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 iiiImS,.if,l?.Xl?.C' Darlings. 
 
 3 1924 021 801 539 .„„ 
 
The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924021801539 
 
THE SEVEN DARLINGS 
 
THE 
 SEVEN DARLINGS 
 
 BY 
 
 GOUVERNEUR MORRIS 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY 
 
 HOWARD CHANDLER CHRISTY 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 NEW YORK::::::::::::::::::::::i9i9 
 
 ii . 
 
COPYEIGHT, I915, BY 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 /oio^dS 
 
TO 
 HOPE DAVIS 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 "If there's any voting," said Phyllis, "I give my proxy 
 
 to Gay" Frontispiece 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 
 "They're as like as Lee and me," said Gay .... 70 
 
 "I said to myself: 'The Inn is no place for attractive 
 
 scalawags'" 98 
 
 Phyllis squeaked like a mouse, threw her weight to one 
 
 side, and the boat quietly upset 118 
 
 "'Why do you look at that mountain?' I said. 
 
 'Because it's blue, too,' said she" 150 
 
 "I read here," she said, "with regret, that you are an 
 
 outrageous flirt" 192 
 
 "Do you usually manage to ?" asked Maud, very much 
 
 puzzled 208 
 
 "And now what?" asked Colonel Meredith . . . . 218 
 
 She felt like Cinderella. Nobody had asked her to go 
 
 anywhere or do anything 238 
 
 Eve was at the opposite side of the pool from where she 
 
 had left iier clothes 244 
 
 vii 
 
Illustrations 
 
 PACING PAGE 
 
 "I don't want you to see me, if you don't mind. I don't 
 want you to know who I am. But I'm the grate- 
 fulest girl that ever lived" 252 
 
 "He's paddling as if he expected to cross a hundred 
 
 yards of water in a second" 266 
 
 They pushed open a swinging door and entered the 
 
 back room 290 
 
 "Lee!" exclaimed Phyllis, "married! Why, they're 
 
 nothing but children!" 304 
 
THE SEVEN DARLINGS 
 
THE SEVEN DARLINGS 
 
 I 
 
 SIX of the Darlings were girls. The seventh 
 was a young man who looked like Galahad 
 and took exquisite photographs. Their father 
 had died within the month, and Mr. Gilpin, the 
 lawyer, had just faced them, in family assembled, 
 with the lamentable fact that they, who had been 
 so very, very rich, were now astonishingly poor. 
 
 "My dears," he said, "your poor father made 
 a dreadful botch of his aiFairs. I cannot under- 
 stand how some men " 
 
 "Please!" said Mary, who was the oldest. 
 " It can't be any satisfaction to know why we are 
 poor. Tell us just how poor we are, and we'll 
 make the best of it. I understand that The 
 Camp isn't involved in the general wreck." 
 
 "It isn't," said Mr. Gilpin, "but you will 
 have to sell it, or at least, rent it. Outside The 
 Camp, when all the estate debts are paid, there 
 will be thirty or forty thousand dollars to be di- 
 vided among you." 
 
 I 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "In other words — nothing," said Mary; "I 
 have known my father to spend more in a month." 
 
 "Income — ■" began Mr. Gilpin. 
 
 "Dear Mr. Gilpin," said Gay, who was the 
 youngest by twenty minutes; "don't." 
 
 "Forty thousand dollars," said Mary, "at 
 four per cent is sixteen hundred. Sixteen hun- 
 dred divided by seven is how much ?" 
 
 "Nothing," said Gay promptly. And all the 
 family laughed, except Arthur, who was trying 
 to balance a quill pen on his thumb. 
 
 "I might," said Mr. Gilpin helplessly, "be 
 able to get you five per cent or even five and a 
 half." 
 
 "You forget," said Maud, the second in age, 
 and by sortie thought the first in beauty, "that 
 we are father's children. Do you think he ever 
 troubled his head about five and a half per cent, 
 or even," she finished mischievously, "six?" 
 
 Arthur, having succeeded in balancing the 
 quill for a few moments, laid it down and entered 
 the discussion. 
 
 "What has been decided.?" he asked. His 
 voice was very gentle and uninterested. 
 
 "It's an awful pity mamma isn't in a position 
 to help us," said Eve. 
 
 Eve was the third. After her, Arthur had been 
 
 2 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 born; and then, all on a bright sumi^er's morn- 
 ing, the triplets, Lee, Phyllis, and Gay. 
 
 "That old scalawag mamma married," said 
 Lee, "spends all her money on his old hunting 
 trips." 
 
 "Where is the princess at the moment .''" asked 
 Mr. Gilpin. 
 
 "They're in Somaliland," said Lee. "They 
 almost took me. If they had, I shouldn't have 
 called Oducalchi an old scalawag. You know 
 the most dismal thing, when mamma and papa 
 separated and she married him, was his turning 
 out to be a regular old-fashioned brck. He can 
 throw a fly yards further and lighter than any 
 man I ever saw." 
 
 "And if you are bored," said Phjllis, "you 
 say to him, 'Say something funny. Prince,' and 
 he always can, instantly, without hesitation." 
 
 "All things considered," said Gay, "iTiamma's 
 been a very lucky girl." 
 
 "Still," said Mary, "the fact remain^ that she's 
 in no position to support us in the lap (f luxury." 
 
 "Our kid brother," said Gay, "lie future 
 Prince Oducalchi, will need all she's gov When 
 you realize that that child will have stmething 
 like fifty acres of slate roofs to keep in order, it 
 sets you thinking." 
 
 3 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "One taing I insist on," said Maud, "mamma 
 shan't be bothered by a lot of hard-luck sto- 
 nes. 
 
 "Did it tver occur to you, Mr. Gilpin," said 
 Arthur, in liis gentle voice, "that my sisters are 
 the six sandiest and most beautiful girls in the 
 world ? IVe been watching them out of the 
 comer of my eye, and wishing to heaven that 
 I were Rotnney or Gainsborough. I'd give a 
 million doUaip, if I had them, for their six pro- 
 files, immortally painted in a row. But nowa- 
 days if a hoj has the impulse to be a painter, he 
 is given a cajnera; or if he wishes to be a musician, 
 he is presented with a pianola. Luxury is the 
 executioner of art. Personally I am so glad that 
 I am going to be poor that I don't know what to 
 do." / 
 
 "Aren't you sorry for us, Artie?" asked Gay. 
 
 "Very," said he; "and I don't Hke to be called 
 Artie." 
 
 Immedately after their father's funeral the 
 ' Darlingslhad hurried off to their camp on New 
 Moon Like. An Adirondack "camp" has much 
 in comnon with a Newport "cottage." The 
 Darlings was no exception. There was nothing 
 camp-Uie about it except its situation and the 
 
 4 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 rough bark slats with which the sides of its build- 
 ings were covered. There were very many build- 
 ings. There was Darling House, in which the 
 family had their sleeping-rooms and bathrooms 
 and dressing-rooms. There was Guide's House, 
 where the guides, engineers, and handy men 
 slept and cooked, and loafed in rainy weather. 
 A passageway, roofed but open at the sides, led 
 from Darling House to Dining House — one vast 
 room, in the midst of which an oval table which 
 could be extended to seat twenty was almost 
 lost. Heads of moose, caribou, and elk (not 
 "caught" in the Adirondacks) looked down 
 from the walls. Another room equally large ad- 
 joined this. It contained tables covered with 
 periodicals; two grand pianos (so that Mary 
 and Arthur could play duets without "bump- 
 ing"); many deep and easy chairs, and a fire- 
 place so large that when it was half filled with 
 roaring logs it looked like the gates of hell, and 
 was so called. 
 
 Pantry House and Bar House led from Dining 
 House to Smoke House, where an olive-faced 
 chef, all in white, was surrounded by burnished 
 copper and a wonderful collection of blue and 
 white. 
 
 There was Work House with its bench, forge, 
 S 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 and lathe for working wood and iron; Power 
 House adjoining; and on the slopes of the moun- 
 tain back of the camp. Spring House, from which 
 water, ice-cold, at high pressure descended to 
 circulate in the elaborate plumbing of the camp. 
 
 For guests, there were little houses apart — 
 Rest House, two sleeping-rooms, a bath and a 
 sitting-room; Lone House, in which one person 
 could sleep, keep clean, write letters, or bask on 
 a tiny balcony thrust out between the stems 
 of two pine-trees and overhanging deep water; 
 Bachelor House, to accommodate six of that 
 questionable species. And placed here and there 
 among pines that had escaped the attacks of 
 nature and the greed of man were half a dozen 
 other diminutive houses, accommodating from two 
 to four persons. 
 
 The Camp was laid out like a little village. 
 It had its streets, paved with pine-needles, its 
 street lamps. 
 
 It had grown from simple beginnings with the 
 Darling fortune; with the passing of this, it re- 
 mained, in all its vast and intricate elaboration, 
 like a white elephant upon the family's hands. 
 From time to time they had tried the effect of 
 giving the place \name, but had always come 
 back to "The CamplJ' As such it was known the 
 
 6 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 length and breadth of the North Woods. It was 
 The Camp, par excellence, in a region devoted to 
 camps and camping. 
 
 "Other people," the late Mr. Darling once re- 
 marked, "have more land, but nobody else has 
 quite as much camp." 
 
 The property itself consisted of a long, narrow 
 peninsula thrust far out into New Moon Lake, 
 with half a mountain rising from its base. With 
 the exception of a small village at the outlet of 
 the lake, all the remaining lands belonged to the 
 State, and since the State had no immediate use 
 for them and since the average two weeks' campers 
 could not get at them without much portage and 
 expense, they were regarded by the Darlings as 
 their own private preserves. 
 
 "The Camp," said Mr. Gilpin, "is, of course, 
 a big asset. It is unique, and it is celebrated, at 
 least among the people who might have the means 
 to purchase it and open it. You could ask, and 
 in time, I think, get a very large price." 
 
 They were gathered in the playroom. Mary, 
 very tall and beautiful, was standing with her 
 back to the fireplace. 
 
 "Mr. Gilpin," she said, "I have been coming 
 to The Camp off and on for twenty-eight years. 
 I will never consent to its being sold." 
 
 7 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Nor I," said Maud. "Though I've only 
 been coming for twenty-six." 
 
 "In twenty-four years," said Eve, "I have 
 formed an attachment to the place which nothing 
 can break." 
 
 "Arthur," appealed Mr. Gilpin, "perhaps you 
 have some sense." 
 
 "I .?" said Arthur. "Why ? Twenty-two years 
 ago I was born here." 
 
 "Good old Arthur!" exclaimed the triplets. 
 "We were born here, too — ^just nineteen years 
 ago." 
 
 "But," objected Mr. Gilpin, "you can't run 
 the place — you can't live here. Confound it, 
 you young geese, you can't even pay the" taxes." 
 
 Lee whispered to Gay. 
 
 "Look at Mary!" 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "She's got a look of father in her eyes — father 
 going down to Wall Street to raise Cain." 
 
 Mary spoke very slowly. 
 
 "Mr. Gilpin," she said, "you are an excellent 
 estate lawyer, and I am very fond of you. But 
 you know nothing about finance. We are going 
 to live here whenever we please. We are going 
 to run it wide open, as father did. We are even 
 going to pay the taxes." 
 
 8 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 Mr. Gilpin was exasperated. 
 
 "Then you'll have to take boarders," he flung 
 at her. 
 
 "Exactly," said Mary. 
 
 There was a short silence. 
 
 "How do you know," said Gay, "that they 
 won't pick their teeth in public ? I couldn't 
 stand that." 
 
 "They won't be that kind," said Mary grimly. 
 "And they will be so busy paying their bills that 
 they won't have time." 
 
 "Seriously," said Arthur, "are you going to 
 turn The Camp into an inn ?" 
 
 "No," said Mary, "not into an inn. It has 
 always been The Camp. We shall turn it into 
 The Inn." 
 
II 
 
 MR. GILPIN had departed in what had 
 perhaps been the late Mr. Darling's last 
 extravagant purchase, a motor-boat which at 
 rest was a streak of polished mahogany, and at 
 full speed, a streak of foam. The reluctant lawyer 
 carried with him instructions to collect as much 
 cash as possible and place it to the credit of the 
 equally reluctant Arthur Darling. 
 
 "Arthur," Mary had agreed, "is perhaps the 
 only one of us who could be made to understand 
 that a bank account in his name is not necessarily 
 at his own personal disposal. Arthur is altru- 
 istically and Don Quixotically honest." 
 
 It was necessary to warm the playroom with 
 a tremendous fire, as October had changed sud- 
 denly from autumn to winter. There was a 
 gusty grayness in the heavens that promised 
 flurries of snow. 
 
 Since Mary's proposal of the day before to 
 turn the expensive camp into a profitable inn, the 
 family had talked of little else, and a number of 
 ways and means had already been chosen from 
 
 lO 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 the innumerable ones proposed. In almost every 
 instance Arthur had found himself an amused 
 minority. His platform had been: "Make them 
 comfortable at a fair price." 
 
 But Mary, who knew the world, had retorted: 
 
 "We are not appealing to people who consider 
 what they pay but to people who only consider 
 what they get. Make them luxurious; and they 
 will pay anything we choose to ask." 
 
 After Mr. Gilpin's chillsome departure in the 
 Streak, the family resumed the discussion in 
 front of the great fire in the playroom. Wow, 
 the dog, who had been running a deer for twenty- 
 four hours in defiance of all game-laws, was pres- 
 ent in the flesh, but his weary spirit was in the 
 land of dreams, as an occasional barking and 
 bristling of his mane testified. Uncas, the chip- 
 munk, had also demanded and received admit- 
 tance to the council. For a time he had sat on 
 Arthur's shoulder, pufiing his cheeks with in- 
 conceivable rapidity, then, soporifically inclined 
 by the warmth of the fire and the constant strain 
 incident to his attempts to understand the ins 
 and outs of the English language when rapidly 
 and even slangily spoken, he dropped into Ar- 
 thur's breast-pocket and went to sleep. 
 
 Arthur sighed. He was feeling immensely 
 II 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 fidgety; but he knew that any sudden, irritable 
 shifting of position would disturb the slumbers of 
 Uncas, and so for nearly an hour he held himself 
 heroically, almost uncannily, still. 
 
 Two years ago, dating from his graduation, 
 Arthur had had a change of heart. He had been 
 so dissipated as to give his family cause for the 
 utmost anxiety. He had squandered money with 
 both hands. He had had a regular time for Hght- 
 ing a cigarette, namely, when the one which he 
 had been smoking was ready to be thrown away. 
 He had been a keen hunter and fisherman. His 
 chief use for domestic animals was to tease them 
 and play tricks upon them. Then suddenly, out 
 of this murky sky, had shone the clear light of all 
 his subsequent behavior. He neither drank nor 
 smoked; he neither slaughtered deer nor caught 
 fish. He was never quarrelsome. He went much 
 into the woods to photograph and observe. He 
 became almost too quiet and self-effacing for a 
 young man. He asked nothing of the world — not 
 even to be let alone. He was patient under the 
 fiendish ministrations of bores. He tamed birds 
 and animals, spoiling them, as grandparents spoil 
 grandchildren, until they gave him no peace, and 
 were always running to him at inconvenient times 
 because they were hungry, because they were 
 
 12 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 sleepy, because they thought somebody had been 
 abusing them, or because they wished to be 
 tickled and amused. 
 
 "He's like a peaceful lake," Maud had once 
 said, "deep in the woods, where the wind never 
 blows," and Eve had nodded and said: "True. 
 And there's a woman at the bottom of it." 
 
 The sisters all believed that Arthur's change of 
 heart could be traced to a woman. They differed 
 only as to the kind. 
 
 "One of our kind," Mary thought, "who 
 wouldn't have him." 
 
 "One of our kind," thought Maud, "who 
 couldn't have him." 
 
 And the triplets thought differently every day. 
 All except Gay, who happened to know. 
 
 "But," said Maud, "if we are to appeal to 
 people of our own class, all mamma's and papa's 
 old friends and our own will come to us, and that 
 will be much, too much, like charity." 
 
 "Right," said Mary. "Don't tell me I haven't 
 thought of that. I have. Applications from old 
 friends will be politely refused." 
 
 "We can say," said Eve, "that we are very 
 sorry, but every room is taken." 
 
 "But suppose they aren't?" objected Arthur. 
 
 Eve retorted sharply. 
 13 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "What is that to do with it ? We are running 
 a business, not a Bible class." 
 
 But Phyllis was pulling a long face. 
 
 "Aren't we ever to see any of our old friends 
 any more ? " 
 
 Lee and Gay nudged each other and began to 
 tease her. 
 
 " Dearest Pill," they said, " all will yet be well. 
 There is more than one Geoffrey Plantagenet in 
 the world. You shall have the pick of all the 
 handsome strangers." 
 
 "Oh, come, now!" said Arthur, "Phyllis is 
 right. Now and then we must have guests — 
 who don't pay." 
 
 "Not until we can afford them," said Mary. 
 "Has anybody seen the sketch-map that papa 
 made of the buildings ?" 
 
 "I know where it is," said Arthur, "but I 
 can't get it now; because Wow needs my feet for 
 a pillow and at the moment Uncas is very sound 
 asleep." 
 
 "Can't you tell us where it is ?" 
 
 "Certainly," he said; "it's in the safe. The 
 safe is locked." 
 
 "And where is the key ?" 
 
 "Just under Uncas." 
 
 "Very well, then," said Mary, "important 
 14 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 business must wait until Stripes wakes up. Mean- 
 while, I think we ought to make up our minds how 
 and how much to advertise." 
 
 "There are papers," said Eve, "that all wealthy 
 Americans always see, and then there's that Eng- 
 lish paper with all the wonderful advertisements 
 of country places for sale or to let. I vote for a 
 full-page ad in that. People will say, 'Jove, this 
 must be a wonderful proposition if it pays 'em to 
 advertise it in an English paper.' " 
 
 Everybody agreed with Eve except Arthur. 
 He merely smiled with and at her. 
 
 "We can say," said Eve, "shooting and fishing 
 over a hundred thousand acres. Does the State 
 own as much as that, Arthur?" 
 
 He nodded, knowing the futility of arguing 
 with the feminine conscience. 
 
 "Two hundred thousand?" 
 
 He nodded again. 
 
 "Then," said Eve, "make a note of this, some- 
 body." Maud went to the writing-table. "Shoot- 
 ing and fishing over hundreds of thousands of 
 acres." 
 
 "There must be pictures," said Maud, "in the 
 text of the ad — the place is full of them; and if 
 they won't do, Arthur can take others — ^when 
 Wow and Uncas wake up." 
 
 IS 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "There must be that picture after the opening 
 of the season," said Mary, "the year the party 
 got nine bucks — somebody make a point of find^ 
 ing that picture." 
 
 "There are some good strings of trout and bass 
 photographically preserved," said Gay. 
 
 "A picture of chef in his kitchen will appeal," 
 said Lee. 
 
 "So will interiors," said Maud. "Bedrooms 
 with vistas of plumbing. Let's be honestly 
 grateful to papa for all the money he spent on 
 porcelain and silver plate." 
 
 "Oh, come," said Mary, "we must advertise 
 in the American papers, too. I think we should 
 spend a good many thousand dollars. And of 
 course we must do away with the big table in 
 the dining-house and substitute little tables. I 
 propose that we ransack the place for photo- 
 graphs, and that Maud try her hand at composing 
 full-page ads. And, Arthur, please don't forget 
 the sketch plan of the buildings — ^we'U have to 
 make quite a lot of alterations." 
 
 "I've thought of something," said Maud. 
 "Just a line. Part of the ad, of course, mentions 
 prices. Now I think if we say prices from so and 
 so up — it looks cheap and commonplace. At the 
 bottom of the ad, then, after we've described all 
 
 i6 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 the domestic comforts of The Camp and its sport- 
 ing opportunities, let's see if we can't catch the 
 clientele we are after with this : 
 
 "'Prices Rather High.'" 
 
 "Maud," said Mary, after swift thought, "your 
 mind is as clear as a gem. Just think how that 
 line would have appealed to papa if he'd been 
 looking into summer or winter resorts. Make a 
 note of it — What are you two whispering 
 about?" 
 
 Lee and Gay looked up guiltily. They had 
 not only been whispering but giggling. They 
 said: "Nothing. Absolutely nothing." 
 
 But presently they put on sweaters and rowed 
 off in a guide boat, so that they might converse 
 without fear of being observed. 
 
 "Sure you've got it?" asked Lee. 
 
 "Umm," said Gay, "sure." 
 
 They giggled. 
 
 "And you think we're not just plain conceited ?" 
 
 "My dear Lee," said Gay, "Mary, Maud, and 
 Eve are famous for their faces and their figgers — 
 have been for years, poor old things. Well, in 
 my candid opinion, you and Phyllis are better- 
 looking in every way. I look at you two from the 
 
 17 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 cool standpoint of a stranger, and I tell you that 
 you are incomparably good-looking." 
 
 Lee laughed with mischievous delight. 
 
 "And you look so exactly like us," she said, 
 "that strangers can't tell us apart." 
 
 "For myself," said Gay demurely, "I claim 
 nothing. Absolutely nothing. But you and Pill 
 are certainly as beautiful as you are young." 
 
 "For the sake of argument, then," said Lee, 
 "let's admit that we six sisters considered as a 
 collection are somewhat alluring to the eye. 
 Well— when the mail goes with the ads Maud is 
 making up, we'll go with it, and make such changes 
 in the choice of photographs as we see fit." 
 
 "That won't do," said Gay. "There will be 
 proofs to correct." 
 
 "Then we'll wait till the proofs are corrected 
 and sent off." 
 
 "Yes. That will be the way. It would be a 
 pity for the whole scheme to fall through for lack 
 of brains. I suppose the others would never 
 agree .? " 
 
 "The girls might" said Lee, "but Arthur never. 
 He would rise up like a lion. You know, deep 
 down in his heart he's a frightful stickler for the 
 proprieties." 
 
 "We shall get ourselves into trouble." 
 18 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "It will not be the first or the last time. And 
 besides, we can escape to the woods if necessary, 
 like Bessie Belle and Mary Grey." 
 
 "Who were they?" 
 
 " 'They were two bonnie lassies. 
 
 They built a house on yon bum brae 
 And thecht it o'er wi' rashes.' " 
 
 19 
 
Ill 
 
 IF we except Arthur, whose knowledge of the 
 Adirondack woods and waters was that of a 
 naturalist, Lee and Gay were the sportsmen of the 
 family. They had begun to learn the arts of 
 fishing and hunting from excellent masters at the 
 tender age of five. They knew the deeps and 
 shallows of every lake and brook within many 
 miles as intimately as a good housewife knows the 
 shelves in her linen closet. They talked in terms 
 of blazes, snags, spring holes, and runways. 
 Each owned a guide boat, incomparably light, 
 which she could swing to her shoulders and carry 
 for a quarter of a mile without blowing. If Lee 
 was the better shot, Gay could throw the more 
 seductive fly. 
 
 There had been a guide in the girls' extreme 
 youth, a Frenchman, Pierre Amadis de Troissac, 
 who had perhaps begun life as a gentleman. 
 Whatever his history, he had taught the precious 
 pair the rudiments of French and the higher mys- 
 teries of fishing. 
 
 20 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 He had made a special study of spring holes, an 
 essential in Adirondack trout-fishing, and when- 
 ever the Darlings wanted trout, it had only been 
 necessary to tell De Troissac how many they 
 wanted and to wait a few hours. On those oc- 
 casions when he went fishing for the larder, Lee 
 and Gay, two little roly-polies with round, in- 
 nocent eyes, often accompanied him. It never 
 occurred to De Troissac that the children could 
 mark down the exact places from which he took 
 fish, and, one by one and quite unintentionally, 
 he revealed to them the hard-won secrets of his 
 spring holes. The knowledge, however, went no 
 further. They would have told Phyllis, of course, 
 if she had been a sport. But she wasn't. She 
 resembled Lee and Gay almost exactly in all 
 other ways; but the spirit of pursuit and capture 
 was left out of her. Twice she had upset a boat 
 because a newly landed bass had suddenly begun 
 to flop in the bottom of it, and once, coming ac- 
 cidentally upon a guide in the act of disembowel- 
 ling a deer, she had gone into hysterics. She could 
 row, carry a boat, swim, and find the more trav- 
 elled trails; but, as Lee and Gay said: "Pill would 
 starve in the woods directly the season was 
 over." 
 
 She couldn't discharge even a twenty-two 
 
 21 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 calibre rifle without shutting her eyes; she couldn't 
 throw a fly twenty feet without snarling her 
 leader. The more peaceful arts of out-of- 
 doors had excited her imagination and latent 
 skill. 
 
 In the heart of the woods, back of The Camp, 
 not to be seen or even suspected until you came 
 suddenly upon it, she had an acre of gardens 
 under exquisite cultivation, and not a little glass. 
 She specialized in nectarines, white muscats of 
 Alexandria, new peas, and heaven-blue larkspur. 
 But, for the sake of others, she grew to perfec- 
 tion beets, sweet corn, the lilies in variety, and 
 immense Japanese iris. 
 
 As The Camp was to be turned into an inn 
 which should serve its guests with delicious food, 
 Phyllis and her garden became of immense im- 
 portance and she began to sit much apart, mark- 
 ing seed catalogues with one end of a pencil and 
 drumming on her beautiful teeth with the 
 other. 
 
 Negotiations had been undertaken with a num- 
 ber of periodicals devoted to outdoor life, and a 
 hundred schemes for advertising had been boiled 
 down to one, which even Arthur was willing to 
 let stand. To embody Mary's ideas of a profitable 
 proposition into a page of advertising without 
 
 22 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 being too absurd or too "cheap," had proved ex- 
 tremely difficult. 
 
 "We will run The Inn," she said, "so that 
 rich people will live very much as they would if 
 they were doing the running. One big price must 
 cover all the luxuries of home. We must ehmi- 
 nate all extras — everything which is a nuisance or 
 a trouble. Except for the trifling fact that we 
 receive pay for it, we must treat them exactly 
 as papa used to treat his guests. He gave his 
 guests splendid food of his own ordering. When 
 they wanted cigars or cigarettes, they helped 
 themselves. There was always champagne for 
 dinner, but if men preferred whiskey and soda, 
 they told the butler, and he saw that they got it. 
 What I'm driving at is this: There must be no • 
 difference in price for a guest who drinks cham- 
 pagne and one who doesn't drink anything. 
 And more important still, we must do all the 
 laundering without extra charge; guides, guide 
 boats, guns, and fishing-tackle must be on tap — 
 just as papa had everything for his guests. The 
 one big price must include absolutely every- 
 thing." 
 
 Added to this general idea, it was further con- 
 veyed in the final advertisement that the shoot- 
 ing was over hundreds of thousands of acres and 
 
 23 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 the fishing in countless lakes and streams. And 
 the last line of the ad, as had been previously 
 agreed, was this: 
 
 "Prices Rather High." 
 
 And, as Gay said to Lee: "If that doesn't fetch 
 'em — you and I know something that maybe will." 
 The full-page ad began and ended with a por- 
 trait of Uncas, the chipmunk, front view, sitting 
 up, his cheeks puffed to the bursting point. The 
 centre of the page was occupied by a rather large 
 view of The Camp and many of the charming 
 little buildings which composed it, taken from the 
 lake. Throughout the text were scattered repro- 
 ductions — strings of trout, a black bear, nine 
 deer hanging in a row, and other seductions to an 
 out-of-door life. For lovers of good food there 
 was a tiny portrait of the chef and adjoining it a 
 photograph of the largest bunch of white muscats 
 that had ever matured in Phyllis's vinery. 
 
 A few days before the final proofs began to 
 come in from the advertising managers, there 
 arrived, addressed to Gay, a package from a 
 firm in New York which makes a specialty of 
 developing and printing photographs for ama- 
 teurs. Gay concealed the package, but Lee had 
 
 24 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 noted its existence, and sighed with relief. A 
 little later she found occasion to take Gay aside. 
 
 "Was the old film all right? Did they print 
 well?" 
 
 Gay nodded. "It always was a wonderful 
 picture," she said. 
 
 "Us for the tall timber," she said — "when they 
 come out." 
 
 The final proofs being corrected and enveloped. 
 Gay and Lee, innocent and bored of face, an- 
 nounced that, as there was nothing to do, they 
 thought they would row the mail down to the 
 village. It was a seven-mile row, but that was 
 nothing out of the ordinary for them and it was 
 arranged that the Streak should be sent after them 
 in case they showed signs of being late for lunch. 
 
 Gay rowed with leisurely strokes, while Lee, 
 seated in the stern, busied herself with a pair of 
 scissors and a pot of paste. She was giving the 
 finally corrected proofs that still more final cor- 
 recting which she and Gay had agreed to be 
 necessary. 
 
 They had decided that the centrepiece of the 
 advertisement — a mere general view of The Camp 
 — though very charming in its way, "meant noth- 
 ing," and they had made up their unhallowed 
 minds to substitute in its place one of those "for- 
 
 25 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 tunate snap-shots," the film of which Gay had 
 — happened to preserve. 
 
 In this photograph the six Darling sisters were 
 seated in a row, on the edge of The Camp float. 
 Their feet and ankles were immersed. They 
 wore black bathing-dresses, exactly ahke, and 
 the bathing-dresses were of rather thin material 
 — and very, very wet. 
 
 The six exquisite heads perched on the six 
 exquisite figures proved a picture which, as Lee 
 and Gay admitted, might cause even a worthy 
 young man to leave home and mother. 
 
 It was not until they were half-way home that 
 Lee suddenly cried aloud and hid her face in her 
 hands. 
 
 "For Heaven's sake," exclaimed Gay, "trim 
 boat, and what's the matter anyway ?" 
 
 "Matter ?" exclaimed Lee; "that picture of us 
 sits right on top of the line Prices Rather High. 
 And it's too late to do anything about it ! " 
 
 Gay turned white and then red, and then she 
 burst out laughing. " 'Tis awful," she said, "but 
 it will certainly fetch 'em." 
 
 26 
 
IV 
 
 THE CAMP itself underwent numerous 
 changes during the winter; and even the 
 strong-hearted Mary was appalled by the amount 
 of money which it had been found necessary to 
 expend. The playroom would, of course, be 
 reserved for the use of guests, and a similar 
 though smaller and inferior room had been thrust 
 out from the west face of Darling House for the 
 use of the family. Then Maud, who had volun- 
 teered to take charge of all correspondence and 
 accounts, had insisted that an office be built for 
 her near the dock. This was mostly shelves, a 
 big fireplace, and a table. Here guests would 
 register upon arrival; here the incoming mail 
 would be sorted and the outgoing weighed and 
 stamped. It had also been found necessary, in 
 view of the very large prospective wash, to enlarge 
 and renovate Laundry House and provide sleep- 
 ing quarters for a couple of extra laundresses. 
 
 Those who are familiar with the scarcity and 
 reluctance of labor in the Adirondacks will best 
 understand how these trifling matters bit into the 
 Darling capital. 
 
 27 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 Sometimes Mary, who held herself responsible 
 for the possible failure of the projected inn, could 
 not sleep at night. Suppose that the advertising, 
 which would cost thousands of dollars, should 
 fall flat ? Suppose that not a single soUtary per- 
 son should even nibble at the high prices ? The 
 Darlings might even find themselves dreadfully 
 in debt. The Camp would have to go. She suf- 
 fered from nightmares, which are bad, and from 
 daymares, which are worse. Then one day, 
 brought across the ice from the village of Carry- 
 town at the lower end of the lake, she received the 
 following letter: 
 
 Miss Darling, 
 
 The Camp, New Moon Lake in the Adirondacks, 
 New York. 
 
 Dear Madam: — ^Yesterday morning, quite by acci- 
 dent, I saw the prospectus of your inn on the desk 
 of Mr. Bums, the advertising manager of The Four 
 Seasons. I note with regret that you are not opening 
 until the first of July. Would it not be possible for 
 you to receive myself and a party of guests very much 
 earlier, say just when the ice has gone out of the lake 
 and the trout are in the warm shallows along the 
 shores .? Personally, it is my plan to stay on with 
 you for the balance of the season, provided, of course, 
 that all your accommodations have not been previously 
 taken. 
 
 With regard to prices, I note only that they are 
 "rather high." I would suggest that, as it would 
 
 28 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 probably inconvenience you to receive guests prior 
 to the date set for the formal opening of your camp, 
 you name a rate for three early weeks which would 
 be profitable to you. There will be six men in my 
 party, including myself. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 Samuel Langham. 
 
 Mary, her face flushed with the bright colors 
 of triumph, read this letter aloud to the assembled 
 family. 
 
 "Does anybody," she asked, "know anything 
 about Samuel Langham .? Is he a suitable per- 
 son?" 
 
 "I know of him," said Arthur, smiling at some 
 recollection or other. "He is what the news- 
 papers call a 'well-known clubman.' He is rich, 
 fat, good-natured, and not old. It is that part of 
 your prospectus which touches upon the cuisine 
 that has probably affected him. His father was a 
 large holder of Standard Oil securities." 
 
 "As for me," said Gay, "I've seen him. Do 
 you remember, PhyUis, being asked to a most 
 'normous dinner dance at the Redburns' the year 
 we came out? At the last minute you caught 
 cold and wanted to back out, but Mary said that 
 wasn't done, and so I went in your place, and, as 
 usual, nobody knew the difference. Well, Mr. 
 Langham was there. I didn't meet him, but I 
 
 29 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 remember I watched him eat. He is very smug- 
 looking. He didn't like the champagne. I re- 
 member that. He lifted his glass hopefully, took 
 one swallow, put his glass down, and never touched 
 it again. His face for the rest of dinner had the 
 expression of one who has been deeply wronged. 
 I thought of Louis XVI mounting the scaffold." 
 
 "I do wish," said Mary, "that we knew what 
 kind of wine the creature likes." 
 
 "Father left a splendid collection," said Arthur. 
 "Take Mr. Langham into the cellar. He'll en- 
 joy that. Let him pick his own bottle." 
 
 In the event, Maud sat down in her new office 
 and wrote Mr. Langham that he and his five 
 guests could be received earlier in the season. 
 And then, with fear and trembling, she named a 
 price per diem that amounted to highway robbery. 
 
 Mr. Langham's answer was prompt and cheer- 
 ful. He asked merely to be notified when the ice 
 had gone out of the lake. 
 
 "Well," said Mary, with a long-drawn sigh of 
 relief, "the prices don't seem to have frightened 
 him nearly as much as they frightened us. But, 
 after all, the prospectus was alluring — though we 
 say it that shouldn't." 
 
 Lee and Gay were troubled by qualms of con- 
 science. The advertisements of The Camp were 
 
 30 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 to appear in the February number of some of the 
 more important periodicals, and the two scape- 
 graces were beginning to be horribly alarmed. 
 
 Magazines have a way of being received last 
 by those most interested in seeing them. And 
 before even a copy of The Four Seasons reached the 
 Darlings, there came a number of letters from 
 people who had already seen the advertisement 
 in it. One letter was from a very old friend of the 
 family, and ran as follows: 
 
 My Dear Mary: 
 
 How could you ! I have seen your advertisement 
 of The Camp in 7"^!? Four Seasons. It is earning 
 much talk and criticism. I don't know what you 
 could have been thinking of. I have always regarded 
 you as one of the sanest and best-bred women I know. 
 But it seems that you are not above sacrificing your 
 own dignity to financial gain 
 
 "Well, in the name of all that's ridiculous," ex- 
 claimed Mary; "of all that's impertinent! — will 
 somebody kindly tell me what my personality 
 has to do with our prospectus of The Camp ?" 
 
 Those who could have told her held their 
 tongues and quaked inwardly. The others joined 
 in Mary's surprise and indignation. Even Arthur, 
 who hated the whole innkeeping scheme, was 
 roused out of his ordinary placidity. 
 
 31 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "I shall write to the horrid old woman," said 
 Mary, "and tell her to mind her own business. 
 I shall also tell her that we are receiving so many 
 applications for accommodations that we don't 
 know how to choose. That isn't quite true, of 
 course; but we have received some. Since I ant 
 not above sacrificing my dignity" — she went on 
 angrily — "to financial gain, I may as well throw 
 a few lies into the bargain." 
 
 The next day, addressed to "The Camp," came 
 the long-expected number of The Four Seasons. 
 Arthur opened it and began to turn the leaves. 
 Presently, from the centre of a page, he saw his 
 six beautiful sisters looking him in the face. 
 
 "Mary!" he called, in such a voice that she 
 came running. She looked and turned white. 
 Eve came, and Maud and Phyllis. 
 
 "Who is responsible for this — " cried Arthur, 
 "for this sickening — this degraded piece of mis- 
 chief.?" 
 
 "You corrected the final proofs yourself," said 
 Maud. 
 
 "And sealed them up. If I find that some 
 mischief-maker in the office of The Four Seasons 
 has been playing tricks " 
 
 "The mischief-makers are to be found nearer 
 home," said Mary. "Don't you remember that 
 
 32 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 Lee and Gay took the proofs to the post-office. 
 They said they were bored and could think of 
 nothing to do. This is what they were thinking 
 of doing !" 
 
 "Where are they?" he said in a grim voice. 
 
 "Now, Arthur," said Maud, "think before 
 you say anything to them that you may regret. 
 As for the picture of us in our bathing-suits — 
 well, I, for one, don't see anything dreadful 
 about it. In fact, I think we look rather lovely." 
 
 Arthur groaned. 
 
 "I want to talk to Lee and Gay," he said. 
 "My sisters — an advertisement in a magazine 
 — for drummers and newsboys to make jokes 
 about " 
 
 He grew white and whiter, until his innocent 
 sisters were thoroughly frightened. Then he 
 started out of the playroom in search of Lee 
 and Gay. 
 
 In or about The Camp they were not to be 
 found. Nobody had seen them since breakfast. 
 With this information, he returned to the play- 
 room. 
 
 "They've run away," he said, "and I'm going 
 after them." 
 
 "I wouldn't," said Mary. "The harm's been 
 done. You can't very well spank them. I wish 
 
 33 
 
The Seveii Darlings . 
 
 you could. You can only scold — and what 
 earthly good will that do them, or you ?" 
 
 "I don't know that anything I may say," said 
 Arthur, "will do them any good. I live in 
 hopes." 
 
 "Have you any idea where they've gone ?" 
 
 "I'll cast about in a big circle and find their 
 tracks." 
 
 When Arthur, mittened and snow-shoed, had 
 departed in search of Lee and Gay, the remaining 
 sisters gathered about the full-page advertise- 
 ment in The Four Seasons, and passed rapidly 
 from anger to mild hysterics. Mary was the last 
 to laugh. 
 
 And she said: "Girls, I will tell you an awful 
 secret. I never would have consented to this, 
 but as long as Lee and Gay have gone and done 
 it, I'm — glad." 
 
 "The only thing I mind," said Eve, "is Arthur. 
 He'll take it hard." 
 
 "We can't help that," said Maud. "Business 
 is business. And this wretched, shocking piece of 
 mischief spells success. I feel it in my bones. 
 There's no use being silly about ourselves. We've 
 got our way to make in the world — and, as a sex- 
 tet " 
 
 She lingered over the picture. 
 34 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "As a sextet, there's no use denying that we 
 are rather lovely to look at." 
 
 Phyllis put in a word blindly. 
 
 "Maud," she said, "among the applications 
 you have received, how many are from women ?" 
 
 Maud laughed aloud. 
 
 "None," she said. 
 
 "There wouldn't be," said Eve. 
 
 "Well," said Mary, "compared to the rest of 
 you, I'm quite an old woman, and I say — so much 
 the better." 
 
 35 
 
EVEN on going into the open air from a 
 warmed room, it would not have struck you 
 as a cold day. But thermometers marked a num- 
 ber of degrees worse than zero. The sky was 
 bright and blue. Not a breath of wind stirred. 
 In the woods the underbrush was hidden by the 
 smooth accumulations of snow, so that the going 
 was open. 
 
 The Adirondack winter climate is such that a " 
 man runs less risk of getting too cold than of 
 getting too warm. Arthur, moving swiftly in a 
 great circle so that at some point he should come 
 upon the tracks of his culprit sisters, shed first 
 his mittens and then his coat. The former he 
 thrust into his trousers pocket, and he hung the 
 latter to a broken limb where he could easily find 
 it on his return. 
 
 "There would be some sense in running away 
 in summer," he thought. "It would take an In- 
 dian or a dog to track them then, but in winter 
 — I gave them credit for more sense." 
 
 He came upon the outgoing marks of their 
 3^ 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 snow-shoes presently, just beyond Phyllis's garden, 
 to the north of the camp. In imagination he saw 
 the two lithe young beauties striding sturdily and 
 tirelessly over the snow, and then and there the 
 extreme pinnacles of his anger toppled and fell. 
 There is no occupation to which a maiden may 
 lend herself so virginal as woodmanship. And 
 he fell to thinking less of his young sisters' indis- 
 cretion than of the extreme and unsophisticated 
 innocence which had led them into it. What 
 could girls know of men, anyway ? What did his 
 sisters know of him? That he had been extrava- 
 gant and rather fast. Had they an inkling of 
 what being rather fast meant ? His smooth fore- 
 head contracted with painful thoughts. Even 
 Mary's indignation upon the discovery of the 
 photograph in The Four Seasons had not matched 
 his own. She had been angry because she was a 
 gentlewoman, and gentlewomen shun publicity. 
 She had not even guessed at the degradation to 
 which broadcast pictures of beautiful women are 
 subjected. His anger turned from his sisters 
 presently and glowered upon the whole world of 
 men; his hands closed tcv strike, and opened to 
 clutch and choke. That Lee and Gay had done 
 such a thing was earnest only of innocence 
 coupled with mischief. They must know that 
 
 37 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 what they had done was wrong, since they had 
 fled from any immediate consequences, but how 
 wrong it was they could never dream, even in 
 nightmares. Nor was it possible for him to ex- 
 plain. How, then, could any anger which he 
 might visit upon them benefit .'' And who was he, 
 when it came to that, to assume the unassailable 
 morality of a parent .? 
 
 It came to this: That Arthur followed the 
 marks of Lee's and Gay's snow-shoes mechanic- 
 ally, and raged, not against them, not against the 
 world of men, but against himself. He had said 
 once in jest that many an artistic impulse had 
 been crushed by the camera and the pianola. 
 But how pitifully true this had been in his own 
 case ! If he had been born into less indulgence, 
 he might have painted, he might have played. 
 The only son in a large family of daughters, his 
 father and mother had worshipped the ground 
 upon which his infant feet had trod. He had 
 never known what it was to want anything. He 
 had never been allowed to turn a hand to his own 
 honest advantage. He was the kind of boy who, 
 under less golden circumstances, would have 
 saved his pocket-money and built with his own 
 hands a boat or whatever he needed. There is a 
 song: "I want what I want when I want it." 
 
 38 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 Arthur might have sung: "I get what I'm going 
 to want and then I don't want it." 
 
 His contemporaries had greatly envied him, 
 when, as a mere matter of justice, they should 
 have pitied him. All his better impulses had been 
 gnarled by indulgence. He had done things that 
 showed natural ability; but of what use was that ? 
 He was too old now to learn to draw. He played 
 rather delightfully upon the piano, or any other 
 instrument, for that matter. To what end .'' He 
 could not read a note. 
 
 There was nothing that Arthur could not have 
 done, if he had been let alone. There were many 
 things that he would have done. 
 
 At college he had seen in one smouldering flash 
 of intuition how badly he had started in the race 
 of life. When others were admiring his many 
 brilliancies, he was mourning for the lost years 
 when, under almost any guidance save that of 
 his beloved father, he might have laid such 
 sturdy foundations to future achievements — 
 pedestals on which to erect statues. 
 
 Self-knowledge had made him hard for a sea- 
 son and cynical. As a tired sea-gull miscalculates 
 distance and dips his wings into the sea, so Ar- 
 thur, when he thought that he was merely flying 
 low the better to see and to observe, had alighted 
 
 39 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 without much struggling in a pool of dissipation 
 and vice. 
 
 The memory was more of a weariness to him 
 than a sharp regret. Of what use is remorse — 
 after the fact ? Let it come before and all will be 
 well. 
 
