CHAPTER XV THE OLD GODET HOUSE
"No floors," observed Priscilla, peeking in.
"It's a mere shell," said Jack; "everything rotted away but the walls andthe chimney."
"But how stout they are!" exclaimed Desire, triumphantly.
"We'll look at it again when we come back this way, if you like,"promised Jack presently; "but now I want to get on to Windsor."
"There's the remains of a garden back of the cabin," commented Priscilla,as they drove away. "I can see three or four flowers."
"The first seeds of which were doubtless planted by our--how many timesgreat-grandmother, Jack?" asked Desire.
"Don't know. The 'greats' always did puzzle me."
"Oh!" cried Rene, "I always thought you knowed _everything_."
"Sorry to disappoint you, my boy," laughed Jack; "but I don't."
"And now," said Priscilla, "I want to see the place where you went toschool, Jack. Wasn't it here?"
"Yes. I'll show it to you when we come back."
"How strange," commented Desire to Jack, "that you never heard of or sawthe place when you were here."
The boy smiled. "I was far too busy going to classes, preparingassignments, and coaching some of the other fellows, to hunt up oldruins."
Desire was very quiet for the rest of the day, but the next day, whenthey were camped near the river Avon just beyond the town of Wolfville,she said rather timidly to Jack:
"Do you suppose we could find out anywhere who owns the Godet house now?"
"Possibly; but why?"
"I'd just like to know."
Her brother looked at her keenly before he said--"We can walk into townand see what information we can get, if you like."
"Do you suppose the children would be safe if we left them?" looking upat him doubtfully.
"I think so. Priscilla must begin to take a little responsibility now.We'll have plenty of time to get back before dinner time."
While Desire got ready, Jack issued instructions to the two children,closing with--"Rene, you're to mind Priscilla; and Prissy, don't go awayfrom the wagon, or let Rene out of your sight."
They had gone only a short distance when Desire, who had looked backseveral times, said--"Jack, would you mind very much if I let you go onalone, and I went back?"
"No, of course not; don't you feel well?" he inquired anxiously.
"Perfectly; but--Prissy _is_ pretty young to be left with the wagon andthe baby; and it isn't as if you really needed me along."
"I think they're perfectly safe, but if you'd feel better about it, goback by all means," said her brother kindly.
So Desire returned to the children, and waited in a fever of suspense forJack to come back. With one eye on the long road, and the other on herhousehold, or rather wagonhold, duties, she was ready to drop everythingand go to meet him as soon as his tall form appeared in the distance.
At full speed she dashed along the highway, raising quite a cloud of finewhite dust, and fell into Jack's arms outspread to stop her.
"Good work, Dissy! All our riding hasn't made you forget how to run.Remember the races you and I used to have when we were little, on thatsmooth path running along the edge of the woods?"
"And the day you fell over a stone and had such a terrible nosebleed? Howfrightened I was!"
"We had lots of good times together when we were kids, didn't we?" askedJack, laying his arm affectionately across her shoulders.
"We surely did; but why say 'when we were kids?' We do now, too, onlythey are a different kind of times."
"And a different kind of race," added Jack, thoughtfully.
"Well, what did you do in town?" asked the girl, unable to restrain hercuriosity any longer.
"I rambled about a bit first, asking a question here and there, andfinally ended up at the house of Judge Herbine. He's a fine old man,Desire; you'd like him. As he is quite a story-teller, and very muchinterested in our affairs, it took some time to get the information I wasafter; but at last I succeeded in finding out that the house apparentlybelongs to no one. Some years ago a man from the States wanted to buy thesite for a summer home, but when he investigated and found that therewasn't a clear title to the property, he decided not to take it. I don'treally understand it, but it's something about some papers that aremissing, have been for years and years back. Nobody else wanted it, so--"
"We can take it ourselves," concluded Desire.
The boy stood stock still in the road, and looked at his sister in frankdismay.
"What on earth do you mean!" he asked.
"Just what I said. If it belongs to nobody, we, being the Godets'descendants, can surely take it. Who'd have a better right?"
Jack looked more and more puzzled, as he said--"What would you do withit?"
"_Do_ with it? Why, live in it, of course."
The boy regarded her with such a worried look that she laughed outright.
"I'm perfectly sane, Jack. My plan is this. We'll have to live somewhereduring the winter; and if we board, we'll use up all the money we makethis summer. With this as our headquarters, during unpleasant weather wecould make day trips as we planned, and send Prissy to school every dayin Wolfville. Or possibly you could get some kind of a job in Windsor forthe winter, and I could take charge of the wagon."
"But nobody could possibly live in that cabin," objected Jack, brushingaway a persistently hovering bee. "It's hopeless."
"Indeed it isn't hopeless. I agree with you that no one could live in itthe way it is now, but with new floors and a couple of partitions, itwould be fine. You admitted that the walls were stout, and the chimneyperfect."
