The Campfire Girls of Roselawn; Or, a Strange Message from the Air

by Margaret Penrose

  CHAPTER XXIII

  DARRY'S BIG IDEA

  When Mrs. Foley and the baby arrived home there stood upon theplatform at the back door of the house a most amazing figure. She knewevery child in Dogtown, and none of them had ever made such anappearance. She almost dropped the baby through amazement.

  "For love of John Thomas McGuire!" burst forth the "bulgy" woman,finally finding her voice. "What's happened to that child? Is it anangel she's turned into? Or is she an heiress, I dunno? Hen Haney!what's the meaning of this parade? And have you washed the dishes likeI told you?"

  "You must forgive her, Mrs. Foley," Jessie said, coming down to meetthe woman and taking the baby from her. "Go and see and speak to thechild," she whispered. "She is so delighted that she has not been ableto talk for ten minutes."

  "Then," said Mrs. Foley solemnly, "the wor-r-rld has come to an end.When Hen Haney can't talk----"

  But she mounted heavily to the platform. Little Henrietta stood therelike a wax figure. She dared not move for fear something would happento her finery.

  Every individual freckle on her thin, sharp face seemed to shine asthough there was some radiance behind it. Absurd as that taffeta dresswas for a child of her age, it seemed to her an armor against alldisaster. Nothing bad (she had already acclaimed it to Amy and Jessie)could happen to her with that frock on. And those silk stockings! Andthe patent-toed shoes! And a hat that almost hid the child's featuresfrom view!

  "Well, well, well!" muttered the amazed Mrs. Foley. "If anybody hadever told me that you'd have been dressed up like--like amillionaire's kid! When I took you away from your poor dead mother andbrought you out here, Hen Haney, to be a playfellow of me littleCharlie, and Billy, and--and--Well, anyway, to be a playmate to them.Ha! You never cleaned out the stove-grate, did you?"

  She had looked into the kitchen and saw the dishes in the sink and thegaping stove hearth, and shook her head. Jessie thought it time tointercede for the little girl.

  "You must forgive her, Mrs. Foley, and blame me. I made her dress upin the things we brought. I was sure you would want to see her in herSunday clothes."

  A deep sigh welled up from Henrietta's chest. "Am I going tosure-enough keep 'em to wear Sundays?" she asked.

  "If Mrs. Foley will let you," said the politic Jessie. "You can keepthem very carefully. It is really wonderful how well they fit."

  "Sure," sighed Mrs. Foley, "she's better dressed than me ownchildren."

  "But you told us your children were all boys," Amy put in quickly.

  "Aw, but a time like this I wish't I had a daughter," declared thewoman, gazing at Henrietta almost tenderly. "What a sweet littlecolleen she might be if she had some flesh on her bones and somethingbesides freckles to color her face. Yes, yes!"

  "I am awfully glad, Mrs. Foley," said Jessie quickly, "to see how muchyou approve of what we have tried to do for Henrietta. So I am boldenough to ask you to let us take her up to my house for over night.Momsy wants to see her in these new clothes, and----"

  "Well, if Mrs. Momsy--Or is it Mr. Momsy, I dunno?"

  "Why, Momsy is my mother!"

  "The like o' that now! And she lets you call her out o' name? Well,there is no understanding you rich folks. Ha! So you want to takelittle Hen away from me?"

  "Only for over night. It would be a little vacation for her, youknow."

  Mrs. Foley looked back into the kitchen and shook her head. "By thelooks o' things," she said, "she's been having a vacation right here.Well, she'll be no good for a while anyway, I can see that. Why, shecan't much more than speak with them glad rags on her."

  "Come on," said Henrietta, and walked down the steps, heading towardthe lake.

  Amy burst into laughter again, and even Mrs. Foley began to grin.

  "She's as ready to go as though you two young ladies was her fairygod-mothers. Sure, and maybe 'tis me own fault. I've been telling herfor years about the Good Little People that me grandmother knew inIreland--or said she knew, God rest her soul!--and she has always beenlooking for banshees and ha'nts and fairies to appear and whisk heraway. She is a princess in disguise that's been char-r-rmed by awicked witch. All them stories and beliefs has kept her contented.She's a good little thing," Mrs. Foley ended, wiping her eyes. "Goalong with her and tell your Mrs. Momsy to be good to her."

  So they got away from Dogtown with flying colors. Henrietta sat, alittle silk-clad figure, in the bottom of the canoe and shiveredwhenever she thought a drop of water might come inboard.

  "She ought to have worn her old clothes in the canoe," Amy suggested,but with dancing eyes.

  "O-o-oh!" gasped Henrietta, pleadingly.

  "It is going to take dentist's forceps to ever get the child out ofthat dress," chuckled Jessie. "I can see that."

