The Ranch Girls at Home Again by Margaret Vandercook
CHAPTER IV
OLIVE COMES HOME
SOON after dinner Ruth and Jim Colter and of course the small son hadretired to their rooms in Rainbow Lodge, leaving Jack, Jean and Friedato amuse themselves in the living room until bedtime. A week had passedsince their visit to their new house and tonight Frieda and Jack werebusily studying over their original plans and discussing variousalterations which they felt were absolutely necessary, while Jean,without seeming to regard them, was playing idly upon the piano.
It was not cold, and one of the front windows was partly raised with theblind drawn down; but a small fire was burning in the old fireplace,since the Rainbow Lodge living room was never exactly the samedelightful abode without it.
Except for a few handsome, additional pieces of furniture and some oddpictures and china which the girls had brought home from abroad, therewas no material change in the beloved room. For Ruth and the girls hadthe good taste to know that its primitive character with its decorationsof bright Indian rugs and simple furnishings was far more suitable andbeautiful than any alteration their money could bring. So the newer andmore splendid furnishings which they had purchased in New York and inEurope had been safely stored away for the finishing of their new house.And this evening in their former familiar surroundings Jack, Jean andFrieda looked not unlike they had on that first evening years ago whenJack had returned from her original meeting with Frank Kent and beforeeither Ruth or Olive had ever been seen at the Rainbow Lodge.
"But, Frieda dear, it will be far too expensive to make such a change asyou suggest," Jack protested. "You know that we agreed to have the fourbig bedrooms and two baths on one side of the house and just oneupstairs sitting room. Now if we try to arrange a private sitting roomoff from your room, it will either make your bedroom too small or elserob the rest of us. And another big bay window would cost hundreds ofdollars more."
"Well, why not?" Frieda returned petulantly. "Here we have all beenliving quietly at the ranch for nearly a year and spending no outsidemoney except on the house. It is only because you are suddenly growingstingy, Jack. I heard you tell Ruth that we had better not order as manynew oriental rugs as we planned to have. Mr. Parker says that he can addthe extra space to my apartment without spoiling the effect of the housein the least. Do let me have him do it, Jack darling, please? You knowyou and Jean and Olive will often be talking about things in our bigsitting room that you won't wish me to hear and I do want a tiny den allto myself."
Because Jack did not agree at once to her sister's pleading the girl atthe piano ceased playing for an instant to glance at her cousin, and,surprised by her expression, did not look immediately away.
Jack was frowning and was a little pale. But she had been out all dayriding over the ranch and talking to the men at the mine, and naturallymight be expected to be tired. She had gone to her own room andundressed almost immediately after dinner, and as there was nopossibility of any visitors arriving unexpectedly at the ranch, she wasnow wearing a lovely old Chinese blue silk kimono and had her gold brownhair in a loose knot on top of her head. Leaning over she suddenlykissed Frieda, who sat on the other side of their small table puzzlingover the drawings for their new place.
"It isn't fair to say that I am stingy, baby," Jack declared, "when youknow that our house is costing thousands of dollars more than we firstexpected. People say that is just what all houses do, yet just the samewe have to set a limit somewhere. And of course I don't want you or Jeanto worry, but there is a possibility that we may not get as much moneyout of Rainbow Mine in the future as we have for the past few years. Andyou know we have not a large fortune stowed away in bank. Besides, wehave gotten into the habit of living pretty expensively and spending anawful lot of money thinking that our mine would hold out forever. TodayJim told me that frequently there were gold mines that ceased to yieldalmost altogether when certain veins had been worked out. I don't thinkhe meant that this was going to happen to ours--only that our incomemight be cut down."
As Jack finished speaking Jean Bruce got up from her piano stool andcame across the room to face her cousin.
"It's funny, Jack, that you let Jim give you all this information aboutaffairs at the mine, instead of Ralph Merrit. It seems to me that Ralphmust know more than Jim. And as he is head engineer you know you oughtto get your information from him," she protested.
Rather wearily Jack leaned back in her chair; yet she answered withoutany show of temper. "I thought you knew, Jean, that Ralph has not yetcome back to the ranch. Five or six days ago he wrote Jim not to expecthim for some little time as he had important business to look after. Soyou see I could not very well discuss business with him while he isaway."
With a little shrug Jean turned to stare into the fire.
"Yes, but you could have waited until Ralph's return and then have hadthe conversation with him. Besides, it isn't only Jim who has beentelling you that the gold in our mine will give out unless some newmethod for mining it is employed. No, it is the other miners who havebeen grumbling to both of you. I wonder if they can be dissatisfied withRalph's management? But, Frieda, for goodness sake don't be a baby anddon't worry Jack about spending more money on our new house than we canafford. Dear me, I wonder how we shall behave if suddenly we shouldbecome poor as church mice again. It would be my duty then, I suppose,Jack, to let you get rid of supporting such an expensive cousin by somemeans or other."