 At last, more by accident than design, he drew 
 out of the muddy ways into which he had fallen 
 and limped off — not so much toward better things 
 as away from worse. 
 
 Then it was that Romance had come for him, 
 and carried him on strong wings upward toward 
 the empyrean. 
 
 Even now, she was only twenty. She had 
 married a man more than twice her age. He 
 had been her guardian, and she had felt that it 
 was her duty. Her marriage proved desperately 
 unhappy. She and Arthur met, and, as upon a 
 signal, loved. 
 
 For a few weeks of one golden summer, they 
 had known the ethereal bliss of seeing each other 
 every day. They met as little children, and so 
 parted. They accepted the law and convention 
 which stood between them, not as a barrier to be 
 crossed or circumvented but with childlike faith 
 as a something absolutely impassable — like the 
 space which separates the earth and the moon. 
 
 40 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 They remained utterly innocent in thought 
 and deed, merely loved and longed and renounced 
 so very hard that their poor young hearts almost 
 broke. 
 
 Not so the "old man." 
 
 It happened, in the autumn of that year, that 
 he brought his wife to New York, in whose Wall 
 Street he had intricate interests. He learned 
 that she was by way of seeing more of Arthur 
 than a girl of eighteen married to a man of nearly 
 fifty ought to see. He did not at once burst into 
 coarse abuse of her, but, worldly-wise, set detect- 
 ives to watch her. He had, you may say, set his 
 heart upon her guilt. To learn that she was 
 utterly innocent enraged him. One day he had 
 the following conversation with a Mr. May, of a 
 private detective bureau: 
 
 "You followed them?" 
 
 "To the park." 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 "They bought a bag of peanuts and fed the 
 squirrels." 
 
 "Go on." 
 
 "Then they rode in a swan-boat. Then they 
 walked up to the reservoir and around it. Then 
 they came back to the hotel." 
 
 "Did they separate in the office?" 
 41 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "On the sidewalk." 
 
 "But last night ? She said she was dining with 
 her sister and going to the play. What did she 
 do last night ^ " 
 
 "She did what she said. Believe me, sir — if 
 I know anything of men and women, you're pay- 
 ing me to run fool's errands for you. They don't 
 need any watching." 
 
 "You have seen them — kiss ?" 
 
 "Never." 
 
 "Hold hands?" 
 
 "I haven't seen any physical demonstration.- 
 I guess they Hke each other a lot. And that's all 
 there is to it." 
 
 But the "old man" made a scene with her, 
 just such a scene as he would have made if the 
 detective's report had been, in effect, the opposite 
 of what it was. He assumed that she was guilty; 
 but, for dread of scandal, he would not seek a 
 divorce. He exacted a promise that she would 
 not see Arthur, or write to him, or receive letters 
 from him. 
 
 Then, having agreed with certain magnates to 
 go out to China upon the question of a great 
 railroad and a great loan, he carried her off with 
 him, then and there. So that when Arthur called 
 at the hotel, he was told that they had gone but 
 
 42 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 that there was a note for him. If it was from the 
 wife, the husband had dictated it: 
 
 Don't try to see me ever any more. If you do, it 
 •will only make my life a hell on earth. 
 
 That had been the tangible end of Arthur's 
 romance. But the intangible ends were infinite 
 and not yet. His whole nature had changed. 
 He had suffered and could no longer bear to in- 
 flict pain. 
 
 He lifted his head and looked up a little slope 
 of snow. Near the top, wonderfully rosy and 
 smiling, sat his culprit sisters. He had forgotten 
 why he had come. He smiled in his sudden em- 
 barrassment. 
 
 "Don't shoot, colonel," called Gay, "and we'll 
 come down." 
 
 "Promise, then," he said, "that you'll never be 
 naughty again." 
 
 "We promise," they said. 
 
 And they trudged back to camp, with jokes 
 and laughter and three very sharp appetites. 
 
 43 
 
VI 
 
 BEYOND seeing to it that the alluring pic- 
 ture of his sisters should not appear in any 
 future issues of the magazines, Arthur did not 
 refer to the matter again. The girls, more par- 
 ticularly Lee and Gay, always attributed the in- 
 stant success of The Camp to the picture; but it 
 is sanely possible that an inn run upon such very 
 extravagant principles was bound to be a success 
 anyway. America is full of people who will pay 
 anything for the comforts of home with the cares 
 and exasperations left out. 
 
 A majority of the early applications received 
 at The Camp office, and politely rejected by Maud, 
 were from old friends of the family, who were 
 eagerly willing to give its fallen finances a boost. 
 But the girls were determined that their scheme 
 should stand upon its own meritorious feet or not 
 at all. 
 
 When Samuel Langham learned that the ice 
 was going out of New Moon Lake, he wrote that 
 he would arrive at Carrytown at such and such 
 
 44 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 an hour, and begged that a boat of some sort 
 might be there to meet him. His guests, he ex- 
 plained, would follow in a few days. 
 
 "Dear me," said Maud, "it will be very try- 
 ing to have him alone — ^just like a real guest. 
 If he'd only bring his friends with him, why, they 
 could entertain him. As it is, we'll have to. 
 Because, even if we are innkeepers now, we be- 
 long to the same station in life that he does, and 
 he knows it and we know it. I don't see how we 
 can ever have the face to send in a bill afterward." 
 
 "I don't either," said Mary, "but we must." 
 
 "I've never pictured him," said Arthur, "as a 
 man who would brave early spring in the Adiron- 
 dacks for the sake of a few trout." 
 
 "I bet you my first dividend," said Lee, "that 
 his coat is lined with sable." 
 
 It was. 
 
 As the Streak, which had gone to Carrytown 
 to meet him, slid for the dock (his luggage was to 
 follow in the Tortoise, a fatter, slower power-boat), 
 there might have been seen standing amidships 
 a tall, stout gentleman of about thirty-six or more, 
 enveloped in a handsome overcoat lined with 
 sable. 
 
 He wore thick eye-glasses which the swiftness 
 of the Streak's going had opaqued with icy mist, 
 
 45 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 so that for the moment Mr. Samuel Langham 
 was blind as a mole. Nevertheless, determined 
 to enjoy whatever the experience had in store 
 for him, he beamed from right to left, as if a pair 
 of keen eyes were revealing to him unexpected 
 beauties and delights. 
 
 Arthur, loathing the role, was on the float to 
 meet him. 
 
 On hearing himself addressed by name, Mr. 
 Samuel Langham removed one of his fur-Hned 
 gloves and thrust forward a plump, well-groomed 
 hand. 
 
 "I believe that I am shaking hands with Mr. 
 Darling," he said in a slow, cultivated voice; 
 "but my glasses are blurred and I cannot see 
 anything. Is my foot going for the float — or the 
 water?" 
 
 "Step boldly," said Arthur; and, in a hurried 
 aside, as he perceived the corner of a neatly folded 
 greenback protruding between two of Mr. Lang- 
 ham's still-gloved fingers: "You are not to be 
 subjected to the annoyance of the tipping system. 
 We pay our servants extra to make the loss up to 
 them." 
 
 Mr. Langham's mouth, which was rather like a 
 Cupid's bow, tightened. And he handed the green- 
 back to the engineer of the Streak, just as if Ar- 
 
 46 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 thur's remonstrance had not been spoken. On 
 the way to the ofi&ce he explained. 
 
 "Whenever I go anywhere," he said, "I find 
 persons in humble situations who smile at me and 
 wish me well. I smile back and wish them well. 
 It is because, at some time or other, I have 
 tipped them. To me the system has never been an 
 annoyance but a delightful opportunity for the 
 exercise of tact and judgment." 
 
 He came to a dead halt, planting his feet firmly. 
 
 "I shall be allowed to tip whomsoever I like," 
 he said flatly, "or I shan't stay." 
 
 "Our ambition," said Arthur stifily, "is to make 
 our guests comfortable. Our rule against tipping 
 is therefore abolished." 
 
 They entered the office. Mr. Langham could 
 now see, having wiped the fog from his glasses. 
 He saw a lovely girl in black, seated at a table 
 facing him. Beyond her was a roaring fire of 
 backlogs. Arthur presented Mr. Langham. 
 
 "Are you frozen?" asked Maud. "Too cold 
 to write your name in our brand-new regis- 
 ter?" 
 
 He took the pen which she offered him and wrote 
 his name in a large, clear hand, worthy of John 
 Hancock. 
 
 "It's the first name in the book," he said. 
 47 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "It's always been a very lucky name for me. I 
 hope it will be for you." 
 
 Arthur had escaped. 
 
 "There is one more formality," said Maud: 
 "breakfast." 
 
 "I had a little something in my car," said Mr. 
 Langham; "but if it wouldn't be too much trouble 
 — er — ^just a few little eggs and things." 
 
 "How would it be," said Maud, "if I took 
 you straight to the kitchen ? My sister Mary 
 presides there, and you shall tell her exactly what 
 you want, and she will see that you get it." 
 
 A rosy blush mounted Mr. Langham's good- 
 natured face. 
 
 "Oh," he said, with the deepest sincerity, "if 
 I am to have the entree to the kitchen, I shall be 
 happy. I will tell you a secret. At my club I 
 always breakfast in the kitchen. It's against the 
 rules, but I do it. A friendly chef — beds of 
 glowing charcoal — burnished copper — piping-hot 
 tidbits." 
 
 It was uphill to Smoke House, and Mr. Lang- 
 ham, in his burdensome overcoat, grew warm on 
 the way, and was pulEng slightly when he got 
 there. 
 
 "Mary," Maud called— "Mr. Langham!" 
 
 "The kitchen is the foundation of all domestic 
 48 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 happiness," said he. "I have come to yours as 
 fast as I could. I think — I know, that I never 
 saw a brighter, happier-looking kitchen." 
 
 He knew also that he had never seen so beauti- 
 ful a presiding deity. 
 
 "Your sister," he said, "told me that I could 
 have a little breakfast right here." And he re- 
 peated the statement concerning his club kitchen. 
 
 "Of course, you can!" said Mary. 
 
 "Just a few eggs," he said, "and if there's any- 
 thing green " 
 
 They called the chef. He was very happy 
 because the season had begun. He assigned Mr. 
 Langham a seat from which to see and at which 
 to be served, then with the wrist-and-finger 
 elegance of a prestidigitator, he began to prepare 
 a few eggs and something green. 
 
 "The trout — " Mary began dutifully, as it 
 was for the sake of these that Mr. Langham had 
 ostensibly come so early in the season. 
 
 "Trout?" he said. 
 
 "The fishing — " She made a new beginning. 
 
 "The fishing. Miss Darling," he said, "will be 
 of interest to my friends. For my part, I don't 
 fish. I have, in common with the kind of boat 
 from which fishing is done, nothing but the fact 
 that we are both ticklish. I saw your prospectus. 
 
 49 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 I said: 'I shall be happy there, and well taken 
 care of.' Something told me that I should be al- 
 lowed to breakfast in the kitchen. The more I 
 thought about it the less I felt that I could wait 
 for the somewhat late opening of your season, so 
 I pretended to be a fisher of trout. And here I 
 am. But, mark you," he added, "a few trout 
 on the table now and then — I like that!" 
 
 "You shall have them," said Mary, "and you 
 shall breakfast in the kitchen. I do — always." 
 
 "Do you ?" he exclaimed. "Why not together, 
 then ?" 
 
 His eyes shone with pleasure. 
 
 "I should be too early for you," she said. 
 
 "You don't know me. Is it ever too early to 
 eat ? Because I am stout, people think I have all 
 the moribund qualities that go with it. As a 
 matter of fact, I rise whenever, in my judgment, 
 the cook is dressed and down. Is it gross to be 
 fond of food ? So many people think so. I differ 
 with them. Not to care what you eat is gross — 
 in my way of thinking. Is there anything, for 
 instance, more fresh in coloring, more adequate 
 in line, than a delicately poached egg on a blue- 
 and-white plate? You call this building Smoke 
 House .? I shall always be looking in. Do you 
 mind?" 
 
 SO 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Indeed we don't," said Mary. "Do we, 
 chef?" 
 
 Chef laid a finger to his lips. It was no time 
 for talk. "Never disturb a sleeping child or a 
 cooking egg," was one of his maxims. 
 
 "I knew that I should be happy here," said 
 Mr. Langham. "I am." 
 
 Whenever he had a chance he gazed at Mary. 
 It was her face in the row of six that had lured 
 him out of all his habits and made him feel that 
 the camp offered him a genuine chance for happi- 
 ness. To find that she presided over the kitchen 
 had filled his cup to the brim. But when he re- 
 membered that he was fat and fond of good things 
 to eat and drink, his heart sank. 
 
 He determined that he would eat but three 
 eggs. They were, however, prepared In a way that 
 was quite new to him, and in the determined efi^ort 
 to discern the ingredients and the method he ate 
 five. 
 
 "There is something very keen about your 
 Adirondack air," he explained guiltily. 
 
 But Mary had warmed to him. Her heart and 
 her reputation were involved in the cuisine. She 
 knew that the better you feed people the more 
 they love you. She was not revolted by Mr. 
 Langham's appetite. She felt that even a canary 
 
 SI 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 of a man must have fallen before the temptation 
 of those eggs. 
 
 They were her own invention. And chef had 
 executed them to the very turn of perfection. 
 
 Almost from the moment of his arrival, then, 
 Mr. Samuel Langham began to eat his way into 
 the heart of the eldest Miss Darling. 
 
 In culinary matters a genuine intimacy sprang 
 up between them. They exchanged ideas. They 
 consulted. They compared menus. They mas- 
 tered the contents of the late Mr. Darling's 
 cellars. 
 
 Mr. Langham chose Lone House for his habita- 
 tion. He liked the little balcony that thrust out 
 over the lake between the two pine-trees. And 
 by the time that his guests were due to arrive, he 
 had established himself, almost, in the affections 
 of the entire family. 
 
 "He may be greedy," said Arthur, "but he's 
 the most courteous man that ever 'sat at meat 
 among ladies' !" 
 
 "He's got the kindest heart," said Mary, 
 "that ever beat." 
 
 52 
 
VII 
 
 MR. LANGHAM'S five guests arrived some- 
 what noisily, smoking five long cigars. 
 Lee and Gay, watching the float from a point 
 of vantage, where they themselves were free from 
 observation, observed that three of the trout 
 fishermen were far older than they had led them- 
 selves to expect. 
 
 "That leaves only one for us," said Gay. 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "Can't you see from here that the fifth is an 
 Englishman ? " 
 
 "Yes," said Lee. "His clothes don't fit, and 
 yet he feels perfectly comfortable in them." 
 
 "It isn't so much the clothes," said Gay, "as 
 the face. The other faces are excited because 
 they have ridden fast in a fast boat, though they've 
 probably often done it before. Now he's probably 
 never been in a fast boat in his life till to-day, 
 and yet he looks thoroughly bored." 
 
 The Englishman without changing his expres- 
 sion made some remark to the other five. They 
 roared. The Englishman blushed, and looked 
 vaguely toward a dark-blue mountain that rose 
 
 S3 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 with some grandeur beyond the farther shore of 
 the lake. 
 
 "Do you suppose," said Lee, "that what he 
 said was funny or just dumb ?" 
 
 "I think it was funny," said Gay, "but purely 
 accidental." 
 
 "I think I know the other youth," said Lee; 
 "I think I have danced with him. Didn't Mr. 
 Langham say there was a Renier among his 
 guests .''" 
 
 "H. L.," Gay assented. 
 
 "That's the one," Lee remembered. "Harry 
 Larkins Renier. We have danced. If he doesn't 
 remember, he shall be snubbed. I like the old 
 guy with the Mark Twain hair." 
 
 "Don't you know him? I do. I have seen his 
 picture often. He's the editor of the Evening Star. 
 Won't Arthur be glad !" 
 
 "What's his name?" 
 
 "Walter Leyden O'Malley. He's the literary 
 descendant of the great Dana. Don't talk to 
 me, child; I know a great deal." 
 
 Gay endeavored to assume the look of an en- 
 cyclopaedia and failed. 
 
 "Mr. Langham," said Lee, "mentioned three 
 other names, Alston, Pritchard, and Cox. Which 
 do you suppose is which ? " 
 
 54 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "I think that Prltchard is the very tall one 
 who looks like a Kentucky colonel; Cox is the one 
 with the very large face; of course, the English- 
 man is Alston." 
 
 "I don't." 
 
 "We can find out from Maud." 
 
 When the new arrivals, escorted by Arthur and 
 Mr. Langham, had left the office, Lee and Gay 
 hurried in to look at their signatures and to con- 
 sult Maud as to identities. 
 
 The Kentucky-colonel-looking man proved to 
 be Alston. Cox had the large face, and the Eng- 
 lishman — John Arthur Merrivale Pritchard, as 
 was to be expected — wrote the best hand. Mr. 
 O'Malley, the famous editor, wrote the worst. 
 His signature looked as if it had been traced by 
 an inky worm writhing in agony. 
 
 "Tell us at once," Gay demanded, "what they 
 are like." 
 
 Maud regarded her frolicsome sisters with in- 
 scrutable eyes, and said: 
 
 "At first, you think that Mr. Cox is a heartless 
 old cynic, but when you get to know him really 
 well — I remember an instance that occurred in 
 the early sixties " 
 
 "Oh, dry up!" said Lee. "Are they nice and 
 presentable, Hke fat old Sam Langham?" 
 
 55 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "The three old ones," said Maud, "made me 
 think of three very young boys just loose from 
 school. Messrs. Renier and Pritchard, however, 
 seem more used to holidays. There is, however, 
 a complication. All five wish to go fishing as 
 soon as they can change into fishing clothes, and 
 there aren't enough guides to go around."' 
 
 "What's the trouble.'"' asked Gay eagerly. 
 
 "Bullard," Maud explained, "has sent word 
 that his wife is having a baby, and Benton has 
 gone up to Crotched Lake West to see if the ice 
 is out of it. That leaves only three guides to go 
 around. Benton oughtn't to have gone. Nobody 
 told him to. But he once read the Declaration of 
 Independence, and every now and then the feeling 
 comes over him that he must act accordingly." 
 
 "But," exclaimed Lee, "what's the matter 
 with Gay and me ? " 
 
 "Nothing, I hope," said Maud; "you look 
 well. I trust you feel well." 
 
 "We want to be guides," said Gay; "we want 
 to be useful. Hitherto we've done nothing to 
 help. Mary works like a slave in the kitchen; 
 you here. Eve will never leave the laundry once 
 the wash gets big. Phyllis has her garden, in 
 which things will begin to grow by and by, but we 
 — ^we have no excuse for existence — none what- 
 
 S6 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 ever. Now, I could show Mr. Renier where the 
 chances of taking fish are the best." 
 
 "No," said Lee firmly; "I ought to guide him. 
 It's only fair. He once guided me — I've always 
 remembered — bang into a couple who outweighed 
 us two to one, and down we went." 
 
 "Mary will hardly approve of you youngsters 
 going on long expeditions with strange young 
 men," Maud was quite sure; "and, of course, 
 Arthur won't." 
 
 Lee and Gay began to sulk. 
 
 At that moment Arthur came into the ofiice.- 
 
 "Halloo, you two !" he said. "Been looking for 
 you, and even shouting. The fact is, we're short 
 of guides, and Mary and I think " 
 
 Lee and Gay burst into smiles. 
 
 "What did we tell you, Maud ? Of course, we 
 will. There are no wiser guides in this part of 
 the woods." 
 
 "That," said Arthur, "is a fact. The older 
 men looked alarmed when I suggested that two 
 of my sisters — you see, they've always had native- 
 bom woodsmen and even Indians " 
 
 "Then," said Lee, "we are to have the guile- 
 less youths. I speak for Renier." 
 
 "Meanie," said Gay. 
 
 "Lee ought to have first choice," said Arthur. 
 S7 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "It's always been supposed that Lee is your 
 senior by a matter of twenty minutes." 
 
 "True or not," said Gay, "she looks it. Then 
 I'm to guide the Englishman." 
 
 "If you don't mind." Arthur regarded her, 
 smiling. He couldn't help it. She was so pretty. 
 "And I'd advise you not to be too eager to show 
 off. Mr. Pritchard has hunted and fished more 
 than all of us put together." 
 
 "That little pink-faced snip!" exclaimed Gay. 
 "I'll sure see how much he knows." 
 
 Half an hour later she was rowing him leisurely 
 in the direction of Placid Brook, and examining 
 his somewhat remarkable outfit with wondering 
 eyes. This was not difl&cult, since his own eyes, 
 which were clear brown, and very shy, were very 
 much occupied in looking over the contents of 
 the large-tackle box. 
 
 "If you care to rig your rod," said Gay pres- 
 ently, " and cast about as we go, you might take 
 something between here and the brook." 
 
 "Do you mean," he said, "that you merely 
 throw about you at random, and that it is pos- 
 sible to take fish ?" 
 
 "Of course," said she — "when they are rising.'' 
 
 "But then the best one could hope for," he 
 drawled, "would be indiscriminate fish." 
 
 S8 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Just what do you mean by that ?" 
 
 "Why!" — and this time he looked up and 
 smiled very shyly — "if you were after elephant 
 and came across a herd, would you pick out a 
 bull with a fine pair of tusks, or would you fire 
 indiscriminately into the thick of them, and per- 
 haps bring down the merest baby?" 
 
 "I never heard of picking your fish," said Gay. 
 
 "Dear me," he commented, "then you have 
 nearly a whole lifetime of delightful study before 
 you!" 
 
 He unslung a pair of field-glasses, focussed them, 
 and began to study the surface of the placid lake, 
 not the far-ofF surface but the surface within 
 twenty or thirty feet. Then he remarked: 
 
 "Your flies aren't greatly different from ours. 
 I think we shall find something nearly right. 
 One can never tell. The proclivities of trout and 
 char differ somewhat. I have never taken char." 
 
 "You don't think you are after char now, do 
 you ? " exclaimed Gay. " Because, if so — this 
 lake contains bass, trout, lake-trout, sunfish, 
 shiners, and bullheads, but no char." 
 
 Pritchard smiled a little sadly and blushed. 
 He hated to put people right. 
 
 "Your brook-trout," he said, "your salmo 
 fontinalis, isn't a trout at all. He's a char." 
 
 59 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 Gay put her back into the rowing with some tem- 
 per. She felt that the Enghshman had insulted 
 the greatest of all American institutions. The rep- 
 artee which sprang to her lips was somewhat feeble. 
 I "If a trout is a char," she said angrily, "then 
 an onion is a fruit." 
 
 To her astonishment, Mr. Pritchard began to 
 laugh. He dropped everything and gave his 
 whole attention to it. He laughed till the tears 
 came and the delicate guide boat shook from 
 stem to stem. Presently the germ of his laughing 
 spread, and Gay came down with a sharp attack 
 of it herself. She stopped rowing. Two miles 
 off, a loon, that most exclusive laugher of the 
 North Woods, took fright, dove, and remained 
 under for ten minutes. 
 
 The young people in the guide boat looked at 
 each other through smarting tears. 
 
 "I am learning fast," said Gay, "that you count 
 your fish before you catch them, that trout are 
 char, and that Englishmen laugh at other people's 
 jokes." 
 
 She rowed on. 
 
 "Don't forget to tell me when you've chosen 
 your fish," she remarked. 
 
 "You shall help me choose," he said; "I insist. 
 I speak for a three-pounder." 
 
 60 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "The event of a lifetime!" 
 
 "Why, Miss Gay," he said, "it's all the event 
 of a lifetime. The Camp, the ride in the motor- 
 boat, the wonderful, wonderful breakfast, water 
 teeming with fish, the woods, and the mountains 
 — millions of years ago it was decreed that you 
 and I should rock a boat with laughter in the 
 midst of New Moon Lake. And yet you speak 
 of a three-pounder as the event of a lifetime ! 
 My answer is a defiance. We shall take one 
 salmo fontinalis — one wily char. He shall not 
 weigh three pounds; he shall weigh a trifle more. 
 Then we shall put up our tackle and go home to a 
 merry dinner." 
 
 "Mr. Pritchard," said Gay, "I'll bet you any- 
 thing you like that you don't take a trout — or a 
 char, if you like — that will weigh three pounds 
 or over. I'll bet you ten to one." 
 
 "Don't do that," he said; "it's an even shot. 
 What will you bet?" 
 
 "I'll bet you my prospective dividends for the 
 year," she said, "against " 
 
 "My prospective title ?" 
 
 He looked rather solemn, but laughter bubbled 
 from Gay. 
 
 "It's a good sporting proposition," said Pritch- 
 ard. "It's a very sound title — old, resonant — 
 
 6i 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 and unless you upset us and we drown, tolerably 
 certain to be mine to pay — in case I lose." 
 
 "I don't bet blindly," said Gay. "What is the 
 title?" 
 
 "I shall be the Earl of Merrivale," said he; 
 "and if I fail this day to take a char weighing 
 three pounds or over, you will be the Countess 
 of Merrivale." 
 
 "Dear me!" said Gay, "who ever heard of so 
 much depending on a mere fish ? But I don't 
 like my side of the bet. It's all so sudden. I 
 don't know you well enough, and you're sure to 
 lose." 
 
 "I'll take either end of the bet you don't like," 
 said Mr. Pritchard gravely. "If I land the three- 
 pounder, you become the countess; if I don't, I 
 pay you the amount of your dividends for the 
 year. Is that better ?" 
 
 "Much," smiled Gay; "because, with the bet 
 in this form, there is practically no danger that 
 either of us will lose anything. My dividends 
 probably won't amount to a row of pins, and you 
 most certainly will not land so big a fish." 
 
 Meanwhile they had entered the mouth of 
 Placid Brook. The surface was dimpling — rings 
 became, spread, merged in one another, and 
 were not. The fish were feeding. 
 
 62 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Let us land in the meadow," said Mr. Pritch- 
 ard, his brown eyes clear and sparkling, "and 
 spy upon the enemy." 
 
 "Are you going to leave your rod and things 
 in the boat ? " 
 
 "For the present — until we have located our 
 fish." 
 
 They landed, and he advanced upon the brook 
 by a detour, stealthily, crouching, his field-glasses 
 at attention. Once he turned and spoke to Gay 
 in an authoritative whisper: 
 
 "Try not to show above the bushes." 
 
 63 
 
VIII 
 
 THE sun was warm on the meadow, and al- 
 though the bushes along its margin were 
 leafless, the meadow itself had a greenish look, 
 and the feel of the air was such that Gay, upon 
 whom silence and invisibility had been enjoined, 
 longed to dance in full sight of the trout and to 
 sing at the top of her voice: "Oh, that we two 
 were Maying ! " Instead, she crouched humbly 
 and in silence at Pritchard's side, while he studied 
 the dimphng brook through his powerful field- 
 glasses. 
 
 Gay had never seen red Indians except in 
 Buffalo Bill's show, where it is made worth their 
 while to be very noisy. But she had read her 
 Cooper and her Ballantyne, 
 
 "Ballant)me, the brave. 
 And Cooper of the wood and wave," 
 
 and she knew of the early Christian patience with 
 which they are supposed to go about the business 
 of hunting and fishing. 
 
 Pritchard, she observed, had a weather-red 
 face and high cheek-bones. He was smooth- 
 
 64 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 shaved. He wore no hat. But for his miracu- 
 lously short-cut hair, his field-glasses, his suit of 
 coarse Scotch wool, whose colors blended so well 
 with the meadow upon which he crouched, he 
 might have been an Indian. His head, the field- 
 glasses, the hands which clasped them, moved — 
 nothing else. 
 
 "Is it a bluff?" thought Gay. "Is he just 
 posing, or is there something in it ?" 
 
 Half an hour passed — three quarters. Gay was 
 pale and grimly smiling. Her legs had gone to 
 sleep. But she would not give in. If an Eng- 
 lishman could fish so patiently, why, so could 
 she. She was fighting her own private battle of 
 Bunker Hill — of New Orleans. 
 
 Pritchard lowered his glasses, handed them to 
 Gay, and pointed up the brook and across, to 
 where a triangular point of granite peered a few 
 inches above the surface. Gay looked through 
 the glasses, and Pritchard began to whisper in 
 her ear: 
 
 "Northwest of that point of rock, about two 
 feet — keep looking just there, and I'll try to tell 
 you what to see." 
 
 "There's a fish feeding," she answered; "but 
 he must be a baby, he just makes a bubble on 
 the surface." 
 
 65 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "There are three types of insect floating over 
 him," said Pritchard; "I don't know your Amer- 
 ican beasts by name, but there is a black, a brown, 
 and a grayish spiderlike thing. He's taking the 
 last. If you see one of the gray ones floating 
 where he made his last bubble, watch it." 
 
 Gay presently discerned such an insect so 
 floating, and watched it. It passed within a few 
 inches of where the feeding trout had last risen 
 and disappeared, and a tiny ring gently marked 
 the spot where it had been sucked under. Gay 
 saw a black insect pass over the fatal spot un- 
 scathed, then browns; and then, once more, a 
 gray, very tiny in the body but with longish legs, 
 approached and was engulfed. 
 
 "Now for the tackle box," Pritchard whispered. 
 
 They withdrew from the margin of the brook. 
 Gay in that curious ecstasy, half joy, half sorrow, 
 induced by sleepy legs. She lurched and almost 
 fell. Pritchard caught her. 
 
 "Was the vigil too long.?" he asked. 
 
 \"I liked it," she said. "But my legs went to 
 sleep and are just waking up. Tell me things. 
 There were fish rising bold — ^jumping clean out 
 — making the water boil. But you weren't in- 
 terested in them." 
 
 "It was noticeable," said Pritchard, "and per- 
 66 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 haps you noticed that one fish was feeding alone. 
 He blew his little rings — ^without fear or hurry — 
 none of the other fishes dared come anywhere 
 near him. He Hves in the vicinity of that pointed 
 rock. The water there is probably deep and, in 
 the depths, very cold. Who knows but a spring 
 bubbles into a brook at the base of that rock ? 
 The fish lives there and rules the water around 
 him for five or six yards. He is selfish, fat, and 
 old. He feeds quietly because nobody dares dis- 
 pute his food with him. He is the biggest fish 
 in this reach of the brook. At least, he is the 
 biggest that is feeding this morning. Now we 
 know what kind of a fly he is taking. Probably I 
 have a close imitation of it in my fly box. If 
 not, we shall have to make one. Then we must 
 try to throw it just above him — very lightly — 
 float it into his range of vision, and when he 
 sucks it into his mouth, strike — and if we are 
 lucky we shall then proceed to take him." 
 
 Gay, passionately fond of woodcraft, listened 
 with a kind of awe. 
 
 "But," she said, seeing an objection, "how do 
 you know he weighs three pounds and over?" 
 
 "Frankly," said Pritchard, "I don't. I am 
 gambling on that." He shot her a shy look. 
 "Just hoping. I know that he is big. I believe 
 
 67 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 we shall land him. I hope and pray that he 
 weighs over three pounds." 
 
 Gay blushed and said nothing. She was be- 
 ginning to think that Pritchard might land a 
 three-pounder as well as not — and she had light- 
 heartedly agreed, in that event, to become the 
 Countess of Merrivale. Of course, the bet was 
 mere nonsense. But suppose, by any fleeting 
 chance, that Pritchard should not so regard it ? 
 What should she do ? Suppose that Pritchard 
 had fallen victim to a case of love at first sight ? 
 It would not, she was forced to admit (somewhat 
 demurely), be the first instance in her own actual 
 experience. There was a young man who had so 
 fallen in love with her, and who, a week later, 
 not knowing the difference — so exactly the 
 triplets resembled each other — ^had proposed to 
 Phyllis. 
 
 They drew the guide boat up onto the meadows 
 and Pritchard, armed with a scoop-net of mesh as 
 fine as mosquito-netting, leaned over the brook 
 and caught one of the grayish flies that were 
 tickling the appetite of the big trout. 
 
 This fly had a body no bigger than a gnat's. 
 
 Pritchard handed Gay a box of japanned tin. 
 It was divided into compartments, and each com- 
 partment was half full of infinitesimal trout flies. 
 
 68 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 They were so small that you had to use a pair of 
 tweezers in handling them. 
 
 Pritchard spread his handkerchief on the grass, 
 and Gay dumped the flies out on it and spread 
 them for examination. And then, their heads 
 very close together, they began to hunt for one 
 which would match the live one that Pritchard 
 had caught. 
 
 "But they're too small," Gay objected. "The 
 hooks would pull right through a trout's lip." 
 
 "Not always," said Pritchard. "How about 
 this one ?" 
 
 "Too dark," said Gay. 
 
 "Here we are then — a match or not .?" 
 
 The natural fly and the artificial placed side by 
 side were wonderfully alike. 
 
 "They're as like as Lee and me," said Gay. 
 
 "Lee?" 
 
 "Three of us are triplets," she explained. 
 "We look exactly alike — and we never forgive 
 people who get us mixed up." 
 
 Pritchard abandoned all present thoughts of 
 trout-fishing by scientific methods. He looked 
 into her face with wonder. 
 
 "Do you mean to tell me," said he, "that there 
 are two other D-D-Darlings exactly like you .?" 
 
 "Exactly — a nose for a nose; an eye for an eye." 
 69 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "It isn't true," he proclaimed. "There is no- 
 body in the whole world in the least like you." 
 
 "Some time," said Gay, "you will see the three 
 of us in a row. We shall look inscrutable and say 
 nothing. You will not be able to tell which of 
 us went fishing with you and which stayed at 
 home " 
 
 " 'This little pig went to market,' " he began, 
 and abruptly became serious. "Is that a chal- 
 lenge ? " 
 
 "Yes," said Gay. "I fling down my gauntlet." 
 
 "And I," said Pritchard, "step forward and, 
 in the face of all the world, lift it from the ground 
 — and proclaim for all the world to hear that 
 there is nobody like my lady — and that I am so 
 prepared to prove at any place or time — come 
 weal, come woe. Let the heavens fall !" 
 
 "If you know me from the others," Gay's eyes 
 gleamed, "you will be the first strange young man 
 that ever did, and I shall assign and appoint in 
 the inmost shrines of memory a most special 
 niche for you." 
 
 Pritchard bowed very humbly. 
 
 "That will not be necessary," he said. "If I 
 land the three-pounder. In that case, I should 
 be always with you." 
 
 "I wish," said Gay, "that you wouldn't refer 
 70 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 so earnestly to a piece of nonsense. Upon repeti- 
 tion, a joke ceases to be a joke." 
 
 Pritchard looked troubled. 
 
 "I'm sorry," he said simply. "If it is the 
 custom of the country to bet and then crawl, so 
 be it. In Rome, I hasten to do as the Romans do. 
 But I thought our bet was honorable and above- 
 board. It seems it was just an — an Indian bet." 
 
 Gay flushed angrily. 
 
 "You shall not belittle anything American," 
 she said. "It was a bet. I meant it. I stand by 
 it. If you catch your big fish I marry you. And 
 if I have to marry you, I will lead you such a 
 dance " 
 
 "You wouldn't have to," Pritchard put in 
 gently, "you wouldn't have to lead me, I mean. 
 If you and I were married, I'd just naturally 
 dance — wouldn't I ? When a man sorrows he 
 weeps; when he rejoices he dances. It's all very 
 simple and natural " 
 
 He turned his face to the serene heavens, and, 
 very gravely: 
 
 "Ah, Lord !" he said. "Vouchsafe to me, un- 
 deserving but hopeful, this day, a char — salmo 
 fontinalis — to weigh a trifle over three pounds, 
 for the sake of all that is best and sweetest in this 
 best of all possible worlds." 
 
 71 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 If his face or voice had had a suspicion of 
 irreverence, Gay would have laughed. Instead, 
 she found that she wanted to cry and that her 
 heart was beating unquietly. 
 
 Mr. Pritchard dismissed sentiment from his 
 mind, and with loving hands began to take a 
 powerful split-bamboo rod from its case. 
 
 ?2 
 
IX 
 
 GAY'S notion of scientific fishing might have 
 been thus summed: Know just where to 
 fish and use the lightest rod made. Her own 
 trout-rod weighed two and a half ounces with- 
 out the reel. Compared to it, Pritchard's was a 
 coarse and heavy instrument. His weighed six 
 ounces. 
 
 "You could land a salmon with that," said 
 Gay scornfully. 
 
 "I have," said Pritchard. "It's a splendid 
 rod. I doubt if you could break it." 
 
 "Doesn't give the fish much of a run for his 
 money." 
 
 "But how about this. Miss Gay?" 
 
 He showed her a leader of finest water-blue 
 catgut. It was nine feet long and tapered from 
 the thickness of a human hair to that of a thread 
 of spider-spinning. Gay's waning admiration 
 glowed once more. 
 
 "That wouldn't hold a minnow," she said. 
 
 "We must see about that," he answered; "we 
 must hope that it will hold a very large char." 
 
 73 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 He reeled ofF eighty or ninety feet of line, and 
 began to grease it with a white tallow. 
 
 "What's that stufF?" Gay asked, 
 
 "Red-deer fat." 
 
 "What for?" 
 
 "To make the line float. We're fishing with a 
 dry-fly, you know." 
 
 Gay noticed that the line was tapered from 
 Tery heavy to very fine. 
 
 "Why is that?" she asked. 
 
 "It throws better — especially in a wind. The 
 heavy part will carry a fly out into half a 
 gale." 
 
 He reeled in the line and made his leader fast 
 to it with a swift, running hitch, and to the fine 
 end of the leader he attached the fly which they 
 had chosen. Upon this tiny and exquisite ar- 
 rangement of fairy hook, gray silk, and feathers, 
 he blew paraffin from a pocket atomizer that it 
 might float and not become water-logged. 
 
 "Do we fish from the shore or the boat ?" Gay 
 asked. 
 
 "From this shore." 
 
 "You'll never reach there from this shore." 
 
 "Then I've misjudged the distance. Are you 
 going to use the landing-net for me, in case it's 
 necessary?" 
 
 74 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 Gay caught up the net and once more followed 
 his stealthy advance upon the brook. 
 
 Pritchard had one prehminary look through 
 the field-glasses, straightened his bent bacL, 
 turned to her with a sorrowing face, and spoke 
 aloud. 
 
 "He's had enough," he said. "He's stopped 
 feeding." 
 
 Gay burst out laughing. 
 
 "And our fishing is over for the day? This 
 shall be said of you, Mr. Pritchard, that you are 
 a merciful man. You are not what is called in 
 this country a 'game hog.' " 
 
 "Thank you," he said gravely. "But if you 
 think the fishing is over for the day, you don't 
 know a dry-fly fisherman when you see one. We 
 made rather a late start. See, most of the fish 
 have stopped feeding. They won't begin again 
 much before three. The big fellow will be a little 
 later. He has had more than the others; he is 
 older; his digestion is no longer like chain light- 
 ning; he will sleep sounder, and dream of the 
 golden days of his youth when a char was a 
 trout." 
 
 "That," said Gay, "is distinctly unkind. I 
 have been snubbed enough for one day. Are we 
 to stand here, then, till three or four o'clock, till 
 
 75 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 his royal highness wakes up and calls for break- 
 fast?" 
 
 "No," said Pritchard; "though I would do so 
 gladly, if it were necessary, in order to take this 
 particular fish " 
 
 "You might kneel before your rod," said Gay, 
 "like a knight watching his arms." 
 
 "To rise in the morning and do battle for his 
 lady — I repeat I should do so gladly if it would 
 help my chances in the slightest. But it would- 
 n't." 
 
 He rested his rod very carefully across two 
 bushes. 
 
 "The thing for us to do," he went on, "is to 
 have lunch. I've often heard of how comfort- 
 able you American guides can make the weary, 
 wayTvom wanderer at the very shortest notice." 
 
 "Is that a challenge?" 
 
 "It is an expression of faith." 
 
 Their eyes met, and even lingered. 
 
 "In that case," said Gay, "I shall do what I 
 may. There is cold lunch in the boat, but the 
 wayworn one shall bask in front of a fire and look 
 upon his food when it is piping hot. Come!" 
 
 Gay rowed him out of the brook and along the 
 shore of the lake for a couple of miles. She was 
 on her mettle. She wished him to know that she 
 
 76 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 was no lounger in woodcraft. She put her strong 
 young back into the work of rowing, and the 
 fragile guide boat flew. Her cheeks glowed, and 
 her lips were parted in a smile, but secretly she 
 was filled with dread. She knew that she had 
 brought food, raw and cooked; she could see the 
 head of her axe gleaming under the middle seat; 
 she would trust Mary for having seen to it that 
 there was pepper and salt; but whether in the 
 pocket of the Norfolk jacket there were matches, 
 she could not be sure. If she stopped rowing to 
 look, the Englishman would think that she had 
 stopped because she was tired. And if, later, it 
 was found that she had come away without 
 matches, he would laugh at her and her pretenses 
 to being a "perfectly good guide." 
 
 She beached the boat upon the sand in a 
 wooded cove, and before Pritchard could move 
 had drawn it high and dry out of the water. 
 Then she laughed aloud, and would not tell him 
 why. She had discovered in the right-hand 
 pocket of her coat two boxes of safety-matches, 
 and in the left pocket three. 
 
 "Don't," said Gay, "this is my job." 
 She Hfted the boat easily and carried it into 
 the woods. Pritchard had wished to help. She 
 laid the boat upon soft moss at the side of a nar- 
 
 77 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 row, mounting trail, slung the package of lunch 
 upon her shoulders, and caught up her axe. 
 
 "Don't I help at all?" asked Pritchard. 
 
 "You are weary and wayworn," said Gay, 
 "and I suppose I ought to carry you, too. But 
 I can't. Can you follow ? It's not far." 
 
 A quarter of a mile up the hillside, between 
 virgin pines which made one think bitterly of 
 what the whole mountains might be if the science 
 of forestry had been imported a little earlier in 
 the century, the steep and stony trail ended in 
 an open space, gravelly and abounding in huge 
 bowlders, upon which the sun shone warm and 
 bright. In the midst of the place was a spring, 
 black and slowly bubbling. At the base of one 
 great rock, a deep rift in whose face made a 
 natural chimney, were traces of former fires. 
 
 "Wait here," commanded Gay. 
 
 Her axe sounded in a thicket, and she emerged 
 presently staggering under a load of balsam. 
 She spread it in two great, fragrant mats. Then 
 once more she went forth with her axe and re- 
 turned with fire-wood. 
 
 Pritchard, a wistful expression in his eyes, 
 studied her goings and her comings, and listened 
 a"? to music, to the sharp, true ringing of her 
 axe. 
 
 78 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "By Jove," said he to himself, "that isn^t 
 perspiration on her forehead — it's honest sweat !" 
 
 In spite of the bright sunshine, the heat of the 
 fire was wonderfully welcome, and began to 
 bring out the strong, delicious aroma of the bal- 
 sam. Gay sat upon her heels before the fire and 
 cooked. There was a sound of boiling and bub- 
 bling. The fragrance of coffee mingled with the 
 balsam and floated heavenward. During the swift 
 preparation of lunch they hardly spoke. Twice 
 Pritchard begged to help and was twice refused. 
 
 She spread a cloth between the mats of balsam 
 upon one of which Pritchard reclined, and she 
 laid out hot plates and bright silver with demure 
 precision. 
 
 "Miss Gay," he said very earnestly, "I came 
 to chuckle; I thought that at least you would 
 bum the chicken and get smoke in your eyes, 
 but I remain to worship the deity of woodcraft. 
 An Indian could not do more swiftly or so 
 well." 
 
 Gay swelled a little. She had worked very 
 hard; nothing had gone wrong, so far. She was 
 not in the least ashamed of herself. But her 
 greatest triumph was to come. 
 
 Uncas, the chipmunk, had that morning gone 
 for a stroll in the forest. He had the spring fever. 
 
 79 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 He had crossed Placid Brook, by a fallen log; he 
 had climbed trees, hunted for last year's nuts, 
 and fought battles of repartee with other chip- 
 munks. About lunch time, thinking to return to 
 Arthur and recount the tale of his wanderings, 
 he smelled a smell of cooking and heard a sound 
 of voices, one of which was familiar to him. He 
 climbed a bowlder overlooking the clearing, and 
 began to scold. Gay and Pritchard looked up. 
 
 "My word!" said Pritchard, "what a bold 
 little beggar." 
 
