“Yes, Miss Patty,” and the maid, who had been following her, returned upstairs.
“I’ve adopted Sarah as my personal bodyguard,” Patty said. “You don’t mind, Bill, do you?”
“Not a bit!” he replied heartily. “The house is yours and the fulness thereof. I hope all of you ladies who want maids, or keepers of any sort, will call on the service force for them.”
Sarah came down then, bringing Patty’s hat, a soft felt, green, and turned up on one side with a Robin Hood feather. It was most becoming, as Patty tilted it sideways on her head, adjusting it before a large mantel mirror.
“Now we’re off,” she said, gaily; “but we ought to have Alpenstocks, or swagger-sticks.”
“Here are some,” said Bill, opening a cupboard door, and disclosing a lot of long sticks. Everybody selected one, and they set forth.
“Such a wonder-place!” exclaimed Marie, as at every fresh turn they found some new bit of scenery or different view. “I could stay here forever!”
“Me too!” agreed Mona. “What’s the name of the lake?”
“Something like Skoodoowabskooskis,” said Bill, laughing; “but for short, everybody calls it Blue Rock Lake.”
“Because the rocks on the other side look so blue, I suppose,” suggested Daisy.