The Outdoor Girls in a Winter Camp Part 3

Betty gave the woman's reason.

"Because."

Frank and Allen came skating up.

"Come!" cried Grace, as joyfully as possible under the circ.u.mstances.

"The prizes--our chocolates, boys!"

"Of course!" added Allen. "But where is Amy?"

"She'll be along later--maybe," and Will winked at his chum as a signal not to be too inquisitive. The young lawyer understood and nodded.

Soon the party of young people were in a drug store, partaking of hot chocolates, and talking of the fun on the ice, while Grace spent some time at the candy counter, selecting a new variety of chocolates.

That evening Betty and Mollie called on Grace.

"Let's go over and cheer Amy up," proposed Betty, who was always thinking of some kindness.

"All right," agreed Grace. "Come into the library a moment. I'll get you that book I promised, Betty. Oh, it's just splendid! You won't stop until you finish it."

"Good!"

"Oh, Papa, I didn't know you were here!" exclaimed Grace, as, leading her chums into the library, she discovered her father busy over a ma.s.s of papers on the table.

"That's all right," he invited. "Come right in. It's only a little legal tangle I'm trying to straighten out," for Mr. Ford was a well-known lawyer.

"Anything we can help you with?" asked Betty, with a smile.

"I'm afraid not," he answered, laughing. "I've just been appointed receiver of a bankrupt lumber camp up in the North Woods, and I've got to arrange for some one to stay there during the winter to see that it isn't disturbed. It comes just at the wrong time, too. I'm so busy I don't know how I can spare the time to go up there and straighten things out. Where are you going, Grace?"

"Over to see poor Amy Stonington. It's too bad! She heard something more about her mystery to-day, Daddy, and she nearly skated into an airhole--she was so upset. Isn't it horrid?"

"Yes, it is too bad about Amy," said Mr. Ford, for he knew the story, as did many in Deepdale. "She ought to get out and away from the influences around here. Stonington ought to take her away."

He was musing for a moment. Then a queer expression came over his face.

"Girls!" he cried. "I think I have something that will just fill the bill!"

"Oh, Papa!" cried Grace, clapping her hands. "When you talk that way I know something is going to happen!"

"Well, we'll see," he answered. "As I understand it, the High School won't open until late this winter, on account of the repairs not being finished."

"That's right, Daddy!" cried Grace. "Not until after Christmas. Go on!"

"Well, about this lumber camp that I've got to get someone to take charge of. It seems that there are some bungalows or cabins in it that can be hired out to campers. Now if----"

"Daddy, I've guessed it!" cried Grace, jumping up and putting her arms about his neck. "You're going to let us go up there to a winter camp.

Aren't you?"

"I was thinking of it," he confessed. "It seems to me to be a fine chance for you to get all the fresh air you want. And I suggest that you take Amy along. What she needs is a change of environment. She has had too much of Deepdale of late. Could you take her with you?"

"Of course, Daddy!" cried Grace. "Oh, what a lovely opportunity! We could get Cousin Jane to go with us, perhaps," and she looked at Mollie, whose cousin had chaperoned them on the auto tour.

"Yes, she could," said Mr. Ford, slowly. "And I was thinking of an old lumberman and his wife whom I might appoint as care-takers of the camp.

They could help look after you."

"As if we needed looking after!" challenged Grace.

"Well, we'll think about it," he said. "If you girls want to go to a winter camp, I see no reason why you could not. Of course there are complications, but perhaps we can get over those."

"Complications!" cried Grace. "Girls, we'll not stir another step until we hear all about those complications! It sounds very interesting."

"It surely does," agreed Betty and Mollie.

CHAPTER III

THE COMPLICATIONS

"Before I begin," said Mr. Ford, as he glanced over the papers that littered the table, "let me ask, has anything new come up about your friend Amy? Is she any nearer solving the mystery of her ident.i.ty?"

"No," replied Betty.

"Then what occurred to-day?"

"Oh, it was that horrid Alice Jallow!" exclaimed Mollie. "Excuse me, Mr.

Ford!" she cried, impulsively, "but I just can't help saying it."

"You are excused," he said, smiling.

By turns the girls told what had happened on the ice.

"Humph! Rather strange," mused the lawyer. "Quite a coincidence. I don't believe I ever told you, Grace," and he looked at his daughter, "but, as a matter of fact, I am the princ.i.p.al owner of this lumber camp where you girls may go."

"No, you never told me, Daddy."

"Well, I am. I bought it some time ago as an investment, but things went wrong. I guess the right men didn't have charge. Neither the lumber business, nor the leasing of camp sites and bungalows to Summer vacationists and Fall hunters, paid. The matter got into the courts and I had myself named as receiver, so I could better look after my interest. Now I don't know just what I am going to do, except that I want some one up there to see to things. If I can get Ted Franklin and his wife I know it will be all right, and you girls will have a fine time with them.

"You can have a bungalow or a cabin or two to yourselves, if you like, and lay in enough provisions for all winter. It's on a branch of the Argono River," he went on, "and you can skate all the way to camp on the ice, if you like. But we'll discuss the details later."

"What about the complications, Daddy?" asked Grace, laughing.

"I'm coming to them. Mr. Jallow, the father of your friend Alice----"

"She isn't our friend," said Grace, quickly.