Ronny"s tones rippled with amused laughter. An answering smile rose to Marjorie"s lips. Memory recalled the sedate, reserved girl she had known as Veronica Browning. She was now beginning to glimpse the real Ronny; brilliant, high-spirited, sure of herself, with the independence of those who have known the bitterness of poverty.
"You are so different, Ronny," she said. "I mean from last year. Once in a great while I used to see flashes of you as you are now. I remember the night you danced that wonderful b.u.t.terfly number at the Campfire.
You seemed happy and so much more like a real girl than as I saw you in school each day. You are like a b.u.t.terfly who is so glad to be free of the chrysalis."
"How nice in you to compare me to anything so beautiful as a b.u.t.terfly.
I am glad to be free of the part I played last year. I am not sorry I played it, though. Is Mignon La Salle going to Hamilton College?" she asked, with an abrupt change of subject. "I hope not. I think I can never forgive her for the trouble she made you. I never minded in the least the way she treated me."
"No; Mignon is going to Smith College. She is all right now, Ronny,"
Marjorie earnestly a.s.sured. "When she faced about last spring she truly meant it."
"You deserve the credit for having hauled her through," was Ronny"s blunt opinion. "I never would have had the patience. A good many times last year I was tempted to tell you who I really was. I did not care to have the other girls know, and Jerry was so curious about me. I was afraid it might make trouble for you if you knew and they didn"t. The Lookouts would have been likely to ask you about me. Then, if I had pledged you to secrecy, it would have meant your refusal to answer any questions concerning me. This year--"
Veronica broke off in the old way which had always been so baffling to Marjorie. For an instant a vague sense of disappointment visited her. It was as though Ronny had once again suddenly dropped the curtain of mystery between them.
Her brown eyes fixed with unconscious solemnity on her guest, she became aware that Veronica was laughing at her. "I know what you are thinking,"
Ronny declared. "You think I am the same aggravating old mystery who used never to finish a sentence. Good reason why I chopped off a remark I was about to make. I almost told you a secret." Her tone was now purposely tantalizing. "Had I best tell you now or wait awhile?"
The entrance into the room of Mrs. Dean, bearing a lacquered tray, on which was a steaming cup of consomme and a plate of small crisp rolls, interrupted any confidence Ronny might have been on the point of making.
Lingering for a few minutes" talk with Veronica, Mrs. Dean left the two girls with the reminder that the luncheon bell would soon ring.
Marjorie, meanwhile, had learned something new of Ronny. She realized that now her friend was only playing at secrecy. Ronny would never again be a mystery to her as in the past.
"I"ve learned something about you, Ronny Lynne," she commented in merry accusation. "You love to tease. Well, you can"t tease me. As for your old secret you may do just as you please. You may tell me now or after while. I"m not a bit curious. Ahem! I won"t say I am not _interested_.
Wouldn"t you like to tell me now?"
She laid a coaxing hand on Ronny"s arm. The latter"s radiant face was an index to pleasant news.
"Would I? Perhaps." Ronny pretended to deliberate. "Well, listen hard.
Once upon a time there was a person named Ronny who decided to go to college. She had heard about a college named Hamilton, and--"
"You"re going to Hamilton! You"re going to Hamilton!" Marjorie had sprung from her chair and was performing a dance of jubilation about Veronica. "It is the best old secret I ever heard!"
"I hoped you would be pleased." There were tears just back of Ronny"s eyes. She loved Marjorie with the great strength of a first friendship.
Naturally she was moved by the hearty reception of her news.
"_Pleased!_ That doesn"t express it! This morning I was lonesome and wished something pleasant would happen. The girls are all away from Sanford. Lucy Warner and I are the only Lookouts at home. Lucy is secretary to Mr. Forbes, a Sanford lawyer, so I don"t see her very often. I never dreamed that the rain would bring me you. And now comes the crowning happiness! You are going to be with me at Hamilton. I think I am a very lucky Lookout." Marjorie had paused in front of Veronica, hands resting lightly on the arms of the latter"s chair. "When you left Sanford last June, Ronny, had you any idea then of entering Hamilton?"
"No." Ronny shook a decided head. "I was not sure of coming east again for a long while. Father missed me dreadfully last year. I could tell that from his letters. I thought he would ask me to stay at home and engage a tutor for me. After I had been at home awhile we went on a pony riding trip over some of his fruit ranches. We had lots of long talks and I told him a great deal about you. He was much interested in the Lookouts and asked a good many questions about the club. He asked which college you expected to enter, and if I would like to go east again to college. I found that he really wished me to go to an eastern college, provided I was of the same mind. He always gives me the privilege of choice. Of course, I chose Hamilton. So here I am. I shall divide my visits between you and G.o.d-mother until time to go to Hamilton, and then we"ll journey into the far country of college together along with as many of the Lookouts as shall decide for Hamilton."
"Jerry is going to be a Hamiltonite," returned Marjorie, her bright face showing her happiness. "Muriel Harding, too. I am not sure about Lucy Warner, Ronny. She may have to wait until next year to enter college.
She won"t let anyone help her with her personal expenses."
