CHAPTER IX
MR. BOBBSEY'S STORY
"Snow Lodge! Oh, Papa, could we go there?" cried Flossie, now wideawake.
"What fun we could have!" exclaimed Freddie, whose eyes were now as wideopen as ever they had been.
Bert and Nan said little, but there was a look of pleased anticipationon their faces. They, too, realized what fun they could have in a big,old-fashioned farmhouse in winter, particularly when the building wasrefitted with a furnace, and had big fireplaces in it.
And Bert was wondering, more than ever, what strange reason Mr. Carfordcould have for not wanting to go back to lovely Snow Lodge.
"Say we can go, Daddy!" pleaded the two smaller twins, as they tried toget into their father's lap.
"Well," said Mr. Bobbsey slowly, "this is certainly very kind of, you,Mr. Carford, but I am not sure I can accept it. I am very much obligedto you, however--"
"Accept! Of course you can accept!" exclaimed the aged man. "There's noreason why you and your family shouldn't have a holiday vacation at SnowLodge. The place has been closed up a long time, but a day or so, with agood fire in it, would make it as warm as toast. I know, for I've beenthere on the coldest winter days. Now you just plan to go up there withthe wife and children, and have a good time. It might as well be used asto stand idle and vacant, as it is."
"What do you say, Mother?" and Mr. Bobbsey looked at his wife. "Shall wego to Snow Lodge?"
"The children would like it," said Mrs. Bobbsey slowly.
"Like it! I should say we would!" cried Nan. "I can take some picturesof the birds with my new camera--the one I am going to get forChristmas," she added with a smile.
"Oh ho! So you are going to have a camera for Christmas; are you?"laughed her father.
"I--I hope so," she replied.
"And I can build a snowhouse and live in it like the Esquimos," addedBert.
"Then I'm going to live with you!" cried Freddie. "Please go to SnowLodge, Mamma!"
"Yes, take the youngsters up," urged Mr. Carford. "At least don't decideagainst it now. I'll leave the keys with you, and you can go any timeyou like. I don't suppose it will be until after Christmas, though, forSanta Claus might not be able to get up there," and he pinched Freddie'sfat cheek.
"No, don't go until after Santa Claus has been here," urged Flossieseriously, and her mother laughed.
"Well, I must be going, anyhow," said Mr. Carford, after a pause. "Itwill be dark before I get back, and the storm seems to be coming upquickly. Emma will worry, I'm afraid. Now you just think it over aboutSnow Lodge," he concluded, "and I guess you will go, Mr. Bobbsey. Youknow my reasons for not wanting to set foot in the place, so I don'tneed to tell you.
"Now, good-bye. Go to Snow Lodge, and have a good time, and when youcome back, children, tell me all about it. If I can't go there at leastI like to hear about the place."
Mr. Carford went out to his team, through the now driving snow. Helittle realized what a joyful story the Bobbsey twins were to bring backto him from Snow Lodge, nor how it was to change his feeling in regardfor his boyhood home.
"Papa," said Bert soberly, after the visitor had gone, leaving the keysof Snow Lodge behind him, "what is the secret about Mr. Carford and thatwinter place? And you're mixed up in it, I'm sure."
"What makes you sure, Bert?"
"Well, I've been thinking so ever since that day I helped to catch hisrunaway horses, and he said this was the second time a Bobbsey had triedto do him a favor.'"
"Had your favor anything to do with Snow Lodge, Papa?" asked Nan, as sheput her arms about his neck.
"Well, yes, daughter, in a way. And, since Mr. Carford has told you partof the story, I may as well tell you the other half, I suppose."
"Oh, another story!" cried Flossie, in delight.
"Yes, we must be quiet and listen," said Freddie, as he drew up a stoolclose to his father.
"It isn't a very nice sort of story," went on Mr. Bobbsey. "In fact itis rather sad. But I'll tell it to you, anyhow. Did Mr. Carford tell youabout when he was a boy?"
