CHAPTER VI
THE STRANGE LETTER
"Oh, Helen, mother received the strangest letter last night," criedNathalie suddenly the following day, as she stood with her friend andNita in the Red Cross booth at the Liberty Sale. "And I am afraid itmeans," the girl's eyes shadowed, "that I shall have to resign aspresident of the club."
"Resign?" exclaimed Helen and Nita simultaneously. "Oh, Nathalie, youmust not do that."
"Well, I fear it will be necessary," sighed the girl dolefully, "for thehome duties come first, especially the duties to mother, and she wantsto go--she really needs the change--and--"
"Go where?" questioned Helen sharply. "Oh, Nathalie, you are talkingDutch to us, and--"
"Sure she is," voiced Nita quickly, "jumbling letters and resignationsall together in a very queer way. Now suppose, young lady," shecommanded imperiously, seizing her friend by the arm impulsively, "thatyou unravel our tangled brains and tell us what you are aiming at."
"Well, I guess I shall have to, from the stew you two girls have sizzledinto," replied Blue Robin laughingly. "Well, as I said," she continuedmore soberly, "mother received a letter last night. But I shall have totell you a bit of family history, if you want to understand," she addedhesitatingly.
As the two girls laughingly assured her that that would only make herexplanation more interesting, Nathalie gathered up her threads and wenton with her story. "Father had an older half-sister, whose mother--whocame of very wealthy people in Boston--left her all of her money, sothat she was quite wealthy, and in due time became very eccentric.Father said she was spoiled with her pot of gold.
"She married when quite young and had one son, who, shortly after thedeath of his father,--as soon as he was graduated from college,--went toEurope, fell in love with a pretty girl, and married her. I have neverheard the details of this marriage, but I believe the girl was French.No, she may have been English; anyway it was quite a romance, and theyoung couple were quite happy.
"My aunt, however, was deeply wounded to think that her only son, heridol, had spoiled all her plans and married some one whom she consideredbeneath him. So when Philip came to America with his young wife, my auntrefused to see her. This angered him so deeply that they quarreled, andPhilip rushed from his mother's presence, declaring that she shouldnever see his face again.
"And she never did," asserted Nathalie with grave emphasis. "Presumablyhe immediately returned to Europe with his young wife, for although Mrs.Renwick soon repented of her folly, as father called it, and wrote herson again and again, she heard nothing from him. After employingdetectives by the score with no result, she finally went abroad andendeavored herself to find some trace of him, but was not successful.She finally returned to America and started to seek him here, but foundno clew to his whereabouts.
"As time passed--I think the matter preyed on her mind--she began tohave queer spells. No, she wasn't crazy, or anything like _that_, butjust worried and unhappy, going off alone by herself for months at atime, presumably still trying to find her boy. After a time she wouldreturn from one of these erratic journeys, but she never told where shehad been, and never mentioned her son's name.
"Now we have come to the letter mother received yesterday. It was frommy aunt's lawyer, who summers in Littleton, New Hampshire. You see, Mrs.Renwick had considerable property in Boston and other places, but shewas very fond of the White Mountains and always summered on Sugar Hill,where she had a lovely place called Seven Pillars, only a few miles fromLittleton, and just a short distance from the mountain village ofFranconia.
"The lawyer," continued Nathalie, who by this time had quite aninterested audience, "writes mother that Aunt Mary went off on one ofher queer jaunts over a year ago and has not returned. In accordancewith her wishes,--she always leaves a letter of instruction when shegoes off this way,--mother and two cousins of mine from the West havebeen invited to spend the summer at this place on Sugar Hill. Motherwants to go, and I feel that she needs the change, so I shall have to gowith her, and give up being a Liberty Girl."
"But why should _you_ have to go?" questioned Nita insistently."Couldn't your cousin, Lucille, or your sister, Dorothy, go with her?And then, oh, Nathalie, you could stay with us! Oh, that would be thedandiest thing! Oh, say yes, Nathalie; say yes."
