Front matter (continued 4)

"Wait for me, Aunt Pen!"

"No, no, my dear! Too many of us may embarrass Mrs. Forrester! You must stay here."

"As if I hadn't found Renée in the first place," thought Pat resentfully as they went away.

Even the thought that the mystery of the "lost baby" had been solved--and solved in such an amazing way, brought no comfort--rather a sense of envy! All the others had had such exciting things happen to them! Sheila had had the lost formulas. And now Renée had the excitement of finding a grandmother! Nothing at all ever happened to her! To console herself she scornfully tore to bits the first four chapters of her story. She'd never try to be a famous author--she'd just grow up and do silly things like Celia always did--they were fun, anyway! And Aunt Pen and Renée, when they realized that she was never, never going to write any more stories, would feel very sorry!

That was Pat's state of mind when she sat down to eat her lonely dinner.

Then the doorbell rang. Pat heard a man's voice talking to Jasper. She heard Jasper step toward the library. She was immensely curious--for even a very unhappy person can be curious! Daddy was not at home--it was too early in the evening for callers--who could it be? She pushed her chair back and tip-toed toward the hall.

An hour later Aunt Pen and Renée, returning home, were met at the door by a wildly-excited Pat. Her blues had disappeared like magic--the expression of her face, every motion of her body indicated that she had a secret! She held her fingers to her lips to forbid a sound. Then seizing them both by the elbows she whispered into their amazed ears:

"Oh, the bestest, grandest surprise you ever, ever knew!" And Pat danced up and down and giggled deep in her throat to make them know that grandmothers and lost babies were as nothing compared to the surprise she had for them within the house!

"Pat Everett, are you crazy?" whispered Aunt Pen back. "Aren't you going to let us in?"

"Of course!" answered Pat with importance. "You may walk in and go at once into the library! But you must shut your eyes tight and promise not to peek until I count----"

"It's your mother!" declared Penelope, eagerly.

"Nopey--it's a bigger surprise than that! No fair guessing, only you couldn't anyway! Now come in and shut your eyes!"

So they had to do just what Pat told them to do! And Pat, happier than she had ever been in her life, dancing rather than stepping, led them into the library. She had no chance to count--a sudden, quick exclamation made them both open their eyes!

For some one had said: "Pen--Everett!" But Renée's sharp cry drowned out the sound. She saw, standing a little behind Capt. Allan, thin in his shabby French uniform, the empty sleeve pinned to his tunic, Emile--her beloved Emile!

In an instant she was in the tight clasp of his arm--they were both crying--poor little Renée's heart could stand no more! And as she clung to him her fingers were feeling across his face and through his hair and over the cloth of his uniform as though to tell her it was not a dream but true!

Pat was so happy for Renée that she found her own eyes wet and turned away to keep back the tears. And there was Aunt Pen, the color of a red poppy, slipping out of Capt. Allan's arm!

"I might have known, Miss Pat, that you and I were old friends--because I used to think I had a sort of solid claim on this aunt of yours--only I didn't know she was your aunt!"

With a triumphant look Pat tried to tell Aunt Pen that she had guessed it all a long time ago but Aunt Pen, as radiant as a school girl, was beaming upon Capt. Allan and Capt. Allan was shaking Pat's hands as though he had to do something violent.

Then Aunt Pen went to Renée and kissed Emile--for, in spite of the deep lines that his suffering had carved on his face--he looked like a boy!

"It is just as though God was working miracles," she whispered to Renée.

There was so much to tell that no one knew just where to begin! They all knew, now, that Capt. Allan's French soldier, whom he had found in the old peasant's cottage, was Emile. Then Emile, still holding Renée in the circle of his arm as though he could not bear to let her go for one little moment, told how he and the private who had been left by the scouting party, had had to separate in order to get back to their line.

"I had a presentiment that I was going to be killed--I gave him my wallet with all my papers and the sketches I had made. That was why they thought it was I who had been killed!"

No one wanted to spoil the joy of the evening by asking Emile to tell of his experiences in the German prison. It was enough that he was there with Renée once more--in America! Everyone's eyes were very bright and every now and then everyone was very still, as though the happiness was too great to be spoken in mere words!