"With help, I could put down floors--" began Jack half to himself, aftera moment's consideration. "We'll have to think this out more carefully,though, and talk it over again." And he added hurriedly as they got nearthe wagon, and Priscilla dashed out to meet them, "Don't say anything yetbefore the children."
The same afternoon Jack went again to town, and did not return untilsupper time. Priscilla was curious to know what he did there, but he gavesuch absurd answers to her questions that she finally gave up.
"I'm not _ever_ going to ask you another question," she announced.
"Not until next time," teased Jack, ruffling up her hair.
"I suppose you are as curious as Prissy," he said later on to Desire,after the children were asleep.
August had come in with a cool wind from over Fundy, and after darknessfell, the chill was more noticeable; so Jack had built a small camp fire,and he and Desire were sitting beside it on a pile of cedar boughs.
"Well, yes," admitted Desire. "I must confess that I am."
"I went to see a young carpenter that the judge recommended to me--"
"About floors?" asked Desire eagerly, twisting around so quickly to lookdirectly into his face that the pile of boughs swayed threateningly.
"Look out, Dissy!" warned her brother. "You'll have us both in the fireif you don't sit still. Yes, about floors, and partitions."
"What did he say?"
"He's busy on one of the farms now, but when the crops are in he'll dothe work for us at a price that we can afford to pay. That is, I think wecan if we do well for the rest of the summer."
"Then we'll just _have_ to," decreed Desire, tossing a couple of pinecones into the fire.
"The judge is a good old scout. Seemed so interested in us that I toldhim what we were doing, or rather trying to do, and he was awfully keenabout seeing the rest of you. So he's coming out tomorrow to lunch--"
"Tomorrow!" exclaimed Desire. "Why, I thought you were anxious to get onto Windsor; and we've already lost a day."
"Yes, I know; I don't know just why I hung around here, but it justseemed as if we were meant to."
"And to _lunch_, Jack," she added, in dire dismay. "What made you ask himto a meal?"
"I don't know. The invitation was out before I thought. But you wouldhave asked him, too. He seems so kind of lonely
, and he says he dotes onpicnics. You can manage something simple; can't you?" the boy askedanxiously.
"I'll try hard, of course. Do you suppose you could catch a few fish inthe morning?"
"Probably, and I saw some ripe huckleberries as I came along thisafternoon. The youngsters can gather some of those, and we'll get alongall right."
The children were delighted at the prospect of "company," and immediatelyafter breakfast, Jack escorted them, armed with a tin pail and a coupleof cups, across a field to the berry bushes loaded with blue fruit.
"When the pail is filled, go right back the way we came, and take theberries to Desire," he instructed, as he set out in a different directionfor the river, with his fish pole. The banks of the sparkling stream werepink with masses of wild roses, freshly opened and wet with dew.
"Desire would be crazy over these," he thought. "Guess I'll take some toher when I go back."
An hour's fishing resulted in enough fish for a meal; and after cuttingan armful of roses, Jack returned to camp. The children had reached thereahead of him, and were busy making things ready for the eagerly awaitedguest.
Desire had laid on the ground, in a shady spot, a red-borderedtablecloth, anchored it at each corner with a stone concealed by a pileof pine cones. She greeted Jack's offering with enthusiasm--"Just what weneed for the centre of the table. Prissy, get an empty fruit can to putthem in, and lay some big ferns around it. I must attend to my biscuits."
It was wonderful what good things Desire could cook on the little campstove, which they really had not felt able to afford when they saw it inYarmouth. "It will pay for itself very soon," she had argued; "for wecan't live on cold food all the time; and eating in restaurants isawfully expensive." Jack had approved; so the stove and even a littleoven to set on top of it, when needed, had been added to old Simon'soutfit.
About twelve o'clock a Ford coupe was seen in the distance, and soon cameto a stop beside the Wistmores who, one and all, stood in a row in frontof the camp. A thin little man with heavy white hair got nimbly out ofthe car.
"This is my family, Judge Herbine," said Jack; "Desire, Priscilla, andRene."
"Very glad, indeed, to know you all," replied the judge, bowing low withold-fashioned courtesy, but gazing searchingly at each one over the topsof the glasses which he wore so far out on his nose that it was a miraclethat they stayed on at all. Priscilla was so fascinated by them that shecould hardly keep her eyes off them.
"We'll have lunch right away," announced Desire; "so please take yourplaces at the table. This is yours, Judge," indicating the side facingthe road, where a cushion had been placed. The others sat on the ground.
The fish which Jack had fried over a camp fire, while Desire finished herbiscuits, were done to a turn; and the judge did full justice to them.
"These biscuits are mighty fine," he commented, "and you say you madethem on that little gadget of a stove? Marvelous! Marvelous!"
After the huckleberries and some wafers which Desire had taken from theirstock were disposed of, the guest insisted upon helping clear up. He wasa lively little man, and skipped hither and thither, carrying dishes,picking up papers, and making himself generally useful.
"Now for a visit," he said, settling himself beside a tall pine, leaningback against its trunk, and stretching his legs, clad in cream-coloredcrash, straight out in front of him.
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