Grace Harlowe's Problem
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Jessie Graham Flower >> Grace Harlowe's Problem
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13 [Illustration: Their Dear, Too-brief Holiday was Drawing to a Close.
Frontispiece.]
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GRACE HARLOWE'S PROBLEM
By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A.M.
Author of The High School Girls Series, The College Girls Series, etc.
PHILADELPHIA
HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY
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COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY HOWARD E. ALTEMUS.
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THEIR GREATEST, DEAREST DAY 7
II. THE LAST FROLIC 22
III. PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE 29
IV. MILESTONES 39
V. THE LOCKED DOOR 48
VI. A CLUB MEETING AND A MYSTERY 61
VII. HER OWN WAY 74
VIII. ALL IN THE DAY'S WORK 81
IX. WHAT EVELYN HEARD ON THE CAMPUS 93
X. LAYING THE CORNERSTONE OF A HOUSE OF TROUBLE 102
XI. THANKSGIVING WITH THE NESBITS 110
XII. MISSING--A FRIEND 123
XIII. A DISTURBING CONFIDENCE 133
XIV. THE RETURN OF THE CHRISTMAS CHILDREN 141
XV. THE NEW YEAR'S WEDDING 153
XVI. THE LAST WORD 163
XVII. THE SUMMONS 170
XVIII. THE BLOTTED ESCUTCHEON 182
XIX. THE SWORD OF SUSPENSE 194
XX. THE AWAKENING 204
XXI. KATHLEEN WEST MAKES A PROMISE 213
XXII. FIGHTING LOYALHEART'S BATTLE 222
XXIII. GRACE SOLVES HER PROBLEM 230
XXIV. THE BOND ETERNAL 249
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GRACE HARLOWE'S PROBLEM
CHAPTER I
THEIR GREATEST, DEAREST DAY
"And at this time next week we'll all be back at work," sighed Arline
Thayer. "Not that I love work less, but the Sempers more," she
paraphrased half apologetically. "It's been so perfectly splendid to
gather home, and Elfreda was a darling to plan and carry out such a----"
"Noble enterprise," drawled Emma Dean. "Behold in me a living witness to
the truth of it. Before this time, when, oh, when, has this particular
scion of the house of Dean had a chance to play in the nice clean sand
and bathe in the nice green ocean? It is green, isn't it, Grace? Elfreda
says it's blue, and those terrible, tiresome, troublesome twins say it's
gray, but I say----"
A shower of small pebbles, cast with commendable accuracy, rained down
on Emma. Raising herself on her elbows from her recumbent position in
the sand, she looked reproachful surprise at the Emerson twins who,
crouched in the sand and holding a fresh supply of pebbles in readiness,
awaited her next remark.
"There," she declared calmly, "that simply proves the truth of my remark
about terrible, tiresome, troublesome twins."
Two slim blue figures dropped their pebbles, descended upon the
protesting Emma, and dragged her across the sand toward the water.
"Are we tiresome?" demanded Sara sternly, as she and Sue, still
clutching Emma, paused for breath.
"Are we troublesome?" from Julia.
"Not a bit of it," Emma blandly assured them. "I said it only for the
sake of alliteration. You are the most interesting persons I've ever
met. I am so sorry I said you weren't, and I'm so nice and comfortable
now. I hadn't thought of doing any further water stunts to-day." She
struggled to a sitting posture and beamed with owlish significance upon
her captors.
"All right, we'll excuse you this time, but, hereafter, keep away from
alliteration," warned Sara.
"Until next time," chuckled Emma, scrambling to her feet. Graciously
offering an arm to each twin, the trio strolled calmly back to the gay
little party of girls on the sands.
It was a clear, sunshiny morning in early September and nine young women
had taken advantage of the ocean's placid, dimpled mood for an early
morning dip.
For two weeks the Semper Fidelis Club, or, rather, nine of that most
delightful organization of Grace Harlowe's early college days, had been
holding a reunion at the Briggs' cottage, which was situated on the New
Jersey coast, not far from Wildwood, a well-known summer resort. It had
all begun with Elfreda's undeniable yearning to see her friends. Being a
young person of energy, she immediately wrote, and sent forth on their
mission, funny invitations that were a virtual command to the Sempers to
gather at the Briggs' cottage for a two weeks' reunion, and only three
of the club had been unable to accept.
To those who have known Grace Harlowe from the beginning of her
high-school life she has now, without doubt, become a personal friend.
