"Peggy!" cried Keineth, imploringly.
"I"m not going to say another word," Peggy answered, perhaps a little frightened at what she had done.
The girls waited breathlessly for Miss Grimball to take some action in the matter. Each felt that the disgrace must be wiped from the happy camp life.
At noon Ricky"s whistle sounded. The girls a.s.sembled on the gymnasium ground. Their captain stood before them, dear-eyed, smiling at them all with her usual confidence. Stella, with Keineth, had joined the others and stood in the background.
"I think you all know what has happened. I am disturbed, but I will not suspect one of my girls. All I want to say is this--so great is my trust in your loyalty, in your honor, and in your sense of what is square--if one of you, through an unfortunate yielding to temptation, has taken these things that have been lost, they will be returned, because you are girls of honor. So I am not worrying. Now, please do not talk of the matter among yourselves."
The routine of the day went on. The girls avoided Stella; only Keineth kept close to her side. Keineth longed to pour out to Stella her confidence in her innocence and her indignation at Peggy, but a certain pride in Stella"s manner forbade it; she could not find the right words, so she simply occasionally squeezed Stella"s hand!
In this way two unhappy days pa.s.sed. Then on the third morning Peggy, crossing the path leading to the kitchen, saw Jim Crow scurrying toward the wood with a spoon in his mouth! On tip-toe she followed him.
Turning off from the trail near the edge of the woodland, he stood for a moment as though listening, then dropped his treasure into the hollow trunk of a dead tree!
And there Peggy, following the rascal, found the oranges, the ring, and Ricky"s silver purse!
In that moment when Peggy stood alone among the trees, the stolen things in her hands, she learned a lesson that she could never forget!
She walked slowly back to Miss Grimball"s office and told her the story of Jim and of her own unjust accusation of Stella.
"We should have suspected Jim, the villain," Ricky laughed. "Another chapter in scoutcraft, Peggy. Will you go, my dear, and tell Stella?"
Then she gently put her hand upon Peggy"s head, "Judge not, my dear,"
and, leaning, she kissed her.
Peggy rushed off in search of Stella. She found her sitting on the dock, a picture of misery, Keineth by her side.
"Stella, I was a wicked, wicked girl! It was Jim Crow stole the things, and I found them in an old tree and I wouldn"t blame you if you never forgave me! I think the reason I was so horrid was because I was just _jealous_ that Ken loved you more than she did me--" For lack of breath Peggy stopped, her soul clean from her confession.
A great joy came into Stella"s dark eyes. She held out her hand and Peggy caught it in a tight grip.
"Now I"m going to call all the girls together and tell them the whole story and that I"m just terribly ashamed." She ran from them, her hands to her mouth, loudly giving the call of the camp. There was great rejoicing at Camp-Wish-no more. The cloud of suspicion had lifted. The girls could not be nice enough to Stella, and for the first time she seemed to lose her shyness and awkwardness among them. Then Ricky decided that, in order to entirely forget the whole thing, they would go on an all-night hike to the old mill on Cobble Hill.
"Hooray--hooray!" went up from eager throats.
"Three cheers for Stella!"
"Three cheers for Peggy!" they cried again.
"Down with Jim Crow!"
That night, under the stars, Keineth snuggled close to Peggy. She had asked to be Peggy"s blanket mate.
"You"re all right, Peg," she whispered, Billy-fashion, "and I do love you most of all!"
CHAPTER XIV
THE TENNIS TOURNAMENT
"Sport"s Week" had begun at the Sh.o.r.e Club. The excitement of it gripped the Lee family. Each talked of the game in which he or she was most interested and no one listened to the other. Barbara, with an absorbed air, mentally played the shots she would make when on Friday she would meet in the final round of match play for the championship t.i.tle her old foe, Carol Day. Peggy had no thought for anything but the swimming contest. Mr. Lee was chairman of the committee on arrangements and spent most of his time at the telephone. Mrs. Lee did her part in the decorating of the club-house and went about with her arms full of gay bunting and her mouth full of pins.
And Keineth shared the excitement! For she had qualified in the children"s tennis tournament and would play in the doubles and had drawn Billy for her partner!
It was her first real contest! Secretly she shivered with fright but outwardly tried to appear calm like Peggy. All the day before the tennis matches began she went about with her racquet in her hand as though to accustom her trembling fingers to its hold.
