and when Tessie would appear with iced lemonade and cakes and fruit, everybody declared that never had there been a hotel so admirably managed as the Dorrance Domain.
Though Dorothy enjoyed the fun of the motor-boat and the roof-garden, and was always happy whether working or playing, yet perhaps she liked best of all, to lie in her hammock of a summer afternoon, and read or day-dream as she looked across the lake and watched the shadows on the distant hills.
On these occasions she felt sure she could be a poet, if she only knew how to express properly the fancies that danced through her brain.
Sometimes she would provide herself with a pencil and paper, but though she might write a line or a phrase, she never could get any further. The attempt to put her thoughts into words always produced a crude and stilted result which she knew instinctively was not poetry.
"If I only could learn the wordy part of it," she said to herself, "I am sure I have the right thoughts to put into a poem."
As she lay thinking about all this, one warm afternoon, she suddenly heard a voice say: "Isthis a hotel, or isn't it?"
Dorothy jumped, and sitting up in her hammock, saw a strange lady, who had apparently just walked into the Domain.
The newcomer was of the aggressive type. She was short and stout, with a determined-looking face and a rather unattractive personal appearance. She wore a short, thick brown walking-skirt, and a brown linen shirt-waist, and heavy common-sense shoes. A plain brown felt hat was tied securely to her head by means of a brown veil knotted under her chin. She carried in one hand a small suit-case, and in the other a stout walking-stick.
Pretty Dorothy, in her fluffy summer muslin, looked at the stranger curiously a moment, and then, quickly recovering her poise, said politely: "Yes, this is a hotel. Are you looking for board?"
"No," said the stranger, "I am on a tramp. In fact Iama tramp, a lady-tramp. I am spending the whole summer walking about the country, enjoying myself."
"You are fond of walking, then?" said Dorothy, by way of making conversation.
"No, I am not," replied the lady-tramp; "I am doing it to reduce my flesh, and I am enjoying myself because I have succeeded. Success is always enjoyable."
"Yes, it is;" and Dorothy herself, felt a satisfaction in the thought that she too was succeeding in her summer's work.
"My name," went on her visitor, "is Lucille Dillingham. I tramp all day, and at night I stay at any hotel or farmhouse near which I happen to find myself. And so I want to stay at this hotel to-night, and if you will tell me where to find the proprietor, I won't trouble you further."
"I am the proprietor," said Dorothy, smiling, for she felt quite sure this statement would surprise Miss Lucille Dillingham.
"If that's a joke," was the response, "I can't see any particular fun in it. But no matter, I will inquire at the hotel myself."
"But truly, Miss Dillingham, I am the proprietor," and Dorothy stood up and put on the most dignified air of which she was capable. "I am Dorothy Dorrance, and this hotel is the property of my grandmother; but I am the acknowledged proprietor, and I shall be very glad to talk to you as such."
"You don't mean it, child! well if that is not the greatest I ever heard of! I am a great believer myself in the capability of women; but for a girl like you to run a hotel, is one ahead ofmyexperience! Tell me all about it."
"There isn't much to tell," said Dorothy, who was not at all pleasantly impressed by the air and manner of the lady-tramp, and she couldn't help thinking to herself that the tramp was more in evidence than the lady. "However," she went on, courteously, "I live here with my grandmother, and my brother and two sisters. We have entire charge of this hotel, and we try to manage it in a way to satisfy our guests and ourselves. If you wish to stay for the night, Miss Dillingham, I am sure we can make you comfortable."
Miss Dillingham's eyes sparkled.
"I will do better than that," she cried; "I will stay all the time, and I will run the hotel for you. I am a splendid manager, and much better fitted for that sort of thing than a frivolous young girl like you. Oh, we'll get along famously!"
Dorothy began to wonder whether Miss Dillingham might not have escaped from some lunatic asylum, but she only said, "Thank you very much for your kind offer, but the hotel is running smoothly, and I really can't see the necessity for any change in the administration." Just at this moment Fairy came flying across the lawn, and flinging herself into the hammock, drew the sides of it together around her athletic little body, and with a peculiar kicking motion twisted herself and the hammock over and over in a sort of revolving somersault. Then still holding the sides she poked up her golden head, crowned with its big white bow, and gazed at the stranger.
"You must 'scuse me," she said, "for 'pearing so unsuspectedly. But I always come that way when I am in a hurry, and I'm always in a hurry."
"This is my sister Fairy, Miss Dillingham," said Dorothy, and Fairy bounced out of the hammock, and gracefully offered her hand to the stranger.
"How do you do?" she said. "I am very glad to see you, and I hope you have come to stay, 'cause it's time we had some new boarders. I am 'fraid we are running behind with our 'spenses."
Dorothy bit her lip to keep from laughing at Fairy's attitude of proprietorship, and Miss Dillingham stared at the child in blank amazement.
"Ah," she said, "is this another proprietor of this very remarkable hotel?"
"I'm not purporietor," said Fairy, "my sister is that; and my brother is clerk. I am just a general helper, and sometimes I help with the babies and the parrot."
Miss Dillingham seemed more and more bewildered, but she said, "I think you're all lunatics, and need somebody to look after you, and straighten you out. I shall stay here for the night, and look into this thing. It interests me extremely. Pray have you many boarders, and are they all as crazy as yourselves?"
Dorothy resented this question, but she kept her temper under control, and replied, "We have a number of boarders and we consider them quite sane, and they seem to think us so. If you wish to stay for the night, I will take you to the house at once and give you a room."
Miss Dillingham gave a sort of exasperated sniff, which Dorothy took to mean acquiescence, and they all started for the house.
Fairy walked backwards in front of the others, whirling all the way round, now and then, to make sure her path was clear.
"Did you really think we were crazy?" she asked, much interested in the idea.
"I did," replied Miss Dillingham, "and I am not yet convinced to the contrary."
Suddenly Fairy realized that this was another occasion for registration, and with one of her loudest shrieks at the thought, she darted towards the house and disappeared through the front door.
"Leicester!" she cried, and then with a prolonged yell, "Les—ter!" Leicester appeared by a jump through a window. "What's up?" he said.
"Oh, Less, there's a new boarder, and she's crazy, and she thinks we are, and she will want to register. Do get in the coop, quick!"
Grasping the situation, Leicester flung himself through the wicket door and behind the office desk. In a jiffy, he had assumed his clerkly air, and had opened the great register at the proper date.
When Dorothy appeared, a moment later, with Miss Dillingham, Leicester offered the pen to the newcomer with such a businesslike air that there seemed really no further room to doubt the responsibility of the hotel management. Then he rang a bell, and in a moment Mr. Hickox appeared, and with the deferential demeanor of a porter picked up Miss Dillingham's suit-case and stick.
Then Dorothy escorted the lady-tramp to her room, and returned a few moments later, to find the other children waiting for an explanation.
"Where did you catch it?" asked Leicester.
"What is it?" inquired Lilian.
"It's only for one night," explained Dorothy, laughing; "but, Less, she wants to run the hotel! She thinks we aren't responsible!"
It really seemed inevitable, so Lilian started the Dorrance groan. The others took it up, with their usual enthusiasm, and though it was of late a forbidden indulgence, they let themselves go for once, and the result was an unearthly din that brought grandma to the scene at once.
"Children!" she exclaimed. "You know you promised not to do that!"
"I know, grandma," explained Fairy, "but truly, this is a specialty occasion. You don't know what's happened, and what she wants to do."
But before Mrs. Dorrance could learn what had happened, the newly-registered guest herself, came flying down the staircase.
"Whatisthe matter?" she cried; "is the house on fire? Has anybody been killed?"
"We must 'pollergize, Miss Dillingham," spoke up Fairy; "that's our Dorrance groan, it belongs to the family; we don't use it much up here, 'cause it wakes up the baby and otherwise irritations the boarders."
"I should think it would," put in Miss Dillingham, with conviction.
"Yes, it does," went on Fairy, agreeably; "and so you see, we don't 'low ourselves to 'spress our feelings that way very often. But to-day we had a purtickular reason for it, and so somehow we found ourselves a-groaning before we knew it."
Ignoring Fairy and her voluble explanation, Miss Dillingham turned to Mrs. Dorrance, and inquired with dignity: "Are you the lady of the house?"
"I am the owner of the house," said Grandma Dorrance, with her own gentle dignity, "and my granddaughter Dorothy is in charge of it. I must ask you to forgive the disturbance the children just made, and I think I can safely assure you it will not happen again."
Grandma Dorrance looked at her grandchildren, with an air of confidence that was responded to by a look of loving loyalty from each pair of laughing young eyes.