Then Mr. Everett came in and the surprise was a surprise all over again, and Pat, because it had been her surprise, was allowed to tell him all about it. He shook hands very warmly with Capt. Allan and Emile, and laid his arm tenderly over the boy's shoulder as though to express things he could not say!

They laughed at Capt. Allan because they caught him so often staring at Renée!

"What have you done to her? It's hard to believe she's the same little girl I picked up at St. Cloud!"

"It's Penelope's work," answered Mr. Everett; "she's been doing some experimenting!"

Renée, indeed, was a different child. She had grown taller, sturdier, her face had lost its delicacy of line and color; now she had, too, in her step and look the spirit and vigor that only healthy, happy living can give.

Suddenly Aunt Pen exclaimed: "Goodness me, Renée, we've forgotten to tell about----"

"The Lost Baby!" cried Pat

So there were new surprises all around! It seemed more like a fairy story than ever--to find, in a few hours, a grandmother and a brother! Emile was deeply interested; he listened gravely. He knew perhaps more of his mother's sacrifices and hardships than Renée had known; for a moment, deep in his heart, he found it hard to feel kindly toward the proud woman who had made his mother unhappy. Then as Aunt Pen described her lonely life in the old house, the dreary days shut in with her grief and her remorse, just as Renée had, he felt a wave of tenderness.

"She is going to begin right away making the old house bright and pretty and nice to live in! And think how happy she'll be to know Emile has come back!" cried Renée.

"Well, it looks as though I was the one who had lost out all around," broke in Capt. Allan, although he did not look one bit unhappy as he said it. In fact, his eyes were fastened on Aunt Pen's face with a sort of eager questioning in them that kept the blushes coming and going on her cheeks. "I thought I had gotten together a nice little family! However, I shall go on with my plan of fixing up that old place in the mountains and maybe, sometime, I can induce my ward and her brother and her grandmother to make a poor, lonely ex-guardian a visit!"

"And me!" put in Pat, eagerly, for she was certain he was in earnest.

"And me!" laughed Aunt Pen with a look that seemed to flash back an answer to Capt. Allan.

"I think you girlies had better go to bed!" Mr. Everett had noticed that Renée's eyes were looking very tired. She had had a most exciting day. And on the morrow she must go again to the grandmother's with Emile.

Pat consented to go to bed only when Capt. Allan and Emile promised to spend the night with them!

She and Renée whispered together for a long time. Pat must hear just how Renée felt the moment she knew the cross old lady was her very own grandmother!

"I don't believe she'll be cross when she's happy," confided Renée. "She laughed and it sounded real jolly! And even Elsbeth looked different after that."

And wasn't it wonderful to have a brother come back?

"I don't mind his losing his arm," Renée whispered, "for I love him so much I want to do things for him and now he'll have to let me!"

Long after Renée had fallen asleep Pat lay wide awake. There was so much to think about she was sure she could not ever shut her eyes again. And she could hear the steady murmur of voices downstairs--she wished she knew what they were talking about! Then a queer little disturbing thought commenced to eat at her heart. Renée, alone in the world, had been very close to her. She had seemed to feel that, because she had found Renée, Renée belonged to her--was something even closer than a friend or a sister! And now Renée had suddenly acquired a family and a home! As the tiny thought grew bigger and bigger and into a real Fear she sat up very straight and leaning across to Renée's bed, shook her violently.

"Ren! Ren!" and her voice rang tragically. "Promise me, on your scout's honor, that you'll always love me more'n--everybody--except Emile!"

Renée thought she was dreaming but she promised sleepily.

"Of course--I'll love you--more'n everybody--'cept Emile--on my scout's honor!" and just as, on that other night, months before, when Aunt Pen had tip-toed into their room to see that the little stranger was comfortable, they fell asleep, clasping hands.

CHAPTER XXIII

THE BEST OF ALL

To Pat it seemed as though everything exciting was happening at once! For the next morning's mail brought a letter from Mother saying that she and Celia would start north in a day or two.

Pat and Renée had wakened very early. The first thought in each mind was to know if it was all true--that Emile had come back--or was it a dream?

Outside of their window a friendly robin was trilling a gay song as though the joy of the spring-time was bursting his proud little throat. Through the window the sun shone with added brightness and warmth and delicious earthy smells greeted the girls.

