"Now what?" asked Dr. Grayson, looking around the table with twinkling eyes, when the last crumb and the last drop of cocoa had disappeared.
"Rest hour," replied Mrs. Grayson emphatically. "Rest hour to last until morning. Blow the bugle, Judy."
"Wasn"t this the wildest evening we ever put in?" said Katherine, fishing her hairbrush out of the water pail. "Where"s Tiny?" she asked, becoming aware that their Councilor was not in the tent,
"Down on the hill looking for her bed." replied Oh-Pshaw.
"Goodness, let"s go down and help her," said Katherine, and Oh-Pshaw and Jean streamed after her down the path. They stumbled over the bed before they came to Tiny. It had turned over sidewise and fallen into a tiny ravine, and as she had gone straight down the hill searching for it she had missed it. Katherine stepped into the ravine, dragging the two others with her, and at the bottom they landed on top of the bed.
Getting an iron cot up a steep hill is not the easiest thing in the world, and when they had it up at the top of the hill they all sat down on it and panted awhile before they could make it up. Then they discovered that the pillow was missing and Katherine obligingly went down the hill again to find it.
"I shan"t get up again for a week," she sighed wearily as she stretched between the sheets.
"Neither will I," echoed Tiny.
Jean and Oh-Pshaw did not echo. They were already asleep.
Katherine had just sunk into a deep slumber when she started at the touch of a cold hand laid against her face. "What is it?" she cried out sharply.
A face was bending over her, a pale little face framed in a lace boudoir cap. Katherine recognized Carmen Chadwick. "What"s the matter?" she asked.
"My Councy"s awful sick, and none of the other girls will wake up and I don"t know what to do," said Carmen in a scared voice.
"What"s the matter with her?" asked Katherine.
"She ate too many blueberries, I guess; she"s got an awful pain in her stomach, and chills."
Katherine hugged her warm pillow. "Take the hot water bottle out of the washstand," she directed, without moving. "There--it"s on the top shelf.
There"s hot water in the tank in the kitchen. And have you some Jamaica ginger? No? Take ours--it"s the only bottle on the top shelf. Now you"ll be all right."
Katherine sank back into slumber. A few minutes more and she was awakened again by the same cold hand on her face.
"What is it now?"
"The Jamaica ginger," asked Carmen"s thin voice in a bewildered tone, "what shall I do with it? Shall I put it in the hot water bottle?"
Katherine"s feet suddenly struck the floor together, and with an explosive exclamation under her breath she sped over to Avernus and took matters in hand herself. She had tucked Carmen into her own bed in Bedlam, and she spent the remainder of the night over in Avernus, taking care of the Lone Wolf, s.n.a.t.c.hing a few moments" sleep in Carmen"s bed now and then when her patient felt easier. It was broad daylight before she finally settled into uninterrupted slumber.
CHAPTER XI
EDWIN LANGHAM
Camp was more or less demoralized the next day. Miss Judy overslept and did not blow the rising bugle until nearly noon, so dinner took the place of breakfast and swimming hour came in the middle of the afternoon instead of in the morning.
After swimming hour Agony went up to Miss Amesbury"s balcony to return a book she had borrowed. Miss Amesbury was not there, so Agony, as she often did when she found her friend out, sat down to wait for her, pa.s.sing the time by looking at some sketches tying on the table. Turing these over, Agony came upon a letter thrust in between the drawing sheets, at the sight of which her heart began to flutter wildly. The address on the envelope was in Mary Sylvester"s handwriting--there was no mistaking that firm, round hand; it was indelibly impressed upon Agony"s mind from seeing it on that other occasion. In a panic she realized that the danger of being discovered was even greater than she had thought, since Mary also wrote to Miss Amesbury. Was it not possible that Mary had mentioned the robin incident in this letter? It now seemed to Agony that Miss Amesbury"s manner had been different toward her in the last few days, on the trip. She seemed less friendly, less cordial.
Several times Agony had looked up lately to find Miss Amesbury regarding her with a keen, grave scrutiny and a baffling expression on her face.
To Agony"s tortured fancy these instances became magnified out of all proportion, and the disquieting conviction seized her that Miss Amesbury knew the truth. The thought nearly drove her mad. It tormented her until she realized that there was only one way in which she could still the tumult raging in her bosom, and that was by finding out for certain if Mary had really told.
With shaking fingers she slipped the letter out of the open envelope, and with cheeks aflame with shame at the thing she was doing, she deliberately read Miss Amesbury"s letter. It was much like the one Mary had written to Jo Severance, full of clever descriptions of the places she was seeing, and it made no mention either of the robin or of her.
