Madge Morton, Captain of the Merry Maid | Page 2

regard
to a lesson, though at other times she would have done anything for
Eleanor.
Finally Madge raised herself to a sitting posture. It struck her as rather
absurd to have collapsed so entirely, simply because she was not to
spend the first part of her summer as she chose. She knew, too, that it
was high time she fell to preparing her lessons.
With a little shiver she opened Cousin Louisa's letter. Suddenly her
eyes flashed, the color glowed in her cheeks, and Madge dropped the

note to the floor with a glad cry and ran out of the room.
On the door of her chums' room was a sign, printed in large letters,
which was usually observed by the school girls. The sign read:
"Studying; No Admittance." But to-day Madge paid no attention to it.
She flung open the door and rushed in upon her three friends.
"Eleanor, Phyllis, Lillian," she protested, "stop studying this very
minute!" She seized Eleanor's paper and pencil and closed Lillian
Seldon's ancient history with a bang. Phyllis Alden had just time to
grasp her own notebook firmly with both hands before she exclaimed:
"Madge Morton, whatever has happened to you? Have you gone
entirely crazy?"
Madge laughed. "Almost!" she replied. "But just listen to me, and you
will be nearly as crazy as I am."
Madge had dark, auburn hair, which was curly and short, like a boy's.
To her deep regret her long braids had been cut off several years before,
when she was recovering from an attack of typhoid fever, and now her
hair was just long enough to tuck into a small knot on top of her head.
But when Madge was excited, which was a frequent occurrence, this
knot would break loose, and her curls would fly about, like the hair of
one of Raphael's cherubs. Madge had large, blue eyes, with long, dark
lashes, and a short, straight nose, with just the tiniest tilt at the end of it.
Although she was not vain, she was secretly proud of her row of even,
white teeth.
Phyllis Alden was the daughter of a physician with a large family, who
lived in Hartford, Connecticut. Phil was not as pretty as her three
friends, and no one knew it better than Phyllis. She was small and dark,
with irregular features. But she had large, black eyes, and a smile that
illuminated her clever face. Put to the vote, Phyllis Alden had been
declared to be the most popular girl in Miss Tolliver's school, and
Phyllis and Madge were friendly rivals in athletics.
Lillian Seldon was perhaps the prettiest of the four boarding school
chums, if one preferred regular features to vivacity and charm. Lillian

was of Madge's age, a tall, slender, blonde girl, with two long plaits of
sunny, light hair, a fair, delicate skin and blue eyes. She was the
daughter of a Philadelphia lawyer and an only child. A number of her
school companions thought her cold and proud, but her chums knew
that when Lillian really cared for any one she was the most loyal friend
in the world. Eleanor, who was the youngest of the four school friends,
looked like the little, southern girl that she was. She had light brown
hair and hazel eyes, and charming manners which made friends for her
wherever she went.
The three girls now waited with their eyes fixed inquiringly on the
fourth. They were not very much excited; they knew Madge only too
well. She was either in the seventh heaven of bliss, or else in the depths
of despair. Yet this time it did look as though Madge had more reason
than usual for her excitement. Eleanor wondered how she could have
changed so quickly from her recent disconsolate mood.
"What has happened to you, Madge?" Lillian inquired. "Eleanor said
you were upset because you are obliged to spend the first of your
vacation with your hateful Cousin Louisa."
"Hateful? Did I ever dare to say that my Cousin Louisa was hateful?
She is one of the loveliest women in this world! Just think! Cousin
Louisa has written to say that she can't have me, or rather won't have
me, visit her. She is going to shut up her house, and is going to sail for
Europe. I know it is just to escape my odious presence."
"Why, Madge, what will you do?" Eleanor asked. "You've nowhere
else to go." You know how you hate those awful children at
Charlottesville."
"Wait, Eleanor Butler--wait!" Madge cried dramatically. "You do not
know what has happened, nor why I now truly love and adore the same
Cousin Louisa whom I once thought I disliked. Just look here." Madge
waved a small strip of paper in the air. "Cousin Louisa has sent me a