Book: Grace Harlowe\'s Senior Year at High School

J >> Jessie Graham Flower >> Grace Harlowe\'s Senior Year at High School



Grace Harlowe's Senior Year at High School

OR

The Parting of the Ways

BY JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A. M.

Author of Grace Harlowe's Plebe Year at High School, Grace Harlowe's
Sophomore Year at High School, Grace Harlowe's Junior Year at High
School, etc.




[Illustration: "Who is that Girl?"]




CONTENTS


I. A Puzzling Resemblance

II. What the Day Brought Forth

III. What Happened in Room Forty-Seven

IV. Grace Turns in the Fire Alarm

V. Nora Becomes a Prize "Suggester"

VI. The Thanksgiving Bazaar

VII. A Thief in the Night

VIII. Marian Asserts Her Independence

IX. The Judge's House Party

X. Christmas with Judge

XI. Santa Claus Visits the Judge

XII. The mistletoe Bough

XIII. Tom and Grace Scent Trouble

XIV. Grace and Anne Plan a Study Campaign

XV. The Phi Sigma Taus Meet with a Loss

XVI. The Unexpected Happens

XVII. Anne Becomes Famous

XVIII. The Theatre Party

XIX. Grace Meets with a Rebuff

XX. Marian's Confession

XXI. What Happened at the Haunted House

XXII. Grace and Eleanor Make a Formal Call

XXIII. The Message of the Violin

XXIV. The Parting of the Ways




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


"Who is that Girl?"

The Girls Circled Around the Judge

Hippy Sat With A Piece of Fudge in Either Hand

Grace Held Her Breath in Astonishment




Grace Harlowe's Senior Year at High School




CHAPTER I

A PUZZLING RESEMBLANCE


"Oakdale won't seem like the same place. What shall we do without you?"
exclaimed Grace Harlowe mournfully.

It was a sunny afternoon in early October, and Grace Harlowe with her
three chums, Anne Pierson, Nora O'Malley and Jessica Bright, stood
grouped around three young men on the station platform at Oakdale. For
Hippy Wingate, Reddy Brooks and David Nesbit were leaving that afternoon
to begin a four years' course in an eastern college, and a number of
relatives and friends had gathered to wish them godspeed.

Those who have read "Grace Harlowe's Plebe Year at High School"
need no introduction to these three young men or to the girl chums. The
doings of these merry girls made the record of their freshman year
memorable indeed. The winning of the freshman prize by Anne Pierson,
despite the determined opposition and plotting of Miriam Nesbit, also
aspiring to that honor, Mrs. Gray's Christmas party, the winter picnic
that ended in an adventure with wolves, and many other stirring events
furnished plenty of excitement for the readers of that volume.

In "Grace Harlowe's Sophomore Year at High School" the interest
of the story was centered around the series of basketball games played
by the sophomore and junior classes for the High School championship. In
this volume was narrated the efforts of Miriam Nesbit, aided by Julia
Crosby, the disagreeable junior captain, to discredit Anne, and force
Grace to resign the captaincy of her team. The rescue of Julia by Grace
from drowning during a skating party served to bring about a
reconciliation between the two girls and clear Anne's name of the
suspicion resting upon it. The two classes, formerly at sword's points,
became friendly, and buried the hatchet, although Miriam Nesbit, still
bitterly jealous of Grace's popularity, planned a revenge upon Grace
that nearly resulted in making her miss playing on her team during the
deciding game. Grace's encounter with an escaped lunatic, David Nesbit's
trial flight in his aeroplane, were incidents that also held the
undivided attention of the reader.

In "Grace Harlowe's Junior Year at High School" the four chums
appeared as members of the famous sorority, the "Phi Sigma Tau,"
organized by Grace for the purpose of helping needy High School girls.

In that volume Eleanor Savelli, the self-willed, temperamental daughter
of an Italian violin virtuoso, furnished much of the interest of the
book. The efforts of Grace and her chums to create in this girl a
healthy, wholesome enjoyment for High School life, and her repudiation
of their friendship, and subsequent attempts to revenge herself for
fancied slights and insults, served to make the story absorbing.

The walking expedition through Upton Wood, the rescue of Mabel Allison,
an orphan, by the Phi Sigma Tau, from the tender mercies of a cruel and
ignorant woman with whom she lived, proved interesting reading.

The class play in which Eleanor plotted to oust Anne Pierson, the star,
from the production and obtain the leading part for herself, the
discovery of the plot at the eleventh hour by Grace, enabling her to
balk Eleanor's scheme, were among the incidents that aroused anew the
admiration of the reader for capable, wide-awake Grace Harlowe.

