"ken--a letter!"
billy rushed toward the garden waving a large square envelope over his head.
keineth and peggy were weeding their flower bed. keineth dropped her hoe quickly to seize the letter.
"it's from washington, and it's got a seal on it like the seal of the united states!" exclaimed billy.
"oh, let me see!" cried peggy.
keineth had taken the letter. looking from one to the other, she held it close to her.
"i--i can't--it's from the president, i guess--" a wave of embarrassment seized her and she stopped short, wishing that she might run away with her treasure.
"the president--writing to you! oh, say--" billy snorted in derision.
peggy, offended at keineth's shyness, turned her back upon her. "i don't want to see your letter, anyway," she said ungraciously.
"oh, please--i'd love to show it, only--i promised--" then, as peggy gave no sign of relenting, keineth walked slowly toward the house with her letter.
"i think keineth's mean to have secrets," and peggy dug her hoe savagely into the ground. "she acts so mysterious about her father and i'll bet it isn't anything at all!"
"but that letter was from the president, i guess! gee whiz, think of getting a letter really from him! i wish i was ken!"
"it's nothing! anyone can be president--i mean, any man!"
"just the same, mother told me that some day we would be very proud of knowing keineth's father. she wouldn't tell me any more. i'll bet it would be awful interesting to know him! there's something certainly queer about how no one knows where he is! i guess i'll ask ken to tell me just a little bit. i can keep a secret."
"well, you can know her old secret for all i care," and peggy started for the barn. billy did not follow. he had thought of a plan. he would challenge ken to a game of tennis. and he would let her beat him. then he'd ask her very casually about her father and promise, on his scout's honor, not to tell a soul! the plan seemed good. he'd wait for her to come down.
in her room keineth had opened the large white envelope. from inside she drew a sheet of paper upon which were written a few lines, and with it a blue envelope of very thin paper, addressed in her father's familiar handwriting. with a little cry she caught it up and kissed it again and again. before she broke its seal she read what was written on the sheet which had enclosed it.
the few lines were signed "faithfully, woodrow wilson." they began, "my dear little soldier girl," and they told her that it was with great pleasure he had forwarded her letter to her father and now returned to her its answer. he called it an honor to serve them both and expressed the hope that some day he might make her acquaintance and tell her how deeply he admired and respected her father.
keineth merely glanced at the lines. what mattered it to her that they had been written by the president of the united states! did she not hold tightly in her fingers a letter from her daddy?
"my precious child," it began. keineth had suddenly to brush her eyes in order to see the letters. "your letter found me at one of my many stopping places. it brought to me a breath of home. i shut myself in my room and read and reread it, and it seemed to bring back the old room and the chair that could always hold us both. i could hear your voice, too. i miss you terribly, little girl, but i thank god daily that you are well and happy and with good friends.
"i have travelled through many lands of which i will have much to tell you. i have been in the far east--poor tante would have wept with joy over the beauty of the flowery kingdom. i have bowed before enough emperors and kings to make my poor back ache. do you remember how you used to rub the kinks out of it? i have spent hours and hours with the great men of the world. i have seen wonderful beauty and glorious sunshine. (how i'd like to ship some of it to old new york.) and i have seen ugly things, too. we shall have great times when we are together again, childy, telling one another the stories of these days we have been parted. you shall tell me something first and then i will tell you. it will take us hours and days and weeks.
"now i am going in my wanderings to other lands that are black with the horror of war. i shall have to witness the suffering it brings to the homes and i will be more glad than i can tell that my baby is far from its pain.
"i have learned in these wanderings of mine that it is in the children this old world must place its trust. that if they want a better government they must give to the little ones all that is pure and clean and honest and good and see to it that they are happy. i feel like shouting it from the housetops--'make them happy!' it doesn't take much.
"i feel your big, wondering eyes on mine--you do not understand! ah, well, girlie, all i mean is--romp and play--build up a strong little body for that heart of yours--see things that are clean and good, and whatever the game is--play square!
"we cannot be grateful enough to the dear lees for all they are doing for us. try and return their kindness with loyalty. i will write later to mrs. lee in regard to the plans for the fall. do whatever she thinks best. you will stay with them until i return. just when that will be i cannot tell now, but you must be brave. your courage helps me, too, my dear.
"sometimes, when my day's work is done and i can put it from my mind, i close my eyes and dream--dream of the little home we will build when i return: build--not in the old square, that is gone except to memory--but in some sunny, open spot where we can live and work together and lead useful lives. it is a beautiful castle as i see it in my dreams--and beautiful with love.
"i will send this letter with other papers to washington and they will forward it to you.
"good-by, little soldier--i salute you, my general.
"god keep you for
"daddy."
the words rang through keineth's heart like a song. she longed to pour out her joy in music, but billy's voice came to her from below.
"ken, ken."
"yes, billy." "come on, i'll play tennis with you! bet you can beat me, too!"
keineth suddenly remembered peggy's and billy's rudeness. perhaps billy was trying to make amends. she really wanted to be alone with her letter a little longer, but if billy wanted her to play! she felt proud, too, that he had asked her.
billy found less difficulty than he had anticipated in letting keineth win the set. in fact, deep in his heart, he was not sure he had "let" her. for keineth, fired with the joy within her, played brilliantly, flying over the court like a winged creature, returning billy's serves with a surprising quickness and strength that completely broke down his boyish confidence in himself.
"thanks awfully--that was fun," keineth said as they sank down under a tree for a moment's rest.
though his plan had worked very well so far, billy now felt at a loss to know how he ought to proceed. so, accepting her thanks with a brief nod, he bolted straight to the point.
"say, ken, if you'll tell me about your father i promise on my scout's honor not to tell a soul! and you ought to tell me anyway, for didn't my dog save your life, and didn't i give you first aid or you might've died!"
"oh, billy!" keineth cried, then stopped short. her heart warmed to billy--they seemed almost like pals now! he had preferred playing tennis with her than going off somewhere with the boys. and she did want more than anything else right then to talk about her daddy; to tell how great he was and how he was visiting courts of eastern lands. and she wanted to show billy the letter from the president, it was in her pocket. and she knew if billy said he'd never tell that he would not.
but a soldier never swerves from duty and had not her father called her his "general"?
"i--i can't, billy," she finished.
there was something so final in her voice and in the set of her lips that billy, red with rage, rose quickly to his feet.
"i'll bet you haven't got any secret and you're just making up to be smart and i'll get even with you, baby! and you didn't beat me playing tennis, for i let you, anyway! you wait--" and, vengefully, billy strode away, leaving an unhappy little girl sitting alone under the tree. peggy met billy on the road. peggy was in search of keineth. her nature was too happy to long nurse a grievance. she didn't care if keineth did have a secret! and she had wonderful news, too!
but billy's morose bearing stirred her curiosity.
"did she tell you, billy?" she asked.
"i'll bet she hasn't got any secret that's worth knowing! and she needn't say she beat me at tennis, either."
"oh, billy lee, you let her beat so's she'd tell you! i'm just glad she didn't! i guess girls never tell anything they've promised not to--even if they are girls!"
in great scorn she ran from the disconsolate billy. she had spied keineth alone under the tree.
"ken--ken! great news!" peggy rushed toward her. "we are going camping with ricky--you and me--next week! hurray!"