 Now, to Gay, the figure of Uncas, well larded 
 with regular meals, was not to be confounded 
 with the slim little stripes of the spring woods. 
 She knew him at once, and she spoke nonchalantly 
 to Pritchard. 
 
 "If you're a great deal in the woods," she 
 said, "you scrape acquaintance with many of 
 the inhabitants. That little pig and I are old 
 friends. You embarrass him a little. He doesn't 
 know you. If you weren't here, he'd come right 
 into my lap and beg." 
 
 Pritchard looked at her gravely. 
 
 "Truly ?" he said. 
 
 "I think he will anyway," said Gay, and she 
 made sounds to Uncas which reassured him and 
 brought him presently on a tearing run for her 
 
 80 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 lap. Here, when he had been fed, he yawned, 
 stretched himself, and fell asleep. 
 
 "Mowgli's sister!" said Pritchard reverently. 
 "Child, are there the scars of wolves' teeth on 
 your wrists and ankles ?" 
 
 "No, octogenarian," said Gay; "there aren't 
 any marks of any kind. What time is it ?" 
 
 "It is half-past two." 
 
 "Then you shall smoke a cigarette, while I wash 
 dishes." 
 
 She slid the complaining Uncas from her lap to 
 the ground. 
 
 "Unfortunately," said Pritchard, "I didn't 
 bring a cigarette." 
 
 "And you've been dying for a smoke all this 
 time? Why don't you ask the guide for what 
 you want ? " 
 
 " Have you such a thing ? " 
 
 "I have." 
 
 "But you — ^you yourself don't — do you ?" He 
 looked troubled. 
 
 "No," said Gay. "But my father was always 
 forgetting his, and it made him so miserable I 
 got into the habit of carrying a full case years 
 ago whenever we went on expeditions. He used 
 to be so surprised and delighted. Sometimes 
 I think he used to forget his on purpose, so 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 that I could have the triumph of producing 
 mine." 
 
 Pritchard smoked at ease. Gay "washed up." 
 Uncas, roused once more from slumber by the 
 call of one of his kind, shook himself and trotted 
 off into the forest. 
 
 Gay, scouring a pan, was beginning to feel that 
 she had known Pritchard a long time. She had 
 made him comfortable, cared for him in the wild 
 woods, and the knowledge warmed her heart. 
 
 Pritchard was saying to himself: 
 
 "We like the same sort of things — ^why not 
 each other?" 
 
 "Miss Gay," he said aloud. 
 
 "What?" 
 
 "In case I land the three-pounder and over, I 
 think I ought to tell you that I'm not very rich, 
 and I know you aren't. Would that matter to 
 you ? I've just about enough," he went on tan- 
 talizingly, "to take a girl on ripping good trips 
 into central Africa or Australia, but I can't keep 
 any great state in England — Merrivale isn't a 
 show place, you know — ^just a few grouse and 
 pheasants and things, and pretty good fishin'." 
 
 "However much," said Gay, "I may regret 
 my bet, there was nothing Indian about it. I'm 
 sure that you are a clean, upright young man. 
 
 82 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 I'm a decent sort of girl, though I say it that 
 shouldn't. We might do worse. I've heard that 
 love-matches aren't always what they are cracked 
 up to be. And I'm quite sure that I want to go 
 to Africa and hunt big game." 
 
 "Thank you," said Pritchard humbly. "And 
 at least there would be love on one side." 
 
 "Nonsense," said Gay briskly. "I'm ready, if 
 you are." 
 
 Pritchard jumped to his feet and threw away 
 his cigarette. 
 
 "Now," he said, "that you've proved every- 
 thing, wont you let me help ? " 
 
 Gay refused him doubtfully, and then with a 
 burst of generosity : 
 
 "Why, yes," she said, "and, by the way, Mr. 
 Pritchard, there was no magic about the chip- 
 munk. He's one my brother trained. He lives 
 at The Camp, and he was just out for a stroll and 
 happened in on us. I don't want you to find out 
 that I'm a fraud from any one — but me." 
 
 83 
 
THE big trout was once more feeding. And 
 Pritchard began to cast his diminutive fly 
 up-stream and across. But he cast and got out 
 line by a system that was new to Gay. He did 
 not "whip" the brook; he whipped the air above 
 it. He never allowed his fly to touch the water 
 but drew it back sharply, and, at the same time, 
 reeled out more line with his left hand, when it 
 had fallen to within an inch or two of the surface. 
 His casts, straight as a rifle-shot, lengthened, and 
 reached out toward the bowlder point near which 
 the big trout was feeding, until he was throwing, 
 and with consummate ease, a line longer than 
 Gay had ever seen thrown. 
 
 "It's beautiful," she whispered. "Will you 
 teach me ?" 
 
 "Of course," he answered. 
 
 His fly hovered just above the ring which the 
 trout had just made. Pritchard lengthened his 
 line a foot, and cast again and again, with no 
 further change but of an inch or two in direction. 
 
 "There's a little current," he explained. "If 
 84 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 we dropped the fly into the middle of the ring, it 
 would float just over his tail and he wouldn't see 
 it. He's looking up-stream, whence his blessings 
 flow. The fly must float straight down at him, 
 dragging its leader, and not dragged by it." 
 
 All the while he talked, he continued casting 
 with compact, forceful strokes of his right wrist 
 and forearm. At last, his judgment being satis- 
 fied by the hovering position attained by fly and 
 leader, he relaxed his grip of the rod; the fly fell 
 upon the water like thistle-down, floated five or 
 six inches, and was sucked under by the big trout. 
 
 Pritchard struck hard. 
 
 There was a second's pause, while the big trout, 
 pained and surprised, tried to gather his scattered 
 wits. Three quarters of Pritchard's line floated 
 loosely across the brook, but the leader and the 
 fly remained under, and Pritchard knew that he 
 had hooked his fish. 
 
 Then, and it was sudden — like an explosion — 
 the whole length of floating line disappeared, 
 and the tip of Pritchard's powerful rod was 
 dragged under after it. 
 
 The reel screamed. 
 
 "It's a whale!" shouted Gay, forgetting how 
 much depended upon the size of the fish, "a 
 whale!" 
 
 8S 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 The time for stealthy movements and talk in 
 whispers was over. Gay laughed, shouted, ex- 
 horted, while Pritchard, his lips parted, his cheeks 
 flushed, gayly fought the great fish. 
 
 "Go easy; go easy!" cried Gay. "That hook 
 will never hold him." 
 
 But Pritchard knew his implements, and fished 
 with a kind of joyous, strong fury. 
 
 "When you hang 'em," he exulted, "land 
 em. 
 
 The trout was a great noble potentate of those 
 waters. Years ago he had abandoned the stealthy 
 ways of lesser fish. He came into the middle of 
 the brook where the water is deep and there {$ 
 freedom from weeds and sunken timber, and then 
 up and down and across and across, with blind, 
 furious rushes he fought his fight. 
 
 It was the strong man without science against 
 the strong man who knows how to box. The 
 steady, furious rushes, snubbed and controlled, 
 became jerky and spasmodic; in a roar and swirl 
 of water the king trout showed his gleaming and 
 enormous back; a second later the sunset colors 
 of his side and the white of his belly. Inch by 
 inch, swollen by impotent fury, galvanically 
 struggling and rushing, he followed the drag of 
 the leader toward the beach, where, ankle-deep 
 
 86 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 in the water, Gay crouched with the landing- 
 net. 
 
 She trembled from head to foot as a well-bred 
 pointer trembles when he has found a covey of 
 quail and holds them in control, waiting for his 
 master to walk in upon them. 
 
 The big trout, still fighting, turning, and raging, 
 came toward the mouth of the half-submerged net. 
 
 "How big is he. Miss Gay?" 
 
 The voice ,was cool and steady. 
 
 "He's five pounds if he's an ounce," her voice 
 trembled. "He's the biggest trout that ever 
 swam." 
 
 "He isn't a trout," said Pritchard; "he's a 
 char." 
 
 If Gay could have seen Pritchard's face, she 
 would have been struck for the first time by a 
 sort of serene beauty that pervaded some of its 
 expressions. The smile which he turned upon 
 her crouching figure had in it a something almost 
 angelic. 
 
 "Bring him a little nearer," she cried, "just a 
 little." 
 
 "You're sure he weighs more than three 
 pounds ?" 
 
 "Sure — sure — don't talk, land him, land 
 
 him " 
 
 87 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 For answer Pritchard heaved strongly upward 
 upon his rod and lifted the mighty fish clear of 
 the water. One titanic convulsion of tortured 
 muscles, and what was to be expected happened. 
 The leader broke a few inches from the trout's 
 lip, and he returned splashing to his native ele- 
 ment, swam off slowly, just under the surface, 
 then dove deep, and was seen no more. 
 
 "Oh!" cried Gay. "Why did you? Why 
 did you ?" 
 
 She had forgotten everything but the fact 
 that the most splendid of all trout had been 
 lost. 
 
 "Why did you ?" she cried again. 
 
 "Because," he said serenely and gently, smil- 
 ing into her grieved and flushed face, "I wouldn't 
 have you as the payment of a bet. I will have 
 you as a gift or not at all." 
 
 They returned to The Camp, Pritchard rowing. 
 
 "I owe you your prospective dividends for the 
 year," he said. "If they are large, I shall have 
 to give you my note and pay as I can." 
 
 She did not answer. 
 
 "I think you are angry with me," he said. 
 "I'd give more than a penny for your thoughts." 
 
 "I was thinking," said she, "that you are 
 very good at fishing, but that the art of rowing 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 an Adirondack guide boat has been left out of 
 you." 
 
 "Truly," he said, "was that what you were 
 thinking?" 
 
 "No," she said; "I was thinking other things. 
 I was thinking that I ought to go down on my 
 knees and thank you for breaking the leader. 
 You see, I'd made up my mind to keep my word. 
 And, well, of course, it's a great escape for 
 me. 
 
 "Why? Was the prospect of marrying me so 
 awful?" 
 
 "The prospect of marrying a man who would 
 rather lose a five-pound fish than marry me — 
 was awful." 
 
 Pritchard stopped rowing, and his laughter 
 went abroad over the quiet lake until presently 
 Gay's forehead smoothed and, after a prelude of 
 dimples, she joined gayly in. 
 
 When Pritchard could speak, he said: 
 
 "You don't really think that, do you?" 
 
 "I don't know what I think," said Gay. "I'm 
 just horrid and cross and spoiled. Don't let's 
 talk about it any more." 
 
 "But I said," said he, "I said *As a bet, no; 
 but as a gift' — oh, with what rapture and de- 
 light!" 
 
 89 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Do you mean that?" She looked him in the 
 face with level eyes. 
 
 Once more he stopped rowing. 
 
 "I love you," he said, "with my whole heart 
 and soul." 
 
 "Don't," said Gay,"don't spoil a daythat,for all 
 its ups and downs, has been a good day, a day that, 
 on the whole, I've loved — and let's hurry, please, 
 because I stood in the water and it was icy." 
 
 After that Pritchard rowed with heroic force 
 and determination; he lacked, however, the 
 knack which overlapping oar handles demand, 
 and at every fifteenth or sixteenth stroke knocked 
 a piece of "bark" from his knuckles. 
 
 Smarting with pain, he smiled gently at her 
 from time to time. 
 
 "Will you guide me to-morrow .? " 
 
 "To-morrow," she said, "there will be enough 
 real guides to go around." 
 
 "You really are, aren't you?" he said. 
 
 "What?" 
 
 "Angry with me." 
 
 "Oh, no — I think — that what you said — ^what 
 you said — was a foolish thing to say. If I came 
 to you with my sisters Lee and Phyllis, you 
 wouldn't know which of the three I was, and yet 
 
 — you said — ^you said " 
 
 90 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "It isn't a question of words — it's a question 
 of feeling. Do you really think I shouldn't know 
 you from your sisters ?" 
 
 "I am sure of it," said Gay. 
 
 " But if you weren't ? " 
 
 "Then I should still think that you had tried 
 to be foolish but I shouldn't be angry." 
 
 "How," said Pritchard, his eyes twinkling, 
 "shall I convince the girl I love — that I know 
 her by sight ?" 
 
 Gay laughed. The idea seemed rather comical 
 to her. 
 
 "To-night," she said, "when you have dined, 
 walk down to the dock alone. One of us three 
 will come to you and say: 'Too bad we didn't 
 have better luck.' And you won't know if she's 
 Lee or Phyllis or me." 
 
 Pritchard smoked upon the dock in the light of 
 an arc-lamp. A vision, smiling and rosy, swept 
 out of the darkness, and said: 
 
 "Too bad we didn't have better luck!" 
 
 "I beg your pardon," said Pritchard, "you're 
 not Miss Gay, but I haven't had the pleasure of 
 being presented to Miss Lee or Miss Phyllis." 
 
 The vision chuckled and beat a swift, giggling 
 91 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 retreat to a dark spot among the pines, where 
 other giggles awaited her. 
 
 A second vision came. 
 
 "Too bad we didn't have better luck!" 
 
 Pritchard smiled gravely into the vision's eyes, 
 and said in so low a voice that only she could 
 hear: 
 
 "Bad luck? I have learned to love you with 
 all my heart and soul." 
 
 Silence. An answering whisper. 
 
 " How did you know me ? " 
 
 "How? Because my heart says here is the 
 only girl in all the world — see how different, how 
 more beautiful and gentle she is than all other 
 girls." 
 
 "But I'm not Gay— I'm Phyllis." 
 
 "If you are Phyllis," he whispered, "then you 
 never were Gay." 
 
 She laughed softly. 
 
 "I am Gay." 
 
 "Why tell me? I know. Am I forgiven?" 
 
 "There is nothing," she said swiftly, "to for- 
 give," and she fled swiftly. 
 
 To her sisters waiting among the pines she 
 gave explanation. 
 
 "Of course, he knew me." 
 
 "How?" 
 
 92 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Why, he said there couldn't be any doubt; 
 he said I was so very much better-looking than 
 any sister of mine could possibly be." 
 
 Forthwith Lee pinioned Gay's arms and Phyllis 
 pulled her ears for her. 
 
 Mr. Pritchard paced the dock, offering rings of 
 Cuban incense to the stars. 
 
 From Play House came the sounds which men 
 make when they play cards and do not care 
 whether they win or lose. 
 
 Maud was in her ofl&ce, adding a column of 
 figures which the grocer had sent in. The triplets, 
 linked arm in arm, joined her. Arthur came, and 
 Eve and Mary. 
 
 They agreed that they were very tired and 
 ready for bed. 
 
 "It's going to be a success, anyway," said Mary. 
 "That seems certain." 
 
 "We must have the plumber up," said Eve; 
 "the laundry boiler has sprung a leak. Who's 
 that in your pocket, Arthur?" 
 
 "Uncas. He came in exhausted after a long 
 day in the woods. Something unusual happened 
 to him. I know, because he tried so very hard to 
 tell me all about it just before he went to sleep, 
 
 93 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 and of course he couldn't quite make me under- 
 stand. I think he was trying to warn me of some- 
 thing — trying to tell me to keep my eyes peeled." 
 The family laughed. Arthur was always so 
 absurd about his pets. All laughed except Gay. 
 She, in a dark comer, like the rose in the poem, 
 blushed unseen. 
 
 94 
 
XI 
 
 WHEN their week was up, Mr Langham's 
 guests, Messrs. O'Malley, Alston, and 
 Cox, felt obliged to go where income called 
 them. Renier, however, who had only been at 
 work a year, decided that he did not like his 
 job, and would try for another in the fall. Lee 
 delivered herself of the stern opinion that a 
 rolling stone gathers no moss, and Renier an- 
 swered that his late uncle had been a fair-to-mid- 
 dling moss gatherer, and that to have more than 
 one such in a given family was a sign of low tastes. 
 "I have a little money of my own," he said 
 darkly, "and, what's more, I have a little hunch." 
 To his face Lee upbraided him for his lack of 
 ambition and his lack of elegance, but behind his 
 back she smiled secretly. She was well pleased 
 with herself. It had only taken him three days 
 to get so that he knew her when he saw her, and 
 for a young man of average intellect and eyesight 
 that was almost a record. 
 
 The triplets were not only as like as three 
 lovely vases cast in the same mould but it amused 
 
 95 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 them to dress alike, without so much as the 
 difFerentiation of a ribbon, and to imitate each 
 other's little tricks of speech and gesture. It 
 was even possible for them to fool their own 
 brother at times when he happened to be a little 
 absent-minded. 
 
 Every day Renier fished for many hours, and 
 always the guide who handled his boat and showed 
 him where to throw his flies was Lee. 
 
 "They're only children," said Mary, "and I 
 think they're getting altogether too chummy." 
 
 Arthur did not answer, and for the very good 
 reason that Mary's words were not addressed to 
 him, nor were they addressed to Maud or Eve. 
 Indeed, at the moment, these three were sound 
 asleep in their beds. It was to that plumper and 
 earlier bird, Mr. Samuel Langham, that Mary 
 had spoken. The end of a kitchen table, set 
 with blue-and-white dishes and cups that steamed, 
 fragrantly separated them. They had formed a 
 habit of breakfasting together in the kitchen, 
 and it had not taken Mary long to discover that 
 Sam Langham's good judgment was not confined 
 to eatables and drinkables. She consulted him 
 about all sorts of things. She felt as if she had 
 known him (and trusted him) all her life. 
 
 "Renier," he said, "is one of the few really 
 96 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 eligible young men I know. That is why I asked 
 him up here. I don't mean that my intention 
 was match-making, but when I saw your picture 
 in the advertisement, I said to myself: 'The Inn 
 is no place for attractive scalawags. Any man 
 that goes there on my invitation must be sound, 
 morally and financially.' Young Renier is as 
 innocent of anything evil as Miss Lee herself. 
 If they take a fancy to each other — of course it's 
 none of my business, but, my dear Miss Darling 
 — ^why not?" 
 
 "CoflFee?" 
 
 "Thanks." 
 
 "An egg?" 
 
 "Please." 
 
 Mary was very tactful. She never said : " Some 
 more coffee ?" She never said: "Another egg ?" 
 
 "Some people," said Mr. Langham, smiling 
 happily, "might say that we were getting too 
 chummy." 
 
 "Suppose," said Mary, "that somebody did 
 say just that ?" 
 
 "I should reply," said Mr. Langham thought- 
 fully, "that of the few really eligible men that I 
 know, I myself am, on the whole, the most eli- 
 gible." 
 
 Mary laughed. 
 
 97 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Construe," she said. 
 
 "In the first place," he continued, "and nam- 
 ing my quahfications in the order of their im- 
 portance, I don't ever remember to have spoken 
 a cross word to anybody; secondly, unless I have 
 paved a primrose path to ultimate indigestion 
 and gout, there is nothing in my past life to war- 
 rant mention. To be more explicit, I am not 
 in a position to be troubled by — er — 'old agita- 
 tions of myrtle and roses'; third, something tells 
 me that in a time of supreme need it would be 
 possible for me to go to work; and, fourth, I have 
 plenty of money — really plenty of money." 
 
 Mary smiled almost tenderly. 
 
 "I can't help feeling," she said, "that I, too, 
 am a safe proposition. I am twenty-nine. My 
 wild oats have never sprouted. I think we may 
 conclude that they were never sown. The Inn 
 was my idea — mostly, though I say it that 
 shouldn't. And The Inn is going to be a success. 
 We could fill every room we've got five times — at 
 our own prices." 
 
 "I pronounce your bill of health sound," said 
 Mr. Langham. "Let us continue to be chummy." 
 
 "Coffee.?" 
 
 "Thanks." 
 
 Whatever chance there may have been for 
 98 
 
a. 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 Gay and Pritchard to get "too chummy" — and 
 no one will deny that they had made an excellent 
 start — ^was promptly knocked in the head by 
 Arthur. It so happened that, in a desperately 
 unguarded moment, when Arthur happened to be 
 present, Pritchard mentioned that he had spent 
 a whole winter in the city of Peking. The name 
 startled Arthur as might the apparition of a 
 ghost. 
 
 "Which winter?" he asked. "I mean, what 
 year.?" 
 
 Pritchard said what year, and added, "Why do 
 you ask ? " 
 
 Arthur had not meant to ask. He began a 
 long blush, seeing which Gay turned swift heels 
 and escaped upon a suddenly ejaculated pretext. 
 
 "Why," said Arthur lamely, "I knew some 
 people who were in Peking that winter — that's 
 all." 
 
 "Then," said Pritchard, "we have mutual 
 friends. I knew every foreigner in Peking. 
 There weren't many." 
 
 Although Arthur had gotten the better of his 
 blush, he felt that Pritchard was eying him rather 
 narrowly. 
 
 "They," said Arthur, "were a Mr. and Mrs. 
 Waring." 
 
 99 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "I hope," said Pritchard, "that he wasn't a 
 friend of yours." 
 
 "He was not," said Arthur, "but she was. I 
 was very fond of her." 
 
 "Nobody," said Pritchard, "could help being 
 fond of her. But Waring was an old brute. One 
 hated him. He wouldn't let her call her soul her 
 own. He was always snubbing her. We used to 
 call her the 'girl with the dry eyes.' " 
 
 "Why?" asked Arthur. 
 
 "It's a Chinese idea," said Pritchard. "Every 
 woman is supposed to have just so many tears 
 to shed. When these are all gone, why, then, no 
 matter what sorrows come to her, she has no way 
 of relieving them." 
 
 Arthur could not conceal his agitation. And 
 Pritchard looked away. He wished to escape. 
 He thought that he could be happier with Gay 
 than with her brother. But Arthur, agitation or 
 no agitation, was determined to find out all that 
 the young Englishman could tell him about the 
 Warings. He began to ask innumerable ques- 
 tions: "What sort of a house did they live in ?" 
 "How do Christians amuse themselves in the 
 Chinese capital?" "Did Mrs. Waring ride?" 
 "What were some of her friends like?" etc., etc. 
 There was no escaping him. He fastened himself 
 
 lOO 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 to Pritchard as a drowning man to a straw. And 
 his appetite for Peking news became insatiable. 
 Pritchard surrendered gracefully. He went with 
 Arthur on canoe trips and mountain climbs; at 
 night he smoked with him in the open camp. 
 And, in the end, Arthur gave him his whole con- 
 fidence; so that, much as Pritchard wished to 
 climb mountains and go on canoe trips with Gay, 
 he was touched, interested, and gratified, and 
 then all at once he found himself liking Arthur 
 as much as any man he had ever known. 
 
 "There is something wonderfully fine about 
 your brother," he said to Gay. "At first I thought 
 he was a queer stick, with his pets and his secret 
 haunts in the woods, and his unutterable con- 
 tempt for anything mean or worldly. We ought 
 to dress him up in proof armor and send him forth 
 upon the quest of some grail or other." 
 
 "Grails," said Gay, "and auks are extinct." 
 
 "Grails extinct!" exclaimed Pritchard. He 
 was horrified. 
 
 "Why, my dear Miss Gay, if ever the world 
 offered opportunities to belted knights without 
 fear and without reproach, it's now." 
 
 "I suppose," said she, "that Arthur has told 
 you all about his — his mix-up." 
 
 Pritchard nodded gravely. 
 
 lOI 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Is that the quest he ought to ride on ?" 
 
 "No — it won't do for Arthur. He might be 
 accused of self-interest. That should be a matter 
 to be redressed by a brother knight." 
 
 "Or a divorce court." 
 
 "Miss Gay!" 
 
 "I don't think it's nice for one's brother to be 
 in love with a married woman." 
 
 "It isn't," said Pritchard gravely, "for him. 
 It's hell." 
 
 "We," said Gay, "never knew her." 
 
 "She's not much older than you," said Pritch- 
 ard. "If I'd never seen you, I'd say that she 
 was the prettiest girl I'd ever seen. But she's 
 gentler and meeker than even you'd be in her 
 boots. She isn't self-reliant and able." 
 
 "You talk as if you'd been in love with her 
 yourself." 
 
 "I .'' I thought I was talking as if I was in 
 love with you." 
 
 "Looks like it, don't it?" said she. "Spend- 
 ing all your time with a girl's brother." 
 
 "Not doing what you most want to do," said 
 Pritchard, "is sometimes thought knightly." 
 
 "Do you know," she said critically, "some- 
 times I think you really like me a lot. And some- 
 times I think that I really like you. The funny 
 
 lOZ 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 thing is that it never seems to happen to both of 
 us at the same time. There's Arthur looking 
 for you. Do me a favor — shake him and come 
 for a tramp with me." 
 
 "I can't," said Pritchard simply. "I've prom- 
 ised. But to-morrow " 
 
 "Certainly not," said she. 
 
 103 
 
XII 
 
 WARM weather and the real opening of the 
 season arrived at the same time. The 
 Camp hummed with the activities and the voices 
 of people. And it became possible for the Dar- 
 hngs to withdraw a little into their shells and lead 
 more of a family life. As Maud said : 
 
 "When there were more proprietors than 
 guests, we simply had to sail in and give the 
 guests a good time. But now that the business 
 is in full blast, we mustn't be amateurs any 
 more." 
 
 Langham, Renier, and the future Earl of 
 Merrivale remained, of course, upon their well- 
 established footing of companionship, but the 
 Darlings began to play their parts of innkeepers 
 with the utmost seriousness and to fight shy of 
 any social advances from the ranks of their guests. 
 
 Indeed, for the real heads of the family, Mary, 
 Maud, and Eve, there was serious work to be 
 done. For, to keep thirty or forty exigent and 
 extravagant people well fed, well laundered, well 
 served, and well amused is no frisky skirmish 
 
 104 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 but a moming-to-night battle, a constant looking 
 ahead, a steady drain upon the patience and in- 
 vention. 
 
 In Sam Langham Mary found an invaluable 
 ally. He knew how to live, and could guess to a 
 nicety the "inner man" of another. Nor did he 
 stop at advice. Being a celebrated hon viveur he 
 went subtly among the guests and praised the 
 machinery of whose completed product they were 
 the consumers and the beneficiaries. He knew 
 of no place, he confided, up and down the whole 
 world, where, for a sum of money, you got exactly 
 what you wanted without asking for it. 
 
 "Take me for an example," he would say. "I 
 have never before been able to get along without 
 my valet. Here he would be a superfluity. I am 
 'done,' you may say, better than I have ever 
 been able to do myself. And I know what I'm 
 talking about. What ! You think the prices are 
 really rather high. Think what you are getting, 
 man — think!" 
 
 Among the new guests was a young man from 
 Boston by the name of Herring. He had written 
 that he was convalescing from typhoid fever and 
 that his doctor had prescribed Adirondack air. 
 
 Renier knew Herring slightly and vouched for 
 him. 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "They're good people," he said, "his branch 
 of the Herring family — the 'red Herrings' they 
 are called locally — if we may speak of Boston as a 
 'locality' — he's the reddest of them and the most 
 showy. If there's anything he hasn't tried, he 
 has to try it. He isn't good at things. But he 
 does them. He's the fellow that went to the 
 Barren Lands with a nibHck. What, you never 
 heard of that stunt ? He was playing in foursome 
 at Myopia. He got bunkered. He hit the sand a 
 prodigious blow and the ball never moved. His 
 partner said: 'Never mind, Syd, you hit hard 
 enough to kill a musk-ox.' 
 
 " 'Did I ?' said Herring, much interested, 'but 
 I never heard of killing a musk-ox with a niblick. 
 Has it ever been done ? Are there any authorities 
 one might consult?' 
 
 "His partner assured him that 'it' had never 
 been done. Herring said that was enough for 
 him. The charm of Herring is that he never 
 smiles; he's deadly serious — or pretends to be. 
 When they had holed out at the eighteenth. 
 Herring took his niblick and said: 'Well, so long. 
 I'm off to the Barren Lands.' 
 
 "They bet him there and then that he would 
 neither go to the Barren Lands nor kill a musk- 
 ox when he got there. He took their bets, which 
 
 io6 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 were large. And he went to the Barren Lands, 
 armed only with his niblick and a camera. But 
 he didn't kill a musk-ox. He said they came right 
 up to be photographed, and he hadn't the heart 
 to strike. He brought back plenty enough pic- 
 tures to prove where he'd been, but no musk-ox. 
 He aimed at one tentatively but at the last mo- 
 ment held his hand. 'He remembered suddenly,' 
 he said, 'that he had never killed anything, and 
 didn't propose to begin.' So he came home and 
 paid one bet and pocketed the other. He can't 
 shoot; he can't fish; he can't row. He's a per- 
 fect dub, but he's got the soul of a Columbus." 
 
 "Something tells me," said Pritchard, "that I 
 shall like him." 
 
 Herring, having arrived and registered and 
 been shown his rooms, was not thereafter seen to 
 speak to anybody for two whole days. As a 
 matter of fact, though, he held some conversa- 
 tion with Renier, whom he had met before. 
 
 "It's just Boston," Renier explained. "They're 
 the best people in the world — ^when — ^well, not 
 when you get to know them but when they get 
 to know you. Give him time and he will blos- 
 som. 
 
 "He looks like a blossom already," said Lee. 
 "He looks at a little distance like a gigantic 
 
 107 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 plant of scarlet salvia, or a small maple-tree in 
 October." 
 
 Upon the third day Mr. Herring came out 
 of his shell, as had been prophesied. He went 
 about asking guests and guides, with almost 
 plaintive seriousness, questions which they were 
 unable to answer. He began to make friends with 
 Pritchard and Langham. He solemnly presented 
 Arthur with a baseball that had figured in a Yale- 
 Harvard game. Then he got himself introduced 
 to Lee. 
 
 "You guide, don't you ?" he said. 
 
 "I have guided," she said, "but I don't. It 
 was only in the beginning of things when there 
 weren't enough real guides to go around. But, 
 surely you don't need a guide. You've been to 
 the Barren Lands and all sorts of wild places. 
 You ought to be a first-class woodsman." 
 
 "I thought I'd like to go fishing to-morrow," 
 he said. "It's very disappointing. I've looked 
 forward all my life to being guided by a young 
 girl, and when I saw you, I said, if this isn't she, 
 this is her living image." 
 
 "You shall have Bullard," said Lee. "He 
 knows all the best places." 
 
 Herring complained to Arthur. "Your sisters," 
 he said, "are said to be the best guides in the 
 
 io8 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 Adirondacks, but they won't take me out. How 
 is a fellow to convalesce from typhoid if people 
 aren't unfailingly kind to him ? " 
 
 Arthur laughed, and said that he didn't know. 
 
 "Let me guide you," he offered. 
 
 "No," said Herring, "it isn't that I want to be 
 guided. It's that I want the experience of being 
 guided by a girl. I want to lean back and be 
 rowed." 
 
 Herring walked in the woods and came upon 
 Phyllis's garden, with Phyllis in the midst of it. 
 
 "Halloo again!" he said. 
 
 Now it so happened that he had never seen 
 Phyllis before. 
 
 She straightened from a frame of baby lettuce 
 and smiled. She loved bright colors, and his 
 flaming hair was becoming to her garden. 
 
 "Halloo again!" she said. 
 
 "Have you changed your mind ?" he asked. 
 
 She sparred for time and enhghtenment and 
 said : 
 
 "It's against all the rules." 
 
 "We could," said he, "start so early that no- 
 body would know. I have often gotten up at 
 five." 
 
 "So have I," said Phyllis wistfully. 
 
 "We could be back before breakfast." 
 109 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 Phyllis appeared to think the matter over. 
 
 "Of course," he said, "you said you wouldn't. 
 But if girls didn't change their minds, they 
 wouldn't be girls." 
 
 "That," said Phyllis, "is perfectly true." 
 
 To herself she said : 
 
 "He's asked Lee or Gay to guide him, and 
 thinks he's asked me." 
 
 Now, Phyllis was not good with oars or fishing- 
 tackle, but she liked Herring's hair and the fact 
 that he never smiled. Furthermore, she believed 
 that, if the worst came to the worst, she could 
 find some of the places where people sometimes 
 took trout. 
 
 "I have never," said Herring, "been guided 
 by a young girl." 
 
 "What, never!" exclaimed Phyllis. 
 
 "Never," he said. "And I am sure that it 
 would work wonders for me." 
 
 "Such as?" 
 
 "It might lead me to take an interest in gar- 
 dening. I have always hoped that I should some 
 day." 
 
 "People," thought Phyllis, "interested in gar- 
 dening are rare — especially beautiful young gen- 
 tlemen with flaming hair. Here is my chance to 
 slaughter two birds with one stone." 
 
 no 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "You'll swear not to tell?" she exhorted. 
 
 "Yes," he said, "but not here. Soon. When I 
 am alone." He did not smile. 
 
 "Then," she said, "be at the float at five- 
 thirty sharp." 
 
 That night she sought out Lee and Gay. 
 
 "Such a joke," she said. "I've promised to 
 guide Mr. Herring — to-morrow at five-thirty, but 
 he thinks that it's one of you two who has 
 promised. Now, as I don't row or fish, one of 
 you will have to take my place for the credit of 
 the family." 
 
 But her sisters were laughing in their sleeves. 
 
 "My dear girl," said Gay, "why the dickens 
 didn't you tell us sooner ? We also have made 
 positive engagements at five-thirty to-morrow 
 morning." 
 
 "What engagements?" exclaimed Phyllis. 
 
 Gay leaned close and whispered confidentially. 
 
 "We've made positive engagements," she said, 
 "to sleep till breakfast time." 
 
 Ill 
 
XIII 
 
 IN an athletic generation Phyllis was an 
 anachronism. She was the sort of girl one's 
 jreat-grandmother was, only better-looking — one's 
 |reat-grandmother, if there is any truth in oil 
 and canvas, having been neatly and roundly 
 turned out of a peg of wood. Phyllis played no 
 game well, unless gardening is a game. She liked 
 to embroider and to write long letters in a wonder- 
 fully neat hand. She disliked intensely the roar- 
 ing of firearms and the diabolic flopping of fresh- 
 caught fish. She was one of those people who 
 never look at a sunset or a moonrise or a flower 
 without actually seeing them, and yet, withal, her 
 sisters Lee and Gay looked upon her with a cer- 
 tain awe and respect. She was so strong in the 
 wrists and fingers that she could hold them when 
 they were rambunctious. And she was only 
 afraid of things that aren't in the least dangerous. 
 "No," they said, "she can't fish and shoot and 
 row and play tennis and dive and swim under 
 water, but she's the best dancer in the family — 
 probably in the world — and the best sport." 
 
 112 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 Phyllis was, in truth, a good sport, or else she 
 was more attracted by Mr. Herring's Salvia- 
 splendens hair than she would have cared to ad- 
 mit. Whatever the cause, she met him at the 
 float the next morning at five-thirty, prepared to 
 guide him or perish in the attempt. She wore a 
 short blue skirt and a long white sweater of 
 Shetland wool. It weighed about an ounce. She 
 wore white tennis shoes and an immense pair of 
 well-oiled gardening gloves. At least she would 
 put off blistering her hands as long as possible. 
 
 Phyllis, to be exact, was five minutes early 
 for her appointment. This gave her time to get 
 a boat into the water without displaying awk- 
 wardness to any one but herself — also, to slip the 
 oars over the thole-pins and to accustom herself 
 to the idea of handling them. She had taken 
 coaching the night before from Lee and Gay, 
 sitting on a bearskin rug in front of the fire, and 
 swaying rhythmically forward and back. 
 
 As Herring was no fisherman, her sisters ad- 
 vised her to row very slowly. "Tell him," they 
 said, "that a boat rushing through water alarms 
 fish more than anything in the world." 
 
 She told him when he was seated in the stem 
 of the boat facing her. 
 
 "You mustn't mind going very slow," she said. 
 "3 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 <c 
 
 The fish in this part of the Adirondacks are 
 noted for their sensitiveness in general and their 
 acute sense of hearing in particular. Why, if I 
 were to row as fast as I can" — there must have 
 been a twinkle in her eyes — "trout miles away 
 would be frightened out of their skins," and she 
 added mentally, "and I should upset this horribly 
 wabbly boat into the bargain." 
 
 They proceeded at a snail's pace, Phyllis dab- 
 bing the water gingerly with her oars, with some- 
 thing of that cauti .u and repulsion with which 
 one turns over a dead snake with a stick — to see 
 if it is dead. 
 
 The grips of guide-boat oars overlap. And 
 your hands follow rather than accompany each 
 other from catch to finish, and from finish to 
 catch. If you are careless, or not to the stroke 
 born or trained, you occasionally knock little 
 chunks of skin and flesh from your knuckles. 
 
 Herring watched Phyllis's gentle and restrained 
 efforts with inscrutable eyes. 
 
 "I never could understand," he said, "how 
 you fellows manage to row at all with that sort 
 of an outfit. At Harvard they only give you one 
 oar and let you take both hands to it, and then 
 you can't row. At least, I couldn't. They put 
 me right out of the boat. They said I caught 
 
 114 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 crabs. As a matter of fact, I didn't. All I did 
 was to sit there, and every now and then the 
 handle of my oar banged me across the solar 
 plexus." 
 
 "We're not going far, you know," said Phyllis 
 (and she mastered the desire to laugh). "Hadn't 
 you — ah — um — better put your rod together ? " 
 
 "Oh, I can do that!" said Herring. "You 
 begin with the big piece and you stick the next- 
 sized piece into that, and so on. And I know 
 how to put the reel on, because the man in the 
 store showed me, and I know how to run the line 
 through the rings." 
 
 "Well," said Phyllis, "that's more than half 
 the battle." 
 
 "And," Herring continued, "he showed me 
 how to tie on the what-you-may-call-it and the 
 flies." 
 
 "Good!" said Phyllis. 
 
 "And, of course," he concluded, "I've for- 
 gotten." 
 
 Now, Phyllis had been shown how to tie flies 
 to a leader only the night before, and she, also, 
 had forgotten. 
 
 "There are," she said, "a great many fetiches 
 among anglers. Among them are knots. Now, 
 in my experience, almost any knot that will stand 
 
 "5 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 will do. The important thing is to choose the 
 right flies." 
 
 As to this, she had also received instruction, 
 but with better results, since it was an entirely 
 feminine affair of colored silks and feathers. 
 
 "I will tell you which flies to use," she said. 
 
 "And," said he, "you will also have to show me 
 how to cast." 
 
 "What!" she exclaimed, and stopped rowing. 
 "You don't know how to cast?" 
 
 "No," he said, "I don't. I'm a dub. Didn't 
 you know that ?" 
 
 "But," she protested, "I can't teach you in a 
 morning" — and she added mentally — "or in a 
 whole lifetime, for that matter." 
 
 It was not more than a mile across the mouth 
 of a deep bay to the brook in which they had 
 elected to fish. With no wind to object, the most 
 dabbily propelled guide boat travels with con- 
 siderable speed, and before Herring had managed 
 to tie the flies which Phyllis had selected to his 
 leader (with any kind of a knot) they were among 
 the snaggy shallows of the brook's mouth. 
 
 The brook was known locally as Swamp Brook, 
 its shores for a mile or more being boggy and 
 treacherous. Fishermen who liked to land oc- 
 casionally and cast from terra firma avoided it. 
 
 ii6 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 Phyllis had selected it solely because it was the 
 nearest brook to the camp which contained trout. 
 If she had remembered how full it was of snags, 
 and how easily guide boats are turned turtle, she 
 would have selected some other brook, even, if 
 necessary, at the "Back of beyond." It had 
 been easy enough to propel the boat across the 
 open waters of the lake, but to guide it clear of 
 snags and around right-angle bends, especially 
 when the genius of rowing demands that eyes look 
 astern rather than ahead, was beyond her powers. 
 The boat ran into snags, poked its nose into boggy 
 banks, turned half over, righted, rushed on, and 
 stopped again with rude bumps. 
 
 Herring, that fatalistic young Bostonian, began 
 to take an interest in his fate. His flies trailed in 
 the water behind him. His eyes never left Phyl- 
 lis's face. His handsome mouth was as near to 
 smiling as it ever got. 
 
 "Do you," he said presently, "swim as well 
 as you row?" 
 
 She stopped rowing; she laughed right out. 
 
 "Just about," she said. 
 
 "Good," he said seriously, "because I'm a dub 
 at it, and in case of an upset, I look to you." 
 
 "The truth," said Phyllis, "is that there's no 
 place to swim to. It's all swamp in here." 
 
 117 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "True," said Herring; "we would have to 
 cling to the boat and call upon Heaven to aid us." 
 
 One of Herring's flies, trailing in the water, 
 proved, at this moment, overwhelmingly attrac- 
 tive to a young and unsophisticated trout. 
 
 Herring shouted with the triumph of a school- 
 boy, "I've got one," -and sprang to his feet. 
 
 "Please sit down!" said Phyllis. "We almost 
 went that time . " 
 
 "So we did," said Herring. 
 
 He sat down, and they almost "went" again. 
 
 "Now," said Phyllis, "play him." 
 
 "Play him?" said Herring. "Watch me." 
 And he began to pull strongly upon the fish. 
 
 The fish was young and weak. Herring's 
 tackle was new and strong. The fish dangled in 
 mid-air over the middle of the boat. 
 
 "Sorry," said Herring, "I can't reach him. 
 Take him off^j please." 
 
 It has been said that Phyllis was a good sport. 
 If there was one thing she hated and feared 
 more than another, it was a live fish. She reached 
 forward; her gloved hand almost closed upon it; 
 it gave a convulsive flop; Phyllis squeaked like a 
 mouse, threw her weight to one side, and the boat 
 quietly upset. 
 
 The sportsmen came to the surface streaming. 
 n8 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "I can touch bottom," said Herring politely; 
 "can you?" 
 
 "Yes," she said, "but my feet are sinking into 
 it — " She tore them loose and swam. Herring 
 did likewise. And they clung to the boat. 
 
 "I hope you'll forgive me," said Phyllis. "I 
 never rowed a boat before and I never could stand 
 live fish." 
 
 "It was my fault," said Herring. "Something 
 told me to lean the opposite from the way you 
 leaned. But it told me too late. The truth is I 
 don't know how to behave in a boat. Well, you 
 are still guide. It's up to you." 
 
 "What is up to me?" 
 
 "A plan of some sort," said he, "to get us out 
 of this." 
 
 "Oh, no," she said, "it's up to you." 
 
 "My plan," he said, "would be to get back 
 into the boat and row home. It seems feasible, 
 and even easy. But appearances are deceptive. 
 I think I'd rather walk. What has happened here 
 might happen out on the middle of the lake." 
 
 "What you don't realize," said Phyllis, "is 
 that we're in the midst of an impassable swamp." 
 
 "Impassable?" 
 
 "Well, no one's ever crossed it except in winter." 
 
 "What— no one!" 
 
 119 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 He was immensely interested. 
 
 "Do you know," he went on confidentially, 
 "the only things that I'm good at are things for 
 which there are no precedents — things that no- 
 body has ever done before. That's why I'm so 
 fond of doing unusual things. Now, you say that 
 this swamp has never been crossed ? Enough said. 
 You and I will cross it. We will do it. Are 
 you game ? " 
 
 "It seems," said Phyllis, "merely a question 
 of when and where we drown. So I'm game. 
 Your teeth are chattering." 
 
 "Thank you," said Herring. "But no harm 
 will come to them. They are very strong." 
 
 "I hope," said PhyUis, "that when I come out 
 of the water you won't look at me. I shall be a 
 sight." 
 
 "A comrade in trouble," said Herring, "is 
 never a sight." 
 
 "I am so ashamed," said Phyllis. 
 
 "What of?" 
 
 "Of being such a fool." 
 
 "You're a good sport," said Herring. "That's 
 what you are." 
 
 By dint of violent kicking and paddling with 
 their free hands they managed to propel the 
 guide boat from the centre of the brook to a 
 
 120 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 firm-looking clump of reeds and alder roots which 
 formed a tiny peninsula from that shore which 
 was toward The Camp. Covered with slime and 
 mud they dragged themselves out of the water 
 and stood balancing upon the alder roots to re- 
 cover their breath. 
 
 "We must each take an oar," said Herring. 
 "We can make little bridges with them. And 
 we must keep working hard so as to get warm. 
 We shall live to write a brochure about this: 
 'From Clump to Clump, or Mudfoots in the 
 Adirondacks.' " 
 
 Between that clump on which they had found 
 a footing and the next was ten feet of water. 
 