The seven young people on the platform looked unusually solemn, and a
brief silence followed Grace's wistful question. Saying good-bye
threatened to be a harder task than any of them had imagined it to be.
Even Hippy, usually ready of speech, wore a look of concern decidedly
out of place on his fat, good-humored face.

"Do say something funny, Hippy!" exclaimed Nora in desperation. "This
silence is awful. In another minute we'll all be weeping. Can't you
offer something cheerful?"

Hippy fixed a reflective eye upon Nora for an instant, then recited in a
husky voice:

"Remember well, and bear in mind,
That fat young men are hard to find."

There was a shout of laughter went up at this and things began to take a
brighter turn.

"Now will you be good, Nora?" teased David.

"Humph!" sniffed Nora. "I knew his sadness was only skin deep."

"After all," said Anne Pierson, "why should we look at the gloomy side.
You are all coming home for Thanksgiving and the time will slip by
before we realize it. It's our duty to send you boys away in good
spirits, instead of making you feel blue and melancholy."

"Anne always thinks about her duty," laughed Jessica, "but she's right,
nevertheless. Let's all be as cheerful as possible."

"I hear the train coming," cried Grace, always on the alert. "Do write
to us, won't you, boys! Please don't forget to send us some pictures of
the college."

"Yes, don't let that new Eastman of yours go to waste, Reddy," said
Nora.

"I will make Hippy pose the minute we strike the college campus,"
laughed Reddy, "and you shall have the first results, providing they are
not too terrifying."

"I want pictures of the college, not the inmates," retorted Nora.

"Inmates!" cried Hippy. "One would think she was speaking of a lunatic
asylum or a jail. I forgive you, Nora, but it was a cruel thrust. Here
comes the train. Get busy, you fellows, and make your fond farewells to
your families, who will no doubt be tickled pink to get rid of you for a
while."

With that he made a rush to where his father and brother stood. David
turned to his mother and sister Miriam, kissing them affectionately,
while Reddy grasped his father's hand with silent affection in his eyes.

The last good-byes were reserved for the four chums, who felt lumps rise
in their throats in spite of their recently avowed declaration to be
cheerful.

Nora shoved a white box tied up with blue ribbon into Hippy's hand just
as he was about to board the train.

"It's walnut fudge," she said. "But it isn't all for you. Be generous,
and let David and Reddy have some, too."

"Good-bye. Good-bye. Don't forget us," chorused the chums as the train
pulled out, while the young men waved farewell from the open windows.

"I hope I won't be called upon to say good-bye to any more of my friends
for a blue moon!" exclaimed Grace. "I hate good-byes. When it comes my
turn to go to college I believe I shall slip away quietly without saying
a word to a soul except mother."

"You know you couldn't leave your little playmates in such a heartless
manner," said Jessica. "We'd visit you in nightmares the whole of your
freshman year if you even attempted such a thing."

"Oh, well, if you are going to use threats I expect I shall have to
forego my vanishing act," said Grace, with a smile.

The four girls had walked the length of the platform and were about to
turn in at the entrance leading to the street when Grace suddenly
clutched Anne, pointing, and crying out, "Oh, look! look!"

Three pairs of eyes were turned instantly in the direction of her
finger, just in time to see a dark blue touring car crash against a tree
at the foot of the hilly street leading down to the station.

Its two occupants, the chauffeur and a woman who sat in the tonneau,
were thrown out with considerable force and lay motionless at one side
of the street.

In a twinkling the four girls had reached the woman's side. Grace knelt
beside her, then sat down on the pavement, raising the stranger's head
until it rested in her lap. The woman lay white and still, although on
placing a hand to her heart Grace found that it was beating faintly.
Calling for water, she dashed it in the woman's face, without any
noticeable results.

By this time a crowd had collected and several men were busy with the
chauffeur, who was conscious, but moaned as though in pain.

"Do go for a doctor, please," Grace cried to her chums. "I am afraid
this woman is badly hurt."

"Here's Dr. Gale now," exclaimed Anne as the old doctor came hurrying
across the street.

"Hello, what's the matter here?" he called. "It's a good thing I
happened to be driving by."

"Oh, Dr. Gale, do look at this poor woman. She must have struck her
head, for she lies as though she were dead."

Kneeling beside the stranger, the doctor busied himself with her, and
after a little time the woman opened her eyes and gazed vaguely about,
then again relapsed into unconsciousness.

"Whom does she resemble?" thought Grace. "Her face has a familiar look,
though I am sure I have never before seen her."

"Stand back and give her air," ordered the doctor, and the circling
crowd fell back a little.

