'gatherings of the clan as we called them. We were all so proud of him we wouldn't have let him if he had tried.
"The fellows, some of them, come to the Sunday school and help every Sunday—sing, you know, and play. We all stand by him. He's good as gold. There's not many could live alone in a Florida orange-grove from one year's end to another and keep themselves from evil the way Christie Bailey has. Wouldn't you like to see the Sunday school sometime? I'll get Chris to let me bring you if you say so."
Victoria smilingly said she would enjoy it; and then, her interest in Christie Bailey satisfied, she turned her attention to the young man before her.
"You didn't answer my question a while ago, about yourself." There was pleading in Victoria's voice, and the young man before her was visibly embarrassed. The tones grew more earnest. The moon looked down upon the two sitting there quietly. The voices of the night were all about them, but they heard not. Victoria had found a mission of her own while trying to straighten out another's.
But the next morning early Victoria laid out her campaign. She took Ruth out for a walk, and on the way she told her what she intended to do.
"And you propose to go to Christie Bailey's house this morning, Victoria, without telling Hazel any thing about it? Indeed, Vic, I'm not going to do any such thing. What would Mrs. Winship say?"
"Mrs. Winship will say nothing about it, for she will never know anything about it. Besides, I don't care what she says so long as we straighten things out for Hazel. Don't you see Hazel must be made to understand that she hasn't failed, after all, that the young man was in earnest, and really meant to be a Christian, and that the only thing he failed in was in not having courage to speak out and tell her she had made a mistake? He didn't intend any harm, and after it had gone on for a while of course it was all the harder to tell. Now, Ruth, there's no use in your saying you won't go; for I've got to have a chaperone, you know; I couldn't go alone, and I shall go with or without you; so you may as well come."
Reluctantly Ruth went, half fearful of the result of this daring girl's plan, and only half understanding what it was she meant to do.
Christie came to the door when they knocked. He looked eagerly beyond them into the sunshine, hunting for another face, but none appeared. Vi ctoria's eyes were dancing.
"She isn't here," sh e said mockingly, rightly interpreting his searching gaze. "So you'd better ask us in, or you won't find out what we came for. It is very warm out here in the sun."
Christie smiled a sad smile, and asked them in. He could not conjecture what they had come for. He stood gravely waiting for them to speak.
"Now, sir," said Victoria with decision, "I want you to understand that you have been the cause of a great deal of suffering and disappointment."
Christie's face took on at once a look of haggard misery as he listened anxiously, not taking his eyes from the speaker's face. Victoria was enjoying her task immensely. The young man looked handsomer with that abject expression on. It would do him no harm to suffer a little longer. Anyway, he deserved it, she thought.
"You were aware, I think, from a letter Miss Summers wrote you, that Miss Winship had been very ill indeed before she came down here—that she almost died."
Here Ruth nodded her head severely. She felt like meting out judgment to this false-hearted young man.
"You do not know perhaps that the long walk she took from your house last week, after the startling revelation she received here, was enough to have killed her in her weak state of health."
Christie's white, anxious face gave Victoria a flitting twinge of conscience as she began to realize that possibly the young man had suffered enough already without anything added by her, but she wen t on with her prepared program.
"You probably do not know that, after she had controlled herself the other day when she was
"The fellows, some of them, come to the Sunday school and help every Sunday—sing, you know, and play. We all stand by him. He's good as gold. There's not many could live alone in a Florida orange-grove from one year's end to another and keep themselves from evil the way Christie Bailey has. Wouldn't you like to see the Sunday school sometime? I'll get Chris to let me bring you if you say so."
Victoria smilingly said she would enjoy it; and then, her interest in Christie Bailey satisfied, she turned her attention to the young man before her.
"You didn't answer my question a while ago, about yourself." There was pleading in Victoria's voice, and the young man before her was visibly embarrassed. The tones grew more earnest. The moon looked down upon the two sitting there quietly. The voices of the night were all about them, but they heard not. Victoria had found a mission of her own while trying to straighten out another's.
But the next morning early Victoria laid out her campaign. She took Ruth out for a walk, and on the way she told her what she intended to do.
"And you propose to go to Christie Bailey's house this morning, Victoria, without telling Hazel any thing about it? Indeed, Vic, I'm not going to do any such thing. What would Mrs. Winship say?"
"Mrs. Winship will say nothing about it, for she will never know anything about it. Besides, I don't care what she says so long as we straighten things out for Hazel. Don't you see Hazel must be made to understand that she hasn't failed, after all, that the young man was in earnest, and really meant to be a Christian, and that the only thing he failed in was in not having courage to speak out and tell her she had made a mistake? He didn't intend any harm, and after it had gone on for a while of course it was all the harder to tell. Now, Ruth, there's no use in your saying you won't go; for I've got to have a chaperone, you know; I couldn't go alone, and I shall go with or without you; so you may as well come."
Reluctantly Ruth went, half fearful of the result of this daring girl's plan, and only half understanding what it was she meant to do.
Christie came to the door when they knocked. He looked eagerly beyond them into the sunshine, hunting for another face, but none appeared. Vi ctoria's eyes were dancing.
"She isn't here," sh e said mockingly, rightly interpreting his searching gaze. "So you'd better ask us in, or you won't find out what we came for. It is very warm out here in the sun."
Christie smiled a sad smile, and asked them in. He could not conjecture what they had come for. He stood gravely waiting for them to speak.
"Now, sir," said Victoria with decision, "I want you to understand that you have been the cause of a great deal of suffering and disappointment."
Christie's face took on at once a look of haggard misery as he listened anxiously, not taking his eyes from the speaker's face. Victoria was enjoying her task immensely. The young man looked handsomer with that abject expression on. It would do him no harm to suffer a little longer. Anyway, he deserved it, she thought.
"You were aware, I think, from a letter Miss Summers wrote you, that Miss Winship had been very ill indeed before she came down here—that she almost died."
Here Ruth nodded her head severely. She felt like meting out judgment to this false-hearted young man.
"You do not know perhaps that the long walk she took from your house last week, after the startling revelation she received here, was enough to have killed her in her weak state of health."
Christie's white, anxious face gave Victoria a flitting twinge of conscience as she began to realize that possibly the young man had suffered enough already without anything added by her, but she wen t on with her prepared program.
"You probably do not know that, after she had controlled herself the other day when she was
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