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Page 40
There before Madge's wondering gaze, coiled on its dainty silk bed, lay
a string of creamy pearls. They were not large, but each pearl was
perfect, an exquisite bit of jewelry. Mrs. Curtis took the necklace
from its case. She leaned over and clasped it about Madge's slender
throat, saying: "Tom and I talked a long time about what we wished to
give you as a slight remembrance of our appreciation of what you did
for us. At last we decided upon this as being particularly suitable to
you. Then, too, we wished to give you something that came up out of
the sea."
"It is the loveliest necklace in the world," declared Madge happily,
touching the pearls. "It is far too beautiful for me. I shall love it
all my life and never, never part with it. You have been too good to
me, Mrs. Curtis," she added earnestly.
"But think what you did for me," reminded the stately, white-haired
woman.
"That isn't worth remembering. I did only what any one else would have
done if placed in the same circumstances."
"But you saved my son's life, and that is the greatest service you
could possibly render me."
Yet before her vacation was over Madge Morton was to perform for her
friend a further service equally great.
CHAPTER XIV
MADGE COMES INTO HER OWN AGAIN
Lillian and Eleanor were in the houseboat kitchen, making chocolate
fudge and a caramel cake.
"I think it will be too funny for anything," laughed Eleanor. "Let's
keep your surprise a secret from the others. It will be a delightful
way to celebrate Madge's return. Do you know that we have a hundred
and one things to do today?" she added, stirring her cake batter as
fast as she could. "This boat must be cleaned from stem to stern. I
told the boy from the farm to be here at nine o'clock this morning to
scrub the deck. He hasn't put in his appearance yet. I wonder which
one of us can be spared to go and hurry him along?"
"Let's ask Miss Jenny Ann," suggested Lillian slyly. "She has done her
share of the work already, and Mr. Brown is sketching the old garden
near the farmhouse. Haven't you noticed that our chaperon has been
very much interested in art lately? Mr. Brown wishes to paint a
picture of our houseboat. He has a fancy for this neighborhood. He
thinks it is so picturesque. 'Straws show which way the wind blows,'
you know. Watch the candy for me. I'll go ask Miss Jenny Ann if she
will go out and round up our faithless boy."
Miss Jones was quite willing to go, and started out, leaving the girls
to their cleaning. Every now and then they were seized with a desire
to work, which caused them to fall upon the houseboat and clean it from
end to end. This morning the fever had been upon them from the time
they had risen, and by the time Miss Jenny Ann started upon her errand
it was in full swing.
Jack Bolling and Tom Curtis were to bring Madge home late in the
afternoon, and, as a surprise for Madge, the boys had been invited to
remain to tea. It was therefore quite necessary that their floating
home should be well swept and garnished.
"Where's Phil?" asked Lillian, stepping from the kitchen out onto the
deck, where Eleanor had gone after having seen her cake safely in the
oven.
There came a series of raps on the cabin roof. Phil leaned over among
the honeysuckle vines on the upper deck. "I am up here, maiden,
digging in our window boxes. Want me for anything?"
"No," returned Eleanor, as she vanished inside the kitchen again. "But
sing out if you see Miss Jenny Ann and the boy coming."
A little while later Phil saw the figure of a young man coming slowly
down the path toward the houseboat. She thought, of course, that it
was the boy from the farm. She did not turn around. She was too
deeply engrossed in pulling up the weeds that had mysteriously appeared
in their window boxes. When his footsteps sounded on the floor of the
lower deck she called out carelessly, "Miss Seldon and Miss Butler are
in the cabin waiting for you. Miss Jones is not here. I suppose she
gave you the message."
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