"Grace, look out for her while I order the ambulance and see to this
man."

The doctor bustled over to the injured chauffeur, and began his
examination.

"Broken arm," he said briefly. "Send them both to the hospital."

The ambulance proved large enough to hold both victims of the accident
and the attendant took them in charge, and signaled the driver, who
headed for the city hospital, leaving the crowd to examine the big car.

"It's pretty badly damaged," said one man. "It must have hit that tree
with a terrific crash. Skidded, I suppose."

"Come on, girls," said Anne. "There is no use in staying here any
longer. We've had excitement enough for one day."

"I should say so," shuddered Jessica. "I hope that woman doesn't die. We
must go to the hospital to-morrow and inquire for her."

"Of course," responded Anne. "What a sweet face she had, and her eyes
were such a beautiful brown, but they haunted me. There is something so
familiar about them."

"Why, that's just what I thought, too!" cried Grace. "Who is it she
resembles?"

"Give it up," said Nora. "Although I noticed it, too."

Jessica alone made no remark. Her face wore a puzzled frown, as though
she were searching her memory for something.

"Oh, well, what's the use of worrying over a resemblance," said Nora. "I
wonder what days visitors are allowed at the hospital."

"By the way, Jessica," said Anne, "where is Mabel! She usually waits for
you."

"Mabel is--" began Jessica. Then she stopped, her eyes filling with
wonder, almost alarm. "Girls," she cried, her voice rising to an excited
scream. "I know who that woman resembles! She looks like Mabel Allison."




CHAPTER II

WHAT THE DAY BROUGHT FORTH


For a second the three girls fairly gasped at Jessica's discovery. Grace
was the first to speak.

"You have hit the nail on the head, Jessica. That's why her face seemed
so familiar. The resemblance is striking."

The four girls glanced from one to another, the same thought in mind.
Perhaps the mystery of Mabel Allison's parentage was to be solved at
last.

Those who have read "Grace Harlowe's Junior Year at High
School" will recall how the Phi Sigma Tau became interested in
Mabel Allison, a young girl taken from an orphanage by Miss Brant, a
woman devoid of either gentleness or sympathy, who treated her young
charge with great cruelty.

It will be remembered that through the efforts of Grace and Jessica,
aided by Jessica's father, Miss Brant was forced to give Mabel up, and
she became a member of the Bright household, and the especial protegee
of the Phi Sigma Tau.

Grace and her friends had always believed Mabel to be a child of good
family. She had been picked up in the streets of New York when a baby,
and taken to the police station, where she had been held for some time,
but on remaining unclaimed, had been sent to an orphanage outside New
York City, where she had spent her life until she had been brought to
Oakdale by Miss Brant.

Although Mabel had been in the Bright household but a few months,
Jessica, who was motherless, had become deeply attached to her, while
Jessica's father was equally fond of the young girl.

She had spent her vacation with the Phi Sigma Tau, who were the guests
of Judge Putnam, a prominent Oakdale citizen, and his sister at their
camp in the Adirondacks. The judge had conceived a great affection for
her, and on hearing her story had offered to adopt her.

This proved a cross to Jessica, who was torn between her desire to keep
Mabel with her, and the feeling that the opportunity was too great for
Mabel to refuse. Mabel had left the decision to Jessica, and the judge
was still awaiting his answer.

"I might have known something would happen to take her away," almost
wailed Jessica. "First, the judge, and now--"

"Don't be a goose, Jessica," said Nora stoutly, "and don't jump at the
conclusion that this strange woman is a relative of Mabel's. There are
lots of chance resemblances."

"Of course there are," consoled Grace. "When we go to the hospital
to-morrow we'll find no doubt that our stranger is named 'Smith' or
'Brown' or anything except 'Allison.'"

"Don't worry, dear," said Anne, slipping her hand into Jessica's. "No
one will take your one chicken from you."

"I don't know about that," responded Jessica gloomily. "I feel in my
bones that something terrible is going to happen. I suppose you girls
think me foolish about Mabel, but I've no mother or sister, and you know
yourselves what a dear Mabel is."

"Forget it," advised Nora wisely. "We've had enough to harrow our young
feelings to-day. Let's go and drown our sorrows in sundaes. I'll treat
until my money gives out, and then the rest of you can take up the good
work."

"Who will go to the hospital with me to-morrow!" asked Grace when they
were seated around a table at Stillman's.

"Let me see. To-morrow is Sunday," said Jessica. "I'm afraid I can't go.
Papa is going to take Mabel and me for a drive."

"I'll go with, you," volunteered Nora.

"And I," said Anne.

