CHAPTER XIII
THE MISSING LUNCH
"Oh, but these shoes are so comfortable!"
"I'm glad of that, Grace."
"Though I didn't really delay you much; did I?"
"No, I wasn't complaining," and Betty put a caressing hand on the arm ofher companion.
"We'll be able to make up for lost time now," said Mollie, as she shiftedher little valise from one hand to the other. "Your aunt was certainlygenerous in the matter of lunch, Betty," she went on.
"Yes, she said this country air would give us good appetites."
"I'm sure I don't need any," spoke Amy. "I've been hungry ever sincewe started."
The four girls were again on the broad highway that was splashed andspotted with the streaks of the early sun as it slanted through the elmsand maples along the road. They had spent two nights at the home ofBetty's aunt, that lady having insisted on a little longer visit than wasat first planned. She made the girls royally welcome, as did herhusband. Grace's shoes had been sent to her at Rockford, having beentelephoned for.
"But if we stay another day and night here," said Betty, "not that we'renot glad to, Aunt Sallie--why we can't keep up to our schedule inwalking, and we must cover so many miles each day."
"You see it's in the constitution of our club," added Grace. "We can'tviolate that."
"Oh, come now!" insisted Mr. Palmer. "You can stay longer just as well asnot. As for walking, why we've got some of the finest walks going, rightaround Rockford here. You'd better stay. We don't very often see you,Betty, and your aunt isn't half talked out yet," and he solemnly winkedover the head of his wife.
"The idea!" she exclaimed. "As if I'd talked half as much as you had."
And so the girls had remained. They had greatly enjoyed the visit. Inanticipation of their coming Mrs. Palmer had prepared "enough for aregiment of hungry boys," to quote her husband, and had invited a numberof the neighboring young people to meet the members of the Camping andTramping Club.
The dainty rooms of the country house, with their quaint, old-fashioned,striped wall paper, the big four-poster beds, a relic of a by-gonegeneration, the mahogany dressers with their shining mirrors, and thedelightful home-like atmosphere--all had combined to make the stay of thegirls most pleasant.
The day after their arrival by carriage they had gone on a long walk,visiting a picturesque little glen not far from the village, beingaccompanied by a number of girls whose acquaintance Betty and her chumshad made. Some of them Betty had met before.
The idea of a walking club was enthusiastically received by the countrygirls, and they at once resolved to form one like the organizationstarted by Betty Nelson. In fact they named it after her, in spite ofher protests.
In the afternoon the girls went for a drive in Mr. Palmer's bigcarriage, visiting places of local interest. And in the evening therewas an old-fashioned "surprise party"--a real surprise too, by the way,for Betty and her chums had never dreamed of it. It was a mostdelightful time.
Mr. and Mrs. Palmer had tried to persuade their niece and her chums tostay still longer, but they were firm in their determination to cover thetwo hundred miles--more or less--in the specified time.
So they had started off, and the snatches of conversation with which Ibegun this chapter might have been heard as the four walked along thepleasant country road.
"We've had very good luck so far," said Mollie, as she skipped a fewsteps in advance on the greensward. "Not a bit of rain."
"Don't boast!" cautioned Betty. "It will be perfectly terrible if itrains. We simply can't walk if it does."
"I don't see why not," spoke Mollie, trying to catch Amy in a waltz hugand whirl her about.
"My, isn't she getting giddy!" mocked Grace.
"I feel so good!" cried Mollie, whose volatile nature seemed fairlybubbling over on this beautiful day. And indeed it was a day to callforth all the latent energies of the most phlegmatic person. The very airtingled with life that the sunshine coaxed into being, and the gentlewind further fanned it to rapidity of action. "Oh, I do feel so happy!"cried Mollie.
"I guess we all do," spoke Grace, but even as she said this she could notrefrain from covertly glancing at Amy, over whose face there seemed ashade of--well, just what it was Grace could not decide. It might havebeen disappointment, or perhaps an unsatisfied longing. Clearly themystery over her past had made an impression on the character of thissweet, quiet girl. But for all that she did not inflict her mood on herchums. She must have become conscious of Grace's quick scrutiny, for witha laugh she ran to her, and soon the two were bobbing about on the uneventurf in what they were pleased to term a "dance."
"Your aunt was certainly good to us," murmured Mollie, a little later."I'm just dying to see what she has put up for our lunch." For Mrs.Palmer had insisted, as has been said, on packing one of the littlevalises the girls carried with a noon-day meal to be eaten on the road.Mollie was entrusted with this, her belongings having been divided amongher chums.
"Oh," suddenly cried Grace, a moment later, "I forgot something!"
"You mean you left it at my aunt's house?" asked Betty, coming to a stopin the road.
"No, I forgot to get some of those lovely chocolates that new drug storesells. They were delicious. For a country town I never ate better."
"Grace, you are hopeless!" sighed Betty. "Come along, girls, do, orshe'll insist on going back for them. And we must get to Middleville ontime. It won't do to fall back in our schedule any more."
"I sent a postal to my cousin from your aunt's house," said Amy, atwhose relatives the girls were to spend the night. "I told her we surelywould be there."
"And so we will," said Betty. "Gracious, I forgot to mail this card toNettie French," and she produced a souvenir card from her pocket.
"Never mind, you can put it in the next post-office we come to,"suggested Grace. "Oh, dear! I'm so provoked about those chocolates. I'mpositively famished, and I don't suppose it is anywhere near lunch time?"and she looked at her watch. "No, only ten o'clock," and she sighed.
Laughing at her, the girls stepped on. For a time the road ranalong a pleasant little river, on which a number of canoes andboats could be seen.
"Oh, for a good row!" exclaimed Mollie.
"We'll have plenty of chances this summer," said Betty. "It hashardly begun."
"I wonder where we will spend our vacation?" spoke Mollie.
"We'll talk about that later," said Betty. "I hope we can be together,and somewhere near the water."
"If we only could get a motor boat!" sighed Grace. "Oh, Bet, if no oneclaims that five hundred dollars maybe we can get a little launch withit, and camp at Rainbow Lake."
"I'm only afraid some one will claim it," spoke Betty. "I dropped papa acard, telling him to send me a line in case a claimant did appear."
"Oh, let's sit down and rest," proposed Mollie, a little later. "There'sa perfect dream of a view from here and it's so cool and shady."
The others were agreeable, so they stopped beneath some big trees in agrassy spot near the bank of the little stream. Grace took advantage ofthe stop to mend a pair of stockings she was carrying with her. It was socomfortable that they remained nearly an hour and would have stayedlonger only the Little Captain, with a look at her watch, decided thatthey must get under way again.
"Now it's noon!" exclaimed Grace, when they had covered two miles aftertheir rest. "Mollie, open the lunch and let's see what it contains."
There was a startled cry from Mollie. A clasping of her hands, a raisingof her almost tragic eyes, and she exclaimed:
"Oh, girls, forgive me! I forgot the lunch! I left it back there where werested in the shade!"