 Herring crossed seven feet of it with one heavy 
 jump, fell on his face, caught two handfuls of 
 viburnum stems, and once more dragged himself 
 out of water. 
 
 "Now then," he called, "float the oars over to 
 me." And when PhyUis had done this: "Now 
 you come. The main thing in crossing swamps is 
 to keep flat instead of up and down. Jump for 
 it — fall forward — and I'll get your hands!" 
 
 Once more they stood side by side precariously 
 balancing. 
 
 "The moment," said Herring, "that you begin 
 to feel bored, tell me." 
 
 IZI 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "So that I can encourage you. I will tell you 
 that you are doing something that has never 
 been done before. And that will make you feel 
 fine and dandy. What we are doing is just as 
 hard as finding the North Pole, only there isn't 
 going to be so much of it. Now then, in negotiat- 
 ing this next sheet of water " 
 
 And so they proceeded until the sun was high 
 in the heavens and until it was low. 
 
 122 
 
XIV 
 
 To attempt the dangerous passage of a 
 swamp when they might have returned to 
 camp in the guide boat was undoubtedly a most 
 imbecile decision. And if Phyllis had not been 
 thoroughly flustered by the upset, which was all 
 her fault, she never would have consented to it. 
 As for Herring's voice in the matter, it was that 
 which the young man always gave when there was 
 a question of adventure. He didn't get around 
 mountains by the valley road. He climbed over 
 them. He had not in his whole being a suspicion 
 of what is dangerous. He had never been afraid 
 of anything. He probably never would be. He 
 would have enjoyed leading half a dozen forlorn 
 hopes every morning before breakfast. 
 
 "We were idiots," said Phyllis, "to leave the 
 boat." 
 
 "We can't go back to it now," said Herring. 
 "We don't know the way." 
 
 "Your voice sounds as if you were glad of it." 
 'I am. I was dreadfully afraid you'd decide 
 123 
 
 «i 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 against crossing this swamp. I'd set my heart 
 on it." 
 
 "It isn't I," said Phyllis, "that's against our 
 crossing this swamp. It's the swamp." 
 
 "The main thing," said Herring, with satis- 
 faction (physically he was almost exhausted), 
 "is that here we are safe and sound. We don't 
 know where 'here' is, but it's with us, it won't 
 run away. When we've rested we shall go on, 
 taking 'here' with us. Wherever we go is 'here.' 
 Think of that!" 
 
 "I wish I could think of something else," said 
 PhylHs, "but I can't. I'm almost dead." 
 
 "You are doing something that no girl has 
 ever done before, not even your sisters, those 
 princesses of fortune. Years from now, when 
 you begin, 'Once when I happened to be crossing 
 the Swamp with a young fellow named Her- 
 ring — ' they will have to sit silent and listen." 
 
 "If you weren't so cheerful," said Phyllis, "I 
 should have begun to cry an hour ago. Do you 
 really think this is fun ? " 
 
 " Do I think it's fun ? To be in a scrape — not 
 to know when or how we are going to get out of 
 it ? You bet I think it's fun." 
 
 "People have died," said Phyllis, "having just 
 this sort of fun. Suppose we can't get out ?" 
 
 124 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "You mean to-day ? Perhaps we can't. Per- 
 haps not to-morrow. Perhaps we shall have to 
 learn how to live in a swamp. A month of the 
 life we've led for the last few hours might turn 
 us into amphibians. That would be intensely 
 novel and interesting. But, of course, when winter 
 comes and the place freezes over we can march 
 right out and take up our orthodox lives where 
 we left off. Listen!" 
 
 "What?" 
 
 "I thinly, I hear webs growing between my 
 fingers and toes." 
 
 Phyllis laughed so that the partially dried 
 mud on her face cracked. 
 
 "What," she said, "are we going to eat this 
 side of winter ? What are we going to eat now ?" 
 
 His face expressed immense concern. 
 
 "What? You are hungry ? Allow me!" 
 
 He produced from his inside pocket a very 
 large cake of sweet chocolate, wrapped in several 
 thicknesses of oiled silk. 
 
 "My one contribution," he said, "to the 
 science of woodcraft." 
 
 Phyllis ate and was refreshed. Afterward she 
 washed all the mud from her face. Herring 
 watched the progress of the ablution with much 
 interest. 
 
 I2S 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Wonderful!" he said presently. 
 
 "What is wonderful?" she asked, not without 
 anticipation of a compliment. 
 
 "Wonderful to find that something which is 
 generally accepted as true — is true. To see it 
 proved before your eyes." 
 
 "What do you mean.?" 
 
 "I mean," he said, "that I never before actually 
 saw a girl wash her face. I've seen 'em when 
 they said they were going to. I've seen 'em when 
 they said they just had. But now I know." 
 
 "If you weren't quite mad," said Phyllis, 
 "you'd be very exasperating. Here am I, fright- 
 ened half to death, cold and miserable, and 
 dreadfully worried to think how worried my 
 fam.ily must be, and there are you, almost too 
 tired to stand, actually delighted with yourself, 
 because you're in trouble and because for the first 
 time in your life you've seen a girl wash her face. 
 Can't you be serious about anything ? " 
 
 "Not about a half-drowned girl taking the 
 trouble to wash her face," he said. 
 
 "You," said she, "would look much better if 
 you washed yours." 
 
 "But," he said, "we'll be covered with mud 
 again before we've gone fifty yards." 
 
 "Because you are going into a coal mine to- 
 126 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 morrow," said Phyllis, "is no reason why you 
 shouldn't be clean to-day." 
 
 "True," said Herring, and he washed his face. 
 
 At breakfast that morning Pritchard received 
 the following cablegram: 
 
 Come home and shake hands. I'm off. M. 
 
 Greatly moved, he carried it to Gay, and with- 
 out comment put it in her hand. 
 
 "Who is M?" she asked. 
 
 "My uncle, the Earl of Merrivale." 
 
 "What does /'m off mean ?" 
 
 "It means," said Pritchard, "that they've given 
 him up, and he wants to make friends. He never 
 liked my father or me." 
 
 "It means," said Gay generously, "that you 
 are going away?" 
 
 "Yes," he said, "at once. But it means more. 
 It means that I've got to find out if I'm — to 
 come back some time ?" 
 
 "Of course, you are to come back," she said. 
 
 Words rose swiftly to Pritchard's lips and 
 came no further. Indeed, he appeared to swallow 
 them. 
 
 127 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "And I'm glad you are going to make friends 
 with your uncle," said Gay. 
 
 "There'll be such lots of young men here when 
 the season opens," said Pritchard. 
 
 "Judging by applications," said Gay, "we shall 
 be swamped with gentlemen of all ages." 
 
 Pritchard's melancholy only deepened. "Will 
 you come as far as Carrytown in the Streak?" 
 he asked. 
 
 She nodded, and said she would because she 
 had some shopping to do. 
 
 During that short, exhilarating rush across the 
 lake, and afterward walking up and down on the 
 board platform by the side of the waiting train, 
 he tried his best to ring a little sentiment out of 
 her, but failed utterly. 
 
 The locomotive whistled, and the conductor 
 came out of the village drug-store, staggering 
 slightly. 
 
 "I've left all my dry-fly tackle," said Pritchard. 
 "Will you take care of it for me?" 
 
 "With pleasure," said Gay. 
 
 "I'd like you to use it. It's a lovely rod to 
 throw line." 
 
 "All aboard!" 
 
 "I'd like to bring you out some rods and 
 things. May I?" 
 
 128 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "You bet you may!" exclaimed Gay. 
 
 Pritchard sighed. The train creaked, jolted, 
 moved forward, stopped, jerked, and moved for- 
 ward again. Pritchard waited until the rear 
 steps of the rear car were about to pass. 
 
 "Good-by, Miss Gay!" 
 
 They shook hands firmly, and Pritchard swung 
 himself onto the moving train. Gay, walking 
 rapidly and presently breaking into a trot, ac- 
 companied him as far as the end of the platform. 
 She wanted to say something that would please 
 him very much without encouraging him too 
 much. 
 
 "Looks as if I was after you!" she said, 
 
 Pritchard's whole soul was in his eyes. And 
 there was a large lump in his throat. Suddenly 
 Gay reached the end of the long platform and 
 stopped running. The train was now going quite 
 fast for an Adirondack train. The distance be- 
 tween them widened rapidly. 
 
 "Wish you weren't going," called Gay. 
 
 And she saw Pritchard reach suddenly upward 
 and pull the rope by which trains are stopped in 
 emergencies. While the train was stopping and 
 the train hands were trying to find out who had 
 stopped it and why, Pritchard calmly alighted 
 and returned to where Gay was standing. 
 
 129 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "I just had to look at you once more — close," 
 he said; "you never can tell what will happen in 
 this world. I may never see you again, and the 
 thought is killing me. Think of that once in a 
 while, please." 
 
 He bent swiftly, caught her hand in his, kissed 
 it, and was gone. Or, if not exactly gone, she saw 
 him no more, because of suddenly blinding 
 tears. 
 
 When she reached The Camp, Arthur was at 
 the float to meet her. 
 
 "Phyllis and Herring haven't come back," he 
 said. "Lee says they went fishing. Do you 
 know where they went ? " 
 
 "I don't. And they ought to have been back 
 hours ago." 
 
 "Yes," said Arthur, "and we're all starting 
 out to look for them. Care to come with me ? " 
 
 "Yes," she said; "I've got to do something." 
 
 Something in her voice took his mind from the 
 more imminent matter. 
 
 "What's wrong. Gay?" 
 
 She shook her head. 
 
 "Nothing. Let's start. If Phyl rowed, they 
 must have gone to the nearest possible fishing 
 grounds." 
 
 At this moment Sam Langham came puffing 
 130 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 down from Cook House. He was dressed in white 
 flannels and carried a revolver. 
 
 "It's to signal with," he explained. "I'm 
 going to try Loon Brook, because it's the only 
 brook I know when I see it." 
 
 " BuUard's gone to Loon Brook." 
 
 "Pshaw — can't I ever be of any use!" 
 
 "Good Lord," said Gay, "look!" 
 
 There came around the nearest bend a man 
 rowing one guide boat and towing another, which 
 was empty. Arthur called to him in a loud, hoarse 
 voice : 
 
 "Where'd you find that boat ?" 
 
 "Up Swamp Brook," came the answer. 
 
 Arthur and Gay went gray as ashes. 
 
 "Who's to tell Mary?" said Arthur presently. 
 
 Then Sam Langham spoke. 
 
 "If you don't mind," he said, "I think I will." 
 
 An hour later the entire male population of 
 The Camp was dragging Swamp Brook for what 
 they so dreaded to find. 
 
 131 
 
XV 
 
 IT wasn't all discouragement. For now and 
 then it seemed as if the swamp was going to 
 have a shore of dry land. At such times Herring 
 would exclaim: 
 
 "There you see ! It had never been done be- 
 fore, and now it's been done, and we've done it." 
 
 And then it would seem to Phyllis as if a great 
 weight of fear and anxiety had been lifted from 
 her. 
 
 But the shore of the swamp always turned out 
 to be an illusion. Once Herring, firmly situated 
 as he believed, went suddenly through a crust of 
 sphagnum moss and was immersed to the arm- 
 pits. For some moments he struggled grimly to 
 extricate himself, and only sank the deeper. Then 
 he turned to Phyllis a face whimsical in spite of 
 its gravity and pallor, and said: "If you have 
 never saved a man's life, now is your chance. 
 I'm afraid I can't get out without help." 
 
 It was then that her phenomenally strong 
 little hands and wrists stood them both in good 
 stead. The arches of her feet against a submerged 
 
 132 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 root of white cedar, she so pulled and tugged, and 
 exhorted Herring to struggle free, that at last 
 he came out of that pocket quagmire and lay ex- 
 hausted in the ooze at her feet. 
 
 He was incased from neck to foot in a smooth 
 coating of brown slime. Presently he rolled over 
 on his back and looked up at her. 
 
 "There you see!" he said. "You'd never 
 saved a man's life before, and now you've done it. 
 Please accept my sincere expressions of envy and 
 gratitude — Why, you're crying !" 
 
 She was not only crying, but she was showing 
 symptoms of incipient hysteria. "An old-fash- 
 ioned girl," thought Herring, "like Great-grand- 
 mother Saltonstall." He raised himself to a 
 sitting position just in time to slide an arm around 
 her waist as, the hysteria now well under way, 
 she sat down beside him and began to wave her 
 hands up and down like a polite baby saying 
 good-by to some one. 
 
 "One new thing under the sun after another," 
 thought Herring. "Never had arm round hys- 
 terical girl's waist before. Got it there now. 
 When you need her, she takes a good brace and 
 pulls for all she's worth. When she needs you, 
 she seats herself on six inches of water and yells. 
 Just like Great-grandmother Saltonstall." Aloud 
 
 133 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 he kept saying: "That's right! Greatest relief 
 in the world ! Go to it ! " And his arm tightened 
 about her with extraordinary tenderness. 
 
 Her hysterics ended as suddenly as they had 
 begun. And then she wasted a valuable half- 
 hour apologizing for having had them; Herring 
 protesting all the while that he had enjoyed them 
 just as much as she had, and that they had done 
 him a world of good. And then they had to stop 
 talking because their teeth began to chatter so 
 hard that they simply couldn't keep on. Herring 
 stuttered something about, "Exercise is what a 
 body needs," and they rose to their feet and 
 fought their way through a dense grove of arbor- 
 vitae. 
 
 "The stealthy Indian goes through such places 
 without making a sound," said Herring. 
 
 "Or getting his moccasins wet," said Phyllis. 
 "Oh !" And she sank to the waist. 
 
 "Never mind," said Herring, "it will be 
 dark before long. And when we have no 
 choice of where to step, maybe we'll have better 
 luck." 
 
 "It will have to be dark very soon," said Phyllis, 
 "if we have any more of our clothes taken away 
 from us by the brambles." 
 
 "That's a new idea!" exclaimed Herring. 
 134 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Young couple starve to death in the woods be- 
 cause modesty forbids them to join their friends 
 in the open. The head-line might be: 'Stripped 
 by Brambles,' or 'The Two Bares.' " 
 
 He was so pleased with his joke that he had to 
 lean against a tree. The laughing set him to 
 coughing, and Phyllis beat him methodically be- 
 tween the shoulders. 
 
 Htrring still refused to be serious. In helping 
 Phyllis over the bad places, he performed prodigies 
 of misapplied strength and made prodigious puns. 
 And he said that never in his life had he been in 
 such a delightful scrape. 
 
 Once, while they were resting, Phyllis said: 
 
 "All you seem to think of is the fun you're 
 having. Most men would be thinking about the 
 anxiety they were causing others and about the 
 miseries of their companion." 
 
 "But," he protested, "you are enjoying your- 
 self too. You don't think you are, but you are. 
 It's your philosophy that is wrong. You like to 
 live too much in the present. I like to lay by 
 stores of delightful memories against rainy days. 
 The worse you feel now, the more you'll enjoy 
 remembering how you felt — some evening, soon 
 — ^your back against soft cushions and the soles of 
 your feet toward the fire." 
 
 135 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Ugh !" shuddered Phyllis. "Don't talk about 
 fires. Oh, dear!" 
 
 "What's wrong now ! " 
 
 "I'm so stifF I don't think I can take another 
 step. We oughtn't to have rested so long." 
 
 But she did take another step, and would have 
 fallen heavily if Herring had not caught her. 
 A moment later she lost a shoe in the ooze, and 
 wasted much precious daylight in vain efforts to 
 locate and recover it. 
 
 "Sit down on that root," commanded Herring. 
 And she obeyed. He knelt before her, lifted her 
 wet, muddy little stockinged foot and set it on 
 his knee. 
 
 "What size, please, miss?" he asked, giving 
 an excellent imitation of a somewhat officious 
 salesman. 
 
 "I don't know; I have them made," said 
 Phyllis wearily, but trying her best to 
 smile. 
 
 "Something in this style?" suggested Herring. 
 He had secretly removed one of his own shoes, 
 and handling it with a kind of comic reverence, 
 as if the soggy, muddy thing was a precious work 
 of art, he presented it to her attention. 
 
 And then Phyllis smiled without even trying 
 and then laughed. 
 
 136 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "I said a shoe" she said, "not a travelling bath- 
 tub." 
 
 But he slipped that great shoe over her little 
 foot, and so bound it to her ankle with his hand- 
 kerchief and necktie that it promised to stay on. 
 
 "But you ?" she said. 
 
 "Luck is with me to-day," said Herring. "Any- 
 body can walk through an impassable swamp, but 
 few are given the opportunity to hop. General 
 Sherman should have thought of that. It would 
 have showed the Confederates just what he 
 thought of them if instead of marching through 
 Georgia he had hopped." 
 
 And he pursued this new train of thought for 
 some time. He improvised words to old tunes, 
 and sang them at the top of his lungs: "As we 
 were hopping through Georgia." And last and 
 worst he sang: "There'll be a hop time in the old 
 town to-night." And when he had occasion to 
 address Phyllis directly, he no longer called her 
 Miss Darling, but "Goody Two Shoes." He said 
 that his own name was not Mr. Herring but Mr. 
 Hopper, and that he was a famous cotillon leader. 
 
 But even he became a little quiet when the 
 light began to fail, and a little serious. 
 
 "Whatever happens," he said, "it will be a 
 great comfort to you to realize that it's entirely 
 
 137 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 my fault. On the other hand, if we had gotten 
 back into that boat, we might have been drowned 
 long before this." 
 
 A Httle later Phyllis said: "I'm about all in. 
 It's too dark to see. I " 
 
 "Couldn't have chosen a better camping site 
 myself," said Herring humbly. "First thing to 
 think of is the water-supply — and fuel. Now, here 
 the fuel grows right out of the water " 
 
 "We haven't any matches." 
 
 "Yes, we have; but they are wet and won't light." 
 
 "We'll die of cold before morning," said Phyllis; 
 ** there's no use pretending we won't." 
 
 "On the contrary. Now is the time to pretend 
 all sorts of things. Did you ever try to make a 
 lire by rubbing two sticks together?" 
 
 "Never." 
 
 "Well, try it. It will make you warmer than 
 the fire would. Afterward we will play 'Paddy 
 cake, Paddy cake,' and 'Bean Porridge hot.' " 
 
 "Do men in danger always carry on the way 
 you do?" asked Phyllis. 
 
 "Always," he answered. 
 
 "I can understand trying to be funny during a 
 cavalry charge, or while falling off a cliff," said 
 Phyllis, "but not while slowly and miserably con- 
 gealing." 
 
 138 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "You are not a Bostonian," said Herring. 
 "Half the inhabitants of that municipality freeze 
 to death and the others burn." 
 
 "I've stayed in Boston," said Phyllis, "and 
 the only difference that I could see between it and 
 other places was that the people were more agree- 
 able and things were done in better taste. And 
 what gardens!" 
 
 "Ever seen the Arboretum ? "- 
 
 "Havel?" 
 
 "In lilac time?" 
 
 "Mm!" 
 
 She was on her favorite topic. She forgot that 
 she was cold, wet, miserable, and a frightful 
 anxiety to her family. 
 
 "But why be an innkeeper?" asked Herring. 
 "Why not set up as a landscape-gardener?" 
 
 "I don't know enough. But I've often thought 
 
 "I've got five hundred acres outside of Boston 
 that I'd like to turn you loose on." 
 
 "You speak as if I were a goat." 
 
 "The first thing to do is to drain the swamps. 
 Now, I'll make you a proposition. I can't put it 
 in writing, because it's too dark to see and I have 
 no writing materials, but there is nothing fishy 
 about us Herrings. You to landscape my place 
 
 139 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 for me, cause a suitable house to be built, and so 
 forth; I to pay you a thousand dollars a month, 
 and a five per cent commission on the total ex- 
 penditure." 
 
 "And what might that amount to ?" 
 
 "What you please," said Herring politely. 
 
 "Who says Bostonians are cold?" exclaimed 
 Phyllis. And there began to float through her head 
 lovely visions of landscapes of her own making. 
 
 "You're still joking, aren't you?" she said 
 after a while. 
 
 "I don't know landscapes well enough to joke 
 about them," he said. 
 
 " But I can't design a house ! " 
 
 "Oh, you will have architects to do that part. 
 You just pick the general type." 
 
 "What kind of a house do you want ?" 
 
 "It depends on what kind of a house you want." 
 
 "Oh, dear," she exclaimed, "what fun it would 
 be!" 
 
 "Will you do it?" 
 
 She was tempted beyond her strength. 
 
 "Yes," she said, and began to talk with ir- 
 responsible delight and enthusiasm. 
 
 "Ah," thought Herring to himself, "find out 
 what really interests a girl and she'll forget all 
 her troubles." 
 
 140 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 It began suddenly to grow light. 
 
 "Good heavens!" exclaimed Phyllis. "The 
 woods must be on fire ! Oh, the poor trees ! " 
 
 "It isn't fire," said Herring, "it's the moon — 
 'Queen and huntress, chaste and fair — goddess 
 excellently bright' — ^was ever such luck ! I hoped 
 we were going to stand here cosily all night 
 talking about marigolds and cowslips and wall- 
 papers, and now it's our duty to move on. Come, 
 Goody Two Shoes, Policeman Moon has told us 
 to move on. I shall never forget this spot. And 
 I shan't ever be able to find it again." 
 
 They toiled forward a little way, and lo ! upon 
 a sudden, they came to firm and rocky land that 
 sloped abruptly upward from the swamp. They 
 climbed for several hundred feet and came out 
 upon a bare hilltop, from which could be seen 
 billows of forest and one great horn of Half Moon 
 Lake, silver in the moonlight. 
 
 "Why, it isn't a mile to camp," said Phyllis. 
 She swayed a little, tottered, rocked backward 
 and then forward, and fell against Herring's 
 breast in a dead faint. 
 
 In a few moments she came to and found 
 that she was being carried in strong arms. It 
 was a novel, delicious, and restful sensation — 
 one which it seemed immensely sensible to 
 
 141 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 prolong. She did not, then, immediately open 
 her eyes. 
 
 She heard a voice cheerful, but very much out 
 of breath, murmuring over her: 
 
 "New experience. Never carried girl before. 
 Experience worth repeating. Like *em old- 
 fashioned — like Great-grandmother Saltonstall. 
 Like 'em to faint." 
 
 A few minutes later, "Where am I ?" said 
 Phyllis. 
 
 "In my arms," said Herring phlegmatically, 
 as if that was one of her habitual residing places. 
 
 "Put me down, please." 
 
 "I hear," said he, "and I obey with extreme 
 reluctance. I made a bet with myself that I 
 could carry you all the way. And now I shall 
 never know. Feel better?" 
 
 "Mm," she said, and "What a nuisance I've 
 been all through ! But it was pretty bad, some of 
 it, wasn't it?" 
 
 "Already you are beginning to take pleasure 
 in remembering. What did I tell you ? Don't 
 be frightened. I am going to shout." 
 
 He shouted in a voice of thunder, and before 
 the echo came back to them another voice, loud 
 and excited, rose in the forest. And they heard 
 smashings and crashings, as a wild bull tearing 
 
 142 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 through brittle bushes. And presently Sam 
 Langham burst out of the thicket with a shower 
 of twigs and pine-needles. 
 
 His delight was not to be measured in words. 
 He apostrophized himself. 
 
 "Good old Sam!" he said. "He knew you 
 weren't drowned in the brook. He knew it 
 would be just like Herring to want to cross that 
 swamp. As soon as I heard somebody say that 
 it was impassable, I said: 'Where is the other side? 
 That's the place to look for them.' But why 
 didn't you make more noise?" 
 
 "Oh," said Herring, "we were so busy talking 
 and exploring and doing things that had never 
 been done before that it never occurred to us to 
 shout." 
 
 "Herring," said Langham sternly, "you have 
 the makings of a hero, but not, I am afraid, of a 
 woodsman." 
 
 "Well, we're safe enough now," said Herring. 
 "Excuse me a moment " 
 
 " Excuse you ! What ? " 
 
 "It's very silly — been sick you know — over- 
 exertion — think better faint and get it over with." 
 
 Langham knelt and lifted Herring's head. 
 
 "You Hft his feet," he said to Phyllis, "send 
 the blood to his heart ; bring him to." 
 
 143 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 Herring began to come out of his faint. 
 
 "This young man," said Langham, "may be 
 something of an ass, but he's got sand." 
 
 "He carried me a long way," said Phyllis, the 
 tears racing down her cheeks; "and he's only 
 just over typhoid, and he never stopped being 
 cheerful and gallant, and he isn't an ass !" 
 
 Herring came to, but was not able to stand. 
 He had kept up as long as he had to. and now 
 there was no more strength in him. 
 
 Phyllis accepted the loan of Langham's coat. 
 
 "I'll stay with him," she said, "while you go 
 for help." 
 
 The moment Langham's back was turned she 
 spread the coat over Herring. 
 
 "Please — don't!" he said. 
 
 "You be quiet," said she sharply. "How 
 do you feel ? " 
 
 "Pretty well used up, thank you. Hope 
 you'll 'scuse me for this collapse. Shan't hap- 
 pen again. Lucky thing you" and I don't both 
 collapse same moment." 
 
 A faint moan was wrung from him. She 
 touched his cheek with her hand. It was hot 
 as fire. She was an old-fashioned girl, and the 
 instinct of nursing was strong in her. 
 
 She was an old-fashioned girl. There had 
 144 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 almost always been a young man in her life 
 about whom, for a while, she wove more or less 
 intensely romantic fancies. They came; they 
 went. But almost always there was one. 
 
 She raised her lovely face and looked at the 
 moon, and made an unspoken confession. 
 There had always been one. Well, now there 
 was another! 
 
 145 
 
XVI 
 
 WHEN the real season opened, you might 
 have thought that the whole venture was 
 Mr. Sam Langham's and that he had risked the 
 whole of his money in it. Without being offi- 
 cious, he had words of anxious advice for the 
 Darlings, severally and collectively. His early 
 breakfasts in Smoke House with Mary, the chef 
 beaming upon the efficient and friendly pair, lost 
 something of their free and easy social quality, 
 and became opportunities for the gravest dis- 
 cussions of ways and means. 
 
 The opening day would see every spare room 
 in the place occupied — by a man. To Mary it 
 seemed a little curious that so few women, so 
 few families, and so many bachelors had applied 
 for rooms. But to Sam Langham the reasons for 
 this were clear and definite. 
 
 " It was the picture in the first issues of your 
 advertisement that did it. I only compliment 
 and felicitate you when I say that every bachelor 
 who saw that picture must have made up his 
 mind to come here if he possibly could. And that 
 
 146 
 
The Seveii Darlings 
 
 every woman who saw it must have felt that she 
 could spend a happier summer somewhere else. 
 Now, if you had circulated a picture of half a 
 dozen men, each as good-looking as your brother 
 Arthur, the results would have been just the 
 opposite." 
 
 "Women aren't such idiots about other women's 
 looks as you think they are," said Mary. 
 
 "I didn't say they were idiots; I intimated 
 that they were sensible. The prettiest woman 
 at a summer resort always has a good time — not 
 the best, necessarily, but very good. Now, no 
 woman could look at that picture of you and 
 your sisters and expect to be considered the pret- 
 tiest woman here. Could she, Chef.?" 
 
 Chef laughed a loud, scornful, defiant, gesticu- 
 lant, Gallic laugh. His good-natured features fo- 
 cussed into a scathing Parisian sneer; he turned 
 a delicate omelette over in the air and said, 
 "Lala!" 
 
 "There are," continued Mr. Langham, "only 
 half a dozen women in the world who can com- 
 pare in looks with you and your sisters. There's 
 the Princess Oducalchi — your mother. There's 
 the Countess of Kingston, Mrs. Waring, Miss Vir- 
 ginia Clark — but these merely compare. They 
 don't compete." 
 
 147 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 Mr. Langham tried to look very sly and wicked, 
 and he sang in a humming voice: "Oh, to be a 
 Mussulman, now that spring is here." 
 
 "Coffee?" said Mary. 
 
 "Please." 
 
 "Well," said she, as she poured, "the whys and 
 wherefores don't matter. It's to be a bachelor 
 resort — ^that seems definitely settled. But I 
 think we had better send the triplets away. I 
 don't want the Pritchard and Herring episodes 
 repeated while my nerves are in this present state. 
 And there's Lee — if she isn't leading Renier into 
 one folly after another, I don't know what she is 
 doing. They seem to think that keeping an inn 
 is a mere excuse for flirtation." 
 
 "Don't send them away," said Langham. "If 
 you sent those three girls to a place where there 
 weren't any men at all — they'd flirt with their 
 shadows. Better have 'em flirting where you can 
 watch 'em than where you can't. And beside* — 
 are you quite sure that the Pritchard and Herring 
 episodes were mere flirtations ? Day before yes- 
 terday I came upon Miss Gay by accident; she 
 was practising casting." 
 
 "That's how she spends half her time." 
 
 "But she was practising with Pritchard's rod! 
 
 Yesterday I came upon her in the same place " 
 
 148 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "By accident?" smiled Mary, 
 
 "By design," he said honestly. "And this 
 time she wasn't casting. She had the rod lying 
 across her knees, and her eyes were turned dream- 
 ily toward the bluest and most distant mountain- 
 top." 
 
 " 'Why do you look at that mountain ?' I said. 
 
 " 'Because it's blue, too,' said she. 
 
 " 'And what makes you blue ?' I asked. 
 
 " 'The same cause that makes the mountain 
 blue,' said she. 
 
 " 'Hum,' said I. 'Then it must be distance.' 
 
 " 'Something like that,' she said. *I some- 
 times think I'm the most distant person in the 
 world.' 
 
 " 'You're probably not the only person who 
 thinks that!' said I. 
 
 "And she said, 'No ? Really .?' And that was 
 all I could get out of her. Except that, just as I 
 was walking away, I heard a sharp whistling 
 sound and my cap — my new plaid cap — ^was sud- 
 denly tweaked from the top of my head and ; 
 hung in a tree. She must have practised a lot' 
 with that rod of Pritchard's. It was a beautiful 
 
 cast- 
 
 "She might have put your eye out !" exclaimed 
 Mary. 
 
 149 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 " She hung the apple of my eye in a tree," said 
 he dolefully. "You know that one with the 
 green and brown ? And last night it rained." 
 
 "I hope she expressed sorrow," said Mary. 
 
 " She was going to, but I got laughing and then 
 she did." 
 
 "What a dear you are!" exclaimed Mary. 
 "And so you think she's making herself mourn- 
 ful over Mr. Pritchard ? And what are the 
 reasons for thinking that Phyllis is serious about 
 Mr. Herring.?" 
 
 "He's sent for blue-prints of his property out- 
 side Boston, and they are busy with plans for 
 landscaping it. Narrow escape that ! I didn't 
 let on; but the second day I thought he was a 
 goner. I did." 
 
 Mary sighed. 
 
 "We might just as well have called it a matri- 
 monial agency in the first place instead of an 
 mn. 
 
 Mr. Langham rose reluctantly. 
 
 "I have an engagement with Miss Maud," he 
 explained. 
 
 The faintest ripple of disappointment flitted 
 across Mary's forehead. 
 
 "I've promised to help her with her books," 
 said he. "Some of the journal entries puzzle her; 
 
 ISO 
 
"'Why do you look at that mountain?' I said. 'Because it's 
 blue, too,' said she" 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 and she has an idea that The Inn ought to have 
 more capital. And we are going into that, too." 
 
 "I hope," said Mary, "that you aren't going 
 to lend us money without consulting me." 
 
 Chef was in a distant corner, quite out of ear- 
 shot. And Mr. Langham, emboldened by one of 
 the most delicious breakfasts he had ever eaten, 
 shot an arch glance at Miss Darling. 
 
 "I wouldn't consult you about lending money," 
 he said; "I wouldn't consult you about giving 
 ttioney. But any time you'll let me consult you 
 about sharing money " 
 
 Panic overtook him, and he turned and fled. 
 But upon Mary's brow was no longer any ripple 
 of disappointment — only the unbroken alabaster 
 of smooth serenity. She reached for the house- 
 hold keys and said to herself: 
 
 " Maud is a steady girl — even if the rest of us 
 aren't." 
 
 She caught a glimpse of herself in the bottom 
 of a highly polished copper utensil and couldn't 
 help being pleased with what she saw. 
 
 On the way to the office Mr. Langham fell in 
 with Arthur. This one, Uncas scolding and 
 chatting upon his shoulder, was starting off for 
 a day's botanizing — or dreaming maybe. 
 
 "Arthur — one moment, please," said Lang- 
 151 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 ham. "As the head of the family I want to con- 
 sult you about something." 
 
 "Yes.?" said Arthur sweetly. "Of course, 
 Uncas, you are too noisy." And he put the of- 
 fended little beast into his green collecting case. 
 
 "I never would have come here," said Mr. 
 Langham, "if it hadn't been for that advertise- 
 ment." 
 
 Arthur frowned slightly. 
 
 "You mean " 
 
 "Yes. But I came," said Mr. Langham, "not 
 as a pagan Turk but as a Christian gentleman. 
 I was just about to take passage for Liverpool 
 when I saw your sister Mary looking out at me 
 from The Four Seasons. And so I wrote to ask 
 if I could come here. I have lived well, but I am 
 not disappointed. I am very rich " 
 
 "My dear Sam," said Arthur, "you are the 
 best fellow in the world. What do you want of 
 me?" 
 
 "To know that you think I'd try my best to 
 make a girl happy if she'd let me." 
 
 "A girl .?" smiled Arthur. "Any girl ?" 
 
 "In all the world," said Mr. Langham, "there 
 is only one girl." 
 
 "If I were you," said Arthur, "I'd ask her 
 what she thought about it." 
 
 152 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 Langham assumed a look of terrible gloom. 
 
 "If she didn't think well of it I'd want to cut 
 my throat. I'd rather keep on living in blissful 
 uncertainty, but I wanted you to know — zvhy I 
 am here, and why I want to stay on and on." 
 
 "Why, I'm very glad to know," said Arthur, 
 "but surely it's your own affair." 
 
 Mr. Langham shook his head. 
 
 "Last night," said he, "I was dozing on my 
 little piazza. Who should row by at a distance 
 but Miss Gay and Miss Lee. You know how 
 sounds carry through an Adirondack night? 
 Miss Lee said to Miss Gay: 'I tell you he doesn't. 
 Not really. He's just a male flirt.' 'A butter- 
 fly,' said Miss Gay." 
 
 "But how do you know they were referring to 
 you?" 
 
 " By the way the blessed young things laughed 
 at the word 'butterfly'. So I wanted you to know 
 that my intentions are tragically serious, no mat- 
 ter what others may say. Whatever I may be, 
 and I have been insulted more than once about 
 my figure and my habits, I am not a flirt. I am 
 just as romantic as if I was a living skeleton." 
 
 Here Arthur's head went back, and he laughed 
 till the tears came. And Mr. Langham couldn't 
 help laughing, too. 
 
 IS3 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 A few moments later he was going over The 
 Inn books with Maud DarHng and displaying 
 for her edification an astonishing knowledge of 
 entries and a truly magical facility in figuring. 
 Suddenly, apropos of something not in the least 
 germane, he said: 
 
 "Miss Maud, when in your opinion is the most 
 opportune time for a man to propose to a girl ? " 
 
 "When he's got her alone," said she promptly, 
 "and has just been dazzling her with a display of 
 his erudition and understanding." 
 
 And she, whom Mary had described as the one 
 steady sister in the lot, flung him a melting and 
 piercing glance. But Mr. Langham was not de- 
 ceived. 
 
 "I ask you an academic question," he said, 
 "and you give me an absolutely cradle-snatching 
 answer. I may look easy. Miss Maud, but there 
 are people who will protect me." 
 
 "The best time to propose to a girl ? You 
 really want to know ? I thought you were just 
 starting one of your jokes." 
 
 "If I am," said he, "the joke will be on me. 
 But I really want to know." 
 
 "The best moment," said she, "is that moment 
 in which she learns that one of her friends or one 
 of her sisters younger than she is engaged to be 
 
 154 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 married. When an unengaged girl hears of an- 
 other girl's engagement she has a momentary 
 panic, during which she is helpless and defenseless. 
 That is my best judgment, Mr. Sam Langham. 
 And the older the girl the greater the panic. And 
 now I've betrayed my sex. In fact, I have told 
 you absolutely all that is definitely known about 
 giris." 
 
 Just outside the office he met Gay. 
 
 "Halloo!" she said. 
 
 He only made signs at her and flapped his 
 arms up and down. 
 
 " They can't talk," he said. 
 
 "Who can't talk?" 
 
 He held her with a stern glance, and if the word 
 had been hissable, would have hissed it. 
 
 "Butterflies," he said. 
 
 Then Miss Gay turned the color of a scarlet 
 maple in the fall of the year. Then she squealed 
 and ran. 
 
 iSS 
 
XVII 
 
 " ARE we all here ?" asked Mary. 
 
 jljL She had summoned her sisters and Arthur 
 to the office for a conference. 
 
 "All except Sam Langham," said Gay. 
 
 " I didn't know that he was one of the family," 
 said Mary. 
 
 "Of course, you know," said Gay; "you would. 
 / was just guessing." 
 
 "Well, he isn't," said Mary, trying not to 
 change color or to enjoy being teased about Mr. 
 Langham. 
 
 The triplets sat in a row upon a bench made 
 of little birch logs with the bark on. It was not 
 soft sitting, as Lee whispered, but one had one's 
 back to the light, and in case one had done some- 
 thing wrong without knowing it and was in for 
 a scolding, that would prove an immense advan- 
 tage. 
 
 "What I wanted to say," said Mary, "is just 
 this " 
 
 She stood up and looked rather more at the 
 triplets than any one else, so that Lee exclaimed, 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Votes for women," and Gay echoed her with, 
 "Yes, but none for poor little girls in their teens." 
 
 "Hitherto," continued the orator, "The Inn 
 has been only informally open. It's been more 
 like having a few friends stopping with us. We 
 had to see more or less of them. But after to-day 
 there will be a crowd, and I think it would be more 
 dignified and pleasanter for them if some of us 
 kept ourselves a little more to ourselves. What 
 do you think, Arthur?" 
 
 Arthur looked up sweetly. It was evident 
 that he had not been listening. 
 
 "Why, Mary," he said, "I think it might be 
 managed with infinite patience." 
 
 The triplets giggled; Maud and Eve exchanged 
 amused looks. 
 
 "Arthur," said Mary, "you can make one con- 
 tribution to this discussion if you want to. You 
 can tell us what you are really thinking about, 
 so that we needn't waste time trying to guess." 
 
 "Why," said he gently, "you know I have 
 quite a knack with animals, taming them and 
 training them, and I was wondering if it would 
 be possible to train a snail. That's what I was 
 thinking about. I have a couple in my pocket at 
 the moment, and " 
 
 "Never mind nozv," said Mary hurriedly, and 
 ^57 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 she turned to the triplets. "What do you think 
 of what I said ?" 
 
 "I think it was tortuous and involved," said 
 Lee, "and that it would hardly bear repetition." 
 
 "It smacked of paternalism," said Gay. And 
 even Phyllis, her mind upon the convalescing 
 Herring, was moved to speak. 
 
 "You said it would be more dignified for some 
 of us to keep to ourselves. Perhaps it would. 
 You said it would be pleasanter for the people 
 who are coming here to stay. I doubt it ! " 
 
 "Bully for you, old girl," shouted Lee and Gay; 
 "sick her!" 
 
 Mary moaned. She was proof against their 
 hostilities, but the language in which they were 
 couched pierced her to the marrow. 
 
 "I am sure," she said, "that Maud and Eve 
 will agree with me." 
 
 "Of course," said Eve. 
 
 "Naturally," said Maud. 
 
 "There!" exclaimed Mary, with evident tri- 
 umph. 
 
 "We agree," said Eve, "that some of us should 
 keep ourselves more to ourselves." 
 
 And she looked sternly at the triplets. But 
 then she turned and looked sternly at Mary and 
 rose to her feet. 
 
 IS8 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "We think," she said with zf accuse intonation, 
 "that those who haven't kept themselves to 
 themselves should, and that those who have — 
 shouldn't. Maud and I, for instance, haven't 
 the slightest objection to being fetched for and 
 carried for by attractive young men. Have we, 
 Maud ? But hitherto, as must have been obvious 
 to the veriest nincompoop, we have done our own 
 fetching and carrying." 
 
 There was a short silence. Mary blushed. 
 Arthur fidgeted. He was wondering if snails 
 preferred the human voice or whistling. 
 
 "I'm quite sure," said Maud, "that I haven't 
 been wandering over the hills with future earls, 
 or lost in swamps with interesting invalids, or 
 basked morning after morning in the sunny smile 
 of a gourmet " 
 
 Mary paled under this attack. 
 
 "Mr. Langham is altogether different," she 
 said. 
 
 "Oh, quite!" cried Lee. 
 
 "Utterly, absolutely different!" cried Gay. 
 "To begin with, he's richer; and to end with, he's 
 fatter." 
 
 "I shouldn't have said 'fat,' " said Lee. "I 
 should have said 'well-larded,' but then I am 
 something of a stylist." 
 
 159 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Sam Langham," said Mary, "is everybody's 
 friend. And he's an immense help in lots of 
 ways; and then he has a certain definite interest 
 in The Inn. Because, if we need it, he's going to 
 lend us money to carry our accounts." 
 
 Gay whispered to Lee behind her hand. Lee 
 giggled. 
 
 "What was that?" asked Mary sharply. 
 
 "Only a quotation." 
 
 "What quotation ?" 
 
 "Oh, Gay just said something about 'Bought 
 and Paid For.' " 
 
 Here Arthur interrupted. 
 
 "They're like snails," said he to Mary. "You 
 can only train 'em with infinite patience." 
 
 Phyllis rose suddenly and became the cyno- 
 sure of all eyes except her own, whose particular 
 cynosure at the moment was the floor. She 
 moved toward the door. 
 
 "Where are you off to ?" asked Mary. 
 
 "I'm just going to speak to Chef." 
 
 "What about?" 
 
 "About some chicken broth." 
 
 "For yourself?" 
 
 The gentle Phyllis was being goaded beyond 
 endurance. At the door she turned and lifted 
 her great eyes to Mary's. 
 
 i6o 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "No," she said bitterly; "it's for Arthur's 
 snails." 
 
 There was a silence. 
 
 "If there's any voting," said Phyllis, "I give 
 my proxy to Gay." And she vanished through 
 the door. 
 
 "I'm sure," said Mary, "I don't know what 
 the modern young girl is coming to ! " 
 
 "I know where that one is going to," said Gay; 
 "spilling the chicken broth in her unseemly 
 haste." 
 
 Then Arthur spoke. 
 
 "The modem young girl," he said, "is coming 
 to just where her grandmother came, and by the 
 same road. Girls will be girls. So let's be thank- 
 ful that the men who have come here so far have 
 been — men. And hopeful that those who are to 
 come will be also. I've lived too much with 
 nature not to know what's natural — ^when I see 
 it." 
 
 "Do you think," said Gay sweetly, "that it's 
 natural for a man to eat as much as Sam Lang- 
 ham does V 
 
 "As natural under the peculiar circumstances," 
 said Arthur, "as it is for you to tease." 
 
 Lee rose. 
 
 "And you?" said Mary, smiling at last. 
 i6i 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Oh," said Lee witheringly, "I have an en- 
 gagement to carve initials surrounded by a heart 
 on a birch-tree." 
 
 And when Lee had gone Gay spoke up. 
 
 "I shouldn't wonder," said she, "if, by way of 
 a blind, the baggage had told the truth." 
 
 "We should never have called it The Inn," 
 said Mary; "we should have called it The Matri- 
 monial Agency." 
 
 "Every pretty girl," said Arthur, "is a matri- 
 monial agency." 
 
 At this moment Uncas, the chipmunk, rushed 
 screaming into the room and flung himself into 
 Arthur's lap. Arthur comforted the little beast, 
 and noticed that his nose and face bore fresh 
 evidences of a fight. Uncas complained very 
 bitterly; he was evidently trying to talk. 
 
 "Is Stripes hurt?" asked Mary. 
 
