Helen Ormesby

Front matter

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Book. -i_L _.ZT Copyright N° _i i.

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Chapter I

H ELEN, HELEN! We shall be later called a chorus of voices from the broad stone steps of the College. The ’bus had rattled up to the door, and half-a-dozen girls, in their gay-colored summer plumage, stood poised for flight, but still no Helen.

“ She’s gone back to weep over a forgotten piece of furniture, ” said Edith Carlyle. “ She kissed everything in her room last night, even to the rugs on the floor, like a ‘ Sentimental Tommy. ’ It’s beautiful to have that spirit about one’s Alma Mater , but it doesn’t belong to this world. ”

“ Much you know about this world ! ” retorted Sylvia Browne. ‘Any one who dares to write a Commencement Ode and get a prize for it, is certainly not a worldling. But I wish she would hurry, I’d like to be off and away, I dread and despise prolonged partings ; they destroy the taste of these delightful days. Oh, how good it is to feel that at last we’re educated ! ”

“ Young ladies, our education is never completed, ” drawled Josephine Ashton, in such a perfect imitation of Professor Felton’s voice and manner, that that gentleman, standing among the Faculty group just inside the spacious hall, turned away to hide his laughter.

“ Here she comes ! ” cried the Barton twins together i

— they always trotted in harness — “ she’s stopping in the hall to paw the Faculty. ”

“ Oh, she’s doing the whole show, paws for the men and pecks for the women, no wonder Helen was popular. I wish I had that gift of being agreeable without any effort, ” sighed Sylvia.

“ My dear, social lights are born, not made, you might put Helen in a barrel, and she’d pop out again with her own little genial bow, perfectly well-bred, and with just the right word to say; but nevertheless, I’m going to haul her out by the hair, or we shall certainly miss our train, ” and Ruth Edgerton stalked grimly back into the hall.

She was just in time; the Faculty had positively closed in about Helen; there were audible sniffs among the women folk, while the men hid their emotion behind a somewhat overdone geniality. When Helen emerged at last, there were suspicious tears in her brown eyes, and her hat looked rakish.

“ You’re a sight, my love, ” said Ruth consolingly. “ Just twist yourself into shape, for we haven’t a moment to lose if we’re to catch the 3.25 to New York. Come along, girls, we’ve scarcely time to check our trunks. ”

Helen laughingly settled her hat at the right angle, smoothed back a few unruly strands of her bronze hair, and joined the others in the ’bus.

“ Let us give the yell as we go off, ” she said, and the staid old horses, startled by the unwonted sound, quite lost their heads, and ran like a pair of colts.

The Faculty was used to these demonstrations; each summer a bevy of graduates made their exit in just this way, and were remembered only as pleasant or unpleasant incidents connected with the College ; but Helen

Ormesby’s going meant a big streak of sunshine out of their lives.

Old Joe, the rheumatic driver, cracked his whip many times during the ride to the station, probably in his hardened bosom regrets were faintly stirring. He was not given to emotion, but many a plug of tobacco had Helen Ormesby brought him from New York when she returned from her vacations, and even now she was getting up a subscription for his benefit among her companions in the ’bus.

“ We must give the dear old growler something for good luck, ” she said, and generously began with a five dollar bill.

“ Dear me ! I can’t keep up with that, ” declared Ruth. “ Two dollars is my limit, unless I beg or borrow on my way home, and I don’t like to begin life that way. How you ever keep your money with that lavish streak in you, Helen, I can’t understand. ”

“ I don’t,” said Helen affably. “ Father gives me what I need, and when that is gone, I ask for more — it’s very simple. ”

“ Yes, it has all the simplicity of the square root,” remarked Edith Carlyle, passing on her bill to the general pile, and by the time the station was reached and old Joe had limped around to help the girls with their suit-cases, Helen was able to thrust a nice little roll of bills into his knotted hand.

He sputtered out his thanks as he touched his cap, for Joe was a man of the fewest possible words, and he looked devoutly grateful when the train, rushing in at this moment, stopped all further demonstration.