"Yes, and how he went away, and came back rich, and found all his folksgone and the farm sold," said Nan.
"Yes. Well, I guess he told you then, how he took his nephew, HenryBurdock, to live with him. He loved Henry almost as if he were his ownson, and did everything for him. In fact he planned to leave him all hismoney. Then came a quarrel."
"What about?" asked Bert softly.
"Over some money. Henry was a young man who liked to spend considerable,and though he was not bad he was different from the country boys. Mr.Carford gave him plenty of spending money, however, and did not ask himwhat became of it.
"Then, one day, a large sum of money was missing from Snow Lodge. Mr.Carford accused Henry of taking it, and Henry said he had seen nothingof it. Then came a quarrel, and Mr. Carford, in a fit of temper, droveHenry away from Snow Lodge. There were bitter words on both sides, andafter that Mr. Carford closed up the place, and has not been near itsince. That is the part of the story Mr. Carford did not tell you."
"But where do you come in, Daddy?" asked Nan. "Did you find the missingmoney?"
"No, Nan, though I wish I had. But I was sure Henry had not taken it,and I tried to make Mr. Carford believe so. That is what he meant by metrying to do him a favor. But he would not have it so, and, for a time,he had some feeling against me. But it passed away, for he realized thatI was trying to help him.
"But since then Mr. Carford and his nephew, Henry Burdock, have notspoken. As I said, Mr. Carford drove the young man away from Snow Lodge.It was in a raging storm and Henry might have frozen, only I found himand took him to a hotel. I helped look after him until he could get astart. It was a very sad affair, and it has spoiled Mr. Carford's life,for he loved Henry very much."
"And did Henry really take the money?" asked Freddie. "That was wicked,I think."
"You must not say so, Freddie," spoke Mr. Bobbsey. "We do not know thatHenry did take it. No one knows. It is a mystery. I, myself feel surethat Henry did not, but I can not prove that he did not take it. Hisuncle believes that he did. At any rate the money disappeared."
"And where was it when Mr. Carford last saw it?" asked Nan.
"Mr. Carford left it on the mantlepiece in the big living room of SnowLodge," said Mr. Bobbsey. "Henry was the only other person, besidehimself, who was in the room, and in some way the money was taken. Ieven went so far as to have a man from the police station look all overthe house, hoping he could find the roll of bills somewhere, but it didnot come to light. And so, ever since, there has been a bad feelingbetween Henry and his uncle."
"What does Henry Burdock do now?" asked Bert.
"He roams about the woods, as a sort of guide and hunter. Sometimes, Iam told, he comes close to Snow Lodge and looks down on it from adistant hill, thinking of the happy days he spent there."
"Maybe we'll see him when we go up," said Freddie. "If I do I'll givehim all the money in my bank so he can be friends with his uncle again."
"No, Freddie," said Mrs. Bobbsey solemnly. "You must not speak of whatyou have just heard. It is a sad story, and is best forgotten. Both Mr.Carford and Henry feel badly enough about it, so it will be best not tomention it. Just forget all about it if we go to Snow Lodge."
"But we are going; aren't we, Papa?" asked Bert. "The trip to the woodswould do us all good."
"Well, I think we might take advantage of Mr. Carford's kind offer,"said Mr. Bobbsey. "Yes, we'll plan to go to Snow Lodge!"
"Hurrah!" cried Nan and Bert, grasping each other by the hands andswinging around in a sort of waltz.
"Can we take our sleds," asked Flossie.
"I'm going to take my skates--maybe I'll skate all the way there--Icould--on the lake!" exclaimed Freddie, and he wondered why the otherslaughed.
"Well, we'll make our plans later," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Now, children,we'll have an early supper and then you must all get to bed. Christmaswill come so much earlier if you go to sleep now."
"Oh, jo
lly Christmas!" cried Nan. "I can hardly wait!"