"Yes, Nita," smiled Nathalie teasingly, as she placed her armaffectionately about the young girl, "it would be just dandy, as yousay, for indeed I would like a rest myself this summer, because when thewarm weather comes, housework does drag on one so. But Lucille is goingto California to visit some cousins of hers, and has planned to takeDorothy with her. Dorothy is wild to go, and mother would not disappointthe child for the world. And then, too, the lawyer wrote mother that Iwas to come with her, as my aunt had given instructions. Oh, I just hateto give up my Liberty work!"
"But you will be back in the fall, Nathalie," suggested Helen, "so whynot let Lillie Bell take charge--she is vice-president--for the summer?It will give her something to think about, too, for she is possessedwith the idea of going on the stage, and her mother is worrying herselfill over it."
"Lillie wants to go on the stage?" repeated Nathalie in surprise. "Why,I didn't know she had aspirations in that line. But do you think shewould care to take charge of the club? O dear!" she broke off abruptly,"we had planned to do so many things this summer." The girl's voice wasalmost a wail.
"Why not carry your plans to the mountains with you," inquired herfriend, "and form a club of Liberty Girls up there? I am sure there willbe some one who will be glad to belong, and you have such a fine way ofgetting people interested in things, Nathalie."
"Possibly mother may change her mind and decide not to go," returnedNathalie, brightening a little, "for she wants to be near Dick; you knowhe is now stationed at the Aviation Camp, Hazlehurst, at Mineola, nearCamp Mills. And then, too, she says she hates to leave the house alonefor so long a period."
"Why don't you rent the house for the summer?" suggested Helenpractically. "You know that Westport is getting to be quite asummer-resort since the new hotel was built on the bluff."
"No such good luck for us, I'm afraid," answered Nathalie dejectedly,"but I'll look up Lillie and see what--" But Helen had hurried away inanswer to a call for the captain of the Red Cross Squad. Nathalie stooda moment watching her friend, as she helped one of the "white-veiled"girls into her white head-covering, starred with its cross, and thenwent slowly out of the booth.
As her eyes swept over the lawn in search of Lillie her glance fell uponthe little flag with its Red Cross insignia floating cheerily from thetop of the booth she had just left, as if in a salute to its companioncross placed below on the front, so that its arms stretched outward,dividing the booth into two sections.
Ah, here was the poster drawn by Barbara Worth representing a Red Crossnurse standing by an invalid chair, in which sat a soldier boy withbandaged eyes. The girl's face saddened at its implication, and then shehad bent forward and was reading the placard persuasively held forth bythe nurse, on which was written:
"Please buy a Liberty bond of me, It's for the soldiers across the sea, Bravely fighting to make the world free, Wounded, and dying, for you and me."
But now her eyes were held by the poster of a white-robedfigure,--representing the Spirit of Liberty which had heralded thepageant of the day before,--waving a flag victoriously above her head,while holding a shield with the Biblical quotation:
"I have fought a good fight ... I have kept the faith."
The face of this water-color sketch of Freedom, although bearing noresemblance to Nita's, was so bright with hope that it thrilled thegirl's heart with the suggestion that the Allies, by their faith in Godand their desire to do right, would finally win a victory over sin andwrong.
At this moment she heard the voice of Nita as she called her to come andsee the display of small dolls, miniature Red Cross nurses, to
be usedas weights, door-holders, or pincushions, which were on sale. But somereal dolls, as Nita called them, proved more interesting to Nathalie,because they were the work of a shut-in, as her bit towards winning thewar, and because they were impersonations of some of the crowned headsof the allied nations. They were queer little things, stiff andstilted-looking, although several were excellent imitations, especiallythose of their majesties, King George and Queen Mary, and the littlePrincess Marie of Belgium.
The girl could not forbear giving Shep--a big, tawny-colored colliebelonging to the Morrow twins--a love-pat, as he stood in front of thebooth with red-hanging tongue and patient resignation in his brown eyes,while several young nurses fussed over him. They were trying to fasten astrip of white cloth around the center of his body, with a red cross oneach side, in imitation of a war-dog who had served with a Red Crosshospital in France, and who had become famous by his acts of bravery,running into shell-holes and dug-outs in search of wounded soldiers.