"Grace Harlowe's Plebe Year at High School," "Grace Harlowe's Sophomore
Year at High School," "Grace Harlowe's Junior Year at High School,"
"Grace Harlowe's Senior Year at High School" recorded her sayings and
doings as well as those of her three friends, Nora O'Malley, Jessica
Bright and Anne Pierson during their student days at Oakdale High
School.
When the girl chums parted in the autumn following their high-school
graduation, Nora and Jessica went together to an eastern conservatory of
music, while Grace and Anne decided for Overton College and added to
their number no less person than Miriam Nesbit, a schoolmate and friend.
On their first day at Overton circumstance, or perhaps fate, had brought
J. Elfreda Briggs, a somewhat officious freshman, to the trio, and from
a hardly agreeable stranger J. Elfreda became their devoted friend.
During "Grace Harlowe's First Year At Overton College," "Grace Harlowe's
Second Year at Overton College," "Grace Harlowe's Third Year at Overton
College," and "Grace Harlowe's Fourth Year at Overton College," the four
girls passed through many new experiences, not always entirely pleasant,
but which served only as a spur to their ambition to gain true college
spirit, and were graduated from Overton at the end of their four years'
course, more than ever the loyal children of Overton, their Alma Mater.
The building of a specially endowed home for self-supporting girls who
were trying to gain a college education, presented to Overton College,
by Mrs. Gray, in honor of Grace Harlowe, Anne Pierson and Miriam
Nesbit, and named Harlowe House, decided Grace as to what her future
work would be. In "Grace Harlowe's Return To Overton Campus" appears the
story of her first year at Harlowe House.
And now the dear, too brief holiday was drawing to a close. To-morrow
would see the house party scattered to the four winds. This was the last
frolic they would have in the water.
"Oh, dear," lamented Arline, her blue eyes mournful with regret, "why is
it that perfectly lovely times go by like a flash, while horrid,
disagreeable ones last forever?"
"'Tis the way of life, my child. 'It is not always May,'" quoted Emma
sentimentally. "I might as well add, right here and now, that I'm glad
of it. May is a dubious and disappointing month, dears. It always pours
barrels on the first. It's a shame, too, when one stops to consider all
the poems that have been composed about that weepy, fickle first day of
May.
"Oh, radiant May day,
This is our play day.
Youth is in its hey day;
Hail we this gay day;
Park clouds away day.
"And then down comes the rain and spoils it all," finished the
versifier, lapsing into prose.
Emma's improvisation was greeted with laughter.
"It sounds just about as sensible as a whole lot of those old English
verses," declared Elfreda, who was not fond of poetry.
"It was a deadly insult to English verse," defended Anne Pierson with
twinkling eyes. "You can't expect me to let it pass unnoticed."
"Having been fed as a babe on Shakespeare," agreed Emma, "I will admit
that it gives you some room for criticism, but as a dutiful teacher of
English I feel it entirely within my province to break forth
occasionally into such English ditties as happen to come to my mind,
regardless of Shakespeare."
"Oh, do say another," begged the Emerson twins. They especially
delighted in Emma's poetical outbursts.
"Nothing comes to my mind," averred Emma solemnly. "Wait until the
spirit moves me."
"I wish something would come to your minds about how we are to spend the
rest of the day," put in Elfreda, with her usual briskness. "It isn't
ten o'clock yet, and we've had our breakfast and our swim. Let's get
together and decide now. Remember this is our greatest, dearest day. We
specially reserved it. So we ought to make the most of it."
"I'm _so_ glad we packed most of our things last night," commented
Arline, with satisfaction.
"Girls," Grace was the first to make a suggestion, "it's such a
delightful day, wouldn't you like to go picnicking at the edge of those
woods we passed the other day when we were driving? Don't you remember
how pretty the country was? There was a brook and long green hills
sloping down to it."
"Grace Harlowe!" exclaimed Elfreda, her eyes very round. "You must be a
mind reader, for that's precisely what I've been thinking about all
morning. I'm so glad you proposed it. What do you say, girls? How about
a picnic?"
There was a ringing assent on the part of the others.
"I hardly thought you would care much about going down to Wildwood for a
dance," continued Elfreda. "Somehow when we go to hops we are sure to
separate and not see much of each other until we're going home. What's
the use in having a reunion if the reunionists don't reunite. I guess
I'm selfish, but I can't help it."