A sudden sadness fell upon the seven girls as they watched the little station receding from their view. They had come and gone many times in the years of College life, but there was a finality about this going; all the hopes and aspirations which had found safe shelter in the fastness of those ivy-clad walls were now to be sent forth into the world, a very alluring world no doubt, for not one among the seven had a care for the future.

The Barton twins were going South, to be belles in their native town. They were pretty, dark-haired, velveteyed little girls, as like as two peas in a pod. Only the initiated could tell Alice from Elsie, some little trick of expression or gesture being the only distinguishing marks.

Edith Carlyle, with her blue eyes and angelic face, surrounded by an aureole of golden hair, had serious thoughts of being a trained nurse — perhaps the little witch knew how becoming a nurse’s uniform would be to her. At any rate, she could already give first aid to the injured, and had a great many practical ideas on the subject. She lived a little way out of New York, on a beautiful estate overlooking the Hudson, and held many serious views about things, which were also very becoming.

Sylvia Browne had no further ambition than just to live in New York, with plenty of money and pretty clothes, and lots of fun. She was a veritable butterfly, full of bright, vivacious chatter, quick at learning, but with no thought or care for anything more serious. She was the youngest of the family, and all spoiled and petted this lovable child, from old Ben, the butler, who had known her from babyhood, to the stately and unapproachable cook below stairs.

Ruth Edgerton wrote; she wore glasses on her small nose, and aimed at high things. Her novel of purpose should startle the world. The Edgertons owned a ranch in the far West, spending six months in the big city and six on the great plains; there would be ample opportunity to study life in its many phases.

Josephine Ashton came of a musical family. The Ashtons lived in Philadelphia, in a stately old-fashioned mansion, in a stately old-fashioned style; music was the key-note of their lives. An older sister played the piano like a professional ; her brother was a ’cellist of no small merit, and Josephine’s ambition centered round her violin. The tall, dark, dreamy-looking girl had music in her soul, and having, besides, every advantage that money could give her, her violin became a living thing in her hands.

It was during a visit to the Ashtons, one memorable Thanksgiving, that Helen Ormesby discovered her ambition, at least the Ashtons discovered that she had a powerful contralto voice, and urged her so earnestly to begin its training, that the last two years at College saw her well on the way. Her great desire was to go abroad for a year’s study before coming out; but she was keeping this wish well in the background, she knew how her mother and father had missed her since Hugh went to sea, and how empty the big Fifth Avenue house would seem if she, too, spread her wings. She was thinking of this now in the silence which had fallen upon them all, but Sylvia Browne could not preserve silence for very long.

“ Has any one ever thought of the future ? ” she asked, in her most inconsequent tone. “ Where we shall be for instance, five years from now?”

“ Married I dare say, that’s what we all come to,” said Alice Barton, with an air of authority. “ Elsie and I will probably dance a few seasons at home, not more than two, or we’ll be dubbed old maids. Then we’ll probably have a love-affair.”

“ Only one ? ” asked Edith Carlyle.

“ Don’t be silly, I meant apiece; or we might get mixed up — we often do, you know. ”

“ Wait a minute, girls, I’m going to turn prophet, ” cried Ruth Edgerton. “ Five years hence, we seven will be speeding back to our Alma Mater for an Alumnae reunion, is that agreed ? ”

“Yes, yes! ” they cried, while people all about them smiled at their enthusiasm, “ from the farthest ends of the earth. ”

“ Alice and Elsie will bring the children, dear little dumplings, with their Southern ‘ Mammies. ’ Edith having captured the house-surgeon of the great hospital where she’s going to serve humanity, will bring him along. Josephine will possibly be in foreign lands — it depends on Naval orders,” said Ruth, slyly, while Josephine turned crimson as the laugh went around, and Helen tried to look unconscious, for her sailor brother’s liking for the young violinist could not escape notice.

