The Carter Girls Read online

  Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Rod Crawford, Dave Morgan,eagkw and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team athttps://www.pgdp.net

  "Would it hurt me to walk? I can't bear to be so muchtrouble"--_Page 258_]

  THE CARTER GIRLS

  By NELL SPEED

  AUTHOR OF "The Molly Brown Series," "The Tucker Twins Series," etc.

 

  A. L. BURT COMPANY Publishers New York Printed in U. S. A.

  Copyright, 1917, BY HURST & COMPANY

  MADE IN U. S. A.

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER PAGE I. THE CARTERS 5 II. POWER OF ATTORNEY 22 III. SILK STOCKINGS AND LAMB CHOPS 35 IV. GONE! 53 V. LEWIS SOMERVILLE 65 VI. THE RECONSTRUCTION 85 VII. A COINCIDENCE 106 VIII. GWEN 116 IX. SOME LETTERS 137 X. OFF FOR THE MOUNTAINS 153 XI. THE CAMP 164 XII. HANTS 189 XIII. THE AVENGING ANGEL 199 XIV. THE WEEK-ENDERS 209 XV. LETTERS FROM WEEK-END CAMP 224 XVI. THE HIKE 232 XVII. FIRST AID 244 XVIII. THE DIAGNOSIS 261 XIX. THE QUEST 271 XX. THE WALLET 282 XXI. WHERE IS BOBBY? 297

  THE CARTER GIRLS.

  CHAPTER I.

  THE CARTERS.

  "I don't believe a word of it!"

  "But, Helen, the doctor ought to know."

  "Of course he ought to know, but does he know? If doctors agreed amongthemselves, I'd have more use for them. A poor patient has to submit tohaving everything the doctors are interested in for the time being. Aspecialist can always find you suffering with his specialty. Didn't oldDr. Davis treat Father for malaria because he himself, forsooth,happened to be born in the Dismal Swamp, got malaria into his systemwhen he was a baby and never got it out? All his patients must havemalaria, too, because Dr. Davis has it."

  "Yes, Helen, that is so, but you see Father's symptoms _were_ likemalaria in a way," and Douglas Carter could not help laughing at hersister, although she well knew that the last doctor's diagnosis of herfather's case was no laughing matter.

  "Oh, yes, and then the next one, that bushy-whiskered one with hisstomach pump and learned talk of an excess of hydrochlorics! Of coursehe found poor dear Daddy had a stomach, though he had never before beenaware of it. All the Carters are such ostriches----"

  "So we are if we blindly bury our heads in the sand and refuse to seethat this last doctor is right, and----"

  "I meant ostrich stomachs and not brains."

  "Shhh! Here come the children! Let's don't talk about it before themyet. They'll have to know soon enough." And Douglas, the eldest of thefive Carters, tried to smooth her troubled brow and look as though sheand Helen had been discussing the weather.

  "Know what? I'm going, too, if it's a movie," declared Lucy, along-legged, thirteen-year-old girl who reminded one of nothing so muchas a thorough-bred colt--a colt conscious of its legs but meaning tomake use of those same legs to out-distance all competitors in the raceto be run later on.

  "I don't believe it's movies," said Nan, the fifteen-year-old sister,noting the serious expression of Douglas's usually calm countenance. "Ibelieve something has happened. Is it Bobby?" That was the very smallbrother, the joy and torment of the whole family.

  The Carters formed stair steps with a decided jump off at the bottom.Douglas was eighteen; Helen, seventeen; Nan, fifteen; Lucy, thirteen;and then came a gap of seven years and Bobby, who had crowded theexperiences of a lifetime into his six short years, at least thelife-long experiences of any ordinary mortal. He was always havinghair-breadth escapes so nearly serious that his family lived inmomentary terror of each being the last.

  "No, it's not Bobby," said Douglas gravely. "It's Father!"

  "But nothing serious! Not Daddy!" exclaimed the two younger girls andboth of them looked ready for tears. "Can't the new doctor cure him?"

