"Oh, I do believe it is Mr. Marvin, girls!" called Natalie.
"What!" cried Mrs. James in consternation. "Just look at us all--in our old clothes!"
But the automobile was already at the gate, and the girls found to their delight that he had brought out their mothers.
It seemed like ages since they had seen each other. The girls talked eagerly of all that had happened since they came to Green Hill. Norma showed her flower beds, which really were looking good. And Belle told about her antique collecting. Frances displayed with pride the sum of money already earned with her private jitney, and Janet took the greatest satisfaction in escorting her younger sister Helene and the ladies to the barnyard to see her stock. Natalie, last of all, showed her gardens, which looked as neat as a row of pins.
Mr. Marvin complimented the girls on all their work, and then spoke of the roses in Natalie's cheeks and the difference in her general physical looks.
"I suppose you are going to stay to dinner, aren't you?" ventured Natalie cautiously.
"No; we are invited to dine with some friends quite near Green Hill Farm, but we thought we ought to stop in and see you before we go on to our hostess's place," said Mr. Marvin.
"I never knew you people were acquainted with anyone around here," said Janet, wonderingly, to her mother.
"We are, however. A young lady we know well in the city is summering in Greenville, and we came to visit her and her family."
Neither of the girls dreamed that Mrs. Wardell was referring to Miss Mason and her Troop, so they kept guessing who the acquaintance might be. Finally Mr. Marvin laughed and told the secret.
Natalie laughed, too, and said: "Well, we certainly were thick-witted that time. We might have known it was Miss Mason's camp."
Mr. Marvin could not take his eyes from Natalie, she was so different from the girl he had always known in the city. As she told of the adventures she and the girls had with their "professions" and the funny experiences with the old garden hose, her face was so alive with healthy interest and her eyes sparkled with such fun, that everyone saw the benefit the country life had been to her.
Later, as they all started for Solomon's Seal Camp, Mr. Marvin confided to Mrs. James: "She is so changed that I do not dread her return to the city again. She hasn't spoken one morbid word, nor seemed pessimistic once, since I've been here."