That was it. She had never before known anything the least bit mother-like. Would she find the relationship too irksome?
There was the hint of a tear in her blinking eye when she pulled the kinky tape out for Jerry and felt it snap back into its leather case. After all, things were not exactly as she had pictured them at the Nest. First, she was dragged down from her attic—she felt now she had been dragged down in the very middle of the night by that great, big Vita, and now, there were those horrid Girl Scouts being held up as examples for her to follow and imitate. Well, she would never be a Scout. Each time the question presented itself she felt more decidedly against it. She would always have big Cousin Jerry to stand by her, and if Cousin Ted——
“Want to come to town with me, dear?” called the owner of the name she was opposing.
“Sure she does. She is going to ride Cyclone. Aren’t you, Bobbs?” This was from Jerry.
“I couldn’t ride a big horse,” faltered the confused girl.
“We will go in our handsome ca—our little tame flivver,” interrupted Ted. “When you want to ride a horse you will have plenty of time to practice.” Mrs. Manton had assembled her tools. Nora marvelled at the strong hands that could so skillfully wield the sharp hatchet and the dangerous-looking trimming knife. Into the loop at her belt Ted carelessly slipped the glittering tools, and as she did so Nora recalled the sight of the dainty hands she had been accustomed to admiring. What would the ladies who visited the school say to a person like Cousin Ted?
They were ready to leave for the cottage. Over the hill the Girl Scouts were calling their mysterious “Wha-hoo,” and to Nora it sounded like a call to battle. What had at first been merely an indifference was now assuming the proportions of actual dislike. How was Nora to know she was a very much spoiled little girl? And how was she to guess what the cost of her change of heart would mean to her?
She was a total stranger to the word “snob.” Her training had been one straight line of avoiding this, that, and the other thing; but as for doing this, that and everything, no place was given in the curriculum.
Mrs. Manton, herself a product of the most modern college, knew the weakness of little Nora’s character at a glance, but to introduce strength and purpose! To bend the vine without crushing the tendrils!
This very first day was marked with a danger signal. If Nora slighted the Scouts, they who came almost daily to Ted for information and companionship, there was sure to be trouble. It was this surety that prompted Ted to say with decision: