CHAPTER II – A SECRET CONCLAVE
“Good-afternoon, Mrs. James,” said Miss Mason cheerily, as she entered the hall of the apartment belonging to the Averills.
“To what happy circumstance do I owe this unexpected call?” asked Mrs. James, taking the teacher’s hand in warm welcome.
“It was quite unpremeditated, and consequently I am unprepared with an answer,” laughed Miss Mason. “But I can confess to being one of those objectionable persons that always want to run other people’s affairs for them. I just left the five girls at the corner of Broadway, and hearing that Natalie would not be home this afternoon, I took advantage of that knowledge to run in and have a talk with you.”
“I am very glad you did, as I have thought of asking your advice about a step Mr. Marvin advises me to take for the child.”
“Perhaps that is the very business I came on. I want to help you run your affairs, you see, so I am here to offer my experiences in certain lines, and then I will try to encourage Natalie to look at a country life with different eyes than she has stubbornly used, recently,” explained Miss Mason.
“Is it about the farm proposition?” asked Mrs. James.
“Yes, I left the girls talking it over, but Natalie seems to think she is giving up all that is worth living for, by going to live at Green Hill Farm.”
“Yes, that is her attitude, exactly! Whereas Mr. Marvin says she ought to be the most grateful girl alive to find she has a lovely home ready-made to go into, instead of moving to a shabby school life where she will have to earn part of her expenses by waiting on table or doing chores,” explained Mrs. James.
“Just so. And because I heard of the poor child’s destitution, I am here to suggest several pleasant and wholesome plans by which she can not only live without cost to herself this summer on the farm, but also make enough money to pay your and her own way in the city next winter. Perhaps you are not interested in such suggestions?” ventured Miss Mason.
“Interested? My dear friend, you come like a blessing from heaven with this news. The only great obstacle to our going to the farm at once was the lack of money to stay there, with Rachel, all summer. No matter where one lives, one has to eat and abide. And eating costs money, and an abode needs furniture. The old house is empty and has to be completely furnished before we can move out there,” explained Mrs. James.
“Well, then, listen to my idea. It has been tried out so successfully before, that I am not afraid to advise you to experiment for this season, anyway. It is this:
“You know what an enthusiastic member of the Girl Scouts’ organization I am? Last year I offered my services free to a camp of girls who wanted to spend the summer away in the woods but had no place to go to without its costing a great deal, and no one would attend them in a camp which would be within their means. Then I happened in and saw how hungry these seven girls were for an outdoor life, so I offered them a corner of the woods on my brother’s old farm down in Jersey. Some day I will tell you the story of our summer down there. It is worth hearing.”
Miss Mason laughed to herself as she stopped for a moment to review mentally that experience. Then she proceeded.
“Now this is my idea: Natalie and the other four girls have been talking of joining the Girl Scouts ever since last fall, when I returned from camp. But they are like so many other well-meaning girls – they never quite reach the point where they act!
“My seven girls who spent the summer in camp with me last year are begging me to take them this year again. I have agreed to do so if we can find a good camp-site not so far from home as the Jersey farm was. I wish to be nearer a railroad than last year, too. We were more than nine miles from any store, or trolley, so it was most inconvenient to get any supplies.
“If Green Hill Farm is anything like what Natalie described it to me, after school this afternoon, I would rent some of that woodland in a minute. She said the stream ran through the farm at one corner where the woodland watered ten acres. If Mr. Marvin will rent me enough of that land for a camp for my Girl Scouts it will bring in instant returns, and you will not have cause to regret it.
“By having my girls on the ground, I can rouse the interest of Natalie and her friends (if they visit her this summer), and in that way they will want to join my girls. We now have a Troop in process of organization, with the required eight members – a new Scout has joined since last year. These girls are about the same age as our five schoolmates, so there would be no disparity in years. I have been elected as Captain of the Patrol, but we have not yet chosen a Corporal for this year, as our meetings have been very irregular since school examinations began.
“These Girl Scouts became interested last spring, but not one of them attends my school, so I see little of them excepting when they call on me, or I attend one of their gatherings. Now that we are started on founding a Troop, we shall have weekly meetings and all the rest of the programme.”
Miss Mason waited to hear if Mrs. James had anything to say about her suggestion, and the latter asked: “Do you think these seven – or eight – Scouts are on the same social plane as Natalie and her friends?”
“Yes, I do, or I would never have suggested their coming into contact with our five girls. They are not wealthy girls, and each one will have to support herself in a short time, but they are fine, – morally, mentally, and spiritually. A few of them are not perfect physically, and that is why I wish to give them another long summer out in the open. It is the best thing a young girl can do to build up her strength and health.”
“That is a great relief – to hear they are good girls. I have been very careful of my girl’s associations, you know, and now that her father is not present to protect her, I will have to use more precaution and better judgment than ever. This is one of the main reasons I have for urging her to live out of the city for a time.”
“My Girl Scouts can be of great assistance to Natalie, if she will show a genuine interest in us. For instance, one of the members of my newly-fledged Patrol lived on a farm all her life before she moved to New York two years ago. She knows everything necessary for light gardening and barnyard stock. If you had any idea of planting the vegetable garden, or keeping chickens, Alice Hastings can show you how to do it.”
“I had not thought so far as that – gardening and poultry – but there is a splendid lucrative business for a girl, I should say!” declared Mrs. James.
“Of course!” agreed Miss Mason. “And with a little care and good selection, a garden can be made to keep a houseful of people. Rachel is a good cook, and you are a thorough housekeeper, so what is there to interfere with Natalie having a few good boarders stay at the house during the summer?”
“That was my idea, when I first saw the farm. I told Mr. Marvin that we could ask very good prices and fill the spare-rooms, if Natalie would consent to it. We will need some money for repairs and necessary furniture for the extra chambers, but that is all. We have our housekeeping things, and quantities of linen for all purposes, besides bedroom furniture for five good rooms. I figure that the amount realized on the sale of the Oriental rugs and draperies, the pictures and antiques, would pay for all extras we may need, and give us capital with which to launch a boarding-house for the summer,” explained Mrs. James.
“If you could find a number of girls of Natalie’s own age to spend the summer with you, would you not feel more at ease about the responsibility of the undertaking?”
“Oh, of course! I am perfectly at home with girls, you know. And they would not demand such attention as adult guests, either,” said Mrs. James.
“True! Then why not offer to chaperone a number of paying girls of Natalie’s age for the season? There are so many parents who would like their girls to benefit by a summer in the country, but neither mother nor father can leave home, so the girl has to remain also, because of no suitable guardian to chaperone her!” declared Miss Mason.
“I’m sure your idea is practical. And I will speak to Mr. Marvin about it. If only Natalie would think favorably of the