However, it was noticeable that Marianne Carnot never again chose verse as the form of her compositions. Her classmates were not interested enough to speculate about it, but Miss Gordon and Miss Humphrey believed that some day they would know the truth.
CHAPTER XXXV.
MURIEL WRITES A LETTER.
Meanwhile Muriel had a problem of her own to settle. She had been invited to spend the holidays in the homes of her two best friends, and did not know what to do, as she wished to accept both invitations, but that, of course, was impossible. Then it was that the matter was decided for her in a most unexpected and delightful manner. Doctor Winslow had been a frequent Sunday visitor at the school (for was not his protege one of the pupils?) and each time there had been a cozy party in Miss Gordon’s charming “den.”
The kindly physician had noticed an expression of weariness in the eyes of the older woman as though the responsibility of training so many girls was bearing heavily upon her and he had suddenly decided that what she needed was a complete change of scene; and, as he had often heard Miss Gordon express a desire to visit Tunkett, he offered his home to her and to Muriel for the midwinter vacation, assuring them that he had already communicated with his housekeeper, who lived in a neighboring cottage, and that both Brazilla Mullet and her brother Jabez would look after their every comfort.
Muriel was seated in her low chair on the side of the fireplace opposite Miss Gordon when that little woman, her eyes glowing, her cheeks faintly flushed, read aloud the letter which she had received from the brother of her long-ago classmate.
“Oh, Miss Gordon, shall we go? How wonderful it would be,” Muriel exclaimed. “You’ll just love Tunkett and the dear queer people. Of course they don’t seem queer to me, but they surely are different. I can’t imagine them living anywhere else but just in Tunkett. I love them all, every one of them, even old Cap’n Sam Peters, I do believe. Grand-dad used to say that Cap’n Sam was too lazy to haul in a cod even when he had him well hooked. Then there’s Mrs. Sam Peters and all the other fisherfolk.
“How happy little Zoeth Wixon will be when he sees me! I hope no one will tell him that I’m coming. I want to surprise him and Shags. Oh, Miss Gordon, won’t Shags be the happiest dog in all this world when he hears my voice? Nobody knows how lonely I’ve been for my shaggy comrade, but it made Zoeth so happy to keep him and I couldn’t have him here. I must take everyone of them a Christmas present. What fun that will be! Little Zoeth used to call me his ‘story-gal’ because I told him the tales Uncle Barney had told to me. Oh, I know what I’ll do. I’ll buy him a book full of pictures of fairies and giants. Zoey is going to the village school this winter and if I choose a book with short words in it and big print, he may be able to read the stories all by himself.
“Now what shall I get for Linda Wixon? Something bright and pretty to wear. That’s what she was always wishing for,” Muriel ended breathlessly.
Miss Gordon leaned back in the shadow and watched the eager face of the girl whose hair was growing coppery in the firelight. Then suddenly Muriel’s eyes filled with tears and her lips quivered. “I’m trying not to think how lonely I’ll be without Grand-dad,” she said, “but somehow I’d rather go home this first Christmas than anywhere else. I really would.” Then she added ruefully: “Miss Gordon, here I am chattering on just as though we were really going, and you haven’t even said that you like the plan. Would you rather go somewhere else, for, if you would, I can visit Faith or Joy, for they have both invited me.”
“I really want to go with you to Tunkett, Muriel,” was the earnest reply. “I think it is a beautiful plan. I want to just rest and feel the sweep of the salt wind, and forget, for a time, that I have the responsibility of training sixty-two young ladies in the ways that they should go.”