That evening there were several new arrivals, and among them some people who were registered as Judge and Mrs. Athol and Miss Gertrude Athol, from Buffalo, New York. Miss Athol was a remarkably beautiful girl of about eighteen years, and as Clifford saw her during the disposal of her trunks in her rooms, he thought that, with one exception, he had never met one more lovely. She also was a blonde of the purest type, tall and willowy, and possessing an air of repose and refinement, together with an unusually sunny smile, that made one feel as if he had come into a different atmosphere when in her presence.
There was one peculiarity about her that seemed to intensify her beauty; she had great, soft, almond-shaped brown eyes, which contrasted exquisitely with her delicate complexion and pale-gold hair, and which gave marked character to her face.
“She is a true lady,” Clifford said to himself, as he mentally compared her with some other young people who were guests in the house, and who appeared to regard every employee as their slave, whose sole duty consisted in serving their lightest caprice.
About the middle of the next afternoon an elegant equipage dashed up to the door of the hotel and four people alighted and entered the house. Clifford instantly recognized Philip Wentworth and his mother, and they were followed by a stately, rather pompous, gentleman, with iron-gray hair, a pair of keen, dark eyes, and a shrewd, clear-cut, intelligent face, while he led by the hand a little girl of about five years, a charming little fairy, who resembled both Philip and Mrs. Temple, and who was most daintily clad, and with a great hat set on her sunny head, framing her bright, laughing face in a most picturesque manner.
The gentleman was William F. Temple, and the child was Miss Minnie Temple, the pet and idol of the entire household. This quartet were shown into a reception-room, whereupon they sent cards up to Judge and Mrs. Athol, who, as it proved, were old friends of Mrs. Temple, Mrs. Athol having been a chum of hers at Vassar during their school-days. From that time the two families were also inseparable.
They drove or went fishing and rowing on the lake, or made excursions to various points of interest almost every morning; the afternoons were devoted to bowling, golf, or tennis, while they alternated in dining each other and attended card parties, hops, and receptions at various hotels in the evening.
During all this time Clifford and Philip Wentworth were continually coming in contact with each other; but the latter never betrayed, by word or look, that he had ever met him before, and ordered him around like any ordinary porter.
Clifford was often galled inexpressibly by his overbearing manner, particularly so in the presence of Miss Athol, who was always gracious toward him.
Early one morning Mr. and Mrs. Temple, accompanied by the Judge and Mrs. Athol, started out on a trip to the summit of Mount Washington, leaving little Minnie Temple to spend the day with Miss Athol, to whom the child had become very much attached.
Philip Wentworth put in his appearance at the hotel after luncheon, and about half an hour later, accompanied by Miss Athol and his young sister, and armed with books, a lunch-basket, and a rug, started forth again, evidently to spend the afternoon in the woods.