“Don’t ask me! Did you ever hear of a brother telling his sister anything?” returned Amy, in an aggrieved tone that betrayed the fact that she, like Jessie, had attempted to “pump” Darry on the subject of the strange girl and failed. “I suppose, like Belle Ringold, he thinks me a mere child and not worthy of his confidences,” she added flippantly.
As they climbed farther up into the hills and the scenery became wilder and more picturesque, Miss Alling became expansive, recounting stories of people who lived in that locality and telling amusing anecdotes of her own experiences that kept the girls in gales of merriment.
It seemed only a short time to them before they turned off the main highway and entered the rough and narrow mountain road. In spite of the discomfort of that last part of the journey, the girls thoroughly enjoyed it.
Aunt Emma, intent upon her driving, relapsed once more into silence. Indeed, there were some spots along that road where she needed every atom of skill she possessed. At one point the narrow road hugged close to the side of the mountain while to the left of them the ground dropped sharply downward, disclosing a ravine some hundred feet in depth.
“Good it isn’t raining,” said Amy, as the car crawled cautiously along the perilous strip of road. “One skid, and we would be but a dim, faint memory. Look behind you, will you, Jess, dear, and see if the boys are still right side up?”
Jessie obeyed and reported that Darry was being cautious for once in his life.
At last they descended from the narrow road to one that led straight through the heart of the forest. Ahead of them through the trees the girls presently caught a glimpse of rippling water.
“Lake Towako,” announced Nell, joyfully. “Doesn’t it look pretty?”
“It is pretty,” said Miss Alling, with conviction. “And my lodge commands a view of the prettiest part of it. There is the house to the right of us. Thank fortune we reached it before dark.”
The girls saw a long, low, rambling building with many windows and an air of rusticity that was delightfully in keeping with the surroundings.