CHAPTER XIV
"I should so much have preferred Lina, I cannot understand mother."
Cecil Perry and Jeanette were walking along the path that led from the lodge to the larger house.
An instant Jeanette paused.
"You are candid, Cecil."
The young fellow flushed, in spite of the fact that his fair skin was already reddened from the past two months spent out of doors.
"Why shouldn't I be, Jeanette? You have always been candid with me since the beginning of our acquaintance. I don't see why a boy should not be as frank with a girl as she with him. You know I like Lina better than I do you. You never have made a pretense of liking me especially. You thought when we met that I was spoiled and effeminate. I am not sure you were not right. Still, I did not enjoy the idea then and I do not enjoy it now."
"You have changed a good deal for the better, in my opinion, Cecil, not that I suppose it makes any difference to you," Jeanette answered in a more humble tone than she was accustomed to employing. "About your mother's wish to have me help entertain her guests by riding with them and showing them the different objects of interest in the neighborhood, don't regret that she has chosen to ask me rather than Lina. Lina would not have liked the task. She does not care a great deal for strangers. Besides, she is so much happier at home than I am. I need to be away for everybody else's sake as well as my own. If your mother really wants me to do what you say I can't tell you how grateful and glad I will be."
Cecil made no reply.
With a level frown Jeanette drew her straight brows together. Her color departed, her eyes became questioning and frightened.
"See here, Cecil, I said a moment ago that you were extremely candid with me, but perhaps after all you are not. There is something I wish to ask you. Do you know anything about me that of late has changed your original opinion of me so that you think it would not be wise for your mother to trust me?"
The girl drew a deep breath, which seemed one of relief. At last she had spoken. She had been dreading this since the unfortunate day when she had allowed her desire for success and her dislike of her stepmother to overthrow the principles she held dear. Yet she had not intended to question Cecil Perry, of all persons, until this instant.
He had turned away his head and begun walking more rapidly.
Jeanette found it impossible to observe his expression.
"I don't know what you are talking about, Jeanette. Certainly there is no reason why mother should not trust you! I don't see what trust has to do with the fact that she took a great fancy to you when she met you the other afternoon and wants to see more of you. She did not say this, but I have an idea that she is interested in having you near her so as to know you better. Besides, I'll be glad to cast some of the entertaining business on you. Two or three people have turned up already and mother is hoping we may be able to move into your house this week."
"Do you mean your mother has friends with her now? Must I meet them as well? I don't know what is the matter, I never used to be embarrassed and shall try not to be to-day."
Jeanette straightened her shoulders, threw back her head and the color she had lost a moment before returned.
After all, she was relieved. Cecil could know nothing of her mistake (Jeanette preferred to think of what she had done as a mistake) else would he have answered as he had? And had his answer been different, would she have confessed?
Seeing a group of strangers standing on the veranda of their big house, Jeanette stifled a sensation of resentment. Already they appeared as if they were in actual possession of her home. Personally she had no feeling of sentiment for the Rainbow Lodge. The old house seemed to her small and weather-beaten and unattractive after their splendid, big home. It was natural, perhaps, that her father and stepmother should feel an attachment for the lodge, as they had known it so long, but why should Lina and Via pretend to care for it? The answer, of course, was that the other girls were under their stepmother's influence.
Jeanette hoped her father would soon recover his fortunes sufficiently to be able to return to the big house. She wished this notwithstanding the fact that she expected to be in the East at school. No thought of relinquishing her intention had occurred to Jeanette. She was merely awaiting a more fortunate moment. Jeanette felt the same pleasurable sense of attraction she had experienced at their original meeting, when Mrs. Perry, separating herself from her friends, took hold of her hand.
A moment after she found herself being introduced to Mr. and Mrs. John Barret and to a girl and boy near her own age.
As a matter of fact, Margery Barret was a year older than Jeanette, and her brother a little more than two years older.
Scarcely could Jeanette restrain an exclamation of satisfaction over their meeting. No one could understand how she had been longing to acquire new friends outside her own environment.
Margery and Mason Barret were from New York and had been traveling with their mother and father in the West for their summer vacation. For this reason they had been able to arrive sooner at the Rainbow Ranch than Mrs. Perry's other friends.
Apparently with the desire to make the newcomers feel more at home, Mrs. Perry remarked unexpectedly:
"Jeanette, won't you tell Mr. and Mrs. Barret and Margery and Mason of your discovery of the silver arrow and the club you have formed in the neighborhood? Perhaps you and Cecil may allow Margery and Mason to attend your meetings, even if it is not possible they should be members."
Jeanette forgot herself.
Each time she told the story of the finding of the silver arrow it became more of a mystery. There had been so many other things to absorb them at the outset she and her sisters had given little thought to the origin of the arrow. Was it not pleasanter and more romantic to consider that the arrow had sped from the bow of some unknown winged messenger? Now when Jeanette told the story she would like to have been able to offer some explanation. People always inquired who it was that had shot the arrow into the depth of the ravine.
At the first pause in the conversation Mr. Barret did ask.
Jeanette could only shake her head.
"No one knows whence the arrow came, and I suppose this is one of the reasons why we are all so interested. Perhaps some day, when one of us wins the reward of courage, the mystery may be solved."
Cecil turned to his mother.
"Here's an idea, Mater. Why not send for a target and arrows and let the members of the Silver Arrow club attempt to learn archery? I tried once and was a duffer at it, but it was fun. There is a big lawn here at the side of the house and I don't believe Mr. and Mrs. Colter would object to our target practice."
Jeanette's eyes shone.
"Of course they would not mind. It would be wonderful. Stupid for no one of us to have proposed the idea before!"