"I don't understand it at all," said Miss Dillingham; "but I will now return to my room, and take a short nap, if the house can be kept quiet. Then later, I have a proposition which I wish to lay before you, and which will doubtless prove advantageous to all concerned."
Miss Dillingham stalked majestically up the stairs again, and the Dorrances consulted as to what she could mean by her extraordinary proposition.
"I know," said Dorothy, "she wants to run the hotel. She informed me that she was much better qualified for such a business than I am."
"Oh, ho!" cried Leicester, "she is, is she! Well I like her nerve!"
"I wish she hadn't come," said Fairy, beginning to cry. "I don't want her to run this hotel, and Dorothy and all of us only be just boarders."
"Don't cry, Fairy, whatever you do," exclaimed Leicester. "If you put up one of your best crying-spells, it will make more noise than the groan did, and our new friend will come racing down-stairs again."
This suggestion silenced Fairy, and Leicester went on: "Do you really mean, Dot, that she proposed seriously to take charge of the Domain?"
"Yes, she did; and I think she expects to make a business proposition to that effect."
"All right, then; let's give her as good as she sends. Let's pretend that we entertain her proposition, and see what she has to say for herself."
"You'd better be careful," said Lilian, the practical, "sometimes people get caught in their own trap; and if you pretend you're going to let her have charge of affairs here, first thing you know she'll be at the head of things, and we will all be nowhere."
"Huh!" exclaimed Dorothy. "I'm not afraid of being dethroned by any lady-tramp that happens along. Just let her try it!"
"However she might frighten us singly," said Leicester, "I rather guess that the Dorrance family as a whole, can stand up for their rights."
"Don't be foolish, children," said grandma; "Dorothy must have misunderstood the lady. She couldn't have meant to make such a strange proposition at a moment's notice."
But apparently that is just what Miss Lucille Dillingham did mean. For that evening, after dinner, she gathered the Dorrance children round her in one of the small drawing-rooms, and talked to them in a straightforward if unacceptable way.
"Now don't say a word," she said, "until I have thoroughly explained my intention."
"We won't say a word, Miss Dillingham," said Fairy, "until you say your speech. But please say it plain, 'cause I'm the littlest one and sometimes I can't understand big words. 'Course I say big words myself, sometimes, but I understand my own, only other people's aren't always tellergibble to me. And so, you see I just have to——"
"That will do, Fairy," interrupted Leicester; "we've agreed not to do our talking until Miss Dillingham is through."
"In a few words, then," began Miss Dillingham, with the air of one who is satisfied of a foregone conclusion, "I want to say that in the few hours I have been here I have thoroughly acquainted myself with the conditions and possibilities of this hotel. And I have discovered that it is improperly managed by incompetent hands, and that it is, therefore, a lucky stroke of fortune for you that I happened along just now. I propose to assume entire charge of the hotel, give it a new name, establish new methods of management, and control absolutely the receipts and expenditures."
If the four Dorrances hadn't been possessed of a strong sense of humor, they would have been appalled by this extraordinary proposition. As it was, it struck them all as being very funny, and though with difficulty restraining a smile, Leicester inquired, with every appearance of serious interest, "And where do we come in?"
"You will be merely boarders," announced Miss Dillingham, "and can run and play as befits children of your ages. It may seem strange to you at first, that I should make you this generous proposition on so short an acquaintance, but it is my habit to make quick decisions, and I rarely regret them."
"Would you mind telling us your reasons for wanting to do this thing?" asked Lilian.
"My reasons are perhaps too subtle for young minds to understand. They are partly ethical, for I cannot make it seem right that a girl of sixteen should be so weighted with responsibility; and, too, I am actuated in part by motives of personal advantage. I may say the project seems to possess a pecuniary interest for me——"
"Miss Dillingham," said Fairy fixing her wide-open eyes on the lady's face, "'scuse me for interrupting, but truly I can't understand all those words. What does etherkle mean? and what is tercumerary? They are nice words and I would like to save them to use myself, if I knew a little bit what they meant."
"Never mind what they mean, Fairy," said Leicester; "and Miss Dillingham, it is not necessary for us to consider this matter any further. You have made your proposition, and I am sure that I speak for the four of us, when I say that we decline it absolutely and without further discussion."
When Leicester chose, he could adopt a tone and manner that seemed far more like a man, than like a boy of his years; and Miss Dillingham suddenly realized that she was not dealing with quite such childish minds as she had supposed.