"No, you're not, J. Elfreda," laughed Miriam, laying her hand on her
friend's shoulder. "That's the way I feel, too. We can go to plenty of
hops after we have each gone our separate way, but we can't have one
another. Besides, what is _anything_ in the way of amusement compared to
a Semper reunion?"
"Now you're talking," commended Emma, with an encouraging flourish of
her hand. She had been busily scooping up the white sand as she listened
to her friends' conversation. Now she took a fresh handful and let it
fall gently into the open space between the back of Sara Emerson's neck
and her bathing suit. Sara, leaning interestedly forward, was an
opportunity not to be disregarded.
"O-o-o-o," wailed the wriggling twin.
"Why, Sara, whatever _is_ the matter?" inquired Emma with such
exaggerated solicitude that the victim laughed in spite of herself.
"Some ill-natured persons threw pebbles at _me_ a while ago, but I
remained calm. That is, until I was dragged across the sand in a brutal
manner, and had to beg for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Even then I was a credit to Overton and the Sempers. I neither writhed
nor howled."
"Well, we're even now," declared Sara. "I'll foreswear pebbles if you'll
abolish the sand habit."
"I have always liked to look at Emma from a distance," said Julia
Emerson, hastily sliding to the extreme edge of the group.
"Listen, ye babblers," called Elfreda, "to the voice of the oracle.
Let's leave old Father Ocean to himself and get into our everyday
clothes. If we are going on a picnic, we'd better start. We can be on
our way in an hour from now, if we hurry. To-night after dinner we'll
all take a last melancholy stroll down here to find out what the wild
waves are saying."
"Wild waves," jeered Emma Dean. "Did you ever see the ocean smile more
sweetly, the deceitful old thing. When one stops to think of the ships
and people it gobbles up every year one feels like cutting its
acquaintance."
"It is the greatest of all mysteries," said Arline Thayer, her eyes
fixed dreamily on the limitless expanse of water.
"And I, in my Sphinx costume, am next," reminded Emma modestly.
Emma's placid manner of classing together the ocean and a fancy costume
she had worn at a Semper Fidelis bazaar was received with the delight
that always attended her astonishing sallies.
"Come on, children," Grace rose from the sand, looking slim, almost
immature, in her dark blue bathing suit. With her fair skin, which
neither tanned nor sunburned, and her radiant gray eyes, she fully
carried out that look of extreme youth which her friends were wont
frequently to comment on. In obedience to her call the girls scrambled
to their feet and strolled toward the Briggs' cottage, which was within
a very short distance of the beach.
On their way they came face to face with a trio of girls who had
approached from the opposite direction. One of them, a particularly
pretty girl, with auburn curls and a sweet, laughing face, cried out in
surprise, "Why, J. Elfreda Briggs, where did _you_ come from?"
"Madge Morton!" exclaimed Elfreda, holding out her hand delightedly. "I
didn't know you were in this part of the country. Mr. Curtis told me you
had found your father and gone on a trip around the world, but that was
ages ago. And if here isn't Phyllis Alden and Lillian Selden. Will
wonders never cease? But where is Eleanor?"
"She and Mrs. Curtis went out sailing with Tom," answered Phyllis Alden,
an attractive girl with honest, dark eyes.
"Oh, excuse me, girls." Elfreda turned to her party and a general
introducing followed.
"Where are you staying, Madge?" asked Elfreda when the two groups of
girls had finished exchanging bows and smiles.
"Mrs. Curtis has taken a cottage at Wildwood for the rest of the summer.
She only arrived there last week, and Phyllis, Lillian, Eleanor and I
met in New York and came on here yesterday."
"You don't say so. Ma will be delighted to see her. You know they've
been friends for ages. We hadn't heard from her for some time, though.
Sorry you didn't get here sooner. You could have become better
acquainted with my friends," deplored Elfreda. "They are all going away
to-morrow."
"I'm sorry, too," smiled the pretty girl. "I'm sure we'd love to know
them better." She made a gracious little gesture toward the Sempers,
whose eyes were fixed upon her in open admiration.
"Never mind, you are sure to meet some of us in New York this winter, if
you are going to be there," promised Elfreda.
"Yes, Father is going to take a house in New York. He is anxious to look
up his brother officers in the Navy who are stationed there. We are
through traveling for a time."
"The Briggs' family are going to stay in the neighborhood of the sad sea
waves until the first of October, so I'll see you often. Ma will run
over to see Mrs. Curtis the minute she knows about her being here. Tell
me where the cottage is and I'll try to remember the address. I wish I
had a pencil, but they don't usually hang around with bathing suits and
salt water."
