The Dorrance Domain

by Carolyn Wells

  CHAPTER XV

  A SUDDEN DETERMINATION

  One afternoon, Dorothy sat on the front veranda, day-dreaming.

  It was difficult to say which was the front veranda,--the one that facedthe road, or the one that looked out on the lake. The house could beconsidered to front either way.

  But Dorothy was on the veranda that faced the road, and it was a lovelywarm, hazy day, almost the last of June, and notwithstanding herresponsibilities, Dorothy was in a happy frame of mind.

  She watched with interest, a carriage that was coming along the roadtowards her. It was nothing unusual in the way of a carriage, but therewas so little passing, that anything on four wheels was alwaysnoticeable. This was a buggy, and contained a lady and gentleman whoseemed to be driving slowly and talking fast.

  To Dorothy's surprise, when they reached the entrance of the DorranceDomain, they turned in, and drove up towards the house.

  As they stopped in front of the steps, Dorothy rose to greet them; butthough courteous in manner, beyond bestowing a pleasant smile, they tookno notice of her. The gentleman got out first, then helped the lady out,and after a blank look around for a moment, as if expecting somebody, hethrew his lines carelessly around the whip and escorted the lady intothe house.

  The doors were all open as usual, and Dorothy was so amazed to see themwalk past her, that she said nothing.

  Grandma Dorrance was lying down in her room; the twins had gone outrowing, and Fairy was down at the dock with Mr. Hickox, fishing.

  The two servants were far away in the kitchen, and so the strangerswalked through the great hall and out on the west veranda without seeinganybody.

  Nonplussed, they returned to the office, and noted the unused look ofthe desks and counters there.

  "Where do you suppose the clerk can be?" said the gentleman.

  "Let us ask that young girl on the veranda," said the lady, and togetherthey returned to where Dorothy was sitting.

  "Excuse me," said the strange gentleman, "but can you tell me where Imay find the clerk of this hotel?"

  "There isn't any clerk," said Dorothy, smiling, as she rose to greetthem.

  "Then will you tell me where I can find the proprietor?"

  Like a flash, an inspiration came to Dorothy. She realized in an instantthat these people were looking for board; and equally quickly came thethought that she might take them to board, and so earn some of the moneythat she had been worrying about. It would certainly be no moredifficult to have boarders than visitors.

  And so, on the impulse of the moment, Dorothy replied:

  "I am the proprietor."

  "But I mean the proprietor of the hotel,--the owner of the place."

  "My grandmother is the owner of this hotel; and if anybody is proprietorof it, I am. May I ask if you are looking for board?"

  "Yes, we are," said the lady, impulsively; "and if you are theproprietor, I'm quite sure we want board at this hotel."

  "Will you sit down, and let us talk this matter over," said Dorothy,offering them veranda chairs. "I would like to explain just how thingsare."

  The strangers seated themselves, and looked at Dorothy with somecuriosity and a great deal of interest. It was certainly unusual to comeacross a pretty girl of sixteen, who, in her ruffled lawn frock lookedquite like the typical guest of a summer hotel, and then to be calmlytold that she was the proprietor.

  Dorothy also looked with interest at her visitors. The man was tall andlarge, of perhaps middle age; his face was kind and serious, but a smileseemed to lurk in his deep blue eyes. The lady seemed to be younger,and was very pretty and vivacious. She had curly brown hair, and herbrown eyes fairly danced with fun at the idea of Dorothy as a hotelproprietor.

  "You see," said Dorothy, as they all sat down, "this hotel is mygrandmother's property; but as we couldn't rent it, we have all comehere to live for the summer. My grandmother is quite old, and not at allstrong, so the household management is entirely in my charge. I would bevery glad to take some boarders if I could satisfy them and make themcomfortable. I have never kept boarders, but," and here Dorothy's smilebrought out all her dimples, "I have entertained company successfully."

  "I should be delighted to come," exclaimed the lady, "if you are quitesure you want us, and if your grandmother would not object."

  "Oh, no, she would not object; the question is, whether I could makeyour stay satisfactory to you. We have plenty of room; I could promiseyou a good table and good service. But as there are no other guests,you might be lonely."

  "We are not afraid of being lonely," said the gentleman, "for my wifeand I are not dependent on the society of other people. But let meintroduce myself before going further; I am Mr. James Faulkner, of NewYork City. Mrs. Faulkner and myself have been staying over at the HortonHouse, and that hotel is far too gay and noisy to suit our tastes. I'm ascientific man, and like to spend much of my day in quiet study. Mrs.Faulkner, too, likes to be away from society's demands, at least for aseason. Therefore I must confess your proposition sounds mostattractive, if the minor details can be arranged."

  "I am Dorothy Dorrance," Dorothy responded, by way of her ownintroduction, "and my grandfather was Robert Hampton Dorrance. He hasbeen dead for two years, and he left us this hotel property, which as wehave been unable to rent, we decided to occupy. I would be glad to addto our income, and if you think you could be comfortable here, might wenot try it for a week?"

  "Oh, do let us try it," cried Mrs. Faulkner, eagerly; "do say yes,James,--this is such a lovely spot, and this hotel is quite the mostattractive I have seen anywhere. Only fancy having no other guests butourselves! it would be ideal. Oh, we must certainly come! I will decideit; we will come for a week at any rate."