  They got back to Roselawn in good season for dinner. Chapman hadreturned from town, but had not brought Mr. Norwood home. Jessie'sfather, it seemed, had left the courtroom early in the afternoon andhad gone out of town on some matter connected with the Ellison case.That case, as Jessie and her mother feared, was already in the court.A jury had been decided upon, as the defendants, Mrs. Poole and Mrs.Bothwell, had been advised by McCracken, their lawyer, to demand ajury trial.

  The plaintiffs would have to get in their witnesses the next day. IfBertha Blair was ever to aid the side of right and truth in thismatter, she must be found and brought to court.

  "And we don't know how to find her. If she is hidden away over thereat that Gandy farm, how shall we ever find it out for sure?" wailedJessie. "I hoped Daddy would get my letter and come and take charge ofthe search himself."

  "Your idea of taking Henrietta over there and letting her call Berthais a good one," declared Amy stubbornly. "Aren't you going to doit?"

  "Yes. We'll drive over early. But it is only a chance."

  They could not interest Henrietta in her Cousin Bertha that evening,save that she said she hoped Bertha would come and see her before shehad to take off the silk dress and the other articles of her gayapparel.

  She scarcely had appetite for dinner, although Momsy and Jessie triedtheir very best to interest Henrietta in several dishes that weresupposed to appeal to a child's palate. Henrietta was polite andthanked them, but was not enthusiastic.

  She found a tall mirror in the drawing room and every time they missedher, Jessie tip-toed into that long apartment to see Henrietta posingbefore the glass. The child certainly did enjoy her finery.

  The suggestion of bedtime only annoyed Henrietta. But finally Jessietook her upstairs and showed her the twin beds in her own room, one ofwhich the visitor was to occupy, and so gradually Henrietta came tothe idea that some time she would have to remove the new clothes.

  They listened in on the radio that evening until late, using theamplifier and horn that Mr. Norwood had bought. Henrietta could notunderstand how the voices could come into the room over the outsidewires.

  "I'll tell Charlie Foley and Montmorency Shannon about this," sheconfided to Jessie and Amy. "I guess you don't know them. But they aresmart. They can rig one of these wireless things with wires, I bet.And then the whole of Dogtown will listen in."

  "Or, say! Maybe they won't let poor folks like those in Dogtown haveradios? Will they?"

  "This is for the rich and poor alike," Jessie assured her.

  "Provided," added Amy, "that the poor are not too poor."

  They finally got Henrietta to bed. She went to sleep with the silkdress hanging over a chair within reach. After Amy had gone homeJessie retired with much more worriment upon her mind than littleHenrietta had upon hers.

  Everybody was astir early about the Norwood and Drew places inRoselawn that next morning. At the former house Jessie and Henriettaaroused everybody. At the Drew place "two old salts," as Amy sleepilycalled them from her bedroom window, came rambling in from a taxi-caband disturbed the repose of the family.

  "Where did you leave that _Marigold_?" the sister demanded from herwindow. "You boys go off on that yacht, supposedly to stay a year, andget back
in forty-eight hours. You turn up like a couple of badpennies. You----"

  "Chop it, Sis," Darry advised. "See if you can get a bite fixed for acouple of started castaways. The engine went dead on us and we sailedinto Barnegat last night and all hands came home by train. Mark hasthe laugh on us."

  Fortunately the cook was already downstairs and Amy put on a negligeeand ran down to sit with the boys in the breakfast room and listen tothe tale of their adventures.

  "Oh! But," she said, after a while, "there's been something doing inthis neighborhood, too. At least, our neighbors have been doingsomething. Do you know, Darry, Jess is bound to find that lost girl wewere telling you about? Mr. Norwood goes into court to-day on thatEllison case, and he admits himself that he has very little chance ofwinning without the testimony of Bertha Blair."

  "Fine name," drawled Darry. "Sounds like a movie actress."

  "Let me tell you," Amy said eagerly.

  She related how she and Jessie had tried to find Bertha after hearingwhat they believed to be the lost girl's voice out of the air. Darryand Burd listened with increasing wonder.

  "What won't you kids do next?" gasped Darry.

  "I wish you wouldn't call us kids. You are as bad as Belle Ringold,"complained his sister.

  "Is she hanging around here yet?" demanded Darry. "I don't want to seethat girl. I know I'm going to say something unpleasant to her yet."

  "She is right after you, just the same," Amy said, suddenly giggling.She told about the coming moonlight box-party down the lake.

  "We'll go right back to the _Marigold_, Burd," said Darry promptly."Home is no place for us. But tell us what else you did, Sis."

  When Amy had finished her tale her brother was quite serious.Particularly was he anxious to help Jessie, for he thought a good dealof his sister's chum.

  "Tell you what," he said, looking at Burd, "we'll hang around longenough to ride over to the stock farm with the girls, sha'n't we?"

  "What do you think you can do more than they have done?" asked Burd,with some scorn.

  "I have an idea," said Darry Drew slowly. "I think it is a good one.It even beats using that little Hen Haney for a bait. Listen here."

  And he proceeded to tell them.

  A RADIO TRICK