"My brother is quite right," said Dorothy, and she, too, put on her most grown-up manner, which, by the way, was very grown-up indeed. "Although surprised at what you have said, we understand clearly your offer, and we respectfully but very positively decline itin toto."
As Dorothy confessed afterwards, she didn't know exactly whatin totomeant, but she felt quite certain it came in appropriately just there.
Miss Dillingham seemed to think so too, or at any rate she was impressed by the attitude of the Dorrance young people, and without a further word, she rose and stalked away and they saw her no more that night. The next morning she was up early and after a somewhat curt leave-taking, she tramped away.
"I think I could have liked her," said Dorothy, thoughtfully, "if she hadn't tried to steal away from us our Dorrance Domain."
Fairy continued her weekly visits to Mrs. Hickox, but she was positively forbidden by her hostess ever to bring any one with her.
Mrs. Hickox was possessed of a peculiar kind of shyness, and she shrank from meeting people more sophisticated than herself. She had become devotedly attached to Fairy, and really looked forward eagerly to the afternoons the child spent with her. She continued to be surprised at the doings of the Dorrances, but had never been to the Domain since her first call upon the family.
"Mr. Hickox tells me you've got a roof-garden," she said to Fairy one day, as they sat sociably in the milk-room. "Now for the land's sake do tell me what that is. Is it the thing that runs by electrics?"
"No," said Fairy, who never laughed at Mrs. Hickox's ignorance; "it's theShooting Starthat runs by electricity; the roof-garden doesn't run at all,—it just stays still."
"Well what is it, anyhow?"
"Why, the roof-garden is just a garden on the roof."
"A garden on a roof! well Iamsurprised! What do you raise in the garden? peas and beans? It must be an awful trouble to get the dirt up there, and to get the water up there to water things with. As for getting the potatoes and pumpkins down, I suppose you can just throw them down,—though I must say I should think it would spoil the pumpkins."
"Oh, we don't raise vegetables in the roof-garden, Mrs. Hickox," said Fairy, laughing in spite of herself.
"Well, whatdoyou raise?"
"Why we don't raise anything; we just stay there."
"Humph! I can't see any garden about that. But I did want to know what the thing was like. 'Cause I cut out a clipping yesterday,—Hickory, he got his shoes home from the cobbler's, and they was wrapped in a piece of a New York newspaper; my, but I had a good time! I cut so many clippings out of that newspaper, that what's left would do for a picture frame. The worst of it was, so many clippings backed up against others, and they wasn't the same length. People ought to be more careful how they print their newspapers. Well, as I was saying, I cut out a piece about a roof-garden, but I guess you're right about their not raisin' things in it. My land! I couldn't get head or tail to the whole yarn. So that's why I wanted to ask you just what a roof-garden is. But I ain't found out much."
Fairy endeavored to explain further, but Mrs. Hickox's mind seemed incapable of grasping the real intent of a roof-garden, after all; and so after intimating her continued surprise, she changed the subject.
Mrs. Hickox was the only one who could sustain the greater part in a conversation with Fairy. For some reason the child liked the queer old lady, and was contented to listen while she talked; though usually Fairy's own loquacity was not so easily curbed.
"I told Hickory, long ago, that that biggest sister of yours would set Lake Ponetcong on fire yet; or he told me, I don't know which, and it don't make no difference now; but, anyway, I'm free to confess she's done it. To think of a girl of sixteen takin' a pack of boarders into that big hotel, and makin' a success of it! It is surprisin'! and she does everything up so slick, too. Why, Hickory says the meals is always on time, and the whole place is always as neat and cleared-up lookin' as my best room."
"My sister Dorothyisa smart girl," agreed Fairy, who was always ready to stand up for her family; "Mr. Faulkner says she has great 'zecutive billerty,—and I guess she has."
"You all have," said Mrs. Hickox, heartily. "You're as queer as Dick's hatband,—every one of you,—but you're smarter 'n steel-traps. And the rest of you work just as good as Dorothy does. You ain't none of you shirks. Of course you have lots of help, but I s'pose you need it. Hickory, he does a lot of work for you, but, land! he gets paid enough, so it's all right."
"Wouldn't you like to come over and see the roof-garden?" asked Fairy, though without much hope that her invitation would be accepted.
