CHAPTER XXIX. THE BARBEQUE
Julie and Gerald were hilariously excited as the hour of the roastapproached. Mr. Packard had selected them as his aides, had made them acommittee on arrangement. They took wood to the pit and then went withthe ever-beaming Chinese gardener to the field where the corn grew, andthey carried back between them a heavily laden basket. Then the longtable near the lake that was sheltered by cottonwood trees was set withthe plate and dishes found on every cattle ranch in reserve for round-upsand similar occasions when many are to be fed.
In the center Julie placed a huge bouquet of scarlet salvia and goldenglow to make the table "extra-pretty," and she put Meg's name nearest theflowers, but, with the innocence of childhood, she put Dan's name at theplace directly opposite. When the guests were finally summoned, Julie'sbig brother protested that he didn't want to sit directly behind thathuge bouquet because he couldn't "see anything." Julie looked perplexed."Why, yes, you can so! You can see the foothills, and just lots ofthings."
Then Gerald blurted out, "Silly, he can't see Meg Heger, can he, whenyou've put her right across from the bouquet?"
How they all laughed, even Meg, and Mrs. Starr, glancing at the mountaingirl, marveled at her beauty, and thought it quite natural that any ladwould rather look at her than at a scarlet and gold bouquet.
Mr. Packard settled the matter by removing the huge centerpiece to a sidetable. "There, that's heaps better!" Jean said as he smiled across atMarion. "Now I also have a better view of the foothills," he addedmischievously.
It was hard, cruelly hard for Jane, even though Bob Starr, who was seatednext to her, tried his utmost to be entertaining. Bob was indeed puzzled.He was not at all conceited, but, up to the present, he had found evenvery attractive girls seeking, rather than spurning, his companionship.
"Icebergs aren't in my line," he decided, and turned toward little Julie,who was on his other side, and whose fresh enthusiasm was interesting,even to a lad several years her senior.
Merry noticed that her best friend did not eat with the same zest thatwas very apparent in the appetites of all the others, and, after a time,she suggested to Bob that he change seats with her. The table had justbeen cleared and Gerald had darted away with the Chinaman to bring on thegenerous slices of watermelon, and so the change was made very easily.Merry slipped a hand under the table and held Jane's in a close, lovingclasp. "Dear," she said very softly, "you aren't feeling well, are you?Shall we go back to the ranch house? I do not mind missing thewatermelon."
"No, thank you, Marion," Jane's voice, try as she might to make it soundnatural, had in it a note of reserve that was almost cold. For the firsttime in the years that they had been so intimate, Jane had used theformal Marion. The friends who loved her always called her Merry.Something was wrong, radically wrong. Merry ate her slice of melon,wondering what it could possibly be, and finally decided that if Jane'smanner remained unchanged throughout the evening, she would accompany hermother to the East on the following day.
"There is going to be a wonderful moon tonight," Mr. Packard said, "Whydon't you young people climb the foothill trail and watch it rise?"
"That's a good suggestion!" Jean Sawyer at once offered to lead theexpedition. Then, as everyone had arisen, he went to the two girls, whowere seated together, and said with a smile which included them both,"Shall we three go ahead?"
But Jane replied, "You and Merry may go. I have one of my sick headaches.I shall go to bed at once." Jean Sawyer looked at the girl almost sadly.Then he said quietly, "I am sorry, Jane. May I walk back to the housewith you?"
"I thank you, no!" The girl's haughty manner was in evidence. Then goingto Mr. Packard, she asked to be excused and walked quickly around thelittle lake. Merry watched her thoughtfully, then turning to hercompanion, she said, "Jean, I think I understand. May I tell her oursecret now--tonight?"
The boy assented eagerly. "I shall be glad to have Jane know," he said.Then Merry also excused herself and followed her friend.