“I’ll not order any more pins yet,” said Cathalina. “But I am surprised. Dorothy has been so lovely and so has Jane, and we have seen so much of them lately.”
“I think that the best way is to let it go and treat them the same as ever, and maybe they will tell us some time, unless it really is because they do not like us, and I can’t believe that.”
“You are right, Hilary,” said Eloise. “You think so too, Lilian?”
“Yes. Please let me have another piece of fudge, Isabel.”
CHAPTER XVIII.
SPRING DAYS AT GREYCLIFF.
Early the wild ducks returned. Other birds came in due season, and the bird classes began their yearly prowlings. The Greycliff Bird Club prospered. Never had they had such lists, which they had started with the winter birds, and under the generalship of Dr. Norris, there was little that they missed. Tennis, rowing and riding were popular and engaged in when the girls had time. Miss Randolph tried to curb the modern tendency to let athletics seize the place and dominate the interests. Nor was any one girl permitted to take part in everything and waste her time in too many forms of the physical activities. But each had enough to keep her healthy and happy.
One Saturday morning Dr. Norris took the bird class out for a field trip. According to Isabel, a “field trip” need not have anything to do with fields. “We may even go up the river in a boat,” said she, “but it’s a field trip, just the same.” Virginia, now chiefly called Virgie, had joined the enthusiasts and had a field glass of her father’s, which was very good indeed, much better than some which were of more modern form and more expensive, for these were fine lenses.
“Now if you girls do not mind climbing over the rocks,” said Dr. Norris, “there is an easy, or fairly easy, ascent to the woods on the edge of the bluff above, and we shall save a long detour and an almost impossible tramp through the woods toward the lake.”
They were starting for the shore, and Betty and Isabel looked at each other as the girls called out, “We don’t mind rocks a bit, Dr. Norris.” The class was divided into two groups, one with Dr. Norris, the other with “Paul Revere,” more properly known as Dr. Matthews. Betty, Isabel, Hilary, Lilian and Cathalina were in the group with Dr. Norris.
“When we get up into the woods,” said Dr. Norris, “you may scatter along the bluff, though not too far, but do not attempt to penetrate the woods except when I am in the lead. We ought to see wood warblers in numbers this morning, and perhaps some birds that are too wild to come to our campus.”