 "It's his feelings," said Arthur. "He's been 
 made a victim of misplaced confidence. Some 
 young woman has been encouraging him." 
 
 "Poor little man !" said Gay with sudden emo- 
 tion. "Did urns want some nice vasy on ums 
 poor sick nose ? " 
 
 "He would only lick it off," regretted Arthur- 
 Mr. Langham's jolly face appeared in the open 
 door. 
 
 162 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "I've seen two depart," he said, "and thought 
 maybe the meeting was over." 
 
 "It is," said Mary, and, after a moment's 
 hesitation, she boldly joined Mr. Langham and 
 walked ofF by his side. Even Arthur chuckled. 
 
 "And what was the meeting about.?" asked 
 Mr. Langham. 
 
 "Oh," said Mary, "they won't be serious — 
 not any of them — not even Arthur. So we for- 
 got what the meeting was for, and got into violent 
 discussion about — about natural history." 
 
 "And what side did you take?" 
 
 "Oh," said Mary, "we were all on the same 
 side — really; and that was what made the dis- 
 cussion so violent." 
 
 "The day," said Langham, "is young. I feel 
 ripe for an adventure. And you ? " 
 
 "What sort of an adventure ?" 
 
 "I thought that if one — or rather if too climbed 
 to the top of a very little hill and sat down in 
 the sunshine and admired the view " 
 
 Far out on the lake they could see Lee, lolling 
 in the stem of a guide boat. Young Renier was 
 at the oars. But the boat was not being pro- 
 pelled. It was merely drifting. 
 
 163 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "I wonder," said Langham, and he watched 
 her face stealthily, "if by any chance those two 
 are really engaged ?" 
 
 Was there the least hardening of that lovely, 
 gentle face, the least fleeting expression of that 
 sort of panic which one experiences when arriv- 
 ing at the station in time to see the train pull out 
 but not too late to get aboard by the exercise of 
 swift and energetic manoeuvres ? 
 
 "Don't say such things!" she said presently. 
 "It's like jumping out from behind a tree and 
 shouting, ' Boo ! ' " 
 
 Mr. Langham smiled complacently and changed 
 the subject. But he said to himself: "That Maud 
 is a clever girl ! " 
 
 "I suppose," said Mary after a while, "that 
 this is the last really peaceful day we'll have for 
 a long time. To-morrow the place will be full of 
 strange, critical faces. And it will be one long 
 wrestle to make everything go smoothly all the 
 time." 
 
 She sighed. 
 
 "There are only two ways to success," said 
 Langham. "One is across the wrestling-mat, and 
 one is through the pasture of old Bull Luck. But 
 I'm convinced that The Inn is going to pay very 
 handsomely. There is a fortune in it." 
 
 164 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "There mightn't be," said Mary, "if—" and 
 she broke into a peal of embarrassed laughter. 
 
 "If what?" 
 
 "I was thinking of that dreadful picture." 
 
 "I often think of it," said Mr. Langham, "and 
 of the first time I saw it." 
 
 Mary gave him a somewhat shy look. 
 
 "Of course it didn't influence you," she said. 
 
 "But it did. And that day I forgot to eat 
 any lunch. I am looking forward," he said, "to 
 warm weather — I enjoy a swim as much as any- 
 body." 
 
 "Why is it," said Mary, "that a girl is ashamed 
 when it is her money that attracts a man, and 
 proud when it is her face ? Both are equally 
 fortuitous; both are assets in a way — but of the 
 two, it is the money alone which is really useful." 
 
 "It sounds convincing to a girl," mused Mr. 
 Langham, "when a man says to her: 'I love you 
 because of your beautiful blue eyes !' But it 
 wouldn't sound in the least convincing if he said: 
 'I love you because of your beautiful green 
 money ! ' I don't attempt to explain this. I am 
 merely stating what appears to me to be a fact. 
 But, as you say, money is, or should be, an asset 
 of attraction." 
 
 "I suppose beauty is held in greater esteem," 
 i6s 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 said Mary, "because it is more democratically- 
 bestowed. Money seems to beget hatred because 
 It isn t. 
 
 "The French people," said Langham, "hated 
 the nobility because of their wealth and luxury. 
 To-day a common mechanic has more real lux- 
 uries at his disposal than poor Louis XVI had, 
 but he hates the rich people who have more than 
 he has — and so it will go on to the end of time." 
 
 "Will there always be rich people and poor 
 people ?" 
 
 "There will always be rich people, but some 
 time they will learn to spend their money more 
 beneficently, and then there won't be any really 
 poor people. If the attic of your house were in- 
 fected with dirt and vermin you couldn't sleep 
 until it had been cleaned and disinfected. So, 
 some day, rich men will feel about their neighbors; 
 cities about their slums; and nations about other 
 nations. I can imagine a future Uncle Sam say- 
 ing to a future John Bull" — and he sunk his 
 voice to a comically confidential whisper: " 'Say, 
 old man, I hear you're pressed for ready cash; 
 now't just so happens I'm well fixed at the mo- 
 ment, and — oh, just among friends ! Bother the 
 interest !' What a spectacle this world is — it's like 
 the old English schools that Dickens wrote out 
 
 1 66 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 of existence — just bullying and hazing all around ! 
 Why, if a country was run on the most elementary 
 principles of honesty and efficiency, the citizens 
 of that country would never have occasion to say: 
 'Our taxes are almost unbearable.' They would 
 be nudging each other in the streets and saying: 
 'My, that was a big dividend we got !' " 
 
 Mr. Langham only stopped because he was out 
 of breath. His face was red and shining. He 
 mopped his brow with his handkerchief. 
 
 Mary was almost perfectly happy. She loved 
 to hear Langham run on and on. His voice was 
 so pleasant, and his face beamed so with kind- 
 ness. And from many things which he had from 
 time to time let slip she was convinced that she 
 needn't be an old maid unless she wanted to be. 
 And so to climb a little hill with him, to sit in 
 the sun, and to admire the view was really an 
 exciting venture. For she never knew what he 
 was going to let slip next. And equally exciting 
 was the fact that if that slip should be in the 
 nature of a leading question, she could only guess 
 what her answer would be. 
 
 When a man is offered something that he very 
 much wants — a trifling loan, for instance — his 
 first instinct is to deny the need. And a girl, 
 when the man she wants offers himself, usually re- 
 
 167 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 fuses at the first time of asking. And some, 
 especially rich in girl nature, which is experience 
 of human nature and somewhat short of divine, 
 will persist in refusing even unto the twentieth 
 and thirtieth time. 
 
 Mary Darling was in a deep reverie. From 
 this, his eyes twinkling behind their thick glasses, 
 Mr. Langham roused her with the brisk utterance 
 of one of his favorite quotations : 
 
 " 'General Blank's compliments,' " said he, 
 " 'and he reports that the colored troops are 
 turning black in the face.' " 
 
 Mary smiled her friendliest smile. 
 
 "I was wondering," she said, "what had be- 
 come of Lee and Renier." 
 
 "I have noted," said Mr. Langham, "that she 
 always calls him by his last name, sometimes 
 with the prefix you — 'You Renier' put like that. 
 And I was wondering if he ever turns the trick on 
 her." 
 
 "Why should he?" asked Mary innocently. 
 
 "You have forgotten," said he, "that her last 
 name is Darling." His eyes twinkled with amaz- 
 ing and playful boldness. "You're all DarHngs," 
 he exclaimed, "and" — a note of self-pity in his 
 voice — "I'm just a fat old stuff!" 
 
 "That," said Mary primly, "is perfectly cor- 
 i68 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 rect, but for three trifling errors — ^you're not fat, 
 you're not old, and you're not a stuflF!" 
 
 If she had told him that he was handsome as 
 Apollo he could not have been more pleased. 
 
 And so their adventure progressed in the pleas- 
 ant sunlight that warmed the top of the little 
 hill. No very exciting adventure, you say.'' 
 And of a shilly-shallying and even snail-like 
 motion ? 
 
 Oh, you can't be always riding to rescues, and 
 falling over cliffs, and escaping from burning 
 houses. 
 
 At that moment, by the purest accident, the 
 tip of Mr. Langham's right forefinger just brushed 
 against Mary's sleeve. And there went through 
 him from head to foot a great thrill, as if trumpets 
 had suddenly sounded. 
 
 "I suppose," said Mary, after a little while, 
 "that we ought to be going." 
 
 "But I'd rather sit here than eat," said Mr. 
 Langham. 
 
 "Honestly ? So would I." 
 
 "Then," said Mr. Langham, "without exposing 
 ourselves to any other danger than that of star- 
 vation, I propose that we lose ourselves — as 
 other people do — in short, that we remain here 
 until one or other of us would rather — eat." 
 
 169 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Good gracious," said Mary, "we might be 
 here a week ! " 
 
 Mr. Langham rose slowly to his feet. Far off 
 he could see pale smoke flitting upward through 
 the tree-tops. He turned and looked into Miss 
 Darling's smiling, upturned face. 
 
 "I'll just run down and tell Arthur we're not 
 really lost," he said. "But I'll make him promise 
 not to look for us. I'll be right back — almost 
 before you can say 'Jack Robinson.' " 
 
 She held out her hands. He took them and 
 helped her to her feet. And then they both 
 laughed aloud. 
 
 "Thank Heaven," said Mary, "that whatever 
 else you and I may suffer from, it isn't from in- 
 sanity — or slim appetites ! As a matter of fact, 
 I'm famished." 
 
 "Thank God !" said Mr. Langham; "so am I." 
 
 And they began to descend the hill. For to 
 keep men and women and adventurers going, the 
 essential thing is food. And there's many a 
 promising romance that has come to nothing for 
 want of a loaf of bread and a jug of wine. 
 
 170 
 
XVIII 
 
 IN a certain part of the Land of Cotton, where 
 they grow nothing but rice, Colonel Melville 
 Meredith stood beside the charred foundations of 
 a house and nursed his chin with his hand. With 
 the exception of a sword which the King of Greece 
 had given him, all those possessions which he had 
 considered of value had gone up in smoke with the 
 house of his ancestors. The family portraits were 
 gone, the silver Lamarie, and Lesage, and all the 
 Domingan satinwood. If Colonel Meredith had 
 been an older man, he must almost have wept. 
 But the grip upon his chin was not of one mourn- 
 ing. It was the grip of consideration. He was 
 wondering what sort of a new house he should 
 build upon the foundations of the old. 
 
 He must, of course, build upon the old site. 
 There were other good sites among his thousands 
 of acres, but none which was so well planted. 
 A good architect could copy the Taj Mahal for 
 you. But the Pemaque oak is one hundred and 
 seven feet, or less, in circumference, and the avenue 
 of oaks leading from the turnpike, two miles away, 
 
 171 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 was planted in 1653. There were also divers 
 jungles of rhododendrons, laurel, and azalea in 
 the river garden that it had taken no less than 
 a great-grandmother to plant. 
 
 "It can't be the first conflagration in the fam- 
 ily," he thought. "Everybody's ancestors, at 
 one time or another, must have lost by fire and 
 built again. As for Pemaque — it was a lovely 
 old house, but a new house could be just as lovely, 
 and it could have bathrooms and be made rat- 
 proof. And I wouldn't mind if people scratched 
 the floors." 
 
 I have said that Colonel Meredith had lost all 
 the possessions which he valued. But of course 
 the land remained, the trees, the duck ponds, the 
 alligator sloughs, and so forth. There remained, 
 also, a robust youth, crowded with experiences 
 and memories of wars and statesmen and of de- 
 lightful people who live for pleasure. There re- 
 mained, also — least valuable of all to a man of 
 action and sentiment — a perfectly safe income, 
 derived from bonds, of nearly two hundred and 
 fifty thousand dollars a year. Colonel Meredith 
 was by all odds the richest man in that part of 
 the Land of Cotton, where they grow nothing 
 but rice. 
 
 It was piping hot among the foundations of 
 172 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 the old house; the sticky, ticky season had de- 
 scended upon the Carolina seacoast. The snakes 
 and the lizards were saying among themselves, 
 "Now this is really something like," and were 
 behaving accordingly. Every few minutes a new 
 and ambitious generation of mosquitoes was 
 hatched. The magnoHas were going to seed. 
 Colonel Meredith's Gordon setter, a determined 
 expression upon his face, had been scratching him- 
 self with almost supercanine speed for the last 
 twenty minutes. 
 
 Colonel Meredith scorned ticks, trod with in- 
 difference upon snakes, and was not poisoned or 
 even pained by mosquitoes, but he had travelled 
 all over the world and was not averse to being 
 cooler and more comfortable. 
 
 "We've got the grandest climate in the world," 
 he thought loyally, "for eight months in the year 
 — but when it comes to summer give me Vera 
 Cruz, Singapore, or even hell. I'll build a home 
 for autumn, winter, and spring, but when it gets 
 to be summer, I'll go away and shoot polar bears." 
 
 He whistled his dog and walked thoughtfully 
 to where his automobile was waiting in the shade. 
 His driver, an Irish boy from New York, was in 
 a state of wilt. 
 
 "I have determined," said Colonel Meredith, 
 173 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "not to begin building until cool weather. We 
 shall go North to-night. I hope the thought will 
 refresh you. Now we will go back to Mr. Jon- 
 stone's. Do you feel able to drive, or shall I ? " 
 
 It was typical of the region that the Mr. Jon- 
 stone with whom Meredith was stopping should 
 own the best bed of mint south of Washing- 
 ton, and could make the best mint-juleps. The 
 mint-bed was about all he did own. Everything 
 else was heavily mortgaged. Everything, that 
 is, except the family silver and jewels. These 
 Jonstone's grandmother had buried when Sher- 
 man came marching through, and had almost 
 immediately forgotten where she had buried them. 
 Jonstone employed one trustworthy negro whose 
 year-around business was to dig for the treasure. 
 There existed a list of the objects buried, which 
 was enough to make even a rich man's palm itch. 
 
 "Nothing to-day," said Jonstone as his guest 
 drove up. "And it's about time for a julep." 
 
 "I'm going North to-night," said Meredith, 
 "and you're going with me." 
 
 They were cousins, second or third, of about 
 the same age. They even looked alike, but whereas 
 Meredith had travelled all over the world, Jon- 
 stone had never been south of Savannah or north 
 of Washington. 
 
 174 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 He began with an ivory toddy-stick to convert 
 sugar and Bourbon into sirup. 
 
 "How's that, Mel?" he asked. "And why?" 
 
 "Between us two, Bob," said Meredith, "this 
 is one hell of a climate in summer. The brighter 
 we are the quicker we'll get out of it." 
 
 "I'd like to go you on that, but aside from the 
 family silver I haven't a penny in the world." 
 
 " Bob, I'm sick of offering to lend you money. 
 I'm sick of offering to give you money. There's 
 only one chance left." 
 
 Jonstone made a gentle clashing sound with 
 fine ice. 
 
 "As you know, my family silver has all gone 
 up in smoke. Now yours hasn't. Suppose you 
 sell me yours. What's it worth ?" 
 
 "With or without the diamonds ?" 
 
 "If I should ever marry, it would be advisable 
 to have the diamonds." 
 
 "Well," said Jonstone, beginning to turn over 
 a bundle of straws, with the object of selecting 
 four which should be flawless, "I don't want to 
 stick you. We have a complete list of the pieces, 
 with their weights and dates. Some of the New 
 York dealers could tell us what the collection 
 would be worth in the open market. Double that 
 sum in the name of sentiment, and I'll go you." 
 
 175 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "I must have a free hand to hunt for the stuff 
 in my own way — It's perfection — ^you never, 
 never made a better one — now, how about the 
 diamonds ?" 
 
 "I have the weights. And you know the Jon- 
 stones were always particular about water." 
 
 "That's why they are all dead but you. Then 
 you'll come ?" 
 
 Bob Jonstone nodded. 
 
 "You'll have to lend me a suit of clothes — 
 but, look here, Mel: suppose the silver and stuff 
 has been lifted — doesn't exist any more ? Wouldn't 
 I, in selling it to you, be guilty of sharp prac- 
 tice ?" 
 
 "Our great - great - grandfather, the Signer, 
 doesn't exist any more, Bob. That silver is some- 
 where — in some form or other. I pay for it, and 
 it's mine. Does it matter if I never see it or 
 handle it ? I shall always be able to allude to it 
 — isn't that enough ? As for you, you'll be able 
 to pay all your mortgages, to fix the front door 
 so's it won't have to be kept shut with a keg of 
 nails, and to spend what is necessary on your 
 fields." 
 
 "Of course," said Jonstone, who had finished 
 his julep. "It afflicts me to part with what has 
 been in the family so long." 
 
 176 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "But you ought to be afflicted." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "Didn't you vote for Wilson ?" 
 
 Jonstone nodded solemnly. 
 
 "Come, then," said Meredith, as if he were 
 pardoning an erring child; "there's just time for 
 one julep and to pack up our things. You'll just 
 love New York. And when we get there we'll 
 make up our minds whether we'll go to Newport 
 or Bar Harbor. Bob, did it ever occur to you 
 that you and I ought to get married ? That looks 
 as if it was going to be better than the other, 
 though darker — What's the use of having an- 
 cestors if you're not going to be one ? " 
 
 "Show me a girl as handsome as Sully's por- 
 trait of Great-grandmother Pringle, and I'll take 
 notice." 
 
 "Why, every other girl in a Broadway chorus 
 has got the old lady skinned to death, Bob !" 
 
 "You may be worldly-wiser than me, Mel, but 
 you've lost your reverence. It's always beep 
 agreed in the family that Great-grandmother 
 Pringle was the most beautiful woman in the 
 South. And when a man says 'the South,' and 
 refers at the same time to female charms, he has 
 as good as said the whole world." 
 
 "Bob, among ourselves, do you really think 
 177 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 JefFerson Davis was a greater man than Abraham 
 Lincoln?" 
 
 "Ssssh!" said Jonstone. 
 
 "Do you really think the Southern armies 
 wiped up the map with the Northern armies 
 every time they met ? And do you really think 
 that wooden-faced doll that Sully painted has 
 no equal for beauty north of the Mason and 
 Dixon line ? What you need is travel and expe- 
 rience." 
 
 "What's the matter with you getting married ? 
 —My God, don't spill that, Mel!" 
 
 "There's nothing the matter with it. And 
 I'll tell you what I'll do: I will if you will." 
 
 "They ought to be sisters, seeing as how yon 
 and I have always been like brothers and voted 
 the Democratic ticket and fought chickens." 
 
 "And fed the same ticks and mosquitoes." 
 
 "We'll have a double wedding. We'll each be 
 the other's best man, and they'll each be the 
 other's best girl." 
 
 "No — ^no; they are each to be our best girls." 
 
 "What I mean is " 
 
 "I know what you mean, but you've made this 
 julep too strong." 
 
 "That's one thing they can't do in the North." 
 
 "What's that?" 
 
 178 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Make a julep." 
 
 Meredith considered this at some length. "No, 
 Bob," he said at length, "they can't. But I once 
 met a statesman from Maine who made a thing 
 that looked like a julep, tasted like a julep, and 
 that — I'd say it if it was my dying statement — 
 had the same effect." 
 
 "She must be better-looking than Great-grand- 
 mother Pringle," said Jonstone. "She must be 
 able to make a julep, and she must have a sister 
 just like her. Can you lend me a suit of clothes 
 till we get to New York?" 
 
 "I can lend you anything from a yachting suit 
 to a Bulgarian uniform." 
 
 "And you're sure I'm not imposing on you in 
 the matter of the silver ?" 
 
 "Sure. I just want to know it's mine." 
 
 In the morning, soon after this precious pair 
 had breakfasted, a boy went through the train 
 with newspapers and magazines. He proclaimed 
 in the sweetest Virginian voice that his magazines 
 were just out, but a copy of The Four Seasons 
 which Colonel Meredith bought proved not only 
 to be of an ancient date but to have had coffee 
 spilled upon it. 
 
 At the moment when this discovery was made, 
 the youthful paper-monger had just swung from 
 
 179 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 the crawling train to the platform of a way 
 station, so there was no redress. The cousins 
 agreed, laughing, that if a Yankee had played 
 them such a trick they would have wished to cut 
 his heart out, but that, turned upon them by a 
 fellow countryman, it was merely a proof of 
 smartness and push. 
 
 "Between you and me. Bob," said Colonel 
 Meredith, "an accurate count of our Southern 
 population would proclaim a villain or two here 
 and there. I was brought up to believe that to 
 be born in a certain region was all that was 
 necessary. But that's not so. I tell you this be- 
 cause I am afraid that when you are meeting 
 people in New York and having a good time you 
 will be wanting to lay down the law, to wit, that 
 one Southerner can whip five Yankees. Don't 
 do it. I will tell you a horrid truth. I was once 
 whipped by a small-sized Frenchman within an 
 inch of my life. He had studied le boxe under 
 Carpentier and I hadn't. Did you ever study 
 le boxe? No ? An Anglo-Saxon imagines that 
 he was born boxing. And it takes a licking by a 
 man of Latin blood to prove to him that he wasn't. 
 Just because people make funny noises and mon- 
 key cries when they fight doesn't prove that they 
 are afraid. There is nothing so ridiculous as a 
 
 1 80 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 baboon going into action and nothing more ter- 
 rible when he gets there." 
 
 "The more you travel, Mel, the more you 
 show a deplorable tendency to foul your own 
 nest. 
 
 "I run down the South? I like that! But, 
 my dear Bob, there is only one chosen people. 
 And it isn't us." Here he made a significant 
 gesture with his hands, turning the palms up, 
 and they both laughed. "A Jew," he went on, 
 "is what he is because he is a Jew. His good 
 points and his bad are racial. But between two 
 men of our race there is no material resemblance. 
 One is mean, the other generous; one broad, one 
 narrow; one brave, the other not. Do you know 
 why hornless cows give less milk than horned 
 cows ? Because there are fewer of them. Do you 
 know why there are more honest men in the 
 North, and pretty girls, than there are in the 
 South .? Simply because there are more men and 
 more girls. It also follows that there are more 
 dishonest men and ugly girls; more of everything, 
 in fact." 
 
 He was slowly turning over the pages of The 
 Four Seasons, looking always, with Pemaque in 
 mind, at pictures of country houses. Suddenly 
 he closed the magazine, looked pensively out of 
 
 i8i 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 the window, and began to whistle with piercing 
 sweetness. He once more opened the magazine, 
 but this time with great caution as if he was 
 half afraid that something disagreeable would 
 jump out at him. Nothing did, however. He 
 folded the magazine back upon itself and held 
 it close to his eyes, then far off, then at mid-dis- 
 tance. 
 
 "What's the matter with you.?" said Bob 
 Jonstone. 
 
 "Nothing," said Meredith, "only I'm thinking 
 there ought to be six of us instead of only two. 
 Look at that page and tell me where we're going 
 to spend the summer." 
 
 Jonstone took the magazine and saw the six 
 Darling sisters sitting on the float in their bathing- 
 dresses. Presently he smiled and said: "You've 
 just won an argument, Mel." 
 
 "How's that.?" 
 
 "Why, in the South there wouldn't be so 
 many of them — but maybe they are not always 
 there. Maybe they were only there last summer." 
 
 "Well, we can find out where they've gone, 
 can't we .? " 
 
 "It doesn't seem in strict good breeding to 
 pursue ladies one doesn't know." 
 
 "Why, bless you, I chased all over Europe 
 i8z 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 after a face I saw in The Sketch, only to find out 
 that she was willing to marry anybody with 
 money and had a voice like a guinea-hen. And 
 after I'd found that out, she chased me all over 
 Europe and as far East as Cairo." 
 
 "I've never been chased by a woman," said 
 Jonstone a little wistfully. "What happened in 
 the end.?" 
 
 "I left Cairo between two days, fled away into 
 the desert with some people just stepped out of 
 the Bible, and never came back." 
 
 "Suppose she hadn't been willing to marry 
 you and had had a voice like a dove?" 
 
 "Don't suppose. We are on a new quest." 
 
 "What is the Adirondacks .?" 
 
 "We wouldn't think much of it in the South. 
 It's a place where you are always cool and clean 
 and can drink the nearest water. The trout 
 don't eat mud and haven't got long white whiskers, 
 and the deer are bigger than dogs, and you don't 
 go to sleep at night. The night just comes and 
 puts you to sleep. It's just like Bar Harbor — 
 only a little more so in some ways and a little 
 less so in others." 
 
 Jonstone spread The Four Seasons wide open 
 upon his knees. 
 
 "Let's agree right now," he said, "which each 
 i8^ 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 of us thinks is the prettiest. It would be dreadful 
 after travelling so far if we were both to pick on 
 the same one." 
 
 "We would have to fight a duel," said Mere- 
 dith, "with swords, and considering that you 
 could never even sharpen a pencil without cut- 
 ting yourself " 
 
 "A boy wouldn't come along," said Jonstone, 
 "and sell us a copy of a magazine months old if 
 fate hadn't meant us to see this picture. I think 
 I like the third one from the end." 
 
 "I think I like the three that look just alike." 
 
 "That is because you have travelled in Turkey. 
 You never seem to remember that you are a 
 Christian gentleman." 
 
 184' 
 
XIX 
 
 WHEN they found out how much the buried 
 silver was worth — the inventory was very 
 thorough in the matter of description, dates, and 
 weights — Mr. Bob Jonstone burst out laughing. 
 But Colonel Meredith, although determined to 
 stand by his bargain whatever the cash cost, 
 looked like a man who has just missed the last 
 train. 
 
 "I haven't got that much money loose. Bob," 
 he said, "but I can raise it in a few days and then 
 we'll execute a bill of sale. Meanwhile, allow me 
 to congratulate you on your accession to the 
 aristocracy." 
 
 "Aristocracy ? It's blood that counts — not 
 money." 
 
 "According to the old democracy, yes. Ac- 
 cording to the new, distinguished people pay an 
 income tax and common people don't. And you, 
 a moment ago, before the valuation was com- 
 pleted, were a very common fellow, indeed." 
 
 "Mel, I had no idea that old junk was worth 
 so much. " 
 
 I8S 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "You hadn't? Well, it's worth more. I'm 
 getting a bargain. Thank the Lord you're a 
 gentleman, so there's no danger of your backing 
 out. 
 
 Jonstone seized his cousin's hand and pressed 
 it affectionately. 
 
 "Mel," he said, "can you afford to do this 
 thing ? God knows the money will make all the 
 difference in the world to me ! But in taking it I 
 don't feel any too noble." 
 
 "It was always ridiculous for me to be rich 
 and for you to be poor. That's done with. I'm 
 still rich, thank God ! — and you're well-to-do. 
 You can travel if you like, breed horses, install 
 plumbing, burn coal, and marry." 
 
 "If I was sure that the silver would ever be 
 turned up, I wouldn't feel so sheepish." 
 
 "As long as you don't look sheepish or act 
 sheepish — suppose that now, after a slight for- 
 tification, we visit a tailor. It is necessary for 
 you to dress according to your station in life." 
 
 Their first day in New York was Immensely 
 amusing to both of them. Meredith was com- 
 ing back to it after a long absence; Jonstone was 
 seeing it for the first time, and for the first time 
 his pockets were full of money that he did not owe. 
 Now, New York is one of the finest summer re- 
 
 i86 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 sorts in the world. Do not pity the poor business 
 man who sends his family to the mountains for 
 the hot weather, for while they are burned by 
 the sun and fed an interminable succession of 
 blueberry pies, he basks in the cool of electric 
 fans and dines on the fat of the land. His busi- 
 ness may worry him, but there is no earthly 
 use in his attending to it. That is done for him. 
 He can skip away when he pleases for an after- 
 noon's golf or tennis. Somebody's motor is al- 
 ways going somewhere where there is pleasure to 
 be found and laughter. The lights of Luna Park 
 are brighter than the Bar Harbor stars, and the 
 ocean which pounds upon Long Beach is just as 
 salt as that which thunders against Great Head — 
 and about twice as warm. For pure torture give 
 me a swim anywhere north of Cape Cod. Merely 
 to step into such water is like having one's foot 
 bitten oflF by a shark. 
 
 It did not take Jonstone long to acknowledge 
 that New York is even bigger than Richmond, 
 Virginia, and even livelier. The discovery of a 
 superannuated mosquito in his bathroom had 
 made him feel at home, and the fact that the head 
 bartender in the hotel, though a native of Ire- 
 land, fashioned a delicious julep. 
 
 But his equanimity came very near to being 
 187 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 upset in the subway. He felt a hand slipping 
 into his pocket and caught it by the wrist. He 
 had a grip like looped wire twisted with pinchers. 
 The would-be thief uttered a startled shriek and 
 was presently turned over to a policeman. 
 
 All the way to the station-house Mr. Jonstone 
 talked excitedly and triumphantly to his cousin. 
 
 "Yes, sir," he said, "you had me groggy with 
 your high buildings and your Aladdin-cave stores 
 and your taxicabs and park systems. But by 
 the Everlasting, sir, this would never have hap- 
 pened to me south of the Mason and Dixon line. 
 No, sir; we may be short on show but we're long 
 on honesty down there. I don't even have to 
 lock my door at night." 
 
 "That's because the lock's broken and you've 
 always kept it shut with a keg of nails. There 
 are more pickpockets in New York than in 
 Charleston, but only because there are more 
 pockets to pick." 
 
 "I don't get you," said Jonstone stiffly. A 
 little later he did. 
 
 The culprit was asked his name by a formidable 
 desk sergeant. 
 
 " Stephen Breckenridge." 
 
 Bob Jonstone gasped. 
 
 "Where do you come from?" 
 i88 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Lexington, Kentucky." 
 
 Colonel Meredith let forth a howl of laughter. 
 And after he had been frowned into decorum by 
 the sergeant, he continued for a long time to look 
 as if he was going to burst. 
 
 For some hours Mr. Jonstone was moody and 
 unamused. Then suddenly he broke into a 
 winning smile. 
 
 "Mel," he said, "I wouldn't have minded so 
 much if he had been smart enough to get my 
 money. It was bad finding out that he was a 
 compatriot of ours, but much more to realize 
 that he was a fool." 
 
 sSg 
 
XX 
 
 MR. LANGHAM was consulted about every- 
 thing. And it was to him that Maud 
 Darling took Meredith's letter asking for accom- 
 modations. 
 
 "We've only two rooms left," she said, "and 
 such nice people have come, or are coming, that 
 it would be an awful pity if we had the bad luck 
 to fill up with two men that weren't nice. Did 
 you ever hear of a Colonel Meredith ? " 
 
 "Is that his letter ? May I look ?" 
 
 Mr. Langham read the letter through very 
 carefully. Then he said, looking at her over the 
 tops of his thick glasses: 
 
 "I don't know if you know it, but I have made 
 quite a study of handwritings. The writer of 
 this letter is a gentleman — a Southern gentleman, 
 if I am not mistaken. Accepting this premise, 
 we may assume that his friend Mr. Robert Mid- 
 dleton Jonstone is also a Southern gentleman. 
 Middleton, in fact, is pure South Carolinian." 
 
 " But if they are from South Carolina, wouldn't 
 190 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 our terms stagger them ? I've always understood 
 that Southern gentlemen lost all their money in 
 the war." 
 
 "Nevertheless," said Mr. Langham, "this is 
 the writing of a rich man." 
 
 "How can you know that ?" 
 
 "I tell you that I have made a study of hand- 
 writing. It is also the writing of a horse-loving, 
 war-loving, much-travelled man — in the late 
 twenties." 
 
 "You will tell me next that he is about five 
 feet ten inches tall, has blue eyes, and is handsome 
 as an angel." 
 
 "You take the words out of my mouth. Miss 
 Maud." 
 
 "Tell me more." She was laughing now. 
 
 "He is very handsome, but not as angels are 
 ■ — his eyes are too bold and roving. If he wasn't 
 a good man he would be a very bad man. There 
 was a time, even, when strong drink appealed to 
 him. He is quixotically brave and generous. 
 And I should by all means advise you to let him 
 have his accommodations." 
 
 "I can never tell when you are joking." 
 
 "I was never more serious in my life. Shall I 
 tell you something else that I have deduced ?" 
 
 "Please." 
 
 191 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Well, then, he Isn't married, Miss Maud, and 
 he is a great catch !" 
 
 Miss Maud blushed a trifle. 
 
 "I don't know if you know it," she said, "but 
 I have made a profound study of palmistry. Will 
 you lend me your hand a moment?" 
 
 "Very willingly. And I don't care if some one 
 were to see us." 
 
 She studied his palm with great sternness. 
 
 "I read here," she said, "with regret, that you 
 are an outrageous flirt. It seems also that you 
 are something of a fraud." 
 
 "One more calumny," exclaimed Mr. Langham, 
 "and I withdraw my hand with a gesture of 
 supreme indignation." 
 
 But she held him very tightly by the fingers. 
 
 "And this Httle line," she cried, "tells me that 
 you have known Colonel Meredith intimately for 
 years and that you never studied handwriting in 
 all your born days." 
 
 Mr. Langham began to chuckle all over. 
 
 "The next time," he said, "that people tell me 
 you are easily imposed on, I shall deny it." 
 
 "You do know him?" 
 
 He blinked and nodded like a wise owl. 
 
 "Shall I write or telegraph ?" 
 
 "You will use your own judgment." 
 192 
 
"I read here," she said, "with regret, that you are an 
 outrageous flirt" 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 So she did both. She wrote out a telegram 
 and sent it to Carrytown in the Streak. And she 
 tried to picture in her mind a young man who 
 should look like an angel if his eyes weren't too 
 bold and roving. 
 
 Her sisters and her brother all proclaimed that 
 Maud was a really sensible person. But none of 
 them knew how really sensible she was. 
 
 She was, for instance, more interested in Colonel 
 Meredith than in his cousin Mr. Jonstone, and 
 for the simple reason that she knew the one to be 
 rich and handsome and knew nothing whatever 
 about the other. 
 
 193 
 
XXI 
 
 MR. LANGHAM was at the float to welcome 
 the two Carolinians. 
 
 "You have," he complimented Colonel Mere- 
 dith, "once more proved the ability to land on 
 your feet in a soft spot. You will be more com- 
 fortable here, better fed, better laundered than 
 anywhere else in the world." 
 
 As they strolled from the float to the office, 
 Mr. Jonstone looked about him a little uneasily. 
 Not one of the beautiful girls who had looked 
 into his eyes from the page of The Four Seasons 
 was in sight, or, indeed, any girl, woman, or female 
 of any sort whatever. He had led himself to 
 expect a resort crowded with rustling and starchy 
 boarders. He found himself, instead, in a pri- 
 meval pine forest in which were sheltered many 
 low, austere buildings of logs, above whose great 
 chimneys stood vertical columns of pale smoke. 
 It was not yet dusk, but the air among the long 
 shadows had an icy quality and was heavily 
 charged with the odor of balsam. It was difficult 
 to believe the season summer, and Mr. Jonstone 
 
 194 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 was reminded of December evenings in the Caro- 
 linas. 
 
 "This is the office," said Mr. Langham, and he 
 ushered them into the presence of a bright birch 
 fire and Maud DarHng. Each of the CaroHnians 
 drew a quick breath and bowed as if before 
 royalty. Mr. Langham presented them to Miss 
 Darling. She begged them to write their names 
 in the guest book and to warm themselves at the 
 fire. 
 
 "And then," said Sam Langham, "I'll shake 
 them up a cocktail and show them their house." 
 
 "Are we to have a whole house to ourselves ?" 
 asked Colonel Meredith. He had not yet taken 
 his eyes from Maud Darling's face. 
 
 "It's only two rooms: bath, parlor, and pi- 
 azza," she explained. 
 
 "That last?" asked Mr. Jonstone. 
 
 "It's the same thing as a 'poach,'" explained 
 Mr. Langham with a sly twinkle In his eyes. 
 
 " It's to sit on and enjoy the view from," added 
 Maud. 
 
 "But I don't want to admire the view," com- 
 plained Colonel Meredith. "I want to lounge 
 about the office. It's the prerogative of every 
 American citizen to lounge about the office of his 
 hotel." 
 
 I9S 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 Colonel Meredith had yet to take his eyes 
 from Maud Darling's face. And it was with 
 protest written all over it that he at length fol- 
 lowed his cousin and Mr. Langham into the open 
 air. 
 
 The three were presently sampling a cocktail 
 of the latter's shaking in the latter's snug little 
 house, and speech was loosened in their mouths. 
 
 "Darling, fere," explained Sam Langham, 
 "went broke. He used to run this place as it is 
 run now, with this difference: that in the old 
 days he put up the money, while now it is the 
 guests who pay. Two years ago the Miss Darling 
 you just met was one of the greatest heiresses in 
 America; now she keeps books and makes out 
 bills." 
 
 "And are there truly five others equally lovely?" 
 asked Colonel Meredith. 
 
 Some people think that the oldest of the six 
 is also the loveliest," said Sam Langham, loyal 
 to the choice of his own heart. " But they are all 
 very lovely." 
 
 To the Carolinians, warmed by Langham's 
 cocktail, it seemed pitiful that six beautiful girls 
 who had had so much should now have so little. 
 And with a little encouragement they would have 
 been moved to the expression of exaggerated 
 
 196 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 sentiments. It was Maud, however, and not the 
 others, who had aroused these feelings in their 
 breasts. The desire to benefit her by some secret 
 action — and then to be found out — ^was very 
 strong in them both. 
 
 Langham left them after a time and they began 
 to dress for dinner. Usually they had a great 
 deal to say to each other; often they disputed and 
 were gorgeously insolent to each other about the 
 most trifling things, but on the present occasion 
 their one desire was to dress as rapidly as possi- 
 ble and to visit the office upon some pretext or 
 other. 
 
 When Colonel Meredith from the engulfment 
 of a starched shirt announced that he had several 
 letters to write and wondered where one could 
 buy postage-stamps, it afforded Bob Jonstone 
 malicious satisfaction to inform him that the 
 "little drawer in their writing-table contained 
 not only plenty of twos but fives and a strip of 
 special deliveries." 
 
 "All I have to think about," said he, "is my 
 laundry. I suppose they can tell me at the 
 office." 
 
 "They?" exclaimed Colonel Meredith. 
 
 As he spoke the collar button sprang like a 
 slippery cherry-stone from between his thumb 
 
 197 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 and forefinger, fell in the exact middle of the room 
 in a perfectly bare place, and disappeared. Up 
 to this moment the cousins had remained on even 
 terms in the race to be dressed first. But now 
 Mr. Jonstone gained and, before the collar but- 
 ton was found, had given a parting "slick" to 
 his hair and gone out. 
 
 It was now dark, and the woodland streets of 
 The Camp were lighted by lanterns. Windows 
 were bright-yellow rectangles. A wind had risen 
 and the lake could be heard slapping against the 
 rocky shore. 
 
 Maud Darling had left the ofiice long enough 
 to change from tailor-made tweeds to the simplest 
 white muslin. She was adding up a column in a 
 fat book. She looked golden in the firelight and 
 the lamplight, and resembled some heavenly be- 
 ing but for the fact that, for the moment, she 
 was puzzled to discover the sum of seven and 
 five and was biting the end of her pencil. The 
 divine muse of Inspiration lives in the "other" 
 ends of pens and pencils. The world owes many 
 of its masterpieces of literature and invention to 
 reflective nibbling at these instruments, and if 
 I were a teacher I should think twice before I 
 told my pupils to take their pencils out of their 
 mouths. 
 
 198 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 Mr. Jonstone knocked on the open door of the 
 office. 
 
 "This is the office," said Miss Maud Darling; 
 "you don't have to knock. Is anything not 
 right?" 
 
 "Everything is absolutely perfect," bowed Mr. 
 Jonstone. "But you are busy. I could come 
 again. I only wanted to ask about sending some 
 things to a laundry." 
 
 "You're not supposed to think about that," 
 said Maud. "There is a clothes-bag in the big 
 closet in your bedroom and my sister Eve does the 
 rest." 
 
 "Oh, but I couldn't allow " 
 
 "Not with her own hands, of course; she 
 merely oversees the laundry and keeps it up to 
 the mark. But if you like your things to be 
 done in any special way you must see her and 
 explain." 
 
 "In my home," said Jonstone, "my old mammy 
 does all the washing and most everything else, 
 and I wouldn't dare to find fault. She would fol- 
 low me up-stairs and down scolding all the time 
 if I did. You see, though she isn't a slave any 
 more, she's never had any wages, and so she takes 
 it out in privileges and prerogatives." 
 
 "No wages ever since the Civil War !" exclaimed 
 Maud. 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "We had to have servants," he explained, "and 
 until the other day there was never any money to 
 pay them with. We had nothing but the planta- 
 tion and the family silver." 
 
 "And of course you couldn't part with that. 
 In the North when we get hard up we sell any- 
 thing we've got. But in the South you don't, and 
 I've always admired that trait in you beyond 
 measure." 
 
 "In that case," said Mr. Jonstone, turning a 
 little pale, "it is my duty to tell you that the 
 other day I parted with my silver in exchange for 
 a large sum of money. I made up my mind that 
 I had only one life to live and that I was sick of 
 being poor." 
 
 Maud smiled. 
 
 "If you want to keep your ill-gotten gains," 
 she said, "you ought never to have come to this 
 place. Wasn't there some kind friend to tell 
 you that our prices are absolutely prohibitive? 
 We haven't gone into business for fun but with 
 the intention of making money hand over fist. 
 It's only fair to warn you." 
 
 She imagined that, at the outside, he might 
 have received a couple of thousand dollars for 
 his family silver, and it seemed wicked that he 
 should be allowed to part with this httle capital 
 for food, lodging, and a little trout-fishing. 
 
 200 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "My silver," he said, "turned out to be •worth 
 a lot of money, and I have put it all in trust for 
 myself, so that my wife and children shall never 
 want." 
 
 A flicker of disappointment appeared in Maud 
 Darling's eyes. 
 
 "But I didn't know you were married," she 
 said lamely. 
 
 "Oh, I'm not — ^yet!" he exclaimed joyfully. 
 "But I mean to be." 
 
 "Engaged.?" she asked. 
 
 "Hope to be — mean to be," he confessed. 
 
 And at this moment Colonel Melville Meredith 
 came in out of the night. Having bowed very 
 low to Miss Darling, he turned to his cousin. 
 
 "Did Langham find you ?" he asked. 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Well, he's a-waiting at our house. I said I 
 thought you'd be right back." 
 
 "Then we — " began Jonstone. 
 
 **Not we — you" said his cousin, malice in his 
 eyes. "I want to ask Miss Darling some ques- 
 tions about telegrams and special messages by 
 telephone." 
 
 Bob Jonstone withdrew himself with the ut- 
 most reluctance. 
 
 "We have a telephone that connects us with 
 
 20I 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 the telegraph office at Carrytown," Maud began, 
 but Colonel Meredith interrupted almost rudely. 
 
 "We engaged our rooms for ten days only," 
 he said, "but I want to keep them for the rest 
 of the summer. Please don't tell me that they are 
 promised to some one else." 
 
 "But they are," said she; "I'm very sorry." 
 
 " Can't you possibly keep us ? " 
 
 She shook her fine head less in negation than 
 reflection. 
 
 "I don't see how," she said finally, "unless 
 some one gives out at the last minute. There are 
 just so many rooms and just so many applicants." 
 
 "How long," he asked, "would it take to build 
 a little house for my cousin and me ?" 
 
 " If we got all the carpenters from Carrytown," 
 said Maud, "it could be done very quickly. 
 But " 
 
 "Now you are going to make some other ob- 
 jection !" 
 
 "I was only going to say that if you wanted 
 to go camping for a few weeks, we could supply 
 you with everything needful. We have first-rate 
 tents for just that sort of thing." 
 
 "But we don't want to go camping. We 
 want to stay here." 
 
 "Exactly. There is no reason why you 
 
 202 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 shouldn't pitch your tent in the main street of 
 this camp and Hve in it." 
 
 "That's just what we'll do," said Colonel Mer- 
 edith, "and to-morrow we'll pick out the site 
 for the tent — if you'll help us." 
 
 203 
 
XXII 
 
 EARLY the next morning Colonel Meredith 
 and his cousin Bob Jonstone presented them- 
 selves at the office dressed for walking. Butter 
 would not have melted in their mouths. 
 
