“Hilary knows the game, has lots of go and good sense and never loses her head!” So Juliet summed up the necessary characteristics of a good captain. Practice went on vigorously after the election to prepare for the tournaments, which would not take place until February.
Thanksgiving came and went. Hilary went home to eat Thanksgiving dinner with her people and came back Saturday. As Philip Junior could not come home, Cathalina’s father and mother, who could not wait any longer to see her, visited Greycliff. Although they knew that Cathalina was well and happy, they were not quite prepared to see the active little girl who greeted them, and their pleasure can be imagined. “I’ve gained ten pounds, Mothery, and can hardly get into my clothes!” How proud she was of her beautiful, friendly mother and quiet, distinguished looking father! She brought her friends to meet them until Madame Sylvia said that she felt like a girl herself. A few of the teachers and girls who, like Hilary, lived comparatively near, had gone home or to house parties; but most of the Greycliff folk remained and were served to turkey and all the accompaniments of a fine Thanksgiving dinner.
Hilary was back in time to meet Cathalina’s parents before they left, and to her surprise and delight was invited to spend the Christmas vacation in New York. “O, Cathalina,” she cried afterward, “it must be a gl-orious dream! to visit in New York!”
“Maybe you’ll be disappointed.”
“O, no, I won’t. I’ve never been to any real big city, like New York or Chicago; it takes money to travel.”
“I suppose it does,” assented Cathalina, who was learning several things this year. Many truths, too, which she had known only in theory were here displayed before her eyes; for example, what she had so often heard at home, that money can not supply brains or character, both of which are valuable in the classroom.
So the busy days went by. Snow and ice shrouded the charms of Greycliff. The voice of the lake grew louder, but that of the little river was stilled, and after school hours, flying skaters in green, blue, red or orange sweaters, or in gay mackinaws glided up or down stream. The war was on in Europe, but the hearts of the young people in America were still light.
Then came a day when the last class was over, packing completed, and Cathalina and Hilary on their way to New York. They felt very old and important to be traveling “on their own hook”, as Hilary expressed it. To be sure, for the first five or six hours, five or six other Greycliff girls kept them company. An art teacher, also, was their chaperone to the place where they changed to the through train. Then Philip was to meet them at the New York Central station and see them home. However, for most of the way they were taking care of themselves and held on to their purses and tickets for dear life.
“I never felt so stylish, Cathalina! Wasn’t Aunt Hilary a dear to send me these lovely furs?”
“You are as sweet as can be, Hilary. That dark red coat is so becoming, with your pink cheeks. I’ll have to rub mine.”