The first letter Penny opened was from the Curtises saying that they would arrive in about a week, the first weekend in July.
“That is,” Mrs. Curtis wrote, “if it won’t be rushing you too much, Penny dear.”
Mr. and Mrs. Curtis, whom the Allens fondly called Grandma and Grandpa Curtis, had been old friends of Uncle John’s. Their daughter Mary and their son Charles were the same age as Penny and Philip and they had spent many summers together in camps. They were to be the first guests at Allen Lodge and were planning to stay the entire summer.
When Mr. Curtis had heard about the ideal fishing his family had difficulty restraining him from coming up before the Lodge was really open for business.
“The Curtises are always doing something to help us,” brightly asserted Penny as she finished the letter out on the big front porch.
She and Philip looked out on the lawn, a wide, trimmed space in front of the house, its grass thick, its masses of shrubbery and groups of beautiful trees stately, and its flowers just beginning to bloom. Truly, summer had come to the shores of Lake Superior, and Phil surveyed the property with great pride.
Watching the expression on his face, Penny said, “Uncle John certainly had good taste, Phil. You have every reason to be proud of your inheritance.”
“I know it,” Phil said. “But don’t forget to give credit where it is due. Jimmy and I have done a good job of lawn-mowing and tree-trimming, if I do say so myself.” He stretched his long arms. “That kind of work is a real muscle builder.”
“I’ll bet it is,” Penny said. “And it’s grand to know that I’ll have plenty of flowers for the dining room tables and for every bedroom in the Lodge. Pat takes very good care of the cutting flowers in his old-fashioned garden. If you and Jimmy take as good care of the flowering shrubs, the Lodge will be a bower of blossoms inside and out all summer.”