The Camp Fire Girls at the End of the Trail

  CHAPTER XIII Disillusion

  For an hour before dinner Peggy remained alone in her tent, Bettinahaving seen that she was comfortable, had then gone away.

  She was annoyed at finding herself so stiff and sore and for some reasonso oddly depressed. For Peggy was not as accustomed to depression as mostgirls, being too fond of outdoor life and not given to introspection. Butit was natural enough that the nervous shock, as well as the physicalstrain of her recent experience, should tell on her more as the hourspassed than at the beginning.

  Ralph and Terry Benton had gone home at once to their hotel on the returnof the Camp Fire party to camp.

  Through dinner Peggy sat quietly between her mother and Dan, not talkingvery much.

  From the other end of the table Howard Brent watched her furtivelywhenever he had the opportunity. He was not happy over what he wasintending to do, although from his point of view it was the only fairthing. Peggy ought not to be deceived by a pretense of friendship intogiving her own sincere affection in return.

  Several times the young man had thought of confiding in Bettina Grahamand asking her to undertake the task of enlightening Peggy in his stead.Bettina, Howard realized, did not like Ralph Marshall any better than hedid. But, afterwards, he had put this thought away from him, feelingthat, as an actual witness to the wager between Ralph and Terry, histelling of the story would be more convincing.

  As soon as they had gotten up from the table Peggy joined their onlyoutside guest that evening. Together they walked away from the others.

  But they did not go very far, as it was almost dark and turning a gooddeal cooler.

  Peggy had put on a golden yellow sweater and, with her hair so closelybound about her head and her hands in her pockets, she had again theslightly boyish appearance characteristic of her.

  But Howard Brent did not see this. To him she looked very young and sweetand ardent, with a lack both of vanity and self-consciousness which sether apart from a good many girls, but only made her more attractive tohim.

  "Can't we find a place and sit down? You can't be feeling fit enough formuch of a walk," Howard suggested.

  At first Peggy shook her head, declaring she was all right, but laterthey went to a favorite spot near the foot of the hill and not far fromthe small lake. This was a favorite Camp Fire place, since it was nearenough to have the rest of the Camp Fire party in sight and yet farenough away for confidences.

  Peggy was not particularly interested in what Howard Brent had to say toher. He had seemed to be in the act of confiding something or otherwhenever they had met recently. But she had not considered deeply whatthe confidence could be, and really since he had asked her to give him afew minutes alone, she had not thought of the matter at all. She was muchtoo tired.

  But Peggy was always friendly and willing to listen when her friendswished to talk to her.

  She sat now on an overturned log with Howard Brent on the ground besideher and facing her.

  There was not much light except from the big camp fire many yards off.The pine trees and the hill made a rather gloomy background, and thestars were just struggling to show through the dusk.

  "That was a pretty close shave you had this afternoon, Miss Peggy,"Howard began. It was awkward--this beginning of an awkward conversation,but as well one way as another.

  Peggy nodded. "Let's don't talk about it tonight, if you don't mind. Itis silly, I know, but the more I think about the accident the morenervous I become. Why, I seem to be more afraid now than I actually waswhen I was hanging over that wretched precipice. I suppose, I was tooparalyzed with terror then to realize what had happened. I just keptthinking that I was going to hold on to that tree and to Ralph, and thateven if I died I wouldn't let go. But now I keep having a vision of Ralphand myself sliding down forever and ever, with nothing to stop us. Itwould have been pretty awful, wouldn't it?"

  Peggy tried to laugh but the effort was faint-hearted.

  Howard Brent frowned.

  "It would have been about the most horrible thing I can imagine," heanswered gravely and with just the right amount of steadying sympathy inhis voice. "As far as you are concerned I simply refuse to think of it.And, even though I don't like Marshall, there isn't any human being Idislike enough to care to contemplate such a fate overtaking him."

  Peggy's lips parted and she flushed a little.

