Mary Lee turned her happy, joyful face first toward Dr. Anderson and then toward Aunt Madge and Mr. and Mrs. Quinn.

"And if I go," she spoke slowly as if she were realizing what it all meant, "I shall be with Ruth and Letty and the other girls and I can be at the Campfire Girls' meetings and see Bobbie and, oh, ever so many other things, can't I?"

Then her face clouded suddenly.

"But won't Mrs. Quinn need me here?" she asked. "Oh, I'm sure she will, and it's wicked for me to think of anything else. And anyway, I love it here, so much."

"I'll not need you, my dear, except for your smiles and cheerfulness,"

said Mrs. Quinn from the kitchen. "You can just make up your mind you are going." And Mrs. Quinn spoke very decidedly.

"You see," added Aunt Madge, "you really need the schooling. You are getting older and there are things you must learn and which you cannot acquire except in school. You must have an education to get on in the world."

"By the way," interrupted the doctor, "has Mary Lee ever thought of what she is going to be when she grows up?"

Everyone in the room looked at the girl expectantly.

"When I grow up," said Mary Lee, speaking in a way which showed she had made up her mind long ago, "I am going to be a nurse--a Red Cross nurse. In the meantime I am going to be a Red Cross Girl."

"Why, of course," replied the doctor. "I remember now you did say last year that you wanted to be a nurse when you grew older. Isn't it fortunate," he continued, "that I can help you because I am a physician. We will certainly give you lots of chances to become a good nurse and in the meantime you can learn much as 'Mary Lee, our Red Cross Girl.'"

"Why, that's fine," said Aunt Madge enthusiastically, while the boys clapped their hands, and Mr. and Mrs. Quinn both smiled proudly.

"And," added Aunt Madge, "what Mary Lee has learned in the way of first aid to the injured as a Campfire Girl, will help her materially to be a good and capable Red Cross Girl."

Mary Lee just beamed. She was too happy to speak but her looks expressed her feelings.

A very quiet though determined voice now spoke up.

"I'm going to be a farmer boy, and when I grow up I'm going to be a farmer-man, just like father." It was Eddie, the younger of the two boys.

"Why, of course," agreed the doctor, after the laugh was over, and looking at Mr. Quinn, who was smiling with great pride. "And I hope you will make as good a farmer as your father, Eddie. And, Tom, what are you going to be when you grow up?"

Tom spoke bashfully but yet none the less decisively.

"I'm going to be a real sailor and go all over the world."

"That's splendid, Tom," said Aunt Madge.

"Yes, Tom," added the doctor. "There are a lot of sailors-to-be until they reach the age of ten, so you won't be lonely."

The merry supper party was now over. Aunt Madge insisted upon helping to clear the table and to dry the dishes. While the three were busily at work, Dr. Anderson and Mr. Quinn went out on the porch, to smoke.

For a few moments the men puffed away in silence. Then Mr. Quinn resumed the subject they had been discussing before supper.

"You say you are having an investigation made, doctor?"

"Yes, Mr. Quinn. Mr. Cameron left instructions to do so before he went to Europe. Some day we may know who Mary Lee's parents were. I feel sure of that."

"I hope so," answered the older man. "She has done so much for other folks, I hope we shall be able to do something worth while for her."

Mr. Quinn continued after a pause.

"Do you know, Dr. Anderson, the child has absolute faith that some day she and her relations, those that are still alive, will be reunited?"

"If that's the case, I think it would not be wise to let Mary Lee know anything of the search that is being made because something might turn up to shatter her hopes."

Mr. Quinn nodded understandingly.

A few minutes later, the ladies came out on the porch. The boys had already gone to their room as was their usual custom.

"Are we all ready for our ride?" the doctor asked.

Aunt Madge nodded. They invited Mr. Quinn to join them, but he had some last duties to perform and he wanted to retire early. So he bade the guests good-night.

The next minute the machine was gliding down the road.

CHAPTER IV

FIRST AID

High above, the sun beat down relentlessly. Not a breath of air stirred. There was the sleepy droning of the everlasting insects, the number of which seemed always magnified at such a time. There had been no rain for many a day. The dust was thick along the roads. Now and then a pa.s.sing automobile left an instant's breeze to be more than paid for in the swirl of dust.

A solitary figure was scuffling along wearily. A casual glance marked him as a knight of the road, a tramp. But if you had stopped to observe a little more closely, you would have noted that he was not of that type, unkempt and bedraggled though he appeared.

He had stopped at the last house on the road and then, after no little hesitation, had asked for a drink of water. He had rested for a few minutes--then he had gone on. The people in the house had noticed his obvious weariness and had asked him if he did not wish to rest. But the evident and simple kindness of the woman, who was Mrs. Quinn, had seemingly embarra.s.sed the man.

"Thank you kindly, ma'am," he had replied huskily, "but I must be on my way."

And so he had trudged wearily on. Every move on this hot, breezeless day was an ache, as if he were stepping on live and tender nerves. He had been able to make but one half mile in an hour. Then nature could do no more--and with a sigh, he had fallen to the ground. The heat had proved his master.

Along the road from the village which was two miles from the house where he had stopped, came Mary Lee. For her the heat had no terrors.

There was beauty in this day, hot and merciless though it had seemed but a little while before. And, as you traveled with her, you also partook of the joy she received from Nature, because, whatever its guise, it was Nature nevertheless.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MARY LEE CAME TRIPPING DOWN THE ROAD]

It was months since Dr. Anderson and Aunt Madge had visited her.

Letty and Ruth had come almost every other week after that first spring visit. She had seen Bob, too, almost the day after he had arrived from abroad. With him had come his mother and his father. It had been a wonderful summer for Mary Lee.

How her heart rejoiced at the sight of Bob, who had gotten out of the auto a little way down the road so that Mary Lee, who had been his playmate and friend, could see him walk up the road, no longer crippled but like other boys. Bob had stayed over for a few days. Mr.

and Mrs. Cameron had been greatly pleased with Mary Lee. They were surprised at the way she had grown and admired the tanned cheeks and the clear eyes.

Bobbie was to come out again at the end of July and a few days later Ruth and Edith and Letty were to come. And while all of them were at the farm, Aunt Madge and Dr. Anderson would drive out.

As Mary Lee came tripping down the road, some of the joy in her was for the days to come. She was not only thinking of the coming of her friends but also of September when she would join these friends in the city and be as one of them. A spirit of gratefulness mingled with her other emotions as she thought of the rapid changes that had taken place in the short time she had been out of the orphanage.