“Who is here. Aunty?” asked Polly, cautiously.
“Senator Yates,” said Welcome. “He dun traveled clar down from de Capitol on purpose, and he’s talking business. Doan’t you let me hyar any sech commotion again. Shoutin’ like you all’d found a teehee’s nest. What you s’pose my mammy’d done to me if I’d made a shoutin’ noise like dat when she had company folks ’round? If I hyar any more of it, you can’t have any banana fritters and whipped cream. No, sah, not one. Sound like a pack ob geese and guiney hens, all tied in a bag.”
“Oh, please, Aunty, we’ll be good.”
Seven pairs of young arms clasped themselves around the tall old figure, their owners promising absolute quiet, if only the banana fritters would be forthcoming, and Welcome was holding out with dignity, when all at once the Admiral strolled along the hall from the garden, and with him was Senator Yates.
“My,” whispered Crullers, as she caught sight of them. “I never saw so many titles, Polly, as you have here in Virginia. Seems as if every one of you girls has a major or a senator or a general in the family.”
“So dey have,” said Welcome, proudly. “Virginia’s wah dey makes ’em, chile. I wouldn’t give two cents for a gentlemun who couldn’t wear some kind ob a uniform, ’deed I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t take any stock in his pretensions at all.”
The Senator was taller than the Admiral, and smooth-shaven. He was one of the youngest men in the Senate, and was a power in the Old Dominion. Polly had seen him at Glenwood often, but to the other girls he was a stranger.
“I trust we are not intruding, young ladies,” said the Admiral pleasantly, as they entered the library. “This is a business meeting, isn’t it, Polly? Senator Yates wishes to address the club on a matter of interest to you all.”
The Senator’s eyes twinkled, as Polly sedately performed her duty as hostess, and presented him to the girls in turn.
“I can tell you about it briefly,” he said. “The Admiral understands the details fully, and will explain them to you later. Mrs. Yates and myself are greatly interested in your summer project. We believe in outdoor sports for girls and boys, and we’d like to see our young girls as healthy and rosy as wind and sun and fresh air can make them. It happens that we are immensely fond of yachting ourselves, although ours is only a steam yacht, and we miss half the fun you will have with sailing craft. At all events, this is the reason for my errand to Glenwood to-day. Saturday we sail on a short cruise up to Nova Scotia, and around the coast to the mouth of the St. Lawrence. If you can get ready in time, and would care to be our guests as far as Lost Island, Mrs. Yates and myself would be delighted to have you and the Admiral. It is only a family party, Mrs. Yates, Marbury, and myself. As she told you on Commencement Day, Mrs. Yates was a Calvert Hall girl, not so many years ago but what she is interested in the old school still, and she feels in extending this invitation to you, that it will be a mutual effort at reviving the school spirit. What do you think of the plan, Miss Polly?”