"I expected some such hitch in her plans," was Ronny"s almost grim reply. "I would have offered her personal aid last June, but knew it would not be best then. I intended to write you about it. When I decided for college I knew I could talk things over with you and plan how to help Lucy while on this visit."
"If anyone can persuade her that she really ought to enter Hamilton, this year, it will be you," Marjorie a.s.serted confidently.
"I will do my best," promised Ronny. "I ought to have made that scholarship cover everything in the way of expense down to a shoestring.
I was positive Lucy would win it. She is so proud. I merely tried to save her dignity by offering the regulation scholarship."
The musical tinkle of a bell from below stairs announced luncheon.
Marjorie caught Ronny"s hands and drew her up from her chair.
"There"s the luncheon bell," she announced. "Come along, Ronny. We have some glorious news to tell Captain."
Their arms twined about each other"s waists, the two friends walked slowly toward the half open door. There they stopped to talk. A second and louder jingling of the bells soon informed them that they were loiterers.
"That"s Captain," laughed Marjorie. "She knows we"ve stopped to talk.
Delia rang the bell first time. She only tinkled it a little."
Accelerating their pace, the two gaily descended the stairs. More fully the joy of the occasion was borne upon Veronica. It was wonderful to her to be so near and dear to a girl like Marjorie. More, this happy state of affairs would continue all year. There would be no cloud of mystery between them as had been at high school. She was determined also that no clouds should obscure Marjorie"s college sky if she could prevent their gathering. If Marjorie"s strict adherence to truth and justice brought her the disfavor of the unworthy, she would not have to contend against them single-handed.
CHAPTER IV-CONCERNING JEREMIAH.
Luncheon proved a merry little meal. When one has been suddenly lifted out of the dumps by the arrival of a friend from afar, and afterward doubly cheered by exceptionally good news, the dreariness of a rainy day is soon forgotten.
Returned to the living room after luncheon, Marjorie drew forward a deep, soft-cushioned chair with wide padded arms.
"Take this chair, Ronny," she invited. "It"s the most comfortable old thing! In winter it is my pet lounging place at twilight. I love to curl up in it and watch the firelight. Captain likes that wicker chair near the table. General and I always fight over this one. If he gets it first, I try to tip him out of it. I might as well try to move a mountain. He braces his feet and sits and laughs at me. Ruffle, my big Angora cat, claims it, too. He always looks so injured if I lift him from it."
"An extremely popular chair," commented Ronny, smiling. Settling back in it, she added: "I don"t wonder you all fight for it. I shall enter the lists, too."
"You are welcome to it. You"re company. It"s only the Deans who won"t respect one another"s claims, Captain excepted. By the Deans, I mean General, Ruffle and me."
"Much obliged for clearing me of the charge," her captain remarked with twinkling eyes. "You should hear those squabbles, Veronica. They are noisy enough to bring the house down."
Veronica laughed, yet into her gray eyes sprang a wistful light. "My father loves to tease me like that," she said. "We had such good times this summer at Manana. That is the name of our largest ranch. We live there most of the time."
"Manana?" Marjorie looked questioningly at Ronny. "That means "morning"
in Spanish, doesn"t it? I know a few Spanish words. General speaks the language. His trips often take him to Mexico."
"Yes, it also means "tomorrow,"" Ronny answered. "The full name of our Manana is "Lucero de la Manana." It means "Star of the Morning." I named it. Father bought it when I was twelve years old. The first time I saw it was one morning before seven. We were on a riding trip and could look down on it from a height. It was so beautiful, I asked Father to find out if it were for sale. It belonged to a Spanish woman, Donna Dolores de Mendoza. She was willing to part with it, as she wished to go to Spain to live. So Father bought it. I hope someday you will visit me there. I shall never be satisfied until the Dean family are under the Lynnes" roof tree."
"Someday," Marjorie made hopeful promise. "General has said he would take us on a western trip sometime."
"I hope that "sometime" will be next summer," returned Ronny. "When I grow to know your worthy General well, I shall interview him on the subject."
Veronica"s allusion to her far western home furnished Marjorie with an opportunity she had long desired. She was anxious to hear more of Ronny"s life prior to her advent into Sanford. She had, therefore, a great many interested questions to ask which she knew Ronny would now be willing to answer. Formerly, while Ronny had been securely wrapped in her cloak of reserve, Marjorie had never attempted to question her personally.
Ronny, in turn, had an equal number of questions to ask regarding Sanford and the Lookouts. The afternoon slipped away before either of the reunited friends was aware that it had gone.
"Do you suppose we"ll ever catch up in talking?" Ronny asked in pretended despair, as the three women lingered over the dessert at dinner that evening.
"Oh, after a long while," easily a.s.sured Marjorie. "You see I couldn"t get you to talk about yourself last year, so we lost a good deal of time. I am actually ashamed for asking you so many questions, Ronny.
Still there were so many things I wanted to ask you last year and did not feel free to. Wait until you see Jerry. She will ask you more questions than I have. She said in her last letter to me that she had no news to tell. Well, I shall have some news to tell her when she comes home. She will be so surprised when she--"