 "Can you come now and help us pick out a site 
 for the tent ? " asked the youthful colonel. 
 
 Maud was rather busy that morning, but she 
 closed her ledger, selected a walking-stick, and 
 smiled her willingness to aid them. 
 
 " It will seem more like real camping-out," said 
 Mr. Jonstone, "if we don't pitch our tent right 
 in the midst of things. Suppose we take a boat 
 and row along the shores of the lake, keeping our 
 eyes peeled." 
 
 Maud was not averse to going for a row with 
 two handsome and agreeable young men. They 
 selected a guide boat and insisted on helping her 
 in and cautioning her about sitting in the middle. 
 Maud had almost literally been brought up in a 
 guide boat, but she only smiled discreetly. The 
 cousins matched for places. As Maud sat in the 
 
 204 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 stem with a paddle for steering, Colonel Mere- 
 dith, who won the toss, elected to row stroke. 
 Bob Jonstone climbed with gingerness and melan- 
 choly into the bow. Not only was he a long way 
 from that beautiful girl, but Meredith's head and 
 shoulders almost completely blanketed his view 
 of her. 
 
 "We ought to row English style," he said. 
 
 "What is English style, and why ought we to 
 row that way?" 
 
 "In the American shells," explained Jonstone, 
 "the men sit in the middle. In the English shells 
 each man sits as far from his rowlock as possible." 
 
 "Why?" asked Meredith, who understood his 
 cousin's predicament perfectly. 
 
 "So's to get more leverage," explained Jon- 
 stone darkly. 
 
 "It's for Miss Darling to say," said Meredith. 
 "Which style do you prefer. Miss Darling, Eng- 
 lish or American ?" 
 
 "I think the American will be more comfort- 
 able for you both and safer for us all," said she. 
 
 "There!" exclaimed the man of war, "what 
 did I tell you?" 
 
 "But — " continued Maud. 
 
 "I could have told you there would be a 'but,'" 
 interrupted Jonstone triumphantly. 
 
 205 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "But," repeated Maud, "I'm coxswain, and I 
 want to see what every man in my boat is doing." 
 
 So they rowed English style. 
 
 "It's hke a dinner-party," explained Maud to 
 Colonel Meredith, who appeared slightly discom- 
 forted. "Don't you know how annoying it is 
 when there's a tall centrepiece and you can't see 
 who's across the table from you ? " 
 
 " Even if you don't want to look at him when 
 you have found out who he is," agreed Meredith. 
 "Exactly." 
 
 They came to a bold headland of granite crowned 
 with a half-dozen old pines that leaned water- 
 ward. 
 
 "That's rather a wonderful site, I think," said 
 Maud. 
 
 "Where?" said the gentlemen, turning to look 
 over their shoulders. Then, "It looks well enough 
 from the water," said Jonstone, "but we ought 
 not to choose wildly." 
 
 "Let us land," said Colonel Meredith, "and 
 explore." 
 
 They landed and began at once to find reasons 
 for pitching the tent on the promontory and rea- 
 sons for not pitching it. 
 
 "The site is open and airy," said Jonstone. 
 It is," said Colonel Meredith. "But, in case of 
 206 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 a southwest gale, our tent would be blown inside 
 out." 
 
 A moment later, "How about drinking-water ?" 
 asked the experienced military man. 
 
 "I regret to say that I have just stepped into 
 a likely spring," said Jonstone. 
 
 "We must sit down and wait till it clears." 
 
 When the spring once more bubbled clean and 
 undefiled Mr. Jonstone scooped up two palmfuls 
 of water and drank. 
 
 "Delicious !" he cried. 
 
 Colonel Meredith then sampled the spring and 
 shook his head darkly. 
 
 "This spring has a main attribute of drinking- 
 water," he said; "it is wet. Otherwise " 
 
 "What's the matter with my spring?" de- 
 manded his cousin. 
 
 " Silica, my dear fellow — silica. And you know 
 very well that silica to a man of your inherited 
 tendencies spells gout." 
 
 Jonstone nodded gravely. 
 
 "I'm afraid that settles it." And he turned to 
 Maud Darling. "I can keep clear of gout," he 
 explained, "only just as long as I keep my system 
 free from silica." 
 
 "Do you usually manage to?" asked Maud, 
 very much puzzled. 
 
 207 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "So far," he said, "I have always managed to." 
 
 "Then you have never suffered from gout?" 
 
 "Never. But now, having drunk at this spring, 
 
 I have reason to fear the worst. It will take at 
 
 least a week to get that one drink out of my 
 
 system." 
 
 And so they passed from the promontory with 
 the pine-trees to a little cove with a sandy beach, 
 from this to a wooded island not much bigger 
 than a tennis-court. In every suggested site 
 Jonstone found multitudinous charms and advan- 
 tages, while Colonel Meredith, from the depths of 
 his military experience, produced objections of the 
 first water. For to be as long as possible in the 
 company of that beautiful girl was the end which 
 both sought. 
 
 Maud had gone upon the expedition in good 
 faith, but when its true object dawned upon her 
 she was not in the least displeased. The very 
 obvious worship which the Carolinians had for 
 her beauty was not so personal as to make her 
 uncomfortable. It was rather the worship of 
 two artists for art itself than for a particular 
 masterpiece. Of the six beautiful Darlings Maud 
 had had the least experience of young men. She 
 was given to fits of shyness which passed with 
 some as reserve, with others as a kind of common- 
 
 208 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 sense and matter-of-fact way of looking at life. 
 The triplets, young as they were, surpassed the 
 other three in conquests and experience. And 
 this was not because they were more lovely and 
 more charming but because they had been a lit- 
 tle spoiled by their father and brought into the 
 limelight before their time. Furthermore, with the 
 exception of Phyllis, perhaps, they were maidens 
 of action to whom there was no recourse in books 
 or reflection. Such accomplishments as draw- 
 ing and music had not been forced upon them. 
 They could not have made a living teaching school. 
 But Lee and Gay certainly could have taught the 
 young idea how to shoot, how to throw a fly, 
 and how to come in out of the wet when no house 
 was handy. As for Phyllis, she would have been 
 as like them as one pea is like two others but 
 for the fact that at the age of two she had suc- 
 ceeded in letting off a 45-90 rifle which some fool 
 had left about loaded and had thereby frightened 
 her early sporting promises to death. But it was 
 only of weapons, squirming fish, boats, and thun- 
 der storms that she was shy. Young gentlemen 
 had no terrors for her, and she preferred the stu- 
 pidest of these to the cleverest of books. 
 
 Mary, Maud, and Eve had wasted a great part 
 of their young lives upon education. They could 
 
 209 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 play the piano pretty well (you couldn't tell which 
 was playing); they sang charmingly; they knew 
 French and German; they could spell English, 
 and even speak it correctly, a power which they 
 had sometimes found occasion to exercise when 
 in the company of foreign diplomatists. The 
 change in their case from girlhood to young 
 womanhood had been sudden and prearranged: 
 in each case a tremendous ball upon a given date. 
 The triplets had never "come out." 
 
 If Lee or Gay had been the victim of the present 
 conspiracy, the gentlemen from Carolina would 
 have found their hands full and overflowing. They 
 would have been teased and misconstrued within 
 an inch of their lives; but Maud Darling was gen- 
 uinely moved by the candor and chivalry of their 
 combined attentions. There was a genuine joy- 
 ousness in her heart, and she did not care whether 
 they got her home in time for lunch or not. And 
 it was only a strong sense of duty which caused 
 her to point out the high position attained by 
 the sun in the heavens. 
 
 With reluctance the trio gave up the hopeless 
 search for a camp site and started for home upon 
 a long diagonal across the lake. It was just then, 
 as if a signal had been given, that the whole sur- 
 face of the lake became ruffled as when a piece of 
 
 2IO 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 blue velvet is rubbed the wrong way, and a strong 
 wind began to blow in Maud's face and upon the 
 backs of the rowers. 
 
 Several hours of steady rowing had had its 
 effect upon unaccustomed hands. It was now 
 necessary to pull strongly, and blisters grew 
 swiftly from small beginnings and burst in the 
 palms of the Carolinians. Maud came to their 
 rescue with her steering paddle, but the wind, 
 bent upon having sport with them, sounded a 
 higher note, and the guide boat no longer 
 seemed quick to the least propulsion and light on 
 the water, but as if blunt forward, high to the 
 winds, and half full of stones. She did not run 
 between strokes but came to dead stops, and 
 sometimes, during strong gusts, actually appeared 
 to lose ground. 
 
 The surface of the lake didn't as yet testify 
 truly to the full strength of the wind. But soon 
 the little waves grew taller, the intervals between 
 them wider, and their crests began to be blown 
 from them in white spray. The heavens darkened 
 more and more, and to the northeast the sky-line 
 was gradually blotted out as if by soft gray smoke. 
 
 "We're going to have rain," said Maud, "and 
 we're going to have fog. So we'd better hurry 
 a little." 
 
 211 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Hurry ?" thought the Carolinians sadly. And 
 they redoubled their efforts, with the result that 
 they began to catch crabs. 
 
 "Some one ought to see us and send a launch," 
 said Maud. 
 
 At that moment, as the wind flattens a field of 
 wheat to the ground, the waves bent and lay down 
 before a veritable blast of black rain. It would 
 have taken more than human strength to hold 
 the guide boat to her course. Maud paddled 
 desperately for a quarter of a minute and gave up- 
 The boat swung sharply on her keel, rocked dan- 
 gerously, and, once more light and sentient, a 
 creature of life, made off bounding before the gale. 
 
 "We are very sorry," said the Carolinians, 
 "but the skin is all off our hands, and at the best 
 we are indifferent boatmen." 
 
 "The point is this," said Maud: "Can you 
 swim ? " 
 
 "I can," said Colonel Meredith, "but I am 
 extremely sorry to confess that my cousin's 
 aquatic education has been neglected. Where 
 he lives every pool contains crocodiles, leeches, 
 snapping-turtles, and water-moccasins, and the 
 incentive to bathing for pleasure is slight." 
 
 "Don't worry about me," said Mr. Jonstone. 
 "I can cling to the boat until the millennium." 
 
 212 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "We shan't upset — probably," said Maud. "It 
 will be better if you two sit in the bottom of 
 the boat. I'll try to steer and hold her steady. 
 This isn't the first time I've been blown off shore 
 and then on shore. I suppose I ought to apologize 
 for the weather, but it really isn't my fault. Who 
 would have thought this morning that we were in 
 for a storm ?" 
 
 "If only you don't mind," said Colonel Mere- 
 dith. "It's all our fault. You probably didn't 
 want to come. You just came to be friendly and 
 kind, and now you are hungry and wet to the 
 skin " 
 
 "But," interrupted Bob Jonstone, "if only you 
 will forget all that and think what pleasure we 
 are having." 
 
 "I can't hear what you say," called Maud. 
 
 "I beg your pardon," shouted Mr. Jonstone. 
 "I didn't quite catch that. What did Miss Dar- 
 ling say, Mel ?" 
 
 " She said she wanted to talk to me ai¥l for you 
 to shut up." 
 
 Mr. Jonstone made a playful but powerful 
 swing at his cousin, and the guide boat, as if 
 suddenly tired of her passengers, calmly upset 
 and spilled them out. 
 
 A moment later the true gallantry of Mr. Bob 
 213 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 Jonstone showed forth in glorious colors. Having 
 risen to the surface and made good his hold upon 
 the overturned boat, he proposed very humbly, 
 as amends for causing the accident, to let go and 
 drown. 
 
 "If you do," said Maud, excitement overcom- 
 ing her sense of the ridiculous, "I'll never speak 
 to you again." 
 
 Colonel Meredith opened his mouth to laugh 
 and closed it a little hastily on about a pint of 
 water. 
 
 214 
 
XXIII 
 
 THE water was so rough, the weather so thick, 
 and their point of view so very low down in 
 the world that Maud and the Carolinians could 
 neither see the shore from which they had de- 
 parted nor that toward which they were slowly 
 drifting. The surface water was warm, however, 
 owing to a week of sunshine, and it was not neces- 
 sary to drop one's legs into the icy stratum be- 
 neath. 
 
 It is curious that what the three complained of 
 the most was the incessant, leaden rain. Their 
 faces were colder than their bodies. They admit- 
 ted that they had never been so wet in all their 
 lives. Maud and Colonel Meredith, not content 
 with the slow drifting, kicked vigorously; but 
 Bob Jonstone had all he could do to cling to the 
 guide boat and keep his head above water. His 
 legs had a way of suddenly rising toward the sur- 
 face and wrapping themselves half around the 
 submerged boat. An effort was made to right the 
 boat and bale her out. But Maud's water-soaked 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 skirt and a sudden case of rattles on the part of 
 Jonstone prevented the success of the manoeuvre. 
 
 Half an hour passed. 
 
 "Personally," said Jonstone, "I've had about 
 enough of this." 
 
 His clinging hands looked white and thin; the 
 knuckles were beginning to turn blue. He had a 
 drawn expression about the mouth, but his eyes 
 were bright and resolute. 
 
 "I've always understood," said Colonel Mere- 
 dith, "that girls suffer less than men from total 
 submersion in cold water. I sincerely hope, Miss 
 Darling, that this is so." 
 
 "Oh, I'm not suffering," said she; "not yet. 
 My father used to let us go in sometimes when 
 there was a skin of ice along shore. So please 
 don't worry about me." 
 
 Mr. Jonstone's teeth began to chatter very 
 steadily and loudly. And just then Maud raised 
 herself a little, craned her neck, and had a glimpse 
 of the shore— a long, half-submerged point, al- 
 most but not quite obliterated by the fog and the 
 splashing rain. 
 
 "Land ho!" said she joyfully. "All's well. 
 There's a big shallow off here; we'll be able to 
 wade in a minute." 
 
 And, indeed, in less than a minute Bob Jon- 
 216 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 stone's feet found the hard sand bottom. And 
 in a very short time three shipwrecked mariners 
 had waded ashore and dragged the guide boat 
 into a clump of bushes. 
 
 "And now what?" asked Colonel Meredith. 
 
 "And now," said Maud, "the luck has changed. 
 Half a mile from here is a cave where we used to 
 have picnics. There's an axe there, matches, and 
 probably a tin of cigarettes, and possibly things 
 to eat. It's all up-hill from here, and if you two 
 follow me and keep up, you'll be warm before we 
 get there." 
 
 Her wet clothes clung to her, and she went 
 before them like some swift woodland goddess. 
 Their spirits rose, and with them their voices, so 
 that the deer and other animals of the neighbor- 
 ing woods were disturbed and annoyed in the 
 shelters which they had chosen from the rain. 
 Sometimes Maud ran; sometimes she merely 
 moved swiftly; but now and then while the way 
 was still among the dense waterside alders, she 
 broke her way through with fine strength, reck- 
 less of scratches. 
 
 The following Carolinians began to worship the 
 ground she trod and to stumble heavily upon it. 
 They were not used to walking. It had always 
 been their custom to go from place to place upon 
 
 217 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 horses. They panted aloud. They began to 
 suspect themselves of heart trouble, and they 
 had one heavy fall apiece. 
 
 Suddenly Maud came to a dead stop. 
 
 "I smell smoke," she said. "Some one is here 
 before us. That's good luck, too." 
 
 She felt her way along the face of a great 
 bowlder and was seen to enter the narrow mouth 
 of a cave. 
 
 "Who's here.^" she called cheerfully. 
 
 The passageway into the cave twisted like the 
 letter S so that you came suddenly upon the 
 main cavity. This — a space as large as a ball- 
 room — had a smooth floor of sand, broken by 
 one or two ridges of granite. At the farther end 
 burned a bright fire, most of whose smoke after 
 slow, aimless drifting was strongly sucked upward 
 through a hole in the roof. Closely gathered 
 about this fire were four men, who looked like 
 rather dissolute specimens of the Adirondack 
 guide, and a young woman with an old face. 
 Maud's quick eyes noted two rusty Winchester 
 rifles, a leather mail-bag, and the depressing fact 
 that the men had not shaved for many days. 
 
 It is always awkward to enter j'^our own private 
 cave and find it occupied by strangers. 
 
 "You mustn't mind," said Maud, smiling upon 
 218 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 them, "if we share the fire. It's really our cave 
 and our firewood." 
 
 "Sorry, miss," said one of the men gruffly, 
 "but when it comes on to rain Hke this a man 
 makes bold of any shelter that offers." 
 
 "Of course," said Maud. "I'm glad you did. 
 We'll just dry ourselves and go." 
 
 She seated herself with a Carolinian on either 
 side, and their clothes began to send up clouds 
 of steam. 
 
 The young woman with the old face, having 
 devoured Maud with hungry, sad eyes, spoke in 
 a shy, colorless voice. 
 
 "It would be better, miss, if you was to let 
 the boys go outside. I could lend you my blanket 
 while your clothes dried." 
 
 "That's very good of you," said Maud, "but 
 I'm very warm and comfortable and drying out 
 nicely." 
 
 One of the men rose, grinned awkwardly, and 
 said: 
 
 "I'll just have a look at the weather." With 
 affected carelessness he caught up one of the Win- 
 chesters and passed from sight toward the en- 
 trance of the cave. This manoeuvre seemed to 
 have a cheering effect upon the other three. 
 
 "What do you find to shoot at this time of 
 219 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 year?" asked Maud, and she smiled with great 
 innocence. 
 
 "The game-laws," said the man who had 
 spoken first, "weren't written for poor men." 
 
 "Don't tell me," exclaimed Maud, "that you've 
 got a couple of partridges or even venison just 
 waiting to be cooked and eaten !" 
 
 "No such luck," said the man. 
 
 Neither of the Carolinians had spoken. They 
 steamed pleasantly and appeared to be looking 
 for pictures in the hot embers. Their eyes seemed 
 to have sunk deeper into their skulls. Men who 
 were familiar with them would have known that 
 they were very angry about something and as 
 dangerous as a couple of rattlesnakes. After a 
 long while they exchanged a few words in low 
 voices and a strange tongue. It was the dialect 
 of the Sea Island negroes — the purest African 
 grafted on English so pure that nobody speaks it 
 nowadays. 
 
 "What say?" asked one of the strangers 
 roughly. 
 
 Colonel Meredith turned his eyes slowly upon 
 the speaker. 
 
 "I remarked to my cousin," said he icily, 
 "that in our part of the world even the lowest 
 convict knows enough to rise to his feet when a 
 
 220 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 lady enters the room and to apologize for being 
 alive." 
 
 "In the North Woods," said the man sulkily, 
 "no one stands on ceremony. If you don't like 
 our manners, Mr. Baltimore Oriole, you can 
 lump 'em, see?" 
 
 "I see," said Colonel Meredith quietly, "that 
 that leather mail-bag over there belongs to the 
 United States Government. And I have a strong 
 suspicion, my man, that you and your allies 
 were concerned in the late hold-up perpetrated 
 on the Montreal express. And I shall certainly 
 make it my business to report you as suspicious 
 characters to the proper authorities." 
 
 "That'll be too easy," said the man. "And 
 suppose we was what you think, what would we 
 be doing in the meantime ? I ask you what ? " 
 
 Mr. Jonstone interrupted in a soft voice. 
 
 "Oh, quit blustering and threatening," he said. 
 
 "Say," said a man who had not yet spoken, 
 "do you two sprigs of jasmine ever patronize 
 the * movies ' ? And, if so, did you ever look your 
 fill on a film called 'Held for Ransom' ? You folks 
 has a look of being kind o' well to do, and it looks 
 to me as if you'd have to pay for it." 
 
 "Why quarrel with them.?" said/ Maud, with 
 gravity and displeasure In her voice, but no fear. 
 
 221 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Things are bad enough as they are. I saw that 
 the minute we came in. Just one minute too 
 late, it seems." 
 
 "That's horse-sense," admitted one of the men. 
 "And when this rain holds up, one of us will 
 take a message to your folks saying as how you 
 are stopping at an expensive hotel and haven't 
 got money enough to pay your bill." 
 
 "And that," said Colonel Meredith, "will only 
 leave three of you to guard us. Once," he turned 
 to Maud, "I spent six hours in a Turkish prison." 
 
 "What happened ?" she asked. 
 
 "I didn't like it," he said, "and left." 
 
 "This ain't Turkey, young feller, and we ain't 
 Turks. If you don't like the cave you can lump 
 it, but you can't leave." 
 
 "We don't intend to leave till it stops raining," 
 put in Mr. Jonstone sweetly. 
 
 "Miss Darling," said Colonel Meredith, "you 
 don't feel chilled, do you ? You mustn't take 
 this adventure seriously. These people are des- 
 perate characters, but they haven't the mental 
 force to be dangerous. It will be the greatest 
 pleasure in the world both to my cousin and my- 
 self to see that no harm befalls you." He turned 
 once more to the unshaven men about the fire. 
 
 "Have you got anything worth while in that 
 
 222 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 mail-bag?" he asked. "I read that the safe in 
 the Montreal express only contained a few hun- 
 dred dollars. Hardly worth risking prison for — 
 was it?" 
 
 "We'll have enough to risk prison for before 
 we get through with you." 
 
 "You might if you managed well, because I 
 am a rich man. But you are sure to bungle." 
 
 He turned to the woman and asked with great 
 kindness: 
 
 "Is it their first crime?" 
 
 "Yes, sir," she said. "Mr. " 
 
 "Shut up!" growled one of her companions. 
 
 "A gentleman from New York turned us out 
 of the woods so's he could have them all to him- 
 self and after we'd spent all our money on lawyers. 
 So my husband and the boys allowed they had 
 about enough of the law. And so they held up the 
 express, but it was more because they were mad 
 clear through than because they are bad, and 
 now it's too late, and — and^ " 
 
 Here she began to cry. 
 
 "It's never too late to mend," said Maud. 
 
 "Have you spent any of the money they took ?" 
 asked Colonel Meredith. 
 
 "No, sir; we haven't had a chance. We've 
 got every dime of it." 
 
 223 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Did you own the land you were driven off?" 
 
 "No, sir, but we'd always lived on it, and it 
 did seem as if we ought to be left in peace " 
 
 "To shoot out of season, to burn other people's 
 wood, trap their fish, and show your teeth at them 
 when they came to take what belonged to them ? I 
 congratulate you. You are Ainerican to the back- 
 bone. And now you propose to take my money 
 away from me." 
 
 Colonel Meredith turned to his cousin, after 
 excusing himself to Maud, and they conversed 
 for some time in their strange Sea Island dialect. 
 
 "Can that gibberish," said one of the train 
 robbers suddenly. "I'm sick of it." 
 
 "We shan't trouble you with it again, as we've 
 already decided what to do." 
 
 The robber laughed mockingly. 
 
 "In view of your extreme youth," said Colonel 
 Meredith sweetly, "in view of the fact that you 
 are also young in crime and that one member of 
 your party is a woman, we have decided to help 
 you along the road to reform. In my State there 
 is considerable lawlessness; from this has evolved 
 the useful custom of going heeled." 
 
 He spoke, and a blue automatic flashed cruelly 
 in his white hand. His action was as sudden and 
 unexpected as the striking of a rattlesnake. 
 
 224 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "All hands up," he commanded. 
 
 There was a long silence. 
 
 "You've got us," said the youngest of the 
 robbers sheepishly. "How about the man on 
 guard with a Winchester?" 
 
 "My cousin Mr. Jonstone will bring him in 
 to join the conference. And, meanwhile, I shall 
 have to ask the ladies to look the other way 
 while my cousin changes clothes with one of you 
 gentlemen." 
 
 Of the three villains, Jonstone selected the 
 youngest and the tidiest, and with mutual re- 
 luctance, suspicion, and startled glances toward 
 where the ladies sat with averted faces, they 
 changed clothes. 
 
 A broad felt hat, several sizes too big for him, 
 added the touch of completion to the Carolinian's 
 transformation. He took the spare Winchester 
 and, without a word, walked quietly toward the 
 mouth of the cave and was lost to sight. 
 
 Maud did not breathe freely until he had re- 
 turned, unhurt, carrying both Winchesters and 
 driving an exceedingly sheepish backwoodsman 
 before him. 
 
 He expressed the wish to resume his own 
 clothes. This done, he and his cousin broke 
 into good-natured, boyish laughter. 
 
 225 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 The oldest and most sheepish of the backwoods- 
 men kept repeating, "Who would 'a' thought he'd 
 have a pistol on him!" and seemed to find a 
 world of comfort in the thought. 
 
 "What are you going to do with them ?" Maud 
 asked almost in a whisper. "I think I feel a 
 little sorry for them." 
 
 "Bob !" exclaimed Colonel Meredith. 
 
 "What?" 
 
 " She feels a little sorry for them. Don't you ? " 
 
 "Yes, sir ! " replied Mr. Jonstone fervently. 
 
 Colonel- Meredith addressed himself to the 
 young woman with the old face. 
 
 " Do you believe in fairies ? " he asked. 
 
 She only looked pathetic and confused. 
 
 "Miss Darling, here," he went on, "is a fairy. 
 She left her wand at home, but if she wants to 
 she can make people's wishes come true. Now 
 suppose you and your friends talk things over 
 and decide upon some sensible wishes to have 
 granted. Of course, it's no use wishing you hadn't 
 robbed a train; but you could wish that the money 
 would be returned, and that the police could be 
 induced to stop looking for you, and that some 
 one could come along and offer you an honest 
 way of making a living. So you talk it over a 
 while and then tell us what you'd like." 
 
 226 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Aren't you going to give us up ?" asked one of 
 the men. 
 
 "Not if you've any sense at all." 
 
 "Then I guess there's no use us talking things 
 over. And if the young lady is a fairy, we'd be 
 obliged if she'd get busy along the lines you've 
 just laid down." 
 
 All eyes were turned on Maud. And she 
 looked appealingly from Colonel Meredith to 
 Mr. Jonstone and back again. 
 
 "What ought I to say? What ought I to 
 promise ? Can the money be returned ? Can 
 the police be called off? And if I only had 
 some work to give them, but over at The 
 Camp — — " 
 
 "Every good fairy," said Colonel Meredith, 
 "has two helpers to whom all things are possible." 
 
 "Truly?" 
 
 The Carolinians sprang to their feet, clicked 
 their heels together into the first position of 
 dancing, laid their right hands over their hearts, 
 and bowed very low. 
 
 "Then," said Maud laughing, "I should like 
 the money to be returned." 
 
 "I will attend to that," said Colonel Meredith. 
 
 "And the police to be called off." 
 
 Again the soldier assumed responsibility. 
 227 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "But who," she asked, "will find work for 
 them ? " 
 
 "I will," said Mr. Jonstone. "They shall 
 build the house for my cousin and me to live in. 
 You can build a house, can't you ? A log house ? " 
 
 "But where will you build it?" asked Maud. 
 "You found fault with all the best sites on the 
 lake." 
 
 "The very first site we visited suited us to 
 perfection." 
 
 "But you said the spring contained cyanide 
 or something." 
 
 "We were talking through our hats." 
 
 "But why " 
 
 The Carolinians gazed at her with a kind of 
 beseeching ardor, until she understood that they 
 had only found fault with one promising building 
 site after another in order that they might pass 
 the longest time possible in her company. 
 
 And she returned their glance with one in 
 which there was some feeling stronger than mere 
 amusement. 
 
 228 
 
XXIV 
 
 CONCERNING information, Mark Twain 
 wrote that it appeared to stew out of him 
 naturally, Uke the precious ottar of roses out of the 
 otter. With the narrator of this episodical history, 
 however, things are very different. And just how 
 the good fairy, Maud DarHng, was enabled to 
 keep her promises to the outlaws seems to him of 
 no great moment. But the money was returned 
 to the express company; the police were called off; 
 and the four robbers, with the woman to cook for 
 them, went to work at building a log house on 
 the point of pines to be occupied in the near future 
 by the Carolinians. 
 
 They were not sorry to have been turned from 
 a life of sin. It is only when a life of sin is gilded, 
 padded, and pleasant that people hate to turn 
 from it. When virtue entails being rained on, 
 starved, and hunted, it isn't a very pleasant way 
 of life, either. 
 
 The face of the young female bandit lost its 
 look of premature old age. She went about her 
 work singing, and the humming of the kettle was 
 
 229 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 her accompaniment. The four men looked the 
 other men of the camp in the face and showed 
 how to lay trees by the heels in record time. To 
 their well-swung and even better-sharpened axes 
 even the stems of oaks were as wax candles. It 
 became quite "the thing" for guests at The Camp 
 to go out to the point and admire the axe-work and 
 all the processes of frontier house-building. 
 
 When people speak of "love in a cottage," there 
 rises nearly always, in my mind, the memory of a 
 log house that a friend of mine and I came across 
 by the headwaters of a great river in Canada. 
 
 It stood — the axe marks crisp, white, and blis- 
 tered with pitch — upon the brink of a swirling 
 brown pool full of grilse. The logs of which it 
 was built had been dragged from a distance, 
 so that in the immediate neighborhood of the 
 cabin was no desolation of dead tree-tops and 
 dying stumps. Everything was wonderfully neat, 
 new, and in order. About the pool and the cabin 
 the maples had turned yellow and vermilion. 
 And above was the peaceful pale blue of an Indian- 
 summer sky. 
 
 We opened the door, held by a simple latch, 
 and found ourselves in the pleasantest of rooms, 
 just twenty feet by fifteen. The walls and the 
 floor had been much whitened and smoothed by 
 
 230 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 the axe. The place smelt vaguely of pitch and 
 strongly of balsam. There was a fireplace — 
 the fire all laid, a bunk to lie on, a chair to sit on, 
 a table to write on, a broom to sweep with. And 
 neatly set upon clean shelves were various jams 
 in glass, and meats, biscuits, and soups in tins. 
 There was also a writing (on birch bark) over the 
 shelves, which read: "Help yourself." 
 
 We took down the shutters from the windows 
 and let in floods of autumn sun. Then we lighted 
 the fire, and ate crackers and jam. 
 
 It hurt a little to learn at the mouth of our guide 
 that the cabin belonged to a somewhat notorious 
 and decidedly crotchety New York financier who 
 controlled the salmon-fishing in those waters. I 
 had pictured it as built for a pair of eminently sen- 
 sible and supernaturally romantic honeymooners 
 or for a poet. And I wanted to carry away that 
 impression. For in such a place love or inspira- 
 tion must have lasted just as long as the crackers 
 and jam. And there is no more to be said of a 
 palace. 
 
 One day Mary Darling and Sam Langham 
 visited the new cabin. And Sam said: "If one of 
 the happy pair happened to know something of 
 cooking, what a place for a honeymoon!" 
 
 Shortly afterward, PhyUis and Herring came 
 231 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 that way, and Herring said: "If I was in love, 
 and knew how to use an axe, I'd build just such a 
 house for the girl I love and make her live in it. 
 I believe I will, anyway." 
 
 " Believe what ? " asked Phyllis demurely. "Be- 
 lieve you will make her live in it?" 
 
 "Yes," he said darkly — "no matter who she is 
 and no matter how afraid of the mice and spiders 
 with which such places ultimately become in- 
 fested." 
 
 Lee and Renier visited the cabin, also. They 
 remarked only that it had a wonderfully smooth 
 floor, and proceeded at once thereon, Lee whis- 
 tling exquisitely and with much spirit, to dance a 
 maxixe, which was greatly admired by the ex- 
 outlaws. 
 
 Maud came often with the Carolinians, and as 
 for Eve, she came once or twice all by herself. 
 
 Jealousy is a horrid passion. It had never 
 occurred to Eve Darling that she was or ever 
 could be jealous of anybody. And she wasn't — 
 exactly. But seeing her sisters always cavaliered 
 by attractive men and slipping casually into 
 thrilling and even dangerous adventures with 
 them disturbed the depths of her equanimity. 
 It was delightful, of course, to be made much of 
 by Arthur and to go upon excursions with him 
 
 232 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 as of old. But something was wanting. Arthur's 
 idea of a pleasant day in the woods was to sit 
 for hours by a pool and attempt to classify the 
 croaks of frogs, or to lie upon his back in the sun 
 and think about the girl in far-off China whom 
 he loved so hopelessly. 
 
 Thanks to her excellent subordinate, and to 
 her own administrative ability. Laundry House 
 made fewer and fewer encroachments upon 
 Eve's leisure. And often she found that time 
 was hanging upon her hands with great heaviness. 
 Memory reminded her that things had not al- 
 ways been thus; for there are men in this world 
 who think that she was the most beautiful of all 
 the Darlings. 
 
 It was curious that of all the men who had 
 come to The Camp, Mr. Bob Jonstone had the 
 most attraction for her. They had not spoken 
 half a dozen times, and it was quite obvious that 
 his mind, if not his heart, was wholly occupied 
 with Maud. Wherever you saw Maud, you could 
 be pretty sure that the Carolinians, hunting in a 
 couple, were not far off. Of the two. Colonel 
 Meredith was the more brilliant, the more showy, 
 and the better-looking. Added to his good 
 breeding and lazy, pleasant voice were certain 
 Yankee qualities — a total lack of gullibility, a 
 
 233 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 certain trace of mockery, even upon serious sub- 
 jects. Mr. Jonstone, on the other hand, was a 
 perfect lamb of earnestness and sincerity. If he 
 heard of an injustice his eyes flamed, or if he 
 listened to the recital of some pathetic happening 
 they misted over. Once beyond the direct in- 
 fluence of his cousin there was neither mischief 
 in him nor devilment. It was for this reason, and 
 in this knowledge, that he had put his newly ac- 
 quired moneys in trust for himself. 
 
 In the little house by the lake where the cousins 
 still slept, conversation seldom flagged before one 
 or two o'clock in the morning. Having said good- 
 night to each other at about eleven, one or the 
 other was pretty sure to let out some new dis- 
 covery about the Darlings in general and Maud 
 Darling in particular, and then all desire for sleep 
 vanished and their real cousinly confidences began. 
 
 But these confidences had their limits, for 
 neither confessed to being sentimentally inter- 
 ested in the young lady, whereas, within limits, 
 they both were. And each enjoyed the satisfac- 
 tion of believing (quite erroneously) that he de- 
 ceived the other. I do not wish to convey the 
 impression that they were actually in love with 
 her. 
 
 When you are really in love, you are also in 
 234 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 love before breakfast. That is the final test. And 
 when love begins to die, that is the time when its 
 weakening pulse is first to be concerned. What 
 honest man has not been mad about some pretty 
 girl (in a crescendo of madness) from tea time till 
 sleep time and waked in the morning with no 
 thought but for toast and coffee the soonest pos- 
 sible ? and gone about the business of the morn- 
 ing and early afternoon almost heart-whole and 
 fancy-free, and relapsed once more into madness 
 with the lengthening of the shadows ? A man 
 who proposes marriage to a girl until he has been 
 in love with her for twenty-four consecutive 
 hours is a light fellow who ought to be kicked out 
 of the house by her papa. As for the girl, let her 
 be sure that he is bread and meat to her, comfort 
 and rest, demigod and man, wholly necessary 
 and not to be duplicated in this world, before she 
 even says that she will think about it. 
 
 In the early morning there would arise in the 
 house of the Carolinians the sounds of whistling, 
 of singing, laughter, scuffling, and running water. 
 So that a girl who really wanted either of them 
 must, in listening, have despaired. 
 
 As for Maud Darling, she was disgusted with 
 herself — theoretically. But practically she was 
 having the time of her life. In theory, she felt 
 
 235 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 that no self-respecting girl ought to be unable to 
 decide which of the two young men she Uked the 
 better. In practice, she found a constant ponder- 
 ing of this dehcate question to be dehghtful. It 
 was very comfortable to know that the moment 
 she was free to play there were two pleasant com- 
 panions ready and waiting. 
 
 Sentiment and gayety attended their goings 
 and comings. The Carolinians, fortified by each 
 other's presence, were veritable Raleighs of ex- 
 travagant devotion. In engineering, for instance, 
 so that Maud should not have to step in a damp 
 place, there were displayed enough gallantry and 
 efficiency to have saved her from an onslaught of 
 tigers. If the trio climbed a mountain, Maud 
 gave herself up to the heart-warming delight of 
 being helped when help was not in the least neces- 
 sary. In short, she behaved as any natural 
 young woman would, and should. She flirted 
 outrageously. But in the depths of her heart a 
 genuine friendship for the Carolinians was con- 
 ceived and grew in breadth and strength. What 
 if they did out-gallant gallantry I 
 
 236 
 
XXV 
 
 ONE Sunday, Eve, from her window — she 
 was rather a lazy girl that Sunday — wit- 
 nessed the following departures from the camp. 
 Sam Langham and Mary in a guide boat, with 
 fishing-tackle and an immense hamper which 
 looked like lunch. Herring and Phyllis could be 
 seen hoisting the sails on the knockabout. Herring 
 had never sailed a boat and was prepared to mas- 
 ter that simple art at once. Lee and Renier were 
 girt for the mountain. Renier appeared to have 
 a Flobert rifle in semihiding under his coat, and 
 it was to be feared that if he saw a partridge, he 
 would open fire on it, close season though it was. 
 He and Lee would justify this illegal act by cook- 
 ing the bird for their lunch. Gay commandeered 
 the Streak and departed at high speed toward 
 Carrytown.^ She had in one hand a sheet of blue- 
 striped paper, folded. It resembled a cablegram. 
 And Eve thought that it must be of a very pri- 
 vate nature, or else Gay would have telephoned 
 it to the Western Union office, instead of carrying 
 it by hand. The next to depart from the camp 
 
 237 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 •was Arthur. He moved dreamily in a north- 
 westerly direction, accompanied by Uncas, the 
 chipmunk, and Wow^ the dog. Other guests made 
 departures. 
 
 All of which Eve, half dressed and looking 
 lazily from her window, lazily noted, remarking 
 that for her Sunday was a day of rest and that 
 she thanked Heaven for it. And she did not feel 
 any differently until Maud and the Carolinians 
 walked out on the float and began to pack a 
 guide boat for the day. 
 
 Then her lazy, complacent feelings departed, 
 and were succeeded by a sudden, wide-awake 
 surge of self-pity. She felt like Cinderella. No- 
 body had asked her to go anywhere or do any- 
 thing, and nobody had even thought of doing 
 so. When she was dead they would gather round 
 her coffin and remember that they hadn't asked 
 her to go anywhere or do anything, and they 
 would be very sorry and ashamed and they would 
 say what a nice girl she had been, and how she 
 had always tried to give everybody a good time. 
 
 Between laughter and tears and mortifica- 
 tion, Eve finished dressing, set her lovely jaw, 
 and went out into the delicious, cool calm of 
 the mountain morning. She could still hear the 
 voices of many of the departing ones; and the 
 
 238 
 
She felt like Cinderella. Nobody had asked her to go anywheie 
 or do anything 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 rattling and creaking of the knockabout's blocks 
 and rigging. She heard Herring say to Phyllis: 
 "I think it would be better if I could make the 
 boom go out on this side, but I can't." Phyllis's 
 answer was a cool, contented laugh. It was as if 
 she said: "Hang the boom! We're here!" 
 
 Have you ever had the feeling that you would 
 like to board a swift boat, head for the open sea, 
 and never come back 1 Or that you could plunge 
 into some boundless, trackless forest and keep 
 straight on until you were lost, and died (beauti- 
 fully and painlessly), and were covered with beau- 
 tiful leaves by little birds ? 
 
 Eve enjoyed (and suffered from) a hint of 
 this latter feeling. She ate a light breakfast (it 
 would be better not to begin starving till she was 
 actually lost in the boundless, trackless forest), 
 selected a light, spiked climbing-stick with a 
 crooked handle, headed for one of the north- 
 easterly mountains, and was soon deep in the 
 shade of the pines and hemlocks. 
 
 After a few miles, the trail that she followed 
 split and scattered in many directions, like the 
 end of an unravelled rope. She followed an old 
 lumber road for a long way, turned into another 
 that crossed it at an angle of forty-five degrees, 
 took no account of the sun's position in the heavens 
 
 239 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 or of the marked sides of trees. If she came to 
 a high place from which there was a view, she did 
 not look at it. She just kept going — this way 
 and that, up and down. In short, she made a 
 conscious, anxious effort to lose herself. The 
 easterly mountain toward which she had first 
 headed kept bobbing up straight ahead. And al- 
 ways there was the knowledge in the back of her 
 head of the exact location of The Camp, and of 
 all the other landmarks, familiar to her since early 
 youth. 
 
 "Drag it !" she said, at length, her eyes on the 
 mountain. "I'll climb the old thing, put melan- 
 choly aside, and call this a good, if unaccompanied, 
 Sunday." 
 
 The morning coolness had departed. It was 
 one of those hot, breathless, mountain forenoons 
 that kill the appetite and are usually followed, 
 toward the late afternoon, by violent electrical 
 disturbances. 
 
 Eve was not as fit as she had supposed, or as 
 she thought. As a matter of fact, she was setting 
 too fast a pace, considering the weather and the 
 angle of the mountain slope; and she was as wet 
 as if she had played several hard sets of tennis 
 with a partner who stood in one corner of the court 
 and let her do all the running. 
 
 240 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 As she climbed, reproaching her wind for being 
 so short, she remembered that the hollow tip 
 of this particular northeastern mountain was filled 
 with a deep pool of water. Nobody had ever 
 called it a lake. The map called it a pond; but 
 it wasn't even that — it was a pool. Springs fed 
 it just fast enough to make up for the evapora- 
 tion. It had no outlet. It was shaped like a fat 
 letter O. At one end was a little beach of white 
 sand. Indeed, the bottom of the pool was all firm, 
 smooth, and clean, and the whole charming little 
 body of water was surrounded by thick groves of 
 dwarf mountain trees and bushes. Not content 
 with being a perfect replica, in miniature, of a full- 
 grown Adirondack lake, this pool had in its midst an 
 island, a dozen feet in diameter, densely shrubbed 
 and shaded by one diminutive Japanesque pine. 
 
 When Eve came to the pool, hot, tired, and 
 rather bothered at the thought of the long walk 
 back to camp, she had but the vaguest idea of 
 just why the Lord had placed such a pool on top 
 of a mountain, impelled her to climb that moun- 
 tain, and made the day so piping hot. 
 
 Eve stood a little on the sand beach. She felt 
 hotter and hotter, and the pool looked cooler and 
 cooler. Presently, a heavenly smile of solution 
 brightened her flushed, warm face, and she with- 
 
 241 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 drew into a shady clump of bushes. From this 
 there came first the exclamation "Drag it!" then 
 a sound of some sort of a string being sharply 
 broken in two, and then there came from the clump 
 of bushes Eve herself, looking for all the world like 
 a slice of the silver moon. 
 
 And as you may have seen the silver moon slip 
 slowly into the sea, so Eve vanished slowly into the 
 pool — all but her shapely little round head, with 
 its crisp bright-brown hair and its lovely face, 
 happy now, exhilarated, and eager as are the faces 
 of adventurers. 
 
 And Eve thought if one didn't have to eat, if 
 one didn't end by being cold, if one could make 
 time stand still — she would choose to be always 
 and forever a slice of the silver moon, lolling in a 
 mountain pool. 
 
 She had the kind of hair that wets to per- 
 fection. But it was not the sort of permanent 
 wave which lasts six months or so, costs twenty- 
 five dollars, and is inculcated by hours of alternate 
 baking and shampooing. Eve had always had a 
 permanent wave. She feared neither fog nor rain, 
 nor water in any form of application. And so it 
 was that, now and then, as she lolled about the 
 pool, she disappeared from one fortunate square 
 yard of surface and reappeared in another. 
 
 242 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 Half an hour had passed, when suddenly the 
 mountain stillness was broken by men's voices. 
 
 Eve was at the opposite side of the pool from 
 where she had left her clothes. Between her and 
 the approaching voices was the little island. She 
 landed hastily upon this and hid herself among 
 the bushes. 
 
 Three gross, fat men and one long, lean man, 
 with a face like leather and an Adam's apple 
 that bobbed like a fisherman's float, came down 
 to the beach, sweating terribly, and cast there- 
 on knapsacks, picnic baskets, hatchets, fishing- 
 tackle, and all the complicated paraphernalia of 
 amateurs about to cook their own lunch in the 
 woods. 
 
