“We will go on again to the lake as soon as I have rested a little. May I say that it was wonderful to see you? I did not dream that any one of our Girl Scout Troop could dance as you do. I am sure Kara must have enjoyed watching you. So you will forgive my not having told you we were near.”
The girl in the wheeled chair lifted her head.
“I wonder, Tory, why you think I enjoy seeing another person dance? Isn’t it hard enough to sit everlastingly watching you walking, swimming, doing whatever you wish, while I am more helpless than a baby? Naturally it affords me especial joy to behold another girl who can do all these other things and dance like a wood nymph besides!”
In the young voice there was a note that made her companions stare helplessly toward her and then drop their eyes as if they were responsible and ashamed.
“Kara, dear, it is my fault. Things always seem to be my fault, I am so stupid these days! I never realized that you would mind the dancing. I had forgotten how much you used to care for dancing. Besides, I did not suppose we would find any one here, and thought we could enjoy the cool and the quiet.
“Good-by, Evan. You are a wood nymph. Kara was right.”
Tory had placed her hands on the back of the wheeled chair and was about to move on, when again a querulous voice interrupted:
“Oh, no, let us not go at once. You are always tiring yourself to death for me these days. Don’t think I never overhear Miss Mason and the other girls speaking of it, Tory. One learns to hear more than one should in my position. I was not always an eavesdropper. Neither did I suppose you would have to be a martyr for my sake, Tory. I wish you would try not to be; a martyr is a noble character, but one does not wish one for a constant companion.”
Tory Drew made no reply. Instead she shoved the heavy chair into a cool, green shelter and dropped down on the ground beside it.
The other girl followed, anxious to be useful and not knowing what she should do.