After a few minutes' pleasant conversation the three girls said good-bye
and walked on.
"What charming girls," remarked Arline Thayer.
"Did you ever see a sweeter face than Madge Morton's?" asked Elfreda.
"She is beautiful," agreed Grace; "not only that, but she has such a
vivid personality. One loves her on sight."
"She is from the South, isn't she?" inquired Miriam. "She has a decided
southern accent."
"Yes, she was born and brought up in Virginia. Her father was a naval
officer and was court-martialed when she was a baby for something he
didn't do," related Elfreda. "He left home in disgrace and her mother
died soon afterward. He never came back to claim her, so her aunt and
uncle brought her up. Every one believed her father was dead, and so did
she until she grew up; then a perfectly hateful girl, whose father was a
naval officer, told her the story of her father's disgrace while she was
visiting Mrs. Curtis at Old Point Comfort. You see, Madge and her
friends had a little houseboat that they fixed over from an old canal
boat. They used to spend their vacations on it, and one of the teachers
from the boarding school which Madge attended used to chaperon them.
They called their boat the _Merry Maid_, and Madge, the 'Little
Captain.' They had all sorts of adventures, and Madge always said that
she knew her father wasn't dead and that some day she'd find him. The
reason I know so much about her is because Ma has known Mrs. Curtis for
years. Tom and I used to play together when we were youngsters. Tom is
her son."
"Did Miss Morton ever find her father?" asked Ruth Denton eagerly. "I
know just how she must have felt about him."
"Yes, she found him and proved his innocence. He lived for years under
another name and supported himself by translating foreign books into
English. He had a dear friend, an old sea captain, who lived with him in
a funny little house at Cape May. This friend had lots of money, so when
Madge found her father he bought a yacht and took them for a trip around
the world."
"It sounds like 'Grimms' Fairy Tales,' doesn't it," smiled Miriam.
"It's gospel truth," assured Elfreda.
"But standing stock still in the middle of the beach to listen to the
adventures of Madge Morton will never help us on our way to the picnic,"
slyly reminded Emma Dean.
"I should say it wouldn't," agreed Elfreda. "I beg your pardon. Lead on,
my dear Emma."
The little procession moved on again. Elfreda and Miriam brought up the
rear. The comradeship between them was most sincere.
"How I wish we could all see one another more frequently," sighed
Miriam. "Wouldn't you like to live your college life over again,
Elfreda?"
"Every hour of it, even the unpleasant ones," returned Elfreda
fervently. "I'm just as sure as I'm sure of anything, Miriam, that we'll
never again spend so many happy, carefree days together as we spent at
Overton. Since I've been studying law I've learned a whole lot about
human nature that I never knew before. I've learned that it's a rare
thing to be perfectly happy after one begins to look life in the face.
Sorrow may not touch one directly, but one is constantly coming upon the
trials and sorrows of others. There's only one great antidote for all
ills, and that's work."
Miriam made a little gesture of despair. "And I have no work," was her
rueful utterance. "So far, I've done nothing but travel about a lot, and
study music a little. Long ago I planned to go to Leipsic to study,
after I was graduated from Overton, but you see, Elfreda, Mother likes
me to be with her. I thought seriously of going in for interior
decorating, but when I saw how much Mother seemed to count on having me
at home with her I gave it up. While I was studying music in New York,
with Professor Lehmann, she was with me. I shall study again with him
this fall. We intend to close our home and spend the winter in New York.
David is going into business there. We shall take a house, I think."
"You don't mean it! Why didn't you tell me before?" Elfreda's eyes were
wide with surprise. "And to think you've been carrying a jolly secret
like that around without telling me, your lawfully established
roommate."
"Don't be cross, J. Elfreda, dear. I didn't know it myself until this
morning. The letter that I was so long reading after breakfast this
morning was from Mother."
"Hurry along, you laggers," screamed Arline Thayer from a distance. In
the earnestness of their conversation the two girls had dropped far
behind the others.
"Coming, Daffydowndilly," called Elfreda promptly. Then to Miriam,
"We'll see each other a lot this winter then, won't we?"
"I should rather think so," was Miriam's fervent response.
But Elfreda smiled to herself and wondered what Anne, and incidentally,
Everett Southard would say when they heard the news.
