While the registrar was speaking, Blanche stared fixedly at a spot high on the opposite wall, her mouth set in sullen lines. The instant the older woman had finished, she rose, and said with satirical politeness, “I, at least, will try to follow your advice. May I be excused, please? I have a very important letter to write. Whatever plans you may make will be agreeable to me.” Without waiting for permission to retire, she marched from the room, her elaborate, half-fitted negligee of pale blue silk fairly fluttering her displeasure as she swished out of the door and disappeared. If it had suddenly been gifted with the power of speech, it would undoubtedly have expressed sentiments quite different from those she had offered.
CHAPTER IX
AN ENERGETIC INVALID
“What is the pleasure of the Equitable Eight?” Hardly had Blanche’s footsteps died away when Miss Drexal plunged briskly into the programme for the day. It was with secret relief that the eight young women turned their attention to a pleasanter subject. Though only one of them had taken an active part in the disagreement with Blanche, they all felt embarrassed that such a state of affairs had leaped up on their first morning at the Heights.
“We are in the hands of our hostess.” Emmy made a graceful little gesture of deference. “The question is, what would you like us to do, Miss Drexal?”
“Suppose we go picnicking in the woods, just back of the cottage,” proposed their hostess. “I wish you to begin early to get acquainted with them. My sister and I have explored them for perhaps five miles in a northerly direction. Now that we are strong in numbers, we can go deeper into them. It will give us practice in trail blazing. We can pack a luncheon, start in an hour from now, and spend the day as good explorers, keeping in mind that we must start back in time to reach the Heights by sunset.”
“That will be splendid,” glowed Ruth. “Ever since I first saw those woods, I’ve been longing to go into them.”
“Is it perfectly safe for us to tackle them without a guide?” asked Anne timidly. “I’ve read ever so many blood-curdling tales of people who got hopelessly lost in northern forests, and had all sorts of horrible adventures.”
“But we don’t intend to get lost,” stoutly declared venturesome Jane, always ready for the unexplored. “All we have to do is to blaze a proper trail, and keep together. When folks get lost in the woods, it’s generally because they stray away from one another. It would be hard to lose this noisy crowd.”
“These woods are not dense enough to warrant getting lost. In the past few years, the lumbering business has served to cut away a great deal of the timber up here. Later on, we shall take to the woods with an Indian guide, whom I know, to look out for us. I have planned a trip to Vermilion Lake. It lies about a hundred miles from here. We will go by train to Tower, a town situated on the lake. Our guide will meet us there, and show us some real forest country. We shall be away for at least two weeks, and sleep under tents. Does that please you?”