CHAPTER II
INTERRUPTIONS
"Come in, girls! Grace, put your chocolates--what are left of them--overon the mantel. Now sit down, and I'll tell you all about it."
Betty drew forward some easy chairs for her guests, who distributedthemselves about the handsome library, in more or less artisticconfusion. Betty herself took a hard, uncompromising sort of chair, ofteakwood, wonderfully carved by some dead and forgotten Chinese artist.The seat was of red marble, and the back was inlaid with ivory, in theshape of a grinning face.
"Do keep yourself close against it, Betty dear," begged Grace, who satopposite her friend. "That Chinese face positively hypnotizes me."
"Well, I want you all to be hypnotized into quietness, long enough tolisten to me," spoke Betty, with a charmingly commanding air.
Grace Ford, obediently depositing her chocolates on the mantel, save afew which she "sequestered" for use during the talk, had tastefully"draped" herself on a comfortable couch. Mollie, with a mind to coloreffect, had seated herself in a big chair that had a flame-coloredvelvet back, against which her blue-black hair showed to advantage (likea poster girl, Betty said), while Amy, like the quiet little mouse whichshe was, had stolen off into a corner, where she was half-hidden by apalm.
"And, now to begin at the beginning," announced Betty. "Oh, I know youwill just love it at Ocean View!" and she gave a little squeal ofdelight.
"I wish we were as sure of going as you are," murmured Grace, puttingout the tip of her red tongue, to absorb a drop of chocolate from along, slim finger.
"Just you wait," said Betty, half-mysteriously.
And while she is preparing to plunge into the details concerning the newsummer plans, I will take just a moment to tell my new readers somethingabout the other books of this series, and give them an idea of the girlsthemselves.
In "The Outdoor Girls of Deepdale; Or, Camping and Tramping for Fun andHealth," the originating idea of the four girls was set forth. They feltthat they were spending too much time indoors, and they decided to livemore in the glorious open. They felt that they would have better healthand more fun in doing this, and events proved that they were right, atleast in part.
As for the girls themselves, they were Grace Ford, Mollie Billette,Betty Nelson and Amy Stonington-Blackford, or _nee_ Blackford, if youdislike the hyphen. But that latter form of name does not indicate thatAmy was married.
In the opening story Amy's name was Stonington, the ward of John andSarah Stonington. But there was a mystery in her past, and it was solvedwhen, in addition to unraveling the mystery of a five-hundred-dollarbill, Amy found a long-lost brother, whose name was Henry Blackford.
So Amy's real name was found to be Blackford, though she continued tolive with the Stoningtons, and more than half the time her chums calledher by the name under which they had known her so long.
Amy was a girl of quiet disposition, and while she had not beenaltogether happy during the time she was unable to solve the mysteryabout her identity, when that problem had been cleared up she was of amuch brighter disposition. Still, the years of quiet had had theireffect on her.
Betty Nelson, often called the Little Captain, because she was such aborn leader, was the only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Nelson, theformer a rich carpet manufacturer. Betty loved, to "do things," aswitness her assumption of the summer plans of her chums.
Grace Ford was tall and slender, and often spoken of as a "Gibson" type,by those who admire that artist's peculiar, and always charming,conception of young womanhood. Grace lived with her father and mother,the other member of the family being her brother Will, a hasty,impulsive lad, whose character had, more than once, gotten him intotrouble, to the no small annoyance of Grace. Grace had one failing, ifsuch it can be called. She was exceedingly fond of chocolates and othersweets, and was never without some confection in her possession.
And then there was Billy--as Mollie Billette was nicknamed. Mollie wasthe daughter of a well-to-do widow, Mrs. Pauline Billette, whose Frenchancestry you could guess by her name and by her appearance and manner.Mollie was a bit French herself. There were two other children, thefunny little twins, Paul and "Dodo," as Dora called herself in herlisping fashion. Paul and Dodo were at once the loving care and despairof Mollie and her mother.
So much for the four chums, who were known as the Outdoor Girls.
After their activities, as set down in the first volume of this series,they were next heard of at Rainbow Lake, where, in Betty's motor boat,the _Gem_, they had some stirring and exciting times.
But, stirring as those times were, they were equalled, if not excelled,when Mollie became possessed of a motor car, and took her chums on atour which ended only when the mystery of the haunted mansion of ShadowValley was solved.
Glorious days on skates and iceboats followed, when the outdoor girlswent to a winter camp. And then came a contrast when it was learned thatMr. Stonington had purchased an orange grove in Florida, and that Amyhad the privilege of inviting her friends to spend the winter in theSunny South.
For what happened there I refer you to the volume dealing with ourfriends' activities amid the palms. Sufficient to say that theythoroughly enjoyed themselves. They had returned to Deepdale, their hometown on the Argono River, just as spring was budding forth.
And now, this glorious day, the four girls had met once again, and wereready for something new, which something seemed to be offered by BettyNelson.
"You see it's this way, girls," went on the Little Captain, as sheexplained matters. "Mother just loves the sea, and she has been wantinga permanent place there for some time. Papa has been looking about, andhe heard of Edgemere, a beautiful big cottage, almost on the beach. Hesaid he would buy it if mamma liked it, and so she and I went to look atit to-day."
"You don't mean to say you have been to Ocean View, and back, this sameday!" exclaimed Grace, in surprise.
"Yes. We went down on the first train this morning--up before the sun,really, and we arrived before noon. It did not take us long to decideabout the cottage. Mamma and I leased it, with the privilege of buyingin the fall, if we like it. Then we came back, and on the way, in thetrain, I asked mamma if I couldn't have you girls down for the summer."
"And she didn't faint at the prospect?" asked Mollie, mischievously.
"The idea!" cried Betty. "Of course not! She was delighted! So, as soonas our train arrived, which was only a few minutes ago, I startedlooking for you. As I came up from the station, leaving mamma to go homein the car, I spied you three just turning into the candy store."
"Grace is the only one who will 'turn into' a candy store," spokeMollie. "She will actually turn into a drop of chocolate some day, ifshe isn't careful."
"Smarty!" mocked the fair one.
"Well, I found you there, at any rate," went on Betty, "and you know therest; or, rather, you will when I tell you about Edgemere!"
"Edgemere--what's that?" asked Amy.
"It isn't a new kind of confection, even if Grace thinks so," laughedMollie.
"I--I'll throw something at you if you don't stop!" threatened theGibson girl, but as all she had in her hand was a chocolate, and as shenever would have devoted that to such a purpose, she once more curled upluxuriously on the sofa.
"Edgemere--on the edge of the ocean," translated Betty. "It's the nameof our cottage. Now, girls, I'm just dying to have you see it. I broughtback some picture postcards of the place. Ocean View is the dearest,quaintest old fishing village you can imagine. It's like Provincetown,somewhat, only different, and----"
"What's that?" suddenly interrupted Grace.
"The boys," spoke Mollie. "As if that awful racket could be anythingelse."
There sounded on the porch of the Nelson home the heavy tramp of severalfeet, and the murmur of eager voices.
"Are the girls here?" someone asked.
"That's my brother, Will--bother! I suppose I have to go home," saidGrace, petulantly.
"I'll go see," offered Betty. "It sounds like
more than Will."
"It is!" cried Mollie, peering under the window shade. "There's Amy'sbrother, besides Allen Washburn, Roy Anderson and--oh, there's thatjohnny--Percy Falconer. What in the world can have brought them allhere?"
"Natural attractions--the magnet--as the flower draws the bee--and so onand so on," murmured Betty. "I'll ask them in," and she went to meet theboys whose voices could now be heard in the hall.