  "Very well, my dear, you shall have your own way. May I ask your rates,Miss Dorrance?"

  Dorothy hesitated. She felt very inexperienced, and while she wasfearful of over-charging, yet her practical instincts made her alsobeware of undervaluing the accommodations she knew she could supply.

  "I don't know," she said, frankly, "what I ought to charge you. But youmay have the best rooms in the house, and,"--here she smiled,involuntarily,--"as many of them as you wish. We have a really superiorcook, and an experienced waitress. We have boats, and a horse andcarriage, which you may use when you care to. As I know nothing ofsummer hotel charges, I would be glad if you would tell me what youthink would be right for you to pay."

  Dorothy's frank honesty, and her gentle refined courtesy made a mostfavorable impression on Mr. Faulkner, and he responded cordially.

  "For what you offer, Miss Dorrance, I think it would be fair if weshould pay you the same as we are now paying over at the Horton House;that is, fifteen dollars a week, each, for Mrs. Faulkner and myself."

  Dorothy considered a moment. She was a quick thinker, and she realizedthat this amount of money would help considerably towards the livingexpenses of the family. And the price could not be exorbitant since Mr.Faulkner offered it himself.

  "That will be entirely satisfactory to me," she said, "and I shall hope,on my part, to satisfy you. When would you like to come?"

  "I'd like to come to-morrow," said Mrs. Faulkner. "I've stood the HortonHouse just as long as I can. And our week is up to-morrow. But, excuseme, my dear, aren't you very young for these responsibilities?"

  "I'm sixteen," said Dorothy, "and grandmother thinks my talents are ofthe domestic order. But I could not undertake to have you here were itnot that our cook is not merely a cook, but a general manager andall-round housekeeper. And now, Mrs. Faulkner, if you really think ofcoming, wouldn't you like to select your rooms?"

  Just at this moment, Fairy came flying through the long hall at herusual break-neck pace, and landed turbulently in the midst of the group.

  "Oh, Dorothy," she cried, "we caught fish, and fish, and fish!"

  "This is my sister Fairy," said Dorothy, "and I must explain, that whenI said it would be quiet here, I neglected to mention that there arefour of us children; and the truth is w
e are dreadfully noisy at times.Fairy, dear, this is Mr. and Mrs. Faulkner, who are perhaps coming toboard with us."

  With the pretty politeness that always underlay the boisterousness ofthe Dorrances, Fairy put out her hand to the strangers, saying: "I'mvery glad to see you. Are you really coming to stay with us? You must'scuse me for rushing out like that, and nearly knocking you over, but Iwas so 'cited about my fish."

  Fairy always looked more than usually fairy-like when she was excited.Her gold curls tumbled about her face, and the big white bow whichtopped them stood at all sorts of flyaway angles. She poised herself onone foot, and waved her hands dramatically as she talked.

  Mrs. Faulkner was charmed with the child, and being possessed of someartistic ability, she privately resolved to make a sketch of Fairy atthe first opportunity.

  The two sisters escorted the guests through the hall, if Fairy's hop,skip and jump could be called an escort, and Dorothy showed them thelake view from the west piazza.

  Mrs. Faulkner was enthusiastic over this, and declared that nothingwould induce her to stay anywhere else but at the Dorrance Domain.

  Mr. Faulkner, too, was impressed by the beauty of the lake. It wasalways most picturesque in the late afternoon, and just now the clouds,lit up by the western sun, were especially beautiful. The lake itselfwas not calm, but was covered with smooth little hills of water, whichhere and there broke into white foam.

  Some distance out, a boat could be seen, containing two people.

  "That's my brother and sister," said Dorothy; "they are twins. They arefourteen, and are perhaps the noisiest of us all. You see," she went on,smiling, "I'm preparing you for the worst. Grandmother had greatdifficulty with the New York boarding-house keepers, because theythought the Dorrance children too lively. So I want you to be fullywarned that we do make a great deal of noise. Somehow we can't help it."

  "We don't yell so much as we used to," said Fairy, hopefully; "you see,Mrs. Faulkner, when we used to be cooped up in a boarding-house we justhad to make an awful racket, 'cause we were so miserabubble. But here wehave room enough to scamper around, and so we don't holler so much."

  "I rather think we can survive your demonstrations of animal spirits,"said Mr. Faulkner, with his kindly smile. "It will be a pleasant relieffrom the brass band which is the noise-producer over at the HortonHouse."

  "We haven't any brass band," said Dorothy, suddenly realizing that theylacked many things popularly supposed to belong to a summer hotel.

  "That's one reason why I want to come," said Mrs. Faulkner.

  "I hope you will decide to come," said Dorothy; "and now, if you willexcuse me a minute, I think I will ask my grandmother to come down andsanction our plan."

  Leaving the strangers to be entertained by Fairy, Dorothy ran up to hergrandmother's room and tapped at the door.

  A few moments served to explain matters to Mrs. Dorrance, and though alittle bewildered by Dorothy's sudden proposal, she thought the plan agood one, and went down prepared to give the strangers a cordialreception.

  The Faulkners were much pleased with the gentle, gracious old lady, andMrs. Dorrance decided at a glance that the newcomers were sensible andkindly people.