The Quest of Happy Hearts | Page 6

it, if you like," Aunt Janice had said,
"and have a picnic dinner--only be careful."
"We will--" they assented, "and as you don't mind if we stay all day, we
can camp out, and play we're a gypsy band, and have lots of fun."
The old lady smiled. Beth had run back for a moment.
"Won't you be lonely?" she asked, but Aunt Janice thinking of their
pleasure, had shaken her head.
"Not since you'll be coming back to have supper with me; don't stay

any longer than sundown."
"All right," replied Don.
"I nearly forgot," Nora began, "may we invite any one in the forest,
whom we chance to meet?"
Aunt Janice nodded in the affirmative, and at last they were off.
The blue mist across the hills was melting into thousands of sparkling
dewdrops, as the sun began to climb higher in the sky.
Janey looked at the open scenery as they came to the edge of the
shadowy forest.
"I wish we were going to the hills to camp--it's dark in there, where the
pathway is so shadowed by the forest trees!"
Nora read her thoughts, and put a warning finger to her lips.
"Don't be silly, Janey; don't you see Don and Harry ahead? We'll play
that we are all going on a quest, and they will be our knights--there's
nothing to fear."
Janey's face brightened, and Beth and Alice, thinking only of the good
time ahead, danced merrily along the way.
"Wouldn't it be fun, if we found a little cabin, in the heart of the
forest?" Don turned toward Harry to help with the basket of lunch, that
he had been carrying since they left.
Harry's eyes began to sparkle.
"Maybe we will; I, for one, am out on a real adventure."
"We're leaving the mystery of the tower room behind--" Janey paused,
remembering that it was Aunt Janice's secret, after all, of which she
spoke; yet she had not been able to shake off her nervous feelings, even
though Nora had laughed at her fears!

"I read a story once called, 'The Adventure of the Happy Heart.'"
"What a pretty title, Nora--tell us about it."
"The Happy Heart stood for anyone who tried to make someone, who
was lonely, glad, every day or whenever the opportunity arose, on the
road of life, as they adventured along its path."
"What a lovely idea!" Janey cried. "Where did you find the story?"
"In our Sunday school library; it all ended with the heart that started out
to bring gladness into other lives along the way; because every happy
heart in turn, made another happy, and the one who started it, was full
to overflowing with joy, all of her days!"
"Let's try and find someone today on our adventure."
"There's no time like the present," Don stepped back, and pointed
mysteriously through an opening in the trees ahead, that revealed at the
end of a winding footpath, a real log--cabin!
"Oh," gasped Janey, turning to catch Beth and Alice's hands--"maybe
it's a gypsy hut!"
"Don't be a goose-girl," laughed Don, "whoever heard of a gypsy
settling down in one place; they are a wandering tribe."
"We'll be the scouts and go ahead and bring back a report."
Harry and Don started forward--
"Brave knights of old--" Nora said softly, as the two disappeared down
the trail, toward the unknown, in the shape of a small cabin at the end!
"Well, this may be our chance to begin on our quest for happy hearts,"
Nora, her eyes following the boys, spoke again.
"I like adventuring for happy hearts, don't you?"

"So do I--"
"And I--"
"And I!"
"I believe Aunt Janice was the first one on our chain."
"I believe you are right, Janey--" and Nora smiled around on the
group--"we shall count her as the first link of joy on our quest of
adventuring for happy hearts!"
"Lovely!" exclaimed Janey--"I wonder who will be the next?"
"I wonder, too--" Nora replied, as they watched the retreating "knights"
disappearing down the shadowy forest trail!

CHAPTER VI
MARTY AND JERRY
Don and Harry, starting down the trail, had cautioned the girls to wait
where they were, until they received the signal to come and join them,
or otherwise.
"It may be just a deserted cabin that belongs to Aunt Janice, and that
we can claim if she's willing--" then the boys had hastened on deeper
into the forest.
"Suppose--" Harry began, "that we find that the log cabin, so hidden
away, has something to do with the secret of the tower room!"
"Then we won't investigate, because Aunt Janice doesn't seem to want
us to know."
In another moment, as they came nearer the hut, voices could be heard
speaking inside, and a dog began to bark furiously.

"Be quiet,