But Shep was no patriot, and evidently did not realize the honor of thatbig red cross, for suddenly he gave his huge body a shake, slipped frombeneath the fussing fingers, and bounded away after his young masters,leaving a gentle friend to humanity lying sprawling on the grass.
As Nathalie turned, her eyes traveled slowly from one booth to another.There were seven of them, three on the left and three on the right ofthe Red Cross booth, which was in the center of the lawn, at one end,fronting its sister booths. The war booth, on the left, ablaze with theflags of the Allies, was curiously decorated on its front and posts withthe paper coverings from magazines and books. On its counter weredisplayed the latest war books,--all donated after a sharp drive by thehostesses, the Camp Fire Girls, who wore embroidered deerskin robesaglisten with many-colored beads, and trench-caps stuck jauntily on oneside of their heads, which gave them a very coquettish and nattyappearance.
Scrap-books, in which were pasted funny verses, tidbits of news from allover the world, with many-colored pictures, and songs and rhymes toamuse the convalescents in the hospitals, were also on sale. Littlecandles of paper added to the attractiveness of this booth's display,while one or two Camp Fire Girls were in attendance, who, on the paymentof a nickel, taught the uninitiated the knack of making thesetrench-candles.
But the booth that held the first place in Nathalie's heart was theLiberty-Garden booth, a leaf-embowered tent. Here were brilliantsplashes of color from the vegetables piled on wicker mats, as carrots,turnips, beans, onions, beets, and other products, artistically softenedby the light green of lettuce, the red of beet-leaves, and the delicate,lacy leaves of the carrot.
Here and there herbs tied in bunches, as thyme, caraway seeds, catnip,sweet lavender, and other herbs, suggested the days of long ago, whenthese little garden accessories held a higher place with the housewifeas necessities of the day. Unwieldy tomatoes and potatoes, lazilyresting on plates, added to the picturesque effect of the display, aswell as the festoons of peppers, radishes, parsnips, and vegetables ofsimilar character that were hung from side to side of the tent.
This booth was certainly a brilliant showing of the work done by thePioneers. Oh, how they had scrubbed and polished those vegetables tobring out their colors, so they would not be messy or huddled-looking!And the time it had taken to print the little labels so neatly fastenedto each exhibit!
Yes, through the sweat of her brow Nathalie had come to realize thatgardening was not merely a matter of digging, plowing, or even plantingor weeding, but that it meant straying into many paths of knowledge thathitherto had been closed to her. Then, too, there was the trenchwarfare, as she called the unceasing onslaught against the bugs,insects, and garden slugs, by a constant fire of hand-grenades andbombs, as the girls had come to call the spraying and powdering of theplants.
Ah, there was Lillie, with a number of Girl Pioneers, who, inbright-colored overalls and shirt-waists, and coquettish littlesunbonnets tied under their chins, were rather gay editions offarmerettes, as they stood in picturesque attitudes, with their rakesand hoes. But a moment later Lillie was forgotten, for as Nathaliereached the booth she burst into a sudden squeal of delight on suddenlyperceiving, on the top of a wall of canned vegetables, a little greenimp, ingeniously made from a string-bean. He not only had a most rakishair, with his tiny soldier-hat cocked on one side, as he stood atattention with a flag for a gun, but he held forth a little placard onwhich was written:
"Little Beans, little Beans, whence did you come?" "We came from the ground at the sound of the drum." "Little Beans, little Beans, why are you here?" "We were scalded and canned by a Girl Pioneer."
"Oh, who wrote that?" merrily inquired the girl of one of the Pioneers,for it was something she had not seen before.
"Why, one of the Pioneer directors," answered the farmerette smilingly,pleased at the young president's surprise.
