The Ranch Girls and Their Great Adventure

"Forgive me," he explained. "I do not intend to be ungrateful, indeed I am more grateful than I know how to express. But those stories of India started me to thinking of the first years I was out there. It is a strange country, India. I don't think we western people understand it."

He and Olive were sitting on the Lodge verandah.

Olive nodded, "I do understand what you must feel and I do wish there was something else to interest you."

Then she remained silent. After all Captain MacDonnell could not go on in idleness like this. There must be something he could find to do, some real thing. Poorer men were learning trades. It would be better for him to do this if only he could be persuaded to feel enough interest.

Olive did not realize she was frowning.

Suddenly she exclaimed.

"Look here, Captain MacDonnell, didn't I hear Frank say once that you used to be fond of drawing when you were a small boy, that you were once undecided whether to be an artist or a soldier?"

Captain MacDonnell smiled. "I believe so, I've an idea I was a pretty conceited youngster and would have made as much of a failure at one as I have of the other."

But Olive refused to pay any attention to this speech.

For a moment Captain MacDonnell forgot himself thinking of how attractive Olive looked.

He had not remembered thinking of this especially when they had met in England, only that she was unusual looking and not in the least like an American or English woman. It was almost as if she might be Spanish. Captain MacDonnell also had some Spanish blood farther back in his own family, when the Spanish were the great voyagers and visited and settled on the coasts of Ireland.

But Olive went on talking.

"I do wish you would undertake the drawing again, it might at least amuse you, and there are so many interesting people and scenes you could attempt out here."

Captain MacDonnell shook his head.

"I'm afraid the time has gone by for that," he returned.

But Olive had a kind of gentle, sensible persistency that nearly always wins its way.

"Still, there wouldn't be any harm in just seeing if it might amuse you," she went on. "I am sure it would be a kind of relief."

Captain MacDonnell again looked at Olive. Her deep toned skin was softly flushed and her dark eyes brilliant with earnestness.

He laughed a little. "Of course it will, a relief to you, so for that reason I'll attempt it. But on one condition?"

Olive flushed a little with embarrassment, since she had never wholly gotten over her shyness. However, she realized that Captain MacDonnell was teasing her. He did very often when he was in a gay humor and Olive felt it was good for her, as she was too inclined to be grave.

"What is the condition?" she inquired. "Of course it will be relief to me to know you are happier," at which Captain MacDonnell felt that Olive had scored.

"Why, that I won't have to keep on calling you Miss Van Mater. It is too much of a name, just as mine is."

Captain MacDonnell was doubtful as to how Olive would receive this suggestion. She seemed more formal than the rest of the family and he had thought her colder until her great kindness to him. Now he at least knew better than to misunderstand her shyness for coldness, as a good many people did.

Olive replied perfectly naturally.

"Of course I will. The truth is I have always thought of you as Bryan, as Jack and Frank always talked of you by this name."

His promise would have really passed out of Captain MacDonnell's mind if Olive had not supplied him with a great variety of drawing materials within a few days, which she had taken a good deal of trouble to secure for him.

But as a matter of fact she was really surprised to discover how much talent he had. But then Captain MacDonnell used to work for many hours each day, so that it was not long before his former facility came back to him. More than this, he discovered to his own surprise as well, that he could do a great deal better work than he had as a boy. Somehow the skill must have developed in him unheeded as he was growing older.

She came out on the lawn one afternoon and discovered Captain MacDonnell at work a little distance off.

He had evidently persuaded one of the cowboys to pose for him, as the man and his horse were standing in a picturesque attitude only a few feet away.

Olive walked over to them and stood studying the drawing until Captain MacDonnell turned round to speak to her.

"Why don't you say it is good?" he demanded boyishly. "You know I've half an idea it is."

Olive nodded enthusiastically.

"It's like Remington."

Captain MacDonnell laughed. "Not quite. Still I am getting on. But it seems to me you are neglecting me lately. I say, suppose you pose for me. That would be ripping. You won't be sensitive if I don't make much of a go just at first."

For a moment Olive hesitated. Then it struck her that she would enjoy sitting outdoors in the early autumn sunshine for a few hours each day with her friend. For Captain MacDonnell had become her friend by this time, she had no doubts on this point. Moreover, she had made up her mind she must soon go away. She had planned to take a course in nursing so as to fit herself to be more useful, and there was really no reason for further delay.

She happened to mention this fact to Captain MacDonnell one day and it was remarkable after that what a time he took to finish his sketch.

The truth was the artist made not one sketch but half a dozen.

Jim and Ruth were delighted with his success, so that Captain MacDonnell finally persuaded Olive to allow him to attempt a painting.

The work was undertaken inside the Lodge living room. Olive was dressed in an old gold silk, and the artist insisted that she needed a background of strange oriental colors.

One end of the great room was therefore changed into a studio.

Fortunately Ruth and Olive had still in their possession a number of lovely old silks and draperies which the Ranch girls had brought back from their trip to Italy many years before.

One day, after he had been working for about a month, Olive slipped quietly into the studio without the artist's hearing her. She found him sitting before his easel smoking, but frowning and looking less happy than he had in some time.

But as he caught sight of Olive his expression changed.

"I don't know how I'll ever be able to thank you for making me so lovely? I don't mind being handed down to posterity in such a delightfully untruthful picture," Olive remarked gayly.

"Oh, it's untruthful enough," Captain MacDonnell answered. "It is well you came in just when you did, as I was thinking of making an end of it."

"Then I shouldn't have forgiven you."

Captain MacDonnell nodded.

"That is what I was afraid of, that and that you would not be willing to sit for me again."

Olive laughed. "Oh, you must get hold of someone more attractive than I am for the next portrait. After a while, as you are so much better, you'll be wanting to go back to London to work seriously. You know you have promised me that?"

Captain MacDonnell shook his head.

"No," he returned. "Oh, I don't mean that I did not promise, I only mean that I shall probably not keep my word. I think I shall give up and allow myself to become a kind of good for nothing, half invalid, as soon as I am separated from you."

However, as she had by this time grown accustomed to her companion's swift changes of mood, so unlike her own, Olive only laughed?

"Shall I pose for you again today?"

Then there was silence in the room for half an hour while Bryan worked. Finally he put down his brushes.

"I am no good for work today, Olive. The truth is I want to say something to you and I don't know whether I have the right.

"Olive!"

For an instant Olive changed color. Then she answered.

"I can hardly imagine anything you haven't the right to say to me, Bryan. You often talk of your gratitude for what I have done for you. But I wonder if you know what you have done for me? I have never had so kind a friend except Jack. It is always difficult for me to think of her as Lady Kent."

"But I am not your friend," Bryan returned brusquely, "and it is about that and about Lady Jack I want to talk to you. The truth is it's absurd to call a man your friend when he loves you. Of course I feel I am not all of a man these days and I have not much money and my art may never come to anything."

"Any more disqualifications, Bryan?" Olive asked softly. Perhaps she was not altogether surprised at what she was at present hearing.

"Oh yes, a great many," Captain MacDonnell returned, "only I think I won't tell you about them just now."

"And what has Jack to do with what you wish to say to me?" Olive asked, and this time spoke more seriously.

"Oh, she has nothing at all to do with it now," Captain MacDonnell returned. "Only once upon a time before I met you, I used to think Lady Jack was the most attractive woman I had ever known. I used also to believe that as long as Frank had gotten ahead of me I never wished to marry. But I suppose the real fact was that I wanted one of what Lady Jack told me you called yourselves? The Ranch Girls, wasn't it? Only I had not seen the real one in those days."

"Look here, Bryan, you need not think I ever forget you are an Irishman," Olive laughed. "Yet I think I like your flattery."

However, Captain MacDonnell was waiting for another kind of answer, and after a little Olive gave him the one he desired.

So began for Olive, what still remains, in spite of all the other adventures in life, the great adventure of marriage.

CHAPTER XVIII

"UNDER TWO FLAGS"

ON an afternoon in summer nearly a year later, two flags might be seen flying from the towers of Kent House.

Over the English meadows the wind blew softly, but strongly enough to whip the flags out straight so that from some distance one could see the British Lion and the Stars and Stripes.

Since Olive's engagement to Captain MacDonnell, the United States had entered the war and was now one of the great Allies.

Inside Kent House there was a peculiar atmosphere of excitement and expectancy.

The house was filled with flowers from the big garden, a profusion of roses and the simpler flowers for which England is famous, wall flowers, daisies, sweet-peas and canterbury bells, named in honor of the great Cathedral at Canterbury.

In the dining room, which opened just back of the library, the table was already laid for dinner.

Evidently there was to be a gala occasion, and yet this was unusual, for since the war began there had been few entertainments at Kent House or in any great English home.

Nevertheless Lady Kent herself presently came into the dining room and looked with the deepest interest at the beautiful table, touching things here and there and making slight alterations in the arrangement of the flowers.

The table was in white except for a stripe of rose-colored satin through the center and a bowl of pink roses.

Jack had on a house dress of some soft white material, as she was not wearing mourning and had not worn it after Vive's death. There was too much black being used in the world.

She was standing still for a moment, frowning slightly, but with interest, not dissatisfaction, when another person entered and came up beside her.

"I have been taking a long walk, Jack, trying to get rid of my restlessness and to make the time pass more swiftly. I wish you had been with me. But how beautiful your place is! I don't see how you have managed to keep things in such splendid condition with so many of your men at the front. I have been talking to some real English dairymaids down in the left paddock. They made me think of the stories and nursery rhymes we used to read when we were children. Then England seemed as far away from the old Wyoming ranch as the planet Mars. However, I am the last one of the Ranch Girls to visit you in England. Ralph's work has made our coming to you impossible before and now the war has brought us to this side of the world, for how long none of us can say. Have you heard anything from Frieda?"

Lady Kent shook her head slowly.

She was watching Jean and at the same time thinking how pretty and untroubled she looked. Jean's marriage to Ralph Merritt seemed to have turned out an unqualified success. Ralph had come to be known as a leading American engineer, but now had given up all the other work he had been engaged in to offer his services as an engineer to France. And Jean had left her little girl at home with Jim and Ruth at the Rainbow Ranch so that she could be nearer her husband.

"I wish Frieda had not gone to London today. Suppose something happens and she is not back in time for our dinner! Then everything will be disarranged. We cannot have our dinner party tomorrow, for by that time we will have separated again. Tomorrows are uncertain quantities these days, aren't they?" And Jean's expression changed for an instant.

But Jack answered her quickly. This was to be Ralph Merritt's last night in England for an indefinite time, as he was leaving for France the next day, while Jean was to remain with Lord and Lady Kent.

"Oh, Frieda will be here on time; I don't think we need worry. You see, she is to go to his office and get hold of the Professor, else, Frieda says, if he chances to be especially interested in his work, he will forget all about our plan, and of course to have one of the eight of us missing tonight would ruin everything." Again Jack glanced about her dinner table, which was laid for eight covers. "Still, I think Frieda does Henry an injustice, for, in spite of the absorbing scientific work he is doing, he is far less absent-minded than he used to be. And I never saw a more attentive husband. Since Frieda's baby came I believe he regards her as more wonderful than ever."

As she finished speaking Jack laughed and Jean slipped her arm about her as they walked out of the dining room. Jean was thinking of another baby, who had gone away before the new one came and of Jack's inexhaustible courage. They had not realized in the old Rainbow Ranch days that she had so much spiritual as well as physical courage.

"Well, I am glad Frieda has your old nurse for her baby, Jack, and is living here with you, for I cannot take her seriously as a mother, never having been able to realize thoroughly that she is properly and sedately married. However, we at least have our guests of honor safe."

Lady Kent nodded in response.

"Yes, I have just seen Olive. She and Bryan are both resting, so as to get the most out of their wedding dinner tonight. It was wise of them to come up so early from London this morning. I declare, Jean, it is one of the most beautiful things that ever happened for Olive and Bryan to have married.

"Just from a selfish standpoint you can't imagine what it will mean to have Olive living so near me. I have so missed my family!"

Smiling Jean shook her brown head thoughtfully.

"At present there is not much danger of your missing your family for some time to come, dear. You and Frank will probably grow exceedingly tired of them. Now I must go upstairs to rest for a while myself. I don't wish to have Ralph decide tonight that he is the least fortunate of the four husbands."

Jean Merritt went on ahead, Jack seeing her disappear, and then stopping for a moment to speak to her butler.

Although it was to be only a family party tonight, she was taking far more interest in the arrangements for her dinner than she had ever been known to do before for the most formal occasions.

But then this dinner was to be unusual, since it was the first time the four old-time Ranch Girls had ever been her own and her husband's guests at Kent House. Moreover, their husbands were also with them, even Olive and Captain MacDonnell, who had been married only a few weeks.

Nearly a year had passed since Olive's and Captain MacDonnell's engagement, although the wedding had not taken place until the present summer. The scene of the marriage was the Rainbow Ranch, with only Jim and Ruth, their children, and a few friends present, since the rest of the family were in Europe. But immediately after the ceremony Olive and Bryan had decided to risk the dangers of sailing for home and had landed safely in England only the day before.

Having spent the night in London, they had come directly to Kent House, knowing that Jack planned a family party in their honor.

A good many months before, Frieda and her Professor had arrived at Kent House, so that Frieda's baby might be born with Frieda in her sister's care. Moreover, the Professor was working harder than ever, since his own country had entered the war, to accomplish certain scientific discoveries which should counteract the German terrorism.

A little more than an hour later Lady Kent was slowly getting ready for dinner. She wished to be dressed first and downstairs ready to receive her family.

Nevertheless she was frowning and looking slightly disturbed.

She had left word that she was to be informed as soon as her sister, Mrs. Russell, returned from London. In the meantime she knew a train had arrived from town, yet no word came to her.

Jack was about to ring the bell and find out if her order had been forgotten, when a light knock came at the door and her husband entered.

"I came out early, Jack, dear, in order to do honor to your party and I managed to corral the two other husbands, Ralph and the Professor, so there need be no delay. It is good to be at home now and then."

Frank had looked a little tired, but his face cleared at the sight of his wife. Jack was very beautiful in a white evening gown. The frock was not new, since she was buying nothing of the kind during the war, but it was the handsomest one she owned and the most becoming. She had planned with Jean and Frieda that they were to look as well as possible, since the dinner was to be one they would never forget. Moreover, Olive was a bride and they must also do her honor.

Since the change in government Frank Kent had been made a member of the War Cabinet and devoted most of his time to the great intellectual labors it demanded of him. Frequently it was impossible for him to return more than two or three times a week to Kent House.

As Jack kissed her husband her expression lightened.

"I would like to give a dinner party every night, Frank, if I thought it would bring you home. Are things going well?"

Then, as Frank nodded his head gravely (he and Jack did not often discuss details of his work, since government secrets were not to be mentioned even with her), she added, with a little sigh partly of relief and partly vexation:

"Well, thank goodness you got hold of Frieda! Jean has been worrying for fear Frieda would get lost in London and not come back in time. Years ago, when we first came to Europe, Frieda had a tiresome fashion of disappearing and getting us all into a dreadful state of mind for fear she might be permanently lost. Then she usually turned up quite blandly with some agreeable person who had discovered her."

"But, Jack dear," Frank interrupted, as soon as his wife gave him the opportunity, "Frieda did not come home with us. Indeed, neither the Professor nor I had any idea except that she was with you."

Jack changed color.

"Oh, dear, I do wish Frieda would come in! What do you suppose could have happened to her, Frank? She only went into London to attend to some mysterious errand which she insisted was very important. I know she would not have stayed so late unless something unavoidable had kept her. Besides our party, she has never been away from her baby so long."

Man-like, Frank did not appear particularly agitated.

"Oh, Frieda will turn up all right. The good fates have her in charge." Then he disappeared to begin his own toilet.

Finishing her toilet as quickly as possible, Jack hurried downstairs.

There was no train now from London until after eight o'clock and dinner had been ordered for half-past seven.

In the hall Jack discovered her Professor brother-in-law wandering disconsolately about. He wore a mystified and slightly harassed air.

"Do you know, Jack, I am unable for some reason to find Frieda. She is not in her bedroom and not in the nursery. Nurse is unable to give me any information concerning her, save that she left early in the day for London. Curious that she did not telephone me. Will you please find her for me? She gave me certain instructions about dressing for dinner tonight, which, as a matter of fact, I have forgotten. Am I to wear an evening or a dinner coat?"

The distinguished Professor looked so uncertain and so uncomfortable that Jack laughed in spite of her own anxiety and annoyance. However, she hated to confide Frieda's disappearance to her husband, knowing he would be frightened about her.

She was hesitating as to what to reply when there was a sudden noise at the front door. Opening it, an excited and somewhat disheveled Frieda Russell rushed in and up to her husband.

"Oh, Henry dear, do let me have two pounds, won't you, at once. I know it is dreadful to be so extravagant, but so many things have happened to me! I had to wait and wait for the things I just had to have for tonight and then I missed the last train. I wasn't going to spoil our dinner party and so I took a taxi the entire way out from London. I know the cabby is robbing me, but he did come very fast and I haven't a great deal of my own money left."

The Professor shook his head, not fully understanding all that Frieda was saying so hurriedly. But he produced the two pounds and went out to settle with his wife's cabman, while Frieda rushed upstairs, calling down over the balustrade:

"How is my adored baby, Jack? I have nearly died being separated from her such hours! Don't worry, I'll be ready in time for dinner."

Not long after, Frank and Jack were in their library waiting for their guests to appear.

Olive and Captain MacDonnell slipped in quietly before the others.

Olive was wearing her wedding gown. But as the affair had been a quiet one, owing to the war and to Captain MacDonnell's injury, it was a simple dress of white silk and chiffon.

Except for her husband's wedding gift, a brooch of emeralds and diamonds in the form of a shamrock, she wore no jewels.

Captain MacDonnell was still lame, would probably always remain so. Nevertheless Jack and Frank thought they had never seen their old friend looking better or handsomer. Olive's shyness, her seriousness, seemed just the spur his Irish wit and gayety needed.

"I do hope, Bryan, you and Olive are going to stay on at home for a time now you are safely here," Lord Kent remarked, stretching himself lazily in a great arm chair and glancing with an admiration he made no effort to conceal from his wife to Olive. "Jack more or less needs some one to look after her, since I am giving so much time to my war work I am having to neglect my family."

Olive flushed slightly. She knew Frank had not intended it, could not dream how sensitive Captain MacDonnell was over the thought that he could no longer be of service to his country at a time when she so required the knowledge and effort he had once been so gallantly ready and able to give.

"Oh, I shall be at home the greater part of the time, and Bryan whenever it is possible for him," Olive answered quickly. "But Bryan has already promised to begin camouflage work for the government within the next few days. We were not in London very long, but were there long enough to see a few of Bryan's old friends. They asked him if he would not have his commission transferred to the camouflage corps, as they needed him at once. I suppose he will be able to do some of the painting here in England. But later Bryan will probably have to go over to France to find out what is required of him."

"Bully, Bryan! I had not thought of that," Lord Kent answered, appearing as tremendously gratified as if he himself had first conceived the idea of this work for his friend. He went on to explain to his mystified hearers that camouflage consisted of painted artificial scenery used to conceal artillery or other important positions from the enemy airplanes, and that Bryan was especially fitted to engage in this work on account of his military knowledge and artistic ability.