"No, it is very hard to bury one. Somehow they find the dead more difficult to hide than they do the living. I guess the good spirits take care of the dead."
"And we must take care of ourselves! Well, that may be. At any rate, I am glad I did not die. Oh, Helka, if you only could know my brother Jack. He is the n.o.blest boy! And our girls! You know, we are called the motor girls, don"t you?"
"And you all own automobiles! I have never been in an automobile in my life," sighed Helka.
"But you are going to ride in mine--in the _Whirlwind_! Doesn"t that name suit you? It sounds so like your gypsy names. Why did you say they call you Helka?"
"Well, I wanted something Polish. Holka means girl, so I changed it a little. My father called me his Holka."
"How do you know that?"
"From my mother"s old letters. She told me as much as she wanted me to know. She said I was not all a gypsy, but I might choose my life when I grew up. She left me with a very kind gypsy nurse, but when she died--they took me to that horrible Mother Hull."
"What a pity your mother should have trusted them. Well, Helka, when we find David, he will find your father. What was his name?"
"Some day I will show you the letter, then you will know all my strange history. My music I inherited. My father was a fine musician."
The winds of the White Mountains sang a song of tired summer. The leaves brushed the windows, and the two girls fell to dreaming.
Cora thought of Jack, of Ed and of Walter; then of the dear, darling girls! Oh, what would she not give for one moment with them?
Helka dreamed of David--of the handsome boy who had risked his life to get a note to her; then of how he followed her to America, and how he had, ever since, sent her those letters!
Yes, she must risk all for freedom!
CHAPTER XXVI
SURPRISES
"Some one wants Dr. Robbins on the "phone."
The hall boy brought the message. Dr. Robbins jumped up from her book and hurried to the hall telephone.
"Yes. h.e.l.lo! That you, Leland?"
"Yes, dear. So glad to get a word with you. How are you?"
"Well? Now, you really can"t be----"
"What? Going away? Run away?"
There was a long pause after this monologue.
Dr. Robbins was listening to the voice--presumably that of Leland.
Then--"Leland! Are you crazy?"
Another pause. The young woman"s face might have been interpreted, but the "phone was silent to outsiders.
"You don"t mean to say that you are going on some dangerous trip in the mountains--yes, I hear, in the mountains--to help some foolish girl? I know you did not say foolish; I said that. Leland, listen to me. Do you hear? All right. Now, listen. Don"t you dare to go away again and not tell me exactly where you are going. I have only just--yes, I know all about your ideas. I am sure she is charming and worthy and all that, but----"
Dr. Robbins tapped her foot impatiently. Oh, the limits of the telephone! If only she could reach that brother!
"If you do not--report--look for you around Hemlock Bend! Yes, we"ll do that. Oh, Leland!"
She dropped the receiver and stood like one shocked physically as well as mentally. For a moment she remained there, then turned back to the room at the side of the girls" suite.
Mr. Rand was sitting there.
"What has happened?" he demanded. "You look as if there had been a ghost in that message."
"Oh, there was, Mr. Rand! What shall I do? That brother of mine is running off again!"
"Where?"
"He didn"t even say. His words were like those of some madman. If we did not hear from him within three days, we are to look for him about Hemlock Bend."
"Where in the world is Hemlock Bend?"
"As if we knew! That is just like Leland. Poor, dear Leland! Never practical enough even to send a straight message. Oh, Mr. Rand, that boy will kill us yet!"
"Don"t you fear, little girl," and there was an unmistakable note of tenderness in Mr. Rand"s voice. "One who means well usually does well, however strange may be his methods. The first thing to do is to see if we can get him again at the Restover."
Without waiting for her answer, the gentleman rushed out in the hall himself, and was presently calling up that hotel. As he happened to be one of the owners of the summer house, it was not difficult for him to get direct communication and answers. But the man asked for was gone.
Had just gone. Had just caught a north-bound train--the express.
"Can"t get him there," reported Mr. Rand to Dr. Robbins. "Now to find Hemlock Bend."
Guide books and time-tables were hastily consulted, but evidently the place was too small for printed mention.
Dr. Robbins was in despair. That dreadful young man! Gone to some out-of-the-world place to rescue some absurd girl! And now he had actually gotten away!
Belle, Bess, Betty and Hazel had just returned from a melancholy ramble. Belle was better--really better now than some of her companions, who had been bearing up well under the strain--but all the young faces were very sad. The boys had telephoned that they had some hope for developments in the clew they had gone away to investigate, but that was very meager encouragement. The boys always had hope--over the "phone. Dr. Robbins told them part of the story.
"Oh, the idea!" exclaimed Belle. "Isn"t that like a tale of the olden times--for a young man to run away to rescue a lady! Now, what in the world is she being rescued from? Exactly. That"s the impossible Leland. Never says who she is, what she is, or what about her. Now, as if we could put a story like that together!" She sank back as if mentally exhausted from the effort to "put it together."
"But we must find Hemlock Bend," said Betty. "I feel as if I could lay my finger on every bend in the White Mountains."
"All concentrated on your particular person," said Hazel, with a smile.
"Well, I feel that way myself, only you being smaller, Betty, have a more compact concentration."
"I think I have it," exclaimed Mr. Rand, as he returned with his hands full of pamphlets. "It is near--near----"
"Let me look, Daddy," interrupted Betty. "I can see better, perhaps."