“ Sylvia won’t be married, she’s quite too giddy to settle down, and every one will say : ‘ Dear me, that girl hasn’t changed a mite, she’s remarkably well preserved, I wonder what she does to her hair.’ ” Again there was a ripple of laughter, for Sylvia’s hair was all shades and glints of golden brown.

“ Your humble servant, in five years’ time, will bear her first book on a silver salver to present to the College library; I’ll have a professional squint, and know all things of all men. As for Helen — there are so many things that could happen to a girl like Helen. She’ll go abroad, and develop such a glorious voice that people will flock beneath her windows to hear her sing her scales. ”

Sylvia shook her head. “ I wouldn’t voluntarily listen to an angel singing scales — what next?”

“ She’ll be followed home by a string of the nobility, but she will have none of them, she’ll rush out to the reunion because she’s so fond of — of the Faculty. ” There was a perfect shriek of laughter after this sally, Helen joining with the others, but behind all the fun something lurked in the depths of the brown eyes, only for a moment however, for no gravity could linger among that merry group.

There was to be a week in New York before the “ We are Seven Club ” separated for the summer. This chosen coterie had elected to remain behind a few days after the Commencement exercises, so the proud mammas and papas had journeyed back to the City, while the “ Seven,” as guests of the Faculty, had enjoyed the unwonted freedom, beneath the stately roof of the College.

“To think of any one reducing Mathematics to its lowest terms, and walking arm in arm with a Latin dictionary ! It sounds like a fable,” said Sylvia. “ The Faculty was real human, with the dry-as-dust rubbed off — and didn’t we have fun ! ”

The train was drawing into the great station and the girls were in a little flutter, straightening their hats, pulling on their gloves, and collecting their traps. They were to meet the next day, and the next, and the next, but this was the real parting of the ways — and each one felt it, though no one said it. In the throng of people pressing round the gates, they each managed to pick up some kind of a relative, and Helen, with a glad little cry flew to her father, whose tall figure, with its crop of silver hair, stood a head at least above the crowd.

“ Oh, Daddy, why didn’t you come to the end ! ” she exclaimed, flinging her arms about his neck, regardless of spectators.

“Well, I just couldn’t, dear; business, business you know — of the worst sort. I had to be on the spot, you see, that was the trouble; my earthly form was at my dusty old desk, my soul was soaring to your heights at the College. It was too bad. There’s John, give him your satchel, Jerry is waiting outside with the Victoria. I told your mother I’d stop for you on my way up town. ”

The “ Seven ” made quite a showing as they stood together for a moment in the vast waiting-room. The twins each had an arm of their mother; Edith Carlyle was clinging to a handsome gentleman, who was certainly her father ; Mr. and Mrs. Ashton had appropriated Josephine; Ruth Edgerton was with a little lady, unmistakably her mother, and Sylvia Browne was chatting volubly with a couple of big brothers.

“ Well, au rev oir, girls, ” called Helen. “ I’ll see you all to-morrow, this isn’t the end of our jolly little club, I hope. Come, Father, if you only knew how I ached for the dear, lovely house, and a sight of Mother, in her pretty evening gown, and all the lights and flowers — I’ll wear my prettiest to-night, even though it is June, some one will be sure to drop in. Now here we are; how do you do, Jerry? ” she nodded gayly to their old coachman, who grinned as he touched his hat; then she flitted into the cushioned seat of the well-appointed Victoria, and her quick eye watched her father as he paused to give Jerry his orders.

Something was amiss — was it imagination — or did the broad shoulders stoop a little? There was a tired look in the eyes, too, quite unusual she assured herself, 8 yet as he took his seat beside her, the shadow, if indeed it was a shadow, seemed to pass. He was as eager to hear all the College news as she was to tell it, and by the time the carriage had stopped before the beautiful gray stone mansion, he had been laughing like a schoolboy over some of the girls’ escapades.

As Helen put her foot upon the steps, she became transfixed with amazement, for looking down into the spacious area, a sign “ For Rent ” stood on a pedestal, in the most conspicuous position.