 All but one had loud, coarse, carrying voices, 
 and they all appeared to belong to the ruling class. 
 They appeared, in short, to have neither edu- 
 cation nor refinement nor charm nor anything to 
 commend them as leaders or examples. Eve won- 
 dered how it was possible for them to find pleasure 
 even in each other's company. They quarrelled, 
 wrangled, found fault, abused each other, or sud- 
 denly forgot their differences, gathering about 
 the fattest of the fat men and listening, almost 
 reverently, while he told a story. When he had 
 finished, they would throw their heads far back 
 
 243 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 and scream with laughter. He must have told 
 wonderfully funny stories; but his voice was no 
 more than a husky whisper, so that Eve could not 
 make head or tail of them. 
 
 After a while the whispering fat man pro- 
 duced from one of the baskets four little glasses 
 and a fat dark bottle. And shortly after there 
 was less wrangling and more laughter. 
 
 The thin man with the leathery face and the 
 bobbing Adam's apple put a fishing-rod together, 
 tied a couple of gaudy flies to his leader, and 
 began to cast most unskilfully from the shores 
 of the pool, moving along slowly from time to 
 time. 
 
 The fat men, occasionally calling to ask if he 
 had caught anything, busied themselves with 
 preparations for lunch. One of them made 
 tremendous chopping sounds in the wood and 
 furnished from time to time incommensurate 
 supplies of fire-wood. Smoke arose and a kettle 
 was slung. 
 
 Meanwhile Eve, cowering among the bushes, 
 for all the world like her famous ancestress when 
 the angel came to the garden, did not quite know 
 what to do. She had only to lift her voice and 
 explain, and the men would go away for a time. 
 She felt sure of that. She had been brought up 
 
 244 
 
Eve was at the opposite side of the pool from where she had left 
 her clothes 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 to believe in the exquisite chivalry of the plain 
 American man. 
 
 But there was something about the four which 
 repelled her, which stuck in her throat. She 
 did not wish to be under any sort of obligation to 
 any of them. And so she kept mousy-quiet, and 
 turned over in her mind an immense number of 
 worthless stratagems and expedients. 
 
 Have you ever tried to lie on the lawn under 
 a tree and read for an hour or two — incased in 
 all your buffer of clothes .? Try it some time — 
 without the buffers. Try it in the buff. And 
 then imagine how comfortable Eve was on the 
 island. Imagine how soft it felt to her elbows, for 
 instance. And imagine to yourself, too, that it was 
 not an uninhabited island — but one upon which 
 an immense gray spider had made a home and 
 raised a family. 
 
 From time to time the inept caster of flies 
 returned to the camp-lire, always in answer to 
 a boisterous summons from his friends. And 
 after each visit, his leathery face became redder 
 and his casting more absurd. 
 
 Finally his flies caught in a tree, his rod broke, 
 and he abandoned the gentle art of angling for 
 that time and place. Meanwhile steam ran from 
 the kettle and mingled with the smoke of the 
 
 241 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 fire. The sound of voices was incessant. Ten 
 minutes later the gentlemen were served. 
 
 Midway of the meal, some of which was burnt 
 black and some of which was quite raw, there 
 was produced a thermos bottle as big as the leg 
 of a rubber boot. And a moment later, icy-cold 
 champagne was frothing and bubbling in tumblers. 
 
 In that high air, upon a thick foundation of 
 raw whiskey, the brilliant wine of France had 
 soon built a triumphant edifice, so that Eve, 
 cold now, miserable, and frightened, felt that 
 the time for an appeal to chivalry was long since 
 past. 
 
 Far from their wives and constituents, the four 
 politicians were obviously not going to stop short 
 of complete drunkenness. Indeed, it was an op- 
 portunity hardly to be missed. For where else 
 in the woods could nature be more exquisite, 
 dignified, and inspiring? 
 
 It got so that Eve could no longer bear to 
 watch them or to listen to them. Pink with 
 shame, fury, hatred, and fear, she stuffed her 
 fingers in her ears and hid her face. 
 
 Thus lying, there came to her after quite a 
 long interval, dimly, a shout and a howl of laughter 
 with an entirely new intonation. She looked up 
 then and saw the thin man, waist-deep in the 
 
 246 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 bushes, just where she had left her clothes, mak- 
 ing faces of beastly mystery at his companions, 
 beckoning to them and urging them to come look. 
 They went to him, presently, staggering and evil. 
 And then they scattered and began to hunt for 
 her. 
 
 247 
 
XXVI 
 
 TIRED?" queried Mr. Bob Jonstone, with 
 some indignation. "I'm not a bit tired. 
 I haven't had enough exercise to keep me quiet. 
 And if it wasn't your turn to make the fire, your 
 privilege, and your prerogative, I'd insist on 
 chopping the wood myself. No," he said, lean- 
 ing back luxuriously, "I find it very hard to keep 
 still. This walking on the level is child's play. 
 What I need to keep me in good shape is moun- 
 tains to climb." 
 
 "Like those we have at home," said Colonel 
 Meredith, and if he didn't actually wink at Maud, 
 who was arranging some chops on a broiler, he 
 made one eye smaller than the other. 
 
 "What's wrong with this mountain?" asked 
 Maud. 
 
 "Why, we are only half-way up, and the real 
 view is from the top !" 
 
 "Of course," said Colonel Meredith, "if you 
 want to see the view, don't let us stop you. We'll 
 wait for you. Won't we. Miss Maud ?" 
 
 She nodded, her eyes shining with mischief. 
 248 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "But," the colonel continued, "Bob is a bluff. 
 He's had all the climbing he can stand. Noth- 
 ing but a chest full of treasure or a maiden in 
 distress would take him a step farther." 
 
 "After lunch," said Mr. Jonstone, "I shall." 
 
 " Do it now ! Lunch won't be ready for an 
 hour. Any kind of a walker could make the top 
 of the mountain and be back in that time. But 
 I'll bet you anything you like that you can't." 
 
 "You will .? I'll bet you fifty dollars." 
 
 "Done!" 
 
 Mr. Jonstone leaped to his feet in a business- 
 like way, waved his hand to them, and started 
 briskly off and up along the trail by which they 
 had come, and which ended only at the very top 
 of the mountain. It wasn't that he wanted any 
 more exercise. He wanted to get away for a 
 while to think things over. He had learned on 
 that day's excursion, or thought he had, that two 
 is company and that three isn't. The pleasant 
 interchangeableness of the trio's relations seemed 
 suddenly to have undergone a subtle change. It 
 was as if Maud and Colonel Meredith had sud- 
 denly found that they liked each other a little 
 better than they liked him. 
 
 So it wasn't a man in search of exercise or 
 eager to win a bet who was hastening toward the 
 
 249 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 top of a mountain, but a child who had just 
 discovered that dolls are stuffed with sawdust. 
 He suffered a little from jealousy, and a little 
 from anger. He could not have specified what 
 they had done to him that morning, and it may 
 have been his imagination alone that was to 
 blame, but they had made him feel, or he had 
 made himself feel, like a guest who is present, not 
 because he is wanted but because for some reason 
 or other he had to be asked. 
 
 He walked himself completely out of breath 
 and that did his mind good. Resting before 
 making a final spurt to the mountain-top, he 
 heard men's voices shouting and hallooing in the 
 forest. The sounds carried him back to certain 
 coon and rabbit hunts in his native State, and he 
 wondered what these men could be hunting. And 
 having recovered his breath, he went on. 
 
 He came suddenly in view of a great round 
 pool of water ih the midst of which was a tiny 
 island, thickly wooded. Just in front of him a 
 fire burned low on a beach of white sand. 
 
 Upon the beach, his back to Jonstone, stood a 
 tall, thin man who appeared to be gazing at the 
 island. Suddenly this man began to shout aloud : 
 
 "She's on the island! She's on the island !" 
 
 From the woods came the sound of crashings, 
 250 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 scramblings, and oaths, and, one by one, three 
 fat men, very sweaty and crimson in the face, 
 came reeling out on the beach, and ranged them- 
 selves with the thin man, and looked drunkenly 
 toward the island. 
 
 "She's hiding on the island, the cute thing," 
 said the thin man. 
 
 "Did you see her?" 
 
 "I saw the bushes move. That's where she is." 
 
 "How deep's the water?" 
 
 "I'll tell you in about a minute," said the thin 
 man. He threw his coat from him, and, sitting 
 down with a sudden lurch, began to unlace his 
 boots. 
 
 "Maybe you don't know it," he said, "but I'm 
 some swimmer, I am." 
 
 There was a moment of silence and then there 
 came from the island a voice that sent a thrill 
 through Mr. Bob Jonstone from head to foot. 
 The voice was like frightened music with a sob in it. 
 
 "Won't you please go away!" 
 
 "Good God," he thought, "they're hunting a 
 woman ! " 
 
 The drunken men had answered that sobbing 
 appeal with a regular view-halloo of drunken 
 laughter. 
 
 Mr. Bob Jonstone stepped slowly forward. His 
 
 2SI 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 thin face had a bluish, steely look; and his eyes 
 glinted wickedly like a rattlesnake's. Being one 
 against four, he made no declaration of war. He 
 came upon them secretly from behind. And first 
 he struck a thin neck just below a leathery ear, 
 and then a fat neck. 
 
 He was not a strong man physically. But 
 high-strung nerves and cold, collected loathing 
 and fury are powerful weapons. 
 
 The thin man and the fat man with the whisper- 
 ing voice lay face down on the beach and passed 
 from insensibility into stupefied, drunken sleep. 
 But with the other two, Mr. Jonstone had a bad 
 time of it, for he had broken a bone in his right 
 hand and the pain was excruciating. Often, dur- 
 ing that battle, he thought of the deadly auto- 
 matic in his pocket. But if he used that, it meant 
 that a woman's name would be printed in the 
 newspaper. 
 
 The fat men fought hard with drunken fury. 
 Their strength was their weight, and they were 
 always coming at him from opposite sides. But 
 an empty whiskey bottle caught Mr. Jonstone's 
 swift eye and made a sudden end of what its 
 contents had begun. He hit five times and then 
 stood alone, among the fallen, a bottle neck of 
 brown glass in his hand. 
 
 252 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 Then he Ufted his voice and spoke aloud, as if 
 to the island: 
 
 "They'll not trouble you now. What else 
 can I do?" 
 
 "God bless you for doing what you've done! 
 I'm a fool girl, and I thought I was all alone and 
 I went in swimming, and they came and I hid 
 on the island. And I — I haven't got my things 
 with me!" 
 
 "Couldn't you get ashore without being seen ? 
 These beasts won't look. And I won't look. 
 You can trust me, can't you?" 
 
 "When you tell me that nobody is looking I'll 
 come ashore." 
 
 "Nobody is looking now." 
 
 He heard a splash and sounds as of strong 
 swimming. And he was dying to look. He took 
 out his little automatic and cocked it, and he said 
 to himself: "If you do look. Bob, you get shot." 
 
 Ten minutes passed. 
 
 "Are you all right ?" he called. 
 
 "Yes, thank you, all right now. But how can 
 I thank you ? I don't want you to see me, if you 
 don't mind. I don't want you to know who I 
 am. But I'jn the gratefulest girl that ever lived; 
 and I'm going home now, wiser than when I 
 
 came, and, listen " 
 
 253 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "I'm listening." 
 
 "I think I'd almost die for you. There!" 
 Mr. Jonstone's hair fairly bristled with emotion. 
 "But am I never to see you, never to know 
 your name ? " 
 
 The answer came from farther off. 
 "Yes, I think so. Some time." 
 "Do you promise that ?" 
 Silence — and then: 
 "I almost promise." 
 
 Having assured himself that the drunken men 
 ■were not dead, Mr. Jonstone sighed like a furnace 
 and started down the mountain. 
 
 His hand hurt him like the devil, but the pain 
 was first cousin to delight. 
 
 254 
 
XXVII 
 
 THE Camp was much concerned to hear of 
 poor Mr. Jonstone's accident. A round 
 stone, he said, had rolled suddenly under his 
 foot and precipitated him down a steep pitch of 
 path; He had put out his hands to save his face 
 and, it- seemed, broken a bone in one of them. 
 And at that, the attempted rescue of his face 
 had not been an overwhelming success. 
 
 It was not until the doctor had come and gone 
 that Mr. Jonstone told his cousin what had really 
 happened. Colonel Meredith was much excited 
 and intrigued by the narrative. 
 
 "And you've no idea who she was ?" he asked. 
 
 "No, Mel; I've thought that the voice was 
 familiar. I've thought that it wasn't. It was a 
 very well-bred Northern voice — but agitated 
 probably out of its natural intonations. Voices 
 are queer things. A man might not recognize 
 his own mother's voice at a time when he was not 
 expecting to hear it." 
 
 "Voices," said Colonel Meredith, "are beauti- 
 ful things. This wasn't a motherly sort of voice, 
 was it?" 
 
 255 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "But it might be," said Mr. Jonstone gently. 
 "I wonder if they've anything in this place to 
 make a fellow sleep. Bromide isn't much good 
 when you've a sure-enough sharp pain." 
 
 "You feel mighty uncomfortable, don't you, 
 Bob?" 
 
 The invalid nodded. He was pale as a sheet, 
 and he could not keep still. He had received 
 considerable physical punishment and his entire 
 nervous system was quivering and jumping. 
 
 "I'll see if anybody's got anything," said 
 Colonel Meredith, and he went straight to the 
 office, where he found Maud Darling and Eve. 
 
 "My cousin is feeling like the deuce," he said. 
 "He won't sleep all night if we don't give him 
 something to make him. Do you know of any 
 one that's got anything of that sort — morphine, 
 for instance?" 
 
 "The best thing will be to take the Streak and 
 get some from the doctor," said Maud. "Let's 
 all go." 
 
 "I think I won't," said Eve, looking wonder- 
 fully cool and serene. "But I'll walk down to 
 the float and see you ofF. What a pity for a man 
 to get laid up by an accident that might have 
 been avoided by a little attention!" 
 
 Colonel Meredith stiffened. 
 256 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "I am sorry to contradict a lady," he said, 
 "but my cousin has given me the particulars of 
 his accident, and it was of a nature that could 
 hardly have been avoided by a man. I think. 
 Miss Maud, if you will order a launch, I had better 
 tell my cousin where I am going, in case he should 
 feel that he was being neglected." 
 
 "Don't bother to do that," said Eve. "I'll 
 get word to him." 
 
 "Oh, thank you so much, will you ?" 
 
 "He's lying down, I suppose." 
 
 "Yes; he has retired for the night." 
 
 "I'll send one of the men," said Eve, "or Sam 
 Langham." 
 
 So they went one way and Eve went the other, 
 walking very quickly and smiling in the night. 
 
 "Mr. Jonstone — oh, Mr. Jonstone ! Can you 
 hear me?" 
 
 With a sort of shudder of wonder Mr. Jon- 
 stone sat up in his bed. 
 
 "Yes," he said, "I do hear you — unless I am 
 dreaming." 
 
 "You're not dreaming. You are in great pain, 
 owing to an accident which could hardly have 
 been avoided by a man, and can't sleep." 
 
 "I am in no pain now." 
 
 "Colonel Meredith has gone to Carrytown for 
 257 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 something to make you sleep, so you aren't to 
 fret and feel neglected if he doesn't come back 
 to you at once." 
 
 "Just the same it's a horrible feeling — to be 
 all alone." 
 
 " But if some one — any one were to stay within 
 call ?" 
 
 " If you were to stay within call it would make 
 all the difference in the world." 
 
 "You don't know who I am, do you ?" 
 
 "I don't- know what you look like, and I don't 
 know your name. But I know who you are. 
 And once upon a time — long years ago — you 
 promised, you half promised, to tell me the other 
 things." 
 
 "My name is a very, very old name, and I look 
 like a lot of other people. But you say you know 
 who I am. Who am I ? " 
 
 Mr. Bob Jonstone laughed softly. 
 
 "It's enough," said he, "that I know. But 
 are you comfortable out there .'' You're on the 
 porch, aren't you ? " 
 
 "No; I'm standing on the ground and resting 
 my lazy forehead against the porch railing." 
 
 "I'd feel easier if you came on the porch and 
 made yourself comfortable in a chair, just out- 
 side my window. And we could talk easier." 
 
 258 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "But you're not supposed to talk." 
 
 "Listening would be good for me." 
 
 There was a sound of light steps and of a chair 
 being dragged. 
 
 "I wish you wouldn't sit just round the cor- 
 ner," said Mr. Jonstone presently. "If you sat 
 before the window, sideways, I could see your 
 profile against the sky." 
 
 "I'm doing very well where I am, thank you." 
 
 " But, please, why shouldn't I see you ? Why 
 are you so embarrassed at me?" 
 
 "Wouldn't you be embarrassed if you were a 
 girl and had been through the adventure I went 
 through ? Wouldn't you be a little embarrassed 
 to see the man who helped you, and look him in 
 the face?" 
 
 " Don't you ever want me to see you ? Because, 
 if you don't, I will go away from this place in 
 the morning and never come back." 
 
 "Somehow, that doesn't appeal to me very 
 much either." 
 
 "I am glad," said Mr. Jonstone quietly. 
 
 "How does your hand feel?" 
 
 "Which hand?" 
 
 "The one you hurt." 
 
 "It feels very happy, and the other hand feels 
 very jealous of it." 
 
 2i;9 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Seriously — are you having a pretty bad time ?" 
 
 "I am having the time of my Hfe — seriously — 
 the time that lucky men always have once in their 
 lives." 
 
 "Are you very impatient for the morphine?" 
 
 "I shall not take it when it comes. It is far 
 better knowing what one knows, remembering 
 what one remembers, and looking forward to 
 what a presumptuous fool cannot help but look 
 forward to — it is far better to keep awake; to lie 
 peacefully in the dark, knowing, remembering, 
 and looking forward." 
 
 "And just what are you looking forward 
 to?" ' 
 
 "To a long life and a happy one; to the sounds 
 of a voice; to a sudden coming to life of the 
 whole 'Oxford Book of Verse'; to seeing a face." 
 
 There was a long silence. 
 
 "Are you there ?" 
 
 "Yes; but you mustn't talk." 
 
 "I think you are tired. Please don't stay any 
 more if you are tired." 
 
 "I'm not tired." 
 
 "Then perhaps you are bored." 
 
 "I'm not bored." 
 
 "Then what are you?" 
 
 "You keep quiet." 
 
 260 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 When, at last, Colonel Meredith came, im- 
 portant with morphine and the doctor's instruc- 
 tions, he found his cousin Mr. Bob Jonstone 
 sleeping very quietly and peacefully, a much 
 dog-eared copy of the "Oxford Book of Verse" 
 clasped to his breast. 
 
 •Unfortunately the colonel, after putting out 
 the light again, bumped into a table, and Mr. 
 Jonstone waked. 
 
 "That you, Mel?" 
 
 "Yes, Bob; sorry I waked you. Did Miss 
 Darling send word explaining that I should be 
 quite a while coming back?" 
 
 "Which Miss Darling?" 
 
 "Which ? Why, Miss Eve." 
 
 "Yes, she sent word." 
 
 "And how have you been ?" 
 
 "I took a turn for the better shortly after you 
 left. A little while ago I lighted a candle, and 
 read a little and got sleepy. And now I think 
 I'll go to sleep again." 
 
 "You don't need the morphine?" 
 
 "No, Mel. Thank you. Good-night." 
 
 "Good-night." 
 
 "Mel?" 
 
 "What is it?" 
 
 "Isn't Eve about the oldest name you know?" 
 261 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Oldest, I guess, except Adam and Lilith. 
 You go to sleep." 
 
 And Colonel Meredith tiptoed out of the room, 
 murmuring: "Seems to be a little shaky in his 
 upper stories."/ 
 
 202 
 
XXVIII 
 
 A POINT of land just across the lake from the 
 camp belonged to the Darlings' mother, 
 the Princess Oducalchi. One night the light of 
 fires and lanterns appeared on this point and the 
 next morning it was seen to be studded here and 
 there with pale-brown tents. The Darlings were 
 annoyed to think that any one should trespass on 
 so large a scale on some one else's land. In a code 
 of laws shot to pieces with class legislation, tres- 
 passers are, of course, exempt from punishment; 
 their presence and depredations in one's private 
 melon-patch are none the less disagreeable, and 
 Arthur Darling, as his mother's representative, 
 was peculiarly enraged. 
 
 Arthur, in his idle moments, when, for instance, 
 he was not studying the webs of spiders or clas- 
 sifying the cries of frogs, sometimes let his mind 
 run on politics and the whole state of the Union. 
 In such matters, of course, he was only a tyro. 
 Why should the puny and prejudiced population 
 of Texas have two votes in the Senate when 
 the hordes of New York have but two ? Why, in 
 
 263 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 a popular form of government, should the mi- 
 nority do the ruling? Why should not a hard- 
 working rich man have an equal place in the sun 
 with a man who, through laziness and a moral na- 
 ture twisted like a pretzel, remains poor ? Why 
 should education be forced on children in a coun- 
 try where education, which means good manners 
 and the ability to distinguish between right and 
 wrong, amounts practically to disfranchisement ? 
 
 Arthur, in his political ruminations, could never 
 get beyond such questions as these. If A has 
 paid for and owns a piece of land, why is it not A's 
 to enjoy, rather than B's, whose sole claim thereto 
 is greater strength of body than A, and the desire 
 to possess those things which are not his ? 
 
 At least, Arthur could row across to the point and 
 protest in his mother's name. If the trespassers 
 were gentlefolk who imagined themselves to have 
 camped upon public land, they would, of course, 
 offer to go and to pay all damages — in which event, 
 Arthur would invite them to stay as long as they 
 pleased, only begging that they would not set the 
 woods on fire. If, however, the trespassers be- 
 longed to one of the privileged classes for whose 
 benefit the laws are made and continued, he 
 would simply be abused roundly and perhaps 
 vilely. He would then take a thrashing at the 
 
 264 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 hands of superior numbers, and the incident 
 would be closed. 
 
 Colonel Meredith, seeing Arthur about to em- 
 bark on his mission, offered help and comfort in 
 the emergency. 
 
 "Just you wait till I fetch my rifle," he said; 
 "and if there's any trifling, we'll shoot them up." 
 
 "Shoot them up!" exclaimed Arthur. "If we 
 shot them up, we'd go from here to prison and 
 from prison to the electric chair." 
 
 "In South Carolina," Colonel Meredith pro- 
 tested, "if a man comes on our land and we tell 
 him to get off and he won^t, we drill a hole in 
 him." 
 
 "And that's one of the best things about the 
 South," said Arthur. "But we do things differ- 
 ently in the North. If a man comes on my land 
 and I tell him to get off and he says he won't, 
 then I have the right to put him off, using as much 
 force as is necessary. And if he is twice as big as 
 I am and there are three or four of him, you can 
 see, without using glasses, how the matter must 
 end." 
 
 "Then all you are out for is to take a licking V 
 
 "That is my only privilege under the law. But 
 I hope I shall not have to avail myself of it. 
 Where there are so many tents there must be 
 
 265 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 money. Where there is money there are posses- 
 sions, and where there are possessions, there are 
 the same feehngs about property that you and I 
 have." 
 
 "Still," said Colonel Meredith, "I wish you'd 
 take me along and our guns. There is always the 
 chance of managing matters so that fatalities may 
 be construed into acts of self-defense." 
 
 "Get behind me, you man of blood !" exclaimed 
 Arthur, laughing, and he leaped into a canoe, and 
 with a part of the same impulse sent it flying far 
 out from the float. Then, standing, he started 
 for the brown tents with easy, powerful strokes, 
 very earnest for the speedy accomplishment of 
 a disagreeable duty. That anything really pleas- 
 ant might come of his expedition never entered 
 his head. 
 
 "Arthur gone to put them off?" 
 "Why, yes ! Good-morning, Miss Gay." 
 "Good-morning, yourself. Colonel Meredith, 
 and many of them. Want to look ?" 
 "Thank you." 
 
 Colonel Meredith foc^ssed the glasses upon the 
 brown tents. 
 
 "What do you make them out to be ?" 
 "I can make out a sort of nigger carrying tea 
 into one of the tents. And there's a young lady 
 
 266 
 
"He's paddling as if he expected to cross a hundred yards of water in 
 
 a second" 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 in blacL She seems to be walking down to the 
 shore to meet your brother. And now she's wav- 
 ing her hand to him." 
 
 "The impudent thing," excIaimedGay. "What's 
 my brother doing ? " 
 
 " He's paddling as if he expected to cros's a hun- 
 dred yards of water in a second. If the young 
 lady comes any closer to the water, she'll get 
 wet." 
 
 Suddenly blushing crimson, he thrust the field- 
 glasses back into Gay's hands, and cried with com- 
 plete conviction that he was "blessed." 
 
 In the bright field of magnification, hastily fo- 
 cussed to her own vision. Gay beheld her brother 
 and the young woman in black tightly locked in 
 each other's arms. 
 
 267 
 
XXIX 
 
 To Arthur, half-way across the lake, con- 
 sidering just what he should say to the tres- 
 passers, the sudden sight of the person whom of 
 all persons in the world he least expected and most 
 wanted to see was a staggering physical shock. 
 He almost fell out of his canoe. And if he had 
 done that he might very likely have drowned, so 
 paralyzing in effect were those first moments of 
 unbelievable joy and astonishment. Then she 
 waved her hand to him and swiftly crossed the 
 beach, and he began to paddle like a madman. 
 When the canoe beached with sudden finality, 
 Arthur simply made a flying leap to the shore and 
 caught her in his arms. 
 
 Then he held her at arm's length, and if eyes 
 could eat, these would have been the last moments 
 upon earth of a very lovely young woman. 
 
 Then a sort of horror of what he had done and of 
 what he was doing seized him. His hands dropped 
 to his sides and the pupils of his eyes became 
 pointed with pain. But she said: 
 
 "It's all right, Arthur; don't look like that. 
 My husband is dead." 
 
 268 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Dead?" said Arthur, his face once more joy- 
 ous as an angel's. "Thank God for that !" 
 
 And why not thank God when some worthless, 
 cruel man dies? And why ijot write the truth 
 about him upon his tombstone instead of the con- 
 ventional lies ? 
 
 " But why didn't you write to me?" demanded 
 Arthur. 
 
 "It had been such a long time since we saw 
 each other. How did I know that you still 
 cared?" 
 
 "But how could I stop caring — about you?" 
 
 "Couldn't you?" 
 
 "Why, I didn't even try," said Arthur. "I just 
 gave it up as a bad job. But how, in the name 
 of all that's good and blessed, do you happen to 
 be in this particular place at this particular time ? 
 Did you, by any chance, come byway of the heav- 
 ens in a 'sweet chariot'? I came to eject tres- 
 passers, and I find you!" 
 
 "And I came to spy on you, Arthur, and to find 
 out if you still cared. And if you didn't, I was 
 going to tie a stone round my neck and lie down 
 in the lake. Of course, if I'm a trespasser " 
 
 They had moved slowly away from the shore 
 toward the tents. From one of these a languid, 
 humorous voice that made Arthur start hailed 
 
 269 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 them. And through the fly of the tent was thrust 
 a beautiful white hand and the half of a beautiful 
 white arm. 
 
 "I can't come out, Arthur," said the voice; "but 
 good-moming to you, and how's the family ?" 
 
 "Of all people in the world," exclaimed Arthur; 
 'my own beautiful mamma !" And he sprang to 
 the extended hand and clasped it and kissed it. 
 
 "Your excellent stepfather," said the voice, "is 
 out walking up an appetite for breakfast. I hope 
 you will be very polite to him. If it hadn't been 
 for him, Cecily would have stayed in London, 
 where we found her. He wormed her secret out 
 of her and brought her to you as a peace-ofFering." 
 
 There was a deep emotion in Arthur's voice as 
 he said: 
 
 "Then there shall always be peace between us." 
 
 The hand had been withdrawn from the light of 
 day; but the languid, humorous voice continued 
 to make sallies from the brown tent. 
 
 "We didn't want to be in the way; so, remem- 
 bering this bit of property, we just chucked our 
 Somali outfit into a ship, and here we are ! I 
 was dreadfully shocked and grieved to hear that 
 you were all quite broke and had started an inn. 
 In New York it is reported to be a great success, 
 is it?" 
 
 270 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Why, I hope so," said Arthur; "I don't really 
 know. Mary's head man. Maud keeps the books; 
 the triplets keep getting into mischief, and Eve, 
 so far as I know, keeps out. As for me, I had an 
 occupation, but it's gone now." 
 
 "What was your job, Arthur?" 
 
 "My job was to have my arm in imagination 
 where it now is in reality." 
 
 "Cecily!" exclaimed the voice. "Is that boy 
 hugging you publicly ? Am I absolutely without 
 influence upon manners even among my own 
 tents ? " 
 
 ""Absolutely, Princess!" laughed Cecily. 
 
 "Then the quicker I come out of my tent the 
 better! You'll stop to breakfast, Arthur.?" 
 
 "With pleasure, but shan't I get word to the 
 girls .'' Of course, they would feel it their duty to 
 call upon you at once." 
 
 "I should hope so — as an older woman I should 
 expect that much of them. But, princess or no 
 princess, I refuse to stand on ceremony. In my 
 most exalted and aristocratic moments I can 
 never forget that I am their mother. So after 
 breakfast / shall call on them." 
 
 At this moment, very tall and thin, in gray 
 Scotch tweeds, carrying a very high, foreheady 
 head, there emerged from the forest Prince 
 
 271 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 Oducalchi, leading by the hand his eight-year- 
 old son, Andrea, and singing in a touching, clear 
 baritone something in Italian to the effect that a 
 certain "Mariana's roses were red and white, in 
 the market-place by the clock-tower!" 
 
 Andrea wore a bright-red sweater, carried a fine 
 twenty-bore gun made by a famous London 
 smith, and looked every inch a prince. He had 
 all the Darling beauty in his face and all the 
 Oducalchi pride of place and fame. 
 
 "Mr. Darling, I believe?" asked the prince, 
 his left eyebrow slightly acockbill. "I have not 
 had the pleasure of seeing you for some years, 
 but I perceive that you are by way of accepting 
 my peace-offering." 
 
 "I was never just to you," said Arthur, a little 
 pale and looking very proud and handsome, 
 "and you have been very good to my mamma 
 and you have been very good to me. Will you 
 forgive me .'' " 
 
 "I cannot do that. There has been nothing 
 to forgive. But I will shake hands with you 
 with all the pleasure in the world — my dear Cecily, 
 does he come up to the memories of him ? Poor 
 children, you have had a sad time of it in this 
 merry world ! I may call you 'Arthur' ? Arthur, 
 this is your half-brother, Andrea. I hope that 
 
 272 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 you will take a little time to show him the beauti- 
 ful ways of your North Woods." 
 
 Arthur shook hands solemnly with the small 
 boy, and their stanchly met eyes told of an im- 
 mediate mutual confidence and liking. 
 
 "I've always wanted a brother in the worst 
 way," said Arthur. 
 
 "So have I," piped Andrea. 
 
 And then Princess Oducalchi came out of her 
 tent, and proved that, although her daughters 
 resembled her in features, simplicity, and grace 
 and dignity of carriage, they would never really 
 vie with her in beauty until they had loved much, 
 suffered much, borne children into the world, and 
 remembered all that was good in things and for- 
 gotten all that was evil. 
 
 "Mamma," said Arthur, "is worth travelling 
 ten thousand miles to see any day, isn't she.''" 
 
 "On foot," said Prince Oducalchi, "through 
 forests and morasses infested with robbers and 
 wild beasts." 
 
 The princess blushed and became very shy 
 and a little confused for a few moments. Then, 
 with a happy laugh, she thrust one hand through 
 her husband's arm, the other through Arthur's, 
 and urged them in the direction of the tent, where 
 breakfast was to be served. 
 
 273 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 Andrea followed, with Cecily holding him 
 tightly by the hand. 
 
 "If we had not been buried in Somaliland at 
 the time," said Arthur's mother, "we'would never 
 have let this 'Inn' happen. I'm sure you were 
 against it, Arthur ? " 
 
 "Of course," said he simply. "But with sister 
 Mary's mind made up, and the rest backing 
 her, what could a poor broken-hearted young 
 man do ? And it has worked out better than 
 I ever hoped. I don't mean in financial ways, 
 I mean, the sides of it that I thought would be 
 humiliating and objectionable haven't been. In- 
 deed, it's all been rather a lark, and Mary insists 
 upon telling me that we are a lot better off than 
 we were. We charge people the most outrageous 
 prices ! It's enough to make a dead man blush 
 in the dark. And the only complaint we ever 
 had about it was that the prices weren't high 
 enough. So Mary raised them." 
 
 "But," objected Prince Oducalchi, "you, and 
 especially your sisters, cannot go on being inn- 
 keepers forever. You, I understand, for in- 
 stance" — and his fine eyes twinkled with mirth 
 and kindness — "are thinking of getting married." 
 
 "I am," said Arthur, with so much conviction 
 that even his Cecily laughed at him. 
 
 274 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "When I divorced your poor father," said the 
 princess, "he happened to be enjoying one of his 
 terrifically rich moments. So, in lieu of alimony, 
 he turned over a really huge sum of money to me. 
 When I married Oducalchi and told him about 
 the money, he made me put it in trust for you 
 children, to be turned over to you after your 
 father's death. So you see there was never any 
 real need to start the Inn — but of course we were 
 in Africa and so forth and so on — If you've 
 finished your coffee, I'm dying to see the girls. 
 And I'm dying to tell them about the money, 
 and to send all the horrid guests packing!" 
 
 "Some of the horrid guests," said Arthur, 
 "won't pack. Of course, the girls think that I only 
 study frogs and plants; but it's a libel. When 
 two and two are thrust into my hands, I put 
 them together, just as really sensible people do. 
 You will find, mamma, a sad state of affairs at 
 the camp." 
 
 Princess Oducalchi began to bristle with inter- 
 est and alarm. 
 
 "Andrea," said his father, "have a canoe put 
 overboard for me." 
 
 Andrea rose at once and left the breakfast tent. 
 
 "Now, Arthur," cried the princess, "tell me 
 everything at once !" 
 
 275 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Gay," said Arthur, "is in love with a young 
 Enghshman, and knows that she is. He had to 
 go home to be made an earl; but I think she is 
 expecting him back in a few days, because she is 
 beginning to take an interest in the things she 
 really likes. Mary is in love with Sam Langham, 
 and he with her. They, however, don't know 
 this. Phyllis has forsaken her garden and become 
 a dead-game sport. This she has done for the 
 sake of a red-headed Bostonian named Herring. 
 Lee and a young fellow named Renier are neglect- 
 ing other people for each other. And our sedate 
 Maud, formerly very much in the company of 
 two fiery Southerners, is now very much in the 
 company of one of them, Colonel Meredith, of 
 South Carolina. The other Carolinian, Mr. Bob 
 Jonstone, sprained his wrist the other day, and it 
 seems that sister Eve was intended by an all- 
 wise Providence to be a trained nurse. But in 
 the case of those last mentioned there are cer- 
 tain mysteries to be solved." 
 
 At this moment Andrea appeared at the tent 
 opening and announced in his piping child voice: 
 "The canoe is overboard, papa." 
 
 276 
 
XXX 
 
 ANDREA stuck to his big brother like a leech, 
 1 jL and insisted upon crossing to The Camp in 
 the same canoe with him and Cecily. To Andrea 
 the possibility of newly engaged persons wishing 
 to be by themselves was negligible. Princess 
 Oducalchi, an old hand on inland waters, took 
 charge of the other canoe, and, like Arthur, in 
 spite of a look of resigned horror on her husband's 
 face, paddled standing up. 
 
 Arthur, too happy to make speed, was rapidly 
 distanced by his mother, whose long, graceful 
 figure and charming little, round head he regarded 
 from time to time with great admiration. 
 
 "She might be one of my sisters !" he exclaimed 
 to Cecily. 
 
 "If she only was," said Cecily, "and the others 
 were only exactly like her, then I shouldn't be a 
 bit frightened." 
 
 "Frightened.?" 
 
 "Wouldn't you be frightened if I had six great 
 angry brothers and you were just going to meet 
 them for the first time?" 
 
 277 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 Arthur smiled steadily and shook his head. 
 
 "I'm too happy to be afraid of anything." 
 
 "I'm not. The happier I feel the more fright- 
 ened I feel. And I can feel your sisters picking 
 me all to pieces, and saying what a horrid little 
 thing I am ! " 
 
 "Little.? Haven't I told you that you are 
 exactly the right size ? " 
 
 "No, you haven't." 
 
 "Then I tell you now. I leave it to Andrea. 
 Isn't she exactly the right size, Andrea ? " 
 
 "Then mamma is too tall." 
 
 "No, mamma is exactly the right size for a 
 mamma. In fact, Andrea," exulted Arthur, "on 
 this particular morning of this particular year of 
 grace everything in the world is exactly the right 
 size, except me. I'm not half big enough to con- 
 tain my feelings. So here goes ! " 
 
 And the sedate Arthur put back his head, which 
 resembled that of the young Galahad, and opened 
 his mouth, and let forth the most blood-curdling 
 war-whoop that has been sounded during the 
 Christian era. 
 
 Cecily clapped her hands to her ears, and Andrea 
 gazed upon his big brother with redoubled ad- 
 miration. 
 
 "Is that like Indians do?" he asked. 
 278 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Not at all," said Arthur; "that's what studi- 
 ous and domesticated young men do when they've 
 overslept, and wake up to find the sky blue and 
 the forest green." And once more he whooped 
 terrifically. And Wow, the dog, heard him, and 
 thought he had gone mad; and Uncas, the chip- 
 munk, ran to the top of a tall tree at full speed, 
 down it even faster, and into a deep and safe 
 hole among the roots. 
 
 Gay alone was at the float to receive the 
 Oducalchis; but now word of their coming had 
 gone about The Camp, and the remaining Dar- 
 lings could be seen hurrying up from various direc- 
 tions. 
 
 From embracing her mother, Gay turned with 
 characteristic swiftness and sweetness to Cecily, 
 who had just stepped from Arthur's canoe to the 
 float, flung her arms around her, and kissed her. 
 
 "I'm not quite sure of your name," she said; 
 "but I love you very much, and you're prettier 
 than all outdoors." 
 
 Then Maud came, followed by Eve and Mary, 
 with Lee next and Phyllis last, and they all 
 talked at once, and made much of their mother 
 and Cecily and Httle Andrea. And they all 
 teased Arthur at once, and showered Oducalchi 
 with polite and hospitable speeches. And he was 
 
 279 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 greatly moved, because he knew very well that 
 these beautiful maidens had loved their own 
 brilliant scapegrace father to distraction, and 
 that it was hard for them to look with kindness 
 upon his successor. 
 
 Never, I think, did a mere float, an affair of 
 planks supported by the displacing power of 
 empty casks, have gathered upon it at one time 
 so much beauty, so many delighted and delight- 
 ful faces. 
 
 And now came guides, servants, and camp 
 helpers, to whom Princess Oducalchi had been 
 a kind and understanding mistress in the old days, 
 and then, shyly and hanging back, hoping they 
 were wanted and not sure, Sam Langham, Re- 
 nier. Herring, the Carolinians, and others, until 
 the float began to sink and there was a laugh- 
 ter panic and a general rush up the gangway 
 to the shore. Here Wow, the dog, did a great 
 deal of swift wagging and loud barking, and 
 Uncas, the chipmunk, from the top of a tree said : 
 "I'm not really angry, but I'm scolding because 
 I'm afraid to come down, and nobody loves me 
 or makes much of me — ever!" 
 
 To Arthur, standing a little aside, beaming 
 with pride and happiness, and recording in his 
 heart every pleasant thing which his sisters said 
 
 280 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 to Cecily and every pleasant look they gave her, 
 came Gay presently, and slipped an arm through 
 his. 
 
 "I'm so glad," she said. 
 
 But there was something in her voice that 
 was not glad, and with one swift glance he read 
 her wistful heart. He pressed her arm, and said: 
 
 "I know one poor little kid that's left out in 
 the cold for the moment; one little lion that feels 
 as if it wasn't going to get any martyr; one little 
 sister that a big brother loves and understands a 
 little bit better than any of the others — So 
 there! At the moment every chacune has her 
 chacun, except one. Moments are fleeting, my 
 dear, and other moments are ahead. I, too, have 
 lived bad, empty, unhappy moments." 
 
 "But you always knew that she cared." 
 
 "And don't you know about him?" 
 
 "I only know that I've seen so many people 
 appear to be idiotically happy at the same time, 
 and it makes me want to cry." 
 
 "And for that very reason," said Arthur, "the 
 moments that are ahead will be the happier." 
 
 "I wonder," said Gay, and, "I know," said 
 Arthur, 
 
 281 
 
XXXI 
 
 THE fact of Arthur's sudden blossoming into 
 a full-fledged and emphatic figure of ro- 
 mance had an unsettling effect upon many of the 
 peacefully disposed minds in The Camp. It is 
 always so when friends, especially in youth, come 
 to partings of ways. Clement, who takes the 
 Low road, cannot but be disturbed at the thought 
 of those possible adventures which lie in wait 
 for Covington, who has fared forth by the High. 
 There was the feeling among many of the young 
 people in the camp that, if they didn't hurry, 
 they might be left behind. Nobody expressed 
 this feeling or acknowledged it or recognized in 
 it anything more than a feeling of unrest; but it 
 existed, nevertheless, and had its effect upon 
 actions and affections. 
 
 Renier had been leading a life of almost per- 
 fect happiness. For the things that made him 
 happy were the same sort of things that make 
 boys happy. No school; no parental obstructions 
 or admonitions; green-and-blue days filled from 
 
 282 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 end to end with fishing, sailing, making fires, 
 shooting at marks, and perfecting himself in 
 physical attainments. Add to these things the 
 digestion and the faculties of a healthy boy in- 
 terested neither in drink, tobacco, nor in any book 
 which failed to contain exciting and chivalrous 
 adventures, and, above all, a companion whose 
 tastes and sympathies were such that she might 
 just as well have been a boy as not. 
 
 They were chums rather than sweethearts. 
 It needed a sense of old times coming to an end 
 and new times beginning to make them realize 
 the full depth and significance of their attach- 
 ment for each other. 
 
 There were four of us once "in a kingdom by 
 the sea," and I shall not forget the awful sense of 
 partings and finality, and calamity, for that 
 matter, furnished by a sudden sight of the first 
 flaming maple of autumn. 
 
 "I think your mother's a perfect brick," said 
 Renier. "She makes you feel as if she'd known 
 you all your life, and was kind of grateful to you 
 for living." 
 
 "I'm rather crazy about the prince," said Lee. 
 "Of course, I oughtn't to be. But I can't help 
 it, and after all he's been awfully good to mamma. 
 Do you believe in divorce ? " 
 
 283 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "I never did until I saw your mother. She 
 wouldn't ask for anything that she didn't really 
 deserve." 
 
 "But it's funny, isn't it," said Lee, "that so 
 many people get on famously together until they 
 are actually married, and then they begin to 
 fight like cats ? I knew a girl who was engaged 
 to a man for five years. You'd think they'd get 
 to know each other pretty well in that time, 
 wouldn't you ? But they didn't. They hadn't been 
 married six months before they hated each other." 
 
 "And that proves," said Renier, "that long 
 engagements are a mistake." 
 
 "Smarty!" exclaimed Lee. 
 
 "I suppose your brother'll be getting married 
 right away, won't he .'' Haven't they liked each 
 other for ever so long.?" 
 
 "M'm!" Lee nodded. "But Arthur never 
 does anything right away. He does too much 
 mooning and wool-gathering. If a united family 
 can get him to the altar in less than a year they'll 
 have accomplished wonders. There's one thing, 
 though — when we do get him married good and 
 proper, he'll stay married. He's like that at all 
 games. It comes natural to him to keep his eyes 
 in the boat. He's got the finest and sweetest 
 nature of any man in this world, / think." 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Of course, you except present company?" 
 
 "Heavens, yes!" cried Lee, and they both 
 laughed. 
 
 Then, suddenly, Lee looked him in the eyes 
 quite solemnly. 
 
 "I wasn't fooling," she said, "not entirely. 
 I do think you're fine and sweet. I didn't always, 
 but I do now." 
 