  "Yes, he thinks he can, but it is going to be up to us to help," andDouglas drew Lucy and Nan down on the sofa beside her while Helenstopped polishing her pretty pink nails and planted herself on anottoman at her feet. "All of you must have noticed how thin Father isgetting and how depressed he is----"

  "Yes, yes! Not a bit like himself!"

  "Well, it wasn't malaria, as Dr. Davis thought; and it wasn't stomachtrouble, as Dr. Drew thought; and the surgeon's X-ray could not showchronic appendicitis, as Dr. Slaughter feared,----"

  "Feared, indeed!" sniffed Helen. "Hoped, you mean!"

  "But this new nerve specialist that comes here from Washington, sohighly recommended----"

  "If he was doing so well in Washington, why did he come to Richmond?"interrupted the scornful Helen, doubtful as usual of the whole medicalfraternity.

  "I don't know why, honey, but if he can help Father, we should be gladhe did come."

  "If, indeed! Another barrel of tonics and bushel of powders, I suppose!"

  "Not at all! This new man, Dr. Wright, says 'no medicine at all.' Nowthis is where we come in."

  "Mind, Helen, Douglas says 'come in,' not 'butt in,'" said Lucy pertly."You interrupt so much that Nan and I don't know yet what's the matterwith Daddy and how we are to help him."

  "Well, who's interrupting now? I haven't said a word for half an hour atleast," said Helen brazenly.

  "Oh, oh, what'll I do?" which was Carter talk for saying, "You arefibbing."

  "You're another!"

  "Girls, girls, this is not helping. It's just being naughty," from theeldest.

  "Go on, Douglas, don't mind them. Helen and Lucy would squabble overtheir crowns and harps in Heaven," said the peace-loving Nan. And thejoke of squabbling in Heaven restored order, and Douglas was able to goon with what she had to tell.

  "Dr. Wright says it is a case of nervous prostration and that a completechange is what Father needs and absolute rest from business. He thinks asea trip of two months, and a year in the country are absolutelyessential."

  "And will that make him all the way well?" asked Helen. "If it does,I'll take off my yachting cap to this Dr. Wright as having some sense,after all. I mean to have a lovely new yachting suit for the trip."

  Helen was by all odds the most stylish member of the family, and, somethought, the beauty; but others preferred the more serene charm ofDouglas, who was a decided blonde with Titian hair and complexion tomatch. Helen's hair was what she scornfully termed a plain Americanbrown, neither one thing nor the other, but it was abundant and fine andyou may be sure it was always coiffed in the latest twist.

  Nan had soft dark curls and dreamy dark eyes and spoke with a drawl. Shedid not say much, but when she did speak it was usually to say somethingworth listening to.

  Lucy was as yet too coltish to classify, but she had a way of carryingher bobbed head with its shock of chestnut hair and tilting her prettylittle pointed chin which gave her sisters to understand that sheintended to have her innings later on, but not so very much later on.

  "A new yachting suit! Just listen to Helen! Always got to be dressingup!" declared Lucy, ever ready for battle with the second sister. "Ishould think you would blush," and, indeed, Helen's face was crimson.

  "Oh, I did not mean to forget Father, but if I have to have a new suit,I just thought I would have it appropriate for the sea trip."

  "I'm going to learn how to climb like a sailor," from Lucy.

  "I'm going to take a chest full of poetry to read on the voyage," fromNan.

  "But, girls, girls! We are not to go,--just Father and Mother! The
waywe are to help is to stay at home and take care of ourselves and Bobby.How do you think Father could get any rest with all of us tagging on?"

  "Not go! Douglas Carter, you are off your bean! How could we get alongwithout Mother and Father and how under Heaven could they get alongwithout us? What does Mother say?" asked Helen.

  "She hasn't said anything yet. The doctor is still with Father. Dr.Wright says Father must have quiet and no discussions going on aroundhim. He says every one must be cheerful and arrangements must be madefor the trip without saying a word to Father."