"Oh, isn't it just grand to be alive? Let's dress fast and be the first ones down!" And Pat, because the sun and the birds and the spring freshness made her very happy, also burst into a gay snatch of song. Aunt Pen and Capt. Allan were late for breakfast. When the others had almost finished they came in from a brisk walk through the park, with red cheeks and amazing appetites.

Aunt Pen, dropping into the chair next to Pat, slipped a roll of paper into her hand and whispered:

"There's something that belongs to you, Patsy! I'm ashamed that I didn't return it before. But now you can write the last verse!"

Pat, immensely curious, peeped at the paper. It was the lost ballad! And what did Aunt Pen mean about the last verse? Both Aunt Pen and Capt. Allan were looking at her with eyes full of laughter. Pat felt her color creeping to her eyebrows and crushed the innocent verses in her hand. But Aunt Pen checked her rising indignation.

"Patsy, dear, I found 'The Secret Sorrow' on the floor of the library one night after we had had a pow-wow. I recognized the heroine--by a guilty conscience, I guess--my hair is not exactly 'of raven hue' or my eyes 'pellucid blue'! But I loved it, my dear, and I tucked it away, for I couldn't bear to have you write the sad ending that was coming! What if you had made her thrust a steel dagger into her breast! Or have had her leap from one of those mighty crags over which the knight, her brother hunted!"

Capt. Allan had been furiously scribbling some words on the back of an envelope. Now he looked up, very seriously.

"Will you forgive Aunt Pen if I write the last verse for you?" he asked, and then, not waiting for an answer, read with dramatic emphasis:

"Back came the lover, wise and bold,

To snatch his lady, grown cross and old,

To a mountain cave he'll carry his prey,

And there they'll be happy for ever and aye!"

Everyone laughed at Pat's disgust.

"I think that's very silly and Aunt Pen isn't cross and old a bit and----" she stopped suddenly. "Do you mean that's true?" she demanded.

It was Aunt Pen now who grew very red. But she nodded and turned toward her brother.

"We have a surprise! A long time ago Will and I were engaged--my last year in college! Then we let foolish things come between us and we have lost a good many years of happiness, but----"

"Now we're going to make up for it!" put in Capt. Allan. "And I won't be lonely in that place in the mountains, after all!"

"Oh, Aunt Pen, I'm so glad!" and Pat threw two strong young arms around Penelope's neck. Everyone talked at once. Renée, looking at Emile and then at the other happy faces about her, thought that all the joy in the world must have crowded there within the four walls of the sunny dining-room!

"It'll be just as though we were really related," she put in, shyly. "For I'll always feel that Capt. Allan is my guardian and Emile belongs to me and Pat belongs to Aunt Pen!"

"Don't leave me out, Mouse!"

"Oh, no!" and Renée's contrition was tragic. "For you are the very best man in the world and belong to all of us!"

Pat, who had been performing a sort of ceremonial dance among them all, stopped in dismay.

"Oh, Aunt Pen, what about school?"

"Then you will be sorry to lose your teacher, Patsy? But it is almost the first of May and with a little home study you girls can get along. Anyway, mother will be here to decide what is best."

Pat's face was serious.

"I am glad mother's coming home! And Celia, too! But I have loved our school, Aunt Pen! You've made me just like to study all sorts of things! When mother comes I'm going to tease her to let us go next fall to the Lincoln school with Peggy and Sheila and the other girls--and then go to college."

Aunt Pen nodded toward Pat's father. Pat, of course, didn't know that she was trying to say: "There--that's a real girl talking--who wants to be of some service, some day, in this world!"

Then Pat insisted that Capt. Allan tell them more about the old house in the Adirondacks.

"Somehow, I can't imagine him keeping you up there very long, Penelope," laughed her brother. "He doesn't know you as well as I do!"

Capt. Allan described to them the old rambling house built half way up the wooded slope of Cobble Mountain. From its many windows, he remembered, a wonderful view could be had of a sweep of valley, river and surrounding slopes.

"Will has promised me that I may go on with all my experiments and fads just the same! There'll be lots of room there!" she retorted to her brother. "And some day I shall turn Cobble House into a school for girls."

"Like our school, Aunt Pen?"

"Yes, and I hope that all my girls there will work as faithfully as you have, Pat!"

"And I'll be the man-of-all-work around the place and chief executioner, when you need one!" declared Capt. Allan, mischievously.

Mr. Everett shook hands gravely with his sister.

"All I say is success to you--my dear, whatever you try to do!"

There seemed to be so much to talk about that no one wanted to break up the little circle. However, the hands of the old clock over the fireplace were climbing rapidly toward noon and Renée was eager to take Emile to the grandmother's. Pat begged to go, too. As they started away, Renée holding tightly to Emile's hand, Aunt Pen, watching the boy, wiped a suspicion of a tear from her eye.

Capt. Allan saw it and answered the thought that was in her mind.

"He's a brave boy and has a strong will--he'll learn to do his work with his one arm! But before anything else he must stay in the open until he has built up his strength and wiped from his mind forever the horror of all he has gone through!"

The old stone house did not look at all ugly and gloomy in the bright morning sunshine! And for Renée and Emile it took on a new interest--it was to be their home! There were signs of life, too, about the place. The windows had been opened and from the back of the house came sounds of vigorous beating. As they walked slowly up the brick path Renée suddenly darted in among the wild honeysuckle growing close on either side of the door.

"Emile--see! A daffodil!"

There it was--lifting its bright head through the tangle of undergrowth as though it knew that sunshine and happiness had come to the neglected home! And there were more, too, and Renée, hunting eagerly, found hundreds of tiny blades of bright green grass and beyond a rose vine climbing toward the old stone wall.

"Oh, it is going to be nice!" she cried to Emile. "We can have a garden like Susette's."

Emile, with the soul of an artist, was already mentally transforming the entire house and garden. It would be very pleasant to do nothing for awhile but work out among the growing things with Renée! Mrs. Forrester, eager to see again her "little flower," had roused Elsbeth very early in the morning that she might be in readiness. She had insisted upon putting on her old black silk dress; she had folded a soft net fichu around her neck and had fastened it with a lavender ribbon.

"Now don't stand and stare at me like that silly," she had rebuked the old servant. "Can't you understand that I'm not sick any more? Watch me!" and holding her head very high she walked slowly across the room out into the hall.

So it was in the living room they found her. God had given back to her so much that she was not even startled when Renée very simply told of Emile's coming. She could not speak a word as she reached up her arms to embrace the boy, for he looked so much like his mother that it brought a choking sob to her throat.

And if in Emile's heart there had lingered any hardness toward the grandmother it disappeared when he saw her! She looked so little and fragile, sitting in the big walnut chair, that it roused all the chivalry in the boy's soul. He kissed her tenderly on each wrinkled cheek.

Then Pat was introduced; Renée had to tell, too, of finding the daffodils. Elsbeth, her face twisted into a comical expression of bewilderment, listened in the doorway, and from all parts of the house there was a rumble of furniture and the tread of feet.

"In a very little time this place will all be changed," Mrs. Forrester said, patting Renée's hand. "We will have flowers growing all around us--and we will be very happy, we three!"

It was a very busy day! Emile must be admitted to the secrets of the Eyrie; he was shown the account book of LaDue and Everett and some of Renée's work. Then he had to hear the story of Paddy and the lost formulas, of Sheila and Peggy and Garrett and Hill-top, of Troop Six and the scout work, and of Keineth and the coming party! Surely never in the world did a tongue wag faster that Pat's nor did eyes shine more brightly than Renée's as Emile was made acquainted with all that had brought so much happiness into her life during the past winter.

Downstairs Aunt Pen, Capt. Allan and Daddy were talking, too. Pat with her remarkable instinct for sensing "when plans were in the making" exclaimed, as she entered the room:

"Daddy Everett, you look just as though you had a secret!"

Her Daddy assumed a very important air.

"I have! I have a surprise! You've all had one but me! And I am sure you will think that mine is best of all! And I thought of it all myself!"

"Oh, what is it? If much more happens I'll be walking on my head! What can it be!" Pat looked from one to another. "Aunt Pen, you're giggling so silly I believe it's something about your wedding! It is! It is! May Ren and I be bridesmaids, Aunt Pen, and wear gauzy dresses and big hats and carry bouquets?"

"You're warm, Pat!" teased her father.

