The days that followed were crammed full of both business and pleasure. Dorothy rose each morning, buoyant with eager hope that all would go well, and went to bed each night, rejoicing in the fact that in the main it had done so.

There was plenty of work to do; but it was cheerfully done, and many hands made it light, and comparatively easy. There were many small worries and anxieties, but they were overcome by perseverance and determination.

The Dorrance pride was inherent in all four children, and having set their hand to the plough, not only were they unwilling to turn back, but they were determined to make the best possible furrow. Although Dorothy was at the helm, and all important matters were referred to her, yet the others had their appointed tasks and did them each day, promptly and well.

Now that the Domain had assumed more of the character of a hotel, the Dorrances saw less of their boarders, socially. Also the large dining-room was used, and the guests seated in families at various tables. This gave a far more hotel-like air to the house, and though perhaps not quite as pleasant, it seemed to Dorothy the right thing to do.

The Faulkners were ideal boarders; the Van Arsdales, though more exacting, were just and considerate; but the Blacks, as Leicester expressed it, were a caution.

Mrs. Black was a continual and never-pausing fusser. Mr. Black remained two days to get them settled, and then returned to the city. Immediately after his departure, Mrs. Black insisted on changing her room.

"I didn't want to bother my husband about it," she said to Dorothy, "for he thinks I'm so fickle-minded; but truly, it isn't that. You see, the sun gets around to this room at just half-past three, and that's the time I'm always taking my nap, and so of course it wakes me up. Now you see, I can't stand that, – when I came up here for rest and recuperation. And so, my dear Miss Dorrance, if you don't mind, I'll just take some other room. I'm sure you have plenty of them, and if that big, strong Mr. Hickox will help move my things, I'm sure it will be no trouble at all. Perhaps your sister Fairy will look after the children a little bit, while Celestine and Lisa assist me. The baby is asleep, and perhaps she won't waken, but if she does, would Miss Lilian mind holding her for just a little while? or she might take her out in her baby-carriage for a bit of a ride. I'm sorry to be troublesome, but you see for yourself, I really can't help it."

If Mrs. Black really was sorry to be troublesome, she must have been sorry most of the time. For she was everlastingly making changes of some sort, or desiring attention from somebody, and she quite imposed on the good nature of the younger Dorrances, by begging them to take care of her children upon all too frequent occasions. Once, even Leicester was surprised to find himself wheeling Montmorency up and down the veranda, while Mrs. Black finished a letter to go in the mail.

The Van Arsdale ladies also were under the calm, but imperious sway of their fragile-looking niece. It was nothing unusual to see Miss Marcia and Miss Amanda each holding one of the fretful children, and making frantic endeavors to amuse their young relatives. The nurses were competent, but Mrs. Black so often had errands for them that their young charges were frequently in the care of other people.

Dorothy talked this matter over with Mrs. Faulkner, and as usual was wisely counseled by that lady. She advised, that in so far as Lilian and Fairy wished to play with the Black children, they should do so; but in no way were they under obligation to assist Mrs. Black in the care of her little ones. And, if she requested this at times when the girls had duties to perform, or indeed at a time when they wished to take their recreation, Mrs. Faulkner said they were perfectly justified in asking Mrs. Black to excuse them.

Dorothy told this to her sisters, who were thereby much relieved; for though fond of the children, they did not, as Lilian said, wish to be pushing around those Black babies in perambulators from morning till night. But somehow the babies caused a great deal of commotion, and Dorothy began to understand why boarding-house keepers preferred grown people.

One day as the Dorrance girls sat on the veranda, Celestine came running to them, wringing her hands, after her French method of showing great dismay, and exclaiming:

"Mees Sylvie, – she have fallen into ze lake!"

"What!" exclaimed the three girls at once, jumping up, and running towards the lake; "where did she fall in? How did it happen?"

"Non, non, – not zat way! zis a-way," and Celestine started down a path that did not lead towards the lake. "I have pull her out; she is not drown, – but she is, – oh, so ver' soil, – so, vat you say, – muddy, oh, so much muddy!"

