The parrot had not followed! Dorothy was out on the road, she could surely get back to camp now. Oh, how glorious it was!
Gratefully she raised her eyes to the clear sky. Her heart sent up its thanks--to the Friend who is never hidden from those who seek Him.
"And there comes a carriage," she told herself, as a rumbling of wheels took her attention. "Perhaps the driver will give me a lift."
The wagon was hidden from view as the road turned sharply just under the oaks. Dorothy waited. Yes, and there was a young woman in the carriage. Wasn"t that fortunate?
The carriage turned so close to Dorothy that she had no need to take a single step to hail it. And it was almost stopped, yes; it did stop now.
The young woman in the carriage was garbed in white--a nurse.
"Is this the Hobb"s place?" she asked of Dorothy.
"Yes," replied the girl in surprise.
Then the nurse jumped out of the carriage. She looked keenly at Dorothy.
"Do you--stop there?" she asked curiously.
"I have been stopping there," answered Dorothy, now completely mystified by the young woman"s manner.
"Is your name----"
"My name is Dorothy Dale, and for some reason I have been--hidden away from my friends," said Dorothy bravely. "I was just about to ask you to a.s.sist me to get back to them. I was in camp at Everglade."
"Why, of course I will a.s.sist you!" replied the nurse in the most affable manner. "Get right into the carriage, and we will have you back at camp in no time." Dorothy hesitated. The nurse consulted a small note book.
"Come right in, dear. We are going straight down to Everglade," and she touched Dorothy"s arm to urge her.
"Strange, I feel so nervous about falling into traps," said Dorothy honestly, looking deeply into the eyes that were investigating every feature of her own fair face. "But you see I did fall, literally, and----"
"Of course, and you were hurt." Dorothy could not understand that caressing manner. It was identical with that exercised by Mrs. Hobbs.
"Now, come," and Dorothy did step into the carriage. "We will drive along quickly, so that we may reach camp before luncheon. James, hurry your horse."
For a few moments Dorothy felt as if she must collapse. The strain of her escape from the old house, then her fright from the bird, and her fear that Mrs. Hobbs would overtake her. And now to be actually riding back to camp! What would her friends say to her? Oh, how good it would be to relieve them of all their anxiety, and to be really going back well--comparatively well, at any rate.
"I"ve had quite a time of it these last two days," she remarked, glancing timidly at the figure in white beside her, "but it seems all things come out right--if we only have patience."
"But I wouldn"t talk dear--the sun has been warm, and you are quite overheated. Wouldn"t you like to rest your head here, on my lap?"
Dorothy sat up erect. This was surely unheard of. Who was this nurse?
Where was she taking her?
"I am perfectly well, thank you," she said in the firmest tones she could command, "and I really would like to know where we are going?
Why do you treat me as if I were ill or a child?"
"There, there," and the nurse touched Dorothy"s hand. "Of course you are perfectly well, and of course, we are going to camp. James, is your horse asleep?"
But Dorothy was frightened. There was something mysterious in it all.
Another wagon approached. It drew slowly along.
Mr. Hobbs!
Dorothy"s heart gave a leap as his old wagon stopped! The nurse put her head out of the little curtained window and made signs to him.
"All right! All right!" he replied. "Yes, that"s her!"
"That"s her!" repeated Dorothy. "That"s me! What is this trick? Let me out of this carriage instantly, or I will call for help!"
"If you do not keep quiet, I shall be obliged to restrain you," said the nurse. "Miss Harriwell, we are taking you back to the sanitarium.
I am your new nurse."
"Sanitarium! New nurse! Miss Harriwell! I am Dorothy Dale, and I have never been inside a sanitarium!"
The carriage dashed into a driveway! A big brownstone building confronted them.
A corps of nurses hurried out to the path!
When Dorothy saw them she fainted!
CHAPTER XIX
CAMPING DAYS
Tavia got off the train at the Junction, but she did not get on the one that went toward Clamberton--it flew by. She waved her handkerchief--she waved her coat, she told herself she waved her soul, but that train simply would not stop.
And she was miles from nowhere!
"Well, I"ll walk it!" she declared. "I don"t care how I get there, I"m going to keep my nose toward camp!"
To walk the railroad ties! That was one thing Tavia loathed--they were so regular, so straight, so abominably correct.
"Of course railroad ties were never built for human feet, even the straight and narrow are not as straight as these."
She moved along for a hundred or so of ties, then she threatened to sit down. Tavia was desperate, but even in her present surprising state of mind, the railroad ties were too much for her, and she kept on.
"I might fly," she reflected, looking boldly at the ocean of blue above, "but there isn"t a machine in sight."
More and more ties until she came to a small bridge.
"Well, I suppose if I try to walk this thing I shall presently find myself holding a session with some slimy, muddy frogs. Ugh!" and she looked between the ties at the lurking depths of mud and other things on either side of the railroad embankment. "I just hate--uncertainties."
She stepped cautiously a little farther. "Well, if I fall it serves me right. I shouldn"t have done this!"
Tavia--poor Tavia!