  "Is Mother to make them?" drawled Nan, and everybody laughed.

  It was an excruciating joke to expect Mrs. Carter to make a move or takethe initiative in anything. Her role was ever to follow the course ofleast resistance, and up to this time that course had led her only bypleasant places. Like some pretty little meadow stream she hadmeandered through life, gay and refreshing, if shallow withal, makingglad the hearts of many just by her pleasant sweetness; but no one hadexpected any usefulness from her, so she had given none.

  Twenty years ago, fresh from the laurels of a brilliant winter, herdebutante year in New Orleans, the beautiful Miss Sevier had taken theWhite Sulphur by storm. Only one figure at one German had been enough toshow Robert Carter that she was the only girl for him; and as he was thetype that usually got what he started out to get, and also was by allodds the best looking young man at the White, besides being a verypromising architect who had plenty of work waiting for him in Richmond,Annette Sevier naturally succumbed to his wooing, and in three weeks'time their engagement was announced. She was an exquisite girl, a Creolebeauty of a daintiness and charm that appealed to every fibre of BobCarter's being. She had been a beautiful girl and was still a beautifulwoman; under forty, she looked more like the elder sister of her greatgirls than like their mother.

  "I confess to Bobby," she would say, "and maybe to Lucy, although herlong legs make me a little doubtful of her being really mine--but youother girls, you must be changelings."

  Robert Carter had worked hard to keep his dainty love in all thecomforts that she needed. I will not say expected or demanded,--she didneither of those disagreeable or ungraceful things. Comfort and elegancewere just necessary to her environment and one could no more accuse herof selfishness than tax a queen for receiving homage.

  If a dainty, elegant wife with no idea that money was more thansomething to spend takes hard work to keep, surely four growing girlswith the extravagant ideas of the young persons of the day meantredoubled and tripled labour. Then there was Bobby! It took still moremoney to furnish him with all the little white linen sailor suits thathis doting mother considered necessary for him. She thought nothing ofhaving two dozen made up at one time, and those of the purest and finestlinen. Bob, Sr., looking over the bill for those same two dozen suits,did have a whimsical thought that with all that equipment it would begratifying if just once he could see Bob, Jr., clean; but the only wayto see Bobby clean was to lie in wait for him on the way from the bath;then and then only was he clean.

  As a rule, however, Robert Carter accepted the bills as part of theday's work. If they were larger than usual, then he would just work alittle harder and get more money. An inborn horror of debt kept him outof it. He had all the orders he could fill and was singularly successfulin competitive designs. His health had always been perfect and hisenergy so great that action was his normal state.

  And now what was this thing that had come upon him? A strange lassitudethat made it almost impossible for him to get up in the morning, aheaviness of limbs and an irascibility that was as foreign to him asweakness. It had been going on for several weeks and he had run thegamut of doctors, impatient of their failures. They agreed on only onething and that was that he must rest. How could he rest? Weren't therefive pairs of legs demanding silk stockings (even Lucy insisted that herlean shanks be clothed in the best)? Suits and hats must be bought witheach change of season for the whole family, shirtwaists and shoes,lingerie of the finest. It took four servants besides the chauffeur torun their establishment. Their butcher's bills were only equalled by thedairy bills, their grocery bills by their gasoline. "Rest, indeed! Theymight as well tell Uncle Sam to rest," said the sick man to himself."Who is going to pay for the silk stockings if I rest?"

  The doctor had come, the last one on his list of doctors, a young manfrom Washington, a nerve specialist. He had asked him quite seriously ifhe had had any hallucinations, seen things he could not quite accountfor, and Carter had answered somewhat grimly: "Silk stockings and Frenchchops!" And the doctor, being a very knowing young man, had understood.

