They tried hard to be unselfish, to be glad for her sake. But they felt intuitively that she had gone for good, that she would never return, and their attempt to appear glad, if the truth must be told, was a sorry failure.

Mrs. Cameron had taken it for granted that when Mary Lee came to the city, she would make her home with them, and Ruth had hopes of having her stay at her house. Letty, however, had insistently claimed that Mary Lee should stay with her. In fact, Mary Lee had been Letty's guest the very first night. Considerable debate came up the second day over this question, when Mary Lee and Letty had called for Ruth and the three had made a call on Mrs. Cameron. Dr. Anderson had been a luncheon guest and was still there when the girls arrived as, of course, was Aunt Madge.

The argument as to where Mary Lee should stay became quite heated although it was carried on with good nature. Each one was insistent about carrying her point. The prospective guest, and Aunt Madge as well as the doctor had found the discussion amusing and the latter, in particular, man like, poked fun at all of them.

"Well, Mary Lee," he remarked, "no one would cla.s.s you as an undesirable. Nor could you be considered in the light of a poor relation."

"From the way you folks talk," added Aunt Madge, "one would never infer that the victim had any rights in the matter nor that there might be a possibility that she would have a preference as to where she would like to stay."

Nothing could have fl.u.s.tered Mary Lee more than this. She showed such distress and embarra.s.sment at any likelihood of having to decide the argument, that Aunt Madge took instant pity upon her. She regretted her interference and came quickly to the relief of the girl.

"No," she interposed. "On second thought, we shouldn't let her decide.

I'm certain that it would be pleasant for Mary Lee at any of your homes."

"Yes," said Dr. Anderson, "we must keep her out of this important discussion, slave that she is," he added with mock ferocity.

Everyone laughed but Letty. She was so anxious to have the question decided in her favor that she did not even hear what Dr. Anderson had just said. She had listened with some dismay and misgiving to the first suggestion that Mary Lee be allowed to choose her own home. The new Letty dared not hope that she would be chosen in preference to Ruth and Mrs. Cameron.

"I know what we will do," Dr. Anderson said. "We two, I mean," and he nodded his head toward Aunt Madge to avoid calling her name. One of the delightful things about him was that he could not overcome the habit, try as he would, of blushing when mentioning his fiancee by name. Worst of all, their friends were acquainted with this characteristic. He was annoyed with himself for not being able to overcome it, and, wisely so he thought he had decided to avoid the amused watchfulness of these friends by failing to mention her by name. This time, he was fairly caught.

"Which two do you mean?" Mary Lee asked innocently even as Aunt Madge, Mrs. Cameron and the girls watched him with laughing eyes. "Which two?" the girl repeated.

Dr. Anderson scowled.

"Why, Madge and myself," he replied and then could feel himself turning brick red even though he made every effort to appear unconcerned. And while they all laughed, he continued as if he did not hear them:

"Madge and I will be the judges as to where Mary Lee is to stay. You are all to prove prior rights as they do in all claims upon valuable property."

Neither Mrs. Cameron nor Ruth, however, could bring forth any such proof except that the former had never considered that there could be any question about it. As for Ruth, she had just hoped that Mary Lee would naturally want to stay with her.

"Well, then," triumphantly declared Letty, "Mary Lee was invited by me long, long ago, when she first moved out to the farm. Weren't you, Mary Lee?" she asked as she pointed an excited finger straight at the girl. She was so much in earnest that it raised another laugh.

"I was," answered Mary Lee, and in her heart there was a great warmth and affection for all these dear friends who were so earnest in their desire to have her stay with them and in particular for this warm-hearted, impetuous Letty.

"The jury will now retire," said Dr. Anderson.

Aunt Madge and he went into a far corner and were in earnest discussion for several minutes. Finally they returned.

"We, the jury, decided that Mary Lee is to stay with Letty. But--" and the doctor paused impressively--"she is to make long visits to the other claimants at reasonable times, and in view of the valuable services of the jury she is to make equally long visits to the jury after a certain very happy event takes place."

There was more laughter and general satisfaction on the part of all.

Before the girls left Mrs. Cameron called Mary Lee aside for a moment.

"My dear," she said, "I have ordered a party gown for you to wear at the wedding. Can't you stay here until tomorrow and try it on?"

Mary Lee was greatly distressed. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Mrs. Cameron, but I can't accept your wonderful gift. You are so kind and it is so very tempting." She paused.

"You see," she continued, "I have my pretty white organdie dress which is almost new. I do not wish to become further indebted to any of you; you have all been so kind and I already owe you so much. I just hoped that my simple dress would do. Dear Mrs. Cameron, I hope so to earn enough to pay my way while in the city in order that I can be self-reliant."

Mrs. Cameron thought for a moment. It was a little hard to overcome her disappointment. She had set her heart upon this gift.

"You know," continued Mary Lee, and there were tears in her eyes at the disappointment she was causing, "I appreciate your kindness so much. But I do hope you can see my side of it," she concluded.

"You shall have your way, my dear," answered Mrs. Cameron bravely and wholeheartedly, as she took the girl in her arms and gave her a good, motherly hug.

CHAPTER IX

DR. PAYSON EMPLOYS MARY LEE

The week of the wedding arrived. It proved a feverish time for them all. The days flew swiftly. The two preceding weeks had been a mad rush, so they all thought, and they now decided that these last days fittingly capped the climax. For the girls, this last week brought the important--but up to now, neglected--event of school opening strongly to their attention. It was to take place three days after the wedding.

There was need to plan and prepare for that as well.

It was Mary Lee who found time to be of help to everyone. The excitement left her untouched. There were things she also had to plan and do, yet she proved a blessing to the harra.s.sed and distracted bride who preferred her help to that of anyone else. The girl also was able to help Mrs. Cameron whose responsibilities as matron and hostess were great. Ruth, too, usually independent, welcomed her help.

As for Letty, full of the excitement of these days, it required all of Mary Lee's strength of mind to counteract the desire of the former to stay up night after night to discuss the coming events. Mary Lee was the necessary balance for such a nature as Letty's.

With all this, Mary Lee set to work to carry out certain other plans that had nothing to do with either of the two important events. And, strangely, too, she was able to enlist the services of Dr. Anderson at this time.

That poor man, with each day's nearer approach to the event found himself of less and less importance. There was little opportunity to see his fiancee who was enmeshed in numberless engagements with dressmakers and, so it seemed to him, with everybody in town but himself.

Mary Lee found him in this frame of mind on the morning she called at his office, only three days before the wedding. She had been surprised to find that he would be glad to see her at any time, when she called him on the telephone.

"I didn't dare expect that I could see you so soon," she apologized after greetings had been exchanged. "All I could do was to hope for it."

The doctor, however, gave no sign of being very busy. On the contrary, he seemed to indicate that he had prepared for a long and pleasant visit with her.

"I haven't a thing to do," he remarked. "I turned over my practice for the next two months to Dr. Stewart on the presumption that I could be fairly useful to _her_ and because, so I thought, of the opportunities I would have to see _her_. Then, too, I had a large number of things that required attention.

"And," he added with a wry face, "I have found plenty of time to attend to the things that required attention, for, lo and behold, I find _her_ without any time for me and the kind of help I can give _her_, she doesn't need. So you see, Mary Lee, I have lots of time on my hands and am glad of the chance to see any friends who have time for me."

"Dr. Anderson," the girl came directly to the subject nearest her heart, "I wondered if you would not know someone who perhaps would be in need of the services of a girl like myself for after school hours."

The doctor whistled in amazement.

"Honestly, young lady, you are a creature of surprises. What made you think of that, when there are so many of your friends who would make you more than welcome?"

"I know they would," the girl replied, "but I shall never feel content to live on their bounty and I shall only be happy when I am as independent as is possible."

"You are right, Mary Lee," he agreed in hearty approval. "It is the only normal thing to do. Well," and he paused in deep thought. He knew that Mary Lee would be mortified if he should suggest that he employ her, for that would make it seem as if she were bidding for a position in his office in an indirect way. He knew her well enough to be quite certain that it would be best to place her elsewhere.

"I shall see some of my friends who are likely to need an able a.s.sistant part time. Of course, with the training you desire you naturally would prefer a doctor's office."

Mary Lee nodded in a.s.sent. After a few inquiries as to the hours the girl would be able to give to the new duties and a friendly warning, which the doctor decided was almost unnecessary as to the demands of employers, the subject was changed and the conversation changed to Aunt Madge. The girl tried hard to give the doctor an idea of how busy his fiancee was, the many things that needed attention and the tremendous amount of preparations necessary for it. Even though he had but a small conception of it all, she felt that she had made him understand a little more closely.

At the end of a half hour, she departed after thanking him warmly for his interest.