A moment's inspection of the fine display of canned goods, and Nathalieturned to seek Lillie, but that young lady had mysteriously disappeared.One of the girls, suggesting that Lillie had gone to the Liberty Teabooth to regale herself with a cup of tea, Nathalie hurried on to thatbooth, where the Daughters of Liberty, attired in quaint, old-timecostumes, dispensed that beverage.
But Lillie was not drinking tea, and again Nathalie hurried across thelawn, on her way to the opposite booth, a mass of vines and flowers, theresult of the labors of the Girl Scouts in their garden, which they hadnamed the Garden of Freedom.
Ah, here was Lillie talking to a brown-clad soldier-boy by the bigLiberty pole that had been erected in the center of the lawn, facing theRed Cross booth. It flew the Stars and Stripes and the club's ensign, alittle red banner blazoned with the white stars of hope, while a bigliberty bell was hung from a cross-beam. On its flag-bedecked platformCarol Tyke was stationed as the bell-ringer, for later in the afternoonshe was to strike the big bell to announce some patriotic speech, orfiery oration, to be made in a sharp drive to sell the Liberty bonds.
Lillie, seeing Nathalie coming in her direction, advanced towards her,and immediately presented her soldier-friend, and in a few moments thethree young people were having a sprightly chat. But Nathalie, soonrecalled to the business on hand, turned and told the youngvice-president why she was so anxious to see her.
"Yes; yes, indeed, Nathalie," cried the girl quickly. "I am Hooverizingthis summer, and as I do not expect to leave town until late in thefall, I shall be most delighted to accept the office of acting presidentfor the summer."
A few moments later, relieved of her anxiety as to what would become ofthe Liberty Girls in case she went to the mountains, Nathalie thankedher friend, and hastened over to the Garden of Freedom, wherenasturtiums, pink poppies, sweet peas, phlox, and other old-fashionedblooms peered at her in a riotous flaunt of color.
The Girl Scouts, who were charmingly gotten up to represent flowers,beamed with pleasure as their president complimented them on thesplendid display they made, and the honor they had won by their hardlabor. They not only sold cut flowers, but potted plants, as well astoothsome sweets, made without sugar, they declared, as they coaxinglytempted Nathalie to sample a few.
But she had time only for a nibble or two, and then she was off to theknitting booth, where a bewildering assortment of sweaters, helmets,mufflers, socks, and other knitted articles stared at her in a"homespuney" sort of way that reminded her of her grandmother. Sheremembered how, as a child, she used to watch her as she sat by the fireknitting, and the fun it was when the ball went rolling under the tableand she scrambled after it.
No, she could not hurry by this booth, for Marie's eyes, big but shy,and bright with a beautiful soft blackness, shone so pleadingly from theclear pallor of her ivory-tinted skin, that they could not be resisted."Oh, Mees President," cried the girl in her soft musical voice, "I shalltell somethings on you. I likes that you look at mine table--iss it notshmardt, hein? My mamma she says it iss stylish. Shure, und thepeoples--oh, they buys und buys lots and lots of sweaters, und muffler
s,und the helmets--yiss, ma'am, they have a glad on them, for they go fastmit the wind."
"Yes, isn't it lovely, Marie," returned Nathalie, smiling into thelimpid eyes, "to think that every one is so patriotic, and so anxious tomake the soldier-boys who are to fight for us, happy and comfortable?"
"Shure, Mees, that iss because they are lovin' much mit the liberty. Oh,here comes mine papa. He buys sweater of me. I likes that you speak mitmine papa, Mees," exclaimed the little Jewess shyly, as her eyes againpleaded with Nathalie.
The young president turned, to see a rather crumpled, mussy-lookinglittle man by her side, who stared at her with sudden embarrassment asshe quickly extended her hand in a cordial greeting to him.
Mr. Katzkamof seized the outstretched hand and shook it nervously, whilehis bright black eyes beamed with good-natured surprise. "I be glad tomeet young Mees," he cried hurriedly, "who makes mine little girl be sohappy. She sing, she smile all the day mit the liberty that you gives toher."