"Never mind the mud if the child isn't drowned," cried Lilian; "but this is not the way to the lake. You said she fell in the lake."

"Not ze gran' lake, mees, but ze small lake, – ze ver' small, p'tit lake."

"Oh, she means nothing but a mud-puddle!" cried Fairy, who had run ahead of the rest, and found Sylvia lying on the grass, chuckling with laughter, while her pretty clothes were a mass of mud and wet.

"I falled in!" she cried, gleefully; "I failed in all myself, when C'lestine wasn't looking. Ain't I a funny dirl?"

"No, I don't think it's funny," began Dorothy, and then she paused, realizing that it was not her duty to reprimand Mrs. Black's children, and, too, Sylvia certainly did look funny. Not only her white dress, but her face and hands, and her dainty white slippers and stockings were bespattered with brown mud, and Lilian said that she looked like a chocolate éclair.

Another day, Celestine approached Dorothy with the pleasing news that, "Master Montmorency, he must have upsetted the blanc-mange."

Dorothy flew to verify this statement, and found that the son of the house of Black had indeed overturned a large dish of Bavarian cream, which Kathleen had made for that evening's dessert. It had been set out on the back porch to cool, and though protected by a wire screen cover, the enterprising youth had succeeded in wrecking the whole affair.

Dorothy's record for good-nature was seriously menaced by this mischievous prank, and she would probably have told Mrs. Black her honest opinion of the transgressing infant; but Kathleen's view of the case disarmed her.

"Whisht, now, darlint," said the big peace-maker, "niver you mind. I'll whishk up another bowl full in a minute, shure. The shpalpeen didn't mane anny harrum. Troth, he's nothin' but a baby. Wasn't ye wan yersilf wanst? Go 'long wid ye, now, and lave me to me wurruk."

This Dorothy was glad enough to do, and she walked away, feeling that Kathleen had taught her a lesson in making allowance for the unconsciousness of a child's wrongdoing.

When she reached the west veranda she found the whole family and all the guests gathered there in a great state of excitement.

Following Lilian's pointing finger with her eyes, she saw Mary, the parrot, perched calmly on a high limb of an evergreen-tree.

"How did she get out?" cried Dorothy, aghast.

"Sylvia opened the cage door," answered Lilian, "when no one was looking, – and Mary just walked out. You should have seen her climbing that tree. She went up branch by branch."

The parrot looked triumphantly down at the crowd, and remarked, "Mary is high up; Mary is very high up."

"Come down, Mary," said Dorothy, beseechingly; "come down, Mary, – pretty Mary, – come down to Dorothy."

"Hurrah for Dorothy!" cried the parrot, – "hurrah for Sylvia! hurrah for the Dorrance Domain!"

This last cheer had been taught to Mary by Leicester, after many long and patient lessons, and never before had Mary spoken it so plainly and distinctly.

By this time the Van Arsdale ladies were in tears; Fairy, too, was weeping, for she felt sure Mary would fly away and never come back. The Black children required very little encouragement to start their lachrymal glands, and seeing the others' tears, immediately began to howl in various keys.

"Don't cry, don't cry!" said Mary, from her high perch.

"Come down, Mary," said Dorothy, coaxingly, and showing an apple and a cracker which she had procured; "come down and get your dinner."

But no urgings would induce the bird to come down. She cocked her eye wickedly, and hurrahed for everybody in turn, but utterly refused to descend.

"Ach, donnerblitzen!" exclaimed German Lisa. "Denn du bist ein dumkopf! Kommst du jetz hinein!"

"Ciel! what a bird it is!" wailed Celestine, wringing her hands; "ah, Marie, belle Marie, come down, cherie!"

But the French coaxing, and the German scolding had no more effect on Mary than the weeping of the Van Arsdale ladies and the screaming of the children. She fluttered her wings, and seemed about to depart. Then she would look at them again, and with her exasperating winks, would hurrah enthusiastically.