"No, child, no; I ain't got no use for new-fangled doin's. My old-fashioned garden is good enough for me. I like to read about things in newspapers, but I don't hanker none about being mixed up in 'em. Run along now, here comes Mr. Hickox and he'll be wantin' his supper. Run along, quick now,—good-bye. Well Iamsurprised!"
The last remark was addressed to the approaching Mr. Hickox, but having been so peremptorily dismissed, Fairy did not turn to see what the new occasion for Mrs. Hickox's surprise might be.
The month of August went pleasantly along at the Dorrance Domain. No new boarders were registered, but all who were there, stayed through the month, and all except the Blacks stayed into the early September. The Dorrances had given up all idea of Mr. Lloyd's coming to visit them, as he had written earlier in the season that he would do.
But one day a letter came, saying that he would run up for a couple of days.
Aside from their appreciation of Mr. Lloyd's kindness in a business way, the Dorrances all liked that genial gentleman as a friend, and the news of his visit was gladly received. The Dorrance Domain was put into gala dress for the occasion, and a special program was arranged for the evening's entertainment.
He was taken for a sail in theShooting Star, given a drive behind old Dobbin, and initiated into the picturesque pleasures of the roof-garden.
Mr. Lloyd was most appreciative and enthusiastic; and it was fun for the Dorrances to see his astonishment at the success of their hotel management. Although Grandma Dorrance had written to him what the children were doing, in a general way, he had formed no idea of the magnitude of their enterprise.
The second day of his stay they held a family conference in one of the small parlors. He had told Grandma Dorrance that he wished for a business talk with her alone, but she had said that the children were quite as capable of understanding their financial situation as she herself, if not more so; and that, after their interest and assistance through the summer, they were entitled to a hearing of whatever Mr. Lloyd might have to say.
So the family conclave was called, and Mr. Lloyd took the occasion to express his hearty appreciation of what they had done.
"You seem to have the Dorrance grit," he said; "your Grandfather Dorrance would have been proud of his grandchildren, could he have known what they would accomplish. He little thought when he bought this hotel property that his family would ever live here,—let alone running it as a hotel."
"It seems so strange," said Dorothy, "to think that this old Domain that we've made fun of for so many years, and never thought was good for anything, should have helped us through this summer."
"I hope, my dear," said Mr. Lloyd, "that you have been careful and prudent about your expenditures. For sometimes, these exciting enterprises look very fine and desirable, but are exceedingly costly in the end."
Mr. Lloyd was a kind friend, and felt great interest in the Dorrance fortunes; but his cautious, legal mind, could not avoid a careful consideration of the exact state of their finances.
"We have kept our accounts very strictly, sir," said Dorothy, "and we find that the Dorrance Domain has entirely supported our family for the summer,—I mean that we are in debt to nobody as a consequence of having spent our summer here."
"That is fine, my dear child, that is fine," said Mr. Lloyd, rubbing his hands together, as he always did when pleased; "I must congratulate you on that result."
"And we've had such fun, too," exclaimed Fairy, whose big white bow and smiling face suddenly appeared over the back of the sofa which she was clambering up. "I do some of the work, but I don't mind it a bit, and we all of us get plenty of time to play, and go sailing, and fishing and everything." As Fairy continued talking she kept rapidly scrambling over the sofa, down to the floor, under the sofa, and up its back, and over it again, repeatedly. This in no way interfered with her flow of conversation, and she went on: "We can make all the racket we like, too,—nobody minds a speck,—not even Miss Marcia Van Arsdale. She says it's nothing but animal spiritualism."
"It has been one of the greatest comforts," said Grandma Dorrance, "to think that the childrencouldmake all the noise they wanted to; for I suffered tortures at Mrs. Cooper's, trying to keep them quiet. Here, they are free to do as they choose, and there is room enough to do as they choose, without annoying other people. I think myself, that they deserve great commendation for their work this summer. It has not been easy; but fortunately, they are blessed with temperaments that take troubles lightly, and make play out of hard work. But I want you to tell us, Mr. Lloyd, just how we stand financially. The children are anxious to know, and so am I. They insist that hereafter they shall share my anxieties and responsibilities, and I am more than glad to have them do so."
"I am gratified, Mrs. Dorrance, and my dear young people, to be able to tell you,"—here Mr. Lloyd paused impressively,—"to be able to tell you that the outlook is highly satisfactory. Since you have not called upon me for any of your money during the summer months, I have been able to apply it towards the repairs that were so necessary on the Fifty-eighth Street house. Except for a few small bills, that indebtedness is thus provided for. Your next quarter's allowance is, therefore, unencumbered."