 There was levity in Renier's words but not in 
 his voice. 
 
 "This," he said, "so far has been a perfectly 
 good Tuesday." 
 
 "Whatever we do together," said Lee, "you 
 always give me the best of it. It's been a good 
 summer." 
 
 "Do you feel as if summer was over, too?" 
 
 She liodded. 
 
 "That's funny, isn't it ? Because it's nowhere 
 near over, is it ? Maybe it's the excitement of 
 the Oducalchis' arrival and your brother's en- 
 gagement. It makes you sort of feel as if there 
 wasn't time to settle back into the regular life 
 and get things going again before the leaves fall." 
 
 He spoke. And from the fine striped maple 
 under which they sat there fell, and fluttered 
 slowly into Lee's lap, a great yellowing leaf 
 ribbed with incipient scarlet. 
 
 28s 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "That only means," said Renier — but there 
 was a kind of awe in his voice — "that this par- 
 ticular tree has indigestion." 
 
 And they sat for a time in silence and looked 
 at the leaf. And lo ! Arthur came upon them, 
 smiling. 
 
 "I was looking for you two," he said. "I 
 thought maybe you'd do me a great favor. I've 
 got to play host, and " 
 
 "Nobody would miss us!" exclaimed Lee. 
 
 "They wouldn't?" said Arthur. "I'll bet 
 you anything you like that, during your absence, 
 you will both be mentioned among the missing, 
 by name, at least five times." 
 
 "What'll you bet.?" asked Lee eagerly. "No- 
 body ever thinks of us. Nobody ever mentions 
 us. Nobody even loves us. What'll you bet .?" 
 
 "Anything you hke," said Arthur, "and if 
 necessary I will take charge of the five personal 
 mentionings and make them myself!" 
 
 Lee shook her head sadly, and said: "Once 
 an accepted lover, always a sure thing, man. 
 Oh, Arthur, how low you have fallen ! You 
 used to engineer bets with me for the sheer joy 
 of seeing me win them. But now you are on the 
 make, and it looks as if there was no justice under 
 heaven — Where do you want us to go and what 
 
 286 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 do you want us to do when we get there? Of 
 course, we'll go; we always do. Everybody sends 
 us on errands, and we always go. The longer the 
 errands the oftener we go. But nobody seems to 
 realize that we might enjoy spending one single 
 solitary afternoon sitting under a striped maple 
 and watching the green leaves turn yellow. No- 
 body even loves us ! But when we are dead 
 there will be the most frightful remorse and sor- 
 row. 
 
 Arthur leaned heavily against the stem of the 
 striped maple. 
 
 "Your sad case," he said, "certainly cries 
 aloud for justice and redress " 
 
 " 'Kid us along. Bo,' " said Lee; "we love it !" 
 
 "I want two people," said Arthur, "for whom 
 I have affection and in whom I have confidence, 
 to go at once to Carrytown in the Streak and 
 consult a lawyer upon a matter of paramount 
 importance and delicacy — " He hesitated, and 
 Lee said: 
 
 "I pray you, without further ado, continue 
 your piquant narrative." 
 
 Then Arthur, in a tone of solemn, confidential 
 eagerness : 
 
 "Look here, you two, go to Carrytown, will 
 you, and find out how quickly two people can get 
 
 287 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 married in the State of New York, and what they 
 have to do about licenses and things ? Will you ? 
 I'll be eternally obliged." 
 
 "Of course, we will," exclaimed Lee in sudden 
 excitement. "Are you game?" 
 
 "You bet your sweet life I'm game!" cried 
 the vulgar Renier. And a few minutes later the 
 two inseparable school-boyesque chums, whom 
 nobody mentioned, whom everybody sent on 
 errands, and whom nobody even loved, were 
 streaking across the lake in the Streak. 
 
 There was but the one lawyer in Carrytown 
 and the one stenographer. Their shingles hang 
 one above the other on the face of the one brick 
 building. 
 
 At the door of this building Lee suddenly drew 
 back. 
 
 "Look here!" she said. "Won't it look rather 
 funny if we march in hand in hand and say: 
 'Beg pardon, sir, but how do you get married in 
 the Stateof New York.?'" 
 
 "It would look funny," said Renier, "and I 
 shouldn't wonder if it made us feel funny. But 
 the joke would really be on the lawyer. We 
 could say 'Honi soil qui mal y pense' to him. Of 
 course, if it would really embarrass you " 
 
 "It wouldn't," said Lee, "really." 
 288 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 So they went up a narrow flight of stairs and 
 knocked on the door of room Number Five. 
 There was no answer. So they pushed open the 
 door and entered a square room bound in sheep- 
 skin with red-and-black labels. There was no- 
 body in the room, and Lee exclaimed: 
 
 "Nobody even loves us." 
 
 "He'll be in the back room," said Renier. "I 
 know. Once I swiped a muskmelon from a 
 lawyer's melon-patch, and had to see him about 
 it. He was in the back room " 
 
 " 'Counting out his money' ? " 
 
 "No; he was drinking whiskey with a judge 
 and a livery-stable keeper, and they were all 
 spitting on a red-hot stove." 
 
 "What did he do about the melon ?" 
 
 "He told me to can the melon and have a 
 drink. I had already canned the melon as well 
 as I could (I wasn't educated along scientific 
 lines) and my grandmother had promised me any 
 watch I wanted if I didn't drink till I was twenty- 
 one." 
 
 "Did you.?" 
 
 "I did not." 
 
 " Did you get the watch ? " 
 
 "I did not." 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 289 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Grandma reneged. She said she didn't re- 
 member making any such promise." 
 
 They pushed open a swinging door and entered 
 the back room. 
 
 Here, in a revolving chair, sat a stout young 
 man with a red face. Upon his knees sat a stout 
 young woman with a red face. And with some- 
 thing of the consistency with which a stamp ad- 
 heres to an envelope so the one red face appeared 
 glued to the other red face. 
 
 The red face of the stout young man had one 
 free eye which detected the presence of intruders. 
 And the stout young man said: 
 
 " Caught with the goods ! Jump up, Minnie, 
 and behave yourself!" 
 
 Minnie's upspring was almost a record-breaker. 
 
 Renier began to stammer: 
 
 "I b-b-beg your pardon," he said, "but I 
 thought you might b-b-be able to tell me how 
 to g-g-get married in New York State." 
 
 The stout young man rose from his revolving 
 chair; he was embarrassed almost to the point of 
 paralysis, but his mind and mouth continued to 
 work. 
 
 "You've come to just the right man," he said, 
 "at just the right time, for information of that 
 sort. First, you hire a stenographer; then you 
 
 290 
 
They pushed open a swinging door and entered the back room 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 get a mash on her. Then she sits in your lap — 
 she will do it — and then you kiss her. And then 
 you get a Hcense, and then you curse laws and red 
 tape for a while, and then you wed. Now, what 
 you want is a license ?" 
 
 "Exactly," said Renier, "It — it's for another 
 fellow." 
 
 "Friend of yours?" queried the stout young 
 man. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "And you want a license for him, not for 
 yourself?" 
 
 Renier nodded. 
 
 "At this moment," said the stout young man, 
 "there are assembled on the long wharf, chewin' 
 tobacco and cursin', some twenty-five or thirty 
 marines. Would you mind just stepping down 
 and telling that to them ? " 
 
 "I am quite serious," said Renier. "It is my 
 friend who wants to get married." 
 
 "And yo« don't?" 
 
 Renier stammered ineffectually. 
 
 "Then," said the stout young man, with a 
 glance at Lee (of the highest admiration), "you're 
 a gol-darn fool." 
 
 And forthwith he was so vulgar as to burst 
 into a sudden snatch of song: 
 
 291 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Old man Rule was a gol-dam fool, 
 For he couldn't see the water in the gol-darn pool!" 
 
 At the finish of this improvisation the dreadfully 
 confused Minnie went, "Tee-hee!" 
 
 And, horror of horrors, that charming boylike 
 companion, Lee Darling, behind whom were 
 well-bred generations, also went suddenly, "Tee- 
 hee." 
 
 "Licenses," said the stout young man, "are 
 applied for in room Five. After you, sir; after 
 you, miss." 
 
 And, with a waggish expression, he turned to 
 Minnie. 
 
 "Be back in five minutes," he said; "try not 
 to forget me, my flighty one." 
 
 When they were in the front room, he said: 
 
 " Before a license is issued, the licensor must be 
 satisfied as to the preliminaries. Now, then, 
 what can you tell me as to lap sitting and kiss- 
 mgs r 
 
 "You," cried Lee, in a sudden blaze of indigna' 
 tion, "are the freshest, most objectionable Amer- 
 ican I ever set eyes on." 
 
 The stout young man turned appealingly to 
 Renier. 
 
 "You wouldn't say that," he said; "you'd 
 say I was just typical, wouldn't you, now ? And 
 
 292 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 I wish you would tell her that, though in these 
 backwoods I have been obliged to eschew my 
 Chesterfield, I've got a great big heart in me and 
 mean well." 
 
 During the last words of this speech he became 
 appealingly wistful. 
 
 "Why," said he to Lee, "just because Minnie 
 and me is stout, don't you think we know heaven 
 when we see it — the empyrean ! Yesterday she 
 threw me down, and I says to her: 'Since all my 
 life seems meant for "fails" — since this was 
 written and needs must be — my whole soul rises 
 up to bless your name in pride and thankful- 
 ness. Who knows but the world may end to- 
 night ?' To-day she sits in my lap and we see 
 which can hug the hardest. Ever try that ?" 
 
 And suddenly the creature's voice melted and 
 shook. He was a genuine orator, as we Americans 
 understand it, having that within his powers of 
 voice that defies logic and melts the heart. 
 
 "Wouldn't you," he said, "even like to sit in 
 his lap ? Wouldn't you love to sit in his lap and 
 be hugged .?" 
 
 Lee looked to Renier for help, as he to her. 
 And they took a step apiece directly toward each 
 other, and another step. It was as if they had been 
 hypnotized. Suddenly Renier caught Lee's hand 
 
 293 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 in his, and after a moment of looking into his 
 eyes she turned to the stout man, and sang in 
 miraculous imitation of him : 
 
 "Young Miss Mule is a gol-darn fool. 
 But you made her see the water in the, gol-darn pool." 
 
 "I'll just get a license blank," said the stout 
 young man. "They're in the back room." 
 
 "Thank you," said Renier — "if you will, 
 Mr. -" 
 
 "Heartbeat!" flashed the stout young man, 
 and left them. And he wasn't lying or making 
 fun that time. For that was his really truly 
 name. And in northern New York people are 
 beginning to think that he is by way of being up 
 to it. 
 
 Suddenly Lee quoted from a joke that she and 
 Renier had in common. She said, as if sur- 
 prised : 
 
 " 'Why, there's a table over there !' " 
 
 And Renier, his voice suddenly breaking and 
 melting, answered: 
 
 " 'Why, so there is — and here's a chair!' " 
 
 And Mr. Heartbeat, making a supreme effort 
 to live up to his name, did not return with the 
 license blank for nearly eight minutes. During 
 
 294 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 those minutes, Renier resolved that in every room 
 in his home there should be at least one revolving 
 chair. And they came out of Mr. Heartbeat's 
 office no longer boyish companions but lovers, a 
 little startled, engaged, and licensed to be married. 
 
 29S 
 
XXXII 
 
 " T EE, dear," said Renier, "you don't feel that 
 
 I J that fellow buncoed you into this, do you ? 
 Please say you don't." 
 
 "Of course, I wasn't buncoed," she said, and 
 with infinite confidence. "Why, I've seen the 
 thing coming for months! Haven't you V 
 
 "I've seen a certain girl begin by being very 
 dear and grow dearer and dearer — I wish we could 
 walk back. I'm afraid of motor-boats, fresh 
 water, and sudden storms on mountain lakes. 
 And I hereby highly resolve that after this peril- 
 ous trip I shall never again do anything dangerous, 
 such as watching people going up in aeroplanes, 
 such as sitting around with wet feet, such as eat- 
 ing green fruit, such as — Oh, my own darling 
 little kiddie," he whispered with sudden trembling 
 emotion, "but this life is precious." 
 
 "George and Charley are looking at us," said 
 Lee, "with funny looks. I wonder if they are 
 on.? I wonder if everybody will be on — ^just by 
 looking at us. Do I look foolish ? " 
 
 296 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "You do not, but I think you are foolish to 
 take a feller like me, and that's why I'm going to 
 dance down this gang-plank and snap my fingers 
 and shock George and Charley out of their 
 senses." 
 
 During this first part of the Streak's swift rush 
 from Carrytown to The Camp a tranquil silence 
 came over them. Lee, I think, was searching 
 her heart with questions. But she had no doubt 
 of her love for Renier; she doubted only her 
 capacity to be to him exactly the wife he needed. 
 And I know that Renier just sat, brazening the 
 critical glances pf George and Charley, and 
 adored her with his eyes. 
 
 And what were his thoughts .? Would you give 
 a penny for them ? He leaned closer to her, and 
 in a whisper that thnucd them both to the bone, 
 he quoted from Poe: 
 
 "And neither the angels in heaven above. 
 Nor the demons down under the sea. 
 Can ever dissever my soul from the soul 
 Of the beautiful Annabel Lee." 
 
 And a little later he said: 
 
 "I never knew till to-day what poetry is for. 
 I thought people who wrote it were just a little 
 simple and that people who read and quoted it 
 were perfect jackasses." 
 
 297 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "And what is poetry for ?" asked Lee, smiling 
 
 "Poetry," he said, "is for you!' 
 
 As they neared the camp the sentiment in 
 their hearts yielded a Httle to excitement. 
 
 "When we tell 'em," said Lee, "it's going to 
 be just like a bomb going off. And everybody 
 will be terribly envious." 
 
 "Nobody even loves us," laughed Renier, and 
 he quoted : 
 
 "Among ten million, one was she. 
 And surely all men hated me." 
 
 And like a flash Lee answered: 
 
 "Among ten million he was one, 
 So all the ladies fought like fun." 
 
 "One thing is sure," said Renier, "we've more 
 than executed Brother Arthur's delicate and 
 confidential commission. What we don't know 
 about getting married in the State of New York 
 simply doesn't exist." 
 
 Arthur, eager and impatient, was like a more 
 famous person, watching and waiting. 
 
 "Well," he said, "thank you a thousand times. 
 And what did you find out?" 
 
 "We've brought you a license blank," said 
 Lee; "you simply fill it out with your names and 
 
 298 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 ages and things — like this — " And she placed a 
 second paper in her brother's hands. 
 
 And conspicuous on the paper he saw Lee's 
 name and Renier's. His hands shook a little, 
 and his face became very grave and tender. 
 
 "Say you're surprised!" exclaimed Lee; "say 
 you were never so surprised in all your bom 
 days!" 
 
 "But I'm not surprised," said Arthur. "Come 
 here to me !" He opened his arms to her and she 
 ilung herself into them. Over her shoulder and 
 hiding head Arthur spoke to Renier. 
 
 "No man," he said, "knows his own heart, 
 and no woman knows hers. Nobody can promise 
 with honesty to love forever. For sometimes 
 love dies just as simply and inexplicably as it is 
 born. But a man can promise to be good to his 
 wife always, and tender with her and faithful to 
 her, and if he is a gentleman he will make those 
 promises good." 
 
 "I make those promises," said Renier simply; 
 "will you give her to me .?" 
 
 "It is for no man to give or to withhold," said 
 Arthur. "The gods give. The duty of brothers 
 is just to try to help things along and to love their 
 sisters and to be friends with their brothers-in- 
 law." 
 
 299 
 
XXXIII 
 
 AND now/' said Lee, "I think I'll tell 
 1. mamma." 
 
 On the way to find the princess, Lee and Renier 
 encountered Herring. He appeared to be hurry- 
 ing, but something in their faces brought him to 
 a sudden stop. 
 
 Their attempts to meet his inquiring gaze 
 with indifference proved unavailing, for he closed 
 one eye and said: 
 
 "Which of you two has swallowed the family 
 canary? Or has each of you swallowed half of 
 him?" 
 
 The guilty pair were unable to preserve their 
 natural coloring. They turned crimson, and each 
 showed a courteous willingness to let the other be 
 the first to speak. 
 
 "You've been to Carry town," said Herring. 
 "I saw you start. You raced down to the float. 
 And in your rivalry to see which should board 
 the Streak first, it looked as if you were going to 
 knock each other overboard. Renier, he won, 
 and you, Miss Lee, were annoyed. When you 
 
 300 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 returned from Carrytown, you had long, pensive, 
 anxious faces. Renier stepped ashore and, in 
 helping you ashore, gave you both hands. When 
 a girl whom I have seen climb a tree after a baby 
 owl accepts the aid of a man's two hands in 
 stepping from a soHd boat to a solid float, there is 
 food for thought. Having landed, you pro- 
 ceeded direct to the head of the Darling family 
 and were for some time engaged with him in 
 solemn discourse. A paper was shown him. 
 From a distance it looked as if it might be some 
 sort of a license — a license to hunt and be hunted, 
 perhaps " 
 
 "But it wasn't," said Lee suddenly, and she 
 thrust her hand under Renier's arm. "If you 
 must know, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, it was a license 
 to love and be loved. So there!" 
 
 She was no longer blinking, nor was Renier. 
 They looked so loving and proud that it was 
 Herring's turn to feel embarrassment. Then he 
 said: 
 
 "I only meant to be a tease. If I'd really 
 thought anything — I wouldn't, of course; none 
 of my darn business. But I'm awfully glad. 
 I've hoped all along it would happen. It's the 
 best ever. Am I to be secret as the grave or can 
 I tell — any one I happen to meet?" 
 
 :?oi 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Give us ten minutes to tell mamma," said 
 Lee, "and then consider your lips unsealed." 
 
 Herring had drawn from his pocket a stop- 
 watch and set it going. 
 
 "Ten minutes," he said. "Thanks awfully! 
 And good luck!" 
 
 He had turned, waving his free hand to them, 
 and darted away. 
 
 Lee laughed scornfully. 
 
 "Any one he happens to meet!" she exclaimed. 
 "He's headed straight for the garden, and there 
 he'll just happen to meet Phyllis. She was 
 speaking of her tomatoes at breakfast, and saying 
 that they ought to be ripening and that she was 
 going to have a look at them." 
 
 "Lee, darling," said Renier, "nobody can 
 possibly see us. And when Mr. Heartbeat left 
 us alone in the front room it was a frightfully 
 long time ago. And sometimes a fellow's arms 
 get to aching with sheer emptiness, and — and, 
 'this is the forest primeval, the murmuring pines 
 and the hemlocks ' " 
 
 "Are mostly birches and larches hereabouts," 
 said Lee, and, with a happy laugh, she drifted 
 into a pair of arms that closed tightly about her. 
 And, "It doesn't matter if anybody does see us," 
 she said. 
 
 302 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 It was characteristic of Herring that he should 
 enter the garden by leaping over the fence. It 
 was also characteristic that he should catch his 
 foot on the top rail and fall at full length in a 
 bed of very beautiful and much cherished phlox. 
 
 Phyllis, in the path near by, gazed at the 
 fallen man with mirth and anxiety. 
 
 "Hurt?" she asked. 
 
 He rose and examined a watch which he was 
 carrying in his right hand. 
 
 "Crystal smashed," he said, "but still going. 
 And I've got to wait four minutes ! " 
 
 "Why have you got to wait four minutes.?" 
 
 "Because I promised to wait ten, and six of 
 them have elapsed. Oh, but won't you be ex- 
 cited when I am at liberty to speak! It's more 
 exciting than when we were lost in the woods, 
 crossing the swamp that had never been crossed 
 before. Meanwhile, let us calm ourselves by talk- 
 ing of something prosaic. How are the tomatoes 
 getting on ?" 
 
 Phyllis put up her hand in a smiling militarv 
 salute. 
 
 " 'General Blank's compHments,' " she said, 
 " 'and the colored troops are turning black in 
 the face.' " 
 
 "My favorite breakfast dish," said Herring, 
 
 303 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "is grilled tomatoes, preceded by raw oysters and 
 oatmeal." 
 
 "Isn't it nice," said Phyllis, "that there is 
 money in the family after all, and we're going to 
 give up The Camp as an inn ?" 
 
 "It would have been given up anyway," said 
 Herring. "A determined body of men had so 
 resolved in secret. There's one minute left." 
 
 For some reason they found nothing to say 
 during the whole of that minute. When the 
 last second thereof had passed forever, Herring 
 said simply: 
 
 "Your sister Lee and Renier are going to be 
 married." 
 
 I cannot describe the expression that came 
 over Phyllis's face. It wasn't exactly jealousy; 
 it wasn't exactly the expression of a beautiful 
 female commuter who has just missed her train. 
 It wasn't a wild look, or a happy look, or a sad 
 look. Perhaps it was a little bit more of an ach- 
 ing void look than anything else. 
 
 Whatever its exact nature, the wily* Herring 
 studied it with an immense satisfaction. And 
 then his heart began to flurry in a soft of panic. 
 
 "Lee!" exclaimed Phyllis, "married! Why, 
 they're nothing but children !" 
 
 She felt something encircle her waist. She 
 304 
 
"Lee!" exclaimed Phyllis, "married! Why, they're nothing but 
 children !" 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 looked down and saw a hand and part of an arm. 
 
 "What are you doing?" she asked, in a sort 
 of daze. 
 
 "I'm trying to establish a hold on you," said 
 Herring, and toward the end of so saying his 
 voice broke; "and you're not to feel lonely and 
 deserted with me standing here, are you ? " 
 
 For a moment it seemed to Herring that Phyllis 
 was going to extricate herself from his encircling 
 arm. She achieved, indeed, a quarter revolution 
 to the left and away from him. 
 
 "Don't, Phyllis!" he cried.' "Don't do it! 
 I couldn't bear it!" 
 
 Then she ceased revolving to the left, stopped, 
 and from a startled, uncertain, half-frightened 
 young person became suddenly a warmly loving 
 young person, warmly loved, who revolved sud- 
 denly to the right, and became the recipient of a 
 sudden storm of ecstatic exclamations and kisses. 
 
 And then, nesthng close to the one and only 
 man in the world, she listened with complete 
 satisfaction to his efforts to explain to her just 
 how beautiful and wonderful and good she was. 
 
 30s 
 
XXXIV 
 
 WHEN Lee and Renier, locked in each 
 other's arms, stood in the forest primeval, 
 they were mistaken in imagining themselves to 
 be unobserved. 
 
 A short half-hour before, Mary Darling had 
 received a proposal of marriage. But Mr. Sam 
 Langham, usually so worldly-wise, had erred, 
 perhaps, in his choice of time and place. What- 
 ever a huge kitchen, bright with sunlight upon 
 burnished copper, may be, it is not a romantic 
 place. And, worse than this, Mary herself was 
 not in a romantic mood. Certain supplies due by 
 the morning express had not arrived. Chef was 
 at the telephone shouting broken French to the 
 butcher in Carrytown; one of the kitchen-maids 
 had come down with an aching tooth, and the 
 other had been sent upon an errand from which 
 she should have long since returned. 
 
 "Oh," exclaimed Mary, as Mr. Langham 
 entered, smiling, "everything is in such a mess! 
 I don't believe there's going to be any lunch 
 to-day for any one. And I think I shall have a 
 nervous breakdown ! " 
 
 306 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "I told you you would long ago," said Lang- 
 ham, "if you didn't rest more and take things 
 easier. What does it matter if things go wrong 
 once in a while ? And if there isn't going to be 
 any lunch, I'm glad, for one. I was thinking of 
 not eating mine, anyway. And if Fm not hungry, 
 you can be pretty sure that nobody else is hungry. 
 I tell you it hurts me to see you work so hard. I 
 admire it and I bow down, but it hurts. You tell 
 Chef to do the best he can, and you come for a 
 brisk walk with me. We'll walk up an appetite, 
 and " 
 
 "I can't possibly," said Mary. "I've got to 
 stand by." 
 
 "Then you go for a walk and I'll stand by. 
 Only trust me. /'// see that nobody goes hun- 
 
 gry." 
 
 She did not appear to have heard his offer, and 
 Mr. Langham spoke again, with a sudden change 
 of tone. 
 
 "I'd like to take you out of this. I'd like to 
 make everything in the world easy for you, if 
 you would only let me. But you know that. 
 You've known it all along. And knowing it, 
 you've never even shown that it interested you; 
 and so I suppose it's folly for me to mention it. 
 But a man can't give up all his hopes of happiness 
 
 307 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 in this world without even stating them, can he ? 
 I've hoped that you might get to care a little 
 about me " 
 
 Mary interrupted him with considerable im- 
 patience. 
 
 "Really," she said, "with Chef shouting at 
 the telephone, and all, I don't know what you are 
 driving at." 
 
 At that Mr. Langham looked so hurt and so 
 unhappy and woebegone that Mary was touched 
 with remorse. 
 
 "I didn't realize you were in earnest," she said. 
 "I'm sorry I've hurt your feelings, but it's no use. 
 I'm sorry — awfully sorry; but it's no use." 
 
 "I'm sorry, too," said Langham; "sorry I 
 spoke; sorrier there was no use in speaking; 
 sorriest of all that I'm no good to any one. But 
 as long as I had to come a cropper, why, I'm glad 
 it was for no one less wonderful than you. Will 
 you let things be as they were ? I won't bother 
 you about my personal feelings ever again by a 
 look or a word." 
 
 After he had gone Mary stood for a while 
 with knitted brows. Chef had finished tele- 
 phoning. The kitchen was in silence. Suddenly 
 she broke this silence. 
 
 "Chef," she exclaimed, "I'm no use at all! 
 308 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 You'll just have to do the best you can about 
 lunch by yourself." 
 
 And she left the kitchen with great swiftness, 
 looking like an angel on the verge of tears. 
 
 Chefs shining red face divided into a white 
 smile, and he began to bustle about and make a 
 noise with pots and pans and carving tools, and 
 to sing as he bustled: 
 
 " Sur le pont d' Avignon 
 L'on y danse. Von y danse, 
 Sur le pont d' Avignon 
 L'on y danse tout en rand — 
 Les belles dames font comm'fa, 
 Et puis encore comm'ga." 
 
 It is probable that in his gay Parisian youth 
 Chef had known a good deal about les belles 
 dames. He had latterly given much attention 
 to the progress of Miss Darling's friendship with 
 Mr. Langham, and that this same progress had 
 received a sharp setback under his very nose con- 
 cerned him not a little. Chef possessed alto- 
 gether too much currency that had once be- 
 longed to that lavish tipper, Mr. Langham. And 
 Chef did not wish Mr. Langham to be driven 
 from the kitchen and The Camp. He wished 
 Mr. Langham to become a permanent Darling 
 
 309 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 asset — like himself and the French range. And 
 so, half singing, half speaking, and furiously- 
 bustling, he announced: 
 
 "I'll show her how little difference she makes. 
 Without advice or dictation, practically without 
 supplies of any kind, I shall arrange, nom de Dieu! 
 a luncheon which, for pure deliciousness, will not 
 have been surpassed during the entire Christian 
 era. I shall hint to her that I tolerate her in my 
 kitchen because I have known her since she was 
 a little girl, but I shall make it clear by words 
 and deeds that her presence or absence is not of 
 the least importance. Let her then turn for com- 
 fort to the worthy, generous, and rich Mr. Lang- 
 ham, for whom the mere poaching of an egg is an 
 exquisite pleasure !" 
 
 And he frowned and began to think formidable 
 and inventive thoughts about matters connected 
 with his craft and immediate needs and neces- 
 sities. 
 
 Mary Darling had, of late, often imagined her- 
 self receiving an offer of marriage from Mr. 
 Langham. That is badly expressed. Only the 
 most insufferable and self-sufficient of men make 
 offers of marriage. Your true, modest, and chiv- 
 alrous lover gets down on his real or figurative 
 knees and begs and beseeches. She had, then, 
 
 3IO 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 often imagined her hand in the act of being be- 
 sought by Mr. Langham. Being a practical young 
 woman, she had pictured this as happening (re- 
 peatedly) at sunset, by moonlight, in the depths 
 of romantic forests or on the tops of romantic 
 mountains. And some voice in her (some very 
 practical voice) told her that it never should have 
 happened in a kitchen. 
 
 Mr. Langham's "sweet beseeching," instead of 
 "moving her strangely," had made her rather 
 cross. And such tenderness as she usually had 
 for him had fled to cover. But now, as the clean, 
 green forest closed about her, she had a reaction. 
 She came to a dead stop and realized that she had 
 been through an emotional crisis. Her heart was 
 beating as if she had just finished a steep, swift 
 climb. And her heart was aching too, aching for 
 the kind and gentle friend and well-wisher to 
 whom she had been so inexplicably cold and 
 cutting. It was in vain to mourn for that dia- 
 mond of a heart which she had rejected with so 
 much finahty. He had said that he would never 
 "bother" her again {Bother her ! The idea !), and 
 he never would. He was a man of his word, Sam 
 Langham was. Perhaps, even now he was causing 
 his things to be packed with a view to leaving The 
 Camp for ever and a day. But what could she 
 
 3" 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 do ? Could she go to him (in person or by writing) 
 and in his presence eat as much as a single mouth- 
 ful of humble-pie? No, she could not possibly 
 do that. Then, what could she do ? Well, with 
 the usual negligible results, she could cry her eyes 
 out over the spilt milk. 
 
 She went swiftly forward, the shadows dappling 
 her as she went, and her heart swelling and swell- 
 ing with self-pity and general miserableness. 
 Thoughts of Arthur and his happiness flashed 
 through her mind. The thought that she, Mary 
 Darling, unmarried, would in the course of a few 
 years be called an old maid, caused her a panicky 
 feeling. She pictured herself as very old (and 
 very ugly), exhibiting improbable Chinese dogs at 
 dog-shows and scowling at rosy babies. And I 
 must say she almost laughed. 
 
 The path turned sharply to the right and dis- 
 closed to Mary's eyes two young people who 
 stood locked in each other's arms and rocked 
 slightly from side to side — rocked with ineffable 
 delight and tenderness. 
 
 She stood stock-still, in plain view if they had 
 looked her way, until presently they unlocked arms, 
 drew a little apart, and had a good long look at 
 each other, and then turned their backs upon that 
 part of the forest and departed slowly. 
 
 312 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 Whither she was going, Mary did not know. 
 But she went very swiftly and had upon her face 
 the expression of a beautiful female commuter 
 who has arrived at the station just in time to see 
 her train pull out. But this expression changed 
 when she found her path blocked by the diminu- 
 tive house in which Sam Langham lived, and 
 saw Sam Langham, a look of wonder on his face, 
 rise from his big piazza chair and come toward her. 
 
 "Lee and Renier are going to be married," 
 she exclaimed, all out of breath, "and I didn't 
 mean to be such a brute! And I wouldn't have 
 hurt you for anything in the world ! " 
 
 Sam Langham only looked at her, for he was 
 afraid to speak. 
 
 "I'm just an old goose," said Mary humbly, 
 but very bravely, "and I take everything back. 
 And if you meant what you said, Sam, and want 
 to begin all over again, why, don't just stand there 
 and look at me." 
 
 And presently she was ashamed of herself for 
 having been so forward, and so she pursued the 
 feelings of shame to their logical conclusion and 
 hid her face. 
 
 And now, for the first time, she realized how 
 hard she had worked ever since The Camp was 
 changed into an inn to make it a go, and how 
 
 313 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 much she needed rest and comforting and a 
 masculine executive to lean on. 
 
 "Who said," murmured the ecstatic Langham, 
 "that nothing good ever came of liking good 
 things to eat ? " 
 
 "Sam," said Mary, "I'm so happy I don't care 
 if lunch is burned to a cinder." 
 
 It wasn't. Out of odds and ends of raw 
 materials, and great slugs and gallons of culi- 
 nary genius. Chef produced a lunch that tran- 
 scended even Mary's and Langham's belief in 
 him. 
 
 But it was Arthur who insisted that champagne 
 be opened; and perhaps the champagne made the 
 lunch seem even more delicious than it really was- 
 
 Maud and Eve had already discounted Arthur's 
 engagement and Lee's. They had not, it is true, 
 learned of the latter without feeling that if they 
 didn't hurry they would miss their train; but 
 they had disguised and fought off that feeling 
 until now they were their gay and natural selves. 
 It remained for Mr. Langham to shock them sud- 
 denly into a new set of emotions. 
 
 "I should be obliged," said he, rising to his feet, 
 with a glass of champagne in his hand, "if every- 
 body would drink the health of the happiest man 
 present." Arthur and Renier looked very self- 
 
 314 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 conscious. But Mr. Langham concluded: "And 
 that man is myself. I have the honor to announce 
 that, beyond peradventure, the loveliest and 
 sweetest girl in all the world " 
 
 And at that Mary blushed so and looked so 
 happy and beautiful that everybody shouted with 
 joy and surprise and laughter, and drank cham- 
 pagne, and tossed compliments about like shuttle- 
 cocks. And Arthur and Renier and Langham had 
 a violent dispute as to which was the happiest; 
 and decided to settle the dispute with sabres at — 
 twenty paces. 
 
 Her first burst of surprise and excitement and 
 pleasure having passed. Eve Darling experienced 
 a sudden sinking feeling. She felt as if all the 
 people she most loved to be with were going away 
 on a delightful excursion and that she was being 
 left behind. It was at this moment, while the 
 uproar was still at its height, that she heard the 
 shaken voice of Mr. Bob Jonstone in her ear. 
 
 "How about us ?" he demanded. 
 
 "How about us — what ?" she answered. 
 
 Then she felt her hand seized and held in the 
 secret asylum furnished by the table-cloth, and 
 there stole over her the solaceful feeling of having 
 been asked at the last moment to go upon the de- 
 lightful excursion. 
 
 31S 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Eve?" 
 
 "Eve, darling — is it all right?" 
 
 "All right." 
 
 And then up shot Mr. Jonstone like a projec- 
 tile from a howitzer, and he cried aloud, his ha- 
 bitual calmness and lazy habit of speech flung to 
 the winds. 
 
 "You're not the only happy men in the world," 
 he shouted. "I'm happier than the three of you 
 put together, I am ! Because my Darling is the 
 best and most beautiful of all Darlings, and if any 
 man dares to gainsay that, let him just step out- 
 side with me for five minutes — that's all." 
 
 Colonel Meredith's hair bristled like the mane 
 of a fighting terrier. 
 
 "Do you mean to say," he whispered to Maud 
 in a sort of savage whisper, "that I've got to 
 swallow that insult without protest ? " 
 
 It was on the tip of Maud's tongue to say that 
 she didn't know what he meant. But how could 
 she say that when she knew perfectly well? 
 
 "Only give me the right to answer him," con- 
 tinued the sincere warrior. He rose to his feet. 
 "Is it yes — or no?" 
 
 "It's yes — yes," exclaimed Maud and, horrified 
 with herself, she leaned back blushing and full 
 of wonder. 
 
 316 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "Mr. Jonstone — Mr. Bob — Jonstone!" cried 
 Colonel Meredith. 
 
 Mr. Jonstone's attention was presently at- 
 tracted, and he gave his cousin a glittering look. 
 
 " I'll be only too delighted to step outside with 
 you for five minutes," said Colonel Meredith. 
 
 And the cousins glared and glared at each 
 other. But whether or not they were really in ear- 
 nest, if only for a moment, will never be known; 
 at any rate, each of them appeared suddenly to 
 perceive something comic about the other, and 
 both burst into peals of schoolboy laughter. 
 
 Only Gay's happiness seemed a little forced, and 
 her mother's. 
 
 3*7 
 
XXXV 
 
 GAY hardly slept at all. She was at her 
 window half the night asking troubled ques- 
 tions of the stars and of the moon and of the moon- 
 light on the lake. She had not, during the sum- 
 mer, taken her sisters' affairs very seriously, 
 perhaps because she was so seriously engrossed 
 with her own. She had, even in her heart, almost 
 accused them of flirting and carrying on lest time 
 hang heavy on their hands. Her own romance 
 she had supposed all along to be real, the others 
 mere reflections of romantic places and situations. 
 But it began to look as if only her own romance 
 had been spurious. It was a long time since she 
 had heard from Pritchard. He had told her very 
 simply that he was now the Earl of Merrivale, and 
 that, as soon as certain things were settled and 
 arranged, he intended to return to America. 
 After that, there had been no word from him of 
 any kind. She tried to comfort herself with the 
 thought that if he was that kind of man — ^blow 
 hot, blow cold — she was well rid of him, and she 
 failed dismally. 
 
 3i8 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 A man is in love with a certain girl. He learns 
 that she is vain, gay, extravagant, heartless, and 
 going to marry some other man. Does any of this 
 comfort him ? Not if he is in love with her, it 
 doesn't. Not a bit. 
 
 So Gay could say to herself: "He's thoughtless 
 and inconstant, and I'm well out of it!" She 
 could say that, and she did say that, and then she 
 buried her face in her pillow and cried very quietly 
 and very hard. 
 
 She was up before the sun. 
 
 It would have taken more than one night of 
 wakefulness and weeping to leave marks upon that 
 lovely face which sudden cold water and the res- 
 olution to suffer no more could not erase. 
 
 But she had not rowed a mile or more before 
 the color in her cheeks was really vivid again and 
 the whites of her eyes showed no traces of tears. 
 
 She did not know why she was rowing or whither. 
 It was as if some strong hand had forced her from 
 bed before sunrise, forced her into her fishing- 
 clothes, forced her into a guide boat, placed oars 
 in her hands, and compelled her to row. 
 
 She even smiled, wondering where she was 
 going. 
 
 "I can go anywhere I like," she thought; "but 
 I don't want to go anywhere in particular, and yet 
 
 319 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 I am quite obviously on my way to somewhere or 
 other. I'm Hke AHce in Wonderland. I think 
 I'll go to Carrytown and get the morning mail." 
 
 But she had no sooner beached toward Carry- 
 town than the distance there seemed unutterably 
 long, especially for a rower who had yet to break- 
 fast. 
 
 "I know," thought Gay at last; "I'll row to 
 Placid Brook and see if the big trout is still feed- 
 ing in his private preserve. I'll land just where 
 we did before and cross the meadow and spy on 
 him from behind a bush. I wish I'd brought some 
 tackle. I'd like to catch him and cook him for 
 my breakfast — so I would !" 
 
 Upon this resolution, the work of rowing be- 
 came very light. It was as if the force which had 
 started her upon the excursion had had Placid 
 Brook in mind all the time. 
 
 Having laid her course for the meadow at the 
 mouth of Placid Brook, she kept the stern of the 
 boat in direct line' with a distant mountain-top, 
 and so held it. The sun was now peeping over 
 the rim of the world, and here and there morning 
 breezes were darkening and dappling the bur- 
 nished surface of the lake. 
 
 Now and then, as she neared the meadow. Gay 
 glanced over her shoulder, once for quite a long 
 
 320 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 time, resting on her oars, because she thought she 
 saw a doe with a fawn. They turned out to be 
 nothing more tender than a couple of granite 
 rocks. And once again she rested on her oars 
 and looked for a long time — not this time upon 
 the strength of a hallucination, but of an im- 
 pulse. 
 
 She followed this inconsequential act with a 
 long sigh, and enough strokes of the oar to bring 
 her to land. 
 
 When she stood upright on the meadow she 
 could see the very spot from which Pritchard had 
 cast for the big trout. And she saw (and had a 
 curious dilating of the heart at the same moment) 
 that that particular spot of meadow was once 
 more occupied by a human being — or were her 
 eyes and her breakfastless stomach playing tricks ? 
 
 A young man in rusty meadow-colored clothes 
 appeared to be kneeling with his back toward her. 
 She advanced swiftly toward him, curious only of 
 a great wonder and an indescribable (and possibly 
 fatal) beating of her heart. And suddenly she 
 knew that her man was real and no hallucination, 
 for she perceived at her feet the stub of a Turkish 
 cigarette, still smoking. Then she called to him: 
 
 "Halloo, there!" 
 
 The Earl of Merrivale started as if he had been 
 321 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 shot at, then leaped to his feet and turned to-j 
 ward her with a cry of joy. 
 
 "What are you doing here?" he cried. 
 
 And they had approached to within touching 
 distance of each other. 
 
 "I don't know," she said. "What are you?" 
 
 "It was too early to pay calls," he said, "so I 
 thought I'd have one more whack at the big char 
 and bring him to you for a present. But tell me 
 — does our bet still stand ? " 
 
 He looked at her so tenderly and lovingly and 
 hopefully that she hadn't the heart to be anything 
 but tender and loving herself. 
 
 "The bet still stands," she said, "if you win. 
 I've missed you terribly." 
 
 "I took him," said the earl. "I was just weigh- 
 ing him when you called. He weighs a lot more 
 than three pounds. So I win." 
 
 "Yes, you win." 
 
 "And the bet still stands ?" 
 
 She nodded happily. 
 
 "And you won't renege — ^you'll pay? You'll 
 be Countess of Merrivale ?" 
 
 " If you want me to be," she said humbly. 
 
 " If I want you to be ! " 
 
 And she had imagined herself so often in his arms 
 that she was not now surprised or troubled to 
 find herself there. 
 
 322 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 "I was so unhappy," she said; "and now I'm, 
 so happy." 
 
 And after a little while she said : 
 
 "I'd Uke to see him." 
 
 Presently they stood looking down at the great 
 trout. 
 
 "He's done a lot for us, hasn't he.?" said Gay. 
 "He was the beginning of things. And it seems 
 sort of a pity " 
 
 "He's still breathing. He'll live if we put him 
 back. Shall we?" 
 
 "Yes, please." 
 
 There was plenty of life and fight in the old 
 trout. He no sooner felt that water was some- 
 where under him than he gave a triumphant, 
 indignant flop, tore himself from Merrivale's 
 hands, and disappeared with a splendid, smack- 
 ing splash. 
 
 "Good old boy!" laughed Merrivale. 
 
 "And yet," said Gay, "it's a pity that we 
 couldn't take him back to camp and show him off. 
 He was the biggest trout I ever saw." 
 
 "He wasn't a trout, dear," said Merrivale; 
 and he grinned lovingly at her. "He was a char." 
 
 "Of course he was," said Gay humbly; "I 
 forgot." 
 
 323 
 
XXXVI 
 
 I WISH I could write first, "The Seven Darlings 
 lived happily ever afterward," and then the 
 word "Finis." But I cannot end so easily and 
 maintain a reputation for veracity. They can't 
 have lived happily afterward until they are dead 
 — can they? At the moment they have just 
 closed The Camp after the summer and scattered 
 to their winter homes; that is, all of them except 
 Gay. 
 
 The Camp, of course, is no longer an inn. 
 They run it on joint account for themselves and 
 for their friends. And they have delightful times. 
 
 Colonel Meredith has built a tremendous house 
 on his ancestral acres, and during the winter 
 Arthur and his wife, the Herrings, the Reniers, 
 the Jonstones, and the Langhams are apt to make 
 it their headquarters. 
 
 Gay and her young man were to have visited 
 the Merediths this winter. There was going to be 
 a united family effort to discover the buried silver 
 which Mr. Bob Jonstone sold to his cousin, but 
 of course the great war has upset this excellent 
 
 324 
 
The Seven Darlings 
 
 plan, together with a good many million other 
 plans, even more excellent and important. 
 
 The Earl of Merrivale is fighting somewhere 
 in the wet ditches — Gay doesn't know exactly 
 where. She herself, a red cross on her sleeve, 
 is with one of the field-hospitals, working like 
 a slave to save life. Because her husband is 
 an Englishman, she didn't think that she could 
 ever be kind to a German or an Austrian, but 
 that turned out to be a whopping big error of 
 judgment. They all look alike to her now, and 
 her heart almost breaks over them. But I don't 
 know what will become of her if anything happens 
 to Merrivale. I think poor little Gay would just 
 curl up and die. He is all the world to her, just 
 as she is to him. 
 
 Well, they are only one loving couple out of a 
 good many hundred thousands. The times are 
 too momentous to follow them further or waste 
 words and sympathy on them. The world is 
 thinking in big figures, not in units. 
 
 Only a sentimentalist here and there regards as 
 more important than empire and riches the little 
 love-affairs that death is hourly ending, and the 
 little babies who are never to be born. 
 
 325