"If she'll only stay there long enough, perhaps I can lasso her," said Leicester, running in the house for a string.

"No," said Mr. Faulkner, who followed him in, "I'm afraid that would frighten her; but if you had a butterfly net, with a very long handle, we might catch her with that."

"Just the thing," said Leicester; "and there is one in the storeroom; I remember seeing it there."

He brought it, but the handle was not long enough; so Mr. Faulkner proposed that they try placing a ladder against another tree near by, and then from the top of that, endeavor to reach the bird with a net.

Mary watched the proceedings with great interest. "Catch Mary!" she cried; "catch pretty Mary!"

"You bet we will!" cried Leicester, and when the ladder was adjusted he climbed to the top of it, carrying the long-handled net with him.

They all thought the bird would be frightened at the net and fly away, or at least attempt to do so.

But she seemed to think it a game in which she played an important part, and she sat quietly on the branch, occasionally remarking, "Catch Mary, pretty Mary!"

With a sure aim, Leicester pushed the net towards the bird and brought it down over her head, then with a dextrous twist, he turned it upside down, with the bird in it, and lowered it carefully to Mr. Faulkner, who was standing below. At this unexpected indignity, Mary set up a ferocious squawking, the Black children redoubled their yells, and the Dorrance children cheered with delight.

Mary was taken from the net, unharmed, and restored to her happy mistress, who determined to send to town at once for a padlock for the cage door.

But though commotions such as these were of frequent, almost daily occurrence; yet when they were not such as to interfere with the routine of her household management, Dorothy did not allow them to worry her.

Although usually busy all the morning, she found many spare hours for rest and recreation in the afternoon; and the evenings were always delightful. The Black children were then safely in bed, and could make no trouble. The Dorrances were at liberty to be by themselves, or with their boarders, as they wished.

As Mr. Faulkner played the guitar, and Leicester could pick a little on the mandolin, and as they all could sing, – or fancied they could, – there were often very jolly concerts on the veranda, or, on moonlight evenings, out in the boat.

Mr. Black came up every week, and when he discovered the array of musical talent already there, he brought his banjo, and added greatly to the fun. Sometimes on rainy evenings, they would all congregate in the great empty ballroom, and play merry games. On such occasions, the Blacks and Faulkners seemed almost as young, and nearly as noisy as the Dorrances.

One day Leicester came to Dorothy, with a letter.

"Jack Harris has just written me," he said, "and he wants to come up here and board for a month; what do you think?"

"Let him come, by all means," said Dorothy, heartily; "he won't be a bit of extra trouble, and if he will pay our regular rates I shall be glad to have him. The Dorrance Domain is now a fully established summer hotel; and we are prepared to receive all who apply."

CHAPTER XXII
TWO BOYS AND A BOAT

It was nearly a week after Leicester had written to Jack Harris, telling him that he might come up and board at the hotel, when, one afternoon, the Dorrance children heard queer sounds coming up from the direction of the dock.

All four ran to look over the rail of the upper landing, and saw a strange-looking craft anchored at the dock. On the dock were two boys and Mr. Hickox; the latter gentleman apparently much excited and interested.

"It's Jack Harris!" cried Leicester, "and another fellow with him; and, oh, I say, girls, they've got a motor-boat!"

"What's a motor-boat?" cried Fairy; but as all four were then flying down the steps at a rapid speed, nobody answered her.

Wondering who the second boy could be, and filled with delightful curiosity as to the wonderful motor-boat, the Dorrances reached the dock with astonishing rapidity.

"Hi, Jack," cried Leicester, "thought you were coming up by train. What a dandy boat! Yours?"

"No," said Jack, whipping off his cap, and shaking hands with Dorothy; "it belongs to my chum here, Bob Irwin. I've brought him along, Dorothy, and I hope you can take us both in. Less said you had plenty of room. I would have written, but Bob only decided to come at the last minute, and we were so busy and excited getting the boat off, that I forgot to telegraph, though I meant to do so."

Bob Irwin was a big, jolly-looking boy, of about seventeen or eighteen, and his smile was so broad and comprehensive that the Dorrances felt acquainted at once.

"Indeed we have plenty of room," said Dorothy, answering young Irwin's greeting; "and we're very glad to have you both, – and your boat too," she added, still looking with a sort of fascination at the trim little affair.

"She is a jolly little craft," said Bob Irwin, frankly; "I've only had her a few weeks. I named her Shooting Star, because she goes like one. We came all the way up from Jersey City by the canal."

"All the way!" exclaimed Lilian; "what fun you must have had coming through the locks!"

"Well yes, – but there were so many of them. The planes were worse, though; Shooting Star didn't take to those kindly at all. However, we're here; and if you'll keep us, we'll all have a good deal of fun on this lake."

"I didn't know you could come all the way by canal," said Leicester. "Are they willing to open the locks for you?"

"Oh, Bob's uncle is a Grand High Mogul or something in the canal company, and he gave us a permit. I tell you it was great fun; the boat goes like a greased arrow."

"Would you like to go for a little spin around the lake, now, all of you?" asked Bob.

"No, – not now," said Dorothy, looking at her watch. "We'd love to, but it is too near dinner-time for us to go now. You know, as hotel proprietors, we have duties to attend to at scheduled hours; and we must be found at our posts."

Though said with apparent carelessness, this was really a brave bit of self-denial on Dorothy's part. For she was eager to try the pretty boat, and, too, there was nearly a half hour before her presence at the hotel was actually necessary.

But she had learned by experience that to go out on the lake was a proceeding which could not be accurately timed, and she knew that her duty pointed towards keeping on the safe side. Beside this, she must have another room put in readiness, for she had expected only Jack.

"But I do want to go out in the motor-boater," cried Fairy, dancing around the dock, and waving her arms. "Will you take us some other time, Mr. Bob?"

"Indeed I will," said Bob, heartily; "and anyway, it's just as well to take our traps up now, and get settled."

"Hickox is your man," said that long individual, suddenly interrupting his own investigation of the marvelous boat. "Hickox'll cart your truck up the hill. Where might it be?"

"Here you are," and Bob sprang into the Shooting Star and tossed out three suit cases and a lot of odds and ends of luggage. "But we fellows can carry them up."

"No, sir, no, sir; Hickox'll look after things. It'll be all right."

Jack laughed at the familiar phrases, and Bob Irwin looked on with amusement while Mr. Hickox stowed the things in his queer-looking cart.

"And this is for you and your sisters, Miss Dorothy," said Bob, as he emerged with a final parcel.

There was no mistaking the contents of the neatly tied up box of candy; but it was of such a size that it nearly took the girls' breath away.

"Oh, thank you," cried Dorothy, dimpling with smiles. "I haven't had a speck of New York candy since I've been here. And the Woodville gum-drops are so highly colored and so stiff inside, that they're not a bit of fun."

"They were made summer before last, too," said Leicester; "they ought to be sold as antiques."

"A whole big box of candy for our very own!" cried Fairy; "oh, that's better than the promoter-boat, or whatever you call it. And part of the candy is my very own, isn't it, Mr. Bob?"

"Yes, indeed; to do whatever you like with."

"Then I shall give half of my share to Mrs. Hickox. She'll be so surprised. I don't believe she ever saw any real choklits or butter-cuppers."

Leicester carried the precious box, and the six children climbed the steps to the Dorrance Domain. Naturally, Fairy reached the top first, and ran up the veranda steps, shouting, "Oh, grannymother! we've got two new boarders, and they came in an automobile-ship, and they brought a bushel of candy, real splendiferous New York candy, – and his name is Bob!"

Grandma Dorrance had always liked Leicester's friend Jack, and she willingly extended her welcome to the pleasant-faced Bob.

The two boys were a decided addition to the gayety of the Dorrance Domain.

And the Shooting Star proved to be an equally desirable adjunct. Instead of rowing over to Dolan's Point each morning for the marketing, or harnessing old Dobbin and driving there, the swift little motor-boat did the errand in less than half the time, and was moreover a pleasure and delight.