  "Why don't you like Ralph?" she asked quietly, but without any show ofanger. "I have seen that you did not like him and I have been wonderingabout it lately. You see, Bettina Graham feels the same way and usually Ihave great respect for Bettina's judgment. But I think she is mistakenabout Ralph. You see, I have known him for several years, but not veryintimately. He has been coming to our place in New Hampshire for a partof his holidays whenever he has liked, as his father and mine are greatfriends. Ralph and I have always been friendly enough, but he has neverpaid any particular attention to me until lately. I suppose I alwaysseemed pretty young to him and a kind of tomboy. I really am one, youknow, even if I am nearly grown. So, now, it seems awfully good of him tobe interested in me, and I like him very much. That is why I think it isfunny you and Bettina don't like him. I know he wasn't a good student atcollege and can't make up his mind what kind of work he wishes toundertake. But there is time enough for him to find out later on."

  "Marshall is a cad," Howard Brent interrupted. He had not intended tospeak so abruptly, nor to show so much anger, but Peggy's defense annoyedhim.

  However, she did not contradict him, nor reveal any of the petulance atbeing overruled, which most people would have expressed.

  Instead, she looked at her companion with the clear, level glance he wasbeginning to know fairly well.

  "That is a pretty hard thing to say about a human being, Mr. Brent.Sometimes I think it is perhaps the cruelest thing anybody can ever sayabout another," she repeated slowly. "You see it really means everything.A man or a woman who is a cad is capable of almost any dishonor. And,worst of all, a cad does not even know when he is dishonorable."

  "Yes," Howard Brent repeated. "I expect that is a pretty good definitionof a cad. You may not think Marshall so bad as all that, butunfortunately I do." He stopped a moment, his skin tanned from theArizona winds and suns reddening faintly.

  No matter how valiantly he had approached the moment of his confidence toPeggy Webster, the actual telling was to be no more agreeable then he hadconceived it.

  At this instant he hesitated.

  "I think you owe it to Ralph to tell me why you think he is a cad," shedeclared.

  Peggy's hands were clasped quietly in her lap and she was leaningforward, looking with earnestness at her companion. But she did notappear disturbed. She was sorry that he had so unfortunate a point ofview about Ralph, but she did not feel in the least danger of beingconvinced by his opinion. For Peggy's points of view were her own.

  "Oh, it is pretty hard to tell," Howard went on, "and you may not think Iought to tell you. Somehow it does seem impertinent of me to dare speakof it. But I just can't stand your being influenced by Ralph Marshall'sattentions to you. The truth is about ten days or two weeks ago Ioverheard him making a bet with Terry Benton. He insisted that he couldinfluence you to care for him as easily and in the same way that othergirls do by paying you attention. He bet Benton a hundred dollars."

  Howard Brent's face stiffened. The thing sounded even uglier in thetelling than when it had occurred, and he had not intended that itshould.

  But Peggy merely stared at him incredulously.

  "It must have been a joke!" she exclaimed.

  Howard Brent shook his head.

  "Well, even if it were a joke, it strikes me as being of a not verywell-bred kind. I didn't know how you might feel concerning it, but Ifelt that you ought to know. If you wish to continue friends withMarshall, now that you know, why of course it is not my affair. Perhapsgirls are all alike!" Howard concluded.

  Peggy was still looking at him, surpri
sed, but not overwhelmed andapparently not entirely convinced.

  "Somehow making a bet of that kind sounds so stupid," she argued--not somuch with her companion as with the impressions struggling for firstplace in her own mind. "It isn't that I doubt what you have told me, Mr.Brent, only that I think you have made a mistake. Why should Ralph careenough one way or the other whether I like him? I am not a very importantperson."

  Howard Brent got up. "If you would like confirmation of my story you canspeak to Terry Benton," he announced, looking decidedly angry."Personally, I am sorry I spoke to you of it."

  But Peggy had also gotten up and now put her hand on her companion's arm.

  "No; you are not sorry," she returned. "Of course, I don't want to speakof what you have told me to Terry Benton. But I would like to ask Ralph.Will you tell him to come over to see me in the morning, if he is wellenough."

  And Peggy walked back with Howard Brent to say good night to her motherand aunt, serenely talking of other things.