“Good-bye, Nelly! Good-bye!”
“Heia! Hoia! Together! Get together!” yelled the Club as the boat chugged away; the same call with which they had greeted Anne. The latter did not join in the yell. It was too strange to her.
“Here we come to Idlewild!” As the boat drew near the Point they could see a great stone house on top of a cliff; a garage, summer houses, and the glass roofs of greenhouses. But there was no flag flying on the tall flagstaff above the boat house. The place seemed deserted. Every window was shuttered, giving the house the look of a blind person. There were no boats moored off the little pier.
“How dead it looks!” thought Anne. But she said aloud complacently—“It’s the finest place anywhere within fifty miles; Father says so.”
“It certainly is the biggest place,” agreed Nancy. “But wait till you see Round Robin!”
“I wish I was going to be here,” said Anne simply; and Beverly Peyton saw her lip tremble. “I never went anywhere else in the summer, except when we went to Europe. I liked Idlewild.” Anne could not say any more.
“We will come over and see it some day, Anne,” said Beverly sweetly. “It is only about a mile from Camp, they say. I’ve wanted to come very much.”
“So have I,” said Nancy. “In all the years I’ve never been on shore here. We’ll all go, if you will invite us, Anne.”
Anne did not say anything. She was watching the roofs of Idlewild fade out of sight, and she looked wistful.
The others were already planning for to-morrow and seemed to have forgotten the newcomer.