CHAPTER II
THE LAST FROLIC
The Sempers could scarcely have chosen a more perfect day for their last
frolic. The sky wore its most vivid blue dress, ornamented by little
fluffy white clouds, and a jolly vagrant breeze played lightly about the
picnickers, whispering in their ears the lively assurance that wind and
sky and sun were all on their good behavior for that day at least. The
party were to make the trip to "Picnic Hollow," as Arline had named
their destination, in Elfreda's and Arline's automobiles. During the
past year the latter had become greatly interested in automobiles, and
drove her own high-powered car with the sureness of an expert.
"What is the pleasure of this organisation?" called Emma. It was an hour
later, and nine young women stood grouped beside one of the automobiles.
The other was stationed a short distance ahead. "Four beauteous damsels
can ride with Chauffeur Thayer, the other five will have to trust
themselves to the tender, but uncertain, mercy of J. Elfreda."
"If that's your opinion of me you are welcome to ride in Arline's car,"
declared Elfreda.
"Oh, my, no," retorted Emma blandly. "I couldn't think of it. I feel
that my inspiring presence is due to ride on the front seat with you, J.
Elfreda. To aid and sustain you, as it were."
"Yes, sustain me by making me laugh and running us all into the ditch. I
know just how sustaining you can be. Never mind. I'll forgive your
slighting remarks about me, and give you the vacant place on the front
seat. Now, good people," she put on the business-like expression of an
auctioneer, "who bids for the back seat of the Briggs' vehicle?"
"Every one is welcome to it except the Emerson twins," put in Emma. "I
dislike having them sit behind me. I prefer to sit behind them, but as I
can't sit on the front seat and the back seat at the same time, it would
really be better to put the twins in the Thayer chariot."
"We are going to ride with J. Elfreda," was Sara Emerson's defiant
ultimatum.
"I'll sit between you and preserve the peace," volunteered Miriam.
"And me at the same time," added Emma hopefully. "Twins, do your worst.
Sit where you choose. Miriam will protect me." Emma tottered toward
Miriam, looking abjectly grateful and supremely ludicrous.
"That leaves Grace, Anne and Ruth to me," declared Arline. "Now let's
hurry, girls. The sooner we reach Picnic Hollow the longer we'll have to
stay."
The ride to Picnic Hollow was not a long one, but the picnickers were
highly alive to every moment of it.
"We'll have to turn in here and take the road to the left," called
Elfreda over her shoulder. They had reached a point where a narrower
road crossed the highway and wound around the hills, sloping gradually
at the lowest point, into the very heart of the little valley, which
looked particularly cool and inviting.
"All right," caroled Arline. "Lead the way and we'll follow."
Slowly the two cars, propelled by two extremely careful chauffeurs,
wound their way down the country road which, according to Elfreda, was
just wide enough and no wider.
"Bumpity bump, even to the bottom of the hollow, and no bones broken,"
announced Emma Dean, with a cheerful wave of her hand, as she hopped out
of the car, and proceeded to assist the Emerson twins to alight with a
great show of ceremony.
"What a perfectly darling spot!" was Arline's joyous exclamation. "Just
see that cunning brook! It's so pretty where it ripples past that old
tree. It doesn't look deep, either. I'm going in wading. See if I
don't."
"What shall we do first, girls?" Grace, who had been walking ahead with
Arline, a luncheon hamper swinging between them, suddenly turned and
faced the others, as, laden with rugs and cushions, they strolled along
behind her.
"Let's just play around for awhile," proposed Miriam. "There's a field
of daisies and golden rod if any one wants to go blossom gathering. Ruth
spoke of taking some pictures, too. Then we can play in the brook, and
go in wading if we like, only I don't like."
Arline and the Emerson twins elected to go in wading. Miriam and Anne
drifted off to explore the brookside, while Ruth posed Grace, Emma and
Elfreda for snapshots until they rebelled and begged for mercy. Later
half the company stayed near their impromptu camp under the big elm tree
that overhung the brook while the other half went on an exploring
expedition, and when they returned the first half sallied forth.
"We shan't stay away long," warned Arline Thayer. "It's after one
o'clock now, and I'm hungry as a hunter."
"Still we don't intend to let mere hunger conflict with our desire for
exploration," was Emma Dean's firm reminder. "Given a chance, we may
find something wonderful. We may dig the prehistoric mastodon from some
snug corner where he burrowed several thousand years ago. We may----"
"I never knew that mastodons 'burrowed,'" scoffed Sara Emerson. "That's
a new truth in natural history brought to light by Professor Dean."
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