Though Billy, since the day he had tried to make Keineth confide in him the story of her father"s absence, had maintained toward her a scornful indifference, he had accepted her as a partner because there was no alternative. But he managed to convey to her that he considered it an unfair indignity that he should be so handicapped. And he talked entirely of the paddling races.
However, Keineth could not be discouraged. In her mind was one thought only--they _must_ win! For, each day, in her room she was writing a careful account of all that happened to send to her Daddy, and failure could have no part in the story.
And in the very first match they defeated Molly Sawyer and Joe Gary!
Margaret Dale, playing with Charlie Myers had, after a hard game, beaten Grace Schuyler and Merton Day. Then Keineth and Billy played against them. It was a close match; the courts were circled by an interested crowd of onlookers. Though Billy had had to play with all his skill to meet Charlie Myers" strength of volley, he knew that Keineth had more than done her part, too.
"She played way over her head," he answered sullenly to the praise his family bestowed upon her.
One more set put them in the final match against Jim Downer and his sister Helen. A taste of victory had given to Keineth a poise that steadied her in her game; this matching of strength, skill and quickness--something she had never known before--had developed a surprising confidence in herself. Her joy was not in the defeat of their opponents, rather in her own mastery of all those things which for so long she had been trying to learn!
"Good luck to you, kiddies," Mr. Lee had said to them at the breakfast table. "Play your best and then you won"t mind if you are defeated. And if the other fellows play better, don"t think up any excuses--it"s something to be good losers!"
In the brief moment of waiting before the final match began, Keineth, standing quietly near the courts, thought how different she was from the funny little girl who had come to Overlook two months before. She knew now what her father had meant when he had told her that that old life, with him and Tante in the old house, had cheated her out of the other things children had. He had been right He would be pleased, now, to know the part she was taking with the others.
The judges called the match; Keineth caught her breath and ran on to the court. She gave one whispered word to Billy.
"We"ve _got_ to win!"
Billy had not enjoyed Keineth"s sudden rise into fame. He felt less tolerant and the old grudge flamed into being. If they won now--and everyone said they would--they"d all think it was Keineth that had won it. They"d make an awful fuss over her--they always did over girls--and there"d be no living with either her or Peggy. He could throw the game, just fall down on one or two returns and no one would know the difference! He felt very sure of winning the paddling races and what did he care about the tennis match, anyway?--it"d be different if they were the real matches, but they were just for children. These thoughts ran through his mind as he swung his racquet backward and forward in the air, a heavy scowl wrinkling his face.
And Keineth"s confident "We"ve got to win" had been the last drop in his cup of annoyance.
The first two games were slow, a little volleying and a good many "outs." Someone called from the gallery, "Warm up!" Keineth threw her head back with an answering smile, for she recognized Mr. Lee"s voice.
Their opponents won the third game against a thirty. That spurred Keineth; the fourth game was faster with some hot volleying and pretty returns and won by Keineth and Billy in a quickly mounting score.
Excited, Keineth did not notice that Billy had not returned one or two b.a.l.l.s with his usual skill.
The next, a deuce game, was hotly contested. Her face ablaze with interest, Keineth held her little body tensely poised on one toe, ready for instant action. The faces of the crowd around her blurred into nothing--there seemed only left in her small world those two beyond the net!
The next game was bewildering. Keineth played desperately, but they had only won thirty points when the others made the game! The set stood four to two in Keineth"s favor, but their opponents were playing stronger with each game.
In the seventh game Billy dropped off shamelessly. He was never quite ready. Before Keineth realized the situation the others had won and won easily!
"Billy!" Keineth whispered imploringly. The indifferent look on Billy"s face struck terror to her heart. What _was_ the matter with him?
The next game Keineth won alone--if Billy could not play she"d play for him! Her little teeth, clenched tight together, gleamed white through her parted lips. The crimson of her cheeks mounted into her fair hair.
"What a picture!" Mrs. Lee whispered to her husband. She was not thinking of the game at all. "What a spirit! Think, William, what that can mean in this world when the child"s grown up!"
"That"s just why this sort of sport is good for them," Mr. Lee whispered back. "But what is the matter with Billy?"