Part 21 (1/2)

McCarthy pulled him up with disconcerting suddenness. He looked dazed and a little sheepish.

”It's that mad girl Jane of mine,” he explained.

Mrs. Livingston's face was flushed, her eyes snapped; then her angry expression softened and she burst out laughing.

”O Jane, Jane! You will be the undoing of all of us before you have done.”

Jane, with her hair disheveled, stood ruefully surveying the scene.

”I'm sorry, Mrs. Livingston, that you went over. I didn't want to make you fall down, but I just had to show Daddy how glad I was to see him.”

”You showed me all right, young lady. Lucky, for us all that we had soft ground under us. Mrs. Livingston, I suppose you'll be telling me to take this mad-cap daughter of mine home with me. I shouldn't blame you if you did, and I don't think I'd cry over it, for I want her. No, I don't mean that--”

”Daddy!” rebuked Jane.

”I mean that she is better off here, and you are doing her a heap of good, Mrs. Livingston, even if she did give way to one of her old fits of violence just now.”

”Certainly not, Mr. McCarthy,” answered the Chief Guardian promptly.

”We all love Jane. She is a splendid girl and we should miss her. I certainly did miss her last summer, and now I should miss her more than ever. I hope we shall have her with us for many summers; then one of these days, when she is older, she, too, will have a camp of girls to look after.”

”I feel very thorry for the camp,” broke in Tommy.

”You will have to buy a new camp stool, Daddy,” reminded Jane. ”I'm glad I'm not so stout that I break up the furniture every time I sit on it.”

”Yeth, Buthter doeth that,” said Tommy, nodding solemnly.

”And you, young lady, you've got some strength in those arms,” he said, turning to Harriet. ”The way you bounced me to my feet was a wonder. Tommy, you haven't shaken hands with your old friend. Come here, my dear, and shake hands with me.”

”You were tho mixed up that I couldn't tell which wath the hand to thhake,” replied Grace promptly. ”That wath what Jane callth a meth, wathn't it?”

”It was. Why, how do you do, Hazel--and Margery, too? Well, well! this is a delightful surprise. How fine you all look. And I hear you had a swim the other night, Harriet, and you, too, Tommy. Well, well! And you like the water, eh?”

”It is glorious,” breathed Harriet, instinctively glancing out to sea, where a flock of gulls were circling and swooping down in search of food.

”You won't have to swim any more unless you wish to. I've made different arrangements about that.”

”You mean you have bought me a new car, Daddy?” interrupted Jane.

”I haven't said. I reckon you don't need a car here. You must have learned, from your recent experience, that an automobile doesn't travel on water half as well as it does on land.”

”Ourth did. It traveled fine until it got to the bottom,” Tommy informed him.

”No, I haven't bought another car yet. I have some men who are going to get the old one up to-morrow. We shall see what shape she's in. Of course, if she isn't workable any more, I will have another for you by the time you get home. Tell me how it happened. I couldn't make much out of your telegram. By the way, when you send a telegram, don't forget that you aren't writing a letter. That telegram you sent cost me nine dollars and thirty-seven cents.”

”Isn't it worth that much to hear from your daughter?” Jane's eyes were dancing.

Mr. McCarthy took off his hat and wiped the perspiration from his forehead.

”What would you do with her, Mrs. Livingston?” he laughed.

”I should love her, Mr. McCarthy; she is worth it,” was the Chief Guardian's prompt reply.