Already won over by her sister's argument, since Jack's judgment wasalmost always hers in the end, Frieda had left her chair and was sittingon the arm of her sister's, pulling softly at the loose coils of herhair and trying to rearrange them.
She and Jack both stared at Jean in surprise and consternation. What wasthe matter with her? Why should she talk in this absurd fashion? Hadthey ever felt or shown any difference between her and themselves in theright to everything they possessed? Something was making Jean unlikeherself tonight.
Seeing the hurt and surprise in the other two faces Jean at once changedthe subject.
"Jack, have you heard anything more about when Miss Winthrop and Oliveare planning to come for their visit to us?" she demanded. "Just think,we have not seen Olive since our return from England! Won't it besplendid for you to have her with you again, Jack dear? Frieda and I areso dreadfully spoiled and lazy, we never do anything to help you aboutthe ranch and only complain if things go wrong and we haven't more moneyto spend. I do wish somebody would show me how to be useful. I haven'teven the beds to make now we have another girl to help Aunt Ellen."
Jack shook her head. "I am sorry you are bored. I wish I could think ofsomething to interest you. You seemed to like the ranch when we firstcame back and the work at the mine. The only word I have heard fromOlive since her other letter was a short note in answer to my telegramthat begged her to come at once. She said that she and Miss Winthrop hada lot of business matters to look after, but meant to run away as soonas possible. What in the world was that?" And Jack, who seemed unusuallytired and nervous tonight, startled the other two girls by jumping upunexpectedly.
Jean had also heard the noise and turned in the direction from which itcame.
"It is only that tiresome boy, Carlos," she explained. "I mean to tellJim that I don't like his sneaking up here and peering into our windowin that spooky fashion. Carlos can move more like a spirit than a humanbeing anyway! But what has become of him recently, for now I think of itI have not seen him before for several days?"
"He has been away from the ranch most of the time," Frieda answeredsleepily, "for I wanted him to do an errand for me the other day andcould not find him. But Aunt Ellen says he has come to her for foodseveral times and then has gone off with as much as she would give him.Somehow I'm fond of Carlos--he was such a queer, handsome little boywhen he first came to us. I hope Olive will understand him better thanthe rest of us do. But dear me, what does he mean by coming in at thefront door without knocking?" And Frieda also jumped up hurriedly. "Ihope he is not bringing us bad news!"
Not only
The three girls were seriously annoyed and Jack spoke sharply:
"Carlos, what do you mean by entering our room without askingpermission? Unless you have something important to say I should preferyour waiting to speak to us until tomorrow."
A soft voice, which was not that of the Indian boy, replied: "But Ican't wait till morning or not another moment, Jack dearest, when I havetraveled across a whole continent to see you. And please forgive Carlosfor my sake, because he and I have been planning this surprise togetherever since I left Primrose Hall."
Afterwards Olive Van Mater could only get a few steps further inside theold Lodge living room, because Frieda, Jean and Jack at once flungthemselves upon her. And the tears were gathering fast in the girl's bigstar-like black eyes as she tried her best to explain the mystery of herarrival and to embrace her three friends at the same instant.
"You see, Miss Winthrop found that she could not leave home for sometime yet and I was so tired and so nearly dead to see you that she wouldnot let me wait until she could come. So I thought that I would rathersurprise you than anything else I could imagine. I wrote Carlos when toexpect me and to have a horse and carriage at the train. But the poorlad has been at the station apparently for several days, fearing hemight make some mistake and that I should arrive without his knowing.But you brought me home safely after all, didn't you, Carlos?" And Olivedisengaged her hand for a moment from the girls' hold to extend it tothe Indian boy.
"Goodness, how you have grown, I haven't had a good look at you untilthis moment," she ended admiringly.
And surely Carlos made a handsome picture. In honor of Olive'shome-coming he wore a soft shirt of some yellow material and a pair ofclean khaki trousers with a bright sash knotted about his waist and acrimson tie at his throat. All the surliness had disappeared from hisexpression, his skin was like polished bronze and his eyes like shiningcoals, as he took his old friend's hand and for a moment pressed itreverently to his lips.
Then Jack removed Olive's traveling hat and long broadcloth coat, withevery movement of her hands a caress.
"But please, Carlos and Olive," she demanded, "I don't pretend to beable to hear outdoor sounds as you can; yet I have fairly well trainedears of my own. Would you mind telling me how you managed to drive arickety old hired carriage up to the very door of Rainbow Lodge with usin the living room and yet never a sound heard we?"
Olive laughed. "That is our secret, but if you must know, we did no suchthing. Half a mile away I sent the driver back to the station and Carlosand I ran on tiptoes under the stars all the way home." The girl endedher sentence with a slight catch in her breath. "Then please to rememberthat we are both Indians, or at least I am almost one. And now won'tsomebody go and find Ruth and Jim, for I just must see the baby thisminute even if he cries his eyes out the rest of the night."