"Please, Aunt Pen!" implored Pat in an agony of curiosity.

"Mother has suggested in a note to me that your Aunt Pen and I bring you and Renée to Atlantic City and meet them there----"

"But I'm determined to make Aunt Pen marry me right away, you see; I can't even wait for gauzy hats and big dresses--we've wasted so much happiness, already!" cut in Capt. Allan.

"So I said let's all go and meet Mother, and we can have the wedding down there where the breaking waves dash high----"

"Oh, Daddy, Daddy, that's the bestest, grandest surprise of all! A wedding in Atlantic City! Only the waves can't dash very high--'cause there's no stern and rock-bound coast--only sand! But we'll trim the room with flowers----"

"And you and Renée shall be my bridesmaids, no matter what dresses you wear!"

"And Emile shall be my best man!"

"And, oh, won't mother and Celia be surprised? You see I had guessed all about Capt. Allan because Aunt Pen acted so funny when we spoke of him, but Mother doesn't know a single thing! Was there ever such a nice, jolly wedding planned before?"

Renée's face was a little clouded. It would be wonderful to go to the sea, but ought she and Emile to leave the little grandmother?

"Bless you, she shall come, too! Ocean air will finish up the good work that her happiness has started! I can't have my plan spoiled--not even if we have to charter a whole train!"

Pat wanted to begin packing immediately.

"When will we go, Daddy?" she cried.

"Day after to-morrow," he answered with the promptness of decision that was characteristic.

"I'm glad that you give me that much time! I'll have to get 'something old and something new, something borrowed and something blue,'" laughed the bride-to-be.

"And we can go to Keineth's party and tell them all about it!" Pat was silent for a moment. Then going to her Daddy she laid her cheek coaxingly against his arm.

"Daddy, as long as there are so many going--and weddings are jollier when there are a lot of people--can't we take Sheila, too? She's never been any further from the city than Hill-top and she's always so contented and happy and's never teasing for things the way I am! Just think how she'd look when she saw the ocean! I have so much more fun than she does, Daddy, I'd just as soon stay home if she could go in my place!"

And Pat, thinking how Sheila's face would look when she first beheld the great sweep of deep, blue sea, was very much in earnest.

Mr. Everett patted the pleading face. He did not smile for he had been deeply touched by Pat's generosity.

"Yes, daughter, Sheila shall go, too."

"Oh, Daddy, you are the best daddy in the world! Let's run straight over and tell her, Ren! Think how happy she'll be!"

From the library window Aunt Pen and Mr. Everett watched the two girls, arms interlocked, swing down the walk that led from the Everett house to the street. There was pride in Aunt Pen's face as she watched. Her girls had learned generosity and unselfishness as well as Latin and Algebra! And they had found, too, the joy of fellowship! They were hurrying now to share their happiness!

Mr. Everett was thinking the same thoughts as his sister, but looking slyly at her from the corner of his eye, he repeated teasingly:

"Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

Silver bells and cockle shells----"

Aunt Pen laughingly interrupted: "And larkspur all in a row! But won't this world's garden be richer and more beautiful for healthy, happy girls like ours, Daddy Everett?"

* * * * * * * *

THE SUNNY BOY SERIES

By RAMY ALLISON WHITE

Children! Meet Sunny Boy, a little fellow with big eyes and an inquiring disposition who finds the world at large a wonderful place to live in. There is always something doing when Sunny Boy is around.

In the first book of the series he visits his grandfather in the country and learns of many marvelous things on a farm, and in the other books listed below he has many exciting adventures which every child will enjoy reading about.

SUNNY BOY IN THE COUNTRY SUNNY BOY AT THE SEASHORE SUNNY BOY IN THE BIG CITY SUNNY BOY IN SCHOOL AND OUT SUNNY BOY AND HIS SCHOOLMATES SONNY BOY AND HIS GAMES SUNNY BOY IN THE FAR WEST SUNNY BOY ON THE OCEAN SUNNY BOY WITH THE CIRCUS SUNNY BOY AND HIS BIG DOG SUNNY BOY IN THE SNOW SUNNY BOY AT WILLOW FARM SUNNY BOY AND HIS CAVE SUNNY BOY AT RAINBOW LAKE

GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK