Grace Harlowes Junior Year at High School | Page 7

the way he played one of
Liszt's 'Hungarian Rhapsodies.' I must caution you, girls, never to
mention Eleanor's father to her. She has been kept in absolute
ignorance of him. When she is twenty-one her aunt will tell her about
him. If she knew he was the great Savelli, she would rush off and join
him to-morrow, she is so impulsive. She has the music madness of both
father and mother. Her aunt tells me she is a remarkable performer on
both violin and piano."
"But why shouldn't she go to her father if he is a great musician?" said
Jessica. "And why is she called Savell, if her name is Savelli?"
"Because, my dear, her father has never evinced the slightest desire to
look up his own child. Even if he had, he is too irresponsible and too
temperamental to assume the care of a girl like Eleanor," Mrs. Gray
answered. "No, Eleanor is better off with her aunt. As to her name, her
aunt hates everything Italian, so she dropped the 'I' and made the name

Savell."
"My," said Nora with a sigh. "She is almost as remarkable as a fairy
princess, after all."
"Oh, I don't know," replied Grace quickly. "Her life, of course, has
been eventful, but I believe if we are to do her any good we shall just
have to act as though she were an everyday girl like the rest of us. If we
begin to bow down to her, we shall be obliged to keep it up. Besides, I
have an idea that I am as fond of having my own way as she is."
"Dinner is served," announced John, the butler.
The four girls arose and followed Mrs. Gray to the dining room. During
the dinner Eleanor was not again mentioned, although she occupied
more or less of the four girls' thoughts.
Later on, David, Hippy and Reddy appeared and a merry frolic ensued.
It was after ten o'clock before the little party of young folks prepared to
take their departure.
"Remember, I rely upon you," whispered Mrs. Gray to Grace as she
kissed her good night. Grace nodded sympathetically, but went home
with an uneasy feeling that playing the guardian angel to Eleanor
would be anything but a light task.
CHAPTER III
AN AUTUMN WALKING EXPEDITION
"It is simply too lovely to go home to-day," exclaimed Grace Harlowe
to her three chums as they strolled down High School Street one sunny
afternoon in early October. "I move that we drop our books at my
house and go for a walk."
"I'm willing to drop my books anywhere and never see them again,"
grumbled Nora O'Malley, who was not fond of study.

"I ought to go straight home," demurred Anne Pierson, "but I'll put
pleasure before duty and stay with the crowd."
"What about you, Jessica?" asked Grace.
"You couldn't drive me home," replied Jessica promptly.
"Very well," laughed Grace, "as we are all of the same mind, let's shed
these books and be off."
After a brief stop at Grace's home, the four girls started out, keenly
alive to the beauty of the day. The leaves on the trees were beginning to
lose their green and put on their dresses of red and gold. Though the
sun shone brightly, the air was cool and bracing, and filled one with
that vigor and joy of living which makes autumn the most delightful
season of the year.
Once outside the gate, the chums unconsciously headed in the same
direction.
"I believe we all have the same place in mind," laughed Grace. "I was
thinking about a walk to the old Omnibus House."
"'Great minds run in the same channel,'" quoted Jessica.
"I haven't been out there since the spread last year," said Anne.
"I have," said Grace, with a slight shudder. "I am not likely to forget it,
either."
"Well we are not apt to meet any more Napoleon Bonapartes out there,"
said Nora, referring to Grace's encounter with an escaped lunatic, fully
narrated in "GRACE HARLOWE'S SOPHOMORE YEAR AT HIGH
SCHOOL."
They were nearing their destination when Anne suddenly exclaimed:
"Look, girls. Some one is over at the old house. I just saw a man go
around the corner!"

The girls looked quickly in the direction of the house. Just then a figure
appeared, stared at the approaching girls and began waving his hat
wildly, at the same time doing a sort of war dance.
"It's another lunatic," screamed Jessica. "Run, girls, run!"
"Run nothing," exclaimed Nora. "Don't you know Reddy Brooks when
you see him? Just wait until I get near enough to tell him that you
mistook him for a lunatic. Hurrah! David and Hippy are with him."
"Well, well, well!" exclaimed Hippy as the girls approached. "Here is
Mrs. Harlowe's little