“How very kind of you, Miss Mason!” exclaimed Mrs. James. “Mr. Marvin’s automobile is too small to carry more than three of us, and then we are squeezed close together. He said he wanted an extra seat added, but everything is so backward this year, the company would not promise to deliver the car at all, if a seat had to be attached. Now this invitation of taking Natalie with her friends is far better than driving her over there alone. It will seem much more desirable to her if her chums praise the farm and house.”
“That was my idea! And while they are roaming about the place, you and I might look over the chambers and other rooms indoors, and average up what might be the income from a number of paying girls,” added Miss Mason.
“What a fairy-godmother you are, Miss Mason!” declared the elder woman. “Natalie always said you were a dear, but I find you a most valuable adviser, too.”
“Mrs. James, who would not move heaven and earth to help a poor little child like Natalie, in her loss and forlorn state? Were it not for you being with her, I think she would have followed her father from sheer lack of interest in life. That is often the case, you know.”
“Yes, I know; but I am sure we have passed the worst phase in her sad experience, and will now turn our backs on the morbid sorrow and face the gladsome light,” said Mrs. James.
“That is one reason she ought to be in the country – where she is free from all memories and can find a new interest in life. But young companions are necessary, too, to suggest daily fun and work to each other.”
“Did the girls seem pleased with your proposal to take them to the farm on Saturday?” asked Mrs. James, anxiously.
“Oh yes, indeed! They were all delighted, so I left them with a date for ten o’clock in the morning. The girls can assemble here and I will call promptly with the car. Now I must really be going.” Miss Mason rose as she spoke, and held out her hand to her hostess.
“All I can say is, you’ll be laying up treasures in heaven for yourself if you give your summer vacation to girls who need the outing. Their gratitude and love will be a crown in the future, that you may well be proud of.”
“I will enjoy myself, too, never fear!” laughed the teacher.
“I wish there were more like you, then!”
“Perhaps we had best not speak to Natalie of our talk this afternoon,” ventured Miss Mason.
“No, I won’t mention your call. And we will let all other things work out naturally, – even the plan of taking girls to board this summer. We will wait and see if Natalie has any plans of her own,” returned Mrs. James.
So the teacher said good-by and left. Both women felt happy and confident that Natalie’s problems were being solved after this confidential chat. And when Natalie came home late that evening she was gayer than she had been for many weeks.
“What do you think, Jimmy!” cried she, as she ran in to kiss Mrs. James.
“I’m thinking it is something good, Honey,” returned the lady.
“Why, Helene’s and Janet’s mother said to-night that if I went to Green Hill Farm to stay this summer she would like to send them with me to board! Isn’t that interesting – to get an income out of my friends that way, while they feel that it will be a great favor on your part if the girls can come!”
“I should be very glad to take care of them, Natalie, if you think you would like to have them live with us this season,” replied Mrs. James, wisely refraining from mentioning a word about her talk with Miss Mason.
“And the moment Frances heard of the idea, she said she would coax and coax until her mother said she could come, too! That started Norma, naturally! And Belle declared that she would never stay home alone in New York if we all were having fun on the farm. In the end, Jimmy, all five girls were ready to leave home to-night, and start for the farm!” Natalie laughed merrily at remembrance of the eagerness of her friends to go and live on the farm. And Mrs. James was made happy at hearing that care-free laugh, – the first one the girl had given since her father was taken away.
“When Mrs. Wardell heard that I didn’t want to go to the farm, she said I was ‘cutting off my nose to spite my face.’ And she said I wouldn’t act so set against it if I would use a little wisdom and common sense in my thinking over the whole affair. Then Mr. Wardell told me what wonderful times every one has in the summer on a good farm. He said that any Westchester farm in that locality was most desirable. So I need not feel that I was going to live on a poverty-stricken patch of land, because I would be, most likely, within arm’s reach (metaphorically speaking, he said) of plenty of millionaires who loved quiet country life, and found it in the Westchester Hills. So now I am as curious to see my only home as you could want me to be.”
“I’m thankful for it,” sighed Mrs. James. “And I’m thankful to the Wardells for changing your opinions about Green Hill.”
CHAPTER III – GREEN HILL FARM
Saturday morning Miss Mason drove her brother’s car up to the curb before the elegant apartment house where Natalie lived, and motioned the door-man to come out.
“Please telephone to the Averills’ apartment and say Miss Mason is waiting in the car. Let me know if they are ready.”
The uniformed attendant bowed politely and hurried in to obey the order. In a few moments Miss Mason heard a happy voice calling from the window in one of the upper apartments. She leaned out and tried to look up, but all she could see was a fluttering of several handkerchiefs waved from several hands.
Then the porter came out and smilingly said: “Mrs. James says they will be right down, Miss.”
“Thank you,” was Miss Mason’s reply, and she sat back to wait. But she had not very long for that, as a bevy of merry girls hurried out of the front door and ran across the walk.
“Oh, Miss Mason! Isn’t it a glorious day?” called Janet.
“Couldn’t be finer if we had ordered it for our trip!” added Belle joyously.
“And what do you think, Miss Mason?” cried Natalie, as happy as the others. “Jimmy had Rachel pack us a lovely picnic lunch so we could spend some time at the farm this noon. Won’t it be fun?”
“Indeed it will – especially if that famous cook of yours prepared the goodies, Natalie,” laughed Miss Mason.
“Jimmy will be down with us in a minute, Miss Mason,” added Natalie; “she just stopped to telephone Mr. Marvin that we were all going to motor out to the farm. Maybe he can come out, too, and join us there.”
“That will be splendid, as he can explain matters we may not understand,” returned Miss Mason.
“I’m sure there’s nothing to understand about a farm,” ventured Natalie, laughingly.
“You say that because you never lived on one. But once you do, you will find out that the soil on your garden will have a great deal to do with the success of your vegetables. Even flowers need certain grades of soil before they grow to perfection. If you have a pasture lot on the farm, the quality of the grass will control the grade and amount of milk from the cows; it will prove valuable, or otherwise, to your horses, to the sheep, or other stock. Even the chickens that scratch over the field will show results in the good or poor soil they feed in.”
“Why! How very interesting!” exclaimed Janet, wonderingly.
“But that need not bother us, Miss Mason, as vegetables and stock will not come into our lives,” laughed Natalie.
Mrs. James had come out of the house and now she heard what Natalie said. “My dear child, one of the main reasons for our going to live on the farm is to offset the high cost of living in the city. By raising our own vegetables and eggs and chickens, we