"Good girls," commended Grace. "Meet me here at three o'clock. I am
fairly sure that visitors are allowed on Sunday, but if I am mistaken we
can at least go to the office and inquire for our stranger."

The three girls met in front of Stillman's at exactly three o'clock the
following afternoon, and set out for the hospital.

"Visitors are allowed on Sunday from three until five," remarked Grace
as they strolled down Main Street. "I telephoned last night to the
hospital. Our stranger is not seriously hurt. She is badly shaken up,
and awfully nervous. If she feels more calm to-day we may be allowed to
see her."

"What is her name?" asked Anne.

Grace looked blank, then exclaimed: "Why, girls, how stupid of me! I
forgot to ask. I was so interested in hearing about her condition that I
never thought of that."

"Well, our curiosity will soon be satisfied in that respect," said Nora,
"for here we are at the hospital."

"We should like to see the woman who was thrown from the automobile
yesterday afternoon," said Grace to the matron. "Is she able to receive
visitors?"

"Oh, yes," replied the matron. "She is sitting in a wheeled chair on the
second-story veranda. Miss Elton," she called to a nurse who had just
entered, "take these young women up to the veranda, they wish to see the
patient who has 47."

"What is her--" began Grace. But at that moment a nurse hurried in with
a communication for the matron. Grace waited a moment, bent on repeating
her question, but the nurse said rather impatiently, "This way, please,"
and the opportunity was lost.

The three girls began to feel a trifle diffident as they approached the
stranger who was seated in a wheeled chair in a corner of the veranda.

"Visitors to see you, madam," said the nurse curtly, halting before the
patient. "Be careful not to over-exert yourself," and was gone.

The woman in the chair turned quickly at the nurse's words, her eyes
resting upon the three girls.

Grace felt a queer little shiver creep up and down her spine. The
resemblance between the stranger and Mabel Allison was even more
remarkable to-day.

"How do you do, my dears," said the woman with a sweet smile, extending
her hand in turn to the three girls. "Under the circumstances I am sure
you will pardon me for not rising."

Her voice was clear and well modulated.

"Please don't think of it," cried Grace. "We saw the accident yesterday.
We were afraid you were seriously injured, and we couldn't resist coming
to see you. I am Grace Harlowe, and these are my friends Nora O'Malley
and Anne Pierson."

"I am very pleased to know you," responded the stranger. "It is so sweet
to know that you thought of me."

"Miss Harlowe was the first to reach you, after your accident," said
Anne, knowing that Grace herself would avoid mentioning it. "She held
your head in her lap until the doctor came."

"Then I am deeply indebted to you," returned the patient, again taking
Grace's hand in hers, "and I hope to know you better. I dearly love
young girls."

She motioned them to a broad settee near her chair.

"There!" she exclaimed. "Now I can look at all of you at the same time.
I am far more able to appreciate you to-day than I was at this time
yesterday. It was all so dreadful," she shuddered slightly, then
continued.

"I have never before been in an accident. I had been spending a week
with some friends of mine who have a place a few miles from here called
'Hawk's Nest.' Perhaps you know of it?"

The three girls exchanged glances. "Hawk's Nest" was one of the finest
estates in that part of the state, and the Gibsons who owned it had
unlimited wealth.

"I was summoned to New York on business and had barely time to make my
train. Mrs. Gibson's chauffeur had been running the car at a high rate
of speed, and just as we reached the little incline above the station,
the machine skidded, and we crashed into that tree. I felt a frightful
jar that seemed to loosen every bone in my body, and remembered nothing
further until I came back to earth again, here in the hospital."

"You opened your eyes, once, before the ambulance came," said Grace.

"Did I!" smiled the stranger. "I do not remember it. But, really, I am
very rude! I have not told you my name."

"It's coming," thought Grace, unconsciously bracing herself. Nora and
Anne had also straightened up, their eyes fastened on the speaker.

"My name is Allison," said the woman, wholly unaware of the bombshell
she had exploded. "I am a widow and quite alone in the world. My husband
died a number of years ago."

"I knew it, I knew it," muttered Grace.

"What did you say, my dear?" asked Mrs. Allison.

But Grace was silent. The woman was too nervous as yet to hear the news.
Perhaps after all the name was a mere coincidence.

Anne, understanding Grace's silence, hurriedly took up the conversation.

"Are you familiar with this part of the country?" she asked.

"I have not been here for a number of years," replied Mrs. Allison,
"although my friends, the Gibsons, have sent me repeated invitations.
Mrs. Gibson and I went through Vassar together."

"We expect to go to college next year," said Grace. "We are seniors in
Oakdale High School."

"The years a young girl spends in college are usually the happiest of
her whole life," said Mrs. Allison, with a sigh. "Everything is rose
colored. She forms high ideals that help to sweeten life for her long
after her college career is over. The friendships she forms are usually
worth while, too. Mrs. Gibson and I have kept track of one another even
since graduation. We have shared our joys and sorrows, and in my darkest
hours her loyal friendship and ready sympathy have been a heaven-sent
blessing to me."

"We three girls are sworn friends," said Grace, "and we have another
chum, too. She was very sorry that she could not come to-day. She will
be glad to know that you are so much better. Her name is Jessica Bright.
She was with us at the station yesterday."

"I should like to meet her," said Mrs. Allison, "and I thank her for her
interest in me. I really feel as though I had known you three girls for
a long time. I wish you would tell me more of yourselves and your school
life."

"There isn't much to tell," laughed Grace. "The life of a school-girl is
not crowded with many stirring events."

"You have no idea of how much has happened to Grace, Mrs. Allison, since
we began High School," interposed Nora. "She never will talk about the
splendid things she has done for other people. She is the president of
her class, the captain of the senior basketball team, too, and the most
popular girl in Oakdale High School."

"I refuse to plead guilty to the last statement!" exclaimed Grace.
"Believe me, Mrs. Allison, there are a dozen girls in High School who
are far more popular than I."

"There is only one Grace Harlowe," said Anne, with conviction.

"It is a case of two against one, Miss Grace," laughed Mrs. Allison. "I
insist upon hearing about some of your good works."

"It's really time for us to go, girls," said Grace, laughing a little.
She rose and held out her hand to the older woman.

"You are very cruel," smiled Mrs. Allison. "You arouse my curiosity and
then refuse to satisfy it. But you cannot escape so easily. You must
come to see me again before I leave here. I shall not try to return to
the Gibsons before Wednesday. I expect Mr. Gibson here to-morrow and he
will attend to my New York business for me. If I had accepted his offer
in the first place, I might have spared myself this accident. However, I
am glad, now. It has brought me charming friends. For I feel that we
shall become friends," she added, stretching out both hands. "When will
you come again?"

"On Tuesday afternoon after school," replied Grace promptly. "And we
will bring Miss Bright, too, unless she and Mabel have some other
engagement."

There was purpose in Grace's last remark. She wished to see if the name
"Mabel" made any impression upon her listener, and therefore kept her
eyes fixed upon Mrs. Allison.

As Grace carelessly mentioned the name she saw an expression of pain
flit across Mrs. Allison's fine face.

"I shall be glad to see Miss Bright," she said quietly. "Is the 'Mabel'
you speak of her sister?"

"No," replied Grace hastily, "she is a girl friend. May we bring her
with us?"

"Do so by all means," rejoined Mrs. Allison. "She bears the name I love
best in all the world." An expression of deep sadness crept into her
face as she uttered these words, and she looked past her callers with
unseeing eyes. "Good-bye, Mrs. Allison," said Grace, and the older woman
roused herself with a start.

"Good-bye, my dears," she responded. "Be sure to come to me on Tuesday."

"We'll be here," chorused the three girls. "Take good care of yourself."

Not a word was spoken until they reached the street.

"Well!" exclaimed Grace. "What do you think of the whole thing?"

"I think there are several people due to get a shock," said Nora
emphatically.

"I am sorry for Jessica," said Anne. "It will be very hard for her to
give Mabel up."

"Then you think--" said Grace, looking at Anne.

"I am reasonably sure," replied Anne quietly, "from what I have heard
and seen to-day that Mabel is no longer motherless."




CHAPTER III

WHAT HAPPENED IN ROOM FORTY-SEVEN


As the last period of study drew to an end on Tuesday afternoon, the
hearts of the four girl chums beat a trifle faster than usual. What if
after all their conjectures were to prove erroneous, and Mabel Allison
was not the long-lost daughter of the woman in the hospital? All they
had to go by was the remarkable resemblance between the two, and the
slight emotion displayed by Mrs. Allison at the mention of Mabel's name.

When Grace had repeated the details of their call at the hospital to
Jessica, the latter had turned very white, but had said bravely, "I
expected it. We will go with you on Tuesday. Shall I prepare Mabel for
it?"

"No," Grace had replied. "We may find ourselves mistaken, and think what
a cruel disappointment it would be to Mabel. I don't mean by that
Jessica, that Mabel is anxious to leave you, but you know perfectly well
that the desire of Mabel's life is that she may some day find her
parents."

Copyright (c) 2007. knowncrafts.net. All rights reserved.