“ What — what is the meaning of that ? ” she demanded, pointing to it with an eloquent finger.

He tried to answer lightly, but his face had grown pale and his eyes were troubled.

“ Thereby hangs a tale, ” he said. “ You shall hear all about it later. I had meant to tell John to move that sign, I did not want it to spoil your home-coming. We are not dead or dying, it’s only a sign after all. Cheer up, little girl, we are not going to talk about it until after dinner, when we’ll hold a consultation; I really want to ask your advice about things ; a College graduate should at least be able to give that gratis "

Helen’s brown eyes met her father’s gray ones with a defiant flash.

“ She can give more. Dear me ! I should never have left you two children alone, you need taking care of badly — it’s time I came home. What’s up, Daddy, money tight? ”

“ Very — a perfect squeeze. ”

“ And you let me spend such a lot.”

“A mere drop in the bucket, child. There are big sums involved. ” He put his key in the lock. “ Now don’t let your mother see that you know anything. Poor dear ! she’s been worrying over it all day. ” Then the oaken door, swinging wide, let Helen into her beautiful home.

It was such a home as only great wealth could provide. There was an immense foyer with soft, priceless rugs scattered over the inlaid floors, and a majestic, sweeping staircase leading to the next story. There were soft lights from stained-glass windows, and one or two open doors revealed the luxury of living. From one of these a lady came hurrying out, a beautiful lady, from whom Helen had borrowed her bronze hair.

“ My dearest little Mummie ! ” cried the tall girl, swooping down upon her. “ Aren’t you glad to get your baby home, and isn’t she glad to get here? Oh, how good everything looks, I can’t think how I was ever willing to go away at all. I’m never going to budge again. Am I very late, have you put back dinner on my account ? Never mind, if my trunk is here, I won’t keep you waiting. I sent it by express a day ahead, you know. ”

“ Phyllis is unpacking it in your room, I believe. ”

“ Then we’ll go up together, ” said Helen, passing an arm around her mother’s slim waist, and beaming down upon her from her superior height.

The dying sun had filled the large room with a touch of rose; the filmy curtains swayed gently in the summer breeze, and there was the breath of flowers everywhere.

“ Always flowers ! That’s like you, Mother, you never forget them. And how lovely my room looks. ” Indeed, it was beautiful, with its creamy furniture and its rosecolored hangings, just the sort of room a dainty girl might fancy.

Helen’s maid looked up with eager delight; she had missed her young mistress, for Mrs. Ormesby had insisted on simplicity in the College life, and now she was io handling Helen’s clothes with as much tenderness as if they were flesh and blood.

It was very easy to lean back in the lap of luxury. With a contented sigh Helen handed herself over to Phyllis, and nestled in her favorite big chair while the deft maid took off her heavy boots and substituted dainty slippers, let down the rich hair and shook it out of its glossy tangle, and finally brought from the trunk a pink gown.

In this, at length, Miss Helen stood arrayed, and the long mirror gave back a pleasing reflection of a tall, slim young figure, with a wealth of tawny hair, coiled low on her neck, beautiful brown eyes, and a radiant color. Helen’s features, though not altogether regular, were full of intelligence and animation, which stamped her at once as an extremely pretty girl. Her mother beamed approval, she had done little else but beam, for Helen’s tongue had flown as fast as Phyllis’s fingers. The girl had resolutely banished from her mind that ominous sign “ For Rent,” and lived only in the luxurious and delightful present. After dinner would come the deluge, of course, until then — So she floated downstairs to the gorgeous dining-room, and her now sharpened eyes detected nothing amiss. Everything moved with precision in this well-ordered household, and Mrs. Ormesby at the head, was the quiet power behind it all. Helen had been so accustomed to this elegance, that until to-night, when she knew grim care was sharing the feast, she had taken things very much for granted.

