“I will show you to your rooms,” she said meekly.
They bade the company a general good night, and it was not long before they had locked themselves into their bedrooms, and following Miss Campbell’s instructions, had pushed the heaviest piece of furniture in the room against each door.
CHAPTER XII.—INTO THE WILDERNESS.
Steptoe Lodge in the morning was very different from Steptoe Lodge at night. The dark courtyard, full of shifting shadows, was now a clean and open space bright with new light.
Miss Campbell alone of the motor party had not slept well because she had been afraid to open her windows. She had cautioned the girls against opening their’s, but Billie had flatly rebelled.
“I cannot sleep in a vacuum, Cousin Helen, and if anyone were tall enough to crawl in the window, we could among us make enough noise to raise the roof off the house.”
But the night had been peaceful and the cheerfulness of the June morning with the sweet scents of the innumerable wild flowers which starred the plains, dispelled Miss Campbell’s fears.
Someone was singing in the courtyard, a song which Elinor knew and loved.
“Hark, hark, the lark from Heaven’s gate sings,
And Phoebus ’gins arise,
His steeds to water at those springs
On chaliced flowers that lies;
And winking Mary-buds begin to ope their golden eyes:
With everything that pretty is, my lady sweet, arise,
Arise, arise.”
“It’s Mr. Wins——,” she broke off, “Mr. Blackstone, I mean.”