Besides this there were merry excursions on the lake in the afternoons and evenings.

One day, when they had started out immediately after luncheon, and, owing to Mr. Black's expected arrival, were to have a late dinner, the six children made an exploring tour of the whole lake.

"I want to find out," said Bob, as they started off, "what feeds this lake. There must be several inlets and some of them large ones. A lake nine miles long has got to be fed by something."

"This lake is so tame it would eat out of your hand," said Leicester.

"Even so, I wouldn't want to feed it," said Dorothy; "my present array of table boarders is quite enough for me, thank you."

"There is an inlet," said Lilian, "just this side of Dolan's Point. The one that has the floating bridge across it, you know."

"But that isn't enough to make any impression on this big lake," insisted Bob; "there must be two or three arms somewhere, and if there are, we'll find them to-day; for I'm going all around the shores of the lake."

So the Shooting Star shot ahead, and skirted the margin of the lake for miles and miles.

But except the one at Dolan's Point, no inlet of any sort was discovered, and the round trip was completed by a crowd of mystified explorers.

"It's the queerest thing!" said Bob, whose scientific inquiries were prompted by a tenacious mind. "The water in Lake Ponetcong certainly must come from somewhere."

"I think it rains in," said Fairy, with a sage expression. "It hasn't rained much this summer, but it rained a lot when we were in New York, and I s'pose the water just stayed in."

"I think it just was here from the beginning," said Lilian, "and somehow it never got away."

"That would do for some lakes," said Dorothy; "but here, they're always letting it out through the locks; and it does seem as if it would have to be filled up again, some way."

That evening the children put the puzzling question to Mr. Faulkner. He was a great favorite with the crowd of young people, and though a scientific man, he was capable of making explanations that were entirely comprehensible to their youthful minds.

They were all interested, though perhaps Bob Irwin was more especially so, in learning that Lake Ponetcong was fed entirely by springs in its bed.

This phrase pleased the Dorrance children very much, as their sense of humor was touched by what they chose to call the spring-bed of the lake.

But Bob was more seriously interested, and listened attentively to Mr. Faulkner's description of what was an unusual, though not unprecedented phenomenon.

Sometimes Mr. and Mrs. Faulkner accompanied them on their motor-boat trips; sometimes, too, Mr. and Mrs. Black went; but the Van Arsdale ladies refused to be persuaded to risk their lives in any such mysterious contrivance.

The Black children and their nurses were taken out once, but upon their return Bob Irwin declared himself unwilling ever again to carry such an emotional and cosmopolitan crowd. The baby shrieked and yelled in English, the French nurse and German nurse shrieked in their respective languages, and the way they all jumped about was really a serious menace to safety.

There seemed to be no end to the energies or the resources of the three boys in providing pleasure and entertainment.

Jack and Bob shared Leicester's duties as a matter of course; and though Leicester protested, the others insisted on helping him in whatever he had to do. They froze ice cream, they mowed the grass, they split kindling-wood, – and they looked on these things as pastimes rather than tasks. They were big, strong, good-natured fellows, and firm friends and admirers of all the Dorrances.

Bob declared that although he drew the line at pushing the Black babies' perambulators, yet he was perfectly willing to act as Miss Mary's escort whenever desired.

One notable achievement of the boys', was a roof-garden. Jack had discovered the possibilities of the hotel roof during his earlier visit; and at his proposition it was arranged most attractively.

Small evergreen trees were brought from the woods and taken up to the roof where they were made to stand about in hedges or clusters. Rustic chairs, settees and tables were found in the storerooms, and rugs were placed about. Hammocks were swung, and over the top of all was rigged an awning, which could be rolled away if desired.

Chinese lanterns made the place gay by night, and flags and bunting formed part of the decoration.

Summer night concerts were often held here, and when Tessie would appear with iced lemonade and cakes and fruit, everybody declared that never had there been a hotel so admirably managed as the Dorrance Domain.