“I do believe she is trying to keep on good terms with me for something—something queer,” she decided. “Certainly she is afraid I will tell Cousin Ted about the attic business.” She paused with a big red strawberry half way to her lips. “Well, I have a secret, anyhow,” she decided, “and I like Alma, she makes me think of myself—she is sort of shy and sensitive. Perhaps I shall make her my confidante.”
Of all the Scouts Alma seemed most congenial, and having a real secret was the first definite step in Nora’s summer career. But are secrets wise and are they safe to carry around in so big and open a place as Rocky Ledge?
[CHAPTER XV—WAIF OF THE WILDWOODS]
It was so much better than dreams. Not only did Nora feel the importance of having a real secret, but she also realized that the same circumstance had actually made Vita her abject slave. Not a wish was expressed by the visitor in Vita’s presence but the maid would, if it were possible at all, see to its fulfillment.
“I believe I’ll tell Alma,” Nora decided one morning after a visit and return to and from Camp Chickadee. Almost daily she made those trips and the Scouts had become such friends with her she was now regarded quite as one of their number.
Expecting to join formally as soon as the other candidates of Rocky Ledge were ready and the Counsellor should come down from the city, Nora studied her manual and prepared for the honor. In the meantime she was privileged to enjoy many of the Scout activities.
But “the secret” was really more engrossing just now. It provided her with a personal importance—what girl does not enjoy the possession of a knowledge others have not and everyone would love to have?
It was thrilling. Alma, the Tenderfoot Scout, who from the first had espoused Nora’s cause and even confided in her the real story of the woodland prince, met her daily at a wonderful rendezvous, and there the two girls, away from teasing companions, enjoyed confidences and built air castles.
“I’ll tell her today,” the resolve was repeated as Nora started out.
She arrived first, and while waiting had a race with Cap all the way to the Three Oaks and back again.