CHAPTER XXIV
WHAT TO DO WITH EUNICE
"Bab, will you come out on the hotel driveway a minute?" Ruth asked ofBarbara. Miss Sallie and the girls were back in Lenox. Little Eunice was,for the present, staying at their hotel with them.
"I am not dressed, Ruth, dear. I shall join you in a minute," Bab calledback to her. "What's the matter?"
"Wait and see, lady mine," sang Ruth. "But do, do hurry. Mollie, Graceand I are waiting for you, and there is another friend with us whom youwill be de-lighted to see!"
"Ralph, or Hugh?" Bab guessed.
"Neither one this time!" Ruth declared. "But now I must fly back. If youwish to know what is going on, hurry along."
On the hotel driveway Bab first discovered Mr. Winthrop Latham with AuntSallie and Eunice. Eunice had her hand in her uncle's. They had grown tobe great friends.
A little farther on Barbara spied Ruth, Mollie and Grace. Near them stooda stable boy. He was leading a beautiful little horse about by thebridle. It was Beauty.
Barbara looked around for Dorothy or Gwendolin Morton. However, neitherof the girls could be seen.
"Here comes Bab," called Mollie.
But Barbara had already run up to Beauty.
"O girls, I believe she knows me!" Bab exclaimed in delight. The littlehorse neighed as Bab stroked its glossy neck. It put its pretty nose downnear her hand and sniffed. Beauty plainly expected a lump of sugar as areward for her morning call.
"How did you happen to bring the horse over?" Bab asked of the stableboy.
"The master said I was to put the horse in the hotel stables until itcould be shipped," the boy explained.
"Oh, some one has bought Beauty!" Bab cried, in distress. "I am so sorry!How could Dorothy Morton ever have been willing to sell her?"
Barbara noticed that Grace, Ruth and Mollie were smiling broadly. Mr.Winthrop Latham, Aunt Sallie and Eunice had drawn near.
"Why shouldn't Dorothy Morton sell Beauty to a girl who cares more forthe horse than Dorothy does?" Ruth inquired.
Bab shrugged her shoulders. "Oh, very well!" she pouted. "If Dorothythinks there is any other horse in the world to compare with Beauty, shedeserves to lose her. My sweet little Beauty, good-bye!" Barbara cried.
The stable boy grinned. Everyone was smiling.
"What's the joke?" Bab asked.
"Beauty is yours, Bab!" cried Mollie.
Bab looked at Mollie indignantly. "It isn't fair to tease me, Mollie,"she declared. "You know how much I really care."
"But Mollie is not teasing you, Bab," Ruth interrupted. "Read that tag!"
Surely enough, on a card fastened by a blue ribbon to Beauty's bridle,Bab read her own name and her sister's.
"But we cannot accept such a gift from the Ambassador!" Bab protested,feelingly.
"The Ambassador did not give us Beauty, Bab!" exclaimed Mollie.
But Barbara had thrown her arms around Ruth's neck. "You are just thedearest, sweetest friend in the world, Ruth Stuart!" she cried. "And I'dlove you more than ever if I could. But Mollie and I cannot accept Beautyfrom you. You have done too much for us."
"Well, Bab," laughed Ruth, "you are the most difficult person in theworld to bestow a present upon; but I am not guilty."
"Then who has given Beauty to us?" demanded Bab.
"No other person than Cousin Betty in St. Paul!" answered MistressMollie. "Do you remember, Bab? Mother wrote that Cousin Betty meant togive us a beautiful present when she came home. The present was to be ahorse, and Cousin Betty is going to give us the money to take care of it.Mother was to buy the horse when she returned to Kingsbridge. When youwrote of your ride on Beauty, mother wrote to Ruth to inquire if thehorse were for sale. The Ambassador and Dorothy were both willing to sellher to us, but to no one else."
"I do not know what we have ever done to deserve such good fortune."Barbara spoke so solemnly that her friends all laughed.
"But I have more news, and better news for you, Bab!" cried Mollie,triumphantly, "mother is willing for us to bring Eunice home with us forthe winter!"
"Dear little Eunice!" Bab said, kissing the Indian girl.
"I shall never cease to be grateful to you and to your mother for thiskindness," declared Mr. Winthrop Latham, taking Barbara's hand. "You knowthe difficult situation in which I am placed in regard to Eunice. I darenot take the child home, at present, to live with my sister-in-law and mynephew. It seemed even more cruel to send Eunice to boarding school whilethe child knows nothing of the world. But, if your kind mother will keepher with you, let her go to school, and teach her just a little of whatyou know, I shall be deeply in your debt."
"No such thing, Mr. Latham!" laughed Mollie. "We are going to be in yourdebt for lending us Eunice. Mother will just love her."
"But I am coming back next summer to see you and my grandmother?" Eunicebegged. "You said, if I were very good, you would take me to ride in yourballoon some day."
Mr. Latham laughed. "Eunice will never be happy until she learns to fly,"he declared.
"I hate good-byes, don't you, Aunt Sallie?" Barbara asked Miss Stuartthat night. Ruth, Grace and Mollie were standing on a trunk trying tofasten it. "The Automobile Girls" were to leave Lenox early the nextmorning.
"Barbara, remember Ruth's motto for 'The Automobile Girls.' We are neverto say good-bye!"
"What then, Aunt Sallie?" asked Bab, Grace, Mollie and Ruth in chorus.
"'The Automobile Girls' are always to say," declared Miss Sallie, gently,"not good-bye, but _Auf Wiedersehen_."
POSTSCRIPT
Nor need the reader break this rule against saying "good-bye," for oursame splendid "Automobile Girls" are soon to be met with again, underastonishing and startling circumstances, and on historic ground. The nextvolume in this series will be published under the title: "THE AUTOMOBILEGIRLS ALONG THE HUDSON; Or, Fighting Fire in Sleepy Hollow." In thisspirited narrative, the girls will be shown doing the work of trueheroines, yet amid many scenes of fun and humor. Every reader will agreethat the coming book is "the best yet."
The End.
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