"But _I_ didn't give it to her," answered Nathalie quickly. "God gave itto her. I am only trying to show her how to give it to those who haven'tlearned what liberty means. But you," she added quickly, "you are anAmerican,--you love the liberty, too?" The girl raised her eyebrowsinquiringly, somewhat frightened at her temerity, for she suddenlyremembered that she had heard Edith say that the newsdealer was a fierysocialist.
"Yes, Mees, I be an American. I vote for the President. But I no likethe war," the black eyes hardened. "It makes me cold in mine heart. Ithink it no right for the people to fight mit one und the other, likesthe cat und the dog. They spill much of the blood. I am lovin' mit thepeace. I no fight."
"Yes, it is a terrible thing to have to fight and kill one another,"replied the girl sadly. "And the mothers,--oh, I feel so sorry for them,when they have to give up their boys to go and fight. But it must bedone," she added valiantly, although there was a catch in her breath asthe thought of Dick came to her.
"Oh, no, Mees, if all the people say _no fight_, they be no soldiers,they be no war, we have the peace."
"Yes, but what kind of a peace," exclaimed the girl. And then a suddenthought looming big. "Ah, Mr. Katzkamof, you love the Christ. Did He notdie to make men free? Shall we not die to give liberty to the world?"
"No, Mees, I ain't lovin' mit Krisht. I make nothings mit Him." Theman's tone was surly, although he shrugged his shoulders carelessly.
"I beg your pardon," cried Nathalie with reddening cheeks. And then, asif to recover lost ground. "But you believe in God, _your_ God, _theGod_ who brought the Israelites dry-shod over the Red Sea? And did _He_not command you to fight and drive out the enemies of God, the heathen,who did not serve him, and who were in the Promised Land? And is not theKaiser a Hun, a heathen, when he tortures and kills little children andwomen? Yes," continued Blue Robin, impelled by some indefinable feelingto rush blindly on, "this is _God's_ war. He has commanded us to fight,to do away with tyranny and oppression. They must be overcome, so thatall the world shall have liberty, and then,--why then we shall havepeace, a peace that the Germans can't destroy." And then Nathaliesmiled, although her heart was leaping in great bounds at her suddenboldness. But another thought had come, and, turning towards hercompanion, for she had turned to leave him, she added smilingly, "And Iam sure that you are big-hearted enough to be willing to fight, so thatyou can give to others the liberty that gives so much happiness to you."
The man's eyes had brightened with a sudden strange light, and he openedhis mouth to reply, but Nathalie had passed on, angry at herself forbeing so outspoken. But O dear! she felt so sorry for those poorignorant people, who thought and did violent things just because theycouldn't reason, and didn't understand.
But she had reached the Love booth, the name given by the girls to thetent where the comfort-kits were sold. By a pile on a seat in the rearshe knew that business had been brisk, and that people had not onlydonated kits and then bought them back again, but had patrioticallyreturned them to the sellers, so that they could be given to thesoldier-boys.
Blue Robin stood a moment and watched the girls, who, busy as bees, wereselling their wares, as they chatted merrily over their sales, and thenshe turned to cross the lawn to the Red Cross booth. She had not gonemore than a step or so, however, when a sudden clang of the liberty bellbrought her to a halt. Oh, some one had bought a Liberty bond; yes,three bonds, for the three clangs of the bell announced the number sold.Oh, it was still ringing! What did it mean?
She started to rush towards the booth where the bonds were being sold,and then glanced back at the booth she had just left, to see that thegirls, in their eagerness to know who was buying so many bonds,--for thebell was still clanging,--had dropped their work and were rushing infrantic haste towards the booth.
Nathalie smiled, and turned to follow after the group of girls who werespeeding past her, when a sudden thought leaped into her mind. Shehalted and again glanced back at the Comfort-Kit booth. Not a girl wasto be seen. Ah, now was her chance to get rid of that letter. The nextmoment she had turned and was flying back to the now deserted booth.
The Liberty Girl Page 6
