human
Oh, girls, she cried, waving a palm-leaf fan over her head like a triumphal banner,
gpt
Your papa has done _what_? cried Migwan, her voice shrill with amazement.
human
Oh, how do you do, Mrs. Evans. For Gladys's mother, proceeding more leisurely up the walk than her impetuous daughter, was just coming up the steps.
gpt
What's this about Mr. Evans buying Lake Huron?
human
Oh, nothing so startling as that, said Mrs. Evans, laughing in great amusement.
gpt
We haven't started out to own the world yet. But without any effort on his part, Mr. Evans has become the owner of a small island somewhere in Lake Huron. Some time ago he lent a large amount of money to a company owning the island to establish a bottling works for mineral water, which flowed from a spring on the island. But after the money had been spent to get the business under way the spring was discovered to be much smaller than had at first been supposed; in fact, not large enough to be profitable at all. The company went bankrupt, and the island, which had been put up as security for the loan, became the property of Mr. Evans. Owning an island so far away was so much like having a castle in Spain that none of us thought much about it until just now, when Mr. Evans has suffered a severe nervous breakdown and the doctor has ordered him to get away from his work and from the city altogether and spend the summer living close to nature. This made our trip to the seashore, with its hotels and its throngs of people, out of the question, and then we thought of the desert island up in Lake Huron. But when we talked it over we decided that it would be pretty lonesome up there with just the three of us, and Gladys suggested that we round up all the girls who would otherwise stay in town all summer and take them up with us. Do you suppose any of you could go?
human
Will we go? shouted Sahwah, likewise forgetting the heat and capering madly about the porch,
gpt
I should say we will! We were just resigning ourselves to the dullest summer that ever happened.
human
I would love to go, said Migwan a little less vehemently, but none the less sincerely,
gpt
And I am sure I can go, said Hinpoha.
human
The Doctor and Aunt Phoebe are going East to a lot of conventions, and while I could go along, I suppose, rather than stay at home, I'd lots rather go with you.
gpt
How about you, Katherine?
human
You blessed people! she exclaimed in extravagant accents.
gpt
You came to the rescue just in the nick of time. If I had had to languish here all summer there wouldn't have been enough left of me to go to college in the fall. Think what a misfortune you have averted from that institution! An hour ago I was wallowing in the slough of despond; now I am skittering on the heights once more. Hurrah for the spring that broke the company that owned the island that sheltered the camp that Jack hasn't built yet but will very soon!
human
I thought Katherine was going home for the summer,