With fingers shaking still more at the relief she felt, she put the letter back into the envelope and replaced it between the sketches.
Then, trembling from head to foot at the reaction from her panic, she turned her back upon the table and sat up against the railing, holding her head in her hands and looking down at the fair sunlit river with eyes that saw it not.
Miss Amesbury returned by and by and was so evidently pleased to see her that Agony concluded she must have been mistaken in fancying any coldness on her part during the last few days.
"I"ve a letter from Mary Sylvester," Miss Amesbury said almost at once, "and because you are following so closely in Mary"s footsteps I"m going to read it to you." She smiled brightly into Agony"s sober face and paused to pat her on the shoulder before she fluttered over the pile of sketches to find the letter.
Agony sat limply, listening to the words she had read a few minutes before, despising herself thoroughly and wishing with all her heart that she had never come to camp. Yet she forced herself to make appreciative comments on the interesting things in the letter and to utter sincere sounding exclamations of surprise at certain points.
"I"ve something to tell you that will please you," said Miss Amesbury, after the letter had been put away.
"What is it?" asked Agony, looking up inquiringly.
"Someone you admire very much is going to visit Camp," replied Miss Amesbury.
"Who?" Agony"s eyes opened up very wide with surprise.
"Edwin Langham. He has been camping not very far from here and he is going to run down on his way home and pay Dr. Grayson a flying visit.
They are old friends."
"Edwin Langham?" Agony gasped faintly, her head awhirl. It seemed past comprehension that this man whom she had worshipped as a divinity for so long was actually to materialize in the flesh--that the cherished desire of her life was coming true, that she was going to see and talk with him.
"Goodness, don"t look so excited, child," said Miss Amesbury, laughing.
"He"s only a man. A very rare and wonderful man, however," she added, "and it is a great privilege to know him."
"When is he coming?" asked Agony in a whisper.
"Tomorrow afternoon. He is going to stop off between boats and will be here only a short time."
"Do you suppose he will speak to me?" asked Agony humbly.
"I rather think he will," replied Miss Amesbury, smiling. "You see," she continued, taking Agony"s hand in hers as she spoke, "it just happened that Edwin Langham was the man who sat under the tree that time you climbed up and rescued the robin. He was laid up with blood poisoning in his foot at the time and he had been wheeled into the woods from his camp that afternoon. His man had left him for a short time when you happened along. He was the man who told about the incident down at the store at Green"s Landing, where Dr. Grayson heard about it later from the storekeeper. Dr. Grayson did not know at the time that it was his friend Edwin Langham who had witnessed the affair, but in the letter Dr.
Grayson has just received from Mr. Langham he gives an enthusiastic account of it, and says he is coming to camp partly for the purpose of meeting the girl in the green bloomers who performed that splendid deed that day. So you see, my dear," Miss Amesbury concluded, "I think it is highly probable that you will have an opportunity to speak to your idolized Edwin Langham."
For a moment things turned black before Agony"s eyes. She rose unsteadily to her feet and crossed the balcony to the stairs. "I must be going, now," she murmured through dry lips.
"Must you go so soon?" asked Miss Amesbury with a real regret in her voice that cut Agony to the heart.
"Come again, come often," floated after her as she pa.s.sed through the door.
Agony sped away from camp and hid herself away in the woods, where she sank down at the foot of a great tree and hid her face in her hands. The thing she had desired, had longed for above all others, was now about to come to pa.s.s--and she had made it forever an impossibility. The cup of joy that Fate had decreed she was to taste she had dashed to the ground with her own hands. For she could not see Edwin Langham, could not let him see her. As long as he did not see her her secret was safe. He did not know her name, or Mary"s, so he could not betray her in that way.
Only, if he ever saw her he would know the difference right away, and then would come betrayal and disgrace. There was only one thing to do.
She must hide away from him; and give up her opportunity of meeting and talking with him. It was the only way out of the predicament.
When the steamer swung into view around the bend of the river the next afternoon Agony stole away into the thickest part of the woods and proceeded toward a place she had discovered some time before. It was a deep, extremely narrow ravine, so narrow indeed that it was merely a great crock in the earth, not more than six feet across at its widest.
It was filled with a wild growth of elderberry bushes, which made it an excellent hiding place. She scrambled down into this pit and crouched under the bushes, completely hidden from view. Here she sat with her head bowed down on her knees, hearing the whistle of the steamer as it neared the dock, and the welcoming song of the girls as the distinguished pa.s.senger alighted. A little later it seemed to her that she heard voices calling her name. Yes, it was so, without a doubt. Tiny Armstrong"s megaphone voice came echoing on the breeze.