  "You see, Mr. Carter, any one in your run-down nervous condition is aptto brood over fancied troubles until it is not uncommon for him to bein a measure delirious. Now I am going to be quite frank with you, whichis a course not usually pursued by nerve specialists but one I feel tobe wisest. You have presumed on your strength and endurance for manyyears. Physically you have stood the test, but your nerves, which are ina way the mind or soul of the muscles and organs, have at last rebelled,and now you are going to have to submit to inactivity for at least ayear----"

  "A year! My God, man, you are crazy!"

  "Yes, a year. Would not that be better than going to pieces completelyand living on, a useless hulk? There, I thought that would make you situp. Why should you not rest? What is eating you?"

  Dr. Wright had a very brusque manner which was, indeed, in keeping withhis appearance. He was a stalwart, broad-shouldered man, considerablyunder thirty. His face, rough-hewn but not heavy, was redeemed fromplainness by the bluest blue eyes that were ever seen, with exceedinglylong black lashes. His teeth were good but his rather long upper lip didnot disclose the fact except on the rare occasions when he laughed. Hehad more control over his mouth than his eyes, as his eyes laughedcontinually whether he would or no. His brows were heavy and shaggy andhe had a trick of pulling them down over his eyes as though he wanted tohave his little laugh to himself, since those eyes would laugh. Therewas no laugh in his eyes now, but rather a stern kindness as he slangilyinvited the confidence of the older man, his patient.

  "Eating me? Why, money, of course. I have absolutely nothing but what Iearn,--and look at my family! They have always had everything I couldgive them and----"

  "And now they must wake up and pay for their beds of ease," said thephysician grimly. "Have you no property?"

  "Well, I own the house we live in; at least I almost own it. If ashoemaker's children do go barefoot, an architect does build and ownthe house he lives in," and the sick man managed to smile.

  "That's good! Any other property?"

  "I've a side of a mountain in Albemarle County. I took it for a bad debtfrom a country store-keeper--a kind of miser--but I believe I'd ratherhave the debt, as at least I had no taxes to pay on the debt."

  Mr. Carter and Dr. Wright were alone during this conversation as Mrs.Carter had left the room to endeavor to compose herself. The littlemeadow brook had struck a rocky bed at last and its shallow waters weretroubled. What was to become of her? Her Bob ill! Too ill to be worriedabout anything! And this beetle browed young doctor scared her with hisintent gaze; there was no admiration or homage in it, only a scarcelyveiled disapproval. She felt like a poor little canary with a greatTom-cat peering at her, scorning her as too insignificant even for amouth-full. And how was it her fault that she was so useless? Was it thecanary's fault that he had been born in a cage and some one took careof him and he had never had to do like other birds and grub for hisliving? She was just about as capable of doing what this Dr. Wrightexpected of her as the canary would have been had he told the bird tocome out of his cage and begin not only to grub worms for himself butfor the kind person who had always fed him and maybe for the family aswell.

  "Mrs. Carter," said Dr. Wright, trying evidently not to be too stern asthe little woman fluttered back into the room, a redness about hereye-lids and a fresh sprinkling of powder on her pretty nose, "I wantyour husband to give y
ou power of attorney so you can transact anybusiness for him that is necessary----"

  "Me? Oh, Dr. Wright, not me! I can't write a check and don't know how todo sums at all. Couldn't you do it?"

  "Douglas will do," feebly muttered the invalid.

  "Is Douglas your son?"

  "Oh, no! She is our eldest daughter."

  "It is strange how you Virginians, with the most womanly women I know ofanywhere, are constantly giving them masculine names. Shall I ask MissDouglas to come to you?" Dr. Wright was evidently for early action andmeant to push his point without more ado.

  "Oh, Doctor, couldn't you see her first and tell her what it is youwant? I don't quite understand."

  "Yes, Mrs. Carter, if you wish it. And now I must ask you to keep yourhusband very quiet, no talking, no discussions, sleep, if he can get it,and very nourishing food. I will write out what I want him to eat andwill ask you to see that he gets it and gets it on schedule time."

  Poor little canary! The time has come for you to begin to grub!