They went into the library where coffee was served, a room that breathed of books and art. There was not a picture on the wall that did not have a history; nor a quaint chair, nor a bit of tapestry. Over the high carved 2 II mantelpiece hung a Van Dyck portrait of Sir Hugh Ormesby, their Cavalier ancestor, while on the opposite side of the wall hung a companion portrait of his Puritan wife, Dame Prudence.

Helen sipped her coffee thoughtfully, then she set down her cup and perched herself on the arm of her father’s chair.

“ Now, Daddy, I insist upon knowing why we are ‘ For Rent. ’ ”

“ Will ! ” exclaimed Mrs. Ormesby, “ I told you not to tell her. ”

“ I didn’t, my dear. I simply forgot to have the sign removed, and Helen, not being blind — ”

“ Which doesn’t explain matters to me, ” interrupted Helen. “ What has happened — or is going to happen ? ” “ Here it is in a nutshell, ” said her father in his direct way. “ Pm at the head of a big deal involving millions, but just at present — unless substantial loans boost us up — we are in danger of foundering. If we can be propped for a year, we can stand alone; if not, we smash everybody and everything that comes in our way ; we stand, so to speak, between Scylla and Charybdis, and unless something happens quickly we shall be crushed in either case. ”

“ I see, ” said Helen gravely, “ and Mother has offered you some of her own private fortune. ”

“ Sage child ! She’s offered it all, that’s the trouble ; if I take it, I may save the day, but we should have to draw in for a year at least, and so — ”

“ We’re ‘ For Rent,’ ” concluded Helen. “ But why can’t we cut off expenses and stay where we are ? ”

“ My dear girl ! ” exclaimed her mother, “ have you any idea how much money it takes to keep up this house ? It needs a dozen servants to begin with. ”

“ But you could do with half a dozen, you’re such a manager. ”

“ Dearest, it wouldn’t work ; curtailed expenses would demoralize the maids — in a smaller house, with less to do, perhaps — ”

“ I love my beautiful home, I don’t want to give it up, ” insisted Helen. “ I don’t know what Hugh would say if he knew about it. ”

A smile went around the small circle. Impetuous Hugh would have had plenty to say. Helen herself had a sudden spirit of fight born within her; she left the arm of her father’s chair and settled herself on a favorite low stool, her elbows on her knees, her pretty chin buried in her hands, deep in thought. She was silent so long that her mother said, at last :

“ Asleep, dear ? ”

“ No, I’ve been so accustomed to considering ways and means, that I just forgot myself. I’ve been President of the ‘ We are Seven Club, ’ and have been on so many finance committees at College, that the business part of me has developed enormously; the girls all tell me I’m a born financier.”

Mr. Ormesby laughed, and Helen looked decidedly nettled, a little pucker came on her forehead and her eyes grew bright.

“ Of course, I don’t deal in millions, ” she said, “ but the hundreds were troublesome enough, and the dollars and cents were simply appalling to any but a level head. Father, you’ve got to keep sober and listen' to my words of wisdom ;” she jumped up as she spoke, and shook him, more in sorrow than in anger. “ Is this consultation to be fair play, ” she asked, “ or have you settled everything, leaving me only the privilege of doing as I’m bid?”

Mr. Ormesby rose with a bow and a flourish. “ Any suggestion from Miss Ormesby will receive immediate consideration. ”

“ Very well, then ; of course I won’t come out next winter. Don’t look so distressed, Mother, I am still young, and there’s always some finishing off to do. Do you know, not one of our devoted ‘ Seven ’ wanted to leave College — unless perhaps Sylvia Browne, and she could have been persuaded to stay on.”

“ You’re not thinking of a post-graduate course,” cried Mrs. Ormesby aghast.

Helen rapped upon a nearby table. “ Patience, my dear Madam, and hearken to words of wisdom; I was thinking of a post-graduate course, but not at College. ”

“ Where, then?”

“ Here, in this very house, where we are going to live next year — and study. ”

“We! Who?”

“ Why, the ‘ We are Seven Club ’ — now don’t throw in an objection until you hear my case. Here you have a set of unfledged housekeepers, turned loose on the world, not one of us has a single practical idea on the subject. We’ve all been so accustomed to having things done for us that we’ve never paused to consider how they were done. Now why shouldn’t we all live here for a year and study the science of the thing? Dismiss your six maids and take in the Club; we’ll try and give satisfaction. The girls would be willing to pay handsomely for such a liberal , education.”

“ Helen, are you crazy ? ”

“ No, ma’am, far from it. What they pay would be what would be needed to run the house in its accustomed style, and few among them live as well as we do, thanks to your fine housekeeping, Mummie dear. You see my 14 idea is this, dismiss the underlings, we ‘ raw hands ’ will take their places. Keep the heads of departments, your cook, your seamstress, your upper housemaid, Phyllis, of course, and John and Jerry. Tell them if you like, that we wish to try an experiment next year, that we are going into training under them, to become good mistresses. It will tickle their sense of humor, Fm sure. Oh, what fun it will be — can’t you see it, Mother? You shall be the Advisory Board. We will take over the whole care of the house, and turn and turn about, with the practical work ; there isn’t one among us who wouldn’t enjoy it, and to see this stately home move on wheels of our greasing will be just wonderful. Oh, let us try! Take down that horrid sign in the area and let us see if we can’t work out our own salvation. ”

“ My dear girl ! ” said Mr. Ormesby, “y° ur theories are all right, but you are only voicing one opinion — where your own immediate interest is concerned. The other girls may think differently. ”

“ I’ve brought them through harder problems than this; girl problems are mighty tough, I tell you. They are all coming to luncheon to-morrow, suppose we sleep over it to-night, and you give me your answer in the morning. Only tell John to remove that sign at once, I really couldn’t sleep in a house which was 4 For Rent. ’ ”

Helen was so much in earnest and there was such sound common sense in what she said that Mr. and Mrs. Ormesby forgot to laugh; the magnetism of the girl suddenly swept them along. Wild as the plan had seemed at first, there was yet a great deal in it which appealed to them both. Helen was certainly right; in practical, every-day duties, the College graduate was as helpless as a baby. There was much to consider, but the house was quite large enough at least to give the thing a trial, and since launching Helen in society would be impracticable, why not humor her little whim and let her have her chosen cronies for another happy year !

Then company broke in upon them, and Helen flitted among them in her pretty gown, charming them all with her radiant young presence.

It was quite late when she sought her bed, but before closing her window for the night, she thought she would see if her eloquence had had any effect whatever. She stepped into the tiny French balcony and looked down into the area for the aggressive sign which she had declared would haunt her dreams. It had disappeared !

Chapter II

A GOLDEN streak of impertinent sunlight, falling aslant of Helen’s closed eyelids, woke her with a start; she opened her eyes in sleepy wonder, then she rubbed them, child-fashion, and got her bearings. Yes, of course, she was at home, and she looked with lazy pleasure around her room. It was prettier, she thought, in the bright glow of the morning than in the summer sunset of the day before; the curtains at the windows were rustling as the morning breezes came dancing in, bringing little scent-laden gusts of air from the outside.

“ ‘ Oh, what so rare as a day in June ! ’ ” cried Helen as she sprang out of bed. “ This must be the kind of day Lowell wrote about, I guess; it goes to one’s head like wine. Come in, Phyllis. ”

And so the day began when Helen, as fresh and glowing as the rose she had fastened in her belt, went downstairs to breakfast. She found her mother alone, bending a rather thoughtful face over the pleasant duty of making coffee.

“ Where’s Daddy ? ” she asked, when the two bronze heads had come together for their morning kiss.

“A bit behind, as usual, dear, or perhaps I hurried more than usual. I thought we could talk over things before he gets down; he is somewhat skeptical over it all, Helen ; says you are a castle-builder and will have walls tumbling about your ears, and all sorts of direful things will happen. ”