"I think," said Dorothy, her eyes shining in the excitement of the moment, "that this is a good time to present our statement of accounts. We've been keeping it as a little surprise for grandma, and we want Mr. Lloyd to know about it too. I wanted Leicester to tell you, and he said for me to tell you; but we all had just as much to do with it as each other, so we're all going to tell you together. Come on, all of you."
The other three Dorrances sprang towards Dorothy in their usual hop-skip-and-jump fashion, and in a moment they stood in a straight line, toeing a mark.
They took hold of hands, and swinging their arms back and forth, recited a speech which had evidently been rehearsed before-hand.
"We've paid all expenses," they said, speaking in concert, but not as loudly as usual, "and besides that, we've cleared three hundred dollars!"
"What!" exclaimed Mr. Lloyd, holding up his hands in astonishment.
"Oh, my dear children!" cried Grandma Dorrance, uncertain whether she should laugh or weep.
"Yes, isn't it perfectly wonderful?" cried Dorothy, and the concerted speech being over, the four children precipitated themselves headlong in every direction.
"We wanted to holler it all out," explained Fairy; "but we were afraid the boarder-people would hear us, and they mightn't think it polite."
"It's all right," said Lilian, stoutly; "we didn't overcharge anybody, and we didn't scrimp them. The reason we made money was because we did so much of the work ourselves, and because Dorothy is such a good manager."
"Hurrah for Dorothy," shrieked Leicester, in a perfect imitation of Miss Marcia's parrot.
The cheer that went up for Dorothy was deafening, but nobody minded, for everybody was so happy.
"I couldn't have done anything without the others' help," protested Dorothy; "and of course we couldn't any of us have carried out this plan at all, without grandma. So you see it took the whole five of us to make a success of the Dorrance Domain."
"Hurrah for the Dorrance Domain," shouted Fairy, and then every one in the room, not excepting Grandma Dorrance and Mr. Lloyd, cheered from their very hearts,
"Hurrah for the Dorrance Domain!"
Patty FairfieldPatty at HomePatty in the CityPatty's Summer DaysPatty in ParisPatty's FriendPatty's Pleasure TripPatty's SuccessPatty's Motor CarPatty's Butterfly DaysPatty's Social SeasonPatty's SuitorsPatty's RomancePatty's FortunePatty BlossomPatty—BridePatty and Azalea
Marjorie's VacationMarjorie's Busy DaysMarjorie's New FriendMarjorie in CommandMarjorie's MaytimeMarjorie at Seacote
Two Little WomenTwo Little Women and Treasure HouseTwo Little Women on a Holiday
Tom Swift, known to millions of boys of this generation, is a bright ingenious youth whose inventions, discoveries and thrilling adventures are described in these spirited tales that tell of the wonderful advances in modern science.
TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR CYCLETOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR BOATTOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRSHIPTOM SWIFT AND HIS SUBMARINE BOATTOM SWIFT AND HIS WIRELESS MESSAGETOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RUNABOUTTOM SWIFT AMONG THE DIAMOND MAKERSTOM SWIFT IN THE CAVES OF ICETOM SWIFT AND HIS SKY RACERTOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RIFLETOM SWIFT IN THE CITY OF GOLDTOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDERTOM SWIFT IN CAPTIVITYTOM SWIFT AND HIS WIZARD CAMERATOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT SEARCHLIGHTTOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT CANNONTOM SWIFT AND HIS PHOTO TELEPHONETOM SWIFT AND HIS AERIAL WARSHIPTOM SWIFT AND HIS BIG TUNNELTOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERSTOM SWIFT AND HIS WAR TANKTOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUTTOM SWIFT AND HIS UNDERSEA SEARCHTOM SWIFT AMONG THE FIRE FIGHTERSTOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVETOM SWIFT AND HIS FLYING BOATTOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT OIL GUSHERTOM SWIFT AND HIS CHEST OF SECRETSTOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRLINE EXPRESSTOM SWIFT CIRCLING THE GLOBETOM SWIFT AND HIS TALKING PICTURESTOM SWIFT AND HIS HOUSE ON WHEELSTOM SWIFT AND HIS BIG DIRIGIBLETOM SWIFT AND HIS SKY TRAINTOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT MAGNETTOM SWIFT AND HIS TELEVISION DETECTOR