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Grace Harlowe's Problem

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Grace Harlowe’s Problem By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A.M. <hr class="major" /> <h2>CHAPTER I</h2><h3>THEIR GREATEST, DEAREST DAY</h3> “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. <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> “Oh, radiant May day, This is our play day. Youth is in its hey day; Hail we this gay day; Park clouds away day. </div> </div> “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. <hr class="major" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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