Carefully the Greycliff was docked and the girls helped carry the lunch ashore, hurrying toward a pretty little summer house which Mickey pointed out to them. It stood back among the trees and was screened, with a floor and picnic tables.
“Hurrah!” exclaimed Betty, “no mosquitoes or bugs at our meals. Blessings on the Greycliff trustees!”
“Let’s ask Miss Perin about it,” suggested Hilary. “She did not look the least bit surprised when Mickey was telling about it, and has probably heard all about it at faculty meeting.”
“All right,” replied Betty,—“isn’t it the funniest thing not to have Miss West for chaperone? We always used to ask for her. I had the shock of my life not to find her here.”
“Our dear ‘Patty’ is getting married about now, I suppose,” said Hilary. “Dr. Norris, I mean Lieutenant Norris, was to have leave of absence and they were to be married this week. But Patty is coming back here as soon as he leaves for France.”
“When will that be?”
“Nobody knows.”
“There is Miss Perin now. Ask her, Hilary.”
The girls joined their young chaperone, who was taking Miss West’s place, with English and Latin classes, at Greycliff.
“Yes,” Miss Perin replied, in answer to Hilary’s question, “this is a farm which was willed to Greycliff and they came into possession of it this past summer. The beach was so fine that they decided to make a new picnic place for the girls of the school, and they rented the farm to a man who is supposed to keep an eye on this part of the grounds as well. They say that they were able to secure a real scientific farmer to run the place because he wanted to experiment with a hydroplane here. He has one or two helpers that are very good and the trustees got him for a very reasonable price to furnish certain things to the school. It gives him a convenient market, too.”